- The Plinkett Test for games: Describe the character of a game without mentioning what they look like, what kind of abilities / powers they have, or what their job / role in the story was. Are they still a good character?
- The "janky masterpiece." A game you fall in love with despite it's major flaws. What's yours?
- How Resident Evil invokes emotions unlike any other game I've played.
- Why did Wait To Play games get so popular for phones?
- The viability of future Nintendo handhelds.
- If you could have your own game awards like "The Game Awards" or the "Golden Joystick Awards", what would the categories be?
- Good game atmosphere and the lack of it in Forza Horizon.
| Posted: 30 Sep 2016 07:05 AM PDT The Plinket Star Wars reviews introduced this to demonstrate just how horiffically bad the characters in the prequel trilogy were. Since then it has become a pretty great way to test the quality of characters in non-superficial terms. So, pick a game character you really like and see how they hold up. [link] [comments]  |
| The "janky masterpiece." A game you fall in love with despite it's major flaws. What's yours? Posted: 29 Sep 2016 02:09 PM PDT Mine is Verdun. It's janky as fuck but I love it. There aren't many maps, some of the textures/models look like they're 5 years old, and finding a good lobby to hang out in is impossible outside of primetime. But I honestly think it's the best shooter I've played in years. The gameplay is amazing and the emphasis on realism and historical accuracy blows me away. if you decide to pick it up, you'll never play another FPS like this one. First of all, the unique trench warfare mode is brilliant. Maps are long rectangles with 6-8 rows of trenches from end to end, with patches of no man's land in between. The attackers have a few minutes to capture the defenders' trench via infiltrating it and holding it with superior numbers. They start from a home trench and must cross no man's land, which is always treacherous. Only one "sector" is open at at time, with the attackers confined to their side of the map, and the defenders unable to leave their own trench until the timer runs out and the tables turn. So, in a good game, trenches exchange hands multiple times, or even not at all because nobody can capture a trench. Dat realism! The balancing is also brilliant. The weapons are all historically accurate so you have a ton of bolt action rifles to choose from (and they all feel different!), as well as semi auto pistols, a few machine guns, and of course the trench club/shovel. Bayonets are present too, and grenades, as well as the ability to call in gas and mortars. The catch: Only one MG/grenadier/sniper etc is allowed per squad, so you don't get a bunch of people camping with MGs or snipers. Nobody in the same squad can choose the same loadout. The classes themselves come with sacrifices too - want a shitload of grenades? Fine, but you can't have anything else, just a pistol. Good luck running across no man's land with that. And you have to be real quick with your rifle. They're one shot kill (pistols and MGs being 2), so you usually have less than a second to pop up from your shell hole and pick someone off before you yourself get taken out. Newbies often rage in the chat about "how did he see me!?" and "why can't I hit anyone!?" - that's because there's actual bullet drop/lead time and standing out in the open is a big no no. This is a realistic WW1 shooter. Pop your head up, or god forbid, your torso, and you're a goner. And the chat - it's hilarious. With such a small community, you begin to recognize people. It's also a surprisingly positive, newbies get all the help they want without any trash talking. Half of the smack talking is friendly too, like "holy shit sniper 22, you just blew my head off again! dammit!" Just some friendly banter. And probably some corny WW1 humor about trench foot thrown in. We're just a bunch of history nerds happily playing our weird little shooter. And the devs are great - constant updates and new content, FOR FREE. Learn from them, AAA devs! So, all that is why Verdun is my favorite janky little masterpiece. What's yours? [link] [comments]  |
| How Resident Evil invokes emotions unlike any other game I've played. Posted: 30 Sep 2016 01:45 AM PDT Think about a game that gave you an emotional response. You might think of Final Fantasy 7's iconic death, destroying the companion cube, or maybe even the exhilaration at the end of Journey. But me, I think of something different. Many people think of an emotional response as crying at a character death, or the joy when you beat a tough boss. Pixar, however, teaches us that there other emotions as well. Fear, Anger and even Disgust. The earlier examples are big, scripted, memorable moments in gaming that evoke the emotions. But are there any games that evoke these, purposefully, in moment-to-moment gameplay? I think Resident Evil is the best example of such an idea. The tank controls were implemented to solve the camera angle problem. If the camera shifted while you were pressing down, then your character would suddenly move in a different direction. So they used a tank-like system to make it a bit easier. This control system, is the clunkiest movement scheme I have ever experienced in gaming. But it magically works here. Try to imagine your first time playing through the game. That first zombie you encounter really isn't that scary in the grand scheme of things. It just puts a face to the enemy. But what happens afterwards is truely magical. Since you're so new to the game, you're actually struggling to move. Raising the tension with every backpedal, the slow turn, and you finally break for the door. MASHING SQUARE to get through the door. Resident Evil's control scheme allows every encounter to be both extremely terrifying and rewarding. Not to mention the limited vision forces you to play so cautiously. Then there's the house itself. Walking past the same door, over and over again as you run back and forth through the house. The anticipation is so high once you finally find the key. Then you have to hit the chest, save, and make sure you're prepared. With anticipation, comes nervousness and tension. Cheesy Voice-Acting aside. I really think Resident Evil is a true work of art. And it was totally by accident. I could drove on for hours about the game but I'm doing research on this specific topic so I wanted to ask the fine people here. Can you think of a game that invokes emotions from the moment-to-moment gameplay? Another example of mine is The Last of Us, but this post is long enough so I'll just leave it at that. Side Note: Next time you play a game try and keep an open mind about it. Maybe the developers made things clunky on purpose because they wanted you to feel that emotion, or its part of a bigger plan farther down the road. [link] [comments]  |
| Why did Wait To Play games get so popular for phones? Posted: 30 Sep 2016 09:11 AM PDT I'm going to be referencing PewDiePie's new game that just rocketed to the top of the App Store for this. These games have such a low level of accomplishment that come from them. The core game loop is buy something -> wait -> repeat (but maybe tap a couple things on screen in the meantime). There's almost no decision making. PieDiePie's game consists of tapping something once every while to gain currency, tapping something that comes by every minute or so to get currency, and playing an extremely overpriced mini game to speed up production of the things that you buy. There's literally no mental thought that goes into this game and the most optimal way to play is not a way that makes your room look nice. I'll admit these games are addicting and the only reason they're making money off me is because I have no problem letting my phone sit for 30 seconds to play an ad in exchange for something, while I just use my computer in the mean time. Why do consumers prefer these games so much more than a game that's free but has an in app purchase to unlock the "full" game? It's just sad that so much time goes into copy pasting all these cash grab games instead of making something new and interesting. [link] [comments]  |
| The viability of future Nintendo handhelds. Posted: 29 Sep 2016 09:22 PM PDT Speaking to investors, Tatsumi Kimishima said that Nintendo will be returning to "Nintendo-like" profits, largely due to two factors: Nintendos move to mobile and the NX. Here are some facts I have found about the mobile and console markets.
Now that we've seen what the market like, and since we know that (like all companies), Nintendo wants to grow. Let's look at their potential audience and grand strategy. Despite any changes at Nintendo, on a basic level I think what Iwata said is still relevant, and correct.
Nintendo certainly cares about core gamers, such as those who like traditional handhelds. This doesn't stop them them from recognizing that other people, casuals and beginners and all sorts, have the potential to be gamers. They care about those people, too, and they care about their shareholders. Casuals on mobile are unlikely to be impressed by handhelds. Despite mobile getting more people gaming than ever before, we have had an unprecented drop in people buying handheld systems. The sales that have occurred aren't enough for Nintendo to fulfill its obligations to shareholders. Let's look at the 3DS. According to Iwata, Nintendo had to sacrifice their profitability to drive 3DS sales. They have consistently struggled to meet their own goals and projections in this area, but profits did suffer. In fact, after three decades in the black, Nintendo operated at a loss for three years (2012-2014) for three years. These are the three years where the 3DS sales were highest. They practically halved their cash reserves while they were getting the 3DS to sell that well. Some might want to blame the WiiU, and there is probably some truth to that, but if you cut out home consoles you wouldn't grow Nintendos business suddenly. Last year, Nintendo did almost $4.5 billion in sales. As handheld game sales are expected to fall below $2 billion and keep falling, even if you add in lots of hardware sales the handheld division isn't going to be able to sustain Nintendo. Last year the made well under than half a billion in profit. That means just sustaining Nintendo as it is will take around $4 billion. Could they cut costs, due less, fire people, or things like that? Sure, but even those transitions cost money and by the time savings come in, Nintendo will be a less capable company who has less to offer the handheld gamer, or any gamer. Game development is only getting more expensive. If the super hardcore gamer dream of home console games on the go becomes a reality, then handheld game development costs would have in effect skyrocketed. Costs going up while returns diminish is the most likely explanation for why the number of games being released on handhelds is trending down. When the only good news to come out of the handheld market in years is the recent boost to the 3DS line after thanks to sales from but a small fraction of the hugely popular and profitable Pok�mon Go user base, how sustainable is the situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Sep 2016 04:04 PM PDT |
| Good game atmosphere and the lack of it in Forza Horizon. Posted: 29 Sep 2016 08:03 PM PDT I love me some good atmosphere in a game, especially open world games where you can just sit back outside of the story of the game and just watch the world pass by and feel like you are a part of it. Sometimes you have to explore and find a games depth such as going into a tunnel and hearing the sound effects you make have an echo to them or going into a forest and not only hearing a variety of different wildlife but seeing it too. This month I picked up The Crew and was amazed at it's atmosphere. You can fly into birds who launch off and fly away, find moose, deer, wolves and bears in the wilderness who interact with each other and your own vehicle. Not only does the game have NPC's as other civilian cars but they are walking around on the sidewalks and you can see the sky always has some kind of life in it such as gliders, planes, parachutes and helicopters, it all makes the world feel alive. Then Forza Horizon 3 comes out based in a country I live in, Australia, known for it's crazy wildlife but the game has no wildlife... I have not bought the game because of it's seemingly lack of atmosphere. I understand Forza is more about the cars, their car physics, models, sound and performance is the best compared to the typical arcade open world game but the world is not alive. I don't mind the sound of a nice engine in a car or getting that feeling of surfing that line of losing control as I drift around a corner and the car's weight threatens to push me over but outside of that what is there in Forza Horizon 3 apart from pretty graphics? [link] [comments]  |
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