Backhand of Justice

Game consoles have historically had representative mascots: Nintendo has Mario, Sega had Sonic and Sony has uh … Crash Bandicoot? Ok, forget Sony.

Game designers have tried to manufacture mascots, and forgotten mascots are continually brought back to life, such as the recently announced Sonic 4 in a desperate attempt to take advantage of a preexisting fan base. This is foolish; game mascots don’t become or remain popular because of some easily identifiable character design, that’s a thing of the past. All it takes today is a high quality game. read more

One criticism of the mainstream media these days is that they solely publish negative headlines. Newspapers and websites focus on what sells (what gets internet readership), and that means bad news all the time. Barring negative news, journalists can post controversial editorials that are more likely to receive hits. Nothing is  more boring than preaching to the choir, after all. 

Unfortunately, it seems that game journalism is moving in that direction. Websites are trying to differentiate themselves by choosing a unique offering for recent ‘game of the year’ awards, even if they have to go out on a limb with their recipients. read more

The list of Real Time Strategy games where the factions are unique yet balanced is limited to one: Starcraft. The others fit into two categories: games with symmetrical factions and games where the units are imbalanced.

We can debate why it is so difficult to balance asymmetrical units in a strategy game endlessly, but it is clear that the time and dedication required to accomplish this feat is available to a select few developers. Blizzard’s new focus with Starcraft II is matchmaking; will they put the same effort into effective balancing?

Is it possible for Blizzard to make the game sophisticated enough for the highest levels of competition yet accessible enough for casual first time RTS players? If anybody can do it, Blizzard can, but it might just be impossible. read more

 Here it is folks, the epic conclusion to Part 1 that you’ve been waiting for since yesterday. Many questions will be answered such as ‘can anything unseat Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010?’ (No) and ‘What is the difference between baking powder and baking soda?’ (Nothing. Big Soda has tricked you). read more

As I look back on anno domini 2009, I must admit the God of Gaming (Steven, I believe) is a fickle god. He gives us years of lean gaming crops and then all at once inundates us with a deluge of stunning titles. 2009 was truly the greatest year for videogames since the golden age in the late 1990’s. read more

A wise man once said ‘3D is balls, 2D is the business.’ That man was Shigeru Miyamoto, and he was speaking in November’s Nintendo Power. As the godfather of gaming, Miyamoto knows how to swing his weight around, and although his proclamation might have something to do with Nintendo’s recent 2D game offerings, he has a point.

For too long have developers been obsessed with graphical wizardry, creating increasingly intricate lighting, particle and physics effects. Gameplay was an afterthought tacked on at the end of a development schedule.

While Miyamoto’s proclamation isn’t big news and gamers have been spouting ‘gameplay not graphics’ for years, it gives closure to an era that gamers might rather forget: the graphical arms race. read more

Electronic Arts just released their earnings, and they were disappointing to say the least. As a result, they’re firing 1,500 employees (something in the range of 15-20% of the company) in the next few months, and cutting 1/3 of their planned releases. Any game that doesn’t have the potential to sell 2 million units is cut.

These aren’t the dregs of their studios either; EA Redwood (Visceral Games), EA Tiburon, Mythic, Black Box and Maxis are being hit. This includes games like Dead Space, Dante’s Inferno, Warhammer, Henry Hatsworth and Spore. Furthermore, Electronic Arts bought Playfish for nearly $300 million, adding the company’s social gaming lineup to EA’s existing Pogo.com casual games service.

While I couldn’t care less about the fate of studio employees, I do care about the outlook for games, and this isn’t good. Electronic Arts tried to be creative and that screwed them, so now the road is clear: more sequels, more casual games and most importantly, low-risk incremental release schedules. read more

MMOs have historically been classified as either subscription or microtransaction games, but it’s time to acknowledge that MMOs will soon see a combination of both. Potentially some new payment system that will directly suck money from all of our orifices will be added on for good measure. read more

 If we ask for a game in which Broccoli Man and his sidekick Bariatric Bob beat the hell out of overweight kids to defeat Dr. Obesity, and Square Enix makes it, then we’d better buy it or at least hold off on the complaints. If we’re clamoring for something new and somebody finally tries a revolutionary mechanic, we should support them even if it’s part of a terrible game. If we don’t practice positive reinforcement for developers, the industry will stagnate.

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Subscriber graphs that compare World of Warcrft to other MMORPGs are comical. Without separate scales it’s difficult to even see the competition clustered way down there by zero. Companies keep claiming they’ve developed the ‘WoW killer,’ but we should start coming to terms with the fact that bringing down WoW from the outside is no longer possible.

World of Warcraft now has 13.1 million subscribers if unofficial reports are to be believed, and that number can only go higher when Wrath of the Lich King is finally approved for release in China. Not only is it unrealistic to expect a developer to make a game that significantly diverges from WoW’s mechanics, but even if they did it wouldn’t matter.

World of Warcraft has built up such a large community and so much of the potential MMORPG player base has invested themselves into WoW that any subscriber erosion from competition would barely register compared to the natural ascent and decline of the game. read more