Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) *ESPAÑOL*

Títulos que debieron ser más populares: Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy)



Plataforma: Windows, Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360

También conocido como Fahrenheit, Indigo Profecy fué desarrollado por Quantic Dream, misma compañía que desarrolló Heavy Rain y Beyond: Two Souls, ambos para PS3.
Este juego es una especie de thriller paranormal en donde la ciudad de Nueva York ocurren una serie de misteriosos asesinatos que siguen un cierto patrón: gente ordinaria queda poseída y asesina a cualquier extraño en público.
Si conoces Heavy Rain o Beyond, sabrás que a Quantum Dreams le gusta hacer, más que juegos, películas interactivas. El gameplay consta en su mayoría de escenas donde tienes que presionar algunos botones en momentos indicados, similar a lo que ahora conocemos como Quick Time Events. El juego puede tomar diferentes direcciones dependiendo de tus acciones y diálogos con otros personajes.
La versión norteamericana cambió el nombre de Farenheit a Indigo Prophecy para evitar confusión con la película Fahrenheit 9/11 que salió cerca de la misma fecha.






Como opinión personal, es un juego con una trama bastante interesante, fue la primera vez que ésta compañía trató de hacer un videojuego que se sintiera como una verdadera película interactiva. Éste además cuenta con un muy buen soundtrack que incluye canciones de grupos como Theory of a Deadman. Este título es incluído en muchas listas Top 10 de juegos que merecían ser más populares.

Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy)

Games that should've been more popular: Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy)




Platform: Windows, Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360

Also known as Fahrenheit, Indigo Prophecy was developed by Quantic Dream, known for the award winning Heavy Rain, and Beyond: Two Souls, both for PS3.

This game is kind of a paranormal thriller that takes place in New York, with a series of misterious murders that follow a certain pattern: Ordinary people are apparently being possesed, killing any stranger in public.

If you know Heavy Rain or Beyond, you'll know that Quantum Dreams likes to make more than games; interactive movies. Gameplay consists mostly of scenes where you have to press the right buttons in the right moment, similarly to what we know today as Quick Time Events. The game will take different paths depending on your actions and dialogs with other characters.



The NA version changed the name from Fahrenheit to Indigo Prophecy to avoid confusion with the movio Fahrenheit 9/11 that came out around that time.

On a personal opinion, the theme is pretty interesting. This was the first time this company tried to make a videogame that felt like a true interactive movie. It also has a very good soundtrack that includes songs from bands like Theory of a Deadman. This game is in lots of Top 10 lists I've seen about good games that deserved to be more popular.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

"Videogames are for kids!"

Hey, gamers.
I'm sure if you had a dollar for every time someone insinuated (or blatantly throws at you) that videogames are childish or just bad in some way, you'd probably have enough money to buy a PS4 or Xbox One.

There are many ways people can try to make videogames seem bad. Usually people who are trying to find something to blame for society's disfunctionalities. Games like GTA will make you go on a killing spree just as much as watching the movie Casino will make you go plant a bomb at a car. It's truly sad to know that there are places where some content has been censored or even entire games banned.



Gamers are becoming more common each day. Maybe there was a time when it was reasonable to assume that most videogame players would be young. Not because they were childish (you don't need a certain age to get addicted to old games like Pac-Man, or Space Invaders), but because the common scenario would be a parent buying a console. This is just a theory of mine, but think about it; during the 70s and 80s (think Odyssey, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, etc.), when the game industry was nowhere near as big as it is now, most people with enough money to buy consoles would be adults, who would usually have families. Even though games would appeal to anyone, kids would be the ones with enough free time to really get into them. Also, older people would be already used to other hobbies, while adults today already have a console or interest in getting one.
The average gamers' age is above 30, so a lot of them probably play since at least the NES, which is when Nintendo practically saved the market from the ´83 videogame crash.



It's funny to grow up hearing that games are for kids and eventually you realize you are not a kid anymore and you still like them.

Something similar happens regarding women. Not only do some people say games are for children, but specifically for boys. The beautiful fact is that there are actually more adult women players than boys.
Every girl I know who has access to a console in their house has enjoyed playing quite several games, and I'm talking about either young or adult. They also get comfortable when they play, just like everyone else does, contrary to what some people picture them.

Expectation and reality.
Now that the game industry has grown (quite a lot!) in both reach and age, people are starting to accept them as something more universal, rather than an expensive toy. I am very glad with how games have evolved so much that each year it seems more and more plausible for videogaming to become an art. You know, people also laughed at the possibility of movies becoming an art, at first. ;)

"You don't stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing."


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Mortal Kombat X and guest characters


Yesterday, a friend told me he preordered Mortal Kombat X, which means he is getting Goro as a bonus. Although I'm definitely going to preorder too, I couldn't help being reminded of how much I hate it when companies give exclusive content for preorders. I mean, it's completely reasonable that people who preorder get a cool bonus, but sometimes they sort of forget to give that content to the rest of the people later on, like Metal Gear Rising's Cyborg Ninja Costume was not available to people who didn't preorder until like a year later. I could purchase MKX any day I want, but now that NeatherRealm Studios has awaken the fear of not knowing when will Goro be available to me if I don't preorder, they are pretty much forcing me to buy it from the start, unless I want an incomplete roster. Anyways, that's a topic for another day. There's another thing that comes to my mind about MKX; who are going to be the guest characters this time around?

The developers commented on this, saying there's definitely a good chance that we get guest characters again. Most people are betting for Jason Vorhees, an Injustice character, or Predator, with the latter one having less chance because of licence. But, hey, anything's possible. Remmember when the wolrd shook after Snake was announced for Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Things can get pretty crazy when it comes to guest characters and crossovers in general. Another, less famous, crossover that I totally didn't expect was Monster Hunter and Metal Gear Solid.

The Monster boss battles in Peace Walker were epic.
Speaking of it, imagine Snake in MKX. That could make up for us not getting him back for SSB Wii U, right? Right? C'mon, he is not THAT out of place. Think about it: MGS can get bloody too (Vamp even does some sort of fatality in his first scene in MGS2, lol), and there's some pretty over-the-top characters. seriously, I see The Pain, The Fear, Gray Fox, Vulcan Raven, and Psycho Mantis fitting pretty well in there.

I liked Freddy Krueger in MK9, as well as Kratos, who I rarely pick but still like along with the addition of his own stage+stage fatalities. It's a little sad that they probably won't be coming back. I think that's the sad part of having cool guest characters; after you have seen him in the game, after they created the illusion of a character being part of that universe, then you remmember that you probably won't be seeing him back for the next game.

The guy at the counter being choked is priceless.
Remmember when Skating games were epic?

In the end, that's part of what will make that game unique; a sequel may improve graphics, gameplay mechanics, update the story, but a good guest character can help a game be remmembered. Maybe in the future, while playing MK11, you will suddenly feel like playing Freddy or Kratos, and pop back to MK9, and you will be thankful that your old disc/digital copy still has a purpose.
As I see it, a sequel is not supposed to just bring back all the content from the previous game and then add some new one, leaving the first one just plain pointless to play anymore, but to make mostly new content with a couple of staple things to remind you what series you are playing. A sequel should not make a previous game obsolete, but complement each other.

Supposedly, we are going to get 12 returning characters and 12 new ones. That means a LOT of the MK9 roster will not return, but that also means we still have reasons to keep the previous game.

Which classic or guest character would you like to see in MKX?

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Rockstar Sale!



There's a Rockstar Sale on PSN going on right now, in case you want to check it out. I saw Red Dead Redemption + Max Payne 3 bundled together for $9.99! Also Bully (PS2) for $2.49, I think. Always wanted to try both RDR and Bully. There are many others, too. I was hoping to see GTAV, because I think I am the only gamer in the world who hasn't tried it.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Sex Appeal?






So... I've seen many people talk about how Cia (or Shia) looks in Hyrule Warriors, stating that she looks kinda out of place, and not only in the Zelda universe but as a Nintendo character.
I don't remmember Nintendo ever having only cute characters with no sex appeal. This reminds me of the old argument about Zero Suit Samus and the counterargument being that Samus has been shown in a swimsuit since the very first Metroid.

I think what we're missing is that there have always been appealing Nintendo characters, but we didn't notice long ago because of graphic limitations.


A good example is Veran, from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.


She even kinda resembles Shia; witch/sorceress with weird hat, big boobs, and incredibly thin waist. But you don't notice that ingame:


Even Ocarina of Time has a character that would only be apealing in her artwork but not that much ingame. Remmember Nabooru?


I think people sometimes try too hard to find "evil". I don't think people are objectifying the female body in (most) videogames. It's not like there are no fictional men with unreal bodies and extremely tight outfits out there.


It's natural that an artist wants to make a character that looks good. It's not cheap, it's just a concept still recovering from taboo status, and THAT is why people make a big deal out of it. If I made characters for a story, I would also like them to look good (as long as it fits its nature).

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

First Post!

Hi!
This is the first post, which probably no one will ever mind to see. I plan on talking mainly about videogames in general, gamer culture, along with other things like movies and series. Hopefully I will have the time to do it often, and hopefully people will read it.

Right now people are talking about... The Fappening? Well, yes, but staying on-topic, the news right now are about the Mario Kart 8 DLC (Link!), Mortal Kombat X new gameplay, Angry Video Game Nerd movie finally out (YES!!), and something about P.T. (a.k.a. the Silent Hills thing with Del Toro and Kojima that I should be extremely excited about but am not because I have no PS4), among others.

I really like what Nintendo is doing with Mario Kart 8. It's interesting to see what kind of DLC they can come up with, especially after owning a Wii with games that had close to none. I was kinda disappointed to see no Dry Bowser when the game came out (I don't like heavy racers but he just looks so badass), and now he is available, as well. I honestly have no Wii U, but I still like to follow Nintendo.

About Mortal Kombat X, it's looking just plain awesome. I haven't seen the new gameplay because I want to see more characters and I heard they only showed the ones we know of but somehow Johnny Cage was confirmed. I like JC. I just want to see the final product so badly, I'm really curious on the story that will follow up MK9. If you played it, then you know what I mean. I'm glad it will come out for PS3, too. I remmember when I saw the first trailer, I first thought it would be for current gen only. I wish that was the case for Silent Hills, too. Maybe there will be mercy in the future?

As for the AVGN movie, I haven't seen it, I think it just came out today. If you don't know him, he is a famous youtubber that reviews old bad games. It's much better than it sounds, trust me.