My accidental first encounter with Akuma!
This story is about my first accidental encounter with Akuma and my hope that I can recreate it soon. During the early to mid-90s, the best gameplay was still found at the local arcade. The SNES and Genesis had great arcade ports, but they were not as good as the real thing. For an authentic in-home arcade experience, the only options were an actual arcade cabinet, which would be hideously expensi...[Read More]
Just Cause 3 Review
When the 2015 holiday release calendar for video games was finalized, I stared in awe at all the great titles that were scheduled to be released. One of them, however, kept staring back at me: Just Cause 3. It may seem odd that, in a season where Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, and Metal Gear Solid V are prominently featured, I would be staring so intently at a game some may consider to be second-tier n...[Read More]
Helldivers Review
I am a single-player gamer. When I play games, I like the solitude and predictability of the single-player experience. I prefer depending on my own skills when looking to dominating a game. But I do appreciate a good co-op multiplayer game when playing with friends. And if the game is challenging and depends on seamless cooperation between gamers, I dig it even more. I had seen videos and r...[Read More]
Nintendo: Screwing Over Gamers since 1985!
Nintendo pisses me off so much that I can’t even bring myself to defend them anymore! Before recording the latest Digital Crack podcast, my good friend and podcast compatriot, Grumpy Joe, dropped some news that made me give up on the Big N forever. They finally announced their first-ever game for mobile platforms. After decades of doing their thing on their own hardware, they were branching out an...[Read More]
Micro-transactions Aren’t the Problem
Okay, the honeymoon’s over. Time to talk about tough shit! This argument nearly started a war at Digital Crack, and these are my friends! If you want to talk about a word that can inflame the hardcore gamer user base, “microtransactions” has to be that word. Well, either that or “nerf”. Still, the former induces so much hate, it’s almost impossible to discuss it intelligently without gamers frothi...[Read More]
The lifeblood of any good video game….Its Music
My fellow Digital Crack podcaster Grumpy Joe and I have a bit of a good-natured rivalry going on. His current love of Sony and my decades-long respect for Nintendo clash on many an occasion. Most would think of our adulation for the two companies to be approaching fanboy-ism, but I think Joe sums it up best when he discusses our “disagreements” to others. In his words, partially derived fro...[Read More]
That thing you love? It sucks!
I’m going to tell you folks something. You may get mad about it, but hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll feel a little better about it. If not, well, maybe I can make you a drink. Just be warned, I mix them strong. Are you ready? Ok, here goes: That video game you love to play right now? Or that movie you really love? Or that song that you can’t get out of your head because it’s so catch...[Read More]
The things that keep my hopes for humanity alive!
Okay, even I admit that my first few articles on the Digital Crack Network have been downers, angst –ridden bile spewed by what many current gamers would call an old dude. I don’t want you guys to think that all I do is bitch about all the problems in gaming. Or movies. Or comics. Or…ok, I bitch a lot! But I do love a lot of things in gaming. So maybe I should spend an article waxing about ...[Read More]
Warner Brothers And Atari: Where’s The Hate?
WB And Atari: Where’s The Hate? Every year, gamers everywhere pore over that year’s video game offerings and lay their claim as to which of those games are their favorites. They will also lambaste the games that they thought sucked harder than a Thai prostitute during shore leave. And like clockwork, gamers will spew bile when mentioning ...[Read More]
2016: Superhero Movies and What I Want From Them
I told myself I wasn’t gonna go this route… When I joined the sometimes-psychotic troupe known as the Digital Crack Network, I swore to myself that there would be one area I would not visit: comics. The reason why is a bit melodramatic, so I won’t get into the details here, but it bears some mention. In 1995, I reached a crossroads in my life. My then-wife and I hit a very rough patch. We needed m...[Read More]
Gaming..A life time of experience.
I realize that as the “old school gaming specialist” of Digital Crack, I am dating myself. To many, “old school” probably means the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Actually, I go beyond that. For those that want to know, let me tell you how old I really am. This is a history lesson, and there may be a quiz at the end of this, so pay attention! My first game console was the Telstar Ranger, a d...[Read More]
Why Square Enix has screwed the pooch again !
I’ll ask it plainly up front: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE PEOPLE AT SQUARE ENIX? OK granted, Square Enix has been a few sandwiches short of a picnic for a few years now when it comes to decisions on their titles. Recently, though, it seems like the people making decisions in Japan have either been ...[Read More]