Jared Rea

Archive for June, 2008

Don’t You Get Souped Yet

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It may not be perfect, but damn it, it’s close enough for me. Chris Sauer has recreated one of the greatest music videos of all time, Beastie Boy’s “Sabotage,” in Halo 3 and I think it’s adorable. The pool scene turned Last Resort beach scene totally seals the deal.

Unfortunately, he’s also kind of a jerk and has embedding disabled. So go check out the original on YouTube and for those who don’t know the work of Spike Jonze by heart, the side-by-side version as well.

[Sauce: HBO]

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I’m Terrible

Not that I like dragging old memes through the hate machine known as the Internet, but my friends at Destructoid are looking for your take on this classic scenario and I aim to please. That and there was nothing on TV. Apparently, USA ran out of episodes of Law & Order: SVU for me to watch.

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The Red Cyclone

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The adorable Munny that has hypnotized you in all its sheer, rugged manliness, was crafted for me by my girlfriend, the ever-so-talented Miss Shelby. I’m just going to come out and say it: I fucking love Zangief. I’ve been a hardcore Gief player for years, going so far as to pretty much drop every other character in my Super Turbo arsenal in my pursuit of Pony-style Russian domination. So when Shelby asked if there was a Munny I’d like to see made, the answer was easy.

The creation of him, however, not so much. She sculpted out his features in less than a day, but work couldn’t truly begin until we acquired a necessary component, fur. Unfortunately for us, Spring isn’t exactly fur season, whether you’re in fashion or fabrics. After exhausting every fabric and craft store we could find, we opted for the last resort. And so, we picked up a teddy bear from Target and skinned him for his hide.

Seeing as how Zangief received his incredible amount of scars from wrestling Siberian polar bears, I’m pleased to see this project come full circle. For as great as this turned out, she still has a lot to show for as you can see over at her site and DeviantArt. Thanks, Shelby!

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Master Chief is Not a Baby Sitter

As a paying member of Xbox Live since year one, I feel that I can pinpoint the exact moment that the number of loudmouth, racist 12 year olds overcame those of normal, decent people just looking to enjoy their games. It wasn’t the carnival of decapitation that was Soldier of Fortune 2, or even the trash talk promoting Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. No, it was the release of Halo 2. And as an enormous fan of all things Bungie, that makes me feel incredibly sad.

What Adam fumes about is something that I and plenty of other people have expressed at one point or another. Xbox Live has been overrun by a legion of immature dicks who pay $50 dollars a year for the sole purpose of exercising John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. I challenge those who think this to be a wrongful stereotype of Xbox Live gamers to play a single game of Halo 3. Hell, even a game of Uno would suffice. You will find one of these pricks in your game. Guaranteed.

The great tragedy of all this is that Microsoft has, hands down, the best infrastructure for online gaming available and that there seems to be no real solution to this ever growing epidemic. You can mute everyone but your friends, but then you can’t hear their friends either. Attempting to communicate with these apes only makes it worse and ignoring everyone only upsets potential teammates. Microsoft can’t police every game less people accuse them of being Big Brother and a democratic approach would only be abused by the very same trolls you’re attempting to extinguish.

“Somehow, [we] gamers who get so upset when people misrepresent our games on Fox News, or are stereotyped as a bunch of fat mouth-breathers — well guess what. We’re about to acquire a much better stereotypes and that’s a bunch of ignorant, racist, homophobes that have no tolerance or understanding about how other people live.”

I love my fellow gamers and I will defend our nerd ways until the Sun explodes. I know that we’re mostly a good people. That’s why it saddens me to find truth in what Adam says. I fear we’re on the precipice of our new stereotype.

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Do The D.A.N.C.E.


Rhythm games have made the world a better place to live. It’s true! Without them, maracas would have remained solely in the hands of mariachi bands and Dee Jay from Super Street Fighter II. The kids of today would go through life without knowing classic rock and Slap Happy Rhythm Busters would have been “just another fighting game.”

In the grand tradition of improving your life, Go! Go! Break Steady takes the gameplay of Bust a Move and duct tapes itself to Zuma for a game unlike anything else. I had an opportunity to play it some time ago and fell in love with its mishmash of gameplay concepts and Pop’n Music-esque characters. The folks at Little Boy Games have launched their website for it and I’m sure they’ll appreciate any love you can send their way.

I spotted this thanks to the good people at XBLAH, now known as GamerBytes. Congratulations on the new space, Ryan!

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The Future of 2008

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If you could go back in time and tell your younger self anything, what would it be? It’s something we all wish we could do, be it for noble or selfish reasons. But what if all you could talk about were videogames? What then? That’s the question proposed by one of the more interesting GAF threads this weekend and it’s one that I’ve put a bit of thought into.

When it comes to games I’m proud of my background and definitely wouldn’t tell my younger self to avoid any bad games or anything like that. I would most likely warn him of the hype machine and how to manage his money better.I figure I’d better start at writing him a letter. 

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Let There Be Fight

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[Leno] Did you see this? Did you hear about this?[/Leno]

Hori, Japanese crafters of many fine peripherals, is finally bringing their Real Arcade Pro line to the Xbox 360. When it comes to retail sticks, you can’t do better than Hori and this is about as top of the line as it gets. This is especially exciting for Xbox 360 users as they missed out on their first next-gen run with the Virtua High Grade sticks being for PlayStation 3 only. I have a few gripes about this new stick (the headset jack is in an odd spot and the button arc is on the extreme side) but that won’t prevent me from slapping down a pre-order as soon as Play-Asia gives the thumbs up.

I’ve already said enough regarding how amazing this year is shaping up for fighters, but knowing that I’ll be able to step up from my Fighting Stick EX 2 has me even more hyped. Next you’re going to tell me that the Asia version of Battle Fantasia is NTSC compatible, to which a change of pants may be necessary. 

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The End of the Beginning

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