The best to way change public perception ("video games corrupt our nation's youth!", etc.) is for game devs to make more quality games that don't have to rely on violence as a core facet of the gameplay.
None of the censorship arguments against videogame violence have anything to do with actual game quality - strictly content. (Likewise, we aren't even really talking about violence per se - games like Civilization depict unbelievable amounts of violence, but you will never hear a news program complain about it. 'Graphic violence' is what this is all about.) So do videogame devs need to avoid making games that are up the standards of the Godfather, Hamlet, the Judeo-Christian Bible, Apocolypse Now, the Sound and the Fury, etc.? To do so would be ridiculous. Violence (and sexuality as well) is sometimes needed in art, even if used for nothing more than humor (as in much of Hamlet for example).
Your point about the perception not changing regardless is absolutely correct, though. We just need to do what films did and plow through this time period until videogames either become popular or old enough that this argument is relegated to the crowds who complain about Hollywood violence. The people making this criticism really don't play games, so no change in game content will faze them.
I know that is the conventional history of what went on with the Comics Code garbage, but in reality it was just a good way for the threatened biggies (Marvel and whatever DC was called then) to destroy the massively successful upstart, EC Comics. Just like the Night Trap censorship fiasco was created by Nintendo to try to stop Sega and its very sucessful Genesis. Newspapers, television, and radio are all starting to be widdled away a little by videogames (witness the huge drop in television ratings this season, commonly atrributed to videogames and the other great evil menace of our time, the Internet) - I wonder why the media so likes to harp on how potentially evil videogames are?
Then Mr. Spector sold out to a big paycheck to make a console shooter and slap the DE2 title on it, dumbed down the RPG elements of the game (which is what made it stand out from the rest of dozens of shooters on the shelves 2 years ago), removed reloading, replaced ammo with universal ammo (a way of saying either all your weapons work, or none of them do). Between the lines this reads: you never run out of ammo.
And this is why devs should not listen to most gameplayer 'input'.:D
Even ignoring the general misinformation (Warren Spector didn't design DE:IW, Harvey Smith did, so it isn't like Warren could have really sold out - likewise, a simpler control interface was decided on at Ion post-PS2 DE1, before an Xbox version was even in the cards), the game actually is even more of a ROLE-playing game now, even if it has less of the conventional paper-and-pen elements (XP points, for example).
DE:IW focuses far more on allowing the players to make choices on how they behave - who they befriend, what tools/biomods they use, how they get past various obstacles, who they destroy. Part of this process is unified ammo - this gives the player more choice. You can use the same weapon throughout the game (say, a sniper weapon), or you can use a mixture of different weapons. It is your character, and you get to choose, so there are no more DE1 problems like "Oh well, no more sniper rifle for me because there is not enough ammo in the last couple levels for it - a shame I specialized completely around it and it really fits my character."
The removal of skills with XP is done for similar reasons, along with being an attempt to fix a huge problem with the original DE - many skills and biomods obviously overlapped, and it simply wasn't clear in some cases which was better (swimming or aqualung, for example). The game didn't need two parallel skill trees, and the newly tightened focus on biomods brings the unique setting to the forefront.
The lack of reloading is also a sci-fi setting element (nanotechnology guns are not going to be like the 9MM you could go buy now). It gives the game a unique flavor, though it is certainly easier to argue that it may be a bad decision for gameplay. Honestly I don't think it will affect too much, as most fights in the Deus Ex universe are over very very quickly. If you didn't kill your enemies in a couple shots, you didn't plan it well enough.:D
Now, I will certainly agree that the demo release was botched, as many interface and control settings were for some reason not optimal for PC usage (like the mouse-lag which you could turn off in the INI file). And I certainly hoped it would run faster, though it wasn't as bad as I had heard. But these are really technical issues, and they don't detract from all of the exciting role playing decisions you get to make in the actual game.
DE was an amazing game - easily one of my favorites. But to pretend that it had no flaws, or that there was no way to improve on it is just assanine. Sometimes gamers need to try trusting developers with a proven track record a little bit more, especially seeing as most complaints are appearing before gamers have even been able to play the whole game! Oftentimes a gameplay design change's benefit is not clear until quite a bit of time is spent mulling it over, so all of this kneejerk "DE:IW demo is bad, so whole game sucks, all because of that stoopid Xbox" BS is really ridiculous.
(This is also a huge problem with most game reviews - how can you really figure out say, a sandboxy 20+ hour game in a day or so? Even many professional film reviewers will spend at least a week thinking about a 2+ hour non-interactive film before writing a review. This time crush is what partially leads to the kind of 'summary of features as review' you find in Gamespot's review of DE:IW - okay for maybe the latest racing game, not okay for something that obviously brings up such interesting social and ethical problems like the Deus Ex series.
I am pretty sure Nintendo's real story is they don't feel that online play is currently profitable. Miyamoto, etc. have said just that in several interviews over the past couple years.
Never heard the "avoid a re-occurring cost for the player" reason - not to rag on Nintendo, but that is probably the least likely Nintendo statement ever. Closest I have heard to that is that Miyamoto doesn't think gamers will pay monthly fees for online access, which is kind of funny - as is your very charitable spin on that kind of comment.:D See Pokemon, GC link cable, those E-cards, all of the price-fixing through the years, first GBA being essentially broken, GBA SP needing a separate purchase for headphone jack, endless SNES->GBA rereleases, etc. Nintendo loves 'ripping off' their players, and always has. Doesn't necessarily affect their game quality (lack of developer freedom for the Nintendo non-heavyweights seems to, though that is another story).
Apple has consistantly had a stance against DRM, and this is the first time I've ever heard of the copy-protection in iTMS as DRM.
Except it is DRM by definition. I have to wonder where you have been for the last six months or so if you haven't heard of 'Fairplay' being DRM. Anything that prevents the customer from using their music in a certain unapproved method is DRM, period.
Are there any others? Is there something I'm missing? It can prevent the need to transcode the music to another digital music format, which reduces sound quality and increases file size. The point of this whole digital music file thing is partially that many of us just aren't interested in having to lug around CDs anymore, so being able to copy to CD is of limited use.
AFAIK, xBox runs directx... pcs use directx... hmmm... how long did that port take... Contrary to popular PC gamer opinion, the Xbox is not simply a PC. It is very very good at certain things like Pixel Shaders and various memory bandwidth, and it took a long time to get it optimized for the less adept PC.
Cannot find the quote unfortunately, but Gearbox stated basically just this recently.
I just wanted to say thanks for cutting through some of the thick fanboy BS around here.
Much of what you wrote I already agreed with, but little details like the problems with Take 2 and this little factoid are either news to me or I had forgotten. Nice job pulling things together!
I think you mean going from lossy digital to a different lossy digital. That would maybe sound a little better than lossy digital to analog to more lossy digital, but just because it sounds less crappy doesn't mean it still doesn't sound like crap. You lose sound quality with every conversion - especially with a 2nd+ generation 'copy'. (Music compression level also goes to hell, too.) Transcoding between lossy formats, even with no analog inbetween, is simply not a true copy that we refer to when we talk about digital copying. It is more like cassette tape to cassette tape copying, which is exactly why the RIAA doesn't mind this 'restriction'. You lose nearly all benefits of digital music files, other than the convenience of storage choice (which is admittedly still nice, but I honestly could care less if I lose the freedom I have with CDs).
It is amazing how many iTunes fans apparently have no real understanding of distributed digital music technology - transcoding between lossy formats is bad, okay? Buy some better speakers or get your ears checked or SOMETHING. And whatever you do, please don't pollute the various file-sharing networks with your terrible sounding transcoded garbage, or at least put a warning in the filename ("WARNING: TRANSCODED BY SOMEONE WITH MAJOR HEARING AND/OR TECHNOLOGY COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS!").
I fail to believe that 9 out of 10 multiplatform games require heavy use of all four triggers on the PS2 in an action environment (no strategy or slower-paced games, since the Xbox controller has plenty of buttons for something like that). How many games truly need quick reflex-orientated button movements to the same degree as Tony Hawk? Maybe fighting games, maybe some sports games. Not 9 out of 10 multiplatform games, though!
And I disagree about Tony Hawk regardless. The better D-pad on the Xbox controller, combined with some clever default button configuration (using both triggers simultaneously for a spine transfer simply feels a lot more intuitive than the dedicated button of the PS2 versions, IMO) negate pretty much any controller advantage, and for people with reasonably average hand sizes makes the Xbox version probably superior for controls.
Agree with the GC controller problem though. A lot of games would be ridiculously hard to port for control reasons alone - the horrendous d-pad alone is enough to kill the play control of so many games. I can't believe games like Ikaruga or Soul Calibur II are ported to the GC...
(And the fact that SCII on GC outsold the other versions shows that play control simply isn't that important to many gamers.)
Capcom has released some cool exclusives for Xbox (Steel Battallion). So has Sega (JSRF, SegaGT, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shenmue II in the US, etc.). So has Konami. So has From Software (Otogi), Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei NINE, though did that maybe go multiplatform eventually?) and Tecmo (do they support the GC at all? I don't think so, but I could very well be wrong.), etc.
So what's your point? Both GC and Xbox receive a fair number of exclusives from various companies in Japan - and both of them remain dwarfed in this area by the PS2, which is the original (and correct) argument of the interview. The two Japanese console underdogs, along with many game developmental companies, would do much better business if they took a more multiplatform approach. The rapidly shrinking Japanese game industry needs to do something before things get even worse.
And I wouldn't put Crazy Taxi 3 or House of the Dead 3 as examples of truly good exclusive games normally (though they aren't bad, per se). But you put some truly crappy games like the Sonic (though they have some cool moments) and Billy Hatcher (gah!) games on your list.:D And Sonic isn't even really exclusive, since the first truly new non-handheld Sonic game in many years is multiplatform. Previously released ports don't count as exclusives in my book, so long as they were released previously in the same country.
I would actually not be surprised if PaRappa was a little pricey to make. I doubt some of the major talent involved with the music are all that cheap - neither is the designer, right?:D
That is a very good point. I wish it would be acknowledged more in all of the endless "Why was Ico not accepted??? Gamers have no taste!!!" rants popping up on the major gaming sites with increasing frequency. Little replay, too (compared to Rez, say), and I thought it was a lot shorter even then 10 hours (more like 3, IIRC, though I am probably not:D).
To be fair, Einhander was pretty freaking cool. Some awesome shmup boss battles in that game, along with great production values, a cool story, and some pretty good general gameplay (not DoDonPachi or Battle Garegga level, but it does have better boss battles!).
And inserting CDs is more work than one click, which was really my point (I was apparently too vague for one moderator). And as another poster pointed out, you really always want to double-check the CDDB data before committing to it.
But the Kyro was pretty nicely designed hardware. The Sega Dreamcast used a lesser version of the card, and you only need to look at arcade games like the beautiful Virtua Fighter 4 (not the ugly PS2 port) to see what a more evolved form of Kyro is capable of. Both versions of the Naomi arcade hardware (and their Dreamcast sibling) have driven some of the best looking games of the last five years. So I find it hard to believe the hardware was really that bad - especially keeping in mind that arcade developers simply don't have the opportunity to optimize their games around (non-custom) hardware as much as console and PC devs do.
they also released the American version translated back into Japanese as "Final Fantasy 7 International Edition". I'm not sure why.
It was rereleased because it had more stuff added to it (not sure what, probably some sidequests, items, monsters, etc. - FFs not really my cup of tea). For some reason the Japanese will actually spend big money on these rereleases. (I suppose some truly obsessive fans combined with lots of disposable income, by American standards, is a good reason for that.) You see the same thing with a lot of Square games especially (Kingdom Hearts did it recently for example), but other companies do it too (Sega rereleased Jet Set Radio in Japan with the two new American levels).
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The best to way change public perception ("video games corrupt our nation's youth!", etc.) is for game devs to make more quality games that don't have to rely on violence as a core facet of the gameplay.
None of the censorship arguments against videogame violence have anything to do with actual game quality - strictly content. (Likewise, we aren't even really talking about violence per se - games like Civilization depict unbelievable amounts of violence, but you will never hear a news program complain about it. 'Graphic violence' is what this is all about.) So do videogame devs need to avoid making games that are up the standards of the Godfather, Hamlet, the Judeo-Christian Bible, Apocolypse Now, the Sound and the Fury, etc.? To do so would be ridiculous. Violence (and sexuality as well) is sometimes needed in art, even if used for nothing more than humor (as in much of Hamlet for example).
Your point about the perception not changing regardless is absolutely correct, though. We just need to do what films did and plow through this time period until videogames either become popular or old enough that this argument is relegated to the crowds who complain about Hollywood violence. The people making this criticism really don't play games, so no change in game content will faze them.
It would be more bizarre to see a game dev without some kind of swag related to other games in their office...
I know that is the conventional history of what went on with the Comics Code garbage, but in reality it was just a good way for the threatened biggies (Marvel and whatever DC was called then) to destroy the massively successful upstart, EC Comics. Just like the Night Trap censorship fiasco was created by Nintendo to try to stop Sega and its very sucessful Genesis. Newspapers, television, and radio are all starting to be widdled away a little by videogames (witness the huge drop in television ratings this season, commonly atrributed to videogames and the other great evil menace of our time, the Internet) - I wonder why the media so likes to harp on how potentially evil videogames are?
Then Mr. Spector sold out to a big paycheck to make a console shooter and slap the DE2 title on it, dumbed down the RPG elements of the game (which is what made it stand out from the rest of dozens of shooters on the shelves 2 years ago), removed reloading, replaced ammo with universal ammo (a way of saying either all your weapons work, or none of them do). Between the lines this reads: you never run out of ammo.
:D
:D
And this is why devs should not listen to most gameplayer 'input'.
Even ignoring the general misinformation (Warren Spector didn't design DE:IW, Harvey Smith did, so it isn't like Warren could have really sold out - likewise, a simpler control interface was decided on at Ion post-PS2 DE1, before an Xbox version was even in the cards), the game actually is even more of a ROLE-playing game now, even if it has less of the conventional paper-and-pen elements (XP points, for example).
DE:IW focuses far more on allowing the players to make choices on how they behave - who they befriend, what tools/biomods they use, how they get past various obstacles, who they destroy. Part of this process is unified ammo - this gives the player more choice. You can use the same weapon throughout the game (say, a sniper weapon), or you can use a mixture of different weapons. It is your character, and you get to choose, so there are no more DE1 problems like "Oh well, no more sniper rifle for me because there is not enough ammo in the last couple levels for it - a shame I specialized completely around it and it really fits my character."
The removal of skills with XP is done for similar reasons, along with being an attempt to fix a huge problem with the original DE - many skills and biomods obviously overlapped, and it simply wasn't clear in some cases which was better (swimming or aqualung, for example). The game didn't need two parallel skill trees, and the newly tightened focus on biomods brings the unique setting to the forefront.
The lack of reloading is also a sci-fi setting element (nanotechnology guns are not going to be like the 9MM you could go buy now). It gives the game a unique flavor, though it is certainly easier to argue that it may be a bad decision for gameplay. Honestly I don't think it will affect too much, as most fights in the Deus Ex universe are over very very quickly. If you didn't kill your enemies in a couple shots, you didn't plan it well enough.
Now, I will certainly agree that the demo release was botched, as many interface and control settings were for some reason not optimal for PC usage (like the mouse-lag which you could turn off in the INI file). And I certainly hoped it would run faster, though it wasn't as bad as I had heard. But these are really technical issues, and they don't detract from all of the exciting role playing decisions you get to make in the actual game.
DE was an amazing game - easily one of my favorites. But to pretend that it had no flaws, or that there was no way to improve on it is just assanine. Sometimes gamers need to try trusting developers with a proven track record a little bit more, especially seeing as most complaints are appearing before gamers have even been able to play the whole game! Oftentimes a gameplay design change's benefit is not clear until quite a bit of time is spent mulling it over, so all of this kneejerk "DE:IW demo is bad, so whole game sucks, all because of that stoopid Xbox" BS is really ridiculous.
(This is also a huge problem with most game reviews - how can you really figure out say, a sandboxy 20+ hour game in a day or so? Even many professional film reviewers will spend at least a week thinking about a 2+ hour non-interactive film before writing a review. This time crush is what partially leads to the kind of 'summary of features as review' you find in Gamespot's review of DE:IW - okay for maybe the latest racing game, not okay for something that obviously brings up such interesting social and ethical problems like the Deus Ex series.
Like the economic failure of bottled water?
I am pretty sure Nintendo's real story is they don't feel that online play is currently profitable. Miyamoto, etc. have said just that in several interviews over the past couple years.
:D See Pokemon, GC link cable, those E-cards, all of the price-fixing through the years, first GBA being essentially broken, GBA SP needing a separate purchase for headphone jack, endless SNES->GBA rereleases, etc. Nintendo loves 'ripping off' their players, and always has. Doesn't necessarily affect their game quality (lack of developer freedom for the Nintendo non-heavyweights seems to, though that is another story).
Never heard the "avoid a re-occurring cost for the player" reason - not to rag on Nintendo, but that is probably the least likely Nintendo statement ever. Closest I have heard to that is that Miyamoto doesn't think gamers will pay monthly fees for online access, which is kind of funny - as is your very charitable spin on that kind of comment.
Actually, Sega was originally an American company (based in Hawaii). Name stands for "Service Games".
Apple has consistantly had a stance against DRM, and this is the first time I've ever heard of the copy-protection in iTMS as DRM.
Except it is DRM by definition. I have to wonder where you have been for the last six months or so if you haven't heard of 'Fairplay' being DRM. Anything that prevents the customer from using their music in a certain unapproved method is DRM, period.
Are there any others? Is there something I'm missing?
It can prevent the need to transcode the music to another digital music format, which reduces sound quality and increases file size. The point of this whole digital music file thing is partially that many of us just aren't interested in having to lug around CDs anymore, so being able to copy to CD is of limited use.
You are probably referring to Rumsfeld (or maybe Cheney). Ashcroft never did any of that international stuff, AFAIK.
AFAIK, xBox runs directx... pcs use directx... hmmm... how long did that port take...
Contrary to popular PC gamer opinion, the Xbox is not simply a PC. It is very very good at certain things like Pixel Shaders and various memory bandwidth, and it took a long time to get it optimized for the less adept PC.
Cannot find the quote unfortunately, but Gearbox stated basically just this recently.
I just wanted to say thanks for cutting through some of the thick fanboy BS around here.
Much of what you wrote I already agreed with, but little details like the problems with Take 2 and this little factoid are either news to me or I had forgotten. Nice job pulling things together!
I can speak from personal experience that this does not work. A 14.4 modem and AOL (pre-Internet enabled) didn't stop me. :D
You mean going from digital to digital and back.
I think you mean going from lossy digital to a different lossy digital. That would maybe sound a little better than lossy digital to analog to more lossy digital, but just because it sounds less crappy doesn't mean it still doesn't sound like crap. You lose sound quality with every conversion - especially with a 2nd+ generation 'copy'. (Music compression level also goes to hell, too.) Transcoding between lossy formats, even with no analog inbetween, is simply not a true copy that we refer to when we talk about digital copying. It is more like cassette tape to cassette tape copying, which is exactly why the RIAA doesn't mind this 'restriction'. You lose nearly all benefits of digital music files, other than the convenience of storage choice (which is admittedly still nice, but I honestly could care less if I lose the freedom I have with CDs).
It is amazing how many iTunes fans apparently have no real understanding of distributed digital music technology - transcoding between lossy formats is bad, okay? Buy some better speakers or get your ears checked or SOMETHING. And whatever you do, please don't pollute the various file-sharing networks with your terrible sounding transcoded garbage, or at least put a warning in the filename ("WARNING: TRANSCODED BY SOMEONE WITH MAJOR HEARING AND/OR TECHNOLOGY COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS!").
I fail to believe that 9 out of 10 multiplatform games require heavy use of all four triggers on the PS2 in an action environment (no strategy or slower-paced games, since the Xbox controller has plenty of buttons for something like that). How many games truly need quick reflex-orientated button movements to the same degree as Tony Hawk? Maybe fighting games, maybe some sports games. Not 9 out of 10 multiplatform games, though!
And I disagree about Tony Hawk regardless. The better D-pad on the Xbox controller, combined with some clever default button configuration (using both triggers simultaneously for a spine transfer simply feels a lot more intuitive than the dedicated button of the PS2 versions, IMO) negate pretty much any controller advantage, and for people with reasonably average hand sizes makes the Xbox version probably superior for controls.
Agree with the GC controller problem though. A lot of games would be ridiculously hard to port for control reasons alone - the horrendous d-pad alone is enough to kill the play control of so many games. I can't believe games like Ikaruga or Soul Calibur II are ported to the GC...
(And the fact that SCII on GC outsold the other versions shows that play control simply isn't that important to many gamers.)
Capcom has released some cool exclusives for Xbox (Steel Battallion). So has Sega (JSRF, SegaGT, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shenmue II in the US, etc.). So has Konami. So has From Software (Otogi), Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei NINE, though did that maybe go multiplatform eventually?) and Tecmo (do they support the GC at all? I don't think so, but I could very well be wrong.), etc.
:D And Sonic isn't even really exclusive, since the first truly new non-handheld Sonic game in many years is multiplatform. Previously released ports don't count as exclusives in my book, so long as they were released previously in the same country.
So what's your point? Both GC and Xbox receive a fair number of exclusives from various companies in Japan - and both of them remain dwarfed in this area by the PS2, which is the original (and correct) argument of the interview. The two Japanese console underdogs, along with many game developmental companies, would do much better business if they took a more multiplatform approach. The rapidly shrinking Japanese game industry needs to do something before things get even worse.
And I wouldn't put Crazy Taxi 3 or House of the Dead 3 as examples of truly good exclusive games normally (though they aren't bad, per se). But you put some truly crappy games like the Sonic (though they have some cool moments) and Billy Hatcher (gah!) games on your list.
I would actually not be surprised if PaRappa was a little pricey to make. I doubt some of the major talent involved with the music are all that cheap - neither is the designer, right? :D
That is a very good point. I wish it would be acknowledged more in all of the endless "Why was Ico not accepted??? Gamers have no taste!!!" rants popping up on the major gaming sites with increasing frequency. Little replay, too (compared to Rez, say), and I thought it was a lot shorter even then 10 hours (more like 3, IIRC, though I am probably not :D).
To be fair, Einhander was pretty freaking cool. Some awesome shmup boss battles in that game, along with great production values, a cool story, and some pretty good general gameplay (not DoDonPachi or Battle Garegga level, but it does have better boss battles!).
I wish somebody would have the balls to start releasing these games on DVDs.
:D
They do - just for Xbox and PS2.
And inserting CDs is more work than one click, which was really my point (I was apparently too vague for one moderator). And as another poster pointed out, you really always want to double-check the CDDB data before committing to it.
You have a very warped perception of Walt Disney and his ethics. Not your fault, of course, but maybe you should do some more reading about him...
I suspect ripping over five hundred CDs takes a little more work than a single mouse click...
But the Kyro was pretty nicely designed hardware. The Sega Dreamcast used a lesser version of the card, and you only need to look at arcade games like the beautiful Virtua Fighter 4 (not the ugly PS2 port) to see what a more evolved form of Kyro is capable of. Both versions of the Naomi arcade hardware (and their Dreamcast sibling) have driven some of the best looking games of the last five years. So I find it hard to believe the hardware was really that bad - especially keeping in mind that arcade developers simply don't have the opportunity to optimize their games around (non-custom) hardware as much as console and PC devs do.
they also released the American version translated back into Japanese as "Final Fantasy 7 International Edition". I'm not sure why.
It was rereleased because it had more stuff added to it (not sure what, probably some sidequests, items, monsters, etc. - FFs not really my cup of tea). For some reason the Japanese will actually spend big money on these rereleases. (I suppose some truly obsessive fans combined with lots of disposable income, by American standards, is a good reason for that.) You see the same thing with a lot of Square games especially (Kingdom Hearts did it recently for example), but other companies do it too (Sega rereleased Jet Set Radio in Japan with the two new American levels).