Malik
(6/2/09)
I think it's fine when
game console developers try to do something new. I mean it is hit
and miss, but there are some cool new ideas that wouldn't exist if
not for some creativity and taking some major risks. Rumble,
analogue sticks, the idea of downloadable games, and a shit ton of
other ideas only exist because of creative leaps of faith.
So, I think it's
also safe to say that it feels like creativity must be pretty much
tapped out in consoles when every damned developer wants to do
motion sensing. We first had, in the mainstream, the Wii. This was a
gamble, which is still not too clearly defined as hit or miss. I
mean the Wii has done well, but most games that force the motion
issue are simply shovel-ware. Then the PS3 had it's basic motion
sensing. Like the Wii, it is both hit (Flower) and miss (nearly
everything else).
Is it any surprise
that
Microsoft is joining them in the motion capture world? The big
difference this time is that Microsoft is going the route of nearly
certain doom; expensive add-on peripheral that is not going to be
utilized by nearly enough titles. In other words, a lot like the PS3
controller, except the PS3 controller still does the important basic
function of controlling any game it comes into contact with (with
exceptions of unique titles, like rhythm games). Also, didn't
Microsoft already do the camera thing before, for XBox Live games,
but more or less failed to get in to a majority of homes? Also,
didn't Sony do this and not look back after failing with the
Eye-Toy? Maybe I'm just old, but I could swear I'm living a re-run
right now.
If new technology
is going to be brought along, I'd love to see something that's
actually "new". It seems that the modern console developers are
stuck in a game of just trying to imitate each other instead of
innovating anything important. I mean Microsoft is getting what?
Metal Gear Solid (which is already on the PS3), downloadable games
(also already on the PS3), and a motion sensing device for
controlling games (already on the PS3 in basic form and Wii in a
more advanced form). That's the big Microsoft press conference for
this year...they are seeing Sony and Nintendo as threats and want to
imitate them to seem awesome? Wow.
If Microsoft wants
to make a big announcement, I have some ideas of where they can go.
They can go the
route of reason by announcing hard drive price drops to accommodate
these downloadable games. I mean I can put a new laptop HDD in my
PS3 for a fraction of the cost of a smaller and outdated 360 HDD.
Even the Wii will now use SD cards as storage, which are far cheaper
per GB than the damned 360 HDD.
They can announce
some sort of portable...but that would be pretty useless with the DS
owning that market and the PSP picking up the few people who want
multimedia with their portable game consoles. Still, it could offer
something unique, like a handheld with a full controller (dual
analogue sticks and two shoulder buttons on each side) to be the new
"hardcore" portable since Sony seems unwilling to solve the PSP
controller deficiency.
Actually, maybe
Microsoft should just do the simple thing; focus on games. The 360
is getting up there in age, which means it is definitely late in the
game to add a new peripheral (like that Natal camera) with a large
price (I've heard
speculation of up to around $200 for the thing in the Seattle Times).
This means it's the time to make a final push in the direction all
successful game consoles have done when presented with 3 or more
years of life; to win over people by just having fun with good games
and in good quantities. The PS2 stopped all add on bullshit around
this time in it's life (after it had an unsuccessful motion capture
camera; the Eye-Toy, and a failed HDD idea), the Playstation was
also all about games by this point in it's life.
Actually, in
reality, these E3 console maker press conferences are basically
bullshit in many ways. Yes, we can see some amazing announcements.
However, these only come once every four to five years...when a new
console is on the horizon. Otherwise, it's just each console maker
trying to look like the best while offering nothing that will not
either be shown on the floor of the expo (like the games, being
shown by the game's publisher or developer) or will end up being a
sad flight of fancy (like a new motion sensing camera).
Still, an
announcement of a universal case that would allow for a laptop HDD
to be fit into a 360 would be an announcement I'd be happy to hear.
I think it would be the only announcement from Microsoft that would
make me happy right now. The only reason I'm still using a 20GB 360
HDD, which is full, is because I'm not willing to be price gouged by
Microsoft for a more reasonable sized HDD.
Malik |
Malik
(6/2/09)
For another post for
today, I wanted to just touch upon the
Nintendo press conference. Sorry, that's the closest I can find
to a link to any big single page. Everything seems split up into
separate pages (at least for text web sites) and I'm too damned lazy
to place a ton of hyperlinks in my posts today.
Yes, it was a lame
showing for Nintendo. I mean it featured only things that could be
announced as easily with presentations and demos at the usual E3
booths. There will be some new games, like a new Super Mario Galaxy,
a Wii version of New Super Mario Bros, and Golden Sun 3 (DS).
However, all I am really seeing here is that there will be sequels
and rehashed oldies.
I am happy to see
that Golden Sun 3 is coming since the first two GS games were quite
solid. Plus, maybe with a new DS take on the game, it could be more
accessible than GS2 was (which would be hard to play without playing
the first GS to completion and without remembering everything about
said game that came out a couple years before the sequel). In other
words, the new game needs to be a fresh start and not something that
has requirements to fully enjoy. Unless a new game in a series comes
out within months of it's predecessor, then there should never be a
continuing plot that offers no real background of what happened in
the last installment.
As for a Wii
version of New Super Mario Bros...I'm not excited. I played NSMB
when it first came to the DS. After breezing through the game and
feeling like I paid way too much ($40) for a game that was just a
rehash of the original SMB, I quickly sold the game. It was fun for
a few hours, but it was not that long and offered nothing new,
beyond the big and little mushrooms. However, is it really worthy of
a full price game when it's about the nostalgia effect? I mean
Bionic Commando Rearmed is not going for $60. Why? Because it is not
a new game, just a new coat of paint on an oldie. I don't care if
that new coat of paint is four player modes, new visuals, or a new
power-up or two. If the game is old and is actually marketed for
nostalgia geeks, than the publisher must do the right thing with the
pricing. Mega Man 9 is a discounted game at something like $10.
Capcom, who is actually pretty bad about price gouging (look at the
price of Resident Evil on the PSN store, or the paid DLC to make RE5
into a full game with all it's features) was smart enough to know
that nostalgia can only go so far without a price that shows some
courtesy to the gamers (who supply their profits) who are expected
to buy said title.
I mean there is
nothing that feels new from Nintendo. A new Super Mario Galaxy is
going to be one of the few times Nintendo seems like they will keep
a 3D Mario game in the same general atmosphere as a previous entry.
Metroid Prime is being released another time. New Super Mario Bros
is coming to the Wii. Another Wii Fit game. It's all the same old
shit with a new (and not too impressive at that) coat of paint. No
new franchises, no new twists on long running games, no new...well,
nothing new.
The
only real news about Nintendo I am even finding worthy of note for
today is that
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is available today (well, as
of yesterday) on the Wii (Wii Ware). However, that isn't part of the
big press conference. It's just news outside the scope of this whole
E3 spectacle.
My only concern
with this, as of now (I haven't tried out the game yet), is that
it's episodic content. I am all for a steady stream of RPGs, but I'm
also all for having money. It seems that in many cases, episodic
games tend to get more expensive than what they would be if they
were just released as a single product. There are exceptions, like
the Half-Life 2 episodes (which are big and satisfying), but there
are too many cases that don't justify the concept. What I mean by
this is how the length of game just doesn't live up to the cost per
episode in the long run when compared to a single game on a disk
that encompasses all the same content.
Oh well...I'll
know if I'm talking out of my ass on this stuff when I download the
first episode.
Malik |
Malik
(6/2/09)
For a final additional
post for today, since I'm on a roll (and need to freakin' stop
already);
a few thoughts on Sony.
First off, I'm
glad to see that the damned PSP Go rumors can be put to rest. I'm
sick and tired of the rumors following this thing in the "will
they/won't they" category. However, I'd like to say that I'm still
not impressed enough with the PSP to consider buying one again. I
don't mean like how the DSi or DS Lite are not impressive enough to
"buy again" by adding it to the same house that holds my DS. I mean
I once had a PSP and sold the damned thing since it was about as fun
as a brick. It couldn't handle any homebrew without too much hassle
(with all the firmware downgrades and retrogrades) and the game
library sucked. Yes, it did get LocoRoco after I sold my PSP, but
that just isn't enough. In fact, the PSP is the only gaming device
I've sold since the 1990's (when I was too young to have a job and
my Game Gear had to go to get me money for a Playstation). It's also
the only game system I ever plan to have gotten rid of for good (I
still want to find another Game Gear just for Defenders of Oasis).
However, I am glad
enough to see that Sony is learning a little bit on this newest PSP
version. I mean the 16GB of built in flash memory, while retaining a
memory card slot. This is the one thing Sony is constantly
impressing me with; memory. The PS3 has large HDDs out of the box
(larger than what Microsoft and Nintendo both offered at the start)
and can take a laptop HDD to keep upgrades hassle free. The PSP Go
goes one step further by offering as much memory built in (flash) as
the 360 offers on a $100 HDD (after you account for the 20GB HDD
only giving 13GB of usable storage). With how each of the big three
is offering various forms of downloadable content and full game
downloads, it's amazing that only Sony seems to understand the
consequence of this practice; gamers will need the room to save
these large files and programs. While any system will allow for a
gamer to delete old data and then even download again for free (with
a few stupid exceptions), this is not a fun practice and limits the
appeal of DLC and downloadable games.
Still, the PSP Go,
since it's compatible with all PSP stuff, is a failure for me in two
regards. The first being that I still don't see enough games or
support for easy to use homebrew in the future. The second being how
the PSP lacks dual analogues and four total should buttons.
As for the rest of
the Sony stuff...
I wish something
would be flat out said to make the PS3 Slim rumors go away. I also
with all of these motion capture camera type devices (both from Sony
and the Microsoft Natal) would go away. I just see a lot of hype
being shoved on the gaming world for the next take on the same old
failed "VR" styled ideas (like how the Virtual Boy, Eye-Toy, and
most other "interactive space" controls have failed despite a lot of
buzz and hype).
Anyway, I think
after reading crap about all three press conferences, Sony wins the
battle of these non-news buzzword filled events.
Malik |
Malik
(6/3/09)
Yesterday I downloaded
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Well, I downloaded the required
first episode and the Rydia episode, which is all that's available
right now. The next batch of episodes comes out in about a month
(with three to four new ones). Considering I've spent $11 so far
(not counting tax), it's looking like it's worth my money.
The game, while
being fun, does have a few issues with it. The first and most
obvious is the fact that the encounter rate for random battles is
insanely high. I mean it's up there with games like Beyond the
Beyond (for those who remember this game). Literally the first step
I took in the game, once I was on the world map, led to a fight. The
first tutorial style dungeon was about the size of the Desert Cave
(with the antlion) in the original FF4, but took about three times
longer due to constant battles. I can't complain much since it's not
like the game is brokenly hard in random battles, but it does take
some patience to get into this game.
My other complaint
right now would be that the plot and what happens makes no sense
when compared to how FF4 ended. I don't mean that the plot itself is
nonsense. I mean that it's well accepted that Cecil and company beat
Zeromus/Zemus on the moon and save the world. It's also said in the
description for various background plot and add-on/DLC descriptions
that some characters have been training and continuing their battles
since FF4 ended. With this in mind, why the hell is Cecil, Rosa, and
Cid at level 15 when you first see them in your party? Was the game
based around the original FF4 being a low level run? That's the only
explanation I can think of, and it still doesn't explain Cid's low
level (I think he joined you in several versions of FF4 at a higher
initial level than 15). I mean Rosa is a wuss with about 300 HP, and
no one is packing all of their awesome spells and skills from the
start.
Still, I can
forgive such issues. I mean this game does a great job of giving
bonus material to a game that was one of my favorites in RPG
history. You learn that Cecil and Rosa are happy in their ruling of
Baron, they have a son (the protagonist of the first chapter), Edge
has rebuilt Eblan, Rydia went back to the underground lair of
summoned monsters (why did she and Edge not get together may be
explained later), Kain is trying to rebuild his life, Yang is now
the ruler of Fabul, Edward/Gilbert has rebuild Damcyan, and Palon
and Porom are both becoming powerful mages. I mean the plot is
explained and continued with a new threat emerging.
Best of all, the
game feels and plays like FF4. The same style of visuals (although
the Red Wing soldiers looked better in the original) is used...but
with some unexplained usage of sprites more familiar to the FF6
world. This is nostalgic old school RPG gaming at it's greatest, and
it's all new.
So far I'm about 3
hours into the first chapter of the game. I think I'll probably play
this game a lot, which is sad. It's sad since I have only two
episodes to play before I have to wait until the first week of July
for more content. At least the Square Enix style of episodic content
is cool. The first and last chapter are both $8 and required. The
remaining eight (I think it's eight...might be seven) episodes in
the middle are $3 and optional. I think your save data from the end
of each episode gets entered into the start of the final chapter,
but the middle $3 episodes are entirely optional. This is either a
game that's $16 from start to finish, or around $40 if you want the
full large experience. Definitely a good way of ensuring that you
get what you pay for, but still giving you the option to chose if
what you get is what you really want. It also makes for a good take
on renting a DLC style game. If you don't like it after the first
episode, then you're out only $8 instead of the full purchase price.
Malik |
Malik
(6/4/09)
Haven't Castlevania fans
suffered enough on recent console outings? I mean it's been a
sad attempt at 3D after sad attempt at 3D ever since the N64
abomination. Now, from what I can tell,
Castlevania is going to be another sad 3D game, but with a
definite touch (or is that complete rip off) of God of War. I
think E3 is just trying to make me sad this year.
Malik |
Malik
(6/5/09)
It has been too busy of
a week to follow E3 too closely. While I caught the main points of
the big three press conferences, I didn't exactly read much else.
Well, except that bad trailer for Castlevania that I linked to last
night. I'm sorry, but just because God of War is epic in many ways,
and just because you get Patrick Stewart to do a voice, it doesn't
mean you can make a good 3D take on a game that's never worked out
as well in 3D as it has in 2D. I'm still waiting for some owners of
older franchises (like Castlevania) to show a new 2D version of a
classic on a non-handheld. This also goes for Metroid.
I've also been
busy with Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. This is just too much
fun for me to put down. It's exactly what I've missed from modern
RPGs that I've only seen in recent years via Blue Dragon (if you
ignore the low difficulty) or Lost Odyssey. Of course, with Mist
Walker more or less out of the gaming world, it's not like we'll see
much else in the form of a classic style RPG in the current gaming
era.
In fact, The After
Years is one of the few games in the last five or more years that
I've played that I honestly cannot say there is some sort of major-ish
flaw with. The game is just perfect. From the visuals and audio
being in line with FF4-6, the game play not being altered beyond
adding new characters and locations, all the way to how the plot
flows pretty naturally from the original FF4, this is just a damned
good RPG. Plus, with the episode system and having some downloads
optional, I just know I'll be left wanting more up until September
(when the final chapter is released)...and not worried about the
cost issue.
By the way, to
shift gear,
Tim Schafer has always been someone I could respect from the gaming
world. I mean when Activision (who apparently is the new "EA of
2002") sued Double Fine (Schafer's company) and EA for some of the
dumbest reasons, you can always count on Schafer being entertaining.
As far as I can tell, the real point of this lawsuit seems to be
more of a case of Activision, when they did their Vivendi Universal
merge, dropping a game they counted on to be fluff, and then being
upset when it's shown how much gamers are looking forward to this
game. Maybe the next lawsuit will be against the new Ghostbusters
game for how they dropped that one during the merger as well.
I never even
noticed how Activision has taken the role of being the big jerks of
gaming until just now. I mean the signs are there in how they are
now milking any profitable franchise until the franchise dies from
being spread too thin, how they appear to love the thought of
shouting "get the lawyers!", down to how they have removed all
traces of creativity from their catalogue of projects. If history
repeats itself, I except that we'll not see an end to this "New EA"
style of Activision until after some major shakeup within the
company, including employees suing over working conditions to lost
sales that require an executive leadership change to recover. If it
goes like it did for EA, we'll have another few years of this "New
EA". Until then, I feel for you if you want to see some quality (and
not quantity) from Tony Hawk or Guitar Hero.
Of course, there
are
some problems with the current actual EA. So, it's not like
Activision will have an idea future if they keep doing the imitation
business style. By the way, no matter how you cut it, as a fan of
the Divine Comedy, I still cannot ever feel interest in this dumb as
shit sounding game. The closest to a homage to Dante's classic work
that I can enjoy in a game format is the homage in FF4 (via the
fiends' names).
Anyway, I don't
have much else to say about E3 related this for E3 2009. In short, I
think too much is being put into
the idea of motion. Casual gamers went with Nintendo for the
simple controls, but also for the family friendly titles. If motion
is all you give without having the big happy and safe Nintendo logo
to back it up, motion will just miss it's mark.
At least the one
nice thing with motion being added to consoles is that it gives an
economic incentive for
longer lifespans for the current systems. With how much it cost
to get my three consoles, I know I sure as hell would like to wait
for 2012 at the earliest to start considering new options. I mean
the current generation is still looking and playing nicely, with DLC
and updates keeping them somewhat fresh.
I also think none
of the games coming down the pipeline are really captivating my
interest any more just because of E3 announcements. Everything I
would have wanted still looks worthy of my money and everything I'd
count on to be lame (like a new 3D Castlevania) still looks like it
will just not be worth it. I still want Ghostbusters, a new Zelda
(even if the only info known is to look towards 2010), and...well,
not much else I can think of right now. I also still dread the idea
of New Super Mario (no matter what system since the DS one felt so
light on what it could have been), more Mario Galaxy, more 3D
Metroid or 3D Castlevania, more
online Square Enix crap that includes a numbering system for a
franchise that just further gets mangled, or much else that seems to
be getting the major press.
Maybe I'm just in
a bad mood (three days in a row of 90+F weather at a time when
normal highs are around the mid-60's is enough to break a person's
mind), or just too busy, but I'm just not feeling it. Innovation
seems to be more and more removed each year and we're now stuck with
too much of the same stuff with a new coat of paint and a new $60
price tag to follow.
Malik |
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