Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:13 AM Mar 08, 2010
Today marks the start of what will hopefully be a long-running weekly column on Joystick Division: Seven Questions. The goal of this column is to provide the reader with the broad-stroke information about a game, so you can learn as much as possible about it in a fairly short time. Typically, these columns will focus on upcoming games, but in this inaugural edition we're focusing on a game that's been around for a long time: Bejeweled. We chatted with Bejeweled creators and PopCap founders Jason Kalpalka and John Vechey to learn what life was life in the early days of Bejeweled and what it's like to work on one of the best-selling games of all time.
I've openly
bagged on Dante's Inferno for months. I've made comments that could easily be
categorized as any or all of the following: dismissive, snarky, bitchy
(assuming heterosexual men can be bitchy; I believe they can), pompous, nasty,
bratty, cruel, and unnecessarily harsh.
Asked by Joystick Division editor J. M. Zoss if
I'd like to review it, I declined: "What's the
point of writing one more awful review of the game?" I sniffed.
(Keep in mind this was weeks
before the game was even released. There hadn't even been a review written of it, much less an
awful one.)
I had
deemed the game horseshit the moment I heard of it; casting aside accusations of
confirmation bias with a guffaw, every bit of Dante's Inferno news between
announcement and launch only encouraged my suspicions. In the week prior to
Inferno's release, I toiled away on an elaborate piece lampooning it; the
possibility the game could turn out to be an interactive masterpiece and make
all my work a waste of time never crossed my mind.
I know how
this sounds. If I heard some game critic openly declaring his disdain for a
game months before even playing it, I'd wonder if he was a narrow-minded blowhard. Or at least
be curious to know why.
Well I can tell
you why, if you want to hear me out.
Count me as one of the gents that thinks that Jim Sterling missed the point. In a pair of editorials for Destructoid the frequently hilarious, always incendiary writer fired a couple of warning shots across the bow of the indie game.
In "Indie Games Don't Have To Act Like Indie Games" he missed the point because we sure as hell don't see big, expensive games from Microsoft and Activision acting like indie games. If indie games don't do it, nobody's going to do it.
Though I will undermine my argument by pointing out that Hollywood has gotten really good at churning out fake indie movies like Juno. I suppose you could argue that games like Portal and Flower are indie-like games coming from major players. But we're just not seeing a flood of quirky stuff coming from huge companies. Until that happens we've got to look towards the indies for our arts and farts.
Dante's Inferno has finally arrived, and, well... it's not good, people. But come on, how could anyone really be surprised? When the
best you can come up with in a game version of one of the greatest literary
works of all time is: "The player will sew a cross to his chest and beat
the shit out of demons - oh, and there'll be tits!", even the most
forgiving gamer has to roll his eyes.
This doesn't mean Dante's Inferno won't be successful. It might even do well - why wouldn't it? I refer you
to Paragraph 1: Demon-Punching, and Tits. You'd have to be pretty new to this to underestimate the appeal of either. In fact, Dante's Inferno could even be
so successful that we'll not only get a sequel (an appalling enough notion),
but EA and other publishers will start looking at other literary classics to
shit all over with a derivative, dopey game.
And
there are so many great books that could make for a laughable game if we follow the Inferno model, slashing 95% of what made them great and then fornicating on top of the 5% we kept. Let me
show you how it's done.
With the release of Dante's Inferno today, February 9th and
subsequent launch party (complete with burlesque dancers) tomorrow at L.A.'s Dragonfly Bar, it
seems like everybody's ready to be a sinner. If you're not familiar with the
premise of Dante's Inferno, players become Dante as he travels on an epic
descent through Dante Alighieri's nine circles of Hell - limbo, lust, gluttony,
greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.
Nine circles...hmm. We all say jokingly that '... will be my
personal hell', can you imagine having NINE personal hells?!
Okay, here's how I would see a few of MY nine circles:
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:07 PM Feb 08, 2010
No video game company is as successful as Nintendo at creating memorable gaming franchises. Nintendo's cornerstone franchises are bigger than just games - even people who've never played a video game in their lives know the names Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong and Wii Sports.But not every franchise that Nintendo has published has become a household name. Many were successful enough, but simply didn't have the magic to keep going. Others may have been too strange to find an audience. These ten games and franchises are some of Nintendo's lesser-know titles, all games that aren't likely to ever see another sequel. Each entry on this list was published by Nintendo in the US and appear in roughly chronological order.
I just discovered what MAG was a few weeks ago.This massive action game (get it, MAG?)
supports up to 256 gamers per game on the PlayStation Network.I play on the 360 almost exclusively, which
is why I only recently got the details of the game, and I've been contemplating
what it would be like on Live.
I have come to the conclusion that it would be too
stupid.Each game would contain about 240
more douchebags than I can handle.It
would never, ever, ever work on Live.I
can see the allure of it, the possibility of being able to play an organized, all-out
war and I want that.I want that
desperately.I would just want
less-idiotic comrades.But hey, maybe
that's one of the few places the PS3 has the Xbox 360 beat.Maybe they can handle it.Maybe I should buy a PS3 (only sort of
kidding, I have a tube TV).
I've owned an iPhone since the first generation. I'm not saying this to brag, as some may insult my intelligence for spending so much on a phone anyway, but to legitimize my future claims. Since the beginning of my romance with the iPhone I was amazed with all it could do. From visual voice-mail to surfing full pages on the net, it did almost everything brilliantly. Almost.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:45 PM Jan 19, 2010
It's time I got off my lazy ever-widening butt and
posted my 2009 Year in Review coverage. I know I'm pretty late on this. I kept
putting it off so I could play more and more 2009 games and give you the best
coverage I could. Because this is coming so late, I'm going to forgo the
standard awards like Game of the Year for a few reasons, including:
There are still a few major
games that I haven't played.
There are so many GOTY
awards out there that one more doesn't matter. If you don't already know
that Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed II are awesome,
then I can't help you.
There was nothing this year
that I flat-out loved. Oh sure, there were lots of great games. But in
2008, there was no question: Fallout 3 was my GOTY. This year, nothing
rose to the top of the pack like that game did.
See all of my 2009 Year in Review awards, dubious
honors and miscellaneous nonsense after the break.
There's a little art-house movie out there that has a few fans. You may have heard of it. There was never any question that Avatar was going to be big, but I'll admit honest surprise by how big it actually is. Pretty much everyone out there seems to have seen it, even people who normally don't have much interest in genre movies. Even more shockingly, Avatar looks like it has a chance of dethroning Titanic as the number one movie of all time.
At this year's CES, 3D televisions made a big push for mainstream attention, and will start showing up in homes this year. If people enamored by Avatar's 3D theatrical experience bring home 3D television sets, that will lead to 3D video games, right? Maybe. Read on for more discussion of Avatar's potential impact on your home gaming rig.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:15 AM Dec 30, 2009
Over the holiday season, I finally joined the ranks of the
iPod owners. Yes, I know I'm pretty behind the times on this one - while I had
owned a couple mp3 players before, I'd never actually owned an iPod. But as the
proud parent of a new iPod Touch, I've been spending a lot of time with Apple's
App store, focusing primarily on the games, of course. Now, I'm far too new to
the world of iPod/iPhone gaming to consider myself and expert, and there are
more games out there to count. I plan to share my impressions with you on all
the games and apps I play from now on, and hopefully that will help some of you
new iPod or iPhone owners navigate the crowded world of iPhonegames.
After I've spent a little more time in the world of iPod
games, I plan to review these games the same way I would any other game. But
for now, I'll be offering roundups of batches of games and apps and simply
offering my unscored impressions. I've broken the games down into categories:
Yes, Maybe and Pass. I think the games in each category might surprise you.
SmartBomb The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution By: Heather Chaplin & Aaron Ruby
SmartBomb is a compilation of profiles and stories of some of the most influential people in the video game industry. From Miyamoto to Cliffy B, Chaplin and Ruby do a great job of giving people an inside look into the bright and dark side of the industry.
Masters Of Doom
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
By: David Kushner
Masters of Doom doesn't just tell the career story of John Carmack and John Romero's meteoric rise to the top of the video game industry; it tells their personal stories, how they got to where they are today and how they changed the world.
Game Boys
Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Quest for Cash in the Battleground of Competitive Videogaming
By: Michael Kane
Game Boys blurs the line between professional sports and professional gaming by documenting the journeys and rivalry of two of the greatest Counter-Strike teams.
Vintage Games An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time By: Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton
Vintage Games does a wonderful job of segmenting and profiling the most influential video games of all time. This is the easiest book on the list to read because its great organization.
The Ultimate History of Video Games From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World By: Steven L. Kent
This is without a doubt the most high-profile book on this list. Basically a print encyclopedia for video games with over 600 pages giving readers a look at everything in the industry, from the beginning to the turn of the millennium. The Ultimate History of Video Games is a must-read for anyone looking to get the most information for their cash.
----
Gamer Theory By: McKenzie Wark
Unlike the others on this list, Gamer Theory is not about the history of games or the business of games, it is about the philosophy of games. The author tries to connect the dots between games and reality by relating to popular games and dissecting what they represent. It's an interesting book that's criticism is split down the middle.
Game Over Press Start To Continue By: Stephen Leeb
Game Over takes you into the cutthroat world of Nintendo, telling the true tale of how they took the video game world by storm. From Mario to Tetris, the book chronicles the companies struggles of international business and competition.
Arcade Mania The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers By: Brian Ashcraft and Jean Snow
Co-written by Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft, Arcade Mania takes you inside the world of Japanese arcades. The book is beautifully organized, using tons of pictures to give a visual representation, showing the differences between the dead American arcades and the thriving world of Japan's game dens.
Opening the Xbox Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution By: Dean Takahashi
Takahashi takes his readers behind the red curtain of Microsoft's entry into the video game console industry, sparing no detail on the business and personal drama. Anyone who's interested in Microsoft and how they managed to successfully become one of the largest players in the gaming world should read this book.
On the Edge The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
By: Brian Bagnall
The Commodore is one of the most forgotten video game consoles of all time. Though for those who owned one and the people who programmed with it, it is one of the most influential pieces of technology. On the Edge documents the entire history of the Commodore, giving insight and closure into one of technology's most untold stories.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:14 AM Dec 21, 2009
Hype is a funny thing. It can refer to the amount of
chatter in the gaming community about a game, the amount of praise heaped
upon it by the gaming press, or the amount of marketing support it receives
from its publisher. However you define it, hype is everywhere in the gaming
world. However, sometimes a game can't live up to its own hype, like these ten
games here. None of them are bad games, but for various reasons none of them
lived up to either the sales or quality expectations created by the massive
amounts of hype they received.
The PlayStation is officially 15-years-old. It's been a crazy journey through those 15 years and you guys who have been along for the ride probably have some memory that will stick out in your mind as you read this post.
We've come a long way since the original PlayStation was released and I'm ready to celebrate that today with a look back on the games that have helped define the PlayStation brand over the past 15 years.
Appropriately, I will list only 15 games. There are so many, if you feel a game not listed should replace a listed game, leave a comment telling me about it and we'll create a "Reader's Choice" post. For now though, enjoy my choices and enjoy your PlayStation memories.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:48 AM Dec 16, 2009
Everyone who follows video games already knows that
2010 is shaping up to be one of the biggest years in gaming history. Between
big games being delayed out of 2009 and the titles always scheduled for the
year, there are so many huge titles coming out in 2010 that my wallet is
already crying. I'm sure each and every one of you has a list of games that you're
looking forward to. Here's mine. Presenting Anton's 10 most anticipated games
of 2010 (in no particular order).
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:43 PM Dec 15, 2009
Like games? Like saving money? Then your name might be Anton Gordon. But even if it isn't, you may very well be a cheap ass. And if you are, you'll probably get some use out of OC Weekly's "Cheap Ass' Survival Guide to Saving Money on Video Games." Click the link to get some decent tips for saving some cash.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:29 PM Dec 14, 2009
It goes without saying that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
is the hottest thing in gaming right now and will probably rule online console
gaming for a long, long time. Everything about the multiplayer mode is expertly
designed, including its 16 maps. However, not even MW2's maps are created
equal, so here's our ranked list. To be fair, all 16 are pretty good - the
worst MW2 is better than the best map in many lesser FPS games.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:08 PM Nov 20, 2009
http://www.rfhrhs.net/
Welcome to the second day of the inaugural Joystick Division Holiday Gift Guide. Below are our top picks for hardware, portable games, and some other fun stuff that we recommend for gamers.
As with yesterday, these games aren't necessarily our picks for "Best Games of the Year," although most of them would certainly be in contention for those awards. These are simply the games and gear items that we recommend for gift-buyers looking to purchase presents for the gamers in their lives. With a few exceptions, we've played everything on this list and can personally recommend it. If you follow our advice, you're guaranteed* to have a perfect non-denominational holiday experience! Read on for more!
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:42 PM Nov 19, 2009
http://www.rfhrhs.net/
Welcome to the inaugural Joystick Division Holiday Gift Guide. Below are our top picks for games this holiday season, broken down by platform. Tomorrow we'll present our recommendations for hardware and other fun stuff.
These games aren't necessarily our picks for "Best Games of the Year," although most of them would certainly be in contention for those awards. These are simply the games that we recommend for gift-buyers looking to purchase presents for the gamers in their lives. Some major games, such as Assassin's Creed II and Left 4 Dead 2, aren't on this list. That's not because we think they're bad games. It's because we haven't had a chance to play them yet. With a few exceptions, we've played everything on this list and can personally recommend it. Read on for more!
Over at our sister site, OC Weekly, they have a pretty cool collection of video game box art comparisons by country. It's interesting to see how they differ from each other and I might want to expand on this in the future here on Joystick Division. And yes people, I will include the infamous Mega Man box art when I do get around to it. Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby debuted in Hoshi no Kirby on the Japanese Game Boy in 1992. His design was simple: he was a pink ball with arms and a goofy smile. However, Nintendo realized that this character would not sell well with the American audience, and they needed to drastically change Kirby's appearance so that Americans would even accept him. What did they do? They made him a white ball with arms and a goofy smile. Americans are comfortable and can identify with white people, right? Remember, this was the early '90s--Reese Witherspoon and Bret "the Hitman" Hart hadn't popularized the color pink yet.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:11 AM Nov 13, 2009
Over the last couple weeks, I've been visiting family in
Chiapas, Mexico. While I'd been to Mexico before, I'd never been to "real"
Mexico - far away from the all-inclusive resorts and chain restaurants of
Cancun, the town I stayed in was small and relaxed, without a single big-box
store or American fast food chain. Many of the stores in town sold only
handmade goods and clothing. But even the quiet, old-world feel of the town,
the young people were still all about video games. However, the gaming culture
in Southern Mexico is completely different than it is in the United States. I'm
certainly not claiming that my two weeks in Mexico make me an expert - these
are my personal observations based on my time there, nothing more, nothing
less. Read on for more.
I've been out of the country recently, and now that I'm back I'm catching up on some of the games that were released while I was gone. Today I spent a chunk of time with the two most recent music games: DJ Hero and LEGO Rock Band. Both are fun games that diverge from the standard music formula (although each in very different ways), but playing both of them today made me wonder: which of them will sell better?
After early predictions that said Guitar Hero 5 would crush The Beatles: Rock Band, it was determined that The Beatles easily outsold GH5. There has been a lot of conversation lately about the music game genre peaking (there are, by my count, 10 music games out this year), and DJ Hero's initial sales have been modest. Will the powerful LEGO brand and the familiar Rock Band gameplay lead to Harmonix outselling Activision for the second time this fall?
Of course, this is somewhat of a pointless question and I know it. A more apt comparison would be LEGO Rock Band vs. Band Hero (which is likely to outsell LEGO Rock Band, thanks to bigger marketing, a bigger brand, and Taylor Swift). But this is a site for gamers - gamers don't care about Band Hero. It wasn't on my mind. I'm sure it wasn't on yours, either. DJ Hero is the current hot topic in music games, and its obvious that Activision was pushing it much harder than Band Hero.
My take: While neither game will be a huge smash, LEGO Rock Band's combination of family-friendly songs, familiar gameplay and the LEGO brand will lead it to outsell DJ Hero in the long run. Of course, DJ Hero is an Activision game, so expect to see 5 more DJ Hero games within the next two years, making it the more profitable franchise in the long run.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:38 AM Oct 26, 2009
I'm a childless man somewhere between the ages of 30 and 75, so there are a lot of things that I don't understand: Fall Out Boy, the Twilight phenomenon, anything on MTV, stuff like that. And don't get me started on the way kids today dress, with their skinny jeans and stupid baseball caps with the straight visors. As an out-of-touch old guy, I definitely haven't kept up on all the various Pokemon-esque trading card games out there, such as Bakugan.
I normally only review big, mainstream games for this site, but every now and again I like to check out games outside of my comfort zone. When a PR representative for Bakugan asked me if I wanted to check out the game I said yes, figuring I should occasionally make an attempt to understand what the young'uns today are into. I spent the weekend immersed in the world of Bakugan: Battle Brawlers and have emerged a changed man. Or at least one who knows the value of a Bakugan Double Stand.
A little over a week ago, we ran a list of the
worst-reviewed games of the console generation so far. Everyone had a good
laugh poking fun and the unloved freakshow games, but now we figured it was
time to give some love to the all-stars. The following is a list of the
best-reviewed games of the console generation so far. Some people seemed to
have missed it in the "Worst" list, so I'll make it as clear as I possibly can:
These are the top-rated games of the
generation according to Metacritic. They're not my personal choices, so don't
get all offended if you disagree with the order. However, several of these game
have the same Metacritic score, so rather than hand out a bunch of ties, I did
my best to order them appropriately. For example, the games at the 6th
and 7th spots on this chart both have a meta-score of 95/100, but
game #6 is the second-highest rated game on its platform, while game #7 is the
third-highest rated game on its platform. But given that the lowest-scoring
games on this list all scored 94/100, no one should be too bent out of shape by
chart position. Anyway, here are your best games of the generation so far.
November might be about Modern Warfare 2 for some of you, but I'm more excited for BioWare's newest RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. I've come to this conclusion because I've played Call of Duty 4 to death (yeah, level 55 - 10th prestige) and while Modern Warfare 2 is more polished and adds a lot more to the game, I'm going to play it eventually no matter what. This pretty much kills any real anticipation I could have.
However, a game like Dragon Age is one that can be overlooked by the majority of gamers (including myself), so I've decided to make it my goal to see this one through because it looks amazing!
1984 was the height of the Cold War. People on both sides of the Iron Curtain feared te final nuclear conflagration. But in the Soviet Union, a young programmer named Alexey Pajitnov created a game that would influence the world much more profoundly than the doings of nation-states. That game, of course, was Tetris. So I thought it would be appropriate to last some interesting things related to Tetris. Most other publications would do a top-ten list, but here at Joystick Division we like to go to 12, to get that final push over the cliff.
With the release of the PSP Go last week, the world saw the first foray into all-out digital distribution in games, signaling Sony's initial shot across the bow for retail sales and used game enthusiasts everywhere. The PSP Go, priced at $249.99 US, shocked the gaming world when first announced at this year's E3, and became even more astounding after the price drop of the of PS3 systems to just $299.99. If initial reports are any indication, the public was less than enthusiastic in receiving the new system.
The PSP Go is the reinvention of Sony's four year old handheld. While smaller, lighter weight and featuring a new button set-up, the most notable change with the Go from previous iterations is the lack of disc drive. While the former PSP systems used Sony made Universal Media Disks (UMD), the Go relies solely on the Sony's Playstation Network to work. Consumers were initially skeptical of the device simply because it would make any existing PSP library obsolete. Those with a collection of PSP games would be unable to use their old games on the new system unless they repurchased the digital copy.
Posted by Toyama Matsumoto at 1:02 PM Oct 08, 2009
When it comes to first person shooters, and being completely enthralled in the action, there are games that you will be able to name almost immediately. Some first person shooters are so popular that they've outlasted most other interactive games with their legacy (read: Counter-Strike). But for every amazing first person shooter there is on the market, there is one equally as bad. Almost as if there was a great karmic balance just trying to reach out and tell us that a balance is always needed, even in the world of gaming. Over the past decade, there have been some stunning first person shooters. Here are some of the worst.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:21 AM Oct 06, 2009
When you ask someone what they think the worst game they've ever played is, you're bound to get a lot of different answers. After all, we all play different games and we all have different tastes. That's when I set off to discover the worst games of the console generation so far, I decided to use science! Quasi-science anyway: Metacritic. The way Metacritic aggregates scores definitely shouldn't be considered a real science, but it's definitely a good roadmap of quality.
The following ten games are the worst reviewed titles released to date for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. A few caveats: In those instances in which a game appears on multiple platforms, the lowest score was used. Downloadable are not included on this list. Finally, I've taken a few of the Metacritic quotes and posted them for each game, so you can see what the original reviewers thought. With that, let the hatin' begin!
Posted by Christina Brady at 10:56 AM Oct 06, 2009
Champions Online was released a month ago by Cryptic Studios. The game starts out with a bang in the form of what is possibly the most versatile character creator in any game currently available. Players choose everything from a character's look to their abilities, but creation goes a step farther than most by eliminating any set classes. This can be problematic for some players who are still trying to form the holy gaming trinity of tank-healer-DPS, but such flexibility in character build does make it much easier to solo. However, self-reliant gameplay often causes groups to become soloing parties with some chat involved, something that will hopefully change when the UI is updated to be more grouping friendly.
In the meantime, though, Champions Online might be the only MMO in existence with a tutorial that makes players feel like heroes instead of errand boys. Sure, you're still running around tasked with the four basic MMO missions--collect, kill, deliver, and discover--but the writing is sharp. Also, mobs are usually a great combination of challenging attacks and just-easy-enough-AI.
*Editor's Note: The Sunday Rant is a weekly column where David Savage bleeds his heart out to developers, complains about Microsoft, and/or starts flame wars with fanboys. All formalities are hereby thrown out the window!*
This week I'm tackling the upcoming MMOFPS (they do exist), MAG, which is currently in Beta on the PS3. As a self proclaimed "FPS Junkie", I tend to hold games to high standards and while I may enjoy playing the same game for years, I also enjoy when someone tries something new or attempts to polish existing genres. These are my seven things MAG developers need to look out for.
This article is a response to a recent post made by Joel Taveras of DualShockers.com in which he makes a sad attempt to claim that the social gaming news site, N4G will 'go the way of the dinosaur' because Twitter isn't moderated. Yeah that's the reason.
*Editor's Note: Cricket Lee is Joystick Division's Girl Gamer correspondent.*
On September 26, 2009, SC3 (Southern California Classic Collectors) held their bi-yearly get together in Claremont, CA and was a feast for the eyes, ears, AND hands. It was like Flynn's or any other arcade of your dreams built in your own backyard!
If you're a Zombie killing junkie, you may have logged many hours in playing the top selling first-person shooter Left 4 Dead.
Not only does this game have unique game play, it also features a highly populated online community of avid Zombie killers. That being said, there is always plenty of griefing to be given and taken. Here's a list of the best possible ways to make someone rage-quit.
The Lava World. The Ice World. Amnesia. Collecting coins. High scores. 1ups. When games were younger, when we were younger, these were the cliches of gaming. Amongst others, these were the things that appeared in games too numerous to mention, to the point that they became shorthand for all video games. They defined video games. Many if not most of these cliches have now fallen by the wayside, often only appearing as parody. As the gaming industry has evolved, we've moved past them, but for better or for worse a whole new set of video game cliches has sprang up in their place.
Before we get to the list, a few caveats. First, "new" is a relative term. While most of the games mentioned on this list are from the current generation, several of these cliches are older than the current hardware. Most of these cliches evolved from the switch from 2D games to 3D, so as a rule of thumb anything that sprang from the 64-Bit era onwards qualifies as a "new" gaming cliche.
Second, despite what the word "cliche" connotes, not all of these are bad things. Some are great innovations that none of us would like to see go away. But even these have become so common that most gamers take them as a given. With those notes out of the way, on with the list!
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:46 PM Sep 18, 2009
Anyone who doesn't have a thick skin should never consider writing about video games. You may think that writing about a hobby would insulate you from personal attacks and hateful speech. You'd be wrong. Perhaps because gamers are so passionate about their chosen pastime, anything a games journalist writes has the potential to enrage gamers, leading to a deluge of hateful comments. After the jump are five things you can say and do that have a tendency to drive gamers absolutely batshit crazy.
Now, just in case this isn't absolutely clear, this article is humor. Even though I'm clearly stating that straight away, I'm sure this article about what pisses off gamers will end up, well.. pissing off some gamers.
At Microsoft's E3 press conference a few months ago, The
Beatles: Rock Band played a big part in the presentation, including appearances
by Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. It was also
announced that the song "All You Need is Love" would be made be available for
the game as an exclusive download on Xbox Live. All proceeds from sales of the
downloadable track would be donated to the charitable organization Doctors
Without Borders.
The Beatles: Rock Band has been covered by every media
outlet imaginable, but the collaboration between The Beatles, Xbox Live and
Doctors Without Borders has been in large part overshadowed by the general
excitement for the game itself. A few pieces of information can be gleaned from
the B-Roll video above, but to get more information on how this collaboration,
we spoke to Heather Snavely, Director of Global Brand for Xbox. Her complete
answers about how the collaboration came to be are after the break.
Our big sister, The Village Voice, has posted an incredible set of images that predict the future games inspired by The Beatles, including their scary pick-up by some AAA franchises like Grand Theft Auto, The Sims, and Fallout. You can check out a quick preview of them below:
Yeah, that game. You know what I'm talking about. Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. Okay, that's fine live in denial, but ask yourself these questions before making your next game purchase.
1. The happy-go-lucky clerk at GameStop is not going to ask you so we will: Are you sure you want to buy THAT game?
This question will probably help you solve your dilemma 90% of the time. The rest of the questions are for the 10% of time you feel yourself still clinging to THAT game.
2. Did you just come into the possession of a sum of money that is now burning such a scorching hole in your pocket that you're looking for the easiest place to spend it in order to relieve yourself of said burning?
We all get the feeling, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
3. Are you known to play similar games (FPS, RPG, RTS, etc)?
It's not the same for every title, but it's likely to make an impact in your choice and purchase of different games.
4. Have you played the demo of said game or (if after release) played it at a friend's or other acquaintance's residence?
5. Has the hype for this game been so massive that you overhear civilians on the street and/or waiting in line at Wal-Mart discussing it?
Talking about games with civilians is painful. Overhearing it is almost equally painful. And once I saw pre-teens wearing Halo shirts, I knew we'd hit rock bottom.
6. Is
the game in question one you've been waiting for or one someone told
you was amazing (e.g. GameStop employee) and said you'd be stupid not
to buy?
Are you sure you don't want to pre-order Halo 3? It's going to be AWESOME YO!
7. Is the developer of this game one you hold to such high honor that you have written letters to your congressman/woman asking for the most distinguished awesomeness award your state can offer?
8. Do you feel that you will play this game all the way through without suicidal thoughts or purchase regrets?
9. Is the game in question a numbered sequel to a game you already play everyday?
But mom, all the cool kids are doing it!
10. If you said yes to #9, do you foresee your online friends annoying you daily for not buying the game and sending you invites to play it even though they know you don't have it, but enjoy seeing you suffer?
They enjoy seeing you in pain.
11. By now, you should have a "YES" or "no..." answer to our original "Are you sure you want to buy THAT game?" question. So...are you still sure you want to buy THAT game?
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:12 AM Sep 08, 2009
Last weekend, the futuristic video game-themed Gamer opened at the box office. Did you see it? Probably not, as it opened in Fourth place with a take of just over 11 million dollars. That's not terrible - it edged out the 2006 video game horror movie Stay Alive by about half a million dollars. That film topped out at about $23 million dollars overall, so it's probably a sign that Gamer isn't destined for big success either. Both movies scored in the low 20s on Metacritic, another sign that they're in for similar fates.
I have not seen either movie, but I know the basics of what they're about. Gamer is about a video game where the real humans control other real humans in battle. Stay Alive is about an evil video game that kills the player in the same way their in-game avatars die. The problem with both stories is that they treat video games as an evil. In both, should the game not exist, the threat would not exist. I think that's a big part of why these movies fail. To gamers, video games are our chosen source of entertainment. They're escapism. Despite the fearmongering about the negative effects of video games, they do not control our lives. They do no make us violent. They are not evil. Expecting gamers to watch movies about their chosen hobby being evil is like expecting basketball players to watch a movie about how basketball turns you into a rapist.
I bear no ill will towards Gamer. I plan on seeing it someday, although obviously it's not a priority. There could be many, many things that turned people off to it that had nothing to do with video games. After all, the reviews were brutal. But bad reviews usually aren't enough to keep audiences away from a movie - look at Transformers 2. And yes, there was little marketing support for the movie either. All of these things are factors. But I remain convinced that Gamer misunderstands its audience by painting gaming as a negative. I'd love to hear from those who actually saw the movie this weekend - is there any point in the film in which video games are defended?
I can understand why Hollywood wants to reach out to the gaming audience - games are on a fast track to eclipsing movies as the dominant form of entertainment in the world. But if Hollywood wants to make movies that connect with gamers, they're going to have to try harder than churning out films about evil video games. Hollywood needs to understand why we like games - the heroism, the escapism, the empowerment. Some filmmakers get this. Most don't. Make a good movie about video games, and I'll be the first one in line to see it.
Just one final warning, Hollywood. Even if you make the best gamer movie in history, you'll still get flamed on the internet. Gamers love bitching about stuff online. Maybe you want to make a movie about that?
Thanks to the success of Batman: Arkham Asylum, there is once again a lot of attention on superhero games. There have been a lot of good superhero-themed video games in the past. Then again, there have been a lot of bad ones, too. Revisiting every superhero game since the dawn of the Atari would be a task worthy of Superman, so we're limiting this list to the current generation. After the jump, you'll find our picks for the best and worst current-gen superhero games. We'll start off with the worst, because it's always fun to rip on stuff.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:15 AM Aug 20, 2009
Shadow Complex is here, and its one hell of a game. You won't find it it stores, however - Shadow Complex is exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade and will redefine how you think of downloadable games. We'll have our official review tomorrow, but until then check out these five facts about the game that may surprise you. These tidbits are all about the story behind the game, so no need to worry about spoilers.
Almost every gaming company has something interesting about their history that defines who they are today. Something that launched the company into a perfect sequence of events that led to their current success and image. Many of these events are good, but only Microsoft is bad.
Where would Nintendo be today if they hadn't hired Miyamoto? Would there have been games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom without John Carmack and id Software? What would Final Fantasy VII have been like if developed on the N64 and how would that have effected the console wars between Sony and Nintendo in the late 90s?
Last night I saw District 9, the new science fiction/action movie that ruled the box office last weekend. It wasn't the thoughtful, adult sci-fi movie that I expected based on the stellar teaser trailer, but I still quite enjoyed it. A well-crafted film that creates a convincing world and features some great characters, District 9 is easily amongst the better films of the summer.
It's also a video game movie.
Not literally, of course. There is no District 9 game on which this movie was based. But at times, it really felt like it had drawn inspiration from games (producer Peter Jackson and director Neil Blomkamp famously worked on an aborted Halo movie), and could easily be translated into a game. After the jump, I'll break down the particulars. As you may have guessed, this is a spoilery post filled with spoilers. Do not read on if you don't want to see spoilers for District 9.
Batman has become a prime commodity since the success of films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Hoping to capitalize on that success, DC Comics and parent company Warner Brothers are looking to give Batman a proper re-entrance into the video game world. Can Batman: Arkham Asylum help make The Dark Knight a top video game icon and help breathe life into other franchises? Only time will tell.
Due to artists' complaints, we've had to remove all the images in this post. Sorry if you were sent here with promises of cake and the hopes of seeing some cool Mario fan art. If you'd like to see our other fan art posts, click here.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:21 AM Aug 05, 2009
I haven't intentionally provoked the rage of the online gaming community for a while, so I figured I was about due. With that in mind, I'm proud to present my list of seven popular games that completely and utterly suck*. Enjoy. I know I will. Your outrage tastes like sweet, sweet wine.
*To be fair, some of these games don't completely blow, but still don't deserve the sales they got.
Sometimes in games we encounter things we don't like. Walls, chocobos, annoying town folk are all examples of things we like to avoid. But in this too evolved world of online multiplayer, it's getting more and more difficult to avoid the things that grind our gears and still have a quality gaming experience. Some may be petty and seem unworthy, but we're out for the win; sorry Tyler.
The more hype and anticipation we put onto a single game makes the sting of failure hurt a million times more than a thousand games that we haven't heard of letting us down. This is the sad fact that has become the video game industry where a large backing and plenty of flashy adverts and multimedia packages can cause a game's hype to increase 20 folds overnight. These marketing campaigns can mislead gamers and undoubtedly cause conflict between mainstream game reviews and user reviews, leaving hordes of young males with burning holes in their pockets and a game publisher with quick millions from what seems like a small advertising blitz.
This may not be the case for all of these games, but an underlying issue of too much talk before a release and not enough after is one that needs to be discussed further from beyond just a marketing standpoint. In the meantime, here are 10 recent games we got super hyped about, but were out of the headlines before we could even finish them.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:01 AM Jul 17, 2009
Here's another little NPD story for you. Last month saw the release of The Conduit, one of the most-discussed Wii games in a long time. You probably know why: It's an FPS, an M-Rated title, and it's on Wii. It pushes the boundary of the system's graphical capabilities and it features online play. The Conduit was considered a "test case" in many corners of the gaming world: Will shooters sell on Wii? Will M-Rated games sell on Wii? Does pushing the hardware lead to greater sales.
The Conduit sold just under 72,000 copies last month. Doom! Gloom! Pack your bags, it's all over! That's what some people are saying, anyway.
Calm down folks, this is no big failure. The Conduit was on sale for 9 days last month. How is this a big catastrophe? For comparison, the new Wii version of Punch-Out sold about 157,000 copies the month before in about two weeks, or about 11,000 copies a day. At about 8,000 copies a day, The Conduit's not that far behind Punch-Out, and it didn't have the benefit of being part of a classic series or being published by Nintendo. We also don't know how much The Conduit cost to develop. At $50 a pop (excluding the Limited Edition), that's $3.6 million in revenue in nine days. Granted, several groups get a cut of that money, but Wii games generally cost much, much less than 360/PS3 games to develop. Depending on the dev costs, it's possible that The Conduit has already paid for itself (probably not, though).
It's too early to call The Conduit a dud, and by extension, it's too early to declare the death of "gamer's games" on Wii. Game sales are down this year overall, so let's all wait and see before sounding the death knell.
Hollywood is always prying its head into the video game industry in an attempt to poach some of our favorite stories for their own personal and unoriginal profit. And since they've begun, we've seen plenty of bad video games movies, but none that stand out in all elements. The women in this article, coupled with an amazing film crew (who aren't Uwe Boll or his friends or any type of associate of his) could potentially make a decent and enjoyable flick. And if not, we can just collect ourselves and write terrible reviews of them (as usual). But you're not here to listen to me rant about Hollywood, you're here for the ladies:
(*DISCLAIMER: The 9 actresses and their video game counterparts are not the only potentially amazing matches out there. They are however all each incredible actresses and matched with the right character could do a great job in a video game movie. Be sure to let us know some of your favorite character/actress combos in the comments!*)
Of the many games I've played so far this year, only a handful have been entirely solo affairs. Aside from games like Infamous, Wolverine and Prototype, most titles have offered some kind of multiplayer mode. That's a good thing, right? After all, we gamers want to get the most for our money, and multiplayer modes help extend the time we spend with our $60 games. But is a multiplayer component necessary for all of these games? For example, did Bionic Commando need a multiplayer mode? A friend of mine has played through Bionic Commando's campaign three times already, but he's only spent two or three hours with the multiplayer. So was the mode a good use of the developer's time?
Mistakes are easy to come by when you're the owner of a popular video game franchise. The sheer number of sales Mario's face can wield would drive weak men to make greedy and stupid decisions. Changing a game's iconic style or selling the rights out to other companies also have their consequences. It may not hurt the gamers overall feeling toward the brand, but I'm sure Miyamoto gives himself a facepalm every time someone mentions "Hotel Mario".
*Disclaimer: the following games may not all necessarily be "bad" by your standards, they are simply games from popular franchises that many people have expressed hate towards, some caused by sheer frustration (mainly in the cases of Zelda II and Mega Man X7).
In last week's Prince of Persia edition of Weekly Fan Art, I ended with a call for suggestions on what series I should tackle in the future. Smash Bros. was the first thing shouted out, and man, what a subject it turned out to be. You see, the recipe for a quality WFA is a combination of shitty drawings (obviously), "chibi" versions of characters, crossovers with Sonic the Hegdehog for some reason, and a healthy dose of homoeroticism. The Smash Bros. fan community delievered on all fronts, with the exception of the Sonic crossover nonsense, because he's already in the game. I could probably use Smash Bros. for a subject for weeks, and the giant fire-shitting Bowser above only scratches the surface of what you're about to see.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:32 AM Mar 23, 2009
Aww yeah. What's the best way to start your week off right? Coffee and donuts? Hookers and an eight ball? If you answered "Weekly Fan Art, of course!" then you have serious problems. I don't know about you, but this column makes me cry every time. Then again, I do have to clear my search history every time I put one of these together, so my wife doesn't inadvertently discover that I was looking at pictures of Scorpion sucking Sub-Zero's dick. I wish I was kidding. Anyway, this week's entry on the Prince of Persia is mercifully fellatio-free!
Welcome to another edition of Weekly Fan Art. This week's entry on the Metal Gear Solid is downright restrained compared to last week's Mortal Kombat entry, which is somewhat odd given the downright bonkers nature of the Metal Gear series. If you've never played it, the Metal Gear Solid series is about a super-soldier names Solid Snake - kinda. He actually only stars in two of the four games. I'm not even going to try to explain it. Let's just look at some pictures, 'kay?
But I'll get to that in a second - first, a thought experiment: Let's say the American arcade scene is moribund at best. And let's say, in spite of this, you release a highly-anticipated game into that scene like SFIV. Now let's say you release a home version in a few months with home-exclusive characters. Haven't you effectively driven a stake into the heart of your arcade unit?
Back in the day, Capcom had it the other way around: First there was the arcade SFII, and when the arcade SFII: Championship Edition came out, then they released SFII on consoles. When SFII:CE came to consoles Capcom released SFII: Hyper Fighting in the arcade, and when that finally came home Capcom rolled out Super Street Fighter II in the arcade, and so on. Basically, there was always a reason to go back to the arcade; they weren't sending people home for good.
Now I understand the arcade ecology isn't robust enough these days to do it that way, but it does make me wonder if, once the console port hits, Capcom will update their cabs to include the home characters. If not... what'll be the point anymore?
Thoughts on El Fuerte and E. Honda(!), along with videos, after the jump.
As I threatened in a prior post, the lack of a North American release for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has forced me to take drastic measures: figuring out what it would take to trick my Wii's brain into playing import titles. And now, after the relatively modest outlay of 13 bucks --
-- and a few hours on the Internet reading what exactly to download and then what to do with it, my console is now a full-fledged region-free device. God bless the evil geniuses of the Interwebs.
Click on through for thoughts on the process and a bunch of pics of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom!
After learning only a day or two ago there was a SF4 arcade cabinet in Arizona, I decided to take a field trip to the AZ Mills Gameworks to check it out.
First things first: I can't tell you how disappointing Gameworks is for someone who came of age during the era of seedy corner arcades. It's hard to explain what the American arcade scene was like to people who are too young to remember it... suffice it to say: Gameworks is a very sterile interpretation of it. While there were a few massive family-friendly arcades back then (usually attached to a miniature golf park or something), more often they were dank, grimy little dens that had more in common with a dive bar (or at best, a pool hall). When I used to play SF2 in high school, I was typically surrounded by scary older kids who set ashtrays on the cab and smoked as they played, fistfights broke out in the parking lot every night, and the noise was so deafening all you could ever really make out in the din was - sometimes - the Mortal Kombat announcer demanding you FINISH HIM. The carpet looked like it was collected from an Indian casino, there was no lighting beyond the glow of the screens, and the whole place smelled of adolescent male B.O. and ozone.
In short: it was paradise. If they added strippers to the mix I never would've left.
In lieu of this, walking into Gameworks and seeing little girls bouncing up and down on Dance Dance Revolution while their parents have a chef salad upstairs is still a little jarring for me. They do have one little corner of the second floor stocked with older titles in faux-wood cabs - a Mario Bros., a Tetris, a Missile Command - but even if you just try and focus on that little nook, you're not fooled, it's not the same. I might as well take my Vietnam vet father to the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland and ask him if it reminds him of Southeast Asia.
Okay, that's enough "Back in my day..." stuff. Back to Street Fighter 4...
I realized today that most of my adult life has been spent anticipating the release of some miscellaneous bit of geekery, and have been celebrating 3 or 4 nerd Christmas Eves a year for decades now.
I'll give examples: the first I can remember was the anticipation of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. If hype can be orchestrated, Nintendo of the late 80s was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, stringing along fans of the original for years with little breadcrumbs - the occasional screenshot in Nintendo Power, a map of the first dungeon months before the game even was released, dubious "chip shortages" delaying the game further - until kids like me were planning a Heat-like heist on Nintendo of America HQ just to get a copy. Eventually Adventure of Link finally landed, but some new game replaced it, and I've pined away for some game, one after another, ever since. This extends to movies, too. For more than a decade I've been in a state of perpetual anticipation, first for Star Wars prequels, then for the Lord of the Rings films, then for Batman movies, now for Watchmen and The Hobbit.
Philosophically, it's a horrendous, poisonous way to approach life, always waiting for things, always fixated on a future event rather than the present. But it's such a normal part of my life as a geek it's hard to imagine being any other way.
That being the case: I've composed a list of the Q1 2009 games I'm obsessing over (in chronological order). Click through to see mine and add your own.
Welcome to the first installment of what promises to be a horrifying regular feature here on Joystick Division! Inspired by our much more frequently-updated sister site Topless Robot and its emotionally scarring Fan Fiction Friday column, I bring you Weekly Fan Art! Celebrating the lamest, weirdest and most vomit-inducing video game fan art, I figured I'd start things off with the biggest game mascot of all time: Mario. There are literally thousands of Mario art pieces out there, including some which are truly very cool. These, however, are not cool at all. Hit the jump to revel in the shittiness!
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 12:24 PM Jan 01, 2009
Happy New Year, folks! Welcome to Day 2 of Joystick Division's
2008 Year in Review. One of the advantages of posting my write-up second is
that I've had a chance to read Gary's take and react to some of it. And while I
agree with Gary that 2008 was a year packed with excellent games and
interesting stories, in my mind 2008 will be more remembered for its
disappointments than its highlights. The long awaited Spore disappointed,
Sony's "system-seller" LittleBigPlanet failed to set the sales charts ablaze, a
solid sequels like Gears of War 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 and Devil May Cry 4 didn't
generate the kind of excitement that the previous games did. In late 2008, the
economic slowdown came to the supposedly recession-proof gaming industry in a
big way, with layoffs and studio closings being announced left and right. That
being said, 2008 did deliver a huge number of strong games, including polished
sequels and promising new franchises. Hit the jump to read my picks for my Year
in Review Awards!
I can't speak for Anton, but
I know I've slaved and agonized over my Best of 2008 picks for weeks now, and
settled on a few of my choices only minutes before I clicked "Publish". While
I'm not sure I want to declare 2008 the BEST YEAR IN GAMING EVAR!!! or anything, we certainly did have an embarrassment of riches, with many, many
titles deserving of a mention.
I don't pretend to be an
authority on this sort of thing, and certainly not the final word (part of why
Anton and I have filed our lists separately rather than try and synchronize our
picks, or even our categories) - so I genuinely look forward to your thoughts
on my picks, and hope you share all your own (whether by the comment section or
e-mail)!
One last note: some categories
you might be interested in won't be here - for example, I didn't name a Best Sports Game. If there are voids like that, it's because I simply didn't play
enough games to make a declaration... sorry!
Click on through for my picks
for the Best in Gaming in 2008!
For days, the status of my Xbox 360 repair has been stuck at "Repair in Progress" - so imagine my surprise when the UPS man showed up with a box from the Xbox Repair Center just the other day. On the down side, I didn't get my own 360 back (I didn't realize it was that fucked up); on the up side, this one is a hell of a lot quieter - huzzah!
Though I have to admit I probably prefer the 360 to the two other consoles this gen, it's not like being left with the PS3 and Wii to pass the time was so awful (though being left with a Wii alone would've been a steady diet of gaming gruel I wouldn't have weathered so gracefully). No, the real issue was my backlog, especially since much of it are titles I need to play before we can put together our upcoming Best of 2008 feature(s?).
And because a few have asked, here's the list of titles I have on the docket to play over the next week or so (and which console I'll be playing them on) - some just a little bit, others a full playthrough, but all needing to be played for one reason or another before I start making "BEST OF 2008!" declarations:
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:07 AM Dec 16, 2008
While there were teasers shown for God of War III, Fight Night Round 4, GTA: Lost and Damned, and more, the news that really stuck out to me from this weekend's Spike TV VGA show was EA's announcement of Dante's Inferno. It's an odd choice for a video game adaptation to say the least, and I wonder if some gamers will be confused as to why that dude from Devil May Cry isn't in it. The news also got me thinking about video games and literature. There are far more video games based on books than I realized - many of which aren't adapted until there is a movie version, of course. The most high profile series based on books is probably the Tom Clancy series, but after the jump I've compiled a list of six book-based games that didn't turn out quite so well. Read on for more desecration of classic works!
Still, I think it has value. It forces the respondent - assuming he's actually putting some effort into it - to seriously think about his job and how he does it. I'd love it if every reviewer filled it out, even if they didn't ultimately share their answers with readers (though I'd love to read everyone's)... I think it's a worthwhile exercise.
Anyway, I did it too (you can read it after the jump). And even if you aren't interested in my answers, you might be interested in the questions, as readers, thinking about what you'd hope a reviewer to say.
Luckily, Wesley Yin-Poole over at VideoGamer.com is a little more motivated, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In the first chunk of a multipart sit-down with David Sirlin, Sirlin reveals he was more or less told by the developer, Backbone, to go pound sand when he brought up a host of gameplay tweaks he thought could be made to the title. A juicy morsel:
[Sirlin] said: "I struggled almost every day with that whole project trying to get something done. A real critical hurdle for me was having the rebalanced mode at all. Backbone, they just didn't want to do it at all because it sounded like too much work. Who's going to pay for all this, it's hard enough to ship this game in the first place and, were they going to assign programmers to help me? They didn't want to do that. So they said, 'no, we're not going to do it'. Just flat out no. I pretty much ignored that. I started reading the source code myself, and I'm not a programmer, and I'm certainly not an assembly programmer, so it's complete gibberish to me."
What I especially love about this story so far - aside from Sirlin stickin' it to the man - is that his tweaks and finessing are arguably SSF2THDR's only unequivocal success. The redone visuals are generally mediocre and the remixed soundtrack uneven, but the dip switch controls and the rebalancing... well, as a devout SF fan I was nervous when such changes were first discussed (heresy!), but having played the final product I think what Sirlin has accomplished here is deeply impressive, a testament to his SF acumen.
Flipping
through this month's EGM (and wondering if I'll be doing it this time next year),
I let myself settle on a short column by John Davison, "The problem with
LittleBigPlanet". It's a good headline - or at least, good at getting my attention since I've watched the hype
leading up to LBP's release (and the resultant sales figures, the equivalent of
a commercial shrug) with some fascination. Since I have my own theories about
what went wrong, I was eager to compare notes with Davison.
In an effort to get through as many of the season's big games as I can, I've been juggling my time between several blockbuster titles. I recently completed Mirror's Edge, and have been revisiting Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 at regular intervals. As I said in the review, Mirror's Edge didn't grab me with its story, and I've come to a realize why that is: the setting. Unlike Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Fracture and countless other games, it's not set in a grimy, chaotic future. It's set in a clean, authoritarian future with a corrupt, omnipresent political power.
Breaking from the pack is typically a good thing, but I think there is a major reason it doesn't work in this instance. Namely, does the scrubbed-clean future with an all-powerful totalitarian regime have any significance in today's world? I don't think so. Here's why.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:48 AM Nov 12, 2008
Barely one week ago, this nation elected its first African-American president. In many parts of the country, people are reporting that they feel a change. The world feels more hopeful, brighter, more optimistic. A majority of the country thinks that Obama is going to improve things over the next four years and be a good or even great leader. No one seems to think that Obama's presidency will be a magical cure-all, but for at least the last seven days, it's seemed like real reconciliation in this divided country is an actual possibility.
Then Gears of War 2 came out.
Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I should have expected it. But I didn't. Despite knowing full well what the online community was like for the original Gears, I was still taken aback by the constant stream of racial epithets that have punctuated every second of my time with Gears 2's multiplayer. Here I was, basking in the afterglow of an election unlike any other in my lifetime, only to be brought crashing back to Earth by my own people: gamers.
I managed to get both Resistance 2 (PS3) and Gears of War 2 (360) on nearly the same day last week, and they both went unopened for days because
1) I was still obsessing over Fallout 3, and
2) I couldn’t decide which to play first.
I have a pretty low opinion of multitasking – maybe in part because I’ve never been very good at it. To me there’s no such thing as doing a few things at once, it’s either doing one thing at a time successively (at best) or doing a bunch of shit poorly all at once (more commonly). Personally, I like to focus on what I’m doing and not poke my head up until I’m done with it. So I didn’t want to hop back and forth between Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 – different consoles, different gameplay, different controllers – and thus lessen my experience of both, I wanted to play one at a time - I just couldn’t decide which one first.
After a week of the games just sitting in their plastic wrap, though, I started to get nervous. As an avid gamer, the threat of a backlog is constant and very real, and with games like Mirror’s Edge and Left 4 Dead on the way, I realized I wouldn’t have time to play both Gears and Resistance. So I decided to settle this in a very survival-of-the-fittest sort of way: give each game 45 minutes of my time, and see which does a better job of winning me over – Resistance 2 or Gears of War 2.
I started with Resistance 2. Notes after the jump!
Are you an internet and gaming enthusiast? Do you like lists and t-shirts? Of course you do, it's the law...If it's not in list form, it's not worth your time. And that's why you're going to hit the jump to see the most obnoxious gaming shirts ever*...
There's only one more day until Halloween, so I hope you've made time to play some frightening games this month. There have been many, many lists of the scariest games ever out there, and honestly I had planned on doing another one. But I've decided against it. Instead I've decided to talk about horror in video games in a more general sense. Because when you think about it, fear permeates all kinds of games. Whether its something as simple as the anxiety you feel in a close deathmatch or race, or a moment designed to make you jump out of your seat, fear is a part of almost any game you can think of. Check out Chris Ward's hilarious comparison of Alone in the Dark and Cake Mania as one example. After the jump I've got a few more. This post contains spoilers.
You may not know Pete Frankelroy, but you've seen his tentacles.The Video Game industry's number one, go-to Boss Battle tentacle designer, Pete Frankelroy, was tapped once again for two of this year's biggest releases: Dead Space and Gears of War 2. "There was a period there when giant tentacle bosses got sort of got passe," Daniels tells us via phone from his Phoenix home. "All these...
Ok...ok...I'll cut out the bullshit. There is no #1 Tentacle Boss designer in games, just like there is no #1 Hand Model in games. I made it all up (maybe a little too well...my friends didn't know this story was utter bullshit. Which either means I was a little too convincing or that people really want to believe there's a guy making a career out of lending his angelic hands to game companies). The whole point of that article, and this one, is a small, petty one: there aren't a whole lot of new ideas in gaming these days. Yeah, I know...breaking news it's not. I couldn't help but feel incredibly bored as I watched the leaked Gears of War 2 footage below, where you battle a giant tentacle with your over-the-shoulder view Marine in a bleak environment. Reminded me of the 12-14 giant-tentacles-smashing-down-on-you boss battles from Dead Space...all shot over your shoulder in a bleak environment. This all brings me to my last point and, really, the only thing I care about: where are all the giant testicle boss battles?
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 10:50 AM Oct 13, 2008
I love horror movies. I especially love horror movies in the month of October. I caught Quarantine this weekend on a whim, and liked it much more than I expected to. And like a lot of horror movies, it could make a pretty decent video game, specifically a smaller downloadable title like Siren: Blood Curse on PlayStation Network.
I can think of a lot of horror flicks that would make decent games, the most obvious being 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks later. The films of Neil Marshall are all very game-friendly as well (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, and Doomsday). What scary movies would you like to see turned into video games? How about a Grand Theft Auto-style adaptation of They Live? A Clock Tower-inspired take on the Friday the 13th series? Or a video game version of About Schmidt where you try to avoid a naked Kathy Bates? Let's hear your suggestions in the Comments.
(Note to readers: This column is the one that will appear in the different VVM papers and sites in a couple days, reprinted here for your convenience.)
About two weeks ago, I described the links between one of gaming’s biggest PR companies, TriplePoint PR, and a small gaming news and review site founded by TriplePoint’s General Manager and Founder Richard Kain (“A Slave of Two Masters,” JoystickDivision.com, September 25). Though the site – GameCyte.com – was set up via a domain privacy service and none of the companies disclosed the apparent conflict of interest, we were able to determine not only Kain’s connection to the two companies, but more – like the fact GameCyte was staffed by current and former employees of TriplePoint, and that its most highly-recommended games – by Kain’s own admission – were made by a company he’s invested in. Within a day of the story running, every site related to Kain had its “About” page updated to disclose this information to its readers.
That’s good. It’s also not enough. Laying a conflict of interest bare doesn’t dig the mines out of your field, it merely plants flags on them. TriplePoint and GameCyte’s relationship is still ill-conceived at best and built to fail at worst… but sometimes, all we can really hope for is more information so we can make better judgments.
I finished the Game On review of Spore just a few days ago, which was a bear to write - not just because of Spore's complexity, but the loads of content I struggled to cram into Game On’s 600-word limit. I didn’t realize I had so much to say about Spore… then I started typing, veering off into every tangentially related topic and ending up with a first draft 500 words too long. Oops.
Some cuts were easy: my 150+ words on Wright’s previous effort, The Sims, was an obvious item to scrap. But other parts hung on until the bitter end, because they seemed relevant to me… until finally the deadline just couldn’t be pushed any later and I forced myself to hack away. Those lingering, discarded scraps sat on my clipboard and grew into this column: critiques Spore from an evolutionary biology perspective.
(Oh, and for the record: Terms like Darwinist or evolutionist are often used by creationists with a pejorative connotation, the "-ism" part of the word suggesting evolution is an unsubstantiated belief system. I'm not suggesting that meaning at all; I just couldn't bear to look at the mouthful "An Evolutionary Biologist's Critique of Spore" as a headline. You understand.)
Here we are: the third and final installment of our interview with Braid's David Hellman. (If you missed the others, here's part one and part two.) Today we talk about his history with games, games that have struck him visually, and then the larger topic of art in gaming in general. Finally, we close with what's next for David - click on through!
As promised: part two of the three-part, in-depth interview with Braid's David Hellman (if you missed it, here's part one, and part three is now up).
Naturally, a huge portion of our conversation dealt with Braid, and that's what you'll find here today. Click through for talk of working with Jonathan Blow, building worlds, thoughts on Braid's protagonist and even me spinning fanciful interpretations of Braid's ending that don't hold up to scrutiny.
(Which reminds me: parts of this conversation include what could be considered SPOILERS.)
Though the year isn't even over yet, most would agree that Braid already has more than a few "Best of 2008" awards in the bag. Part of that is due to the game's ingeniously designed gameplay, courtesy of Jonathan Blow. Another part is the groundbreaking way the game tells a story through what the player does just as much as what he's reading off the screen (Jonathan again). And yet another part is the enigmatic, layer-heavy story that had (and still has) players comparing notes trying to decide What It All Means (yes, that was Jonathan too).
But what would the original Star Wars have been without Ralph McQuarrie's designs? Or in our pastime: would we have cared as much about Okami if not for its sumi-e-inspired visuals? A critical part of Braid's effect comes from the music and, in particular, the game's stunning visual design - for that, we can credit David Hellman.
David was good enough to agree to a rather long interview with me covering a range of topics, from his own background to his work on Braid to the state of art in games in general. Because the final transcript was so massive, I've broken it up into three broad sections. Tonight's covers David's biography and background. Part 2 tomorrow is the chunk on Braid, and then Friday's Part 3 will be our chat about games, art in games, and what's next for him.
I talked to David as he wandered the streets of San Francisco near his apartment, so that seemed a good enough place to start...
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:01 PM Sep 04, 2008
With John McCain officially accepting the nomination to become the Republican Party’s Presidential nominee, political convention season is over. But the fun doesn’t have to stop! Joystick Division is mildly proud to present The Top Seven Video Games of the RNC! Read on for the for political satire the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Fox News cancelled The ½ Hour News Hour!
A few days back I asked readers for their tips on hunting for video game bargains. A few of you sent in your tips, including this one from reader Jason:
The best tip I can suggest for find great deals on games is to make friends with a gamestop employee. A friend of mine used to work at at a GS and whenever people would bring a game or accesory that he knew I was looking for he would call me and see if they would take a slightly higher cash offer for the item. I was able to snag a 60gb PS3 this was for $200.
10. Gamers need to shower. Yes, this is a cruel one, but it’s true. Entering a crowd of fanboys means entering a certain, “I’m sleeping on the floor of the expo and haven’t changed my shirt in three days” odor cloud. It’s bad enough I considered carrying Febreeze with me on the expo floor.
9. Kilts are the new cool – or at least, nerds’ idea of cool. Here in Seattle, there’s a store that makes and sells “utilikilts,” skirts for boys with cargo pockets that start at $150. Popular among the type of people who carry D20s, these fashion statements dot the expo. It’s especially hard to take a security guard seriously when his kilt is blowing in the wind.
Let me set the scene for you: it’s Friday night at the 2008 Penny Arcade Expo, and I’m in the VIP line for the Champions Online party – which is to say, a totally empty line headed by a guy in a horribly cheap superman costume. Oh, look, they’re opening the doors to the Seattle Public Library. Yes, this party takes place in a library. Inside, there’s plenty of free beer, and almost no one to drink it. Fifteen minutes later, I’m so bored I’m roaming the bookshelves attempting to entertain myself by drinking while reading fine literature. Ah fanboys, you’re so cuddly, but damn do you throw a lame party.
Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 11:38 AM Sep 02, 2008
I have returned from PAX with all my original body parts, as well as a suitcase that weighed much more than it did on the way there. That's right, I'm loaded down with swag! There was much, much more free stuff flying around, from Halo toys to Vault Boy puppets (which I wasn't able to snag, although I did get a Vault Dweller's Survival Guide), so my haul is only a small sample of what was available. Check it out, won't you?
So I was standing in line at Gamestop, which is never a good thing, not one part of it: not standing in line, not being in a Gamestop, not having to actually be in close proximity to Gamestop customers – all bad, every bit. But there I was.
In front of me was a woman taking entirely too long. She had clearly been dragged into the store by her son, an obnoxious spaz of a kid who was leaning over the counter and arching his back while somehow simultaneously stepping on his own foot: hyperactivity that looked like a full-body seizure and made me want to channel my parents by booting him outside to run off his crazy boy energy. He was naming games he wanted, and with each title the mom would ask the clerk:
“Is that one violent?”
“It’s rated M.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she replied bitchily.
“There’s some violence.”
“No, not that one,” she’d inform the boy. And so the Lord of the Pee-Pee Dance would point out another game, and the process repeated; him oblivious to the fact this would go nowhere until he named an age-appropriate title, and her oblivious to the fact that a line was forming behind her.
I reminded myself that never – no matter what financial situation I found myself in – would I work customer service again. I'd almost say I’d suck a cock first, but that's not true – because that would be customer service. (More after the jump.)
Yep, Gary Hodges went to Comic Con this year and I couldn't go. But it's not like anything went on that didn't go on at my convention: Or, as patrons were dubbing it: "Ward Con 1: Chris Ward-m
For days, the status of my Xbox 360 repair has been stuck at "Repair in Progress" - so imagine my surprise when the UPS man showed up with a box from the Xbox Repair Center just the other day. On the down side, I didn't get my own 360 back (I didn't realize it was 
