buttonmashing

Mashing buttons since 1984

Gaming

All the Zorg oldies-but-goldies.

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I haven’t really played anything new lately. I rented Burnout 4 (or Burnout Revenge, whatever it’s called. It’s Burnout 4) but I wasn’t that into it. It felt like Burnout 3, except the cars felt like dump trucks with cow-catchers attached to the front. Ramming traffic just didn’t feel right.

I have been playing some older games, though. I’ve played a bunch of Resident Evil 4 (mostly the Mercenaries mini-game), Metroid Fusion, and some Halo 2 with friends (the best way to enjoy it). I’ve also got my NES and SNES plugged in and I’ve been doing a little Metroid (the very first one) and Super Mario World. I’m getting down with the old (and not quite so old) classics. I can’t keep up with the onslaught of new games. And with the Xbox 360 on the horizon, it seems like it never ends.

So why do I bring this up? It reminded me of an article I read over at Gamers with Jobs about this same thing. From the article:

4rr0w_m4k3r owns two of the current-gen game consoles and for these consoles he owns five games that he has yet to play. Yet to even open. He owns more than twenty games that he hasn’t finished, and there are currently twice that number of games on his wish list. Games that he would pick up in an instant if he thought about it.

I’d imagine that describes a lot of us gamers. There’s just so much out there that it’s impossible to enjoy it all. But I find myself turned off even to the newest games. There’s just isn’t much out there catching my eye. A few DS games, but that’s about it.

In the end, I’ll probably end up with a couple of the next generation consoles under my TV. I’ll play a handful of the new games. But with backwards compatibility and a library of downloadable Nintendo games, what will I probably play? The oldies-but-goldies.

Must be hot in here, my eyes are sweating

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MattG at Press the Buttons talks about the emotional responses that video games can evoke. In particular, can a game make you cry? It’s a great piece that is a great read. Check it out.

Myself, I’ve never experienced such a response. I’ve been caught up before in the beauty of games (Wind Waker and Metroid Prime come to mind) but never had the cry response.

Maybe I’m too calloused.

Update: Troy also referred to this question. His story reminded me a game of Age of Kings I was playing back in the day. I was playing as The Turks and was playing against a host of computer enemies. I had fortified my position with a host of bombard towers supported by a bunch of Janissary. One of the remaining enemies was The Vikings. He sent a steady stream of Berserkers into my “Gauntlet of Bombard Tower Death.” I laughed as unit after unit was trashed by 8 inch iron cannon balls. My wife came in to see what was so funny and I explained it to her. She said I was “mean” and that she “felt sorry” for the poor, helpless Vikings. I felt nothing and she felt bad that berserker after berserker lost his life. “Maybe that one had a wife and kids. You’re a heartless killer,” she told me.

Yeah, but I’m racking up the kills, babe!

So again, I guess I’m too calloused to have those reactins.

Why games are devolving

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Are they devolving? Matthew Sakey seems to think so.

“What do you mean by ‘devolving’?” asked one developer.

I mean they’re getting worse.

Read the whole thing. This was the first I’ve read of Sakey but it won’t be the last.

Why didn’t I think of that?

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Everyone has that “Why didn’t I think of that” moment when they see someone have unbelievable success with an obvious invention or turn something sweet and simple into a business model. I actually thought about doing something similar to what Replacement Docs is doing. This site is a boon for anyone who’s rented a game from Blockbuster or Hollywood Video and had to mash buttons (something I’m a fan of) just to figure out the jump or the attack button. Well, mash buttons no more!

I still rememeber renting Super Nintendo games at the local video store and they’d include either the real instruction manual or a photo copy of it. That is almost non-existent now. My grocery store has a video store attached and they include the manuals to their game rentals, but this is a rare occurence now. I know so many games now have pretty extensive tutorials at the beginning of the game, so you get the idea of the controls anyway but I still like having the physical manual. Simple things like the art work and the little details enhance the experience far more than you can get from an in-game tutorial or GameFAQs (which is still a great resource, too). Even though Replacement Docs offers PDF files it’s still are great find.

I really appreciate sites that take the time to support the gaming community like these. They deserve our support in return.

Catching up

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I’ve mentioned a couple times that I have a stack of games. I’ve had a chance to break open a couple of these games and wanted to mention what I’ve played.

The first one I played is R: Racing Evolution. I’ve never played other Ridge Racing games (which I’ve heard are great) but I was pretty disappointed with this one. Sure, there’s the pretty protagonist and a decent story mode, it just didn’t do it for me. The racing wasn’t that great. Controls felt soft and the physics didn’t feel right, either. I’ll probably give this one another try but I wasn’t that impressed.

The other game I played was XIII. This game has a little more promise the R:Racing. I’ve played for a couple hours and I really like the comic book-ish, cel-shaded look. I’m looking forward to making more progress with this one. It seems like it was another game released at an unfortunate time. I picked this one for a song, so if you see it at your favorite second hand store cheap, I recommend picking it up.

I’ve got a few more to play out before family comes to visit this weekend, when most of the gaming time will be devoted to NCAA 2005 and Mario Party. I’ll update those later.

Some more light reading.

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Today we are going to look at couple articles with differing points of view on the direction Nintendo is heading. The first comes from the venerable hardware site, Tom’s Hardware. (NB: I love Tom’s Hardware, a great place for hardware reviews. I haven’t read much in their video game section, but I’ll be keeping my eye on it now.)

Titled “Why is Nintendo Ignoring American Men?”, Christiaan Allebest (Tom Hardware’s video game editor) talks specifically of the future of the DS but talks about Nintendo in general. He, like many others, feel like Nintendo is ignoring the “mature” audience of us American men, video gamers who were brought up on Nintendo. After complaining about the lack of DS games that would appeal to the male gamer, Christiaan closes with

Nintendo needs to reach out to older American gamers, not with the gloved, 3-fingered hand of Mario and his balloon animal friends, but with titles that deal specifically with what fascinates American males most: shooting things, blowing $%#@& up, and scantily-clad ladies.

I like blowing stuff up, just like the rest of us males, but I just can’t agree with this completely. There’s more to gaming that shooting and destruction. For me, I’ve got to think about who’s sitting next to me when I play. I have to be selective of what’s on the screen. The next article explains why.

From PC Magazine (WHAT!? PC Magazine? Bear with me, it’s worth it) we get this article by Jim Louderback, titled “For Families, Nintendo Slams Xbox”. He’s talking about his gaming experience with his son. From the article

Very few Xbox games so far have managed to hold our attention, though. The only one of note: Shrek 2 from THQ.

Shrek 2? That can’t be good. He continues

I’m using my Xbox less and less these days, and playing the GameCube more and more. I love console gaming, and I’m really glad my son does too. Someday we’ll be playing Madden NFL, Halo, and the rest. But not today.

Microsoft would love for the Xbox to become the center of home entertainment. But if the company can’t get its family-games situation together, that won’t happen. And based on what I’ve been playing, they have a long way to go. Without a family-game strategy, the Xbox will remain the province of older boys and men. My solution: Buy Nintendo.

There’s the key, at least in my case. Nintendo has always been my system of choice, and it grew up with me, for a while. People are always saying that Nintendo didn’t grow up enough and embrace us older gamers. But here’s the hitch – gamers like us have grown up. And now, some of us are getting married and having kids. I want some fun, gory games like the rest of us. Resident Evil owned me for weeks. But that’s not the kind of game I would sit down and play with my kids until they are much older.

“Mature” games are an important part of the spectrum of gaming. But Nintendo’s kid/family-oriented games are, too. Games like Paper Mario and Animal Crossing are currently influencing gamers that are as old as we were when we played Super Mario Brothers for the first time. I know after a kid turns 13 it’s all about playing Halo 2, but up to that point they should be playing games that are less serious and more about fun. Like it or not, Nintendo has the section of the market cornered. In the process, Nintendo is building another generation of gamers who know Mario and Luigi and don’t really care about Leon and Master Chief.

The Christmas Lewt Haul

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Once again, the jolly old elf found his way to deliver the goods once again. He had my assistance, he can’t be totally trusted. I helped out by picking up the ViewSonic N5 Video Processor (I mentioned I was getting the N4 but ended up going with the N5. More on that below), Burnout 3: Takedown, and Viewtiful Joe 2. He merrily brought me Metroid Prime 2 and Mario Tennis. On the non-gaming side, he brought me The Christmas Story 20th Anniversary Edition DVD (Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!), the Extended Lord of the Rings Trilogy (my precious), and Aladdin (it’s for the kid). I also think he’s got Need For Speed Underground 2 on back order, it should arrive later this week.

So far, I’ve played some Burnout 3 (Game of the Year Contender) and Metroid Prime 2 (ditto). I’ve played about an hour into Metroid Prime 2 and Retro Studios has done it again. Amid the din of the “it’s same old game, not that that’s necessarily bad” there is an extremely detailed, smooth, wonderfully crafted gem of a game. It takes a lot to peel me away from Halo 2 on Live and Metroid Prime 2 is doing just that. That in-and-of-itself speaks volumes. I haven’t even taken VJ2 and MT out of the plastic yet. My gaming queue is growing out of control.

I sadly must admit that I think I’ll be sending the N5 back to Dell. I had hoped it would be the cure to what ails me – the lack of another TV. With the ButtonWife watching TV on the Sony 27″ WEGA, I don’t get as much game time as I’d like. So I thought the N5 would be an alternative. Unfortunately, my ViewSonic A90 wasn’t meant to be a television after all. It’s a shame it didn’t work out. I never tried the actual TV reception, I only attached my SNES and Gamecube consoles to it. They looked okay but a tad too pixelated for me. I’ll take my chances with TV time for now. I’m on the look-out for a nice, 20″-24″ TV to complete my setup downstairs. But Halo 2 still rocks the house on the Sony.

GameSpy’s 25 Most Memorable Games of the Past 5 Years

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GameSpy: GameSpy’s 25 Most Memorable Games of the Past 5 Years – A retrospective of “Memorable” games from the past five years. You can tell GameSpy’s roots are deeply rooted in PC (FPS) games, but it’s a good read nonetheless.

Sounds like these guys have fun at work! But I’m not jealous! As a graduate student, I played an occasional game of Age of Empires 2 when I was supposed to be working! I know, I’m crazy!

My gaming pedigree

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One’s gaming experience, or as I like to call it, “gaming pedigree,” is often a source of pride for us old-school gamers. We use it to give creedence to our opinions and it gives us a sense of superiority over the casual gamer. So before I spout off any more gaming knowledge, I thought I’d share my gaming pedigree. I’ll list a handful of my favorite games here but look forward to top five lists in the future.

Updated (2/24/2005)

1984-1986

Atari 2600 – This is where it started for most of us. I still remember that frigid Christmas morning, seeing the wood-trimmed piece of hardware, thinking I ruled the world. I played the heck out of my 2600. Favorite games included Space Invaders, Missile Command, Pitfall, and many others. I think my favorite 2600 game was Kaboom! I played that game at every chance I got.

1986-1990

NES – Definitely a big change for me. Christmas of ’86 brought me the cherished Nintendo Entertainment System. I played my NES past “Nintendo Thumb”. It was more like Nintendo Raw, Cracked, Blistered Thumb. I don’t think I could imagine what path I was taking as I played countless Nintendo games. If you would have told me twenty years from then I would still be playing video games I would have said you’re nuts. But here I am, playing away on a my Gamecube.

Trying to choose favorite games would be foolish, there are so many, but a few of my favorites were Baseball Stars, Rygar, Bionic Commando, Contra, any Super Mario Brothers, many many more.

1988-Present

PC’s – While PC gaming has always taken a backseat to console gaming I still take time to get in as much PC gaming as I can. I started out on a whimpy 286, playing Sierra adventure games on my 4-color CGA monitor, but I also played my share of Commodore 64 (even though I never owned a C64), Apple IIe, TSR 80, and others. I played most of the D&D Forgotten Realms and DragonLance games. I played Doom before it was released, when all you could play was the first level, with no weapons or monsters. My favorite genre of PC games is either RPGs or RTS games. I love Blizzard games, played the Age of Empires series to death, and currently play Neocron. While MMORPG appeal to the most basic needs to me, I don’t play them as much as I wish I did.

1989

Game Boy – While I owned the Classic Game Boy I didn’t play it much. I played Tetris on the crapper a lot but I would much rather play on the TV so Game Boy didn’t have much of an impact on my gaming repertoire until much later in life. Tetris still logged hundreds of hours and my mom still plays my original Game Boy.

1991-1994

Super NES – Like many people, I consider the SNES to be the pinnacle of gaming. I hold dear my memories of playing my SNES. I actually remember when my friend rented an imported Super Famicom months before the SNES was released on the masses. We played F-Zero and Mode-7 owned me. I had a crap-load of SNES games. Some of my favorites included Act Raiser, the Final Fantasies, Final Fight, Street Fighter 2, NBA Jams, Super Mario World, the list goes on. Man I loved that machine. I am still waiting to find a good deal on a used SNES with a handful of games on eBay to relive those days. (Update: I purchased a SNES this past November, along with Super Mario World and NBA Jams SE. I am always on the look out for games to add to my collection)

1994-1996

I lived in Spain for two years as a Mormon Missionary, effectively cutting me off from gaming from May 1994 to May 1996. I did get a chance to play a Playstation in one area I lived in, but I didn’t do much gaming from 1994-1996.

1996-2002

Nintendo 64 – I was first in line to get my gaming on after returning from Spain. I got my N64 the day it was released, along with Mario 64, easily one of the greatest games ever. Words don’t do that game justice. I played a handful of games on my N64, but my interest sort of waned as my interest in a certain lady-friend grew. I paid more attention to her and less to the N64, and we were married in August ’97. The N64 came along for the ride down to Columbus but only got pulled out occasionally to play Killer Instinct. I missed out on most of the seminal N64 games, like Perfect Dark, Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye (I played this a couple times) and others. I spent most of this time on the PC but my interest was sparked by the release of the Gamecube. My N64 was sacrificed as a trade for my Gamecube. I will own another N64 and go through some of the games I missed.

2002-Present

Gamecube – Ahhh, the Nintendo Gamecube. I hold the Gamecube near and dear to my heart. It was what made console gaming relevant for me again, easing me back into the gaming scene. So many good games for the little black box. My favorite Gamecube game is easily The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker. I think there is so much detail and beauty in that game that gets overlooked by the A.D.D.-generation. Scenes in the underwater Castle are breathtaking. Easily my number one game, EVER. Metroid Prime is top ten, as well. NCAA 2004 has consumed many hours of my time (I am a HUGE college football fan). There are countless others: Viewtiful Joe, Prince of Persia, NFS:Underground. The list goes on.

2003-Present

Game Boy Advanced SP – I don’t know why I waited so long to pick one of these up, but the GBA-SP is an amazing piece of hardware. I have a back log of good games, so it will take me a while to catch up but I am currently playing classics like Advance Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Doom on the GBA takes me back to my old PC Doom days.

2004 and beyond

Don’t get the idea that I have only played Nintendo Systems. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve played all the Sega Systems (Man I was jealous of Altered Beast when the Genesis came out), I have played PS1/2, they don’t do much for me. I played the ill-fated Turbo-Grafx 16, the Neo-Geo, sheesh, I could go on but you get the point.

Who knows where I go from here. I am still contemplating the XBox angle. (Update: I picked up an XBox and have played the heck out of Halo 2. I also played the very disappointing Fable but traded that away a while ago because it SUCKED SO BAD. I’ve got other XBox games, I’ve just got so many games that I need to play) There are a handful of games that look good that I want to play and I can’t deny the allure of Halo 2. I’ve never been drawn to the PS2, I don’t know why, but I doubt I’ll ever pick one up. But if I can convince Greta of that XBox, mmhhmhmmm.