Bros. before hoes
by alzabo
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I have a copy of smash 3, and it really embarrasses me. Not only do I feel that I’ve betrayed some sacred trust by buying it I can feel it’s horrible nostalgia beam slicing to my core and waking the animalistic consumer beast lying dormant in the recesses of my brain. The lumbering beast speaks in a guttural tone not unlike the mingled mumblings of a thousand neckbeards; urging me to spend absurd amounts of money on hard-to-find games that feature the participants of the incestuous pantheon known as Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.
One side effect of acquiring SMABURA is a renewed use of my Wavebird, which has not seen regular use since the summer of ’05 when Nanohana and I helped Leon S. Kennedy rescue a girl with huge monkey ears.
While looking at my rarely used Gamecube I looked back at my meager collection of games and spent some time ruminating about why this was such a neglected console in my house. The final game I bought for it was Odama, and in all I only purchased seven games. I won’t waste space detailing the short-comings of the ‘cube, instead I’ll simply say some positive things about it.
In hindsight, these are some of the things that stand out to me. The controller design is a welcome departure that I still appreciate today, I love it’s funky look and how it comfortably fits in my hands. The large central green “A” button flanked by a smaller red “B” button and two grey “X” & “Y” buttons makes more sense than most people are willing to admit for several genres of games. Some of the games that I found to be an absolute joy and never stopped being fun were: Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, Odama, Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker.
While using my old Wavebird for the newest Nintendo party game on Wii, I chuckle slightly as I remember all the good times I’ve had with it fucking with my co-players in Super Monkey Ball by switching comm. channels to control my opponents characters. Using the Wavebird also makes me feel slightly hollow inside, almost like I’ve betrayed someone.
Then I remember that Nintendo hates me and will never give me Earthbound. If I ever want to play some weird rare Nintendo game they’re as close as the nearest computer with a internet connection.
Article PermalinkFive developers that I want to give money to
by K1
Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008
As much as I loathe when a gaming site does the list thing, this topic came up in conversation and I felt that it was something worth writing about. I do want to avoid crap like "Top 100 games with hats in them and if you disagree then screw you" though, so I just want to express that this list is, like, my opinion man, so just chill if you think I am in the wrong.Five Developers I want to give money to (but I can't, within reason):
#5 - Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound / Mother series):This one is the biggest stretch since technically I can import Japanese versions of Mother 3 and Mother 1+2, but his games are ones I want to play in English to get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of them. Unfortunately, Nintendo seems to have a secret agenda to keep the Mother series from ever returning to the states. They have even gone so far as to remove the Earthbound Virtual Console demo from the U.S. version of Smash Bros. Brawl (or so I hear). At least Ness is still in Smah Bros., so they can't deny the existence of Mother completely. Sad.
#4 - Clover Studio (Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe):While it's true that the talent and management behind Clover Studio are still around and making games inside and out of Capcom, what's nice about buying games from a particular studio is how you can vote with your gaming dollar on what developers you want to see games from again. The biggest slap in the face with this one is how Okami is getting ported to the Wii, but in buying it none of the money or credit is really going to Clover Studio proper. Again, cry.
#3 - Ben Croshaw / Yahtzee ( 5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, 1213):Why yes, I am referring to that Yahtzee, the one that talks really fast about games and it's funny. As it turns out, he can make a mean game as well as he can bitch about them. Ben's adventure games are some of the most well-written adventure games I've had the pleasure of playing. So much in fact, that I feel he deserves money for a game that he offers for free. If his games were offered on say Steam or Xbox Live Arcade I would pony up the cash for 'em on the spot. Better yet, if I could get a hard copy on disc that would be quite nice.
(Note: As I was typing this and linking to his games, I noticed that he has a donation page set up for each game, and if you donate 5 bucks you get a special edition version. I think I might just take him up on that.)
#2 - Garry Newman / Facepunch Studios (Garry's Mod, Facewound):Now before someone gets fresh and says something like "well just buy Garry's Mod off of Steam, you mingebag," I just want to point out that I HAVE purchased Garry's Mod, and in fact I even paid for Gold Membership at the gmod forums to get early access to beta versions of Garry's Mod. I'm that hardcore, alright? It's just that I want to give him more money. I *heart* Garry.
#1 - Daisuke Amaya / Pixel (Doukutsu Monogatari / Cave Story)Man, this guy. How is it one of the best games I've played in the past couple years is a freeware game made by one person? This guy deserves my money so much it's a crime. I want to pay to own a copy of this game. I want to own it on multiple consoles, including at least one handheld. I want to buy all kinds of crazy Cave Story merchandise, like t-shirts, plushes, and action figures. I want there to be a sequel, I would wait in line until midnight to buy it.
But I can't. Article Permalink
"Drilling is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
by K1
Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2007
"The driller becomes all the poorer the more depth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The driller becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion to the devaluation of the world of men. Drilling produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the driller as a commodity -- and does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally." - Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)
"The exchange value of a commodity estimated in blocks is called its price. Fresh air therefore is only a special name for the price of drilling-power, and is usually called the price of drilling; it is the special name for the price of this peculiar commodity, which has no other repository than human flesh and blood."
"The existence of a class which possess nothing but the ability to drill is a necessary presupposition of capital.It is only the dominion of past, accumulated, materialized drilling over immediate living drilling that stamps the accumulated drilling with the character of capital."
"To say that "the driller has an interest in the rapid growth of air", means only this: that the more speedily the driller augments the fresh air of the capitalist, the larger will be the blocks which fall to him, the greater will be the number of drillers than can be called into existence, the more can the mass of slaves dependent upon fresh air be increased."
"The colored blocks, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors”, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous “air”. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom — Arcade Mode. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation."
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