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Want Something
Praised or, well..."slashed"...? Send a note, and
we'll add it to the list!
 Slash : To
all the Nintendo Wii reviews of Wii Sports Resort that begin with the
line: "the sequel to the best selling Wii game ever!" Look, love Wii
Sports if you must though let's be clear: it came free with the system.
Games that come free with the system are not "the best selling games"
for the system. In fact; as fun as it is to play Wii Sports when you
first get your Wii, I defy you to show me one person that still plays it
after getting Super Mari Galaxy...and Metroid Prime 3...and Zelda
Twilight Princess...and so on...and so on. In fact; seriously, would you
have bought Wii Sports if it was not free with new systems, and was
instead sold separately and priced at $49.95? Anyone...? I'm just
saying.
 DOUBLE DOT
: The ever elusive two-thumbs-WAY-up "DOUBLE Dot"
just has to go Cliff Johnson, one of the most selfless classic game
designers I can imagine. His puzzle games were among my favorites, in
particular The Fool's Errand, which made my list of Top 50 Multimedia
Game Classics yet sadly the disk got damaged, seemingly making it
impossible for me to ever play it again. So I surf the web for
information about classic games the other day and what do I find?
Cliff Johnson's
official web site, and what's more: he offers all his older games
for free. True, these are games that once played on old pre-iMac
Macintoshes and MS-DOS PCs, though the web site is quite thorough in
helping you get these classic games up and running with whatever
emulators are available. They also, for that matter, work perfectly on
classic computers, so blow the dust off your old PowerPC Macintosh and
have some fun! Thanks Cliff Johnson! YOU. ROCK!
Slash : To
the now common practice of networks to promote new shows the cheap and
cruel way: first, they extend the time of the prior show so you're
suddenly watching the following show whether you want to or not. While
this is all well and good, they don't tell your digital video recording
service (Tivo, Time Warner, etc) that they
extended the time of the prior show!
So the prior show, which now lasted 65 minutes and not 60, is recorded
by your digital VCR for the first 60 minutes and you're left wondering
how the episode ended. Enough of this! Trickery isn't the best way to
promote a new series. Whatever happened to relying on good old fashioned
advertising? If your show sucks let it go, and don't punish fans of a
more popular show by forcing them to either watch the show "live" or not
at all. Either that or at least tell people the actual time the show
begins and ends, if that isn't too much to ask...and it isn't!
DOT
: To a game that finally took the "choose between
good and evil" premise and got it right. In inFamous, the lead character
finds himself with super powers, though it's entirely up to you what he
does with them. You can use your healing powers to slowly save the lives
of people in the city you live in, or you can use your life leeching
powers to suck the life out of a bad guy. Similarly you can protect the
innocent, ignore them, or give villainy a whole new look. It's all up to
you. Even better, however, is how there are repercussions for your
actions. Heroes get the added bonus of fans cheering you on the street
and girls flirting with you; villains actually get stones thrown at them
and often get shot at by cops. This is a whole lot different from the
vastly disappointing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed last year, where
choosing between good and evil made little difference at all; only the
final cutscene was different...and spoilers notwithstanding, both
sucked. Not so with inFamous. As for it being a Playstation 3 exclusive,
my only advice is...buy a PS3. The game rocks.
Slash : To
Nestea's downright wacky "Steve.com" online commercial campaign. If you
had the good fortune to miss it, here's the deal; your favorite web site
has been taken over, or so says "Steve," who has gained the ability to
control web sites with his mind, all thanks to Nestea. Um...dude? Do you
really think it's a good advertising campaign when you confess to being
(let's be frank) high as a kite after drinking your wonderful tea?
Enough with these annoying "Steve has taken over this web site with his
awesomeness" web banners. Seriously. Enough.
DOT
: To the shows that ended with a bang regardless of
whether they'd get renewed or not. Sure, Life and Chuck were on the
bubble; that didn't stop both shows from ending their seasons with
finales so good they could easily be used as series finales if
necessary. Chuck loses his powers then willingly gets them back again
learning that he needs his powers to help those he loves. His reward?
The new powers he gets from a new computer system have been "upgraded"
to give him powers a la Neo from The Matrix movies, as he says
amusingly, "Guys...? I know kung fu!" Classic...! Meanwhile, Life ends
its story arc with the big bad guy getting his just reward and, it would
appear, the hero being able to enjoy his new "life" in peace...finally.
Slash : To
the downright horrible season finale to The Celebrity Apprentice '09. In
short: Joan Rivers "wins" the game even though she had her backside
handed to her in the final challenge. Her almost racist excuse for
losing so much money in the final challenge was
downright infuriating: in her opinion, her opponent had friends in the
"mafia" who helped her win. To add insult to injury, Donald Trump merely
mused that her opponent (professional poker champion Annie Duke) had "no
idea" if her friends were in the Mafia or not. What...? The most
frustrating part of this is: they're actually bringing this reality show
back in 2010. Just wait until you see the celebrity roster for that one,
given how bottom-of-the-barrel most of the
"celebrities" were this season. I'd dare expect Donald to hire a muppet
for the job. Miss Piggy...are you reading?
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