Savior Gaming

Dazed and Confused (1993)

dazed and confused

This is another movie I didn’t see until well after it came out. I actually had a friend that kept calling me Matthew McConaughey and when I asked why he wouldn’t tell me, all he kept saying was watch the movie. Finally I did and well, my girlfriend while legal was a bit younger than me. We met freshmen year in college, tho I went through the army before college and she went straight from high school. You do the math.

The movie itself however is amazing. Its a coming of age story about a few of the football players and choosing between giving in to the demands of the coach, or staying true to themselves. It doesn’t stop there tho. There is a love story as well, there is some philosophy talk and even a fun side story about the tradition of of High School seniors essentially chasing the soon to be freshmen down and beating them with paddles.

Now I am not quite old enough to know anything about what the 70’s was like. I was born after that, but the stories I hear makes it seem pretty accurate. The acting is also amazing and they really capture what many think of when they think stereotypical high school experience. It is one of those cult classic movies people love and there is a reason for it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Chris Rock: Tambourine (2018)

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Chris Rock has always been a favorite of mine in the stand up world. Not only has he always made me laugh but there was always some great social commentary and was usually pretty thought provoking and his newest addition is no exception. There are some parts that when taken out of context sound HORRIBLE and a few will probably make a few people a bit uncomfortable regardless. He however hasn’t lost anything in all these years and any fan of his will also enjoy this one, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Violence in Video Games…Again

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It seems like every so often after a tragedy someone decides its the fault of video games. Before we go any further by the way, this transcends party lines. At one point Democrat Hillary Clinton took her shots at the industry and she wasn’t alone. The original Mortal Kombat was also attacked from what seemed like all sides for what was touted as realistic violence and blood.

This time around however it is American Republicans. Recently Donald Trump also decided to blame violent video games and movies and according to Robert Nardolillo of Rhode Island they actually need a special Tax applied to them, which while it would help schools it would exclusively be used to punish gamers for an alleged issue being caused by games that I will discuss in a minute, but spoiler, science mostly says otherwise.

In a recent study from the University of New York found no evidence to support the claim that video games make players more violent and in the opinion of Jesse Marczyk, Ph.D this claim also holds no water. There is also some simple common sense to this tho. Violent video games are played all over the world, yet these shootings aren’t an issue in every country. Hell it isn’t even an issue in every state tho I promise you will find a copy of Grand Theft Auto in all 50 states. Another study also shows no link between violent games and movies and real life violence.

I do apologize for all the links on this one by the way, I know they can be annoying at times. I do however realize this subject can be very divisive and I did want to share the source of where the claim was coming from in case people wanted to see that for themselves. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you safety and glory.

Punisher (2004)

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While I’m ridiculously behind on my Netflix MCU stuff like Daredevil, Defenders, and most recently Punisher, I’m glad the vigilante Frank Castle is back in the spotlight once again. It always bugged me his 2004 film never really took off. As far as character origins, Punisher’s is good old revenge, plain and simple. Left for dead after a mobster kills his entire family, ex military man Frank Castle declares a one man war on criminals. Simple but satisfying. Thomas Jane was underappreciated as Castle, the movie had pretty decent acting all around. The action scenes were appropriately gory and badass but weren’t flashy. One of the biggest gripes I hear is it was too depressing- no shit it was depressing. I’ve never heard anyone use comical, light-hearted, or whimsical to describe a Punisher comic. It’s not a classic in the genre but it’s still a good, solid action movie that I hope gets more love in time. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

5 Games or Series That Deserve a Remaster, but Won’t Get Them.

Lunar is one of those series many of us remember fondly, but tons didn’t get to play at all. Lunar Silver Star Story was an amazing game, and a remaster for the PS4 would be amazing.

I have mentioned this game a few times on here, and it wouldn’t take much to just up the graphics and give it to us, but sadly the company that made it Camelot Software Planning now works pretty much exclusively for Nintendo, so this one is likely to stay in the past.

The Guardian Legend was a game I played back in the NES and involved flying a ship top down style blowing up ships, fighting a boss and then landing on a surface to fight more aliens before they reach Earth. It got mixed reviews and had possibly the longest passwords I have ever come across but the game was fun, and would be fun to see again as a budget title.

Shining Force was one of the earliest tactics RPG games and was followed by Shining Force 2. There were other games in the series but they varied in game type and quality. Tho oddly enough these were also made by Camelot Software Planning, so these will also probably remain in hiding as they continue to blast out hit titles for Nintendo.

The Phantasy Star series has had numerous iterations and has been on a few collections as recently as the PS3 and Xbox 360 but what the series hasn’t had is the classic Final Fantasy treatment where they up the graphics a bit, smooth things out and give us a proper remaster. I also do not believe this will ever happen, but it would be a great day if it did. Let me know what you guys would love to see, but know we probably won’t. Best wishes and may the gamin gods bring you glory.

Hulk

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So what happens if you a visionary director, a all star cast, a huge budget and hell, even a legendary composer for the score come together to make a superhero film? Surely this was a sure thing, right? I’m sure we all heard the story of Hulk before but here it is as Lee told it. Bruce Banner was a scientist with some personnel issues that crapped on his relationship with Betty Ross; he did some experiments with gamma radiation that went great or belly up, however you want to look at it. His repressed rage manifested itself with the energy, turning him into a savage beast when he gets angry.

Ang Lee, if you ever read this, you tried. I respect that. This movie tries to be a deep, dramatic character piece full of symbolism and depth. It comes off as a bored, pretentious mess. None of the actors really seem to give much of a shit and with the exception of rumble crack-head bursts of energy from Nick Nolte as the villain (please don’t ask me to tell you what villain he was supposed to be, 15 years later I still don’t have a fucking clue who or what he was supposed to be.) Hulk himself is cartoon-ish, depicted as like 10 feet tall and bright lime green. For a movie about a pissed off green dude on a rampage, there’s very little action. There’s comic panel transitions between scenes which become annoying quick and random trippy scenes added through to be artistic but just crap on the mess. I won’t call this movie a shitpile because I can tell you effort was put into this but it isn’t good. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Rainbow Six Siege

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Siege is one of those games I have seen others play, friends have tried to get me to play and I just had no real interest in. Tho this past weekend there was a free to play weekend on both Xbox and PS4, and I had nothing to lose. I decided this would be a good time spend some time on my One X and see what it was like. Graphically speaking the game looked nice. The operators all felt different and each had their own strengths and weaknesses and the weapons all felt different enough to be worth trying different ones out. The game was far from perfect, for example some walls you can shoot through but another wall that is a slightly different color but also made of wood is a no go. I know its a balance issue but until you pick up on this and start memorizing maps its pretty damn annoying.

The biggest problem siege has however is its community. It may be the most toxic and ridiculous community I have encountered outside of Grand Theft Auto 5 online but at least GTA5 has the excuse of its GTA and you are supposed to be a dick. In a couple games playing with friends in casual games people actually wanted to vote me out of the game simply because I was new. I didn’t shoot anyone on the team or anything, was simply new and inexperienced. In a ranked game this would make sense, in a casual game tho?

Which brings me to the next issue. Team killing is a very common thing. Easily in over half the games I played someone on a team killed someone on their own team. Many times its for some reason on purpose by the way. I don’t know what causes this, but its there. The game is fun, and obviously the community isn’t holding it back any. But new people trying to get in should know at times you won’t be welcomed in with opened arms by many. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Celebrity Deathmatch

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If this were the magical phenomenon known as Celebrity Deathmatch, Savior would be Johnny Gomez and I’d be Nick Diamond. Another awesome piece of the 90’s many have shamefully forgotten and to those that knew of it and have I proclaim SHAME! In Deathmatch we got to see the bloody and brutal clay animated fights between celebs we wished would thrown down in real life. Famous Fights have included Beavis Vs Butthead, Jimi Hendrix vs Lenny Kravitz, Nsync vs the Backstreet Boys, and about a million others. Johnny and Nick had there own wacky skits in between fights and every fight began with Mills Lane famously echoing “Let’s get it on”. Sadly the show faded into damn near total total memory though pieces and even a few episodes are up on YouTube. I recommend checking it out if you can and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

When We First Me (2018)

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What happens when you meet the girl of your dreams, have a great night and she meets the love of her life the next day? Apparently you get hammered at their engagement party, spend a bit tossing your lunch and getting a ride home from a woman that seems to not like you very much.

A bit later Noah finds an old picture machine that sends him back in time where he can attempt to win the woman he loves over and over again. It doesn’t always go well. For example in one attempt his love interest Avery and her best friend mistake him for a stalker and he gets beat with an indoor tree for his troubles.

The movie is pretty solid, not perfect but solid. For example for a comedy it doesn’t exactly have to many laugh out loud funny parts. This is forgivable tho since the humor is still there and it isn’t heavy on the romance either. The movie happy to be average with both in return for being bad with neither. The movie is definitely worth a watch but don’t go in expecting an instant classic, but it is an enjoyable experience. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Beavis and Butthead

beavis and butthead

Before the dawn of South Park and Family Guy, this was the cartoon that pissed off parents and scared PTAs because no one wanted to say they spawned idiots like Beavis and Butthead. These two dimwit teenage headbangers were the nightmare of there school, neighborhood, and all of Highland with there raw stupidity as they persevered in the name of scoring chicks and getting beer and nachos. And god love you if they get there hands on power tools. One of my favorite shorts was them stealing poor Mr. Anderson’s (prototype Hank Hill from King of the Hill) riding mower to destroy peoples flowers, get drive through, and ditch it in a four way intersection. May favorite times were when Beavis got jacked up on sugar or caffeine and became the Great Cornholio- which on a personal note, I went trick or treating as when I was 18. Don’t judge. Indeed the show is dumb but some of the satire and parodies are pretty clever and if anything, it’s very much a time capsule of the 90’s for all it’s worth. In the end, I recommend the classic 90’s seasons, not the newer ones they tried in this generation. May the gaming gods bring you glory.