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Trigames.NET Podcast Ep. 104 - Gumball de Slunk

• 28Aug 09

  The Rock Band Music Creator, 143 is up, and mail in for 144

  Yeah, I was late again--but I did upload episode 143. Check your RSS feeds or the site. Speaking of which, if your iTunes, Zune or RSS aren't picking it up properly, please let us know. Something went wrong with 142's entry, and neither Al nor I could figure out what it was.

  At some point during this past episode--or maybe it was 142? I'm not sure--I mentioned Rock Band's option for creating music, about which I heard while listening to the Giant Bombcast a few weeks ago. The news post on Kotaku now fleshes it out in more detail. Having used Activision's studio from Guitar Hero World Tour, I'm pleased to see that Harmonix's option is fully loaded.

  However, I'm not sold that I'll use this tool much either. The problem--and it's not so much a problem as it is just the nature of the music-making beast--is how many pieces there are to the puzzle. While Guitar Hero's studio turned out some pretty heinous tunes, at least you could kind of just use your guitar controller to jam something out that was...hopefully...pleasing to the ear and then load it. Here, you're paying a hefty sum for tracking software, transfer software and an XNA Creator's Club membership. You have to come in with some musical knowledge or else the tracking software is going to appear to you like an Excel sheet on steroids; Harmonix is both fully aware of, and publicizing, this barrier to entry, which is a good thing since at least we know what to expect going in. It's just a downer that we still don't have a true "user-friendly" option for making your own music in a rhythm game (wouldn't it be great for you to be able to upload your own band's songs for at least your friends to play?). But then again, someone--either Ryan or Jeff, I can't remember--said all those weeks ago on the Bombcast that most people still wouldn't spend the necessary time and effort to track a song, because no matter how simple you make it, it's still a complex process.

  Random: I haven't been playing games too much. I'm enjoying my opportunity working from my hometown for once this week by going out and catching up with friends who I never get to see on the weekdays, as well as working on a bunch of side projects. Most significantly though, I've been watching The Wire, which I purchased a few months ago and just now have finally gotten around to watching. It's a fantastic series. It's not for everyone, but it's simply made so well that I think everyone should give it a shot.

  If you have a question or comment you'd like read on the next episode of the podcast, as always, hit us up at mailbag AT trigames DOT net or via this form right here. (Be sure to select the MAILBAG radio button before submitting.)
  

  • Posted Aug 28, 2009 6:26 am PT
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• 20Aug 09

  Musicology and Plastic Guitars

  My sister once asked me if she thought I played Guitar Hero better than I did the cello. I thought this was pretty amusing at the time; this was at the height of my Guitar Heroics, when my friends Al, Megu, Maurice and Sneezy would throw the little plastic fisher-price guitars behind their heads with me as we competed, playing through riffs on Expert without skipping a beat (until my arms tired out and I had to descend to earth once again). This was when Al and I were fresh off of participating in a forum-based impromptu league set up by another friend of mine, where we strived not only for that five-star ranking on each and every song but also attempted to close in on perfection: hitting every single note without over-strumming (i.e. strumming when there was no note to be played). This was when "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" was just around the corner, and I'd be soon mastering Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" and its newly-recorded (and deviously insane) solo without needing to use Star Power as a crutch to avoid failing out.

  For reference, I played the cello for 13 years seriously and two more off and on. Though I was notoriously undisciplined, preferring to play by ear and without practicing technique as much as I should have, I'll go out on a limb and say that my playing was good enough to be pleasing to the human ear, if not the canine ear. I never quite reached the heights I would have needed to in order to play something like Dvorak's cello concerto in B minor, but hey, come on. It's the friggin' Dvorak we're talking about, and I was merely decent; I wasn't a prodigy.

  To entertain myself, I took these two separate worlds and attempted to answer my sister's question. 15 years of playing cello, 75% by ear and 25% by discipline, versus hitting five buttons in rapid succession and odd combinations in order to rack up a high score at a videogame that just happened to be based on playing music--but didn't involve actually playing music. What was I better at? If I reached the conclusion that I was indeed better at Guitar Hero than I was at playing cello (the former of which I have spent--to date--four years playing as a form entertainment), would this be a "sad" thing? That all the time and effort (ahem) put into refining skills at creating music were trumped by a few leisurely years spent learning how to mimic the solo to a heavy metal song that was compressed to five buttons?

  In truth, this is a question that can't really be answered properly--at least, not with regards to the context in which people ask it. Usually they make the understandable mistake of intending the question to be a musical one, implying or thinking that the musical skills required to be proficient at Guitar Hero are the same or similar to those required for a real instrument. This mistake, sadly, is at the root of why music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band have been scoffed at (sometimes lightly, sometimes scornfully) by some in the music community. A few months ago, when asked if he'd like to contribute his songs to Guitar Hero, the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince (now currently known as Prince, in case you forgot) politely declined, stating his desire that children learn to play the "real thing."

  I don't particularly have an issue with Prince wanting children to really learn how to play music. Done correctly, encouraging kids--hell, anyone-- to play music can result in joy for the would-be musicians, as well as those around them. Playing music is simply fun, and there's a fantastic sense of achievement and satisfaction when you finally master a piece or write a song of your own (...and all of you narcissists would have something else to brag about, another reason to look in the mirror, or whatever).

  What perturbs me slightly, though, is the inappropriate correlation between this segment of interactive entertainment and "the real thing." There certainly is a link between playing music games and playing music itself, but again, I feel that most people get the context wrong. Specifically: "Practicing Guitar Hero is going to stop you or your child from practicing a real musical instrument." Listen--let's look at Guitar Hero, Rock Band and other music games for what they are: videogames. A form of entertainment. A pastime. A leisurely activity. Theoretically, you could be arguing that you'd rather your kids learn how to play their instrument than playing videogames. From there, you could theoretically argue that you'd rather your kids learn how to play their instrument than watching television or movies; going to the mall with their friends; listening to music on the radio (now isn't that interesting?). Sure, I will concede to the view that mastering a song in Guitar Hero provides the instant gratification of "playing" a piece of music that can't be achieved from practicing a passage or a set of riffs, for hours on end (unless you're a virtuoso). However, most forms of leisurely, mainstream entertainment are designed to provide instant gratification.

  Does this mean that Prince is entirely "wrong" to say what he did? Not necessarily. I'm not saying that he should amend his statement and lambaste all videogames instead of just Guitar Hero. In the grand scheme of things, though, I do think that music games don't warrant being singled out from any other form of entertainment. As with all entertainment, they should simply be a part of anyone's checklist on what to balance in one's life. For youths, do your chores; do your homework; study and practice what you're supposed to practice; reward yourself, have fun and enjoy life. For adults, do your job; run your errands; take care of the people in your life; reward yourself, have fun and enjoy life. Just like anything else we do for fun, something like Guitar Hero is a perfectly acceptable pastime for those who know how to balance their lives, and more importantly, understand the difference between playing music games and playing real music.

  For all of us "grown-ups" (though I'm really 12 years old inside), let's put it this way: If someone came up to me and said, "You know, the time you spent playing Guitar Hero could have been spent revitalizing your cello-playing ability," my response would be, "Had I the desire to spend time revitalizing my cello-playing ability, I would have simply done so. Guitar Hero has nothing to do with it." The sad truth of the matter is that I played Guitar Hero--or read books, or played basketball, or did whatever else I did these past few years--over playing the cello simply because I didn't feel like playing the cello at those particular times. (Note: Kids, you're out of luck; when you asked your parents for that guitar and to spend money on lessons for you, you'd better damn well feel like playing it.)

  Let's flip the script and look at this situation from another angle. For all of the negative things people can "learn" or become "desensitized to" thanks to videogames--or movies, or music, or books (are you listening, politicians?)--there are plenty of positive influences that can be gleaned from them. (The key for parents, of course, is knowing how to teach their kids right from wrong, and fantasy from reality, at the outset. I know--duh, right? You'd think.)

  I serve only as anecdotal evidence, but I like to think that I'm a passable example. Until around 2005, I almost exclusively listened to hip hop and c|assical music. December of 2005 is when I brought home the original Guitar Hero. From there, my music library slowly increased to include music--both good and bad--from any number of rock genres. I entered, and am still in, an experimental phase with finding new music that I can appreciate. Why did Guitar Hero, Rock Band and their sequels spark this interest? If you think about it, I was being exposed to music I never really cared for before, contextualized in an environment that I did care for: videogames. The effect is not entirely different from what you'd get when, say, watching a biopic about a musician (e.g. "Ray" or "Walk The Line" might make you curious enough to check out the work of Ray Charles or Johnny Cash), but because these music games (a) were all music all the time, and (2) exposed me to some compressed, faux inkling of the technique required to play these songs, it was easier for me to appreciate the music contained in those games.

  So, sure, playing music games got me to appreciate and enjoy "new" music. I'll tell you something else though: My desire to start practicing the cello again has increased noticeably. That's right. After saying that people shouldn't negatively correlate playing Guitar Hero and playing a real musical instrument, I'm turning on my heel and am now suggesting that playing Guitar Hero and its ilk were responsible for me wanting to play my real instrument again. The reason is simple. I want to be able to answer my sister's question, however apples-to-oranges the correlation between the two activities may be, by saying, "No--I believe I can play the cello far better than I can this guitar game." When seeing insane streams of colored notes on the screen and actually being able to play them, it reminded me ever so slightly of the breathtaking sensation I got from playing a run or crazy-ass chord passages using thumb position and other techniques on my cello. It was fun to score points in a videogame through the sheer speed of my fingers--but I wanted to play for real.

  This is where the most important distinction between playing a music game, and playing real music, comes in. In a music game, you're not playing music; you're simply activating it. The music is pre-recorded and comes from cover bands or licensed master tracks. It's already in the game. At its core, all the game is doing is waiting for you to press the right buttons, and strum at the right time; with all that done, the notes will play. It'll be as in tune as it ever could be given the recording. The body--the feel--of the note will be exactly what it was when the original was recorded. You are not really making any music, and that's okay, because all you really need to do in order to get the most out of Guitar Hero is to have a good time. That's why you don't, and shouldn't, have to worry about bow or picking techniques or playing the notes at the right dynamics. You can fantasize about being a rock star with ease, just like how a fan of the football sim "Madden 10" can fantasize about being Randy Moss. Playing a music game, and most videogames for that matter, is about the fantasy and the entertainment.

  Playing a musical instrument is about discipline, technique and perseverance. You do have to worry about when your foot hits the pedal as you practice Chopin. You do have to make sure that your bow hand is appropriately light or heavy, and you sure as hell have to be cognizant of where your finger hits to make sure you're in tune if you're a string player. You can fantasize all you want, but the results of your playing are your own, and they're real. When the cat screeches and scratches at your foot; when the dog yelps and scampers away; when your sister comes into your room and laughs at you because you hit the harmonic the wrong way, it's your own fault. If you aren't willing--and will never be willing--to handle the reality of the dedication required to play a musical instrument, you're simply not going to partake in it--whether or not Guitar Hero ever existed.

  So, to Prince I say this: There are young'uns who dutifully practice their instruments; who dip into Guitar Hero or Rock Band just for a bit when they need a 15-minute break; who would enjoy rocking out to your music with their plastic instruments. Accept the check and give them a taste of the fantasy of being you. You won't do a disservice to their talents by giving them some entertainment. And for the people who'd be inclined to play Guitar Hero over a real guitar, they were probably never going to pick up a guitar anyway. At the very least, by exposing your music to them through their pastime, maybe they'll buy more of your albums.

  I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this, even though it's kind of becoming an "age-old" discussion. I just never had the time to verbalize my sentiments in text until last afternoon. I'll try to read the comments you leave on my next podcast, but for more guaranteed results, hit up mailbag AT trigames DOT net and leave us your thoughts.

  • Posted Aug 20, 2009 9:19 pm PT
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• 14Aug 09

  142 up, Skipping 143, Days of Ruin

  Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is quickly growing on me, but first thing's first... For some reason, according to @Edubuccaneer, the RSS feed is poop. If anyone's experiencing problems please let me know what they are. Al and I combed through the feed and couldn't find anything wrong with it! Sad face. In any case, you know where you can directly download Episode 142, but just in case you don't: http://trigames.net/articles.php?content_id=843. Please leave a comment if you're having issues with the RSS feed though and if there's any information you can provide, that'd be great...

  Also, for the first time ever, Al will be participating in the infamous 24 Marathons which have disrupted podcasts in the past, so 143 will be on hold! Sorry guys, but the call of BBQ and Jack Bauer are just too much to resist.

  Now, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. It's not that I ever disliked the game; it's simply that I was a little disappointed in the lack of changes. I ended up being wrong, of course, about the CO powers though: I initially thought that they simply weren't present, but I finally reached a mission in which I was able to use a CO power. The power I used was far less game-changing than those in the past, and I don't know whether it's simply due to the CO I used or because that's how the game is now balanced, but from Ryan Davis' review, it seems to be the latter. I suppose it's better for the sake of game balance, but I always got a kick out of being able to get out of a REALLY tight spot by unleashing the fury of a Dual Strike.
  

  Nevertheless, the subtle changes and unit additions (and subtractions, though I've not yet determined what's missing since I'm not even halfway through the game) do make for a noticeably different experience when you dig deep. I like the new anti-tank unit quite a bit. It's a ranged attacker, so it can't move-then-attack, but its range also covers the space immediately in front of it so it can still counter-attack when approached by a tank. (Hence, anti-tank. Dur?) The Flare unit is a godsend for those who hate Fog of War, though it's a little useless on maps without FOW; it CAN attack, but it's not entirely powerful. There are great additions in the Carrier-Seaplane combo, where a Carrier can roam the seas and then produce a seaplane that is very useful against sea and ground units. I can't remember whether or not it's weak against its fellow air units, but it's expensive (it costs money to build the carrier and THEN build the seaplane) so I can't imagine that it's supremely vulnerable to anything. So while at first I was a little bummed, now there seems to be much more of an expanded roster than when the NeoTank was the ONLY new unit, way back in the GBA days.

  I like the ranking system (whenever a unit destroys another, it goes up in rank which increases its potency), as it forces me to take more care of my units. I also like the area-of-effect that a CO-occupied unit has. Similar to a hero unit in many RTS's, a unit that's carrying a CO buffs units around it. That unit is also the one that executes a CO power, though, so if you wanted to use that unit to bulldoze a hole through enemies, you'll have to consider postponing usage of the CO power or wasting an active turn with that unit. It's a nice balance, and I guess that's mostly what this game is: more and more balance.

  I've started skipping the dialogue and story though. There's just too much ham-fisting and unnecessary reading. At least it's not super zippy chipper sugar rush...

  ...but is fake emo really worse?
  

  • Posted Aug 14, 2009 5:55 am PT
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• 6Aug 09

  Absence Averted, and Pete stars in Episode 141

  Whew! Many hecticness over the last few weeks. The podcast is not dead, and we're recording this Saturday, which means throw your questions and comments over to mailbag AT trigames DOT net. Even though we haven't recorded a traditional episode in a while, we've christened Pete's hour-plus-long trilobyte as Episode 141 because there's enough in there to qualify as a full episode. The RSS is updated all nice and smooooove, but if there are any issues, please let me know. (Pete says he was having trouble with it before.)

  Al's wedding was a very nice gathering on the side of the beach at the Rio Montego Bay. The rest of the trip was quite a lot of fun, as well. We all went on a zip-line tour but spent most of the time relaxing on the beach and enjoying free beverages of the "hard" kind. Never before have I spent that much time just lying down on a beach chair and getting some color to even out my horrendous t-shirt and sock tans. There were also some random late-night hijinx after those beverages started to take effect. I'll sum it all up with these pictures (our condition worsened from the first picture to the second picture in, I think, the span of an hour):

  

  Don't ask me what we were doing in the second picture. Maybe he thought I had some electric charge to my skin, a la Blanka, and wanted to try it out. I don't know, I'm not a doctor.
  

  But before we went to Jamaica, we caught up with Alex Navarro at the Village Pourhouse in New York City, where he and other Harmonix and MTV heads (with a cameo from Alex Rigopulos!) were showing off a preview build of The Beatles: Rock Band. Plenty of off-pitch harmonizing, Beatle-lovin' and open-bar drinking to be had, and Al finally met the voice behind the special guest of Trigames.NET Podcast Episode 47:

  
  

  I hadn't shaved in a week. Still can't match the Navarro beard.

  In the meantime I picked up Street Fighter IV for Windows via STEAM, and boy am I enjoying it. I suck at it completely but I'm definitely getting a kick out of learning the ins and outs of the Focus attack system, with the three levels of Focus, EX canceling, and the nasty stuff you can use to punish fools when you hit them with a fully charged attack (Zangief says hi). You're probably laughing at the fact that I got it for Windows, but it was cheaper than the console versions, I don't go online with my PS3 due to its physical location in the house, and the gamepad I have for my PC has a better d-pad than both the 360 and PS3 controllers. I also plan on trying out my X-Arcade joystick on it, something I *can't* do on those consoles (yet).

  I also started a bit of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, and I'm really sick of all the dialog that it throws at me. I would just skip it but sometimes I feel guilty for doing so. I don't know why. Thus far, I'm about 8 missions in and there are very few, minor differences between this game and those of old. I didn't bother reading the instruction manual; I figure I'll run into gameplay enhancements as I see them. But thus far, it really just seems like more of the same old same old. A new unit here, new zoning and building capabilities there. That means it's still a lot of fun, but it also means that Advance Wars: Dual Strike has been the only one out of the series to show any huge differences in gameplay thus far. Of course, I'll wait until I play a lot more to actually make a judgment.

  Remember to send your mailbag questions in. We'll be recording on Saturday, August 8th, at noon EST.
  

  • Posted Aug 6, 2009 8:51 am PT
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• 18Jul 09

  Uhh yeah--no. Episode 140's not coming 'til Tuesday.

  Ok, so here's the deal: We land in the Riu Montego Bay all-inclusive resort where there is no Wifi or internet in our room, but there just so happens to be wifi in the hotel lobby, which is INCREDIBLY slow, through which it takes about 7 minutes just to upload five photographs onto Facebook. Imagine how much it would take to upload a 60MB MP3 file. This episode was 2 hours and almost 30 minutes long, after all. In any case, very very sorry, but you'll have to wait, even though there are probably only like 5 (very, very appreciated) of you who listen, but still. We apology. Al gets married in approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes so get ready for the bells to ring.

  • Posted Jul 18, 2009 12:40 pm PT
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• 16Jul 09

  We have a winner--Episode 140 in progress, but here's a sneak peek.

  Well, only ONE person wrote into the mailbag to ask for Pete's copy of Psychonauts, and that one person--you know who you are, Brazilian Million--wins! Please contact Pete, or let me know where he can reach you. To all others, next time we have something for you to win, freakin' write in! (mailbag AT trigames DOT net). Check your RSS feeds / iTunes / Zune (http://trigames.net/rss.xml) for episode 140 in the coming days. I'm saying "coming days" because it is STILL not finished. It's been a hectic week getting ready for Al's WEDDING IN JAMAICA (omg), so I'm going to have to work on it in the airport and hopefully our beautiful hotel room will have internetron access.

  The likelihood of there being a full episode for this weekend is about 5%, but Pete will be doing an extra-long trilobyte for you all, so enjoy that.

  Finally, they posted my Holy Invasion Of Privacy Badman What Did I Do To Deserve This (punctuation omitted because I'm lazy) review earlier this week. Funny thing is that I had a UMD copy, but the game's PSN-only, so I had to disregard the small loading times I encountered during gameplay in my review. Anything during gameplay that would cause the music to change would result in a stoppage of play for about a second while the UMD spun up. Pretty amusing, if not irritating.
  

  • Posted Jul 16, 2009 6:06 am PT
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• 8Jul 09

  Pete Wants to Give Away Psychonauts (and hey look--Episode 139)

  Episode 139 hit the airwaves yesterday--well, technically Monday night, but the RSS feed wasn't updated until yesterday. Surprise, surprise: I wasn't in attendance--not even via elongated chat, unlike episode...9? 10? 11? Whichever one that was so very long ago where I talked to Ethan and Tony via chatroom. Well, ok, I made a small appearance for like 20 seconds to tell you all that I'm better than you and that I was about to get drenched in a creek, but that doesn't count. So, Al and Pete ran the show--and there was some good discussion to be had. Most importantly, Pete says he's trying to give away his Psychonauts. He leaves details at the end of the cast, so yeah, listen to it.

  Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? is on deck again, after a little hiatus for the whole Monster Huntron, and I expect to have a draft to Justin for Gamespot either by Friday or first thing Monday morning, which is conveniently just before the game releases. I haven't been paying attention to the release chatter, but I did hear (and discussed this on episode 13 that it might be download-only, which I might have to consider when writing this dealie up since I'm playing it off a UMD. But in any case, you can expect a review up when the game releases. That's enough narcissism from me, so with that, I say, EMAIL the podcast at mailbag AT trigames DOT net after you hear what Pete wants you to do. And stuff. Yeah!

  • Posted Jul 8, 2009 6:32 pm PT
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• 6Jul 09

  Design annoyances in, of all places, Scrabble!?

  Yep, Scrabble. But before you start laughing, I'm specifically talking about the Blackberry version of Scrabble from EA, which I have installed on my Curve 8330. My sister and I were playing it extensively during our trip upstate in Phoenicia for the long weekend, and the one little issue that I noticed while playing on my own just got more annoying as I was playing with another human.

  The issue--since, of course, this is a device with a keyboard--is that the game still treats the device as if it were a traditional 12-key phone. That means you click on the space on which you want to place a letter, then select the letter with your trackball, then click again to place. Now, there's nothing wrong with this for any other device, but Blackberry Curves have FULL KEYBOARDS. Why not let the user, say, enable a "keyboard mode" that let's you type out your word of choice (the game would obviously not respond to you trying to type letters you don't have), then ask you to orient and place? Especially because the game can run somewhat slowly at times, this would save a lot of time over the old click-select-click-each-letter method.

  It's funny how something as simple and old as Scrabble can lead an irrational grump like me to rant about "design decisions" due to how varied and versatile our *mobile devices* are becoming. When I used Scrabble on my flip phone, I was ecstatic just to have it at all. Now I'm waving my cane and throwing my dentures just because EA didn't program a keyboard mode for handsets that have the capability. Ah, to be spoiled and pampered.

  • Posted Jul 6, 2009 9:24 am PT
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• 2Jul 09

  If you love Master P, you might love Episode 138.

  Actually, even if you don't... you'll still love it because Pete stammers and I glamours.

  Wait what?

  Episode 138 is uploaded (check your Zune/iTunes/RSS feeds) along with a belated Trilobyte. I intended to upload it last week but things got a little busy and I, well, just didn't upload it. But I did yesterday. So enjoy that. Have fun, be young, drink Poopsi. And all that.

  My review for Holy Invasion Of Privacy Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? will be in progress shortly. I just have to play through it a little more and see if there's anything else I can uncover about it. The short, non-final verdict is that it's, "Eh." It's still a little awkward to do what you want--and by that, I don't mean "win," but just do basic things. Look at it this way: In Rise of Nations, when you click on a Barracks, then click on Train Soldier, you train a damn soldier. In HIOPBWDIDTDT, when you want to raise a certain monster, sometimes your slimes will put enough nutrients in a block, and sometimes they won't. Sometimes they'll even suck it up for themselves. When they die, sometimes they'll leave behind enough nutrients for you to raise a monster, but then, sometimes they won't. I guess the game is banking on its zany sense of humor, and it does have quite a bit of it. But... eh. We'll see if anything changes during my last handful of hours with it.

  Oh yeah. The podcast has a mailbag, so fill it up:

  MAILBAG (at!) TRIGAMES (dot!) NET !!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111one (or you can use our immature mailing form here... be sure to select the radio button for "Mailbag")
  

  • Posted Jul 2, 2009 6:59 am PT
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• 1Jul 09

  Oh Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, how you make my job difficult.

  Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is like some other games I've reviewed for Gamespot in that there's something that draws me to it, but I can't fairly review it with high praise. The best example I have from my past work is Shiren: The Wanderer, a dungeon-hack type game that I was feverishly addicted to, yet whose problems were easily recognizable and were only overlooked after some real determination and the realization that I had a job to do. "Why such a low score if you ended up really enjoying the game?" Again, sometimes it's too much to ask of the general audience that might be interested in such a game to put up with frustrating design choices. Sometimes it's a case of, "They do what they chose to do very well, but what they chose to do isn't necessarily a good thing in the first place; it just happened to tickle my personal fancy."
  

  In MHFU's case, the camera is really, really inexcusable in my eyes. Some people may be able to get used to it, but I'm sorry--this is the third Monster Hunter game in the PSP series and the fifth one overall (if you count the Japan-only Monster Hunter 2 on PS2). For people who don't have friends who are both into Monster Hunter and own PSPs, the single-player combat experience manages to be extremely frustrating and boring at the same time. Since the game is heavily based on combat, it's been really hard to overlook these issues, even with the awesome scads of content like farming and fishing and bug catching and item crafting and cooking.

  On a personal level, it's as if MHFU looked at me in the face every day and said this:

  "I really want you to enjoy what I have to offer, but at the same time, I don't."

  I don't think the game should be made "easier to beat" but "easier to play." There's a huge difference. Of course I'm withholding my final score and full review until it goes up either tonight or tomorrow or whenever (besides, none of this should be news given my previous complaints), but my main gripe is simply this: Capcom has made the game difficult to play--difficult to use--as a product. I know there are tons of hardcore fans out there who will likely skewer my evaluation because "We know how to play the game right." Well, buddy, I played the game right because obviously I didn't give up after half an hour. I learned to cope with it just like every fan would have. I still find it unacceptable to demand that everyone should do insane things like curl their hands up to reach the L trigger (reset camera), D-pad (pan camera left/right/up/down) and analog nub (character movement) at the same time, especially because there's such rich content to be had underneath.

  My point is this: Not every game should be watered down to satisfy "dumb" players, but it should be made usable as a product to players who would enjoy its content but are otherwise frustrated by the awkward controls. Why should this game be relegated solely to those who are dedicated enough to put up with usability issues? If players still find the game too legitimately difficult (Ninja Gaiden, Ikaruga), then that's fine--at least the player had the opportunity to try the game's content and its design and not be flustered by technical foibles.

  I'll say this much: I'm now that much more interested in Monster Hunter titles. I thoroughly enjoyed the sense of satisfaction from finally downing huge monsters and feeding my urge to create new weapons and armor with the monster parts I gathered. I just don't want to have to deal with technical frustrations anymore, and it's a shame because otherwise I'd have easily poured 150 hours into MHFU. Here's to hoping that Monster Hunters Tri for Wii fixes the camera and adds some type of lock-on or pin-point aiming.

  • Posted Jul 1, 2009 12:03 pm PT
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• 26Jun 09

  Took a quick Conduit break from Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

  I came home with The Conduit today, and after spamming a bunch of Gathering missions in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, I decided to give this much bally-hooed Wii first-person shooter a whirl. Quick, bulleted impressions:

  + Great control options. This is pretty much a known quantity going in, what with all the previews talking about High Voltage Software's dedication to customization. I like this because I always tweak my settings on PC first-person shooters just the way I like it, and I like being able to do it here. Some people say, "Shouldn't they just get it right?" No, getting it right is allowing me to tweak it. The way I see it, for a first-person shooter, there is no "right" set of settings. Not allowing us to tweak is "getting it wrong" every which way you look at it.

  - The framerate, while mostly consistent so far, is nowhere near as silky smooth as that of Metroid Prime 3 or Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. This goes a long way in making shooting with the Wii-mote feel good. In terms of responsiveness, it's at about the same sensitivity as Call of Duty 3 on Wii, which wasn't bad, but wasn't entirely great either. A 60 frames-per-second framerate would have been much appreciated.

  + On the flip-side, it's easy to see why the framerate had to be "locked" at 30. The enemy models, while not entirely varied, have great lighting and detail to them. You're not going to mistake this for an Xbox 360 game after you stare at it for a few seconds, but it's very, very high quality and at first you might do a double take. It's certainly a level of detail we've not seen on Wii before. Faux depth-of-field blur while reloading is cool, too. Some environment textures are nice, too.

  - However, much of the environment seems flat. It doesn't help that the jaggies come out to play. Oh how I wish we had some sort of anti-aliasing. The environments just aren't entirely interesting yet, either. I'm on the third "level" so to speak and I haven't seen anything exciting.

  + Lots of fun, cathartic run-and-gun action.

  - But as a result, lots of "killroom -- clear a space out, go to next" or "corridor shooter -- let's play whack-a-mole with soldiers popping out of doorways and from under cover" gameplay. Oh, and don't forget the exploding fuel tanks It depends on what you're looking for, but if it's the old-school linear heart-racing type of shooting you want, it's very hard to top Half Life 2.

  + Then again, Half Life 2 isn't on Wii, and perhaps this is The Conduit's saving grace: If you only own a Wii or want to shoot stuff with the Wii-mote, this definitely beats dual analog control (but then again, you know how I feel about dual analog...blech) and is certainly a fine option...

  - ...as long as you haven't been spoiled by Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 or Metroid Prime 3's smooth control.
  

  Quick preview evaluation would be one thumb up, but not two.
  

  • Posted Jun 26, 2009 6:43 pm PT
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• 24Jun 09

  Episode 137 live, and I almost threw my PSP again.

  But thankfully I did not. I just defeated my first boss (denoted by an "Urgent Mission!" Tag) in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Now that I'm making headway, the game isn't so abhorrent anymore. I still agree with Joe Dodson that the combat is weak but I am upgrading it from "awful" to "not good." In any case, the game came out yesterday, and if you like Monster Hunter I see no reason why you wouldn't pick it up--unless you were expecting something significantly different than Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Of course, the diehards aren't the only ones looking at this game so I have to make other considerations with my reco. You'll know soon enough when I finish the game and finally post the review.
  
  Episode 137 is up and I've done my best to eliminate the echoing. There are still traces but thanks to the short length of this episode (a shade under 90 minutes) it was easier for me to manage. The RSS is updated so you can hit it up at http://trigames.net/rss.xml -- and remember to mail us your questions and comments on anything videogame-related (mailbag AT trigames DOT net).

  • Posted Jun 24, 2009 6:51 am PT
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• 19Jun 09

  Props to 5parrowhawk

  Props to Giant Bomb user 5parrowhawk who gave me some pointers on how to not completely failblog at Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Hopefully I should be well on my way to actually MAKING PROGRESS in this game now. The camera and combat are still inexcusable but at least now I'm armed with a bit more knowledge. So for all two of you who care, I won't be throwing my PSP no' mo'.

  We record the podcast tomorrow, that's SATURDAY, at noon-ish. Get your email and contest entries to us before then.

  mailbag AT trigames DOT net

  • Posted Jun 19, 2009 12:17 pm PT
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• 18Jun 09

  I threw my PSP.

  DISCLAIMER: I should probably note that playing a game for review and playing a game for your own entertainment are two very different things. The reason why I am disclaiming this should be apparent from my previous posts, as well as the post below, but I just wanted to clear that up. Part of our job is to review a game keeping in mind that the average player is not going to marathon through a game to meet a deadline, nitpicking as s/he goes through it. So when I say I hate a game, that doesn't necessarily mean it's truly a very bad game and that it'll get a low score. Ok, I've done my duty...

  I never thought I'd do it, but I did. I mention this on my Trilobyte (which is currently being uploaded as I type this; check the RSS feed at noon EST), but I was playing Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite and I failed another mission twice in a row. I realize I'm not the best of gamers out there, but I'm pretty sure I should be able to take on a monster in a ROOKIE RANKED HUNTING MISSION.

  Are you kidding me? This is now over 5 total hours that I've wasted dying and not making any progress in this game. There MUST be something I'm missing. They didn't include a manual with the review copies they sent Gamespot, so when Justin sent me the UMD I had to fend for myself. Now, there's a pages-long in-game manual in the form of a "Hunter's Magazine" (of course, they have to keep everything in character) so I guess I'll just have to read through that thing. All 100+ pages of it spread out across all of its sections. Complete bummer.

  In any case, after the second hunting failure last night, I chucked my PSP out of frustration. I was conscious of what I was about to do, though, so--and thankfully my hotel room had 2 full-sized beds--I aimed it at the other bed and winged it REALLY hard. It kinda bounced straight up, and then just landed on the edge of the bed...right before sliding off and landing on the carpeted floor with a thud.

  I don't care. I thought, "Right now I hate this game, and it'll be an excuse to upgrade my PSP if it breaks." But it didn't break. Dammit.

  I hate this game.

  Oh yeah, suckers. E-mail our podcast. DO IT NOW. mailbag AT trigames DOT net. We're still doing that silly contest where you can write your own lyrics to videogame music (not Super Mario Bros. though) and possibly sing them and record the MP3, so get to it.
  

  • Posted Jun 18, 2009 7:31 am PT
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• 16Jun 09

  UPDATE - Joe Dodson said Monster Hunter Freedom 2's combat was awful.

  UPDATE: I must be really terrible at this game. Either that, or this game is unreasonably difficult. It's insanely difficult to kill the monsters you need to kill in order to complete even the easiest one-star rookie-ranked missions. This is almost entirely due to a disgustingly abhorrent camera and the lack of lock-on, which I already mentioned but really bears mentioning again. The more I think about it, I must be terrible, because I know this series is incredibly popular and people keep playing it. I've wasted about 4 hours straight losing missions and making NO progress whatsoever. Again, Joe's right: The combat is AWFUL. Especially considering that MHF:Unite is supposed to be an UPGRADE to MHF2!

  I'm almost at a loss for words.
  

  Original post follows...
  

  Well, another 30 minutes in trying to kill these stupid monsters, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite's combat is still awful.

  Not a good sign of things to come...not at all.

  Also? The menu interfaces are absolutely horrible. Different buttons seem to do different things. Since when did Capcom buck the Playstation trend and make the Circle button an action like opening a box when it Cancels out of other menus?
  

  • Posted Jun 16, 2009 6:05 pm PT
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• 16Jun 09

  Episode 136 and Monster Hunting

  First thing's first: episode 136 is now live; it actually has been since last night. We're still holding that goofy contest that we mentioned before--take videogame music and write your own, original lyrics to it. Then, record yourself singing those lyrics to said videogame music. As a last resort, we can do it for you, but chances are (a) we'll mess it up and (2) you will lose because you didn't have the guts to sing yourself. Oh yeah--no "Super Mario Bros." themes, please. That stuff be played out. (Send to mailbag AT trigames DOT net)

  With that out of the way, I dipped into "Monster Hunter Freedom Unite" for the PSP, which Justin sent me for review. Take a quick look at Joe Dodson's review of "Monster Hunter Freedom 2," which points out the game's faulty camera, annoying load times and lack of a lock-on button.

  Now, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is supposed to be an "upgraded" version of MHF2. Within the first 15 minutes of play, the problems I've encountered are: a faulty camera, annoying load times, and the lack of a lock-on button. Where are the upgrades? I know you get more quests and all, but what's the use of content when it's based on an entirely faulty engine? I played for about two hours last night and it was some of the most frustrating and laborious review hours I've played in a long, long time. Even "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?" has some novelty to it.

  Two hours in, I already don't like the game because of these issues. That's not an entirely thumbs-down damnation of the game, but good lord is it annoying to sift through. I'm hoping that these quests get better and can overshadow the issues, but something tells me they won't. We'll see what happens in the coming days. If Gamespot never posts the review, then that means I jumped out of the window while playing the game and didn't live to write anything.
  

  • Posted Jun 16, 2009 8:36 am PT
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• 12Jun 09

  Afternoon Gaming: A desireable trend [Portal]

  Today, work was semi-slow, and everyone with whom I work signed off by 3. I figured, ok, I've been up since 7:30, I worked extra hours during the week, I've got my hours for the week set. Why not pick something to play that I can finish?

  Portal it was, and three hours later, Portal was beated.

  I'll be frank: from tests 1 through 16, I was a bit disappointed. I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is I mean--er--I was able to figure out the puzzles relatively easily. It was the physical, platforming parts that hampered me, but even then, I was able to breeze by those stages in about 90 minutes. I never felt overly challenged, and again, because me t'ain't smarts, I felt like it was too easy.

  Then came the last three stages, which lasted a nice, meaty long time. Those--especially the final stage, which psyched me out ("You made it!" Bullcrap...)--really got my ticker ticking. This is what I downloaded Portal and the rest of the Orange Box for. I know it's cliche by now, and the game is over a year old, but never before have I had a condensed, 3-hour experience that was as satisfying as Portal was. (Once I got to stage 17, of course.) Furthermore, I absolutely LOVED the fact that I was able to get a complete A to Z experience in a single afternoon play session.
  

  Would I give it a Trigames.NET 5 of 5? Absolutely not. I still think such a highly rated game would have better balance and pacing, i.e. not let me feel like a complete genius through the first 16 levels and THEN trip me up in the final 3. But still, great game. So upset that I didn't experience it when it launched, with everyone else.

  We record the podcast in about 10 hours. Send us email! Questions! Comments! E3 opinions! WHATEVER!

  mailbag AT trigames DOT net
  

  • Posted Jun 12, 2009 10:38 pm PT
  • Category: Games
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• 11Jun 09

  Holy Invasion of Podcasts, we're finally caught up :P

  Ok, so I finally FINALLY was able to catch up to our podcasts. Last week it had gotten so bad that we were recording episode 135 before episode 134 even went up. In any event, both episode 135 and Pete's trilobyte from like, three weeks ago, are live on the server and ready to go. The RSS feed is uploading as we speak so by the time you read this post, your iPods, Zunes and other devices should have new content waiting for them.

  I'm getting better at Holy Invasion simply because I chose to do more of the Training challenges. The tutorials only help to an extent; the challenges give you more hints on how to control the growth and lifespan of your creatures, so if any of you plan on trying this game, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go through as much of the tutorial and challenges as you can AS SOON AS YOU UNLOCK THEM. Yea, you have to sit through many failures in the main game to unlock all of them, but every time you see a game over, go to the Training screen to see what's been unlocked if anything. It'll only help you get better, faster. (Stronger. Blah blah. Here's the stupid blurb for the podcast. SEND US EMAIL! mailbag AT trigames DOT net)

  ======

  Trigames.NET Podcast Episode 135 - Piss Piss Piss DiE3

  The title of this e3pisode3 is a lovely portmante3au of what Al doe3s to his characte3r in the3 Sims and the big e3ve3nt of last we3e3k. (If you can't tell what that event was after my lovely, creative way of integrating it into the words prior... uh... it's E3. Moron!)

  The big topic of the afternoon is the hubbub over all of this motion control slash body control slash wands and balls and such. Did Nintendo really start a "revolution" as it said it would, or is this all smoke and mirrors? Is motion control here to stay or will it die down at some point? Also, we try to figure out what the hell "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?" Pete's been playing The Sims 3 and his newly re-acquired Xbox 360, and Chrono Trigger for DS is so drastically changed from the original that it's exactly the same (almost). Also, if you ever found dreadlocks in soup a fascinating topic, you've come to the right place.

  Download here.
  File size: 60.9 MB
  Running time: 2:06:48

  Want to be heard? Hit the mailbag - mailbag AT trigames DOT net.
  Want previous episodes? Hit the Podcast Homepage.
  You can review us on iTunes, while you're at it.
  Add us to your RSS reader or iTunes feed! http://trigames.net/rss.xml

  • Posted Jun 11, 2009 4:03 pm PT
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• 10Jun 09

  Podcast reaching...normalcy? And, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!

  Episode 134 finally went up on Sunday. Let me know if the RSS feeds aren't working. Hopefully I can get episode 135 up tonight, thus ending the month-long frustrations and delays thanks to technical difficulties.

  A few weeks ago, Kevin Van Ord asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing "Dokapon Journey" for the Nintendo DS, and something called, "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?" DJ had been left relatively un-reviewed and had been languishing on the shelf for a month, so I took care of that (the review should be up sometime soon--I submitted it just as E3 was underway). HIPB isn't due out for another few weeks, but with a name like that, how could I not anticipate starting the review process?

  Don't ask why the hell this game's called, "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?" I'm tempted to e-mail publisher Sony Computer Entertainment to ask who thought of that. As far as Wikipedia can tell me, the original Japanese name for this game translates to, "For a Hero, You're Quite Cheeky!" Um, sure?

  Anyway, I've been working on this for the past couple of days, and I can tell you that the first two hours or so of trying to figure this thing out was incredibly maddening. Without an instruction manual (thanks SCE...), one particular tutorial mission had me replaying it ten times.

  Let me rewind a little bit. Just what is "Holy Invasion..."? As far as I can see, it's best described as a Tower Defense game with no towers. The general conceit is the same: Stop something coming out of point A from getting to point B, using a potpourri of obstacles. However, this time you're playing the role of an evil jerk: You've got to keep "heroes" from kidnapping your demon lord by "growing" a whole mess of monsters. That's right--you grow your stuff; you don't "buy" it like you normally would.

  It's the "growing" part that aggravated me the first time. The whole idea is that you have to chisel away blocks to form a dungeon of tunnels, which serves two purposes: (a) provide somewhere to stash your demon lord such that the heroes have a hard time navigating the tunnels and locating him; (2) provide the ideal environment for your monsters to grow. It starts out simply enough. Some of the blocks in the playfield have little green vines and moss on them, representing "nutrients." Break one of those blocks, and you'll unleash a little slime that oozes back and forth. Whenever a slime oozes past a block, it will either take or distribute nutrients. Taking nutrients strengthens the slime; distributing it adds to the nutrient level of the block. So you can imagine that if you break open five nutrient-filled blocks, you've just given yourself the opportunity to fortify many other blocks on the playing field with nutrients, as the five disgusting slimes you've just liberated will spread their--ahem--essence around. If a block soaks up enough nutrients, it'll drastically change in appearance, and breaking such a block open will yield a little maggot that actually eats the slimes and eventually spins a cocoon before maturing into a hero-stinging fly of some sort. So, you kind of get a little sense of ecology in this game, and that's fun.

  The problem arose when the tutorial asked me to grow a stupid lizard warrior. This guy's supposed to be the key soldier in your little army, at least at first. The way to unleash him is to chisel blocks away in such a pattern so as to have slimes run over a certain block or group of blocks with enough frequency that it turns totally white. Chiseling that block yields Stupid Lizard Warrior (that's not the official name, by the way), which will eventually lay eggs. The tutorial even tells you, "Chisel tunnels in an 'O', 'T' or 'H' pattern" so that the slimes will always be rubbing up against the corner blocks. (Slimes are pretty dumb and only change direction when bumping into walls; chiseling the patterns as the tutorial tells you is supposed to keep slimes bumping into the same blocks.)

  Well, I did that. I chiseled O's, T's and H's. I waited. And waited. And waited. Successful completion of the Stupid Lizard Warrior tutorial requires you to spawn eight of these little jerkfaces within five minutes. I failed ten times. On attempt 2, I spawned six of them after failing to spawn a single one. Six! I thought I was making progress, but not once in my eight remaining attempts did I ever reach six again. It's like things were totally random, and the blocks just did not want to soak up nutrients. Hell, the Stupid Lizard Warriors weren't even laying more than one or two eggs every time I attempted the tutorial. Finally, on the eleventh try, I somehow spawned eight lizards in two minutes. Did I do anything differently? Uh, nope. Today, it remains a complete mystery as to how I finished that tutorial.

  I've been getting used to the game, but to me, the biggest complaint remains its reliability--or lack thereof. There were some playthroughs where I had plenty of Stupid Lizard Warriors, and others where I didn't. There were a few playthroughs were I was able to amass a small cadre of Vampires, but more where I was lucky to have two at the same time. I didn't change my tactics--perhaps where I dug, but not how I dug. In any event, when things are clicking, the game is definitely interesting. There's a fine balancing act that goes on here, as with any tower defense or strategy game. You want to dig narrow, winding tunnels so that the demon lord's assailants have a tough time finding their way to their goal, but at the same time you have to constantly chip away at blocks in order to spawn more critters with which to evolve your ecology.

  Here's another balancing act. You can also spawn defense-enhancing demons, which strengthen your units simply by existing, by using the same blocks that create the Stupid Lizard Warriors--only difference is, you chip away all of its surrounding blocks so that it stands alone, then you chip the block itself to reveal a "rune," then you can chip on the rune itself and the demon will pop out. You can further increase the strength of the demon before you summon it by letting mana wisps--the magical equivalent of the slimes--get absorbed into the rune. Do you bolster your defense, though, not only at the expense of sacrificing the opportunity to spawn a Stupid Lizard Warrior, but also creating a wide open space (since you have to chip away more blocks just to create the rune)? Do you sacrifice your mana wisps to make a stronger demon, or do you spawn a weaker demon right away and save those mana wisps for creating Vampires and Liliths?

  This balancing act is what I enjoy most about the game. Trying to get to that point, though, can be a little irritating. I just wish there were more reliable ways to create the monsters you want to create; in fact, I'd better describe it as a desire for more direct control. We'll see how far I can get with this strange title before I want to pull out my hair.

  • Posted Jun 10, 2009 6:46 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 29May 09

  We have a wiener I mean winner: Neo Nightmare X

  The podcast sound files are messed up. AGAIN. I've been struggling to try and weave in the low quality mix wherever I hear issues, but the process is taking for, freaking, ever. Couple that with another dumb work week and finally trying to finish up Dokapon so I can give Van Ord the review before he beats me over the skull... yeah. If I can't get the mix done by tonight, I'm just gonna have to upload the crappy low quality

  Since this is taking so long, the winner of Slunks' offering of a free copy of Braid is... NEO NIGHTMARE X with "Virtual Entertainment Experience." Now Supersonic97 can avoid having to say "veedeo" games. Thanks to both Slunks and Supersonic for making this prize giveaway a reality.

  If you have any comments or questions for our next recording (which is happening tomorrow) go ahead and send us stuff at: mailbag AT trigames DOT net.
  

  • Posted May 29, 2009 8:56 am PT
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