Fighunter

Lately the Internet has been crammed with a whole bunch of strange websites and content that in brutal honesty, the world might be better without. Fortunately most of these don't get to popular to appear on your search engines or flooding your e-mail accounts. Some people may argue whether a website is good or not since opinions always vary. Newer versions of Mozilla Firefox include page rankings for each website on a 1-10 scale (1=worst,10=best). Sites like Google, Myspace, and Youtube have a relatively high score while http://lolcats.com/ was given a smaller score as a "Page of importance". With all these opinions over Myspace vs. Facebook or Yahoo vs. AIM who's to say what would be a better use of your time? If your smart you'd say going outside, but otherwise the choice is all yours after all the internet can be a wonderful thing if used correctly.

Today I'm going to look at one of the things on the internet that went right. http://fighunter.com/ ,Created by Pseudolonewolf, is a website with mostly flash games(a form of online game often found online using Macromedia Flash). The website mostly consists of RPG's so would be a must for any RPG nerd. Unknown to most of the public for a long time Fighunter.com(named after one of the first games on the website) didn't become popularly known among the internet-savy until the release of it's game SMECOF, a side scrolling shooter game with RPG elements. Of all of Pseudolonewolf's games(all created by himself)SMECOF is by far the most original on the website. Most previous games use similar elements of all other RPG games such as Warriors,Mages using Fire, water, lightning, MP, HP etc. SMECOF steers away from the classic RPG genre and brings us into an extremely advanced star system with ongoing struggles caused by the deadly Cyber Orteks(Dragon shaped cyber beings). Another theme setting this game apart is the fact that you play the role of one of the Cyber Orteks terrorizing the Draco System rather than playing as a typical hero trying to save to world.

With every one of his games being unique with in-depth story lines, self-composed music, and many in-game jokes revolving around several subjects Fighunter stands out as one of the most brilliant websites out there and definitely deserves more popularity and support among the world.

What is a blog?

As blogging has become a hobby of mine I started to loosely mention it one day to one of my friends when we were bored and when he learned it was a video-game blog he put out his own definition of a blog. He described a blog as an online diary where you posts things of significance during your day, also mentioning that someone with more of a life would be able to blog about other things than video games. Curiosity led me to wikipedia as it always does http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. They describe a blog as "a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video." Upon reading more into the page it also notes types of blogs including online diaries, like my friend described, and Genre where someone blogs about one specific topic(such as me!). Gaining this knowledge I felt less weird and was able to jump back into the blogging network knowing that, even if the majority of our class blogs about their lives, I can blog about video games and keep my title of Blogger.





With that problem in the past I can focus on the old subject at hand and the reason why you're here, VIDEO GAMES! For today's topic I decided to go with a classic precursor of video gaming, Pong. Contrary to popular belief, Pong was not the world's first video game. In 1971 the video game Computer Space became the first coin operated commercial video game of all time(Pong was released in 1972). None the less Pong is still known as the ancestor of all modern video games worldwide as it was the first successful in popularizing the concept of video games. Due to it's simplicity and famous history in video games many versions of Pong have entered reality to keep Pong alive in the brains of children everywhere that could be learning to play an instrument. It can be amazing to see how much progress video games have made in their short timeline and we certainly should owe it to many for their claim to fame over the years.

All your blog are belong to us!

Zero Wing was an old Japanese shoot 'em up game made in 1989 and became known across the web in 2000 when people started taking notice of the poorly translated cut scene in the beginning of the game. This was due to the fact that it was rushed to be released into Europe causing many lines to become butchered and hard to listen to. It came by the internet when people started coining the phrase "All your base are belong to us" . The gameplay itself was good but the countless amount of errors and internet parodies made this game hard to be remembered as a good thing. Wikipedia includes several quotes from the cutscene demonstrating it's quite funny grammar errors such as "Somebody set up us the bomb". In entertainment it's importaunt to be funny so as a game this may have failed miserably but at least a lot of people got a good laugh out of it.

One word of advice to any fellow bloggers out there reading this is to learn from this game's mistake and check your grammar in any entries before submitting. After all this is English class and nobody wants to look like a fool (though hopefully you'll never make a bigger joke than this game did.) For anyone who hasn't seen the opening cut scene it's definitely something to check out when you have time. The worst part about this is the fact that Zero Wing was actually a decent game and could've had great potential but this shows what happens when things are rushed. A simply series of grammar errors in an introduction marked this game as one of the worst games even though it wasn't the game itself. If something could be done I would've marked it as a worst video game moment since I respect the English language but to say that Zero Wing is a bad video game is going to far. The intro cut scene can be viewed at this link http://carcino.gen.nz/images/index.php/068fee9d/35d450bc

Deoxyribonucleic acid-mon?

Many video games have spawned from all sorts of ideas but only one has a strange controversial concept that remains untouched by this class. Pokemon. Most people recognize Pokemon as that one old show for kids where people catch animal-like creatures known as Pokemon which possess various superpowers. As ridiculous as the idea sounds both the show and video game have become known worldwide by both kids and adults. As a kid growing up with Pokemon I slowly watched the show grow into the multi-billion dollar corporation it's become. As I grew up I also looked back on the older episodes from the first season and saw that Pokemon was more than just a kid's show, often times containing content that I usually overlooked until just recently. A few episodes would involve people who had a tough childhood. The character Brock grew up as taking care of his nine younger siblings without his parents. The character Misty grows up with an inferiority complex when compared to her three other sisters. Many times Pokemon has close ties to the enviornment as well. Many episodes will envolve the fictional crime syndicate, Team Rocket commiting many forms of abuse towards Pokemon including destruction of habitat.

Moving aside from this idea I realized that even the names of the Pokemon have clever name puns that I'm pretty sure most 5-year olds wouldn't figure out. The Pokemon Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan are both obvious parodyies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. See the resemblance? Despite all the clever pop-culture references Pokemon once had, it seems that the cartoon industry once again fanned it's greedy wings and now Pokemon is yet another half-baked show that, although enjoyed by kids, contains little to no areas of discussion-worthy topics it once had.

Recently I was riding in a car with a few friends to get some pizza when one of my older friend's son coughed and in response my friend simply said "Koffing!" This was a reference to an original Pokemon who's name was Koffing (pronounced coughing). We soon got into the discussion of all pokemon with name puns and when I said DNA my friend responded by saying "Deoxyribonucleic acid... Deoxys!" Of all the Pokemon name puns before hearing this I never really put any thought into that name but as the more I thought about it the more I realized that Deoxys was a very clever name pun of DNA. This is seen evident by the shape of his arms in the movies and games.Diagram of DNA and Deoxys.

As you can see Deoxys has spiraling arms not unlike that of most DNA structures. Also in the Show Deoxys was described as a virus that mutated. This could be relating to the fact the DNA is on a microscopic level just as Deoxys once was at the beginning of it's lifespan. Now in my opinion I don't think Most kids know what DNA is and if they do they certainly can't memorize what it stands for (I know I can't). So with all that said I think it's safe to say that Pokemon will be remembered as more than just a mindless kids show.

Excer-play?

By now everyone has probably already heard about the one of the newest editions to the Nintendo Wii, the Wii fit. When everyone first saw the Wii we already thought of the idea that it was interactive gaming to a new level. However this isn't anything new, in fact video games and interaction have been around for a very long time. In fact the game "Duck Hunt" for the NES included the plastic hunting rifle, "Time Crisis" has always used their ever popular "Light Gun" in arcades. One idea of interactive gaming more modern but not strange is excersise. When we think of video games we think of lazy, laid-back, or even addicted people with unhealthy habbits. So when the game "Dance Dance Revolution" by Konami became popular in the United States of America most steryotypes didn't know what to expect.

Since the release of "Guitar Hero" for the PS2 & Xbox DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) has started to lose it's popularity among gamers. So excersise games were out and music was in. Now however Nintendo plans on turning that around with the Wii fit. Basically it's a mat that uses the Wii's sensor bar to allow various excersises. Now people may ask, "why would companies do this?". One good reason would be to give video games a better reputation. Death has been a huge topic lately in video games. Many critics of video games often say that video games are unhealthy, teach kids bad morals, and people who play video games are genarally lazy. So in conclusion I salute Nintendo and the Wii Fit for changing the view on video games.

Innovation in video games

If your a fan of the stealth genre video games then you need to get a copy of Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation. Not only did it have a number of beautiful music pieces and great storyline but any fan of Metal Gear Solid knows about the number of tricks and new ideas that were placed in the game. One most famous one is the boss battle against "Psycho Mantis". In the game, Psycho Mantis has the ability to read minds, control weak minded, and the power of telekinesis (The power to move objects with one's thought). Due to his ability to read the main character's thought your weapons and anything else you can throw at him are completely useless, example if you shoot at him he'll simple predict your move and dodge it. If you keep on losing the boss battle about 5 times then you'll get advice via codec http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec to plug the controller into the second controller port (I'm not kidding!). Here's one of the hardest boss battles in the game reduced to a simple repetitive strategy and timing thanks to the second player controller port.

Creative boss battles didn't end there for MGS though. In the third installment of the series "Metal Gear solid 3:Snake Eater" the protagonist of the series is pitted against a fictional sniper of great skill simply known as "The End". In most games we try and find a weakness in a boss. "Does he have a repetitive strategy?", "does he ever leave himself open?" However this particular one is a little beyond that. The boss's weakness ended up being that he is old. In fact the boss is so old that in an earlier cutscene he is being pushed in a wheelchair and gamers actually have the option of taking him out right there. That's right here's a game where the protaginist, the symbol of heroes and justice, has the option of defeating a defenseless crippled man. However if you don't choose this way you can always fight him the old fashioned way. The third and final way to defeat the boss was to simple save the game and wait one entire week(or set the PS2's clock 7 days ahead) and upon loading the saved game the player will find that the boss simply died of old age. If that is not genius then I just give up trying to convince you. Otherwise I reccommend you convince your parents to let you get this game or get it the moment you turn 18 because it is simply brilliant.

Yet another video game review

If your a fan of simulation games (or Mr. Fielder) then you've probably heard about "Spore" by Maxis. What really sparked my interest on this topic is when I overheard a classmate chattering away to my English teacher about the game. Looking at my teacher's reaction and hearing my friend's description it got me motivated to try the game myself. Just last week I did just that when I burrowed it from a good friend of mine. So far I've played almost non-stop and absolutely love it. With the ability to create and edit a wide variety of creatures, buildings, and vehicles the game can become a long fun journey to the center of the universe or if you have a weaker imagination you'll find yourself quickly zipping through the game simply to complete the objectives.

The game begins with a meteor flying into a star system and eventually crashing into the starting planet for the player. Upon entering the planet's atmosphere the meteor breaks into millions of pieces and one fragment lands into an ocean, opens up, and out comes a single celled organism which you begin the game as. At the microscopic level the game begins very simple with your only priorities being to find food in the form of plant cells, meat cells, or even other cells swimming around. What type of food you eat in the game will determine what type of multi cellular organism you will become in the latter stage. Eating food will recover your health and award the player DNA points. Once the player is satisfied with the number of DNA points in possesion they may use their "mating call" to find another cell and the players cell will lay an egg which bears the next generation of the player's cell. This will bring the player into the cell creator where they may add/remove parts of the cell to aid it in dominance of the tidal pool. Parts include flagella for speed, mouths to determine wheter the cell is an herbivore or carnivore(putting both and eating a balanced amount of plants and meat will result in an omnivore), and several other miscellaneous parts. After laying so many eggs and evolving so much the player will have the option of growing legs and moving onto land.

Now the game becomes 3-d and the player will interact with other species around the continent. The player may choose to be friendly to others which will result in them being able to heal at their nest and have them assist in hunting. Being aggresive the player may choose to attack the creature's species causing it to eventually become extinct and take it's nest by force. Either way the player will once again gain DNA points to evolve thier creature. Once the creature has evolved again and again,gaining a greater intellect each time, the creature unites other members of it's species and forms a tribe. Now the game enters a more RTS style of gameplay.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the RTS(real-time-strategy) genre wikipedia describes it better than anyone else http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_strategy. If you can't then I suggest you try another blog. Continuing on, The tribal stage has the player utilize the whole group as a team, having them gather resources, defend food, or in the case of an aggresive tribe they may raid other tribes for food. At this point the player no longer evolves thier creature and works on editing the outfits of the creatures. Interacting also has a new tone to it. Friendly tribes will bring their Chieftan(leader) to the neighbor tribes and attempt to establish a mutual friendship while once again aggresive tribes shall take the tribes by force eventually dominating the entire continent. Once either is done civilization stage takes place for planetary conquest then space stage for control of the galaxy.

Sadly describing every phase in full detail would be mind-numbingly stressful and cause a lengthy entry so that's the game in a nutshell. I highly reccomend this game, it requires pc or mac with internet connection. The graphics were nothing to brag about but greatly vary depending on the player's creativity, gameplay is extremely interactive, story is dull, and the replay value is extremely high up there. If you have a creative mind ready to explode then Spore is the only game for you but if your a die-hard gamer looking for intense gameplay and memorable game time then Spore should not be picked up. Overall I'd say the choice is yours but in my opinion I enjoyed the game and I had fun with it while it lasted so if you ever find the free-time to get this game then go ahead.

Video game review

Recently, it seems rhythm games have been quite popular. For a while now I've had my eye on "Patapon" for the PSP. The game is about a tribe of primitive creatures known as Patapons who worship a being known as "The great Patapon" or Kami. In the game you play as Kami and start the game off looking at a stranded patapon in the desert. He's stranded and about to give up all hope when he hears the sound of drums coming from the heavens(basically this is how you communicate to them). Using a combination of the square and circle buttons to play drum beats in the correct rhythm you command the patapons to perform various actions such as moving forward, attacking enemies, defending, and running away. Once out of the desert you soon learn that the Patapons have not had the best of luck. Their entire tribe was exiled by their enemies the Zigatons. Throughout the game you command the patapons through the use of drums and music allowing them to strategically take down the Zigaton army. Compared to many other games I've played, Patapon is by far one of the most innovative and unique games I have played in a long time. The music is cheerful and enjoyable, game play keeps you on your toes, and the graphics are a nice sight to see such as bright colors scrolling across the screen during fever mode and the game in general gives you a great sense of accomplishment after every mission. If you own a PSP and are looking for a fun rhythm game with plenty of action then go pick up Patapon right now.