Ellipsis Gaming

A collection of musings about video games and video game culture.

Archive for May, 2008

Gamer Haters…

Posted by Tamer on May 29, 2008

Smashed XBox 360I am your parent, and I don’t understand how a child can be so inactive or enjoy “turning their brains to mush.” Or maybe I’m your jock friend who’d rather play sports 24/7 than stare at a “box”  and joystick all day and call it fun. How about I become your professor, giving you lectures on how video games are a watse of time and energy, and how it will lead to nowhere. Well, I would be one of those “annoying people” but its too bad I became a gamer!! For all gamers out there, whether you rock the joystick and single button, or devastate the Xbox’s 15 buttons, there is always someone who just doesn’t understand why you do what you do. Well, take me for example: your typical Nintendo fan who likes to relax, and game on every now and then. There are some that just don’t get the same excitement in the car ride home after buying a new game to rip the plastic off and dive into it head first upon arriving. Some people go as far as to say “Why waste your money on something stupid” or “Why do you play those pointless video games? They don’t help you in any way.”Well, we can argue that. Some people leisure their time in sports, others like reading, and sadly some others find rather unpleasant, dangerous obsessions, but me…No, I prefer to turn on that console, pick up my control and help Mario save the princess, or go around stealing cars in GTA, or even blasting alien guts with their own weaponry in Halo! So, fellow gamers, isn’t it time we just turned to our critics and said “We do what we love, and we love what we do!!”

I prefer to turn on that console, pick up my control and help Mario save the princess, or go around stealing cars in GTA, or even blasting alien guts with their own weaponry in Halo!

Go ahead gamer, upgrade your car in Need for Speed, level those characters in that awesome RPG you got, immerse yourself in a world that you would never find in reality and control your character to do things you don’t even think of in dreams with mere pushes of a button!! Let your imagination and gaming skills exceed the maximum level!  So don’t feel shame because those Game Haters just don’t understand why you play video games, and hey… what are you waiting for, pick up a control, grab your friends and Game On Like Nobody Is Hating!!

tHe BiG “N” fAn–taMeR

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“Guitar Hero: World Tour” Teaser and Drummer Demo Trailers

Posted by Radie on May 29, 2008

Guitar Hero World Tour DrumsetFirst and foremost, you need to head on over to GameTrailers and watch the Guitar Hero: World Tour Exclusive Debut Trailer. Sure, it is just a teaser, but you do get your first look at someone hitting (sort of, the guy looks half asleep) the new drum set.

You can also briefly see the new guitar. In a not so surprising move, Activision seems perfectly content to rip off the idea of a second set of fret buttons From Rock Band. Dont get me wrong, I am not one of those guys to complain about one company stealing from another (so long as it makes a better game experience, you can steal from Jesus as far as I am concerned). The interesting thing about this move however is that I dont really buy into the fact that those smaller fret buttons add anything to the total package. Yes, they are great for kiddies who might not have the size and dexterity to use the normal fret buttons, but that is a rather small target to aim at. Did anyone really ever use the small frets in RB more then once or twice to test it out? Why even bother including them in GHWT? Perhaps they feel the “copycat” name calling is already going to rain down, so they might as well make the most of it.

The mic is also in the video, but you dont get to see it at all really. Nothing against RB’s mic, but this is where Activision can also slap a few features in and claim superiority. Here’s hoping the GHWT mic will have some sort of setting or whatz-it to play around with.

While the teaser trailer is nice, those seeking a little bit more info on the drums can look at the other official video released so far. In the Drummer Demo Trailer, you can watch as Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Travis Barker (Blink 182) talk about using the new drums. Even better, you can watch them wail on them a little bit. Unfortunately you dont get to see any game play, just the guys womping on the not-plugged-into-anything pads. I suppose the almost dramatic circling of the drums in white space to give a better look at them, makes up for it in some ways.

“Playing guitar, that’s all great and everything.

But hitting stuff?… Awesome!”

In the video, Smith talks about the durability of the set (those cymbals do seem to be begging to be snapped off), while Copeland discusses the supposed ease of setting them up and taking them down. This is very interesting to me because I firmly believe that you will not be able to offer a cheap way to have the best of both worlds. Hopefully GHWT will prove me to be incorrect. Barker on the other hand goes on to talk about how important it was too have the the raised cymbals and authentic feeling of movement (going so far as to mentioning playing with eyes closed) included in the game.

Needless to say, this game is shaping up to be more then what we might have expected. The details are only now starting to come in and we will be all over every aspect of it until release.

Be good. Stay up.

Update: You can view a slightly longer version of the Drummer Demo Trailer from this post on the official Guitar Hero website. Also of note is the fact that Activision has 6 slots available for videos on the site, so we can expect a load of info from them soon enough.

Also available on the official site is a 3D view of the drums, simply click on the little star over the drums below the trailer viewing window. Guitar & mic 3D images are promised soon.

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Under Construction

Posted by Radie on May 28, 2008

Under Construction

WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT THE MOMENT.

FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT THE PAGES AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE

THEY CONTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME OF THE THINGS THIS BLOG WILL RUN

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN OUR “STAFF”, CLICK HERE

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