This Month’s Flashback: June & July ’10
This summer’s been a little quiet in terms of anything interesting to write about so I thought I’d try something interesting and combine the two months to make it more compelling.
In terms of video game news, I purchased a PS3 in June and subscribed to Playstation Plus, which offers deals on games and even free stuff too. The summer’s been hectic since I’m taking a summer semester in college. Last day is August 12th though.
Best Articles:
1. My Top Ten Memorable TV Shows
Blog Stats
June’s Best Day In Views: 6/15 (147)
July’s Best Day In Views: 7/29 (199)
June’s Monthly Views: 2,221
July’s Monthly Views: 3,212
June’s Comments: 36
July’s Comments: 23
Video Games Live Symphony Concert!
Video Games Live is an awesome video game music symphony concert. Check your local PBS tv listings to see if it’s going to be airing in your area! The website has some listings here.
Take a look at this year’s trailer:
“Carl Winslow” AKA The Cop From Die Hard On B&B!
Actor Reginald VelJohnson, who played Carl Winslow on Family Matters and the police officer in the Die Hard films (classic!) made a surprise appearance on the soap opera The Bold & The Beautiful.He plays a character named Ed who is some sort of computer security expert.
He appears three minutes in and then later again in the episode. It was a nice surprise and I hope he’s going to be a recurring character! Watch the episode here for a limited amount of time.
Quote of the Week [#108]
I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.
– Alexander Humboldt
Video Game Spotlight: Big Bang Mini
The goal of this game is to create fireworks and shoot them in different directions to destroy targets. If you miss the target, debris will fall down and you have to maneuver around to make sure you don’t get hit by it.
The problem with the game is you have to play each level with small variances quite a few times to progress to the next city, so you are constantly hearing the same background music. It’s a nice game, but can’t really hold my attention for too long.
Video Game Spotlight: SSX Blur
I’m a big fan of the SSX series. They are snowboarding games — but in this Wii iteration, the controls are just not for my liking.
Using the nunchuk, it’s apparently supposed to move your character through the snow, but it was not at all responsive and that was really sad.It’s depressing seeing how many potential great Wii games are ruined because of the controls.
The Colony Premieres July 27th
In the second season of The Colony, which premieres on July 27th on Discovery, strangers come together in a realistic portrayal of an epidemic, in this case a biological one.
While it is fiction, the show does give a semi-accurate portrayal of what could happen and what one should do in the scenarios. There’s some vital information in the series that’s very intriguing, and the setting makes it all the more interesting. Check it out online here.
Song of the Week [#106]
This week’s song is from the video game World of Goo. Great soundtrack!
Gamer Banter: Don’t Cover The Art, Unless…
This month’s topic asks: How important is cover art to you?
If you were to walk into a game store and see many games sitting in disc cases without any cover art, would the display appeal to you? Many used games are packaged just like that, and I try and avoid buying games that don’t have the cover art in good condition.
Cover art is essential to help drawn in a consumer. Many people don’t keep tabs in the video game world, so just walking into a store looking at the cover art and seeing something that catches their eye could be all that it takes to make a purchase.
When I was a child, I did not read video game magazines (and had no idea they existed) so I would walk into a video 
game store and whatever cover art grabbed my attention, I took off the shelf and read the game details to see if it was something I would enjoy.
Since I was only familiar with games that featured Mario, Donkey Kong, and Sonic, in order for the game to attract me, it had to be something captivating. My brother and I made quite a few purchases just based on it, such as Dead Heat Scramble.
If the cover art is very generic, I’d assume the game itself is quite generic. Generally these assumptions are correct, except for the older days when most cover art looked quite generic. Cover art is so important, because it can either attract or repel a consumer. For example, Borderlands:
Does this cover art look appealing to you?
Borderlands looked great in previews. Though once I saw the cover art, I was immediately disgusted with the game, seeing a disturbing person “shooting” himself in the head, with stuff coming out of it. Had the cover art been something different, than it would have made me focus on purchasing the game, rather then never playing it.
This cover art appeals to me much more.
However, I do plan on playing Borderlands by renting it through Gamefly. I avoid seeing the cover art that way. Which gives me an idea that not many games do frequently: have a reverse cover on both sides so the consumer can choose which cover art they’d like (some games have used this feature in the past).
Especially now in the digital age, cover art is extremely important for new games. Scrolling through an online marketplace, consumers will look to something that catches their eye. So it’s important to keep cover art in mind, always.
This post was part of Gamer Banter, a monthly video game discussion coordinated by Terry at Game Couch. If you’re interested in being part, please email him for details.
Movie Spotlight: Blackout
If getting stuck in an elevator was not bad enough, imagine being trapped in one with a killer. This movie is quite dark and disturbing, but the last ten minutes pay off with an intense scene.
If you’re looking for something a little different, check out this film.
How To Lose A Consumer’s Trust Quickly
Ever been to a grocery store and see a “Buy One Get One Free” deal? Usually the deal is to good to pass up on, and sometimes it just is. Today I happened to see this deal at a Publix grocery store and bought 2 boxes of Kellog’s Crispix Cereal. I had a bowl of cereal and noticed the taste was not the same as usual.
So I take a look at the expiration dates on the boxes and they are partially wiped. But I could tell they expired last month. Grocery stores should let the consumer know a product has expired. It’s a shady business practice and now I don’t trust my local Publix anymore.
Movie Spotlight: Vexille
Vexille is an awesome computer animated sci-fi action movie. Vexille, a female member of a team called Swords who works with the U.S. government is caught up in something so shocking it will leave you glued to the screen.
There’s tons of great scenes in this film, and I highly recommend it. Also, check out Appleseed too if you like this film.
Song of the Week [#105]
The amazing television series 24 may be over, but the music lives on. Just found out that Armin Van Buuren, a well known trance artist, made a remixed theme from 24. Kinda cool.
Video Game Spotlight: DeathSmiles
DeathSmiles is a side-scrolling shooter game on the Xbox 360. The gameplay is really fun (press two buttons allows for a protective barrier that shoots anything it comes into contact with) — elements like these make the game unique, and the graphics and soundtrack are both great.
There’s also online co-op. The only problem is the game is really short, you can finish it in about 30 minutes and I did not notice much else to do – there was other game modes but they all seemed the same. Definitely a great rental.
Movie Spotlight: Titanic [1943 Version]
I had no idea there was a 1943 version of Titanic. I came across it when I was researching about the 1997 film being done in 3-D (due out in 2012).
There’s a reason why it’s not well-known, it’s a German film that was banned, apparently propoganda, though you would not notice it because it’s quite subtle. The movie is not so bad, but it has a dark tone, much more so than the 1997 version. None of the characters in the film you really care for, and the music soundtrack is pretty painful. It makes for an interesting watch for historic purposes but not quite enjoyable for modern times.
Quote of the Week [#106]
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
– Pablo Picasso
Video Game Spotlight: Neo Contra
I played the old Contra games quite a bit back in the day, and Neo Contra on the PS2 is not too bad, except that you die too quickly and the controls are not the best.
But the co-op is quite a bit of fun. Not really a game to pick up and play anymore, there’s better co-op games out there.
Medal of Honor Beta
If you’ve got a PS3 or PC, check out this link to get a code for the Medal of Honor beta. Hurry while codes last!
The beta as of this writing contains one multiplayer and one campaign map. I have played it on the PS3 and it’s okay.
OnLive’s Not Fully Online
Have you heard of OnLive? It’s a program you install in which you can instantly stream recent games to play on your PC, and you don’t need a high-performance computer to play the games, which is great. Problem is, OnLive currently only supports wired connections, which is a bit of a hassle for many gamers out there who are enjoying wireless internet access these days.
I recently purchased a wireless router a few months ago and having to connect a wired ethernet cable to a laptop now feels so archaic as you can’t move around as much with it. Meanwhile, OnLive just started up and the selection of games is very small but there’s a lot of room for it to grow.. check it out and add me as a friend on there if you like. Look for Silvercube.
Song of the Week [#104]
This week’s song is from Uncharted 2. A moving orchestral piece. Awesome game.
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