Disclaimer: I’m no expert on Italian flicks. I just got into them over the last few years, and still have yet to see a lot of important entries. Oddly enough, these have kind of helped lately while I’ve been working on writing a comedy; something far separated (in intention at least) from everything that’s been on my TV. If you can’t tell, I’ve sort of been on a kick:

I can only imagine what further movies in the by-name-only Zombi series would have turned out like. While Zombi 3 was pretty decent, it was a far cry from Fulci’s classic. However, I wouldn’t entirely blame the shitty parts of that movie on either Lucio Fulci or Bruno Mattei; I wouldn’t even say it was a combination. Fulci got sick and they were left with maybe 50 usable (read: remotely fun) minutes after editing, so Mattei came on to save it. The former had some well-constructed zombie moments and Mattei’s best contribution to the movie was the stuff with the men in white chasing and blasting away the remaining survivors. It’s definitely not a total pile of shit; the hotel scenes near the beginning are great.

The next entry is a slightly different story. I sort of like what I’ve seen of Claudio Fragasso’s work. I guess the odds of there even being much of a Zombi 3 without him would be pretty nil. Zombi 4: After Death is kind of grody in all the wrong ways, though. It’s got all the right ingredients but they don’t mix too well in execution. Voodoo black dude opening? Check. Military boys (or is that “boiz”?) shooting zombies in the face? Check. Unfortunately, it’s somehow mostly boring. I can only imagine how unwatchable the print was when it was released with most of the gore chopped out by the producer. Okay, not a great zombie flick, but far from the worst.

Zombi 5: Killing Birds is the worst. It’s not just the worst in this series, it’s one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Even Robert Vaughn as a former revenge killer rendered sightless by the pecking out of his eyeballs can’t make it worth seeing. I never turn movies off after starting them, but I almost did. Not only were there only a handful of zombies, there weren’t even really many birds! I at least expected someone to be killing birds or, more probable, packs of birds that kill people. Instead, they give you 90 minutes of a group of douchebags looking for a near-extinct woodpecker and getting stuck in a spooky house. When it’s put that way, it even sounds unwatchable by Scooby Doo standards.

I’ve also recently seen Joe D’amato’s Anthropophagus listed as Zombi 6: Monster Hunter†. If this is true, this would almost kill the landsliding quality of the films. Still, Anthropophagus isn’t all that great either. Aside from a few key moments it’s sort of a snoozer, but there are some things on the second disc of the DVD that still make it worth picking up for the low price Best Buy sells it for.

† Actually, it looks like that may be incorrect. Though names are typically fuck-all confusing, it might have been Rosso Sangue/Anthropophagus 2 that some note as Zombi 6. Anyone know?

Man, do people ever resent me when it comes to videogames. Like, say for instance — when I’ll be playing Soul Calibur III with Mangas and Kenny, sometimes I’m known to win. Perfect them, even. I know, go figure that there’s a chick that is so competetive that she will shit talk and jump up just so she can make you feel puny.

Kenny and I are so known for our shit talking each other. We’ll laugh and high five each other, give each other a little bit of props when we’re actually impressed with the other. More than not though, Mangas and I will get downright EVIL with each other. I’ll call him my bitch and he’ll pat my leg and talk about how I should go back to making friendship bracelets and applying lipstick.

Yeah, it gets pretty brutal between him and I. Then someone else will come over, say James, for example and he’ll be so goddamn shocked that I actually know combination moves and can beat him. At one point, he even turned his head and goes “I can’t believe someone actually knows how to use Voldo CORRECTLY.” and then proceeds to use Maxi (Who is the lamest and easiest character in III.) to beat my ass. All the boys do, come to think of it. Mangas is the only one that can consistently beat me without blinking an eye. However, the other guys will pull out their favored characters if they think I’m getting too cocky.

A few evenings ago (Before my ankle was terribly bad.), I was making dinner at Tasha’s house since it was someone else’s turn to do so. Mangas nearly begged me to come over and cook their dinner, since it was all guys in the house and nobody knew what to do. Kenny was sleeping, Ron was busy and Mangas — well, let’s just say he’s not meant for the kitchen. It’d be like putting Vin Diesel in the middle of Pottery Barn. Just not a good idea, you know? So, while dinner baked in the oven and nothing else had to be done, I sat down and put in Silent Hill 4: The Room. This game has always and will always be my favorite of the entire series. It’s just an awesome game with a perfect soundtrack and a really thrilling storyline. Of course, it starts off kinda slow and loses people’s interest quickly if they’re not in for the long haul. Takes patience, which I have tons of when it comes to gaming.

So, I sat there and explained the entire thing to Mangas. How I felt that the Room was meant to be the focal point of the game, to give you safety and make you feel like it’s your safe haven. They do this, then they rip it from you later in the game, making you ultimately terrified to go back to your room every single time. When it stops healing you, when the noises, the ghosts and the demons begin showing up. I thought that was an amazing concept and I was just gushing vividly about this game.

He just laid his head down and watched with the most bored expression upon his dark face. At one point, he even started chastising me for the way I went through the game. I had such purpose and here I was, trying to point out the great aspects of this game to someone who ultimately didn’t care.

That’s when I realized that there will always be a difference between me and every other person in the world and that’s my passion for gaming. While other people have a passion for gaming, some people don’t take it to the extent I do. I will pick up anything and work my way around it until I own that damn thing. Some people just don’t go beyond the boundaries of what they know and what they appreciate. I find that terribly confining though. Why just sit in the same section all your life? Mingle.

With this thought in mind, I pushed the dark hair out of my eyes and lifted a brow down at the male laying on the couch beside me. I put the controller down and sighed, slowly getting up.

“Fine. Let’s turn this off and check on dinner.” 

I might be about to say something very obvious (which would be no strange thing for me), but I was reading a discussion on the ‘Halo killer’ concept that nearly every new FPS gets tagged with where one person said Halo improved the FPS genre, and that’s why it became the new standard. And the predictable response is the disection of Halo’s gameplay components until there’s no sign of originality left.  But it’s a moot point because Halo is popular. Wildly popular. And maybe I’m off base, but the single dominating reason I can find for its popularity isn’t in the gameplay, its story, or the 16 man lan bashes, but firmly lodged in its presentation.

I said somewhere else that the DMC wouldn’t be nearly as popular if instead of a shirt option half-demon pretty boy, you had a urine stained hobo as the lead character… though Condemned makes me rethink the idea of hobos as appealing videogame characters a bit. Anyway, it seems to me that the further console gaming goes to improve the technology that allows for greater presentation, the more importance that aspect of the experience becomes in the minds of the players, until it seems as if it’s become the primary factor.

Computer gaming is a bit different. I think it’s helped by a smooth, natural progression of technology instead of leaps and bounds, giving it a little less hold on the consumer, and also the computer player in general isn’t the kind of person who thrills at the next Madden or lays down cash for a game based around the fictional exploits of 50 Cent. Though you see more and more of this now that the developers have shifted away from computers primarily to work towards console gaming.

If there’s any point in this mess, it seems like you can predict if a game will sell or not now purely by the quality of its presentation. For instance, I think Gears of War is a lock as a big seller as it borrows a lot of presentation ideas from both Halo and RE4, but doesn’t reek too strongly of the clone vibe to push people away. While a game like Chromehounds doesn’t even seem to understand the concept of presentation, and feels as if it’s doomed to be forgotten a month after release.

Looking back on this generation, I find it hard to name a game that was a big seller that didn’t smack of consumer appealing style (unless it was firmly lodged in there as a long running franchise), while at the same time games with style at the very least put in decent showings on the sales charts. There can be an argument to what’s considered an appealing style or presentation, but I’m thinking less of personal preferences and more of the casual gamer mentality, either in the US or Japan. I have no idea what they like in Europe so I can’t say if this applies there.

This morning, I encountered something a bit disturbing that hit pretty close to home. It would seem that the “powers that be” over at Wikipedia felt that it was in their best interest to remove an entry dedicated to the GotNext website. Perhaps what was more disheartening wasn’t so much that I could no longer find any trace of it — but the fact that I wasn’t even contacted. Well, directly at least… like through email, for example. You would think when authors contribute to a site, steps would be taken to ensure that the author has a chance to responde directly. Not everyone has the luxury to babysit all of their registered accounts online.

But let’s get back on topic here. It took me several minutes of clicking through various links, reading through various policy and procedure documentation; followed by an inquiry to two of the Wikipedia admins directly responsible for its removal… (each of which I did my best to be as calm and diplomatic as possible.) before I finally found what I was looking for — an answer.

And I didn’t like it…

“GotNext has been proposed for deletion. An editor felt this website might not yet be notable enough for an article. Please review Wikipedia:Notability (websites) for the relevant guidelines. If you can improve the article to address these concerns, please do so.”

I raised an eyebrow by this statement. Not notable enough. They couldn’t POSSIBLY be serious. In the past two years, we’ve achieved more momentum than most enthusiast sites achieve within their entire online lifespan. I doubt they use their own metric tools, but it’s my guess they may have looked to Alexa — which isn’t all THAT accurate mind you, to suppor their decision. Yet even if that were true — since when does an resource like Wikipedia start alienating entries that were genuinely created for a constructive purpose. Not one piece of that entry was created with the intention to drive more traffic — no shilling. Just straight-up information… and now it’s gone. I definitely took great steps to ensure that a. it was written from a neutral point of view… b. posted factual, accurate information and c. made sure that the entry did not contain any previously unpublished theories, data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas; or any new analysis or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas that serves to advance a position.

But they removed it anyways — because it wasn’t “notable enough”. Wow.

As you might expect — I’ve already decided that I’ll be challenging this. I’d like a more thorough explanation, and I’d prefer to hear it from a live person, not a bunch of policies that Wikipedia decidely created on a whim. I realize no one probably would ever enter “GotNext” in a Wiki search — but the principle of the matter is what especially irks me. To me, it just feels unfair. If I’ve erred in some way — I’d greatly appreciate someone pointing it out to me.

p.s. I find it VERY interesting that this manages to escape their ever-so-watchful eye and yet my entry which documents a site that has active content and a rightful place in the video game editorial scene was removed. Nah — Wikipedia isn’t being partial at all.

Not that I think anybody will actually be READING this blog, but I might as well update it for personal amusement. I used to work with Bahn a long, long time ago, he’s a great guy, and I’m a jerk for not blogging on here sooner. Work started again this week, with long 9pm to 6 am shifts. I haven’t worked in nearly 4 months, so the actual labor aspect of this job has been torture on my puny, weak body. Everybody tells you that you’ll get used to it, but I think they lie just to make you feel better. The Prey demo is supposed to hit the 360 Marketplace today, so where the hell is it? Testing delays? So sad. Well, back to WoW I suppose. If any of you play alliance on Dark Iron and want to chat (or play horde on Dark Iron and want to be ganked/gank the crap out of me,) just look for Felslayer. See ya in game or next blog folks.