I am a franchise freak. I love seeing my favorite characters return to the screen, game after game. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest…hell, Rachet & Clank! Seeing the mix of the familiar and the new still tends to excite me.
Unfortunately, a good series has to walk a very thin line. Fans have very strict expectations for a series, but also want new innovation and new challenges in every new installment. It must be difficult for the game designers to satisfy what fans want without allowing the series to stagnate.
You’d think I’d know how to feel about Metroid Prime by now.As one of the few first person shooter heroines that’s more brains than bustline, Samus Aran is certainly to be applauded. And the triumphant transition of the Metroid franchise from 2D to 3D is still unsurpassed. Couple that with Metroid Prime 3’s tight armchair FPS controls and a world that’s full of beautiful, tactile touches that use the Wiimote just right and it’s paradise, no?
Well, kinda. And that’s where I always get stuck. Because in Metroid, you’re playing detective — exploring burned out space hulks and abandoned planets — a kind of future archeologist trying to piece together what happened after the fact. When Metroid is at its best, you feel the elation of an outer space Indiana Jones dusting off the Lost Ark (like in steampunk Skytown). When it doesn’t, you just feel lost — in a maze of beautifully different but functionally identical rooms, tracking and back tracking ad nauseam (find the energy cells, Indy!).
That’s when the ugly questions come out: Just how many times can Samus lose all her powers before she gives up getting them back again?And it’s in those moments that you have to worry; worry about whether all the rust coming off Metroid Prime 3 means that the series really doesn’t have another go-round in it — at least not a very interesting one.
[...]
I wonder if Samus hasn’t become a prisoner of expectations. A perfect example is fan reaction to the biggest departure in MP3: the not-so-solitary G.F.S. Olympus segments. “That’s not Metroid!” they screamed, and they were right.
I remember feeling the same way about Tomb Raider. While I credit Tomb Raider with being the stepping stone game that introduced me to RPGs, the years were not kind to Lara Croft. I remember becoming more and more frustrated before finally laying Tomb Raider to rest a few years back. I have heard other reports of this with Final Fantasy - but since I missed the first eight games of the series, I think I have a while to go before the plots and settings start feeling old hat to me.
Why am I still addicted to the Sims seven years after the game dropped?
While I haven’t touched a Sim since 2004 (yeah, that’s how long I’ve been clean…my sister put in my Sim Rehab after I expelled one too many Sims from Sim town by creating love octagons) I still get excited every time I read about a new expansion pack. And this latest one is no different.
The Sims 2: Castaway has a release date of this October for all territories (22nd in US, 25th in Australia and 26th in Europe) and the game is a brand new adventure for fans of The Sims. In the game your group of Sims are on a pleasure cruise when they get hit by a storm. They crash and are washed ashore on different tropical islands, and it’s your task to bring the group together again. You start off controlling one Sim, and you are tasked with finding food and taking care of your Sims all on his lonesome.
This includes such survival methods as chopping trees for wood, starting fires, and gathering edible fruits to keep alive. You’ll also have to build bridges, find tools, construct boats to move from island to island, move obstacles and find clues. As you play you’ll discover new items and tools and using the crafting system you’ll eventually be able to build items that allow you to make a new life from scratch, including building a home and creating items to not only make your life easier but allow you to live in this new environment and eventually get off the island, if you so desire.
Using the map-screen you can keep track of the new areas you’ve discovered and quickly get to different places on your map. The Sims however are not alone, you’ll run into wildlife and be able to train them and use their specialties to help you in your adventure. There is a breadth of things to do in The Sims 2: Castaway, from growing veggies to making clothes and objects to raising chickens. If you’re smart enough you’ll even discover the origin of the island, follow clues and eventually uncover a lost civilization with secrets that will change the world . . .
Oh, wait a sec?
All the Simmy goodness of complete and total omniscience…coupled with traits from some of my other favorite PC Games (like Age of Empires?)
I think I’ll have to get this…I’m sure I won’t relapse that badly…
Another new feature for Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been revealed! The game will allow you to send three-minute replays that you have recorded from the game to friends on your friend list via the online Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support built into the game. Although it’s unclear whether you can record at any time, or if the game does it for you at the end of fights. What it will do is record automatically replays of your Time in modes like Target Mode, which makes it’s return in Brawl.
I love it! Not only do I get to pwn people in the actual game, it means I also get to record it and play it for hours of endless amusement. [Evil, I know. A graceful winner, I am not...] Along with this cool announcement, VGB also reiterated a new fact about the game that I missed:
I am also excited about the online play component. However, for me, it kind of takes away from what made the game so fun in the first place - dropping by a friend’s house and going a few rounds. I am well aware that the internet play is an add-on to the game and does not take away from the human component in the least…but as my life is becoming increasingly gchat/AIM/email based (and my friends are moving farther and farther away) I find myself hesitating a bit about the new online features pushed by all three platforms.
I kind of feel like it will be yet another reason for me not to see my friends - we can always just hook up online.
Gamepolitics has a chilling post about an investigation into a child’s death…that has a strange gaming twist:
According to WRAL-5, Johni Michelle Heuser has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of baby Harmony, who had been reported missing last Friday, leading to a statewide Amber Alert. On Saturday police found the child’s body in the attic of Heuser’s home. Heuser said Harmony died weeks ago from crib death and she hid the body out of fear.
[...]
GP:The police seem interested in determing whether Heuser may have discussed some detail of Harmony’s death while online and will likely be focusing on chat and message logs.
The TV spot that GamePolitics references also makes note of why the investigators seized the Xbox. Apparently, the suspect in question was playing online RPGs - even after the child’s death.
Gaming related or not, it is just odd (and semi-suspicious) not to report your child’s death. I hope there is a speedy resolution to this case.
Yet another industy has caught on to the idea that anything negative can be blamed on gaming.
Apparently, the gaming world is now sucking the wind out of big-box office openings. The coveted 18-34 male market is sitting at home playing Halo instead of watching “The HeartBreak Kid.”
Poor box office on opening weekend for new Ben Stiller movie, ‘The Heartbreak Kid,’ is being blamed on the huge success of Halo 3, the third in the series of Halo video games by Microsoft Corp’s video game division.
Halo 3 sold $170 million in its first 24 hours of sales when it was launched on September 26, beating out previous record-holder movie Spiderman 3 for the title as biggest entertainment launch ever (of course Spidey 3 was a piece of crap, so it was just a matter of time). This shows how so NOT niche video games now are - they are going head to head with more traditional (read ‘dull’) forms of entertainment competing for the attention and pocket money of the fickle youths. And winning.
‘The Heartbreak Kid’ made $14million in its opening weekend, versus an expected $20-25million. And overall, box office receipts in October is down down down - it’s lowest level since 1999. Studio execs have been wondering aloud whether the success of Halo 3 can be blamed for the lackluster performance.
But we think there might be another explanation. Crap movies.
I second them on the crap movies. Halo launched September 26th, so the mad new-game-must-conquer high has pretty much worn off. Even the most hardcore gamers can peel themselves away from the TV to go out for a few hours.
That is, if they are properly motivated.
And I doubt that The Heartbreak Kid qualifies as proper motivation. It actually looks more like a Netflix to me…
Kotaku offered their take on the Wii Fit, mentioning:
Given our experience with WiiFit, it’s a lackluster product bordering on 99% marketing gimmick. So our guess is that the 300+ pounders among us will be better off going for a walk anyway. And besides, that Nike iPod integration is way more impressive than this whole WiiFit thing, and just about as fun (because it’s not really at all). And you won’t trip over the pea-sized device every time you walk in the room. Just our two cents.
Maybe it’s just my Pavlovian response to anything that goes with yoga, but the Wii fit looks like the hotness. And it just might make people more active…or become another gaming add on that collects dust in the entertainment center.
I’m loving the First Friday Drinking Game posted over on the Girl in the Machine blog.
This FFDG spotlights Resident Evil:
Pour the shots, pull up a chair, and follow these easy-to-remember rules:
1 drink for every zombie dog you encounter
2 drinks if zombie dog bursts through a window
1 drink whenever you’re cornered in a tight hallway
1 drink for shooting a zombie in the head when you “totally meant to”
2 drinks for shooting Ashley in the head by accident
2 drinks before facing the chainsaw guy in RE4 (you’ll need the liquid courage)
1 drink for every grating voice actor
2 drinks for: Jill Sandwich! (Why God? Why?)
1 drink every time the shitty controls of REs past lead you into the loving arms of a zombie
3 drinks for every Crimson Head you allow to manifest (shame on you)
1 drink every time Nemesis’s tentacle makes you feel really dirty
1 drink whenever you applaud the realism of limited space and curse it bitterly at the same time
1 drink every time you think it would be faster to just dig the lock out of a door with a spoon than hunt down all the items required to open it
And finally:
Finish your drink when you come to the sad realization that playing Jill over Chris is like selecting easy mode
Word.
Considering I am completely inept at survival horror games, I wonder exactly how much alcohol would end up on the floor if I tried this drinking game. I already scream and throw the controller whenever one of those evil little dog things jumps through a window. Holding a shot in one hand and a controller in the other seems like it would spell doom for my carpet…
Okay, I’ll admit I’ve been viewing the spin placed on the Wii with some amusement.
Family friendly?
So what does that make other consoles, like the PS3 and X-box 360? Teen friendly? Disgruntled cube worker who wants to frag people in Halo to deal with corporate stress friendly? Whatever.
A console is the tool you use to play games. You, the gamer, select what you want to play. Simple right? I can play family friendly games on a Sony. I could exclusively play Metroid on my Wii.
I’ve been ignoring the “family fun” label that Wii receives in the media, but this article from USA Today almost made me roll off the bed. (Hat Tip to GamePolitics).
Check the headline: Nintendo Wii takes a murderous turn
(Say it with me now: dun dun DUN! *dramatic music crescendo*).
The article opens:
In a video game universe, the pairings do not get much stranger than this: family-friendly Nintendo and controversial video game developer Rockstar.
The horror title Manhunt 2 ($30-$40) will hit stores on Halloween for Nintendo Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 2. Since the Wii version uses the motion-sensitive controllers, it literally gives players the hands of a killer. Manhunt 2 was originally rated Adults Only — equivalent to an X in films — and now carries an M for mature audiences (17 and up).
Interesting how they compare the Adults Only to an X rating (which was phased out in the 90s in favor of the rating NC-17). X ratings tend to carry a pornographic connotation …so what is USA Today trying to insinuate here?
The article goes on to say:
“It is a technological fit, and the gameplay works,” says Newsweek’s N’gai Croal. “But culturally, it’s not a fit.”
Nintendo doesn’t need to expand its user base to help the Wii continue to outsell its pricier and technologically superior competitors. Since launching in November, Nintendo has sold 4 million Wiis; in the same time, Microsoft has sold 3 million Xbox 360s and Sony 1.75 million PS3s, according to market tracking firm The NPD Group.
Uh…what about maintaining the market of gamers that grew up with Nintendo? You know, those of us who are over 20 years of age that still have Mario memories but more developed more mature tastes?
Manhunt 2 is simply the most radical example of Nintendo’s ongoing strategy to provide “a breadth of games of all story lines and all genres,” she says.
A flood of new Wii titles is on the way, including Super Mario Galaxy (Nov. 12), horror game Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Nov. 13) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Dec. 3).
But Manhunt 2 goes the furthest. Players take the role of a psychiatric escapee who has murderous rages as he tries to uncover his past. On the Wii, players physically make killing motions with the controllers — slashing for stabs and lifting to strangle — rather than simply pushing buttons. Rockstar’s goal is to put players in the horror genre in ways that films like Saw or Hostel cannot.
“It’s a different level of engagement in video games,” says Rockstar’s Rodney Walker. “You can literally experience the emotional responses of the character.”
Since the last paragraph probably has concerned parents already dashing off letters to their Congressional representatives, I am pretty sure that the next two paragraphs will be ignored:
The Entertainment Software Ratings Board tagged Manhunt 2 with the Adults Only rating in June, essentially banning the game. Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony do not permit AO games to be made for their consoles, and many retailers will not stock AO titles. Rockstar changed the game and resubmitted it to earn an M rating.
Walker concedes that some might be turned off by the game. “But what about other people who should have a choice whether or not to play it?” he says.
Thank goodness for common sense. The Wii can be a family friendly console. Here’s how: do not buy your 9 year old a copy of Manhunt. Buy all the other age appropriate games. But do not buy them that.
Personally, I am outraged at the parents in this case. You control your child’s consumption. Even with teenagers who may be earning money independently, parents still can exercise veto power over things they feel are inappropriate. So why is there such a strong push for game markers/legislators/console designers to reign in children?
Advertising Age (hat tip to AdRants) has recently announced that GameStop will begin a nationwide campaign targeted to gamers:
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Gamers, the power is in your hands.
GameStop’s ads from Richards Group were produced using the ‘machinima’ technique.
That’s the message behind the first national campaign from GameStop Corp., breaking Oct. 1. The multimillion dollar push — which sees the video-game and software retailer adopting a new tagline, “Power to the Players” — is the work of the retailer’s first agency of record, Richards Group, Dallas, which was appointed to the account earlier this year.
‘Machinima’ technique
Components of the campaign include print and TV (to appear in Maxim, Rolling Stone and ESPN magazines, and Comedy Central, Spike, and MTV networks, among others) as well as online and viral. The TV spots were produced using the “machinima” technique — a production style that blends computer-generated imagery with filmmaking — and feature video-game characters who promote unique aspects of the brand, such as the store’s trade-in policy and the inside information available through GameStop’s magazine, Game Informer.
“For us, it’s really a brand now that comes under one umbrella,” said Thomas A. DeNapoli, VP-marketing for GameStop. The message “will have an impact in every functional area within our company. … It’s not just an ad campaign.”
Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop operates nearly 5,000 stores in 16 countries, and last year posted $5.3 billion in revenue.
Looks like I will not get a chance to see the ads, since the campaign for gamers is hard slanted to capture the male gaming market. Hopefully, this is the first run of a multi-prong effort to advertise to gamers, and they didn’t intentionally exclude growing markets for gamers on purpose…
