Mario-Kart-Wii

You’re playing through an RPG. You’ve gained five levels, found some sweet equipment drops, minimized the use of your precious items, and then it happens. You come up against a behemoth of a monster. Your party is decimated, your progress lost, your controller tossed through the screen. Does this even begin to sound familiar to anyone? It’s like modern gaming, in an effort to bring in an even broader audience, has started to dumb down our video game experience. Think back to the last four, at the very least, Final Fantasy games (not counting XI). Aside from side quest bosses who are geared to be a challenge, how often did you even find yourself remotely challenged in these games? I honestly don’t think I worried much about save points in any of these games (aside from when I was hunting the harder mobs in XII) at all. There was none of that between-save-point stress and worry that a game with any difficulty might throw at me. I just go on through the game, breezing through the fights and find myself at the final boss, sometimes taking more than one try to kill him, but, more often than not, just breezing through him too. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. So a little game flew in under the radar on Tuesday known as Grand Theft Auto IV. I’m pretty sure none of you have heard of it, but I picked it up and it’s pretty fun so far. Nico Bellic is, by far, the best GTA protagonist I’ve ever played as and the city itself is just so much fun to get around. I told my brother when I first got it, but it’s super eerie to drive around the game’s “Hove Beach” when I’m so used to driving around the real Brighton Beach where my sister-in-law used to live. Correction: it’s so eerie to run over pedestrians and shoot cops around the neighborhood where my sister-in-law used to live. ...

You’ve probably heard the saying that hindsight is 20/20 on Monday morning, so just imagine how well I can call ’em two days later on Wednesday. That’s right, it’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. It’s been a long while since I last posted due to homework, projects, and a general game overload (MGS3, MGO, Persona 3: FES, GTA IV, MKW), but I’m back in business today and we should be seeing a return to our regularly scheduled programming for the foreseeable future. So let’s get back to it! ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. Tired of Metal Gear coverage on this site yet? Man I hope not, because we’ve got even more news. Thanks to my Insider subscription to IGN, I’m eligible for the Metal Gear Online beta (!). MGO is a standalone multiplayer title set to tie in with MGS4 once it launches. I don’t know much about the game other than that it features man-cannons, persistent character development, cardboard boxes (comic for the old MGO), and that it will most likely include body dragging that will inevitably degenerate into corpse-humping. I’ll have more details once the beta opens on Monday. ...