Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
I hate the term ‘girl gamer’. In my eyes there should be no drama surrounding a girl with a penchant for killing dudes, yet specifically defining a woman who plays video games as a ‘girl gamer’ does just that.
When I attended Video Games Live in the summer of 2008, I watched as the host asked an excitable crowd of 2000+ geeks if there were any girl gamers attending. I sat idly, but the giggly girl next to me shot her arm into the air as if it were some kind of prolific achievement. Achievement Unlocked: You have a fucking vagina and enjoy Xbox. Well done.
A couple of nights ago as I was trudging through the Challenge mode in Batman: Arkham Asylum (which, by the way, is very hard), a message popped up from a GamerTag I didn’t recognise. I’m used to receiving messages and Friend Requests from randoms, and I can’t expect any less as I publish my GamerTag on my blog. I’ll always take the time to reply, as often it’s just someone saying they’ve read a post on here and agree, or someone asking for help in a game I’ve never played. But this night was unfortunately tarred by the breed of man who thinks that, because I’m a woman enjoying gaming, I must want to swap nude pictures with him. Well, I don’t. And if I did, I’d seek you out because I’m not afraid to ask for what I want.
Anyway, to cut what was a harmless exchange of messages short, he asked if I wanted to see his penis. This isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this over Xbox Live. In fact, I reckon about four or five men have asked me that question in the three years I’ve been on Xbox Live (on the bright side, at least they are polite enough to ask). I assumed this guy was just ‘all talk and no action’, so I sarcastically replied “Yes, please”. As I thought, I didn’t hear back from him… Until later in the night when I logged back on to find a picture message from him.
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Posted in Rants, Xbox Live | 13 Comments »
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
It would be no exaggeration to suggest the enduring difficulty of Veteran, and how much of a challenge completing the campaign on said difficulty proves to be, has become somewhat synonymous with the Call of Duty series. Whilst anyone can attempt and complete the game on Veteran with enough persistence, it is still never-the-less quite an accomplishment to end the campaign on such a climatic note. Instead of taking hours, missions can sometimes take days, often with your body getting acquainted with the floor more so than your gun. Indeed, it is not a challenge to be taken by those with little time, or by those with little patience.
Which is why, with Modern Warfare 2, many people skipped Veteran altogether and dived right in on either Normal or Hardened. For me, neither of those were an option, I was genuinely anticipating the challenge. And so I began battling my way through suburbia and snowy terrain expecting many of the tear-my-hair-out moments Call of Duty 4 provoked. Yet with each passing level, I was still waiting for that challenge to hit.
As I progressed with a steady pace throughout the campaign, I reached the half way milestone and was disappointed I had done so with relative ease. If you think back to past Call of Duty games, I’m sure there will be certain moments in each of the 6 installments that you remember advancing with sheer determination (I have only played 2,3,4, and 6). For example, in Call of Duty 4 the first mission which proved to be a real bastard was Charlie Don’t Surf, where you are in what appears to be a TV studio with Al-Asad’s speech being broadcast. Such levels set the pace for what those playing Veteran want — a real challenge. Why, then, was this absent from the latest Modern Warfare?
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Tags: Call of Duty, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward, Modern Warfare 2
Posted in Rants | 11 Comments »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Dear Microsoft, Xbox Live is now 7 years old, which begs the question, why are you still capping the friends list at 100? It’s stupid. My friends list has been full for several months, and I can’t make room for new friends without removing other friends. It’s stupid.
There are a couple of issues that irritate me here. Firstly, Xbox Live is a paid service. I put an annual £40 down for the privilege of using this service, so I feel this issue should have been addressed by now, especially as I’m not the first to raise it. Also your competitor’s alternative is entirely free, so maybe you should be trying harder at justifying the cost and keeping paid subscribers happy. Secondly, despite charging users for Xbox Live, you are clearly investing your time elsewhere. Most likely on creating ludicrous props for our Avatars, which, if we want to take advantage of, we also have to pay for. I still haven’t gotten over that goddam Q-tip. It’s stupid.
Microsoft, please invest your time - for once - into the good of your users, without profit being at the forefront of your agenda. I’m pretty sure no one bought the giant Q-tip. Maybe that time would have been better invested in something useful?
Tags: Avatars, Microsoft, Xbox Live
Posted in Asides, Rants, Xbox Live | 3 Comments »
Friday, September 18th, 2009
The second installment to the Guitar Hero series was no doubt the one that propelled the franchise into the mainstream, thus paving way for the rhythm action genre to enjoy huge commercial success. Everyone and their hamster were strapping plastic X-plorers around their neck, being seduced by the challenging tones of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird. But with the surge in popularity of glorified fisher price guitars came criticism directly aimed towards rhythm action.
Perhaps most notably, Nickelback’s frontman, Chad ‘do-you-like-my-perm’ Kroegar, blamed Guitar Hero for the lack of new talent in the US. In his interview with MTV, he urged kids to “Set down the ‘Guitar Hero…’”, and to “…learn how to play an actual guitar”. This particular news item actually appeared in my feed reader at the end of last year, but a couple of days ago I heard a similar quip from a friend through Facebook.
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Tags: Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, The Beatles Rock Band
Posted in General Gaming, Rants | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
It’s too easy to point your finger at Microsoft and criticize, but we do it anyway ‘cos it’s fun (and it’s mostly deserved). Over the course of writing this blog, I’ve aired some opinions in regards to how I feel Xbox Live could improve, of which there are many areas in need of a tweak or two. Xbox Live has come a long way since its inception, but there are still some issues I feel Microsoft should address.
Microsoft Points
Sony have most definitely outdone Microsoft in terms of their console’s currency system. Whilst Sony’s marketplace is disguised as PlayStation Network, it acts in the same way as Xbox Live Marketplace, offering gamers a chance to purchase arcade games and game add-ons. Microsoft charge everything via Marketplace through Microsoft Points, whereas Sony supports whatever your local currency may be. Okay, okay, so it’s pretty typical of Microsoft to not want to make things as simple as possible, therefore something we should come to expect.
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Tags: Games on Demand, Microsoft, Microsoft Points, Sony, Xbox Live
Posted in General Gaming, Rants, Xbox Live | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Some kind of Dashboard update was rolled out yesterday. I don’t know, I wasn’t paying too much attention. I have noticed, however, we can now purchase clothes and props for our Avatars. Personally, I’ve never payed much attention to my Avatar (as cute as she is with her red locks and leopard print trousers), but there has been one feature I’ve always yearned for, feeling my Avatar has been somewhat incomplete without it. I’m so glad Microsoft have now taken it into account and appropriately addressed it. ‘It’ being giant cotton buds, of course. What did you think I was talking about?!
Screw the camera prop, screw the guitar prop. Nothing says more about me than an oversized Q-tip. Fact. Unfortunately I’m a bit tight for cash these days, with any pennies going towards my soon-to-launch business. Therefore I couldn’t quite stretch to the 160 Microsoft points asked of me. Damn! I guess my Avatar will just have to settle for dirty ears, though her sailor hat does a good job of covering them up.
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Tags: Avatars, CandyStoreRock, Microsoft, Xbox Live
Posted in Rants, Xbox Live | 4 Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2009
I don’t own Halo 3, but if I did I’d have 1750 GamerPoints to chase. I thought Fallout 3’s 1450 worth of Achievements were bad, but no, Halo takes the hardcore biscuit. Remember when retail games capped at 1000? Arcade games at 200? It seems this was only to be the case in the 360’s infancy, back when gamers payed little notice to the fruitless digits tagging alongside their GamerTag.
Now developers deliver additional Achievements, usually in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC). Whatever the case, it’s to keep gamers coming back, to give us a bit of replay value for what we pay (though, more often than not, we also have to pay for the DLC). However, there’s also a degree of agitation, for me at least, that comes with each increase in cap.
You see, gaming can be an expensive hobby, and I don’t always feel comfortable spending significant amounts of money on it. Especially right now, I’m watching every spare penny, with any pocket money being invested into my business. For that reason I’ve found it useful trading/selling games I’ve completed and am no longer needing. In fact, I believe the pre-owned market is what makes high street retailer, GameStation, the most money, and is - on the flip side - the biggest cause of concern for developers.
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Tags: Achievements, Beneath The Ashes, DLC, Fable II, Fallout 3, Halo 3, Tomb Raider Underworld, Xbox Live
Posted in Rants, Xbox Live | 19 Comments »
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
I’ve been a member of Xbox Live for over two years, and within that time I’ve ventured ever-so-apprehensively into the murky waters of multiplayer on numerous occasions, namely with Rainbow Six: Vegas. I’ve been fortunate enough to have not had too many bad experiences. The occasional name calling (an Irish guy who referred to me as a “fucking clown”), a potentially nasty experience from playing a camera-based Aracde game (a presumptuous pervert who thought my sole intention of playing UNO was to see his “arrrd cock”), and being excluded from games because I have a vagina (me speaking up in the lobby, which lead to all-round cries of “It’s a girl!” *you have been kicked from the server*).
In fact, I would consider myself to be fairly lucky with how smooth my online experience has been. However, I’ve got to the stage where I wish there was an age filter on Xbox Live; something that would enable me control over what age groups I’m playing with. Because, for whatever reason, out of all the idiots I’ve encountered online, the ones I seem to be least tolerant of are the pre-pubescent kids who take the whole online competitive nature far too seriously.
A couple of days ago, after cleaning up all the single player Achievements in Skate 2 (bar the DLC ones), I decided to take my created skater, Candy, online for a bit of a Jam session. The Jam sessions basically involve 3 rounds, and whoever racks up the most points from pulling off tricks wins. Simple.
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Tags: Rainbow Six: Vegas, Skate 2, Xbox Live
Posted in Rants, Xbox Live | 20 Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Usually I won’t write about a game until I’ve played through the entirety of it. However, this is not a review. It’s a… a… I don’t know, a vent of frustration!
I’ve really enjoyed watching Jason Bourne’s adventures unfold in the Bourne trilogy on HD DVD. It was with much intrigue then that I followed the news of a Bourne video game, though with the stigma attached to licensed video games - and rightly so - I never expected anything more than a couple of hours of mindless action. However, the developers made a conscious decision not to model Bourne on Matt Damon (though I’ve since read that was down to “creative differences”), giving him an identity of his own, therefore making the game feel less like a movie tie-in.
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Tags: Fallout 3, Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Conspiracy
Posted in General Gaming, Rants | 5 Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
I raved about Microsoft’s Video Marketplace on the Xbox 360 several months ago when I popped my cherry with The Nanny Diaries.
Two nights ago I had a group of friends visiting, all of us in the mood for a few scares (watching The Descent the previous night should have put me off). With the closest Blockbuster having recently been closed down, probably due to this inconvenient recession we’re finding ourselves in, Video Marketplace was my only option for anything outside of my own DVD collection.
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Tags: Microsoft, Video Marketplace, Xbox Live
Posted in Rants, Xbox Live | 7 Comments »
Hmm. Uhh. Yeah. Skyrim. It’s massive. The quests are never-ending. My character has a mohawk. My class is Breton. Don’t