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Games that Defined the Generation

March 15, 2013 – 6:36 am

Games that Defined the Generation

Two weeks ago, I asked the Gamevain staff to write up their picks for games of the generation. Per my usual, I gave as little restrictions as possible, because I will publish anything. The result has exceeded my expectations. Mark kicked us off with some amazing titles that will be remembered for years. Anne Marie reminded us that influential can come from the most humble origins, and Austin removed generational barriers to bring us a fantastic lineup that will continue to shape how games are made.

So what does that leave me with?

I’ve been called a video game hipster before, and by looking at my list, I would be hard pressed to argue against that accusation. My own personal tastes in games does tend to fall into the indie territory. Even for my non indie picks, they certainly are not mainstream. I think this has less to do with my love of indie and more for my love of retro games. I enjoy arcade style games that want you to dump more quarters into it because they’re unfair. I adore old style graphics because of the range of emotions that can be expressed with pixels. I especially am fond of demonstrations of putting fun before all other aspects. With those ideals in mind, lets look at my personal picks for the games of the generation.
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Culture Developments Gamevain

5 Games That Made A Difference

March 13, 2013 – 7:37 am

When you take history into account, you’ll see remarkable things that seem to pop out of nowhere or that things happen all of a sudden that will shape how the future generation lives. Those things happen in the video game industry too. Games like Pacman, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and etc. were so big, they were like shouting at the whole world with a blow horn. They made this huge impact to kids everywhere, even making them decide how they see themselves in the future. Well, it’s the 21st century, and boy how things have changed. Sure enough there isn’t just one game that really stood out. For the console generation, there are hundreds and maybe even thousands that could fall under the category of forever imprinting itself in our psyche. With everyone having their own games that changed their lives, I’ll show you 5 games that made a difference to me.

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Culture Editorial Mobile PC

5 Influential Games of the Current Console Era

March 12, 2013 – 10:46 am

Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Mark gave us his look into the biggest titles of the console generation, but it’s also important to remember the other massive evolution in gaming happened on more casual consoles. With that in mind, Anne Marie gives us a look into the forgotten, but no less influential side of gaming. 

There is a fine line in the sand when it comes to casual and hardcore gamers, the definitions of both are almost finite with very few occasions where both can play a game and find great amusement out of it or both sit there and say at the same time this is shit. Usually a game has to be basic enough and take as minimal time as possible for the casual to get hooked, while have complexities and planning to grab the hardcore gamer and leave them highly addicted.

1. Farmville by Zynga

Farmville was an overnight success, not a terrible game, just not a challenging game. Created for Facebook users to have something to do other than stare at their walls for posts, Farmville was highly addicting and a level playing field for gamers of all ages and experiences. It requires you to play with friends, meaning if you need a pail to milk your cow you have to ask for it and someone has to be kind enough to give it to you. You also perfect time management as you prepare to wait how ever long your plants, animals, and trees take to be ready for harvesting. Yes, I know players who have their days literally planned around how long it takes for their roses to bloom, in conjunction to their cows ready for milking, and lets not forget the sheep need shearing. It’s addictingly adorable graphics and it’s user friendly interface allows casual gamers to figure out the game as quickly as the most hardened and advanced hardcore gamer.

2. Angry Birds by Rovio

Phones and tablets everywhere have at least one version or one demo of this game at one point in time. There are several different versions of Angry Birds, they’re rumored to be scheduled for the consoles, and they have a plushy toy line that could make anyone but the Teddy Bear envious. It’s literally a game where you slingshot little birds of varying “powers” at horribly made bases filled with green piggies to retrieve their eggs back. Kiss was used heavily when developing this game! (Kiss= Keep It Simple Stupid!) You can earn stars and bonus points for saving as many of the birds as possible, taking out as many piggies as possible with one bird, and all kinds of craziness.

3. Fruit Ninja!

Fruit Ninja is one of the few games that makes declaring war on delicious and healthy fruits as much fun. On your phone or tablet they shoot fruit and bombs in the air, you must slice across the screen cutting the fruit and missing the bombs. If a fruit does not get sliced you get an x, three x’s and your done. My current score is 354 sliced fruits and yes, I’m quite proud of this. Now, this isn’t a game I’m going to tell you to stop playing Call of Duty for, I’d do that without a replacement game, but it’s definitely fun for when you’re on the road (not driving of course) and need something to do. This is probably one of the most casual games on the list.

4. Words with Friends by Zynga

When we were younger, who didn’t love a game of scrabble? Now the game has gone electronic and the addicting fun of out witting a person with 7 selected letters has returned. So, the real question to the gamers, hardcore and casual alike, what words can you make with Q W R E T Y A? This game is a beloved challenge by all in who is the smartest.

5. Song Pop by Fresh Planet Inc.

What do you get when you mix a challenge and music together? That’s right, SongPop! Challenge not just your friends and family, but people from anywhere to a game of who knows more music than who! Which, while it’s fun to see the various music selections they have (and there is a very long list), the novelty runs thin very quickly because not all the music played is necessarily good music (I hate Glee even more because of this game now). It’s not a terrible game, but it’s very easy to memorize the lists that you receive of songs for each genre and win on pure speed alone. Very much a casual gamer game, definitely not something to keep the attention of a hardcore gamer by any means except the good music and the video game music genre.

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Culture Editorial

Mark’s Take on This Generation’s Top 5 Games

March 11, 2013 – 8:47 am

As the sun sets on this generation, Minecraft takes top honors.

With the dawn of a new generation looming, GameVain writers will take a moment throughout the week to share their thoughts about the games and franchises of this console generation.

Minecraft

This is probably one of the easier ones for me to list, considering everyone who’s played it has walked away somewhere around 9 hours later has realized the ingeniousness of this game.  Minecraft is a game that calls to mind a time when video games were simple and drew you in with your imagination.  The hardest tool that this game makes the player use is their imagination; to escape from or fight undead monsters nonetheless!  You want a venerable fortress to protect yourself and your possessions from hordes of skeletons and zombies?  Build it!  You want to live like a dwarf in a mountain during the day and hunt for creepers at night?  Go ahead!  To be able to do these things in an online community with your friends is the icing on the cake.  The game, being already addicting during the beta, has seen enormous growth since it’s official release, complete with objectives and an end game that is still being expanded upon and updated.  Minecraft is a sandbox game to the truest form of the word, letting players use their imaginations to create their own world that they see fit, and should quite honestly be in the consideration for the top ten games of all time, let alone this generation.

A universe for the saving? Sign me up!

Mass Effect

Science fiction is a genre normally seen as being too convoluted for its own good.  Because it involves heavy doses of a thing called “science” (go figure), writers need to balance crafting a believable story in a world that plays by different rules than what we’re used to.  When its done to great effect, you have franchises like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Halo.  Poor science fiction exists in much greater quantity, and listing it all would take up too many lines for this article (although special consideration has to be given for Anarchy Online, which is somehow still alive, albeit with a very small community).  So when excellent science fiction rears its head, and obtains more than just a cult following, it’s something to be considered. The Mass Effect series has done just that for this generation – bringing in players of all types with a believable, well-crafted universe and a storyline that will have players talking about for years.

Mass Effect started off special because from the very beginning, players were told their decisions in the game would matter, and not just in a karma good/evil sort of way, but individual choices that would impact things from the smallest details to the ending itself.  While some people still cry foul over the ending choices presented to them – get over it, after the endings were patched and updated, they made sense and gave much needed closure – it’s because the players genuinely cared about the universe they participated in for three separate installments.  For a majority, their Commander Shepherd was a personification of themselves.  Their decisions were ones they may have made themselves if given the opportunity.  The crew Shepherd commanded became as known to them as their friends – so much so that players would replay the ending sequence to the second Mass Effect game not because they just wanted to get the perfect ending, but so that their favorite character wouldn’t permanently die.  And that’s not even talking about the gameplay, which was a brilliant combination of RPG and shooter elements that made players enjoy firefights rather than see them as a hindrance to the story.

Hacking and more multiplayer game types are prominent in the Mass Effect series.

The writing for video games has come a long way from the days of the NES, and the Mass Effect series exemplifies this evolution.  The whole “save the universe” plotline suddenly seems like a giant burden when your home and the lives of your teammates are at stake.  Character development goes a long way towards making players want to invest in the story, and just like another game being covered by a member of this staff, Mass Effect does it brilliantly.

Call of Duty takes this generation’s top FPS for its fast-paced 60 fps gameplay and addicting multiplayer.

Call Of Duty

Call of Duty started out as a fresh face in the tired world of WWII shooters at the tail end of the last generation.  It gave players a cinematic action-packed experience that previous shooters were lacking, and when Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare came out, it took action and online multiplayer to a whole new level.  Running at sixty frames per second, Modern Warfare created a new standard for the FPS genre, and has somehow managed to surpass the Halo series the go-to shooter.  Of course, it helps that a new installment comes out every year, but that’s besides the point, and a whole different article.

Packing more scripted action sequences than a Michael Bay film, the Call of Duty series redefined FPS storytelling, and its installments have even made gamers stop and take note of their actions in one memorable sequence involving a Russian airport.  But more importantly than that, the Call of Duty franchise has changed the way online multiplayer is handled with its introduction of leveling and perks – a system designed to keep players coming back for more matches and give them a focus.  While not exactly fulfilling the tactical shooter category, twitch gamers everywhere have found Call of Duty to be this generation’s shooter of choice.

The gang’s all here for some incredible platforming and ass-kicking.

Assassin’s Creed

If Call of Duty redefined first-person shooters, Assassin’s Creed redefined platforming and stealth.  No longer did players have to hide around corners and wait for guards to turn their backs so they could move in for the kill, instead hiding was done in plain sight.  As the Assassin’s Creed series progressed, so too did all of its gameplay elements.  Blending into crowds and pulling off the perfect assassination became just as fun as leaping from rooftop to rooftop and engaging in combat with a legion of guards.  With the release of the third installment, gameplay was taken to an even different level with the wilderness offering new stealth opportunities and combat continuing to evolve.  Hard to forget the storyline either, with every installment providing both questions and answers, and giving quite an interesting take on the Templars, Assassins, and even certain story written about the Book of Genesis.  The Assassin’s Creed series also redefined platforming, as players no longer had to time jumps or watch for flying medusa heads (and if you don’t get the reference, shame on you).  The puzzle wasn’t trying to figure out how you were going to get from point A to point B, because all the player now had to do is push a few buttons and the assassin of choice in the game did all the work for you.  Suddenly, you were flying through the air, burying your hidden blade into the target, running through a crowded market to evade guards, and jumping into a hay pile all within minutes of each other, and with very little thought given to the controls.  Platforming and action will never be the same.

Open world gameplay, character customization, and tons of sidequests provide endless replayability.

The Elder Scrolls

Ten years ago, the JRPGs were the established tried-and-true format for quality RPGs.  Final Fantasy was king of the hill and turn-based combat the accepted norm.  Western RPGs existed for sure, and the Elder Scrolls series had a solid following behind first Arena and then Daggerfall on the PC.  Morrowind, when it was simultaneously released on the Xbox, began to stir the the pot in the RPG market and make gamers aware there was something different than the linear follow-this-path-and-beat-this-boss mentality.  It wasn’t until Oblivion hit though, that Western RPGs became a force to be reckoned with.  Oblivion, and later Skyrim, gave players numerous ways to play the same game, and become the character they created.  A stealthy assassin?  Go join the Dark Brotherhood.  A noble knight?  Follow the main questline or join the Fighters Guild.  Prefer magic and crafting your own spells?  There’s a Mage’s Guild of some kind for that.  Robust stealth elements, combat that isn’t decided on the basis of a dice roll and the latest gear you could obtain from the town were all breaths of fresh air compared to the standard formula that has been used time and time again since the days of the NES.  Skyrim alone continues to be enjoyed by thousands of players across platforms, especially with the release of new content a full year after its release, and as any RPG fan will tell you, it’s for good reason.

This guy was actually one of the easier bosses in the game. Ugly as sin though.

Demon Souls/Dark Souls


I hesitated to use a platform-exclusive for my final game of choice this generation.  Minecraft at least was eventually released on the Xbox 360, and all the others are multiplatform releases.  Demon Souls however is just too good to pass up, if anything because its release and sales figures show there is a need for a game that is – quite essentially – a kick in the ass.

Understand, there are games that are difficult because they are cheap.  Some games are difficult not because it tested player’s skill in finding a boss’ weakness or overcoming a difficult platforming segment, but by making them ungodly at being able to block and dodge a player’s attack, having players take damage when they’re on the ground and unable to move, or ramping up the damage, health, and number of enemies.  Demon Souls is difficult because every death is marked by a mistake the player made.  Every single enemy faced in the game can be overcome with a little planning and even memorization – just like in the old-school days.  Death is to be a frequent and inevitable thing, and failure to learn from your mistakes will cost you precious experience needed to progress.  To help players through all of this, a brand new way of online play was introduced in the form of fellow players who will help you through the level and take on the boss.  You are rewarded with progression, they are rewarded with experience and their body back, which for them can open up different areas.  The catch?  Other players can invade your game and kill you as well, and none of these players can communicate with you aside from gestures.

With publishers trying to bring in more and more “casual” gamers with games tailored to easier gameplay, it’s refreshing to see a series like the Demon Souls series emerge on the market and have a dedicated following.  It harkens back to the retro days where games were meant to be difficult and require patience, practice, and skill.  Not only that, but it provides a unique co-op experience that shows players are just as willing to work together to achieve a goal as opposed to be locked in a constant state of deathmatch.  This is one of only a very few games of this generation that provides the feeling of accomplishment, of seeing a gigantic boss fall at your feet because you found his weakness and had the skill to exploit it.  Beating the games in this series is a reward in itself – it’s no easy feat, and that makes it all the better.

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Culture Developments

Emulation saved my life. A retro collectors tale. Part 1

February 25, 2013 – 3:12 pm

In this 2 part series I will show you guys how I went from reliving my childhood through emulation to reliving my childhood through original hardware.

About 2 years ago I bought a Wii for my kids. I had gotten back into gaming just a few years earlier with the PlayStation. Now as I watched the kids play Mario Kart one day and saw how much fun they where having. I remembered why I loved video games. read more »

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Culture Editorial

The Problem With The Next Generation

February 20, 2013 – 4:41 pm

Game companies prod us forward with the promise there’s something better ahead.

 

This article comes at the heels of today’s big announcement by Sony, which we all know is the unveiling of the PS4.  With the next generation of consoles upon us, maybe taking a step back and looking at things from a different perspective might be in order.

 

Many years ago in 1985 (28 years ago in fact) Nintendo single-handidly saved the day when they arrived on the scene in North America with a little known consumer product called the Nintendo Entertainment System.  The original system released in Japan two years prior was called the Famicon (Family Computer) and finally graced the shores of America.  The “day” in question here being the entire video game industry, which a current generation of kids just takes for granted considering it’s now a multi-million dollar industry.  You see, there was a little something called the Video Game Crash, of which many books are written and I won’t go into here.  Suffice to say, Atari, Intelivision, and many other small publishers and developers were devastated when the market for video games tanked.  Many saw them never coming back – until Nintendo rose up when the dust had settled.

 

My favorite gaming console ever.

 

Through the NES, Nintendo brought us Mario – a platformer with so much gameplay coming out of its ass it made Pitfall look like Pong.  It started a wave of people buying the system and paved the way for many more action, adventure, and roleplaying games.  Zelda was historical when it allowed users to save their data onto the cartridge and resume play, making the development of longer games possible.  Metroid took exploration to a whole other level, and Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, and others proved that games can be difficult.  Very, very difficult.  You even filled the addiction hole with Tetris.  Yes, the NES had it all despite it being only 8 bits in power.  Five years later in Japan, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), doubling the power of the original NES from 8 bits to 16 bits.  Many people fondly remember this era being the golden era of video games, where franchises were started, the graphics were just perfect before the move to 3D was made, and the games had incredibly crafted storylines, musical scores, and imaginative gameplay.  And this didn’t even happen on the SNES, because the Genesis at the time was also vying for number one video game console.

 

More quality from Nintendo.

 

When the move to 3D was made with the 32 bit era between the Playstation first and the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 following it up (yeah yeah Jaguar, 3DO and all that were there, but no one cared then and we still don’t now), it further revolutionized gaming.  The graphics were rough around the edges, especially in the beginning of the generation, but gradually became more refined and even more franchises were started, while others still either adapted and grew exponentially (Final Fantasy and Zelda) or they couldn’t handle the transition right away (Sonic).  Eventually we moved to more and more powerful systems, with later generations changing the way we play games by going online.  No longer did you need friends sitting next to you to enjoy a co-op or competitive game, they could be in a room miles from your house.  And they didn’t even have to be your friends!

 

So what’s the point about this trip down memory lane?  The point is we’re at a crossroads – a situation where graphical power is increasing so much that the evolving graphics are barely detectable to the average user.  We’re in the Uncanny Valley right now, and probably several generations away from crossing it.  Online play, or at least functionality, has become a given in most titles, so what’s left?  Microsoft and Sony are throwing gimmicks at consumers now with the Kinect and Move, as well as touchscreen play.  In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me at all that the PS4 and Xbox 720 makes touchscreen controls and/or motion function a basic for their next systems.  Nintendo was at the forefront of the motion realm with the Wii, and with the touchscreen with the DS.  With Nvidia and Valve joining the console wars in the near future, I imagine the only main thing they’ll have to their name is more power and more online functionality and throw in a gimmick or two.  At this point – at this moment in time – who honestly gives a damn!?

 

My trip down memory lane was intentional.  Nintendo (and Sega) did some amazing things with just a very limited power base to work on.  The storylines were imerssive and gameplay dynamic.  No you couldn’t have a Skyrim on an SNES or a Call of Duty on a Genesis, but the point is console manufacturers have given so much time and energy into trying to create the “next big thing”, they miss what’s right under their noses – better gameplay.  Let’s face it, the gameplay of this generation has seen a steep decline, and that’s in large part to the sheer amount of sequels and me-too games.  This year alone saw only a few really good IPs, and really the only one I can list off the top of my head is Dishonored.  To The Moon, an indie developed game that uses 16-bit graphics, was a huge success on the indie front because it had an amazing story despite the point and click gameplay.  Hell Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead was nothing more than an interactive comic book – a choose your own adventure style game – and yet it won far more awards than the latest Call Of Duty could piss on after a night of beer pong.  Shouldn’t that tell people something?  Shouldn’t that tell megapublishers and developers something?  That needing huge, exorbant budgets and blowing all that cash on fancy graphics and the Philharmonic is kind of a waste if no one even wants to play your game?  Games are slowly falling out of a category I never thought they would – they’re no longer fun.

 

Should we stand for more of the same everytime? No, we do not.

 

Nintendo has gotten a shit-ton of flack over the last several years due to it’s underwhelming consoles.  The Wii?  People were bitching and moaning how it wasn’t as powerful as the PS3 or 360 and focused too much on motion controls.  Part of that statement is true – Nintendo so heavily pushed the motion gimmick that is turned off many developers and led to a huge amount of shovelware.  The same with the Wii U.  No one is buying a Wii U because it can’t play the next generation of games due to a sorely lacking graphical punch.  And yet, I see Nintendo as the only console maker left alive that’s here to try and bring gameplay back into video games.  Think about it, you’re getting the same experience on either the PS3 or 360, and that’s not going to change with the next generation.  Multiplatform games are the norm now, with exclusives locked down to either first-party franchises at most, or just your timed exclusive releases for downloadable content.  Same experience, same big budget games with pretty graphics to be sure, but lacking in the way of substance.

 

The Wii U has great potential.  The touchscreen can definitely be gimmicky like we’ve seen with other DS titles and even Vita software, but it can have great gameplay implications too.  Aside from streamlining gameplay experiences, what would it be like to have a Dungeons and Dragons game, and actual tabletop iteration, where the Dungeon Master uses the gamepad to interact with the players, while the actual players use the Pro controllers to play in a world setup by him?  This device could breath life into competitive and co-op gameplay with a person sitting next to you as opposed to miles away.  The problem with the next generation, is that companies are so focused on making sure you can share your annoying crap with your friends (who don’t give a shit about your driving skills, points scored, or what you think is an awesome kill/death) that they can’t understand why people play video games in the first place – to have fun by themselves or with others.  To experience sweeping stories either by themselves or with others.  To be able to lose yourself in another world…by yourself, or with others.  And to solves puzzles and find secrets again…by yourself, or with others.  I tend to game by myself more often than not, because that’s what I prefer.  I don’t need to be constantly bothered by other players, I just want to have fun.  Too often I feel like Nintendo is the only company left standing that actually understands that.  And for that reason alone, I will always root for Nintendo’s success.

You’re alright in my book Nintendo! We’re still rooting for you.

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Culture Developments

“You did what for your anniversary?”

February 18, 2013 – 5:29 am

Most of us have fond memories of the image above. I remember playing Ms. Pac-man at a Mexican food restaurant that my family used to go to when I was a kid. If it wasn’t the first place I saw it, it was the place I saw it the most. Anyway, this past week my wife and myself celebrated our 14th anniversary. I was trying to think of something unique to do to celebrate. It didn’t take me long to decide. TATTOOS!! Easy right? But of what? And will she be down with that? Fortunately she was willing. I have been wanting to get a gaming inspired tattoo for a while now. My wife isn’t really into games but she loves some Ms. Pac-man. So I thought of this scene from this game. I immediately went to the interwebz to see if this had been done before. After a quick google search I didn’t find any pics of this tattoo, so that made the decision easy. Now to find an artist that would be interested in doing the tattoo. The search didn’t take long. Talked to the artist, Marc Jackson from Tattoo Revolution in Redlands, CA, he said he would be down to do the tattoo and we set up an appointment. Fast-forward to yesterday. We drove to Redlands and got our work done. Here is the finished products.

Me on the left, my wife on the right. I wanted to do it in 8bit style. I thought that it would be diffferent. It turns out this wasn’t Marcs first 8bit tattoo. It was a good experience. I bleed like a son of a bitch. My wife didn’t. Had some laughs with the artists in the shop. All in all a good time.

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Business Culture Editorial Gamevain PC

Top 5 Standards that are Ruining MMOs

January 28, 2013 – 4:56 am

 

As an avid MMO gamer, I have been highly disappointed with each subsequent release of the next “new” MMO. Riding off the wild success of World of Warcraft, each business model is a copy that is trying to take a chunk of their audience. But what it comes down to is this: the only WoW killer is going to be itself. The audience it attracts is not the standard MMO-dedicated crowd; instead, their target audience is a more casual brigade. You see: MMORPGs are in fact a niche genre, similar to Visual Novels and Dating Simulations.

World of Warcraft was the gateway MMO to many gamers, but is a shell of what it was a couple expansions ago. Since then, they’ve opened up to a much wider audience in order to create more revenue and in doing so, they made MMOs highly profitable. The MMO industry thus made a change to adapt to this business model that was highly profitable, leaving behind it’s own niche audience. What’s left of the audience are gamers that migrate from MMO to MMO hoping to get their next fix; however, that will never truly happen until the industry reverts and rids itself of some horrible “standards”. Here are the top 5 standards that are plaguing the genre:

5. Gear

Gear is perhaps a minor flaw compared to the remainder of the list. Gear is the carrot on the stick that keeps most players to renew their subscription monthly. But almost every other month it means absolutely nothing. Every patch notes that I read between the lines, I see:

“Got all the best in slot gear, enchanted and gemmed out? Great! That now means nothing as we introduce new gear to you. To make you feel worse, we’re now handing out participation badges that when collected, will give players who run mindless dungeons the exact same gear you’ve been working on for the last month.”

Gear is frustrating because all it is only a temporary achievement to be outdated. This can most easily be seen when leveling. I new MMOs, you can go through 3-5 gear set upgrades a level, and possibly worst of all: no body recognizes your gear through looks. To compare, Final Fantasy XI a pair of level 7 Leaping Boots could last your Thief 50+ levels; everyone recognized them as you passed; and they could be reused for each of your jobs (classes).

4. Combat

Also titled: “Since when is pushing any button better than making a smart decision?”

This is now the golden standard for all MMOs: push a button – we don’t care which! When I was playing my mage in WoW, it was better to spam spells rather than wait for a proc, even if it meant missing a proc. Why do we let this even be an option? I would much rather prefer making no action at all for 3-5 seconds if it meant I would wait for an attack of opportunity to deal massive damage. I’d like for creatures to have weaknesses again so that someone who spams a single spell all the time may not be choosing the correct one for the right situation. And where has teamwork gone? Why can’t we synergize our attacks to have a greater outcome? Can’t positioning have an impact on fighting creatures, such as flanking? I feel this is all apart of my #1 point so read on.

3. Questing

To sum up the biggest problem with questing I shall quote Tom: “Questing is a means to grind, rather than grinding is a means of questing.” I don’t care for killing X monster, gathering Y items, or completing Z objectives. And to have quest after quest with a mapfinder that tells me where to go, what to kill and how many is just boring. Questing is no longer fun because it’s a grind shared from level 1 until end game. In old MMOs, you used to grind so you could accept the awesome quest. And you were damn excited when you could finally unlock it. And the reward was pretty awesome, ranging from a scroll that taught you a new ability to special gear that filled out your character. Doing these quest were not always easy as well and required time, planning, and effort. The quests were more like epics rather than chores, again building off my #1 point.

2. Content Finder

Probably the most controversial point on my list, content finder is both a blessing and a curse. Gone are the days when you’d gather a group of friends, walk to your location of choice and complete whatever you were trying to accomplish. Nowadays, you click a button and you are automatically grouped with players that aren’t even necessarily on your server.

So why is this on the list? It destroyed the community. Anything you need want to accomplish can be done in a lunch break. And the people you’re supposed to trust and forge bonds with are also people you’ll never see again. In my opinion, this also caused people to become downright mean. Whether it was ninja looting or just being plain nasty, what’s the big deal since you’ll never see this person again? This mindset has slowly infected the community to the point where most casual players choose not to interact with others.

1. Independence

Which brings me to my final point: every one of these topics on my list can be completed with total independence. Sure you work with others in content finder; however, you need not have to speak to anyone if you choose not to. Questing and leveling can be done completely and highly effectively alone. Group quests can be disregarded as they are completely unnecessary and offer only slightly upgraded rewards. What you do in combat has no effect on the performance of other players combat choice. Even in raid fights, if you do what your one role is supposed to undertake, you’re doing your “job”. Finally, with the participation badges and content finder, you can feel free to gear out your character well enough to feel achievement and to be comparable to raiding guilds, with out making 1 friend.

The Last of the Golden MMO Age

My solution to all this is simple but inconvenient. Destroy these changes and force upon the player to interact with the community. Make a way that players who wish for independence to have it, but at the price of time and effort. A great community is what the niche MMO audience seeks, where we can interact with others and depend on our friends. Henceforth, I am stripping all current MMOs of their MM status and making them just ORPGs.

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Culture Editorial Gamevain

And so the Great Debate Continues…

January 25, 2013 – 7:53 am

Also titled: “I blindly refuse your reality and insert my own.”

Seeing as we’ve covered multiple viewpoints in relation to the recent mass homicides, I would like to interject some my own personal beliefs. The hot topics in the media are that of video games causing violence and the peculiarity that controlling the type of firearm and the amount of ammunition will save lives. First and foremost, our public opinion is most definately being controlled by the media. The very fact that I am writing this article is proof of that.

There are multiple different outcomes, solutions and theories pertaining to the shootings; however, the media does not release data stating, “this is how some people interpret it and this is how others interpret it”. The correct answer is that we don’t know what is correct: there are multiple possiblities and we must withhold judgement. But that’s not how people think; instead people have an intolerance to ambiguity. We need to look at all possibilities and not discredit a theory until we can definitely prove it otherwise, and the fact that it’s a debate shows there is evidence supporting all sides.

When it comes to video games there are basically two sides. On one hand society wants to pin this on video games, whereas gamers are so adamant in defending their hobby and making claims that can be considered outrageous. Both sides do have one thing in common: they cannot predict violent behavior on the scale of mass shootings. In other words, neither side really knows what causes violent behavior. We cannot rule out that which we do no know.

What I’m asking is this: for everyone to step back and remove our own bias towards video games. What method of scrutiny have we placed out statements under? Why are we not humble and skeptical of our own claims, only those made against us?

We need to scientifically test our theories and see what holds true. And then test it again under different conditions until we come across a truth that holds and becomes predictable. I hope we can all come to terms with whichever truth emerges.

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.” – Carl Sagan, a man who influenced my thinking from the age of two.

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Culture Editorial

The Game’s Industry Created Its Own Violent Image

January 23, 2013 – 6:46 pm

This is literally the least mature thing I have ever seen.


The other day, game industry leaders met with NRA lobbyists and Vice President Joe Biden. The goal was to sort out the role, if any, the game’s industry had to play in the shootings. Most people reading this will probably sneer instant contempt for any connection of violence to video games, and rightfully so. This is our hobby and just like the NRA, we will don our knight’s armor and swords to defend it! Truth be told, I wouldn’t put much stock in our knight’s armor against the NRA’s guns, but I’m tangenting. I ask you; however, to take a different perspective of an outsider. Do games deserve the blame? Absolutely not, but looking at the shelves at your local Gamestop, you might notice games are not doing anything to help their cause, and I think the ease of throwing games under the bus might be a monster of our own creation.
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Culture Developments PS3 Xbox 360

Most Anticipated Games Of 2013

January 18, 2013 – 6:19 am

Last year saw the releases of games such as The Walking Dead: The Game(later would be announced as 2012′s game of the year), Max Payne 3, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. These are only the tip of the iceberg on what seems like a vast amount of game releases. Clearly game developers would want to up the ante on the games they plan on releasing the next year. Fans are clammoring over the titles I’m about to show you, provided you too are excited about these. One was, for some reason, been delayed its timely realease and is postponed to the end of 2013. Anyway, with the break GameVain had, let’s start off this year with some previews that’ll really make your mouth water.

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3DS/DS Culture Editorial PC PS3 PSP/PSVITA Wii/Wii U Xbox 360

In Response

January 13, 2013 – 11:40 am

My body count lay in the hundreds of thousands.  I had freed nations from dictators, slew zombies with impunity, destroyed criminal empires and even started a few of my own, and executed kills which would take off a person’s head and eviscerate their internal organs.  I had my face spattered with my blood and the blood of those standing in my way.  But this woman was different.  I had never seen anything quite like this old woman lying in front of me.  She was alone, save for me and another person.  She was also dying.  I watched as her face slowly turned blue, and then purple, as oxygen no longer flowed toward her brain and skin – hypoxia at its worst.  I saw how her heart grew weaker with each passing second; the delay between beats grew until finally it stopped beating completely.  I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.  This woman’s eyes were looking at me, but staring beyond me at nothing at all, glazed over and partially reflecting my pale face.

 

Flash forward four years later.  I still remember that woman’s face and how she looked.  I justified it in my mind that she was old and her time was up.  I moved past her and continued on my way.  Then I was confronted with another woman, except this one was young and very attractive.  She was also dead, even though I had tried to save this one.  She shouldn’t have died, and was only a few years older than me.  Her hair was red, unlike the grayish white of the other woman.  A petite young woman, she looked like she took very good care of herself, and certainly had no life-altering bad habits.  Her face too was purple, her eyes glazed over in a death trance.  Her wallet was sitting on the table near me, and I reached out for it, opening it up to her driver’s license.  I had wanted to know this young woman’s name.  In her picture, she was smiling, so full of life, looking forward to plans later in the day that picture was taken, headed to work soon after or school, or maybe just happy to get one errand done in the day and move onto the next.  It was also taken a little over a year earlier.  Her family ended up arriving, and I had to leave; their faces so full of pain and sadness it mirrored my own.  I really did try to save her too, but I didn’t know how I could say that while my mouth was so dry.  It was made worse that she was engaged, her ring lying on the table next to her purse.  It turns out her fiancé was serving over in Iraq – a country in a region I had seen many times, but from a different perspective; through a television and with a controller in my hands.  I walked away and started to cry a little, sad at the news her fiancé would receive, and sad that a young, pretty girl like that is now dead for no good reason.

 

My name is Mark, and these are the two faces that will haunt me for the rest of my life.  These are the faces of people who died in real life, and what death really looks like.  There is no dramatic final scene, no thumping orchestral music, and no experience gained unless you want to count the kind that comes from living day-to-day.  I have been playing video games since I was five years old, way back on the NES.  Violent video games were always a part of my life, and I never blinked an eye when I was told to kill.  So it should be expected that when faced with death, it’s no big deal.  After all, I had seen countless deaths, both graphic and subtle, in video games right?  Wrong.  I was 21 years old when I saw someone actually die – her heart slowly stopping as the doctor decided enough was enough – and it was in that ER when I was a volunteer.  A little over a year ago, four years after I saw that and now working in the ER, I saw that young woman come in already mostly dead from a massive asthma attack.  The argument, that violent video games desensitize children to violence and death is complete and utter bullshit, and I am walking proof of it.

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