Editorials

Here is where we weigh in on all of the important issues that effect today’s world. There are so many things to complain about: developers, publishers, retailers, other gamers, the market as a whole, gaming technology, gaming related technology, gaming politics, gaming court cases, Japan, trends, current events, past events, future events and bioterrorism. We won’t silence an opinion just because it’s “unpopular” or “poorly reasoned,” so you can be sure we will always present at least one side of an issue. Think of us as the Fox News of gaming.

The current state of fighting games

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At the time of this writing, Dead or Alive and Virtua Fighter have released new entries on next generation consoles. Tekken 6 was just announced, and I’m sure it is only a matter of time before we hear something about Soul Calibur 4. It seems that fighting games are doing A-okay on the next gen systems. And yet I still get a sinking feeling about one of my favorite genres. I’m not going to go and make an assertion about fighters being doomed to become as niche as the schmup, but I still can’t shake a feeling of worry. Let’s break it down by companies and see why:

Namco/Sega: These two are responsible for the three (Tekken, VF, and Soul Calibur) most popular and powerful 3d fighting franchises. All three have dedicated fanbases that will ensure they do well enough in terms of sales. →  Read the rest

How long should games be?

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Early in the history of video games, one thing all games had in common was their length – they were all pretty short. Most games could be beaten in only a few hours. In contrast, games that we play today can exceed 80 hours. But do we always need our games to pass the coveted 40-hour mark? We weren’t having a bad time with them back then, so why fix something that may not have been broken?

Some developers will advertise the fact that their game takes 100 hours to complete, printing it as a bullet right on the back of the box. Remember when Nintendo was talking about Twilight Princess? 70+ hours was their estimated length of gameplay. But is this a good thing? The first Zelda could probably be beaten in a few hours, even without going all speed-runny on it. →  Read the rest

Is Wii screwed?

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Amidst all the recent articles on how the Wii is creating gamers out of grandmas and still out of stock around the nation, there are murmurs of doubt. Few people doubt the control scheme; it works well and is a lot of fun. But it remains unclear if Nintendo will be able to satisfy either their hardcore fans or their new casual gamer audience. Detractors are already labeling the Wii a repeat of the Gamecube; a platform for Nintendo games but little else.

As expected, the Wii will have a solid lineup of first party games:

Animal Crossing
Battalion Wars 2*
Big Brain Academy
Disaster: Day of Crisis*
DK Bongo Blast*
Fire Emblem
Mario Kart (not officially announced)
Mario Party 8
Mario Strikers Charged*
Metroid Prime 3*
Kirby
Pokemon Battle Revolution
Project HAMMER
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Paper Mario
Super Smash Brother Brawl

* Published but not developed by Nintendo

This move looks unfair.

 →  Read the rest

A manifesto on Manifesto Games with a review of The Shivah for added value

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Greg Costikyan’s name comes up a lot when it comes to indie game development. Apparently, the man has worked on a few games and written some fiction in his life, and somehow he has become a major voice on independent games. He seems to believe that indie games can and will crush largescale publishers and end their greedy and bullying practices. To help do this, he has created Manifesto Games, a place where indie developers and fans can join together to buy, discuss and promote the best in indie gaming.

I have a lot of respect for Costikyan’s ideal, but every time I read anything written by him, I can’t help but feel that he’s batshit insane. Maybe that is too strong of a phrase, but he certainly reminds me of college students who worship indie anything like a religion and still think that communism can actually work (after all, his site is called Manifesto, and its splashed all over with red). →  Read the rest

Can gaming magazines survive?

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Super corporation Ziff Davis has seen better days. Both Electronic Gaming Monthly and 1Up are being sold because they have been losing money, which the ZD accountants claim is bad for business. Forget that 1Up is also failing for a moment and think about the printed gaming magazine. Has the internet replaced the need for EGM and Game Informer much like literacy replaced the need for PSM?

It’s almost hard to believe that at one time EGM was popular enough to sell two magazines.

Once upon a time, game mags were the only place to get video game news. The concept of waiting for your mailman to bring you breaking news is comical today; speed of communication is the internet’s forte. Similarly, attempting to contact a writer or respond to an article by writing a letter is almost silly, especially for tech savvy gamers. →  Read the rest

Beyond Good and Evil – Slightly less than amazing

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Beyond Good and Evil is the poster child for several “Most Underrated Games of All Time” lists. It has a small army of dedicated fans who will just about yell and scream at the unwashed masses who haven’t played it yet. To even consider it as a bad game is an act of treason to every website and hardcore gamer on the ‘net.

See if you can follow this: She wears green lipstick, a green headband, green jacket, off green pants, and her name is Jade.

Folks, get the noose ready, because I’m about to go for broke. While I have to blame some of it on the hype that was slathered on it for months on end, Beyond Good and Evil is nevertheless one of the most underwhelming gaming experiences I have ever had. →  Read the rest

Merry Christmas NiGHTS

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NiGHTS into Dreams for the Saturn brings to mind the topic of games as art. Not only because the game has artistic value, though. Fans of the title have been calling for a sequel from the second the original was released. Yuji Naka, the leader of the project, contemplated giving fans what they want but then decided NiGHTS should stand alone.

So what does this have to do with art? Gamers’ have the attitude that games are made for them and developers should value the input of their fans. This works nicely as long as we assume games are merely consumer products. But what if we hold that games are art? Doesn’t that make developers artists? It’s one thing to hope your favorite band makes more music you enjoy, but to demand they output exactly what you want to hear and to feel entitled to this is bizarre. →  Read the rest

Are gamers too jaded?

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Seeing as how most of us are around the 20 year mark, we’ve all probably seen and played a lot of video games in our lives. My collection alone contains well over 100 games, and that doesn’t include those I have traded in. This in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. Hell, the more the better. But when we start complaining about a new game that doesn’t do something that a 10 year old game does, we have to ask ourselves, “are we too jaded nowadays?”

Take, for example, Ocarina of Time. How insane was it when you first saw how big Hyrule Field was? For the time, that chunk of real estate was huge, and we truly felt OoT was special and epic because of it. Indeed it was. →  Read the rest

GameCube Was Good, And Don’t You Forget It!

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There have been some rumblings on the Interweb in the last few months that Nintendo completely failed with the GameCube, some people saying it was their worst console to date. Sure, it’s not as popular as the PS2, but that doesn’t make it a failure.

Critics mostly point to the fact that the GC only sold 20 million consoles worldwide, compared to PS2’s 100 million. If you look at it like that, then yes, it looks like a failure. But for some odd reason, many people cite the original Xbox as a success story, even when it sold only 23 million units, three million more than GC. That just doesn’t add up.

Can you remember the games we got with our beloved GC? Titles like Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 4 are easily some of the greatest games I’ve ever played. →  Read the rest

Grandma’s Boy – Satan’s revenge?

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In a recent post, a blogger at Joystiq mentioned the game that was featured in the movie Grandma’s Boy. He also shared his opinion of the movie by calling it, “freakishly awful.” This drew an overwhelming response from readers who adore Grandma’s Boy. Since I have only a handful of fans to alienate, I will now go on record as agreeing with Joystiq.

This may seem a bit elitist, but before I tell you how terrible Grandma’s Boy is, I need to mention I saw the movie with three other people and touch on our credentials. Most people who insist the movie isn’t a pile of shit argue that those who dislike it are either non-gamers or have never used illegal drugs. It’s true that none of us were smoking anything while we watched, but we were drinking. →  Read the rest

The Spike Video Game Awards are not the Antichrist

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The Spike Video Game Awards have come and gone, and if you listen really hard you can hear the “Lawls” of a million gamers on the internet. To be honest, I’m somewhat disappointed in my fellow players. It’s one thing to be upset with the quality of the VGA’s, but I’m amazed at how many people want it completely abolished. Do they not want to have a nationally recognized awards show for the best and brightest in the industry?

I know that isn’t what Spike is offering us, but if we shoot down everything that doesn’t immediately line up with what we want, we’ll never reach that lofty goal. I’m at least optimistic that some day, these VGA’s will get better. This year, it seemed like they might. I guess they kind of did. →  Read the rest

Lament of a lost developer

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Once upon a time, there was an innovative game design company. Though they tended to use mainly the historical as backdrops for their titles, they came out with a wide range of interesting games and managed to release them for several platforms despite fairly intense console rivalry. It was clear there were individual designers in the company with a passion and talent for game creation. Now, several years later, this company has grown stagnant. The only games that it seems to spend any money on are rehashes of the same genre. The innovation that still exists comes primarily from the company publishing the efforts of various subdivisions or studios.

Sound familiar? It could be one of several names, since it’s a common malady, but in this particular case I’m speaking of Koei. →  Read the rest

I may need more than my Wii

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I’ve recently been known to say that even if no other companies support the Wii, I will be very happy with it. With first and second party titles like Metroid Prime 3, Wario Ware Smooth Moves, Mario Galaxy, a new Super Smash Brothers, a new Mario Cart, a new Fire Emblem, a new Advance Wars, and the prospects of a new F-Zero, Starfox, Pikmin, and Paper Mario, how could I ever be at a loss for great games to play?

After some deep meditation (unless meditation is thinking about nothing, then it probably wasn’t that), I have concluded that while it is true I will always have good games to play on the Wii, the idea of not having a lot of interesting smaller games on the system saddens me. So much so, that I have begun entertaining the idea that I should one day get a PS3 (assuming small developers can even afford to make games for Sony). →  Read the rest

We don’t play games the way they should be played

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Over the last few years, I have come to realize that I, like many of you, play video games incorrectly. We don’t play them the way they should be played. And this goes double for you RPG nuts out there (I’m looking at you, videolamer staff). I bet that most of you just blaze through games, trying to either beat them as quickly as you can or leveling up to a point where only Cartman and the South Park gang can top you. Well stop it. You’re missing out on an enjoyable experience with your games if you think getting to the ending credits is the reason we play them.

This guy really knows how to enjoy a game.

I remember playing Ocarina of Time for the N64 way back in 1998. →  Read the rest

Matt’s Take on Episodic Content

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In a Gamasutra interview earlier this week, Scott Miller of 3D Realms gave his input on episodic content. Ya know, that thing that Valve seems to love right now.

He seems to dislike the fact that new episodes take too long to be released after each other. And judging from the fact that Half-Life 2: Episode 2 has been delayed until Summer 2007, he does have a valid point. He also thinks that they shouldn’t end with cliff-hangers.

And you’re probably dying to know what I have to say on the subject. Hey, that’s why I put my name in this blog entry’s title:) Well, I won’t keep you waiting any longer.

I completely agree on both points. I think that episodic content has a long way to go before becoming a stable form of expression in the video game market. →  Read the rest

Remarks on recent gaming news

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It has been a while since I’ve peeped my head around here, hasn’t it? Now that Thanksgiving break is over, it’s time to start back up, beginning with a few comments on some recent gaming news items.

1) People are breaking their expensive toys thanks to flying Wiimotes, and if the internet is any indication, it seems to be an epidemic. The reason behind it is malfunctioning wrist straps, but in this case I can’t at all blame Nintendo for the stupidity of gamers. The only way the strap can break is due to extensive force during the remote’s forward motion, meaning someone is letting go. The only way this can happen is either a) sweaty hands or b) people purposefully throwing it. In either case, the solution is simple; calm the hell down. →  Read the rest

Review – Super Star Soldier on VC

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Well, Nintendo promised to release new Virtual Console titles every Monday, but I would have expected a little more than just one title. Thankfully, that one title is pretty superlicious: Super Star Soldier for the Turbografx-16.

I’ve actually never played this game before. I remember hearing about the updated version of the series on the GameCube (after Ikaruga set the precedence for the return of old-school shooters), but soon forgot about the fledgling series after the lower-than-average review scores. After purchasing the title on VC for a paltry 600 Wii Points ($6), however, I’m glad the TG-16 version made an appearance, 15 years after its release.

It isn’t the most innovative shooter around, but that’s why I like it. Ikaruga was basically the first shooter that I ever played, but the black/white dichotomy of the game made my head spin too much. →  Read the rest

Next Generation?

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I was reading a piece of literature about the Wii the other day. You know, the usual suspect: the glossy ten page magazine saying that the product will revolutionise whatever market it is coming to. Surprisingly, it was an interesting little mag, but it was two words that caught my eye. “New Generation.”? These two words by themselves mean little to anybody, but let me be nice and put them into context for you: “It’s better to think of the Wii as a new generation console rather than next generation.” This throwaway media statement got me thinking more than it should have, and now I’m wondering, what actually makes a next generation game?

The more helpful way to look at the “next generation”? is to start by considering the Xbox 360. →  Read the rest

Do Arcades Even Exist Anymore?

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Just got done with a vacation with the family on the world’s largest cruise ship, the Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean). Why am I telling you this? Well, first, to make you jealous of my amazing Golden Jew lifestyle. But second, because cruise boats are one of the last places you’ll find an arcade.

Arcades–remember those? I certainly do. They were the ultimate destination growing up, at least for me. I remember begging my parents to give me quarters to go play at the mall arcade. I remember the glee of the giant arcades at the Santa Cruz boardwalk in California. Arcades have always been special to me–not only as a gamer, but my father’s cousin used to run one of the most well known arcades in New York City–the Broadway Arcade. →  Read the rest

Wii Component Cables, Where Art Thou?

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Man, not having component cables for your Wii is just gut-wrenching, let me tell you. A composite picture is so crappy when compared to component. I’ve been using an HD setup for about 6 months now, and I seriously hate looking at a composite signal. It’s way too muted and blurry.

You know when people say the colors for a game are very bland and boring? Yeah, that’s because they are looking at the game through a composite signal. The colors through component, however, are extremely vibrant and beautiful, even when they use realistic colors like gray and brown. And you don’t even really need a TV with progressive scan. From the untrained eye, progressive scan just makes things sharper. Component seems to bring out a better picture concerning colors and contrast. →  Read the rest