Slacker_21's HardestLevel

Man Gets Married to a Videogame?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:36:17 GMT

For more on this, click here.

A man gets married to his video game girl of his dreams. The man apparently held a reception with his friends and family.

I have a couple of questions to ask about this, the first being, wtf? the second, being "How's the honeymoon going to be like? The Third, is since it is a video game character, then what if other people own the same game and is romancing her? Is it cheating then? Okay, that was four questions, but this is definitely something wacky and caught me in left field. I suppose a necessary fifth would be why a videogame character instead of a real girl, but i think that covers the first question more.

Anyway, What do you think of this? Is it acceptable practice to marry a videogame character? Will we see this more in the future? Will they have kids?

Lord of The Rings Online to go Free?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:55:05 GMT

Lord of the Rings online, or LOTRO for short, is rumored to go free-to-play sometime next year.

Much like Dungeons and Dragons Online, LOTRO online has experienced dwindling subscription numbers, despite being a good game, being so good, that I know of a friend who paid a nice chunk of change for a "lifetime" subscription.
However, since DDO has been free to play since September, it has experienced a new amount of growth, and has
received an increase in income, due to their "VIP services" which one can pay a $9.99 optional fee for.
Whether the people in charge will make it free to play is uncertain, but there is a large market for free to play mmos, so it isn't a far stretch.

Games You May Have Overlooked: The Typing Of The Dead?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:48:30 GMT

Back during the not too long ago there was an excellent gaming console called "Dreamcast".
On this console, there were great games that in my opinion were overlooked.
One of such games is The Typing of The Dead.

If you were horrible at playing The House of The Dead, wanted a quirky game, or failed keyboarding class because it was so boring, then TToD is for you!
Based of The House of The Dead 2, TToD takes you through the same place, except this time instead of guns, you play as agents with keyboards strapped to them, battling hordes of zombies and their ilk.

The best thing about this game is that there is an actual tutorial mode in which one can learn key finger positions, so as to type accurately, and on top of that, there are drill modes in which you can practice your worst keys, unlike the keyboarding programs at school that I remember.

The only really difficult thing you will find about this game, is that sometimes, you will come across words or sentences that will crack you up. For example on one of the bosses I was playing against, I got:
"Use caution when pumping gasoline."
"Turn off the engine, do not smoke"
"Do not operate the flamethrower"
"Without proper supervision."
"Stock options have been very good to me lately."

All in all, this is a very fun(and educational) game, perhaps the most educational one I will ever play.
Sure, the game is dated, and the voice acting is bad, but aren't most dubbed Japanese games?
I would give it an 9/10, along with a petition to put this in all schools, since it is available on PC as well.

What are your thoughts?

10 Manly Video Games.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:48:36 GMT

I get comments often from women who don't understand why guys play video games, and they will more often than not dismiss it as "kid's stuff".

But little do these female know is that there are plenty of manly video games out there. Some with depth, some with ACTION and AWESOME (yes that did require caps lock)
Here's a list, in no particular order.

1. God of War (I and II).

Is he slaying someone while atop a huge bird?
You bet he is.
This game involves nothing short of you being badass while the rest of the greek gods shudder in fear of your awesome. Yeah, the storyline isn't a masterpiece, but the action more than makes up for it.

2. Devil May Cry series.

You want to be a gunslinger? Okay. You got it. Awesome with swordplay? Done. Awesome with both at the same time? Granted. Wanna be a demon? You got it. Want to wield an electric guitar that doubles as a scythe that surges with enough electricity to rival that of LA's power grid while being a demon at the same time? Only if you can get guns with all that? Its yours and more in Devil May Cry. With bad ass enemies, and even more bad ass main character, and plenty of action and puzzles to solve, the Devil May Cry series will not disappoint any manly gamer.

3. No More Heroes

Yeah, the Wii and its games aren't usually by any means manly, but I must tip my hat to No More Heroes. Playing it ensures my Wii doesn't collect dust. You carry a beam katana, and destroy everything in your path, fighting your way to become the #1 assassin. Oh, and you meet a hot french babe along the way too. There's plenty of bloodletting and violence to keep one's ADD entertained, and still has enough subtle humor to make me chuckle.
Also, they break the 4th wall in gaming(the video game characters actually know that its a video game).
A manly masterpiece for any man to own if they had to suck it up and by a Wii for the wife/girlfriend.
Best of all, its popularity is underrated, so its 20 bucks. How much did you pay for High School Musical? Yeah...

4. Killzone 2

You run around in a game killing the futuristic equivalent of Nazis with a bunch of weapons that all have secondary functions, such as, an assault rifle with shotgun rounds, or a railgun with rockets. and if those don't work, you knife em. Great game.

5. Metal Gear Solid series

For manly gamers who insist on a little more realism, the Metal Gear Solid series definitely brings it, seeing as the game isn't about a rampage, but rather sneaking about and survival. If you want that on the hardest level (pun intended), I suggest Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater.
With a simple control scheme, complex puzzles and storyline, as well as memorable boss fights, the Metal Gear Solid series delivers everything a man a man could want in terms of a video game. Also, keep your eyes peeled for the Konami eyes girls.

6. Madworld

Another Wii game that's worth playing if you're over the age of 12? You bet. Filled with testosterone and wanton rampage and reckless abandon(not to mention a LOT of blood), Madworld is an awesome game to play if you just want to destroy stuff. Plus, its got the whole comic book/Frank Miller look to it.
A tip for parents who dare buy this game for their children: keep them away from the tool shed for a while.

7. Age of Conan

Whoops, got some blood on the camera, that happens often.
I call this game "Age of Awesome", because in the game, that's all you are, no matter what you play as.
Melee characters dismember people, and Magic characters get to suck the souls out of them.
Its fun for the whole...well, okay, maybe not the WHOLE family, but definitely you.
Also, they have...SIEGE RHINOS. I wish I was kidding you.
Age of Conan goes into a MMO niche that targets people who have grown up from playing World of Warcraft and Runescape, and I'm happy that someone fulfilled this niche.

8. Half Life 2

Must I even tell you how manly this game is?
Buy it. Now.

9. Brutal Legend

Want to be awesome and defeat past rock genres personified? Then play this game.
A plus is that you get to beat up emo kids. As a matter of fact, that's the only reason why I brought the game.

10. Tetris.

What man doesn't enjoy a game of Tetris?

World of Warcraft=Nothing Special.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:00:00 GMT

World of Warcraft, the MMORPG with the largest subscription base ever known in its genre, is nothing special in terms of the MMO genre in my eyes. Here's why:

1. The Interface.

Look familiar? Of course it does.
These two MMORPGs, Ultima Online and Lineage 2 respectively, have the same interface as WoW.
Or rather, WoW has the same interface as these MMOs, seeing as both of them released before it.
So in terms of interface, WoW is nothing revolutionary.

2. Gameplay.

In pretty much every MMORPG, you:
1.Create a character
2.Get your first quests
3. Level up to adquately participate in activities with your guild/faction/legion/linkshell/etc.
4. Do missions or the equivalent to find out the story to see where your character fits in it all.
5. Beat storyline.
6. Participate in endgame activities (or PvP if you so choose)

WoW is no different. Some may claim that it is less of a grind than other MMOs, but really, ALL MMOs will be grindy in some way or the other, so I don't complain about this.
WoW offers the basic classes to play: Healer,Tank,DPS,Buffer,and Generalist who has the potential to be a little bit of everything.
All of the other classes that have came out due to expansions, are simply combinations of the above. ALL MMORPGS DO THIS. The only reason why it may seem different, is by what weapon they're holding, or what kind of armor they are wearing. (Melee/Mage/Ranged)

3. Endgame.

There's endgame, the most grueling, time wasting experience of any MMO, seeing as there is little gear to go around, and many people are wanting the same piece. This incorporates beauracracy and takes the fun out of the game.

WoW, is no different. You spend the average time you normally would spend in a part-time job engaging in raids.
Once again, nothing special.

So what makes WoW special?
I'll tell you this awful secret, and it is also nothing special.
It's called commercialism, or advertising.
Blizzard is everywhere in terms of advertising. You see it on TV, you read about it in magazines, you see ads on the sides and top panels of every website that is gaming related about WoW. They even had their own special on South Park, and are endorsed by washed up celebrities.

If other MMORPGS were more willing to shell out on advertising, I'd be more than willing to bet that their subscription numbers would raise signifigantly over the course of a year, which would pay for itself. Also secondarily providing a promotional benefit (gear, increased xp,etc) for a certain amount of time would easily hook new players and raise sub numbers.

So in conclusion, the only thing WoW has going for it, is heavy commercialism, due to the fact that no other games in its genre before it has done this. Its gameplay, interface, and endgame(i.e. the actual game itself) is nothing revolutionary, seeing as it is a mere copy of previous games in its genre.
(Don't get me started on the story line. That is an entirely different post.)

5 Practices That Gamers Should Avoid.

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:11:07 GMT

There are some things that all gamers should avoid doing while gaming. The reasons why is because of the immense idiocy that comes from the people that do these things.

#1. Making a tribute anime/video game character

One time, I used to play Final Fantasy XI, and the amount of people who had the name (or slight variations) of "Cloud" and "Sephiroth" were more than one could count.
No matter what you name your character, or how you style them, you will NOT ever be that character. You are better off trying to be original than copying something that already exists, especially in an online game where people are most likely to do this.

#2. Not being your own gender

The main excuse I've been given by the few guys I know who have player girl characters online is:
"If I have to look at something for hour on end, it might as well be a girl.
My counter-argument is that this type of thinking is homophobic, and that there's nothing wrong with playing a guy if you are a guy. If you are a nerd who wants to look at girls, get some social interaction like everyone else.

#3. Choosing "Easy" mode

One may ask me what is wrong with picking easy mode (this is a personal quirk of mine) but there is. The reason why is that easy modes in games nowadays are just not that fulfilling, and in the end, not worth it, because you don't unlock anything good if the game has replay value at all. Normal mode should provide a challenge minus frustration for beginners. Or, you can be like my friend, who decides to play every game in the hardest difficulty possible, just to be that much better at it.

#4. forgetting to heal/block/dodge

Sometimes, defensive tactics are just as valuable as offensive ones. try not to forget that.

#5. Becoming a one trick pony

I couldn't bring up any youtube videos of Ryu spamming fireballs in Street Fighter, but I feel this works just as well. Cyclops is only good at blastin' and nothing else. try to mix it up sometimes, use a different combo, and see how things work out. Life is too short for stagnancy.

By avoiding these things, you can become a more original, experienced, and well rounded gamer as a whole.
What other habits should a gamer avoid?

DMing/GMing for First timers.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:41:07 GMT

1. Always learn the rules. if you don't know them, then the player probably will, and screw you over.

2. In Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, they decided to make a page dedicated to grappling rules, but here's what you really need to know:

To start a grapple, you need to make a melee touch attack as a standard action. Starting a grapple provokes an attack of opportunity, unless you have feats that say otherwise.
Creatures 2 size categories larger than you can't be grappled.
An opposed strength check is no action at all to establish a hold. This will be your STR bonus + D20+ grapple roll (and any misc modifiers) vs the player's.
If the player succeeds in grappling, the opponent cannot move, and can only make opposed STR checks (as above) to get out of the grapple.
While the player is grappling their opponent, each turn they succeed in holding the grapple (both player and opponent have to make a grapple check each round), they deal their unarmed weapon damage to their opponent.
While grappling, you are flat footed to other opponents.

If you lose an opposed grapple check while holding on to a foe, your foe automatically escapes.

3. Rule 0 anything that seems unfeasible, even if it is a fantasy game. Rule 0 means that something simply doesn't exist, or can't be done.

4. Watch out for power gamers. This would be people who can do crazy amounts of damage and are also hard to kill.

5. In spite of power gamers, there are also efficient gamers, realize the difference. Efficient gamers are good with what they have in terms of powers/spells/feats. Power gamers are unusually godlike.

6. Being creative in RPGs as a DM usually trumps intelligence, although admittedly some common sense and basic math is required.

7. Status effects are a powerful thing in most games. Utilize these rarely. Poison is most common. Level drain/Stat drain is VERY rare. The latter has a huge capibility to kill ANY character.

8. If there is something small that the book doesn't specify that the player wants to do in terms of non combat, rule in their favor.

9. Good DMing/GMing requires practice, some can pull stories and plot hooks out of their asses, some need massive amounts of notes. I have done both in moderation, but choose what's right for you.

10. Make it quirky and fun. nothing like something unusual and fun to hit the players from left field to make it a good game.

11. DM PCs are usually frowned upon. My first and best one however, was a dwarf that was fully functional about 15% of the time due to penalties from perpetual inebration.

12. Decide before you make anything on the game whether you want to be realistic in terms of exp/gold, or be generous. I usually start a D&D 3.5 game with level 3 characters, and 2k gold instead of what the book says to give them. With Warhammer fantasy, I let them have an additional advancement(or talent) to the ones they get at character creation, along with 10 gold/thrones.

14. To know the rules, you need copies of books. Ask the guys for ebooks or hard copies.

15. Some things you need to address when you create a custom world:

How many nations are there?
What is their geography made of?
What race rules them? (There are few melting pot locales in medival fantasy)
What is the races/nations ideology?
How do those races/nations view other nations?

What is an external/internal conflict with the nations?

Also, have fun. Hope that wasn't too encumbering.

Shaun White Snowboarding: A Review.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:59:15 GMT

I recently purchased Shaun White Snowboarding for the 360. I do enjoy some sports games, despite the fact that they are the minority of my collection. To be honest, I like parody sports games rather than the actual official sports games (ex. Street 2 rather than NBA 2k)

You pick out a snowboarder who ends up meeting Shaun White (who reminds me of Carrot top oddly enough but after playing this game, I can honestly affirm that I hate him and White equally)

Try learning the controls first. This was a different game, in the matter that the a,b,x,y buttons had nothing to do with tricks. the right trigger is used for crouching/jumping, while the left and right sticks are used for tricks.
This was innovative, I had to admit, playing other snowboarding games like SSX3 before (and loving it immensely) So this raised my hopes for this game.

My hopes were cut down for this game by a myriad of reasons, one of which is that the soundtrack for the game SUCKS. The only song I could come to truly like was "Play that funky Music" by KC and the Sunshine Band.

The second reason, is that the controls are retarded. I remember pulling off one front flip, and on the next ramp, doing everything I thought to be correct, ending up unexpectedly feasting on some snow.
What makes it worse, is the parameters set up for a trick is ridiculous at best, and insulting at worse. You literally have to preform a trick and figure out how to land it.

The third is that the scoring system is abysmal. Sure, I'm the kind of guy that loves to make millions of points a run, just for the hell of it, but in SWS, making 10,000 points a session is excellent. I on one made 43,000, but by then I had no more mountain to shred, which leads me to my final reason...

...The world around me isn't made for my ripping and shredding pleasure.
That's right. Unlike other snowboarding games in which you had ramps, pipes, and all sorts of other goodies to shred on, SWS goes for a more realistic approach, thus ruining a major part of the game. However, You can discover "hidden" backcountry to shred on, but since it is hidden, you have to walk to it. And it's a LONG walk for such a lackluster experience, because keep in mind, SWS is more realistic.

there is something else, the AI on the game is about as competent as the control scheme for it, so expect AI players to mess you up by running into you.
I got tired of the faggots one day, and decided to throw snowballs at them. I then found out that you can get points for throwing snowballs at people. I don't even need any actual skill in the game.

So I ended up spending a day of throwing snowballs at CPU players, and broke my high score.

Overall, I'll give it a 4/10. it brings something new in terms of controls, but doesn't deliver quality that makes me want to run with it.

Classic DOS Games and Nostalgia.

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:50:28 GMT

I was looking up DOS games lately, because I've been kinda bored of playing all the new stuff.
I looked around, and found this website:
http://www.classicdosgames.com/index.html
They have several games to choose from, and some, are even based inside of the browser!
Ah reminds me of the good old days...

Antismoking Commercial

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:43:48 GMT

If I were to ever make an antismoking commercial, I'd probably use this picture:

Yeah....This would definitely get the message across.