There he goes, number 19, Johnny U.

• 17Aug 08

  The Fear of Change

  As we have noticed in the past 20 years, life is changing. Every aspect from food to games is being altered, for better or worse. The question I dare to ask is why we are always so afraid of change coming upon us. When the original NES came out people loved it because it gave them a new outlet for entertainment. The games that eventually came out for it gave people a new perspective on what fun was and how things should be done. Unfortunately this old view has been cemented into many gamers heads. They feel that the things that they love should never be tainted with new gameplay mechanics or new visual designs. Basically, these are the people who live by the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," approach to life. And sometimes that does work. Many games, like the Madden franchise for one, come out so often with very little done to the core of the game. Sure there may be a couple of new features in it, but essentially it's just the same as the game that came before it. But its still fun. Lately however, people have complained about the lack of originality or new franchises coming out, saying its a grind of old franchises. I can't really blame developers for this though because if they try something new people freak out. Take the Wind Waker. I can't even attempt to describe everything I heard about that game when it was annouced. People thought it was taking a step back because of the "kiddy art style" featured in it. But guess what, it didn't really matter. I played the Wind Waker and thought it was one of the better Zelda titles behind only Ocarine of Time and Twilight Princess. No one thought "Hey, maybe this could make for an interesting change," but rather thought "I'm not playing this thing because it looks like a kid ate a box of crayons and threw up on it." It's things like this that soldify ideas that change is bad and people will still buy old franchises with a little bit of polish on it. Games like Assassian's Creed, Mass Effect, and Bioshock could be considered gambles because they didn't have some brand name driving their sales but relied solely on videos of gameply and the reviews it got. They all did well for themselves, but we could have seen so much more by now if instead of hating change we learned to accept them. The real point behind this entry is that if a sequel to an established game comes out, don't immediately flame it if it looks different. Wait until it comes out, play it, and see if its fun. Because if it's fun, isn't that the whole point?
  • Posted Aug 17, 2008 11:43 am PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 4Jul 08

  The Future (and Past) of Games

  A few days ago I began replaying Ocarina of Time and had more fun playing that than when I'm on my Xbox. I began to wonder just what made these emotions come out, and why I wanted to play a game that's 10 years old rather than a current game. I finally relized just what it was: solitude. Before online, developers really had to nail the single-player because the only times multi-player would be used would be on rare occasions. Now multi-player is the most-important aspect of development, like Call of Duty 4. The story has almost no immersion and a terrible end. While average, the multi-player seems to be the most important thing that really makes it fun. People online just can't get along like friends could. Too often do they say things that are deroggotive to some group of people, some don't even know the meaning. Some people pounce on Gamertags. Take mine for example, while The Kidd1224 may not be the coolest thing out there it's what I chose and it's only two measly words. I don't even have to say anything and people immediately refer to me as some sort of loser with no friends, fat kid, a homosexual. The list goes on and on. It also seems to make friends argue which is a terrible thing. There's always that one person that takes the game too seriously and tries to fight with you. They seem to forget that it isn't real and want to basically claw your eyes out. This isn't what games are supposed to do. They were meant to be an outlet for people to have fun with, not to rend people apart or break their self-esteem. Sure it can be fun but you can never relax because someone is always on you for something. Instead of being relaxed I am more excited and aggresive when I stop. So I wish we can go back to the old days. We can still have online but people need to learn to control themselves.

  • Posted Jul 4, 2008 10:16 am PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 24Nov 07

  Portables and Halo3

  Well, I'm back. I didn't have any time for Gamespot during the football season and I apologize. So I suppose the first blog pot should then be what I'm thinking of. Well here's the thing, I have a Nintendo DS. I like it, and I have a couple games for it and ones that I'd like to get. What confuses me thouigh, is that I sort of want to buy a PSP. Even though I've talkedabout "Great games" for the DS, I really don't care about Phoenix Wright and brain Age and stuff.I went over the facts in my mind, and the number of games I have for my DS is about the same as onesI want for PSP, especiall Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. What I really wantto know is if anyone else feels that way.

  On an unrelated note, i got Halo 3. I love it, andcan't get enough of the multi-player mode. If anyone out there would like to play me myXbox Live account is The Kidd1224, just tell me if you add me.

  • Posted Nov 24, 2007 1:59 pm PT
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