ButtonSmashing

What Brings You?

2011-10-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a single item on this blog in over 3 years. Somehow it is still getting visitors. I apologize to you profusely for the inevitable disappointment you may have had when you arrived at this abandoned blog.

I would still LOVE to blog about video games and electronics but I just don't have the time anymore to do it as regularly as I used to. Other outlets get more attention and much more traffic.

My primary blog gets a lot more viewers and I will post related topics there I guess. Just search for the right tag to filter the other mess.

:)

Deals: 8-22-08

2008-08-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

Not many to speak of but still a few good ones.

Fry's

360 - Too Human $50
360 - Forza 2 $18
360/PS3 - Civilization Revolution $50
Wii - Sonic and the Secret Rings $18
PC - Shattered Suns $35

GameStop

PS3 - Def Jam: Icon $13

Wii-mote Not So Wee

2008-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

As a preemptive strike against an announcement from Microsoft regarding a motion controller during E3 that never came, Nintendo announced yet another accessory for #1 selling system.

This new add-on called the Wii MotionPlus adds the capability to reproduce your actual movements in game "exactly" as they are in real life. So theoretically you could move your controller and see a visual representation on screen of your Wii Remote exactly as it is positioned in the real world.

This would come in handy/gimmicky for light saber duels or...baseball bat movement maybe?

It looks like it has another sleeve on it. Does this mean they will be giving us more free sleeves? I don't think so. Or will there be two different models of the motion plus peripheral? It might just be bad art but you see the curve of the sleeve near the bottom of the standard Wii Remote? How is that supposed to work exactly?

You know how you play certain games and it won't allow you to continue until you remove the nun-chuck? Are we going to have to remove it for certain games? Are we going to have to keep a box of accessories and their respective sleeves for every controller option?

The Wii-mote + Analog stick makes it the most expensive controller out there. Now they are breaking it into three parts?

$80 gets you Guitar Hero AND a guitar!

If this add-on costs $20 it will bring the total of a Wii Remote and nun-chuck to $80.

Here's a thought, how about some more games Nintendo? If I were them I would be paying dividends towards Lucas Arts for the rights to publish the old SCUMM games on the VC at least!

Sam & Max, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones, hell even Dig!

Or another lazy idea - Best Of: Mario Party? I know Mario Party has had some great little multi-player games that they have retired. I would love to see a collection of the classics.

Deals: 7-25-08

2008-07-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

GoGamer

XBox 360
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith $40
Alone in the Dark $30
Soul Calibur IV $55

PS3
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit $40

PC
Devil May Cry 4 $35

Wii
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith $35

PS2
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith $34

T-Shirt (Yeah that's right, but its freakin' cool!)

$30 for a T-Shirt that flashes to the beat of music playing in your surroundings. I'm thinking of you Farhan have you seen these?

GameStop

XBox 360
Halo 3: Legendary Edition $70! That's almost 50%! (You also get some crappy magnets.)
Dark Sector $30

PS3
Used NBA Street Homecourt $13
Dark Sector $30

Nintendo DS
Final Fantasy IV $40

PS2
Rock Band Track Pack: Volume 1 $30

Wii
Rock Band Track Pack: Volume 1 $30

Deals: 7-18-08

2008-07-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

GoGamer.com

Windows
Age of Conan w/ guidebook $40
Alone in the Dark $25
Unreal Tournament III $16
Devil May Cry 4 $35

XBox 360
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith $40

PS3
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit $40

GameStop

PC
Guild Wars Factions: Platinum Edition w/ Prophecies $30
Guild Wars: Nightfall $30

XBox 360
Call of Duty 4 $50
Army of Two $40

PS3
Haze $40
Call of Duty 4 $50
Monster Madness: Grave Danger $40

Forget Blood Diamond, Say Hello to the Sony BloodStation 2!

2008-07-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

Game Politics reports that a rare metal required for the Playstation 2 helped fuel a bloody, decade-long conflict in Africa's Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an investigative report on Toward Freedom.

Talk about not being "green."

The article is a bit sensationalist in my opinion. The Playstation 2 isn't the ONLY electronic equipment that required that metal but I guess they figure they are in the clear because they said "helped."

Still an interesting read.

Denis Dyack in a Few Short Words

2008-07-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

President of Silicon Knights and most recently outspoken proponent of video game media industry revolution, recently to the 1Up Yours podcast to mouth off once more.

He is pushing a game that his been in development for over a decade that received some harsh previews from mostly everyone who has seen and played the work in progress. Most notably were the terrible opinions shared after the admittedly, by everyone at Silicon Knights, not ready to be shown crap fest that was the 2006 E3 demonstration.

One thing that strikes me as interesting is how he continues to defend his game and some of the more questionable development directions they have taken. Hard on all negative opinions of his game, instead of taking the comments as advice or forewarning, he points the finger at the rest of the world and calls for a complete restructuring of the video game review scoring system and desires preview restrictions if not outright banning.

In laymen's terms this sounds like he believes that it is not his game that sucks, but everyone else's opinion of it and taste in electronic entertainment.

He quoted select parts of Neil Postman's writings to defend his point. Neil Postman wrote a book called "Amusing Ourselves to Death" which warned about the potential downfall of humanity due to the lack of intellectual discourse and cross cultural melding. (This is admittedly a Kindergarten summary of a great book you should all read.)

I am in no way claiming that forum posts qualify as intellectual discourse, but since the internet has grown in popularity, public discourse in general has increased tremendously. No longer are we forced to trust the opinions of retail clerks and accept the attempted brainwashing's of the occasionally misleading marketing campaigns. Now we can choose where to spend our money using more than just the few opinions of our friends. We can scour the internet for information and after sifting through the occasional pile of filth and garbage, we can find truth.

Metacritic is the root of all evil?

I disagree. I don't see the harm in it. A high score doesn't guarantee fun. A high score promise's basic function. Scores usually only go down if there are serious problems with the game design or functionality. In my experience I have found totally boring and uninspired games will receive higher scores than those that have good intentions but are completely broken. Scores are a starting point. You take that into account then research the game to see if it is one you would like to play.

Denis, please stop doing all this other research into how you can change the world and instead concentrate on making a good game. We all want to eat crow and have you develop a good game but if you don't heed the warnings of the same people who will guarantee your continued salary, then you are destined to a similar FASA fate. (See Shadowrun.)

Renting Vs. Buying Used

2008-07-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

It is very expensive to play video games. It was hard enough to have to grow up in a two console industry back in the 90's with the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo.

Now we have three major competitors, entry level prices and additional fee's for accessories and add-on functions. I used to think, "When I am an adult and I have a job I could buy any game I wanted."

Well technically, I COULD do that but not without some serious damage to my bank account, not to mention the damage to the relationship with my spouse. ;) (She is actually very supportive but I do also know how to limit myself which every gamer should do.)

So what are the alternatives? Borrowing? I don't know any local gamers personally. All my true gaming friends are online. Most of them are 30+ miles away if even in the same state or country.

I used to ALWAYS buy used games. It was my only option. I would miss out on the newest releases but I would save $20 - $30 per title. When you are averaging 1-2 games a month, that really adds up!

Enter XBox Live. Its great to play with friends but it is hard to keep up with them. I guess I met and associated myself with a rich group of guys because there isn't a day that I am online that I don't see my group playing the newest game out there. If I don't get the game when it comes out I will miss that short window of popularity and I will not get to play with my friends online. I have been in one too many empty lobbies waiting for someone to play Puzzle Quest with.

There are also a lot of games that I would like to play, but I wouldn't like to own. A single play through type of game. Assassin's Creed met with luke warm response from both critics and gamers alike. I still want to try it. It looks like it might be fun for a few hours but I definitely wouldn't want to buy it.

I take a trip to my local Blockbuster however and am dismayed at the fact that it costs $10 to rent games for 2 days. Two freakin' days! I am not a teenager anymore. I can't rip through a game in that amount of time. If I rent it, I wouldn't have time to finish it. I wouldn't want to rent it if I wasn't going to complete the primary storyline either. This means a minimum of two rentals, $20.

At this moment, Assassin's Creed for the XBox 360 is $18 from GameFly.

Video games are my favorite hobby. They relax me and I get to burn off work and life related stresses. It is my intention to support the industry spend so much time with. But this pricing really makes the right choice difficult to make.

Do I...

1. Wait until the price goes down and potentially lose the opportunity to play with friends and possibly find the game at all.

2. Buy the game used and screw the developers by not giving them any money from my purchase.

Or

3. Rent the game and pay more than it would cost to buy the title used?

This is the reason I have a huge game collection. I don't want them all, but its just so much cheaper to buy them.

Renting with GameFly is cheaper I guess but working full-time makes it difficult to agree to any monthly contract like that. $16 for one game out at a time per month whether you play or not!?!

Below is a short list of SOME of the games I want to play, but don't want to buy. There are many more.

XBox 360	Playstation 3
LOST (Hey, I really like the show!)	Unreal Tournament III
King Kong	Folklore
Assassin's Creed	Ratchet & Clank: FTOD
Bully	Uncharted
Devil May Cry 4	GRID

Do you have any games that you would like to play but can't?

Max Payne Movie

2008-07-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

If the player doesn't work, try this link.

The audio is a little weird and there is no release date announced yet but it looks like a fun action movie to me. I liked Constantine so I figure I will like this movie too.

Your thoughts? I never finished the game. It popularized that slow-mo action shooting sequence and I like the noir feel. I don't see much of that in the preview but it looks like a good flick that stands on its own two feet which I hope more video game to movie conversions do.

Console Price Drops Soon, Very Soon

2008-07-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Rumors are everywhere regarding console price drops. E3 will be here soon and information is leaking everywhere.

There are ads for the XBox 360 at $299 with a rumored larger hard drive. There is also some leaked information/hope that the 120 GB add-on drive will also see a price reduction.

One thing that is most definitely confirmed though is the Playstation 3 at $299. You can get this right now, shipped for free. Keep in mind this is the smallest hard drive version available with NO backward compatibility. That means you can't play Playstation 2 or Playstation 1 games on it. If you don't have any, then this is not an issue for you.

Tiny catch. You have to sign up for a Sony Credit card but you never have to use it after this first purchase if you don't want to.

Sony Style has the Playstation 3 console (40GB) for $400 + $0 shipping = $400. Upon clicking Checkout you'll see that they are offering a $100 statement credit with your first $299 Sony Card purchase. Apply for immediate approval and it drops your PS3 price to $300 shipped. This includes one SixAxis PS3 Controller, NOT the rumble equipped DualShock 3.

The Wii is $250 and now Playstation 3 and XBox 360 are nearing its price. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo bothers to admit that their system may be a bit overpriced for the current market.

Deals: 7-4-08

2008-07-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

PC

Blacksite: Area 51 $5
Just Cause $5
Quake 4 $5
Jade Empire: Special Edition $5
Prey $5
Universe at War $5
Juiced 2 $5
Shadowrun $5
Battlestations Midway $5

GameStop

XBox 360

Assassin's Creed $30
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit $50

2.4 in 1.5 days!

2008-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Trophies and in-game XMB. If you are a PS3 owner then that sentence has given you goosebumps.

Some of the more exciting features that non-fanboys have been craving since the launch of the PS3 have been these two that were mysteriously lacking in the launch version of the OS. Microsoft really set the standard when it came to accessibility and game logging.

Keeping track of your scores and the ability to access and view any of the data you have on your console. Promised to us early-adopters since launch, Sony has been kind enough to actually give us a date. That date July 2nd, 2008.

I understand their reasons for holding back that exciting bit of information but I really hope they didn't keep developers in the dark too like they did with the Sixaxis. God forbid we see another epic, Lair proportion disaster as a result of Sony's hush-hush principles.

INTERNET SEARCH? Google?

For a few months now, achievements and online play have been the 360's only saving grace when it comes to the decision between which version of a game I should buy. The line has gotten blurrier as time goes on. With titles like GRID, however, the line is almost non-existant. The graphics look better on the PS3 but the load times are much better on the 360. Achievements and online play would normally swing my favor towards the 360, but online play is free on the PS3 and achievement support may now be patched into the game in the form of Trophies.

I only wish Sony had just worked with Valve and integrated Steam into their system.

Deals: 6-27-08

2008-06-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

GameStop Deals

XBox 360
Bully $30
The Godfather $20
Devil May Cry 4: Used $30
Burnout Revenge $20
Def Jam: Icon $20
TimeShift $30
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat $20
Hitman: Blood Money $20
Need for Speed: Carbon $20
NBA Street Homecourt $20
Just Cause $20
Battlestations: Midway $20
F.E.A.R.: First Encounter: Assault Recon $20
Sonic the Hedgehog $15 (To much for dung.)
Virtua Tennis 3 $20
Command & Conquer 3: 20
Condemned 2: Bloodshot $30
Viking: Battle for Asgard $30
Sega Superstars Tennis $20

PS3
Condemned 2: Bloodshot $30
Viking: Battle for Asgard $30
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix $20
NBA Street Homecourt $20
Def Jam: Icon $20
Virtua Fighter 5 $20
Virtua Tennis 3 $20
TimeShift $30

PS2
Rock Band $110
Bully $10
Tomb Raider: Legend $10
Sonic Heroes $10
Tekken 5 $10
Katamari Damacy $10
Soul Calibur III $10

Wii
The Bigs $20
The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Returns $20
Sonic and the Secret Rings $20

Gamercard and Gamerscore for PS3?

2008-06-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

This has been rumored and requested since before the launch of the PS3. PlayStation owners everywhere have been hoping that the rumored 2.4 update will support this necessary feature for online consoles.

PS3Fanboy has recently posted what they believe are leaked pictures. I sure hope their are real. It's about freakin' time.

The trophies?

These kind of look terrible. But whatever, as long as it keeps a database log of everything I have accomplished and when I accomplished it, I am fine.

The Gamercard?

So the card looks like a direct rip-off of Microsoft's XBox 360 Gamercard, so what? If it works why not?

Deals: 6-17-08

2008-06-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Various websites (Like PS3 Fanboy) are reporting on some used game sales at GameFly.

If you are looking to own some older titles and don't want GameStop to rip you a new one, buy them from here.

Below is a small sample.

XBox 360

$18 Assassin's Creed
$18 Medal of Honor: Airborne
$20 Devil May Cry 4
$20 Burnout Paradise
$25 BioShock
$25 Need for Speed: ProStreet
$20 Mass Effect
$10 Stranglehold

PlayStation 3

$35 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
$18 Unreal Tournament III
$20 Devil May Cry 4
$20 Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
$20 Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
$20 The Club

Wii

$28 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
$37 Super Mario Galaxy
$30 Mario Strikers: Charged
$16 Soul Calibur: Legends

Go to the GameFly store and search for them by name or console.

Deals: 6-13-08

2008-06-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

Fry's Deals

PS2 - Rock Band $100
PS3/360 - Rock Band $160
Wii - Guitar Hero III $80
PS3/360 - The Incredible Hulk $50
PS3/360 - GRID $55
PS3/360 - Dragonball Z: Burst Limit $52
PS3/360 - NBA 2K8 $25
360 - Wireless Controllers $40
PSP - Lumines II $15
PC - Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition $20
PC - Hellgate London $20

GoGamer Deals

PC - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. $10
PC - Call of Juarez $7

GameStop Deals

PS3/360 - Condemned 2 $30
PS3/360 - Viking: Battle for Assguard $30
PS3/360 - The Club $30
360 - Rainbow Six Vegas $15
360 - Command & Conquer 3 $20
PS3 - Virtua Fighter 5 $20
Unreal Tournament III $60 *free faceplate

MGS4 Fanboys

2008-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

I bought a PlayStation 3. One of the early models which still had hardware backward compatibility. Arguably the best of version of the console.

There are about 3 good games out for it right now and most of us who invested on the world's most expensive console are hungry for more. I use the term hungry because it best describes how we feel. It is a GREAT console. The interface is great and fast. The XBox 360 OS I use is slow and buggy. It lags and crashes more times than I care to count. I'm sure you have all heard of the red ring of death the XBox 360 is prone to?

This generation, Sony has lost a lot of titles that were previously exclusive to the PlayStation brand. One of the few developers that have weathered the storm is Konami and their flagship title is known as Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the fourth and final Metal Gear for the protagonist and famed designer, Hideo Kojima.

Although it is the 4th and final in the series, it is the first on Sony's newest, most powerful console. Previous exclusive games have failed to push console sales as much as Sony and Sony fans have hoped. There is so much weighing on this game.

People WANT this game to be good.

Competition is good. If Sony fails and their system bombs, the industry will suffer for it. Microsoft is their only competition in the advanced home console market and Microsoft has historically slacked off when competition was scarce.

With this in mind and the review scores pouring in for the title, a little skepticism is inevitable. A wishful bias is suspect. It is getting incredibly high scores.

Don't get me wrong, this game may be as fantastic as the current reviewers promise but the genre itself is in question. I have played previous versions and I don't know if this type of game is CAPABLE of producing a Game of the Year type reaction from me.

Some of those hungry fanboys who still have yet to finish the game are already scoring it 11 out of 10 and calling it Game of the Year after admittedly playing only for a couple of hours.

I have my doubts but I am more than willing to succumb if the opinions are true. All you PS3 owners out there, did you get the game? What do you think of it? Are you going to? Why or why not?

Of Movies and Games

2008-06-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

This Blog was inspired by Carrie Gouskos' blog here.

The more the video game industry becomes like the movie industry, the more it distances itself from it.

People are shown early edits and some reviewers are allowed to express their opinions. As a reader you find that particular editor that you find yourself agreeing with most of the time then take their preview reports as a sample of your own future opinion.

Where they differ is after release. The final cut is out and rarely see's any changes after the fact. That can be both positive and negative. The need for patches of course being the negative and add-ons usually a plus. Horse armor notwithstanding.

I only wish you could "patch" or "mod" bad actors in movies. Can anyone say "Lara Croft: Tomb-Raider Nude Patch?"

But in all seriousness, all the hubbub over the obsolescence of the magazine distribution format is in no way a representation of the utility of the news media contained within.

Deals - 6-6-08

2008-06-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Fry's!

360 Gears of War $35
360 Mass Effect $35
360 Lost Planet: Colonies Edition $30 (In store only.)
360 Lost Planet: Extreme Condition $20

360/PS3 GRID $50 (In store only.)
360/PS3 Hulk $50

PSP Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 $30

PC World of WarCraft: Battle Chest $35 (In store only.)
PC Mass Effect: $40 (In store only.)

GoGamer

PC

Unreal Tournament III: Collector's Edition + T-Shirt! - $20
Empire Earth III - $8
TimeShift - $15
Company of Heroes: Gold Edition - $25
World of WarCraft: BattleChest - $30
GRID - $38

XBox 1 (That's right, one!)

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - $3

GameStop

PS3

Harry Potter - $20
Haze - $40

PC

Hitman - $20

PS2

Tomb Raider: Legend - $20

Deal - 6-4-08

2008-06-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

40GB PS3 $399 + $100 Gift Card

If you don't have a PS3 or a Blu-Ray player yet this might be your last good excuse before the summer. I don't anticipate any price drop until the holiday season.

Deals - 5-30-08

2008-05-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

The GameStop ad this week isn't false advertising really, but it is undeniably sly. In big bold letters it reads 50% OFF. In much smaller letters it says "up to." I know 50% off a $20 game isn't a whole lot but...

GameStop

$10 God of War PS2 Not a bad deal at all if you don't have this game.
$10 Soul Calibur III PS2 Nice to tide you up until IV is released.
$20 Need for Speed Carbon 360 is a great buy.
$20 The Godfather 360 is a...buy.
$20 Def Jam ICON PS3 is a pretty good deal.
$20 Virtua Fighter 5 PS3.
$20 Virtua Tennis 3 PS3.

Fry's

Available Tuesday
$50 Lego: Indiana Jones 360/PS3/Wii
$50 Bourne Identity 360/PS3
$60 Ninja Gaiden II 360

$160 Rock Band 360/PS2
$53 Quake Wars 360/PS3
$75 GTAIV S.E. 360/PS3
$50 Haze PS3
$45 NBA Ballers: The Chosen One
$25 Metal Gear Solid Collection
$20 Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

$15 a MONTH?!?

2008-05-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I enjoy massively multi-player online role playing games as much as the next guy but I just can't get over that "industry standard" the industry has honored itself with. $15 a month whether you play or not. I don't know. That seems kind of steep considering that they still expect you to pay the $40 - $60 entry fee.

Sure they update the servers. Sure they patch bugs. Sure they release updates. I can think of many old and current games and developers that used to do the same for free.

They argue that technology has come a long way since the days of the old text adventures. Well sure but not by much. The graphics on most of those MMORPG's are on par with what we've seen one generation before on the home consoles.

World of Warcraft's runaway success can be blamed. All the Second Life soccer mom runaways and MAC gamers found a new home here. For $15 a month in rent.

They do release updates and such which you usually have to pay for. Which boggles the mind. You are double charging as far as I am concerned. Why charge that entry fee? Why charge anything at all? What exactly are you paying for if the demo includes the entire game?

If I go home right now, download the client and play for free for a few hours I would have to pay for both a monthly fee AND the product which I already have downloaded and installed on my machine? How does this make sense?

NC Soft has the right idea. They charge for the product and nothing else. No monthly fee no additional options or service fee's. That's my kind of RPG. Some other MMORPG's like FlyFF are completely free but charge for additional weapons and in-game articles. This makes a bit more sense to me but financially, I think the NCSoft formula seems to work the best.

New games trying to compete with the World of Warcraft juggernaut seem to think that it is ok to charge that premium price. They think that is the standard going rate and that they are of the same quality. Perhaps they are but they need to pull all the customers away from Blizzard, the creators of WOW.

My solution? A lower monthly fee to start, no client charge to get the users hooked and access to more than just one game for that price.

I pay $50 a year to play ANY game I want on XBox Live and $0 a year to play online games on the PC. The competition is savage and right now, although I really like MMORPG's, I am sold only on Guild Wars by NCSoft because of its no monthly charge policy.

Final Resting Place?

2008-05-23T15:32:00.000-07:00

ButtonSmashing just won't die! XD

Ever since I let the ButtonSmashing.com domain go, I have been searching for a better place to bring it all. After searching and testing and experimenting, I believe Blogger will be where I consolidate all my blogs.

Hopefully my few but loyal readers will follow and not be too annoyed by the constant changes.

I like this place. It is clean and easier to edit.