Grand Theft Reign

Happy end of April everyone. This has been a great first month for me with the site. Continue to visit and read my writing, you know you want to. Hop on over to the forums sometime and let your opinion be heard.

So what was the most elitist news this month? It does not get much better than the boycott on EA's Battlefield: Bad Company. Where else can you find everything that is bad about XBox Live Marketplace and wrong with the gaming industry?

Even you can design that perfect Lego structure for your significant other

Echochrome is out tomorrow - Teaser demo was just enough to get the puzzle-solving juices going, now are you prepared for the real thing? Nice way to start off a new month.

10 items you probably do not really need

Hydrophobics beware, Google Earth is out to get you - Google Oceans will be perfect for planning out my next dive.

The future web is a ways away - The human race is technically in its infancy, is it not?

The Sims Online goes offline - World of Warcraft has overruled the land of MMOs once again.

April 30th, 2008

Something smells fishy

NPR today had an interesting discussion on Grand Theft Auto IV today. They had Lazlow Jones, a writer for Grand Theft Auto, on speaking about various satires seen throughout and how believable Niko is (the new main character.) Got to hear a tease from the television and radio stations as well. A little bit of news below for a short but still geeky break inbetween your hours of game playing today. I refrained from posting anything further on Grand Theft Auto IV, despite the best article title regarding that the game is pornography.

PixelJunk Monsters on again - Cute. Simple. Fun. And now more.

Certain violently classified pornography is not to be viewed in the UK - What will be interesting is what the fine line is between what is too violent and what is not.

Reading the news on paper is so last century - More and more newspapers are halting the presses and moving virtually.

Video gaming for the whole family

April 29th, 2008

A little time-travelling never hurt anyone, right?

I must find some way to get the company I work for invited to E3 this year. Now that it sounds like it is going to be more professional I think it would be right up our alley. Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii are out this week. If you did not know that, you must live in a cave.

Hoping for a little bit more underneath the game play - For the games that are missing that certain... something.

British video game rating system - For games that are not extremely violent the system is self-applied. Not sure if I would want the developer who is creating the game to be the one to rate it.

Updated Prius on the way - Starting to look a little more space-like too.

Car thieves beware of OnStar equipped vehicles

IMing for the insecure - Paranoid that your significant other will catch you flirting online? Or maybe you enjoy messaging your bank account number to random strangers.

Season 8 of Scrubs is on the way - ABC picks up the show for another season, and the real ending will prevail.

Dell, HP, and Lenovo refuse to allow Windows XP to die - Maybe because they know that everyone hates Vista.

April 28th, 2008

Elitist Mass Effect Review

My Mass Effect review is now available. Read it.

April 27th, 2008

Heartwarming Gaming

Happy Friday everyone; I am as glad to see the weekend on the horizon just as much as the next nine-to-five individual. Several sites have mentioned an early leak of GTA IV, but is that really surprising? Russia? China? Either of those ring a bell? I generally expect most highly anticipated games, if not game releases in general, to be exposed earlier than intended. Also, watch Wii work it.

Supposed non-animated animation from GTA IV and other upcoming titles - Not sure if this is as advanced as the video attempts to present it. Great idea, for sure, and I look forward to seeing something more developed in the future. At the moment the software does not make sense; as the commenters state, the "animated" object can not know to do something if there is nothing to tell it to do so. Not to mention the blue man flops around a bit much to be "realistic."

A little bit of nano gauze goes a long way

Lego and art collide once again in a beautiful explosion - The Han Solo structure wins hands down. Everything is quite extraordinary however.

A turtle regains her ability to explore by use of a model airplane wheel

Internet suicide cult in Japan takes the life of another emo kid - How there can ever be considered a "popular suicide" baffles me. I do smell a missed opportunity for a cruel April Fool's joke with the downloadable poster however.

Informal text speech continually pops up in classrooms - There is a time and place for lolspeak, and that is never and nowhere. While I am aware that Microsoft releases shabby products, I would not consider Word an encourager of poor spelling and grammar.

Science can now predict when you are getting bored with what you are doing

The battle between pirates and ninjas rages onward - While the game's backgrounds look rather stunning, I am not sure how I feel about the bobble-head looking characters. It looks like one heck of a fun fight though.

Walk the former Berlin wall with GPS - I could get into virtually guided tourism.

April 25th, 2008

Build a critic

I was listening to NPR today and they had a guest technology critic speaker on discussing new gadgets. What he was getting at through his argument was that products these days have too many unnecessary features that most consumers either do not know how to use or care to use. Rather than bombard people with trivial extras, he asks for more simple, refined, and elegant products. I have to agree with him to an extent, as I do not care much for extra features that I know I will never use; and I do not appreciate sales people trying to lure me into purchasing an item that is more expensive than another merely because it comes bundled with an extra feature or two that I am uninterested in.

Unfortunately, I missed his thoughts on the iPhone, which I believe were going to turn in the direction that mine would as well. Too many features is one thing when they are useless; but when you come up with an idea, such as the iPhone, that is one small package that features multiple gadgets, the idea that less features offer more is broken. Having a single iPhone takes the place of lugging around several gadgets, that is always useful. He also brought up a survey that Microsoft had sent out before releasing their new Office software concerning what features people would like to see in a new version of Office. It turned out that about 80% of the requests were already features of Office, people just do not know how to find them. Perhaps they are buried in too many extra and unused features as it is?

Documentary on MMO players - You have to watch at least the trailer, because almost everyone played, plays, or will play one at some point in their life.

Digital exclusion in the UK - What will the next exclusion technology be; the one in the future that our generation will be too old to understand?

Mario Party with customizable bear avatars - I'll preorder this with my Grand Theft Auto. That would not be weird at all.

Skype is bad for your computer says Microsoft - How often is Microsoft wrong? Really. Windows Vista's security system is entirely way too overprotective of everything anyway; is it trying to say something about how insecure the operating system actually is?

Save up your sick days for GTA IV - What is your excuse?

Ice Age was filmed on Mars - I did not realize that 10-100 million years ago could be considered "recent." Amazing, nonetheless.

Save the world with more chemicals - Wait, depleting the ozone over Antarctica will assist in fully recovering it?

Galaxy porn - Got to love new space shots direct from the Hubble.

April 24th, 2008

A Gamer's Quarrel

For those of you who own a PS3 and an XBox 360, be sure to hope over to Game Daily for assistance in purchasing the PS3 GTA IV version over the sub par XBox 360 title. Not that you will need all eight reasons after the first: because the PS3 works. I believe that reason alone suffices, especially after playing Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed on the XBox 360 and dealing with both freezing on nearly every load screen. And everyone should ask for a Dalek Helmet for their birthday's.

Echochrome incoming! - This game brings M.C. Escher to interactive life, and will be available as a demo download on the PlayStation Network tomorrow. Anyone who enjoys a clever puzzle every once in awhile should check it out.

Dedicated gamers and the gaming industry - Truth in opinion, but at the moment unobtainable in practice so long as most of the developers today are focused on profits instead of quality. We drive the market; believe it and we can change this.

Real life is not where it is at anymore - Promoting products and services in Second Life does not help much when the average player logs on for 12 minutes... every month.

The upcoming GTA IV sparks NYC influenced video games discussion

Even high executives fall for junk emails - I would hope that people in positions of such power would be a little sharper than an overused pencil; or at least hire some sort of assistant that is brighter than they are to go through their emails for them. So many nautical terms, so little time.

Lolcats haz werks ned dooeng

Wii-ing not considered gaming - So to be a true video game console there must be a little physical and actual interaction as possible, and should resemble more of a playable book than anything else? Come on Bioware, you are better than that.

Watch what you take through security - What is worse than having security find a dildo in your luggage? Child porn on your laptop? Oh shoot.

April 23rd, 2008

Game for Earth Day

It does seem that SpikeTV is now going to wear out the Star Wars prequel trilogy until people gouge their eyes out from all of the Jar Jar action. I suppose it balances out the massive amount of basketball currently on due to the play-offs. For those of you who are out of the loop, Doctor Who's fourth season with the tenth doctor will truly begin in America this Friday on the Sci-Fi channel. Last week was the Christmas special from 2007, so no worries, you did not miss anything. I added a poll to the forums today; let us get some more people registered on there!

Netflix profit gains keep them in the hole - How many new people can there be signing up for Netflix anyway? Does there not come a time when everyone and their Mom already has an account?

Ebay sues itself - It is almost as if the Coke Zero versus Coke commercials are coming true right before our eyes.

Spore tease incoming - With creature creation being a huge chunk of the Spore experience, I wonder how much 25% of the total creature parts really is.

PS3 users still unable to go Home

NASA endorses the use of duct tape - Few items in this world are as universally useful as duct tape.

The military grows spare human parts - How many of the cadets are going to sign up for those lab-grown breast implants?

Leet-speak beats out Ebonics

April 22nd, 2008

Exploding XBoxes

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES is out this week; the "director's cut" if you will, including an additional episode and new ending. Have to get that game in before next week when everyone will be obsessing over Grand Theft Auto IV; as if they all are not already. Myself included. Wow, today's news sucks.

No one is playing their Wii - This article is only about a year late. Maybe back when there were not many exciting games out. It is also a shame that this writer did not get into the controls of the Wiimote; too different from the traditional I suppose.

WiiMan will save the day! - A Wiimote suit; I wonder how integrated it actually feels. Metroid Prime 3 anyone?

Get your space trip tickets now - Russia will no longer be giving out space trips for $40 million donations come 2010.

In Soviet Russia the Internet surfs you - And the government controls everything you do.

Mt. Everest is just a holodeck away

The lost Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy video game sequel resurfaces - Available to play even. It is entirely text-based as a pre warning for those of you who do not know otherwise.

Sexy cable connectors - What are they going to "bling" next?

Laser pens distract Australians and get banned for it

Microsoft gaming console causes house meltdown - While the article title claims it was an XBox 360, the news declares it was a normal XBox. Regardless, hot things need space to cool off? Ugh?

April 21st, 2008

Elitist Article Update

My response to the disappointing article on Gamasutra about video game mechanics is up. Read it here.

April 19th, 2008

Green Companies

I dislike using that term. All of a sudden a color now represents a revitalized respect for the Earth. I do not believe most of it as honest and true care, simply because the idea was driven out of people by paranoia and prospective profits. Do not forget to hop over to Penny Arcade today. They ran a contest over the past week regarding 10-word sentences related to World of Warcraft. A selective few have been posted on the news page; my favorite has to be "I don't play WoW, but I make chainmail for cats." Non sequitur enough to be highly amusing. I had a friend send in a few entries, unfortunately none of his made the cut.

Force sensing technology to replace books - This is a very cool idea, but just as with the PS3 controller's tilt axis technology I wonder how useful it actually would be. Not to mention I am not very comfortable with having to hold devices such as these a specific way to not accidentally perform random actions.

Hybrid class design 101

Video games fly off the shelves - Can you really blame gamers for the month of March when there were several large titles coming out at the same time? Just wait until the last week of April.

Hold the holy phones! - Too bad it embodies absolutely nothing that has to do with Buddha.

Console and PC wars outlined - Where the good games go, gamers will follow.

Fallout 3 is coming - Are you prepared?

Trash your movies instead of renting them - Reminds me of Divx DVDs from way back when. The disc was playable for a mere 48 hours after the initial view, and then would essentially shut-off. All I can say otherwise is, the last thing we need is more garbage in this world.

Pirate problem history lesson connects to modern-day cyber sea security

April 18th, 2008

Dedicated Gamers

I await the day when one of the many multi-player online games that come and go actually manage to break Blizzard's hold on the market. The amount of time, effort, and development that will have to spent on it will be immense and entirely worth it assuredly. Just always looking for something different; as change is good.

Movies, games, TV; all on the PS3, potentially - The last thing we need is Sony attempting to offer their own video services. I would be much happier seeing them pair up and combine their system with another company that already has a grasp of the film and television entertainment industry.

Upcoming fractal shooter - Looking forward to a graphically stimulating new shooter, as I have yet to see one that could top Ikaruga.

Stargate MMO information - The developer, FireSky, also mentioned having several other projects on the table with Stargate. I smell cancellations, indefinite holds, and funding issues on the horizon. Need I bring up the Firefly MMO?

Windows Vista runs more poorly on the computers it was designed for - Not that it does not run poorly in general. One should take into consideration that pre-made PC computers out of the box generally have a bunch of extra software installed on them. A Mac with a fresh install of Windows on it is going to run faster than that PC simply because of that fact. To run a real test, I would hope that the PCs would be wiped and given a clean install of Windows, just as the Mac. However, once you go Mac, you never go back. Unless you want to play video games.

Read Darwin's blog - How many other world-renown individuals are we given the opportunity to experience this kind of insight on?

Ion engines prepare to take flight this summer

Dorks in love

April 17th, 2008

Gaming under the influence

One of my favorite aspects of Grand Theft Auto are the radio stations, and today the full list for the upcoming title has been released. Maybe it is just me, but it appears as though there are more stations than in previous games; definitely looking forward to that. The forums should be more appropriately colored now, I will prepare a new logo for it tonight as well.

The ever-so-exciting adventure between Microsoft and Yahoo continues - If I were an employee at Yahoo, it would take quite a bit for me to want to stick with it if Microsoft took over.

Australia gets the shaft in the GTA department - No surprise, but quite admirable considering the lengths at which the gamers will go to procure a copy of the upcoming game. All in the true spirit of the Grand Theft Auto series!

A video game about household chores generates more money than any of us will see in a lifetime - I admit that I, too, have delved into the non-fantastical world of The Sims. The sandbox aspect of life that the game creates is is magnetically attractive, and reading about its massive revenues is not very shocking.

Blizzard gets bought out - Hopefully this merger will generate more competition between the big players in the video game development industry and draw out the real talents of their many employees.

April 16th, 2008

Free Time Equals Game Time

I have a multitude of articles on my mind; stay tuned for those. For any of you who do not mind a good book in between gaming, take a look at Grand Theft Childhood. It is not what you think it is, and exhibits the ideals I have placed throughout this website. Also, do not forget to update your PS3 today.

Entry-level game designer interview - I can understand why developers might be a bit weary about hiring entry-level game designers, as I would think that it would take a great deal of experience and knowledge to be a successful one. Hard to know if someone can handle that amount of pressure and responsibility if they have yet to be a working part of the industry. Besides, the interviewee had a masters degree, not exactly what would be considered an "entry-level" applicant.

New storing of solar energy puts previous methods in the dark

The "home gym" redefined

Monster Cables frightened by smaller cable company - Not that cables of the same type differ between manufacturers anyway. It is a selective number of metal wire encased in plastic with varying pin connections. The email comeback is superb either way.

A little tease about the upcoming Star Trek movie

Too many game mechanics overwhelm players - As with everything in life, moderation is key. Giving the player extreme freedom to do as they please, in games such as Spore and Oblivion, require superior development to allow so much and yet keep the player focused and excited. The same requirement is applicable to a title that features very few mechanics. Claiming God of War to be "uniquely identifiable" merely because it featured little more than a bloodbath, is horribly ignorant. What about Devil May Cry, Diablo, Castlevania? Same principals are displayed there making God of War rather non-unique based on mechanics alone. Regardless, to effectively reach the extremes in video game mechanics, either with too many or too few, is to have an amazing development team; and only there is where the truly innovative games are born. Moving out of the middle road of the gaming industry is risky, but absolutely necessary to create ground breaking titles. As a side note, I also must disagree with this article's comments on Bioshock having so much available that it took away from the game, as I felt it more so fell into the innovative game play category. I feel a counter-article coming on.

April 15th, 2008

All is fair in Love and Games

The weekend was fairly quiet; maybe that is a good sign, or perhaps it is just the calm before the storm. If only there was something interesting to mention... Okami is coming out on the Wii this week. If you have yet to play it, definitely time to put it on your list. Evidently my forum style is not functioning properly and will not let anyone register. To remedy this, I have defaulted to the original style for the time being.

Programming books, in one sense or another - For those of us who can not Google, there are always expensive downloads of the Internet available from a guy like this. However, it is a fairly clever idea to program algorithms to do the researching, and a commendable feat at that. On some topics though, it is quite necessary to read from a true professional's book.

Who in their right mind would want to buy Circuit City? Oh - It is as if the owner of Baltic Avenue was attempting to purchase Mediterranean Avenue for a hefty 3 grand; sure they will work when combined, but they still will not generate that much revenue. "Better than being separated" is the applicable philosophy here.

Video game industry average salary rises - Time for me to move to San Francisco.

Video game trailers versus demos - There are so many variables in this study, I am not sure which one to start with: the type of game, the genre, how popular the developer is, how reputable they are, the fact that most people do not take into account that demos are generally not anywhere near the final version of the game and that could cause false initial disappointment, not to mention trailers are more teaser-like and just show off the game making it appear to be better than it might actually be. I suppose you get the point.

April 14th, 2008

Site Updates

The forums are now open for use! Take advantage of your opportunity to be an Elitist Critic and let us all know what you think. Additionally, I have attached AddThis buttons to my reviews and articles. Share what you like and do not like with others; support the need for honesty about the increasing amount of disappointing game titles.

It dawned on me that I may never have explained the news aspect of this site. I find that there are too many sites that post the same stories as every other site; lately it seems to be revolving around the Microsoft/Yahoo/Google footsie party. Instead of trudging through every news site looking for the decent and unique articles, I do that for you and post it here. While I may post links to those already repeatedly written about articles, I only do so for important stories (or when there is nothing else being reported on.) The news linked to from here is considered extraordinary, amusing, or intensely irritating; all important, all worth a read, and most importantly all deserving of being posted here.

April 12th, 2008

Something Profound

Today and yesterday's news are severely disappointing. It was quite the challenge to find anything worth posting; I mean, how many people are actually interested in knowing that the World of Warcraft new expansion is in alpha? There were too many articles about the Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo mess. With one of my new reviews up, I am now planning on creating a forum for the site to allow you guys to voice your opinions as well. And, of course, still working on that RSS feed.

Windows is potentially doomed - Microsoft is far too blind to realize that anything bad could happen to their precious products.

If the Real World is not enough for you, try Internet drama - What was it that I was saying about monopolies again?

Kangaroos learn to program console games - Australian game development industry on the rise.

Radical religious Shiite leader resulted from video game obsession - I bet Robin Hood played Manhunt: Sherwood Forest and Ghandi was addicted to Sid Meier's Civilization: Religious Takeover. While I am against articles that propose a direct relationship between video games and violence, I could not pass up on one as amusing as this.

Increased cyber attacks against the Government promote peoples' paranoia - For every defensive security measure there is someone who can and will find a go-around to break through. However, this is the only way to learn what works, what does not, and how to make the defenses even stronger.

April 11th, 2008

Elitist Uncharted Review

My Uncharted video game review is now available. Read it.

April 10th, 2008

That is so VHS

I am currently working on two new reviews for the website. Keep posted for those updates. I noticed that Girls Don't Game were looking for a new writer a month ago; it is a shame that they have not posted since. I do hope that they have not entirely been lost to the highly addictive world of Azeroth.

April 9th, 2008

Phones on a plane!

April 7th, 2008

Violent News Story Weekend

Surprisingly enough, I found out that there are still stores out there that do not have the Wii in-stock. However, that is not an acceptable excuse for not having purchased one yet. More than enough varying versions of dance-pads on hand though; can anyone else feel the preemptive affect of WiiFit looming above the market?

April 6th, 2008

Fresh Friday

If yesterday felt like it was filled with an unsual amount of stories about violence in video games, then today must have been dedicated to music games. What luck. Today's news also included multiple "new" items as well however, we are not at a complete loss.

April 4th, 2008

Yet Another Violent Video Game Remark

I am quite tired hearing all of the hogwash about violence being caused by video games, and I refuse to post articles about it pending a story to end all other stories.  People are too convinced that everything in this world relates causally, and it definitely does not.  Parents need to take responsibility for the raising and control of their children.  End of story.  On to real news.

April 3rd, 2008

Elitist April Fool's Top 5

When I was searching the internet for today's prank sites and articles I was a bit disappointed at first. Blizzard's Tauren marine announcement for Starcraft II, Microsoft's new line of XBox 360s, a Fallout Boy Guitar Hero all were too silly to be decent jokes. What I look for in a really great April Fool's Day joke is that doubletake; "wait a minute, could this actually be true? Naaahh."

After wading through the useless Guitar Hero rip-offs and boring sites that choose not to celebrate random made-up holidays, I was able to find a few sites that caught my attention and from them created a top 5 list for 2008's April Fool's Day pranks! Read more...

April 2nd, 2008

The beginning

Today is the official launch of my video game review site, Elitist Critic.  At the moment there are six reviews available and linked below; future updates will include more reviews, my own gaming articles, and related news links.

My reviews are honest and critical; if all you want is to read about how amazing every game ever created is, get the hell off my site and go read a Play Magazine.

April 1st, 2008