Revenge of "Developers I want to give money to"
by alzabo
Posted on Saturday, March 8, 2008What I’m trying to say is, “up yours kid.”
#4 - Fasa (Shadowrun for SNES, Genesis, SegaCD & Xbox360/PC): 
Before the Xbox 360 launched, one of the titles that was announced but not shown was Shadowrun. I am absolutely in love with the previous three games for three separate reasons. The promise of a new Shadowrun was quite exciting, the after the three previous games had all taken very different approaches to creating their games and I believed that Microsoft Game Studios would do this as well. Their different approach was to throw away all the interesting story elements of the Shadowrun universe and create a FPS. A FPS with magical trees, teleportation and gameplay that was absolutely forgettable. I’d like to give a developer money for a new Shadowrun RPG, but after the horrible sales of the FPS, I think developers believe the Shadowrun License has AIDS.
#3 – Vivarium (Seaman, Odama): 
“Yoot” Saito was both the key designer and "face" of Seaman, most people who owned a Dreamcast or at least have a passing interest in games recognize his face and maybe even attempted to have a “conversation” with him. His unforgettable Dreamcast title Seaman is one of the creepiest and most interesting video game I’ve ever witnessed. He also was the creative force behind the innovative Gamecube pinball title, Odama. Both games share the innovative idea of changing the way players interact with games; forcing the player to speak into a microphone to control the game just as often as they use a controller. I’d love to play more games by Yoot Saito that have innovative strange controls like this, but Seaman 2 was not released in the US and the DS’s microphone is almost never used for the sort of detailed open ended interactions that players can experience in a Yoot Saito game.
#2 - The Behemoth (Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers):
Alien Hominid was an excellent first title that started out as a flash game and made the jump to consoles, the game play is very similar to SNK’s Metal Slug series and is not only fun to play but quite difficult. Their second title is the 4 player action platformer / RPG Castle Crashers has been endlessly delayed. I’m practically salivating at the idea of playing a “new” guardian heroes style game with my friends. I’d be willing to pay way more than 800 Rape Bucks (a.k.a. Microsoft points) for this title. Too bad it seems to be stuck in development hell.
PS3 Progress Report
by alzabo
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007This letter is regarding the progress of your youngest progeny the Playstation 3. While little “triple” is doing well, he not showing the progress that is expected of him to meet our 7th grade's graduation requirements.
Triple started out slowly last fall, the work he was producing was not up to par. While his work looked as good as his classmates upon initial inspection we found problems within. Triple would often submit reports with elaborate title pages, binding and color photos; however the writing quality was quite poor and consisted of the same typo filled paragraph repeated six to ten times. We were concerned that he should have been held back for a year.
Maybe a Parent/Teacher Conference is the wrong metaphor, perhaps I should frame it as a drug/alcohol intervention. “Your actions are hurting the ones you love.” Everyone sits in a circle around bad lil’ Triple and tells him that his actions are alienating those who love him. His father Double ashamed of what he’s become and his mother Single is sad that he’s not respecting his elders.
Moving on. . . Recently there have been some games on the PS3 that made it quite popular in my house. Everyday Shooter is amazing, it’s a blend of Geometry Wars and Rez. The game’s control and look bear more than a passing resemblance to Geometry Wars. The synesthesia of the music being paired with the on screen visuals is very similar to Rez, The background music and visual track/enemy pattern can be accentuated with player actions to create a visual and sound experience that is different every time. I hope that the game eventually has a release on physical media, it costs $10 to download on the PS3 but I’d be willing to part with far more money if I could have a disc.
The other games that are getting a lot of play are Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. While Assassin’s Creed has some warts and a HORRIBLE ending, I think the game’s control (especially the parkour elements) are excellent, context sensitive actions are a breeze and the fluidity of game play is rarely broken. I anticipated that the controls would be like Metal Gear Solid and that I would become frustrated by them after several hours and write Assassin’s Creed off. Thankfully I’ve been proven wrong. My main complaint is the ending, I’m tired of developers creating a New IP and explicitly creating a ending that will lead into a sequel. Developing a new IP is expensive, and cranking out another game with a revised engine makes sense. However, more effort needs to be put into crafting their endings, cliffhangers suck.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is better than I anticipated. After complaining to my brother about the controls, he played the demo and showed me that the gunplay mechanics are built around the player aiming mainly with the Y-axis and controlling his X-axis aiming by strafing. Too bad the game never explains this to you in the tutorial. Uncharted is a love letter to all the Indiana Jones fans out there, the sometimes cheesy dialogue is refreshing compared to action games with hardcore asshole heroes who’s dialogue is about as much fun to listen to as a drunk talking about how he scored 4 touchdowns in one game during high school.
Don’t buy a PS3, keep waiting. Buy a 60gb for the full Backwards Compatibility used when they get cheaper and pick up Uncharted next Christmas when it’s $20. Go play Assassin’s Creed on 360, it looks slightly better and has achievement points or something. Article Permalink