Untitled eleventh column -
July 8, 2001 - Nich Maragos
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. Give me your hearts.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
All right, back on track with DA. While we're on the subject of titles, my apologies for yesterday's recycled letter names from the day before. The red titles at the beginning of each letter are usually the last things I come up with, and yesterday I just forgot. By the time I remembered, I figured everyone--including me--was pretty much beyond caring. And now, on to some more positive energy.
| Laissez-faire |
| Hi Nich,
Usually, titles don't mean much to me (I often forget them in the case of
non-RPG games), but I've noticed a trend recently: Very very long names
with exclamation marks (or at least exlamative in tone). Stuff like "Let's
make a baseball team!" (the Let's games started it all if I remember
right). Now you have games titled "Go Go Suppapa 2001 The Express", or
something that sounds like that anyway. Go take a look at all those games
that aren't comming out outside of Japan. Weird.
-Phil
|
I'm not sure why that sort of title profliterates in the East, but it does. Coincidentally, I've been reading Hong Kong Babylon the past couple of days, and the number of silly or off-the-wall HK film titles is about on par with the wondrous stuff you can find browsing through the catalog of a good import gaming shop. The Dead and the Deadly, Dirty Ho, Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter, Plain Jane to the Rescue, We're Going To Eat You, and on and on with names you just wouldn't ever see in America. A result of them not taking themselves quite so seriously, maybe?
| A comprehensive view |
| Well, I usually never judge a game based on its name, but there are a few things that annoy me.
The first is multiple games which follow a repetitive name suffix--that don't nessesarily take place in the same series, franchise, or are even from the same developer--like Super Mario 64, Castlevania 64, Excitebike, 64. And then there was the whole Super Nintendo line, where everything began with "Super." I can see this trend beginning to form with Microsoft's Xbox, though I'm thankful developers like Konami are giving us a breath of fresh air, by, for instance, renaming "Silent Hill X" to "Silent Hill: Director's Cut," but even that terminology is starting to get stale. Lunar: Silver Star Story COMPLETE was a good example to show that the game was an enhanced port.
The second annoying thing is when developers rename games for the U.S. audience. Now, don't get me wrong, a game like "Satan and Me" being changed to "Okage" is completely understandable, but it's things like "Megaman" not being changed back into "Rockman" after all this time, and the whole "Bust-a-Move" and "Bust-a-Groove" thing, "Dragon Quest" and "Dragon Warrior," stuff like that. Bugs the hell out of me. I don't know why, but I feel kinda inferior to the Japanese for having these changed names.
There's some other annoying stuff that takes place in the world of naming videogames, but I'll save my time and yours, and just overlook those trivial little things like subtitles that make no sense and why titles sometimes just make use of a particular brand name to sell itself, regardless of what's in the package (like Final Fantasy Chronicles).
Anyway, what makes a good title? Well, I like creativity. Anyone can go and name a title, "The [something]." It's creativity that makes me pick that game off the shelf of Electronics Boutique (though I usually know what I want to spend my fifty dollars on when I go in there). Exotic titles like "Shenmue" (though that must mean something in either Chinese or Japanese--I bet we'll find out in one of these chapters) grab my attention. As far as sequels are concerned, I'm not too fond of simple chronological numeration suffixes with subtitles (i.e. The Big Bad Beaver, The Big Bad Beaver II: The Amazing Discovery, The Big Bad Beaver III: Happy Wonderful Things, etc.). The result is extremely--and needlessly--long names, like Xenosaga: Episode I: The Will to Power. Either stick with subtitles or numbers, but not both. I only have so much oxygen to state the name of the game to the employee! The same can be said for my fingers when trying to find info about it in a search engine.
Well, that's it. My first letter to GIA. I feel so happy. But I'll be even happier if it gets posted (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
-Steve66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
|
Wow, lots to bite into in this letter. First, I agree with you as far as the repetetive name thing goes; the "64" games were especially silly because, well, what would you call the sequel? But it looks like nowadays people are starting to realize how uncreative the approach is, and they're trying a little harder. I haven't seen any "Cube" installments of NGC games yet, and I know Microsoft is actively discouraging developers from tacking an X onto the end of their game titles--Silent Hill X, for example, became Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut.
I think the (fairly obvious) reason that games like Rockman haven't yet been changed for American audiences is because the US name is too burnt into gamers' minds to make the change a good idea. Sure, it's possible that a good half of series fans know the Japanese name--but why would Capcom take the risk of alienating the other half and losing some sales? And that's leaving aside Dragon Warrior and Bust-A-Groove, which are legally forbidden to take their Japanese names due to copyright conflicts. If it bothers you that much, take heart that at least Japanese numbering is generally being preserved these days. Last year we got Front Mission 3 without ever seeing the first two, and every installment of the Final Fantasy series since IV has now been released in America with its number intact.
And yeah, subtitles are getting a little out of hand. I'd spend more time on this issue but I'd feel like a hypocrite, given my boundless love for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The shame ...
| Run at the mouth festival |
| Nich,
I like game names that have actually been 'translated' or 'localized' for a Western Market, but still sound like crazy Japanese names. Such as 'International Superstar Soccer Pro' (in Japan simply called 'Winning Eleven').
I may well not be the only one saying it, but I think that in a topic like this it does need to be said that I also look forward to playing 'Final Fantasy XXX' in maybe 15 or 20 years' time.
Well, there's my email. It may get printed if you're in the mood for a bit of a silly answer, but remember that I am being completely truthful.
Bye bye
-Paulo
|
Thanks for the example, I was trying to come up with an American counterpart to the long, crazy Japanese games that are so trendy but failed. The best I could do was the old NES title: Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf, which is still the longest game title sans colon I can think of offhand. Say it out loud, it's fun.
| Nobuo Uematsu? What are you talking about? |
| I prefer any game with the word "ass" in the title. Sometimes I pretend that
those Japanese characters say "ass," just so that I can really enjoy
whatever game it is that I'm playing.
More seriously, I really don't think that the game's title has much to do
with how I percieve it. If a game was called "Fluffy Pillow Fantastic Love
Party XXXII!!!" but was a really good game, I think I'd brave my friends
once again questioning my heterosexuality and just come out and say that I
liked the darn thing. On the other hand, if a game was titled "Masculine
Testosterone Megarock Crushkill Gigantic Breasts 3000!" and sucked more than
a Phish fan on a bong, I don't think that I'd endorse it to my friends.
Unfortunately, they all really like the "Army Men" series of games, despite
my best efforts to explain, in rough, harsh language, just how badly these
games blow. So I'm not sure that sharing my opinion with them, one way or
another, is going to change that.
-TheRadioStar
|
How nice for you. How even nicer that there are no games with "ass" in the title, to my knowledge.
But other than that, I sympathize. As the owner of a Milky Pink GBA and possibly the biggest male fan of Rhapsody in America, I know what it's like to have friends looking at me funny just because I like quality product, goshdarnit. There, there.
| Simple, but effective |
| Hey Nich,
The funniest game name I've ever heard has to be Bastard!!. I haven't even
played the game, but it's definitely got a name that would probably make
gamers want to know what kind of game Bastard!! is.
Man, Japan has all the cool weird names. Meanwhile, we're stuck with game
names like Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
-Mike
|
Just hazarding a guess, but the game Bastard!! is more than likely based on the anime series of the same name. Which I've never seen, so I couldn't tell you what to expect from the game.
And what's with that Jak and Daxter subtitle, anyway? Am I the only one who thinks it should cancel itself out and just be called Jak and Daxter: Right Now?
| His legendary Dreamcast |
| Nich!
I opened up my Dreamcast, cleaned it a bit from the inside, and I've been
playing it for 3 straight hours without it reseting once!
Shows what you know.
Bwah.
-Daniel
|
Well, that's good. I didn't want to be right, mind you, I was just relating to you the story of what happened to most strangely behaving Dreamcasts I've known. Happy to hear that yours was an exception!
| State of scrutiny |
| Since everybody already things I'm a crass ignoramus who gets off on wholly
unintellectual games anyway, I may as well defend State of Emergency.
Especially since I admittedly spent more time playing it at E3 than
supposedly kick-ass games like ICO.
See, gaming is supposed to be an escape from reality. An escape into a
simulated world that's a lot more fun than reality is definitely preferable.
And while I enjoy a cerebral title like an RPG now and then as well, I
definitely don't mind games that let me run around doing stuff that would
get me mowed down by the police in 0.2 seconds flat were it real life.
I suppose it's not something you're supposed to admit, but there's
definitely a part of me that would enjoy looting the hell out of a city
while everybody ran about in panicked mobs. Sure, I'd probably get killed
since I'm not exactly huge, and that's where State of Emergency comes in.
The game will probably end up sucking, but I'm definitely a fan of the
premise. And besides, even if the single player aspect bites, having a "who
can kill the most cops with a park bench" contest with friends sounds fun to
me.
Always glad to be part of the problem rather than the solution,
-Drew
|
The thing that kills the "escape from reality" argument for me is simply that riots are real. Specifically, they're a very bloody and unpleasant part of reality that's the sort of thing one needs an escape from reality for. Stuff like the WTO protest last year and the recent Cleveland race riots aren't what I think of when I think of "fun."
Even that's not my biggest irritation with State of Emergency, though. There have always been superviolent, cartoonishly bloody games out there and I'll be the first to argue they never warped anyone's mind who wasn't warped in the first place. The Mortal Kombats and the Carmageddons are fairly harmless, even if they're not my cup of tea. But in today's media climate, showing a game like State of Emergency is like nailing a big "KICK ME" sign to the back of gaming. A lot of politicians are looking pretty hard at the industry right now, and something like this is not what we need if we're ever going to convince them that gaming is really okay. A few years ago, maybe. In a few years from now, fine. But at the moment, I can't see any amount of good gameplay, assuming State of Emergency has any, as being worth the negative attention the industry will get as a result. This is the sort of behavior that led to things like the Comics Code, an albatross that the comics industry has still yet to totally rid itself of, over forty years later. Does anyone really want to see this in gaming?
Closing Comments:
I think you know your topic for tomorrow.
-Nich Maragos, God of Gamblers
|
