Happy Saturday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Game Grind, the place where various aspects of the video game industry, culture, and art form are examined and discussed. For whatever reason it seems as though there is a lot of news about various titles and properties coming out. Here’s the most interesting of that news.

Pokemon Stuffs!!!

It’s no surprise to anyone that Nintendo and Game Freak are making a third version for the generation 6 games. This has been their business strategy for, well basically forever. While no one is positive what form that next installment will take, it could be called Pokemon Z, Pokemon X2 and Y2, or it could be something totally unexpected, this week the next game was more or less confirmed. That snake looking thing at the beginning of this writing is Zygarde, he’s a legendary that did not receive much love in the previous X and Y games. However, it was recently announced that Zygarde will be receiving 5 new forms and that the next season of the (still ongoing) Pokemon anime will be changed to Pokemon X, Y and Z. So, yeah, not really a giant shock, but the next Pokemon game is soft-confirmed and this guy is probably going to have a big role in it. As for a release date, there’s no information on that yet, but I would bet that it would come out next summer as that would coincide with a Pokemon movie that is supposed to feature Zygarde.

Click Here for more Poke-news

Can You Dig It!!?

Shovel Knight, one of the best video games to be released last year, has received its first FREE DLC. This DLC, Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows, allows players to take the mantle of Plague Knight, a fan favorite boss from the previous game. The developers of this series, Yacht Club Games, has promised that this will be both a new and unique experience, while also building upon the world and characters featured in the previous game. I know that I am going to play this game, and you probably should too. If you have not played the original Shovel Knight, fix that right now. Seriously, start up whatever gaming console you have, go to the online store, and buy it. The become enthralled with it for a few days and once you finally beat it, come back here and leave a comment saying how right I was.

Unearth more Shovel Knight Info. right here

Konami Cuts Out

The Video Game publisher and developer Konami has decided to stop the production of all of its AAA games, with the exception of the Pro-Evolution Soccer series. Why? Because Knoami sucks. They are terrible to their employees, machiavellian in their business ventures, and have abused some of their best creative properties. Good-bye Metal Gear, good-bye Contra, good-bye Castlevania, and good-bye Silent Hills. I’ll miss you.

XV’th Times the Charm

Square Enix has released some new information about the upcoming Final Fantasy XV game. It is some pretty general stuff, but there will only be more information being released as the games release draws closer. FFXV was confirmed for a 2016 release, but an exact date has not been given yet. I’ve played this game’s incredible demo and, while I always knew I was going to buy it, I am now extremely excited for the full game to launch.

Also, for anyone who is a Final Fantasy fan and reading this, here are a summary of my views of the series. The first one I played was VII, which is far and away the best one. X is overrated, XII should never have gotten those sequels, and  IV is the oldest game I’ve played in the series. I do not think IV stands the test of time, especially on the DS version, but I can see how it was so well received when it came out. Also I’ve committed the cardinal sin of never playing Final Fantasy VI, come at me.

More Fantastic Final Fantasy Info. right here.

Those are some of the biggest video game news stories to come out of this week. Thank you so much for reading and be sure to leave a like and a comment down below. You can also subscribe to this blog via the right side drop-down tab, you just have to enter your email. Also, BaddaBing BaddBlog has a Facebook Page, because we’re awesome. Also, be sure to check me out on Twitter, also because of awesomeness; I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Enjoy your Saturday everybody.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Friday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is News for the Mighty, News of the week. The place where you can become informed enough to use topical pick up lines on that cutie at the other end of the bar. Here are some of the biggest events from this week.

It’s A Clock

Earlier this week a 9th grade student in Irving, Texas was taken out of school and given a three day suspension because one of his teachers thought he had brought a bomb to school. However, it was not a bomb. The student had made a a clock and brought it to school to show it to his engineering teacher. The engineering teacher was supportive of the student, but later that day when the clock beeped in his English class, the English teacher demanded to see what it was and contacted the principle. The principle then contacted the police, the student was interrogated, and eventually suspended.

The student’s name was Ahmed Mohamed and he has darker skin and is a Muslim. It is fairly obvious to everyone that clear racial profiling happened here. He’s wearing a NASA t-shirt for god’s sake.  This kid is the least terrorist looking person on the planet. While a fourteen or fifteen year old kid getting singled out by his teachers due to his race is bad enough, I personally believe that something worse happened here.

The adults involved in this situation figured out pretty quickly that Ahmed did not have a bomb and continued with the police questioning and suspension because they did not want to admit that they were wrong and that they had assumed the worst of a student because of his ethnicity. Nobody followed any of the procedures that are supposed to take place when there is a bomb threat. The school was not evacuated, the bomb squad was not called in, and the “bomb” was taken away from the school in a standard police car and is being stored as evidence. Everyone with power figured out that Ahmed did not have a bomb fairly quickly, but continued as though it was a bomb or that Ahmed was trying to create a bomb hoax because they did not want to admit that they had racially profiled a smart, nice kid who did absolutely nothing wrong.

GOP Debate 2: The Second One

The second Republican primary debate occurred last night, aaaaaaaaaaand I didn’t watch it. Although I hear it was exactly as bad as people anticipated it to be. Trump said some offensive stuff, questions that added nothing to the overall rhetoric were asked, and it’s more or less agreed that Carly Fiorina won. Yup…….moving on.

Dislike

After years of complaints and user outcry, Facebook is adding a dislike button. This is similar to the Pumpkin Spice Late story that was covered a while ago, in that I really do not care about this, but other people might so I have to cover it. I guess it will allow people to more accurately express their views over the medium. So, good for Facebook.

Alright, that’s it for this week. Sorry for the delayed post, the day kind of got away from me. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the latest installment of Game Grind. Have a great Friday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where facets of western pop culture are examined. I realized the other day, in part because I’m taking a music class, that I really have not talked about anything musical in this article. Which is kind of deplorable since music is a massive part of every culture. Today I aim to fix that by listing some of my favorite bands, and going over why you should like them too.

The Beatles

I know that The Beatles are kind of the the safest possible answer you can give to the question “Who’s your favorite band???”, but that’s because they really are that good. They single handedly changed the music industry, created the first truly global musical experience, and created works and techniques that are still technique stunning today, with technology from the 1960’s. However, I think the biggest contribution towards my love for The Beatles stems from the fact that they have music for every emotion. If you’re stranded on a desert island and can only listen to one band for the rest of your life, you better bring The Beatles. The musical library is one of the vastest and deepest in the entire world of music. If you’ve never heard a Beatles’ song and you want to feel like you’ve never felt before; turn down the lights, pour a half a glass of wine, and put on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

NOFX

NOFX is one of those punk rock bands that came about in the 90’s, and stuck around. I for one am extremely glad that they did. I think the best way to describe this band is to compare them to Green Day (another band I enjoy, btw), but on more speed and talking more about social issues. I find myself listening to these guys more and more as I grow older and issues that plague our society become more prevalent in my everyday life. Another part of my appreciation for NOFX stems from the fact that they seamlessly switch from high bro to low brow at any given time. They could be singing a song about complex social issues one minute, and then calling out specific people and figures the next. I find the latter portion of the particularly enticing, as I regrettably cannot say “Fuck Ann Coulter” to a large audience in my everyday life (although maybe once this blog gets bigger new possibilities will present themselves). Check out the album Home Street Home if you want to go on a fun adventure and ponder some interesting social issues.

Gorillaz

I like Gorillaz. I really, really, really, like this band for a score of reasons. They are the love child between the incredible musician Damon Albarn and the steller cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. The two of them came up with the idea for Gorillaz while on an MTV binge, which caused them to realize what a cesspool the music industry had become. They decided to make a fictitious band so that it would be impossible for any of the members to be a fabricated personality designed to get more people to buy their albums. Albarn and Hewlett made the realist band ever, by making them not real. Oh also, before I move on to how I love them for their music, the name Gorillaz is a pun. You know what you call a group of Gorillas in the wild? A band. 😀

Nearly each and every one of Gorillaz’s songs is complex and layered. Many of their songs feature another artist or artists which gives each song its own distinct vibe. Now two Gorillaz songs are remotely similar, however the sheer quality of each of them makes it abundantly clear that  it is one of Gorillaz works. While the band does not have an extensive collection of music, a new album should be coming in 2017 and Hewiett’s artwork has me excited for it.

If you are interested in Gorillaz, I would recommend starting by watching their music video for Feel Good Inc. In my humble opinion, that is one of the best songs and one of the greatest music videos ever made.

There you have it. Those are three of my favorite bands. Seriously, go check them out on Spotify or wherever people are listening to music nowadays. If you like the post or any of these bands, leave a comment and a like down below. Also be sure to check out the 4B Facebook Page, and follow me, @LucasDeRuyter on Twitter. As always, you can subscribe to this blog via email in the upper right side tab. Have a great day everybody and be sure to come back for Friday’s post.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place were we dive head first into the deep and sorted world of Anime and Manga. It dawned on me recently that, despite the name of the article, there has not been a post about manga in quite some time. So today this post will focus mostly on the manga scene in the west.

(In Japanese Kanji, the symbol above reads manga.)

In America, reading manga is very much an online activity. While some bookstores do carry manga, they usually only carry the most popular series and only in their collected formats. This situation, while economical for the store selling the manga, has two problems. The first issue is that by only selling popular series, it becomes very difficult for an individual to read a more obscure piece of work. The second problem is that, by only selling the collection of chapters, readers have to wait potentially months before they can read new, weekly released chapters. The way most manga is sold is that a particular series releases around one chapter a week. This chapter is in a magazine along with other chapters from other series. However, every few months all of most recent chapters are compiled, the art is touched up, some bonus stuff is put in, and it is released in a collected set called a volume. Both of these problems can be alleviated by reading manga online.

However some issues arise with this as well. You see, manga creators and publishers do not want people to purchase the weekly version of a series. It’s more profitable for them if people buy the volume, so they rarely publish the weekly chapters online in English. This has lead to numerous fan communities translating series and placing them online on their own sites. Seriously, google “Read manga” and the entire front page will be filled with sites that are technically illegally translating and releasing manga. While some publishers have realized that they can still make some money by releasing the weekly chapters in English, they cannot match the speed with which fan communities are releasing their own translated versions.

This situation has led to both good and bad developments. The good part of this situation is that deeply devoted communities have been created making it incredibly easy to find people online to talk to regarding a series. It is also now possible to read essentially any manga series over the internet. However, the trade off is that the creates of those series do not receive any funds from people reading their works on fan sites.

That is more or less the current state of reading manga in the west. Tell me how you feel about it in the comments down below and maybe hit the like button while you’re there. As always, you can subscribe to BaddaBing BaddaBlog via the upper right tab. You could also follow the 4B Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter; I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Thank you so much for reading and you can expect the next post to come out on Wednesday (for real this time, I totally promise).

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Sunday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Politics, Politalks, the recurring segment where I write about whatever is on my mind regarding the vast, somewhat scummy world of politics. Once again, any views that I express here are entirely my own and should in no way be thought of as a representation of any party I have been, currently am, or in the future will be affiliated with. With that out of the way, here’s what I have been think about lately.

Over the course of America’s history, there have been a lot of people who have run for president. In the couple most recent presidential elections, there has been a trend where candidates promise to run the government as though it were a business. This claim has usually been made by individuals who have a successful background in the business world and is more or less a glorified way of them saying:

“Hey, I got rich running a business that still hasn’t gone bankrupt, that means you should vote for me.”

However, while this claim sounds great on paper, the government is vastly different from a business and a candidate’s background in the business world should not be a major factor in who citizens cast their vote for.

The American government is inherently different from a business. This becomes apparent immediately in the election process itself. Even for companies that are publicly traded, the CEO usually determined by a very small number of people. I personally cannot think of any company where their president is determined by a popular vote among all of its employees or shareholders.

The American government also has an inherently different function than a business. Most businesses have the end goal of making money. That’s not at all the main function of a government.  While the primary purposes of a government are fiercely debated and highly varied among different individuals, everyone can more or less agree that the American government exists to: establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, defend the nation against enemies, promote general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. Those points are paraphrased out of the constitution and notice that no where does it explicitly say that America has to bring in a specific net profit every quarter.

Another way in which the government is different from a business is that the government cannot lay-off people who are under performing. Businesses have the luxury of being able to restructure and move their workforce around whenever they feel the need to. However, the American government cannot excommunicate a stat if they feel that state does not fit in well with its future business model.

While some business skills, such as leadership qualities, communication skills, and the ability to make plans and adjust them efficiently as unexpected challenges are encountered, are all valuable in working in government, the American government cannot be run like a business. If America were run as a business, it would almost certain fail. Governments and businesses are vastly different from one another and a candidate saying that they will run the government like their business adds very little to ongoing political discourse and is not a very remarkable promise.

Also, while I know that this last point is off topic, I do not believe it is possible to talk about the government and business without someone bringing up the “are business people” discussion. So to quickly answer that, no, they most certainly are not people. America has always acknowledged individuals as people by giving them the right to vote. Originally, only male land owners could vote and be counted as people. Over time that expanded to women and minorities. Since businesses cannot cast a vote in any form of public election, they are not people.

That about does it for this week’s installment of Politics, Politalks. If you enjoyed the post go ahead and give it a like and leave a comment down below. If you want to be super awesome you can like the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or follow me, @LucasDeRuyter. on Twitter. You can also receive notifications when new posts are made, by subscribing via email in the upper-right tab. Enjoy your Sunday and expect the latest installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday tomorrow.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Saturday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers. This is Game Grind, the place where all things video game are discussed and analyzed. I think that today’s post should be a good one because the subject material is very dear to me and many others.

It was recently announced that Pokemon Go is going to released in 2016. Pokemon Go is a mobile game that uses AR technology to allow you to traverse the actual world (you know, the outside place that gamers aren’t really known to frequent), come across Pokemon, and battle and capture them. You can then trade the Pokemon you capture with other people and even work with then to beat bosses. The Pokemon Co. has released a cinematic trailer to depict what the spirit of the game.

I’m not going to lie, I cried a little bit when I saw this. I think I reverted back to an eight year old for a few seconds towards the end. That might be one of the greatest video game trailers solely because it perfectly depicts what every kid who grew up with Pokemon imagined every time they played the game: “What if there were Pokemon in the real world?”.

Alright, enough of me blubbering on about the trailer. While very little actual information about the game itself is available now, if executed correctly it could be a smash hit. Mobile games are on the rise and I cannot fault Nintendo or Game Freak, the company that makes Pokemon games, for trying to get in on that cash cow. Augmented Reality games, AR for short, are wildly popular among individuals who play them. While there are not a lot of games in this genre, there are plenty of stories of people who actually play them going on hilarious adventures.

Which brings me to how this game might be a social game changer. This video game might be the thing that brings gamers outside. I do not mean to be hyperbolic, but that is still no small feat. The trailer mostly depicted the game being played by young adults or adults playing the game with there kids, which makes me think that it is going to be marketed towards an older audience than the mainstream Pokemon games. I think that is a fantastic idea as young adults are a huge part of Pokemon’s consumer base and I think that this game would be a great way for parents and children to bond while being outside and getting exercise. It seems like everyone is a winner in this situation.

I personally cannot wait for this game to come out. I also cannot wait to see the lengths people (and I) go to Catch ’em All. There are totally going to be people who climb to the top of a volcano to catch a Moltres. Some dude is definitely going to go to Antarctica to catch a Articuno. The best thing about Pokemon Go, however, is that it captures the original spirit of Pokemon. Satoshi Tajiri created Pokemon as a way to let kids growing up in urban areas a chance to experience his childhood hobby of observing animals and collecting bugs. This game brings the rural origins back to Pokemon. I hope that Pokemon Go does inspire kids and young people to go out into the world and go on crazy adventures and explore the exciting world around them. Essentially I hope that this game makes people live life as through they are in the world of Pokemon.

If you enjoyed this article, please like it and leave a comment down below. If you would like to receive notifications when new posts come out, you can subscribe via email in the upper right tab, follow the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. Enjoy your Saturday everybody.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Friday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers!!! As we leave this work week behind us and come closer to the warm embrace of the weekend, take a moment to learn about some of the noteworthy events that happened this week, so that you can lay some knowledge on that mofo. This is News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

Colbert’s Back

For those of you living under a rock, or without cable as is the case for me, This week marked Stephen Colbert’s return to television. He is officially the host of the late show. From what I was able to see he (unsurprisingly) did a fantastic job. It also seems like he is dialing back his, for lack of a better word, Colbert-ness, as he is now on basic cable and he now has a very different audience than what he did on Comedy Central. I personally think that he will do splendidly in this new venture and look foreword to witnessing it progress.

Also that Oreo joke killed.

Kim Davis Update

Today’s post is going to be much like an Oreo, well actually that’s probably not the best metaphor, since the middle of an Oreo is usually considered the good part. This post is a bizarro-Oreo then. Kim Davis has been released from prison and she will continue to be a clerk, she will continue to be paid with taxpayer funds, and she still refuses to give marriage license to gay couples. Also Mike Huckabee, a man currently running for the Republican primary election, spoke at Davis’s press conference in support of her.

Yeah, I’m bummed about this too, but I’m going to choose to focus on the positives of this situation. The first positive is that one of Kim Davis’s deputy clerks, which is not an elected position, has said that he will give out marriage licenses to gay couples, even if Kim doesn’t approve of it. It will be interesting to see how that plays out, because if he gets fired for, what now legally is, just doing his job, he could easily sue for wrongful termination. Also the band Survivor is suing Kim Davis because their song Eye of the Tiger was played at her press conference without their consent. The remaining members of the band have stated that they in no way support Kim Davis. Personally, I hope they win.

The Future is NOW!!!

In an event that I’m sure took millions of dollars, countless man hours, and perhaps even some satanic magic, I am happy to inform every one that is reading this that there are now new emoji.

Yeah, that’s right, you can now send a taco emoji. Although my new personal favorite would have to be this next one.

We’ve got ourselves a middle finger emoji. Hello game changer!!!! At the end of the day I know that this is going to change very little in the world, although I have a feeling the flipping the bird emoji is going to quickly make its way to my top emoji’s tab, but it’s still fun. I’m also reasonably certain that there are a fair number of people who do consider this a big deal so……now you have something to talk to them about. I recommend looking for them in your local Starbucks.

Thanks so much for reading reading guys. As always you can subscribe via the right side drop down menu. You can also follow the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter. I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Enjoy the start of your weekend and be sure to come back here tomorrow for Game Grind, I have a feeling I’ll be getting emotional in the next one.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Labor Day BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! Yeah, that’s right. I make posts on Labor Day, take that establishment. This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the place where all things regarding anime and manga are discussed.

Today I’m going to be talking about franchises. While manga and western comics follow roughly the same production and consumption model, anime and western television do not (although, I suppose a lot of what I’m about to say applies to the movie industry as well). Most anime is based on some other preexisting intellectual property, usually a manga or a light novel (basically a hybrid between a comic and a novel). This is why most anime have a generally shorter run of about twelve episodes or so; they get caught up with the source material. This is why Attack on Titan has not gotten a second season yet. If a series is popular enough, the animation studio may choose to continue the series, but have it go in a different direction than the source material. This is usually met with mixed success at best. A lot of people loved the original Full Metal Alchemist anime that broke away from the manga after a season, but Dragon Ball (Giant Turd) GT is universally panned.

This brings me to the main point of this piece, it seems to me that once an anime becomes popular enough, whoever owns the rights to it are going to milk it until it is bad. Dragon Ball (Giant Turd) GT is the primary example of a beloved creative product being turned into a cash grab, but I can think of others as well. The Naruto manga series just concluded this year and the anime will be wrapping up shortly. However, various spin off manga and a movie about Naruto’s son has already been announced. The Gundam anime, the one with people fighting each other using giant robots, has been spun-off and rebooted more times than what I am able to keep track of.

I understand why this is happening and I cannot really fault anyone for it, I’m just not happy with it. The reason this is happening is the same reason why Joey got his own show after Friends ended, people want to make money and it is easier to market something that people are already familiar with. This dastardly phenomenon is just more noticeable in the anime industry because it has fewer extremely successful, long running titles.

I would just say that the anime industry needs to stop milking IP’s past their prime and create new content, but the industry creates dozens of new shows several times a year. It is also hard to expect them to be extremely creative, when the pressure is already on them to make the animation as pristine as possible, for the lowest possible cost. Actually, there seems to be a lot wrong with the anime industry, but I think I’ll save those as topics for later posts.

Thanks for reading this guys. I think I mentioned a lot of open-ended, thought provoking stuff, so put your thoughts and feelings in the comments section down below and, while you’re down there, clickity, clack that like button. You could also like the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on twitter, and subscribe to this blog via the right side drop down menu. Have fun cooking out on this beautiful Labor Day.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Sunday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Politics, Politalks, the segment where I write about whatever political topic happens to be on my mind. Once again, any and all views I express here are entirely my own and should in no way be thought of as a representation of any other party.

I think I’m going to try to keep things a little lighter today. I need a break from writing about things that are plaguing our society. On that note, I just got done with my first week of classes at the beautiful University of Wisconsin Madison.

So far I really like being back at school. All of my classes seem really interesting, I dig my new apartment, and the campus is as bustling as ever. The student body and its proximity to the capitol are actually some of the main reasons as to why I decided to attend UW Madison. This is a very liberal and politically involved city, which is great for me as I am a very politically involved, liberal guy. However, even I think that some activists are taking it too far.

For example, when I was hanging up some fliers for BaddaBing BaddaBlog (you gotta love free advertising) I noticed a poster for a feminist bake sale. It was advertising that men pay a dollar for a cupcake, while women only have to pay fifty cents for a baked good. I do not know if this was a genuine advertisement or if it was a joke. If it was sarcasm or satire, fantastic, that’s actually genuinely funny and thought provoking. However, if this was a real event, it becomes funny in a different, much darker way. I know whoever ran this bake sale probably is a good person who is trying to fight for equality, but the way they are going about it is doing as much harm as good by alienating broad demographics and unintentionally coming off as extremists.

Another example of politic activism gone wrong is the story of an ecology student being beaten up by his classmates for using a plastic water bottle instead of a reusable one. The students who committed the act of violence believed that they were justified and that they were protecting the environment, while the student who had the water bottle was probably just thirsty. Again, I can see what the activists were trying to do here, but I wholeheartedly disagree with their methods.

The point I’m trying to make here is that it is okay to feel passionately about something. We need people in the world who fight tooth and nail to try to change things for the better. I believe that they shouldn’t be a dick about it though. I understand that sometimes to get things done you have to be a hard-ass, but by going to extremes against people who are not the core perpetrates of the problem, some activists are making their entire cause look bad. In short, be passionate, but also be polite.

Thanks for reading guys. Please give this post a like, a comment, and subscribe via the right side tab. You can also like and follow the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or follow me on Twitter. My handle is @LucasDeRuyter. I’ll see you guys tomorrow for the next installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Saturday everyone! This is BaddaBing BaddaBlog’s Game Grind, the place where we talk about the ins and outs of the gaming industry and how they affect you. Well, usually this article is about that, but today it’s not. Why, you ask? BECAUSE METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN!!! That’s why. I am about 10 hours into the game and here are some of my thoughts on Kojima’s latest work. Bear in mind that I am a Metal Gear fanboy and therefore, my view is a bit biased.

This game is a masterpiece. It looks amazing, sounds amazing, and is incredibly fun to play. It takes the stealth action genre of video games to a whole new level by giving players an unprecedented amount of freedom. Any of the games objectives or missions can be completed in whatever fashion the player finds most comfortable. I would go into detail describing the various was to play this game, but I cannot because it really does seem like there is a boundless amount of freedom and player choice.

The story of the game is as complex and over the top as any Metal Gear Solid game, but this time it presents the narrative in a way that allows new players to hop onto the game while knowing little to nothing about the previous titles. The Phantom Pain presents most of its story through cassette tapes, which players do not necessarily have to listen to. As I said earlier, I have yet to beat the game so I cannot really give a valid opinion or summary of the games narrative, but so far I’m digging it.

A large side portion of MGS V is rebuilding your main base of operations, Mother Base. This is basically a toned down version of sim city or roller coaster tycoon, but just like those games it is addicting as hell. You can even build a zoo and fill it with animals you Fulton out of the battle field! Oh yeah, the main way you get more troops to expand your base is by knocking out or stunning enemies, strapping a giant balloon, or Fulton, to them, and then brainwashing them to work for you. The Fulton is essentially a pokeball for for people, sometimes animals, but mostly people.

One of my favorite moments of the game so far was when I stumbled upon a bear in the middle of a mission. I shot it with a clip worth of tranquilizers and, after nearly mauling me to death, the beast fell asleep. I then strapped a balloon to its foot and watched it fly away into the knight sky and eventually be picked up by my buddies in a helicopter. I also really like any of the parts that involved Diamond Dog. You can extract a puppy out of the battlefield in this game, watch it slowly grow into a dog, and then take him on missions with you. That process was both stupid adorable and badass. I also enjoyed the boss battle against the sniper, Quiet. I’ve yet to get to the part where she can join me in combat, but I eagerly await that moment.

Know it is time for some criticisms. While I have said that this game is a masterpiece and that it has been receiving perfect scores from multiple reviewers, that does not mean that it does not have a couple faults. Video games are art, and, just like in art, perfection is impossible. My first criticism of The Phantom Pain is that its menus are sometimes clunky and hard to navigate. Another issue I have with the game is that it seems like the female sniper, Quiet, is the only major female character in the game. The game’s setting does favor having more male characters, but this is still kind of disappointing. There are also many people who have found fault with Quiet’s overly sexual appearance, but I personally do not have much of a problem with it. The Metal Gear series has a history of sexualizing both male and female characters. In one of the games the main male character literally runs around naked for half an hour. I would also argue that the Metal Gear series does a good job portraying women with some form of femininity or another and making them strong female characters. To me this shows that women can both be feminine and badass.

In conclusion, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a masterpiece and you should go play it. Seriously, stop reading this and go and buy it. This game is as good as what people are saying and better. It is truly a masterpiece and will undoubtedly define this generation of gaming.

Aaaaaand after you’re done buying this game, come back here and like this post and leave a comment. You can also subscribe to this blog via the right side tab. You can also head over to the BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or maybe follow me on Twitter, I’m @LucasDeRuyter. Have a great weekend guys, I know I will.

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