Sunday, March 28, 2004
Back for the Attack
So I haven't posted in a while. I had a personal tragedy last week and I haven't really been in the mood. I had some closure the other day though, so I guess I'm back on the G-Pinions radar. Anyhow, outside of a little cheap game scheme (more on that later, maybe), I've been doing minimal gaming for the last week or so. I did pick back up Beyond Good & Evil with the intention of finally finishing it. It really is a fascinating, fantastically original game, and I have every intention of making good on my...intention. And then loan it to Tom so I can start on Ratchet & Clank 2, Disgaea, and Metal Arms. And about ten other games. Anyhow, pretty much every action in BG&E is context-sensitive, so it ends up feeling as though you always have the power to easily do whatever you want to do, even if it's seemingly complex. And the story is actually really involving. I give a damn about the fates of all the characters, which usually doesn't happen outside of Final Fantasy. Stupid UbiSoft for releasing BG&E and PoP on the same day. Way to curse your two best games ever to the realm of mediocre sales.
Despite my non-gaming of late, I have been reading a lot about games, especially all the coverage from GDC 2004. It seems like the biggest news from it was all the PSP info and the various speeches by Sony and Microsoft outlining their future plans and ideas. I hate to say it, but besides the confirmation of Wind Waker 2 I didn't read a single interesting thing from the Nintendo camp. Oh, besides this sexy little tidbit. Hopefully they'll be dropping some bigger bombs at E3.
Microsoft seems to have some strong software coming out this year, especially with all the new Fable info, a new Oddworld game, and the usuals (Halo 2, Half Life 2, etc.). Their hardware and business plans sound interesting, but I'm still undecided if it's a good interesting. It seems to focus a lot on their new "XNA" plans, which, from what I gather, has a lot to do with X-Box/PC integration, which goes hand-in-hand with a standardization of development. Oh, and they showed some really nice tech demos for, apparently, future dev kits. While I applaud the whole standardization theory, I'm not sure what will come out of it. It's noble to want to help out developers and all that, but the potential for muddying up the market is definitely there, as is the leaving behind of smaller developers. In an IGN interview (linked above), J. Allard of Microsoft mentions how the first PS2 programmers had to kind of restart their learning having gone from 95% hardware utilization of the PS1 at that point, and that they're trying to avoid that with the "XNA" outlook. It's a point that's well-taken, but sometimes it's good to have to learn on new hardware, even if the initial output is only 40% utilization. If the same basic dev kits end up being used for X-Box2 that were used for X-Box at that point, the games are going to have the same basic framework to start out the next generation, even with all the extra tools and bells and whistles and power. And I don't want that. Sometimes forcing experimental thinking can produce great results, as has been demonstrated before many times in the industry. I just think that with XNA, the potential for that is lessened. And as far as the PC integration? Meh. We console gamers play console games for a wide variety of reasons, and I think things should stay that way. I hate the idea of everything being linked up like Microsoft is envisioning it. If you want to release every X-Box game on PC as well, fine. Just keep your computer away from my damn console (yes, I've been considering buying an X-Box). I have to admit though, one brilliantly cool idea did come out of this concept - "One thing people have talked to us about, and I think it's great, is the notion of having the Xbox and PC play together and play to their strengths. Imagine the RTS game on the PC where you're the general and you're deploying troops and managing resources. The guys on the console are the troops, playing a real-time action/adventure game. They're going out and beating each other with clubs or storming the castle." - J. Allard, interviewed by IGN.com
On the Sony side of things, the focus all seemed to be on the PSP. And apparently rightly so. This little beast kicks ass. The first title was officially announced and shown, and it looks stunning, as do the tech demos that were shown. It actually will end up surpassing the PS2 in many cases in terms of power, which is really exciting. I was expecting to see something closer to PS1, but it's far, far better than that. They also confirmed that, despite many recent reports to the contrary, it will have a wireless connection. I just hope the price isn't rediculous.
Psi-Ops is getting a good amount of attention too, which pleases me. Oh, and Sudeki looks lame. I can't stand mediocre art design. That's like, half of a game for me. If I don't like how my character looks, my interest won't be held much beyond the first hour, guaranteed. That's my only problem with how Ninja Gaiden looks. He just looks like a very typical...ninja. Maybe if Hotsuma from Shinobi was in Gaiden, then you'd have the perfect-looking game.
So, nothing mindblowing from the conference I suppose, but plenty of interesting articles and talks and even more games to look forward to.
Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, I've been doing a little game scheming recently. I originally read the deal on CheapAssGamer, the source of all my schemes and scams. Well, mostly schemes (I think the difference is that a scam is illegal). So, here's how it works. I go to Blockbuster, where they're having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on used games. I buy three copies of Max Payne 2, for about $43 after tax. I then drive over to Gamecrazy (Hollywood Video's game sector), and trade them in for $25 a piece. Actually, $27.50 since I'm an MVP member. So, it turns into $82.50 in credit. I've now done this with 15 copies of the game (there are still plenty more left at BB), for a little under $400 in credit. I'm strongly considering taking the path of evil and buying a used X-Box, mostly because there are several games coming out for it that I would like to be able to play. I'm also considering a GBA SP, but I figure I should wait for the PSP or the DS. At the very least, I'm definitely preordering GTA:San Andreas. Oh, and if I buy and X-Box I'll probably buy Pelican's godly switch box, what with all the ethernet swtiching. Good scheme though, eh?
Lastly, I played a 13-inning game of RBI Baseball today with my pal Jacob. It was quite the thriller. Definitely in the top 25 gaming experiences of my life.
Despite my non-gaming of late, I have been reading a lot about games, especially all the coverage from GDC 2004. It seems like the biggest news from it was all the PSP info and the various speeches by Sony and Microsoft outlining their future plans and ideas. I hate to say it, but besides the confirmation of Wind Waker 2 I didn't read a single interesting thing from the Nintendo camp. Oh, besides this sexy little tidbit. Hopefully they'll be dropping some bigger bombs at E3.
Microsoft seems to have some strong software coming out this year, especially with all the new Fable info, a new Oddworld game, and the usuals (Halo 2, Half Life 2, etc.). Their hardware and business plans sound interesting, but I'm still undecided if it's a good interesting. It seems to focus a lot on their new "XNA" plans, which, from what I gather, has a lot to do with X-Box/PC integration, which goes hand-in-hand with a standardization of development. Oh, and they showed some really nice tech demos for, apparently, future dev kits. While I applaud the whole standardization theory, I'm not sure what will come out of it. It's noble to want to help out developers and all that, but the potential for muddying up the market is definitely there, as is the leaving behind of smaller developers. In an IGN interview (linked above), J. Allard of Microsoft mentions how the first PS2 programmers had to kind of restart their learning having gone from 95% hardware utilization of the PS1 at that point, and that they're trying to avoid that with the "XNA" outlook. It's a point that's well-taken, but sometimes it's good to have to learn on new hardware, even if the initial output is only 40% utilization. If the same basic dev kits end up being used for X-Box2 that were used for X-Box at that point, the games are going to have the same basic framework to start out the next generation, even with all the extra tools and bells and whistles and power. And I don't want that. Sometimes forcing experimental thinking can produce great results, as has been demonstrated before many times in the industry. I just think that with XNA, the potential for that is lessened. And as far as the PC integration? Meh. We console gamers play console games for a wide variety of reasons, and I think things should stay that way. I hate the idea of everything being linked up like Microsoft is envisioning it. If you want to release every X-Box game on PC as well, fine. Just keep your computer away from my damn console (yes, I've been considering buying an X-Box). I have to admit though, one brilliantly cool idea did come out of this concept - "One thing people have talked to us about, and I think it's great, is the notion of having the Xbox and PC play together and play to their strengths. Imagine the RTS game on the PC where you're the general and you're deploying troops and managing resources. The guys on the console are the troops, playing a real-time action/adventure game. They're going out and beating each other with clubs or storming the castle." - J. Allard, interviewed by IGN.com
On the Sony side of things, the focus all seemed to be on the PSP. And apparently rightly so. This little beast kicks ass. The first title was officially announced and shown, and it looks stunning, as do the tech demos that were shown. It actually will end up surpassing the PS2 in many cases in terms of power, which is really exciting. I was expecting to see something closer to PS1, but it's far, far better than that. They also confirmed that, despite many recent reports to the contrary, it will have a wireless connection. I just hope the price isn't rediculous.
Psi-Ops is getting a good amount of attention too, which pleases me. Oh, and Sudeki looks lame. I can't stand mediocre art design. That's like, half of a game for me. If I don't like how my character looks, my interest won't be held much beyond the first hour, guaranteed. That's my only problem with how Ninja Gaiden looks. He just looks like a very typical...ninja. Maybe if Hotsuma from Shinobi was in Gaiden, then you'd have the perfect-looking game.
So, nothing mindblowing from the conference I suppose, but plenty of interesting articles and talks and even more games to look forward to.
Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, I've been doing a little game scheming recently. I originally read the deal on CheapAssGamer, the source of all my schemes and scams. Well, mostly schemes (I think the difference is that a scam is illegal). So, here's how it works. I go to Blockbuster, where they're having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on used games. I buy three copies of Max Payne 2, for about $43 after tax. I then drive over to Gamecrazy (Hollywood Video's game sector), and trade them in for $25 a piece. Actually, $27.50 since I'm an MVP member. So, it turns into $82.50 in credit. I've now done this with 15 copies of the game (there are still plenty more left at BB), for a little under $400 in credit. I'm strongly considering taking the path of evil and buying a used X-Box, mostly because there are several games coming out for it that I would like to be able to play. I'm also considering a GBA SP, but I figure I should wait for the PSP or the DS. At the very least, I'm definitely preordering GTA:San Andreas. Oh, and if I buy and X-Box I'll probably buy Pelican's godly switch box, what with all the ethernet swtiching. Good scheme though, eh?
Lastly, I played a 13-inning game of RBI Baseball today with my pal Jacob. It was quite the thriller. Definitely in the top 25 gaming experiences of my life.
// posted by Nick @ 4:28 PM 
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