I'll Stop After This, I Promise.

Imagine that its 201X and God of War IV has come out for the Playstation 3.5. You gleefully pup it into the Hiper Definition RedRay drive on the PS 3.5 and then go to sleep. In the morning you do your usual routine and then check on the system, amazingly it's already at 35% installed. When it finishes you await patiently for the chorus to signal the beginning of Bloodsplatterfest 201X.

However, the chorus does not come. Instead a violin begins playing a tune of intrigue. In the first scene Kratos, wearing a toga and without his melon sized biceps, wakes up agitated in a shabby straw bed. He then proceeds to tell his uninterested wife about his dream where in he was the son of Zeus in a vicious quest for revenge. Afterwards he walks joyfully through the streets of Athens to his job as a Horse Theft Investigator, where he must quickly put together all the clues to save the stolen equestrians.

Naturally disappointed, nay furious, you continue to play the game only because it cost you $125 used and you didn't keep the receipt or the Digital Notarized Letter of Receipt Acceptance (or DNLoRA). However, once you begin playing through the game, you realize that it's actually really good. No it's beyond anything you have experienced before. You have never been so totally intellectually or emotionally engrossed with anything before.

The game changes you life. You begin to exercise and eat right. You call your mother just for the hell of it, every other day. And in between all the good you do, you take some time to continue replaying the game for the seven-hundredth time.

Now here is the question: Is this game worthy of the title, God of War? or to put it another way is this a good God of War game?

Well, no. It's a great game on its own, but it's not really a good GoW game. This is because a GoW game has certain elements that make up what its experience entails in the same way that soccer can never be mistaken for football. Sure they are both sports and a fan may experience similar excitement, but no one will tell you that an American football match was a great soccer game.

My point: re-imagining a series works best when you understand and keep the core of a game, whether that be a combat style, a particular experience, or a particularly interconnected story element. Otherwise don't keep anything and start a new franchise like Lucius: Athenian Horse Theft Investigator.

Random Musings: RPG Edition

It's becoming harder and harder to get excited about stories in RPG's. It seems like every western RPG is about wizards and knights fighting some evil force and every JRPG is about an amnesiac orphan boy with serious hairstyle issues who must discover that friends=good and that all empires are evil.

Games like Mass Effect and Fallout 3 are great examples of what new RPG's can be, but for every one of these there are five that share similar story elements. RPG's have this reputation for being more story focused, but their stories are becoming a bit stale. The same "you are the only one who can save us" hero style stories or the "evil empire must be stopped" and their small variations are way too commonplace.

But there are simple ways to shake things up:

1. Don't sSet it in a Fantasy Realm.

I know it seems unnatural since RPG is usually synonymous with magic, but it's also why the stories seem to be the same. We got knights and wizards and angst ridden teens saving the world, now lets go somewhere else. Try new times and places. The Wild West, ancient Egypt, etc.

2. Try Different Modes of Fighting.

Swords and magic are seriously overdone. Guns are starting to make a bump, but nothing is quite as cliche as swords and magic and it carries over to the story. Not having swords and magic allows the story to take place not in fake medieval times or in made up fantasy world x. It also means that combat can be done completely different.

3. Do the Real World.

Setting an RPG in the reality helps expedite our understanding of the game world. We don't need to read an encyclopedia's worth of backstory to know what the deal is with the new cultures. Also very few (I can't think of any) RPG's are set anywhere near reality, meaning that there is huge room for originality.

4. Think Smaller, Think Smarter

Like I said, EPIC is overdone. Stop having the hero save the world, or the kingdom, or the empire. Smaller victories can be just as satisfying and they allow for more varied plots elements. Also stop saying "you are the only one" or having "chosen ones." Or if you do, actually explain why that is the case in a more convincing way than "we are the only ones who know" or because you are the fabled one.

5. Read a Book, Don't Watch Movies

Relationships in RPG's are very similar to those Hollywood movie. Most of the time there is a well-to-do hero and a female lead who everyone knows will eventually get involved with said hero. There are also stock characters that are used, you know the ones. This needs to change. Stories need to have more complex and original characters with other motives than righteousness, revenge, or self-defense (against some evil force/empire).

Overall my point would be, don't be afraid to leave the RPG comfort zone. Things that have always worked means that they have been done quite a bit. An RPG does not entail a particular type of story, but it seems most developers think it does.

Return of the Game Lit. Cat

I know, it's a shameless plug for cats everywhere, but my other picture ideas revolved around people reading books or the book covers. The first was not interesting and since I know everyone will click on the links I so painstakingly copy pasted, there was no need to include pictures you will see already.

Anyways here are three more video game books for your enjoyment:

Game addiction by Neils Clark and P. Shavaun Scott.
Horror video games edited by Bernard Perron ; foreword by Clive Barker
My avatar, my self by Zach Waggoner

Here it Comes

A new Silent Hill is in the works if Hamza Aziz is correct over at Dtoid. Not much was said about it, but more will likely follow.

Also of interest I found two commentators who represent the two sides on the Silent Hill is dead debate, or new Silent Hill=Suck.

Here is what seventhevening had to say:

"No, No, No....Konami needs to let the series die. Silent Hill 4 was alright, but as soon as Team Silent left, things went to hell. Origins was awful, Homecoming was playable, yet totally ignored the mythology and butchered the plot, and Shattered Memories was an abomination that butchered the original classic.

The only positive thing I can say about those three games was "At least Akira Yamaoka did the music". But Akira Yamaoka left Konami after Shattered Memories. With no team silent and no Akira Yamaoka, and with Konami's disregard for the mythology of the game, there is no way it could possibly be good.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY hope it's a new horror IP. I don't know if my heart can stand watching Silent Hill suffer anymore."

That pretty much sums up the feeling of the old guard of SH fans.

Here is what EdgyDude had to say to that:

"@seventhevening: As long as the games perse are good and follow/keep at least part of the roots of the franchise it's ok to keep making new games, look at Mario, Zelda and Metroid games if they had numbers they'd be at least in #10 each, but does anyone complain about them...no, because they keep the core formula intact but take different approaches to it and of course gameplay is polished ad nauseum.

Look at RE4, you think it would have been better if Capcom had stuck to the old system instead of the more action filled, fast paced one? hell no, the IP would have gone the Sonic route and eventually died. SH is no different, the games themselves have remained great, they just have taken different approaches to the IP:

- Like i said SH:H took a more streamlined combat approach to the franchise, sure, story wise could have been better but it certainly wasn't bad, hell the 3 editors that made the review are all SH fans...and they even gave it an Editor's Choice Award.

- SH:SM was different, only the initial premise was the same to SH1 and that was more of a marketing mistake than a problem in the game itself, also if you reached the ending you'd understand why therapy sessions where so crucial plot wise and if you played multiple times and made different choices you'll understand how cleverly they were used game wise to alter the experience.

I still stand by my point, SH fans are so fixated with the past glories of SH2 that they just can't move on and accept the new chapters and that's very sad IMO cuz they miss out on different but still great experiences based on a memories of times long passed."

I would tend to disagree with EdgyDude (I guess you know what side of the debate I'm on) mostly because the changes that helped RE4 were game mechanics not canon or mythology and Nintendo's franchises have always had a certain freedom with regards to story. Unlike series which build canon with each entry most of Nintendo's series reinvent themselves with each new game, sort of like Final Fantasy, but to a lesser extent.

Though I do agreed that you shouldn't yearn for SH2 so much that it stops you from enjoying all SH games. It may have seem like I hate SH SM, but I really enjoyed it, despite the crippling blow it delivers to the canon. As a stand alone game it delivers some good experiences. I just don't like it as part of the SH family or canon.

Miracle: New Castlevania 3D might not Suck

Reading the new Castlevania preview at destructoid.com makes me a bit hopeful for a series that has never been able to find success in 3D. The 2D Castlevania games have always been successful especially since Symphony of the Night, but every venture into a 3D environment has spelled failure. So yea, that Castlevania Lord of Shadows might break that spell is a legit news item, and a small miracle. It is also further proof that Hideo Kojima and his production team have the golden touch, since they are co-producing the game with MercuryStream.

For Your Consideration

If you have $1 and you like rhythm games check out TREBL3 at kickstarter.com or play TREBL2 at newgrounds.com. At first its challenging to hit letters rather than arrows, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

Not into rhythm games? Maybe MMO is more your style. Check out Aftermath, a new post-apocalyptic sandbox game.

Top Charts iPad

Let's look at the Ipad Top Charts:

Paid:

1. Pages (productivity)
2. GoodReader (productivity)
3. Numbers (productivity)
4. Keynote (productivity)
5. Real Racing HD (game)
6. Sketchbook Pro (entertainment)
7. Star Walks (education)
8. SCABBLE (game)
9. Words with Friends HD (game)
10. ArtStudio (Photography)

Free:

1. IBooks (books)
2. Pro Key (music)
3. ABC Player (entertainment)
4. Netflix (entertainment)
5. The Weather Channel Max (weather)
6. Adobe Ideas 1.0 (entertainment)
7. USA Today (news)
8. Weatherbug Elite (weather)
9. NYT Editor's Choice (news)
10. NPR (news)

Top Grossing:

1. Pages (productivity)
2. Numbers (productivity)
3. Keynote (productivity)
4. Real Racing HD (game)
5. SCRABBLE (game)
6. The Elements (books)
7. Sketchbook Pro (entertainment)
8. Things (productivity)
9. Plants vs. Zombies HD (game)
10. MLB At Bat 2010 (sports)

A lot more varied and focused on "productivity." Games are not as prevalent as with the iPhone and news makes a small splash in there.