tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55989658253044621202024-03-14T02:20:03.357-07:00Difficulty: NoviceReflections on video gaming from a veteran but casual gamerBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-8733962593803688292014-07-07T12:47:00.003-07:002014-07-07T12:47:51.804-07:00More on Shovel KnightPeople are talking about making Shovel Knight "Game of the Year" now. That would be like awarding the Oscar for Best Picture to a clever Taco Bell commercial. In people's desire to praise a fun retro game, they're going way too far. They want to stick it the the big publishers and their fancy AAA games, but let's not go crazy here. I honestly don't care whether Shovel Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-31926179826947479842014-06-27T08:47:00.000-07:002014-06-27T08:47:06.612-07:00Retro Games As a Way of Avoiding Quality StandardsIGN's video review of the game, Shovel Knight calls it [the reviewer's] favorite game of 2014 so far. How can that be, with games like Titanfall and Watch Dogs coming out this year? And if someone really likes retro games, what about Strider HD or Trials Fusion?
Now, I haven't played Shovel Knight and don't want to. It looks fun enough, but I played so many games like that in Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-47913460597026989432011-09-02T12:27:00.001-07:002011-09-02T12:28:18.270-07:00Nintendo’s RegressionNintendo’s Wii U is designed around an ill-convinced, regressive, illogical idea of a large, expensive, complicated, touchscreen controller.  I’m sure it’ll be a good game system overall, but the large touchscreen controller is so unnecessary. Nintendo came up with the concept, I think, because they didn’t know where else to go.  Now that the XBox and Playstation have their own Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-49127404775806801952011-02-19T09:46:00.000-08:002011-02-21T11:07:10.696-08:00Converted To Modern Games Modern games are better and more fun to play than retro games.  That may not sound like a bold proclamation, but for me it represents a complete attitude change. It’s been about a year since I bought an Xbox 360 and started this blog.  If you remember, I mainly got the Xbox is order to play old school style games.  A good example is Bionic Commando:Rearmed.  At the timeBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-6482604654987772732010-11-08T10:19:00.001-08:002010-11-08T10:19:47.177-08:00The NFL Needs to Fire Electronic ArtsFor those who don’t know, the NFL has an agreement with Electronic Arts to make their Madden NFL games the only games that can use NFL team and player names.  This deal has been in place since 2004. This deal is obviously bad for gamers.  Even those who love the Madden series should realize that competition improves the quality of games.  It forces developers to be innovative, to Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-3657129478043496032010-10-26T20:31:00.000-07:002010-10-26T20:31:59.538-07:00Sonic RevisionismThe biggest mistake the Sega made in regards to Sonic 4 Episode I was in naming it.  They should have named it Sonic HD, Sonic Retro, or something like that.  The game is classic Sonic on today’s consoles, but the name doesn’t convey that. It’s a minor mistake, but given the amount of complaining about it not being original and rehashing the levels form the Genesis games, a different Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-36756302454745747252010-09-24T14:15:00.001-07:002010-10-27T13:20:16.365-07:00Too Much Old-School AppealPac-Man Championship Edition has been praised by some as the best version of Pac-Man ever.  I played the demo and it does seems like a very good version of the game.  But, there are a couple of major sub-optimal things about it that I noticed immediately. Take a look at this screen from the game: The graphics are like the original Pac-Man with lightning effects.  Namco Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-17638538984604680062010-08-10T11:43:00.001-07:002010-08-11T06:45:21.969-07:00The Failure that was Zelda III enjoyed the Angry Video Game Nerd’s recent review of the NES game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (a warning to those not familiar with James – his reviews are full of extremely salty language).  However, I can’t agree with his assessment that it’s a great game despite its flaws. The problem is not that it’s mostly a side-scroller, with the other Zelda games being from and overhead Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-41275057801387441022010-08-05T14:18:00.001-07:002010-08-05T14:18:40.900-07:00Demo Assessment: Castlevania Harmony of DespairCastlevania Harmony of Despair sounds like it would be right up my alley.  In an earlier post I said, “Konami and everyone else -- we will gladly pay $15+ for classic games on our modern consoles if you put some effort into optimizing them. Widescreen and high definition are the main things I want. Achievements, enhancements, different modes of play are also nice.”  CHoD has all of Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-58098819733715273942010-07-27T07:17:00.001-07:002010-07-27T08:20:58.836-07:00A Retrospective on RTS GamesKotaku’s Visual Guide to RTS games makes me feel like a wise video game sage, since I played so many of the formative RTS games.  (Click here for a Seadragon version of the image to the right). Let me first talk about Herzog Zwei, considered by some to be the first RTS game. It’s the first one I played, at least. My friend Scott was given it as a gift.  We were expecting to to be aBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-39555675826655502782010-07-23T12:39:00.001-07:002010-07-23T12:39:13.214-07:00Demo Assessment: Limbo Limbo has the most distinctive graphics I’ve seen in a game.  It’s a beautiful, amazing game to look at.  As you can see from the screen shot, it’s incredibly minimalistic.  The puzzles (in the demo, at least) are similarly reductionist.  At most of the obstacles in the demo, my first thought was usually, “how in the world am I going to get past this?”  There is Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-32493607862840014622010-06-09T10:45:00.001-07:002010-06-09T14:03:14.787-07:00Thoughts on Video Game MoviesA movie based on a video game should only be made if the game has a good story that stands on its own.  To think that a movie should be made out of a game because the game is fun and popular is so absurd it’s hard to understand how anyone could believe it.  Cashing in on name recognition is the motivation of Hollywood, but there’s no reason to think a good movie will result. Of course,Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-48206935929137684822010-06-04T13:13:00.001-07:002010-06-04T13:15:37.647-07:00Video Games Are Optional There are not 1001 video games you must play before you die.  There’s not even one video game you must play before you die.  If there was a book titled, 1001 Stamps You Must Collect or 1001 Baskets You Must Weave, the absurdity would be obvious.  It should be just as obvious for lists of video games, books, movies, etc. that someone thinks you must consume. Video games are a Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-51230325069785765822010-06-04T06:22:00.001-07:002010-06-04T06:22:29.455-07:00Konami is LearningFirst they announced Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot, now a new Contra game called Hard Corps: Uprising.  Konami seems to be following my advice.  Here’s a quick review: The Wrong Way to Bring a Classic Game to a Modern Console: Example 1 (Super Contra for XBox Live Arcade) Example 2 (Contra:Rebirth For Nintendo Wii) (If you look at the screen shot above and think, “those graphicsBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-60566638541693477312010-06-03T11:02:00.001-07:002010-06-03T11:02:09.772-07:00Demo Assessment: The Bourne ConspiracyFor reasons too boring to go into, I decided to check out the demo of The Bourne Conspiracy game that was released about 2 years go.  The demo covers the escape from the US Swiss embassy that’s depicted in The Bourne Identity movie.  This Youtube video covers what’s in the demo: The demo was frustrating for me.  Early into it, Bourne has to slide under a closing gate.  You Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-84736336620478454162010-05-20T09:34:00.001-07:002010-05-20T12:18:51.167-07:00Sick of Playing Level 1 I’m too lazy and unqualified to critique the video game canon list created by video game scholars.  Everyone’s going to have their own ideas about what should and shouldn’t be on a list like that, but few people were continuously up-to-speed on developments in both the PC and console gaming worlds throughout the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s.   I have more gaming experience than Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-72164091687672188162010-04-28T12:08:00.001-07:002011-02-21T08:23:15.404-08:00The Juvenile Plea for More DarknessThis recent post in IGN.com asks for the upcoming Batman:Arkham Asylum 2 to be darker than its predecessor.  More specifically, it asks for more brutality and on-screen violence, including torture: “…let's have some villains establish why they belong in Gotham's home for the criminally insane.” “Let's have [Talia al Ghul] take three cops out in her first appearance.” “Let's have [Two FaceBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-19795169053788740412010-04-22T09:26:00.001-07:002010-04-22T12:13:20.933-07:00Sega Gets It Right With After Burner:ClimaxAfter Burner was a staple in arcades in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  It was almost impossible to go to an arcade and not see an After Burner machine.  In Terminator 2, John Conner plays After Burner in the mall arcade.  It’s an iconic game from that era. Part of its draw was its attractive cabinet.  You wanted to play this game for the experience.  This was not Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-33307520664962034592010-04-21T12:33:00.000-07:002010-04-21T13:10:51.632-07:00Just Give Us the Best Version You HaveThe Sega Genesis had many games that were ported from the arcade, most of which ran on the System 16 board.  The Genesis was pretty powerful for its time and its games were close to their arcade counterparts as a whole.  But, it wasn't quite as powerful as the System 16, so Sega couldn't just run the exact arcade games on the Genesis that ran on System 16.  When you compare them, Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-85489960015042180202010-04-16T11:09:00.000-07:002010-04-16T11:09:37.573-07:00Mega Man Franchise Moving BackwardsI was never a big fan of Mega Man games. They always seemed frustratingly difficult. Mega Man's standard weapon is underpowered. You often need to fire at an advancing opponent and retreat since you can't stop it in time. I realize that there needs to be a challenge, and that you shouldn't be able to simply overwhelm enemies with firepower. But I like it when games Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-15448929004415157122010-04-12T09:38:00.000-07:002010-04-12T13:16:15.557-07:00Bringing a Classic Game to Modern Consoles The Right WayI was not a fan of the 8-bit NES / arcade game Rush'n Attack. But the planned remake looks cool.
It looks like Konami saw the awesome Bionic Command:Rearmed and decided to try with one of their old games. I'll definitely check it out when it's released, but I'm wondering why Konami opted for Rush'n Attack over something like Contra. Contra is one of the most fondly-remembered 8-bitBen Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-5320465115015398592010-04-01T08:22:00.000-07:002010-04-01T08:22:46.416-07:00Batman: Arkham Asylum -- How I Came AroundSince I acquired an XBox 360, I've downloaded a lot of demos of games that I have no interest in buying or playing for more than 10 minutes. I wanted to see the graphics and sound that the games today are capable of. But I didn't have that much interest in becoming immersed in a game. Batman: Arkham Asylum was the game that overcame that resistance.
I was initially impressed with the game's Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-41839591436362019982010-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:002010-04-01T11:23:06.117-07:00Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - One Piece of Advice for Sega
If these Sonic the Hedgehog 4 videos are legitimate, the game looks good and about what I'd expect from a 2D Sonic on a current generation console. Since it will be an XBox Live Arcade game, I'm sure I'll be willing to shell out $10-$15 for it.
But I would suggest this to Sega -- zoom the camera out at times. Perhaps you could have it zoom out in proportion to how fast Sonic is Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-62299218180241465532010-03-31T09:14:00.000-07:002010-03-31T09:14:47.955-07:00Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Playable Joker Levels -- So WrongThe playable Joker challenges in Batman: Arkham Asylum are exclusive the Playstation 3 version of the game, but my criticism of them is not due to the fact that as an XBox 360 owner, I can't play them. I would feel this way even if they were an XBox 360 exclusive.
The playable Joker levels are so, so wrong. It's not that they're completely out-of-character for the Joker, which they are, but Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5598965825304462120.post-37016003140990834932010-03-24T10:42:00.000-07:002010-03-24T11:06:27.164-07:00Batman: Arkham Asylum Delivers a Critical Blow to 16-bit NostalgiaLast year I read a review of Batman: Arkham Asylum that called it the first good Batman game. I immediately objected, "But the Sega Genesis Batman was great!" But after playing B:AA and seeing how good a Batman game (or any kind of game) can be, my nostalgia for the Genesis version faded, and that game seems like a cookie-cutter action platformer.
It may seem unfair that I'm Ben Osbornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06862093407696443942noreply@blogger.com0