Sunday, 31 March 2013
Re: Brendon Fredin ..3/31/2013 10:57:27 PM
Friday, 22 March 2013
Thursday, 21 March 2013
MMO video journalism – current general level: laughable.
I watched a review of the Firefall Closed Beta by Pokket of MMORPG.com(1) and I have to say, I'm not impressed. Oh, the game looks gorgeous and she is definitely knowledgeable & enthusiastic; what I'm not impressed with is Pokket as a serious professional game journalist. I've watched a few of her videos and though her Blogs are pretty awesome, I just can't take her seriously at all as a video journalist. I tried, I really did. I have no doubt she's an awesome person & fun to game with. I know she has some honestly good opinions about games and I thoroughly enjoy her written blog. But as a video journalist, I just cannot take her seriously anymore. She mumbles, constantly trips over her own words… It's like listening to a 15 year old girl talk about her boy-band obsession while on a long road trip. You know something, I've watched numerous video podcasts by other people, too, with the same M.O. – just some gamer who thinks their opinion is important enough to share but has no actual skill at reporting "news" on camera and no "stage presence;" they think that a gimic, some pretty graphics, their online name, and their opinion is enough to make a "quality video podcast." If that were true, I'd have been making video podcasts ages ago and been famous already.
The guys over at Jupiter Broadcasting(2) do a pretty damn good job, but they spread their topic focus way too much past gaming itself, I feel. They are also still lacking in some professionalism in their demeanor. Sometimes friendly & relaxed can be taken too far, and I'm looking for something a bit more focused and robust. Jeremy was, to me, the best part of the JB team, and I watched STOked & MMOrgue rabidly. Both were amazing shows, and I loved his simplistic explanations of complex workings in both games and the gaming industry. His hiring on at Cryptic was awesome for both himself and for Star Trek Online, but JB took a huge blow that I don't think they'll ever truly recover from.
I've seen a few Video Game video podcasts, but there's not that many out there, to be honest. There's lots of audio podcasts of various qualities (both in production and in performance) and tons of blogs dedicated to MMO gaming, but apparently there's not many video podcasts out there for games in general, and for MMO games specifically.
Why is that? I want that to change. I want to see a good video podcast with news, tips, reviews, tutorials, etc. that doesn't give the impression that it was the brain-child of a couple of bored guys during a night of drunken WoW. Even if I bloody well have to do it myself. What I need is a team, though; I can't do an entire endeavor of the style and quality I'm looking for all by myself. Do I think I could do better? Given the resources and time, hell yes. I could do a lot better. Do I have the resources and time? I wish, but no, I don't right now. But you better believe I'm working towards it.
~Peter J.T. Langdon
Sources:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_D_y1JdvDU
2) http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/
Keeping the surprises in games out of trailer videos
There has been a somewhat depressing trend happening in Hollywood for some time now. Many theatrical trailers often give the majority of the story for an upcoming movie in the trailer, pretty much spoiling the story of the movie before it's even released. Unfortunately, the game industry has been following this trend somewhat, by revealing much of the game in the trailer and spoiling some of the surprises.
The creator of the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima, thinks that "it's important to mislead people with hints because I think if something's too predictable then it's no longer fun." I honestly have to agree, though I wonder how much of his intended message was lost in translation; this can be a double-edged sword if we, as developers, aren't careful. I think there's a balancing act between giving players a taste of what to expect, and keeping enough hidden to give the players surprises that they will enjoy. If we reveal too much, then people who play will end up losing interest sooner. If we mislead too much, players could feel they didn't get what they thought they were paying for.
The balancing act is also not going to be universal. Rather than straight out misleading, we need to be able to keep some aspects of the game's story and mechanics just simply hidden, while revealing just enough to get their interest. Not an easy task, overall. It also depends on the type of game you're trying to sell – if you're selling an action-filled shooter game, you need players to know what makes it different from all the other action-filled shooter games, and there's little room for being mysterious. If you're making a deep story-based RPG with detailed crafting, enhancement, and customization, you have a lot more room to maneuver.
Still, there's lots of ways to keep some of the really good surprises in games hidden until people actually get to play them, without spoiling surprises through the trailers. We shouldn't need to stoop to Hollywood's laziness just to make preorder sales.
~Peter J.T. Langdon
Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/kojima-on-why-misleading-trailers-are-important-6405309
Early Access Gaming
Steam Launches Early Access
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/03/20/steam-opens-early-access.aspx
With the launch of an early access system to the steam client, players will be able to play games in their early stage of testing and they will also be able to give some good (maybe some bad) feedback to the creators of the game. I believe that this will form a new a sort of era to the age of gaming, complete and polished games that are released with accurate precautions!
As well for the designers of the games, they will be able to more accurately create games aimed at their target audiences with a more "on target" understanding of how they like their games.
Games that I think were released prematurely are games like Guildwars 2 and Diablo 3, I think that if they had a wider beta player base they could have developed the game further into a state of completeness, rather than apologizing for how they messed up (diablo 3).
--
Gabriel Mirahmadi
Diablo on ps3?
PS3 Version Of Diablo III Playable At PAX East
Diablo III was one of the largest anticipated games of all time, but how did it fail? My belief is that diablo 3 was made with the idea of being ps3 compatible from the start. By doing so they minimize the players abilities and customization, they butcher the amount of buttons you have to press on a keyboard in order to sell the concept to Sony.
The one problem I foresee is that there are many different types of people. Computer gamers, console gamers, and completely casual gamers. Console gamers consist of a mix of casual and core gamers, but more casual than core, like usual. But the main thing you must keep in mind is that people who play consoles over computers don't really like computer games, they dislike the fantasy of games. They like the real feeling of driving a sports car and the esthetics of being a soccer player in the arena.
When someone speaks of diablo, you automatically think computer hack and slash, fantasy, swords, knights, demons, and magic.
I think that the sales on the PS3 version of diablo 3 will not be as great as the computer sales, which is pretty bad considering most people on the pc version on play it to make money.
--
Gabriel Mirahmadi
Joakim? Kojima? Bleszinski? FOX?
http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto/joakim-mogren-is-cliff-bleszinski-not-hideo-kojima-we-think-18103,
http://kotaku.com/5991027/this-years-craziest-conspiracy-theory-the-uncanny-valley-and-oh-yeah-metal-gear
Joakim Mogren, the enigmatic head of a new game developers Moby Dick Studios recently appeared in an interview with GTTV to talk about their new game, The Phantom Pain. Joakim's identity has been a pretty hot topic since the game was announced. Joakim being an anagram of Kojima, Hideo Kojima that is, first led to the speculation that it is Kojima himself who created the studio in order to tease an upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5. The interview then further fueled other rumours. These rumours further speculate that Joakim's true identity is that of recently "retired" Cliff Bleszinski or that he is, in fact, a completely CG character created by the FOX Engine.
The CG theory is very popular but ultimately one that I think cannot be conveyed by the interview. Joakim, while very eccentric and seemingly high, comes across as a real person. The FOX Engine, while impressive, still cannot fully recreate a human being and all it's nuances as seen in it's trailers. The Bleszinki theory might be more plausible considering how close they resemble each other even with the bandages around Joakim's head.
No matter what his identity is, you can bet that I'm going to be keeping a close eye on both Mogren and his game. If this all turn out to be an elaborate hoax by Hideo Kojima, then I'll definitely try to meet him and give him a handshake. We shall just have to wait...
-RJ Benavidez
Star Wars the Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic Subscriber Base Growing
With the release of star wars the old republic being a "not so amazing" fulfillment as thought to be, people where excited to hear that it was free to play now. Before the argument was that I had to pay 15-20 dollars just to play this game when I could be playing any other game that costs less or I could simply be playing wow.
TOR was a great twist on mmorpgs because of the duck and cover shooter classes, as well as the customization of classes was unique to the game because it allowed players to decide if they want to go assassin / tank or caster / assassin or shooter / tank. The possibilities where pretty astonishing!
If you had played the game in beta you probably were not impressed with anything other than its uniqueness. It was buggy and lagging and really bad graphics, and then you thought to yourself… "hey im going to be pay 15-20$ a month for this game! Why am I getting such bad quality?
Now that the game has decided to run with the free-to-play model, its player base has gone up 2million! While personally I believe that this game could use a total overhaul of some of the system basics and functioning, its going to flourish once it gets grounded.
--
Gabriel Mirahmadi
Lord British: Egomaniac?
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/03/20/richard-garriot-most-game-designers-really-just-suck?abthid=514b4d3001f2cfa04500000e
Richard Garriott, also known as Lord British, believes that "most game designers really just suck." While his words may have been taken out of context by PC Gamer, there is the underlying sense of superiority to his words. He believes that while he is not the best designer out there, he has had more time to make and learn from his mistakes. He goes on to say that designing is the hardest aspect of making video games to learn formally.
If I take his words into context, it still gives me the uneasy feeling that he percieves himself better than others. I'm in school for game design. I do realize that game design is hard, but to be considered by one of the "founders" of PC Gaming as lazy and lacking in talent is disheartening. I can only imagine what real game designers thought of his words.
How then, should a game designer be? Should we be Lord British's notion of what a game designer is, an artist/programmer/designer all in one? Or should we be the ones to tear his perceptions down, that we can be simply designers and still make great games? I take his words not as an insult but a challenge. I just have two words to say to Mr. Garriott: "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"
-RJ Benavidez
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
I don't prefer too realistic-looking graphics
Yes, I know technology has to go forward, but there was just something that I can't put my tongue on that was so amazing with Unreal and Half-Life graphics that seemed to make the game so much enjoyable. I know I'm going to get flamed to hell, but I really dislike graphics like Call of Duty and Battlefield. It's just too... realistic. There's no charm in it.
I like my HL1 shotgun more than my HL2 shotgun. I prefer blocky and low-res landscapes of Unreal than Battlefield 3's large-span and beautiful landscapes. I really don't know why. Perhaps it's because I never see any FPS games today that isn't ultra-realistic and has to draw inspiration from real world instead of just coming up with alien worlds themselves. Hell, even Halo, where you play as a soldier on a gigantic alien-made halo in the middle of space, doesn't have that inspired landscapes.
Even if I miss the alien landscapes of Unreal and Xen of Half Life, it still doesn't explain why I still prefer the tunnels and corridors of Half Life.
Does graphics count as rose-tinted glasses-nostalgia? Or is it just that graphics back then was more imaginative and brought more joy and depth to the gameplay more than today, where the graphics are all about grand explosions and general chaos?
Not saying that is bad. It's just that graphics nowadays have developed into something that I, personally, feel as... empty.
Is it just me that feel this way?
Source: http://www.fpsguru.com/article/3225/Six-90s-Shooters-That-Have-Aged-Pretty-Well.html
By Shin Park
Death of the American arcade
Blog 4
Great article, brought back lots of good memories. I was definitely one of those kids with a pocket full of quarters and headed down to the arcade on a lazy Saturday with my friends. But, like the last part of this article, the arcade as we knew it is dead and gone.
Arcade games are not always easy and in our culture where punishment is light for dying in a game anymore – if you die in Call of Duty you just go back to the last checkpoint that wasn't far behind and try over and over and over again until you get it right. In the game culture of the 80s, even home console games would only give you so many continues before it pretty much told you to start all over again. That could be frustrating as the games themselves changed into longer operas and it led to password, memory cards and other game saving methods.
People also have realized how short arcades games were. Arcade games are designed to kill you, to be short, the way a profit was turned was by people putting a quarter in every 3 minutes at the very most. Why do I want to spend $60 on a game that gives me 3 minutes of fun? Nobody wants that, they want adventure games, role playing games, sports games, stuff that lasts longer, and is more in-depth. That's why arcades died.
By Shin Park
Monday, 18 March 2013
Scarlet Blade - is it a giant leap backwards for video game sexism?
I know we shouldn't be doing reviews for these posts, but this is more than a mere review. Gaming has come a long way with regards to sexism in its games; the days where Duke Nukem was the embodiment of typical gamer attitudes are long behind us. Sure, we're still a little juvenile, and the stereotypes aren't completely quashed; but for the most part, gamers in general are more mature when it comes to sexism in games, especially as more female gamers openly join our ranks.
Apparently, no one gave Aria Games that memo on sexism. Their latest delve into MMO games is Scarlet Blade. I'd heard a few concerning things about this game already. The premise as I understood it was that in the far future, earth was invaded, almost all the men were killed, and all that remained to re-claim the surface of the planet were bio-mechanically enhanced women warriors... that are constantly wearing very little. With very bouncy breasts. and all have the tight, fit bodies of anime super-heroines. This, in and of itself, seemed pretty sexist, but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and try the beta. Sure enough, all 6 classes are scantily clad ladies. But that wasn't the part that rustled my jimmies.
The dialog has to be, by far, the most sexist dialog I have ever seen in an MMO. It was downright insulting, to both male AND female gamers. The dialog has been written from the perspective that the player is not their character, but rather a human survivor counterpart in some kind of cybernetic symbiosis with the character that they control. Apparently, every female NPC you come across all assume all players are oggling their lady-bits and have the one-track mind of a prepubescent teenage boy. Even your own character. Combine that with the ridiculously bland cookie-cutter gameplay and you have a F2P game that is nothing but sexist fan-service for hentai addicts.
Now, I fully admit, I enjoy the female form as much as the next heterosexual guy. I do admit that I oggle female sprites in games from time to time. But I consider those icing on the game's cake; if there's no good story, solid gameplay, etc. then it's not enough for me to call it a good game. This game, however, blatantly accuses all it's players of being perverts only interested in sex with disproportionately sexy anime-styled ladies. I found that assumption taking it way too far.
But does this game take that blatant sexism so far that it flips around and becomes a farce? I have to admit, when I was reading a lot of the dialog, I could not decide whether to be insulted or laugh. There are a few good points to this game. The artwork for the game is colourful and vibrant, with a lot of creative details in a decidedly anime style. The gameplay is cookie-cutter simple, but solid; I saw few to no gameplay bugs beyond some minor auto-pathfinding issues and some balance issues in mob location. For a F2P game, in and of itself, it's not bad. It's not great, but it's not bad. The fact that it is drowning in sexism towards female gamers AND towards male gamers is the biggest and only real point of contention I see coming out of it. The developers are shooting for an M rating on the ESRB, and I can definitely see them getting it. I honestly can't tell whether the developers meant the sexism as a tongue-in-cheek jest at sexism in general, or want this to be taken more seriously (if they want it taken seriously, then they're severely insulting a lot of gamers, myself included).
This game actually brings to light the whole topic of sex, nudity, and adult content in MMO games, and opens it up for deeper discussion. Was that their whole goal? Maybe, but to be honest, I'm not holding my breath on that front. I really feel these guys were the prepubescent teen males that the dialog assumes all players are, and they just never grew up. But is there a place for adult content like sex and nudity in MMO games? There's a place for blood and violence, as many games before have shown. But can sex and nudity be depicted in a tasteful manner?
We're all here learning to make games, aren't we? I say we find out.
~Peter J.T. Langdon
Friday, 15 March 2013
Lawsuits Are Not the Best Driver For Change
But We Do Care!
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Video Games in turmoil?
http://www.ign.com/blogs/logicallydashing/2013/02/25/cliff-bleszinski-states-video-game-industry-in-massive-state-of-turmoil
Cliff Bleszinski thinks that the video game industry is in turmoil. What I would I say to that is to define turmoil it is currently in. He thinks that Nintendo will become a software-only company and that Microsoft and Sony will soon "come to major blows." He also states that the masses are turning to mobile games and that PC games are in a "renaissance." He also states that the flexible business models and the ease of digital distribution may make consoles irrelevant. In order to combat this though, he proposed that console developers make an open-platform system rather than the closed systems of today.
I will agree with him on some points. Yes, the console wars are ridiculous. Consoles in general are hard to develop for because of their closed systems. Digital distribution does seem to be the wave of the future and mobile games cater to a larger audience than ever before. However, I don't think that Sony or Microsoft will come to blows or that Nintendo will solely make software.
Although the "console wars" have been raging for a while now, it makes for better business as the developers continue to vie for consumers to buy their products, in turn making the consumer experience a priority. Nintendo has consistently come up with innovative ways to play games. Mobile games might be reaching a larger audience but it is not really up to the same quality that a console game might have.
Games might be in turmoil as Cliff says. I, for one, am hopeful for the future.
-RJ Benavidez
Value of company, how do you maintain it?
Source: http://segmentnext.com/2013/03/07/new-grand-theft-auto-game-every-two-years-would-degrade-franchises-value-take-two/
Many people enjoy beating up on franchisees that come out with a new
title every year. Even though there are millions of copies sold, they
keep complaining how that they didn't spend enough time with
developing the game. Over time, they get notorious for releasing these
"half-baked games", but other companies try and keep their reputation
solid with the gaming community. Does this really effect the value of
the games they produce? Well lets to a quick experiment; which game
are you more excited for? The next Call of Duty game or the next Grand
Theft Auto game?
When you hear titles like Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, and
so on, you'll usually be thrilled to hear that they are making a new
game to add to their franchise. As for Assassin's Creed, Call of
Duty, Halo, and so on, you're less excited because they pump out a new
game almost every year. Just think about how much work goes into
making these games come out every year.
So do all good game companies take their time when releasing games?
Well no, some companies lose value because they over hype their game.
Once they release it, they are unable to deliver what was to be
expected. A great example of this was Brink. The game had some of the
coolest ideas for a FPS game, but when the game actually came out it
was really lacking in just about everything. It didn't have the crazy
combat that it promised. It felt like it was missing a lot of the
"meat" to the game, like you just got a shell of a game.
So what is the secret behind keeping value of your company? Take your
time, don't over hype your game, and listen to your audience. You're
not making games for yourself; you're making them for the players. If
you listen to what your audience wants, then you can make your game
appeal to them. Now I am not saying to bend over backwards for them,
but if you hear that they don't like "Always-On DRM", then it might be
a good idea to not impotent that into your game. Sometimes you can
find some of the greatest ideas from your audience. For instants, a
good part of minecraft's updates were user requested. They did a great
job of listening to the alpha and beta testers that they were able to
create this game that just took off!
Wherefore art thou, Mega Man?
http://kotaku.com/5990487/so-mega-man-online-has-been-cancelled,
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/12/08/capcom-39-s-christian-svensson-talks-mega-man-franchise-fatigue-and-more.aspx
When was the last time you played a Mega Man game? Was it the recent fan-made "Street Fighter X Mega Man"? Or was it one of the Blue Bomber's forays into handhelds like the PSP and the DS and 3DS? How about on consoles? What was the last Mega Man game? Why hasn't there been a good Mega Man game recently?
If you've asked yourself the same questions then congratulations, you're not the only one. Mega Man has been surprisingly absent in recent years. One of Capcom's "key" franchises, it has not been getting the same attention as other "key" franchises like Street Fighter, Resident Evil or Devil May Cry. I actually wanted to get a 3DS solely because "Mega Man Legends 3" was being developed for it. Unfortunately, Capcom decided to cancel the game outright even after getting the fans involved in it's development. Even worse, a Mega Man MMO that was being developed was also given the pink slip.
This is a topic which really gets my blood boiling. As I write this, I can feel my blood pressure rising and my anger at Capcom escalates to new heights. Mega Man was one of my favourite game characters of all time. It makes me sick that a company would abandon one of it's iconic characters, a character that helped define it. Is it because Keiji Inafune left Capcom that they are now trying to bury anything he created? Why was Mega Man Legends cancelled when everything was going smoothly? Are the "top men" thinking about the franchise' future actually doing something or are they just letting it die? Is it too much to ask for a good Mega Man game, Capcom? I think I'll leave it here, before I actually do something about it...
-RJ Benavidez
The first "Steam Box" is a thousand bucks!!!
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/03/11/valve-backed-xi3-piston-available-for-pre-order
Recently announced at CES was the Piston, the first of the so-called "Steam Box" consoles. It is now available for pre-order off of the developer, Xi3's website. The console is meant to provide the user-friendliness of a regular console with the hardcore specs and upgrades of a top of the line PC. Thinking of getting one? It will cost you a cool $1000 and that's just the base model of 128 GB. The 256 and 512 GB models adds $340 and $720 to the base price respectively.
Xi3 seems to have missed the point of consoles in general. Consoles are meant to be a cheaper way to get video games to the masses. In general, consoles range in price from $200 to $400. With $1000, I could easily get a good gaming PC and it will do more than just what this console is supposed to do. I mean sure, it's meant to bridge the gap between PC and consoles but at the price point it's at you're better off waiting for the next-gen consoles.
As a mainly PC gamer, I'm all for bridging the gap between consoles and PC's. I actually have duplicate games on both my console and PC. This console seemed like a logical step for me: I get to save money on games, which are expensive enough as it is, by not getting duplicates and get the power that my PC has. The price however, will just not cut it. At the rate this is going, the gap between console and PC is just going to get wider. At the very least we can look forward to Valve's official Steam Box and hope they don't go down this road.
-RJ Benavidez
Why no love for Dinosaurs?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_zombie_video_games
"Dinosaurs are awesome!", as one of my favorite youtube channel constantly spouts. And I agree wholeheartedly. I used to have this big book all about dinosaurs aptly named "The Big Book of Dinosaurs". I've watched Jurassic Park and it's sequels multiple times. Not enough to quote the movies by heart but enough that I get this sadistic pleasure in seeing the Dilophosaurus kill that fat dude in the first movie. Unfortunately, dinosaurs in GOOD video games, are few and far between.
As a whole, we are enamored with all sorts of creatures and it shows in our video game preferences. If you look at the wikipedia article attached and scroll down to the bottom, you'll find the list of video games based on characters. They include: Cats, Dragons, Gangsters, Ghosts, Ninjas, Vampires and Zombies. In fact, games with zombies are far and away the most popular preference. So why is there no love for dinosaurs in video games?
It's because video game developers have not considered what a game based on dinosaurs need. Ultimately, they need to make the giant reptiles the focus of the game. The player is just that, a character in the game that interacts with them. Perhaps with the technology we have now we can see more love to the giant reptiles. I mean, do you really want another zombie game?
-RJ Benavidez
Microtransaction bandwagon, is it a good idea?
source: http://www.geekscoop.net/2013/03/12/black-ops-2-set-to-introduce-microtransactions/
More and more game companies are finding that a microtransaction
system that is implemented in your game will rake in a lot of cash.
But is it good for every game out there? Some games that have seen
huge success from the microtransaction system has been "Team Fortress
2", "League of Legends", and many more. For those who don't know what
microtransaction are, they times that you can buy in the game for real
money, or you buy special in game money with real money to buy these
items. Usually these items are just for show, but you can sometimes
unlock items ahead of time, or buy boosts so you level up faster.
Now more companies and games are trying to implementing
microtransaction with their games, but why? Is it to just get some
extra money out of their customers? Or maybe they have some other
ideas that they want implement. Over all, I really don't think every
single game should have microtransaction. Why should every game that
you play be a dress up game for your character?