Posts tagged Editorials
The Long Break, or Doug’s hiatus from console gaming
Oct 8th
Welcome to the Japanese countryside! There are video games here, you just have to squint really hard to find them.
Whenever I’ve moved, one of the last things to get packed up has been my gaming console. Of course, my console has also often been the first thing unpacked once I’ve gotten moved in. Funny how that works. But this time, after moving to Japan in early August, all I’ve played since are iPhone games – until last weekend, I hadn’t picked up a real controller since arriving in the land of Nintendo and Sony.
What the hell happened? Well, a perfect storm of things for me, at least.
First: I didn’t want to bring my Xbox 360 with me to Japan. It’s old, is bound to break (again), and is region-locked. Most importantly, though, I would either have to pack it into my slim luggage allowance or ship it over separately, and neither are worth the trouble. Sometimes you have to be an adult and bring clothing, especially when there’s little chance to buy new threads. Okay, I did bring my Nintendo DS, but it’s now gathering Japanese dust instead of gathering American dust. I’ve got the itch to play games; what to do?
But I can wait. Maybe. I’ve gone two months without playing a game – and longer without playing anything new, frankly – and can afford to wait because real life and the gaming release schedule have allowed me to. I’m too busy getting out of the house and visiting my new friends to spend too much time playing games at the moment, which is good, because there haven’t been a ton of AAA titles coming out this summer. I bemoaned the lack of a year-round release schedule earlier in the year, but I’m quite glad for the break at the moment.
Soon the weather will turn nasty and, as a friend here in Japan said, people will begin to “hide under their kotatsu.” Unlike the U.S., most places in Japan aren’t centrally heated and have very poor insulation, which means you wear lots of sweaters indoors and a kotatsu, a table with a heated blanket. In short, people don’t want to head out and be social; perfect time to catch up on video games, then!
Postscript to the story? Last weekend was my birthday. With enough money and free time on the weekend to go buy a PS3, I broke down and picked one up — a 320 gb model, which now sits happily next to my TV and wireless router. It’s now set up to stream media from my computer, access my U.S. Netflix account, and make use of the Silicon Sasquatch staff PSN share. And I bought a pretty kick-ass game to go along with the system, too, one that I’m excited to write about soon.
After the long break, it’s good to be back.
What Happens When the Curtains Close? Xbox Live, PSN, and the Next Generation
May 13th
At some point in the not-too-distant future, there will be successors to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii. Okay, so I’m hardly a psychic making a statement like that, but such is the march of progress that new consoles will inevitably replace the old. We know Nintendo will show something off at E3, and the rumors are starting to rumble that Microsoft may have something up its sleeve this year, too.
But one question that has never faced gamers before will be an issue when looking at upgrading from one console to the next this go-around: What is going to happen to all the content I have on my current system?
This is the digital era. I have 85 gb of content stored to my Xbox 360′s hard drive and, while much of that is game installs, the rest is made up of the “arcade” games available on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, downloadable add-on content for games, and digital downloads of full retail games. Some of the downloaded games also have their own DLC, which strikes me as a real through-the-looking-glass sort of moment.
Full copies of games you'd otherwise purchase at retail are available both on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. What happens with the next generation of systems, though?
These are games I’ve bought and, in the case of the digital versions of games also sold at retail, are indistinguishable from hard copies. Yet I’m worried. I’m worried that these games could be completely worthless or, at the least, feature-handicapped in the future should Microsoft (or Sony for PSN) decide to flip a switch and shut off some servers. In the case of the Xbox 360, though the detachable hard drive means it’s possible to take your content on the go, you can only make use of DLC and full versions of games if they’re authenticated by Xbox Live; if I want to take my hard drive to a friend’s and make use of my Rock Band library, their 360 must be plugged in.
The authentication and access to games isn’t just a worry in cases like that, but for more practical reasons as well. The 360 has proven itself to be a bit fragile; my current 360 is my fifth, and I’m hardly an edge case. If you suffer a Red Ring of Death or any other kind of 360-killing malady, you have to migrate your account from the old console to the new one’s serial number. While it’s an annoyance during the 360′s life span, what happens in another five years? If your old NES or Genesis or even PlayStation 2 died, you just buy a new one; the games were kept within a physical medium and plug right in without a problem. But what happens in five or 10 years when my 360 inevitably dies again and I have to track down a replacement? Will Xbox Live still allow me to do what it does now in 2011?
While content on the current console is a question, what about taking content on to the next generation? Though few games had DLC on the original Xbox, you could previously download it on the 360; now, though, since the original Xbox’s Xbox Live servers have gone offline, it’s left you high and dry. While I doubt people will want to buy new content, even for Xbox 360 games in the far-flung future, what about retrieving what you’ve already purchased? Plus, as established, content delivery digitally is a much bigger deal this generation; that will be important to keep in mind, but it’s still Microsoft or Sony’s ball to take and go home with.
I’ll admit it’s all speculation and worry at this point, but admit it: a best-case scenario where everything still works, like in PC gaming, is probably a pipe dream. This is the point where I shake my fists at PC gamers sitting up in the cloud on Steam at this moment. But this is an issue that will be wider than gaming within the next 10 years; seeing the gaming industry’s reaction is going to be fascinating and, potentially, vital to digital rights beyond our favorite little corner of the entertainment world.
Me and My Addiction: Pro Evo Soccer and Style
May 6th
When I started the Retrospective Overdrive program, it was to break up tedium and see how things have changed. I wanted to go a good period of time without just doing what I’ve done the past few years — nothing but playing Pro Evo Soccer.
But, why? It’s just a game; hell, it’s just a sports game, and I’m sure many who read the site look down on us who kick and throw balls virtually as if we’re some sort of cro-magnon anomaly, cavemen who have miraculously found fire and Xbox Live. It keeps coming back to style, though, for me. Very few other games have allowed me to express creativity as well as Konami’s Pro Evo/Winning Eleven series and, in particular, Pro Evo Soccer 2010.
Freshman year of college I picked up a PlayStation 2 after seeing how white-hot Gran Turismo 4 looked. Of course, I’d also heard about how good Konami’s soccer games were and since that wasn’t great on the Xbox, I bought it. I wasn’t a newcomer to soccer games — strong addictions to FIFA 2004 and 2005 prove otherwise — but Winning Eleven 8 was a good replacement, if a bit ugly at times.
Dead Space 2′s Ill-Advised Ad Campaign
Jan 24th
Video game ads on television are often terrible. Being the sole member of the Silicon Sasquatch executive triumvirate who watches sports on TV on a regular basis, I’m also the one who gets exposed to a lot of the big-budget video game advertising campaigns. As a gamer with an interest in the business side of the industry, it’s always interesting to see which games are trying to push for mainstream attention — and by what means.
That made the new Dead Space 2 advertisement currently getting national air time all that much worse. Go ahead and watch the ad – it’s right there at the top of the post. I can wait a minute for you.
Things I’m Glad Have Evolved in Gaming, Part 1: Memory and saving
Dec 10th
When was the last time you played an older console game? If it’s been a while, you may have forgotten about some of the headaches brought on by old game designs or technology. While there’s a certain charm to the gameplay and graphics of many older games, there are also definite problems. It’s here that we catalog those changes and remind you why progress is often for the best.
Recently, I fired up the good ol’ Sega Dreamcast. I wanted to throw down with Nick on some Virtua Tennis, but before we could get our serve and backhand action on, I had to do some searching. Yep — I had to find which memory card my Virtua Tennis save was on.
With the implementation of hard drives first on the original Xbox and now on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the need for memory cards is reduced. And now that Xbox 360 consoles can move files on USB thumb-drives (a capability PS3s already had), there’s zero need for proprietary memory cards — and we are all the better for it.
Games of skill and games of story, and how Starcraft II blends the concepts
Aug 25th
The more I’ve been thinking about gameplay mechanics and how gamers interact with a variety of games, the more I’ve narrowed down video games into two overarching categories: games of skill and games of story. Regardless of genre, games of skill focus more on mastery of a game engine and its trappings, while story-focused games worry more about plot progression and crafting narrative.
Naturally, I would place most first- and third-person shooters, most sports games, racing games, and fighting games into the “skill” category, while RPGs and adventure games dominate the “story” zone. Sure, a game like Mass Effect 2 may have wonderful shooting mechanics, but the game’s focus isn’t on a combat engine that’s balanced for multiplayer, where time investment and development of skill is rewarded. Instead, it focuses on advancing a captivating story with action scenes designed to make the player feel empowered. While it may help engage the player in the conflict, it’s not the same as the combat in a balanced, multiplayer-focused shooter like Halo or Call of Duty. Even the incredibly tight combat engine in a modern Zelda title is focused on a single-player experience, as its traditional “get this new tool and make use of it in the dungeon” gameplay is designed to act as a ramp to climb throughout the duration of Link’s quest.
Conversely, your classic Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, or other fighting game may have a story mode, but it’s secondary fluff on top of the fighting engine, learning characters’ move sets, and how to become a better fighter. Racing games are the same way; simulation games like Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo are about the feeling of driving, improving yourself as a driver and mastering the physics engine at the heart of the game, not a narrative. And, of course, shooters like Halo and Call of Duty have engines that lend themselves to a level playing field for truly competitive multiplayer.
Using these different lenses, then, it’s interesting to view the changes Blizzard is making within Starcraft II to play to each of these strengths. While the multiplayer modes (as previewed during the beta period and available now with the retail release of Wings of Liberty) seemed like a graphical and game-engine evolution of the original Starcraft, the company has taken a different tack with single player. Of course multiplayer has been updated in many ways, but single player no longer contains all of the same details as multi. Some units are only available in the campaign, as is the ability to make customization choices through a branching path in the single-player mode.
While these sort of branching changes would inevitably break multiplayer — having to balance all the possibilities could be impossible, even for a company with resources like Blizzard — they help make the single-player experience a more robust and individualized process. I’ve heard on different podcasts a variety of laments for taking one upgrade choice over another: in the same way that the branching paths in the game open up unique experiences, so does having that permanent branching upgrade tree. Blizzard introduced more Terran options into the single player campaign, and once you make a decision, you have to live with it.
It may not be an analogous situation, but the new Medal of Honor game from EA is following a slightly similar tack — at the very least, the single-player and multi-player modes are being handled by two different companies within the EA hivemind; EA’s Danger Close Games in Los Angeles is crafting the single-player mode, while Battlefield series developer DICE is handling the multiplayer. This outsourced style of development may be the future of AAA games: the first Bioshock famously had segments of the game outsourced throughout the 2K studios worldwide.
However, separating the development of single-player components from multiplayer — and the admission that they take different approaches to make work — is a fascinating evolution in the history of creating video games. It’s an admission that there are different goals regarding crafting a single-player experience and a finely tuned multiplayer game that allows for competitive play. Moreover, for super-large AAA-quality games in the future where gamers demand both an engaging single-player campaign and competitive multiplayer, dividing the creation duties could become the standard development strategy.
Sasquatch Soapbox: Games and gamers — the line begins to blur
Jul 19th
What is a game, and what is a gamer?
In the wake of E3 coverage laced with “it’s not for us,” the rise of games on social media sites and iPhones, and Microsoft and Sony showcasing their motion-control interfaces more thoroughly, this question is coming up more often. An unscientific analysis of quote-unquote hardcore gamers would suggest they’re focused more and more on what appears to be a shrinking market. Nintendo’s press conference at E3 this year, in which it showed off new Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Kid Icarus titles, was held up as a breath of relief; the reaction within core gamers was along the lines of, “Finally, Nintendo is making games for us again!”
A truism about business that I’ve learned in graduate school is that expanding markets begin to fragment and form niches. Read the rest of this entry »
Why I can’t wait for Red Dead Redemption
May 18th
Hype is a strange thing. It causes all sorts of people to vehemently defend a product they’ve never even touched. And despite my best efforts to remain neutral about the release of certain new videogames — in a laughable effort to sustain my school-bred journalistic ethics — I’m as susceptible to flashy advertisements and smart marketing as any modern consumer.
Red Dead Redemption, which is out today, coerced me to put my money down based on its trailers and previews alone. My fistful of (60) dollars is purchasing an untested game that I’ve barely seen or read about, and no matter how capable Rockstar is as a developer, every company makes mistakes (i.e., Capcom’s unsuccessful attempts at building western-focused franchises). This horse-riding, cattle-rustling and outlaw-shooting game could be a flop, but for more than a few reasons I don’t believe that’s the truth.
Instead, I’m going to tell you exactly why I’ve saddled up to ride into the hype-laden sunset.
Our impressions of the Halo: Reach beta
May 6th
With the Halo: Reach beta well underway, Nick and Aaron decided to dust off their copies of Halo 3: ODST to decode the Internet hubbub surrounding the latest entry in the franchise. While their experiences were both positive and negative, one thing is clear: It’s definitely Halo.
Sasquatch Soapbox: Unleashing the Banhammer? Xbox Live, cheaters, and bans
Jan 12th
Ducking bullets and returning fire in Modern Warfare 2 has become big business online — but with tons of online players, bugs inevitably crop up.
For all the positives that your yearly Xbox Live gold subscription buys, it comes with one major downfall: the generic Xbox Live asshole. This is not a new phenomenon — Penny Arcade codified the “G.I.F.T.” system more than five years ago — but on two recent major Xbox 360 titles, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Forza Motorsport 3, it appears that the Live team is finally taking a strong stance on cheaters.
But is what’s happening in these titles really cheating, and is the tough-guy stance really the appropriate response?