Video Games Getting The Hollywood Treatment

Video games are fast becoming an enormous part of the entertainment industry. With AAA-quality titles being hugely anticipated every year, millions of dollars spent in marketing with billions more earned and more powerful hardware being developed every other day, it’s not preposterous to estimate that in twenty-to-thirty years time video games could overshadow the film industry. However, how much innovation and originality will it cost to get there? Let’s take a look at some points that are plaguing the creative growth of the games industry.

McFranchises
The words “annualizable franchises” (thanks Kotick!) are among the most defining of this console generation, though they are not to be mistaken with sequels. In a general sense the development time for an original game can take anywhere between two to five years, with sequels usually taking around two years. Annualizable games on the other hand are usually shared between multiple developers so that a title in that franchise is released at least once per year – cases in point being Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and the now laid to rest Guitar Hero. The phrase “some is good, more is better” is not always apparent in the games industry since #1: games are expensive, and #2: consumers will get burned out playing the same game every year. And in the mind of most mainstream gamers one game will be enough to last a couple of months, unlike a lot of us gaming enthusiasts who are willing to buy a new game every few weeks. If Joe Consumer only has an Xbox 360 and buys maybe four or five games a year, and being a CoD and Assassin’s Creed fan, half of his money is going to the same companies every year to fund them virtually making the same games.

Even heroes die.

This is a very strong issue because the mainstream audience generally won’t take the risk to spend money on a game that they don’t know about – they rely on advertising and words of mouth to tell them what’s good. This helps accentuate the phrase “the rich get richer” because the games that stand out most over the years are the ones with the bigger budgets behind them. In the earlier days of video games people looked to the bigger developers to innovate and present something new, however it’s slowly shifted to the complete opposite with people looking to indie studios to surge inspiration. This is because the larger companies feel comfortable creating titles that they know will make money, and have little to no interest in taking risks in making something different anymore.

When developers put all their time and resources into making what’s familiar and release it every year instead of spacing out releases, eventually people are going to get bored. And instead of looking back on some franchises’ legacies we look back on them with exhaustion and annoyance. We saw it happen with the Tony Hawk series, we saw it a few days ago with the Guitar Hero series and we’re going to see it with Call of Duty. To non-believers of that last point let me ask this: how many years in a row are you going to happily spend hundreds of hours reaching the level cap in multiplayer, only to do it all again next year? Hmm?

Would you like Black Ops with that?

Remakes, reboots and re-imaginings.
The three Rs that have been funding the film industry over the last decade have made their way into games now too. There’s a bit of leniency towards the thought of Hollywood rebooting older films since there is such a dense history in it. Games on the other hand have only been commercially available for under four decades, which begs the question: what’s the point of game reboots? It’s understandable that often since the original iteration of a game’s release there have been newer generations of hardware that have added capacity for glitz and glamour. However I am of the belief that a great game of its generation shouldn’t be overshadowed by its doppelganger in the future (though contrary to this, I’ll admit I am looking forward to the 3DS’ Ocarina of Time remake). It often distracts from what made the original great, and in essence, makes it obsolete. Though having said this, there are times when a remake is welcome and can help engage a newer audience that may have missed it or were simply too young to have experienced it, such as the aforementioned OoT, Pokemon Gold/Silver, Bionic Commando Rearmed and Metroid: Zero Mission. These work because they’re either older and less appreciated games (Bionic Commando, Metroid) that deserve a refreshed experience or were remade with careful consideration of what make them stand out in their era.

Some examples of arguably unnecessary reboots are DMC (Devil May Cry), Medal of Honour, Tomb Raider and Aliens vs Predator. What all these games have in common is that their first titles were released between the years of 1996 and 2001, meaning their franchises aren’t any older than 15 years old. Even in the film industry this is considered young, though exceptions go to the new Spider-Man reboot apparently. Tomb Raider, the oldest of the bunch, has seen ten main releases to its series with its eleventh currently slated for release later this year. As said earlier 15 years seems a little early to be completely revising a game but factoring in the release of ten games during that time, it almost makes sense why a company would be forced to rehash: to keep Lara Croft relevant. Being idolised as somewhat of a sex-symbol in the 90s by male gamers seeking to portray how “mature” games have become (though fronting that argument with a big-busted cave explorer probably wasn’t the way to go) she lost touch with the rest of the world in the 2000s because the quality of her appearance was taking priority over the quality of the experience (coughAngelOfDarknesscough). Arguably the only Tomb Raider to become relevant to gaming since the late 90s was last year’s critically acclaimed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, utilising local and online co-operative play as its core experience. What’s strange is that instead of continuing to explore (no pun intended) that aspect further developers have decided to take her back to before she became Tomb Raider. What’s even stranger is that the same treatment is being given to Devil May Cry after only four titles since its birth in 2001.

Whaaat? In what universe are these the same Dante?

Film Adaptations
Ask anyone if they remember a truly good video game movie and you’ll more than likely be met with a disconcerting look and a phrase similar to “Uhh…”  Why is this? What is it about the transition between movies and games that tend to go wrong? Some argue it’s because games are a much more personal experience, that games’ storylines don’t hold up well when presented primarily, or that game films often have a ten hour experience uncomfortably shoe-horned into two. Video game adaptations of movies have always been a staple problem, but are often overlooked since for many decades now big-budget films always have a huge marketing and merchandising push behind them. T-shirts, toys, books, cartoons, school gear, it’s a no-brainer to casually throw a game out there too. For some reason though a movie adaptation of a game always seems to sting fans much harder, though it could be because they’re often poorly written, quickly made, shallow and resemble almost nothing of what makes the games memorable. This double-standard hit its stride with the release of the Super Mario Bros Movie starring Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo in 1993. Since then we’ve been blessed with multiple high-profile gaming movies like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tomb Raider, Doom, Resident Evil, Wing Commander and the list goes on. The worst offender to this issue is visionary German filmmaker Uwe Boll, responsible for film versions of Bloodrayne, FarCry, Alone in the Dark and Postal.

Though on the upside over the last couple of console generations a lot of games have been blurring the line between video game and blockbuster movie. With consoles now packing surround sound capabilities, high definition output, large media storage, multiple gigahertz processors and all kinds of other technical jargon, it’s almost enough for some people to be confused with what’s a movie and what’s a game. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series have been continuously pushing the boundaries in visual entertainment by attempting to “max out” the PS3’s capabilities, and after having played through Uncharted 2 multiple times it makes me wonder what the third instalment has to offer when it releases late this year. With consoles fast becoming the central entertainment hub of people’s households it even makes online film distribution a much more worthy choice of people’s time. Services like Foxtel, ABC iView, Zune Video Marketplace, Plus7 and Netflix in the US offer a mix of free and subscription-based on-demand services that work quickly and easily, provided you have high speed internet access.

In conclusion…
The video games industry is a business, with its companies run by business people. Despite what we hope and want, it always comes down to money and how much. If a game shines for its innovation and ingenuity but only strikes a small fraction of the target audience (which for this generation is essentially everyone) then it’s often considered a failure. In the earlier days of gaming things were at least seemingly happier because gamers were a small demographic with similar tastes in what was good and what was bad. Though with games today mostly striving to be adored by as many people as possible, original games are much bigger risks for companies to take than to continue with a recognisable brand and ensure steady cash-flow. The best we can do as gamers to support this industry and help it grow it into something respectful and socially endearing is to pay attention to the people who have the gall to try new ideas in a market of full of “me too!” mediocrity. Because I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sure getting sick of Military Action Game starring Gun Guy and its series of cookie-cutter follow-ups.

2010: The Year That Was

2010 was a great year for gamers. Ripe with quality titles right from the get-go, there was a wealth of enjoyment to be spent across all platforms. It also marked the official launch of the Motion Control War with Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move entering the battlefield with guns blazing high – the quality of titles might have been considered less than stellar, there was at least a lot of support from many high profile publishers and developers for both controllers. Though there were many cases to be cheered, the year wasn’t without loss; there were layoffs, studios were shut down and more lawsuits than you could waggle a Wiimote at. Let’s start with how the year kicked off.

In the beginning…
The year started with a bang. Starting mere days after the New Year Bayonetta and Darksiders were released, soon followed by Army of Two: The 40th Day, MAG, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Mass Effect 2. And this was just in January. What makes this significant is that this particular time of the year usually sees very limited releases due to it being the post-holiday season.

February also saw a massive launch line-up with titles like Bioshock 2, Dante’s Inferno, Aliens vs. Predator reboot, and Heavy Rain. And then there was March – Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Just Cause 2, Red Steel 2, WarioWare: DIY… Phew. To put it simply, if you love games, chances are you spent a lot of money on them for the first half of 2010 with little disappointment.

Mass Effect 2 saw huge success throughout the year, being a contender for (if not the) Game of the Year of 2010 by many publications.

The year of sequels.
Whether you like it or not, franchises have become a huge part of the games industry. 2010 was rife with continuities and spin-offs, thankfully with only a low number of them not matching the standard of their originals. Here’s a quick list of some of the sequels released last year:

• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Army of Two: The 40th Day
• Bioshock 2
• Mafia 2
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
• Crackdown 2
• StarCraft 2
• Metroid: Other M
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Mass Effect 2
• Gran Turismo 5
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Sid Meier’s Civilization V
• Dead Rising 2
• Puzzle Quest 2
• Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
• God of War III
• Monster Hunter Tri
• Super Street Fighter IV
• Lost Planet 2
• Puzzle Quest IX
• Supreme Commander 2
• Skate 3
• Scribblenauts 2
• Donkey Kong Country Returns
• Various sports titles
• Plus more.

Resurgence of traditional arcade and platforming games.
Another abundant group of games to come out were platforming (yay!!) and arcade titles. Many independent (and some large) developers managed to gain massive amounts of attention and praise to themselves with a myriad of great titles that harkened back to fun, traditional gameplay. We saw the rise of games such as Limbo - an atmospherically sombre platformer of a boy trapped in purgatory among the childhood nightmares of dark horrors and death; Pacman Championship Edition DX – the hyper-addictive spiritual successor to 2007’s Pacman Champion Edition, with all-new bullet-time and ghost-conga-line-eating mechanics; Super Meat Boy – a frustratingly brilliant homage to uber-hard sidescrolling platformers of the 1980s & 90s; Donkey Kong Country Returns – another nod to classic sidescrollers, this time featuring fully-rendered 3D graphics and an all-new adventure starring Donkey and Diddy, from the folks that brought us the Metroid Prime trilogy Retro Studios; and Angry Birds – one of the biggest mainstream successes of 2010 where you fling wingless birds at fortified structures to demolish them and exact revenge on the pigs that ate your eggs (and it’s a smartphone game!).

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was a great sidescrolling beat ‘em up inspired by classic brawlers like River City Ransom.

Unfortunately, not everything was lollipops and rainbows. Though Sonic Team made their first real attempt at recapturing what made the world’s fastest hedgehog a landmark series in the 90s, Sonic 4: Episode 1 didn’t quite cut it. The nice aesthetics and great soundtrack just weren’t enough to draw attention away from how un-Sonic the game felt – no player momentum, often frustrating level design and an abrupt, unnecessarily difficult end-boss fight left a sour taste in many gamers’ mouths. Which brings me to my next bolded heading…

Disappointments.
Sonic 4 aside, there were some rather large disappointments in the industry over the last year. Let’s run down some of the bigger ones:

• Krome Studios sees a drastic reduction.
  Australia’s largest game development company saw the close of many of its studios across the country. Founded in 1999 Krome has developed titles for most major consoles over the last couple of generations and is most famous for its Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games. Unfortunately financial crises forced the company to close their Adelaide (once called Ratbag Games with its staff being acquired in 2005 by Krome after closure from previous owner Midway) and Melbourne branches, followed by layoffs at their Brisbane establishments. Though most reports say Krome has been shut down, it’s been purported that they are still functioning as a developer, albeit with very limited staff.
  
• Over-hyped games.
  It happens every year, and though they most often than not turn out to be fine games, they also fall short of their ambition and hype. The bigger offenders being Sonic 4: Episode 1, Medal of Honour, Fallout: New Vegas, Gran Turismo 5, The Force Unleashed 2, Fable III, Epic Mickey and (if you’ve been following my blog) Final Fantasy XIII. Also, to anticipate any heat for the mention of GT5, let me just say this: any game that boasts a six year development cycle with constant delays for refinement yet has absolute minimal crash damage (like, merely a small cluster of pixels after a head-on collision), long load times despite an hour-long install, cockpit view with only a handful of cars out of its catalogue of 1000 and the fact it barely looks better than its 2004 predecessor on on the PS2 is most definitely over-hyped.
  
• More layoffs.
  Unfortunately Australia wasn’t the only country to be affected with developer layoffs. Other large companies like EA, 2K Games and Activision let go of portions of its staff across a number of their development studios. The most notable of which being…
  
• The Activision vs. Jason West & Frank Zampella fiasco.
  Though this isn’t really much of a gaming disappointment, it was definitely one of the bigger stories of the year. Infinity Ward’s (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, 2) higher ups Frank Zampella and Jason West were fired by parent company Activision in March, supposedly right before they were to receive their royalties from the release of Modern Warfare 2, one of the most anticipated games of 2009. It was claimed by IW that Activision sent security into their offices to quiet and intimidate staff while West and Zampella were under questioning. According to Activision, the two heads of IW were intentionally having quiet meetings with their competing publisher EA, thus expelled them for insubordination. Since then the duo have filed a lawsuit against Activision for their lack of royalties and are now working for EA. Activision however is still publishing Call of Duty games, with their most recent offering Black Ops (developed by Treyarch) becoming the fastest grossing game of all time, making over $1 billion by the end of the year following its November 9 release.
  
• Still no R18+ classification in Australia… Yet.
  It’s been a problem for Aussie gamers for many years now, but never before has the issue seen this much attention nor have we ever been this close to attaining it. With Michael Atkinson (the once most vocal opposer on the matter) stepping down as Attorney-General of South Australia following the SA elections earlier in the year, gamers were more motivated than ever to have this issue brought to the public eye. Two of Austarlia’s biggest video game retailers, GAME and EB Games, hosted nation-wide petitions in-store to get the public to understand the importance of this matter. No R18 rating for games means violent titles (such as Grand Theft Auto IV, God of War III, Call of Duty series) are being rated at the MA15+ level despite being restricted to adults everywhere else in the world. With numerous news stories being televised across the country and many news/blog posts being posted online, tripled with the huge response from petitions (GAME claiming to have received over 89,000; the largest response to a “wet signature” petition the country has ever seen), on December 10 the subject was discussed at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. However following a highly tense waiting period that day the issue was declared non-conclusive for now. Though this may seem another step backward, it was also declared that a draft of a refined classification system will be drawn and presented for the next SCAG meeting. What does this mean? It means that by end of the next SCAG meeting in March, we could finally have a balanced ratings system for games.

Gamers4Croydon were a South Australian political party rallying against Michael Atkinson as the Member for Croydon. They didn’t win, but they definitely made their point and contributed to pushing the R18+ debate as a public issue.

Nintendo strikes back with a vengeance at E3.
As it turns out, having bad E3 press conferences for a few years in a row can work out to your advantage – it gives you the chance to stock up on the big guns then let lead fly. At 2010’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, after a rocky start with technical difficulties while showing off the next Zelda’s new gameplay mechanics, Nintendo’s press conference was nothing short of a spectacle. Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Golden Sun, GoldenEye, Dragon Quest… Then there was the 3DS and its own enormous list of upcoming titles. With Nintendo pulling out all the stops with most of its biggest franchises laying waste to consumers’ wallets over the next year, one can’t help but beg the question: what’s to come at next year’s E3? At this point we can only speculate, but here’s hoping to a new home console – one with HD support and un-embarrassing online service. Oh and user names.

The motion control war has officially begun.
For almost four years Nintendo held the monopoly in motion controlled gaming (though the PS3 had its offering since launch with SixAxis, but… come on). That all changed with the inevitable releases of Sony’s and Microsoft’s controllers Move and Kinect, respectively. What makes this so important is now that motion input for each console is different, simply porting a motion game between each platform is going to (read: should) take more effort, thus hopefully leading to more innovative and exclusive gameplay. Though the current releases so for have proven to be relatively average (bar Kinect’s Dance Central), they are of course launch titles, and as everyone knows in the gaming world the first wave of software for any console shouldn’t dictate the quality of the hardware. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s coming in 2011.

Last year was great, and this year’s shaping up to be the same if not better.
With the holiday season now finished and Nintendo’s 3DS just over the horizon (supposedly being released worldwide by March 31st), what does 2011 have in store? For Nintendo fans there’s the aforementioned 3DS and its gale of releases, plus The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Pokemon Black/White and Okamiden for DS. PS3 owners are in luck with a slew of exclusive games such as LittleBigPlanet 2 and Mass Effect 2 in just a couple of weeks, SOCOM, Killzone 3, Twisted Metal, inFamous 2, DC Universe Online, Resistance 3, ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD remakes, The Last Guardian, Yakuza 4, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Lastly Xbots have Gears of War 3, XCOM, Forza 3, plus multiplatform titles like Batman: Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, RAGE, Crysis 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Dragon Age 2, FEAR 3, Portal 2, Bulletstorm, de Blob 2 and finally after thirteen years of development, Duke Nukem Forever.

Golly gosh. It’s a good time to be a gamer!

Paradigm Shift: The Joys and Sorrows of Casual Gaming

Gaming has come a very long way since its original offerings in many different ways including technology, design and social standing. In terms of consumer gaming, it is arguably the youngest industry in the entertainment market and is still trying to establish itself today. Up until perhaps this generation of consoles (beginning with the US release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in 2005) gaming was mostly seen as a toy by the mainstream – a plaything usually enjoyed by younger people. To help change this perception, while Microsoft and Sony were fighting for High Definition dominance with the 360 and Playstation 3 to appeal to the mass market, Nintendo decided to opt for standard definition graphics and motion controls. It was upon this reveal that a new market of gamers became ever more prevalent  – casual gamers.

Casual gamers by general definition are people who mostly game either minimally, socially or on-the-go to pass time. Up ‘til now gaming was something of a niche activity; a hobby dominated by a demographic dubbed “hardcore gamers”. With the introduction of motion controls and Nintendo’s push for the attention of non-gamers, the market for video games grew exponentially to being one of, if not the most profitable entertainment industry today. However given the successes of Nintendo with their current target audience, Apple’s iPhone App Store, and the recent release of Sony’s Playstation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect motion controllers, there have been repercussions.

Almost synonymous with the term “casual games” is the word “shovelware”. Shovelware games are often games that have limited funding, development time or development attention that the outcome is a product that usually results in frustrating gameplay, generic level design and low production values. To put it bluntly, they’re bad games made for quick cash. Before casual gaming shovelware was mostly reserved for licensed games – titles based on movies, cartoons or television shows that require a particular license to develop for (which are still around today). Since licensed games are usually aimed to be released alongside the release of its theatrical counterpart, more often than not they are given to smaller development studios with a very limited development schedule. Obviously, the solution to avoiding these games is to not buy them, correct? Unfortunately because the mainstream consumer does not pay close attention to games and/or read critical reviews to differentiate between a good and a bad game, shovelware (especially attached to a licensed name) manages to profit enough to cycle more mundane products.

The image that brought gaming to the mainstream.

Another term that crops up with casual games is “streamlining”. Often this can be worrying for core gamers since streamlining usually affects gameplay. The biggest offender in recent memory is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII. For the longest time the Final Fantasy series was considered one of the most hardcore JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) franchises in the industry. Mostly featuring turn-based battle systems, stat tracking to manage your characters in combat and lenghty storylines JRPGs could be considered quite a daunting experience for non-gamers. Square Enix attempted to rectify this by substantially lowering the micro-management of battles, side quests and freedom of manueverability (no joke, outside of battles and cutscenes for the first twenty hours all you do is walk forward). Though this game wasn’t specifically targeted towards non-gamers, it was made to be more “accessible” for a broader audience.

Some could also argue that New Super Mario Bros Wii’s streamlining negatively affected the gameplay with its additions of Bubble Mode and Super Guide. When playing in multiplayer anyone having problems overcoming a particular point may press A and enter bubble mode, which renders the player invulnerable to damage though removing control. In order for the player to return to action they must shake the Wiimote to draw closer to another player and have that player collide with the bubble to free them. If abused, bubble mode potentially leaves the challenge to just one player while all others are free to float about the stage. Super guide on the other hand can only be accessed once a player fails to complete a stage eight times. Upon this, a green “!” box will appear and when activated shifts control of the player to the computer to complete the stage – the player can jump back into control however by pressing the + button on the Wiimote. Both of these features are completely optional (and the first only being available during multiplayer), but are still often brought up in debates about NSMBW’s difficulty.

Streamlining isn’t always a terrible thing, however. Games like Mass Effect 2 benefitted from this process immensely in terms of inventory and special ability management. Mass Effect had a mostly cumbersome menu and loot system to the point where it eventually became annoying having to manage all the non-usable items and weapons that weren’t compatible with your character’s class or squad mates. Other titles that were streamlined for the better include Super Mario Galaxy 2, Assassin’s Creed II, Halo Wars and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

 
Waggle for everything. Waggle in precision. Waggle your body!

A growing trend of trying to attract non-gamers is the use and, a lot of the time, misuse of motion controls. At the unveiling of the Wii Remote concept a lot of gamers were confused as whether this would be a good or bad thing. During Nintendo’s press conference at the 2006 E3 people were amazed at what motion controls could mean for the gaming industry, especially from the first impression of Wii Sports Tennis. Instead of the precise 1:1 control of the Wiimote that was initially speculated, gamers were treated with waggle-filled titles that left our hopes diminished. During the first couple of years after the Wii’s launch there was an abundance of mini-game compilations that were just rehashes of the same ideas. Since then there has been a surge of refining and redefining of motion controls beginning with Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus peripheral to add precision to the Wii Remote, and the launches of Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect. Even a huge amount of today’s mobile phones feature some form of motion detection, whether it be gyroscopes or accelerometers.

Another control method popular among casual games is touch-screen controls. Many more games have been praised in their sense of control with touch-screens than motion however in the case of some of today’s smart phones such as the iPhone, systems without button input often lead to some unresponsive or problematic experiences. The Nintendo DS’s launch in 2004 paved the way for touch-screen based gaming with its dual screen layout. With its top screen being a normal LCD monitor and its bottom being touch-sensitive the DS has seen enormous success with puzzle, action, strategy and first-person games. With two screens players were able to enjoy touch-sensitive gameplay mechanics without much screen obstruction since all systems are recommended for the use of a stylus. Apple’s iPhone, however recently seeing enormous success, still often struggles to find un-hindered gaming due to its utilisation of single-screen multi-touch technology sans stylus/button control. In terms of puzzle and racing games, more often than not the iPhone shines in its control since the players’ fingers aren’t constantly covering the screen. However in terms of shooting, fighting and adventure games it is often a nuisance and gains critical feedback. This is also evident in other smartphones that only utilise touch-screen control.

 
The lack of buttons on mobile devices can often prove problematic for gaming.

Though one highly praised feature pioneered by the iPhone is its App Store – an in-built, inexpensive, mobile digital distribution platform for games, utilities and other programs. This completely revolutionised digital distribution in 2008 since it offered ease of distribution for developers with a 70%/30% revenue share (the latter being Apple’s income), iTunes store browsing, and on-the-go purchasing and downloading via your cellular network. Though at first the App Store was more directed to distributing programs for iPhones, it soon broke the device through to being a legitimate handheld gaming contender against the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

The video game industry has seen a massive turn-around in the last half-decade. Usually in that time we would just have a change in console hardware, but now we have seen a major shift in audience and control methods. New control methods such as the Wii Remote, Move Controller and Kinect are only the bare bones of motion gaming’s potential. With Nintendo regularly leading the charge in gaming innovation first with D-pad control, 4 player gaming, analogue sticks, motion controls and next year glasses-free 3D gaming with their new handheld, the 3DS, it’ll be interesting to see what they will come up with for their next home console. Let’s just hope they don’t put us hardcore gamers in the backseat this time, yeah?

Online Distribution and How it Does Not Benefit Australian Gamers

It’s no secret that over the last year I have become a huge advocate of importing games. In fact, it’s to the point where I seriously consider importing all electronics I desire. It’s also no secret to Australian gamers (even technophiles in general) that our technology market is so horrendously over-priced, often to the point of paying more than double the amount that people from say the US, UK and Japan are spending. As it stands today the Australian Dollar is doing strongly against the US Dollar, yet this hasn’t hindered the cost of products within our own country in the slightest. Why is this?

It’s argued that Australians pay more for consumer-grade electronics due to the currency conversion, shipping costs and taxes, which a majority of the time would be true. However keeping this in mind, the fact that I can import a legitimate copy of Halo: Reach for $60 from an online UK store with free shipping, as opposed to buying at a local video game retailer for the full retail price of $118, is pretty damn upsetting. It shouldn’t be cheaper for me – often by 75% – to import from half-way across the world than it is to walk to a shopping centre and buy within my own economy. Further, the prices of these titles are usually reduced by a considerable amount within just a few months of release in the UK compared to Australia. And it only gets worse when titles are distributed digitally.

How, you ask? Retail stores will sooner or later (for hit titles, usually later) begin slightly dropping prices to remain competitive, especially during the middle of the year and the holiday season. Usually you may also find certain trade deals or bundles to help keep savings, some stores even featuring a 7-day return policy. Unfortunately in the realm of online distribution it is very unlikely to find any of these – mainstream internet markets such as Steam, Xbox Live, Playstation Store and Nintendo’s Shop Channel make very clear statements in their user agreements that purchases are non-refundable. So tough luck if you buy a game you end up not liking.

There is also the adoption of the cumbersome points system, which Nintendo and Microsoft are the main offenders. Instead of using real money you are forced to buy their money (Xbox Live does indeed require real money to purchase titles from their Games On Demand service, however). This system represents one of the most unbalanced portions of online distribution since 800 Microsoft Points and 1000 Wii Points mean completely different things in every territory. For example 1000 Wii Points is equivalent to:
- $10US
- €10
- ¥1000
- £7
- $15AU

If you run a quick currency conversion of those just listed you will see that most remain only close to the correct number, with Australia paying the biggest difference at almost $5. With these online stores providing immediate service of content, supposedly cutting any “middle man” costs out of the equation, we are still being forced to pay a premium for content that is exact with the rest of the gaming market. If the gaming market steers completely into the direction of online distribution, then that leaves few outlets with the ability to sell content and less opportunity for competitive pricing. With games already being sold exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Store and WiiWare there is very little opportunity for people to pick up games at reduced prices, unless the game sales are slowing thus rendering a price cut. It often gets much worse with full retail games. Take a good look of this graph comparing Australian-American pricing on Xbox Live’s ‘Games on Demand’.

The titles featured in this graph are some of the higher-rated games spanning the life of the Xbox 360 since its launch, the oldest being Oblivion and the most recent being Assassin’s Creed II. There is a considerable price difference for all games with some being relatively reasonable (Batman: Arkham Asylum at $10) and some being absolutely
bat-s#$% insane (Fallout 3 at a whopping $70). Microsoft has every right (unfortunately) to charge whatever they want for this service, since they own it and the console it’s on. And this graph shows they’re well aware of it.

The Playstation Network on the other hand is a mixed basket. Online play is free and the Store charges real money and is often competitive with XBL in prices. However it also shares the blame with over-charging most downloadable games and content ($7 for PSP minis that are only 100MB big and often less than an hour long? Really?). Though as an up-swing to this, Sony offers a subscription to their premium service Playstation Plus for $70 which gets you monthly discounts and “free” content/games for as long as you’re a member. But then another con to the PSS is that it takes far too long for some content to become available – for example, Australia is still waiting for the ability to rent/buy movies and TV series. XBL trumps this with their integrated Zune service for movies, but we still lack Netflix (though this may not be the fault of Microsoft) for television shows.

The only mainstream services that I’ve found to have a much greater balance for consumers is Valve’s PC-centric Steam and Apple’s App Store. Steam uses US currency giving any international consumers the ability to pay by straight conversion rates rather than region rates. However since there is a balance for international customers, it seems that newer full retail games are relatively over-priced in general. As for the App Store, since the service focuses so heavily on mobile gaming therefore rendering smaller gaming experiences, the prices are usually matched accordingly. Where the US pays 99c for the more popular “standard” price point, Australians only pay $1.19. Technically speaking it isn’t that much greater than the other services mentioned, seeing as though in this case the 20c difference = a 20% mark-up, given that the prices are still low makes it much more acceptable.

I implore everyone to take the time to shop around online and offline before making a purchase of a retail game. For PC gamers there are more services out there to compare prices with, but since I am not a PC gamer I can not really make an argument of that market. Also please spread the word to others who may not be informed about this predicament. Remember that these companies work for you – you are paying them with your hard earned cash.

Super Meat Boy

Video games have come a long way since the old-school sidescrolling platform games of yore. Most games these days are developed to be more streamlined, more forgiving towards players. We live comfortably selecting our difficulty setting and knowing that we’ll reach the end of the game. If that’s the kind of game you’re looking for, then it’s doubtful you will find it here. Super Meat Boy is one of the most unforgiving and infuriating games I have played in recent memory. And I love it.

Don’t get me wrong, the game is most certainly playable. In fact the controls are some of the most balanced I’ve found in a platforming game since the original Super Mario Bros. Super Meat Boy harkens back to a time where gaming was reliant on skill, rather than cinematic experiences. It’s a game that tests your reactions to see if you’re worthy of that 65G achievement bounty.

You play as Meat Boy, an anthropomorphic wad of meat whose girlfriend, Bandage Girl, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr Fetus – a newborn inside a monocle-wearing robot suit. Your objective is simple: save Bandage Girl. The execution however, is not. Super Meat Boy features some of the most robust and well thought-out level design I’ve seen in an old-school platformer. The route to the goal is often obvious at first glance, however it will usually be followed by an “Oh crap…”.

 Old-school game, new-school look.

The first thing people will probably notice of the game is its cartoony charm. Despite the humour being gratuitous and often crass (which suits me juuust fine), it shows personality in its style. The vibrance in colour help overlook the grim outcomes of some of Meat Boys failures – of which there will be many. As Meat Boy runs and clings to walls he leaves a trail of blood on the areas he’s touched, and will remain on the environment until the stage has been cleared. Once a stage is cleared a replay of all your Meat Boys’ efforts will be played immediately afterwards – it’s funny seeing 25+ chunks of meat running and failing simultaneously on one screen. Throughout the game you may encounter warp zones which are usually inspired from classic 8 and 16-bit games and feature a graphical style akin to it. Also I found myself literally laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of the cutscenes. Though there’s no voice acting, it definitely delivers more charm and personality than some recent efforts to include them. *coughMetroidcough*

The controls are minimalist; you run and you jump. In addition to this is a plethora of unlockable characters with unique special abilities such as The Kid from I Wanna Be The Guy’s double-jump and Commander Video from the Bit.Trip series’ hover. Other honourable guest mentions go to Ninja from N+, Tim from Braid, Pink Knight from Castle Crashers, Jill from Mighty Jill Off and Alien from Alien Hominid to name some. Each character has their own distinct feel and you’ll often find that some are better to use for certain stages than others. The characters are unlocked by either finding specific amounts of bandages or completing warp zones, both of which are hidden inside certain stages.

The level design in Super Meat Boy is nothing short of intelligent. There is a supposed total of about 350 unique stages, which I believe to be true since I have only completed around 210 and can still see so many more to even start yet. There are five chapters dedicated to the main game and three unlockable chapters, one being a sort of epilogue featuring Bandage Girl. Alongside the five main chapters are its Dark World parallels; a kind of alternate collection of stages that have been dynamically altered compared to their Light World counterparts. The game does well at easing you into a rhythm during the first couple of chapters with various gameplay techniques and challenges. As the the game goes on you’ll notice a considerable amount of change in terms of difficulty by the final chapter, and it only gets harder from there. For the most part you won’t encounter any enemies until the later chapters; you’ll become much more familiar with environmental perils such as spikes, spinning razors and piles of salt. However once you find your mojo with the environments you’ll find yourself breezing through them. The stages were designed to be beaten in under a minute; most have a target time between 15-30 seconds, though attaining those times will depend on your level of skill.

Poor guy just wanted to smooch.

One of my most notable pleasantries with the game was the soundtrack. Team Meat has put together a great collection of tunes that are both catchy and not annoying (which is important when you end up having to replay some levels a hundred times… literally). Like the rest of Super Meat Boy the music is a hearty nod towards 8-bit and 16-bit music, usually using the same types of sound bites. Each chapter has its own theme that plays throughout every stage, and the Dark World ones are almost remixes of their parallels. The tunes featured in warp zones inspired by classic games are particularly enjoyable to listen to. Also, the sound effects are crisp and add that extra layer of immersion; at first I found Meat Boy’s bloody pitter-pattering footsteps and wall-clinging squish disturbing but soon warmed up to it.

For a downloadable title there is an incredible amount of content here. The game is currently running at 800 Microsoft Points until the 1st of November, from then on being a fixed price of 1200. The game has replayability coming out with the wazoo with competitive leaderboards for people to try their skill at speed runs in over 350 stages. Then there’s collecting bandages and finding warp zones to attain the hidden characters. The game is well worth its 1200 MS point price, and at 800 it’s an absolute steal. Do yourself a favour and at least try out the demo; this is the best XBox Live Arcade game to come out since Castle Crashers.

Score: 10 out of 10

 

(Super Meat Boy will also be released on WiiWare and PC in the near future, though prices are yet to be announced.)

Metroid: Other M

Other M is the latest installment of one of video games’ most iconic sci-fi adventure series of all time, Metroid. Since its debut in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, it has spawned numerous sequels across handheld and home consoles in the forms of side-scrolling adventures, first-person shooters and even a pinball game. Team Ninja’s interpretation of the bounty hunter Samus Aran’s saga is a completely new spin (morphball pun intended) on the immensely beloved franchise. Now a 3rd person action-adventure – with first-person and sidescrolling elements – do Team Ninja’s latest efforts pay off?

The game kicks off with a cutscene depicting the end of Super Metroid, where Samus defeats Mother Brain with the aid of a baby Metroid’s self-sacrificial defense. Soon after she awakens in one of the Galactic Federation’s infirmaries and receives a distress beacon from a GF vessel, so naturally she embarks to investigate. Upon arrival she encounters a squad of Federation soldiers who have also come in response to the beacon. She realises the squad consists of her past military comrades before she left to work solo. One of these soldiers is her ex-commanding officer Adam Malkovich, a man she looks up to with great admiration as a sort of father figure. However Adam shows coldness towards her for having left the military years ago, calling her an “outsider” and refraining from allowing his squad mates to reveal what information they have to her. She soon earns their trust however when a giant purple tentacle monster attacks, by destroying it. From there on Samus works alongside this elite group to find out what sent the distress beacon and why.

For the most part I love the game for being so completely different from past entries, however that is also its biggest downfall. The gameplay is much more fast-paced and action oriented which differs from the ambience and adventure of usual Metroid fare. The game controls by holding the Wiimote sideways to emulate a classic game pad, frequently requiring you to point the IR sensor at the TV to enter first-person mode. It’s understandable why the developers added this element to the game – they wanted to hint towards the previous successful efforts of Retro Studios’ work on the Prime trilogy, however constantly having to switch between two different control methods just completely interrupts a lot of the immersion (especially in boss battles). In game pad mode the D-Pad is used for movement, the 1 button is used for firing arm-cannon blasts and the 2 button is used for jumping. To fire a missile you’re required to enter first-person mode which hinders your movement and to look elsewhere from in front of you requires holding down the B trigger. You can see how this would make frantic battles and boss fights much more strenuous since you’re switching between two different control methods and view modes.

3rd person combat on the other hand works for the most part; since actions are practically mapped to only two buttons, to dodge you have to utilise the ‘Sense Move’ mechanic by pressing in a direction when an enemy makes an attack towards you. It takes a little getting used to, but once mastered it feels comfortable and rewarding. Another interesting automatic mechanic is the Lethal Strike/Overblast where if you charge your beam or jump on top of an enemy you can initiate a special close-range attack to either heavily damage or destroy them. A huge diversion (that a lot of people may not realise is such a big thing) from past Metroid experiences, is the inclusion of a regenerative health and missile system instead of item pick ups. If you’re running low on rockets, just pull the Wiimote into an up-right position and hold the A button to make Samus recharge for ammo. This also works for health when you’re on your last tank of energy; just charge up to switch on your reserve tanks.

 
The gameplay in Other M for the most part is fun. Having to fire missiles in first-person though sometimes breaks the immersion.

The level design in Other M is brilliantly crafted with the standard backtracking methods we’re used to seeing in this series. Since the game bounces between third-person and first-person it makes looking for hidden power-ups as challenging as ever. Just like Super Paper Mario you will have to combine these different perspectives to find secrets within certain levels, and it’s often a great feeling of accomplishment when you do. Another thing to mention is that usually when I play a Metroid game there are moments that I get stuck and frustrated for not knowing where to go next/what to do – thankfully not once had that occurred this time around, due to quite straight-forward level design. If you sometimes have this problem like I do, rest easy knowing it’s unlikely to happen. As for audio, the soundtrack is amazingly crafted and full of nostalgic tunes along with new ones. It’s obvious Team Ninja took a lot of care with creating a soundtrack that appeals to the core Metroid fans and newcomers.

Speaking of appealing to fans, the production values in the CG and in-engine cutscenes are nothing short of stunning. Only in the Super Mario Galaxy games have I seen a Wii game come this close to blurring the line between Wii and current-gen graphics (see what I did there?).  Performance-wise the game runs smoothly a majority of the time, only having hiccups in framerate when things get massively intense (such as destroying multiple enemies with a charged Plasma Beam shot). All cutscenes are voiced acted, meaning even Samus herself has been given a voice, which is a first in this series. The in-game scenes feature a lot of motion capture, which helps bring more humanity into these characters. Speaking of characters, the cast of Other M were a breath of fresh air for this game. Despite some… interesting personalities (coughAdamcough) they all bring drama to the story and help develop Samus as a character, giving her stronger purpose as a heroine. Which brings me to the biggest and most important point of the game…

Samus Aran’s character choice really doesn’t depict her to be the Intergalactic Bounty Hunter that we’ve all come to believe in. This is an incredibly strong and independent woman who performed extinction over one of the most feared parasitic life-forms in the universe, the Metroids. So it comes as a huge surprise that instead of losing her abilities and weapons like in previous experiences, Team Ninja instead decided to have her wait for her ex-commanding officer Adam to give her approval of using specific weapons after certain situations. That’s right, instead of being the independent one-woman-army we’ve all become accustomed and appreciative of who does what’s necessary to save lives, she waits for the okay of a man she hasn’t seen in many years to use her powerful arsenal of weapons because she wants to earn his respect. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t wait for some guy to say “yes” so I can wear my heat-resistant Varia Suit while running around in lava pits. It may seem like such a small thing to pick at since losing gaining your arsenal is a long-running characteristic of the games, but the circumstance it represents is an issue that crops up every time you “earn” a new weapon and it completely changes the vibe of our heroine.

 
The cutscenes are gorgeous and this rendition of Super Metroid’s fight with Mother Brain proves that.

As for the story, it’s quite well written with an interesting plot twist. Despite the Prime series being more about saving the universe, this one was more focused on the characters and situations regarding only what was happening within this Bottle Ship, as it were. Which doesn’t make it any less engaging or unfulfilling. Ridley makes an explosive, seemingly out-of-nowhere, entrance (and exit) to the story during an adrenaline-inducing cutscene and boss battle. Another character named Anthony is brought into the spotlight as one of Samus’ past platoon buddies, who helps to slightly add more to our heroine’s back story (whether that is good or bad is up to you). Though I really liked the story and cutscenes I should mention that in case you’ve never played a Team Ninja game before – such as the recent Ninja Gaiden series – you should know that it is sports some heavy Anime/Japanese story/character/action themes (which unfortunately is what makes me dislike Aran’s portrayal in this game). Thankfully despite many (if not all) of Ninja Gaiden’s female characters being depicted as scantily clad and overly sexualised, it is not so much the case this time; she’s occasionally shown in her tightly-fitted Zero Suit and this is also the most erm… fully figured she has ever been in a video game.

As I said earlier, for the most part I do love the game and I did have a lot of fun playing it. However there were just some development choices that I can not help but disagree with, being such a huge Metroid fan and having grown up with the games. Though Metroid fans may be turned off by a change in key aspects that make the games so important, it’s still a great, intense and story-driven adventure that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike. Definitely one of the technological spectacles of the Wii.

Score: 8 out of 10

Number One!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, re-released for Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007.

Come on, as if you didn’t see this coming.

It’s a no-brainer. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is regarded by most gamers to be one of, if not, the best games ever created. The Legend of Zelda series is one of Nintendo’s oldest, beloved by the company itself and a huge amount of gamers the world over. The original (titled The Legend of Zelda) was released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, and is still considered a pivotal point in gaming for its inclusion of an in-built save system – before this people were required to remember or write down passwords if they were to continue from a particular point. Over time the games were developed for other Nintendo platforms and the scale of the adventures continue to grow.

The premise is usually the same for each home-console release of the Zelda games – Ganon seeks to obtain the power of the Triforce, the balance of all life and law throughout Hyrule. The (unsuspecting) hero Link somehow becomes tasked with the fate of protecting the world from Ganon’s rule by acquiring some sort of aid from the title character, Princess Zelda. Along the way Link discovers new perils, weapons and cultures. It’s a formula that’s present in all major releases of the game, which is both good and bad; good in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different, and bad in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different. Most Zelda fans (myself included) are happy with the way the games are, but it is understandable how some people would want some changes – and that’s what the handheld versions have done. The DS iterations of the series are sequels to the controversial Wind Waker title released for GameCube in 2003. The formula remains relatively the same - Link attains new weapons, must find/help Zelda, culminates in bad dude confrontation, however they take place outside of the world of Hyrule (above it to be exact, since the once prosperous civilisation is been underwater for hundreds of years) and the art style features a more cartoonish look.

One of the most important moments in gaming; Link embraces destiny.

However, back on topic, OoT was the first Zelda game developed in a fully realised 3D world and the scope of it, since it was an N64 game, was massive – if you stood in the middle of Hyrule Field and saw something far into the background, you could go there. The game was also the first to feature an automatic jump mechanic – one that was quite unconventional at the time but again is not unusual today. A particularly “memorable” (for the lack of a better word) inclusion was the character Navi, Link’s fairy. Within the universe of this particular game the children of Kokiri Forest were considered to be grown-up only when they obtained the company of a fairy. I mention this because apart from being a character in the game Navi was a sort of hint system – if you were lost you would press C-Up and receive a hint for what currently needs to be done. Though, Navi also proved to be an annoyance for a lot of people spawning various internet memes for its frequent exclamations of “Hey! Listen!”. One of the most notable and appraised features of the game however is the inclusion of a musical instrument; the titular Ocarina of Time. With this players were able to learn and memorise certain button combinations to perform a tune that would alter the gameplay or the environment in some fashion. Another highly revered feature was the ability to time travel between the present and the future. Completing certain quests or objectives in Link’s childhood affected the outcome of some situations or passages in his adulthood. In fact the final dungeon, The Spirit Temple, could only be completed once certain objectives were met between both timelines.

 
First confrontation with Ganon.

Ocarina of Time was the very first Zelda game I had ever laid eyes on upon its release in late ‘98 when one of my uncles bought it. I watched him play the entire game from after the first dungeon, The Great Deku Tree, over a period of perhaps six months – we got stuck in the Water Temple like a lot of people and took a two month break before figuring it out and working towards the finish again. It wasn’t until I finally owned the game in the following year that I realised how much more the game had to offer – the game has many secrets and collectibles it’s almost frustrating, though finally attaining them is greatly rewarding. It was also the first game that made me feel like a hero – the absence of a voice for Link allows for you to imagine your own instead (this is true for every Zelda game; the only vocal sounds Link makes are grunts and screams during action). It was also the biggest game I’d seen at the time; as mentioned before about seeing places in the distance, when you see Death Mountain in the distance then realise you have to eventually scale it and enter it makes you feel apart of something grand. The discoveries of other cultures such as the Gorons, Zoras and Gerudo make you feel like it’s a living world with each culture being so unique yet practical to the game. Also the unique effects of most songs learned for the ocarina are easy to take for granted, such as the ability to quicken time from night to day, summon the rain, call your horse and more.

I could go on and on about what else makes this game great, but I’m sure you’ve already heard other people rave on about its brilliance. And if you haven’t played it yet then get to it!