Oldschool Hard

I may be behind one of these tiny lights in the near future.

Once again I must make excuses for my absence – between the wedding that I was involved in – it went well – a cold that just seemed to come and go as it pleased before finally fucking off, trying to write 15,000 odd words of business plan and thesis so I can finish grad school, Operation Stop Being a Fat Bastard (down 22kg/48lb, nearly 6 inches around (not below) the waist, and fitting into a medium shirt for the first time in living memory – the ‘trick’ is to eat well and exercise, sorry) and being sucked back into raiding on WoW (I know), time’s slipped away from me, again.

There’s been a storm of gaming-related bullshit since I last posted, as there always seems to be: PS3s having clock errors, Activision causing havoc at Infinity Ward (so as to have as much control over the ‘brand’ and ‘annualisation’ as possible?) with subsequent claims and counter-claims, Ubisoft’s DRM servers getting hacked.

In good news, there was the Portal update, with its mysterious messages that showed what the power of nerds can do, and with Michael Atkinson showing himself out of parliament in South Australia we might be able to get a proper go at an 18+ games rating in Australia. I believe his true character was shown by the fact that he decided to retire after being voted back in with a massive swing against him.

In my own personal news, short of being offered a fabulous job here in the next 2 months, I’ll be moving to the US when I finish my grad studies (oh, the joy of hereditary dual citizenship). Either New York or San Francisco seem to be where the majority of jobs around my skill sets are, although I’m not ruling out other cities. Despite Australia supposedly having a much better job market, I can’t seem to get a job in one of my chosen fields (writing and/or editing) here, and through the strange nature of the internet and family networks, I know more people in New York than I know in Sydney, the other Australian publishing city.

This is a logistical challenge for me, as I did a count other day, and not counting my homebrew games, ’50 retro games on one disc!’ collections and so on, and estimating how many games are on some discs (eg. Space and Kings Quest collections), I currently own approximately 285 games, across 7 formats. I’ve probably sold about 70 games in my life, the vast majority when selling systems to get new systems, and I usually hang onto games rather than sell them, even if I don’t intend on ever playing them again.

So the question is raised: If I go, what games would I bring with me, and what would I leave behind? PC games are a no brainer – they work anywhere, and I just need to bring manuals (or even just a list of keys), a folder of discs, and downloads on an external HDD – boxes can be sent later when I’m settled in. PS3 games, not that I own many, are another no brainer – they’re region-free. DS/GBA games will also work anywhere. 360 games are tougher – some are region-free, some aren’t. My collection on 360 is a good pile without being huge, and I’m tempted to just play through the ones I haven’t finished before I leave and then sell them all, rather than try and sort out what works where.

The one collection that really drives me to confusion is my PS2 games. It’s approximately 70 games, including a bunch of rare ones (at least in PAL territories) like the .Hack collection, ICO, the Shadow Hearts games, (the subsequently banned from sale) Manhunt, Rez, Gitaroo Man, and the two Space Channel 5 games. There’s just too many issues: these won’t work on an overseas PS2 without modding and I have no idea if chipping PS2s is commonplace in the US, transporting many games is unwieldy and expensive, I don’t want to deal with the hassles of transformers and TV compatibility, and I don’t know if PS2 emulation is good enough yet to just play them through a PC. There’s a lot of games I’m yet to play through, I don’t have nearly enough time before my degree is finished, and while selling them would make me a decent chunk of change, I’d probably just put that out again buying US versions of the same games.

There’s always the prospect of me coming back, I can’t say any move would be forever. Should I let them sit because I can’t make up my mind definitively either way? Some things, it doesn’t matter – DVDs I can rip to computer, the same with CDs. But I need the physical media with these games, and I have a limited amount of luggage space. I also fret about my guitars and amplifiers, my books and certain magazines – much loved and important to me, but expensive to move in bulk, and barring a few Australian titles, first editions, and such, easy enough to buy again. Clothes, computer parts, most everything else, I’m not emotionally attached to, but some things mean a lot to me, and my games are part of that.

Image from art.com

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Deja Vu? This could be what all gaming will feel like, soon.

As well as the big pile o’ unplayed games, I keep a list of games that I hear/see/read about, both already released games that I’m yet to get (some examples: Bayonetta and The Saboteur), and games yet to come out (like Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, and Rage). As the examples show, there’s definitely still new stories, new gameplay ideas, and new stories grafted onto old ideas coming out of game publishers. However, these new ideas have to fight very hard to get any traction. On my list of 31 upcoming games to watch, 22 are either direct sequels or part of an already established series. Mass Effect 2, Crackdown 2, Max Payne 3, Diablo 3, Thief 4…

I suppose I’m the sucker; it’s my own list, after all. And it’s probably what a large section of the gaming public wants – why wouldn’t you want more of a good thing? But it makes me wonder, are these games being released in addition to games with original ideas and settings, with as many new properties being released as there has ever been, or are they the replacement for new ideas? I worry when I see things like Activision (oh, you have come a long way since Pitfall, haven’t you) talking about not releasing new games unless they can be “annualised.” That statement does perhaps imply new ideas in gaming, but it implies ‘safe’ new ideas. Does it prevent any resources being put into the next Psychonauts, Ico, or Okami?

Call of Duty, Guitar Hero - these sort of series will be cranked out on a yearly basis, quality or need be damned. As game budgets and therefore the number of units needed to sell to make a profit rise, the will to take on risk evaporates, and thus these sort of sequels or annual installments will be prevalent. GTAIV, as an example, had a lot of ambition, and in some ways its reach exceeded its grasp, but at the core it was largely the same game as every GTA game since GTA3 – and stuck largely to what people look for in a GTA game. I can see the Madden Syndrome threaten to take over before too long, where the game title just becomes ‘Call of Duty 2011‘, and any gameplay changes are minor and incremental. It seems like the only games that will join these existing series’, at least from major publishers, will be games that are derivative of them.

Repitition and sequels are old as games themselves: Look at Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man, Galaxian and Galaga. There’s been a million Zelda sequels, give or take, and that’s down to a fine art by now, which is pretty much exactly why I struggle to take much interest in the Zelda series anymore. You can contrast this with the (western versions of the) Super Mario Bros. series, which up to Super Mario 64 (at the very least) did something different in every game. But the development cycles were long, and games were relatively less expensive to make – the pressure was undoubtably there to make a hit, but would be unlikely to sink the company if one game in a series wasn’t quite the blockbuster they were hoping for. There was time to experiment when a game didn’t have to come out every year, and even if games were released annually, they didn’t need the scores of graphic and sound resources that games do now.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t want a good sequel to a game I enjoy, but getting one every year is a bit ridiculous and can make you tired of even the best ideas. I mean, I like pizza, but I don’t want to eat it every night, you know?

Image from Sports Rubbish, done over with my 1337 chopping skillz.

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