The Gamer’s Quagmire #52: Pets, Guns, and Magic Wands
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less.
by Jamison DeLorenzo
If you ever want a truly enigmatic experience, at this point you just may need a video game vacation. It does sound quite cliché, but it does a great job at soothing the body, the mind, and the soul. The gaming aspect about such a trip is always interesting (otherwise, why are would you ever plan one?), but the best part is invariably a discussion about the gaming itself. If you have a good group of people who can philosophize about this for several hours, you have yourself a winner.Replaying the week in my head this morning while on the way to work (maybe daydreaming along with cell phones need to be outlawed in cars- can we do that?) forced me to link two concepts that I originally thought were completely unrelated. Think about the success of the current consoles and health of the PC gaming market. Nintendo struck a chord with the Wii that tons of people did not expect, and that is the way in which we interact with video games. No, I am not referring to smashing a controller against a wall when the CPU defeats you.
People like to point to the PC gaming market as the place where all the best cutting edge games go, but is that really true? If you think purely about graphical achievements then you would be right on because looking at the video arms race, even just with a small reference window of this past year, you will see a gigantic leap in video card power… processing power and power consumption (remember, puns are our friends). Perhaps we have gone too far with the 2 PCIe slot graphic cards that you can easily use to bludgeon someone to death. Aside from pure power, the last real innovation the PC gaming market brought to the table was the online RPG.
Consoles have been the stage for the biggest innovations within the last several years in gaming. Look at the success of the EyeToy, Wiimote, DS, and the DDR pad. The world’s most successful games have largely been the result of a combination of any of these innovations, and that is discounting the Guiter Hero guitar (I cannot think of a quick catchy name for it, hence its earlier omission). It is true that there are games that just work on their own steam, such as a blockbuster console release like Halo, but the way I see it the truth of the matter is that gamers are tired of the dual analog and the keyboard/mouse.
If you don’t believe that the interaction is the latest big idea in gaming then you are missing out on some important things. First you should look at the stock price of Nintendo over the last year. If you are one of those ‘numbers are boring’ people or just don’t feel like doing the research then all you need to know is that your investment would have tripled in the past year. This is far more than just Nintendo getting lucky at the race track.
I am in the camp of people that need some graphical innovation, so shiny things do easily distract me. Unfortunately, cost of development is a big barrier for many companies that want to make a lot of successful games. This was easy when the gaming industry was just getting started because all you had was one button, a joystick, and 8-bit graphics. Games like Tetris don’t succeed because of graphics- they succeed because they are easy to understand and play.
So what did Sony and Microsoft miss this time around? Multimedia and online play do have a market, so they have put very good systems together (minus alarming hardware issues). Video game consoles in the home was new to everyone in the 80’s, and when games have one button and a joystick everyone can get in on the action. Bring a controller with 10+ buttons in front of your parents now and many of them will be scared away. Did you really thought DDR and the Wii were successful because the games were good? Seriously?
This has been the argument from the Sony and Microsoft fanbots almost since the consoles were first announced and to an extent it still happens today. Look at the games that were coming out in the 80’s and honestly tell me how games with such a simple notion could ever succeed today. Adventure was a horribly cheesy game, but the technology was so new that people had a unique experience playing it. What is very strange is that the dragons guarding the keys in the game still scare me.
Fast forward to today. Look at the stylus and the DS. After two years of struggling, Nintendo has finally found the games that sell the system. What, did you think Nintendogs sold because it was a deep and interesting game? Part of the reason for the game’s success is because of the previous success of Tamagotchi, but it is also one of the first video game translations of it. DDR is a sweeping success because everyone understands dancing to music. Girls will generally run away screaming from complicated controllers (almost as though you are trying to solicit a date), but throw down a pad where you can dance to modern music and they’ll have fun all day long. Put a guitar in the hands of people who are not used to it and they will be entertained for hours on end. Put a light gun in someone’s hand and they will be happy to shoot at anything that pops onto the screen. Put a magic wand in front of someone and they will do whatever they can (including embedding it in the TV, but that isn’t recommended).
The next time you catch yourself defending your PC for gaming because your graphics are always better or your keyboard and mouse will never be beaten you need to ask yourself when you became a dinosaur. Gaming innovation is now in the hands of new controllers, and any developer that does not seriously take this into consideration is going to endanger themselves with possible extinction.
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February 19, 2007
The Gamer’s Quagmire #40: The Master Chief vs. Wikipedia
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less.
by Jamison DeLorenzo
If one theme has been consistent in these articles, aside from snide comments and sheer brilliance, it has been the purveyance of something that should be obvious by now: I am a hardcore gamer. I play games every day. I read about games every day. I discuss games every day. This has been the case since 1988. This may make you wonder why my job is not in the video game world, and for better or worse it mostly stems from a lack of effort. A story for another day for certain, but if I have proved anything over the course of my life it is that video games are what I know most about (with a possible exception of Simpsons trivia). I am a hardcore gamer.
Alas, I do not think it means what I think you think it means. I think.
In the never-ending battle of the console wars, something which is inescapable, people seem to be doing whatever they can to rationalize their thinking. You’ll recall that in my Console Sanity Check series I erupted with a series of rules that needed to be set in place for everyone’s safety. We are almost back at that point again. Gamers are labeling other games in a vain attempt to pat themselves on the back that they made the right choice. Much like the liberals of the 1980’s the hardcore gamer is now being thrown under the bus.
I, however, refuse to be run over. This is not just because I have a problem with skid marks. No, the problem lies much deeper than that. You see, despite my pacifist nature it is possible to provoke me. Hardcore gamers, some time during the past year, became a term that refers to people who play first person shooters and very violent games. In other words, games like GTA, Halo, Gears of War, and God of War. Someone who detests that particular genre of games labels it with a term they don’t want to be labeled as and then decries it. This is the classic straw man argument at work (it may only be a related strain, but either way this is a viral argument).
Every time I struggle with the definition of a word I turn to the most impartial and standard place one can turn: the dictionary. Surely we all can agree that this is the one place we can turn to for understanding of our language. Being that hardcore gamer is a concept more than a word, there is really only one other good place to turn: Wikipedia. Only this time the site talks about the rather uncertain definition of the term. Rather than spend a good deal of time thinking of a solid definition for the term I will instead propose an idea to you on what I feel the term really should mean.
The way I see it, a hardcore gamer is one who enjoys gaming- a lot. They play a multitude of games and they are exceedingly good at them. You ask them questions when you are stuck. You seek their opinions on what games they should buy. They can recall more about games from years past than you can remember about what you did last week. If playing video games was a job with good pay they would be some of the best people at their job in the world. I strongly believe that this is at the core of what it means to be a hardcore gamer.
This should explain why I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer. I eat, sleep, and breathe gaming. When people throw me into the lump of people whom they believe snack all day, live with their parents, trash talk on Halo all day long, wear the same clothing, and haven’t talked to a woman since 1997 I become offended, and with good cause. Not only because I have documented proof of socializing with a woman in 2004, but because stereotyping on any level is something I have a problem with.
As such, I hate it when people use the term hardcore gamer even when they feel the term refers to someone who plays FPS’ all day, only cares about shiny graphics, and jumps at every war game possible. The problem started, however, with people trying to label Nintendo fans as people who prefer the cutesy games. It’s as I said before- people feel better when they feel they have condescendingly labeled people who disagree with them (after all, every gamer is completely socially insecure). Sure, after playing a large share of Nintendo games I wanted to try some new things and move past the cartoon style Nintendo games. I still love cartoons, but the problem is that I’ve been watching the same Mario cartoon for 10 years now. Instead of just looking to try the latest style of gaming, people moving over to PS and Xbox camps started referring to Nintendo games as not just cartoony, but childish.
Now the war is (justly) coming back at the PS and Xbox fans. They initiated the battle and now Nintendo has a lot of ammo to fire back. I have my own web space, so now I feel I need to say something about this. Here is a message for every Nintendo fan out there- tread lightly. Yes, you have every right to be mad for being told you are playing kids’ games. You should feel free to mock everyone who hunkers down in front of a FPS that badmouths Nintendo’s graphics, makes fun of the controller when they are stuck on the outdated Dual Shock, or makes a snide Mario comment while they hold their breath for Halo 3. Still, you must tread lightly. I say this not just because I tend to avoid pouring kerosene on flame wars, but because name calling just doesn’t get you anywhere. He who yells the loudest only stands to gain a sore throat.
All this talk about the PS/Xbox crowd as the hardcore gamer camp and the Nintendo crowd as the cutesy gamer camp needs to stop. It needs to go away and be buried forever. If you want to whine about game titles then your only legitimate target is a console that’s been out for more than 2 months. If you want to whine about price then you have to acknowledge that the more expensive consoles provide a lot more than games (whether you want movie playback or not). If you insist on making gross generalizations (I’m very close to blowing up on people saying that all Nintendo games are fun) then you are simply on the other side of the coin to the argument you find so very annoying. To me, that only makes you one thing- annoying.
Not that I ever oversimplify things.
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January 31, 2007
The Gamer’s Quagmire #38: Start Baiting Your Breath
Everything you wanted to know about gaming, and less.
by Jamison DeLorenzo
It may have taken a couple months to catch on, but I think people are starting to find their way over to my camp on the new Nintendo console. It is entirely possible that Nintendo is going to land a haymaker on Sony and Microsoft this time around, but if it is going to happen it better start happening soon. Launch lists are always a telling sign as to what is happening with a console. Right now the only one that looks to be getting games that I am eager to play is the 360, which not so coincidentally is thriving right now (in no small part thanks to Gears of War). This situation will only improve once Halo 3 hits the market.Things are not as one-sided, however. The Wii had a phenomenal launch and continues to sell very well. Sure, the install base for it is quite impressive, but that is hardly the stat you want to point to for success of a console. It is a great way to kick things off, but you never win a war by winning the initial skirmish. You may want to ask Dreamcast fans how that one turned out (especially the bitter ones, it’s very entertaining). Still, even someone as turned off by the Wii as I am, admittedly I am thinking about picking one up to test out Zelda because a person who loves puzzle and adventure games can only hide from the franchise for so long. In some respects I feel like a caveman just thawing out from an ice chamber.
As a Nintendo fan you need to move past this initial victory. Sony is still gaining profit as a company and the PS3 is anything but dead (it is best to ignore people who think the PS3 is already dead because these people may be more deranged than the people who think NASA faked the moon landing). The 360 now has PGR3, Oblivion, and Gears of War under its belt as major gaming titles that have produced huge sales figures. Twilight Princess has done very well indeed, but looking at the Wii launch list you can’t help but wonder when the next game is coming out that will compete with these figures.
Despite my apprehension towards giving Microsoft more money, it looks like we are in the throws of the Xbox becoming the new hot console for this generation. It is the only console that is generating new franchise names without completely killing them off. Nintendo had Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Pokemon. Incidentally, I would have included Viewtiful Joe in with the household franchises had it not been whored out beyond belief on the Gamecube. I have no problem with turning successful games into franchises, but inventing a new side-scroller in this era of gaming is dumb because the staying power simply is not there anymore. Side-scrollers officially died when Castlevania, a franchise whose success is completely dependent upon 2D, switched over to 3D (Castlevania now exclusively resides in the realm of handheld gaming, the only place side-scrollers have any remaining clout).
If the death of the side-scroller bothers you at all you should be upset that there was never a ceremony to bury the icons of the genre. Contra, Gradius, Mega Man, and Castlevania each deserve a fond farewell. Mega Man transitioned into the Battle Network series that is now more overplayed than the Macarena. Castlevania was able to find a home on the handhelds. Contra III was the last memorable installment and the two soldiers were put out to pasture. Gradius and the rest of the space shooters, let’s face it, as popular as the once briefly were, just met natural selection.
All this is not to say I hate the Wii. This is far from the truth. I may hate the name. I may hate the naming scheme that generated for the Wii’s peripherals. I may hate the Nintendo fanbots more than anyone else. The problem is that it is hard to ignore generations of really enjoyable gameplay and the new controllers are relatively intriguing. What is preventing me from jumping in, aside from a heavy and potentially lethal World of Warcraft addiction, is that past Zelda I cannot see myself playing any of these games. Maybe the new major Mario title would be worth checking out. I say this because after having a lot of fun with Mario Brothers 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, and Mario 64 seeing the new Mario adventure game with a fresh control scheme would be entertaining. The only problem is that two games does not make buying a console worthwhile. We have a term for where that purchase makes sense, and it’s called a garage sale.
Not knowing any people firsthand who own a Wii I am forced to rely on everything I can find online to formulate an opinion on why people love this console (or any console or game for that matter). Filtering out all of the expected posturing, warped logic, bandwagoning, and straw men I am left with a pretty good idea as to why Nintendo is doing so well. And so you know, it has nothing whatsoever to do with why the PS3 is doing so poorly (that reason, in case you’re confused, is cost). There is more than one reason at play here, so this will not be quick. The primary reason is the innovation in the control scheme. Right now I do want this to succeed because controllers may be the next part of gaming whose development truly evolves even past the Wii controller. The graphics capabilities are going to level off very soon, so controls seem like the next logical step with the possible exception of AI.
I think there is another driving force at play that people seem to be ignoring. This ties in with a lot of the negative press video games have been getting and the swarm of anti-gaming legislation that a plethora of state legislatures are looking to pass. Nobody is ever going to accuse Nintendo of producing a violent game or one that sparks enormous controversy (or not in the foreseeable future at least). No, I don’t think that gamers are really worried about that part of it. Swarms of people talk about the fact that over the Christmas holiday season, something that all consoles look to capitalize on, they were playing the Wii with their parents, relatives, girl friends, and friends who would put about just as much stock into gaming as they would Euro Disney.
What I am struggling with is why would I even care about that? When have I ever purchased a game so that my family would want to play games with me? Call me crazy, but when my parents were purchasing games for me I had no troubles playing with them. I was also under 10 at the time so it also helped that the games that appealed to me then were the much simpler ones. They bought at least two games every year that we all could play and have fun with, but the number of people that purchase consoles so that they can play games with their relatives is miniscule. I’ll be honest, having party games like Wii Sports is a good thing and party games are, for the most part, underrated. When you have several friends over the party game is almost always a great option. However, if you’re going to venture out onto a limb with that as a reason to buy the console you are going to plummet to your untimely demise.
A console with family entertainment is a market, but it is hardly, at this point in time, the dominating or sustainable market. Maybe these games will catch on and maybe the controller will too. Right now it is just a fad with a bunch of people making excuses. If you think a company like Sony would not get raked over the coals for making a controller whose wrist strap kept breaking thusly causing the controllers to be winged across the room then you are in complete denial. Maybe the games will become more appealing for someone like me. Anything’s possible.
As a closing thought, I will state that I was in this exact position around a year and a half ago with the DS and the PSP. The DS felt more innovative and the PSP had more potential. The only difference was that the DS had the game library because of the GBA cartridge input. Now, if anything, the PS3 will eventually have the games advantage. Both handhelds basically failed in terms of promise. Despite the overwhelming sales advantage for the DS the stylus simply isn’t going to take off as a good gaming peripheral. When I can read my own writing at the supermarket checkout with a stylus then, maybe, I’ll believe it is a good thing for gaming. In the meantime, enjoy the next several months as we will get a crystal clear view of which consoles are going to deliver the gaming experiences we hope to enjoy.
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