Borderlands, tastes like FPS ala RPG...Delicious!

If the genres of RPG and FPS had a baby, Borderlands would be their child. I was a bit skeptical I admit, when I had first heard of Borderlands I just wasn't quite sure how they would manage to pull this feat off. Splicing together most genres usually ends in failure mostly due to lack of imagination, sometimes too much but this game had just the right amount of both.

At the time of this piece, I have only played for about 2 days(playing through Steam on the PC thanks to a friend who graciously purchased the game for 4 of us at a discounted launch deal, thank you Nate!), just got to level 23 last night before switching it off. I'm very impressed with 2K Games, they've done a tremendous job with Borderlands. They've managed to pull a veil of lies over my eyes, allowing me to feel as though I'm playing an RPG without feeling like I'm actually playing one. Where do I begin?



First off there's a class system akin to most MMORPG style of play. Each character represents a specific style of play but is not limited to as such, you can pretty much customize them to be as you see fit. There's also a quest system, with a giant array of side quests(which is mostly to blame for me spending so much time in this game...which is a good thing)which are so much fun, you get lost in them and don't seem tedious at all. The biggest thing Borderlands has to offer though is their endless arsenal of weapons, they're always doing something to change up how you approach the situation in combat. Very much like Diablo or World of Warcraft, you can obtain rare, super-rare, and epic versions of equipment to maximize your efficiency and play style.

One of the more noticable aspects of this game is the graphical style. This technique seems to be similar if not akin to cell-shading, which started gaining more mass appeal with the movie A Scanner Darkly(which I still haven't seen), very fluid and smooth yet cartoony. It should also be noted that the characters themselves also have distinct personalities, which really shines through while engaging with the environment or in specific situations, all very comical but relateable to gamers.

How could I forget? Borderlands also features a very memorable and comical little mascot by the name of Clap-Trap:



He's your little helper of sorts, giving you tips throughout the game and pretty much there to take up space and entertain you.

Borderlands is an awesome game with so much to do in, and it doesn't get boring(at least not yet). However It's recommended that you experience this with a friend, or group of friends. It's just not the same playing alone, which can also be fun but not as much. This game has a lot of replay-value, with a new game plus feature allowing you to start over with your current characters while scaling up the difficultly of the game. And when the game ends with one character you can play through as another class and have a whole new experience right from the start. It's also exciting to know that DLC is currently underway and will be available in the near future, expanding the game and giving us the players, more to do and explore.

I absolutely love this game and highly recommend it to both fans of the FPS and RPG community, hell just gamers in general. Anyone can pick up this game and have a good time!

Turbo, a video game short film

Normally when we hear "video game movie," most of the gaming community feels a cold shiver run down their spine. At best a couple of these "films" have managed to do marginally alright, but just scooting to that point on the scale, It's nothing to be proud of. So why is it that when a movie based off of some video game, with a well written story(if there is one), and clearly defined everything else(characters, the mood, environment, etc.)end up more often than not, completely failing? The answer I could come up with is: some(company, writer, director, etc.)entity believes that they're going to put "their creative spin" on a realm that doesn't need to be tampered with. Hell, it doesn't just happen with adaptations, just trying to make a movie about video games itself usually end up as a giant fail idea too.



(Just to point out a few...)

Now, could I do any better? Hmm, I don't necessarily have the credentials for making movies, but as a gamer I would be able to tell more or less what would probably be a stupid idea from a good one...so yeah maybe If I were to assist on some creative direction then maybe it would turn out for the better. I know you can't please everyone(myself included which is why I'm going on this rant), but there needs to be some kind of guideline to adapting a specific media that's already well defined into another.


Anyhow this isn't about me in the first place, I just got a little too carried away with the whole blog thing. Let me introduce Turbo, an independent short film about what the future of video games, namely the fighting genre may hold. The movie itself is somewhat cheesy and It's made that way on purpose, the acting is alright(much better than hollywood caliber as far as video game movies are concerned), believable in a geeky sense. The highlights of the film are definitely the special effects, and the overall style of the world this story takes place in.

Turbo clocks in a little under a half-hour, but that's more than enough in this case, to experience one of the better pieces of video game film that anyone has seen in quite some time. And if you like the film, please by all means support it by buying a DVD copy over @ turbothemovie.com. Enjoy...hopefully!

Conqueror-Achiever

So I was sitting here in front my computer, vegetating in front of the screen watching Restaurant City(newest Facebook game addiction, don't start it for your own health and safety)play itself when I decided to cruise on over to 4chan. Before I go on may I ask you to reserve your judgment about my internet browsing(if you have any problems with 4chan that is), because that place will show you the true face of humanity while hopefully being entertained by most of what you may or may not expect to see. Anyhow, I took a stroll through /v/(video games) and stumbled upon an interesting test about video games, more specifically gamer types which actually happens to be pretty accurate...at least for me anyway.

Head on over to BrainHex to take this interesting test and see if they nail down what kind of gamer you seem to be.


As for myself:

Your BrainHex Class is Conqueror.

Your BrainHex Sub-Class is Conqueror-Achiever.

You like defeating impossibly difficult foes, struggling until you eventually achieve victory, and beating other players as well as collecting anything you can collect or doing everything you possibly can.

According to your results, there are few play experiences that you strongly dislike.

Learn more about your classes and exceptions at BrainHex.com.

Your scores for each of the classes in this test were as follows:

Conqueror: 20
Achiever: 14
Mastermind: 13
Seeker: 11
Survivor: 9
Socialiser: 9
Daredevil: 4


You can follow the links either here or over on the site to see a more detailed layout of my class/sub-class specifics, and your own too. Also if you would be so kind, to post your results if they will fit in the comments, have fun with this one everyone! Oh, by the way according to the class combination in that specific order I'm also a Shark-Beaver(no sexual connotations even though I know you thought of them, you dirty dirty readers), whatever that means...

I have now lost all my faith in Nintendo

I don't believe that there's anything left to be said about this travesty. I for one have been trying really hard to understand the whole "breaking up the video game audience into Casual/Hardcore" deal, all things considered I'd like to reaffirm that I'm neither of those but more so the hidden option C...a little bit of both(I don't see why gamers can't be a bit of both and why the industry doesn't recognize this, well obviously so they can potentially make more money). However it seems that more so than not, that with the casual market they end up wasting more money on stupid ideas like a Twilight trivia game, I can vaguely imagine the board meeting for this farce:

Genius CEO 1: you know that Twilight series is really popular amongst the teenage girls.

Genius CEO 2: I bet we could make a whole lot of money if we made some kind of game revolving around that series. I mean, we know what the youth wants these days despite being stuck in an office all day and not being connected to anything pop-culture related.

Genius CEO 1: dude, fucking genius!

Nintendo, as far as I'm concerned is pretty much done and over. It seems that all they care about these days is making money, and less about having fun(Wii Vitality Sensor...who the hell ever needs one of these, think about that one for a second because that's all you'll need. Oh, and the answer to that riddle is NO ONE!). It was nice while it lasted Nintendo, you've been a big part of my video game life but somewhere along the way you got lost, soon only to become a shadow of your former self like Sega...ouch!

I'd like to extend my thanks to Nintendo and Twilight, for further making a mockery of the video game industry, good day!

Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, this is aweso...wait currently only for PS3, W.T.F?!?!?!

I was randomly browsing through Kotaku when I stumbled onto this little number:




Apparently, Capcom has plans to expand on the back-story of Resident Evil 5 via flashback content. However it appears that "currently" only the PS3 is privy to this glorious content update, in the form of a new game no less but still.

It would infuriate me to no end if this add-on is console exclusive, mostly because Capcom would be ignoring a good portion of their fan-base since not everyone is fortunate enough to have every single next-gen console yet. I'd probably also be upset if they made it DLC but made it too expensive(like the multiplayer mode for RE:5...seriously that cost way too much).

All that aside though and I'm pretty excited to see them expanding on the "canon" storyline of Resident Evil(sorry Milla, the movies started out alright and then took a dive...it pretty much just needs to stop), especially since it involves more of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine...scratch that last part, just Jill Valentine(she's only the most awesome fiticious video game girl ever!)