Todd's columns have appeared in many publications such as GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Gamer, and Electronic Games. Todd is a founding member of GiN and speaks from an "old school" gamer's perspective. Embracing the notions of all classic gaming, game soundtracks, and the original "hardcore style," he also shuns the trends he feels are ruining the game industry, such as the embracement of 3D, the over-saturation of MMOs, and misleading game advertising.
Over the last few weeks, I have been noticeably absent from my bi-weekly commentary. Sad to say, it has become tough lately for me to come up with a column because a lot of personal matters have come up over the last month. I already mentioned the mass EMP that fried my GameCube, Xbox, and PS2. Thankfully they have all been repaired, but it bridged to another major disaster in my hellish schedule. The last of my repairs was to take place two weeks ago. I got a call from Starland telling me that my GameCube was repaired, and just … Continue reading Things Have To Look Up→
Over the previous weekend, I was treated to perhaps two of the greatest gangster movies of all time: Goodfellas and Scarface. However, both stories are completely different. Where Goodfellas depicts the story of Henry Hill’s rise to power in the Mafia and sudden disappearance into the Witness Protection Program, Scarface’s Tony Montana rises up from a poor Cuban immigrant to a powerful drug lord, ending his reign with a shotgun blast to the back. The same thing will apply to Grand Theft Auto 3, which dealt more with the Goodfellas side of the storyline involving the Leone family and how … Continue reading It’s Miami Vice 2002→
As if Islamic extremists flying airplanes into buildings and snipers wreaking havoc around this area isn't bad enough. To bring up my stress level, consider this" Two weeks ago, I headed off to my local EB to see if Red Faction 2 was released. Since this is the start of the busy holiday title season, I wanted to get a head start. After all, we are talking Red Faction 2, Contra: Shattered Soldier, Shenmue 2, Metroid Prime, Metal Gear Solid Substance, Splinter Cell, etc., etc., etc. As usual, I found out that RF2 was actually coming out the day after … Continue reading EMP Pulse Dancing→
Before I had a chance to play Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the Xbox, I will admit I had not watched the series on a regular basis. I only knew a few things such as Willow being a lesbian with Angel being Buffy’s one love interest, despite being a vampire (and eventually leading to his own series), and that Buffy’s high school was settled atop a Hellmouth. But after spending some time with the game, as well as watching the first season on DVD, and getting some pointers from my super-fan girlfriend, I started to become hooked on the series. … Continue reading Buffy Slays the Competition→
Max Payne was the first title that I had the chance to play on my XBox. After the horror that was the watered-down PlayStation 2 version, and not having a powerful enough PC to play the original, I was pleased to see that the XBox was able to handle a decent port of the game that started the action noir genre. Dead to Rights is following up on Max Payne’s success, but after abandoning its PlayStation 2 release, it found a new home on the XBox. Initial experiences turned out to be promising, as the E3 alpha I played had … Continue reading Dead Without Any Rights→
After the commentary I wrote last time regarding the lies and deceits that both EB and Gamestop displayed on their web sites, I thought they would actually take my concerns to heart. Go figure that they don't, as once again they both lied to me regarding the release date of NHL 2003. Recently it was listed to be released on October 1st, and as usual I gave the stores an extra day because of their "that's when it's being shipped" crap. But when I went to the local EB on the following day (the 2nd), NHL 2003 was STILL not … Continue reading Pre-Order Blues→
Ever since the day’s of Atari, there have always been poorly made products that only sell because of a particular license associated with them. It’s been an industry trend for quite a long while, and despite how annoying the trend is, casual gamers have still not wised up to the "licensed crap" ploy. Because of this, Naki has felt free to release the Spider-Pad, that despite it’s connection with the coolest Superhero ever, is still a pretty shoddy product. The first problem with the Spider-Pad, that will become painfully obvious to you the second you start playing, is how oversensitive … Continue reading Spider Gets Washed-Out→
What was supposed to be a day in NHL heaven turned out to take an alternate course; all because of a store's website that LIED to me. The last week I checked out both the Gamestop and EBWorld websites, and they had the PC version of NHL 2003 scheduled for this last Tuesday (the 17th). I was looking forward for this day to arrive, but I had to also remember that unlike places like Suncoast who ALWAYS get their titles on the day they are scheduled, software stores have to wait another day for the release, claiming that the listed … Continue reading Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire…→
Finally after a long, slow summer fraught with talks of baseball strikes, boring tennis matches where we already know the Williams sisters will win before the first serve, and a downward NASCAR season where Jeff Gordon finally won his first race of the year at Bristol, the return of football is upon us. Unlike last year when I had the heavily underrated XFL to hold me over, this year was a longer cross to bear. Don’t even mention Arena football to me, as I do not believe a real football game can be played in only 50 yards. A couple … Continue reading 2002 Football Report Card→
Since the last time I wrote, I have been through a lot. I am finally back from PlayStation 2 hiatus (after a $100 repair bill for a new laser lens pickup and cleaning), and even went as far as obtaining one of the rare Network Adapters. Granted I only have 56K thanks to a certain cable company not providing internet services (*cough* Adelphia *cough*) and also because my phone line isn't DSL-ready yet. But at least I can get some online action going, which I will get to in a bit. I have also kept my word about getting rid … Continue reading Invade Greece!→
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