Please read this entire thing (the linked article, not this post).

Just check this out on Kotaku, for the sake of yourself.

http://kotaku.com/5354035/stop-telling-me-what-to-do?skyline=true&s=x

And yes, I mean it. Read the whole thing.

The Decline of the Music Game

When Guitar Hero came out in 2005, I remember reading a review in OPM, and not caring much, because it just wasn’t my thing. Most critics at the time claimed that it was basically the Jesusgame, and you should bow to it, worship, and bask in its greatness. Of course, I’m certainly not disagreeing with them– they were right. DDR had been the staple of rhythm games for years, but had, at that point, wound down to merely the big booth in arcades. Harmonix, though, had created something that had changed the genre into something not only mainstream, but something that you could relate to, and not embarrass yourself playing (for the most part).

I’m sure that somewhere on some corner of the internet, people were shouting that this would just be a fad. I’m also sure that those same group of people were shouting that while playing the game, and they quieted down once the sequel came out. People kept playing, and the game kept going, and regardless of developer changes and whatnot, it remained incredibly popular. Guitar Hero III actually managed to grab me out of from under my rock. Honestly, it was less of a rock and more of a place to hide from the noise. I played the game for a while, but when it came down to it, it lacked things that generally make me come back to games, and the controller has since gathered dust.

In the meantime, Rock Band came out, and the genre received it’s final innovation, which, quite naturally sold enough copies to warrant a sequel. Then Activision decided it wanted to be popular again and said “OH NOW EVERYONEZ PLAYZ IN BAND IN OUR GAME TOOZ”. I think it was something like that. That became Guitar Hero World Tour, and it came out the same fall as Rock Band 2. This seems normal, really, but then you remember that Activision released all of these (count ‘em: 16) expansions and spin offs. See, now it isn’t normal.

EA can release the same games every fall, along with numerous other publishers, for a few different reasons. Primarily, they actually put something NEW in the game. Yes, Need for Speed is the same formula overall, but it’s slapped onto something different. The problem with a game like Guitar Hero or Rock Band is that the formula isn’t just a template, it IS the game. You can change the backgrounds all you want, but in the end the only thing worth altering is the soundtrack, which is a problem in itself.

There isn’t much more to be said besides this: the music/rhythm genre is now in a corner.

There are a multitude of metaphors, many of them terrible, that could describe what has happened, but overall, the originality has been rung out off the whole idea to a dangerous point. Business wise, it was a great new way to get people into gaming, and it became popular that even stubborn people like me HAD to buy a copy, and some people liked it and clung on. But, it’s that group of people that are left now. You aren’t getting me back, and you won’t be getting back casual fans who have gotten bored. So now, all you’re left with is a hardcore fan base, who eventually, like everyone else, will lay down their axes and move on to the next big thing.

Guitar Hero 5 might be a good game, and the next Rock Bands will be too, I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean people will keep coming back. Thanks to Activision’s spin-offs and cash cow mentality, the entire idea of music games has become something that looks like a fad, even though it is a lot better than that.

When Guitar Hero came out in 2005, I remember reading a review in OPM, and not caring much, because it just wasn’t my thing. Most critics at the time claimed that it was basically the Jesusgame, and you should bow to it, worship, and bask in its greatness. Of course, I’m certainly not disagreeing with them– they were right. DDR had been the staple of rhythm games for years, but had, at that point, wound down to merely the big booth in arcades. Harmonix, though, had created something that had changed the genre into something not only mainstream, but something that you could relate to, and not embarrass yourself playing (for the most part).

I’m sure that somewhere on some corner of the internet, people were shouting that this would just be a fad. I’m also sure that those same group of people were shouting that while playing the game, and they quieted down once the sequel came out. People kept playing, and the game kept going, and regardless of developer changes and whatnot, it remained incredibly popular. Guitar Hero III actually managed to grab me out of from under my rock. Honestly, it was less of a rock and more of a place to hide from the noise. I played the game for a while, but when it came down to it, it lacked things that generally make me come back to games, and the controller has since gathered dust.

In the meantime, Rock Band came out, and the genre received it’s final innovation, which, quite naturally sold enough copies to warrant a sequel.

Then Activision decided it wanted to be popular again and said “OH NOW EVERYONEZ PLAYZ IN BAND IN OUR GAME TOOZ”. I think it was something like that. That became Guitar Hero World Tour, and it came out the same fall as Rock Band 2. This seems normal, really, but then you remember that Activision released all of these (count ‘em: 16) expansions and spin offs. See, now it isn’t normal.

EA can release the same games every fall, along with numerous other publishers, for a few different reasons. Primarily, they actually put something NEW in the game. Yes, Need for Speed is the same formula overall, but it’s slapped onto something different. The problem with a game like Guitar Hero or Rock Band is that the formula isn’t just a template, it IS the game. You can change the backgrounds all you want, but in the end the only thing worth altering is the soundtrack, which is a problem in itself.

There isn’t much more to be said besides this: the music/rhythm genre is now in a corner.

There are a multitude of metaphors, many of them terrible, that could describe what has happened, but overall, the originality has been rung out off the whole idea to a dangerous point. Business wise, it was a great new way to get people into gaming, and it became popular that even stubborn people like me HAD to buy a copy, and some people liked it and clung on. But, it’s that group of people that are left now. You aren’t getting me back, and you won’t be getting back casual fans who have gotten bored. So now, all you’re left with is a hardcore fan base, who eventually, like everyone else, will lay down their axes and move on to the next big thing.

Guitar Hero 5 might be a good game, and the next Rock Bands will be too, I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean people will keep coming back. Thanks to Activision’s spin-offs and cash cow mentality, the entire idea of music games has become something that looks like a fad, even though it is a lot better than that.

Bad Hardware and its Affect on Sales Numbers

All numbers are ROUGH estimates.

All numbers are ROUGH estimates.

PS3 Slim: Savior?

While we’ve yet to see, I do think that the new Slim model could, in fact, be Sony’s savior. Sales of the PS3 are around 25 million as of this month, and the Xbox 360 was around 30 million back in April, so one can only assume what the latter number is today. Either way, the sales difference is most likely somewhere around 10 million, meaning that Microsoft has a rather formidable lead on that front.

However, that could easily change given the right conditions, and those conditions might just be here. While Sony isn’t about to make up a 10 million console lag overnight, that gap could be closed up a bit now that the price point of the PS3 is at the level with that of the 360′s. There has been a really solid lineup of PlayStation 3 titles on shelves as of late, and many consumers will really like seeing that, along with free online play and a Blu-Ray player. None of these features are better than what the 360 has to offer, but to many consumers it will make it seem like a much better value, and that is what will change the momentum.

I could go further into this, but everybody already knows the basics of the two consoles, and I’m just saying that now that the prices are the same, things will be looked at differently. Of course, Microsoft is lowing the price of its Elite SKU to 299 and dropping the Pro model, but I don’t think that will affect the scene to much, considering that it really only changed HDD size.

The big hurdle that needs jumping, though, is the one of the dumb consumer, who simply goes by ads and prices, and when it comes to the PS3 and 360, could choose either. But, there is an approach to that that most businesses haven’t looked at: avoiding it completely. While Nintendo has done a great job of leaping it, and Microsoft has tried its best to at least get a feeble hop (Read: Arcade console), Sony has so far just gone around. It makes it a lot easier to market to the right segments and have a consistent image, and it’s another small reason that the PlayStation brand could see some success in the PS3. Though an entire argument completely is that it already has.
But to sum it up, the PlayStation 3 has been the runt of the pack (for lack of a better term) this generation, and there is a chance that the status quo could change.

There’s Sex on My Screen.

I can’t say that there have been a whole lot of topics as touchy with as how video games are treated in the mainstream. Violence within gaming is something that has always been there, but as we’ve come to an age that media plays into life and politics more and more each day, we see how the public looks at the industry. Grand Theft Auto IV is a fantastic example, as is Mass Effect.The latter of the two is a prime example of how things are just taken wrong. Bad reporting might go hand-in-hand with Fox News, depending on your opinion, but saying that Mass Effect allows you to choose when to have sex, how to have it, and who to have it with is just terrible journalism.

But look at the big difference between “gamers” and the rest of the world. We look at that and ask how such a deep piece of entertainment can be taken like that. Others look and see a game with sex- and that’s just an issue: GAME. Of course it’s a game, but that’s the big problem. Movies, TV shows, books, and the like all have deep elements and full fledged stories that come along with them. So when there is violence on the television, people don’t think much of it because if they recognize good writing or an engaging plot of any sort, it makes everything else a side note.

Not so with a piece of software. People don’t expect top of the line stories with character development and the like – at least not those that think games are still just that. How can one expect the industry to gain respect if everything it spits out is seen only as a game. Sure, that’s what it is, and there isn’t another option, but until the mainstream consumers think beyond a control pad and guns, they won’t realize that video games are much more nowadays. As far as I’m concerned it won’t be a time when video games are seen the same as movies until the older generations have passed on.

Update. I’m okay.

I haven’t updated in a while, but don’t fear, I will soon. It was AP season folks

Be back soon.

MobileMe: Not for me.

I recently took some time to play around with MobileMe, Apple’s entry into the server exchange (?) market. You can head over to the site and try it out free for 60 days and see what you think, but after a week or so of using it, I really don’t think that the $99/yr price is justifiable.

First, I’ll run down the major features. For the aforementioned price, you receive syncing of your contacts, calenders, and (technically) mail. Also, you receive access to iDisk, your little peice of storage on the internet (10GB in the trial, and 20 after purchase, I believe). MobileMe also works with iPhoto to give you web galleries online, or you can upload on to the site or even use a created email address. Of everything included, my favorite feature was most certainly the compatibility with iWeb, and the provided web hosting (the URL is made for you, though).

Now, all of this is nice, and if you ask me, the price is questionable even if everything worked well. But that’s the problem: much of it doesn’t. The syncing of your contacts and calenders is spotty, at best. Sometimes it works properly, and other times names show up without information, or no changes happen at all. The syncing isn’t even instantaneous. From your Mac or PC, everything is updated every fifteen minutes. Your iPod touch or iPhone will sync via push, but that still means it isn’t as quick as it could be. Furthermore, one of the main features, the email address, would be somewhat useless to most people. I already have a two gmail accounts, and it works great. My family has the one address, and the other is used for website registration, which forwards to the other one. It’s perfect. So with all of that set up, what am I going to do with a new email address? That’s a hassle. You can set up the address to take in other mail via POP3, but I really need IMAP. The iDisk is probably the most hassle free feature. I have a Mac, and it shows up right in the sidebar of the Finder, and you can just drag and drop. Perfect.

What does require more explanation is the photo gallery and iWeb use. The gallery gives you space to upload photos so others can see them. You can hand out the URL to family members and friends, so they can navigate to the page with their browser (more on that below), and enjoy your photos. Also, you can hand out an email address if you wish so others can upload their own photos. However, sometimes this doesn’t work as planned. My iPhoto library failed to really upload correctly, often hiding albums that I had not told it to. 

A final note: If you have a PC, you need to download the MobileMe control panel to do anything at all, and PC users will notice that the experience is much worse for them. Another issue with compatibility is the fact that web browser support is terrible. Safari 3/4 and Firefox 3 are the only that fully work. All others have problems, and considering IE 6 is still one of the most widely used browsers in hotels and businesses, you’re out of luck if you travel a lot and need to access something using a computer with it.

Apple is well known for it solid software that delivers well all around and is easy to use. But compared to everything that I have used that is developed by them, I can easily say that MobileMe is the least solid and easy to use.

Watch your step.

I like music. Granted, I can’t play it, but I still listen to it constantly. I chose my current phone because it allowed you to listen to music in the background, even while the rest of the features weren’t exactly amazing. Anyways, I digress. My point is, I love it, and I don’t mind paying for it. Until, of course, the price is too high. I haven’t bought anything off of iTunes since the pricing switch, but my cart did have a few things in it: five songs. After the pricing adjustment, I saw the cart become more pricey, with one or two songs go up to 1.29. So that was fine, I wouldn’t buy them. Thus, I put a few new ones in, but didn’t purchase. Today, I return, to find that those songs I added had risen in price, while the old ones had too. 

That all came out in words like a pile of shit, so let me rephrase: Things got more expensive. 

I am a fan of Apple, I have a MacBook, and and iPod, and believe that they are better than Microsoft. If there was an Apple camera (there was like a decade ago), I would buy it. If I could afford the iPhone, I would be using it now. I love Apple. But I don’t know about this. I think.

I also love good business strategies. Which is why I actually applaud that I would have to pay more. Changing to a tiered pricing system allows higher profits, because even when sales drop on an expensive song, there is enough difference between .99 and 1.29 to still see more money. And then, the sales of .99 songs go up, then their prices go up, sales fall, then the other songs go up… etc etc. It’s a great circle. Now, I love that, as much as it hurts me. True, Apple and the record labels are squeezing money out of people like me who decided to get our music legally, but hey, they make money don’t they?

But that’s my big point. The Pirate Bay trials might say the end is coming for pirating or whatever, but that isn’t true. Honestly, I’m not going to go and download Limewire, because it doesn’t work how I would like it to with iTunes, and I’m a perfectionist. But what about all those people who don’t care? Are they going to go to Amazon now? No, because they were stupid and changed their pricing too (stupid). DRM free, 256 kbps music is nice, but what about those that aren’t held back? 

Your business strategy only works if there are people still buying.

How to drag me in.

I’ve been playing games for a long time, but find that I really don’t have the time to as of recent. The other day, though, I heard this song that reminded me a lot of the title screen music from Mass Effect (it took me a few minutes to pin it down). Long story short, that game was immersive, and really let you get into the universe, and feel a part of it all on some level.

This got me thinking about all the other games I’ve played that did the same thing. When I first got my PlayStation 2, years ago, I had a blast playing the original Jak and Daxter. Even though I sucked at it, and it took me a while to really get good (I was young, mind you), I felt like everything fit together. It wasn’t so much as it was straight up believable, but it felt like a real world with realistic ideas.

However, it wasn’t until Jak II came out that this become more recognizable. Considering that I was much older, the plot of the sequel was more attainable to me, and I could catch the undertones and read in between the lines. Above all else, this game fit together even better than the first. It was darker, set in a realistic world (the situation, at least), and had incredible writing and design. These kinds of titles are simply deep. I guess when it comes down to it, games like this are harder to find than they should be.

Or are they?

Look around at some games that came out in the past year or two. Fallout 3 is a great example, as is the aforementioned Mass Effect, Prince of Persia, Fable II, and looking back farther, BioShock. All of these games deliver an amazing story, balanced with gameplay that compliments it on multiple levels. Sure, that list could be bigger, and I wish it was, but these titles are rare. Bringing the player into an experience that wraps them up so well is hard to do. It excites me to know that the majority of games that deliver upon that have sequels coming out. These titles aren’t meant for the masses, but quite often, they reach them. It is just a matter of reaching the people who are willing to invest themselves.

But that is where the real issue is. Now that it is more profitable to sell to the “casual” crowd, we see many games produced to them as well. Does this mean we will see less games that allow investment and immersion? Well, the fact is, the casual market can become saturated, and already has to some extent. Nintendo has seen a drop in sales as of recent with the Wii, and this is a sign of things to come. While one can produce a product for the casual or new market, it won’t last forever, and once it has passed, you are left with what made you. In this case, that means people who love to buy lots of games, enjoy them, and can’t wait for the new system or sequel. When you start to lose them, you have a problem, and Nintendo in particular needs to make sure they don’t forget about those people. For now, all is well, and the wheel continues to turn. As long was people keep supporting games that drag you in, they don’t go away.

“My game is broked”

There are a lot of things with today’s technology industry that really get on my nerves. The natural evolution of a business, specifically videogames, means that eventually the mainstream audience gets involved, and that’s where we see something such as the Wii, or Microsoft’s pushes out of it’s hardcore market (Xbox 360 Arcade Bundle). Those kind of things don’t bother me quite that much, as long as they don’t really affect me that much, which they haven’t. However, there is one issue that is present all over the technology industry, and is something that really bothers me about today’s videogames.

While I know, that as a developer, it is really hard to get something to be utterly bug free, there are limits. Today’s software, be it on a computer, a phone, or even a TV, is just riddled with bugs and glitches. I’ll even admit that my beloved MacBook does some rather odd, and frustrating, things sometimes. My phone decides to restart at certain points, and I’m pretty tired of game killing errors in $60 video games. That isn’t what I paid for.

I have a great example of that, too. I had invested quite a bit of time into Far Cry 2. Honestly, it is one of the best games I’ve played in a while. But, one day, for a reason I still cannot figure out, the game decided that the save file was corrupted. Anyone who has ever been there knows how frustrating that is, and what it’s like to try to figure out if you should even replay. Luckily for me, however, there was another save file from earlier still there. That’s lucky, but sometimes I haven’t been quite that forunate.

Fable II, also one of the best games I have ever played, has one glitch that really annoys me. Sometimes, during a specific quest, the game will not load a region of the map. And once this little glitch happens, it stays, so no matter what you’re doing, you cannot load that region. So, your progress within that game is essentially stopped in its tracks.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of games out there that are really solid, and that I haven’t had problems with, and the same goes with other software. It just seems where we’ve gotten to the point where this is something that is going to be regular. The old Palm OS was behind, certainly, but it was really solid, and days with things like that won’t work. And that’s just because as consumers, we demand the cutting edge. we want to see cool looking stuff. And unfortunately, that means we’re basically asking for something that isn’t here. We want the future, and it hasn’t had time to work out its kinks yet.