Practical and Dream Car Round Up Time

Today I have a collaborative post from all of our blogs contributors. The question that was presented before us was this: "If you were to buy a reasonable car today (reasonably priced not extravagant etc) what car would it be? And if you could pick any super car in the world (disregarding all practical considerations, price, and devaluation) what car would you pick?"

XL:

1. Today realistically speaking i would try to find an Acura RSX type s. First of all its one of the best sport compact ever build known as Honda integra in Japan and it costs around 20k if i can find one that is as they are extremely rare. With 210 horsepower and 150 ft/lb of torq 2006 RSX has one of the most powerful 4 cylinder eng ever without the aid of a Turbo, and it has one of the highest regarded 4 cylinder eng in Honda's Vtec engine. Because it's so rare that you won't see another one on the road. All tech aside its just a good sport compact with lux options for around 20k.

2. As for a dream car i cant decide since there are so many choices out there.  I want to go with my gut and say the E92 M3 since it's just such a perfection when it comes to sport and practicality. However we are not taking practicality into consideration here so no matter how perfect of a car the M3 is, it is out of the question. With that said it would be a no brainer than to pick the best super car in today's market, and that means the Ferrari 458 Itallia. It's not a V12 Ferrari as its ONLY a V8 but it puts out 562 horses and drives exceptionally well, and did I mention it does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds? Plus its probably one of the best looking supercars today. I don't even want to go into the racing pedigree that Ferrari has, it is a company that makes best supercars period. If you want the closest feeling of what a F1 driver feels like, than buy a Ferrari. You guys thought I was going with a Bugatti didn't you? Nope. 

JT Snow Ball:

1. I would buy a 2010 mazda3. of all the cars that are under or around 20k this one doesn't look shitty and uninspired and it has the most options for the best price. im probably going to go with the s sport with the automatic transmission. i have to test drive it first though. (Ah yes, figures that JT would choose Mazda 3, it is less common that the Civic and Corolla, and drives better than those two while maintaining that Japanese name plate for absolute best quality. Except Mazda still has a strong tie to Ford and its not really not that uncommon to see a 3 on the road, at least he didn't pick a Nissan Sentra. -XL)

2. As for a super car i like the look of the mid engine cars but nothing beats a big front end. id probably go with a Mercedes SLR. (Lol figures a car noob would pick that idiotic SLR. It's got the power, looks and that intoxicating V8 from Mercedes but this is exactly what's wrong with JT's choice. It's got an identity crisis just like JT's confusion what is the best supercar. It's Mclaren so you know it's got that racing history and F1 side of it in this car, but at the same time it's a big, soft, luxurious Mercedes. So its the opposite of what a racing car should be, light, agile and difficult to drive for a novice driver. So instead of getting the best of both worlds by combining Bristish and German in this car, its obviously got the worst of both which is the extremely poor quality of an English Mclaren motor car and the extremely soullessness of a Mercedes. Good choice JT. -XL)

my 2nd choice would be (after being heavily influenced by the countless hours put into Need for Speed HP2) the Lamborghini Murcielago. (picking just like an American, big Lambos are great for a straight line but murderous in corners, that's why they tried for decades and still can't compete with Ferrari. -XL)

Noah:

1. For a practical car I would pick the Honda Fit. Simply nothing matching is offerings for its price. Besides having the reliability of a Honda its new styling is very easy on the eyes. It is also reportedly has a freakishly large interior compared with its relativly small looking exterior. This makes for plenty of leg and head room. I also like how the back seats of the car can be completely removed turning it into a flatbed. This just seems beyond useful. Combine all these features with the high score it received in its vehicles cost of life and you've got a great car. Of course this is all not even mentioning the usefulness of its small size when its comes to parking and its great MPG. (good pick, I was surprised how sporty the fit felt and the interior room it has. It is a good hatchback to buy but I was shocked to learn it gets worse MPG than the Civc which has bigger engine. -XL)

2. For a super car I would pick the Pagani Zonda. I would have to agree with the television show Top Gear where it was described as everything a super car should be. Its extravagant, totally impractical and would be a horror to drive in the city. Its styling would turn heads and its interior looks like something out of a future domestic space craft. Couple these things with its screaming performance and in my opinion its the perfect super car. (Interesting pick, but at least you went with a true Italian supercar rather than a botched experiment of England and Germany that JT picked. The Zonda looks great and sounds great, too bad it uses a Mercedes AMG engine but I won't hold that against it because how well it is put together as a package. Pagani came out of nowhere and really put a hurt on Ferrari and Lamborghini with the Zonda, too bad it's their only car and given the money, most people would buy a Ferrari or even a Lambo. -XL)

Top 5 Count Down: Part 5

The day is finally here for me to finish this countdown, it has been a long time since we arrived at end of this chapter but I promise it will finish with a bang. It was hard trying to fit so many great developers into the top 5 without leaving out a few but to me all the ones that made it had changed the industry one way or another. This is no different for me with the last spot remaining however I feel that 2 particular developers both had huge influences in the same genre so I am obligated to include both.

Number 5. Valve/Epic games

Today the first person shooter genre is ultra popular whether on PC or consoles. It has many multi-million selling hot franchises around the world and also used as the measuring stick in many competitive gaming events. But before you had a scream fest with the annoying 12 year olds on Halo or endured another nadefest by some noob in Call of the Duty there were Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament. No Valve and Epic games are not the ones that invented first person shooter but like my previous posts they are the most influential.

In the case of Valve, first person shooters were a very niche genre at the time with the likes of Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and a online sensation known as Quake. But one thing in common that made the genre not very popular was all these games were run around in a place that resemble a maze and shoot whatever that moves. In 1998 Valve changed that with the release of Half-Life, it offered an amazing story based experience and for the first time players felt like they were in the shoes of an action hero ridding world full of baddies rather than just a gun and point shoot. One could say if its not because Half-Life then there won't be any story based shooter such as Halo today. Oh and did I mention some of the mods that were made from Half-Life such as Counter-Strike became one of the most popular online game ever? Yeah those are minor details. Today Valve also operates one of the biggest digital distribution service of PC games in the world with Steam, but personally I think Valve needs to go back and develop good games rather trying to control the PC market like they are doing now.

Picture of Gabe Newell, head of Valve and someone every PS3 owner hates. Did I mention he makes millions? yeah he doesn't care what you think.

In the case of Epic Games they were definitely not the first or even the biggest name at the time. In coming Unreal Tournament in 1999 with refined game mechanics, balanced game play and new game modes that were not seen in any previous online multiplayer FPS. But rival ID software has been in the genre since the dawn of mankind with heavy hits such as Quake arena that offers virtually the same experience as Unreal, but something happened that made Unreal grab more popularity from the maker of games such as Wolfenstein and Doom. Maybe it was the new game modes that was finally different from standard death match or balanced game play, it is hard to explain what exactly happened that made Unreal series the standard for online FPS and Unreal engine the standard graphic engine. Just thinking about how many games that uses the Unreal engine is mindboggling, especially games you don't even think about such as RPGs and action games.

nothing beats Epic's director Cliffy B aka "Dude Huge" sawing someone with a chainsaw rifle.

with waves of waves of new FPS coming out each year its pretty easy to say that it has become one of the most popular genre out there but at the same time Unreal and Half-Life still measure up many of today's top games with their deep history. That concludes my top 5 countdown of 5 best video game developers of all time, it turned out to be 6 but whatever its my blog so deal with it.

honorable mentions: Sega, Capcom, Konami, Namco, Rare.

games to play by Valve/Epic games

Half-Life 1/2 (and the various mods)

Left for Dead

Unreal Tournament 3

Gears of War series

Top 5 Count Down: Part 4

It has been awhile since my last post in this countdown of top 5 video game developers of all time. But with only 2 spots left and many big names still out there I had to take some time sit back and think about which 2 developers really made a difference in the last 2 decades to make it to my list. For 2 straight choices I had 2 big name Western RPG makers and now its time to go back where many consider the birth place of video games.

number 4. Square Soft/Square Enix

When you think about the big name franchises that came out of land of the rising sun, it is almost impossible to ignor the likes of Mario, Zelda, Pokemon etc, but there is another enormously sucessful international franchise that also started on the Nintendo plateform. Square started out as a publisher and was on the verge of bankrupcy until they made what was suppose to be their last game "Final Fantasy", but what they didn't expect was it became a huge hit and thus saving the company all together. Now I like a developer that is verstile in making different games but if you are good at something like really really good then stick to it and that's what Square decided to do with the Final Fastasy franchise. The main line of titles didn't become popular in the west until the release of Final Fastasy 7 on Playstation and people were immediately hooked on this Japanese style of high fantasy RPG. With that they also opened doors for other JRPGs to follow into the west markets, so to call Square an influencial developer internationally is an understatement to what they have achieved. The final fatasy series are all big on story, character progression, deep game play and flashy presentation, each title leaving you the epic vibe after immersing yourself in a fantasy world that seemingly comes alive.

There are 12 main FF titles to date with 13 and 14 coming soon and to be fair if you haven't played them they are not all the same game with 12 milked sequels. Each Final Fantasy has its unique world, characters, story and game play but they do share common themes and motifs. After Mario FF is one of best selling franchises in the world and is often viewed as the pinnicles of RPG games regardless Japan or the west, and no game can bring out so many fanboys/girls like Final Fatasy do, just look the fiasco when Square Enix annouced FF 13 would be coming to Xbox 360. One of the most be-loved franchise, most talked about, most epic whatever you want to lable FF but it does propell Square Enix to the top of the food chain. Oh in case you don't know Square also has some other very highly acclaimed RPG games that doesn't have FF in the name and that just proves they are not good because the FF name but they do know how to make an RPG that will attract people.

I am glad that Square stayed in a genre they know the best and now that they have merged with Enix second biggest RPG franchise in Japan Dragon Quest is also under their belt. Sure maybe they are a company that have not been taking many chances but the consistency they displayed on these FF game over last 2 decades is astonishing, therefore I have no choice but to put them in my top 5 developers of all time list. Until next time XL out.

Games must play by Square Enix:

Final Fantasy Franchise (why the hell not just play all of them assuming you can get your hands on the earlier titles)

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

Kingdom Hearts

Dragon Quest 4

PC Unboxing Video

Today I have a computer un-boxing video for you.  The computer is from CyberPowerPC.com.  The ordering and shipping process was really smooth.  The order was also proceed very quickly.  There was however one snag that took place resulting in a couple weeks delay.  When we made the order the billing address was not the same as the delivery address.  Although an email was sent to us to inform us of this problem we never received it due to spam blockers so we only found out after contacting them.  However besides this one hiccup the whole process went very well.  Having used their customer service, I would have to say it is defiantly above average.  Also contacting a customer service rep while on the page shopping was very quick and easy.  If anyone were to order from Voodoo (HP) or Alienware (Dell), considering how over priced they are, I would have to say they either have a brain deficit or are stupid.  Probably both.

Here are the specifications of the computer ordered:

AMD Athlon X2 Configurator *Base Price: $385

-CD: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive (BLACK COLOR)

-CAS: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid-Tower Case with See-Thru Side Panel

-CS_FAN: Extra Case Fans

-CPU: AMD Athlon™II X2 245 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology

-FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK

-FREEGAME_VC02: FREE GAME - Battle Stations ** Pacific **

-FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)

-HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

-KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard

-MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse

-MOTHERBOARD: Asus M3A76-CM AMD 760G Chipset DDR2/1066 SATA RAID PCIe Mainboard w/ATI 3000 Graphic,GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio

-MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

-NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

-POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts Standard Case Power Supply

-SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

-SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers

-USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

-VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card

-WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card

Final Price= About $582 (Shipping was an additional $65)

Game review: Persona 4

Atlus is a relatively small RPG developer compare to the likes of Square Enix and Sega in terms of games that are released outside of Japan. Their main franchise Shin Megmi Tensai (SMT) is therefore a very niche franchise compare to Square's famed Final Fantasy series. SMT has many spin off series such as Digital Devil Saga, Devil Summoner, Nocture, and Persona, each having their own cult followings and Persona series being the most popular here in the States. Like other SMT titles Persona series is filled with heavy Japanese culture and lack in flashy presetation compare to other Japanese RPG titles that are released outside of Japan, but that's what is so refreshing about this series. Persona 4 is my first SMT game but I have long heard of the popular franchise from Atlus, too bad I never got the chance to play one until now.

-Story

Persona 4 like other Persona games puts you in the shoes of a Japanese highschool student who recently transferred from Tokyo to a little town, and strange things started to happen in the town as you try to make new friends, balance school work, find a part time job and trying to solve the mystery. I think thats about all I can say without actually spoiling anything, but overall the story is nothing like any Japanese RPG or any RPG period. Stories are told in some texts and conversations you will have with your friends and rarely cutscenes are ever used which is also different compare to other JRPGs.

-Presentation

The few cutscenes in the game that I have encountered are all animated as are rest of the game graphics. It fits the tone of the game perfectly as the game feels and plays like it was taken straight out of an anime series with modern Japanese look and some outrageous styles fit for an anime. The tone of the game is very lighthearted with some funny yet cheezy moments, and this is unlike the previous Persona games where the theme is much darker.

-Game Play

On the surface the unconventional game play is like a social simulation, taken the course of entire school year. Therefore you have to go through everyday on the calendar day by day as you go to class, make friends, get a part time job...oh and kill some demons at night.

As you go through you normal daily routine you will gradually increase your personal stats in knowledge, courage, dilligence, understanding and expression, depending what you are doing at the time. For example actually paying attention in class and answering questions right will increase knowledge and practice with your basketball team will increase dilligence. These stats are needed at points to unlock game events or simply have enough courage to talk shit to the teacher. One bad thing about some of these events is time will simply pass by where you do nothing, I would like maybe a mini game for the basketball practice or drama practice but you cant ask for everything.

As for the RPG part of the game you will go through different dungeons to save your friends and this is where it gets interesting. All the dungeons are formed differently based on that character's inner self, for example one of the girl we had to save scretely wanted to be a stripper so the dungeon was a strip club. All the dungeons are randomatized and you will have 2 weeks to progress through them. The fights are not random as you can pick wether to engage or not, and in the fights you can do your regular physical attack or summon your Persona to do magic damages. The main Charactor is the only one that can create different types of Persona and as all Personas come on a card it sort of reminded me Pokemon cards. The relationship you develop with others will determine how strong a particular school of persona you create and how good your friends perform in combat so social aspect is quite important in the games so you need to spend time and hangout with each friend.

-Sound

the background music are mostly J-pop which surprisingly doesn't get boring and fits the mood of the game well. The voice acting are top of the line as well and you can't say that with all J-RPGs out there.

-Conclusion

Atlus is one of the few companies that still releases their flagship franchise on the aging Playstation 2, but this game is definitely a good reason to turn on your PS2 again. With its refreshing formula and enjoyable story filled with down-to-earth memorible cast it is one of the best JRPG I have played in years.

Product Review: PS3 Slim

XL here doing my first product review on the new blog. This review will be my recent purchase of the PlayStation 3 Slim, and after a few weeks of testing it I have a pretty good idea where it stands among all my other consoles.

-Design
At first look PS3 slim is a very slick looking system much better designed than the Xbox 360. Although it is still a very large system, it is hard to believe this is actually smaller than the original PS3. Overall it is a lot thinner but size wise like I said its so big it kind of reminded me of a first generation laptops. Many people were turned down by the matted finish on the slim but I was the a few that actually preferred this look, the glossy finish was little over the top. Yet again I know how some people thought the matted finish looked cheap, I would think that way too if I was dumb enough to shell out $600 for the original one.

-hardware
The first thing I noticed was how quiet the slim is. It was almost no difference in noise level between when the system is on and off, it also made me realize just how loud the Xbox 360 is. Compare to the slim Xbox sounded like a mac truck while the slim was like a hybrid. After being on for awhile the back of the slim gets extremely hot, with large amount of hot air being pushed out of the only vents located there. This might be concern for some but I would rather it pushed hot air out then kept it in where it needs to be cool. The lack of power brick is also very pleasing and surprising seeing as they could fit it inside of the slim. Another thing that I find my views are different compared to most people is that I actually like these push in buttons on slim, as the touch sensitive buttons were very annoying.

-performance
As we all know PS3 comes with a blu-ray player so watching media on a PS3 is unbeatable. I was also curious with the browser that was built in PS3 but to no one's surprise it lacks severely compare to a browser on PC. The PS3 is extremely slow and unstable and many sites will cause PS3 to freeze for no reasons at all. Over the years many tech reviews also claimed that multiplatform games run better on Xbox then PS3, and even though these were proven I still wanted to see it myself now that I have both consoles. I picked one game that no one talked about in Rainbow Six: Vegas and as clear as day the PS3 version is quite blurry and the Xbox version was very clear and crisp. Also playing online with PS3 was about as organized as playing pick up basketball meanwhile the 360 or PC would be like playing on a NBA team level of organization. We can blame this on no one but Sony for refusing to make the PS3 architecture anywhere similar to a PC, after all it would make too much sense to make a gaming console similar to PC where all games are built first. The power of the cell indeed.

-Exclusives
I seriously feel sorry for those who spent more than $300 on a PS3 and have to justify it by telling others constantly how much they love the PS3 exclusives till this point. To me until now PS3 had worst exclusives since Gamecube, all the overhyped FPS such as Killzone 2 and Resistance are just more generic shooters no better than the next iteration of COD and Halo. Little Big Planet was boring as hell and is something that belongs on Wii, MGS4 is the 2nd worst MGS since that debacle known as MGS2. I mean what possessed Kojima in thinking tossing what was good in MGS1 and put 8 hours worth of cut scenes was a good idea? He needs to take a page from Bioware, a good story doesn't have to come from endless cut scenes. I have to admit though that PS3 exclusives are looking a lot stronger going into 2010.

-Conclusion
PS3 is a good investment now with its upcoming exclusives and being a very good multi-media player. But I truly feel sorry for the people that bought into the hype from Sony and shelled out $600 as their only system this generation. Up till this point PS3 is no more than a supplementary system with few to none good exclusive game to the 360/PC. PS3 might be more powerful than the 360 but we might never be able to tell as most games actually look better on the 360 and no developers will ever care enough to spend more money just to tap into the so called "potential" of PS3. To those who are delusional enough I would say fine maybe 360 version of the game doesn't look better but you know those games will always look better on a $600 PC.

Top 5 count down part 3

XL here back to our exciting countdown of my top 5 video game developers of all time. Previously I have listed the father of all modern console games, Nintendo and developer behind Internet Behemoth game World of Warcraft, Blizzard. With 3 spots left things will surely get interesting, and with all the big name developers out there who will make it to my list?

Number 3. Bioware.

Bioware did not changing lives like Nintendo did, nor does it have a game that suck in 12 million people a year like Blizzard has but that won't stop it from being one of the most sensational video game developer in the world.

Started in 1995 Bioware is a relatively young company in the industry, and it didn't take long for them to leave their mark in the history books. Released first in 1998, Baldur's Gate series was a immediate success that even today is still the benchmark of all other Western RPGs. Bioware was not the first company to take a shot of making a paper and pencil RPG based on the dungeons and dragons formula, but they have been the best hands down so far. From the beginning Bioware was set to make games with the most epic story telling and character development and boy have they succeeded in a huge way. Lot of times people are so mesmerized with the story and the characters in the game they often forget just how good the game play was too. The story and conversation choices in those games are so complex and extensive it feels like every Bioware game was written with quality and length of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Another thing that is amazing about Bioware is they will leave a game with a story and cast which they have built from ground up only to do another game with completely new setting and new beginning but to end up with equally mind blowing stories.

Many fans of their games have criticized them for leaving a golden franchise behind only after the first game, but that is what I admire about Bioware. They rather leave on a high note then have to do what many other developers tend to do which is "milking" a cash cow franchise to death. Therefore this is what sets Bioware apart from other developers, they are not afraid of new challenges. I remember people were skeptical about Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic saying things such as Star Wars theme has been done to death, dungeons and dragons formula only fits with swords and magic and etc. Well if you haven't played the game yet let me just say this there is something wrong if a Star Wars game end up having Better story, Better characters, and Better sequences than the actual Star Wars prequel trilogies. George Lucus, please take a note from the writers of Bioware. Same thing with Mass Effect which is my favorite game is generation, and people were still bitter about Bioware refusing to do a sequel for Star Wars. The same people that were saying Star Wars would fail. Also without spoiling the game, all I can say about Mass Effect is I have not seen a Sci Fi so well done in any form since watching Battle Star Galactica and Mass Effect can definitely give a run for its money if Bioware ever decide to turn it into a TV show.

Sure maybe Bioware games are not perfect and are not for everyone as their will always be people complaining about how their games has been dumb down for consoles or they are just bitter that Bioware decided not to milk Baldur's Gate franchise. Now I agree that game play has not been perfect in their recent games such as Mass Effect or Star Wars, but how the story can make you forget those short comings is astonishing. In the end of the day, a company deserve to be in my top 5 if I have played their games more than 5 times and still haven't had enough.

Must play Bioware games:

Baldur's Gate 1&2
Neverwinter Nights
Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic
Mass Effect
Dragon Age Origins (for being the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate)

Top 5 count down part 2

XL here, this is part 2 of my ongoing countdown series where I list my top 5 video game developers of all time. If you disagree with me then leave a comment and state why it is that you disagree. In part 1 I stated why Nintendo is in the top 5 and its is a quite obvious choice, so if you disagree then I can only kindly call you a noob. However like I stated befroe that was the easy choice so from this part on I know many people will disagree with me, therefore please feel free to leave a comment.

Number 2. Blizzard Entertainment.

Ok so maybe to some of you this isn't such a shocking pick especially to the PC gaming community but to be honest Blizzard hasn't really released that many games over the years, but that's what makes them so great. People that play a lot PC games know that RTS/RPG is a large genre with alot of different games to pick from. But instead of caving into what publishers want which is pump out games every year to combat these competitions Blizzard is known for taking their sweet ass time to develop a game, making sure that they are satisified with every detail of the game. Blizzard is famous for using the word "soon" when asked when the release date is on their up coming game, and here is a definition from wowwiki.

http://wikizap.mobi/enwow/Soon

Almost every game they make has won multiple awards in the industry and seems to be in the league of its own compare to other games out there. I remember vividly when one of my friends showed me what would be my first Blizzard game almost 7 years ago, and I never thought any gaming comapny other than Nintendo could be so life changing. Like many Blizzard games Diablo 2 is not a flashy looking game even back then, and even the game play is simple with point and click. But tthe incredible amount of game depth and customization is what keeps people coming back for more even after almost 10 years since initial release. If you played Diablo 2 you would know the concept is nothing new but the amount of customization is jaw dropping for a game that is not even taht big in size, and deep down inside you can't help but ask what is it that always bring people back for more? the word addiction is often associated with Blizzard games as much as crack in fact one can only imagine does Blizzard sprinkle crack on their games to keep people addicted to them?

Looking at all of Blizzard games you can feel the amount of hard work and care they put into each game. The amount of lore written for these games could go head on with the likes of Lord of the Rings and the attention to the smallest details in a game would wow just about anybody. I mean seriously they have complicated Wiki pages dedicated to most of their gaming franchises with thousands and thousands pages telling lore and background stories, and you can spend as much time reading the Warcraft lore verse playing them. How many developers are so into making the small details perfect and background stories as epic as Blizzard? None. Just look they have their own annual conventions and worldwide events that have better turn out than international video game conventions for god sake, so you know how popular they are. If you need further proof then look at cyber gaming league in South Korea, how an 11 year old Starcraft is still like a national sport for them. In the end Blizzard a company to be admired, they make game which so perfect down to the smallest pixel een if you are not into RPG/RTS or hate their guts because you have wasted your life away playing one of their games, you still have to appreciate the job they have done. World of Warcraft is not the first MMO ever but what Blizzard has done to revolutionize the genre is remarkable and the work they have done to craft the warcraft universe is even more astonishing. Someone just hand them a life time overachieving award already.

Video game industry is a copy cat industry where someone makes a game that has huge success you can bet another company will copy the formula. But until now no one has been able to emulate the success Blizzard has had with World of Warcraft because they are truly in a league of their own.

Must play Blizzard games (warning: if you do not value your social life)

Diablo 2

Warcraft series

Starcraft

World of Warcraft

Chief Technology Officer

XL here, in recent blogs we have established our general business strategy for the Yawning Cat Enterprise and now it is my honor to present everyone our last member of the team.

JT or simply known as "snow ball" is our third member but I feel obligated to write this introduction for him as he is doing extensive research on the World....of Warcraft. As Noah and I have both explained a little bit of what we do snow ball's primary job at Yawning Cat is Information Technology as he is the Chief Technology Officer. We feel that he is a vital part of our team as we move towards our goal as the most Technological Advanced Catnip provider in the world, as well as advancing our other development projects.

As you know we are all about new inventions, new products and new business ideas so it is difficult to find time for us to touch on every aspect of our company. Therefore it is my utmost pleasure to also introduce snow ball as our Chief Sanitary Officer. I have no doubt that he will take on this new challenge and do well as we patiently awaits his updated expert analysis on the life in the World....of Warcraft.

XL out peace.

Top 5 count down part 1

Hello all XL here. Video game has been one of my hobbies for as long as I can remember along with other forms of technological entertainments. But lately the video game industry just has not been the same it once was, whether its because I am getting older or games are getting shittier in quality I just don't find them as enjoyable as before. Some games however has made an everlasting impression on me and most the time I am pretty hard to please so a game has be almost perfect in every category. Now I have seen people list their top games of all time or what not and I decided against doing that. I feel like that if I listed the top 5 games of all then I am obligated to put at least 4 Mario games out of 5 so it is not fair to judge games in different technological era. Therefore I will list the top 5 video game developers of all time, well in my book anyways. Also the list is not in any particular order.

Number 1. Nintendo.

I know I know what a shocker, starting with the obvious choice. If you started playing video games before yesterday then you cannot dispute this choice. My first gaming experience came from playing super adventure island on the Nintendo Famicom system (only available in Asia). Nintendo is known as the father of all modern console games and they played a major role in increasing the popularity of home consoles in the 80's when the gaming industry is on the verge of collapsing. No one else has more globally recognized names as Nintendo, extending from Mario, Zelda to Pokemon. Not only that they also influenced the way home consoles and their controllers were built. Take look at that stupid joystick then look at a PlayStation controller with the directional pad and button placement, hmm I wonder where they got that design from. Also as we know many developers knows how to make good games so what makes Nintendo so special? That answer is the test of time. Today the Mario games are one of the top selling game franchises in the world with whopping 40 million copies sold. oh and there is also long list of other successful game series in Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Star Fox...all which are still highly thought after games even after decades of their initial releases. How many games can do that? Not many.

However not everything is high and shine with world's biggest video game name brand. Most recently Nintendo has been criticized with their hardware release of GameCube and the Wii because lack of games and gimmicky technology, myself included. However to me Nintendo always strives for quality and fun games rather than participate in tech arm races with whoever their competition maybe at the time, and to me looking at a Nintendo game brings back the memories of defeating Bowser for the first time, pulling an all nighter with super smash brothers, endless hours of N-bombing each other in perfect dark and sitting around like idiots trading Pokemon. In one way or another Nintendo has touched millions of people's lives in all over the world and they will always be the best and the most well known video game developer.

must play Nintendo games:
any Mario games
any Zelda games
Perfect Dark
any Metroid games
......

To be continued...

Worlds Greatest Inventions

Hello all, Noah here, I am the chief propaganda officer at Yawning Cat Enterprises.  For my introduction post to the blog I thought I would talk a little bit about the research and development Yawning Cat Enterprises does.  Currently we have a lot of projects going on both in product invention and optimization.  One of the ways we come up with successful product development is through the creation and testing of prototypes.  To that effect we have contracted with several factories in China that are able to create high quality and cheap prototypes based on specifications we send them.  Recently we have started to secure new venture capital to fund some of our new products.  I might eloborate on these in later posts.

However, in this post I would also like to talk a little about what I would consider to be the greatest inventions of mankind.  As Yawning Cat Enterprises is also in the business of product invention this is of course something we are very interested in; creating products that have a meaningful effect on the world and market place.  Today I thought I would recognize the design of perhaps the greatest t-shirt ever made and that would be without a doubt the design of a mouse fucking another mouse which was killed in a mouse trap.  This is one of those "ah-ha" moments where you say to yourself, "man, if only I would have thought of that I'd be rich right now."  Well that all for now, I look forward to posting some more information about our business and other interests later on.

welcome to yawning cat enterprise

hello everyone XL here welcoming readers to the Yawning Cat Enterprise blog page. Yawning Cat Enterprise is a start up company and I am currently the CFO. What is Yawning Cat Enterprise you ask? We are a future multi-million dollar company that specializes in catnip, aka "the crack of cat world", but that's not why we created this blog page. The three founders of Yawning Cat Enterprise will use this blog page to discuss other interests of ours such as tech reviews, product reviews and we even have a YouTube page for unboxing videos. In the end I promise this will surely be an entertaining yet educational page while we focus on our business.