Update on my gaming life! It's been too long since I last had an entry into this blog so let's roll!!
Well what has happened since I last blogged? Whole lot of games came out, notably the previously banned Alien Vs Predator (which is odd considering it gets released without any edits to the game) and HEAVY RAIN which attempts to take storytelling in video games to a whole new level (scuse the pun). First reviews say great things, is it another must have title for the PS3? Time will tell...
And what about me? Well in the span of a week I acquired Rock Band 2, the new Miles Edgeworth game and God of War Collection YEAH!!!! Although I still go back to Rock Band 1 due to 'maps' being on it haha yay! God of War Collection is God of War 1 and 2 on the same disc with a few graphical fixes here and there! It's God of War so there isn't much to complain about. AND MILES EDGEWORTH! Which really surprised me, they've definitely added some new stuff, like being able to control Miles Edgeworth and investigate your own crime scenes and stuff. Pretty wicked!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I need a release
Over the past week...well it hasn't been the best of weeks thats for sure. School's being a bastard and since I attend school 5 days a week now, it feels like my life is centered around the idea of work, teachers and all the other stuff that is associated with school.
But wait! Before you think A Boy and His Blog: Adventures into Blogolonia has turned into a personal reflection site, recording the day to day activities of Jared Araniego and his subsequent moaning/joy and as a result really really long run on sentences that don't seem to go anywhere, no this is still a blog site that talks about games. Bear with me.
So going back to the first paragraph. It hasn't been the greatest of weeks, and more often than not I'd find myself on my bed just staring at the ceiling, thinking of what's happening. I needed relief, and no surprise, I turned on my PS3 and started playing Rock Band. Suddenly all the negative emotion had disappeared, if only for a few runs on 'Maps' on expert. I wasn't frustrated about school about anymore, I was in my own little bubble of concentration, trying to coordinate my hands and legs in a furore of smashing the drums while listening to the wonderful voice of Karen O. School didn't cross my mind, and that was a good thing.
So what am I getting at here? Well for one that games have the power to take you out of your worst moments and immerse you in a world where the only thing that matters is the game (assuming that the game is good). There is some sort of wonderful science behind it, several techniques game developers use to maximize immersion (can be read about in one of the previous issues of Hyper, Eleanor Eiffe has an excellent column called 'Games Wank').
But of course the last paragraph might just apply to me. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that whenever you, the fine reader, find yourself in a hole that makes you mope like the world's gonna end, do something you love to do. More often than not it'll take you out of whatever horrid moment you're in, and just take you into another world. I know it did for me.
But wait! Before you think A Boy and His Blog: Adventures into Blogolonia has turned into a personal reflection site, recording the day to day activities of Jared Araniego and his subsequent moaning/joy and as a result really really long run on sentences that don't seem to go anywhere, no this is still a blog site that talks about games. Bear with me.
So going back to the first paragraph. It hasn't been the greatest of weeks, and more often than not I'd find myself on my bed just staring at the ceiling, thinking of what's happening. I needed relief, and no surprise, I turned on my PS3 and started playing Rock Band. Suddenly all the negative emotion had disappeared, if only for a few runs on 'Maps' on expert. I wasn't frustrated about school about anymore, I was in my own little bubble of concentration, trying to coordinate my hands and legs in a furore of smashing the drums while listening to the wonderful voice of Karen O. School didn't cross my mind, and that was a good thing.
So what am I getting at here? Well for one that games have the power to take you out of your worst moments and immerse you in a world where the only thing that matters is the game (assuming that the game is good). There is some sort of wonderful science behind it, several techniques game developers use to maximize immersion (can be read about in one of the previous issues of Hyper, Eleanor Eiffe has an excellent column called 'Games Wank').
But of course the last paragraph might just apply to me. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that whenever you, the fine reader, find yourself in a hole that makes you mope like the world's gonna end, do something you love to do. More often than not it'll take you out of whatever horrid moment you're in, and just take you into another world. I know it did for me.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A new Hyper Magazine makes my day so much better. Even if it's raining cats and dogs*, and my umbrella is more or less broken, the sight of that familiar font with a promise of an australian exclusive makes the day slightly less dreary. Dreary....
I also started playing Darksiders today. It is good. That is all that needs to be said.
*no cats and/or dogs were harmed in the making of this blog...or at least I think none were harmed.
I also started playing Darksiders today. It is good. That is all that needs to be said.
*no cats and/or dogs were harmed in the making of this blog...or at least I think none were harmed.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
End of week ranting and babbling
It's Friday, and it's a chance for Jared to put up his feet and get some sort of gaming issue off his chest. YAYSORS!
So it's my first english extension class, and my teacher first tells us that this is a class where we 'must think for ourselves'. Which is actually pretty good for all the free thinkers, and bad for all those who like maths (damn straight thinkers). Anyway, he said something along the lines of 'shedding too much light can something something' and basically it meant that it's ultimately more rewarding to develop our own ideas rather than find a fixed meaning. Or something like that.
Now I may be babbling, but I'd like to take that half quote and find a new meaning that can relate to gaming. Shedding too much light can be unrewarding. Yeah, like 'hand holding'. Shed too much light on a game and it can be unrewarding
'Hand holding' is known to us gamers as the act of providing copious amounts of help that it eventually feels like the developers would've been better off cramming a walkthrough into the game. It feels patronising and ultimately unrewarding.
We as gamers like to feel a sense of accomplishment. Whether it be finding a method to defeat the boss, reading through cryptic clues that the Silent Hill games are notorious for, or just finding the right piece of evidence to present in Phoenix Wright, there's this feeling of mightiness when we eventually figure it out. And it's a damn good feeling.
But alas, some games are more than happy to grab your hand and pull you the whole way through without giving you a chance to object. Now a game like Super Mario Bros Wii. which was heavily advertised as a family experience, is excused for having a function which allows the computer to take over and show it's 1337 skills, but a game like A Boy and His Blob, which was well known for it's extreme difficulty has no excuse to give you a clear cut sign on what to transform your blob into.
I know there's a cliff that the boy can't jump to, I know that I must feed my blob a bean to transform into a trampoline. Don't doubt my intelligence and assume that I don't know what to do. It's patronising, and the sense of accomplishment is lost.
And yeah, you might say that A Boy and His Blob is a kiddish kinda looking game, but even some more adult (or hardcore, meh) titles are quite content with dragging you throughout the whole game without a say. Batman Arkham Asylum, for all it's awesomeness and super cool Scarecrow, automatically assumes that once you're dead, you're in dire need of help. Like I didn't know that I had to keep quiet while killer croc is lurking beneath.
A tutorial or two is fine, but developers oughta know that we can think for ourselves too. Maybe a little more subtle, such as the excellent Uncharted 2, which ended up telling you what to do when you were stuck in a certain section for a looong time, or like how Nate leans towards where he needs to jump to. It's still help, but not as blatant, and there's still that sense of reward.
So the equation should be less handholding = more rewarding. Developers, take note, we have a brain too!
So it's my first english extension class, and my teacher first tells us that this is a class where we 'must think for ourselves'. Which is actually pretty good for all the free thinkers, and bad for all those who like maths (damn straight thinkers). Anyway, he said something along the lines of 'shedding too much light can something something' and basically it meant that it's ultimately more rewarding to develop our own ideas rather than find a fixed meaning. Or something like that.
Now I may be babbling, but I'd like to take that half quote and find a new meaning that can relate to gaming. Shedding too much light can be unrewarding. Yeah, like 'hand holding'. Shed too much light on a game and it can be unrewarding
'Hand holding' is known to us gamers as the act of providing copious amounts of help that it eventually feels like the developers would've been better off cramming a walkthrough into the game. It feels patronising and ultimately unrewarding.
We as gamers like to feel a sense of accomplishment. Whether it be finding a method to defeat the boss, reading through cryptic clues that the Silent Hill games are notorious for, or just finding the right piece of evidence to present in Phoenix Wright, there's this feeling of mightiness when we eventually figure it out. And it's a damn good feeling.
But alas, some games are more than happy to grab your hand and pull you the whole way through without giving you a chance to object. Now a game like Super Mario Bros Wii. which was heavily advertised as a family experience, is excused for having a function which allows the computer to take over and show it's 1337 skills, but a game like A Boy and His Blob, which was well known for it's extreme difficulty has no excuse to give you a clear cut sign on what to transform your blob into.
I know there's a cliff that the boy can't jump to, I know that I must feed my blob a bean to transform into a trampoline. Don't doubt my intelligence and assume that I don't know what to do. It's patronising, and the sense of accomplishment is lost.
And yeah, you might say that A Boy and His Blob is a kiddish kinda looking game, but even some more adult (or hardcore, meh) titles are quite content with dragging you throughout the whole game without a say. Batman Arkham Asylum, for all it's awesomeness and super cool Scarecrow, automatically assumes that once you're dead, you're in dire need of help. Like I didn't know that I had to keep quiet while killer croc is lurking beneath.
A tutorial or two is fine, but developers oughta know that we can think for ourselves too. Maybe a little more subtle, such as the excellent Uncharted 2, which ended up telling you what to do when you were stuck in a certain section for a looong time, or like how Nate leans towards where he needs to jump to. It's still help, but not as blatant, and there's still that sense of reward.
So the equation should be less handholding = more rewarding. Developers, take note, we have a brain too!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
School
School's started. That means my gaming habits take a backseat towards more important stuff like...homework and assignments and crap like that. URK. So there won't be much updates coming, although I'll try my absolute hardest to post my views about everything games as much as I can. Why school, WHY?!!!!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
First Impressions: A Boy and His Blob
Whenever I get a new game, I'll post up my initial thoughts of it, and will reflect on it by the time I finish the game. Will my opinion of the game change? Who knows.
A Boy and his Blob
There's a 'hug' button in A Boy and His Blob, that serves no purpose other than to show some affection to your blob companion. I thought I'd start out this first impressions blog with this opening, because from that, you could easily figure out this game for yourself. But I'm not so mean, so I'll expand further on my initial thoughts of the game.
First up, the graphics are gorgeous. I'd even go as far to say it's the best on the wii. And it isn't because the Wii is pushed to it's overheating limits, it's because of the art design that the developers took. It's perfect, from the lush green fields to the night stages were the sky is illuminated by stars, A Boy and His Blob is real easy on the eyes. Really easy.
What to make of the game play though? It has the potential to attain that status of 'simple to understand, hard to master', with beans being used to transform the blob into objects to achieve objectives. Right now, beans are automatically chosen for each stage, and there are signs that direct the player towards what bean to use. So it helps the player ease into the game which is always good. Hopefully later there won't be any hand holding and the game just really tests the player's mind capabilities.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A Boy and his Blog
I've been deprived of games for the past 2 days...ok that's not true at all. I was playing Street Fighter Turbo II and that was fun, plus a bit of Phoenix Wright on the side. When I get home, Bayonetta's gonna meet my PS3 and I plan some long night gaming sessions. OH! And A Boy and His Blob gives my wii a thorough workout! Not such good timing, since school is nearing each and every day..AAH!
Cya later alligators.
Cya later alligators.
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