In Third Person

A personal look into video games, the video game industry and video game culture.

Now Loading - Blazblue: Calamity Trigger

Posted by Jet
Friday, July 31, 2009
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Image from Arstechnica

On my way back from my trip, I picked up my pre-order on the regular edition of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger. I had no idea what this game was about till a few weeks ago, when the limited edition version was getting rave reviews from the press.

Fighting games in general haven't been too kind to me since the days of Super Street Fighter 2. To this day, I still love those classic Street Fighter 2 games of yesteryear. However, after that the genre went either 3D or ultra-crazy 2D, which I could never get into.

My interest in the genre though has piqued with Street Fighter IV. HD Remix is great, but IV really took it over the top for me. It was familiar enough that I could jump right in and not suck, while adding new layers of complexity to learn. It was also awesome to play on XBOX Live.

Blazblue just happened to be at the right place at the right time for me. It was pretty. It had great word-of-mouth. I was getting back into the genre again. And Fight Night Round 4 kind of broke on me. I traded in Fight Night Round 4 to get Blazblue with the credit. By the time I traded Fight Night in, the limited editions of Blazblue were long gone. Oh well.

Here's to hoping it's awesome, and that I don't suck at it. The former is a lot more likely to happen than the latter.

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Now Loading - Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Posted by Jet
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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This fighting game needs no introduction, as many still hail it as one of the greatest fighting games of all-time.

To me though, I'm basically jumping in cold. Back when this hit the arcades, I was a bit too young for my parents to let me just go to the mall and hang out at the arcades. Also, during the few chances I got to play this game, I was destroyed by a pro every single time.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is probably the fighting game I've always wanted to get into that I never really got a fair shake at. Now that it's out for XBOX Live and PSN, we'll see if I can find out where my curly mustache is at.

So far, it's fun, but on a very base level. I can do special moves, but all of the intricacies of the game are lost on me. I've won a few matches, but that was thanks mainly to some Sentinel button mashing and Cable super spamming. I'll definitely work on my game so that I'm not a complete embarrassment.

With Street Fighter IV as currently my main game, and with Blazblue around the corner, will this find room in my regular rotation? Or will I forever be the New York Knicks?

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How I Gave Up On Fight Night Round 4

Posted by Jet
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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Image from IGN

I loved Fight Night Round 4. I loved how the gameplay engine was tweaked so that the game played and moved a lot more realistically. While it wasn't perfect (in particular all of the menu-based stuff was borderline maddening), it's easily the best boxing video game around and I enjoyed it greatly.

So why did I furiously trade it in after owning it for only two weeks?

I was on my 50th fight in career mode. My character had a record of 48-0-2. I was about to train for my 50th fight when...the game crashes.

I don't know what could have caused the problem. So I tried it again. No dice. Tried to skip the training session. Nope. It would continue to crash on the date May 17, 2024 every single time.

There was no way around it; I was screwed. After hours of working my way to the top, my career was essentially destroyed by a glitch in the game. Great.

On EA Sports support forums, they refer to this as a "rare freeze issue". However, with over 500 posts in that particular thread, I have a hunch that I'm not alone on this one. They say a patch is on the way, but it won't come for another few weeks.

I understand it's probably the best they can do at this point, but that's not good enough of an answer for me. Sure, I could have just played Quick Match. I could have played online against a friend. I could have even tried Career Mode again and maybe not run into the same problem. But really there isn't any excuse for me being in this position in the first place. And what if the patch didn't fix my problem?

I refuse to support games that don't do the fundamental stuff, like work as they should. The moment I realized what had happened, I packed up the game and quickly traded it in at my local video game shop for something else.

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I'm Your Pusher

Posted by Jet
Monday, July 27, 2009
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Image from Gamesweasel

I'm not sure if it's my love of hip-hop, my roots growing up in the hood, or my adoration of the movie Scarface, but I've gotten really caught up in the drug-dealing aspects of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Yes, the game as a whole is great. Yes, it plays pretty much as you would expect a Grand Theft Auto game to play. And maybe this whole drug-dealing thing is just side stuff to do while you work your way up the ranks of the Triad.

But right now, I'm all about pushing that weight.

If you're not familiar with how the drug-dealing works, there are six different real-life drugs being bought and sold in the game. You can see them all in the above picture. You get a bag to hold stuff in while you're on the go, and you also have a stash box in your safe house. There are dealers all over the city, all of whom specialize in buying and selling certain products.

If you get into it, you're constantly moving around the city, buying for low and selling for high. If you're good, you'll make a lot of money in the game really quick. However, just like real-life, you need to be slick. There are cops everywhere, and if you get caught, you'll lose some money and all the drugs you were holding. I've already gone through some epic chases where I'm freaking out over possibly losing 20 bags of cocaine. A few times I've been busted, and I couldn't help but curse out loud to the confusion of my brother sitting beside me.

The last deal I just did, I was able to get heroin at 75% less than market value, which is a freaking steal. But then the cops rushed in and busted it, and I drove for dear life across town in my slow van. Luckily, I was able to shake them...this time.

Make fun of me all you want for living out my hustler fantasies. I've got to link up with some Jamaicans down in Shottler, cause I hear they've got amazing prices on weed.

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Now Loading - Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Posted by Jet
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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Image from Gearfuse

I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I know I'm not alone. Grand Theft Auto IV was my first foray into the series, and despite the weird backlash from the hardcore, I really liked the game. I was a bit skeptical at first when I first saw this revealed at E3 2008, but I've warmed up to it thanks to the rave reviews.

So why didn't I pick it up in the first place? For one, it came out shortly after Street Fighter IV, which took up all of my time and money. Also, it's one of the more expensive titles on the DS, a system I've spent a lot less time with over the past year.

With all that said, now was personally the perfect time for me to jump in. I'm all packed up for a bit of a road trip, and I was looking for a meaty game experience to tide me over in the car. I'm really hoping this is the extended fix I'll need for my trip!

I'll post impressions when I've spent enough time with it.

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25 Things About Me As A Gamer

Posted by Jet
Friday, July 24, 2009
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If I plan on selling you my voice and personality as the reason to regularly check in with this site, I probably should give you at least a few tidbits about me to start. If you've got a "25 Things About Me As A Gamer" that you'd like to share with me and the rest of the world, leave it in the comments section!

1. Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo Entertainment System changed my life before I hit kindergarten.

2. I didn't own an NES growing up. Instead, my parents bought me a Famicom because they knew where to get all the bootleg Japanese games from.

3. In this current console cycle, I own an XBOX 360, Wii and DS. Most of my gaming currently is on the 360.

4. I keep an Excel file of all the games I currently own.

5. I learned how to play real drums by playing Rock Band.

6. I have been lurking the NeoGAF forums for many years now.

7. A few of the games I'm anxiously awaiting to play are The Beatles: Rock Band, Left 4 Dead 2, Scribblenauts and DJ Hero.

8. I still own an Atari 2600 and about 15 games. My favourite of the bunch is Bezerk.



9. Not sure whether or not I should be proud or ashamed of this one, but I've played over 5,000 Tetris DS matches. Proof:


10. Fire Emblem is probably my favourite video game series that nobody cares about.

11. Gaming podcasts are a big part of my day. I currently subscribe to 19 of them. I don't get to listen to every single episode every week, but I get to what I can!

12. I own a few video game t-shirts, but I have very picky taste. In particular, I hate t-shirts that try and slap some sort of pop-culture reference onto a video game t-shirt to make it less nerdy.

13. Part of the reason why I started this site is because I don't really have any other gamer friends to talk to. :(

14. I'm proud to have attended Video Games Live.

15. Remember that promo video for Donkey Kong Country? I received that in the mail from Nintendo years ago and I must have watched it about 100 times before I finally got the game for Christmas.

16. Many years ago, I had the chance to play Super Mario 64 before it came out and it blew my mind.

17. I have been a victim of both the red ring of death and the DS Lite crack.

18. Leading up to my 9th birthday, my parents teased me for weeks saying that they got me a TurboGrafx-16 instead of the Super Nintendo I had been begging for. At one point, I broke down and cried over it.

19. Currently, I've been playing a lot of Street Fighter IV online. My main character is Akuma.

20. At the height of my Rock Band obsession, my Rock Band setup was kind of crazy:

Yes, those are real live performance speakers hooked up to my TV.

21. I've brought in both my Wii and my XBOX 360 to college so my classmates and I could play video games in empty classrooms on the big projector.

22. Super Nintendo vs. Sega Genesis? Super Nintendo all the way.

23. There are a few games I've bought on the first day they came out and years later, I still haven't played them.

24. I love gaming on my iPod Touch. My two favourite games on the platform to date are Peggle and Drop 7.

25. In spite of those last 24 things, I still have a girlfriend. *knocks on wood furiously*


Images courtesy of No More Lives and 80s Tees

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Welcome to "In Third Person"

Posted by Jet
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Image from IGN


I know what you're thinking if you're just discovering this site.

"Do we really need another gaming website?"

Yes, there are a ton of great video game websites, blogs, forums and other online communities out there that cover pretty much every conceivable aspect of video games you could ever think of.

So why would you want to stick around to read this website?

Well, not to be conceited, but the only thing unique I have to offer to you as a reader is me. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Having been been a lifelong gamer now for over 20 years, I definitely have a few things to say about the matter. I won't try and regurgitate the news or give you 1,000-word reviews, but I can cover a number of topics that are relevant to me in a manner that might be relevant and interesting to you too.

In other words, I hope my first-person perspective on gaming becomes a valuable third-person voice to you.

In the posts to follow, I'll let you judge whether you want to stick with me.

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