Muramasa: A Moment in Art

Regardless of all the brilliant games that have been developed in recent years, I should really begin this by stating a fairly obvious idea that in my opinion is not cited enough. The gaming industry’s mainstream blossoming has reaped a mix of glorious benefits and monotonous pitfalls. The cost of mainstream game development continues to rise, while development teams can often compete with the population of small nation counties, and yet there’s a troublesome sense that tactile gameplay hasn’t gotten any better for all of this added attention – that the primary focus has shifted to immediate graphical prowess, rather than the functional and innovative gameplay that made this industry worth the original investment.

Amidst titles powered by massive budgets seeking to produce increasingly realistic worlds resembling our own, along comes Muramasa, a game immediately grabbing our attention exactly because of its visual style, but for entirely different reasons.

This is not going to be a long piece as I know there are much better articles out there making the same arguments as I, but I am going to post several videos at the end of this post that I hope will provide you with a small, yet significant impression of what I am trying to articulate.

Hit the jump to read on:

More Colour Please?

As I was shopping for cheap games to pick up before I started university I picked up Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 for Wii.  The game plays rather well, and at its time of release had the best FPS controls on the Wii and the best online Multiplayer, but something was wasn't quite right with it.

It’s gray, and very little of anything else visually.  Granted, graphics aren’t everything, but seeing one bland throughout most of the game is pretty strange.  After all, I’m sure there were some buildings in Germany during WWII that had some paint on them, or perhaps the sky was at least blue.  Perhaps somebody should tell game designers that the photographs from that time only came in black and white, and there actually was colour.  That’s not to say that Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 is the only offender though…

It’s all over the place.  Gears of War, one of 2006’s biggest titles touted for it’s great visuals, is gray.  Maybe it’s just me, but that is not a good looking game to me.  On a technical aspect, it’s impressive, but the lack of colour makes my eyes bleed.  Epic was going for a bleak future, but really, when there’s foliage, I expect to see some sort of green.  Not gray-brown-dark brown-black.

So we arrive at Unreal Tournament 3.  Earlier Epic Games said the game had a much richer colour palette than Gears of War did, and, well, it does.  There’s now richer grays and browns.  Playing the game on my PC, I noticed gray environments, dully coloured weapons (for the most part), and then you have brown characters.  Maybe you’ll get some dark red blood in there, but, really, it’s a fairly black and white game.  I don’t really understand this art direction for the series, as in the past it at least had what looked like the game trying to look like the real world, if not a bit futuristic.

The games above are all great games, but what’s with the lack of colour?  It can’t be the engine for the last two, as Bioshock proved to have a very rich look to it.  The one positive I can see for Medal of Honor is that it looks pretty clean (unlike the muddy mess that was CoD3 on the Wii), but it seems pretty plausible that they could do that with colour to me.  Maybe others don’t care about it as much as I do, but the lack of colour just turns me off, and I know I’d enjoy these games so much more if there was a larger color scale.

So, for those games that decide to go colourful, here’s a shout out.  Thank you Clover Studios for Okami and Viewtiful Joe.  Thanks Grasshopper for Killer7 and No More Heroes.  Heck, thank you Valve for Team Fortress 2 and Half Life (Hey, at least Half Life looks realistic in it’s color).  Thank you for putting some colour and style into your games.

Wii, DS and DSi North American holiday release list

Making a long post even longer: This is a pretty good idea of what North American users can expect this coming holiday. Although I live in the UK, I have highlighted the games I'm interested in bold font.
I'll write up my opinions about the games in this list and some of the titles we can expect early next year in my next post.
Oh, and incase you wern't aware I shamelessly took inspiration from the title of game pictured below to decide on the title of my blog.
*Cough* iwantedtocallmyblogaboyandhisblog.blogspot.combutthatwasalreadytakensadface *cough*

Wii

2K Sports
NHL® 2K10 - Sept. 15
Baseball Blast! - Sept. 28
NBA 2K10 - Oct. 6

2K Play
Dora the Explorer™: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom™ - Fall
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day - Fall
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey™ Circus - Fall

505 Games
My Ballet Studio - November
Baby and Me - November

continued after the break...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Video Interview

I have had my doubts about this, I mean it appears to be a pretty low effort on Nintendos part in terms of the graphics (It doesn't look THAT much better than the DS SMB) but each time I see new scans /videos from an updated build and I learn more about it's features I feel more optimistic. I don't ever think this title will reach the level of hype I am holding for Super Mario Galaxy 2 but I'm still planning on picking it up, however I don't think It's going to be a day one purchase and I didn't appreciate the whole 'oh we can't have online co-op because the game makes full use of the Wii hardware' BS either.

But it's brilliant to hear that there are lots of hidden areas. Hidden areas are really important 2D Mario game, and I'm glad there are plenty of them in NSMBWii.

Video Games - E3 2009 - Wii

Scribblenauts: More fan made print ads

I came across these whilst looking at the 'We create magazine ads for the hell of it' thread at Neogaf and think there worthy of posting. Besides, almost anything relating to Scribblenauts is worth checking out.

This is going to. be. the. greatest. puzzle. game. EVAR!
/hype

[Click the images to enlarge]

Scribblenauts: Laughing at the target audience?

I've already seen so many brilliant Scribblenauts videos, but I think that this is possibly the most amazing discovery I've seen yet.



I love stuff like this but I see another connection:

5th Cell = Game Developers = Gamers = Virgins?

Haha Narf

Sribblenauts - Release hype

I have got to get me one of these Rooster hats, even if I have to search Ebay for one. I am considering importing this from America as I can't see myself waiting til the 15th of October for the European release date, and on top of that I'm starting university very soon so my play time consisting of riding velociraptors and sending out Yetis to beat up whales is going to be very limited.

The only people I can see not enjoying this are those kids in school who only knew how to draw a square box for art lessons.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle- New Trailer

Where are the Pre-Orders at?

Unpacking Metroid Prime Trilogy (PAL Version)

Below are some pictures I took whilst opening up Metroid Prime Trilogy. Although I would have liked the metal packaging the US version came in I'm still very impressed with the quality of the packaging used in the PAL copy (as far I know this is the same packaging used worldwide minus North America).
The game comes with a high quality card slip on cover with a highly reflective surface on both sides and an embossed title. The box itself features the same reflective surfaces and art minus the text. Inside it's the same as documented in the US release including an impressive art and story booklet and thorough manual documenting all 3 titles.
So overall it's a pretty sweet deal and It's hard to argue with 3 of the best games to be released in the last 10 years on one disk.

Oh and what's with all the complaining about some of the minor details in the first title being removed? Yes they added to the incredible atmosphere of the first title but people are forgetting that retro went back and used higher resolution and more vivid textures, proper widescreen support along with the superb Wii controls and interesting achievement system. Which in my opinion more than make up for the lack of trivial special effects.
But more importantly, the doors open more fucking quickly!

My Favourite Gaming Moments: Super Mario Galaxy - Gusty Garden Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy is a modern classic, to say the least. The level design is pretty much perfect, the control is spot-on, the art style is beautiful, audio and visual presentation is astounding and everything is done with such confidence and innovation that it reminds you how of how games used to feel before things started to become mundane.

It would be easy to write a rambling article (Edit: upon reading turns out it is) about all the things it does to brand a permanant smile on my face. Sprinting to the edge of a planet and launching Mario into orbit with a long jump? Brilliant. Gravity traps and switches that turn the most basic 2D and 3D stages into head-spinning puzzles? Amazing. Watching a dome open up to reveal a new sphere within composed of water to a beautiful starry backdrop? Fantastic.

However there is one moment that stands out in my mind that solidifies everything I had hoped the title could be, the initial landing on the Gusty Garden Galaxy.

Before this moment Galaxy has already illustrated numerous extraordinary ideas and feelings of joy and suprise that as I approached the halfway mark, I began to wonder whether or not there could possibly be any more invention or new twists to gameplay. But even then I would have hardly felt short-changed as the excitement of the breathtaking platforming to the delightful novelties displayed so far had been miles better than anything I'd played in recent years. However its the moment I first touched down on Gusty Gardens that I knew that Galaxy wasn't going to go that way.

Landing in the Gusty Garden Galaxy to a blare of horns and some of the best orchestral bombast I have ever heard instantly made my mental list of my favourite ever moments in gaming. As I first landed and began to explore this galaxy full of vivid colours edged in starlight accomponied by this soundtrack, I took a moment to stop fooling around with the long jump and I looked up across the horizon and I could see that the games extraordinary ideas were laid out so cogently that anything could seem possible in this world.

As I think about all the titles I've played in recent years and all the titles that im looking forward too (Including a Galaxy sequel). Not since the original 3D Mario adventure on N64, have I played or seen a game so full imagination, playfulness, diversions and bizarre ideas that makes everything seem so simple. But when it all comes down to it, It's just a platformer. Albeit a platformer that has all the exploring, teetering on the brink and jumping off the edge of the planet in a world of uncomparable fun.

Platform: Wii
Release: Available World Wide
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD

[Note: My Favourite Gaming Moments is a small series I'll probably be doing in which I rant about some of my fondest memories in gaming. And yes, I know that your life could go on with out this but its not as if i have anything better to do]

New Muramasa: The Demon Blade video

As ever this game looks amazing. Between this and A Boy and His Blob, The Wii has arguably two of the years best looking games. And Recently after seeing this video the developers Epic Games (Gears of War and Unreal) have written a new piece of dialouge for the next title in the Gears of War franchise:

Marcus: Dom, come check this out.

Dominic: What is it, Marcus?

Marcus: I think it's... yellow?

Dominic: ...Th' Fuuuck

Timewaster: Canabalt

Canabalt is a simple one button platformer, but what it lacks in gameplay variety, it more than makes up for in terms of EPIC.

The aesthetic touches really bring this together. The way the character rolls after a long fall, the silhouetted parallax background, and the music (which If I ever go to a gym, will need on my MP3) really help pull the game together.

I think it's the graphics, speed of camera movement, background and music/sounds go very well together that really draw me into the world. Not to mention the addictive 'I'll just have one more go' style of the gameplay.

So far my best distance is 3457 so check it out at:

http://adamatomic.com/canabalt/

And yeah, those birds totally made my day.

Pokemon Card Game Championship Winners

Holy shit, is the kid in the middle wearing a Kyogre hat? Fuck me, I want one!


EDIT: I got my own Kyogre hat in the mail today! It doesn't match the level of the one shown above but it's pretty nice. I'm definitely going to upload some pictures of this thing.

Creativity is not dead. It's just hard to sell

Regardless of what anybody says, if you have something good, people will not naturally come to it. You will always get a select educated few that stand behind a product, however sometimes, people don't even understand what is good, and simply think that what they already have is adequate, and anything else couldn't possibly be better or worth thinking of. Look at people who will only buy sports titles and even then their only purchases will be the annual marginal update.

One of the main problems facing the industry is that publishers won't publish that which they don't believe will make money, so developers aren’t encouraged to create titles that may be perceived as risky and niche. Gamers won't be inclined to spend money unless they know they are going to enjoy, or believe they will enjoy their purchase. The problem is in the money.

This idea is supported when you think of some of the many titles released on downloadable services such as Wii Ware and Steam. Often you will see more creativity in these budget price titles from independent or small studio's than many mainstream developers with staff in the hundreds. However when you think of the risk associated with multimillion pound projects, this reluctance to innovate seems rational.

Remember how successful arcades were? People are willing to spend more money in smaller increments. Think about any of your favourite games. What hooked you? I bet it was within the first 5 hours of play. If you find no enjoyment by then chances are you wont continue and regret your purchase. So that's all that needs to be created and sold first and If the consumers don't take an interest, then you move on and cut your loses, which will be much less than that of a blockbuster-sized title.

Another problem is that the same types of games keep getting made largely due to the fact that's all the core audience is interested in. This is a cycle that the medium currently finds itself in and the issue is located in us, the consumers. We as a mass continually buy the same cookie-cutter titles and avoid games with new interesting concepts. What does that tell the studios? That we have little interest in taking risks with our purchases.


So of course they aren't going to deviate far from the norm. Developers have very little say in the shape of the industry. We, on the other hand, shape it every time we buy a new game.
How many times has an innovative title come out, only to be largely ignored until long after it's dropped into the bargain bin? Then, after we realize what we missed out on, we bitch because they never give us a sequel only to complain that we were waiting for the price to drop. However this is not full proof solution.

No matter how much the core wants to believe, it is the expanded audience that will really determine the success of a title. Even if the all of the gamers who comment on a website with news on the release of a new title end up purchasing it, it will still only end up being a relatively small number in comparison to the potential number of casual players who will only become aware of the title through mainstream advertisements and word of mouth.

So at this point, creativity isn't dead and everything is not lost, but it will only come in short bursts. As long as the current style of video games remains as popular as they are we will never see innovations as significant as those seen in the past. But this is true for any art or entertainment medium, as long as the purpose of the medium is to profit, you will never see as much uniqueness and originality in them as you would like.

Or you could just wait quietly in the corner for Scribblenauts.

PSPgo.co.uk =/= PSPgo

If you head over to PSPgo.co.uk you'll see that the site has nothing to do with raising interest for the upcoming PSPgo, but rather a brilliant advertisement for how amazing the DSi is. It looks as though some DSi fans with some proffesional web design skills have bought the domain name and linked everything on the site back to Nintendo's official pages.


It may not be a big deal as i'm sure someone as Sony will do something about it. but not before having a good laugh.
But Sony should do the mature thing here... and buy NGAGE.CO.UK!

My First Flipnote

Well here it is. As you can see my first attempt at a Flipnote is ambitious but rubbish. It took me about an hour and a half to complete and I learnt about all the different tools and advanced techniques as I went through, resulting in a progressive quality increase in terms of animation. However this doesn't matter as a well animated drawing means nothing if the idea is terrible from the beginning! I just started with an image of a stick figure before rambling from idea to idea including a self portrait of my head minus a mouth or nose.

Anyway I'm planning on making a ridiculous amount of these things. But first check out my flipnote's Awesome Grafix!

Flipnote Studio released

This past week Flipnote Studios has become available for everyone outside of Japan and you can download it free of charge from the DSi store.
Seriously, its such a good package that Nintendo could have charged for it and I'm sure people would have praised its features and content. It almost feels like a brand new Mario Paint but more advanced and intuitive.

What's even more surprising is how robust and addictive the online site is. You can view the site from your DSi as well as your PC and upload your own creations whilst also checking out some of the amazing animations other people have done after registering with Hatena.

Everything is simple and easy to use with plenty of options that will keep people people addicted for a long time. It's definitely a step forward in terms of user generated content from Nintendo.

At the moment I'm still currently working on my ambitious (and rubbish) first flip note and I'll post it on here as soon as I'm done. For every other DSi user who hasn't downloaded it yet, what are you waiting for?! It's free and easily one of the DSi's best features.

Little King's Story Review

I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while now. With its American release quickly approaching as I start this review (Edit: Damn part time job and Punch Out!! for keeping me from finishing), I look back on the newest game from Town Factory and Cing that could have easily been called Little King’s Big Story.

Since its initial announcement I’ve been looking forward to Little King's Story (LKS) and I picked it up upon its European release. The premise appealed to me and I’m sure many others. After all, who didn't dream of being King as a child? Ruling your own kingdom, bossing others around and having servants at your command, controlling your own army and having everybody celebrate your existence. LKS does a great job at making you feel as though you’re ruling a kingdom through the quirky presentation, great writing and genre-mixed gameplay.

LKS's plot in simple terms is about a kid named Corobo who stumbles upon a crown in a forest. From there he is deemed as King and has the power to charm people to make them follow his orders. As ruler of your kingdom, your goal is to “expand the village” i.e. world domination (or as the game brilliantly puts it, "uniting of the world") whilst also making your subjects happy. This results in a number of different tasks and objectives.

When you first start up initially you only have 2 followers, though this number will increase significantly, your main interaction with your servants is to throw them at things. This can be used to fight enemies and dig for treasure among other things. These interactions are dependent on the profession of the follower you throw. If throw a soldier at an enemy, he’ll attack; if you throw a farmer at a hole, he’ll dig on the spot. Later on when you have a large amount of options in terms of team building, I found that creating a perfectly balanced squad on a quests first attempt a rare occasion. Initially you have to walk about your kingdom and select the people you want in your team to go out to explore the kingdom with you. However, with enough funds you can eventually buy a podium, making it is much easier to assemble squads.

The treasure you find on your travels can be spent back at the castle. This brings me onto another thing, Money. Completing quests rewards you with large amounts of money which allows you to expand your kingdom. With enough money you can eventually buy even more houses and battle formations, further expanding your gameplay possibilities. As your kingdom builds up further jobs and recruits become available.

I could talk more about the different gameplay styles but overall, it feels very similar to the Pikmin games – throwing your subjects at objects to interact, with a mix of SimCity and Harvest Moon's micro managment.

I haven’t even mentioned the large number of mini games littered throughout and the boss battles; which are easily some of the most impressive I’ve seen this generation.

On a minor negative side, I had some problems with the camera during some of the more hectic confrontations later on and occasionally some of my followers would get stuck in the level geometry or they would fall off ridges meaning that I had to backtrack slightly to regroup. Micro managing my troops during combat would also lead to some problems during combat as I felt the system was a little imprecise.

Another thing which some people may find fault with is the games lack of Wii-specific controls. Regardless the game controls very well and the learning curve is just right with new mechanics being introduced at a good rate. However after playing Pikmin 2 with new Wii controls, I wish the pointer functionality had been an option as use as an on screen cursor as it just seems like a natural fit given the style of the gameplay.

Finally, in relation to the presentation, the game looks pleasant enough and is full of great little touches. It has an interesting art style that evokes memories of children’s storybooks whilst some of the dialogue is fairly adult orientated with some mature references that leave a memorable impression. The music is also worth noting with some famous orchestral tunes that suit the games style perfectly.

Overall LKS is an amazing achievement. It feels designed for the hardcore and core gamers through its deep, challenging and engrossing gameplay (that can easily engross you for hours on end) without the need to use a washed out colour scheme and a “mature” use of excessive gore and violence. It feels like a AAA title regardless of which platform it’s on due to the amount of polish and care that has clearly gone into its development. You could easily spend 30 hours going through the story whilst also discovering all of the games many secrets. This is one of this year’s best games and one of the Wii’s best this generation.

9/10

Platform: Wii
Release: April 24- Europe
Publisher: Rising Star
Developer: Town Factory/Cing