E3 2008: The Doldroms

It wasn't long ago that the entire gaming community was breathless every May as the much vaunted E3 exploded with fantastic claims of supremacy by the big three console makers, amazing demos of soon to be blockbuster games, and plenty of speculation as to the market's future.

This year, very little of that happened.

The E3 of old is truly dead and gone, a relic of an era coming to a close. The first steps toward making videos an accepted form of mass media have been taken, and the rest can only follow.

What makes E3 2008 so unremarkable is not the shift of focus to a wider audience, but rather how little things have changed in the past year. Nintendo is still reaping the incredible rewards of their strategy, Microsoft is still blindly scrambling to hop on board, and Sony is still drifting. There's nothing new under the sun.

There were various points of interest. Nintendo announced a new attachment for their Wiimote, supposedly this one will allow for true 1:1 mapping of movement to control. Microsoft announced more changes to their Xbox Live interface including insidiously familiar avatars (they essentially look like the "hip" version of Miis), and Sony once again heaped incredible pre-rendered footage and promises at our feet, begging for just one more year to get their act together as another exclusive title became not so exclusive.

Nothing that particularly shook the status quo happened.

Sure, the usual herds of insanely rabid fanboys swarmed the internet trolling forums and news sites claiming X, Y or Z spelled the ascension or continued dominance of one company while A, B or C spelled doom for another. This time, however, people largely didn't bite. No one cared to, what was the point?

Sure, Final Fantasy 13 is no longer a PS3 exclusive, but it's not like any of their exclusives thus far have been that spectacular. Harping on the PS3s games library at this point is like harping on President Bush for his bad foreign relations.

Sure, the new Wii attachment could be seen as basically admitting that the Wiimote alone wasn't sufficient for true 1:1 motion capture. That revelation is as old as the Wii's release date. It's sudden rerevealing doesn't mean that Nintendo suddenly loses its profits, marketshare or mindshare.

Sure, Microsoft's presentation once again stank of their impossible attempts to understand the house that Miyamoto built. Once again, this has been pretty obvious from the get go. Acting as though their continued inability to comprehend what lies beyond the realm of teenage to college-aged male gaming is anything new is disingenuous considering they've been at it since last generation.

So for the hardcore gamer, this year's E3 was something of a bust. Both Nintendo and Microsoft were focused largely on people other than you, and Sony had nothing interesting except the stuff we we've been hearing about for two to four years already. At a time when typically salvos of new games taking hardware and game design to new peaks are being revealed, instead we find ourselves watching as our kid sibling the "casual gamer" gets all the attention.

It's a tough pill to swallow for people who've been the center of attention for two decades. The pendulum is swinging away, and for a while the old guard is going to be largely ignored except for misguided attempts at more Halo-like FPSs. Eventually it'll swing back our way, then forth again, and back again until eventually the momentum dies entirely and we have a nice equilibrium.

For now, I'll just look forward to Spore, the next WoW expansion and my currently vastly underplayed library of cool games that have already come out but I haven't beaten (Twilight Princess, Trauma Center, Ninja Gaiden 2, Armored Core 4 etc).

Rant: EA Sports

A lot of gamers often criticize their more casual, sports-oriented fellows for continually buying the regurgitated sports games every year. I've stated it before, but the mind of the pure geek doesn't understand the worth of the updated rosters, seeing them only as arbitrary math values, and only sees the lack of worthwhile other features.

I am not one of them, as I can understand the value. However, I despise these games for a completely different reason. Specifically, I think EA Sports is exploiting these gamers.

No, it isn't charging $60 for an updated roster that bothers me, it's the completely unprofessional quality level these games exhibit. Maybe it's because there isn't anything better out there, but the gamers who buy these games year by year are buying crap.

For example, the box covers. Look up an EA sports title and tell me you don't immediately notice that the production value is less than that of some fake video game someone made for giggles on the internet. The Logo is professional enough, if placed somewhat low, but the rest is absolute blah. Too cheap to actual hire their own photographers, they take stock photos of popular athletes and paste them awkwardly onto the packaging. It only gets worse from here.

The in-game main menus are frighteningly reminiscent of menus I saw on early 3D shareware games in the 90s. Random and poorly chosen pictures dominate the screen, changing with the menu option while not providing a shred of useful information. The menu options themselves are strangely ordered, small, unemphasized and poorly laid out. It makes one wonder if these people were asleep during the part of their classes teaching the absolute basics of GUI design. Has no one heard of visual noise?

The games themselves lack any sense of polish or finish. I know that they aren't arcade games, they are simulations. They are, by definition, attempting to bring as accurate a sports experience as possible home. EA Sports games do not accomplish this. The controls are clumsy, which certainly doesn't help, but there's more than that. Maybe this is "Hollywood Fencing" syndrome where they slow everything down for the benefit of the audience, but any football team that takes 3-4 seconds after the hike to actually collide with the other defenders is in serious trouble.

There are exceptions, I've seen a number of decent games from EA sports. But I am continually astounded by the horrible games that manage to not only be released, but sell well.

Gaming sports fans, do yourselvesa favor and ask for more. You deserve it, you're paying for it, and you're not getting it.

Vroom.

I've had a lot of fun in Excite Truck for the Wii, and before that I lit blue rubber fires in Mario Kart: Double Dash with my Bro Steve on the GameCube (Apologies to Waluigi and Yoshi for the smell of burning tires), but before even that was Mario Kart 64.

Today Mario Kart 64 joins the Wii's Virtual Console titles. My excitement is only dulled by the grim prospect of playing the game alone.

In any case, I needed something pointless to post about, and here it is.

Expect to hear the anguished cries of my racer as I expertly miss the vaunted Rainbow Road shortcut, thus flinging them into the abyss.

Whee

One word: HolyzarquonsingingfishIampsychedbeyondachocolatebunnieslifeexpectancyateaster.

I had some fun with the console last night. Setting it up would have been easier if it wasn't A) 12:30 AM B) terribly exciting and C) mind debilitatingly awesome. It only took half an hour to do, despite my being completely unprepared for any of the extremely simple setup instructions.

In any case, the thing rocks hard. I've barely had an hour's experience with it and I am already extremely happy. I will go straight back to my gamer's paradise box once this post is done.

For your enjoyment I took photos of my experience. Enjoy.

For you? For Wii.

22 hours to go.

For the first time in my life I'll have a video game system at launch. The prospect of one of the most hallowed moments for someone with my hobby is rather exciting, enough that I'm going rather crazy.

I think it's with good reason.

If ever there was a console to be psyched about, at least if you're me, it's the Wii. If you've ever seen me play soccer, play raquetball, play basketball, play badminton or just about anything that involves movement you know I move excessively. I love diving, stretching, and generally looking like a complete idiot.

Many other nerds are oddly self-concious about the whole deal. For a group whose stereotypes usually involve a lack of hygiene or other sense of appearance there have been a fair number of people who are afraid of the Wii because they are afraid of appearing silly.

I like silly.

I will not skip church, my usual awesome after church meal with my grandparents or any other important events over the Wii, but I will lose sleep tommorow night as I bring Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes to all the neat people who camped out for the system. I have a preorder, so I'm safe in the knowledge that I'll walk home tomorrow with a Wii. I just think after standing perhaps a day or more in line these people would like some sugar.

My nerdy shirts will be my primary weekend garb as I count down the hours, the minutes, and finally press my nose against the glass in jubilant anticipation.

Yes, I am fully aware I have become a walking advertisement for Nintendo. This isn't because I've seen every Wii commercial to be found on youtube. This is quite simply because I can already imagine the insanity that will occur when I show the Wii off to my relatives come Christmas. We will all look so very, very silly.

I part for sweet dreams of insanity by presenting you with what has to be one of the more interesting video game commercials in the history of the industry. I love the background music especially. All for one, and Wii for all.

Contact

You may know of Earthbound. It was the super quirky and strange RPG for the SNES. Nintendo made a sequel to that for the Gameboy Advance in Japan which has yet to come here, one of the few things Nintendo has done to make me sad.

To advertise for the sequel, Nintendo did something rather odd. They made a game.

That game is Contact.

(Stolen shamelessly from the box)

Things you WON'T find in Contact:

A dull moment. Normalcy. A guy with spikey hair and/or amnesia. Dramatic monologues. The same battles you've been fighting since the 16-bit era.

Things you WILL find in Contact:

Monkeys. Cosmic terrorists. Powerful attack stickers. Fishing. Cooking. Humor. Fun with Nintendo Wi-Fi. Deeper meaning in life.* Costumes that increase your power and make you fun to be around.

*Results may vary.

Firstly, Monkeys people, Monkeys! The game has monkeys, that's a sale right there. Secondly, Osama can eat his heart out, we've got COSMIC terrorists. They wouldn't have flown jets into the twin towers, they would have flown UFOs into Nevada... wait. Thirdly, you can't argue when Dr. Andonuts himself peels the corner in order to say, "Psst! Buy the game- I need your help!"

I haven't played it yet, but given the universally good reviews ('Good' is the lowest rating I've seen for the game. 'Perfect', 'Superb' and 'Great' being far more common) I think it's safe to say I'm going to have a blast.

Twink

I’m a min/max gamer. Anyone who ever watched me play Jump SuperStars, Armored Core 3, or any other game with tons of customization know that I work diligently to minimize my weaknesses and maximize my strengths. I do this obsessively, it’s a large draw for me to get the optimum setup. No tweak is too small, no change too minor. Any and everything within the game mechanics is accounted for and utilized.

I am not necessarily the best min/maxer for any given game, but between that and my level of skill I present to my opponents a worthy foe.

Another name for what I do is “twinking”, a term that harkens to Dungeons and Dragons. This term has become ubiquitous in MMORPGs for players who min/max, although other games lack the term (possibly due to a lack of connection to Dungeons and Dragons). Unfortunately, these same MMORPGs are giving twinking a bad name.

Before I delve into that, I’ll explain a key difference. In most games where twinking occurs you are balancing benefits of detriments. Doing X yields Y benefit at the cost of Z. Z may have an in-game monetary element, but generally that is negligible. The true cost of Z is in what you are excluded from doing. Z may prevent a different and desirable X with Y benefit you really want, or it might reduce the effectiveness of another Y, or any other number of undesirables. In these cases, twinking is getting the maximum total of Ys with the minimum effect of Zs. Additionally, an important factor is the individuals preferred playstyle. A player who likes to move fast and strike quickly will shape his customization differently than one who prefers a slower method of combat.

In MMOs Z tends to only (or almost only) encompass in-game monetary costs and time spent. As such, the effects of Y can become quite incredible because they do not have to be balanced against Z. Any other effects of Z are so small they are hardly noticeable. The bonuses of Y can become so overwhelming that playstyle becomes irrelevant. It doesn’t matter if you like slow or fast, durable or deadly, you can get every benefit at no cost. So long one has the most basic of skills, one can be a killing machine.

This second model appeals very greatly to a vast, immature group of players. These players most likely aren’t skilled, but through sheer time and currency can more than compensate for that. While the first model presents twinking as a skill in and of itself, the second presents it as a substitute for skill. The players themselves do not endear themselves to the populace, as they are quick to insult and berate anyone who even tries to have a discussion of the matter. They can be imperceptive to the point where they will cluelessly insult people on their side of debates simply because they are debating.

What is terribly interesting is the similarity in attitude they show to the attitude of cheaters. This interview with a cheater, while childish in it’s own way, is a prime example of the attitudes displayed by the majority of those who twink in the second model.

In the end, what bothers me about the second model is a lack of accomplishment. I don’t get the sense that I’ve accomplished anything worthwhile in being able to smash through people with ease by twinking in the second model, whereas in the first model there is a satisfaction in knowing that my skillful manipulations granted me advantage. For the first model, I’ve had people whose skill in actually playing one of these games was inferior to mine, but more than made up for it in superior twinking skills. Neither of these senses come across in the second model.

The final conclusion is that should I ever make a game with twinking, which is extremely likely, I’ll follow the first model quite vigilantly.