The Lair of the Monkey

Kotaku has found a great article in New Scientist Tech about a study undertaken a Teeside University (Middlesborough) regarding what sort of games girls like to play.  Essentially, it comes up with the absolute genius findings that girls like games with fighting, thinking and story.  So in other words, they want what sounds like almost any game worth playing.  The fighting for excitement, the thinking to engage the brain, and story possibly for the emotional context.

Now, this might sound far-fetched, but I think what we have here is actually the perfect game blueprint.  For every designer (or concept artist or writer or project lead) that comes up with some stupid, moronic half baked idea they fail to see the bigger picture.  Others that do - because gaming simply isn’t mainstream enough yet - don’t see the justified reward.  I’m talking about two things here. 

Firstly, a game with the right elements is a good game, but that doesn’t guarantee commercial success.  Secondly, some games have a wonderful merit, almost mirroring the ‘ideal blueprint’ above, but fail to make any inroads in sales.  However, games aren’t like music.  You can’t make a game in your bedroom anymore and have it sell.

This overall idea, finding out what girls ‘like’, makes me think a few things though.  There is not enough women involved, both on the play side and in the industry.  Come on girls, tell us what you like, show us and of course create more of it.  Much like anything else, when a number of great minds come together, the greatest can be achieved to appeal to a wide audience.  For appeal to really open up and for interactive entertainment to be enjoyed by all, this is the way we must go.

The BBC has the breaking news that Nintendo is having to revise financial forecasts… for the better.  Who would have thought it?!  Yes indeed, Nintendo’s profits have leapt up an impressive 10.2% for this quarter, a very good move in anyone’s estimation.  Unsurprisingly, Brain Training is in fact the top dog games-wise, selling a shedload of copies.

So, where is the rhetoric?  Well this is only a short one, given that it is almost an update on the previous article.  There was, and still is a number of people sceptical about the DS, let alone the Wii.  I suggest that this shows that Nintendo is heading in the right direction all round.  Games being produced are different, fun and innovative - but more importantly offer something for everyone.

If the Wii can take the creativity of the DS to another level - and in all honesty I don’t see why it can’t - then they should have another winner on their hands, regardless of how stupid (or not) it looks when you control it.  The biggest factor of course in games is their fun, and if something is more involving, especially by means of the control method, this can only be a good thing.

I finally managed to get around to having a good look at the Nintendo DS Lite, and I must say it’s a pretty little thing.  I won’t bore you with the exact stats (besides you can find them elsewhere - ed) but I will say that it is really very good.  Both the black and the white look beautifully finished, and have two lovely high resolution screens.  More importantly, the touch screen is a joy to use, being both accurate and providing a unique interface to play games.

Fost bought the strange, quirky and fun Trauma Center today - which I remember being featured on Game Central some time ago now.  Whilst I’ve always liked the concept of the DS, I’ve never actually gotten round to buying one, but I was keenly eating up the news about similar games (including Phoenix Wright) and how the intuitive controls led to what amounts to a games control revolution (both the Wii).

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The BBC has a very interesting article on how the games industry ‘burns out talent’.  You can read it here.  Bectu (the union in the UK) highlighted the fact that whilst many are happy with the pay, there is an embedded culture of long hours.

To quote:
“One video game software engineer told BBC News that working 50 hours a week for months at a time was not unusual on a project.”

This highlights one or two things really.  The first is that a hugely long working week can result in design mistakes, bugs, and generally bad decision making on a number of levels.

The second is that whilst:
“A blockbuster video game can involve more than 100 people and cost upwards of $20m (£12m) as the industry moves towards a working model not unlike a film studio.”

Everyone needs to remember that games are not films, and vice versa, no matter how close the mediums of entertainment are becoming.  Evidently, games projects are going to take longer and longer, of this we are sure.  Long hours culture is a fact of British life, unlike some other countries in Europe.  Does that make it more acceptable though?  Not really no. 

On the face of it, I’d suggest what is really happening is that many of these games projects are simply being mismanaged.  This industry was borne out of a few guys sitting around, being able to create something new and interesting in an hour using relatively basic technology.  Now that has changed, however working methods have not changed around this. 

In a project-lead environment, you need a manager who is as good at his job as the game developers, otherwise you’ll end up with a naff project massively delayed (go on, someone make a jibe about Duke Nukem Forever - ed) or a decent project which suffers due to lack of testing and a burned out production team.

Here’s hoping that the right ideas come down the ladder, so that more staffers can be happy, more creativity will flow, and less bugs appear in games - of course along with games that are delivered in a timely manner and fitting into a realistic release schedule.

Related links:
http://www.ea.com/ - EA’s official site.  I bet they don’t advertise the long hours here!
http://www.bectu.org.uk/ - Bectu, see what they have to say.
http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/ - A blog from a spouse of an ex-EA employee.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5191678.stm

For those of you who missed it, the BBC have reported (again) on a new videogame addiction clinic, set up in the Netherlands of all places.  The service is ru by Smith and Jones (not the comedic early 90’s pairing but a consultancy - ed) who run an 8 week course.

As the BBC reports, many of those seeking treatment at the clinic were actually suffering ‘secondary addictions’ to videogames.  IE, those with an addictive personality would latch on to something (be it drinking, online gambling etc) and would end up also addicted, to a lesser extent, to playing videogames.

Luckily, this has resulted in a ‘dedicated programme’ of treatment.  Naturally, the article lists the various consequences of being a games addict, including staying up late, losing a social life, time warps (a bizarre side-effect of addiction where even normal activities such as going to the toilet is either modified or replaced).  Naturally, the article also brought up the recent case where a poor guy in South Korea died after 50 hours non-stop gaming. (more…)

As I’ve just came back from my holidays, I’m still kinda zoned out, but in a good way. I played Tekken 5 against both Fost and Wils recently, to find that I was zoned out in some matches, and in the zone in others. I’m not sure I can say for certain which was which, other than some I won I won spectacularly, and vice versa. I was THERE man. I’m not sure I know why, but I was.

I won’t kid you, I wasn’t suddenly a wunderkind with a character I’ve never used before or anything like that, but stuff was flowing. I even managed to beat Asuka when Fost was playing - truly a feat if you have seen him using her to bring your quick KO. Granted I lost a previous match, but I still took one home. I like watching my friend CJ play some games, as he finds it relatively easy to slip into the zone on some things, Black for instance lasted all of two play sessions for him. I know it’s short, but he was very good at it.

I guess the question is, can you do something, or do you have a technique to reach the zone? I know alcohol doesn’t work, at least for me, as reaction times slow, and if you’re playing Animal Crossing for instance you can sure regret making a mess of your village in the morning.

I don’t normally realise I’m in the zone until it’s too late, and a too-hard challenge knocks me out of it. I was a great ninja on Ninja Gaiden the other night though - which brings me to another article for another time… weren’t the graphics great on that?! Anyway, enough for now, I’m going to raid the wine cellar…

When you stand back and take a look at the current games market, you’re bound to notice just how spoiled for choice we are – so many games being released regularly and, certainly in my case, a limited bank balance with which to splash out. 

Unless you’re incredibly rich and have more free time than you know what to do with (nope, sadly not - ed), chances are there are games you miss.  Some games take purchase precedence over others; some games you’ll never consider, thinking ‘It’s not really my thing’; or perhaps, which has been the case with me, a game will sit unplayed on your shelf for weeks, or even months.

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That is right, the one and only has returned - I do apologise for any loss of transmission/dissappointment/general fetters you lot have found yourself in due to the fact that I have been away for a little while.  I will tell you though that it was both sandy, brilliant, and yes my lady and I had a fab time.

Now, back to the matter in hand… which was… what was it again?  Oh yes, video games.  You see, look what has happened.  For approximately nine days I haven’t played games.  Nine whole days!  Oh wait.  I did.  I played a Snake style game on my girlfriend’s camera, which was a little fun, only I couldn’t see it because it was so sunny.

Was there no games where you were? - I hear you cry.  Well funnily enough, in blazing heat games seem to have far less priority, especially with a beach and an a la carte restaurant not too far away.  The hotel itself did have Metal Slug 2, but I didn’t really bother with that.

So, how did I find my lack of games?  Well being completely honest, I didn’t miss them as much as I have done before - but I did still have a thought or two about Dead or Alive and Far Cry.  Mainly because some of the scenery was quite similar to Far Cry, but I kept thinking they must have had a lot of fun location shooting for some of the maps.

Anyway, I’m not too sure I have a great thought about not playing games whilst away, except that I’m thinking if I lived where I visited I doubt I’d be so involved in the culture, unless I was rich enough to have a fully air conditioned apartment to hide in - but then maybe the way forward would be a DS and a bunch of Wi-Fi players?  Suddenly this idea seems a lot better.  Rather than just lying there, you could be hunting on Metroid Prime Hunters or Elektroplanktoning with the best of them.

Yes, I’m still as enthusiastic about games, and later I’ll probably play yet ANOTHER round of Resident Evil 4.  I just can’t get enough of it!  Keep those trigger fingers ready guys and gals, and remember the magic spell is Ei-Ei-Poo!

That’s right folks, I’m going away for a little over a week, to somewhere very hot and dry.  I’ll be kicking back, but of course still thinking about games.  I’ll do a feature maybe on what it’s like to be without beautiful digital entertainment for so long when I get back, as well as possibly talking about any retro arcades I get to play on.

In the meantime, I’d recommend the following:

Go here for your standard gaming news.

Go here for something a little bit more entertaining and off the wall.

Enjoy! - Mr B

It was recently announced that Valve have put some stats about usage (in particular in relation to HL2: Episode 1) of their products.  You can view the stats here.

Now the information there is quite interesting, including average play time, amount of deaths in the various maps, and of course play time to completion - roughly 4.5 hours on average.  No, that’s not what I’m moaning about though.

Is it just me, or does this type of monitoring feel a little… well insipid?  I dislike the fact that I have to log in to Steam (even offline, so it can still be tracked) just to play Half Life 2.  It disturbs me even more to find my deaths are being logged - what if I’m just playing around trying to have a laugh in the game or seeing if I can break things?  There’s no indication here that they’re trying to subvert gameplay norms, but if a company such as EA did it, I wouldn’t be so sure.

Gaming is great shared, or single player.  I’m just not sure I want Valve to know how I play my games.  Whilst the idea behind it is to make ‘better products’, is that how you feel?

Links:

Privacy Policy (Valve): http://www.valvesoftware.com/privacy.htm

Steam subscriber agreement: http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=subscriber_agreement