The Last Ten Games I Played

Feeling a little run down today, and not up to much. I thought I'd just look over the last ten games I played.

1. Fireball
When: Today

Obviously this is a game in production, but still, I played some new levels today. They were very challenge-oriented; the game needs challenge-oriented levels, but they're not for me (they'll be one third of the material in the game). I'm coming to the conclusion my fiero days are way, way behind me, and I'm thinking about asking someone else to structure the Challenge path for the game.

2. Silent Hill 4: The Room
When: Yesterday

Actually, describing myself as playing this game is a misnomer. Rather, I am operating this game for my wife. She loves the Silent Hill games, but finds operating them too stressful. She's dynamite at Bust a Move, so it's not that she lacks gaming skills. I loved the original Silent Hill, and thought the narrative-oriented approach of the sequel was fascinating. But each progressive sequel seems to get further from what I liked about the first two.

3. Black Sun (working title)
When: Sunday

This one is a work in progress. After last weekend's G-Day (hobby gaming day), I had a yen to make a hex-based boardgame. I've loved hex games since Kings and Things back in 1986. I didn't much like the game, but I loved the cardboard hexes.  This weekend I made a set of spaceship playing pieces out of Fimo. I'm not very good at art, but it's fun to try. I need the hexes to arrive from the factory before I can complete the game, but I stuck pieces of paper to the back of Settlers of Catan hexes so I could playtest this. I had fun! Looking forward to playing it with other people.

4. Pollyanna Pickering Jigsaw (1,000 pieces)
When: Saturday

This is the first Saturday night in a long while without a board game, card game or video game. Still, I count jigsaws as games in the sense of performance-oriented play. I don't mind a jigsaw once in a while (although never while sober), but this one was too much. Too many pieces, too hard to make progress. Still, I made two red squirrels and most of the face of a fox. Made me think about a massively multiplayer jigsaw puzzle - perhaps for an older audience.

5. Dancing Stage Fusion
When: Sometime last weekend

I don't really enjoy playing these games, but my wife likes me to dance with her from time to time. Having each player select difficulty independently is vital to this, as she is really quite amazing at it! She plays with both dance mats active at the same time when I'm not playing with her. The tracks on this one are a step up from some of the earlier versions - it even has You're Not Here from Silent Hill 3!

5. Twilight Imperium
When: Last Saturday

I can't believe we tried to fit two Fantasy Flight games into one Saturday... I have a soft spot  for Twilight Imperium but it takes so damnably long to play! It reminds me of the hobby games I made back when that and tabletop role-playing games were my game design focus. They also suffered from being too long and overly complex (a plus for some players!) although most of them can be played in under 3 hours, which at least makes them plausible.

6. Thunder's Edge
When: Last Saturday

This was my first play of this one; another Fantasy Flight game, hex based. Quite strongly Dune influenced in its setting. I really enjoyed it, despite its flaws - but it was a shame when we discovered that one of the players had actually won from the very beginning and the game was already over. I'd definitely like to try it again on a future G-day.

7. Riddle of the Ring
When: Last Friday

I found this old I.C.E. boardgame in a charity shop for pennies. I bought it thinking it was a hex-based hobbygame - but in fact, it's a good old fashioned boardgame race that happens to be set on a hex map of Middle Earth. I'm not much of a Tolkien fan, but fantasy boardgames are right up my street. I was playing this with my wife to check how it worked. It needs more than two players to really play as it was intended, though.

8. Tokyo Bus Guide 2
When: a week ago on Wednesday

A friend of mine had managed to get hold of this gem... My Japanese is just good enough to decode the menus. I love the Tokyo Bus Guide games! Pure mimicry. Zero agon. They are considered unsuitable for exporting to the West... I think this is a mistake, although I understand why people would think this.

9.  Super Bust a Move 2
When: a fortnight ago today

Another of my wife's games - she has always loved Bust a Move. Personally, they make me wish that there had been more than one Bubble Bobble. (Rainbow Islands is just not Bubble Bobble).

10. Samurai
When: a fortnight ago Saturday

The Reiner Knizia boardgame, as opposed to the Avalon Hill game or any of the other games with the same name . I don't much care for the game; it's just too overtly agonistic for my tastes. But the board and playing pieces are beautiful, and I'm willing to play the game just to enjoy the aesthetics.

---

The stunning thing for me, looking over this list, is that I'm not playing any video games by myself at the moment - except Fireball, which I'm working on professionally. I just appear to have lost interest for the time being. My standards of expectation for games went up a notch, and suddenly there wasn't much left I was willing to play on my own.

Incidentally, the 'currently playing' list in my sidebar is still accurate in principle - although there are four games on the list I can't play because they require a US flavoured PS2 or a modchip. There's a couple of games on it I haven't played in a while, though.

I guess I'll take this opportunity to comment on the Xbox 360 launch. It launched. I barely noticed.

I suppose I could buy an Xbox now if I wanted to... I had been planning to pick one up cheaply when it became a dead console; I have a fondness for buying dead consoles. I still have Jet Set Radio Future to look forward to, and I assume there's something else worth playing on it. Might have to rearrange the furniture in my lounge to make room for it, of course, or get an extension put onto the house. I'm really not sure I can be bothered, though.

Perhaps I'll feel more lively tomorrow.

Comments

[Patrick]

My school's mail sever is down, and no one else seems to be commenting on this post, so let me throw this out there. I would like to take the role of assembling all the challenge oriented fields in post-production into an appropriate progression of field lists, as well as tune the medal goals associated with those lists, if possible.

Just wink if thats cool.

[Chris]

If no-one else wants it, it's yours Patrick.

[Patrick]

Wow, I'm semi-honored. Seriously though, I think I can do a real proper job with the challenge track. I'm all fiero these days ;)

On adaptive content, which you claim most players don't want, you should check out this post by Craig Perko:
http://projectperko.blogspot.com/2005/12/pac-pacpacpac.html

Its interesting, about this post, that you've gone to play a multiplicity of games rather than a few repeatedly. I think that very aspect testifies to the need for adaptibility.

[Chris]

When I say 'most players' it should be understood I'm talking about when one looks at the market as a whole, yes? So what 'most players want' is cars and sport games. :) It should also be understood that I personally would like adaptive content - I just recognise that this is a minority desire.

And my list of last ten games omits repeat plays of games already in the list, or Silent Hill 4 would be in there multiple times. Sorry for the lack of clarity on this point. Also, half of them are boardgames, and I absolutely don't want adaptive boardgames. :)

[Patrick]

I would argue (and I guess I am, subjunctive tense is a just a habit) that what we imagine as the gaming market, which certainly is dominated by Madden and Need for Speed, is only a fraction of the possible market for interactive entertainment. Providing interactive storytelling, where a meaningfully impactful play can be had with minimal time and effort investment, is what the untapped market, "non-gamers" will want should we give it to them. I think the nature of interactive storytelling is such that you need a degree of adaptivity in order for it to function at all as a game.

I don't want to sound like I'm flogging a dead horse, but when most folks talk about "the players" or "the gaming market" their really talking about a subset of the possible market for entertianment in general.

But otherwise, I concede your clarifications about this post.

[Chris]

Of course, I do not dispute the existence of the untapped market. But I personally do not believe that these future players have any especial interest in adaptive content. In this, as in all things, I would be delighted to be proved wrong! :)

[Ben]

If you're waiting to swoop in for some dead system action, JSRF is a great pick. I played the first one on Dreamcast shortly after it bit the dirt, and it remained as appealing as ever. Otogi is just as beautiful in its own way, but I haven't spent a whole lot of time with it and can't vouch for the gameplay.

[Dan Boutros]

RE: Bubble Bobble. You'll like the new DS one coming out.

It's a 'proper' Bubble Bobble sequel. I loved the original. Could never get off level 98 though. Once you die on that level, there's no way out sadly. The flaws of ye olde game design... *sigh*.

[Chris]

Yes, the original arcade game had its annoyances, but I've been able to complete it a number of times - backed up by infinite credits, of course. Didn't know there was one headed for DS... It's looking more and more likely that I'll be getting a DS at somepoint, although when remains ill defined. Thanks for the tip!

[Dan Boutros]

Actually, I was in HMV and it was there! Bubble Bobble Revolution is the name. It has a version of Rainbow Islands in there where you draw the rainbows with the stylus, but how fun it is I don't know.

It claims to be the first 'true' sequel to Bubble Bobble, where you now pick from three dinos and a robot, each with differing bubble and jump properties. Level structure is said to be similar, but that's all I know.

I think you'll *love* the DS. Kirby's Canvas Curse, Yoshi's Touch and Go and Meteos are all beautiful games I think you'll very much appreciate and enjoy. Mario Kart is also great, but will give you claw-hand cramp. I'm loving Castlevania, but it may be too fiero for your liking. The first three games I mentioned may have the perfect balance of gameplays for your tastes.

[Jack Monahan]

I'm really looking forward to Shadow of the Colossus being released in Europe so that we can hear your thoughts on it, Chris. The game's design so consistently astounds me that I can't help but think how you might consider it... I may even be willing to help sponsor the purchase of the game if you'll blog on it! :)

[Chris]

Ben:

JSR was a favourite game of mine, and I am really looking forward to playing the sequel. I played and enjoyed the demo of Otogi, but couldn't imagine that the full game would add much to it.

Dan:

Actually, I love the Castlevania games (as long as they're in 2D), and have played all but one of the GBA versions, often many, many times (I've done everything concievable in Circle of the Moon, I think). Strangely, I quite enjoy games of fiero in 2D - perhaps because I have two decades of experience extra in dealing with such games, and am therefore much better at playing them! :) I guess I never successfully made the jump to 3D! :D

Jack:

If we're able to repair my defunct chipped PS2, I will be importing Shadow of the Colossus and We Love Katamari post-haste. These two games, along with Twilight Princess, are the titles I am most anticipating. Although I had my problems with Ico (its old school sensibilities undercut it's charming beauty), I am very keen to play it's "sequel".

[Jack Monahan]

Ico certainly had its share of problems, and I think was really best enjoyed in fairly short play sessions... but when the atmosphere and the understated design sensibilities worked, they worked big. I'm glad I took the time to finish it before playing Shadow of the Colossus. You can expect to see so very much of the same elements in SotC, but gloriously refined and amplified--the line of succession between the two games is surprisingly strong, but the leap between the two feels more like they've made 3 or 4 games in the interim. But hopefully you'll discover that all for yourself... it's one of those rare games that is nearly criminal to spoil for other people.

And I think you and your wife will clearly enjoy We Love Katamari... cooperative katamari-rolling is a real treat, and the game has really evolved elegantly to address most of the initial oversights of the previous title.

[Dan Boutros]

Chris -

You will *love* Castlevania on DS then. It's very much like Symphony of the Night, though I never bothered with Circle of the Moon as after Symphony, I just didn't want to soil myself with anything that could be considered lesser (which many did brand it as). On reflection, this was dumb. The soul system of Dawn of Sorrow is a work of genius and adds an extra addicting quality to the game.

RE: Collosus - wait for the UK one. It'll have more bonuses with it such as a making of AND a copy of ICO (I wasn't much into it myself, though mainly because the girl was so bloody annoying). Collosus is definitely a great game. Very atmospheric and a lot of fun. I did feel guilty for killing those amazing beasts though. Not sure if the designers wanted that to be intentional.

As for your dislike of Fiero in 3D, my ye olde research enlightened me to why this may be the case as I feel the same way (though perhaps to a lesser degree).

In 2D, there is less responsibility on your part as a player - you move left or right, the camera won't fail you (unless the 2D game has 'out of the screen' bullets) and you only need to predict an ememy's attack on two axes where simulated lighting/poor shadowing won't affect your judgement.

In 3D, you are now in charge of more - camera control, player control, checking maps - full 3D means not just picking one of 4 directions to go, but a larger number - and so on. Judging where to wait for an enemy to land is harder, depending on the game's choen light technology and your camera angle. There is far more to worry about on a subtle non-play level than there is in a 2D game, thus, much like the CAFOD adverts, every penny - or frustration in this case - counts.

Basically, 3D is generally more 'work' on many micro levels and 2D is not. At least that's the conclusion I came to.

[Chris]

I would tend to agree; the bandwidth of information grows in 3D, as does the signal to noise ratio because of issues such as absent depth perception, lack of peripheral vision etc.

However, some players seem to struggle to enjoy 2D now that they have 3D; this may reflect some underlying issue, or it may simply be cultural snobbery. A study on this (attitudes to 2D versus 3D by personality/demographics) could be interesting.

[Dan Boutros]

Well 2D for starters, can look dated. Have you noticed that most 2D games bar the Guilty Gear series, still look 16 bit, whereas 3D games just get better and better?

Even Guilty Gear, despite looking one-of-a-kind and beautiful in hi-resolution, still looks like it's of the mid 90s.

If 2D technology is to raise its bar, the budgets have to soar, and we all know that it's cheaper to animate with 3D models, rather than drawn sprites if we're working on a 2D axis. We also know how risk averse publishers are.

Viewtiful Joe was an interesting experiment in improving the look of 2D cheaply, but sadly, the game didn't do very well - 300,000 U.S sales since its release on Gamecube October '03. The sequel did even worse and the PS2 version tanked at 90,000.

I think Capcoom is recycling assets in various side-franchise games to justify the investment, but hey. They did aim the game at the hardcore feiro market.

Saying that though, Konami did recently announce that Castlevania on DS exceeded its sales expectations, and not only has this resulted in the recent announcement of a GBA castlevania double pack (Aria of Sorrow and the other one), but also that a sequel is now in the works.

This one's a mystery to me, though I'd speculate it has something to do with the face value of 2D - it looks retro, because no-one will invest in updating the look of the medium and those who have, have not seen great success (Capcom with V.Joe).

By the way, I'm shattered and still working at this ungodly hour, so this may read a bit waffly and incoherent. Apologies if this is the case.

[Chris]

There do seem to be differences between the fortunes of 2D games on home consoles versus portable consoles. Two possibilities:

1. The audiences for the home consoles has greater depth of coverage (i.e. more demographic variety) than the audience for portable consoles. I suspect this to be the case, but have no data. This suggests a demographic difference between the audience for games on the different types of console.
2. We are habituated to seeing impressive graphics and visuals through the TV screen, which has become quite large in most homes, and 2D seems somewhat unimpressive there. Whereas on a portable console, the smaller screen gives 'the shrinky dink effect' - 2D graphics seem small and cute.

Certainly, 2D games fare poorly on home consoles now (except for Animal Crossing, which is isometric top down and therefore in a debatable position re: it's 2Dness).

And incidetnally, I see no obvious signs of jetlag delirium in your post, Dan. :)