More on the State of Gaming

In the after math of E3 and other trade shows, I’m kind of getting bored with this generation. 

I’m growing tired of “hardcore” gamers bashing Wii for not having “hardcore” titles. And, I’m tired of Nintendo not making that argument invalid. I’m tired of the appeal to mom and gramma. I’m tired of first person shooters. I’m just kind of growing tired of the medium in it’s current form. 

Some might suspect that I’m just “growing up”. But, I’ve never seen games as something I would eventually grow out of. And I don’t think I’m growing out of gaming. There’s a lot of people who will “grow out” of gaming. That’s the stereo typical male who’s only playing Madden, Halo, Guitar Hero and like games. For those people it’s not a hobby, it’s a way to pass the free time they have. 

That isn’t to say I don’t play games for fun like they do. Games are intended to be a fun past time, and I play to have fun. I just think there comes a time when one makes the decision to make gaming something of a hobby to pursue. Gaming has a history, it has important figures who’ve served us games thought this history, and it has plenty of pieces of software and hardware to be admired. 

Here’s a parallel situation. Everyone drives cars. There’s a small section of society that obsesses over cars. They are car enthusiasts. They follow the industry, know it’s history, and actively engage in activities related to cars (things like restoring old cars, having a car collection, and going to car shows).  Cars are a hobby for some people. This is a commonly accepted hobby. 

I don’t think popular culture has made space for the Video Game Hobbyist at this point. There are still to many negative conceptions that go with gaming yet for that to be accepted. Things like only males play video games, and that the only games being played are violent shooters and crappy movie tieins. We view games as the budding adult male’s play toys. This is a view which has shifted in the last decade from child’s toy to this new conception, probably because it’s yesterday’s kids that are today’s group of budding adults. I’m sure in five or ten years, when the group of male adults who stuck with gaming for twenty odd years decide that it’s their hobby now, it’ll be generally more accepted. And, if Wii can radically shift the intended audience for games and widen it considerably we can have an environment movie goers have now. Which I see as something basically everyone participates in in some way, everyone is a movie buff in someway. And there are ‘true’ movie enthusiasts that are like our car enthusiast pals from my prior example.

Basically the Gamer Enthusiest, who is ripe with trivial facts and/or options pertaining to various aspects of gaming, exist currently, but will be more acknowledged in the future. 

I think it depends on what Wii can do. Gaming has to overcome that ‘these things are for dudes only’ label it’s currently drowning in. Of course, our car enthusiast friends are largely male. Still, I guess personally, I’d like to see the industry overcome that issue. That’s a whole other post though. 

So what does the idea of an accepted gamer ethusiest have to do with this generation getting stale? Perhaps that because this generation is kind of getting stale, with it’s repeated trends (FPS online, sandbox gaming, etc) and, uh, not repeated trends (basically every audience expanding thing on Wii) gamers might be thinking about why the game at this point. What keeps us going? Notice the recent influx of classic revivals? People are reflecting on the history of gaming and starting to appreciate the last thirty odd years. Gamers are growing up, and some of them who are getting bored, instead of turning away from everything in general, are exploring the industry via it’s past. 

Another way of putting it is to say that the gamer population is expanding due to a stagnant industry. Of course, with each generation there are those who feel gaming is getting stale. I’m sure some people felt this way last generation. Maybe it’s just me. I think a lot of gamers knew this generation would be a wired one. It has been, and I think that the community is breaking more so than before because of everything that has happened thus far. 

I feel like I’ve babbled on too long, and taken this too seriously. I’m good now.

Platforming Resurrection

Right now, for most gamers, Wii isn’t a worth while venture. It’s been this way, well, since launch. The games are different, the control is different, and the intended auidence is different. Nintendo fans are sticking it out though, as they have since the days of the N64. Nintendo’s games are the only games worth a damn, and they’re not even particularly concerned with the ‘core’ gamers desires any more. I’ve discussed both sides of that issue here numerous times; this article isn’t really about that. It’s about Nintendo’s newest “bone throwing”.

Completely out of nowhere Nintendo up and decides they’re going to release a brand new 2D platforming game. Not via WiiWare either, this is a straight up, full on, retail game. It’s a new installment in the Wario Land franchise.

I have little knowledge about the Wario Land series, but after watching the slick animations and incredibly detailed environments feated in Wario Land: Shake It! I just don’t think it would be wise to ignore it. I generally dispise Wario, but I love the genre and 2D platformers are a rariety these days. If your into the genre, I suggest checking out this trailer, becuase the still shots really don’t do the game that much justice, it’s something that should be seen in motion. This has a July release for Japan, and I would only assume that a game like this wouldn’t be to hard to localize, so, I’d expect it before the summer ends.

The other game I’d like to mention is Mega Man 9, whose announcemnt was a complete shock to most of the gaming community. The most intresting aspect of Mega Man 9 is that it’s going to, basically, be an NES game. It’s being developed for Wii (distributed via WiiWare) and the team decided the best way to honestly take the series “back to its roots”. That phrase is such a tired line in the industry, except now Capcom can actually claim it (however, at this point, I don’t think they’ve made a statement like that yet, which is odd because that overused tagline actually holds water here).

The idea of a “new-retro” title is very appealing to me. Mega Man, like Wario, was never really something I was into but I strongly support the direction this game is going. Making a game like this is risky, simply because of modern expectations. It’s hard to believe making a modern NES game is risky, but it’s also easy to understand why it is a risk. It’s very bold, and I really hope it has some kind of effect on the indusrty. I enjoy my retro sidescrolling games; those are my favorite kind of games. It would be wonderful if suddenly this kind of thing caught on.

On another note, MM9 kind of ties in with my last article, about how I think gaming is going to change. MM9 is surely an example of the possibilities that have opened up this generation. I doubt Capcom would have green-lit this project if digital distribution weren’t an option. The development team is very small, and in that sense it’s “indie” (for lack of a better term, becuase it’s not really inide at all).  Small teams with low budgets making really awesome games, that’s the future. I like that future, especially if it means titles like this and all the other crazy experiemtal type games that have made it out recently.

Here’s a screenshot from MM9 and a link to a really intresting article on MM9.

Totally retro, totally cool. I just hope I’m man enough for it.

Sonic Unleashed

Sonic won’t die, at least not yet. If the series must continue then I would hope the Sega takes a good look at the series history and make games that show they remember what Sonic used to be. I don’t mean remake or retread familiar waters, I mean stay true to your source material. No wonky stories with aliens, no rouge genies, no clones, no pirates, etc, etc. That goes for gameplay additions too. Shooting? Fishing? Driving? Not in a Sonic game. Ok? Thanks Sega.

Recently, Sega announced Sonic Unleashed. Along with this uninspired name, Sega released some screen shots and a trailer. Both the screens and the video seemed to take into account all the things I had been thinking. It was a mix of 2D and 3D gameplay (although the 3D segments seem to be in the same vein as Secret Rings, boo). The environments have a unique styling, but it still looks like a Sonic game. There were loops and platforms, and it looks amazing. I’ve included only one screen below, but it’s a really nice looking one (I’ll have some links at the bottom of this entry).

Sweet, right? Sonic with a bit of a European vibe? That’s pretty cool. So I saw all these things, and it made me happy to see them. But, I had to sprinkle some salt on all of this sweetness, because with everything Sega has released in the last five years, virtually none of it has been worthwhile. This looks great, but will it be great? Will there be something revealed later that could totally ruin what I see here? What could ruin a most 2D experience?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, the Secret Rings part might. But, what if it wasn’t on rails? Or what if those portions were rather limited? That would be ok. But what if everything was on rails, even the 2D parts? That would be terrible.

But even those things, as hindering as they might be, didn’t prepare me for the other bit of information that I stumbled across, which is pictured below.

Were-Sonic.

Upon seeing this nearly all of my interest in the title fled my conscious. The levels will be divided up into day and night segments. Presumably you will “unleash” Were-Sonic in the latter segments. These sections will also be combat heavy. And we have another poor, poor, choice by the fine folks at Sega. One of the CG screens also had a Sonic 360/PS3 styled monster in it.

These ideas don’t mix with the rest of what Sega has shown of the title. 2D goodness + non-robotic monsters + Were-Sonic? What kind of prick thinks this shit up?

I’ll reserve judgment until Sega shows more of it, but I remain very skeptical. If the game has a vast emphasis on 2D gameplay, defeating Eggman’s robots, and the Were-Sonic parts are actually playable and enjoyable then this will be a worthwhile endeavor. I can get over Were-Sonic, like I’m sure Zelda fans quickly adjusted to Were-Link (which turned out quite well I might add, but that was a Nintendo game from a studio known for amazing games, not a Sega team known for missing the mark with every game they make). However on-rail segments, mosters, aliens, and whatever else Sega might add would ruin this for me, and would make it a prime example as to why the series should end.

Make the right choice Sega. Make the classic fans happy, not the furries who enjoyed your last few efforts.

Links:

Screens:

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/03/22/sonic-unleashed-artwork/

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/03/22/more-sonic-unleashed-screenshots/

Trailer:

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/04/04/check-out-this-new-sonic-unleashed-trailer/

Echoing Sentiments: A Comentary on the Sonic Franchise

I’m finally writing the Sonic opinion piece I’d been meaning to get around to doing. I was actually inspired by a recent opinion piece over at Wired (http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/03/opinion-a-call.html).

I love Sonic the Hedgehog. His games had a huge impact on my life; the series is responsible for love of the video game. From that series I branched out and continued to explore the game universe. I can thank Sonic Team for some of the best experiences I’ve had in front of a television set.

Not recently however.

After 1994 the Sonic series started to falter. Sonic was virtually nonexistent during the Saturn era, and when he reappeared in 1998 (in Japan) with Sonic Adventure. Super Mario 64 had managed to top the core aspects of this game two years prior. Still, Adventure was a high point for the series. Its anticipated sequel was going to fix many of it’s problems. It, however, mostly failed to do that. Adventure was a hodgepodge of terrible game ideas. Fans of the series should have realized something was up when only a fifth of the game was speed related. I certainly didn’t realize it in ‘99 when I was blowing off junior high school assignments to finish the game. But, fishing? Shooting? Slow “standard” platforming? Treasure hunting? These things have no place in a Sonic game. Adventure 2 cut fishing, and the slow platforming aspects, but kept the shooting and treasure hunting, as well as the trademark speed levels. Both the shooting and treasure hunting morphed into a tedious wreck. The game was built, presumably, as a speed game (Knuckles and Rouge run blazingly fast for their segments).

These elements just don’t belong.

These are two games in which the best fun was reduced to a small fraction of the actual game. Even these sections were plagued with an odd camera and awkward level design choices. Sega dropped out of hardware after Adventure 2 was released. New home console Sonic games were put on hold in favor of ports of the Adventure games, and a ray of hope shined brightly as Sega announced Sonic Advance for the Gameboy Advance.

That series went on to be the best thing to happen to Sonic since ‘94.

That series, however, declined in quality as it progressed. By the third entry Sonic Team’s amazing narrative style found it’s way in. The final entry was also bogged down by a quasi Team mechanic borrowed from Knuckles Chaotix and the just released Sonic Heroes. It didn’t work.

Heroes. Want to talk about series decline? Here’s the real beginning of it.

The Adventure games, despite their flaws are still highly regarded among the fans. Playing them now is difficult, but in their time they were a blast to play. Heroes had plenty of that charm as well, the game even shifted to almost entirely focusing on speed. Still, the team mechanic and the wobbly game play that resulted from that choice, as well as the poorly crafted story ruined the game.

Shadow the Hedgehog was the breaking point for most gamers. Not only did it feature Heroes’ clunky gameplay set-up (except worse, somehow), bland repetitive levels, it also feature guns and some wonky story about Shadow being crafted by alien creatures (which is a rant all in itself. Fucking aliens. What a dumb fucking story choice). It was obvious that this was some marketing ploy to attracted gamers high on last generations big “breadwinners” Halo and Grand Theft Auto. That or someone at Sega had completely lost their mind.

Ironically, one of Sonic’s greatest games launched right along side this abomination, Sonic Rush (which was probably the last worthwhile Sonic game).

Sonic Team just kept tarnishing the series name with the Riders series, Sonic and the Secret Rings (which, for some reason fans seem to enjoy, despite it’s many flaws (ie: terrible story, horrendous level design, and atrocious control scheme), and the graphically pretty Shadow clone, better known as Sonic the Hedgehog (or Sonic ‘06).

Just recalling this history makes me inclined to agree with anyone who says it’s time to just end the series. The quality has dropped, and the Sonic fans that started with Sonic 1 have abandoned hope. Sonic Team has proven time and time again they can’t handle the properties their famous for making (look at their Nights sequel). The team is a shell of it’s former self. They’re probably hard at work on their next failure. Somehow though, it will still sell enough copies for the team to get another chance at reanimating the monster they’ve made out of Sonic.

However, in an odd move Sega commissioned BioWare to develop a Sonic RPG for DS. The game shows promise (despite taking Sonic into a traditionally slow paced genre), but how can any Sonic fan not be skeptical, especially with talk of another alien species making an appearance in Sonic’s world. That element has me scared for the game. And, it’s Sega admitting they can’t handle the property. It’s time to retire the blue blur, maybe just for a while.

It actually would have made perfect sense, story wise, to call it quits with the end of Adventure 2. Everyone, villains included, worked together to save the planet. Eggman was a good guy to me after that; it was very hard for me to see him as evil after what he did at the end of that game. It ended very peacefully, even with Shadow’s death, which could have worked on a symbolic level to signify the end of the series.

Mario is going to face a similar problem in his next game. Galaxy’s theme and ending just make that game the perfect end to the series. These mascots can’t be pushed on forever, despite the money they make their companies. It’s as if dignity has no meaning as long as the cash flow keeps coming, which is a terrible shame. It’s a problem this industry faces, sequelitis, it’s called in some circles. Eventually we will get tired of established series, especially if it seems like their parent companies are just beating life out of them. Even Disney had to put Mickey Mouse on hiatus. He still represents the company, and he makes plenty of cameos all over the place, but he hasn’t had his own major production in a very long time. He’s a dignified icon. Sega, Nintendo, Capcom (yeah, I’m calling you out on Megaman (and Street Fighter), Konami (I love Metal Gear, but Kojima, if I see MGS5 after you called it quits here I’ll be fucking pissed), it’s time to dignify your properties and end this sequel festival. We know your studios can make great games; maybe it’s time for something new.

It is time.

Olimar, Smash Bros. Impressions, and WiiWare Price Gouging

Olimar is the mad notes.

So far it’s what people probably expected. Good ol’ Smash doing what it does best. The Sub Space is a bit of a let down though. Nice CG, boring playable sections.

I also caught wind of Nintendo’s WiiWare service pricing. I was abit appauled that Pokemon Ranch was going to be $10. Ten bucks to walk around and see poorly modeled versions of your Diamond and Pearl Pokemon. That’s great. A real game like Star Solider R is only going to cost what a SNES game costs, which is insane in my opinion. Sometimes Nintendo does great things, but they always want top dollar for their not so great efforts too. Like WarioWare on Wii. That was a budget game at best, not a full priced one. I know wii is popular, but maybe they should look at what Sony did with PS2 software. First party games were often released at a forty dollar price tag, and many of these games were monstrous games too. Even third parties caught on to that, which was great. I don’t think Nintendo’s all about that though. Oh well. Don’t buy Pokemon Ranch for ten bucks. Not worth it.

Waiting for Tranquility, and a note on Downloadable Content

Officially, Brawl is one week away. I am thankful, and I have two reasons why. Here they are:
Reason 1: It’s coming up on two years since Brawl was announced. May 2006, about three more months and we would have be pained with a two year wait. Smash fans almost suffered as much as Zelda fans did with Twilight Princess, which, I believe, was a three year wait. The wait for Galaxy was pretty painful as well. With Smash out of the way there are virtually no big Wii titles on the horizon. Well, there are, but there’s nothing as big as Galaxy or Brawl; no AAA experience that people have invested a year or more of waiting to play (unless you really love your Mario Kart). We can finally relax for a while, which is fantastic. We can just pour hours upon hours into Brawl, and not give a shit about whats coming up. Tis good news.

Reason 2: This is simple, it’s Smash Bros, and it’s ass kicking time.

Other Business: Nintendo announced a Pay to Play online service. Certain games will have online service fees. Also developers can now sell additional game content via WiiWare. My initial feelings on these matter were very negative, I hate service fees, and downloadable content blows. On closer inspection, common theory in regard to the fees seems to indicate that this might just before MMOs, which, according to SquareEnix weren’t possible on Wii due to Nintendo’s regular online service. I’m sure other games will take advantage of PtP, but if it’s most an MMO deal, that’s fine (because I don;t play those kinds of games anyway). Brawl and Mario Kart will be free to play online, and that’s great.

DLC, on the other hand, still bugs me. The only DLC I’ve ever been okay with is Guitar Hero and Rock Band DLC, anything else just seems like over charge. And, I think the people that publish RB and GH are doing it. Those games, and Madden, should release one game per console generation and then just add songs, or engine updates, through DLC. It’s a better business model .They could put the songs or rosters online, and still make a disc for those without an internet connection (who the fuck doesn’t have the net now though?). I mean, put the songs online, then make a compilation disc for $20. Easy enough, and much more consumer friendly. I doubt it’ll happen though. Digital Distribution just hasn;t taken off yet. It will. Episodic and periodic content is the future.

That’s it. There’s a rant I didn’t even expect. If I don’t get another one of these off before next Sunday, Happy Brawl day (make sure to go at midnight, get Brawling early!).

This, how would one begin to describe how awesome this screen is. Just think about how this will look in motion, in a fucking week!

The Conspiracy.

The last two weeks have been pretty trouble filled for this blogger. My PC’s power supply crapped out, I wrecked two (2) cars this past week, and Nintendo delayed Brawl, again. Alright so the last one isn’t that troubling. It’s only a month more, and it’s not going to run me a large some of money, so I guess from that stand point it’s alright.

Still, I find it quite off that I post this gushing preview for it only a day before the delay news drops. Someone is spiting me. Well, not really. What are the chances of that anyway? Nintendo, Chrysler, Pontiac, and the dude who built my PC all got together to hassle me for the last two weeks. Right.

Still, this delay is a bit distressing. When you look at the new release dates Japan’s is a week later, and ours is a month later. That doesn’t make sense. What could they possibly be doing? The game almost had to have gone gold in Japan by now, so I guess I’m just missing something here. Why do we have to suffer a longer delay? Translation issues? Online testing? Is that really going to take that much time? Especially since the game is basically finished. I guess I don’t see what needs to be done to get this to the North American public. But, I guess it’s not in my hands. It sucks, hard, but thankfully it’s not anything longer than a month.

But, we can’t forget the bright side. The crowded week of February 11this now much less crowded. Professor Layton and Ace Attorney 4 now all have a little more breathing space. I’d hate to see AA4 tank in sales because of Brawl. Plus, this gives me more of a chance to play catch up with my library. I’ve got a bunch to do yet in Orange Box, FFXII, and I’d like to finish up Okami. So, hey, an extra month to tale care of stuff? Why not. See? It’s not so bad.

Anyway, I know I made that mission statement about not bitching about my life and sticking strictly to business, but I guess I’m legitimizing this post with the Brawl delay and I’m did some social commentary. It’s legit. I’ve got a few “more serious” topics on the back burner (such as part 2 of my 2008 anticipations, and a Sonic commentary focusing on Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood).

Don’t worry, ’s aite.

A Commentary on Fall 2007’s Nintendo Conference

Nintendo has been on an odd path since they launched the DS. They’ve been the subject of a bit of controversy, with their so called, “non-games” and their new target audience. Most hardcore fans, for the last year or s, have been a bit at odds with the choices Nintendo has been making. A lot of gamers were concerned that the company was abandoning them in favor of the casual market. The game selection and media coverage echoed that sentiment. Media outlets everywhere are covering the Wii and it’s casual games selection, from Wii Sports to Cooking Mama. There reports hardly ever feature people who would consider themselves long time gamers, instead they featured the elderly or soccer moms. That’s a troubling scene, becuase if Nintendo began to cater to these people would Mario, Zelda, Star Fox and the rest of Nintendo franchises disappear in favor of low development cost casual games? Well, Nintendo made sure to reassure the long time gamer crowd by hyping “the big three” (Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros Brawl). Sure, that’s three games, but what about the rest? When E3 2007 rolled around Nintendo spent very little time covering any of those games, and instead took the biggest chunk of their press conference to unveil Wii Fit, another casual focused game. For me that showed me it was time to invest in a second next-gen console. Nintendo would give me Mario, and then it’s over. Well, at least that’s how I felt then. Since then Nintendo has made me feel a little better about my purchase; espcially with the news rolling off the press from their mega press conference last night.Last night Nintendo showed their plans for the next year, and several of the ideas the company spoke about prior to launch are coming to fruition, including: a DS demo downloads channel. This is a nice surprise considering Nintendo mentioned the plans for it, and forgot to mention it completely for over a year. The channel will also allow for DS game demo downloads, as well as Wii game trailer downloads similar to the videos Nintendo showed in the Metroid Prime 3 demo channel. there’s also a Wii game ratings system, but the important part is the demos. It would have been nice for Wii demos, but that would require Nintendo to fulfill another forgotten idea they spoke of : adding external HDD support. I guess the few ideas they are implementing were taxing enough. Trailers and DS demos are nice though. The DS in store demo-stations always felt a little awkward to me. The game store experience, for me, has always been an awkward one. I’ve never been a fan of going into games stores unless I was going to make a purchase, becuase otherwise it’s a little high pressure. So for me, getting those demos at home will be a relief. Still, Wii demos would be more appreciated. Sony and Microsoft have demo services, and it really comes in handy. Plus, we all see the in store demos, but how many people want to trade their IDs to play a Wii game for a few minutes? It’s a damn hassle, just like hauling your DS everywhere. Maybe Xbox Live has spoiled me, but I’m kind of thinking it’s time to bring the downloadable demo to Wii. Hopefully at some point in the future Nintendo will expand on this channels functionality. At leats I’ll get more use out of this channel than I have the “Everybody Votes” Channel. What a waste of space.

Huh, that turned out to be a bit more angry toned than happy to own a Wii. Oh well. Next up, Nintendo announced it’s first few titles for it’s downloadable games service. First I’ll negatively add that by the time this service launches, in Japan, Xbox Live Arcade will be over two years old, and PSN will be over one year old, and it’s about fucking time Nintendo delivered, considering this too was mentioned six months before the wii was shipped to retail last year. But, the good news is that the titles seem promising. There are a few third party puzzle games, and Nintendo has a Pokemon game ready for it: Pokemon Farm. It’s not really a game, but a place to upload your Diamond Pearl Pokemon, and chillax with them using your Miis. Some people are going to pass this up, but strangely, I’m intrigued by the idea. For a few bucks I got a 3D Pokemon play ground. What the hell, right? Anyway, the big news was a new Dr. Mario, which is fucking awesome. Two player too. Nintendo has a lot of franchises, and I was waiting for some kind of new Dr. Mario game, and I’m not going to have to pay full price for it. Awesome. Square Enix has also pledged a Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles game for the service as well; you can build your own country

All of that Wii Ware stuff is nice, and Dr. Mario rules, but I think the service opens up many more possibilities than cheap Nintendo titles. A big thing Nintendo pushed to the media as far back as the unveiling of the Wii (revealed at E3 2005 under the name: Revolution) was that indie developers could afford to put their products on Wii for a much cheaper cost than on any other next gen system. Since then several publishes have cited that such a claim was true, it’s very affordable to develop on. In fact a major PS3 game, Monster Hunter 3, was moved to Wii (confirmed at the big conference on Oct. 10) for a variety of reasons including that the development costs were significantly cheaper. The point is that small time developers can afford to get a Wii development kit and make games for the system, and with Wii Ware they don’t have to go through many other costs as it’s a downloadable game. Sony and Microsoft’s downloadable game services boast a similar attraction point, but both have tougher certification standards. Not to mention the best chance of getting a game to the public right now is selling ti on Wii, considering it recently claimed the top spot on the market. The gateway has been unlocked, and with Nintendo’s Virtual Console and Wii Ware’s development community they might just have the best downloadable games content on the market.

Aside from the channel announcement Nintendo announced a bunch of software. All of it will please all kinds of people, but few of the titles interested me personally. Fire Emblems fans are getting another one for DS, Mario Sports fans are getting another Mario Baseball title (where, I assume, the player will use the Wii-mote as a bat (how fucking predictable)), there’s a new DS Advance Wars, a Kirby and so on. The real news was that Nintendo finally showed Disaster: Day of Crisis again. Yeah, I know, what the fuck is that?Well Nintendo announced it at E3 last year, but the title wasn’t ever show in playable form, and was completely forgotten (save one lonely screen a few months back) until now. I still have little knowledge of the title, but the basic concept is: use the Wii-rmote to get the fuck away from a ton of natural disasters. Doesn’t sound like anything special, but it could be neat, and it’s a little grittier than most Nintendo games. The real thing here is that Nintendo isn’t shifting all development to casual titles. The oter game announced at that E3 was Project H.A.M.M.E.R., a game where you literally swung a hammer around as a weapon. Again, it was much gritter than Nintendo’s titles, and almost had a God of War-ish vibe to it. It would have been cool, but the entire project was set aside in favor of a low development cost casual game, which remains unannounced. So many of the people who remebered that Day of Disaster even existed hypothesized that it was subject to a similar fate. It’s good to see that it wasn’t, and the bunch of titles that were announced weren’t overwhelmingly casual in nature (they did show Wii Music again, and even though that’s more of a casula game full of Mii interaction, it looks like a lot of fun, and it’s a four player music based game. Rock Band? Fuck that shit (kidding)). They may not all be my thing, but it’s awesome to see that Nintendo’s not going to forget me and all the other ‘hardcore’ gamers.

On a similar note Nintendo showed off Mario Kart Wii again, and I have to say that it was very disappointing. I’m a pretty big Mario Kart fan, and the new things they showed off were actually really lame. The trackes all look recycled, and they added was motorcycles. Motor cycles? It’s Mario Kart. Doesn’t that kind of go against the very idea of the game? And old tracks? Yawn, I’ll just fucking boot up Mario Kart DS and save fifty bucks. It’s a real bummer to because I was looking forward to that too. Maybe I’ll change my mind before it ships, but so far it just seems like they’re just cranking that game out, which is a real shame after what they’re releasing this year. Mario Galaxy and Brawl are finely polished, glorious games, and it just kind of sucks that Mario Kart might not be.

Speaking of Brawl, it brings me to my closing point. Some major, major, Brawl news was revealed last night. I’m finally going to be able to stage a fight between Mario and Sonic. Fuck yes, Sonic is in fucking Smash Bros Brawl. First Snake, now Sonic. How the hell am I going to put that game down?

This picture, oh god, nerdgasm.

Big Budget Games and Halo 3’s Advertisng Budget

Update 1 [8/14/07]: Fixed a few errors and made some sentences a little nicer.

So I walked into my local Piggly Wiggly to get some soda and, as I’m searching, my eye catches the Chief plastered over a twelve pack of Mountain Dew. And, as any curious gamer would do I picked it up, ogled it, and bought it. It tastes fine and all, but I’m left wondering if, maybe, this is going a little overboard with game promotion?

Now, as a long time gamer I have always felt that games have been a bit on the under marketed side. In the early nineties there were print ads and a few television commercials but there really wasn’t much marketing to push consumers to buy games. That happens still today, in traditional advertising channels (television, print, etc); gaming isn’t represented as much as I think it could be. Thankfully the internet’s growth allowed for the extreme marketing of anything. Word of mouth is almost terrifyingly easier today than it ever was before. Even niche titles like Odin Sphere or Okami can gain more sales through internet ‘word of mouth’. The internet has definitely aided many publishers and developers looking to increase the units they sell to consumers.

Big budget titles have always been different though. Mario, Zelda, Madden, The Sims, Pokemon, Sonic, Halo etc have been the exception to what I believe is a traditional gaming marketing campaign. Marketing for these games is everywhere, and thus the sales for these games are high. These games are developed under enormous development budgets, and are backed further by massive marketing budgets. Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon have all been in Happy Meals, television commercials, print ads, internet ads, and have even starred in their own shows. These types of franchises plastered everywhere. This, I feel, is a bit of a problem.

Most popular series are pretty deserving of the popularity they have achieved. They’re good games from companies who are famous for making great games. They should be popular. So what’s the problem? It’s the fact that after the first few successes these franchises are already well known, but the marketing gets more extravagant for future series iterations. I can see tv commercials, and print ads. But going as far as Microsoft has with Halo 3? a special Halo 3 Mountain Dew Flavor, pesturant promotions, car dealer promotions, and a whole laundry list of other tie ins for a game that already has enough pre-orders to break video game sales records? I don’t see the need, it’s over kill. If Microsoft’s high ups really wanted to make more money, they’d spread out their marketing budget over several games. There are plenty of 360 titles that could use more backing. BioShock for example. Gamers following the development of BioShock know it’s going to be one spectacular FPS. It’s one of those little know but revolutionary games that hardly get the recognition they deserve. BioShock isn’t being published by Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean they can’t aid the company who is. they should be interested in doing so, as it’s currently a Microsoft exclusive (meaning it’ll only be on 360 and windows capable platforms). It’s a game that’s going to be completely overshadowed by Halo 3, and that’s a little disappointing. There are countless other games on Microsoft’s platforms that could use the attention as well, even some their publishing. Will Mass Effect or Too Human be marketed like Halo 3 will be? I seriously doubt it.

And it’s not just Microsoft that does this, I could easily rattle off a Nintendo or Sony published game that was under-marketed in favor of a big budget title. And it doesn’t end with games either; movie studios, television companies, and most media companies typically over market already popular pieces. So many excellent things have fallen on “deaf ears” in order for something that’s already a huge hit to further succeed. The Fox Network has been doing this for years. They have aired some of the greatest television shows, but rarely have any of them been promoted well enough to make it for more than two or three seasons. Fox, in the age of reality tv, has promoted nothing but that kind of show. Arrested Development getting the shit-can after three seasons was a result of that. It was a sad day, in my eyes, when that show was canceled to make room for something like Dancing with the Stars. Things that are popular simply don’t need that much marketing. there are other things that those budgets could, and should go to. And I think it’s time the high up corporate folks running the show realize this.