Something I frequently hear from video game detractors of all varieties is the claim that video games as a collective whole "stifle the imagination."
Here's a strawman to refute that claim: Scribblenauts, the new DS platforming/adventure title that should be available at most United States retailers as of the day of this posting.
Normally, I would offer the readership a quick soundbite about the game, but nothing I could say describes the game as well as this video:
Interesting, no?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
How Much is too Much?
It's Labor Day Weekend - and a Sunday - so any impetus to do homework is being shoved aside in favor of the normal weekend festivities. Having already played Rock Band quite extensively this weekend, however, the scrupulousity is setting in, and what would normally be a PERFECT afternoon for video gaming is currently being spent on writing this blog post. I'm half of a mind to go home for the afternoon, as well, even though I know that there is absolutely nothing constructive for me to do back there, either, save a quick hello to my family and the acquiescence of a new DDR mat that, despite being purchased for usage here at St. Joseph's, is currently sitting at home the dining room in an unopened box.
The thing is, I know that when I have to face the weekday workload again, I'm going to want to do ANYTHING to avoid it. I'll surf the internet instead of reading Sense and Sensibility, and I'll probably find myself battling virtual demons in Soul Calibur IV instead of making sure my own soul is primed and pumped for the spiritual battles of daily seminary living.
Grrrrr...Lord Jesus, lead this blind and deaf servant to the healing vision of your glory! AMEN!
The thing is, I know that when I have to face the weekday workload again, I'm going to want to do ANYTHING to avoid it. I'll surf the internet instead of reading Sense and Sensibility, and I'll probably find myself battling virtual demons in Soul Calibur IV instead of making sure my own soul is primed and pumped for the spiritual battles of daily seminary living.
Grrrrr...Lord Jesus, lead this blind and deaf servant to the healing vision of your glory! AMEN!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
What Video Games Do Seminarians and Priests Play?
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?
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?
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!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Hate goes LIVE!
Though the reception of "hate mail" is certainly not something exclusive to Christian circles, it seems to me that Christians (especially in the age of the neo-atheist/secularist/Dawkins-lover types) are more often on the receiving end of the hate than anything else. As a Catholic, I'm actually not bothered by it; in fact, it has this paradoxical effect of boosting my ego rather than having the intended effect of dragging me down. Why?
"Blessed are you when others insult and hate you and ostracize you,for my sake" (Luke 6:22)
Heck, the main problem with most of the "hate mail" I've received is that it tends to instill a wrongful sense of pride; it's all too easy to make the hate mail to excuse myself from the other daily devotions that bring me closer to God; while the reaction of the Christian is never strictly "Sweet! Hate Mail! Kingdom of God here I come!" (it's more like, "OOO! Hate mail! I must be doing something right!"), it's easy to get carried away. Being the target of hate mail may be a very minor form of martyrdom, but it's not like I've actually been murdered for the faith or anything, and letting it "go to my head," as it were, really doesn't make it a martyrdom at all.
Case in point? Well, this morning, some guy I played in 1 vs. 100 LIVE last night (I recognized his gamertag) sent me two hate messages (one written, one voiced). The reason for the message isn't clear, as he didn't actually specify has such in his message. Was it because I outscored him in the game? Possibly, though I can't recall if I actually DID outscore him. I'm of the opinion that he did it because of the description on my gamertag: "Contributor for Catholic Video Gamers blog." So what do I do in response? I write this blog post bragging about it!
Pride scrupulosity notwithstanding, it would be nice to have an experience online where there's a genuine sense of community being fostered. Clearly, hate mail ain't gonna make that happen, folks. Still, not all is lost. I tried out Blazblue online for the first time last night before my 1 Vs.100 fiasco, and my opponent, a person with the gamertag "TRU CHRISTIAN," kindly accepted my friend request posthaste. Thank you, sir! Pity others can't have your common sense and decency, regardless of whether or not they share your worldview!
"Blessed are you when others insult and hate you and ostracize you,for my sake" (Luke 6:22)
Heck, the main problem with most of the "hate mail" I've received is that it tends to instill a wrongful sense of pride; it's all too easy to make the hate mail to excuse myself from the other daily devotions that bring me closer to God; while the reaction of the Christian is never strictly "Sweet! Hate Mail! Kingdom of God here I come!" (it's more like, "OOO! Hate mail! I must be doing something right!"), it's easy to get carried away. Being the target of hate mail may be a very minor form of martyrdom, but it's not like I've actually been murdered for the faith or anything, and letting it "go to my head," as it were, really doesn't make it a martyrdom at all.
Case in point? Well, this morning, some guy I played in 1 vs. 100 LIVE last night (I recognized his gamertag) sent me two hate messages (one written, one voiced). The reason for the message isn't clear, as he didn't actually specify has such in his message. Was it because I outscored him in the game? Possibly, though I can't recall if I actually DID outscore him. I'm of the opinion that he did it because of the description on my gamertag: "Contributor for Catholic Video Gamers blog." So what do I do in response? I write this blog post bragging about it!
Pride scrupulosity notwithstanding, it would be nice to have an experience online where there's a genuine sense of community being fostered. Clearly, hate mail ain't gonna make that happen, folks. Still, not all is lost. I tried out Blazblue online for the first time last night before my 1 Vs.100 fiasco, and my opponent, a person with the gamertag "TRU CHRISTIAN," kindly accepted my friend request posthaste. Thank you, sir! Pity others can't have your common sense and decency, regardless of whether or not they share your worldview!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Xbox Live: (Too) Great Expections?
It's been less than a week since I signed up for my free one-month Xbox LIVE "gold" membership, and I'm wondering if I'm already at the point where I have, more or less, "seen all there is to see." Sure, Soul Calibur IV online is awesome, if only because I have an actual human being playing against me instead of some CPU controlled artificial intelligence (not to mention nabbing some of those completely useless but strangely desirable "Achievements"!). Still, it's hard to make friends with people you're in contact with for all of 5 minutes at most, and when half of them don't bother to talk to you (those headsets came with the XBOX for free, people! Why not USE them?), it oftentimes feels as though I may as well be playing the CPU in the single player campaign, anyway.
I DID make sure to check for available "freebies" for the few games I own that actually have free downloadable content; I nabbed the free gel set for Tales of Vesperia as well as the "Portal Song" for Rock Band 2. Heck, whiny as this post is, LIVE will probably be worth it for that song alone. My brother seminarians are quite the Portal/Half-Life enthusiasts, and considering all the fun we've had just jammin' to Livin' On a Prayer, I'm sure the lyrics to that dainty little ditty will soon become something of a seminary MEME, if they aren't already!
The other unexpected (underutilized?) benefit of XBOX Live is the fact that I can talk to any of my "friends" (would it really be fair to call it Xbox LIVE if it didn't have a certain "networking" aspect to it?) free of charge. No need to rack up a huge phone bill when you can pay $60 bucks a year to chat with your friends via headset with no strings attached!
Still, all of those little "perks" are really secondary to what I was expecting on XBOX Live: an actual community of gamers. I suppose I shouldn't have been so naive, and I certainly don't regret the $100 I paid for that wireless router, but I like to think the "gaming community" has more to offer than bragging rights and a perpetual deluge of foul language and tasteless humor. Really now, is HALO 3 some important that you need to mouth off at everyone just because you/your team lost (I'm one to talk; my brothers back at home will gladly show me to be quite the hypocrite, as I have had my share of outraged outbursts when I've lost rounds of Mario Kart and Smash Bros., among many other games)?
There's no real "common thread" binding everyone together on LIVE other than, well...that fact that they're on LIVE? Not much of "guiding light," is it (unless we're talking RROD...I know, I know, stupid, stupid joke)? There's not really ANYTHING here beyond facing the guy from L.A. who's willing to make small talk as he COMPLETELY OBLITERATES ME in Soul Calibur IV.
Am I being too hasty? Yes, but pardon me for having to perform a bit of a reality check. People without LIVE: it's not the end of the world. You can do without the achievements, and you can always go over to your friends' house to play video games, anyway. Plus, ya know, you may actually end up chit-chatting about something semi-interesting that way - you know, something that may actually bring you both closer to the One who made You?
Anyway, enough ranting for now. A surprisingly fun DS RPG has been occupying my spare time for the past two days, and with any luck I'll be able to write a blurb about it sooner rather than later. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for me!
I DID make sure to check for available "freebies" for the few games I own that actually have free downloadable content; I nabbed the free gel set for Tales of Vesperia as well as the "Portal Song" for Rock Band 2. Heck, whiny as this post is, LIVE will probably be worth it for that song alone. My brother seminarians are quite the Portal/Half-Life enthusiasts, and considering all the fun we've had just jammin' to Livin' On a Prayer, I'm sure the lyrics to that dainty little ditty will soon become something of a seminary MEME, if they aren't already!
The other unexpected (underutilized?) benefit of XBOX Live is the fact that I can talk to any of my "friends" (would it really be fair to call it Xbox LIVE if it didn't have a certain "networking" aspect to it?) free of charge. No need to rack up a huge phone bill when you can pay $60 bucks a year to chat with your friends via headset with no strings attached!
Still, all of those little "perks" are really secondary to what I was expecting on XBOX Live: an actual community of gamers. I suppose I shouldn't have been so naive, and I certainly don't regret the $100 I paid for that wireless router, but I like to think the "gaming community" has more to offer than bragging rights and a perpetual deluge of foul language and tasteless humor. Really now, is HALO 3 some important that you need to mouth off at everyone just because you/your team lost (I'm one to talk; my brothers back at home will gladly show me to be quite the hypocrite, as I have had my share of outraged outbursts when I've lost rounds of Mario Kart and Smash Bros., among many other games)?
There's no real "common thread" binding everyone together on LIVE other than, well...that fact that they're on LIVE? Not much of "guiding light," is it (unless we're talking RROD...I know, I know, stupid, stupid joke)? There's not really ANYTHING here beyond facing the guy from L.A. who's willing to make small talk as he COMPLETELY OBLITERATES ME in Soul Calibur IV.
Am I being too hasty? Yes, but pardon me for having to perform a bit of a reality check. People without LIVE: it's not the end of the world. You can do without the achievements, and you can always go over to your friends' house to play video games, anyway. Plus, ya know, you may actually end up chit-chatting about something semi-interesting that way - you know, something that may actually bring you both closer to the One who made You?
Anyway, enough ranting for now. A surprisingly fun DS RPG has been occupying my spare time for the past two days, and with any luck I'll be able to write a blurb about it sooner rather than later. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for me!
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