The Nerd Next Door

I love Halo , but recently I've been realizing that Halo has a serious weapon sandbox issue. It's not that the guns aren't fun to use, far from it, the problem is that Halo has for so long diluted it's weapon sandbox. It's resulted in cases where either one weapon dominates the sandbox or every weapon except power weapons have their role in the sandbox left unclear to the player.  Unlike other games like Call of Duty , this is a major issue for Halo as it relies more on it's weapon sandbox than COD's loadout system. Halo is a series defined by it's weapon sandbox, how one approaches a situation with the tools at hand or has to dip until they can find better tools. But in terms of those tools no Halo has done it better than Halo 1 , every other game has been a steady downward spiral. Halo 1 is the game with the least amount of overlap and therefore dilution in it's weapon choice. You had your bullet weapons for tearing through flesh and plasma weapo

    Calling Metroid: Other M's story "bad" would be like calling being set on fire by fascists "slightly uncomfortable". Most people agree that the actual gameplay of Other M , while restrictive, is fine for an action game. But the actual story is seen as utterly rancid and bordering on character assassination for series protagonist Samus Aran. Metroid Other M is almost impressive in that it drew the hatred of both people who saw Samus as a feminist icon and those who despise anything "SJW." And having recently replayed Other M in the build up to Metroid Dread, I can firmly say that both groups are correct to hate this game's story and yet I can see how to fix it with one small change. For Those Just Joining Us Before I do tell you how I'd fix Other M , let's go over the plot and it's problems. Not long after failing to save the last Metroid and blowing up Planet Zebes during Super Metroid ; Samus Aran finds herself drawn to the Bot

   Retro Shooters seem to be on the rise lately haven't they? Retro Shooters being fast paced shooters where if you either don't kill everything in the room or blaze out of there at 420mph you failed your ancestors. Six years ago the Retro Shooter was dead and buried; consigned to the dustbin of the 90's along with Jnco's and Vanilla Ice's career. But unlike those things Retro Shooters are back with a steel barreled vengeance. So what changed? Well to understand how the Retro Shooters came back, we have to understand their rise and fall. In 1992 id software released Wolfenstien 3D , the first mass market First Person Shooter; here the objective was to shoot your way out of a Nazi lair because fuck Nazi's. This however was less shooter and more maze game, you had about three types of enemy who did the same thing at varying speeds and your real concern was escaping their lairs, all 60 of them. This would change with id's follow up, Wolfenstien Spear of Desti-

You ever wake up to news that makes your soul exit your body, leaving nothing more than a feeling of dumbfoundedness? Well that's what I felt when Fornite announced a Martin Luther King based event. I was shocked and dumbfounded that Epic thought this was a good idea, putting MLK into a goddamn shooter? They know how he died right? And does this event have a 3D model of him that can be ripped? That's even worse, what are they thinking? Well I had forgotten about Fortnite's attempt to be Minecraft , Creative Mode, which is NOT primarily about the fighting or shooting. So there was going to be no shooting or 3D model to abuse, which means the devs clearly thought of the two biggest issues. I figured fair was fair and decided that I was going to do something I hadn't done in years, play Fortnite .... MLK Edition. Spawning into the game mode winds up with one in a recreation of the Washington Monument from one end of the reflecting pool all the way to the steps of the Linc

Fullmetal Alchemist is my favorite piece of media of all time, nothing comes close to it in my opinion. I know I said that a couple weeks ago but that piece I wrote got me thinking about FMA again, namely FMA Brotherhood .  I've noticed this strange thing about FMAB in that most people I introduce it to don't click with it until Episode 4 or so. Meanwhile I got started with the 2003 version of FMA and got into it at the end of Episode 2, which is the end of the first story arc. And it makes me wonder why? Why does FMAB seem screw up it's opening in the way it's predecessor and the Manga Original seemingly don't? Well to understand I need to explain what makes Brotherhood , FMA 2003 , and the Manga different. The Manga is the original, the classic from which both anime were birthed from and an amazing 27-volume run. FMA 2003 , simply called Fullmetal Alchemist , was a first attempt to adapt the manga but it ran out of manga to adapt and chose to make it's own e

   I could have done productive things this weekend, and I kinda did. But for the most part life  this weekend was two things, work and Halo Infinite . 343 put out the first technical flight for Infinite and that consumed my life from Thursday to Monday. But now it's over and it's time for some closure by talking about the flight and what I liked and what could be fixed.  I think we should talk about what's most important, Halo Infinite's gameplay which is so good. Infinite feels like a hybrid of Halo 5 and Halo 2 and the guns feel great to use. I mean for once the meta isn't just Battle Rifle which is nice, it's kind of an issue I've always had with Halo where the primary weapon is the Battle Rifle, Pistol, or you die. I actually found myself using the AR a lot which is viable at mid-range now but needs to be burst fired, which encourages variety in weaponry.   The new weapons slapped too, namely the Skewer which has some great feed back and serves as an

Turns out one article wasn't enough to satisfy my Half-Life kick, because when I was choosing to play Half-Life 1 I had two options, Half-Life 1 or the remake Black Mesa. And while I chose Half-Life 1 I was fascinated by Black Mesa, a fan remake of Half-Life 1 that Valve allowed to sell for a profit on Steam.  And it got me thinking about fan games and how they're important to most gaming companies... except one. I'm a Nintendo fan and Nintendo's logic on fan-games is that if you do any fan game and it gains traction you will be automatically shut down. They have the right to do so mind you, but I feel it's a net negative on fandoms in general. Fan works are important and I feel that if developers support fan works in a healthy way it can create a sense of camaraderie and love for a company that would allow it to, in the eyes of the public, elude a lot of criticism. The biggest example of supporting fans is Valve. Ever since the release of Half-Life, Valve has suppo

Last week Valve announced Steam Deck, a handheld PC with a starter price of $399 and going up to $650 for the highest end model. Automatically people compared it to other Valve hardware, namely the Steam Machine; Valve's attempt at the console market in 2015 that failed miserably. However, I disagree with people making this comparison; in fact I think Steam Deck stands a far better chance than Steam Machine did. But in order to understand why I need to explain why Steam Machine failed in the first place and where the Deck seems to learn from it. The Steam Machine was released in 2015 as an attempt to go up against the PS4 and Xbox One while offering an entry into the PC market for non-PC gamers. This was where the problem began, no one knew is this was meant as just a prebuilt PC or a whole new console. And because Valve took the 3DO route of licensing the brand no one knew if you could even upgrade a Steam Machine. It was a very muddled system with an unclear role in a market wher

It's Fullmetal Alchemist's 20th Anniversary today and that fact has basically overridden every braincell in my head. You know those people who make their entire identity one thing and don't ever shut up about it? That's me and Fullmetal Alchemist , except I learned some restraint which is why my twitter is not a flood of FMA memes or fan art. It would be if I wasn't self-conscious of how bad a look that is. But today's an occasion to celebrate, not to tear others down. Because Fullmetal Alchemist is my favorite thing, ever. No media franchise will hold my heart captive in it's palm better than FMA. But why do I love this franchise so much that I'm one or two impluses away from being a stan account for? Glad you asked. The basic premise of Fullmetal Alchemist is this, in a world where magic is a science called Alchemy; two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, attempt to use Alchemy to resurrect their dead mother. This works out poorly and leaves Edward