Chrono Cross: Revisiting a Classic (Part I)
This could be really fun or really embarrassing. This is the first multi-part post I’ve tried to do and it’s about a video game near and dear to my heart. I wanted to wait until I was done with it, but as I’ve stated before, I tend to not finish video games. If that happens here, I want to at least get a bit out. So, if this is it, take it as it is. If I finish I’ll put up a part II. So here it goes. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about my android phone are emulators and roms. I started playing Pokemon FireRed a while back (probably need to write something on that all by itself) and that was a ton of fun. Eventually, I got bored with it but started thinking of some of the games that meant the most to me and how…
Irrational Games Has Closed (Pretty Much)
Irrational Games, the makers of BioShock is, for all and intents and purposes, done with. Ken Levine announced a few days back that he will be laying off all but fifteen of his employees. This is a huge blow to the gaming community. I remember, vaguley, hearing about Black Isle, the creators of Baldur’s Gate, closing down when I was a kid. I remember feeling somewhat upset, because I had wanted more games like that. But it was way in the back of my mind, I had come along to these late so they were already old to me. I assumed there wouldn’t be more. This is different. I may not have been there for System Shock, but I followed BioShock from announcement to release. I went by Wal-Mart on my way home from work (at five in the morning) to buy it then spent four or five hours diving…
Mass Effect 3 Rewrite
I…I don’t think I ever wrote about the ending of Mass Effect 3. Huh. I didn’t just sit up in bed and think that. Forbes had a post detailing a fan’s 118,000 word rewrite of Mass effect 3. To give you an idea, Sorcerer Rising is right around 125,000 words. Anyway, it is available as a PDF, a ridiculously large PDF, and does a really interesting job of bringing it to a similar, but different, conclusion. I’ll admit, I’m still torn over the ending. On one side, I want to respect the creator’s right to end their creative work however the wish. On the other, I think that same creator does have the responsibility to fulfill the promise they’ve made to their fans. And, frankly, if you were expecting a yee-haw, kick all them aliens to hell, go back and marry your alien princess (totally would have married Tali), well, you…
Xbox One Eighty
I love that play on words above, and a one eighty it truly has been. Like many, I am truly amazed that Microsoft backpedaled this much. And maybe I’m cynical, but I don’t trust it. This is how I see it (and its hardly a unique perspective). Microsoft knew that, all things equal, they would sell a crap load of systems, pretty much no matter what. They would sell a crap load of games. They would make money. Because they’re Microsoft, becuase they have the Xbox (and Halo) and they’ve been successful so far. So what they did, was take a gamble. They said, lets throw out a maximum profit plan. There would be no room for their customers to wiggle out of their grip if they wanted their Xbox games. The publishers would make more, Microsoft would make more, and most retailers would probably make more as well. And then…
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