The Band Plays On

So the story goes that in the final moments of the Titanic the band played till the bitter end.  As the ball room  filled with bone chilling water and chunks of ice the bass and piano filled the air-prelude to the deaths of many on that starless frigid night.  We are the band now; gamers I mean.  Oh and that story about the band playing till the end it's probably bullshit.  We are the band and we will indeed play off Sony Microsoft and Nintendo at some point.  Yeah you, me, and every other gamer out there is going to keep on truckin after the megas fall.  Know how I know this?  We have already played off more than a few acts.

We have played off (literally) other companies and consoles like the 3DO.  For them their titanic came quick and we played them off into the depths.   Nothing lasts forever-ask Sega and Atari.  At some point our gods will fall and die.  No need to get crazy; just do what I did when Sega announced that they were dropping out of the console racket.  I removed my hat, placed it over my heart, and looked to the horizon as the sun set while a single tear slipped out of the corner of my eye.  Remember all the good times you had and not how Sega 32X was a complete piece of shit.

Someone will usurp and kill our gods one day it's the cycle of things.  Don't forget that our current gods were one day usurpers themselves.  I know you younger ones can't imagine this but when it came time to enter the 3D realm of games it felt strange as hell to pick a Sony Playstation off the shelf at Toys R Us.  None of us had any idea that they would be part of the reason why Sega had to back out or that within a few years they would be gunning for Nintendo.  Sony and Microsoft are new kids on the block in the grand scheme of things.  There will come a time when they themselves become the old alpha unable to fend off the young challenger.  The once proud lion who is showing his rib cage but still has some claws on the end of his paws-an animal that no one would screw with unless of course you are younger, have more meat on your bones, and the confidence to dethrone the king.  They may go out with a whimper like Atari or go out with a pistol in each hand emptying magazines in a fruitless attempt to save their own life.  (yeah the lion analogy is over; lions don't use guns)  Personally I'm hoping for the latter since that means we get some really weird and cool ideas that may be ahead of their time.  

At any rate we are looking at the young companies in their prime (not you Nintendo) so it is hard to imagine them pushed back on their heels or flat out dying but it will come one day.  Rise and fall of empires, every dog has his day, you can only run a cartel so long before some other up and coming cartel comes along and puts a few bullets into you after a small war...whatever saying you wanna use you all know it's true.  You probably can't imagine the megas taking a bullet to the chest right now and I understand.  If you're like me you have been around since Pong and this all seems elementary but if your first console was say...PS2 you're gonna think I'm crazy.  Here is a quick rundown of some corpses I have seen hit the floor.  The list (from just the top of my head) goes something like:

-an infinite amount of pong consoles
-Commodore
-Colecovision
-Intellivision III
-Odyssey
-Vectrex
-Atari Jaguar
-Sega Dreamcast
-3DO
-Phillips CD-i
-Turbo Grafx
-Neo Geo

All dead in the console business.  What makes Sony and the others so special that they cannot also suffer the same fate?  Nothing as far as I am concerned.  We played on after all of these guys fell over and twitched and aside from taking a dirt nap what else do these guys have in common?  None of them retired.

In sports players can retire after years of playing.  Boxers and fighters get old and have to retire-but there is no retiring here.  When was the last you heard of ANY company saying "We have made enough money-we're gonna shut the doors and retire"  it never happens.  There is only one thing that can happen to Microsoft Sony and Nintendo-they have to at some point roll onto their backs and curl their legs in.  Unless one or all of them do the unthinkable and concede the fight-they will be left with only the option to die.  In essence they can't actually retire so this story can only have one ending.  We will be playing the sweet music that was in  the titanic ball room that night.  It will fill their ears as they hit the floor stunned and in disbelief.  We will move on to whatever knocked them out until of course something knocks them out.  We're gamers we play on oh yes indeed the band plays on. 

WiiU Experience Hollywood

Ok so I got to play the WiiU today.  I'll spare you all the wishy washy con going experience and cut to the meat of this.

The games that were there were Nintendoland (which consists of many small games not unlike mini games in Mario Party I will explain later) Batman Arkham Armored Edition, Game and Wario, Project P 100, Pikmin 3, Wii fit U, Ninja Gaiden 3, Just Dance 4, Scribblenauts, Mario Bros WiiU, Sing Party, Rayman, and the much anticipated ZombiiU.  There are links to some of my short videos but I will break down my game playing experience for you here:

Ninja Gaiden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejQ5w44dN7s
Batman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejQ5w44dN7s
Rayman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3-cJhvQZ0
Game and Wario http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uaoQ43BvHE

Now before we begin mind you I was given Demo versions of these games.  So if I trash a title you were hoping for or give undo praises to a game that doesnt stack up get over it.  Not trying to gloat just stating a fact I have played them and you most likely have not.

Wii fit U:  They had a few games for demo.  Hosedown, luge, trampoline, waiter, and rowing.  I got to try out Hosedown.  As expected the Wii fit board is needed but you don't need to re-buy a board if you have one for your Wii.  So I have the tablet and I hold it in front of me and this simulates the business end of the hose.  When I press my foot down on the Wii fit board water comes out with force comparable to how hard I press on the board.  So little Miis rush me and I have to hose them down by aiming the tablet around.  This is great since it makes me use my arms in Wii fit rather than just foot motions or balance.  Eventually the Miis become more devious and come at you with thick chocolate shells.  They take much more water to put down than normal Miis.  One complaint is that I wasnt watching the tv but rather the tablet screen since aiming the hose was a little wonky.  Fun game liked it.

Waiter-hold the tablet flat like a tray and pump your feet to walk forward.  Chefs give you food to bring to hungry customers.  just dont tilt the tablet since you'll spill the food and have to go back for more.  People had trouble turning while walking since you had to tilt the tray a bit.  I'm thinkin this will be worked out by players adapting to the game.  Again not a seriously involved game but fun enough-like a third person diner dash.

Trampoline-not much going on here.  Just pretend to jump at the right time and you fly really high.

Luge-Do you have a flabby stomach like me?  Well a few weeks of this game will tighten you midsection for sure.  You sit on the wii fit board and you cant let your feet touch the floor.  you lean back and use your hands to support your weight.  Leaning will steer your sled obviously.  This game was fun but yeah dont expect tons of levels and boss battles it's just a Wii Fit mini game after all.

Rowing-Similar to Luge but not quite as intense.  This was meant more for your arms.

Rayman-Solid little platformer here with gorgeous scenery and unique characters.  The demo was short-only like half a level.  I was given the pro controller and I'll do a write up of that later.  The controls were fluid and responsive.  The challenge and timing of jumps and stuff wasnt bad and it held my attention.  The tablet version of this game however kinda sucks.  A second player basically taps stuff in the level that does not affect the player one way or another.  This gives player one more stuff to collect and maybe a power up.  Synopsis: good platformer 2nd player option is weak as hell.

Sing Party: Again I am not much for these kinds of games but this was kinda cool.  The person performing has the tablet and the lyrics display on its screen.  They can now instead face the people watching and sing...and dance.  Oh yeah they are incorporating slight dance moves in singing games now.  Also the chorus is meant to be sung by anyone watching so crowd involvement is now present.  Again songs are available as DLC.  Not bad and a step in the right direction for a genre that was already stale in my opinion.

Just Dance 4: So I dont do the dance games but my wife does.  This one seems more involved and better built than the Wii versions.  They tell me songs and dances will be available for DLC.  Kinda like Sing party-minor improvements and adjustments here.

Scribblenauts:  Never played any before this.  I was given the tablet and told to write out what I wanted to manifest in the game.  Yeah not draw it as I assumed with the name scribblenauts but tap at the tablet with a stylus to spell out what I wanted.  I made a submarine car and a dragon-it wouldnt let me make a chainsaw crossbow.  The guy tells me that the objects I made can be edited pretty heavily.  He had no idea how to do this so I ripped apart my dragon and he couldnt load into the level since I changed his geometry and collision.  Couldn't load stuff I wanted to couldnt load what I had edited couldnt complete tasks in the game.  Didnt care.

Game and Wario-Wario games are always weird and I like that.  Well there wasnt much weird going on.  The demo played a lot like Hosedown on Wii Fit U.  Launch arrows at little Wario block men waddling at you.  If they make it to you they appear on your tablet screen and move from top to bottom.  You have to tap the ever loving crap out of them in order to kill each one.  Not very hard and not weird enough to really keep my attention here.  Hopefully when this launches it's on par with other Wario games because right now-it isnt.

Ninja Gaiden 3-Hack and slashes seem to have taken root in recent gaming and for good reason-they're fun.  So how does this game compare with its legendary 8 bit predecessors?  Not well.  The controls are wonky. We are used to our lower two buttons on a gamepad being the action buttons and even the bottom right and top right buttons on some occasions.  Not here.  The top two buttons are action (attacks).  I imagine that using and actual gamepad would be better but I was given the tablet...and I imagine that the tablet is what you need here since in order to do special attacks and ninja magic I have to tap icons on the tablet screen.  this is not easily done in a fight-at all.  I have to remove my hand from the attack buttons to do this.  This is like dropping a gun and picking it back up in a real fight.  Bad idea.  Also the button we are used to pressing to attack (X for PS3 and A on xbox) uses a bow and arrow attack that is delayed and serves zero purpose in a melee fighter.  I know God of war had some ranged attacks but they balanced it alright so that it was useful in some cases.  Here not so much.  Also weak attack is pointless you want to hammer the strong attack button.  When you do you are treated to some short cuts of Ryu hacking an enemy and blood flying everywhere and the enemy goes flying...only to get up again.  Hack and Slash isnt hard to make any delay or lag destroys the game entirely though.

Project P 100-gorgeous looking isometric beat em up.  The art appears in the same vein as Viewtiful Joe but I have no clue if it the same devs.  You have a band of super heroes who literally flock together and beat the tar out of bad guys.  The demo had people beating up a giant lego like robot in the end.  The effects are gorgeous and the animations are smooooooth.  Group attacks are key and you have special weapons accessible through your tablet screen.  A ridiculously huge sword and a handgun were available.  It played well.  The controls were responsive and fluid.  This is the kind of game that really shows its personality and humor.  Liked it.

Batman Arkham Armored Edition-Pretty lame for the most part.  Batman looked like a plastic action figure amongst pretty decent backdrops-he looked out of place.  The only real difference I saw here was Batsy gets glowing fists every now and again.  In order to use batarangs and such you need to look at your tablet screen and drag and drop abilities to it etc.  This is some more bullshit that can't be done in a fight-you have to go into it prepared but in a game like this there is no telling who is coming next and if you are packing their weakness or not.  Also the game felt laggy and jerky in some instances.  The controls were wonky thanks to the tablet interface.

Pikmin 3-didn;t play it and I had no desire to.  It just doesnt seem like a game I'd enjoy and I wasnt going to stand in line for it so no review

Mario Bros U-Nothing new going on here really.  Not much difference from Mario Bros Wii really.  3 and 4 play as toads and the bubble feature is here.  Mario Bros Wii was a good game but there wasnt much improvement here.  The tablet is fucking useless here.  The tablet doesnt control a player but rather by tapping the screen you can place blocks the players can stand and jump off of.  Great if the game is too hard for you but using the tablet in this game was like Rayman-boring and poorly designed.

Nintendoland-good stuff here.  I was able to play Luigi's Ghost Mansion, Catch Mario, and Metroid Blast.  They are more or less mini games not unlike Mario Party.  Luigi's Ghost mansion has up to four players trying to catch a fifth player who is the ghost.  It is top down nothing complicated.  The ghost uses the tablet and he can see the other players on his tablet screen.  The players cannot see the ghost on the tv screen.  It is a cat and mouse game the ghost has to touch each player and that knocks them out.  The ghost wins when all players are knocked out.  Players use their flashlights to hurt (and eventually kill) the ghost.  The flashlights are also used to revive downed players.  This sounds simple and possibly stupid but it was probably the funnest game there.
MetroidBlast-you play as your Mii in a traditional Samus suit and in third person fashion walk the map and blast enemies.  A player can use the tablet and they are a small gunship.  Nothing too note worthy going on here but it wasnt boring.

Catch Mario- Third person point of view.  Similar to luigis mansion in the fact that the player using mario has the tablet and can see everyone.  Up to four toads have to chase down Mario and tackle him.  Again not very involved but very fun.

ZombiiU-Will this game stack up to the hype?  Let's go over it.  The visuals are dull compared to other stuff there.  Zombies look more like fake humans rather than undead ones.  The weapons look flat like actually flat and uninspired.  Most scenery looks cliche and boring like the wall that has blood smears that spell out 'how long can you survive?'  As if anyone would write this in an actual apocalyptic event.  The world looks like a video game world and not like a real one.  The game feels like playing levels rather than exploring a world.  You are quite aware that you are playing a game here.  The zombies dont really move all that great either.  I hate to say it kiddies but this game probably won't blow you away.  There is zero special things about it.  Aside from having zombies in it (which is enough to get some of you to buy it) there isnt anything else going on.  The game is mission based i.e. get to the hospital to get your friend some medicine.  It is not the sandbox world we were hoping for.  No exploration, no basecamp, no survival sim, just wandering around shooting zombies in front of you...and only zombies.  I was really disappointed in this game.  It looks like shit compared to the other games there and plays at a very boring tune.

So okay as a game player the first thing I have to address is the tablet controller.  In some cases it is a great idea, in others it is unnecessary and in others still it wrecks the game experience entirely.  Nintendo will more than likely make every game in the WiiU at least say hello to the tablet but honestly it feels like more gimmick shit.  It isnt all that familiar or comfortable to play with a tablet like this.  The hybrid of tapping buttons and tapping the screen has to hit home with a lot of users in order for this to be successful.  Honestly for me it just doesnt work.  Im staring at the tv playing my game and suddenly I am being prompted to look at my tablet.  I look and find more items or abilities I picked up without knowing it.  How?  Well I can only look at one screen at a time.  Also the analog sticks and buttons on it are nice-they are a tad small for my hands but the real problem is taking your hand off the controls to interact with the touchscreen.  It's ok for a pause screen but sometimes they make you choose live decisions in a game with it.  Only lots of practice will make it a fluid controller.

Graphic quality.  Hit and miss really.  As mentioned that Project P 100 game was gorgeous as well as Rayman.  Other games like ZombiiU and Ninja Gaiden looked like crap compared to PS3 and Xbox.  So is it a step up from Wii? Yeah most definitely.  The Nintendoland games eh you can't really tell since they are so cartoony to begin with.  They added more polys with better textures in almost everything though.  One amazing thing you need to see for yourself (and not in a video) is the color palette the WiiU has-it is stunning and the designers really make the screens vibrate and pop.  The games are a visual treat for onlookers but again only certain ones.

Hardware.  Not much is known here.  I mean Katsuhiro Harada was talking about this machine having difficulty meeting his expectations of when making games on 360 and PS3.  This could boil down to unfamiliar technology though.  I mean you can know how to ride a motorcycle but when you get on some weird chopper with a suicide shift there's gonna be a learning curve.  You can make the bike move but not as well as you could with some practice.  Hopefully that's all it is because yeah the mature games seemed to struggle with lag issues due to mapping or careless use of memory.  The fact that it stubs its toe on Batman and Ninja Gaiden isn't good no.  If nintendo is serious about entering the mature market they need to optimize their code or streamline 3rd party support or something; because something isn't right here.  They sling blood everywhere as if thats what were looking for but in reality I dont think Nintedo understands the mature market and what we are looking for.  So they take a game that has been out for a while (Batman) add some particle effects and then they use buckets of blood in Ninja Gaiden and ZombiiU.  The whole blood and gore seemed over the top and way fake almost hearkening back to the early Mortal Kombat days.  In fact I would dare to say that these decisions were forced into the games.

Pro controller kicks the hell out of the tablet in my opinion.  Anyone who is accustomed to PS3 or xbox controllers (all of us) will feel at home with this controller.  The buttons may be a tad too close together but I have fat fingers.  All in all this is a great option for platformers and FPS games.  In this regard Nintendo hit a bullseye.

Backwards compatible stuff-remember that everything I experienced was carefully selected by Nintendo marketing guys.  We got to use Wii fit boards, and standard Wii controllers with nunchucks for some games.  Nintendo doesnt want to seem to milk their customer base right now.  I think these decisions were made to keep costs down and not piss off their fan base.  They are experimenting and the last thing they need is a consumer that shys away from add on costs or is mad about them.  Good decision here fellas.

So I know what you all came here to know-is it worth buying?  There are two types of people wanting this thing and I will address them both.  Are you a Wii nut are you a Nintendo fanboy? the WiiU is superior to the Wii in its capabilities but some games still look and play like Wii games mostly.  Wii Fit U has been smoothed out but the look and feel is the same.  Miis are used heavily and if you like that you're in luck here.  The amount of family oriented stuff at the Experience was enough to satisfy most parents. Nintendoland is gonna kick ass.  I know the games on there sound simple and while they are-they are way fun to play and that is the core of gaming.  Nintendo did it right with Nintendoland so have no fear this console will not let you down.  The first party stuff will stay bullet proof and give you what you looking for.

Are you hoping Contra Megaman and Final Fantasy come back in their retro/new age fusion glory?  Are you looking forward to Mature games?  If youre looking for mature games I say wait a few months after it comes out.  Wii had Red Steel and other launch titles to fool mature gamers and this is a possibility here as well (Red Steel was good don't get me wrong but there wasnt enough stuff like that to keep me from wandering into a PS3).  Some issues need to be worked out on the mature stuff before I consider this a mature console.  Nintendo needs to start or find better consulting for mature gaming.  It seems that they have forgotten how to ride that bike for the most part.  Also they seem to want to be able to cater to the new generation, current adult Wii nuts, and rope in a new audience that went to Sony or Microsoft.  If I know one thing it's this: try to please everyone and you will please no one.  Nintendo will have to make a choice at some point about their game library and third party relations.  The choice will be whatever is making them more money.  I just hope they are serious about the mature stuff and give it a serious try.  If they put out a dozen or so mature titles and stop future ones it will be a disappointment since I think the pieces and capabilities are there.  All that is necessary is actual desire on their part and that is our X factor.

So that's my wrap up!  I didnt put in for a pre order but I am interested.  I'm going to let this thing make a splash and pull out my cynical stick and see if it measures up.  I would drive their marketing division insane.  I enjoy Wii fit, Mario Party, Zelda you know all the real stuff.  But when it comes to the mature stuff-blood and guts going everywhere does nothing for me-I want story in my action and solid controls so I can't bitch about the game.  But you know me I will anyway.

Project Greenlight Causes confusing Pile Up

Project Greenlight, the fabled and in some cases awaited event is here but what exactly is going on?
It seems to me that most of us dont even really know what the heck it is.  I'll do my best to explain although I may be wrong since the details are very murky right now.

Greenlight is a vessel for Indie developers to eventually sell their games on Steam.  People vote up or down on a project they would like to see on Steam for sale.  Sounds simple but let's take a walk down this confusing road.

"Help us find games you want!" says Steam.  This leads to people screaming HALF LIFE 3! and SYSTEM SHOCK 2! even Gears of War and other stuff like that were asked for.  Seldom does the scream go out for an Indie title... which of course is the purpose of this project.  On top of that many users were upset with the whole Indie aspect of Greenlight and viciously thumbed down every project they could out of spite when they found out this didnt mean HF3 or whatever else they were hoping for would be coming.

On top of that Reddit 4chan and other similar sites launched a campaign to cause havoc on Greenlight.  They're  prank/joke sites this is to be expected ya know?  Well apparently Steam did not expect this even after the infamous Mountain Dew fiasco. http://www.manolith.com/2012/08/15/4chan-shuts-down-mountain-dew-naming-contest-after-hitler-did-nothing-wrong-gets-most-votes/

Many bogus entries and bizarre comments were made on top of negative voting and such.  Steam had no filter for internet trolls or pranksters.  Some poor developers are so deep in the hole with negative feedback they may never recover unless they re-launch.  Good luck on getting back whatever positive feedback you DID get though.  So they didnt anticipate this and I suppose hindsight is 20/20 but this IS the internet fellas.  You mean to tell me when this thing was set up no one asked "What about bogus activity (both positive and negative)-how do we prevent it?"  Maybe someone DID ask this and likely this person was locked in a broom closet for the duration of the meeting.

Another tough thing about Greenlight is that there is no real chance for discovery.  I've been cruising around on there for the past few days and have seen the same games in different orders on the pages.  I have not seen anything new beyond say six dozen games maybe?  I know there are way more on there but every time I click the next arrow I see the same stuff as before with maybe one or two different games thrown in there.  There is no search feature either.  I can not search by most recent, genre, most popular etc.  Just a gaggle of games and if you're lucky enough to be one of the repeating titles on the pages good for you.  If not good luck with anyone finding you.  They may have since fixed this during this article so cut me some slack.

The amount of bogus material on or already shut down by Greenlight is quite a bit.  People post Max Payne 3 Half Life 3 etc basically people either mocking the system or trying to show Steam a want for something non existent.  Either way Steam more often than not bans the users who do this.  This to me seems heavy handed since the outline of project Greenlight is fuzzy at best.  "Help us find games you want!" So you ask for Half Life 3 and are banned.  Now the thousands of dollars you spent on games are gone because Steam was unclear about this project.  I suppose if a developer who already had a game to market and did not want to be on steam saw their game on there submitted by a user that it may ruffle some feathers.  But since no money is being made by those bogus pages Steam wouldnt need to worry about a lawsuit so banning is still heavy handed.  Remove the content, suspend the user in some cases, maybe I dunno explain Greenlight better and move on.

The amount of fanfare needed for a title to make it is laughable.  Projects on there with over 10,000 favorites are deemed to have 2% of necessary positive activity.  We can safely assume they probably have a similar amount of up votes as they do favorites so lets break out the calculator.  10K=2% so that means 500K=100%....for a fucking Indie game!?  Hell most will be lucky to come out of this with 50K in positive actions.  If a game can garner 500K fans they don't need Greenlight.  I mean with that kind of action a developer could say "Buy my game on my website".  Those fans go and do that and now Steam gets no percentage in profits because they attached insane standards on a group of guys who built a game in their garage.  It appears that Steam doesnt quite understand the Indie market and how to "exploit" it.

The current voting system is bogus as well.  I already cited one reason but there are others.  The whole idea that a game can be down voted is stupid.  A down vote means "I have no interest in buying this game"  That's fine, that's cool.  A down vote will cancel an upvote though.  So a customer who would like to buy the game wont be able to because someone else doesnt want to buy it.  That makes no sense.  Established titles come on to Steam all the time and there are always a clutch of people who hate that game and have no interest in buying it.  Yet those games come on there anyway.  I have yet to see a game hit Steam where EVERY single one of their users buys it.  So why should Indie companies be held to an even higher standard than AAA games?  Everyone must like your game or you can't come in.  Again if a game had that much fanfare they wouldnt need Greenlight.

It also appears that voting doesnt mean a damned thing at all. “The specific number of votes doesnt matter as much as the relative interest in a game compared with other games on Steam Greenlight"  So what the fuck does that even mean?  HOW do you gauge popularity then?  Why have a voting system if it "doesn't matter"?

Greenlight is an amazing idea but in desperate need of re-organization and polish.  It SHOULD be a simple process.  Put your game up there, if 20K-30K are interested buyers congratulations.  I say this since Indies are lucky to have that many customers by year's end on a title.  Even stuff like Recognize and Oniken are barely making a dent in the process to be on Steam.  This means the system is screwed up or Steam really does have no clue as to what people want and what is popular.     Hopefully all this stuff is just some gaffs in launching.  If it isnt and this is how this operation is intended to run it is one big fat disappointment to fans and Indie developers.

Old Dogs Do Old Tricks

So do you have the shelf space for more consoles?  Personally I am a collector and literally lost count of the amount of consoles I have-I am always ready to try something new (or old) in gaming I always have room for more.  I was lucky enough to witness gaming from Pongs to current day and I long for the early 90's.  Games were just starting to prove themselves both in major profits and as the dominant force in home entertainment.   Companies were experimenting with all kinds of formats, game styles, ideas you name it.  It left the era looking like a battlefield with winners, losers, and heaps of obscure smoking machinery that would become odd footnotes in gaming history. So you know I  am stoked about what will be happening soon.  This is going to be happening

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game?ref=live

Looking like this thing is set to be in the ball park of 300 bones and along with Ouya (set to be bout 100 bucks) I can jump my console collection by two for less than the price of a next gen console because let's be honest folks PS4 and Xbox 720 (?) and the uh WiiU won't be cheap...maybe WiiU.  But apart from price I am excited for innovation once again.  When I was a pre teen and an early teen a gamer literally had a bunch of choices.  Aside from your standard Sega and Nintendo, we had 3DO, CD-i, Turbo graphix, Neo Geo, and two other obscure contenders that made people scratch their heads at first, Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation.  No matter how history has judged some of the named the point is we had a choice.

PS3 and Xbox 360 while absolutely groundbreaking and both deserving of their place in video game history; are old.  Wait, no that is not what I mean to say.  A console's longevity is directly linked to its game library.  I could play PS3 for the next 20 years and be happy so long as the game ideas stay fresh and franchises are always improving.  That however is not the case anymore.  Many people feel as I do: dropping 60 bucks on a minimally changed franchise title sucks.  Clones of the franchises are almost never as good so it leaves a small library of actually innovative different games that sometimes don't receive much press.  Sony and Microsoft have painted themselves into a corner with asking (or demanding) relative sameness from their game studios.  When gobs of millions can be gained or lost on a game no one is brave enough to risk it all in the name of innovation.

So one of two things is going to happen in the near future.  Ouya and the Oculus (and hopefully some others) will claim their spot in people's collections and be viable sources of entertainment.  This will of course cut into Sony and Microsoft's profit margin.  Not too deeply mind you I don't see an Indie heavy console along with a VR helmet with no real launch library (yet) doing too much damage at least at first.  But let's say that combined they cause Sony and Microsoft to both lose 100 million on the first year-let's just say.  Both companies measure profit in billions so shouldering a hit like that wouldnt be impossible.  But it would mean that Sony and Microsoft might have to adapt their tactics to what is catching on.  I don't see either company making a VR visor or turning the keys to the kingdom over to Indie developers but they would have to come up with some kind of answer-meaning more experimenting and innovation; making me a happy guy!

Scenario two is Ouya and Oculus go down in flames.  They emerge into a brick and mortar storefront or a digital one and either no one buys it or even worse people do buy it and tell others not to.  This means Ouya and Oculus end up as one of those heaping smokes of machinery in this battle that I mentioned.  We as gamers go back to playing "new" installations of franchises and playing what the megas think is a safe bet to make them more money.  Of course graphics will be updated but come on I was playing red square vs yellow square on Atari and loving it.

If you truly love games and not just how they look but really love the idea of games and how they influence our lives you will be looking forward to Oculus and Ouya and hoping that they make it.  Because quite frankly folks I don't see Sony or Microsoft making any daring moves...they don't have to.  You buy what they sell-why? Because you have no choice.  Introduce some choice into the market-let's relive that strange (and somewhat confusing) yet fun time I saw.  For you young ones you're gonna love it and for those other OG's like myself...come on you know I am right.

Inside the Indie

Ever wonder what it's like inside the mind of an indie dev owner?  Man you are in luck.  I am a co-owner of an indie company and I am willing to tell you a little bit about it in case you are curious or hoping to open a place yourself.  Let me give everyone a bit of insight here:

It's a fun job but it's still a job

We see videos and pictures of Dev teams having nerf wars in the office or razor scooter races in the halls and stuff like that and we all think: "Damn these guys just have fun all day!"  Well we only post stuff like that since to watch us work is utterly boring.  We sit at our computers or drawing tablets and for 12 hours (sometimes more) that's our day.  This job kicks the ass out of every job I have ever had before it but the blood sweat and tears it takes to make it in this business cannot be understated.  I love it and it is never boring for me but it is not the screw off job most of us tend to think.  In fact the last time we had fun as a team was...

Gambling your future

When you open a company and you have investors and employees; it's about as real as it gets.  You have contractual obligations to investors and workers and it is your sole duty to make the investor's money back and then some.  If you fail to do so you will more than likely fail as a business.  Should you fail as a business it becomes tougher to seek out more loans and investors to try again.  In short you may get at max two tries to realize your dream.  The pressure is enormous.  Screw up once and it's over-one life and no continues the hardest of all games.  Now some people get into this and literally empty the family savings into it.  Sometimes future college funds are gambled in the hopes of a self supported business.  It takes an awful lot of courage and confidence in your abilities to go ahead with something like this.  Think about it-Your dream.  If someone said you can have a shot at it but you must empty your bank account, risk future financial devastation and enter a realm where there are tens of thousands of competitors-would you do it?

People are People

Your workers depend on you for a living.  Unlike some folks I give a damn about my employees.  If they don't feel good don't come in if it is the anniversary of a death and you need time off-have it.  We're doing Mc Donald's if you drive I'll buy for you-stuff like that.  At the end of the pay period the check needs to clear they have responsibilities and mouths to feed.  This seems obvious but it also seems that the gaming industry treats their workers as literal slaves.  38 Studios did not pay their workers for a period of a month, Free Radical Design failed to do so for about 3 months-the list goes on.  In a world where such large profits can be made owners have a habit of forgetting where those games came from.  My company hasnt turned huge profits and yet I still value my workers as people.  We are still very small so I have the luxury of hanging out in the break room playing games and talking with my employees.  I try not to forge friendships but rather just know more than their name and schedule.  It's much nicer to hear "Hey Bill, how'd your sister's surgery go?"  Rather than not being paid for a month.  That's how I do things.

Engaging the market

Fans of games come in all frames of mind.  I will admit that even in my 20's I had no idea where games came from-that they just appeared on shelves.  This mindset is still around today and it's alright I know how that goes.  There are others that think if it isnt AAA it is crap and there are about a million other ways of thinking about games.  We often forget though that EA Activision and all these goliaths also were beginners at some point.  That they were no different from my company at their start.  A handful of guys with basic gear and a dream.  Some people who look down on the indie side of gaming and claim it lesser than AAA are to a degree right.  We cannot make a game to that quality-we simply can't.  We do not have the staff or money to hire all kinds of experts and folks with 20 years experience and motion capture suits and stuff.  We just don't.  Basically we are the visual equal to a garage band.  Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin all these rock gods were kids making noise in a basement somewhere at some point.  If you don't like or don't support the indie scene that's fine but remember that those mega AAAs you love so much started there.

Watch the fine print

I have engaged in numerous contracts.  Some I write up for others some I have to read thoroughly and discuss the benefits before signing.  When I approach another company worth way more than mine I have to remember-They have something to gain from this or else they wouldnt bother.  I have to find out what that something is and if it will in turn hurt me.  Huge corps like Microsoft Sony etc they all swim in the hundreds of millions or billions per agreement.  Asking me for a handful of Gs doesnt seem like anything to them but it could quite possibly be the world for me.  Knowing what you are getting yourself into is huge.  Typically a store or restaurant is in start up phases for three to five years.  That may be the case here depending on my decisions.  The important thing is to not get blind sided by the hopes and allure of millions.  Huge distribution can promise you anything but whether or not it'll happen is up to the fans.  Huge distribution won't give a damn if I cease to exist because of their contract-they need to make money too.  Selecting how you go about growing and creating a buzz is more important than immediate return or simply going with huge distribution just so you can say you have to sound cool at a party or something.  No one will do anything for free really so when negotiating or reading always remember that your potential partner wants something of yours.  If it doesnt seem like a lot remember your fiscal year and tax season.

Quality of life

My wife and I do not live fabulously.  We barely live.  One of our cars is still broken and we havent had the money to fix it.  My car is ten years old-very few indie devs strike a chord with the public and can retire early if they choose to.  The other 10's of thousands of us get by and hope the next game does better.  There is a myth out there that any good game will "just make money".  It doesn't work like that.  You have to invest time and money into ad campaigns and hope that professional reviewers give you a thumbs up hope people talk about it or go viral or something.  Basically big time time success boils down to quality and dumb luck.  I like to think we made a nice game here at my company but until it gains some momentum I won't really know if I can look for a house yet.  Unlike a 9-5 where X is more or less guaranteed every week I rely on sales and nothing more.  Nothing is certain.  This has got to be the hardest yet most fulfilling job I have ever had.  Those of you who are considering a future in gaming I applaud and encourage you.  But I will tell you what no one told me.  "Grab the bull by the horns and never let go baby cuz this fight is gonna last for a long time."

Censorship: The Final Boss?

Video games are pieces of art.  They stimulate our eyes and ears.  The music, the visuals, the writing behind it all-yeah it's art.  Now it's important to note that video games have come leaps and bounds from pong and 3bit home consoles to those that employ visuals better than the special effects we were seeing in the late 90's early 00's.  People sometimes forget that the kids who grew up playing this stuff are now making the games for the next generation-in short sometimes people tend to forget that Gaming hasn't evolved or worse shouldn't evolve.  Somehow that medium should stay jumping over barrels and rescuing the princess.  Somehow I disagree.

As mentioned the kids who experienced early games are now making the games.  The gaming companies that aged with the users succeeded; the ones that did not went the way of the dinosaur.  Art is ever changing and ever elvolving and all these creations we had in our minds growing up are now coming to light in gaming. The question is when is the envelope pushed too far?  We all have a different answer and that is both beautiful and a problem.  You see, defining art is a fool's quest you cannot place a blanket definition over something so varied and eclectic.  Video games are going to range from kid friendly jump and run games to well...ones that might actually incorporate a sexual assault.

We are all probably aware of the next Tomb Raider and the controversy surrounding it.  (for those who don't know-Lara Croft will be sexually assaulted in that game during a cut scene)  I already wrote about how I feel when it comes to how women should be treated in games and I can't say that this idea is sitting well with me.  But here's the thing I also don't believe in censorship.  I'd like to see Lara treated better by her dev team but they made their decision-I won't be buying the game but that doesnt mean that there should be an empty spot on the shelf where it should be.  When someone moves to censor something they are literally saying "I know what is best for you more than you do."  That is probably the most insulting thing one adult can say to another.  I can understand why people would be uncomfortable about certain things but I feel that art should not be censored.  Don't agree with what's gonna happen to Lara?  Join me-I am not buying the next Tomb Raider.

Now is this game that contains sexual assault art?  I wince as I say yes.  It is art that makes me uncomfortable but that is a reaction artists sometimes seek to invoke.   Is it in good taste?  My personal opinion is NO but I can't sit here and say that this vision of Tomb Raider doesnt fit MY expectations so therefore it must be destroyed.  When has anyone ever said this about a movie?  "There is a sexual assault in the movie so it should not be finished and what a bunch of degenerate scum these people are to make this."  Maybe it has been said but it is never as loud or louder than the groups who try and shout down video gaming.

I believe in open discussion-shout the game down-applaud it-be apathetic whatever you want to do.  But please do not tell me what offends you.  I could spend all day telling you the things that offend me but in the end what good does it do?  I am not the moral guide stick of the world...in fact no one is.  All these folks who come out against this stuff love to think that they are moral crusaders and making the world a better place.  They often approach the situation in a way that they are trying to "fix" someone who has broken morals.  Or shake their finger in your face for indulging in something they don't like...so logically you're not supposed to like it either.  That is quite a way to think of yourself!  As mentioned I don't like this treatment of Lara but far be it from me to assume that I know the dev team although I am sure some people feel that they do based solely on this incident.

Stay with me on this one.  My grandfather served in WWII and literally saw the war from D-day to Berlin.  He was part of a war where at least 50 million people perished.  He saw his men mowed down in gunfire.  He literally wore the blood of the men he ordered into combat alongside him.  He watched helplessly as one of his men screamed for an hour with his guts hanging out before finally passing away as a handful of medical personal worked on him.  This man met his end laying there in the rain on a cobblestone street somewhere in France.  My grandfather personally broke the locks off the gates at some concentration camps.  Places where humans were systematically tortured and killed off.  Skeletons wrapped in flesh wandered around and begged him for food.  He shed tears at the sheer brutality and unimaginable treatment of fellow humans...Somehow this makes great video game material though.  How many WWII games are out there?  There have to be dozens.  When was the last time you heard of some group picketing a developer for making a WWII game?  Why not?  It was one of the darkest chapters in human history.  Humans were committing genocide!  Probably the worst offense we can commit on one another.  What-It had a "happy ending" so it's ok?  Well I am sure Lara ends up ok in this next Tomb Raider so what's the big deal?

Simply not liking something simply being offended by something isn't grounds for censorship.  If we as creators bowed to everyone who was offended-nothing would be created.  Literally nothing.  What it boils down to is cowardice.  These people who seek to censor this game are afraid to let the public decide if this game should be successful or not.  Should it be successful it would rock their world.  How can anyone like something that I don't?  Hell, it may be the best game ever made I don't know and neither does anyone else-but let's assume and further more let's act on an assumption is their attitude.  Not the best and most thought out strategy really.  I wholeheartedly disagree with what they are doing to Lara but I applaud this dev team solely on the grounds that they didn't cave in to try and please everyone.  Art is tough. As an artist (a literal one I do concept work) not everyone is going to like what I do and I am ok with that.  I have thick skin.  I hear "this design sucks" and "make it more like this and that."  Or "this isn't up to snuff."  Where is the thick skin in the acceptance of art?  What-if your idea of art is narrow I somehow have to pilot my art onto this narrow airstrip of yours in order for it to be ok with everyone?  No-just no.  I keep coming back to the fact that I don't like this but I accept it as a video game.

When developers cave in to special interests we suffer and we do not progress.  Somehow gaming is seen as something that is supposed to be pure or wholesome and I guess it would be cool if it was but why this expectation?  Where did this expectation come from?  How long before we realize that imposing a vision on an art in turn destroys that very art?  Now I am not saying that the sexual assault of Lara will help gaming move forward but it does indeed charge head on at a boundary that is seemingly very present in gaming.  Think of some good movies take Raging Bull for example I mean the guy flat out abuses his wife.  But it is an amazing and powerful story of a man who is battling inner demons.  This film is not censored.  La Motta (the character with the inner demons) beats his wife and it's hard to watch.  Somehow this is ok as entertainment but if I were holding a playstation controller while experiencing it-it now somehow becomes too taboo .  It almost turns my brain to shit thinking about it.
Oh and while we're at it...Raging Bull is considered by most critics as one of the BEST-FILMS-OF-ALL-TIME!  No one calls DeNiro or the critics who like it "degenerate scum" no, they are visionaries.

Tomb Raider isnt even out yet and people are saying it's the worst thing to happen to gaming and etc.  But let us not forget that gaming although amazing is still in its infancy.  Been around for what-roughly 40 years?  Not even an average human lifetime.  Every new art is criticized and shunned and there are movements to ban it. Rally the mob-bring your pitchforks and torches!  Comic books went through a witch hunt too. Some good companies and artists went down in flames because of it.  They were guilty of spreading Satanism and "instilling homosexuality into our youth" without so much as producing a shred of tangible evidence of a link between the two.  Gaming has already endured the rating system-which movies and music have so I suppose it's only "fair".  But now what?  Video games are the subject of a neo witch hunt so what's the end goal here?  What is it that we hope to accomplish?  By banning or censoring something the goal is to keep it out of people's possession.  This in turn generates a new kind of desire for said product but I won't even address that.

The end goal I can assume is nothing more than control.  Weak people with weak minds who cannot look past the surface of what they see or choose to stay within their sheltered confines and prefer if we all did would love nothing more than to make this world in their image.  A world where nothing is challenged and nothing explored.  The world is scary-bad things happen, disasters kill innocent people, maniacs go on shooting sprees this is our insane world.  The Tomb Raider guys didnt invent a horrible act-they mirrored what sometimes happens in reality.  While this fact absolves them of  nothing we often forget that art imitates life.  Lucky for all of us this life has something for everyone.  If beautiful sunsets and a porch swing is your thing-you can have it.  Why can't someone else have theirs?

Do Video Games Promote Violence Against Women?

Do Video Games Promote Violence Against Women?

When I was a kid...Forward, Down, Forward, High Punch and suddenly the world would never be the same.  In case you don't know that is the decapitation fatality for Sub-Zero in the original Mortal Kombat.  You could do it to Sonya Blade too but...no one really gave a shit about that-they just wanted the whole game obliterated.

Almost every game has a female in it these days.  Most if not always when they are hurt it is because they are engaging in combat themselves.  I like to think Violence begets violence and live and let live and etc.  Somehow some people don't see it that way.  For instance let's take a look at this:

Ok there is PLENTY to be said about this.  I want to start from the top.  Somehow when women show up in games they almost always wear lingerie and carry weapons.  Sure on the surface it looks cool but it makes no sense.  This is like a guy showing up in a pair of briefs wielding machetes-it is ludicrous.  Let's not forget to have a few gracious camera angles where we can see some ass cheeks or something too.  Try to think of it in terms of realism.  "We have to kill a highly trained assassin?  Should I wear the kevlar vest or the thigh high latex boots with corseted mini with attached garters?  Kevlar-or-hmm..."

Now the portion of the video where the Hitman proceeds to beat up and kill these women?  Well-what is the character supposed to do?  Let them kill him?  Wouldn't be much of a game if he did.  So he proceeds to beat them and shoot them like he would with any man who was trying the same.  Ok...

I don't know about you but I had a hard time watching this.  I can watch men beat each other up all day and thanks to my inner city upbringing it doesnt faze me.  This does.  Even though this is far from real there is something about dead women and beating them up that just doesn't sit well with me.  It doesnt bother me when it's a guy and I am aware that it is a double standard and I am trying to deal with it.

Yes these women were looking for a fight-yes they got it-no argument here.  My question is-well I have a few actually but why do they have to be lingerie clad women with guns?  why can't they look more like this?

If a hit team showed up looking like this would it be a big deal?  Would sales really suffer because of it?  I don't know.  In a game that strives to look real why do we suddenly take a detour when women are involved?  Make them sexy as hell make them pole dancers with guns-then go back to realism to show how they can be beat up and killed?   Look at how sexy these women are-now beat em up! what?  Kinda comes off a little Sado-Masochistic if you ask me.  Mind you these are active decisions made by development teams and publishers.  So it boils down to one thing...fantasy.

Some guy(s) somewhere had to hatch this idea and realize it into fruition.  I'll be honest I am guilty of creating female characters that appeal to my sense of sexuality and I'm pretty sure that's what happened here.  We basically got to see some dude's fantasy fight with chics.  If it wasnt that and simply about showing how bad ass our hitman was why not have a male hit team try and take him?

It would be silly not to explore the argument further 

Another question is:  Why is it that when men beat each other up it seems to be more accepted than when it's women being beaten?  I thought we were about equality in today's society?  Suddenly a woman taking a punch to the face is more over the top than a man taking a punch to the face?    Feminism would say that it promotes violence against women...they may be right to a certain degree but they don't seem to care that men are burned, blown up, dropped into acid, and shot in the face in games.  Saying one is ok and not the other is bull hockey.  Flat out bull hockey.  It means you care about how one group is represented more than another.  So let's call it how it is.  (the word is bull hockey) These feminists only care about a woman's plight and if men have to suffer in games well then fuck him-he's a man.

I personally didn't like seeing those women being beaten up and killed in that video even if our hitman did the moral duty of closing the eyes of the people he killed cuz you know that's pretty noble and the least he can do-we should look as peaceful as we can with broken necks and multiple gunshots to the chests anyone who doesnt do that for someone they killed is just an asshole.  Back to the other side of the ball.  Women who complain about this sort of thing usually have a "Women should do everything a man does" attitude.  Well in gaming this means fighting killing and...being killed.  Again I come back to Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat the first time we really saw a woman (or man for that matter) being impaled on spikes or burned alive.  No one made much of a stink about the fact that it was a woman-parents and other supposed moral crusaders just wanted it off the shelves.  Sonya wasn't given special treatment in that game (aside from Johnny Cage's split punch didnt work on her but come on now)  So why is it that we suddenly feel women should be treated any different than a man in games now?

Are we not the protectors?

Well the answer may be that as a man I see stuff like this and you know call me "old fashioned" but I just don't like it.  I am more of the mindset that our women are our treasures.  When there is a disaster what is our programming? "Women and children first!"  We will and are expected to give up our seat in a lifeboat for someone else's wife or daughter.  This is what we are programmed to do.  There is a reason for that.  Nature made most men bigger and stronger than most women so we usually have a better shot at surviving physical harm.  Also let's not forget that women bear the children that are the future of our species so no doubt there is a primal urge to ensure their safety because of this.

So what we saw was fantasy.  Some sexy chics will come to your hotel room and instead of taking turns on you they'll try and take your life instead.  Um...ok not quite the fantasy story we are used to seeing/hearing about.  Snuff them out one by one and then when you can-gun them down and beat them up.  Yeah ok.  Listen you are to protect yourself from any danger male or female in this world but I highly doubt she'll be a latex clad 'nun' who uses rosaries to choke you out.  Just sayin...