Shnozisms

Playstation and Me: Reunited

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:56:47 -0700

Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony. Three dominant console makers with thee distinct images. Nintendo caters to nostalgia fans and a younger audience, creating characters and franchises focussing on platforming and reusing them well beyond the amount of times they should. Microsoft focuses on the more adult gamer, excelling in creating iconic shooting franchises that are epic in scale and have you cursing online at nine year olds. And Sony, they create some sort of adult aimed third person action adventure platformers that engross you in their worlds and grow up alongside their systems. I just recently started playing some Playstation titles after a 5 year stint with my XBOX 360 and I realize that I was missing out on some amazing Sony games.

It started with my purchase of a PS3 a few months ago. I bought an XBOX 360 in 2006 and it has been my baby ever since. We’ve had many late nights together, pouring countless hours into Gears of War, Halo, and Call of Duty and even made it through a Red Ring of Death. I love my 360 and I love shooting shit, which is something that Microsoft is very good at allowing me to do. A few months ago, Gamestop sent me a coupon for $100 off of a brand new 160gig PS3 and there was no way in hell I was going to pass up that offer, even if the PSN outage had been going on for a few weeks. I had held out on buying a PS3 because I really did not see an appealing line up of games, but I may have been a bit polluted in my thinking.

Games are now $60 a pop. Thats fucking outrageous. Especially if you are a student who has to pay for those games yourself. For years, I have been having to weigh my options and decide which game would be worthy of a purchase. Usually, it would come down to the game’s lasting appeal. If I am shelling out that much money for a game, I want the one that is the most fun, while also keeping me entertained for a good amount of time. Thats why I have been drawn to shooters. With Microsoft’s strong XBOX Live online gaming, the shooters I play provide for hundreds of hours of online replayability that brings something fresh with every new gamer I am matched up against. That, and I also absolutely love talking shit on my headset. There is something so satisfying to tell someone to eat shit after you blow their head off. And that has been great, but the PS3 helped me get back into the type of valuable games that I started off playing with as a kid.

Ratchet and Clank. Jack and Daxter. Crash Bandicoot. Ico. God of War. The PS2 started franchises that were epic to play through with worlds you could lose yourself in. I remember aging alongside Jack and Daxter and laughing with every new installation of Ratchet and Clank with its witty jokes. I played those games for hours, trying to obtain every new weapon upgrade and find all the collectibles within the levels. In today’s generation, Sony has created two new exclusive IPs that have become synonymous with the Playstation brand itself: Uncharted and Infamous. In the past few weeks, I have played through both the Uncharted’s and am currently nearing the end of the first Infamous title. Holy shit. These games rock. Uncharted has one of the best storylines I have experienced and beautiful visuals. Infamous gives way to a unique main character Cole, a normal citizen who is unwillingly given electric super powers and has to choose between saving people or wrecking havoc on the city. The stories are refreshing and you can clearly tell the developers made that element one of their top priorities.

But a game cannot be good without excellent gameplay, and these two franchises have both. The platforming in both games is seamless, jumping from rock to rock or window to window is done with ease and fluidity. The karma system in Infamous really transforms you into Cole, as it constantly makes you think about your actions and changes the game based on your choices. I am being an absolute ass hole in Infamous right now and just reached the highest bad karma ranking. Now when I walk the streets, citizens start yelling obsenities and hurl rocks at me. Finally, a game that actually recognizes your decisions and alters the game to make you realize the consequences.

Not only are the games engrossing, but they are fucking hard. In Uncharted, there were countless parts of the main story that took me 10 or more tries to get through, and missions of Infamous that were 20+. Thats a game. It forces you to be the master of the craft, to explore different ways of tackling an obstacle and rewards you with pure satisfaction when you come out on top. Too often in current gaming there is an easy way out of difficult challenges or merely no real challenges at all. In order to beat Infamous, you have to learn all of Cole’s powers and use each one to beat the increasingly difficult enemies. And for Uncharted, perfecting the use of the cover system and Drake’s climbing abilities is crucial to beating his adventure.

Sony may not have the best controller or online service, but it really has brought some amazing new AAA third person action adventure titles to the current generation. With the expansive number of titles the Playstation has been home to over the past 16 years, Sony’s 1st party games have branded their consoles in a favorable way. When I think of Playstation, I see it as a console that nurtures story driven adventure titles of quality. It is a smart spot they have put themselves in, having a brand image that captures an entirely different segment of the market compared to Microsoft and Nintendo. If they keep delivering more of these story driven adventure experiences, the Playstation will surely have a lengthy and successful life.

And now its back to Infamous for me.

-ACK

Concert: LA Rising

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:48:56 -0700

“It has to start somewhere It has to start sometime

What better place than here, what better time than now?”

I have been trying all week to find the right words to describe LA Rising. Turns out I was trying to do impossible. I can’t describe it to you. You just had to be there. Even as I remember being in the mosh pit 10 feet from the stage with 8 huge speaker stacks blasting Rage Against the Machine into my ears, theres no way to fully get across exactly how pumped I was to be there. If you weren’t there, you missed out. Perhaps this picture can put it in perspective.

To many more years of LA Rising.

-ACK

Concert: Childish Gambino

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:17:32 -0700

“Trust in Gambino

He has never failed us

Cuzz I have got S

plus what a dog’s tail does”

Free music is becoming a trend that many underground artists are pursuing on the internet. Artists and groups have proven to be extremely successful after releasing their music for free, such as OFWGKTA who have sold out tours on the East Coast and Europe. Another rapper who has followed the same line of distribution is writer and television star Donald Glover, who goes by his Wu-Tang Clan name generator alias: Childish Gambino. The actor turned musician has created quite a following after releasing 6 free mixtapes on his blog (iamdonald.com), and filled the House of Blues- San Diego to capacity this past Sunday for a concert.

Having been a Gambino fan for about a year now, I was crushed when I found out I could not attend his comedy/rap tour earlier this year. But to my surprise, I stumbled upon a event listing online for a performance in San Diego and did not hesitate to buy a ticket. The venue was perfect for a show like Gambino’s. I am now glad that I missed his main tour, because I cannot think of a better venue than the small basement concert hall at the House of Blues to hear Gambino’s dopeness.

Childish Gambino sportin the Adventure Time tee- Photo Cred: Kaitlin Nicole

After a female DJ finished her opening set, Gambino took to the stage along with his 4 band mates to the roar from the audience. Sporting a Adventure Time t-shirt and short shorts, he performed all his hit songs to an audience that kept asking for more. His hits span a wide range of hip-hop, with a handful of songs featuring Gambino singing falsetto hooks while others had a very rock-rap feel. Gambino has often joked about his own style of music and fan base, as he has taken shit for not being “real rap.” However myself and all of his fans can think he can hang with most of the well known rappers out there, and can even one up them like he did when he rapped over T.I’s beat in the song Its On.

Wanting to provide his dedicated fans with a treat, near the end of his performance Gambino let the audience know that he had been working on a new album in the studio for 3 days straight, and that he was ready to give them a sneak peak at his new single. And man did it fucking rock. A few of the lines that stuck out to me involved ”Invader Zim” and “Casey Anthony,” both which received equal amounts of uproar and applause from the fans.

Glover’s stage pr essence was probably the best part of the show. On stage with four of his friends, he made it feel like an extremely personal and riveting experience. Half way through the show, plastic cups appeared on stage and all 5 of the band members took a shot together mid song. Fucking bomb. It was very clear how much fun they had performing together. And not to mention their talent. One of his buddies was skilled in both the violin and drums while the other rocked a keyboard and electric guitar.

This Childish Gambino concert kicked off the first of six upcoming concerts I will be attending this summer, and I’ll be surprised if any of them will be able to be a more satisfying musical experience. Glover left the stage after promising something new on his website on Monday, hopefully a mastered version of his new single. His upcoming album is scheduled for release in September. Do yourself a favor and go out and get it.

Fuck Rap Cool.

-ACK

Comic Con 2011: Attack of the Lines

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:54:50 -0700

For years, my idea of comic con was exactly how its name sounds, pure comic geekdom. I am not a huge fan of comics (I enjoy watching them when animated in shows but have never gotten into reading them) so I have never really had a huge interest in attending. Until a few years ago. My high school friends started going to Comic Con and kept coming back with stories about movie sneak peaks, exclusive television series trailers, and pictures of a bunch of my favorite actors. I soon discovered that Comic Con had grown to a convention about more than just comics, but also attracting video games and the television and film industry. It took me a while, but I finally put some time aside and bought tickets for this year’s Con.

Today was my first day at Comic Con and may be my last. From the moment I was within sight of the convention center I knew I was going to have a problem. A big problem. A 125,000 people problem. Comic Con has just become too big. I know it may be my first one and I have no previous year to compare it to, but the exhibit hall is almost impossible to move through. And the biggest problem comes to those who are interested in the panels like myself. The lines to get into the special Ballroom 20 and Hall H were over 2500 people deep and took more than four and a half hours to get through. I actually missed the Game of Thrones panel (the only one I really wanted to see) even thought I waited some four hours to get in. Since the convention already charges a price to enter, I am not a fan of spending more than half of my day in a line. This is also part of the reason I have grown to hate Disneyland.

Lines aside, I did eventually manage to get into Ballroom 20 and sit through 2 panels. The first was a TV Guide Fan Favorite panel consisting of a few select characters from this years big TV shows such as Big Bang Theory, Vampire Diaries, and Dr. Who. It was an entertaining panel but nothing really special. The second panel was the one I wanted to see, which was the Showtime panel. I got to hear interviews of the casts of Homeland, Shameless, and DEXTER! The Dexter panel was amazing. There were a lot of good laughs, a nice premiere trailer for the new season, and even Mos Def made a surprise appearance. It was really cool to hear some of my favorite TV actors talk in person about their roles and what direction they feel the show is going in. It definitely made up for the frustratingly long wait in line.

It was cool to experience a new convention, but I do not believe it is something that I will attend again in the future. A lot of these events are getting way too jam packed and making the experience much less exciting. I think exclusivity is one thing that can drive shows and industries such as this, and trying to make it accessible to more people each year is just killing the convention. I propose they just create a whole side convention for movies and television, and keep comic con to its dedicated fan base. Oh, and a whole separate convention for Twilight fans because no one wants to be around them.

-ACK

Electronic Entertainment Expo

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:25:00 -0700

E3 is one of the largest video game trade shows in the world. It is industry exclusive and is home to some of the biggest reveals each year. Every since I can remember, I have dreamt about attending E3 and being the first one to try a new game or console. And after waiting a good number of years, I am extremely lucky to say that I have attended E3 - for the past 2 years in a row.

It all started with my brother. In 2010, he dropped some news on a late spring day that he could possibly be going to E3 that year. The emotions that went through me at that moment ranged from excitement, envy, frustration, anger, and ended with pure hatred of my brother. I mean, he was going to live my dream. He told me that he had a buddy working for a 3rd party peripheral manufacturer and that he was going to get him a pass as a birthday present. Now, me and my brother have a sort of love-hate relationship, leaning more towards the hate side at that time. But boy, did I really try to suck up to him. I told him I would do anything if he could get me in some how. I think what we decided on was I could never say no when he asked me to play a video game with him (I used to boycott playing games with him when he was being a giant dick). Without a second though, I said yes immediately and could feel my dream starting to become something tangible.

I badgered him day after day to find out any new developments in the retrieval of the pass. Finally, he came back with news one day that his friend had secured a badge for him. And to my surprise, my brother said I could have the pass for 2 out of the 3 days because he would not be able to attend them. TWO WHOLE DAYS! I nearly pissed myself. I was going to E3. I was going to achieve one of my dreams from when I was a little boy. I dont know what to compare it to for the non-gamer, but holy shit its like the superbowl of conventions.

I waited in anticipation for each day leading up to the convention until the day finally arrived. I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up at 6am on Tuesday, June 15th and shot out of bed. I got barely any sleep that night because of all the nervousness and excitement I was feeling, just like before the first day of Jr. High. I got ready as fast as I could and shot out the door, with my sights set on the 5 freeway and the LA Convention center. So I had to sit through about an hour of traffic just on the Convention center exit itself, who cares. I was talking to people in the cars next to me, everyone was pumped about E3 and could not wait to get in.

When I finally walked through the convention doors and reached the show floor, I experienced a nerdgasm of epic proportions… Holy Fuck. This was the trade show of all trade shows. I was standing in front of huge booths towering above me. Capcom, EA, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, THQ, and so many more- they each had their own huge presence and unique booththat blew mymind away. Hundreds of games being shown on gigantic TV’s simultaneously all under one roof. All I really remember from

that day was the beginning, because the rest of it was a blur of bright lights, booth babes, and all around video game epicness. I played tons of games and even previewed the Nintendo 3DS, but that was

not even the best part of the expo. It was the people that really made the event. I talked to a bunch of people: fans, game designers, programmers, journalists, just about anyone I could. I love meeting new people and hearing what they have to say and a lot of them blew me away with their approachability and passion for games. That Tuesday and Thursday of E3 2010 rocked my world.

Then 2011 rolled around and fortunately, I was able to attend the expo once again. This time, I was only able to go on the last day of the expo, but I made the most out of it. I noticed this year that the lines were a lot longer than usual, but I ended up being able to try out the WiiU and play a bunch of new games and some of my favorites from the year prior. It was really cool that I was able to see the progress of some games from one year to the next, such as one of my favorite franchises TWISTED METAL.

And once again, the part that really made the show memorable was the people. I must have played Driver: San Francisco for a good hour. Just about the whole time I was at the booth, I was talking to one of the lead level designers. I could not believe that I was actually talking with the guy who made the game, while driving around in the city that he designed. During one of the multiplayer matches I played in, I started a conversation with a man by the name of Christopher Foley, who is a salesman for a rapid game prototyping company. He told me his story of getting into the industry and about the ups and downs of his career. He used to work as a head programmer for the GameDay franchise and gave me the low down on how the NFL 2K franchise basically ran them out of business (I was sad to hear it but I still consider NFL 2K5 the best football game of all time). He was an awesome guy and told me to keep in touch after hegave me his card. Wooo connections!

I also had a chance to talk with an Associate Producer from Ubisoft Singapore, Samrat Sharma, who was showing off Ghost Recon on the WiiU but let his partner take over while he talked to me. I asked him about his job and life in Singapore and we talked until the Nintendo people forced me to leave the booth. Samrat was really down to earth and basically told me that its going to take a lot of grunt work to get to where I want to be, but to stick to it. He also gave me his card and told me to contact him when I finish getting my degree. Wooo connection number 2!

The last cool experience I had was playing GEARS OF WAR 3 Horde Mode with the head programmer on Mass Effect 3. There were a couple of times during the match that I had to revive him, and I was totally pumped that I was doing better than a guy who makes the games. Best game of the show that I got to play: Gears 3.

I’m a huge geek, and I fucking love it. And I cannot believe that I got to live my dream twice in a row, and did so by the time I was 19. Keeping my fingers crossed for next year. Come through again for me brother!

-ACK

No experience necessary

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:19:00 -0700

I made a tumblr. It seems to be more popular than blogspot now so I figured I would give it a shot. Shnozisms is my proof that i can write. I am thinking of having a future in video game editorial and I need to start a portfolio of some sorts. This will be where i write reviews, commentary, opinions, and just stuff I find interesting in all areas of the entertainment industry. My goal is to be at IGN come Summer 2012.