Episode 41: The Code that Broke Your Genesis
Part of what we do at Defunct Games is look at what everybody else is talking about and do it just a little differently. One such example of this are cheat codes, a popular standby that most magazines and websites find room for. Defunct Games isn't interested in cheat codes, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to do a Feud about them. Enter: The Code that Broke Your Genesis, a code that nobody should try no matter who they are. I found this code while looking at extremely old issues of EGM for inspiration, it was this complex code that had you ripping one game out and putting another one in. The first (and only) question I had was: how the HELL did anybody figure that out? I know a lot of these codes come straight from the game companies, but even still, who would have been the person that figured that one out? Sadly there's not a whole lot to this article, it is what it is. I'm sure this is not the most dangerous code ever conceived, but it was bad enough to make me question its even existence. I wonder if anybody actually tried this code out because of Defunct Games. I sure hope not. In Retrospect: B+

Episode 42: EGM's Love/Hate Relationship with Alien vs. Predator
Electronic Gaming Monthly takes a lot of crap from Defunct Games, and for good reason. This is a magazine that has been around 17 years and that means that there are a LOT of chances for them to get confused and forget how they reviewed games in the past. This article attempts to show how games EGM didn't like 10 years ago are now considered "exceptional." But that's not the reason I wrote this article. The reason I wanted to do this Feud is because Alien vs. Predator is one of my favorite Jaguar games, so watching them find so much wrong with it makes me somewhat angry. I saw my chance when they contradicted themselves, and I ran with it until my legs gave out. Obviously the reviews are written by people who no longer work at EGM, but that shouldn't stop them from staying somewhat consistent. This article is here to show that I'm not the only one that loved Alien vs. Predator, plenty of other critics gave the game glowing marks ... just not EGM. These days nothing has changed. Despite everybody else giving the recent PSP entry Pursuit Force high grades EGM found the game dreadful, giving it a low 3.5 (which is just insulting to anybody who actually played the game). Shame EGM, shame. In Retrospect: B+

Episode 43: Someone Has Got to Stop Michael Madsen
I love Michael Madsen; it's great in nearly ever movie he's in (even if the movie isn't so hot). But does he need to be in every Grand Theft Auto clone (including Grand Theft Auto)?? This is one of those articles where I actually tell you what needs to happen in the subject, there's no ambiguity about what this article is about. I want Michael Madsen to stop acting in these GTA rip-offs, there's no reason he needs to be in ALL of them. Despite this article, I do have to admit that I was kind of disappointed that he wasn't tapped to reprise his character in Liberty City Stories; it just wasn't the same without him. Having said that, I don't expect to hear him in any more crime-driven video games! And while we're at it, can we do something about Michelle Rodriguez finding her way into all of those crummy video game movies? In Retrospect: B+

Episode 44: Giancarlo Just Admit It
So here's an article with a title nobody seems to understand. This article, which is really about a guy who "lies" in one of his reviews, is a parody of the Jane's Addiction song, Ted Just Admit It. This article is near and dear to my heart, it's the type of article I wish I could do more of on Defunct Games. It's fun to point out when people are not being completely honest about their game reviews ... especially when they are paid to be accurate. What disappointed me was that magazine in question, The Official PlayStation Magazine, never once corrected him. All they had to do was run a small correction, but I guess they didn't mind that Giancarlo is giving out misinformation. Defunct Games cares, and that's why we spent so much time promoting this feature. Since then Giancarlo has been at the top of his game, but he still hasn't admitted his mistake. Giancarlo, let's hope we meet one day. In Retrospect: B+

Episode 45: From the Maker of 'House of the Dead'
Can you believe that when I posted this article Uwe Boll wasn't the most hated man in Hollywood? This article found its way onto the pages of Defunct Games before all of those other magazines started bitching about this German hack. We were not the first to point out his imperfections, but I feel that this article holds up surprisingly well considering how much has happened since it was posted. I doubt we will ever look back at Uwe Boll's work and feel sorry for him, but at least he's not doing ALL of the video game movies. On second thought, maybe he should do all of the video game movies ... we already know they are going to suck no matter who directs them. And really, who cares if he directs Halo? He can't screw the story up much more than Halo 2 did! In Retrospect: B

Episode 46: An Article for People Who Like to Have Fun
This Feud is actually one that I had been working on for a long time, but I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. I've always hated it when people who say that these games are for people that "want to have fun," but I didn't know what else to do with that idea. But seriously, how lame is it when somebody says that it's for people that want to have fun. As opposed to what, people that want to fold laundry?? ALL video games are meant to be fun; they are "games" for crying out loud. If you're actually getting paid to write game reviews you sure as hell better come up with something better than "for people that want to have fun." And you know what else, if you are you going to use that tired clich? it better not be about Nintendo. If I had a penny for every time somebody suggested that a Nintendo game was for "people who like to have fun" I wouldn't need to stay up until 9 am writing this stupid 100th On Running Feud! In Retrospect: B-

Episode 47: Get Your Hands Off the Music
Now that the Xbox 360 is here and we see how the customizable soundtrack works this article isn't as dire, but it does make a point that I think has been lost by Microsoft's attempts to give you complete control over your games. Not every game needs custom soundtracks, as has been proven by Defunct Games staffer Patrick's use of Abba while playing Call of Duty 2. I spent a lot of words trying to explain all of the reasons I hated this idea, but in the end some of my worries were unfounded. This is a good article, though. It's the type of feature that you don't see elsewhere, perhaps because other sites aren't as paranoid as we are. What this article lacks in levelheaded reasoning it makes up for with a smoking hot picture of Lindsay Lohan ... before she admitted to the drugs, eating disorder, and non-stop sex parties. What's that, she didn't admit to the non-stop sex parties? I guess those were just in my dreams! In Retrospect: B+

Episode 48: Shortcomings of the Emerging Plot
In all honesty I probably shouldn't be talking about this article; it's the ONLY Feud that has not been written by me. Jay Scotti wrote this article right before creating Videolamer, his own video game website. Obviously we wish Jay the best of luck, but we do wonder why it took him so long to inform us of his new site (and link us). But we're not going to hold that against him; instead I'll gladly say that if anybody besides myself was going to write a good On Running Feud, then Jay Scotti is your man. This is a fascinating Feud that will have you working it out in your head the rest of the day. It's the type of article you'll read and then want to discuss with friends. It's a great article that is well worth your time to read, even if it's not written like the rest of the On Running Feuds. This was the first and last article we would see from Jay, but it's one that he should be remembered for. Honestly, he should be the one telling us what was going through his mind when he wrote it, not me. In Retrospect: B

Episode 49: How the DVD Killed the UMD
Well, you can't say we didn't warn you. Defunct Games was the first website to predict that the UMD movie format would go down like a lead balloon. Oh sure, the writing was on the wall the whole time, but Defunct Games was the site that explained not only why it wouldn't work but why Sony decided to promote the technology in the first place. Fast forward a year and we have Sony deciding cut down on their UMD sales, just like we predicted. To this day I am convinced that Sony opted to put movies on UMD was for two reasons, 1) to keep other studios from suing them (since it's just as easy to put these movies on a memory stick) and 2) to make a few extra bucks. You can believe me if you want, but just remember that we were the first to talk about this. Just remember us when we're proven right. This isn't a bad article, but it doesn't have that certain "wit" you expect from Defunct Games. It does have an advertisement for Arrested Development, the single funniest TV show of the last twenty years. Maybe if you had supported it like I told you to it wouldn't have been cancelled. I blame you. Actually, I don't blame you, I blame Dawn Gilbert! In Retrospect: B-

Episode 50: GamePro's Old Age Catches Up to Them
Now this is how you celebrate a milestone, our fiftieth Feud is one of those articles that I am constantly reminding people of. I love this article; it's one of our best. In fact, when I was at E3 last year it was this article that I used to explain what Defunct Games was about. We are here to point out the misinformation, to prove lies, and to keep everybody fair. To show people what I meant I would ask them if they considered Soul Calibur II to be a disappointment. It shouldn't surprise you that of all the people we asked NOBODY was disappointed by Namco's fighter. What surprised people was the fact that GamePro said, "Everybody can pretty much agree that Soul Calibur II was a big disappointment." Sorry, but that STILL surprises me! What is GamePro smoking? Of course, it was my idea to hunt GamePro down and try to get to the bottom of this. But since everybody at GamePro goes under a pseudonym it's impossible to know who you are looking for. I could stand there in the middle of E3 and yell out the person's alias, but that's not going to get me anywhere. It's better if I just let GamePro find us and respond ... if they have the balls. So far they have not had the balls, because I think they know they were wrong. In Retrospect: A

Episode 51: The Game That Rewrote History
This is one of those articles that ended up bringing a lot of people to Defunct Games ... to complain. That's right; I got a flood of emails about how inaccurate I was when I said that Sony didn't package Ridge Racer with the original PlayStation. These critics are right, at one point Sony DID offer some stores the ability to sell the system with the game for $50 more (literally the price of the game), but that isn't what we were talking about. This article is about how Sony didn't have a launch game when the system first came out. And for the record, offering a bundle for $50 more is not the same as giving you a pack-in game. But I will admit that the people that wrote to me were right to do so. This is a semantic argument that really has no winners. This is not a bad article (there are still funny lines in it), but some of the impact may have been taken out with the information that Sony did (eventually) package Ridge Racer with the system. You can stop emailing me now, I get it. In Retrospect: B-

Episode 52: GamePro Meets the MSX for the First Time
You can get after me for not getting all of the information out about the PlayStation and Ridge Racer, but when it comes to GamePro and the MSX I am 100% right. This is another one of those "gotcha" articles, the type where we find something wrong about modern video game magazines and rip them to shreds (the writers, not the magazine itself). So GamePro likes being the longest running game magazine, eh? That's fine. But if you're going to be around for 17 years shouldn't you know what the MSX is? I bet that Electronic Gaming Monthly knew what the MSX was. I bet they knew that Solid Snake was the real sequel to Metal Gear, not Snake's Revenge (as they claim). I can understand if some people at GamePro don't remember the MSX, but if you're the person responsible for putting together a retrospective of Hideo Kojima's best franchise, shouldn't you do some research? That's what you're getting paid for, guys. In Retrospect: A-

Episode 53: A Puzzler of a Problem for EGM
Ever meet those people that say that Electronic Gaming Monthly's reviews are not up for debate? Next time they tell you that EGM is the best source of reviews just remind them that EGM gave Tetris a 7. That's right; they gave Tetris, one of the greatest games of all time, a 7!! They gave higher scores to Super Mario Land ... does anybody even remember Super Mario Land?? Perhaps EGM has something against puzzle games, that might explain why they gave Lumines low scores as well (despite it being one of the best puzzle games of the last 15 years). But don't worry fellow Lumines fans, if Tetris has taught us anything it's that EGM will give you a seven and then call you the second best game of all time! Generally speaking this is not the type of article I like to write. I am a big fan of letting game critics stand by their opinions, no matter how wrong they are. You'll notice that most of the articles on Defunct Games are about facts, the only opinions we like to feature are our own. This wasn't the case in this article, but then again, A Puzzler of a Problem for EGM is unlike any other Feud we've run. In Retrospect: B

Episode 54: The Final Word on Movie Endings?
True story: during last year's E3 we were unable to update Defunct Games like we wanted to. Thanks to a company I would rather not mention out loud, Defunct Games was dead in the water until the event was half over. This had me angrier than I had ever been before; I was pacing back and forth yelling at the top of my lungs at the people at said company. Was it their fault? YES! But they made matters worse by lying to my face, which is unforgivable in my opinion. As a result we were forced to leave the last posted article up as "Today's Best" for much of E3, which really frustrated me. Thankfully this was the article that stayed up the whole time. The Final Word on Movie Endings? is the type of article I wanted the E3 goers to witness. It talked about something that was E3-related and voiced a strong opinion that I think millions of people can get behind. We took this article with us as we talked to the people who were making games like Jaws, Taxi Driver, the Godfather and the Matrix: Path of Neo and all of them suggested that we were crazy. But how crazy were we? The Path of Neo had one of the worst endings I have ever seen, Jaws is still in development hell, Taxi Driver was cancelled, and The Godfather was booed by Francis Ford Coppola. Of course, here I am one year later reviewing The Godfather for Gaming Nexus ... and you want to know something? I actually like it! Mr. Coppola, you were wrong! In Retrospect: A-

Episode 55: A Yearly Reminder About Annual Sequels
You and I both know that we're never going to get rid of the annual sequel. Video game companies want as much money as they can get, and if they have a hot property they are going to cash it in as often as they could. If they thought they would be able to get away with it I have a hunch they would release two or three sequels a year ... just look at what Koei is doing to the Dynasty Warriors series. The problem with this article is that most of the games I complained about ended up being pretty good. The third Prince of Persia was better than the second, Ratchet's fourth outing was a lot of fun, and even Jak X had its moments. But that Tony Hawk game was terrible. I went through it on the PlayStation 2 and couldn't believe how bad it was, this coming from a life-long fan of the series. And if you thought I didn't like it the first time, you should have seen my face when I went through it again, only this time for the Xbox 360. I'm surprised they didn't just send me the PC and original Xbox versions so I could have a good reason to end my life. Maybe it's time Tony Hawk takes a break for a couple years? In Retrospect: B

Episode 56: Gizmondo Proves to be Advertiser Friendly
Television commercials are the bane of my existence. I hate them. They are always loud, always annoying, and always recycling songs that probably shouldn't be used to sell underwear. I bought my ReplayTV for one main reason, to cut out every commercial so I could just watch the TV shows uninterrupted. For the most part we have been able to avoid these advertisements in video games. Oh sure, there are billboards and other product placement tossed in for good measure, but we rarely have to sit through a full commercial like we do while watching TV. The Gizmondo wanted to change that ... and talked as if they were doing a good thing. This is the first of many Gizmondo-related articles, but it's also the one topic that we felt would give Tiger the most trouble. Who wants to play games and then watch commercials? Not us and not anybody we talked to. The Gizmondo failed to attract much attention and has failed to drum up any business what so ever since its launch. Is this due to a poor line up for the fact that you have to watch TV commercials? I suspect it has more to do with the fact that nobody has a clue what the Gizmondo is and where they can buy it. That $300 price tag isn't helping, either. This article reminds me of the good old days when I could get away with spending a whole article making fun of Tiger and their crappy portable game system. I fear those days are behind me. Hopefully we'll see the Gizmondo 2 or Phantom at E3 this year, more ammo for our insult machine. In Retrospect: A-

Episode 57: Square-Enix Circles Around Their Loyalties
This article came to me as I was watching the Final Fantasy XI demonstration at E3. There Square-Enix was finally announcing a Final Fantasy game for the Xbox 360 and all I could think was, "why Final Fantasy XI?" Just imagine how much of a coup it would have been if Microsoft had managed to get the exclusive to Final Fantasy XIII or even a remake of Final Fantasy VII. But no, Microsoft gets the one Final Fantasy people actually want to end! I sat in my motel room in Los Angeles writing this article while Defunct Games staffer Patrick was fast asleep. Very little changed from my original draft, this is one opinion I barely had to think about. In a lot of ways this is a follow up to The Great RPG Battle, one of our earliest Feuds. I suspect in five years this story will be just as outdated. In Retrospect: B+

Episode 58: Leaving Los Angeles
Despite being posted after E3, this Feud was actually written just before I left Washington for California. This is one trend I didn't need to see first-hand to have an opinion about, and I knew it would work perfectly for those days when we were flying back (literally leaving Los Angeles). If you look at the very first picture in the article (the one of San Andreas) you will see the L.A. Convention Center, the location that E3 takes place. The rest just kind of fell into place, this was an easy article to put together and an even easier one to get pictures for. Thankfully some of the games we complained about in this Feud never saw the light of day, and you can go ahead and thank me for that. I probably had no part in it, but who else are you going to thank? In Retrospect: B

Episode 59: Shadow of the Booth Babes
These days every site has some sort of booth babe article. Men from all over the world flock to these busty beauties to get their pictures taken an prove to friends back home that they got some action in L.A. For years Defunct Games resisted the idea of a booth babe article, but after looking through so many pictures of Defunct Games staffer Patrick snuggling up against fake breasts I knew I had to do something. So I went ahead and wrote a two page article that worked on two tracks. On one hand this is a pictorial of Patrick's adventure in the land of estrogen, but it's more than that. Shadow of the Booth Babes is also my way of making fun of the idea of taking your picture next to nameless bodies, a way of turning this tried and true E3 clich? on its ear. By the end of the article this Feud has turned into an all out parody of other articles like this, with Patrick forced to be the person we make fun of. I feel this article works on both levels, it's the type of thing where you can get lost in the beautify and laugh at how silly it is. And if you don't like either of those things, you can appreciate that we are the only site to parody Shadow of the Colossus when talking about the booth babes. With the new dress code for the ladies we will have to see if we are able to expand on the theme this year. In Retrospect: A-

Episode 60: Is Nintendo Out of Touch with Gamers?
Here we go again; it's another one of those articles that gets me in trouble with all of the loyal Nintendo fanboys. What some people forget is that these On Running Feuds are more than just about opinions, they are here to spark debate and offer ways of thinking you might not normally see. That doesn't mean you should agree, and trust me, plenty of people disagreed with my take. But I feel the figures speak for themselves. American games like mature themes and competition. How else can you explain the success of every single 3D Grand Theft Auto title? Or what about Halo 2? These are the types of games you just don't get on the Nintendo consoles, and I feel it's a topic well worth talking about. Agree or don't, this site is here to get you thinking and show ask the hard questions. I still have to wonder, IS Nintendo out of touch with gamers? In Retrospect: B