It's Valentines Day?!?!?

Most video games now a days have the option to romance one of your companions in your party. Ok, so just Bioware games. But, those only seem to consist of talking and talking to characters that you don't even like, but only find them to be physically attractive. It's just a means to get to an unsatisfying and confusing "sex" scene at some point near the end of the game. Video game character relationships have been done right before, strangely enough one of the ones that I'll be talking about will be from a Bioware game. So, I want to take a look at some of the video game relationships that have stuck out in my mind. 1. Mario and Peach / Link and Zelda Aaah, the classics. You can't beat 'em. We've Grown up with these two games. Both of these two faithful heroes will travel the world to save the one they love, and they'll do it all over again in the next game. We don't really play these games for their plot, but we still invest ourselves in them because we just love these games. By our current incarnations of these games, we really couldn't care less about any of the story, at least in Mario's case. Sure it's all the same, but these guys put in the dedication to always, always, always be there for their ladies. They are some true romantics. 2. Agro and Wander Shadow of the Colossus is a great game. A lot of people refer to it as an artistic game, I'm right there with them. Though, I think it's just because people don't quite understand it. But, one thing that really stands out to me is the relationship in that game between two characters. No, not the main character and the dead girl! I'm talking about the main character and his horse. First, get your mind out of the gutter, and second, these two are total bros! Through thick and thin, which is a theme in this game, these two have each others back, or at least the horse does. After every single battle with a colossus, the player character is transported back to the shrine, while the horse is left to trot all the way back across the desolate world. Every. Single. Time. This horse is as faithful as they come. 3. Bastilla / Carth Well, Love isn't all about being faithful. It's also about trust. Both of these relationship options are actually very well written, and there is a human connection. Now, it's probably just because I'm just a huge Star Wars fan that I love this game so much, but these characters are just so deep. In KOTOR, your character, whether it be male or female, just happens to show up out of nowhere. Both of these characters, when you finally meet them are wary to trust you. Throughout the adventure the characters grow, and change their opinion of you based on your actions. Yes, I know that in the second game, the supporting characters actually changed their alliance based on your actions, but that seems more like Stockholm syndrome than a relationship. Anyhow, Bastilla and Carth stood out to me as video game relationships because you had to earn their trust. Carth didn't know who you were, or why you were even with the resistance in the first place. Though he was forced to trust you because you were his only ally. I've never engaged in a relationship with Carth, because I've never done a female run of KOTOR, but even as a male character, earning Carth's trust was some kind of achievement to me. I felt a friendship with him, and that was special. Bastilla on the other hand was hesitant about trusting you because she knew of your past and what had happened. I enjoyed the conversation that I had with this character because I was engaged in what she had to say. Her role was that of my superior and mentor. I would look to her for guidance, and ask her what to do with these new responsibilities as a Jedi. That's another thing that I feel that game captured well. The foreign feeling of being thrust into a new world of being a Jedi. It was something completely different, but you had your guide there to help you along the way. Then the ultimate test came. Bastilla was captured and turned to the dark side of the force by the evil Darth Malek. On your way to the final confrontation with him, he sends his new pupil to stop you. Bastilla. She fights you to stop you from preventing her new master of his plan. During the fight there are pauses for Bastilla to try and convince you that your cause is pointless and that you should just give up. Before you're allowed to strike the final blow, there is one last pause for conversation. At this point, you tell her that you love her (this is all completely optional by the way). And she returns that love, with one of the greatest lines in Star Wars and video game history "May the force be with you my love" and she lets you pass to defeat her former captor. This was so amazing to me. I felt as though I had earned her trust, I had fought for her, and even against her to win her over. I actually felt a connection to this character. That is how a video game relationship should work. Or at least it's a damn good way to go about it. 4. Nozomi and Ryo Shenmue was Yu Suzuki's magnum opus for the Sega Dreamcast. It was something completely new to me. I never played that many adventure games as a kid, and figuring out who exactly killed my father was a rather different concept to me. In Shenmue, there was a girl by the name of Nozomi. She is quiet, well mannered, and she cares for Ryo deeply. Throughout the game she always shows up at the right time to tell you that she misses and cares for you. She tells you that it's dangerous what you're doing. Yet, everytime Ryo is blinded by revenge and is missing the point of his fathers last words. "Keep friends, those you love, close to you." That's the moral of the story. It really is a great romance that the team over at Sega wrote for these two characters. So, yes. There are my favorite, or at least a few of my favorite, video game romances/relationships. I'm sure I've forgotten, or dismissed quite a few, but from all of the different video games that I've played, these are the ones that have stood out to me. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my lack of experience with actual relationships. See you next time!

State of the Gaming Union February 13th, 2013

My fellow gamers This is a great time of year for our people. Though, some of us may be distraught that we do not have a significant other with which so spend this so called holiday with, we have our systems. Gamers, I am talking about the new titles that this new year has brought us. First, there was DMC, a reimagining of a classic franchise. Some of you were upset. Others weren't. Few didn't care. But, it was a symbol. That we can all look to, for the coming year. DMC was a reboot. A changing of the guard. A passing of the torch. to a new steward. This, my fellow gamers, is happening all around us. Tomb Raider, is being reborn under a new team. Bioshock, while being developed by the same good people, now waves a different banner. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is nothing to be upset about. These developers, these gamers, love these franchises that both you and them have grown up with. They too have played the originals. They too have overcome the same challenges that you have. They too, have felt the same heartache, that you have. My fellow gamers,do not look upon these upcoming games with fear, or with hesitation. Instead, look upon them as something new. As something to be accepted. As something to be embraced. The "gamer" stereotype is not one that paints us in a pleasant light. They say that, "We are too close minded". That, we don't accept the others from the outside. Gamers, this is true. They are right. But we can make them wrong. We need to be open to other games, to other developers, to other systems, to other genres. Gamers, it is not the controller that we use, or the power of our processors that make us great. It is our games. By our games, we have come together. By our games, have we discovered. By our games, have we adventured. By our games, have we grown together. By our games, have we grown. Gamers, we must be accepting of what is new. Yet, we must also be discerning. We mustn't let games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and Halo, define us as a nation. We must grow more. We must be mature. My fellow gamers, I am of the opinion that this is a new art. And as these artists' audience, we must tell them, what we want. We must show the rest of the world of this wonderful new medium, that this is the way to play. That video games, are the best medium, and that they are just as good as any other art. No! They are the best! Let us rise above the box office, and tear down the Top 40! Let us break the stereotype, and buy games that challenge us, that make us think, and feel. Let us not consume, but partake of the game industry. Let's show the world what it means to be a gamer!

RAGE (by id Software)

RAGE review RAGE comes to us from id software, who brought us Doom, and Quake, like it says on the front of the cover of the game. Those are both great games by id, from way back when. It’s been quite a while since this old racehorse has been in the ring, and it shows. RAGE is about a guy who’s managed to survive years upon years of cryo sleep. When he suddenly wakes up, he’s immediately assaulted and then rescued by a character voiced by John Goodman, yes that John Goodman. After he is taken back to this mysterious characters hometown, he is immediately sent on a job to hunt down and kill a small pack of bandits. It hasn’t even been established if this guy can walk, or even speak the same language as these people, then he’s sent out on a dangerous mission? Anyhow, this is the flow of RAGE for the rest of the game. Go out, kill bandits, come back, get a new mission, go out, kill bandits. This repeats under the façade of what RAGE refers to as its storyline, which I’m not quite so sure I comprehend. There is, apparently, a looming presence which calls itself “The Authority”, and it’s got all the good bandits, I mean people, of the wasteland down. So, as the guy who just woke up from a millennium of sleeping, you have to be the guy who takes care of it. Why not? The gameplay of RAGE is very straightforward. In that you point the gun straight at the bandit, or mutant, or member of The Authority, shoot it, and move forward. There’s nothing more to it than that. The environments are mapped out so that players don’t have any real say in the matter. Cover is placed in obvious locations that clearly dictate where both the enemies and the player will go. Enemies don’t even seem to react toward the grenades that are hurled at them, they just stand there and wait for it to just go away. Then it explodes. It just goes like this, from room to room. RAGE is a very linear game, and it’s very simple and boring. After each mission, players will have most likely collected loot, that they can sell to the shops to get money to get very well stocked up on ammunition and instantaneous healing supplies. This makes missions tedious, and not exciting at all. There are also a few boss fights in the game, but they’re all just monotonous. Like the letter o in monotonous. The bosses are old school, in the sense that they have a pattern, which they repeat, over and over and over, until they are finally defeated and thy open the door that was previously blocked with their massive girth hitting the ground. This was disappointing to say the least. With dumber than rocks AI and boss fights that were uninspired and lazy, RAGE’s gameplay is severely lacking. I’ve never played Doom, and I’ve also never played Quake, though with all the praise that those two games have received, I would have expected more from RAGE. However, one thing that did blow me away were the graphics. The graphics of RAGE are simply magnificent. All the detailed environments and character models really shine with the new graphics engine that id software designed specifically for this game. The animation is clean and fluid, though almost too fluid. It’s kind of straining on the eyes and everything moves faster than my mind can comprehend. Though, the facial animation and movement of all the characters is very impressive, and something to be applauded. However, good graphics do not for a good game make. There is a multiplayer segment to RAGE, that even includes split screen cooperative, which I did not play. If the single player indicated anything about the multiplayer, it’s that it is better to be bored by yourself than with another person. All in all, RAGE did not leave me filled with it, so much as it left me filled with boredom, and a sense of longing after better games. The simplistic, and predictable AI don’t offer any exciting firefights that were worth remembering, nor did the story leave me with any sense of engagement to the world, or characters. RAGE is not an immersive experience, it does not satisfy any desire that would normally come with an id software game. Albeit, the only game that I’ve ever played that was developed by id software was Wolfenstein 3D on MS DOS, but still! I’ve had more fun with that game then I did with RAGE. Also, even on the PS3, which is what I played this on, the game still had to do an install. That’s understandable given how impressive the graphics are. However, during said install the game locked up. That gets an F. and! On top of all of that , the game wasn’t even that good! Double F