Planet Sillicon

Serious Business

By blog on Apr. 24, 2009.

This is going to be another of my rants… that’s just a forewarning.

What the heck is with those innumerable children’s DS and Wii games that end with the letter ‘Z’. When you walk into a gaming store, you are instantly bombarded with these games. Tons and tons of stupid animal games that are trying to eek out money from the uniformed. Nintendogs worked, sure it was a fun, innovative game, but Petz Dogz, Catz, Horsez, and Monkeyz House… What the hell is this crap? And who buys it!?

Why do these games keep being put out, over and over, and on multiple platforms!? They consistently receive poor scores, and yet, you know that people are buying them… I can’t stand it! I was talking to a friend who was going to buy a DS for their child last Christmas. They said they were considering buying a few different games with the DS, and proceeded to point out which ones in a catalog, and of course, one of the ones they pointed to was Catz. They have a little girl and thought the child would like the game.

I had to make a stand, right then and there. Someone had to stand up and be counted! Stand up and say ‘No! No more of these crappy gimmicky games!’ I am not the only one who feels strongly about these games, I saw them listed in a ‘five things to give someone you hate‘ Christmas list. That really says something about a series of games, does it not?

My friend did end up getting their child a DS, and a couple of games that actually got decent scores. I was glad to know that at least one child, one prospective gamer, would not be subjected to the sub-par gaming experience that is any game that ends with the letter ‘Z’!

I see gaming as serious business, in a way. And as I wrote last week, I see it as the next medium to enter the fine arts world, so I want to see it respected. Also please note, you have to say ’serious business’ in that awesome Japanese accent that the swordsmith from Kill Bill has.

My overly cluttered workspace

By blog on Apr. 24, 2009.

Its a wonder I can find my keyboard at all these days, if it weren’t for that little drawer that slides out, I know I wouldn’t find it or my mouse.

You see, when one works from home, they need to have all the necessary accouterments that one would find in an office. I am lucky in that I can buy my stationary supplies online, but once I get them home, then I am stumped as to where to put all this stuff. I know I need it, even if I don’t need it often, so I need to keep it in a place where I know I won’t forget where I put it.

Why is it that all of this stuff is necessary, that we are commonly aware it is necessary, and yet your average computer desk is 150cm long and 90cm wide!? You also have to fit on there the monitor and speakers, and all the stuff that doesn’t live elsewhere so ends up living on your desk making more clutter and mess. I am looking over my tea cup, box of tissues, and pieces of paper that seemed important, right until I decide to drop them in the bin, and I think… I could use more drawers! I have one. One drawer. All that stuff, all those necessary pieces of office equipment, and I have one, little, drawer… One little drawer!

Right now on my desk in front of me, along with the items mentioned above, I have a lamp, a notebook, a few pens, one stapler, my office printer, a neat little paper shredder, and my phone with fax machine included set up! And it isn’t a very big desk!

I think if I were to design my own desk, it would be huge! It would be ‘U’ shaped so I could feel all secure in there, everything within reach… like an office boat! Of course, then there is the issue of finding a large enough room for my giant awesome office boat, an open, vast airy space where my desk was in the middle, but it would be worth it, wouldn’t it? Just to be rid of all the clutter on my desk.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. made my eyes bleed

By blog on Apr. 23, 2009.

As I mentioned earlier, I bought Far Cry 2. I was really in the mood for an FPS (First Person Shooter)and I knew my system was up to this game. Whilst the game installed I flipped through the game manual and looked at the map. I love games with maps, I got the collector’s edition of Mines of Moria in part because of the cloth map, which still lives in my desk drawer.

So. Game is installed! I eagerly clicked on the desktop short cut… blackscreen! Desktop! Flicker, flicker, flicker… |-| I rebooted and tried again, and every time I get a different issue, but so far I have never been able to get into the game to a point where I can actually play… :## I can watch two of the first three load screens, and then occasionally a little bit of the intro, and that’s it. I can’t effing believe it. >:XX

So after trying for a few days to fix it, I was so angry I didn’t care about it. I remembered another game that I had wanted to play, but when it was released it was so buggy I couldn’t play it. Well I downloaded it from Steam again, and now I have been playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for the past few days.

It has satisfied my desire for a good shooter, and something a little free-range in game play. Heh, I think I just coined a new gaming term. )I have been wandering the wasteland of this game for the past few days and I have to say, it plays well. It rewards good skill in the player, and has a pretty eerie feel overall.

I have one issue. Visual effects… At first, the head-bobbing was so bad I felt nauseous after barely a minute. So I promptly downloaded the Oblivion Lost mod and viola! No head-bobbing! But, there is still certain visual issues. If your character requires sleep, the visuals get very fuzzy and sickening, but the main issue I have is with a certain type of foe. It uses a psionic attack which grabs the visuals from a distance, draws the screen very quickly down to focus on the monster, and then flings it back as if your character has just been grabbed by the collar, moved to be an inch away from the monster’s face, and then flung back one hundred meters to invariably hit a wall. Can you imagine what this looks like on my screen? And when this isn’t happening, the mere presence of this creature in the area makes the visuals so hazy as to somewhat like you’ve just downed ten pints in ten minutes.

Apart from all that, I am having fun with the game. )

The lure of beautiful games

By blog on Apr. 22, 2009.

I have been trying, and failing, to play Far Cry 2 which I bought the other day, but that is another post, today’s is about a couple of great games that I stumbled upon rather accidentally.

After looking at the beautiful screenshots and great review, I decided to get Braid. There is something so magical about a beautiful game with haunting music, and the water-coloured backgrounds of Braid are certainly beautiful. So refreshing when there are so many games with jarring backing tracks and visuals that, whilst realistic, are overly harsh.

First impressions of the game… It is very, very fun. In the early stages especially. The gameplay is refreshing because it combines both classic 2-D platforming, but with game mechanics that are new and invigorating. The fact that you have no lives, per say, but instead a function to reverse time… it is really very fun and unique.

With each new world that you unlock, there are six in all, you are introduced to a new game mechanic. In world two, you find objects that are green and sparkly, which means they are resistant to you reversing time. There are objects in later worlds that can be affected by your doppelganger, which appears as you reverse time.

I thoroughly enjoy the puzzle solving nature of this game, they are difficult without being too difficult… in most cases. And as for the game being so short, I am finding it worth the money I spent on it. I am also really enjoying the story line, it is intriguing, original, and refreshingly adult!

Another game that I recently stumbled upon and have thoroughly enjoyed is a independent game by the name of Crayon Physics Deluxe. This is a very fun, if a little short lived, game where you use a crayon to draw ways to get a little red ball to a little yellow star, using physics. The music is very nice and soothing, like with Braid, and I sometimes play just to hear the nice backing tracks.

It is a nice thing, in the gaming world, to stumble onto games that are fun, unique, don’t glitch constantly, and don’t cost an arm and a leg!

Taking the next step in gaming

By blog on Apr. 18, 2009.

As a follow on from my previous article, where I state that games are now a medium of entertainment for adults as well as children, I would like to look into the evolutionary steps gaming can take in the future.

Gaming has grown up. No longer are we faced with the same Good versus Evil dichotomy that Super Mario Bros brought us in the ’80s, no, games have grown from there. Today’s games give us gritty characters with morally ambiguous choices. We can play as the paladin like bastion of goodness, the everyday person who is by and large neutral, or the dark self-serving villain, we now have the choice. Games are accommodating more and more complex characters and narratives, and gamers are thrilled with this new era of realism.

There are those, such as Roger Ebert, who believe gaming will never be an art form, that it’s very nature precludes it from gaining the title of art, but many other respected authors, artists, game developers, and game players, disagree with great vehemence. Gaming is becoming widely accepted as an art form, with exhibitions of concept art now taking place, and serious academic work being put into defining why some video games should be considered art.

Whilst the stigma of games being for children lives on, gaming as an art form can’t really get into the air and soar. If game developers are held back from certain content, that is already acceptable in literature and film, then how can this medium compete on a level playing ground? We have read about the darker side of the human nature for the past few centuries, look at Matthew Gregory Lewis’s The Monk as but one such example. And yet, could you imagine the outcry should anyone try to include Lewis’s often grotesque actions of Ambrosio in a game? Well a game in this day and age, Custer’s Revenge will always baffle me as to how that got through.

I find the denouncement of adult content in games often reminds me of that Simpsons episode where the statue of David comes to Springfield museum and the censor group that Marge started because of cartoon violence goes mad with trying to ban the statue for being ‘indecent’.

Film, comics, and animation are among the most recent additions to the world of fine art, and it occurs to me that all of these mediums had to fight for their place in the fine art pantheon, gaming is the newest, but we can be sure it won’t be the last.

Games – For kids?

By blog on Apr. 18, 2009.

As a gamer, it is entirely frustrating to be told that ‘games are for kids’ or that you are somehow immature if you enjoy playing video games. Researchers here are a bit slow on the uptake in regards to this particular topic, the BBFC Video Games Report has a line in its findings that states ‘Professionals believe that the number of adult gamers is growing.’

The average age of gamers in the UK is now over 23, in the US it is now 33, and in Australia it is 28 with 8% being over 60! How the heck does that suggest that games are for kids? Kids games are for kids, adult games are for adults, it is really that simple.

And yet, there are still issues about what may or may not be depicted in a game. There are horrid, tasteless, highly violent films like Saw and Hostel which get classification and are deemed okay for a specific audience, but people go nuts over games like GTA Liberty City that offer people a free world to roam around in, but also have violent game missions.

Why is it that people still hold onto archaic notions that violence in games causes children to act out violently? Studies have been conducted into this issue, and found it to be completely false. Is society in general just that slow? I actually heard a doctor on the radio saying that new studies show that gaming is good for children because it increases their eye-contrast sensitivity and builds up neural pathways that haven’t previously been strengthened!

So come on people, lets stop blaming terrible acts on games, stop treating games as if they are a silly waste of time, stop treating gamers like they are immature, and start to recognise that most of us are gamers now, and we needn’t be ashamed of that fact! Video games have been around since the early ’70s, they aren’t going away, and the medium is just becoming more and more advanced and open to amazing and wonderful games.

Buying non-scratched discs…

By blog on Apr. 17, 2009.

It doesn’t seem like too much to ask to be able to purchase a DVD or game disc that has no scratches on it. Especially when store security is getting stronger and stronger. I mean, what is that darn ‘theft prevention officer’ doing if not making sure people don’t steal games or movies off the shelf?

So why, oh why, is it that so many stores feel the need to remove the discs from their original packaging, in favor of putting them into silly little plastic slips which invariably scratch the disc. All it takes is for a little bit of dust or dirt to get in there and the disc is now being rubbed back and fourth over that little bit of dust any time someone takes it out or puts it back. Which scratches the disc. Its not rocket science people!

After my run in with that moron store manager I went over to another gaming store near by and recounted to them what had happened as an explanation to me asking about how they store their discs. They said that some are in unopened packages out back, whilst others are in game slips. Now, at least with theirs, they were those little synthetic fabric ones, which are better, but the discs they showed me still had scratches, I just felt bad for them so didn’t say anything. And they mentioned that the moron store manager had come and yelled at them for talking badly of his store in the past… what a total schmuck!

So off I went to another store, now this store, ahhhh all the DVDs are in original packaging! Shelves and shelves of DVDs I feel comfortable buying because I know they won’t be scratched! I hadn’t bought many games from them, and just happened to find the game I wanted there… but it wasn’t in the box… So I went and asked the nice lady if there were unopened boxes, and she said that they put the empty ones on the shelf, and the sealed ones are behind the counter! Oh thank you!

It was so wonderful to hear of a system that worked for both the store and the buyer, why can’t other stores implement this sort of security measure?

Why is it?

By blog on Apr. 16, 2009.

Today I feel the need to rant about a few things… and I don’t see a reason not to.

Why is it so hard to find time to read when you have less than one hundred pages left in a book? What is it about the climactic events at the conclusion of a book that seem to create no-free-time-zones? I think it’s partly because when I know I am getting to the end of a book, my entire reading habits change. I go from being happy to pick up the book and read for a few minutes here or there when I get the chance, to demanding that I can only read when I have substantial amounts of time where I do nothing but sit and read. It is so very frustrating to be at this point in the book, and have the fresh new one sitting there.

Why is it so hard to find a good pen? Why is it that whenever I do find a good pen, I invariably lose it or break it somehow? Why am I so picky about my pens in the first place? Why doesn’t that cheap little blue one satisfy me? It does the job, it always works, but no, I have to have a cool pen. A unique pen. What am I? Six? Bah, who knows, but for some reason, I like to have nice pens, even if the only time I write is for shopping lists. But even then, you want to be writing with a nice darn pen, is that too much to ask?

Why are people in queues stupid? Why is it that they either have absolutely no sense of personal space – yes I am talking to you stinky, move back! – or stand so far back that you never get to move forward, in spite of the fact that the schmoozer in front of you is now the front of the queue? I really don’t like standing in line, especially with this new penchant in stores for having queue lines that go back and forth, like sheep in a corral. Yeah, I’m not cattle, thanks. And of course all the store people seem to think they are better than you because you just came out of the queue, how can they not? You just stood in a cattle run for five minutes!

I need a new game

By blog on Apr. 15, 2009.

After playing Mount & Blade for a while, and then having my sixty odd Swadian Knights decimated by a stupidly large opposing force, I am not feeling as enchanted with the game right now. I want a new game. I don’t know specifically what I want, I just know that I want a new game. I headed on over to IGN before to see what was new and looked good. I am rather picky about what games I will actually put money into, and if it scored less than 8.0 at IGN there is absolutely no way I am getting it. A few things popped out at me. Ceville, Braid, and because I didn’t get it when it first came out, Spore.

Ceville is a point-and-click adventure in much the same style as Monkey Island. I really enjoyed Monkey Island when I played that years ago, and the review of Ceville had a lot of good praise for it. The only downside to this genre of game, in my opinion, is that it can fail to be as immersive as other games. You are more removed, there is, in a way, less required of the gamer in order to progress through the game. I mean sure, you need to work your bonce in order to solve the puzzles, but there is less hand-eye skill required, as in poor reflexes aren’t an issue. And that is all well and good for this genre, but perhaps I find that it can have you a little removed from what is going on. Of course, I could just be talking from the wrong end, as I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Layton and the Curious Village, but I feel belligerent today so I am going with it.

Another game that got a good score, but I probably won’t get, is Braid. Sure it looks like a groovy old platformer, but short games irritate me. I hate paying full price for a game that lasts under twenty hours. This is why I play RPGs. Something that Braid has going for it is it’s challenging difficulty. The last thing you want when you play a game is a cake walk, it makes the achievement of finishing the game feel so anticlimactic. I also like the fact that it is it’s own game, not overly like anything else out at the moment. That is refreshing.

Then there is Spore. I probably won’t get this one either. But then again, looking over the closing comments on IGN, maybe I will. I don’t know, probably not. It looks good, and got a great score. This was one of those games that was in development for years, and in a way that turns me off a game. Now, if a game is in development for years, and still comes out on the day they say it will, then booyah for them and I am all for it. A game that says it will be out by the end of the year, and then doesn’t appear for another two years… well that has got to be one hell of a game to get me to buy it at this point. I also don’t like all my games being online, I don’t want to have to interact with others in the majority of my games. One MMO is about all I can handle, really.

So as for a new game… I still don’t know.

The walkthrough

By blog on Apr. 14, 2009.

If you read this regularly, you will know that I have been playing Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the past few days. I have already discovered that this game diverges from regular Harvest Moon games as well as the first Rune Factory. The new art style alone stands out, let alone some of the new groovy game play features and the change in characters.

Something that often happens with these games is you find yourself wondering just how a certain thing can be done, where certain monsters may be acquired, or any other random game thingie. This leads one to consider looking at a walkthrough. I don’t actually like to use these, I mean why play a game if you are just going to be looking it up online all the time to find where to go next!? But Rune Factory is one of those games where you can feel lost or confused at times, or just don’t want to puddle around for the next half an hour looking for something… it can really entice you into using a walkthrough.

In preparing for this entry, I found a walkthrough to link to… I had a look at it for a little bit and I have already found something I hadn’t found before; granted I really should have found this previously. That little bit suckered me in and I also looked at another part of the walkthrough… which is my exact issue with the walkthrough.

I hate having the game spoiled for me, and walkthroughs invariably are full of spoilers; its the nature of the beast. Its sort of like reading an overly complex movie synopsis, it just tells you way too much, and I find that really frustrating. I don’t even read the blurb to books I am reading, I really don’t want to know anything! I want it all to be fresh and surprising! I think that is partly why I am enjoying Rune Factory 2 so much; as with the original, it diverges greatly from Harvest Moon, and Rune Factory 2 didn’t fail to deliver a very new experience either.

So why use a walkthrough and spoil that? Seriously, what is the point to playing fresh, innovative games if you are just going to use a walkthrough to find every Easter Egg, every secret area, every surprise bit of content? I do completely understand using a walkthrough if you are stuck, because that can be seriously angering at times, and turn you off the game, but apart from that, at least play the game all the way through once before seriously consulting a walkthrough. Okay?