Hardcore Gaming 101 ongoing aritcle discussion thread

[flojocabron]

In case you've been living under a rock (or a 56k modem), theres this awesome site called http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/index.html.

There you can find lots of in depth reviews and games that you may not have heard of before. Seeing stuff there makes you want to track down a copy! There is lots of content to keep you busy for hours!

So if you like an page from there, disagree with an article, or just want to have us racketeers to discuss a certain topic from there, feel free to post it here!

I'm gonna start with this one:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/parasiteeve/parasiteeve.htm

This is one of the first PS1 RPGs that I ever beat! Its an awesome game and seeing the article makes me want to play it again. Its interesting how the author compares this game to squares other late 90's powerhouse title.

I cant wait for the PE2 article!

[dsheinem]

I love HG101, but it seems weird to use a forum here to talk about articles there when they have their own forum to do just that...

[Erik_Twice]

This way we don't need to registrate and go to another forum.


Have to say that they make Parasite Eve look fun to me and it's a RPG! That's always good I guess

[retrosportsgamer]

They have some great shmup articles - particularly iOS guides that talk about multiple games.

[Gamerforlife]

I actually would like to see discussion here about some of their articles, just to get racketboy members' thoughts on them. It's really one of the very few gaming sites really worth talking about. I don't always agree with the opinions expressed in their articles though. I always find it funny when someone over there takes the time to write this huge article, just to say that a game kind of sucks. There are certainly games that I am unimpressed by or hate, but I don't think I have the kind of energy to spend that much time thinking and writing about something I don't enjoy

One thing I like about that site, is that their articles are picture heavy. Reminds me of old days looking at gaming magazines. I also like that they are thorough enough to examine ports and regional variations, more than you get from lazy journalists on more mainstream sites who put up articles that look like they were whipped up in five minutes.

[AppleQueso]

It's a cool site for sure, I just love going there and reading random articles.

One thing I've never cared much for is how they insist as a rule on posting all game screenshots in their 'native' res, regardless of whether the hardware the particular game in question is running on actually uses square pixels or not.

SNES is not supposed to be narrow and squished looking, and CPS2 games are not supposed to look all wide and stretched out. I feel that these screenshots should at least be ran through a good image editor and put in a 4:3 aspect ratio (or whatever aspect ratio the hardware is supposed to run at). Gives you a much better idea of what these games are supposed to look like.

[Gamerforlife]

They just put up a rather good article on Folklore. Echoes most of my feelings about the game, good and bad. I never did find the motivation to finish that game. Touches a bit on the current state of the Japanese gaming industry too

[Erik_Twice]

Ok, let's expand on this.


Hardcore Gaming 101 is one of the very few videogame websites worth reading. Other than some blogs and this very forum it's the only place I visit regularly. That is no small feat.

Sure the writing is rough and the editing inconsistent, but it's all written by people who don't even consider Gunstar Heroes a hidden gem because they have already played everything less known that it. These guys know practically everything about games, they are real experts and even if it's poorly explained you know they understand why a game is good or bad better than anyone else.

Some people think that many articles focus on just good or mediocre games and that it makes the site bad. But HG101 isn't trying to compile a list of "classics". They do it for love, because they like games and they don't need to prove anything, they just like reading about those unknown interesting games, they don't really care about the awesomeness of Megaman and Contra because everyone knows how good those games already are.

And that's what makes the site fun to read. I don't particularly care about many of the games posted but reading about them is interesting on their own right and I always learn something.

Really, really cool site.


The podcasts are also really cool. I mean, where else are you going to listen to a four hour radio show about the SMS. And it's all good stuff! Their Game Club 199X podcasts are also really interesting to listen to because it's not just criticism but also just talking about how you play the game itself, and a bit of history.

[BoneSnapDeez]

LOVE the site.

I post on the HG101 forums too, though they're not as active as those here on RacketBoy.

I also pitched an article to HG101, which I am currently writing. This stuff ain't easy, mad props to the dudes who crank out those articles on a regular basis.

[noiseredux]

HG101 is easily my favorite site for articles. But I'm not sure why we woudln't just discuss in the VG article dump thread.

Also... I can guarantee a Contra article will grace the site in the near-ish future. Read a little closer yo.