Day 17: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: Part 2

Yesterday I talked about the bad publishers so today I'll talk about the good one. Business-wise, these are some of Buddy Christ's personal favorites.

ZeniMax:

ZeniMax is fairly modest compared to its competitors. It was founded in 1999 as a publishing vehicle for Bethesda Softworks, famous for the Elder Scrolls series. Since then ZeniMax bought the ailing Fallout franchise in 2004 and then id Software in 2009. Last year they acquired a few more, lower profile independent developers as well.That's pretty much all the expanding they've done so far. So why are they so great? They don't release games very often but the ones they release are usually phenomenal. The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and recently WET, Brink and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. While some of those titles are less than stellar the core of ZeniMax is rarely matched. ZeniMax is in the business of making great games rather than making good ones. They're not following all the latest trends that are generating more profit while short changing customers. Nowadays, publishers often release DLC for games on Day One, which of course means it's either cheap or forcibly cut from the original game. Bethesda released Fallout 3 and then released five expansions over the next year that blew everyone else out of the water. They did DLC the way it was meant to be done and still no one has the guts to do it quite like them. With a new Elder Scrolls game, Rage from id and whatever else they have cooking up after that ZeniMax is hard to ignore and they're only going to get better and more powerful as they expand.

Take-Two:

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a fairly young publisher as well, founded in 1993, but with a gigantic portfolio. I'd say for every game you look to buy there's a good 1:3 chance that it's a Take-Two game not including Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft's published games. Take-Two is similar to ZeniMax in that they release incredible games that push the medium to new limits. However, Take-Two is no stranger to releasing its share of cash in titles. Mostly, Take-Two is on the list because they produce some of the most significant franchises in the industry today: BioShock, Borderlands (and all of Gearbox's products), Grand Theft Auto (and all of Rockstar's products including LA Noire and Red Dead Redemption). They also have a slew of sports titles which are the only significant competition to EA's line of sports titles. I don't know the numbers but I'd wager they're a lot less successful and for the most part are being abandoned because of it. Sad news here is that Take-Two is constantly surrounded by buyout and merger rumors in recent years. They could have taken the route say Activision would have in this case and release a new Grand Theft Auto and BioShock game every year...but they don't. They exercise restraint and that's why I'm cheering for them to remain independent of the evil publishers trying to buy them out.

Valve:

Valve was formed in 1996 by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. They were high level Microsoft employees when Windows was exploding in popularity. They made enough dinero to retire right then and there but they had a stupid idea. What if we took all our money and tried to build a kick ass video game instead? So they did. They founded Valve, hired a bunch of people and built Half-Life, unanimously considered one of the greatest shooters if not greatest games of all time. Then they started working on mods for the Half-Life engine including Team Fortress and Counter-Strike. They built their own software engine, Source, and made a sequel, Half-Life 2. Valve also built their own software client, Steam, that let them patch games and host online multiplayer servers in real time. By this point Valve had grown strong enough to publish their own games. The Steam client turned into a store which started as a stage for Valve to sell their games digitally but blossomed into a full fledged store full of games from many publishers. Steam has been around longer than Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Network Store and is essentially the blueprint for both.

But what does Valve do for me? Since Valve publishes PC games digitally they would offer ridiculously low prices from time to time...now they do it every single day and even more during holidays and special occasions. Valve supports their games with patches and DLC packages just like everyone else does nowadays...but Valve does it for free. Valve has their Source SDK available for anyone to use for free. Thanks to Garry's Mod, an interface mod for the SDK, an entire genre of YouTube media has been created. Valve makes comics and movies to promote and expand their franchises with and again it's all free. Probably the best of all though is Valve has found a method of DRM that placates PC developers' fears of piracy while still being infinitely more flexible and customer friendly than anything else on the market. DRM used to be a necessary evil but now it's anything but evil. Valve doesn't release games very often because they keep busy with managing Steam, adding free content and patches to their games and experimenting with new technology. However, whenever they do release a game it's usually flawless. While most publishers want to build a customer base Valve wants to build a community trust and expect them to keep Valve afloat. They're like an indie rock band who works hard, plays for beer and gives away their albums at shows. Except it worked, that indie rock band now controls the majority of the PC gaming market and they're still expanding rapidly. Before Valve was just awesome, now they're awesome and dangerous because no one is in the position to compete with them, feature for feature, and remain profitable.

Day 16: The Good, Bad & the Ugly: Part 1

Sorry about missing a post yesterday. I didn't get to write up anything yesterday because I was preoccupied. Yes, that's a set of alien wall boobs.

Alright so, I wanted to do a post about good, bad and ugly video game publishers in my opinion. I started writing it and realized it was going to be much longer than I'd anticipated so I'll just post one part at a time. I'll probably revisit the concept from time to time because business constantly changes and a good publisher today may be an evil one next year. I'm gonna start out with the bad publishers today.

Activision:

Infinity Ward aside Activision is still the worst of the worst. Activision is thriving off a very short list of franchises that annually see full priced revisions. Call of Duty is getting stale fast and Activision practically single handedly built and destroyed a genre of games in a matter of a few years. They bought Red Octane and the Guitar Hero franchise but discarded Harmonix. They released dozens of different Guitar Hero games over the course of 3 years and most of them were shit and the rest were mediocre. Harmonix were doing Rock Band the way it should have been done and Activision just gave the genre a bad rap. Maybe if it weren’t for that Rock Band would still be thriving today. 

But hey, that’s just a personal beef, here’s something evil that’s universally appalling. Activision shut down no less than six different studios and everyone were laid off in the last year alone. Included in that list is Red Octane and Bizarre Creations. Red Octane was building fantastic, affordable DanceDanceRevolution pads before publishing Guitar Hero 1 and 2 along with producing the controllers for it in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Red Octane were bought by Activision and worked on hardware for new Guitar Hero games until Activision’s profits started slipping. Instead of re-evaluating their approach, Activision fired most of Red Octane and just canned the Guitar Hero franchise. Plus I think Neversoft, who developed all the major Guitar Hero games for Activision, (GH3, GH World Tour, GH5, GH Warriors of Rock and GH Metallica) were fired too. 

Anyways, Bizarre Creations made the Geometry Wars series which were pretty good as well as the Project Gotham Racing series for Xbox. Activision bought Bizarre in 2007 and since then the only major game they made was Blur in 2010, besides Geometry Wars expansions and ports. It didn't do so well because it faced stiff competition from ModNation Racers and Split/Second, two other arcade racing titles which frankly were marketed better. So what happened next? All of them fired. 

Now, the Infinity Ward situation is too inconclusive to make an informed decision about but even without that situation Activision is a cruel, evil publisher. That’s why you top the list.

EA: 

For everything good that EA does they do something horrible. The EA partners program is a great deal for everyone involved. A high profile developer gets distribution and maybe some marketing assistance and EA gets a cut and their production profile looks sweeter. In most of those cases those games get a pass and aren’t corrupted. 

EA’s games, though, are loaded with stipulations. For a while every EA PC game had secuROM DRM which limits the amount of times you can install a game and effectively turns a purchase into a rental depending on when EA’s servers expire or your configurations/formats wipe out your uses. This included some of EA’s biggest titles too such as Crysis, Spore and Mass Effect, the former two unavailable anywhere else and the latter previously only available on Xbox 360. Well, the DRM seems to be gone from PC games but replaced with something even worse that affects every SKU. 

PC gamers, if you use Steam or an equivalent service, are used to having to sign into some online account or client to play your games, console gamers aren’t. Now every EA game has an ‘online pass’ which is a one use code that effectively locks a portion of the game away. Every new copy of a game includes a pass code for the use of one account. Basically, if you don’t have that code you can’t play multiplayer or in single player games EA generally withholds expansions. If you bought the game used you need to cough up $10 to buy a pass. Seriously, that’s fucked up and now other publishers are starting to bandwagon on that idea and it’s only going to get more disastrous as time goes on. 

Then there’s Origin, EA’s new online service competing with Steam. It’s now required for every EA PC game and has a scary TOS. Supposedly if you buy a game it’ll expire after a year or something. If that’s true then that’s incredibly fucked up. Let Origin sit for a year or so and see if it even still exists before buying anything off of it otherwise you’ll be throwing money away on irredeemable garbage. 

If all that wasn’t bad enough EA has this habit of producing terrible marketing campaigns that are tasteless and just stupid. Look at Dead Space 2 and Dante’s Inferno ad campaigns if you’re not convinced. In addition EA has been pumping out an orgy of media collectibles for every damn franchise they publish nowadays. Every game launch isn’t complete, and you won’t get the complete experience, without about a hundred books, comics, animated movies, and downloadable expansions. Make a good god damn game, stop making all this extraneous bullshit, and for god sakes stop trying to combat the used game market by gimping your product! EA is a company that doesn’t learn from its mistakes nor does it think rationally before acting. But…at least they’re not firing as many people as Activision or running franchises into the ground with over saturated, undercooked releases…well, at least not yet but they look as if they may be soon, Dragon Age 2 is evidence of that.

Ubisoft: 

Compared to EA and Activision, Ubisoft is a saint but they still piss me off. Right now Ubisoft is the most hated publisher in the PC market. Every release is several months behind console releases and has usurped EA in the DRM department actually requiring online connection for single player games at one point but reportedly it was phased out awhile back in lieu of a one-time online check like disk check. It's a slippery slope premise but lets just not buy it and hope it disappears.

What really pisses me off though is how Ubisoft is milking games like Assassin’s Creed for all their worth. Assassin’s Creed 1 had a lot of potential. The second turned most of that potential into reality and given time it could be the next Legend of Zelda but the series is being milked just like Activision did Guitar Hero or how EA does the Dead Space franchise by churning out at least one new game a year along with books and collectibles galore. 

The game needs time to develop and thrive rather than build and release games that are intended to be incomplete. Assassin’s Creed 2 was fun but narratively it was deliberately incomplete and apparently there’s no less than two other games worth of narrative they yanked out. If it was a serialized series like Call of Duty then it wouldn’t be such a big deal but come on…you have a chance to turn it around, build something else and maybe create a portfolio that rivals EA and Activision without having to churn out new Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance and Tom Clancy games every single year. You’re becoming the European version of Activion only less profitable…it’s not too late to turn back. That Rayman Origins game is a good start, don’t fuck it up.

That's it for now. I'll bring you the second part tomorrow. Oh...and by the way...

I couldn't resist...Duke Nukem Forever review this weekend...probably.

Day 15: Video Games = Free Speech

That pretty much sums it up. Here's a bit of history on this decision for those who don't know. I'll just post some of the highlights.

• October 7, 2005: Schwarzenegger signed a bill restricting the sale or rental of 'certain' video games to anyone under the age of 18. The computer and video games are classified as "violent video games" and restricted if the depictions of violence are "offensive to the community" or if the violence depicted is committed in an "especially heinous, cruel, or depraved" manner.  Under the law, game manufacturers and distributors would be required to label games with 2" x 2" stickers displaying the numeral "18" on their front covers. Basically this meant that whatever games the government deemed 'violent', a completely subjective argument, would have to bear a sticker like music CDs and carry criminal disciplinary action for anyone selling to minors. What this inadvertently means is these games would carry a bad stigma. Any retailer fearing consequences of a wrongful sale could just refuse to sell these games to begin with and the industry becomes effectively censored by the bill.
• October 17, 2005: The Video Software Dealers Association (now known as the Entertainment Merchants Association) challenged the law.
• December 21, 2005: A preliminary injunction is granted barring enforcement of the law. The judge found that the law likely violates the First Amendment.
• August 6, 2007: A permanent injunction is granted. The court ruled that the law violated the First Amendment. The defendants argued that video games are different than other media and needs to be restricted for the sake minors. The court wasn't impressed with the evidence, or lack thereof.
• February 20, 2009: After the state appealed the granting of a permanent injunction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on September 5, 2007, the Ninth Circuit ruled the law unconstitutional.
• May 20, 2009: Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown appeal to the Supreme Court concerning the Ninth Circuit's ruling.
• April 26, 2010: The Supreme Court accepts the case of Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

Since then the case had been ongoing. The primary argument centered around whether or not the First Amendment protects video games or not. The California bill supporters argued for the burden of rating and categorizing games be taken on by the government. Then, the games deemed unsuitable would be separated from the others and sale to minors would be prohibited by law. The EMA thought this was a stupid waste of tax payer money and time when the ESRB, a private non-profit organization, already does this service. The Supreme Court couldn't determine what exactly constitutes a 'violent video game' based on the defendants' vague, subjective qualifications. And finally today, the moment of truth when the case is finally put to bed. Video games must be granted the same government protections that books, movies and music have been granted. This won't be the be all end all. As long as people like Jack Thompson are around, and there's a lot of them, there'll always be people trying to control what they don't understand. It happened to comic books, it happened to music, and it's happening to video games. This is the first big step so rejoice!

Mirror's Edge: Min Wage Review

Mirror’s Edge’s best quality is its ambition. Its worst quality is not being ambitious enough.

DICE is one of the most impressive developers around so it’s no surprise that they’d be bringing something huge to the table. Up until then DICE was, and still is, known for the Battlefield series which is the most successful antithesis to Call of Duty. What I’m saying is that DICE isn’t known for building single player experiences that isn’t a series of training courses for a multiplayer game.

Mirror’s Edge takes a lot of risks but not nearly enough. The game focuses on parkour as a means of navigating an urban environment mostly consisting of rooftops, underground tunnels and office buildings. The game is a lot like Portal and with any luck a honed sequel to Mirror’s Edge can into as satisfying an experience as Portal 2 became. The interior levels are reminiscent of Portal or even Half-Life 2’s stylized, lab rat in a dark, lonely world with a pristine façade deteriorating the further you venture. The game is played in first person perspective but you rarely use guns at all and are never required to use them at all. The protagonist is a female without over sexualized composition or a generic personality. She, Faith, is a perfect complement to strong, independent female characters like Samus Aran , Alyx Vance and Elena Fisher. The game, like Portal, is more of a puzzle/platformer than a straight action title where figuring out how to escape a room and pushing forward is half the fun.

Unfortunately, like Portal, Mirror’s Edge feels more like a concept than a finished product. However, unlike Portal, this feeling comes from the game’s shortcomings in length, design and price. Portal was a polished concept, a sophisticated demo that was priced at $20 or available in a bundle with TF2, also $20, and the entire Half-Life 2 saga up to that point for $50. Portal was a hell of a game for its price. Mirror’s Edge is a $60 game and lasts maybe two or three times as long as Portal. It also comes with a lot of problems making the game sometimes fun rather than always fun. It can’t fall back on bundled titles if it fails to deliver either. Let’s get into the meat of the issues.

The combat sucks. Fairly often you’ll be confronted with a room full of soldiers with guns which will probably kill you in one or two shots. You have to defend yourself with your wits, speed and a couple of melee strikes. It’s practically impossible to deal with enemies unless you can get them isolated and even then making one wrong move ends in your death. Batman: Arkham Asylum is miles ahead of Mirror’s Edge in terms of combat being fun, fluid and practical, and Arkham Asylum’s combat wasn’t even that creative or even that good. That’s how bad Mirror’s Edge’s combat is and there happens to be a lot of it in the game. Overhaul it or get rid of it entirely. Another issue is the perspective. First person is great for some games but Mirror’s Edge is mostly a platformer. Generally first person perspective doesn’t work with platforming and this game doesn’t make a strong counterargument. Now, in most cases it’s quite exhilarating but more often than not the slightest mistimed jump will kill you. It doesn’t have to be a total change, keep the first person but add the third person to a button like Fallout 3 does for instance.

The levels occasionally present you with a variety of options but 90% of the time you’re going to be traveling down a very linear path the entire game. Portal was linear and I won’t argue against it but more choices would be a boost to Mirror’s Edge overall feel. There’s also not a lot to do while going down these linear paths. They put packages in the game but they have no use whatsoever besides being worthless collectibles. I’d prefer if the game didn’t turn into a full open world experience but the illusion of an open world game with a lot of pre-made missions and courses aside from the main story would work well here.

Finally, the storyline is terrible. Instead of animating cut-scenes using the fantastic engine Mirror’s Edge runs on they decided to use cinematic animations reminiscent of graphic novels. I could forgive that design choice and call it a missed opportunity to make great scenes even better if the scenes had anything to say at all. I won’t spoil the story but it’s aimless and forgettable. Instead of playing up the mysterious world the story is like a rejected Law and Order script or something along those lines. A lot of the characters are great but none of them have anything to say or do worthy of their badassery (it’s a word) and only Faith gets significant fleshing out. Plus, by the time the story ends nothing has been resolved and the situation is exactly the same as from the beginning except a lot more people are dead. Seriously, contract someone from Valve, Bioware or Naughty Dog because DICE isn’t coming up with a decent storyline anytime soon on their own. I played Bad Company 2, I know what I’m talking about.

So let’s recap. The game is combat heavy but the combat is terrible and needs to be removed entirely or overhauled. The first person perspective needs to go or at least be compromised. The game is too short to be this linear and needs either variety in the design or an open world approach. The game should add a lot of challenge courses to showcase the solid gameplay while having enough content to warrant the full price. The story sucks and needs to be completely reworked to compliment the characters and the city in an engrossing way. If DICE and EA can address all of these problems with Mirror’s Edge 2 then you’re looking at the next Half-Life 2 or Portal 2. Otherwise I highly recommend everyone trying Mirror’s Edge at least once. It’s cheap and unless a sequel is forthcoming then you may never see gameplay like it again for a long time.

Coming Soon...

Alright so I've outlined my review schedule and what I've gotten so far. I'll re-post what I'm missing later. So far I've written reviews for 8 games/series and a 9th I'll drop tomorrow. I have another 33 games/series on my list I want to get through. Most of them are series and most of those are being held up. I'd rather go through an entire series sharing a storyline rather than go through them all individually. I hope to start pumping them out at least weekly until I'm all caught up. I could dive into downloadable titles and retro series like Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog but...maybe if I get bored and it feels worth the time.

I got a couple of ideas for stuff coming up and I have a few backlog titles I hope to jump into. I'm not really looking into any new PS3 titles for the time being, not a lot of titles look interesting to me right now. That's a good thing because my HDD has been tapped for months and I can't maintain my digital and physical collection without running out of space. Hopefully I can get a replacement hard drive soon so I actually have the option of trying new games again without sacrificing old ones.

Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to plug a few of my favorite YouTubers and series.

Elpresador usually releases daily Call of Duty commentary videos and he's fun to watch. If you're looking for montages of pure domination rather than angry commentary then check out Sandy Ravage.

Freeman's Mind is a fun series that's been ongoing for over 3.5 years. Basically, it's Half-Life gameplay with Gordon Freeman's commentary. It was on hiatus for awhile but videos are coming out weekly now and they're about halfway through the campaign. Check it out!

Best Friends Play is a weekly series. I'm quite fond of it and I usually crack up even if I've never played (or heard) of the game in question. Their logic is impeccable and reminds me a lot of the kinds of scripts I used to write for shows I wanted to make.

This guy posts a new video every few days and serves as a hell of a gaming new roundup with a slab of sports and topical news delivered with a lot of energy. He's quite opinionated but that's a good thing in this case. Check him out there's always something interesting to hear, he even talks about stuff I haven't heard about.

This is the latest in a GMod Tennis series from RubberFruit and Rhapsidious. RubberFruit makes GMod videos, mostly TF2, and they're very wacky and will probably give you nightmares, but for some reason I can't stop watching them...

Last but not least is DasBoSchitt who also makes GMod videos, particularly the GMod Idiot Box series. It's like a cutaway sketch show kinda like GMod meets Robot Chicken. It's really funny and well done, currently up to episode 9 but new episodes don't come out very often. Uploads are rare but fantastic.

Later peeps.

Day 14: Looking back at 2007

Internet went out again today then I went shopping so I didn't get to work on what I was originally cooking up so I figured I'd take a look back at my chart of games I'd finished and see what kind of years I've had. I didn't start keeping track until recently so I don't have hard dates beyond 2007, so I'm going to start there.

Gamecube:
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Nintendo DS:
Kirby Squeak Squad
Mario Kart DS

Xbox 360:
Gears of War

PS2:
DDR SuperNova
Final Fantasy XII
Guitar Hero 2
Katamari Damacy
God of War
God of War 2

Wii:
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
Super Mario Galaxy
Warioware Smooth Moves
Wii Sports

Not bad, 16 games. I didn't own an Xbox so my exposure there was limited though I did get a Wii in the summer. Prior to that I spent most of 2006 playing Guitar Hero 2 and DDR. Over the summer I picked up Final Fantasy XII and God of War 2, fantastic titles if you have the time to dedicate to it. Then later in the year my focus shifted to my shiny new console with Mario Galaxy and Twilight Princess. While I didn't own either of the titles my friends all had Wii consoles and their own sets of games so I figured I'd get the goofy party games like WarioWare and Raving Rabbids. Ultimately we never spent nearly as much time on them as we did on DDR and Guitar Hero. Also, the couple of DS games were fun for a little while but felt too lacking for me to want to buy more.

Twilight Princess, Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy XII, God of War 1&2, Gears of War and Paper Mario 2. A pretty spectacular lineup of games in my opinion to round out a year. Seven great solo campaigns with a healthy supply of less traditional, off beat party and experimental titles. It'd have been a pretty light year if not for the quality of these games and all the Guitar Hero and DDR moments spread between them, those games never really get old.

Portal 2: Min Wage Review

The best feeling in life is the moment of anticipation. A waiter carrying your dish at a restaurant, the lights going out at a concert, the moment of silence before kissing someone for the first time. All these moments themselves may be great but never quite compare to the anticipation. Portal 2 does. Now, honestly I wasn't really all that excited for Portal 2 at first. I mean, I liked Portal, it was funny and unique but I'm more into action games. If Portal wasn't a piece of the Orange Box I probably wouldn't have played it until much later when it was offered for free. Even then I didn't get Orange Box until 2009 so I was over a year late to the Portal and TeamFortress 2 party, let alone over 4 years late for the Half-Life 2 party which is the game I primarily wanted to play at the time. Half-Life 2 destroyed all my expectations but that's a discussion for a different time (hint: after the story is completed).

When Portal 2 was announced I had no doubt it'd be fun considering the relationship I have with Valve's games up to this point. They're my favorite developer and I'd likely buy anything they release on that trust alone. Portal 2 wasn't exactly what I was hoping for at this point in time but it could have been worse. However, as time passed and more campaign trailers and media started rolling out I became fascinated by the level of finesse and depth. I'm also fascinated by Valve's occasional interviews about business and technology aspirations because there are some true visionaries and geniuses working at Valve and they're not tied down by publisher or investor interests. They made their own fortunes and they're allowed to play around with no one looming over them. It requires a great deal of discipline and direction to make products as revolutionary and polished as Valve does without becoming the next 3D Realms. So it's with this in mind that I love jumping on their experimentation bandwagons. When it was announced that Portal 2 would be bringing the Steam client to PS3 I was finally sold. I knew I wanted to own this game. The more videos started to pour out that want turned into a need. I had to see where Valve were taking single player games because Half-Life 2 has been out of sight for 4 years and every game launched since then has been a multiplayer one. Portal looked to be groomed to be the heir of Valve's solo campaign experiences and no amount of Portal and momentum puzzles are going to fulfill what Half-Life 2 left behind.

Now with all that being said it's time to talk about the quibbles. The first Portal gave you a room of possibilities and asked you to find a solution. Portal 2 gives you a room of obstacles and asks you to find THE solution. There's laser switches, launch pads, excursion funnels, gels that change the properties of surfaces and all the mechanics of Portal. Throwing all this at once would terrifying but the game slowly weens you to each mechanic and severely limits the possible actions by removing all but necessary portal surfaces. On the one hand you have to think harder about how to navigate through courses but on the other the solution is practically half laid out for you already and it's just a matter of figuring out in which order the portal walls need to be used. Also, by the time you've finally mastered every type of mechanic in the game you're at the final boss before getting the chance to put all your skills to the test at once. This would make the end of the game much more challenging but the addition of challenge courses on the side would suffice.

Once I finished the solo campaign I figured all the crazy Portal ninja-ing I saw in trailers would be put to the test in the co-op chambers. Now, in all fairness the puzzles got a bit challenging to figure out and a few new mechanics need to be utilized that aren't explained at all in the solo campaign which will probably throw you for a loop towards the end. However, again there isn't a true set of challenges that put all your skills together in a test save perhaps for the final co-op chamber. Without adequate communication, that means using a mic or playing split-screen, you probably won't finish co-op anyway so the addition of challenge courses on the side would suffice here as well.

Where Portal introduced a few simple mechanics beautifully and then exercised them to their limits, Portal 2 feels like an 8-10 hour (depending on how fast your puzzle solving skills are) tutorial. It sure as hell gets challenging and rarely feels too easy on the first playthrough but the better you get the more you want something harder. Here's a metaphor: in a shooter you'll start with a pistol and gradually get a rifle, then a shotgun, then a machine gun, then a rocket launcher and the game needs to get harder to accommodate the weaponry. Portal 2 is like a shooter where you get all your 'weapons' at a perfect pace but you never have to use them after the 'testing' phase where you're still giggling at explosions.

We come back to anticipation. I anticipated Portal 2 to be a fun game that I'd play once or twice, have a few good laughs and never touch again like its predecessor. This is the nature of solo campaign games particularly ones with puzzle heavy gameplay. However, what I got was an extensively long, fulfilling campaign that never got tired, repetitive or dragged out. To top it off there's enough laughs stuffed inside to keep you laughing the entire time your playing outside of puzzle solving. You never know what to expect around the next corner and there's little to be disappointed about. What I can say about Portal 2 I can't say about many other things in life, I felt better right after playing Portal 2 than I did right before, Portal 2 is better than anticipation.

Day 13: Father's Day

Alright so I was going to do a special Father's Day article about the greatest fathers in video games but while I was composing it I noticed other sites already doing the same thing. So...I decided to take it a step deeper and do an article about the greatest fathers OF video games instead. So...here it is, enjoy.

Keiji Inafune - father of Mega Man:

The Mega Man series started in 1987 as a brutally difficult action platformer for the NES. It featured many differences to contemporary platformers at the time such as shooting, non-linear campaigns and acquiring weapons from enemies. Also it was known for being really, really hard. For the length of NES’s lifespan Mega Man titles rolled out regularly with new bosses and new gameplay tweaks but all the basics remained the same. A SNES title and PSOne title didn’t do so well and the original series was essentially dead by 1996 with Mega Man 8. A new series, Mega Man X, picked up where the original left off on SNES by incorporating faster pace, many more moves and challenges and more challenging and less predictable enemy AI. The series slowly declined and became superfluously complex, much like Sonic the Hedgehog, and is now essentially dead since Mega Man X8 and Mega Man X Command Mission in 2004. The original Mega Man would make a return in the form of online stores for modern consoles. Two new titles, Mega Man 9 and 10, were released with retro 8-bit graphics reminiscent of the NES titles and were as good if not better than some of the first six titles for NES. There’s been tons of other series spin offs  and cameos with varying degrees of success but in the end Mega Man is remembered for its brutal action platforming.

Naoto Oshima - father of Sonic the Hedgehog and his nemesis Dr. Eggman:

The Sonic the Hedgehog series has a 20 year history that helped turn Sega from up and coming video game publisher to nearly usurping Nintendo’s console dominance of the 1990’s. The games have incorporated various aspects and genres throughout the years but are usually revered for its simple one button platforming with emphasis on high speed traversal and multiple paths through every level and a dose of attitude in the characters and music. It has seen better times critically but commercially it’s just as viable as it has ever been. Thanks to Sega’s departure from console production Sonic is free to jump to all platforms and enjoy success he never knew before. The fondest remembered games are the first four titles for Sega Genesis, since ported to modern consoles, and the Sonic Adventure series. A new series of 2.5D titles inspired by the originals but utilizing the power of modern consoles has been taking off and the new Sonic Generations coming this year looks to be the best yet.

Hironobu Sakaguchi - father of Final Fantasy:

The first Final Fantasy came out for the NES in Japan in 1987. The role-playing game was a success and Square started working on sequels. Final Fantasy started to position itself as one of the pioneering RPGs setting the standard for other RPGs. The last Final Fantasy Sakaguchi directed was Final Fantasy V and he continued to work as a producer up to Final Fantasy IX. In the mid-late 90s Final Fantasy VI and VII had great success in the west and positioned themselves as not just the standard for RPGs but the standard for all narrative video games. While having nothing to do with the recent Final Fantasy titles since the start of the PS2 era the series has still maintained its relevance while other JRPG series, except Dragon Quest, have lost theirs. Also of note, Sakaguchi was a big part of Chrono Trigger, one of the greatest games ever made.

Masahiro Sakurai - father of Kirby:

Kirby started out as a platformer with a twist, Kirby could swallow enemies and steal their powers. Over the years, Kirby has been outshined by many other Nintendo characters. It doesn’t help that Kirby games are primarily platformers in a lineup of franchises comprised of many platformers. However, the charm of Kirby has never worn off and he’s always a crowd pleaser. In recent years Kirby has been the poster boy for games and concepts that are completely unique, a guinea pig of sorts. Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Canvas Curse are prime examples but occasionally a game like Super Star Ultra or the upcoming Kirby Wii (probably getting a name change) delivers classic Kirby charm. The games are usually easier than most platformers but this is a bit misleading. Kirby is fully capable of leading a brand all his own but unfortunately for him he’s on the same ticket as Mario and Zelda and Samus, it’s a hard act to follow.

David Jaffe - father of Twisted Metal and God of War:

The first is the oldest Playstation exclusive franchise dating back to the North American launch of the PSOne in 1995. While not as successful as the other franchises on this list it was an important series that set the Playstation apart from the SNES with graphic depictions of violence and destruction. For a short time it spurred off several imitators in the car-combat genre for various competing consoles. By the time the PS2 era began most of these franchises had died out leaving Twisted Metal’s 2001 PS2 title, a spiritual successor to the first two PSOne titles developed by the same studio. Towards the end of the PS2 era Sony launched God of War in a planned trilogy of action titles. The ground that Twisted Metal laid was further built upon by God of Wars brutal graphic violence and nudity. Nowadays nudity, foul language and graphic violence isn’t uncommon and is usually expected in most mature titles but back then it was still rare to see. God of War also set itself apart from other games both on and off Playstation’s brand in that action-adventure and platforming titles could be made for adults and made very well. With the newest title, God of War 3 on PS3, the series consistently pushes games to new limits in design, art and content. Contributions like Jaffe’s made the Playstation brand what it is today and that is video games that don’t have to be just for kids.

Shigeru Miyamoto - father of Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Starfox, F-Zero, Pikmin, etc:

Where would Nintendo be without this guy? Mario alone is the Mickey Mouse of video games and anything bearing Mario’s face will print money, guaranteed. Zelda games have been the standard for action-adventure titles for 25 years. We could all write 1000s of words of praise and admiration for Shigeru Miyamoto’s creations so I’ll keep this brief. He’s, unquestionably, the greatest father in the video game industry and none of us would be enjoying the hobby today if not for his work.

There you go, a few of video games greatest fathers. All of them are still intimately involved with new games and ideas to this day and perhaps their greatest contributions to the industry are yet to come.

Day 12: Prison Break

So I was having a dream that combined a few regular childhood memories and characters derived from a well written TV show I've gotten into lately. Some of the characters feel familiar on TV and translated well to my surroundings despite the cultural differences. Though, I'm not the typical southerner and the TV characters aren't typical either.

Anyways, boring details aside, there was a small party. The dream culminated with my dad and the young guy, a little younger than me, discussing philosophy via a video game example though I didn't hear what it was. It reminded me of a similar conversation that I've never had with my dad but thought I did. The thing that got me was the importance and resilience of philosophy. It doesn't matter the example or how old or new the discussion is, philosophy doesn't change because it's based on human reasoning which hasn't changed much for hundreds of years. Social changes has added a few challenges and science has carved its roots out of philosophy leaving nothing but pure reasoning about the unknowable. The same discussion we have today we could have had last year, or 10 years ago,  or 100 years ago and it's likely the results would be the same and the relevance would be the same. You can't really say the same about any other science or humanity because they're both constantly evolving. But philosophy can't be changed it can only be added to and prompt meaningful conversation and growth.

We live in an age of despair. We have the technology and tools to see the world at large but not the tiny details. We can see the country for what it is but unable to change it. Ever notice how most TV shows and movies set in urban or suburban settings feel like they could occur in your home town? Everywhere is becoming a carbon copy of everywhere else and it's a cold, dirty, depressing world full of Wal-Marts and gas stations. At least before we had the technology we could reside in our ruts believing that the world away from us is unique and someday we'll go explore it. Chances are that was true. Now we can see the world for what it is, we can see a public decision every step of the way from announcement to execution and all of the deceit along the way. You'd think the all seeing eye being turned towards big brother would instill fear, shame and humility...but it didn't.

I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic fiction. I finally understand why. If the deck were reshuffled and dealt, everything we know crumbled and gone, a true clean slate. Maybe, for a brief period anyway, the world would have unique places to explore and appreciate before the sterilization process sets in. It would be a cruel, cold world as all our luxuries and resources have been stripped away. Though, even our quaint, suburban lifestyles are suspiciously similar to that of comfortable prisons. The barrier is mostly mental but a mental barrier is always more effective than a physical one. A post-apocalyptic world would give some of us the chance to live in this new, free world and I find the thought invigorating even if I won't be one of the few to experience or even if I am I wouldn't be up to the demands to thrive on this planet without being force fed. It's a thought anyway.

Day 11: The Three Types of Games

I wrote this this afternoon while our internet went out for a record 5.5 hours. Couldn't find information on what I was going to write about and now I can't even remember the topic so...here's this!

When Nintendo says something there’s a good chance it’ll be either laughable or brilliant. A couple of years ago at E3 Reggie said “we’re all gamers.” He said it several times and the entire presentation focused on that one point and likewise Nintendo was going to serve all of us and all of our tastes. Like most of Nintendo’s last 5 years it left a bad taste in the mouth of that segment of the population who pumps the majority of the money into companies like Nintendo.

There’s a sense of animosity and resentment between different groups of gamers based on gaming preferences. Much like judgment by race some groups prefer segregation, particularly with press conferences who will only be viewed by the ‘hardcore’ gamers, the press that caters to them, and investors and businessmen. Never has the distinction been made between ‘hardcore’ and ‘casual’ gaming though it’s usually understood. If you just play Wii Fit or waggle games then you’re casual. If you play action games like first person shooters then you’re hardcore. Why? First of all there’s no ‘hardcore’ and ‘casual’ based solely on taste. I’m going to break down all mainstream video games down into three groups that I think work. From there the distinction of ‘hardcore’ and ‘casual’ is up to the person’s opinion rather than their tastes.

Simple games:

‘Simple’ games, as I like to call them, are games with simple controls and clear objectives and rules. This includes all non-action puzzle games, rhythm/music games and party games mostly. So this demographic would include all the Facebook game players and all the people who use their computer almost exclusively for puzzle games like my grandparents. This also includes all the party and waggle gamers who get together playing Rock Band or Kinect. Are some of these people hardcore? Absolutely! You may be at the top of the leaderboards in Demon’s Souls but I’ll bet your grandma would kick your ass at Bejeweled. They can be just as ‘hardcore’ as any of the rest of us. I’ll give you a second to wrap your head around the thought of grandma being a ‘hardcore’ gamer.

Simulation games:

‘Simulation’ games emulate or replicate the real world in video game form. This includes sports games and most racing games. These games demand realism take priority over fantasy which makes them distinct from all other games which create their own world. Because of this there are no military shooters which qualify for this category because they prioritize fun gameplay over realism. Let alone the artistic liberties taken with historical battles. Besides, it’s not like many of us are going to see combat in our lives anyway. No one wants to play a game where we got shot once and have to start the whole game over. No, this category is specifically for sports nerds who buy the new game each season and/or racing nerds who invest big money into racing wheels.

Abstract games:

‘Abstract’ games are where most of what we call ‘hardcore’ games resides. Abstract games create their own worlds with their own rules. They can tell their own stories. They can have simple or complex gameplay. This category includes pretty much everything we hear about, shooters, adventures, role playing games, action, etc. I like to break this category down further into two subcategories: competitive and non-competitive. While practically all Simulation games and Simple games can be competitive to some degree not all Abstract games are specifically designed for competition. The competitive games are the types which get featured in tournaments: real time strategy games, fighting games, and some types of shooters. The rest are non-competitive action and adventure games.

While the Abstract category encompasses what most of us consider ‘hardcore’ gamers it’s no more hardcore than any other category though it does present a steeper learning curve. Simple games have, by definition, are easy to learn but hard to master in most cases. Simulation games vary in complexity but are designed to be easier to approach by fans of the respective sport. Abstract games also have a habit of incorporating elements of other genres and other categories into its games on a small scale. For example, in fantasy MMORPGs typically half the gameplay is focused on combat while have is focused on tasks like management, economics, crafting, etc. which is more like a Simple game.

Basically, what I’m saying is there are no ‘hardcore’ and ‘casual’ gamers, we’re all gamers with different tastes and that’s no reason to hate or discriminate. Don’t complain about publishers abandoning their hardcore gaming audience because unless they’re releasing shovelware then someone playing it is hardcore, you just might not have much in common. Instead complain that they’re just not releasing games you like and don’t hate on those buying them. After all, it’s just games.

Day 10: Games and Movies

Something's been bugging me about the value of media. I've discussed how different games have wide variance when it comes to investment yet they all share the same retail price. The same can be applied to movies. That's all well and good but what if we compared apples to oranges?

What's was the highest grossing movie last year? Toy Story 3 made over a billion dollars, followed by Alice in Wonderland which also made over a billion. Now, Toy Story 3 supposedly had a budget of $200 million. I dunno about ticket prices but I'm guessing they're something like $10 a piece.

What was the highest grossing video game last year? Call of Duty: Black Ops made over a billion dollars, highest selling game in the United States ever. Video games like Black Ops retail for $60 and stay on a shelf much longer than a movie stays in circulation. By the time a movie comes out on DVD a video game is still on the shelf but probably half of its original price depending on a variety of factors. Now, I don't know how much money was invested in producing Black Ops but I can guarantee you it's nowhere near $200 million, yet its retail price is at least six times the price as Toy Story 3.

Now, here's where the apples and oranges thing comes in. Money is spent differently on each. Toy Story involves a lot of high paid actors that sell the movie. Black Ops doesn't. Movies can have return customers who want to see the picture several times. Video games don't do to the customer owning a copy of the product from the beginning rather than paying for a viewing. Perhaps the function of arcades is more similar to movies than retail games but that market is all but dead in this country outside of a niche novelty.

Nonetheless, here's my point. Why does a movie that costs $200 million cost just $10 to see when a video game which cost probably no more than $50 million to make cost us $60 to see and own? A new DVD would be ~$20 so lets just add that to a movie viewing cost. It costs $30 to see and own a $200 movie but $60 to own a $50 million game, and most games cost a lot less to produce. It must be the market. There aren't enough potential customers to advertise to so the actual customers need to be charged more in return. If most of us weren't gaming but the investment costs were the same then theoretically video games would have to climb to $100 a piece to stay afloat but if the number of customers doubled then theoretically prices could go to $30 and it'd all be the same. Now, we know that's not going to happen because capitalism doesn't allow prices to fall after they've risen. It's a nice thought though.

In summary, we the customers pay the prices we do as a burden because there aren't enough of us to share the weight. Combine that with the number of annual video game releases steadily climbing, we're being extorted for all we're worth. Be wary, business never has your best interests.

Day 9: Why All Our Controllers Suck

Alright...so I hadn't posted in a couple days and I didn't have much to say for today either. I finally got Portal 2 on Friday and played it all day Saturday. The NBA Finals game 6 is tonight as well as an Impact Wrestling PPV (I'm a big fan) so I'll keep this brief.

What's the best video game controller? I'll probably make this a poll later if I feel like it but the correct answer is 'none of the above' and the reason is patent trolling. Now, some technology can be patented and some can't but I'm not sure of the distinction. Even making the distinction must be tricky. Problem is that some pieces of tech are patented by some companies and they prevent their competitors from using the same technology. That means they have to develop ridiculous alternatives to serve the exact same function. That's why we get things like the abomination that is the Xbox 360 'd-pad'. No one can use Nintendo's patented D-Pad, the only one worth a shit, and that's terrible. I don't know if Microsoft has their triggers patented but the triggers on the PS3 are terrible too. They're like vestigial appendages that no one wants to use for anything important. You can't shoot with them because they're stiff and the delay will get your killed or not register at all. You can drive with them okay, often more realistically than the Xbox triggers, but your fingers get tired. I haven't tried them but what the hell is up with Nintendo's circle pads? I understand that for the DS's sleek, clamshell design vertical volume can't exceed the touch screen's height. However, they showed off their new Wii U controller and it has 2 circle pads instead of joysticks. Now I know no one's patented the joystick concept itself but has Sony, Microsoft or someone else patented all the good parts leaving Nintendo to make something a bit ridiculous?

I dunno. I just want a good controller. It needs to be comfortable to hold and reach every button seamlessly. While I'm not an Xbox customer I do use their controller for my PC games, where applicable, and it's great. The triggers feel perfect and the ergonomics are excellent. However, I don't like the layout of the joysticks and would prefer better symmetry. Essentially, the 360 controller is a modified Gamecube controller with crappier buttons but better triggers. The Dualshock is by far the prettiest controller in that it has perfect symmetry and a solid color scheme devoid of color. It blends right in with all our other electronics and doesn't look like a child's toy. However, the ergonomics are way off and is exhausting to wield for long periods. The Wiimote + Nunchuk just feels awkward and most of the buttons feel weak. The controller has the buttons to wield a modern action game but they're not designed for you to be able to reach. However, with all the ways to play with a Wiimote it leaves some games better off than others.

We'll see what happens but I wish it were possible for a company to just design the best damn controller they can and forget about having to deal with lawyers and patents. It's just a damn controller...the video games and consoles are where the patents make sense and that's where you're making your money anyway.

Day 8: How Runescape Taught Me Economics

Alright so I'm gonna do my opinion of E3 in general without a lot of recapping. But first I had an idea about a topic. I bought a soda and was thinking about its value. I can pay $1 for a pint of soda and that's an acceptable value for what I'm getting. However, if I tried to make it it wouldn't be an acceptable value. It'd cost me much more than just $1 to recreate that pint of soda, let alone manufacture the bottle to distribute it in and the means of distributing it to others. But, if you have a lot of money to spend then your problems suddenly cost much lest per unit to develop. Basically, the more money you have the easier and faster it is to make more. This made me think of MMORPG economies.

MMORPG's are unique of typical games and it's not just the subscription fees and population of simultaneous players. MMO's reinterpret and reflect aspects of the real world in fairly predictable ways. Namely, for every persistent world there grows an economy system of barter, craft, trade and short cuts to get ahead not unlike organized crime.

The more your character ages the more you learn about how the world works and how to capitalize on it. While the nuts and bolts are unique to each game, underneath it all lies basic economic principles. Trying to make money in Runescape, particular the free version, is rough. Competition over valuable resources, such as coal, is fierce and populated by swarms of players much higher in level than you, guaranteed. Fighting rare enemies with valuable item drops are an option if you're really tough but again competition is usually fierce. There's always wandering into the Wilderness where player killing is allowed could be an option but chances are just as good that you'll run into very dangerous opponents and end up losing everything you own without means to flee.

What did I do? Mining coal is the most popular 'work' to make money because of its practical value but it takes a long time and is even harder to find an unclaimed source. I took the path of least resistance, mining runes. I'd mine hundreds of rune stones and craft them into Air runes, the most commonly used and lowest level rune. I'd take my hours of work to a trade market and offer a price 25%-50% lower than anyone else. Now, the way Runecrafting works is when you reach certain levels you multiply your crafting efficiency. Instead of getting 1 rune from a rune stone you'll get 2, or 3, or 11, etc. After working on this for awhile I'd leveled up substantially and started buying the rune stones instead of mining them. By buying the rune stones for the same price I was selling Air runes I was seriously cutting into my profits but I was vastly increasing my efficiency and I'd usually find a buyer/seller in seconds rather than minutes. By the time I finally quit the game and gave my account to a stranger I'd reach a runecrafting level of over 60 I think. With a relatively small amount of seed money I could turn around profits of 10x my investment without having to spend 2-3x as much time by obtaining the rune stones myself. It couldn't be much easier than that. I learned how to work the system to suit my needs despite being a 'free' member and having most of the game locked out for me.

I just thought it was a neat anecdote that can apply as well to real life business as it can to fantasy business.

DC's Daily Discourse 7: E3 Predictions Confirmed!: Nintendo

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DC's Daily Discourse 6: E3 Predictions Confirmed!: Sony

Sony's press conference was densely filled with games and nothing but juicy details as well as everything we wanted to know about their next console. Most of my predictions were denied or ignored completely but there's hope for most of them!

The show starts with a lengthy video package of current and upcoming games for PS3, PS Move and the new handheld which was later named PS Vita. Jack Tretton takes the stage and apologizes to everyone for the PSN outage in a playful manner, as we predicted but without any lolz. It was more of a half apology and half sales pitch for PSN's robust capabilities and features now and going forward. That'll do, pig, that'll do.

Now, without further adieu, it's time to talk about the millions...and millions, of exclusive PS3 titles we already know about. Uncharted 3 gets a live demo that's predictably impressive. In addition there will be a multiplayer beta coming in June and a retail release in November. There's also some silly promotion with Subway, they're always in the market to give kids more incentive to eat sandwiches and smear their presence around...

Resistance 3 gets a live demo which looks more impressive than I anticipated and a bit step up from Resistance 2 in 2008. In addition, Resistance 3 supports Move and will get a bundle with Move and the silly Sharpshooter gun and whatnot for $150. Big whoop!

Sony shows off a new Playstation branded 3DTV. It's 24 inches (giggity!) and features 3D split-screen multiplayer where each player sees a different image covering the entire screen so that co-op is easier with no screen peeking. It'll retail for $500 and comes with a copy of Resistance 3. Now, a 24" TV for $500 seems pretty steep to me considering the one I have is over 2 years old and was $200, however for a 3D TV that's apparently a pretty good bargain. In all fairness, the 3D split screen is an amazing feature that makes me kinda want one. My guess is this is aimed at college students with small living quarters so for that this is a great idea. If I had the money and space I would sooner get a 40" LCD TV for the price than a 24" 3D TV but hey, that's just me. Also, the 3D glasses will retail for the 'bargain' price of $70 a piece. The TV only comes with one pair.

Next Sony trots out everyone's favorite rapist, Kobe Bryant, to demo NBA 2K whatever now with Move support. He likes it...but he also likes to rape people. Moving on...

Medieval Moves gets a demo and fall release date. It's in 3D, as most of Sony's games are, and is a cute fantasy action game with puzzle elements and Move exclusive. It looks and plays good if you're into that sorta thing.

Starhawk, the spiritual sequel to Warhawk, gets a teaser for a 2012 release. I liked the original Warhawk, ya know from 1995, the 2007 version never interested me. Starhawk, from what I've seen, looks boring to me.

Next is a teaser for a brand new PS3 game from an old Sony Franchise, spoiler: it's not Crash Bandicoot. Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time is slated for 2012.

There's a teaser for Dust 514, an exclusive first person shooter accompany game to PC MMO Eve Online. The events of Dust 514 effect Eve Online and vice versa. At a glance, which is about all the info we're given, it looks like what 2010's MAG wanted to be but never became. Whether it turns out that way or whether it turns out like MAG is uncertain.

Ken Levine comes out to talk about Bioshock Infinite. A teaser is shown, Move support is announced and a version for PSVita is announced. Also, Bioshock Infinite for PS3 will include the original Bioshock on the same disc. Everyone collectively shits their pants and Ken Levine comes off as an anxious wreck who was briefed only moments before taking stage.

Saints Row 3 gets a trailer and Move support, coming in November. An exclusive Star Trek game is announced for 2012 to coincide with a new movie.

Kaz Hirai takes the stage to talk about PS Vita in detail. He gives it a name and starts trotting out the long line of devs with demos. A new, portable Uncharted game gets a demo, it looks fantastic. A new Diablo-esque action-RPG, Ruin, gets announced and demo'd. It's cloud compatible with the upcoming PS3 version so you can be playing on one console, save, and pick up where you left off on the other console. On both consoles it looks great. Mod Nation Racers gets a Vita version now with new Vita specific track creation tools that are even faster, easier and more intuitive than 2010's PS3 version. It's also backwards compatible with all the community tracks made thus far. There's also a demo for LittleBigPlanet Vita which looks like LittleBigPlanet 2 getting Vita specific creation tools like MNR. Also, Street Fighter X Tekken gets a Vita demo confirming a PS3 and Vita release as well as Cole McGrath, inFamous's protagonist, as an exclusive PlayStation character.

The PS Vita will have content sharing and lots of social tools for competition other PlayStation owners. It all looks well and good. To wrap up the conference they reveal what everyone wants to know. The PS Vita will launch this holiday with two versions, a WiFi version for $249 and a 3G version (AT&T exclusive) for $299. Everyone in the audience says "shut up and take my money!" Kaz Hirai is hoisted out of the auditorium on a chariot like the mighty Caesar.

My Predictions:

Sony didn't even mention all the games we know are coming and it was already a dense conference. Practically every game for PS3 is getting Move support and several are getting 3D as well. They acknowledged the PSN outage and there were plenty of meme worthy moments though they weren't associated.

I was wrong about Steam...for now and only because Valve doesn't appear to be at E3 at all this year. Square Enix didn't announce anything, all they did was show their Final Fantasy XIII-2 trailer and host a demo. Taking it one step at a time, eh Square? Unfortunately, the PSN Store nor the PS3 itself are getting any new features or overhauls that we know of...but hey don't be mad at me for that, be mad at Sony. Seriously, half of Microsoft's conference was about their software update and Sony has none. At least they have a lot of games to compensate, we won't have time to appreciate new features! Also we have a new console launch to look forward to.

DC's Daily Discourse 5: E3 Predictions confirmed!: Microsoft

Alright so Day 1 of E3 is over and Day 2 is starting up now. I'm going to recap the big moments of Microsoft's press conferences and see how close my predictions were. Spoiler: I was right, as always. So lets get to it!

Microsoft:

There was no video package, no elaborate stage act, no introductions. The lights went down and they jumped right into Infinity Ward & Sledgehammer's live gameplay demo for Modern Warfare 3. Over 10 glorious uninterrupted minutes of 20 million customers salivating. To me it looked like what I expected in another military shooter campaign. Sure it was pretty but my history with military shooter campaigns isn't a happy one so I, like most people, am more interested the multiplayer which won't be profiled.

Next was a healthy live demo of the Tomb Raider reboot, ya know the one where she's covered in dirt and blood and her boobs aren't superfluously large. It actually looked pretty good which wasn't what I was expecting. Odd how I want to compare it to a visceral Uncharted when originally Uncharted was touted as 'Dude Raider' before it was released. Food for thought.

Peter Moore comes on stage, which he remarks feels familiar for some reason, and chats up the new EA sports franchises adding Kinect support: FIFA, Madden, Tiger Woods and a 4th unnamed franchise. Also, something called Sims 3: Pets...

Bioware comes up to live demo Mass Effect 3 with Kinect voice support. Now you can control your squad mates through voice commands. Also, you can navigate dialogue trees by saying your options aloud and having Shepard respond accordingly. These features show promise but they look more gimmicky than anything else and certainly aren't any more efficient, if not less efficient, than using the controller.

Tom Clancy Ghost Recon gets a bold teaser trailer and an extended tech demo highlighting impressive new Kinect integration. You can customize your weapons piece by piece via hand gestures and voice commands. Also you can actually play the game using just Kinect. This is the first time I think anyone has seen a working demo of first person shooting without the use of a controller to navigate the game just as you would with a controller. Also announced was Kinect integration with future Tom Clancy games. I couldn't care less about Tom Clancy but the demo was very impressive for future games.

Xbox Live is getting another overhaul this year. A new interface will be introduced which is very similar to Windows Phone 7 and the Windows 8 tech demo. It's tile based, completely Kinect supported and very easy to navigate, a bit improvement for sure. New features coming include YouTube, Bing integration, and partnerships with UFC and live television partners. Bing will make it much easier to find anything and everything on Xbox Live whether it be movies, TV shows, music or games. They're all nice touches and should be a lot of fun to play with. In addition, something they didn't mention on stage, Xbox Live is getting Cloud support for game saves and profiles so your xbox live profile will be easier to migrate. Why they didn't mention this is uncertain.

Cliffy B and Ice-T present a Gears of War 3 live demo which looks just as awesome as it has for the last 2 years. Nothing new here, just acknowledging it's there and still coming out.

Ryse, some medieval Kinect action game from Crytek gets a teaser. No clue what the fuck it's supposed to be however.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is announced for November. It's a completely remastered version of the first Halo with online co-op and 7 remastered multiplayer maps that can be played alone or downloaded for play with Halo: Reach. Halo is still using the original engine with an additional engine handling the new graphics. This means it'll play just like it did in 2001 and even includes an option to revert to the original graphics at any time. It'll be budget priced as well. Sounds like a great value to me and if Sony's going to do it then why not Microsoft too?

Forza 4 gets a teaser and October release date. That's about it.

Peter Molyneaux talks about Fable: The Journey with a live demo and teaser. It's a Kinect action game and I'm not certain but it looked like it was on-rails.

Minecraft gets its console debut exclusively on Xbox this winter as a Kinect game. Meh.

Disney's licensing some games for Kinect. The first shown is a virtual Disney Land with Kinect Adventures style gameplay but with Disney characters and locales. For a kids' game, as evidenced by the children tech demoing it, it looks pretty impressive.

Kinect Star Wars has a showing and demo. It's a lot meatier and much better looking than that piece of crap they showed last year. However, it looks exhausting to play, just watching the guy playing made me winded and a bit sore. Also the presentation looked a bit Teen friendly. Here's the thing, I'm not a Star Wars fan, never have been and probably never will be, but when I see this game I'm a bit disappointed. It looked fully functional, responsive and the lightsabre hits actually looked like right. But, and it's a huge but, this isn't for the true Star Wars fans at all. Hardcore Star Wars fans don't like cutesy graphics, they liked the Empire slaughtering people, Luke getting a limb cut off, a space opera with gritty violence and energy weapons. Also, and lets be fair, they're typically not in the best physical condition to be jumping around and swinging their arms. True Star Wars fans will ultimately be disappointed but hey, it's functional.

Kudo Tsunoda, Microsoft's professional douchebag, (seriously! who wears sunglasses while speaking at a press conference!) talks about various Kinect goodies. Kinect Fun Labs, which to me looks like Kinect meets Google Labs, launched the day of the conference and is a collection of excellent ideas born from the community SDK tinkers out there. Also, Kinect Sports gets a sequel with more...sports, and Harmonix announces Dance Central 2 which has simultaneous multiplayer dancing.

Microsoft ended by introducing the start of a new Xbox trilogy. At thing point I was getting ready to be taken aback. Would this be a great new IP to expand the Xbox brand beyond it's Halo & Gears of War dependency? Nope! It was Halo 4...I facepalmed.

My Predictions:

Everything I said was right, more or less. Don't believe me? Go look it up!

D.C.

DC's Daily Discourse 4: E3 2011 Predictions, 12 Hours to Go

E3 kicks off tomorrow morning with Microsoft's press conference at 11:30, Sony's is at 7 PM and Nintendo's is at 11 AM on Tuesday along with a bunch of coverage of all the other things floating about. It's always an exiting week and I'm going to talk about my predictions from the Big Three and in general.

Microsoft:

• Gears of War 3 (probably multiplayer) and Forza 4 gameplay demos with both having Kinect support at launch. However, to play Forza 4 with Kinect you need to pass a sobriety test. 
• Every year Xbox gets a substantial software upgrade and this year will probably add a few more media services to Xbox Live, at the very least Skype and maybe Kinect functions they showed off the last 2 years and haven't launched yet.
• They'll announce a bunch of brand new Kinect games for retail and XBLA. The software is not substantial enough to carry its $50 price tag alongside bigger and better titles of comparable prices and thus will be reduced to $20 downloads. The idea of jumping up and down next to an Xbox reading a DVD is a risk I'm not willing to take.
• DanceDanceRevolution will make an appearance, whether or not it's as impressive as or remotely similar to Dance Central is anyone's guess. If Rock Revolution is Konami's attempt to get a piece of the US rhythm game sales pie, a style of game they practically invented in Japan, then it'll be laughed off the stage.
• A remake of Halo: CE is coming. It's bigger, badder, and better. Completely redone with the Halo: Reach engine, it features co-op campaign, online multiplayer and all the old maps completely remade with Reach's added abilities and weapons. Also, after years of successful Mountain Dew endorsements, Master Chief gets promoted to limited edition Pepsi.
• In addition to the Halo remake there's a new Halo game announced but it could be any genre, really, it'll sell...unless it's crappy and marketed poorly, you can have one but not both.
• Microsoft shows a bunch of charts and numbers and talks about them in a way that tries to convince us they don't suck and they're not a bunch of failures.

Sony:

• Sony's going to walk out and just talk about all the games we know they're publishing this year, that alone will fill a few hours.
• The Steam store opens its doors to the PS3 community with ports of Valve's games including Team Fortress 2 (the good version), Left 4 Dead, Half-Life 2, and Portal. Also Valve will host tools for developers to release their games on the PS3 through Steam, unless they're already on the PSN store.
• Sony announces Move support for every Sony published game going forward and announces more Move downloadable and retail titles, this time more titles built specifically for Move and not shoehorned Move controls patched into traditional games.
• Sony announces mostly pointless new features for the PS3 via software update but they'll all be exclusive to PS+ owners. The features will probably include: cross game chat, dynamic avatars, a virtual trophy case and Move support for the XMB.
• The PSN store will get a major overhaul and suck significantly less. New features will include the ability to find things in a simple, intuitive manner and title updates that download faster than the speed of smell.
• Square Enix shows off the completely remade Final Fantasy VII, exclusively for the PS3, to be completed and launched as soon as: they fix Final Fantasy XIV and release a PS3 version, release Kingdom Hearts 3 after releasing a remastered Kingdom Hearts 1&2 for PS3, Final Fantasy XII-2, Final Fantasy Vs. XIII, a sequel to Parasite Eve on PS3, the newly announced Final Fantasy XV and after they finish their ultimate goal of remaking or porting every Final Fantasy, except VI & VII, for every portable console and cell phone on the market. Chances are they'll go bankrupt well before then and release VII on a last ditch effort and sky rocket themselves back to fortune. Also, they'll hand out Final Fantasy branded condoms and years from now we'll still be laughing about it.
• Sony will try to acknowledge the PSN hack with playful humor by inviting GWAR on stage to play a song and crucify 'the' hacker. Or they'll have some skit with Kevin Butler making a comeback not unlike Ron Burgundy. In any case, whatever they do will leave us with tons of meme worthy moments that we'll finally forget that the cake is a lie...DAMN IT!

Nintendo:

• Nintendo's new executive vice president of sales and marketing, Scott Moffitt, will take the stage first. In a rather ironic metaphor for the 3DS's success up to this point, Moffitt will run towards center stage, amped up on Code Red, and slip on a banana peel. He'll plop onto his bottom and spend the first 5 minutes crying.
• Nintendo jumps right in with details of their new console. It'll be able to put the Xbox to shame, slightly outclass the PS3, and it'll be easy to program. They'll demonstrate this by showing gameplay of Grand Theft Auto V, which is set in Vice City. The game will impress, as we'd all expect, but with that announcement comes the realization that all multiplatform games going forward won't utilize the superior hardware of the new console and instead will be hampered by the capabilities of the other consoles. This makes everyone question the notion of spending extra money to build a stronger system than your competitor if all your clients need to use both equally. Also, the console is powered by hamsters on steroids and fairy dust. Suicides triggered by constant fairy sounds will be a PR nightmare for Nintendo but an excellent opportunity to drop the kid-friendly attitude.
• Nintendo's new console comes with no formal game announcements but a couple of groovy, impractical tech demos are shown off just for laughs. Also, a large library of ports will be ported over from PS3 and 360 libraries but those who haven't already played games like GTA4, Fallout 3, and Bioshock most likely aren't going to buy Nintendo's versions.
• For the Legend of Zelda's 25th anniversary we get a mostly disappointing upgraded Legend of Zelda collection. It's $50 and includes Zelda 1, 2, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask but no Wind Waker...thankfully Gamecube games will be for sale on Nintendo's new online store on their next console!
• Nintendo unleashes a fleet of girls, not unlike the 3DS girls from last year, to give everyone a complimentary hand job. The cheers and squeals of delight for Skyward Sword, a new Kirby Wii game (that actually looks like a Kirby game) and Pikmin 3 are much louder than anticipated as a result.
• Nintendo's new console will have a network like PSN & XBL but will, unfortunately, carry an overcomplicated friend system like its preprocessors. Reggie notably quips, "who needs friends anyway!" This will spawn the most popular internet meme since the cake is a lie...GOD DAMN IT!

Other:

• Insomniac will reveal a bold new IP and no one will know how to respond or even how to describe it.
• EA reveals a sequel to Mirror's Edge and they've ironed out the kinks and turned it into Gears of War clone...only faster!
• A true class act, EA reveals a new banner ad for Battlefield 3. It's a Battlefield soldier teabagging a Modern Warfare soldier. As a result of early television advertising they're unable to continue advertising Battlefield 3 until Modern Warfare 3 has already sold 20 million copies.
• Beyond Good & Evil 2 gets a release date but due to the poor marketability of a strong female lead that isn't overly sexualized...Ubisoft gets desperate and puts Jade in a skin tight, Zero Suit Samus-like suit and bumps her breast and butt sizes to maximum capacity. Team Ninja is contracted to get the jiggle physics just right.
• Mega Man comes back in a big way and completely destroys all other 2D and 3D shooters on display at E3. No one saw it coming.
• Sega announces they've sold Nintendo the IP rights to Sonic the Hedgehog. Everyone is dumbfounded but Nintendo delivers the best Sonic game ever made exclusively for their new console and it only gets better from there.
• Bungie will tease their new project to cool reactions. They soon realize they've made a terrible mistake.
• Ken Levine shows off more Bioshock Infinite gameplay and everyone who sees it shits their pants.
• Diablo 3 gets a release date and Blizzard faces financial trouble as World of Warcraft subscriptions plummet. They have to decide between making WoW more awesome or sabotaging Diablo 3.

Well, that's it! Hope you enjoyed it. Am I saying every one of these things will come true with 100% accuracy? Absolutely! Otherwise this week would have all been a complete waste of time.

DC's Daily Discourse 3: PSN: Back in Inaction!

Alright people, looks like I didn't get to update yesterday mostly due to the influx of PlayStation Network tasks. Namely, the PlayStation Network store was finally relaunched a couple of days ago in a barely functioning state...for now. Whether the high concentration of network traffic is too much for their servers or whether their system isn't as stable as it was two months ago is irrelevant, the store can't remain this way for long. Sure, it's not the first time an online storefront has been ravaged by traffic, and it won't be the last, but it's always a killjoy when services we take for granted, their genuinely fragile structure visible for all of us to see.

Anyways, with the return of PSN in earnest means freebies! The Welcome Back package Sony outlined is up and ready for grabs. Included in the package are: 2 free PSN games from a choice of 5 (slightly different selections for different regions, yes if you had multiple PSN accounts you can get more games), 2 free PSP games from a choice of 4, PlayStation Plus service for 30 days starting from the time you activate it, and 3 free movie rentals for Ghostbusters (the original), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and Bad Boys (looks like a terrible movie staring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith). If you're one of the sad sacks who uses PlayStation Home then apparently you get 100 freebies.

I owned several of the games already but I got myself copies of inFamous, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Nation, and WipeOut HD+Fury. Unfortunately, WipeOut appears to be broken, at least for me it is, and I can't upgrade the software and access the Fury expansion pack at all which encompasses more than half of the content.

PS+ had a few notable perks. I got a free copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, there's a free copy of Oddworld 2: Abe's Exodus, both DLC expansions for MAG are free and there's a few free DLC packs for other games but I don't own them. Mostly I just wanted the MAG expansions while I could get them. MAG is a great game by the way, if you're a PS3 owner looking for a military competitive shooter not unlike Battlefield or Call of Duty then try out MAG. I'll review it in earnest at some point but honestly the most I want from MAG is a sequel that fixes all the issues I have with it. Fortunately, one of the expansions has plenty of traffic but the other has very little traffic.

So, I remember PS+'s introduction last year right around E3. I was unemployed and thought that it was a silly idea unless you're spending a lot of money on PSN games regularly because chances are you'll end up saving money based on how much you buy. A year later and what has Sony added to sweeten the deal in the meantime? Pretty much nothing. There's a couple of PS3 features that are reserved for PS+ users but they're not features that are worth paying for, they're just features that either have little practicality or should be a standard feature. You get 'automatic downloads' which is a function that downloads program patches and 'recommended' stuff at a designated time not unlike Windows Update or something. However, it's some ass backward process that it uses that I can't get to prompt at all. Secondly, you get the option to upload your saves files to the Cloud, however you have only 150MB of space and strict limits on how often you can download files. Neither are particularly useful. It's worth noting that Steam does both of these functions, and does them better, for free.

So I'll probably get to play MAG's expansion packs for free for a month and I got to play Sonic 2, again, and Comet Crash for free. Neither of those games I'd buy because I already own Sonic's Genesis Collection and tower defense isn't really my thing. The MAG expansions are pretty neat and I definitely want them more than I did before.

Is PS+ worth anything? When you pay for Xbox Live you're paying for a service, namely multiplayer gaming and access to apps like Netflix and Hulu. On PSN you get all of that for free so are you paying for a service with PS+? No. Basically you're paying to be Sony's friend. You're paying for a sophisticated coupon book. Pay a little now and get discounts on stuff and plenty of free stuff...for as long as you're subscribed. It may be worth it to you or it may not. Last year I said I'd wait a year and see if PS+ became more substantial and worth its price. Little has changed so it's worth no more in my opinion than it was at launch. But hey, a month for free I'm not going to argue I'm just not going to renew either.