Review – Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

by

I recently went through some effort to prove that most games are entirely about play mechanics and that story and characters are mere dressing. This concept is echoed by some great designers. In On Game Design, Chris Crawford describes interaction as the key to all games — more, deeper interactions make for a better game. Judging by his designs, Miyamoto agrees.
Don’t look at this picture. Too many spoilers.

With this in mind I face a problem. The Phoenix Wright trilogy stands among my favorite games despite their being little more than books on DS carts. And not even Choose Your Own Adventure books that create the illusion of control; there is only one correct thing to do at all points in Ace Attorney, and often you will be forced to run through all items in your inventory in hopes of showing the right someone the right something. Still, the game is compelling and probably would be if there were no interaction at all. →  Assassin’s Read

Retrospectives – Metal Gear Solid series part 1

by

Because this is a discussion of the game series there will be significant spoilers. Read and weep.

I have a strange relationship with MGS. If you take away a few enhanced releases, I have played (or am playing) just about everything MGS related, from the mainline trilogy to Twin Snakes and even the Game Boy Color game. Something tells me I’ll have finished MGS4 within four months of release, even if I have no PS3. I seem to be an absolute whore for Kojima. And yet, I’m not sure I entirely love MGS. In fact, I know I don’t.

The only game in the series that I would consider truly brilliant is 3. The rest may simply be problematic postmodern experiments. Everyone heaps praise upon the stories and storytelling present in MGS, yet it seems to me to be mostly anime fueled sci-fi schlock. Everyone is in love with Hideo Kojima’s role as gaming’s conflicted auteur, but other whispers in the game industry paint him as an egomaniac with more bark than talent. →  Game. James Game.

Virtual Console rip offs – Stop selling us the same game

by

Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts are pretty similar games. Most people would probably think they’re interchangeable, but they have enough different content to both warrant a purchase for fans of the series. Nintendo was straddling the line between offering consumers more choices and ripping us off when they offered Street Fighter 2 closely followed by Street Fighter 2 Turbo. They aren’t exactly the same game but who on earth would want the original SF2 instead of one of the superior variants? It seems like a clear move to cash in on people’s urge to buy the original then realize they made a mistake and buy Turbo.

It gets worse. Dynastic Hero is Wonderboy in Monster World. Kirby’s Avalanche is Dr. Robotnics Mean Bean Machine (which is Puyo Puyo). Yet all four of these games are available on the Virtual Console. Each pair has some pallet swaps but are fundamentally the same. Street Fighter is a huge series and fans know all the ins and outs. →  Fear the old posts.

What is a man?

by

Andre Malraux was a French author who lived and died in the 20th century. He has many books and other things to his name and if I knew anything about him beyond what it says on his Wikipedia page you can be sure you’d be damned impressed.

Gamers know him from a line from Symphony of the Night:“What is man? A miserable little pile of secrets.” Or they know him because they’re European and have actually been educated.

This quote is mocked daily on game forums. It doesn’t suddenly become better or worse because someone famous wrote it, but gamers should realize that it wasn’t written by Konami’s localization team.

Do people already know this? Is it an elaborate “Malraux is an overrated writer and his work translated into English is laughable” movement amongst gamers? Here is a tip that will aid everyone who is interesting in making fun of things – google it first. At least have an idea of what it is you’re mocking.

RIP Blogs (I wish)

by

My one and only take on the Gerstman Gate fiasco lies here. Yesterday I was talking with Videolamer Ringleader Jay about games journalism, and how blogs seem to have far, far too much power. A site like Destructoid makes a cheap parody, and this is regarded as a major burn while they call it a day. The fact that we are mentioning burns in a so called area of journalism is troubling, but I digress. Blogs often give the appearance that they are reporting rumors and anonymous sources as facts, and while they do sometimes place disclaimers, it is curious that most people don’t focus on them. Either we as a nation cannot read, or the disclaimers are stealthily placed into the first rumormongering articles, so that later editions can bask in the sensationalism.

If you want to see the best example of the damage blogs can do, take a look at this post by a certain Jonah Falcon. Jonah bemoans all the above mentioned things, and wishes that more websites would either do some sincere investigating, or at least wait until more facts are present before reporting on the Gerstman scenario. →  The Last Readment

Vivendi and Activision Merge (or Industry becomes The Blob)

by

If you thought the whole Gerstman-gate scandal over at Gamespot was a black eye for the industry, things just got worse. Activision, who just over took EA as the biggest publisher in existence, has merged with the also massive Vivendi Games. The name of the company? Actvision Blizzard.

This is bad on so many levels. A company this large has control of many, many titles, assets and developers, and it isn’t hard to believe that they are going to get less attention and respect than they did before. A company this size can take any IP and any developer and mush them together until a product rolls out and cash rolls in. In addition, not only are they using the Blizzard name to try and trick gamers into believing this is going to be a new era of quality, but if the Shacknews article is any indication, Blizzard is completely complacent in all of this, and perhaps downright happy.

The only silver lining that some have theorized is that Blizzard’s involvement might mean that Activision’s major franchises will have some more thought and effort put into them, resulting in some better games, but I for one remain skeptical. →  Contains 10% more consonants than comparable articles.

Numbers are fun – November ‘Nihilation

by

There has been a lot of good sales news for the industry over the past month. Enough numbers have been released that PR people from all three console manufacturers are able to claim some victory. We have all grown accustomed to hearing that Nintendo’s grandparent-friendly hardware is setting the world ablaze, but recent information has shown that its competitors may be gearing up to offer a viable challenge. The biggest headline probably has to be the fact that Nintendo DS sales set the record for most systems ever purchased in a single week with 653,000. This, combined with 350,000 Wiis sold during the same period adds up to…a lot of stuff sold by Nintendo during Thanksgiving week. The Wii is still supply constrained so it’s tough to say how many units Nintendo could be moving, but the Wii reached five million units in the US sold faster than any other system in history, doing so in a mere 12 months.
This game sold almost 600k in one week.
 →  Ys: The Article of Napishtim

Weekly News We Care About Wrap Up – 11.30.07

by

Gamespot editor allegedly fired for giving a bad review
Jeff Gerstmann was supposedly let go because he gave Kane and Lynch a mediocre review (recent updates indicate the firing was a culmination of multiple reviews that angered sponsors). The story goes, Eidos was paying CNET a ton of cash to promote the title and threatened to pull future ads because of the review. It’s true that when this story broke yesterday, the Gamespot site was covered head to toe in stupid K&L ads. The people who say the firing happened because of the review range from Penny Arcade (who confirm the comic isn’t simply a joke in their forum), to a freelance Gamespot writer (who gave Shenmue a bad review…breath in…), to mods in the Gamespot forum who said things like – if we tell you what happened we will be fired, and don’t blame us, it’s all CNETs fault.

First of all, many people use this news to confirm “conspiracy theories.” →  Readbot Chronicles

Quick Thought of the Day: Out with the old….

by

I’m starting to notice a trend while playing games on my Xbox 360. It’s a weird trend, one that some may not even care about. It has to deal with what games people are playing on the 360. It seems that every time I go on Xbox Live, and view my Friends List (for stats sake, i have around 30 Friends), never do I see any of them playing a game that didn’t come out in the last week or so. Right now my list is filled with RockBand and Mass Effect. Before that it was Assassin’s Creed. And before that it was Halo 3, with some BioShock thrown in there for good measure. This has happened ever since I first got my 360, almost a year ago. It seems like no one ever plays their old games.

I wonder why. Some games do have a lot of longevity to them, so it’s not like everyone can finish a game in 2 hours. →  Welcome to read.

Destructoid – Johhny Rotten isn’t a GH3 fan

by

Johnny Rotten hates Guitar Hero 3!!!! It’s all right here in this article!

Except he doesn’t say he hates it, he says he loves it. Then he says it doesn’t teach you how to be a rockstar and thats a GOOD thing because pursuing fame and fortune is stupid. Punk rock is not exactly about the bling.

So why does Destructoid have the story entirely wrong? Because they, like many other internet journalists, get their news stories from internet forums, namely NeoGAF. The problem with this is two fold. First there is the standard who is the source, how reliable are they, blah blah blah stuff. Then there is the equally important reading comprehension, and required will power to read the second post of a thread you are using as a news source.

It doesn’t hurt to read the whole thread, either. That way you can see bits like the original poster saying – “Yeah, I totally misunderstood what he said. →  Final Fantasy Mystic Post