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volume 1, issue 27

Today in loonygames:

New!! The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments on the front page!

Livin' With The Sims: theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's The Sims, asking the inevitable quesiton, "is The Sims the first step toward a virtual life where everyone is Swedish?"

Pixel Obscura: Josh Vasquez on Omikron: The Nomad Soul.

Real Life: Check out our newest comic strip, Real Life! Updated daily!

User Friendly: Updated daily!

T-Shirts: Stylin' loonygames t-shirts from Berda Compugrafix!

Artwork: Hey, dig the artwork on loonygames? We're selling some of the original art.

Feedback:

You've got an opinion...voice it! Drop a line to our Feedback column...you could end up with a free T-Shirt!

Random Feature :

From the Mouth of Madness: Our loony editor's take on all the latest news.

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The grr...argh! dept:
MailBag for Issue #27

Comments by Jason"loonyboi" Bergman

We're still having problems with the feedback@ e-mail, so you're stuck with me for another week. Muahahahahah. I can feel the power.

Anyway, here's some mail. :)

Good God, more letters on "Overrated"

From: "hermanto" <hermanto@idola.net.id>
Subject: feedback

Loved your piece 'bout them "Overrated Games", but I think you left out a worthy candidate: the notorious "Kombat" series. Now THAT's a Mortal sin.

Actually, and I guess I might get flak for this…I liked Mortal Kombat. A lot, come to think of it. :)

From: "Luke Lamothe" <llamothe@digipen.com>
Subject: feedback

About your "10 most overrated games" section.

I do not agree with some of your choices, especially MGS. The first time I played through it was easily the most incredible gaming experience that I have had to date. Scratch that, Xenogears was the best ever, but MGS was a close 2nd. The story was compelling, the way that it was told (with the dialog) was perfect, and the immersion factor of the game is the best that I have yet to experience. I will still sit down and play through it in one sitting from time to time just for fun (seeing as the game only takes 3 hours once you've gone through it already and skip the dialog... one flaw that i'll grant you).

I'm not trying to "bash" you or whatever. I just think that you can't proclaim that a game is severely overrated just because it didn't live up to the hype the way that you were expecting it to. Chacun son gout.

ps. There were no SNES Castlevania games, they all came out on the NES.

Yeah, it's true…I'm a twit.

From: Oliver Jones <orj@ihug.co.nz>
Subject: feedback

>>Then there is the monster AI. It is not that it is bad and infect it is good, but
>>come on I did not see "sophisticated pack behavior". Where were these
>>animals that only attack when provoked. They all attracted me when I got
>>close. It was a good game but there was too much hype.

I _totally_ agree with what Anton Kryzsko says about Q 1 & 2 being over hyped. I looked at Q2 for a bit. Played a few levels then yawned and never played it again. The multiplayer game is fun but I never got really into it. Quake 1 I also never finished. I got almost to the end and got bored. I've played multi player to death, but only a tiny bit online. We don't have broadband net access in NZ and I've been connected to LAN's for too long to enjoy multiplayer games any other way. Now that I've left Uni I have no one to play against. :( Hence now I am much much more interested in the single player experience. This is why I loved Unreal, Sin and Half Life... All of which I finished. But... as Anton points out Half Life suffers from cronic over-hype. Admittedly the game is a lot of fun and it is literally scary at times. The scripted sequences add spice to the game but are by no means revolutionary. The AI was nice, especially the soldiers. But even they were very predictable in the end. As for the hyped 'team/pack' based AI... well can't say I ever noticed it. Most conflicts you came accross ended so quickly that you didn't get to see much in the way of advanced AI. As for interactive environment. Pah! What interactive environment? Ooh I can shoot vending machines. Ooh I leave scortch marks.... nice but not exactly fantastic. Sin had a much more interactive environment but then again it was kinda pointless. Another beef I have about HL is that by the end of the game it just got too weird and the reality that made the game great in the beginning went out the window. It almost turned into a platform game with spinning platforms on polls, weird ass impossible islands in the sky and stuff like that. It's not that I don't like platform games. I just bought Banjo-Kazoowie for the N64 and have played Mario 64 to bits. But please leave the platform action out of 1st person shooters. Also if there is one thing I hate about ALL 1st person shooters it is hard ass, bitch to kill boss characters, and HL had not one but two! Argh talk about tired. Basically the end of the game was a _total_ let down.

[snip]

>got a number of letters from people who expressed disappointment in
>Half-Life, and suggested that it should have been included in the list. It
>wasn't included, because I do think that Half-Life lives up to its hype,
>even though I was extremely let down by its multiplayer game. But
>hey…that's just me. I'm weird. :)

Hmmm. Have to disagree. Given a choice of all the current FPS death match games I'd pick HL over them all. Loads of fun. Things like the mines etc really add something to the DM experience. I'm really keen to see what Valve can do with Team Fortress. I never did play the Quake version but it sounds cool.

Ciao

--

Oliver Jones, BSc. - oliver@deeper.co.nz
Managing Director
Deeper Design Limited

I know a lot of people who really dig Half-Life multiplayer, but I just can't get into it myself. Shogo on the other hand, totally rules in DM.

Yes, I do listen to suggestions

From: "Jeff Atwood" <jatwood@nineoneone.com>
Subject: force feedback

You absolutely cannot discuss force feedback racing without playing Powerslide or Viper Racing. Both have state of the art realtime calculated forces, not the "canned" drek you see in NFS 3 and Motorhead.

Jeff

I took Jeff's advice and downloaded the demo versions of both games…and jeez…I have to disagree here. Talk about weak force feedback…I barely felt anything, and even when I did it was far from realistic. Of course, bare in mind that these were just demo versions…the real ones might be much better. I'll let you know after I've checked 'em out. :)

loonygames has a no-SNL reference policy

Subject: feedback

Great columns the last couple weeks. Although, i actually enjoy playing Gyromite fairly often (i dont use R.O.B., i never got it to work).

How about a column talking about the biggest game failures of all time (A Fork In The Tale comes to mind). keep up the great work!

Jeez…you really play that thing? You must be very patient. ;)

As for A Fork in the Tale…ugh. Saturday Night Live actor does horrible FMV game. I still have nightmares. The biggest game failures of all time could be fun…but there's just too many to choose from. Descent From Undermountain, anyone? How about the hideous graphical Leather Goddesses of Phobos that came out? Ugh. Too many horrible memories, methinks. Best to leave that topic alone. ;)

And this week's loonygames t-shirt goes to…the guy who corrected us, and still got it wrong:

From: Matthew Todd Franklin <startled@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: feedback

No, no, no. It's "all those moments will be lost _in time_. Like tears in rain."

At least in the director's cut (which is the only one that counts).

---

Frightened? No, I think startled is a better word. startled@leland.stanford.edu

Shows what I get…I quoted that from "Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner" and not the movie itself. Gave it the benefit of the doubt. However, since you brought it up, Matthew, I pulled out my trusty Blade Runner: The Director's Cut DVD and decided to check for sure…and guess what? We're both wrong. :)

Here, ladies, and gentlemen, is the real quote, as transcribed from the DVD's subtitles:

"I've…seen things you people wouldn't believe…Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those…moments will be lost…in time. Like tears…in the rain. Time…to die."

And yes, that speech really was improvized. Strangely touching, isn't it?

Be sure to check out Issue 1.29's Bargain Bin when it runs...i'm reviewing the Blade Runner game. W00p. ;)

- Jason "loonyboi" Bergman is the editor-in-chief for loonygames. He's a total opera whore.

Credits: MailBag logo illustrated and is © 1999 Dan Zalkus. The MailBag is © 1999 Jason Bergman. All other content is © 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited and not nice.