Occasional Thoughts ... Sometimes Coherent

Wow. I really let this thing go. Guess I've been so busy playing Xbox 360 games that I forgot to update. Or perhaps I am boring and have nothing to say. U-decide! Don't know whether to delete the thing or start blogging again so in the meantime... guess I'll leave it up for now.

One of the things the internet has brought to comics is the introduction of the spoiler. Because solicitations for comics are given out months in advance, occasionally a story is spoiled because the outcome of a story is given in the copy, though the publishers have lately gotten hip to this and are more careful. The big problem comes from retailers copies of books, which are received usually a week in advance of the onsale date. Since many comic geeks spend way too much time in the shop and are friendly with the retailers, they sometimes get to peek at said books and then end up posting about it on message boards.

Thus, instead of it being a huge surprise when Xorn turned out to be Magneto in the pages of Grant Morrison's New X-men a few years ago, most people already knew about it because retards posted it online a week before. It's gotten to the point that you have to be extremely careful when perusing message boards if you want to remain surprised at upcoming books and most boards these days are filled with *spoiler* warnings.

So, it is somewhat disappointing when a comic publisher releases a spoiler in their own book. I recently caught up on some issues of Geoff Johns' new Green Lantern book and at the back of Issue 2 in the Next Issue blurb it says: "The conclusion of NO FEAR. Green Lantern discovers the true nature of this new Manhunter's mission. Plus, Black Hand is back in action and he's out for revenge!" (emphasis added)

Here's the problem: Issue 3 has no Black Hand in it. Or does it? See, the issue ends with a mysterious cloaked figure appearing. Apparently he is the one controlling the Manhunters and is apparently out for revenge against Green Lantern. Not only is he cloaked, he also appears with his hands behind his back. Since Black Hand is especially recognizable by his...black hand (not only that, but it was recently removed by Hal Jordan in Rebirth), it doesn't take a genius to realize who the mystery man is given what the next issue blurb promised.

Of course, they could always say they planned to have Black Hand appear and then changed their mind. Since the reveal of the mystery man is likely quite a ways off they could hope that people will forget by then. Though that would be even more pathetic than letting the spoiler get published in the first place.

I just find it ironic that the comic publishers blame the internet for so much that is wrong with the industry today. Yet, here they are doing exactly what they complain about. Guess DC should just shut the hell up when Rich Johnston publishes his next rumor column.

So, a lot of folks are pissing and moaning about the Xbox 360 pricing. First they are bitching because MS is offering 2 versions, with and without a HD. Then, they bitch because the price of the premium system (which pretty much everyone will buy) is $399.

Personally, I don't see the reason for bitching. It was always rumored that there would be multiple versions of the 360. In fact, the original rumors talked about 3 versions of the system coming out (which could still be the case, if you add in the HD-DVD system that is supposed to come out later). These rumors weren't rumors in the truest sense of the word, since they were more like unofficial official statements more than anything else. They came from deep inside MS (most likely from Mr. Allard himself) and were not official because at the time there hadn't been a final decision made.

As far as pricing is concerned. Well, shit, look at what the damn thing is made of and it makes sense that it is going to be so expensive. There's some pretty hefty and expensive equipment inside these things, some of which is better than what is currently available for top of the line PC's. $399 is really a bargain all things considered (and the argument will be moot in a few months anyway when the PS3 pricing is eventually shored up...think $399 is expensive? Just you wait).

Look, these consoles have reached the point where they are pretty much home computers specialized to specific functions. The same people complaining about how expensive the 360 is, are the ones who spent 300 bucks on a new gfx card for their computer so they can get 5 more frames per second while playing Battlefield 2. For a few dollars more, you get a graphics card that's more powerful than you can currently buy plus all the rest that allows you to play top of the line games for years to come... and you don't have to worry about whether the fucking game will actually work when you put it in the machine.

$399 is probably cheap.

Didn't realize it had been 2 months since I last posted. I knew it'd been awhile but thought it was much shorter. Just haven't had much to say and between a minor cancer scare and learning I have high cholesterol (actually had it for years but my last doctor apparently didn't think it was important enough to tell me, thus putting me in danger of a heart attack), plus still struggling to find a job, blogging's not been foremost in my mind.

Will hopefully find some more reasons to actually use this thing from here on, though. Otherwise I'll have to change the title, as two months is hardly "occasional".

So, E3 is over. The next-gen machines have "debuted" and now we wait and see. Everyone and their mother is debating which machine is better (Nintendo not really factoring into the equation since it's so far out and nothing but a box right now).

Personally, I think there's no real debate. The Xbox 360 has a very clear advantage going into the next-gen battle over the PS3. It's got nothing to do with graphics (both boxes have incredible graphic power and abilities), media (both play all the media you'd want and are HD) or even games (both have incredible games coming out, including exclusives).

I think the next-gen battle comes down to online. Both boxes are capable of providing incredible next-gen games but these days, online gaming is more important than ever. People still like playing single-player games, but for certain genres it is essential to a game's longevity to be able to play it online. When people start thinking about what Hal0 3 is going to be like on the Xbox 360, they aren't thinking about whether the storyline will be resolved. They're wondering whether there will finally be online co-op mode and what new gametypes will be available to play online.

And that's why Xbox 360 has the advantage. Not because it'll have Halo 3, but because it has Xbox Live. Xbox Live has shown that online gaming on a console is more than just possible. It is easy to set-up, easy to use and most importantly, fun. None of the other consoles currently out are capable of doing online as well as Xbox Live does it. The Gamecube's online capabilities are not even worth mentioning. The PS2's capabilities, while passable, are nothing to really get excited by. It's difficult to get working and the experience can be very different depending on the game you are playing and what online functionality the developer built in to it. Yeah, it's free , as opposed to Xbox Live. But well, you get what you pay for, really.

Now, PS3 is promising a lot of things when it comes to online gaming. Though much of it seems to be copying from Xbox Live. So, in the end, Sony is playing catch up when it comes to online gaming on the console and that is why I believe Xbox 360 has a real chance of not only catching up to Sony but even overtaking them in the next-gen wars. They've got some incredible exclusives coming (many of which will appeal to the Japanese market which MS completely dropped the ball on with Xbox), the hardware is phenomenal, and most important, they already know how to do online right and will only build upon what they already established.

PS3 looks cool and all. But Xbox 360 has me really excited.

Newsarama has word of DC Comics' new logo.



I guess they are changing it because with the new Batman movie coming out soon and the new Superman one filming now, plus Wonder Woman and assorted others in the works, they figure they are in prime position to take on Marvel and want a logo that sticks in people's minds.

I guess the logic is that if people see the logo they think of the movies and think of how fun they were and now when they are browsing at the comic shop or book store they'll buy books with the logo.

Personally, I think that's bullshit. For one, most people if they are coming in off the street (i.e. new comic readers) are going to come into the shop looking for specific character books, probably ones based on said movies, rather than looking for a publisher name. Secondly, there have been several very popular comic movies recently that brought in a lot of non-comic readers into the movies, but there is little evidence that they went to the comic shops, certainly not in any real numbers. Finally, your core audience is made up of people who are into comics and know comics and recognize the logo you've already had for the past 30 years. Now you are going to change it and confuse many of them who will think this is a new imprint ala Vertigo or Wildstorm and won't be sure the book they are buying is the one they are used to. Dumbass marketing 101.

Wouldn't suprise me if the "bullet" returns in under a years' time.

One of the biggest problems Halo 2 has been plagued with is cheating. Although it was present from the beginning it took awhile for it to become really rampant and a problem to the majority of players. Whether it was using modem standby to lag people out and win, or abusing glitches in the game like pulling flags through walls or sword lunging, playing on Xbox Live started to become a real pain. Bungie did attempt to curtail things somewhat by banning cheaters but with so many people playing, there was no way to catch em all and stop cheating without a big patch to fix the inherent problems.

So, that's what Bungie did. It took a hell of a long time to implement it, but a few weeks ago the patch finally went live and most all of the glitches and problems were fixed. The following week saw the introduction of brand new maps, which was another very welcome change. Unfortunately, Bungie screwed that up by not putting in the matchmaking changes that would allow people to actually play the maps online. Yeah, you could play with friends, but not everyone has someone they can call up to play with or has friends who are online at the exact time you want to play. So, the maps sat mostly useless on many machines.

Until yesterday, when the matchmaking update went in. Now, we could finally play the new maps and have fun again. Except, Bungie decided to reset the levels of everyone in order to erase the benefits gained by those who cheated. Levels in Halo 2 are what determines who you play against. It is used so you are matched against players of the same skill level as you and thus makes playing online a lot more fun and less frustrating.

They were virtually meaningless, since if you cheated to get to a high level, you'd end up playing against people much better than you, so when the cheats were fixed you'd eventually level out and go back to where you belong. At least, that's what logic would dictate. Bungie apparently wasn't smart enough to see that logic and decided to just force a reset and start everyone back at level 1.

What this has done is made playing a horrible experience. Now, because everyone is level 1 you are forced to play with an smorgasbord of rejects, retards and noobs. The problem is that you have people who are now level 1 who know that they can't lose their level if they screw around. So, that's exactly what they do. Last night I played 4 games. The first was filled with a bunch of kids who did nothing but babble nonsense and cursing throughout the entire game, while running around trying to kill anyone, including teamates. Next, came a game wherein maybe one other person actually knew how to play a game of Assault, the rest played it like it was a game of Slayer, just running around and killing and getting killed while leaving our base completely open to be scored on. After that I had a game of assault that was filled with a group of idiots who did nothing but try and suicide, team kill, and try and hide the bomb. The final game was halfway decent but suffered from the final problem of the level reset, that is people who would normally be pretty high level playing against lesser skilled players. So, you basically had a draw because few people could survive very long and those who could weren't able to accomplish anything for lack of teamwork.

Basically what it boils down to is that because of the cheating that was so rampant, we are still being punished by the cheaters even though the problems have been fixed. Until the retards get bored and actually try to play for real, you'll continue to have crappy games where people just try and betray you. Until the levels, well, level out, you'll continue to have crappy games of mismatched teams. All because of the damn cheaters.

Well, them, and stupid Bungie for not being smart enough to realize that if they just left the levels as they were, everything would have levelled out by itself without causing any headaches and discontent. Bungie themselves repeatedly state that level is not a status symbol and is meaningless, so who cares if a few cheaters who remain have a high level. They suck and without being able to cheat anymore, their suckage would be extremely apparent as their level continuously dropped. Instead of them being punished, all the rest of us who play just to have fun are forced into frustration. Way to go Bungie!