The Tension Sucks

Last night we had four hours of tension and fear. Not for us, but for the woman who lives above us. While the people that live above us are usually ass-hats on the weekends; when the fighting started we kept our ears open. The argument started a few days ago when the chick kick the guy out. There was some screaming then some banging on the door when he got locked out, but nothing more.
Last night around one it started again. At first it was yelling, then some thudding, slamming doors, more yelling, then screaming. Not the "I'm pissed" screaming, more like the "OH HOLY GOD!!!!!!" screaming. Around then is when we called 911 for a domestic disturbance. They sent an officer, but as it usually happens the dick weed was gone by then.
We think, we're not really sure what happened, because after about thirty minutes the fighting started again. Why the hell would you let him back in, and when the hell did he back inside? And it was bad, we could tell whatever was happening was going on in the bathroom. From the thuds, crashes, screaming and crying, someone was getting the shit beat out of them. So, we called the cops again, this time though we met up with them and attempted to tell them what was going on. But as all of us have learned, Dallas PD are ass-hats, who didn't let me finish telling them that we could hear the chick in the bathtub crying. They told us to go back to our apartment, where we tried to listen to what was happening upstairs. The cops went up to the door and knocked...and knocked, no answer. All noise from upstairs stopped. Well, except for the muffled sobbing. So the cops stood there and knocked, never said anything, and then left after a about ten minutes. They didn't come and see if they could hear someone moving around from our apartment, because you could. Or come and ask if we could still hear anything, they just left.
They left after not trying very hard to find out if some one might me in danger or need medical attention. You would think that us having called twice that something bad might have been going down, or the fact we had reported screaming and then there was silence when we had just heard screaming and crying right before we went to get the cops. Thanks for nothing DPD.
After that we continued listening in to see if anything happened. It was eerily quiet, and then the sink started up and someone kept moving shit around. There was no more crying or screaming, only some masculine mumbles.
It had been four hours, and nothing was happening any more. We were pretty wound up, I mean we were very concerned about this chick. And we wanted to help, but couldn't really do anything. It really sucked. Trying to help others is fucking nerve wracking.
We're pretty sure a cop was up there earlier today. Hopefully everyone is ok.

Left Standing in Heavy Rain

Gil just finished his first play through of Heavy Rain and it was fucking intense. There was attempted rape, epic 

fights, dismemberment, children in danger, LOTS of death, electrocution and urination. 

Heavy Rain is like a movie, those choose your own adventure books, and point and click games combined together into one giant quick time event. Sounds weird but it works. Really well. 

The story is very engaging. You grow attached to the characters and truly concerned for their well being. The plot twists were completely unexpected, even for Gil and I who predict almost everything correctly. We had dozens of "What the hell?" moments. The controls are rather intuitive; Gil says they correspond well to the motions the characters are doing on the screen. There were a few times the controls wouldn't work, but nothing major. There were three times Gil meant to do one thing and messed up and got the opposite reaction that he was wanted. The first time it was funny, the other two not so much.

Graphically it's not bad. The load screens between the chapters are especially pretty. The animations during these times are also very nice, very subtle. The animations during the rest of the game are good overall, but the dialogue animation a pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it's nice, other times kinda disturbing. The textures are nice through out, but it's funny to see them load every once and a while when a chapter starts.

Gil's first run left him with 55% completion, and as a type this out he is trying to get trophy where you get to the end with everyone alive and then fail in the last chapter. And I've got to tell you it is hard to watch these people you have been helping fail, either by not getting to help or by death. It's really sad. 

We can't wait to find out all the other endings, however sad and crazy they may be.        

The Left Side Thinks You All Should Shut the Hell Up!

So. The trailer for Sonic 4 is out. And all we have to say is Fuck Yeah!!

The teaser trailer shows us everything we had wanted from a Sonic game. It's side scrolling classic Sonic.

 The thing that makes me want everyone to shut the hell up, is the amount of bitching coming from the fans. OMG! Sonic looks like crap with green eyes! Why isn't he a 2D sprite? He's so skinny! He doesn't even look like a hedgehog anymore. Shut the hell up!

Does having green eyes make him look all that different? When was the last time you saw a major title that's been in pixel sprites? Why does it matter that he lost some weight? He runs a lot, seems to me he would get skinnier. HE NEVER LOOKED LIKE A FUCKING HEDGEHOG!

The only thing that needs work, as far as us animation students are concerned, is the run cycle. It looks a little slow. That will probably be fixed before the game is released. 

The saddest part about all the bitching is that it's going to discourage SEGA from continuing on this Path of Awesome. 

But, we here at Observations from the Other Side of the Couch are very excited about Sonic 4. Way to go SEGA.

Left Sided Apology

So. We haven't posted in a while. We're sorry for that. Kinda.


There are two reasons for our lack of posts. Over the Holidays we were separated. He had to go with his mom to see family. I was told that the only reason I was allowed not to visit the folks was if I had a job, so guess where I was. It was a fun Christmas, for a change. Only problem, slow internet. Or in Gil's case, none. So, no postings.


Then, after we finally got home, our router died, and we had no money to get a new one. We tried to look for one at a store, but didn't know what the hell we were looking for. Calling AT&T was a waste of friggin time. Stupid lousy automated bastards. Finally, Gil stopped by a AT&T store and got one. YEAH!!! Now we have internet!


So, hopefully we'll be getting some regular posts going soon.

Quotes from the Couch II

"I killed him in the penis."-Ian

"We called it the 'gumbo shooter'."-Gil

Gil-"It's a vagina coffin."
Jeremi-"Dicks go in, they don't come out."

"The force fucked her!"-Gil

"Midget RAGE!!!!"-Jeremi

"Work your smagic!"- Gil

"Oh. My. God. You can see Mario's back!"-Gil

"Stop it! That's awkward, you were yelling at my vagina."-Kim

"Way to throw a baby into a lake of freezing water, Gil."-Jeremi

"They don't let guys stay over after a certain age, because sex could happen. But, sex can happen no matter what."-Gil

In Which the Left Side is Bored...

I decided to blog while waiting for my homework to render.

I am bored.

AND I'll tell you a little secret. We at Observations from the Other Side of the Couch, have NO couch. We have a blanket on the floor. I miss the couch.

Uncharted 2: Among the Right Side

In 1993 I played my first video game, Sonic 2 for the Sega Genesis. I loved that game... it was fast, fun, the music was great, and my Dad and I would spend hours playing the 2-player races. I always loved going back to that game, I still do. For 16 years, it held the title of my favorite game of all time. Then in 2007, Naughty Dog released Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I almost passed this game up, I'm not a huge fan of shooters, but then I saw a trailer for the game and I thought "This trailer feels like a movie trailer" and I was instantly intrigued. Also, seeing the Naughty Dog logo assured me that it would be a quality game.

I played the heck out of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, I mastered the Crushing difficulty, and played through the story at least 13 times. The story was great, the acting was top-notch, and the characters were amazingly well rounded. The graphics were great, and the sound design was completely satisfying. My only problem with the first game was a somewhat anti-climactic final boss. But the pros FAR outweighed the cons for me.

Needless to say I was beyond excited when the sequel, Among Thieves was announced. I anticipated this game's release for almost a year, reading every news story about it, looking at every screenshot, watching the epic-ly cinematic trailer over and over again, playing the multiplayer beta for months until, finally, on October 13th, I finally had the game in my hands. I started playing it at Noon, and couldn't stop playing until I beat it at 3:30 in the morning. The story is amazing. The graphics are stellar, the characters are just great, and the acting raised the bar. The next day I started my second play through.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves officially took the crown of my favorite game from Sonic 2. The first Uncharted came close, but Sonic stayed dear to my heart... but after beating the second game I couldn't deny that Sonic had finally been beaten.

The game feels like an action movie, one that you can control. The game is linear, which is usually a fault, but not in this case. The controls are tight, the aiming is better than the first, the animations are smoother and more complex. The music is grand in scale, and the sounds are more dynamic in range. The game is longer, and the story more engaging. The visuals are astounding, often compelling me to explore and look at every little detail. The cutscenes, they are amazing. It's hard to go back to other games and watch their cutscenes because they just aren't as well done as this game's.

Every character in this game is interesting. The main character Nathan Drake is, of course, amazing. And every man, a breath of fresh air from all the faceless space marines, piles of muscles, and macho men that usually star in action games. He feels pain, and he doesn't take things too seriously. He's a smart ass, without being annoying or unlikeable. He's relatable. The villain, Serbian war criminal Lazarevic is an awesome character. He's intimidating, and piercing, with a twinge of insanity just under the surface, threatening to escape. The women of the game are just as interesting, Elena, a returning character from the first game, is spunky and feisty. She's not some buxom blonde like you'd expect, and she's also not there simply to be the damsel in distress, she's a good foil for Drake, and it's easy to see how a relationship could blossom between the two. Chloe, a new Australian love interest for Drake, is a more promiscuous character, it's hard to tell who's side she's on most of the time, but she serves to add a well played level of tension to many scenes, she's just a great character. Of course there's also Sulley, Drake's father figure and returning character from the first game. He's the lovable, dirty old man, with a cigar in his mouth and debt collectors on his tail at all times. Each character keeps things interesting, and the cutscenes are acted out so well that the interactions between the characters are extremely believable. There are many more characters, but I won't go into depth on every one, as I would hope for everyone to experience this game for themselves. Anyway, the single player story of this game is extremely satisfying, and does not suffer from the problem I had with the last game of an anti-climactic final battle. This game has many moments of action, and high energy

gameplay. I felt my adrenaline pumping at many points, I've never had that with any other game before. I've already played through it almost 7 times. I would have been perfectly happy with the game if the single player experience was all it had to offer, but Naughty Dog really went the extra mile and added in multiplayer.

When I first heard this game was going to have multiplayer, I was skeptical. I felt it would be a tacked on addition, and that it would not hold my interest for more than a few weeks. But my concerns were quickly put to rest once I was able to play some. This is not a tacked on multiplayer addition. It is fun. It is deep. It is addicting.

Uncharted 2's multiplayer consists of the usual fare; deathmatch, elimination, king of the hill and the like. But the climbing mechanics and vertical platforming from the single player carry over into this system, giving it something unique. It adds a level of strategy and I really enjoy it. Unfortunately I'm not much of a competitive type... But that's not a problem here, because Uncharted 2 also has several 3 player co-operative modes, and I am loving them!

Co-operative mode is the mode I play the most online, it consists of objective story missions, survival arenas, and gold rush arenas (a sort of capture the flag game type). Survival is my favorite. It pits you and your team against 10 waves of AI, of increasing difficulty. It's hard when you don't communicate, but with a good team and a good strategy it's a piece of cake. I plan on writing several posts about my strategies for each respective map here in the next few weeks.

Also in the game, Naughty Dog has provided several tools for Machinima, which is an added bonus, giving you some minor editing options, the best of which is a green screen option. I plan to use those tools for upcoming posts as well.

Naughty Dog has not only implemented a ranking system, but also an incentive system. Using in game cash earned in multiplayer and single player, you can buy skins for death match, upgrades for co-op, taunts, etc. This is the most I've played any game online, I plan on reaching the top rank, and buying all these items. So far Naughty Dog has done a good job of supporting the game with additional content post release, and I really hope it continues.

There's so much more I'd like to say about this game, but this post is already running a little long, and I have several more on this topic planned, so I'll save some of it for then.

I'd also like to announce that I am planning on starting a weekly comic on the blog using screenshots from the game. The first of which will probably be in January. If they go well, I will turn them into a series, if that goes well, a machinima series.

Uncharted 2 is an amazing game, I have never enjoyed playing a game this much in my life. If you have a Playstation 3, it's a must have. And please join me online!

Coming up will be my post about The Simpsons, as well as the first in my series of co-op strategies, and possibly the first comic.

By the way, congratulations to Naughty Dog on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves winning not only best PS3 game, and best graphics, but taking home Game of the Year at Spike's 2009 Video Game Awards this evening!