Why I View the Xbox 360 as a Gaming Non-Event

May 8th, 2008

xbox 360 controller white

For some months now I have been continuously asked if I would like to write for someone’s Xbox 360 website. They’d seen my work on the blog and thought that it’d be great if I could contribute articles to their site. Unfortunately I disagreed with them for two reasons, most importantly I do not own and don’t plan on buying an Xbox 360 (the other being that I don’t like to write about press releases :(). While talking this over with my brother later on we generated some strong discussion justifying our lack of interest in the 360. Here are some of our main points.

NB: I don’t intend to disregard or downplay the Xbox 360 at all because in most regards it is a fantastic console and deserves the attention that it has garnered. I am writing this piece to show why, for me personally, in my situation why there is very little incentive in owning the console.

The Xbox Experience = PC Gaming on your TV

(Two points in One)

When the original Xbox as first announced many gamers were of the opinion that the predominate orientation of software design would be essentially derived from PC game design and in some ways it did. Since it’s conception I have had and still maintain this view about the console and its successor. The multimedia features, online play and software line all are largely lifted straight from the PC. This isn’t to say that these points are in anyway bad for the console, in reality this has allowed Microsoft to chase a particular type of consumer and has paid in dividedens.

Not all of the reasoning for this can be placed on Microsoft’s shoulders. Many popular PC publishers are now resorting to console ports to meet their bottom line and generally speaking this by large has effected console game development significantly.

For some reason, as people have become more accustomed to the Xbox consoles, the previous negative connotation seems to have disappeared over the years. This, in my opinion works in converse to these systems slowly taking the role of multimedia PC.
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A Call For Respect

May 6th, 2008

a call for respect earth bound

DP’s Editing Notes: I spent a long time thinking about how to approach this article and upon completion I feel genuinely disappointed that I have not expressed my feelings to a level of accuracy that makes me feel content. I might sound like a broken record but I am truly having a difficult time in fully understanding the ins and outs of the issue of culture (on many levels), an issue which fascinates me. I feel that this article may perhaps in some instances sound illogical and possibly domineering. Still I find it necessary to share with you my observations so if any of this makes a vague bit of sense then please share your thoughts.

I’m still thinking about culture and I just can’t shake a few ideas that are bothering me. I’ve talked before about Casual Gaming and this whole hierarchical view that seems to manifest in a significant portion of the gaming community. Where the core gamers view themselves as somehow superior to other, less experienced players.

What I have recently discovered from these articles is just how frustrated I am with fan culture. So I have decided to use myself as the example and explore how and why I react in particular ways to fan culture and if I myself hold some sort of bias/grudge in a similar way.

My Observations and Interpretations

My first such experience was over the recent holiday break where I visited a sale for a particular video game store. This isn’t just you standard game store though, this place sells anime/manga/games and is exceptional when it comes to video game collectables, rarities and hard to find game titles. So this place is obviously a breeding ground for fan culture. *rubs hands together with glee*

As expected, some of the customers and their gaming friends did get on my nerves while I was in the store. So I paused and observed their behaviour a little and plundered the depths of my mind to find what it was exactly that hit an uncomfortable nerve.

My conclusion was in their conversation. My interpretation of their utterances was that it seemed as though many of the fans lacked a certain context about various games lined up on the shelves. Even though they would rampantly talk about certain games, it appeared as though they had only a loose interpretation of the historical relevance and impact of the game as well as other bits of relevant, factual information. Despite their lack of knowledgable context they seemed particularly willing to take the approach of “resident expert” on the subject.
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Resident Evil Remake Critique and Observations

May 4th, 2008

resident evil remake critique

Over a year ago now I completed Resident Evil 4 on my beloved Gamecube and much like a zombie waiting for the next brain to munch on, I was hungry for the next Resident Evil fix. With this is mind, a few months ago my brother was kind enough to buy me a good condition, used copy of the Resident Evil Remake on the Gamecube.

I’ve been playing parts of this game on and off for a few months now and last week I decided to lay this game to rest and finally complete it. As I was playing this game I noted several observations and points of interest, my account can be found below.

The Prior Expectations

There are numerous judgments and criticisms of the original Resident Evil games that are common knowledge among most of us. They are:

tank like controls
cheesy voice work
cheap scares

With these three issues kept in mind I decided to approach Resident Evil Remake in a way which would lessen the outdated pain that I was going to be dragged through. I had already experienced some of this with a PC port of RE3 that I nabbed a few years back and I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic to experience these dramas again. So my first remedy was to play guide my way through this game and boy am I glad I opted for the play guide. 🙂

Lets Get Dangerous!

So with guide in hand and preconceptions cast aside I began my RE Remake experience. Off the bat the bad dialog was readily apparent. But as I started discovering more of the mansion I noticed that there were only a limited number of instances with dialog so contrary to my original ideas there is actually very little voice acting to complain about. What was there though was poorly written and just plain cringe worthy material. I cannot understand why Capcom would re-record the voicework but stick to the original script. This damages the tension of the game, something that I’ll get to later.
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