While Sony has made several blunders in the current gen console war one of the biggest was allowing Call of Duty 4 to go multi-platform. The game has become such a runaway success that it could have single-handedly changed the face of the war as we know it. Perhaps equally as big was allowing Grand Theft Auto 4 to go multi-platform. Although the game sold about 45/55%  on the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively, there are rumblings that the next installment in the GTA series may become a Playstation exclusive by default.

Wait, what the hell are you talking about?

As has been documented, Rockstar was notably unhappy with the limitations of the DVD-9 format on the Xbox 360 and how it affected GTA 4. As we’ve all seen though, both versions of the game are practically the same. The rumblings this time around though are seem to be much more boisterous. Early rumours have Rockstar threatening to not release GTA5 on the Xbox, but that begs the question: Why? Why sacrifice all the money you would undoubtedly make by only creating the game for one console?

Although one can never account for backroom dealings and shattered business relationships, there is really only one answer.

They want their game to be good.

Was GTA4 lacking on the Xbox 360? Of course not. It was Game of the Year. It recieved rave reviews across the board. But could it have been better? WOULD it have been better if it had only been released for a single console? Of course. This applies to any game released on any console exclusively though. What makes this time around special is that the GTA developers may in fact be willing to part with the extra revenue in order to better perfect their craft which seems absolutely ludicrous in our current economic standings. It is not to say that Rockstar would be the first group to sacrifice sales for art. It is however to say that doing so now could prove to be an earth shaking event that has an indelible effect on how Video Games are made.

In a world driven by profit, and in an industry not well renowned for being bohemian, this kind of move would be as surprising as it would be dramatic. A triple-A developer openly supporting both their own art and A specific console could sway other third party developers to do the same. It would also give other developers a comfortable “out” to abandon a platform they wouldn’t want to develop on for fear of not returning enough profit. After all, in such hard economic times, it’s surprising that more companies aren’t already doing this and attributing it towards a need for the betterment of the game as opposed to monetary restrictions. Keep in mind as well, if Halo 3, Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid 4 have shown us anything, exclusive games can still sell ridiculously well regardless of being exclusive.

That being said, the whole “pursuing art” argument could simply be an excuse from Rockstar after the fact. Rockstar has a contractual obligation to produce 3 exclusive games for the PS3 as reported by the Hiphopgamer (through an interview with an industry insider) and other sources. We know one of these games is Agent, another one of these games may supposedly be the somewhat forgotten L.A. Noire, a sandbox game set in the 1930’s. GTA 5 would probably be not all that different than 4 regardless of development time and console exclusivity, and if L.A. Noire is factored in, that would mean all of the three promised exclusives would be off the table.

If one wanted to be even more pessimistic, this could be seen as also be seen as a moving away from Microsoft has the prime conduit for producing games. Take-Two openly denied Microsoft’s exclusivity bid for Bioshock 2 while EA is now releasing Dead Rising 2 on the PS3. Capcom has also recently confirmed a concurrent release of Lost Planet 2. Along with a slew of exclusives for the PS3, this could seem very dramatic, but there are still a lot of positives for the Xbox.

Don't worry cousin, beeg American teetee's will probably come to all platforms (minus Wii)

Even though EA has clearly made Dead Rising 2 multi-platform, the status of Mass Effect is still up in the air. Microsoft also has Epic, Bethesda and VALVe onboard as companies who are much more enamored with Microsoft than they are with Sony. And of course, staying with the pessimism, Microsoft has one very, very big asset. A seemingly inexhaustible amount of money. Everyone has their price, and a company as rich as Microsoft can probably name yours.

Microsoft made Rockstar rich. Rockstar took at least 30% of every sale from the GTA4 expansion pack, along with the millions of dollars they recieved from the exclusivity deal itself. Ultimately, beyond all of this industry wheeling and dealing as well as speculation, it just doesn’t seem like anyone can resist the siren song of the greenback. Perhaps that’s why I find it so interesting that the such a bohemian notion can be expressed by Rockstar. Even with evidence showing that it could be legitimate and genuine (undoubtedly in the exclusivity of Agent), I’m still not convinced that such dedication to art can even exist in our modern day industry. If it does come to pass though. it might just spur on the innovation and advancement in the industry that some believe is lacking. And if this kind of innovation can occur when times are tough, imagine how sweet it could be in times of plenty.

Now it seems that game developers are more focused on creating overly subversive stories instead on giving the player a little more poignant realism in the form of optional total bodily dismemberment. Yeah sure there are still gibs in UT3 and God Of War has bloody decapitations but all in all after being a gore hound for these earlier games they just strike me as a little weak. Which brings me to my next point:

The all powerful, game stomping, fail-safe line of the A-O rating. Publishers shy away from this because there’s a good chance that their product will be outlawed in several countries as well as shunned by retailers. But if you’ve gotten around to playing Madworld you’ll see the same argument that hack directors make when they want to show their cocks in their terribly pretentious arthouse film. And that is; ‘It’s pornography unless it’s artistic.’ This is why Madhouse ever came about the way it did and on that system. Considering that the Wii is barely above the PS2 in graphics power I have a feeling that this game could have been done far more violently years ago for the aforementioned system.

But what is risque now? I mean in GTAIV we delivered drugs, we shot cops, we gangbanged and we did driveby’s but honestly did you really ever see anything in GTA that you wouldn’t see in either a superhero movie or on the dumbed down CNN ticker? What I’m really lobbying for is a publisher to be taken seriously when it wants to depict the horrors of war and violence. Not for the sake of a shock factor but for a: realism and b: immersion. Well perhaps a bit of entertainment at that rate. But I’m not going to quote all those innocuous various studies that have time and time again placated our parents into buying us the new shootemup under the guise that video games don’t kill people, stupid children who aren’t smacked around by their parents enough kill people.

In any case I believe this blanket statement to be true. Seeing as they completely butchered my favorite series, SOF:Payback has become something of a joke to gamers. No longer is that leap of faith such a thing but now we go into our mature rated games like ‘Yes, we’ve got a rocket launcher and it will send you flying into the air.’ However an addendum to that statement as games strive for realism and immersion should have an extra ‘and you can see the mangled tendons trailing (using physics of course) under you as your torso separates from your pelvis‘ tacked onto it.

So yes, I want violence. I want lots of bloody brutal violence that I can choose to inflict on my various legions of frowny-faced foes at my whim. My stipulations are that it be well done and not half assed, that it isn’t the one tagline feature on the game box, and it isn’t the only reason I want to play the game. Too often are nextgen games jerked off by their marketing department for only good things about that particular game. If Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault had dismemberment during the Omaha Beach scene even for it’s day and graphics I think it would still be one of the most revered games out there. If we’re killing people in our games let’s take the fucking condom off and really feel what it is to take a life, and I want the option to be as sadistic as I can when doing so.

For once I’d like a game that I can barely stomach, and not for it’s repetitive environments with big burly dudes spraying down the decks with their machismo. Furthermore I don’t think many games have really captured what it feels like to shoot a gun, the gunshots aren’t deafening enough, the recoil of your screen shooting upwards is a joke and what we pass as action based gore feels so damned arcadey and tacked on. Hit zones is where it started but c’mon now guys; I want to take off limbs wherever my sword hits, not just at the joint. Also, you remember when you could blow off a guy’s leg in games and he’d crawl around and scream and make a lot of noise? You could choose to let him sit there and howl and alert guards or you could put a few into his breadbox. I miss this. There’s something about the penis extending chainsaw gun in GOW that simply doesn’t translate to the days of abandon.

-Veraliis

1: DLC: DLC is not bad in and of itself. DLC is a good way to both add features, fix bugs and continue to provide several different kinds of support to your customer. Games like LittleBigPlanet offer things as big as new levels and new creation tools as well as things as small as costumes. Games like Burnout Paradise offer free cars, levels and modes and for free no less. Not every company is out to rip you off and take your money. HOWEVER, when companies abuse this system, that is complete bull and definitely worth complaining about. Case in point: EA’s “Time is Money” DLC. 5 Dollars to unlock all of the accessories in Skate 2. 5 dollars for a cheat code is unacceptable, don’t buy that or I will come and beat the game for you to save you the money. I could also say the same thing about Capcom, who saw fit to charge 20 dollars for extra costumes that are already included on the disk, but I want the beauty pack so I won’t =/

2: BROWN AND BLOOM SHOOTERS: Team Fortress 2, Resistance 2, The Darkness (ironic, isn’t it), Halo 3, the list goes on. Yes, there is a meta-trend towards more gritty and realistic shooters, no that isn’t a bad thing. If any thing, it is a reaction to all of the arcadey shooters we had before hand or all the uber-hero World War 2 games we had before. Face it, we have trends. Trends create anti-trends. Everyone gets a game they want, everyone wins.

3: Exorbitant Waiting/Development Times: The HD era has increased development times. I won’t deny this. However, there are several mitigating facts not the least of which are tons of sweet games on the PSN or XBLA. Then of course you have the Wii which provides you with an ample amount of ROM’s to pay for, as well as the fact that there are many more quality developers and publishers out there cranking out more games than ever before. You may have to wait a long time for Final Fantasy XIII, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other good games to play.

4: Too Many Sandbox Games: Sandboxes are another meta-trend in the gaming industry. Sandboxes suck right? Wrong. If anything, they have gotten better. Games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Oblivion provided the player colossal worlds with absolutely nothing worth doing in them. Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3 reduced the size of the world (while still keeping it adequately large) and proceeded to actually populate the land with people and things with which you could interact in meaningful ways. An unfortunate bi-product of the sandbox craze is that some games which would probably be better in a linear setting get developed according to a trend rather than its strengths. However, if these developers screw up their games and end up failing? Oh well, move on with life. Yes a good game might be lost in the process, no I don’t give a damn, plenty of other good games out there.

5: THIS GENERATION DOESN’T HAVE GOOD GAMES: Stop being ignorant. If you want to be blind to the fact that there are hundreds of good games out there, be my guest. There may not be the sheer quantity of games, but that also has to do with the fact that this generation has only just started. If this generation sucks that bad, go back to playing SNES, I won’t miss your complaining. Old console games have a lot fewer moving parts in them, which makes a game that capitalizes on them seemingly perfect. Games like Megaman 2 which do everything correctly achieve godlike status, but to compare them to modern day games and say the old ones are fun is simply ridiculous. If anything, modern day games should have more of a penchant for fun. If a game with more moving parts manages to execute them all properly, shouldn’t it be better than old games? Hell, XBLA and the PSN provide us with these sort of games all the time! Good ol’ nostalgia.

I had an Atari. Most of the people playing video games don’t know what that is. I’m not saying my opinion is right because I was there, I’m saying my opinion is right because I don’t have the flaccid penis of nostalgia in my mouth. The last generation gave birth to games that I will never forget. So did the one before that, the one before that and the one before that. This one will be no different. How about instead of all this rage you just go and play the vidya, wouldn’t that be super?

Then Microsoft introduced Achievements and the whole thing went to hell in a hand basket.

There is no way I can go on the interwebz and even hint that the Achievement system may have problems without getting flamed, so I’ll go ahead and slip on my Nomex underwear while you follow the cut.

Years ago I played games for fun.  All my friends played games for fun.  All their friends played games for fun.  It was all we had in games.  If a game wasn’t fun what point was there to playing it?

Now, if you look around the Internet you will find several sites dedicated solely to the accumulation of Achievements and GamerScore.  Within these sites resides a new breed of gamer, the “Achievement Whore”.  Everybody has run across this little fellow.  He’s the one who plays constantly, chasing the next increase to his ePenis through GamerScore.  His entire self-worth as a gamer is tied up in a random number that nobody else cares about.  His GamerCard is full of games that offer easy 1000’s, but are usually not worthy of playing past the completion of the GamerScore acquisition.

I am familiar with this type of gamer, because for several weeks I was this gamer.  In late 2007 I started actively trying to increase my GamerScore.  Not a bad thing, in and of itself.  I realized I had crossed the line, however, as I sealed Avatar back up in the GameFly envelope.  Avatar is not really a good game, but has the singular distinction of being able to get the full 1000 points in less than 5 minutes (INCLUDING the intro cut scene).  I had crossed the line to become a gamer that played only for points, not for the game, and I wasn’t alone.  I know there are many people with this game on their cards.

Wait . . . what?  Are we so eager to pad our numbers that we are willing to play games we wouldn’t have thought twice about if they didn’t have Achievements?  Is this the message we want to send to developers and publishers?  Do we really want to reward them by buying and playing games with minimal entertainment value just because they pad our GamerScore easily?  Doing so means we will likely see an increase in these games filling the shelves.  Unfortunately, Avatar isn’t the only game out there guilty of this.  It’s just the most infamous.

Publishers know when a game is weak; they have been doing this long enough that they can tell if a game is likely to be a commercial success because it is good or because it simply has a good license.  Allowing them to pass off generic, poorly designed, poorly programmed games on us simply because they have easy points ensures that they will continue to do so.

This isn’t a problem with the Achievement system, but is really more of a problem with a certain type of player.  If you don’t mind half-assed games with a weak reward system, then by all means be that player.  If, however, you care about your games and want to reward quality, think about the real reason you may be going for those points.   Just remember when you are chasing those points that publishers are watching and taking notes on what you are willing to do to get them.  Don’t tell the publishers we will accept tripe in exchange for points.

Achievements are great, and there is nothing wrong with easy to obtain Achievements as long as the game is fun to play, and gives us a reason to play long enough to get our money’s worth as well.  We should think of Achievements as additional value for a game, as something that enhances the game play experience, not replaces it.

In the world of boardroom meetings, the topic of huge, sweaty men slamming into each other and grappling powerfully often comes up, but not since THQ has one company’s success so heavily depended on this practice. Nevertheless it has dogged the ascent of Capcom, swinging them aloft over its head and it will be there one day when they fall, to deliver the head-exploding final blow.

The first suplex was originally invented by paleolithic humans as a way to counter the threat of saber-tooth tigers, coinciding with the first Quick-Time Events. A caveman could deftly press the A button to deliver as many as six different wrestling moves to the tiger, shocking the beasts so much with their total sweetness that these early humans were able to survive and eventually go on to form Capcom. It was during these ancient times that the first Megaman games were carved out of rock, a tradition that is still continued today.

The first Capcom game to feature their trademark style of pounding punks also introduced one of its most iconic characters – Mike Haggar, the mayor of Metro City. The game was Final Fight, released in arcades in 1989 and still enjoying an iconic status today. This is, of course, due to the electrifying presence of Old Mike body-slamming suplexing power, allowing him to easily outshine the game’s other characters in melee and ensuring his place in the game’s sequels. Additionally, he would later appear in the rather invigorating title Muscle Bomber – The Body Explosion (it needs to be said out loud for the full effect), which was later released in America as Saturday Night Slam Masters.

This violent tradition was continued in 1991, with the release of Street Fighter II in arcades, a game that featured not one, but three suplexers, the towering Soviet fighter Zangief, the narcissistic ninja Vega and the American super stud Guile. It was this game that established Capcom as the Suplex Forerunners of the video game industry and lead to the successes of games like Power Stone, Dead Rising and Rival Schools. Suplexes also featured largely in the indy game Killer7, showing that suplexes were as artistically relevant as we’d all suspected.

The way seemed set for the suplex to enter the limelight as the most trusted and respected brand of video game wrestling move, but it was not until 2005 that the public was shown what the suplex was all about. Resident Evil 4 set a benchmark for ferocious levels of non-stop suplexing action that has yet to be matched. Not only was this brutal attack your character’s primary weapon for slaying zombies, it made their heads explode too. Dozens of zombies would all be dispatched in the same way, a much-relished joy that put this game head and shoulders above its competitors.

So, almost 600 words and one obligatory gay-joke later, what have we learned? Devil May Cry 4 and Street Fighter 4 show that this martial exercise is still alive and kicking, with the suplexes just getting bigger and better. And someday, in the not-too-distant future, you’ll probably find yourself sitting down wide-eyed before a sparkling new copy of Dead Rising 2 and unleashing meaty headsplosions, so when you do, take a moment to remember that great man Mayor Haggar and his contributions to society. His full-body slams will live on in our hearts for as long as we remember them.

First, let’s start off what it exactly means to be on either side.

Casual:

•    Irregular; occasional
•    Accidental
•    By game industry terms, a game that can be quickly played.
•    Lasting no longer than thirty minutes.
•    Able to jump in and jump out of the game.

Hardcore:

•    Committed; uncompromising; dedicated
•    By game industry terms, a game that can be played over a long period of time.
•    Lasting longer than thirty minutes.
•    Must spend several hours to complete.

Now that we got that out of the way, I am assured that some of you can agree with these definitions. Combination of Webster’s dictionary and actual insight from the industry itself. So what does all this mean? The games we call “casual” and “hardcore” may not actually fit the description exactly or that they may actually fit both descriptions.

Tetris, as you all may know, is the definition of a casual game. It’s simple, fun, and can be enjoyed by all. There’s no need to dedicate hours of your life to fully enjoy this game. As you also may know this game as been around for over two decades and yet here we are, the industry is large and still growing. I guess this casual game hasn’t killed the industry. In fact, for those who like to put on your rose-tinted glasses can obviously see that many games from the eight bit era and the sixteen bit era fit the full the description of a “casual” game and yet no one ever complained that those games were killing the industry.

Now let’s look at Deus Ex, a first person shooter/role playing game. Well hell, it’s a combination of two “hardcore” genres, so that must mean it’s super hardcore. But anyways, Deus Ex is the definition of the “hardcore” game. The player must invest many hours to complete, it’s hard to just jump in and play for mere minutes to get satisfaction, a large open world to be explored, people to talk to, it has an in-depth storyline that is on par to any movie or book, etc. Indeed this is a great “hardcore” game that no mere casual can enjoy. Regarded by many as a great game, fun was had by all and the thirst for something truly fulfilling has been quenched. But wait, this game was pure awesome and in no way hurt the industry. It didn’t tell people to “Piss off, I’m so hardcore you should stay away from this hobby”. No, rather, the casuals didn’t care. So why should you, the super hardcore elitist video game player, should care about casual games? Some of you people act like casual games raped your dog and killed your mom.

Neither of these games had a negative effect on the industry and yet the consumers (or trolls) think that one side is obliterating the industry in one way or another. People believe casual games just mean shovelware and hardcore games mean less profit for the developers. The truth is, there must be balance between the two sides, because neither side is bad nor are they killing the industry. But if one side prevails over the other, then the market will be flooded games the community as whole will not want. On the other hand, it may just be the people complaining blindly about what exactly is killing the industry.

Quake III Arena is a perfect example of both definitions. By the casual definition, it is a game that one can quickly play, just like Tetris; and yet it has a dedicated community that play this game for hours on end for competitive play to point where it’s has its own convention. Quake III Arena is very successful as it can appeal to a very wide audience, so successful in fact, Quake Live is coming out in the future and it relies completely on ad revenue which means it must have a very large player base. No one ever complains that this “casual” game is killing the industry or the fact that this “hardcore” game isn’t out casting a gaming niche. There are other games that can fall into this category, Halo for example is another; the single-player can be considered hardcore while the online multiplayer is easily accessible and can be enjoyed for a good ten minutes of play.

The whole point is that we shouldn’t get rid of casual game or hardcore games as they both serve a purpose to satisfy the public. Quit being elitist pricks and thinking that video games are only meant for you, the hardcore video game player. Video games can be enjoyed by all and should be enjoyed by all. Like movies, like books, like music; video games are open to all the public and for that to be possible we need both casual games and hardcore games. So don’t stick on one side of the wall, tear it down, and shake hands with the other side as they too, enjoy video games.

Let’s take a step back and talk of the trends of the past, as there was one in every generation. There was a time where every platformer and side scroller was the same, like copying off the success that was The Super Mario Bros. But back then, it was so bad, gaming was just starting off and the technology was not so great – so the developers were limited on what they could do. It was also a time when Nintendo didn’t exactly rehash their own stuff and fun was had by all.

The next step was a small era where the rise of the First Person Shooter happened, where they were called FPSes, but Doom clones. That’s right you younguns, everything for a while that came after Doom was called a Doom clone, not a FPS. Again, this was not so bad it may seem because the FPS had to start off somewhere, even knowing it was just copying off Doom. Of course there was a few that stood out from the rest, my personal favorite of onslaught of Doom clones was Blood.

But let’s get to the point where it starts to get bad, where technology was getting better, innovation could be achieved and now the industry was on the rise. Now there was a point in time where there was a World War II shooter that came out every month or so. Thanks to that onslaught of those WWII games, I can’t filter out the good ones from the all the rest and just refuse to play them all together. Who thought it was a good idea to keep making these generic games? Same setting, same weapons, same thing and of course all these games were made by American companies.

Then came about the hack n’ slashes, simple minded, button mashing crap. I swear it was started by Dynasty Warriors which the epitome of what I am talking about. Some stood out like Devil May Cry but it was a time where every single one of them seems the same, like all the Dynasty Warriors. The whole series seem the same to me as it was mash X to win.

One of the worst trends ever was the Grand Theft Auto clones. With the success of GTA3, every other company out there copies its formula to try to become successful themselves. Sandlot plus violence was where it’s at. Instead of trying to improve upon the formula or trying something new, these companies just made the same cocktail with a twist of their own juice.

Now the new trend is the shovelware we see on the Wii. Don’t get me wrong as I know there was plenty for PS2 and DS as well but I think it has become more of a problem on the Wii. Because of the shovelware, real games tend to be shadowed and forgotten on the console that supports a different play style to its users. Like all trends of the past, companies are just going through with the fad so they can fill their pockets. It doesn’t take effort to stamp a game and call it done and because of all this it hard for the industry as a whole to move forward.

There are many companies to blame for slowing down the industry for starting and following these trends. EA or specifically EA Sports is one of them, as each year their sport games like Madden don’t seem to change anything and yet rake in the cash. Nintendo as of late is also guilty of this, I mean, do we really need all those Mario Party games? Not only some companies are copying others, they’re just copying themselves, or rather, rehashing. There are many more companies that do this as well and because of these companies, other no name companies are going to try to copy these formulas and just create their own games in hopes to reap the rewards. Do we really need a Hollywood version of the video game industry? Resort to copying each other and other mediums of entertainment just to make money?

Soon the trends of shovelware titles will be gone, to be only replaced by a new trend – probably worst than the last. I wish the developers would try to think of something different, to actually spend time on a game rather than to eat the last trendy game to just crap it back out. I want to see some change on the industry, where I can spend my money on a game or several games a month rather than just buying a select few a year. Lately, I’ve been somewhat starved for games and I don’t enjoy playing the same thing over and over again. Do you enjoy eating the exact same thing for every meal? It’s the same thing with games so you game makers out there, think outside of the assembly line. Stop the rehashing, stop the copying, and get creative.

As the consumers, spread the word, stop buying rehashes and copycats to show the developers we don’t want the same thing over and over again.

I had been aiming to write something like this but found some of the key points I’d touch on already addressed in Alex’s “A Second Video Game Crash?” I suppose I’ve got enough to say that makes it worthy of its own article so without further ado; here is my take on what’s happening in the game industry…TODAY.

While I may not be some sort of untouchable, game industry guru, I, like many of you, carry within me a passion for video games that burns so strongly we believe it can guide us through the stagnant and uncertain time our hobby faces.

The Wii is plagued with shovelware so abundant that some would try and use it to define the system. Microsoft and Sony have been practically offering the same thing they have been for the past few years and while this may not sound like a bad thing to some people, those that have developed the insight to think ahead will see the problem with this sort of planning.

I’m going to focus on matter of the Wii before I address the potential folly of Microsoft and Sony. The Wii has been a ridiculous success. With the least amount of graphical prowess it has become the best selling console, like the PS2 was last generation, and sold so well that Nintendo can even boast that Wii Sports has sold even more than the original Super Mario Bros. On this silver cloud of new exciting things is a dark lining of reluctant publishers and confused developers that are not only unsure how to approach the Wii but don’t seem to understand the audience that have carried it to victory.

I’m talking about the casual market. Casual games are designed to be simple, enjoyable and easy to pick up and put down. A casual gamer isn’t likely to be parked somewhere for hours at a time playing a game. That is not casually gaming. As Nintendo hacked away at the brambles and lay down the ground work of a road that seem to pave itself with money developers misinterpreted “casual” as “childish” or “mini games”. They made the mistake of trying to copy something they did not understand. Brain Age is not marketed as a childrens’ game (yes, it’s on the DS but it’s part of the Touch Generation) but we’ve got plenty of Brain Age knock offs because developers think that by picking and choosing the features and ideas that seem to work they can put it all together in an easy to sell package.

This idea has slowly choked our industry and cursed us to sequels. For years, game companies have gone back and forth, taking ideas from each other, improving them incrementally and combining other ideas just to edge out the other. This habit of heavy “recycling” has become common practice for the game industry now. To better understand the situation you can think of this as a doctor treating symptoms, or identifying characteristics of profitable games, when he or she hasn’t made the effort to diagnose the illness, or what really makes the profitable games good. Publishers impeded by fear of risk or driven by greed, rape ideas that work until the beauty and wonder has vanished and all that is left is a shallow experience. Look no further then Activision’s Guitar Hero series to see what I mean. I’d go in detail about Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but that’s probably an article of its own for another time. Make no mistake about it though, Gentle Reader, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are casual games.

With everyone eager to get a piece of that casual pie, buggy shovelware games that are much smaller, cheaper and easier to program (I’ve seen some that were literally made in Flash) than your standard epic adventure are congesting stores and making plenty because there are now MORE uninformed people buying games. The Wii has been saddled with the burden of the most popular console and carries on its back an even larger stock of shovelware fueled by an even bigger and more profitable game industry than the PS2 had seen. Game publishers holding the purse strings might see Wii Sports or Brain Age clones going out by the truck full, as easy money only a fool (or an altruistic gamer) would turn down.

Amongst the shameful pile of ill conceived games that litter the Wii shelves are jewels we must mine and spread word of if we hope to see things change for the little white box. We can hope that developers will eventually do more but if you must do more than hope (And you should) speak with your money. If you feel your purchases aren’t speaking loud enough, then you can carry it farther and inform those that walk into game aisles confused and lost. Even if it’s as little as telling someone that not all developers put out great titles, it is a step in the right direction.

It is my opinion that there is three ways this surge in casual gamers is going to end. They are going to forget and stop playing (as a casual it’s not that big a deal to them), they might keep playing and inject a steady flow of money into the industry that outlives us but eventually dissipates or they will become deeper invested in video games. In the third scenario, they become us. They may find joy in playing video games and adapt the ability to think resourcefully and manipulate their controls to learn more complex skills. I have a hard time seeing the second scenario coming to be and believe it will either be the first or second.

]]> http://giantenemyblog.com/press-start-what-have-wii-become/feed/ 0 http://giantenemyblog.com/video-game-music-has-started-to-suck/ http://giantenemyblog.com/video-game-music-has-started-to-suck/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:00:13 +0000 Veraliis http://giantenemyblog.com/?p=4223 Okay, the last 30 or so FPS games I’ve played fit into three categories of shittily tacked on music and I’m wondering what gives? It all sounds the same after awhile with a few composers that stick out; namely Inon Zur, Jesper Kyd, and Harry Gregson-Williams. You’ve got your vaguely Dark Ambient bits, the trip-hop middle sections, and the EPIC SHOOTOUT MUSIC. I am a PC gamer through and through and over the years I’ve seen a few changes in video game music. Firstly, when I picked up an Xbox when it was still cool to like Halo there was an awesome thing that you could do in certain games that supported it. That was rip your own music onto the hard drive and listen to it while you play said game. I’m pretty sure the only reason I got so heavily into Unreal Tournament back in the day was because I could blast Ministry’s ‘N.W.O.’ through winAmp while floating around with an instagib rifle at high speeds zapping things to a bloody pulp on the other side of a huge custom map. Okay well it wasn’t just the music. But when Trent Reznor did the soundtrack for Quake my giblets quivered with the possibility of fragging baddies to finally some apt tunes. And they were, it was awesome just like that Way Of The Warrior game soundtrack that White Zombie did. Well maybe not AS awesome but you get the picture.

As I play more and more current games(admittedly more horror based ones than others) I find there are only a few that really utilized something as simple as a soundtrack. Dead Space did amazingly with this, with an explosion of screams from what seemed a cacophony of violins whenever a biomorph would get dangerously close. Fallout 3 uses a very backseated version of this by giving you non situational radio stations to tune into which is an alright method but loses something when a very creepy atmosphere is interrupted by a guy howling like a recently neutered dog in your ears. Music is always a matter of taste and I guess that a lot of games don’t match their music either. Don’t make me mention the worst decision in game music I’ve heard in awhile.

Anyways this brings me to a certain little gem that I am excited for. BRUTAL LEGEND. Jack Black and every rocking 80’s speed metal god it seems came to the indelible Tim Schaefer (responsible for games like Full Throttle, Curse Of Monkey Island, Day Of The Tentacle, and Psychonauts) with a game concept that looks to impress even the heavily jaded gamer like myself. And really I’m just looking for something that will surprise me, because lord knows that Alone In The Dark didn’t cut it.

But you don’t really see that anymore; except in the relatively brand new Music Game genre, mainstream artists contributing to a project they hold dear. Perhaps because there isn’t much money in it anymore, or because musicians are beginning to have an actual bread and butter wage to be earned from scoring these. I’d like to see more games incorporating something similar to the way recording artists get on movie soundtracks, I think we all remember the Halo 2 soundtrack debacle with that shitty Hoobastank tip of the hat. We all know that band sucks, putting it into our game randomly and calling it appropriate soundtrack music isn’t fooling anyone.

Besides the Horror genre having it nailed down pretty well with veterans like Akira Yamaoka in their arsenal I think the industry needs a hell of an overhaul away from the typical epic orchestra as an easy way to tack on a fitting set of tunes. How about something more exotic in the next Assassin’s Creed?

-Veraliis

EA is going to release Dead Space for the Wii. Word of this has probably spread like wildfire and there might be very few who haven’t heard this news, but there is no news like good news!  Dead Space was released for PS3 and XBox 360 October of last year and the decision to put it on the Wii means that the developer and publisher feels Isaac Clarke and the Necromorphs aren’t done yet. Does this mean the sales for both consoles didn’t meet their expectations? Probably! Should we expect additional content? Who knows!

While details are slim and all that has been said from EA is that there will be a Dead Space for the Wii it’s a safe bet that Dead Space will use the Wii remote’s pointer and allow the player to get even more precision in dismembering the horrors above the USG Ishimura. Considering the nature of Dead Space and the core gameplay similarities, over the shoulder shooter, it shares with Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 (which was also released later on the Wii) it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume it might play much like Resident Evil 4: Wii edition.

Last year EA demonstrated they were a little more than another uninspiring, sequel factory when they released two new intellectual properties, Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. With some sort of awareness of quality within the company there’s hope that Dead Space for Wii won’t be a diluted port.