Arcade, where have you gone?

The classic arcade seems to be a nearly extinct species. While there are some arcade games that seem true to the classic games (Crusin', for example.), it seems as though all is lost. Arcade games were known for innovative (at the time) controls, such as the rolling ball in Crystal Kingdom or the light gun from just about every arcade game. There are still some arcade games that are becoming innovative, such as motion simulators for aviation games. However, arcades have been in decline since the Video Game Crash of 1984, and more recently due to the popularization of home consoles. Many companies that got their start-up in arcade found the popularization of video game consoles as a source for ports of their arcade games for consoles like the Commodore 64, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, etc. Microsoft has loved the old arcade for quite a while. In fact, during the mid-'90s, Microsoft released 5 games for the PC via floppy disc from Namco. More recently, Microsoft released Game Room for Games for Windows and Xbox 360 that (so far) has games from Konami, Atari, and games on the 2600 and Commodore 64. However, there are some characteristics that these can't really bring back, such as the massive joystick and indented plastic buttons, as well as blowing off all of your quarters trying to beat some kid's high score. However, there are some nice features that are added to these arcade games from services like Game Room and Gametap, such as pausing the game where it is, rewinding to undo a screw-up, etc. Even though there are online leader boards and local multiplayer, it isn't as fun as having a whole bunch of people you haven't met before meet eachother at an arcade and compete head-to-head while popping quarters like there is no tomorrow while eating a bunch of pizza in order to obtain tickets to buy the fabled plastic, $0.05 toys. While there are a bunch of positives about newer services, those services can never replace what has been.

Additions to the Mind

Well, I figured I should try to make the blog more appealing by making some changes. One of them is the first thing you see, which is a new theme that still reflects upon the same color styling that I have used since May 2009. In addition, I will be linking my YouTube and this blog together so that ways you make look at a few of the games that are around here. In addition, I have a slight intention to start performing video-blogging in addition to my text posts. If such a thing is possible, then I will attempt at getting this on iTunes, since hosting podcasts is as free as the download so that way you may see my face and thoughts wherever you go (as long as you have an iPod). Due to my lack of coding skills, I think I'll just leave that up in the air. Plus, I'm going to start making use of gaming news articles out there and give my own opinions on the stories to see if you appreciate it or not. If you have any other suggestions, then please feel free to give them here. Plus, if you don't mind, feel free to spread the word a little. Having 3 visitors besides myself isn't that great for my ego…

PC Gamers vs. Console Gamers

The war has always gone on about which console is the best. However, there are not a lot of references towards the PC when it comes to this world. Everyone just thinks that Microsoft's only weapon is the Xbox 360, but those people are quite very wrong. Everyone thinks that Nintendo is selling the most consoles, but those people are, again, wrong. I'm not going to say anything about Sony right now simply based upon the fact that they've still got the PS2 going at a high velocity. What is this foreboding console? Is it the iPad that comes out in April? Is it, perhaps, some new contender to the gaming world? No. In fact, you are most likely using this fiery machine right now. That's right, I'm talking about the PC.

The thing is that the PC was not the best until around the 64-bit era, around the time of the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, etc. If you do not believe me, go look up screenshots of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, which came out in 1998: the same year as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The PC had games that allowed online multiplayer by default in 1995 in the United States (A feature that only existed in Japan until things like Xbox LIVE and the such came out.), not including unsupported 3^rd party online multiplayer venders. Even consoles like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Nintendo 64 offered online multiplayer with exclusive downloads, game lobbies, demos, music, and other features that are very similar to Xbox LIVE…in Japan. While that is going on in Japan, U.S. gamers are playing WarCraft II online on their PCs!

In addition, PC gamers had the CD long before the other consoles did. If you want to go back to the whole Nintendo x Sony deal that fell through, that would have made Nintendo and Sony take down Microsoft's plans of the Xbox. It could play CDs and likewise, as well as online and such. However, for some reason, the deal did not go out so well, so Nintendo tried with Phillips, and that did not work as well. Then, we are tortured with 3 painful Zelda titles and a few other painful Mario titles.

However, PC games have far more potential than any console game could ever dream. For starters, the programmers are not restricted by any amount of storage space. All they need is for the potential player to have the hard drive and RAM for it, while PS3 games are locked at 50 GB and Xbox 360 and Wii games are locked at 8 GB. Then, it is much easier to put a game onto a PC instead of putting it on every single console. I may not be a programmer, but I know that it must be painful trying to re-write a game for multiple consoles. In addition, the controls are virtually unlimited in a PC game, which is what I really want to emphasize.

Compare a mouse to an analog stick. The mouse is much more comfortable because it is using your entire hand instead of just your thumb. Then, you also have your classic trigger buttons on the mouse if you are playing a FPS, and you can use the scroll wheel to change weapons. If it is a racer, nine times out of ten, you are using the directional arrow keys, a force feedback steering wheel, or a gamepad. What if you use the keyboard on a flight simulator? You could have a joystick as the main flight stick and then have the keyboard with its hundreds of keys be all of the control buttons on the airplane so that way you don't risk having a tragedy in the skies. Now compare all of that to a gamepad, which does not have as many buttons, so you cannot obtain full control of your plane.

However, there is one thing that consoles can beat PCs at, and that thing is the consoles' "one size fits all" deal. The thing is that eventually, your computer gets old and you have to go out and buy a new graphics card; of which we all know aren't the same. While on a console, you can get great visuals and such without having to go out and buy a new card every generation comes out. However, it is relatively cheaper to just replace a graphics card instead of dishing out several hundred dollars on a console that will most likely not even work with your game unless you pay extra to reuse it (such as the Wii and the Virtual Console). The thing is that PC gamers have a different standard than console gamers do in the magical world of gaming. In some areas, the PC gamers come out victorious with their infinite control schemes, while console games are all the same graphically without having the need to purchase a new graphics card. What is fun is that there are select games on Games for Windows - LIVE that allows for multiplayer with Xbox 360 users without having to pay for Gold membership, which could perhaps prove which gamers truly have the ultimate advantage. On a FPS and RTS, I think that the PC could win due to the mouse, especially with controlling armies and having a sniper. However, in other games, I think they are evenly matched.

Video Game Rumors…

We've all heard about the rumors for the fabled Zelda Wii. It's really starting to annoy me in many ways. For starters, we have websites that have conflicting rumors, so we have no clue as to what is true and what isn't false. Recently, someone online released a set of photos that appear to be a mod of either The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. In addition, some report the interface to be based upon fan artwork from some works. However, it has been confirmed by Nintendo that they will be presenting both Zelda Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 at E3. Most likely with that time set, the amount of rumors is most likely to increase until E3. I would not be surprised if the amount of rumors drop severely when Nintendo proves them wrong within the next several months.

This graph I randomly threw together seems to be true. This was actually true in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in which the title was announced when the Wii came out; people started making rumors and "leaks". Then, at that point, Nintendo decided to release an E3 video and several videos after that to show how they're doing, which sparks more rumors. Then, the title is released in Japan, and everyone goes crazy and looks for it in Japan with things like ROMS or plot details. Then it is released in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. It is then that some people decide, "Rumor time!" and end up trying to theorize a sequel for a next game until one is either announced or not announced. I really don't like this; this is more of a rant than anything, but after getting a message from G4 Mobile Text saying that Nintendo will announce SMG2 and Zelda Wii and after seeing all the fake rumors and "leaked" images, I had to say this.

The new Decade

Well, it seems that 2010 has decided to show its unpredictable face. What new trends shall begin and which ones shall end in the new decade? Remember the 1970's was the "Golden Age of the Arcade", the 1980's was the "Nintendo Empire" (Nintendo nearly monopolised the video game company until Supreme Court slapped them on the wrist for anti-trust laws), the 1990's was the "Birth of the Polygon" (Starfox on the SNES and up, and even games like A Link to the Past were seeing polygons; the N64 and PS were the starters of nothing but polygons), and the 2000's was the "Birth of HD", in which nowadays most games are in High Definition resolutions on computers and almost any game console with the exception of the Wii, DS, and PSP. Now, what is 2010 going to bring for us? At this rate, it seems as though it could be the "Reign of Motion Control" considering that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are getting interested in motion controls. However, I'm also thinking that video games are starting to be online exclusive, in which you have to download games in order to play them, which is what we can do with the Wii/DSi Shop, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Marketplace. However, as Internet speeds increase each decade and as we gain more space and better compression, we could see massive games like Grand Theft Auto expansions (which are over 1 GB) become full blown games that we could just pay $30-50 to download. This could be great for production since cartridges and discs wouldn't have to be produced, thus making it cheaper. Remember, the most a N64 game cost was $80 due to the cartridges (well, Nintendo of Europe was accused of price fixing), yet the PS production didn't take long thanks to the discs. So, all we can do now is simply wait until the next generation of consoles to come out. However, for some reason, it seems that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are more interested in improving their current systems. The Xbox 360 has already exceeded the lifespan of the average generation, and the Wii and PS3 are getting close to their lifespan. Then again, the N64 lasted only 8 years and was able to create innovative things like the Expansion Pak and Rumble Pak. We can only wait and see.

Nintendo Needs to Man Up

Well, we've heard it from Xbox Live users about how Nintendo Wifi lacks freedom such as speech, and how you can only do a lot of things if you have friend codes. I do think it is nice, but I do think Nintendo should loosen the leash a little bit more. I'm thinking that in perhaps later installments, Nintendo Wifi could enable voice speech to people of a certain age group. For instance, if it is a game like Call of Duty where speech is necessairy, if not almost required, to make tatics and such, they should have it so that way people 13+ or 18+ can do voice chats at their own consent. There could also perhaps be a "mute mode" in which people who aren't in the age group or people who opt to not chat would not be able to listen to the chat if they were in a room that would allow for chat. Yes, Nintendo should also try to lighten up, encourage 3rd party makers to not be all whimps and produce just cheap little mini-game collections that I have been seeing released every month ever since the Wii was created. If only the third party paid attention to the first party, then the third party would have some inspiration plot-wise and graphic-wise and produce better games for the Wii. Yet strangely, the DS has better games than most of what is on the Wii...

Portables' Versions of Console Games

Well, we've all done it before. We've all, at one point, played a portable version of a console game. If you haven't, or you think you haven't, then you may actually be surprised. There are quite a few games that are either ports or sequels onto portable consoles. Star Wars: Battlefront is an example. There were the two console versions, then they made a version for the PSP. While the PSP version was deemed bad due to the terrible controls, it did show that portable consoles could do something. Similar to the Game Boy Advance ports of SNES games, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Mario World. Another example that I know of would be the Trackmania Series. For those who don't know what it is, it is an arcade racer (Point "A" to point "B" in the shortest amount of time, but the cars can't affect others in this game's case), and its portable version was a great version, in which it had three of the seven environments and the famous level editor it is well known for. Then we have the Call of Duty franchise and its two additions onto the DS. They were quite good, in their own right, for a portable game. Now, the main question we all need to know is that if this activity should be encouraged. Well, what I specifically mean about having a Console game on a portable is that the console one came first, then they made the portable one based off of the console one, not like releasing them both at the same time (Such as movie games). Well, for starters, the visual capabilities of portable consoles are starting to increase significantly (speaking of the DS and PSP), and storage space for portable consoles are also starting to increase as well. Now, would it be fun to have the same exact same game on both console and portable? No. However, a lot of people are on the go, and don't always have time to be playing games. Perhaps that is one reason why The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was put on the DS (or maybe the DS was long overdue for a Zelda game...or at least not have it on a console). Plus, production budgets are much cheaper having it on a portable than on a console, so that can also be considered another positive. Having sequels on the portable consoles is also a nice tactic that some companies use, but it may be a good thing or a bad thing in some occasions? So, is it really a good idea to have portable consoles like the DS and the PSP base or port games off of consoles? Well, like I said, it just depends on what it is and how it is executed (Phantom Hourglass used the touch screen controls, so that was a positive). So, there's no real base line in general, but there's a line for which games can be on a portable and go with us everywhere and which ones are not worth the AA batteries and are much better at home on your big screen TV (of which I don't own).