Saturday, November 28, 2009

I Am Gamer

So I was browsing the inna-webs and I came across this article. And I was thinking, man, it can't be that generic and clear cut. The gaming republic isn't just set to two or three different classes. There's different degrees of separation on what kind of gamer anyone can be. Now I know most gamers try to be as epic of a gamer they can be sticking to a slew of hot titles and not becoming more of a renaissance gamer being more eclectic and exposing themselves to a wide variety of genres and games. Hence why I love Screwattack so much because it's for all types gamers.

Just to clarify, I am a gamer. What kind of gamer I might be, or anyone for that matter, well, that's a whole 'nother can of beans. I mean there's the serious hardcore gamer, the casual gamer, the non gamer, the WTF kind, the crap in your pants cause you can't hold it anymore cause you wanted to be the first in line for 3 days for the next new console release at Best Buy kind, the list goes on and on. My point is there's a friggin gagglefuck of gamers out there and different types to boot. Just to label them into three or so different categories is not doing the gaming community any justice. This has been a debate for quite some time and I can't stand to see why there's such a brick wall between those that label and those that are labeled; especially when they are of one of the same people.

So I came up with the liberty of creating a general gauge on the archetype of a gamer. I think that it's quite introduction to what a gamer is and also how gamers interact within different game genres. It's just a quick synopsis of what goes on with a generalized genre. And of course, it's also funny as hell. I mean c'mon, it's from graphjam, what do you expect.

I mean sure, I could possibly make a series out of this, and go real in depth. In fact, I'm definitely gonna make that happen. So consider this the prologue of the different gamer personalities. A little bit of insight, a lot of poking fun of, and definitely me making a complete jackass of myself. That shouldn't be too hard, right?!? (Especially the third one...) So I hope you'll enjoy this as many more (at least 4 more) will come to on this topic. So, have fun; happy gaming; and please, it's mostly satire here, don't get bent outta shape.


BootLeG sampler.. signing off...

Thursday, November 26, 2009

List o' Greatest Videogame Cheats, Glitches, and other Cheap-Ass Tricks

Yeah, it's been quite a while since I'd did a top whatever list, so here's my contribution to something that I felt has been once again, overlooked.  More or less we have all played a videogame that at one point or another, there's that brick wall that we just can't get passed without a little help.  Some games seem that they're just made not to be beaten while others are so unbalanced with it's level of difficulty that winning in it is not just a far off dream, but a hellish nightmare to even attempt at trying.  This is why developers gave us various tools on our side to show those games who's boss; I'm talking about cheats.  Ya gotta love 'em.  They're there to take some of the slack off to make a game easier to play and beat, but then again there are some that are just there to completely obliterate any opposition that comes upon you.  Here is my homage to the best videogame cheats, glitches, and other cheap-ass tricks.  And always remember, this is completely opinionated so if I forgot something at the time or completely ignored, burn me on the comments, it's just all that I had in mind at the time.
 
Just a small disclaimer: this list is in no particular order, it's just the first few things that I could come up with off of the top of my head.  It's not a top list, it's just a list of tops.
 
  • The Contra Code ::  It's the epitome of all codes.  This code is so infamous that practically all Konami title either has it or mock it in some form or another.  It's so popular that it's just known to as "The Code" and is forever engraved as a part of our videogame culture.  Hell, it's so popular that even Facebook adapted the code for a neat little easter egg if you try it.  Here's how to pull it off... up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter (that's if you haven't already tried it out.)
  • The Game Genie ::  Now this mo-fo was the king of all cheap tricks.  It made the unbeatable game beatable.  It gave birth to such features such as infinite lives, invincibiltiy, unlimited anything, and all the other stuff that makes a hard-as-hell game seems like you're playing a baby's toy.  So I solute you Game Genie, the Rosetta Stone of hacks and codes.  Without you, I would've smashed my Genesis with a sledgehammer 10 times over as a kid.
  • The Koopa Shell in Super Mario Bros. World 3-1 :: We all know that one.  A quick way to get 99 lives and hopefully not lose them all cause you would've sucked at later levels.  This has to be one of the first cheap-ass moves I've ever experienced as a gamer.  Especially once you reached 100 lives, you die, game over, and all those 1-ups were just a waste of time.  This game still all so many years later gives me nostalgic angst in the fact on how cheap some things are in this epic title.  Of course if you really want to be cheap...
  • The Running 1-UP on any Mario 2D platformer :: that's as cheap as you can get.  A ba-jillion points and a 1-UP at the end of it all... that's eff'd up.  Not to mention in Super Mario World that in some cases you could get a 2-UP... A FRIGGIN' 2-UP!!!  NOW THAT'S TRULY EFF'D UP!!!
  • God Mode (any single-player FPS) ::  I remember my first time using this code.  It was DOOM.  Just tearing through imps and demons and well, hell itself.  Knowing that I could just kill any hellspawn with only a chainsaw or my fist...  Bruce Campbell would be so proud (single tear rolls down cheek.)
  • Big Head Mode (any game) ::  Quite possibly the worst thing to put on unless you're happen to be playing NBA JAM, big head mode is useless.  So I'm categorizing this as a cheep-ass trick.  Especially in the aspect of multi-player FPS's (Goldeneye comes to mind).  Enable this, and you might as well just shoot yourself and get the misery over with.  Such a huge target, so many weapons to frag it with...
  • The Blood Kode from Mortal Kombat :: The arcade cabinet trumps the console versions for one reason only, blood.  Instead you had white sprites to simulate blood and that was pretty lame.  Until you enter the Blood Kode.  Let the epicness begin!!!  Unless you're playing the SNES port then you're screwed...  XD
  • The Warp Whistles form Super Mario Brothers 3 ::First introduced in the movie The Wizard months before the release of the game, it's the most effective way to move throughout the game.  Especially if you're smart and get the two whistles in World 1 to get to World 8.  Then at that point if you didn't get any power-ups along the way or you just plain suck at 2D platformers, you're screwed.
  • Unlocking Super Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 :: The best way to play that game.  Let's do the math here; you do the code, play as normal, and as soon as you collect 50 rings, jump and transform into Super Sonic.  Quite frankly, the simplest and most effective way to play any platformer in my opinion.
And that's all of the classic codes that I could think of just off of the top of my head that could be worthy of this list.  That's not to say that the others were all crap, it's just that these I have a great fondness to and I would like to think that as a gamer, you guys do too.  These games were epic even without it, it just that when in use with the codes, it was a while different experience.  Whether it helped you or pissed you off because someone was being cheap with it, these are the ones that will outlast the test of time for any cheat for any videogame.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Saturday, November 21, 2009

I'm Still Too Cheap for a PS3

With Christmas time coming around the corner, it's usually the time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, goodwill towards men, and being merry and all that jazz. Trust me; those are all good things and as well we should be doing all these things, but there's still something that's been very elusive from me for the past 3 years or so. The Playstation 3. Sure, I've seen friends play it, I hang out there a whole helluva lot just to play Street Fighter IV and Modern Warfare 2. But for a good long while the Playstation 3 has eluded my grasp. And with the release date for Final Fantasy XIII set for early 2010, the urge to get one has magnified ten fold.


And just a little quick rundown as far as what I currently own as far as current-gen consoles is the Wii. There's 2 reasons for that and not owning a 360 as well: 1) I'm a cheap bastard and, 2) there's more stuff for my kids for the Wii then on the 360. But I figure the time has come to step up to the majors and get me a PS3. And now you're saying why not get a 360, it's cheaper and FFXIII will be on that as well. Well, it's not like I got anything against the 360, it's just that I prefer having blu-ray and all the other good stuff that the 360 don't offer as well as that I'm a bigger fan of Sony than Microsoft any day of the week. That and the whole red ring thing's a real turn-off. Just sayin'...

Anyways, with that being said, I'm on the trek to save up for a PS3. Sure it's late in the season for a cheap bastard like me to get enough saved along with bills and other stuff. So I vowed to save enough for a PS3 and get it FFXIII on it's release. So that's what I'm venturing to do. March 9, 2010, the day I start to live as a true gamer again. A long anticipated game of epic proportions on a system that does everything; oh hellyeah that'll be excellent!!!
But for the mean time, I guess it's just going to have to be New Super Mario Bros Wii to satisfy my palette. And oh yes, it's does.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Friday, November 20, 2009

WTF People!?! Country Music

What can I say about this genre that hasn't been said as of late. It seems that everybody has gone and joined the country music bandwagon and who can blame them. Back in the day the only way country music stars could reach audiences outside of their genre was in side projects like Kenny Rodgers Smokey and The Bandit Movies, Monday Night Football featuring Hank Jr.'s theme music, or to the lesser known extent of Billy Ray Cyrus' role in the quasi-decent western drama Doc (which by the way was a poor man's version of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Little House on the Prairie.) But like I said, that was back in the late 80's early 90's. But now, it's like if you're country, your like a friggin' rock star. With such big acts and huge up-and-comers coming into the country scene, it's REDONKULOUS on how big country is.

Lets start in the beginning of the decade with probably my favorite country singer, Toby Keith. He's probably in my opinion the last American Bad Ass since he took stride with his controversial song "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and his thoughts on the September 11th attacks and promoting his brand of patriotism. I am in total agreement on what he promotes as far as most of his songs to include "Beer For My Horses", a ode to how things were done to those that terrorized honest citizens (that and a cameo featuring Willie Nelson isn't that bad either.) Also his dedication to help those that serve in the Armed Forces by performing at USO's all over the world to lift morale is an awesome endeavor as well. But to that accolade we can practically contribute most if not all of today's country music artists for their patriotic efforts in song from Alan Jackson's "Where Were You" to Darrel Worley's "I Just Came Back From A War" and etc.

Now that's just one facet of country music, and I'm not complaining about that. And as you all know with all WTF's here, there's always something there that just left of center and all sorts of, well, WTF-ish about it. That my friend is the "
jump the shark" complex. Don't know what jumping the shark means, just follow the link. And there has been plenty of acts that seem to have done it well and then some not quite. One of which that falls on the latter is Kid Rock. Seriously, someone like Kid Rock is actually getting airplay on country stations?!? Not only that, but was at this years CMA's trying to get all countryfied and all... that in among itself is deserving of a WTF?!? Kid Rock himself is deserving for a WTF, but that's for another time. An example of doing well, quite well as a matter of fact, is Darius Rucker. You just can't touch him right now. WHO WOULD'VE FIGURED HOOTY FROM HOOTY AND THE BLOWFISH WOULD STILL BE ON THE RADIO!?! None the less, becoming the new thing in country. From Hooty and the friggin' Blowfish to country rock star?!? I don't friggin' get it?!? All I know is Kid Rock, stick to the trailer park sounds; Darius, keep up the good work. Best to both and steady the course.

Now artists aren't only jumping the shark to country; but country artists are, and well, has been, jumping the shark to mainstream pop culture. From old examples of Garth Brooks attempt to alt-rock with his pseudo Chris Gaines to the latest example Taylor Swift. And boy-o-boy can I talk about Taylor... She's young, hip, and her blend of country and pop crossover is such an unbelievable feat that hasn't been done since Shania Twain back in the 90's with her country/adult top-40 efforts. Seriously, Taylor Swift is everywhere; from MTV to CMT; from country stations to top-40 stations; from Radio City Music Hall to Radio Disney; it's a pandemic on how huge this 19-year-old sensation is. With two highly successful albums and a horde of fans that can rival other acts, she's on the fast track to a highly successful music career. Who knows, this might be a new trend. Kenny Chesney might be the next Sammy Hagar. Hell; he's practically this generation's Jimmy Buffet when it comes to his country in my opinion.

And you know what?!? This kind of stuff was previously unheard of where if you were a fan of country you were a black sheep among popular culture. Now if you don't know crap about country, you're pretty much out of the loop. Some of the most profound musicians from other genres of music (mainly rock) attribute some of their influences to country greats such as Johnny Cash, Lynard Skynard, Charlie Daniels, and the list goes on and on. My personal favorite for the record has to be Alabama. It was my first live country experience besides going to bars and such. I was there for their final concert in Pittsburgh back in 2003 and it was EPIC. My first country concert and to say anything, NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING COMES CLOSE TO ALABAMA!!!

And that's WTF's up people...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Change in Seasons

So the weather outside now is frightful, and sun would feel so delightful; but for now to me it's to freakin' cold... And I can't find a replacement word for snow to make this opening parody work, so I guess I'll just start with what's getting me. It's like this every friggin year here since I moved to Arizona roughly 3+ years ago. You tolerate the hot-as-balls weather for a good while then it has like two weeks of perfect temps (at least perfect for me), then BAM!!! It's friggin' cold outside.

OK, so it's not exactly cold, but when you're so damn used to the heat, anything below 75 is frigid. I love the heat, keep me warm. That's one of the driving influences that drove me to come to Phoenix and move from Philly. In the sun, I could get in the pool and cool off, hell, I could even get in the jacuzzi and cool off if it was hot enough. :P And until about the end of October I was doing just that. Try doing some crazy crap like that in Philly, I DARE YA!!!

But now, it's getting colder, the sky's are a little more gray, and I'm feelin' like, "Damn, where did my perpetual summer go?" What says this change in season has to effect the Valley of the Sun. THE VALLEY OF THE FRICKIN' SUN PEOPLE!!! C'mon, I wanna soak up some sun.

But don't get me wrong. I grew up in the cold weather for most of my life. I remember snowboarding in the Poconos, sliding on black ice driving on the Blue Route, and all that shoveling off snow off the stoop just to get to the car so I can move it on street cleaning day and not get a ticket. Good times, gooood times... Yup, the cold had its up and its downs, but by far, I rather have the warmth any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

So I ask myself, "What the hell?!?" On one hand, it's friggin colder than a witches tit to me and it's only 68 degrees, but I have friends (both here and back east) that is saying 'quit your bitchin!' Seriously, it's a lose-lose situation in my book. Damned if I do (grin and bear it with the mediocre cold temps); damned if you don't (bitch about it and get flack for voicing my dilemma to those back east.) I'm just sayin'...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

"Trying to give you summer // but it's winter // just to see you spring // but it falls so short" -Seasons by Alien Ant Farm from ANThology