Rant #2: The console war is the stupidest debacle in the gaming community. (GW)

To kick this blog off with a real bang, I'm gonna start off a Gaming Week, where all the topics are something about the pixelated messes that we love so much. It's a wonderful thing where community can be made of the nicest of people...

This was the best image I could get from "Nice gaming community"

...or it could be one full of hate and angst.

Only three posts in and I bring out old memes, for shame!

The Console War is probably the most common form of this verbal fight in the gaming world. In laymen's terms, it's a fight of fanboy versus fanboy over which console is the better of the ones out at the moment. 

Yeah, it's something like that

The first serious console war was during the 16-bit era, when the Super NES waged popularity over the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive for those not in the states). Mario versus Sonic was an opinion that separated friend from foe, and advertising reigned supreme over fact.

Who here remembers Blast Processing?

Sega and Nintendo were at it until 1995 when Sony entered the market with the Playstation. Funny enough, the Playstation only exists because of a joint partnership with Nintendo to create a CD-based addon for the SNES. Nintendo pulled out from Sony and went to Phillips Electronics to create the Phillips CD-i, labeled as one of the worst consoles released. 

And to think they somehow screwed up making a Mario game!

Along with Sega's Saturn console, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in 1996, bringing along several innovations to the world of gaming. Perhaps the one that is most influential was its controller, including the first analog stick on a popular home console. This was an important feature for that era, as the dawn of 3D gaming was now apparent, and controllers needed more than eight movement controls. Sony realized this and made up a revision to their previous controller.

I love the internet because I can just search up these pictures instead of making them myself

Skipping a generation, we now have Sony's PS3, Nintendo's Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Although technically part of "console" gaming, the everlasting PC is as strong as its competition. 

Though not that strong

In lieu of the above picture, why is it necessary to exploit one system's flaws over another console while that console has flaws of its own? Each console has its pros (Wii: good 1st party lineup/Waggle, Xbox: Easy online system/wide options for usage, PS3: Free online/great controller) and cons (Wii: Poor online/limited library of good games, Xbox: Horrible userbase/flawed console design, PS3: Low amount of 1st Party support/high pricepoint) , and you might ignore those flaws in blind apparition for your favored party. But why should gamer fight gamer?

This is certainly more fitting than the first picture from this topic.

And before I go, you might ask about the DS versus the PSP, or Sony's and Nintendo's upcoming 

handhelds. I really can't consider a good discussion about the console war between the two handhelds, as Nintendo's handhelds didn't have any serious competition until quite recently. With the iPhone making headline sales and the rumored Xbox portable being worked on, we could have a wider outlook for the way portable gaming is treated.

Rant #1: James Cameron's Avatar should have been longer

Hey, remember back in 2009 when everyone was raving about movies such as Inglorius Basterds and District 9? Those were the days when people thought of going to a 3D movie as a gimmick.

"It's like it's almost touching me!"

Well that all ended when a movie by our good old friend James Cameron came along and released the blockbuster Avatar into our laps near the end of December. And boy, we sure ate it up like the dogs we are!

If you have been living under a rock for the past two years, this is what we're talking about.

People doubted it's initial success, was it going to be like Cameron's Aliens or would it be a complete flop? It was almost like Deja Vu. Cameron releases a movie labeled the "Most expensive movie ever made" and makes Billions off of it. It was almost exactly like Cameron's Titanic, a film critics claimed for being too expensive and long(A point I'll be getting to later), but turned into the hottest new film of the year.

Luckily for us, Avatar didn't win Best Picture

Everyone saw its success, most notably the movie industry. I say "notably" in a negative way, as it brought on a wave of "masterpieces" using the hot new 3D technology that the populous saw in Avatar such as Piranha 3D and Jackass 3D.

Now you get to see Johnny Knoxville being punched in the balls in gratuitous 3d!

 

Unfortunately, this isn't what I'm here to talk about, as everyone who saw a movie last year knows about this whole 3D debacle. I'm actually here to talk about how Avatar should have been longer.

This is what your reaction is right now, isn't it?

For those who haven't seen Avatar, it goes for about 160 minutes or about three hours. Now you may be thinking "Hey Brandt, why should this movie that is long enough as it is be longer?" Well I want it to address one of my main problems (And one that many others share) with the movie: The lack of character development/explanation.

 The base plot of Avatar

We have a movie full of cookie-cutter characters (Ex-Marine, Foreign(alien) chick, Scientist who dislikes her superiors, Gung-ho General,etc), and a completely unexplored future world with unlimited creative properties. With a few extra minutes, the movie could have developed the characters and society a bit more. For example, remember that whole bit with Sigourney Weaver's character and how she ran a school? Perhaps that could have been shown off a bit in flashback. 

This movie would have totally been better if she was in a Power Loader

Another thing is that we never see what Earth looks like in the future. It's the year 2154 and we never see how our society has changed. James Cameron stated that he wanted scenes showing earth in the final cut of the movie, but it felt like "the movie started twice" and had them cut. What's neat is that these scenes are in the Extended cut of the film, and are pretty damn cool looking if you ask me.

Try to find Jake Sully in there!

Several people have voiced their opinions on this film, and the one I hear the most (Besides the 3D) is the lack of personification the movie needs to differentiate it from the rest of the cloud. Without this it just comes out like Pocahontas with aliens, a film that shouldn't have grossed two-billion dollars.

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This is where I'll go and rant about what I feel like talking about for that day, be it TV, Video Games, Movies, Music, or whatever I think of. You'll see some crazy topics here and there, so be warned!