All Entries Tagged With: "Editorial"

Why MAG is Essentially a $60 Beta

I know what you’re thinking. You just read the title above and thought to yourself “who in the name of Jim Sterling wrote this drivel?” and to that, all I have to say is… relax. Not only is what you’re about to read pro Zipper Interactive, it is also very much pro Sony. Just read on.

The Rise and Fall of My Sony Obsession

As a kid growing up in a small town in Iowa, all I had as far as game systems goes was the classic NES and SNES that my parents had purchased for us. After that it was the let-down that was the N64. So, I basically grew up a Nintendo fanboy, because that is what I got started on. If it was between an SNES and a Sega Genesis, I would have gone SNES all the way. Even though I did enjoy some Sega games, I really only got to play them at my cousin’s place, and he lived in Florida. So, once a year or so, we would make the trip down there and I would play his Sega Genesis with him until the wee hours of the morning.

One of the games I immediately attached myself to in those early days was Final Fantasy III (which was really VI, but you know that story) for the SNES. My brother and I spent days huddled together in front of a small TV taking turns playing it. This began my Final Fantasy obsession and desire to play and experience all RPGs in general, but it also, unknown to me at the time, secretly jump-started my future fanboyism toward Sony’s world-devouring console line-up that was to come.

Immersion: Where Heavy Rain Fails

I love Heavy Rain, I really do. It contains an interesting story with an ever-changing plot line that adapts based on player input. Entire chunks of the story are added or removed based on whether a character lives or dies. The control scheme, while it takes some getting used to, works well to allow the player to make those decisions in a fairly life-like and logical manner. The characters themselves, sans any voice acting faux pas, are deep, memorable and really do a good job of getting you to relate to them throughout the story.

The problem with the game is that it doesn’t meet the standards of giving you the full, immerse experience like the developers expect it to, at least for me. While it gets many things right and what it does get right makes for a very enjoyable experience throughout, it just doesn’t succeed in making me a part of the world. There are good and bad sides to this, as I will explain.

Lavish Gear for Newborn Gamers

One week ago today a miracle happened – my sister-in-law gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl.  This girl was special and she is destined to be spoiled because she is the first niece and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  In fact, she was spoiled almost right away, because she was given two middle names, unlike everyone else in the immediate family on both sides.  During my approximately twelve hours spent at the hospital that day waiting for this little bundle of joy, I got thinking about things I would buy for my own child, if there ever is one.  While my brother and sister-in-law aren’t gamers, what would I buy for a gamer baby?  Someone who would grow up with at least some influence from his or her father’s hobby?

With that in mind, I got to scouring the Interwebs for cool outfits, toys or other odds-and-ends that would make my hypothetical child the envy of every gamer baby in town.  I spent hours doing Google searches on the subject and was both disappointed and elated.  Let’s start with the good – there is an amazing amount of geek- and gamer-related clothing for newborns, toddlers, young children older.  The bad?  That’s about all there is.  When I started out, I was hoping to find bottle designs, mobile ornaments, crib bedding and other such things with gaming-related patterns or characters.  I found none of that.  But, I did find quite a few outfits with cleaver phrases on them that I thought I’d share.

You may have seen some of these or may not have, but I thought they were right up my alley and I would most likely be proud to parade my hypothetical son or daughter around in them.  So, let’s take a look at what I came up with, just in case there are any new fathers or mothers out there who might take a liking to having some of this swag for their kids.

First of all, some bibs – there were quite a few on CafePress if you search for the right thing (usually a Google search brings these up pretty high on the list).  Probably my favorite one, which shows the MMO side of me, is a bib that has a graphic printed on it with the text “Mommy, I’m OOM“.  Naturally, the OOM stands for “Out of Mana”…er, sorry, “Out of Milk”.  Works perfect, eh?  That just barely beat out the bib that says, “Breastmilk for teh Win” in my book.  (I can see the Google searches that bring up this post now, since it has the word “breastmilk” in it…oh, the fun.)

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out this bib that takes me back to my youth, at least according to my parents.  I used to be a drooler.  I drooled all the time and over everything within three feet of my face.  Thus, the “l33t Drooler” bib would have fit me perfectly 31 years ago.  My parents would get a kick out of that, I’m sure.

There are a massive amount of one-piece “crawlers” out there with nifty little gaming-related phrases on them (and some not-so-gaming related but still in the realm of geek humor).  This seems to be where the majority of people end up if they look for gamer stuff for newborn babies.  I picked out a few of my favorites.

Again, as a nod to my trek through many an MMO, here’s one with the text “Lvl 1 Baby LFP“.  Take a moment to figure out what “LFP” stands for.  If you can’t figure it out, here’s a hint:  It starts with “pac” and ends with “ifier”.  Ok, ok, that was lame.  Still, it’s rather humorous, don’t you think?  Then there’s the Mario-related “Baby’s First Power-Ups” outfit.  Knowing me, my hypothetical child would “power-up” and beat beat down his father both in-game and in real life.  Finally, possibly my favorite gamer one-piece is the Portal reference in this one – “Where Babies Come From“.  If this was all that is involved in the birth of a little gamer, I would have no horrible anxiety attack just thinking about being in the same room when the baby is born.

Before I leave the realm of baby clothes, I’d also like to point out that, if none of the above suit your fancy, or you can’t find anything to dress your little rugrat exactly how you want, you can always design your own, like this baby Link outfit.  You run the risk of “normal” parents calling child services and claiming child endangerment, though.

Last weekend I got to see my niece’s nursery completely finished for the first time.  It made me think of how I would decorate the nursery for my kid (again, hypothetical).  Perhaps something like this Space Invaders wall-art.  It’s simple, colorful and highly customizable.  What more could you want for a room that is supposed to be a happy, colorful place?

Finally, yet another MMO reference in this teddy bear, which assumes the mother is a gamer, but is cute nonetheless – “Mommy’s Lil Alt Power Leveler“.

Seen enough yet?  Good, because that’s about all I could find.  Like I mentioned at the outset, a lot of the cooler things I was hoping for I could not find.  I’m so tempted to get at least something from this list for my niece, even though neither of her parents are gamers or geeks.  It must be something that they can “get” easily without being a gamer.  Any recommendations from the readers?  (Hint: It doesn’t have to be something I listed here.)  Also, if anyone knows of any other gamer-related baby gear, feel free to link to it in the comments below, you never know when it might come in handy for a new gamer parent.

Why Do We Need Genre Labels?

As many of you may know from reading my past articles, I’m a huge advocate of Japanese RPGs. I’m quick to defend the genre, but I’m also not unreasonable about its flaws, even though what constitutes a “flaw” is widely subjective. In fact, I’m a huge fan of RPGs in general, regardless of origin. While other genres may be fairly black and white as to what is and what isn’t considered to be part of it, RPGs tend to have more gray areas than most, simply because it can be argued that nearly every game we play we take on the role of someone or something – from sports games to military shooters to platformers with a rolly-polly ball-type creature bouncing around the screen. Perhaps it can be argued that games like Dragon Age: Origins and Final Fantasy XIII are “real” RPGs because you have nearly full control over an individual character’s stats, leveling path, abilities and overall direction in a game, you aren’t just controlling a character through a story. However, is that all that sets those titles apart from, let’s say, Metal Gear Solid, God of War or Modern Warfare? Those games have a mix of RPG-like elements, as well, while not necessarily concentrating completely on the depth of individual character stats that straight RPGs may.

Needless to say, the gaming industry as a whole has taken a rather liberal stance toward what is considered an RPG and what is not. It seems to come down mostly to personal opinion. Do you consider Borderlands an RPG? It has more shooter elements than RPG elements, yet the loot whoring and character progression are of RPG origin. What about Mass Effect 2? The second title in the series seems to have progressed to a straight shooter with an amazing, engrossing story and intriguing character development, stripping away the game mechanics that brought about the first title’s classification. I can name a dozen other genre mash-ups that could be considered either/or when you confine them to a certain genre.

When we have these combinations of genres, we tend to create all new genres, just pulling names out of thin air to describe a game. The developer may coin the “new” genre and claim they’re the first to conceive of a game like that (in most cases they aren’t) or it may be labeled by the industry or consumer to best describe exactly what a title is. “Stealth action third-person shooter” is the genre MGS4 apparently belongs to, yet you never see any other title described in such a way (although Splinter Cell: Conviction might end up falling into this “genre”, perhaps?). Does it stand in a genre all by itself? Are the developers really that arrogant? It’s a third-person action game, make no mistake.

So, my inquiry is this: Do we really need a genre label to tell us what a game is? A game is supposed to be fun over everything else and, if it is indeed fun, who cares what abstract naming conventions we place on it. Does the fact that Konami came up with some random new genre off the top of their heads to describe the Metal Gear Solid franchise matter when the games are enjoyed by millions? Do those millions care about what genre their game is labeled when they’re having such a good time playing it?

Bioware stripped nearly everything that could be used to label Mass Effect 2 an RPG out of the game. It is basically now a third-person shooter driven heavily by story and character development. Most people consider “story” and “shooter” in the same sentence to be an oxymoron, because the “story” in shooters typically falls flat. People play shooters for the multi-player aspect usually, and the story is nothing more than a quick undertaking to pass the time when you have no one else to play with. I did consider the first Mass Effect an RPG, but I would have to admit that I don’t consider the second one the same. It’s a third-person shooter, straight up. Does that make the game any less fun for me? Should it? No, on both accounts. The game is quite possibly one of the best games I’ve ever played and, like I said, I’m typically more of a JRPG junkie than anything, and Mass Effect 2 is just about as far from that genre as you can get. To use a couple other examples, does the fact that Fallout 3 and Borderlands are, for all intents and purposes, first-person shooters, bother people who really enjoy the game and their deeper RPG elements? Doubtful. Who cares? Those games are fun!

I’ll admit that I have fallen under the group of people who balk at games like Borderlands being considered for “RPG of the Year” awards, because I don’t really consider it an RPG in the truest sense of the label, as applied to video games. (PnP RPG fans back off, we’re not talking about the origin of RPGs or anything outside the realm of the term as it is applied to modern video games.) Yet, the more I think about it, the more I realize that genre labels don’t really matter, to be quite honest. It would be nice if, on some level, the industry as a whole recognizes this fact. Perhaps it is the need to categorize things, to have some vague sense of organization. After all, during award shows like the shoddy Spike TV Video Game Awards, we wouldn’t have as many categories to waste time with if we didn’t specifically categorize titles into genres. It’s getting to the point I think Modern Warfare (or a similar title) will show up in the “RPG of the Year” category one of these days.

Although, I will have to say, one thing genre mash-ups do, at least for me, is interest me in widening out in my game playing. Perhaps I’ll try more shooters because of Mass Effect 2. Perhaps a shooter fan will try more story-driven RPGs because of it, as well.

So, I’ll turn this question over to our readers – does a game’s genre matter to you if the game itself is fun? As I discussed above, I’m getting to the point myself where it doesn’t matter. Some games I will like, others I won’t. It isn’t because of the genre necessarily, it is about what hooks me, what is fun for me, what just “works” for me. Naturally, it is all personal opinion and choice. That being said, let’s hear what you have to say on the matter, I can’t have the only opinion out there.

The Ideal Gaming Chair

When gaming, it is important to make sure that you have a powerful gaming rig. A nice big TV or monitor is a must-have, also you have to have your powerful PC or console of choice, headsets are also important for online play. When you are gaming, one of the most important things is comfort. Your gaming space shouldn’t be too hot or too cold, and you need something to keep your game-playing ass comfortable, so let’s talk about chairs and what are the imperatives to keeping your bum warm and comfortable (keep in mind this is my ideal chair).

First and foremost, let’s deal with the material. We have our choice of cloth or leather. Personally, I prefer cloth since leather sucks when it is cold and when it’s hot. The next thing is armrests, do we get a chair with armrests or without. I think that armrests are nice if you need more relaxation to help you through those long cut scenes in a game like Metal Gear Solid, but they aren’t imperative. As someone who uses their gaming chair as their guitar practicing chair as well, I do not like armrests. Let’s talk about the specifics of the chair.

A gaming chair has to be something that will put you on eye level with your monitor you want to make sure that you have the best viewing experience when playing. Not being able to see your whole screen well could become the difference between life and death in some games. I remember when I worked at Target and Best Buy years ago, there were gaming chairs that were glorified rockers that would just lay on your ground and you could lay on them, some had speakers built in. These chairs were pure 100% garbage. Who wants to lay down when they game? The one way I CANNOT game is laying down, whether it be in bed or on my floor. If you lay down when gaming (console gaming, not handhelds), then you have some sort of issue, because that is not the way that you will play your best.

Wheels or no wheels? Most computer desk type chairs will have wheels, although I never roll around when I’m on my computer. I think wheels are unnecessary, especially if this chair is going to be your dedicated gaming chair.

The inspiration for thinking about my dream gaming chair came from when my brother had knee surgery this week. When he came home from the hospital he had a walker, crutches, and something that caught my eye. He came home with a chair that made me realize, there were ways that I could be an even lazier bastard. If anyone remembers the World of Warcraft episode of South Park, there is a scene where Eric Cartman intercoms his mom screaming bathroom and she brings a bedpan and Cartman commences taking a projectile shit. Well, the chair my brother brought home has a toilet built in. Pair that with the fact that I have the maturity level of a 10 year old, and that is how my dreams are born.

So let’s review here, my ideal gaming chair would cloth with no armrests or wheels and I would be able to take a shit while gaming (Don’t judge me!). In the comments section let me know what your ideal gaming chair would be, or you can just talk shit about how I am lazy and fat because I want to be able to take a dump and not stop gaming.

Top Ten Games Made by Historical Figures: Games SIX and FIVE

What if we lived in an alternate universe where the production and direction of video games was overseen not by a cabal of short-sighted, money-hungry cretins in suits, but was instead the domain of history’s most creative and all-around worthwhile human beings?  What if the production of great, memorable games was no longer an accident, but was a regular occurrence easily replicated through common sense and creative insight?  What if we could get rid of all the people who come along and ruin great franchises (like the guys who ran Silent Hill into the ground, or the Terminator movies, or whoever ruined every single Legacy of Kain game after the first one) and replace them with creative, remarkable individuals like the surrealist Salvador Dali (who wasn’t afraid to merge modern themes with old-school talent), or the Hellenic warrior-poet Homer, or the man who devoted his genius to the art of death and taught the world to live in fear because he had no other way to express his talent – J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb?

It would be a world in which gamers would no longer repeat the often-heard phrase, “I could do better than that.”  As we count down the hypothetical list of Top Ten Games Made by Historical Figures, this week we have games SIX and FIVE.  The former is a controversial title directed by none other than The True Son of God, and the latter is a sandbox action game created by Anton Szandor Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan and the “bad boy” of organized religion.

NUMBER SIX

Logos
by
The True Son of God

An excerpt from DualShocker’s interview with one of the producers of Logos (name withheld):

“We wanted to make a game so controversial that just by hearing about it people would start screaming uncontrollably, and would have difficulty writing their congressmen because their hands would be shaking so bad.

“The industry had run out of controversial subject matter.  Controversy had become cliche.  We knew we had to take things to the next level.  We heard about one company who kidnapped someone and held them for years and told them they wouldn’t let them go until they’d made a video game.  It took the victim years to learn how to code and eventually make a game, and the final product did pretty well as far as download-only games go.  Everyone involved went to prison, too, so all the news about the trials was like free advertising.  So we wanted to kind of go in that direction.

“So we hired the One True Son of God to direct our next project.”

A Graven Image

DualShockers: Why was the name of the messiah who headed development of Logos never revealed?

X: We kept his identity a secret so as not to upset the balance of the world’s religions [one of which he started through his non-gaming activities].  There are limits of decency when it comes to marketable forms of controversy.  Besides, we want to make great games, not engulf the world in religious warfare.

DS: How was it working with him?

X: Scary.  Just f**king scary.  Graven images of him really don’t do him justice.  But he spoke of video games as one who had authority, so we followed his lead.  And he was really excited about making this racing game he’d been thinking about for a while.

A Graven Image

DS: How did the public take it?

X: Oh, everything was great at first.  Great hype.  Substantial hype.  Everyone thought this guy was going to be Neo, he was going to wake us up to the truth.  We thought – and it kind of seemed this way for a while – that he was going to be this unending source of new memes.  He would make the world a place of wit, a utopia of in-jokes… you know, like being inside a cultural Singularity, with him directing the entertainment.  Things were moving fast, and man, if you ever went to sleep for a full eight hours, you’d wake up in a completely new world.  Meme-wise, I mean.  Like everything that happened the day before, which we thought was cool, was quickly photoshopped in an even more refreshing manner, and made both laughable and amazing.  Ah.  But we were wrong!

A Graven Image

DS: How were you wrong?

X: In terms of this big truth he was going to show us, we figured out pretty quick that all he wanted to do was make everyone feel bad and hurt our feelings by calling us all liars.  The first hint of it we got was when someone asked him about the “perfect” video game.  They wanted to know how you’d go about making it.  And he said to them, “The perfect video game is within.” (Eyes widen in mock shock.)  Did it piss everyone off?  Better believe it!  He was implying that video games, like any art form, are entirely subjective.  It was a slap in the face to the “objective numerical scoring” community.

X (continued): Then things got… weird.  During lunch one day, he decides to snub the code monkeys and the graphic designers, and he sits with the PR [public relations] people.  We asked him what was up, and he says, “I did not come for the geeks and the nerds, but for the technologically illiterate.”  That got out, and before you know it, all the nerds turned against him.

DS: And how was the game?

X: It was a racing game.  It was alright.

A Graven Image

DS: Just alright?

X (There is a long pause of at least four minutes.  It is obvious the producer is under great duress.): If a racing game could be described as a survival horror game, then that’s what Logos was.  It had the same sense of unease.  The feeling of scarcity.  There was always this nagging feeling that you were never quite going in the right direction.

END.

NUMBER FIVE

Lex Talionis:
The Rule of Law
by
Anton Szandor LaVey

Not to be outdone by “establishment” religions and sales figures generated by Logos, Anton Lavey, creator of the world’s most hated religion, produced a game built around the philosophy of the social movement known as the Church of Satan.

The narrative that drives the open-world sandbox game is as follows: In the near future, crime is out of control due to scarcity and a weak economy, elected officials steal money and start wars with shocking regularity, and the common man’s philosophy of “forgive and forget” does nothing to stem the corruption.  “Keep working,” says the CEO of the Vatican, “and things will surely get better.”

A coup is staged.  Las Vegas, the “City of Sin,” is taken over by a cabal of wealthy elitists and a private army of well-dressed commando goons.  As the former mayor’s body is fished out of a garbage dump, the city’s new self-titled Black Prince announces that all police should find new employment, that all churches will be subject to taxation, and that all dullards and half-wits should leave the city while they still can.

Enter the player character, a black-clad, automatic rifle-wielding knight in the service of the Lex Talionis, the police force of the ruling class.  It is the player’s job to ruthlessly enforce the city’s new laws in the most economically feasible way possible.  This means expensive stays in prison are replaced with beatings and public humiliation, theft is repaid by economy-boosting forced labor, and crowd-pleasing public executions are held for murderers.  The military-police of the Lex Talionis tend to concentrate on enforcing only a few key laws in order to protect the happiness and wealth of the individual citizen, rather than get bent out of shape trying to enforce a large number of incredibly complicated laws.

A Satanic Ritual

In the Devil’s City, the illusion of equality in society is stripped away.  The player and his comrades are expected to respect the rich and the talented, but to treat everyone else – especially the needy – like scum.  Lex Talionis came under harsh scrutiny from critics especially because of its treatment of the homeless.  “Probably the most depraved part of the game,” said one critic, “is the mission in which the player is expected to ‘clear out’ homeless people from an area, at the request of some rich person, using pretty much any means deemed necessary.”  Only a few critics admitted this part of the game was “incredibly fun” and “spiritually cleansing”.

But critics did praise the “karma” system of Lex Talionis.  “Rather than have the player choose between kissing someone’s ass to receive good-guy-points, or spitting a string of expletives in some NPC’s face in order to gain bad-guy-points,” noted one rabid fan, “Lex Talionis simply rewards the player for treating the weak with disdain and for currying the favor of the powerful, which is pretty much how things are done anyway, so you can’t fault it for not being realistic.”

The game’s cutscenes are filled with unflinchingly honest social commentary.  During an election, one politician admits that he will steal as much money as he can but adds that he wouldn’t steal as much as his opponent, meanwhile the opposing politician swears that he is not interested in stealing money, but only wants power over others.  He hands out copies of his IQ test results (which are admittedly impressive) in order to win votes.  When a third politician runs a campaign based on helping the needy and somehow lowering taxes while increasing government programs, he is laughed out of the race as a buffoon and a snake oil-selling charlatan.

A Satanic Lineup

Some noteworthy missions include…

HEADBANGER’S BALLS: Charles Monroe, front man for legendary death metal band Depressing Funeral, plans to hold an amazing concert followed by a round of public executions in your fair city.  Reverend Lovesick, mad with power and desperate to ruin everyone’s fun, makes an asinine prediction that the world will end if the concert is held.  The apocalyptic prediction brings out the crazies, and the band is harassed by ticking time bomb do-gooders babbling lines from the holy books of popular religion (as psychopaths tend to do).  You and a few hand-picked commandoes must escort the band in their convoy of limousines, blasting anyone who gets in the way.  The concert has also been heavily infiltrated; with metal blasting in the background, your crew of goons will have to gun down the crazies, spraying fans with blood and turning mosh pits into something like spinning garbage compactors full of raw hamburger.  To make matters worse, some hydrocephalic idiot with a learning disability thought it would “toughen up” the band’s image if they got the Hell’s Angels to act as security.  You will have to deal with these drunken louts the same way the Lex Talionis deals with all violent cretins: By caving in their skulls and looking good while doing it.

BLACKEST OF THE BLACK: In a completely predictable turn of events, history’s cruelest and most bottom-line oriented organization – the C.I.A. – infiltrates the legalized recreational drug production facilities of the Devil’s City and uses them to fund their own private wars and black budget operations.  It will be up to the player to infiltrate the masters of infiltration, and to evade kidnap and torture long enough to pit one against the other until finally everyone becomes so confused as to who is working for who that the enemies of Hell end up waterboarding one another with nothing to show for it.

VENUS RISING: In a sci-fi twist, a group of humanoid aliens claiming to be diplomats crash their ship in the desert.  They will soon die without assistance.  The problem?  Politicians, scientists, and soldiers from the outside world are moving to intercept them.  They plan to greet the aliens warmly, with open arms, then invite more of the aliens for one big intergalactic group hug – which, according to your boss the Black Prince, is about the best way to show an alien species they are dealing with a race of weaklings who deserve to be conquered.  It will be the player’s job to sneak behind enemy lines, intercept the crashed space craft before anyone else, then brutalize the aliens so badly that they would rather die than return to earth.  Of course, any guilt felt by the player is soon squashed when the aliens, under duress, admit they were scouting the earth to see how easily it could be conquered.

A Sexy Satanic Ceremony: Bring the Kids

The final third of the game is about the battle to fend off invading soldiers from the outside world.  Much like a modern-day 300, the elite badasses of the Lex Talionis must fight for what they believe in (which just so happens to be “evil”) against overwhelming forces who fight because they will go to prison if they do not (also known as the “good guys”).  In the end, the Devil’s City stands poised to lead the world into a terrifying new age.  A world in which thieves, murderers, and rapists are viciously beaten in public, but drug enthusiasts, jay walkers, businessmen who don’t have this-or-that license up to code, blasphemers, and sexually promiscuous consenting adults are allowed to walk free.

It was, as one critic noted, “… a chilling image of a world gone mad.”

Click the banner below to read our previous installment of Top Ten Games Made by Historical Figures: TEN and NINE: Jung and Vlad the Impaler.

Click the banner below to read our previous installment of Top Ten Games Made by Historical Figures: EIGHT and SEVEN: Founding Fathers of America and Dr. John C. Lilly, professional mad scientist.

Off the Grid: Final Fantasy X-2

For initially not wanting to cover anything with the words “Final Fantasy” in the title in this column, I sure seem to lean in that direction often. But, contrary to popular belief, not everything with those iconic words printed in colorful ink across the game case is instantly a fan favorite. I think we can agree here that the sequel to the amazing Final Fantasy X is one such title. I’m not writing about it here because it sold horribly – quite the contrary, actually. It sold very, very well. But, I’m writing to kind of hit my thoughts on some of the reasons many people seemed to not enjoy it. I don’t think a lot of gamers were too thrilled at the prospect of closing up the lose ends and rectifying the somber mood we were left with at the end of FFX, for one reason or another. Not this fanboy. To be perfectly honest, after finishing up FFX I was about ready to fly over to Square-Enix HQ and stab whoever wrote this story in the eye with a spork. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of bittersweet endings.

MW2 DLC is Now an Expansion?! What Happened To 2 Map Packs?

Wow, how quickly do we forget?  I know as gamers we normally have pretty short attention spans because we all live in the now, but seriously how hasn’t anyone picked up on this yet? I am the only one who can recall back to MSoft’s E309 Keynote, which left 360 fanboys reaching for the sky in victory and Sony fan’s groaning in the corner. This was all following the announcements of 2 timed exclusive map packs (not an exclusive timed expansion) headed to the 360 first. Don’t take my word for it just look around online, if you seek you shall find what I say to be true. Just check out the quote below!

“Developer Infinity Ward today took the stage at Microsoft’s E309 Media Briefing, announcing that the Xbox 360 will receive two downloadable map packs before any other platforms”

[ Chris Faylor VIA Shacknews June 1,2009]

Well, what’s changed then since then you ask? Oh not that much, just that Sony has Slimmed down the size of PS3. They have also provided the much needed price break that both the public as well as publishers were calling for; bringing the price of the system down to the impulse buy price of $299. And not to mention they’ve managed to move 3.8 Million units in a month. They have 38 million registered PSN users, compared to Xbox Live’s 20 million subscribers (half of which are gold members).

While I’m sure those who consider themselves as part of the 360 camp are now quickly reaching for the latest NPD results, to check the difference in MW2 sales. One thing that those people need to take into account that both Amazon and Walmart are not accounted for on that survey. That 4-1 sales ratio in favor to MS, may in reality not be as big of a difference. Now this is all going on theory, but has Activision actually gone as far as changing the details of the deal, as the climate in the console war seems to be shifting? Microsoft may still have secured the timed exclusive, but why is it now refereed to  as an expansion when it was “2 map packs” less then a year ago? This may be a bit of a reach, but last we all heard it was all map pack this and map pack that. Now we have the word expansion, and that sounds nothing like map pack!

I don’t think that’s too much of a reach, but I want to hear what you the reader thinks! Let us know in the comments section!

Remembering Your Roots: Metal Gear Solid

Over the past few days, I have been on a fantastic voyage. It is actually the yearly expedition to gaming nirvana. On the first day of every year I begin my quest, pop in my favorite game of all time, and plop down on my most beloved recliner. When the familiar Playstation logo pops up, I can never do anything else but smile and imagine a return to years past. To watch the opening cinematic where Snake is launched out of the submarine and on his way to Shadow Moses Island brings back so many memories it’s hard not to reminisce.

And that is only the beginning, after I finish Metal Gear Solid, I immediately get started on the sequels. It typically takes me under a week to play through them, but this year I added a PS3 to my gaming arsenal. So I will finally get to play the entire story arc all the way through, so I am especially excited for my annual expedition to MGSland.

I think I enjoy this outing so much for lots of reasons, not only for the reason that Meryl Silverburgh is a smoking hot fox, but I think the main one is what MGS represents to me. MGS was the first game that I can remember, that I played RELIGIOUSLY. I still remember playing the demo that came from some kind of Pizza Hut promotion, I’m pretty sure MediEval and Gran Turismo 2 were also on the demo, but I kept playing the MGS demo. It consisted of 2 rooms, the subroom where Snake first shows up on Shadow Moses Island, and the helicopter pad. I also remember that in the demo the Nikita missle launcher was hidden in the truck near the helipad, I remember that because in the full version I jumped in the truck looking for the launcher to blow some shit up but my beloved SOCOM was there instead. The fact that I still remember so much from the game is a testament to how amazing this game truly is.

Other than the fact of me playing the game religiously, I think it is important to revisit the roots and see where it all started for me. Sure, I had played lots of Nintendo, super Nintendo, Genesis and other playstation games, but I had never really dove into them the way I did with MGS. With MGS I enjoyed the way you could play and there were multiple paths you could take, you could run in guns blazing and hope you shot your way out or you could choke the shit out of a patrolling guard. Not to mention the interrogation room where you decide the fate of Meryl. This game just left me in awe all the time, there are so many amazing sequences that I could argue myself into the insane asylum trying to name the top 10. It really changed the way I thought about games and made me take a much closer look at the caliber of games I decided to play. So I think that MGS really helped me become reinvented as a gamer and discover the real roots of my gaming passion.

I feel the biggest reason as to why this is the game that I consider my roots, is that I use it as my benchmark for what makes an excellent game. Sure, the graphics haven’t aged well but everything else has withstood the test of time. The other components are still among the best of the best of any game, in any genre of any time. Especially the characters that are within the story because anyone can connect with them and watch them grow throughout the incident at Shadow Moses Island. Due to how much we connected and cared about the characters during MGS is exactly why Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was so emotional with an ending that brought tears to the eyes of even some of the most hardcore gamers I know.

With many great games coming out in the first few months, not to mention the rest of 2010 I challenge the readers of this site to replay their favorite game and remember why they adored it. Then play the games you want for 2010, and see if they can measure up to your gaming nirvana.

What’s In a Name?

Ever wonder where developers come up with the names of their games? Gaming titles have to be not only catchy, but also marketable. Would Mario be as popular if his name was Harold? What if Bioshock was simply known as Underwater City in Big Trouble? Having a title that grabs a buyer’s interest is almost as important as the gameplay when trying to sell the game in this very competitive market. Gears of War, Assassin’s Creed, and the Call of Duty series are all top selling games, but is a great title enough?

Sure, some games have amazing titles and when you pop it in your console or PC, you ask yourself “What were they thinking”. They disguise an awful game with a trendy title. Rogue Warrior is a recent title that comes to mind. Taking a very well known historical figure like Dick Marcinko, add a catchy title and you create a little buzz about a game that had horrible graphics as well as gameplay. Unfortunately, this happens to gamers alot. Anticipation is huge, and then your trading it in 2 days later.

You can also say that some games have simple titles but prove to be a powerhouse in the gameplay and graphics department. Halo and Resident Evil were both simple titles that totally blew people away with creative elements and great gameplay. Each have sequel after sequel and are still going strong. What it all comes down to is developers have to come up with a title that a gamer is going to remember. So readers, we at DualShockers ask this: If you were a video game developer and were needing an original title for your game, what would it be? Be creative and be original.

Linearity in RPGs – An Exploration

Perhaps one of the most fortunate (or unfortunate, as the case may be) realities about our lives is the fact that we travel in a linear direction through time. Our lives have a beginning and a finite point; there is no changing that. We don’t have a Delorean we can charge up and race off into a different time period to influence our past and change the future (at least, not yet, right?). It’s with this in mind, it seems, that our favorite books and movies define themselves – one linear motion, each having a start and finish, regardless of their genre or plot.