Games Beaten As Of 2018

April 7, 2018 by iCentrist

I thought it was time to share more of my accomplishments! I posted a list a few years back but I’ve had plenty of time since then to add to the list. So as of April 6th, 2018, these are the games I’ve beaten! (Bear in mind, there are some that aren’t so much “beaten” as they are turned over. In the case of the NHL games, I take it to my first Stanley Cup victory and consider that a ‘win’ since those games go on for eternity and don’t actually have a game over credit roll. Same is true of other sports games.) Even given those facts, I feel pretty accomplished for my list here! A list I started compiling back in the early 90s because, as a youth, I wanted to know just what games I’d finished. And it’s only grown longer since then. If you’re reading this, THANKS! Elsewise, this is purely for me!

COLOR CODING USED:

VERY FIRST GAME (IE GAME #1 BEATEN)

QUARTER NUMBERED GAMES (IE GAME #25, #50, #50 UP TO 100TH PLACE)

100TH PLACED GAMES (IE GAME #100, #200, #300, ETC ETC)

GENERAL GAMES BEATEN THAT MEET NO MILDSTONE

1987

Baseball (#1) NES

Wizards N Warriors NES

Total For Time Period: 2

1988

The Legend of Zelda NES

Tiger Heli Rounded Out NES

Total For Time Period: 2

1989

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest NES

Abadox w/code NES

Astyanax w/code NES

Total For Time Period: 3

1990

Dragon Spirit NES

Dragon Warrior NES

Pro Wrestling NES

Bad Dudes w/code NES

Robocop NES

Monster Party NES

Skate Or Die Rounded Out NES

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ARC

TMNT 2: The Arcade Game NES

Total For Time Period: 9

1991

Faxanadu NES

Yo! Noid NES

Total For Time Period: 2

1992

Tiny Toon Adventures NES March

TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project NES March

Super C (Super Contra) w/code NES April

Rescue Rangers NES June

Ducktales NES July

Super Mario World SNS Aug

TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (#25) SNS Sept

Quackshot GEN Oct

Contra w/code NES Nov

Sonic The Hedgehog GEN Dec

Xardion SNS Dec

TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan GBY Dec

Total For Time Period: 12

1993

TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist GEN Jan

Buster Douglas Boxing GEN Jan

Krusty’s Super Funhouse SNS Feb

Bases Loaded GBY Feb

Bonk’s Adventure TGS March

Super Castlevania IV SNS March

WWF: Royal Rumble SNS 01 June

Batman Returns SNS 14 June

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure GEN 07 July

The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link NES 30 July

The Legend of Zelda III: A Link To The Past SNS 03 Aug

Splatter House TGS 18 Aug

Jurassic Park GEN 07 Sept

Golden Axe SCD 15 Oct

Silpheed SCD Nov

Mortal Kombat SNS 09 Nov

Starfox SNS Nov

Robocop 2 NES 15 Nov

The Legend of Zelda IV: Link’s Awakening GBY 25 Nov

Jurassic Park (#50) SNS 14 Dec

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 GEN 28 Dec

Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck SCD Dec

Total for Time Period: 22

1994

Micro Machines GEN 22 Jan

Sonic The Hedgehog SCD 03 March

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 GEN 05 March

TMNT: Tournament Fighters GEN June

TMNT: Tournament Fighters SNS 14 July

Cool Spot GEN 29 Aug

Mortal Kombat II SNS 13 Sept

Sonic The Hedgehog: Sonic & Knuckles (1,2,3) GEN 01 Nov

Donkey Kong Country SNS 24 Dec

Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition GEN

Raptor Ending 28 Dec

Grant Ending 29 Dec

Total For Time Period: 10

1995

Rock N Roll Racing SNS

Regular Ending 02 Jan

Warrior Ending 02 Jan

Veteran Ending 03 Jan

Mario Andretti Racing GEN 10 Jan

Robocop Vs Terminator SNS 22 Jan

Sunset Riders GEN June

Silver Surfer w/code NES 04 July

Rocket Knight Adventures GEN 10 July

Lagoon SNS 15 July

Zool 2 JAG

Super Mario Bros 3 (Mario All Stars) SNS 10 Aug

Super Mario Bros 2 (Mario All Stars) SNS 27 OCT

Chaotix 32X Nov

Total For Time Period: 11

1996

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island SNS 21 Jan

Illusion of Gaia (#75) SNS 31 Jan

Super Mario RPG SNS 06 July

Tekken PSX Sept

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest SNS 11 Sept

Super Mario 64 N64 17 Oct

Total For Time Period: 6

1997

Suikoden PSX 08 June

Vandal Hearts PSX 13 June

Starfox 64 N64 06 July

Tomb Raider PSX 03:15 AM 01 Sept

Final Fantasy VII PSX 03:40 AM 12 Sept

X-Men Vs. Streetfighter ARC 22 Nov

Total For Time Period: 6

1998

Tomb Raider II PSX 16 Jan

Resident Evil 2 PSX

Leon Ending 04 May

Claire Ending June

Tekken 3 PSX 04 May

X-Men Vs. Streetfighter (Import) SAT July

The Legend of Zelda V: Ocarina Of Time N64 01:25 AM 10 Dec

Total For Time Period: 5

1999

Resident Evil: Director’s Cut PSX

Jill Valentine 01 May

Chris Redfield May

Total For Time Period: 1

2000

The Legend of Zelda VI: Majora’s Mask N64 15 Nov

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis DRC 06 Dec

Resident Evil: Code Veronica DRC 13 Dec

Total For Time Period: 3

2001

Final Fantasy IX PSX Apr

Legend of Dragoon PSX Sept

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver PSX Nov

Timesplitters PS2 Nov

Final Fantasy X PS2 Dec

Total For Time Period: 5

2002

Forgotten Realms: Baldur’s Gate (#100) PS2 Mar

Star Wars: Rogue Leader (Rogue Squadron II) NGC Apr

Resident Evil (Remake) NGC

Jill Valentine 03 May

Chris Redfield May

Starcraft CPU Aug

Timesplitters 2 NGC Oct

Halo XBX

Normal Mode Oct

Legendary Mode

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy PS2 Nov

Dragonball Z: Budokai PS2 Nov

Silent Hill 2 XBX

Reg Game w/James: Walking Away Nov

Restless Dreams: Mary Nov

Total For Time Period: 9

2003

Resident Evil 0 NGC Feb

The Legend of Zelda VII: Windwaker NGC 07 Apr

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic XBX

Light Side Ending 27 July

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell XBX July

Metal Gear Solid PSX Aug

Star Wars: Rebel Strike (Rogue Squadron III) NGC Sept

Soul Caliber II NGC UsingLink Nov

Final Fantasy X-2 PS2

Standard Ending 25 Dec

Special Ending I Dec

Kingdom Hearts PS2 30 Dec

Total For Time Period: 9

2004

Silent Hill 3 PS2

Good Ending 02 Jan

Beyond Good & Evil PS2 02 Feb

Silent Hill PSX

Bad Ending Mar

Devil May Cry PS2 Mar

Thief: Deadly Shadows XBX 22:00 PM 05 June

Star Ocean: Till The End of Time PS2

Pepito Ending Aug

Sophia Ending Aug

Nel Ending Aug

Halo 2 XBX

Normal Mode 11 Nov

Total For Time Period: 7

2005

Resident Evil 4 (#125) NGC 02:30 AM 03 Feb

The Granstream Saga PSX 17:30 PM 10 Feb

Wild Arms 3 PS2 00:58 AM 14 Mar

Silent Hill 4: the Room PS2 00:31 AM 23 Mar

Timesplitters: Future Perfect PS2 21:10 PM 29 Mar

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow XBX 16:16 PM 30 Mar

Okage Shadow King PS2 00:29 AM 13 Apr

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory XBX 22:35 PM 13 June

Haunting Ground PS2

Good Ending 02:40 AM 28 June

Arc The Lad: Twilight of Spirits PS2 03:15 AM 30 June

Ico PS2 17:25 PM 06 July

Xenosaga PS2 18:45 PM 15 July

Star Wars: KOTOR II: The Sith Lords XBX

Light Side Ending 14:10 PM 11 Aug

Contra: Shattered Soldier PS2 17:10 PM 15 Aug

Jade Empire XBX

Good Ending 15:39 PM 17 Aug

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim PS2 15:40 PM 22 Aug

Xenosaga II PS2 23:52 PM 28 Aug

Sly Cooper & The Thievus Raccoonus PS2 23:31 PM 02 Sept

Sly 2: Band of Thieves PS2 20:15 PM 09 Sept

Jak II PS2 20:45 PM 15 Sept

Jak 3 PS2 17:32 PM 19 Sept

Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves PS2 18:27 PM 01 Oct

Xenogears PSX 17:25 PM 14 Oct

Mercs (Capcom collection) PS2 15:29 PM 19 Oct

Forgotten Worlds PS2 14:19 PM 20 Oct

1943 KAI (Capcom Collection) (#150) PS2 11:05 AM 11 Nov

Wild Arms PSX 15:11 PM Dec

Wild Arms 2^nd Ignition PSX 13:01 PM 22 Dec

Ratchet & Clank PS2 Dec

Total For Time Period: 29

2006

Sailor Moon S (Import) SGG 18:51 PM 05 Feb

Wild Arms: 4^th Detonator PS2 01:47 AM 22 Feb

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

PS2

Normal Ending 00:50 AM 22 Mar

Special Ending 12:13 AM 01 May

Legend of Heroes IV: A Tear of Vermilion

PSP 18:37 PM 31 Mar

Kingdom Hearts II PS2

Standard Ending 20:54 PM 04 Apr

Special Ending 02:23 AM 26 Apr

Thief: The Dark Project CPU 18:29 PM 14 June

Radiata Stories PS2

Non-Human Ending 23:17 PM 18 June

Star Ocean: The 2^nd Story PSX

Rena/Claude Ending 23:45 PM 06 July

Grandia III PS2 14:06 PM 21 July

Heroes of the Pacific Pilot PS2 15:43 PM 31 July

Darkwatch Cowboy PS2 18:58 PM 02 Aug

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus PS2

Hard 23:36 PM 18 Aug

Special Ending 16:04 PM 20 Aug

Xenosaga III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

PS2 00:15 AM 20 Sept

Final Fantasy XII PS2 00:55 AM 24 Nov

Total For Time Period: 14

2007

Rogue Galaxy PS2 12:42 AM 27 Apr

Splinter Cell: Double Agent 360 01:34 AM 18 July

Prey 360 22:30 PM 28 Aug

Blue Dragon 360 22:00 PM 16 Sun Sept

Blazing Angels Veteran 360 00:06 AM 25 Tue Sept

Halo 3 Normal 360 23:56 PM 26 Wed Sept

Bioshock Normal 360

Little Sister Savior 22:54 PM 08 Thu Nov

Assassin’s Creed (#175) 360 03:45 AM 30 Fri Nov

Total For Time Period: 8

2008

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 360

Normal 01:57 AM 20 Thu Mar

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 360

Light Side 13:20 PM 28 Fri Nov

Mirror’s Edge Normal 360 01:39 AM 25 Thu Dec

Silent Hill Homecoming Normal 360 02:40 AM 26 Fri Dec

Total For Time Period: 4

2009

Star Ocean: The Last Hope 360 Mar

Star Ocean: First Departure PSP 19:30 PM 08 Wed Apr

Mass Effect 360 01:56 AM 02 Sat May

Resident Evil 5 360 02:53 AM 11 Mon May

Shadow of the Colossus PS2 20:40 PM 06 Thu Aug

Steambot Chronicles PS2 00:00 AM 22 Sat Aug

Max Payne PS2 13:30 PM 18 Fri Sept

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne PS2 00:26 AM 06 Tue Oct

Dead Space 360 19:34 PM 06 Fri Nov

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core PSP 01:01 AM 08 Sun Nov

Assassin’s Creed II 360 13:35 PM 23 Mon Nov

Silent Hill Origins PS2 11:14 AM 07 Mon Dec

Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines PSP 15:10 PM 08 Tue Dec

Total For Time Period: 13

2010

Final Fantasy IV NDS 19:22 PM 31 Sun Jan

Mass Effect 2 360 02:18 AM 02 Tue Feb

Final Fantasy XIII 360 00:36 AM 07 Wed Apr

Final Fantasy PSP 19:00 PM 22 Thu Apr

Silent Hill Shattered Memories PS2 15:15 PM 22 Fri Oct

Assassin’s Creed II: Brotherhood PS3 00:36 AM 01 Wed Dec

Total For Time Period: 6

2011

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune PS3 21:38 PM 18 Tue Jan

Dead Space 2 Normal (#200) PS3 19:54 PM 01 Tue Feb

Dead Space: Extraction PS3 14:08 PM 09 Wed Feb

Bioshock 2 PS3 23:07 PM 11 Fri Nov

Assassin’s Creed II: Revelations PS3 17:37 PM 17 Thu Nov

Total For Time Period: 5

2012

Mass Effect 3 360 18:15 PM 09 Fri Mar

Silent Hill Downpour PS3

Normal Ofr.Imprisoned 15:15 PM 24 Tue Apr

Uncharted 2: Honor Among Thieves PS3 22:37 PM 06 Sun May

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PS3 19:15 PM 29 Tue May

Assassin’s Creed III PS3 21:20 PM 04 Sun Nov

Total For Time Period: 5

2013

Batman: Arkham Asylum PS3 01:26 AM 04 Fri Jan

Dishonored PS3

Good Ending 16:40 PM 15 Fri Feb

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time PS3 21:29 PM 27 Wed Feb

Bioshock: Infinite PS3 19:35 PM 01 Mon Apr

Tomb Raider PS3 16:17 PM 14 Tue May

The Simpsons Arcade 360 21:37 PM 28 Tue May

The Last of Us PS3 01:12 AM 05 Fri July

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag PS3 20:20 PM 10 Sun Nov

One Night CPU 02:52 AM 21 Thu Nov

Total For Time Period: 9

2014

Red Dead Redemption PS3 01:45 AM 03 Fri Jan

Heavy Rain PS3 03:34 AM 10 Fri Jan

~Jayden dies

~Shaun saved

Saints Row IV PS3 02:40 AM 04 Tue Feb

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception PS3 01:46 AM 05 Wed Feb

Injustice: Gods Among Us PS4 00:05 AM 15 Sat Feb

Outlast PS4 20:24 PM 19 Wed Feb

Thief PS4 21:55 PM 04 Tue Mar

South Park: Stick of Truth (#225) PS3 02:28 AM 07 Fri Mar

Lone Survivor PS3 02:52 AM 07 Mon Apr

Assassin’s Creed IV.2: Freedom Cry PS4 02:22 AM 13 Sun Apr

Assassin’s Creed III.2: Liberation HD PS3 01:48 AM 17 Thu Apr

Thomas Was Alone PS3 01:20 AM 22 Tue Apr

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II PS3

Light Side 11:09 PM 08 Thu May

Dead Space 3 PS3 03:09 AM 20 Tue May

Wolfenstein The New Order PS4 03:18 AM 31 Sat May

Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion PS3 00:46 AM 03 Tue Jun

P.T. [Silent Hills Teaser] PS4 17:10 PM 25 Mon Aug

Soundless Mountain II CPU 01:00 AM 09 Mon Dec

Total For Time Period: 18

2015

Assassin’s Creed IV.3: Rogue PS3 03:56 AM 03 Sat Jan

NHL 13 [Stanley Cup Winner] PS3 02:05 AM 09 Fri Jan

Assassin’s Creed V: Unity PS4 22:34 PM 11 Sun Jan

NHL 14 PS3

Memorial Cup Jun

Tomb Raider and the Temple of Osiris PS4 18:00 PM 10 Tue Nov

King’s Quest PS4 Chapter 1 23:05 PM 24 Thu Dec

Total For Time Period: 6

Total All Time: 241

2016

Firewatch PS4 05:16 AM 08 Tue March

Until Dawn PS4 22:41 PM 04 Thurs Aug

Mostly Dead

Life Is Strange PS4 22:12 PM 12 Wed Oct

Total For Time Period: 3

Total All Time: 244

2017

Final Fantasy XV PS4 01:38 AM 06 Fri Jan

Resident Evil VII PS4 23:25 PM 08 Wed Feb

Mass Effect: Andromeda PS4 19:09 PM 07 Fri Apr

Passportout PC 23:34 PM 09 Fri Jun

South Park Fractured But Whole PS4 13:51 PM 21 Sat Oct

Total For Time Period: 5

2018

Assassin’s Creed Origins (#250) PS4 23:42 PM 06 Sat Jan

Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 22:18 PM 06 Fri Apr

Total For Time Period: 2

Total All Time: 251

THANKS FOR READING!!

ALL YOU FANS CAN BITE ME! I’M A CHILD OF THE 80’S!!

April 2, 2018 by iCentrist

Jesus…I am SUCH a child of the 80s. I was just watching a video on Youtube that I completely disagreed with. It was ragging on Mass Effect Andromeda for…I don’t know, reasons I guess. And it dawned on me, holy shit, we were so much better off in the 80s. We VALUED what entertainment was. We watched those cheesy monster movies. We savored the stupid and the asinine. We knew that it didn’t have to change the world to get our jollies because we knew what FUN was.

And now? Well, now everyone is up in arms that women are in movies. That black people have a presence in entertainment. That games have glitches. Glitches!? I’ve got your glitches, bitches! Bitches, let me introduce you to the NES. A system where you had to BLOW it to make it work!

Oh I ‘m sorry?? Was there a graphical glitch in your modern game that you could still play even though your character looks like they’re taking a dump everywhere they go?? Let me demonstrate our system, friends! Yes, the NES where you have to blow into its crevice and then shove it into its slot and WIGGLE it until it was willing to play the freakin’ 40 dollar game you just bought!

Oh My God! There’s a WOMAN in your soup!!? Let me introduce you to Metroid, son, where your lead character just turned out to be a woman in a suit of armor! HOLY SHIT! EPIC!

I mean seriously…The Goonies, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Duck Hunt, HOWARD the Fucking Duck, Monster Squad, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, SPACEBALLS, Time Bandits, Bad Dudes, Double Dragon, Jaws and all its dumbass sequels, One Crazy Summer, Thundercats, Jem, My Little Pony, Q Bert, and…goddamn the list could go on!

The point is is this (and listen well my little snuggle bunnies), back in the 80s, we knew what entertainment was. We didn’t sit there and try to offend one another and deride each other because we thought Transformers was a serious form of storytelling (IT’S NOT! STOP BASHING MICHAEL BAY FOR MAKING A FUCKING SERIES OF MOVIES ABOUT OVERSIZED ROBOTS BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER! THIS IS NOT SHAKESPEARE, OR MARK TWAIN, OR ISAAC ASSIMOV! THIS IS A SERIES OF MOVIES ABOUT GIANT ROBOTS BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER! THAT’S WHAT MICHAEL BAY WAS MADE FOR! SO IF I HEAR ANOTHER PERSON SAYING HOW SHITTY A TRANSFORMERS MOVIE WAS, I’M GOING TO LOSE MY SHIT BECAUSE IT’S A BUNCH OF ROBOTS BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THE FREAKIN’ CARTOON WAAAASSSSS!!!! 80S MOTHUFUCKA!! DEAL WITH IT!) No what we did was go ‘Holy shit! Did you see that thing and how AWESOME it was!?’ And we would reply, ‘OMG! Right!? That was totally EPIC!’ Because unlike this current generation we grew up appreciating entertainment for what it was. Entertainment. We didn’t try to attribute any sort of special meaning to it, we were just glad that it was coherent HALF of the time.

For Christ’s sake! One of our Heroes in the 80s was a man wearing nothing more than a loin clothe smacking around a cackling skeleton with vaguely homo erotic undertones with supporting characters so obtuse you’d swear you were watching a porno these days! (He Man Mother Fuckers! Deal with it!)

And yet, you take your entertainment so seriously you can no longer suspend your disbelief? Luke Skywalker wouldn’t act that way? Deadpool isn’t being serious enough? SJWs are taking over our entertainment? I mean, can we stop. Just..just stop. This is bullshit. I’m calling BULLSHIT! SHENANIGANS! IT’S ALL SHENANIGANS!!! Because this is stupid. I go to movies to be entertained. When I’m entertained, I smile. You know what I do when I am NOT entertained? Not do it again and find something else. I keep hearing this phrase over and over again: liberal snowflakes or sometimes just snowflakes. You want to know what us guys from the 80s would tell ya? It takes one to know one.

You don’t like something, that’s fine. But STOP trying to ruin it for others you, you, you SNOWFLAKES! Because you don’t really know what it means to be entertained. You’re soooooo obsessed with what is ‘TRUE’ to the original story, you’ve forgotten how to just lean back and enjoy the ride.

I mean MY generation sat back and LOVED Top Gun! Do you know what happened in it? Nothing. It was just great character development with a half assed action scene at the end. But we LOVED it. Why? Because it ENTERTAINED us!!! Why can’t you be entertained anymore?!?! What are you looking for!??

Ugh. I’m tired. You people make my face tired. Sometime in the next few days I should rent the Transformers Last Knight movie. Just so I can see massive robots kicking the shit out of each other. Because that’s entertainment you rejects!!!

To Hell With The PC “Master Race”!

March 16, 2017 by iCentrist

I am so SICK and tired of hearing how AWESOME the PC players are with their nonsense gaming experiences! Playing games on the PC fucking sucks! I mean completely! I have had enough of the obstinance from the PC community thinking they’re superior to the rest of us. I’m a console player through and through and there’s a reason why.

With a console I don’t have to worry about tweaking my damned game to work right. I don’t have to fine tune the details until it is visually acceptable. It works right when I put it in. The controllers do EXACTLY what they’re supposed to do! I don’t have to download this driver or that update. On a console it just does it! This is the disconnect between PC gamers and console gamers. PC gamers don’t understand WHY console gamers like their consoles.

“Well it’s outdated as soon as it releases!” And I say True! But I don’t have to spend 20 hours trying to get my software to work in the vein hope that there won’t be any issues at the end of the process. With a freaking PC I have to be a fucking programmer with advanced knowledge in C++ to make the goddamned game play. This is true for Steam products and EA products and any games that you have to download! Sure, y0u get to customize your experience but keep in mind this you, “master PC gamers”, those of us who like consoles like them because we DON’T have to be fucking programmers to play one fucking game!

It’s fucking ridiculous! If I buy a controller for the PC and plug it in, the mother fucker should work the second I plug it in! I shouldn’t have to find some obsolete driver that may or may not still exist on the internet just to use it! I shouldn’t have to update my windows os to some newer version I just don’t fucking want just to sample the newest game released! Plug N Play is a term for a reason jackasses! And it’s not for me to sit there and pretend I’m something I’m not and to be berated for not being on board with your bullshit to begin with!

What’s great about the PS4 or XBOX One is that you can just put in a game, plug in a controller, and sit back and enjoy the fucking game you just spent 70 dollars on without having to jump through a million hoops! I HATE, HAAATTTTTEEEE PC gaming! It is soooooooooo inconvenient and frustrating! There is NO fun to be had in it unless you’re some psychopath who has hours a day to spend on specking your rig to the optimal settings and knowing what graphical cards you need, what audio drives you need, what cooling systems are required to make your fucking PC actually fucking work!!!!

To HELL with that shit! Sorry for my obscenities but I’ve had enough! Stop claiming to be the superior gaming society when you have to go through a military boot camp just to play the latest release! It’s annoying and inconvenient! You want to know why so many gamers like console releases!? It’s because they don’t have to spec their PS4 or XBOX One every time they buy a game! They can just plug it in and it works! Period! After a dozen hours of just TRYING to sample a new game, I’ve entirely given up! It’s not worth the stress and agitation! It’s not worth the grief! I’ll stick to my consoles thank you fucking much and don’t you come at me anymore with your bullshit PC master race crap! Because I’ll just call you a sadist and a masochist who’s only happy to suffer under the most unbearable of electronic circumstances!

I just wanna play!

Anyhow…that annoys me sometimes so I won’t be doing that anymore. Just wanted to vent my frustration because, damn, it’s ridiculous. But, you know, if that’s your thing, more power to you.

Viva La Console Race!

Why Are Women In Games Still Marginalized?

November 26, 2013 by iCentrist

So I was watching the AngryJoeShow on Twitch.TV and seeing what the new Dead Rising 3 game was like. As always, it seems like just another slasher game with generic interactions and a somewhat clever interface with the creation of new weaponry able to slaughter hordes of zombies with little to no effort. Your typical action hack n slash game. If you’re into that, no big deal. Hey, someone has to play them. I myself am into heavy story oriented games, which seem to be on the decline in recent years. What with so many people looking only for the gratuitous fix in beating something up. The American way nowadays it would seem. Well, the game Dead Rising 3 serves up plenty of onslaught and destruction to give a perfect fix to those who don’t like to do a whole lot of thinking in their gaming. And then DR3 gets to the sequence where the woman, Rhonda, is abruptly abducted by a motorcycle gangand taken inside a small room where, presumably, she will be raped to the pleasure of the macho mad thugs riding in to destroy the day. Meanwhile, our hetero male hero must fight off the horde of motorcycling devils to swoop in and save our damsel in distress.

And that got me to thinking about all the recent garbage I’ve been reading on comment boards over the last few months. About how there are not any good games with female leads. Mostly they’re not good, according to the male populace playing them, because they have females in the lead. Because, obviously, a woman can’t carry a game. She’s automatically considered weaker and must by nature take on the role of the damsel in distress or cower down to the ‘might’ of the grunting male who is quite possibly more able to carry the title than she. And I began to wonder, why? Why is this mentality so prevalent in gaming? Why do so many men believe that women are automatically weaker? Is it a symptom of the western world? Have we been brought up to ‘keep women in their place’? Why are women portrayed in this fashion?

Particularly since we have such great games as the new Tomb Raider reboot and the cult classic Mirror’s Edge. Hell, Jade in Beyond Good and Evil carried herself with a bravado that male protagonists would be the envy of. Yet still women are looked down upon. Has history not taught us ANYTHING about the strength of women? What is a woman exactly? What is the difference between a man and a woman? Why, I do believe, it is one lowly chromosome. The Y chromosome. And it makes me ask WHY all the time.

As a culture, America seems to ignore all the historical figures that have demonstrated quite convincingly that women are not at all weaker than men and, in fact, are often stronger. Joan of Arc, Boudica, Cleopatra, Tawakul Karman, Hatshepsut, Mulan, Elizabeth the I, Tomoe Gozen, and even Gladiatrixes in ancient Rome. And the list goes on. As many men are reknowned through history there are the same in the woman variety and yet women are looked down upon still. I had a debate on youtube with a guy who believed that women shouldn’t be in games because men represented what players most wanted to be: badasses. Yet when I posted my retort with a list of badass women, he was unimpressed. Likely because he was a troll. But also likely because the mentality in this country still exists that women need to be protected. Which is nonsense. Sure there are women who are abused and taken advantaged of. The same is true of an equal number of men. But men, out of some distorted sense of honor and wounded pride, are far less likely to report these abuses. But in gaming, companies are more than happy to keep the stereotype going.

While on the ubisoft forums, I stated I wanted to see more female assassins represented in the lore. And I got flack for that! Guys saying that that ‘isn’t realistic’ and that ‘women weren’t active in those conflicts in those time periods’, which completely ignores the fact that women have fought in every major combat throughout history. Women disguised themselves as men during the civil war and no one was the wiser until long after the war! Women fought in all the major World Wars, built advanced weaponry in World War II, and still today serve in active duty rosters throughout the world! Yet somehow they are still considered ‘weaker’! How is it that history can show us so much about the strength of individuals in humanity, yet we’re so shallow as a people that sex is the only defining factor!?

It annoys the piss out of me and I’m tired of it! I want my games to reflect the truth. That women share in the burden all people carry throughout the world and throughout history. We all struggle to survive and take care of our families. Whether or not you have a certain body part does not change the desire of the individual to make a difference! Games may be an escape from reality, but every game trying to capitulate to the desire of ubermales is a great disservice to gamers everywhere and a disgrace! If women were so much weaker than men, a goddess wouldn’t be the major threat in Assassin’s Creed, the term ‘Amazonian’ wouldn’t exist, Jade and Faith wouldn’t be able to change the dynamics of the worlds they inhabit, and Queens wouldn’t be knealt before in high fantasies!

It’s far past time that this debate was changed and such insolence to diversity and understanding nipped in the bud! I want my badass woman protagonist already, and I want her to be taken seriously!

Star Cloud Episode II Driving Mr Queasy

October 20, 2013 by iCentrist

The second HD episode of Star Cloud!

I’ve been remaking all the original episodes, which are still up at vimeo.com, so that it can be viewed in HD and be less shaky and easier to view. Enjoy the episode and thanks for watching!

Video Games Still Have A Lot of Growing Up to Do

July 30, 2013 by iCentrist

So, I’m still upset. March, 2012, I’m waiting desperately for the grand finale of my all time greatest video game series to date: Mass Effect 3. I love Mass Effect. The immersive story telling, choices that effect a galaxy, intense character interactions. This was literally the game that let you decide the fate of the galaxy based on your actions. The first game was phenomenal. The second game very actiony but took the story down to a more personal level with an epic conclusion where your character might not even survive! And then came ME3. So much anticipation. Yet, as soon as the action starts I’m already losing some of the story. Where was the trial of Shepard? Where was the Batarian/Human war? Eh that was miniscule. I dived in and enjoyed the game immensely. Right up until the final fifteen minutes of the game where suddenly the narrative took a turn for the worse. Suddenly, we get this starchild who has all the answers in the galaxy (and all those answers were asinine and ridiculous to boot), the Reapers –the ultimate baddies we’ve been gearing up to do battle with–were nothing more than pawns to the starbrat, and none of our choices we made over the course of three games mattered one iota! It was a slap in the face and I couldn’t help but stare at the screen in dismay and hatred and depression and regret. How could this have happened? I was justifiably outraged and wen to the internet looking for answers. Maybe there was a secret ending? Nope. This was the final ‘artistic’ vision of Bioware. So I gave my own two cents worth to the growing backlash to the ending of ME3 which was starting to look like Mass Effect-gate. But the developers stood behind the ending and decided to give dlc that would answer burning questions to the fans eyes, ears, minds, souls, and whatever. Only those answers didn’t really answer anything and the narrative of Mass Effect remained destroyed.

I still like Mass Effect, mind you, but something got lost in the translation of fan outrage that I think developers are still ignoring to this day. I heard a lot of ire being cast out by the development community: entitled fans, vocal minority, people who just didn’t ‘get it’. But this confuses the issue. It wasn’t entitlement that created the backlash. It was the failure of actually writing a decent story in the end. Looking back on ME3 I see now so many issues that plagued this game. Lore was ignored, characters did dumb things, the Reapers weren’t the real threat–Cerberus was (a terrorist organization in the fiction that somehow got a hold of an army that must have been cloned on a private world because damn that was a lot of them) and the Illusive Man was now completely evil and idiotic. The developers didn’t understand one crucial thing: we weren’t pissed Shepard died, we were pissed that you didn’t finish the story! It just…ended! And then we get a bunch of nonsensical scenes to wrap up the very last narrative in Shepard’s story and this iteration of Mass Effect. Nothing was explained! We’re not dummies. We can infer. But we’d much rather you just finished the story and not give us lazy cinematics! If you wrote a book and then in the end the lead character just died and everything that happened just went into limbo you’d expect the readers to stop reading that author’s books. Period.

But apparently video games have a different idea of story telling. The problem lies in how the narrative unfolds. We have a game. You play a game. And oft times the story is secondary to the gameplay which means oft times more you get really ridiculous stories with piss poor climaxes that don’t serve the narrative at all. This is what I felt about Mass Effect 3. But that game isn’t the only perpetrator of bad narrative in the end game (or even in the game itself.) Over the years gamers have been given all sorts of lunkers that fail to deliver a logical narrative that delivers the impact that we’re looking for. Assassin’s Creed III took a similar avenue in not delivering the goods by just completely ignoring the narrative’s direction and decided to just call it quits with the lead character’s story. Granted the lead character had gone stale because the writers didn’t know what to do with him. But I’ve seen this lazy execution before: Deux Ex, Final Fantasy, Xenosaga, Assassin’s Creed, a slew of RPG’s…hell the list can go on indefinitely.

Here’s a thought, perhaps the writers should have an end game in mind BEFORE they start making the game. Especially where you have a multi-game narrative spanning over so many titles. Mass Effect seems to exist purely for the choices players can make and exploring cool worlds. But with the end of that the choice angle disappeared as did world exploration. So what happened? They didn’t have a plan. They didn’t have a total story outline. Same thing with Assassin’s Creed. It got so sloppy that they didn’t know what else to do with it other than just end the story.

It seems to me game developers are only concerned with the action a game develops. But, games have come quite far in terms of narrative storytelling. So you can’t just ignore story like the old days with the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. Those games were just about the fun. Nowadays the medium has to tell a compelling story as well. Just look at the phenomenal Last of Us. Naughty Dog game us a superb game with fun gameplay mechanics, intense scenarios, and guess what? an awesome end game! The narrative was complete! Did bad things happen? Yes! But it was an excellent experience that puts it at the top of my list of all time great games, even beating out Mass Effect in my opinion.

Story story story, guys! Lay it out first then bring it to us! And if you fail own up to it. Don’t insist we just feel ‘entitled’ because you are way out of the ballpark on that. We want the complete package. If Shepard has to die, so be it. But you’d better do it in a compelling logical fashion not give us some Star child that makes our character choose one of three pretty colors where the character then jumps into a beam and desintegrates leaving a galaxy in turmoil, our teammates abandoned, and the economy in tatters. Oh and then try to suggest no our teammates were evacuated while being fired at by a massive two kilometer tall instrument of death and somehow leaving the solar system just when all hell is breaking loose! That is illogical and unacceptable! You can write better than that!

iCentrist

~Thoughts Of A Raving Mind~

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