Random Grenades

Recently Infinity Ward put out an online commercial to jokingly address the problem in Call of Duty's multiplayer mode known as grenade spamming. This is the act of throwing multiple grenades in random spots in hopes of killing anyone who is unfortunate enough to walk by one. The commercial itself is voiced by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels and honestly was done very well. Hearing Hamels talk about the problem in a jesting way was humorous and the ending of the in game video was a good gag. The problem occurred when the video ended and a voice said "Brought to you by Fight Against Grenade Spam". The fake company that jokingly paid for the commercial just happens to create the acronym of "FAGS" which was intentionally done by Infinity Ward. They believed the joke was not offensive and ultimately more entertaining than hurtful. Before I go off on a tangent about the ridiculousness of this entire situation I would just like to say that G4TV's Adam Sessler addressed the situation as well on his webshow, Sessler's Soapbox, and pointed out the problems with this commercial exactly as I would have. So instead of writing for a few hours on the reasons this commercial and the entire mentality of people who either agree with it or don't see the problem with it is frustrating at best I'll just post a link to the video. Adam Sessler is a very animated, intelligent, and passionate video game journalist who hits very key points in this video. Give it a look.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/700461/Sesslers-Soapbox-Adam-Calls-Infinity-Ward-Out.html

A Big Ol' Smorgasbord!

As Dragon Age Origins slowly downloads onto my steam account and I wait impatiently to play it my attention turns to my blog. It has been mainly comprised of video games, in fact it has been all video games. While that is my passion I feel as though it might get a bit boring for some so I'm going to do my best to include whatever else comes to mind, hence this post's title.

One of the first things that has been slowly taking over my Zune and my musical interests is the Blues; Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to be specific. I recently watched Cadillac Records and was instantly grasped by these two artists, mainly because their music was so emotional and real. It didn't feel like they were making music because it helped them become gods amongst men, it felt like they made these songs to embody their lives and emotions. I am no movie buff so I'll leave the film review of Cadillac Records to someone more inspired to write about it, instead I'll focus on what the music did to me. Muddy Waters' music is perhaps some of the most catchy and inspiring music I have heard since I began listening to broad types of music. Every single one of his songs can be manipulated to prove that someone else used his music to make their song. Innovation does not even begin to describe what Waters did for music as we know it. However, for every one of Muddy's songs I fell in love with there was a Wolf song I couldn't stop listening to.

The methodical approach towards every note, the voice that no one else can copy, the harmonica solos that captivate anyone willing to listen, and of course the lyrics (mainly thanks to Willie Dixon) that tear at your heart and then stitch it back up. Howlin' Wolf is something that I have never experienced while listening to a musician before, a combination of true emotions along with music that anyone can enjoy. Maybe it is just my strange and often random addictions to different musical types but there is something special about Howlin' Wolf. Give his songs a listen and let me know what you think.

I suppose I'll end this post a bit abruptly as the game has finished its downloading but I'll end with...a book! Yes I read too, it's incredible. As of now I've been getting my nerd on with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. It is quite possibly the most interesting series of books I have ever had the absolute pleasure of reading. The story focuses on a land filled with strife and conflict that spans many miles and many families. The interesting points come in when Martin kills of main characters that the reader was following. Instead of that instant feel good "everyone lives because they're the good guys" feeling you get a sense of confusion that no author has instilled in me before. Knowing who is good and who is bad is not always as simple as it has been with other books like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. There is no clear line drawn between characters and it makes each scandal, battle, murder, and back stab seem that much more powerful. Go read the first book entitled A Game of Thrones, it won't be a waste if you're able to keep up with the changing point of views and long character lists.

So Many Ads!!!

Credibility has become a topic of much debate in the video game writing world. It is difficult to seem unbiased about a game you're reviewing when the game is covering your site with banners and ads. The problem is that video game websites want to include ads that their viewers and readers will click on to generate profit. Any gaming site can put up ads for a clothing store or a new cooking product, but those ads won't generate the revenue that a Halo 3 ODST ad or a Dragon Age ad would create. This becomes a problem for viewers of the site, do you trust the review of a game that is currently being advertised on the site? Or do you look elsewhere for an unbiased review?

One of the most famed stories in video game journalism is that of Kane and Lynch and the review it received from former Gamespot employee Jeff Gerstmann. The game, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, was being advertised by Gamespot and eventually it was reviewed. Jeff gave the game an average score of 6.5 out of 10 due to the games many bugs and glitches. Gerstmann was fired soon after and the reasons were never truly or clearly stated why. While it is ridiculous to assume that the review would be the only reason for his termination the entire process brings up a great point about credibility and integrity. Gaming sites and magazines walk a fine line between giving honest reviews to their fan base and making sure game companies still want to advertise within their pages. Giving an advertised game a lackluster score could end up leading to gaming companies not wanting to advertise for a magazine or website that won't praise the game that is bringing them revenue through ads.

However, most sites and magazines do manage to pull off the advertising and reviewing debacle very well. Whether it is through disclosures at the beginning or the end of the review, not reviewing an advertised game until the ads are down, or sometimes just reviewing the game regardless of ads. The point is that reviews are written by people who are giving their opinions on a game they have played in an often different way than how most people play games. While most people take their time to see it all and have fun on their own time reviewers run through a game and make sure they see everything a game has to offer in a short amount of time to deliver a timely review. Take reviews with a grain of salt, and if a website or magazine seems like its being a bit too biased with a certain game then go look the game up on a different website, metacritic.com is a good source for nearly every review of a game...just don't take the metacritic score to mean something, we'll talk about that tomorrow. Happy gaming.