Category Archives: Gaming

A most wonderful pasttime.

The World Ends With You

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I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited about a game. It’s funny because I hadn’t heard about it until a few days before its North American release. But, it’s become my favourite game as of late, and is definitely one of the stars in the DS library. It’s made me drop Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations in order to get through the story.

TWEWY is an action RPG by Square. If it looks really familiar, then it’s because the character design was done by Tetsuya Nomura, of FF7 and Kingdom Hearts fame. Unlike many RPGs before it, the game is set in an alternate dimension modern-day Shibuya, a district in Tokyo that happens to be the hippest place ever.

TWEWY is one of those games that does things right and blends it into something awesome. The concept is unique. The art is stunning and very stylized, and matches the atmosphere perfectly. The soundtrack, made up of J-pop, electronica, and hip-hop, is a departure from other RPGs. The plot is paced really well and the characters are developed really well in a fairly short period of time.

But even more innovations abound! The combat system is something very DS-centric. Battles take place simultaneously on the two screens, and you have to control one character on each screen. On the bottom, you’re using Neku with the stylus, and on the top, you’re controlling your partner with the d-pad. Neku uses a variety of attacks with stylus gestures while the d-pad follows a series of panels, a lot like DDR. To mix things up even more, there’s a light that gets passed around when the character that has it completes a combo which gives a damage bonus.

The types of attacks that Neku can use are determined by the pins he’s wearing. Different pins have different gestures; you could be dragging Neku around, slashing on enemies up or down, pressing empty space and firing lightning at them, or dragging obstacles and whacking baddies. The top character has a different minigame, where you’re matching things, and when you do, you can use combined attacks. As you can tell, the combat is involved, but damn, it is fun.

The pins, and other gear that the characters wear, are branded. There are several different brands and each part of Shibuya has brands that are cooler than others. Brands that are cooler receive bonuses, while brands that aren’t get penalized. But, you can influence which brands are hip and happening by fighting with pins of those brands.

Food is something that I found very well done as well. Your character eats food that gives the a buff while they’re eating it. They digest food in x number of battles, after which they receive a permanent buff. But, they can only digest 24 battles worth of food per real day. Each character also has foods they like or dislike, which affects how much the buff actually helps them.

Finally, the game has a ridiculous amount of replay value, where after the main plot is finished, there are so many things to collect to 100% it. You can adjust your difficulty and handicap yourself by lowering your level to fight things, which yields larger and better drops.

Just about the only reason not to get this game is if you can’t get the combat system. Otherwise, it’s brilliant, has really unique and hot art and graphics, has a compelling story, and is really, really innovative. Super fun, amg go get it nows. And I will go back to slashing my DS touchscreen franticly now.

And together, Wii will change everything.

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While the code-name ‘Revolution’ expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean? Wii sounds like ‘we’, which emphasises this console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Am I the only one who remembers the outrage and ridicule that burst forth from just about anyone who was following the then-code-named Revolution? Remember the cries of Nintendo’s downfall and proclamations that they’d finally dug themselves a nice, stupid sounding grave? Remember the air of triumph that surrounded the Sony and Microsoft camp? Remember the sheer disbelief upon the invoking of the word?

How things have changed in just over a year! The vision that Nintendo had for their console has come to fruition. Most of my friends who’d gotten a Wii aren’t gamers, but have one in their possession because their parents were intrigued by the thing. Think about this for a second. These aren’t the parents that we’d envisioned when we were kids, who’d actually want consoles. No, back in those days, the adults that we imagined would be ourselves. But this same generation that was vehemently opposed to the merits of video games during our youth are now embracing this little white box that Nintendo has crafted.

I really can’t express my excitement at what Nintendo has done in the past few years. They’ve always been criticized for not following the lead of Sony, especially during the N64 and early Gamecube days. But now, look at where rehashing the same tired formula has gotten Sony. Not only has Nintendo revolutionised gaming with new control systems, but they’ve managed to make their vision of making gaming for everyone more real.

In Nintendo’s world, gaming isn’t something that’s only for those who reduce games to raw numbers. People who enjoy memorizing tech specs or gushing about polygon counts or compulsively min-maxing aren’t Nintendo’s target. Nintendo’s target is everyone. Nintendo’s made their consoles so that it’s easy for the social aspect of gaming to take place.

Where’s the proof for this? Well, it’s in the fact that you can’t seem to find them anywhere. I can walk into Futureshop, and there’ll be a mountain of PS3s and a display case full of PSPs. Nintendo’s only mistake with regards to their consoles is the fact that they don’t have enough factories churning these things out.

We’re past the point where the Wii is just Nintendo’s stupid idea. It’s a very real idea. No one giggles at the name anymore because the idea and vision behind Nintendo’s name is very potent. It’s managed to overcome the initial weakness in it’s name and has delivered on it’s promise to revolutionize gaming and make gaming about bringing people together.

Wii has a distinctive ‘ii’ spelling that symbolises both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd. So that’s Wii.

But now Nintendo needs you. Because, it’s not really about you or me. It’s about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.

Dual Screen

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I don’t know why, but the desire to get myself a DS has been growing. Should I ever decide to make the trek to PAX, I will definitely get one. I saw a picture on p-a.com and noticed that at the concert, they were doing the whole lighter/cell phone waving thing, except everyone had a DS. Even in the PAX forums, it’s been noted that the DS is the choice for handheld gaming at PAX.

I don’t know what it is about the DS, but it seems to be far superior for multiplayer gaming, and that (obviously) makes it far superior for the social aspect of gaming. This appeals to me far more than any of the actual consoles. Of course, the Wii remains a close second. Perhaps it’s the fact that WoW has opened me up to this new realm of meeting random people.

And so I leave you with a quote from Tycho, from the first PA book, Attack of the Bacon Robots. I do this because it answers a lot of the questions people have about Nintendo’s decisions in the past while, especially when the DS and Wii were first announced. It also mirrors my beliefs as well.

[...] Nintendo’s basic philosophy: that videogames are a potent medium, one that anyone should be able to enjoy. This utterly confounds the hardcore player, because — unlike the rest of the entire Goddamn industry — every move of the company isn’t catered to their petulant whim.

The Legitimacy of Gaming

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One of the things that amazes and frustrates me is our society’s vendetta against gaming. Of course, this issue has always been at the back of my mind ever since gaming became one of the things that defines me, but it has been particularly magnified ever since I started WoW. There’s a reason for this, and that is that before WoW, I’d been mainly playing single-player games. This will be touched upon later on.

I’ve made the argument for gaming before, and I think with this new insight that WoW and MMORPGs have brought me, it’s time to bring it forth again.

Things have changed

Most of the arguments against gaming stem from its early days, when gaming was Pac Man and arcades. It’s easy to see why gaming was regarded as a waste of time; all you did was make a little yellow circle thing that’s supposed to be a man run around in a dark room eating white dots and running away from ghosts on a TV screen. They were ugly and simple.

Today, games are neither ugly nor simple. While some of it has to do with the advances in technology, one will find that the most successful games use a little something called art. There are a staggering number of examples of art of all kinds littered throughout gaming.

Artistry

The most obvious form of artistry to distinguish is visual art. One of the most interesting things about gaming is that it shows that technology is not a substitute for art. Take The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, for example. Wind Waker was mocked endlessly when the first details of its distinct visual style was revealed. It was the least realistic looking Zelda game in recent memory and looked like a children’s cartoon. And yet, once gamers started playing it, the most noticeable thing was that, despite its goofy looks, the world inside the game looked organic and very alive.

The other sense that gets used is hearing. The role of music in games pretty much the same as in movies. Music heightens and evokes emotion and is a supplement to what is going on in-game. The most obvious and famous example of gaming music is the work of Nobuo Uematsu, in Final Fantasy. Just about the easiest way to convince someone that gaming music is actually good music is to play pretty much any gaming song’s orchestral arrangement, especially Final Fantasy.

The last portion of artistry that is found in games is the writing. Today, games are judged with much more weight given to its plot than almost anything short of gameplay. For instance, take Starcraft. It’s essentially a science fiction war simulation and some would argue that it is primarily a multiplayer game. Good writing isn’t essential to a good, balanced strategy game. And yet, if you read through the manual, over half of it is devoted to the background of each of the factions and the origins of each piece of technology you can acquire. And in-game, there is a plot, in which you can see the histories outlined in the manual come full circle. One of the most striking things about Starcraft in particular is that it had a cast of characters that was well written. Keep in mind that this is a two-dimensional game played on an isometric grid and not the amazing three-dimensional world of dedicated role-playing games.

The Socially Inept

And here is the second part of society’s problem with gaming. There is this ridiculous belief that gaming is detrimental to a person’s social skills. That is bull. In the case of single-player games, the amount of social isolation that is incurred is about the same as reading a book, as shown above. Unless you claim that reading books is bad because it isn’t a social activity, well, then this argument holds no water.

As for multiplayer games, I can’t even believe this is an issue. What’s more social than a bunch of people playing a game together? I will laugh at you in your face if you even suggest that watching a movie is more of a social activity than gaming. Right in your face. I think it’s clear why.

Oh, but what about gaming over the Internet, you say? And this is where my experience with WoW comes in.

I think the reason why gaming over the Internet is considered isolating is that there’s no physical interaction. I think that that objection is complete bull. For one thing, social interaction is an emotional thing. Am I socially inept if I’m in another country and talking to all of my friends on the phone?

And that’s what guildmates are: they’re friends in other parts of the world, in which you wouldn’t be able to meet or interact with if it weren’t for said game. Friends are those who share common interests. My common interests with my guildmates happen to be WoW, Penny Arcade, and getting hawt epicsssss.

I think the problem is that people forget that people on the Internet are human. We’re so concerned about evil people on the Internet that we demonize it and everyone who takes part in it. Here’s a tip, if you’re not a complete idiot, you can still make friends on the Internet without giving away critical personal information.

Why all of this?

And so here is the thing that provoked this post. I started playing WoW at Christmas of 2006. I joined the Penny Arcade Alliance on Dark Iron. The PAA is a meta-guild of Penny Arcade fans that comprises twelve guilds and three thousand members. WoW and the PAA have been an amazingly enlightening experience. If you hope to be anything near successful at WoW, then you will find that you will need social skills.

In the endgame, there is high-level content accessible only through large group encounters called raids. In the Burning Crusade, these are for groups of twenty-five, but there were encounters for up to forty before the expansion. Coordinating a group of twenty-five to do anything is not an easy task.

But it’s just a game!

I’ve started raiding, and I’ve been getting funny looks from people when I say that I can’t commit to something because I’ve committed to a raid. Based on the preconceptions that people have about gaming that I’ve mentioned above, I can’t really say I blame them. However, that doesn’t mean that I’ll drop all my raids to accommodate people. Why?

The thing to remember is that all raiders, whether they like it or not, are people with lives. Basically, it’s rude. I’ve been in raids where we couldn’t get started because one person was missing. No one likes having their time wasted. Trying to coordinate 25 people is hard enough without people not doing what they’re supposed to before they’ve even started. You wouldn’t not show up to practice for your basketball game on Monday right? Then I won’t not show up at my Magtheridon raid on Tuesday with all of my flasks and potions ready.

amg Sports

I’ve made it a point to fight against sports in my mind, because honestly, the line between gaming and sports is simply the amount of physical interaction. Sure, sports are more physically intensive, but that’s about the only thing that makes them different.

One of the things that really bug me is this belief that sports is unquestionably good. I really disliked the emphasis on the gym whenever we had one in our fellowships. Here’s another tip: sports does not automatically mean great program. Why? Because not everyone is into sports. Shocking, I know. How did I come across this? Well, because I’m one of those people. I’m sure I’m not the only one though, but whenever it’s time to use the gym, I get to sit awkwardly. No, inviting people to play volleyball with you will not make people who aren’t into sports any more comfortable.

The fanaticism that surrounds sports is staggering. I’d say it’s about as bad as people assume gaming to be. Think about it: you’re watching ten guys run around chasing a ball, so they can throw it into a hoop. Yeah, it’s really different from how I’m describing it, I know, but guess what? Everyone does that to gaming. I’m not saying sports are bad, I’m saying think about the worth of sports and think carefully about the worth of gaming.

Ketsuron

Essentially what I’d really like people to do more of is thinking.