One of the features of modern video games that practically become a standby is the prevalence of online game modes. Whether it's online co-op or competetive multiplayer, gaming has taken a definite online-focused turn. Just look at the ad campaign for Xbox Live from last gen: "it's good to play together." This statement seems to best embody the spirit of what online gaming is trying to accomplish - bringing people closer together by offering more and more ways to play with your friends online.
With this in mind, I can't help but think back to my high school days. Another Dr. Pepper saturated weekend spent in my friend's living room playing local matches of Halo: Combat Evolved until 6 or 7 in the morning. Sometimes we'd be trying to out-pistol snipe each other, other times (like when we got REALLY tired), we would employ rocket launchers and warthogs to hillarious and gravity-defying effects for hours on end. Now of course, we can do this from the comfort of our own living rooms, which means we don't have to worry about waking up sleeping parents, and we can enact the "no pants rule" without things getting to weird. Don't get me wrong - the weekend get togethers didn't stop with the introduction of Xbox Live, as games like Risk are still very conducive to burning the midnight oil.
Then this past August, things changed again when Risk: Factions was brought to the Xbox Live arcade. All of a sudden, the only reason to get together to play a game of Risk was if we wanted to eat from the same pizza, or if we wanted the luxury of watching South Park episodes from the DVD series constantly playing in the background while the other players mulled over exactly how many troops they were going to move into Kamchatka. In fact, Xbox Live versions of previous "hard copy only" games offer more options, easier setup, and no fussing over the rules, so in many ways it's actually preferable to sit at home and play from your couch, while your buddies play from their's.
In a way, online gaming platforms like Xbox Live/Arcade, PSN, etc are making good on the original Xbox's promise of making it easier (and better) to "play together" using their online space. It's easier and faster to play a game through Xbox Live. In fact, I've met friends (even good friends) specifically through Xbox Live; I wouldn't be able to play with these people otherwise. However, it still seems like there's something to be said for the all-nighter practice. Perhaps this is just a product of my unique position on the cusp of the offline online gaming generations, but I still feel like cramming 4 or 5 guys into a living room playing Halo, Risk, Magic, etc until the wee hours of the morning does something for your "nerd cred" that you just can't get from Xbox Live. I'm curious to see how far this trend goes, and actually quite anxious to see what other activities ultimately find their homes on online gaming platforms. With ESPN and Netflix on Xbox Live, even fairly normal practices like watching TV may soon require a gamertag to really get in on.
To clarify, I'm by no means saying that this is a bad thing. I'm no luddite, and to complain about the convenience offered by online services is nothing short of anti-progress. But it's impossible to deny that these new conventions have changed video games and how they're enjoyed socially. I don't think it's premature to claim that this almost certainly spells doom for the nerd slumber parties of the late '90s and early '00s. However, I think I can safely say that the video game companies have shown us that it is indeed good to play together. Playing together can just be done separately now.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Call To Arms...
This is a general call to arms to any of you folks out there on the internet:
If there is anybody who has any skill with html or page designing, I invite you to assist me in pimping out my blog. Anything from backgrounds to a new layout to just a logo would be awesome. As a reward, I offer:
1) My gratitude
2) The satisfaction of knowing that you've helped launch the Next Big Thing in internet phenoms
3 Isn't virtue supposed to be it's own reward?
So there you have it. The gauntlet has been thrown down to all of you more tech-savvy webheads.
And.....Go.
If there is anybody who has any skill with html or page designing, I invite you to assist me in pimping out my blog. Anything from backgrounds to a new layout to just a logo would be awesome. As a reward, I offer:
1) My gratitude
2) The satisfaction of knowing that you've helped launch the Next Big Thing in internet phenoms
3 Isn't virtue supposed to be it's own reward?
So there you have it. The gauntlet has been thrown down to all of you more tech-savvy webheads.
And.....Go.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
How the West Has Won
Way back in 1987, when even I was just a wee little thing just learning to wrap my hands around a NES controller, a man named Hironobu Sakaguchi was developing a project for a company that was staring bankruptcy in the face. In a last-ditch effort to save his company and avoid total ruin, Sakaguchi pushed forward with a new RPG title. However, hope seemed slim and for all intents and purposes, this was to be Sakaguchi's last game. That's why he decided to call it Final Fantasy.
Of course Square didn't go bankrupt in '87. In fact, quite the opposite; Square has over the past 20 years become synonymous with the RPG genre, with Final Fantasy 2 (or 4, or whatever) making waves on the SNES and Final Fantasy VII being considered among some people to be the most important Playstation game ever in any universe to date (I'll reserve judgement though). Square has cultivated their empire of turn-based random battles and spiky hair, and their fanbase has stayed steady and true, and it's been that way for 20 years running.
And that's sort of the problem - it's been that way for 20 years. Square sits atop the RPG throne based on a series of games that, graphical updates each gen aside, are all basically the same. You run your spiky-haired little protagonist around a fantasy realm triggering random battles that progress turn by turn until you are victorious. It's not that this necessarily bad since it seemed to work great in '87, but after all this time it's predictable and stale in a way that tends to really hurt games. I played Final Fantasy XIII, a game less than 6 months old, and before that Lost Odyssey (admittedly not a Square game but a prime example of a JRPG), and in both cases I caught myself wondering after the 6th or 7th hour why this needed to be on the Xbox 360. Aside from the graphics engine and some impressive looking cutscenes, these games offered nothing in terms of gameplay that was terribly different from Final Fantasy 1 on NES - the turn-based random battles, the grinding, even the story is told largely through PAGES AND PAGES OF TEXT in both cases! I felt, with these games more than any other, like I was being taken advantage of by a developer who would prefer to go the safe route and release a product that they know will be eaten up by a 20 year fanbase rather than try exciting new ideas.
Enter the Western developers, like Bioware and Bethesda. These are the guys who have given me hope for the future of a genre that seemed to be more of a nostalgic memory at best, or gruelling tedium at worst, by breathing new life into these games. All it takes is one look at an Elder Scrolls or Knights of the Old Republic game to see that the developers really and truly love these games enough to take chances on them. Because they see the potential, they see what they could be. They recognize that you can have a story-driven experience without reading page after page of dialogue next to an anime-style portrait. They've recognized our beloved turn-based combat system for what it really is: a relic of the technical limitations of the '80s that are no longer relevant. We now have the tech to manage battles in real-time (without sacrificing that element of strategy that RPGers, myself included, love so much), so why the heck are we still selecting our battle options from a menu? They're bold enough to admit that nobody (and I mean NOBODY) likes grinding, so they built a more natural level progression into the games themselves to give the players a feeling that they're still building a powerful character without having to put yourself through the agony of 3 straight days of goblin killing. To put it frankly, the Western developers have broken us free of the spell that the Final Fantasy series had us under that we actually enjoy these archaic gameplay mechanics. The beautiful thing is that these devs are actually learning from their old games too. In playing KOTOR II (as I've recently started doing again), I could see elements that were kept, adapted, and improved to be added into Dragon Age, 4 years later.
I politely challenge any diehard Final Fantasy gamer to sit down and play through Dragon Age: Origins, or one of my personal favorites, Knights of the Old Republic, and HONESTLY tell me that they don't prefer it to Square's offering. The fact is that these games do everything that Final Fantasy does, but they do it cleaner, tighter, and better. I'm not saying that Square is a bad company or that they make bad games because that's simply not true. In fact it's the Square games that these Western devs are looking to and learning from. There would be no Oblivion of it wasn't for Final Fantasy. But the difference is, where Square seems happy to rest on their laurels, Bioware, Bethesda, etc, are taking these great games and making them greater. This is the key point that puts them head and shoulders above the standard JRPGs of old: they adapt. They evolve the games creatively and in such an organic way that you can practically smell the sweat that they poured into these games.
I of course recognize the integral part that Square played in almost singlehandedly developing the RPG genre. However, the time has come for them to step aside, and pass the mantle to the newer developers, with wide eyes and fresh ideas for the genre that they so clearly love and can make so great.
Of course Square didn't go bankrupt in '87. In fact, quite the opposite; Square has over the past 20 years become synonymous with the RPG genre, with Final Fantasy 2 (or 4, or whatever) making waves on the SNES and Final Fantasy VII being considered among some people to be the most important Playstation game ever in any universe to date (I'll reserve judgement though). Square has cultivated their empire of turn-based random battles and spiky hair, and their fanbase has stayed steady and true, and it's been that way for 20 years running.
And that's sort of the problem - it's been that way for 20 years. Square sits atop the RPG throne based on a series of games that, graphical updates each gen aside, are all basically the same. You run your spiky-haired little protagonist around a fantasy realm triggering random battles that progress turn by turn until you are victorious. It's not that this necessarily bad since it seemed to work great in '87, but after all this time it's predictable and stale in a way that tends to really hurt games. I played Final Fantasy XIII, a game less than 6 months old, and before that Lost Odyssey (admittedly not a Square game but a prime example of a JRPG), and in both cases I caught myself wondering after the 6th or 7th hour why this needed to be on the Xbox 360. Aside from the graphics engine and some impressive looking cutscenes, these games offered nothing in terms of gameplay that was terribly different from Final Fantasy 1 on NES - the turn-based random battles, the grinding, even the story is told largely through PAGES AND PAGES OF TEXT in both cases! I felt, with these games more than any other, like I was being taken advantage of by a developer who would prefer to go the safe route and release a product that they know will be eaten up by a 20 year fanbase rather than try exciting new ideas.
Enter the Western developers, like Bioware and Bethesda. These are the guys who have given me hope for the future of a genre that seemed to be more of a nostalgic memory at best, or gruelling tedium at worst, by breathing new life into these games. All it takes is one look at an Elder Scrolls or Knights of the Old Republic game to see that the developers really and truly love these games enough to take chances on them. Because they see the potential, they see what they could be. They recognize that you can have a story-driven experience without reading page after page of dialogue next to an anime-style portrait. They've recognized our beloved turn-based combat system for what it really is: a relic of the technical limitations of the '80s that are no longer relevant. We now have the tech to manage battles in real-time (without sacrificing that element of strategy that RPGers, myself included, love so much), so why the heck are we still selecting our battle options from a menu? They're bold enough to admit that nobody (and I mean NOBODY) likes grinding, so they built a more natural level progression into the games themselves to give the players a feeling that they're still building a powerful character without having to put yourself through the agony of 3 straight days of goblin killing. To put it frankly, the Western developers have broken us free of the spell that the Final Fantasy series had us under that we actually enjoy these archaic gameplay mechanics. The beautiful thing is that these devs are actually learning from their old games too. In playing KOTOR II (as I've recently started doing again), I could see elements that were kept, adapted, and improved to be added into Dragon Age, 4 years later.
I politely challenge any diehard Final Fantasy gamer to sit down and play through Dragon Age: Origins, or one of my personal favorites, Knights of the Old Republic, and HONESTLY tell me that they don't prefer it to Square's offering. The fact is that these games do everything that Final Fantasy does, but they do it cleaner, tighter, and better. I'm not saying that Square is a bad company or that they make bad games because that's simply not true. In fact it's the Square games that these Western devs are looking to and learning from. There would be no Oblivion of it wasn't for Final Fantasy. But the difference is, where Square seems happy to rest on their laurels, Bioware, Bethesda, etc, are taking these great games and making them greater. This is the key point that puts them head and shoulders above the standard JRPGs of old: they adapt. They evolve the games creatively and in such an organic way that you can practically smell the sweat that they poured into these games.
I of course recognize the integral part that Square played in almost singlehandedly developing the RPG genre. However, the time has come for them to step aside, and pass the mantle to the newer developers, with wide eyes and fresh ideas for the genre that they so clearly love and can make so great.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Daily Affirmation (sort of)
Trying to find a job is like scanning for minerals in Mass Effect 2:
It's a long and tedious process that you don't REALLY want to do, and no matter how careful you are you know that you're missing something.
And when you DO get a hit you can't really get excited because it wasn't the one you were looking for anyways.
It's a long and tedious process that you don't REALLY want to do, and no matter how careful you are you know that you're missing something.
And when you DO get a hit you can't really get excited because it wasn't the one you were looking for anyways.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Shameless Cross-Promotion
Hey all,
Anybody who's into EVE Online (which isn't unfeasible to assume seeing as how this is primarily a video game blog) may want to check out this blog:
The 12th Ninja
I'm not sure what this guy prefers to call himself online, so I won't say what his name is, but it's a very comprehensive account of all things EVE. Check it out.
Anybody who's into EVE Online (which isn't unfeasible to assume seeing as how this is primarily a video game blog) may want to check out this blog:
The 12th Ninja
I'm not sure what this guy prefers to call himself online, so I won't say what his name is, but it's a very comprehensive account of all things EVE. Check it out.
How Bungie is Ruining it for Everyone Else
With the release of Halo: Reach roughly six weeks away, I figured it would be prudent to talk a little about Bungie in general, and why everyone seems to think that they're so damn important. The truth is, Bungie does something that very few studios these days seem to do.
They get it.
They get what makes a game fun, and they get what we as gamers want out of a game. Now for the sake of brevity (and to avoid flagrant accusations of fanboy-ism), I won't get into the gameplay itself. But what it really comes down to anyways is community. Bungie respects and appreciates the people playing their games, and that comes through. Forge and save films are inherently community-based features. Bungie is placing a huge amount of trust in the gamers' hands by including features in their games that could possibly be used in ways they haven't even anticipated.
The crazy thing is, it paid off. Forge has become such a huge hit that it has spawned playlists in Halo 3 that consist entirely of community-made maps. The countless hundreds of hours that people spent fiddling with ways to place boxes and set pieces in new and totally unintended (for all intents game-breaking) ways has prompted Bungie themselves to incorporate these techniques in Reach, with their inclusion of in-game merging and floating object placement. Save films have become so wildly popular that even "big name" game editing sites like IGN have included a regular segment featuring save film submissions of funny, unlikely, or just plain awesome Halo 3 kills. Internet machinima cartoons have taken off now that the technology to record and edit gameplay footage is at every Halo players fingertips.
Through seemingly simple additions like these, Bungie has essentially thrown down the gauntlet to other developers on behalf of us as gamers. Hey Epic, why don't you guys release a public beta for Gears of War 3? Wouldn't it be fun to create your own custom Modern Warfare maps? What game do you know that wouldn't benefit from an ability to record replays and upload them online to share with your friends? Well now the cat's out of the bag, because thanks to Bungie, we already know that this stuff is ALL POSSIBLE. Now we expect these things from games these days. All it takes is a studio that respects their community as much as the community appreciates the games. Yeah, maybe it's creating more work for studios who are fine sitting in their comfort zone afraid to blur the line between developer and community involvement, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. The fact is, we've played shooters before. Hell, we've played GAMES before. We're getting tired of the same old genre rehashes with different coats of paint. We'd like the opportunity to screw around and do our own thing with the games we love. THAT'S what Bungie is doing for us. THAT'S why they get it, and THAT'S why Halo 3 is still one of the top 5 games played on Xbox Live after 3 years. Good job, Bungie. I look forward to you continuing to ruin everything with Halo: Reach.
They get it.
They get what makes a game fun, and they get what we as gamers want out of a game. Now for the sake of brevity (and to avoid flagrant accusations of fanboy-ism), I won't get into the gameplay itself. But what it really comes down to anyways is community. Bungie respects and appreciates the people playing their games, and that comes through. Forge and save films are inherently community-based features. Bungie is placing a huge amount of trust in the gamers' hands by including features in their games that could possibly be used in ways they haven't even anticipated.
The crazy thing is, it paid off. Forge has become such a huge hit that it has spawned playlists in Halo 3 that consist entirely of community-made maps. The countless hundreds of hours that people spent fiddling with ways to place boxes and set pieces in new and totally unintended (for all intents game-breaking) ways has prompted Bungie themselves to incorporate these techniques in Reach, with their inclusion of in-game merging and floating object placement. Save films have become so wildly popular that even "big name" game editing sites like IGN have included a regular segment featuring save film submissions of funny, unlikely, or just plain awesome Halo 3 kills. Internet machinima cartoons have taken off now that the technology to record and edit gameplay footage is at every Halo players fingertips.
Through seemingly simple additions like these, Bungie has essentially thrown down the gauntlet to other developers on behalf of us as gamers. Hey Epic, why don't you guys release a public beta for Gears of War 3? Wouldn't it be fun to create your own custom Modern Warfare maps? What game do you know that wouldn't benefit from an ability to record replays and upload them online to share with your friends? Well now the cat's out of the bag, because thanks to Bungie, we already know that this stuff is ALL POSSIBLE. Now we expect these things from games these days. All it takes is a studio that respects their community as much as the community appreciates the games. Yeah, maybe it's creating more work for studios who are fine sitting in their comfort zone afraid to blur the line between developer and community involvement, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. The fact is, we've played shooters before. Hell, we've played GAMES before. We're getting tired of the same old genre rehashes with different coats of paint. We'd like the opportunity to screw around and do our own thing with the games we love. THAT'S what Bungie is doing for us. THAT'S why they get it, and THAT'S why Halo 3 is still one of the top 5 games played on Xbox Live after 3 years. Good job, Bungie. I look forward to you continuing to ruin everything with Halo: Reach.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Round 1....FIGHT
So I've had this idea for a while now, but I've been putting it off forever for a variety of reasons. Mostly I've been hesitant to commit to something as scary as a public blog because now I'll always feel like I should be writing in it, otherwise the internet will be angry with me. In the end my ambition won out and thus here I am in all my resplendent blogtacular glory. I guess I'll consider the first month or so a probationary period, and we'll see how things go from there.
If you're one of the pair of people reading this (sorry mom, you don't count) you may be wondering what exactly you can expect to find in my little corner of the web. Fair enough. Force Feedback is, quite simply, a place for me to come and talk about video games and the industry surrounding them. I'll probably also be talking about movies and comics here and there, but seeing as how games are what eats up most of my time I'll probably stick to that primarily. Will I be reviewing specific games? Every now and then, if I really love a game, or really hate it, or if I feel like a particular game is important or impactful in some way. For the most part though, I'll leave the reviews of mediocre games to the people who are getting paid to do it. There are tons of them, and I'm not one (grumble grumble). No, the purpose of this blog is far more nebulous and far less practically useful to the smattering of readers I may acquire. The main focus of Force Feedback is going to be me writing about video games on a larger scale, why we love them (or hate them), etc. It's also my hope that every now and then I can encourage my team of esteemed fellow Jedi-ninja-pirate-wizards to contribute as well, since more perspectives tend to be better than less, and everybody loves a good fight.
Well that's about it for the introductory stuff. If you're still with me it must be because you have at least a marginal interest in what I have to say. Welcome to Force Feedback. You've been warned.
If you're one of the pair of people reading this (sorry mom, you don't count) you may be wondering what exactly you can expect to find in my little corner of the web. Fair enough. Force Feedback is, quite simply, a place for me to come and talk about video games and the industry surrounding them. I'll probably also be talking about movies and comics here and there, but seeing as how games are what eats up most of my time I'll probably stick to that primarily. Will I be reviewing specific games? Every now and then, if I really love a game, or really hate it, or if I feel like a particular game is important or impactful in some way. For the most part though, I'll leave the reviews of mediocre games to the people who are getting paid to do it. There are tons of them, and I'm not one (grumble grumble). No, the purpose of this blog is far more nebulous and far less practically useful to the smattering of readers I may acquire. The main focus of Force Feedback is going to be me writing about video games on a larger scale, why we love them (or hate them), etc. It's also my hope that every now and then I can encourage my team of esteemed fellow Jedi-ninja-pirate-wizards to contribute as well, since more perspectives tend to be better than less, and everybody loves a good fight.
Well that's about it for the introductory stuff. If you're still with me it must be because you have at least a marginal interest in what I have to say. Welcome to Force Feedback. You've been warned.
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