• 26Oct 09

  I'm Throwing Breath Mints in the Sewer Again

  Linked

  For those of you who complain I don't post enough in SW anymore

  • Posted Oct 26, 2009 10:28 pm PT
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• 15Sep 09

  I Have the Power

  It's weird to start an editorial off sounding like He-Man, but every now and then we need a reminder that we, as consumers, hold the ultimate power in the gaming industry.

  

  It's no secret that Activision has become the new devil in our play. In the gaming world - on forums, on YouTube, on blogs, and in person - the hate has been flowing towards the biggest, and purportedly "most evil", company in gaming. A lot of the hatred comes down to remarks coming from this man

  

  Bob Kotick.

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  I must confess to being just as angry as the next guy at some of Kotick's comments. To paraphrase "$60 isn't enough for Modern Warfare" and "we turn a $50 purchase into a $500 purchase"... comments that are more than just PR snafus. From $150 Modern Warfare collector's editions, to expensive music games, to $50 Starcraft II expansions, Kotick has a list of "sins" on his head in our world.

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  But there's a catch to all of this - a loophole, if you will - Kotick can't make you buy his games - he can't swipe your credit card, or take the cash from your wallet - that's something you do. Activision doesn't have the power to force you to buy their products.

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  We, as consumers, have the ultimate power to decide what stays and goes in the gaming industry. As much as Activision touts their large size and stable of games, it's up to us to keep them in business. And as much fun as it may be to whine about the pricing, it's what we do with our wallets that really makes the decision.

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  We don't have to buy Modern Warfare 2. We don't have to buy Guitar Hero 5. We don't have to buy Starcraft II. These are popular games - but they are only three games in a year filled with hundreds of titles. If we don't like what Activision is doing, why not support another developer? Why not buy one of the dozens of other FPS, RTS, or music games? Change comes from us - from our demands - and no matter how big the company, it's up to gamers to decide what stays, and what goes.

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  Companies go from products we don't want...

  

  to products they hope we'll like...

  

  based on our demands.

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  Sure, it's easy to whine: it takes no effort to complain, but what we do as consumers, with our software purchases, makes the ultimate decision. If we're okay with paying more for Activision titles, if they really are providing the high-quality product that we want, then why can't they charge more? If Activision is failing to deliver, if we're tired of paying a premium for their products, then why continue to buy? We, as individual consumers, decide what's right for us, and we, as individual consumers, hold sway over the entire gaming industry.

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  It may be a quaint point to make in a forum so often given to emotional outbursts and bouts of anti-business sentiments - but every now and then, we all need a reminder that we decide what games go in our systems, not the publishing companies.

  • Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:58 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 9Jun 09

  Prototyping Milo

  Wooo... E3 is over, and with it my embargo on discussing the complex world of being a gamer. It goes without saying that there are dozens of topics I'd love to cover, but given your limited patience and my limited time, I'd like to hit on just two - Prototype and Milo.

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  Wolverine Origins has never looked better... oh wait...

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  I wish I could tell you that Prototype is a polished, sophisticated experience, brimming with technical wizardry and guaranteed to silence the forum-haters. I can't - the game is full of little quirks, like the ability to push cop cars around by walking into them, or how no one seems phased when you "stealth kill" someone by ripping them in half. What I can tell you is that none of that matters - Prototype is one of the most fun games you'll play all year. Everything feels right, flying through the city, smashing the ground, leaping off of buildings, skewering people as you run past them, throwing taxis into helicopters - the game is amazingly fun, and what's more, the story is strange enough to keep you through the missions.

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  Believe me when I say, you don't want me to spoil it for you - like an episode of Lost, you're left confused but insatiably curious.

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  The original Internet Hate Machine

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  Unfortunately, the gaming world is full of hate - (thankfully) this time not from the reviewers, but from the forums. Despite being a multiplat, Prototype became viewed as a rival to Infamous, and fans of the both games took up arms in yet another "Xbox 360 vs. PS3" showdown. I'll leave the details of the conflict to those more "qualified" than I to comment, but suffice it to say, the argument is stupid, and both games are fun.

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  The situation surrounding Prototype heavily parallels the growing controversy surrounding this E3's biggest announcement: Project Natal. Microsoft certainly drew a target on themselves. With all three companies now sporting motion controllers, claims of "ripoff" have been flying, with the latest gossip claiming Milo, a Natal showcase game, is fake.

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  Microsoft staking the future of their company on a little boy? Another Nintendo ripoff!

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  In the post-E3 commotion, I was asked a fellow System Warrior my thoughts on the whole "Milo-thing".

  Bingbaocao wrote:

  I was wondering subrosian what are your thoughts on Milo? I mean everyone knows that you have a clear dislike for Molyneux, but what are your thoughts on Milo and the fact that it's being created by him?

  Well Bing, frankly I'm impressed by Natal.... but, for the record, Peter Molyneux is completely full of it. There is absolutely zero chance of him, or his studio, ever producing a little boy I care about as much as real person, or a game where helping a child do their homework "immerses you in another world". Anyone suggesting that wiggling your fingers in front of a camera to "splash the water" is any more immersive that punching with a Wiimote in Punch-Out!, is selling you a bad bag of goods. They are equally phony experiences - you never feel the water, or the solid connect of shattering someone's jaw (though in the latter case, that may be a good thing).

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  The point being that at the moment Milo is unpolished. But to be honest that doesn't matter or make it "fake". Polish in practice is a bit like that English teacher who didn't care what you wrote, so long as you spelled it correctly. She didn't make you a better writer - solid concepts are what make the case, and if the core concept is flawed, it doesn't matter how much you polish it, a turd is still a turd.

  Milo impressed me because it showcases that 360 developers are going to have access to a tool I personally find exciting. However, Milo itself is a patented Peter Molyneux production - something that is hyped to the sky, and will ultimately deliver just another videogame.

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  "Subtle" facial changes helped Fable create "real world consequences" for immoral behavior.

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  Still, Natal and Milo impressed me, if Microsoft "ripped someone off", they stole from the best, Yutaka Saito. And, as I can see the puzzled "who the hell is that" from here... Yoot was the mind behind the game Seaman and Odama. Seaman, on the Dreamcast, was a creature-sim game in which you utilized a microphone to communicate with the ever-evolving lifeforms in an aquarium. If it sounds weird - well, it was - but it contains the basic premise of Milo - use a character with an engaging "real" personality and voice chat to connect the player.

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  Real creativity - far more likely to give you nightmares

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  Seaman was incredibly fun not because it "immersed you in another world" or any such nonsense as that, but because it was well-written, endlessly funny, and loaded with personality

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  Despite the differences in gameplay, Prototype and Seaman fall into the same category of being fun games which are simply misunderstood, or taken too seriously. The expectation on them seems to be that not only must they be creative, fun, and engaging, but they have to be a museum piece as well. I can't escape the feeling that such a mentality has invaded Milo as well. Peter Molyneux has an obsession with creating ordinary characters - his love affair with the "everyman" has spawned a plethora of dull NPCs and un-engaging main characters. And yet we let him carry onward, under the guise that he's an "artist" and "creative visionary".

  Frankly? I call bull.

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  Take a game like Mass Effect - a gauntlet of diverse NPCs, each replete with thousands of lines of dialogue, deeply emotionally engaging story moments, and overall personality - ultimately drove the game. Even if you skipped the sidequests and text-snippets, just the main game and its dialogue wheel provided more interaction than Milo.

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  Mass Effect drew controversy over its famous alien love scene. Picture thankfully unrelated.

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  The defense of Milo is that Project Natal is new technology. But to the devil's advocates I reiterate - how can technology replace good design? Mass Effect wasn't engaging because it had a camera, Prototype isn't a blast to play because it knows what color shirt I'm wearing - these games are fun because at the fundamental level they're built around taking solid elements and running with them. Natal is promising because it can enhance good design - imagine replacing the dialogue wheel in Mass Effect with real chat, or being able to rip enemies apart by gesturing violently at the screen. Those are enhancements to solid design brought about by technology.

  But Milo? Milo is just a showcase that Natal can be used - and a reminder that it should be used for something better.

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  So Bing... and the rest of the gaming world, maybe we shouldn't take the polish, or Peter Molyneux, so seriously. When someone tries to sell us on a "life experience" instead of a game, we ought to look back and politely ask "and how will that be fun?". Ultimately it's going to come down to solid design. Project Natal excites me, but its success or failure will be determined by games in the vein of Prototype and Mass Effect - if such games get enhanced by it, it will be a success - if the only games we see are Milo and wannabe Wii Sports... no, it will ultimately fail.

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  But hey, if it doesn't work out, they can always make more Halo.

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  No, I'm serious - why hasn't MS made this?

  ---

  • Posted Jun 9, 2009 8:08 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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