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Current Rant

Guitar Hero 2 for the 360 represents all that is wrong with the video game market.

I want to make this clear. I like Guitar Hero. Alot. I really do. The first one was easily one of my favorite games of the year, and the sequel was better in almost every facet. It really only fails in one regard; it is the epitome of the ferocious a** raping that we, as gamers, receive frequently. At least, the 360 version does.

I don't want this to get too complicated for the non-gaming readers that I have(Mainly Ti-Ti, I love the fact that she reads this thing) but this might get just a little heavy on the terminology here. Just a warning for you folks.

GH II was released for the PS2 in November on 2006. Just in time for the holiday season. It sold like hotcakes. To just watch the numbers was amazing. In November alone it sold 360,000 units, and that's just the bundle with the guitar. That doesn't count people like me who already owned the guitar from the first version and just bought the game. Then, in December, the game sold over 800,000 units. That's over a million in two months. Just the bundle. Simple incredible.

Given that the guitar probably costs a** to make, and that getting tracks was much easier to get this time around, it would seem that Activision quickly made back whatever money they spent. Especially considering that the bundle cost 80 bucks. By the time the release for the 360 hit in April of '07, GH II had sold over 1.5 million copies. That's huge.

This isn't the issue though. As a matter of fact, here is the issue.

The 360 version of GH II costs 90 dollars with the guitar. This isn't a special guitar or anything. It's still wired. And besides a few tweaks to the "rock out" action, the guitar is basically the same thing with a different shape. Now, I know that the version on the 360 is shiny, I know it had 10 more tracks(only a few worth playing, don't argue that with me, if you like all 10 songs on there, you hate music), and I know that there is a whole new set of royalties to pay to Microsoft. But to be completely honest, why is this 10 dollars more for a game that was 4 months old? Don't answer, I know why. Because you will pay it. Same game, same fun, more money. And don't give me that "not everyone has a PS2" bullshit. There's a hundred million of the damn things on the planet, they are sending in the mail with samples of Tide.

And that's the problem, people do pay it. We don't want to. We shouldn't have to. There's no reason for it. Resident Evil 4 was ported over to the PS2 from GC with hours of extra content for ten dollars less than the price for GC. What the hell? What's the excuse for 10 dollars more? I could let that slide. The desire to rock out is quite strong. Albeit tethered to a console that prides itself of being a wireless wonderland, and the same old rocking out, but with The Toadies. But with the downloadable content?

Bullshit.

One of the few things that would have changed my mind to the purchase of a 360 version was the promise that I will be able to download new songs. That's sweet. But guess what all the songs are so far? That's right, songs from the first goddamn Guitar Hero. For 6 dollars. 3 songs. It's not a bad price, at all. I pay a dollar for a song frequently off iTunes. The price isn't what really gets me. It's the bundling.

The song packs make no sense. "Higher Ground" with "Infected" and "Stellar?" What the hell? First, why can't I just buy the songs individually outright? Second, what the ********? Throw some Kenny G in there next time next to Ozzy. Just go all the way. It's only a little more retarded.

And Microsoft points are the biggest bunch of bullshit anyway. 10 bucks gets you 970 points or something retarded like that. And games cost 950 points. It's a virtual version of the hot dogs and hot dog buns thing. This s**t, this s**t makes me hang my head in shame for us. When are we going to stop being ********? I'll tell you when.

When you stop buying into this s**t. Stop it. Stop being Microsoft's guinea pig for online sales. This is almost, almost, as bad as EA selling Madden cheats over XBL that were readily available in the other versions.

I'm gonna go chill now. This s**t makes me mad. I'm not going to buy GH II for the 360, that's not the issue. The problem is that prices in things are going up ridiculously and eventually, this may very well permeate into the rest of the market.

Dear Sony,

I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a couple of things that I think you need to hear from me. No, I'm not a big shot developer, or a multi-million dollar company, but I do have some valuable things to say, at least I think I do. So, take some time out of your busy schedules and listen for a bit, this wont take too long, but I feel as if you need to hear this.

I'm a gamer, plain and simple. As a matter of fact, I've been gaming longer then you. So, I think I know a few things that you dont. Not from your standpoint, but from ours, the gamers. And as gamers, I think we are a bit more important then the money, being as you ARE dealing with games right? I mean, its not like you really help us out here. You dont make games per se, but you make a plastic box where they can be played, and that's kinda nifty, but heres the thing, we need more then that, Ill explain what I mean.

You see, us gamers are a pretty odd bunch. We were all pretty much outcasts as little kids. At least I know that I was. But I was always hungry for something new and different and creative. And, thats why I loved Nintendo. They were always trying to do something new and creative with their games. And they were fun. But, things have been a bit different since you joined the our crusade for a higher art form.

See, you havent brought us anything new. You basically went from Nintendo asking you to help with a system, to creating your own that was technologically disadvantaged from everything else. And its not just computing power thats important. Its ideas. And, you dont make your own games. And on top of that, I think you make it very difficult for third parties to make new and creative things too. They dont have alot to work with. You make something thats stronger then your last, and thats not neccessarily better. You slap the Sony name on it, and say its good. Thats not a good thing.

Secondly, because of your large name, you make gaming more mainstream, and thats not neccessarily bad. But, like I said, most gamers grew up being outcasts, and its sorta part of our culture. And having that brought into the mainstream isnt exactly what we wanted. Now, our little culture has been trampled by the masses. We are in movies, magazines, and music. And its cool that we have more recognition, but still, the fact that what people most recognize is stuff like FF, GTA, and Manhunt is NOT a good thing.

Now, we are slapped with the constant blotch that somehow or another, our art caused a child to die, or kids to go on a shooting rampage because of GTA. Is that good? Doubt it. The thing is, gaming should be known for good games, like Wind Waker, Castlevania, Mario Kart. But they arent. They are known because a couple kids got a gun and started shooting at cars. Is that what you wanted to do to us? Because you havent given us anything besides that mark on our culture.

Now, if we play games, its almost trendy, like punk, or being pagan. There are alot of people who actually are punk, or pagan, or gamers. but now that its trendy, its hard to be an individual. Its hard to feel like we really belong. We spent alot of our lives NOT being cool and hip. And now that it is, its culture shock. We lost it. Like the punks lost their culture, like the gays lost theirs, we lost out culture, a large part of our identity.

So, in conclusion, thanks. Were dead. And I blame you.


Sgt. Baker

Combinations

So, I think we can all agree on one thing. Combinations make life great. Certain things were just meant to be. Take, for example, french fries and ketchup. One is just not the same without the other. Peanutbutter and Jelly, this combination is so depply ingrained into the human brain that they are now together on the signs for aisles at the grocery store. Jalepeno Cheddar 3D Doritos and Gummi Bears inside them(dont knock it 'till you try it), milk and cookies, and the list goes on. Of course, my favorite combination of food is quite simple. A slice of slightly chilled New York style cheesecake with a hot cup of coffee. There is no other feeling in the world like taking that first bite of cool thick cheesecake and having it stiffly melt in your mouth and then sipping that piping hot coffee and having it all slide down your throat, cheesecake and coffee, hot and cool all at once. There really is nothing like it. I suggest, if you havent tried it, you should. Its very choice.

Of course, good combinations are not all food. Some are anything but. A cold, dreary, rainy day, a great book, and a cup of tea is an experiance that one must simply enjoy on a regular basis. A long walk on a cold night with a good friend is often just what you need. Sitting and looking out the window is often just the thing to calm yourself down when needed. Listening to a new album with 3 cans of Pepsi is often what I do to keep myself sane. See, this might not be for you, but we all have some combinations of things that we do. Some people do all their reading while visiting the water closet, and end up spending hours in there even though their buisness is long since completed. I know some people who run everyday with the radio on. See, these simple combinations of things would be meaningless without their counterparts. Just drinking three cans of Pepsi might seem very odd to some people, and running without ones music might be boring to others. Also, you might not be able to read that book on a dreary day, because you dont like to read, or you cannt(in which case I suggest you get off Gaia at once).

But combinations have started to go even further recently. I have started to notice this around, oh....last September. Things started to make more sense when coupled with something else. Walking late at night without music or someone to talk to seemed empty and boring, and I had a cup of coffee that desperatly needed its cool and thick partner so it could become more then just a cup of coffee. Finally, what truely got me onto this rant, and the reason you are still reading, if you are and can read, I started to realize we were out of genres.

I dont think this is a bad thing, oh contraire mon frier, I think its a really good thing. We've done it ladies and gentlemen. We've expanded. We've looked into every single aspect of what agame could be. The only way we can go, is back in. Let me further explain.

See, I think it will become harder and harder to make a game that is one single genre. Things are really getting as far as they can go. Mario 64 redefined the Platforming genre with the full 3D game, but how much farther can it go? Until some type of new technology is unleashed upon us, we are simply stuck with more of the same. That is, without the simple combinations of games and genres that will fling us into more hours and hours of games and fun.

DDR is a wonderful example. Did anyone ever really think that 4 simple arrows could do so much? Well, they really couldn't have without that music behind it. That music MAKES that game. DDR without music well, isnt DDR. Plain and simple. Now, its one of the biggest names in the industry. Period. Selling tons of games, swallowing the paychecks of thousands in fourth dollar form, and taking pounds off fat gamers all around the world, this game redefined what a game COULD be. And its only going to get better folks.

I was truely enticed and baffled by DarkWatch when I first saw it. And if you dont know what Im talking about, you are a depraved human being. Did I ever even think that such a combination of western and FPS could ever exist? No. But now, I want, no, I desire, I PINE for that game. I must have it. Could such a game have survived in the 16 or even 32 bit era? I dont really think so. We hadn't gotten this far yet. But now, here we are.

Star Wars. A name synonomous with epic. A huge woven tale of triumph, trails, failure, fortune, fate and really cool big metal things that shoot s**t. Now, this epic of a tale has a good portion of it shrunk, and almost bastardized into Legos. Legos. I play with those. No, really, I still do. Plastic blocks that connect to form bigger and better things are now the vehicle for Star Wars. My initial reaction "Congratulations George, keep ******** it up." My second reaction, about one month later "Okay, its a cool concept." My reaction now, after actually playing it "No no, dont hand me the controller, just put it directly into my viens." A wonderfully quircky game with great graphic style and gameplay. A must have if you dont. This combination seems odd even after playing it for hours. But it blurs the lines and reminds us "Its not always really serious."

Lumines is a great game, not the "next Tetris" as everyone is calling it, but a great game. I never even concieved of the concept of a puzzle game where you tried to make blocks fall in a rythem and melody of a techno beat. It just, never occured to me. And it couldn't have been done before, until now. Now, when all the lines are getting blurry.

RPG's have been ekking their way into almost every other genre now too. Action-RPG, Stealth-RPG, hell, even Nintendos new Pennant Chase baseball has RPG elements. This level up design is working quite well over the board, and thats a great thing. Ill be honest, I thought it should have been done years ago, and was saying such, but, oh well. I am neither a game designer, nor a producer, so, all is lost for my ideas.

The lines are being blurred. And they shall blur even further as evey day goes on. This is a great thing. I believe this is really the start of something new. A great new era of gaming where, all will not be new, it will simply be combined, and made fresh. I believe, that we are on the verge of a new golden age. God speed to us.

The Art of Videogames.


So, why do we do it? No, not why are we in the Paladins, Ill get to that, why do we play games? I mean, in reality, we receive NO compensation for it. We don’t gain anything from them. We don’t get a prize. See that Sprite commercial? All we really receive from them is a small short lived gratification from games.

We sit for hours and hours and then, for a couple of minutes, we get to watch an anime sequence or a short CG movie. We get a pat on the back. "Good job, you win" the screens will say to us. Then what? Oh, now you’ve unlocked the harder mode to the game. And what do I get after that? Nothing. Again, a small short lived gratification.

Not that games are bad. That’s not my point at all. But I ask my question again, Why? It doesn’t make sense. We don’t get physically fit, except DDR, but that doesn’t count, we don’t get money from playing. It doesn’t exactly do wonders for our image, so why?

I started to wonder this a while back, which sent me on a week long hiatus from games entirely. I stopped playing. Even though it’s sort of an oxy-moron, I stopped playing to learn why I did play. But, now that hiatus is over. I’m back, and I understand now.

Is it fun? Yes. How can you not enjoy playing games like Mario Cart for hours with your friend? Or leveling up in Golden Sun. Or blasting the s**t out of Aliens in.....damn near every FPS. Its fun. Too much. So much that we lose sleep, hell, in some cases our grades slip or we get fat. Isn’t that genius though? Making a series of 1s and 0s be that fun? That takes allot of effort, and time, and creativity. Which leads to my second reason. So, are games fun? Certainly. Are they art? I think so.

I don’t have much artistic talent. I can’t draw or write very well. I can play music, but also poorly. My bass skills are lacking. But I can appreciate a thing of beauty and creativity when I see it. Look at the "general" art media. Paint, sculpture, drawing, film. Gets kind of boring. Thousands of artists do the same damn thing every day with paint and a canvas. I’m not saying some of it isn’t good. I drool over Dali. But then, we have so many other media don’t we? Why not use it? I mean, isn’t art supposed to be doing something new? Something different? Well, you can’t get to much more creative with paints. Look for a new media.

Games. That’s were the new art is. Whether it’s real or not, it can be really good, or really bad. But either way, I get to interact with it. I get to explore and act with the art. I can affect it, I can change it, and I can do something to it. The hours of time and effort needed into making a game are quite large and stressful. Games get delayed for months and sometimes years because of it. So, I play because its art, and it can be really good art. But whether it is or isn’t, I wanted to see it.

So, why do we do it? No, not why do we play games, why are we in the Paladins? This also caused a brief hiatus in my gaming life, not a week, but a few days. I wondered why I even bothered trying to get people to understand what are undeniably good reasons to like a game. Why Halo isn’t the best game ever and neither is any FF game. Why Pokemon isn’t the worst and why there is not as much horribly wrong with the Game Cube as people think there is.

So, maybe we do it because we like it. Because some of us might want to boost our egos. Some might want to really reach out and make people think about games, or hell, posting in general. I’m here because its fun. I’m here because games are fun. But mainly, because games are an art, and they should be appreciated as such. I'd like to see more good art. I'd mainly like to see more people appreciate good art. They don’t have to like it necessarily, but they have to appreciate it.

Your friend,
Sgt. Baker

Where in the hell have you gotten to Baker? Where you at?

...........
-responds- crying

Like I told you Baker, you forgot FF+Paper Dolls. surprised

Let's not forget the mobile phone game!

FFVII...SNOWBOARDING!


And Mario DDR.