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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.
I tend to brag about my true gaming 'Holy Grail,' my beloved gamer wife. She may not get to play often, and would describe her skillset as more Words with Friends than Dark Souls, but any chick whose gaming history includes Albert Odyssey, Crazy Taxi, and the original Legend of Zelda has cred in my book.
However, my Beloved's latest gaming experiences haven't involved her playing; she's also my co-op partner without a controller. In the last year we've completed the Mass Effect Trilogy, Binary Domain, Bioshock Infinity, Catherine and many others, cuddled together in a two-person recliner. She may not be pressing buttons, but she's sharing the game with me, discussing story in slow moments, thumbing through a strategy guide, or pointing out things in the environment I miss. During slower moments such as RPG grinding, she may have a book in her lap or article on her phone, yet her attention is at a moment's notice. Like a co-driver in professional Rally racing, she isn't just another warm body in the adjacent seat, shouting preemptive directions and adding weight distribution; she's a partner, experiencing a version of what I'm experiencing, and helping when my attention is diverted. Primarily, she's there to share my adventures and have fun.
This method of co-op gaming doesn't limit itself to this dynamic; I love finding excuses to sit down with any friend and go through a game together, even single player. When the first Silent Hill movie released in theaters, me and a fellow Silent Hill enthusiast buddy named Mike sat down with the first two Silent Hill games, drenching ourselves in the dim atmosphere and reliving the mood before going to the movie. It didn't matter that only one of us played at a time; the other person was helping to solve puzzles or navigating the occasional labyrinthine environment.
Often a game needs no excuse for this form of co-op other than being a great game; the above experience happened again with a different friend for Resident Evil 4, a game we wanted to play immediately upon release. We stayed up several nights, occasionally swapping the controller between each other. The same thing happened later with Condemned: Criminal Origins. (If it weren't for Pat playing navigator with the guide's map, I'd have never found my way through that game!) We later played through Resident Evil 5 together, and while we hugely enjoyed the built-in co-op, I can't say it was a better or worse experience; just a different way to play together.
Pat has been gracious enough to show me through the entirety of every Metal Gear Solid game (except the first, I did go through that one myself) including every easter egg and hidden scene (he's a bit of a Metal Gear completionist) and if it were not for him, I'd likely never have experienced, much less enjoyed, that series nearly as much as I do now. Pat and I have completed everything from Rescue Rangers and Contra to Gears of War 1-3 together, yet some of my favorite gaming co-op memories with him are ones in which one of us didn't have a controller.
I've shared it here before, but it fits well in this article. Before some of my close friends passed away, I had some wonderful memories of us gaming all night together, passing a controller around for Battle for Olympus, Castlevania III, and Eternal Darkness, among others. Those games now have even more precious memories attached than a fun gameplay experience. Some even have save files or passwords of the last moments of time we spent hanging out. Call me sappy, but it keeps good thoughts readily accessible once in a blue moon when missing those friends over times past.
For the first time, my Beloved recently shared from the playing side: I watched (and jumped along-side) her as she played the Walking Dead Season 1. Next up, we've already penned in Beyond: Two Souls once it comes out next week. When we play games featuring less... walking dead things, our kids are always chomping at the bit to grab a controller, though they're just as ready to cheer on mom and dad on those tough bosses or time trials. We've also begun searching for more games such as Super Mario Galaxy, certain Final Fantasy titles, and the Tales of... series that have asymmetrical co-op designs, where a secondary player can help at a more relaxed, even sedentary helper role that can be ideal for children, friends who want to hang out, or a significant other who wants to be involved.
It can take a bit of effort to develop such a socially inclusive atmosphere. Western society doesn't exactly lend itself anymore to family and friends all gathering around the single living room TV for a few rounds of Combat or Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt. It is now industry standard to have our entertainment designed to be spread across as many personal devices as possible. And to be sure, some nights we all just want to do our own thing. But the purposeful, intentional inclusion of a social aspect to our gaming has paid in dividends, and (if you couldn't tell) I highly recommend it.
Before I seem like one of those jaded 'leave me alone and let me game' types the last entry may have implied, let me bring up another rare opportunity this new console generation is going to give;
Something shiny that gives an excuse for us all to gather 'round the TV and hang out.
One of the many changes in gaming culture that happened from growing out of a niche hobby into a mainstream staple, is that inevitably the 'newness' of video games is long gone. No longer a novelty box with extra chords plugging into that wooden framed 25"-er, chances are grandma plays a few social games on facebook and your parents kill a few hours with Angry Birds or Candy Crush on an iPad/iPhone/calculator watch. (Do they still have those?)
Nowadays, it is likely more people you know play some form of video game than don't, and that sure wasn't true for most of us in our youth. Video games are now so entrenched in our society that pretty much anything electronic is expected to feature some interactive 'for fun' element. I'm waiting for my kids to ask what else our digital thermostat 'plays.'
Whereas in the past, millions of marketing dollars were spend just to get people to be aware of, and understand what is, a new console, now billions of marketing dollars are spend to regenerate excitement beyond a 'meh, slightly better graphics and now I wave my arms at a camera that may or may not be spying on me.'
Back in the day, if you were the first on the block to own a 2600, NES, or Genesis, suddenly you had friends you didn't know the name of, asking for a turn. In my C64 days, more kids came through our living room than the local arcade. And two player games could get riotous, in a good way, with everyone fidgeting excitedly as they stared at the action onscreen and awaited their turn.
It may sound like I'm only waxing nostalgic, pining for bygone days where the freshness of video games brought more excitement and attention. Living rooms in our modern world aren't exactly 'Leave it to Beaver' style family gathering spaces anymore. In fact, Nintendo is largely criticized as being out of touch with modern gamers by designing the Wii U as a device made for such an environment. Local multiplayer focus instead of online focus? A private screen to play on so someone else could watch the 'big TV' while you play games in the same room? Hey Nintendo, did you focus test this thing in the 80s?
Unless Nintendo, true to their word, really isn't interested in more FPS and GTA experiences. Instead of catering to that environment, they are giving the tools to generate the experiences such as the one outlined in my youth. When Christmas day comes and the kids open up that Wii U, we're going to have a blast with four-player Super Mario Wii U. We're going to spend some family time puzzle-solving through Scribblenauts Unlimited. And when the kids finally go to bed, Wind Waker HD and I have some catching up to do. Probably while my beloved watches Scrooged on our 'big TV.'
But let's not even count the Wii U. By carefully cultivating an environment that encourages a group to hang out in the same area, weekend gaming is always socially rewarding. Our collection is not just out on display; it is all set up and ready to go. TVs are lined up, old and new systems next to each other, just waiting to be played. Our family is very much into social gaming, and most of the time we're not on all on the same game. As much fun as it is to have an intense Halo LAN match, hilarious 8 player Bomberman game, and full Rock Band setup going, our friends are comfortable turning on a single player game and just spending time together while we all play what we're in the mood for.
Its kind of the 'older adult' version of that youth experience; everyone knows they can come in and just enjoy themselves, play what they want (respecting kids bedtimes and M rated games, etc.) and still be social, even engaging. Or just sit, relax and enjoy the environment and friends without expectation.
Which brings us back around to the advent of the PS4. For the first time since the 360/PS3 launch, we have something new and interesting to plug in and try out. Interest and even excitement can be contagious in a group of friends, and those who could care less often still find themselves with controller in hand, trying out the new hardware. For the first time in a long time, a group stares at a single player experience as player one takes the machine through its paces. Folks debate the differences in graphics and control, and for brief moments something new and engaging is shared amongst like-minded people. At least for a little while, every new game that comes out is something to at least try, and see if anything new is brought to the table.
In the modern age of gaming, sometimes we forget how near-magical it really is to have such wonderful toys. Maybe some of us are too-far gone to care, and some never have. But with the right mindset, we don't have to try and recapture lightning in a bottle. We just have to remember what its like to be excited the next time a thunder cloud comes, bottles ready.
So, I picked up our family's special Zelda edition Wii U today. I've been happily updating the system and testing a few used games (bought on sale in anticipation of the system), and as I write I'll be downloading Wind Waker, despite reserving the physical copy that comes with a Gannondorf statue.
All of this is being done out of site of the kids, and once I'm done, it'll all be packed up and hidden... for over three months.
The Wii U is our family's Christmas gift to our family, and our boys are eagerly saving up chore money until then to buy their own games. I'll admit, it will take a bit of mental hand-slapping to pack it up all up again and be patient, but such is the duty of a responsible parent. And in the meantime, we do own a *few* other games I could play.
After several updates to the system and each game, as well as the network setup, it definitely reminded me of an unfortunate advantage our older consoles had; plug and play.
Gamers my age likely remember a Christmas or birthday that painted this scenario:
First, a younger us excitedly tearing the wrapping off a new Atari/Coleco/Intellivision/NES/Genesis/SNES/Sega CD/Turbo Grafx/Game Boy/Neo Ge-HA! WE WISHED!!- etc. and after mom/dad/uncle/older sibling figured out how to connect it to the TV, we slapped that first cartridge in and a new, unexplored (besides store demos), vibrant, virtual world awaited us. Part of the appeal was the immediacy; once that system was hooked up, all that was required was finding a controller and game and you were good to go.
Now, every new system requires some form of setup. Sometimes we get by just inputting a region and name, but nowadays we have profiles, internet setup, firmware updates, game updates, day one patches, and on and on. One of the things that made me slow to incorporate the PS3 into my common gaming was how often I would purchase a new game, unwrap it, pop it in... and mandatory installs or updates required me to spend anywhere between five minutes to a few hours (looking at you, Gran Tourismo 5) before I could actually play. For a guy who's game time is often measured in less than an hour, even a fifteen minute chunk of un-interactive screen staring means I'm thinking of a different game to play.
All this time setting up the Wii U (not to mention downloading Wind Waker!) made me feel bad for any younger kids who gets a new Xbox One, PS4, or Wii U on Christmas... and then have to wait while online accounts are set up, profiles created, updates delayed due to server overloads, installs required...
Yeah, boo-hoo, first world problem, not a biggie. Make those rug-rats go play football in the snow or play a real board game with Grandma while they wait, just like we had to do when we didn't even have a game system to wait on!
Which got me thinking about how picky we really are about games. My preference over the years for consoles instead of PC gaming developed in part because of the setup required for computer gaming. Nowadays though its pretty much the same; install, check for patches/updates, customize the controls, create a save-game... am I playing on a PC or a 360/PS3? With social media integration, messaging services, and apps such as Netflix, there is often little difference. Some gamers delight in this; a 'share' button on their controller, DV-R for their gameplay, instant tweets over gamerscore.
I know I can be a cranky old-timer when it comes to gaming, but most of the time, if I could skip signing in to my game machine altogether, I would. My 'gaming career' of scores, time spent on games, and K/D ratios can be fun to keep track of and compare/compete with friends, but there is a reason I have my profiles set to "always show offline." I game in very different, often dichotomic moods; sometimes to survive a Horde of Locusts with fellow Gears in co-op bliss, sometimes to blow things up alone to work out frustrations. Sometimes to get a quick, frantic fix of some Robotron 2084; sometimes to play a slow marathon of Tetris while my brain processes the backlog queue. Point is, the game machine is there to 'serve' my use, and somehow in the name of features and connectivity, we've enslaved ourselves to maintaining them. Just keeping the 360 LAN updated so my friends and I can sit and play anything we want any given weekend can be a tremendous chore of keeping each system and hard-drive updated and correctly connected for any game we'll possibly play.
And in a thought that could easily generate enough content for another article, this perpetually required attention extends from consoles to the games themselves. I lose interest in games like GTAIV because of the required in-game social maintenance for virtual characters. I have a difficult enough time keeping up with all my real-world social responsibilities; making sure Niko calls his girlfriend or relative may sell a more realistic experience, but when gameplay breaks down to what feels like tedious exercises to me, I quickly lose interest. I recognize this as a 'different strokes for different folks' paradigm, of course; I've completed many a JRPG or StratRPG that bored my beloved to tears. (Gave her plenty of time to read, though.)
Perhaps therein lies one of the many reasons classic cartridge systems are always connected across our home; we're always a few seconds away from another round of Super Mario 3 or Galaga.
And now I can't wait to hear my kids ask about that collection of giant, black, 'vinyl Blu-Rays' under the entertainment stand...
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Posted on Sep 13th 2013 at 05:35:47 PM by ( slackur) Posted under Early Adopters, NES,SNES,PS,PS2,PS3,PS4,XB360,BBQ,OMG,RLY |
Every time new video game consoles come out, we hear the same antagonism.
Why on earth would we functionally pay a premium for a brand-new piece of hardware that
a.) is at its most expensive upon the launch window,
b.) naturally begins with fewer games than any time in its lifecycle,
c.) has not been tested for longevity or long-term reliability,
d.) is unproven for consistent support in games and accessories,
e.) has full priced, first generation games that likely cannot compete with the slew of hardware pushing, cheaper games made during the last few years of the previous console,
f.) requires an entirely new batch of full-priced controllers, accessories, dongles, do-dads, batteries, pieces, parts, gumballs, etc.,
g.) almost always have a dreaded equivalent to the Great N64 Game Drought, and
h.) will have a better, cheaper, newer version out by the time it proves itself?
To that, I say: ...yup.
Really, if someone is not the type to buy a console at launch, they are probably not wired to be convinced by exciting sales pitches or exuberant fanboyism. I've worked in video-gaming retail for over a decade, including the two biggest retailers, as well as mom-and-pop stores (R.I.P., Endless Entertainment), and while I've convinced some folks who were on the fence about buying a launch console, I learned not to trying changing the mind of a level-headed nay-sayer.
And I understand their logic! If you're not 'into' a launch system, it would likely be a colossal waist of money. However, that does not mean early adopters are automatically being ridiculous either. This far into our industry's history, there are now visible trends that help make launch window purchases more palatable, even preferable.
(Keep in mind this is being written by a guy who bought an Atari Jaguar and all the trimmings at launch. If your name is not Redd, you probably just winced. )
First off, the most important thing for a game console: games.
Everyone knows that it takes at least a year or two for a console to come out with some games that would make it worth owning. (Or longer, in the case of Game.com. We're still waiting.) Except, that's not universally true. Sure, it takes years for a console's library to pick up steam, but there are too many examples of launch window games that carried their respective systems enough to warrant the initial purchase, at least for many people.
Some of the best examples include:
Combat (A26)
Donkey Kong (Coleco)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Tetris (GB)
Blue Lightning (Lynx)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Ridge Racer (PSX)
Halo (Xbox)
For many gamers, the cost of the system was justified simply to play these launch games, with the expectation that other great games would eventually follow. Of course, no discussion on the topic is complete without mentioning the greatest selling video game of all time (as of April 2013), Wii Sports. Sure, it makes many of us groan just to mention it, but it cannot be denied than much like Tetris on Gameboy, gamers and 'non-gamers' alike bought the system just to play that game without really having an expectation to play anything else on it. There is such a mass appeal to play that one thing that the cost of the system is worth it, as if it were a machine built with just that game to play. I have to admit all these years later, I still enjoy a round of Wii Sports Bowling. My guess is that many of the 'haters' who initially liked Wii Sports before the Wii became known as the Great Waggle Shovelware Box would still have fun with a few rounds of multiplayer Wii Sports.
There are other reasons early-adopters are not necessarily unthinking fanboys. As much criticism (often earned) as Gamestop and its ilk get from their pre-order schemes, often folks use pre-orders as a lay-away plan to get a system they could not afford otherwise. $400+ is a lot to come off of at once, but $20 every two weeks for a few months? Much more do-able. Obviously, it would make more sense to just save that much out of each check and exert self-control, but I'm no money coach. Plus, often there are pre-order incentives for reserving, or perhaps the system is a gift for a specific date (Christmas, birthday) and the cut-off for system availability is much earlier. There are indeed a few scenarios in which buying a launch system makes practical financial sense, as much as buying video games ever makes practical financial sense. 
For 'core' gamers, there may be another incentive for early adoption. Historically, as consoles reach later redesigns of hardware, the thought that a console gets better with each iteration is a bit of a misnomer.
Sure, there are stacks of broken 1st gen 360s and PS2s to argue otherwise (many of them are stacked in my garage.) but consoles almost universally begin to lose features for every revision. The examples are everywhere;
As much desired as a top-loader NES is, it outputs exclusively in RF, and has visible line noise.
Buying a Sega Genesis with the best components requires a weekend college course and study guide (http://www.sega-16.com/fo...-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones) but its pretty universal to say that the last versions, Model 3, are stripped down and incompatible with certain games and hardware.
My Super Nintendo Model 2 has no power LED and no native RF, S-Video, or RGB, all supported in the first model.
The original Playstation revisions lost ports used for cheat devices and (more importantly to me) system linking.
The PS2 lost its own system linking iLink port. The slim model, designed without the necessary expansion bay for the hard drive, was released the same year as Final Fantasy XI, a game that required the HD. (Boy, do I remember that. I finally convinced myself to invest in FFXI a week before the Slim was revealed.) As problematic as the PS2 system became for disc read errors, the lack of effective internal cooling meant that the Slims had their own hardware problems.
The PS3, in a rush to follow its lineage, has lost everything from USB ports, operating system options (linux), and video playback with anything besides HDMI, to backwards compatibility options (as has the Nintendo Wii.)
The Xbox360 lost its own propriety memory card ports (while gaining USB drive options, which did not help my stack of memory cards used for LAN profile swapping.)
I miss being able to play GBA games on the later DS models, and newer, brighter screens also included more ghosting.
Even the new, slimmer Vita is catching criticism for replacing the OLED screen for a newer LCD tech.
Admittedly, sometimes the difference is just personal preference; I like the feel of the original, wider Atari Lynx, and the second, smaller model (despite better battery life) was still way too big to be truly portable. Another example for me is the PS3; despite how monolithic the first generation was, all of the revisions felt cheaper and cheaper.) I prefer the heft and locking mechanism of the PSP 1000, and though it does have ghosting I like that better than the artifacts on the 2/3000.
Granted, most of what was lost in these revisions do not effect the majority of people playing games on them, and were dropped to save cost accordingly. Many features can be restored or even improved through hardware modification. And the last generation continued to add to a console's abilities (and ads) for everything from better video output to Netflix support. But a case can be made that early versions of gaming hardware include features that make them preferable to later models, and are therefore worthwhile investments. (I'm not joking when I say that part of my desire to buy an early model PS4 is directly related to Sony's history of re-designs.)
In the end, its about what a gamer wants to play. The same rules apply to a launch console as it does to every other console: don't buy a system if nothing is out or on the horizon that you want to play. I'm excited for Battlefield 4 and Destiny, and I don't game on PC, so a launch PS4 fit my parameters, especially since I have one reserved and pay a little at a time. With the Playstation Plus service promising free games starting at launch, it made the most sense to me.
Even if a difficult economy wasn't a concern, any large entertainment purchase should be a matter of thoughtful consideration, and not a snap-decision. Perhaps the same could be said about being critical of early-adopters.
Video game collecting can be a strange thing, no?
Here's my reflection that produced the above thought (not that its the first time I came to said conclusion.) I just finished the DLC chapter of Dead Space 3, called Awakened. I completed the game once solo and a second time co-op, which is how I played the latter.
The DLC chapter was well written for what it was, quite short (2 to 2.5 hours or so), and mostly served as a story lead-in to a theoretical sequel, since DS3's original conclusion brought a sense of definitive closure to the series. I'm glad I played it, and given my head-shaking, nope-nope attitude toward gaming's digital future (and present) I'm glad I waited until the DLC was on sale before picking it up.
As a consumer, I have sent the message to Microsoft and EA that I absolutely refuse to purchase digital-only gaming content... unless I really want it and I can get it for cheap. Looking back, that's the story of my purchase history. Fair enough. I may be hypocritical, but at least I'm consistently so.
What I find even more strange is my willingness to purchase retro games for much more than digital content, even games I know I will likely put little to no time into playing.
A rough but telling example; both me and my DS3 co-op buddy refused to pay more than $5 for the Awakened DLC. It is something we desired to play, but we likely would have never budged on our plan if the content did not go on sale.
And yet if I ever saw Cheetahmen II or, heaven forbid, Stadium Events, for $10, Of course I'd buy them. Or $15, or $50, or... yeah. Keep in mind, if I bought them, I would not 'flip' them, selling at profit, so I would not be operating under the obvious financial motivation. It would be part of the media collection we use to connect with people.
Now, I'm well aware of how awful Cheetahmen II plays, and that I already own Stadium Events in all but name and cart-label with World Class Track Meet. Therefore, aside from morbid curiosity, I have no desire to play either. I would not be interested in selling them. I don't consider myself a hoarder. (Why are you laughing?) I also do not like the idea of flaunting physical possessions in the face of someone who desires but does not own such things.
So why on earth would I pay much, much more for something I would not play, and inversely I am reluctant to purchase something I am ready and willing to enjoy?
Its easy to use the ''because I don't want to support digital instead of physical copies" excuse, but that doesn't apply to the games that are already out on disc, and I am awaiting a sale or price-drop. Of course money is the next, or even first excuse, but why then do I still spend money on old games I won't play? I'm sure I'm not alone on this site when it comes to occasionally scouring the 'net to find some retro games for cheap, even games I have no desire to actually play through.
For some, it can be a fun meta-game, looking at huge collection numbers, comparing or even competing on collection size or subgenre completion. Much like achievements or trophies, these arbitrary numbers are part or even most of how these gamers enjoy gaming. Why?
For the same reason an RPG fan is at a loss to explain how grinding and random-looking number screens are fun when discussing such with a non-fan.
Or when an MMORPG player is discussing guilds and patches and expansions to someone who thinks Azeroth is a term they forgot in Geometry class.
Or when telling a Battlefield fan how their preferred game is a sub-par Call-of-Duty clone, and witnessing how virtual violence can in fact translate to IRL violence.
Or the annual Madden/Fifa fan discusses at length to me how great/disappointing their game/franchise/team/player/mascot is this year.
Or the same reason I still go to movie theaters, despite having a home entertainment system that outclasses many of them:
We are all wired to not only enjoy different things, but also with preferences on how we enjoy them. And not just for acquiring or collecting; some of us have a favorite chair/couch/plastic crate/floor/nimbus cloud that we game from, and cannot fully enjoy otherwise. Some refuse to play on anything but original hardware, including arcade cabs; some will not pay more than $10 for any video game period, and for some of us, the hunt for cheap retro games we'll probably never play is a game itself, and is as fun as actually playing a game.
My current 'Holy Grail' gaming search is for a CIB Beyond Shadowgate, the last game of my youth that was stolen and never replaced. And yet, even if I could, I wouldn't trade for it a single memory of the gaming hunts my beloved and I have enjoyed. And we've shared countless ones.
Some things are just far more valuable to me.
Video game collecting can be a strange thing.
(With the kiddies back in school, I've finally gotten a chance to sit down and return to my fun job; writing for RFGen!)
I can easily follow the internet collective's double-take on the 2DS. As has been commented (predicted? ) here, the 2DS comes across more like Nintendo's engineering department accidentally following up on discarded notes from R&D's drunken April Fools party. When offical pictures of your product look photoshopped right out of the gate, with a concept pulled from the punchline of an old joke, it's easy to question whether any publicity (bad) is still good publicity.
And yet, as I shook my head over how wacky Nintendo can be, I quickly realized who they intended to buy this thing;
Me.
After the touch screen to our original Mario Kart DS system lost sensitivity, I gave it to my six-year-old (whose favorite game, Mario Kart DS, didn't need the touch controls anyway). He carried it around everywhere, and despite my consistent warnings, he'd carry it by pinching the corner of the top half. Sure enough, after one drop the hinge broke off, and then later the top screen gave up the ghost and went all-white. Now its in a corner of my project room, waiting a resurrection as a modified GBA.
Which means my son fits squarely in the announced demographic for this new wedge-shaped oddity. Will we get this new square peg for our little square hole? (That felt weird to write. I gotta get an editor.)
Truthfully, probably not. At least, not soon; our Wii U Zelda Edition was just pre-ordered (family Christmas present to each-other) and with the 2DS announced at $30 past that magic number 99, I'll loan him the DS Lite for awhile. But for the holidays, this newfangled contraption actually fits a niche more than we may know. Its no more designed for the folks making fun if it than a Leapster or Jitterbug Phone. Its sturdier and purposefully more disposable than our sexy 3DSXLs or Vitas. Its Nintendo doing what Nintendo does; finding a market that could be better targeted and going after it. We here at RFG may be mostly 'core' gamers, but when Angry Birds and Just Dance are two of the best-selling franchises of all time, businesses are more interested in where the money is coming from now and where is the next potential source of revenue.
Its the same reason the XBox One was not primarily designed with the 'core' gamers market at the, well, core. 'Core' gamers no longer pay the bills; the millions of Netflix and Cable/Satellite subscribers are now the bigger, and bigger paying, market. There is simply not enough money to be made in a console exclusive to games in today's 'connected' world. When a developer sees the crazy money made from service providers, mobile games, and FTP models, it becomes impossible to justify to their investors a model that, at best, won't pull in the same revenue numbers as the competition. I hate to say it, but the Wii U's biggest hurdle is not the ridiculous name, the confusion of whether it is a new system or an upgrade, or market awareness; the problem is that all it really does is play games. No Blu-ray movies, no fancy TV watching, limited social media integration, no real life outside of gaming. (Netflix may be present, but its so ubiquitous now it almost doesn't count.) The success of mobile gaming has taught game developers what marketeers have always known; the largest, most lucrative demographic will sacrifice quality for convenience and accessibility every time. (Hello McDonalds, Subway, etc.) The reason Microsoft has spent decades trying to get a 'One' service provider box into the home is obvious; most folks will eventually forget (and not put money into) an extra box they do less with.
I'm excited for the PS4 and Wii U (now that the game library is picking up steam [not Steam, but boy, talk about a killer 'app']) precisely because I prefer a gaming system for gaming, but I'm well aware of how, and why, the gaming industry has changed. The backlash on the XBox One shows that the 'future' of gaming is not quite here, but it is inevitably coming. We're no longer just seeing the signs, we're already turned on the off-ramp and picking up speed to merge onto the highway.
Hey, if we're already on this road, someone in our car will much more likely be playing a 2DS than a phone game...
OK, maybe some Words with Friends.
CCAG (Cleveland's Classic Console & Arcade Gaming Show) 2013 has now come and gone.
http://www.ccagshow.com/
And wow, I just have so much to say. First, the non-mushy stuff you care about;
[img width=700 height=393]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/CCAG2013.jpg[/img]
And since I'm a terrible photographer using a tablet camera, here's the breakdown.
Bomberman Inflatable Bomb
Pac-Man Fever Vinyl
Bally Astrocade:
-Bally Pin (CIB)
-Grand Prix/Demolition Derby (CIB)
-Galactic Invasion (CIB)
-Basic w/ built in Audio Interface (CIB)
-Space Fortress
-Multicart
PC:
King's Quest VII (CIB)
X-Com Apocalypse (CB)
3DO:
Who Shot Johnny Rock (CI)
PS2:
Commandos 2
NES:
Sweet Home (repro)
Summer Carnival '92 Raging Fire Recca (repro)
PC Engine CD:
Vasteel (CIB)
Space Adventure II (CIB)
Super Famicom:
Battle Dodge Ball II
Retro Gamer Issues 104-108
Xbox:
Stake: Fortune Hunter (CIB)
Genesis:
Twinke Tale (repro) (CB)
Pulseman (repro)(CB)
Command Control TI 99 Joystick Adapter (CIB)
SNES
Bahamut Lagoon (repro)
BS Legend of Zelda (repro)
Virtual Boy:
Virtual Pro Yakyu '95
Colecovision:
Root Beer Tapper
Congo Bongo
Facemaker
A26
Ladybug (CI) (Homebrew)
Dungeon (CI) (Homebrew)
SSSnake (CI)
Space Combat
Outer Space
Pooyan
Pressure Cooker
Crash Dive
Summer Games
Sea Hawk (CIB)
Off the Wall (CIB)
PSX:
Zero Divide (CIB)
A52:
Gorf
Mountain King
Space Shuttle
Robotron 2084
Pitfall!
GBA:
Need For Speed: Most Wanted
Jaguar:
Defender 2000
DS:
Game and Watch Collection 2 (sealed, though not for long!)
Famicom:
Volguard II
Hector '87
Uchuu Keibitai SDF
Saturn:
Winter Heat (CIB)
Nintendo Power Dynowarz Poster/River City Ransom Map
Dissidia Final Fantasy Soundtrack Excerpt CD
Zaxxon Milton Bradley Board Game, one complete and one missing pieces
Interesting notes:
The A26 Dungeon and Ladybug carts were our first Chinese Auction win, from seven years attending. Funny enough, my beloved and I were going back and forth about where some of our tickets went when our winning number was called. XD
It was only a year or two ago that we took a real interest in repros. In fact, it was largely our own Crabmaster turning me onto a Summer Carnival '92 Recca, and Redd McKnight selling me a Mother Famicom translation repro that got me started. Seeing as how I'm a gamer before a collector, and I have no working knowledge of Japanese, some of these repros fit my interests perfectly, such as Sweet Home and Bahamut Lagoon. At the right price, I much prefer them over PC emulation. I even picked up another Recca because of a label and cart variation (not that I hunt down variants per se, but now that Recca is a personal favorite I like having a backup.) The BS Zelda is a particularly neat find, because it compiles the Satellaview Zelda chapters together into a complete game. Now I'm looking for an F-Zero Grand Prix cart!
There were many Famicom and Super Famicom games for sale, with the ability to demo them. The Famicom titles I picked up were shmups that impressed me, especially Uchuu Keibitai SDF. If I get enough time, I'd enjoy putting up some reviews.
I hear Zero Divide is pretty good, but I actually bought it CIB for a dollar to play the Tiny Phalanx unlockable.
Now, every CCAG my beloved likes to use the advantage of our favorite gaming event taking place the same week as Father's Day. She's always on the lookout for that cool find that she can surprise me with as a Father's Day present, and boy does she succeed. Our AES, some rare NES games, and cool Saturn or Dreamcast finds are a few examples of collection gifts she's found over the years.
Its become an interesting tradition; we get in and she asks what direction I'm going; she goes the opposite and we do our initial scouring run on either side, to meet somewhere in the middle. That way we cover as much ground as possible as soon as the doors are open, and there's a good chance she'll find a cool Father's Day gift to sneak away before I see it. This year was no different.
We met up about 45 minutes later, and she had that frown that spoke before she did; no real finds yet. At least, not that would qualify for what she wanted.
And finally we come to the Bally Astrocade. An older gentleman had a table with a few refurbished systems, and he was selling them for very good prices. Near the end of the day he only had one left, and I was very tempted, but I had spent quite a bit. Not as much as I brought, but enough to make me more conservative.
My beloved saw me chatting with this fellow, Mr. Ken, and came over to check things out. I started explaining about how impressed I was with the system, and how games like Gunfight were more complex and had better graphics than I expected. And of course, it was a system we didn't have, which always interests us.
She kind of nodded, and after a few minutes, pulled me away. She was torn; I certainly seemed interested, but she's never heard me mention the Bally before. Other finds she had confidence in because we'd chat about a Neo Geo or holes in our favorite system libraries. I never owned a Bally Astrocade, never knew anyone who had, and never really mentioned it until now. Sure, its a system we don't have, but...
That wasn't enough. She looks at me directly, with her 'this is important' body language, and explains that the Fathers Day Gift thing is not just about finding more video game stuff. I stay at home with the kids; I take care of them and our home. She tells me that she's not just seeking a gift of something I'd like, another trinket for the pile. In this annual moment, she seeks to honor me; to do more than show appreciation for the father of our children. She tells me that she looks to find or do something that displays a deeper respect and kindness for who I am to her, and that often translates to tracking down something that proves she knows me, really listens to my interests, and doesn't just look for something pricey that we don't have. Would she be honoring me with something she's never heard me mention during my lengthy, excited conversations about video games?
I'm taken aback; I know this wonderful woman better than anyone, and we've been married for almost a decade and a half; and yet she still stuns me.
Mr. Ken, the older gentleman with the Bally table, apparently has better hearing than his age may suggest. He's a very kind soul, and I've known him from previous years at the convention. He's been gaming since the literal beginning of the hobby, and some of his work is in the multicart he sells with the system. We have more than games in common; during previous conversations we've realized we're fellow musicians and believers in Christ.
Mr. Ken leans toward us a bit, and his finger brushes the handmade wooden cross I wear as it dangles over my chest. His soft eyes smile as he says that what we should do, as we already know, is to step outside a just give a prayer about it. He'll be here. We both nod and accept his sage wisdom.
After clearing our heads from the humid, human-packed convention center, we have a moment of genuine connection over each-other and our shared interests. And we do pray, not expecting an answer over a toy purchase, but a request for our hearts to be as they should and for our stewardship to be honoring.
When we return inside, Mr. Ken was still there of course, literally coaxing each passerby to smile. He turns and waves to us as we approach. He sells us the system, a multicart, and a compilation of software on four CD-Roms (including everything from games to an entire disc of chiptunes) with instructions on how to load them from a normal CD player, through a data cable, and into the BASIC cart he gives us with the system. He tosses in a free game. He sells the whole setup for far less than the prices he has on his table. Then he tells me he hopes our own marriage is as wonderful as his, 38 and 3/4 years before she passed. He still has a twinkle in his eyes as he talks about her.
I realize Mr. Ken and I have even more in common; we both recognized our own 'gaming' holy grails.
It was the best CCAG yet.
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