The Cursed Game

With E3 approaching, I thought I'd take a timeout to go back and talk about a game that is really hard to forget, especially for me. Perhaps it's denial or foolish hope, but for the final time I want to talk about Metroid: Other M. Essentially, the game is something that comes squarely at the blame for Nintendo, not Team Ninja for its' release.

The decisions behind Other M's release are questionable at best. Terrible dialog, bad voice acting, a cliched and convoluted plot, etc. Essentially, while not the worst game in Nintendo's history, it's seemingly the most damaging because it has the potential to outright kill one of their long-standing franchises. All of which comes squarely at the blame of Yosihio Sakamoto and Nintendo. Usually, in the squabbles of fans v. developers, the developer usually has the upper hand, but in this case, where seemingly nothing makes sense, is explained or justified, it comes to the desk of those who were in charge, and that was Nintendo. I can't explain why it was released in a seemingly incomplete state, no one can. Anyone who thinks they know really doesn't because they don't work for Nintendo.

It's not the game fell short of expectations. If the game fell slightly short of its' expectations, it wouldn't be brought up repeatedly. It's that the game fell short in every single area, and fell short either slightly or greatly. Counterintuitive and questionable gameplay mechanics, unmemorable music, mediocre controls, and an awful story. Metroid, and the character of Samus Aran deserve better than what Nintendo thought their fans deserved with this.

In essence, Nintendo lied to their consumers whole-heartedly. They said the game was classic Metroid, it wasn't. They said the story was about Samus, it was about Adam. They said it was a great game, it wasn't. It seemed like at every turn where complaints were brought up by the press and fans alike, Nintendo ignored them. Nintendo has a history of ignoring their fans, and usually they're right and the game turns out awesome. However, in this case is one that I can truthfully say that Nintendo was wrong to let out the door. And in all honesty, out of their entire E3 2009 Press Conference, Metroid Other M will probably be remembered as the worst part about it, even worse than the Vitality Sensor.

Gaming Returns

For the 25 days or so that Playstation Network was down, I played a few games. Some on Xbox 360, some on Wii, some on Playstation 3. Online multiplayer isn't really my thing, and therefore the loss of the online service didn't really affect me all that much. However, it's good to have it back and is nice to see my friends list being populated every time I turn my system on. But during that time, here's what I played.

Mass Effect 2, Insanity
I'm not one for difficult games or playing through games on the hardest setting, but Mass Effect 2 compelled me to do so for some reason. I wanted to play through the game with a Female Shepard, and while I didn't play through Mass Effect to get some bonuses, Bioware was nice enough to release the PS3 exclusive comic mere days after completing my run. But alas, it started out extremely hard, but ended quite easily if I do say so myself. I managed to beat it, save everyone, and get my last achievement in the game to finally complete it. It was nice to do, but I don't think I'll do it for Mass Effect 3 unless they dumb it down quite a bit.

Gears of War 3 Beta
I'm not a big multiplayer guy, but I'm surprisingly good at Gears. I managed to get a 1.0 K/D ratio and 1.0 W/L ratio before I felt drained from playing it. I didn't get the Gold Retro Lancer for the retail version, but I got everything else. I could've gotten it, but I just didn't think it was worth my time to do so. Overall, the multiplayer seems very solid, and it makes me excited to play it come September.

Portal 2
I didn't play this quite as heavily as I did everything else, but when PSN finally came back up, I played through the co-op campaign, which was immensely better than the single player one. I also managed to get my 19th Platinum Trophy in the game, which meant a lot considering I haven't gotten one since last August. Portal 2 is a great game, just not as good as Portal. Hopefully the DLC will rekindle my interest in the game.

Red Dead Redemption
This was a new pickup for me, but I'm still playing through it. Right now I'm in Mexico, but the story is really dragging at this point with missions starting on one side of the country and actually taking place at the other side, which really makes it feel unnecessarily padded. Still, I'm enjoying it, but not as much as I was before I hit Mexico. The voice acting and story are similar to GTA4 in the sense that the hero is there for a purpose, but that requires him getting his hands dirty. While the characters fit the times I'm sure, the vast range of characters seems unnecessary. Game of the Year worthy? No, because Mass Effect 2 is better. Plain and simple.

Heart Strings

A man can only take so much before he says enough is enough. I think I have finally reached that point with the Washington Capitals. They were my first sports team. Over the years I've watched them and hoped for a Championship Team, but every year they fail. After the last 2 years you think they would've broken through, but no, it remains no. And for the foreseeable future it seems like it will remain no despite having one of the best players in the league.

I don't know who or what to blame, but I think I may be done. I'm tired of getting my hopes up, and as a life-long fan, that's discouraging. My heart just can't take the disappointment anymore.

Celebrate

Today we celebrate. For the death of a terrorist mastermind? No. We celebrate because some semblance of closure can now be brought to those that were lost over 9 and a half years ago. Most died against their will, while others went out like heroes. Yesterday, the Navy Seals did their job to perfection, with no deaths on their side and no innocent casualties were taken. When it was announced that the President would be speaking in roughly a quarter of an hour last night, no one knew. People speculated that it was about Libya, but then more reports came in about American bases across the globe upping their security. But it was the last rumor that turned out to be true.

Osama Bin Laden...was finally killed.

President Obama gave us closure last night with a speech that just presented the facts, and even though it took him a bit longer to come to the Podium than we thought, it was worth it. We knew he was gone, we knew that we took him out, and we knew that we could ease our minds a bit and remember the ones we lost. Today, we celebrate the lives we lost. We celebrate people. We celebrate freedom.