Updates/OnLive

Wow, I suck at updating this blog. I need to work on that. I now promise to add a post at least once a day. To start, here's my opinion on the recently revealed OnLive.

I'll say it now. I love the idea of OnLive. I'm sure you have heard all the details by now. Get a connection of about 1.5 mbps, sign up for the service, and get a video stream of whatever game you are playing. This allows you to play any game on any computer that can properly stream video. That is the beauty of this service. I could play Crysis on a netbook. It's quite a simple service really. What I don't get is why so many people are complaining about this service. The biggest complaint is "But it will be laggy". Let's analyze this statement, shall we? First, a connection of 1.5 mbps is more than enough to get a basic video stream. That's all the info you need to download. The upload times won't be like that of a FPS either. All you have to upload is your control inputs. All the other information that causes lag, such as location, actions, and general player state, will be computed and distributed from OnLive's servers. The lag in essentially all games will be the same as a normal online game is now. I think I can handle that just fine. Another complaint is that you technically will not "own" the games you play. That is very true, but the fact that the games will be only online and not possible to resell, the original prices will be lower. There will also most likely be a a subscription fee, but that is no different from paying $50 a year for Xbox Live or GameTap. That's all I can think of for now. This service is extremely promising to me and I will subscribe to it the instant I can. Let me know what you think of OnLive in the comments.

Mad Mad Mad Mad World

As you may have guessed by reading the title to this particular entry, I am rather excited about getting my hands on Mad World for the Wii. It's one of those games that has constantly been on my mind, but I have had my doubts. Now that there are a good amount of reviews online, I feel quite confident that I should pick up this game immediately. The harsh black and white art style, brawler gameplay, and almost hilarious level of violence just draws me in. Plus it just looks fun. That's my real point here. Sometimes we as gamers get too concerned with the games we play being seen as a piece of art. We start to worry if we can't compare the story to a classic novel or point out some major philisophical undertone. Why? There's hardly anything wrong with a quality game story (far from it actually), but I think we need to remember that games are inherently about having fun. Sure, the world and story of Assassin's Creed interested me, but the gameplay just got boring. Same goes for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. You know what games truly entertain me the most? Simple, exciting games like Left 4 Dead, Peggle, and Mad World. There is no complex story in those games, but they throw constantly changing action at you. I doubt many gamers will argue with those particular games though. How about something more obscure? Miner Dig Deep is a XNA Community Game available on the 360. All you do is dig for resources, sell them, upgrade your gear, and let the game take over your life. It is crazy. This game has absolutely no story and is fairly technically terrible, but it is simply engrosing and joyful when you play. I still can't figure out why. Anyway, all I ask is that you all open your minds to the simplicity of just plain fun games. Remember, have fun! :)

In the spirit of fun, watch this video. Thanks to djy1991 for making it!

Toys 'R Us to Start Accepting Game Trade-Ins

Most gamers know full and well that they can trade in their used games to GameStop. Those same gamers also know that they typically won't get a whole lot of cash for said games unless you use some sort of deal with the trade in. However, there may finally be an alternative to trading in to GameStop. According to phear3d's CheapAssGamer Blog Toys 'R Us has started accepting used game trade-ins very soon. I am going to go to my local Toys 'R Us at the first chance I get to make sure of this and to see what kind of prices they give for the trade-ins, but the simple concept of having someone other than GameStop to trade to is very appealing. If there is competition in the used game market (which, until now, there hasn't been) that means GameStop and Toys 'R Us will have to price against each other both in what they give you for your games and in how much they sell used games for. Overall this is good for all gamers, especially when budgets are getting tight.