Trojan Horses

With the recent announcement of real, live, actual Steam Machines this past CES and the ongoing Steam Dev Days, Valve has been on in the spotlight for a long time now.  With Steam Machines just over the horizon, I want to take this time to revist some of my earlier theories in light of some recent information.

 

I still think the machines are a bad idea from a console lover's perspective and that hasn't changed.  In fact, it only got reinforced as several manufacturers confirmed that the machines will be aimed at existing Steam customers.  It is all well and good, they say, if console gamers adopt Steam Machines, but first and formost, the boxes would be meant for existing Steam gamers.  Basically, they are asking fans to buy a second PC, this time, for use in the living room.  This makes no sense. 

 

Unless there's something else involved. 

 

I don't have any proof, but I think this has less to do with game boxes in your living room, and more to do with the operating system.  As mentioned in another blog of mine, there isn't a single console manufacturer who boasts about their operating system.  Until now.  I think there's a good reason for it.  Steam is already very large in the PC arena, but as big as they get, they will always be shackled by Microsoft Windows.  If Windows do well, Steam does well.  If not, then not so well.  With PC sales sagging under the weight of smart phones and tablets, Valve is probably worried about their future.  Afterall, they do not have a foot hold in the mobile market.  Which is why they are now creating their own with Steam OS.

 

The living room space is a frontier that hasn't quite been conquered.  Every day is a battle between the Big Three.  Not like the PC, where Windows is king.  There's room here in the living room market to make an impact.  The Steam Machines are a trojan horse for Steam OS.  Sell enough machines, and you will propogate the operating system.  And it's very well possible that the machines will sell very much indded.  Valve recently release new figures.  There are over 70 million active Steam accounts, right now.  Suppose just 10% of PC gamers make the jump to a Steam Machine.  That's 7 million units sold, each one with Steam OS.  To be fair, some manufaturers are installing their machines with both Windows and Steam OS, but not a single machine will ship without Steam.  All of a sudden, Steam OS users would be 7 million large.  Even if only five percent of gamers choose to buy a machine, it's still 3.5 million.  That's right up there with PS4 and Xbone.  Not too shabby.

 

But why is the OS important?  Afterall, Steam OS is based off Linux, and Linux is open source and free.  What does Valve gain?  Well, what does Microsoft gain?  iOS?  Or Google's Android?  The power of incumbency.  Internet Exploerer is the most popular web brower.  Not because it's better than the competition, but because it comes with every copy of Windows.  Both Apple and Google control the app spaces on their iOS and Android with their respective stores.  Can Valve take advantage of this?  Suppose Steam Machines take off better than people would expect.  Every machine comes with Steam OS, and every Steam OS is installed with Steam.  All of a sudden, Valve's got a foothold in your gaming purchase decision, just by being there, by default.  Steam OS itself is a second trojan horse, this time, for Steam the vendor.

 

Right now, Steam isn't included with every copy of Windows nor will it ever be.  The biggest thing about Windows 8 isn't how ugly it looks, but the app store.  It's Microsoft taking a page from Apple and Google and creating their own default vendor with every copy of their latest Windows.  They will never let Valve be that vendor.  But it's too little, too late.  Steam already has a strangle hold on the PC market, and Microsoft's app store hasn't taken off.  Not for lack of trying, however.  But how long will this last?  As MS gears up for another round of dominance with Windows 9, where does that leave Valve?  With the rise of Apple and Android, where can they go? 

 

It's true.  At first glace, the Steam Machine makes very little sense.  But if you were a top player being squeezed by all sides, yet have the numbers to back you up in the foreseeable future, wouldn't you, too, take a gamble on dominance?  To take your own chunk out of a big pie?  Of course.  And if anyone has the means, the will, and the reason to do so, it's Valve.

My Top Five Games in 2013

2013 has come and gone, and the new systems are out!  Now it's time to look back at last gen and pick some games that are cream of the crop.  Here they are, in descending order!

At #5, we have Beyond: Two Souls.  Though not as good as it's predecessor, Heavy Rain, this game still managed to do what most others cannot.  Other games depend on big set pieces, over the top moments, and the biggest bang for the buck.  Beyond, though, is the opposite.  In fact, the most over the top action pieces are the worse part of this game.  The best part are the quiet moments.  What makes this game on my list is how the developers took some of the most mundane moments in life and turn it into an adventure.  Whether it's a girl stuck inside her house on a cold, winter day, or at the party of a teenager, there's never a dull moment, even when there are dull moments.  Totally worth playing just to see these masterpiece sequences.

#4 on the list is Project Diva f for the PS3.  I've played plenty of rhythm and music titles in my day, but none of them feature the sheer amount of great tunes as Hatsune Miku and Project Diva f.  In games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, I always struggle to find good songs.  In the end, out of a roster of 50 tunes, I might only like 5.  In Project Diva f, that number is more like 10, or even 15.  To be sure, there are some outright objectionable tunes, but unlike other music games, they are the minority.  With Project Diva, I can play for hours without getting bored, and I can even play the same song 10 times or more in a row!  It's also fun with friends.  We had a group of four over, once, and easily spent about 8 hours just taking turns playing.  Jpop isn't for everybody, but that's too bad.  This game is a pinnacle all by itself.

I had real trouble with #3.  2013 had a lot of great titles.  Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, GTA V...  Just incredible.  It was tough but The Last of Us takes the third slot.  Thing is, I've played games like TR, Bio, GTA before, but nothing like The Last of Us.  The way it combines action and stealth together is a rareness and the best sequences in the game make use of both at once.  I find that, if a player chooses to use stealth over run-and-gun or vice versa, that player only experiences half the greatness of this game.  The act of being spotted and then having to run for your life is an amazing experience in and of itself.  Oh and the environment!  For once it actually makes sense.  If you're in a forest, it doesn't feel like you're running in a corridor of trees.  It also helps that the graphics are drop dead gorgeous, and the story captivates until the very shocking ending.  Believe the hype.  This game is a masterpiece.

I love a good story, which is why #2 is no surprise.  Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies take this slot.  Though not as good as Trials and Tribulations, DD recovers from the disappointing Apollo Justice outing, delivering a satisfying story from beginning to end.  The 3D graphics are slight below par compared to the 2D counterparts, but it also allows for additional effects like zooming and perspective.  The cases are still as twisted as ever, and will leave you guessing right up to the end.  Of course, a wack load of crazy characters populate this game, and the translation serving all this up is worthy of a Pulitzer.  It's one of the harder games in the series too, and I love that!  The icing on the cake is the $6 DLC.  It's an additional case that took me about 8 hours to beat, possibly longer than the longest case in the main game and every bit as good as the rest.  There is a lot of game here, and a lot to miss if people pass it over!

#1 will be no surprise to regulars of this blog.  That's right, it's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.  For the first time ever, I appreciate and understand what it means to play an MMO.  It's endless, it's daunting, it's a time sink, but I love every minute of it.  It takes top honors because it's a stellar MMO.  The best I've played.  It's got all the modern enmities: a class system you can switch in and out of anytime, a fantastic matchmaking tool, the most involved crafting system I've seen, and tonnes of things to see and do.  There is one thing about this game that surprises me still.  The writing here is top notch!  I don't know who localized it, but every NPC manages to have it's own personality conveyed almost exclusively through text.  There are also some genuine moments in the game too, which would fall flat if not for the excellent script. But it also takes top prize because of what it did to me.  It made me a believer again. For a long time I stopped playing with other people, but with FFXIV, I do that every day.  It's given me hope.  Hope that I don't have to be alone in my gaming. 

And that's it folks.  Here's to another fantastic year for gaming!  Ciao.

A Very Rough Cost Comparison Between Ways to Play

After the launch of the PS4 and Xbone, I find myself frequenting gaming news sites more and more.  I want to see who's in the lead, what the latest titles are and what the public reception has been for each console.  Inevitably, at the end of each article, in the comments section, there will be the usual fanboy wars.  Proponents for both PS4 and Xbone come out in droves, whether or not the news article was for one, the other, or both, there's no avoiding it.

Surprisingly, there is also a third faction joining the fray, and their involvement is also as inevitable as fanboys on both sides of the debate.  In every comments section, without exception, there will always be one, or more, poster(s) with the following comment: "both the PS4 and Xbone suck.  The PC is still the best platform".  I can't help but think that, in a topic which is no business of PC gamers, that comments like these come out of jealousy.  Even the layest person have heard of a PS4 or an Xbox One, but few know the latest graphics cards, or even Alienware.  I think the PC gamers are just envious of the hype surrounding the latest round of consoles.

But they do have a point.  A gaming rig specifically designed for performance can beat the pants off even the current generation of consoles.  But what I never hear, when PC fans boast of their machines, is how much the darn things costs.  Because to do so would clearly give the advantage to consoles.  Something I found out just recently, when my old PC broke down on me and I had to get a new one.

My new PC cost $550, before tax.  You will note that its more expensive than either the PS4 or the Xbone.  And for that price, the performance is modest.  How modest?  So modest I couldn't find more than a single review for my graphics card.  I found a bunch of bench mark results, however, but it only serves to confirm just how modest my PC is for playing games.  The one article on the web says it can play games like Bioshock Infinite, Battlefield 3 and Crysis 3 on low to medium settings.  From there I can make an extrapolation:  the card is probably as good as an Xbox 360 or a PS3, but cannot be good as PS4 or Xbone.  Because if my PC and 360 can run Crysis but presumably the Xbone can do it better, then my PC cannot be as good as an Xbone.  It's a loose interpretation, to be sure, but it's the best I've got.

Now, given that you can get a PS3 or a 360 for about $200 dollars during he boxing day sales, with pack in games, even(!), the PC costs a fortune in comparison.  Granted, you can do more with a PC, but and extra $350+ dollars worth?  I don't think so.  Is the ability to surf the web or multitask really worth the extra $350?  It might.  There's no doubt that PCs are very versatile machines and the older consoles can't multitask worth beans.  So maybe it's worth it.

But let's think ahead a little bit.  If my PC is basically a 360 with a premium of $350, then wouldn't that mean a PC performing up to PS4 specs be $750?  That is, $400 (the price of the PS4) plus the $350 PC premium (for versatility)?  So if you want next gen console performance on PC, you'll likely be spending at lest $750 to $850 on a rig.  Now that's expensive, especially given all the latest PC like features on current generation consoles.  Bottom line:  if you want a good PC, you pay through the nose.

That's something I never hear PC fanboys boast about.

PS.  I'm aware that building your own PC costs less than buying one in stores.  Good for you if you can. But there are more people out there who can't.  In which case, I say, if you want to game for a good price, get a PS4!

How Final Fantasy XIV Took Me Prisioner While Setting Me Free

Long time friends of mine know my troubled and turbulent history with MMORPGS.  From Ultima Online to Lord of the Rings Online, I always wind up ending my relationship with these games in hatred and emnity.  But I think the worse offender in this case was World of Warcraft.  Particularily because it's such a good game.

Part of the reason MMOs have never jived for me is the discrepancy between single player and multi player games.  In my gaming career, I spent 99.99 percent of the time playing single player games.  One of the rules in a single player game is that if you work hard enough and are skillfull (or lucky) enough, you can experience 100% of what a game has to offer.  As games got larger, this became more difficult, but the basic tenent stands.  If you invest enough, you can get a perfect experience.  MMOs work the same way too.  It's much bigger than the biggest single player game, but if you had unlimited hours, you can also experience all of what an MMO has to offer.  That's one of the driving principles behind my gaming.  I don't get 100% on all the games I play.  Not even close.  But I like the idea that it's possible.  That it's fair.  But MMOs have one thing that pushes the fairness factor to the other end of the scale.  Namely, people.  Other people.

Of course, other people are what you play an MMO for.  It's just that, at the same time, you are also totally dependent on them.  In the case of WoW, I wanted to see all the game has to offer, but the obstacles coming from other players often prevent that from happening.  This isn't so much a blame game as it is an acknowledgement.  For instance, it all came to a head when, after months of playing, I finally got the chance to run the Molten Core.  Molten Core, or MC, is a 50 person instanced dungeon in World of Warcraft.  One of the first.  Naturally, I was excited at the opportunity.  But then, people happened.  Just getting all 50 people organized took forever.  The time was set for 7pm, but by the time it was ready to go, for real, it was more like 8.  An hour wasted.  All that time, the people there were just talking.  Shooting the sh*t.  Dancing the night away, whatever.  As a classic introvert, I just kept to myself, impatiently waiting for the darn thing to get on with it already!

When the thing started, it lived up to the promise of being fun.  For about 10 minutes.  Then we got to, I think, the first or second boss.  It was a cerberus type beast.  The whole party stopped to a standstill as the leaders discussed strategy and organization.  So it was another chunk of time wasted before we can start moving again.  It was boring.  Worse was, the boss wupped the entire 50 person party, so the whole thing was a big waste of time.  I never ran MC again.  It was also one of the final straw.  Soon after, I sold every virtual item I had and gave the proceeds to my friend.  Then, out of spite, I deleted the character permanently.

It was a big lesson.  Playing an MMO isn't anything like a single player game.  To be fair, it's not the game's fault or the people's.  And, to my credit, I've also mellowed out.  A lot.  And that's when Final Fantasy XIV comes in.

Long story short, FF14 hooked me from the get go.  Back in the WoW days, I had a saying:  if they ever made anything as good as WoW, but with character and graphics designed by the Japanese, I'd drop everything and played that MMO.  Well, it took the better part of a decade, but FF14 is that game.  In a way, it's a dream come true.  And I finally learned to stop caring.  The game recently just came out with a big patch.  90% of all new content are for maxed level characters, none of which I have.  But I just ended up shrugging it off.  Afterall, there are still tonnes of things at the lower levels I haven't even touched, four fighting classes I haven't even looked at and enough crafting to make me want to level up a gathering class.  In other words, no big deal.  Let the level 50s have their fun while I have mine.  And the new 24 person dungeon recently added?  No thanks.  I'll try it once, but if I have to wait up to an hour just to get the thing rolling, I will never do it again. 

I have to thank Final Fantasy XIV for being a wonderful game.  A game good enough to justify giving up the past, starting anew, and just having a lot of fun.  And I've learned one of the better parts of playing an MMO:  playing with other people.  Shocking, I know, but being in a party of four, where everyone's progress depends on everyone elses, makes me feel like I'm a part of something bigger than myself.  Even the simple act of buying and selling on the auction house is an act of helping other's.  You're either providing what they need, or you are rewarding their efforts with your own.  It's a very spiritual thing.  In retrospect, I think I ran more dungeons in an FF party these past two months than in my six months with WoW and liking it 10 times as much.

In the end, I think life is much to short for an MMO.  That's why you just gotta play it.

Going Cold Turkey

Like most people, I was very excited about Achievements when it was first introducted.  Later on, it was followed by Trophies for PSN.  Now, I find them to be a hassle.  At best, they gave me something to do, but more often, they were an intrusive element.  Achievements and Trophies make me play the game their way, using weapons I don't like, with tactics which aren't fun and forces me to make in-game choices I regret.  Throughout the last console cycle, I've spent half my time just trying to ween off Achievements and Trophies, but honestly, nothing works.  One of the first things I do when starting a new game is go through the achievement list.  And no matter what I do, the idea of achievements are everywhere.  Even Steam has them, for god's sake, as does World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV.  So then, how does one get rid of the urge to collect trophies?  Cold turkey seems to be the only way, and the last resort.  But how do you do that, exactly, when everywhere you go, escape from their presence is impossible?

Well, one way is being forced to give them up. 

On PSN, I actually have two active accounts.  A main account, opened on the same day I got the PS3, and a sub account, opened later.  A sub account is basically a 'kid's version' of a main account.  It has purchasing restrictions, and is tied at the hip to the main account.  Long story short, I ended up using this sub account for the majority of my gaming.  This means all of my trophies were in my sub account.  Aside from the annoying restriction of having to do PSN purchases strictly via the main account, it was a workable deal.

When the PS4 arrived, however, things changed.  One of the things which captured my imagination this current console cycle is the idea of posting videos and screenshots directly from in-console onto things like Twitter and Facebook.  So imagine my chagrin upon finding out that this feature is totally barred from sub accounts!  A difficult choice presents itself.  Do I stick with using the sub account, keep all the earned Trophies, and give up ever using the ability to post on social sites?  Or do I give up on the sub account, revert back to the main, and totally forgoe all my Trophies earned?  In a way, the decision is moot.  The trophies are still there and they are still mine.  I'm not technically losing anything.  But on the other hand, what is out of sight is out of mind, yes?  I tend to agree on the latter.  Despite this, I chose to revert to the main account and forego all my Trophies.

What surprised me isn't that I made this decision, or why.  What surprised me was how easy this decision was to make!  Essentially, within an hour of figuring out this limitation, I was ready to give up my entire trophy progress.  Since then, I have never looked back.  The important thing to take away from this, I think, is that there is, indeed, something out there which superceeds the urge to perpetually collect trophies!  In other words, there is something greater than Achievements and Trophies, and that breaking away for something worth while isn't very difficult. 

This is an auspicious start to one day being free from the grasp of Achievements.  Do I still check them when I start a new game?  Yes, I'm afraid so.  Do I still get a tingly sensation whenever an Achiement pops or a Trophie chimes?  Yes.  But do I really care about them any more?  For the first time ever, I can hold my head up high, and say with a fair amount of certainty that no, I do not care about them anymore.

P.S.  While this happened on PSN, no such luck occurred on the Xbox side.  Fortunately, I absolutely hate the new Xbone interface.  Where as the 360 has their achievements lined up all neat in rows, the Xbone makes each achivement a garish icon which seems to take up a quarter of the screen.  Just scrolling through the list for a single game is an exercise in wasting time.  I'm hoping that this will one day allow me to just say 'screw it' to Achievements.

The Future of Console Launches is Now

The last two generation's of console launches were bad.  From the PS2 to the Wii everything was just a mess.  People had to line up in the early mornings and some folks still went home empty handed.  Supply numbers were a mystery and preorders were hit or miss.  But things seem to have turned around, hasn't it?  The launches for PS4 and Xbone were...  great!  I didn't hear of many late night line ups, nor were there much confusion over whether or not a preorder would come through.  And yet, some of the same problems persists.  There was definitely more demand than supply for both consoles, and some people who preordered still didn't get their units yet.

It sounds kind of contradictory, but it isn't.  The more things change, the more things stay the same.  However, the latest two console launches did a lot of things right.  For those of us who wondered whether Sony or Microsoft will ever learn, it seems that they have.  Here are a few things I've figured out as their secret to success.

While there were certainly supply shortages, both companies did their best to off set the pain.  Microsoft announced delays for several European countries.  These countries will not be getting a Nov 22nd launch.  Sony went even further, delaying the PS4 launch in it's native Japan until 2014 just so they can supply North American first.  They even pushed back the launch in Europe and Australia until Nov 29th, two weeks after the NA shipments.  All this effort means ample supply for the NA launches.  While it's not exactly fair to those countries not getting units on 'day one', at the very least you know where you stand.  If you live in North America, you've lucked out.  If not, you at least know how long to wait.  In the end, however, raw units made the difference. Both Sony and Microsoft sold over 1 million units each on launch day, which means, at the very least, that there were over a million units out there in the first place.  This is a far cry for the... what?  250 thousand for the PS3?

I preordered both machines from Gamestop.  A friend of mine did the same for the PS4.  Both of us got our systems on day 1.  I had to go over to Gamestop to confirm my PS4 preorder, while the store called me about my Xbox One.  The result is that I knew whether or not a unit will be there for me at launch.  This is huge because folks now know ahead of launch day whether they will get a system.  This means people won't be lining up at stores (not much, anyway).  Afterall, why bother?  Those lucky enough to get a machine?  They have all day to pick it up.  Those who don't, will know not to expend the effort.  In the end, I got both of mine without much of a hassle.  Just walk in, pay, and leave.  Another friend of mine ordered from Amazon, and he got his as fast as the mailman can deliver.  I'm assuming Gamestop and Amazon aren't the only guys on the ball, and this is important.  Knowing where you stand - if you will get a machine or not - takes down the confusion.  There are still some people who got the call saying they will NOT have their preorders filled first day.  But that sure beats not knowing, getting too hyped about a machine that won't arrive for weeks.

In the end, the old problem persists.  There still isn't enough for everybody.  But I think the foundations are in place for smoother console launches in the future.  Both companies supplied plenty of units and they made sure to set firm release dates for all the regions of the world.  But the retail side also pulled through to a great degree, letting people know the status of their machines.  There will still be those lucky people who walk into a store without a preorder and walked out with a next gen system.  And there are people who still don't have one, but want one.  But the most recent launches were a success.  Not just in the amount of units sold, but on logistics, organization and customer service.

Ys and Zelda Mixed at Birth

Recently, I had the pleasure of playing two fantastic games. Both are on hand held systems: Ys Memories of Celceta on the PS Vita and The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS. Wonderful games, both. I started Zelda first. Had fun with it for a couple of days, then started Ys last night. I wanted to keep playing Zelda, mostly, maybe get it done before diving too deeply into Ys. The reason for this is the same reason why I have decided to just forget about Zelda, for now. And the reason is… I just like Ys more.

I get a sense of trepidation whever I think that. I mean, dropping Zelda? ZELDA! For Ys? Dropping a game in a series where grown men cry over a new zelda trailer at E3? A game where every release draws out the fans? A game where it's music feature in it's own concert? It's almost sacrilage. Zelda is good. Great, even! There's no excuse not to play. Not for Ys anyway. Of course, it's a silly thing to beat myself over… but…

But what it…. what if… Zelda is Ys and Ys is Zelda?

The two games are, in a way, polar opposites. Zelda is mostly 75% puzzle solving while Memories of Celceta is about 90% action. Link get stronger by finding power ups, but Adol levels up traditionally, with EXP and better gear. Zelda has tonnes of hidden stuff, but what you see is largely what you get in Ys. Link wears green, Adol is in red. Yet, they have much in common as well. Both heroes are mute. Both have a strong focus on Adventure, Doing Good, Helping People, and Saving the World. But the biggest common denomiator of all is that both series are great!

I first came into contact with the Ys series with the SNES release of Wanderers of Ys (which is Ys III). The game was every thing I had hoped for. Great characters, fast paced gameplay and a great story. My copy was a rental, and in the span of the week, I have beaten the game at least twice. That's how good it was. I enjoyed the game so much that I tried others in the series. Ys VI on the PSP, Ys Book I and II on Virtual Console, the remake of Ys III on the PSP. To be honest, none of those ignited the same reaction from me as Wanderers did. Until Ys Seven, that is. That game now stands as one of my top games of all time. From what I just mentioned, you might be wondering if I really like Ys, given that I barely played them. But the same can be said of my Zelda history. I refuse to touch Majora's Mask because the looping gameplay is a turn off. The DS enteries (Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass) forced players to use the stylus controls, not something I'm fond of. And I barely touched Link's Awakening or the Ages/Seasons games on the Gameboy. If I played more Zelda games than Ys games is only because there were more Zelda releases. The bottom line is, both series are fantastic.

Yet, Zelda is the series with the crying fanboys and the millions of copies sold. Ys is the niche hit which set fires in Japan but hardly a backdraft here in North America.

But what if history was reversed? Imagine an alternate universe out there where the creators of Ys worked for Nintendo while the creators of Zelda plyed at Falcom (Ys' developer, obviously). While Nintendo was busy singlehandedly inventing the console industry as we know it, it would have been Ys released as a golden cartridge while Zelda played on early Japanese PCs. Since both series featured new gameplay, noone without access to a time machine is going to be able to predict how both will turn out in present day, which means that Ys would have just as much chance of taking off in North America as Link did in our current universe. After all, both games played great and share some similarities (and major differences).

In essense, grown men can be crying at the mere sight of a new Adol adventure. Ys games would attract fans with every new release. Concerts would be made out of Ys music. (Incidentally, the music in Ys are some of the best ever in gaming. Here's something I can say with no compromise. The Ys soundtrack is much, much, much better than Zelda's.)

And then, I would be right. In such a world, dropping Zelda for Ys would just be the right thing to do…