Bits For Rent

An amazing thing is happening right now in the world of consumer goods, though I’m sure almost everyone has seen or heard something about it by now. Companies are converging from all sides to fill gaps in product lines, thanks in large part to the creation of a few fantastic portable handheld devices in the past few years.

As I’m sure most of you can recall from just a few weeks ago, Apple was once again in the spotlight as it finally lifted the curtain on its long awaited tablet computer. Unfortunately, the device was not everything it the hype had claimed it would be: the device is large, thick, heavy, and lacks some very useful features such as an internal camera; its entry level price of $499 is also wildly outrageous with only a 16GB internal hard drive, and it does not include the almost-mandatory 3G feature (which will also run you at least $15/month to use). Furthermore, the reliance on the stripped down iPhone OS places the device in a precarious position. Now, it is not feature-rich enough to perform the same tasks as a $200 netbook–streaming Flash-based video, running multiple applications at the same time, using Office, etc.–and it is actually being handicapped by limitations that, on a 3.5″ iPhone or iPod screen, would seem perfectly reasonable.

Basically, by creating what many are simply referring to as a “big-screen iPhone,” Apple has filled a gap in its product line with something that is both easily replaceable (jumping to a MacBook or iPod touch) and utterly lacking in terms of iconic appeal. Whereas the slick aluminum casing of a MacBook or the glossy black shell of an iPhone immediately inform the user of what type of device it is they are handling, the mish-mash of aesthetics in the iPad is a sign of Apple’s own uncertainty as to whether this creation is more of a handheld (big glass screen accompanied by that one little Home button) or portable computer (aluminum casing on the back, keyboard attachments, etc.).

iPad: Digital Readers Face New Threat

Now, let me also say that this device is incredibly important for other reasons. First, it is attempting to unite several unrelated consumer markets under the Apple banner. Just as Apple used the iPod as a Trojan Horse for the iTunes store, so too is it attempting to use the iPad to enter a new market, eBooks. Now, until this point, the eBook market was easily divided into four parts: Google offered a wide selection of free books that have entered the public domain on its website and through other companies’ online stores; Sony, the first to actually enter the market, has its own store which it recently revamped to become more appealing and competitive; Barnes and Noble made a brave foray into the battle with its Nook reader last fall, and is seen as the strongest challenger to Amazon, who has controlled the eBook market with an iron fist thanks to its excellent Kindle reader and the easy-to-use, low-cost, ubiquitous Amazon.com eBook store.

What has occurred now, however, is something quite sinister. Eager to not make the same mistakes as the recording industry (but ultimately ignorant of the fact that all media will soon be digital and commoditization of entertainment is inevitable), the publishing world has, with Apple’s entry into the market, seen fit to give the dedicated eBook reader market the snub. At the same time as Apple was preparing to reveal its new wunderkind, Amazon and Macmillan, one of the largest publishing houses in the book world, were in a very public spat over the future of book prices. Basically, MacMillan wanted to raise the price of new release eBooks to be closer to those of the actual hardcover, since the hardcover book is where the company usually makes its money on a book release. Long story short, Amazon asked MacMillan to kindly go fuck itself (apologies for the language, dears) and pulled all Macmillan books from its store, and then a few days later doubled back on its stance and asked if the two could still be friends.

See, Amazon believed, like Apple once did, that $9.99 is the sweet spot for a new book to be priced at. But most publishers don’t care about that. They want to have discretionary pricing, somewhere between $12-17, to vary between books depending on how popular they are. Now, I know you got to this point and you’re thinking, “Great, dude, but seriously I couldn’t give two shits about book prices and company bickering. What does this have to do with me?” And you’re mostly right to be thinking that. But here’s the thing: while it’s important that we don’t sink the price to fast on the publishing industry and make the paperback the next CD, we also want to be able to sink prices for digital content, because everyone agrees that lack of a physical copy ultimately reduces the value of a good by a considerable margin. Especially since when you buy most things digitally nowadays you’re just buying a license to use that good, not the actually good itself. But that’s a whole different post about digital rights that I am not going to be writing. Let’s finish up with the books and then move on.

Bottom line: Amazon was trying to be the only game in town for publishers and consumers, much like Apple. It wanted exclusive or highly restrictive control of digital publishing rights to books, and it wanted to set the prices for the publishers. In other words, it was taking the pie and telling the publishers how many slices they could have. Now, thanks to the new agency model almost every major book publisher will be switching to (and that is being endorsed by Barnes & Noble as well as Apple), publishers can set prices wherever they want, and the seller will get a flat 30 or 35% cut from that selling price. This means that while prices may start high, we will actually be able to see classic economic theory play out here: the price will fall for a book and as it does the sales will increase. This gives maximum profitability to the book industry, and ultimately everyone wins. Sure, we consumers don’t profit as easily from it as before now that Amazon has lost its death grip on the market, but in the long run, provided you and I can wait a bit after a book comes out, you will still get a good price on that digital copy. Better yet, now it won’t come at the cost of bankrupting the businesses and authors you’re trying to support.

That’s it for me on eBooks for now. I actually don’t own one, but am very interested in the prospect. If you have one or know someone who does, I’d love to hear about it. Send me a line and tell me what your thoughts are. For now, though, if you’d like to read more on how pricing is hurting the book industry, I suggest this blog post as a good place to start.

What Lies in Between

I mentioned earlier that the iPad is important not for what it does well or does poorly, and there are certainly plenty of things that can be listed for both categories, but for what its affect will be on other devices. In the run up to the device’s announcement, we say several new tablet computers be revealed by Dell and HP. These are quite similar to the tablet in that they are touch-only slates, but where they actually surpass the iPad in terms of usability is that they run a fully functioning Windows OS. That means multitasking, Flash video (hello, Hulu!), Office, the works. Just as the iPhone brought out the heavy competition from Sony (Xperia), Google (Android OS and Nexus One phone), HTC (Windows and Android-based phones), Palm (Pre), and even BlackBerry (Storm and Storm 2), so too will the iPad bring with it a flurry of imitators and also-rans. Only this time, the also-rans have a chance to surpass the mighty Mac: they do not operate under the same self-imposed restrictions as Apple, who consciously limits the utility of its devices by denying certain features or applications from being run on it. This race for that middle market is actually the most competitive of all. For once, Apple’s prices and willful indifference may be its undoing. Which is all well and good.

See, as much as I love my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I do believe that they’re too expensive and I do believe they could be better devices. If Apple wasn’t so concerned with preserving its brand value as well as its insane, 40% profit margins on everything it sells, it could be the most crushing company in the world. Instead, it opts to play the niche, exclusive supplier card, letting consumer interest and fervor boil up and over until we’re all champing at the bit, white froth foaming from our mouths, begging to given a chance to buy their product, no matter the price. Lucky us, eh?

I’ll leave with one more thought. The only reason any of the above things have occurred is because of the creation of the netbook market. These devices, little 8-10″ laptops that originally ran off of Linux or Windows XP and sell from $200-500, are now the biggest growth category in computer sales. In the late 1990s, we saw the rise and peak of the desktop PC. Nowadays, people don’t want to buy a big old box system that often because there are so many parts and its not portable; to use it, you become rooted to one spot. (Actually, this is why the iMac is such a brilliant device, but I won’t rant about Apple anymore today.) So then we moved down: desktop-replacement laptops with big old 15″ or 17″ screens came into vogue. They weren’t big on portability, but they did just about everything a desktop could do (other than play video games well, which is slowly changing). Then, about three years ago, the laptop market started to get saturated with cheap computers. Suddenly, a nice 13″ or 14″ laptop, perfect for web browsing, video viewing, and word processing, cost somewhere between $400 and $800. A 15″ MacBook Pro at that time still cost $2000, but it was eventually lowered to $1699. This was a critical time for computers. Dual core processors, cheap RAM, ever-increasing hard drive sizes… we were really hitting our stride back then and shifting the course of computer development from the push for making everything as fast as possible to making two or four or six of everything as fast as possible and as small as possible. Which is why we have the netbook. Using a small, energy efficient Intel chip called the Atom, these devices became the student’s and professional’s choice for on-the-go computing. With a USB 3G modem to gain access to AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon networks, a netbook transforms into exactly what an iPad is attempting to be: a large smartphone which enough screen space to actually get productive work done on it.

So while Steve Jobs is convinced that the netbook is a piece of garbage and that Apple will never make anything so small and uncomfortable and ugly, let the others sit back and laugh. The iPad has attempted to define where there in between actually lies, but that space is a dangerous one. Pressure from both sides may soon see the middle market flooded with an odd array of laptops and tablets and super netbook hybrids. As history has shown us, the computer world is never as cut and dry as it originally may seem, and I suspect that this market is where a great deal of innovation will soon be found. And as a consumer, I’ll be right there waiting to see what’s next.

Last week we stood witness to the coming and going of the newly resurrected E3 Expo (though the name Electronic Entertainment Expo shouldn’t really need another “Expo” at the end when truncated). The consensus, overall, was that it was good to have the grand ole celebration and excess back again, and that many, many good games could be found on the show floor. After having listened to, watched, and read a large amount of coverage, here is what I have taken away from this year’s E3, in as brief a manner as I could write it. (Read: long as fuck)

Going Through the Motions

Obviously we must address Project Natal, the oddly-named but altogether stunning motion-sensing technology revealed by Microsoft at their media summit/press conference/whathaveyou. First, a disclaimer: with all of the motion technologies, be they from Microsft, Sony, or Nintendo, there is a limit to what is feasible and within that a limit to what is practical. Nintendo offers the option in Punch-Out!! to let the player use the Wii remote NES-style, wand-and-nunchuck-style (with motion sensing), or with the balance board, which will detect your dodges. The last two methods have been reported to present odd feedback in the player’s movements, often to the detriment of his ability to play the game, and as such the first method, where only buttons are used to play the game, is considered the most practical. Still, the options are welcomed by the intrepid among us, and some even prefer the balance board or waggle+wand controls over the NES-style. Point being, while the industry and the hardware providers may be obsessed with bringing us a new take on interactivity, in the majority of cases this new format of game-playing can only be applied as either an option (PS3 games toggling use of SixAxis controls are another great example), or as a control input for a very strictly defined, limited gaming experience (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii).

Take for instance the talk from both Microsoft and Sony of their respective technology’s ability to interpret one-to-one motion. The Wii only just achieved this (at least, is assumed to have) today with the release of Wii Motion Plus. But when Sony and Microsoft pitched this idea, they talked of using in ways Nintendo has carefully avoided: throwing fireballs in RPGs, holding your sword and shield, fighting with virtual enemies, etc. Nintendo has only ever tried to implement motion into combat with quick flicks of the wrist. Why? Because games are built upon systems of repeated actions — the old Bungie “30 seconds of fun” argument. To stand before your TV and swing and block attacks like a wildman not only makes you look like a total cad to whomever might catch you in the act, but it will also straight-up wear your ass out.

To put it simply, I think Microsoft has achieved something triumphant in its vocal and facial recognition, and it has the potential to harness a new level of immersion should it layer this technology into games. I do not think, however, that asking players to set down their controller and instead grasp at the air is what people want, or need, from this new style of game playing. History proves that simplicity will always be the victor, and as with Punch-Out!!, sometimes it is easier to press A than have to tell your character to kick someone in the junk. In that respect, I think Sony is wise to have chosen to expand on their available technology, the PlayStation Eye, and keep a controller in players’ hands. Nintendo also chose to keep that physical tether to the screen intact, and has met with resounding success.

What Sony must consider, however, is how — unlike Nintendo — these new controllers are not the standard PS3 interface, and must likely be purchased in pairs if they are to be best utilized. Both companies will fracture their audience with their tech, but unlike Microsoft, Sony’s device seems like applicable to sedentary, non-gaming uses, such as menu-browsing, video chat, and the like. It is a controller, not an interface, and thus it will live or die by the the software support it receives. So while I don’t really prefer one solution to the other, it is clear that they are more different than they are similar. Personally, I think both companies have opened up a can of worms entering into the arms race against a well fortified Nintendo, and both will likely lose more than they gain. Then again, I have been wrong about this kind of thing before.

Microsoft Shows Its Hand

There were a fair number of games at the Microsoft conference, and a large percentage of them were exclusives or “exclusives”. Let’s get right to it. Splinter Cell: Conviction hit me like a taser shot to the genitals (again with the male genitalia jokes, what gives?), and by all means deserves all the plaudits it has so far received. While the demo didn’t really show us what the actual, boring parts of the game will be like, it did a lot to reignite interest in this Sam Fisher guy and made me, a series agnostic, want to find myself in front of a 360 this fall to find out what’s become of the poor man’s daughter. And the visual flourishes? Classic Ubisoft. At least among all the Wii-related refuse they are releasing their core development teams haven’t lost their edge.

Modern Warfare 2, on the other hand, got knocked for showing just what a boring part of the game might be like… and then for cutting some of that out. Oi, talk about not being able to catch a break. I, for one, found the demo very engaging and am eager to get my hands on the latest from Infinity Ward. Call of Duty 4‘s multiplayer is beginning to wear stale for me and World at War was never anything more than a diversion from Left 4 Dead. Which I suppose brings us to the next title shown. (Quickly: I am glad that at least one Activision game doesn’t require a plastic peripheral, and that IW has spun their series off from Call of Duty, so that Treyarch cannot get its grimy paws on it. Good for you, boys.)

Left 4 Dead 2. Breathe in deeply for a second. Did you smell some odd fragrance to the air, like a kerosene lamp burning? That’s the lather that thousands of Valve fanboys have worked themselves into at the announcement that L4D will be getting a full sequel in lieu of the traditional long-tail content drops Valve has graced other titles with, such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. Why the sudden change of heart? Money, no doubt, played a very large part. Why give away for free what you can charge full price for? We live in the era of DLC, where Resident Evil 5 comes with multiplayer on the disc but asks for you to pay a bit extra to unlock it. Where you can buy experience points or in-game money to save you the trouble of having to actually play the game to unlock or accrue these things. Where your virtual horses can, for a small earthly sum, be clad in the finest of armor. Can we really shake our fist at this one?

But let me be serious for a moment here. We all wanted the long-tail love for L4D, because we all love L4D. I think that people really wanted to do more with Louis, Bill, Francis, and Zoey. With the sequel, not only are we getting a new set of locations, we’re losing the focus on gunplay (in favor of the more strategic melee combat, it may not be a bad thing, but will change the balance and horde combat significantly), the night of the living dead has become day, and the missions all tie together. None of these things, by themselves, is a bad thing. However, because the first game was so successful, and its quirks and charms so adored, Valve could never have made a sequel such as this without incurring the ire of some portion of its fanbase. As a marketing student, I look forward to seeing how Valve presents this game to players of the first. Much like World at War, they will have to tread a fine line between encouraging players to move on from the first game (something Valve has never had to do before, to my knowledge; even CS 1.6 still has its hold-outs) and maintaining a level of trust with players that, no, we are not going to keep milking you every year — we wanted to refine the experience and this was the only way possible. Because if Valve is looking to make L4D more of a series than a touchstone, well, I don’t know if I’m ready to live in that universe just yet.

Moving on!

Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach. Bungie, you broke with Microsoft so that you could make more Halo games? Really? First of all, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is the dumbest title for a game in a long while. Imagine: Babiez was heads and shoulders above you, since it at least gave us some great lulz. But ODST? How is mom supposed to remember that? She’ll just say “new Halo” to the clerk and be fine, I suppose. But still, DUMB ASS NAME. Also, you haven’t shown shit of the actual game, so I have nothing to say about this. Likewise for Reach. Next!

Forza Motorsport 3. Well this one sure does look pretty. It’s got some nice physics and a host of neat fan creation tools, too, like livery and video editing. But, I’ve never really cared for anything out of the sim-racing genre, aside from mandatory Gran Turismo purchases, so I’ll probably passing this one up. And Need For Speed: Shift? You guys really have the worst timing. I’m sorry. Other than that, most of the stuff we saw was third party, other than Alan Wake. From what I saw of that game, the concept sounds really fun, and the game looks great. But the actual mechanics and play on-screen looked way too familiar, and nothing in that demo popped out at me as being “omfg” material. I know this is a game a lot of guys in the press like to stoke boners over, but I haven’t quite begun to sip the Kool-Aid yet. Maybe as it gets closer to release.

Sony’s Shotgun Strategy

The worst part of Sony’s conference, aside from Kaz Hirai, was that they forgot or rather opted not to show some really great stuff. Unlike Alan Wake, Heavy Rain is totally in my wheelhouse. Multiple paths where your character can die or be injured in various ways, a crime story, investigation and environmental exploration… it’s too good to be true. Then I watch something like the extended demo on G4TV, and I know that it’s real, it’s coming, and I fucking want it.

Likewise, Sony stalwarts Ratchet & Clank were politely asked to remain visible only on the show floor. For a game that is looking to finally give the series that show in the arm that it needs, and as one of Sony’s staple brands, you’d think the guys at Insomniac would get a little more exposure. The time puzzle mechanics, which share the same central conceit as PSN game echochrono (to lazy to link), will hopefully do much to inspire the level designers, who had grown a bit lazy with their world construction since Up Your Arsenal. A stronger focus on platforming and puzzles will do much to please fans, and the inclusion of a more involving story will undoubtedly bring the game more Pixar comparisons, so long as the classic tongue-in-cheek humor remains intact. In short, I’m totally on board.

Likewise for Uncharted 2. Do I even have to say anything about this game? It’s all been said already: it’s fucking gorgeous, it’s funny, the online modes are a blast, and we’re all going to be enraptured by it when it comes out this fall. But the PSP go? Notsomuch.

Some people just don’t like the way it looks. A lot of people just don’t like the price (read: me). But truth is Sony’s on the right path with this one, and it’s doing what it needs to in order for developers to start supporting the platform again. I.e., it’s cutting out piracy as best it can. The only thing is, with an iPod touch going for $229 dollars, the PSP go isn’t really the right value proposition Sony needs. Unlike the TV market (or perhaps quite like it, given their fiscal statement), Sony cannot afford to play the “premium product” card anymore. It’s costing them would-be buyers who can go pick up a DS or 360 at much lower costs than the Sony systems. If Sony wants to be a competitor, they can’t keep acting like they are Nintendo. Sega thought it was hot shit back when the PSX launched, but the Saturn wasn’t exactly the hit they were hoping for. When it comes down to the brass tacks, it’s the install base that brings the software to the market, and the price is the barrier to entry. Sell the go for $199, and you’ve got yourself a helluva competitor.

Real quickly, the rest of the Sony stuff:
- MAG: not for me. For whom? I have no goddamn idea. Why isn’t Zipper making a new Syphon Filter again?
- The Last Guardian: Day one. Ueda is a genius and can do no wrong. I am enchanted by the trailer and cannot wait to play the game.
- GT5: lol vaporware. But seriously, it looks great. Can we get a release date?
- FFXIII: Want. Black guy seems like another case of Japan doing it wrong (RE5, hel-lo!)
- FFXIV: Same designer as FFXII makes me super happy. MMO? Notsomuch.
- God of War III: it looks like more God of War. By all means, that is perfectly fine by me. I get to pull Helios’ head off with my bare hands? Disgusting, but I will nevertheless relish the moment.

Nintendo Announces Mario Games, News at 11

Nintendo I can sum up rather quickly. NSMB for Wii will be an obvious purchase, as will Galaxy 2. They know this, I know this. Golden Sun was a pleasant surprise and had me wanting to track down a copy of GS2, which I never played, in anticipation of this new outing. I’m glad that they held off on showing a new Zelda, because I think they need to consider not only a return to cel-shading, but also what it was about the N64 titles that made the series such a killer. Twilight Princess suffered from a lot of failed ideas and an inventory with several one-shot items. Ocarina, on the other hand, always managed to keep your old items relevant, or at least never did anything to lower their merit. But it isn’t enough to take from the past to sculpt the future; Nintendo has a carve out new ideas for a new generation and for new hardware. I’ll gladly give them another year to get that done properly.

Really, the only concern or game that I felt the need to seriously mull over was Metroid: Other M. Team Ninja and combat go together like rice and beans, but Team Ninja goes with a lot of other, not so glamorous things, too. Large Breasts, horrible character design, and terrible plots come to mind. The trailer wasn’t enough to tell us much, other than this game looks to reinvent the 3D Metroid game. I don’t mind if the game has more action, or more visceral action anyway, but Retro’s games did a great job of maintaining the sense of isolation and lonely exploration of hostile alien worlds. Reflections in the visor when hurt or in the cold were only part of that special crafting, but already it seems like this is more of a Warrior Within than a Sands of Time. I will be following this one closely, though, with the hope that Nintendo keeps Itagaki’s old crew on a tight leash. If they can deliver a Samus that kicks ass but is also vulnerable and helplessly intertwined in the affairs of Space Pirates and Metroids, I’ll be as happy as the next guy. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Supporting Third-Party Support, and Closing Thoughts

As I wrap up, I come to two games that I have wildly differing expectations for. Brutal Legend is a game that wears its heart on its sleeve, and makes its inspirations well known to all simply due to the fact that they are all in the game. While Psychonauts sits near the top of my pile of shame, Grim Fandango was a delight I enjoyed well after it first came out, and I knew long ago that if the man behind that game were to craft another, I would most certainly be up for seconds. While Brutal Legend is a far cry from a sequel to Grim, the classic Schaffer hallmarks seem to be intact: humor, character design and personalities, inane madness, and a plot so original you wonder why no one had thought of it before.

Assassin’s Creed II, on the other hand, has me fingers-crossed for fear of another letdown. Despite the iconic style and open-world championing of the first title, the game fell apart as soon as you finished off your main target in each city. The side-missions, or rather the missions you were required to do to collect evidence on your target, were repetitive and uninspiring, requiring you to complete mundane tasks such as sitting on a bench and listening to people talk (the game’s lack of cinematic camera movement meant staring at the game world in all its middling glory) or slowly walking behind someone while pretending to pray just long enough for you to get next to them and steal an item. But the new game, with its Renaissance flair and Italian draping, is as big of a temptation as one can encounter outside of Amsterdam’s red light district. The graphics have that “come hither” sexiness that keeps your eyes glued to the action and the new gimmicks such as killing guards from inside a hay pile or taking out two sentinels at once with twin hidden blades beg for your forgiveness of the half-baked original — look, you can hear Ubisoft saying, at those old promises now delivered.

Unfortunately, I’m a cynically bastard. If there is any one thing to be taken away from E3, be it from the motion tech demos, the Modern Warfare 2 demo, the Splinter Cell demo, the Assassin’s Creed II demo, or even the Metroid: Other M trailer, it’s that this is, first and foremost, a show. And as this is a show, we should take everything with a strong helping of salt. Who knows what sort of smoke and mirrors and prestidigitation take place behind the spectacles unveiled before us. The beauty of an E3 demo, unless it is a level playable in its entirety, is that it can be cut from any one or even from several places in the game and stitched together to construct a truly breathtaking first glimpse of some of the latest and greatest offerings. So, yes, Assassin’s Creed II looks like it could right a lot of wrongs and prove itself to be the game we always wanted from Ubisoft, but the truth is seldom so kind. Last year Resident Evil 5‘s director promised that conceits were being made to Americans and that Gears of War-style controls would be adopted and that we hadn’t seen all the game had to offer… but that just meant that aiming was moved to the right stick and there was an underground lab you would eventually find yourselves in (shooting gatling gun-clad zombies!).

But all the same, I was happy with the quality of the third party offerings for all systems, and saddened that I will not be able to play many of the great early 2010 titles when I am out of the country next year. Overall, E3 was a great return to form, with some of the best coverage and most diverse array of titles we’ve seen in some time. Compared to FPS-heavy 2007 and 2008, it was nice to see E3 embrace some new (and some old) genres. And with titles like A Boy and His Blob and Scribblenauts showing that innovation and simple charm can still exist in small packages, there were plenty of hidden gems as well. The only downside to E3? Knowing that we have to wait until TGS this Fall for more big reveals and shameless strutting from the console makers.

Note: I apologize that these entries keep running so long, but when I can’t post often enough to deliver smaller articles, I end up lumping as much as I can into one post as possible. Next time, look for (hopefully) shorter entries on Resident Evil 5, and inFAMOUS versus Red Faction: Guerilla versus Prototype.

Last year, the video games industry saw record sales of over $30 billion in units of software sold. Compare to the last great year for software, 2004, that is an increase of over 50%. In addition, console makers pushed a record number of hardware units for each of their respective systems, with 10.77 million PS3s sold, 10.8 million 360s, and almost 25 million Wiis. This is without considering the enormous success found in the handheld market, where the DS is the fastest selling system ever and Sony’s PSP is doing markedly well in a field that, during the age of the Game Boy, was mostly uncontested. Even with the begin of a significant decline in sales of PS2 hardware, which did not receive a price drop to the sub-$100 mark until April of this year, it is evident that 2008 marked a new high in demand for video games and game hardware. The question we must now ask ourselves is, can it ever happen again?

The Secret Formula

The success seen in 2008 can be boiled down to a combination of several factors: a line-up of highly sought-after games released throughout the year, the maintenance of the PlayStation 2 as a viable and active platform, the short supply of Nintendo’s Wii for nearly an entire year, and the demand for new gaming experiences from the PS3 and Xbox 360.

2008 met with a great amount of hyperbole when in first began, according to some to even have the potential to eclipse the last unofficial great year in gaming, 2004. Grand Theft Auto IV was finally coming to market, along with Gear of War 2, Fable II, Resistance 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Miyamoto’s strange new Wii Fit, LittleBigPlanet, Call of Duty: World at War, and a new Prince of Persia and the hope of, possibly, Gran Turismo or Killzone 2. Not all of these titles would ultimately end up having great sales success, and some, such as Dead Space, would catch us completely off guard at that summer’s E3 expo. Still, it was clear that the market would be ripe with highly anticipated new titles, particularly featuring franchises known to lurk the elusive casual gamer back to the couch for another go at his favorite series. GTA, Mario Kart, Wii Fit, and Gears of War 2 would prove to have the strongest of the individual game sales — each with multiple millions of units sold — and there was an unbelievable number of music titles (Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour) purchased as well. Truly, 2008 was a great time to be playing video games.

Also key to the strong success of the industry, only this time serving in a reserve role, was the PS2. With games such as SingStar and Buzz! available on the system, the PS2 became a very compelling party box/portable karaoke in 2008. The system also featured a few hardcore title releases, such as the stellar Persona 4, but was most impressive for its sales in another, more casual category: sports. Despite the next-gen glitz and effects work in the PS3 and 360 versions of FIFA, Madden, NBA, and MLB games, the PS2 maintained large sales numbers for all of the latest additions to these franchises. Clearly, the armchair quarterbacks once thought to be lumped in with the hardcore market have continued to make the economic decision to update their software for a system they already own (at a price of $50 rather than $60 for each title), instead of purchasing a $200-400 system to play them on. Considering that 2008 brought witness to one of the worst economic declines in America’s history, the logic certainly makes sense. Factor in the fact the HDTV penetration still has yet to rise to the level predicted by early analyst reports and you have a very clear proof-positive that the world still needed PlayStation 2 in 2008. The system sold nearly 9 million units last year, just shy of its successors, but increased its global install base to a whopping 140 million units. As any developer would tell you, you can’t just ignore that kind of established market. Surprisingly, however, no single PS2 game was able to make it into the Top 10 sales charts for 2008. The decline of a system will always be predicated by a fall in its software sales, and the data for 2008 shows that PS2 has likely seen its last meaningful year.

Nintendo Regains the Throne

In contrast, Nintendo could barely make enough of its Wii system to sate consumer demand, and the sales numbers for the system show. The company also found creative ways to extend the life and/or popularity of some of its titles, particularly through the bundling of a remote with every copy of Wii Play, a steering wheel with each copy of Mario Kart Wii, and the balance board with Wii Fit. The last of these is the most fantastic, however, as Nintendo proved to the world that it could sell a game and peripheral bundle at $90 and still have tremendous success. Of course, Guitar Hero and Rock Band also released numerous forms of bundled software and hardware that greatly exceeded this price, but neither could match the success of Wii Fit‘s whopping 4.54 million copies sold.

The X factor for 2008 was, undoubtedly, the Nintendo brand. Nearly all of their major software, aside from Wii Music, was met with both a positive critical response and a tremendous amount of consumer demand. Additionally, Nintendo was able to continue selling these titles to Wii owners beyond the traditional 6-week sales window. Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play, in particular, charted in the Top 10 for the remainder of the year, and continue to have a presence there today, a full year on since Mario Kart Wii was released. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, whose games feature strong sales that quickly taper off after hardcore users have purchased the items at or near release, Nintendo has found an audience interested in diving back into its catalog and purchasing older titles, which allows it to keep selling these games for full price while third-parties and Sony and Microsoft first/second-parties ultimately must drop the price of their titles to reignite sales. Gears of War, Resistance, and Halo are some of the only brands which were able to maintain premium pricing for over a year on these next-gen systems.

Why? While both console makers try to bundle their systems with the latest in either family-friendly or hardcore titles, Nintendo has chosen to include a very basic, but still fun, title with its boxed system since it first launched. The value of its brand as a software maker, and the relative ease with which the titles can be played (using a steering will, standing on a board, flicking a remote, etc.) not only keep the barrier to entry low, but they encourage word of mouth among a far larger audience than a traditional game might.

Dark Clouds Forming

Notice, however, that Super Mario Galaxy and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, while both adored by fans and critics, are not in this list of successful titles. The hardcore game player that has been playing games for multiple generations is no longer the primary software buyer on the Wii. But even then, simple software titles published by third parties also fail to meet with any success. Last summer’s Boom Blox was a critical success, but failed to move more than a quarter of a million units when all was said and done. Its simple design and friendly styling should have sat well with the audience known to own the system, but it was passed over in favor of more copies of Mario Kart and Wii Fit. Likewise, hardcore titles such as No More Heroes, Madworld, and House of the Dead: Overkill have also been unable to inspire much interest on Nintendo’s system in the past year, and even GTA: Chinatown Wars on the DS has vastly underwhelmed when it comes to sales. The large, faceless audience of Nintendo owners, like an old fish, can’t be fooled by the developers lures and promotions. If the game isn’t Wii-branded, they aren’t biting.

This puts the casual gamer (not the lifestyle gamer, as we will brand the Wii-owner) in a bit of an odd position. With the PS2 soon to experience its last, sputtering gasps of life, where does that player go to enjoy the kind of experiences he has been accustomed to. The Xbox 360 is likely not to move below $199 for some time, nor will the Wii be budging from its $250 launch price. But while logic says that the Wii is the casual gamer’s console of choice due to its strong sales and key major titles, the control scheme and game lineup are actually far different than what the PS2 saw — save for the ports of PS2 and PSP games the Wii still sees. The Wii has become a sort of elephant in the room, both too large to ignore but yet too difficult to work with and find success. Designers are at an impasse: find a way to achieve the evergreen prosperity the Wii is seemingly capable of granting, or be stuck just producing expensive, resource-intensive software for the 360 and PS3, which may or may not be successful (EA has seen this with risks such as Army of Two and Mirror’s Edge, and even Sony first parties have had sluggish sales).

Another point worth pondering is what the next console cycle will bring with it and how long until those systems come to market. If Nintendo remains top dog as it appears it will, they have an incredibly wide array of options to take with their next system. Do they keep it underpowered and focus on controls? To they take a significant leap in graphical ability and open the system to features such as DVD or Blu-ray playback? Do they go digital distribution only? There are things about Nintendo’s past that cause me concern.

First is that when Nintendo has decided to release a new system, they utterly cease to continue supporting the previous one. Even when they claimed the Game Boy Advance would remain one of their “three tiers,” the system was swept under the rug within two years. Compare this to living in a time when Sony was on top, and the PSX and PS2 both had strong lives after their successors were released and you can imagine that the folks at Ubisoft, EA, and Activision must be a little nervous about what new hardware will mean for them.

Second is Nintendo’s history of being obstinate and behind the times with their products. Both the Wii and DS are devices far less powerful than their rivals, yet both manage to sell phenomenally better. The Wii is the first system Nintendo has released that does not use a proprietary format to play games, but even then the system is not capable of playing back a commercial DVD video release. Furthermore, Nintendo is almost always solely interested in Nintendo. The company will refresh its major franchises once or twice a console generation, but remains very inconsistent when it comes to creating new IP. This generation we have seen Wii Sports, Wii Music, Wii Fit, and Brain Age as new lines for the company, but the GameCube saw the creation of Pikmin and the resurgence of Metroid. Punch-Out!! is largely a remake of the former two titles, albeit a very good one, and it remains the only “core” title released by the company in over a year. Which brings me to another point:

Nintendo is slow. They take their time making games, and they’ll be damned if they work any faster because the fans are eager to buy them. The Game Boy Advance had about 6-7 years before it got replaced by the DS, and I’m sure that they’ll be stretching the Wii and DS to do the same, using slight hardware modifications (DS Lite, DSi, GBA SP, GBA Micro, etc.) to refresh the product line and pique consumer interest for longer than the internal tech should probably be expected to last. This is actually great for developers who can capitalize on cost savings later on in the console life cycle to produce games on smaller budgets without sacrificing quality, but it could also ultimately lead to a sense of stagnation.

Other reasons to fear that the games industry may see a weakening in its future is the ultimate failure of the PlayStation 3. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the console world needs a strong Sony to survive. Sony brought several things to the games industry with the Playstation, and all were changes for the better: the optical disc standard; its connections through the film and music industry provided new outlets for games to be sold through; a sizable new audience brought up on DualShocks and Final Fantasys; most importantly, it provided a slick and powerful entertainment device that wowed consumers and stayed price competitive with the latest offerings from established hardware providers.

That last point has now fallen to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and it is unlikely Sony can reclaim the mindshare it has lost this generation, even if the rebranding and redesign of the PlayStation 3 are in fact forthcoming. But while Microsoft is content to collect Live subscriptions and collect franchises and developers once exclusive to Sony and Nintendo, Sony is still driving innovation and content. Flower, LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted, Wipeout HD, and Warhawk are all experiences exclusive to the small PS3 install base, but are tremendous titles that should be enjoyed by all. In the last generation, the PS2 was the system almost everyone owned, and the GameCube and Xbox were the sort of extracurricular systems hardcore gamers would pick up to get their Mario or Master Chief fix.

Now, Sony is still publishing a bevy of ambitious, quality product at a reduced marketplace, and the sales numbers show it. While Shadow of the Colossus was able to achieve a sales success ICO could not, it also did so on a system that had over 100 million units sold. Ueda-san’s next project, known only as TRICO now, will be fortunate to have the same success, on a system that costs far more to develop for and that has only a fraction of the user base. But the game will be released, just as will Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, a new Ratchet and Clank, and more. Because unlike Nintendo, Sony has harvested a fantastic collection of first and second party studios, and they deliver consistently and in quality. So while Nintendo can happily sit back and count stacks of money, it will also express indifference when fans clamor for more of the games they love so much. Aren’t you happy with the Mario Kart you’ve already got? What do you mean Smash Bros. has broken online play? That game will last a decade! So on and so forth. Our new masters are, sadly, omnipotent but not omnibenevolent.

Hope Springs Eternal

My thoughts of Nintendo are dour and biased and overly critical, some will no doubt think, but I am not blind to the opportunities this new era of gaming has opening before it. Take, for instance, what Apple has brought to the table. The iPhone is our first portable, always-connected gaming handheld. With it, we can download new software or title updates anywhere we have service or WiFi, and new games are being added to its store by the minute. Already it has a library in the thousands, and the user rating system effectively allows the cream to rise to the top without Apple having to enforce quality content restrictions and QA each new title it approves. This is a bold, fresh take on gaming, and it is already leading to new approaches from Sony and Nintendo, the latter of whom has already released a WiFi-enabled DSi capable of downloading games on the go and the former who is expected to unveil a new, download-only PSP in a week’s time.

Further, we are about to witness whether or not third parties will sink or swim on the Wii. With EA’s new EA Sports Active title, we have the first polished, major release to compete with or supplement Wii Fit. Can mimicking Nintendo finally bring about strong sales numbers on a system where no third-party game other than Rock Band and Guitar Hero has been able to find sales success? I am sure a lot of people in the industry are hoping so, because so far even the kindest of reviews (hello, Zack and Wiki!) has not been enough to catch the attention of our lifestyle gamer. Which is sad, because the Wii is a fun system with a lot of potential to reignite interest in old franchises and genres. But then, I know two people whose parents bought a Wii and still have it in the box, and my system only gets dusted off every six months. I think that, by reaching for a new audience, Nintendo has found a sort of No Man’s Land where only knows how to survive. Brilliant, from a business perspective, but terrible if you’re the guy they’re doing business with.

Which seems to have also have been the case for the PSP. Stuck in 8-12 year old marketing hell, the console sells well enough but the game sales are utterly laughable. What exactly do people do with the thing? Sony’s plea will always by rampant piracy, but are kids savvy enough to really sit down and create pandora batteries and hack their firmwares? I’m not so convinced. A lot of it probably had to do with that fact that, when faced with a system almost as powerful as a PS2, developers were creating experiences too rich and elaborate for the portable space. Which is why Sony is in the midst of rebranding and rebuilding the device, and encouraging devs to give the system another shot, only this time with titles more like Patapon and Pixeljunk Monsters and less like Liberty City Stories. Will it work? I really hope so. The PS Store should have been there from the beginning, and hopefully a reboot will be just the kick in the ass the system needs to really shine. Making some of its already excellent back catalog available to download is a good start, but we need a lot more of it. Oh, and were are the downloadable PSX titles at, Sony?

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Sony plan to adopt a kill them with gorgeous games approach this year, as Final Fantasy XIII, Uncharted 2, Halo ODST, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, and possibly a new Metal Gear will all be totally drop-dead looking and wow us all. They have both made unique uses of DLC and Marketplace/PSN Store games to bring users unique and experimental products, and I see both of them continuing this trend. As the industry slowly frees itself from the grip of retail, sales in this space will become nothing short of essential. Sony has taken bold steps in offering full PS3 and PSP games on its store, while Microsoft has sought to satisfy the complimentary needs of its users with a robust Netflix service. All of these are great reasons to consider purchasing either system, and will no doubt be marketed as such in the coming year.

The Big “If”

As for software, 2009 is again looking at a great lineup, but now its Achilles’ heel has been fully exposed. If we are to see another 2008 in this console generation, it will only come at the will of Nintendo. No matter how many quality titles are released this fiscal year on 360 and PS3, if Nintendo does not deliver on the titles they supposedly have waiting in the wings for this fall, 2009 will look like it was the year the recession hit, not 2008. The ball is in your court, Nintendo. Next week at E3, show us what kind of future lies in store for the industry. It’ll be like our own version of Groundhog Day, only the Groundhog knows what’s on the line this time.

I guess I only have myself to blame for this one: after promising, or really just implying, that I would be writing a review of each of the press conferences individually, and then finding myself utterly sucked into the void of the Electronic Entertainment Expo for what must now be the sixth year running, I can offer no defense as to why I have taken nearly two weeks to compose a new entry to this blog. No defense, save for Jeff Bell.

I find that whole story, as a member of GAF, to be a sad summation of the video game industry. If we’re at a point where the bitching and moaning of the internet masses can cause a public official to stoop so low as to create a forum account to get his shits and giggles from, then I really don’t think we’ve come very far from the video games industry that your parents and their parents always said was a waste of time, childish, and rotting our brains. Yes, the internet rots our brains, but isn’t that supposed to be one of the reasons we love it? It worked for TV.

Anyway, I’m not really sure where I was going with that thought. I have a lot on my mind in terms of E3 and the week that has occurred since, but I don’t know if I’ll be sufficiently capable of discussing that all tonight, when I have just finished Harry Potter’s seventh retelling, and am both emotionally and mentally flabbergasted by what I should say. I guess I’ll just get to putting it all into words. Words that may spoil.

I think that, right now, given all the changes in my life this summer, particularly in terms of losing things I hold dear, that something in me has been forever lost with this final chronicle of the teenage wizard. Since seventh grade, I have been reading these novels–essentially growing up with the character, though Mrs. Rowling’s prolonged drought between novels 5, 6, and 7 has stretched that on a bit more than expected– and it is with both joy and sorrow that I set about pillaging my way through the new book. To start, I wasn’t exactly ready to be back with Harry just yet. I saw Order of the Phoenix on Friday (definitely not the spectacle I wanted it to be, but enjoyable all the same) to get myself primed for the heavy injection of Potter I would be receiving the coming morning–midnight launches just aren’t my scene–but part of the trouble may have arisen from my hurried finished of the admittedly stellar Suite Francaisse. (Short side note: the second half of the book, Dolce, was an incredibly stirring 130-odd pages of prose. It was like reading a short and to-the-point version of a Jane Austin novel, without the old English pomp and circumstance and with a bit of the WWII mystique. Definitely worth reading for fans of rich writing, strong characters, and compelling fiction.) Having set this down, I gathered my wits and dove headlong into the 758 pages of Hallows, expecting nothing and everything at the same time.

I suppose that the first few chapters offered that quick reward the two years (it was two years, right?) wait had us fans yearning for, with a quick reveal of the Dark Lord’s plans and return to Harry at the Dursleys (sic), for one last time, as he is approaching 17 and the end of his time under the magical protection bestowed upon all underage wizards. We then get a brilliant “Flight of the Phoenix” chapter –yes, a terrible pun, but so, so fitting– in which we lose possibly the strongest of the Order and a glimpse of how ghastly Rowling is willing to go in her detailing of the wizarding violence. Then there’s a prolonged reprieve, in which we are at the Burrow, planning the Horcrux quest, getting ready for the wedding, and generally sitting around waiting for the next big thing. the new Minister of Magic drops in to give some bizarre remnants of Dumbledore’s will to the kids, and then we get to the first of the books several nadirs: the Bill and Fleur wedding.

Now, I have nothing against Bill and Fleur. They’re fine secondary characters. But I honestly thought I read an entire chapter to find out two things they could have stuck in anywhere: Luna’s father has a weird symbol on his necklace and Voldemort has taken over the Ministry. Yeah there was some dirt thrown up about Dumbledore in that chapter too, but it could have honestly been from anyone anywhere in the novel, even if it was Hermione reciting a newpaper clipping (a semi-cheap way of plot development employed throughout the novel with letters, fairy tales, and Daily Prophet excepts), but aside from the chase chapter nothing had yet gotten my fingers clenching the book close, my eyes skimming words as quickly as possible to find out where the events would lead. I think the lack of any sort of Quidditch match may be largely responsible for these initially greivances as well. I mean, what is Harry without his broom?

Anyway, that all leads to another getaway bit, only Harry, Ron, and Hermione are now on their own, and will be for sometime. In fact, the next quarter of the novel is mostly descriptions of the three scratching their head over Horcrux locations while some minor plot development occurs and Harry begins acting like his angsty 15-year-old self did in Order. I did enjoy the Ministry bit immensely, but that also seemed to continue a strange trend for the novel: We have periods of Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting around discussing what to do and getting angry/upset/bored/etc. followed by a scene where they all use Polyjuice Potion to change their appearance and/or hide under the cloak to get into some dangerous place, get a horcrux or at least try to, and get out. And I kid you not, that happens literally every time they plan a capture. I think I saw a movie similar to this, where the same con was used over and over until it went horribly wrong, but I can’t think of the name.

Anyway, Ron leaves for a while, predictably, and at this point the book was becoming a little too grim and unfriendly, even for a tale that’s taking place during a war/occupation/whathaveyou. So it was great to have a chapter like Bathilda’s Secet come along and make you say Holy Fucking Shit that was not PG. I mean, that and the preceding chapter, Godric’s Hollow, are complete Tim Burton mindfuck material: disguised as old people, looking around in the thick snowdrifts of the cemetary, then going into a creepy, blind old woman’s home that smells like death and getting attacked like that? Pure awesome. Until we get broken-wand Harry-emo going again. Sigh.

But really, I’m not that down on it all. I’m being a little dismissive of the important plot development bits that get sandwiched in between all that angry, stubborn Harry stuff. That’s probably a result of me having tried to will the character into a more likeable, more awesome wizard for so long. Honestly, if he would have just sat there and read some spell books, trained himself in attacks and counters, and maybe brushed up on some wizarding history after the six years of shit he went through, you think we could avoid some of the pitfalls he has in book 7. But… it’s not like I could actually write a better book, I just nag.

And with that, I’m going to leave this summary unfinished and pick up tomorrow with the return of Ron and Dobby. Hopefully getting a bit of this off the old chest will do me some good. We’ll see!

Oh man, what a mediocre showing. Great games, but that was already known. RE5 was kinda obvious when Peter was leading in to it, but I still can’t believe Sony let so many big games get a trailer or an on-stage demo at this. Regardless, the big hits of this show– Gears, COD4, Assassin’s Creed — are all going to be multiplat.

The lack of Haze in trailer or demo form pretty much sums up all the rumors about PS3 exclusivity and most likely it serving as a bannerchild for the ROCKAXIS or whatever they’ll call it.

Disney videos being on Live makes great sense for Disney but with their Sony loyalty in Blu-Ray I’m a bit confused. I would love for Sony to announce that all its Blu-Ray studio partners will have their HD content in the PlayStation Store and just tear the rug out from under Microsoft (since they totally ignored HD-DVD), but that announcement is aways off.

Other than that, I don’t care about PGR4 or its camera shy developer who was reading from all the conveniently stationed teleprompters, and I’m disappointed that Mass Effect, Alan Wake, Bioshock, and Halo 3 — the big 360 exclusives, were all largely ignored or just got videos.

The only truly exceptional part of the show, hands down, was the COD4 guys. “We’re going deep… and HARD,” should trump all the memes of Sony’s 06 conference. I think I woke my neighbors laughing so hard.

I’m going to be a little pissy in today’s post. I’m not sure if it’s the shooting at Virginia Tech that have incited this bitching, spewing attitude I feel rising within me, but it no doubt has made a considerable impact on my psyche. In some perverse way, it seems that violence is fueling my anger and apathy towards video games. Jack Thompson would be giddy.

The subject I wish to address today is the nature of innovation in the video games industry, or lack thereof. You see, it seems that Nintendo and the gaming media have found a newly polished soft-white trumpet to toot as they march along to the slow funeral drums of the Sony Empire wake. According to these so-called analysts and industry bigwigs, the Wii is the end-all and be-all of the next generation of interactive entertainment, and the 360 and PS3 are simply hardware improvements of old technology, the next iPods falling into the shadow of an iPhone. Some even say that the only true next-gen experience is the Wii, and that the high-definition era is simply a technological circle-jerk being forced down consumers throats when all we really crave is some new foreign grab-ass from those guys that decided touch screens on a handheld were actually a pretty nifty idea. To all of these people, and to anyone else who may feel similarly, I ask you honestly: who the fuck are you kidding?

Let’s be entirely serious here. The Wii is nothing more than Nintendo’s latest variant in a long-running trend of favoring gimmicks–I’m sorry, innovation–over actual computational horsepower to render games that people honestly DO want to be playing (12 million 360s and 3 million PS3s don’t lie). Let’s look back at the company’s history: We have the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, and Game Boy Micro. All the same system, all introduced at prices above $80, and each containing several obnoxious requirements for proper usage (lack of backlights, lack of headphone port, lack of a reason to exist, respectively). That’s one hardware generation, in terms of the portable market, and the reason for such obvious milking of a loyal/idiotic fanbase is that the entire time Nintendo was uncontested. Surely some of the readers here can recall E3 2005, when Nintendo failed to reveal the Revolution/Wii in the face of the 360 and PS3, but instead showed an awful DS prototype (which got sexed up considerably when it became the DS Phat, and even moreso with the Apple-like Lite) and the GBA Micro. For those having trouble remembering, this was the same year that Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime went on stage and promised to kick ass and maintain the DS as a “third pillar” alongside the Game Boy brand. Yeah, whatever buddy.

My point here is, essentially, that Nintendo follows profits, and only profits. Even when it looks like it’s doing something oh-so-clever or unique, a la the Virtual Boy, there a dozen Game Boy variants and peripherals to look back on and make one say “is this really the same Nintendo?” I’m talking e-readers, link cables, power gloves, lack of DVD playback in the Wii, GameCube disc format, the N64 memory pak/rumble pak/expansion paks/disk drives, the half-assed implementation of online support for the Cube… the list is staggeringly long. And it only further reaffirms that, while Nintendo is perfectly happy to parade around its newborn baby like America’s favorite console maker, they’re still a conservative company looking to ‘poon the consumer at every opportunity.

“But that’s not fair!” you cry out at me in a furry of message board posts and bull-like snorts of rage. “Nintendo is giving us Virtual Console games and the DS and it’s outselling everything!” True, true. I’m not going to say that Nintendo does nothing good and that we should dislike them; I’ve bought a few overpriced VC titles myself and even choked down the outrageous costs of extra controllers, nunchucks and “Classic” controllers for that sake of “next-gen.” And I don’t have too many regrets about them. But to say that the company at its roots is innovating the gaming business is flat-out preposterous. The Wii is an underpowered system delivering the same gameplay experiences that have been possible for over 5 years on the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and even the PSP. The only thing that breaks with tradition is the actual controller, which I applaud the company for sticking with even in the face of so much early skepticism. In fact, that’s fundamentally all Nintendo is doing: in both the Wii and the DS, the company has taken underpowered or less-costly measures of production (not putting two ARM9 chips in the DS to allow for dual-screen 3D is a joke) and combined them with brilliant new forms of control to create industry blockbusters. But I don’t call that innovation, I call that damn good forward thinking.

Let’s jump off that topic before I conclude with some comments about the business end of Nintendo. I want to clarify that by singling out Nintendo as a failure to innovate the industry I am not simultaneously heralding Sony or Microsoft as properly bringing us to the forefront of digital evolution. Not even for a second. Sony and Microsoft are guilty of something else entirely: stagnation. Since the days of Master Systems and Nintendo Entertainment Systems the industry of video games has been pushed forward by a constant arms race among at least two major contenders for space in peoples’ living rooms. Time and again we have seen 4-6 year cycles of hardware evolutions, often even shorter in the case of the stupendously failing Sega systems, but have we ever once seen a truly unique variant on the forms of material being presented? SNES and PlayStation gave us 3D life and began the turn towards 32- and 64-bit graphics later to be built upon by the N64, but when was that transition from beautiful hand-rendered sprites to clunky polygons ever considered anything more than the necessity of change? The facts still remain the same today: games are placed into a console, the console is turned on before or after this process, the game loads, and we use a tethered or now untethered device to manipulate objects that appear presented on a screen in front of us for prolonged periods of time. The only changes to this are the ability to play games with a multitude of others, with or without vocal interaction, and the addition of a few more buttons or methods of managing on-screen duties (read: motion control, vibration, in-controller speakers).

All in all, the world of gaming is very much unchanged from its origins. With new chips and more RAM we’ve been able to complicate the once rudimentary principles that all games are based upon, but we haven’t necessarily reinvented them. It just so happens that now if I want to hit a tennis ball I may not have to press a button but instead flick my wrist to accomplish the task. Is that such a bad thing to be saying? That’s not for me to say. My only purpose in writing this blog post is to drive home the fact that a video game is and always has been comprised of several fundamental parts. Adding or removing to those basics, or just allowing for those basics to be done in fancier, better looking ways, does not constitute an innovation.

So where does this leave Nintendo? After all, I did say that the controller was rather clever and that the machine it reports to was rather not. To answer this, I must lay bare my feelings on the company itself. To me, Nintendo is a perennial power that has long rested on the laurels of its handheld market stronghold to keep itself comfortably in the black. Even with the failure of the GameCube, a clusterfuck of childish design decisions and corporate double-fisting, there was the GBA to look upon with adoring eyes; possibly even the occasional game for the ‘cube to lift your hopes, too.

But when word came of the PSP and the early consensus that Sony would effectively strip Nintendo of its last remaining foothold, its security blanket, the company had to face facts. It was time to innovate or die. But I don’t mean the innovation of a “Revolution,” I mean the innovation of taking the house that Mario built and turning it upside down. They start hyping up their next system as the Revolution, they get some guy to say the words “kicking ass” on stage, they take a risk with the multitude of complex buttons and screens and microphones and WiFi of the DS and go head to head with the sexy, widescreen, traditional handheld PSP.

But that last one wasn’t going so well, and the stock numbers weren’t in the right place to try their hand at another costly, graphics-heavy system, especially with HD being touted by the competition as the killer new standard. So they put their heads together and said, “wait a minute, what do we do best?” The answer, as you know, is easy: Re-hash. We get the low-power Wii with a console variant of the DS controls (you can’t make a TV a touch screen, so make it a point-to-touch screen), and a hot new DS right in the vein of the SP and Micro redesign. At the same time, you have 360 failing in Japan and Sony trying to shove a foot down its throat while sticking two thumbs up its ass. That, my horoscope would say, is how the stars aligned and Nintendo got the full head of steam it has to day, powering back from the brink of pulling a Sega to leading the industry in market share and market growth. The cultural icon-like status of the DS Lite doesn’t hurt, either, but for the most part the Wii is just a culmination of fortunate events and careful planning. Fortunately for us, it’s not too bad having to play some great GameCube games on it, people seem to get a genuine kick out of swinging their arms around like trained apes. Shit, why didn’t anyone think of it sooner?

So after the excitement of GDC and all the razzle dazzle of LittleBigPlanet, Home, and the Super Mario Galaxy trailer–as well as some hot screens of Too Human and Mass Effect–things seem to be going back to the bitter, groupthink mentality of before. I really didn’t want to make this post about video games again, I’ll get to a “just for fun” entry later tonight, but it seems like I can’t get away from my podium.

First off, we have the delirium of Megaton Monday. The big news of the week, you might say, is that Microsoft is just about ready to officially reveal its “Elite” Xbox 360 package, which will feature the additions of HDMI, a 120GB hard drive, and a svelte black exterior for $479. But you would be wrong. Instead, it was the bomb-drop that Devil May Cry 4 would no longer be an exclusive to PlayStation 3. Of course, this spawned an enormous amount of spear-rattling and disgruntlement across the internet–one MS employee scratched the title off a checklist featuring MGS4 and FFXIII–but overall the news was in fact received a grossly exaggerated response. The truth is, as some have pointed out, that this is pretty much the status quo for third parties. Fiscally, it does not make sense for a publisher or developer to keep a game on only one system when the costs have grown extraordinarily over the last generation alone. Likewise, the people complaining on the behalf of Sony are still getting the same game, and so will their friends that have 360s. This is what I like to call a win-win; losing exclusivity is just losing bragging rights. If that matters enough to you that you’re willing to boycott Capcom over their decision, then you’re not really a fan of the series and don’t deserve to own the game either way. The same thing goes for Ace Combat 6.

I just want to do a few name drops here while I’m at it, since this is such a game-centric post (the next one will feature a bit of God of War love… maybe a lot… but include other stuff too). For anyone crying out that the sky is falling because Warhawk went multiplayer-only for the PSN, try listening to the director of the game for a minute and see exactly how Incog. essentially saved their game from becoming vaporware. What they have done is incredibly ballsy and I cannot applaud them enough for being forward and open about the entire affair. The length and depth of the above interview is absolutely incredible, given that the man most likely felt as if he were being interrogated before a firing squad. But on the other end, we had more dismal sales for PS3 and $130 cat helmets for Halo 3. Joy!

The real meat of the past two weeks, though, is Too Human. Incapable of keeping his foot anywhere but firmly planted inside his large, cavernous mouth, Denis Dyack has been causing quite a bit of mischief. In case you missed it, the man went in the the EGM offices and verbally accosted Mark MacDonald for his E3 2005 preview of the widely accepted shitty build of his little darling, Too Human. Like a rabid dog hungry for the flesh of its master, Dyack has gone from the podcast to message boards to blog, spewing vitriol and ranting incoherently about the need to stop previewing games before they’re finished. What? Excuse me Mr. Dyack, but the fact of the matter is that the reason you bring a game to a conference such as E3 is twofold. First, you wish to build some public interest, or “hype”, around your product. Second, you wish to see how the press or general public respond to the current direction you are taking with your game. What happened with Too Human last year is that the product they attempted to garner acclaim for was utter rubbish at the time they showed it; the camera and frame rate were abysmal, and the game lacked any sense of unity too it. In short, you were shooting for the stars, but you hit your foot.

Now, when screens of your game have been released that look fantastic, and you have a chance to finally present a product that is worth either hype or critical praise, you parade yourself around and bully those that kicked dirt at you. Why are you doing this, Denis? The is no real issue with the way review and previews are conducted. You seem to have the conception that a poor preview will result in that critic’s opinion of the final product also being poor, when in reality both are subjective to the build of the game they attempt to honestly report on to we the readers. Certainly, it would be lovely if all previews began at the phase when a game is complete, but then what would differentiate a preview from a review, aside from the amount of the game that writer had been able to play?

The simple fact is that the gamers and the press want to know how your game is doing from the moment you first tell us about it. It’s no different than having a child. “Is it healthy? Is it a boy? When is it due?” Both the fetus and the game are in the throes of being constructed, but all along the way there will be people there to hen-peck and prospect about the eventual product. So my parting words to you, Mr. Dyack, are not unlike what I may tell that small child when it’s reached the ripe age of two: you are to be seen, not heard. Go back under the drapes and finish whatever wizardry it takes for you to make a great game, then come out and flaunt your product then. But until that time comes, do not be bitter that some people doubted you and called you names, just put your nose to the grindstone and do what every great developer does: make us say wow.

So I skipped out on my post-Phil GDC blogging due to class immediately following his presentation and the fact that I was OMGBusy last week getting my “shit right” and preparing for the druken glory that is Spring Break.

The keynote has had time to simmer know, and the consensus appears to be unanimous. Even the black, charcoal hearts of Tycho and Gabe at Penny-Arcade have been warmed over by the woolly charm of LittleBigPlanet’s physics-powered foursome. Speaking of which, have you SEEN that 18 minute demo they did live for GDC? The four minute trailer that got out before looks absolutely elementary compared to the depth and depravity of the demonstrated version, though they feature the same level. The additional time given to character expression, slaps, hand waves, orange vaulting, and even stickering a few linen sheets had my mouth completely agape at the potention that lies within this charming little download title. If they didn’t know it before, I’m sure they do now: LittleBigPlanet is going to be a BigBigHit. Sorry, I pun when I’m giddy.

In truth, I could wax on and on about the glories of this user-powered title for an entire blog entry (and I just might later this week or early next), but there’s so much more to address I feel obliged to press on. Let us instead address the much more highly contested reveals: Miyamoto’s non-keynote and Sony’s Home.

As for Miyamoto, well, I really feel bad for the guy. His company is in the middle of a mega-huge stock buy-out, or so I’ve been told, and this prevented him from revealing any significant new information about his games and the Wii in general that could compromise the value of the purchase. Honestly, I thought they were too busy printing money over there in Japan to still need stocks, but apparently there’s no such thing as too much profit.

Other cool stuff I read from GDC, as an attempt to prove that this blog is more that a mere commentary by myself on my PlayStation experience (it’s a helluva lot better than my Wii one, but we’ll touch on that soon): Warren Spector, one of my personal favorite minds in the business, got up and talked for a little over an hour on the importance of story in video games. He categorized the four types of story inclusion in games, and basically summed up his speech by saying that user involvement in story decisions has become crucial. GTA and similar games served as a strong beginning for the formula, but the cinematic and freeform style of games like Gears (not an actual mention, just recalling this off the top of my head) or Oblivion, where the user’s actions affect the outcome, are what storytelling in next-gen gaming is all about. As a huge fan of story and narrative in games, I was enthralled by the article.

I also read about CliffyB’s (gosh that feels loathesome to type) Designing Gears of War junket thing, which happened right before the Shiggy keynote, but he really didn’t say anything too exciting other than when he described the use of visual aids to enhance the perception of speed and action. Motorstorm is just as guilty of using blur to boost the sense of speed as Gears is of using shaky-cam to boost its running, so it was cool to hear I’ve been fooled so easily, so often.

Aside from the other cool bits by Elite Beat Agent’s creator (Ouendan 2 and EBA 2 this year, bitches) and Koji “IGA” Igarashi on the resilience of 2D and Castlevania, the big news of GDC was Home, Sony’s Second Life-cum-social-network. It’s been getting some pretty mixed comments, ranging from the expected fanboy orgasms of “OH MY GOD IT’S SO FREE!” to the grumblings of Nintendo and Xbot loyalists critiquing the feature for not attracting a new audience, not appealing to them, not being free enough, not buying into the idea of playing games inside a glorified META game, and more. I, personally, am a bit on the fence, but on the whole rather receptive to the idea of a free online virtual lobby and Sims-like interface for killing time between games and grouping up with other PS3 owners. After all, I have a PS3, and it’s not going to cost me a dime to at least try it.

I’ll even admit that the lobbies and larger social areas aren’t strongly appetizing. The ability to customize my own apartment and run content from my harddrive live into TVs and picture frames around my personal living space is, however, a pretty fucking awesome feature. I know that a lot of journalists are talking about how people will be using this to broadcast porn through the PlayStation Network, but it really just makes me feel sorry for the gaming community that our news sources are obsessing over the potential to put boobs and cocks on the walls of their virtual homes. C’est la vie, I suppose.

Anywho, it was a great week for video game news, even if some of the fanboys got their feathers ruffled by all the good and not so good news. If anything, GDC served as an example to show that all three competitors, no matter the current situation, are still holding strong and already dug in for another five years of console warfare. And as always, that means more great news for gamers.

It’s GDC week and things are already starting to look like fun. Today, we’ve got a fantastic read on Warhawk, the Incog game that was the showboat of PS3 at E3 2006 and has now resided itself to being a humble PSN title. But don’t mock the game for falling short of its original ambitions: get a look at the footage IGN put out in their Weekly video podcast and you’ll be saying “wow” with the rest of us. I had always been considering Warhawk in high regard when it came around time to decide whether I would be taking the plunge on a PS3, and I was honestly dismayed by the rumors of it being in trouble and the departure of the single-player experience. Now, however, I’m flying high once more, ready to pull some figure-eights and pour some bullets down some poor schmuck’s throat. Heck, it’s about time I got a decent flight experience. Lord knows Star Fox hasn’t been cutting it (ooooh, burn).

Elsewhere, we had a nice little write-up at 1UP about the GDC panel on RPGs. Dubbed “The Evolution of the RPG”, the segment was basically a Microsoft-sponsored sit-down between Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker Studios and Blue Dragon fame, Ray Muzkya from Bioware (the Mass Effect people), and Peter “I’d put my dick in it” Molyneux, the wannabe genius behind Black and White and Fable. Essentially, the piece recites the different arguments brought up during the panel and each person’s take on the topic. I link to it because they all come to rather disconcerting points on some issues.

Regarding RPG evolution itself, the agreement is that a highly cinematic, grandiose presentation is the key to next-gen storytelling, which essentially follows the Final Fantasy line of thought. This is disturbing to me as games like Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy Tactics or even Dark Cloud don’t rely on the story and that shimmering coat of paint to be engaging experiences; each is a raw and rather traditional playing game and they excel because they perfect the mechanics that define their genre, not because they beauty them up. Don’t get me wrong, I love the pomp and circumstance of FFXII, it’s one of the best games I played last year, but that game also has a fantastic and unique combat engine that encourages intimate knowledge of the characters and constant manipulation of party lines and skill trees. Meanwhile, a game like Blue Dragon is a high-poly version of an old Dragon Quest, with a bit of Grandia III tossed in as well. Is it a good game? Personally I haven’t played it, but it looks like it might be. All I know is that I don’t want to be drowning in cinema and not have a compelling game experience to go along with it.

The group also made some interesting comments on the need for characterization, though sadly the one representative of Japanese RPGs — the style of RPG most lacking in customization, whether it be the character model or the ability to break from linear progression — is pretty much pulling a Ken Kutaragi and getting misty-eyed about some fantasy vision of his own. Regardless, though, it’s been a pretty good start to GDC, and the bombshells (PlayStation Home, Xbox Live on PC for $50 a year!) will hopefully continue tomorrow as Phil Harrison presents his GDC keynote. I’ll be live with comments as soon as he finishes up (unless I’m in class… haven’t checked the schedule). See you then.