Return to Our Regular Programming

I figure it's time to get a little regularity here. So, this week starts a new Monday column: The Game of the Week. Most likely, these will be retrospective looks at different games rather than reviews of new games. Some will be popular games, some may not be. With that out of the way, let's take a look at this week's game.

This week, we look at Fallout: New Vegas. For those not familiar with the Fallout series, these games are set after a fictitious nuclear war scenario. The world (well, America, at least - which is this games setting) is a wasteland inhabited by your obligatory tribal raiders, mutated animals and insects, and of course radioactive mutants.

Also, this thing

 The game is set in the Las Vegas area, now called New Vegas. The setting is great, and feels nice and fleshed out. There are terminals all over the map that have pre-war messages to and from different people that accentuate that this world used to be different. The inclusion of fast travel, as with most Bethesda games (the series is a Bethesda product) does tend to make you forget just how vast the landscape is and how much there is to do, but you do still have to at least find a place once before just jumping to it. The story is pretty much average. I personally like it, but I don't want to give anything away, so we're gonna move on from that.

I've never really cared about graphics to be honest, but I know some of you do. This game was released in 2010, so don't expect your eyes to melt, but they are generally good. There are sometimes some weird clipping issues or character models, but all in all they're just fine. As far as sound goes, the guns sound good, the lasers go pew, but what makes me happy is the soundtrack. The music that plays on the radio stations you can pick up feature songs from Marty Robbins, Frank Sinatra, Guy Mitchell, and Nat King Cole. It really helps to reinforce the 50's theme.

Now we get to the fun stuff. The tone of this game is something that I love about the Fallout games (namely 3 and New Vegas). They are set in this serious setting with these serious story lines, but still manage to slip in this light hearted greatness. There are all sorts of jokes littered throughout the game, and great art styling when you look at the inventory, level-up, and other screens. Not to mention the contrast of the 50's themes against the advanced technology such as robots, laser/plasma weapons, and other high tech stuff.

Exhibit A

 As far as game play goes, you can use first or third-person view points, and can choose between shooting or hitting things, depending on your preference/in-game skills. It's your standard point and click to hurt things. There IS the V.A.T.S. system, which is basically an aim assist, but can only be used a certain amount depending on your attributes. Basically, the game pauses and you can select what body part to aim for, and it'll complete your actions when you exit. Gotta love going in to VATS to shoot the gun out of someone's hands.

This game did have a few issues. It suffered from the same creepy character stare during dialogue that The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion did, but without the terrible pie persuasion thing Oblivion had.

I bet this guy would like some pie

 Also, on the PS3 (never played the Xbox or PC versions, but I believe they share this issue), the game would just randomly freeze. Usually when entering/leaving an area. Didn't happen all that often, but often enough to be a nuisance and usually when you haven't saved in ages. It wasn't game breaking, it didn't make me hate the game, but it was terribly annoying and usually ended in a controller being thrown across the room.

All in all, I'd say New Vegas is definitely worth a go, especially if you like other Bethesda games. My advice: use energy weapons. Nothing quite as satisfying as killing your enemies so hard they disintegrate or melt into a pile of goo.

One Million Moms takes on... Disney?!

http://onemillionmoms.com/issues/disney-channel-features-two-mom-family/

From the article: "This is the last place a parent would expect their children to be confronted with topics that are too complicated for them to understand."

Really? I'd say the kids understand better than you. If you didn't enforce your bigotry on them, they wouldn't think twice about it. "Oh look, that kid has two mommies! I bet they get twice the kisses on their boo boos" or something of that sort. Instead, you decide that, because you think it's wrong, your kids should think the same way. This is the same organization that tried to ban violent video games due to gun violence. Forget the fact that people have been killing and even SHOOTING each other for a LONG time before video games came along. These people make me sick.

One Million Moms exists to "clean up today's media". Well, I have something to tell you - all "one million" of you - if you don't like what your kids are watching, if you don't like what your kids are listening to, if you don't like the video games your kids are playing, there's something you can do about it... I know this sounds crazy, but bear with me... YOU CAN TURN IT OFF. They're YOUR kids. You want to raise them to be ignorant like you? Go ahead. But know this, the other kids that your actions affect? They aren't yours, so get over it. Disney shouldn't change for you, the media shouldn't change for you. If you can't be accepting of others then you can stay that way, but stop crippling your kids with your biases. If you teach your kids to think like you, then all you're doing is creating more hate.

I want to make something clear - I respect their right to be offended, and their right to voice their opinions. This is just me using MY right to do the same.

If you want to contact Disney, whether in support or against this decision, then I believe you can contact them here: support@disneyonline.com

If you want to contact One Million Moms, here is a link to their website: http://onemillionmoms.com/
You can "report an issue" on their front page. Which I think I may just do. I found some trash on the internet... It's their website.

Through the Camera Eye

So, today I went to a fireworks show, it being almost the 4th and all. I saw something that reminded me of a topic I've been wanting to cover for a while now - living your life through a camera lens. I walked around a little during the fireworks, and I would say about 75% of the people there were taking a video of the show. Now my question is WHY? Why would you sit there and video tape a fireworks show? I'm sure there're people that would watch it, but still. Why don't you put the phone down and, oh I don't know, maybe EXPERIENCE what you're seeing. Are you telling me you're going to go back in a few months and watch a bunch of videos of a fireworks show you went to? Sure, the cameras on phones are a hell of a lot better than they used to be, but that's still not as good as seeing it.

This happened at pretty much every concert I've been to recently. At one show I was in the balcony, and all I could see was a sea of cell phone screens on the floor, all video taping or recording the show. This is ridiculous, people. What happened to just living the things you do, instead of having to capture every moment on video, with pictures or audio recordings? Yeah, you're still there, still technically seeing it but the cell phone/camera is still taking away from that experience. You have this amazing brain that stores all this information, and you use it to take videos that you're never going to watch, or TONS of pictures that you're going to subject your friends to later. Save your friends some pain, do yourself a favor, and just live.