Ben's Week In Review: July 13

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Okay, I already did a whole editorial on the idea of a Final Fantasy VII remake, so I'm tackling a couple other subjects this week...

Let's not tip our hand, shall we?

A few days ago, we learned that Ubisoft may be primed to unveil a brand new next-gen title at E3, entitled I Am Alive. As you may notice in that article, we don't have any screenshots of the game (mostly 'cuz we don't even know if it's real), but we did provide one of Jade Raymond, the Ubisoft producer who is supposed to be part of the I Am Alive team. ...now, I think we all know that while there are pretty girls who like games, it's not exactly a popular hobby amongst the drop-dead gorgeous. We all know this. So why make this painfully obvious to all outsiders by completely fixating on and obsessing about a game designer who just so happens to be cute? C'mon, guys. That just tells everyone that it's such a rare phenomenon, someone like Raymond is going to get into the news all the time because...well, just because. We're sure she's talented, of course, but the pics of her don't prove mental fortitude or design ability; they only appeal to adolescent, perhaps awkward gamers who don't give a rat's ass about I Am Alive.

The same thing happened when Morgan Webb exploded onto the scene. And now, the newest gamer poster girl is Raymond, and I don't really have any problem with that. But the way so many gamers and wannabe journalists idolize her, it seems less like news and more like a high school crush in literary form. We'd like to think we're professionals in this industry; please don't set us back two decades by showing everyone there are still far too many immature teens out there!

Episode 3 for PS3...not sure I care

So it seems early concept art for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 contains targeted platform listings for the final product, and it clearly shows that Episode 3 should be on the PlayStation 3. Okay, while I liked The Orange Box plenty, the PS3 version was indeed inferior to the Xbox 360 version (it's why I own the 360 version), and recently, I've acquired an intense dislike for Valve. It could be just because of Gabe Newell, who I see as nothing but an archaic throwback to the past that has the gall to act elitist in the face of a new generation. A new generation, might I remind him, that is essentially killing his precious PC as a legitimate gaming platform (and rightfully so, at this point). Newell has cast enough disapproval on the PS3, but that's not really the issue, and neither is his obvious preference for the PC. No, it's his obvious bias against consoles I have a problem with, and I'm quite familiar with the concept.

See, the PCers have always been a little elitist. Running around with their noses in the air, because about 10 years ago, they knew all their software was technically superior to console software. Yeah, well, it ain't 1998, anymore. And there's a reason why GameStop, which used to stock a full 9 feet worth of PC software, now has most of its stores reduced to 3 feet of software jammed into the far corner. I'm not going to get into it, but let's just say that even if Episode 3 doesn't come to the PS3, I won't be heartbroken. I wasn't even that impressed with HL2 in the first place.

Personal gaming update

Okay, so it seems I've mastered Top Spin 3. I'm only a few points from maxing out my customized character, and I've beaten everybody in the game. It won't be any problem for me to finish at #1 at the end of the season (my final goal), and then I'll be done. After playing more, I've realized that Nadal is actually the toughest of the big trio, just because he gets everything back and he hits 90% of his balls shallow, which throws me off constantly. I've beaten him 2 out of 3 times, even though I lost the last in a 11-9 super tiebreak that annoyed the crap out of me. Nobody else, Federer and Roddick included, can touch me now. So I guess it's good timing, just because Soul Calibur IV is right around the corner (July 29), and I don't have much else to play. I'm still considering getting Battlefield: Bad Company - I hear it's very good - but other than that, I guess I'll return to my MGS playing so I can get ready for MGS4.

Oh, but I will be interested in Infinite Undiscovery. Even though it irks me that Square-Enix seems to be abandoning the PS3 these days, I do have a 360. And besides, it's a promising RPG, and that's all that matters to me. Might have to check it out.