Link Out (7/6/09)
June 7th, 2009
G’day G’day. Another round up of links to chip away at your busy life. Not much pre-post commentary this time, other than that it seems that I’ve diverged from my one month cycle. If you’re getting too antsy, feel free to check out my delicious account.
Some of you might have caught word that I had a brief lunch with Daniel Purvis some weeks ago. Yeah, that’s true. He’s a good bloke and I’m surprised just how many topics we shared in agreeance. He wrote this convincing essay for one of his uni classes recently, really clean writing, he presents the argument well – ya know, the kind of quality writing you wouldn’t find here.
Block Check #1 and #2 – Critical Gaming
If you read other blogs around this sphere of ours, then I recommend taking a squiz at these posts to see if Richard has covered someone you read. He certainly squeezed out the weaknesses in my Metal Gear Solid 4 essay (which I confess to). A number of these show ponies endorse “critical discussion” of video games, but are they well versed in the art? Perhaps not, me thinks.
EXP Podcast #24: Cultured Gaming – Experience Points
You can probably imagine the selfish glee I took when I received an email by these two gents to inform me that they’d conducted a whole podcast about my ‘The Place of Games in Culture’ article on GameSetWatch. I think they handled it quite well too, you should definitely have a listen.
How To Be Me: Matt Chandronait, Area 5 Founder & Producer
My brother downloads the weekly exploits of ex-1UPers in their new show Co-Op. The show is similar to podcasting actually, in that you’re listening in on the conversation of others. It’s all about interesting dialogue and that’s what the team provide here. The game choices and guests are always well made, as too with the production values. This interview is with Matt Chandronait regarding the operations of the show.
Talking about 1UP, Scott Sharkey wrote this great feature compiling over a hundred quality indie titles worth checking out. I’m currently on hiatus from playing indie games since I’m in Australia and have a stack of bought games to drill through (this will change early next year when I go back to China though). There’s never a better time to savour the delights of indie games. The list features a number of standout titles as well as a few I’m unfamiliar with.
I’ve unsubscribed to this blog to maintain a tighter schedule as the bulk of Jason’s articles in fact say very little, which is unfortunate as he’s an intelligent writer. I just wish he’d stop trying to keep up with everyone else’s news and instead focus on what he can offer as an observer. He does this occasionally and they make for great reads. This short piece is a good example of that, even if he is liberally stealing from others.
Liberty City Lotto: I’m Rich! – PixelVixen707
Some rather amazing stats on the scratch cards in GTA: Chinatown Wars. PixelVixen also wrote a masterful interpretation of the story which is an essential read.
Smash Bros. Brawl Tutorial Videos – Sirlin.net
That critical-gaming dude Richard Terrell linked me to fantastic selection of tutorials for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Even if you only play for fun, it’s well worth watching the series.
Dinosaur Land On Parade – Press the Buttons
Nothing turns my nostalgic dial like artwork from the classic Mario titles. I’m am forever in debt to Matt Green for this one. Seriously, the artwork is super apt.
Majora’s Mask – Nintendo’s Fluke – 4cr
I’m including this link not because I think it’s a fantastic analysis of Majora’s Mask (it’s alright) but rather I hope that someone will attempt to understand the way Majora’s Mask creates it’s overpowering sense of dread as well as the implications within the social and cultural aspects of the game, and share this through writing.
I love desktop customization even though I’m rather terrible at it. I’ve been going to Gamewallpapers.com for a few years but unfortunately they lock away most of their good content. Desktop gaming is a good alternative for retro themed wallpapers.
Other assorted links
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Genesis TV Spot
Too Human versus the enthusiast press: Video game journalists as mediators of commodity valu
Interview: Making Plans For Zeebo – GameSetWatch
How Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Breaks Language Barriers – Siliconera
Sony Computer to launch seven Indian games this year
King of Fighters XII Dot Graphics Gallery
DS Play Impressions (Before China)
October 2nd, 2008
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
Ninja Gaiden is a series made famous by its crushingly tough demands of dexterity and coordination. You need to be one step ahead of your enemy and in full control of the situation at all times. It’s interesting then to observe how this title has been adapted to the most accessible console on the market.
While the PSone-styled, 3D-models-on-pre-rendered-backdrop production is fantastic and covers up alot of hardware limitations, the game design is really where it’s at. Basically Tecmo have taken this teeth-crunchingly difficult franchise, suited only towards hardened players and added some breathing space to the play mechanics so that it can be enjoyed by a wider group of players while still respectable to its roots. All actions are performed with the stylus; you draw a line to slash, tap to throw a projectile etc. Because the physical actions match the moves that Ryu performs on screen, understanding how to play requires little time and once you’ve conquered a few of the initial battles it doesn’t take long to become fluent.
Furthermore, the more complicated constructs aren’t really complicated at all. To perform “magic” you touch an icon on the minimalistic interface and then trace the on screen Japanese character to perform. Additional spells can be selected from the same menu, just a quick tap away.
The camera angle is also fixed and scrolls automatically if you move to the next part of the area. This reduces the player’s dependence on camera control, keeping the emphasis on the action. The other mechanics such as combos, karma and upgrades are all naturally blended into the gameplay and the game eases you in nicely.
Dragon Sword is a short game (8hrs) and you’ll probably not want to play it more than once. There’s a whole bunch of additional content which will please fans of the series looking for an added challenge. I warn you though, you’ll be doing the same thing again and again (room, invisible door appears, beat baddies, next room, puzzle). While this is essentially the formula of the whole game, by the time you get to the end you only then begin to tire of the same repitive process. There’s always just enough spice to keep you interested and the games combat; a wishy-washy-mish-mash of stylus acrobatics feel well honed and just a great way to kill time. Another successful franchise, re-engineered for the DS hardware, worth your gold.
Guitar Hero On Tour
Even though I shared my thoughts on this iteration of the Guitar Hero franchise sometime ago, just recently (as in probably a month ago now!) I managed to get some closer hands on impressions of the game so I wanted to document how my feelings have changed since then.
First things first, no matter how you hold the hand grip, On Tour is still going to cramp your hand, wrist and/or fingers to the point of arthritic torture. There is no way around it – for this game to function you need a peripheral, and that peripheral needs to be of certain dimensions and make up. It isn’t then so much the fault of the peripheral but rather a lack of alternative ways to experience Guitar Hero on a handheld. So when push comes to shove, I recommend that you try the game first.
Peripheral aside, I honestly don’t think that the game itself could be improved to a substantial degree. I’ve heard a lot of negative criticism level towards the empty graphics and short track list but really, how much decent quality MP3 and bitmap graphics can you cram into a 128mb game card? Not much I’d say.
Everything else in the game is authentic to the franchise. The music is definitely teen friendly, which is another reason fans of the serious seem to lose their marbles over this title. Seriously, this game is marketed towards the a younger market, not yet ready for the insane note crunching of the bigger titles. In this regard On Tour is a winner and more than adequately cuts it as a portable rendition of the popular franchise. Fantastic marketing decision too and it shows from the sales.
Play Impressions – Connection Tour 2008
August 12th, 2008
Monday a few weeks back, actually more than a few weeks ago, during the start of E3 2008, Nintendo’s tour of Australia (dubbed the Connection Tour) came to my state. I was fortunate enough to attend the event sampling some of the demos on offer. General impressions were a little disappointing, the budget was low in contrast to previous tours with limited demos on display with many of already released titles. In fact numerous games weren’t shown that were stated to be present in a newsletter put out by Nintendo Australia which added to the disappointment. Namely Sonic Chronicles (DS) and Cooking Guide (DS) which I was eager to try out. It did seem a little strange though that Sonic Chronicles would be on display, I don’t even think press have had access to this game at the time.
Despite the omissions, what was on offer was adequate with the best titles consisting of Samba de Amigo (Wii), de Blob (Wii), Guitar Hero Aerosmith (Wii), Guitar Hero on Tour (DS) , Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (DS) and a series of DS Touch Generations games including Maths Training and CrossWords. Here are my collective thoughts on some of these games.
Samba de Amigo
On learning that this game was going to be present at the event, I wanted to prepare myself by watching some YouTube video of the Dreamcast version so that I knew exactly how to play this title before I went hands on. I regretfully forgot to watch the video but not to worry Samba is very easy accessible title.
I had a pretty rough run though. For one, the difficulty was set to Hard for some bizarre reason and the game froze on me after selecting a song beyond the demo’s scope (Hey Macarena). While it was easy enough to understand the play mechanics (6 circles representing up, down left right, diagonals, shake Wiimote and nunchuck in direction of respective circle) my nunchuck often struggled to be recognized, particularly in diagonal gestures. Maybe it was just the context of the event but it was a little concerning.
Tags: Crosswords, de Blob, Guitar Hero, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Samba de Amigo
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