Tag Archives: video games

September 1, 2013 · 3:35 pm

You and Ralph Have Something in Common

Wreck-It RalphWreck-It Ralph has smashed his way into my heart. I think both non gamers and gamers should watch it. They might find different things to love about this movie. But I think both groups can understand Ralph’s quest to live an authentic life and feel loved.

The movie makes video games fun for non gamers of all ages. Kids who have not played a video game might love the colorful setting and cartoon-like characters. Meanwhile, adults might like that they can watch the movie with their kids. Some of these adults might even explore video games as a new hobby.

At the same time, seasoned gamers will love all the video game references. They’ll see tons of references to games like Call of Duty, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong and more. And classic characters from these games pop up too. In one scene, you’ll see a veritable pantheon of big, bad bosses, like Bowser and Dr. Robotnik, on the screen. If that wasn’t enough, old school gamers might enjoy the movie’s arcade setting and Q-Bert cameo. This movie could be a love letter to gamers.

So gamers and non gamers might like this movie for all kinds of different reasons. Is there anything about it that both of these groups could like?

I think Ralph’s story has timeless themes that can appeal to both groups. I’m talking about making friends and the struggle to be authentic when it seems like you don’t fit in. Many people can relate to these themes and may have experienced them.

So I recommend Wreck-It Ralph. Then, if you haven’t already, go give video games a chance. You might find they have some themes that resonate with you too.

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August 25, 2013 · 3:47 pm

We’ve Come to Collect: Games and Collecting Things

Collectibles in Video GamesDo you like to collect stuff in video games? You probably don’t because it’s not very fun. You might remember the game’s story more than the game’s trinkets.

Now, some critics might argue that collecting things interrupts the flow of a game. They are about to beat the final boss, but the allure of a coffee thermos distracts them. Or something like that. The point is they dislike collecting things in game because it ruins their fun.

I somewhat agree with this criticism because there are bad collectibles in games. I don’t want to stop to search for 1000 coffee thermoses during a tense fight. I don’t want to search for newspapers in a dense forest consumed by darkness. And once I do get the newspaper, I would rather play than stop to read it. In other words, it’s hard for me to read a book while I’m on a speedy roller coaster.

But pretend I did want to collect everything in a game. What do I gain from doing it? Most games offer meager rewards – perhaps only an achievement – for my hard work.

However, I can think of three games with excellent audio collectibles. These collectibles do not need to distract you from the main game because you can play while you listen to the recording. And I believe they reward the player. Let me tell you about these games.

BioShock

You can learn much about Rapture as you play the game and fight its psychotic citizens. The recordings, though, add a layer of story to the game. They help you dive deeper into the minds of Rapture’s citizens and the “Little Sister” project.

Halo 3: ODST

“Bang, bang, bang and then all the aliens fall down. It’s just another Halo game with a robot-like protagonist,” you say. Well, the recordings in this game tell a human story full of sadness and hope, and it bring New Mombasa to life. The story in the recordings is separate from the game’s main tale. This separate story is a true reward for collectors. It is a nice change of pace from explosions and alien death.

Amalur

In Kingdoms of Amalur, recording listens to you. Nah, I kid.

The recordings – called lorestones in this game – fill in the story and grant you experience. Collect all the lorestones in a set and you get a permanent bonus. Now there’s a reason to collect!

Conclusion

You might need to stray off the main trail to find collectibles in these games. That might mean you cannot hack off orcs’ limbs or set bad guys on fire. And you might become upset about that. Well, there is a simple rebuttal: don’t search for the collectibles and play the game.

When you do collect things in these three games, you are often treated to a reward. You might learn more about the story or gain bonuses for your character. Not all games can offer you that much. It’s time that they do offer these rewards.

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August 18, 2013 · 5:01 pm

Why Would I Play as a Furry Creature and Robot?

Ratchet and ClankSometimes art changes the way we see the world. An art piece might lift your spirits and you might feel happy enough to hold the door for a stranger. The stranger, in turn, volunteers at a soup kitchen. Then the planet is better off because of someone’s creativity. It all starts with one person.

Ratchet and Clank changes the way I see the world; I see it through a cheerful lens. Now, most good video games help me to relax. Ratchet, though, lifts my spirits and makes me a more pleasant Lombax – I mean human – to behold.

The combat, cut-scenes, characters, and colorful design cheer me up. I’ve only played A Crack in Time and part of the HD collection, but I’ve discovered what I like about the series. Let me tell you why I love the Ratchet and Clank games.

The games have cute characters. I’m not sure what a Lombax is, but I’m pretty sure most children would want a plush version for themselves. Perhaps the character’s wide eyes, small stature and good nature explains its appeal. I feel a child like joie de vivre when I see Ratchet’s face.

The quirky characters bring a smile to my face. They don’t walk around with frowns painted on their faces like “emo” teens. So I appreciate the games’ character design, and love even more to play as them.

The games offer a variety of fun things to do when you play as Ratchet or Clank. Unlike your average shooter, you don’t kill enemies all the time in these games. You can explore alien worlds, jump between platforms, and blaze through planets in hoverboots. You can refresh yourself while you fly off a huge jump and linger in the air. Nothing like that fresh air!

You will want to explore and do crazy jumps in these games’ environments. The bright and colorful environments contrast with the drab, brown shooter de jour.

And while you explore these settings, you might as well collect some things. Why should anyone collect items in these games? You should collect bolts in Ratchet to upgrade your guns so they are more powerful. Oh, and you might find a certain weapon that shoots rockets while it blasts music from Tchaikovsky. That is only one of the game’s many stellar weapons.

It’s worth the time to collect and try the varied weapons. Every military shooter has an assault rifle, but not many games have a weapon that makes people dance. Even fewer games have weapons that could save the world.

I know why I love the Ratchet games: they have great characters, environments and weapons. There is also a cartoon like quality to the characters and worlds that appeals to me.

I’m happy to hear that a new Ratchet and Clank game is on the way. Let the game begin!

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August 12, 2013 · 2:04 am

When I’m Old and Grey

When I'm Old and GreyNeon lights blind passers-by as they shine through the window on the house’s second floor.

Move inside and noise blasts hard enough to deafen anyone. The sounds of explosions almost knocks down pedestrians outside. A voice cuts through the noise, “How was that a critical hit?”

In the kitchen, two children sit while a young woman cooks dinner. Garlic and onions hit the pan, sizzle, jump and try to escape, but they settle down and release their special perfume. If the house had taste buds, its mouth would water.

The children ask, almost in unison, “Mom, what are all those lights and sounds upstairs?”

“Grandpa’s playing.” She rolled her eyes up and screwed up her lips as if some thought was developing in her mind. “Uh, I think they’re called video games and he’s playing them on a TV.”

“What are video games?” asked the little girl as she titled her head.

“What’s a TV?” asked the little boy with a squeaky voice.

“Oh, they’re old things people used to do for fun about 50 years ago.”

The children’s eyes grew wide and their mouths were agape – almost long enough for flies to buzz in – at this news.

“Wow! Did you say 50 years? That’s like a thousand years ago.”

The mother saw their earnest faces and smiled.

“Uh huh and he still plays them today,” the mother continued. “You know, you should run upstairs and let him show you.”

Their eyes sparkled like diamonds. The news excited them as if they had received both their Christmas and birthday gifts at once.

The children took off for upstairs. Their mother only saw a cloud of dust where they once sat. Now their feet made the second loudest sound in the house.

“Grandpa, Grandpa,” they yelled, “show us TV and video games.” Then they scurried into a room full of light and good cheer.

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August 4, 2013 · 4:05 pm

Boredom Is A Blessing

boredom is a blessingBoredom, for me, is the feeling that one has nothing worthwhile to do. Too often people complain that “this is boring.” We can borrow a pithy rebuttal from the internet for this complaint: “You’re doing it wrong.” In fact, boredom can be a good thing.

Bored people can ponder life’s big questions. At least, that’s what my philosophy professor once said in my first year class.

I think he was correct: you could do a lot of good and interesting things when you’re bored. You could help others, gain insight into a mysterious topic, write a book or blog post, and paint. During a typical week, we may not have time to do these things because we are so busy. Boredom offers us time to retreat from the world and reflect on life.

But you cannot do these activities without a break. Perhaps your philosophical and charitable binges have left your body and mind exhausted. The engine that powers both overheats and needs to cool down. What do you do when you need a break from the big questions? You need to relax.

Boredom provides great opportunities to relax. I take advantage of it to play stacks of video games. If I didn’t have time to play, my list of back logged games would rival the page count of War and Peace.

When I play these games, all problems melt away and it feels like I am on a roller coaster with my hands in the air. The game is a thrill ride you do not want to end. Play too long, though, and you might look pale enough to throw up your lunch.

Boredom is great! It gives you time to serve others, engage in profound thought, and enjoy hobbies. When life gives you boredom, squeeze out of every last drop and savor it.

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July 28, 2013 · 4:41 pm

Video Game Weapons Could Save The World

save the worldIt seems like every game has guns these days, but most of these weapons are not memorable. However, the two games below have cool weapons that could also help our world.

(1) Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time

The Ratchet and Clank series is famous for its weapons, and one of my favourites is the Groovitron Glove. It launches shiny disco balls and plays music that causes any enemy to dance. For a moment, you are at disco club full of bad guys. Feel free to laugh at the giant mech’s lame dance moves. It can’t hurt you when it feels the rhythm deeps in its cold circuits.

So the glove sounds great in a video game. I mean, it can stop bad guys and entertain you. But you might have overlooked its practical use in life.

This glove is one of those rare video game weapons that could help people. I’m not much of a dancer and feel self-conscious about my “moves.” But pull out the Groovitron at a wedding and – bam ! – I could become the life of the party.

Better yet, the Groovitron could bring us word peace. If you dance non-stop, you won’t have time to start or continue a war. Imagine a peace conference where everyone danced their way to a mutual understanding.

Now we must buy a large supply of disco balls in the name of world peace. It’s all on us, people! Do you want to explain to the next generation that you were too cheap to prevent war?

I think Insomniac, the developer of A Crack in Time, made this glove to promote peace and have a laugh. The Groovitron is their plan to solve the world’s problems.

At the very least, they seem proud of all their weapons. They took the time to make humorous, cartoon movies to introduce the armaments. I love these movies and appreciate when developers add details like this to a game. The details often set games apart, keeping them in your memory long after you beat them.

(2) BioShock

Plasmids are serums that give gamers magic powers in this game. Plasmids include, but are not limited to, telekinesis, an electric bolt attack, and an “insect swarm” power that shoots bees out of your hands. I guess the bees are useful when you want to sting and irritate the skin of your enemies.

But the “insect swarm” plasmid might help the world’s bees. It seems colony collapse disorder kills honey bees all around the world. Do not fret. If we need healthy bees for agriculture, we could always use the plasmid to spawn them on demand.

I suggest you play BioShock and do some research on bees. While you play, I recommend you watch the humorous cartoon movies that introduce each weapon with a touch of class.

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I love the creative weapons in A Crack in Time and BioShock. But you don’t need to play these games to appreciate the Groovitron or insect swarm. You should know that these weapons/ powers could solve world peace and bee deaths.

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July 21, 2013 · 7:58 pm

Why I Want to Live in a Video Game World

life is playLet us say you could live in any video game world you wanted. Would you do it? Count me in.

A video game could offer a great escape – see what I did there? – from the doldrums of life. Life is something like equal parts work and play, or contemplation and action. But a game would rearrange this balance. Life is play inside a video game.

The concerns of everyday life would not apply inside a game. Death does not exist because I would always re-spawn. I wouldn’t have to plan my finances because all my digital coins would fit inside my pocket. Also, unless it was a boring game, it wouldn’t force me to mop my apartment floors, scrub dishes or do chores. Instead, I would have plenty of free time to explore an open world game.

The game world would give me all sorts of powers to play with. I’d do things like climb a mountain peak, jump over a skyscraper, heal myself and solve physics based puzzles with ease. Sleep would not exist, and I could run on forever like a sentence without a stop.

But life inside the game is not only about me. A beautiful princess lies in wait, in that world, for someone to rescue her. Now, this blog post is unconventional, so let us take it a step further and pretend that she would save me. I would still meet a beautiful woman no matter who saved the day, which is fine by me.

If I never crossed paths with the princess, I could still talk to other video game characters. The seedy bars from large open world games are great places to meet people. I could talk to the code too; we could chew over performance problems and the game would run better because of me. That lifestyle doesn’t sound lonely at all.

Wait! I can’t keep up this happiness charade. I could not survive a day in there without family, friends and WordPress.com. So would some of you join me?

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July 14, 2013 · 11:32 pm

Hack a Game to Bits

hacking in video games“Connect power coupling A with coupling B, then repeat three other times, and do this before the timer runs out. Avoid electric shock. Do not eat coupling or drop it into a bathtub.”

I don’t know about you, but I think this sounds boring. It sounds like a technical writer’s manual – keep in mind that I think they are swell people – for some product. It certainly does not excite me enough to read more.

Yet, some games ask you to fiddle with couplings, cogs, etc. when you hack, say, a security camera or computer. In these hacking mini games, you quickly memorize patterns or solve a puzzle. Then you earn a shiny reward.

I understand that people want to hack to gain rewards in games. There’s a huge payout when you finish the hack that makes you feel proud of your skills. You could gain control of a turret, as your reward, and mow down enemies. You could also grab more coins after you avoid a vending machine’s security system. These bonuses sound great.

However, it is a pain to hack things in games; the process itself is not fun. Developers could make both the process and the rewards fun to impress players. If they cannot do that, they should cut boring game segments like an editor faced with a bad sentence.

Granted, hacking things is a small part of most video games. Mass Effect and BioShock are excellent even though they have these hacking mini games. So why should anyone bother to make these mini games more fun?

Developers can stand out if they take the time to make hacking fun. Play then becomes a joy instead of a chore when every moment of the game is fun. Next-gen, I’m looking at you.

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July 7, 2013 · 2:45 pm

Hard Times in a Digital World

tough video games

Watch out! Steam’s about to shoot out of this red hot ear.

When the going gets tough, they say, the tough get going. What does a gamer do when a digital world gets tough?

Well, many gamers take themselves and games too seriously. They might even throw and smash their controllers or mouse against a wall. They lose control and forget it is only a game.

I am much more mature on these matters. I usually have reasonable reactions to tough video games. Here are five of my reactions to these games:

1. Smash a controller

Wait a minute! I have never done this before. I find it’s easier to beat the tough parts with a controller in hand. This strategy, I assure, works.

2. Stubbornness

I’ll charge head first in to a problem without much thought. Sometimes I find brute force reigns supreme while strategy and skill get in my way. I won’t stop my charge until it works. Dammit, I’m telling you it will work!

Let’s say I’m trying to get a cupcake behind an electric fence. Rather than eschew the fence, I would probably keep trying to walk through it to get the cupcake. There is a gamble here: either the fence zaps your avatar, or your avatar walks away with frizzy hair and a sweet treat. I like those odds.

3. Trial and error

This is the classic way  – well for me anyway –  to solve a problem. How do you do it in video games? Re-spawn and learn from mistakes, and I make plenty of mistakes in games.

Here’s an example of me doing something stupid in a game:

“Gee, these bottles with skulls and bubbling purple goo sure look strange, but they could also help me. There’s only one way to find out: better try them.”

Thankfully, trial and error is sometimes a good strategy in video games. See, video game characters are a lot like cats: they both can have nine lives. No more tears when your character dies.

4. Give in to the guide

We’ve all done it. You know you have. You’ve looked online to figure out how to get past a tricky part of a game.

Living life on the guide is a last resort for me, though. I feel satisfied when I beat a tough game by myself; it’s a sense of accomplishment. I don’t need handouts.

5. A well thought out strategy

Start with one scoop of perseverance. Add a pinch of strategy. Don’t forget heaping helpings of practice and skill. If you whisk all of these ingredients together, you might end up with smooth success. It tastes like… victory.

What do you do when video games get tough?

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June 30, 2013 · 7:24 pm

Brace for Impact: The Mass Effect 3 Ending

mass-effect-3-ending

Spoiled Milk

Wow! Some fans sure don’t like the Mass Effect 3 ending.

Do I like the final game? I can’t say yet. I’ve played Mass Effect 1 and 2 but not the third game.

I can’t judge the Mass Effect 3  ending because I haven’t played it. In fact, I have to play the second game again to platinum it. So I’m far from reaching the end anytime soon.

I don’t know when I’ll experience the Mass Effect 3 ending. It doesn’t help that my list of games to play has grown longer than Rapunzel’s hair. The list restrains me from playing Mass Effect 3 like it was a ball and chain.

If I get to play it, will I like the ending? Who knows! But I wish I hadn’t heard any Mass Effect 3 ending complaints. Even though I didn’t read or watch the complaints, the complainers still spoiled the joy of playing the game for me.

Granted, reviews can show tidbits about games and criticize them. Most critics treat games, even those that they dislike, with fairness. I can also avoid reviews if I want to; however, it was more difficult to avoid the complainers in the news.

I’m not angry about this and still plan to play Mass Effect 3. But I prefer to play games without whining and hissing fans in the background.

However, fair criticism of games is great and it’s why I turn to your blogs. I want to read reviews that delve into the entire game and the overall experience.

I don’t ever want to brace myself for an ending; I want to experience the entire game.

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