The new and improved Ninjaverse Games is now LIVE!

The new site officially launched today! Head over to www.ninjaversegames.com and check it out! Join the forums, check out the articles and have a good time!

Like a Phoenix, it's coming back...

Two years ago I had a website. I loved my site but I was the one doing everything; layout, reviews, news, everything. I couldn't keep up with everything and the site folded after six months.

Like a phoenix it's going to rise again. I have four people working with me this time and now the site is going to be what I envisioned originally. We are going to have news and reviews for games, movies and whatever else our geeky hearts desire.

So Ninjaverse Games will be re-opening it's virtual doors on 4/19. BYOB and let your geek flag fly high!

Homesick

I'm home and yet I'm very homesick. I have never felt this feeling so badly before. I've finally found a place where I belong and where no one judges me for what I love to do.

I belong at PAX.

This past weekend was the first ever PAX East and I made it a point to go there. I could never make it to PAX Prime in Seattle and I had no idea what I was missing. PAX is almost a magical place, filled with games, geeks, nerds and more. It's where I truly belong.

Wil Wheaton gave the keynote and he opened with two simple words, "Welcome Home". By the end of his speech I understood what he meant. PAX is a home for gamers of all types; Video Games, Tabletop, D&D, Magic and more. It's all represented with the love that our hobby deserves. I brought my wife, a non gamer, and even she understood that this is a very special place. I was happier than I've been in a long time.

Wil also said in his speech that he hopes that maybe somewhere in the audience that someone would be inspired to do great things, that PAX would leave an impression on them. Well it did inspire me: I'm restarting my website, Ninjaverse Gaming. I refuse to become a slave to retail anymore. The first thing I heard when I got back into New Jersey on the drive home nearly made me have a nervous breakdown in the rest stop. I stopped at the rest stop for a bathroom break and to grab some Starbucks. The guy in front of me ordered a coffee and a hot chocolate. He looked at the clerk behind the counter and actually uttered this sentence:

"Is the hot chocolate hot?"

Really...

REALLY?!?!

The poor clerk behind the counter just looked at him, handed him his drink holder and walked away, it's all he could do. I lost my mind the second I walked out of the doors. That's the type of stupidity I deal with on a daily basis. I need to get the frak out of retail. I NEED to do something with my life that I love.

So I'm restarting the site. I'm looking for writers to help me out this time, I can't do it all on my own. I want people to share this and make it something truly special. I want us all to be a family and wait until we can go "home" again.

There will be more info in the coming weeks. If anyone is interested email me at halfazedninja@gmail.com.

And there's only about 360 days until we can go "home" to PAX East 2011

Big happenings this week!

Just a little quickie post for two reasons.

1. I'm trying out AndroBlogger on my new eris

2. PAX East is this week. I'll be there blogging and tweeting as much as i can.

I'll be tweeting the whole time and probably do a wrap up post each day. And, oh yes, there will be pics and video.

If anyone reading this is going to PAX East shoot me an email a halfazedninja@gmail.com and maybe we'll meet up. Let's see how i feel after the Pokecrawl. Gotta drink them all!

The Top 10 Worst Superhero Games

I'm going to try to do something on Fridays a little different. In honor of David Letterman's Top 10 lists, Friday's are going to be "Fun List Fridays", or something else not quite so corny.

Superheroes and video games should be like chocolate and peanut butter (or peanut butter, jelly and Doritos, yummy), right? Overpowered beings saving the world and defeating the “evil menace” sounds like the basis of every game ever made from Super Mario Bros to Splinter Cell. A lot of times superhero games work, like LEGO Batman and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. But then there are those times that no matter how much you polish a turd, it’s just not going to turn into a diamond.

These are ten of the worst offenders that had good concepts that either got just the fundamentals wrong or should be buried in the landfill next to E.T.

And here we go!

Number 10:
Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge
System: SNES, Genesis

The concept: Arcade, the X-Men villain with the giant bow tie, has built another one of his Murderworld Death Traps to capture our heroes. The heroes (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops and Storm) are each in a different section of the trap and must use their unique skills to fight their way out.

What went wrong: There’s a reason why this game is at the bottom of the list. It’s not a very bad game, per se, it’s just excruciatingly hard. When this came out in the early 90’s I was all hopped up to play it. I was both a huge Spider-Man and X-Men fan (or geek, whatever) and seeing them in one game was like a double shot of awesomesauce.

While the game was good, the level designs were re-goddamn-diculous. Why the hell were Storm’s levels all underwater? And why couldn’t Wolverine cut every damn thing in half? But the main question is why is Arcade the main bad guy? Even as a kid I knew he was lame. Even when he showed in up Marvel: Ultimate Alliance he was STILL lame! How he’s survived so long is the real mystery.

Number 9:
Batman: Dark Tomorrow
System: Gamecube, Xbox

The concept: While ending a gang war between Black Mask and Scarface, Batman has to travel to Arkham Asylum (which has been taken over yet again) to save a kidnapped Commissioner Gordon from The Joker and other classic villains. After discovering the kidnapping was just a distraction Batman then has to stop a world domination plot by Ra’s Al Ghul.

What went wrong: Well the story and cinematics were fantastic, but that was about it. The game looked great, until you started moving and there were some serious jaggies around the edges of everything and the textures were a little muddy at times. But that was minor compared to the controls.

You might was well have called him The Drunk Knight the way he would wander around a level. And God forbid you had to leap from rooftop to rooftop; that’s just an invitation for suicide. And the ending was just kind of “This is it?” with no real type of closure. It’s one of the better Batman games on the list, but that’s like being basically the best at curling. No one cares about curling.

Number 8:
The Crow: City of Angels
System: Sega Saturn, Playstation 1, PC

The concept: A game adaption of a movie sequel that should have never happened. Here’s what it says on the box (from Wikipedia):
They killed you. But you came back. An avenging angel from beyond the grave. A vigilante reborn to bring justice to the damned. Take your unearthly powers and wreak vengeance on Judah, L.A.'s drug king, Kali, the nin-jitsu death-bitch, Curve, Spider Monkey and an army of lowlife thugs... Because life after death is HELL.

What went wrong: It should have read “Because playing this game is HELL”. I was really looking forward to this game due to my love of the first movie and the comic book. I actually purchased this piece o’ crap. Acclaim, masters of the mediocore, put it out so I really should have known better.
From beginning to end this a repetitive mess for cookie-cutter enemies and crappy graphics. The story more or less followes the movie, even if the movie was ok at best. It does get points for including the phrase “nin-jitsu death-bitch” on the box though.

Number 7:
Superman Returns
System: Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation 2

The concept: A game adaption of a movie that should have been great. Play as Superman in an open world Metropolis and battle villains from the movie and more like Metallo, Mongul and more!


What went wrong: The real tragedy is this game got delayed in order to fix some issues and was released to coincide with the DVD release. It should have stayed in the cooker a little longer. Fundamentally the game was good. You could fly around Metropolis, go almost as high as you wanted and land on the bad guys (that was my favorite move). You could also play as Bizarro for certain mini-games

The villains were all pretty much brain dead and due to it being a multi-system port the graphics on the 360 version weren’t all that hot. On the PS2 all of the building were a mass of blurry textures when you got close enough to them. You can see where the game could have been great, but it fell victim to the rush of releasing with a movie.

Number 6:
Catwoman
System: Xbox, Playstation 2, Gamecube, PC

The concept: A game about a movie starring Catwoman. But not the Catwoman we all know as Selina Kyle but a woman named Patience Phillip. Kids will love it!


What went wrong: Do I seriously have to answer this? Ugh. EA shat out this game to cash in on the movie. They got the likeness of Halle Berry down and that’s about it. It’s a crappy 3rd person adventure game for a movie that has nothing to do with Catwoman, the comic book character.

The best part of the game is throwing her off of a roof.


Number 5:
Batman Forever
System: SNES, Sega Genesis

The concept: A game based on the summer blockbuster Batman Forever. Had an Acclaim label on in, so guess what happens…


What went wrong: Three versions of Batman Forever came out for home systems. There was the Playstation and Sega Saturn versions which were the arcade beat-em-up versions, the Genesis version and the SNES version. The 16-bit version looked identical to each other but they were two vastly different play experiences. The graphics were “digitized” like every cutting edge 16-bit title in the 90’s

The controls on the SNES version were flat-out crap. I’m reprinting them here from the wiki:
• Up to jump
• Select to shoot a grappling hook
• Select+Up to shoot the grappling hook up for Batman or Robin to travel one floor up (Select must be pressed slightly before Up, though)
• Right or Left twice, then Y to somersault forward
• R+Down to jump down one floor (R must be pressed slightly before Down, though)
A lot of using the select button there, isn’t there? Plus, am I seeing a loading screen in a CARTRIDGE BASED GAME?


Number 4:
Aquaman
System: Xbox, Gamecube

The concept: You know who’s never had his own game? Aquaman! Let’s make one! He’s cool now with his hook hand!


What went wrong: There’s a reason he didn’t have a game. He’s Aquaman! His power is he talks to fish. How do you translate that into gameplay?

Well, he can call to fish to whap whoever he’s fighting. Great power…too bad I can’t tell him to go drown himself.

You basically swim around looking for clusters of undersea bad guys, beat em up and look for the next cluster. Oh, Black Manta’s in it too.

Now go back to Justice League Heroes where I don’t have to pick you.

Number 3:
Fantastic Four
System: Playstation 1

The concept: Take Marvel’s First Family and go battle their greatest enemies! Up to four people can play at one time to help out! Again, it had Acclaim on the box.


What went wrong: Let’s count: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, The Human Torch and She-Hulk. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ok, so Probe and Acclaim (when will I learn) can’t count, that’s the first thing. Mini-games that featured Dragon Man, the Hulk and Iceman (?) That show up after yout defeat a boss without losing a life show up to punish you more. It’s almost like the game doesn’t want you to play it.

The best part of the game is the loading screens that let you play a racing game. Too bad the main game interrupts it.

Number 2:
The Uncanny X-Men
System: SNES

The concept: Take control of six of the X-Men (Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Iceman) in a fight against their arch-nemesis Magneto and more!

What went wrong: The top down graphics were horrible, even for 1989. There were always two X-Men on screen but the only real way you could tell them apart was their color and chances are you were the only one who was actually doing anything. In levels that you had to chase down a boss if you chose the wrong direction you had to fight you way back to the biginning of the stage and choose the right path.

But the real kicker is the last level. You can’t get to it. Why? It’s only accessible by using a code. What braniac thought that one up?


Number 1:
Superman 64
System: Nintendo 64

The concept: Lex Luthor has trapped Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in a Virtual Metropolis. Help Superman fight through the Kryptonite Fog (?) and rescue them before time runs out and stop Lex once an for all!


What went wrong: I remember the day my friend brought this over for me to play it. He’s a diehard Superman fan and he had said it was a good game. That’s the day I found out he’s a liar.

Kryptonite Fog? Seriously? Shouldn’t Superman, oh I don’t know, be DEAD if he was flying through that? Little particles of Kryptonie in your lungs, that’s probably like getting asbestos in there. That’s some bad shit. And what’s with the rings? Is this Lex Luthor’s Metropolis Circus?

And why is it any goon can pistol whip Superman and he falls like a little bitch? Oh, must be the Kryptonite Fog. Makes perfect sense. Here’s the gameplay for you:

Fly through rings, land on roof to beat bad guys, repeat.

Oh and there’s a time limit on flying through the rings as well. You know, to increase the fun. There really is no redeeming qualities for this game and if you’ve played it you probably want to forget about it anyway. If you see it somewhere don’t be tempted to get it, it will kill a piece of your soul. It truly is the work of the Devil, or a fan that was still upset about Superman Red/Superman Blue.

I see you quiver, with antici...

Waiting for a call back from a resume you sent out sucks. I've never wanted a job more than the one I just applied for. It could be the start of a dream career for me, one that I could see me doing for a long time.

But enough about my impatience, there has been a ton of stuff going on this week so far, and it's only Wednesday! That's why I'm not doing the game preview I talked about Monday.

-So Spider-Man 4 is officially dead. Sam Raimi left and the whole movie just started crumbling from there. So what will our web slinging hero do?

Go back to high school.

Spidey is getting a reboot in 2012 that will plant the web slinger back to high school in a move that screams Ultimate Spider-Man. We can only hope that the writing and pacing match the Ultimate books.

Also, please don't do the origin story. The entire universe knows how Spidey came to be.

-Conan O'Brian is the man. He stood up to NBC about moving Leno's failed show to 11:35 which would bump everyone by about a 1/2 hour. Conan said no and now we have to see what happens.

He also apologized for his hair.

-Netflix is coming to the Wii. Meh

-Army of Two. The 40th Day came out yesterday. My first experience playing with S3 Prototype was fun and lag free. My second time playibg? Not so much.

Holy Lagfest Batman. The game was pretty much unplayable last night. I don't know if it was the EA Servers fault or what but holy crap was it awful. We pretty much gave up on it and are going to give it a shot again tonight. It pretty much drove me to Borderlands.

One last thing! Go visit www.toplessrobot.com. It's an awesome sight were I find a lot of my geeky news needs (I send tips in there too). It's also funny as hell. Except for Fan Fiction Fridays, that will kill some of your soul.

See you on friday!

P.S - ...pation
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

New Horizons, or something like that...

So I've taken the first step in what will hopefully be a new career. It's going to involve uprooting my family and moving out of state but in the long run I'm sure it will be worth it. The first step is making sure I have the job...

The more I play with my PS3, the more I like it. Granted, in my opinion, I don't think it better than my Xbox 360. Xbox Live blows away PSN in terms of functionality, cross game chat being the glaring omission that Sony just doesn't really seem to care about. I think of the PSN as a "work in progress". Live wasn't the behemoth that it is now when it started, PSN just has to catch up.

S3 Prototype and I played the demo for Army of Two: The 40th Day. We beat the first one (difficulty spikes and all) and while we enjoyed it, there did seem to be something missing; the "soul" of the game. Salem and Rios were basically mowing down everyone with little or no remorse.

The new game features many moral choices and some of the are not clearly defines. There are moments that are scripted, like near the beginning when you have to choose whether to obey an order and kill your contact or let him live (the psycho in me killed him which lead to Shanghi being blown up. Coincedence?) There are other moments that I didn't realize would effect anything (like when Prototype subdued the guards and I went behind him and shot them in the head. I may have some anger issues). Plus I can buy diamond tipped grenades. Sparkling death will be raining down, this I promise.

There are way too many good-to-awesome games coming out this year. Wednesday's post will deal with them. Until then, keep on keepin on!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry