Apparently not.

Gaming has played a significant role in my life. I play every chance I could and when I am at school, you will usually find me ranting on about the latest games, trailers, and just the industry in general. Some people even come to me to find out what comes out when, my opinions about a game or just start a conversation for fun. I don’t mind at all. It makes me feel good inside.

But lately I have been getting a bunch of negative feed back from parents and people at my parents work place. They always state that gaming is ruining their kids life and how gaming is really just something kids should not do. There are even ad campaigns against gaming! I have seen one that states “Gaming shortens the lives of children.” I read this in shock that some agency would actually go far as to attack the industry as if it were in the same page as smoking or drinking alcohol. What makes it all worse is that I, myself, can’t be looked at seriously. People tend to look at me while listening to my gaming rant and give me this weird look as if my life is a joke. At times, my friends and I like to just walk around in uptown Long Beach and just talk about anything that comes to mind and, for me, that’s gaming. We walk into stores and sometimes occasionally stop and sit as people walk by or stand around near us acting like they aren’t listening to what we are saying. The fact of matter is, they are listening. I watch these people walk around, and pretend to mind their business. I’m not stupid though. I can see them rolling their eyes. I can see them taking my talk as a joke when I’m sounding as serious as can be. I can see that.

When I meet new people I always get a so called, “compliment.” “For a guy who plays video games, you sure are pretty chill.”

Well, to be honest that was only once but I usually get something in relation to that.

Another thing that bugs me to shit is when people assume I don’t have a life because of my gaming. I have been given so many insults at school and by so many people about how I stay at home and play video games. People always make the assumption that I don’t have any friends because of it. So many insults have been shot at me because of Video gaming and this shit needs to stop!

Crappy shows like Dr. Phil are getting in on the “Video Games are bad boat.” I don’t watch these shows often. Only if I’m at someone’s house and they are watching it, then I don’t have a choice. I have seen a Dr. Phil episode where a parent had some kid who was violent punched walls and did drugs. The mom later stated that he began to play violent video games while all his drama was happening. I watched this and just think, “You son was already f*cked up from the start lady. Blame yourself for neglecting him.”

Going back to my parents at their jobs. I have heard some of the most absurd shit shit ever. I overhear conversations and I cant help but walk in and listen in while I stand there getting ready to argue. People usually tell my parents that I shouldn’t be on the video game console for more than one hour, how gaming rots my mind, and how it is irresponsible to allow me to gaming online with strangers. I step in. I don’t yell. I don’t go too over the top. I simply throw my points.

And to those parents who believe gaming is bad. . . You’re just weak. You know you cant monitor what your kids play. You know that your children are weak minded. I mean, that’s why you keep them from it right? You haven’t taught them the meaning of “common sense.” The common sense to be able to leave the violence in the video game console. You don’t know about the rating system. If you do, USE IT! Seriously, if parents fear video games will change their kids then they should really consider looking at themselves and see if they have taught their kids right. You’re the parent! If you fear that they will get addicted then limit playing times. If you fear that the violence will cause them to be a violent little runt, don’t buy games with violence and gore. Games are not bad.

I still cant believe people attempted to sue RockStar games because “GTA was too violent.” Geez people! You bought the game in the first place! You should have known what the contents of the game contained when you purchased the game. Enough of this parent bashing though.

I am just sick of people thinking that gaming is a joke. I apologize to the people who believe it is. I’m sorry I’m not smoking or drinking. I’m sorry I’m not in a gang terrorizing the city. Note my sarcasm.

Gaming is my anti-drug. Deal with it.

Also, the gaming industry is currently one of the things keeping the economy alive. People are buying games even when the world is in such a rut resulting in some heavy marketing.

I leave now and feel free to leave some of your comments and opinions. I will read them and reply.

Also, I wanted to recommend a site that I have created newly, http://texangamer.com so please check out both, thanks!

Please head over to www.gamingconsolenetwork.com for the latest news and reviews.

The US PSN Store did not update today. I know, it sucks but what can you do?

The UK PSN Store actually did have a small update today. If you have a UK account (which is very easy to make) then the following downloads were added today…

Super Stardust HD demo and upgrade (free)
The Club demo (free)
Snakeball demo (free)

We will also be covering PC very soon. I am not a PC gamer but I know many out there are. And I am looking to get as many point of views that I can on here. I found someone who wants to contribute and he will basically run the PC section of GCN.

Thanks again for checking out GCN.

Today I am taking a break in the Holiday rush to do a review for the Nintendo Wii. First off I hope everybody had a great Christmas. I for one an going on a diet on January 1st, 2008. Too much food. Ugh…

Anyway, The game that I am reviewing has been out for quite some time on the Nintendo Wii and with so many other games it actually got pushed back on playing time. This game is Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for the Nintendo Wii. Like most of you out there, I have been hearing a ton of good things about this game. We have all heard news especially on the way the game controls with your Wii-mote.

So I finally plopped the game into my Nintendo Wii and spent some quality time with it. After about a week of play it on the Wii I have very mixed feelings about it. So on to my review of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for the Nintendo Wii…

This is kind of a hard game to follow when I have been playing Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament III on my Playstation 3 all week as well. But I tried to give it a shot with a very open mind. Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is basically the same story as pretty much every other Medal of Honor game. You take on the Germans and try to succeed in victory. I am sure you get the picture.

Presentation:
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 features some new things this time around for the Nintendo Wii. The first thing is that the game takes full advantage of the Wii Zapper. Although this type of gameplay is fun in Arcade Mode, the Campaign and Online modes really do not feel right with this type on. The Wii Zapper works great with games like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and the Link game that came with it, but I honestly do not think this is the best way to play Medal of Honor Heroes 2. Stick with the Metroid-type controls and you will be fine.  Arcade Mode is basically the game on tracks. The Campaign mode is the mode I had the most fun with. While the story is not too deep, this is the mode of the game that seems to have the most flow. Controls are tight and it plays out really well on your Wii.

As for the Wii-mote, Controls are very responsive and you have a button that will allow you to auto-aim, which works like a charm in games like this. You will have to be holding your hand up for a long time though because once you drop your arm the screen goes crazy. Changing weapons is done with the D-pad on the Wii-Mote. You can also cook grenades and toss them with the controller. I wish there was a better selection of weapons though. You have the typical guns like rocket launcher (which is too bulky) and a sniper rifle. There are also gun terrets through the game. Overall the game is rather fun. You just have to get used to the new way of controling things if you are used to a PS3/360 controller like I am for FPS games.  

Online Play:
This is the mode that will have you throwing your Wii-more through your TV. Not by accident, but by pure anger of how lopsided this game is online. How in gods name did these guys get this so wrong? First off, there is no voice chat in Medal of Honor Heroes 2. I really am getting sick of hearing about Nintendo “looking into it”… Guys, you have 2 USB slots on the back of the Nintendo Wii. Just make a USB headset driver so you can plug a USB headset into the system. Problem solved. You can “message” people but that is like trying to pull tissue out of a Kleexen box with a pair of boxing gloves on. It is virtually worthless. 

Another huge problem that I ran into was in Team Deathmatch. You cannot tell who the hell you are shooting at. I found not only myself shooting at my teammates, but they were shooting at me as well and just did not know it. You have a green and red name that floats over your character. The problem is that at a distance you cannot see the names and at times they even disappear at close range! And it becomes very frustrating after a while. While the game does not have voice chat, I am sure the first few games I played I was getting cussed out by my teammates because I did not know who was who and I fired away with my weapon.

The game does support 32 players online at once. It has the essential online play modes, which are Capture the Flag, Death Match and Team Death Match. But the biggest problem that lies in Medal of Honor Heroes 2′s online play is not the lack of chat. Hell, it’s not even the really bad graphics or the fact that they took off auto-aim. It is how hard the damn game can be. And I am not pulling anybodies leg here. This game is so frustrating that you might pop a vein in your neck in anger. Spawning is also a pain, sometimes it takes up to 10-15 seconds to respawn.

Let me give you a typical Medal of Honor Heroes 2 online situation. You spot a enemy, you shoot him with clip after clip, the guy DOES NOT DIE. I shot a guy at point-blank range with every clip and he did not die. He turned around and with one bullet he killed me. This is typical in this game. You end up having a lopsided score of something like 6 kills/25 deaths. And I am not the best at FPS. But in every FPS game I own I am always over 1.50% on my kill/death ratio. Why is this game so hard online? Some people have managed to do very good, but they are few and far between. And I know I am not alone in this. I read the forums on gamefaqs.com and other sites. Other have had these kind of problems as well. The crazy thing is, I get so mad that I keep going back to prove to myself that I really do not suck this bad. After a week of anger I am a bit better online, but not much. I managed to pull off 10 kills. WOW!

To be fair, maybe it is the controls that I am just not used to. But this game is crazy online. Is if lag that makes a soldier take 50+ bullets and still live? Please tell me EA? If this is the case, please… give us a patch or something. Either way, Medal of Honor Heroes 2′s online modes will make you have your work cut out for you.

Graphics and Sound:
Here is another department in which Medal of Honor Heroes 2 shines as well as falls completely flat. The good things about the game is that it runs along at about 60 FPS. And it never seems to drop at anytime (except online if you get lag). There are also some rare moments where you will think the game looks actually good (inside the Church is one place). But other then that, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 looks like a typical Playstation 2 FPS game. It takes no effort in taking advantage of what the Nintendo Wii can actually do. It is basically a ramped-up port of a PSP game. Characters look plain and simple (they look horrendous online), the maps look dark and washed out. Colors are bland throughout the whole game.

Maybe the developer of “Battalion Wars II” had something when he said that Developers are getting lazy with developing on the Wii system. This game could have looked so much better. I hope that in 2008 game developers do more then just PS2/PSP ports onto the Nintendo Wii. I know it can’t do what the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 can do, but this system is supposed to be more powerful then 2 GameCube systems. The music and sounds of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 do sound very good. You have the old war music that is not a staple in old war games. There are also plenty of voices to go along with you in the ride.

The Bottom Line:
I was looking forward to this game because I am a very big FPS fan. But Medal of Honor Heroes 2 really let me down. I think COD4 and UTIII helped that as well. Normally I do not like to compare games on the Wii to games on the 360 and PS3, but this one was just too hard not to. The campaign and arcade modes are fun and the game moves as smooth as silk, but there really is nothing much to look at. And I will give it to the developers fo the controls, which are up there with Metroid 3. I wish they would have kept that same control scheme in online mode. Maybe it would have made the experience better. But the graphics just looks and feels like an average FPS on the Playstation 2 (only with motion control).

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is a Catch 22 for your Nintendo Wii. It is fun (if you can get past the PS2 graphics) and you will get some replay value out of it with online play (only because you will want to keep going back for more out of anger to prove that you are not this bad). It’s so weird. Even when I am playing Unreal Tournament III on the PS3, I am still cursing this game’s damned online mode. And the result is always me loading up my Wii to trying to play online again. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the developers are onto something here…  

My Score for Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for the Wii: 7.5/10

The Goodies:

• Has more features then PSP version. (It better for $50)
• 60 FPS. It may look plain but it runs silky smooth.
• 32 players online mode.
• Tight controls.

The Bummers:

• Last-Gen graphics. The Wii can do so much better.
• Online play is hard as hell.
• No voice-chat.
• Needs more weapons.

Happy Holidays, SonicRiderZG8

I look forward to having fun interacting with people and sharing my thoughts on the gaming industry!

Arigato for reading!

From the brilliant minds behind the Crash Banditcoot and Jak and Daxter series, comes the newest and Intense adventure yet!

Naughty Dog has brought a whole new adventure in the video game world, and might I add that this is the best that we’ve seen yet! With superb graphics, storyline and voice over work, that game just has to be Uncharted Drakes Fortune!

As you can tell, Naughty Dog has decided to lay off the cartoon type video games for awhile to make a more realistic game. But don’t worry loyal Naughty Dog fans, uncharted provides many of the comical cut-scenes that we are all used to.

You play as Nathan Drake, who believes that he is a descendant of Sir Francis Drake. Nate is an explorer who loves to just play around and joke. Nate is somewhat of an idiot at times, but he can be awesome too! Nate is a type of guy that makes many mistakes, but from some reason he makes it out of alive, and we just don’t understand how he can still be alive!

In the game you are accompanied by a show host named Elena Fisher. Elena Fisher has an attitude, and can drive Nate crazy at time, and does she have a awesome left hook! She helps you out on your quest to find the treasure of El Dorado, and she wants the record everything she can with her Cam-corder, but Nate doesn’t want the world to find out that they have just found the city of gold, what can Nate do in order to keep this from happening!?

Victor Sullivan is Nate’s trusted partner, and fellow companion. Victor is much of a smooth talker, and can be a smart-ass at times. Sully has been helping Nate try to find the clues to find Sir Francis’ fortune, but no luck has come until they go out to sea and find Drakes Coffin. Barely making it, Sully arrives in his plane to save Nate and Elena from pirates. Sully is in major debt, and needs money to save him, so he is willing to find money at any price! But what happens when your in debt with the leader of these pirates?

Uncharted has a very surprising twist! And get ready for a whole new style after the twist comes! It will change the gaming experience!

What does this game offer?

Uncharted doesn’t just offer the awesome gameplay, it offers tremendous voice over work, graphics, world/character design, and much more!

The game also adds many special features, such as Concept art, Interview with the Naughty Dog crew, the making of Uncharted, and also how they create movements in cut-scenes.

You can also check medals you earned. you earn medals by doing small little things like kill 50 pirates, 50 head-shots etc.

Gameplay

The controls are solid and basic, just like any other game, but uncharted adds spice to the gameplay! How? Well, here is someways that it made it awesome!

The gameplay in Uncharted is awesome! With a combination of 3rd person shooting, Platforming, and melee attacks, Uncharted provides satisfying gameplay.

Most of the time you will just be Shooting enemies, and platforming. The platforming is just terrific! You will climb extreme heights and jump from cliff to cliff! This is very intense when you have many unstable platforms just ready to fall. You can swing from vines, slide from vines, and do so much more.

Other than climbing, there is also just your normal 3rd person shooter type gameplay. Here is where the game gets better! Shot your way through pirates and see the pretty explosions! When shooting, you can switch to aiming mode, which allows you to aim at your enemies, but a useful feature is the ability to switch shoulders, so you can aim much better! This is useful when enemies are hiding behind pillars and rocks.

Another feature that the game has is the Melee attacks. Melee attacks come in play when you are close to an enemy or when you run out of ammo. The melee attacks are simple, there isn’t a combination type fighting, its just pushing the square or triangle button. But timing is the key when doing so. Mashing buttons wont just help you out.

Puzzle? There are many puzzles to solve in the world of Uncharted. raging from moving icons, pillars and shooting certain items.

Every now and then you will get to use jet ski or automobile.

For the Jet Ski, you can control is, while Elena shoots down the enemies, you can control when Elena shoots and what she blows up. The jet ski missions are fast paced, and you will enjoy the beauty of uncharted.

When riding a jeep, Elena is driving, and you are on the machine gun trying to save yourselves from the pirates on ATVs. This gets pretty intense especially when your moving at incredible speeds. The explosions are nice to see, and seeing a ATV being blown to pieces is just so god dang beautiful!

Graphics

….Beautiful….

The graphics in the game are just amazing, this shows the true power of the Playstation 3. The character designs are amazing, seeing each facial expression is so life like in every way! The world designs are superb! Seeing the bricks of the walls, the puddles, the leaves and trees, and water is just amazing! You’ll just love to stare at the water and see how real it all looks!

The level designs are well thought out! Everything makes sense and everything should be where it should.

Uncharted also uses a motion capture system, which makes the games physics engine awesome and realistic!

Music

Greg Edmonson, whom did the music for the tv series Firefly, worked on Uncharted’s Music. The music is great, its makes you feel the intesity of the game. The sound track is quite different, its classical, but not to classical. Which is just awesome!

Uncharted is a great game, and I recommend it to all PS3 owners! Its also my personal favorite game! Uncharted is an all new franchise by Naughty Dog, and I know that will take it far into the future!

Concept of game:
Shooting, fighting, and platforming your way to the treasure of El Dorado

Sounds:
The tunes in the game are amazing, and the voice over work is the best of the best!

Playable:
yes, this game is playable, and it is also challenging at times, but youll have fun with the challenge!

Replay Value:
The replay value is moderately high. youll continue to play parts of the game, and some of your favorite chapters over and over!

Uncharted, scores a 10 out of 10

Han-Beom is the man who has a ton of Singstar videos on his Youtube page. I posted a article a few days ago about his “Erasure” video and the fact that he really enjoyed singing to the game. I actually was kind of honored that he thanked me for posting his videos. He messaged me to wish me a Merry Christmas and I think it’s only good to head over to his Youtube page and check out his other Singstar videos. They will bring a smile to your face… He just posted a Duran Duran video for “Ordinary World”.

Thank you Han-Beom for the nice message & the fun Youtube videos (keep um up) and I hope you all enjoy his videos.

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=netcasty