CrazyGamer

Sci-fi directors belong to a most fickle fraternity. Every new work is always open to reinterpretation; this applies to even the senior members, and the most treasured work. Consider “The Invasion,” a remake — twice-over — of 1956’s “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Here, Nicole Kidman takes point, playing a psychiatrist who discovers that those dang aliens have crashed her party. She turns to a friend (Daniel Craig) for help, and shock and awe ensue. The flick is best with mood — eerie blues and grays dominate — and there a few great “gotcha” moments. But the nuance of the original is sorely missed.

You can buy this film here

The third in the trilogy based on the Robert Ludlum books of CIA intrigue, this hyper-action film easily upholds the high standard set by the first two, with quick-cut camera-work and another unrelenting global chase. Matt Damon really inhabits the edgy role - amnesiac agent gone rogue, and now finally closing in on the creators of the dark program that reduced him to a killing machine. Very compelling “making of” extras include a short on the filming of the climactic New York City car chase - a logistical Mt. Everest. Another shows the work - by cable-cam and leaping cameramen - behind a stunt-stacked Tangier rooftop scene. Says director Paul Greengrass: “We’ve definitely got a bit of adrenaline going.” Bit of an understatement.

You can buy the movie here

PC is still the place to be for fans of shooters, MMOs, and strategy games. Even for RPGs. I love BioWare’s games, but The WItcher is the fresher, more fun, and more interesting game in the genre.

We’ve got Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., World in Conflict, and now Sins ofo Solar Empire. The good stuff just keeps coming. Maybe the talented developers are going to follow the money and jump to console exclusives, but it sure hasn’t happened yet. So Straighten that spine, soldier! Stop apologizing for the sorry state of PC games. The games have never, ever been better. You need to start giving those console kids games pats on the head.

My friend told me that Dioblo III is coming out in November of this year. Of course, I don’t believe him, and I have heard that Diablo III was already created but Blizzard didn’t like the end result so they are redoing it. So is there any chance that Blizzard will get it together and get Diablo III finished?

As a longtime gamer I was happy to hear that Crysis tanked, though not so happy to hear Unreal Tournament 3 sold poorly. I purchased both games, and I don’t think piracy explains the sales figures. UT3 did deserve better however, I throw up a little in my mouth every time I hear a game critic wax poetic about Crysis’ “breakthrough design,” The game is completely derivative and badly designed: Take the oft-copied and tensionkilling health-regeneration system from recent Coll of Duty games; balance it with frustrating, instant death at every turn; add watered-down Crac^Wown/superheroic powers (but make sure they’re only available in three-second spurts so it’s not too fun!); crap out another Far Cry game for the basic framework; and this time make sure the writing is predictable and crammed with dispensable, one-dimensional characters. Presto, we have Crysis, a game that “deserves” and gets a high score in every review, but that, I’m happy to hear, is a game we ain’t buying.

I really despise a trend I’m starting to see more and more of: people who criticize game critics with the line, “If you can do better, then why aren’t you making games?” The assumption that all game developers are experts on game design is laughable at best. The industry seems full of people like John Romero who were essentially just in the right place at the right time, I don’t know how many times I’ve seen a game that would have been 100 times better if the designers [had] listened to the more critical gamers out there.

Christians bitch about Bible Fight. Street racing games encourage unsafe driving and gaudy-looking cars. Ban them right quick. Shooters promote violence and have you kilt cops and civilians.

I say no shooters with people who could be misconstrued as Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese, Russian, or even Americans, or people of any particular religious persuasion, skin tone, etc. Let’s just use black jelly beans as avatars. No one likes those.

Leisure Suit iorry—OMG, where to start?

Civilization and Age of Empires will breed new Hitlers and Stalins. I am truly concerned about all the freakish littie prepubescent girls in F.B.A.R. and BioShock. Please only cover Pong from this point forward.

I love these excuses that developers are offering for not including singlepiayer campaigns in their games. From Gas Powered Games on Demigod: “We still have this fantastic world with stories we could tell…we just don t think people want that.” How about this beauty from Ironclad Games on Sins of a Solar Empire: “We’ve banked on players preferring to create their own epics over having us provide a pre-canned one,” Note to GPG: You are telling a story. It’s just not very believable. Note to IronClad: “Banked” is the right term. The development cash you saved by eliminating the single-player campaign is probably being banked right now.

How much research did these developers conduct before concluding that gamers no longer want single-player campaigns? I’d wager that any research extended only to development budget (i.e., “it takes money and time to create a goad single-player campaign, but we’re over budget and behind schedule; therefore, gamers don’t want a single-player campaign”).

Message to developers: I’m too busy to create my own “epic story.’ I’ve just paid money for your game, so I want you to entertain me, I like playing games with stories that unfold via well-written storylines that are supported by professionally crafted CG and voice acting.

If the current trend holds, I’ll just have to climb inside a cardboard box with my computer and use my imagination. Excuse me, I think my neighbor just bought a refrigerator.

As a 25-year-old gamer, I feel the “Gray Power” article. Hit on some good points. Perhaps the older crowds aren’t as ridiculed in some gaming communities as [in] others, but let’s face it, generally speaking, if you’re beyond your early {very early) twenties and caught playing an MMO, then the unofficial imaginary teenybopper handbook states: “You have become too old to piay games or enjoy yourself: now go die.”

Oh how I treasure those golden “You’re how old?” moments while playing a game because, hey, whats not to love about being made to feel like an outcast freak? So I play games at 25 years old. At least I can take comfort in knowing I’m not alone in my senior citizen-gamer status. My wife is an avid gamer too, and we’re celebrating her 48th birthday very soon.

One thing you should have mentioned: that evil StarForce copy protection, I’ve read all the horror stories about StarForce, and I chose to avoid having one of my own - so I cracked DiRT (a game I legitimately bought) just to avoid this mess.

DiRT was the first game I bought that included StarForce, and it wiil be the last. If I [had known] about this ahead of time, I wouldn’t have bought DiRT.