All Entries Tagged With: "Editorial"

Remember When?: You Would Stay Up All Night

I’m sure everyone games for their own reasons. Some do it as a distraction, some do it solely for entertainment purposes, and some just like to annoy other people in online lobbies. As for me, I do it because no matter how much older I get, it makes me feel like a kid all over again. Remember the Nintendo 64 kid – yeah, that was me. Well not in a literal sense at least, but in the sense that video games had the ability to make me more happy than a virgin at the Hustler Club. The only thing that would trump gaming, would be gaming with a best friend or family member and staying up all night to do so. Join me on this journey through one of my favorite all night gaming marathons ever.

Real Life Lessons from Persona 3

Playing through Persona 3 for the second time gives me a chance to pick up on many things that I may have missed the first time through. I was so enamored with the fact that this was a great RPG for the PS2 in the midst of the high-def generation of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that concentrating more on the character building and relationship aspects of the game kind of took a back seat. That’s saying a lot coming from me, Mr. Character Development is Everything, right?

As I’m making my way through Persona 3 Portable for review, I realized something – there are some pretty sizable messages written into the dialog, both of the main story and the side stories, or Social Links. While Western games tend to lean on blood, gore and sex to express their “maturity”, I’m of the opinion that the subject matter and character interactions are what creates a truly mature experience.

E3 2010: Buying Kinect for the “Cool Factor” Alone

Regardless of what we may individually think of how Microsoft did at E3 this year, one thing is almost universally certain – the ideas behind their Kinect experience are pretty cool. Many people have compared the way you can use the device to wade through the dashboard menus to the way the hyper-tech computer screens appear to work in the movie Minority Report.

Long before we were given a detailed look at Kinect on Monday, we had seen how it could be used to navigate through the dashboard and through the Netflix application, among other things. Sure, I wouldn’t pay over a certain amount for the ability to feel like I’m Tom Cruise, but to a certain extent, the “cool factor” would play a part in my purchasing decision.

Video Games: A Paradigm Shift

Paradigm shifts occur all the time (not only in Final Fantasy XIII), just like the shift in technology to cellular phones and computers. Video games are no different. Let’s take a trip thru time and space to discuss some shifts that have occurred in our industry, shall we?

When would you have thought that video games would mature and erupt into a main stream medium where now consumers expect certain things that never would have been considered back in the day. Take basic graphics into consideration alone. Who would have thought we would have graphical comparisons between consoles and discussions on screen tear and environmental destruction ? I can still recall playing Contra and marveling at the graphics of the aliens in the game. Even Mario only had a mustache so you could tell he had a face! Now we need 1080p and 60 FPS because anything else would be uncivilized.

Bioware: You Stab Me Through the Heart

Dear Bioware,

Honestly, you’re one of my favorite developers. Why must you go around spouting nonsense like you’re some elitest RPG god, assuming that only your brand of RPG is the only way RPGs can be done? I loved both Mass Effect titles, I loved Dragon Age: Origins, I’m looking forward to your upcoming Star Wars MMO. These are all awesome games in their own right, why must you go around shooting your mouth off willy-nilly? It makes you look like a bunch of jerks.

Some Retailers Showing a Double Standard?

Prepare yourself for a rant, but first, let me just come out and say that I don’t really have any issues with GameStop personally. I know the people that work at my local GameStop pretty well and deal with them a lot. They have never screwed up a pre-order, they have never fussed at me when I wouldn’t pay new-game price for an opened “display copy”, they always do their best to accommodate me when I’m looking for something in particular. This is likely not everyone’s experience, but it is mine.

What’s More Important – Challenge or Story?

There is somewhat of a conundrum these days in the gaming industry. When games are designed, they are designed to cater to a certain audience, presumably the developers know this, the publishers know this and the end-user – us gamers – know this. We know ourselves well enough that we can spot a game that appeals to us from a mile away. Some games are designed to be controller-crushing-difficult and some games are created just to tell you a story and the audience goes along for the ride. Yes, indeed, there can be a happy medium, but what should be more important? What is more important to you?

Can Game Development Take TOO Long?

Starcraft II, Diablo III, Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII – what do all these games have in common? I feel the development and/or release of these game have taken way too long. Now, before you jump to conclusions about what I just said, let’s clear something up – I’m not a fanboy; I don’t feel they’ve taken too long because I want the game now and nothing later than now will suffice. No, I feel games like these take more time than is really needed in development or in the release process. Let me tell you a little story.

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.