January 2008
Monthly Archive
300 Word Review – Bioshock (1.1 Patch)
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 30 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: 300 Word Reviews
For a about a month and half in late 2007 Bioshock was the future of video games. It’s dense and macabre story combined with a unique and disturbing setting made it feel adult and mature compared to the space marine infested machismo of most other first-person shooters.
Then came Portal.
Portal‘s light touch in all things, from it’s humorous storyline to it’s simple but surprising central mechanic, made Bioshock seem over the top at best and in it’s worst moments simply maudlin. Bioshock was a throw-back in everything, from it’s 1940′s setting and plot to it’s nearly decade old PC shooter mechanics. However, Bioshock was updated in the last month and so it deserves another chance.
The most important part of the new update is that it has un-broken the game. Whereas formerly death meant nothing, with you simply popping out of the nearest “Vita Chamber”, you can now turn the Chambers off along with the ‘goal arrows’ and ‘text tips’ and everything else that was meant to coddle the game’s non-existent casual audience.
The ‘field of view’ has also been expanded and you get the feeling that it’s the way it was always supposed to be. Your eye is now more naturally drawn to the monumental architecture of Rapture (the game’s locale). Fights with the Big Daddies are even more thrilling as their size is still screen-filling without being blinding.
Playing through again also makes you notice the little things, such as the wry way you’re forced to search every nook and corpse, scrounging for ammo and junk food, becoming the very “parasite” the game’s antagonist rails against. This and other touches make you realize that Bioshock was easily one of the best games of 2007. Unfortunately it’s still not nearly as good as Portal.
Dispatches: No More Heroes, Part One; Or: For Esme, With Love and Rockets
Posted by Bob Clark on 29 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Dispatches
It’s taken a while now, but in the new action smörgåsbord No More Heroes the Nintendo Wii finally has one of those lynchpin titles necessary to prove its strength as a console in the long run– an original, exclusive third-party game that capitalizes on the best aspects of the system’s motion-controls while delivering a universally solid gameplay experience. Furthermore, it’s from one of the premier modern gaming auteurs, the ever avant-garde Goicha Suda, creator of the Gamecube curiosity Killer 7. As such, it stands as one of the most perversely satisfying and deeply frustrating gaming experiences of the next-gen generation, and even half-way through at this point, I feel like I’ve got more to say about it than most other games I’ve played in quite a while. Not all of it is good, of course, but that’s so much the better.
What I can say is this: No More Heroes is quite possibly the most important game that may ever be released for the Wii, and very probably the single most offensive piece of shit I’ve ever laid my thumbs on. Strangely enough, both these sentiments come from one of the game’s defining features:
It’s pretentious.
The Designer’s Dilemma: Picking Up the Pieces
Posted by Bob Clark on 25 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Games
http://www.divshare.com/download/3600625-1dc
Game design, like writing, can be a lonely job. At least that’s my experience. It makes a certain amount of sense, as I’m the type who concentrates on the single-player experience. In that sense, solitary design is just as empowering as solitary writing, though it falls prey to the same obstacles, especially when it comes to ideas. When you’re at a loss for words, you call it writer’s block.
When you’re at a loss for rules, though– well, you can read the title of this article, can’t you?
Music from That Other Mario Game
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 24 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Audio/Video, Links
I’ve always felt alone in my preference for the music of Super Mario Bros. 2 over the music in any of the other games. I’m glad it turns out that there’s a kindred soul out there:
Reading and Listening for This Week: Procedural Content Edition
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 23 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Audio/Video, Links, Readings
Anyone interested in digital game design should probably be somewhat familiar with procedurally generated content. While I think that there will always be a place for a more top-down approach, this type of content creation definitely leads to a really interesting aesthetic, and I don’t just mean the ascii graphics in roguelikes.
Geek Nights interviews Tarn Adams, one of the developers of Dwarf Fortress.
Roguelike developer Andrew Doull has an ongoing series of essays about the death of the level designer. This link comes to us courtesy of my friend and associate, Noah Sasso.
Plagiarism in Bioshock?
Posted by Charles Berkeley on 17 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Current Events
Not sure if this article is entirely serious, but I’m fascniated by plagiarism and excited to hear it’s hit the game world (if indeed these accusations are real)… I mean anything to drive the game form a bit more towards more legitimate forms of expression, right?
Them jokes. This article comes to me by the always courageous, and come Saturday: a year older… Teo Fernandez. PC Zone Blog
My Theory for a Formula for Writing Narrative for Electronic Games
Posted by Charles Berkeley on 16 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Opinion
Start by preheating your preferred game console to cooking temperature. In a bowl, mix one part elements that cannot be controlled and are building towards plot points (the moments the story is hinged) and ultimately the climax; add another part simulation in an open world that incorporates elements that must be monitored and balanced by the player; add one cup of a singular, well-defined and unique character for the player to control; and finally mix in some originality. Avoid dialogue and cut scenes. When in doubt, add blood but strive to use healthier ingredients whenever possible. Bake without worrying as to quality of graphics, but do monitor playability through user testing. Makes multiple servings if done well and should leave player thinking about the game mechanics AND the story long after the console has been turned off.
Easier said than cooked.
The No Console Future
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 14 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Opinion
David Jaffe joined many others recently in calling for a ‘one console’ world. In other words, a single system or standard which anyone could develop for and which many different manufacturers could produce, instead of the plethora of competing standards we have now, from the Playstation 2 to the XBox 360.
The analogy usually made is to home video, where there are quite few different companies that make DVD players but all of them play DVDs. The present format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is an argument both for and against this possibility in the gaming industry. It points to the fact that format wars are inevitable in this day and age, even in a highly stable and established market. However it also shows that format wars are dumb.
Whenever anyone makes a case for the benefits of a one console industry, the counter-argument is almost always that it “simply isn’t going to happen”. The present situation is too entrenched to ever change. Occasionally someone will make a cogent rebuttal, perhaps citing the need for competition to drive innovation, but the truth of the matter is that it’s generally agreed that one set-top box to rule them all would be better for everyone. As Chris Kohler of Wired pointed out though, none of the industry heavyweights wants to be the first to blink.
There is a distinct possibility however that both sides are missing the point. There will never, even in the distant future, be only one console because in the not-to-distant future the idea of a ‘console’ may disappear entirely.
An Open Letter to Game Critics
Posted by Frank Lantz on 10 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Opinion
Stop talking about “value”. I don’t care if you paid $50 for the game or picked it up for $5 in the bargain bin. The idea that you are going to factor in some kind of “units of fun per dollar spent” ratio into your analysis of the game just makes you sound like an idiot.
Games are not pistachio nuts. Fun is not a commodity. The actual cost of a game is the time, attention, and effort necessary to learn it, become proficient at it, and navigate through it. This cost far outweighs any monetary consideration. If you haven’t noticed there is an infinite supply of free games. I’m not looking for inexpensive ways to keep myself occupied while waiting for death, I’m looking for games that don’t steal 50 hours of my life and then leave me feeling like I’ve just woken up from a shit sauna.
In general, games are too expensive. A few games are exorbitantly expensive and may not be worth the price. But no game is worth playing because it’s a bargain. I have heard several game-of-the-year wrap-ups in which the Orange Box, for example, has been praised for being a great value. Really? This information is relevant when considering which games were the best games of the year? What if you were deciding which games to send out into space as the ultimate example of human intelligence and creative expression? Would you give the nod to the game that left you with enough extra cash to buy a Big Mac and a pair of socks? No? Well then, please extend to me the same courtesy you would show to a fucking alien whose only interest in humanity is cheap labor and a delicious source of protein. Tell me which games are good, and why, I’ll decide whether or not to buy them. Thanks!