Next Generation Social Advantage

So it's that time of the cycle again, folks.  The time for the new console announcements.  I think everyone expects Sony and Microsoft to announce their new consoles sometime this year.  For those who've read my old blogs back on 1up, you may be familiar with my stance that the new consoles can in no way compete on what they used to compete on before.  That is, the usual better graphics and faster hardware just going to cut it this time around.

 

Why?  Because of development costs.  With studios folding left right an center these days, big budget triple A titles are getting harder and harder to make, not to mention more and more expensive.  So just throwing better graphics and more horse power will not work for this new generation because less and less developers can even take advantage of the added muscle.

 

Nevertheless, however, processing power has grown by leaps since the last major console launches (not counting the Wii U).  Memory has also taken similar bounds.  It would be a shame not to take advantage of progress.  But if better looks and bigger worlds are too expensive and risky to make, then what to do with all that extra power?

 

I believe I have the solution, and it was Nintendo who inspired this.  You know the Wiiverse on the Wii U?  Basically Twitter for Nintendo?  Well what if this is the next new leap in gaming?  I'm going to use Sony as my example here because they rock.  So picture this.  Wiiverse is Twitter for Nintendo, right?  So what if, when Sony introduces their new machine, we have Twitter for Sony…  and Photobucket for Sony… and Youtube for Sony…. and… dare I even say it?  Facebook for Sony!  You see what I'm getting at here?  That's right.  Complete social integration within the platform.  Social Media for Sony.  For the PS4.  That gets my blood pumping.  It's also a great way to use that extra horse power and memory available with progress today.

 

A number of you reading might be thinking: so what?  We already have Twitter, Photobucket, Youtube and Facebook.  Why would we need a Sony version?  My answer to that is another question.  Why have a console in the first place?  I mean, you can play games on your PC right?  A lot of folks like the dedicated machine experience.  A Playstation should only really be used to play games (and do game related stuff).  It's a lot less complicated to use hardware when it's dedicated.  So a similar thought could also appy to software.  Social Media for Sony isn't going to have the reach of Facebook, but it doesn't have to.  Think about what Facebook tells us for a second.  Who's got together?  Who broke up?  Who got married?  Divorced?  Having a kid?  Going on vacation?  That's all well and good but as a gamer, sometimes, I want to get away from the world and just talk about the one thing on my mind.  Games.  And with social media built in to the consoles, this could be a reality.  Besides, when you excitedly post on Facebook about your Platinum on Dragon's Dogma, who except your gamer friends are gonna care?  You might as well save those important pieces of gaming worthiness for the folks you know will understand:  your buddies on your Playstation list.

 

Of course, the option always exists to have Sony's software linked up to the real Facebook.  So if you really want to show off your newest Platinum, you can.

 

Okay, so this all sounds pretty good so far, but what is the actual application?  How would it work?  Imagine this scenario.  You're playing multiplayer deathmatch on Black Ops 3 and you wanted to go hide in your favorite ambush point.  You get to where you want to go, and without looking, start backing into your favorite spot.  All of a sudden, you die.  The kill cam shows that someone was already in your hiding spot, and since you were trying to back into it without looking, you literally walked into a backstab.  Pretty funny, right?  Suppose this happened on the the PS4 with Social Media for Sony.  Suppose also that you are able to set the machine to record a video of whatever was on screen for the past two minutes.  Then it would be a simple matter of pausing the game, retrieve the video, and whenever you have time, run the handy video editing program built into the machine to show specifically only what you wanted:  your untimely death and the hilarious cause.  After that, it's another simple matter of saving the video and posting it online.  The best part is, you can do all this on the console, built in, without leaving the machine and having to go onto a PC.  You can expand the concept to screen shots too.  See a particularily nice vista while in your favorite RPG?  Snap a pic and post it on Twitter for Sony.  Stuck in a game and need some help?  Pause and do a post on Facebook for Sony and see if any of your friends can offer some advise.  Done well, the possibilities are limitless.

 

And so that's how the next generation of machines can compete.  Not on raw processing power or graphical shine, but on what you can now do with and on a game that's much more than what you can do now.  Without hooking it up to a PC, that is.  By all means, this isn't turning a console into a PC.  Far from it.  We don't need to do spreadsheets on a Playstation.  But anything that can make the gaming experience more social, more exciting, more hands on and more rewarding is the very thing the gaming industry needs to cultivate for the next round of consoles.  And I think bringing in social media factors on board is one way of making this a reality.

Gaming Promise Check:

Atelier Meruru - 10 hours done

DMC - great game and now playing, but...

Ni no Kuni - broke my new year's promise already.  Bought this game.  Will juggle this with DMC.  With any luck, these are the only two games you will see here in a long time.

New Year's.... Promise

A bit of a disclaimer before starting.  I cannot stand new year's resolutions.  Never liked holding myself hostage to anything, even if it's something devised by myself.  Last year, however, I put into place a rule.  I hesitate to call it a new year's resolution but it's close.  The rule is, simply:

 

1)  I'm only allowed to buy a new game once I have beaten the one I'm playing now.

 

It's a very simple rule, and it's designed as a money saver and a time saver.  I used to buy a lot of new games for a lot of money, only to have no time to play the lot of them.  So it's basically money wasted and time not so well spent.  This rule changes all that and I'm happy to report that I did do pretty well for myself last year.

 

Of course, as with most things, it's never so simple.  The rule is pretty black and white, but I find that breaking it tend to be very easy because it's so inflexible.  There's no lying here.  The rule has been broken many times.  Knowing this, I put into place a few sub rules.  They are:

 

The 10 Hour Rule - This one is for fighting games, racing games, and any other gamer for which there isn't an ending.  I can't beat a game if it doesn't end, right?  So this rule is to put a limit to that.  But it's real purpose is to get me out of a game I don't like!  Yes, I admit it's a cheat, but it's a cheat with a purpose.  There are some games that are overly long.  Like most RPGs for instance.  If I don't like a game, I don't think it's possible to do the 50 hours it takes to beat these things.  However, with the 10 hour rule, it ensures me enough time to at least give it a fair shake.  If, by the 10 hour mark, I still can't get into the game, then it's fair to say that it's time to move on.

 

The Collection Rule - There are some games where, if you miss it the first time, you might not be able to find a copy later on.  Most niche titles fall into this category, my favorite of which being niche JRPGs.  Once they are sold out, they rarely come back.  Which is where this rule comes in.  I can buy it for collection purposes, so at the very least, if I want to play it in the future, the option is there.  Also, there are some titles where I do think is rare, and might be worth something in the future.  That also falls into this category.

 

The Cheap Game Rule - Part of the purpose of the whole resolution thing is to save money.  But if games are cheap, then saving money becomes less of an issue.  If I can find three games for $20, that's worth one game at $60.  Which is why I allow myself to buy games if it's cheap enough, and not count it against my resolution.  Usually this means games for $20 or under.  I find myself abusing this a lot, however (it's shocking how many cheap games there are that are interesting at that price), so for 2013, I maybe abolishing this rule.  What's the point of having a bunch of cheap games if I'm not going to play them, right?  Jury's out on this one, so we will have to see.

 

The Handheld Rule - Handhelds are a different beast because I can take these on the go.  With access during my commutes, I can easily put in 2 hours or more a day into a handheld.  This isn't something I can do with console games.  Which is why handhelds really isn't part of this resolution.  This might seem like a bit of an abuse, but it's mitigated by the fact that I don't like handhelds as much as their bigger cousins.  Given the same game - one on the go and one not - I would pick the big screen version every time.

 

The Mistake Rule - There are times where nothing helps.  You do all the due diligence, you read all the reviews, ask all your friend's opinions and still the game you just bought isn't rubbing you the right way.  That's when I pull out the mistake rule.  This one is to be used sparingly because it basically nulls the main resolution.  I can drop a game after 2 hours with this rule.  However, it is necessary because there are just some games which will kill me if I force myself to play it for more than two hours.  An example of this would be the newest Need for Speed Most Wanted.  Great reviews and everything, but I hate….. just hate…. the way the cars handle.  More of a sim guy here.  Playing this was like pulling teeth.

 

Well, there's a reason I'm putting all of this up here.  The reason is… I need some accountability.  My girlfriend has been graciously overseeing me last year but let's see if I can't make it accountable in public.  So I think whenever I do a blog, I'll write a little blurb on how my gaming is going.  Starting now.  So far, since the very beginning of 2013 (and I'm taking VERY beginning since I had to work late on new year's eve and literally started playing at 3am Jan 1) I've been playing these games:

 

Dragon's Dogma - 10 hours put in, done

Vanquish - quite after 3 hours BUT this doesn't count since I bought this a long time ago…

Atelier Meruru - still working on this but it's 10 hours done.  Once DMC comes out I'm kicking it to the curb. :)

 

Well, that's all I got now.  Happy new year to all.

 

Review: Binary Domain

Normally, I don't write game reviews because the various professionals out there do a much better job collectively than I ever could.  But the system isn't perfect, and occationally, a great game falls through the critical cracks.  Binary Domain is one such game.

 

The closest comparison to Binary Domain is Gears of War, which is a very good thing and a very bad thing.  Gears is a great game, and so is Binary, but Gears is polished to a mirror sheen, and anything held up to that reflection had better look just as good.  Unfortunately, Binary Domain just isn't THAT polished, which is why I think it was passed over by critics and gamers alike.  This is unfortunate, because BD stands out on it's own as a great game, with it's own personality, and it is every bit as good as Gears of War.

 

Binary Domain, published by Sega, takes place in the near future where robots are as common as mobile phones and do much more besides.  From serving drinks to making buildings, robots are a part of every day life.  So much so that a law was enacted to outlaw any robot made to look like human beings.  The game beings with two American soldiers infiltrating a futuristic Japan to apprenhend a corporate researcher in violation of this law.  You play as one of those American soldiers, and along the way, you pick up your usual ragtag crew and as par in this type of genre, by the time you reach the end, the premise in the beginning will be blown wide open.

 

This band of merry men you assemble come and go, like a classic JRPG.  You'd be switching out old buddies for new party members at various stages of the game and back again.  When your party gets too full, you can pick and choose who you would like to take with you.  In a particular twist, you can actually build a bond between your protagonist and your party members.  With a good relationship, you can issue orders to your teammates and they will respond favorably, with a bad relationship, they will ignore your commands.  The enemies have a strict tendency to focus on you, the player character, so it's important to get on your party's good side, or more likely than not, they will stand there and do nothing while you take a beating. 

 

The story is the best part of Binary Domain.  It starts off pedestrian, but by the end, some serious ethical and philosophical discussions would have taken place.  None of it, however, is very high handed and I think the game strikes a tight balance between being too preachy and just letting the player blow things up.  It also helps that your party members are a likable bunch of folks.  Yes, you have your cliches like the big black guy trying just a little too hard to be 'black', but each of these folks do evolve somewhat so that they are different people by the end of the game.  I can't say much more on this, because doing so would spoil what I think is the best part of Binary Domain.

 

All that talk of story and characters matter jack if the gameplay isn't good and here, the gameplay is great!  Binary Domain is your basic cover shooter at heart, but it's one that works.  The excitement is enhanced by some light RPG elements.  You earn money with every badguy you defeat, and with the cash, you can upgrade your weapons and even your physical attributes (such as your usual defense and health upgrades).  This means that from a gameplay perspective, the character you end the game with is much stronger than the one you start with.  This will be helpful because the enemies do get stronger and the bosses need all the firepower you can muster because they are big.

 

The bosses are the highlight of Binary Domain's combat.  They come in all shapes and sizes from huge monstrosities to small, lithe but fearsome foes.  No two are alike and all of them take some serious firepower to bring down.  A lot of the bosses even feature multiple 'stages' where they change patterns, forcing you to adapt.  Other's have little quirks.  You might be fighting one head on in one section, but in another, you will be luring the boss towards damaging explosives.  All this, before you can finish it off for good with a big turret.  Come for the story, but stay for the bosses, and you won't be disappointed.

 

One of my favorite things about this game is that it's good clean fun.  All your foes here are robots, which means that outside of a few cut scenes, there is barely a drop of blood to be found.  I think this is refreshing, given how bloody and violent most games are these days.  Blasting foes which spews out armor parts and metal pieces instead of blood and guts is something I can get behind.  But this also factors into the gameplay.  Because your foes are not alive, blowing up their legs just means they will crawl at you.  If you take out their main gun arm, they will use the other arm to attack instead, usually with a smaller pistol or a melee weapon.  In a neat twist, taking off a mech's head will make it attack it's own allies.  Useful and fun to see in action.  Having robots as foes is another way Binary Domain distinguishes itself from the competition.

 

All in all, polish or no, Binary Domain is a stellar game.  If you're a fan of shooters or just looking for something a bit different, then Binary Domain will do you no wrong.