kevinski.com

08) MORE COMPLEX CONTROL SCHEMES

Remember going into a store and walking up to a demo kiosk, learning the controls within a minute or two based solely on trial and error? Have you done that recently? No? Well, that's because newer controllers have too many fucking buttons. Give me a three-button Genesis controller over a PlayStation 3 controller any day. There's this misconception that games with more freedom of movement somehow require more buttons. This isn't the case. If developers knew how to program a damn camera or use something called CONTEXT-SENSITIVITY, then there'd be no need for anything more complex than a Dreamcast controller (which, for the record, had fewer buttons than a Saturn controller).


07) LESS PERSONALITY

Newer consoles (and the companies behind them) seem to lack personality where older consoles didn't. Whether it's a console's system menu user interface or said console's complete lack of mascot, it's not so hard to see why. While I realize that gaming's always been about money for companies, it's far more evident now. While I realize that PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have customizable themes to an extent, I'm referring more to the out-of-box experience and the initial feeling that you get whenever you turn a new console on.

With PlayStation 3, you're greeted with an empty-looking void that I can only assume is a figurative interpretation of what a Sony exec's heart and soul are like. With Wii, you're greeted with what looks like something you'd see on a fucking iPod. I mean, it even manages to be more stagnant than PlayStation 3's default user interface, and that's really saying something. With Xbox 360, you're greet with something that, while visually engaging, just doesn't offer anything memorable.

Oh, but that's okay, because - in the case of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 - you've got...

04) MORE POWER

You know, Microsoft and Sony, I'm very happy that your consoles can render the sweat on my character's balls and everything, but I couldn't fucking care less when your consoles have little else to offer. That's especially true because - despite being supposed graphical powerhouses - they both need to make various trade-offs in order to display more detail. I mean, what's the point in having sharper textures and higher polygon counts if there's no anti-aliasing?

Still, graphics aren't everything. Thing is, however, the degree to which these consoles' respective manufacturers is what makes graphics so important. Furthermore, the fascination with photo-realism is what makes graphics so important. Problem is, consoles still aren't quite there yet. Graphics still manage to look sub-par, because the technology's not there, and developers still seem to prefer to attempt their takes on photo-realism when stylized graphics would help their products to stand out more, in my opinion.

What really irritates me about this ongoing power struggle, however, is that it's doing little more than making developers lazier. Sure, I realize that it takes effort to squeeze the full potential out of current-generation consoles, but the leap in graphical quality is becoming less and less substantial with each new console generation. Why? Because there's far less optimization going on. This is especially true in the case of PlayStation 3, because it's more important to Sony (and their development teams) that developers not compress audio, video and various other elements to make it seem that Blu-ray's higher storage capacities is somehow relevant.

But hey, with more power comes more...


03) PATCHES

Don't you just love buying games that're complete dog shit before they're patched half a dozen times? I sure as Hell don't! Honestly, the saddest part about patches is that console games tend to get more patches than PC games nowadays. Given how damn many possible PC configurations there are, that just shouldn't happen. The ridiculous number of patches for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games can be attributed to little more than products being rushed to store shelves to meet deadlines. While this may not seem like a big deal, given the fact that the issues are generally (eventually) fixed, what happens when and if these console networks are no longer available, and you're stuck with just the retail disc that you purchased?

Speaking of rushed or otherwise incomplete games, I fucking hate...

Just reading #10 made this thread an instant classic. I'll read the rest now ahahahaha...

EDIT 3 hours later:

Sorry but I had to give this one more time for a proper response. First off, GREAT piece of writing, seriously.

Okay!

10) GAMES FOR GIRLS

Yeah I guess I can see companies trying to reach another consumer base but the few girls I know who play video games like sRPGS or games like Parasite Eve anyhow. I suppose if a little girl's all into Barbie or Hello Kitty and has a DS already and the game comes out then go for it. My daughter has a Disney Princess game for the PS2 that's actually pretty high quality in a lot of ways and seems to have been made especially for girls her age. As long as it's not total crap, I approve of this niche marketing.

09) 2D-TO-3D ADAPTATIONS

Yes I couldn't agree more. You missed two pretty obvious series for this though: Metroid and Castlevania. Metroid Prime was pretty fun but it's just not Metroid. The Castlevania games should have always been 2D. Thank God for handhelds that continue to make these puppies in 2D.

08) MORE COMPLEX CONTROL SCHEMES

Yeah, nowhere does it say that just because your controller has 20 buttons they all have to have a single usage. This isn't a PC you know. One of the best control setups is Shining Soul 2 for the GBA. They use the left and right shoulder buttons for quick selects for your weapons and items respectively so you don't have to go into the subscreen and do it that way. This is important since the game doesn't pause while you're in the subscreen.

07) LESS PERSONALITY

Well I don't own a 3d gen console but I can already tell it doesn't have the "charm" of the wood panel 2600 or the ol' toaster.

06) ALL-IN-ONE CONSOLES

Yep again, if I wanted a Blu Ray player I'd buy a blu ray player. Especially if it raises the price of a PS3 a ton. I buy a video game console for games, that's it.

05) FEWER EXCLUSIVES

Well I guess they find ways around this sometimes like the fighting game where Link was on one and Snake was on the other. I was Nintendo all the way for years until the PS1 came out. There were just too many awesome games to not jump ship & get it. I ended up getting an N64 and GC later for Metroid, Mario & Zelda (to a lesser degree) so I guess the jump was pretty temporary, eh?

04) MORE POWER

kevnski wrote:

You know, Microsoft and Sony, I'm very happy that your consoles can render the sweat on my character's balls and everything, but I couldn't fucking care less when your consoles have little else to offer.

And here was about the time the article went from good to pulitizer prize-winning. I have so little interest in the newer consoles I actually just saw some football 360 game for the first time about a month ago. And how long has that thing been out now? 4 or 5 years? That's why when I first read up about how the 360 and PS3 could whoop the Wii hardware-wise I knew that wouldn't mean shit. Nintendo's always been about awesome franchises with established characters or games that would just be more fun.

03) PATCHES

The only experience I have with patches have been with Everquest from way back and Diablo 2. Both are free and sort-of far between. In this same vein though I will say that I've read the new Dragon Quest 9 (for the DS) has almost half of its content that's only unlockable or whatever through  multiplayer. For me, this is a big reason to NOT get the game because I haven't used my DS's connectivity once. No need to before now. If this is a weird way to get more copies of DQ9 sold it's weak. I've always thought the single player campaign of any game should have everything. Why penalize the paranoid, people-avoiding few of us out there right? All my hermits say HEY OOOOO!

02) PAID DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT (DLC)

Totally because the game got rushed to make it by Christmas. Maybe if more time & energy were put into making the game play better than look super realistic this wouldn't happen as much. But I suck and make games that look 7 bit so what do I know?

01) MORE KNOCK-OFFS, REHASHES AND SEQUELS

Is this your complicated way of telling me to change Hasslevania 2's name?

Last edited by Del Duio (10.07.2009 7:26:04 pm)

Del Duio wrote:

Sorry but I had to give this one more time for a proper response. First off, GREAT piece of writing, seriously.

Thanks!

Del Duio wrote:

10) GAMES FOR GIRLS

Yeah I guess I can see companies trying to reach another consumer base but the few girls I know who play video games like sRPGS or games like Parasite Eve anyhow. I suppose if a little girl's all into Barbie or Hello Kitty and has a DS already and the game comes out then go for it. My daughter has a Disney Princess game for the PS2 that's actually pretty high quality in a lot of ways and seems to have been made especially for girls her age. As long as it's not total crap, I approve of this niche marketing.

The problem with that Disney Princess game, however, is that I'm probably not fucking playing it, regardless of its quality. I mean, why limit your market that way? I mean, they could've just as easily used albinos, and your daughter AND other gamers would've been willing to buy the game. XD

Del Duio wrote:

09) 2D-TO-3D ADAPTATIONS

Yes I couldn't agree more. You missed two pretty obvious series for this though: Metroid and Castlevania. Metroid Prime was pretty fun but it's just not Metroid. The Castlevania games should have always been 2D. Thank God for handhelds that continue to make these puppies in 2D.

Oh, trust me: I was thinking of Castlevania. (I couldn't care less about Metroid, personally.) Thing is, I actually have pretty high hopes for LoS, so I'm gonna reserve judgment for when the game's released. I don't feel that the N64 Castlevania games were all that bad, personally, nor do I think the same of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox releases. The games weren't great, per se, but they weren't awful. I honestly believe that Castlevania CAN be done better in 3D. I just don't think that Iga was the man for the job. However, I do hope that they'll still have him make 2D Metroidvania installments.

Del Duio wrote:

08) MORE COMPLEX CONTROL SCHEMES

Yeah, nowhere does it say that just because your controller has 20 buttons they all have to have a single usage. This isn't a PC you know. One of the best control setups is Shining Soul 2 for the GBA. They use the left and right shoulder buttons for quick selects for your weapons and items respectively so you don't have to go into the subscreen and do it that way. This is important since the game doesn't pause while you're in the subscreen.

You know, that's what bugs me. There ARE certain games with more complex game play styles that actually consolidate functions onto fewer buttons, but there are still plenty of other games that have nowhere near as much game play depth that use every damn button on the respective controller.

Also, while this list is intended to discuss only what makes CONSOLE GAMING worse, there've been plenty of games on PC that I've simply put off playing solely because of how many damn buttons you need to configure. That wouldn't be so bad if I could adapt to default control schemes better, but my preferred way of playing is just too different from what most games map by default.

Del Duio wrote:

07) LESS PERSONALITY

Well I don't own a 3d gen console but I can already tell it doesn't have the "charm" of the wood panel 2600 or the ol' toaster.

You know, you do bring up another point: While I don't necessarily feel that a game console should resemble an old station wagon in any regard, at least the rest of said wood panel consoles looked like game consoles. It doesn't even have so much to do with the cartridge format, either. I'd say that the culprit here is the all-in-one console idea, because it really seems as though companies want their consoles to in blend with their surroundings or something.

Del Duio wrote:

06) ALL-IN-ONE CONSOLES

Yep again, if I wanted a Blu Ray player I'd buy a blu ray player. Especially if it raises the price of a PS3 a ton. I buy a video game console for games, that's it.

The primary purpose of PlayStation 3 is to get Blu-ray into the home, anyway. It kinda pisses me off. I've never really liked Sony, personally, but my hatred for them continues to grow as their technology continues to distance itself from gaming more and more. Why? It has nothing to do with the fact that they're abandoning true gamers (just as Nintendo is); it has everything to do with the fact that they're abandoning true gamers and not admitting it.

Del Duio wrote:

05) FEWER EXCLUSIVES

Well I guess they find ways around this sometimes like the fighting game where Link was on one and Snake was on the other. I was Nintendo all the way for years until the PS1 came out. There were just too many awesome games to not jump ship & get it. I ended up getting an N64 and GC later for Metroid, Mario & Zelda (to a lesser degree) so I guess the jump was pretty temporary, eh?

Exclusive characters are fine. I'm referring more to exclusive games. It's not even so much exclusive games as it is exclusive games that aren't knock-offs, rehashes or sequels. Honestly, there's only one company that's ever really pulled this off well, and that's Sega. I realize that Sega isn't everyone's cup of tea, but they had new IP's on every single one of their consoles, and they were EXCLUSIVES. Sure, you've still got Nintendo's exclusives, but they're the same IP's over and over and over again. And I'm referring entirely to games, not glorified exercise instructional videos like Wii Fit.

Del Duio wrote:

04) MORE POWER

kevnski wrote:

You know, Microsoft and Sony, I'm very happy that your consoles can render the sweat on my character's balls and everything, but I couldn't fucking care less when your consoles have little else to offer.

And here was about the time the article went from good to pulitizer prize-winning. I have so little interest in the newer consoles I actually just saw some football 360 game for the first time about a month ago. And how long has that thing been out now? 4 or 5 years? That's why when I first read up about how the 360 and PS3 could whoop the Wii hardware-wise I knew that wouldn't mean shit. Nintendo's always been about awesome franchises with established characters or games that would just be more fun.

Hahahaha...nice to see that you liked that remark.

Anyway, I honestly believe that current-generation consoles can be pushed further, but I stand behind my comment about developers being lazy. The most significant graphical leap from one console to another, in my opinion, was when Dreamcast was introduced. Dreamcast games still stand up well from a graphical standpoint, especially those with highly stylized graphics. Assuming that there's another batch of consoles (and I really can't imagine there being many more), it's always gonna come down to more power and some new style of control that's intended to lure non-gamers in. I really don't feel that current-generation consoles are being pushed properly in terms of their capabilities.

Del Duio wrote:

03) PATCHES

The only experience I have with patches have been with Everquest from way back and Diablo 2. Both are free and sort-of far between. In this same vein though I will say that I've read the new Dragon Quest 9 (for the DS) has almost half of its content that's only unlockable or whatever through  multiplayer. For me, this is a big reason to NOT get the game because I haven't used my DS's connectivity once. No need to before now. If this is a weird way to get more copies of DQ9 sold it's weak. I've always thought the single player campaign of any game should have everything. Why penalize the paranoid, people-avoiding few of us out there right? All my hermits say HEY OOOOO!

Well, there's always Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but yeah, that's obviously not an option for you. I do wish that some developers would stop abandoning gamers who like single-player experiences. If a game includes a multi-player component, then the single-player component usually takes a back seat to it. I've never really understood that decision, because single-player campaigns tend to have a lot more depth to them, especially in terms of storyline.

Del Duio wrote:

02) PAID DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT (DLC)

Totally because the game got rushed to make it by Christmas. Maybe if more time & energy were put into making the game play better than look super realistic this wouldn't happen as much. But I suck and make games that look 7 bit so what do I know?

I kinda wonder why the developers even do that. I mean, I realize that they're not the ones setting the release dates, but c'mon...given how little they're paid when compared to their higher-ups, I fail to see how they can have any love for what they do if they can churn out some of the shit that they allow out the door. I realize that jobs are probably on the line, but I doubt that any company's gonna do away with an entire team of developers (especially those known for high quality) just to meet a deadline. After all, a lot of people probably wait on reviews to determine whether or not they're making a purchase, so you'd expect them to wait until the game was more passable before releasing it.

Plus, there's the whole issue with firing a particular developer and him/her going to another development team within a different company...

Del Duio wrote:

01) MORE KNOCK-OFFS, REHASHES AND SEQUELS

Is this your complicated way of telling me to change Hasslevania 2's name?

Hahahaha...nah, because you actually DO work on entirely different types of games. As long as you keep your series down to two games or so, then I don't foresee a problem. I just don't wanna see titles anything like Hasslevania '09 coming from you, especially if they're full-price releases that really only give you stat updates and roster changes. XD

That´s quite a good list, I agree on most of the points to a certain degree, here´s the opinion of someone who has experienced the newest generation by owning a PS3:

10) GAMES FOR GIRLS
Well this one is not exactly a current gen issue, but still, I don´t really see the harm in this one as long as making those doesn´t affect the production of normal games.

09) 2D-TO-3D ADAPTATIONS
Yes this is bullshit, the most atrocious case I´ve known is that Megaman X7 for the PS2... a 3D megaman X, go figure... I can´t believe it sold enough copies to make a sequel.
The Castlevanias have also failed miserably, I also have high hopes on LoS I mean it´s got Kojima´s name in it, he wouldn´t risk to have his name tarnished by producing a crappy game with his name on it, right?

08) MORE COMPLEX CONTROL SCHEMES
That doesn´t really bug me, I mean just look at the dual shock from 2 generations ago, it still has the same number of buttons as the current one, and those are just 2 more than the SNES, well L3 and R3 are rarely even used.
It all depends on the type of game you are playing and your mood, sometimes I feel like using all the stealth options in MGS3 where you have to aim with one button then switch to FPV with another while holding both rear buttons, ALL AT ONCE! only to fire a bullet...  others I just want to forget all that crap and simply jump, run and shoot fireballs at turtles by pressing 2 buttons. And both end up being equally fun.

07) LESS PERSONALITY
Yeah maybe, but this is not that bad, I mean, can the consoles play games? yes? that´s all I really need.

06) ALL-IN-ONE CONSOLES
Totally, but as you said the current generation consoles don´t have that much exclusive games, so if they are almost the same and I was given the option to take one over another I´d take the one that has blu-ray player, which wasn´t the only only reason I chose a PS3 over a 360, it was also because the little amount of exclusives appealed to me more than those of the 360.
Then again back to the point, yes consoles should be only for playing games, but I can picture how inconvinient would it be for sony or microsoft if they said you could only use their console to play games and not listen to music, watch movies, browse the internet, etc, while the console of the competition does.

05) FEWER EXCLUSIVES
I kinda addressed this in the previous point, I might say this is totally true, the best games this generation so far are multiplatform, I leaned towards the PS3 because of the small amount of exclusive... heck it was just for MGS4! and it was worth it.
Still I had no interest on the other console´s exclusives and I´m also expecting the incoming ones, like GoW3.
And just out of curiosity, why exactly do hate sony that much kevinski? XD

04) MORE POWER
This is a strong one, it seems that with more astonishing graphics comes a high amount of LACK in newer games. Some examples:
-MGS4: Too short, and it´s a shame since you are given a whole lot of stealth possibilities, you end up winning the game before you can exploit them properly. It´s still worth it but it´s messed up.
-RE5: A lot shorter than RE4, but ehm... I actually liked that, RE4 is good but waaaay too long to keep me interested, there´s not much variation in the first place, like you can shoot... and kick... and that´s about it, RE5 is almost the same with a little improvements here and there, but I´d say this time it lasts just what it should, of course I understand why this pissed off several other people.
-Batman AA: Boss fights suck... hard, seems like the sofisticated engine they created for the fighting didn´t allow much else to do other than beating the regular dudes you find throughout the entire game.
And the list goes on. In my experience, powerful games are good, but unexceptionally flawed.

03) PATCHES
Yes this totally suck, to say I was excited about this Fat Princess game, it ended up being all glitched and unbalanced, and right now the developers have been promising a patch to fix those errors for weeks, I´m glad I didn´t buy it, remember the times were developers had only one go and actually looked into everything to make sure they got it right? I miss that for sure.

02) PAID DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT (DLC)
Yes it´s bullshit, they are getting profit with stuff that should´ve been in the game in the first place.

01) MORE KNOCK-OFFS, REHASHES AND SEQUELS
Tell me about it, capcom is planning to release a SUPER Street Fighter 4 which I´ll probably end up buying as well, and it was announced just 8 months after SF4 came out. >_>

Last edited by Kaluroth (10.09.2009 1:42:13 am)

That all made me laugh quite a bit but I completely agree for the most part. Guess I'll post my opinions.

10) GAMES FOR GIRLS

I just think these types of niche games are bullshit and pointless. Even if their targeted at younger audiances. I know an assload of girls that play video games and none of em play this crap. They play FPS games like GoW or hack and slash stuff like Devil May Cry or RPGs.

09) 2D-TO-3D ADAPTATIONS

You pretty much said everything I have to say about it. Bionic Commando: Rearmed is probably the best 2D-3D game because it stays true to its original style of gameplay. Though the complete 3D BC game wasn't bad. I actually liked the Castlevania on N64 I just don't think of it as a Castlevania game. I'm sure LoS will be great but that brings up your point about knock offs. It looks like a more polished God of War. I could be wrong but thats what it looked like to me from the trailers. And I agree with Kaluroth I dont think Kojima would ruin his good name by messing up one of the biggest gaming franchises.

08) MORE COMPLEX CONTROL SCHEMES

I really don't have much to say about control schemes. Most of the games I play the controls aren't to complex. I play alot of button mashers though so there isn't much to those in terms of controls. I do still prefer the old school NES controller over all of em though.

07) LESS PERSONALITY

Like Kaluroth said it plays games thats all I give a damn about. Although I do have a bit to say about 360 and PS3's interface. I like the PS3's because it simple and not too flashy. The 360 on the other hand, I fucking hate. I liked it before all this avatar bullshit. Now in my opinion its to damn complex to navigate and more time consuming. I like'd being able to turn on my console and start a game in 10 seconds, but no now you have to flip through a bunch of damn menus to start games. And about the avatars, FUCK THEM! They dont do any damn thing, they serve no purpose what so ever. Their completely fucking useless. I dont like the avatar shit on PS3 either but atleast you can do something with them. If I wanted a damn social network though I'd use myspace not my fucking PS3.

I'm gonna go to the next point or I'll end up ranting about this for an hour. XD


06) ALL-IN-ONE CONSOLES

Now I'm not saying I give a damn about a blu-ray player or anything but I'd rather have one on-board with PS3 than pay 200 bucks for a 360 one. It's all pointless extra crap no one needs though. Like everyone has said you buy a console to play a game not watch dvds or blu-rays. Although I do think it's all pointless Sony atleast had everything on-board for 600 bucks at launch. The 360 was 300$ at launch and didn't come with anything. So now they charge around 200 bucks for a blu-ray player, over 100 for a wireless net adapter, and on top of that 60 bucks a year for online multiplayer. I know this is kinda off point and I really dont play online multi-player stuff but its bullshit. Sony doesnt charge any kind of subscription fees for online. And their servers are fine from the little bit I've played. It's unnessecary for Microsoft to charge for that shit. I know as well as everyone else they can afford good dedicated servers without needing to charge their community.

And like with last point I'll stop there before I start a longer rant.

05) FEWER EXCLUSIVES

I'd like to start this by saying FUCK HALO. Now onto my sensible reply lol. I'll start with 360 the only good exclusive it has is GoW. And PS3 is making a game thats gonna beat the hell out of it, Quantum Theory. All the same though, PS3 doesn't have many either. I guess PS3 kinda compensates for that with decent PSN games. Still though the only good exclusives are God of War,Yakuza 3&4, and Killzone 2(which beats the hell out of halo 3). Really the console with most exclusives is the Wii, which mostly suck aside from NMH,Madworld, and a few others.

04) MORE POWER

Alright this one should be short. XD I don't give a damn about graphics or any of that. If I wanted a game with retardedly realistic graphics I'd play PC games because honestly thats the only thing that can push out good graphics like that. And the consoles need to stop trying to match them. They need to stop putting so much damn work into graphics and concentrait more on the core console and playability of the console and games.

03) PATCHES

Alot of games have problems with this. And what's really bullshit is it'll never get fixed for certain consoles. Fallout 3(on PS3) is a good example. The DLC for it is broke as hell and it'll probably never get fixed on PS3. Why? because Bethesda is to busy kissing microsofts ass and letting them control their game development. That's all I really have to say about that.

02) PAID DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT (DLC)

I hate the idea of paying for stuff that should have came with the game in the first place. Though I'm still one of millions of tards that do it. It's all just a way to milk more money from stupid people to make old games their bored with seem new again. We still buy it though knowing thats the only reason its there. I'm not gonna go to much into this or I'd end up making this way to long. I think you can get my basic opinion of it though.

01) MORE KNOCK-OFFS, REHASHES AND SEQUELS

Alright, heres what I think of this. EVERY game is a remake,rehash, or polished version of some other game. Lets start with some of the more popular titles: God of War when you think about it God of War is just an improved and polished Devil May Cry. And DMC is an improvement from older hack and slash games. I'm not gonna name em all because that would take a long ass time so moving on. Halo, well honestly Halo is the same as every other damn FPS with humans killing aliens. Just a slightly different story and some original characters. When you dig down past that though, its just another damn FPS about killing aliens nothing different, no inovation or originality. And all 3 of the damn games were exactly the same with 1 or 2 different weapons and some different maps. I could go on about this for hours but I don't feel like doing that. XD

Well that was longer than I expected but that's my opinion on things.

Oh and here I think you'll get a kick out of this completely true comic strip.

Comic

Last edited by KottonKandyAfro (10.10.2009 9:47:57 am)

kevinski wrote:

Oh my God, KKA...responding to that's gonna be a daunting task... XD

Sorry about that lol. I really didn't plan on making that big of a reply. As you can very clearly see I have quite a bit to say about why console gaming sucks ass now. And really that could have been WAY longer but I didn't wanna turn that into a bigger rant then it was.

Yeah I looked at the stuff for that train sim. That's just ridiculous and completely unneccesary. And about my response about knock offs and stuff I'm just saying in my opinion every game steals something from another game. In other words I don't believe there are many completely original games anymore. I'm not saying every game is completely unoriginal just most of them. I know I kinda went off point a bit but yeah I was just basicly saying there aren't many truely original console games now days. And that games like Halo are just the same damn game over and over.

Last edited by KottonKandyAfro (10.10.2009 9:01:49 pm)

I agree with GAMES FOR GIRLS and that's it.
gh