Before your head explodes…

Konami has showed off Silent Hill 8 at E3…

And the general reaction from gamers before they whipped out their fingers to count on was “How’d we get to 8?”  I understand the confusion but if you just counted you would realize that yes indeed SH8 is the 8th Silent Hill game.

Before I count them off I need to address something.
Opinions can be wrong. SH fans can have a favourite entry. Some fans actually think SH 4 was a good game, others are in the correct camp and know it wasn’t the greatest.  Silent Hill 1 thru 3 are considered classics with some controversy over 3.  But 4 – 7 are all mediocre to decent at best.

4 – 7? … Yeah. Here. In case you’re confused.

Silent Hill
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Silent Hill: Origins (AKA Silent Hill Zero)
Silent Hill: Homecoming (Which most refer to as 5 but is the 6th game)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Which is a reimaging of the first NOT a retelling.. hence #7)

So should Konami leave the title as Silent Hill 8.. you as a so called “fan” of the series shouldn’t be confused anymore.

The only thing I want from this Silent Hill if Konami isn’t stupid is Co-Op.  Having a 2nd player wont take away from the horror if its done right.

JG

1/4th of gamers appear to be stupid - CONFIRMED

Look. I don’t like dissing gamers.  Most gamers just want to have a good time and have fun.  For the most part this blog’s title is just an eye catcher for anyone who’s into gaming.  Rest assured that one quarter gamers are not stupid.  Any true gamer knows the number is higher. (And even saying that is kind of an in joke)  Anyways…

It seems like 25 percent of the respondents (thus far) on GameFaqs’ latest poll think Activision-Blizzard’s merger is most beneficial to gamers.  While they are most certainly entitled to their opinion.. I wonder if this isn’t primarily fanboyism at work.

Even though 51% percent of these gamers are in the correct camp by voting for the powerhouse God of all gaming mergers Square+Enix+Taito+Eidos.   Now, I myself have been critical of Square-Enix because of Final Fantasy 13. And how if you actually take the time and count it out, Square has either developed more mediocre-decent games than crazy awesome ones.  But you know what… man do they keep you entertained.  You’ll find a lot of fans only play Square-Enix branded stuff because they feel they are getting the best JRPG (They’re not) experience.  Anyways this has nothing to do with my point.

I just want to know one thing. How does anything other than the assurance that Blizzard can continue making the same game(s) for another 15 years benefit the gamer?(Yeah I fuckin said it. Count the diversity between RTS, W-RPG and MMORG) Yeah maybe they make some great games. But all the deal does is ensure they’ll have the backing to continue making the same shit repeatedly. Its good shit though, it really is.

Whereas at Square-Enix (Japanese) has Taito (Also Japanese) now has Eidos in their talent pool… means so much more to gamers.  Tomb Raider and Hitman games will get new life fuel injected into them by the old and new talent.  DragonQuest now gets Square Wisdom… and vice versa.  I guess for Taito the next Lufia game will be sick.  Anyways.  What am I missing about this Activision-Blizzard Merger?  Are they doing Dope-Ass-PSP-Games-disguised-as-a-full-on-sequel? The answer is no my friend. It should also be noted that this was going to be a cellphone game in Japan. .  needless to say … whoa.

Anyways, if somebody could explain to me what such a predominant section of the gaming population sees as beneficial to them in that merger that would be super cool. THANX… BWYE!

JG

I can finally talk about Heavy Rain

Ok.  I have a friend that really wanted to play this game.  Though it came out a while ago, he finally got it played through it.  So I can finally talk about it.

First! It’s a very well constructed game, plays well and blah blah blah.. go to metacritic for the aggregate. 

Second I need to go play Omikron (Cage’s first game)

Third. This game story doesn’t just have plot-holes where a truck could pass through… this game has plot holes that devour solar systems.   I’m still not going to spoil anything but I’m not gonna shit on any aspect of the game before my friend completes it.

On my first successful completion of the game (after revealing that ____ _____ is the killer) I accidentally failed one QTE and failed the 2nd one on purpose just to let _____ _____ get away with it all and see if I got a trophy.  I didn’t because I left Lauren alive. Oops.  Anyways… after getting the ending… I started to realize a few things…  then playing through as _____ ______ I realized even more.

This game was meant to be played/viewed once so you don’t realize that portions of it don’t make sense. OK Before Cagers freak out and say “He plans to fill in the holes with DLC”  To you I say “Prove to me that was his idea from the get-go”  and once you fail at that I ask you why the only DLC is content that was cut from the game? THEN I ask you why this article makes Cage look either like an asshole or an idiot.  You don’t even have to click on it.. I’ll get the quote ready 

“We won't release the end of the game as DLC that you need to pay for.”

That’s right.. Just one short fucking chapter you cut from the game.  But wait there’s more…

“But we are talking with Sony at the moment about having maybe extra downloadable content, maybe with prequels or sequels about the characters.”

MAYBE? – 1) That shit’s a no brainer.  2) Olivia Munn is a fox.  3) This should have been on your little development table once you realized A) Ethan’s blackouts are unneeded and irrelevant.  B) Shelby Has asthma. (You’ll understand if you don’t already) C) Tripto my friend… everybody wants to know WTFIJ with the Tripto? It’s good, its bad NOBODY KNOWS… so many ways to expand the game. 

Well I guess the concern was that nobody would be playing it a few  MONTHS FROM NOW. And the game came out at the end of February.

Man, I went off the wall.. .All I’m saying is that Cage needs to hire a writer to write his idea.  I’m just tired of these ridiculous plot holes.  Seriously.. the last half of Indigo Prophecy gets absurd.  Luckily this is not nearly as bad.  . . But in some ways, still just as silly.

PS3 vs 360 – Final Round

OK this is it. Game Over.

After spending absolutely absurd amounts of time with both, I get to finally be the definitive bi-partisan juror.  I’m a gaming fanboy.

For the purposes of this comparison I’ve assumed both of these objects will and always work at the best they can.

Now most of the stuff you read is true.  Most games other than exclusives tend to look better somehow on the 360.  However the tide is slowly turning.  The Exclusives will always look better on the PS3…  The thing is more powerful.  END OF DISCUSSION.  Google it.

PS3… It only does everything.  You’ve seen the commercials. I don’t need to tell you what it does but it does a lot more than you think it does.   There are programs that sync it with your PC(s) so you can stream media.  You also have the added option of syncing it with a PSP should you own one.  Though few games take full advantage of the connectivity .. but even the PS2 supports that.   What you may not know is.. REMOTE PLAY…  You can actually PLAY games through Wifi or Internet on your PSP FROM your PS3.  (Currently to my knowledge a few PSN titles and all PSOne Originals can be streamed this way)  The PS3 wins because the Xbox has nothing that compares to this.

XBL (Silver) vs PSN
Not worth it… Either buy a PS3 or get gold
(Seriously)

XBL (Gold) Vs. PSN
Both of these experiences are pretty much the same. It is all about content. A lot of the content even swaps spaces.  It is all about what you want.  Do you want to play classics from the PC era like Doom or Duke Nukem?  Does Castle Crashers sound fun or does Fat Princess?  Some research can be done to see what is available on each side but both offer a robust line up of stuff.   What sets them apart is the lack of the Party chat system (which you need XBL Gold to do) where you can play Fallout 3 and talk to your buddy playing Final Fantasy 13. PS3 users will come to call this X (Cross) game chat or just simply Xchat when they get it.  Then there is the fact that the PS3 has a full on browser and I hear people watch Hulu on it… The 360 has no equivalent.  But then you can use twitter and facebook on the 360 (Which you have to have XBL Gold) … or you could just open up your browser on the PS3…. It’s pretty weak to charge your users to do this but Microsoft does it and people pay it.  Kudos to sony for being and staying free. PS3 wins but I guess some would say its close.

WHOA WHOA WHOA! sdjfhdslkhfslhflsdkhf  Wait a sec. The 360’s fanbase is A LOT more willing to play online. (It’s just a fact… they pay to play) Any multiplayer game you have… go online and your friends list will get jam packed. I tend to co-op so I don’t make friends too swiftly.  PS3 may win just because it does everything for free but if you actually want to play with people who really want to play with people who want to play you will play on the 360.  AND THAT is the bottom line.

The PS3 is a better and more reliable system.  But the bottom line is the 360 is a gaming platform and it does the game experience slightly better for a price.  The PS3 does the the whole game experience but at times its less-than-motivated online community kill a game prematurely.

ULTIMATE WINNER: PLAYSTATION 3 … But the victory is likened to one person standing up slightly faster than the other during a standing 10 count.

JUDGES
JG – PS3-9.5     360-8.0
SP – 360-9.5     PS3-8.0
CZ – PS3-10      360-9.0

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