There are lots of ways to categorise videogames, but how do they work as an overall system?
Most media have a simple genre system. There are horror films and action movies, romance novels and history books. The genres can overlap, but they all operate on the same level.
Videogames have genres too, but they’re a lot more complicated than that. Because games have so many interlocking parts, they can be sliced into groups in dozens of ways – far more than any other medium. Continue reading →
Just how important is it?
I’m an unabashed old fart; young to some, but increasingly decrepit in a gaming culture dominated by the sub-35 demographic. In my day, we argued about the relative benefits of Apple’s sixteen dithered colours over CGA’s four-colour palette. Well, not really – anyone with any brains knew that the Apple was better, even if it was frequently fuzzy as hell. Still, it was a simpler time. Games were normally built around a single mechanic; sometimes they even did it well! You could fit anywhere up to thirty games on a single 140KB floppy disk (back when they were still tangibly floppy!), and 640×480 was considered “hi-res”. Continue reading →
Giving, Remembering and Missing Out.
The Good
Games for Good
It’s a dangerous world out there. Not only is it filled with snakes, spiders and Steven Seagal, it’s also got a hefty population of grandparents with a seemingly endless supply of embroidered hankies to dish out at any present-giving opportunity. Like gift-laden suicide bombers, they lay in waiting, their payload dressed up as if it were just one of the many wrapped offerings under the Christmas tree. Maybe this is where the phrase it’s much better to give than to receive came from. It may be true when it comes to receiving gifts from the elderly, but it’s not always the case. The two can be equally gratifying, as OneBigGame have shown by allowing us to purchase Chime – developed by SingStar studio Zoë Mode – on Xbox Live Arcade. Not only does ‘sixty per cent or more’ (whatever that means) of your 400 MS points go towards kid related charities, but it’s also a fantastic game which mixes music and puzzles even better than Lumines did. It’s like paying to be part of a fun run for charity, only it’s actually fun. Continue reading →
Language, race and verbal communication.
The Good
Games speaking in their Native Tongues
We can handle foreign films in their original spoken forms, so why is it that we have an inability to immerse ourselves in the multiple languages that could appear in our games? Even Avatar, with its make-believe lexicon, had large chunks of its spoken audio translated into text (albeit, via an incredibly horrible font). Thankfully games like Metro 2033 are proud enough of their origins and feel strongly enough about their settings to offer up the ability to play in their original language, in this case Russian. I may be the only one, but I long for a day where localisation returns to its written roots – except this time sticking within the bounds of English grammar. Continue reading →
Sometimes you forget that there’s a real world out there.
The Good
Great Videogame Inspired Advertising
Nintendo may now be mainstream, but in reality most of the world doesn’t really quite understand why you’d list videogames as a hobby, let alone as something that should be taken seriously. And sure, videogames are great, but from time to time, those of us who think too much about the games we play need to be reminded of how important they are in the scheme of things. Thank you Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman. Continue reading →
The True Spirit …
Even though the entire videogame industry goes dark over the final two weeks of the year, it doesn’t mean that there’s no news to talk about, especially when squeezing blood out of stones is one of your favourite pastimes. Yes, I’m aware that sounds creepier than it was supposed to, and I like it that way.
Time to Play
Sometimes the prospect of dropping out of work or getting fired seems pretty appealing. Finally having time to play all those games that we’ve been meaning to get to would be a reality. That fantasy probably won’t ever come true in a way that’ll put food on the table, but at least there’s Christmas break, which will at least get us all part way there without disappointing our parents any further than we already have. Continue reading →
You’d think that playing a game isn’t meant to be hard work.
And yet here I sit for yet another night, unwilling or unable to play any further through Demon’s Souls, MLB 09: The Show, Pathologic, or The Witcher. They’re all good games – in their own way, excellent ones. And, Harry’s challenges notwithstanding, it’s not that I’m distracted or have some sort of collection compulsion. So why is it that I can’t stomach the thought of loading them up? Continue reading →
