The t-shirt was a gift from Matt, the jacket a gift to myself.
Too bad it’s going to be hot this Christmas…
(Consider this a rebuttal to this post discussing videogame apparel. Of course, not everyone can wear fluoro green and purple and get away with it / feel comfortable — their loss.)
Graffiti Gamer is celebrating Christmas, likely with beer in hand. I may blog, I may not.
All I know is that I left the office at 5.30pm on Friday 19 December and since that time I’ve been to work drinks, a carols night (drinks), drinks with my uncle and auntie whom I’ve not seen in years, meeting my older brother, Justin, whom I haven’t seen in at least eight years and drinking (also drawing police cars for my nephews, whom I’ve only met for the second time), a 23rd birthday party (photograph above), then lunch and drinks in the city with Justin before he goes home, then drinks this evening with mates and it’s only Monday.
Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas day are also looking to be just as packed, then I’ll be hungover, then I might possibly feel like looking at a bright computer screen through black glasses, nursing my aching, swollen stomach on the desk and wondering how much closer I am to adult diabetes.
Also, for those non-Australians celebrating Christmas, I should warn that facing blinding sunlight and a 30 degrees Celsius day with a hangover is one of the most painful, bewildering experiences and though I’m looking forward to the banter, pranks and food the many nights’ festivities will bring, I will not want to wake up the days after.
I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. Thank you for reading Graffiti Gamer throughout the year and an especially huge thank you to the many bloggers and Twitter addicts that have been kind enough to discuss games, politics, music, movies, gender and, well, everything. You’ve provided the inspiration to stick around and try to improve myself.
If only I’d found you all sooner.
If you require a regular dose of intelligent game chat to round out the year, however, please check out the latest Brainy Gamer podcasts. Celebrating the end of a brilliant year of gaming, host Michael Abbott has prepared a special three volume confection featuring a slew of prominent videogame writers and bloggers (including ME!) discussing their favourite games of 2008; 20 individuals with 20 different games spanning many genres and platforms. Each confection volume requires approximately 2 hours listening time but they’re light and entertaining.
All the details are featured at The Brainy Gamer blog. Enjoy.
In addition, edition 05 of ezine Pixel Hunt is now out and free-for-download. Super Potato Zine edition 02 is also floating around.
To obtain a copy of Super Potato send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to ‘Super Potato, PO Box 2171, Blackburn South VIC 3130.’
Ensure the code word (listed next to each issue at http://superpotato.info) is written on the back of the envelope. Failure to include the code word will result in nothing being sent back to you. There are no guarantees in availability, and no preferences given. Only one copy is able to be requested per envelope supplied. Multiple requests of the same issue will be denied.
It is recommended that you send a larger than A5 envelope and include a piece of stiff cardboard to protect the zine in the return post.
(I am planning a separate, non-gaming related blog regarding my Christmas escapades. I have great photographs. You’ve been warned. Seriously. The above photograph, sneakily snapped by a friend on Sunday and featuring my festive season mohawk, is not one of these photographs.)
Edition 05 of the alternative Australian gaming magazine, Pixel Hunt, is now available free-for-download from http://pixelhunt.com.au.
If you’d like to skip to the parts that are me, check out “Not My Genre” on page 7 where I rip into Madden NFL 09 and come to the conclusion that “in Gridiron the coach is god, and I make a shitty god.”
In addition, I also handled the layout on a number of the reviews, including WipEout HD, Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway and some of the Saints Row 2 feature reviews (some were tweaked substantially before publishing by the lead designer, though).
This is the first time I’ve contributed to the magazine, which is the brain-child of editor Dylan Burns, whom Australians may recognise from the http://gameplayer.com.au website and features in Hyper magazine, and I found the experience to be rather cathartic. Considering my recent interest in creating pages for the gaming street magazine Super Potato Zine (which now has a website at http://superpotato.info — visit if you’d like to order a copy and you should because it’s FREE), I relished the opportunity to layout the pages of reviews I’ve not written and it was nice to have an excuse to actually pick up and play Madden NFL 09. Pixel Hunt is a great magazine and 05 an excellent edition. I’m glad to be a part of it.
The various features in Pixel Hunt tackle a variety of more interesting topics in the gaming world, such as this month’s feature on the correlation between board and video games and the monthly rants of a videogame store employee. Additionally, the reviews tend to delve a little deeper into the games than some other gaming magazines and websites — of course, that doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with some of the reviews…
So download Pixel Hunt 05 and enjoy the read.
Also, let me know what you think if you do. Feedback is welcome.
All the, small things, true care, truth brings … Dave (far right) we’ll miss you this Christmas, you deserting now-Canadian bastard!
Blink 182 still rock. Britney Spears has an excellent producer. Coldplay are fuckin’ horrible. Gorillaz are really, really catchy. Scissor Sister’s lead singer has an incredibly high-pitched voice. OutKast are hilarious. The Stone Roses are timeless, as are Twisted Sister. And, none of us can sing.
These are just a few of the truths that were stumbled upon, or rediscovered, last Christmas Eve (2007) at my family’s annual Christmas Eve house party, where a samplers variety of my friendship circles converge (and often their parents, too) to catch up, get drunk and pretend noone wasted hundreds of dollars on mandatory gifts (and cards) for their family and friends. As I gave my little brother SingStar a day early last year, we also deafened ourselves and thrashed our voices in record time.
Why mention this now? Well, we’re a week away from this year’s Christmas Eve party and Sony just dropped an email announcing that SingStar PS3 is now compatible with the previous releases of SingStar from PS2, post software update.
EDIT: At first, this didn’t mean anything to me until someone pointed out that most non-launch PS3s aren’t backwards compatible in which case this IS something to be excited about. I have a launch PS3 so this presser didn’t click with me. However, I now have another case to bitch about; WHY AREN’T ALL PS3s BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE WITH PS2 IF IT’S CAPABLE? *evil eyes at Sony*
Yeah, I GUESS that’s alright, except the disc-swapping feature was already part of the SingStar on PlayStation 2 experience and so it baffles me this wasn’t included in the “next-generation” edition earlier. (See amendment above for why this update IS actually exciting for the suckers that don’t own a 60GB launch PS3.) Heck, where’s the option to copy the song data from a PS2 version of SingStar to the PS3 harddrive, adding the tracks to the tracklist to be played WITHOUT needing to swap the discs? There’s probably some copy protection hurdles that need leaping, some compatibility issues to overcome but that’s the sort of “Christmas Gift” I’d have preferred from you, Sony. I mean, can’t you already download the entire Rock Band catalogue for play in Rock Band 2? (That’s a rhetorical question; you can.) (This is, admittedly, a moot point in Australia considering Rock Band 1 was only JUST RELEASED HERE. A thousand times; curse you EA.)
I’m assuming the benefit of being able to swap discs from inside SingStar PS3 is that you have access to your SingStar PS3 profile information, online leaderboards and performance recording functionality, which is good but I just wish for more, you know, cause I’m greedy. Also, it’s a pain in the ass to get up and switch the discs over.
Despite my bitching, I’m certain to bring SingStar out again this Christmas Eve because it’s an absolute barrel of fun. Even though one of my microphones is broken, even though there’s no Soundgarden or Alice in Chains or Jane’s Addiction or any other classic grunge tracks to be sung, my friends still enjoy massacring Video Hits Top Ten after a few brews.
This Christmas Eve, why not bring out one of the party games and have a group sing-a-long to music people care about. Screw the carols. Who’s even religious anymore?* Who celebrates “Christmas” anymore?!**
Bring on the SingStar, I say. Bring. It. On.
(Buzz, Lips, Scene It, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band, Monopoly, Scrabble, Boggle are also acceptable alternatives.)
The Sony press release below:
Exciting news! SingStar® fans and PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) owners alike should ready their vocal chords for more SingStar action this Christmas than ever before – overnight, a free online update went live, enabling PlayStation®2 SingStar discs to be played through SingStar on PLAYSTATION 3!
Arriving right in time for the silly season and to spice things up at your Christmas party, PS3™ owners can dust off their old favourites and expand their SingStar PS3 library to include tracks from the likes of SingStar® Pop, SingStar® 80s, SingStar® Rocks!, SingStar® R&B, SingStar® Amped and other titles from this musical canon of party fun.
To make this happen, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
1) Ensure your PLAYSTATION 3 console is connected to the PlayStation®Network and insert the PS3 SingStar disc of your choice.
2) As the PS3 disc loads, you will automatically be prompted to download a quick software update. Once it’s downloaded, you’re good to go
3) Start PS3 SingStar session as normal - then head to the carousel, hit the ‘Select’ button and you’ll be able to swap it for any PS2 disc for the rest of the session
4) Next time around, just repeat the process and start againThis free update comes just in time for Christmas and will no doubt come in handy to amp up any party this festive season!
Visit www.singstargame.com for more information, or to check out and view all songs available to download and add to your collection from the SingStore.
* I have no religious belief and do not “celebrate Christmas” for it’s religious facet but rather enjoy the occasion to draw in my closest friends from across the state to engage in a night of raucous laughter and well-being. I don’t really give “Christmas” gifts, either, in case you’re wondering. And yes, I understand that many people still do celebrate a “traditional Christmas” and that’s all well and good but after experiencing 22 Christmases, I’m really, really, really sick and tired of hearing Christmas carols. I also worked retail and had to listen to the same disc on repeat for sometimes up to six to seven hours on end.
** Humbug.
*** Whoever is dumping their children in the mall with a violin to earn money busking Christmas carols, please, stop it. I’m certain that counts as child exploitation and my tinnitus is flaring up.
I’ve spent more than a few working minutes building immense maze-like structures on my desktop, trapping little black and green and pink creeps within it’s walls and blasting them to hell and back with eensy-weensy little pellets. It’s a guilty pleasure, playing Desktop Tower Defense 1.5 (DTD) on Kongregate, a straightforward game with simplistic, functional design as a square box with four entrances is assaulted by coloured blobs and square towers destroy them. Also featuring online leaderboards, a range of difficulties and challenges, it is perfect for quick browser gaming while waiting for an email response. Free crack.
Following a marathon Left 4 Dead gaming session on Saturday night, one of my fellow Steam-obsessed friends introduced me to Defense Grid: The Awakening, which is a variation on the tower defense genre, though featuring 3D graphics, puzzle-like arenas with snaking pathways and a wider variety of enemy types and upgradeable towers.
Though not as simple to pick up and play as DTD, not quite as free at US$19.99, and not as blip and bloopy cute, Defense Grid does offer a more varied range of objectives and challenges that kept me playing for a solid three hour stretch when I first downloaded it. I only stopped playing because I realised it was 6.30am in the morning and I hadn’t slept in 24 hours. Defense Grid is just that easy to play.
Placing turrets on the map, for instance, is simply a matter of clicking the preferred location then selecting the turret type. Upgrading and removing turrets is handled much the same way. In addition, the campaign mode features check points that may be jumped back to by hitting the “Backspace” key, which makes it possible to switch tactics to accommodate for an unexpected or particularly difficult group of enemies that defeated you in a previous round. This is most useful heading into the last few maps of the game, which feature up to four entrances, varying routes for flying enemies and an open path that requires precision placement of towers in order to funnel incoming swarms from all directions, forcing them to weave through a magical maze of death. While the first few maps are a breeze, the last had me hitting “Print Screen” and pre-planning before each assault. An enjoyable challenge to be sure.
Unfortunately, the various enemy class types, in all their three-dimensional robotic goodness, are hard to tell apart at first glance and it’s even more difficult figuring out which enemy is vulnerable to which weapon type unless you’ve gone over the manual (which I don’t believe I’ve ever done for a PC game). Watching a swarm of ten robots, some green, some red, some large, some small is as confusing as staring into a bowl of Skittles under a disco strobe light and the tiny icons symbolising class-types hardly help when the bots cross paths. But I do find it extremely satisfying to watch the little twats fizzle, sputter and die in tiny particle eruptions after being pounded by glowing meteor fire and streaming white tracer rounds.
Though I couldn’t give a deuce about the story — something about an alien invasion — psy_med, who introduced me to Defense Grid, found it rather enjoyable to follow and noted that it provided “some depth” to the strategy game. I say “bollicks” to that, and believe his addiction to the story might instead be a result of the voice-over track, competently delivered by a rather posh old gent I assume to be acting as a Computer AI, which provides minute to minute commentary such as “They’ve taken another node!” when the enemy bots steal a power node (which you’re protecting) and attempt to cart them away to roboNeverland. At first, I found his inclusion a little gimmicky but after being accompanied by his repetitive quips for the better part of a drunken early morning, I found myself bound to the Attenborough-esque style delivery and have, on occasion, turned off Alice in Chains to take another hit of his familiar rambling
While DTD has yet to be replaced as my quickie strategy game of choice, Defense Grid: The Awakening has quickly snuck up on me and pierced my ear-drum with a delicate robotic tendril full of crack, absorbing more of my time in larger chunks and has proferred a greater mental challenge than I was previously expecting.
Careful, it could get you too.
Vrooom! Vrooooooooom! Vroooooom! Swooosh! Vroooooooooooooom CRASH BANG “SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!”
And that sweet Kawasaki Ninja ZX14 is trashed — and no longer mine.
I was over-confident accepting that pink slip race, putting my own vehicle on the line in an effort to store my opponents away in my garage. Yeah, I was cocky — I’d just won $50,000 in wager races without losing. And you know what, on a good day I wouldn’t have t-boned that bus coming out of the tight chicane, the last exit down the winding hills. Five minutes of intense racing and I blew it at the last corner. How did this happen? How did I just lose my favourite bike, and $60,000 investment?
I was drunk.
It’s a habit of mine, to mindlessly grab a beer or two from the fridge if I’ve nothing much to do in the evening and I’m happy to settle in for a few hours gaming before hitting the sack. On this particular Friday evening, one beer turned into five and I was somehow still racing adequately enough to win the easy and intermediate races — this should have triggered warning bells.”Yo, dickhead, you’re barely able to win the easy-beats. You’re visiting the chop shop every race with a totaled vehicle in tow. You’re not at your peak, man. Quit it now while you’re ahead. You’re drunk. Everybody HATES A DRUNK DRIVER,” says Chimini, “Jerk.”
Like, whatevs, man. Whatevs. I’m shtill goo-ood. Pfffsh.
And, then, as mentioned before — CRASH, BANG.
Pink Slip and Wager races in Midnight Club LA are pretty brutal, with any number of factors that result in you losing the race — including turning off the console before reaching the finishing line – resulting in the loss of your vehicle or cash and are one of the few instances in a single-player game where I’ve come to truly regret the decisions I’ve made. You can’t save Aeris, either Ashley or Kaiden is scripted to die in Mass Effect but I CAN decide what happens in MCLA and if I make the wrong decision, what’s lost is gone for good. (Or at least until you buy a similar car new, minus upgrades. A friend has also rumoured that you can win them back in other Pink Slip races later but that still comes with the catch that if you lose, you lose the vehicle).
I’ve already described how MCLA is demanding and punishing at the best of times, requiring the utmost concentration to keep the rubber-band AI at bay, however the Pink Slip races take it to a whole new level. Taking a look at my garage, I could lose up to $358,000 in a single race. Earning enough to afford the purchase of this vehicle again is going to require hours of investment.
Wager races are similar but it’s possible to select a difficulty level, which also affects the amount bet and won — easier races require less cash at the onset but reward less, harder races require a larger investment for greater pay-off. It’s a gamble on skill, mixed with the randomness of the traffic.
Both Pink Slip and Wager races offer an exhilarating challenge unless something goes wrong.
For instance, while racing a second Ninja in a Pink Slip race I took a wrong turn and wound up falling through the road, then resetting above the track and falling through the track again — looping endlessly with no chance of winning. I exited the race, I lost my bike and that was frustrating. On another occasion, the builders performing renovations on the house I’m staying in IRL cut the power without warning and goodbye well-loved vehicle.
There’s no fail-safe. Once you agree to the conditions that your vehicle could be lost prior to entering the race, any number of things that could go wrong within that five or so minutes, both within the game and within the real-world, will result in the loss of your vehicle.
I’d really like to criticise Rockstar for failing to incorporate an override in case of the Xbox 360 crashing as it has been wont to do in the past, however each time I go to bitch about the loss of my vehicle it strikes me that I’ve screwed up.
I’ve only ended up endlessly clipping because I screwed up a jump, I played while the builders were working here in the early morning and I’ve had prior warning that the power might out while they’re here. And, I played drunk because I’m a bloody idiot.
Midnight Club LA has it’s faults for certain but gambling is gambling — Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it really, really doesn’t. I’m hesistant to lay blame on the game, which truly is a sign of it’s strength.
And, hey, at least I have my life, right?
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) is packed full of pop-culture references and hundreds of those “Oh, I get it moments” such as the Monkeys in a Barrel and Chinese Whispers scene (I won’t go into more detail and ruin the experience) or that time the animators nod, one assumes, to the pranksters playing chess on roller coasters.
Despite the tiny details and under-the-child-radar laughs directed towards more adult audiences, I was still surprised to see resident New Yorker, Nico Bellic of Grand Theft Auto IV, paying tribute to the missing lion, Alex, during the opening scenes of the movie.
Oh, he’s there alright, holding a candle in vigil to the lion thought lost to the sea.
Keep your eyes open. (I don’t have pics because that’s illegal, and the battery on my phone was dead.)
Escape 2 Africa is also the most enjoyable, laugh out loud film I’ve seen in recent times. My girlfriend was wondering how I could continue to dance and sing “I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it” all the way from the cinema door, down the stairs, through the foyer and out onto the sidewalk in the rain and then onto the car. This in addition to comments she made that she nearly cried she was laughing so hard.
In animation, timing is everything and in Madagascar 2, not a foot landed out of step. From the slapstick humour of the penguin squad and an unnatural love affair with a Hawaiian bobble head doll, the self-assured and manic stupidity of King Julius and the heart-warming moment when a long-lost child meets his father, you’re at mercy of the animation — laugh, sigh, maybe even cry, when you’re supposed to.
And, the film tackles some of those broader issues such as the desire and need for individuality, caring for friends, love despite appearance and etc. etc. etc. I don’t really care about them though, I was there for a raucous good time.
All you really need to know is when I left the cinema, I was smiling, dancing and singing — so were the children standing in the rain with me.
Question: Is Cedric the Entertainer alive or dead or dying?
Been meaning to post a picture of my motley crew for sometime but never had a good enough camera to do them justice.
Back, left to right; Troll doll (found at a garage sale), Old Snake (MGS4 CE, PS3) and Jesus on Wheels (traded pizza to acquire)
Front, left to right; poor-mans xenomorph (present from work colleague), de Blob (de Blob launch party, Wii), Vault Dweller bobblehead (Fallout 3 CE, Xbox 360)
Yes, I do play with them at work. They are awesome.
Anyone else have desktop defenders keeping their workplace safe from evil-doers and customers?
Shawn Elliot put forward a bunch of questions regarding videogame review and criticism. Mitch Krpata and Michael Woolbridge have answered these and I thought “Screw it, so shall I”. As Michael notes, Mitch has probably been more “professional” in his approach to game reviews where as I tend to be a lot more casual, one might also use the term “lazy” and occasionally “drunk”. Regardless, my opinion, for those who care, below.
Question 1: How much is on our minds before we begin playing any given game for review purposes? Will we imagine a range of probable scores that a heavily marketed, highly budgeted, and hugely anticipated game will get? What when the game is branded “budget” or is the work of a lesser-known, less-storied studio? If so, how closely have actual scores correlated with our assumptions?
I try to approach every game, for review or not, from the same perspective and that’s simply “Hey look, a new game! Wonder if it’s going to be fun or not?” From the outset, I have one goal in mind and that’s to complete the story campaign if there is one, however I’ll play through the game in a way that feels natural for me. In other words, if the story mode begins to bore me, rather than slug through it in one burst, I might deviate and try the multiplayer or level editor or what not. I never pre-imagine a score and the studio the game has come from and whose publishing it doesn’t factor in — I judge based on MY enjoyment of the game as I play it .
Question 2: Ought reviewers settle on a score before, during, or after writing a review? How consistent are our practices with our prescriptions? Have we, for instance, revised a score after writing our reviews, even though we advocate against it, and if so, why?
As long as you’ve come to a score after having played the game thoroughly, it shouldn’t matter when a score has been provided. I score by gut and, sometimes, the written text doesn’t always mesh with the score but no matter what, it always feels natural to me. If people then argue the review doesn’t match the score or whatever, thank fuck they’ve at least read the review text!
Question 3: When possible, do we look at the scores that other critics give to the games that we’re reviewing, as we review them? If so, are groupthink or iconoclasty potential problems?
I only ever read reviews and other critique after I’ve written my own review. I feel that’s the best way to get across my opinion of the game undiluted. However, I do tend to enter into fierce discussion and debate with another reviewer friend of mine regarding some games, which does tend to affect my interpretation of the game. I feel that these external interactions, however, are necessary in playing the game in a more natural way — discussing views and needing to defend the game in person or over the phone or rip it to shreds helps me articulate the way I feel about it.
Question 4: Often times we will have repeatedly played and/or previewed games in development prior to reviewing them. Does this familiarity with a particular game’s developmental process influence the scores that we assign to the final product in the way that a professor will take into consideration her students’ limitations and proven potential when she evaluates papers at the end of the semester?
Yes, I have followed the development of some games and on the occasion my expectations haven’t been met with the final product. Does this affect the score? No. Like I said previously, I play a game and review it as it is there and then. Typically, I find that if I provide a score based on gut feeling, that will be a truer indication of the fun I’ve had with the game and the review text may end up delving deeper into the experience I’ve had with the game. Does that make sense?
Question 5: Review writing carries real consequence, especially among members of the enthusiast press. Once-warm PR people and game producers can become cold upon our publication of undesirable review scores, diminishing or eliminating our ability to secure subsequent interviews and access. Postmortem discussions and exclusive looks at the publisher and/or developer’s forthcoming products are less likely. Conversely, a few publishers will permit us to post reviews before competitors, provided our review scores are favorable. Do such pressures produce a subliminal background or even enter our thoughts as we write reviews and assign scores?
There’s not pressure at my site from anyone. In fact, I doubt that many PR reps even bother checking us for review scores considering that we sometimes don’t publish reviews or even cover at all some games that have been sent to us! If we were to be blacklisted we’d get less free games! Oh noes! After effects have NEVER factored into any equation, though, as we’ve never relied on advertising dollars and probably never will.
Question 6: Is grade inflation an ongoing problem?
Hmmm. No. We use a five star system and generally most games fall at three stars, or average. There have been times I’ve scored a game a five then thought better of it post game and I do believe we could be a little more critical in assigning scores, however if a game is fun despite it’s flaws and my gut reaction says “this is so friggin’ awesome, FIVE STARS!” then dammit, that’s what the game will get.
Question 7: Do scores determine our tone? Can a “3” encourage us to explain an aspect of a game in clearly negative terms where our attitude is actually less decided? Example: Game X’s camera obscures the action, combat is irritatingly difficult, and “save” stations are few and far between. In our reviews, is Game X’s plot, which we’re still thinking through, more likely to become miserable than plain?
Nope. I write the review then give the score most times but I don’t score based on the review but the gut. Again, this can cause an at odds between score and review text. That said, I try to detail exactly how I feel about a game in the copy in more general terms which does, at times, result in a back-handed slap / compliment with a “this is really annoying but it doesn’t affect play because of this…”
Question 8: Do scores encourage our readers to conduct a sort of text-to-number calculus where the two obviously negative statements in an otherwise positive-sounding review necessarily translate into every point deducted from the “10” that the game didn’t get? Does this make reviews with high marks more likely to overlook fault, and reviews with low marks less likely to celebrate accomplishment?
We use a five star system, no halves. Using stars, I believe, invokes different feelings towards the score and rank of a game as opposed to numerals. Point in case, if you look at a one star film you might say “wow, that didn’t score very well” but the review might tell you “it’s a fun action romp but the plot and acting is horrendous”. It’s not saying “this sucks” but rather “it’s not good but you may still enjoy it”. A 2/10, however, says “fail” as anything in school scoring under 5/10 tends to be.
If I don’t mention something in a review, even if I find it slightly irritating, that’s because I’ve judged that it doesn’t adversely affect the gameplay or my enjoyment on the whole. Score doesn’t equate to that.
Question 9: Which is more important to us, our scores or our copy? If the latter, have our responses revealed any inconsistencies between our attitudes and actions? Are we still convinced of the importance and power of scores?
Copy of course. Scores are still important for some people and when reading other reviews I do in fact tend to check out what score the game has been assigned. Again, we use a star system, though, which I believe equates more to the level of enjoyment I’ve had playing that game than the overall quality. Does this cause some disparity between text and score? As I’ve said, yes but I don’t care.
Related suggestions for Ethics section:
Have we ever submitted review scores to publishers prior to their publication? If so, why?
Have we ever submitted review copy to publishers prior to its publication. If so, why?
Have PR people suggested that specific critics review specific games? Have we complied with their suggestions?
No to all of the above.
Reviews Vs Criticism
Question 1: What is the object of a review? What are the review writer’s obligations?
We should be true to our audience, with the object to provide a considered approach as to how enjoyable the game is, how long it’s likely to entertain, what will frustrate and to some degree what the target audience is and who will enjoy it. The writer’s obligations are to the audience.
I am, however, guilty of not particularly caring about any of the above and describing instead the enjoyment I’ve had with the game and the type of experience the game offers. There are places for both, however, and as I believe all reviews and critique are purely subjective experiences, then none of the above really matters. Your perspective and audience will differ depending on the site and as such it’s best to consult the mission statement or review policy for each individual media outlet.
Question 2: If the purpose of a review is to suggest to consumers how they should spend their time and money, why do we avoid less-granular grading scales such as Buy, Try, or Avoid? Example: Giant Bomb founder and former Gamespot editorial director Jeff Gerstmann told MTV’s Multiplayer blog that “’How can I save people money today?’ is basically the kind of mentality that I tackle this stuff with.” Under Gerstmann’s directorship, Gamespot reviewed games on a hundred-point scale. Is a 9.6 different than a 9.7 when the wisdom of a purchase is what the reviewer wants to communicate?
Anything more than a ten point scale is utterly useless. In fact, most ten point scales are useless to a consumer. Most reviews are probably useless to a consumer given how subjective each gamer’s experience is. The only way for a customer to truly understand whether they will or will not enjoy a title before they purchase is to rent a game for a weekend and give it a good play.
Most games offer single-player experiences that are more than six or seven hours in length, incorporating a wide variety of mechanics and modes. Is it really possible to summarise all that in a point scale of any type? Hell no. That’s covered by the text.
As to why reviews don’t use scales such as Buy, Try, or Avoid, well that’s easy — Metacritic. Isn’t it true that sites like being aggregated on Metacritic and Gamerankings? I know of one particular site whose whole ambition was to be incorporated into the scoring list on Gamerankings because that’s where more pageviews could be got. In a commercial environment, losing pageviews can be equated to losing advertising dollars. It’s not smart business. (That said, I don’t work for a commercial outlet, at all, so I might just be full of shit.)
(Disclosure: I provide some words and layout for Pixel Hunt as of edition 5)
I think www.PixelHunt.com.au has got it right with it’s Brilliant, Impressive, Try-Hard, Stinker “scores” and so has Crispy Gamer with it’s Try It, Buy It and Fry It ratings system. However, it’s already been proven that such ratings don’t reflect the greater opinion, considering Crispy Gamer ran two conflicting reviews of Silent Hill: Homecoming — one giving Fry It, the response giving it no score but a rather glowing re-appraisal.
Question 3: Actual sales rarely correlate with review scores in cases where games are not also heavily hyped and marketed. Increasingly, gamers pre-order games prior to the publication of reviews. Interactive demos allow our audiences to decide for themselves whether or not a game will be worth their dollars. In addition, word of mouth and message board discussions inform our potential audiences’ purchasing decisions with an intimacy and directness that we cannot provide. Finally, review aggregation sites such as Metacritic mute the bias of individual reviewers and provide a bigger picture. Do these circumstances suggest that our self-perception is, well, delusional – a throwback to a time when magazines and websites were gaming’s gatekeepers? If our audiences believe this, even if we do not, what are they really reading for?
To improve my own review writing, I once sought the advice of Susan Arendt of Escapist Magazine and she revealed to me the greatest secret of professional games writing;
“A game journo friend of mine put it best, I think, when he said that people read about games at work because they can’t actually play the game at work. The review has to act as the game surrogate, and therefore needs to be its own form of entertainment.”
Going further, I believe that we write to provide just one opinion of a game, providing one glimpse of the variety of experiences games have to offer. When I used to save for months to purchase a game, I’d read every review of that game in every magazine I could get my hands on to colour my overall perception. That’s the same today — to think that a gamer only visits one website to read one review of game they are considering spending lots of money on is ludicrous. As a single writer, as a single website, you are part of a greater whole.
EGMs multiple opinion reviews are a good start, though I don’t feel they ever provide a good, well-rounded representation of the game as a whole — usually picking apart the game and focussing on one or two good or bad areas without providing a general overview. Pixel Hunt will publish two separate reviews of Saints Row 2 in Edition 5; one providing a rather cynical perspective and the other from someone who thoroughly enjoyed it as an action-romp that need offer no more. Crispy Gamers aforementioned Silent Hill: Homecoming reviews also offer vastly differing opinions and these I think are better at providing a rounded set of experiences for consumers to read.
Question 4: Can criticism (concerned with telling our audiences what they’re spending time and/or money playing as opposed to whether or not a game is worth spending time and/or money to play) coexist with reviews? Is a competent review also a critique — as is so often the case where lit, movies, and music are concerned — or should we separate the two?
To be quite frank, I’d rather not use the term “review” to describe anything that I write personally. In fact, I’m looking at moving away from that when GamingSA gets redressed. I actually prefer the idea of New Games Journalism, encapsulating the personal experience of each gamer, which can serve to provide both a general description of the game for review purposes whilst critiquing and drawing attention to those aspects of the game which best define the act of playing.
Question 5: What can (or should) such criticism take into account? [Note: I don’t want to jump the gun on the Evolving Reviews section here, so bear with me if you’re wondering why I’m not yet asking certain obvious questions about the shape and challenges of videogame criticism.]
Criticism should take into account any aspect of the game that colours the experience, for better or worse, and how these areas could be improved. In some situations, criticism may also explore what relevance the game has on the culture of videogames and in broader society, whether it is a step forward for the industry, whether it challenges us in any way. Essentially, anything in the game deemed worthy by an individual for further exploration — even if that equates a game to sex.
I might also be drunk.In short, Super Potato ‘Zine issue 02 (SP-02) is IN THA HOUSE, yo! Daymn, it’s a fine read.
We got pictures denoting what it’s like to be playing Rock Band in an Australian office ONE YEAR AFTER THE US RELEASE mind, a look at game spaces in Portal courtesy of that guy I know, Game Guru tells it like it is and pays homage to the undead films of George A. Romero that gave us gamers classics such as Biohazard (Resident Evil) and Dead Rising, Mikolai’s tribute to the shmups of old and my own contribution detailing some of my favourite memories from a gaming youngster, including the last time I ever played Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure. Nach.
Anyways, I was also musing how every photo I ever take for SPZ summarises what I’m either doing at the time or encapsulates my personality whole. Check it. Latest photo I sent to Professor K (pic below) includes tits (alright, you can’t see those but they’re on that poster behind the MacBook), beer, my favourite textas, my Mr. MacBook Pro (because I’m creative) and the progress I’ve made with my submission for SP-03.
Also, I’ve been listening to Jurassic 5’s track ‘What’s Golden’ from Power in Numbers on repeat for the last twenty minutes. Best. Groove. Ever.
If you need more information regarding Super Potato then check out http://superpotato.info. It’ll be up to date soon, huh.
Shit, I’m outta beer! Back in five.