Music to my Ears: Video Games Live Volume 1

Album Title: Video Games Live Volume 1
Composer/Band/Performers: Slovak National Symphony Orchestra & miscellaneous
Released: 22/07/2008

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

So I've had this written up for about a month, but was too lazy too make a header. So here it is!

So like the tech savvy tool that I am, I decided to finally sync my iPod to my laptop. I hadn't ever synced my iPod before (because I never really had a SINGLE computer that I always had access to), and my entire library of music was picked up from friends along the way. iTunes gives me a prompt and is like "Yo man, is this your home base?" so I'm like "Yeah" and then it's like "Your shit is way outta date, let's update this mofo" I'm like, sounds about right, okay. Next thing you know my iPod had been wiped clean and I was raging. iTunes was all "But you told me this was your home, so your library should be here to reload anyways, right?" and so I lost all my music.

Damn.

Next thing I know I'm out shopping a bit. Hit up HMV which now has a smaller assortment of CDs then vinyls and movies, because really, who buys CDs anymore? Being desperate for music, I picked up a few CDs, including this one, Video Games Live Vol 1. I had seen a show about 2 years back now in Ottawa, and I really enjoyed it and really it's not like I need a real excuse to buy video game junk anyways.

For those of you who don't know who Video Games Live are, I'll kindly provide you with a Wikipedia link so you can read up on what you're missing because I don't want this review to turn into a class on video game culture.

So now that my life story is over, let's start with a peek at the setlist:

1. Kingdom Hearts
2. Warcraft Suite
3. Myst Medley
4. Medal of Honor (Live)
5. Civilization IV Medley
6. Medley: Tetris
7. God of War Montage (Live)
8. Advent Rising Suite
9. Tron Montage
10. Halo Suite
11. Castlevania (Live)

Alright, the first thing that might strike you is how much shorter this set list is from the last album I reviewed, The Greatest Video Game Music. It's got a shocking 8 less songs, which is practically half the CD. There are a FEW long tracks, but not enough to even out the score. 8 more songs would have really upped the variety and playtime, 2 main keys in making a good gaming music compilation. Video Games Live is a production that travels from orchestra to orchestra and has an enormous set list to boot, so why is the album so restrained? As some of you might have noticed, this is Volume 1. Jack Wall mentioned he wanted to create a series of at least 4 volumes. As to the best of my knowledge (and use of Google) there seems to have been a stall in production after Volume 2... if the others never get produced, many of the VGL interpretations will go forever unrecorded, which is really a shame.

Moving on: let's take a look at the variety and quality of the set list here. I'm not really surprised by World of Warcraft's, Tetris' and Halo's presence, but I am a touch surprised to find Advent Rising in my 2 compilations out of 2. The balance of game types represented is pretty balanced, as are their music genres from the more gothic rock Castlevania to the upbeat soviet Tetris and the digital blips of Tron. The mix is good and fairly balanced, though I can't say personally that I'm completely blown away by any.

A variety I was NOT looking for however is the recordings. We have studio and live recordings mixed, and even, in the case of Advent Rising, an original track re-edit (not quite sure the implications of that one, but y'know! I thought it was worth mentioning). I'm not a fan of Live recordings myself, though I have to admit in this case the quality is fairly good and the only real alien noise is quiet, polite clapping at the end of the song. However, in Castlevania, Jack Wall (as I've seen other people mention he's the one you hear, though I wholeheartedly believe it is Tony Tallarico from my personal experience) screams out an introduction that I think only really bothers me in the universe because he annoyed me with his conceit when I saw him live, so you can disregard my opinion about that as soon as you've read it in this big run-on sentence.

 

A clip from the Blu-Ray of Video Games Live vol 2. Civilization IV Medley.

My favorite interpretation would have to be the Civilization IV Medley. The song is a mix of multiple cultures, the rhythm is so upbeat, the chorus beautiful and the soloists absolutely lovely. It's really encouraging to see how video games can go digging into much more then just it's own culture to reach a new level of depth and not to mention making gamers explore that culture as they are experiencing it.

Anyways, I seem to have ragged on this CD a lot more then I have praised it, yet it's not getting a bad rating at all. It's not unpleasant in any way. It's got a good mix of music from a nice variety of games, and the musicians are unquestionably talented. My gripe is that The Greatest Video Game Music did it better. The sound was more complete, more intense. The recordings were crisper with more boom. I guess this one just fell a little short for me, despite it being a great source of great music (from not such a great price I admit). I'm giving it 7.5 blips out of 10 for just not spending the time to polish it. I need more songs, more consistency in the recordings, and hell, if you're holding back to make more volume, THEN MAKE MORE VOLUMES.

Anyways, I'm going to go back to trying to make this site look like something. Peace!

Geek Read: Gears of War - The Slab

Title: Gears of War: The Slab
Publisher:  Gallery Books

Authors: Karen Traviss

Published:  08/05/2012

Page Count: 464 pages

Final Verdict: 5.5/10

 Gears of War- the ultimate manly man's game. You're a giant beef dude, escaped from prison, and you gotta go and slaughter some underground alien assholes that decided now would be a good time for a human genocide, all with a rifle with a chainsaw mounted on the end of it.


This there my friend does not leave much for the imagination, and it sure doesn't leave much to write about. Though throughout the games there are shockers and twists (sort of), and some bro-love that could probably be looked into, there's nothing incredibly "deep" about it. It's fun because it's cool to chainsaw a monster in the face and you feel like a bad-ass, not because you know the inner torment of the main character, Marcus Fenix.


The thing is, this book isn't bad, it isn't bad at all. What is does feel like though, is as if the author had a misplaced affection for the story. It's too much for what it really is. The book could be half the size and contain the same relevant information,  yet it goes on trying to pull on heartstrings that frankly aren't there.


Let's face it, the crowd that wanted to run their rescue-hero shaped characters into hell and spatter blood and guts in a satisfying alien filleting aren't the same people who want to see said possibly-roid-inhanced characters crying over love letters like a little bitch. Let me tell you a little more why I feel this way...

I mean, the boots? The shoulders? Even the god damn belt and the gloves. Come onnn.

The Slab is the immediate chronological predecessor to Gears of War (the first). At the beginning of the first game, you've just escaped prison thanks to your best bro, Dom Santiago, a soldier from your old regimen. The Slab then takes it upon itself to tell you about those fun-filled 4 years in the prison of the same name. Don't get me wrong, plenty of interesting stories happen in prison, but unfortunately, this isn't the Shawshank Redemption. The first real problem is that nothing ever bloody happens. There's very little time given in the novel before Marcus gets shipped off. There's just enough pages given to make you understand that he has daddy issues, his daddy has issues and his girlfriend has daddy issues, but it's not the same daddy and not the same issues.

Marcus got sent off to a life sentence in prison for not following orders, and that sentence was downgraded (or upgraded? Depending how you look at it?) from a firing squad. Now, their reasoning behind this is that by breaking command (by trying to save his dad's life - a scientist which is essentially Sera's last hope of killing the locust mind you) and getting a handful of guys to help, he caused hundreds of Gears to die. Like, what? I would like to know what 4 more men could have done that would have saved all those lives. But whatever, Marcus, after decades of dedication to the war and the COG, gets shipped to a prison (which, in times where the world is starving to death and humanity is being extinct, is somehow still kept operational.)

Prison: You'd think knife fights and shower rape and brawls and riots. Think again- The Slab has a sort of functional society going on. Merino, the mob boss, is running the place more smoothly then most world leaders run their countries. They grow food. They clean shit. This is great and all except for the lack of entertainment. There are highlights of Marcus' saint-like personality like the refusal to participate in the slaughter of the psychologically insane convicts when security is compromised, or not having a dog-kebob when they where on the edge of starving to death, though the bulk of it is cleaning toilets and avoiding people. There's so few fights, so little action, and the foreshadowing is so obvious that there's no big surprises and there's not much bang.

The worse thing, I think, at least in my opinion is the weird-ass relationship between Marcus and his woman, Anya. She adores him for no reason and really doesn't play much of a role. She just cries and moans and feels helpless and sad. That should be expected from a woman portrayed in the manliest man-book. What is NOT expected is for Marcus to pull out this "sensitive side" bullshit. Okay so he doesn't actually CRY over the love letters, but he does sit in a dark corner thinking about death, which really isn't much better.

Forever a Fenix

Adam Fenix is also a dumb little prick of a character. Marcus' dad's logic makes absolutely no sense, and although the other characters in the book seem to share my opinion, it seems like a cheap way to cover an obvious plot device. Adam has no reason to do 90% of the shit he does other then because of his broken logic, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense since he's supposed to be a god damn GENIUS. It feels like the story is being pushed when it has nothing else to offer so "meh, let's just throw this in here to cause some drama".

Despite my urge to bitch-slap some characters, I can't say I hated it. I can't say it did absolutely nothing for me. I was curious, and it kept me curious because I felt like something more HAD to happen. The disappointing part, however, is that being a directly-linked prequel, the book ends when the bullets finally start flying... because the game begins. The level of language used was easy to follow without making you feel like an idiot, making it excessively easy to pick up and put down at any kind of interval. There's some expected crude language if you're sensitive about that too I guess.

I was surprised by my own feeling of disappointment at the end. Karen Traviss is the author of a lot more video-game and sci-fi novels, including more GoW, Halo, and the Star Wars Republic Commando series. She's also the lead writer for Gears of War 3. It just felt too pushed. Too gimmicky. Trying too hard to be something it isn't.

I guess my point is, less QQ, more pew pew. Gears of War doesn't need the over-development. It's beautiful in it's simplicity. It's enjoyable as a manly game with manly satisfaction, and even the more sentimental moments, such as Dom's everlasting quest to find his wife Maria, seem appropriate in the moment, where as The Slab feels more made-up, almost like a fanfiction from a girl with a crush on Marcus that wanted him to be able to love. I give this 5.5 scrubbed toilets out of 10 for making Anya run around in high heels and crying herself to sleep at night thinking about Marcus getting butt-raped.

And sorry guys, no COLE TRAIN MOTHERFUCKERS (other then an honorable mention at the start).

Movie Mania: Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker

Title: Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker
Publisher: Fumihiko Sori

Published:  29/05/2012

Run Time: 90 minutes

Final Verdict: 1/10

In b4 this week's header is a lazy collage, I just couldn't be bothered, and that should be saying enough as it is.

Here's a little bit of a disclaimer. I played a total of maybe 1h28 minutes of Dragon Age. And that was Dragon Age 2. I assure you however, I was in the presence of fans when I watched this, so as my review will be completely heartfelt from an entertainment value standpoint, it will be based on my friend's reactions also (and my Wikipedia knowledge of Dragon Age.)

So let's do this.

This movie is awful. Like, I don't mean somewhat mediocre but entertaining, because trust me, no one else in the world has seen the Super Mario Bros movie as often as me, as I can put aside how bad it is and still watch it for the lulz. I watched Trolls 2 and can enjoy it. But this... This is just awful.

I don't even know where to start.

I was compelled to buy this when I saw it on the shelf at HMV and was intrigued on the possibly adding a video game based movie to my roster of reviewed gaming-inspired stuff. So I said, what the hell, I love animation, I love video games, and I mean, look at that cover. It looks good!

WRONG.

The first thing that hit me when the movie started were the graphics. Not by their amazingly rendered Blu-Ray quality, but how low quality they were. They are background quality graphics at the most, and this is the entire movie. Main characters. Environments. Everything! It's a little shocking to see something so low-poly being released these days with the more sophisticated equipment and software becoming more accessible. This is almost gameplay-level graphics for a whole movie. It's unseen!

While we speak of the visual aspect, let me tell you a little about artistic integrity. There is none. I have never been so underwhelmed by design in my life. It doesn't take museum curator to type "Dragon Age" in Google Images and take a look at the game's concepts and armor sets and appealing medieval atmosphere. Dawn of the Seeker seems to miss out on it's origin's creativity. Unfortunately I could go on about this but I have a ton more points to touch and everyone gets fed up after reading too much, so...

 

Look at those faces.

THE ACTING. I can forgive poor voice acting if it really was it's only flaw. It's typical of dubbed movie to have bad voice-overs or poor translations. Again, I could easily laugh that off, if only the characters didn't reflect the bad acting in the animation too. There's so much wrong with the character's stiff movements, but worse of all I have to say would be the lips. There's unnatural movement of their mouths when the characters talk, and I don't mean (just) poor lip-syncing. Instead of opening and closing, the mouths seem to be pulled from the sides as if the characters had fish hooks in each corner of their mouths that were being pulled by invisible fish line every time they wanted to say something like some sort of tortured puppet. It doesn't stop there. Although the animation does fail on many aspects, the acting is also compromised by poorly developed characters, or characters doing out-of-character things. At some point a group of mages come fight along the side of our heroes, by fighting armored knights by hitting them with their staffs instead of casting magic spells. In this movie though, mages seem to only have context-sensitive fireballs. There are many other grievances I could pull from this but I'll have to stop sometime...

Cinematography anyone? I am actually impressed that they managed to screw this up. There are some things about cinematography that you learn just by watching movies that you should know to apply to your own feature, like, for example, no one wants a perfectly framed horse's ass on screen unless they are into weird stuff that I rather not imagine. On multiple occasions the wrong things are in the frame, or there are some unwanted content in the frame (i.e. horse's backside). There's also multiple (and I mean A LOT) of shots of the heroine's face pulling the Kristen Stewart trademark confused pout. It actually started to get frustrating. You started wishing she'd make another face, have another expression, try to feel something, but then she'd talk and your face (teary eyes and everything) would fall hopelessly into your pillow suppressing a scream about why humanity would publish something like this for the unsuspecting masses. It's a cruel world.

 

I'd be pissed too if I only had one expression.

As for writing, the dialogs are crap. There's nothing really great about anything, and even the story is fairly poor. My Dragon Age-loving friends assured me that it was really hard to place this movie (though, from I read on the Internet, it seems to have been somewhere between the first and second game) as there was very little content really relevant to the games, and even some contradicting it. Dragons, which are supposed to be like god-kings-lords-all-powerful-dudes are reduced to a bunch of idiots crashing into each other because little miss plot-device-on-legs decided she wasn't gonna help the bad guys take over the world anymore. Although, I must admit this scene spawned a come at me bro-esque moment where an old lady calls out a dragon and it's as ridiculous as it sounds. There's nothing surprising, touching, suspenseful or exciting about the plot, and really, even if there was, the characters would not have been able to ever take it to that level with the Justin Timberlake meet C-3PO in the lead with Stewart-faced-angry-bitch.

Looking at my notes I see that I could clearly go on for possibly double what I've already written, but I think any sane person got the point already. Avoid this movie if you ever come across it, and certainly don't pay any money for it. If you do watch it, make sure you're properly intoxicated and that you have good friends with senses of humor with you to survive. It's a bad movie. It is adding to the pile of reasons some real directors are horrified of producing actually good video game based movies (Gore Verbinski, please, PLEASE return to the Bioshock project) and I can't really blame them. This is bad. This is AWFUL. I give this 1 pimp slap for being 20$ I'll never see again. And because I'm saving 0 for that game that'll one day need that special place in hell.

Merch Madness: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure

Figure: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure
Company: McFarlane Toys

 Final Verdict: 5/10

Clearly I can not help myself from raving about Halo stuff. Either that or it's the most wide-spread and common video game goodies available. Maybe both.

I picked up this figure at my local Toys R Us, where I spend my lonely nights when the internet is down. This particular Master Chief is ever so slightly different then all the other Master Chiefs out there. This particular model was created as part of the Halo Anniversary series of figures which celebrate everything that is Halo. This Master Chief is modeled very specifically as the Master Chief that appears "The Package", a short film featured on the DVD of Halo Legends. For those of you living under a rock, here's a mid-film clip to give you a taste:

This film was produced by Casio Entertainment and directed by Aramaki Shinji. Their segment of the Halo Legends was their most important work as a studio. Other then that, the most notable would be segments of CG for Final Fantasy: Dissidia.

Regardless, the most distinctive differences in this MC is the additional paint job (the white war stripes and the small red detailing) and the particular mark of armor. The change isn't tremendous, but if they were to release ANOTHER Master Chief, I'm glad they made the effort of adding something new to the mix.

 

The packaging is a fairly simple plastic on cardboard backing type, which doesn't look great to display, so it reduces my guilt in tearing him free of his plastic prison. Master Chief comes with 3 accessories, his iconic assault rifle, a frag grenade, and a piece of the UNSC logo.

 

There's a few things that surprise me when it comes to the accessories: first, there's a bar protruding the side of the assault rifle, which I'm assuming is to mount on the side of his thigh (or so I assume since that's the only holes on his body) though when on display, I don't see why he wouldn't be holding his gun, and when he is, there's an awkward stud jutting out the side. The frag grenade, however, has the opposite problem. There's a hole that takes up about 42% of the thing for no apparent reason. And no, it DOESN'T fit on the gun's peg. Though it does fit on the end of the barrel.

I created... a grenade launcher. Harr harr.
 

There's also the insignia piece. It's not really something important at it's just a hollow piece of cheap plastic which looks like nothing without the rest of the set. It's a cool extra little feature for a dedicated collector though.

Anyways, onto the main course. Master Chief is advertised to have 28 moving parts. These "moving parts" however, are not easy parts to move. For such an articulated figure, he's awfully hard to position. His knees won't bend more then a 45 degree angle, and his thighs maybe 15. This is an issue for display. The less movement he has, the harder it is to pose him in a balanced position that doesn't look awkward as hell. So unless you resort to sticky tack under his feet, odds are you'll have him standing straight, or, y'know....

Looking like Voldo from Soul Calibur.

Or crossing over into my My Little Pony collection.

It also advertises 28 moving parts. There's actually 17 moving parts, not 28. Although, I've figured that they meant axes on which parts can move. That makes a lot more sense. He can rotate rather unnaturally, though he can't bend very well.

Other then that, the sculpt is highly detailed and intricate (as well as accurate) as MacFarlane figures are recognized for, though mine did have a slight factory defect on his knee, I don't expect that it's a widespread problem.

Wtf is this shit.

To finish it off, the paint job. It's almost perfect except for one wide green line on his waist that looks to have been misaligned or bled. This is unfortunate as other then that, the paint is a high quality and looks fairly resistant to abuse.

Crotch paint leak.

Overall, this figure is nice to look at at first but is plagued with multiple imperfections. It's not unique enough to seduce anyone but a passionate Halo collector into purchasing it, especially at a 16.99$ canadian retail plus tax. There are much more impressive Master Chiefs out there, and this isn't "the one" to own. Although, I have to admit I had fun testing it out for this review...

Maybe too much fun.

So I gave this figure 5/10 crab walks for just not being quite as epic enough to be something "new", not being flexible enough to truly be poseable, and leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions (and not to mention leaving me with an extra piece that is useless unless I buy the rest of the set). Until next time!

...I promise no more Halo related reviews for a while.

Geek Read: Halo: The Fall of Reach

Title: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Publisher:  Tor Books; First Edition edition

Authors: Eric Nylund

Published:  03/08/2010

Page Count: 416 pages

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

Picture unrelated to opinion but related to what I do on Saturday nights.

I'm not usually one for novel adaptations of anything, not movies, not games. Novels are usually better as it's own original material, something that was planned and loved and poured over for hours trying to wring out a creative thought which was then pushed into something (usually) great, the same can be said of games. I really admire fiction authors as they are not only are they able to spin wild thoughts into solid, structured sentences (which is something I clearly struggle with, amirite?) but they can do so about worlds that don't exist, about material that's completely made up. They can make fantasy so vibrant it feels real.

This isn't one of those books. It's not original material, it's based off a video game. A hit video game. One with thousands and thousands of nitpicking die-hard fans willing to tear apart a story to find it's clashes with the source material. Living up to those expectations can't be easy. You can't pretend you can tap into someone's gaming experience and capture that feeling in a book. This book doesn't try to do that. It simply tries to tell you it's story. 

After my last read (which you'll be able to tell through my review felt like it gave me an intelligence tumor), I thought I'd tone it down with something more brain-numbing (and with explosions). I had started to read The Fall of Reach years ago, but lost it partway through. I recently picked it back up (which is now the definitive edition, with an additional 27-ish pages of content) and decide to re-tackle it. Let's say, for something I expected to go ratatatatatat for 8 chapters had a little more to offer then that.

The Halo: Fall of Reach novel tackles the origin of Master Chief and the Spartan-IIs and serves as a precursor to the original Halo game. The book is written in third person, yet it concentrates a lot on the thoughts of the main characters. Throughout the book, you explore many people's conscience about a whole wack of subjects, from the morality issues associated with genetic engineering, to what defines humanity, to a soldier's reasons to fight. You get to explore different characters with a wide range of emotions and personalities and get a little insight at how they personally handle the current madness. There's a big emphasis on conscience throughout the novel which is very different from the mindless satisfaction of splattering Covenant with your Warthog in game. It forces you to stop and think a minute.

The Master Chief is obviously the main focus in the story. I was wondering how they would choose to portray him as he is a mostly silent character in the games, and his actions are almost always dictated by your decisions. That would mean no Master Chief is ever the same, thus making the character even harder to recapture as everyone will have different expectations. They settle this on making him remarkably average. John-117 is unbelievably normal, with feelings and questions and imperfections all the same. He stays very human despite the fact that he is practically half machine. His only real superhuman trait is that he is wholly, almost blindly dedicated to his cause. You can not help but once again project yourself in his image. He's normal, I'm normal, we are the same (now for that power armor..).

The story covers plenty of unanswered questions and sheds light on many references only mentioned in-game. Though the futuristic human world is vast with a multitude of planets, systems, colonies, ships, and much more to keep in mind, it's relatively easy to follow. The simple level of language used is most likely to keep the average gamer interested. It's easy enough to not have to think and dive into this world of glorious battles. It's simplistic without being stupid. I don't feel like the book is spoon-feeding me information bite by bite, but it does take it's time to properly explain what is going on and where without having you lose interest.

I was hoping for a book to shut my brain off to, something easy to read. This book is both of those, but a little more. It did grab my attention and encouraged me to keep reading without wanting to put it down. It didn't delude my love for Halo by adding any soppyness or just dumbing it down. The Halo universe is a vast and fascinating one and it was interesting to take a dive into it to get away, even when I was miles away from my Xbox. It kept me entertained, but I can't say it ever really surprised me. I'll give it 7.5 frags out of 10 for being a solid, fun read that lacks in maybe a little shock and awe.

Geek Read: Games Of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games

Title: Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

Authors: Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter

Published:  08/12/2009

Page Count: 320 pages

 

Final Verdict: 8/10

I drew the header for this review almost as soon as I started reading it... a few months ago. I instantly thought a plain grey suit and a groomed look was perfect, and I immediately associated this book to an annual business meeting. So... ahem. *Straightens out jacket*

This book is a little bit of a tease. It's a little harmless-looking paperback book. It fits in my purse. I got through 2 books of that size in a DAY. Then why did it take me a couple MONTHS to get through it? A look at the publisher will give an important hint.. The University of Minnesota Press. The book just rings of doctoral essay.

The first hint of that is that it holds up an incredibly high standard in language language level. I blame many of my delays due to the fact that I couldn't read this book adequately without my laptop within inches of me to be able to Google these references and define these words that I've never even heard of every few moments. I appreciate this as I'm always looking to expand my vocabulary and as I wouldn't want to compromise the integrity of the book by having it dumbed down to my level but it's something that will play a certain role in selling this book to a more casual reader. 

I expected this book to talk about numbers and statistics and very hum-drum facts and points about the economic power of the video game industry. Boy, was I wrong. Global capitalism isn't just about income and moulah and recessions. The book goes into many sociological discussions as well as dealing with global history lessons and psychological questions. It explores a ton of different fields of interest and there's a great variety of facts that all finds way to relate with and stay pertinent with the subject of video games' impact on global capitalism. The entire book had me fascinated with the facts that were being presented and the unusual perspective it took on the video game industry. It's a refreshing outsider look, differing from the die-hard fan rants and the cynical critic, this is a fresh look at a fresh angle, which brings me to my next point.

I appreciated the unbiased positions the authors take up. This book is a wonderful reference as it doesn't preach. It presents the facts, both positive and negative, about all that there is to know about the role games play in the world's economy and dynamic. Your own opinions can be formed after you've taken in the massive amount of information presented or just have your curiosity peaked to search more in depth in one particular branch. Regardless, the information is really well presented, properly worded, and elegantly delivered. I can't guarantee I understood everything, I did have to re-read sections and educate myself a little bit with some research as I have no business or economics background which made some of the terminology used a little overwhelming and forced me to dig deeper, which in turn again helped me discover a whole new world of information.

ALTHOUGH. There's one small (really stupid!) issue that really drove me up the wall. I don't actually know if that's the proper essay format, or whatever you consider what this book is, but damnn. This essay quotes a LOT of references which makes it really feel formal and there's a certain strength about having facts and references backing up your writing, but the sheer amount of reference information in parentheses directly following the sentence it was used for GREATLY impairs the flow of the book. It gets hard to follow a trait of thought when it's constantly interrupted with potentially meaningless names or numbers (my brain, p.150-151, 26/04/2012) It might sound like a stupid complaint but it can really make it hard to grasp the meaning of a paragraph (myself, 1, 2, 3, 69) when it's all split sentence by sentence (according to my mind, p.11) or even every few words. (2012, just now) Know what I mean? It gets hard to understand with the mix of a higher grade of language and the constant interruptions by the resource's information. To make it all worse, there's about 20 pages of footnotes and definitions that are incredibly hard to directly link it's specific section in the book, even with all the little symbols and notes. I guess I need a university student or prof to tell me my feelings towards this format are simply misguided or immature, but I did not find it very user friendly.

Overall, really, it took me ages to read. It was hard. It was like studying, but I still pushed through it because of the sheer fascination I had with everything it presented me. It really covered all the bases it promised to cover. It was very thorough, professional and taught me more then one new lesson. It expanded my universe of gaming knowledge to a whole new level, and I'm really grateful for that. I give it 8 head shots out of 10 as it's complexity is at the same time it's greatest aspect and it's biggest downfall.

Geek Read: Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories

Title: Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories
Publisher:  Dark Horse Books

Authors:  Multiple

Published:  29/11/2011

Page Count: 205 pages

Final Verdict: 9/10

OKAY SO, it's been a little wild. I like pretending that work is what has gotten in the way and that I'm just so darn busy and important that I don't have time to keep up my blog for my whole 4 followers. But really...

 

Work has been busy and all, but I've had my share of lazy days. The other book I am reading for review is taking wayyyyyy too long to get through (doesn't help that I left it on an aircraft so I had to wait until someone turned it in) and eventually lost motivation. But today, during my most lazy of PJ days I picked up this gem that my dad got me as a going-away gift which I was saving for just this kind of day. So after breezing through it... I bring you, my opinion! Not that you care.

So I have to hand it to Dark Horse for their prints: The ones I own are all large, colorful prints on heavy stock paper and printed hardcovers. This is something I value in a book that will sit in my collections. I hate books that disintegrate in my hands during a normal read through, or that have bible-thin pages that take me 3 minutes to turn in fear of tearing it off. Okay: Maybe I'm a little obsessive, but all I really wanted to point out is that it's a sturdy bugger that looks great on a shelf, especially beside it's own kind. She's a beaut'.

Before going further I'd also like to point out that on sites such as Chapters.ca and Amazon.com, the book title is followed by Volume 1, which leads to believe they may create more of these, which would be great.

Onto the main subject!

Content! The book is split into 3 stories which revolve around 3 of Valve's best sellers: Left4Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. I'm a little surprised they did not bring in Half Life or start with Portal 1 but that's not really important. I'll be quite frank and admit these aren't games I played heavily as they had a special spotlight on multiplayer play, which is not something that I'm very much into, yet I've played them all to some extent and am comfortable within their stories/worlds.

The main story, The Sacrifice, is the story behind Left4Dead's main cast and takes up about half of the book's 205 pages. It takes a glimpse into the backstories of the crew while showing their present situation. There's a huge emphasis on the relationships between the characters and how they came to develop a certain way. The story is well balanced in storytelling and action, as well as emotional yet exciting. There's plenty to look at on every page and the dialog can be long but stays simple as it's all it needs to be. It follows a somewhat typical zombie apocalypse story arc, there's nothing excessively original about it, but I don't think that was the point. You get to know the characters that you didn't expect could be so profound when you where shotgunning witches in Left4Dead, and it feels good.

The second story strums a completely different cord. The Team Fortress 2 story, War!, is as silly as the game itself. The artwork is simple and bright and reflects it's source material perfectly. It does the same sort of backstory-filling that The Sacrifice does, but in a total other direction. The story really just shows to what extremes the characters are caricatured, and the pointlessness of the endless Red team vs Blue team war (bringing to mind the satirical Halo machinima, Red vs Blue). It's sometimes interrupted by old-style comics of Saxton Hale and his manly adventures, wrestling sharks and setting bears on fire, which are guaranteed to make you laugh if the main story didn't (which if it didn't, guarantees you have no soul).

So while The Sacrifice will make you want to cry and War! will make you pee your pants, Lab Rat will leave you completely wtfed. Easily the most artsy of the three, Lab Rat (a Portal 2 comic) is much more abstract, diving back and forth into reality, madness, present and future, so it's not the easiest comic to follow. It does, however, also have an art style that reflects the madness in a very sketchy, contrasting way. The story is very short, and doesn't take me anywhere emotionally, though I did enjoy it because of it's frantic pace, and really I like anything about insanity.

Overall good purchase, though it is a pricey one, at least for Canadians ranging around 31.99$ for a book that takes about an hour to read, or two to enjoy slowly. My poor collector heart (and wallet) will unfortunately never let that stop me from bringing this gem into my collection. It's a really enjoyable graphic novel for those who enjoy graphic novels in general, but even better for fans of the game that like having a little more then the pew pews the games provide. I'll give this 9/10 crazy turrets for being a well rounded and well constructed book full of tears, laughs, and I don't know whats.

 

Music to my Ears: The Greatest Video Game Music

 Album Title: The Greatest Video Game Music
Composer/Band/Performers: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Released: 07/11/2011

Final Verdict: 9.3/10

This is like music to my earholes.

Internet points if you can figure out who I'm quoting.

But this. Really.

Look, music in a game is something that stays with you forever, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes not. Sometimes it'll come up while you're on the bus, and you'll start humming, and then your day feels a little more epic because you have a theme song going.

BUT THIS.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra really did an outstanding job with the creation of this album, The Greatest Video Game Music though maybe not so much on the title. Points for originality there guys, it really means a lot. (Though I GUESS it does convey what the album offers in a pretty straightforward way.)

The song list is as follows:

1. Advent Rising: Muse
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Theme
3. Angry Birds: Main Theme
4. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali
5. Super Mario Bros: Theme
6. Uncharted - Drake's Fortune: Nate's Theme
7. Grand Theft Auto IV: Soviet Connection
8. World of Warcraft: Seasons of War
9.  Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Theme
10. Tetris Theme (Korobeiniki)
11. Battlefield 2: Theme
12. Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme
13. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission
14. Splinter Cell: Conviction
15. Final Fantasy: Main Theme
16. Bioshock: The Ocean On His Shoulders
17. Halo 3: One Final Effort
18. Fallout 3: Theme
19. Super Mario Galaxy

I know what you're thinking. Or at least I hope I know what you're thinking, and it better be...

 

I know right? Actually, let me tackle a few of these points which aren't ALL as glorious as I've been putting them out to be. This album isn't flawless. Just nearly.  It titled itself The Greatest Video Game Music, but even that can be dissected. Is it supposed to mean the greatest video game music performance? Or the greatest music from games? Or the music from the greatest games? But really this is about a CD so I don't know why I'm so stuck on the title.

As for the playlist. I enjoyed that they didn't stick exclusively to the classics, but incorporated some underloved game music along with the classics, even giving odd and interesting swings to unexpected additions. Like Angry Birds.

All of you get this straight. I HATE Angry Birds. I get it, it's a nifty game, the physics are great, it's addictive and simple and fun. Why do I hate it? Because it's being crammed down my throat at every turn! I've seen Angry Bird shirts, plush, toys, board games, keychains, mouse pads.... It's just. A little. Meaningless. App! It's nothing compared to the modern works of art being released on our current generation of consoles, but for some reason it overshadows all of them! HOWEVER. I have to say how pleased I am with the orchestral production of the theme. It's fun, and simple and iconic enough to bring those frustrated fowls to mind. At the same time it helps lighten the mood from the often darker, more 'epic' themes making up the rest of the album.

Other then that I really don't have many complaints. I was neither surprised nor overly thrilled at seeing the Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Zelda Themes that seem to haunt EVERY SINGLE video game music compilation of any sort, but it's always a comforting sound to hear, and usually opens up for the flow of memories, especially with such beautiful interpretations.

There is also two Call of Duty Modern Warfare pieces (because it's clearly impossible to updo CoD in artistic performance, amirite?) and a Battlefield piece, which makes for an awful lot of war-type epic music. Same goes for Final Fantasy. The variety may have been upped a tiny bit by substituting some of the clones for very different titles. Like something from Street Fighter, or Metroid might have been welcomed. But I digress. We can't all share the same taste in games and there's always bound to be someone unhappy with the outcome.

One last little tick I have is the Bioshock song. For those who don't know Bioshock is my bible when it comes to games. I compare everything to it, I use it as an example of a wonderfully interpreted game, it's my beloved #1. Although my feelings for Bioshock are honest and pure, the song they picked just falls short. It's just not as impressive as the rest. It kind of just sneaks in there unnoticed. This could have been so grand, but it just... missed.

This album brings the cheerful bird slinging in with the soviet gangsters, it makes you want to run and gun as much as skulk around in the dark nooks, stalking your enemies. It makes you want to be a part of a grand adventure, it makes you want to go galloping in the breeze... It'll give you chills and take you away to wonderful and exciting lands. So you might not want to listen to it on the bus, because when I did people looked at me like I was crazy. I was just pretend sword-fighting. Only a little.

I am going to give this 9.3 gothic chants out of 10 because as much as I can bitch about Call of Duty getting a spotlight they really did a bang up job interpreting every single piece on that album and it really does make you feel all sorts of things. Except Bioshock, because it was bad.

Unboxing Day: Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V Collector's Edition

Contents of: Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition

Final Verdict: 8.5/10

Keep it in your pants kids- I'm going to review the contents of the special edition version of the game, not your precious little baby itself. Not yet. That will come later. (You could at least notice I changed my hair color. Geeeeez.)


But it's been done, Aerie, Skyrim is practically old news.

Leave me alone and let's get on with this!

I came to own Skyrim's Collectors Edition pretty late because of 3 very good reasons. 1. I was broke. 2. I refused to get anything but the Collector's Edition and it's expensive and 3. A friend of mine had to go and buy it for me so I'd shut up about it.

If there is something I am more then a gamer, it's a collector, and I love when publishers make the little extra effort to supply their fans with something cool to come with their long-awaited games. Though; I understand the lot of you who see this as milking the franchise for as much cash as possible, but truth is, if you're not into it, don't buy it, it's as simple as that. The fun of collector's editions are that it's optional, so if you don't like it, then shut up and let me sink my own money into them.

This came as a going-away/Valentine's Day/etc gift from said friend, so it was unexpected and treasured beyond my own purchases of course, but that doesn't mean I can't put the gushy emotional crap aside and get into this nitty-gritty.

First of all, the box it came in is a little overwhelming. For your convenience, I even stole this picture from Google to help you understand:

The size is impressive, but the box itself isn't a "plus" to the loot. It's really just packaging, unlike the Bioshock 2 Collector's edition box which was meant for display, but I digress; this thing is far too big to fit on any of my damn shelves anyways.

Upon opening, the first thing you pull out is the art book. I have a LARGE collection of video game art books, from special edition exclusives or just store-bought. I really love seeing the evolution of concepts and the gallery of art work, and the creative integrity put into all these games. I have to admit, I am -really- impressed with Skyrim's included art book. The size of it, the included works, make it all a worthy candidate for my favorite art book to date, but what truly pushes it to the top is it's magnificent leather cover. My American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns art book is of comparable size/style/etc and retailed for about 40$ at Chapter's, which would probably price this book somewhere in the 50$ range, which we'll discuss more of at the end of this review.

Now comes the game. It comes in a cardboard style box with 2 discs and a sleeve which holds a DVD and a texture-paper printed map. The peak of my annoyance has to be the cardboard box. While it does fit aesthetically with the rest of the merch, it's cardboard. It's weak. For anyone with any intention of boxing/unboxing this game a gazillion times while going through a 100-hour playthroughs more then once KNOWS that thing doesn't stand a chance of remaining mint. Why not a steelbook or a neat leather-bound case to match the art book? It was certainly possible to come up with a better idea, and the final outcome feels cheap. However, I must move on. The DVD is something that any geek interested in the production or games would enjoy watching, but it was far from being what attracted me to the collector's edition. DVDs and movies and such always end up being ripped and thrown online for everyone to download for free, so it's not something I'd truly feel I'd missed out on.

But the dragon.
Oh baby.

It's big- a lot bigger then I had originally expected, even with the ridiculous box size. It makes a really great piece to display and I'm proud to have it sit in my collection. The dragon felt like the best choice for a sculpt, since your dovahkiin will always look different from your buddy's, it would have kind of made a "Well, that's really cool, but it's not really me." kind of reaction. The dragon is made of a hollow plastic material, which I know surprised a few collectors. From the advertisement images it looked solid, heavy, like a typical porcelain-type material that the dragon sculptures fantasy/medieval stores sell. Your first impression might be "cheap" but the fact is, it looks great, displays beautifully, and that's truly all you need out of a sculpt. Think of the original Big Daddy sculps that came with the original Bioshock's special edition. They were all heavy, porcelain-like sculptures, and they nearly all shattered at distribution. This dragon is sturdy, and could probably survive a fall (though I beg you not to try). The best comparison I can think of is of Halo: Reach Legendary Edition's Noble Team sculpture. The same material, the same style. Would actually make a great perch for this dragon!

The collector's edition originally retailed for approximately 149.99$ upon release. Since I got it some time later, it was picked up at Toys R Us for about 109.99$. This is where the price breakdown happens and you can decide whether it was worth it in your books or not. At 149.99$ you paid 60$ for the game, which kicks it down to 90$. Out of 90$ I say you subtract anywhere from 40-50$ for the art book's value. So that would leave about 45$ for the dragon, the DVD and the map. At 110$ the break down remains the same, but that leaves 5$ for the dragon and co.

The less pricey the best in any and all cases, but the manner in which you price your collectables is left to your discretion. I love having something to sit on my bookshelf, but you might think it collects dust. Overall, I think Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V's Collector's Edition is of good value and good quality, even more so now then upon release, and I bestow upon it 8.5 arrows to the knees out of 10.

Game Buzz: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary 
Studio: 343 Industries 
Released:  15/11/2011

Final Verdict: 5/10 

I do realize this is Halo post after Halo post, but I finally had the opportunity to play through Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (which will be called Halo Anniversary the rest of this article) and I thought I might as well get it over with before it becomes too outdated like most of my review material.

Halo: Combat Evolved was an instant cult classic the minute it was released for the original Xbox, which is fairly amazing considering Bungie's original rollercoaster ride of interest/disinterest from publishers during development. The original Halo did a lot for gaming; it brought the first-person shooter genre to light in console gaming, it popularized LAN parties, it... well, I've plenty of source material I could recommend if you wanted your share of Xbox/Halo history. Or you could just see the amount of novels, movies, and more being released to try to satisfy fans and understand that it's a pretty big deal. Point is, Halo was a big deal to a lot of people. It's a beloved classic.

Many fans had their concerns of what this new studio would do to their baby. Bungie had been the one forging the famous series since the beginning, and the only ones to ever try their hands in the Haloverse has been Microsoft Game Studios which somewhat butchered the series' almost flawless reputation with an atrocity called Halo Wars. This being said, fans were skeptical about another studio's ability to take over the immense job of giving their precious game a makeover.

I played the original Halo through and through probably more often then I have replayed any other game. It was easy to love and lose yourself in. It was simple, yet challenging. It was really quite something for it's time.

For it's time.

Not anymore.

I'm not denying that there is pleasure to be had in reminiscing. I'm not saying I don't feel like patting myself on the back when I get an achievement. I'm also not gonna argue that it's nice having pretty graphic instead of rough-cut polygons.

BUT.

That's all the rehash really is. Achievements and HD visuals. I'm not going to pretend I dug into every crack of the game to try to identify the differences, but that's the only thing that really jumped out at me. Sure, the new terminal animations are neat and all, but they aren't enough to make this worth it. I can appreciate that they lowered the price tag from the usual 60$ for a new game to 40$, but this isn't a significant enough drop for me. Why not just replay the original if you really wanted to reminisce? Or why not bring something more to the table then just new graphics? Why not bundle it with a rebooted Halo 2 while you're at it and make the entire trilogy on the Xbox 360?

It feels like 343 was put in a bad position. If they had modified too much, fans would be upset that it's not loyal to the original, don't change enough and fans are upset that you're milking them for money. Halo Anniversary is far from being a bad game, but it's not achieving anything new. The HD doesn't even feel that HD. It just... falls short.

Maybe I'm just a grouchy fan. Maybe I'm too old school. I don't know, but I can't really give Halo Anniversary a decent score considering it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It'll have to settle with 5 frags out of 10. I love Halo, but there's only so much you can squeeze out of a cash cow before it comes out sour.

Geek Read: Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved

Title: Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved
Publisher:  Popular Culture and Philosophy

Authors: There's a lot.
Published:  07/06/2011

Page Count: 210 pages

Final Verdict 6.5/10

Let me point out a few things first before I set out on my epic quest of knowledge. The publishers, Popular Culture and Philosophy, create these series of books (with all equally terrible puns for titles) finding philosophy in everything from sports to celebrities to god forsaken Twilight novels. I had gifted my dad the Seinfeld and Philosophy book for his birthday (him and I both being big Seinfeld fans) a few years ago, and completely forgot about it. When I came home toting my new Halo and Philosophy, he ran upstairs into his room and snatched his copy of Seinfeld and Philosophy, opens it about halfway where his bookmark was and tells me "Honey, it took me months to get to this point in a 200-page book until my mind was so blown I had to stop." My father being an incredibly intelligent man with a Masters degree in Mathematics and 30 years of teaching experience had difficulty grasping the subject matter in his book, and I, a n00b, was going to attempt to absorb the knowledge that it was offering?

Challenge Accepted.

 The book starts with a little briefing explaining how these books work and the fact that there are multiple authors involved and the chapters are going to be defined by difficulty level, quite literally, appropriately named Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary. I see what you did there, you witty philosophers, you. This seems like an easy enough system to explain, I mean, any kind of gamer is used to the concept by now. Regardless, this seemed incredibly hard to grasp because of the level of language used and the expressions applied. I understood right then and there it was time to polish my ol' pens and get ready to jot notes down like back in high school. I can tell you now that it's all over that my notebook has 10 filled pages of words, people, events or expressions I had to research to get the full idea of the book. I did so thank the heavens for dictionary.com and wikipedia.org this past week.

But let's get on with it. The first words of warning I will give is that this is not a leisure read for anyone not currently studying philosophy. There are many highly complex concepts that are being thrown at you, and in most cases, in less then user-friendly wording. This book expects you to have a prior knowledge of philosophy and a good understanding of it at that, or research and a second read-through will most likely be necessary. Though philosophical discussions and theories have often intrigued me in the past and peeked my interest, I can't say I went in there with a good understanding of philosophy's history or standards.

This isn't where the brain punishment ends. You must have an open mind to accept the theories and ideas thrown at you. Sometimes it feels far-fetched, stretched, and sometimes you might not see the relation at all, but that's the beauty of it; you don't have to accept anything, it's made simply to make you think. Although this brings me to something I hadn't quite expected. I had never tackled a full blown book about philosophy and I was a little shocked at the sometimes abruptly-ending chapters, though it makes perfect sense as conclusions can't really be drawn. This forced me to pace myself; Read. Stop. Think. Read on. Rather then marathon read, as I would jump from subject to subject and go "wait, what?".

Though this book brought forth some truly interesting concepts in the world of deep-thought-meets-video-games, some authors did it better then others. Only a few chapters are truly balanced in speaking of the theory and the relation to the game. Some others feel like they are either just speaking of Halo, or just of philosophy rather then how they are involved with each other.

The last bit I'll discuss is the improper use of the "difficulty level" chapters. One of the first essays goes into hardcore philosophical history and theories that I felt weren't introduced properly enough for the average reader to follow along and required from me a fair bit of research to try and keep up, whereas towards the end, in the Heroic and Legendary chapters, the language level was much closer to a college student's and sometimes talked very little of the philosophical contents of their essay and more about how the guns go bang. It felt like a neat idea to be able to follow a learning curve throughout the book but the concept didn't really work out in the end.

Overall, some parts were mind-blowing, others lackluster, and some even managed to tug a little on my heartstrings with nostalgia while others where utterly frustrating and quite possibly made my brain bleed. The book had potential, but due to it's incredibly limited target audience, the inconsistent feel of the quality of the essays and language level, and the botched difficulty scale, this book will have to settle on 6.5 pew pews out of 10 for it's shortcomings.

Geek Read: All Your Base Are Belong To Us: How Fifty Years of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture

Title: All Your Base Are Belong To Us: How Fifty Years Of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Author: Harold Goldberg
Published: 05/04/2011
Page Count: 352 pages

Final Verdict 9/10~

So I was hoping this book to be a winner, something I could enjoy so that I may save all the excessive swearing for at least my second post. My expectations for a book that names itself after one of gaming's most popular inside-jokes were pretty high, and yet I was facing a flimsy paperback novel unadorned with the beautiful, colorful screenshots and pictures I've grown accustomed to in the many gaming books that have already found their home on my shelf. Though I'm definitely not one who relies on pretty pictures to define the integrity of a book, I'm not going to deny that it usually helps when you're talking about a visual media to have visual aids throughout.

I have to start by saying the title is a smidge misleading. It does promise to inform you on the way video games have conquered pop culture, but not how that information was going to be delivered.

Harold Goldberg spent 3 years of his life dedicated to interviewing media giants such as the ever beloved, ever smiling Mr. Miyamoto, to put together this golden nugget of gaming history. Although, this book isn't really gaming's history, it isn't even that much about the games. It focuses more on the founders, creators and important people whom helped video games become a mainstream media and/or helped gaming take important steps forward in their evolution. This is an interesting point of view though, as most books concentrate either on a historical outline by concentrating on the games-of-the-day rather then the who behind it all which helped this book stand out from the growing pile of other gaming history books.

I know other reviewers critique this book on the inexactitude of the details. Gaming had such a rough start, that this isn't something that really bothers me in any respect because the odds of getting the honest facts are to me very slim. If the timeline isn't accurate enough, it's your prerogative to bitch and moan about it and spew out what you believe is right, but you sure as hell can't really argue with the author about it as it's not really the point he's making.

It was really interesting to find out the professional roots of gaming's pioneers and to discover their hopes and ambitions and what their personal goals were with video games. The personalities you get to "meet" throughout the book are so eccentric and their stories so intriguing that you can't help but feel for them, from the disappointment of repeated failures to the ecstasy of hitting it big. I was grateful to learn more about the faces behind my favorite creations all condensed into one handy book

Another interesting factor is that the writing is user-friendly enough to compel a non-gamer to read, and yet peppered with enough details and obscure tidbits for the more experienced gamer to indulge in, though the more hardcore gamers usually stick their chins in the air and claim they already know it all. I will add though, I have to admit my ever-slight annoyance at the seemingly never ending corny gaming metaphors. It feels as though authors can't help but splurge in bad gaming humor which is just face-palm worthy. This annoyance is like gum on my shoe though. It's annoying but I don't care enough to stop walking.

Another admirable point I enjoy is the objective standpoint Harold takes. Though this was obviously a labor of love from an experienced game critic, he doesn't try to cram any opinions down your throat. This is especially appreciated in chapters like the one concerning video game controversy in games such as Grand Theft Auto. The facts are played out and clearly defined, yet it permits you to take your own position on the matter, quickly switching to concentrate on the psychological toll the incident has taken on the game creators rather then ramble on about what is right or wrong and why, which clearly no one will agree on (ever) anyways. This is a breath of fresh air as most gamers are passionate people who feel the need to preach their love of games to you like door-to-door religious recruiters having a 'roid rage with a lot more bad language.

Truly, this book is wonderfully written and contains fascinating facts about more then the history of games, as it also explores the many turns games have taken, to movie and book deals, to technological advances games inspired and much more. There's a richness in this book that few others have, and I believe part of that is due to having an experienced writer behind the whole thing. A gaming book written by a passionate gamer that is also a professional writer that has experienced some important events of gaming's life firsthand is a major advantage on the lonely nerd with Microsoft Word and a lot to say  like myself.

Overall this book is everything it promises to be and delivers what it promises to deliver, purely and simply. How Fifty Years of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture is exactly what you'll learn in this quirky and enticing book though maybe not in the way you expected to at first. The title may not be entirely accurate, and sure it is far from a complete collection of the important people in the life of gaming, but it's really all you need for a general look. Not only is this book good, it takes what you knew about games and pushed it to the next level and explained the why and how and who. I have a hard time finding something wrong with it, other then I wanted more, and I really don't think that's a flaw at all. I'll have to give this 9 pixels out of 10.