mini-updated: Keiji Inafune has quit Capcom....

Capcom's legend Keiji Inafune has quit the company as effective end of October. Wow, this is major news. I mean the guy has been credited as being the creator of many awesome games like the Mega Man series, Onimusha series and more recently Dead Rising games. Although I have not played many of his games, but it still makes me a little sad that one of the pioneers of the game industry has left the company which made him the legend and brought amazing games to the world. I guess these are changing times. I still remember a few years back I felt the same when Hironobu Sakaguchi left SquareEnix. Anyways back to Keiji Inafune.


Personally I was not his fan esp not after this scathing remarks that Japanese game industry was finished and how Japanese developers could not compete with the Western developers. In this HD generation I have played many incredible Japanese developed games like Valkyria Chronicles, Final Fantasy XIII, Tales of Vesperia and Bayonetta to name a few. Hence Inafune-san remarks were a kick to the gonads and it made me wonder why the hell he made such a statement. But anyways I guess he had his reasons and him being one of the bigger developers from Japan he must know what we don't or maybe this was bout of reverse psychology!! (conspiracy theories anyone?)

Well good luck to him I guess as he embarks on a new challenge and I am sure many of his fans will wait impatiently for his next game or series. As for me, what will be interesting how he plans to bring the Japanese game industry back to it feet with his new game whenever it comes out! (whatever that means!)

The perfect Galaxy...

Around two years ago I had the pleasure of playing a platform game that most probably had the greatest level designs ever seen in a 3D platformer. Miyamoto-san and his cohorts at Nintendo had brought their A game the party and delivered an incredible experience on the Wii with Super Mario Galaxy. Almost every level had amazing creativity, full of little touches which made me stop and be mesmerised and thought to myself that the level designs of Super Mario Galaxy cannot to be beat.



Lo and Behold in 2010 Miyamoto-san has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and brought us Super Mario Galaxy 2 and incredibly has level design which trumps the original. I shake my head in disbelieve as I write this statement: that the amount of creativity oozing from this game is staggering and miraculously the game manages to drawfs its predecessor. In the game industry its a common sight to see sequels of games upping the ante, but how do you react when a perfect game gets perfected in its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2 is that awesome!!!

I once wrote a review for original game where I mentioned that I never liked any of the 2D Mario games, but the Galaxy series has made me a fan of Mario (albeit not of the tradition 2D ones). The polish in every department of the game, the challenge of each and every level, some totally amazing set pieces of platforming and creative bosses makes everything about game sparkle. I will even go on and say that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the greatest 3D platformer even made. Don't worry I have played many awesome 3D platformers in my time; games like the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank games, but this game kinda beats them by a country mile!

I heard a rumour some where that many of the levels present in the game were actual rejects from the previous game. If this is true then one can only wonder what sort of talent presides in the development arm of Nintendo. Take the following as an example; by just adding the cute dinosaur Yoshi, the game design opened up in awesome new ways which makes his levels quite a treat. Another addition was the streamline nature of Mario progress. Gone are the hub world of previous 3D Mario games, and replaced by the typical level selection menu: old school style. Sure many of the basic themes of levels have made it on the to Galaxy 2 from the original, but some how they have been made more intricate and complex, yet still retaining the typical Nintendo charm. Its stuff like that which made me take notice of the game and also made me think about the awesome development which made this game. Kudos to them!

Last week was a Mario rush for me as Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the only game I was playing, so much so that I even had dreams of the game for crying out loud!. The sad part is playing the game made me think of how less attention the 3D platformer genre gets nowadays as Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the very rare platform game in the HD generation

The only complaint that I have against Galaxy 2 is the abject storyline, to be precise the typical cannon fodder that has been seen time and again in previous Mario games. To many gamers this isn't much of a complaint as this is what we expect from a Mario game, but if you take a look at the Mario RPG games then you being to wonder why don't the main Mario games have such charming story lines. Take any iterations of the Paper Mario series of the Mario and Luigi series. These games have funny and genuinely charming storyline and also dispel the the notion that Mario games cannot have a proper plot. If only the plots of next Galaxy games are given attention then you will have the most perfect platform game.



So Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best Wii game to date. There are no if and buts from me as the amount of fun I had playing this game was immense. I now eagerly anticipate the next inevitable Mario game and can't wait for what Shigeru Miyamoto has in store for us.

Thank You for the Games!

As I was surfing throgh my daily dosage of video game news I got to know that a couple of days was the day when PS2 got released and ushered an era of undisputed reign at the top of the video gaming ladder. The awesome numbers of games in almost all the genres is a true testament of how much of a stranglehold Sony had over the industry. This system has made its way into the pantheon of the gaming elites, so much that even after the HD generation is running full tilt many of us gamer still have their PS2 in working order. I know I still use the black machine from time to time.

I still remember going crazy as I oogled many screen shots of the PS2 launch and actually getting dizzy with anticipation due the graphics and announcement of many games. Yes the early games were not too great and not too much in number, but I knew that a time will come when the gates of Heaven will open to unleash a barrage of awesome games. ICO and Klonoa 2 were two of the games which started the rot, and also send me over the hill with my constant pestering get my dad to buy me a PS2. It was October 15, 2001 when my dad finally took me to the game shop and got me a PS2. I got around 5 games which included ICO, Klonoa 2, Gran Tursimo 3, Twisted Metal Black and Okage: The Shadow King. The ride home was a blur as I keep one envisaging awesomeness, and boy the PS2 did not disappoint.



As the years whizzed past by and more awesome game kept on coming, my time with the PS2 started becoming memorable. Spending long afternoons parked in front of the TV and playing games. My love of RPGs reached legendary status as the amount of RPGs on the system meant that I will always got my fix of the genre. The 3D platforming games were dime a dozens and action and racing games become the major forte for the PS2 games library. That equates unhealthy amount of time playing video games. Good ole days!

I will not state the number of amazing games I have experienced on the PS2 as that will take up most of the post space, but I will jot down 10 of my most favorite PS2 games:

1) Final Fantasy X
2) Metal Gear Solid 3
3) Final Fantasy XII
4) Persona 4
5) Final Fantasy X-2
6) Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
7) Jak 3
8) Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
9) Shadow of the Colosuss
10) GTA: Vice City and Beyond Good and Evil

So there you have it, 10 years of providing awesome games to a massive number of gamers. And as the PlayStation brand rolls on in the HD generation with the PS3, we still fondly look back to the PS2. Cheers PS2, Thank you for the all games and memories!

The War Machine

My last update hinged around my stance against mindless war video games like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty. It also highlighted how video games can be used to flesh out the concept of war and its complexities and how games can be as powerful as movies. So around a year ago I wrote an article pertaining to the aforementioned topic for a web site but unfortunately that article never saw the light of day (some major technical problems occurred on the web site). So as I guess now is the perfect time to 'publish' that article. (The name of the web site has been blotted out)

“War! that mad game the world so loves to play.” ~Jonathan Swift

We live in a world that is rife with war, conflict and utter discord. Everywhere we look we have escalated conflicts and issues spinning outta hand, innocents lives being snuffed out while the world leaders are pulling the strings. War has been tackled in video games dealing from war against sentient beings or depicting the violent edge of the World Wars in form of action games with emphasis on action on the battlefield. As such we have seen some brilliantly paced games from the likes Call of Duty to the Medal of Honor franchises where the player is dropped right in the middle of the action and quick reflexes and the run and guns tactics being the player best friend. As much as these games are high in the playability, you always feel there is a distinct lack of a cohesive storyline, engaging characters or a message of some sort and this is where I think action war games have lacked. The genre which has packed up a bit of the slack is the RPG genre.

RPGs tend to tell an epic tale of a band of heroes who are out and about trying to stop the evil tyrant from destroying the world, but once ever few moons a game company chomps the bit and bring about an RPG which deals with the issues of war. They make huge rosters of characters, an epic scale of the situations and of course an army. A rag tag team of characters are replaced by a huge army focusing on one goal while the story makes every battle, every skirmish deep with repercussions and undeniable tension.

In following paragraphs we have jotted down names of a few RPGs which revolves around wars and poignant stories about the people and soldiers involved in war.

For us at (xxxxxxxxx) we have always been a fan of the Suikoden series for its decidedly different approach to games story and flow along with tried and test RPG mechanics. What started out as a niche game franchise has exploded among RPG elites for the new features the series adds: for starters Suikoden games incorporates 108 stars from the Chinese scribes of Shui Hu Zhuan, which in terms comes down to recruiting characters for a common cause. What separates Suikoden recruitment designs from other RPGs is the staggering number of character which can be bought down under one banner i.e. 108 stars. Sure not all of them are playable but quite a of few of them act as NPCs or having significance to the story. And as such Suikoden stories have a lot of political wrangling, allies, treaties, POW situations that ties in together with the major story theme and that in turn leads to the game having the "war atmosphere".



Another feature that lends to the war ‘factor’ in the Suikoden series are the full scale battles which take place at sporadic times in the game. These are usually pretty simple take on the SRPG genre and are quite easy but when taken as a whole these battles really add to the war situation and really drive the theme home. The impending doom sort of situations or the fighting for survival are the themes which make these battles quite impressive in scope. And if you add in the base camps, eclectic cast of character in the players burgeoning army you end up with a pretty impressive war themed franchise.

War is a pretty complex theme to showcase in an RPG as the game developers have to carefully tread themes which are usually quite lofty to discuss in any case. Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise often prides it selves on crafting impressive story lines, complex theme coupled with the supporting game play properties, but in the Final Fantasy cannon there have been two games which have directly presented a pretense and background of war. Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII have walked a path usually not reserved for a high end franchise (risk over bizness jargon), but as these games have ended up being really awesome, the risk was worthwhile. Final Fantasy Tactics was an ambitious game to start off with as this was a very different approach taken by the developers with its really strong narrative. The behind the scenes look at the politics, the ambiguity of allies and enemies, the deep background of history, a sordid and complex cast of characters and the epic main plot made Final Fantasy Tactics a stand out amongst its RPG peers and become a work of legend. Sure the level of depth found in the battle mechanics and job system coupled with its notoriously brutal difficulty and an awfully translated script has been talked about in full detail but it’s the game world’s history and the intellectual story that was the real standout.



In this regard Final Fantasy XII is an odd choice considering the character driven story but the whole atmosphere of war and invasion gave this iteration of the venerable series its distinct vibe. The world of Ivalice is steep in conflict and that hold true in Final Fantasy XII with the war between the mighty Arcadia and Rozarria and the small kingdom of Dalmasca. It’s this background that lays the ground work for the story which follows the exploits of a deposed princess. One of the basic theme of the story and the world of Ivalice was of alliance and that is how the main plot became much larger than the characters themselves. The epic nature of Final Fantasy XII politics and war really stood out on its own.

War themed RPG also has gotten a bit attention on the portable systems with notable entries of the Fire Emblem series on the GBA and DS or the remake of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP but one thing’s for sure, war on the go is a whole lotta fun. While one the subject there is one game series which technically isn’t an RPG but garners our attention due to the insane number of war mechanics in the game: The Advance War series. This military theme strategy series may not be a RPG but when dealing with so much detail in game play, one can only be impressed. The meat of the games are the battles which are filled with military terms and mechanics like Fog of War, troop placements, warring on different terrains or laying siege on a city or industrial compounds, it’s all there. The look of the game is really modern so expect to see units like submarines, APC, armored tanks, ground infantry or even fighter planes. This series showed how military themed games can easily be done a handheld, and if the game play is as addictive as Advance Wars, then you've got a killer combo.



If pointed out the aforementioned games have a few war angles but not the full war experience at it were, hence our last choice is Valkyria Chronicles. The game is the entire embodiment of the war machine with its reliance on an emotionally charged storyline rife with patriotic elements, back door politics and many fleshed out characters who have different reason to take up arms and of course military theme game play mechanics. This little gem was an easy choice for us as the amount love exhibited by Sega on this game is quite astounding. Let’s takes the story first: An fictional take on World War II; as the plot takes place on the continent of Europa where a massive war has broken out between the Imperial Alliance and the Atlantic Federation and caught in between is the small country of Galia. The story follows the exploits of not the army but of a local militia and it is this aspect which really is heart rending as the combatants mostly consists of regular people such as a baker, a bar maid, a farmer or a student. Some the exchanges of the main characters or how all the characters react differently to the conflict is quite inspiring as emotions are flying high and it all culminates into a moving narrative.



The war motif ventures much beyond the plot as the depth of the game play mechanics makes use of the said theme quite well. The players amass a large number of militiamen each having their own strengths and weakness, furthermore the solders are categorized into different of jobs ranging from infantrymen, elites foot soldiers to the snipers and engineers, hell the players even gets to use of a full size tank. There are terrain positions to think about, different strategy to partake in a given battle right down to requesting backup at the right time. Even during the non battle scenario there are recruitment centers to visit, training grounds for practice (i.e. used for leveling individual job category) and R&D facilities to go and perform upgrades on weapons and tanks.

Therefore Valkyria Chronicles become quite the odd beast as the whole game revolves around war: be it the story or the game mechanics. Personally Valkyria Chronicles has moved the RPG genre in the right as based on the game play but this game will linger in my mind for its plot, emotions and its characters. If Sega realizes the potential of this series it will surely give some of the big name RPG franchises a run for their money.



Tackling the issues of wars is a tough job at the best of times but some of the games mentioned in this rant do more than a commendable job in handling this sensitive matter. "War is Hell" as noted by the celebrated American Civil War hero William Sherman as it becomes a part of a nation psyche and party of a country difficult past. Most of the time RPGS tend to relies on a well worn track but if there are more bold developers who willing enough to explore the war business then most of us gamers will have a ball for sure.

My Inconsequential Stand

(*Disclaimer: I like games of all kinds. My game interests are vested in games targeted to the younger audience, games where strategy and tactics are involved and mature games with blood, gore, violence and sexual content*)

As the trailer starts we see a band of soldiers in full gear surrounding a run down shack in the streets of Kabul. They get into their attack positions, and as the music wells up into a frenetic beat, the soldiers bust down the door and hell as breaks lose as guns are shot at the terrorists. The trailer end with this phrase "This is Tier 1".

These are scenes are taken from the trailer of an upcoming (I think it got released a couple of days ago) video game: Medal of Honor. A video game developed by the industry giant Electronic Games or EA, is a virtual depiction of the terrible war in Afghanistan. In the game we player assume the role of one of the elite US Marine soldiers as we transverse the rugged terrain of Afghanistan, searching and exterminating pockets of insurgency forces.

Let now me just come to my point. The more I write about this game, the more angry I feel. And hence i draw the line. I make my stand. As video game player I will boycott this game.



Many gamers and non gamers will be wondering what sort of content does the game have which has incited my extreme stand. Let me start my simple explanation with a rather generic remark: I hate war, I hate video games depicting real life war. That is not say that video games displaying war has no place, on the contrary. War video games need to a little preachy and maybe even have a message rather placing gamers in middle of a virtual battle field and calling it a day. How about comparing some of the great war movies such as Apocalypse Now, Lions for Lambs, Letters from Iwao Jima or Saving Private Ryan to popular games like Call of Duty or the aforementioned Medal of Honor. These movies show case the true brutality of war and its complexities on a soldier in a battle field as well as repercussion on innocent lives. While Call of Duty and such games usually have a ham fisted story and wholly concentrates in giving a whole lot of things to shoot at, offline and on.

I feel many of the game developers who make war games do not use the powerful new medium of video games to display the horrors of wars. More often than not most war games just give gamers the licence to become a 'bad ass' soldier and kill everything and anything on site. Sure most real wars are like that but again you ask any war veteran and he/she will tell you it is not as simple or as 'fun' as it sounds. This aspect of war is usually ignored and hence it numbs the gamers or viewers to the insensibilities of war.

Yes many will argue that this is only a game and is not real and that in effect makes it OK. I am not saying that I am against violent games, as one of my favorite games are violent games but making a video game about a real life war is callous. And I am not against war games per say. I mean if there exists a message in amongst it all then such games can be used to propagate anti-war sentiments. As I mentioned earlier that movies have been made on the topic of wars where it would show the raw nature of conflicts and they have been successful. Video games about wars also can be used in such an exercise

Yes there have been very good attempts where the concept of war has been displayed in its entirety along with its impact by people like Hideo Kojima and his Metal Gear Solid series. The games in this series always had stories relevant to the real world as well as a message which has made this series a big hit amongst the gaming fraternity.



The RPG genre also have many games about wars and its brutalities but as the genre lies a little out of the main stream audience (even after the incredible run of awesome RPGs during the PS1 and PS2 era), the purpose of such games usually don't get to an average gamer. What I trying to say is that game developers have to be a little progressive, just like how movies makers and musicians assumed that role in the late 60's and 70's, and starting making war games with a some purpose rather than just thinking of making maximum profit.

So anyways as I end this blog update and the realization dawns upon me that this my stand basically is pointless and eventually without result. My boycott won't stop this game selling around a million copies (or more) around the world and my opinions will be scoffed at by many of my fellow gamers. But I will accept this fact and therefore I will preserve on my principle. I will draw the line. I will make my inconsequential stand.

Co-pilot

Before reading on I suggest to the read this article:

http://kotaku.com/5656943/the-gamer-i-really-am

Playing video games with my siblings is one of my most enduring childhood memories. Spending hours with my older brothers playing Super Mario Bros, or using cheat codes in Contra in an effort of finish game. Jungle Strike on the Sega Mega Drive was a game which me and my brother played quite a bit, doing mission turn by turn or helping out in difficult sections. Another game which vied for our time was Brian Lara Cricket. Here was game which we played tourney style, and it was always a blast. Streets of Rage series was one also another franchise we sibling with play alot.

With my purchasing of the PlayStation, coupled with my brothers getting less and less interested in games, I started getting more time playing single player games, and slowly I enjoyed them more than playing with my sibling. My gaming started to revolve around RPGs and it was good. Although it didn't matter much that none of my siblings were interested in gaming much (barring a few games here and there of course), but I did miss simpler days.

As my brothers left home, my gaming would become a total single player experience, as my sisters were either too young or just not interested. But that changed, just for a short period of time when I purchased PS2's first Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy X. As the game started, my younger sister (who is just a couple of years younger than me) caught a glimpse of me playing the game, and just like that she is like watching me play the game intently, marvelling at the graphics, chipping in with a suggestion on beating enemies and getting really surprised at how the story was developing. This went on for while, and I was kinda surprised that a single player game had caught the attention of one of my siblings. Its not that my sister was interested in the game itself, but she got intrigued with the game's story and the characters.



Now whenever I would put the game, my sister would come and watch the cut-scenes (not FMVs mind you, but story exposition cut-scenes). New developments in the story and characters would be discussed and analyzed. Hell even the sound track would get a bit of attention. I actually had to stop from progressing the story for a month as my sister's annual exams had started, and that gave me ample time to get all the ultimate weapons for my characters and finish all of the side quests by the time her exams finished.

And when the game reached it epic conclusion, and I had broken down into a sobbing mess, my sister was there to witness that doing her best not laugh at me all the while trying to cheer me up during the credits. Yes the game was quite incredible and I regard it as a crowning glory in the world of RPGs, but I know it as a fact that the game become so memorable due to my co-pilot. Even today we sometimes discuss some of the finer points of game's story and the characters.

Invariably after a few years when my youngest sister (who is alot younger than me) started playing Final Fantasy 10, I would usually watch her play and essentially performed the co-pilot's role.

Single player games are still the trend of my gaming, but as I said, for a little while Final Fantasy 10 become a 'multi-player' experience.

But anyways the article written the Leigh Alexander (in link above) was quite the read and will be visiting her blog Sexy Videogameland.

Enslaved by Enslaved...

So yesterday I started Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a game which was virtually shunned by a lot of people due to its demo, but has managed to garner some high marks on sites like Gamespot and IGN. Not having played the demo I relied solely on game reviews and boy this game has just knocked my blocks off. The game is frigging fantastic!

The story of Enslaved revolves around the meek and fragile Trip and her captive hulk of a man, Monkey and their journey across a perilous wasteland. The game's plot has been inspired by a 400 year old Chinese novel filled with Monkey Gods, divine princess, demons, mythical beasts and such called Journey to the West, but the game has put its own spin on things, making the world a post-apocalyptic wasteland. That in it self had got my interest piqued. Oh by the way this isnt the first time the classic novel has been used as inspirtation in games as one look on the wikipedia might attest too.

So anyways yesterday after booting up the game, I have not been able to put the game down. 5 hours in the game, the pacing and the tense situations are top notch. But by far till now the best aspect of the game is the symbiotic relationship of Trip and Monkey due to the fact as Trip is the weak character and its up Monkey to do all the heavy lifting and fighting as the pair struggle for survival. The way both the characters interact in the face adversity is quite splendid, as many a times the captor has to be the one to be saved by the captive and this opens up some great exposition between the two.

The more I play the game, the more I am reminded by a couple of games which has the same symbiotic theme between two characters. One being 2008's Prince of Persia and other being ICO. Enslaved too has the same set up but still ends up holding it own identity and that in itself is an achievement.

The end of the game is quite far away but the amount of work Ninja Theory has put in the game is really awesome and for me they are the up and coming development house esp after creating the epic Heavenly Sword and now Enslaved. Hence this makes for interesting times as Ninja Theory is handling the reboot of Devil May Cry and it may well be really good as well, emo Dante and all.

Dimensions and all.....

Around 3 months I ago updated this sparse looking blog, so I guess it high time I got my groove on. So a bit has changed since the E3 rolled by. Some big games have been released, a few records have been broken.....hmmm for both these example Halo Reach comes to mind. Announcements of new hardware are flying all over the place (3DS is going to be fracking awesome) and to be honest it still remains an awesome time to be a gamer.

Anyways for my first real update in months I will talk a little about a game I finished just last night: Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions. Well truth be told the game started off really nice and was really fun to play, with awesome set pieces with some well know villains and playing as Spider Man is always a rush. But by the time the game reached it conclusion I got partially bored.



Make to no mistake the game is fun. The level designs in the early part of the game was quite striking as playing four different types of Spider Men is a pretty novel concept and hence the level design shone quite brightly. As most of you know Activision touted the ability to play different Spider Men from 4 dimensions in the game trailers and for me that become a real hook. For most part 3 of 4 Spider Men (Amazing, Ultimate and 2099) controlled almost identically and dishing out major combos and web swinging through the levels was fun, but the dimension of Noir was a bad idea. It was bland, boring and had no thrills associated with being Spider Man. Noir's levels usually made me lurk in the dark, picking out unsuspecting baddies, but that's no fun at all. And as most game sites have pointed out Noir was a blatant copy of last year's Arkham Asylum, with only one difference...ARKHAM ASYLUM WAS WICKED!!



As the game progressed, I found that the basic levels and mission structure of the game was pretty identical, yes there were a few chase segments here and there but the basic theme was the same. And that is a shame really, with 4 different Spider Men to work with, the game could had used a bit of variety. Along with completing the game's various levels, the inclusion of in game achievements which granted characters upgrade was kinda addictive as I would find myself going a little out of my way to complete a few of them.

The most attractive angle of the game were the visuals, and they were good. Technically they were OK, but the cel-shading of the Amazing and Ultimate dimensions were really eye catching, Noir dimension's odd melange of blacks and sepia tones complimented the game over all visuals quite well. 2099 visuals were your generic sci-fi crap.



Oh yeah the voice acting and dialogs were really really good. Spider Man's wise ass quips were really funny and the voice acting was really well done. The characters of Amazing (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ultimate (Josh Keaton) were the best as they were constantly funny and gave the friendly Spider Man the pre-requisite spunk. And amongst the villains fan favorite DeadPool was very engaging.

My Impressions: All in all a good game indeed, but due to repetitive mission and level structure, the game does not reach the heady heights of Arkham Asylum.

Well with 2 awesome games coming out in a day or two in the form of Enslaved and Castlevania: Lord of Shadows I will have my handful indeed.