Personal Hijinks

Jonathan Blow is a pretty smart guy, and he thinks WOW is bad.  Not bad in the way Superman 64 was bad.  No, he’s talking about WOW the way most talk of illegal street drugs.

From The Sydney Morning Herald…

Developers should provide activities that interest players “rather than stringing them along with little pieces of candy so that they’ll suffer through terrible game play, but keep playing because they gain levels or new items”, he says.

“I think a lot of modern game design is actually unethical, especially massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, because they are predicated on player exploitation,” Mr Blow says.

And from Gamasutra…

Blow believes that according to WoW, the game’s rules are its meaning of life. “The meaning of life in WoW is you’re some schmo that doesn’t have anything better to do than sit around pressing a button and killing imaginary monsters,” he explained. “It doesn’t matter if you’re smart or how adept you are, it’s just how much time you sink in. You don’t need to do anything exceptional, you just need to run the treadmill like everyone else.”

There’s even more meat to the articles besides the quotes I’ve chosen, so go ahead and read them.  What are your thoughts?

While the console market has seen many changes in its leaders, the handheld console market is best identified by the ridiculous consistency that Nintendo’s shown, taking and keeping the lead for two decades.

Let’s talk about the others now.

Here is an extra credit assignment: choose a non-Nintendo handheld from below and write 2-3 (two to three) typed, double spaced pages on it, its consumer reach, the circumstances of its market entry and exit, the general quality of its games, and comparison to the Nintendo handheld platform of the time.

The choices are: Gizmondo, GP32, Wonderswan, Atari Lynx, and Game.com.

If it sounds like I deliberately chose obscure handhelds: I have.  There’s a lot of space to traverse in the game world… time to go exploring!

One of the most difficult things to get over when getting into the games industry is that you have to work with the games industry of 2 to 3 years in the future on your mind. When you conceptualize a AAA console game, the soonest that game can come out, even with bajillions of dollars and developers to spare is probably in 24 months…

With that in mind, what do you think the games industry will be like 2 to 3 years from now? Okay, that’s a big question, I know, so how about you focus on little details in your response. For example, will the success of the Wii mean all the major systems have new motion control peripherals? Maybe games will be released simultaneously as disc release and internet download? Maybe there will be a shift in the genres that people play? What about politics and government impact on the industry? There’s a lot of stuff out there that defines the industry landscape, but tell me a little about some aspect of it and what you think will happen 2 to 3 years from now…

By now, all of you have (mostly) turned in your first Game Maker projects.  I was thinking that I could use this space to have you reflect on that for a bit… but do you really want to think about that right now?  You’re going to be spending enough time thinking about Game Maker as it is.

So here is the question: What does it take to “win” E3?  Every year, hardcore gamers watch with eagle-eyes the various events and announcements by companies at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and proclaim one company to be the winner, offering up something shinier, glitzier, bigger, and maybe even better than the competition.  These are often things that we look forward to getting our hands on in half a year’s time if we’re lucky; some of the things we say at E3 might be pushed back so many time as to never see release.  From coming holiday releases to vaporware and fan favorites to big mainstream hits, E3 provides the backdrop to the first sightings of many new pieces of hardware and software.  After many years of presenting their wares, video game companies have gotten rather good at building up the hype machine… but some more than others.  You can tell me about specific companies, about this E3, about E3s past… but make sure you tell me (and try to be more specific rather than broad in your comments): What does it take to “win” E3?

So here’s something I’d like all of you to ask yourselves: What game have you put more hours into than any other game? How did that come to pass?

Perhaps it’s a matter of sheer difficulty? Maybe an epic story? Is it a casual game you find yourself turning to whenever you’re not busy? Or maybe you’re a stubborn completionist who won’t rest until every secret in every game you own is discovered…

Even though I’ve long since stopped, I think I’ve played more Natural Selection than anything else. That combination of RTS and FPS and social setting alongside a somewhat relaxed life schedule meant many days spent playing matches that would last two to four hours…

Let’s start things off with a (kind-of) quick question that I would love to know the answer to for all of you: What was the first video game you played, and how did you come to play it?

Did you play Street Fighter II because your siblings or cousins got you into the game? Maybe there was an arcade close to your house? Or maybe you just happened upon the Solitaire or Minesweeper icons when you first touched the family computer?

Think about it for a bit, and try to be honest about your answer. If you can’t give an exact answer, recounting a very early memory of video games in your life works as well.

I looking forward to reading your responses!