Random Musings from a Trip to GameStop

So, I stopped by GameStop today for various reasons, mostly to add money to my pre-orders and to pre-order Fable 3. While there, I decided to peruse the racks for some hard to find gems.

First one I found was Heavenly Sword. This game was a damn launch title for the PS3 and it is still $30 USED. Why in the name of Tiny Baby Jesus is this game still so much?! I know the local Fry's had it for 20 a few weeks ago, but they sold out and will not be getting more. With Enslaved coming soon, I want to experience what else that development team has done first. I hear HS was a pretty good game, and clips I see to this day still impress me.

Speaking of Enslaved, I have to say that I am very curious about this one. It takes the classic Monkey myth and gives it a neat twist. Now, I've seen said myth used in all sorts of settings (Dragon Ball including all of its iterations and 2008's The Forbidden Kingdom), and I've always liked that myth. However, Enslaved seems to be bringing some muscle to this old story, and it looks nice. Thus, why I want to play Heavenly Sword before this hits shelves. I want to see what this team did before and get an idea of the kind of design they do and what we might be able to expect.

While at GameStop, I also tried to find some of my favorite Wii games: Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime Trilogy, either Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They were nowhere to be found. I guess these games, being among the best the console has to offer, have gotten hoarded. I can relate to that. I'd sure as hell stash those away for my own greedy purposes.

Upon mentioning this to the guys working, we started into the The Motion Control Debate, as so often does when talking about gaming nowadays. The similarities between the Wii and Move are just too hard to dismiss. Sure, Move may look better and track movements better than the Wii, but I just foresee it falling prey to the Shovelware farce the Wii has become. I love Nintendo and the risks they take to try and innovate. And the Wii did just that for a while, and as we can see, the other two big companies are following suit, but the lasting power of motion control is what has me worried. Kinect, if anything, may make a breakthrough. However, I still have my doubts about its accuracy. We'll just see.

I want a good and (relatively) lengthy game for the DS that will give me a reason to break that thing out more. I've always had a secret corner in my heart for Pokemon. Yes, I said it. But where to jump in? I'm thinking Platinum. I know HeartGold and SoulSilver just came out, but they're rehashes of previous titles. I want the most up to date roster possible, and I think that's what Platinum offers. Any thoughts, readers? Pokehaters need not respond. Seriously.

I also found a few gems in the $15 or under bin. Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and Too Human were stashed in there. Riddick got some great reviews and I'd love to see for myself. Not a huge Vin Diesel fan, but the gameplay and atmosphere seemed to be really neat from the demo I played oh so long ago. As far as Too Human goes...I liked it. Not a fantastic or supremely made game, but I enjoyed it. I liked the twist on Norse mythology, and I've always been a sucker for that sort of thing. That's one reason I love God of War and Percy Jackson (the books/movie, not any of the tie-in games). It's also why I played Age of Mythology and why I bought Nasus on League of Legends. So, say Too Human sucks or whatever. Go ahead and hate. What matters is that I like it, I have fun with it. And for $10, I'd be willing to buy it.

That's all for now. I've got another rant brewing...so watch out!

Gnome, out.

A few interesting points

It's been a bit since my last post, but I have found a few interesting things since then.

1) Irrational Games has revealed that their "Project Icarus" is in fact, a new Bioshock named Bioshock: Infinite. This carries with it a multitude of great things. First of all, there will be a new setting and what I can only imagine to be a great new variety in plasmids. I say that because Infinite will be set a new location: A CITY IN THE SKY. How hawt is that? My biggest question now is this: will this game's version of Bid Daddies have jetpacks? If so, have mercy on our souls.

Let's not also forget that Infinite will be developed by the original team from Bioshock. Bioshock 2 was outsourced to 2k Marin, and while they did decently with the source material, I think Irrational did better (says the guy who hasn't touched Bioshock 2 yet). Anyway, pumped to say the least.

2) New DLC news from Gearbox! Long story short: The Claptraps of Pandora are rising against Hyperion Corporation. Viva la Robolution!

3) Here's a recent article touching on an idea I've been meaning to post about. It might be best to keep my mouth shut for the moment and save it all for later, but read the post. It's quite interesting.

Glory to House Auditore!!! and Ubisoft

So, I finished Assassin's Creed 1 the other day. I had heard that the ending was really confusing, and thus, resisted the urge to read spoilers. It was every bit as confusing as I had heard. Instead of figuring it out myself, I read a thread on xbox360.org about it. He had some very interesting insights, many of which could lead to future AC games, but I doubt it. I think I'll take a trilogy and be done. I don't want one of my favorite current generation franchises beat until it is dry and bloodless. (Heh, pun unintended.)

But, this all leads my to my main point: Assassin's Creed 2, for me, is a special brand of awesomesauce. The first time Desmond got into the Animus and I heard the first line of Italian, my heart melted. For one of the first times in my life, my real life and the video games I play seemed to truly meld.

Oop. Time for a bit of background information. I spent the spring semester of 2008 studying in Macerata, Italy. During my time there, I was able to visit Venice, Rome and Florence, among much more. So, for me to now be playing a video game that takes place in some of my favorite places in the world, it has been an exceptionally exciting experience thus far. What makes it even better, is that Ubisoft has done very well in faithfully recreating Florence accurately. I am running along rooftops and climbing many landmarks I have been to personally.

I cannot completely, in words, describe the "GOO!!!" feeling of climbing the colossal Giotto Campanile then swan diving off the top, or climbing out of a river and up the side of Ponte Vecchio. Because of my real world experiences and the masterful craftsmanship of Ubisoft, this may just be one of my favorite games of ALL TIME.

Video Game Soundtracks Or The Lack Thereof

Years ago, my brother turned me on to a thread on what seemed like a random website's forum. The thread itself isn't really important, but just suffice it to say that it involved a meme revolving around a motivational poster with a Middle Eastern man smiling with the words "Great Work!" in large type at the bottom.

Little did I know that this thread was on the forums for a FANTASTIC site called Overclocked Remix. This site is populated with talented musicians who have taken classic video game music, and either remastered, remixed, or remade their favorite tunes from said games. For the most part, if you remember a cool ditty from a past video game, someone will have a remix posted for it. They even put together collections into albums that you can legally torrent directly from their site.

But, here's the point: Most of the remixes I download are from games that predate my PS2. I just can't really think of many songs from games from that generation or later. I remember jamming to Toejam & Earl, any of the first 3.5 Sonic games, and a few things from the SNES like Super Metroid and Super Mario World. With the exception of Final Fantasy VII, World of Warcraft, Ocarina of Time and Halo, memorable video game music has almost all but disappeared. I still remember Morgan Webb reviewing some mediocre racing game and describing the BGM as "generic butt-rock."

When was the last time you heard a song and realized the source game immediately? Yeah, it's been awhile. Even some of the BEST games lately have had really generic soundtracks. Uncharted 2, God of War 3, and Red Dead Redemption all have fantastic gameplay but nothing worth remembering in terms of theme music. As close to an action/adventure movie Uncharted 2 was, it is somewhat surprising that it had no solid theme. A bit of a letdown, but not really anything that lessens the experience of the game.

I just pine for the days when you turned on your console to play a game and grinned or felt the adrenaline rush at just the first few bars of the theme song. I guess we just need some new, talented music composers and perhaps they're coming.

Oh well. I'm just a nutcase anyway. I'll keep playing either way.

Gnome, out.