Just call me Mister Sophisticated - June 2, 2001 - Drew Cosner
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not neccessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. I think I need to give you a good old-fashioned beef injection. Don't say we didn't warn you.
It's the weekend before finals week, so if this issue of Double Agent is short and about as funny as Comedy Central Presents: Packing Tape, at least you'll know why. My philosophy is that it's better to point out your own shortcomings before other people can do it for you.
| They won't develop for the Xbox because it's black, man! |
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It is not a good time to be a gaming industry spectator.
I used to be quite interested in the workings of the gaming industry. I spend more time reading gaming news sites than I do playing games, and I suspect I'm not alone. Over time, however, I've begun to notice something: being a gaming spectator sucks all the fun out of gaming.
One year ago...
Sega. Nintendo. Sony. Microsoft. This was the lineup. I looked at it as follows:
Sega -- makes the Dreamcast, makes fun games. I'm looking forward to new DC games.
Nintendo -- makes the Nintendo 64 and hasn't published a game I liked since the Super NES days. Otakus love them. I'm indifferent.
Sony -- makes the PSX. Tons of games, lots of marketing power, brought gaming to the mainstream. Gotta respect that. Looking forward to the PS2.
Microsoft -- Xbox upcoming. Got a bad rep for Windows because of an antitrust trial. Never made a gaming machine before, but they have money. Dunno about these guys.
A little over a year passes. In that year the following happens:
- Sega drops out of the race. I got the impression these guys really cared about making good games and I was rooting for them. At least they'll still be doing what they do best-- making great games.
- I begin to learn more about Sony's tactics, particularly about the reason Resident Evil 3 was created, the reason GameCubes and Xboxes still cannot be preordered at most retail locations, the "struggle" against Bleemcast, the attitudes of most Sony executives concerning gaming, and Sony's use of funding with large Japanese developers. I also learn about Sony's attitudes towards other third-party developers. I cannot respect Sony.
- Nintendo insults many of its fans on numerous occasions, insults other Japanese companies, and make a number of baffling and foolish press announcements before finally unveiling the GameCube at E3. While it looks impressive, it features no original games save for an ant-collecting simulator which doesn't interest me in the least; instead, Nintendo's lineup consists of more sequels to games that have had multiple sequels already, in genres that Nintendo has already overpopulated. Nintendo is still catering to children, still producing unoriginal titles, and still has not unveiled any sort of online strategy or even hinted at an interest in an online strategy.
- Microsoft shows more interest in catering to outside developers than any company before it but is disrespected in Japan for being an American company. As a result, many large Japanese developers are unwilling to throw full support behind it, and both American and Japanese gamers alike gang up to bash the system. The Xbox has a lousy showing at the E3 event, partly because many of the games there weren't terribly eye-catching and partly because the innovative Xbox games there were torn apart in the press-- for example, Halo slowed down at times in multiplayer modes due to running on an Xbox without a sound chip in it, and in response most gaming sites failed to explore any more of the game than the multiplayer slowdown in their post-E3 writeups.
So here's what we have:
The most outspoken members of the gaming community are, regardless of their nationality, ganging up on the one console manufacturer that indicates it just might give a shit about releasing good games because this developer is American. Meanwhile, they throw their support behind A) a company that is openly flaunting unoriginal clones of their previous games and B) a company that has paid and continues to pay money to developers to keep their games off of other platforms and/or to strategically manufacture games in order to undercut other console manufacturers while simultaneously providing as little support to the developers as they have to, causing many developers to complain about the difficulty of developing for PS2 until Sony pays them to shut up.
Long ago, the gaming industry was small enough that the companies involved seem to care about making games for gamers instead of making games for the market. Nintendo churns out kart games using their recurring characters, and Pokemon (or Pokemon-esque) titles, while Sony pushes out the games necessary to ensure that they dominate the market, whether the games are good or not. Look at Dark Cloud: It was rushed through development and contains a number of text bugs and homosexuality references because Sony cared more about the bottom dollar than about quality.
I support Microsoft because they don't know a damned thing about the industry and they're talking to the developers to find out. They're talking to the guys that really are concerned about making good games. They have one hell of a system here, which shows some serious growth potential as Microsoft learns more about how the industry works, but the gaming community will not support them because A) they're American B) they're Microsoft.
So after watching the gaming community for a few years, it seems to me that the people who watch the gaming community are begging for more commercialism and less originality in games, and anyone who says differently gets flamed. This disturbs me.
I think that now I know why the guys who don't keep up with the gaming news have more fun.
-Nij
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I'm tired and cranky, so this response is about to come straight from the heart, little brain-filtering applied: what a load of self-important bullshit. Yes, Nij, third-parties are leery of a brand-new system from hardware manufacturer inexperienced in the gaming industry not because it has yet to prove itself, but because it's being made by an American firm. Those damned Japanese. Obviously, companies aren't concerned that the system won't have the games to move the systems and hence make it profitable to develop for, they just want to see those American bastards squirm.
And Hell shit 'n fire if'un them damn commie gaming journalists aren't giving the Xbox a bad rap with no just cause. It's not that Microsoft is showing off and launching the Xbox with the types of games that don't do much to catch interest, it's just that we want to see the system fail.
I won't even get into how wrongheaded it is to assert that Nintendo's use of popular characters is "rehashing," or touch your notion that homosexual references weren't weeded out because Sony was rushing the developers.
| Porn, videogames, same difference |
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It's illegal for minors to have access to porn, right? So what's the difference between that and making it illegal for minors to play violent video games? We would say that there's nothing wrong with children playing violent games and that it's censorship to keep the games from them. But wouldn't we just be forcing our viewpoint onto other people?
If we as a nation can say that porn is harmful to children, why can't some small town in Alabama or Washington say that violent games are harmful and make them illegal to children? Rather than saying that violent games are harmless and everyone else should just accept that, we should just let local governments run themselves.
Freedom is letting people make their own decisions, and if a particular city wants to outlaw violent games to minors who are we to stop them? Who are we to say that our view is right and that the citizens of Indianapolis are intolerant? Aren't we just being intolerant of their viewpoint?
Remember, when you expand the rights of one group of people you limit the rights of others, and frankly, I'd rather expand local rights and limit the rights of the national government. And since the majority of the current Supreme Court agrees with the above, they will either not take the case, or rule in favor of Indianapolis. The Supreme Court can't by itself outlaw access to violent games, which is why (like I said before) this is about states' rights, not violent video games.
~Israfel
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My problem is this: when you give too much power to the local level, decisions begin to reflect only the views of the area's majority, and the thoughts of the minority are all but ignored. Their was a time when the majority felt women should be at home birthin' and cookin', and it was perfectly acceptable to drive minorities out of your swank all-white neighborhood. It far too often falls upon the shoulders of the national government to keep a level head about decisions, rather than basing them around the fervor of the locals.
And trust me, I say this from a certain sense of experience, having lived in the Midwest my whole life. People around here would buy toilet paper with little crosses embroidered on it if they sold it.
| Tetris as #1 |
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I highly disagree with saying Tetris could be called the #1 game. I doubt
anyone would rather play Tetris than MGS2, Zelda Cube, FFX, or whatever. I
understand nostalgic recognition for a polished and incredible classic game
such as Crono Trigger (My #1 RPG), but Tetris? I'd say its far too limited in
terms of gameplay, despite being a great, fun game. -Genji Breaker X,
Of course your probably correct. Noone would pick Tetris when they could be
playing one of the fine examples of their favorite genre. However go ask
you nearest Sport Genre fan if he would prefer Tetris or Final Fantasy X or
Chrono Trigger or Zelda Cube etc. My bet is that the person will pick Tetris.
Now take your average "hardcore" RPG player. Offer him or her the choice of
Tetris or NFL2K1 or NHL2k1 or MLB2K1. My bet is that the person will pick
Tetris.
The reason that Tetris was picked as #1 is not because it exemplifies the
perfect game, but because it is something that everyone, regardless of race,
religion, ethnic group, age, sex or skill, can enjoy. Which is really what
gaming is all about isn't it?
-Urth
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I'd tend to agree. I certainly prefer the in-depth experience of a more ornate game to Tetris in general, but when it comes to pure, simple, flat-out fun, there's no beating the old brick lining action. Sure, games like Mouse Trap may be fun now and then, but we'll see which is around 200 years from now between that and Checkers.
And how much sense that last sentence made I'm not sure of. Feel free to flame me for making that assertion of it offends your sense of justice or whatever it is it offends.
| We, too, love Tecmo |
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Drew-
Remember the days when Square was really overlooked? ahhh those were good times, well now that I think about it...bad, we get no FFV(well then anyway) no Seiken Denetsu 3(instead we get cheesy lines from Secret of Evermore like "this is the same kinda trap as in Mars needs Lumberjacks") and all games that did get released were subject of the horrible dark evil plaugue that swept all SNES RPGs, all dark corrupt storlines with death, destruction, and hell were replaced with spoony happy people perishing(or falling) getting ruined, and the dark world. Ahem, I think I am going where we have gone too many times.
Okay when I saw the topic, there was only one company that came to mind...Tecmo. Remember Tecmo Super Bowl, or how about Ninja Gaiden(no not III get that piece of shit out of your head). Yeah sure, Dead or Alive is doing allright, but still is more of a sleeper than it is a Street Fighter. I doubt there is many a gamer(probably most of the hardcore) who are definately going to be excited as hell when Ninja Gaiden comes to the PS2(if it comes to the PS2) There isn't much to say about Tecmo, their games ruled, although Ninja Gaiden was one of the hardest games I ever played(even with unlimited continues, it was frikken hard, those of you who didn't play III think of a game a little less difficult than the first Castlevania but with only 5 continues, and 3 more stages). Not much to say but Tecmo definately has a place in my heart.
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Okie dokie. I'm with you, because the more money Tecmo makes, the better the chance that they'll have those uber-sexy Dead or Alive booth girls back again next year. So, like, go by Tecmo products and stuff. I like being pandered to. In short, your purchasing decisions should be based entirely around my desire for a little T&A.
| Natsume! |
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Who doesn't get respect? I'd probably say Natsume, as over here in the UK Harvest Moon : BTN has probably sold all of 5-10 copies.
Though the serious crash bug in the current PAL version probably isn't much help (game hangs after you get married)
Scotty - Steven.Scott@btinternet.com
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Yeah, I agree that Natsume deserves more respect. Harvest Moon is too much fun. And the PS2 version looks so good I'm as excited about it as I am about Final Fantasy X and the GameCube Mario, if and when it should be unveiled. And I also agree that crashing after marriage would probably ruin the experience to an extent.
| Call me Mister Sophisticated |
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Tri-Ace. They make games that are fun to play (yes, even SO:SS), and great to look at, with budgets that are morsels, when compared to how much companies like Square spend for their developments. The only game I spent more time on than Valkyrie Profile last year is Vagrant Story... This, even though I bought SaGa 2, FM3, Chrono Cross, and FFIX... They get no recognition outside of Japan, where people think Enix (who's their publisher) makes those games... >_<
So of course they're thinking it's probably not worth to publish Star Ocean Blue Sphere outside of Japan, thereby making it likely I'll have to hunt down a copy... Eh, I've always wanted to struggle trying to learn another language... :P
Princess Jemmy
P.S.: About XenoSaga: anyone else think it's wrong that the move to full 3-D meant that the characters unveiled so far all look like they've had boob jobs? Christ almighty, are designers instructed to give them unrealistical proportion, or is it that all of them are naturally attracted to those grotesque proportions?
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I'm sure Fritz would appreciate this letter, as our resident Tri-Ace nut. And as a crude male gamer, I must say that I prefer women who are hot in games to women who are not hot in games. Sorry. At least I admit it, though, instead of trying to come off like I'm too intellectual for boobies.
| At least all of Nomura's designs look like his own other designs |
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Drizew,
To comment on Hanna's comparison of Xenosaga characters and Ricca, I've found that Sonic Team's own squad of character designers isn't without fault either. Is that part of the PSOv.2 cover art? Or Evangelion characters?
http://www.general-tso.com/alex/images/psoeva .jpg
That can't be legal.
- ToasterThief
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Look at that link. It's funny. And scary. They just can't stop ripping of Eva with this series. (Checkmate, Xeno team.)
Closing comments:
Okay, here's something you'd probably never expect to hear from me: I'm excited about Xenosaga. Futuristic RPGs are just way too few and far between. I know some people think futuristic backdrops and RPGs go together about as well as peanut butter and SPAM, so let me know what you think of them. I'm interested to know.
-Drew Cosner, posturing male dork
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