• 12Mar 13

  Checkmate!

  

  It came to me out of nowhere. Like a three-move fool's mate. Bam!

  I was looking for a chess game to go along my new computer. Something to replace my old Chessmaster XI. Something for people like me who are neither beginners, nor experts or masters. With a good interface. With a lot of chess sets, including 3D sets. That is both beautiful and compelling.

  But sadly, such a game do not exist anymore.

  Sure, there is Fritz. Rybka. Shredder. But those aren't chess games. They are master's companions. Generally speaking, those three fine examples are made for the professionals. So, the gameplay is gorgeous. the A.I. is adaptive and challenging enough, even when you don't play at the max "deep" difficulty. But sadly, the chess sets are mostly non-existent. There is no such thing as a 3D set, or when there is one (or some like in Fritz) the 3D effect does look blind and dull.

  
  On the other hand, there is a plenitude of chess games/chess apps on the Web these days. Nearly everyone can build one, with the proper computing knowledge. This leads to a bunch of simplified games, with atrocious A.I. and bad graphics. Those games are not compelling for the newbies, not challenging enough for the amateurs. Bref, no wonder why those are generally free.

  Chessmaster XI, in it's own time, was a masterpiece. For a lot of reasons. It was fun to play online with. Winning games was also very rewarding as you would unlock chess pieces with every victory you had. You could learn the game with ex-champ Josh Waitzkin. There was even mini-games and all sort of activities to help you progress. This game was a success.

  And this game was also the last of the series.

  Is chess dying? Isn't there anything out there to appeal to everyone? Or is it because the demand is simply not there anymore, people moving mostly toward "mindless" games that require no "reflexion"?

  Is that a checkmate for us, fans of the best game that ever been created?

  • Posted Mar 12, 2013 5:57 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 21Feb 13

  Backward compatibility and the great whining dance.

  Question is, do we really want to play those old games that bad?

  I remember back in the days. 1990 to be exact. SNES was out, and it was the big deal. Everyone wanted to play on the new hardware such exciting titles like Zelda, a link to the past, Super Mario World, Super Metroid. The old Nes was quickly send into the dust and void of our homes. No-one wanted to go back. Some years passed, and despite never looking back, sometimes a little bit of nostalgia came on. "Hey, Dad, do we still have that old Nes, somewhere?" Yes was most of the time the answer, and when not, people rushed to the PC to emulate those games. Since we haven't played those for years, the experience was great. But short. And we quickly came back to "business as usual" putting the old hardware on dark corners again.

  Then, on the ps2, something changed. It was backward compatible. The vast majority of PS1 games could be played on the new device. But at that time, of course, it was not such a big deal. Because the new hardware was so powerful, playing so exciting new games, that no-one really care.

  PS2 sold millions and millions, and people got together huge amounts of games.

  Then, Sony made us a favor. They decided to put the emotion engine in the PS3 to allow us to play back those games. People were very pleased, but the 60 GB FAT model - because of this emotion engine and some new technology - was very pricey. It did not sold that good, so Sony removed that feature to sell a new unit at an affordable price.

  Bad idea? Good idea? At this point, know that a few people came back to play PS2 games anyway. Vast majority of 60 GB fat model users barely ever used the backward compatibility. But, it was there.

  "I could use it."

  "i could play those games again."

  But they did not. Or just a few times, between all those exciting new gen titles, just to go back on the PS3 again.

  Of course, there is some games that we will always love. Myself, i am a huge fan of past titles like Amplitude, Time Splitters, Killer instinct, and the System Shock serie. Sometimes i go back to enjoy once again those great games. And for the vast majority of us, there is always a way to do that. Because, hey, you still have those consoles, right?

  Backward compatibility have become a mess now. People cry to get it, even if they barely ever use that feature. Like if it was mandatory. Like if it was the law. But hey, don't tell them that it will get the unit to cost much higher!!!!

  PS4 is not a natural evolution of the PS3. The PS4 is a completely different console.

  "Streaming instead of backwards? What does that mean? Do I have to buy all my PS3 titles all over again?"

  No, you don't. Just keep your PS3, that have been flawlessly designed to play those games.

  And in a few months, the PS3 will be far away with all your souvenirs, along with all those great consoles of the past.

  P.S.: This is my first blog entree. I try to do my best, i'm not a native English user.

  • Posted Feb 21, 2013 8:38 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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