Three cheers for my first hater!
Posted on November 18, 2009 at 10:23 am.
A small triumph! =)
Years ago my journalism professor said that "You know you've really made it as a journalist when someone hates what you've written so much, that they make it known to you and others."
I think last night I made it as a journalist. =) My review of Modern Warfare 2 was commented on by an angry gamer named Kurt, who has such a problem with the game that he thinks my giving it a good score can only be explained an assumption that I:
"A) never even played the multiplayer version B) was paid by Infinity Ward to give a good review or C) never played previous versions of Call of Duty, thus not knowing what MW2 was missing. Or a conglomeration of all 3!"
This, quite frankly, brings joy to my heart. Even though Kurt is wrong on all counts, still I finally got someone who disagreed vehemently enough to have written long posts to express their displeasure.
If you are interested you can follow the discussion here. There has also been a follow-up post here.
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Book - The Riddle of Galla.
Posted on November 18, 2009 at 1:07 am.
I read The Riddle of Galla by Vadim Panov. It's the latest although not necessarily the greatest installment in the Secret City series. Overall, however, it's not too bad, and anyone who likes the Secret City should probably read this once, since a bit more of the lore was revealed. Still the majority of the text is taken up by the same characters, descriptions, and actions as the first 13 books. I only laughed twice when reading this one.
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Russia, MW2, censorship, and a web graphic.
Posted on November 15, 2009 at 9:19 pm.
I am going to talk about a few different things in this entry, so let me start with a piece of news:
Russia has recalled all copies of Modern Warfare 2 because of the Airport Scene. A censored version (with that level cut out) will be sold instead.
Source: here.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my review: here.
This, as far as I am concerned, is a problem. The Russian government (or any government for that matter, ours too) has no business telling anyone, including their own citizens, what they should and should not play/read/watch/say/etc. It should not tell people what is offensive and what isn't. People can decide that for themselves.
With that said, I'm sure you've noticed the new graphic up top. This will replace my old "Russian Way" graphic. The reason for this, is because I decided that the old one wasn't clear in showing who exactly I have a problem with.
I have a lot against Russia as a state, but not necessarily against its people. I hope to make this more clear by displaying their symbols of state (flag and coat of arms) on my graphic.
Update:
According to this page there was no recall of the console versions of the game, since none were being sold in Russia. The censorship of the PC version did happen, however.
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Modern Warfare 2 review published.
Posted on November 15, 2009 at 12:46 pm.
Today I celebrate my 20th gaming publication!
Just as I promised, my review of Modern Warfare 2 is up at the Adrenaline Vault today. Go read it here.
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Game #137 - Modern Warfare 2
Posted on November 14, 2009 at 12:53 am.
I beat Modern Warfare 2, my game number 137. Avault gave it to me to review, and of course a review will follow. Meanwhile I just finished the single-player campaign, which took me about 5 hours.
It is a great game, and am really glad I played it.
I'll talk about it in greater detail in the future. For now I am just adding it to my list of games that I beat.
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League of Legends review published again.
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 3:16 pm.
My League of Legends review which was earlier published by The Examiner, is now up at the Adrenaline Vault. It differs ever so slightly from the original, but is essentially the same text. You can see the Avault version here, or the original Examiner version here.
This is the first game ever that I decided to award with the Adrenaline Vault Seal of Excellence.
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Digital Distribution article published.
Posted on November 10, 2009 at 1:17 am.
My opinion article titled "Digital distribution a potential threat to game ownership" in which I talk about the possible dangers of this method, as well as ways in which it is already affecting gamers, was just published over at The Examiner.
Go there and take a look! As always, tell your friends too. =)
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League of Legends review published.
Posted on November 8, 2009 at 1:02 am.
My review of League of Legends is now up on The Examiner. It is my first publication with them so I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.
Unlike usually, I will not be mirroring it on my site, because I want all the traffic to go there. Yes, I get paid more if more people see it, but it's good, I promise you! =) So go check it out and tell all of your friends to do the same!
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PlayClaw review published.
Posted on October 29, 2009 at 11:58 pm.
Avault continues to publish my suspicious scribbles. I guess they didn't get the memo about my writing being terrible. Oh well.
Tonight my review of PlayClaw was published. Unlike the usual stuff I write about, PlayClaw isn't a game, instead it is a program that records videos from games. Yes, some people need that.
Having to review this software has finally prompted me to set up a YouTube account. Yes, I know, I'm behind the times, but I haven't needed it before, so there.
In any event, read all about it at the Adrenaline Vault.
Oh by the way, here are the videos that I recorded. The first one if of Torchlight (a brand new Diablo-like game) and the second is of four games: Defense Grid The Awakening, Aion, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.
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Thank you CD Projekt RED!
Posted on October 29, 2009 at 12:15 pm.
This is a re-post of my blog from Avault. The original is here.
Back in the day, then I was writing for Real World Gamer, the kind people over at Atari UK sent me a copy of The Witcher. You may wonder why I got in touch with the UK division, and the answer is simple, the American version was mercilessly censored at the time. In any event, The Witcher is a wonderful game, and I was very happy with it. (That means you should buy it, by the way.)
Later, however, the patch came out, and then an extended edition, and another patch. These were not your regular patches; they actually added content and improved many things about the game. Or so I have heard, because I couldn't install a single one of them.
You see, the DVD I was sent, came in a paper sleeve with no box and no manual. What this meant is that I was never issued a serial number for the game. I could play, but I could not register and so could not install any updates. Admittedly, this is a very sensible DRM scheme, and a good idea overall, but in my case it backfired. I wrote to Atari multiple times, and sometimes they even responded, but it always went nowhere in the end.
Why am I telling you this? Because an awesome thing happened! This week The Witcher page on Facebook made an announcement about their ongoing 50% off sale. (Direct2Drive, Impulse, Steam) I whined about my issue under their post and immediately they replied and gave me an e-mail address to write to. I did, and today I got a brand new, shiny serial number from Paweł Majak, who is a PR & Community Manager over at CD Projekt RED.
Wow! If only all developers were so in touch with their fan base and so eager to help! CD Projekt pretty much ascended in my eyes. They didn't have to do this at all, and yet they did! Now I can install all the patches, finish the game, and feel extra good about the whole affair! Moreover I think it is important that things like this do not go unnoticed, which is why I am telling all of you about how awesome these guys are.
Big thanks to CD Project and personally to Paweł! I truly appreciate your help!
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"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." - Mark Twain
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