Consoleation Status Report: Free Agency
There have been a few changes going on outside of Consoleation, and I know that activity has been slow here. I wanted to write a few words about what’s been going on.
For starters, I regret to report that the League of One project is on indefinite hold, and likely won’t be resuming. I won’t get into specifics, but changes at Kmart necessitated the decision to halt the project. This unfortunately means that any links to my work there are now dead. It’s unfortunate to see work disappear. I am grateful to Josh Deane with Kmart for the opportunities afforded to me as part of the project, from the privilege of covering E3 last June to getting a chance to share my work with thousands of other readers. Josh had a great vision and it’s unfortunate that the project wasn’t able to mature and grow as we all thought it would. Being a part of KmartGamer last year was one of my career highlights, and I’m honored to have been a part of it.
As a result of the discontinuation of the League of One project, I’m now a “free agent” on the writing circuit. I’m hoping to network with several sites to see if I can earn a writing position and stay active in the gaming press community. For now, I’m dedicating some time to a new independent writing venture, called Armchair Analysis. This site deals solely with the business and sales data side of my writing, including NPD analysis and interpretations of industry news. I’m keeping the content there strictly professional with the hopes of possibly getting the work syndicated or picked up by a larger website to gain a writing spot somewhere. I would like to resume writing reviews as well, although unemployment makes that a bit of a challenge as far as buying current games to play through. I have my fingers crossed that I can earn a spot somewhere soon. In the meantime, I invite those of you who enjoyed my industry-related posts here to visit Armchair Analysis and follow my writing there.
As far as Consoleation goes, this blog will remain active. I’m shooting for updating it once a week with assorted content, including reviews of older games and reports of additions to my collection. Thanks to a decent expected tax return– since I made so little last year– I’m hoping to apply some of that towards older games and systems. A Dreamcast was just graciously donated to me recently, and I’m looking to get an AV cable to test it and see if it works. The main target on my wish list is an NES, but other platforms including SNES, Genesis (w/SEGA CD), Nintendo 64, and the original Xbox are all on my radar. As the collection grows, I’ll be talking about it here. In about a week’s time, the laptop that I’ve been using for my writing will be mine to keep, so writing will be more consistent.
Finally, it looks like I’ll be heading to Weirs Beach, NH in a few short months to take part in the 14th Annual International Classic Video Game Tournament at FunSpot. It’s been 10 years since I last took part in the event, and I’m excited to participate and get together with some of the very best arcade game players in the world. In 2002, I set the a Twin Galaxies-recognized record on the Mania Challenge coin-op. It’s a record that stands today. I’m not sure what I may shoot for when I’m there, but to be in an actual arcade setting again is going to be pretty awesome.
Thanks to all of you who have been checking in with Consoleation and being so understanding as there’s been a lot of transition. The blog will be celebrating its fourth year in 2012, and I’m grateful for all of you who have taken the time to visit it.
A New Year Appears!
Welcome to 2012. For me, this will be a milestone year as I celebrate my 40th birthday in April. Some people view 40 as “over the hill” or an entry to middle age, but it’s significant to me in that I’m still as excited about video games as I’ve ever been. It’s not something that I’ve outgrown, or care to outgrow. I’m going to be playing them, talking about them, and making them a big part of my life for many more years to come, provided nothing catastrophic happens.
I am setting some goals and making some changes in my 40th year, though. These are overdue in some respects, and necessary in others.
The first change is that I’m going to focusing a bit more on games and consoles from previous generations in 2012, and possibly beyond. While I’ll still be playing games for current-gen platforms, preparing to turn 40 has really lit a fire under my retrogaming side and I want to pursue buying platforms like the NES, SNES, Genesis, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and the original Xbox over the course of the next couple of years. I’m looking to begin collecting games for those platforms, too, especially my favorites for each. I’ve done a decent job of building my PlayStation 2 collection over the last year, and I’ve found myself wanting to keep collecting and building a catalog of games and systems that have been personal signposts in my life.
The second change will be that Consoleation will be coming along for the retro ride. Expect impressions, reviews, and opinions for games from previous generations here in the year to come. Consoleation has been a great sounding board for my feelings about current industry trends and the direction of the business, but I want this blog to be more unique and less of an airing of grievances. That’s not to say that I won’t have grievances, of course, but there must be a better balance of content. I’d much rather save those for a different writing destination and focus my efforts here on the retro journey and the games. I do have personal blogs elsewhere and may use those for different purposes in 2012.
Speaking of writing, I still do have the goal of latching on somewhere as a reviewer and growing my skills in 2012. I’ll still be contributing industry analysis over at KmartGamer, but would really like to try (yet again) to get back to my roots and do more reviewing. Competition for paying gigs is fierce, and I’m not certain that my writing is good enough, but my main goal has always been to get my content read by as many people as possible rather than worrying about money. I know that working for free is frowned upon, but my priorities are different. I like to do it for experience and visibility. Don’t get me wrong: Money is always great (especially now, since I’m not working at all), but the feeling of knowing that my writing is good or interesting enough to get people to read it has always been the ultimate reward for me. I had some progress in 2011, but considering how difficult a year it was for me with employment and health issues, I think 2012 can be a breakout year if I get the right opportunity to develop and set a routine, especially now that I’m back home and things are more stable than they’re been in some time.
Some secondary goals for 2012 include:
- Visiting FunSpot in Weirs Beach, NH: It’s been nearly 10 years since my last visit, and the American Classic Arcade Museum awaits. I’m not sure it there’s going to be another classic gaming tourney this year, but if so, that’s when I’m hoping to go, now that I’m back in Massachusetts. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s the arcade seen in the King of Kong film. If you visit or live in New England, you should go.
- Going back to school: Yes, I’m looking into going back to school in the fall. I’m considering taking IT courses, but a few have recommended looking into a business degree to pursue a career as a games analyst. Still a bit torn and thinking heavily about both.
- Build a better daily routine: This is something that I’ve been struggling with for some time. I want to take steps to manage my days and time better so that I can fit in writing, social media, and gaming. I seem to have periods of swell for each and it takes away from my consistency. I’m thinking about using a Get It Done application to set small steps as far as time spent for each task, but this is a goal in progress.
I’m looking forward to what 2012 will bring, and I hope that you’ll follow along for the ride.
Return to the (Video Game) Castle
I wrote a eulogy back in August of 2010 for Video Game Castle, which is an independently-owned video game store in Chicopee, MA. At the time, I was still living in Arizona and had heard about the closure of the store from a story on Kotaku. I was saddened to read about it, given my personal ties and experiences with the store and its owner.
I had heard through the grapevine that the store had reopened, and one of the benefits of being back home in Massachusetts is to revisit Video Game Castle and see how things are. I ventured over there without thinking to call first, assuming that what I’d heard about the store being open was true. Upon arriving at the address, I was relieved to see an open sign in front of the store. I parked my car in the lot across the street and made my way back towards the Castle for the first time in over two years.
Upon entering the store, the owner acknowledged me and explained his hardships. He told me that he’d read my eulogy piece, which I found to be flattering, and filled me in on what’s been a challenging time for him. He mentioned that nobody followed up on the story about the store’s closure with information about the store reopening and resuming business, which was unfortunate. While the store was closed, a competing shop opened just two doors down… and that store remains open today. It’s interesting to see the competitive dynamic between two stores so close in proximity. I didn’t stop into the other store, but I do admit that it’s a good thing to have two independent stores open, regardless of proximity or reasoning.
After our conversation, I set to what is the best part of visiting Video Game Castle: looking at the varied selection of games that have accumulated over the years. I was happy to see that the NES display case was still intact and had a decent amount of games inside. Sadly, there wasn’t any NES hardware around, but titles like Ninja Gaiden, Super Spike V’Ball, RBI Baseball, and so many others that I loved playing once upon a time stand at the ready if I am able to get another system to play them on.
Complete NES games, boxes and all.
There are still impressive collections of games for the SEGA Genesis and the SNES. There are cabinets for each platform with loose and boxed games included. Far to the rear of the store, a cabinet with SEGA Saturn games waits for interested buyers; in fact, a Saturn console was for sale while I was there and I thought about it briefly. There was even a small number of 3DO games for sale, including Wing Commander III, Sewer Shark, and Twisted. These consoles, along with more recent ones like the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, all have their place in video game history. For me, walking into Video Game Castle and looking around is like being in some sort of museum. I had mentioned to the owner that he should reorganize the basement of the shop and open a console gaming museum of sorts. He chuckled and mentioned that he’d actually sold off a lot of that merchandise since I’d been in there last. I was happy for him that money was made, but jealous that I wasn’t able to buy any of it.
After spending most of the day visiting, I did wind up buying a few PlayStation games:
- WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game: I have a soft spot for Midway arcade games, and this is one that I didn’t own before now. Surprisingly, there’s no game saving or memory card usage… but that’s OK. Dominating with Yokozuna is still a blast, even though I am a bit rusty.
- Bases Loaded ’96 Double Header: I’m not sure why I bought this, aside from seeing the Jaleco name and because the game was complete. It’s obvious how early this game is in the PlayStation life cycle. The players are blocky, the animations are deliberate, and the opening cinematic is unintentionally bad… errr… funny.
- Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey ’98: Long title, I know. Since I don’t have a Nintendo 64 right now, this is as close as I can come to playing a game that I spent tens of hours playing 15 years ago. The sound of awfully compressed and the PlayStation controller layout isn’t intuitive, but I sure get my nostalgia fix for $5.
- Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX: This game uses the engine from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and I played the demo enough to want to own the full game. It feels like a looser version of THPS, with trick animations that unfortunately sometimes take too long to resolve. This isn’t as good as Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, but is still a solid game.
- Slam ‘n Jam ’96: This is a port of a 3DO game that sadly arrived too late to make any difference for that troubled platform. Crystal Dynamics and Left Field Productions put together a game that seemed to use Konami’s Run ‘n Gun coin-op as its inspiration. The PlayStation port added Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to try and lure players in, but the game never sold well. I liked it on the 3DO, and the PlayStation version was just fine.
Yes, this is still sealed, despite being released 15 years ago.
I’m happy for the owner and for local gamers in this area that Video Game Castle has overcome its challenges and is open for everyone to see. It’s not the most organized store that you’ll ever see, but part of the fun for each visit is to find new things to gaze at. It won’t be around forever, so if you happen to drive through the Chicopee, MA area at some point, I encourage you to stop in and see over three decades of history… much of which is for sale.
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Consoleation Status Report: 2012 Changes
2012 is almost upon us, and it’s going to mark some changes as far as my writing and for Consoleation.
One of my goals in 2012 is to gain a wider audience for my writing, if I can. Consoleation gets about 20 hits a day, with some variance if the content is controversial. Pieces that I’ve been submitting over on my blog at Game Informer seem to be gaining a lot more traffic, so I’m going to be splitting content between Consoleation and Game Informer in 2012. I’ll be doing more reviews and impressions here at Consoleation and moving a lot of my industry analysis over to Game Informer. I’m still active with the League of One project over at KmartGamer as well, so my writing will be spread out a bit more.
As money remains tight, a lot of the reviews and impressions that I’ll be posting here will be for older games. My PlayStation 2 games library gives me a lot to pick from, plus I do have a small selection of PS3 and Xbox 36o games that I managed to hold on to since the move. This writing will be important in order to keep my reviewing skills fresh and as I occasionally experiment with different formats. While I enjoy writing about the business side of gaming– and occasionally criticizing decisions and moves that I don’t agree with– it’s necessary for me to continue to grow as a writer and be able to do more than just provide insight on predictions and data. If I want to pursue this career path, I need to grow in many facets. I think that I have the knowledge, but to succeed, I must have the ability to deliver diverse content.
My Game Informer blog, as you can see if you’ve visited, is more geared towards sales and industry analysis. I think that it’s distinct content for that site, rather than contributing more reviews or previews. Having a niche like that will hopefully gain some readers and give my writing in that field a bit more of an audience. So far, traffic numbers have been impressive for being a newcomer there, and I’m hoping that will continue.
I expect 2012 to be one of my most productive years since 2005 when it comes to writing. The time for excuses and obstacles is over. I want to move forward and find out if I really have what it takes to be a success in this field. I think that parts of 2011 showed that I have potential… but I want to put it together this coming year. Consoleation will be a big part of that, and I hope that you’ll follow me along for the ride.
Consoleation Time Machine: Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
20 years have flown by since Konami launched Super Castlevania IV for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I have fond memories of the game. The visuals were impressive, the music was great, the challenge was fair, and it would be the catalyst that would make me a fan of the series for many years to come.
Back in late 1991, games for the SNES were still pretty scarce. Sure, we played Super Mario World, F-Zero, ActRaiser, Final Fantasy II (errr…FFIV, but who’s counting?), and others… but my friends and I were anticipating any new games that we could get our hands on. Gaming magazines had been hyping Super Castlevania IV, and I remember buying it as quickly as I could. I knew a little about Castlevania, but my exposure to the games on the NES had been limited at that time. I watched a friend play through Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest a year prior, but had little hands-on time with the games myself.
I wasn’t prepared for just how good a game that Super Castlevania IV would be.
For starters, the graphics and sound were top-notch. Some of the Mode 7 tricks were more than impressive for the time and I really liked the gothic setting and atmosphere. Areas like the treasure room and the library stood out to me, and the clock tower looked better than ever. The soundtrack was good enough that I’d actually taped it to listen to on the go, thanks to running my sound through my stereo. Now-familiar themes like Bloody Tears and Vampire Killer had arrangements that sounded fanastic thanks to the Sony sound chip and DSP that fueled the Super Nintendo’s sound output.
I also thought that the difficulty was just right. There were challenging parts of the game for sure, but I was able to play through it and was satisfied with the challenge. The experience reminded me a bit of Ninja Gaiden II versus its predecessor. Ninja Gaiden is notoriously hard, especially during the last act. Even to this day, I have not beaten it. Ninja Gaiden II, on the other hand, had a more forgiving difficulty and I was able to finish it. For me, a game is more enjoyable when it’s challenging without being cheap. Getting to experience a game at your own pace and with the feeling that the game actually wants you to succeed is important. Super Castlevania IV– like Ninja Gaiden II– felt fair. It was a ride worth taking, and a memorable one.
Super Castlevania IV provided some unforgettable moments for me. Block 4-2, with the rotating room, was imaginative. Having the room spin around you as you cling to a post from your whip was one of those “Wow” moments. 4-3 then showed the power of Mode 7 technology with the rotating room. Block 6-1 challenged my fear of heights as I leapt from one moving chandelier to another. The onslaught of bosses with Slogra, Gaibon, and Death was a nasty gauntlet to run. Then, of course, the final battle with Dracula stood between me and destiny. These are only the big highlights for me; I could play through the game today and comment on each and every event that stood out to me, and I’d still be excited.
Perhaps the biggest thing that I take away from Super Castlevania IV is that it hooked me on a series that I really didn’t have any interest in before. After playing through Super Castlevania IV, I would eventually go on to games like Castlevania: Bloodlines on the SEGA Genesis in 1994 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the PlayStation in 1997. I became a fan, and it was this one game that pulled me in.
The Future is Digital
We’ve been seeing a gradual shift in software sales in the last couple of years towards digital distribution. Full retail games have been available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 over that time and, although the digital library is but a fraction of the retail library, digital has been catching up. Now, a circulating rumor about software for the PlayStation Vita takes this one step further as the price structure may be significantly different for physical versus digital games.
As with any shift, there are positives and negatives to consider.
The biggest positive to the rumored Vita plan is the lower cost to the consumer. Digital games could be as much as 40% cheaper if consumers buy digitally than if they buy a physical copy. Leaving the expensive proprietary memory cards out of the equation for a moment, these savings would add up before long. Imagine paying $25 for a game that sells for $40 at GameStop or Walmart. If you bought six games in a year, that’s a savings of $90. Granted, the savings would be offset by the exorbitant cost of the memory cards, but it could pay for itself within the first year if you buy enough games.
This move is long overdue and makes sense. Publishers can eliminate overhead like packaging and printing, plus they can eliminate the “middle man” that is the retail chain. Consumers would stand to gain from this cost-cutting measure more consistently in this system, as opposed to the on-demand retail titles that we’ve seen on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Store. In many cases, pricing for full retail titles mirrors MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) in spite of sacrificing tangibles. It doesn’t benefit a consumer to buy digitally in many cases under the current system… but the rumored Vita software pricing scheme most certainly provides a benefit. The loss of the physical product and tangibles is arguably more than offset by the lower price, which could be very important for staying competitive. If consumers can get past the high cost of the hardware and the necessary expense for a large memory card, the Vita can be perceived as a good value in the long run. That’s provided, of course, that Sony and its third-party partners deliver consistent and quality software.
There are other positives to digitally downloaded software, which remain for the Vita. Not having to carry (and potentially misplace or damage) physical games makes the platform all the more portable. If consumers buy a large memory card, like the 32GB model, a fair number of games can follow the user wherever he or she goes. Cutting out retail also adds a level of convenience for some consumers. If you want to buy a new game at 3am, digital distribution allows this instead of being out of luck until the next day. Digital distribution eliminates shipping errors or damaged packages from Amazon or any other retailer, as well.
There are drawbacks to digital distribution, as well. Perhaps the biggest one of these is the inability to trade in, sell, or allow a friend to borrow a game. Once you buy a digitally distributed game, it’s yours. Beat a game 100%? Your only recourse, aside from keeping it and occupying valuable storage space on your memory card, is to delete it. In most cases, you can re-download the game later if desired, but you won’t be able to recoup anything. This is most problematic if you buy a game and wind up not liking it. Physical copies of games give consumers a few options in these cases. They can be sold to friends or online, can be traded in at GameStop or Best Buy, and listed at a tag sale. Even if you got $10 for a game that you spent $40 for and hated, you still get something back. Not so in digital distribution for consoles. All it could take is a few clunkers for some consumers to get cold feet.
Demos are usually cited by defenders of digital distribution as methods of ensuring that consumers don’t buy “the wrong game”, but these are unreliable in at least some cases. Demos can sometimes misrepresent what the actual game is like. One example of this was the demo for Brutal Legend back in 2009. The demo came across as a straight-up action game, with some vehicle sequences thrown in. The demo sold me, leading to a preorder and purchase. My delight turned sour quickly when the game added real-time strategy sequences, which I hated. Nowhere in the demo– or in any pre-release articles on the game– was the RTS content mentioned. I wound up trading the game in the next day. If I’d bought it digitally, I’d have been stuck with it and been much more angry about the misrepresentation.
The other major drawback to digital distribution is the limitation of the internet. Some people have great speeds and performance, where downloading even a 1GB game isn’t an all-day affair. For many others, speed and reliability are problems that make digital distribution a futile practice. In cases like we see now with full retail games for the PS3 and Xbox 360, buying physical copies is the best solution since it’s the same price in most cases and provides more timely gratification and experience. In the Vita’s case, potentially, a tougher decision lies ahead for consumers like that. Are they willing to pay what amounts to a penalty for buying physical copies, or do they just ignore the Vita altogether based on its apparent online focus? Sony seems willing to risk alienating a certain segment of their prospective Vita consumer base this way, but it’s arguably indicative of what’s to come as the industry seems to take for granted that consumers have reliable high-speed connections… and may be willing to sacrifice a few users in the name of advancing their online strategies. This remains to be seen, of course.
If this pricing strategy rumor for Vita winds up being correct, the industry will be watching it very closely. If consumers buy into it and sales numbers support it enough, publishers may start talking to Sony and Microsoft about how it can be applied to the next generation of consoles. Although I’m not a proponent of killing physical media in favor of digital distribution, it’s hard to argue against the business side of the decision. It’s financially advantageous to the industry to cut back on physical copies and the overhead associated with the practice. Logistics would become easier and street dates would be easier to enforce. On the flip side, however, I’d be on the outside looking in as a consumer and would likely be forced out of a form of entertainment that I’ve enjoyed for so many years… and that’s obviously not an outcome that I want to see take place.
Time will tell, of course, but I believe that we’re about to see the future– and it’s digital.
Consoleation Quickie: Vita-l Expense
When I had a chance to spend some time with the PlayStation Vita at E3 back in June, I was impressed. Uncharted looked and felt remarkably like its PlayStation 3 counterparts and the idea of optional touch controls for platforming plus a neat motion mechanic for the sniper rifle mode raised my excitement level.
As time has gone on and more details have come into focus regarding the Vita, that excitement level has gradually been tempered. Some games will require memory cards. PSone games won’t work at launch. The battery life is suspect. Now, word of memory card pricing is enough to make me consider waiting it out as a consumer as prices range from $30 for the smallest (4GB) card up to $120 for the 32GB card. That makes the minimum Vita purchase at least $320 if you want a game to play on it. That’s $110 more than a comparable purchase for the Nintendo 3DS.
I know that I’ve been critical of the 3DS in the past, as have other analysts, but sales are picking up steam here in Q4 and it’s going to look a lot more attractive next to a $250 platform with a not-so-hidden extra expense in the memory card. Even when the 3DS was $250, Nintendo included a 2GB SD card for free. People who want a Vita memory card as part of a bundle can attempt to score one of the early release packages– but that’s $350 and comes with a game that’s not exactly on anyone’s radar. Otherwise? $280 for hardware and memory card with no game.
Not only does Sony have the 3DS to worry about… but it’s also dealing with the effects of booming popularity for smartphones and tablets. The casual consumer market, which has been instrumental in growing the popularity of video games over the last 15 years, is showing less interest in dedicated portable platforms. iPhone and iPod Touch apps and games are significantly cheaper than offerings for the Vita and 3DS. It’s true that a tactile controller is missing from these devices, but the games seem to be more than good enough for most of the casual crowd. Expensive games and accessories, combined with the high cost of the hardware, don’t bode well for expansion of the potential consumer base for the Vita. In fact, Sony may be in a position where it has to count on its loyal fanbase to buy into the Vita and accept that limited success may be as far as the platform goes– at least initially.
I understand that the Vita is more powerful than the 3DS. Expecting it to sell at or near the 3DS price point is too much to ask. I don’t understand the concept of games requiring memory cards to play, especially since the game media is supposed to allow for reading and writing of data. Worse, I don’t understand making a required accessory optional at the $250 price point. Include a 2GB card like Nintendo does with the 3DS, and the argument about memory card pricing doesn’t affect sales. Since a memory card is required for the platform’s big launch games, setting the expectation that Vita will “only” cost $250 is disingenuous.
As much as I hope that I’m proven to be wrong, I see struggles for the Vita in 2012 after an initially strong launch. It’s too bad. There’s a lot of potential and it’s obvious that the Vita is a powerful device, but it’s going to be too expensive for too many. As a consumer myself, my outlook on Vita has been downgraded from “buy” to “wait and see”.
Consoleation Quickie: Worst of the Worst
It’s been about two weeks since I’ve been back in Massachusetts, and thought it would do some good to get out and hit my local GameStop store. I know that many of you can’t stand the chain, for reasons that do– and don’t– make sense, but it was something to break up the monotony of being stuck here at home with nothing to do. I understood that this is a holiday weekend, and fully expected lines and a little bit of chaos. It makes sense; I’ve worked several tours of gaming retail duty during this time of year. I know how things work.
I could not have prepared myself for what I was going to see.
When I arrived, my eye first spotted the cracked glass on the bottom pane of the front door. It looked like someone had taken a bat to it. It looked like a crime scene, honestly. Despite the poor initial impression, I went inside. There were certainly plenty of people in the store, but the space wasn’t small. The greeter did his thing, acknowledging me and handing me a flyer. As I made my way further inside, it looked like an F-5 tornado had ripped through the interior. There was stuff everywhere. Games strewn all over shelves. Product all over the floor behind the counter. Despite counting five employees (and only two registers), there wasn’t any kind of recovery effort going on. In fact, throughout my 35-minute visit, no recovery took place. (Recovery, for those not in retail, is cleaning and reorganization after busy periods.)
Again– I get that this is one of the busiest weekends of the entire year for GameStop. I went through it last year, plus did two seasons for FuncoLand in 1998 and 1999. I know that it’s crazy. I expect to see a bit of chaos. But what I saw went beyond chaos. It was a disaster with no clear leadership or acknowledgement. I had a difficult time understanding how conditions like this were allowed to occur– or continue. It was poor enough that I was compelled to complete the store survey and communicate how appalled I was. I’ve been to many GameStop and other gaming retail stores during the holidays over the years. I’ve worked in some and shopped at others. This store was the worst that I have ever seen, even during the busiest of holiday times. That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.
I suppose that I shouldn’t let this bother me, but it does. Maybe it’s my experience in retail that makes me care so much. Maybe it’s because, as a consumer, I was horrified by what I saw. It may not be fair for me to criticize a store during a big weekend like this, but this was the worst of the worst.
Hopefully steps can and will be taken to turn the store around, but as for me, I won’t be going back.
Wrong Direction
There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
– Winston Churchill
I realize that online connectivity and console gaming were destined to be intertwined. The XBAND modem, the SEGA Channel, and then the rollout of the Dreamcast in 1999 with its built-in 56K modem were signs that change was going to happen. Console video game players were eventually going to have to accept connectivity, and this current console generation has preached that it’s all but required to have the full intended gaming experience.
I don’t have a problem with online connectivity in that it can serve a purpose. Bugs can be fixed if you’re connected (although this has been overdone, as I mentioned in my last post). Online play can allow players to find opponents (or partners) at any time instead of having to rely on having people over. In its originally intended form, downloadable content can extend the life of a game by adding levels, characters, quests, and more. The change from a purely offline to generally online environment, in and of itself, is not bad.
I do, however, see problems with how intense the change has been. The previous console generation can be thought of as a loose transition to online importance. We saw the birth of Xbox LIVE as a service and the PlayStation 2 had some online functionality, although it wasn’t at all organized. We were taking some steps a generation ago, but we’ve since taken a giant leap and have overlooked the consequences that the change has triggered. We see games launch with bugs, only to be excused because connectivity offers a quick fix instead of shipping the game as bug-free as possible. We see arguments that content is being stripped from retail games, only to be resold as DLC for added expense to the consumer over and above the $60 price point. We see online services and accounts getting hacked with increasing frequency.
Change is fine, but I don’t think that it can be said that it’s entirely in the right direction.
I know that I talked about the problem with patches in my last entry, but it’s disturbing to me how accepting that the community is of this trend. Reviewers, more often than not, seem to give the benefit of the doubt to patches rather than calling out publishers and developers for shipping a game that doesn’t work as well as it should. Skyrim is a great case in point with all of its associated glitches and issues, and yet it stands at a 96 on Metacritic. NINETY-SIX. I understand that online connectivity gives developers and publishers the ability to fix problems, but whatever happened to the goal of getting it right the first time? I appreciate the scope and size of the game, but giving a pass to a game because it tries hard isn’t the point, to me. In cases like this, connectivity has become a crutch instead of an advantage.
The news about Ridge Racer for the PlayStation Vita and its dearth of content in favor of DLC reignites the discussion about how DLC affects retail games. Issues with weak content versus numerous DLC offerings is nothing new for Namco; look at Beautiful Katamari and Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 for prime examples of content that probably should have been included in the initial purchase. Beautiful Katamari was probably the most egregious example, with more than a few stages locked behind a DLC paywall. I can understand publishers looking to make some extra revenue per user, but in Ridge Racer‘s case on the Vita, three courses and five cars included on the release is an absolute joke. Compare that to the deeper overall package for Ridge Racer 3D for the Nintendo 3DS. There are nearly four times as many cars in Ridge Racer 3D, and four separate courses on the first stage of the Grand Prix alone! Instead of getting loaded with content, we get to pay more for additional content for Ridge Racer on the Vita. It can be argued that connectivity encourages developers and publishers to leave stuff out for post-launch, rather than packing as much content as possible before shipping and then delivering more after a few weeks. It’s change in the wrong direction.
Then we come to hacking. I understand that hacking is a peril of being online. Identity theft happens all the time, not just on the PlayStation Network or Xbox LIVE. The problem that I have is that we are so accepting of this and the best that the industry can do is to remind you to change your passwords and be vigilant. Worse yet, more and more content is becoming online-only, so unless you go out of your way to buy cards at local retailers, you have to chance your credit or debit card to get that DLC or arcade game that you want. GameTrailers and Spike TV gaming personality Geoff Keighley just had his Xbox LIVE account hacked and is offline for almost a month during Microsoft’s “investigation”. It happened to another friend of mine on Twitter recently, too… and I’ve read about it happening to more than a few other people recently as well. We allow connectivity, online commerce, and online delivery to be so instrumental to the console gaming experience, and yet we just accept it when we get hit and lose that ability when criminals attack. Stuff happens, right?
I understand that going backwards isn’t an option. Console gaming has barged through the online door with a battering ram, and constant connectivity is here to stay. Still, it’s hard for someone like me who has been playing console video games for decades to not look back on generations past and consider whether we’re really better off now. Sure, the graphics weren’t 1080p and the sound wasn’t Dolby 7.1. I know that games “back then” were simpler and, at times, not very mature. I also can’t help but to think back to when connectivity wasn’t a requisite. I remember when games were consistently full of content when they shipped rather than skimming a few things in lieu of making a few bucks later. I still can fire up my PlayStation or PlayStation 2 and just play a game, rather than waiting for patches and DLC checks.
I’m not sure what it will take for this change to constant connectivity and online presence to find the right direction, but it’s important to the future of the industry that it is found– and soon.
