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.