Life as Gamer

On Being A Fanboy

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:30:39 -0700

Watch as Simon Jeffery, head of Sega America, crushes the dreams of Sega fanboys everywhere. No Seaman 2. No Shemue 3. No Dreamcast 2.

Big surprise, right?

However, if you do watch the video, notice his demeanor. He denunciates Seaman 2 as "crazy" (well, he might be right there). Towards the end, he becomes more cocksure, talking about the ardent Dreamcast followers, hoping for a DC 2 as "fanboys." He seems to be derisory of Sega's hardcore audience.

And, I must admit, that hurt a little.

Yes, I am a Sega fanboy. I have UK:Resistance in my RSS reader. I do still hold hope Sega might make a good Sonic game. I did own a Dreamcast. And a Mega Drive/Genesis. And a Master System. And a Game Gear. The fanboy is not isolated to video games. There are ardent followers of sports teams, rock bands and even car manufacturers.

I felt like Jeffery was talking to me, telling me he thought I was silly; that the Sega I had has gone and that it wasn't coming back.

When I came to write this post, I was actually going to aim it at the Nintendo followers. Nintendo's E3 showing was, by all accounts, awful. But, as 1UP Yours so deftly noted, it wasn't for the core audience. It was for the people from the mass media, looking to cover the next casual game, and they got that in spades. Nintendo doesn't cater to its core audience any more. It's big releases are casual games for casual gamers. Their blue ocean strategy is working beyond their wildest dreams. As a public company, they're not going to be able to justify to the shareholders why they should invest big money in AAA core titles, when the return for Wii Sports 2 will be much, much greater.

I was going to tell the Nintendo fan base to stop waiting for Nintendo to remember them again, because they won't. Then the head of Sega America comes and tells me that Sega doesn't remember me either.

And now I empathise completely.

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Lets change hands and oh boy... what a waste

nobody@vox.com(♥ Skull Babii Fe ♥) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:24:33 -0700

Lately I have been taking full advantage of my state ID at Gamestop. I can trade as much as I please without the hassle of asking for someones help.(It feels nice lol.) I have gotten done with Final Fantasy: Crisis Core and if you haven't bought it yet then you should. It's a keeper. With that said I should be called a hypocrite for I traded mine in along with other games and shockingly my

original psp

original psp. This decision became when I saw there would be no other games to my interest this year. Also the other reason how Sony almost obviously ditched the original psp and start updating the psp slim with new features. I decided to trade-in my original psp and wait next year to buy me the psp slim.

With all the trade-in's I have made I was able to get the Nintendo DS lite.

nintendo ds crimson

Along with two games. One of the games I have choosen was a very poor choice. I bought Pokemon Diamond and Rondo of Swords.

Rondo of Swords is the bad decision of the game I had picked. Dependong on what you like it would be a good game but it is way to hard.

I thought I was the only person thinking thinking this way but it turns out, while I was searching google, that other people was saying the same thing! They really over thought on this game. So now I'm gonna have to trade it in now. Such a waste...

Rondo of Swords

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In Defense of Turtling

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:54:38 -0700

Turtling (Credit: whaleworks.org)

...or In Defense of Turtling in the Single Player Game And Not Multiplayer Unless It's A Designer-Intended Tactic (for those that find the title too inflammatory).

In computer and video games the term turtle, named after the turtle animal, has different meanings depending on the genre but all relate to a completely defensive strategy. The basic element to this strategy is designed to prevent you from taking too much damage while still harrassing the enemy... Due to its defensive nature using this strategy often leads to stalemates and ultimately prolongs the game to an undesireable length, in most cases it is frowned upon, and when its used intentionally it is considered by many gamers to be unsportsmanlike conduct, however this strategy is still widely used and is usualy effective if done well.

The definition of turtling, from Wikipedia.

My secret is that I actually find turtling to be the most rewarding style of play in RTS games. I'm not ashamed of it. I don't play multiplayer, so I do not ruin it for everyone else. I just enjoy building things.

Average RTSs are on the one hand complex, and on the other hand quite simple. To play well requires the ability to process several fronts at once, but if the mechanics are poorly balanced, a zerg rush will usually do the job. Different players, at different ability levels, will appear somewhere on that scale. However, some games will offer an array of tantalisingly powerful defenses. It is an inverse zerg rush, mustering all your power into the defence, rather than the offense, of your army.

I enjoy turtling. It doesn't ask me to process much information, I slowly and surely build up a base, appearing more and more powerful to myself. I build defenses to keep wandering AI at bay, smiling as my automated drones perform my bidding without my intervention. My small community, a tranquil island in a sea of battle. I am more interested in exerting power and control over my own forces than those of others. Some games have built whole mechanics on turtling (Dungeon Keeper immediately comes to mind), so I know there are kindred spirits out there; not turtling to frustrate others, but turtling for their own enjoyment.

I have recently started playing Company of Heroes, which tries to find a middle-ground between offensive and defensive play. Each map is split into separate "Strategic Points", usually with some entrenched AI enemy inside. I've found bursting through the lines with tanks, using them as a distraction while nimble infantry units capture or destroy the necessary target, works pretty well. That's the offense over with. Then comes the fortification of the point, and pushing forward your defensive perimeter. It's essentially turtling with growth; a small amount of time harassing the enemy, expanding your shell and then retreating inside it. I thus find this to be the greatest RTS I've ever played (and others agree).

I am, however, aggravated that my defenses are so easily breached... walls and sandbags can be trampled by tanks, tank defenses destroyed by engineers, mortar fire can destroy machine gun emplacements and so on. Generally, the breaches can occur in less than 20 seconds, leaving little time to react. It is obviously a balancing issue, but I'm not sure whether it is for the single-player to defeat the AI, or a multiplayer mechanic to prevent real turtling. I never feel secure in my tranquil island, and that robs one of the main draws of the turtling approach.

Is this game for me? Well, probably not. An RTS is, by definition, a game of aggression. No rewards can ever be reaped from staying in your base forever.

It all leaves me wanting Dungeon Keeper 3.

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Animation as Communication

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:01:23 -0700

Shadow of the Colossus #3 NTA SOTC

Shadow of the Colossus was a special game, with many wonderful features, too numerous to go into here. If there is one thing that SotC does right, and arguably better than any other game, it's animation.

Animations are the glue that bind video games into cohesive wholes: we notice it when it isn't there or incongruous, but when it is it disappears. Animation is always used to communicate something, be it the weight of a character - in its ponderous, lumbering movements - or the safety of a rickety bridge, swaying ominously in the wind. It's also used as a method of transition, moving objects in the game world from one place to another.

SotC, however, brings animation to the forefront, by fully utilising it as a communication of emotion, not just a method of transition.

What do I mean by this? Let's take a normal transitive animation: walking from left to right. A character moves from one position to another. Perhaps he is running, perhaps not. The walking animation creates a congruous meaning to the movement, so that the character is not "skating" to a new position. However, when the lead character moves in Shadow of the Colossus, he scrambles, almost toppling head over heels. When climbing a colossus, it's a desperate venture full of cart-wheeling falls and near-death grasps. Your finger clenches tighter on R1, becoming the medium by which you will the character to cling tighter, watching in raptured suspense as he is tossed and turned by the angry beast. You're not just moving from one place on the colossus to another. The animation is communicating the peril.

One can only hope that with procedural animation engines like Euphoria taking over the menial tasks of animation, that skilled, talented animators will be able to spend greater time on looking at expressing the visceral, the joy or the pain of the characters on-screen, directly and without words.

It's a wonderful achievement that Wander says so little throughout the game, but communicates to you everything.

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Where is the Gaming Mecca?

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:34:58 -0700

Segaworld Trocadero '96 Promo Video

When I was younger, traveling to London was a huge event. It was so big, so lively. My Dad would have to grasp on to me for dear life, lest I float away in a sea of Tube passengers. It was nothing short of magical.

However, for me, and many others of my age, London truly meant one thing.

The Trocadero.

Now a shadow of its former self, the Trocadero haunted the dreams of many children in the UK, a focal point of all that was young and vibrant. Huge flashing neon lights created a technicolour firework display in the mind's eye. And it housed Sega World.

Sega World was an arcade on a massive scale, including vertigo-inducing elevators between levels. The "largest indoor theme park in the world" (circa 1996) housed row upon row of cabinets, all set to Free Play. I could have lost weeks of my life in there. Of course, Dad would always have other ideas of what needed to be done in London, but Virtua Racing would always be my top priority.

Now that I am older, more travelled and in possession of a bit more disposable income, I would have expected to have found somewhere that could at least have matched this Gaming Mecca. With the death of the arcade (which took Sega World down with it), there has been nothing since, at least in the UK. Does one have to travel all the way to Japan to find somewhere that treats gaming with such pomp and ceremony?

Gaming is a transient, ethereal hobby. It exists for as long as our tiny consoles or computers are turned on. Once powered down, it disappears. It has no place. It's not in the parks where a football is kicked. It's not in the cinema where the movies are screened. It's not in the museums where we investigate our history. There is no where we can go to experience gaming, except the comfort of our sofas. And this is a tragic shame.

Sega World was a figurehead, just as much as any mascot or any game designer. It was something we could show others, proudly say that this is the House That Gaming Built, and surround ourselves with like-minded people.

The gaming community need these places. The success of PAX has shown that we desperately want somewhere like this. But it's not supposed to be just an arcade. Wembley isn't just a place where football is played. It's a stage, where all sorts of football-related events occur. Our place would be where new games are announced, with salty buffet food. It would be the place where betas of unreleased games could be tried. It would chronicle the history of gaming (see Game On for an excellent template). It would be gaming made solid.

For generations to come, it would be their Sega World.

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Retrospective: Okami

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:17:47 -0700

Okami

Uncompromising.

Everything about Okami can be characterised with that one word.

The uncompromising length, coming in at 35 hours.

The uncompromising vision, with plenty of references to Japanese Shinto that go straight over Western gamers' heads.

The uncompromising artwork, mimicking and featuring Japanese scroll art.

It is nothing short of a masterpiece: the product of giving immensely talented game designers a blank cheque and absolute creative freedom. And it is why the game didn't appeal to the mass-market, in either it's PS2 or Wii incarnation.

It was too long, and too "niche". Currently, niche in the West means anything not sports, movie licenses, or grey and brown bloody shooters. Of course the market has room for games as wonderful as Okami, but whether those games will ever regain their development costs is another matter. And Okami didn't, leaving only a bitter taste in the mouth, and a studio ready to shut its doors.

For those that can appreciate it, it is wonderful. An enchanting narrative, that doesn't let up during those 35 hours, wonderfully eccentric characters surround Amaterasu herself, providing emotional meaning to her quests (something the Zelda series does very poorly). There are certain points in the game where the supporting cast show such steely will in the face of mortal danger, that you can't help but want to honour them by standing beside them in battle. I honestly can't think of a game that has so successfully encouraged this sort of emotional response. The narrative's expert use of foreshadowing makes you determined to discover whether it is possible to change fate itself.

Amateratsu feels graceful and agile, small touches like the way she speeds up to a breath-taking sprint through the fields remind you of the power that lies underneath her coat.

As I've spoken about before, the dungeon structure and puzzles are far more pleasing than the Zelda games, with far less illogical puzzles and a life-affirming tone. The game rewards the player with a floral firework explosion, littering the land with cherry-blossom and daisies. It constantly reminds you of the righteousness of your work, and wills you to perform even the smallest tasks (like making trees bloom) in order to see just how beautiful the world of Nippon can become.

If there is a flaw to be found, it lies in the fairly throwaway combat; a mixture of hammering square, memorising attack patterns and using your special Celestial Powers (like wind, fire, water) to perform some obvious trick (use fire to melt the ice!) A more substantive combat system might have made the encounters more entertaining, but this is not to say there isn't some joy in a good button-mash.

The game is still available for the PS2, and is now out for the Wii. It is worth every penny of your money, and every minute of your time. There aren't many games I recommend that strongly.

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Everyone's a Critic. It's Far Easier.

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:43:27 -0700

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett, EA Mythic's Creative Director, at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

Carrie Gouskos works for EA Mythic. She used to work for Gamespot. She did a lot of in front of the camera reviews. I met her when she worked for Gamespot and she was basically doing an interview for our game… and it’s been illuminating watching her come into the fold, and watching her go through that terrible journey where she is working 100s of hours – just like everyone on our project – and then magazine people, people in the media who – in one sentence – encapsulate everything you’ve done in a year in “Yeah, it’s alright”. And that crestfallen moment. It goes like that.

The most heartbreaking thing about creative media is that you're always compared to the best of the business, based on judgments that take mere hours to form.

I can't imagine how much that hurts.

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Death at a Funeral: The end of LucasArts

nobody@vox.com(Lewisham) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:29:51 -0700

Edge's History of LucasArts

Regardless of what LucasArts is publicly saying, the general opinion of all concerned is that LucasArts will cease internal development after the current games in the pipeline (such as Fracture) are complete.

It was coming, and it has been coming for a long time.

The funeral procession for LucasArts has been arduous, to say the least. Beginning with a death spiral into mediocrity as a developer, a brief time as a successful outsourcer, the promotion of a man who genuinely seemed to want to return LucasArts to previous form, his eventual depature, and then the huge lay-offs at the company.

LucasArts was, for a time, a seal of quality. Before the late 90s, any game with the LucasArts badge would have been a strong buy. Gamers didn't even have to wait for reviews; the company could do no wrong. For anyone who wants to play "guess where it all went pear-shaped", GameSpot has a list of all the games LucasArts released in chronological order.

My money is on Star Wars Episode 1: Racer released in 1999, signalling the beginning of a glut of mediocre Star Wars games. It's a fitting tribute that the games that killed LucasArts were tied to the movies that killed the Star Wars series itself.

The company forgot what they used to stand for. Magical, boundary-testing games. Games that appealed to the designers, not the marketers. Games that spawned some of the most golden IPs in the industry: Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, X-Wing. Yes, most of them were adventure games, but the special place they held in gamers hearts meant there was a lot more room for growth in those properties.

LucasArts deserves its fate as a peddler of sub-standard Star Wars games. It chose the short-term path, and it paid the price. Unfortunately for us, gamers have also paid dearly. We still have Tim Schafer (DoTT, Full Throttle, Psychonauts), of course. Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island) is a game consultant now. Lawrence Holland (X-Wing) seems to be off the radar completely. And all those wonderful IPs will remain with LucasArts, never to see a loving designer again.

It's so very sad. Not that LucasArts is six-feet under, but that those IPs are buried with it.

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sooooo waiting for this... i have a job but I might leave for this lol

nobody@vox.com(♥ Skull Babii Fe ♥) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:50:07 -0700

Untitled MMO for Win Vista, 360 & PS3

I only bring this up now because everytime when I have a clear head I think of this game that has so much chances of showing up this fall. The only full proof I have is this video and this picture.

Rapture.jpg

I only hope to gawd that SE says something about this at E3 this year. If anyone knows more please let me know.

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my wii did not sacrafice in vain! I made sure of it ;)

nobody@vox.com(♥ Skull Babii Fe ♥) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:31:07 -0700

Before MGS4(Metal Gear Solid 4) and DBZ:BL(Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit) came out I was dead broke and really wanted the games. I realize then what I was playing less of and what was collecting the most dust in my room. That was my Wii. Even though I had SSB: Brawl it wasn't enough for me to hold on one system. I decided to sell my wii to someone and that's what I did exactly. The only thing sad is that I can't play my DDR anymore for now but that's ok. Nintnedo plan to build a new model of the Wii and I plan to buy that one.

mgsus.jpg

I now have MGS4 and DBZ:BL. I'm very satisfied with the games I got. MGS4 is amazing though I have yet to beat due to my job and me being busy a lot with other things but when I do get to play it I play for hours. DBZ: BL

dragon-ball-z-burst-limit.jpg

is very short and that saddens me. It's sooo good that you don't want it to end. The game only has 3 sagas and online so I can't wait until they make another one. It can't get here fast enough!. :) If anyone wants my PSN ID let me know and send me a message.

If you can even believe this I still had money left over that day and I reserve Soul Calibur 4 and Little Big Planet. I even more panties for myself! They are sooo cute!

Magikano (underwear)

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