Another Four Years of Indecision

We're about a year away from electing a new president which couldn't come fast enough. I mean everyone is already campaigning like we're voting in two months instead of twelve. I don't want to make this a political blog by any means but when I was thinking about what to write about this week I watched this video. It's obviously put together by Kucinich's campaign but it's hard to deny what he is saying, and the others aren't. Now I'll be honest, I didn't watch last night's Democratic debate but I've seen most of the major candidates speak at some point, and one thing you have to be when you are running for president is consistent. Their points don't change or waver, hell at points you would even think they were saying the exact same thing as the person next to them. Not like puppets but more like really convincing animatronics (e.g. Hilary Clinton's mechanical laugh). They say what we want to hear but they don't practice what they preach, a point Kucinich made several times in last night's debate.

Now I can't help but feel like leaning towards certain candidates and as it turns out they may not be the most popular in either party. I'm speaking of course of Denis Kucinich and Ron Paul, two underdogs, two radicals, the back of the pack. Although they may be in opposite parties they say things I like to hear, they say things the other candidates seem to be afraid to say. I have felt for a long time that government has begun to rule the people and not the other way around. It comes down to accountability and it seems like the government is above it. The government should be afraid of the people and yet a president can drop below a 30% approval rating with no apparent consequences. At what point can we say stop, you've gone to far Mr.President? That power seems so far away from me, I feel powerless in a way.

Both Kucinich and Paul give me hope. They make me feel like the power to control the way my government runs is closer than I thought. They are men who have strong opinions that point us in the opposite direction of where we are going as a country, be it economically, diplomatically, or militarily. The saddest part is that these are the radicals, the fringe candidates, but their words are the type of shock to the balls that America needs. It's not just the government that needs to be held accountable. The power may be farther from the people's hands than it used to be, but it isn't gone. We as citizens have to be held accountable too. We need to take this next election seriously because now more than ever we need to have a good leader to get us out of this deep pile of shit that we have created. We can always point the finger at our leaders but we elect them and we have to hold them accountable while the power is ours, and that's at the polls. So this year rather than voting for the popular guy, or the best looking, listen to what they are saying and look at what they have done. Care about who you vote for and what it really means for the next for years. Another four years of infighting and indecision won't cut it if we want our country to continue to prosper.

Mr. Muffin is tired of release dates...

This has been bothering me for some time. It may be one of the few things that the music and movie industry does well, and video games suck at. Releasing games on time.

Their lack of ability is a two headed beast.

First. Push backs. Anyone who has looked forward to any sort of major release in the last few years has had their game bumped for more work. Developers and companies keep making this dates and not coming remotely close to hitting it. Stop. Why not give projections, and then finally give us a date when your game goes gold? There would be a lot more happy gamers with that process.

The other is just the randomness of the day things are released. The only one constant that I know in the video game world is that Nintendo systems come out on Sundays, and Dragon Quest games cannot come out on weekdays in Japan. Other than that, it seems that any game can come out on any day. Take this last month for example: Guitar Hero 3 came out on a Sunday, Super Mario Galaxies came out on Monday, but stores around here didn't have it until Tuesday, and Assassin's Creed came out on Tuesday but not all stores have it. Have a day that your games go on sale, ship dates only frustrate those who you've been hyping your game for the last year to. Just pick a day, and go with it. Its a simple thing.

< /rant >

Mr Muffin plays Mario and Sonic...

I’m starting to see that I’ve been playing a healthy share of video games of late. Gives me a reason to get on and let you 15 ¾ readers of ours out there what I’m thinking of these games.

Up this week is the new one for the Wii, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. This I believe is the first of the one billion licensed products for the upcoming Olympics in China next year. With that said, I’ll let you know what I think.

First, this game is beautiful… for a Wii game. This is how the games should be looking. I’m not looking for realism with this console, that is something I gave up on long ago and accepted would not happen on this system. But for the case of this game, characters look as good as they have on the Wii. It is very apparent when watching the opening cut scene along with the game itself that this was made for the Wii, not just another GameCube port.

The character selection that Mario and Sonic provides is pretty cool. They divide the 16 playable characters into four classes including; power, all-around, speed, and skill. No character is the same, and each is suited best for certain events, which event is something you will have to play some to figure out on your own.

Gameplay is something that I was left rather impressed with. There are around 20 events, Mission Mode, Circuit Mode, free play and other mini-games, so there are plenty of things to do with the game. Mission mode finds you playing as each of the characters trying to complete specific objectives that may or may not be that characters specialty. Circuit is a selection of 3 to 4 events for you to compete in and try to score the most points by placing high in the events. The part that impressed me the most was how they actually did not “Mario Kart” the games, by that I mean they’re pretty much real events. No super boosts on the 100m dash, no turtle shells in the 400m. They save that kind of things for the “Dream Events,” which I think are very fun to play and are a nice change up.

Now to what you always want to know with new Wii games. How does the game control? First, this game is a workout. After playing for a few hours with friends, we were pooped. You will be swinging your arms, running in place, and other motions so much you will run out of gas. But with that said, the controls are spot on. Some events have very obvious controls (running events, skeet shooting, hammer throw) but events like swimming and archery have very personalized controls and seem very well thought out. Naturally this game does have the same accelerometer issues that all Wii games will most likely have, but they are so few and far between that you can get past them and just enjoy the events.

To sum up Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, this game is great. One of the best party games I’ve seen on the Wii so far. A must have for people that like competing with their friends. Plus the ability to post your personal records online and match up with other players around the world is something that makes you try even harder to set the next record. Check this one out, buy it if you have the cash.