Sunday, September 7, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sonic and the what?
Ok, so in typical Sega fashion, they're working on another Wii game in tandem with their usual console game which I'll reserve judgment on for the time being.
However, the new Wii game is called, and I am not making this up, Sonic and the Black Knight. And the gimmick is that Sonic is wielding a sword.
...
...
What?
Ok, so Sonic, the guy with the razor sharp shit on him who runs around slicing and dicing enemies by rolling into them...and you gave him a sword? I think that just topped the retardation of giving Shadow guns.
Also, review this week.
However, the new Wii game is called, and I am not making this up, Sonic and the Black Knight. And the gimmick is that Sonic is wielding a sword.
...
...
What?
Ok, so Sonic, the guy with the razor sharp shit on him who runs around slicing and dicing enemies by rolling into them...and you gave him a sword? I think that just topped the retardation of giving Shadow guns.
Also, review this week.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
For the record
The MG NES review was finished yesterday and uploaded to Revver early in the morning. They approved it around 11:30. But it hasn't made it's way online yet.
Assholes.
Assholes.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Bah!
My overpriced webcam just bought the farm.
Well, I'm going to Futureshop tomorrow to buy Rambo IV on BluRay, I'll see if I can find anything decent.
Well, I'm going to Futureshop tomorrow to buy Rambo IV on BluRay, I'll see if I can find anything decent.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Collection As It Stands Right Now
Mostly just a showcase for the new camera. You can't make out all the titles in the first shot, but if you own the games you'll recognize the end labels.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Some gaming musings
In no particular order:
MADDEN NFL 09 - This will probably sound weird coming from me, but I think Madden 09 is showing some serious potential to be a good game. There's a lot of little things that are starting to add up for the better.
They're getting rid of the goddamn radio announcer.
Replacing the "home town announcer" will be NBC commentator Tom Hammond and the NFL Network's Cris Collinsworth. I don't recall either one of them really off the top of my head, but at this point even Michael Cole and Tazz from Smackdown Just Bring It would be better than the radio guy.
MULLIGAN!
I haven't looked into all the details of it but it looks like they're going to implement a rewind feature where you could do-over a play if you're satisfied with it (or if you want to piss off a human opponent). You can set it to X number of uses, so you can just turn it off completely if you don't want it. Admittedly it would be nice to maybe get a do-over on the occasional play. Obviously, not available in online play.
Actual High-Def graphics?
It seems to me that the graphics in Madden 08 only look good if you're playing it on a regular TV set in 480P, otherwise the graphics look washed out and blotchy. It's especially evident with some uniforms textures changing depending on how far away they are from the screen (Try this with the Green Bay Packers).
Now for all I know these are renders, but this shot of a snow game from Madden 08 and this shot of a snow game from Madden 09, it looks better, and it actually looks like there's snow on the ground, instead of white turf.
It's not as if EA isn't capable of good graphics. NHL 08 has fantastic visuals. I guess that's the difference between EA Tiburon (who make Madden) and EA Canada (Who make NHL).
ESPN?
They may try to incorporate ESPN into the fold a little better other than just having ESPN Radio Sportscenter playing whenever you're in one of the menus. It sounds like it could be some ESPN Insider content and the occasional episode of PTI.
MIAMI VICE THE GAME
You know I thought it was a little weird when I heard that the Miami Vice film would get a video game adaptation, but only go on the PSP. I just can't think of many instances where a major film release would go on just one console, let alone it being a handheld.
Anyway it's an alright little game. It doesn't follow the plot of the movie at all, which begs the question of why they bothered to call it Miami Vice The Game. I've kinda wondered why companies feel the need to title their licensed games Whatever: The Game, especially when most people take to calling it The Whatever Game, and especially if the game in question isn't really based on the movie at all.
The gameplay is taken almost bit for bit from Resident Evil 4, except now the Spaniards have guns instead of pitchforks. Crockett and Tubbs control like tanks just like Leon Kennedy, but with the addition of being able to strafe (Something Leon can't do), albeit this "strafe" really just changes the analog knob from normal third person to Move In Whatever Direction You're Pointing The Stick In.
There's also some arbitrary minigames which go with any handheld title. One, called "Hacking" (for hacking USB sticks you find) plays like a cross between Asteroids and Bomberman, which is pretty amusing. The other one is a pain in the ass and is used to negotiate major drug deals.
Imagine if I had you play Rad Racer. Now imagine there were no road signs. Now imagine you're driving a hovercraft. Now imagine you're drunk as fuck. That's pretty much it. Your goal is to keep that line in the blue so your drug-o-meter goes up. If it falls into the grey, it goes down, and if it goes in the red it REALLY goes down. The sections will occasionally move to the left and the right and completely without warning. Also, that line refuses to stand still. It will frequently move to the left and the right, and you'll be forced to push the other way to compensate, and then you'll have to push the OTHER direction to compensate for your oversteer, and it's just a massively painful process because it can be as easy or as frustratingly difficult as the game wants it to be. If you succeed, you sell all your drugs and make massive $$$. If you lose, you make nothing, and they steal all your drugs. You'll need to complete the minigame twice in order to win.
The reputation system is kinda neat. If you storm nightclubs with high-tech weaponry and SWAT gear, your reputation won't increase, but if you barge in wearing your pastel colored suit and your sidearm, it'll shoot up, allowing access to more drug dealers.
Once you beat the game, you can buy the Cheat suit, which is basically a slightly different pastel colored suit but with additional upgrades for it you can unlock infinite ammo and invincibility.
What's also kind of strange is that they use Colin Farrell's likeness for Crockett, but he sounds more like Don Johnson, which can't outdo 007: Nightfire, where he looked like Pierce Brosnan but just sounded like an idiot.
It's not a bad game, and if you like the way Resident Evil 4 played, you can't go too wrong.
MADDEN NFL 09 - This will probably sound weird coming from me, but I think Madden 09 is showing some serious potential to be a good game. There's a lot of little things that are starting to add up for the better.
Replacing the "home town announcer" will be NBC commentator Tom Hammond and the NFL Network's Cris Collinsworth. I don't recall either one of them really off the top of my head, but at this point even Michael Cole and Tazz from Smackdown Just Bring It would be better than the radio guy.
I haven't looked into all the details of it but it looks like they're going to implement a rewind feature where you could do-over a play if you're satisfied with it (or if you want to piss off a human opponent). You can set it to X number of uses, so you can just turn it off completely if you don't want it. Admittedly it would be nice to maybe get a do-over on the occasional play. Obviously, not available in online play.
It seems to me that the graphics in Madden 08 only look good if you're playing it on a regular TV set in 480P, otherwise the graphics look washed out and blotchy. It's especially evident with some uniforms textures changing depending on how far away they are from the screen (Try this with the Green Bay Packers).
Now for all I know these are renders, but this shot of a snow game from Madden 08 and this shot of a snow game from Madden 09, it looks better, and it actually looks like there's snow on the ground, instead of white turf.
It's not as if EA isn't capable of good graphics. NHL 08 has fantastic visuals. I guess that's the difference between EA Tiburon (who make Madden) and EA Canada (Who make NHL).
They may try to incorporate ESPN into the fold a little better other than just having ESPN Radio Sportscenter playing whenever you're in one of the menus. It sounds like it could be some ESPN Insider content and the occasional episode of PTI.
MIAMI VICE THE GAME
You know I thought it was a little weird when I heard that the Miami Vice film would get a video game adaptation, but only go on the PSP. I just can't think of many instances where a major film release would go on just one console, let alone it being a handheld.
Anyway it's an alright little game. It doesn't follow the plot of the movie at all, which begs the question of why they bothered to call it Miami Vice The Game. I've kinda wondered why companies feel the need to title their licensed games Whatever: The Game, especially when most people take to calling it The Whatever Game, and especially if the game in question isn't really based on the movie at all.
The gameplay is taken almost bit for bit from Resident Evil 4, except now the Spaniards have guns instead of pitchforks. Crockett and Tubbs control like tanks just like Leon Kennedy, but with the addition of being able to strafe (Something Leon can't do), albeit this "strafe" really just changes the analog knob from normal third person to Move In Whatever Direction You're Pointing The Stick In.
There's also some arbitrary minigames which go with any handheld title. One, called "Hacking" (for hacking USB sticks you find) plays like a cross between Asteroids and Bomberman, which is pretty amusing. The other one is a pain in the ass and is used to negotiate major drug deals.
Imagine if I had you play Rad Racer. Now imagine there were no road signs. Now imagine you're driving a hovercraft. Now imagine you're drunk as fuck. That's pretty much it. Your goal is to keep that line in the blue so your drug-o-meter goes up. If it falls into the grey, it goes down, and if it goes in the red it REALLY goes down. The sections will occasionally move to the left and the right and completely without warning. Also, that line refuses to stand still. It will frequently move to the left and the right, and you'll be forced to push the other way to compensate, and then you'll have to push the OTHER direction to compensate for your oversteer, and it's just a massively painful process because it can be as easy or as frustratingly difficult as the game wants it to be. If you succeed, you sell all your drugs and make massive $$$. If you lose, you make nothing, and they steal all your drugs. You'll need to complete the minigame twice in order to win.
The reputation system is kinda neat. If you storm nightclubs with high-tech weaponry and SWAT gear, your reputation won't increase, but if you barge in wearing your pastel colored suit and your sidearm, it'll shoot up, allowing access to more drug dealers.
Once you beat the game, you can buy the Cheat suit, which is basically a slightly different pastel colored suit but with additional upgrades for it you can unlock infinite ammo and invincibility.
What's also kind of strange is that they use Colin Farrell's likeness for Crockett, but he sounds more like Don Johnson, which can't outdo 007: Nightfire, where he looked like Pierce Brosnan but just sounded like an idiot.
It's not a bad game, and if you like the way Resident Evil 4 played, you can't go too wrong.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Some updates
Took up WoW again, mostly so I'd be able to do something while I watch the 15 or so DVDs I have yet to watch. If you must ogle him, the armory link for him.
Undercover Filmer insists I take another stab at getting the YouTube account, so what the hell, if mostly so he has more information for the documentary he's working on. As many videos as possible are still going to Revver.
I say as many as possible because Revver is a little uppity about using music in videos, and the Rad Racer II review got rejected because it has Van Halen's Panama playing the entire time, so we'll have to see what happens with that.
Also,
I don't know how either.
Undercover Filmer insists I take another stab at getting the YouTube account, so what the hell, if mostly so he has more information for the documentary he's working on. As many videos as possible are still going to Revver.
I say as many as possible because Revver is a little uppity about using music in videos, and the Rad Racer II review got rejected because it has Van Halen's Panama playing the entire time, so we'll have to see what happens with that.
Also,
I don't know how either.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Definitlely not getting back on YouTube nAAoooow.
DATELINE PiB - Enjoy some back-and-forths between myself and YouTube because if they're going to make it this much a pain in the ass just to restore my account, then I'll save the effort for something that's worth it.
ROUND 1-A: YouTube.
YouTube | Broadcast Yourself™
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Take 2 Games claiming that this material is infringing:
GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsdUwdlmOmc
Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.
If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.
Be aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in your country if you make a false or bad faith allegation of copyright infringement by using this process.
Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.
ROUND 1-B: Counterclaim
Dear YouTube,
I am David Cochrane, the proprietor of the YouTube account "PlayItBogart" and wish to counter a claim made by Take 2 Games.
The following are details of a clip removed by you pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 512. I have a good faith belief that this material was removed or disabled in error as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material. I declare that this is true and accurate under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America.
GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsdUwdlmOmc
08:52
I believe this clip was covered under the points of Section 107 of 17 U.S.C.
1. The clip is not for profit because I am not a member of any advertising partnership program and no profit is generated.
2. The clip is factual and does not misrepresent the media in question, and informed many of its viewers to the nature of the game, who had no prior knowledge of it. It is creative as it meshes together two concepts to illustrate the similarities it bears to a popular filmmaker.
3. The footage taken represents a single percentage of the source media and by no means constitutes a significant fraction of the media as a whole. Furthermore, it is at a reduced picture quality and is further abbreviated from the original content.
4. Citing the copyrighted material in the clip in no way adversely affected the ability of the copyright holder to derive income from sale or rental of the relevant media (Quite the opposite in fact, I'm told several people actually purchased the source media after viewing the clip). No moral rights are infringed as the clip contains no parody or defamatory comments about the material cited.
5. The clip is transformative as it is cut and edited to demonstrate the similarities to that of Hollywood film.
Having complied with the requirements of Section 512(g)(3), I remind you that you must now replace the blocked or removed material and cease disabling access to it within fourteen business days of your receipt of this notice. With the clip restored, this leaves my account with the previous two strikes, and should be reinstated. Please notify me when this has been done.
I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions about this notice, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
David Cochrane
(Address and telly # removed)
I also sent them a scan of my John Hopkins. No, not THAT one, although after this NEXT email...
ROUND 2-A: GENERIC RESPONSE
Dear David, We haven't been able to process your request with the information you have provided us. If you're trying to file an objection to a copyright takedown, please review our copyright hints at http://youtube.com/t/dmca_policy. Please be aware that any counternotice we receive will be forwarded to the party who issued the takedown notice; hence, your identity will be revealed. Also, before deciding to send a counternotice please be sure you understand that you can be held liable in court for a false counternotice.
Blah blah blah.
ROUND 2-B: You said WHAT about my mother?
Well maybe I'd be able to file more information if you people were to give me more information to work with, like, for example, the communique between the copyright holder (Which I was convinced was called "Take Two Interactive" and not "Take 2 Games") and YouTube, because all I have to work with is "HAY YOU'RE INFRINGING ON OUR COPYRIGHT".
Seriously, you're expecting me to defend myself by putting a blindfold over my head and forcing me to recite every aspect of another country's inane copyright code, while for all I know the person who contacted you is a company janitor with an email address who searched your site and fired off a complaint for every hit of "GTAIV" he found.
Which is compounded because there's a user running around by the name of "piayltbogart" and "1337er1337berserker" who's claiming that he's behind my termination. No, I don't have his statements because they're offensive and the first name is capitalized in such a manner that it sounds like it's the real me. I'm sure you can dig the statements out of your server yourselves, especially if you're capable of terminating any other account (i.e. one) that I made with this email address.
I'm not going to move heaven and hell to convince you people to give me my account back. I'll take my ball and go to another court. Maybe Revver? They comb through all your content BEFOREHAND so this kind of crap doesn't happen, and not just that, they let you share the ad revenue! Isn't that awesome? On YouTube, you'd have to be a plagiarizing asshole who appeals to the lowest common denominator to get into YOUR ad revenue sharing program.
If you don't know how your own laws work, who are you to expect me to?
A lot of people are very pissed off with you right now, and I don't mean just me.
Yours in destroying the fabric of the internet,
David Cochrane
"PlayItBogart"
P.S.: Here's a bright idea. Instead of disabling accounts, why don't you just disable their uploading privileges so that they can access important past messages like one from Richard Cheese giving them approval over a clip using their content? Or is this so advanced a concept that it clearly just have been jacked from another media sharing site?
ROUND 1-A: YouTube.
YouTube | Broadcast Yourself™
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Take 2 Games claiming that this material is infringing:
GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsdUwdlmOmc
Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.
If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.
Be aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in your country if you make a false or bad faith allegation of copyright infringement by using this process.
Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.
ROUND 1-B: Counterclaim
Dear YouTube,
I am David Cochrane, the proprietor of the YouTube account "PlayItBogart" and wish to counter a claim made by Take 2 Games.
The following are details of a clip removed by you pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 512. I have a good faith belief that this material was removed or disabled in error as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material. I declare that this is true and accurate under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America.
GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsdUwdlmOmc
08:52
I believe this clip was covered under the points of Section 107 of 17 U.S.C.
1. The clip is not for profit because I am not a member of any advertising partnership program and no profit is generated.
2. The clip is factual and does not misrepresent the media in question, and informed many of its viewers to the nature of the game, who had no prior knowledge of it. It is creative as it meshes together two concepts to illustrate the similarities it bears to a popular filmmaker.
3. The footage taken represents a single percentage of the source media and by no means constitutes a significant fraction of the media as a whole. Furthermore, it is at a reduced picture quality and is further abbreviated from the original content.
4. Citing the copyrighted material in the clip in no way adversely affected the ability of the copyright holder to derive income from sale or rental of the relevant media (Quite the opposite in fact, I'm told several people actually purchased the source media after viewing the clip). No moral rights are infringed as the clip contains no parody or defamatory comments about the material cited.
5. The clip is transformative as it is cut and edited to demonstrate the similarities to that of Hollywood film.
Having complied with the requirements of Section 512(g)(3), I remind you that you must now replace the blocked or removed material and cease disabling access to it within fourteen business days of your receipt of this notice. With the clip restored, this leaves my account with the previous two strikes, and should be reinstated. Please notify me when this has been done.
I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions about this notice, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
David Cochrane
(Address and telly # removed)
I also sent them a scan of my John Hopkins. No, not THAT one, although after this NEXT email...
ROUND 2-A: GENERIC RESPONSE
Dear David, We haven't been able to process your request with the information you have provided us. If you're trying to file an objection to a copyright takedown, please review our copyright hints at http://youtube.com/t/dmca_policy. Please be aware that any counternotice we receive will be forwarded to the party who issued the takedown notice; hence, your identity will be revealed. Also, before deciding to send a counternotice please be sure you understand that you can be held liable in court for a false counternotice.
Blah blah blah.
ROUND 2-B: You said WHAT about my mother?
Well maybe I'd be able to file more information if you people were to give me more information to work with, like, for example, the communique between the copyright holder (Which I was convinced was called "Take Two Interactive" and not "Take 2 Games") and YouTube, because all I have to work with is "HAY YOU'RE INFRINGING ON OUR COPYRIGHT".
Seriously, you're expecting me to defend myself by putting a blindfold over my head and forcing me to recite every aspect of another country's inane copyright code, while for all I know the person who contacted you is a company janitor with an email address who searched your site and fired off a complaint for every hit of "GTAIV" he found.
Which is compounded because there's a user running around by the name of "piayltbogart" and "1337er1337berserker" who's claiming that he's behind my termination. No, I don't have his statements because they're offensive and the first name is capitalized in such a manner that it sounds like it's the real me. I'm sure you can dig the statements out of your server yourselves, especially if you're capable of terminating any other account (i.e. one) that I made with this email address.
I'm not going to move heaven and hell to convince you people to give me my account back. I'll take my ball and go to another court. Maybe Revver? They comb through all your content BEFOREHAND so this kind of crap doesn't happen, and not just that, they let you share the ad revenue! Isn't that awesome? On YouTube, you'd have to be a plagiarizing asshole who appeals to the lowest common denominator to get into YOUR ad revenue sharing program.
If you don't know how your own laws work, who are you to expect me to?
A lot of people are very pissed off with you right now, and I don't mean just me.
Yours in destroying the fabric of the internet,
David Cochrane
"PlayItBogart"
P.S.: Here's a bright idea. Instead of disabling accounts, why don't you just disable their uploading privileges so that they can access important past messages like one from Richard Cheese giving them approval over a clip using their content? Or is this so advanced a concept that it clearly just have been jacked from another media sharing site?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A Correction:
Bethesda Softworks, a Zenimax Media company, is not owned by Take Two Interactive. They just had a joint publishing agreement for Oblivion.
Also,
Also,
Monday, May 12, 2008
So,
Everybody's wondering where PlayItBogart went.
Well, I didn't go anywhere. I'm still gaming, still working 40 hours a week, still interacting with human beings.
I suppose the better question would be "Why did YouTube suspend PlayItBogart's account?".
It was Strike Three. Let me explain.
When you put up Shit You Probably Shouldn't, some bored employee at the company that owns the copyright to it surfs YouTube when he has nothing better to do to see if you uploaded The Gumby Christmas Special or Dr. Phil on The Simpsons. Then he sends YouTube a letter saying "tits or gtfo" and YouTube sends you a nasty letter saying you've committed a crime worse than ravaging the Pope.
In both instances, yes, I was probably in the wrong, and I didn't contest them. And for a time, all was well.
Then Take Two came along.
Yes, you know Take Two. They own 2K Games, Bethesda Softworks, and to some extent, Rockstar, the company behind the Grand Theft Auto series. Perhaps you've heard of them?
Evidently, they feel that the video "GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition" is a blatant, profit-stealing copyright-infringing non-fair use travesty and simply HAD to go. Which is kind of odd, considering my account is littered with clips from Take Two games such as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, NFL 2K3, ESPN NFL 2K5, All-Pro Football 2K8, 24: The Game, Star Trek Encounters, and Star Trek Conquest, and they never had a problem with any of THOSE clips.
And since YouTube is too lazy to actually investigate claims, they just blindly follow whatever somebody with a company email address says and kicks your clips, and if it's the third time, your account and every other account tied to your email address goes bye bye.
This is of course, a bullshit claim by Take Two Interactive, since the video fell under the perview of fair use, what with it being nonprofit (I don't profit off my videos), entertaining AND factual (many viewers had no idea how GTAIV worked), didn't deprive any revenue from them (quite the opposite, in fact), and is transformative, being that I made it into something more than it was by itself.
So yeah, I'll file a counterclaim. In theory it would reverse the third strike and give me back my account. But by then the damage is already done. Take Two has already sullied their reputation with me, and YouTube being an accessory to it wouldn't make things any better, so I'll certainly be shopping for a new repository for my videos (which are all backed up in soft copies), but it would be nice to have the original account standing with all the original account for posterity. I'd also remove all content promoting Take Two Interactive from my account (As I've already done with my games collection, INCLUDING Grand Theft Auto IV), because if they feel that I can't promote their game using their game which I paid for and use it to encourage OTHER people to purchase their games, then I want none of it.
Not surprisingly, this throws the Star Trek review into jeopardy, seeing as four of the games featured in it WERE Take Two games (SPOILER ALERT: Encounters is clunky, Legacy is dull and broken, Tactical Assault is a dumbed down version of Starfleet Academy and therefore is fail, and I stopped playing Conquest after about two days). So that'll probably have to be backburnered AGAIN because at this point I don't want to go through it and remove the "infringing" content.
Allow me to reiterate - YouTube and Take Two Interactive may go fornicate themselves.
The only question is how hard and with how blunt an instrument.
In any event, the Rollergames video is now on Revver.
Well, I didn't go anywhere. I'm still gaming, still working 40 hours a week, still interacting with human beings.
I suppose the better question would be "Why did YouTube suspend PlayItBogart's account?".
It was Strike Three. Let me explain.
When you put up Shit You Probably Shouldn't, some bored employee at the company that owns the copyright to it surfs YouTube when he has nothing better to do to see if you uploaded The Gumby Christmas Special or Dr. Phil on The Simpsons. Then he sends YouTube a letter saying "tits or gtfo" and YouTube sends you a nasty letter saying you've committed a crime worse than ravaging the Pope.
In both instances, yes, I was probably in the wrong, and I didn't contest them. And for a time, all was well.
Then Take Two came along.
Yes, you know Take Two. They own 2K Games, Bethesda Softworks, and to some extent, Rockstar, the company behind the Grand Theft Auto series. Perhaps you've heard of them?
Evidently, they feel that the video "GTAIV - "Hostile Negotiation", the Michael Mann Edition" is a blatant, profit-stealing copyright-infringing non-fair use travesty and simply HAD to go. Which is kind of odd, considering my account is littered with clips from Take Two games such as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, NFL 2K3, ESPN NFL 2K5, All-Pro Football 2K8, 24: The Game, Star Trek Encounters, and Star Trek Conquest, and they never had a problem with any of THOSE clips.
And since YouTube is too lazy to actually investigate claims, they just blindly follow whatever somebody with a company email address says and kicks your clips, and if it's the third time, your account and every other account tied to your email address goes bye bye.
This is of course, a bullshit claim by Take Two Interactive, since the video fell under the perview of fair use, what with it being nonprofit (I don't profit off my videos), entertaining AND factual (many viewers had no idea how GTAIV worked), didn't deprive any revenue from them (quite the opposite, in fact), and is transformative, being that I made it into something more than it was by itself.
So yeah, I'll file a counterclaim. In theory it would reverse the third strike and give me back my account. But by then the damage is already done. Take Two has already sullied their reputation with me, and YouTube being an accessory to it wouldn't make things any better, so I'll certainly be shopping for a new repository for my videos (which are all backed up in soft copies), but it would be nice to have the original account standing with all the original account for posterity. I'd also remove all content promoting Take Two Interactive from my account (As I've already done with my games collection, INCLUDING Grand Theft Auto IV), because if they feel that I can't promote their game using their game which I paid for and use it to encourage OTHER people to purchase their games, then I want none of it.
Not surprisingly, this throws the Star Trek review into jeopardy, seeing as four of the games featured in it WERE Take Two games (SPOILER ALERT: Encounters is clunky, Legacy is dull and broken, Tactical Assault is a dumbed down version of Starfleet Academy and therefore is fail, and I stopped playing Conquest after about two days). So that'll probably have to be backburnered AGAIN because at this point I don't want to go through it and remove the "infringing" content.
Allow me to reiterate - YouTube and Take Two Interactive may go fornicate themselves.
The only question is how hard and with how blunt an instrument.
In any event, the Rollergames video is now on Revver.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
PlayItBogart's NES Games.
I suppose in the year and a half of operation on YouTube I never let anybody know what NES games I had, so:
NES GAME LIST AS OF JANUARY 29 2008:
1. 10-Yard Fight
2. 8 Eyes
3. Abadox
4. Adventures of Bayou Billy
5. Astyanax
6. Back to the Future
7. Baseball
8. Bases Loaded 3
9. Bionic Commando
10. Blades of Steel
11. The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
12. BurgerTime
13. California Games
14. Captain Skyhawk
15. Crystalis
16. Deadly Towers
17. Dr. Mario
18. Dragon Power
19. Dragon Warrior
20. Dragon Warrior II
21. Duck Tales
22. Faxanadu
23. Final Fantasy
24. Gauntlet II (Out having a sex change to Tecmo NFL 07)
25. Godzilla
26. Gyruss
27. Hogan's Alley (Have Box)
28. Hydlide
29. Ice Hockey
30. IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II
31. John Elway's Quarterback
32. Joust
33. Karate Champ
34. Kirby's Adventure
35. Knight Rider
36. Kung Fu Heroes
37. Kung Fu
38. Legacy of the Wizard
39. The Legend of Zelda
40. The Lone Ranger
41. Magmax
42. Metal Gear (Have Box)
43. MiG 29 Soviet Fighter
44. Milon's Secret Castle
45. Mission: Impossible
46. NFL Football
47. Paperboy
48. Platoon
49. Play Action Football
50. Punch-Out!!
51. RBI Baseball
52. RBI Baseball 2
53. R.C. Pro-Am
54. Rad Racer
55. Rad Racer II
56. Rambo
57. Rampart
58. RoadBlasters
59. Rocket Ranger
60. Rollergames
61. Rollerball
62. Sesame Street Letter-Go-Round/Ernie's Big Splash (My first NES game)
63. Shinobi
64. Silent Service
65. Skate or Die
66. Skate or Die 2
67. Sky Shark
68. Snake's Revenge (Have Box)
69. Solar Jetman
70. Star Voyager
71. StarTropics
72. Strider
73. Super Mario Bros.
74. Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt
75. Super Mario Bros. 2
76. Super Mario Bros. 3
77. Super Spike V'Ball
78. Tecmo Bowl
79. Tecmo Super Bowl
80. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
81. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (Have Box)
82. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
83. Tetris
84. Tetris 2
85. The Three Stooges
86. Time Lord
87. Top Gun: The Second Mission
88. Touchdown Fever
89. Track & Field II
90. Wall Street Kid
91. Willow
92. Winter Games
93. Wurm: Journey to the Center of the Earth
94. Xevious
95. Xexyz
96. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
97. 31-in-1 Famicom Multicart
98. 42-in-1 Famicom Multicart
99. 118-in-1 Famicom Multicart
NES GAME LIST AS OF JANUARY 29 2008:
1. 10-Yard Fight
2. 8 Eyes
3. Abadox
4. Adventures of Bayou Billy
5. Astyanax
6. Back to the Future
7. Baseball
8. Bases Loaded 3
9. Bionic Commando
10. Blades of Steel
11. The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout
12. BurgerTime
13. California Games
14. Captain Skyhawk
15. Crystalis
16. Deadly Towers
17. Dr. Mario
18. Dragon Power
19. Dragon Warrior
20. Dragon Warrior II
21. Duck Tales
22. Faxanadu
23. Final Fantasy
24. Gauntlet II (Out having a sex change to Tecmo NFL 07)
25. Godzilla
26. Gyruss
27. Hogan's Alley (Have Box)
28. Hydlide
29. Ice Hockey
30. IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II
31. John Elway's Quarterback
32. Joust
33. Karate Champ
34. Kirby's Adventure
35. Knight Rider
36. Kung Fu Heroes
37. Kung Fu
38. Legacy of the Wizard
39. The Legend of Zelda
40. The Lone Ranger
41. Magmax
42. Metal Gear (Have Box)
43. MiG 29 Soviet Fighter
44. Milon's Secret Castle
45. Mission: Impossible
46. NFL Football
47. Paperboy
48. Platoon
49. Play Action Football
50. Punch-Out!!
51. RBI Baseball
52. RBI Baseball 2
53. R.C. Pro-Am
54. Rad Racer
55. Rad Racer II
56. Rambo
57. Rampart
58. RoadBlasters
59. Rocket Ranger
60. Rollergames
61. Rollerball
62. Sesame Street Letter-Go-Round/Ernie's Big Splash (My first NES game)
63. Shinobi
64. Silent Service
65. Skate or Die
66. Skate or Die 2
67. Sky Shark
68. Snake's Revenge (Have Box)
69. Solar Jetman
70. Star Voyager
71. StarTropics
72. Strider
73. Super Mario Bros.
74. Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt
75. Super Mario Bros. 2
76. Super Mario Bros. 3
77. Super Spike V'Ball
78. Tecmo Bowl
79. Tecmo Super Bowl
80. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
81. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (Have Box)
82. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
83. Tetris
84. Tetris 2
85. The Three Stooges
86. Time Lord
87. Top Gun: The Second Mission
88. Touchdown Fever
89. Track & Field II
90. Wall Street Kid
91. Willow
92. Winter Games
93. Wurm: Journey to the Center of the Earth
94. Xevious
95. Xexyz
96. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
97. 31-in-1 Famicom Multicart
98. 42-in-1 Famicom Multicart
99. 118-in-1 Famicom Multicart
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The New England Patriots - Good for the NFL all around
The two teams I was between were the Patriots and the Packers. It stems back to Super Bowl 31 where everyone said the Patriots would win, and I said Packers would. Packers did. But in light of their recent success (i.e. SB36), Pats won, and Packers became my backup team. Ya gotta have another team to root for if god forbid your team falls to the wayside.
The only way you wouldn't know anything about the Patriots success this season was if you lived under a rock, AND, if that rock had wi-fi coverage, you haven't been watching my material. First team to go 16-0 in the sixteen week schedule. Most touchdowns by a QB in a regular season. Most TD receptions by a receiver in a regular season. Most touchdowns. Most points. Etc. They've kicked ass, taken names, and are now the most hated team in the NFL.
But, why hate them? They have their shit together. A QB who throws. Receivers who catch. A line that protects. A defense that won't let up (Unless you throw short passes, they don't seem to like those). They're setting a new benchmark for excellence, and rather than cursing the Patriots for it, they should be encouraging their own teams to step up and meet the challenge.
Teams need to improve their defense a little more. It used to be that Brady could just throw toss after toss to Randy Moss for the score. But about 10 or 11 weeks into the season, everybody figured out "Hey, why don't we cover Randy Moss more?" That worked for about one drive before Brady just started throwing to everyone else like Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth, and now Randy Moss is a great decoy. Teams HAVE to cover him because he can generally beat single coverage if you aren't on the ball. I can't really recommend anything beyond "try harder".
Which leaves the offense. QBs have to get better, their lines need to protect better, and their receivers have to get more open. Sure, it's easy for me to dish out that kind of advice, especially since with football games you have the benefit of being able to see around you more open, but that's why they're the ones playing football and I'm not. Teams have gone back to throwing short passes for two yards that might run for another four, and it's a good tactic all around.
If the Patriots win the Super Bowl, not only will it cement the Patriots Dynasty, but it will also win them the label of "End Boss Of The NFL".
Teams have three options.
1. Improve their players.
2. Wait for the draft.
3. Wait five years.
Look at it this way. You want your team to beat the New England Patriots. You don't want the Patriots to lose. You want your team to win. There's a difference. A team loses when they self destruct and collapse under their own incompetence, and the other team stands back and lets the pieces fall where they may (see: Pats vs Ravens). A team wins when they rise to a challenge and excel. You know?
I want to say there's some kind of divine intervention at work in the New England region, what with the Patriots perfect season and the Red Sox winning their second World Series in recent years, but it looks like the Celtics are starting to fall back to Earth, and the Bruins are about average.
Honestly, I wish the Super Bowl had been Patriots at Packers. The awesomeness of the Patriots coupled with the history of Brett Favre? I honestly would not have cared who won, it would be epic either way.
FYI, Tecmo Super Bowl 2007 is repeatedly calling the Super Bowl in New England's favor over New York. You may laugh at this, but it also called the Packers/Giants game. Repeatedly.
So did Eddie Murphy.
DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
K, so
I was gonna make a big post explaining why people should love and not HATE the New England Patriots, but something's come up that I suppose I should comment on.
These comments are from my Rambo NES review. The AVGN, as could be predicted from every time a movie comes out that has a minor connection to an NES game, also reviewed Rambo for NES. People are making allegations of the AVGN blatanty ripping off my review (which I do for free) for his token expected review (which he is paid for).
You can watch them both and dicide for yourself.
I don't really care either way. I could get outraged about it, but what's that going to accomplish? It's not like there's any kind of legal recourse or anything beyond demanding an apology. We're all adults here (In theory), and I will admit his video does bear more than a passing resemblance to mine.
I would like to point out the irony in that when IrateGamer was accused of being an AVGN ripoff, the "AVGN Nazis" (Yes, that's an actual term) unloaded on him and refused to give him the benefit of the doubt. But when AVGN makes a video that looks an awful lot like someone else, it's all "...if you are review the same game you are BOUND to bump into same flaws". No shit Buckwheat? Suddenly it's not such an injustice when it's the other way around?
I personally am waiting for IrateGamer Nazis (Again, actual term) to flame AVGN by proxy as using my video as "proof" that he is a ripoff - they accused him of basing his Atari Porno video off an article written by Seanbaby.
I'm calling it - Sometime around Star Trek XI's release in December, AVGN is going to review Star Trek 25th Anniversary for NES, in addition to any other Star Trek games he has....just like I'm doing in March.
IN OTHER NEWS: I just got a new 72-pin adapter off eBay for my NES, and now it works great! I don't even have to push the cartridge down half the time.
These comments are from my Rambo NES review. The AVGN, as could be predicted from every time a movie comes out that has a minor connection to an NES game, also reviewed Rambo for NES. People are making allegations of the AVGN blatanty ripping off my review (which I do for free) for his token expected review (which he is paid for).
You can watch them both and dicide for yourself.
I don't really care either way. I could get outraged about it, but what's that going to accomplish? It's not like there's any kind of legal recourse or anything beyond demanding an apology. We're all adults here (In theory), and I will admit his video does bear more than a passing resemblance to mine.
I would like to point out the irony in that when IrateGamer was accused of being an AVGN ripoff, the "AVGN Nazis" (Yes, that's an actual term) unloaded on him and refused to give him the benefit of the doubt. But when AVGN makes a video that looks an awful lot like someone else, it's all "...if you are review the same game you are BOUND to bump into same flaws". No shit Buckwheat? Suddenly it's not such an injustice when it's the other way around?
I personally am waiting for IrateGamer Nazis (Again, actual term) to flame AVGN by proxy as using my video as "proof" that he is a ripoff - they accused him of basing his Atari Porno video off an article written by Seanbaby.
I'm calling it - Sometime around Star Trek XI's release in December, AVGN is going to review Star Trek 25th Anniversary for NES, in addition to any other Star Trek games he has....just like I'm doing in March.
IN OTHER NEWS: I just got a new 72-pin adapter off eBay for my NES, and now it works great! I don't even have to push the cartridge down half the time.
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