Axe Modding (Grinding)

I was hoping that my next post would be a review or something that rewards readers but, alas, that's not the case. I took the time to pull the faceplate off my Guitar Hero III controller to give it a new paint job. I was so happy with the results that I decided to see how difficult taking apart the X-Plorer was. Once I had it apart I had no other choice but to paint it too. The results are glorious and wonderful. Triumphant and delicious. Truly, they are a site to behold. I highly recommend anyone with half a mind to do it to give it a try. The Les Paul especially, dealing with the X-Plorer was a bit of a hassle and it's now missing one of it's strap knobs. Oh well.

Check out the Flickr set with all the shots.

Now to bed. I've spent way too much time painting controllers, taking pictures of controllers, feeling accomplished and being a huge nerd.

Oh. PS. I got a painful blister on my right index finger from twisting the little screwdriver around so much. After taking apart laptops and other things with way more screws, it was the X-Plorer that got me.

Continuous Failure

Why can't anyone develop a good traditional ninja game or a quality samurai game? I'm not talking about Ninja Gaiden, Samurai Warriors, Onimusha or any other game that happens to star a samurai or ninja. I'm talking about someone making a good stealth game where you have to ninja around or a samurai game with an elegant sword-fighting system that doesn't frustrate to death or bore players to the point of quitting. People, this is possible. It's just not being done. Why? I don't know. Probably money.

What about Tenchu? Tenchu sucks. The controls are over-complicated and the guards are of two classes: they're either deaf, dumb, and blind or they're just retarded. Tenchu games do a great disservice to ninjas and stealth games alike. I don't understand why anyone throws money at a Tenchu game, I will not advocate anything with those two syllables ever again. Ninja Gaiden? Doesn't count. It's fighting system is well-done, easy to use, and smooth. The only reason Gaiden doesn't count is it's not a true ninja game. It's a fighting game. The game I'm looking for is the core of a Tenchu game with everything that feels like a Tenchu game jerked out of it.

Come on now Matt, what about Kengo? What about Bushido Blade? Fuck Kengo. That game is utter crap. I played it, not expecting much, and still got disappointed! There are too many problems to get into and none of them really need to be mentioned. Bushido Blade? Awesome. Why can't someone translate that fighting system into an action-adventure/story mode game? Where you have to calculate your slices and consider your enemy's next move instead of mashing X and holding A while they attack you. Maybe even a game where you get to choose your style and upgrade certain parts of your technique. None of these concepts are new to games, they're just not being used effectively in samurai games.

With these 2 subjects, (ninja and samurai) you'd you think that you couldn't lose. That said, time and time again developers continue to create games based on these ideas that are lacking in most every department. I guess they continue to sell based on the subjects themselves. A ninja game? Awesome. A samurai game?? It must be good.

Kind of like movie games. You can make a horribly shitty game and it will sell because it has Jack Sparrow on the cover.

I don't know what needs to happen to remedy the situation, maybe a new developer needs to step in and push a quality game in. It probably won't sell and will remain under the radar but maybe other developers will play it and pull some helpful ideas from it.

Wiimote Shield: Main Hand 15 Armor -200 Intellect

I just got my Wii Remote Jacket Accessories and immediately installed one. While they aren't quite as obtrusive as I expected, they add a hefty amount of weight to the device and look downright ridiculous. It would probably still break a TV or an idiot's face but, I guess, now Nintendo can finally say that it's not their bad. Not that it ever was. What bothers me the most is the amount of evidence piling up illustrating Nintendo's intentions. They run around making sure that they are creating devices and games that everyone can play. The problem being that these everyones aren't buy every game and really good games are going to get lost under the avalanche of played-out crap (I haven't seen a copy of ExciteTruck at Gamestop since 2006). They'll only buy the quirky mini-game packed family/party games. I hate trying to sell a Wii these days because there aren't any good games. They continue to get units off of shelves based on either the future of Mario franchises or the short-lived novelty of playing the Wii.

When the Wii first dropped I was totally into it but I'm starting to get a little bothered by Nintendo. Which really hurts.

Back to the point. The Wii Remote Jacket Accessory is fun to look at, laugh at, and think about, but mine will probably be coming off tonight when I give Zack and Wiki an in-depth chance.

Assassin's Controls

The more I hear about Assassin Creed's "marionette" controls, the more I think it's going to disappoint. I don't want to play a Prince of Persia where you hit a single button to do a large amount of actions. I'm hoping that the battle system is a little more in-depth and controls better than Prince did. A game where you stand in a crowd and fight by rotating on a vertical axle swinging blades and activating superfluous combos is not a game I want to play again. Anyone who thought that PoP games had a good battle system is an idiot.

The other parts of AC concern me a little less. I'm putting my chips on the idea that the free-running stealth environments will be fun to go through and easy to traverse. The sharpness of the NPC's senses aside, I'm hoping to finally enjoy a stealth action game. After playing Tenchu Z (after everyone else) I've lost any hope for a game where you ninja around, but that's another post.