Over the last few months, I've had thoughts on how many things are wrong with the video games industry. I intended to make a list entitled "Top 10 things that are wrong with the video games industry today", but after some inspiration from some rant series I've come across such as Silent Rob's Gamestop rants and TheArchfiend's Theme Park rants as well as Omega-2's rants which I read whenever they're up, I've decided to make a series of text rants on what's wrong with the video game industry today.

Don't get me wrong, I love video games, but unfortunately, there is far too much bullshit in the video games industry and I will rant on most or everything about what's wrong with it today. I'm going to try and make a rant every week or two depending on my motivation or if I have other things to focus on. This will go on until I have nothing left to rant on and after that, I'll only make a new rant when new things pop up in mind. I already have at least ten topics to rant on, so this will go on for a reasonable amount of time.

To start off, I'll be ranting on a handhold console that was released just recently, the Nintendo DSi. Supposedly an update to the DS Lite, but really, this is more of a downgrade from the original DS and I can easily tell that from the two main problems:

1. There is no GBA slot and has been made way for the SD card slot;
2. There is a camera, which the GBA slot is gone in favour for.

The first issue is really bad since I still play GBA games from time to time and so do many others and I'm still annoyed at how the DS can't play GB or GBC games. As an "update" of the DS Lite, Nintendo should have tried to make it compatible with GB and GBC game cartridges as well as keeping the GBA slot. If they did that, I would have traded in my original DS and get the Nintendo DSi right away, despite the stupid ass camera feature.

As for the camera feature, why? Just why? Why on earth did Nintendo even think of this dumbass idea? Handheld consoles are for playing games on, not for taking pictures and putting them onto MySpace. And on top of that, a 0.3 Megapixel camera will look terrible and with £150 you could be spending on a DSi, you could get a 10 Megapixel camera with that money.

The only use the camera has are for the DSiWare games, but by looking at the library right now, there's nothing worth getting. This just sounds like EyeToy all over again where the games compatible with that were only fun for a while and got boring really really quick. The only use the EyeToy has nowadays is for webcam (yes, it's possible to do that). The DSi on the other hand, if it were to be used for a webcam, I'd rather use the EyeToy or better yet, the built-in webcam on my laptop which isn't fantastic, but gets the job done.

Another (pointless) feature the DSi has is a music player. You'll be able to play music by having an SD card of any size, but sadly, that fails as you could actually use that SD card you're holding for the Creative Zen products and that has space for music and videos to begin with. So really, if one of the main reasons you're getting a DSi is for the music player, you might as well forget it and get a Creative Zen or an iPod instead.

The only thing that would make the DSi actually worth getting is if there WILL be a handheld version of Virtual Console, where you can download GB and GBC games. This wouldn't be too bad for any games that are really hard to obtain these days as in a game where you'd be having to take out £40+ from your wallet in order to get it. However, I'm not sure how many rare GB/GBC games there are and I'd rather not get the DSi just to download the rare games. Even if they go ahead and release those games, they'll only take AAAAAAAAAAGES to release them all, just like the Wii's Virtual Console. I'd rather have a DS that can play the cartridges of those games!

So all in all, the DSi is a complete and utter piece of shit that should have never seen the light of day. This is perhaps Nintendo's worst idea since Virtual Boy. Removing the GBA slot was a terrible mistake and they should have tried to make GB and GBC cartridges backwards compatible. The music player and camera features are extremely pointless since with £150, you might as well get a digital camera, an MP3 Player or even a PSP. Those three have way more value than the DSi.

I just hope Nintendo realise what a terrible mistake they made with the DSi, but sadly, they'll only care what the casual gamers think and ignore their true fans. I wouldn't say this is the last nail on the coffin for Nintendo, but they're getting there.

EDIT 3: Back to normal now. I just wish we were able to have evilface as another emoticon here.

EDIT 2: Speaking of metal excercise, BASIC BRAINING IS THE BEST THING EVER! WOOHOO!

EDIT: Still having fun. I wonder how many comments I've made today. Must be hundreds.

COMMUNISTGROUNDS!

My icon's changed, the layout's red, the emoticons have changed, EVERYTHING HAS!

HOLY SHIT!

Also, fuck YouTube for stealing my idea!

Also, phuck, sh1t, 4ss, cun7, b1tch

Recently on YouTube, there have been two things that have been bugging me. The first being all music videos supposedly blocked in the UK. Although this has been known for a few weeks now, but I still find this to be a complete and utter fail. The first reason being that not all music videos are blocked. For starters, I can view music videos by Muse, one of the most popular bands right now as well anything by loads of record label channels. The only channel so far that I can't view videos is universalmusicgroup.

While they've actually blocked some music videos, the idea still fails when people outside the UK can easily download the videos and upload it themselves. Sure, they get taken down after a while, but then others will keep uploading those videos, so besides banning accounts, it's pretty much redundant. Oh well, if they really don't want us to watch music videos on YouTube, we still have Last.fm and for the pirates, torrent. :P

My other gripe with YouTube right now is friend whores. Recently, I've had several friend whores trying to add me on YouTube and I've rejected all of them. I do check the channels of anyone who adds me and it kills me when I see someone with "5723 friends" and obviously only adding loads of people to get more friends. What really annoys me is when I have this message on my channel:

I only accept friend requests from those I recognise. The rest will be rejected!

It makes me wonder if they even read the above message or not when they click on "Add as Friend". If I accepted them, all I'm gonna get is more "Friends" on my Friends list and possibly get spammed with shared videos of crap that I don't even care about. I only accept friend adds from people I know (and maybe those who commented on my videos or subscribed to them) because they have good reasons to be there and aren't MySpace-esque friend whores. That's a thought, why don't these fuckers go back to MySpace and friend whore there? Last time I checked, MySpace is full of friend-whoring and these idiots would fit perfectly on that site.

Incidentally, if you wish to add me on YouTube and I know who you are, feel free to add me. ;) If your YouTube name is completely different to your name here, just let me know who you are.

In other news, if you remember my GameFAQs rant from last November, you should remember that I talked about an alternative to GameFAQs' Character Battles. Despite the chances of getting many entrants is very low, I'm going to give this a shot and shall start asking for entries on 3rd April, the same day GameFAQs starts their Best Game Ever Tournament (which will blow).

I'm making a new post and keeping the big green picture away from my main page. So do I have anything to say right now? Nothing, so I'll just post some videos right here:

My userpage can't be e-pinched!

ASADGDGADFASD

MAYBE THUS UTUNE USN';T SO OPMEASNT IR GIID OR GREAY OR FANSTASTYI OR COMING OUT GOOD OR I DO0N';T KNOW

I DUNNO WJHAT;S HAPPENOGHT RNORUGNBT OW

For the sixth time since November 2007, I was in London for three nights, although this time I was there in the middle of the week instead of the weekend since that's how things went with my mum's birthday this time. It was her birthday on the Monday and she wanted to be in the London where my sister is while she was on her annual leave from work. Unfortunately, my sister and her boyfriend were working then, so they weren't able to be with us during the daytime. Not the best planning, but that's just how things were this time around.

We didn't do a lot on Tuesday, except for heading our way to London, but on Wednesday we were (i.e. just me and my parents) out shopping in Central London and you all should know by now where I went when we were there. Unfortunately, Zavvi was closed down so the only shop I needed to go to was HMV. I saved up money as well as keeping the vouchers I had for the store from Christmas and went on a spending spree by getting the following CDs:

Demons & Wizards - Demons & Wizards
Edguy - Mandrake
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Manowar - Sign of the Hammer
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Muse - Absolution
Overkill - Horrorscope
Saxon - Wheels of Steel

And Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 DVD. I remember watching this show when I was a kid and after watching the Batman films and remembering this show, I wanted to get the DVDs and found the first season for £10. Although I've only watched four episodes so far as I'm typing this, I'm enjoying it a lot.

For the night, we just stayed at the flat and my sister's boyfriend bought The Matrix trilogy on Blu-ray that day and wanted to watch the first film right away. I've already seen the trilogy before (as should the majority), but I didn't mind watching it again since this time I saw it on a HDTV with 5.1 Surround Sound, which is obviously much better than watching it on a small ass TV.

The Thursday was pretty much wasted since my parents were wanting to go on some attractions in Central London, but never even went on any in the end since they complained about the admission prices for each and every one they came across and were even iffy about the prices for Tower Bridge which was only £6 per adult. OK, maybe the country isn't in a good state right now, but this is London, WHAT DO YOU FUCKING EXPECT?! And complaining about something that was just a mere £6 each? -_- The day just felt like it was wasted when they could have done something when they were there other than walking around the place.

Later that night, my sister and her boyfriend wanted to watch the second half of Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, which they didn't see when they were up here last weekend. Although I saw the whole movie already, I decided to watch the second half again since the first time I watched it, I was disappointed and thought maybe I was missing out on something. I enjoyed the movie slightly more after watching it for the second time (well, just the second half), but for the last film out of the four, some of the ideas they had didn't feel epic enough and were rather disappointing. Maybe another watch is required for this film and I intend to watch through all the Futurama episodes and movies right after I've watched through season 1 of Batman: The Animated Series.

On a side note: After my next Futurama marathon, I plan to review the four movies, but unlike my game reviews, I might have them in video format where I talk about each movie. Oh, and after that, I'm returning to hell by watching through the awful Simpsons episodes starting from the second half of season 17.

On Friday, it was time to head back home and like I've said on my previous London news posts, I'm already missing my sister. There's been no plans on when to go down there again, but she'll be up here for Easter. :)

And that concludes my time in London. While I was there, I've had the urge to play PS1 games again, so I've started with playing MGS1 again since it's been almost 4 years since I last played this game and I've neglected it for too long. ;_; After MGS1, I'll have Kurushi and Tombi 2 to play since I was able to get those games from eBay. :) Here's hoping I can get Tombi 1 and possibly Kula World as well.

Listening to: Edguy
Watching: Batman: The Animated Series
Playing: Bioshock (PC) / Chrono Trigger (DS) / Metal Gear Solid (PS) / Portal: Prelude (PC) / Team Fortress 2 (PC)

Away in London, see you all on Friday.
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Classic song:

Team Fortress 2 micspam fun with the same song:

Me and gfox rocking out in TF2:

To me, Valentine's Day is the most pointless holiday OF ALL! This is a day for romantic couples to celebrate the day together for what? No apparent reason since no-one seems to care about the origins of Valentine's Day whatsoever. So what are these couples celebrating the day for? To be together when unless it's an internet relationship, you'd be seeing your loved one everyday? What a redundant holiday when not only that, you're likely to make your anniversary (if not married, the day the relationship started) extra special.

So yeah, fuck this holiday which is "special" for no reason whatsoever. The only purpose this seems to have is money being thrown everywhere for cards and stuff and it's all for a pointless holiday. How Valentine's Day became a major holiday is beyond me.

(NOTE: By writing this news post, I agree that I'll be swarmed with "UR JEALUS CUZ U HAV NO GF" and "awwwww sum1 didnt get a card dis yer" comments, even though this rant is more about the pointlessness of Valentine's Day and not because I feel left out)

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In other news:

- It's been six months since I commenced working on my 100th flash and here am I slacking off big time. I have to admit, I've hardly done anything this year so far and I have no idea when I'll go back to working on it. I was hoping to improve my drawing skills by now, but when I try and practice, I seem to lose focus. I'd love to get this flash done someday but right now, the project is pretty much on hold until I'm motivated enough and not distracted by playing games on the laptop most of the time.

- The next two weeks are going to be fun. On Tuesday, I've got an interview for a job. OK, it's an Apprentice and not a genuine job but fuck it, I'm pretty much out of luck for getting a genuine one thanks to the current situation in Britain. I might as well get something that I have a better chance of getting, so I'm hoping for the best on Tuesday.

I'll be going to London once again the Tuesday after to see my sister (OF COURSE!) and for my mum's birthday. This time is rather unusual since we're not going there for the weekend, but the middle of the week and we'll be back home on Friday. What we'll be doing there, I'm not sure yet but we're most likely going to Central London for shopping. Yes, that means hunting for CDs in HMV as usual and maybe Zavvi assuming it's still open by then.

- I have returned to hell by continuing my quest to watching through all the later Simpsons episodes. I stopped at watching 3/4 of season 15 and now I've done watching that atrocity as well as season 16. Fortunately, I will nicely treat myself by watching through all of Futurama after seeing the last film, Into the Wild Green Yonder.

- Here's two amusing videos. One of myself doing silly shit on GTA3 and the other showing three idiots dancing across the street (skip to 5:20 on the second video to see them).

Listening to: Ensiferum
Playing: Bioshock (PC) / Chrono Trigger (DS)

This isn't a game every gamer knows about and it's a game that should be more recognised than it is right now. Originally released in 2005, Psychonauts is a 3D platformer game which involves a training ground named Whispering Rock where children who are gifted with psychic abilities are sent to for summer. The whole game feels like something Tim Burton would have made if he worked with Pixar or Dreamworks and when you play this game, you may wonder why they didn't have this idea in mind in the first place.

Psychonauts had good reception when it was released, but at the same time suffered from poor sales. This may have been due to the lack of interest in platformer games since over the last few years, with the exception of Nintendo, the video game industry has been less interested in platformer games since the start of this decade or the game wasn't promoted very well during its release. Whatever the case was, this game deserved more praise than it did back then. Fortunately, Psychonauts has become more and more popular over the last few years as more gamers acknowledge its existence.

Graphics:

Although minor improvements could have been made to the graphics in this game, those minor graphical problems can be easily overlooked by the great visuals of the settings and characters. Those who aren't picky about the quality of the graphics will have nothing to worry about.

Sound:

While the sound effects are great and the soundtrack is nice and versatile, the sound doesn't truly shine until you hear the voice acting. Fans of Invader Zim will feel right at home since the main character Razputin is voice acted by Richard Horvitz, the same guy who did the voice for Zim. Double Fine, the gaming developer of Psychonauts hired a lot of experienced voice actors as well as some new faces on board. Both the experienced and the newcomers do a fantastic job here, although there is the odd one who does a terrible job in this game (sorry Tara Strong), but luckily, the one bad actor/actress can't bring the whole game down.

Gameplay:

The controls in this game are great, although there are two minor issues with them. The first being the struggle with getting on tightropes. If you grab hold onto the tightropes rather than standing on it, you may have to wait a few seconds before you can jump on top. This can be a problem at times, most especially in the last mental world.

The other minor issue is when the camera angle becomes awkward. If you're in a small room, controlling the camera won't be easy at all and you won't have a clue where you are exactly. Sometimes, the objects in the levels may block the camera view, most especially trees, so again you won't be able to see where you are and where you're going towards to. Besides these issues, there's really nothing to complain about regarding the controls.

Although this is probably just an issue with how Steam distributed this game, the game often plays in a slower frame rate, most especially in bigger areas. This issue can be solved by unclicking FSAA in the graphics options. This also cuts down loading times, because with that enabled, it can take a minute or two to fully load one area.

There are eight special psychic abilities to obtain in this game including pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation and clairvoyance. Some of these abilities can only be achieved by ranking up your Psi Rank, while others are acquired in the mental worlds. All these abilities will be vital in one way or another and some places/items can only be reached by using a specific power ups. Several bosses in the game can only be defeated by a certain ability, so trying to use whatever you have is required.

There are several ways to rank up your Psi Rank in both real and mental worlds. The rank goes up to 100 and the last rank will give you a bonus scene, which only lasts 60 seconds long but better than just rewarding you with additional artwork like other games do. As well as earning new psychic power-ups, raising your Psi Rank will also upgrade certain abilities, which are very useful later on the game.

The level designs in this game are outstanding. In the real world, you can explore the whole of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp as well as entering the abandoned mental asylum later on the game. In these places (more especially Whispering Rock), you'll be searching for Psi cards, challenge markers and scavenger hunt items, which are all for the purpose of ranking up your Psi Rank. You'll also have the opportunity to talk to the other kids and the Psychonaut agents who run the Whispering Rock facility and you'll get to know more about them. This game also allows you to annoy the characters by attacking them, holding them with telekinesis and attempt to set them on fire, although the braindead cheerleaders will keep cheering you on if you do any of these actions.

The mental worlds are just as amazing. The settings range from a small lungfish town invaded by a "monster" (i.e. you) to a twisted neighbourhood involving the milkman conspiracy. All these level designs and ideas are amazing, but the one that stands out the most has to be The Milkman Conspiracy level, which is without a doubt the weirdest mental world as well as having some with the funniest moments in the entire game.

In the mental worlds, there are many figments to collect, emotional baggages to pair with their correct tags, memory vaults to open up and mental cobwebs to clear away with the Cobweb Duster, which can be obtained from The Lodge at the price of 800 arrowheads (the currency used to buy stuff in The Lodge and used for certain events). Some mental cobwebs will block your path to vital places, so it's recommended you try and buy a Cobweb Duster as soon as you can.

As great as it is to wonder around in both the real world and the mental worlds, it's not necessary to collect everything in order to reach the ending of the game. Collecting all the figments, Psi cards, etc are only for those who are determined to finish it 100%, want an extra challenge by finding everything and anyone who simply loves this game a lot, such as myself.

With the exception of the last mental world, the game's difficulty is easy, although not too easy assuming you don't hunt down for all the figments and don't ask Agent Ford Cruller for any advice. The boss fights aren't too hard either once you know how to beat them, but despite its pretty low difficulty, Psychonauts is still a lot of fun. However, an opportunity to play the game on a higher difficulty would have been a great bonus.

The gameplay in general is fantastic with several tasks to do as well as great explorations in all the levels.

Storyline:

The storyline is another major strength in Psychonauts for its very original idea, creativity and excellent humour-value. The game starts off with the protagonist Razputin (often called Raz) escaping from the circus run by his psychic-hating parents to be trained at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp to become a Psychonaut. He sneaks into the facility one night, but is caught by one of the agents. Despite how much enthusiasm he has towards the Psychonauts, they claim his parents have to grant them permission for Raz to participate in the mental activities.

Fortunately, they allow him to participate in the activities the day after he arrived due to his strong mind and is welcomed to the camp, even before their parents gave them permission to stay here. Of course, something wrong happens to the camp along the way, but what exactly happens should only be discovered by playing through the game.

Psychonauts has a great range of characters with 21 children in the camp (including Raz), the four Psychonaut agents who run the camp and the characters you get to know about from their mental worlds. Most of the children don't tell you their full backstory and it's not necessary since what you learn from talking to them or listening out to some conversations between them is all that's needed. Out of all these characters, the most important ones along with Razputin are the Whispering Rock old-timer Lili, the Psychonaut agents Coach Oleander, Sasha Nein, Milla Vodello, Ford Cruller and the ex-Dentist Doctor Loboto. Despite the importance of these characters, the other characters are still fantastic and some you're likely to prefer over others.

The only downfall with the storyline is how the game ends. The ending only made a strong suggestion of a sequel to the game and unfortunately, there's been no real confirmation of a Psychonauts 2 yet. Who knows, maybe we'll hear something after the release of Tim Schafer's next game Brutal Legend. Despite how the game ended, with many hilarious lines and a fantastic plot with originality and such creativity, the storyline overall is superb.

Overall rating: 9.6/10 - There are a few control issues here and there and while the ending didn't have the greatest idea of all, everything mentioned about how great this game is all make up for those flaws. Psychonauts is one of the greatest platformers of this decade (or perhaps THE greatest) and is highly recommended for any fans of platformer games, gaming fans in general and of course, those who are familiar with Tim Schafer's previous works such as Grim Fandango and Monkey Island. Any of the aforementioned gamers who haven't played this game yet should get it right away, whether it be the PS2, Xbox, PC retail or Steam download. This isn't a game to miss!