Most people would never consider myself to be a music fan. There's no background music when I write this blog, for instance, nor am I one of those people who constantly have headphones on. Ask me what the top 30 is today and all you would get is a blank stare back. In fact, I remember having to do an assignment back in high school for media studies. It was embarrassing because it totally baffled me what the top 30 songs were back then! I mean, who are these Slackstreet Boys? And who is this Lavish Garden couple?
But the one thing I'm always vulnerable to are gaming tunes. While I was able to tune out Ace of Lace and Poutcast, there was no escaping from Terra's Theme, or Man with the Machine Gun. Not to mention the Zelda main theme, or anything from Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Zwei (and Saga!). Back in the day, those are pretty much the only music in my head (along with some great Andrew Lloyd Webber show tunes).
I really miss the days when a game would be playing something in the background for every thing. Running the plains in Final Fantasy 7? A soothing melody. Shooting up baddies in Contra? A popping, but catchy beat keeps you moving. Busting zombies and skeletons? You can't do without that Castlevania organ piano. Even when you're in the main menu, pursuing your inventory, the music stays with you. Now a days, there's just nothing but background noise. Sure, when you're fighting the Covenant or a Titan you get some rocking tracks but who's noticing? You're busy dodging sticky grenades and giant fists. Plus it's not all that great. Most people can remember the slow Halo choir leading to a thumping finish and maybe you can remember a few bars of the Kratos theme but really... that's ONE song out of... two? Whatever happened to real gaming soundtracks? Where, like a good show tune album, features more than just one hit? Like Final Fantasy's!
It's difficult to pinpoint just when gaming tracks vanished like the dinosaurs, but my bet is that it coincided with the demand for realism. In Grand Theft Auto 3, would it be realistic if background music played when you're robbing a bank? Not really. In Fallout 3, would it make sense to hear a stirring melody while being pounded by supermutants? No, I guess not... The ironic thing is, music plays a big role in both games. In GTA 3's case, it was famous for using real world licensed soundtrack, and for Fallout, the 40's music is just as iconic to the franchise as the supermutant mauling your face. And I think that's the thing... all of a sudden, if you had to have music in your game, it had to be met with realism. You don't actually hear any tunes unless you're in a car with the radio up, or you turned on your portable radio while exploring the wasteland. Even the sounds you hear in other games really only stand out when the gamer enters combat. Usually meaning generic guitar riffs or drum pounds. Honestly, if there's no licensed music, there's usually no variety, and nothing is catchy anymore.
And that brings me to the reason I'm writing this. It is because of a game called Nier. Nier, brought me back to the days when music made the game every bit as graphics did. Nier features a suite of stirring and surprisingly vocal tunes that fit every occasion in the game. And, it plays in the background all.... the... time! How awesome is that! After hearing just a couple of songs, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get the soundtrack. Luckily, it was all there on iTunes, under the Square Enix Music label. It was one of the best 15 dollars ever spent. This game threatens singled handedly to turn me into one of those dudes you see with headphones on the commute, oblivious to that pole he's about to walk into. Okay, so that's never happened to me but you get the idea.
One of my favorite things about soundtracks from the old days (NES to PSOne) is that you can usually find arranged versions of your favorite tunes. Since the sound quality didn't really come into it's own until the DVD generations of consoles, a lot of the older tracks would get the orchestra treatment. The best example would the anything from Final Fantasy 10 and previous. Generally, the arranged version sounds much better quality wise, if not better in general. It is a real treat to hear favorite turns pumped up from 8bit or synthesized to full orchestra.
So imagine my surprise when I found that Nier also had an arranged album. Naturally, I snagged it shortly after getting the original but there's one thing I forgot. While 'arranged' for the older songs mean 'orchestra', the quality for Nier was already so high that 'arranged' apparently meant 'techno'. :/ Luckily, there are some other treats in the arrangement including a medley featuring 8 bit renditions of all the best tracks. LOL! Talk about role reversal.
The 8 bit rendition is very, very good, by the way.
And you know... so is the techno.
Monday 30 July 2012
Tuesday 24 July 2012
A Show of Appreciation
My girlfriend and I have this favorite Japanese restaurant called Asahi
Sushi. We love going there mostly because the food is just awsome and
we go quite often. Because of this, every time we enter Asahi, we are
greeted with warm smiles by the proprietors of the place - a middle aged Korean couple - and sometimes, they would treat us to some free food.
We don't always have to order specifics to get some extra edamame, or a
free salad bowl or two. By now you might be thinking that this is a
restaurant review, but no, it's not! It's about gaming! What else?
The thing is, if you're a regular at a restaurant owned by independents, you might get a bit of preferential treatment. Free food, warm smiles, that kinda thing. Small stuff mostly. But what about games? Do we get anything for being fans? Sometimes, I'm not sure if the answer is yes. Club Nintendo is one big loyalty program, yes, and preorder bonuses are a dime a dozen. No, I'm talking about something a bit more intimate. Something from the developers straight to you and me.... You might think that noone really does this but lately, I found one example to beat the odds and I wish that more developers and publishers would go this extra mile. The publisher who does things right is Aksys, and the game is Record of Agarest Wars 2. You will be forgiven for never having heard of this niche JRPG but I guarantee you that what they are doing on the appreciation front is absolutely new.
When you buy Record of Agarest Wars 2, you're buying a special edition only (for now anyway) box set with an art book, a mylar balloon and a hand towel but that's not it. You pay for these on the price of the special edition package. If you check the PSN Store, however, this PS3 exclusive offers a tonne of free stuff just for the taking. A great many of these free items have descriptions that begin with 'in appreciation of your continued patronage, we offer....' Something like that. The gist is there. Point is, they make clear that the free stuff offered on PSN are there as appreciation for buying the game.
The goods they give away are small. A few extra experience points, some crafting materials and maybe an armor set or two. The armor set is nothing to sneeze at. According to a friend of mine who downloaded the item, the gear is head and shoulders above what he can currently obtain at his point in the game. But we don't have to go that far. In the end, the armor is just a handful of stats. The beauty is that such appreciation packages don't have to cost developers much. Any game featuring a points system or some kind of in game currency can benefit simply by offering a few points in appreciation here and there. What makes Agarest and Aksys friendly is that they continue to offer free stuff even a couple of weeks after releasing the game, which, I think, enhances gamer gratitude. We're not talking about a free DLC with new missions, costumes and story, or whatever. Just a few extra points thrown the player's way that won't break the game but show the players that the publishers care.
Now, if a small outfit like Aksys can do this, how come EA and Activision and all the big players don't? UBI Soft kinda does. They offer free in game upgrades to your characters for the last couple of Assassins' Creed games but there's a catch. You have to open a Uplay account and give out some personal information to get the freebies. This stuff in exchange for your personal info doesn't really count. Nor am I referring to those pack-in codes available on the first new release runs. Those are incentives to buy the game on or very close to street date. I'm taking about free gifts that show appreciation to gamers with no strings attached whether you buy the game now or ten months later.
With the gaming industry sales sliding into free fall, maybe it will be gestures like this that make the difference. The casual players are gone but we can at least keep the core gamers happy by dropping a few goodies our way. It's a nice, inexpensive way to say 'thanks' for buying a game at up to $60 retail at launch. I don't see how that could hurt. Again, this isn't the same as a preorder bonus. This is stuff that everyone gets just for buying the game. No strings attached.
There's one caveat here, folks. Agarest Wars 2 is the third in a series and the only PS3 exclusive. The other two games, Agarest and Agarest Zero were also for the 360. According to the same friend who tipped me off the these freebies, the other two games aren't as generous on Microsoft's platform. Apparently, the same free stuff on PSN costs points on Live. I hear from a long time ago that developers who want to offer free goods on the 360 couldn't because MS won't allow it and this is a perfect example. I guess when it comes to MS or Sony, we know who appreciates gamers more.
The thing is, if you're a regular at a restaurant owned by independents, you might get a bit of preferential treatment. Free food, warm smiles, that kinda thing. Small stuff mostly. But what about games? Do we get anything for being fans? Sometimes, I'm not sure if the answer is yes. Club Nintendo is one big loyalty program, yes, and preorder bonuses are a dime a dozen. No, I'm talking about something a bit more intimate. Something from the developers straight to you and me.... You might think that noone really does this but lately, I found one example to beat the odds and I wish that more developers and publishers would go this extra mile. The publisher who does things right is Aksys, and the game is Record of Agarest Wars 2. You will be forgiven for never having heard of this niche JRPG but I guarantee you that what they are doing on the appreciation front is absolutely new.
When you buy Record of Agarest Wars 2, you're buying a special edition only (for now anyway) box set with an art book, a mylar balloon and a hand towel but that's not it. You pay for these on the price of the special edition package. If you check the PSN Store, however, this PS3 exclusive offers a tonne of free stuff just for the taking. A great many of these free items have descriptions that begin with 'in appreciation of your continued patronage, we offer....' Something like that. The gist is there. Point is, they make clear that the free stuff offered on PSN are there as appreciation for buying the game.
The goods they give away are small. A few extra experience points, some crafting materials and maybe an armor set or two. The armor set is nothing to sneeze at. According to a friend of mine who downloaded the item, the gear is head and shoulders above what he can currently obtain at his point in the game. But we don't have to go that far. In the end, the armor is just a handful of stats. The beauty is that such appreciation packages don't have to cost developers much. Any game featuring a points system or some kind of in game currency can benefit simply by offering a few points in appreciation here and there. What makes Agarest and Aksys friendly is that they continue to offer free stuff even a couple of weeks after releasing the game, which, I think, enhances gamer gratitude. We're not talking about a free DLC with new missions, costumes and story, or whatever. Just a few extra points thrown the player's way that won't break the game but show the players that the publishers care.
Now, if a small outfit like Aksys can do this, how come EA and Activision and all the big players don't? UBI Soft kinda does. They offer free in game upgrades to your characters for the last couple of Assassins' Creed games but there's a catch. You have to open a Uplay account and give out some personal information to get the freebies. This stuff in exchange for your personal info doesn't really count. Nor am I referring to those pack-in codes available on the first new release runs. Those are incentives to buy the game on or very close to street date. I'm taking about free gifts that show appreciation to gamers with no strings attached whether you buy the game now or ten months later.
With the gaming industry sales sliding into free fall, maybe it will be gestures like this that make the difference. The casual players are gone but we can at least keep the core gamers happy by dropping a few goodies our way. It's a nice, inexpensive way to say 'thanks' for buying a game at up to $60 retail at launch. I don't see how that could hurt. Again, this isn't the same as a preorder bonus. This is stuff that everyone gets just for buying the game. No strings attached.
There's one caveat here, folks. Agarest Wars 2 is the third in a series and the only PS3 exclusive. The other two games, Agarest and Agarest Zero were also for the 360. According to the same friend who tipped me off the these freebies, the other two games aren't as generous on Microsoft's platform. Apparently, the same free stuff on PSN costs points on Live. I hear from a long time ago that developers who want to offer free goods on the 360 couldn't because MS won't allow it and this is a perfect example. I guess when it comes to MS or Sony, we know who appreciates gamers more.
Wednesday 18 July 2012
A couple of days ago, an article was posted on gaming site Gamasutra
regarding the state of the retail videogame industry. The analyst
writing the feature didn't have much good news. Retail gaming sales is still taking a nose dive and, in the worse case scenerio, we
can expect revenues in 2012 to come down to the same levels we saw
while in 2005. The writer indicates that this was the time of the DS
launch, but before the 360 launch and my memory confirms this.
In a way, this isn't very surprising. Right now, we are missing the number one factor/driver that lead to the heady days of 2008 when games were flying off shelves. The time when even music retailer HMV was diversifying into selling games (but they no longer do, thanks to the downturn). Three factors after 2005 contributed to the claim that gaming was surpassing the movie industry:
1) The launch of the Nintendo Wii
2) Guitar Hero/Rock Band
3) Modern Warfare (the game, not real life)
All three items contributed to the growth of the gaming industry from 2006 to 2008 and that main factor is... the casual gamer! The Wii was the most influential driver of this with it's family friendly collection and motion controls (now grandma can play!). This was closely followed by the music gaming phenomenon (now anyone can be a rockstar!), which brought in all kinds of interest from non gamers to the point where Activision was forced to milk and eventually destroy the genre. And finally, we have the start of the Modern Warfare franchise in 2007. Though MW isn't exactly a 'casual' game, it did bring in a lot of people who normally don't play to buy a 360. A lot of people I know own a 360 just for that one series (and maybe a Gears of War or a Forza). Now everyone can be a bad@ss killer, yay! That's sarcasm, by the way.
So the video game down turn we're seeing now, I believe, is simply these casual gamers leaving the industry as we know it. Wii sales are on the decline, the music genre is on life support and even Modern Warfare's numbers have peaked. Basically, sales are down because there are simply less grandmas, rockstar hopefuls and wannabe soldiers of fortunes around to float the boat. Where did they all go? That's easy. Mobile and social games, of course! Pretty much all of the casual stuff from Nintendo down to a few matches of Call of Duty just comes down to a little bit of entertainment here and there, when you're bored, or when there are people over that need to be entertained for just a few minutes. And most of these needs can be satisfied by apps and Facebook games. The idea is that if you're bored, just fire up the phone for a bit, and if your house guests are bored, they can fire up their phones. Yes, sarcasm, but the gist is real.
So we are now heading back down to 2005 levels, when games on the shelves were snapped up by gamers looking to play - not just for a few minutes, but for a few hours. It's not so bad. Maybe this will get Nintendo to go back to making some 'real' games for a change. Actually... no... the future is pretty bleak even from here.
What's the difference? Well, back in 2005 and prior, if you want to make games, the consoles (and PC) is the only game in town. If you want to play any decent games, there are only a few places you can go. This isn't true anymore. Now you can get different types of games just about anywhere. A dedicated machine (or a gaming PC) is entirely optional. It seems that every time I visit Gamasutra, this or that talented game maker left this or that publisher/studio to form his or her own company making.... mobile and social apps! Top tier talent everywhere are leaving the traditional landscape for a place where the hours are less, the pressure to please the publisher non existent, and where one can control one's destiny. This is some attractive proposition, not to be underestimated.
What's going to happen in the future? Unless the mobile and social grasses turn out not to be so green, there will simply be fewer and fewer people making console games. More specifically, BIG, console games, games like Uncharted, or Infamous, which require teams of hundreds. And to be honest, what is a console without your big console games?
I really hate to say this, but I predict that this is the beginning of the end of the gaming world as we know it. The writing is on the wall. Console games will never go away entirely. But we might get to a point where a decent console title will be hard to find. Not just because it's expensive to make, but there will be noone making them.
In a way, this isn't very surprising. Right now, we are missing the number one factor/driver that lead to the heady days of 2008 when games were flying off shelves. The time when even music retailer HMV was diversifying into selling games (but they no longer do, thanks to the downturn). Three factors after 2005 contributed to the claim that gaming was surpassing the movie industry:
1) The launch of the Nintendo Wii
2) Guitar Hero/Rock Band
3) Modern Warfare (the game, not real life)
All three items contributed to the growth of the gaming industry from 2006 to 2008 and that main factor is... the casual gamer! The Wii was the most influential driver of this with it's family friendly collection and motion controls (now grandma can play!). This was closely followed by the music gaming phenomenon (now anyone can be a rockstar!), which brought in all kinds of interest from non gamers to the point where Activision was forced to milk and eventually destroy the genre. And finally, we have the start of the Modern Warfare franchise in 2007. Though MW isn't exactly a 'casual' game, it did bring in a lot of people who normally don't play to buy a 360. A lot of people I know own a 360 just for that one series (and maybe a Gears of War or a Forza). Now everyone can be a bad@ss killer, yay! That's sarcasm, by the way.
So the video game down turn we're seeing now, I believe, is simply these casual gamers leaving the industry as we know it. Wii sales are on the decline, the music genre is on life support and even Modern Warfare's numbers have peaked. Basically, sales are down because there are simply less grandmas, rockstar hopefuls and wannabe soldiers of fortunes around to float the boat. Where did they all go? That's easy. Mobile and social games, of course! Pretty much all of the casual stuff from Nintendo down to a few matches of Call of Duty just comes down to a little bit of entertainment here and there, when you're bored, or when there are people over that need to be entertained for just a few minutes. And most of these needs can be satisfied by apps and Facebook games. The idea is that if you're bored, just fire up the phone for a bit, and if your house guests are bored, they can fire up their phones. Yes, sarcasm, but the gist is real.
So we are now heading back down to 2005 levels, when games on the shelves were snapped up by gamers looking to play - not just for a few minutes, but for a few hours. It's not so bad. Maybe this will get Nintendo to go back to making some 'real' games for a change. Actually... no... the future is pretty bleak even from here.
What's the difference? Well, back in 2005 and prior, if you want to make games, the consoles (and PC) is the only game in town. If you want to play any decent games, there are only a few places you can go. This isn't true anymore. Now you can get different types of games just about anywhere. A dedicated machine (or a gaming PC) is entirely optional. It seems that every time I visit Gamasutra, this or that talented game maker left this or that publisher/studio to form his or her own company making.... mobile and social apps! Top tier talent everywhere are leaving the traditional landscape for a place where the hours are less, the pressure to please the publisher non existent, and where one can control one's destiny. This is some attractive proposition, not to be underestimated.
What's going to happen in the future? Unless the mobile and social grasses turn out not to be so green, there will simply be fewer and fewer people making console games. More specifically, BIG, console games, games like Uncharted, or Infamous, which require teams of hundreds. And to be honest, what is a console without your big console games?
I really hate to say this, but I predict that this is the beginning of the end of the gaming world as we know it. The writing is on the wall. Console games will never go away entirely. But we might get to a point where a decent console title will be hard to find. Not just because it's expensive to make, but there will be noone making them.
Monday 9 July 2012
Why Buy 360?
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine asked me how I decide what to buy for which system: the PS3 or Xbox 360. As an owner of both consoles, this is the most vexing decision. With most games these days appearing on multiple platforms, the question of which version to get is never easy. A confession to make before moving on: I am hugely biased in favor of the PS3. Being an older gamer, the Sony brand simply means so much more, from the best JRPGs to the best action games like God of War. Sony is where my favorite memories stem from over the years (after having been given the shaft by Nintendo, but that is a story for another blog). With my Sony-heavy bias, my answer to my friend's question was.... well... I buy games for the 360 mostly out of pity.
Yes, that's right. If I could, I would buy every single game ever released on a Sony platform. With that bias in place, the only time I would ever buy a multi-platform 360 game would be when I feel sorry for the machine and decide to give it some love. However, after mulling the question over in my head for a day or so, the whole story begins to emerge, and it's not always about feeling sorry for one system over another.
Remember how I said that the Sony machines gave me the best gaming memories? Well, there were some painful ones. Two of which involved having to replaced both my PS1 and PS2 simply due to wear and tear. Having already gone through two PS3s due to technical break downs, the last thing I need is to get a third PS3 console. (Why I still have Sony in such high regard after this fiasco I will never know. For the record, however, I am on my second 360). So sometimes, getting a game on the 360 is a good idea, even if I prefer the PS3. If I'm not running the Sony machine, it can't wear out, right? And if the 360 happens to red ring on me again, hey, I can say my bias is justified. Yes, that's a joke. Ironically enough, this sometimes mean that I buy lengthy RPGs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls on the 360. Because the hundred hour or so playing these games will not wear out my PS3.
There are other practical reasons for getting games for the 360, one of which is the system's stability. As a Sony fan I shouldn't be saying this but psychologically, I think the 360 is the more stable system. Just recently, I had the PS3 crash on me while playing splitscreen co op in Lego Batman 2. The 360 also crashes, like when I play intensive games such as Skyrim. This actually puts the 360 in favor for the more technically intensive games. The simpler chip architecture of Microsoft's machine translates to a more stable game experience in my mind. It also didn't help that my first PS3 died on me while playing Fallout 3. Anytime Bethesda comes out with an epic, it's an automatic 360 buy. Like I said before, I'd rather sacrifice the Xbox. For games which are PC ports, this is a no brainer. Is it any coincidence that both the Witcher 2 and Divinity Ego Draconis are both 360 exclusives? PC ports to the 360 is much easier than to the PS3, which is why for games like Alice Madness Returns, I once again choose Microsoft.
Then there are the free stuff, and this is mostly in Sony's favor. Just off the top of my head, Arkham Asylum, Dante's Inferno, Assassin's Creed Revelations and Dead Space 2 both had extra free content for Sony's platform. I always make it a policy to buy the version which gives me more, and so far, Sony's side is winning over stingy Microsoft.
Then who can forget about the multiplayer? A good friend of mine who plays games have the opposite bias as I do and it gets in the way whenever a good fighting game shows up. He will always buy the 360 version while I spring for the PS3 but we both want to go head to head together! Thing is, he has friends on both sides of the fence so he actually gets both version, but he gets the 360 first, waits for a price drop or a used copy, and then buy Sony's. In this case it works out. Also, the games that I want to play multiplayer co op on, like Halo and Gears of War, are Xbox exclusives. That decision is easy. But one day, there will be a game that the two of us would like to play, and I would rather not subscribe to Xbox Live. So far, that day hasn't come, but who knows? Persona Arena will be yet another test of loyalty...
I wish I had a witty end to this blog but I don't. I do have one more reason to choose one over the other though. It sometimes just comes down to momentum. Some games like Mass Effect requires that you stick with one console if you want to carry over saves. In this case, why switch? I just wish that it came out on Sony's platform first. :)
Yes, that's right. If I could, I would buy every single game ever released on a Sony platform. With that bias in place, the only time I would ever buy a multi-platform 360 game would be when I feel sorry for the machine and decide to give it some love. However, after mulling the question over in my head for a day or so, the whole story begins to emerge, and it's not always about feeling sorry for one system over another.
Remember how I said that the Sony machines gave me the best gaming memories? Well, there were some painful ones. Two of which involved having to replaced both my PS1 and PS2 simply due to wear and tear. Having already gone through two PS3s due to technical break downs, the last thing I need is to get a third PS3 console. (Why I still have Sony in such high regard after this fiasco I will never know. For the record, however, I am on my second 360). So sometimes, getting a game on the 360 is a good idea, even if I prefer the PS3. If I'm not running the Sony machine, it can't wear out, right? And if the 360 happens to red ring on me again, hey, I can say my bias is justified. Yes, that's a joke. Ironically enough, this sometimes mean that I buy lengthy RPGs like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls on the 360. Because the hundred hour or so playing these games will not wear out my PS3.
There are other practical reasons for getting games for the 360, one of which is the system's stability. As a Sony fan I shouldn't be saying this but psychologically, I think the 360 is the more stable system. Just recently, I had the PS3 crash on me while playing splitscreen co op in Lego Batman 2. The 360 also crashes, like when I play intensive games such as Skyrim. This actually puts the 360 in favor for the more technically intensive games. The simpler chip architecture of Microsoft's machine translates to a more stable game experience in my mind. It also didn't help that my first PS3 died on me while playing Fallout 3. Anytime Bethesda comes out with an epic, it's an automatic 360 buy. Like I said before, I'd rather sacrifice the Xbox. For games which are PC ports, this is a no brainer. Is it any coincidence that both the Witcher 2 and Divinity Ego Draconis are both 360 exclusives? PC ports to the 360 is much easier than to the PS3, which is why for games like Alice Madness Returns, I once again choose Microsoft.
Then there are the free stuff, and this is mostly in Sony's favor. Just off the top of my head, Arkham Asylum, Dante's Inferno, Assassin's Creed Revelations and Dead Space 2 both had extra free content for Sony's platform. I always make it a policy to buy the version which gives me more, and so far, Sony's side is winning over stingy Microsoft.
Then who can forget about the multiplayer? A good friend of mine who plays games have the opposite bias as I do and it gets in the way whenever a good fighting game shows up. He will always buy the 360 version while I spring for the PS3 but we both want to go head to head together! Thing is, he has friends on both sides of the fence so he actually gets both version, but he gets the 360 first, waits for a price drop or a used copy, and then buy Sony's. In this case it works out. Also, the games that I want to play multiplayer co op on, like Halo and Gears of War, are Xbox exclusives. That decision is easy. But one day, there will be a game that the two of us would like to play, and I would rather not subscribe to Xbox Live. So far, that day hasn't come, but who knows? Persona Arena will be yet another test of loyalty...
I wish I had a witty end to this blog but I don't. I do have one more reason to choose one over the other though. It sometimes just comes down to momentum. Some games like Mass Effect requires that you stick with one console if you want to carry over saves. In this case, why switch? I just wish that it came out on Sony's platform first. :)
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