Video Games – Page 2

Fedoras, Test Chambers and Achievement Mocking

Sep 042011

Portal 2 remained dormant in my cabinet far longer than I ever expected it would. I regret this. It doesn’t deserve to be treated that way, no great game does.

While GlaDOS waited patiently, accumulating dust and slipping ever so quickly into the back of mainstream culture, I played L.A. Noire. I thought it would be quick. I assumed it would be a couple weeks, at the most, of me busting bad guys, wearing fedoras, and marveling at post-World War II Los Angeles. And it was all that and more, for a while — before my interest in the game plummeted off a cliff, dragging my freedom to play other games down with it.

This has always been a problem for me. As I grew up I had it hammered into me that you don’t quit something you’ve already started and made a commitment to. If I joined a soccer team and didn’t like it, that was too bad. I was going to finish out the season, whether I liked it or not. It was a good life lesson that has stuck with. However, sometimes it materializes in ways that it was not intended.

My obligation to L.A. Noire came from the fact that it starts off as a great game. While playing through the homicide cases, I was primed to gush about it being my favorite game of the year. It was a great story arc, the only one the game needed. It was so good that carrying on after that was destined to be a letdown. The cliff was built into the game. I had no chance of avoiding it.

Once Cole Phelps transferred to vice, the game was no longer compelling to me. Yet, I trudged forward. Whether it was obligation, or denial that the game was no longer interesting, I kept playing. I finished the vice desk, did my thing in arson cases, and just kept pushing forward, hoping evermore that the game would conclude. But, each case started taking more and more real world time. My interest was fading. And slowly, I just stopped playing altogether.

Weeks went by without me progressing. But, it continued to hold my console’s tray hostage. No other single player games were allowed in until a conclusion was reached with this one (I was still playing some co-op every Saturday — my only gaming during this time).

Finally, I pushed through the blockage. I reached a conclusion. L.A. Noire had to go. It was time for Portal 2.

In the sharpest of contrasts, I blew through Portal 2’s single player campaign in a week. It’s a fairly common stance to love Portal, so I won’t waste your time gushing. There is one experience that I want to share, though. A small, highly insignificant achievement I earned along the way might be the most memorable moment of the entire game. I’m not even sure if the term, “achievement” describes it accurately. It was more of a notification of an action. But to be perfectly honest, it was a flat out mocking of my gameplay. The achievement was meant to laugh in the face of the player for blindly following the game and its narrators, for trusting in the instinct the player has built over years of gaming. My actions were automated. I have no recollection of making a choice; my thumbs just did it. And, the game reacts with an achievement cackle.

Most achievements are bread crumbs to reinforce the player that they’re doing the right thing. Or, they exist to superficially enhance a game’s replay value. They are not utilized as a creative aspect of a game capable of delivering its own unique experience. They’re one off blips at the bottom of my screen that increase my gamerscore. Not this achievement, however. It served a greater purpose within Portal 2’s narrative. It left me laughing, shaking my head, and slightly embarrassed — which means I was happy my wife wasn’t there to razz me about my ineptitude. But it also showed me that achievements can be more, and should be more. With a simple 5 point achievement, Valve has changed my perspective of what achievements can accomplish.

Pre-Orders and the Hype Machine

Video Games No Responses »

Aug 282011

Older readers may think this blog title is the name of a 70’s disco-funk band. Sorry to disappoint, but it *is* a start at thinking about the importance of the steps that lead to the success of an important (for fans and studios) release – especially for a sequel or new episode where fans’ expectations can only be for something better that they previously consumed and raved about.

When a successful title has a number after it – either to indicate a calendar year or sequence number – that breeds an expectation of a followup. Sometimes these hopes are shattered by unforeseen circumstances, such as when the EA Madden franchise got exclusive NFL rights and neutered ESPN NFL 2K5 (arguably the better football title that year) from having any progeny. But, for the most part, there is financial and social pressure for the next edition to appear. Annual updates, such as those for sports titles, are enslaved to unforgiving deadlines to deliver the good in time for the new season. Many non-sports titles are less disciplined about forthcoming releases, and may have good reason such as the availability or home-grown creation of new technologies that will wow fans and justify spending 50-70 bucks on a triple A title.

The subject of this post centers around the upcoming FIFA 12 release, although I expect many qualities and experiences would be similar for other titles and genres such as the next Portal, Battlefield, etc.

Like a little seedling, conversations and speculations arise on the internet through forums and game critique websites. Some gameplay video may even get “leaked’ (wink-wink) to generate some pre-buzz. The first big moment happens at E3. People get to see in-person glimpses, reviewers and business partners get some hands-time, and interviews let the devs and projects leads tell their stories about what’s great this time around. FIFA 12 introduced a “new” technology with a catchy name to make a clear distinction about what’s going to be better in the game play. IMHO EA did a superb job providing videos and developer interviews explaining the Player Impact Engine – which provides more realistic reactions when players get tackled on, as well as Pro Player Intelligence, which guides AI players on the field to make decisions based on the attributes of the other players on their team, such as an AI player deciding whether to cross the ball to a tall teammate (e.g. Peter Crouch) in front of goal, versus passing the ball back to a skilled outside shooter. Precision Dribbling, Tactical Defending and a new Career Mode add enough firepower to warrant the new purchase. You can see what I’m talking about in this YouTube video. The final ploy to get your hard-earned dollars, and prime the revenue pump is the $20 credit you get when pre-ordering through Amazon.

Summarizing, EA seems to have hit on all cylinders by generating some internet buzz, having good demos at E3, putting lots of new-feature videos on the internet, personalizing their message by involving their dev leads, and providing a nice $20 reward for pre-ordering. The only thing I can criticize is the unimaginative and repetitive box art.

Quickie Book Report: Exodus to the Virtual World by Edward Castronova, Ph. D.

Roleplaying Games, Video Games No Responses »

Aug 132011

In this 2007 followup to his “Synthetic Worlds” book, Castronova sent me on a journey of new ideas. Some of his ideas made sense right of the bat, while others made me stop and reflect a bit. All of it is insightful and thought-provoking. Essentially, the work lays out a vision for what is expected to happen along the evolutionary lines that virtual worlds have been following since the early days of MMOGs. The book also discusses some projections and suggestions about how we can expect our real world to be affected by the very real trend that people are devoting more time inhabiting virtual worlds and spending more of their wages there.

The book lays out a set of predictions, each of which is elaborated on throughout the book. At the core of the book’s vision, is that as virtual worlds become more attractive to inhabit and earn income from than the “real” world, more people will spend more of their time there. This is no different than people who save up or dream of moving to a real-world location that will be more beneficial to them, for whatever reason – climate, taxes, job opportunities, etc. Millions of people already “migrate” to virtual worlds for a significant period of their time each week, and some of them have jobs and earn real income there, like “builders” in Second Life.

Another major point is that much of the attraction of virtual worlds and online games is the “fun” it provides to the player. Castronova warns that real-world jobs and experiences need to compete on that basis. I think many of us can look back at our prior TV viewing habits and recognize that we are spending much less time on that form of entertainment. An unfortunate consequence may be that we are also spending less time on healthy and rewarding outdoor activities.

Castronova’s main predictions from 2007 are as follows:
1. Even larger numbers of people will spend many hours inside online games
2. The public will come to think of game design and public policy design as roughly similar activities
3. Game design techniques may find their way into real-world policy debates
4. Public policy will begin to focus more directly on human happiness, even fun, than it does now. Ultimately, games will force “fun” onto the policy agenda.

One of the more believable changes that could come about, in my opinion, is that gradually, companies will begin to provide employment progression that is not limited to how many people can obtain the highest ranks in the company. In the same way that MMO players “level up” by reaching certain amounts of experience points, each person can proceed at their own pace to become knowledgeable and capable enough to earn the points necessary to reach each successive rank or title. Just as some MMO quests are simply not practical to “solo,” teaming with others would be required to develop some of the skills necessary to proceed up to higher ranks.

Additionally, we are starting to feel the effects that Castronova predicted with all the talk and activity around the “gamification” of mobile applications and real-world experiences – even to the point where many people feel it’s overused, such as getting a badge (icon or image) when you simply arrive at a physical location or click an icon on a website without having to apply any skill or strategy.

There’s more to the book than what I’ve highlighted, such as tax policy issues for virtual world earnings, but now it’s up to you to take that trip if you’re interested.

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