Tag: Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk #337: Buying the Same Game Again and Again

2K has pulled a Nintendo on me. By that I mean that it has me on the hook for three versions of the same game. Hell, I don’t even remember how many times I’ve bought Super Mario Bros. for various…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Paul McDonald’s unfortunate exit from American Idol, Scarlett Johansson moving in with Sean Penn, or Manny Pacquiao possibly fighting Kermin Cintron, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve played more than a thousand hours of Civilization Revoltion for iPhone. I’ll play more than a thousand hours of Civilization Revolution for iPad. If 2K releases an Android version, I’ll buy that and play the hell out of it too. 2K has pulled a Nintendo on me. By that I mean that it has me on the hook for three versions of the same game. Hell, I don’t even remember how many times I’ve bought Super Mario Bros. for various Nintendo platforms.

Several of my friends have bought multiple versions of Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, etc. From the originals to portable versions to digital downloads, it’s kind of astounding that we’ve bought the same game over and over again. How about you? Have you bought the same game multiple times? Or are you free of this madness? If you’re among the afflicted, please list the titles (and platforms if you can remember them) that you’ve bought over and over again.

Coffee Talk #336: Is Creativity Overrated?

People in the gaming business love creative games. Titles like Flower, Limbo, Braid, Swords and Sworcery, etc. are almost universally loved by people in the gaming the business. Some feel that…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, getting busy signals when you’re trying to vote for Paul McDonald, Kobe Bryant’s unfortunate language, or BlackBerry PlayBook reviews, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

People in the gaming business love creative games. Titles like Flower, Limbo, Braid, Swords and Sworcery, etc. are almost universally loved by people in the gaming the business. Some feel that these games deserve every bit of praise they get. Others feel that insiders get overly enamored with games that are different, simply because they’re different.

I think both are true to a certain degree. I adore Flower for its originality and uncanny resemblance to several dreams I’ve had. I also understand that most gamers are of the balls-and-guns variety — Madden and Halo are way more important to them than some artsy game with flower petals that may or may not be the result of too many marijuana brownies. I can count on writing about a Madden game or a Halo game every year or so, but a game like Flower is more exciting to write about because it’s atypical.

Do you think the gaming business is guilty of overrating and over-hyping creative games? Or should these titles be lauded for being refreshingly different? Do you like reading about and playing unique games from indie developers? Or would you rather stick to balls and guns?

Coffee Talk #335: Gaming at Odd Times or in Odd Places

Have you ever played games at an unusual place or an odd time? I’m talking about something that others might find inappropriate. Look at the picture above, for example. Three of my friends whipped out their…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the wrath of Xenu, your NBA playoff predictions, or your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Have you ever played games at an unusual place or an odd time? I’m talking about something that others might find inappropriate. Look at the picture above, for example. Three of my friends whipped out their Nintendo DS systems during a wedding. Some people would consider that rude. (To be fair, there was no alcohol at this wedding.) We honestly didn’t think anything of it, but the picture makes it seem a bit strange.

So how about it? Ever play games at a hopping bar or during a…I don’t know…a funeral? Perhaps you’ve interrupted a job interview to make a Scrabble move on your phone. Share your unusual gaming stories today (please)!

Coffee Talk #334: How Have You Changed as a Gamer?

I used to play a ton of sports games. Somewhere along the line, my sports gaming tapered off. These days, it’s such a small percentage of my yearly gaming.

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Yankees sucking at Fenway, my favorite American Idol 2011 contestant sleeping with Nikki Reed, or Liam Neeson getting cut from The Hangover 2, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I used to play a ton of sports games. In grade school, my friends and I devoured pretty much every NES, SNES, and Genesis sports game. My brother and I have a longtime rivalry in NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. My friend Justin and I played entire baseball seasons against each other in World Series Baseball and Frank Thomas’ Big Hurt Baseball for Saturn. Somewhere along the line, my sports gaming tapered off. These days, it’s such a tiny percentage of my yearly gaming.

So what caused such a drastic change in my gaming habits? Part of it was that I started writing about games for a living. While I enjoyed sports games, I always worked with someone that was way more into them than I was. Part of it was that as sports games became more realistic, they became less fun for me. Lastly, the vast majority of people I clicked with in the videogame journalist world were not sports gamers, so we never played together.

For some reason, this change in my gaming habits popped into my head over the weekend. I never really thought about it before. How have you changed as a gamer over the years? Are your gaming tastes the same as they were 10 or 15 years ago? Or are they drastically different? Kindly share your ch-ch-ch-changes as a gamer as you watch the David Bowie video below.

Coffee Talk #333: Describe This Sexually Charged Screenshot

RPadholic camikitten sent me this (naughty?) screenshot of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. Based off of the screen and the text, what do you think is happening in the game?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, those winless Red Sox, Pia Toscano being voted off American Idol, or predicting the Barry Bonds trial, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

RPadholic camikitten sent me this screenshot of Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. She also explained the context to me (though it’s still weird). I’m guessing that most of you aren’t familiar with the Ar tonelico series, so I wanted to have some fun with this screenshot’s earth shattering unintentional comedy.

Based off of the screen and the text, what do you think is happening in the game? Let’s try to keep it as clean as possible (please).

Coffee Talk #332: Pleasant Videogame Surprises

Today I’d like to hear about games that surprised you. I’m talking about games you didn’t expect much from, but ended up loving. As for me, I remembering buying a game because it was on sale and ended up…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Red Sox’ awesome losing streak, your favorite Transformer, or the hottest Spice Girl, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Yesterday’s column was too much of a downer. Let’s move out of the bitter barn and play in the hay! Today I’d like to hear about games that surprised you. I’m talking about games you didn’t expect much from, but ended up loving.

As for me, Civilization Revolution for iPhone was one of the best gaming surprises I’ve had in years. I bought the game when it was on sale for $2.99 and ended up playing it for hundreds of hours. It was perfect for long flights, bus rides, killing time before a sports game starts, and avoiding work (wait, that last one is bad). I thought I’d like Civilization for iPhone, but I ended up loving it (as much as Charlie Sheen loves cocaine).

Now it’s your turn! Please share some of your best videogame surprises.

Coffee Talk #331: Disappointing Videogame Sequels

Today I’m looking for people to hang out in the bitter barn with me. What are some of the most disappointing videogame sequels you’ve played? Why were they so disappointing? I’ll play some music by The Smiths…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Britney Spears’ new video, compilation, or your favorite Bangle, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I recently finished The 3rd Birthday for a Machinima review. As a big fan of the first Parasaite Eve for PlayStation, I was really looking forward to the third game starring Aya Brea. While The 3rd Birthday isn’t bad by any means, I’m terribly disappointed in the game (aside from its ridiculously beautiful graphics). On paper, it should be one of the best PlayStation games ever made. Instead, it’s “only” good.

The 3rd Birthday has an interesting history to draw from, but the game mostly ignore its two predecessors. The lead character is the same and a few minor details  from the previous games are mentioned, but that’s about it. The game was directed by Hajime Tabata (director of Crisis Core) and written by Motomu Toriyama (event director of Final Fantasy X), with art from the brilliant Tetsuya Nomura. Aside from the stellar art, the game is pretty average. How could such an excellent team produce a game that’s just decent?!?

*sigh* Today I’m looking for people to hang out in the bitter barn with me. What are some of the most disappointing videogame sequels you’ve played? Why were they so disappointing? I’ll play some music by The Smiths for this miserable edition of Coffee Talk.

Coffee Talk #330: Cartridges Coming Back to Home Consoles?

Will the next generation of consoles will use solid-state storage instead of disc-based media? It’s an interesting argument. There are great reasons to do it and great reasons not to. Let’s…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the rise of Ivan Nova, the latest iPhone 5 rumors, or your favorite painkiller, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

While we were talking about the digital future of consoles, I was intrigued by one of RPadholic smartguy’s comments. He believes that the next generation of consoles will use solid-state storage instead of disc-based media. It’s an interesting argument. There are great reasons to do it and great reasons not to. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Publishers love that cartridges are better than discs at combating piracy. A combination of anti-piracy measures on the cartridge (that can be updated) and online authentication would be tough to beat. Solid state would also mean sturdier products. As smartguy mentioned, the less moving parts a console has, the longer it will last. That’s great for the consumer.

On the downside, cartridges will always be more expensive than discs and digital downloads (obviously). Future games will require at least 16GB flash cards and some will require much more than that. While the price of solid-state memory will surely go down over the next few years, it will still be more expensive than a Blu-ray disc.

Speaking of Blu-ray (and DVD), one of the reasons disc-based gaming took off is that movies used the same format. Lots of people used their PlayStation 2 as their primary DVD player and the PlayStation 3 is still on of the best Blu-ray players around. While digital movies are becoming more and more popular, discs aren’t going away just yet. It can be argued that console manufacturers — especially Sony — still want to offer the ability to play disc-based movies on their consoles. Then again, it might be easier and cheaper to set up an exclusive deal with a digital movie partner. Or maybe they’ll have their own service, like the rumored Orapa for Microsoft Xbox.

Do you see cartridges coming back to home consoles? Why or why not? Would you prefer cartridges or discs for the next generation of videogame consoles?

Coffee Talk #329: Discless Wonders

Most pundits believe that videogame consoles will eventually be discless. When do you think gaming is going to go discless? Will it be the generation after next? Or perhaps the one after that?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Charlie Sheen’s “comedy” tour, Mark Teixeira’s quest for 100 home runs, or lower back pain, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Most pundits believe that videogame consoles will eventually be discless. It’s just a matter of when. Publishers love digital distribution. Digital movies, music, and television are booming and expected to grow at a mercurial rate. When do you think gaming is going to go discless? Will it be the generation after next? Or perhaps the one after that?

The biggest obstacle — especially in America — is bandwidth. American ISPs are all about bandwidth capping, shaping, and throttling. That has to change if consumers are going to download gigabytes of games. Gamers also need to adjust to the digital world. Some people love boxed games, while others love being able to trade games after they’re done with them. I envision a vocal minority screaming and shouting about digital distribution…and eventually accepting it.

Anyway, I wanted to get your thoughts on discless consoles. When do you think they’ll arrive? Which major console company will be the first to attempt one? How do you think the market will react to a discless console? Kindly share your thoughts in the comments section!

Coffee Talk #328: Your Top 3 Games of Q1 2011

The first quarter of 2011 was loaded with outstanding games. Now that there quarter has come to a close, I want to know what your three favorite games of Q1 2011 were? As for me…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, an ex-ref fighting Dominique Wilkins at a basketball game, Yankees baseball, or your favorite April fool’s day joke, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The first quarter of 2011 was loaded with outstanding games. Now that there quarter has come to a close, I want to know what your three favorite games of Q1 2011 were? As for me, that’s an easy list to whip up. Check it out.

  1. Dragon Age II — While there are some aspects of the original that I prefer, there’s a lot I love about this game. Don’t believe all the whiners and haters out there. This is another high quality RPG from BioWare.
  2. Tactics Ogre — I absolutely love the developers that worked on this game. They went on to make Final Fantasy Tactics, which is my all-time favorite. The gameplay, music, and Queen references are awesome.
  3. DC Universe Online — I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this MMO…but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. As a comics fans, I had loads of mark out moments while adventuring with established heroes, but it was more fun beating up baddies with my friends.

Now it’s your turn! What were your three favorite games of Q1 2011?