Category Archives: Editorials

Editorials meaning extended rants.

Editorials, Games, PlayStation

Sony vs. Kotaku

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News about games journalism! Hooray!

The whole thing seems to be over now, but last night gaming blog Kotaku got into trouble with Sony for posting a rumour about what Sony was set to unveil at next week’s GDC. Sony told them not to, they did anyway, and Sony blacklisted them from all their mailing lists and future press events.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I was entirely on Kotaku’s side on this issue. As is often the case lately, I don’t know why Sony acted the way that they did. All throwing the toys out of the pram and trying to blackmail Kotaku did was give credibility to the story, whereas the usual “we do not comment on rumours or speculation” would have at least kept people guessing until next week. The way Sony acted the only possible outcome was for Kotaku to come out smelling of roses, simply because when it’s announced everyone sees that they got the scoop and didn’t give in when the big boys tried to bully them.

Of course, the majority of people supported Kotaku’s stand, but what surprised me when trawling forums was that a number of people were congratulating Sony on not putting up with such insolence, even going as far as to criticise Kotaku’s journalism, such as in this quote from IGN’s PS3 forum:

“Sounds like Kotaku got what they deserve. […] Seriously. Did these guys take any journalism courses at all?”

That sums up what far too many journalists reporting on this industry seem to think: that “journalism” means “typing up press releases” and taking what they’re given, which is often the complete opposite of what journalism should be. I’m not going to make myself look stupid by invoking some of the great investigative journalists because I have no illusions of reporting on this industry being comparable to anything what has been brought to light by political journalists in the past, but being cowed by any of the big industry figures is not journalism.

Bravo Kotaku. Now I hope you walk into that media event next week with a massive, proud grin on your face. You won that round.

Editorials, Games, PlayStation, Xbox

That Back Compat Thing

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Talk about setting one up. Even so, I’m going to start by playing a bit of a devil’s advocate by saying that the news doesn’t affect my desire to own a PS3. I still won’t be buying one next month. That’s my cheap shot out of the way.

Honestly, I think backwards compatibility is overrated. I was always going to have to keep my PS2 around since it’s chipped and my PS2 collection takes in games from all three major regions, and I think I’ve played a grand total of five Xbox games on my 360 since last year. Two of those for more than a few minutes, or for more than just to check out how they looked in HD. Aside from a bit of FFVII last summer, it’s similarly underused on my PS2. Others might find it more important, as I know plenty of people who only want one box under their TV and don’t want to chuck out some of their favourite games. Not to mention the appeal of seeing what PS1 games you can find for a couple of quid each in Gamestation.

What’s irksome about the whole issue is the way in which they’re going about it. I’ve made it clear how I feel about the price, as have countless others, and this just makes things worse. We’re now paying more for a late, lesser piece of hardware? Sony had already twisted the knife in the wound; now they’re pouring salt onto it. The fact that this all comes out weeks from launch with preorders (mysteriously not sold out anywhere yet) in full swing is just low. That’s pissing on you while you’re down and still crying about how much the salt hurt.

This is where the obligatory Kutaragi quote comes in:

“PS3 will feature backwards compatibility with PS and PS2 games from day one. I’m emphasising this because, from what I hear, there are some platforms that haven’t been able to completely do this. It’s costly in terms of hardware, but we’d rather invest firmly on compatibility from the beginning, rather than to have issues later on.”

I hear there are two platforms that haven’t been able to completely do this, Ken.

I don’t think anyone would really object to them switching to software emulation to save hardware costs when their emulator is mature, but why do we have to, essentially, pay extra to beta test this feature? Why not keep the EE/GS chip in there for the machine to fall back on if the emulator doesn’t support the game? And, more pertinently from a European perspective, why not roll this out worldwide if you’re going to do it? Why just us?

Fuck them. I’m going to sit back and wait for the next of the weekly PR disasters.

Editorials, Games, Nintendo

The Morning After

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Much has been made of a recent CVG editorial, in which they ask whether or not the novelty of the Wii is beginning to wear off. I must confess to wondering the same thing.

Twilight Princess was a wonderful experience – all 37 hours of it – and I’m glad that I decided to take the risk and get the version with the prettier graphics and funky controls. Far from being an obstacle, I thoroughly enjoyed swinging my virtual sword and getting the occasional funny look for squinting down the remote to aim. Likewise, Wii Sports was brilliant and the most astute pack-in since Super Mario Bros.

What now? WarioWare is great fun for a few hours, and next there’s Super Paper Mario (another survivor of the GameCube) which should be worth a look. Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, and Smash Bros should – fingers crossed – make it out this year. Fire Emblem will be a buy if it’s as good as the GBA games.

Now…what links those games? Could it be their publisher? Anyone else worried that we’re heading for another GameCube situation here?

Editorials, Games, PlayStation

20GB PS3: Why the Hate?

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So with our PS3 launch moving ever closer, we poor Europeans aren’t even getting the 20GB PS3, and every time I see it mentioned in online conversation it’s derided as vehemently as the Core 360. The “tard pack” is what it’s called in the popular lingo, I believe. I even keep hearing that they can’t shift them in Japan.

Now maybe I’m missing something that everyone else knows, but why is it such a bad option? So it has a smaller hard drive, but you can buy a bigger hard drive than 60GB for less than the price difference. No memory card slots? Can’t see myself using them, and for portable storage my assorted collection of flash drives and portable HDDs will do fine. Even if I did need one, I think USB card readers are so cheap that they actually pay you to take them now.

And that leaves wi-fi. That’s nice, but I have a wired gigabit network which is faster and more reliable than even a new 802.11n network, let alone 802.11g that the PS3 ships with. The 360 wi-fi adaptor may be overpriced, but I don’t end up paying for it even if I’m never going to use it.

Maybe it goes back to when it was due to come without HDMI, really making it a stupid option. Sony’s choice to add HDMI into it changed it into a good option for those who think £425/$600 is silly money for a console (everyone, then), and yet it’s just as stigmatised as options like the Core 360, which actually do lack important functionality. I just think that they’re missing an opportunity by not bringing that version out for, say, £349. That’s a price that I’d consider. £70 more than the 360 is a lot more palatable than £150 more.

Editorials, Games, Nintendo, PC games, PlayStation, Xbox

Whatever Happened to Plug and Play?

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Remember when a new console had to be connected to power, connected to the TV, and that was it? Those were the days…

With all of the big three espousing network connectivity and, to wildly differing extents, higher resolutions, will those days ever come back? Getting the full experience from a games console is no longer a case of picking up a SCART cable along with the new hardware. As well as needing an expensive TV, just setting it up relies on an intimate knowledge of your TV’s supported inputs and resolutions as well as the favoured sound formats of your audio setup. I’m a technical masochist and so actually like fiddling with settings, but I doubt the average person does. We all must have cringed at friends with nice widescreen TVs but with their DVD player set to 4:3.

Networking is just as bad, requiring either a wired network within range of the console or a headfirst dive into the world of wireless networking – encryption protocols, DHCP servers, MAC filters, SSIDs, keys, and other such fun – to get what can be the main thrust of the hardware in the case of the 360.

And then there was firmware. The risk of completely killing your hardware aside, it’s more than slightly annoying to find yourself unable to play a PSP game because it has a mandatory firmware upgrade on the disc and your machine doesn’t have enough battery power to let you flash it. So much for ease of use there. Since its release the PS3 has had two firmware updates weighing in at nearly 100MB each, which is no quick and painless download on a 2Mb connection with a bandwidth limit. I’m sure you’re familiar with the stories of firmware updates killing 360s and Wiis, as well. Don’t even get me started on game patching and modern developers’ inability to notice players randomly disconnecting from online games.

Necessary evils though these may be if we want these new experiences, surely someone out there can come up with some kind of standards. Why not make TVs that can tell your devices what resolution they want? Why not test your bloody games before you ask us to pay for them?

Editorials, Games, Nintendo

Love The Tree, Hate The Fruit?

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The day that we all get to play a new Nintendo console is getting close and what used to be a momentous gaming event for me is currently leaving me slightly cold. The above shamelessly paraphrased title from the 1UP Boards sums up how I feel, I think.

I’m reticent to speak out on my concerns about the Wii because, if I’m honest, I thought the DS was a crap idea. Now, having owned two of them and a decent library of original and entertaining software for it, I’ve eaten my words but I’m still not convinced that Nintendo will be able to replicate it on a home console. I want to play games for more than quick bursts, which is a format more suited to a handheld like the DS.

Looking at incomplete lists of launch titles the one Wii game that screams “MUST PLAY!” to me is a GameCube game with annoying-looking controls and, apart from a few obvious fits like Wario Ware and games designed to suit like Mario Galaxy (neither are launch titles), I’m extremely concerned that that it’s going to get games for other consoles shoehorned onto the new controls like Call of Duty 3 or Madden. I’d probably change my tune if Eidos made a Wii Hitman game with the nunchuck as a virtual garrotte but until I see that I’m sticking to my guns.

Of course the DS was much the same for the first year and now has some fabulous software, but what I want to play on a handheld is very different to what I want on a home console and I don’t see the experience transferring effectively. While it may be worth it for the Virtual Console alone, I applaud Nintendo for trying something different, WiiConnect24 is a great idea, and the Wii is unique as the only aesthetically pleasing console of this generation, with so much else to play this year I’m increasingly tempted to hold off until 2007 when the likes of Wario Ware will be out.

Am I the only one who isn’t drinking Nintendo’s Kool-Aid yet?