By now you’ve probably seen the commercial for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 racer Blur, because I don’t even watch that much TV and I’ve seen it probably 70 times. This commercial is awful and represents a lot of what’s wrong with video games these days.
Also, yes, I know Kotaku kinda wrote about this today, but I was going to write this up yesterday but decided to do the contest instead. Whatever. I didn’t steal the idea.
I want to talk about Final Fantasy XIII for a bit.
If you’ve been following my thoughts on the game leading up to its release, you’ll remember I’ve been kinda up and down on the subject, my interest fluctuating much like the wave pools at a water park. At first I wasn’t even sure I’d pick it up on release day, but a few days before my cynicism got hit by a Limit Break of excitement and I decided I’d get it day one. Come on, it’s Final Fantasy!
Or is it?
I’d like to take a moment to talk about the PlayStation Move, and how it’s a complete and total ripoff of the Wii. I’d also like to take this chance to say that if you think the Move is innovative and refreshing, you’re a freaking idiot and should probably stop breathing.
I’m not going to go into crazy specifics about how Move works, because there are plenty of other sources for information out there. I’m just going to present kneejerk reactions and call it like I see it, but Sony is pulling some BULL SHIZNIT this generation and I can’t believe that people are praising them for their lazy business practices.
Before I really get into the Move itself, I want to say that the PlayStation 3 is nothing special. Up until recently, I had every intention of getting one eventually, because there’s a handful of games I’d really like to play (LittleBigPlanet, Heavy Rain, 3D Dot Heroes, Ratchet & Clank to name a few), but this whole Move thing has really pushed me over the edge. I can’t respect Sony as a company anymore, and for me to effectively boycott a console takes a LOT of pissing me off.
Lunar: The Silver Star, Silver Star Story, Silver Star Story Complete, Lunar Legend, and now, Silver Star Harmony…
As you can probably guess from that list, the first game in the Lunar saga has a bit of a convoluted history, with more remakes and rereleases than you can shake a stick at. There’s alot of argument among fans about which version is the best, and non-veterans of the series generally have no clue where to begin as a result. Despite all this, Lunar’s popularity these days is still quite a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps it is even because of that thriving fanbase that we’re about to get yet another installment in the series: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. (more…)
A group of teenagers save the world from a supernatural threat.
What game did I just describe?
A lot, I know.
I see a lot of talk on message boards and the like about how the Japanese-style RPG (or JRPG) is a dying breed, and this is mostly brought on because their storylines are all so similar. You have a group of plucky teens with stylish hair, a few giant swords, maybe a tough old guy who will probably die, and some insurmountable juggernaut that they somehow wind up surmounting.
Before I start, I don’t want to hear anyone whining that their favorite game didn’t make the list. If you’re so smart and have such good taste, where’s your blog, huh? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go back to your Livejournal, junior. The grown-ups are talking.
Anyway, these are 25 games that I feel encapsulate everything that was great about the 2000s (what the hell ARE we calling those years, anyway?). It’s weird, because some of my favorite games are pretty low on the list, or not on the list at all. I tried to be somewhat objective and choose games that brought something new to the table and advanced the medium in some way, not just games that I thought were rad.
These games are pretty rad, though.
Anyway, on with the list. I’m detailing #25 through #11 tonight, with the top ten coming tomorrow. Let me know what you think!
