The direction of gaming?

This speech from DICE 2010 hit the interweb about a month ago and stirred up a bit of a buzz among some of my gaming kinsfolk. Now, with ever-growing advent of online browser games like Facebook offers, more and more people are getting into gaming in general. Ads across webpages like Google’s AdSense are becoming more acceptable. Combine these two aspects and, yes, I could see life and “gaming” going the direction the speaker suggests. However, my outlook on gaming still centers around entertainment and, mostly, console gaming. I either own or have owned in my time the following consoles (do the math as I’m about to disclose my age generation, here): Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Gameboy, Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Wii. Now, I’ve played on a whole lot more consoles than I’ve owned like the Neo Geo, Atari Jaguar, Sega Super System, Sega CD, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Cube, Playstation 3 and the list could go on. Keep in mind, my writings just refer to console gaming. I don’t get into PC gaming like I used to (including the new browser-based generation), which is much older.

As I’m writing these reviews more frequently, I’m noticing more and more of a pattern in console game development these days. Originality doesn’t exist quite like it did in the earlier days of the “third generation” consoles (Xbox 360 / Playstation 3 / Wii). Also, the genres have bled together even more. It’s all about TPS (third person shooter) massive environments, or FPS (first person shooter) run-and-gun, or RPG (roll playing game) and TBS (turn-based strategy) thought-provokers. I think the only genres that haven’t changed are MMO (massive multiplayer online), Sports, Fighting (like Street Fighter) and Racing. The old days of Adventure vs Shooter vs Action vs Challenge is slowly dying. The Strategy genre is something that derived from the early days of Command and Conquer and Warcraft (not to be confused with the MMO World of Warcraft). Over time, this genre has lead way to the release of modern wonders like Halo Wars and Battlestations Midway or the re-release or continuation of Command and Conquer and Tropico. MMO and Strategy are still new in the overall age of gaming, so they tend to be more “cult-driven” genres, so to speak.

Now, keep in mind, this is only my perception of the evolution of gaming as I’ve experienced it over the last 25 or so years. I’d love to hear any of your comments on this and where you think gaming has been and will go.

l8rz

Erin go Braugh(less)!

Happy St Paddy’s Day, all. This is the day in which we lift a pint of Guinness (or Harp, if you so choose) in honor of the Irish. As part of what a dear friend says before each round of shots, “Sláinte!” (I can’t ever remember the second half.)

Cheers!

Test drive the Prototype.

Yes, being the fanboy I am, I did buy Final Fantasy XIII, however, being this is the first 3-disc game I’ve played since VII on the PS2, it’s going to be a while before I get into the write-up on it. So, instead, I give you Prototype.

Within an hour, I immediately felt like I was playing Crackdown, again. Now Crackdown I would have never purchased had it not been for the Halo 3 beta invitation that was included with it. I’ve hardly even played the game. Prototype is basically Crackdown on crack. Leaping and gliding from rooftop to rooftop, running up the sides of buildings, jumping and running at superhuman capabilities. The added bonus, your body is a weapon. You have the ability to absorb your enemies and morph into them. Your hands and arms turn into blades and boulders for massive hand-to-hand damage against militia, tanks, and even buildings. The blood, gore, and language are prolific. Yes, this game is rated M for Mature. The graphics are done fairly well however, I haven’t noticed much of a soundtrack. In defense, I haven’t been able to turn the volume up very loud, either. In all, not a bad rent. I’ve actually played it more than one day. And, now that you can find a used copy for around $30, not a bad buy, either. With all the side quests alongside the story, there’s plenty of game play. Although the landscape is the city of Manhattan, it’s still expansive enough to give you plenty of room to roam. And you can go from north side to south side to east side to west side with no lagging load times. Awesome! If nothing else, give it a rent to quell the need of some serious bloodshed and destruction.

l8rz

Rocking out, again.

In all the political turmoil, I have to do something to keep my already stressed mind off the latest governmental issues. So, I’m still renting and playing games.

This week, Guitar Hero 5 for the 360. I’m not so impressed this go ‘round. I’m guessing Activision wanted to get in on the younger generation with their latest in this extremely drawn out series. It’s not really geared around a single player experience. The new features in this one differing from World Tour is the ability to customize your own band with characters of your choosing from the Rockstar Creator (from World Tour), and you can play with your Xbox Live Avatar. The scoring system has also been improved to add additional challenges. Depending on the song, you are required to try a different instrument to get the extra 3 stars. Oh, and you can now get 6 stars if you complete a song without missing a note. Since it’s focused more on the younger gamers, the screen real estate is mostly occupied by the instrument “highway”. This makes it even more difficult to see the actual characters performing in the background. Overall, if you just really love the Guitar Hero series, and have to have every one, then, by all means, add it to your collection. Me? I’m going to leave it at a rental until I either have kids or can get my GF more interested in playing for the score and achievements… neither of which I foresee in my immediate future. :)

Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii is next on the list. I’m a huge Metroid fan from the Nintendo era, but skipped over the Gamecube. I’m looking forward into getting into this latest release (and remastering) in the Metroid line. I’ll let you know next week (or later this week if it sux).

 

l8rz.