Blogger Archive: slackur 
Like other collectors on this site, I'm blessed in that years ago I bought, and kept, many video games that have risen in value over the years. Over time I've seen games for classic systems such as the NES, SNES, and Saturn go from a couple of bucks at most to several hundred dollars in value. My original Panzer Dragoon Saga was bought new at EB for $20; most of us have similar stories.
The flip side, naturally, is that I regret not tracking down Radical Rex for Sega CD before it became a $200+ CIB item. While I don't have much desire to play a decidedly average platformer (and one that I already have on two other systems beside) that does mean that grabbing the last few titles to make a complete Sega CD library is cost-prohibitive. It's easier to justify saving up or trading for that rare gem of a game that you love or always wanted to play, even more so if it's one of the last games for a collection. But few can deny that the mystique surrounding Stadium Events is because of its unavailability and not its gameplay; otherwise World Class Track Meet would be on more lists for top ten NES favorites. All this is restating the obvious, but things get interesting with the modern state of retro gaming and the economics of both our industry and the world at large.
Video games have proliferated our culture from both financial spectrums: the top down (expensive new consoles) to the bottom up (free mobile and browser games) so that the industry is enjoying a new ubiquity. Early eras were mostly coined by a single system, and to say you played video games meant you played Atari, or later the NES. As the market and competition grew, so did the visibility of an entire spectrum of available game machines. While there have always been extreme fanboys for respective systems and companies, most of the time the playing field was close enough that to be a 'gamer' meant pretty much the same thing to everyone.
What started as 'console wars' has now grown into such a diversified stratification that various sub-groups have no connection to each other. New terms such as 'casual' and 'hardcore' have become classifications that are coined to distinguish video game playing habits, and these camps are sometimes vehemently exclusive in nature. I've heard a 25-hour-a-week World of Warcraft player say she wasn't a 'gamer', and friend who has a phone loaded with Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, and a dozen others (that I see her play often) claim that she doesn't play video games. In the similar vein, I've witnessed devoted Call of Duty and Madden players completely dismiss any Nintendo console as worthless, as well as many a retro gamer completely disregard any system or game after the PS2 era as having nothing to play.
It is within this diverse stratification that we retro game collectors find ourselves in a new, interesting territory. Since the hobby began, there has been, and always will be, worthwhile video game experiences that are locked behind prohibitive barriers of price and availability. That's just the nature of the beast in any luxury entertainment industry. But imagine Citizen Kane or Star Wars, two inarguably important cultural movies, being largely unavailable to the public. Perhaps they are only available on an old film stock and require aged technology that is incompatible with current displays, or they are available on modern media but are limited to a few thousand copies and are therefore incredibly expensive. What if countless movies of worth are completely unavailable to most people who would desire to experience them, even willing to pay reasonable amounts for them, but can't afford the huge expenses necessary to purchase what would ordinarily be reasonably priced and available?
Of course this is already true for movies. Some folks like myself still await non-bootleg versions of Song of the South, Captain EO, and Let It Be to see release. (If you haven't, check out Hugo. Excellent movie that gives a real glimpse of what's already been lost.) There are an untold number of movies that have, for various reasons, never become available to the modern public.
When it comes to video games, arguably the most technology-driven entertainment industry, we are perhaps most susceptible to more and more games becoming completely unavailable over time. As has been noted, the rise of digital-only distribution and server-based software puts virtual timers on a game's later availability, and therefore its ultimate ability to impact and influence, or at least entertain.
For retro collectors, this issue has become one of economics as well. The resurgence of interest and popularity of retro video games, including originals and new games mimicking older art, music, and gameplay styles, has refreshed a market once known for offering countless titles for next to nothing at any yard sale or flea market. Many of us collectors remember the days of buying an Atari, NES, SNES, and almost any other game system with a box of games and accessories for a couple of bucks any given summer. Now that retro video games are a big market, the corollary is that these bargain finds have mostly dried up, giving way to eBay and Craigslist selling for hundreds what once went for pennies.
Not that this is surprising or even necessarily unfortunate. However, as the years go by more and more great games are becoming cost-prohibitive to gamers who would otherwise pay 'reasonable' money for sought-after games. If you're reading this far into the article, you likely know many of the names: Earthbound, the aforementioned Panzer Dragoon Saga, Little Samson, Metal Warriors, M.U.S.H.A., Master of Monsters, Lucienne's Quest, Magical Chase, Beyond Shadowgate, and the list goes on and on. More and more uncommon games such as Hagane have gone from cheap obscurities to valuable collectables, and prices on rarer games such as Snow Bros. and Aero Fighters have doubled or tripled in only a few years. Sometimes these are temporary spikes, but often the prices level out higher and higher. There are many factors to account for this, including mentions on popular sites like the Angry Video Game Nerd and Racketboy, and the adjusted prices of normal inflation. And naturally, as the years go by and more people develop interest in retro video games, the laws of supply and demand mean fewer games going for higher prices across a larger pool of people.
What this has done and will continue to do is price more and more retro video games out of the availability to the average-income video game player, collector or not. As they age, video games naturally become more difficult to find as retailers replace them with newer titles and systems. Since most consoles are not backwards compatible, even the availability to play retro video games is slowly diminishing. Digital rereleases and newer streaming models such as PlayStation Now will help, but only temporarily, due to their own inherent ethereal design.
Whereas a board game can be rebuilt and replicated, and movies are mostly transferred to newer media, the pool of older video games are becoming smaller, generally pricier, and overall less available. In another decade or two, prices on even common pre-PlayStation era games may be inconsistently priced next to their modern brethren. Certainly today, it is cheaper for me to pick up a full-priced modern game rather than any of the hundreds of retro video games on my to-complete-this-system-library-list. To collect the bulk of Atari, NES, and SNES games in any given region has always been a crazy task, but most games were more readily available for cheaper prices only a few years ago. It has been many a collector's lament, myself included, to have not picked up more when it was available for cheaper.
There are plenty of exceptions, such as the myriad Namco and Midway Collections, and a new trend as of late for HD rereleases like Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and Kingdom Hearts. On a rare occasion, older games get a new lease on life such as the recent rerelease of the SNES oddity Super Noah's Ark 3D. But the vast majority of video games are going the way of the early decades of the film industry and the first few thousand years of musical development, disappearing forever.
While I certainly find all of this more than a bit sad, it is of course the natural progression of entertainment culture. Even with our ability to record and store our media with greater permanence than ever before, the scope and practicality of completely preserving our forms of entertainment and artistic expression is beyond our means. But the desire to preserve and maintain is not at the expense of advancement and growth. It is to cherish, reflect, and learn from the past. Students of history tend to know more of the future than those over-focused on the present. Like all media of its time, video games are a reflection of where culture is in technology, morals, ethics, thought, expression, language, and change. They are a unique, interactive snapshot of their time. There is genuine worth in keeping this stuff around!
This is why I enjoy being part of the RFGeneration community. We keep the flames of video game culture alive, passing the torch to each other with each game recommendation, review, and long-winded article (ahem). Site members here are have shown a very uncommon generosity and kindness to each other in the form of free gifts, helpful information, community gaming experiences, and a general sense of goodwill that reminds me more of the ancient BBS dial-up days rather than what is mostly seen on today's internet.
The retro and collecting video game community is alive and well here at RFG, and we have brought to it a sense of worth. There's no solution to preserving every video game ever made, and probably not a healthy reason to do so. But this site, and community, makes preserving our video game culture legacy a visibly positive, worthwhile effort. 
I've always been something of a salesperson for the video game experience. When I was little I enjoyed sharing our C64 with the neighborhood kids. When I was in middle school, I droned on about the incredible story of Final Fantasy II (IV) to mostly disinterested classmates. In high school, I was the nerd who recorded Gate of Thunder and Ecco the Dolphin onto a mix tape/CD and gave it to all my friends. In college I was constantly setting up huge LAN games in the computer labs. As an adult, I love how our entire family enjoys spending time gaming together.
And while I've always had particular games and genres I much preferred, I've never been much of a fanboy to the exclusion of a 'competing' side. As entertaining as Nintendo vs Sega, Madden vs NFL2k, or mouse/keyboard vs controller rivalries can be, even if I 'pick' sides I still appreciate everything video games have to offer. To completely dismiss and write off an alternative selection in gaming seems to me like a Pittsburgh Steelers fan loving the team but hating a rival team so much it affects their enjoyment of the sport. One gamer's Superman 64 is another gamer's Shadow of the Colossus. There's simply so much to video games in the modern world, it makes sense to keep an open mind about new experiences as well as to find and pursue preferences.
Even though I'm more resistant to digital download-only games than physical copies, I still investigate the market, and occasionally purchase and enjoy. I've made sure to pick up occasional sports titles and try them out, despite not really getting into one since Double Dribble and Blades of Steel. MMOs are inherently problematic for me due to the time required, but I love to read about Eve Online and experiments like Second Life. And while I've stopped short of installing a PC full of games for productivity reasons, I finally got a Steam account to tinker with. All this to say, basically, that when it comes to video games, I try not to just write anything off.
Well, except mobile games. I've liked a few, notably Plants versus Zombies and N.O.V.A., and I read about new titles on occasion. But by and large mobile and tablet gaming just did not appeal to me for a variety of reasons. Given how adult life and responsibilities keep gaming time at a premium, for me it has been the easiest sub-sector of gaming to dismiss. And since I don't think the average adult can keep up with everything in gaming anymore unless they work in the industry full time, I felt somewhat justified in keeping my not-interested-in-mobile/tablet gaming bias.
Which means I tend to miss out on some excellent experiences like Space Team.
The requirements can be a barrier; exclusively 2 to 4 player, on iOS and Android, only local play on WiFi or Bluetooth. And even directly next to a router, we experienced some occasional connection problems. But once we get started...
The idea is that you and your friend(s) are on a spaceship hurtling through the cosmos. At the beginning of every stage, the bottom two-thirds of your touch-screen is filled with randomly generated virtual dials, knobs, and switches, each labeled with goofy technobabble like P-muffler, Sloping Solvent, Harmonic Shutter, etc. Occasionally the scientific pretext is dropped completely in favor of humor, such as when you end up with a 'Make Waffles' or 'Eulogize Previous Crew' button.
Above your control panels, an instruction pops up, such as 'Turn Sloping Solvent to 2,' or 'Set Wafflemaker to On.' Under the instruction is a timer, and if the instruction is not followed, the ship takes damage. Too much damage and your ship falls apart, including panels that swing off hinges and have to be manually replaced, green goop sliming the screen that requires wiping, and the eventual destruction of your ship. The catch is that most of the time, the instruction you are given is for someone else's panel, and the most efficient way to communicate is to simply shout to your team-mate. By the fifth stage, the game easily begins to break down into hilarious verbal expressions, phones and tablets shaken to avoid asteroids, and screens flipped around to escape wormholes. You really just have to see it in action:
Here is a simple concept with brilliant execution. The random panel names and placements are a reminder that unlike most video games, the point is not mastery of the controls. Efficient, effective closed-loop communication under strict time pressure is what saves the day in Space Team. And as laugh-out-loud and fun as the game is, it also forces the development of useful real-world skills. Our successful advancement in the game was in direct correlation to how well we developed a rhythm of communication with each need as it came up (and the speedy resolution necessary.) It would usually work until our nerves and communication would break down under the speed necessary to exchange what was needed and what was already done. By then everyone is shouting excitedly, laughing uncontrollably, and our little virtual ship starts popping and fizzing like the Enterprise on an old Star Trek episode.
I couldn't help but be reminded of my EMT training so many years ago, and the constant necessity for effective communication under duress. If some surgeons are reported to play video games in order to progress and maintain vital hand-eye coordination, and Minecraft is used in schools for creative exercises, Space Team fits perfectly as a game with real-world benefits and application. Plus it's hilarious. And free!
After playing Space Team I recognized how ill-advised my near-complete disregard of the mobile and tablet gaming market has been. Much like the Wii U and 3DS, the best games for the platform tend to be ones fitted to the unique traits of its hardware. From the simplicity of Atari's original Combat, to the brain straining of the Professor Layton series, to the crazy sim-like complexity of Steel Battalion, there are so many experiences video games have to offer, some even with potential real-world benefits. Guess that includes those mini-computers we carry around that I used to play Snake on all the time.
Finally, the Wii U is unwrapped, opened, connected, and already has a sticker or two on it. Our Christmas and New Year vacation is over, and our family had a ton of fun.
The actual video gaming didn't begin until near the end of Christmas day proper, as I had to construct the Mario Kart K'Nex sets for the older kids. The sets were pretty easy to build, and fairly nifty to boot. For the curious:
http://www.amazon.com/Nin...35&sr=8-12&keywords=mario+
So that bought me and my Beloved some food-prep and relax time. The later evening was filled with Wii U game-time, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. I recall reading a 'not yet' purchase recommendation for the system from Kotaku, and I just couldn't disagree more. The Wii U will very likely compete with our PS4 for game-time in the years to come. Here's our impressions of the half-dozen titles we have so far:
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD:
I'm glad this art style survives the ravages of age much better than its contemporaries. Pacing issues aside, I still think this is a marvelous (and gorgeous!) Zelda game. The revisions and gamepad make a great game excellent.
New Super Mario Bros. U
The second most played thus far. Just a fun, fun Mario platformer that becomes a co-op riot with five people playing together. The addition of a gamepad player's ability to add platforms and mess with baddies gives much needed balance to the added challenge of extra players, and the experience just comes together wonderfully. I purposefully pushed off getting 3D World until we finish Mario Wii U and Luigi Wii U, and I'm glad I did so because I think these games deserve their own play-through time.
New Super Luigi U:
A perfect example of an expansion pack done right. Remixed challenges to a superb game. Definitely worth it if you're as big a fan of Mario Wii U as we are.
Nintendoland:
I had not really heard a single positive thing about this one, but we picked it up on sale and I'm so glad we did. I suppose as a single player experience it's not worth full price, but as a multiplayer game it's a blast. The Luigi's Mansion mini-game and Find Mii were reminiscent of our Pac-man Versus nights in the best way. I'm a Balloon Fight fan as it is, and the Nintendoland version was a neat addition. We blazed through the Zelda game and enjoyed it, and then stayed up way too late challenging Kraid and a few tough stages on the Metroid game. Even the F-Zero game got passed around a bit. All in all, Nintendoland was a great party game with a few fun single player experiences I intend on returning to. Nice to pick up on sale if you have the social atmosphere to support it.
Scribblenauts Unlimited:
Here it is, my favorite experience on the Wii U by far. I've championed the series since the clunky but inspired first title, and they've just gotten better with each iteration. (I've yet to grab Unmasked, for the same reasons we have yet to pick up 3D World.) We load this up, the whole family sits on the couch, and we just take turns with the quirky puzzle-solving this game provides. The interesting, creative input young kids offer for solutions is priceless, and even helps us synapse-hardened adults sometimes. Everything about this title is great, from the story to the art to the execution. We've laughed, thought hard, and thoroughly enjoyed this game so far. I see myself going back through this myself on the 3DS version later and coming up with different solutions, it's just so much fun.
Zombi U:
I'll admit I haven't put much time into this, only because I can't play it around the kids. But I have been impressed thus far with the production and tension. I'll have to update about it later, but it definitely interests me because of the use of system exclusive features (particularly the gamepad) and that's exactly what I want to see on the Wii U: games built around the unique features of the system.
Overall, I have to say I'm very happy to own a Wii U. There are still several exclusives out now that I'm excited about, not to mention announced games on the horizon like a new Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and Zelda. Even features that may seem like a gimmick, such as playing only on the gamepad, come in handy; my middle child is actually playing on the gamepad, curled up next to me as I type! Perhaps the best part overall is that I definitely feel as though our family is on the same wavelength as Nintendo for this system and it's games.
Most of what's new on the Xbox One, even including the changed policy features, are at best throwaway clutter we won't use, and at worse outright antagonistic toward our entertainment preferences. The PS4 is a great system, but mostly because it is a straight-forward upgrade from the PS3. Nothing wrong with that, and I've already had fun with games that were basically upgrades from the last generation. But with the Wii U, right out of the gate, we're playing interesting twists on old classics or outright new experiences. It feels more fresh. That will fade, no doubt, but the emphasis on couch-co-op and family friendly games are foundationally evident. Sure, I'll play some great new games on what some would coin the 'real' next-gen systems. But it'll already be hard to match the Wii U on outright fun.
Happy New Year!
As previously mentioned, we have a very social home, and we host a New Year's party every year. Of course, we have some great party games set up! And the highlights of our New Years parties are often, naturally, video games.
We've cycled through all sorts of favorites. During the Dreamcast years, popular multiplayer games included Virtua Tennis, Red Dog (No kidding! MP is lots of fun!), Fur Fighters, and lots and lots of Unreal Tournament.
Fast forward a few years, and 16 player Halo LAN parties ruled the night. (With a bit of Crimson Skies and Mech Assault.)
A few more years and we grew into Gears of War 2/3, COD: BO Zombies, and ODST: Fire Fight LAN matches that kept us up long past the Times Square Ball dropping.
And some games have always been in the rotation, including many renditions of Bomberman, Guitar Heros and Dance Dance Revolutions.
If I had to pick a favorite New Year's party video game moment, it would be split between two:
Playing 4 player Rock Band all night until we finished the last set list and watched the credits. We had no idea this game had a credits screen. Or any ending.
Then there was the night many years ago where my greatest 2D fighter/Dance Dance Revolution rival and I decided to settle our score once and for all. I tended to barely win more often on Street Fighter Alpha 3, and he would generally defeat me on Dance Dance. So the obvious next step was to load up Street Fighter Alpha 3 on a Playstation, plug in two dance pads instead of controllers, and fight each-other as God intended; skill against skill alone.
It. Was. Hilarious.
We wore ourselves out after only three matches (I got him two out of three!) because, let me tell you, it's harder than it looks. But so worth it. Ryu and Ken twitched and jerked about like they were in a Lady Gaga video. And I hope that's the last reference to Lady Gaga I ever make, ever.
Other than video games, we've kept coming back to some other favorites including Jenga, Battletech, HeroScape, and Jamaican Scrabble.
Well, whatever you do this year and into next, I sincerely hope you're New Year's Eve is as fun as ours! Feel free to share some great New Years Eve experiences (gaming or otherwise) and stay safe out there!!
To all the staff, members, and visitors of RFGeneration, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Even for those of us gamers who are greatly opposed to the materialistic nature and family stress inherent to the season, we enjoy getting surprised by awesome gaming-related gifts. Despite some tough times in my childhood, one particular game-related Christmas memory will forever grant some occasionally much-needed holiday cheer and appreciation for the thankless job my parents often faced.
Many moons ago, in the ancient age of '93, I was working a pretty rough construction job after high-school. I hardly saw my parents, and though they knew my many interests, any parent knows that's a far cry from knowing exactly what to get. So they called up my then-best friend Thor.
Yes, that's his name. Yes, it fit him perfectly.
Thor, as eclectic as his name implies, grew up with a gaming mother. And while he was very specific about what he would play, he was just as into video games as I was. Thor's family was the first I knew of to get the awesome machine that was the Turbo Duo, shortly after launch. Including the hidden Bomberman, this beast came packaged with seven (!) games covering a broad spectrum of genres; Ys Book I & II, Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, Gate of Thunder (still a favorite!) and a TurboChip copy of Ninja Spirit.
Needless to say, Thor's house was very popular amongst our friends.
(The following was relayed to me after-the-fact, obviously.)
So when my folks gave my best friend a call and asked what to get me, his natural response was to talk-up what I played at his house every weekend. Then, likely because my parents were unaware of the excellent pack-ins, they asked what game to pick up with the system. Because Thor was the best friend a gamer could ask for at the time, he said something along the lines of, "well, he likes Castlevania games a lot, and they make one for it. So probably that one."
Did I mention I love this guy? I love this guy.
Since the cost of the Turbo Duo far exceeded any gift I had ever received at that point, I'm under the opinion that my parents probably had no idea that Devil's Castle Dracula X: Rondo of Blood was import only, or how much that would cost them by the time they found it. I imagine that by the time they took the effort to track it down in pre-internet '93, they had already spent so much time and effort to get it that they probably gritted their teeth and bought it despite the total cost.
Now we didn't have much money growing up. Most of my gaming after the C64 and a surprise NES to the family was through systems I bought or traded to get myself. So I cannot explain to you how impressive this Christmas was to me. Maybe it was because I was hardly at home and my mom wanted to give one last big hug. I'm not sure, though now as a parent myself I can identify with the occasional 'wow-I-shouldn't-have-spent-that-much-but-its-my-kid-so-OK' frame of mind.
I can't relay how blown away I was after opening that Turbo Duo. Or how over-the-top it was to open up Dracula X. (Or how frustrated my dad was after learning that we had to buy another expensive adapter to play the RCA AV cable only output on our RF only 25" console TV.) But my parents sure knew they had a happy teen that Christmas. I still cherish that memory.
In an unfortunate turn of events, things at home got much rougher the next few years, so perhaps I was blessed with that burning-bright moment beforehand. Either way, when it comes to physical Christmas presents, I have to admit that one is my childhood best. I played that system until I finished almost every game it came with more than once. (well, not Ninja Spirit. Man is that a hard game!) And I've gone through Dracula X more than perhaps any game I've owned, and still enjoy it today.
Now of course I'm not saying gifts (even gaming gifts!) are the point or should even be a focus over the holiday. But I hope that everyone has some great, cherished Christmas memories, and if they have some video games included there, even better!
So if you have some fun gaming or non-gaming related Christmas memories, please share,
God Bless, and GAME ON!!
We're all familiar with the modern FPS conventions. Character movement with an analog stick or keyboard, a 3D 'look' with another analog or mouse, and often a jump and shoot button. Some games, like Battlefield 4, add layer upon layer of complexity, strategy, and high player population to take this control mechanism to its current extreme. This control method and design is now so ubiquitous that it is often just called the 'shooter' genre, snatching the moniker from the recently retitled 'shmup' classification in the common gamer vernacular.
In the common gamer mindset, this particular convention of game design is so entrenched that the occasional rethink and upset can lead to something remarkable. Perhaps the most popular recent example has been the Amnesia series, which purposefully take away combat and focus on a helpless, tension-filled atmosphere to excellent effect. Plenty of other games such as the Thief series and newcomer Dishonored also put more thought into interacting with the game world itself instead of using the environment as a shooting gallery. Perhaps the greatest example of using the FPS design to give an open-ended, choose-your-own-adventure setup while still obeying the norms of FPS design has been the Deus Ex series, the first of which is often still regarded as one of the greatest games ever made. In fact, from the Elder Scrolls series to the Portal games to RealMyst, the FPS has proven far more robust than golden oldies like Quake suggested.
So when a game uses this design in a unique way, it still surprises because the modern gamer has seen so much variation with this interface methodology. Enter The Unfinished Swan, a fascinating game/storytelling method/interactive art project. The opening narrative tells of a recently orphaned youth whose mother never finished her paintings. Taking a single, minimalist painting of an unfinished swan to the orphanage, the child notices one day that the creature has disappeared from the painting, and he begins pursuit.
Then, the screen goes white and no other clues, hints, or tutorials are given. Through sheer experimentation, the player quickly realizes that a button press ejects a round glob of black paint that splatters against the white space, revealing walls, objects, and an entire environment to navigate, with loose paths to follow. Too much black paint hurled against surfaces begin to obscure their details, since at the beginning the only thing giving definition to the environment is the contrast between the white space and the hurled, splattered paint. Color is shown sparingly, to call attention to a handful of objects or show the foot-paths of the absent fowl. Cue 'wild goose chase' pun.
While the color is almost exclusively black and white, the sound is also minimalist, with more environmental sounds heard as more of the world is revealed. A simple jump is the only other control besides the conventional move, look, and 'shooting' paint. More narrative is told as the game progresses by using the simple tools of the game and a storybook-like series of reveals.
The pace is slow, purposeful, experimental, whimsical, and best of all, playful. Other games of this ilk such as Dear Esther or the recent critical darling Gone Home have a moody, voyeuristic design, but the difference with The Unfinished Swan is that the interaction with the environment figuratively and literally defines the game. Better still, it uses this original interaction method as a story device that feels intrinsic and holistic, instead of tacked-on or forced. Whereas some artistic game worlds are criticized for force-feeding standard game conventions into an otherwise complete virtual experience (the Bioshock series are popular examples) The Unfinished Swan feels like a complete experience defined by how its gameplay is intrinsic to storytelling.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, please take the plunge and grab it from the PSN. It's worth it just to see something different, interesting, and in my opinion, wonderful. Seeing a 'normal' game design used like this inspires me to continue believing that our hobby has far more to give us in the future, even using the familiar.
It is a strange wilderness into which this modern world of gaming can take us.
Anyone who has followed along with my previous writing and ranting has a pretty good understanding about my views on the industry shift from physical media to digital downloads. My written objections run the gamut, including giving up rights as an owner of an object, leasing an experience instead of paying for an item, and losing our history of gaming culture.
I cannot say my thoughts on these things have really changed, but there have been interesting developments. Just recently, I traded (gasp!) my physical copy of Battlefield 4 for the PS4. My reasoning; I got a very cheap deal on the digital copy that put me at a profit for trading in the physical disc, I didn't care for my time with the single player and therefore only intended on playing online which would require an internet connection anyway, and finally I knew I could pick up the disc sometime later when the price is much cheaper.
Sure, it's logical, but it also goes against my collector instinct and even smacks a bit of hypocrisy given my general views of supporting physical media as long as possible. I've played plenty of 'indie' digital only games, but this marks the first triple A big budget experience I've been playing as a digital download. While it's certainly not that big of a deal, like anything else I like to pay attention to how things change mental constructs, and this small difference has reinforced a process I've observed about the difference between digital and physical gaming.
It actually doesn't have anything to do with value, art, or collectability, but intentionality.
I prefer to be intentional in everything I do. That certainly does not mean I resist spontaneity, and my beloved would laugh uproariously if you suggested that I'm a type A, regimented personality. Rather, I prefer to make sure I'm thinking through something before agreeing, accepting, or doing. At least, as much as I am able given surrounding circumstances.
This intentionality extends to entertainment and video games. I primarily play games during three different opportunities; 1. Working out on our stationary bike, 2. Social gaming, generally on weekends, often on our 360 LAN and online with friends, and 3. Spontaneous moments where I have to wait on something, which is where portables usually come in handy.
Outside of these situations, I don't tend to play games much because the other things in life are too valuable to sacrifice the time.
Given how little time during the week we have for gaming, the last thing we want is to stare at a blank screen with a blank mind, or to load up a game for a moment only to decide a few minutes later that we aren't in the mood to play that. In the same way my beloved is quoted as 'knowing all about the moods with the foods' when it comes to satisfying a hunger craving with the perfect ingredients, if our gaming is not intentional then it becomes easy to waste away what little time we have. Oh, one day it may be co-op Tales of Xilia and then the next day Dirt 3, but identifying what would best serve where we are in the brain and heart makes all the difference when deciding how to spend our time.
Years ago in college I was introduced to the wonders of emulation. My gaming buddies and I could never afford a Neo Geo AES, and yet here on a friend's PC we suddenly had access to a library we had never played. The first few hours were great, amazing even. Despite not having a good joystick, we loaded up ROM after ROM and spent some time with games we were always curious about. However, after a few days we lost interest.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I know part of why gaming through emulation never caught on for me is because it equates to a big, ethereal list of games without much presence, no label in the shelf to remind me of its existence and no physical object for me to intentionally take ahold of and make decisions. It becomes easy to sample a dozen games and harder to stick with and play through one. Out of sight and out of mind, desiring to play that game becomes less a matter of intent and more a matter of fleeting accident. Occasionally happy accidents, to be sure, but too often a sugary glaze instead of a filling meal. Not the game's fault, but the delivery vehicle effects my mentality towards it, for better or worse.
With a loss of intentionality, a library of digital games on a hard drive becomes something I scroll through and pick something that I hope will meet me where am. For me, and I don't assume this is universal of course, but there is a function to having a shelf of games that forces me to intentionally complete the process of decision making by physically connecting what I want to spend time on with the device I want to use. It's everything from the solid *Thud-clink* of plastic in a slot, the *Errrrreeeeh* of an optical media drive loading, the introduction loading up that serves as a driveway to my destination.
I could sum up the above mentality by saying I'm that guy that won't go to see a movie in the theatre if I miss the previews, because that's just part of the experience. I'm also that guy that whines when a preview shows too much of the movie, but that's another article. 
But it's not some nostalgic ritual that I'm searching for. (incidentally I lost part of that when games stopped shipping with instruction manuals. Again, another article.) Having to decide on a game and then physically setting it up is part of the process of me being intentional, purposeful, thoughtful about where I am and what I want to play. It's getting excited for that Christmas/Thanksgiving meal days or weeks before the aroma hits your senses. When searching through my XBLA and PSN games, I'm looking at a buffet where I too often gorge and eat too much of something I may not have really enjoyed as much as I wanted.
Of course I can be intentional about digital release games; I'm loading up Battlefield 4 all the time. But I have historically noticed that I struggle with picking up and staying with a game that takes up no more space than data on a drive.
Delivery avenues like Steam and PlayStation Plus provide gamers with huge libraries overnight. I know I come across as an old fogy for saying it, but at least for me, it feels more like a bunch of games to 'get through' rather than intentional experiences to savor.
Maybe I'll pick up another Battlefield 4 disc sooner rather than later. It may seem silly in a financial perspective, but learning is not cheap, so says any honest college guidance counselor. If I'm not receiving the lessons gaming teaches me about myself, I'm probably making bad investments in both money and time.
Black Friday.
Some may say it is a real-life MMO with little to no loot worth the exhaustive, sometimes violent effort it requires. YouTube is rife with videos of stores full of belligerent behavior on display, from pushing to outright fistfights over simple material items. Stories of injuries from trampling up to and including death proliferate the media, and this year the deals ratcheted back even further until Thanksgiving dinnertime itself is no longer safe. It's no exaggeration to say more civility has been seen over life-saving yet inadequate supply drops to the hurricane-devastated Philippines than the riot-like behavior Black Friday can cause over mostly-luxury items.
Aside from online sales that disappear in seconds, many gamers don't dare brave the masses during the biggest consumer holiday. And pretty much no one I talk to wants to actually work in the midst of this retail nightmare. In fact, in the fifteen years or so I've worked in various sections of retail, I don't recall anyone else who looked forward to working that fateful day every year.
But let's put that thought on hold for a moment and take our thoughts into a decidedly different territory.
Say you're working at a Mom-and-Pop retro video game store. An elderly lady walks in, and the I-hope-I-don't-accidently-buy-another-Edsel look on her face is evident. (To you whippersnappers, replace 'Edsel" with 'Tiger Game.com'.) Before you even approach her, she eyes you with an almost helpless expression. Twenty minutes later she's walking out with an NES and a stack of games for her seven year old grandson, a PS3 and Madden for her Steelers-nut son-in-law, and a DS Lite and Brain Age for herself so she can learn new curses over the word 'blue'.
Next is that forty-something role-playing game lady who only shows up every two or three weeks and picks your brain about another game she can 100%. She's scared she's going to relapse into WoW again and desperately needs your help finding a game she hasn't played through twice already, and every Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Suikoden, and even Wild Arms are crossed off her list. So the next fifteen minutes are spent scanning every shelf in the store to a bunch of 'beat that already' and 'hated the battle system'. Then comes the inevitable half-hour conversation about how Final Fantasy VI was better than VII and how IV was so great until it was redone to death. You finally convince her to splurge on a Genesis and Phantasy Star II, II, and IV, knowing she'll be back next month extolling the virtues of Phantasy Star IV while griping about slogging through III, which she of course finished anyway. You know next she'll want help tracking down a Master System and the first game in the series.
These type of scenarios are why many of us dream of working or even owning (go Crabby!) a video game store. If we have to work, and most all of us do, wouldn't it be great spending that time sharing our passion about gaming?
Even Gamestop, known for its pawn-shop attitudes and corporate shenanigans, is the source of many conversations about which is the best Bioshock game (bonus points if you said System Shock 2) or how anyone that says the Wii is a worthless console never played Muramasa and Boom Blox.
Working in gaming retail on Black Friday is the equivalent of speed-running these scenarios back to back. It's quite the rush; a non-stop barrage of folks with gaming and gifting desires. Despite not having the time to address every situation as I'd like, there are few opportunities to help so many gaming-minded folks in such a short time. Going in with a mind-frame to help out makes all the difference when the stress kicks in. An amazing amount of negativity can be dispelled in these powder-keg environments with a little humor and genuine thoughtfulness, for both consumer and fellow staff. Some problems can and will arise, but that's yet another opportunity to defuse the tension before it gets worse. Most of the problems tend to arise from the thoughtless, mob-like behavior that a few friendly conversations often dissolve. If all else fails, simply taking a step back and internally laughing at the absurdity of it all can greatly assist in re-approaching everything without getting dragged down. No matter how crazy it all gets, being vigilant on one's mental state going in is the key to not just surviving, but being in control and even enjoying such times.
If you're working in retail on any Black Friday, I recommend setting aside a good hour beforehand for buying a huge bag of clearance Halloween candy and your caffeine of preference, playing a few rounds of Katamari Damacy or your preferred peppy and upbeat mood-lightener, and pick a favorite gaming experience your store sells that becomes your mission to recommend to as many people as possible. When Shadow of the Colossus was largely unknown, I made it my personal quest that year to hock it to everyone. ("Here's your Gamecube. Great system that would be better if it could play Shadow of the Colossus. What? You've never heard of it? It's this beautiful game where...")
If you don't work in retail and are a gamer braving the chaos of doorbusters and midnight openings, please consider the same suggestions. We gamers still find ourselves fighting against stereotypes and stigmas of being antisocial, basement-dwelling, entitled losers who are the exact personalities that make Black Friday a byword. In the same way the charity of Child's Play gives a legitimacy to philanthropic video game players, in Black Friday we have a perfect chance to give gamers and gaming culture a much needed positive face. There is perhaps no greater opportunity in the year to prove the naysayers wrong and make a good name for ourselves and gamers in general.
By the time this is posted, the Xbox One will be out and the launch games will be available for the general public. While I do not intend on picking up a system until something exclusive I want is out (Halo, Gears of War, Panzer Dragoon Saga HD, Phantom Brave Zero, Journey to Silius II: Judgment Day, etc.) I still enjoy reading all about the new system and launch games.
So far, while I'm sure I'd play Killer Instinct and Panzer Drago-... um, Crimson Dragon, no exclusives have me regretting my initial PS4 preference. Although in fairness, Resogun is the only Sony exclusive I'm sold on for now or the announced future. The launch lineup for both systems seem to hold few surprises in terms of releases or review scores. However, after reading a few write-ups on Ryse: Son of Rome I was immediately inspired to write about the relationship between what a game provides, what it is expected to provide, and how it is reviewed in our modern era.
I'd first like to note that after seeing the gameplay of Ryse demoed, I had little desire to play it. It wasn't about graphics, setting, or motion controls. As I watched, I could appreciate what this game was offering, and I simply had no interest in it. I've enjoyed melee combat games, historical narrative games, and even 'quick time event' gameplay. But watching Ryse, I just didn't think the game was for me, no matter how well designed or produced. I've felt the same way about the majority of sports titles, realistic racing games like Forza and Gran Turismo, and even critical successes like Grand Auto IV and V. Are they good games? I'm sure they mostly are, even if they are not for me. In fact I still pick many of them up, just to tinker and give them a chance, or more likely to let friends and family play them.
It was Kotaku's review that got me thinking.
http://kotaku.com/ryse-so...-kotaku-review-1468780085
Every other review I read commented on how nice the game looks and how well it runs, and yet how shallow, boring, short, and repetitive the game is. Kotaku's Stephen Totilo wrote something different; he genuinely enjoyed the experience. Interestingly, he didn't argue with the critique leveled against it. But in a true display of the subjective nature of boredom and entertainment, Totilo not only had fun with the game (while admitting the gruesome in-game actions were disturbing), but he referenced it as an example of how the new generation of hardware could be used to heighten current gameplay experiences. His last statement in the review sums up his thoughts:
"I'd like to think that Ryse is an example of the kind of fresh re-thinking we'll experience on the new generation of consoles. Why not move the camera in? Why not set the game in ancient Rome? Why not let players yell at archers to lob in some support? Actually, no, never do that last one again. Ryse arrives with low expectations and demonstrates that looks can make a difference in gameplay. That's a next-gen upgrade I can enjoy."
Totilo didn't argue about the game's length. He didn't counter that the game was more complicated than other reviewers gave it credit for. He didn't ignore what other critics faulted. He simply seemed to take it for what it was and enjoy the experience.
I thought about this while playing one of the best reviewed games on the two new systems, Need For Speed: Rivals. Other than Resogun, it's what I've enjoyed playing the most. Yet one of the reasons I like playing it so much is that it knows what it is and what to focus upon; cops and high-speed getaways, with a heavy dose of Criterion's 'Battle Racing.' Oh, there's time trials and point-to-point standard racing, but the Alldrive connectivity and entire game design wraps around the concept that a cops vs. racers chase can, and does, spontaneously happen at any moment. It's pretty much all there is to the game.
No extra modes. No Rally racing, drifting mini-games, or a little guy jumping out and running around. In fact, the biggest criticism I've read about it is that it does pretty much the one thing, and that's mostly it, and so it will get repetitive.
And I just have a blast with it! Here's a game that knows what it is, and refines it to the expense of everything else. It knows what it is, what it does, and it does it best. It matches my current interest and I have so much fun with it. It is to me, at the moment, what it sounds like Ryse is to Totilo. Both of us will get our fill and move on to other games, and that's fine. No problem there.
Let's use the 'way-back-when' machine for a different example. I played an uncomfortable amount of Hunt for Red October on the NES back in my youth. I didn't think it was a great game even then, but I enjoyed it and was determined to master that side-scrolling, pseudo-shooter submarine game. I practiced and practiced. I succeeded in memorizing level after level of enemy placement and weapon usage, dodging the many obstacles of enemy and landscape with that clunky grey tube sprite, until reaching the last level. And then out of nowhere, for the very last part of the game, it bizarrely changed into a run-and-gun platformer taking place inside the sub. With completely different play control, a little bearded guy had to shoot many, many more cooks than appeared in the movie while jumping to platforms and diffusing bomb after bomb after bomb after bomb. Nothing in the hours of mastering a completely different game prepared the player for the very last chapter, which forced the player to literally play a completely different game to complete it.
And it's not the only game to pull such a last minute out-of-character bait and switch. Lost Planet is a modern example. Sometimes such out-of-the-blue forced changes are peppered throughout a game, arguably for better (Halo: Reach's random Space Flight) or worse (Castle Crasher's random Volleyball and Alien Hominid's 'Simon' minigames.) When implemented as interesting, optional stuff to do (SNES's Legend of the Mystical Ninja had tons of random, fun diversions) that are not required for continued progression, such diversions can liven up a game and make it's universe feel more complete. And some games, such as the classics Rocket Knight Adventures and Mr. Bones, are more akin to a gaming potpourri of varied gameplay challenges instead of a singular gameplay experience. Most recently, the (IMHO) excellent Beyond: Two Souls wrapped it's entire game design around unpredictable gameplay experiences.
In other words, I'm not knocking variety and spicing up gameplay. But if a game is going to jettison the skillset a player has invested for progression, the transition should be necessary, smooth if narratively possible, and not a brick wall that easily makes a player lose interest. I never did finish Hunt for Red October. That last stage left a bad taste and I just didn't have a desire to play anymore. If the game was going to toss a surprise ending (which is fine) there should be some method of keeping the gameplay transition from being so jarring. I put so much time into it because I knew what I was playing, and the game (until the end) rewarded my investment. Ideally a gamer looks at a game, develops an idea on whether or not that game looks fun to them, and then accepts or turns down what the game is selling as an experience.
So, that brings us back to Ryse. I hope that every gamer that looks at the gameplay and thinks it would be fun does not get discouraged by bad reviews and folks telling them it's not worth it. It may not be the game for me, and many others from what I gather, but then the games I like can bore some folks to tears. (It's an unspoken house rule that I will not subject my Beloved to any more hours of staring at Final Fantasy Tactics.) I have no doubt that there are other gamers like Totilo who will play and enjoy Ryse, and I'm happy for them. If I tried to change everything that would make Ryse a 'fun' game for me, it very likely would no longer be what those individuals are looking for, and it wouldn't be an 'improved' game for it.
I like that Need For Speed Rivals doesn't bloat itself with gameplay that takes me out of what I want to play. If I want rally, I'll play the Dirt or RalliSport Challenge series. If I want a sim I'm play Gran Turismo or just fall asleep. (Kidding. I used to play them. 4 was my favorite.) If I want something less grounded, I'll play Wipeout XL/3/HD. I don't want a game that tries to stuff them all into one at the expense of some, but then I won't knock it if that game is fun for someone else.
In the end, as always, don't be bullied into another's opinions. If it looks fun, give it a shot. If not, let the next person make their own decision. There are too many games for too many different types of people to make silly assumptions about what will be fun for anyone, much less everyone.
The midnight launch was great! Everything went very smooth, and everyone seemed to have fun.
After getting home late, I plugged our shiny new box into our prepared space on the ol' entertainment center, and it started right up. The update was speedy and I tinkered a bit before crashing for the night/day.
So, here's your local Slackur's initial PS4 impressions:
-It's purdy.
-Speedy too, compared to the PS3's notoriously slow network downloading. So far everything seems to be as fast as the 360's downloads, so much improvement there.
-I wasn't originally sold on the install-as-you-play feature, as it felt gimmicky. But in reality it works so well that games were playable more quickly than most PS3 games; I'm officially a believer.
-I really like the UI, better than any Sony product thus far and leagues better than the 360's Metro.
-The controller also feels more natural and comfortable for me than any other Sony product thus far. Not quite as made-for-my-hands natural as the 360, but far and away more natural than any DualShock, PSP or Vita.
-Compared to the jetliner engine sounds of the 360 and PS3, this thing makes me forget it's even on.
-One of the niftiest features happened when we plugged in some decent headphones into the controller and suddenly the main sound system went mute. A quick adjustment allowed all the sound output through the headphone jack, and it sounded great!
-Another thing I assumed was too gimmicky to be useful was the remote play. Sure, the framerate suffered a little and the control responsiveness was off just a touch, but I was able to successfully play Battlefield 4 with the TV off and the kids in the same room, so it will likely come in handy more than I thought. And it makes the PS3/PSP remote play look positively broken.
Speaking of broken, much to no-one's surprise the PSNetwork has gone up and down with maintenance issues. I was able to update the system and grab Resogun without problems, but I had to wait awhile before I could grab the other online updates and games. Thankfully, with the improved download speeds I was able to get everything the next day without issue.
So, overall I have a pleasant report on the machine proper, but of course more importantly, how are the games?
Battlefield 4
Much improved graphically over the previous generation versions, it's the Battlefield I know and enjoy. Unfortunately the mode I bought it for, 64 player conquest, is the only feature that doesn't work. A quick Google proved it to be a universal problem, so hopefully it will be resolved very soon. In the meantime everything else about it is as good as I hoped.
Contrast
This one is quite nifty. The controls are too loose and fidgety, but the concept, art design and music really make it something interesting and worthwhile thus far. My Beloved has only played it a little (she likes Resogun better) but I'm looking forward to playing through it. I'm
particularly happy to see some nifty, more experimental games like this one considering how shooter-heavy the launch line up is.
DC Universe Online
I spent some time with the PS3 release years ago, and its come a long way since then. Another game I'm glad to see at launch, if just for variety and you can't beat the price. Probably won't put much time into it again but its very nice to see it as a free launch game.
Backlight Retribution
This one just plain has not worked since launch until over two days later. It looks to me like an average arena FPS. Can't say for sure since the developers apparently hate left-handed people and gave two entire pages of control customization but no southpaw thumb swap. So it'll likely end up in the digital dumpster.
Warframe
This one was released as a PC freemium also, and made it to the PS4 launch. Southpaw support means I got to spend some time in it. So far it's decent fun; a third person, four-player shooter/stabby randomized dungeon loot/level grinder. Less punch and panache than BF4 so I'll likely spend my time there, but this is definitely a type of game I can have fun with. Worth checking out more later.
Need For Speed: Rivals
A direct combination of Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Paradise proved that while I thoroughly enjoyed every Burnout game through Revenge, even the Burnout formula didn't stave off the boring pace of open-world racers for me. Hot Pursuit on the other hand, was great fun and only fell out of rotation due to the complete lack of local LAN support. So Rivals is appropriately somewhere in between. It looks great, controls very well, and the weather effects are superb. Unfortunately it only runs at 30fps, a developer-noted compromise to achieve the 'Alldrive' constant online 'jump in/jump out MP' scalability. I'd much rather have had the better frame rate, but it still looks and plays very well. It's growing on me, but time will tell if it has more staying power than Paradise for my tastes.
Resogun
Ah, here it is. By far my favorite offering in the launch lineup, and even my Beloved enjoys playing it. A true spiritual successor to the Defender throne, Resogun has tight controls, a lucid yet rapid pace, refined but sophisticated game play balance, a nifty art design and style, and best of all it's a blast to pick up and play. Fun for a quick fix or for a several hour score challenge, Resogun is much like Geometry Wars and Tempest 2000 in that it can't quite sell a system itself, but fans of the genre are missing out on something special if they don't get a chance to play.
Overall I'm very happy with everything we picked up thus far. With all of the free and PS Plus content (free month trial and $10 PSN included!) not to mention our BF4 and NfS: Rivals pickups, I'd be set for gaming a very long time even if I didn't have a stupidly huge backlog.
I think it's worth noting that between online and disc based offerings, there are two dozen games at launch for the PS4. For all the criticism leveled at the games available, I have to say its not bad at all. If someone started out with a PS4 and PlayStation Plus, games like DCUO, Resogun, Contrast, and Warframe offer plenty of game play right out of the gate.
Considering Resogun was good enough to have folks waiting for the controller to get passed down, I'd say so far I'm pretty satisfied.
Next week, I'll be helping our store launch the PS4. It will be a long, long night. I'm looking forward to it! I enjoy midnight launches. Especially in reflection of all the negativity mentioned last week.
Dozens, often hundreds of people, all gathered around and excited for the same thing. I enjoy it for the same reason people like Comic-Cons or PAX: pretty much everyone is there because of a shared interest. (As well as the relatives/significant others easily spotted by their deer-in-headlights expression or apathetic gaze.) Sure, there are a few obnoxious jerks, same as any group of people, but for the most part folks at these events are fun to chat with and hang around. I've even met a few individuals that became lifelong friends at such events.
Even if I didn't work in the business (and by business, I mean, of course, the industry) I'd still go to midnight releases. In fact, I've been to many for personal pickups, and even my Beloved tags along when she can. We've braved everything from freezing rain to Wal-Mart line savagery in order to meet and hang out with other like-minded gamers. We've set up impromptu GBA Mario Kart LANs, Wireless Bomberman DS matches, and during the Halo 3 launch some dude in a huge pickup opened the tail-gate to two screens and a Halo 2 MP setup that kept the crowd entertained for hours. And you'd be surprised how even the stand-offish turn nice when we pick up a few cheap pizzas and share the love.
In the modern era of our industry (and by industry, of course, I mean the business) there's an added bonus to attending launch parties for those who play online. Often the circle of trusted friends to play with can be tough to expand. We sometimes get random friend invites from a really good game, but without any connection to said individual, real ties rarely form. By chatting with other gamers while waiting in line for a product launch, it's easy to get to know someone well enough to make an educated guess if this person would be fun to play games with online. And having an actual face attached to xXDeAthScReAmCuTiEXx and 7JakeLovesREM gives every sniper-shot and puzzle match a deeper relevance.
There is also a bit of history to be appreciated. Saying that I bought my first Playstation on a random Wednesday, two years after the systems came out, doesn't really stay in memory or have any significance. My Beloved and I waiting for several hours in line to get a launch Gamecube, while playing Super Mario Advance multiplayer with strangers (one of which still comes over to game) is a memory I'll forever cherish. Interestingly, it's one of my favorite Gamecube memories, and it happened before I opened the box!
Oh, and sometimes I actually stay awake after getting home from the launch so I can actually play whatever goofy thing we just bought. 
Like everyone else picking up a new system on launch day this month, I've been keeping up on the news feeds for the new gaming/media/adware consoles. And since Battlefield 4 is a day-one pickup for my shiny new toy, naturally I've followed up on stories concerning it. Which has lead to reading about the minor blowup between blogs and threads concerning how, for both Call of Duty: Sequel (er, Ghosts) and Battlefield Again (um, 4) the XB1 natively outputs at 720p (upscaled to 1080p) whereas the PS4 natively outputs to 1080p for . Both target to run at 60 FPS. Also, according to the PC Master Race, with the right graphics card you can run them both at the same time at 8K with light beamed directly into your optic nerves so its cute that console players think anything without a mouse and keyboard is worth playing because Steam.
Sorry. A bit of vitriol must have spilled over from the forums I was reading and spilled onto my keyboard like the slime from Ghostbusters 2. No offense to PC gamers. It's not as if some console gamers say less goofy things. And the XB1/PS4 number game is a perfect example; it's no exaggeration to say that folks have changed (or confirmed) their next generation console purchase decision based off this technical data about COD/BF4.
I suppose on the surface it can make sense. The XB1 is at a $100 premium over the PS4. To read that it appears to run two of the premier, AAA production games less impressively than the cheaper competition is understandably frown-worthy. Especially if you're picking up Microsoft's Halo DVR instead of the Play-It-Safe 4. (Settle down, kids, I love you both. )
However, the internet gives an unfortunate advantage most of us would never have otherwise; the ability to see both console versions, running side by side. In the real world, unless at a convention or PR event, we're not going to stare at each one and pick out how may grains of sand are on each picture, or if that power line appears a little more jagged on the left versus the right. Screen shots from our gaming magazines begat these comparisons decades ago, but we've moved from showing the technical prowess of an Intellivision vs. Atari 2600 to the point that we now read about counted pixels and imperceptible 2-3 frames per second.
While there can be a noticeable difference between upscaled 720p and native 1080p, in reality if we were to see one and then later the other, many people would not be able to distinguish much difference. (Well, since RFGeneration tends to cater to the OCD gamers, probably more of us here would notice than the average gamer.) Sure, there are differences. Would it truly keep us from enjoying the game on an 'inferior' version? Phrased another way, if an XBox One Battlefield 4 gamer never heard/read about these numbers, they probably wouldn't care and it certainly wouldn't keep them from enjoying the game on their system.
The relative power of both new consoles are close enough that we are not in a Atari versus Intellivision type of disparity. I think Nintendo was brilliant to stay out of this horsepower horserace; games on the Wii U are their own thing (many of which are great, IMHO) and the weakest games on it tend to be ports from other consoles.
It's a strange trait for most of us, that ignorance really can be bliss. When I first got Cruisin' USA for the N64, I enjoyed it for weeks. Then one day I off-handedly read a critical review of it in a magazine. It was thoroughly trounced as the reviewer nit-picked and complained about a dozen issues, none of which I had even noticed while playing. As I went back to the game, I couldn't 'unsee' what I now saw. Every criticism I read pointed itself out to me, and I just didn't have fun with it anymore. Where before I just took the game at face value and enjoyed it, now my eyes were searching for flaws both real and imagined.
For this reason I've become enormously careful about video game reviews. I certainly have no problem with a critic giving opinions and it is valuable for the technical merits or flaws to be discussed and pointed out. But assigning an 'entertainment value' in the form of a number or grade strikes me as strangely foreign to a new media many consider a form of artistic impression. It's not that I don't want to know things a critic finds 'wrong' with a game, especially if it is technical; it's that more and more I see an emphasis on obtuse nitpicking and general negativity instead of a passionate enjoyment of the hobby.
I want to know if a game is buggy or has a flawed save system, sure. And for those who own more than one system it's nice to know if there is a performance disparity for multiplatform releases. I have no issue with sites like Digital Foundry discussing the numbers and breakdowns of a game's performance or comparisons between systems. My issue comes from what is normally done with this data: the increasingly aggressive flame war that prevents people from the whole point. Most people play games to have fun. Yet to hear it from forums, and indeed overheard in game stores, apparently we are having the wrong kind of fun. Folks are belittled for enjoying or desiring to enjoy a game with some lesser numbers attached. It is as if we must have a certain kind of fun on a certain optimum setting, or we are messing up some arbitrary thing or we are judged as ignorant for liking some subpar experience.
However, after great (and continuing) mental effort, I have found that detaching these data points from my attention makes for a far more entertaining experience in gaming. I still go back and enjoy Starfox on SNES. That game's frame-rate runs like a ViewMaster with a lethargic child on the lever, but I can still see it with the mind's eye of my 15 year-old self and have lots of fun. The Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament runs laughably bad compared to the PC version and is very trimmed down content-wise, yet the summer vacations my friends and I spent on it come rolling back every time I load it up.
The ability to overlook flaws works differently for each gamer, of course. Going back to Goldeneye for me is an exercise frustration, and it is largely due to the technical issues. (How on earth did I ever find my way around when the cavern wall is a single color with no definition!?) I never liked Resident Evil's original 'tank' controls, and after the last few games in the series, going back to the older games wasn't as fun as I had hoped.
And back in the now, no one wants to spend more on an XBox One for 'second best.'
(-PC gamers: "Third best!")
(-XB1/PS4 gamers: "Shut up! Nobody asked you!")
However, to rile antagonism over launch era multiplatform games comes across as being needlessly negative, especially when the parity requires side-by-side comparisons to tease out differences. Over the last generation I preferred the XBox 360, not for any 'superior' multiplatform games, but because of the franchises exclusive to that system. Ditto for every Nintendo platform released. The beginning of this console generation has me excited for several Wii U games. And because more of my online friends will have one, a PS4 is our next system.
One day I have no doubt XBox One will be in the queue because of some franchise exclusives that interest me. Our family picks up what we'd like to play for fun as opposed to an arbitrary corporate allegiance. I recommend the same thing at the gaming store I work at, yet I'm always overhearing about how someone is making some kind of wrong entertainment choice. And all across the web, gamers are actively making fun of and trashing other people's opinions.
Most of us are taught at a young age that entertainment at the expense of others is a form of bullying and should be avoided. No one realistically expects internet forums to 'behave,' but it would be preferable if gamers focused more on the positive elements of our industry instead of generating and perpetuating pointless negativity. Let's always keep in mind, these electronic doodads are here to entertain us and make life a little nicer; if we let them generate more negativity, I think we're missing the point.
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Posted on Oct 26th 2013 at 03:56:18 PM by ( slackur) Posted under Comfort Games, scary, stress, Etrian Odyssey, Contra III, Castlevania IV, Axelay, TMNT IV, Game of Thunder, Legend of Zelda, we spend t |
It's the right season to talk about scary things, right?
So this week, my Beloved ended up in the hospital ER, and needless to say it was a difficult time. Second scariest time of my life thus far. Once we were home, safe, and returning to 'normal,' the brain and nerves didn't exactly get the message to calm down. One of the many wind-downs I've adopted over the years to cope with stress is, naturally, video games.
Certainly there are nostalgic games that many of us occasionally return to in order to relax and feel better. Despite growing up on mainly C64 and the NES, my teens were mostly spent with the SNES, and that's the 'comfort' game system to which I most often return.
Though its no longer annual (it once was), I still periodically go through Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Contra III, Castlevania IV, TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, Axelay, Starfox, Gradius III, Super Mario World, and F-Zero. These and about a dozen others are comfort blankets, warm milk, a soothing Calgon for my mood.
Calgon? What, you don't remember this?
Anyway.
I still return to those old favorites from time to time, though the pool has since expanded. In college it grew by way of Tempest 2000/X3, Unreal Tournament, and Soul Calibur. Once meeting and dating my beloved, de-stressing via gaming became an occasional co-op affair. Until then I was unaware it was possible to zone out and decompress so well with someone else; previously the purposeful isolationism was assumed to be a necessary part of the therapy, but somehow sharing the experience with an understanding partner helped in a fresh, new way.
My Beloved's 'comfort' game system is the Dreamcast, with a similar large library of perennials include the Dead or Alive series, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead II, the You Don't Know Jack series, and the Fable series. (Note most of these can be two player.)
Incidentally, the first night I asked her out on a date (for the next night) and she said yes, for obvious reasons I could not sleep. I crashed on the couch and tried to speedrun through the NES Legend of Zelda. Funneling my nervous energy and tunneling my runaway thought train, my dexterity finally gave out around the seventh dungeon at around 4 a.m. I could finally sleep, and sleep I did, at least until a good friend of mine woke me up because he needed his bathtub, which I happened to be using in my unconscious state.
Fast forward several years later, and I'm sitting next to the same wonderful woman, this time in the hospital as she recovered from giving birth to our newborn. Three times over, each with complications. Three extended hospital stays, each with various stages of no sleep and nervous results. No Super Nintendo or Dreamcast here, a DS and the first two Etrian Odyssey games accompany me through long nights and restless days. Turn-based action means no problem for her IV tapped hand to hold one of mine. The slow, grindy pace fills the odd time lapses. The strategy, loadout customization and map creation give my ravenous mind some bones on which to gnaw. We leave several days later, exhausted, with another member of the family in tow and many, many hours logged on our portables.
For modern consoles, often the steady flow and rhythm of a balanced FPS like Unreal Tournament or Halo fits the mood. Other times the intensity and draining concentration of a polished shmup such as Gate of Thunder or Mars Matrix fits the bill. Any genre that requires fast reflexes can be useful for burning up excess nervous energy. But for me, nothing gives an automatic reflex of comfort like picking up that SNES controller. My friends, family, and of course my Faith pull me through difficult, even scary times. But it is a great blessing to have video games to help.
After finishing Remember Me, I mentally placed it on the shelf in my mind labeled "glad I finished, also glad I'm done playing it." On that imaginary row also sits El Shaddai, Enslaved, and even Walking Dead Season One. (That last one mainly due to how poorly it ran/played on PS3, and I read the 360 version played even worse.) Games I wanted to experience, mainly due to the art design, story, or experience of the game's world.
Games I kept plodding through, often despite not really enjoying the gameplay much of the time.
That can seem counter-intuitive to people not as easily enraptured with the medium of video games as I can be. Much like a audiophile closing out everything but a sublime piece of music, a movie lover watching the same film dozens of times, or a sports team fan painting their bodies and making it to every game, I have a passion for my specific pastime, a deeply-rooted affection for the hobby I've enjoyed since my youth.
That doesn't really explain why I sometimes play through games I don't necessarily enjoy playing. It may lead assumptions to the opposite; having quite the knowledge base of available interactive entertainments (and a decently-sized pool from which to choose from at home) why would I stick with something not so fun, instead of booting up the next game in my backlog or replaying a favorite? In an admittedly somewhat laughable (and pretentious-sounding) response, I sometimes do it for art.
To those who do not perceive video games as art, I'm not writing to convince otherwise. There is a different manner to frame the concept though, one to which I've always gravitated to by default. Let's start with some components; A graphic artist, using different mediums, constructs the design assets to be used in-game. A musician, some using circuit boards, others using symphony orchestras, writes and conducts the pieces of music for the game. Sometimes, a writer develops a story the game is to tell. Each of these components, when removed (or even completely divorced from) the wholly constructed video game, could be judged and critiqued for artistic merit, and would in general be considered pieces of 'art' themselves.
For example, sometimes a game's art assets are published as a book, displaying mediums such as watercolor, pencil, and CG. Albums of instrumental music written for a video games are sometimes compared to other moving, emotional works of audio expression. And while video game stories are often (and honestly, probably deservedly so) lambasted as being of little relevance compared to great literary works, occasional gems of worth arise, as in any literary genre.
In other words, once taken apart, a video game's individual components could easily be judged as art. And yet once compiled, with the added layer of interaction, such a thing is seen by some to reduce the parts to less than a whole in terms of artistic merit. Yet the interactivity, the 'gameplay' as it were, is yet another delicate component of creativity, balance, and experience; an art. Make these components serve a game, and the interactivity becomes the trunk of a tree that, to some critics, makes all of the beautiful leaves uselessly fall off. Even the roots of history, technology, and innovation that fed the entire construct is somehow automatically irrelevant.
As a gamer, I've always felt that a video game's gameplay should be the core, and ideally all other components serve that end. But sometimes like a painting that just never comes together, or a song that just doesn't hit that sweet spot between the ears, gameplay is not as fun as a player wants it to be. Perhaps the genre just doesn't connect. (I'm not much of a modern sports game player.) Maybe there are technical problems. (Hello, terrible frame rate and input lag on Walking Dead.) Perhaps despite everything coming together, it just doesn't feel 'fun.' (I've really, really tried to enjoy the latest Gran Turismo, the Killzone series, and even the earliest Tony Hawk games, but they never 'clicked' with me.)
However, sometimes the rest of the game is so compelling, that the gameplay takes a backseat to the desire to see the entire experience through. Such was the case with Remember Me. While I appreciated the intended design of the customizable combo melee combat, and how the rhythm of button presses integrated into gameplay and even music, it just felt 'off' to me the whole time. Maybe I was so used to the superlative design of Batman: Arkham Asylum, maybe I just never got the 'flow' of the game engine, maybe I just really really wanted a 'counter' mechanic, either way I didn't enjoy the combat. Or the platforming. Or the level design.
Why on earth did I keep playing?
I adored the gameworld. The Neo-Paris, cyberpunk art design. The interesting, high concept ideas such as memories-as-currency. The music, animation, setting, and sound design sold the experience very well. I wanted to explore every nook and cranny I was given; here was something interesting, and while I couldn't explore where I wanted to go, the glimpses were worth it.
I bought the art book before I got the game; I think that may have automatically put me in some form of hipster territory.
Anyway, I treated Remember Me as I have many other games that showed me an enthralling place. I toured it like a museum, absorbing the art displayed all around, taking in this strange, interesting place. Sure, I got frustrated when I was shown something inaccessible that piqued my interest and it sometimes felt like I was tripping as much as walking, but it was fascinating, different, and most importantly, worthwhile. Like any good museum.
A friend of mine once visited and stood staring at our huge bookshelves full of video game strategy guides almost all night long. He'd take one down, thumb through it for awhile, and then replace it with another. After a few hours (!) I joked that he could just walk a few feet over and play most of those games instead of looking at pictures of them. He gave a slight frown and shook his head; he said that, anymore, just looking through guides and remembering them, looking at the art, seeing all the little nuances recorded in the guide, was as fun as going back and playing them.
I can't say that's entirely true for me, but I think I get what he's saying. Sometimes I don't have several hours to pour into a game, but I want to revisit it. This fellow showed me I have a gigantic stack of old tour guides right in the next room.
Next time I want to revisit Remember Me, I'll probably do so through the beautiful hardcover art book instead of firing up the game, but you never know. I have a lot of virtual Art museums I hope to peruse one day.
So we've been playing Beyond: Two Souls, and very much enjoying it. And while I do my best to be careful about reading reviews or even previews to games into whose story I want to invest, curiosity lead me to read occasional blurbs and conclusions.
And to no surprise, (especially concerning games by Quantic Dream) I found very polarized opinions and more than one conclusion claiming it was the most difficult game thus far to put a numbered score upon. I read statements alluding to or outright accusing director David Cage as a frustrated film-maker in the wrong medium, and the game and plot itself akin to a SyFy miniseries with a few button presses thrown in.
In the past I've seen the same criticism of everything from Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series to the FMV craze started by Dragon's Lair and mostly killed by Sega CD. From one end of the quality spectrum to another, even critical darlings such as Telltale's Walking Dead has detractors claiming it as little more than a Choose-Your-Own Adventure graphic novel.
It seems an obvious statement, that we all have different preferences in gaming, and while there can definitely be agreement about technical flaws such as bad framerates and (unintentionally) sluggish controls, ideally gaming culture in both critical and commercial circles would give appreciation to all variations of interactive entertainments. Sadly, we all know, this is not the case.
Part of the problem with rating video games, indeed most media, is that while there are methods of determining technical merits or faults, concepts like 'fun,' 'enjoyment,' or even 'entertainment' is so subjective that each person experiences it differently. There are designs that appeal to greater demographics, such as Tetris, Wii Sports, and Super Mario Bros. However, that doesn't automatically make less commercially successful games less entertaining; I really enjoyed the critically panned Aliens: Colonial Marines, Dead Space 3, and Halo Wars.
However, instead of just shrugging it off as a matter of preference, sometimes games are completely dismissed because of assumptions and preferences. Many comments concerning Beyond: Two Souls claim that there is too much watching and not enough playing, that the gameplay is too simple, and that because these ratios do not meet a certain unnamed target the game itself is not worthwhile. (There is also criticism of the story quality, another subjective quantifier.) Again, there are technical faults that can negatively effect the overall quality of the game, but most of the negativity leveled at Beyond: Two Souls seems to come from a reviewer's desire for the game to be something altogether different than what it is trying to be.
To completely dismiss a game because the gameplay design doesn't parallel other games seems akin to complaining that Madden doesn't have enough racing or puzzle-solving. Beyond: Two Souls is not supposed to have combat like Street Fighter. Walking Dead was not designed as an RPG. Even Dragon's Lair could be considered to have more interactivity than most of the extremely popular endless running games. The very element that makes games unique, interactivity, has not been (and arguably cannot be) subject to universal, specific requirements, other than simply being present. A movie is, by nature of the medium, not interactive; giving any outside agency to a viewing audience, and it is no longer simply a movie, but a different form of interactive entertainment. Is it fun? Worth 'playing?' It's all up to the person experiencing.
I for one have a great appreciation for many games that some hardly if at all consider 'games.' Sewer Shark remains one of my favorites of the early cd-rom era, and I'm the first to admit the thin veil of gameplay over switchable video segments. Yet the player agency was 'enough' for me to have a great time with it, and I still load up the 3DO version every now and then. It's not the fact that I enjoy it that makes it a game; if it were a movie, I wouldn't have watched it more than a time or two. I have fun with it because I enjoy playing, interacting with it. Dragon's Lair, for as many people that have long since outgrown its initial awe factor, still gets constantly ported to anything that will run it, and for as much maligned as the FMV genre of gaming is, there are many fans who still play them.
As we play Beyond: Two Souls, I do sometimes get frustrated at not being able to do what I'd like at times. But its the same desire that lead me to drive for that volcano in Battlezone, or shoot the dog in Duck Hunt. Once gaming gained 'sandbox' and 'open-ended' game designs, I found that without these constraints I lost interest more quickly. I may have loved Legos as a kid (and still do) but I found that when it comes to video games, my personality would rather look for ways to run left in Super Mario Bros. than play Minecraft. To each their own, and that's the point; games like Beyond: Two Souls are not less of a game, just a game with a different design in mind.
And as video games expand, so do ambitions to explore more and different things with them. Perhaps more pointedly, if Walking Dead and Beyond: Two Souls did not play as they do, folks like my Beloved would have far less interest in them, and that's justification enough for me.
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