Chalk these fears up to the fact that I had never touched a version of OOTP before. Hell, the only sports games I had played for a significant amount of time in the past decade were NBA 2K12 and NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. And in NBA 2K12, my favorite mode, “My Player,” was the polar opposite of the usual GM role taken in OOTP but I still managed to go for the best NBA moneyline picks. I’m not sure if I’ve ever gotten through an entire season in any sports game in my life; I rather just kick someone’s ass in Virtua Tennis. If you want to place your bet on your favorite team or player, you may visit the website of ufabet. To play various casino games for a chance to win exciting prizes, you may explore b casino.

So instead of diving into a simulated franchise month-by-month and season-by-season, I decided to pick the disappointing 2013 Toronto Blue Jays and see what would happen if I played a season with them, game-by-game. I went so far as to create a separate Twitter account for the fake season that was sure to be better than reality. Looking through those 63 tweets reminds me of how much fun I was having, despite each game being played out on the same mediocre interface each time. Admittedly, I was baseball-game-starved. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed playing baseball games. (Okay, that’s a lie: I bought a friend MLB: The Show 12 just so I could play it when I went over to his apartment.)

OOTP14 filled a void, but unsurprisingly I bumped up against a wall quickly when it came to playing a text-based baseball game every night. Instead of transitioning to a simulation-heavy season, I just stopped playing. I can’t pinpoint exactly why I just stopped — maybe because I felt like an idiot for tweeting about it for a week, maybe because I knew I had a review to write. I avoid responsibility as much as possible and I bet you have never read that in a “review” of a video game before. I felt like garbage for a while about never writing a review, but I never loaded up the game again because I wanted to avoid the “work” I would have needed to do to write a decent review. I say “work” because if it weren’t for the promised review, I may have continued messing around with the game without any sense of guilt.

Okay, that’s enough of my psychological issues. With the impending release of OOTP15 (literally tomorrow), I felt the need to remedy my breach of human decency. I knew I needed to write something about OOTP14 before a new version was released.

Despite my choice of the 2013 Blue Jays, I am a Mets fan. If you have ever read this blog before or followed my Twitter or had any interaction with me at all, you probably know this. At some point, I utilized OOTP14′s historical league option to simulate 1986 just for kicks. It ended with the Mets not even making the playoffs. Come to think of it, that may have contributed to me not touching the game again. Nonetheless, when I loaded up the game again a few days ago, I decided to tackle another year that weighs heavily on the minds of Mets fans: 2006.

The real-life 2006 Mets had their season ended on a disgusting curveball that froze Carlos Beltran. You all know this. The real-life 2006 Mets also did not have Scott Kazmir, due to a mind-boggling trade in 2004 where he was traded for Victor Zambrano, a below-average pitcher who did not help the below-average Mets that year. Or any year. Goddamn it. Anyway, I created a historical league starting in 2006 and reversed the trade. Of course, I needed to enable commissioner mode for that because what kind of moron would accept that trade? This was important, though.

I simulated the season month-by-month, watching the standings morph every half-second as the computer worked its magic. The Mets started off a little slow, but by August they had a comfortable lead. The Braves threatened a bit in September, but the Mets held on. Scott Kazmir ended up at 21-3 with a 3.40 ERA. (Shoot me.) I still tempered my expectations, since the playoffs are such a crapshoot, and the real-life 2006 Mets got good performances from John Maine and Oliver Perez (really). But this faux version of the 2006 Mets had healthy versions of Pedro Martinez and Duaner Sanchez. And Xavier Nady! A powerhouse, surely.

I utilized the awesome real-time simulation option of OOTP14 throughout the playoffs. In the earlier rounds I stuck to staring at the scoreboards as games ripped through innings in a few seconds, but later on I would drop in on the broadcasts of Mets games for no particular reason. I would only receive snapshots of every third at-bat or so, but it was enough to create some semblance of narrative. The faux 2006 Mets made it through the NLDS easily, but then fell behind 1-3 in the NLCS versus the Dodgers. Nomar Garciaparra of all people was having a series. But in the final three games, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, and Scott Kazmir pitched the Mets into the World Series. Carlos Beltran had the best series on the hitting side. It was beautiful.

When it came to the World Series, the Tigers laid down just like they had in real life against the 83-79 Cardinals. The faux 2006 New York Mets, with Scott Kazmir, won the World Series. Carlos Beltran had a 1.485 OPS. It would be glorious if it weren’t so pathetic.

To touch on a OOTP14 feature, I wish I had selected “career play” when I created that historical league. I would have continued with that Mets dynasty, just like it was supposed to be. For whatever reason, I didn’t bother. If you ever decide to go ahead with a historical league, you should just check off that option. It can’t hurt.

All of this is to say that OOTP14 (or any version of OOTP) is absolutely fantastic for any baseball fan. I wish I had more examples to relay to you and more tidbits about options and features to list, but I’m not sure any of them would help drive home any more the fact that this game is amazing. If you want to learn more, read more about OOTP14 and experience its greatness for yourself! You can do pretty much anything you want to do within the framework of OOTP14. There are historical leagues and fictional leagues and major leagues, the last encompassing Japanese and Cuban and other current options. You can adjust sliders to create leagues where all of the players are coming from Asian or South American countries. You can create a league with 2 teams or 120 teams. You can fill an entire league with fictional players or a mix of real players from every era of baseball. There are even little facts and quotes constantly popping up in every load screen.

I’d feel uncomfortable praising anything more about this game. I didn’t see players develop according to their PECOTA-based system. I didn’t attempt all that many trades. I didn’t experiment with fictional leagues at all. There are so many options and opportunities within the game that I’ve never tried out.

Instead, all I can offer is this screenshot of the in-game interface (you have to import logos and stadium pictures, which I should really do, because ugh Philly):

Not great. But apparently OOTP15 will improve upon this with support for 3D stadium and 3D ball flight. I do think there’s some assumptions about community support being thrown around when it comes to current and past stadiums, but they’re probably not wrong. If you’re into that kind of thing, you’d probably be best served to buy OOTP15 or MLB: The Show 15. Personally, I obviously think the interface could be better, but I still ended up getting excited about a text account of the proceedings, occasionally augmented by a little Gameday-like ball flying into the outfield.

OOTP14 is $19.99 now on their site and also on Steam. OOTP15 is $39.99 on PC/Mac and soon enough on Steam, according to the site. OOTP15 releases today. If you’re interested at all, you’re probably drawn toward the most recent version, which is understandable. Apparently there’s going to be a new ratings system, a revamped interface made for 16:9 (I don’t know how it took so long), and the usual incremental improvements across the board. There’s also the iOOTP14 option, which seems perfect for a lot of baseball fans (based on the testimony of others).

From my experience with OOTP14, between its day-to-day simulation to its yearly historical simulation to its endless amount of options, it’s the best way to spend your time fantasizing about baseball scenarios. MLB: The Show is there for the people who want the pitch-to-pitch experience — which includes me for the most part — while OOTP is there for those who want to create a winner from the front office down. You’re not going to be able to act out that Scott Kazmir scenario in The Show.

No matter which team you’re a fan of, I’m sure you’ll come up with a trade or signing that you’ll like to reverse or create; OOTP is your chance to experience that sandbox. It’s up to you whether you want to spend the money on the newest version or not. Or whether you rather place yourself in the game in something like The Show. I won’t fault you if you choose the latter, since that’s what I’d probably choose, if I had a PS3 or PS4. But I’ll make do with simulating the strike-shortened 1994 season, Mike Trout’s career, and the Mets 2015 rotation.

SSX

I had been waiting for this game all generation, basically. This iteration feels like a bunch of ideas thrown into a stew held together by a fantastic online infrastructure. Too bad, like Burnout Paradise, there’s no local multiplayer. I bought these series last generation to play with friends in the same room and now more powerful consoles are apparently incapable of handling split-screen. So the coolest moment in this game inevitably came from beating some ghosts online, perfecting a track until I was able to break the platinum barrier for a huge virtual payout. I never got close to diamond tier in any race; I have no idea what those kids were on.

FTL: Faster Than Light

There are no cool moments. There are only moments of fleeting happiness crushed by random bullshit. And I love it. Seriously, buy this game if you aren’t a moron.

Halo 4

I didn’t pay close to full price for this, at least counting the sweet American Express deals that required beating it. I’ve actually played much more multiplayer than I thought I would. My life is so empty. Anyhow, jetpacking into the air and colliding with another jetpacking player and assassinating him in mid-air was immensely satisfying. I should have made a film of it, but I don’t think I could have embedded it in this post, anyway. For those who enjoy the same rush of adrenaline and competition, betflix offers that same energy through engaging entertainment experiences.

Hotline Miami

The music in this level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2tYZT79HKo

DOTA2

That time I didn’t get totally destroyed by the other team or yelled at by my teammates for not knowing what the fuck to do. I guess that was an okay imaginary game. Just euthanize anyone who plays this game with any regularity.

Trials Evolution

Checking my medal count compared to my friends list was always cool because I was so much more efficient than them. You might have 5 more medals than me (210 to 205), but you played eight more hours (twice as much time as me). I hope it was worth it, loser.

Civilization V: Gods and Kings

Nuking another civ. Nukes are the best. This is kinda cheating because it’s not like the expansion added nukes to Civ V, but I only bought Civ V this year and the expansion came out this year, so I’m counting it. I’m really sad I didn’t get into the Civilization series as a kid. I loved the Sim City series and real-time strategy games, but never got into turn-based strategy. The only one I played was Lords of the Realm II, which strangely enough, is the only game in that series not on GOG.com. Anyway, I missed out on a lot of PC gaming goodness growing up. I just wasn’t a big enough nerd, I guess.

Diablo III

Getting an awesome axe with a “Level Reduced by 10″ affix for dirt cheap on the auction house. Wow, this game sucks.

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If such a unfortunate mistake ever befell me in Diablo III, though, I could just go on the auction house and buy some new gear. I could literally pay to be awesome at the game. You practically need to buy gear in the auction house if you want to progress through the four difficulties at a comfortable rate. Such an issue is illustrated beautifully in this blog post. Yet I still can’t stop playing. I know there’s a 0.001% chance I will actually use a weapon or piece of armor that drops, but it doesn’t stop me from killing thousands of monsters over and over again. I actually had two Legendary items drop pretty quickly for me, but I haven’t even used either of them yet, which is indicative of another issue. No matter, I still can’t stop playing. At least what I feel is excessive video game playing isn’t in line with the standards of some people on my Battle.net friends list, some of whom have played two to four times as many hours.

All this time spent on an eminently dumb game. It’s so fucking mindless and addictive and zombiefying. Not able to kill some particularly tough groups of champion enemies?– better get some new gear with your stashed gold or your Paypal account. Click, click, 1, click, 3, click, click. Sure, you learn to utilize your spells more effectively and try out different spell configuration as you unlock new ones, but there’s not so much a difficulty curve as a timesink curve. To beat Inferno is going to take the average person hundreds of hours. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe I’ve never been a dedicated gamer outside of arguably the Day of Defeat beta 10 years ago and Counter-Strike: Source for a few months after its release. Those were games that revolved around human competition and teamwork, not AI hordes of the same baddies repeatedly endlessly until you farm enough gold or get enough cool drops (hahahaha, unlikely) to beat the game on Inferno.

A big part of me hopes writing out these thoughts will convince me to put down the crack pipe. I already played through LIMBO the past couple of days instead of playing a few hours of Diablo III; I think that qualifies as a glimmer of hope. Such an original and thoughtful puzzle game was a nice break from the exhausting routine of killing skeletons and demons. Eating through my backlog of indie games on Steam sounds like a better idea than making my way through Hell difficulty with my Monk character. Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, Jamestown, Bastion, Psychonauts, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Lone Survivor; or, the same set of Diablo III levels I’ve played through three times between my Monk and Wizard characters. There’s little rationale behind choosing the second option, yet I’m convinced my Monk will hit Level 60 (the highest) by the end of the week. Fuck you, Blizzard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDDfPxF3EFE

I originally started writing a relatively long post imploring gamers to look at Battlefield 3 over Modern Warfare 3 for their contemporary military shooter fix, especially if they’ve bought the previous three Call of Dutys set in the present-day. Then I saw that the console player limit is 24. Sure, that’s the same deal as MW3, but BF3 is meant to be played on a grand scale. I can’t imagine the console versions coming close to the massive 64-player battles that will take place on the PC. That’s without throwing in the graphical advantage any halfway decent PC will have over the half-dozen year old tech of the 360 and PS3.

So while the above video is absolutely ridiculous looking, it’s the PC version featuring a 64-player battle. I don’t know if the graphics on the consoles will approach that level, but I’d put my life savings on them not coming close to a computer that satisfies the recommended specs. The little research I did on the matter unearthed a quote from an EA employee working on the game saying they limited consoles to 24 players and shrunk some maps in order to keep the graphics and other features intact. Either way, it’s obvious that the PC version will be superior, but PC gamers are already the ones who want BF3 much more than MW3. The consoles are where the battleground for market— and mind-share will take place.

And is there truly anything that I can say to change anyone’s mind on their decision? I haven’t played either game and I’m already an outlier with regards to the usual console COD player due to not owning Black Ops. Everyone owns Black Ops. Overhearing a conversation about the game is a somewhat regular occurrence. My 13-year-old cousin complains about his baseball teammates talking about Black Ops even during a close game. Battlefield doesn’t have anywhere near that popularity, so it’s going to need to blow people away upon release.

People know about Battlefield 1942 and the Bad Company games much like people knew about the Call of Duty games before Call of Duty 4 released. But COD4 created a phenomenon and an absolute monster of a franchise. It was a beautiful, responsive, 60-frames-per-second breath of fresh air among console shooters. I never felt completely comfortable playing a FPS with a controller until that COD4 beta. BF3 will need to be the COD4 of its series, and I’m going to take that thought to its logical conclusion and say that EA is smart in having a multiplatform beta. I think that’s the type of action needed to create hype of a critical mass. I look forward to getting a code somehow at the last minute so I can enjoy stunted 24-player vehicular action on my 360 or slightly prettier 64-player action on my newly acquired (hopefully), but gaming-mediocre laptop. Maybe then I’ll actually be able to write something of substance about BF3.

Over the weekend, the internet “leaked” a red band trailer of the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the version I’ve been looking forward to since the announcement of David Fincher at its helm. Many people have put the quotation marks around “leaked” since Sony Pictures could have taken down the YouTube’d bootleg trailer before it came close to accumulating a few hundred thousand views. But it seems now the green band trailer has officially hit the web. The difference between red band and green band is that the former indicates an R-rated trailer, which means the latter has cut out the blood and boobs. I naturally prefer the red band, as it revels in the violent nature of the material more, but the two trailers are in almost every way exactly alike.

Trailer courtesy of Movie-List, via The Film Stage.

Other than Fincher’s involvement, I’m looking forward to the film due to Trent Reznor composing another score for him. I have no clue whether the trailer music is reflective of the film score, but no matter how you may feel about the cover of “Immigrant Song”, you have to admit it fits the trailer perfectly. Add that to Reznor’s fantastic work on The Social Network, and I’m confident he will know exactly how to score anal rape and serial killing.

And that brings me to why I’m looking forward to Fincher tackling this book: he does his best work when dealing with serial killers. Not to mention his movies are stylish as fuck. Anyone who can cut the story of Facebook into a fast-paced two-hour film simultaneously following the initial creation of the website, along with two separate depositions for lawsuits that were spawned by the site, is an extremely talented director. Ok, maybe he had help from Aaron Sorkin in creating the script that made those scenes so entertaining, but Fincher’s directing was probably the star of the film. I need to watch The King’s Speech just so I can say how little directing was even needed for such Oscar bait. “Just point the camera at the great actor with the stutter! People will eat that shit up!”

While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is over half a year away (note the “Feel Bad Movie of Christmas” tagline), the next piece of entertainment is even further away. It should be arriving next year, but who knows with Blizzard? I could be talking about either Diablo III or the first expansion to Starcraft II here. But this time I’ll just post the first gameplay footage of SCII: Heart of the Swarm. There’s not really much to get excited about in the video, though, especially considering how shitty appearance of the main character, Kerrigan. I’ll probably make a dedicated post to Diablo III in the near future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRWzB7T0LBw

To get to something that will come out soon, a trailer for the fourth season of Breaking Bad hit the web yesterday. It consists solely of scenes from previous seasons — whether that’s a positive or negative is up to you. I’m just glad I got a reminder one of the two best shows on television is back in July, which is only one month away. This summer has really sneaked up on me. If you haven’t watched Breaking Bad yet, get started now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alFsfEUtDmQ

I’m sure you’ve heard of Game of Thrones by now, considering there have been ads during baseball games, basketball games, and plenty of other television shows not featuring professional athletes. Going only by the commercials, one would think it’s possibly Lord of the Rings with sex thrown in, especially since Sean Bean stars in both. It’s closer to a re-imagined medieval political drama. I’ve heard The Sopranos + LOTR, but I really don’t get where the hell these people got The Sopranos from this series. I definitely think The Wire, Deadwood, and Rome would be better comparisons, considering the ensemble casts and power struggles — not that I’m qualified, considering I’ve never seen The Sopranos. But I don’t think I’m wrong when I assume the show focused greatly on Tony.

While Sean Bean is undoubtedly the central character of A Game of Thrones (the extra “A” means I’m talking about the book), there are way too many other important and powerful characters, signified by each chapter featuring one of eight narrative viewpoints. Not to mention that Sean Bean is as close to a traditional hero as you’ll see on TV nowadays, what with his old-fashioned honor and loyalty. Yeah ok, he has a bastard son, but it’s not like he’s a emotionless vigilante serial killer of other serial killers, an angry U.S. Marshal who likes to shoot people whenever he can, or a sarcastic animated secret agent who has an unhealthy relationship with his mother. Bean’s Eddard Stark is the character that gives some sort of noble center to the treacherous goings-on in the world of Westeros, the fictional continent where A Song of Ice and Fire takes place (that’s the name of the entire book series).

I had been hearing about the book series for a few years due to the nerd-filled places I frequent on the internet, but I never got around to reading the first book until last month. I figured I needed to prepare for the TV series premiere, even though I don’t subscribe to HBO. My plan was to possibly milk three free months out of FiOS like my parents seem to do once a year, and with the Optimum Online $69.95 triple-pack offer that came in the mail today, I might have my leverage. I won’t even need to lie!

I’d recommend everyone to read the books before watching the series, but that’s just my stock advice when it comes to these types of things. Reading before watching might be particularly helpful with A Game of Thrones, though, as it is lengthy and filled with so many characters and details that it’ll undoubtedly be tough to keep up if you jump right into the show. The book doesn’t have spectacular prose, and the world is misogynistic, but I’m not sure George R.R. Martin is. He might paint some female characters in a terrible light and describe some rough sex, but the ending of the book does feature the climax of a young woman finally coming into her own. Man, that sounded so wrong.

Anyway, the book is just what it sounds like — a struggle for the throne of Westeros. Of course, it’s only the beginning of an still-unfinished seven-part series, but many of the arcs are wrapped up while also laying the framework for the bigger battles that undoubtedly come in later books. There are betrayals and murders and twists and beheadings, but not all that much magic or supernatural forces if that’s what you’re worried about. Although, there is plenty of talk of dragons since they at one point actually existed in this alternate medieval world (if you’re a Japanophile, imagine them as mechs or gundams). And if you watched the following preview, you probably thought LOTR + zombies, instead of The Sopranos. So I would just like to drive the point home that this is basically Rome set in a Christopher Nolan-esque “grounded” fantasy world.

Then there’s Portal 2. By now you undoubtedly heard of how the cake in the original was a lie, but the puzzle-solving done in the first-person was what set Portal apart from just most games of the past few years. It was a short ride, but a shockingly inventive and entertaining one. After only an hour with its sequel, I’ve already experience much of the same, even if the puzzles so far are extremely simple to a veteran of the original. The same dry, but playful sense of humor pervades each game and the graphics are crisp on even middling PCs such as mine, due to the Source engine being immensely scalable, and most of the action taking place within fairly plain enclosed areas — testing chambers that have the aesthetic of a laboratory playground.

There’s not much of a point in me going on about Portal or its sequel at this point. You should have already played the first, and if you haven’t, ask someone who pre-ordered Portal 2 for a Steam copy. I’m off to play with my portal gun.

Bioshock Infinite is Bioshock in the sky, only it seems this city is on the other side of the political and social spectrum. Instead of social libertarianism and amoral scientific progress got awry, this successor revolves around nativism and I assume religious conservatism. This is the game we all wanted after the original Bioshock. I wasn’t even interested in its sequel (I’m still not), but I can’t wait to get my hands on this game.

Remember when you first saw that trailer for BioShock where the Big Daddy drilled a hole through that guy’s hand and you were convinced it couldn’t have been rendered in real-time? Well, the following gameplay video isn’t quite that impressive relative to its time, but it’s probably the most exciting early-game footage I’ve seen since then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLFy7P0isE0

I can’t believe it’s not coming out until 2012. What a fucking tease.

It’s amazing that even with an underpowered, two-and-a-half-year-old laptop, my two gaming companions of the past few months have both been PC titles. I have returned to my ongoing love affair with Team Fortress 2 and started a new and dedicated relationship with Starcraft II. Not only do I play both games a few times a week (ok, I actually haven’t played TF2 in a while), but I will continue to do so for years to come thanks to the frequent updates the games will receive.

And it’s not as if I fall in love with games easily; for example, I stopped playing Red Dead Redemption shortly after its release, quickly becoming bored of riding horses around a barren Western landscape while trying to aim and shoot with a shitty control scheme. I don’t want to digress into a Rockstar-bashfest or an argument about console and PC gaming; I’m just using my experience with Red Dead Redemption to contrast my experience with TF2 and SC2. Maybe I just enjoy games that end in “2″ this year (Mass Effect 2 was the fucking shit).

Although I love both TF2 and SC2, they are polar opposites. Two multiplayer games couldn’t be any more different from each other (perhaps UNO and Street Fighter 4 or Counter-Strike and Carcassonne). One game is a cartoonish and ever-evolving first-person shooter featuring at least one huge element of luck; the other is a science-fiction (although not exactly gritty-looking) real-time strategy game requiring multitasking, flawless execution, and a thorough knowledge of a game that is similar to its predecessor.

TF2 is about as casual and straight-up FUN as a PC game can be while still appealing to hardcore players. You can jump right in and play as a soldier, spamming rockets across the map at the other team, and have a good time doing it; or play as a Pyro, trying to find a way to get behind the other team so you can roast them up-close; or play as a Sniper, hanging back behind the rest of your team while trying to snipe enemies in the head. You can jump in and play for fifteen minutes or spend an entire night killing characters that look like they were created by Pixar.

Starcraft II, on the other hand, is about as ruthless and unforgiving as a game can be while still appealing to players who are unable to click their mice 100 times a minute. Although, the multiplayer is only appealing after you’ve played a bunch of the single-player. There’s no way you can just jump in and have any idea of what to do. And then even once you have an idea of what you’re doing, you’re still going to be on the very bottom of the ladder without knowing some basic knowledge. And then once you have a grasp of the basics and can follow a build order and know counters, you have to learn how to scout and keep track of your own base at the same time, how to attack and train reinforcements at the same time — then maybe you’ll be decent. Then maybe you’ll learn how to micro-manage your army for maximum effectiveness, using spell-casters to devastate the opposing forces in a way pure brute force can’t. And this all happens at a pace much faster than most other RTSs. Units and buildings are very fragile, magnifying every small mistake. Oh, you told those units to move instead of attack-move and lost a bunch of them? Guess you fucking lose now. It’s brutal. Yet when you win a close game or fight off early cheese (do you really want me to explain that?), there aren’t many games more satisfying.

What ties these two games together is their respective developers, Valve and Blizzard. Both are the kings of PC gaming because they stick to what they know and polish their games until they’re nearly perfect. There’s the “Valve-Time” meme, but Blizzard is just as bad with getting its games out in any reasonable amount of time — but no one cares once they are finally out. Whenever they come out with a game, it just becomes the de-facto standard for the genre. Starcraft is a spectator sport in Korea. Diablo II and World of Warcraft have ruined thousands of lives. Valve too has ruined thousands of lives, starting with the famous mod for the original Half-Life called Counter-Strike, a game that became a worldwide phenomenon and introduced many gamers to the concept of “clans.” But more importantly, Valve created Steam, a digital distribution and multiplayer platform that is probably the greatest development of the 21st century thus far. There’s no disputing the integral place of both companies in PC gaming history and its future.

The bottom line here is that both games offer more than enough content to satisfy most gamers. TF2 is the wacky, content-laden, constantly-updated distraction; SC2 is the high-maintenance, but ultimately rewarding obsession–well, as rewarding as beating someone at a VIDEO GAME can get.

I told myself that I’d go through both the original Starcraft and its expansion, Brood War, before their sequel was released. I started once the first phase of the SCII beta was over, but I didn’t even manage to get completely through the three campaigns in the original Starcraft before the second phase started and sucked me right back in. I wanted to do it because 1) I wanted a refresher on the story, and 2) I (embarrassingly) never beat Brood War. Well, it seems like the latter still won’t happen.

Fortunately, there are people like ZealousD on NeoGAF who go through the trouble of playing an entire game — albeit with cheat codes — just to record and compile videos of the story segments. Yeah sure, Starcraft might not have the “Oscar-calibre” story of GTA4, but damn if it didn’t seem fucking cool to a 12-year-old. And I still say it’d make a decent movie; it’d be better than most of the videogames adapted for film, at the very least. Granted, the Zerg vs. Terran dynamic could be said to be an adaptation of Aliens, but it greatly expands on the universe and possibilities. It’d make an awesome made-for-TV Sci-Fi Channel movie or miniseries, I think. Oh wait, SyFy.

Bottom line: I care about the story. I’m a sucker for science-fiction shit, and nostalgia holds me pretty tight with some things, and Starcraft is one of those things. I know I’ll enjoy going through the campaigns in the three installments of SCII. In the meantime, I’ll be catching up on the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob4hQsTkWLg

Since the embedder doesn’t seem to link correctly to the entire playlist, here’s a link. That’ll automatically string together 28 videos that comprise the entire story — all cutscenes, in-game conversations, and pre-mission briefings. It’s impressive work.

Is it just me, or are the late-90s, low-resolution “pre-rendered CGI” cinematics still cooler than the “in-game engine” cinematics that seem so prevalent nowadays?

Actually, this phenomenon is perfectly illustrated in this trailer for Starcraft II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E83GfWM-A

Admittedly, the CGI for the Kerrigan part is fucking incredible, so using it in conjunction with what looks to be an in-game graphics engine is totally jarring and shitty. But don’t you think the cinematics in the original Starcraft are just more aesthetically pleasing then that in-game crap, even with their somewhat exaggerated and strange depictions of human faces? Perhaps I am just greedy and want everything to look like that Kerrigan CGI. Wow.

build missile turrets
due to extra minerals
goddamn it brood lords

concentrate on rush
marines, ‘rauders, medivacs
then forget to tech

awesome mothership
so huge, cool abilities
blown up by vikings

block the entrance ramp
wall of depots and barracks
leave one space open

confusing units
new ones; like hellions, thors
no clue how to use

2 v 2 random
heavily favored at start
teammate disconnects

korea awaits
for july twenty-seventh
new national sport