Signal to noise -
July 11, 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.
I'd pay good money to play Harvest Moon: Fight the Future. You know, because of the corn and stuff. Um, nevermind.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
It was kind of a revelation to see how many people wrote in bragging about their TV setups. Not that I can't relate, having been the proud owner of a good sized WEGA for the past two years, but some of this stuff boggles the mind: I didn't even know Sony made a non-HDTV progressive scan flatscreen.
At the same time, I can't get too hyped up about this stuff (although I've spent enough freaking money on it.) All through college I played my PSX on a tiny 13-inch TV. It didn't even have stereo speakers, but I was so determined to enjoy my games that I bought a tiny little rebroadcaster, and wired the stereo sound into that so I could pick it up as a radio channel on my old boom box. I had to turn on four different things by hand just to play FF7, but strangely enough, it was worth it - I played FF7, FFT, Ocarina of Time and Xenogears huddled in front of that box, and don't regret a moment of it.
Onward.
| Minimalism: been there, done that |
| Wow, it's been a while since I've mailed DA.
Anyhow, the Mortal Kombat rule: bells and whistles are fun, but if a
game wouldn't be good *without* the trappings of technology, the game
sucks. Therefore, I think it's important that designers limit their
means in order to increase their ability: things should be designed
around an absolutely minimal gaming setup. Small TV, two built-in mono
speakers, no peripherals, no fancy graphics or sound devices, there you
go. If it's good under those conditions, they can then add the frills
later, content that someone whose setup prevents him from fully
appreciating them will still get a good game.
-AJ
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Interesting argument, but if we follow that line of reasoning all the way to the end, we'd still be playing SMB1 on the NES... or Combat on that Atari 2600. It may be unreasonable to expect everybody to have a good enough speaker setup to take advantage of a 3D sound-sourcing system, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be a major selling point.
Drew's been saying for some time now that a game's not just the graphics, or the plot, or the gameplay; it's how all of them interact together to produce something you can't get anywhere else. No, purely great graphics and bone-rattling sound isn't all that's important in a game, but taking away the cinematic feel from a game in the name of purity isn't doing any good either.
| High end |
| Dear Chris,
Over the past two years I've been steadily upgrading my gaming setup, and I've got to say, it's been the greatest investment in personal entertainment that I've ever made. I had been coasting along on a 20" Sony Trinitron with the audio output to two decent speakers. The first big jump I made was buying a Dolby Digital / DTS 5.1 sound system. This isn't even a top-of-the-line setup ( ~$500, receiver and speakers were bundled together), and I can't believe how much better games sound. The sound is so much more expansive now; it feels like it's everywhere in the room instead of being beamed at me from a discrete point.
I also recently bought a beautiful 27" JVC flat screen television (I'm so proud of it :D ). It's not the biggest, but it's crystal clear and just the right size for showing off the details of a game while still fitting in my tiny apartment. This also facilitated my upgrade to s-video and component outputs. This has got to be the single best upgrade a gamer can make; we've all heard by now how s-video/component makes games look better, right? Well, they're not kidding, the difference is unbelievable.
If I could make a suggestion to developers, I would have to say make better use of environmental sounds. This area of audio is untapped potential; especially now with the low cost of surround sound setups, I think it would definitely behoove developers to implement this more often. For example, you mentioned Square FMVs - honestly, surround sound doesn't really add significantly to those in my opinion. However, 2-channel stereo would never have made me literally turn my head and look behind me while running through the sewers in Silent Hill.
Take some pressure off of the music crew too, guys. If I'm exploring a tranquil forest, I don't need a grand overture to accompany me. A simple fluty melody with the sound of leaves rustling and birds chirping all around me would truly impress me just as much. Suikoden did this very well, to reference.
In the end, I'd just ask that developers devote as much attention to the new audio capabilities of these new consoles as they do the graphics.
Regards,
evanesce
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Funny that you mention it, but FF8 was the first game I played on a big TV with surround sound, and between the setup, the sound and the wide open vistas the game kept showing, it felt like I was looking through a window instead of at a screen. Was it worth the money? Can't say, but games are largely a luxury to begin with, so if you have the wherewithal, you might as well enjoy them as much as possible.
| Low end |
| I definitely have a low-end set-up going on. My video screen is older than I
am; a 13" Commodore monitor (so old it uses A/V jacks rather than VGA input
and has built-in speakers) my dad gave me so I could play video games in my
room. That was back when I had my SNES...8 years ago. I've found no reason
to upgrade, the colors are vibrant and games look quite good, besides it's a
relic of ancient computing.
As for sound, it used to be just the mono sound from the monitor, but a
couple years ago I got a nice stereo system with subwoofer (can't play
Perfect Dark without base!)
Why waste money on the "experience" when I can just buy more games?
-gaminMachine
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Can't argue with the chic of ancient computing, and besides, some of those old systems were really built to last. (Ironically, about 5 times longer than anybody needed them for, but still...)
Besides, there's always somebody worse off than you, as the next letter demonstrates.
| Lunarblanca in black and white, the way it was meant to be seen! |
| I'm writing this to see if theres any other crazy bastards like me.
I play most of my video games on a 5 inch black and white tv screen. Why you may ask? The answer is sorta simple i guess. The picture has more resolution, and with most rpgs it gives a game a more of a romantic kinda feel. Like with Lunar:sssc....theres just something with the tv that makes it even more awesome. Same with a few other games. Only problem is some very colorful games like chrono cross lose a lot of effect and atmosphere. so i play those on my bad ass 19inch. as for a sound set up, i very rarely set it up to my surruond system. my tv speaker is good enough. i like being just one on one with the game and seeing what it has to offer.
-zach26
P.S. and oh yeah, i'd love to get a COLOR 5 inch tv screen but they're like 250 bucks. Shit.
|
...
The lengths some people will go to... although I'd be surprised if your screen actually had more resolution, it's probably just that with things so small, you can't even begin to see the pixelated nature of the graphics.
| Speaking of which... |
| Oh, Chris, you're so, so very wrong. Have you ever played Bionic Commando - or
any good NES game - on a 27" screen with a good speaker system? It's like being
wrapped in the vivid warmth of a visceral childhood memory - like serving as a
living conduit for the past. There's something massively satisfying about
replaying your youth in much higher fidelty than that in which it was originally
experienced.
It also magnifies the shortcomings of those old games - very helpful for sad
souls such as myself who fritter away our free time trying to think of clever new
ways to mock said childhood experiences.
Your favorite swinger,
J. Parish
|
Nope, sad to say I haven't been anywhere near an actual, functional NES in years, and certainly not one hooked up to one of today's high end TVs. Still, every once in a while I do hook up the SNES, and even 16-bit graphics are way too blocky on a big screen. The spinning Triforce opening in Link to the Past that looked so cool back in '93 now looks cheap and unconvincing, the kind of thing a sixth grader might do for a programming assignment. On the other hand, it looks just about perfect when I switch my TV over into split-screen mode. There's nothing quite as enjoyable as an old Simpsons rerun I know by heart going in one eye and Mario Kart going in the other.
On the other hand, this tangentially touches on something I'll have to make a topic again one of these days. Nostalgia's a marketable thing; you can order tapes or even DVDs of your favorite childhood cartoons, they're reissuing collections of old comics and prices for old GI Joe action figures in decent condition are through the roof. Namco and a few other companies have released lots of old games on new systems, but for the most part, Nintendo, granddaddy of truly great 1980's gaming, has been sitting on its butt. I've been thinking for a while now that they'd make a goldmine if they'd release a Zelda or Mario collection for the N64 or GBA, or even just officially licensed ROM images to cut down on piracy, but JP's got a point - would we really want to play these games if all their graphical limitations were laid wide open on cutting edge technology?
| Size isn't everything, but it's something |
| My dream setup? Well when I was in Texas several of the mangers of
Reniuon Arena used to play Genesis on the Jumbotron. I'd love to do
that with my Playstation. RPG characters as big as me or
bigger...hehehe..
Well since I'm not Bill Gates I'm gonna have to settle for the biggest
TV I can get without a projection screen. A surround sound setup would
be cool too.
Shadowcat
|
You don't want me ranting about the time I played Soul Calibur on a 12 foot LCD projection again, do you? No? Good.
I dunno, games on really big screens seem like a cool idea in theory, and while it's all on the outskirts of what's possible inside a living room, in practice a 30-foot image of Mario just doesn't seem that interesting. If you had regular access to that kind of big screen, you might start wishing for more games that took better advantage of the real estate... I'm thinking an entire Starcraft map visible at once, or some such thing.
| Loyalist or counter-revolutionary? |
| Hello and welcome back Chris,
I must apologize. I can't arrive at a sum of money for the box office, for a
very simple reason. I'll try to state it as calmy as I may.
I hope the movie bombs, crashes and burns, completely and totally melts down.
The reason for this is simple. I'm ashamed of square for pinning the name
"Final Fantasy" onto something that is so completely opposed and unrelated to
everything that name has ever represented. Petty? Close-minded? It might be
so. Certainly it is their name to use in any way they see fit, and they may
soil it however they like. But I certainly won't be going to see the film,
and neither will the rest of my family, on my advice. Cecil, Butz, Edgar...I
will not help your legacy be tainted.
Super Saiya-jin.
|
It's surprising I haven't gotten more of these - I figure there's got to be a lot of old schoolers out there deeply disappointed that the FF movie soesn't have swords, or chocobos, or "Lali-ho!" or isn't 2D or something. Personally I think Sakaguchi's been interested in bringing absolute spectacles to the masses ever since I saw the bridge scene in FFI, but your mileage may vary. In the meantime, think of this letter as something to put the big screen flash of The Spirits Within in contrast.
| Installed base |
| What do I have? A 20" TV that I got used when I started law school. And a whole bunch of stuff (PS2, VCR, StarChoice, etc.) plugged into it. No stereo
or S-Video or anything.
What do I want? A 36" Sony/Panasonic flat screen with a surround-sound
system. I mean, duh!
But, I'll settle for a new 27" TV with an S-Video input for the PS2.
Frankly, I'm not sure I need an improved sound setup over what a new TV
would provide. I usually keep the sound down because the voice acting gets
on my nerves after a while. Or the repetitive sound effects (FF anyone?).
But, as far as a baseline, that's a tough one. Stereo sound, obviously, but
Dolby/Surround/whatever is probably only mandatory for games that come on
DVDs - there you don't have an excuse. The video should look good whether
you use S-Video or not. Minimum TV size? Probably 19" for PS2 games. They're
cheap, and you're just asking for serious eye strain looking at anything
smaller anyways. I remember using my buddy's DC with a VGA box and a 14"
monitor. Yeah, it looked really sharp, but we could only sit, like, 3 feet
away in order to play.
Not that designers shouldn't consider using 27", S-Video and surround as a
base, but they have to remember to make it good for the majority of users
who aren't up to that kind of spec.
Hey, it could be worse. They could be working on PC games.
Orin the Lawyer, who is finishing BG2: ToB before starting FFC |
I dunno about the VGA thing - I've played 4-player Chu Chu Rocket on a Dreamcast hooked up to a 17-inch computer monitor and never had any problems with it. Of course, one of the advantages of consoles over PCs is that you don't need to worry about what the installed user base is like; a 13-inch TV will play Mario 64 as fast as a 36-inch flatscreen. In a way having to even consider the differences between TVs is diminishing the usefulness of the console as a platform in the first place, but considering that technology is always a moving target, it might be better to overestimate technical ability than cripple your game because there may be a few people out there who can't take full advantage of it.
| Closing with the usual pat conclusion |
| Chris,
I've always played my games on our somewhat old 22-inch or so TV..if it's even that big. No surround sound, though during Christmas of '97 I did hook my stereo up to the TV that I moved into my room to play FF7 on. It wasn't surround, but it was sure louder. For the most part, I've never had a problem with my viewings...I've wondered what it's like to play on a huge goddang plasma monitor with one of those $150,000 speaker setups, but it's nothing I got to die for.
The interesting thing is my girlfriend...She's been playing her PSX on one of those old 13-inch tv's, and it ain't even clear. Blue could be green or purple, and she has to twitch the sound knob to get things working coherently, but she's enjoyed FF7, 8, and CC on that bad boy...In fact, just yesterday she and I sat in that recliner she's got stuck in front of it and witnessed the Ragnarok-cockpit ("Now let me come to you...close as I wana be...") and ensuing Squall-Rinoa romance scenes from 8...Yea, the whole Eyes On Me thing might be kinda corny, but I liked it much better the second time, next to her. So I reckon it's whatever floats your boat.
Big J
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Corny but true... although it's always easier to watch with someone else when you've got a tv big enough for both of you to get in front of. Yet another way technology enhances romance, a message brought to you by the good people at Sony.
Closing Comments:
In honor of the Final Fantasy Collection's ever increasing bug list, the topic for tomorrow is this: what's the worst, weirdest, or most memorable bug you've ever seen in a game? Adios for now.
-Chris Jones, holding off of TSW until Saturday, when he'll see it digitally projected. Oh, baby.
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