Critical News Top Headlines of the Week from Around the Industry
Good Klosterman vs. Game Criticism: Round One (Esquire) Chuck Klosterman's concern for the state and future of game criticism is neither an ignorant diatribe nor a pretentious "holding down" of the medium by viewing it relative to cinema, music and literature. No, I think his concern and puzzlement is fairly genuine, if only because I too have no quick-fire answer as to why game criticism is not more developed. That said, it annoys me that critics continue to ignore the medium's unique faculties, broad range and even basic tenets (like rules, difficulty and, of course, gameplay). How, for instance, would Klosterman suggest a review of PlayStation Portable platformer LocoRoco ought to read? To my mind, there is no reason to speculate very much on "the cultural consequence of free will" or what the game means (or "could mean"); these critical criteria simply do not apply to such a game. Does this mean LocoRoco is not a proper game, or a game not worthy of proper criticism? Of course not, it must simply be evaluated by different standards and from more useful analytical angles. For instance, looking at my own review of the game (which may or may not be up on the site as you read this), I have taken issue with the downsides and inefficiencies in the collect-'em-up side of its gameplay. It doesn't take an unreasonable leap to suggest that this is the equivalent of, say, a literary critic taking issue with a novel's structure because it weaves two parallel narratives without enough balance. Both criticisms deal with the form and design of the work by noting their impact on the player/reader, and both implicitly suggest that in future a more successful work should steer its way clear of such a structural trap. Then where the literary critic explains why the narrative is so gut-wrenching, I praise LocoRoco's aesthetic excellence for building a delightful and dream-like universe. Where they discuss the novel in context of other works and contemporary fiction in general, I do the same with LocoRoco and the platform genre. To be honest, Klosterman sounds like he is merely lamenting the fact that games are so gamey, and not like narrative films and novels at all. Well, they're not. And while part of me thinks videogames will have to fall in line with the aspirations of other mediums before they become critically acceptable to the mainstream, I truly hope they never totally shed those unique elements that certain narrow-minded individuals deem to be artistically unquantifiable. -Andrew Fletcher >>talkback
Good Klosterman Vs. Game Criticism: Round Two (GameSpot) I have to say I think Klosterman modifies his argument quite a bit here, for the good, but modified no less—attention-grabbing print coming before even-handed diplomacy every time, naturally. In this light, I mostly agree with him and also share his view that "it would be to the gaming industry's benefit, if there were people who started writing about it for people who aren't engrossed in it." Worth a read. -AF >>talkback
Good Top-Selling Games Of The 21st Century (I.E. The Last 5 1/2 Years) (Next-Gen.biz) A sensibly organized and compelling rundown of the biggest hits from the last generation. Read the listing criteria on the front page before diving into the list so you know exactly what's being represented here, then tut, smile and tut again as you soak up all the big-number listy goodness. And be grateful that, unlike other such industry lists, it is topped by a truly wonderful exponent of the medium. -AF >>talkback
Good Sadness Developers Keep Details Close To Their Chest (Eurogamer) Because, in the words of triple-A scriptwriter Adam Artur Antolski, "We do not want to spoil the fun." This'll be the dual-wielding kind of sadness then... -AF >>talkback
Good Three Detested Design Don'ts (Next-Gen.biz) Cut-scenes and stealth are familiar bugbears, but Jonathan Smith's unfashionable praise for unbalanced gameplay is the one that struck a chord with me. I totally agree that too much balance and player-pandering design can really make a game feel stale and not nearly as impactful as a supposedly inferior game that actually makes an addictive virtue of its undulating challenge. Let's face it, for realism's sake there is often no reason why the enemies in area 3 ought to be easier to overcome than those in area 5, it's just a bland convention based around the idea that gamers increase in capability as they play across the entire game, which is really only partly true most of the time. Oh, and ignore Simon Byron's ignorant musings on the appeal of stealth gameplay, which are presumably voiced just to raise a few cheap titters at the discussion group (of which this is a transcript). -AF >>talkback
Good Magic Mario Moments? (1UP.com) What about the classic Super Mario Bros. 3 advert? All together now: "Mario!" "Mario!" "Mario!" -AF >>talkback
Good Guitar Hero 2 Practices What It Preaches (From The Pulpit OF ROCK) (GameSpot) With the songs no longer reliant (like Frequency and Amplitude before it) upon repeated phrases and "setting off" instrument tracks to play automatically, as well as having their hardest moments typically appearing 3/4s of the way through (i.e. at the solos), one of Guitar Hero's biggest oversights was undoubtedly the lack of a practice mode. The sequel has thankfully put this right, although whether this will accelerate or decelerate the onset of premature arthritis is hard to say. Still, practice hard enough and you might one day be able to play in a real virtual rock group (online with PlayStation 3, of course). -AF >>talkback
Good Peter Molyneux (Not) Talking About Fable 2's Big, Massive, Huge And Gigantic New "Thing" (Eurogamer) Could it be that chief Lionhead Mr. Molyneux has been tamed by his new Microsoft ringmasters? Perhaps, although that doesn't stop him building up his latest projects as much as he can without actually revealing any real details. Gives us a little less to chew over though, doesn't it? "Have you heard about the big new thing for Fable 2?" "Oh yeah, apparently it's really big." "Yeah, and new." Yeah, and a thing." -AF >>talkback
Good IGN Editors Shed Light On PR In Gaming (IGN) A frank and listenable podcast discussion on the role of games PR, although if the sound of any games journo complaining makes your teeth grind involuntarily, you may want to skip it. -AF >>talkback
Good Who Needs Hollywood? Matt Sakey Champions In-House Scriptwriters (International Game Developers Association) Of course, a great many people would disagree with Matt's assumption that developers should do their own writing. They're called writers. Out of work writers. Seriously though, I was quite happy to hear Matt stick up for the designer/frustrated-writer cliché (being a perfect example of one myself) and he does have a point about many good examples of game writing coming from the dev teams themselves (and he didn't even mention Oddworld Inhabitants who even did their own excellent voice work for Stranger's Wrath). Certainly people on the development team will often have a much better idea of the world they are creating than anyone else, and especially anyone drafted in from a different medium entirely. It is also true that the relationship between developers and outsiders (be they writers or voice artists from other industries) is often unbalanced, with the former desperately seeking some second-hand creative cache and the latter roped in with little genuine enthusiasm for the project (take it from me, videogames can be the source of a very easy buck for some) and even less knowledge about how to tailor their work for it. That said—and I hope this doesn't sound too contradictory—I still maintain that game writing is no way near as far developed as it should be and applaud the work of IGDA's Game Writer's group in trying to define and advance a discipline that remains as underachieving as it is undervalued. [Thanks to shun for sending this news link.] -AF >>talkback
Bad Licensed Games Still Going Strong (Hollywood Reporter) Subtitle of this story on the main page: "Making games based on movie properties such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean' has been a form of insurance for game developers, but that could soon change." But where's the evidence of change? Certainly not in the feature. No, this article is more memorable for the reader response by Scott Miller of 3D Realms: "Truly, publishers are run by the most clueless idiots of any major industry." -AF >>talkback
Bad Golden Joystick Awards: As Out Of Date As The Name Suggests (Golden Joystick.com) Perhaps of little interest to my US friends, but the nominations for the UK's Golden Joystick 2006 awards raised an eyebrow of mine for their annoying inclusions of San Andreas, Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 in major award categories based on a Special Edition, a PlayStation 2 conversion and an Xbox conversion respectively. By this logic, The Sims ought to be appearing in 'Best Game' categories for years to come. Also, without wanting to sound sexist, why does the 'Girl's Choice' award feature 50 Cent Bulletproof and Evil Dead Regeneration? -AF >>talkback
Bad Ebayer Stoking The Flames Of Nintendo 64 Denial (Eurogamer) Do you ever find yourself longing for the muddy textures, the MIDI sounds and the super-aliasing of Nintendo's 64-bit cartridge-muncher? Well, I'm afraid this auction for the unreleased Echo Delta has long since ended, but if you really want to get rid of that nasty cash, anyone interested in a Miyamoto-signed Super Mario 64 cartridge can drop me a line. [Note the fine line between sarcastic games journo and geek.] -AF >>talkback
Bad A Sloooow News Day (GameSpot) This update on Xbox 360's Japanese prospects is kind of depressing. Given the huge effort made on Microsoft's part to attract Japanese developers to the system (and remember this probably means generous publishing deals that allow for more creative concepts and labours of love to get the green light), things have not gotten any better after that poor launch in December and it is hard to be optimistic with both the Wii and PlayStation 3 coming this winter. Let's hope we see a rise in system sellers of the kind that gradually raised its predecessors profile in the west during the last generation. -AF >>talkback
Ugly Lava Croft Under Investigation By Eidos (Gamesindustry.biz) Part of me says that this is the most clear-cut legal case imaginable; part of me bemoans the industry's inability to parody itself due to stuffy copyright laws. Come on Eidos, just let it slide. -AF >>talkback
