Pay-per-level Gaming

Has the Long Tail hit console gaming? ("What is Long Tail?")

It seems increasingly possible that niche gamers who still have fond memories of watching a 2-D Sonic roll through strategically-placed, curving hills or rushing Mega Man through a course of robots in construction hats or taking Cecil and Rosa on one last quest against the Four Fiends might be in luck.

A new trend in the gaming industry is selling new adventures of old games on a level-by-level basis. This is seen in the release of WiiWare's Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, in which players return to the world of Baron following the events of Final Fantasy IV. The story revolves around the son of two of the main characters from the original game. The base price of the game is 800 WiiPoints and then the player can purchase additional levels (all which reveal the "what-is-happening-now" for different characters in the original Final Fantasy IV) for 300 WiiPoints each. Square-Enix released a level-per-month and then concluded with the last level in early September 2009.

Review: Fallout 3

Still catching up. This one will be hard to find the negatives because I was overwhelming pleased with this game...

The positive three, the negative two.

Review: Batman- Arkham Asylum

So I am way behind in terms of doing some reviews of some interesting new media. Part of it was the completion of my thesis. Part of it was the completion of Georgetown. The End of LOST? Bermuda Triangle? Lots of reasons. But this is me catching up. 

The positive three, the negative two.

Review: Phantasy Star IV (Replay)

This was recently re-released on the Sonic's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection for Playstation 3 (and it has so many games, I don't know what to do with myself). I remember this as one of my favorite games as a kid. It was lone, decent Sega Genesis RPG left to fend with the likes of Zelda, Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire on the Super Nintendo. This is an interesting take on the RPG genre. The travel and journey's on the map are done very similarly to Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire's "looking down from above" perspective. But the battle screen is done in first person, putting the player behind the characters. And that, coupled with decent battle music, makes for an exciting battle experience (and that's key in role-playing games, because you'll spend a good deal of the time in battle).

Here's the story:

Phantasy Star IV takes place in the year AW 2284 (1,000 years after the events of Phantasy Star II). It is the story of Chaz Ashley, a young bounty hunter, who along with his friends and allies, unwittingly becomes the savior of the Algol solar system. The story takes place on the planet Motavia, which has suffered through dramatic climate changes over the past 1,000 years.

After an event called the Great Collapse, much of the once-thriving ecosystem has been reduced to desert, and life has become difficult for the planet's inhabitants. To make matters worse, there has been a marked increase in the appearances of "biomonsters", strange and violent mutations of the normal plant and animal life.

Keeping these creatures under control is the job of "hunters" like Chaz and Alys, and it is during an investigation into an outbreak that the characters learn that the biomonster problem is related to the planet's ecological crisis. In truth, the planet is only reverting back to its natural desert state, which had been changed into an ecosystem more suited to human life by climate-changing technology thousands of years earlier. For reasons to be explained later, and relating back to the events of Phantasy Star II, this computer network suffers a system-wide malfunction, leading to the series of catastrophes throughout Algo.

Chaz and his allies connect the world's troubles to a man named Zio, whose aim seems to be nothing less than total annihilation - not only of Motavia but of the entire solar system. Their aim then becomes to defeat him in order to restore the computer systems maintaining Algo. However, it soon becomes clear that Zio is merely the vanguard to a much larger threat. Amidst great tragedy and struggle, Chaz and the others must eventually fight against an evil from time uncounted to restore peace to Algo once and for all.

Once again, we have a story where the people of the planet come from a fallen civilization elsewhere. In keeping with my method with Final Fantasy IV, I'll reserve judgment on the game (as my critiques would be remarkably similar with those voice in Super Mario RPG--all the RPGs back then had the same problems) and focus instead on some unique narrative features:

(1) Narrative scenes are done in an anime style- note the picture shown here. Text intermingles with multiple text boxes, making for a comic style appearance. The drawing style is also unmistakably anime. The main character Chaz, is also very nationalistic. He's dressed in his red and white like a Japanese flag.

(2) We have a Messiah- Like Final Fantasy IV, like Breath of Fire II and the Obama Candidacy, we have a "chosen one." At a certain point in the game, the characters journey to a Church of Espers ("Espere" is French for "Hope") where they worship a legendary magician (Lutz) who died 2000 years ago, but lives on in the Church to be passed on to the one "chosen" to carry the will and memory the magician. Very Calvinist. Predestination anyone?

(3) We have an absolute evil Devil, but no God- According to the story, there was a great spiritual being that split in two. For whatever reason, the good part "Le Roof" decided to leave, but left all sorts of stuff behind to kill off the evil part, "Dark Force." (This is also the same scenario seen in the Breath of Fire series and others. A true Satan, but humankind must defeat it with only the help of some weapons, etc. from God).

Oh, and the evil dude is apparently pentacostal. (a)It's a rapidly spreading church movement--there are numerous church's run by Dark Force's fall guy "Zio" but none by Le Roof. What up). And (b) these churchgoers faint in the spirit and speak in tongues.

Review: Final Fantasy IV (Replay)

I've recently been on kick of playing old (are they old enough to be called "vintage?") video games and I've come to one of the three or four games that dropped me into the role-playing game genre. In Final Fantasy IV (originally released as Final Fantasy II in the states), we several groundbreaking innovations that took place.

This is, as far as I can tell research-wise, the first game (released on Super Nintendo in 1991) that really made use of the big cast, epic storyline that would become a staple of role-playing games to this day. You also had the advent of "active" turn-based fighting. So you go to a special screen during battle and have dozens of decisions for how to fight (unlike other hack-and-slash role-playing games like Zelda, where you have only a handful but don't have a special screen), but while you're deciding, the enemy can still attack you. It doesn't sound too impressive today, but World of Warcraft, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean, Radiata Stories all owe homage to this game.

Here's a brief overview of the story:

The player takes the role of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the Kingdom of Baron, on his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. Struggling to prevent Golbez from acquiring powerful Crystals, Cecil learns of his heritage and travels through three realms to battle Golbez's minions. His lover, best friend, and other warriors join him for the adventure.

Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its "Active Time Battle" system was used in six subsequent Final Fantasy games. With its character-driven plot, use of new technologies (such as Mode 7) and critically acclaimed score by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy IV is regarded as a landmark of the series and of the role-playing genre.

And if Wikipedia says it, it must be true. I should also note that this game remains so enormously popular to this day, that his spawned three re-releases and recent sequel that I hope to do a review of shortly. I'm going to have a difficult time not being biased in terms positives and negatives, so for this game, I'm going to focus on a typography of what's key in terms of the game.

(1) Redemption is a major theme.

There's a conversion! And it's better than the one in Left Behind (not hard). It's perhaps a non-religious conversion, but it certainly redemptive. During the course of the game, the protagonist Cecil Harvey must cease being a dark knight to become a paladin (a holy knight). During his time as a dark knight, he attacks a town called Mysidia. But once realizing his king is corrupt, he turns against him and in the midst of travelling to confront him, Cecil and his party are shipwrecked. The wreck leaves Cecil back Mysidia, where he is understandably not welcomed. But the elders warn him that if he's fighting evil with evil, he will have no success. So he's sent to an ancient monument on Mt. Ordeals where he will have to "part from his past" in order to gain the power of paladin. The monument tells him he must:

"Conquer your Darkness within! If you can't overcome your past self, the sacred power of Light will not accept you."

And on the mountain, Cecil fights himself. There are several ghosts of "sin" discussed in the confrontation. He doesn't allow his friends to help him fight, saying:

"This is my own fight! I must defeat him to amend for my past guilt."

There's also a plea for pacifism as well.

"To be a real Paladin, you must not fight now. Justice is not the only right in this world."

And at the end of the story, Cecil's brother, Golbez (who is the antagonist for much of the story), tries to destroy big bad guy Zemus. But Golbez, is unfortunately, a dark knight and can't do it. Cecil the Paladin is able to destroy him, with the help of prayers from earth (they call it "wishes" but everyone is going prostrate and reciting liturgy. I'm sorry politically correct translator--that's called a "prayer").

(2) Self-Sacrifice is a major theme.

During the course of the story, there are three major incidents of self-sacrifice.

(a) Sage Tellah uses a powerful spell to fight off Golbez (antagonist) and protect his friends, revenge his daughters death. He knows using the spell will kill him, and it does.
(b) Karateman Yang Fang Leiden destroys a cannon to save those who would have been killed by it's blast. He manages to survive (?) but for the majority of game we're pretty sure he's toast.
(c) Engineer Cid Pollendina basically performs a suicide bombing to save his friends from attackers. He also manages to survive (?).

The Lunarian FuSoYa (who wins the award for weirdest name) does get a little preachy near the end:

Zemus: "I will not perish as long as there is evil in the hearts of people."
FuSoYa: "Evil in our minds will never disappear...We are all both evil and good in our minds...So long as evil exists, so does good."

(3) Creation story:

Basically, we have the case of "really-smart-aliens-come-to-earth-and-some-are-really-bad-and-some-are-really-good" story plot. You'll find the creation story in here:

The Lunarians are a race of human-like wizards who came from a world destroyed which became the asteroid belt, and are identified by a moon-shape crest on their foreheads. They created the second moon that revolves around the world the story takes place on, resting until a time they believe their kind can co-exist with humans. The only known full-blood Lunarians are Fusoya, the guardian of the Lunarians; Zemus, a restless Lunarian who plans on destroying life on Earth so his kind, alone, can inhabit the planet; and Kluya, who is believed to be the first Lunarian to interact with humans. In fact, Kluya fell in love with a human, and had at least two sons with her: Theodor, whom Zemus corrupted and renamed Golbez; and the younger brother raised by the King of Baron as Cecil.

Sony releases the "slim"

Sony just announced the release of their new "slim" PS3 with 120GB harddrive, less energy use and less space use.

I'm really regretting the ridiculous amount of money I spent on the 60 GB PS3. That said, it doesn't look like this will have the same reverse compatibility features of the 60 GB (which is why I got that in the first place).

It is however, cheaper than the "fat" PS3s and significantly smaller. Sony's still a contender, folks.

Why Sony wins the video game wars

Yes. I think Sony wins the video game wars. You will either find this statement (a) entirely credulous since I already sunk $600 into a 60GB Playstation 3 (personal bias revealed) or (b) entirely incredulous, because the Wii is clearly the fastest-selling system, and the XBox 360 has the most marketshare of next-generation games.

Let me start by saying that there is nothing wrong with either of the other two systems. But here are my reasons for this statement.

(1) The Playstation 2 is still the most popular video game system. Recent tech news indicates that Playstation 2 won the video game wars of 2008-2009. What? That thing is nine years old! The Playstation 2 is still benefiting from the same phenomenon, that, frankly, is killing blue-ray movies. The advent of blue-ray has made DVDs even cheaper. And Playstation 2 operates with DVDs. Sony has either been ingenious or downright stupid by releasing a large majority of their new games both on Playstation 2 and Playstation 3. So when both versions are available, you suddenly have a completely awesome $40 PS 3 game also available for $20 on PS 2...

The most popular game console -- based on minutes spent playing during the course of the month -- is none of the current consoles but rather Sony's venerable PlayStation 2. That's a real testament to the phenomenal staying power of the little black system, with 21.6 percent of all gaming minutes during the month spent playing it.

(2) The Playstation 3 allows you to play the games you already own on Playstation and Playstation 2. I am aware that the Xbox 360 allows you to play some games from the original Xbox. But it is not nearly as broadbased a support for the video game dollars already spent as with the Playstation. This allows you to have a single video game box rather than have several. (It's dorky enough to have one video game console in your home--but several? Dates will fail.)

(3) The Playstation 3 has the capability to everything and more on the Wii and Xbox. What does the Wii have going for it? Not graphics. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are far superior. It's ease of play. You can use a Wii-mote and feel like your doing something natural. None of this messing around trying to learn a controller. Controllers suck. Remember the N64 controller? Bleh. The Playstation 3 has always had motion-sensor capability but has never taken advantage of it. And in recent news, Sony has designed a "wand" that they will be releasing in 2010 to go head-to-head with Nintendo.

(4) Convergence Culture is the future. Come on folks, we know that discs aren't the future. Direct internet-to-console downloads are the future. At least, according to Jenkins. All three systems allow you to download things from varying degress onto your harddrive. Skins for your desktop, patches for games, extra levels, old Castlevania games from the original Nintendo. On my PS3, not only can I download Street Fighter 2 and the most recent episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," but I can go online and check my email, watch YouTube and Hulu. I don't have a DVD player or a Blue-ray player or a cd player in my house. I have a Playstation 3 and it does more than all three.

Review: Super Mario RPG (Replay)

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a game I played as a kid. It came out for the Super Nintendo in 1996, made piles of dough, spawned several sequels (none of them very good) and to this day is considered one of the best games of all time.

Since I've been studying media theory, I notice things in the media of my youth I'd never noticed before. So I'm playing through some of these old games and I think there will be a paper (book?) some where in the future about the media messages in these games.

First the back ground. There's no underestimating the power of a story. Anyone who's played video games knows there are A LOT of bad storylines out there. I'm the guy who reads "Cyrano de Bergerac" for fun in the evenings so I'm a bit of a story snob. I can stand a certain level of bad dialogue (of which this game is guilty--more later), but I cannot stand story that lacks basic plot structure, a good idea, etc.

Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of the story:

The game begins with Mario entering Bowser's Castle to rescue Princess Toadstool. During the battle, a giant sword crashes into Bowser’s castle and sends Mario, Peach, and Bowser flying in different directions and shatters the Star Road, breaking it into seven fragments. Mario finds his way back to the Mushroom Kingdom, where the mushroom chancellor insists that Mario recover the princess, then discover the purpose of the giant sword.

Mario leaves the Mushroom Kingdom to aid a new friend of his named Mallow, to regain his frog coin from a raptor thief named Croco. When Mario returns, he finds that the kingdom is overrun by creatures claiming to be part of the Smithy gang. He then goes into the castle and finds the first boss in the game, a giant sword/spring like creature named Mack. When he defeats him, he finds a mysterious Star Piece and takes it, hoping to find out more about it later.

During Mario’s search for the princess, he meets a star spirit, who takes control over a doll named Geno, who joins Mario. He tells Mario that the Star Piece is a part of the shattered Star Road, where the star spirit resides. He must find all seven of the shattered pieces of Star Road in order to repair it, which are held by members of the Smithy gang. Mario agrees to help Geno in his search.

Mario eventually finds Bowser, trying to reassemble his forces; and the princess, as she is about to be forcibly married to a character named Booster. Bowser and Peach then both join Mario’s party and help look for Star Pieces.

When they have most of the Star Pieces, they learn that the last one is held in Bowser's Castle, which they return to and discover that the giant sword is a gateway to Smithy's factory. They defeat Smithy and use the Star Pieces to repair the Star Road.

Positives:
(1) Intertextuality- the Super Smash Bros. series or Kingdom Hearts series ring any bells? That's because they're some of the best selling video games of all time. What do they have in common with Super Mario RPG? They're intertextual. To see my paper on the use of this in Kingdom Hearts, click here. In Super Mario RPG, we have an appearance from one of the bad guys of Final Fantasy II (IV) who is accompanied by music from the game. There's also a classic mid-90s appearance of the "Power Rangers." Remember them? Prepare to laugh. In Super Mario RPG, they appear as bad guys (which means Mario gets to do what we all would like to do--kick their ass) and are called the "Axem Rangers." They have color-coded costumes, etc.

(2) Interactivity- this is one of the first role-playing games to mix up the turn-taking system and the slash-and-hack system. In this game, you are rewards for pressing buttons at the right time during battle. It adds to the experience and makes a it a forerunner for how games are generally done today.

(3) Geno (left)- first of all, Geno is one of the two original protagonists thought up for this game. Unfortunately neither he, nor Mallow appear in future games. In this game, we have something, my old friend Terry Mattingly would cause a religion "ghost." He's a doll, sent by a higher order to make sure everyone's prayers are answered essentially. They de-religion it pretty heavility, replacing prayers with "wishes" and never naming who sent him. But as I'll show in future posts, Square-Enix does like to throw religious/ethical messages in their games.

Negatives:
(1) Bad Dialogue-seeing a trend here? Bad dialogue is infectious and it takes over most every game. Now granted this game is marketed to kids and it is still superior to dialogue in later games. Yes Sonic, I'm talking about you.

(2) Gameplay-The gameplay was mostly good. But there were a few parts of the game where accomplishing the tasks before you were really hard. This was an early attempt at navigating someone around a 3-d landscape and Square-Enix/Nintendo just weren't there yet.

(3)Bowser- getting Bowser on your team at first seems like just such a cool thing, but the fact is it makes little sense. The Bowser we're accustomed to doesn't cry on command and throw temper-tantrums. Granted this is a tongue-in-cheek game with some gratuitous corniness, but Bowser is over the top and his level of involvement isn't warrented by the story. His motivation makes sense. The "hey-buddy" nature with which he treats Mario and Toadstool (basically his archenemies) is not.

Review: Sonic Unleashed

So Mimi and I bought this game a couple weeks ago and I just completed it yesterday. Here's the review.

The positive three, then the negative three...

Positives:
(1) It works- This is, truly, the first Sonic game since the Sega Genesis that has controls and gameplay that match up. And if I can say so, this is probably the first Sonic game since then that feels like a Sonic game
(2) Dark Sonic- The addition of the "dark" Sonic character actually adds intrigue to the game. It's not all running-really-fast-and-hoping-you-don't-fall-off-the-ledge-into-the-lava. With the dark sonic character, the time constraints are far less and you have more time to explore the levels. I must say though, this plot device seems very similar to the one used in Zelda: Twilight Princess...
(3) Extensive world- there are so many secret missions in this game, it's ridiculous. And there are numerous extra doors you can open up in the temples as well (I know, Temples. That sounds like Zelda too.)

Negatives
(1) The dialogue- the powers that be haven't realized yet that there was something glorious about having a silent Sonic on the Genesis. Because when Sega tries to do dialogue it kind of...falls flat. In all fairness, the dialogue is trying to reach out to what is still Sonic's target audience--kids. That said, I think even kids will find the dialogue stilted and corny.

(2) Chip- so the new character they introduce is this fairy like thing named Chip. He sucks. He does nothing for you. He's only a plot device not used until the last five minutes of the game. He's supposed to "Light Gaia" to the "Dark Gaia" we have to confront in the game. That being the case, I'd wager on Dark Gaia anyday.

(3) Limited ally appearances- I suppose the limit on Sonic allys in this game is to combat the hodgepodge they threw at us in "Sonic Heroes" (you only encounter Amy Rose and Tails in this game). But how can you have a game that goes across the entire planet and never end up on the Floating Island with Knuckles. Seriously the game would have been alot cooler.

Grade- B

GopherLink! Tips for success as a video game bad guy. If only Bowser had seen this...

100 Confessions: Sonic the Hedgehog

(21) As a kid, I was a HUGE Sonic the Hedgehog fan. I'm not just talking about the SEGA video games, although I did play through all of them and figured out how to get the emeralds to become Super Sonic in each. I also watched the television show during the brief stretch of time that it was on for Saturday morning cartoons (I actually had to wake up at 6 a.m. to see that one...) and built a huge collection of the comic books.

Looking back, I think I psychologically identified with a non-threatening character who was everything personality-wise that I was not: confident, smooth, beloved, etc. I also just thought the story was cool, especially the EndGame series.