"Ben Drowned" - give it a read

Just heard the boys on Podtoid from Destructoid make mention of this creepy little fan-fic: "Ben Drowned."  Started reading it, and it's definitely worth a recommendation.

The Coles Notes: buddy buys a used copy of Majora's Mask at a yard sale. He flips it on, and it has a save file from the previous owner named "Ben." He begins his own save file, and characters in the game begin to occasionally refer to him as "Ben." He tries deleting the "Ben" file, and the game starts going off script with in-game characters doing creepy things, speaking directly to him as the player, etc.
Won't say anything further, but he also includes mash-up vids at the end of each description to show recordings of what he purports to have seen in the game. It's very entertaining.

The January Haul

Vita was an early b-day prezzy.
Everything else, save “Yakuza” came from Game Deals in New Westminister. Fabulous retro store.

Backwards Compatibility: How it hurt Sony, and why it’s still important.

For the uninitiated – “backwards compatibility” is the ability of a new video game console to play the games of the proceeding video game console. For eg., the ability to play your PS1 Final Fantasy game discs on your PS2.

With that outta the way, lemme tell you a story.

I’ve been playing Persona 3 on my Playstation 2 for about 4 years. That’s how I play games. I’m no completionist, when it comes to finishing games, though I do like to purchase complete sets of games. Like most 30-something gamers with full-time jobs, there just isn’t the time to get hung up on finishing games. So I play bits and pieces of as many games as I can. Those games good enough to stick out, I return to over and over again for years until one day, maybe, I get to see the ending.

Persona 3 is one of those games. It’s quirky enough to relate to my tastes, but has gameplay elements deficient enough to require significant breaks in order to complete it. Maybe once a year, I’ll dedicate a weekend to it, and it will be months before I pick it up again.

I’ve played, and finished, most games this way, although, like many gamers, I only finish a tiny minority of the games I start. In fact, I can’t even seem to keep entering all the new games I start into my “backloggery”, let alone hope to ever finish a quarter of them.

Consequently, I have a comparatively enormous collection of games. Obviously there are millions of gamers out there with more games than I have… but many of those folks actively trade their titles in for new games. I don’t. I purchase games with a collectors mentality. (It drives my spouse crazy, though she’s also comparatively tolerant, hence the ongoing success of our relationship.) I buy games that I like to see on my shelf. It’s a vainly difficult concept to explain, but my geek-ego benefits as much from the presence of countless obscure RPG titles with female protagonists, as it does from the distinct absence of anything remotely resembling Madden or Call of Duty.

There is a contradiction in my style of play, however. Although I bounce around from game to game, in most cases, I won’t begin a sequel until I’ve played the pre-requisite games. The Metroid Prime series is a great example. I have had, on my shelf, wrapped in plastic since Xmas 2007, an unopened copy of “Corruption,” the third game in the series. It will remain unopened on my shelf until I can bring myself to finish the two games before it. It’s quite possible I’ll never get to the game. It’s also unlikely that I’ll ever sell the copy, because I like the Metroid series, and I derive the same please from seeing it on my shelf, that I suspect a hockey-card collector experiences from seeing a particular card in their binder. What’s important to the game industry, however, is that I bought the game.

So it’s worthwhile exploring why I bought that game for the Wii, and why I haven’t bought Persona 4 for the PS3, (or a PS3 for that matter.) The first two titles of the Metroid Prime series are GameCube titles, the final title in the series was released on the Wii. I felt justified buying the whole series, knowing that I may never get around to playing it, because in my mind it’s a nice easy intuitive process to play all three on the Wii without having to dig one of my old GameCubes out to have a go.

Persona 3, on the other hand, is a PS2 title. The PS3 does not play PS2 discs, so were I to buy one, I’d have to reconnect the PS2 to start chipping away at the series again.

Many have poo-pooed this “swapping-console” complaint as a non-issue. Modern TV’s have multiple video inputs, they say. It shouldn’t be the hassle it’s made out to be. Hooking up a new console to my setup, however, IS a legitimate hassle. I’ve rigged it so that the cables travel through wholes in the wall, behind cabinets, and in-and-out of drawers. Each change to this setup is a significant hassle. It simply won’t happen. I have three slots in the TV stand, one for each of the major game companies. I have a 360, which plays most of the Xbox back-catalogue. I have a Wii, which plays the GameCube back-catalogue. And I have a PS2, which plays my old PSOne catalogue. Great games like “Legend of Dragoon,” which I’m playing now, in addition to a pile of old Square titles I revisit periodically.

Swapping out the PS2 for a PS3, immediately removes two-consoles worth of games I’ve purchased from my immediately playable library. This complaint has been posed to Sony multiple times, and their response goes something like this: “We’re confident the quality of our new PS3 titles will convince our customers that there’s no need to revisit their old games.”

From a business perspective, I can understand why a bunch of Corporate hacks in the Sony boardroom would decide to remove any disincentive for customers to purchase new games. This is how they view backwards compatibility. However, just because I can understand how they came to that decision, I can’t agree that it makes an ounce of sense. When I purchased both my 360, and Wii consoles, I did so knowing that I’d be able to swap the new console in for the old, and still be able to play all the old games I’d invested in. Yet somehow, this did little to stop me from putting thousands of dollars into each of the two markets. I have shelves of 360 and Wii games to add to my Xbox and GameCube titles. My ability to play the old titles on the new consoles seems to have done little to limit me from buying new games.

And now that we’re reaching the end of the life cycle for all three consoles, (at time of writing, we’re one-week ahead of the Wii U launch) I still haven’t bought a PS3. This is odd, considering that I purchased, (and still own) every major game console since the NES. Looking back on this generation in its entirety, I can confidently say that backwards compatibility remains the only reason I haven’t purchased a PS3.

But aside from the issue of space on the TV stand, why is this so important? in a word, confidence. With the video-game market increasingly moving towards digital distribution, gamers have questions about how their previously purchased games will survive once a hardware generation advances. How Nintendo handles the transfer of digitally-purchased Wii games to the new Wii U console will be telling. Will customers have to pay a transition fee, like Sony customers have had to do in the portable market? In the mind of a gamer, it boils down to this. Can we feel safe piling loads of money into a digital distribution service, only to find out during the next hardware cycle, that all of those games cease to exist? With Sony’s refusal to respect the previous investments their customers made in previous console generations, the outlook here is not good.

So in the future, when asked, “how can I play my PS2 version of Persona 3 on your new console?”

…if Sony’s response remains: “forget Persona 3, we’ve got Persona 4 on the new console,”

…then for gamers like me, they will cease to be an option.

How can you tell a console is dying? Its games start to rock.

And after six long anti-climactic years of bore-you-to-tears, vanilla, family-friendly shovel-ware on the Wii, it’s about freakin’ time.

…that the games started to rock… that is, not that the console died. Admittedly, I’m still not sure if it’s genuinely ironic that consoles ring their death knell the moment game developers begin to master the platform, or if it’s just Alanis Morissette-ironic, but goddamn it would be awesome if there was a way to extend the lifetime of each console another decade beyond the corporations’ cord-pull date. I suppose it is possible, and the growing homebrew scene appears thus-far our only hope, but that’s a topic for another post.

Case in point. Nintendo announces the oddly conceptualized Wii-U, followed by these three game announcements for the Wii.

• The Last Story: slated for release this June
• Xenoblade Chronicles: which Nintendo only released Stateside after the sustained and relentless hounding of North American fans.

and now…

• Pandora’s Tower: not yet announced for North American release, but one which we all hope will require less fan-effort than did Xenoblade.

Will be Interesting to see how long Nintendo continues to facilitate the development of Wii games following the yet un-scheduled launch of the Wii-U –the success of which many industry pundits have already discounted.

If the Wii-U does indeed flop, then it’s perceivable that the Wii’s massive install base will continue to incentivize developers, (and Nintendo for that matter) to continue developing games.

The Wii’s increasingly apparent fugly-factor on HD TV’s, along with the slow-creeping install base of Xbox 360, PS3, and Steam-like PC services are all factors mitigating an extended Wii-lifespan.

Like so many things in the gaming industry, trying to predict definitively what will happen is just stupid. In the meantime, we’ve got three kikkass games to look forward to.

…and of course (not) homebrew. 

Why Buying Stocks in the PS3/360 "Wii-Mote" is Financial Suicide

So, the same company which brought that golf game with the toy golf club to the PS2: In2Games, has raised over 15 million in revenue to develop their new "Fusion" controller for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles in an effort for Sony and Microsoft to come up with an answer to Nintendo's wildly popular Wii-mote.

Apparently, the long of the short of it is, it's a baton that you can clip ends onto, like a tennis head, a baseball bat head, a golf club... etc. Not unlike many of the third party bits of plastic for the Wii-mote you can find destined for the bargain bin around places like EB Games and Toys R Us.

And if you listen to the official message from In2Games, this controller is so technologically superior to the Wii-mote, than gamers will be making the switch to the other two consoles in droves.

But here's why buying stock in this venture will put you in the poorhouse.

1. Wrong Demographic:
The majority of gamers who have a 360, or who have shelled out dough for a PS3, didn't do so because they wanted a Wii, but had to settle for something 2 or 3 times more expensive. The Wii-mote never appealed to them in the first place. They are the so-called, "Hardcore Gamer" demographic, and waving your hands around in the air to play a game is for pansies. Give them a traditional controller with a couple analog sticks, Gears of War, or God of War II, a HD TV, and they're set. Let the seniors and kiddies wave a frickin' TV remote in the air like fools all they want. The closest this hardcore bunch will go to using a more active style of controller, is to whip out Guitar Hero for a few licks. But that's different. Chicks dig it.

2. Cost Prohibitive:
Developing games that actually use the Fusion controller will be cost-prohibitive for third party developers. Particularly in the case of the PS3, where its cost prohibitive programming for the cell processor without having to spend extra resources trying to code everything to work on some controller made by another company all together. It's so much cheaper to develop that same game for the Wii, and since there's already nearly as many Wii consoles installed worldwide (more in Japan) ins a quarter of the time as the 360, the guaranteed profit margin is far higher. It's very unlikely that we'll see any more games produced for the Fusion than we did for EyeToy. And how many of you even know what that is?

3. Lame Ripoff Factor:
Sony went through a great deal of ridicule just over it's motion sensing six-axis controller that they so obviously rushed through development as a last minute effort to steal some of the hype of the Wii during launch. Nobody really thinks very much of the SixAxis controller as a credible peripheral. Sony has even backed off showcasing it as a key selling point of the console. Some developers incorporated some token shaking into their early launch games, but it's generally underused already. No matter how "technologically advanced" Fusion is compared to the Wii-mote, it's always going to be seen by gamers as a blatant ripoff meant more to take the unique shine off the Wii, than to actually function as an integral part of next gen games from the 360 or the PS3.

4. Same Failed Marketing Pitch:
It's obvious, that reading any statements from In2Games, about the "technological superiority" of the Fusion controller, that they have learned nothing from the mistakes of of Sony with the PS3. If powerhouse technology meant anything to gamers, the Wii wouldn't be the runaway success of this console generation. The PS3 would already be the winner hands down. But Nintendo's little David just outsold Sony's Goliath by 6-1 in June, in both company's home turf: (Japan.) Sales in that country are usually a pretty good litmus test for how the overall console market will play out per generation. If the best In2Games can come up with is that it's technologically superior to the Wii-mote, they've failed before they've begun.

The Wii has never been about technology. It's a Gamecube in smaller packaging for Christ's sake! It's always been about getting people together, and having fun. And it's not even the Wii-mote that is accomplishing that for the console... it's the ways in which Nintendo's programmers have been able to use it. And unless In2Games has a room full of Nintendo-level software designers kicking around... they might as well rename their new controller, "Virtual Boy."

Wii's High Online Usage Stats Misleading

A number of articles are beginning to surface, heralding the high spike in online users experienced by the Wii in the last couple months. (here's one such article.)

The stats quoted show the number of unique online users on the Wii has risen to 1.6 million. A number higher than even those put up by the 360's XBOX Live users, at 1.2 million.

Taken at face value, these reports inject a lot of false hope into the hearts of those rooting for the success of Nintendo's David underdog at the expense of the other two goliaths in the market.

A couple of flags go up immediately, however, as soon as these figures are quoted - since no industry-journalists covering this latest stories seem to be analyzing what these "unique" users are doing while "online" with their consoles.

Not one of these writers bothered to point out that the Wii is yet to have produced for it, even one game utilizing online capabilities. Had this question be asked... then certainly someone would have realized that obviously no one among the 1.6 million of these users are actually playing games while they're online.

The number of Xbox Live users spending their online time is much easier to calculate since Microsoft charges for the service. And although I'm certainly not advocating that approach for Nintendo, it has to be remembered that the Wii utilizes a feature called "Wii Connect24." Those familiar with the feature while understand that the Wii not only is the Wii extremely simple to get online, (built-in wireless modem can pick up a variety of signals from your existing network, your neighbour's, etc...) but it's constantly exchanging information and updates with the Nintendo mothership. Hence the name, "Connect24."

So theoretically, it's possible for Nintendo to count as a "unique user," a Wii owner who has never used the Opera web browser, downloaded a virtual console game, or allowed a Mii to travel. However, as long as their Wii is picking up their neighbour's internet connection, their Wii is having a round the clock discussion with Nintendo headquarters.

Just what percentage of Nintendo's online users fall into this category is impossible to determine... but given that there isn't a single online game out yet for the console, it's safe to say that the Wii's online capabilities are not being used for the same thing by "unique users," as those attributed to the Xbox.

Nintendo Set to Repeat Gamecube Connectivity Mistakes

A good Wii news site, "Nintendo-Revolution," through an interview with the Wii's future online provider, "Gamespy," seems to have confirmed that so far, Nintendo is going ahead with their previously-suspected plans of requiring users to input different friends lists and codes for every online game they purchase.

In other words, if you want to play the upcoming Pokemon title online with your friends, not only would you have to input their painfully long console code into your system, but yet another unique game code, specific to their Pokemon game disc, as well.

This may not seem to a major issue to a lot of casual gamers. But imagine you have 15 friends you would like to play online games with. Then lets assume conservatively, that you've got five games you want to play with these friends. First, it's a pain in the ass to have to enter overly long numerical codes for each of those friends' consoles. But now imagine having to enter another unique code for every one of those people again for every game you've got in common. And keep in mind that you have no keyboard with which to accomplish this. Rather, you've got a little Wii-mote, which is slow for data entry at best, and certainly annoying after entering even one or two.

Then add to that, the fact that the remotes are battery munchers... and consider that it would probably take at least one set of batteries just to enter the data required for the scenario above.

Kinda begins to take the fun out of the whole thing. And the gaming community seems to be up in arms over it. And rightfully so, I suppose. There's a lot of people who are really rooting for the Wii. They know it's underpowered overall. But many of them, myself included, understand the important changes Nintendo is pioneering in terms of creativity and innovation in the industry. It's a given that the Wii's online capabilities will be inferior to that of the 360 or PS3... but given that, many are wondering why Nintendo would set themselves up for such an abysmal failure when they're on such a role.

No one wants to be annoyed while playing games. If I was interested in doing data entry in my spare time... I'd spend a good many extra hours at work.

Nintendo put itself in an embarrassing position after taking a "connectivity-over-online" capability with the GameCube. By "connectivity," Nintendo meant the Gamecube's ability to connect physically to either Gameboys, or other Gamecubes. For the most part, gamers laughed at their attempt to pass such a horseshit gimmick off as "online play." Additionaly, very few people were ever enticed into buying more Gameboys just to plug them into their Gamecube.

Nintendo's latest debacle with the unique game codes reeks of this kind of garbage.

They've got until Pokemon's release in June to fix this idiocy. Their best bet, with their current precarious overall position in the market is to spend their time trying to make online play more free for gamers, rather than wasting resources on ways to positively spin and market such a hair-brained plan.

Both Sony and Microsoft have been waiting for Nintendo to throw them a bone... and you can bet this'll be it.

Wii-tarded (couldn't resist)

Best Zinger From GDC

Absolutely no positive verification for this. I simply found it posted on a comment board under Kotaku's report on Miyamoto's keynote address for Nintendo at the GDC yesterday. Thought I'd post it anyway, you know, in the interest of spreading rumours.

So let me paint the picture for you.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote speech was so well attended that even Sony's world division president, Phil Harrison was in attendance.

So picture Phil sitting there in the front row, as evidenced by the above picture.

Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils-Aime is standing off-stage consulting with people, posing for pictures, etc.

A kid in the front row shouts at Reggie "REGGIE! You gotta kick some ass and take some names!"

"Like who?!" Reggie shouted back

"Phil Harrison, FRONT ROW!" The kid says

"I think we already did that" Says Reggie

The nearby crowd laughs, as is appropriate.

Wii Magnetism

Though most attention at the Game Developer's Convention over the last couple of days has been focused on Sony's announcement of their upcoming "Home" interface, a few keen observers have been paying close attention to the wise words of an old master.

Some call him the "Spielberg of Gaming." Others, like myself, think the comparison should be reversed.

Creator of gaming icons, Donkey Kong, Mario, and Link delivered his keynote address yesterday to a packed house. Even Sony Worldwide President, Phil Harrison procured for himself, a front row seat.

To many, his speech may have seemed scattered and vague, as it bounced around various points in the history of the industry. Part of the problem, of course is that it was delivered in Japanese, and all we've heard have been English translations. Speaking in Japanese, of course means that Miyamoto also thinks in Japanese, and as such, his he comes to his points in a manner fundamentally different from the average westerner. As such, many of us have difficulty interpreting his message. Whether it's meant to be the same for everyone is anyone's guess.

For me, Miyamoto issued a veiled warning to the industry. And in a way, I think it was aimed directly for folks like Sony's Phil Harrison, though I'm absolutely positive it bounced right off their noses.

By speaking about the evolution of games, the need for humanity to be a key component in their development, and a continual priority placed on enjoyment... I think Shigs was warning others in the industry not to attempt to *duplicate* humanity, as games like World of Warcraft do, and as Sony's "home" might.

To illustrate this point, Miyamoto spoke about his development tactic of always trying to picture the look one of his games will produce on the face of its player. How many smiles and giggles of glee are emitted from someone attached to a PC playing a reality-simulator for hours on end. How to, will Sony's "home" perform in this respect.

To catch a glimpse of Shigeru's genius, and to see an unintended demonstration of his goal... take a couple minutes to watch this video. (please pardon the 30 second ad preceding it)

The Green Gamer's Choice

Some interesting stats on power consumption of each console. And yes... yet another testament to the engineering feat accomplished by Nintendo in their latest console - not so much in terms of pure hardware power, but rather in terms of the physical layout of the internal components, durability, etc...

I'd be very interested to see what a cheaper, re-packaged, downsized version of the Wii would look like should one ever be released. I can certainly see a new version incorporating CD and DVD playing capability, perhaps some expanded internal flash memory capacity... but in terms of the over shape of the package, I can't see a lot that could be improved upon. And that is extremely rare for the the first edition of any video game console.