Category: Blogs

Blogs, Chris, Video Games1 Comment

Tales of Disappointment

Chris

My love-hate relationship with the “Tales of” video game series goes back almost a decade now. Don’t get me wrong — there’s a lot more love than hate. But sometimes those emotions are two sides of the same coin, after all.

I was introduced to the series through a ROM of the Super Nintendo’s Tales of Phantasia back in high school. At the time, I was impressed by the idea of a fighting-game-like battle system in an RPG — it seemed like a nice change of pace from turn-based, menu-heavy systems.

That game was decent, but I wasn’t really a huge fan until the summer of 2004, when Tales of Symphonia hit the GameCube and redefined my view of the series and RPGs forever. Continue reading “Tales of Disappointment”

Blogs, Shaun, Video Games3 Comments

Shaun’s wish list for Kingdom Hearts 3

Shaun

The Kingdom Hearts series certainly likes to space out its main entries. We are now five years and counting since the release of Kingdom Hearts 2, with only the prequels and side stories to bridge the gap. It is a legitimate concern now that if the world does end in 2012, John Cusack and his family will never see the proper third chapter in this series.

In fact, the word in the hood (also known as rumors my little sister tracks down) is that Tetsuya Nomura and his posse haven’t even started work on Kingdom Hearts 3 yet. Still, we all know it’s going to happen eventually, and after playing Birth by Sleep (and lamenting how monotone Aqua and Terra’s voice actors are), I’ve chronicled some of the changes I would like to see. Continue reading “Shaun’s wish list for Kingdom Hearts 3”

Blogs, David, Sports1 Comment

ASU season preview

David

As all (OK, few) of you know, I’m a gigantic ASU fan. It’s written on my info page if you want to check it out.

So the 2011 football season comes this year with more expectations and excitement than any season I can remember in the last decade. The Sun Devils returned 15 starters and are a team filled with veteran players who have experience in big games.

Last season, 4 of their 6 losses were by 4 points or less, and they took national runner-up Oregon to the brink before turning the ball over 3 times in the fourth quarter. They hope to use that momentum and experience in close games to get over the hump this year and win the inaugural Pacific 12 conference title.

I write this a week after their first game, as it’s usually a much better gauge of where a team is after they’ve actually seen the field. Following last season’s thrilling double-OT victory over UA, and then this season’s opening win against UC-Davis, things are looking good in Sun Devil country. Throw in a complete re-branding of the logo, new jerseys, and the nation’s most feared player in Vontaze Burfict, and this ASU fan is giddy with the prospects of this season. Let’s break down this schedule and make some predictions, which I fully plan on having thrown back in my face when I’m wrong. Continue reading “ASU season preview”

Blogs, Chris, EntertainmentLeave a comment

Review: RHCP’s “I’m With You”

Chris

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been around for a while. Hell, the band was started before I was born.

Since 1983, RHCP has had a weird mix of consistency and disarray in their lineup — Anthony Kiedis and Flea have been there from day one and Chad Smith joined the group more than 20 years ago, but the early days involved a lot of drug use and rotating people. For their new album, “I’m With You,” the Chili Peppers are introducing new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who replaces longtime member John Frusciante.

That change, coupled with the band’s continued evolution and musical development, results in a different sound for RHCP’s 10th album. But different doesn’t necessarily mean bad — in fact, there’s a lot to like about “I’m With You.” Continue reading “Review: RHCP’s “I’m With You””

Blogs, Shaun, Video GamesLeave a comment

Blog: The best of Final Fantasy

Shaun

At the end of last year, Square Enix released Final Fantasy: Dissidia Duodecim (or something…I’m gonna be honest, I don’t care enough to figure out the real title), a game in which the main characters from all the Final Fantasy games duke it out with the central antagonists. The game is decently fun and rich with the series’ history, but the plot manages to be even dumber than its premise would lead you to believe, and the script reads like a 7-year-old’s fan fiction. An illiterate 7-year-old.

Anyway, when you load up the game and pass the unnecessarily long tutorial, you are tasked with choosing which hero’s quest to first embark on. The good news is that I had already planned to select which Final Fantasy character to use first based on which installment in the series was my favorite. The bad news is that I had no idea which one that is (I am terrible at making any sort of exclusive choices). In order to work through this dilemma that I’m sure you are now deeply invested in, I decided to utilize a very in-depth process to arrive at my selection. Sit back; I know you’re excited.

Continue reading “Blog: The best of Final Fantasy”

Blogs, David, Entertainment1 Comment

Classic Simpsons

David

“The Simpsons” has been going strong for what feels like about 100 years. They’ve had their hits and misses, but as a whole, they’ve delivered the goods a vast majority of the time. For the few and far between clunkers they’ve had (notably: The clip shows, and when Sideshow Bob [as much as I love the character] hypnotizes Bart [and yes I’m aware that I used a bracket inside a parentheses, just wait until I have a point within a point within a point, your head might explode]), they’ve had classics.

There’s one episode that stands out above them all, and that’s Cape Feare.

This episode aired in season 5, right as the Simpsons were hitting their golden age.  Most people my age were small children when this episode aired all the way back in 1993. (The Simpsons have been on a long time.) The plot had been set up by episodes in the previous four seasons, setting up Sideshow Bob’s homicidal hatred of Bart. For a quick recap: Bart not only foiled Bob’s attempted takeover of “The Krusty the Klown Show” by uncovering Bob framing Krusty, but also dissected Bob’s attempt to murder Selma for her money (When did Selma get rich? Oh well, suspend your disbelief for fictional TV shows, right?). This leads to Sideshow Bob devoting his life to plotting and executing his revenge against Bart, with hilarious consequences.

There are a lot of great reasons to love this episode, but here are a few, in no particular order: Continue reading “Classic Simpsons”

Blogs, Chris, Video GamesLeave a comment

Call of Doody

Chris

I hate Call of Duty. There, I said it.

Okay, it’s not that simple. We had to set up some background stuff first. I mean, I don’t just hate something for no reason — even the Hate Round on the podcast doesn’t support that. If you’re going to spend time hating something, you have to make it a calculated thing, not something spur of the moment.

First things first: I’m not a big fan of shooters, Call of Duty or not. They’re not real high on my favorites list. I’ve played a few over the years that I’ve actually liked, but the list is pretty short and each one has its own reasons. Continue reading “Call of Doody”

Blogs, Shaun, Video GamesLeave a comment

Shaun’s new RPG

Shaun

Believe it or not, America, I am currently creating my own game. That’s right — after the prestige I gained from the At The Buzzer radio show, it was only natural that I would move into game development. My game is still in the early stages, and the production crew is made up of only me…and I don’t actually know how to program anything. But what I have so far is really promising.

In case you were wondering, it’s a role-playing game. To create my masterpiece, I have taken inspiration from countless RPGs and carefully studied their tried-and-true conventions. Without further ado, I present to you elements of “Tales of the Chronicles: The Final Myth of the Legendary Fable.” Continue reading “Shaun’s new RPG”

Blogs, David, Video GamesLeave a comment

Adventures in PlayStationland

David

Full disclosure: I’ve always been a Sony fanboy customer.  It probably started back when I was young and the only brand of electronics in our home was Sony. We had a Sony 27” TV from the time I was 3 up until I was about 17. Sony was built to last, built for the long haul and would be there with you like a good friend. That’s why I never purchased an N64 or Xbox growing up, it was all about the Sony PlayStation.

Things just aren’t like they used to be, as I’ve had quite the adventure with my PS3.

I was the recipient of the original PlayStation in January 1997 for my 12th birthday, and it still works to this day. I bought the PlayStation 2 in February 2004, and it still works to this day. I purchased the PlayStation 3 in March 2008, with the full expectation that it would work until the PlayStation Cuatro, or whatever goofy name they come up with when the next generation of systems come out.

Boy was I ever wrong. Continue reading “Adventures in PlayStationland”

Blogs, Chris, Video Games2 Comments

Games for a concerned gamer

Chris

I consider myself a pretty serious gamer. I might not be as prolific as I once was (hello, middle school years!), but I probably spend a good 10-15 hours a week playing games of some kind.

I consider myself a pretty serious gamer, yet I’ve bought exactly three new titles in 2011.

One of those was Marvel vs. Capcom 3, a must for a fighting game fan like myself. One was You Don’t Know Jack, which wasn’t even a full retail release (we reviewed that game in the first episode of At the Buzzer). And the last was Pokemon Black. Sure, I managed to milk a lot of time out of catching them all — and by catching them all, I mean catching about 20 that I like, ignoring the rest, and spending the rest of my time battling/breeding — but there was still a pretty noticeable lack of games that I cared about.

Looking ahead, though, there seem to be a ton of games I can get behind.

Continue reading “Games for a concerned gamer”