*Undercooked Content Should Be Consumed At One’s Own Risk

I seem to want to talk about money quite often. Well, I love money and so does everyone else. We do what we can to create and store cash like energy and like energy it seems like money is always transferred but destroyed if there is a fire. Today we’ll fight premature holes burning in our pockets.

The last couple of years have yielded some amazing video game related projects from some interesting funding methods. The best examples of this are Minecraft and several high profile Kickstarter projects. Crowd sourcing and selling Alpha/Beta access is a dream come true for smaller studios with niche projects that wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day. This is great, but there is no guarantee that a final product will be delivered. It’s kind of fun to imagine the gamer population as some sort of confederacy of venture capitalists that can shape the horizon. A bunch of people assume it functions as a pre order service and forget about the risk involved, you may get a bad game or no game at all. Pulling together and funding something you believe in is a great feeling and everyone should feel what it’s like to get a better than expected investment return.

If you’ve logged into Steam in the last six months you’ve probably noticed a ton of Early Access programs that have peppered the new release list. These games aren’t finished and some don’t even resemble the final product. This can be an awesome experience for some, akin to seeing a car built from the ground up and witnessing every change as it is made. The historical value here is great and will interest those who are into game design theory but can rub others the wrong way because the games may not be “fun” yet. The most successful example of this has been Minecraft, it was available for purchase in its early stages. Sorry kids, I played some early builds and there wasn’t even any mining to be done. Being in on the podcast conversations and seeing the newest games can be a huge bump in your nerd cred but you have to remember you paid to beta test. People usually volunteer their free time or even get paid to make sure code is up to scratch, wouldn’t it be awesome is someone would come over to your house and pay you to clean it? Do your research and make sure you’re throwing your money at something you believe in, there are plenty of developers that figured out how to siphon money out of the big name publishers and there are people in this world who will steal your milkshake.

The internet has changed our lives and how business is done. The record and movie industries have had their fights and seen independent ventures eat a little more into the profit margins by mainlining straight into the audience. Well, that topic sounded a lot more interesting in my head. Join me next time I update, but you have to bring your own snacks.

It Slices, It Dices…

The PS4 is coming. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads and are eating stupid amounts of Taco Bell to get one before release, please don’t do that to yourself. Interconnectivity between devices is one of the major themes Sony is rolling with this time and it’s as good a time as any to look at what seems to be the number one accessory to pair with your shiny new black box; the tablet, music player, web browser, 3G surfing, two analog sticked, picture taking, AR card using, app device, which also plays games. Today we fight against all odds (really, taking on Nintendo in the handheld market?).

I recently purchased a Playstation Vita. Recent news about the next model of the handheld have alluded to Sony downgrading the OLED screen they use in the device and I saw one bundled with The Walking Dead adventure game I hadn’t played, so why not buy it. It’s shaped like the PSP with smaller buttons, a second analog stick, and many more slots to put things in. This is definitely an attractive system with much more sleek look than other clamshell offerings. Holding it isn’t a chore with divots on the back side to rest your fingers with good button spacing make cramps a non issue if played for an hour or more because the battery will actually last long enough. The Vita is a well designed contraption; there are even TWO eyelets on the bottom to poke a lanyard through!

Let’s start with the good. That screen, oh that screen. It’s gorgeous, HD gaming in the palm of your hand is truly here. 3D games like Wipeout 2048 and Killzone: Mercenary move smoothly and look close to what you would expect on a PS3, while 2D games a la Rayman: Origins and Spelunky look exactly as the developers intended. You can also play the PSP and PSone titles bound to your Playstation Network account; they got rid of the UMD drive so you still can’t play your physical PSP games but it’s great to see some sort of backward compatibility attempted. I’ve beat the fact that there are two analog sticks into the ground, but this is the first handheld we’ve had with them out of the box and it does wonders for the feel of control. Before you had to arrange you hand into a cramping claw shape or use the face buttons to look around in a shooter and neither one of those is satisfying. Sony switched out the cross media bar that was present on the PSP and PS3 for an icon based touch screen interface that gets the job done. You’ve got control and good looking games on a pretty powerful platform, sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?

Here we go; the Vita tries to do too much. I’m not too sure the back panel touch screen was the greatest innovation. Sure, it can be used as a gimmick or help with quick time events but when it all boils down to are gimmicks and game features no one likes. The proprietary memory cards show their ugly heads again, and this time they can cost quite a bit. On a system where they’re trying to push digital downloads (the physical games don’t even have paper manuals or inserts) you’d think they’d try to reduce the entrance cost to make it more appealing to the average consumer. 3G through AT&T sounds like maybe a good idea, but in reality there are enough WiFi hotspots around where you can connect if you need to. Adding a SIM card to a device that isn’t my phone is pretty useless, the phone goes with me everywhere and I’m not into paying extra for adding a gaming device that primarily uses my home wireless. The majority of gripes I have are non gaming centric, I bought this thing to play games and it does that well.

If you plan on drinking the Sony Kool-Aid it makes the most sense to register for a PSN Plus account. Pay $50 a year and you get access to premium content and it’s likely to play a similar role to XBOX Live Gold in the next generation. The bright side to this is that you get full games to play on all of your connected systems, it pays for itself really quickly with titles for your PS3, PSP, Vita, and soon to be PS4. You spent $60 on Grand Theft Auto V already, take the plunge. The full programs and reduced prices on software rotate out every week to keep it fresh.

If you couldn’t tell I’m pretty happy with my Playstation Vita and I recommend a purchase for anyone interested. I know there’s no Pokemon to be had here, but there is a gravity shifting girl with a cat. I seriously hope the Vita catches on just so I have more games to play on it. 

A Drift, At Seas.

We have a new console generation on the horizon and that means there are some extremely impressive looking racing games on their way! The new Forza and something called Drive Club look to show us how next gen (or not so next gen) these new pieces of entertainment center hardware render multi colored blurs. Car simulations have been extremely popular since the PS1 era, but sometimes you just want to drive an unrealistic power boat through an unrealistic track and love every second. Today we fight Hyper Realism!

With respect for the new arrivals we look at another racing launch title. Do you remember where you were on 9.9.99? Probably in line to buy Final Fantasy VIII looking over at the stack of brand new Dreamcasts wishing you had an extra $199 to buy one. C’mon, Sonic Adventure was still part of the “Cool Sonic” golden age. Then you remember that awesome racer with boats you played last time you were at the mall, no way could it be ported to a home system but the Dreamcast can do it!

I probably seem like I’m phoning this one in; but seriously, what’s there to hate about Hydro Thunder? You get exactly what you see. Everything is bonkers, but in such a fun way. From the crazy time based boosts that double as a battering ram to wreck other racers and impressive water that doesn’t quite meet Wave Race standards; Hydro Thunder is the premier power boat racer.

Sure, the polygonal graphics on a 14 year old game are pretty dated. The visuals occupy that place somewhere between the Playstation and Playstation 2’s capability expected with the hardware. There’s no real career mode other than finishing races in the top 3 to unlock more boats and tracks with a decent for the time total of 13 tracks and 13 boats. At its core there is only a bare bones arcade racer, and for some that may not be enough.

Next time you’re driving across country and decide that you’re tired of driving a car, drive ultra unrealistic power boats instead. You know you’ve seen plenty of these arcade cabinets at truck stops the nation over. Hydro Thunder is giant pile of stupid fun that should be played, even if your butt is already numb from sitting too long.

Things Come In Three Sets of Three.

It’s been well known that the fear of waking up in unfamiliar surroundings is the basis for a great story. This is why there are so many movies that have you on the edge of your seat for the big reveal at the end. Nothing is more enticing and scary than the unknown, so today we encounter digital roots.

I’ve had 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS in my backlog for some time but hadn’t played it due to reading ridiculously long books by George R.R. Martin and wanted a less “strenuous” experience while gaming. I’m happy to report that I slogged through those and am now free to read video games. That’s right, 999 is one of those digital novels that get released every week in Japan but has puzzle solving and choose your own adventure elements thrown in. Lucky for us the story is a stronger center than the puzzles.

You wake up in a room with a locked door with a big red 5 painted on it. You kind of remember being attacked by someone in a gas mask. The porthole in the wall suggests you’re on a ship of some sort. There’s a crack in the little window; water slowly starts to seep in before blowing out the rest of the glass and a torrent of ocean threatens your life. How’s that for a cold open? Solve the puzzle by figuring out digital roots and running upstairs. Digital roots were something you did in pre algebra where you add all the digits in a number together until you get a single digit. The number 786’s digital root is 7+8+6=21 and then 2+1=3; so the root is 3. On the upper deck you meet the other 8 characters.

999 relies quite a bit on its strong cast to convey the story, everyone is there for a reason and of course you have no idea where to begin. Everyone has a numbered bracelet they are identified with. This is where the genius in the story telling is, the doors in the game only open when the digital root of the people that enter match the number painted on it. This causes the party to split up based on what door you want to choose and you learn a little bit about each person as you are stuck solving puzzles with them.

The puzzles on the other hand aren’t the worst of a million “escape the room” flash games you’ve likely played on the net. Most rooms can be solved by touching everything and using every item in every way the game will let you. No cat mustaches here. Just touch the environment and if you take too long you’ll get more specific hints; when in doubt use a digital root or alphanumeric code, the game will teach you alphanumeric too. You’re stuck until you make it through the door with a “9” on it.

There are six different endings possible depending on what rooms you choose to go through. Yes, this means you have to replay the “book” multiple times; the best thing about this is that you can skip all text you’ve already seen by holding right on the D-pad! There is a metric ton of text here, that right button is your best friend. If you have to go through a room again on another play through the puzzle is exactly the same with no differences and it can be really annoying to solve the first few rooms several times.

I had a great time playing through this title, even with all of the text. The characters were strange enough to make you want to know more and the endings are radically different. If you’ve got a long commute, are a passenger on a road trip, or are out of fantasy books that double as bludgeoning weapons pick it up. It got a reprint when the sequel (Virtue’s Last Reward) came out on 3DS and Vita last year so it’s easy to find. You know you want to see where the Nonary Game goes…

Would You Like To Play A Story?

When was the last time you walked through an empty house? Remember what that felt like? Have you ever been to your parents’ new house shortly after they've moved? It’d be pretty unsettling if no one was home to greet you. Today we fight with atmosphere.

  

Storytelling has been around since the beginning of everything and we have adapted every one of our cultural advances to convey a tale. Pictures told stories before words did and actors wove tales before they were preserved on film. Until recently getting a compelling message across in a video game was difficult because it got in the way of the core gameplay. Gone Home is a recent indie release that not only manages to captivate you in its narrative but makes it the core gameplay.

You arrive in the middle of the night at the rather large house your parents and sister have moved into while you were abroad for a year in Europe. No one is home and the air is not quite right. Boxes are stacked in various places which makes the dwelling feel not quite lived in. The unease in the atmosphere is so thick that you’ll be searching everywhere for a light switch and every item has been fully rendered to the point where it can be picked up and rotated. In a time where it seems like every indie game is a callback to retro graphics it’s nice to see such realistic lighting and modeling.

The game takes place in 1994 which is a brilliant move. This was the time before everyone had regular access to the internet and calling outside of your zip code (let alone country) cost quite a bit of money. The family has recorded TV shows and movies on blank VHS tapes and music mixes are on cassette tapes; I remember living in these times and they’ve nailed the feel. The items you find in the house are extremely well thought out as almost everything is relevant, at one point you find a school assignment that was completed by your younger sister and later find the same assignment you completed years before and it illustrates the very different personalities better than any descriptive text could.

There are several plot lines running through the house. The younger sister’s is told through what sounds like journal entries as you progress room to room and feels like the front and center narrative. The incredible aspect is that the other items around the house tell you about the other situations in the household. So pay attention, this is video game storytelling at its finest.

After praising Gone Home all this time I did have one gripe about it. It’s the price. $20 for a game where everything can be seen in under 3 hours is kind of a hard pill to swallow. I don’t regret my purchase at all but I worry that people are less likely to buy at such a premium. That’s it. The experience is one of the most fulfilling game stories I've ever played through.

I was kind of surprised at how I was expecting the worst case scenario the entire time. Maybe we need to look at the other stories we pay attention to, not everything needs to get “Law and Order dark”. Take an evening and play Gone Home, there’s a reason it’s going to be talked about for quite a while.

Xeno-what?

Xenoblade Chronicles is an excellent game. Many would say it’s the best RPG on the Wii, possibly the best RPG of last generation. There’s been a lot of attention attached to the title lately not based on its merit but its price. GameStop is selling pre-owned copies for $90. Let’s fight corporate profits.

I went on and on about gaming finances a while ago and it looks like a lot of what I said rings true about the used games market. Let’s have a look at what people are saying and the situation surrounding this “controversy”.

The internet is up in arms! Vloggers from all sides of Youtube and bloggers from the ends of the earth are screaming “Betrayal!” from whatever rooftop they can find. No one ever yells at the multitude of resellers on Ebay who’ve been hawking this game for over $100 for quite some time, GameStop just decided to price some of their games accordingly. Back in the days of the PSone they sold some used games at a premium like Dragon Ball GT Final Bout and Final Fantasy Tactics before its Greatest Hits reprint, so there’s really nothing new here besides the marketing.

When did Xenoblade become vintage? This is probably what bothers me the most about the current situation. The game was released April 6, 2012, that’s just over 16 months before this writing. It’s kind of hard to believe a game that came out a month after Mass Effect 3 is a vintage title; I’ll agree that it’s an extremely high quality game but it’s not quite dated yet.

What is a used game? I’ve wondered that many times, but I think it’s the sticker in the top right of the cover of the game. How many times have you purchased the last copy of a game where they hand you the display case with a sticker closing it to satisfy the “sealed” requirements? A lot of these “resurfacing” copies of Xenoblade are spotless with working Nintendo Club codes; they just lack the shrink wrap. I’ve never seen any declaration as to what constitutes what makes a game used. I guess GameStop owns the physical property and can do what they like with it. Would you slap a sticker on it and sell it for $40 less? It’s business, plain and simple.

GameQuestDirect is a company that reprints certain games under contract with the original publisher with a 50% splint in sales. So at least the original company is getting some sort of revenue from the units shipped. Several times before they’ve rerun games that were going for a premium in the second hand market (Guitarooman, Rhapsody, REZ, Fatal Frame series) and fulfilled demand to the point that drove the price down. Seems like a good deal; it’s a legit copy, you can find it clean, and avoid crazy resell prices. Here’s where it gets fishy, GameStop is the only company in the US that can distribute new copies of Xenblade so they essentially control 100% of the supply. Nintendo gave them a contractual monopoly.

The reseller’s market has determined the price of high demand games for years now, and the big corporations know it. With the obvious path to primarily digital distribution for video game consoles in the future GameStop has seen a few areas to get a few more dollars before their business model becomes “vintage”. 

A Quest Draws Near-er

A few months ago I went on about how much fun I had playing the original Dragon Warrior it was a pleasant surprise while I was looking for a history lesson. Dragon Quest instantly became one of my favorite 8-bit Nintendo games and piqued my interest in the other games. Today we no longer fight slimes alone.

After a pretty impressive title screen Dragon Warrior 2 starts out much like the first one with the descendant of great hero readying for an epic quest in a king’s throne room. Once he’s acquired some starting equipment and healing items; multiple slimes attack at once outside of the castle. This is different, that single file line of monsters waiting to jump you has widened to up to 6 foes per encounter. That’s a game changer folks, it’s still one action per round per participant but now turn order plays a much larger role. Fear not, there may be multiple monsters in each encounter but you have your two cousins to join in the fray. Each of you has a unique skill set; the main hero is all brawn with the use of all of the most powerful equipment, the male cousin is a mixture of magic and physical power, and the girl has the most powerful magic in the game.

Comparing Dragon Quest 2 with its predecessor is pretty impressive, it looks like they took everything from the first game and made it bigger. The first noticeable change is the upgraded battle system that adds a new layer of strategy to battles. Difficulty has been ramped up quite a bit, but not any worse any other RPG from the late 80’s. The world map is 4 times larger with a ship to traverse the seas. You can even travel to the island and visit the castles from the first game, the Dragonlord’s descendant still lives in the same castle and encourages your fight against a the new evil.

There are growing pains. Oh the growing pains. Having multiple party members with different roles is cool at first until you realize the balancing is totally off. The main hero is amazing; he hits really hard and can take punishment like a champ. The female is semi useful once she gets the better healing spells and attack magic but will fall in a single hit. Your male cousin is useful at first, but later on his magic and physical abilities aren’t up to snuff save for being the only character with a revive spell. Your party is pretty much reduced to a tank and two heal bots. My other major gripe with the game is the success rate of instant death spells; this can be great for you but sucks when you get ambushed in one of the final areas and your fully refreshed party is leveled before they can act by a monster that poses no threat otherwise. Deaths like that happened pretty often in the endgame and make it really tempting to throw your controller.

I’ve heard that the SNES and Game Boy remakes of the game help with the balance issues in the game, so you might want to pick up one of those in place of the original NES cartridge. Dragon Warrior 2 isn’t the best game in the series; actually it’s likely close to the bottom of the stack. I’d recommend playing Dragon Quest 1 or 3 instead if you have to play an NES Dragon Warrior, but it’s interesting to see the bridge between the two.