Articles by Josh
Josh was never born, he is, was and always will be. He is the solution to the Prime Mover dilemma. He plays video games entirely too much and his opinion to knowledge ratio is out of whack. Meaning, too much opinion, not enough knowledge.
Inquisition of the Week: Small World
Last week Bartoneus asked what classes people are playing in an effort to get a sense of what was the most popular. Surprising (to me anyway) was that the most popular was Fighter garnering 93 votes. The Fighter was followed by Wizard, Rogue, Ranger, and finally Cleric. It seems that the top five cover all of the role types but are also all from the first Player’s Handbook. This may just be a matter of the PHB being out the longest so everyone has gotten to try it out. Above the actual classes looms the DM… the most imbalanced class in the game if you ask my opinion.
This week’s inquisition has more to do with a late article by myself. After snowmageddon and snowpocalypse hit the east coast, I found myself playing a great deal of video games. I had a good bit of down time and so did all my friends. We were all stuck in our respective houses and still wanted to hang out with one another. This isn’t exactly a new thing to me but it did get me a bit nostalgic for the times when my friends and I really could hang out all the time and play games of various types for long stretches of time.
Fortunately (in this case), the internet and increased connectivity has made the world a smaller place. We were able to play games, goof off, and have a good time. My roommates who weren’t accustomed to this sort of thing went a bit stir crazy and couldn’t comprehend why I was fine with being stuck at home for a week. For me it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and relive some of the old days before we all had jobs and responsibilities. So, after this rather longwinded story, I began to wonder how many people like myself keep a good contingent of friends online.
Loading ...One of the great things about the internet is that it has provided me the opportunity to meet and interact with people I never thought I’d be able too. For now, I’m going to bask in my nostalgia and ignore the seedy side of it all…
Why "District 9" is Better Than "Avatar"
When watching Avatar, I was very impressed by the visual appeal of the movie. I was stunned by how gorgeous the scenery looked, how realistic the Na’vi were, and how rich all the visuals were. However, I thought the writing was terrible, the message heavy-handed, and the overall plot predictable and trite. Despite those flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie even with those minor details: it was a good popcorn flick with not much more to it.
About a week later I sat down with Bartoneus and Sucilaria and watched District 9, probably my favorite movie of 2009. At this point I realized that District 9 shared quite a few ideas with Avatar and was curious as to why I favored one over the other. I decided to try and break it down. This article isn’t really meant to be a review but more of an analysis of the differences between these two very important movies.
Beware of spoilz for both movies. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: Fable 2
So, first let me start off saying I really enjoyed the first Fable. The game had a number of flaws but it was still fun. It was so easy that a friend of mine decided for a challenge he’d play through without leveling up, naked, wielding only a stick. He managed to almost beat it without being touched. The skill system was also broken – I played through the entire game using one spell which made me basically invulnerable (inferno, I believe). However, the character of the game was brilliant. That’s what made it fun for me. This holds true for Fable 2 as well.
Little Big Planet's Delay Has a Fortunate Side Effect
I don’t even have a PS3 but I heard the news (via kotaku, joystiq, slashdot, and every other gaming publication) about Little Big Planet‘s delay. What was strange was the reason – for a song. I’m not going to bother getting into the silliness of the whole thing but it has spawned a side effect which I think is great.
This guy and his band are getting tons of press. Instead of being some obscure song on Little Big Planet this guy just got massive exposure and tons of plays of his music. I personally think it’s pretty good stuff, but then again I’ve been told I’m a “consarned hippy!”. I’ve also never heard of a “kora” but it’s a very beautiful instrument and Toumani Diabate is apparently the world virtuoso of it.
So, the end result is that this particular song is being played many times over out of curiosity and I hope out of sheer pleasure for the enjoyment of the music.
I urge everyone to check it out.
I wonder if it was all just a cunning publicity stunt by the band…
Review: Braid
In short: Braid is an excellent game. It successfully integrates all aspects of game making into one cohesive unit with a mature theme. Even with the $15 price tag, it is worth downloading.
I read a bit about a game called Braid on Penny Arcade the other day. I tend to agree with Tycho about games so after he raved about this little Xbox Live Arcade title called Braid I figured the demo was worth giving a go. I downloaded it, began playing through it and twenty minutes later I was playing the full version. This game actually got me to upgrade using an in game offer. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: Alone in the Dark
So about a week and a half ago The Game received a review copy of Alone In the Dark, a somewhat new game from Atari and Eden Games released June 24th. A PS3 port is to come later, possibly September. The demo is being released pretty soon if not already.
Alone in the Dark is an incredibly ambitious game. The developers took a number of risks which individually may not mean much, but combined together make the entire game a huge risk. Unfortunately, their gamble did not pay off. While I respect the intentions of the developers, the final product is a mess.
My initial impression of the game was quite good: the menus looked cool, they had good mood music, etc. It wasn’t long though that I noticed something odd: everything was eerily quiet. I turned up my stereo so I could hear everything properly and decided to switch back to regular TV just to see how loud it was. The difference was shocking. [Read the rest of this article]
Stop Uwe Boll!
There is a petition going around to stop Uwe Boll from making any more movies. He claimed he would stop if one million people signed it – here it is – make your vote count!
Courtesy /.
Chinese Fighting Three Stooges
At some points it’s only two, but at all times it is awesome.
With God's Help – a short movie
If you want to see a good portion of the crit-hits staff in a short movie (done for the Assassin’s Creed contest) then head on over to this link to give it a look see.
Feedback is welcome.
(embedded after the jump –editor)
Gaming origami
While searching for origami instruction I found this nifty website with all sorts of fantasy inspired origami pieces. Ever wanted to see an origami beholder? Click here!
