DorkCast018: All about the Sarcasm
By xibxang | June 29, 2008
Dorkcast 18 kicks off with a very special guest; the lovable Lono from the Sarcasticgamer.com podcast. Uzi and Xib argued like an old married couple and Lono sat like the embarrassed guest in their house wondering how to quietly slip out. Actually, Uzi was having to save Xib from further acting the fool as usual
We eventually got onto discussion of Diablo III, Battlefield Bad: Company, Super Smash Bros Brawl, The Bourne Conspiracy, Civilization Revolution and how to improve your Rock Band experience. We really enjoyed making this one. Hope you do too.
Topics: Podcasts | 5 Comments »
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
By qazimod | June 25, 2008
You’d think it would be ridiculous to develop a game for a handheld that’s based on a blockbuster RPG spanning hundreds of hours and several discs, and when it was announced that Square Enix were planning a PSP game chronicling a sidestory in the FFVII universe, no-one knew quite what to expect. However, on Friday 20th June gamers in the UK were able to get their hands on Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, and - with my preorder slip in hand and my complimentary art card in the bag - I prepared to lose myself in that universe all over again…
Topics: Sony PSP | No Comments »
DorkCast017: Original pirate material
By xibxang | June 22, 2008
Oh, we’ve got a bee in our bonnets about Limbo of the Lost, the “game” that’s borrowed a whole bunch of assets from countless other titles. To rebel against this lack of originality, we’ve both written new jingles and showcased them on this week’s show. All our own work… honest!
The games chat this week consists of Uzi’s impressions of Alone in the Dark, GRID, xib’s love of Metal Gear Solid 4 and the joy that is online co-op Gears of War. Because of the joy of online gears co op uzi and xib discuss what makes a good co op game.
To garnish the mix, we give our thoughts on the recently released trailer for Call of Duty: World at War.
Big thanks to Skype for messing up our recording levels but thanks to xib’s l33+ GarageBand skills, all was recovered.
Topics: Podcasts | 3 Comments »
Confessions of a Justified Camper
By Kinketsu | June 22, 2008
First of all, I’d like to set the record straight. I’ve never, ever been a camper. It’s against my very being. It’s not because I’ve got anything against cheap kills. It’s because I’ve no patience. As a youngster, playing Street Fighter II at the ice rink up the road, my strategy was an all out offensive with Ken. I couldn’t be bothered laying in wait like a Guile player, holding backwards and hoping someone will walk forwards in that classic dance. No, I’m the reason you turtle, I’m the reason you hold block against all-out mad fly kicks constantly coming at you, turning into dragon punches over and over again.
Topics: Blog, PC Gaming, PlayStation 3 | 2 Comments »
World of Second Life
By Uzi | June 19, 2008
That’s what World of Warcraft should be called.
The actual Second Life is a sham. It may act as an alternate reality for some, but the fact is that it’s a 3D chat client with the ability to have a blank canvas to make whatever the hell you want on it, complete with slow rendering graphics and rubbish animations. Second Life doesn’t pretend to be a game but it shouldn’t pretend it is deep enough to provide a true second form of reality.
World of Warcraft on the other hand spanks you into another being and form. Hard. I played the free 10 day trial expecting to get really bored fast of fighting mobs (WoW lingo for monsters) and spending hours of samey gameplay to reach a constantly changing but pointless goal but my cynicism was pounded aside with addiction.
Topics: Blog | 5 Comments »
Lights, Camera, Metal Gear
By Kinketsu | June 19, 2008
Like many of you, I’m now on my second play through of Metal Gear Solid 4 and finally have the opportunity to stretch my legs a bit and explore. This is the time when you find all those little extras and try to get to grips with all those little features you may have questioned the point of. Each Metal Gear game is packed with these things, and Metal Gear Solid 4 is probably the most dense to date, not to mention growing in this area thanks to the implementation of DLC. Today I’d like to focus on just one small item that has totally stolen my heart, the digital camera.
Topics: Blog, PlayStation 3 | 5 Comments »
Guilty Gaming #1 “Breasts”
By Morrius | June 18, 2008
In this series of articles I will be talking about the things which most annoy me about gaming, conventions or components which I personally find inexcusable. If you have any ideas for future topics, please email Morrius@gamerdork.net!
Rarely has any part of the human anatomy been so disproportionately represented as the humble breast. From the jellylike mammaries of ‘Dead or Alive 4′ to the right-angled pyramid smuggling of the original ‘Tomb Raider’, we are endlessly strolling through the darkest recesses of the male mind. Please don’t get me wrong, there is nowt better on our little planet than a perfect pair. However, I feel it might be time to take a long, hard look at just how your average female is portrayed to us in videogames.
Topics: Blog | 2 Comments »
Snake’s phone doesn’t ring as much as it used to
By Uzi | June 17, 2008
Well if you heard Dorkcast 16 you may have heard that I made it about a 1/3 into MGS4 and was loving it.
Immediately after recording the podcast, I went right back into the game and played all night. Poor Xib being drunk and needy of the mighty Uzi tried to speak to me on Skype now and again and while I usually drop anything to chat with that hunk of a man, MGS4 just wouldn’t let me get away.
One thing I didn’t speak about on the podcast was codec conversations. They’ve always been a massive part of the MGS games and it will be good or bad news for quite a few people to know that they are massively cut down in MGS4.
Very little story is conveyed through the codec and while there was a lot of panic about 90 minute cutscenes (there aren’t any of those by the way), one important point that was missed out was that because more of the story was conveyed via really cinematic and well produced scenes, that there was less sitting and listening about to someone nattering on and on in the codec. This makes the game move by so much quicker and a 20 minute cutscene goes by far quicker than a 10 minute codec conversation.
The downside of this is that a lot of people like myself used to like calling up all the different contacts and hearing all of the stuff. While I really prefer to be told of the main story through lovely gorgeous cutscenes rather than long drawn out codec conversations, it did used to provide a good avenue for side chat either filled with comedy or insane amounts of detail. A good example being Natasha from MGS1 who would tell you quite a bit about your weaponry or Paramedic from MGS3 and her movie views. Rose from MGS2 can bugger off though.
Anyway, as a result the game did feel a lot more fluid but the lack of optional side chat was a little dissapointing, but I guess it kept it all “on topic”. For a bit of fun though, when you’re talking to a lady on the codec, try shaking your sixaxis 
When I finished the game, I let out a little sigh of sadness. The story was so over the top at times and so mad at moments that would conventionally be really serious but even then, it was the realisation that this was the end of MGS as we know it.
There were moments in the game where it really was obvious how much Kojima loves the series with all his heart but is also dying to move on. He’s taken himself less seriously in this one so prepare to take it all with a pinch of salt. The previous “WTF” questions of MGS are answered but in a sometimes odd way in itself.
Anyway, I can’t wait to play it all over again but using different tactics and weapons. Knowing you can skip any unwanted cutscenes and considering how little forced codec chat there is, it’s a game designed for replay (except for stupid reinstalls for every chapter when you replay them).
It’s also really wanting to make me take up smoking. Stupid awesomely cool Snake.
Topics: Blog, PlayStation 3 | No Comments »
Father’s Day for a Gamer Dad
By DarthVicious82 | June 16, 2008
So today is Father’s Day in the US and being the father of a 20 month-old girl I was able to take advantage of the holiday. Typically Father’s Day is a gift-giving holiday in the US. Well to be perfectly honest MOST holidays are gift-giving holidays here. When asked by my wife what I would like for Father’s Day I had only one reply, “Time to play video games.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Blog, Xbox360 | 4 Comments »
DorkCast016: Giving it some Snake
By xibxang | June 15, 2008
Uzi’s had his mitts on Metal Gear Solid 4 for a good few hours and shares his first impressions. By all accounts this one’s pretty good. Xib, having been living in a cave for the last few years gives his impressions of Gears of War.
We kick off our Games to play before you die feature and Uzi gushes forth about Ocarina of Time meanwhile xib, still being in a black & white movie, talks about the pros and cons of playing poker online for real money.
We discuss the future of the GamerDork site and how we’re trying to produce our own brand of gaming site. We feel that playing our strongest hand, as with anything in life, is the way to go forward for us.
An hour of your usual Dorky chat!
Topics: Podcasts | No Comments »