The Stupid Gamer

In the wake of the Virginia Tech University shootings, that worm Jack Thompson has crawled his way onto television once more to lay the blame on videogames. Newsflash Jack, teens play games. Just because some (not even all) of these shooting spree nutcases happened to play games, it doesn’t mean you can pin the reason for their insanity on Grand Theft Auto or, the ever popular scapegoat of yesteryear, Doom.

Here is a list of other things that teens do, including those that lost their mind and turned into killers:

• Wear clothing
• Drive cars
• Eat food on a daily basis (this includes drink)
• Attend school
• Breath air of varying levels of pollution
• Have parents
• Know people

How is Jack so sure that it’s the games that are turning these kids into killers? Weren’t there some campus shootings before violent games? Maybe we should focus in on the food issue. I guarantee if we stop allowing teens to eat food that they’ll stop their rampaging within a month or two and it will be a permanent fix.

I don’t mean to make light of a tragic situation, but it sorta pisses me off that this slimeball can get on the news to start pushing his personal agenda even before the victims have been properly identified, their families notified, and the real reasons for the tragedy have surfaced. If the guy really cared about people on an individual level, he’d show some respect by offering some condolences and waiting for families to properly grieve before getting political. Good show Jack, good show.

This happened a few days ago, but Sony officially announced that they’ll cease production and shipments of the 20GB version of the PlayStation 3; making the 60GB the only one available. I know, I know…we’re all thinking “why would Sony get rid of the one model that put them in a price range near the 360?” Well, according to Sony, the 20GB was being outsold 10 to 1 in comparison to the 60GB model. Well, that sounds reasonable, right? Sure it is, except for that Sony was shipping about 80% 60GB models to 20% 20GB models.

Basically it comes down to this: Sony was bleeding money out their rear with the PS3 so they decided to cut the “budget” model to slow the negative cash flow a bit. However, consumers aren’t usually happy about options being taken from them, so they needed an excuse. So they shipped like -3 20GB PS3s and 50,000 60GB PS3s. Later, they turned around and said, “See? We gave consumers a choice and they chose the 60GB model by a huge margin.”

Awesome. Just awesome.

So, I’m going to start doing this in my life. I’m going to go shopping, buy a hojillion steaks and three tomatoes. After a few weeks I’m going to say to my wife, “It’s become obvious that we simply prefer steak to tomato in this home. I’m deciding that we no longer need to offer tomatoes as an option around here.” It’s the perfect plan. My wife will have to evaluate the numbers and agree with me that tomatoes simply have no place in our food rotation. I really don’t see any room for debate.

Now I’ve been down to Activision. I’ve been a guest in their offices, I’ve met several of their employees, I’ve had sit-down conversations with their teams, and I’ve been given free software and swag to review. They’re good guys down there in Santa Monica; but what they’re doing with Guitar Hero II on the 360 is inexcusable. Today they announced the pricing on the initial wave of downloadable content (DLC) on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Taken straight from the Major Nelson blog, the details are as follows:

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 1
Price: 500 Points
Availability: Not available in Asia
Dash Details: Bark at the Moon as made famous by Ozzy Osbourne, Hey You as made famous by The Exies, Ace of Spades as made famous by Motorhead, For all song credits please visit www.redoctane.com.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 2
Price: 500 Points
Availability: Not available in Asia
Dash Details: Killer Queen as made famous by Queen, Take it Off as made famous by The Donnas, Frankenstein as made famous by The Edgar Winter Group, For all song credits please visit www.redoctane.com.

Name: Guitar Hero Track Pack 3
Price: 500 Points
Availability: Not available in Asia
Dash Details: Higher Ground as made famous by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Infected as made famous by Bad Religon, Stellar as made famous by Incubus, For all song credits please visit www.redoctane.com.

500 points comes out to $6.25. So at this rate, you’ll end up paying more than you would if you bought the PS2 disc to download all of the songs. In fact, at that price, it would be nearly $100 to get all 47 Guitar Hero I songs. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Activision just buried a knife right in the back of all of us 360 owners that decided to continue to support the franchise even though we already owned the game on the PS2. I didn’t need to buy it again on the 360, I chose to, and I thought that they’d be a bit more reasonable in their pricing structure. I could agree with $1 a song, but not with this bundling garbage. Now, if I really want to download the Incubus song, I’m forced into buying two other songs.

Bad move Activision. I hope the DLC you threw out there tanks hard. I knew it was bad news when you gobbled up Red Octane, I just didn’t think you’d screw it up so fast.

Why can Jeep get away with such a stupid marketing hook? Jeep, maker of crappy SUVs, has this stupid “Trail Rated” certification that they conveniently only hand out to Jeeps. They say things in their ads like, “don’t buy it unless it’s Trail Rated” or “the only SUV in its class with Trail Rated capability.” This is ridiculous since they invented the term, trademarked it, and have full control over bestowing it upon SUVs.

So yeah, I could do the same thing for myself. This blog is now Blogsome Rated. It means that my blog meets a standard that others simply do not. If you want to be happy and satisfied with your videogame commentary, only read Blogsome Rated blogs, mmmkay?

So that takes care of my blog, but what if videogame companies did the same thing? I mean, it could be awesome. Imagine if Microsoft starting giving out games that were X-Rated to tie in with their Xbox name. Maybe Nintendo could have Waggle Worthy for Wii games and Sony could go with Overpriced Rated.

Again, only read Blogsome Rated blogs.

The true essence of gaming in my mind is comprised of three parts: Challenge, Replay Factor, and Fun. When a developer serves up a game that’s overflowing in each area, a classic is often born. If a game is deficient in one or more of these things, it might be enjoyable, but it ultimately won’t stand the test of time.
Ever since Grand Theft Auto III released on the PlayStation 2, the “sandbox” genre has been a popular choice for ambitious developers. You hear all the quotes recycled from PR folk time and time again, such as “we want the gamer to decide how the plot is going to progress” or “in the end, it’s up to the gamer to decide how they want to play the game.” I don’t have a problem with this sort of philosophy in game design, but I do have a problem that the core of gaming has been altered in order to try to incorporate “emergent gameplay” possibilities in just about every type of game.

So what do I mean, exactly? Games, since they were first unleashed on a once physically fit society, were mostly about challenging the player and allowing for the perfecting of skills over time. Many of the games of the late ’70s and early ’80s only featured a single (sometimes scrolling) screen. There weren’t multiple stages, levels, or worlds to explore. It was your sub-50 pixel character vs. blinking dots, triangles, misshaped forms, blocky monsters, and a hi-score counter. Eventually stages and levels began to appear, but the purpose of the game was still about challenging the gamer’s hand/eye coordination. Playing Pac-Man was about eating as many dots as possible. Donkey Kong was about leaping barrels and getting to the top of the stage. Missle Command was a simple game where you survived as long as possible against a barrage of projectiles raining down from above. These games, while still offering a wide variety of gameplay styles, were all very basic. Developers weren’t worried whether or not they were allowing gamers to have full control over an ever progressing plot.
Today developers are so caught up in providing a “deep experience” for the gamer that they’ve neglected the reason we play games in the first place. So many games are about casually strolling through the levels (or open world) until the credits roll. You rarely see a game that will smack you in the face and laugh while you stare at a game over screen. Heck, how many games even have game over screens anymore? Games have almost become completely pedestrian and reviewers are even starting to lower review scores if a game is deemed too difficult (see: F-Zero GX).

Today’s “I want it now” attitude is fueling this style of game design as well. Many of us in the gaming community don’t want to get stuck on level one for a few days only to find that level two is going to take a week to get through. We lack the patience to learn and memorize patterns in gaming. You’re no longer required to be persistent with a game to experience it fully; you simply need to just have the time it takes to progress through the stages. You can save anywhere, and you can re-start from the ever growing amount of checkpoints.
So as hi-score tables are being tossed to the digital landfill, what ultimately is our reward for playing these games? A few Achievement points? A digital trophy? $25 trade-in credit at EB Games? Without that constant push to do just a little bit better, or to last a little bit longer, we find ourselves shelving finished games in favor of the next “deep gameplay experience”. I don’t think this will kill gaming, but it’s greatly reducing the quantity of quantifiable classics as time goes on. Even great games, such as Gears of War, will ultimately suffer the fate of “permashelfing” after a few playthroughs or when a sequel comes along. It will be remembered as a great game, but not as a classic title that you’ll pull out, dust off, and fire up for a chance to improve upon your last performance every once in a while. What do you have to judge it by?

This rambling isn’t meant to be a lament over the loss of hi-score counters or the rise of “emergent gameplay”. It is, in my head at least, a bit more complicated than that. It’s a push against the philosophy that games need to be constantly providing more of this and more of that. Do we enjoy God of War 2 any more than we did Ms. Pac-Man? I think that it’s fine to make games bigger and better, but we should remember what they are all about in the first place: to challenge us, the gaming audience.

Shmups (or shoot ‘em ups) are one of the most hardcore genres in gaming. It’s one of those genres that you don’t pretend to know the pedigree of or you’ll be quickly called out for ignorance. IGN, a site I generally respect, posted a top ten list of their picks for shooters. The list has some gems on it, but it also is extremely flawed. Here are their picks.

10) Gunbird 2
9) Mars Matrix
8) G Darius
7) R-type III: the Third Lightning
6) Life Force
5) Bangai-O
4) Radiant Silvergun
3) Ikaruga
2) Do Don Pachi
1) Einhander

Here’s what it should have been (in no order):

Ikaruga
Do Don Pachi
Gradius V
R-Type Delta
Parodius
Mars Matrix
Gradius III
Strikers 1945 II
Gunbird 2
Raiden Fighters Jet

I’m still baffled at the announcement of the Xbox 360 Elite. They are adding HDMI, some black paint, and a larger hard drive to the Premium pack for an additional $80. So, for $480 you’re getting almost what the PS3 offers for $20 less. All of a sudden the PS3 doesn’t look so overpriced.

Microsoft should have just started adding HDMI ports into the Premium package of the 360 now while keeping the price at $400. They don’t even need to include the HDMI cable or the larger hard drive, just add the port. They could market and sell their own HDMI cable, the larger hard drive, and introduce a black version of the 360. This would keep the price of the 360 down, allow those interested in a larger hard drive to get one, and introduce HDMI functionality into all future 360 consoles.

As it stands now, I don’t think the Elite is exciting anybody. It’s not enough of an upgrade to cause people to justify spending an extra $80. I’ll be surprised if the Elite sells well when compared to the Premium pack.

Oh, and MS, drop the Core pack already.

A group of Sony PlayStation loyalists have sent a letter to Capcom expressing their anger and frustration over the decision to make the once-exclusive title a mutliplatform release. The letter, penned by a collection of Internet forum users, claims that Capcom is betraying Sony and fans of the PlayStation 3. Those who signed the letter have claimed that they will no longer be supporting Capcom’s efforts as a sign of protest.

So let me get this straight. They are going to punish Capcom by not supporting their upcoming release, right? So when Devil May Cry 4 releases and fails to match the 360 version in sales, how do they think that’s going to help Sony out? If anything, it will cause Capcom to be even more selective with their PS3 exclusives and just decide to put everything on the 360. Sony really can’t afford to lose more exclusives right now, so even if this group represents a small minority of the gaming audience, they still aren’t helping things out.

This is all reminiscent of Capcom bringing Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 4, and Killer 7 to the PS2. I remember Nintendo fans freaking out, so this isn’t anything special, but I remember it all turned out just fine in the end for both fanbases. Sometimes people just gotta learn to chill.

The PlayStation 3 was riding a high after GDC with the successful unveilings of Home and LittleBigPlanet. Just a few days later, however, the February NPD sales data came out and showed that the PS3 got pounded in the hardware sales column by the 360 and Wii. In fact, the Wii outsold the PS3 and 360 combined. Today, however, was a day that probably put Sony fanboys into hissy fits of epic proportions.

From the very beginning Devil May Cry 4 was one of the most anticipated titles on the PS3. The game, originally unveiled as PS3 exclusive, is now coming to the Xbox 360; and both versions release on the same day. In addition, the Ace Combat series from Namco will be finding its way to the 360 alongside Tekken.

Normally this wouldn’t spell disaster for Sony, but as they lose more and more exclusives, gamers are beginning to question why exactly they need to pay the extra money for Sony’s console. At $200 cheaper, the Xbox 360 offers just as much as the PS3, and their libraries are converging at a rapid pace. Unless Sony can sew up their exclusive title hemorrhaging,  their dominance on the industry is going to continue to slip.

Will Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid (for now), and the few remaining 3rd party exclusives still be enough to entice the hardcore to continue supporting the PS3? It’s going to be interesting to wait and see what happens. In my opinion, if Sony can’t get things together soon, a new king, either Microsoft or Nintendo, will emerge by the end of this generation cycle.

I love Nintendo, I really do; but they need to get their act together in a few areas if they want to continue the recent trend of leading the competition in console sales. Right now the Wii is outselling the PlayStation 3 by a fair amount (about 5:1 worldwide), but in order to maintain momentum, I think Nintendo needs to be a bit more forthcoming about what they have going on behind the scenes.
Even with all the positive press that Nintendo has been receiving lately, it’s starting to feel a bit hollow. How long can the success of Wii Sports carry the Wii? How long will the mainstream press’ love affair with the Wii last if Nintendo doesn’t drop some info on what we can expect to see in the immediate and distant future? Can it be far off before these currently lovestruck news outlets start to question whether or not the Wii is capable of longterm diversion, or if it’s merely a flash in the pan sensation?

I don’t feel that Nintendo should get into the business of showing so-called target renders or CG  trailers that are supposedly “indicative of the final product”. I do, however, think that Nintendo needs to begin to give more regular updates on the status of their internal projects while allowing 3rd parties to speak more freely at the same time. Nintendo is notorious for showing a few screenshots of an interesting project, tossing a few tidbits to a news outlet, and then going completely silent. How long has it been since we’ve received concrete info, screens, or project updates on games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Project HAMMER, Metroid Prime 3, Disaster: Day of Crisis, or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles 2?

I have a lot of friends that play games, but they don’t have either the time or the desire to research upcoming releases across the multiple platforms. Instead, they get their info from word of mouth sources, advertisements, or in-store promo materials. I constantly am asked what the Wii has coming, simply because most releases on the Wii are devoid of casual buzz. 

If Nintendo is going to continue to be so reluctant to feed the hype trains, the excitement around the Wii is going to begin to derail. Sony and Microsoft are both great at feeding gamers steady bits of info all throughout the development cycle of their high profile games while allowing 3rd parties to pretty much handle the unveiling of their projects as they see fit. As a result, Microsoft has managed to secure the top-selling title in North America for four straight months.

I’m not looking for Nintendo to unleash a hyperactive hype machine upon us, I simply just want to know what’s going on. As someone who has showed support for the Wii, despite its currently sparse lineup, I think Nintendo owes it to me to justify the future validity of my purchase.