Kaz

Remember Knight Rider? I do.

Did you see NBC’s remake? I did.

Did you cry too? I sure as hell did.

Here’s the Knight Rider I remember:

Look at that sexy beast! So handsome, so timeless. And look at Hasselhoff too, not too shabby. But a Trans Am like KITT could do so much better. That car was (at the time) a sleek and powerful muscle car, the symbol of American motoring, it might just be one of the most recognizable cars in history.

So what does NBC bring to the table?

Lemme highlight some problem areas…

1 - Did somebody ask for KITT to have a big spoiler? Was it really necessary to “pimp” the car out? Why did somebody pop rivet, not one, but TWO GODDAMN SPOILERS to this poor car? Worst mullet ever: American muscle in the front, 20 dollar Japanese street spoiler in the back…

2 - A Cobra? Really? They show this symbol roughly 10 million times in the show to hammer home the marketing message from Ford. As if the fact that every car in the show being a Ford wouldn’t get the point across.

3 - Not sweet 80’s robotic headlights? UNACCEPTABLE.

4 - Apparently the same douche that thought two spoilers was better thought that two scanners would be better too. KITT needs depth perception ya’ know.

5 - When KITT talks in the new Knight Ryder, the voice that comes out is that of Val Kilmer. Which is a travesty when you realize the old voice actor was William Daniels, of Mr. Feeney fame (actually other stuff but I don’t care, screw St. Elsewhere).

Ultimately, my disappointment stems from the fact that a more appropriate car wasn’t chosen. The point of KITT is to be a sleek sports car, fast looking and sexy. While the redesigned Ford Mustang looks really great I don’t think it fits the bill as an appropriate KITT. Which car would fit the bill?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe…

…this car?!?! Painted black of course. Wait.

Better. Much better.

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I’ll make it even more clear when we record this week’s show, but in case you don’t listen in: I’m totally into Sins of a Solar Empire.

Images courtesy of NeoGAF

Make certain you click on all the pictures to get the full resolution size, without doing so you lose some of the immense scope you can see in each screenshot. In fact, this is the only game I can think of in recent memory that has actually merits the phrase “immense scope”. Perhaps “overwhelming scope” is more appropriate.

I’ve nearly finished my first game; a game I will ultimately lose to the computer. I have a good excuse for my loss: I still don’t know what I’m doing. Yes, even on the easiest map with the easiest settings and spending 2 hours playing I feel I’m no closer to understanding any one single aspect of the game.

That’s a good thing by the way.

I’m enormously happy that there is a game out there that is unafraid of being so complex as to be daunting. And somehow the game is getting rewarded for it. It was reported on the game’s forums that Gamestop has sold out of the first production run and order a resupply. Which means good things for this game, in spite of insurmountable odds.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

1. Gamestop barely moves PC games, to sell out Sins is a great accomplishment for the game.
2. I don’t think the game has gotten nearly enough press and I don’t think you’ll see common gaming sources (1up, IGN, Joystiq, Kotaku…) talk about the game for a while.
3. This game deserves all of this success, the developers have already started adding content to the game and it’s only been out for 6 days.
4. The game is not pushing the graphical boundaries, in fact, it runs quite well on older hardware (I’m gonna try installing it on the Athlon 2000 I have in the studio) and should enjoy larger success.
5. It’s a thinkin’ game, people hate thinkin’ games nowadays.

Here lemme blow your mind some more:

More to come this week on The Rumble Pack…

Edit: More mind blowing awesomeness, keep in mind, all these pics are of combat alone. The combat is the simple part of the game, econmy and culture is the complex part.

Holy sheet…

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Regardless of anyone says, apparently spring is no longer a dull time for gaming:

• January - Burnout: Paradise
• February - Devil May Cry 4 (2/5), Lost Odyssey (2/12)?
• March - Smash Bros. Brawl (3/9)
• April - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (4/17), Grand Theft Auto (4/29)
• May - Too Human (apparently first week of May, poor game, gonna get crushed by GTAIV)

I’m gonna have one, if not two, games to play at all times this spring. Making me a happy person.

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