Tag Archives: video games

January 11, 2015 · 10:57 pm

Did You Get the Wrong Gift?

When I was younger, I begged my dad for a SNES. I was a desperate citizen–of a household–pleading his case before a steel willed magistrate (read: my father). In support of my case, I said the console was cheaper than ever because it had been out for so long. Besides, my big brother wanted it too. If big brothers are good for anything, they’re good at adding supplementary premises in support of an argument for obtaining a new home entertainment system. Or so I thought.

Imagine my minor disappointment after unwrapping a new Sega Saturn on Christmas. Well, I didn’t complain after unwrapping such an expensive system.

Instead, I set-up the console downstairs and played Virtua Fighter for hours. It was fun. It just didn’t have the games that what I wanted.

Now, the Sega Saturn boasted great graphics for its time. It had some great games as I’m sure many of its most ardent fans will note. It was not a bad system, though it was later a commercial failure.

And my dad tried his best and did good research when he bought the Saturn. He thought it was a better gift than the SNES after a salesman boasted about Sega’s amazing new system. I imagine the salesman probably said, “SNES? The Sega Saturn is the wave of the future. Every kid wants it.” Well, that salesman was not much of a psychic.

You know, there are more important values in life than mere objects. One of these many values is appreciating what you have. Another is respect and love for others who care for us even when they make small mistakes, like my dad. A final is sharing your gifts with others, like I did when I played Saturn with my brother and friends.

Sometimes we don’t like what life offers us at first. But look closer. You could have a neglected gift that brings happiness to both you and others. Sometimes you just have to be thankful and grateful for the gifts you’re given.

9 Comments

Filed under Video Game Technology

Tagged as , , ,

January 4, 2015 · 9:11 pm

Why I Love No Man’s Sky

For all I know it may not exist. I’ve never seen it, except only on someone else’s screen on the internet. It has no smell and It’s tasteless. Well, the developers seem to have good taste, but you can’t eat the game. Well, I guess you could bite a disc, assuming it’s not a digital download, but then you’d probably have some problems.

Argh! Remind me not to start a post with radical doubt. See what happens? Okay so I won’t doubt that the game exists.

So let’s talk about this game that (a) likely will excite me beyond belief, (b) definitely exists and (c) hopefully comes out on time.

Did you know No Man’s Sky is a procedurally generated game? Now, I learned what that means, but I can’t explain it as well as the developer. I also don’t care too much about how “procedurally generated” works.

After seeing a couple of trailers, though, I fell for this game. I loved flying spaceships in X Wing and Tie Fighter. I loved swimming and discovering life in Endless Ocean. And I just love exploring worlds in video games. I love that No Man’s Sky has spaceships, the chance to explore worlds, and swim in murky galactic seas.

I’ve hoped to find a great spaceship game. I mean, a game where you pilot a spaceship, dogfight with the enemy and dodge meaty asteroids before they flatten you into space marinara. I’m hoping to also roam the galaxy without objectives, just gazing at planets. A free ride.

The game also lets you land smoothly on a planet. I’ll want to explore different worlds on foot, no cookie cutter repeats, please. In other words, a gas giant with blue and black clouds need not apply with his twin brother–an identical giant with red and orange clouds.

I plan to inspect these worlds with an intergalactic magnifying glass. I’m hoping we’ll get to scan flora, fauna and fun creatures. The scanning process from the Metroid Prime series was fun and could be a nice aspect of No Man’s Sky too. However, I’d appreciate it even more if the developer created a novel approach to “scanning” these alien worlds. Of course, I’m hoping, if we catalog these planets, that some dangers will make it a challenging activity. Though they may not include scanning in No Man’s Sky at all. Just a thought.

Then I plan to dive underwater and catalog life there. Like floating in a swimming pool on a warm and sunny day, I could float in an ocean and watch foreign creatures swim. That sounds so relaxing. It will also be a nice change of pace from dog-fighting in space. Don’t forget how tense it will be to swim in poisonous oceans filled to the top with monstrous chimeras.

No Man’s Sky, for me, doesn’t need objectives. I already know what I’m going to do. I’m going to swim in endless alien oceans, explore vast swaths of territory, catalog all life if it kills me (ha!), and fly spaceships in loop-de-loops. I for one will find that refreshing, relaxing and fun. Do you?

Last one in space is a rotten Earth egg! (See, I’m sure they’re will be other kinds of eggs in the game).

16 Comments

Filed under Video Games I Want

Tagged as , , , ,

December 28, 2014 · 2:08 pm

Time Traveling to Play Video Games

Super Mario Bros is a good game because you get to save a princess.

Mario goes on a journey to save her. He jumps so much and picks up shiny coins. Jumping and collecting coins is fun. Jumping on bad guys is also fun.

Sometimes Mario jumps, falls and disappears. Where did he go? Do you know? I don’t. Tell me. Come on!

Then he comes back and everything is great. I get to play the game again.

It looks so good. There are flying turtles and mushrooms. I wonder if they taste good? Does Mario cook them?

You have to move forward to reach the end of the world. Fireballs burn. Run! Run! I hid in a pipe for a moment to escape them.

Then I found the princess because my big brother helped me. Mario loves her and saves her from a bad guy. Do they get married?

This game is fun if you like to jump.

P.S. Time for my nap.

By Adam age 10?

Anyway, to write this post, I channeled my inner child. When that didn’t work, I traveled back in time with a certain device to write with my childhood self.

Nah, I tried to imagine how the ten-year old me would write a post about video games. You read the result, but I have no memory of how I wrote as a child. It’s a guess.

Have you ever tried to write like your childhood self? Did you ever write anything about video games as a child? Are you willing to share and embarrass — maybe — yourself?

8 Comments

Filed under Silly Video Game Inspired Fiction

Tagged as , , , ,

December 21, 2014 · 3:23 pm

My EX (console) Sent Me This

I was the best

the top of the line

but you don’t need coins to play me.

Stacked high on the shelf

and then I landed in your arms

you took me home

and showed me love I’d never known

it almost melted my metal heart.

You plugged me in

to give me life, support.

Energy surged through me

like a shooting star in the night sky

my light shined for all to see.

Now it’s just a daze

a foggy haze in a distant nebula.

And did you know I sat there all day?

so much dust

I couldn’t breathe right

*achoo!*

Where once I was a star

I fizzled out in empty space.

It’s time for you

to move on.

Leave a comment

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , ,

December 14, 2014 · 1:02 pm

Achievements Gone Wild

Running around in circles in search of a missing golden banana. Sound like an obsession or good fun? What if I told you there was an achievement at the end of the tunnel?

Well, some people might obsess over achievements to the detriment of everything else in their life. Others dismiss achievements as pointless or stupid. Still others, such as myself, like to earn a fair achievement after they finish a fair challenge. And I bet there are even more opinions on the topic of awards in video games.

Now it’s time for you to be the judge. I have three scenarios below. Two probably show someone having fun while earning an achievement. A third, well, it’s a bit extreme.

1. It Never Ends

After you spent 70 hours playing a game, you unlock an achievement. You didn’t look at every blade of grass. Instead, you wanted to explore the beauty of the world. After all, the digital world needs someone to appreciate it too.

2. The Merchant of… Zombieland?

You need to shred 1000 pounds zombie flesh, what’s left of it anyway, with your handheld Civil War era gatling gun. Ammo is scarcer than water in a desert. You’ll have to run around and look in every haystack to squeeze out every bullet. Then, you’ll earn a series of achievements.

3. Green with Obsession

You have to collect the last green gemstone to unlock an achievement. In your search, you stumble upon the stellar scene of a star’s birth but don’t even bat an eye. You repeatedly die and never progress in the game because the final gemstone is, figuratively speaking, lodged in your brain. You will never stop until the gem is yours.

3 Comments

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , , ,

December 7, 2014 · 9:46 am

Painting Pictures with Video Games

“Video games and paintings have nothing in common,” a cranky person might say.

Two summers ago, I found myself wandering through an art gallery and wondering if such a cranky sentiment could be right.

I realize now that two paintings I saw would destroy the cranky person’s argument, like a foot stomping on a sand castle.

Problem is that I couldn’t remember or find the names of the paintings. So I can only share my impressions of those fateful moments in the gallery. And ask that you indulge me.

Let’s see; where do I begin…

I was staring at the first painting and admired the two figures in it. One seemed to move through a desert-like setting toward an uncertain horizon, a mountainous region. Then a thought hit me like a hammer on the head: the painting reminded me of Journey. I’m talking about the video game, not the band. Anyway, one of the figures in the desert setting reminded me of that game’s adventure.

In fact, there were several, perhaps superficial, similarities between the painting and Journey. You can’t really identify the people in the painting, just like the mysterious figures in Journey. Like the main character in Journey, one figure in the painting, with his or her back turned to the viewer, wears a long robe. There are objects, which look like wooden poles, sticking out of the sand, and one object has a red sash on it. The sashes reminded me of the floating scarves and, for lack of a better term, “carpets” in the game.

Of course, there are some differences between the game and painting. The figures in the painting obviously do not match the game. Some of the objects scattered throughout the painting, like the shoes on one figure, do not appear in the game. Overall, the painting is more realistic in that it does not have floating objects, and the figures are human. By contrast, Journey’s characters might not be human, and it features multiple floating objects.

After I did this internal analysis, I was still struck by this painting’s resemblance to Journey.

Then a second painting reminded me of Uncharted 2. I’d say Uncharted 2 because that game had a bit of an Eastern vibe. The painting shares that setting because it depicts a scene from the Byzantine empire. This is the kind of exotic locale where Nathan Drake loots treasure.

The buildings in the painting look like they’ve weathered a storm or two. What a perfect setting for uncovering lost artifacts! I can almost see Drake hopping out of one of the buildings to evade the soldiers below. Or, maybe, he’d shimmy across the ledges and ditch the soldiers on the roofs.

Well, there’s one problem: the soldiers lived well before Drake’s time. Last time I checked, Drake could not time travel to the Byzantine Empire. Although I guess Naughty Dog could add time travel in future installments of the game.

Perhaps I was stretching evidence, though, to prove to myself that video games are art. Perhaps comparing two paintings to video games was not a very useful exercise. However, I was critical and still found myself struck by the similarities between painting and game.

Even if these paintings did not resemble scenes from video games, the games remain beautiful. The games have awesome visuals and stunning music that we probably consider art. Though I will refrain from offering a robust definition of art at this time; that’s a whole other post.

We often hear people debate the question: “Are video games art?” But have you ever sat down and qualitatively compared a piece of art, from a different medium, to a video game? Have you ever seen a painting that reminded you of a video game? I mean a painting that was not inspired by video games. Share the details below.

6 Comments

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , , , ,

November 30, 2014 · 8:37 pm

Video Games and Gratitude

Many of us sat down and gorged ourselves on turkey this year. We are lucky and hopefully grateful.

I’m grateful for all the people in my life and what I can do for others. I’m grateful for so many things in my life that have nothing to do with this blog.

But I want to take a break from the serious business of living life to talk about games now. Of course I’m grateful to have games in my life. My face lights up like a Christmas tree as soon as I think about them.

I started to reflect on feeling grateful about video games, and I came up with a list.

1. Time and money to play and blog about games

I’m grateful and lucky to have both spare time and money. This blog exists because I have spare time.

I’m also grateful for the moments where I’m bored because they give me a chance to write. I’ve said it before: boredom is a blessing!

2. The gift that keeps on giving

You can keep playing a great game and never tire of it. If the downloadable content (DLC) is a fair price, it becomes like a cherry on top of a great cake.

I also hope that games could provoke discussion about problems in our world and potential solutions. That would be a gift that gives more than mere entertainment.

3. Games help me relax

Some days I look at a clock so often that I swear my head will fall off. After that, I love to open up a game, let it breath and consume it. Playing helps me unwind and brings joy into my life, even when I’m feeling blue.

4. So much choice

I can choose between games made by one person and games made by a large studio. I can go through lists of genres. I can find games with high artistic merit. I can find games on sale. I’m so lucky.

5. Game prices

Video games prices have fallen with time. It’s hard not to be happy about that.

But what am I most grateful to video games for? For the joy they bring me. I take that with me and try to share that feeling with everyone I meet—gamer or not. One cannot number something this important.

Why are you grateful to have video games in your life?

10 Comments

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , ,

November 23, 2014 · 9:29 am

Don Quixote Stumbled into a Video Game?

What would a video game inspired by Don Quixote, the 17th century masterpiece novel written by Miguel de Cervantes, look like? What would a “literary video game,” if such a thing exists or could exist, look like? Could literature and video games live together in a healthy relationship, or would video games cheapen the beauty of Cervantes’s exquisite art?

Well, I can’t answer all of these questions, but I think I have the opening scene for you.

***

A brave hero and his loyal lackey were wandering through a forest one day. The mesh of tree branches above them almost blocked out the sun. Yet, the sun shone through tiny gaps among the branches that acted like greedy arms reaching for gold.

A nearby cave, lit up by sunlight, caught our hero’s attention. Our hero remained silent and pointed his lance at the cave.

“What could go wrong this time?” the loyal lackey thought. He rolled his eyes halfway, but he grunted, regained his concrete faith in the fearless hero and tagged along.

They did not get very far.

Suddenly, the ground shook beneath them, and the world felt like it had turned upside down.

His loyal lackey trembled and yelled, “Somebody help us!” Before they knew it, the two heroes were flying off their animals and rolling down a hill. The birds, tree stumps and rocks that they hit dented their armor until it fell clean off of them. But they were lucky. A pile of soft manure broke their fall.

They staggered up to their feet minutes later and washed up in a nearby pond.

Our hero shook his head to make sure his head was still on straight. Then he flicked dirt off his armor’s shoulder with his finger tips. A haughty laugh erupted from him.

That is, until he noticed his lance was not the same. It looked blocky. He also noticed that his loyal lackey looked different: rough edges covered his body.

“Your grace! What has happened to us?”

Our hero stood still and dumbfounded. He assumed it was another magical mirage that plagued his cloudy mind. In fact, our two heroes stumbled into an eight bit video game!

No book about chivalry could have prepared him for this. He would need to level up, as well as upgrade his armor and weapons.

Just then a towering, red dragon swooped down from the heavens. It spewed fire all over the countryside and turned wheat into black ash. Then it centered its sites on our heroes.

The hero grabbed his lance and mounted his horse. This was going to be an epic boss fight.

Literary Video Games?

So I think Don Quixote would make a great video game. At the very least, it could inspire a great video game. I mean “inspire” loosely; in the same way that movies are “based on a true story.” It might be impossible to turn the entire book into a game, but it might be possible to capture some of the story and expose other people to a masterpiece.

Here are seven reasons why I think Don Quixote would make a good video game:

1. A Sense of Humour

Don Quixote has humour in spades. The knight and his squire go on tons of silly misadventures, and video game writers could mine much from Don Quixote. You might agree that most video games in the action genre could use some humour. Even Some humorous games could learn a thing or two from the masterful writing in Don Quixote.

And many of us want to see video games improves their stories, character development and overall writing.

2. Double your Fun

Don Quixote could be an excellent two player video game. Someone could play as the knight and the other could play as his partner, Sancho. Perhaps they would find greater success than in the novel, though.

3. Location, Location, Location!

You could make Don Quixote into a fantasy role-playing game. The book’s medieval setting could work well in a video game. After all many games have this setting, or at least have fantasy version of the medieval period.

Or developers could surprise us and go with a modern setting. I haven’t got a clue.

4. A Good Epic Fail?

You always save the princess or the world in video games.

Well, Don Quixote fails a lot of his quests in hilarious ways. What if a game made it more difficult to save the princess and finish quests?

You’d certainly learn a lot from your mistakes, wouldn’t you? You might appreciate that game because of its challenge. Or you might want to throw your controller at the wall in rage.

I think I’m on to something here. But it’s up the professional game designers to make it work.

5. The Odd One

How do you make a unique video game? You put Don Quixote in it. Then you make sure the game is fun to play.

6. Imagine

Don Quixote often sees things that no one else sees. In the novel, side stories also interrupt the main tale. How would all of this look and play like in a video game? There’s a lot of creative potential here.

7. Double Your Fun with Double Fine

Double Fine could develop it since they excel at making creative and quirky games. In case you don’t know them, they developed video games like Psychonauts.

So there you have it. I think Don Quixote would at least inspire a unique video game. Even if you disagree, I encourage you to read the novel; it is a classic that is well worth your time.

Have you read Don Quixote? (As an aside, you really should). Do you think Don Quixote could be the basis for a good video game or loosely inspire a good video game?

9 Comments

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , , ,

November 17, 2014 · 10:04 am

How I Fell in Love with Video Games

“Oh, so if I jump off that bridge I’ll die.”

I remember thinking something like that when I played Mario on the NES. It was probably the first video game I had ever played. I wasn’t any good.

So it’s a good thing that the NES was a home entertainment system that didn’t eat quarters. Otherwise, I’d have been broke. And maybe I would have broken the console after I took out my frustration on it. That console was sure was lucky.

After the NES, I dabbled in classic computer games like Wolfenstein and Doom. Blasting bad guys and bad creatures was a great way to kill time. And I think I was pretty good at them too. But I never fell in love with games at this point. It was probably because there were too many high energy hobbies to occupy me as a kid. Maybe I preferred to play video games with friends too.

I loved and played the hell out of Golden Eye on N64 with everyone I could find. Yet, the game I couldn’t stop playing, because of all its options in single player and multiplayer, was Perfect Dark. I spent so much time playing Perfect Dark with friends that I mastered it. Then, gaming was one of my major hobbies.

I partly expected a new Perfect Dark for GameCube. But I was disappointed when Microsoft bought the game’s developer, Rare. I enjoyed the GameCube for a while, especially Smash Brothers and other games, but I never really fell in love with the system.

I knew Perfect Dark Zero, a sequel to the N64 game, was on Xbox 360. I bought an Xbox 360 thinking that, even if Zero wasn’t as good as the original game, I could still play Halo 3.

I don’t remember a thing about Perfect Dark Zero, but I fell in love with Halo 3. That was partly because I had always loved Halo: I enjoyed playing it at a friend’s house in high school. Probably the highlight of the Xbox 360, for me, was 2007 when I got the Orange Box, Halo 3 and Mass Effect.

After that, I never lost interest in video games again. My love only grew.

Did you ever lose interest in video games? Who or what renewed your interest and why?

10 Comments

Filed under Video Game Misc.

Tagged as , , ,

November 9, 2014 · 10:15 am

The Death of Graphics in Video Games?

If you visit a video game site, you’ll be struck by all the beautiful high-definition videos and photos that capture life-like moments. Turn on the TV and game ads will hit you in the face with their large explosions. Walk down the street and . . . you get the picture.

One might think that these ubiquitous fancy graphics and explosions are what defines video games. But you could be forgiven, if you looked only at advertising, for thinking that.

In case you didn’t know, popular games can have simple graphics.

“But wait,” one might say, “you’re talking about games that were popular. You’re talking about the old school.”

Not quite.

I can think of at least two popular indie games that have simple graphics. By indie game I mean a game not produced by a large studio, without a traditional publisher, and it doesn’t look like its mainstream counterparts.

One example of an indie game with simple “graphics” is Zach and Tarn Adams’ Dwarf Fortress. In Dwarf Fortress, a player controls a group of dwarves who try to build — you guessed it — a fortress and survive.

Better yet, check out the pop cultural heavyweight Minecraft. Will you fight monsters or just hit things with a stick all day? Well, you can do both of those things and more in the pixellated world of Minecraft.

Would you believe that these two games are making plenty of money? Of course, everyone knows Minecraft is a success. Microsoft also seems to love it and paid $2.5 billion for it. In addition, The New York Times says Tarn Adams earned $50, 000 from Dwarf Fortress in 2010. That’s not bad.

The Next Big Game?

So we know indie games with simple graphics can do well.

But I wonder what the next major indie game will do to stand out from the rest. I mean, and I say this somewhat facetiously, can developers keep out-doing each other in simplicity?

This would be like a tech striptease where eventually there will be nothing left to strip. Just a black or white box will remain on the TV screen, and maybe a contemporary art museum will mount it on a wall.

But maybe there’s one way to stand out from other games with simple graphics. A developer could make an old school text adventure. You know, the ones were you see nothing but text on the screen. I mean, you can’t get much simpler than only having text.

Also, it would be nice to see a game that focuses primarily on telling a deep story. We all like a good story.

Now, I like games with gorgeous art work and graphics. You probably do too, and that’s why so many games have stunning graphics. But who knows for sure what the next major indie game will look — or read — like?

4 Comments

Filed under Video Game Technology

Tagged as , ,