Sidetalking #2: Survival Horror and Stealth Action

We're back today with our record breaking second post in a row. I did some minor playing around with the layout this afternoon, nothing major though. I realized based on the length of today's post that having more than one post on the main page could be distracting, so I sent all old posts to the archive (located on the right hand side of the screen). Also, I added the option to add Wayne Thoughts to your RSS feed. I realize now that Wayne Thoughts (based on The Office's "Creed Thoughts" blog) isn't that great of a title for a blog that has become primarily about gaming, but I'm just going to leave it.

I haven't gotten much feedback from anyone about the new format, so please, if you're reading this, leave a comment. Also, coming up with stuff to talk about isn't really a problem yet, but I don't wanna run through everything I'm thinking right away, so if you have any questions/comments/argument starters(especially), post them up in the comments and we'll probably talk about them. We want to get people interested so if you have any friends that like gaming, direct them to this blog; if you read something you like, add it to digg, or reddit, or del.ico.us. You get the point.

Coming up with the Sidetalking subtitle is becoming increasingly difficult, because what starts off as one discussion quickly diverges into another and another and another. So, like a movie, I'm just going to start picking a couple words/phrases that define the overall theme of the discussion.

Today's post is decently long, but I think there's some good stuff. Enjoy!

wayne: E3 is coming up soon
Victor: yeah
Wayne: they better announce Shenmue 3
Victor: i believe they may discuss more Killzone 2
Victor: they had a featured article in EGM
wayne: maybe we'll get a decent Resident Evil 5 trailer
wayne: like with actual game play
Victor: they better
Victor: they’ve showed trailers since 2005
wayne: lol
wayne: Resident Evil 4 was easily one of the top 3 games of the past 5 years
wayne: I think that was the first time being legitimately scared playing a video game since Resident Evil 2
wayne: granted, when I was playing RE2 I was like 12 years old
Victor: they did pull out all the stops
Victor: especially the guy with the chainsaw
Victor: or the female because they believe in equality
Victor: i hope RE5 makes you feel more swarmed
Victor: i remember certain parts in RE4 (the mines) you’re in a tight area and are getting attacked by like 20 people
Victor: including the chainsaw people who are chasing you
wayne: there was one time I was playing, where it was like 3AM, I was the only one in my apartment, and I was at the point where you're going through that lab/medical facility
Victor: oh yeah
wayne: I had to turn on one of the other TVs just so it wasn't so eerily quiet
Victor: nice
Victor: I hope that Left 4 Dead doesn’t suck
wayne: I haven't heard anything about that game
Victor: it seems interesting
Victor: you and 3 other people have to go through a zombie infested city
Victor: and the AI is supposed to be really advanced
Victor: and the game doesn’t play the same way twice so you don’t always get ambushed in the same spots
wayne: hmm
Victor: http://www.l4d.com/
Victor: i think its going to be what Resident Evil Outbreak wanted to be
wayne: as long as it's better than Dead Rising
Victor: Dead Rising was fun but you did the same thing over and over
Victor: Rescue a bunch of people that just magically disappear in the end anyway
wayne: I never finished it...
Victor: well i just saved your 8 hrs of your life
wayne: there were too many weird boss-ish characters
Victor: its fun to play when you are bored and just want to kill a lot of something
wayne: I just want to chuck cash registers and CDs at zombies
wayne: and half the time I felt like I was playing Pokemon Snap
Victor: i unlocked the megaman gun
Victor: that gun doesn’t f around
wayne: doesn't it just shoot tennis balls or something?
Victor: no that’s the one in the toy store
Victor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFuFvKrMDFo
Victor: ill let you tube explain it
Victor: best way to kill zombies is at the gardening store
Victor: that heavy ass machine that impales them and spins them around and you can hit other zombies and the impaled zombie loses limbs until he is just a nub
Victor: so inefficient but it gets the job done
wayne: didn't that game keep getting pushed back too?
wayne: I had it reserved, and I remember going in when it was supposed to come out and they didn't have it
Victor: i don’t recall
Victor: that was 3 years ago
Victor: more like 2 years actually
wayne: I might go back and play through it
wayne: it's been so long since I've played it I might as well just start from the beginning
wayne: I hate when that happens... I get decently far through a game and the just stop playing for some reason
wayne: then when I go back weeks/months/years later I have no idea what's going on in the story or what I'm supposed to do next
wayne: that's what happened to me in Guitar Hero 2
wayne: j/k
Victor: that story was gripping
Victor: that happened to me with Kingdom Hearts
Victor: i planned it non stop till the end and then i got bored and moved on to something else
Victor: and then i picked it up again 8 months later and didn’t know wtf was going on
wayne: I played ALMOST to the end of Final Fantasy 7
wayne: then stopped
wayne: like 8 years ago
wayne: idk if I even still have that save file
Victor: does this mean that Squares games get less interesting as you progress through the story?
Victor: i should go to gamefaqs and just finish kingdom hearts
Victor: nobody likes someone who doesn’t finish what they start
Victor: like some kind of pregnant High School chick
wayne: I think I'm gonna restart playing MGS Portable Ops
wayne: the last time I played it was like 3 months ago, and I have a 10 hour car ride coming up
Victor: is your PSP modded?
wayne: no
Victor: damn
wayne: why?
Victor: mine is so i download my games
wayne: I like to have the actual hardware/software for my games
wayne: I look at it as a collection
Victor: an expensive collection
Victor: most of the games depreciate in value and fun
wayne: what about games that collect value?
wayne: like earthbound, or chronotrigger?
Victor: some games do
Victor: most lose all their value
Victor: and you see them for like $5
Victor: unless its a big hit then i don’t have it
wayne: I keep all my games
wayne: I have ~300 across 14ish platforms
Victor: i only buy and keep the ones i like
Victor: MGS by default
Victor: and then Re
Victor: Resident Evil
Victor: Gran Tursimo
Victor: have you played Syphon Filter on the PSP?
Victor: i forget the name of it
wayne: no, but the original PS1 one sucked
Victor: i own that game
Victor: cost me 1.99
Victor: i like Syphon Filter, it had the promises of being a good game but was made by 989 Studios
Victor: so you got stuck with the awkward controls
Victor: the PSP one is really good
Victor: plays nothing like the original or other ones
Victor: its more like MGS combined with Splinter Cell
wayne: I remember getting into arguments in middle school and having to defend MGS against the idiots that thought Syphon Filter was better
Victor: LOL
wayne: I took that argument personally
wayne: never touched Syphon Filter Again
Victor: i wouldn’t blame you
Victor: that is blasphemy
Victor: those are two different games anyway
Victor: that’s like comparing MGS to Splinter Cell
Victor: adding the word Action to Stealth Action makes it go a long way]
Victor: so you can have bosses and unrealistic action scenarios
wayne: doesn't work with all genres though... Survival Horror Action, Puzzle Action, Sports Action.... no good
Victor: Blitz was Sports Action
wayne: but it didn't really have bosses or unrealistic action scenarios
Victor: you could suplex someone
Victor: and break bones and heal them by juicing up
wayne: yeah, it's called the XFL