The most fun you’ll ever have in your life takes place during our formative years: childhood. For most of us, the events of early childhood are unclear or blurry. Perhaps a few of the more poignant events stand out: birthdays, parties, religious events, graduating to the next grade, a first kiss, or just a particularly fun day with friends are all things that can be remembered with clarity and precision. Bringing forth these memories is by no means a formidable task for any of us.  In fact, certain words, songs, images, and people draw these memories from deep within our subconscious without our knowing. It is with this information that I present to you perhaps one of the most thought provoking memories which all of us born in the ‘82-’86 era remember: Our first encounter with Bob-omb.

The year was 1985, a newly establish company with a relatively obscure name had just took a marketing venture that, little to their knowledge, would start a revolution and evolve into one of the most profitable business branches in history.  Nintendo was the company, and the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was their product.  The NES was a cartridge-based home video game system that you could now probably purchase with the change you find in your couch, but in ‘85 this was not the case. The cutting edge technology of the NES came at a high price, yet it still sold like the only lighter in a crack house. Everyone wanted one, and just about everyone got one.  Of course, upon release, the titles available were quite limited; well, let’s be fair, extremely limited.  There were only two titles at the systems launch: Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt, both of which were featured on the same cartridge.

Our generation did not really get around to playing Nintendo until our later early childhood, around the age of five, I reckon.  Simply because games require a certain amount of hand-eye coordination and dexterity to be played, not to mention a certain mental capacity, a child of 3 or 4 could not play them successfully. But once we got our hand on a controller and began playing Mario Brothers, we ran into perhaps one of the most inspirational and influential characters we know today.  No, I’m not talking about Mario, Luigi, the Princess, Toad, or even Koopa.  I’m talking about the little guy everyone underestimated, the little Koopa trooper that could, I’m talking about Bob-omb.

I know you remember Bob-omb, but in case your memory is hazy from drugs or otherwise, allow me to refresh it.  Bob-omb was, simply put, a badass walking time bomb.  Upon seeing our pipe-repairing protagonist, Bob-omb would sacrifice himself to protect his leader, Koopa.  This young trooper is a shining monument of what it means to care for someone you love.  Not only did Bob teach us that love means giving yourself fully to and for another person, but he also taught us many real life skills which we can apply to school, jobs, and even volunteer work, allow me to extrapolate.

Bob was always around, and so he taught as the value of persistence. No matter how many times you may have trounced Bob on your way to the flagpole at the end of the level, he always seemed to come back and one step (level) ahead of you nonetheless. His mentality was incredible and legendary: if at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again. Let’s be honest for a minute, hasn’t Bob gotten all of us at least once?  Reducing us to mini-Mario or perhaps taking one of our many extra lives was his specialty, and he was very good at what he did. Bob taught us the virtue of patience.  He would calmly wait at his place along the seemingly infinite side-scrolling world waiting for you, the enemy, to approach.  He would then risk life and limb trying to make your path a difficult one.  Yes, by being relentless, Bob taught us that we could accomplish anything and jump over any walking bomb if we put our minds to it.

Bob brings out all the emotions that are necessary for a person to grow and flourish. I remember smiling in victory after defeating the game, and I also remember breaking the reset button in frustration because I had just been blown to smithereens. Bob has been a teacher, a mentor, and a sage. Unfortunately he’ll never be our friend, but we can always hope.

The Backstory

The original Resident Evil was simply a great survivor horror game. In hindsight, it’s easy to pick apart all of the things that were wrong with it (poor voice acting, clunky controls, bad camera angles, oft-idiotic AI, etc) but it was also nothing short of revolutionary. The claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a mansion with the undead lurking just beyond every door was an experience that walked the fine line between excitement and terror. I was probably a little young to be playing it (12 years old when I bought it), but that made it all the more frightening and memorable for me. I recall some of the simple pleasures: killing a group of zombies on my way to poison Plant 42, draining the water in the basement lab so the sharks wouldn’t tear me to bits², and who could forget the final battle with the Tyrant?

The games following in the series improved upon a winning formula.  Resident Evil 2 had very unique story lines for each of the main characters that changed and explained more and more as you switched back and forth between them (A game and B game), interlacing perfectly and adding more challenges as you made your way (Mr. X, anyone?).  Resident Evil 3 seemed more like a side story then part of the main canon, but added some cool new features like timed dodging and the infinitely useful quickturn.  Another great element was regular enemies could now pursue you up and down stairs and Nemesis could even chase you between areas, adding a constant feeling of suspense.  Code: Veronica was technically the fourth game in the series but, despite having two previous main characters and a very solid story, was deemed a tangent. This was the first game that dropped the pre-rendered backgrounds for fully 3D ones and had some cool other features added like instant continues rather than starting over from a save point.  We then go back in time for a prologue called Resident Evil Zero that literally ends at the beginning of Resident Evil 1 (and cleverly weaves it all together).  This game added in a partner system for its entirety that was necessary for solving all of the main quest puzzles.  You controlled your character of choice and the computer would control the other, following you closely and assisting in combat.

Models of Leon from RE2 and RE4

Then we arrive at the one big one that reinvented the series, one of two games I purchased a Gamecube for: Resident Evil 4.  All convention was thrown out the window for this release because, well, the old formula was stagnant.  Gone are the fixed camera angles, replaced with an over-the-shoulder view that zooms in slightly when taking aim.  Speaking of aiming, this game also added a laser sight to most weapons as well as enemies who respond differently to being shot in various areas.  Overall, I thought RE4 was an excellent game but not a survival horror game.  When you can just purchase a machine gun 2 chapters in and obliterate everything in your path with ease, the feeling shifts from surviving to completing.  You no longer needed to conserve ammo like a crazy person (read: Chris’ game in RE1), so getting caught in a room full of monsters with only a knife is a situation that just won’t happen.  This isn’t a bad thing, because it allows the pace of the game to stay strong and consistent but detracts from the general creepiness and paranoia that was prevalent early in the series.

RE-finement of the series

Resident Evil 5 seems to do very little that’s new.  Instead, it’s a refinement of the system introduced in RE4 with, of course, the obligatory graphical enhancements that come with developing on a next-gen console.  Based on the demo, the game looks to be nothing short of visually amazing, which is no surprise.  My real hope is that it continues to shape the Resident Evil story in a positive way that keeps me, the player, engaged and caring about the fate of these characters.

A look at the graphics from Resident Evil 5

The controls have been reworked a tad and while the addition of strafing is very nice, is does take some getting used to.  Since Resident Evil 4, it’s becoming apparent the series is akin to an action game with “zombies” rather than a survival horror game with action sequences.  As I’ve said, this isn’t a bad thing unless you go in with the impression that it will control like your standard action game.  There’s no run’n'gun here – every time you raise your weapon you’re locked into place.  It’s a blessing and a curse: standing still allows you to focus your shots accurately on various body parts using your laser sight, but leaves you vulnerable to attack from the sides and behind.  I found out, the hard way, that the best course of action is to take a few guys down, run, shoot, run again, shoot again, repeat.  The amount of enemies that are coming after you at any given time is overwhelming, so you can’t just sit around in one place and hope to take them all down.

The partner system from Resident Evil Zero has returned with some refinements.  Your partner will now help you if, say, you’re in a grapple with an oncoming foe or they’ll revive you with a green herb if you’ve taken a critical hit.  They’ll also pick up various ammo and health items as enemies drop them and give them to you if your supplies are low.  I like this insofar as the demo let me experience it, but I worry about having to babysit for my partner when I find myself in a heated situation because if they die then it’s game over.  An improvement to this system entails 2 player co-op (both offline and online) so you can run through the game with a friend, which I think would be great.  Bluetooth headsets are also supported, so you can coordinate your attacks or just yell to a friend in trouble: “He’s friggin behind YOU OH NO!”

I might be the only person I know who liked the attache case inventory in RE4 if for nothing else than the realism, but they’ve done away with that in this game.  The new inventory system allows you and your partner each to carry a total of 9 items (possibly more as the game progresses), 4 of which can be assigned to the D-Pad buttons for quick access – things like guns, grenades, herbs, etc.  This system works well until you find yourself surrounded and needing to navigate to a healing item because, unlike all of the previous games, bringing up your inventory happens in real time so you can still be attacked while selecting an item to use.  I have mixed feelings about this, but definitely appreciate the added level of difficulty.

It’s hard to draw solid conclusions from a demo.  I mean, they have a screen in the very beginning dedicated to telling us that it is, indeed, just a demo and some bugs may be present.  Regardless, I’ve had a lot of fun playing it thus far and am hoping for many great things when it’s released early next March.  The solid visuals combined with a pretty decent partner system and a refined RE4 control schema give me a lot of confidence that Capcom has really put their all into this, one of their flagship franchises, and we won’t be disappointed.

Today’s article is from the trusty ol’ fodder canon known as CNET blogs.  Written by the assumedly self-proclaimed “thought leader” Dave Rosenberg, addressing many of the problems plaguing the PS3.  Let’s delve right into this, shall we?

A console that starts at $400 (with only one controller and usually zero games) puts you over $500 before it’s much fun.

Very true, Dave.  Let’s disregard the Wii in this argument, since the target demographic and the overall system philosophy are different. While the 360 comes in a variety of flavors ranging from $199 for the Arcade to $399 for the Elite, we’re going to have to compare oranges to oranges and since the PS3 is on the chopping block, we’ll use it as our baseline.

In order to match output capability (HDMI), we’re already looking at the same price since the Elite is the only model to feature this type of connector; the connector that has come standard on all PlayStation 3 models since release. Some people are going to want WiFi for either streaming their digital content to the console or online play.  That’s going to cost you another $90 to get that adaptor.  Oh yeah, and another $50 a year if you want to actually be able to play your games online. Since WiFi is included in every PS3 and it’s free to create a PlayStation Network account and play your games online, looks like we’re up to $540 for an Xbox 360 that matches the specs of an out-of-the-box, $400 PS3.

Sony also is suffering from a lack of attractive titles that are exclusive to the PS3. Microsoft has hit the jackpot with two action-adventure game franchises, Halo and Gears of War, which are available only on the Xbox 360.

Interesting that you bring up exclusives.  I won’t deny that the Halo trilogy as well as Gears of War are incredibly fun games, but let’s just see if any of these titles ring a bell: Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo (series), Resistance (series), Motorstorm (series), Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and LittleBigPlanet. Yep, all PS3 exclusives.

The Wii makes your goofy little Mii character come alive by connecting consoles online. Xbox Live has a community and marketplace.

I’ll admit Sony was quite late to this party with all of the Home delays, but from what I hear they’ve got things running smoothly now.  Truth be told, I’m not too interested in the social interaction of games beyond being able to meet friends in a common lobby and blast them all to smithereens. If I was serious about playing a simulation I’d pick up The Sims 2 or Second Life, but as it stands I’m not.  PlayStation has this little thing called the PSN Store, where you can download exclusive third party games, demos, videos, themes, and more.  This service is also free, unlike the aforementioned $50/year subscription fee to do this on the 360.

The games are the accessories to the Wii lifestyle, and Microsoft makes the Xbox the center of your interactive gaming lifestyle. 

I’m not particularly sure what he’s trying to say in this sentence. What exactly defines the “Wii lifestyle”? If I had to take a stab at the Wii lifestyle, I’d most likely have to say it’s for the very casual 30+ gamer or for children as a learning device.  What does it mean for a console to be the center of my interactive gaming lifestyle?  It connects to the internet?  So does PS3. It can play online with others, send messages, stream media? So can PS3. I will concede that there is definitely a strong loyalty for the 360 and Wii while customer loyalty for the PS3 is lukewarm, at best.

The games themselves look and feel good, but the experience of launching a game and getting up and running takes way too long (I feel this way about most consoles), to the point where many users I spoke with get so annoyed that they curse the machine. 

The first part of the sentence leads me to believe that you have firsthand experience with this “way too long” phenomenon, but then you lose me when you refer to these problems as being had by users you “spoke with” without citing any concrete examples.  I’ve heard sometimes when people turn on an Xbox 360, they have to wait several minutes to discover the red ring on the front of the console means it’s never going to launch, then wait a month while it’s sent in for repairs and shipped back to their house.  That seems like a little bit longer than the 15 minutes it takes to install a game’s core files.

A bigger threat looms for all console makers, and that’s the fact that people spend way more time online then ever before and that browser-based casual games are not feeding console sales, but instead pushing consumers to stay on their PCs.

When you finally decide to try one of these systems instead of just crunching marketing numbers and listening to your nephew tell you how fun the Wii can be, Dave, take a moment to browse around their respective marketplaces/stores and you’ll find a veritable plethora of casual games priced just right.  Nintendo’s Virtual Console literally has hundreds of classics from the N64, SNES, NES, and Sega catalogs. On the flip, indie developers are constantly adding engaging, experimental, and often times incredibly fun titles to both the Xbox Marketplace and the PlayStation Store.

In the end, I won’t hide behind the fact that PlayStation 3 has and probably will continue to trail in the sales department until another price cut is announced.  I think it’ll really explode if it can hit the magical $300 price point, but that’s a ways off. In all fairness, the Xbox 360 had an entire year to itself, so I’ll give the folks at Sony the benefit of the doubt.

Original Article