PLAY READ WRITE: opinion

Phew! I think I'll spare any readers I have left of the daily posts that only contain links to the Manifesto in them. Weekly updates will fit much better. If you're out there and you'd like to contribute to PLAY READ WRITE and help keep it up to date, drop me a line and I'll send you an invite to post on this blog!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Xbox Live Gets A Price Increase This Fall

Friday, August 20, 2010

Portal 2 Footage From Gamescom

This Portal 2 footage from the floor at Gamescom is absolutely stunning. First things first, I'm so happy to see that there are a lot more mechanics being added. Portal may have been worth the full price of a game, but it was not a full experience. I can't wait to see the puzzles.

More importantly? I can't wait to see the narrative! It's been a while since Episode 2 came out and honestly, I need some Valve story telling.

Lastly, I'm going to need a new computer if I have any hopes of running the PC (or Mac) version of this game. I'd hate to swallow my pride and buy a console version of any Valve games, but I know I'm not going to let that get in the way of play Portal 2 when it comes out next year in February.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Gaming Out of Town

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Sakurai says "Once you go 3D, you don't go back"

"Yes this is indeed my first 3D game but I have a feeling that it's going to be hard to go back [to 2D].

"For example when you watch Avatar in 3D you take notice of the 3D element initially but then as the movie goes on you forget about the 3D novelty as your eyes get used to it and simply enjoy it for what it is.

"That's the nature of the way we get used to things as they become familiar. The problem is that when you go back to 2D after 3D it feel sflat. So in terms of game development I would think that going back to 2D after working on a 3D project may be very difficult for me."

While I know there are plenty of people out there who weren't as thrilled with Brawl as they thought they were going to be, I doubt that Sakurai is to blame. Honestly, when you play a game as much as some people played Melee, it'll be hard to follow it up, no matter who you are.

If there isn't a Super Smash Bros. game on the 3DS within the first two years, something has got to be wrong over there in Nintendo's ivory tower.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I want to play The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

This has got to improve upon Twilight Princess.... At least you'd think it would.

It might not become the next best Zelda game, but it'll certainly match the standards set by previous Zeldas. With development started and finished on the Wii, there'll have to be some stunning visuals and gameplay.

I want to play Metroid: Other M

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but I'm truly intrigued by what outside, third-party studios do with first-party Nintendo properties.

Metroid: Other M looks great because, while I love the Metroid gameplay, I've always wanted a more cinematic and guided Metroid game. This is easily one of the biggest reasons to buy a Wii this fall.

I want to play Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Land (for the Game Boy) was another of the first games I owned and played (almost) religiously. I loved it! Donkey Kong Country Returns already has that going for it.

In addition, Retro Studios is doing the work, it looks like there's a ton of action on screen, and co-op play for Jenna and I.

Another key contributing factor to my desire to play Donkey Kong Country Returns? NO MORE WATER LEVELS.

I want to play Kirby's Epic Yarn

I would be remiss if I didn't want to play Kirby's Epic Yarn later this fall.

When I first got my Game Boy back in 1993, Kirby's Dream Land was one of the two games I got with it (Yoshi was the second). I'll always have a soft spot for Kirby, except for in Super Smash Bros. I hate the little pink bastard in those games.

I want to play FlingSmash

FlingSmash was completely off my radar until today. Today? It looks like a fun game I could probably get several hours out of, several more in co-operative play with Jenna.

Wii want you back...

I sold my Wii. So long! I got 200 bucks for it. Sold the console, a second controller and nunchuck and Super Mario Galaxy. It broke my heart. I had to format the drive, effectively wiping the purchasing account with it. So long virtual console games and points!

Now I want a Wii again! A black Wii at that. How far away am I from getting the money together and taking the plunge... AGAIN?!

Apparently Nintendo held a fall preview in New York yesterday. I wasn't there, but hearing about it from various sources has me viewing trailer after trailer on Youtube. I'll be posting trailers of games that I would want to play (should I ever buy another Wii) all day today. Check them out and tell me what you think!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Modern Game Marketing: You got Halo: Reach in my controller!

One of the less-noticeable marketing ploys is the special edition controller. No better way to play Halo than with a Halo T-Shirt, Halo boxer shorts, Halo cereal, and OH! Don't forget the Halo controller.

This little piece of selling-out will run you $60.

That's the price of a game.

A whole game. Never mind if you're buying the ultra-special-edition of Halo: Reach. Shelling out for the controller will probably make your hands feel dirtier than usual, despite the fact that you had to carry the box with the die-cast figures out of Gamestop because they didn't have a bag big enough for you.

Xbox.com revealed this little number before quickly pulling it back. God forbid we spend money on more software this fall. Instead, we'll need this lightly reskinned controller to make guests feel inferior while we enjoy multiplayer.

Modern Game Marketing is a series on how new games, and the corporations behind them, get you to want them.
To read more in PLAY READ WRITE's Modern Game Marketing series, check out the tag!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Narrative in Control

What is about games and narrative these days? Somehow they're improving, subtlely, consistently, trying to snake some sort of pop culture title from movies. In truth, I think gamers, especially those who are quick and willing to jump on the pyres of those who would attack and undermine their beloved medium are the ones who want to compare games to movies.

And it's not complete bull shit for movies to worry and reject games. Games are big business the way movies are big business, and books have business but neither games nor movies will sully their own efforts by thinking books their equal or competitor. When Grand Theft Auto IV released on a Friday, Iron Man and Hollywood shuddered. Obviously they knew what kind of business GTA was capable of, but in the end people see movies AND play games, and both titles saw great audiences.

No, I don't think games are as near to movies as they'd like to be. This forward march of the narrative ability in games has me thinking they they're a lot closer in kinship to books. Mass Effect 2, in particular got me thinking about these similarities, though the same arguments could be made about lots of games, including Uncharted 2 and Assassin's Creed II.

Of course, the character development, the dramatic action, building to a climax and the conclusions afterwards, and the setting are all literary likenesses, but these aspects are not significantly tied to only games and books. These are prerequisites of all storytelling mediums. Building an argument for "games and books" isn't going to reach very far when you consider storytelling techniques as a universal criterium of narrative. Then what is it about games that makes them similar too books?

I believe games are nearer to books in aspects that are not emulated by the rest of the storytelling traditions. Instead, the way games are personal bring them closer in spirit to books. We read books by holding them in our two hands. Games are the same. Whether we are playing a portable system, or clutching an Xbox 360 controller late into the night, we control the medium of games with our hands.

We might not believe that books are as active as games are, especially since games deal so heavily in interaction, but narrative in games is very similar when you consider that books have a form of gating games make more complicated. In a book, you have to turn the page in order to continue the story. What happens when you don't defeat all enemies in a game like Uncharted 2? What happens when you die in Mass Effect 2 (not the ending)? You have to start the encounter again. Dying interrupts the narrative, and is representative of not turning the page. Turning the page is the way we interact with the narrative of a book. Games put this interaction at center stage and sell it even moreso than the narrative. This is the established order, although games like Heavy Rain are bucking this staple of gaming narrative by letting the story continue after a character has already died. The bare bones of it all is that we control the narrative of books in the way we determine when it starts and when it stops. If we never pick up a book without finishing it, what does the narrative do? Dies it sputter and die in our consciousness the way Shephard might die from a flurry of lazed fire?

It is also undeniable that we experience books and narrative games in the same way. We are a solitary audience, whose conciousness is unaffected by a commune of people sitting in the dark. When we finish a game, we can be sure that there are many of us who immediately hop online to share our thoughts on an experience, but the opinion of each player is affected by their individual experiences. How successful were they in dispatching Drake's foes, or did the Shepard the individual commanded use powers or brute force of arms? These fleeting differences in gameplay allow for more personal interaction, and thus draw games closer to books in the ability for one reader to interpret a description of a character different from another reader. This argument could be undermined very easily by disbelief, but how does your impression of a place or person differentiate from another in any given book? The same question is asked of players and the tactics they may use in completing any objectives laid in front of them of any different game. How did you beat this section? How did you get to this area?

I may be full of shit, but I know that drawing this connection has enriched my experience in both literary and interactive works of art of late. If you have any thoughts, please leave them in the comments.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Modern Warfare 2 "Daily Glitch Report"

While I don't actually plan on doing a daily glitch report for anyone playing Modern Warfare 2, but it almost seems appropriate at this point. Everyday some new exploit, glitch, or maligned game mode pops up. Of course, no amount of pre-release play time would uncover the multitude of exploits the gaming community could dig up.

Now that the Javelin glitch has been fixed, a new method of cheating every game of MW2 you wander into has found its way to every match I seem to join. This new glitch involves unlimited care packages, or emergency air drops, whichever you manage to get ahold of. I haven't bothered to look up exactly how to use the glitch to your team's delight, but I've seen it performed more times than can be accounted for.

one match, a team mate wracked up enough kills to obtain an emergency airdrop, and immediately laid down in spawn, tossing the red smoke-spewing canisters that signal the drop point for as many crates as can be dropped within the match time-limit. At first, some of the team mates rejoiced and picked up as many crates they could get, but hardly any of them actually managed to play to the objectives the game specified. This made for a lowly match.

Personally, the entire process was extremely distracting and disturbing from the actual gameplay it requires to win a match under any circumstances. The airstrikes were endless, the choppers buzzing overshadowed every gun shot, and the mindless team mates waited around like sitting ducks for crates that merely replenished their ammo. What the fuck is wrong with people?

Honestly, these kinds of exploits ruin the game on so many levels. I'll return to Modern Warfare 2 after I hear these glitches have been fixed... thought I wonder how much time I'll actually be able to play before something else makes me want to run away in fear and loathing.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Too old for Mario or too bored of Mario?

Stephen Totilo wrote a sort of introspective look at why adults play Mario games and it got me thinking about the plumber and why I think I've sort of burned out on the Nintendo mascot over the past few years.

Of course, it seems like a Mario game is released every other month these days, whether it be a Mario sports game, a new platformer in 3D, a new platformer in 2D, a remake of an older Mario game, or even a Mario RPG. All those different ways of playing the venerable platforming hero is enough to give any seasoned gamer a sense of fatigue. Hasn't Nintendo realized they're saturating the market?

The accessibility of Mario to gamers both young and old is certainly a selling point for the Nintendo business, as noted by Totilo and company, but it all comes out to being a little much for me. Having a character that can be exploited so readily and regularly makes that character a bit like white noise. If there's always a Mario game coming out, why should I care about any one specific title?

It doesn't help that the basic formula hasn't varied very drastically over the years. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Mario for leading the way in 3D platforming (and, consequentially, open world gaming), but now what does he do?

Long has the Mario name been slapped on games that might not sell so well under normal circumstances. Think back to Super Mario Bros. 2 and the vast changes in gameplay. Anyone in the know will tell you that the original title of that NES cart was Doki Doki Panic in Japan. Big N knows when to put an original title out and when to spray a fine coat of unoriginality over games (Spoiler Alert: Never!). (Consequentially, they also know not to sully the Mario name with terrible games all the time either).

That's what really brought me to this point in my gaming life. Long have I been a single console gamer, sticking with the Nintendo platform of the time. I opened a Nintendo 64 on Christmas years ago and never owned a Playstation. The Dreamcast, Xbox, and Playstation 2 all enticed me, but I relied on friend for time on those other consoles. I bought my Gamecube in a bundle from Costco. In my first year of college I lined up for what I thought ws going to be the biggest "Revolution" gaming was going to see, and picked up the Wii on day 1. I was happy and entertained by my purchase, but frustrated with the immature online structure. I wanted to play with friends while we were off at college. I decided to become a dual console owner and purchased an Xbox 360.

Little time passed before I realized I wasn't playing the Wii and that it's quality title all consisted of a similar theme: Nintendo's first-party mascot line up.

I guess as I've grown, I still appreciate what Mario has done for me and for gaming, but my senses have been lightly dulled from the constant shaking of the Mario money tree.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I let Alenko die...

I've been trying my best to continue through Mass Effect (the first), especially as Mass Effect 2 is being received so very well, and my connection to my party has been made deeply. I labored long over whether I should head to aid Liutenant Alenko on Virmire or handle the situation at the bomb site.

Of course, in the end, I decided to make the trek backwards and check on the nuke set to blow Saren's Krogan army back to hell. I had fit Kaidan into my party throughout the entire game, but I didn't know I'd be forced to finish with Rex instead. I guess I'm more concerned with whether or not I'll still get the achievement for using Alenko through my first playthrough.

Honestly, I just chose Alenko because he was one of the first party members I encountered. I know that's boring, but whatever, I'm going to play through again with different party memebers for different achievements, but even so, I hated leaving someone behind. Is my connection to Alenko and my feeling of loss directly connected to my experiences with the character over the course of the plot or my experience as the hero, Shephard? Do I really care about Alenko or do I care about my record as the commander?

I'd have to say it's more about me than him. Kaidan was a good fighter, but I did feel like I did a little too much hand holding and I think I miss the equipment Alenko died wearing more than I miss his skills as a fighter. It didn't help Alenko that his stories were boring and his voice actor was just kind of bland.

I'm on my way through to the end though. Ilos looms in the distance, and the events on Virmire only make me wonder if I'll be losing another team mate soon.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Mass Effect 2 or Bioshock 2?

I have two games that I haven't finished, and both of them having sequels releasing in the next month. This is quite the dilemma.

I've had Bioshock since its release, originally on PC, and later on Xbox 360. Owning two copies of the game doesn't really guarantee that I ever finished it though. Maybe it was the prospect of starting it a second time (or third or fourth if you count my playthroughs of the original demo), that never really got me through. Something about the combat or the way I'm constantly running out of ammo, or the scare tactics just turned me off from the game. I was definitely in to the plot, and I know I wanted to keep playing to see what happened, but it was just taking so long to get through. I'd get lost, or run out of money, ammo, or health (or all three at the same time), and get frustrated. Then of course, something else came out and I stopped playing Bioshock. With the sequel on its way, and my having already played through a healthy chunk of the opening act, my interest is piqued, but there's a challenger on the horizon.

Mass Effect found its way into my hands, specifically because of its impending sequel. I had never played the original, but after seeing a demo presentation of Mass Effect 2, my interest skyrocketed. When I had some walking around money at Gamestop, I picked up a used copy of the first ME and have since made my way through the first two planets. Of course, having to back track due to failures and not saving or the game freezing on me has certainly made it difficult to pick back up and finish. With Mass Effect 2's release on the very near horizon, I'm wondering if I want to pick up the original and get through it to enjoy the next installment. Of course, it hasn't helped that I've been spending a lot of time on MW2's multiplayer in an effort to get to level 70, or that I've also got The Ballad of Gay Tony and Bayonetta to play through.

So what'll it be? While I'm in southern California, and before school starts up again, I'm determined to beat one of the originals to 2010's anticipated sequels. If you're reading PLAY READ WRITE today, let me know what you think and drop a line in the comments.