Hardcore Gaming 101 - Blog

Bundle in a Box - Adventure Bundle

2012-05-23T23:06:00.000-04:00

The latest indie bundle has been unveiled courtesy of Kyattaro Games, this one focusing entirely on adventure games. If you've read any of the book (or really, just the site's reviewed of Runaway), a lot of modern "professional" adventure games are kinda bad, and it's really the indie scene that keeps the spirit of the genre alive. The games featured in this bundle contains some of the best titles released in the past few years, so skipping it would be the height of foolishness. For the price you get DRM copies, as well as Steam keys (and the ability to download it on Desura, an indie game distribution platform that's a bit more open than Steam.) Read more for the contents, as well as the site's reviews, where applicable:

Gemini Rue

Astonishingly good sci-fi/cyberpunk tale with a fantastic visual style and an excellent story. If enough people buy the bundle, everyone will get the soundtrack too, which I bought separately when it came out and was worth the $10 alone.

Ben There, Dan That / Time Gentlemen, Please!

A duo of comedic titles starring Ben and Dan, two British adventure game enthusiasts caught up in ridiculous scenarios, at least one of which involves Nazi dinosaurs and mecha-riding Hitlers, per above. Sketchy graphics but some of the best written, funniest dialogue to come out of any game in the past few years.

1893: A World’s Fair Mystery

Not super familiar with this one, actually! It's actually a pure interactive fiction game, which means full text entry with some supplementary graphics. It's also older than most of these, having been published in 2003.

The Sea Will Claim Everything

A brand new game from Jonas Kyratzes. Haven't gotten a chance to try it yet, but the art style is nice, and a brand new title in this bundle is a pretty decent deal. If you pay higher than average, you also get:

The Shivah

A short game about a crime solving rabbi. That makes it sound sillier than it is, but even though there are bits of humor, it's actually quite a dramatic murder mystery, with some excellent writing and voice acting.

Metal Dead

Yes, yes, zombies are the "in thing" right about now, but Metal Dead is a much more cartoonish, far sillier take on the topic than even something like Shaun of the Dead. It's quite dark and violent though, of course, with a healthy sprinkling of heavy metal stereotypes.

At any rate, every title in this package (the ones I've played anyway) all come very much recommended, making this an almost absurdly good deal. The only really major indie adventure game that I can think of that's missing are the entries in the Blackwell series, but one of them just came out a few months back, making it a bit too new. (Some of the entries were featured in another bundle not too long ago as well. They're also definitely worth grabbing regardless.)

Update 5/17 - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Nightshade, Cave Noire, Magician Lord, Generation Xbox, Driller Tanks, Quest for Glory interview

2012-05-21T22:42:00.002-04:00

Do you like Final Fantasy? We've already covered the main series, and SaGa, so our big feature this week looks at the Crystal Chronicles series offshoot. It goes in-depth with 8 different entries, the main cast of characters, plus a look at some of the merchandising. Still following the RPG theme, we've also got a feature on Cave Noire, a neat little roguelike for the monochrome GameBoy. It's fast-paced and great for those new to the roguelike genre, plus it's been fan-translated. Since it's a monochrome GB title, we should also introduce you to this page we made on the subject of GB filters - since the system had its own screen and distinctive visual appearance, there's been some debate among staff and readers for a while, about how best to showcase GB games. Have your say in our forum topic too.

There's been a lot of NeoGeo re-releases over the years, on digital download services, so it's about time we had a look at Magician Lord. It's an awesome but tough as nails action-platformer, and a refreshing change from the abundance of shmups and one-on-one fighters available for the system. For something with a slower pace, there's Nightshade on the NES, one of the few adventure games to find Western release on the system. It's full of charm and deserved to be better known.

For our regular pieces we have one of the last few Metal Gear interviews, with Ryan Payton from MGS4. A couple more and the collection will be finished. Ryan just last week succeeded with a Kickstarter for his new indie game project, so check that out too. There's also the next part of iOS Shooters, looking at Shmup, ISUD: Bullet Hell Action!, Techno Trancer, and Mortal Skies. Your Weekly Kusoge is Driller Tanks by Hudson, back when they still existed. It's not the worst maze game you'll find from around 1983, but significantly it shows how Hudson were able to learn from their mistakes, refine their designs, and go on to produce countless excellent maze games - until changing market forces killed them. We've also added a review of the new book Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood, which tells the intertwining saga of books and videos games, starting with E.T. for the 2600 and ending up with motion capture's influence on James Cameron's Avatar. Please do check out the rest of our book section, since we still receive random Tweets from readers only just discovering that we also cover books. Recent additions are: Game Over, The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual, plus Video Kids.

Our featured article is on the Quest for Glory series, since the games were recently released bundled together for about $10 on Good Old Games. It also featured the interview with one of the developers, Corey Cole, which was previously on published in the adventure game book, which was published roughly a year ago from today!

Magazine Reviews - Nintendo Fun Club #3

2012-05-17T22:52:00.003-04:00

Well, way back in January of this year, I did a recap of Nintendo Fun Club Issue #2 - and then my course-load got kind of crazy (among other things), preventing me from doing further recaps. Well, now I am back, with my thoughts on issue #3.

Issue #3 - Fall 1987

This issue features our first proper front cover - with color art and everything. Fittingly, Nintendo's current big hit, The Legend of Zelda, graces the cover. We also have our first ad in the magazine - for some of Taito's upcoming titles, including Renegade, Arkanoid, Elevator Action, and Legend of Kage. These ads would continue over the rest of the Fun Club News run, but would not survive the switch to Nintendo Power.

We start off with an article on Metroid and, well, while the cover gets color, the interior of the magazine is an odd mix of black-and-white, red (or another color) and white, and full color. I kind of get the impression that part-way through putting this issue together they got the green light for color. This article also features the first appearance in the magazine of screen shots. While this issue isn't nearly as screen shot heavy as Nintendo Power would eventually become, it's a start. I'm getting the impression that the staff is slowly figuring out how they can get screen shots to work in the magazine. We also get a look at Kid Icarus, including a discussion of the sacred treasures and weapons.

In the Pro's corner we get some more hints for Legend of Zelda, including a quick way to grind for cash, as well as a way to trigger a game over in case you need to quit in a hurry, because of dinner, or something else is on TV, or there's a thunderstorm and you don't want to lose your progress due to a power outage. In case you're wondering, the trick is to plug in controller two and hit Up and A. There's also some tips on grinding for energy in Metroid, as well as escaping the grasp of one of the titular Metroids, escaping lava, and also quickly getting yourself a game over (same trick as with Zelda). There are also continue codes for Super Mario Bros, Solomon's Key, Trojan, Ikari Warriors & Gradius. Oh, and if you want to know the last two - the Ikari Warriors code is enter ABBA (like the band) and then hit Start after you die, and the Gradius code is Down, Up, and then enter B A four times, before hitting Start. Frankly, I think the Ikari Warriors code is much less masochistic. There are also some user submitted tricks, but as they're not vetted, I don't trust them.

Continuing with the preview blurbs, there's info on Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Rad Racer, along with some more ads. After that, we get a nice map of the entire first quest of Legend of Zelda, and dungeons 3 through 6 of the underworld, which I've posted here for your consideration.

Anyway, we also get a bit of info on Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, and Pro-Am Racing (which will get released in the US as RC Pro-Am). There's also our high scores for the issue.

In the letters column we have some requests for more tips and tricks, along with a recommendation for what will eventually become the Top 20. I'm kind of considering putting a database togeather of the Top 20 surveys, just to keep my Database-Fu strong. We also get some profiles of the game councilors, and some ads for Fun Club merch. There's also a promo article for the Nintendo Advantage joystick. I actually own one of these, and had used one before this. It's got the kind of durable work that you expect from Nintendo, but the buttons kind of stick - and I recall them being kind of sticky on the one I used before - but I could be wrong. Finally, we wrap up the issue, with full page color ads for Top Gun, and Acclaim's upcoming titles, including Square's 3D World Runner.

199X Dispatch - Statmeister Meisterstat

2012-05-15T23:21:00.001-04:00

199X Dispatch brings you the latest news on my progress through the Game Club 199X game(s) of the month. This month's games are Wonder Boy in Monster Land (SMS) and Dragon's Curse (TG16).

See that red tadpole in a loincloth? I'm gonna kill it.

I spent my last lunch break and the better part of Sunday afternoon beating up sunflowers in a desert. Why? I want stones. What are stones? I'm not sure, but for some reason they raise my "CP," which for some reason makes shopkeepers more interested in taking my money. Money, itself, comes very cheap. That's how things work in Monster World.

Whereas Wonder Boy in Monster Land was all about the making money appear out of thin air, Wonder Boy III is about charm. In this game, I have more than enough money to buy just about anything, as every other enemy drops a giant sack of Monster-Nickels.

Pretty tough looking. Except for that neckerchief.

The tedium of grinding is exacerbated by the game's transformation feature, which is as frustrating as it is clever. The wacky power ranger dragon-bot from the end of Monster Land, with its dying breath, cast the titular "curse" cast upon our hero, transforming him into a dragon. The hero must fight his way through a series of bosses, clawing his way back up to reclaim his human form, species by species. Although there is a way to change back into previous forms, in the early part of the game you are stuck as whatever you are.

My problem is that, in rushing through the last transmogrification (the tiny, round-eared lawsuit bait "Mouse-Man") I neglected to buy any stat-boosting gear. Now, as the hulking Piranha-Man, I can no longer reach those shops. It's like locking myself out of my apartment. Which I totally never do.

Want to know how much more charismatic you'd be draped in mithril? 12 more,
compared to being draped in what I presume is chain-woven goblin flesh.

This is bad. Armor and shields can boost various stats, as with many RPG-ish games. One of those stats in Dragon's Trap/Curse is "charm," which has no effect other than making shopkeepers more willing to part with useful swag. Since I did not buy the "Dancing Shield" or some other nonsense, I now need to grind for charm-enhancing stones until I'm friendly enough to buy a vital set of armor. Without which, I cannot cross this vast lava field between me and the next objective.

The game is quite generous with healing items. If you're low on health, dead enemies are far more likely to relinquish hearts, big and little, as well as potions, which breath life back into our hero when he runs out of HP, just like the reserve tanks in Super Metroid. But there seems to be no reliable way of grinding for those little red stones. And thus, I am left to wander this desert, whacking snakes over the head, collecting rocks.

If you'll excuse me, I just raised my CP stat by another two points. Time to check if the one-eyed pig-man wants my money yet.

Sega Graffiti Competition Results

2012-05-12T06:59:00.004-04:00

You may recall I blogged about the competition before. The results are in. Sadly I did not win. In fact my entries aren’t even displayed on the entries page. Here is a video of those who did win. And for your viewing pleasure, here are my creations: Beardtrain, Moustache Udders (heading pic), and Mr Cassette. I’m not sure why the entry wasn’t even listed on the entries page – perhaps the sight of an anthropomorphic beard with cow udders was just too intense for Sega. Well done all who won!

EDIT: It's been revealed that actually my entry IS shown online. Excellent!

8 May - 194X, Alantia, iOS Shooters, Gunman's Proof, Wing of Madoola, DogDay, Chuck Ernst Metal Gear interview, Game Club 199X

2012-05-09T03:35:00.005-04:00

Our big feature this week is an epic look through the entire 194X series from Capcom, so that’s 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 19XX, plus all the variants and offshoots for all the machines. If you like vertical shooters, then you’ve no doubt played at least one of them. In addition to this we also have part 8 of our iOS Shooter Coverage, examining Buster Red, Shoot the Magic, Lightning Fighter and Ultrablast. Our triple-whammy of blasting action finished off with Alantia, an unusual and very difficult anime-inspired Space Harrier clone for the PC-88.

.
.
.
If you want cute and RPG-like, we’ve got you covered with Gunple: GUNMAN’S PROOF, a fantastic but overlooked gem from Japan that now has a fan-translation. Imagine Zelda: A Link to the Past, except set in the wild west, with guns instead of swords, an adorable horse to gallop around on, plus space aliens and a focus on high-scoring. Yes, it’s that kind of awesome. There’s also a look at The Wing of Madoola, an interesting and rather obscure Famicom platformer from Sunsoft. It’s not their best title, but it spawned a number of cameo appearances, merchandising tie-ins, plus a few doujin games too. It also fills our mandatory ladies-in-metallic-bikinis quota for the week.

For our regulars there’s another Metal Gear interview, this time with Chuck Ernst, who developed the IMB port of the original NES game. He reveals some really cool trivia about Konami America, gives a definitive answer about the legendary unreleased version of Metal Gear for the Amiga, and we speak about the cancelled Akira game. In a change from our usual Your Weekly Kusoge format we’ve got an extended feature on DogDay, a curious CG-based adventure from an Australian developer which ended up released in Japan. It had a lot of potential, which was wasted with poor design, the arbitrary need to play crappy minigames to proceed, plus some truly awful puzzles.

Our spotlight of the week is Night Trap. Gamasutra recently ran a detailed feature on its development, which we link to, and we’ve also got a PDF of the Making Of article that was featured in Retro Gamer issue 63. This was made available on the original author’s website, so we have no qualms spreading it around further.

Finally, the sixth episode of Game Club 199x has been posted. For May 2012, Snarboo, Sotenga and AceWhatever discuss Landstalker, Sega/Climax's isometric Zelda-style action-RPG for the Genesis.

Lost doujin games (NSFW)

2012-05-01T11:07:00.004-04:00

Doujin = Japanese indie game (loose translation)

I’ve been sitting on this blog post for months now, ever since Megaupload went down, and have kept meaning to put it up. A look at how archives of doujin magazines were lost in the FBI raid, and some interesting homebrew titles which no one seems to have an archive of. Also, anyone who has seen these Doujin Soft magazines will know that a lot of them contain nudity – well there’s none in this blog entry... OK, so maybe there’s a little, but I censored it, and I only include it because there’s a non-existent Atlus connection.

.
.
.
There’s an almost unimaginable quantity of magazines and books in Japan, documenting every facet of gaming in all its minutiae. DiscoAlucard of HG101 picked up several RPG bookazines while on his previous trip there, and posted scans on the HG101 forums. Some of the console releases will be familiar to those who import, but a lot of the game are mysterious and poorly documented – and so of course they hold a special allure. What I enjoy most about games isn’t the big titles everyone knows are great, but rather the adventure of digging deep to find something legitimately good, and then sharing it online with all three of you who still read my entries.

Here’s something I wrote previously on doujin games. The world of Japanese homebrew is terribly documented in the west; the games extremely difficult to source, and are often available through piracy. So when discovering that there were large bookazine type publications titled “DOUJIN SOFT” parts 1-3, detailing work from the 1980s, I was curious to see what gems they possibly held. Just think about this: 1987 was 25 years ago, a quarter of a century away. These magazines with their photos and listings are likely the best historical archives we’ll ever have for those handfuls of obscure games which people knocked up in their spare time and sold at the Comiket conventions.

Just look at this photo, these hundreds if not thousands of people. The games they’re selling and buying – this snapshot in time existing only in grainy photos and faded memories.

Of course with Megaupload going down so too were the scanned archives of these magazines. Damn!

Anyway, someone PM’d me and pointing me in the direction of three new download links. Here they are (with permission from the gentleman who PM'd me).

Doujin Soft Dai Shuugou
同人ソフト大集合

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

pw: potato98

Word of warning, they contain A LOT of coverage of adult games, and are definitely not safe for work.

Not long after I also stumbled across this forum post from Macaw on the old (now closed) Tokugawa Forums:
----------------
Theres a decent pack of PC88 doujins that have been floating around for years now, but here is a couple of more interesting ones still missing. If anyone can find them please let everyone know!

RaiseDead (1988, Tsukka Software)

Umi no Mukou (海の向こう) (1988, Tsukka Software) - aka海のむこう

Rack88 (1989, Tsukka Software)

AbnormalHour (1989, Tsukka Software)

Tenchiryu no Ken (天地龍の剣) (1989, Cherry Soft/Tomcat)
--------------

Looking through the 3 magazine downloads, I found several of them, with photographs (mainly in part 3). Googling the names, even in Japanese, yielded little to nothing. It’s almost as if some of these games have ZERO internet presence.

My personal favourite is Umi no Mukou (海のむこう) by Tsukka Software. Just look at these screens. It resembles an Ys game, of which there can never be too many (one of the most satisfying gaming experiences I’ve had in recent years is actually working my way through the legendary Ys II Special, entirely in Korean). I’ve often gone through my PC88 archives, finding obscure games I’ve never heard of, and just messed around with them. Cryptic, mysterious, and hinting at a complex history which I can scarcely even imagine. It’s not the kind of top-down action RPG which will captivate the younger generation, but I can’t help but feel a fascination seeing it. How many developed it? Who were they? What were their goals and dreams, back in the mid-1980s? Would it prove as much fun or as mysterious as Ys II Special?

Tsukka Soft seems to have a website, but emailing them yielded nothing.

I also found a web-page (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) with emulated screens (it definitely IS emulated), so there are digital copies floating around for Umi no Mukou. The fun now is solving the mystery – will any of us find it?

Even more interesting is a game which Macaw never mentioned: Sorceriman.

There is NOTHING online for this name in English, apart from a single post by myself, on the HG101 forum. What is this game? It looks like a hack of Sorcerian for the PC88. Is it some kind of add-on disk? A homage? (More to the point, why don’t I just read the text?!) There appears to be a massive dude, instead of a party, walking through levels from Sorcerian. Here’s the Katakana: ソーサリマン. Googling it just brings up ladies dressed as Santa Claus. And more porn (FFS!).

This, for me, is what videogames are about (well, not the porn, obviously). Grainy screenshots and wading through foreign text trying to piece things together. I suppose it’s human nature to fight against the inherent entropy of the universe, by saving, archiving and perpetually trying to protect everything – regardless of inherent worth – from inevitable loss. Both piracy and Megaupload helped with this, allowing easy proliferation of material. There are other sources now that MU is gone, of course, and I was even chastised online for lazily relying on it too much. But it still bugs me that in the click of a mouse terabytes upon terabytes were wiped out.

There’s a lot of really, really interesting games out there, which have almost no documentation on them at all. We should talk about them.

Oh wait, I promised you nudity, didn’t I? Here it is! An advert for Penguin in Bondage, featured in the doujin books. And it has Prinnies in it. Given the year it came out, there’s obviously no real connection to Atlus or Prinnies in Penguin in Bondage, but the little blue fellows do have at least a slight, passing resemblance, right? Or perhaps this is just a typically stylised way of drawing penguins and I’m being deliberately obtuse...

29 April - Battle K-Road & Daraku Tenshi, Samurai Pizza Cats, Coryoon, Ihatovo, Book of Watermarks, Tomonori Otsuka, Fear Factor Unleashed

2012-04-29T05:05:00.004-04:00

This week we have a look at two arcade fighting games from Psikyo, a company traditionally known for their shmups. Battle K-Road and Daraku Tenshi (aka: The Fallen Angels), aren’t the greatest examples of the genre, but they’ve got some rather fascinating quirks (including Mr Bear!) – plus the first game goes the usual route of ripping off the likenesses of known celebrities.

For something a little more light-hearted there’s a look at all the Samurai Pizza Cats games. Well, both of them. Well, the Famicom game, and an LCD handheld, anyway. It’s easy, but still rather fun. For more cartoony shenanigans there’s also Coryoon on PC-Engine, an excellent hori-shmup involving a cut baby dragon trying to rescue a princess. For more shmup coverage there’s also part 7 of our iOS Shooter Coverage. This there’s AirAttack, A Space Shooter For Free (or 2 bucks), A Doodle Flight, and Absolute Instant.

For something a little more sophisticated there’s also Ihatovo, which may look a typical JRPG but is actually a fascinating arthouse adventure, based on the works of renowned writer and poet Kenji Miyazawa. There’s no fan-translation (yet), but this is one of the more unusual Japan-only games we’ve covered - it does seem rather special. Alongside this we cover THE BOOK OF WATERMARKS, an unusual Japan-only Myst-style adventure, apparently developed jointly between a western and Japanese team. It’s based on a Shakespearean play and is entirely in English.

As part of our regulars we have an interview with Tomonori Otsuka, programmer on Metal Gear for the MSX. It’s part of our growing Metal Gear coverage, given that this year marks its 25th anniversary. Your Weekly Kusoge is Fear Factor Unleashed for the GBA, a series of lame minigames which attempts to replicate the TV show, but seriously - how could anyone be afraid of their videogame avatar eating bugs, inside the game? Our spotlight is Noitu Love, since the sequel was recently released on Steam. Sadly the planned WiiWare version seems dead.

15 Years Later: How Sony's Net Yaroze Kickstarted Indie Console Development

2012-04-26T10:10:00.003-04:00

It's taken me over a year to conduct all the interviews required for this epic feature, but today my expansive article on Sony's Net Yaroze was published on Gamasuta. I speak with a selection of developers from the UK and Japan, including Mitsuru Kamiyama, behind Terra Incognita. There's also commentary from David Johnston who I spoke about recently, plus many other awesome and creative individuals. If you like indie games, or are active in the XBLIG community, then I think you'll enjoy reading about this wild frontier from the later 1990s. It also follows on nicely from a previous entry I did on the Yaroze.

21 April - Rayxanber, Dream Master, Go! Go! Kokopolo, David Hayter, Vanslug, iOS Shooters

2012-04-21T03:18:00.002-04:00

A little late, but we've got this week's update!

The big feature this week is a look at the Rayxanber trilogy of hori-shmups. Made the by the defunct developer DataWest, the first two were awful while the third was quite excellent. Next we have some JRPG lite coverage with Dream Master on the Famicom – not to be confused with Little Nemo: Dream Master on the NES. It’s really cool and there’s a fan-translation available. Proving that we also don’t just cover classic games, there’s an exuberant examination of Go! Go! Kokopolo - Harmonious Forest Revenge, for the DSi/3DS download services. It’s a rambunctious little arcade-style game which channels a lot of classics you’ll probably recognise.

For our regular slots we have further shmup coverage for the iOS, with part 6 of our epic rundown. This it’s Hypership Out of Control, Shooting Game KARI, iStriker: Rescue & Combat, plus Boss Battles. For our Metal Gear fans there’s also a candid interview with David Hayter, the iconic voice of the English Solid Snake. This interview was conducted privately via his agent, without any input from either Konami or Sony, so what you’ve got is raw and uncut - with some fantastic anecdotes (there's a reason the guy writes film scripts - he's funny!). Your Weekly Kusoge is Vanslug, which keen-eyed readers may recognise from our Korean coverage. But a game this bad, on so many levels, deserved a second look. The spotlight article for the week is Exile, which has been overhauled in the new site style, has updated links, and we've finally solved the problem of where the alembic was in the PC88 release. It's also a really great series if you like action RPGs.

Gateways is awesome

2012-04-19T04:48:00.004-04:00

Gateways is a PC and XBLIG title by David Johnston of Smudged Cat Games. It's a bit like Portal, except in 2D (using sprites!), with some new ideas thrown in. I think it looks excellent. A brief rundown of his past games after the jump, followed by a preview of Gateways. There’s also a PC demo available!

.
.
.
I’ve interviewed David Johnston a few times. In fact on 4 separate occasions if memory serves. None of these until recently resulted in an article. It’s taken a couple of years, but I’ve finally written an epic feature on the Net Yaroze, with interview material from David, to be published on Gamasutra.

This blog entry, separate from that Gamasutra article, is to bring to attention some of his really, really excellent games. I don’t know the man personally, but I’ve followed his work and found it to be astonishing. Indie developers such as Jonathan Blow and Phil Fish, with their aggressive, bombastic and disgustingly condescending attitudes steal all the media attention. Perhaps journalists just prefer publicising monsters? Foul-mouthed Fish won various monetary grants from the IGF, more than once, and had constant publicity free on tap from every website and magazine around – for a game which I feel didn’t particularly deserved it.

The mild mannered David Johnston on the other hand, and more specifically his excellent games, don’t seem to get the attention they deserve.

Firstly, he was genius behind Time Slip on the Net Yaroze, all those years ago. A mind-bending, time-bending platformer, which played like a cross between Time Cop and Groundhog’s Day. Every 30 seconds or so you get warped back in time to a starting position – the catch is all your doubles continue to exist, and touching them ends the universe. Or at least you lose a life. It was great. A really inventive idea, at a time when nothing similar existed. Our main historian Derboo would probably have some fun trying to ascertain: was Time Slip the first ever videogame to feature temporal duplicates of the player, which both aided and hampered his progress?

David updated Time Slip with improved graphics for XBLIG and later made Time Slip available for free, on Windows. If you like unusual indie games with a great premise and execution, I highly, highly recommend it.

Following Time Slip was Shuggy on XBLIG. I haven’t played it, since I don’t have a 360, but the melancholy story of its downfall is detailed on Gamasuta.

David commented that this could mark the end of his time in development – which is a sad proposition given how many less original developers manage to maintain lengthy and far less interesting careers.

Gateways then is his last shot. The final, make or break roll of the dice. And personally, I think it could be his best work yet. Watch this video for a description of its many mechanics.

It features 2D visuals, with old-fashioned pixelated sprites, and some really ingenious mechanics, inspired by Portal (which in itself was inspired by Narbacular Drop), with some new twists thrown in. I especially like the fact that it’s got a side-on perspective, since this lends itself particularly well to the mechanics. Spatial awareness is greater when you can see your character and all the surroundings.

---
Alongside the traditional platform elements such as jumping on enemies heads, spikes and moving platforms are the gateway guns. The gateway guns allow you to place two gateways on the walls, floors and ceilings of the lab so that when you pass through one you emerge out of the other. As progress is made through the game different types of gateway gun are introduced with different effects. After the basic gun, you acquire a gun that creates two gateways of different sizes, passing through one way shrinks Ed to half his size and the other way makes Ed grow to twice his size. Then you find a gun where one gateway doesn't just connect to the others location but also its time, allowing Ed to travel back in time and encounter earlier versions of himself. Finally, the last gun manipulates gravity so passing through allows Ed to walk along walls and on ceilings.

Gateways takes place on a single sprawling map rammed with puzzles and challenges. As power ups are acquired more and more of the map opens up containing more power ups and secrets. In addition to the gateway guns Ed will also find a torch letting him light up the darker areas of the map and a mirror which can be used to deflect lasers.
---

There’s also a demo available.

The release is a few months off, but I’m hopeful that this marks the start of Smudged Cat’s rise through the ranks of exalted indie developers.

Turrican Soundtrack Anthology By Chris Hülsbeck Kickstarter

2012-04-16T17:06:00.002-04:00

For many of us, our childhood memories are set to the music of Chris Hülsbeck, the legendary German video game composer who in his early 20's became revered for his futuristic and melodic soundtracks. Hülsbeck was not only one of the most respected game composers over the course if the next decades, he became an icon and inspiration for young musicians all over the world, wanting to bring texture and life to the sounds of video games. Over the many years he has been active, Hülsbeck composed for games such as Turrican, Great Giana Sisters and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. He has sold out albums, and he has sold out venues, having been honored with symphonic tribute shows in Sweden and Germany with fans gathering around the world.

Now, Hülsbeck is preparing for one of his lifelong dreams, to compile and arrange the music from the Turrican series to bring it to its fullest potential, and in order to make this a reality, he is asking his fans for support. With the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology, the grand music from the legendary Turrican series will be arranged in his studio, and the award winning WDR Radio Orchestra, who performed the Symphonic Shades and Symphonic Fantasies albums, will be brought in to tell all sides to the story of the silver armored hero's journey on the alien planet.

"My first Turrican album has sold roughly 10.000 units over the years. I know that the games still have a following, too. This project is a personal dream of mine and I hope that together with all the fans, we can make this happen!” -Chris Hülsbeck"

By pledging $25.00 you get the whole album on MP3 + a PDF booklet, while $50.00 gets you a limited edition numbered and signed 3 CD set. + the MP3′s before the album is printed. Aside from the finished CDs, supporters of the project can get their hands on numerous goodies like posters, t-shirts, Turrican ringtones for their mobiles, or even tickets for an orchestral game music concert that will take place in November in Cologne, Germany. Those who are willing to support the project with a larger sum may take an exclusive look behind the scenes and will be personally informed by Chris about the progress during the production. With the orchestra, studio production, premium booklet and packaging prints, the goal is $75,000, and whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifill run until June 3rd.

We here at Hardcore Gaming 101 love Chris Hülsbeck, and we have highlighted some of the games he has worked on in the past, some of which he has graciously provided insight into the creation of, such as Jim Power and Turrican.

Pledge your support at the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Kickstarter!

HG101's Best of PAX East 2012

2012-04-12T00:17:00.003-04:00

Penny Arcade Expo East was in Boston on April 6th through 8th, which, at the time of this writing, was last weekend. Here is a random list of things I saw and how I felt about them!

Best Game That's Crappy For Different Reasons Than the Internet Seems to Think:

Double Dragon Neon

While it was unveiled last week, this game got a lot of flak for its polygonal characters and generally goofy 80s aesthetics. Granted, currently the backgrounds kind of bland, but the absurdity is really quite refreshingly hilarious! I find it amusing that we're allowed to make fun of our homeborn movies of the era, like with action movies and Tropic Thunder, but apparently Japanese-made video games are totally off-limits when it comes to poking fun. (Something which I haven't seen brought up elsewhere - you can revive fallen comrades by rewinding a tape with a pencil, done by rotating the analog sticks.)

It's not the style that's the problem. No, Double Dragon Neon is bad because it's just a bad beat-em-up. It's in that weird mid-way point where it doesn't play like Double Dragon but doesn't strive to be anything better either. Any number of 90s arcade-style beat-em-ups, like Streets of Rage 2, Final Fight, or even Double Dragon Advance for the GBA, just play MUCH better. Apparently it's only been in development for a few months, but considering publisher Majesco was touting a Summer 2012 release, it's only giving developer Wayfordward five months at max to get things into get.

Best Awful Exploitive, Nostalgia-Mining Garbage That I Will Buy For $40 on Day One:

Final Fantasy Theatrhythm

There are thirteen levels in this game, each one based on one of the mainline games in the series. The first is a jaunty "journey" theme, the second is a battle, and the third is an "event" song showing famous footage from the game in question. None of the music is arranged (I played the FFVI level), and I'm a little at odds with the cutesy character redesigns. As a rhythm game, it's not even particular innovative, because you just tap or swipe the screen as necessary, and the RPG elements seem grafted on to either unbalance the game or encourage OCD.

But man, I do love the Final Fantasy games. And it's not as aggressively awful as those Final Fantasy VII spinoffs were. It's just so obviously engineered to appeal directly to the weakness of people like me, and I feel like a sap. Bububu Terra's Theme! I'm a awful person.

Best Interview That Wasn't an Interview Because I'm Terrible at This Whole "Games Writing" Thing

While I was watching someone play Swords and Sworcery at the Capybara booth, I ended up chatting with someone who ended up being Craig Adams, AKA Superbrothers, who did the distinctive pixel artwork for the game. I really wish I'd made this a formal interview and actually recorded it, because it was a cool conversation about the nature of puzzles and their place in adventure games. When I discussed my book, he mentioned how he loved adventure games growing up due to the artwork and writing, but going back and playing them, just hated the puzzles and found them all insufferable. Swords and Sworcery was largely created as a response to that, to give the player the best of the genre without sticking in the worst.

Of course, that becomes an issue because then it's not much of a "game", and therefore the interaction begins to feel inconsequential. I think it works for Sword and Sworcery, but only because it's aesthetically so excellent - without that style, it would be almost completely insignificant. Because of this I wasn't quite sure whether to stick the game in the adventure game book (also, the iPod port came out around the same time I was finalizing the text, so coverage would've been rushed.) I've been messing around with Adventure Game Studio for the past few months, creating my own game, and while the writing is generally easy, the puzzle design is definitely the hardest part. How can you make the player interact with the world in a way that not only makes them feel involved but also makes sense in, and ideally adds to, the game world?

I follow the notion that puzzles should be jokes, the kind that can only be told in an interactive form. (My favorite example is the one in Day of the Tentacle, where you need to get thousands of quarters in order to stick a sweater in a drier in order to shrink it over the course of 200 years, so you can put it on a hamster that you froze. It's only really funny because of the numerous leaps in quasi-logic you need to take in order to reach this conclusion.) But how do you tell those gags without intimidating the player and causing them to get stuck? I keep trying to get my fiancé to play The Secret of Monkey Island, which she gets put off by, but she absolutely loves Psychonauts and Costume Quest. But those are whole different genres - is the only solution for adventure games to succeed to basically not be adventure games, to take the best of them while grafting them onto completely different mechanics? Or just leave out those mechanics altogether, to the point where you're just in a vaguely interactive storybook?

Anyway, it was a neat discussion that you'll have to take my word for.

Best Fan Translation News

On Saturday morning in the retro gaming room Gideon Zhi of Aeon Genesis showed off a few new fan translations he'd been working on. Super Robot Wars Alpha and Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden were shown, a huge series that I know has a huge fanbase, though I'm not particularly into them myself. A bit more up my alley was the unveiling of Shin Megami Tensei If..., the third and last Megaten game released on the Super Famicom, which has yet to see release to English. It's still a work in progress, but should be ready in the coming months.

Also shown off (though not by Aeon Genesis) was the English translation for Suikogaiden. I would've loved to play this back when Suikoden II came out, since it featured Sierra the vampire, one of my favorite (and apparently one of the most popular) characters in that game, so I'm certainly looking forward to giving it a shot now. There's no official group name for this yet beyond "Suikogaiden Translation Project", but check out the forums for more news.

Best Castlevania Tattoo

Right before my panel, I ran into someone that I'd talked over e-mail with like a decade prior, in my previous life running The Castlevania Dungeon. He shows me his arm-length tattoo, which was largely based on Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. You can probably only make out minor details on this cellphone pics, but it was damned cool - there was even a graveyard duck in there.

Best Arcade Game I'd Never Heard About

The best part of the arcade room isn't getting to replay old games in their proper context - no, it's actually about discovering these old games that I've never heard of. I was too young to proper visit arcades for most of the 80s, so most of the games I was familiar with were because of their console or computer ports. My favorite?

Quantum

Using a vector display and a trackball, the goal is to draw circles around the various things on the screen. The trail you leave is pretty small, plus those various things can also kill you. It's one of those games that absolutely needs the trackball to function, and is probably why it has (as far as I know) has never been ported. It seems like something that would probably exist as a mobile game though, since it might function as a touch screen game.

Runner-up:

Minefield

Published by Stern, this is a dual joystick game that's a bit different from Robotron. Here, you control a tank at the bottom of the screen, weaving through mines and shooting at enemy airplanes, tanks and other stuff. It's not nearly as harrowing as Robotron, but it's pretty fun, and the challenges in each level are varied enough that it keeps you on your toes.

Not quite Runner-up:

Life Force

This is the first time I've seen a Life Force cabinet since the local YMCA when I was like eight. It's not all that good of a game, but it's cool to see. (This is the US version, which means it's closer to the game known as Salamander in Japan - it would later go through some modifications to be released again in Japan, also under the name Life Force, which is what the NES version is based off of.)

Best Contest in the Retro Gaming Room

Jet Set Willy

The retro gaming room usually has a decent loadout of NES, Genesis and SNES stuff, but this year they had two computers I'd never played before outside of emulators - the MSX and the ZX Spectrum. It was my first time playing Jet Set Willy, which is one of those curious games Retro Gamer seems to herald even though it likely baffles everyone outside of the United Kingdom. The goal was to collect 20 treasures and then you win...something. I joked on twitter that it would win you British citizenship (and maybe some of that NHS healthcare? Please?)

Someone did beat it, so the next challenge was to get to level 5 on the hardest difficulty in Robotron 2084 for the Atari 800. I made it to level 4 - it's the version of the game I grew up with. I don't think anyone beat this particular challenge.

Also, here's a picture of the MSX with Maze of Galious for my Game Club 199X bros:

The biggest issue with the retro game room, in both this year and previous years, is that they all use widescreen LCDs instead of proper 4:3 CRTs. The reason for this is that, most likely, the company they're leasing all of this equipment doesn't offer older TVs anymore (plus they're ridiculous bulky in comparison, making them more expensive to move) but it's still unfortunate, especially in the cases of these European computers, where the displays were horribly messed up even with PAL converters.

Best Swag in a Show That Is Not At All About Swag

PAX isn't the best place for buying stuff. I was discussing this with one of the sellers at MAGFest, and he said that PAX just doesn't draw the kind of audience for retro gaming stuff. There were four booths with retro games, including the infamously super-overpriced Video Games New York, along with some other place that was trying to sell cart-only copies of Chrono Trigger for $90. (I would've taken some pictures, but it's awkward to explain to the owners that you're photographing them with the intention of mocking their absurd prices elsewhere on the internet.) The two other ones, located off to the other sides, were surprisingly reasonable though.

Anyway, the stuff I bought:

The soundtrack to Sword and Sworcery on vinyl

I don't own a record player, and this is only the second record I own (after the one that came with the Bioshock 2 limited edition), but it's a great soundtrack and a cool collector's item. Besides, I've always felt a bit of kinship with vinyl collectors - like retro game enthusiasts, they also seek out these things because their cover artwork recalls an earlier era, and because it sounds more authentic than the too-clean digital recordings of the modern era (which would equate to things like the Virtual Console and emulators in video game speak.)

Megaman Robot Masters Guide

I swear this book has been on Udon's release list for years, (and is still up for preorder at Amazon) but they finally had it out today. The fifth grade version of me would've absolutely loved this book, with its comprehensive breakdown of all of the robot bosses from the original Megaman series. The only major strike against it is that it doesn't actually say which game the bosses appear in - I only grew up with the first four NES games and everything else sort of blurs together to me, especially the Game Boy games. Less disconcerting but also worth noting, is that it's missing the robots from the PC version of Mega Man 3. I know it's not officially recognized by Capcom (and they'd be right to want to forget it), but if you're going to try to be comprehensive...

Brental Floss - What If this CD had Lyrics

On the drive up to Boston, one of my friends introduced to Brental Floss, who is basically the Weird Al of video game music, taking famous songs and sticking silly lyrics in them. It all works! There was a small live show, and the $10 CD seemed like a paltry amount to pay for the guy who brought us "Crazy Duck in Space" (not the actual name of the song, but that's what it basically is). You can grab the MP3s at Amazon too, if you're curious.

Best Secret Game of the Convention

The Quest of Ki

Not actually shown at the convention in any way, shape, or form, but my friends and I watched the Game Center CX episode where Arino tries to conquer this Namco "hidden masterpiece", so all three of my troupe ended up loading it on our phones to try to beat it the whole weekend. It's one of those games with very specific quirks you need to accept (and even exploit), but if you have the patience for it, it's not all that bad.

Most Challenging Game:

Again, not actually at the convention, but this shifty multi-game cabinet at a rest stop just outside of Boston request that you play their games...sideways!

Best Smell:

From a wholly rational standpoint, I am never in any mood for $9 convention cheeseburgers, but the ever-present smell of bacon in the area around the expo center entrance made it very difficult to say no.

Best Panel I Was On:

Retronauts - Your Favorite Games...Are Awesome

This particular panel turned out pretty well! It was largely driven by audience participation, which makes things more casual than usual. Turnout was a bit small, but that happens when being the last panel on Sunday after most people have left, and everyone else being over at the Gearbox panel. Sorry guys who liked Banjo-Tooie and Syphon Filter 2! It's not that we hate them or anything, we just haven't played them! The audio is available at 1UP.

4/9 Update - Luciennes Quest, The Crystal of Kings, Net Guardian, Critical Path, Game Club Ep 5: Kings Quest V

2012-04-10T00:22:00.000-04:00

Just a small update this week, since many will be at PAX East, but well balanced between RPGs, brawlers and shmups. We've got a look at Luciennes Quest, one of the few Japanese RPGs to be released in English for the 3DO, then later ported to the Sega Saturn. It's really simple, but that's part of the charm. For fighting fans theres The Crystal of Kings, a super rare arcade game for an obscure hardware board. It uses CG rendered graphics to surprisingly good effect. Our shmup quotient is Net Guardian, a fun vertical shooter for the PC98, set inside your computer and a pseudo-internet. Despite this there's no adult material, so it's totally safe for work.

The week's regulars include more shmup coverage with our ever expanding database of iOS Shooters, this week looking at Sky Force, Sky Force Reloaded, Roswell Fighter, and Hotfield. Following on from last week's Richard Ham interview theres more Metal Gear/Syphon Filter coverage, as we chat with Scott Youngblood of later releases. Also, standard Your Weekly Kusoge coverage resumes with a look at Critical Path, possibly the worst designed FMV game weve seen which is really saying something.

Finally, there's also Episode 5 of Game Club 199X. For April 2012, Snarboo, Sotenga and Bobinator, along with Xerxes and Discoalucard, chat a bit about King's Quest V: The Heart Grows Yonder, available for Amiga, DOS and NES. It was one of the best selling DOS games of the time and won several awards. It also features some rather obtuse puzzles! Also, join us this month for our playthrough of Landstalker on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It's a rather excellent isometric platformer/JRPG from Climax, which at one point was planned to be updated for PSP.

2 April, Wolfenstein, SeaQuest DSV, Nowhere, BlaZeon, Richard Ham, Shaq Fu, Rhythm heaven

2012-04-02T15:44:00.004-04:00

Our big feature this week is an comprehensive look at all things Wolfenstein. It covers both the original stealth computer games, and the bigger FPS series which shared the name. We also have a big feature on the SeaQuest DSV games - that's right, based on the TV show. Despite obscurity they're rather interesting, and we've got interview answers from three members involved with development.

In addition we have smaller pieces on Nowhere, a surprisingly creepy Mobile Phone game which disproves the notion that phones don't have any excellent games. There's also a look at hori-shmup BlaZeon, for both the arcade and its SNES port. If you've still got an urge for shmups there's our continuing look at those available on iOS. The mini-interview of the week in our ongoing Metal Gear series is with Richard Ham, the father of the Syphon Filter series. As it turns out, there were more similarities to MGS than anyone realised!

This week there's a change of plan for Your Weekly Kusoge, with an enitre article dedicated to Shaq Fu, that group of awful beat-em-ups released on several systems, which tried to combine Shaquille O'Neal with Mortal Kombat, but didn't quite work. The spotlight article is Rhythm Heaven, since the newest entry came out in North America a few weeks back for the Wii.

Explaining Resolution and Aspect Ratio - The Intro of Castlevania Symphony of the Night

2012-03-29T21:37:00.007-04:00

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has seen three significant variations: the original PlayStation release, the Saturn port, and the PSP port, as part of The Dracula X Chronicles package. Today we'll be looking at the technical issues regarding display and resolution in each of these three versions. (We've talked about this before, so this is just a further elaboration on the subject, namely how it can go wrong when it comes to ports.)

First off, here are screenshots of all three, in the intro dialogue between Richter and Dracula, taken straight from emulators in the first two cases, and directly from the PSP in the last one.

PlayStation

Saturn

PlayStation Portable

The most significant thing to notice right off the bat is how much skinnier the PlayStation version is. (You can also see how the dialogue window is dithered in the Saturn version, rather than truly transparent, one of the many ways you can see how shoddily that port was programmed, but that's neither here nor there in this discussion.) It's skinnier because it runs in the PlayStation's low resolution mode. The PlayStation can output several resolutions - right here it's 256x240 (though it doesn't take up the whole display so it's more like 256x208), but it can run in 320x240, 512x240, and even 640x240. Some 3D games use the higher resolutions, and sometimes games even switch between resolutions, like title screens for example. Even Symphony of the Night runs its "prologue text" screen at a higher resolution. The idea is that since you can fit more pixels on the screen, the overall image has more detail.

Anyway, 256x240 is the lowest the system will allow. This is similar to the NES, SNES and PC Engine, which run at 256x240 or 256x224. However, standard definition televisions run at a 4:3 ratio, which means those dimensions don't quite match. 320x240 is proper 4:3, but SDTVs can scale the image appropriately to the proper proportion by adjusting the shape of the pixels, making them slightly oblong. That's why everything looks slightly skinnier in this screenshot than they would on a television - they're supposed to be about 20% wider.

Things get dicey when we get to the Saturn version:

The problem here is that the Saturn doesn't support 256x240 - the lowest resolution it allows is 320x240. So how do you fit a 256x240 image in a 320x240 resolution? Keep in mind that pixels, when rendered internally, are square - you cannot simply make them oblong like the TV does. Your options are (A) pillarbox the screen so it's black on both side edges, (B) reprogram the game to take advantage of the extra space, or (C) stretch the image to make it fit the whole horizontal screen. The Saturn versions opts to stretch the image, since pillarboxing would seem cheap, and as you can see, it looks terrible. (Though you can see where some extra pixels are displayed at the bottom of the image, so it does seem like there was some small attempt at expanding the viewing area.) You can easily pick out the pixel distortion pretty much everywhere, since some vertical lines are doubled, and others aren't. Granted, it doesn't look QUITE this bad on a television since the fuzzy display blurs things a bit, but it's still visibly worse than the PlayStation release.

Now, the PlayStation Portable version on Dracula X Chronicles:

There are two display sizes in the PSP version. We're going with the smaller one, since that one is closest to the original resolution. Due to the portable screen, the PSP can only run in one resolution: 480x272. By this point, most developers were confident that gamers knew the difference between standard 4:3 and widescreen, and would accept that games originally designed for a standard def TV would look awful fully stretched to the PSP resolution. (Didn't stop them from screwing up Valkyrie Profile or Final Fantasy Tactics, but that's a different issue.) So, pillar/letterboxing is generally seen as acceptable. However, it still doesn't run in 256x240 like the PlayStation version - instead, it's stretched to the same 320x240 resolution as the Saturn version. The difference is that the picture is filtered, something the Saturn couldn't do and counted on the TV to take care. This technique blurs the whole screen slightly but obscures the pixel distortion seen in the Saturn version. This was probably done to keep the proper ratio as you'd see on the TV, at the expense of image quality. (As illustrated in this post from two years ago, the PC Engine Dracula X emulation runs at 296x224, which doesn't keep the 4:3 ratio nor does it use the original 256x224 resolution it originally ran at, so neither is really correct, and looks blurry to boot.)

The only thing I haven't tried is the PlayStation version of Symphony of the Night running on the PSP. How does it display its pixels? Is it in the proper resolution or is it stretched like the Chronicles port? Again, all pixels are square on the PSP screen - they can't be made oblong.

Anyway, why didn't Symphony of the Night run in 320x240 originally? Technical issue, perhaps? It certainly would've avoided this issues down the road, but clearly they didn't plan for that.

On a related note, this article on the Doom Wikia explains a bit more about the ratio that Doom was developed for, and what we see rendered in screenshots now.

History of computers in Iraq

2012-03-28T03:50:00.006-04:00

A full explanation after the jump.

I should check the comments section of each entry more often, since some popular entries continue to be found by readers long after they've fallen off the page. Which I suppose is the inherent problem with blogs. This gem was posted in my previous Videogames of Egypt entry, in August 2011, by a gentleman named Salwan Asaad. He gives a fascinating insight into the early computer game scene in Iraq. I've edited the text slightly for clarity, and I'm reposting it because it's quite a valuable piece of insight. The world isn't at its best right now, but heartfelt recollections like these prove to me that really, deep down, young people all over the world are the same. Many thanks to Mr Asaad for sharing this.

If you're interested in reading more about Games of the World, check out HG101's dedicated section on them. I haven't updated it since it January 2011, but there's still plenty of good content there.

Salwan Aug 18, 2011 06:40 AM

I'm a game developer, originally from Iraq, and now living in Egypt. The gaming situation in Iraq was very identical to what you found in Egypt until around 2005, when things changed in favour of PS2/XBOX and then XBOX360, all modded of course.

However, that's not what I wanted to talk about... You asked how the gaming community looked like in the 1980s and 1990s. Surprisingly, back then, although rarely found, it wasn't much different compared to western countries, perhaps because counterfeiting was at a much lower rate (I personally hadn't seen even one bootlegged console until the mid-1990s) and the economic situation was better.

What we had was more of a real home computing community back then, with meetings, contests, books, and the whole deal. Several computer models were produced in Iraq and the Gulf, mostly based on Japanese models. We had Arabic-supporting NEC PC-6001, PC-6002, and other models, it was called 'Al Warkaa'. We exchanged games via 3.5" floppy disks and sometimes used tape drives. I was one of the Al Warkaa guys.

The Gulf-based Al Alamiah produced MSX home computers. Of which the MSX Sakhr 170 was the absolute most famous, games circulated via MSX cartridges and a big community around it, and I've seen 2.5" floppy discs used. There was a constant contest between the Al Warkaa community and Sakhr 170 community in Iraq to prove which is the better computer (they are both identical from a hardware level). This included a national contest that each group tried to win, involving making games and demos.

Another company, Najm computers, produced Atari home computers. But I only saw a few around, and no real community for it in Iraq. I found this rare picture online:

This is pretty much the only model I've seen back then.

Man... Much lost gaming history.

Eternal Champions, Wizardry Interview, Devil World, AeroStar, Devastator, Metal Gear, Arena

2012-03-27T03:27:00.004-04:00

The weekend update (or thereabouts). More after the jump.

This week we have an expansive look at the Eternal Champions fighting games for Sega systems, including the spin-offs they received. Our main interview this week is a conversation with Wizardry creator Robert Woodhead, the first taste of what will eventually become comprehensive coverage of the entire series. Next is a short piece on Devil World, a Miyamoto game which has never officially been released in the US. For fans of the GameBoy we also have AeroStar, an interesting vertical shmup where you're restricted to moving on roads. From the same author is another shmup, Devastator, for the Japanese Mega CD. It's based on an obscure anime, but is rather quaint, especially if you like WolfTeam games. As a small bonus there's a second interview, with Masahiro Ueno, who ported Metal Gear to the Famicom/NES. It's just a short chat, but it explains changes to the opening and the final boss.

Your Weekly Kusoge is Arena, an atrociously designed maze-hunt for the Game Gear, and we also have the third update to our iOS Shooter coverage. We look at two rRootage shmups, plus PicoPicoFighters and EXEXE Rebirth. Our spotlight article for the week is Ghosts 'n' Goblins, which now mentions some of the mobile titles, and also features improved GB screens using the correct color palette.

We also have a new Copy Editor joining us, Insidious on the forums, which should ease things up for bigger updates in the weeks to come.

Don't force me to be a stupid jerk!

2012-03-26T23:30:00.002-04:00

Random result from google image search for "stupid jerk"

Player choice is one of the most debated topics in video games, especially when it comes to RPGs. The war between fans of "free" WRPGs, which let you act out your personal decisions and the "linear" JRPGs, which force a fixed story upon you, is not looking to end anytime soon. But I don't really have an issue with a game's positioning along the linearity-freedom-axis, but a more deeply rooted problem with the usual execution of interactive storytelling.

I believe it doesn't really matter if there's only one option at a given time, as long as that option can be presented as a plausible act to the player. A movie where every single character is a miserable piece of shit I can still enjoy, because I'm free to pity, despise or ridicule them all, whereas in a narrative-driven video game, I'm supposed to be one of the characters. It is implied and enforced in the interactive action scenes, that I, the player, am responsible for failure or success of the mission. So every time my character does something really stupid or despicable in a non-interactive moment, it feels a little bit like the game is trying to force stupidity on me.

But it's even worse when the inevitable brainfart is wrapped in a seemingly interactive sequence, when the game seems to cry for attention: Look, I made you do this! I found, for example, Bioshock's highly critically acclaimed premature climax with Rapture's architect Andrew Ryan one of the most horrible interactive storytelling moments bare of any understanding of the medium. That kind of plot twist may work in a movie, where I have an outside look at the character, and can declare "yeah, that guy's out of his mind." But when I'm looking through the eyes of a character I'm supposed to be in control of, and I'm told that I am supposed to be conditioned (or was it genetically programmed?) to obey commands while I'm perfectly mentally stable and able to consciously decide that I'm not going to put in the commands to the fatal deed, suspension of disbelief becomes an impossibility. No player at this kind was even the slightest bit conditioned to any automatic impulse in reaction to the catchphrase.
That's not clever interactive storytelling, that's trying (and failing) to impose your sick megalomanic fantasies on your playership. You didn't make me do it by cunningly messing with my mind, you simply presented me with the two options of either pretending to be a goddamn imbecile or quit playing your game.

Admittedly, making him shut up maybe was enough motivation to bash his head with a golf swing after all...

The same vice is commited in the 2008 Prince of Persia and in Shadow of theColossus, at the very end in the former and through the entire length of the game in the latter. The worst of it all: To the attentive player it becomes crystal clear early on that the worst possible paths are chosen, yet a motivation the player can relate to is completely absent or gravely insufficient, little more than a it's love. In Shadow of the Colossus, the object of that emotion is dead from the beginning, and the player is given no reason at all to care about her the least bit. We only go out slaughtering the beautiful creatures and condemning ourselves to damnation because there would simply be no game if we didn't. In non-interactive fiction, this has long been detected as one of the most lazy kinds of storytelling devices: Villains that always postpone killing the protagonist simply because it's the protagonist and the story would end with his death, for example, have long become a domain of hacks and satirists. In Prince of Persia, we're given at least a bit of characterization to the princess (although of course it's much too short and hardly enough to even justify a crush, much less immortal love), but since the last steps the game demands of the player are a complete betrayal to the deed that was consciously done immediately before, and, even worse, drawn out in a painfully slow, almost slow-motion-feeling scene that the player is forced to enact, the result is even more cringeworthy. (Let's disregard the DLC ending for now, cause DLC endings should just be disowned and it doesn't really change much about the status quo at the end of the main game.) I don't even want to start to talk about the highly acclaimed Braid and its "plot" twist....

She's not the most likeable character ever, but at least she is a character.

The impotence of these devices can be amplified even more when perceived in the context of otherwise non-linear games, whenever the inevitable story bottlenecks arise, as the retarded original ending of Fallout 3 (fixed by DLC), which forces the player into suicide (or killing the love interest) despite much more plausible options being available and painfully obvious, or just recently the chose the color of your explosion climax to the Mass Effect trilogy (that spawned the probably most escalated fan outrage about any video game ever and might or might not get fixed by DLC in the future) demonstrate. Most games that try to achieve an illusion of "freedom" have to struggle with them. For another example, let me just quote my own review of Alpha Protocol, which stumbles over them especially badly:

Whenever there is a really stupid decision to be made that happens to be convenient to the plot, Thorton won't hesitate a second to ask for your consent. Like when he pisses subtlety away by assaulting the hideout of the crazy Russian mafia boss with a military unit in a armored attack vehicle (complete with dull turret gun sequence), or when he constantly agrees to meet the guy with the wet dreams of being a Gestapo investigator on his terms, and eventually gets Madison Saint James, the perfect blackmail bait bimbo, involved in the troubles. And of course she ends up getting abducted and used as a device for the tired old "moral dilemma" mission. In a pathetic moment of "We force the player to make hard decisions! Look how deep we are!", Marburg forces Thorton to either go rescue the chick or disarm some explosives that threaten to blow up a museum wing full of civilians (of whom you never see a single soul should you decide to go that route). That plot device not only has been beaten to death by now, the execution also makes no sense at all. When you go to rescue the woman, you have to use your inhuman super agent skills to headshot three guards that use her as a human shield within 1 second from 150 feet away, or she ends up dead anyway. When you go for the explosives, however, Marburg shows up with her and sends her towards Thorton, only to shoot her in the back for him to watch her die. That this situation would have been much easier to resolve in-engine than the rescue mission variant, with the villains less than 100 feet away and a clear line of fire to all of them, the writers didn't care.

It's not an easy job, but Mike Thorton does his best to make him look smart.

This should be a simple rule for all interactive storytelling: If you want to force players to a certain action without giving any other options, make it possible for them to accept that action as a reasonable thing to do in that situation. Deceive us, lie to us, but don't just assume we enjoy pretending to be stupid just to make your weakly-constructed interactive narrative work.

Actually, it doesn't even have to be the big cinematic epics. In Project Gotham Racing 4 you may chose to be insane and race sports cars on a motorcycle. Of course you're pretty much asking to get run over, but that's your choice. Whenever vehicles collide accidentally with no ill spirit whatsoever, though, as long as your driver isn't flung off the bike, she'll shake her fist at the other driver like an asshole, no matter who's fault it obviously was. That's not your choice. Other than in, say, Top Spin Tennis, where you got the black button (in the first game on Xbox) for a negative/aggressive pose and the white button for a positive/sportsmanship-like reaction. Microsoft should never have gotten rid of those black and white buttons...

Random Bit of Castlevania Lore - The Staircase Glitch in Dracula's Chambers

2012-03-20T23:09:00.000-04:00

In Akumajou Dracula X: Rondo for Blood for the PC Engine, there's a hidden staircase right before you fight the final boss. Once you walk up the steps to Dracula's chamber, you just have to jump around, hold up, and eventually you'll latch onto the invisible steps, carrying you to a secret room filled with cash. I've known about this for years and years, but what I didn't know was that this is actually a reference to a glitch from the Famicom Disk System version of Akumajou Dracula, the first Castlevania game.

I'm a little unclear on how to trigger it - this site gives some details, and this Youtube video shows it in action. It seems like you have to walk up and down until you "catch" the stairs a few pixels off, then walk upwards, past the actual steps, and continue on into oblivion. Obviously, there's nothing actually up in the sky other than glitched tiles and your eventual death, but with its allusion in Dracula X remarkably self conscious, and another bit of random depth in a game already overflowing with love and detail. Take note that this only works in the Famicom Disk System version, as well as all of the versions based off it, which include the GBA Mini cart and the Japanese VC release. The American and European carts, as well as the Japanese Famicom cart re-release, fixed this bug.

Symphony of the Night features the staircase in the same area, though its implementation is different. Here, you have to hit the upper wall to reveal a switch, which will in turn unfurl a visible staircase. Different items appear depending on if you're playing as Richter (in the prologue) or as Alucard later on.

March 18 - Katawa Shoujo, Bari-Arm, Bean's Quest, Shinta Nojiri, and Top Banana kusoge

2012-03-20T12:52:00.005-04:00

A slightly smaller update than usual, but hopefully this will allow us momentum to update a little more often, at least until some things settle.

Released quite recently, Katawa Shoujo is an erotic Japanese-styled western-developed visual novel about disabled girls. Seriously though, it’s actually very good, is well written and handles the subject matter with tact – the detailed write up should reflect this. Android Assault: The Revenge of Bari-Arm is a decent hori-shmup exclusive to the Sega CD, and featured in our shmup music video from a while ago. Also for shmup fans is the continuation of our iOS coverage, with Phoenix, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Super Laser and Danmaku Unlimited. Another iOS game is Bean’s Quest, a surprisingly excellent platformer born from the control limitations of the hardware, which was just released on computer plarforms as well.

Following on from last week’s Jeremy Blaustein interview, we have an interview with Shinta Nojiri, who was recently in charge of developing NeverDead. He started at Konami with Policenuats and has been involved in almost every Metal Gear Solid title – along with these he discusses Ghost Babel on the GBC extensively. He also describes the difficulties facing Japanese developers. In the coming weeks we plan to publish a selection of Metal Gear themed interviews, given that this year marks the series’ 25th anniversary.

Your Weekly Kusoge is Top Banana for the Amiga, which is anything but, and the spotlight article is Lagrange Point, Konami's incredibly ambitious Famicom RPG, which has been greatly expanded by awesome reader Emanuele Rodolà.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana is on Steam right now.

2012-03-19T19:35:00.006-04:00

You should go buy it!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/207320/

But seriously, folks. This isn't just one of the finest games in the Ys franchise, it's one of the best action RPGs you'll ever play.

Also, if this does well(which it seems to already be doing!), it will smash the gates for future Japanese and doujin games on Steam.

That's relevant to all our interests.

Here's some screens!

Also, view them in hi-res here, thanks to NeoGAF.

Scroll Magazine is Pretty Great

2012-03-18T13:54:00.000-04:00

I've been remiss in talking about Ray Barnholt's excellent Scroll magazine, and with the fifth issue released last week, it's a pretty good time to talk about how rad it is.

With the few remaining video game magazines going on as business as usual (and GameFan only coming out intermittently), the door is open for publications to niche interests. The average person gets their news from the internet anyway, so why not gear coverage towards more underground topics, towards the people that value this kind of writing? That's pretty much what Scroll does.

A majority of the issue is devoted to Konami's Love Plus, the recent dating sim that's the topic of much derision and scorn from the Western gaming press. While it's all too easy to mock the concept of a virtual girlfriend, the feature rather explains the history behind it (including the background of Tokimeki Memorial, a game which I have a love/hate relationship with), what it attempts to do, what it accomplishes, and even a bit about it might be healthy, to a certain extent. Anything like this can be taken to ridiculous extremes (and some of it, like the guy who took his Love Plus gal to Guam to get "married", sounds like it was more of a joke, or at worst, a marketing ploy), in moderation the review makes it sound kind of cute, if still not something I'd personally be interested in. There are also several pages devoted to the girls and their families - I've never heard of a dating sim where you'd get introduced to your lady's folks, which is sort of terrifying in principle! Like Tokimeki Memorial, there are also apparently a few old Konami classics buried in there when you spend enough time with the girls.

The rest of the issue has some short write-ups on 7th Dragon 2020 and Cool Boarders, as well as a look at the retro game bar Genesis, which recently opened up in Nagoya. Retro game bar stories are simultaneously awesome and depressing to read, because the liquor laws here in the US (or at least, in my part of New Jersey) pretty much ensures such things will never exist, because the licenses are largely allocated to broader interests like clubs, sports bars, and awful franchises.

Going back a bit, the first issue is a love letter to the Super Famicom. The second one focuses mostly on Dragon Quest, and is worth it for the excellent original artwork pieces, one each for the main games. The third one is the "cute" issue, for the many absurdly adorable games that have come out over the years, with the focusing on 8 and 16-bit arcade and console titles. (Amongst titles like Kirby's Dream Land, Yoshi's Island and Dynamite Headdy, there are a number of games I've never heard of featured in there, including Namco's Marchen Land and Indiezero's/ Nintendo's Sutte Hakkun). The fourth issue is devoted to the floundering existence of the original Xbox in Japan.

The physical issues are printed through Magcloud, which is pricey, but puts on some damned slick productions with heavy stock, far nicer than a typical newsstand rag and even a step up from the British ones. The actual price depends on the length, generally between $10-$20, though PDFs versions for the price conscious/dead tree haters are available too. The PDF version of the second issue is available for free as well.

In defense of the Japanese gaming industry

2012-03-18T10:07:00.007-04:00

It's a sad state of affairs when an article warrants a title like this.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by controversial statements by everyone from Fez's Phil Fish to Megaman creator Keiji Inafune to Metal Gear's Hideo Kojima, the Japanese industry is rapidly becoming an easy target for ridicule and extensive criticism; as if it wasn't enough of one already.

Phil Fish

"your games just suck"

Keiji Inafune:

"Before you can win again, you must first acknowledge your loss. And then be prepared to start over again. For many years Japan was the winning team. Thanks to those victories we became big-headed. As someone who spent many years at a major company I was able to see that first hand. But I am ashamed to admit it but whenever I travel overseas I feel as if Japanese games are becoming a blast from the past. They have become great memories and little more.

"But there is a limit to how much business you can do trading on past glories. We rarely see new creations from Japan. So we stick to our memories and we ship an HD version. I feel that’s the upper limit that we are showing to users today. It's not what they want.

"In Japan I believe that we still have some of the power to create brands. But what we don't have are the people who will pour in a huge amount of effort. What we have is the result of us having relied heavily on brands in the past, neglecting efforts to create something new."
(Source)

Inafune's been one of the most vocal critics of the Japanese industry, starting with his comments at Tokyo Game Show:
"Personally when I looked around [at] all the different games at the TGS floor I said ‘Man, Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished."

Hideo Kojima:

"A lot of creators are just focused on Japan and the Japanese market and aren't really aware of what people around the world want.

"The Japanese games industry has fallen to a point where Japanese movies were at as well - these small indie movies set within Japan with a Japanese story done on a low budget. Because the scale is so small we can't get the budget to make it succeed on a global level.

"In contrast to that, most Western studios approach things from more of a Hollywood standpoint where they're looking at making their games a very global success and looking at how they can sell them in various markets.

"From the very beginning they have those goals and are able to get the proper budget and commit the proper technology to it."
Source

So from the indie scene to Japan, the consensus ranges from 'the industry is finished' and 'over-reliance on classic brands' to 'they lack technological skill' to 'their games just suck'.

Are Japanese developers as ignorant and incapable of creating good games as these guys make it seem? Yes, anyone could easily reference tripe like Idea Factory's shamelessly pandering RPG titles or the ever-present moé visual-novel/dating sim, but that's the equivalent of using games like Duke Nukem Forever and X-Blades as an example of what the western market can produce.

Maybe I've been playing games in an entirely alternate universe than them, but here's a few titles from the past couple years which I think showcase that Japanese ingenuity and creativity is alive and well.

Catherine

The game so nice, I bought it twice. Catherine was developed by Atlus's staff using an elaborate reworking of the Gamebryo engine to get started with their first HD project. Since its successful launch both in Japan and the states, they've since begun work on Persona 5; which will no longer use Gamebryo as a foundation, but a brand new engine developed from their experiences on Catherine.

A modern-day trip through a man's attempt to survive his waking and unconscious nightmares. Catherine focuses on a slacker by the name of Vincent, torn between two women, sheep, blocks, and liquor. Love the game's block-pushing gameplay or hate it, there is nothing quite like it on the market, a standard set by Atlus titles in general.

Shadows of the Damned
(staring Garcia F!cking Hotspur)

When it comes to developers not afraid to push boundaries and try new things, whether for better or for worse, Grasshopper Manufacture are pretty much the defining example.

Suda 51, the lunatic behind such quirky projects as Killer7 and No More Heroes, united with Shinji Mikama, Akira Yamaoka, and a global team ranging from an Italian director to western Q&A, to devise a Resident Evil 4-like that delivers insanity and hellish gunfighting in spades.

Garcia's trip is full of intentionally cheesy dialogue, rampant offensive humor and visuals, and copious amounts of demons getting their heads blown off. There's also a charming talking skull by the name of Johnson(apologies to Murray) who is equal times a witty companion and a variable source of demon-disembowling weaponry.

Dark Souls

I'd hope From Software's spiritual successor to Demon's Souls doesn't require introduction, but just in case.

Demon's Souls, itself a spiritual successor to From's long-running King's Field franchise, brought the dark fantasy genre and unforgiving difficulty back to the RPG. Not only is the game extremely minimalist in assisting the player and storytelling, but the online components further add to the experience by encouraging jolly co-operation with unknown faces, as well as the ever-present threat of being invaded by another player deadset on separating you from your soul(s).

Dark Souls builds on this further by creating a gigantic open-world experience, where the player is capable of going anywhere they please, at any time, without need for selecting areas from a hub as in Demon's Souls. The end result is a game with immense opportunity for customization, and if the player reads into the subtle dialogue and world enough, one of the more engrossing plots and assortments of characters the industry has to offer.

The 'Yakuza' Franchise

One of Japan's most popular gaming franchises, thanks in no small part in its similarities to Shenmue.

All the Yakuza games, from the PS2 to the PSP to the PS3, transpire in the vast city of Kamurocho. Take in some Karaoke, visit hostess bars, and beat the ever-loving hell out of thugs who think they're better than you with anything you can get your hands on.

Just another day in the life of a Yakuza.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Vanillaware are considered the quintessential masters of gorgeous 2D graphics, and with good reason.

Their intense Wii hack'n'slash title boasts wonderful music(thanks to Hitoshi Sakimoto's Baslscape team), a blood-soaked journey through ancient Japan, and some of the most beautiful 2D graphics to ever grace a console.

Persona 4: The Ultimate in Midnight Arena

I'd be lax in my duties if I didn't show Arc System Works some love. Still one of the most prolific 2d fighting game developers, having started with Guilty Gear and continuing with BlazBlue, Atlus decided to task ArcSys with creating a fighting game based on the immensely popular Persona franchise.

The end result looks to be another fast-paced example of why 2D has nowhere to go but up, even in the modern-day industry.

(from 'BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger')

Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Last and definitely not least, Falcom. As with most Japanese devs, Falcom are especially fond of the PSP. With a large install base and similarity to PC development tools, Falcom continue to support the PSP with open arms, and it received some of the best games from their long-running Ys series as a result.

While debatable whether or not Oath in Felghana(a reimagining of the third game in the series) is the pinnacle of what the franchise has to offer, it's certainly among the best, and doesn't lack for fast-paced combat, visual appeal, or amazing music.

I really could go on for ages with examples of what the Japanese industry is capable of. There are still a multitude of talented and creative individuals hard at work, developing titles that continue to keep the gaming industry and originality thriving.

For both western and eastern devs alike to constantly put them down at every opportunity is a saddening state of affairs, one that hopefully this gen and forthcoming ones will put a swift end to.

I've left out a plethora of noteworthy titles, of course, but I encourage anyone in the comments section to share examples of what they think continues to help Japanese gaming stand out from the pack.

In brief, some other solid Japanese games I've played this generation(though not without their flaws in several cases):

-Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, Square-Enix)
-Hard Corps: Uprising (PSN, Arc System Works)
-The 3rd Birthday (PSP, Square-Enix)
-Corpse Party (PSP, Team GrisGris/5pb)
-Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii, Nintendo)
-Nier (PS3, Cavia)
-Bayonetta (PS3, Platinum Games)

And one particular title which I've heard nothing but glowing praise for:

-Vanquish (PS3/360, Platinum Games)

GameFAN #7

2012-03-15T10:07:00.003-04:00

GameFAN issue 7, Mk2, is out. In fact it’s been out for a while. It also features a review, by me, of Xenoblade Chronicles. Read on for the gossip.

.
.
.
Issue 7 represents another gradual shift for the magazine, which still seems to be finding its foothold. Its release is also sporadic enough that it feels more like a quarterly periodical than a monthly magazine – though I’m told it will become more regular.

What I’m pleased to see hasn’t changed, is that GameFAN still continues to represent the otherwise under-represented. Look at that cover (there’s also a related interview inside). How many other magazines featured Rayman Origins on the front? GamesTM over the months has descended into covers featuring generic computer renders of whatever property is paying the most advertising that month. I don’t receive EGM anymore, but their covers were never great. Retro Gamer is about the only other magazine where I can say it looks beautiful to see it on a shelf or my coffeetable.

To emphasise this love of the underdog, inside there’s a feature on seemingly abandoned character properties, with a look at what it would take to bring them back. Who doesn’t want to see a return of Earthworm Jim or Psychonauts?

There’s also 6 loving pages dedicated to indie PC shmup Jamestown, with developer interview. This is always good stuff, since the creative minds behind great games deserve to be showcased.

Then there’s my review of Xenoblade Chronicles. I gave it 9.5 and first wrote it when the PAL release came out – since handing it in there was the announcement of a US release. So perfectly timed you could say. Having had some months to reflect on my score, I can safely say I still agree with my sentiments.

Apart from an awkward gear-equipping UI, it is as close to JRPG perfection as I’ve seen in the last few years. It’s just regrettable it’s on hardware which limits its audience.

Speaking of great JRPGs they also have a look at the Level-5 Visions Event, showcasing the work of developers Level-5, including Ni No Kuni. It’s a beautifully designed feature, written by Destructoid associate editor Jonathan Holmes. While the rest of the world deplorably claims the Japanese games industry, and the JRPG, are dead, leafing through this issue of GameFAN you’d think otherwise. In a way the coverage here reinforces something long thought: it’s not that Japan isn’t producing great games anymore, it’s that the western press has its fingers in its ears while screaming “LA-LA-LA-LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

There’s other great Japanese games mentioned, like Sonic Generations, an in-depth feature on the history of Disgaea, alongside a review of Disgaea 4, Zelda Skyward Sword, Guardian Heroes HD Remix, and Solatorobo. Well, I don’t actually like Solatorobo (in fact I hate it), but that still doesn’t change the fact that no matter how you cut it – the coverage here shows it’s a great time to be playing Japanese games. The fact they placed a French developed game on the cover (Rayman), proves that the different sides of the industry can in fact co-exist peacefully. I dunno, maybe the rest of the Western press has been playing too many army games, hence the growing mental view of Us-Versus-Them when it comes to Japan. A little bit sad, I think. To me Japan’s downfall – to a certain degree – appears to be the imaginings of the West; an apparition born out of misguided Schadenfreude and championed by weekend-warriors still high from killing militants in the latest Call of Warfare: My Patriotic Duty 5.

Seriously, if I compile a year-by-year list of good games from Japan, and limit it exclusively to those released in the west, they are still producing more incredible games than I have enough time to even playthrough. I don’t know where the misgivings come from, and I don’t actually know what the naysayers are expecting.

Here’s a look at that Rayman coverage, including interview with Michel Ancel

Other coverage includes a review of the stunning looking Bastion, plus a profile of 25 Years of Zelda. There’s no mention of the awesome CDi Zelda titles I love so much, but hey, no one is perfect.

There’s also an excellent double spread on GBA games – which is handy. I love visual info-dumps like this, it allows you to sit back and comb through each little box, taking your time to appreciate how voluminous the system’s library is. In additiont there’s a look at Silhouette Mirage, Wonder Dog, Skeleton Crew and Pilotwings (SNES) in the retro section. Plus a look at various comics and anime which would appeal to the readership.

I’m glad GameFAN is still being produced, because it presents the world of videogames as I remember it, and how I would like to see it continue. It portrays the medium like it was before the fun and passion died in other places. Which begs the question: is the shift we’ve seen in the world of games actual reality, or simply a frame of mind put forth by critics?