For the Parents

Why Aegis Reviews?

     I'm an employee of a game retail outlet and everyday I hear parents tell their kids they're not allowed to play whatever game is in question just because they don't really understand what the ESRB states is in the game or even try to see what might be in the game their child wants. A lot of parents I talk to tend to think that "Partial Nudity" means sexual encounters in a game. Some parents just look at the cover of a game and come to the conclusion that there's no benefit to playing a game that looks extremely violent when it's not.

     Sometimes the news makes a goal to scare the public when there's nothing to be frightened of. The last incident I can recall was when a kid was bought an xbox for Christmas along with a copy of Halo 3. He got really into it and started playing it night and day. He wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't go to school, he'd just play and play. The parents didn't know how to handle the situation so they took the Xbox away. The kid rebelled and ran away from home. They didn't hear from him for days and ended up finding their child dead. And it's at that point in the story that the news shows how harmful videogames are to society.

     Another example is when Grand Theft Auto 4 was released. Gaming isn't just for kids and this is a good example of it. It's an "M" rated game which means it's for a mature audience which the ESRB feels are kids that are the age of 17 and up. KIDS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY THIS GAME. It holds a lot of mature themes; strippers, dating, assassinations, crime. For an older audience, this is a rather deep game story-wise where it shows a man who's done many bad deeds in his life and he's trying to get away from trouble and be a better person. Unfortunately, he's forced into many situations he doesn't want to be in, and so on and so forth. The news said that you're rewarded points for smashing hookers into rocks and that the more you kill, the more you're rewarded with. They also stated that this game shows kids how to drive drunk. All in all, The news has stated from every angle that this game will turn your child into a cold killer.

     Now, I am not a parent. I do not have a degree in Psychology, I am not a doctor, but I can't sit back anymore and let these horror stories ruin the image of my hobby. There have been countless studies on the effects of videogames on children. None of them have conclusive evidence that videogames have either a good or bad result in the long run. The reason being because not everyone is a copy of someone else. Believe it or not, it depends on how we're raised and what ideas we're introduced to which leads us to be different than one another. And because we're all different, it's impossible for videogames to affect us in only one way.

     Was it really the Xbox's fault a kid ran away from home leading to a terrible fate? I personally don't think so. It was a terrible case and there are some cases much worse. There are, however, more factors to these situations. Was the child mentally stable, how much were the parents involved in that child's life, how was that child brought up, did he or she grow up in a positive environment? Most of the time, there's more than just one thing to blame. From my experience, people I've conversed with, and the way I was brought up, sometimes all you need to do is just check in with your kid, making sure that what they're doing is something you approve of. If it is, let them know. And if you don't approve, put down some rules. If those rules aren't followed, it's punishment time. Your Xbox, Playstation, DS, PSP, no videogame system is a babysitter and should never be used as one. Videogames exist for entertainment purposes and are occasionally used for education. Now, even some consoles have parental settings. You can set what games they can play based on ESRB rating, you can set how long they're allowed to play per day, there are a good number of ways to help you, as a parent, to supervise what your kids do on their system.

     Now, about GTA4 (Grand Theft Auto 4). A VERY large group of people actually believe what the news states about this game. People don't even realize that the people reporting about it have never even played the game, let alone even ever TOUCHING a controller. In GTA4, choices are given to you. As the player, you can do whatever your imagination allows within the guidelines of that game. There is no "score" or "points" in the overall game of Grand Theft Auto. GTA4 never encourages ramming a hooker against a rock for points. You can do it if you want, but you'd only do it because you thought to do so. And if you do, have fun while you can because a TON of police are going to be trying to take you down and put you in jail. You can try to lose the cops but then you're "Wanted Rating" will climb higher, especially if you kill people in your getaway attempt, which leads to it being harder to get away and stay alive.

     GTA allows you to drive drunk. If you do, the cops will pull you over because it's more than likely you're going to hit another car or swerve into some other object. When you are drunk, you'll most likely have a friend of your character with you encouraging you to NOT drive drunk and to call a cab to get home. The game does not reward you for driving drunk, it does not simulate real drunk driving, you can only do it because the developers of the game did not want to restrict your imagination. They wanted to create a world that encourages you to try things you would never do in real life since in the real world, there are so many heavy consequences for some of these acts. Most of what the news has reported on concerning that game, and many other games as well, has been based on complete farces coming from people that have never played a single game in their life.

     Videogames have been devices for great stories, stimulating entertainment and a fun way to learn new things. I finally got around to building this site because I want to help parents become more informed in this section of life because videogames are a constantly growing trend and it's more than likely here to stay. I want to help you understand that videogames are not evil, they're not focused on making your kids into hoodlums. They're primary goal is to entertain, give you an experience you could never have in real life, challenge your mind, and offer a brief moment of escapism. Try thinking of games having more in common with movies. Would you let them see the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an R rated movie? If not, you probably shouldn't let them play Dead Space, a M rated game. Base what your kid plays on how mature you think they are. Sometimes it's the more mature games that hold a greater sense of morals and really teaches the difference between right and wrong and that could be an invaluable lesson that your child keeps with them for life.

     I don't have too much more to say than just a couple things I couldn't get to in my little soapbox speech. Some games that are rated M are now coming out with features that disable gore and expletives. Fat Princess is a game on the PSN that has a very kiddy look to it but is pretty gratuitous with blood and gore. There is however a feature to turn that mature stuff off. Then, when you defeat another player, candy confetti comes out of them instead of blood and body parts. Not only is it less violent, it's actually a lot more funny.

     On this site I want to inform you on everything an experienced gamer knows, which is a whole LOT more than the news, the esrb, or the box of a game can tell you. I want to help you learn about the console you have in your home. Kids are tricky and they can easily lie to you about something you know nothing about. I'm sure some of you have wanted to restrict game time only for their kid to taunt that there isn't any way to do that, or some other similar issue. Just come here for information and if you have any questions about something that isn't on the site, just contact us and we'll answer you directly. If we get a lot of the same questions, we'll just post the answers on the site so EVERYONE knows. I hope you guys get a lot out of this site and I hope you enjoy being knowledgeable about something that may be very foreign to you. Good luck everybody!

Ashton
Site Moderator, Reviewer

Who Are You?

This is the gamer bio for, your host of Aegis Reviews, Ashton Adams:
XBL - Aegis Ornus
PSN - AegisEverto

Favorite Games - Devil May Cry series, Okami, Psychonauts, WET, Fallout 3, Street Fighter series, Final Fantasy 8 and 12, Vectorman, Prince of Persia and the Prince of Persia Trilogy, Metal Gear series, Sonic 2, Braid, ALL of the Oddworld series, Mischief Makers, Bionic Commando (Rearmed and the next-gen reboot), Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Bioshock, No More Heroes... This list could go on for a bit....

Favorite TV shows - Dexter, Rurouni Kenshin, Lost, Gungrave (I like those games too...), Outlaw Star, The Legend of the Seeker, Buffy, Angel, Castle, Firefly, Gankutsuou, Clannad, Soul Eater, Dollhouse, Jericho, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, I think now's a good place to stop...

Favorite Movies - Mr. Foe, Cashback, White Noise, Shoot'em Up, Sin City, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Children of Men, 300, Letters from Iwo Jima, No Country for Old Men, Unforgiven, Seven Pounds, The Air I Breathe, Baraka, Crows: Episode Zero.

Favorite Books - Illusion's: Messages From A Reluctant Messiah, The Dream Weaver, Interworlds, The Phantom Toll Booth, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Favorite Bands - Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Gomez, Modest Mouse, The Pillows, Hypnophonics, Cave In, Queens Of The Stone Age, School Food Punishment, Them Crooked Vultures, Yoko Kanno.

Life Background - I've been in CA my whole life. I'm an only child to a single mother. I've been gaming a long time and I'm damn proud of it. I've always been a really sick kid and I actually never made it to school all that much. I ended up taking the California High School Proficiency Exam in the middle of the 10th grade so that I could move on to college and stop dealing with the public school system. Whenever I wasn't playing videogames, I was normally watching anime and listening deeply to my music collection. My games, anime, and music actually cultivated me into a pacifist. I always look for verbal solutions before physical ones. That is, unless I'm playing games, then you bet I'm gonna give you a beating.
     I am, however, not a stereotypical guy's guy. I'm pretty shy, quirky, physically weak, I always seek out a more personal relationship with people. I believe I can talk out my problems rather than scream and storm off, and I'm not very fond of people that feel they need to brag about every little detail. Most of those people I tend to run into in racing and fighting games. I'll always be real quiet, making me the target of harassment, and they'll tell me how good they are and how I'll never surpass their achievements. Then I beat them over and over and before you know it, they're praising me and warning everyone else that I'm the real deal. I know that would make me the braggart in this situation but come on, at least I'm not a scrub and I don't rub my "skills" in your face 24/7.
     Growing up, I've always tried to help other people. I was the one helping all sorts of kids with their problems. Lots of girls came to me with relationship problems, guys came to me with depression. Somehow I became this go-to guy when it came to personal problems. It did open up a lot of doors for me though and I essentially fit into every social circle in high school because of what I did for others. I figured since I was helping people so much, I would want to go into Psychology. Then I remembered how much I suck at science and math. I have a very interesting sense of logic that works and makes sense for me and no one else which leads to confusion when I try to understand the logic of numbers. I like writing a lot so I'm going for my English major. I want to be a gaming journalist, a novelist or an English teacher. I figure I can still be lots of help to people in any of those areas and utilize my knowledge and experience with games at the same time.
     I'm not a good out-of-the-box thinker. I work better with known limits. Tell me what I got to work with and I'll use it in an efficient manner.

Gaming Background - I've been gaming almost since birth. My cousin, who was living with me around the age of 2, had purchased a SNES and was in love with it. I remember sitting and watching her play it and being in awe of all the colors and fun music (I'd be referring to Super Mario World, of course). She finally got me involved by sitting me in her lap and putting my hands around the controller. Not much later, I was playing on my own and my experiences with gaming have been growing ever since.
     I still own the majority of all the systems I've bought which range from the days of the NES to the entire line-up of the current generation. My favorite console so far has been the Sega Dreamcast. Sega was always really ahead of it's time when it came to consoles but unfortunately their marketing and timing was never the best... Sadly, now they're only a shadow of their former self... Unless they want to maybe revive Shenmue 3, make a next-gen Vectorman, Online Powerstone, and then sweeten the deal with another Jet Set Radio.... Please?
     Growing up, I played a lot of games. I normally played every game available at whatever Blockbuster or Hollywood Video was around. The games that I was always addicted to though were the ones that kicked my butt i.e. Abe's Oddysee, Megaman, Street Fighter 2, Starfox64. I played those games until I was the only one I knew that could do it better than anyone else.

So What Games "Float Your Boat"? - I tend to like all types of genres but let's try to boil it down.
     Games with difficult mechanics. I think I first realized it when I played Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. This was before Special Edition, when it was kickin' butt and taking names. I learned how to mash buttons so fast from that game that my arm was constantly popping from the tension and speed. And, no, I don't mash with my thumb, I don't have that kind of coordination. I have a method that uses my whole arm. What's the difference? I'm building muscle and making myself susceptible to arthritis and you're not... But I digress. I love games that kick my butt, but let's be more specific - I like games that lead me to blame myself for sucking at the game rather than the game being so difficult, the enemies cheat just to be harder. So games that I enjoy for their difficulty and mechanics: Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bionic Commando, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe.... Okay, let's just sum it up and say mostly Capcom titles.
     Games that have GREAT story and characters. Bioshock was exploding with twists and immersion making me always want to play just to see what happens next. Silent Hill 2 had such a deep, psychological story, I discuss it with people who don't even play videogames. Prince of Persia made me weep and it really offered a great story between two strangers with ongoing dialogue that never ceased to entertain. I'm normally very empathetic so I really get into games with deep characters that can offer something outside of gameplay. When a game makes me think outside the box with it's story is another thing I love. One example would be Metal Gear Solid 2. It was so philosophical with really large twists. I played it many times over just to hear the dialogue and plot, picking up new parts of the story and even ideals and morals I could place into the real world. So sometimes I can almost completely overlook the gameplay if the game's got a great story to tell. I think you'll get a better idea of what I mean when you read my reviews.

     I do encourage people to request what they want to see reviewed. I'm running off of gamefly currently so I can get a few of the newer games but I'll be putting in some reviews on older titles relating to what's coming out i.e. Yakuza since Yakuza 3 is almost here and Yakuza 4 is on it's way over in japan. And I'm sure I'll just put out reviews of whatever I got and I do have a lot. But we'll keep the site rolling, we'll see what keeps, what doesn't. Let's hope for the best!

Ashton

Welcome to the site!

     Hello, and welcome to Aegis Reviews. My name's Ashton Adams and for the time being, I'll be the sole contributor to the site. Before I let you know about me, let's talk about the site's ambitious goals.

     As gamers, we're really tired of the news butchering our favored hobby. When Grand Theft Auto 4 was released, not only was there LOTS of excitement among the gaming community, there were even more groans as we all watched every news network talking about how it trains your children to be killers and encourages irresponsible or violent behavior.

     I tend to also think that most of us are having trouble with reviews now-a-days. There are a couple of fears or problems that seem common; Game reviews don't really help parents find out what kind of content is really in the game. They also don't tell you if it's worth all the cash you'd be shelling out for it. And then there's the fear that's been growing in gamers as of late that is if our favorite review companies are being paid off for better review scores on games.

Here's why Aegis Reviews exists:

Parents

• There are plenty of ways now to advise what games your children are playing and also how long. I have a job at a gaming retail outlet and I'm shocked at how many parents don't take the time to know about what they're getting their kids and how to control it. Games are really moving in as an entertainment staple, it's likely they'll never go away. Now, I know that there isn't enough time in the day to supervise EVERYTHING your kids are doing but that's part of what this site is for. We're going to take all of your problems and make them easier to deal with helping you be the best parent you can be when it comes to your kid's gaming hobby.

• Do you want to know what "Suggestive Themes" or "Partial Nudity" means on the ESRB ratings? Did you know they don't mean the same thing for every game? Sometimes words aren't enough or words can't describe as well as pictures and videos. We'll have those here for you. You don't have to search, you don't have to think about the stress of looking around the vast internet. Just come here, it'll be there just for you. And if you don't find what you're looking for, all it takes is an email - "I heard there was a lot of violence, blood, skimpy outfits, etc. in this game but I don't see anything about it on your site." - Since this is important to you, we'll do our best to research it and put it on the site. Right now, since I'm the only one contributing to the site, I'll get to the ones that are more in demand. Otherwise, it's first come, first served.

• We'll also have guides on how to set your parental controls on systems that you own. These controls include how long your child is allowed to play, what game ratings they're allowed to play, how they can access online gameplay and more.

My Fellow Gamers

• We want you to have good reviews to look at. When I go to gaming sites, there are a lot of reviews I tend to disagree with. We're also tired of the numerical scores, aren't you? Don't you just want to know if the game is fun, or an experience to remember and if you should buy it? That's what we want to do. We want to play the game, tell you how everything came together within that game,what overlasting experience we walked away with, and if it's worth your money because, let's face it, this is an expensive hobby.

• When I look at reviews, I want to know if I'd like it, not if the person reviewing it liked it. For me, nothing sucks more when I want to know how great Ninja Gaiden is only to find out that the person playing it hates that kind of genre and thus gave it a lower score or they just didn't understand the content so it didn't score as high as it could. The goal right now is to get a good number of gamers with different gaming backgrounds with a biography for you to read on each gamer. We want you to look at the bios, find someone who games like you and read THEIR reviews. And if they haven't reviewed that game, you can email for an opinion from your favorite reviewer guaranteeing you always get an opinion from the one gamer you trust.
  

• Something else that's been going on is gaming companies are giving money and the right to post an early review to reviewers who give it a higher score so it scores better. How do you know who you can trust? Trust US! We're doing this for YOU! For FREE! Use it! Be a part of it! Start spending money on games you know you'll love and enjoy for a long time instead of spending money on a game you'll play once and put away.

•  Now, let's get this straight, we might end up adding this somewhere down the road but we have no current plans to make guides or walkthroughs. But hey, we all get stuck. I'm sure we can add parts at the end of reviews for tips on how to get past general difficult parts of games. We'll see...

  Alright, now that you know about the site, the next few posts will be a message to parents, directions on how to get through your system's interface (for parents), and a bio on myself. Which one comes first, we'll wait and see. Thanks for taking time to read our goals and we hope that you'll use Aegis Reviews as your hub to see what's worth your money and what's best for your kids. See you soon.

Ashton