Tag Archives: XBox360

Button Mashers Beget Button Mashers

(Editor’s Note: A�Apologies again for our silence this week. A�I’ve been dealing with end of semester stuff. A�Hopefully I can maintain the schedule of posting twice over the next two weeks. A�If not, I’ll definitely be back when finals are over.)

My family took me to a local arcade (yes, they still exist!) for my birthday this year. A�It might be more accurate if I sayA�the local arcade since I believe it is the only one close enough to be called local. A�We do have a Chuck E. Cheese, but the arcade there is secondary. A�You mostly go there for the mediocre (really, terrible) pizza. A�Wait, why does anyone go there? A�A question for another time, perhaps.

The trip took me back to the years of my youth misspent in arcades from Erie, Pennsylvania to Silver Springs, Maryland. A�I got 2 hours to play Tetris, Dig, Dug, Rampage, NBA Jam, The Simpsons, Centipede, any many others. A�Sadly, no Q*Bert or Pac-Man and the Mrs. Pac-Man machine was out of order. A�Also no Mario Brothers and the only Neo Geo games were Bubble Bobble and Bust a Move. A�Aside from the more modern games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, those were the old school games that I played in the arcade and at home. A�Still, I had so much fun and it is one of the best birthday presents ever.

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Button mashers in training

During one of my breaks to watch TMNT (They showed it on the big screen, but with no sound. A�That’s my only complaint, even if understandable.) and eat free fries (part of a Groupon deal), I noticed Liam and Aiden playing together on a machine and having a ton of fun. A�I went over to see what brought them such joy. A�It was one of those Street Fighter clones, but one that I’d never played nor even seen. A�This is noteworthy because I thought that I’d played them all. A�At the least, I was sure that I’d played the ones that featured Ryu as a character. A� I noticed he was on the roster during one of their character selections.

Now, it is bugging me again that I never knew the game existed and I forgot to write down the name of the game. A�I need to figure this out. A�Bear with me. A�Enjoy the musical stylings of Nick Winters while you wait.

Okay, I’m back! A�Google is a wonderful thing. A�Whether you need to find the name of a never before seen 2D fighter or directions to the Rhode Island Convention Center for an underwhelming trip to wach the SCG Open event, Google has you covered. A�Sure, they’ll catalog your search results, sell your personal information and data, and then use that money to lobby Washington DC for less strict anti-trust laws. A�That’s all a small price to pay for all that convenience.

Once they finished playing and it was time to go, I asked the natural question, hoping for a particular response. A�They looked like they had fun, but I wanted to be sure. A�”Did you like it?” A�I asked. A�They both said, “Yes, it was fun!”

Woo hoo!

It started with board games, branched out into Heroclix, Pokemon, and Magic, and now extended into 2D fighting games. A�My kids share many of my gaming interests and I’m thrilled by the prospects. A�In fact, they enjoyed the game so much that they didn’t want to leave. A�While I’m not entirely sure how they kept track, we only had technically two hours to play and our time was over. A�No tears were shed, but they definitely expressed their disappointment.

Oh, in case you were wondering, the game they were playing:

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Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

I remembered that Chris gave me a copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. A�This led me to download the second game on XBox Live. A�I mentioned to the boys that I owned a similar game to soften the blow. A�Naturally, my intent was to play the game with them. A�However, as happens (and happened too often this winter), the gameA�got lost in the shuffle and forgotten for several months.

I don’t remember exactly how or why the game came up in conversation again. A�I think that it was just luck. A�We were sitting in the living room, Aiden had finished playing some ‘Splosion Man, and was getting ready to turn off the XBox. A�I grabbed the other controller to load up Marvel vs. Capcom 2. A�He got so excited when he heard the music and saw all the characters that were available. A�Neither he nor I understood the intricacies of the game, so we were on mostly level ground in that regard. A�I did have the advantage of knowing some of the special moves. A�That advantage disappeared quickly, though.

I’m not sure that he knew the exact moves. A�Then again, I’m not sure that he didn’t, either. A�He pulled them off with such frequency and skill that he might have stumbled onto something by mistake. A�Either way, he beat me legitimately more than once. A�I’m not proud of it, but it did happen. A�As someone who pretends to be a reporter on the internets, it is my duty to report news when it happens.

Breaking!A� 8-year old beats his father! A�Click hereA�for the rest of the story.

Hey, maybe I’m not just pretending to be a reporter. A�I seem to have learned the basics of web journalism already. A�I can generate click bait. A�What do you mean journalistic integrity? A�See, I’m a natural!

We moved on to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. A�Excited by the fact that, even though it takes them a while, Capcom can count to three, I assumed that meant that they also improved their games with each successive sequel. A�Sure, I knew that they often didn’t necessarily improve when they released the in between expansions for each game, but they had to make the sequels better, right? A�I excitedly told Aiden that they made the graphics better and added new characters. A�Sadly, only one of those was true. A�There were actually less characters and they didn’t even necessarily pick the good ones to include in the game.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 2
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Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Of course, the game featured all of the familiar faces from both Capcom and Marvel. A�Ryu, Sagat, Ken, Spidey, and Hulk all made the cut. A�So did some secondary characters like Dormammu, Moon Knight, the Darkstalkers girls, and the guy from Ghosts and Goblins. A�Deadpool and X-23 were added with a few others, but Zangief is gone. A�Probably the most egregious omission is the mummy guy from Darkstalkers. A�I accidentally discovered this move that turns the oppponent into this tiny zombie looking robot thing. A�Aiden and I laughed hysterically any time that I managed to land the attack. A�That’s what games are all about. A�Finding a move in a fighting game that makes both you and your 8-year old son giggle in the same way and spam it to no end.

Another strike against the third game is that Christine found the case. A�She asked, “Is this appropriate for them to play?” A�I asked what she meant and that I played it with Aiden and saw no problems. A�She replied, “It’s rated T.” A�I rolled my eyes. A�”Probably for cartoon violence or something.” A�To be honest, I never checked the ratings and felt a bit embarrassed by that. A�When I checked, I was flabbergasted. A�Partial nudity and sexual themes? A�WTF? A�I’m not sure that I played that game. A�I did a little research and I guess that it is due to the Darkstalkers ladies and Deadpool says a few potentially offensive things. A�I think that they were a bit heavy handed with the rating, but I can see their point. A�Some parents and children might be more sensitive to these issues.

All things considered, the second game seems like the obvious choice. A�No Deadpool and there are the ridiculously sexist costumes for some characters mentioned above, but they are overshadowed by the sheer number of other characters and easily avoided. A�I would give the game a try yourself first to see if that is something that you don’t find too offensive. A�If you find that it is okay for you and your kids, then get your kids to fight with each other and not worry about the destruction of property as a result.

…in a fighting game. Continue reading

Into the Mouth of Hell All By Myself

(Editor’s Note: A�Ever been so sure of something only to be proven completely wrong? A�Enjoy watching me eat a nice helping of crow.)

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of World of Warcraft. A�I have not enjoyed this latest expansion as much as I thought and I might even be in the twilight of my WoW playing days. A�I start with this statement to immediately clear up any misconception right away. A�I like Wow, which immediately brands me as a Blizzard fanboy. A�As with most generalizations, this one is simply not true. A�I enjoy Heroes of the storm and occasionally tolerate Hearthstone when I can, but I have never even played any Starcraft game and only played Diablo III completely by chance.

I knew of the Diablo games, but only came upon Diablo III as a result of a WoW promotion. A�Unlike many players in the game, I never even played Diablo II. A�I know that is considered a sin because DII is widely thought to be one of the best games made and possibly Blizzard’s greatest game. A�I just wasn’t much of a PC gamer at the time. A�By the time I started gaming on my computer, WoW became my loot filled addiction. A�As tends to happen, that addiction became a potential gateway into others.

Blizzard ran a promotion that got you access to Diablo III if you signed up for their WoW annual pass testing. A�I had nothing to lose and another game to gain, so I joined the test. A�True to their word, I received a code for Diablo II and downloaded it using their Battle.Net app. A�Having never played DII might have worked to my advantage. A�All I kept hearing from other players was how much DIII sucked mainly because it wasn’t DII. A�I came into the game without that baggage and could decide for myself. A�Unfortunately, whether or not you played the previous game, DIII was not that great of a game. A�I played it for a couple of weeks or maybe a month, off and on, and then stopped in favor of other games. A�It wasn’t terrible. A�It just was not very fun. A�Blizzard patsA�A�themselves on the back forA�making fun games. A�They really missed on this one.

More recently, Scott Johnson from The Instance podcast mentioned how much he liked the console version of the game as a couch coop game. A�He is an admitted Blizzard fan boy, so I considered the source. A�Nevertheless, always on the lookout for new games for the web page and podcast, I ordered the game from Gamefly. A�When Chris and I got too busy over the holidays to play or record, the game sat at the bottom of my gaming bag. A�We started recording again and I suggested DIII during our most recent game night as a topic for the digital playground.

Part of the problem with the game is that it starts off slow. A�Really slow. A�I know that games are supposed to start off with training wheels to give you time to find your footing (sorry for the mixed metaphor), but DIII’s beginning is annoyingly slow. A�There is entirely too much talking and not nearly enough action. A�I know that Blizzard prides itself on story (mostly ripped off from other sources) and those stories are sometimes actually very good, but there has to be a balance. A�Diablo III, in my opinion, goes too far in the direction of story at first. A�That certainly led to my less than favorable first impression of the game. A�It nearly made me just say forget it and go back to the drawing board for the podcast.

Luckily, it didn’t take too long for the action to increase. A�We were soon up to our eyeballs in zombies, demons, skeletons, and other supernatural foes. A�Once that happened, the game was really fun. A�We played through until our tired brains wouldn’t allow us to focus well enough to progress anymore. A�After we played, Chris wrote in an article that he enjoyed himself and I finally did, too. A�For me, Diablo III is much better as a multiplayer game. A�Heck, it might even only be fun on consoles as a couch coop like Scott Johnson mentioned. A�I do know that i wasn’t fun to play by myself. A�But, I’m going to try it again. A�Hey, you can’t say that I didn’t give it a chance.

Maybe I’m stubborn. A�Maybe I’m just trying to figure it out. A�Like most gamers, when there’s a game that I don’t like but probably should, I want to know why. A�For what it is, DIII is a good game. A�Other gamers who play it really like it. A�I play the game by myself and I don’t like it and I’m not sure why.

Maybe it just isn’t my style of game. A�That’s often where you start when trying to assess a game. A�I always thought that I didn’t like MOBAs until I started playing Heroes of the Storm. A�Turns out that I jus tdidn’t like playing with the jerks who normally play those games. A�Heroes of the Storm is less competitive (offers less competitive game modes, at least) so you can avoid much of the toxicity of the MOBA community. A�That’s not the case with DIII, either. A�I have played other ARPGs extensively and they are fun. A�Another game that had a dubious launch was Marvel Heroes. A�People hated that game. A�Initially, so did I. A�The roster of heroes (and especially free starter heroes) was horribly small. A�The story was strong, but the gameplay was repetitive with little payoff. A�However, the the developers took feedback seriously, tuned the game, released more heroes, and the game became the most improved MMO of last year. A�The gameplay is still repetitive, but now there are more ways to play the game to keep it fresh. A�I play Marvel Heroes daily and have leveled two characters to max level with a third almost there. A�Even though the game is free to play, I even bough a character to support the developers and encourage them to keep improving the game.

The other game that I really like from this genre is Torchlight II. A�Around the time that I abandoned DIII for the first time, I learned of the Torchlight series. A�Several people called it “the game that DIII should have been.” A�It wasn’t F2P, but it was only 20 dollars on Steam. A�Even though I wondered how such a cheap game could compete with one that cost 60 dollars, I bought it. A�That was when I learned that my life long pursuit of being a cheap gamer would finally pay off in a big way.

(Before I proceed, let me explain. A�Skip ahead if you want. A�It won’t hurt my feelings. A�Once upon a time, I paid full price for a Playstation. A�Not a Playstation 2 or 3, but an original Playstation. A�That tells you how long ago this happened. A�As these stories generally go, a couple of months (or weeks, I remember it as weeks) later the price dropped. A�I vowed after that to never pay full price for a game again. A�Other than a couple of games (ironically, mostly when I was unemployed), I have stuck to that vow. A�One of the side effects of this is that I rarely get to play a game when it is new. A�Usually that isn’t a problem because I’m not much of an online gamer. A�Lately, it has been even less of a problem because of the proliferation of F2P.)

Thankfully, I was wrong. A�Torchlight II is amazingly full featured for such an inexpensive game. A� A�Everyone who suggested it as a substitute was right. A�It played nearly identical to Diablo III at one-third the price. A�Furthermore, I played the game both by myself and with my friend Kevin. A�I had fun playing both modes, but I actually played the hell out of the game by myself. A�Like Marvel Heroes, I played all the way to the end. A�i haven’t gotten a character to max level yet. A�I have done some end game and started another to play through again. A�What about those games makes them more fun than DIII? A�Let’s explore.

Diablo is much darker than the other two games. A�I don’t mean the story. A�While that might be true, the colors of DIII are very dingy. A�It reminds me of Batman from The Lego Movie if he added brown to his palette. A�Kevin and I both talked about this in Episode 2 of the podcast that got lost in the murky nether realm of dead hard drives. A�Even with a less than happy tale, Torchlight II still manages to use many shades of all the colors of the spectrum. A�Marvel Heroes, of course, inhabits the colorful comic book world. A�Granted, color scheme can’t be the only reason, but it can make for a dull play experience.

There is also the slow story ramp of Diablo. A�I don’t think that I can overstate that. A�Not knowing much about the story of Diablo might have hurt me in this regard, too, because I didn’t care too much about the characters or what was happening to them. A�The thing that got me through the Marvel Heroes introduction was my connection to the characters and stories. A�Like Diablo, I knew nothing about the Torchlight story, but the Outlander class kept me interested in the game until I got interested in the story. A�Perhaps that is my problem with Diablo III.

Let’s try something else. A�I’ve got the new video capture card for the computer. A�Maybe I can test it out with Diablo and try again. A�Up until this point, I’ve picked a Witch Doctor. A�Maybe that is the problem. A�Maybe I just don’t like class of Witch Doctor. A�I thought that it might be cool with the description and the spells available, but let’s try something else. A�I really liked Outlander in Torchlight II. A�Is there anything like that in Diablo? A�Turns out that the Demon Hunter looks similar to the Outlander. A�I’ll pick that. A�Also, as I was setting up the video capture card, the introduction of the story played through. A�I had skipped through it every other time playing the game.

Both the introduction and the new selection of class seems to have worked. A�It changed my mind about the game. A�I love hearing the *bang, bang* of the Demon Hunter’s gun as I blow stuff up. A�Not literally, yet. A�I don’t know if enemies explode when you kill them like they sometimes do in Torchlight II. A�If not, add that to the list of things that make TII better. A�In either case, I was wrong about Diablo III. A�The game is a fun game as long as you find the right class to play. A�My final piece of advice. A�Witch Doctor might not be the right class. A�Get out there and kick some demon butt.