The Masked Carnie

I'm in the higher 90's for my level in MNC. I don't think I can get much more intimate on how the game works. I've managed to find a group of really good players so that I can have fairly consistent teams when I play. This will be another "collection" post without any real theme.

I've always said a console is only worth it if you have a game or two that you intend on playing for a very extended period of time. Have you ever really given consideration to how much entertainment you're getting from your games? A common complaint is that games are too short, with a typical action/adventure game taking about 8 hours. Given that such games will cost $50-60 new, you're paying about $7/hour to play that thing! It's almost literally like you've employed it. That's not even taking into account the money you spent on the system and all its accessories. If you just bought a basic, refurbished console for that one game, the cost goes to about $150, making $18.75/hour. Fortunately, game consoles now can do much more that's not even related to gaming, but unless you bought that PS3 so you could have a blu-ray player, I think you're going to be using the game part more. Past the break, I record my money : time ratio for cert

I recently made a post on a message board about the importance of guessing games in strategic gaming, and thought it'd be nice to elaborate on such a point here.  In context, someone stated that he'd rather win in a fighter game (Street Fighter 4) by good fundamental play (referring to spacing, reaction, and combo skill) than win by what he perceived as random guesses.  My response: there are always guesses to be made.  Reaction is absolutely more valuable than prediction, but the ability to predict your opponent is vital.  It will be necessary at certain points, and I argue that it is necessary for any strategic game to be good.

I've finally decided to read up on the Monday Night Combat patch effects that have been promised.  The best coverage I could find is from an article on Joystiq.com, since I couldn't find it on Uber Entertainment's site.  Below is a copy/paste of the list from that article, as well as how I feel about each of them.