tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29014095195970470762011-09-19T09:39:38.755-04:00jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.comBlogger2181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-32061782644226649032011-03-11T14:30:00.000-05:002011-03-11T14:30:13.415-05:00

For whatever it's worth, I'm moving this blog over to Wordpress.  Everything here is already moved over there, but all the new stuff will be going up there.  Thanks! http://shoutsfromthecouch.wordpress.com/

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-81145384958360652302011-02-23T13:37:00.000-05:002011-02-23T13:37:11.864-05:00

The floodgates are starting to open; good games are starting to trickle forth.  Let's pick up where I left off. 1.  I finished Stacking.  I'm not 100% finished with it - I still have a bunch of hi-jinks to do and a few special dolls to collect - and I hope that if the release calendar dries up a bit, I'll find the time to go back and do those things.  It was wonderful and charming and unique and

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-4187968398648697402011-02-10T10:46:00.000-05:002011-02-10T10:46:38.026-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Also, sorry that every post I write these days leads off with an apology.  I've been super-busy lately, and haven't had very much (if any) gaming time, besides playing with my iPod to and from work.  (Flick Golf is a fun, cheap time-waster, by the way.) Last night, though, the planets aligned; 2 games arrived, and my wife was out of the house.  So I got to sit

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-13737288723090500182011-01-31T10:59:00.000-05:002011-01-31T10:59:08.767-05:00

I feel the need to apologize to Dead Space 2.  It's supposed to be a scary game, but I was never, ever scared.  But I think that's my fault, not the game's.  I think. See, I played it on the easiest difficulty setting.  As I never finished the first game, I was more concerned about making sure I actually finished the game and saw the end of the story than anything else; but I think that because

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-48130405595880424582011-01-28T10:50:00.000-05:002011-01-28T10:50:30.823-05:00

So it's been quiet here at SFTC, and for that I apologize.  Things have been pretty quiet on the gaming front since my last post.  There wasn't anything new to play, and I wasn't necessarily doing all that much on the backlog, Steam sales be damned.  But then Little Big Planet 2 came out, and then Dead Space 2 came out, and now the 3DS and the PSP2/NGP have been formally announced/dated, and I

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-79630162867008686722010-12-13T15:01:00.002-05:002010-12-13T15:02:23.373-05:00

If, after reading this list, you still need further proof that 2011 will be one of the best years in gaming history, then, well, I don't know what to tell you.  Get a new hobby.  2011 is going to be ridiculous. The GOTY Front-Runners.  If that's not a murderer's row of kick-ass, I don't know what is.  That's five (5) highly anticipated sequels with impeccable pedigrees, and if these games follow

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-21087817029074059662010-12-13T13:52:00.000-05:002010-12-13T13:52:11.143-05:00

I got conned into watching the VGAs, again, but at least I didn't have to watch them live.  No, I waited until after they were over, and then fast-forwarded my way through announcement after announcement after unnecessary band performance after announcement, until I realized that there weren't any awards given out. I don't know why I keep allowing myself to believe that this year, it'll be

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-46547568537074637392010-12-06T16:40:00.000-05:002010-12-06T16:40:28.593-05:00

On a scale of 1-10, I give 2010 a 7.  There were 2 genuine classics, and the rest of my top 5 feels very solid.  But I’ll be the first to admit that my 6-10 is all over the place.  The high points probably felt a bit higher than they normally would, if only because the rest of the year felt a bit lackluster.  (But I feel much the same way about the year in music, so maybe I’m just old and

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-3165236038326100282010-12-03T14:45:00.000-05:002010-12-03T14:45:13.779-05:00

Any day now, I'll start working on my favorite post of the year - the 2010 Year in Games.  I've got spreadsheets and word documents and maybe I'll get some powerpoint up in this business, who knows.  The only reason why I haven't started is because I'm waiting to play the new Donkey Kong game on the Wii - my first Gamefly copy got lost in the mail during the Thanksgiving break, and the second

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-16410154647590150062010-11-30T10:59:00.000-05:002010-11-30T10:59:17.196-05:00

I didn't necessarily come right out and say it in yesterday's post, but at the time I wrote it I was still feeling optimistic about Gran Turismo 5.  I had legitimate issues with how the game was letting me progress, and how inadequate I felt about picking an appropriate vehicle, but I also knew that I hadn't really given the game a truly fair shake - I knew what I did not know, so to speak.  And

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-16738017243167813602010-11-29T12:07:00.000-05:002010-11-29T12:07:09.534-05:00

If all had gone according to plan, this post wouldn't exist.  The plan was to leave Thursday morning to go up to my dad's house for Thanksgiving, and to eventually return to the apartment on Saturday night, and Sunday would be a day of holiday decorating and football.  Instead, my wife had the flu and I had a nagging head cold, and we stayed home.  And so I played a lot of video games.  In list

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-69170565824752010402010-11-22T14:34:00.000-05:002010-11-22T14:34:51.623-05:00

"I am an American aquarium drinker / I assassin down the avenue."  - Wilco, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart According to Raptr, I've spent 15 hours with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and another 5 hours in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.  Both games are excellent and well worth your time. Ah, but you want details!  You want experiences!   You want in-depth impressions!  (Do you?  I don't know

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-90702268260974067132010-11-18T13:25:00.001-05:002010-11-22T14:33:16.283-05:00

This was obviously meant to go in the last piece, but I might as well bring it up now - if we're going to compare AC:B to anything, why not Inception?  As long as you ignore the distinction between "dream" and "meta-history", you're more or less in the same conceptual ballgame, with layers upon layers of reality stacked on top of each other.  I think there's even a flat-out "dream-within-a-dream"

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-55296120524652933372010-11-18T13:05:00.002-05:002010-11-22T14:33:36.389-05:00

Of all the big franchises out there that I'm proud to be a fan of, Assassin's Creed is the one that I have the strangest relationship with.  There's only 3 games in the series, but the pattern has already evolved thus: I get phobic and downright hostile towards preview coverage,  I start dreading the game's release, thinking it's going to be terrible; The game comes out and gets rave reviews;

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-2006466918944046032010-11-08T11:39:00.001-05:002010-11-08T11:41:29.115-05:00

I accidentally finished Fable 3 over the weekend.  That wasn't my intention.  I didn't know I was at the end of the game and had beaten the final boss until the credits started rolling. I don't think I've ever been so torn on how to rate a game as I am with Fable 3.  I don't even know where to start, to be honest, other than to say that it's pretty clear that Fable 4, should there be one,

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-71960623692783888482010-11-01T15:52:00.000-04:002010-11-01T15:52:21.002-04:00

I can't remember the last time I had so much good stuff to play, all at the same time.  It's a little overwhelming, but I'm not complaining.  AT ALL. We covered Rock Band 3 and Fable 3 on Friday; RB3 is still excellent, and F3 is maybe not as excellent but certainly absorbing.  It's very easy to get sidetracked, which is sort of the point, and even though it feels incredibly artificial and "

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-83926268008495647252010-10-29T11:12:00.000-04:002010-10-29T11:12:38.940-04:00

OK, so.  I had more or less written off the rest of 2010 in terms of "games to get excited about."  And now, suddenly, I'm up to my ears in quality stuff. Rock Band 3 is easily the best iteration of the franchise, and I say this even though I've only played one 14-song setlist with my wife, and without even owning the keyboard or trying out any of the "pro mode" stuff.  I'm talking strictly

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-66727958385255743082010-10-25T12:27:00.001-04:002010-11-01T15:52:58.337-04:00

Here, let me blow the dust off of this blog and see if it's still working. /kicks tires OK! Has it really been a month since the last update?  That's just wrong.  I'm trying to recall where the time went, exactly, or if there was some pressing reason why I've not been over here.  Truth is, it's felt a little slow, games-wise.  I've played several games to completion, and acquired an iPod Touch

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-36339136571539338932010-09-23T12:08:00.000-04:002010-09-23T12:08:43.393-04:00

I apologize in advance if this post makes less sense than usual.  I was up until 2am playing Civ V. --------------- But first, let me get Professor Layton and the Unwound Future out of the way.  I still have a fondness for the Professor Layton games, although it's mostly because they remind me that I own a DS, and I still have a fondness for the DS, because once upon a time it was a kickass

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-80621572671419983812010-09-20T16:19:00.001-04:002010-09-20T16:20:37.212-04:00

Knights of Columbus, this is going to be difficult. I am currently a beta tester for an upcoming, big-deal product that will be launching later this year.  I'm not entirely sure how I was able to secure that gig, but I'm not complaining; it's as close as I will most likely ever get to being in the videogame industry, and so I'm taking it pretty seriously. Now, you can imagine that something

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-79876585041256081242010-09-20T12:01:00.000-04:002010-09-20T12:01:34.690-04:00

The title of this blog is "Shouts from the Couch," but I've not been particularly angry lately.  In fact, if anything, the title now feels like it comes from a lazy couch potato who requires immediate assistance in reaching the bowl of onion dip that lies just out of arm's reach. Speaking of reach, I finished the Halo Reach campaign on Friday, and have now officially dipped my toes into the

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-90155461124388525212010-09-15T12:23:00.000-04:002010-09-15T12:23:36.780-04:00

I would say that there's no excuse for the absence of posting here over the last month, but that's not entirely true - there are several valid excuses I could come up with, and I'm sure I could make up a bunch as well.  But here's the deal:  the last entry here talks about my failure at Starcraft 2.  Since then, here's what I've played: Madden 11.  I've always been one of those long-embittered

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-85703712366487669282010-08-09T10:47:00.001-04:002010-08-09T10:49:49.300-04:00

My relationship with real-time strategy games was, for a time, very much like my relationship with vegetables; I shunned them at all costs.  Well, to be fair, I never had much of an opportunity to even play RTS games; my PCs were never robust enough, and anyway if I was ever gaming on my computer it was generally for Quake 2.  This all changed, though, when I played Civilization: Revolution. 

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-54908816920294494732010-07-27T10:57:00.003-04:002010-07-27T11:26:17.580-04:00

I am feeling compelled to post something, anything, even though I'm not sure I have anything truly compelling to say at the moment.The weekend was gaming-heavy, as it turned out. I've been dealing with some anxiety issues lately and having my mind occupied helped a great deal in getting over the hump. I finished Limbo, did some online co-op in Red Dead Redemption, and put in quite a few hours

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-71599518079420188032010-07-19T11:13:00.002-04:002010-07-19T11:32:45.235-04:00

I must confess I don't really have anything planned for this, the 200th post here at Shouts from the Couch. I came here today to talk about DeathSpank.DeathSpank is a downloadable action-RPG, which sounds like it ought to be terrible. But it's written by Ron Gilbert, of Monkey Island fame, so that's promising. And it's got a fascinating and unique art design, which I'm not sure I've ever seen

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-37006723629473849112010-07-12T10:38:00.003-04:002010-07-12T11:00:17.615-04:00

I wouldn't say that I've had a change of heart regarding Crackdown 2, but rather a change of attitude. It's still not a very good 3rd person open-world shooter, but I think the mistake is on our part, for assuming that it's trying to be.As with the original Crackdown before it, the game is merely a playground, and the main treat - the collection of Agility Orbs - is the real goal. All the

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-696539135111069432010-07-07T10:35:00.002-04:002010-07-07T11:32:41.187-04:00

I've said it before, but it bears repeating (at least in terms of giving this post some sort of thematic focus): of my 57,908 Achievement Points, the points I'm most proud of were the 50 I earned for finding all 500 Agility Orbs in the first Crackdown. Yes, I earned them. I didn't use a walkthrough, I didn't cheat; I found all those motherfuckers on my own, and all the hours I spent in doing

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-44413165507917516452010-07-02T10:08:00.004-04:002010-07-02T10:57:29.752-04:00

It's been almost a week, now - that's probably long enough for it to have sunk in - so I think I can manage to avoid jinxing it if I announce that I have finally conquered an addiction.My name is Jervo, and I was a Zyngaholic. I was into Mafia Wars and FarmVille, I was a serious Treasure Isle junkie, and I even dabbled in FrontierVille, Cafe World, and I think there was a fish tank one also. I

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-63160531750918504972010-06-27T18:21:00.004-04:002010-06-27T18:52:05.786-04:00

The wife was away this weekend, which meant NO PANTS. Um, sorry. It meant I could play games all weekend without feeling guilt or shame, and let me tell you - I AM NOT YET SATED.A quick recap:Star Wars: The Force UnleashedI rented this a long time ago, hated it, sent it back. Figured that was the end of it. But: my wife is the biggest Star Wars nerd I know, and when she saw an E3 preview of

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-9504984934852263132010-06-23T09:40:00.006-04:002010-06-23T13:20:47.595-04:00

I was hoping to avoid entering the "Games as Art" debate, because I felt that the question was (a) insulting and (b) obvious. Of course games are art. Or, rather, they can be, if that's what they strive for. Film is an art form, but I defy anyone to defend a piece of shit like, say, "Transformers 2" as art. Similarly, Roger Ebert saying that games can never be art is, ultimately, meaningless;

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-8178439836926792282010-06-21T11:02:00.004-04:002010-06-21T11:28:23.867-04:00

Someday, I will figure out a way to attend an E3 in person. I will behold all there is to behold with my very own personal eyes, ears and hands. Because when you're not there, and the only way you can learn about things is via hastily written typo-riddled liveblogs, inebriated podcasts and awful, awful G4 television packages, it's just maddening.That won't stop me from casting ill-informed

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-63898112990144421012010-06-14T11:01:00.002-04:002010-06-14T11:16:11.614-04:00

My expectations for this year's E3 are muted, I guess. I am underwhelmed by Kinect, at least in terms of the name; but I don't think it was intended for me. (I already have a Wii, and I only play it while seated, if I play it at all. More on that later.) The big reveal I'm looking forward to is the new 3D DS -which, I might add, is also the only 3D-related gaming thing that I care about. I

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-63319617848100095062010-06-07T12:35:00.003-04:002010-06-07T12:45:01.723-04:00

I'm back from vacation and I have a lot to talk about, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to say it all at this particular moment. So, then, the short versions:1. Red Dead Redemption was amazing, and among the other superlatives I could throw its way, it has (possibly) the most satisfying ending I've ever seen. I'd have to think about it a little just to make sure, but, I mean, GODDAMN.2.

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-66084019406969636782010-05-24T11:15:00.004-04:002010-06-07T12:45:42.816-04:00

Are you ready for some outlandish statements? Good, because I'm really tired after watching the Lost finale last night and work is slow today and I can't stop thinking about Red Dead Redemption, so here goes:1. Red Dead Redemption might just be my favorite Rockstar game ever.Let me qualify that a bit.RDR is not the groundbreaking, industry-shifting watershed moment that GTA3 was. But there's a

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-13475305008915116312010-05-19T12:01:00.003-04:002010-05-19T13:19:45.201-04:00

I am very much wanting to talk about Red Dead Redemption this morning, even though I've only played a little bit and don't really have very much of substance to discuss. Here's what I can say:I was thoroughly sucked in from the moment the opening cinematic started rolling, and I only stopped playing because the hour was far too late. It's absolutely Wild West GTA, but it feels a lot more

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-20025155315623916112010-05-17T13:52:00.003-04:002010-05-17T14:12:06.442-04:00

I got a message from Caro over the weekend, asking me why I was suddenly playing so much GTA4. The answer is needlessly complex:1. I am freaking the hell out for Red Dead Redemption, and playing GTA4 seems to be the best way to prepare;2. It looks really, really, REALLY good on my PC; and3. I'm mostly just playing The Ballad of Gay Tony, since I'd never really given it more than a quick

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-48720534536227419212010-05-11T15:23:00.002-04:002010-05-11T15:52:24.532-04:00

I'm trying to remember the last time I was heavily invested in my Nintendo DS. The last game I played on it was probably the most recent Zelda game, which I didn't particularly care for. In any event, in less than 12 hours I have become totally addicted to Picross 3D, which is somewhat of a surprise for me since I never particularly cared for the 2D iteration.It hits all the right notes, for

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-36635297293005411382010-05-10T12:32:00.002-04:002010-05-10T12:43:06.451-04:00

Now that I've finished Final Fantasy 13, I've got all this free time on my hands. I guess it's time to look at the calendar and pinpoint when exactly I'm going to go completely broke. [May 18th, as it turns out. -Ed.]Bold = games I've already pre-ordered, or intend to ownItalics = games in my rental queuePlain = games I'm keeping an eye on, just in caseMay 113D Dot Game HeroesLost Planet 2May

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-54758909803148590642010-05-05T11:01:00.002-04:002010-05-05T11:04:04.542-04:00

Took a sick day yesterday, and, well, I ended up finishing Final Fantasy 13. I couldn't possibly tell you what happened; I'm not sure I've ever spent 60 hours playing a game while being so thoroughly confused about what was going on, and the ending is even more nonsensical than the setup. I think I had fun? Yeah, I had fun. I really started to enjoy the battle system towards the end (although

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-11614515687666426602010-05-03T16:43:00.004-04:002010-05-03T17:01:21.858-04:00

Sorry if that last post was too cliffhanger-y; I suddenly looked at the time and realized I had to be somewhere else in a hurry.So, then: yes! I finally finished FF13's infamous Chapter 11, and now I'm a few checkpoints into Chapter 12. And I'm still very much on board.The game's got some issues, of course, and the biggest is its pacing, which is all over the place. The first 15 hours are

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-69677143968156166302010-05-03T12:32:00.003-04:002010-05-03T16:43:22.165-04:00

It wasn't exactly a New Year's Resolution, but my intention for 2010 was to stop spending so much money on music. Not that I was going to suddenly start stealing it - I was just going to be a little less brash and recklessly impulsive. And so far, I'm actually doing OK - I'm definitely on pace to spend less money on music this year than last year.The problem, of course, is that those reckless

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-44666415895900385202010-04-26T10:23:00.003-04:002010-04-26T14:36:16.596-04:00

Two things to talk about today:1. I finished Splinter Cell Conviction, and2. I finally got excited about Final Fantasy 13.The most recent Joystiq podcast touches on both of these games, which made this morning's commute more fun as I was already well versed in both. And as an added bonus, for the incredibly small subset of people who listened to that podcast and also read this blog, what I'm

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-18818516320987317902010-04-16T16:04:00.003-04:002010-04-16T16:14:59.047-04:00

Maybe I haven't been the most vocal supporter of the Splinter Cell franchise, but I've certainly been a fan throughout the entire run; the series peak, Chaos Theory, is one of my favorite games on the original Xbox. I never had cause to bitch about the trial-and-error gameplay; that's what most games are, anyway, and it left my graphics whore needs more than satisfied. But I'll admit that in

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-20482611933435197982010-04-10T20:40:00.005-04:002010-04-11T15:46:53.292-04:00

I am just over 40 hours into Final Fantasy 13, but that's not quite specific enough; I am roughly 15 hours into the absurdly epic Chapter 11. I've gotta hand it to the developers; if nothing else, they've got some serious gold-plated balls to make a game like this. You spend 20 hours running along tightly controlled paths, always and only moving from point A to point B, and then suddenly you

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-63009878019768162522010-04-08T13:29:00.004-04:002010-04-11T15:46:40.844-04:00

Apologies for the recent radio silence; there hasn't been a tremendous amount to report here from SFTC headquarters. But here's what I've been playing of late:1. Final Fantasy 13: I'm on Chapter 11, which is where the game supposedly starts getting interesting - or, at least, stops being so rigidly linear. I can absolutely attest to that last point - I basically had to restart the entire

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-65464808931580762022010-03-26T14:35:00.001-04:002010-03-26T14:36:36.960-04:00

Pretty amazing piece about videogame and drug addiction, all set against GTA4.http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/21/tom-bissell-video-game-cocaine-addiction

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-65531995277599729912010-03-24T15:16:00.002-04:002010-03-24T15:21:34.452-04:00

My new computer arrived yesterday. I souped it up, ostensibly for music-related purposes, but let's be honest - I'm not going to be writing music all the time.And so, since I had nothing better to do, I wanted to see what it was capable of. I went to "Can You Run It?" and saw that, even though it wasn't actually my intention to do so, I could indeed run Crysis. And I installed it, and saw that

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-54851872725175217542010-03-22T13:32:00.002-04:002010-03-22T13:37:19.494-04:00

Eurogamer reports that EA is "testing the waters" with paid-for demos.Are you kidding me? Wait, let me rephrase that. Are you fucking kidding me? 1. So, EA either (a) has no faith in their internal playtesting department to make sure a game is fun, or (b) has no playtesting department.2. EA is asking you to pay actual money to essentially play a beta of a game that might never be released.Let

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-56669682927731589322010-03-22T10:53:00.002-04:002010-03-22T12:08:53.470-04:00

If my save file is to be believed, I'm roughly 21 hours into FF13, somewhere in Chapter 9. There's quite a bit I could complain about in FF13 - and I will - and yet I'm still chugging along. For all the game's quirks, it is paced remarkably well, and I find myself frequently saying "OK, let me just get to the next save point and I'll quit" and then another hour has gone by. And while I'm

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-8442317246469789452010-03-18T10:59:00.003-04:002010-03-18T11:21:53.416-04:00

I took a sick day yesterday - because I was sick - and so I managed to play the entirety of God of War 3 while I was home. The short version is that while it's good, it's not as good as God of War 2. Even if the graphics are technically snazzier, and it does amazing things with scale and perspective, it's not nearly as inspired as GOW2. It's paced well enough, and it still does its style of

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-4304342779929202352010-03-15T11:49:00.003-04:002010-03-15T12:05:00.440-04:00

I am roughly 12 hours in to FF13, which means that I am right at the point, according to most of the reviews I've read, where it starts getting interesting. (The OXM review specifically mentions the area that I am currently in.) Honestly, I can't really say I've noticed that much of a difference, other than that my parties are split up into new configurations, and that the whole paradigm

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-38939836204518976142010-03-11T10:52:00.002-05:002010-03-11T11:30:40.410-05:00

The subtitle of this post should be: "or, Why I Didn't Finish Heavy Rain." I didn't finish Heavy Rain, nor am I sure I ever will. To be fair, though, it's not entirely HR's fault; I moved to Brooklyn last week, and even though we've been settled in for the better part of a week, I still haven't really had that much free time. That said, the free time I did have was time I didn't really feel

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-5463391043536490382010-02-21T08:26:00.004-05:002010-02-24T12:02:23.893-05:00

More apologies. I finished Bioshock 2 over the weekend and have been meaning to write a quick thing about it, but time has gotten away from me. But let's be honest here - the game itself isn't all that inspiring to write about.It's not necessarily a bad game; it's just unnecessary. And yet, ironically enough, I would love to keep exploring the world of Rapture. My favorite moments in Bio2 -

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-31896330442771178852010-02-17T10:38:00.002-05:002010-02-17T10:48:24.962-05:00

Apologies to the 2 or 3 of you who read this blog on a quasi-regular basis - I'm moving at the end of this month, so my game time has been minimal and my blog time even less than that.I continue to trudge forth in Bioshock 2. I re-started that last level and had, for whatever reason, a much easier time defending my Little Sister, and now I've sorta gotten it; I know how to set up for ambushes,

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-50882373243678959152010-02-11T09:47:00.002-05:002010-02-11T10:23:32.824-05:00

I don't like going to bed angry, but that's exactly what happened to me last night. I was back in Rapture, you see. And even though I had been highly skeptical about Bioshock 2 and repeatedly questioned the necessity for its existence, I found myself as absorbed and invested in the new game as I had been in the original. The thing that I loved most about the first game - more than the story,

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-33899240732854910702010-01-31T13:43:00.003-05:002010-01-31T13:54:09.277-05:00

I technically finished Mass Effect 2 late last night, but was unhappy with the ending. So I went back and re-did the end sequence, and then went the other way on the very last choice, and now I'm agonizing over whether or not I should've made the choice I happened to make. Anyway. I put 38 hours into my first playthrough, managed to get up to level 30, and I'm pretty sure I've seen about as

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-36839629778628654152010-01-27T10:21:00.006-05:002010-01-27T12:15:56.617-05:00

Let me say, right up front: I will do my absolute hardest to avoid spoilers. But let me also say that I'm almost positive that anyone who's reading this is either (a) a family member or (b) someone who's already playing the game themselves. If you fall into neither category, consider yourself warned.And in any event, what I want to write about isn't really about the story, but rather the nuts

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-53642921311963919372010-01-25T11:48:00.004-05:002010-01-25T11:56:08.158-05:00

Not much to report this weekend, but here's what's what:1. Finally finished my 3rd playthrough of Mass Effect 1, and picked up the Achievement for hitting Level 60. That's all I wanted to accomplish - hit level 60, and make sure that I could import my character into ME2 with all the stuff I wanted to be in place. (Which is somewhat ridiculous - my first playthrough was all light-side, my

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-34808781546126224512010-01-19T12:34:00.003-05:002010-01-19T14:59:53.597-05:00

Finished Darksiders this weekend, and after that I played as much Bayonetta as I could, before it started driving me completely insane - this was right at the beginning of Chapter 5. And then I gave Brutal Legend one more chance, and crammed in a bit more Mass Effect (1).But first things first. Darksiders is, for lack of a better word, solid. (Which is ironic, considering the constant screen

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-90699979134591492432010-01-04T14:50:00.002-05:002010-01-04T15:09:22.846-05:00

2009 may have been so-so, but 2010 is going to be balls-out AMAZING. In order to help me keep track of all the craziness, here's a quick list of what I'm looking forward to.Bold = must-haveItalics = curious / definite rentalNormal = possible rentalJANUARYDarksiders (360)Bayonetta (360)Matt Hazard: Blood Bath & Beyond (PS3)Serious Sam HD (360)Dark Void (360)Mass Effect 2 (360)FEBRUARYHeavy Rain (

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-1002871144534549612009-12-30T10:42:00.005-05:002009-12-30T16:54:33.722-05:00

It's year-end recap season, obviously, and even if the decade isn't technically over until next year, these are certainly the end of the 00s, which means it's decade recap season as well. (In case you're curious, here are my decade recaps of music and books.)It occurs to me that my personal decade recap of videogames is, in part, a eulogy. I can call up any album I've ever owned on my iPod, and

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-67359293678962339832009-12-28T10:26:00.007-05:002009-12-28T16:35:58.824-05:00

If I'm being completely honest, 2009 was a bit of a let-down, and not just because it followed the staggering heights of 2007 and 2008, or that so many high-profile titles eventually slid to a 2010 release. Case in point - Resident Evil 5 was my #1 title, purely by default, right up until August.August, of course, is when Batman: Arkham Asylum was released, and from that point on it seemed that

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-90523744445818446412009-12-11T10:08:00.003-05:002009-12-11T10:35:19.504-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates; after I finished AC2, time get away from me.So, here's what's been cooking lately:1. Finished both halves of the God of War Collection. God of War 1 was very good, albeit excruciatingly frustrating in certain sections; I nearly broke my controller in half throughout several areas in the 2nd half of the game. God of War 2, on the other hand, was absolutely

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-7402089867829128292009-11-30T10:09:00.002-05:002009-11-30T10:58:38.437-05:00

**MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD**My previous AC2 post was cut short, but in retrospect that's probably a good thing. I was still at least a good 5-6 hours away from finishing it, and yet my original intention with that post was to try and guess where/when/what the sequel was going to be. Now that I've finished it (as well as being finished with it), I can honestly say that I have absolutely no idea -

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-79166274980253543082009-11-23T12:40:00.004-05:002009-11-23T15:22:27.083-05:00

I apologize in advance for the repetition - all I can think about today is Assassin's Creed 2. Minor spoilers ahead.Current Status:I'm... let's say, 12 hours in. I'm a few missions into Venice - my most recent story-related Achievement indicated that I am in the middle of DNA Sequence 7, and so if the Achievements are a reliable measure of game progress I am just around halfway through the

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-28547562700470363132009-11-22T08:12:00.003-05:002009-11-22T08:22:26.460-05:00

That didn't take very long at all, actually. I hit 50K late last night in Assassin's Creed 2, after finishing a particularly flashy bit of killing.AC2, by the way, is amazing. My initial concerns were probably just me trying to keep my expectations in check; I'm now at least 5-6 hours in and I'm totally in love all over again. In fact, I think the only reason why I'm awake so early on a Sunday

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-17519543907637298042009-11-20T10:33:00.002-05:002009-11-20T11:48:31.726-05:00

If memory serves, and my blog posts (from almost exactly 2 years ago!) are accurate (1), (2), I enjoyed the first 70% of the first Assassin's Creed.Gabe at Penny Arcade made a pretty insightful newspost about this the other day; I'm paraphrasing, but he essentially says that his impressions of most of the negative reviews implied that the reviewer didn't really take his/her time, and just kinda

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-50692698161791738072009-11-17T11:11:00.004-05:002009-11-17T11:44:49.442-05:00

The quest for 50K is going much better than I'd originally anticipated; I've got 6 weeks to get 327 points. I'm pretty sure I can get that relatively quickly from Assassin's Creed 2, with an assist from Left 4 Dead 2. So, hooray for that.This past weekend was a little weird, gaming wise, but when I think about it it actually worked out to my advantage. The weekend's primary goal was working on

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-63364267239220575652009-11-13T11:28:00.006-05:002009-11-13T13:11:45.391-05:00

*SPOILERS AHEAD*For years now, there's been a growing discussion about the importance of Story, specifically as it applies to videogames. The people having that discussion also may bring up the concept of Art, as in: "Are videogames art?" As the game industry grows larger and fights for legitimacy in the public eye, this question becomes important, even if it's not necessarily relevant. A lot

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-50511047365538117252009-11-09T09:57:00.006-05:002009-11-09T14:55:05.699-05:00

Me and my level 36 Soldier finished Borderlands early Sunday morning, and after selling off my excess loot and giving my skills a re-spec, I decided to screw around with the Playthrough 2 mode and see if it would really be worth playing through a second time, and about two hours later I forced myself to turn off the 360. That shit is dangerous; I was getting ridiculously awesome loot drops just

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-9777708988536721642009-11-03T12:48:00.003-05:002009-11-03T13:30:35.077-05:00

Today is November 3, 2009, and my Achievement total is currently sitting at 48,723. That gives me 2 months to get just under 1300 Points. Hitting 50,000 wasn't necessarily a stated, determined goal of mine, but I hit 40K on my birthday last year, and getting 10,000 points in a year seems like something worth pursuing. However, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to be able to cross the 50K

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-38446910305027986362009-11-02T11:14:00.002-05:002009-11-02T11:57:12.885-05:00

I am incredibly superstitious when it comes to the Yankees in the postseason, and the incredibly annoying feature is that the superstitions are always changing from year to year. During the 2004 meltdown against the Red Sox, I feel like I let us down; the first three games I'd listened to on the radio, and because I was traveling on the 4th game I ended up watching it on TV, which is where

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-13778642701677067622009-10-27T11:26:00.003-04:002009-10-27T12:00:08.863-04:00

It always seems like whenever there are a ton of great games coming out all at once, I'm usually really busy doing lots of other things, and yet I feel compelled to own them all anyway. In any event - the little gaming time I had this past weekend was divided up pretty evenly between trying my hardest to enjoy Brutal Legend, and being very pleasantly surprised by Borderlands, with a little bit

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-34283460008176719492009-10-20T10:08:00.004-04:002009-10-20T12:17:52.698-04:00

I won't write about Brutal Legend just yet. It's clearly a labor of love by Tim Schafer and his DoubleFine team, and it wouldn't be fair to talk about it before I've finished it. The reason why I haven't finished it, though, is that the RTS-lite stage battles make me miserable, and every time I fire the game up I do everything I can to avoid having to do them. As a result, I've explored about

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-85309775719620280952009-10-16T12:01:00.002-04:002009-10-16T12:03:36.476-04:00

Remember just a few days ago, when I ranted here about the excessive use of hyperbole in game reviews? Yeah, well. I'm at Chapter 22 out of 26 in Uncharted 2, and all I can say is that I'm going to break the world hyperbole record when I write whatever it is I'm going to write about it.

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-38020009017015986292009-10-08T11:56:00.005-04:002009-10-08T14:21:56.583-04:00

This is the first paragraph from Adam Sessler's review of Uncharted 2.I’m not 100% certain when it happened. I think it’s when I had Nathan Drake atop a building in a war-torn Nepalese city, cornered and being fired upon by a helicopter, engaged in a fist fight with the screen slowly draining of color, snapping my enemy’s neck and quickly rolling into cover to reload my grenade launcher only to

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-65823043711055870442009-10-07T15:09:00.004-04:002009-10-07T16:05:23.270-04:00

Cheap traffic-generating stunt, or legitimate blog post? You decide. In any event, it looks like Bono reads SFTC because I fucking called this 2 weeks ago. Via Kotaku:With the music business falling apart, musicians are hoping to get their cut of the music game pie — even The Beatles have their own Rock Band title! Now, it looks like Irish rockers U2 want in, too. U2 hasn't lent their

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-2369068535052342502009-10-01T16:18:00.014-04:002009-10-01T17:17:22.208-04:00

We've been wanting to get a STFC podcast going for a while, now, and we've been so busy with other things that we haven't been able to figure out the logistics of making it happen. (Speaking of which, if anybody reading this can recommend a reliable method of recording Skype calls, please leave a comment below.)In the absence of having a podcast, then, what follows is a fake transcript of what a

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-50715727551351375612009-09-18T12:16:00.004-04:002009-09-18T12:58:37.186-04:00

I've done just about everything I can do in Beatles: Rock Band without losing my friggin' mind, which is good, because there's other stuff out there that needs to be played.The good:DiRT 2The first DiRT is still one of my favorite driving games, ever. As a confessed graphics whore, it was (and still is) jaw-dropping; it's the game I was playing both before and after I bought my 40" HDTV, and for

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-55455072023447564262009-09-11T15:50:00.003-04:002009-09-11T16:42:13.500-04:00

There was never a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't enjoy every minute I spent with The Beatles: Rock Band; aside from being a big fan of the RB platform, I have been a huge Beatles fan for most of my waking life and I've spent almost every minute since my packages arrived on 9/9 either playing the game or listening to the remastered albums. I plowed through the game's story mode in a few short

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-611514175229030422009-09-08T15:55:00.006-04:002009-09-08T16:42:49.020-04:00

It's 9/8/09, which means that in a little over 24 hours I'm going to be in some sort of Beatles-induced catatonic stupor, and then the wheels totally fly off shortly after that in terms of the fall release calendar. This is probably a good place, then, for me to check in before I check out.So, then, first things first - please accept my humble apologies for the lack of regular updating. Blame

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-62310160547395969932009-07-27T10:34:00.003-04:002009-07-27T11:24:22.971-04:00

I've said this before, but in the context of this particular post it bears repeating - there once was a time when my hunger for a Wii was all-consuming. My heart and wallet may have belonged to Microsoft, but I yearned for something more; I ached to waggle. And, most importantly, I wanted to get my wife interested in gaming - or, at least, gaming with me. She was never going to get into Halo

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-57809737169183629482009-07-21T11:36:00.003-04:002009-07-21T12:10:09.351-04:00

Here's my original guess at the Beatles: Rock Band set list, from February.She Loves YouI Wanna Hold Your HandLove Me DoHelp!I Saw Her Standing TherePlease Please MeA Hard Day's NightCan't Buy Me LoveEight Days a WeekTicket To RideYesterdayI Feel FinePaperback WriterRainWe Can Work It OutRevolutionGet BackDrive My CarThe WordIn My LifeTaxmanShe Said, She SaidAnd Your Bird Can SingDoctor RobertSgt

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-34221642295548489852009-07-13T10:22:00.004-04:002009-07-13T12:01:26.628-04:00

I'm resurrecting the "Everything Old is New Again" feature, and we're changing the ground rules a little bit. As you no doubt surely recall, EOiNA was originally intended to be an ongoing series wherein we'd play classic games for the first time, and I started it off with a few entries regarding my very first playthrough of Final Fantasy 7. As it happens, I got stuck about 10 hours into the

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-66773445482751847452009-06-29T10:18:00.002-04:002009-06-29T10:45:43.130-04:00

Really? It's been almost 2 weeks since the last SFTC post? Damn. I can't speak for Gred, but I've been pretty busy lately doing non-game-related things, and I'm feeling a bit guilty for neglecting this little corner of the internet. So let me get caught up:1. Finished Ghostbusters on the 360. It is a rare example of a licensed property that takes full advantage of its license, which makes

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-33414553866540882922009-06-16T13:52:00.003-04:002009-06-16T14:03:44.863-04:00

Plowed through the end of InFamous last week; that game is a blast. A little simplistic, though, to be sure, and more than a bit repetitive - for all the initial comparisons I'd made to Crackdown, it really feels more like Assassin's Creed than anything else - but very well made; the story was more than a bit convoluted but it was told well enough, and while the big twist didn't exactly drop my

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-55232182096122463392009-06-04T09:59:00.002-04:002009-06-04T10:36:00.367-04:00

I would love to go and cover E3 one day, but the truth is that I'm not as good a writer as I imagine myself to be, and I'm feeling a bit too old (33 isn't that old, but still) to suddenly switch gears and go back to school and then try to get work as a games journalist, especially in this economy. Case in point - I was re-reading my keynote column from the other day, and it felt a little

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-79965164362280711052009-06-03T10:26:00.004-04:002009-06-03T11:51:57.829-04:00

It used to be easy for me to follow E3. For starters, my use of the internet was far more streamlined - I'd just point my browser at Gamespot all day and take in as much as I could without getting fired from my job. More to the point, I'd put a laser-like focus on what Microsoft was announcing while dismissing - nay, mocking - Sony and Nintendo's efforts without a second thought.But it's a bit

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-5077585830597432092009-05-26T10:06:00.006-04:002009-05-26T15:39:24.728-04:00

It's no secret that I've been incredibly disappointed with the Wii, although it's understandable if this comes as a surprise - I almost never think about it, so I almost never talk about it. It took me almost a year after its release before I was able to get my hands on one, and then, after the initial rush of Super Mario Galaxy wore off, I hardly touched it because there really wasn't anything

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-57846672581504258152009-05-19T13:55:00.004-04:002009-05-19T13:59:14.968-04:00

This post is a few days old already (which means it's ancient history) but it's a very fascinating read about architecture in videogames - specifically, where the bad guys live.Evil Lair: On the Architecture of the Enemy in Videogame Worlds

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-74612041965195310462009-05-17T21:15:00.002-04:002009-05-17T21:17:01.612-04:00

The Vitals: 8-9 hours, level 16.I've always kinda enjoyed hack-and-slash RPGs; they're relatively mindless but if the combat is satisfying and the environments are interesting it's pretty easy to find that a few hours have mysteriously vanished, and dealing with loot is a fun, diverting meta-game in and of itself. For my money, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is the finest console iteration of

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-10046046996300868622009-05-07T10:36:00.005-04:002009-05-26T10:54:04.298-04:00

I have a confession to make, but before I do I would like to pour out a proverbial 40 on the grave of the apparently deceased Duke Nukem Forever, if this story and others are to be believed. There's not much that can be said that hasn't already been said about DNF - heavy anticipation gave way to disbelief, which turned into exasperation - and this was about 8 years ago; the jokes about the

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-24866442580937327342009-04-21T14:04:00.003-04:002009-04-22T13:17:04.997-04:00

It's times like these when I'm glad that I'm not a professional games journalist. The release schedule is all but dead; most developers are saving their announcements for E3 so there's very little in the way of interesting water-cooler talk; and the 3 games I've been playing the most lately are:Uno RushOutrun Online ArcadeLode RunnerGranted, I downloaded Lode Runner this morning and I've only

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-88448392844481978502009-04-08T14:08:00.002-04:002009-04-08T14:17:30.545-04:00

"You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector--they expect results." - Ray Stantz, PhDDangit, have I (Gred) been busy! Sneaking in a little gaming here and there, and barely able to read the GDC headlines. (I can't imagine OnLive will ever work, but I would love to see them prove me wrong!)I'll get a brief reprieve from work due to the Passover/Easter holidays, but

Grednoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-33289029724820188062009-04-02T11:26:00.005-04:002009-04-02T12:36:12.194-04:00

I was insanely busy last week and so I wasn't as on top of the news coming out of GDC as I wanted to be, but GDC isn't really a news-generating event as much as it is a conference for game developers (I think that's why they call it "Game Developers Conference"). That said, there were a few companies touting their wares, and while most gamers are probably foaming at the mouth over Modern Warfare

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-38166417203434115172009-04-01T10:55:00.002-04:002009-04-01T11:19:11.347-04:00

I ordinarily try to keep this blog as narrowly focused as possible, but I'll make an exception every now and then when the situation calls for it. Below is a short film written and directed by some good friends of mine, and which I composed the music for; it turned out pretty well, I think. Please check it out and vote for it (if you're so inclined); if we win this round, we get a bigger budget

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-22035948070286113812009-03-30T09:49:00.006-04:002009-03-30T12:22:17.554-04:00

Ordinarily you wouldn't put Resident Evil 5 and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand in the same sentence, but we're edgy risk-takers here at SFTC, and so: that just happened. I finished both of these games over the weekend, and I was a little surprised at how much they have in common; certainly it was a little disorientating when switching between the two.Consider:3rd person shootercrazy-ass story that

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-61733962563936617442009-03-24T22:25:00.002-04:002009-03-24T22:27:08.148-04:00

New trailer has been released for one of my most anticipated games of 2009!FEZ TRAILER 2 from fish on Vimeo.

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-89894270108863461392009-03-23T12:19:00.004-04:002009-03-23T12:30:26.643-04:00

The small part of my soul that is not yet tainted by cynicism is somewhat a-flutter this morning, now that I've read this official PSBlog post revealing the launch of an ARG for Home.Of course, the problem here is that the most successful and engaging ARGs don't come right out and tell you that they're ARGs; the idea is that you discover them without knowing you're looking for them. I've only

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2901409519597047076.post-60414065927084558132009-03-22T22:11:00.002-04:002009-03-22T22:13:55.786-04:00

I fucking LOVE Resident Evil 5. It makes no sense to me that I should love it so; but there it is. I just finished Chapter 4-1 a short while ago and the only reason why I'm calling it a night is so that I can keep going back to it during the week. As much as the game is ass-backwards in so many respects, there's something about how it all comes together that is wonderful.That is all.

jervohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03251800373223470604noreply@blogger.com0