(Alot of reading incoming, you have been warned.)
Introduction:
How are you all doing, I am a VCL for the Deck Critique: Sanctioned Tournament section of the MTG boards. While most of you might not know me, I have been apart of the wizard boards for quite along time. Although I dont remember the exact time I started posting is unknown I do remember I had three to four names before I settled on Cageofpanacakes and began posting I have been playing magic since Mercadian Masques so I guess I started playing magic when I was 10. That being said I think I first started reading through the forums around 02-03.
When it comes to my strong point playing Magic, I can honestly say that it shifts depending on what I feel like doing. I shift between standard/Extended and limited quite alot. I do dabble with the other formats every now and then but I always go back to standard and limited.
Side note:
As a VCL for the DC: Sanctioned Tournament area I am always looking for feedback and what people see as problems, so please if you have a concern about the area I manage please feel free to contact me.
Current state of video games:
Ill come right out in saying that I work for video game retail store. My job is to sell games and essentially be able to answer any video game related question of a customer that walks through the door. While its not the most illustrious job and and plan to aspire to better things in the future, its a good job to have now as opposed to later.
Now to my main point, and keep in mind this is only my opinion. Games have taken a turn for the worst, why? Because a few good games got way to popular, the public have formed opinions on what games should be. Also some people are just plain stupid. I would like to think the stupidity of most of the people I toss into the stupid category started with Halo. Now dont get me wrong, I liked Halo it was a good game it started a mega franchise, but if you think about it Halo wasnt that good but it came at a time when good first person shooters on the home systems were rare. If you wanted to play a good FPS you had a to have a good computer but halo changed everything. Suddenly everyone was getting together having Lan partys putting together 4 xbox's and playing with 16 people (correct me if I am wrong). The virus that was Halo began to grow. Xbox live helped make the game more popular, and essentially gave people the option they previously did not have with at home systems they could play others whenever they wanted just like they could on a computer. While I am happy that service eventually became available and paved the way for many other things it also helped spawn a giant group of idiots, the people who got on live and made a complete fool of themselves while spouting out complete and utter garbage.
I could keep going on about Halo and my opinions regarding that but I have one more game I want to cover before moving on. Now before I start on the game I will say that this game on a FPS scale was made very well and deserves all the phrase it gets but the problem I have with it comes when people began compairing it to other games even games that totally different (FPS wise, and I have seen cases of non-FPS games.). The game I am speaking of is Call of Duty: Modern warfare. The game itself was made really well and has great multiplayer and decent singleplayer. Its system is well made and as it stands right now, the biggest game release of this year as it stands right now is going to Modern warfare 2. While it remains to be seen if that game will stand up to the original or just be a giant let-down, people are already jumping all over it giving it phrase and even calling it better then games just recently released and people are already obnoxiously jumping on the band wagon (These are the people that If I ask what games they own when they come in to trade things in, they respond Halo, Modern warfare, Madden, Grand theft auto. You would be suprised how many people fall into that category, Madden is the only game that is sometimes left out. Also the people who bought Halo wars expecting a first person shooter and when they found out it was a real time strategy complained because they didnt do any research on the game and was expecting a first person shooter.). These are the people who form bad opinions on games only comparing them to games they own saying they "suck" because of blah, blah, blah. When I deal with these people my eyes glaze over and I go into upselling mode because I most likely can get 5 dollars from them to reserve the next big halo game and increase my ratings. I really do not know how to end this part but I think I have made my opinion known, if you want to know anything else or need me to fill in a blank feel free to ask me, and you will get an answer.
The last thing I want to bring up is how truely inovative and fun games get left behind while others get the spotlight and turn out horribly. I wont dwelve into specifics but I just wanted to touch on it. One game that did beat the odds is a DS game called Professor Layton and the Curious Village, its an amazing puzzle game that only got the recognition it deserved because it got a commercial with I think Lisa Kudrow and while I would rather games get the good word spread about them in a better way I am glad people caught onto the game and gave it enough popularity to spawn a sequal (Professor Layton and the diabolical box.), people still asked me if I had the game that Lisa Kudrow(?) played in the commercial. Now the only games that I get to see advertised or games that I have no interest trying to sell to the people who come in, currently games like Wet, and Damnation (Which flopped horribly.)
If you made it this far I would like to thank you for reading my thoughts and put up with my ranting. It feels good being able to put my thoughts into blog form where people can randomly read it if they so choose. Ill continue to make blog posts so please let me know what you think.
Also just got done watching Shawshank Redemption, love that movie. If you have yet to see it your missing it. Its amazing.
Thanks again for reading,
CoP (CageofPanacakes)
