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.