Putting the fun back into profundity.

• 9Jan 09

  A complete list of games beaten in 2008

  I enjoy keeping track, mainly for my own records.

  Game Boy

  Final Fantasy 5 Advance

  MegaMan 2

  Disney's Magical Quest 3 starring Mickey and Donald

  Genesis

  Taz in Escape from Mars

  N64

  Disney's Tarzan

  Perfect Dark - Secret Agent

  Pokemon Puzzle League

  Snowboard Kids

  Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

  Blast Corps

  Snowboard Kids 2

  Chamelon Twist

  NES

  Dragon Warrior

  Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

  Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom

  PC

  Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden

  Half-Life

  Portal

  PS1

  Skullmonkeys

  Syphon Filter

  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (both castles)

  PS2

  Kingdom Hearts II

  Maximo vs. Army of Zin

  God Hand

  SNES

  Phalanx

  Sonic Blast Man

  SoulBlazer

  Super CastlevaniaIV

  Wild Guns

  Xbox

  Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

  NBA Ballers

  Panzer Dragoon Orta

  Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

  Blitz: The League

  King Kong: The Offical Game of the Movie

  Xbox 360

  All Pro Football 2K8

  PS3

  Metal Gear Solid 4

  For what it's worth, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden was the most entertaining game I beat this year.

  • Posted Jan 9, 2009 6:06 pm PT
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• 27Dec 08

  Looking Forward... Looking Back

  Well, the year 2008 has come and is still here, at least for a few more days. However, it won't be long until this year embarks on the large steamship of memory; which embarks every few seconds into that strange and nostalgia filled world of memory, where everything eventually shows up. Luckily for us though, 2009 will be just arriving, ready to share with us whatever joys or hardships it has brought along; and, in the spirit of hopeful optimism: it can't possibly be much worse than 2008.

  That's a bit unfair of me, 2008 certainly had some successes, at least in the video game world (which, considering the website we're on, is the only world that matters) and I'm sure 2009 will carry much of that momentum on to keep you entertained creating and destroying pixels for months on end. Anyway, the dawn of a new year is a good time to look back, not just at 2008 (because, I'm sick of that) but, at how games have changed over the last 25 years and then make a couple guesses about where they might be going.

  This is a waiting room: you can now move out of it to the body of this article.

  I'm not sure how many of you out there still play old games, pop out your 8 or 16 bit systems and enjoy the age before things in video games really even looked like the things they were supposed to look like. If you don't, I recommend that you get on it. Old games are different than new ones. That might seem ridiculously obvious at first, because they look and sound much different, and generally have simpler gameplay, however, since home consoles really started on their way to mainstream success with Super Mario Brothers, there has been a gradual and subtle change in the way games are made. For better or worse, video games are being changed from games into experiences.

  In older action games, having a stock of lives in the upper corner of the screen is pretty much taken for granted. There's a clear understanding that if you lose all your lives and then your continues, you're going to lose a significant chunk (most likely all) of your progress and the only thing you'll have to show for it is the experience of what to do the next time you attempt it. Now though, it's incredibly rare that games use lives or continues at all and often just put you back a few minutes (or seconds) from where you were. Newer games are often noted by elitist jerky gamers like me that they are too easy (the games are easy, not gamers like me). When you think about it though, designers really don't have too much of a choice about this, the evolution followed a pretty logical path.

  1.Games get longer because consumers value more value

  2.Saves spots are used in nearly every game because games are too long to be beaten in one sitting.

  3.Saving makes games much easier and less frustrating and makes lives and continues fairly pointless since you'll just restart at the last save point anyway.

  4.More and more people get into games and, despite lacking the elite skills of arrogant veterans like myself, want to see everything the game has to offer, so games get easier.

  5.Among games that strive to be beatable by all audiences, games that actually make the player work for it are singled out as being "hard games" even if they aren't really, except for Ikaruga which was said to be a hard game and actually is I mean holy cow man the thing is only five levels long but the third level is completely insane by any standard and the forth level is even worse and then there are videos of people playing online using their teeth or something and not taking a hit man those dudes are nuts.

  Lives: where are they now? Though thinking about it more, this is not the best game to show a picture of when I'm talking about challenge.

  Anyway, with designers no longer being to rely on a players own personal drive to overcome challenges to keep them playing, they needed to come up with some new ways to hook players. So, in the place of challenge came things like immersion (notice how in Super Mario 64, the castle over world is part of exploring the game itself, rather than just a pretty way to pick a stage) and story (Metal Gear Solid proved that it is possible to integrate a story into an action game, and that players want it). Over the last ten years, games have been working to clear out the things that might remind you that you're just playing a game (high scores, extra lives, real punishment for failure) and have tried to convince you that there's a whole world out there worth looking into (more and more, games work to minimize menus and on screen meters). In an oversimplified sense: a great old game is like reading a great comic strip while a great modern game is like reading a great novel; both of them have something satisfying to say but one sacrifices directness for depth.

  This is a monocle-themed-intermission. It symbolizes the passage of time. It is also the picture that I want on my tombstone.

  So, now, we're sort of around 2008, which I believe is an important year because of Metal Gear Solid 4, which won Gamespot's Game of the Year. MGS4 is, like people say, an astonishing achievement because of the way it so seamlessly blends an in depth story with polished gameplay, making it easily one of the most impressive games made yet. However, I thought it was pretty disappointing. Most people have been critical of it because there are too many cutscenes, I not sure that's true, but I do know that most of the cutscenses are far too long. Most of the characters just talk too much about things that aren't totally necessary for the story and the game simply doesn't have enough gameplay to spread this information out and make it a bit more engaging. Many times, a cut scene would go so long that I would need to stop playing after it was over because I knew that I wouldn't be able to focus when another on showed up. Anyway, my point is this: I believe that games that effectively integrate cinematic storytelling and good gameplay (Metal Gear Solid 4, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy Whatever) are the future of video games; but, to do this well, the designers of these games must work harder on mastering the techniques that are key for interactive storytelling, such as conciseness, subtle and dynamic characters and believable interactions; things that no games that I have played yet have really nailed.

  I read that Metal Gear Solid 4 had a budget of $50 million... they could have afforded an editor.

  As a final note, there is a larger variety of game consumers and game types now than there has ever been, so I'm totally aware that this evolution doesn't apply to all types of games. The RPG, for example aside from graphical improvements and depth of gameplay and story is basically the same as it ever was. However, in other cases, the exception proves the rule as I believe the flood of retro themed or re-released games is a direct result of people wanting to recapture the more straightforward appeal of the older games. Though I know that games will continue to become more engaging and thrilling than ever and I am looking forward to see what developers come up with in the future I know that I'll always have a place on my shelf for my 8 and 16 bit systems, right next to my Playstation 8.

  • Posted Dec 27, 2008 4:07 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 7Oct 08

  The Game of the Day

  I used to post here, in this very blog, quite a bit. For a month or two I almost made it daily. It was really something. That is to say, it was something. Words were there. Of course, due to coming out at a rapid rate, most of the words that were there really didn't have a lot to say, but they were there all the same, and in this big world of the internet that seems to be all that really matters.

  So now, I'm working to recapture that magic. The magic that allows me to put forth another series of words before people have enough chance to catch their breath and tell you what was crappy about your previous series.

  So, here's what I'm getting at: for more than a year now, I've worked hard to provide my readers with stimulating content for free. Despite my constant requests for it, I have yet to receive even one check in the mail from any gamespot user in thanks for the content I've created. So basically... you've all been stealing from me for nearly two years. I'm sure that you feel bad about it and I certainly understand, you should feel bad. Now though, I'm giving you a chance to make it up to me. A chance for us to ignore previous obligations about who stole from who and such and to begin with a clean slate and to just have a good ol' fashioned fun time. Interested? No? Ok, do it anyway.

  I have created a new blog. I plan to update it 5 days a week. I want you to follow it. Subscribe to it, bookmark it, whatever it takes. I plan to venture into far more obscure games as time goes on.

  http://thegameoftheday.blogspot.com/

  Do it for me, Wootex, your buddy. Remember, I answered all of your zany questions. Speaking of questions, if you have any questions about the new blog (and only about the new blog) I'd be happy to make up an answer to them.

  • Posted Oct 7, 2008 11:55 am PT
  • Category: Writing
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