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Dead Air

So, I want to write a post, because there are things that I have to say, but I'm also working on a big redesign of the site on my new host, and really, this post is just testing some cross-compatibility stuff. I'll be posting again soon.

I Think “Irked” is the Proper Word to Use Here

Here in the lovely realm of Communication Studies that I call my home, as well as in the world of some other social sciences, we’re pretty big on stereotypes. Stereotypes give us these preconceived notions that tell us how we’re going to act with other people. Yes, stereotypes are often painted in a negative light, and when you hear about them they’re more than likely being used that way, but thinking outside of that box, it is simple to see how we use them in our daily lives.

Everyone’s beliefs factor in to their stereotypes, and more often than not, we see that we, as gamers, are rarely credited with a positive stereotype. Michael Abbott once spoke on a podcast (an episode that I cannot remember) that even he, as a professor, gets strange looks when people walk by his office and see him playing something on his PS2 (thus giving me a model to aspire to: an in-office PS2). Even in the world of academia, and in an age when videogames are such a prominent media, gamers and gaming are still looked at as something off-base by those outside of our world.

For a class assignment, I chose the topic of communicating while playing games, specifically, whether players prefer online or local co-op. However, when discussing the assignment with someone, a comment was made that irked me at the time, yet for brevity’s sake, I chose to look past it. This comment was along the lines that it was strange for me to choose communicating while playing games as a topic, because videogames are primarily an isolated activity. Like I said, I didn’t comment on it, but it’s had me thinking about it since yesterday.

How many people of the world still hold this view? In days when online co-op shooter Left 4 Dead has gigantic billboards and the Wii is bringing together people in living rooms across the nation, while also letting thousands of people play locally or online in Mario Kart, do people still view games as primarily anti-social activities? I know the nights my friends and I get together for some L4D online, or gather at my house for some Rock Band 2 would argue otherwise.

The Mii Effect – Ripples in a Pond

I originally wanted to just write a short post on how I was pleased to see that Microsoft was using the Avatars as a system of advertising, but not making it horrifically blatant. I’m just glad I was able to get a top hat and dress my guy up like a geeky, white version of T-Pain. Browsing the avatar clothing selection, nothing actually shouts out to you and says “HEY THESE CLOTHES ARE FROM THE NEW GTAIV EXPANSION!!” but instead promote them simply through a page on the Spotlight tab and leave it at that. I think that Giant Bomb was right on the money in their episode of the Bombcast that achievements should unlock bonus avatar clothing. Then not only would my 1100 gamerscore in Fallout 3 represent my dedication, but my Xbox LIVE avatar’s T-51b power armor would show I’m really hardcore. Looking at your Friends list and seeing your friends in Altair’s robe or Scorpion’s gi would let you better understand what kind of games your Xbox LIVE friends enjoy.

I commend Nintendo for bringing the Miis to the console generation. The Miis were just a stone in a pond for the advent of caricatures of ourselves on our consoles, and with Xbox LIVE and Playstation Home avatars, we are beginning to see the first ripples it is causing. When Miis were new, it was great to play around with, but stock facial features and lack of additional content made the fun run dry shortly after the well was sprung for hardcore gamers. The Check Mii Out channel was a great attempt to show off Mii creativity, but it never really let people express themselves. Sure you can make a face that looks like it has a penis on it if you move the nose and mouth properly, but does that really represent you? (If it does, talk to me again when you’re out of sixth grade).

This is where I feel like Nintendo shortchanged all of the hardcore fans in the Mii system. Everyone can point the finger at Microsoft and Rare saying that they were late tdo the party, and that they were ripping Nintendo off, even if the horse’s mouth says otherwise, but at this point, it’s easy to see that they kicked the game up a notch. (One could also make the argument that the idea of the avatar is hardly Shiggy & Co.’s brilliance, thanks to this thing called the internet, but for a console’s operating system they were the first.) It’s like that children’s song that says “Everything you can do, I can do better.” I feel like my avatar is a more accurate representation of myself (albeit slightly more absurd given my current outfit) than the highly cartoony Miis are. And, with the much lower barrier of entry to connecting to friends via Xbox LIVE, I feel like my avatar represents me more accurately to my friends. For example, I just ran into a friend the other day who I have not seen in at least 6 months, and we exchanged gamertags. When I checked his profile, I looked at his avatar and immediately could see the resemblance between his avatar and his real self.

What we have now are gaming consoles that take on aspects of social networking and expand the idea to allow further interaction. In this Web 2.0 world, we’re looking at more users with data presented up-front than ever before. In the early days of the internet and computer mediated communication, scholars found a lot of people hiding behind the veil of anonymity and refusing to establish our identity. However, today’s internet provides countless ways of self-expression on the internet, allowing us to establish a social presence that probably rivals that of a face-to-face encounter.

The Social Presence Theory of Short, Williams and Christie (1976) is one of the oldest theories on computer-mediated communication in our field, and was born in a world where Web 2.0 sounded even dumber then than it does today. The theory posits the idea that communication is more effective when we have more of a social presence, and our presence is most prominent in face-to-face communication. By their origins, online gaming removed our social presence entirely and replaced us with an in-game presence that often reflected the game more than our self. This is what leads to a lot of players in online gaming acting like total jerks, thanks to that anonymity. Looking at the way Miis and avatars bring in a social networking, and possible extensions outside of our consoles, we could see a future in which people are less likely to act like a complete ass in an online game if they feel like they know their team better.

I’m not saying everyone needs to look at the Myspace pages of their squad in Call of Duty, but maybe showing the avatars in the lobby may give you a better idea of what type of people we’re working with. A better online community would create an even bigger draw for whichever console manufacturer can pick it up. This is where Sony has the opportunity to pick up the pieces on home, and create exactly the type of situation I’m talking about, such as with Warhawk. The idea that gamers can take their avatar into Home and congregate with others in the Warhawk War Room to discuss game tips and strategies and then launch right into a game is really an exciting idea, and as a communication technology researcher, it’s something that I’d be really interested in seeing how it plays out.

Again, I originally wanted to just say how cool it is that I can get a top hat for my avatar.

Groundhog Day

I don’t know why I do these kinds of things to myself. I know full well that I am not going to like a game, but I play it anyway, and continue playing it. However, as a part of my quest to play the big name titles of 2008 I never got around to, I find myself here.

This week, my poison of choice is Mirror’s Edge, which arrived last Friday from GameFly. This game was hyped to all hell, and then upon its release, it provided average reviews. However, this then sparked discussion about reviewers overlooking innovation. All that is long since water under the bridge. I’m just here to lament, since this is my stump to speak from. I’m going to leave alone the cutscenes that look like they were designed in Flash (Chris Remo’s line I believe), and instead focus on the soul-breaking gameplay.

A training ground, a prologue, and three chapters into the game, I hardly have an urge to return to it. It has been said before (ugh, don’t remember my source on that line) that you should not have a platformer that you cannot see your feet in, and I wholeheartedly agree. They did a good job of making about 60% of the environments simple, with jumps that can be easily assumed and lots of room for error. However, the other 40% of the time is just grueling. For a game to essentially tell me I have to jump off a board at a certain point in order to successfully complete a wall-run, but not give me the ability to see my feet and know when I’m at that point, it becomes trial and error. I kept replaying through the same parts over and over again, because the points where the level design is in that other 40% is simply brutal. I wished Elika was there to hold my hand and catch me when I fell.

Ah, Prince of Persia. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Maybe that’s why I am so bad at this game, because my last platforming was in Prince of Persia as well as PoP: The Sands of Time, and both of those are extremely well done platforming games with rather lenient death mechanisms. However, outside of Mario games, combat is something that really befalls a platforming game. While a quick jump on an enemy’s head does the job most of the time, these other platformers see you in a near-choreographed dance with your opponents. Except Mirror’s Edge. The game tells you in the training ground and on loading screens to avoid combat, but then puts you in situations where you have no choice but to fight.

I was at a section where three “blues” (police officers) descended from a “bird” (helicopter to us normal folks), and the only way through the section was climbing up some pipes behind them. I managed to get around them and not get shot until I tried climbing the pipe, at which point I was turned in to a slice of Swiss cheese. I then was forced to fight these soldiers, who are wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles, with nothing on my person. Luckily, in those situations where you must enter combat (thus-far), the AI is comprised of the dumbest cops possible who will alternate between the shooting animation and the rifle-butting animation if you just take a step backward and then a step forward.

The only reason I keep playing is the absolutely awesome art style, which you may have noticed by now that I am a sucker for, but even that may not be enough to keep me going. When a game forces me to relive the same moments over and over until I learn where to jump or how to fight, I eventually lose interest. Maybe I’ll be playing Far Cry 2 sooner than I think.

It’s Too Late to Apologize

I know I haven’t written anything in about a week, and since there are so few subscribers it’s hard for one to say he does not care. However, it is my goal for the year to begin doing this on a more regular basis, and so I feel bad. On the other hand, another one of my goals for the year is to not fall too far behind in reading for class, and that’s pretty much common enemy number one of the blog post. So, before I jump into my texts for my exam tomorrow, I will just mention that I wrapped up Dead Space and got my feet wet with Fallout 3’s Operation: Anchorage pack, yet my gaming on the 360 is on hold since it sits in the basement and our basement bathroom is being redone, so there’s tile, equipment and sawdust everywhere. I’m also hacking away at bits and pieces of Chrono Trigger, as well as some World of Goo and Lexulous on Facebook before class and during breaks (and during class if I can sneak it in). Since it’s Wednesday, there was also LOST to worry about. So, bits and pieces of gaming here and there. I’m looking towards the end of semester projects I have to try and see where I can shoehorn gaming into a project. I am, however, pretty frequent with my Twitter updates, even if they’re not all game-related, so you can check that in the new sidebar module or following me. I’ll post something legit soon.

Princes to Princes, Part Two: Parables and Parrying

So, apparently I don’t have a good understanding of the word “tomorrow”. I started writing about Prince of Persia monday. I also started catching up on 30 Rock, and that was very much conflicting with me wanting to write a blog post. Then the season 5 premiere of LOST happened, so that threw me off again.

Anyway, back to comparing Prince of Persia to Sands of Time. So far, the tally looks like Sands of Time – 1, Prince of Persia – 1, on the basis of platforming (the meat) and graphical presentation (the potatoes) respectively. This lecture is on the combat (the side dish) and the narrative (the gravy). Now that I’ve managed to make myself hungry, let’s have a drink of PoP. (I acknowledge the fact that that pun was horrible.) As before, SoT is obviously Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and PoP refers to the new one without a subtitle.

I can’t help but feel that in both games, the combat is one of those things that was shoehorned in because someone at a dev meeting said “BUT YOU CAN’T JUST HAVE THE PRINCE RUNNING AROUND DOING A LOT OF PLATFORMING! THERE NEEDS TO BE COMBAT!”. In the cases of both games, I disagree. In SoT, the Prince had a goal that was not directly combative: retrieve the hourglass. In PoP, the Prince aids Elika in healing the land, which for all intent and purpose, does not sound combative. However, as most platformers these days exist with enemies as a function of the level design as obstacles, or to break the flow of platforming by showcasing another way in which the Prince is acrobatic. My complaint against the combat in PoP is the same complaint I levied against the platforming: it is down to such a simplistic level that it is essentially an elevated quick time event. What makes the combat worse is that there are actual button-mashy or timed press quick time activities that actually occur. While this makes combat simpler and allows you to view the acrobatic combat stylings of the fresh Prince and Elika, you again do not get as engaged. This unfortunately also makes it aggravating though, as you’re often required to do things at such precise times it simply becomes a game of trial and error. This gets even worse near the end of the game, when the enemies are much faster and you cannot get a hit in without leading with a parry attack, which requires an extremely precise timed press. SoT allows much more room for skill and flair in its combat, and provides the Prince with a bevy of abilities that actually make fighting scores of monsters easier and less frustrating than the two-on-one battles of PoP. You may have to use more button combinations in SoT, but it creates a much more fun combat style.

The thing that really kept me going with PoP however was the story. I always wanted to know more of what was going on. Even when I got all the achievements for talking to Elika, I continued to do so because the interaction between her and the Prince was easily the most engaging part of the game. The Giant Bombcast from last week or so mentioned their favorite parts of dialogue, and one they mentioned was the game of I Spy that the Prince starts, much to Elika’s chagrin. The way the characters played off each other was very well done, even if the Prince had that tendency to come off as an arrogant ass, but even when he did, Elika called him out on it. Since the dialogue was all optional, I knew I could skip it, but I did not want to, as this world and these characters were something I gained a legitimate interest in. Unlike SoT, in which the narrative is far less engaging, and exists mostly just to explain why you are in a certain section of the palace at that time. I do not care about the relationship between the Prince and Farah as much as I do the Prince and Elika. In fact, the thing that I am most interested in about the Prince is the fact that he arbitrarily rips pieces of his clothing off at seemingly random times, or when he talks to himself occasionally and subsequently calls himself out on it. In the terms of narrative drive, I give the award to the newer PoP.

Here’s the part where I should draw my conclusions, but by now the tally is obviously split, and there’s no other factor to really establish a clear winner, and I think that is the point I’ve been trying to reach all along. These are both great games, but for different reasons. Sands of Time is a really great platformer with a well done combat system, where as Prince of Persia is an amazing looking game with a fantastic story that also happens to be a platformer. The critics simply just shit on the new Prince of Persia because it is not exactly like the old one. Sure I have complaints with it, but at the end of the day it is just as engaging as the old one, albeit for different reasons.

Apples to Apples, Princes to Princes

I decided to write a post before midnight for once, which is rather uncharacteristic of me. Then I started playing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and as a result, this post comes to you after the clock strikes midnight and my laptop turns back into a pumpkin.

So, I started playing Sands of Time a few weeks back on the PC, had PC issues about 12% into the game, and then went out and picked it up for PS2 because I wanted to play the other 88% of the game. Coincidentally, as I got about 50% into SoT, the new Prince of Persia arrived via Gamefly for my Xbox 360. So, I decided to play that one and finished it in a few days. Now, I’m back to Sands of Time, and just got to the 75% point in the game. It was an interesting experience going from one Prince to another, and since it’s an issue of apples to apples, here’s just a few thoughts on comparing the two. PoP will designate the newer title, while SoT will obviously designate the Sands of Time.

First off, SoT excels in the one place the Prince is known for, and that is his platforming ability. While the skill sets between the two Princes largely overlap, the only thing I miss going back to Sands of Time is the gauntlet for sliding down a wall (which I had tried to do earlier tonight when I got back to SoT only to find out harshly that it was not available anymore). What I didn’t miss were the Elika powers. Namely, the one I referred to as Prince the Hedgehog, the green plate, which caused the Prince to run headfirst in a single direction: up. This meant the player controls his horizontal movement, dodging obstacles and enemies, however, the game forces you into quite a bit of trial and error with this section, since you can’t exactly see too far ahead. Most of all though, this detracted from what I wanted to do the most in the game, and that was jump between ropes and walls and platforms. The moves were more gratifying to perform in SoT, simply because it did not simply feel like a series of implied quick time events, where I knew I had to hit only one button to move from one action to the next.

However, PoP may not have mechanics that are up to par with its predecessor, but it really excels in the narrative and graphical directions. I know comparing this generation’s graphics to the last is not necessarily a fair fight, but hear me out. A lot of the environments in SoT are dark palace rooms or caverns, without a lot of glitz and glamour to them. Even as far as PS2 games go, there are other games from 2003 that look better, such as FFX-2 (which is not a good game by any means), but the game is not about style, it is about platforming. The world of PoP is dark and and depraved after the release of Ahriman, and lush and vibrant after Elika begins healing the world. Assassin’s Creed showed a lot of potential in the engine, and I really loved the environments that game created. Coupling that with the distinctive art style of PoP creates a really impressive world that I simply loved exploring just to see the art style and graphical design of the areas. The world had a good sense of openness to it as well, giving me a few issues of GTA-esque “wrong turn” syndrome as I suddenly found myself facing an enemy in combat.

As for the combat and narrative, well…. I’ll leave that for tomorrow (cliffhanger!).

Bite Size 2008: Except, Now It’s 2009

Bite Size 2008 is my wrap-up of moments in games from the past calendar year. The last post in the series, I look into the crystal ball and try to see my gaming future. Check out this listing for the rest of my Bite Size 2008 posts!

Playing Through Classics

I had a span of time in my life where I played literally nothing but JRPGs and watched a shit ton of anime. I played a few other games, but not too many, and those that I did tended to come out of Japan. While the Final Fantasies and Star Oceans were nice then, I missed out on a lot. Hell, I even missed out on JRPGs because I spent most of my attention on Final Fantasy games. Late in the PS2 life cycle, when people started buying Xbox 360s and I was down in the dumps because I could not afford one, I started playing catch up, and I got into the God of War games, and Shadow of the Colossus, and some others, however, this quest was hampered by my purchase of a 360 to call my own. So, with a still growing list of games I should have played, and a bit of a drought in the beginning of 2009, I will be playing some classics. If you look to the “Currently Playing” bar on the right, you’ll see I’ve got Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Half-Life all in there. I grabbed 2/3 of the Sands of Time trilogy as well as Metal Gear 2: Substance and 3: Subsistence during a recent Gamestop sale for 25% off used PS2 games, MGS off of eBay, and HL during the anniversary sale on Steam where it was only a dollar. I’m also going to be borrowing a copy of Hitman: Agent 47 for the PC from a friend of mine so I can check that out as well. I’ve got plenty of catching up to do, but really, I’m not complaining.

 

2008: The Asteroid Belt Year in Gaming

Yes, an asteroid belt. There were big titles and small titles flying by, and you could only hit so many of them. I tried to play all that I could, but I still lagged behind. I started Dead Space in 2008, and it just came to me from Gamefly yesterday, so I plan on finishing it in 2009. I never even got around to touching Mirror’s Edge, Saint’s Row 2, or Far Cry 2. Since Far Cry has seen a price drop recently, I expect that one to be the first one I see of those. I did manage to start and finish the new Prince of Persia in five or six days though, which was interesting considering I was playing Sands of Time right before that. I’d also like to sink my teeth into a PS3 this year, although the purist in me will scour eBay for a 60 GB looking for a new home, since I’d like Emotion Engine backwards compatibility. When that day comes, though, I’ll look forward to playing all of it’s big hits: MGS4 (providing I’ve made it through the others at that point), LittleBigPlanet, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, etc. The theme of 2009 for me seems to be “Playing Catch-Up”. It’s where I’ll probably see the most bang for my buck in my Gamefly membership.

 

Downloadable to my Heart’s Content

There’s plenty of downloadable content coming out in these next few months to get me back into my favorites of 2008. I just finished up the Knothole Island DLC today for Fable 2. That was a bit of a wash, with one achievement that required three hours of slaying civilians and sleeping in order to get a certain vendor to spawn selling a certain item. That was a pain in the ass, but I also felt like I was robbed out of my $10. I actually felt like the Jedi Temple DLC for Star Wars carried a little more weight than this. I won’t let that spoil DLC for me, since I still have the three packs of Fallout 3 DLC, as well as The Lost and the Damned for GTA4, and some DLC apparently coming for Left 4 Dead as well. There’s some MSP spent across the board, so let’s hope it’s all worth the points.

 

 

What the Calendar Year Holds

Well, I already know I won’t be seeing a Final Fantasy this year, so there’s about 100 hours of my life that I get to retain in 2009, but I’ve already stated enough other projects to keep me busy. This year looks to have some interesting titles, but nothing even in the realm of the Fallout 3/Fable 2/GTA4 caliber. Sure, Resident Evil 5 is going to be good, but it is hard to be the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time. Lord of the Rings: Conquest just hit this week, and I’ll be checking that out, though I’m afraid it won’t have the same type of impact that Star Wars: Battlefront 2 did. My friend Joe and I have spent countless hours playing Battlefront 2. We love it so much, when I hooked my PS2 up to my LCD via component cables, and the LCD started dropping the signal during battles to the point where it was unplayable, I ended up buying an Xbox copy so we could play it on the 360 and it’s HDMI cable. There’s always the looming possibility that Battlefront III will be released, but I’m not getting my hopes up for that. If I get that PS3 I’m looking towards, then there’s Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 coming along for that. However, that’s all dreams and aspirations, so who knows where that is in the grand scheme of things. Let’s hope 2009 brings another good year, even if things don’t look so hot now.

 

Done with this series! With the new semester starting, maybe I’ll have some insightful commentary on… something. Cheers, let’s have a good year of gaming.

Bite Size 2008: Lasting Impressions

Bite Size 2008 is my wrap-up of moments in games from the past calendar year. This is the grand poo-bah of the series with my memories of my favorite games of the year. All of these experiences comprise some of the most fun I’ve had playing videogames in the year, and roughly the most of my gaming life. These aren’t in any order, because if you were to ask me to pick just one, I could not. Check out this listing for the rest of my Bite Size 2008 posts!

Reloading!

The Left 4 Dead demo did exactly what a demo should do for a game: it got my friends and I excited to play it. The day the demo hit the marketplace, the first question on everyone’s lips was to ask whether the rest of us had downloaded the demo. We spent a night that weekend playing the demo on split-screen, passing around the controllers. Everyone got a turn, and everyone loved it. I know the game is primarily made for online multiplayer, but a social multiplayer event like we had is something to show the game’s merits. It’s just as much fun to watch as it is to participate in a scenario. Although only one of those friends and I ended up ponying up the cash for the full retail game, it’s still fun to have a couple of people over enjoying the game and the entertainment that it is able to provide.

 

 

Welcome Back to Your Old Home

I’ve already written about Fable II, and so have tons of other people across the web.I’ve commented on the narrative and the characters and the matter of choice. Nowhere did the matters of choice become so prevalent as they did when I swung off the market square in Bowerstone and headed for Bowerstone Old Town. (Spoiler ahead) When my character was simply Little Sparrow, I made the choice to return the deeds, and help the police officer clean up the area. When I returned many years later, I found that the city was bright and sparkling, and the envy of all of Bowerstone. The vendors all cut me significant discounts (which I abused thanks to a General Store shortage), and I was glad to see that the deeds that I did had ramifications that changed an entire city area. It was because of this I saved up until I could buy my first house in the game in Bowerstone Old Town, just because I felt like it was where my character belonged. These were his streets, his people. It gave me a sense of belonging in the world that few other RPGs recreate.

 

Peace Out Playboy

The theme of the year was freedom of choice in videogames. It was a mantra we heard so many press events and developer interviews spout, we hardly had a choice but to hear it. In a year where narrative really took center stage, and allowed the players to shape their worlds in their own manners, the role of the characters in games became even more prominent. Some of my favorite characters of the year came out of Grand Theft Auto IV. My friends and I still quote lines from Roman and Little Jacob, even though most of us finished the game months ago. Almost all of us picked it up on release day, or shortly thereafter. However, I still remember the night we all gathered at our local diner and the conversation came to GTA. Most specifically, whether we killed Dwayne or Playboy X. While we were split (and some of us going so far as to say there was a “right” answer), it showed that games could create a real sense of realism in how we believed these characters. Niko Bellic and company showed us what some real human emotion can do for a story, and it brought my friends and I back to these same discussions every time we had to make a choice like this in the game. Despite some frustrating missions, this was truly one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

 

Breaking into the Shed was a Bad Idea

I’ve already mentioned that I almost hated Fallout 3. Then, I turned around and showed my love for it by creating an in-depth character planning sheet. I may have knocked it a bit when comparing it to Fable II, but when it all comes down to it, I have nothing but love for Fallout 3 and it is easily my #1 game of the year. The world had a lot to see and a lot to do, and it really rewarded players who had that little bit of gumption to color outside the lines, as Mitch Krpata pointed out recently. What I enjoyed was stumbling a little town on the map called Andale. Located in the central Southern area of the map, Andale is a small town with a few buildings, and a couple of families worth of inhabitants with an extremely bright outlook on life. To them, Andale is the best place in the world. However, you realize how far wrong they are once you enter the shed in the backyard. It gives you a glimpse of how people are surviving in the Capital Wastelands, and what it takes for some of them to make ends meet. At that point, you feel sorry for them, and for everyone else in the Wastes since you see how hard it is for people to survive. Moments like these made Fallout 3 an engaging game, and my game of the year.

Next: What 2009 will bring for me, if nothing else.