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What will be the last game you ever get? Many gamers assume that question simply depends on a bit of morbid posturing on when they die, and back up the clock a bit. But what if it was a conscious decision? What if, sometime in the future, you as a video game player picked up a game, or received one as a gift, and said definitively, "This is it. The last game I'll ever add to what I already have."
Kinda smacks as weird, huh? And perhaps more monumental than it really should. Firsts and lasts are generally memorable, and since most gamers assume they will be playing something off and on until they kick the bucket (and most of us are uncomfortable pondering our own end,) we don't normally think about what would be the last video game we will ever own.
But what if it were on purpose? A decision to stop buying any more games. Not for financial or practical reasons (though understandable, naturally) but because we have all we'll ever 'need' to play? Oh sure, it's perhaps easier to ponder for a collector who has more games to play than free time will ever allow, (ahem) but between free-to-play models, Steam sales, compilations, retro digital offerings, and future streaming options, most gamers have easy access to more games than they could ever complete.
And yet, even as many are lukewarm to the new generation of hardware, the assumption is that once prices come down and more games are released, we'll buy-in somewhere. Many gamers are even choosing now to jump into the 360/PS3 generation for the first time, given that prices are low, libraries are huge, and bugs are known if not resolved. Gaming is by nature technologically driven; more detailed graphics, longer (in theory) games, more (in theory) intelligent AI, higher player counts, added features, etc. Not every gamer ascribes to the 'newer is better' mantra, but few would argue against a future that continuously provides more options.
Yet the constant addition of game machines and games every year provides an embarrassment of riches to gamers who play more than the occasional title. It has literally become mathematically impossible to play, thoroughly, every new game released in a year, even if money allows it. Sure, each genre will have slow months and even years. But the back catalogue in each main (and many sub-) type of game has , with few if any exceptions, eclipsed the ability for a fan to have completely engaged each relevant title, not to mention each game in the genre.
Of course, the industry doesn't bank on a gamer's desire to play absolutely everything for everything. Its not uncommon to find a video game player who only plays one or two types of games:
The JRPG fan with a little strategy gaming on the side. The sports and Call of Duty bro. The $800 rig (not counting the actual PC) racing pro who dabbles in flight games. The MMO and-what-else-would-I-have-time-for? guru. The modern whatever's-free-on-tablets -and-phones casual.
When a gamer's scope is very focused (some would indeed say limited) it is easier to justify the constant upscale that the business-end of gaming runs on. Play out each Call of Duty and map-pack until the next game; hope that next year is more than a roster update and actually addresses legacy issues; upgrade your phone/tab to run the new wave of apps and games. A steady stream of new content to fit the field. And if you are more of a general gamer, chances are things aren't much different overall; a constant flow of 'gotta finish x to get to y'. Sometimes the games aren't even Pokemon.
Thus the consumer service is born. And all those folks who bought a Wii for Wii Sports, played for awhile, had their fun, and never bought a new game? Maybe they bug us because it goes against the modern consumerist gaming mentality. Played the next game, 'beat it,' and then moved it aside for some new hotness. Are games to be consumed and then tossed aside? Is this the only way to go about our hobby?
Well, sure, for an entertainment process it works. And I'd be rather pretentious to claim it 'should' be otherwise. But what if we stopped buying 'new' games? What if we looked back and decided, 'you know, I love old platform games. If I wanted, I could just go back and play all the greats I haven't played in awhile and ones I missed. Then, I could investigate and find platform games I never tried and played those.' After that, maybe I'm in an arcade racing game mood. I could start with the Burnout series, then move to ...'
Basically, almost each genre in gaming now has so many options, it would be feasible to spend our gaming time entrenched in genres we like, playing games already released, and not run out of material. It begs the question; why do we keep pursuing more new games when we haven't really played everything before? Especially in these days of PSOne/2 downloads and Nintendo's eShop, backwards compatibility and the relatively inexpensive costs for many older systems and games? In some ways it would make much more sense; as mentioned in previous articles, these games are going to slowly get harder to find and play, on hardware that is becoming ever more scarce.
Most gamers who have been through a few generations of hardware have likely played through a bulk of games that interested them and them moved on to the next system. We often 'beat' a game and then trade it, sell it, or store it, but rarely revisit it. Does that mean endless games have better value simply because they cannot be considered 'beaten?' Is Galaga inherently a more valuable video game than Radiant Silvergun? Or is it better for a game to have visible signposts, completion markers that signal it 'OK' to move on to the next game?
Obviously, there is not going to be a unified correct answer. I'm not advocating a position, but an examination. I want to make sure I don't have pre-existing assumptions about the how's and why's. I don't want to assume I have to buy the new thing because it is the new thing, anymore than I want to close off the future and assume nothing past a certain era is worth my attention. We can spend some time involved with something, and never remember to stop, look up, identify where we are, and plan to get where we want to be. As games have transitioned beyond quick-fix, in-and-out experiences and into involving, ever deepening virtual universes, the temptation can be to trudge ahead without pausing to wonder why we play what we play, and question if perhaps there is something better. A better game, a more enjoyable genre for our tastes, an unquestioned bias that we didn't realize we owned. A different way to go about things entirely.
Maybe we are better served widening our experiences, or focusing on favorites. Maybe a shotgun approach really fits us best. Maybe we should let games just be games, or perhaps use them as another lens by which we examine ourselves and the world around us. Maybe I can keep playing games as an excuse to ask more questions. Or the other way around.
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Posted on Feb 11th 2014 at 08:17:34 PM by ( bombatomba) Posted under C64 |
Note: I procrastinated far too long in putting this together - well over a week. It kind of bums be out since this was something I wanted to do for quite a while now. Anyway, I've since moved ahead with another "project," which I hope to put in my blog soon. Until then, this is the last of the "My Hunt of C64" blog entries.
I got a bunch more stuff from ebay, one part being an actual working C64 from an auction where it was listed as "dead." I was extremely excited, and immediately commenced to playing what games I had (on cartridge and tape, that is). Shortly after I received a C64 care package from our own Nupoile, then more gaming commenced. My current favorite controller is the Atari 2600 clone that comes with the Atari Flashback 3. It's basically a VCS controller with a bit more "give" in the movement, allowing for more gaming with less soreness (something that I've always had trouble with the original VCS joysticks).
From Nupoile:
Epyx Fast Load Cartridge
Radar Rat Race
Kickman
Frog Master
Speed Bingo/Math
From ebay and other sources:
1x Commodore 64 Breadbox (gray function keys)
1x C64 PSU
3x joysticks
1x 300ohm switch box
Tooth Invaders (loose)
Kickman (box and manual only)
Frogger (Parker Brothers, game and box)
Popeye (CIB)
Q Bert (CIB)
Skyfox (CIB)
Curse of the Azure Bonds (CIB)
Flight Simulator II (CIB)
The Captive (CIB)
The Magic Candle (disks only)
Times of Lore (disk only)
Since a good chunk of NA C64 games are on disk, I decided to invest in a working disk drive. After a bit of patience and research I managed to find someone who had several 1571 disk drives and was willing to return if needed (a requirement) and made the purchase. Unfortunately over the course of a week I went through this person's stock of disk drives before we discovered that none of them worked. However, this person was extremely understanding and gave me my money back (though he didn't want the drives back). Kind of sucky but at least I only lost time. Also I have some really great cartridge and tape games to jam on (Radar Rat Race and Tooth Invaders are extremely interesting, while I plan on making the music in Forbidden Forest a ringtone on my phone).
So is this the end of my C64 journey? The short answer is no. There are more than a few titles that I would like to get my grubby mitts on (Spare Change, Demon Attack, Blueprint, Jumpman, etc.), but I can say that the kind of mindless buying-spree I was on just recently is officially over. I have learned a lot of lessons about the C64 and even old computers in general. But I'm not done. There are just too many great games on the platform that I want to play.
Ha! I bet you all thought I was gone for good, huh? Well, I'm not. I've just been busy with stupid crap. Among that stupid crap though, I was able to squeeze in some Gaming time. Here's what I've been playing.
[img width=640 height=903]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/7/1/1/714711_318335_front.jpg[/img]
That's Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. You know, Fighting, Girls, Ninjas, the usual stuff. Clearly not the most popular fighting game franchise in the world, but it's up there. I've already cleared the highest difficulty, so now I mostly play online against friends or whatever player has the unfortunate luck to cross my path. Did I mention that I'm good at this game? Heh.
[img width=640 height=904]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/3/9/9/673399_311853_front.jpg[/img]
Dead Island Riptide is the sequel to Dead Island. While the gameplay HAS been improved since the first game, it hasn't been improved much. Still, it's good enough to warrant a playthrough. Definitely an average game, yet I find myself having fun playing it. Then again, who could complain about slaying virtual zombies?
[img width=640 height=911]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/1/6/3/944163_98019_front.jpg[/img]
Two Worlds II is the very definition of average...It's Single Player mode anyway. The Multiplayer is where it really shines...in a sense. There is no System Link or Couch Co-Op here, unfortunately. The Multiplayer is Online Only, playing very much like an MMORPG, which may turn some people away. Still, it's Multiplayer can be quite fun, but it IS a chore to play sometimes.
Well, that's it for now. See you all next entry.
Title: Digital: A Love Story
System: PC
Release: 02/2012
Genre: Visual Novel
It the early days of the internet, 1988 to be precise, you have just purchased your first computer, a new Amie Workbench. You began with the numbers numbers of a couple of Bulletin Board Systems, and from them you will learn the ins and outs of the early internet, including the seedier sides like early pirating and hacking. Through your travels you will meet Emilia, and after an accident she disappears and its up to you to try and find a way to contact her again, using only a scrambled message that she was able to get to you.
As far as controls and presentation go, Digital is pretty bare bones. Inputs are handled exclusively with the keyboard and mouse, while the game's interface is meant to emulate a late 80s Amiga interface. Sound is pretty space, only a handful of songs, a few of which are catchy, but they'll start to wear pretty thin by the end of your playthrough, the only real sound effect in the game is the nostalgic dial up modem, that anyone you used the internet in the days of dial up should be ever so familiar with. The writing is truly where the game shines, while it's a little rough around the edges, the story is worth playing from start to finish to see Ms. Love's story playout.
Digital isn't for everyone, but for a first foray into the visual novel genre, this isn't really a bad choice. It's linear, but there are a few mysteries for the player to uncover during the course of the game's short campaign, that left me scratching my head and running in circles for a short time. For a game with essentially zero graphics, it is well written and it's clear that Ms. Love and her team had a grander idea than their initial outing would allow. Thankfully, those ideas would eventually seen fruition in their future titles.
Rating - 6 / 10 (Above Average)
Episode 20 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=13521
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Unfortunately, our co-host Crabby has had to take a sabbatical to keep the fantastic Game Quest running in tip-top shape. We used this opportunity to get everyone's favorite Singlebanna, Rich, onto the show to talk Atari 2600. We talk about our memories of the system, collecting for the VCS, and some of our gaming favorites. Do you have fond memories of the system? Was the 2600 before your time? What should you keep an eye out for when you are shopping? Be sure to leave us comments and let us know!
Show Notes
Music: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode (NES)
9:57 Atari 2600 Discussion
2:31:54 Small Scores
5:44:34 Outro
I knew for a long time that PlayStation Plus was a great deal. At first, it just wasn't a great deal for me.
Now that I have it, it's still a great deal, but I'm at odds with the way it has steadily changed my gaming habits.
Back in the summer of 2010 when Sony announced PlayStation Plus, the addition of the Instant Game Collection rotation created one of the best deals in gaming, even if it boiled down to a Gamefly-like digital service where someone else picked out the rental games every month.
Since then the catalog has grown for several years, to the point that if one owned Sony platforms and an internet connection, the service could practically provide enough games to last a customer indefinitely. The longer the subscription, naturally, the more choices and variety in games become available. By design PlayStation Plus rewards those who have subscribed the longest. While I appreciated the design and intent, I had little desire to buy-in since I prefer physical copies and played my 360 much more often at the time.
Fast forward a few years, MS's focus on Kinect, and a promotion that allowed me to pick up PS Plus for a free year, and I find myself with every Sony system and a quickly growing backlog of games only visible from a menu. Given the PS4's requirement of PS Plus for online play, I took advantage of 2013's Black Friday, and let's just say I'll have Plus for... awhile.
Especially compared to the very meager Games with Gold feature added to Live, Plus is still easily one of the best deals in gaming, and at this point it would be silly for me to argue otherwise since I've greatly enjoyed many of the free games and discounts provided, not to mention the online fun on PS4. However, video games developing into an entertainment service as opposed to an entertainment product still goes against my personal philosophy and Plus is a poster child for such an implementation.
This change is not just rhetorical, much as I would like it to be. I've found that I now plan my gaming around what is announced for free each month on the service. It's not always intentional, and of course it could easily be argued that a simple matter of willpower should break this trend. In fact, many years ago I had to break my habit of playing for Achievements instead of fun, a practice I slowly developed and struggled hard to eventually overcome. The difference, at least in part, is that Achievements only tied into a virtual scoreboard and not my personal list of desired gaming experiences. While it was a surprisingly tough mental addiction to break, once I did it was easy to 'play what I want to play' instead of 'play what I bizarrely feel I should play for arbitrary score regardless of if I'm having fun.'
When it comes to Plus, games I would have perhaps desired to play later are front and center, and there is a greater incentive to play them before they get lost in the digital pile, a list that sticks out less than the physical copies of games on our shelves. I know that I'm far less likely to dig up a game from a digital back-catalog than a game temporarily forgotten on the shelf. In fact a cursory glance at my 360 XBLA games reminded me that I never completed Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a game I had once eagerly awaited, excitedly played for a few hours (including a nifty co-op mode) and somehow promptly forgot about. I'm correcting that now, and shaking my head at how it happened, and I know that exact scenario has played out a number of times.
I could just 'play what I want' but as the back catalog builds and the hard drive space shrinks (especially on PS4) I find myself once again picking and choosing experiences based more on what's on the Instant Game Collection rotation before it disappears. I tag every game to download so it's not completely gone from my grasp, but I know if I have to search previous downloads to find it, it's even less likely to be played than if it only existed on hard drive.
Having fake cases to display for digital copies of games may seem silly, but now I genuinely understand the idea. Once it's out of sight, it's out of mind, even for desirable games.
Of course this is all silly. It's just games on a service, and it's quite a silly complaint to fuss about how there are so many games popping up I want to play that I'm letting many slip through my limited attention. If that were the only problem, I'd just shrug and move on.
The real problem for me, though, goes back to intentionality. Back in the glory days of the NES and SNES, my friends and I would pour over every new (pre-internet) gaming magazine. Each picture of a game we wanted grew our expectations. Even when a game was released, limited funds meant sometimes those previews and reviews were the extent of our experience with a game for quite some time, and it built up the desire and passion to really get as much out of the experience as possible. The tempered wait, the lofty expectations, the intentionality of playing games meant that even the poor quality ones were often savored, and the great ones were truly cherished.
The opposite of this, for me, are Steam sales. I'd be a hypocrite for griping about buying access to dozens (or hundreds) of great indie and big name games for a few bucks apiece. Yet this complete saturation of immediate gaming breaks down the intentionality of gaming. In a few short years, these sales have made having a backlog like mine very commonplace. Sure, a game can be picked and downloaded easily from the digital library list, but how many folks are intentionally savoring each, or even a few, of those games the way we used to before such access was available?
During the original PlayStation era, I knew a fellow who would rent each game as it was released, play through it as fast as possible, and return it for something he hadn't yet 'beat.' I hadn't thought much about it until I began asking him about the actual games he played.
"How did you like Vandal Hearts?"
"Who?"
"Vandal Hearts. You said you finished it last week."
"That the one with the squares?"
"The one with th- What? Squares?"
"Yeah, didn't you have to move each guy on little squares?"
"...yeah, sort of? I liked how in the story-"
"Yeah, I don't remember the story. That was like two games ago."
"Seriously? You don't even remember when-"
"I remember, like, the cool Mr. T with a gun for an arm. He was cool."
"Gun for a-... that was Final Fantasy VII!!"
"Was it? Oh, I remember that one. It had the bike, right? I wanted to just stay on the bike. That was cool."
"I... have to go cry in a corner for awhile now."
"You should totally sell your old Nintendo crap and buy Madden."
"Great. I'm about to have to cry in the corner of a jail cell."
That's a paraphrase, but the idea is there. He was the original games-as-service customer. He played through each game as a notch on a scoreboard, and moved on. And as much as that's not me, I respect that's just how some folks game. That's their entertainment, their unwind, their free-time preference.
This approach does, however, work against the 'games as an art media,' but that's another article. More to the point, I have no desire to engage in video games this way; I want to intentionally experience individual game creations. I'm not looking to elevate Bomberman to Shakespeare, but I do want to make sure that when I play a video game I'm not going to look back at the last hour and think, 'that wasn't what I wanted to spend my free time doing.' And I find that games-as-service models, such as PlayStation Plus, tend to rewrite my gaming time to match its schedule instead of me proactively choosing how to spend my time.
Will I be able to break myself of this tendency like my Gamerscore pursuit before it? Or has Plus become a fixture I'll wrap my gaming around until those servers are shut off and I lose every game I never got around to? Am I trapped in a game providing service the same way monthly paid MMOs 'trap' me into feeling I have to play enough each week to justify the cost? Does it really matter?
The first step of intentionality is to identify the factors involved, both static and dynamic. So here's step one, and that answers the last question; any pursuit that improves understanding of the self is a worthwhile venture, especially when video games can be involved.
Looks like 2014 is already 1/12th over. Despite off and on connection issues, our dedicated members have been hard at work makin' those submissions. In fact, you guys made over 2600 submissions in January. Which is very commendable considering the sporadic outages we've been experiencing. And if those outages have been keeping you away from making submissions and from the site in general, I've got some good news for you. There will be more info once it's all done, but rest assured everything will be lightning fast again by the end of the month.
So who made all those submissions in January? Well, it was mostly ApolloBoy with 757 submissions! ericeskapade had over 400, and HungryMoose and Shadow Kisuragi each had over 200. And of course, there were another 63 members who together made another 1000 submissions. So thanks to all of you who helped out this January, I know it wasn't easy with the downtime and sluggish load times.
As always, I'd like to thank our dedicated submission-approving team that has to deal with all of those submissions every month. Our top approvers in January were Tynstar and Shadow Kisuragi with over 700 and over 400 approvals respectively. Paully3433 also had over 100 approvals in January.
Thanks again everyone, and if you've been putting off those submissions because of our site issues, be assured it will be getting better, but as always, good things take some time, so expect things to get speedier by the end of February, and possibly sooner, depending on how smoothly things go. We're definitely trying to roll out these changes as quickly as we can.
Hi folks!
It's been a while since I've posted anything here, mostly because I've been posting semi-regularly at my blog over at ControlPadBlues.com.
I know a few of my friends read the blog whenever I post, and I don't think I have much of a following, which I am completely okay with! This was, after all, a personal journey through my own childhood memories, and an outlet that was infinitely better than random Facebook statuses that were sure to have me "hidden" from many friends' feeds. haha
In any case, after completing my Top 100 favourite games countdown, my friend Jordan asked the million dollar question; "what do you do next?"
Well, to tell the truth, I still have a dinky little Notepad document with various games and the childhood memories I have attached to them. Whenever I feel like writing up a post, I refer to that, and make the best use of those skills I gathered before dropping out of Journalism at Saint Thomas University (here in Fredericton, New Brunswick).
Avoid clutter. That is all.
Anyway, aside from Grand Theft Auto V (which is beautiful and a lot of fun, by the way), my interest in more recent games has dwindled. How could I get "back on the wagon", so to speak?
Moving the blog into video form, of course!
The concept is pretty simple - play games, remenisce about all the little things in life that playing them reminds us of, include a bit of visual stimulation to break up the "monotony" of "just gameplay", and share it for the world to see.
We couldn't care less if he and I ended up being the only two who watched these videos, and we honestly think that's the way we should approach these.
Here's the catch, however.
Jordan is from here in Fredericton, but lives in Montreal, about a nine hour drive away. He was my witness when I married my wife in 2011, and I was his witness when he married his wife just last September. I don't doubt that being this far away from his family can be pretty tough, at times, so I think playing through some games together can help bridge that gap a little bit.
Of course, there is no way to play these together aside from emulators, which I feel a bit dirty in using. I used to be a-ok using them, but once I started collecting, fuggetaboutit. Still, it's the only way for us to do this... for now.
In any case, we hope to have the first video up by next week, some time. We spent an hour and a half playing (and being awful at) Super Mario Bros. 2 last night, and we feel that we've done a pretty fun job of remeniscing.
At least for us, anyway. That's all that matters, isn't it?
As video games become more culturally relevant, the skills and artistry needed to create such media becomes more appreciated. The occasional name-drop such as Will Wright, Sid Meier, or Hironobu Sakaguchi gives deserved credit and helps gamers to find and follow those responsible for their favorites. However, like movies or music bands, many of the other important and project-defining people are rarely listed or known.
One such under-credited job are the teams responsible for porting a pre-existing game to different hardware. Like a movie's editor or lighting director, if the job is done well it's easy to forget them, but if something goes bad...
And gaming has certainly had its share of bad ports;
From the passable (Killer Instinct on SNES)
to the abysmal (Street Fighter II on ZX Spectrum)
to the notorious. (Pac-man on Atari 2600)
Despite the fact that the large majority of gamers do not have any working knowledge of how a video game is made, many assume that the process of porting a video game from one console to another, especially onto more powerful hardware, is a simple and straightforward task. For example, the original Sonic the Hedgehog was released in '91, so putting a version of it on much more powerful hardware made ten years later should be a cinch, right? For anyone unfortunate enough to pick up the glitchy, frame-rate stuttering, tinny sounding Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis port that came out on the Game Boy Advance, apparently it's not as easy as CTRL-C and CTRL-V with a few touch-ups.
It is perhaps more understandable to have problems when a new game is developed for multiple systems around the same time. Battlefield 4 has become a poster child for the disaster of releasing what appears to be an unfinished, buggy game with intentions to patch later. Frustrating as it is, one thing to keep in mind is that within a fairly short window, the game released for (count 'em!) PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows. Four consoles and PC, each with very different hardware and challenges, two of which are completely new to the developer. Sure, other games have released across this spectrum, including EA's own much-better running Need for Speed: Rivals. However, Battlefield 4 has a massive online player count, a (mostly) high frame rate, and many features and components that arguably push the respective systems beyond contemporary releases. In short, to have such a massively complex game with five different builds release close to the same time is an undertaking the average game player honestly cannot comprehend.
Don't think I'm letting EA or Dice off the hook, mind you! I've had the PS4 version of Battlefield 4 and Premium since day one, and it's been a yo-yo of excitement and disappointment. Certainly, I think if the game wasn't ready for release, it should have had longer to cook, and likely some systems are requiring more work than others to fix completely unrelated issues across platforms. Even games released for a single system can wait months, or indefinitely, for corrective patches. That Battlefield 4 has seen multiple patches across all five platforms since release (and still has issues across the board) speaks to the monumental challenge of making each version work as intended. Obviously, even with the money and manpower behind one of gaming software's biggest juggernauts, these problems cannot be easily resolved.
In a completely different area of ports, there are the challenges for Farsight Studios, makers of The Pinball Arcade. Whereas Zen Studio's popular Pinball FX series takes pinball into magical realism with tables that only exist in the virtual realm, The Pinball Arcade is an attempt to replicate, as close as possible, original real-world machines. From buying and deconstructing the actual pinball tables, digitizing all the art, and creating 3D models of each visible component, Farsight Studios takes a painstaking, documentary-like approach usually only seen in series like Gran Turismo or Forza.
Here's a glimpse at their process:
http://www.nintendolife.c...wii_u_3ds_and_kickstarter
Next to the eye-candy of Pinball FX2's tables (including my favorites, Plants Versus Zombies and Empire Strikes Back) the extraordinary work involved in a digital replica of original tables can easily go unappreciated. Sadly, here Farsight Studios often doesn't help itself. I own most of their physical collections, and the most recent disc copy of The Pinball Arcade has an ultra low-budget feeling front end. Despite being released for multiple systems, there are no cross-buy options. There have been occasional sound and support issues, and the patch list of fixes and soon-to-come features is even larger than Battlefield 4's. Yet despite all this, (and undoubtedly having a small team to work with,) Farsight's underdog work in keeping pinball alive in a digitized form has kept me on their virtual tables much longer than Pinball FX, and despite its clunkiness the PS4 disc has stayed put in the system.
But my favorite example of a recent port brimming with passion for the source is definitely Galaxy Force II on the 3DS, part of the Sega 3D Classics line. As much as I like Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shinobi III, adding 3D to these classics comes across as a nifty but completely unnecessary parlor trick. Galaxy Force II, on the other hand, was designed as a 3D perspective game using nifty sprite wizardry. Out of SEGA's back catalogue considered for 3D ports, those with 'Super-Scalar' technology are the premier chance to put the effect to great use.
Initially, I had no real interest in Galaxy Force II for the 3DS. It had many strikes against it as a digital-only release of a game with a history of unimpressive home ports, whose only notable new feature was something I never use. (To be fair about the home ports, I never imported the PS2 Sega Ages version, though now price and not interest is the barrier.) However, a chance read over at www.hardcoregaming101.net lead to this interview:
http://blogs.sega.com/201...erview-with-developer-m2/
And after reading about the crazy amount of passion for this project, I was enamored with how the team tackled each challenge. Despite the massive increase in hardware power the 3DS represents over a 1988 arcade board, their description of the process involved requiring encyclopedic knowledge of the original hardware and a constant search for efficient coding tricks in order to get the game running. Then running at 60FPS, then running with sound, then running in 3D, then running in 3D with a perspective of riding the original moving cabinet. It's a fascinating read, especially to gamers who assume that a simple copy-paste rom and some tweaks are all it takes to get a game running on hardware other than the original.
After becoming so impressed with the effort involved, and since the fruit of their efforts was available for six bucks, I decided to give it a shot, and now I realize that reading developer interviews may be dangerous for my wallet.
You wouldn't expect a game from 1988 to be the showpiece for the 3D on the 3DS. But after viewing the game with the slider almost all the way up, this was the first 'wow' experience I've had that stayed that way through the entire game. Even jostling the screen around and having the angle occasionally pop in and out of 3D while getting into the game, I never wanted to move that slider. Galaxy Force II felt as if it were a game designed around the effect, and the fluidity and responsiveness made the game play more like a nostalgic mind's eye version instead of a cruel reality version of an old classic.
Sure, it took longer to read the article than to complete the game (admittedly with some helps turned on to relieve some of that old-school quarter-munching gameplay) but the game is so much fun to play, I want to go right back to it. Every ounce of dedication I read about is visible onscreen and felt in the action. What could have been a cheap, quick cash-in on an old name feels like a true labor of love and a reminder of why SEGA's arcade days were so lauded.
It's a cheap download with no substantial marketing, a quickly-finished arcade experience in a list of hundreds of games for a system who's namesake feature has been abandoned even by its creator. Developer M2 no doubt knows just how niche this little game is, and yet they treated it as if they were given a precious gem to shine and display brighter than ever before.
When ports go bad, everybody points a finger and moves on. When a port is good, gamers tend to shrug and just pick it up for their system of choice, often not giving a second thought as to the immense work it likely took to get there. When a port is a passion project, built with care and attention, sometimes it becomes even better than the original and deserves attention.
So kudos and thanks to all the artists, programmers, engineers, and talent that occasionally, quietly produce a port that shows their passion.
A couple years back I started blogging heavily here about my experiences collecting (and playing) Dreamcast games. But over time my focus would shift back and forth from Dreamcast to other stuff. The shifting tended to dilute what I envisioned in my mind as the proper way to display my DC collecting. Which is why earlier this month I decided to launch my own site called appropriately enough "noiseredux vs. Dreamcast."
[img width=700 height=393]http://i.imgur.com/X8lCTTF.png[/img]
The main reason was that I didn't want to keep this NRvsDC thing going as a blog... I don't really like that format for such an endeavor. I like organization that can only be accomplished via an actual site rather than a blog.
You can head over to http://noiseredux.weebly.com to see what I'm talking about.
The new NRvDC site offers up my write-ups (including ones I've migrated from my blog here) on Dreamcast and Neo Geo Pocket games as I explore my own collection. It's important to note that I don't really consider these "reviews." They're generally more anecdotal. Or rambling even. Consider it just a collector's journal. It also has its own blog that I'll use for chronicling my pick-ups.
As far as my blog here - I'll most likely use it for more scattered thoughts. It's not like I'm abandoning RFGen, but this noiseredux vs. Dreamcast site is just really the way I've always envisioned the presentation.
Title: World Heroes (via World Heroes Anthology)
System: Playstation 2
Genre: Fighting
The premise of World Heroes sounds like a brilliant idea for a fighting game on paper, grab some of the greatest warriors from history (or at least caricatures of them) and throw them into one on one fights to the death. Sadly, as great as this premise is, the developers at Alpha Denshi just weren't able to do much with it. The game's story sees a scientist, Dr. Brown, doing exactly what I explained above, bringing together the greatest warriors in history in order to determine which of them is history's greatest warrior. Sadly the game suffers from a multitude of problems that prevent it form becoming something that gamers will always remember.
Beginning with the game's controls, the gameplay feels stiff and there seems to be some amount of input lag when performing input for movies. I admit that this could be caused by playing the game as part of the World Heroes Anthology, however, it still causes issues with the gameplay as it makes it difficult to fight well against the game's AI, especially on the higher difficulty. Sadly, the stiff controls are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the game's problems, as the game's presentation is simply not up to par with other games of the time. Character sprites are large, but look a little blurry and most of the designs are less than memorable. It's not hard to see why many of the characters were left out of future SNK compilations, like Neo Geo Battle Colosseum. The audio is also less than memorable, where a game like Street Fighter II had very memorable tunes that I would find myself humming or whistling even more than twenty years after the games release, however I would be hard pressed to remember a single piece of sound from this game.
Ultimately, World Heroes came out at an awkward time to be a fighting game. Dropping after the release of Street Fighter II, but before Mortal Kombat, it really just got lost in the shuffle, but due to its stiff controls, a forgettable cast, and an unimpressive presentation it's not hard to see why the arcade crowd in the nineties felt their quarters were best spent elsewhere. This game is interesting as nothing more than a curiosity to fans of the genre, and I could see no reason for anyone else to dust off this relic.
Rating 2 / 10 (Awful) ![]() ![]()
Today, I'm here to do a little comparison between two Android Devices: The Ouya and the Nvidia Shield.
[img width=672 height=371]http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Ouya.jpg[/img]
VS.
[img width=550 height=550]http://forum.xda-developers.com/deviceForum/screenshots/2236/20130620T012327.png[/img]
I will be categorizing each device's performance in a specific area as follows:
Space
The first thing I noticed about the Shield is that it had twice the space that the Ouya had. The Ouya has 8 GBs of Space, while the Shield has 16 GB. Although both have a method for expanding the space, the Ouya using a standard USB Thumb Drive, and the Shield a Micro SD, the connection between the Ouya and the USB Drive is clearly loose. That is to say, the connection between the two loosened over time, and now it's hard to keep the Drive staying in the thing. As for the Shield, I can't really speak, as I do not have a Micro SD to use with it at this time. Still, because the Shield has more space to spare, it wins in this category.
Updates
Okay, this is probably more of a Personal Problem on my part because I hate it when devices are slow, but the Ouya takes FOREVER to update. I swear, I sat around for 2+ Hours waiting for it to update. This kind of stuff makes me sick. As for the Shield, it updates quickly, in less than 5 Minutes from what I've seen so far. In my opinion though, the update speed for the Ouya really is a huge glaring issue that should be fixed, but it probably won't be. The same idea applies to apps for both devices too. On the Shield, it's fast, but on the Ouya, it's super slow.
Apps
Okay...I'm not much of an App Person when it comes to devices like this. That is, Android Games? Not really my thing. Still, from what I HAVE seen, the Apps are mostly the same, despite the fact that the Ouya uses it's own store, and NOT the Google Play Store.
Performance
Now for the fun part...the performance of the devices! That is, the performance of Apps on each device. I've noticed that there is input lag between the screen and the controller on the Ouya, which makes playing...say, a SNES Emulator, difficult. The thing is, if you press the Jump Button on the Controller, it may wait a split-second or so before the Character on the screen actually jumps. This is nonexistent (or at least close to it) on the Shield. As for the performance of Apps themselves, the Shield clearly wins here, as there is no stuttering, skipping, audio problems, etc., on the Shield. The Shield also has WAY more power than the Ouya. How this could be possible, I really don't know or fully understand to be honest. The Shield is a Handheld, and the Ouya is a Console, but it's quite clear that the Shield is more powerful. For example, the Ouya can barely run a PS1 Emulator, but the Shield runs the same emulator perfectly, and it also ran a Dreamcast Emulator almost flawlessly (Yes, a Dreamcast Emulator. Give that a moment to sink in.) I may be a bit biased in the following statement, but when it ran Conker's Bad Fur Day at a playable level via N64 Emulator...I was pretty damn impressed, to say the least.
Conclusion
I know I was harsh on the Ouya, but I really don't think the developers of it were thinking clearly when they constructed it. I mean, they probably had good intentions, but damn, is it bad. Yes, I do favor the Shield, and yes, it does win this Comparison of mine.
DISCLAIMER: This Comparison is an opinion. If you disagree with it, fine, but as always, please keep the comments section of this entry civil.
First I would like to say that I have not gone to the pawns, though I did visit a few thrifts. After sifting through the tape bins, the vinyl (for old EA jacket-style cases), the books and magazines, the keyboard bins, looking through the "dump" shelves, and getting the cashiers to let me look through the games (reluctantly they do so) I didn't find anything. Not so bad, as I didn't think I would find success quickly.
I got a C64 (pictures coming in Small Scores, tonight or tomorrow, I swear!). Actually two from the same person along with a dataset, a 1541 (also working), as well as some tapes, books, and disks. I was told it previously belonged to a collector, and I could have the lot for a decent price. I snapped it up and took it home, brimming with excitement. Do you see where this is going? Well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. After the kiddies were asleep I had a closer look at my new stash. Broken down:
1x CIB C64 Breadbox (gray function keys)
1x loose C64 Breadbox w/ no power supply (gray function keys)
1x Data.Corder (off-brand dataset)
1x 1541 Disk Drive with serial cable, Demo disk, and operators booklet
4x tapes (three games and one xx)
2x disks marked "Game Disk 1" and "Game Disk 2"
4x financial productivity programs (two unopened)
2x 300ohm switch box
1x 75ohm converter
1x Book called, "Commodore 64 Troubleshooting & Repair Guide" (guides and schematics)
Assorted programming books
First thing I opened the CIB C64, plugged it in, and power it in. I was greeted by the expected C64 screen with very strange flashing, multicolored text. Hmm. I plugged in the dataset and queued up Forbidden Forest. After the expected amount of time the game loaded and I started playing. The screen exibited the same flashing text as well as some sprites which slightly obscured the action. Hmm. The Internet suggests either a bad power supply (very common), or bad graphics chips. The power supply can be replaced, but I was cautioned against this, as most C64 power supplies are now serious fire hazards that tend to fry their own hardware. The chip is currently beyond my ability to fix. Not great in my case, really.
I decided to try the 1541 next. After reading the booklet I hooked it up and got it ready. Loading up a disk gave me a FILE NOT FOUND error. A quick Google suggested a drive alignment problem, a drive head that needs cleaning, or a mixture of both. That's fine, as I can do this quite simply. To be honest I didn't expect the drive to work, and had thought about investing later in a SD2IEC, which will solve the problem of the drive going out again while still providing realistic loading times (i.e., slow) for the disks. The only problem is this things must be imported from the UK and with shipping will cost about $80 USD. Does anyone experience with importing from Europe? Should I expect import taxes? At any rate this is a ways off.
Onto the second C64: I figured the only reason a person would have more than one C64 was because one was broken. I wasn't disappointed. Upon powering up the system throws a "Out of Memory at 0" error. The Internet suggests either bad RAM chips or a bad PLA. Either requires tools and skills that I do not currently possess (though from that I gather it's not hard). I did notice that the text does not flash colors like the other C64. Hmm.
I decided to call the person I bought the lot from. She was very nice, but firm on no returns, which was a little disappointing. In retrospect I imagine when she said working she meant it powers on. Well, that is my fault for not listening to the Lazy Game Reviewer and not buying from a collector I know. It also turns out the previous collector was her father, which judging by the age of the seller likely means this is stuff that belonged to a dead guy. Luckily I don't believe in that sort of thing, but still is a bit creepy (pasta).
With this information in hand I decided to really start looking for solutions. Turns out that the C64 community is quite thrifty and extremely resourceful. I came to this conclusion after reading through many forums where people recommend completely rebuilding stock C64 Breadbox power supplies, as well as nonchalantly telling each other to check the 4164 IC with the oscilloscope. Possible solutions would be to replace the RAM in the "Bad RAM?" unit with the RAM in the "Flashing Text" unit (assuming the RAM is the problem). At any rate, I will have another unit inbound within the week (also broken, but with a "humming" PSU, so who knows).
Conclusion? Well, I don't really have one quite yet (too early in the game). I will admit I am a little bummed out that both C64s are busted (maybe), but at least I got to load up a game (on tape!). I did manage to come up with a short list of possible next steps to help focus my efforts:
Possible next step #1: Sell broken C64s on ebay. This would allow me to partially recoup my losses and move forward to getting a working unit. In this scenario I would next be purchasing from a collector (whom is alive), so I could at least expect the system to work. I would also look into rebuilding C64 PSUs and purchase a soldering iron. Later, though. After I played some games first.
Possible next step #2: Purchase a soldering iron to fix at least one of the C64s. This will end up costing a bit more up front (a okay iron will cost $50) with no guaranteed returns. Especially if I nuke all three units. However, this could end up being better in the long run, as I could possible end up with three working systems. Seems unlikely, but who knows? Especially since I have that C64 repair guide. This step would have me playing my purchased games via the Vice emulator whilst working on a solution. Not ideal, but at least I will get to play some games.
Possible next step #3: I suppose a pessimistic person would have "give up" as their third step. Since I'm a realist I will put no such thing, and will instead simply put, "We shall see."
Thanks for reading.
Like other collectors on this site, I'm blessed in that years ago I bought, and kept, many video games that have risen in value over the years. Over time I've seen games for classic systems such as the NES, SNES, and Saturn go from a couple of bucks at most to several hundred dollars in value. My original Panzer Dragoon Saga was bought new at EB for $20; most of us have similar stories.
The flip side, naturally, is that I regret not tracking down Radical Rex for Sega CD before it became a $200+ CIB item. While I don't have much desire to play a decidedly average platformer (and one that I already have on two other systems beside) that does mean that grabbing the last few titles to make a complete Sega CD library is cost-prohibitive. It's easier to justify saving up or trading for that rare gem of a game that you love or always wanted to play, even more so if it's one of the last games for a collection. But few can deny that the mystique surrounding Stadium Events is because of its unavailability and not its gameplay; otherwise World Class Track Meet would be on more lists for top ten NES favorites. All this is restating the obvious, but things get interesting with the modern state of retro gaming and the economics of both our industry and the world at large.
Video games have proliferated our culture from both financial spectrums: the top down (expensive new consoles) to the bottom up (free mobile and browser games) so that the industry is enjoying a new ubiquity. Early eras were mostly coined by a single system, and to say you played video games meant you played Atari, or later the NES. As the market and competition grew, so did the visibility of an entire spectrum of available game machines. While there have always been extreme fanboys for respective systems and companies, most of the time the playing field was close enough that to be a 'gamer' meant pretty much the same thing to everyone.
What started as 'console wars' has now grown into such a diversified stratification that various sub-groups have no connection to each other. New terms such as 'casual' and 'hardcore' have become classifications that are coined to distinguish video game playing habits, and these camps are sometimes vehemently exclusive in nature. I've heard a 25-hour-a-week World of Warcraft player say she wasn't a 'gamer', and friend who has a phone loaded with Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, and a dozen others (that I see her play often) claim that she doesn't play video games. In the similar vein, I've witnessed devoted Call of Duty and Madden players completely dismiss any Nintendo console as worthless, as well as many a retro gamer completely disregard any system or game after the PS2 era as having nothing to play.
It is within this diverse stratification that we retro game collectors find ourselves in a new, interesting territory. Since the hobby began, there has been, and always will be, worthwhile video game experiences that are locked behind prohibitive barriers of price and availability. That's just the nature of the beast in any luxury entertainment industry. But imagine Citizen Kane or Star Wars, two inarguably important cultural movies, being largely unavailable to the public. Perhaps they are only available on an old film stock and require aged technology that is incompatible with current displays, or they are available on modern media but are limited to a few thousand copies and are therefore incredibly expensive. What if countless movies of worth are completely unavailable to most people who would desire to experience them, even willing to pay reasonable amounts for them, but can't afford the huge expenses necessary to purchase what would ordinarily be reasonably priced and available?
Of course this is already true for movies. Some folks like myself still await non-bootleg versions of Song of the South, Captain EO, and Let It Be to see release. (If you haven't, check out Hugo. Excellent movie that gives a real glimpse of what's already been lost.) There are an untold number of movies that have, for various reasons, never become available to the modern public.
When it comes to video games, arguably the most technology-driven entertainment industry, we are perhaps most susceptible to more and more games becoming completely unavailable over time. As has been noted, the rise of digital-only distribution and server-based software puts virtual timers on a game's later availability, and therefore its ultimate ability to impact and influence, or at least entertain.
For retro collectors, this issue has become one of economics as well. The resurgence of interest and popularity of retro video games, including originals and new games mimicking older art, music, and gameplay styles, has refreshed a market once known for offering countless titles for next to nothing at any yard sale or flea market. Many of us collectors remember the days of buying an Atari, NES, SNES, and almost any other game system with a box of games and accessories for a couple of bucks any given summer. Now that retro video games are a big market, the corollary is that these bargain finds have mostly dried up, giving way to eBay and Craigslist selling for hundreds what once went for pennies.
Not that this is surprising or even necessarily unfortunate. However, as the years go by more and more great games are becoming cost-prohibitive to gamers who would otherwise pay 'reasonable' money for sought-after games. If you're reading this far into the article, you likely know many of the names: Earthbound, the aforementioned Panzer Dragoon Saga, Little Samson, Metal Warriors, M.U.S.H.A., Master of Monsters, Lucienne's Quest, Magical Chase, Beyond Shadowgate, and the list goes on and on. More and more uncommon games such as Hagane have gone from cheap obscurities to valuable collectables, and prices on rarer games such as Snow Bros. and Aero Fighters have doubled or tripled in only a few years. Sometimes these are temporary spikes, but often the prices level out higher and higher. There are many factors to account for this, including mentions on popular sites like the Angry Video Game Nerd and Racketboy, and the adjusted prices of normal inflation. And naturally, as the years go by and more people develop interest in retro video games, the laws of supply and demand mean fewer games going for higher prices across a larger pool of people.
What this has done and will continue to do is price more and more retro video games out of the availability to the average-income video game player, collector or not. As they age, video games naturally become more difficult to find as retailers replace them with newer titles and systems. Since most consoles are not backwards compatible, even the availability to play retro video games is slowly diminishing. Digital rereleases and newer streaming models such as PlayStation Now will help, but only temporarily, due to their own inherent ethereal design.
Whereas a board game can be rebuilt and replicated, and movies are mostly transferred to newer media, the pool of older video games are becoming smaller, generally pricier, and overall less available. In another decade or two, prices on even common pre-PlayStation era games may be inconsistently priced next to their modern brethren. Certainly today, it is cheaper for me to pick up a full-priced modern game rather than any of the hundreds of retro video games on my to-complete-this-system-library-list. To collect the bulk of Atari, NES, and SNES games in any given region has always been a crazy task, but most games were more readily available for cheaper prices only a few years ago. It has been many a collector's lament, myself included, to have not picked up more when it was available for cheaper.
There are plenty of exceptions, such as the myriad Namco and Midway Collections, and a new trend as of late for HD rereleases like Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and Kingdom Hearts. On a rare occasion, older games get a new lease on life such as the recent rerelease of the SNES oddity Super Noah's Ark 3D. But the vast majority of video games are going the way of the early decades of the film industry and the first few thousand years of musical development, disappearing forever.
While I certainly find all of this more than a bit sad, it is of course the natural progression of entertainment culture. Even with our ability to record and store our media with greater permanence than ever before, the scope and practicality of completely preserving our forms of entertainment and artistic expression is beyond our means. But the desire to preserve and maintain is not at the expense of advancement and growth. It is to cherish, reflect, and learn from the past. Students of history tend to know more of the future than those over-focused on the present. Like all media of its time, video games are a reflection of where culture is in technology, morals, ethics, thought, expression, language, and change. They are a unique, interactive snapshot of their time. There is genuine worth in keeping this stuff around!
This is why I enjoy being part of the RFGeneration community. We keep the flames of video game culture alive, passing the torch to each other with each game recommendation, review, and long-winded article (ahem). Site members here are have shown a very uncommon generosity and kindness to each other in the form of free gifts, helpful information, community gaming experiences, and a general sense of goodwill that reminds me more of the ancient BBS dial-up days rather than what is mostly seen on today's internet.
The retro and collecting video game community is alive and well here at RFG, and we have brought to it a sense of worth. There's no solution to preserving every video game ever made, and probably not a healthy reason to do so. But this site, and community, makes preserving our video game culture legacy a visibly positive, worthwhile effort.
Well this is gonna be a different kind of GMBIT video since well there isnt any video. The computer I was using got hit by another virus surfing a particular gaming site and yeah out for repairs as this time even I couldnt get it to reboot and recover it. I fear all my gaming info is now gone and Ill have to start over again .  Anywho on to the gaming moment in time.
This week I chose to do an Atari 8 Bit Computer game that never got released by Atari ( it would later make its way out by an aftermarket company). This week's game is Jr. Pac-Man. What I like about this version over the original is the expanded game board that features scrolling action. As nice as that is the graphics have something to be desired. Knowing that this game wasn't finished by Atari in a way that would have been ready for market I have to give it some slack on that aspect.
The game play is pretty good. I'm nowhere near a good Pac-Man player but it's worth a play . On ebay this game brings between 15-30.00 depending when you catch the auction with most selling for 20 to 25.00.
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
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