Not Ready To Rumble

I realize I’m probably in the minority on this one, but I’m actually pleased that the Dualshock 3 isn’t going to feature some sort of “next-gen rumble” capability.  Rumble can be a nice immersion tool when properly - and infrequently - implemented, but more often than not it’s overused and ends up distracting me much more than it ever actually helps. 

Do we really need to feel the “hum of a lightsaber’s energy as it powers up”?

$50 Duck Hunt, Anyone?

Does it strike anyone else as weird that Nintendo is basically re-releasing the NES zapper for the Wii?  I mean, sure, it sounds interesting… but it would be very difficult to control a complex game with just the Wiimote, since you wouldn’t have enough hands for the zapper/nunchuk combo.  And if it’s just for simple games, are we really going to want to pay for this?

Not Dead Yet…

Well, I’m back from my trip - but I’ve just moved, have no internet till tonight, and am in orientation for a new position from 8 am until 11 pm every day.  Will be hopefully posting later.

Ninjitsoops

I thought this was a weird statement to make (from IGN’s recent impressions on Dragon Sword):

“[H]ow do you translate a series known for cutting-edge graphics and spectacular button combos to a handheld that lacks the horsepower of any home system and uses a stylus to boot?”

Unless I’m mistaken, haven’t all of the Gaiden games prior to Black/Sigma been twitchy action games unreliant on their graphics?  I loved them, but let’s not confuse the last two games with the series.

As long as we’re on the subject, another line that raised my eyebrows: “What the demo proves beyond any doubt is that Gaiden for DS is terrific.”  Gee, guys, you’re generally supposed to wait for the game to be released before you review it.  (For what it’s worth, I’ve beaten 2 & 3, but have never finished 1.  I’m hoping Dragon Sword turns out well.)

Has Id Lost Its Way?

I was one of the minority who really liked Doom 3.  The game was admittedly dark, but horror games are always dark - that’s sort of the point.  And I’ll concede that I wish they had explored Doom’s themes in greater detail; the pacing and demonic environments of the original still represent highlights in my game-playing career.  That said, Doom 3 wasn’t perfect and I’m not too impressed by the trailer for their newest FPS, Rage.

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Slouching Toward Alefgard

I know, I know, action-based RPGs are the wave of the future.  Nevertheless, I actually empathize with the Dragon Quest fans who decried the possibility that DQIX might ditch turn-based combat.

Look - you can’t create a franchise whose defining characteristic is blind, immutable fealty to the same RPG fetishes that created the genre, and then be surprised when people object to changing it.  There’s something vaguely comforting in the fact that no matter how much better games get, there are still people who want to spend 45 minutes just walking from one town to the next… pressing the A button all the while.

Pet Peeve: Famous Voice Talent

I know people may disagree with me here, but this is something that disproportionately annoys me.  I’ve been thinking about it a bit more since seeing Ratatouille, but had to wait for this Sierra press release to set me off.*

Apparently, Elijah Wood and Gary Oldman will be lending their voices to the newest Spyro.  I don’t really get the use of major voice talent in videogames (or animated movies) as a matter of principle - recognizable voices are distracting, have too many connotations already, are expensive, and are unnecessary given the wide variety of vocal talent already out there.  Do game purchasers really make buying decisions on that basis?  And note that this isn’t the same as licensed music; there’s no authenticity that famous voices lend to a game. 

Publishers: stop complaining about the spiraling costs of development if you’re going to fritter away your cash on crap like this.

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* I was particularly irritated when one film critic panned Ratatouille simply because it hadn’t stunt-cast anyone as the main rat.

Gamepad Bleg

Can anyone recommend a good, not-too-expensive PC gamepad for games like Psychonauts?  It doesn’t need to be the best out there, but I’d like a good balance of cost and functionality.

I Phone, You Phone, We all Phone for iPhone

This isn’t exactly gaming related, but the iPhone will have some games on it, and it’s what everyone’s talking about today, and, of course, its launch is paralleling the launch of new consoles.

And that’s what’s absolutely crazy to me. People started lining up at Apple’s 5th Avenue store in New York on Monday. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous for people to spend an entire work week waiting in line for pretty much anything. Don’t these people have jobs? Is it really worth taking a whole week off of work and about a 100 hours of boredom (and probably a little danger) just to secure one of these things? These people are not just spending the somewhat pricey $500 or $600 on these things, they’re probably spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars just in the time they take off work for it. That just really doesn’t seem worth it.

And, it’s a CELL PHONE. Like I said, I don’t agree with waiting days for a console either, but the iPhone seems even more absurd. To begin with, at least with a console you’re waiting for something that will potentially give you new and fun experiences. With a phone, well, maybe it’ll just work better than your last phone and have some nice features, but in the end, it’s a phone. Someone could make the argument that a phone is something you’ll use every day, so it’s actually more worthwhile, but I just don’t think a new phone will really be improving your life all THAT much. I feel like the diminishing returns here are far more, um… diminished than a console upgrade.

And do I have to mention that the planned obsolescence of the phone is probably exactly 1 year? The iPhone lacks 3g support, meaning that the key feature of being able to surf the web better than the average smartphone is substantially crippled. It does apparently have WiFi support, but this seems like a fairly worthless option to me, as you’d either have to pay another fee on top of the already substantial iPhone data plan fees to use it (say in an airport), or simply be somewhere that you’d likely have access to a computer with an internet connection anyway. It also doesn’t have voice dialing support, which I think my phone from 5 years ago had. Anyone really think that Apple won’t be releasing a product with these features as soon as next year?

Pointless Gear Watch: Logitech “Motionless” PS3 Controller

I have to say, I’ve typically been a fairly big fan of Logitech gear. Most of their stuff is top-notch and for console controllers, they are by far the only 3rd party controllers I’ve ever used that actually felt and played well.  I own both a PS2 and original XBox wireless Logitech controller (and I still use the PS2 one with some frequency).

So it’s extremely surprising to me to see Logitech release what appears to be a remarkably stupid PS3 controller.  Why is it so stupid?

Well, let’s say you want to create a 3rd party controller for a system.  What would be the absolute bare minimum functionality that you would need to have in the controller?  Personally, I’d want it to be compatible with all of the games that are available on the system (I’m not talking about specialized controllers like racing wheels or “classic” controllers for older games).  If it doesn’t meet this bare minimum goal, then there’s really no point to the controller, right?

Well, apparently Logitech didn’t really consider this, as the controller lacks the motion controls that are available on the SIXAXIS and which are actually used in some games.  But, they added “rumble” which helps… absolutely no one at the moment, as no games support rumble.

Maybe there are no games that absolutely require the motion controls yet (I actually don’t know for sure, although I remember people mentioning that they are used fairly well in Resistance), but they are available in the standard controller that comes with the system, meaning that developers are already creating games with it in mind.  The lack of this standard feature just seems remarkably silly.