Sunday, July 28, 2013

Gamed2Death Swap Meet Scavenge

We already covered this stuff in a corresponding update video (7-27-13, first one we ever made), but just to have it in static print, I'll list out the games we bought, their prices, purchasers, significance to said purchasers and any other relevant information. Joy, without the "en".

1.
Game:     Rocky Mountain Trophy Hunter
Purchased by:     Anglerte
Price:     4$
Platform:     Gameboy Color
Year Released:     2000
Rare?:     probably
Other Significance: Potential Candidate for "G2D 45 Nostalgic Games"



2.
Game:     Deus Ex: The Conspiracy
Purchased by:     Porpoisemonkey
Price:     5$
Platform:     PlayStation 2
Year Released:     2002
Rare?:     unknown
Other Significance: Candidate for "G2D 45 Nostalgic Games"


3.
Game:     Elder Scrolls Three: Marrowind
Purchased by:     Porpoisemonkey
Price:     6$
Platform:     Xbox
Year Released:     2002
Rare?:     Supposedly
Other Significance: Potential "Let's Play"


4.
Game:    Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge
Purchased by:     Anglerbe
Price:     5$
Platform:     PlayStation 1
Year Released:     1996
Rare?:     Supposedly
Other Significance: Potential "Let's Play"

Any questions about these games? Leave a comment! Thanks for your time!





Gamed2Death Update 7-27-13: Swap Meet & Happy Birthday CartemJ823

The date is a day off because that's when we recorded the video. Get over it. Anyway, we went to the swap meet, bought some games and establish some stupidity and here it is in all it's glory. Enjoy.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

CartemJ823 Let's Plays and Updated Let's Play Tab

I recently added CartemJ823's completed "Let's Play" playlists to our refined "Let's Play" tab. Be sure to check out this tab periodically, as this is where we will be publishing all completed "Let's Play" segments from the YouTube channels of the Gamed2Death staff. Thank you! And remember, if you have any recommendations for these video segments, feel free to leave a comment under this tab as well.















Soul Calibur 2 HD to be on PSN and XBLA

This is very interesting... one of my favorite fighting games. Problem is, my best character is Link....

Friday, July 26, 2013

Porpoisemonkey in Pokemon Leaf Green

After a ten year lapse since the last time I played a "main series" (canon, handheld) Pokemon game, I decided to return to Leaf Green, planning to play through the entire game and eventually work my way over to other games in the series that I never initially owned (this basically includes everything outside of the 3rd generation [own Leaf Green, Emerald]). Anyway, I was playing through the game and struggling to piece together the very disorderly and clouded fragments of memories concerning my play through of this game almost ten years ago, when I started to notice things, things that I definitely wouldn't have noticed the last time. These things varied in nature, and proved worthy of titles such as humorous, intriguing, perplexing, and even creepy. This example stuck out to me more than any other I've encountered as of yet (as of this point, for I haven't completed the game yet), and deserves to be labeled with every quality I mentioned previously short of "intriguing". In fact, the only person that would find it so is the old man in the picture himself, Porpoisemonkey! That's right, for whatever reason, developers decided that a game whose fan-base would, more likely than not, include young children was not mature enough with simply gambling, violence and gangsters, and thus they decided to throw in this little touch right here. So next time someone tries to tell you that Pokemon is a game for small children, remind them that they slapped a realistic portrayal of Porpoisemonkey right out in the open without a second of remorse or reconsideration.

They got his face and everything!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Console Analysis: Wii U (impressions)

Warning: This is not a review of the device in question, but rather an establishment of first impressions and concerns of a potential consumer (who you probably care nothing about). Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your opinions of the console in the comments section below!

At first I was a bit discouraged from detailing my impressions of this particular console given that it has obviously been available to standard consumers for around nine to ten months now, but ultimately I decided that the Wii U is certainly a member of the same generation of video game consoles as every other console  I've concerned so far, regardless of what some may think. Just because most of Nintendo's competitors' consoles have yet to become the present generation, that does not mean that Nintendo should be discredited for releasing their console earlier than the others. With that established, regarding Nintendo console's as a whole, it seems that first-party titles are always developed thoughtfully and pridefully, and are adapted to console innovations in ways that are far beyond sufficient and satisfactory; in fact, unique, intriguing, entertaining and exciting exclusive first-party titles, series, and sequels are generally 90 percent of the reason to purchase Nintendo's consoles. While it seems that Nintendo always strives to accommodate creative and interesting new features and styles into every successive console, and while they always seem to produce games that not only cooperate well with these innovations, but benefit immensely and surprisingly from their presence and application. However, as many loyal Nintendo fans know very well, especially regarding the original Nintendo Wii console, third party developers on Nintendo consoles tend to exist only as producers of space fillers for empty shelves at video game retailers. Certainly it cannot be argued that certain third party developers have proven that Nintendo is not entirely alone or unique in their ability to adapt high quality games to features of Nintendo consoles in thoughtful ways, but all to often, lazy, profit-thirsty developers see unique opportunities offered by consoles and their features as methods of establishing cheap and shiny gimmicks that have potential to bring in easy money with as little monetary and intellectual expense as possible. Ultimately and quite unfortunately, the majority of third party developers tend to create low-quality,   mediocre, or absolutely repulsive games, and they use Nintendo's creative twists to paint over the messes they make. Not surprisingly, when these creative twists are wasted on gimmicky features and styles, it becomes very apparent very quickly that the game in question is of fairly low quality, and that the developer(s)/ producers behind said low-quality game likely have no concern for creating games with pride and care, but rather, simply seek to rip as much money from the pocket's of consumers as possible with the lowest possible expense on their own account. From the looks of things as the game library of the Wii U currently stands, the Wii U has not been able to evade this devastating plague. In fact, given that most of Nintendo's long awaited and highly acclaimed titles have yet to be released, I personally see very little justification as to why I should purchase this console as of yet.



Positive Impressions/ Hopes:
-The Game-pad thing: although many of Nintendo's innovations are often argued to be exaggerated or unnecessary, and are indeed put to shame by many third party developers, having a controller with a screen on it (that's actually large enough to be useful for more than periodic glances) could prove to be extremely beneficial to all types of games if properly implemented. Admittedly, I was skeptical at first, but after actually having the chance to physically observe and use the controller myself, I was surprised at how light it was (at least compared to my initial judgement); Nintendo Land, and every first party game I played, for that matter, utilized the controller in away that was far more beneficial to the gaming experience (in regard to multi-player especially) than it was cumbersome; actually, in my experience, the tablet controller has yet to take the form of an obstruction to convenience or fun (excluding the ways in which Eljoeyo abused the powers of the controller to kill us in New Super Mario Bros U ). Handheld gaming tends to offer creative multi-player experiences that simply aren't realistically possible to achieve/ implement in home console games; just as the Gameboy Advance did for Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, the tablet controller allows for concepts that are uniquely applicable to handheld devices (where not every player uses the same display device) to be implemented in multiplayer games on home consoles. It is my hope that this tablet controller will allow for a mass of high quality games with variety and creative structural concepts that weren't possible in the absence of such a controller, regarding both single player and multiplayer games, for the controller is extremely convenient and beneficial to far more than group/ party games
-Nintendo First Party Games: it's late at night, so I was trying to figure out a way I could avoid typing a whole lot, and here it is: if you don't buy Nintendo consoles to play first party games, regardless of whether or not you intend to play third party games as well, there's simply something wrong with you. If you aren't sure how to approach Nintendo's library, look for the nearest "Super Smash Bros" game, and branch from there. For loyal fans and those who are already aware of Nintendo's golden stash of video game art and golden entertainment, you know that in some cases, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but in others, quite the opposite. Regardless of your stance, I respect Nintendo for the number of original series (even if not every idea was entirely original) that they've hosted persistently and successfully across almost every console to date. In strange ways, Nintendo manages to be innovative, creative and different while still maintaining respected, familiar and consistent values in almost all of their games, and I have no doubt that they will continue to bring us a variety great games before the end of the console's life span



Negative Impressions/ Fears:
- Multitude of 3rd Party Garbage: as mentioned above, many of the third party developers out there are good for nothing, ravenous pigs that would throw you in front of a bus as long as they got a dime out of it (even if the bus was parked), and when these developers are searching for a console to poison with their poor quality merchandise, Nintendo is evidently an appealing option; just as the Android Market place tends to be with frustratingly useless and outright irritating apps,  Nintendo consoles are typically polluted with equally substandard and frustratingly unenjoyable games that waste the time, money and sanity of countless consumers of the video game market; I fear, especially with a the slimy gimmicks that were made possible by the tablet controller, that the Wii U will not be able to evade these detestable third party companies. And no, we aren't going to play Ant Bully or Perfect Dark 3. So there.
-Recycled Games: admittedly this is more of a concern for Nintendo as a whole rather than this console specifically, because it may affect the Wii U, and because I did a fair share of nagging Microsoft (and possibly Sony as well, I don't quite remember everything I said in my previous impressions posts), I decided to address this particular concern anyway: while Nintendo's first party games are generally achieve beauty and entertainment value that exceed what the English language can rightfully describe, many of these games have been recycled and milked until just about dry. While no series in particular comes immediately to mind, I fear that these beloved series and their respective characters will eventually reach the point where they are no longer attractive; powerful and attractive innovations are immensely difficult to produce understandably, especially considering the length of time in which Nintendo has thrived as a developer and producer of video games, and because of this observation (I can't quite call this a fact, excluding the part about Nintendo's time frame as a video game developer), I fear that Nintendo's creativity in regard to series that are currently standing will eventually run dry, or that many series which currently don't require an abundance of innovative introductions to make succeeding games worth purchasing will eventually become uninteresting or underwhelming. There are plenty of ways that these occurrences may be avoided of course, not even considering the possibility that Nintendo could simply drop every series that currently stands (not a good idea, but a possibility indeed) and start fresh, for in many ways, just as there is an overwhelmingly large amount of undiscovered music in each genre, there is plenty of unexplored territory in the realm of potential greatness to the extent that Mario, Link, Samus and the rest could easily carry on in their adventures without boring or disgusting gamers until the end of time; we can only hope that Nintendo is wise in their production strategies for all of our favorite games on their newest console (honestly, I don't fear that Nintendo games will become dull on their own so much as I am afraid that things will be overproduced or unevenly distributed in a way that forces said games to seem or become dull)



Overall, there was never any question as to whether I was hoping to purchase this console, so long as it was granted that Nintendo's first party games would be included with the package (in what torture chamber of an existence would Nintendo's games not be permitted on a Nintendo console, I know not). While it is possible that some of Nintendo's more iconic franchises will have a harder time impressing consumers than they have in the past, I don't think any true Nintendo fan (not to be mistaken with ignorantly loyal slaves of a company, often referred to using the slang term "fanboy/ fangirl") is searching for major infrastructural alterations so much as we are hoping for new and enjoyable adventures. I think it's safe to say that Nintendo is developing many of these Adventures as we speak (along with the minority of 3rd party developers who are almost as, if not equally respectable), and, while I don't currently own a Wii U, as soon as the game library is stocked, that fact will change. Once again, thanks for reading, and please do respond in the comments section with any relevant opinions or reflections. Thank you!



Let's Play: Silent Hill (Playlist)

Silent Hill

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Porpoisemonkey Actually Did Something (Max Payne)

Striking as it may be, I believe that Porpoisemonkey has actually started his own "Let's Play" video segment for the first time since he abandoned Fallout: New Vegas almost a year ago. Here it is, Max Payne:


The nostalgia aspect sparks a few concerns.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

My Be Right Back Screen and Gamed2Death on Twitch

So... we're on Twitch. Yep. Check us out if you want, we appreciate your views. We plan to use it to both do Let's Plays and mess around like we always do. For both my ease of access and your potential entertainment, here is the image I've created for when we're taking a break or having difficulties or something similar.




Sunday, July 14, 2013

Anglerte's Soundtrack of the Week

Mario Party 5


While admittedly I find Mario Party 4 to be a bit more attractive game than it's successor for many reasons beyond nostalgia (although that is certainly a stronger factor of 4, it applies quite favorably to both 4 and 5), Mario Party 5 was able to maintain and expand upon some of the greatest qualities of the Mario Party series while still establishing fairly innovative and unique themes that separated it from the rest of the crowd. Unfortunately, Mario Party 5's successors were not quite as successful in doing this (although I actually haven't played 7); while Mario Party 6 certainly introduced creative concepts unique to itself, I personally couldn't overcome the feeling that the game was more like an expansion pack with a few extra characters and new mini-games and gameboards than a full on new game. Regardless, I have enjoyed every Mario Party game that I've played for various and colorful reasons, and this track possessed emotion which conveyed and strongly established that this was in fact a new game, the next step forward in one of the greatest multiplayer party game series of all time.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Anglerbe's Soundtrack of the Week

The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask

 Astral Observatory

Extended version just for you people. As mentioned by Anglerte, Jburitto recently played a bit of Majora's Mask, during which we encountered the old man in the Astral Observatory. Majora's Mask has one of my all time favorite soundtracks, and this stands out as one of my favorite from it. And that's saying something. MM is just an incredibly atmospheric and surprisingly dark game. To see everyone slowly decay into doom and despair, only at the last second to teleport to 3 days prior, where (almost) everyone is again oblivious to their impending doom, gives you a great sense of loneliness, but also of a glimmer of hope that, bit by bit, maybe the world can be saved. The Astral Observatory, with this track playing, feels like a safe haven in a dying world, despite that the moon continues to descend toward Termina.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Anglerte's Soundtrack of the Week

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask


Because we recently recorded Jburitto playing Majora's Mask (at his request), I decided that this track would be fairly appropriate. Although this is one of the minority of tracks displayed by the game that is not in some way a remix of "Song of Healing" (at least not to my knowledge), that ultimately only serves to make it more significant and memorable in its own right. Although obviously this specific track was meant for the first day, it's still a bit refreshing to find an entirely optimistic and uplifting track in this sea of suspense, misery and,  as Jburitto was hoping to find, disquietude. Just as the music achieves in many of the villages throughout "The Legend of Zelda" series, this track produces emotion and peace that establish thorough nostalgic value. Although it certainly fits right in with the series and would very believable stand as an entity of "Ocarina of Time", it possess a sort of immediate uniqueness that it desperately needed to uphold that "Majora's Mask" is indeed a different experience, and one worthy of high regard in its own right. 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

FightBoy Vash Streaming

A friend of ours, FightBoy Vash, is going to be doing sessions of streaming Minecraft. Details in the video below. Feel free to to check 'em out.

Here's a link to his channels:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/fightboyvash?feature=watch
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/fightboyvash

Gamed2Death Plays: Mario Part 4 (session 1)

Jburitto, Anglerbe, StevieJay and I decided to play Mario Party 4. Unfortunately, as I stated repeatedly in every place I was able to fit some sort of description of the video, the commentary was not recorded after the first episode, so all we can show is the gameplay. Even still, the experience was intense enough, and I believe raw Mario Party footage itself is interesting enough to hold attention for at least a little while, even if that means skipping throughout the later videos. Thanks for watching! And yes, we will be returning to this game for the same purpose fairly soon because of what Audacity did to our commentary (I guess I'll take partial responsibility for not checking to see whether or not the input randomly decided to change on us, but seriously).

(Jburitto's Channel)


(Anglerte's Channel)


(Anglerbe's Channel)


(StevieJay's Channel)





Stevie Jay: Donkey Kong 64 Gameplay and Commentary


StevieJay plays Donkey Kong 64.

Anglerbe's Soundtrack of the Week

Resident Evil 4

Regenerator Theme

There are some people who claim RE4 is the best game in the series. There are others who claim that it was the cause of the downfall of the RE series. As for myself, it's my least favorite Resident Evil game in the realm of games that the RE title wasn't just slapped on to. It stays true to it's roots, but packs a little too much focus on shooting for my preference. All of that being said, I enjoy this game, and it's soundtrack is almost as good as the classic RE games. This particular track stands as the most suspenseful and frightening in the entire game. I'd even argue that Regenerators are the scariest enemies in the entire series. The paranoid intensity of this ambiance only serves to support this. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to investigate the hyperventilating coming from around the cor

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Console Analysis: PlayStation 4 (impressions)

Warning: This is not a review of the device in question, but rather an establishment of first impressions and concerns of a potential consumer (who you probably care nothing about). Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your opinions of the console in the comments section below!

Although I've tended to favor Sony's products over their competitors' in the past, it can hardly be argued that a major selling point of the PlayStation 3 was simply the fact that its online gaming service, a feature whose popularity and expansive nature were strongly enforced  in the previous generation of video game consoles (unfortunately to the degree where it was uncomfortably forced into many games), was absolutely free to use. Although it is often argued that issues encountered by PlayStation Network automatically justified Microsoft's enforcing of the 50$ annual fee, I personally found the service to work quite efficiently for my purposes (I play online multi-player games about 40% of the time). Either way, given that Sony will now be enforcing required payments to use their online gaming services, the PlayStation 4 will have to show off a bit more impressive, intriguing and innovative qualities than it otherwise would have. But none of this was to say that the predecessors of this upcoming console were driven solely by monetary appeal; I have no doubt that the selection of exclusives that will be published on this system alone will be more than effective in capturing my attention and desire. As with the Xbox One, the streaming features seem quite attractive as well, and if everything works as I think/ hope it will, this could be extremely awesome and beneficial to our cause as a gaming blog/ Youtube hobbyists (particularly in regard to the remote access, controller switching thing that I heard they'll be implementing).


Positive Impressions/ Hopes:

-Innovative, impressive or in any way intriguing exclusives always seem to find their way onto Sony's consoles, so hopefully we can expect to see more of the same on the Ps4; at the very least, I hope to see at least one or two enticing exclusive titles, and a few, thoroughly developed and nurtured sequels to popular and (far more importantly) entertaining games/ series from previous consoles
-Given that PlayStation Move wasn't the most popular or favored method of control/ play on the Ps3, it's probably safe to assume that developers will focus more on quality of gameplay and presentation as a whole, rather than the accommodation of innovation and unusual control styles. Not to say that the thought of focusing on different control styles should be detested or shunned, but if such things are sought simply for the act of establishing something different or something to serve as a cheap gimmick against competitors, and not because developers intend to include said innovative control style in a thoughtful, artistic and thoroughly drafted fashion, it would best if this particular area was left alone, for the most part, after initial controller designs are established.
-Streaming as a whole: for additional details, refer to my Xbox One impressions post
-Remote access: while this obviously ties in with streaming to a degree, and while I'm not absolutely certain that this is an actual feature (I'm pretty sure it is though), this feature would be one of the most significant innovations a home gaming console could possibly posses for our cause as YouTube hobbyists and hosts of a gaming blog; with this implemented, not only would we obviously be able to stream gameplay directly from the console, thus making recording immensely more convenient, but during gameplay and "Let's Play" segments, we could actually "pass the controller" from person to person, even when every involved commentator is not present in the same room that the game is being played. In context, when we find games that Porpoisemonkey  is simply terrible at playing, he no longer has the option to excuse himself with "this is too difficult". I'm not saying that something this has actually happened yet, but I have a feeling that that would be his primary excuse for ending a gameplay and commentary session before a satisfactory conclusion has been achieved. With the power of the PlayStation 4, he could just remotely give me access to the game, and the whole process could continue unscathed. Also, it would be much easier to form systems such as those that we established when playing "Shadow of the Colossus" and "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Reqiem". As a whole, the inclusion of this feature would allow us to be much more active on YouTube as a group  






Negative Impressions/ Fears:

-The triggers; those freaking triggers! The diabolical entities of the Ps3 controller that could very well be considered one of top five most malevolent features ever to be implemented into a gaming controller, may very well make another unwelcome appearance on the PlayStation 4 controller. Hopefully Sony was a bit more intelligent about the way they approached their designs this time, but there are certainly no guarantees that they actually listened to the vast array of complaints from people who accidentally activated their explosive devices, tossed their treasured melee weapons off cliffs, or even unintentionally fired their primary projectile weapon (seriously though developers, this isn't Xbox; if you're going to make an FPS, let us use the standard control system that everyone is capable of functioning with; as far as I'm concerned, forcing us to shoot with the triggers is a form of bullying). From the looks of things, Sony still decided to implement triggers that stick down below the controller, so all we can really hope for now is that either Sony did something to prevent the triggers from functioning or being activated unintentionally when the controller is placed on a reasonably solid surface, or that a third party company (or maybe even Sony) will design a much more efficient and enjoyable controller. I'd like to think that the little touch screen monitor thing and the "share" button didn't distract the hardware designers from more significant, functional properties
 -PlayStation Plus is now required to play games online; I don't know why Sony would take one of the largest supporting argumentative factors as to why one should invest in their console over their competitors', and completely demolish it! Although having a "Plus" account allowed for a vast array of discounts and unlimited free access to games (as long as you continue your subscription to the service), none of these things appealed to me enough to convince me to pay 50$ for advanced online services. Apparently I'm not the only one who viewed the situation as such, because Sony recognized that this perspective was fairly popular, and decided to throw in another major incentive for subscribing to PlayStation Plus. Of course, this required that they stab all their loyal network players in the back, but I'm sure they worked out an overwhelming list of justifications as to why they made this decision. Personally, I would probably disagree with most of those excuses, for I believe that Sony simply recognized that Microsoft's new policies were receiving a lot of negative attention, and decided that they would be able to get away with more without turning consumers to their competitors. Definitely not an appealing decision, Sony.




Overall, while Sony admittedly punched us in the face by establishing that gamers will now have to pay fees for online services, this inconvenience is significantly overshadowed by the potential for greatness promised by the console as a whole. With plenty of sequels to rightfully popular game series already on the horizon, I believe it's fairly realistic to speculate that the PlayStation 4 will be a very popular choice, especially for those who enjoy playing games with non-local friends and those who enjoy recording themselves playing with said friends. Hopefully, in regard to multiplayer capabilities and functionalities, all future consoles will strive to combine quality local multiplayer systems with more convenient and entertaining online interactions with non-local friends, such as those that Sony is attempting to allow for here. It is very likely that most of the Gamed2Death staff will be purchasing this console before the end of its lifetime.



Happy 4th and My New Channel Trailer

First of all, happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. We'll probably do something relevant to that in the near future.
Second, I've finally finished my channel trailer for the new YouTube layout (which I don't care for by the way).

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Jburitto's Channel and New Let's Play

Jburitto has started a Let's Play of X-Men Destiny on his own channel. (ecstatic expression and disquietingly unmanly shout of joy)

Here is the first episode:


Let's Play: Call of Juarez Gunslinger

Anglerbe's Channel