4 posts tagged “video games”

"I've just been reading an advanced copy of the government's Byron Review on videogame ratings."

"Who's the big guy?"

"It's 'Mogenar' who I assume is the main boss for planet Bryyo.  And he's a total bastard."

"Looks good.  What is this?"

"Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.  Yeah, it's the first decent FPS I've played on the Wii.  And probably one that'll be regarded as the first of the Wii's second generation of games.  I'm playing bounty hunter Samus Aran."

"Shamus?  An Irish protagonist?"

"Samus.  A female protagonist."

"Ah, another post-Lara Croft videogame action-woman."

"Pre-Lara, by around a decade.  Of course in the original 8-bit 80s version she was only revealed to be female in a twist-ending.  But, you know, small steps.  The entire series has this complicated mythology which, two decades later, is still based on the the original platform-shooter.  Which is why you're still fighting the cheesy sounding 'Space Pirates'."

"So you have to stop them from uploading their space warez to the galactic internet?"

"Well, they've performed some kind of attack on the galactic computer network.  So I have to travel to different planets and wipe out their infection, and take on Dark Samus."

"Dark Samus?"

"Not really sure.  I haven't played any of the other Metroid Prime games - except for that DS download where your main ememy appears to be scrivener's palsy.   Dark Samus appears to be an evil doppelgänger of Samus made out of Phazon."

"And Phazon?"

"It's like the weapon and alien energy source of the Space Pirates.  Samus gets infected with it in this game, but she has a suit that lets her control it.  It acts as a sort of steroid - space-testosterone if you will.  You get to harness greater power, but at the risk of losing your control."

"Wait, you're a woman fighting 'testosterone-creatures'?  You're sure this game doesn't have a radical feminist subtext?"

"Hardly.  Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep hitting this guy in his balls because I've been ordered to destroy his seed."

There was a story in the London free-paper Metro yesterday about a girl playing Animal Crossing on the DS, and having one of the characters use a vulgar swearword.

Anyone familiar with the game will recognise it as user-inputted text that had been entered earlier in the game, being parroted back by the computer characters.  If the user didn't input that text themselves, one likely explanation is that they've gotten hold of a second-hand copy where the saved state remains from the previous player.

I could never bring myself to use such robust language when playing Animal Crossing myself, although I did have them use fictional swear words such as "sloblocks".

A few months ago I traded in a bunch of old games at CeX in London, and got hold of Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, not for myself you understand, but for my girlfriend who inexplicably likes the Hawk series.

Isn't it weird the the Vox allows you to search for images of DVDs, audio CDs and books, but there's nothing for video games?

Anyway, I'm just working my way through the stupid 'stamp mode' of 42 All Time Classics (aka Clubhouse Games) so if you're excited by the future possibility of playing Ludo via the wireless inter-tubes my Nintendo Friend Code is 3651 5549 0562.