PLAY

It's finally here. The Xbox One has launched, and the "console wars" have officially begun. However, isn't it a little silly to be calling these "wars"? Why does everything have to be a war? I get it. Two consoles bearing fisticuffs to see who's bigger and better. But, when did gaming get so competitive (I say this with a "please don't hit me" face)? Think about it. Just stop and think, for two measly seconds, about video games. If you play video games, you are a gamer. If we are all gamers, then why hate on one another? Or, how about this: When you were little, you would play any game you could get your hands on, right? It didn't matter if one was manufactured by Sega and the other created by Nintendo. You played it, regardless. Why? Well...because it's fun. Reading an article from Game Informercoaxed me into thinking about this topic. It's a topic that needs to be addressed. Why be loyal to a brand? Why not be loyal to...VIDEO GAMES?? Video games as a medium is constantly being (unjustly, I might add) thrown under the bus. "Oh, video games are just for kids." "Video games make people go out and massacre a school." "Video games are ruining our society." How about if we stood up for our games? Stand up for the unjust actions being taken against us. Yes, I said US. When people take a shot at video games, they are taking a shot at YOU. It doesn’t matter if you play your PS3, Xbox 360, or Nintendo Wii. These remarks are aimed at ALL OF US. If internal fighting keeps occurring, we are bound to get nowhere. If a person says GTA: Vice City is a "murder simulator"(this actually happened) and is turning kids into murderers, that negative attention isn't placed solely on people playing GTA. It affects gamers as a whole. Now, games that may be violent but use violence for completely different means are torn to shreds in the press. When people claim video games are a waste of time, they're telling you, "You're an idiot for playing games. They're just for kids. Quit playing and get a real job." They don't take into account that the average age of a gamer is 37. They don't take into account the fact that games increase the size of various portions of the brain. Just because we don't use our spare time watching soap operas or playing a sport doesn't mean we are wasting it. These people do realize that most of the technology they are using right now on their fancy phones is gamified, right? The cell phone's a game in itself. We need to stand as one, not divided. Guess what? SOME OF US DON'T HAVE A CONSOLE. I have one, but not EVERYBODY does. Some people are content with their handheld devices. Should we shun them because they didn't pay 400$ for a console? It doesn't matter if you're playing a game of Candy Crush Saga or playing Mass Effect on your Xbox 360. Notice which word was used in both instances? That's right: PLAY. It seems we've lost our touch with what was so fun about games: PLAY. Take brand names out of the equation. It's simple...just PLAY.

A Unique Look at Storytelling On Next Generation Consoles

Every game tells a story. Whether it is a flashy first-person shooter with absorbingly realistic graphics or a simple 2-D platformer, every game tells a story. How this story is told varies from game to game and experience to experience. For instance, the futuristic first-person shooter Halo encompasses a story molded with many layers to it. Not only does the game function as a war story (aliens vs. humans), but it also deals with concepts such as questioning what is human when a person is genetically modified to become a killing machine. The game also explores thoughts about religion and how deadly the ideas proposed by religion can be. Most of the “mainstream” games fall along these same lines. The game places the player in the shoes of a person (the hero) and they are tasked with saving the world. Many games take on this simple concept because, well, it’s easy. Outside of these “simple” stories, games also express their emotions and stories through the gameplay itself. Take, for instance, the indie side-scroller Limbo. Limbo doesn’t place the player in a typical game situation. Wars aren’t waged across the country and the hero doesn’t come to save the day. Instead, the game tells its story through the eyes of a lost boy (whose identity remains a mystery throughout the entire game and well beyond the final level). Rather, the story radiates through to the gamer by the design of the levels, the music, and the whole presentation of the game. The game takes place in an undisclosed (but twisted) land populated by monsters and nightmarish creatures. Flashy graphics don’t make this story shine: the gameplay does. The acts of solving platformer-esque puzzles and encountering the creatures of the land tell the story. The game designer’s choice to present the game in black and white tells the story. Now, we are entering another phase in the gaming world. As the new consoles loom on the horizon, the next generation of consoles can grant the power to tell stories in unique and exciting ways. Sometimes, something as simple as fans at a soccer game can tell the story. Hands down, the FIFA series of video games is one of the most popular in the entire world. Soccer is the world’s game, and franchises such as FIFA are taking the next step in storytelling: immersive crowds. Since the development of the sports game, the crowds have always been…well, they’ve looked horrible and there’s really no reason why they’re there. If I’m playing in the Super Bowl, don’t I want the crowd’s sound to blare out of my speakers? Think about it this way: What would sports games be like with absolutely no crowd? Honestly, you could still probably play the game. Hell, maybe you wouldn’t even care. But, what if your experience could be enhanced by the cheering and booing of the fans? EA Sports is looking to bring this next-generation experience right into your living rooms and onto your virtual fields. I know when I watch my favorite team play against my most hated rivals, my home games are the most fun I’ll have all year. Why? The passion of the fans comes through. Sacks on the quarterback aren’t just sacks anymore. Tackles on their running backs become thunderous forces of rage. Everything is heightened-senses, emotions, even your own body. Imagine if you could garner that same feeling when you’re recreating that situation on your Xbox One or your Playstation 4. Here’s a great quote from FIFA 14 executive producer David Rutter: “What we’re about to embark on in this new world where the game itself has the equivalent of a soul and can track the history, the behaviors, and the relationships between those players and those clubs…That, for me, is what this generation of consoles allows us to do, which is tell those stories.” Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but how is this going to be implemented? Along with many other new and exciting additions to the crowd technology, crowds will cheer louder and longer when the home team scores then they would for the away team. If a player has scored three 3-pointers in a row in NBA 14’ (for the home team), the dynamic crowd will know this. The momentum can be felt in the crowd as the tide begins to turn in favor of the hot-handed scorer. What I’m excited for the most is the ability for the game to recognize the “storylines” that commonly occur in real-life sports. If trade talks are brewing between two teams, the heat may be on when they play each other. The game may play out a little more intensely; a little more brutal (same can be said for teams making a playoff push in NBA 14’). The next generation of sports games could be a game changer: I only hope that we, as gamers, give the designers a chance to test out these ideas. With an open mind, we can’t lose.

GTA Teamwork

Teamwork. This is the mantra of the future. Collaboration, small groups, meeting with others. Ideas like these permeate throughout our society these days. With the advent of technology and websites like YouTube, this has become the age of sharing. Everything seems to be interconnected. Friends from high school, who would have been strangers to you 20 years ago, are now friends of yours on Facebook. Didn't make it to your friend’s wedding in San Francisco? That's ok; they already uploaded all of their pictures online. This concept has even infused itself into the work world, where small teams are the focus of workplace productivity. With all of this teamwork going on, is it no surprise that Grand Theft Auto 5 has latched onto this idea and uses it for the premise of their game? GTA V is the first game of its kind in the GTA franchise. Instead of one sole protagonist, the game allows you to switch to two other characters at any one time. Knowing you have this ability is liberating as a player, mainly because you aren't forced to see things and experience things from one perspective. Three vastly different and unique characters for you to choose from in a diverse and dangerous city, full of activities and missions for you to play. Not only is the player allowed to switch between these characters, but they also collaborate on missions together in the game. Heists are a major factor in the GTA V single-player story. These heists require careful planning before their execution. Rockstar handles the concept of heists swimmingly in the game. The player isn't just worried about stealing the jewels. First, the player must choose his/her team for the heist. Again, this idea of teamwork comes into play. Players must choose which gunman is going to be the best for a particular heist. Will you choose the gunman who is worse at shooting? If you do, you might put the heist in jeopardy. However, the lower-level gunman will receive less of the cut if you complete the heist successfully, meaning more money for you. As well as selecting varying members for your crew, the action in the heists themselves requires vast amounts of teamwork. During the heists, the player is allowed to change perspectives from one character to another. They are in constant communication with each other, and this teamwork is what drives this game as unique as opposed to the rest of the GTA games. The other titles in the GTA series find a lone protagonist trying to survive in a harsh concrete jungle. Considering GTA is known for its satire and parody, maybe this design of a team-centric story and game is a sign of the times. I, for one, love the teamwork required in the game and can't wait to see what Rockstar is going to roll out next.

Game Design is Everything

Strategy games aren't the genre of games I play on a regular basis. Even though I am trying to expand my tastes and experiences in the medium, I still find myself drawn back to popular FPS's and nights of multiplayer mayhem on these FPS's. However, I have recently been playing a third-person strategy game called The Bureau: Xcom Declassified. This particular third-person foray deals with aliens invading the Earth in the 1950's. The story's not horrible, and I'm enjoying the strategy aspect of it (commanding your officers, selecting actions for them to take, etc.). Overall, the game has gotten an overall rating of an "average" (mostly 6's or 7's out of 10) and I, personally, don't mind the game. It's definitely a nice change of pace for me. Though, I noticed something interesting in the design of the game's difficulty. Aside from it being a moderately difficult game, the changes made from the 3rd tier difficulty "Veteran" to the 2nd tier difficulty "Squaddie" span all aspects of the game, not just the enemies, weapon pickups, etc. My example? The loading screens. Specifically, the information presented to the gamer at the bottom of the screen changes from difficulty to difficulty. While playing on the "Veteran" difficulty, the gamer is shown information that is all related to the story of the game. The screen poses questions as to what might happen next and solely focuses on the events occurring in the game. This clashes with the "Squaddie" difficulty (a level below “Veteran”), which does not focus on story during the loading screens. Rather, it focuses its attention on giving you tips, such as reminding you to rank up your agents. It even informs you of what plasma weapon is the best to use in the game. I know it might not sound like a big deal, but it just goes to show how thought-out some game designs are. Game design just doesn't span the story. It doesn't exclusively focus on creating objects. Game design is everything.

A Rockstar Moment

It's pretty safe to say GTV V has taken over my life. I tend to come home from work and hop right on the ol' 360 and POOF! Off to Los Santos I go. What I've found myself doing as of late in the player-populated lobbies of San Andreas portends to a sort of war: all out war to be precise. My friends and I have found ourselves on one building in particular that can only be described as a sniper's paradise. However, GTA Online is not only great for sniping an unsuspecting player half a mile away, but its ability to create awe-inspiring moments. One such moment occurred when my buddies and I were occupying the aforementioned sniping perch. One of my friends, whom I will refer to in this post as Bklounge89 (Gamertag) decided to take his shenanigans to the Los Santos International Airport. The Airport security did not take too kindly to this, and Bklounge89 proceeded to out run the cops and steal a cargo plane. Now, a note before I go any further. If you've never seen or flown a cargo plane in GTA V, you are seriously missing out. This plane is huge and has caused my friends and me to stop and look on in amazement at this behemoth more than once. So, my friends and I are atop this building and are raining down a hail of bullets and fury. About ten minutes pass, and the other players in the lobby begin to get irritated about our actions on the roof. Naturally, an opposing player decided to take actions into their own hands and steal a helicopter that fired missiles. Oh, and did I also mention the helicopter has a hook on the bottom? This player stole a helicopter, grabbed a car from an unsuspecting citizen from below, and rose upward and onward toward our cavalcade stationed on the roof. My friends and I hear it first. The whirring of the blades alert us that an enemy is inbound. I focus upwards, towards the sky, and see the helicopter shooting missiles at us. I utter over my microphone, "Well, this is it boys. He's got missiles. We can't go anywhere." Then, out of the blue, I hear Bklounge89's voice over my headset. "It's ok guys, Bk's here to save the day!" At this point, a spectacle so impressive and thrilling took place before our very eyes. Bklounge swung his massive cargo plane directly over our roof, colliding mid-air with the opposing helicopter and causing an explosion. The spectacular collision made all on the roof stop what they were doing. The damaged helicopter smashed against our roof, as did the car they were carrying. Bklounge89's cargo plane kept right on flying. Two of his four propellers failed to work after the explosion, but the plane remained intact and flying. As my friends and I cheered about what we had just witnessed, I realized something. This moment is something I've never experienced in any other game I've ever played. Everything lined up perfectly for this moment, in which, the freedom of movement in the open world, the massiveness of this world, and opposing players mixed together to create a fireworks display of awesomeness. It was so natural, so fluid. Thank you Rockstar for giving me an opportunity to experience a moment like this. I know more will be on the way.

Thoughts on Thomas Bissell's Idea of Modern and Older Gaming

So, I've been reading a book called Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. Written by Tom Bissell, this casually informative book talks about different video game concepts. These concepts and ideas are tied in through the author's personal stories of dealing with and playing these games. Tom Bissell is pretty good at not over-complicating things and is a pleasure to read. One of his chunks of information I found particularly intriguing is a concept that isn't new, but needs to be discussed none the less. In Chapter 4: The Grammar of Fun, Bissell discusses how modern games and older games vary in the way they play out. Here is the quote," Gears (Gears of War) requires the ability to tactically make subtle judgments based on scant information, a constant awareness of multiple variables (ammunition stores, enemy weaknesses) as they change throughout the game, and the spatial sensitivity to control one’s movement through a space in which the “right direction” is not always apparent. Anyone who plays modern games such as Gears does not so much learn the rules as develop a kind of tuition for how the game operates. Often, there is no single way to accomplish a given task; improvisation is rewarded. Older games, like Super Mario, punish improvisation: You live or die according to their algebra alone." Let's break this rather large quote down into easily digestible pieces. First off, he begins the quote by bringing up the idea that modern games (such as Gears of War) "...require the ability to tactically make subtle judgments based on scant information." Viewing modern gaming as a whole, the entire concept of freedom has been made readily available for game developers. Since computing power has grown tremendously over the past decade and a half, games are no longer restricted to "on-the-rail" shooters. Gears of War is a terrific example of modern gaming taking advantage of thinking tactically and having the ability to choose how to execute a battle plan. The implementation of the cover system in the Gears series expands the player's choice of strategy during the heated exchange of bullets. The "scant information" portion of the quote is also important because, compared to older and more linear games, this information is something that is picked up by the player. How will this specific member of the Locust Horde react to a SHOTGUN BLAST? Will the enemy die this way the same time, every time? The answer is unequivocally no. In games such as Super Mario Bros., the player can mathematically calculate how many hits a Goomba needs to be taken out. Mario's jumps all depend on timing and angles and trajectories. The approach to these scenarios is different. The next portion of the quote mentions a focus on multiple variables (such as ammunition stores and enemy weaknesses). Modern games force the player to keep track of many varying types of information all at once. Many FPS's display the player's health, ammo reserves, map of the game world, the type of gun they are using, etc. Since we do live in the age of information, this type of layout seems quite plausible. In the older class of games, most of them had the player focus on killing the enemy and that was it. The bit in the quote about "...in which the 'right direction' is not always apparent" intrigues me. Sometimes, games don't explicitly show you where to go. This is a characteristic of modern gaming, since the ability to compute more free space in the game is available. I'm not saying there wasn't any freedom in the earlier games (such as the admittingly confusing Super Mario 64), but more games nowadays have the ability to do it. The last part of the quote, which points out that improvisation is rewarded in modern games and punished in older games rings true. Many games reward the player for experimenting with different variables. 2011's Bulletstorm played on the idea of experimentation. One of the game's amazingly cool features is the ability to slow down time. While slowing down time, the player can perform insanely violent acts on the enemies. Shooting enemies on different parts of the body results in varying mixtures of points. Experimenting and finding the best combination of points in ever-changing scenarios is the embodiment of modern games. Improvisation is one of the keys to the modern game's success. If you try and improvise in Super Mario Bros., you will meet a swift and decisive end to your life. Again, these types of games thrive on memorization and mathematics rather than improvisation and experimentation. Well, as always, thanks for reading. Comments are highly encouraged at the bottom, so comment away!

Gaming is Changing

Gaming has changed. This is the thought crossing my mind as I pop in my physical disc copy of GTA V. As the game begins to load, I already see the changes coming. One tip I see on the various loading screens tells me that the denizens of Los Santos will treat me differently if my car is clean or dirty. This concept alone opens up my mind to all of the possibilities AI can achieve in our lifetime. When the game begins, I am blown away by the vastness and detailed landscape that is Los Santos. The people, the buildings, the cars, the trees, the blades of grass...all encapsulating an experience like none other. After hours of cruising the lovely cityscape, I pull out my cell phone (complete with camera and access to the Internet). I decide to take my adventures into the online world, where my fellow gamers and I can parlay with guns and cars. Concepts like multi-player change every once in a while. However, this is no ordinary change. GTA Online breeds feelings of careless fun and careful management. On one hand, I can fool around and cause unbelievable chaos wherever I see fit. Did that citizen just make a snide remark to me? I'd better shut them up with a bullet to the head. Am I in the racing mood? Shall I blow right past the conspicuously placed cop car or ram him and engage a hot pursuit? On the other hand, I might not want to obliterate everyone in my path. Losing my life takes away my most important asset in the Online world: money. Sure, I could just pop a fellow gamer and take his guns. But, I don't think they'll take too kindly to my actions. I'd better lay low, mind my own business, and complete some Jobs before I end up broke. This is the type of game play making the Online mode extremely unique and fun. Game play designs including the ability to choose from a wide variety of Jobs after completing one Job is a welcome sight. Why? Our society is what I like to call a "binge society". With the advent of services such as Netflix and Hulu, viewing an entire season of a television show is possible and easy to do. Watching just one episode or movie rarely occurs anymore. This specific game design plays on this principle. The options are handed to you and, subconsciously, we like this. Sure, let's play mission after mission and job after job. We're having fun, so why not? Designs such as this are a dream for us as gamers. Let's revel in it and enjoy the beautiful work of art that is known as GTA V.