Not You Again By Chris Moxon

Every console has them, companies needs them, and everyone hates them. Who could cause such loathing and needing all at the same time; Fanboys. These ill informed, borderline illiterate morons spread their obnoxious thoughts through online message boards and countless forums. No matter what the topic is on the result is unfailing; " I'm smarter than you even if my thoughts are narrow minded and I can barely speel...I mean spell." Even though their existence is detested they are still a valuable part of the video game industry.

The earliest fanboy rants could be found between Sega and Nintendo, mainly the fueds stemmed from their mascots ( Sonic and Mario) and how may bits each console had. The commercials and other factors between the two companies began the console war and in turn spawned the " Fanboy" which lead to numerous debates in school lunch rooms and recesses. Unfortunately, what once started as a harmless dispute eventually assumed the form of the ill-tempered, modern day, baseless "Fanboy."

What the "Fanboy" provides is an unwaivering support to a console, pc, and franchises. In other words they are "guaranteed" money. If the fanboy loves Sony, he or she will buy Sony's first party titles and hardware. If a fanboy loves Halo, then he or she will buy Halo products. So, because the fanboy is willing to go out of their way to buy software, books, hardware, and subscribe to various magazines, they are in return keeping their favorite products and studios successful and most of the time guaranteeing themselves more of what they want.

Fanboys also create opportunities. For example, suppose that a fanboy enjoys the software that EA publishes, that fanboy is willing to put forth money to venture out of his comfort zone to try new products from that publisher. If the fanboy feels that he or she benefitted from the new experience they become a loyal consumer for that studio.



Without the "Fanboy" franchises would never happen, sequels would never try to out due the last, there would be no exclusives. Everything would be neutral and video games would never be as exciting as they are now, and being a gamer would be an absolute bore. As much as people hate the fanboy; these people should be thanked for their loyalty to whatever flag they wave

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow CE

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Collector's Edition was annouced today at GamesCom. For $79.99 the collector's edition for the U.S will include the game, the original soundtrack, and an artbook. The Europe edition will include the game, the original soundtrack, and the God Mask. Any thoughts?

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Today at Gamescon the new Castlevania game developed by Mercury Steam and Kojima, was given an official release date. October 5th 2010 is when players can grab there whip, some holy water and take on The Lords of Shadow.

Jewel Spinner: By Chris Moxon

Jewel Spinner is a flash game created by Dream Forge Games. The premise is simple, match the colored jewels on the manually directed spinner to the other colored jewels that are on the lanes. If the player becomes stuck they can tap on the center of the spinner to find a selection of jewels that better suit the situation. Now that the idea of the game is laid out let's begin to discuss the game.



Jewel Spinner is a good game that doesn't have many flaws. The gameplay is solid and the controls handle very well. The difficulty has a nice pace and it delivers a good sense of tension as the player progresses through the levels. As I played both verisons ( flash and iPod Touch) I found that the iPod had the better adaptation. Mainly, the spinner was easier to navigate on a touch screen then a mouse. The only gripe I have about this game is the music. The music never really changed throughout the levels, if it had the differences were very minute. In conclusion it's good game and for $2.99 on the Apps Store, it's a title that is well worth the download.

OVERALL GRADE: A