That said, the Deathknight will be able to tank things, we have talked about them having abilities that help them tank casters, but that doesn't automatically mean they are limited to 5 person dungeons or caster-specific encounters. It may be awhile for some players to learn how to play a whole new class and level them up, but the option will likely be available to players/raid groups to have Deathknights tank a large number of encounters.

For some months now I have been continuously asked if I would like to write for someone’s Xbox 360 website. They’d seen my work on the blog and thought that it’d be great if I could contribute articles to their site. Unfortunately I disagreed with them for two reasons, most importantly I do not own and don’t plan on buying an Xbox 360 (the other being that I don’t like to write about press releases :(). While talking this over with my brother later on we generated some strong discussion justifying our lack of interest in the 360. Here are some of our main points.

NB: I don’t intend to disregard or downplay the Xbox 360 at all because in most regards it is a fantastic console and deserves the attention that it has garnered. I am writing this piece to show why, for me personally, in my situation why there is very little incentive in owning the console.

The Xbox Experience = PC Gaming on your TV

(Two points in One)

When the original Xbox as first announced many gamers were of the opinion that the predominate orientation of software design would be essentially derived from PC game design and in some ways it did. Since it’s conception I have had and still maintain this view about the console and its successor. The multimedia features, online play and software line all are largely lifted straight from the PC. This isn’t to say that these points are in anyway bad for the console, in reality this has allowed Microsoft to chase a particular type of consumer and has paid in dividedens.

Not all of the reasoning for this can be placed on Microsoft’s shoulders. Many popular PC publishers are now resorting to console ports to meet their bottom line and generally speaking this by large has effected console game development significantly.

For some reason, as people have become more accustomed to the Xbox consoles, the previous negative connotation seems to have disappeared over the years. This, in my opinion works in converse to these systems slowly taking the role of multimedia PC.

To justify my points if we focus on software for a second and take a look at the “must play” games for the Xbox 360 we see that that a good majority of these games have their own relationships with the PC:

• Gears of War
• Halo 3
• Mass Effect
• BioShock
• The Orange Box
• Call of Duty 4

Three of those games are ports (BioShock, Call of Duty 4, Orange Box) and the rest are all heavily inspired from PC styled games. Furthermore the first three games have been ported to the PC or are very likely to end on the PC in some form or another. Also if we browse over the Xbox 360 games catalogue it is clear that there is a lack of platformers, fighters and RPGs. In fact it is common knowledge that the 360 houses mostly FPS or action heavy titles. So there is definitely a slant towards these sorts of games which are also dominant on the PC, combine this with the steady stream of PC ports and it becomes clear that the Xbox 360 software line up is surprisingly similar to the PC’s.

My second point is in relation to the features available from the Xbox 360 user interface, Xbox Live and online play is a significant part of the system. So too is the conglomerate of multimedia features; being able to download movie and game trailers, chat with friends, play music, view photos and synch this together with digital devices. These features push the same idea of the multimedia PC.

So what is wrong with a PC in your living room? Well nothing, it is a great idea. But as someone whom can be regarded as a power use of the PC (how can most Uni students not fall victim to this?) there is little benefit for owning an additional device to do the same thing just underneath my TV set. If I want to view my photos that I take (I am interested in photography) that I like to organise them in on place on my computer. When I browse the net I also like to write articles, chat with friends, research, listen to music so doing all of this in a different environment is difficult and when there are no real obvious advantages that can be seen, why would I dedicate my time into growing accustomed to a new platform? If I want to play games that are generally speaking made for the PC in which I can play on the PC, then why do I need to buy another device to do that for me? And if you answered that question with a control pad then allow me to remind you that the Xbox 360 controller can be used in tandem with PC games on a Windows OS. So when the dust to settled there is little premise for me to show an interest.

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is an awesome, fantastic service that far exceeds anything that Sony or Nintendo will be able to release in the next 6 years. I firmly believe that this will be the case. Unfortunately I simply don’t have the time nor interest to sit down and play most online games. I already have an expansive collection of games to plough through so even if I did have the time my online lifestyle would probably be quite limited. Going back to a previously mentioned point, if I were to play online on the Xbox 360 then why would I again limit my competitive edge with a controller over a key board and mouse? I’ve also said all of this avoiding the bad reputation of the Xbox 360 community.

A Console Experience

Returing back to the first point, there are only a handful of Xbox exclusive games that I’d personally be interested in that aren’t already available on the other consoles. Perfect Dark Zero, the OddWorld games are honestly all that I can think of. Conversely most of the console games that I am interested in and also grew up on can be found on either the Playstation 3 or Wii. There are just more titles on these consoles which are more akin to my taste. I hate to typecast but the Xbox 360 really is all about tactical military/post apocalyptic shooters which is fine but it is not particularly where my interests lie.

There is a reason why I feel this way. As previously mentioned I feel that a good deal of Xbox games are inspired/derived from PC games. Now I personally struggle to play many PC games, I just am not as interested in the design of these sorts of games. I was born into console gaming and will probably stay that way. This is why I prefer more games coming from Nintendo, Sony, their partners and when it comes key third parties like Capcom, Konami and Square-Enix, most of their content is multiplatform so there is little concern of ever missing out.

Money

This point is quite self explanatory, basically if I want an Xbox 360 then I have to pay money and money is unfortunately a finite quantity.

What Could Change my Mind

I’m pretty much stuck in my ways now. But there is one way that I could be convinced to buy an Xbox 360 and that is the Xbox Live Arcade. The assortment of XBLA games arguably feel more like “console games” then the core software line up. There are easily more XBLA titles that I want to buy than standard games. Here are just a few games that have me salivating at the mouth for:

• Rez HD
• Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
• Bionic Commando Rearmed
• Pacman Championship edition
• castle crashers
• Prince of Persia

These games really do capture my imagination and are more in line with my own personal interests.

Conclusion

I tried to be as honest and fair in my reasoning as possible. I am not biased against the Xbox 360, the Xbox 360 just isn’t for me and I hope that this article represents that. I thought that it was important for me to share my feelings so that you readers can understand why I don’t really talk about any of the Xbox consoles. Of course, if you have a convincing argument as to why I have the wrong idea then please let it be known in the comments below.

ShareThis

Below is video from the Tyra Banks show (you know Tyra Banks, that popular super model? Yeah I’d never heard of this show before either), the segment is as she puts it about “decoding your man”. The subject matter is a man “obsessed” with video games, fortunately our video game heroine Morgan Webb was there to save the day. Watch what I am talking about and read below for my analysis:

If you couldn’t tell by the tone of my language in the introduction I was not impressed by this video. This is a typical situation that perfectly highlights the perception problems that our industry continually faces among such audiences. Over the past few articles I have been edging towards this topic so I want to do a little analysis of the situation and break down what the underlying problem is.

Analysis

The first thing you should be aware of is the use of the word “obsessed”. Obsessed has a negative connotation and much like the word ‘addiction’ is commonly used by the media to typecast us gamers.

The real problem though is the lack of understanding by the female companion (isn’t it always a lack of understanding?). She does not know why her husband plays so much video games, it is incomprehensible to her hence she is on the show to find the answers to this. She announces her lack of understanding with “and I just don’t understand it”.

As you’ve seen, even though the segment is about solving the problems that women have (“decoding your man”, ie. How to understand why your man behaves as he does) the show instead concentrates around the man’s supposive problems (his obsession to video games) and throughout the video the language and choice of questions all fall back onto the him as the problem source. This itself contradicts the point of the segment but nevermind.

When Tyra asks the wife “how often does he play these games?” she answers inspecifically, stressing the length of play time instead of just answering the question. The unspecific nature of this answer doesn’t paint a realistic picture, so she manages to avoid substantiating her claim that he is obsessed and doublely she showcases a possible uncertainty of just how long. I also like how Tyra refers to games as “these games”.
(more…)

ShareThis

Below is video from the Tyra Banks show (you know Tyra Banks, that popular super model? Yeah I’d never heard of this show before either), the segment is as she puts it about “decoding your man”. The subject matter is a man “obsessed” with video games, fortunately our video game heroine Morgan Webb was there to save the day. Watch what I am talking about and read below for my analysis:

If you couldn’t tell by the tone of my language in the introduction I was not impressed by this video. This is a typical situation that perfectly highlights the perception problems that our industry continually faces among such audiences. Over the past few articles I have been edging towards this topic so I want to do a little analysis of the situation and break down what the underlying problem is.

Analysis

The first thing you should be aware of is the use of the word “obsessed”. Obsessed has a negative connotation and much like the word ‘addiction’ is commonly used by the media to typecast us gamers.

The real problem though is the lack of understanding by the female companion (isn’t it always a lack of understanding?). She does not know why her husband plays so much video games, it is incomprehensible to her hence she is on the show to find the answers to this. She announces her lack of understanding with “and I just don’t understand it”.

As you’ve seen, even though the segment is about solving the problems that women have (“decoding your man”, ie. How to understand why your man behaves as he does) the show instead concentrates around the man’s supposive problems (his obsession to video games) and throughout the video the language and choice of questions all fall back onto the him as the problem source. This itself contradicts the point of the segment but nevermind.

When Tyra asks the wife “how often does he play these games?” she answers inspecifically, stressing the length of play time instead of just answering the question. The unspecific nature of this answer doesn’t paint a realistic picture, so she manages to avoid substantiating her claim that he is obsessed and doublely she showcases a possible uncertainty of just how long. I also like how Tyra refers to games as “these games”.

She then rants on about how the relationship has panned out, still not addressing the real problem at hand. Her rant just like a lot of what she says reconfirms her misunderstanding. Interestingly she never mentions anything about laying games with him at all. We later discover that he enjoys playing sports games so theres plenty of opportunity to lay together. By this stage she seems quite frustrated.

The typecasting continues with Tyra asking “Why so much? How old are you?” and then “23, not 13”. She then asks pessimistically “Why do you do that?”. The ‘that’ in this question is again language being used to typecast video game as the foreign medium, the unknown.

The guy here as an excellent opportunity with this question to prove his case. Unfortunately he gives in, admitting that there is a problem. This is an issue that has previously been discussed on several blogs and publications. Gamers far too often fail to truly stand up for their medium, we just take all of this nonsense; game classifications, violence in video games, negative typecasting. What he says is an example of this, especially this line “its definitely gotten better”. He just shot himself in the foot, right there.

Surprisingly Tara knows what a Colecovision and Atari are, how strange.

Despite these comments he eventually finds his feet and begins to share how he talks to his boss about games, proving that playing games are indeed normal, even if you are 23 years old. Do you think that Tyra is just going to sit by accept that playing video games is normal? No, she says in response: “Gosh, so if your boss is saying it, its very validating like ‘this is okay, my boss does this’” in a sarcastic way. This, right here is the worst offense in the video and a brilliant example of the lack of acceptance of the medium with such people. Its not just what she says though, firstly she interrupts him, shoots him down and then cuts to Morgan Webb disallowing him to prove his case entirely. Making this spectacle even more one sided. What she is trying to express here is that there is no valid reason to play video games and just because your boss does doesn’t allow you to either.

From here Morgan Webb spouts out a bunch of irrelevant garbage by the request of Tyra. Remember though this is all meant to fix the problem as to why this lady doesn’t understand her man, why she doesn’t understand why he loves playing video games. Morgan presents the idea that he plays games to escape reality and that he fits into one of several classes. This isn’t fixing the problem though. Speaking specifically about how game genres doesn’t explain why the guy plays video games. He doesn’t want to be a sports star, he just likes sports and enjoys playing sports games. I prefer 3rd person action adventure titles that doesn’t mean that I want to be the character in the game nor does it mean that I am trying to escape reality. Morgan fails to lay down the law and just state that people play video games for entertainment reasons (because that is what the medium is intended to do, why i this so hard to understand?) and that the wife needs to accept that he enjoys doing this and it is part of what makes him himself. She should be helping the wife to understand and not trying to change the man to please the wife because that will simply lead to disaster!

I am going to skip over most of what she says as it is embarrassingly irrelevant and just focus on how Morgan and Tyra then patronize this guy about playing sports games. Firstly has anyone here ever actually heard of what she is babbling on about, a “goal digger”? Morgan continues, trying to convince this guy that what he is doing in the game is not in real life and that he needs to wake up to this. Once again, how is this relevant to anything? I’m pretty sure that he can tell the difference.

All of this is wrapped up with some more patronizing and then a conclusion-less ending. Just look at the insecurity on the guy’s face at the end, you can tell that he has been totally misunderstood here.

Conclusion

What gets me about this nonsense is Morgan Webb. We already know that Tyra Bank is a complete bimbo, hell she couldn’t even hold the microphone upright. Morgan Webb on the other hand is meant to be some sort of video game heroine. I am not a fan of her myself but for a long time I’ve been under the impression that she is a semi-respectable video game and tech presenter. I guess I can throw those ideas out of the window eh? This is what happens when two bad models get together and discuss video games.

ShareThis

If you have ever watched the incredibly funny film, Grandma’s Boy (also about gaming) you will notice that there are many parallels with this film. For a start off, although The King of Kong is a factual documentary, it is extremely funny. You couldn’t make up characters as typecast and hilarious as the ones in this film. The villain is a guy called Billy Mitchell, who after watching this movie I hate with a passion I cannot describe with mere words alone – I would quite happily punch this guy in the face if I saw him. (Well ok, I’m exaggerating a bit here!) Interestingly, he reminds me of the evil guy from Grandma’s Boy too – except he’s not made up.Watching this film you see our Hero Steve Wiebe, fight against a corrupt team of gamers lead by evil and spineless Billy Mitchell – desperately trying to prove his skill as a hardcore gamer. I should point out that this movie does seem to be edited in a way the enhance the positive and negative traits of a persons character - making the baddies seem more evil than they possibly are, and the good guy completely innocent.

Evil Billy Mitchell

The other people in this film as just as funny – sporting Doom t-shirts and getting so hyped up about a game, these middle aged, sunlight deprived men make me smile and remember the good old days when games were all that mattered. It is literally like going back to the 80’s – in a funny, tacky kind of way.

I cant say too much more without spoiling it, what I will say though is rent, buy or steal (not literally) a copy of this film as its a must see!

I would rate this movie 8/10