Triumph of the Will for Power -
May 31, 2001 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed
within this column are those of the participants and the
moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the
GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive
material afoot.
After two thousand came two thousand and one.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
One of the coolest pieces of swag from E3, it's generally been agreed amongst GIA staff, was a small metal pen given out by Sony at their pre-show press conference. Turn the pen one way, press the button, and black ink comes out, turn it another way, and you get red ink, or a mechanical pencil, or even a stylus for a Palm Pilot. It's so cool I'm thinking of getting a Palm Pilot just so I can use the stylus... except it's also so cool, I don't want to wear it out by actually using it. Ah well.
Onward.
| The Hawkites have won this round... for now... |
| Double Agent,
While I can see how some people may want just one award for 'best game',
it would kind of, sort of, well, suck big time for you if the game that
won the award was in a genre that you despise. I look to awards to show
me what games people think are good and to see if there are any that
interest me yet I somehow have missed.
Now what if a game that I can't stand, like say 'Tony Hawk Pro Moron',
wins best game? (I've played demos of Tony Hawk, and I frankly can't
stand it. If anyone disagrees fine, I don't care, go play it all you
want. To each his own, but I still think it sucks.) At least if 'Tony
Hawk' wins 'BESTEST GAME EVER OF THE YEAR' I can still look to 'BESTEST
RPG EVER OF THE YEAR' to see what people thought about some games I
actually like or that I might like but haven't heard of for some strange
reason.
I think at the very least there should be separate catagories where
there are clear separations. How exactly can you compare a game where
you roll around on a stupid skateboard jumping around like some jackass
to a game where you band together unlikely heroes to save the world from
Foozle the archvillain? It would be like comparing a televised
basketball game to an episode of Star Trek. Boy, I bet Michael Jordan
could kick Spock's butt!
-TBG
PS- I am SO totally glad I never got PSO. Just like drug pushers, the
first taste is free, then when you're nice and hooked... |
The problem with this is that it leads to segregation amongst gamers - maybe you really don't like Tony Hawk, but in general do you want to completely avoid potentially good games just because they don't fit into some narrow genre definition? Then again, sites like this one may be just as much to blame where that's concerned, and it's not like I have enough time to play all the worthy RPGs out there, let alone much else. I just worry that we may miss some interesting, solid innovation if we limit ourselves too much to a specific area.
And my money's on Spock, three to one odds. Any takers?
| The first of two letters that start with "yes" |
| Dear Double Agent,
Yes, let's group all awards into one big category. All games under one
award genre. All films under one award genre. Hell, even all cars under one
award genre. Even though an '01 Mustang and an '01 Diablo are as different as
you can get when speaking of sports cars, they should be judged the same
(even though one is individually handmade and costs roughly 2 souls more than
the other). The very idea of this is absurd. Do they group all the athletes
at the Olympics together and just give out 3 medals for the whole thing,
because giving out all those medals would take so long and boring? (Not that
it isn't, but) no. The decathelon takes a bit more effort than, say,
synchronized swimming. So judging everything in one big ass group is a
foolish idea at best. I mean, who was it that made their 100 best games of
all time list and put Tetris at the top? Remember the pantspissing that
caused? You couldn't really give it any weight because Tetris and Super Mario
64 and Final Fantasy VI are completely different games enjoyed by completely
different people. My dad loves Tetris, but he's 60 and a pencil pusher. My
bro loves FF7, but wouldn't be caught dead playing videogames in public. I
love SM64 because I'm a Nintendork. So as long as people have as many
opinions as they have assholes, awards must be given out according to merit,
not convenience.
-Shige "The Weakest Zelda" Yamada
|
Er... I enjoyed Mario 64 and Final Fantasy 6 about equally, ditto Tetris and FF7. Hell, if any game deserves to take the top spot on anybody's top 100 list, it's Tetris. This is exactly what I'm worried about - there's some truth to the argument that FFT and Dance Dance Revolution are two completely different games, but lock yourself in to being an RPG player or a Nintendo freak and you're liable to miss out on some of the best stuff consoles have to offer.
| The second of... well, you know |
| Yes, dividing genres within genres just to hand out more awards is stupid and
petty, but oftentimes gamers can be a stupid and petty bunch. Let's say that
magazine 'X' gives the game of the year award to the newest Final Fantasy.
That means, we say, they kiss Squaresoft ass. If they pick the latest Tony
Hawk? Neanderthal jocks. The latest Treasure release? Condescending
old-schoolers. And it gets worse with 'worst of year' awards - I bet you
still get mail from the pro-Dragoon faction.
So in order to keep everyone happy, 50-odd categories are made in these
awards articles so that just about every game worth mentioning (and some that
don't) get a laurel, and anal-retentive snots don't flood the mailboxes with
letter bombs and pig heads. Which of course, upsets the snots who hate
over-specialization.
Outside of awards, we also have snots who will debate for hours whether Kefka
or Sephiroth is a better villian, whether Phantasy Star Online made or
destroyed the series, or (in my case, once) whether this game or that will be
the last released on the PSOne.Will we as a whole ever agree to disagree? I
say no, and you better agree, or I'll never let you live it down.
SonicPanda
|
I agree, I think. No, wait, I don't! No, yes I do, or not... maybe...
Yes, we still get letters from the pro-Dragoon faction, which tends to be amusing for those of us who don't see too many of them, and somewhat more irritating for those who see 'em all. There's something to be said for sucking up to various interest groups in the name of keeping the peace, but on the other hand, where would this letters column be without a good dose of regular argument? There's also something to be said for enraging specific sections of gamers - there might be some argument over calling Luigi's Mansion better than MGS2, but nothing like the argument over calling FF7 more influential than the original Dragon Warrior. Genre demarkations have their uses, if a lot of angry site visitors are what you're after.
| The wisdom of Nester enriches us all |
| Well, I don't subscribe to Nintendo Power anymore, but I have checked their recent issues and noticed what a wonderful job they do with the annual reader awards. They have an excellent balance of genre awards, fun awards (i.e. "Best Power-Up"), technical achievement awards, and a set of overall awards for each Nintendo system.
Superb niche games like Ogre Battle: Person of Lordly Caliber earn awards for best story or best RPG (definitely a niche category for the N64) and excellent, popular games like Majora's Mask sweep the big awards like best graphics, best action game, and of course game of the year.
Of course we know that Nintendo Power has a personal agenda of its own when it picks the nominations and lets the readers decide only from those nominations, but nevertheless the editors do a good job selecting categories for awards.
-Fares
|
True, but Nintendo has it a bit easier than multi-platform awards do. Within a single console in any given year, there's generally one game that outshines all the others - the problem comes when you have to compare the best Dreamcast game to the best PS2 game. And, as you say, Nintendo Power has their own agenda, which allows them to steer pretty well clear of any serious contention... which isn't always a bad thing.
| Devil May Cry, but you'll laugh at the religious bigotry contained herein! |
| Chris,
I think that a major distinction between two distinct styles of
gameplay such as a 2-d or 3-d fighter, 1st or 3rd person action, epic or poke
rpg etc. is legit as long as its used for distinction only. Anything less is
a bit too much- I mean
Devil May Cry has me pumped, but Stylish Hard Action ? Granted it may possess
more flair than the run-of-the mill action game, but its still a fairly
simple case of the genre. I'd have to say that as far as awards are concerned
we don't need a separate 1-st person award, but we should keep the genre
categories in their broadest sense. If someone likes music and puzzle games,
which likely will never be accepted as a suitable best game category they
deserve to see what the reviewers think of that genre's games.
On a completely unrelated note, check this link out-
Evvvvvilllllllll
Now if this legislation is imposed then we may see arcade games being
regulated by way of 'porno curtains' due to violent content or other such Bs
at the NATIONAL level. The arcade industry is nearly dead and this could be a
final nail in the coffin. One of the few incredible arcade games I've played
in the recent years is Time Crisis 2, still unavailable on console. Its
clearly unconstitutional but then again so was the ridiculous Decency in
Communications act, which only about 10 senators (including Joe Liberman)
OPPOSED! Why the hell a bible belt flyover state has to try to bam every form
of media ( I've heard one of these actually has a porn czar, a mormon 40
year-old virgin no less, that sits around getting paid to watch porno and
find what is 'acceptable'- wonderful use of taxpayer money)that they don't
find fit for the public I don't know ( Maybe someone should complain that
televangelist broadcasts offend them), but I digress, why do the people of
devils asshole, let alone anyone have to put up with this shit?
-Genji Breaker X
|
This is worth bringing up in the column, but may I suggest that rather than getting upset about, we should be rejoicing that this law's being fought at all? I would have thought very few people would be interested in allowing young kids to play Street Fighter - it's entirely possible that this could have happened without anybody making a peep. Instead, somebody's standing up to this, and if it does get all the way to the Supreme Court, games might get legally recognized as being legitimate art, which would be a good thing, not a bad one. So everybody just calm down, ok?
| The existential angst of not having giant robots |
| (Totally off topic, and probably irrelevant to some) Huh? Xenosaga might not have gears in battle? What the hell?
I understand it's a prequel/episode I type of thing, but how can it be totally sci-fi based and have no gear battles? The gear battles were among one of the best things about XenoGears! ;_;
Princess "MonolithSoft's giving me a heartburn" Jemmy
|
Hate to say it, but I think the pretentious philosophizing had more to do with Xenogears' success than the giant robots. And besides, if I remember right, in Xenogears continuity, Gears were developed well after the Deus incident, which would mean you wouldn't expect to see them in a game occurring entirely before that. Sorry, Jemmy, looks like it's back to ZOE for you.
| Buy this sports game, because it's kinda better than an RPG |
| In response to the whole thing about lumping games categories together for one single award... I will concede Nick's claim that it is, in fact, possible to compare a sports game to an RPG. However, is it possible to compare them *well*?
I think it's important to take into account that at least a significant fraction of the RPG-playing community has minimal interest in sports games, and vice-versa. Thus, if someone interested in RPGs hears that NFL2k1 is better than Chrono Cross, they probably won't care. Besides, it's easy to imagine that the judge or judges making that sort of decision made it because they happen to like sports games better, or they just don't 'get' RPGs.
It comes down to this: A lot of people use these game awards to make informed decisions about what games they should purchase. If an set of awards ends up being a big advertisement for 30 different games, then so what? Doing it that way gives people a broader picture of what's out there, and makes it much more likely that there will be at least one game they're interested in.
John Q. Gamer
|
You're absolutely right, except that it kind of defeats the purpose of reviews (which generally don't pay much heed to genres, except in comparing that game to other genre examples) in making purchase decisions. From my point of view, awards should merely indicate what readers or critics think was the best of the year, simply because they're rarely enough actual criticism in an awards writeup to tell you much. Still, lots of people do base a lot off of a game being somebody's best RPG of 2000, so...
| Of course, there are no women named "Terry" |
| "thinks Terry Pratchett could kick J. K. Rowling's ass in a bar fight"
Just wondering, but you DO know J K Rowling is a WOMAN, right?
-Krog
|
I got this same question 5 times in the mail: yes, I do know, and it was a joke. (And yes, I know that Terry Pratchett's a guy.) Still, if it makes you feel any better, perhaps it's a literary bar fight - they take turns making scathing remarks about each other's writing until somebody's head explodes, ok?
Closing Comments:
Free topic day tomorrow, so let your children run wild and free. Or something.
-Chris Jones, fears the mecha Chu-chu
|
