29 December, 2007

Ian

    THEPLAYER's Podcast

    Piracy

    For 2007's final blast, Dean, H and Mike attempt keen, planet-shattering insight, tackling LucasArts' Monkey Island adventures, in what's feared to be the first in a series of examinations of memorable or even Important videogames.

    In practice, this seems to involve firing off "like" and "y'know", like, a lot. Y'know.

    All aboard for boyish enthusiasm, nostalgia, and the usual levels of swearing, teasing and reckless superlatives we hope audiences have come to expect, and perhaps even enjoy.

    A merry festival-of-choice to all.

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    Tracklist:

    Pixies - Isla De Encanta
    Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood

    BGM:

    Frank Zappa - The Gumbo Variations
    Santana - Incident At Neshabur
    LTJ Bukem - Unconditional Love

18 December, 2007

Katie

Screenwipe

If I were to be supremely condemnatory, I’d go so far as to describe the screenshot as almost entirely irrelevant. Next to a newly-released "artist’s rendition" of the new Nintendo console and Take 2’s expertly crafted fiascos, there’s nothing quite so effective in throwing our video gaming selves into a flurry of judgemental internet-based frothing. Be it in support or, more often, anger, saliva and screenshots play a crucial part in our very initial commentary on the latest news. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable when I ask "why?"

You could argue that they present expecting excitables with a more definitive definition of the game, a form in which they could take the hyperbole and sometimes excessive floral detailing of previews and press releases into a single designation – pictures say a thousand words or something. They allow you to forge a more concise interpretation of the game’s atmosphere that could never really be justified in literary terms. Just one of the many inadequacies of the lineal medium, author Harlan Ellison would oft-complain and I agree. Just how many words would it take to literate a thousand pictures?

But that’s what the promotional art is for. Often more impressive, elaborate, more revealing of the tone and palette, more demonstrative of the characters without the restrictions of polygons and in-game angles which are never viewed when you’re actually playing the game, more creative with the gimmicks and features of the title than a checklist and a montage of the same sprite in different colours, just this pure distilled expression of what the game is about. You only need to look at Akihiko Yoshida’s awe-inspiring cover art for Vagrant Story or the elegant melodrama of the Castlevania artwork. Screenshots will never be able to compete.

If you want straight information on the game, if you want to know how it will play, how you’ll feel when you’re gripping the joypad between your digits with eyes focused solely on the screen in front then what better source than interviews with the creators? To be able to gather the information straight from the horse’s mouth without the unavoidable and sometimes unnoticeable alterations your verbose publications will employ. If Yoshinori Ono says Street Fighter 4 will be more orientated towards attacking then defence then chances are it will be. You’ll learn more through the man’s horse-mouth words than the in-game facial expressions between Ryu and Ken. Screenshots will never be able to compete.

Or so they shouldn’t but they do. We lust after them like hungry pack wolves, huddled together in the bleakest and brightest corridors of the internet, waiting impatiently at every announcement or arranged event, journalists live-blogging with hunched obsessives bathed in the flickering glow of their monitors clicking the ‘refresh’ button every half-second for that first stealing glimpse. And we’re always playing Goldilocks, that glimpse is always too hot or too cold, there’s always an issue with the detailing of the laser beam (Halo 3) or the re-use of GBA sprites (Final Fantasy Tactics A2) or complaining about the complete change in art direction (Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker). And we’re near always wrong – Halo 3 was in beta at the time and now looks incredible, Tactics A2 does not re-use GBA sprites and looks incredible and Wind Waker is now remembered as one of the most visually charming titles in the series and looks incredible.

A screenshot is not news, there is very little to feast on after the dust has settled and flamboyant raging arguments have subsided until you realise, dust down, you’ve been mauling each other over very little meat indeed while the cunning bugger in the corner’s merrily chomping on Kojima’s announcement that Metal Gear Solid 4 has dirty magazines in it. No one looks back and says "oh, didn’t that screenshot look just dreamy?" No, we look back and furiously masturbate over Yoshida’s perfectly pornographic paintwork or raise a glass to celebrate that Phantom Hourglass looks just like Wind Waker. That’s how it should be from the start. That is what we should be able to recognise and appreciate, to discuss and debate without tripping into pitfalls left for us in the form of mildly pretty (or not) stills, without the need or desire to desperately detail every ridiculous aspect of a product which will look entirely different when in motion.

14 December, 2007

Katie

Acute Issue
I’ll start and end on personal notes. I’m going to be presumptuous and state that unlike the other more-talented The Player folk, I like video games innocence. Which is nothing like reality innocence, which might see Little Timmy feel comfortable happy-slapping his grampappy ‘til he turned more blind if it meant getting a guest spot on Little Big Brother or something, I don’t know.

No, video games innocence, to me, is something mysterious and heartening and, perhaps most of all, overpowering. It’s that literally magical (it could only be magical, there’s no other explanation I’m willing to accept) quality often attached to thin-faced, big eyed leads in [mostly Nip] games that seems to make them oh so amiable. That quality which sees the special fourteen-year-old salvation inevitably carve a monster count in the hundreds whilst minding his P’s and Q’s and generally being awful trusting of everyone. Especially his silver haired older best friend who shows up halfway through dressed entirely in black who is later revealed in the guide book to wield a sword titled "The Traitor" or so.

Why, when Sora is whisked away from his luxury tropical island home, given a giant key and told he must save several universes and remains chirpy throughout, I’m astonished I’m not violently sick. When Marche wakes in the middle of the street to find his town has changed into the kingdom of Ivalice before being challenged to a punch-up by bipedal lizards with only "a stuffed toy?" for help, I’m not switching off, refusing to accept the notion that children could do anything besides swear profusely before flipping fingers and fucking off for a shoplift.

I’m not convinced it’s necessary. Kingdom Hearts is often criticised for being inherently Disney in tone, with fans eager to celebrate the loss of primary colours with each new secret ending and trailer released and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, despite the Japanese version handling issues such as alcoholism that Westerners don’t or shouldn’t know about, is occasionally dismissed by fanatics politely requesting the same degree of discreet storytelling PS1 Tactics produced.

They certainly aren’t aspiration, they haven’t promoted a generation of ever-hugging lovey pillocks floating through their lives with a smile and generosity poring out of every slimy orifice they possess, because (and I’ll continue to be presumptuous, hopefully with your blessing) most people who find themselves attached to these kind of leads are whining teenage pillocks moping through their lives with headphones in, frowns out and a thin slathering of oil poring out of every slimy orifice.

This in an entertainment format which eagerly produces pop icons out of spikey-haired grumpy sods with oversized weaponry in secret military groups made up of the emotionally unstable, gun-wielding big titted posh totty and butch, faceless ugly-shade-of-green space marines who clearly has a black man’s voice because they sound the coolest (this is a lie, by the way, the voice actor’s white). I’d hesitate to compare the excesses of fanart dedicated to each in some gruesome competition to demonstrate their popularity, if only due to my pronounced dislike of fanart and this isn’t GameFAQs, for God’s sake.

If we wanted to place a single word description, I would happily nominate ‘infectious.' Irrationally and unfairly unexpectedly so. Like a plague or an irritatingly catchy pop song that makes you consider murder/ suicide pacts to end the pain. But like Take That and the bubonic, you’re not sightless to the simpering stupidity, the excessive and unimaginably moronic dialogue, the unappealing stereotypes and often-accompanying Massive Damage (sorry) barrage of fantasy terminology, followed by more unimaginably moronic explanations again-oft surrounding a ridiculous recipe of amnesia, trust to the point of ignorance and the inevitable betrayal you saw just by their dress sense on the back of the box.

It doesn’t matter though. I forgive it. Stupid, moronic, unappealing, stereotypical and unexplainable but I, for one, am damn grateful for it. Because when you’ve got the Player furiously jacking off to Angelina Jolie’s digital rendition and Steve Downes’ sultry tones bringing the most ridiculously uncharismatic video game lead in decades to slighting popularity, I’ll happily entertain the notion that somewhere, imaginary sweetheart teenagers can save the world with insipid ear-reaching smiles, and me along with them. The happy little fucks.

12 December, 2007

Gonzo

Spike TV Awards, Get the Fuck Out.


It's not that Spike TV made Bioshock their Game of the Year- that accolade was entirely justified, if you ask me- it's the sheer embarassment of the categories that gets me.

I mean, what must Samuel L Jackson have thought, privately, at the following list?

Best shooter; Best action game (which was won by, er, Mario Galaxy...); Best rhythm game; Best RPG; Best driving game; Best military game; Best graphics; Breakthrough technology; Best PS3 game (easiest...category... everrr); Best Wii game; Best Xbox 360 game; Best PC game; Best individual sports game Best team sports game(Oh for FUCK's Sake); Best handheld game; Best game based on a movie or TV show; Best soundtrack; Best original score; Best multiplayer game;

and... wait for it: "Most addictive game": Halo 3.

This is so grating for anyone who takes games semi-seriously, like yours truly (yeah, I know I shouldn't, but I do). The smartest game in a long time (that's bioshock BTW okay no STFU you know nothing) gets recognition from... yet another dumb "awards show".

I'm not even railing at the PR-coloured tint of these awards shows- after all, most movie, TV, and music industry awards perform much the same function. It's just that only in videogames will you find quite so shameless a saturation of categories Just To Please Everybody. Action, Shooter, and Military game make three categories out of what should only be one. Best Score and Best Soundtrack, Individual sports and team sports. Seriously, now, what?

I'm not even that bothered by the patent nonsense thrown up by the results. Bioshock , out on 360 and PC, is GOTY without being the best shooter or the best action game. It's not the most addictive game either. While it is the best game on 360, you'll notice that The Orange Box is the better PC game - though somehow not quite Game of the Year for it.

The real issue is why each genre must have an award. What's wrong with games getting recognised for Script, Score, Art Direction(photography), Original Game Design, Technological Achievement (Special Effects) and, I don't know, Sound Effects. All the important constituant parts of a good game. Pick out one shorty and an independent out of the bunch, and turn the travesty that is "Game of the Year" into a recognisable achievement for any Project Lead for how his game fared against criteria like polish, production values, voice acting, completeness of experience and the like.

Then we could stop arguing about the categories so much, and start railing against the divvies who have Bioshock picked for most of these new & improved award categories. I'd definitely be one of them. In fact, maybe I should start the "Gonzo" awards. Yes, as a matter of fact I will.

THE GONZO FATWA AWARDS 2007, Coming Soon, with Special Guests Salman Rushdie, Suzi Quatro and my Mom.

07 December, 2007

Chris W

Final Fantasy III
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix / Matrix Software
Platform: DS
Available: Now

A question for you, Players: what is a remake? It seems obvious enough, but I bet you can’t pin it down in a few words. Let’s work it out together.

Clearly, a mere port of a title to a new platform won’t cut it. Adding new characters or dungeons, tweaking item drops or stats is closer, but we’re still talking ‘enhanced’ rather than a remake. No, something needs to be reworked substantially to earn the title; a redesign for a new generation. So let’s rephrase the question: which aspects do we have to redesign? Is a graphical overhaul enough, or should something more fundamental be addressed? Does it depend on the innards of the target machine? Or on those of the game?

There are two core elements that comprise each Final Fantasy title: the story (or characters), and the battle system. And here, by so sumptuously, so lavishly overhauling the presentation, that first aspect has without doubt been addressed and remade gloriously. It’s sometimes said there are only seven stories in the world, and to retell this one in such opulent fashion is surely as good as you can get without rewriting the narrative afresh - which would essentially create a new FF game, not a remake.

All of which makes it so stupefying that the combat system remains a relic of the past. Hear this: your team’s actions must be decided upon before each round begins, but then play order - both yours and the enemy’s - is completely random. Consequently, if one character takes heavy damage you have the choice of a) assigning one person to do the healing and hoping he or she gets in there before the victim is killed, or b) assigning everyone to healing and squandering three turns (and hoping the enemy doesn’t get the first move, killing the casualty anyway). Forget all you’ve learned about Final Fantasy in the last decade and a half, because any strategy you can come up with here is necessarily and critically compromised by a reliance on dumb luck. Taking the active battle system from any subsequent game, hell, just giving everyone a Speed stat would have made a world of difference. But no.

When I buy a remake, I’m not interested in the ‘charm’ of the old-school experience. There are updates and ports which manage that without pretense, and enhancements that get a dab of polish and minor tweaking with no duplicity as to their lack of modern credentials underneath. But crucially, this isn’t a simple lick of paint, and the sheer magnitude of effort that’s gone into making this look and sound so wonderful, without ever addressing what makes the game tick, creates grave doubts over who Square Enix are trying to fool: us or themselves. Final Fantasy has long been their flagship audiographical series - compare the beautiful but less mainstream splendour of Dragon Quest VIII’s cartoon appeal - but this reliance on sensory updates above all else must be a cause for concern, and when the series is now consuming its past just as visibly as its present, it can only bode ill for the future.

Summary:

The most technologically impressive show yet seen from the DS, coupled to the most decrepit gameplay mechanic. Fans of the series will adore it, but Pokémon’s battle system craps all over this, for Christ’s sake.