Being a seminarian myself, I'm acutely aware of the peculiar curiosity that Catholics and non-Catholics alike have regarding the "daily grind" of seminary living. While there are certainly many differences between the life of a seminarian and your average college-age young adult (more, I'd wager, than the moratorium on dating that comes with the job description), here's one similiarity that won't surprise readers of this blog: both seminarian and non-seminarian alike LOVE video games!
Here's a sampling of the video games I've played/seen people playing within the past week or so at St. Joseph College Seminary, where I live and study 9 months of the year:
Far Cry 2
Call of Duty 4
Soul Calibur IV
Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe
Rock Band 2
Tales of Vesperia
Star Ocean 4
Civilization Revolution
...and that's ONLY counting Xbox 360 games. I am one of 6 priests and/or seminarians who owns one, and living in community makes it easy for us to keep what I call a "diversified gaming portfolio" - a vast collection of video game titles of many different genres. It saves money, too; you can bet that at least of one of us is paying attention when a high-profile game is about to be released!
One of the guys here has a PS3, another has a PSP, and at least one of my brother seminarians has a Nintendo DS, as well. PC gaming, too, has something of a following here; we've got at least one Half-Life/Portal PC player in our ranks.
One thing I'm not seeing: MMO's. I can't stand the accursed genre myself; maybe the other guys steer clear of the genre to avoid the perils of online game addiction? Whatever the reason, gaming is alive and well at at least one college seminary in the country. How's that for a snapshot of seminary living?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wii Gamers! Buy this game!
It's called Mercury Meltdown Revolution, and I found it at Gamestop yesterday for $10. Knowing the stellar reviews the game has received from critics and fans alike, I bought it - without having any real idea of what the game would be like. I hadn't even seen a screenshot before!
I've played it for all of 30 minutes. It's easily worth the $10 I spent, and though I'm a little miffed that I need to unlock the multiplayer "party games," the single-player game is more than enjoyable enough in it's own right; I'd play through it with or without the promise of unlockable mini-games (doesn't the wii have enough of those already, anyway?).
Anyone out there ever play with one of these as a kid?
The game is basically like that, except the game is more like an obstacle course than a labyrinth. There's some nifty puzzles to solve, too.
Here's a comparison for the gaming initiated: it's pretty much everything Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz should have been, but wasn't. The fact that it's STILL cheaper than the aforementioned gaming disappointment of the millenia just goes to show you how that quality gaming on a budget is still possible in this day and age.
Viva Mercury Meltdown!
I've played it for all of 30 minutes. It's easily worth the $10 I spent, and though I'm a little miffed that I need to unlock the multiplayer "party games," the single-player game is more than enjoyable enough in it's own right; I'd play through it with or without the promise of unlockable mini-games (doesn't the wii have enough of those already, anyway?).
Anyone out there ever play with one of these as a kid?
The game is basically like that, except the game is more like an obstacle course than a labyrinth. There's some nifty puzzles to solve, too.
Here's a comparison for the gaming initiated: it's pretty much everything Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz should have been, but wasn't. The fact that it's STILL cheaper than the aforementioned gaming disappointment of the millenia just goes to show you how that quality gaming on a budget is still possible in this day and age.
Viva Mercury Meltdown!
Monday, August 3, 2009
For Those Who Still Think that Video Games have no Spiritual Value...
"One born of human flesh man,
man is now a race of some power
you, son of man,
must face the power you hold
and you must face your destiny as well...
Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near
I am your judgment
I sundered the tongues of your fathers
and shattered their arrogant power
so long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts
if you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within - the demon inside!
If you have the will to challenge your destiny, son of man, state your name!"
Ok, so it's not like this is like an ultra-deep theological exegesis or anything, but in all honesty, I've heard homilies at mass with less "spiritual value" than these two paragraphs. Reminds me of some of the psalms, actually. Perhaps my Catholic and Christian readers can chime in with their thoughts?
Anyway, here's the game from which the above monologue can be found:
Basically, the game's about a demon invasion in Tokyo. You play as a character who is given a handheld computer that is able to summon other demons to stave off the demon invasion in the city.
The occult thematic is obviously strong with this one; I find the theme and imagery somewhat disconcerting, but not being much of an expert on occult-related matters, I've had to rely on information from more learned sources than myself about just what exactly I should "watch out for" when I'm playing a game like this. I'm hoping to see more of the kind of stuff from the aforementioned excerpt as I play through it; apparently the game has multiple endings depending on what you do throughout the course of the game, so I may or may not find what I'm looking for. The game system itself, irrespective of the graphics, story, characters, music, and the like, is actually really, really fantastic; it's basically a "grid-based strategy" game (think chess) with the standard role-playing conventions one would associate with a Final Fantasy game. Either of these solitary game elements would probably make for an acceptable, though not exemplary, gaming experience, but they meshed peculiarly well in this game. Kudos to Atlus for creating a solid, if not spectacular, gameplay system.
I hope to have more to share about this game in a future post - which will most likely have to wait until the end of the week, as I'm Milwaukee bound tonight to visit some brother seminarians. St. Nicodemus, ora pro nobis!
man is now a race of some power
you, son of man,
must face the power you hold
and you must face your destiny as well...
Though your days be peaceful, the fated time draws near
I am your judgment
I sundered the tongues of your fathers
and shattered their arrogant power
so long as the Lord does not live in you, all living beings hold darkness in their hearts
if you truly wish to be yourself, then rise and fight the darkness within - the demon inside!
If you have the will to challenge your destiny, son of man, state your name!"
Ok, so it's not like this is like an ultra-deep theological exegesis or anything, but in all honesty, I've heard homilies at mass with less "spiritual value" than these two paragraphs. Reminds me of some of the psalms, actually. Perhaps my Catholic and Christian readers can chime in with their thoughts?
Anyway, here's the game from which the above monologue can be found:
Basically, the game's about a demon invasion in Tokyo. You play as a character who is given a handheld computer that is able to summon other demons to stave off the demon invasion in the city.
The occult thematic is obviously strong with this one; I find the theme and imagery somewhat disconcerting, but not being much of an expert on occult-related matters, I've had to rely on information from more learned sources than myself about just what exactly I should "watch out for" when I'm playing a game like this. I'm hoping to see more of the kind of stuff from the aforementioned excerpt as I play through it; apparently the game has multiple endings depending on what you do throughout the course of the game, so I may or may not find what I'm looking for. The game system itself, irrespective of the graphics, story, characters, music, and the like, is actually really, really fantastic; it's basically a "grid-based strategy" game (think chess) with the standard role-playing conventions one would associate with a Final Fantasy game. Either of these solitary game elements would probably make for an acceptable, though not exemplary, gaming experience, but they meshed peculiarly well in this game. Kudos to Atlus for creating a solid, if not spectacular, gameplay system.
I hope to have more to share about this game in a future post - which will most likely have to wait until the end of the week, as I'm Milwaukee bound tonight to visit some brother seminarians. St. Nicodemus, ora pro nobis!
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