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Graphics over gameplay: is it really all that bad?

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Whether or not graphics really add all that much to video games has been heavily debated in the last few years. And once the Wii and PS3 come out to steal the 360’s spotlight, we’ll surely hear about it all over again.

Though it may not seem like it due to the clever use of lighting and camera angles, the colossus is actually only an inch taller than you.

But, if we think about it logically, is there really a difference between the two? Some would say, “Of course there is! What are you, high? You can’t play with pictures!” And yes, they’d be perfectly correct. But what people don’t think about is the complementary effect that graphics can have on gameplay.

Take, for example, Shadow of the Colossus. Not exactly the prettiest title in some respects, but one cannot say it isn’t graphically intensive. The sheer size of the Colossi and the lighting engine employed probably put a big strain on the PS2’s Emotion Engine and its separate VPU’s. →  Snap! Crackle! Read!

Weekend Spotlight

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After reading about the 10 anniversary of the Nintendo 64 over there at Infendo, I decided to play… my SNES. My urge for nostalgia went a little farther, I guess.

Anyway, after dusting the ol’ SNES off and finally figuring out which controller worked completely, I popped in one the greats: Final Fantasy VI. One of the best, if not THE best, RPG of all time.

Incidentally, I’ve never actually beaten the game before, and this is after I bought the thing for like $50 on eBay last year. The game is great, but it’s hard to find time to play all these 40+ hour fantasies, now that real life has reared its ugly head. The last time I left off, I just completed the famous Opera scene. I will say that that scene was truly amazing. YouTube it if you have to, just see it.

Musically, it’s one of Nobuo Uematsu’s best scores. Terra’s Theme is easily one of my favorites in the entire FF franchise. →  Words are the towns and cities of letters.

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 9.29.06

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Opera free on Wii until June ‘07
Though I have absolutely no proof to support this fear, I’m worried that browsing the web on the Wii will require a subscription. Imagine some horrendous system that costs something small like 2 Nintendollars or whatever every time you open the browser. That would seriously limit the time I’d be able to spend on the couch watching pornography with my parents.

I don’t remember playing as an aging guy with a mighty war flute.

Microsoft makes up for broken consoles
Wow, good for them. Does the tracking chip they implant in the machine come free of charge?

The old RPGs are coming
At least in Japan. I may have to play Final Fantasy 6 again, but that’s ok since it’s the pinnacle of the series (Cloud is teh suxx0rs). It’s a shame they didn’t give it the Final Fantasy 3 treatment, though that could be because they plan on remaking 6 for the PS3. →  Oops, I did it again.

Okami first impressions

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I bought Okami yesterday and played the first 90 or so minutes while I should have been unpacking after my recent move into Manhattan. After reading all the previews and then reviews praising this game I couldn’t let it collect any dust.

The game is not about to end world hunger, but it is definitely an experience worth $40. So far it has been mostly story and tutorial stuff, but the game has already left an impression – mostly in the graphics department. Several times already I have stopped in my tracks, zoomed out and looked around just because I wanted to savor every view I could get of some scenes (similar to previous experiences in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, actually).

The game (like all games) is not without a few problems though. Mainly, the game seems to value the impact it can make through graphics over intuitive or useful controls. When running around a bend the camera will zoom awkwardly in a way that looks pretty, but makes control difficult or obscures something the player needs to see. →  If you die in the article, you die in real life.

Place Yer Bets!

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I know the format wars issue is beyond played out, but I’ve come to a startling realization: Sony will win.

How, do you ask? Look at it from this perspective. Has anyone seen the commercials for movies that are available for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray? No doubt you have, but has anyone really thought twice about it? No, and they shouldn’t. And that’s how Sony will win.

People are going to buy PS3’s, there’s no doubt there, but I can’t see many people buying an HD-DVD player anytime soon. Only the early adopter crowd will even bother, and even some of them are questioning switching over so soon. No normal consumer is going to understand or even care about the differences these new devices will bring to viewing movies when compared to regular DVD’s.

Also, all new movies coming out for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are also coming out for DVD. So where’s the need? 1080p isn’t the end-all, be-all of movie resolutions. →  Screw Jesus, this article’s the real deal

The pros and cons of unlockable content

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Congratualtions! You unlocked a new article. This one is on, you guessed it, unlockables and extras in games. They’ve been around for a while, but nowadays it seems that very few genres do not include some sort of rewards for the player to earn. Many gamers have respond kindly to this, so much so that a lack of bonus content may actually hurt a game in a review.

However, not everyone considers them rewards. There is a strong group of gamers who seem to greatly dislike unlockables, citing that a person who has spent hard earned money on a brand new game should have access to all its content without jumping through hoops. I’ve seen the debate rage on many times, but I’ve never been able to determine which side is right. Quite frankly, they’re both right. Ultimately, the problem with unlockable content is that there’s never a standard for what it should be and how it should be implemented. It can be a blessing or a bane, an enjoyable venture or an absolute chore to earn. →  SaGa Frontier Readmastered

What if Jack Thompson viewed all media equally?

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Jack Thompson Declares Bible Obscene

Crusading for a new rating system for books, lawyer and pro censorship lobbyist Jack Thompson has focused on the King James Bible as a prime example of depravity that is easily accessible to impressionable children and young adults. He points to passages about murder, incest, rape, genocide, regicide and other disturbing scenes to paint a picture of what he sees as one of the most dangerous books available today.

Taking time off from his anti-video game violence campaign, Thompson visited the television show The View last Monday as part of the PR campaign for his new book rating system. He cited specific passages of the Bible and explained how they may warp a young mind in an attempt to prove that the book needs to be censored.

“Ezekiel 23:19 and 20 are about a whore reminiscing about all the large penised [sic] men she slept with. How is this anything more than pornography?” a clearly outraged Thompson asked on live TV. →  Call me game-shmael.

Best Game Ever – Jumping Flash!

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The year was 1995 and my Plan Get an SNES hadn’t come to fruition. Too young to learn from my mistakes, I diverted recourses from that plan towards my new plan: Plan Get a PlayStation Plan. This consisted of saving my allowance, selling rare Genesis games (I’d later buy again for twice the price), and begging my parents for money.

Explaining why a longtime Sega supporter decided he wanted a PS and not a Saturn would take another article, but can easily be summarized — Sega had destroyed my faith in them by releasing and not supporting two add ons for the Genesis. The Saturn, in my eyes, was doomed to fail. And fail it did, at least in the US. Years later I’d feel slightly guilty for abandoning Sega in their time of need but in late ’95 I was ecstatic because Plan Get a PlayStation worked.

Square breasts

At least I was ecstatic until I played some games on it. →  If you die in the article, you die in real life.

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 9.22.06

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RedOctane sues TAC who in turn sue RedOctane
Guitar Hero makers RedOctane have filed a lawsuit against TAC for making guitar controllers that resemble their own. In response, TAC has sued RedOctane, claiming they’ve been making guitar controllers longer and that RedOctane is actually infringing on their copyright. Whether or not this sue the suer move is just standard stupid legal strategy remains to be seen. Personally, I’d find it hilarious if RedOctane loses.

Nintendo wants violent sexy games
Nintendo of America is courting mature content for the Wii. This is no doubt a good business strategy, but it still doesn’t sit totally right. However evil they were as a corporation, I always had a little respect for their slightly patronizing desire to protect us from unseemly content. Nintendo was the catcher in the rye. Or, to put it a more asinine way, they were like that grandfather you have that once committed unspeakable atrocities in a war but now goes out of his way to protect you from the harshness of reality, despite the fact that you’re 36. →  Videolamer does what IGNotDoes.

Weekend Spotlight

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This week, while hoping to pickup Cooking Mama for the venerable DS, I came across a deal at Wal-Mart that I just couldn’t pass up. In the discount bin, with a pretty tattered box was Donkey Konga 2 with the Conga drums. After checking the prices on Bestbuy and Gamestop’s sites, I don’t think it’s that much of a deal, though. Jungle Beat can be found for only $15. But still, Donkey Konga 2 is rather enjoyable, especially if you go at it in multiplayer.

One thing I want to stress about the game is that the songs are not the original songs. They’re redone by a few cover bands. This is probably because of memory contrainsts with the GC’s disc medium, but there are like 30 of them, so quantity outweighs quality on this one.

Is the lack of the real songs detrimental to the amount of fun you can have? A little. Some of the songs’ remakes sound too sedated, and it makes the game a little underwhelming. →  Get lame or get out.