31 posts tagged “gaming”
if you can configure your laptops with a variety of different hardware set ups, why can't you do that for the PS3?
Think of the marketing savvy you'd have if you let people pimp their PS3s their way. I know you'd have limited options in order to maintain the advantages of being a console and not a PC, but here's how I'd pimp my PS3:
-40 gig HD(I can upgrade this myself)
-Backwards Compat enabled.
-2 USB ports
-Wired internet port
-Wireless internet
-Card Reader enabled
-I'd make the case some screaming color of metallic blue.
Thanks.
Let's say you find a really simple core loop in gameplay. Let's say, that core loop of a game goes as follows:
player goes somewhere -> enemies spawn -> player lays the smack down on the enemies until all the enemies are gone -> go back to beginning of said loop.
Keep the controls simple, the enemies plentiful and the levels busy with all kinds of interactive objects going off. Get rid of some of the archaic junk like lives and save points in favor of systems friendlier to the player that lets them keep their progress. But sheesh, getting dumped on for lack of innovation when it seems like they just want to see innovation for the sake of innovation?
For those unfamiliar with Monster Hunter, it's the most fun when you link up with 4 people over local WiFi and run around completing quests with really basic objectives; find a bunch of items in the environment, go kill X number of monsters or hunt a major monster. When you hunt, you can either kill the target or attempt to capture it alive which is easier said than done.
You have 2 "classes" gunner and blade master. Your "class" is determined by what weapon you equip. It's really really basic stuff. There's no storyline either. You are a hunter of monsters in Pokke Village. The rest is up to you.
Anyways, what really amazed me is the sheer variety of people that are playing this game and enjoying it. All my group members would be what your average American would call a "girly girl." Into make up, the occasional male pop idol and cute sparkling things. You can add Monster Hunter to that.
It's pretty remarkable how the conversations can switch between "which of these cute glittery stickers should I put on my PSP? Are the rhinestones too much?" to "so, what are we gonna kill next?" One girl wanted me to halt the quest departure since she had the wrong equipment set on. After she got her heat resistant armor and ice sword for the desert raid, we all noticed how she changed her hair color and accessories to match her new sword.
One girl, YK, makes these Monster Hunter gatherings feel like a pretty big deal at times, though the mood is quite relaxed and fun. She keeps things pretty small(4 or 6 people only, occasionally 8 to make sure that people can be divided into effective teams. Max per party is 4 players.) Everyone whose participated takes turns bringing some amazing treat. I brought some high end cream puffs, pictured above, along with our PSPs. That was 2 weeks ago, yesterday's gathering I made pasta and then we put all of your PSPs artfully into the pasta sauce pot after YK washed it and dried it. All the PSPs were visible in the photo and the one in front had the Monster Hunter 2nd G title screen.
These gatherings, while started with the purpose of playing Monster Hunter or Phantasy Star Portable, end up being something more. We also explore some new restaurants or foods, catch up on life, etc. I usually go shopping with YK and her sister before we sit down and play MH or to the ice skating center for some laps around the rink. I can't deny though, that I wouldn't have met some neat people or had these great experiences had I not ran out and grabbed Monster Hunter.
In contrast, back in the US, some female gamer friends of mine have said they get looked down upon or somehow "less hardcore" if they want to enjoy being a girl as opposed to a "grrl." We're not the Frag Dolls or PMS Clan, we're not interested in taking no prisoners then leaving no evidence in a shooter. We like hair accessories, we like putting inane bling on our PSPs, are fairly fashion conscious(budget permitting) and we also group up and take down giant frilly dragons that we all give really cute nicknames with matching long swords and gun lances. And deciding on what we're going to kill based on "I need a new pair of boots. It takes 2 pelts from Mr. Rumble-kins."
"Mr. Rumble-kins" is a big ape with pink skin and white fur whose gut rumbles before he farts out toxic clouds of gas at the party, only to perish from an explosive shell shot out of YK's heavy artillery.
Japan and the West are so different! Or so everyone leads to believe, but I honestly think that the similarities are far more striking than many people make them out to be. I for one, have not changed my game design philosophies one bit. Of course, I've distilled my game design philosophy to just one sentence:
Don't make crap, make fun.
Crap is pretty universal, and so is fun. I mean, look at Nintendo. Loved by audiences worldwide, Nintendo's modus operandi is "make it fun and they will come." Actually, I should change my philosophy to don't design crap. If the programmers are being forced to use completely and utterly stinks, that can make a well designed game turn into crap to name one example. Anyways, here's what I've noticed.
Co-op Rocks!
Japanese and Westerners alike enjoy it. Everyone's rushing to add it. Plus, it can save a mediocre game plus spur some sales. "Hey Bob, I just got Mercenaries 2. We can both play it together over live and blow stuff up!" "Awesome, Jim! I'll go grab it and we can have us some good times lighting everything on fire!" Now, had this mediocre game been single player, the conversation would have likely gone like this: "Hey Bob, I just got Mercenaries 2. The AI sucks, the mission design sucks, it's pretty neat that you can blow everything all to heck and back, but eh, I can do that in other games." "Thanks for the heads up Jim, I'll skip this turkey." You can throw in Too Human among others into that conversation. Going from a crappy game to an experience you share with friends has incredible value. I've been playing crappy paper and pencil RPGs with friends for ages. Why did I keep doing it? It's my friends, I like spending time with them. Just them being there makes the whole experience enjoyable.
The major difference comes in how each side prefers to enjoy their co-op. Strangely enough, the Japanese are perfectly fine with playing co-op games with other individuals in the same room as they are. I am about to test their willingness to venture forth with strangers later this week. Namely, I will wander about the streets of Nagoya with my PSP and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G hitting up various fast food joints to see if any random person will party with me.
As for the US, I don't know if I'd want to meet any of the people I play with over Xbox Live, PSN etc in real life. The notorious "chocolate milk" kid would probably be beaten alive if he tried to scream at people in real life like he did over the internet.
Minor considerations would need to be done for designing communication systems and all, but overall, co-op is co-op, it's fun being able to accomplish more together than you would alone.
Games really are a fragile thing to create. Making a really good video game is already a house of cards, and if it's original, getting it to sell is a yet another debacle. I think Kotaku's review nailed it. Visually, the game is amazing. Luc's an artist, it shows. However, for a game, visual quality and audio are not enough. Most of the complains lie in play, and that's what video games have over other mediums. We play them.
Enemy design, level design, the 2 character controlling mechanics apparently didn't go over with players so well, and while Bernard is tweaking the game, they're selling off what should be a beta version for $5 on Steam. I stopped playing PC games as a child since I felt like publishers rushed out PC versions to market at roughly beta status then promised fixes within a few weeks.
Perhaps Eternity's Child is better off being a Graphic Novel. Luc is an artist, he'll have more control over what goes on doing everything himself. Plus, maybe the storyline will get some better exploration with the graphic novel format. Yes, games are a harsh mistress, but think about play from the moment you conceive of a game.
Actually, yeah. There is. There's more than I expected.
Sony Online Entertainment talked about The Agency, an action, spy-themed MMO. Action+MMO? I'm already intrigued. The game promises a lot of freedom; no set classes, what you choose to equip yourself with determines how you're going to play. Even though I'm no FPS fan, being able to do whatever based on pick ups was one appealing thing about Halo. The other appealing point of The Agency was how you get minions which do things for the player when the player isn't in the game. Your NPC crew mates will send messages via email, text or even cell phone calls. Hmm, use of additional media streams...Sounds like something I wrote on an MMO company design test.
Valkyrie Chronicles is a strong reason to get a PS3. To think this game started development on the 360! There was some flap when Sony accidentally put this game in their PSP games row, instead of the home console section to which it truly belonged. It's a tactical shooter/RPG that seems a bit more RPG heavy. I had some fun with Mass Effect but the interface on 360 totally bogged the game down. Being rather "mheh" at shooters, I stuck to using the game's equivalent of magic and that portion of the UI was ridiculously cumbersome unless I just wanted to spam the same power over and over. Anyway, Valkyria looks a lot cleaner in every way. The graphics look absolutely gorgeous.
Song Summoner is making me wish I hadn't given up on my iPod. Though not too much has been posted about it, the basic concept is very intriguing.
I spent way too much time on Animal Crossing for Game Cube and Nintendo DS not to at least watch some videos on the new Wii game, Animal Crossing: City Folk. I don't know if I'm ready to re-fill my museum, my bonsai collections, etc all over again. Voice chat over the game and the city don't feel like major improvements on the overall interactivity or community aspect of the game. To me, I "beat" AC by getting all the bugs, all the fish and all the furniture pieces I cared for(Happy Room Academy be cursed!) Maybe I'll move on to Rune Factory, a hybrid of RPG and Harvest Moon(yet another cutesy virtual life sim.)
I didn't really see much on the big RPGs I'm typically drawn to. Star Ocean 4, Tales of Vesperia, and the other offerings from Squ-Enix. Maybe I'm already sold? Or more likely, I'm feeling a bit burnt out looking up stuff on these games before E3. Or, I'm completely broke so I really shouldn't be looking at things to tempt me from spending money I don't have.
With the 10 million Nintendo Wii systems out there, I was incredibly shocked when Boom Blox only moved 60,000 units since release. It looks like it's doing better internationally, but even then, it isn't the big smash hit that I'm sure a lot of people were expecting it to be.
Boom Blox has some things going for it that would help it sell in the casual market:
- It's a fun game! I tried it briefly and it is very friendly. The time from putting the disk in to having fun is almost instantaneous!
- Steven Spielberg branding.
- The packaging design is a disaster. For starters, Steven Spielberg's name is barely legible.
- The image on the package itself looks cheap, it doesn't really tell anything about the game. I'm going to blow up boxy animals? Cruelty to boxy animals?
- Where were they advertising? Brain Age advertised in Time Magazine. I heard a Brain Age ad on KGO Radio when it was released ages go. Had I been in charge of where advertising dollars go, I certainly would have put some money aside for radio and national newspaper ads.
- Name of the Game? Blocks are a kid's toy, and the packaging doesn't help.
- Price Point is a possibility; $50 is hardly an "impulse buy" compared to other games.
So, a friend of mine messages me that May NPD numbers are out. I do a web search and the top result ends up being May 2007. Oops...Well, compare that to May 2008 and it's easy to be confused.
- Pokemon Diamond—DS—Nintendo
- Mario Party 8—Wii—Nintendo
- Spider-Man 3—PS2—Activision
- Pokemon Pearl—DS—Nintendo
- Wii Play w/remote—Wii—Nintendo
- Forza Motorsport 2—Xbox 360—Microsoft
- Guitar Hero II w/guitar—Xbox 360—Activision
- Spider-Man 3—Xbox 360—Activision
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars—Xbox 360—Electronic Arts
- Guitar Hero II w/guitar—PS2—Activision
- 360 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) APR 2008 1 871.3K
- WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA APR 2008 2 787.4K
- WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAY 2008 3 687.7K
- PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) APR 2008 4 442.9K
- WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA FEB 2007 5 294.6K
- WII SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAR 2008 6 171.1K
- PS2 IRON MAN SEGA OF AMERICA APR 2008 7 130.6K
- WII GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK W/ WIREACTIVISION (CORP) OCT 2007 8 116.8K
- NDS POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: EXPLORERS OF DARKNESS NOA APR 2008 9 107K
- NDS POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON: EXPLORERS OF TIME NOA APR 2008 10 102K
Guess which is which....
Been futzing around with some doujin game demos lately.
Tearkiss -Princess Shade- is a hybrid action RPG with a few Shmup elements thrown in. It's shareware and I'm hoping that one of many doujin game dealers that ships to the US will have it.
The Ruins Of The Lost Kingdom is a freeware 3D action RPG that looks really well done. There's an offline version full of storyline sequences and an online version that lets you run around and whack enemies with a friend. Seriously, it's amazing that it's absolutely free of charge.
Future Pinball. Pinball video games can never quite capture all the clacks and physical entertainment that a real table has, but for those who can't afford the 3000 dollars for the real thing.
I've been using Sketch Up to help redecorate. I scanned an architectural layout of my room but didn't quite get it scaled properly according to Sketch Up's dimensions. Now I'm working with a version of my room that has 45' walls. WAY beyond what I actually have! Not being able to just drag and drop my furniture pieces around is a bit annoying too. A friend of mine gave me Unreal Tournament 2004 special edition with a bunch of tutorials on creating levels with Unreal. The nice thing about Unreal is I can make a version of my room with physics! EARTH QUAKE!!! *Imagines everything falling all over the place.*
Time to redo this in Unreal!
And now for a random post!
Nepotism and Shoddy Voiceovers go Hand & Hand. I understand cost cutting needs. You could probably get some insane anime fans at a community college who dream of being voice actors to do the job for a beer or something.
Game Stop has been liquidating some of their floor sample copies of games for 50% off or so. These games were opened and placed on shelves for players to peruse.
Given the success of Age of Conan, I'm curious to see if Capcom will localize Monster Hunter Frontier to English. It simplifies the number of attacks you can use which I like. The use of timing, positioning and attack choice looks rich, which I also like. Oh MAN it's bloody too! Blood isn't a huge turn off to me, but I don't seem to go seeking out the bloodiest games I can find anymore.
I'm being cautiously optimistic about a job I recently interviewed for. I had 2 good prospects; one was a long shot for a senior position. The company liked my potential, but in the end they really did want someone with at least twice my experience. I knew it was a long shot, I'm glad that I made it as far as I did. So I'm down to 1 really super prospect that fits my experience and will help me overcome a lot of my present shortcomings. I so don't want to jinx myself for this position.
It's a week until Etrian Odyssey 2 comes out, I entered a contest for it. If by some random chance, I both win and have to buy a copy, no worries, Etrian 1 is fetching prices over MSRP on the gray market. Atlus has conservative print runs; buy early.
I'm enjoying Kotaku's review of Ninja Gaiden II. This is really what I'd like to see. No numeric score or letter grade, since they really don't make sense to me. How is a 98 game better than a 97, especially when they're usually entirely different kinds of games. Tell us what's going on, what works and why(yes, that is an opinion...) and make the reader feel ready to decide for themselves whether or not they want to buy, rent or skip the game.
