The Legend of POWSO: Ocarina of Fanboys

The POWSO crew recounts and recites some of their favorite video game music. Tea and crumpets are not served, but insults are hurled.

Franchise Frenzy or When is Enough, Enough?

Every dog has his day. Back in the early 1990’s, a blue hedgehog was Sega’s best bet for a win against the stocky Nintendo plumber. At the time, it seemed the newcomer, Sega, had a good shot. their mascot, Sonic, turned out three incredible games in his time on the original Genesis, and began appearing in as many spin offs as his Nintendo rival. For the early 90’s, Sonic seemed to be on equal footing, if not just on the heels of, Super Mario. Sega’s marketing strategy was an approach of the times: Super Mario wasn’t cool anymore, Sonic matched the early 90’s attitude, and it sold.

We know how the story turned out though: Super Mario, donning his yellow cape, then becoming the baby supporting character in the subsequent epic (Yoshi’s Island), weathered the storm that was the early 90’s and is still going strong today. Sonic, on the other hand, was victim of the times and has not managed to recover since. One solid game for the tragic Sega Dreamcast, and miss after miss after miss since has more people questioning why developers are still bothering to try rather than just moving on.

While it’s no mystery why Super Mario is still around and Sonic is losing what few fans remain (the former has had more consistent hit games), I’m still a bit curious why we still wait expectantly for the next Mario game. Would Mario Galaxy have been as successful if it were a different/new character and “universe?” Would critics have been more critical of the wonky camera and overall simplicity of the game? Mario has become a part of our cultural zeitgeist, especially as gamers, but, in light of Super Mario Galaxy 2 (ed. note, More like “1.5″) being on the way, do we actually need more Mario games? Why are we so dependent on franchises?

We criticize studios in movies, TV, and even video games for the lazy shoveling of sequels (or formulaic production) down our throats when we’re feeling intellectually superior (you know you’ve been there), but the reality is: the studios have our numbers. Show me a Transformers 2 critic, and I’ll show you someone who’s just dodging that formula for the sake of another formula. Yet, we do see franchises fail, and we have seen franchises and series end. When is the proper time to call it quits, and what are the options?

TV provides two examples of ways to conclude an ongoing series: Seinfeld and The Simpsons. I grew up on both of these shows. When Seinfeld threw in the towel at its peak, many people were confused, perplexed and upset, I was one of them. The Simpsons soldiered on, continuing for the sake of its still expectant fans. I look back on the Seinfeld finale and respect it. When I look back on the Seinfeld canon, I see nothing but a solid run, and a show that was not only smart with its writing, but smart enough to know when to quit so they stayed strong. The Simpsons? They’re wallowing away and whenever they finally end (which won’t happen anytime too soon, they’ve been renewed for 3 more seasons), I’m going to look back on it as a show that was great when I was a kid, but had 7-10 years of suck before they finally stuck the proverbial fork in it.

What about in movie scenarios and storytelling where sequels come into play? I’d say the same principle applies more or less. Don’t drag a story out, don’t extend a series beyond that original constraint for the sake of just giving the public more. This is why I’m skeptical of a new Jak & Daxter game, and this is why I’ll be skeptical of a fourth God of War game should it ever be announced. Telling a story is like constructing a building. The best stories are grand and strong, conceived in planning before the building is fully erected. When you start adding on sequels and fourth parts to functioning trilogies, you wind up with a shaky, infirm structure and jackass moves like making your hero survive a nuclear blast in a fridge.

There is no golden number, no perfect ratio unfortunately. It’s all just a matter of aesthete and story structure. How much is just formulaic safe packaging washed, rinsed and repeated for sale figures? What was the original story structure and how well can the universe sustain continuation of a saga and evolution of the aesthetic and style? All applicable questions, but all with different answers depending on what you’re asking about. As always, we’ll just have be picky and expect more of our game, movie and TV products. Eventually the little plumber has to bow out gracefully or go the way of Sonic.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like:

Gerry’s DVD Win! Henry Selick’s Coraline

& Balloo’s Gameplay or Storyline: The Sad Admission

E3 2009

Where to begin? Ever since I first read about it in the pages of PSM, going to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been a dream of mine. This summer, I finally managed to get in, and it was just about everything I’d dreamt it was. Booth babes smiled brightly at most (if not every) booth and setup, there were hundreds of game demos to play on site, swag galore and announcements that actually stopped my breath.

First off the big names: Microsoft & Sony. Both unveiled their own adaptations of the juggernaut, Nintendo’s Wii motion controls, to varying effects and intents. Microsoft’s “Project Natal” is purely camera based, and reads player motions to control the onscreen Microsoft Avatar. As of right now, it can make you XBOX Live avatar dance. It would seem that Microsoft aims to tackle and sup from Nintendo’s casual market with their similar colored (at least on the low end models) box.

Sony, on the other hand, did it right. The developers demoed their own motion control, a wii-mote like prototype that works in conjunction with the PS Eye. While this technology does not read one’s entire body, it does offer truly 1:1 motion reading. From basic hokey ideas, like “throwing spells” in an RPG, the developers moved onto showing the more extensive capabilities of the device’s precision. The best example was the use of a sword in a virtual arena against a dummy avatar. The developer using the controller was able to be so precise as to call specific parts of the enemy to hit, even going so far as to poke the enemy in the eye.

Some other highlights?

The incredibly snug feeling PSP Go. If you ever hold the PSP and wonder why it’s as wide as it is (which I do), the PSP Go solves that. I am throughly inclined to imagine that the lack of a disc drive (the thing boasts a 16GB flash memory standard), will only help the battery life. if the Go functioned as a phone, I may have fallen out of love with my iPhone on the spot.

Final Fantasy XIII unveiled a new and much more robust trailer than any yet seen. I’ll be devoting a full article to just that video alone, but the big news came when everyone’s jaw was still on the floor from the FFXIII video: an announcement video of FF XIV Online (14 for those of you unfamiliar with roman numerals). Yes, it is going to be another Online iteration of the series (possibly in the same world/universe as XI since the video had the world “friends must once again join hands”). The biggest bit of this surprise? PS3 Exclusive. In a world where the trend has begun to look like what Sony has, Microsoft has (but not vice versa), Sony unveiled this news in the same week it released its mega hit, Infamous (expect a forthcoming, glowing review of the game from yours truly as well).

The last news I’ll address in this article is Beatles Rock Band. I first heard the news of Beatles Rock Band back when it was a rumbling rumor and I immediately thought it was a cash cow whoreson of a piece of crap that would make me rue having paid Harmonix for even the original Rock Band. I eat those words today. The Harmonix developers presented their latest game with such reverence of their source material and aplomb that I can’t help but humble myself and admire them. They’ve recreated historic venues of Beatles performances (Shea Stadium, the Ed Sullivan Show, the rooftop performance, etc) to stunning accuracy. They’ve filled the game with an incredible showing of the Beatles’ most beloved hits and some other tracks you probably forgot you loved (they demoed Get Back, Tax Man and I Am the Walrus), and presented some of the more unique aspects of the game that made me love it even more.

In a proper application of “casual gaming inclusion” the Easy difficulty now has an automatic no-fail characteristic so that “noobs” don’t ruin play sessions. In a further effort to bring casual gamers to the fold who may be in it just for their love of the Beatles, Quickplay has every song unlocked from the get go. The coolest thing, that really got to me in terms of Video Game artistry, was based on the Beatles’ later career. While the Beatles started off as a major touring band, the later part of their career was spent in the studio crafting some of their most important tracks. While the Harmonix people recognized that those tracks, and the studios are important settings to recreate, they took the opportunity for something grander. So the studios become “dreamscapes.” As you play through, say, I am the Walrus, the setting warps and becomes a fantastical visual journey representing the song’s tone and message (even sober the visuals were a lot to cope with). Needless to say, I’m excited and psyched.

I have two more days of this to go through, so more will come, but for now, Be very excited for what all platforms have to offer in the coming months. To the people of High Voltage games, I’ll devote a more full bodied preview of your games (which I was impressed by) in a focused preview/impression article. The Nintendo people, although absent from this article, also had their own games that caught my eye, but today was just shy of too much for me to handle and I need to rest up for the next two days of this extravaganza. Stay cool, keep gaming.

For continued E3 coverage, check back here each night of the event. For more up to the minute tidbits, follow me on twitter: abuballoo

EGM RIP, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession

Photo courtesy of http://www.gamesetwatch.com/magweasel/egm-0707.jpg

It’s a surprising thing to hear of something happen this suddenly in the game world. I daresay the news was more shocking to me than Atari’s step down from developer to publisher. In case you haven’t heard it, EGM is to be printed no more and the 1UP.com site has suffered 30 layoffs as Ziff Davis sold it off. (For the full story, see here: http://www.videogaming247.com/2009/01/07/ziff-davis-quits-egm-closed-1up-sold/) According to the guys over at ign on the latest Game Scoop (Episode 104), the perplexing thing isn’t just the size of the layoff but that rather than the “background” people that you’d expect to see laid off in a transfer like this, it’s actually the “talent” portion that brought the personality to the site.

1UP Yours has been an on again off again favorite podcast of mine (I had to stop during the school year because I really can’t find 2 hours a week to sit down and really take in and enjoy the podcast as it deserves). With the news of this transfer and the layoffs the ever resounding “why?” needs some facing up to.

Of course everyone’s first response to seeing one of the oldest (if not the oldest) running video game periodicals come to a grinding halt is to blame the economy, but that’d be lazy. Why not Gamepro? Why not Game Informer? The simple answer is that it’s just the way business goes. I’m no business minded person and can’t really comment to the nature of EGM’s former structure and decisions that led to its decline and demise (which the boys at Game Scoop say has been coming for a while). Suffice to say, the lesson is that we shouldn’t be lazy and just blame this stuff on the economy.

What it comes down to is that there’s a lot of discussion of whether or not the video game industry is recession proof. Maybe someone with thick framed glasses and awesome pie charts (because pie charts are awesome) can explain this better than I, or maybe they can totally refute this and call me on bullshit, but I don’t think the Video Game industry is “recession proof” per se. Recession resilient more like. What I mean by this is that people are going to spend less on their entertainment (i.e. video games and game consoles) but they’re still going to spend. It just means the profits are going to be slimmer pickins for console manufacturers (except for fricking Nintendo, thank you NPD’s) developers and publishers.

We’ve all heard the arguments for the “recession proof” side of it. With everyone tightening their belts, reusable entertainment like video games becomes the preferred option. What people don’t take into to account is that it’s not as if people who, when the economy was good, had 500 dollars a year for entertainment, are now trying to invest that 500 dollars more prudently this year now that the economy’s bad. It’s entertainment, they spend it however they want it. The issue becomes that when the economy is bad, that person would only have 200-300 dollars say. Granted, maybe video games being more “reusable” is a more attractive bang for one’s buck, but the fact is, there’s going to be less capital for the entertainment companies to potentially grab because everyone is going to be cutting back on entertainment expenses in the coming year.
What seems to be the most obvious thing is that serious upgrades to entertainment (consoles) are supposed to slow down. The PS3 suffered this one the most it would seem in November: that much money is a lot to shell out in your now tighter belt budget to just update your TV corner with a shiny new machine you can do without. The Wii’s lowest shelf price tag (SPT) makes it eternally attractive as both a personal and gift purchase. Kids (and old people) just love that damned waggle.

So my prediction is that the PS3 and 360 are going to feel the hard times quite a bit more than Nintendo (although seriously, sooner or later EVERYONE has to have a Wii finally so he sales will just hit a wall). But the SPT is the subject of a recent marketing report released by Sony as it lines up its prospects for 2009. In the report, Sony does a cross platform comparison of features versus price. While the PS3 has the highest SPT ($399), it comes with more features and value right out of the box for that money that it winds up being the best value. Making a 360 perform with similar capabilities (outfitting Wi-Fi, added HD, and online play subscription) winds up not only costing more than the PS3’s $399 with all that included, but clutters the entertainment center with all kinds of unnecessary stuff the PS3 would spare you of.

While this is pretty obvious in some ways, it’s kind of surprising that Sony decided to step up to 3:10 to Yuma and call Nintendo and Microsoft out. The fact is that aggressive marketing has existed in this console generation for ages (Microsoft nabbing exclusives, and attacking Sony openly in its presentations also). Heck, cross platform battling goes back to the great days of the SNES and Genesis. (Because Nintendon’t ring a bell?) Frankly, if the average consumer doesn’t realize and the PS3 may just be the better value and alternative in these ways it’s up to Sony to let the consumer know this through their marketing, it’s what marketing is.

Aggressive marketing is really the only marketing there is. It’s ineffective for anyone, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony or Little Debbie, to put out ads and news that effectively say “We’re okay, you may enjoy us, but there are alternatives that you could enjoy more also and that’s fine.” In the end, it’s up the consumer to look over what all the companies offer us, and see what the product itself is and make educated decisions about what we purchase and support.