Pixel Theories | a gamer getting older...

FIFA 09 May be the Result of a Different Outlook on Game Development.

To those who've known me for the last five to ten years, I have become something of a "hater" of Electronic Arts.  Though I have to say much of it is warranted.  From the infamous screenshot incident to their poaching of league licenses.  I've found their business tactics are really in place to make up for their poor game quality.  There are of course the few exceptions, but for the most part games that tend to come down the old EA poop shoot aren't exactly what I'd call top tier software.

With that being said, my latest experience with FIFA 09 has me thinking that this is one of those gems that may have escaped the Evil Empire without being bungled up by high level execs.  And according to EA's CEO that may exactly what has happened.  You see back in February of last year John Riccitiello gave an interview with Wired, detailing how high level executives were killing games via "one size fits all" management.

To this credit FIFA 09 may be one of the first titles to be turned around by the dumping of that archaic management style.  Though EA has always been the leader in sports titles; over the last eight years or so smaller devs have been able to best them in sports such as soccer, basketball, and hockey.  To come to mind Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, has always dominated the pitch with it's high learning curve and degree of realism.  However, the game as a whole has never been able to match the eye candy an EA dev team could cram onto a disc.

Now with FIFA's 09's improved gameplay it, definitely competes with the bar that Konami has set with PES.  Here in the states soccer games don't exactly disappear off the shelves but I can say that I, and several others, are more than impressed with EA's football offering.

The real question though is whether this new found philosophy will translate into more sales?  As some might think the damage may be done to EA's goodwill, and regaining the trust of gamers again will be difficult to say the least.  Another indicator may be other sports titles that have been lackluster in year's past but wil turn around with better reviews from mainstream webs like IGN, GameSpot, and 1up.  But ultimately it will take more games that match the quality of FIFA 09 to change our perception of the software publishing giant.

You Need to Give Us the Leftovers.

Truth be told, I've never been completely satisfied with RPG's or action adventures.  From the time I've picked it up until the time I put it down I would be satisfied with the game, and at many times entertained.  But the lack of any additional missions or quests always left me with a feeling of want, and sometimes I just had questions, as to why the developer chose a particular story arc or the development of a character.  Granted this latest generation of consoles and the ability to download additional content has given a few titles some extra life.  But overall the games that are derivative of these genres as a whole have little to no value after their completion.

Mass Effect for example is a great title.  And as a premiere Bioware RPG the game boasted several quests and side missions.  However, after completion of the game many gamers were looking forward to the developer's promise of additional content that would extend the life of the 40 hour RPG.  Unfortunately, we were all greatly underwhelmed with what was to follow.  The Bring Down the Sky quest that was later delivered via XBL was at most a two hour jaunt that was easily defeated with little thought or complication.  And after being acquired by Electronic Arts, well lets just say that I'll be surprised if we see any additional content for Mass Effect 2 that isn't overpriced, or unimportant.

Ideally you'd want your game to be replayed.  Similar to the way we all played Metroid a million times over on the NES back in the day.  The problem being we are a "what have you done for me lately" community, with little regard for the attention to detail, or intentions that a game is meant to convey.  We consume games that are built in 24 month development cycles in less than 10-40 hours, and ask "what next?"  What's worse is that we take even less regard for the hard work that is put into these virtual worlds by grading them in a biased fashion that does little for the developer or the individuals we are trying to inform.  Put plainly we're selfish little souls that need to reevaluate the way we rate and play games; among other things.

One potential solution is additional bonus material included on the disc.  By bonus material I am talking about concept art, developer commentaries, and documentary's including the development team.  Additionally devs should throw in those vidocs, developer diaries, and trailers that are the buildup to the game's release.  Basically what I am suggesting is that game releases would benefit if they worked more like DVD's.

Sure this has been done before, but it's hardly commonplace.  If all you give us is the game then how are we to gain a better understanding of what you intended?  As we all know even the best games have their faults, and rather than dissect those faults blindly it would be better for devs if we knew what was trying to be done.  I think that I can speak for others when I say that I am more willing to forgive a game that tries to do something bold and fails than a game that does what's tried and true and falls into mediocrity.

In this case the leftover material that has been used to compile and build a game from the ground up can give us all a new perspective into not only how games are made, but more importantly why they were made that way.

GOW2 SWAG Begs the Question...

...where are we headed with limited and collectors edition's.

I was going to write next week about limited and collectors edition's that have been released over the last twelve months.  Specifically their lack of anything that is practical or useful.  What upsets me is that those reproduced cards of concept art, action figures, and prequel magazines, always seem to be less than useful, and just plain corny.

I would rather have something more tangible or at least more useful than cards, magazines, and action figures.  What I would like is DLC, in the form of themes, picture packs, and in game content.  It should be noted that Bungie did this with the Halo 3 Legendary bundle, and now with Epic has done the same with GOW2; by way of the golden gun code given to those that bought the game at midnight.

However, also available for sale is the GOW2 Lancer bundle.  A life size replica of the COG weapon of choice.  Now let me start off by saying it's cool.  I like the idea in theory, but then I always end up asking myself "where in the *^&$ would I put that."  Because honestly, I'm not to keen on putting that up on a wall, or shelf and saying to those that enter my home "yeah I bought that!'

This may just be me growing up, or perhaps it's a matter of taste.  But as I get older I find that I want my gaming experiences to be more memorable than a collection of paper and plastic.  I want interactive media that can be experienced or displayed and won't collide with the Feng Shui of my home. 

It does seem that devs feel the same way, as more and more CE/LE editions are being released with DLC.  And that's great for me, but I do wonder how the rest of the community feels about this?  Are you pro physical, or pro virtual SWAG?

Like any other Holiday Season

This should be of no shock to anyone who has been paying attention to release schedules over the last few years.  With the changing of the winter season comes red leaves, cold wind, and of course the best line-up of video games of the year; and this year is no different.  There are close to 9 or more AAA titles that should be released within the next 10 weeks that will bleed dedicated gamers dry.  But in the end it will be the publishers that will lose. 

The cramming of so many good games into one season forces the majority of gamers to pick and choose which games they will buy and which they will rent.  Moreover, with the economy of late, it is likely that the industry will be just as affected as other industries that thrive on the shopping habits of middle class Americans during the three months of October, November, and December.  Perhaps it would be better if this orgy of upper echelon titles should be spread throughout the year, or at least divided into two separate divisions of release. 

Similar to that of the movie industry which releases two types of flicks during different seasons.  During the summer you see your typical blockbusters and big action epics, and during the winter you're more likely to see serious intellectual dramas.  Now I'm not saying that we should release all the FPS's during the summer and all the platformers during the winter.  What I am saying is that the powers that be should look to releasing some of the these quality games during the summer.  Reducing the competition in the winter and creating a market for premium games in the summer could lead to new prosperity and maximum earning potential for publishers throughout the year.

AAA titles being released in Oct-Dec

• Dead Space
  
• SOCOM: Confrontation 
• Fable II
• Little Big Planet
• Guitar Hero: World Tour
• Gears of War 2
• Resistance 2
• Call of Duty: World at War
  

Another idea could be to release certain games with the help of hardware suppliers after large trade events.  So hypothetically speaking Bungie and their publisher Microsoft could leak interviews, gameplay footage, and DLC announcements of Halo 3: Recon during e3; and release the game the week afterward.  But the problem is that dev cycles are difficult to budget, much less predict milestones, or deadlines and timing a release to coincide with a trade event is something that can only be done by larger developers, if at all.

My concern is that if publishers don't do well they will continue to do what they have done in the face of bad sales: rehash previously made games.  With profitability, publishers can take more risks on games with new mechanics, new ideas, and new controls.  That could possibly mean more games like Braid, and Katamari Damacy.  It's in the industry's best interest to conceive ways to sell top name titles during the entirety of the year, not just the holiday season.  To do so would signal a step towards financial stability, and creative growth.

The 10 Sins of game development pt. 5

#3 Musical Score

The problem: The game's score lacks identity, or worse becomes annoying during the course of playing the game.

Major culprits: The Settlers of Catan, Tiger Woods 07, College Hoops series

Avoidance: Creating or outsourcing for better tracks or scores from fully qualified musicians.  Every successful television show, movie, and video game has an excellent musical score.  This is not some mysterious coincidence, music helps drive the games' drama and emotion.   Music behind games like Halo and The Legend of Zelda: WindWaker, it's confounding why more developers haven't tapped more of their budget to find quality scores outside their own development studio.

#2 Balance

The problem: Multiplayer matches are dumbed down by the inclusion of super weapons that can be exploited during the entirety of the match.

Major culprits: Halo 2, C&C Tiberium Wars, Madden series

Avoidance: Major weapons with high reward should carry high risk when using them.  This is usually not the case as sniper rifles are generally easy to use, super weapons are easy to build, and sports NPC's never fatigue. Without true balance, gamers generally default to using exploits even if they disagree with the method. 

The problem with exploits is that they usually only allow one side to have an advantage over the other, thus players devolve further to learning how to cheat the cheaters.  This higher leaning of cheating keeps new players from enjoying the game, and withers away the mainstream base; which generally leaves a small percentage of hardcore players.  This support for this small composite of players is most likely too high which means that the developer wither starts to fix the game (Bungie) or they pull the plug on support (Ubisoft).  Either way a good game, and 24-30 months of development go down the toilet, because the game was unbalanced.

#1 Auto-Aim

The problem: Some idiot somewhere thought it would be intelligent to let anyone auto lock on to opposing players and NPC's without trying, thus defeating the purpose of playing the game.

Major culprits: The Halo series, COD 4, and every other FPS on the market.

Avoidance:  The problem with Auto-Aim is that it doesn't require skill or talent.  Skill and talent should be needed to use different weapons or skills.  If games don't require patience, balance, and skill, then matches basically boil down to one player holding down the trigger longer.  Eroding the gaming experience down to a bunch of idiots on-line holding down the right trigger for hours upon hours.

Though many developers feel that their game would be less commercially successful if they left Auto-Aim out.  It's not necessarily a fair assessment; the SOCOM series developed by Zipper Interactive was successful in it's first two iterations when it lacked this feature in multiplayer matches.  Though it still was in the game during it's single-player missions, via codes, the exclusion of aim-bots in multiplayer actually made the game a commercial success.

If you want to make a warm and fuzzy game for the kiddies with Auto-Aim that's fine.  However, if you're targeting a hardcore audience with plans for a large multiplayer base, then it's something you must exclude.  Auto-Aim takes the fun out of the experience and reduces the quality of the game; if this medium is to be respected then it should gain that respect based upon the requirement of difficulty and patience.

The 10 Sins of game development pt. 4

#5 Bad UI design

The problem: The User Interface is lacking HD quality, missing originality, or confusing users because of it's bad design.

Major culprits: College Hoops series, Too Human, Pro Evolution series

Avoidance:  Design UI's to be more efficient, ability to customize, and use selection trees if needed.  EA does a lot of things wrong.  The one thing they do right is UI design, and the Madden series is proof of that.  The background's are always interesting, you never get lost in sub menus and the quality of wallpapers are true HD.  By using the selection trees within their menus, players can easily navigate the game options and settings.  EA's UI designs are the standard for which all games should be measured.

#4  AI or lack thereof

The problem: Artificial Intelligence within the game leads your cohort NPC's into walls, continual crossfire, or stuck on corners.  The AI within the game is either too stupid, or beyond genius.

Major culprits: Gears of War, Mass Effect, Halo 2

Avoidance: Simple taking more time to play test AI at different difficulty levels.  For example, Gear of War is one of those games where your AI partner Dom is getting killed every thirty seconds on the Hardcore difficulty.  Though on the default difficulty he's not very helpful.  Granted, on harder difficulties more of the burden should be put on the player, but that doesn't mean that you should have to babysit your AI buddies either.  The drastic dichotomy of AI on different difficulty levels just makes some games either unbelievable or unbearable.

Bungie.net reveals more Halo 3 content on the way...

I'm not going to embed the video, I have limited bandwidth.  But you can access the video in Quicktime and WMV formats here.  And you can bet that the whole of the Mr. Bush's Internets are abuzz with what this teaser trailer is supposed to mean.  Though that would take some insight from people who have actually read the five books that give more meaning to the Halo Universe.  Luckily for me; I have.

From the Keep it Clean  and Pardon our Dust transmissions from the planet's Superintendent.  It would appear that the following game or content will be taking place slightly after the start of Halo 2 and before the events of Halo 3.  Where a Series I Spartan (there could possibly be more) will lead a massive force of ODST's (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) to take back the New Mombasa after the slipspace escape of the Prophet of Regret during the events of Halo 2.

The Proof is in the Pudding.  SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  You've been warned!

Halo 3 and many of it's overtones were reflections of the books.  References to glassing planets, shield worlds, and the massive Forerunner bots leaping to another planet were all events that correlate to the book: Ghosts of Onyx.  Where Jon's (known to many as the Master Chief) Blue Team is trapped inside a Dyson Sphere with a team of SIII, or Series III Spartans, and the Spartan program founder Dr. Catherine Halsey.

While Bungie dev's and Microsoft have always said that the books were always intended to develop the mythos of the Halo Universe. It's becoming more clear that they intend to tie the two together.  Even if that means coming up with alternate time lines or better explanations of why Blue Team never made an appearance in Halo 2, yet were in direct contact with Jon in what could be seen as a prequel to that game in the book: First Strike.

First, take a look at the Keep it Clean transmission.  This is a record of the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI, where a Communications officer is trying to get in contact with his C/O.  ONI is the UNSC's answers to our modern day CIA/NSA intelligence community. They are the home of the darkest secrets within the UNSC and the breeding grounds for the Artificial Intelligence and Spartan programs.

Then take a look at the Pardon our Dust transmission, which is clearly depiction a C/O of the heavy cruiser "Say My Name" approving a request from a Captain for troops that will no longer report to Fleet Command.  The Captain is using the transmission code "DARE.V.500341(S1)."  Where Dare is his last name, V. is his first initial, the number his registration, and the S1 for Series 1 Spartan.  And Spartans only report to ONI officers and UNSC Admirals "in the know."

Those who have read the books know that the S1 Spartan's have only been referred to as a "massive failure."  And approximately only a third of the soldiers that went through the SII program were combat functional after implants and surgeries.  This might explain why there may only a few of these S1 Spartan's left, and why they have been a relative no show within the books though many speculate that Chief Mendez, Jon's first C/O, was another likely candidate as a S1 Spartan.

What ties my hypothesis together is the fact that the teaser trailer reveals the white light emitted from The Prophet of Regret's ship when it left New Mombasa for installation 05.  Now Earth has been infected by The Flood (Halo 3) and New Mombasa is one of the last unglassed habitable places on Earth.  Moreover, New Mombasa was where Blue Team was fighting before they made the jump to Onyx, and it was also the starting point for the game Halo 2. 

After being blown apart from the slipspace New Mombasa is host The Flood, it will be up to every soldier within the UNSC force to be called into action; even the surviving first generation of Spartan's.

In the end this will only be a taste of what's to come.  My guess is that the DLC will be only a few levels of what may be a new spin of a gritty tactical shooter based within the Halo Universe.  What many have known as "Halo Blue," which was slated to release September 30th 2008.  Many fans of the books have always asked for games that have been more representative of the accompanying literature.  But considering that the the three games have eluded to the fact that Jon is the last Spartan left.  This new addition may blow all the holes in that theory for those who haven't read the books and finally tie the two mediums together.

Granted my theory has holes and the teaser trailer doesn't due enough to suggest what the new DLC will be exactly.  But this is Bungie, they always play it close to the vest.  My guess is an educated one and if I'm not right I'm damn close.

Bungie's latest...

We all have seen it by now, the acceptance video Bungie has posted in response to receiving EDGE's award for interactive innovation.  For those of who have been living under a rock, the video features many of the game's designers and artists' avatars alongside NPC's from the campaign of Halo 3.  They use the video to hint that they could not receive the award in person because they are working on something big.  In addition, the webisode is used to show off maps within the multi-player half of Halo 3, NPC's, and the end of the video hints of a possible map editor that could be released soon.

However, in the latest reach around Weekly Update from Bungie, it is clearly stated that they have no plans to release an map maker, editor, or whatever for Halo 3.  And accuse many of their hardcore base of suggesting that just because the video may have hinted at some form of editing elements with NPC's, Bots, yada yada; we were all just a bunch of a-holes spreading such a rumor like wildfire.

I really used to like the mind games that this company used to promote their software and by that I mean The CortanaLetters, i love bees, and IRIS.  But this latest marketing ploy is just total bullshit.  It's not funny, and worse it's not clever.  It just may be the first real hint that the boys and gals at Bungie are losing it.

Add the aforementioned to Bungie's latest IP, codenamed Halo:Blue, being yanked last minute at E3 and something is rotten in Redmond.  Though the dev claims that MS pulled the plug on their big reveal, it's starting to seem more plausible that the grandmaster's of cock teasing multi-player latency, are just pulling their old tricks with less and less fashion.

Let me put it this way if I show up at your house in black pants, a polo, and a poorly manufactured hat with a pizza; you're going to assume that it's meant to be delivered and dare I say eaten.  What if I told you that i was just cruising I-5 and thought that I'd drop by and show you what a pizza looked like, or better yet had no intentions of letting anyone consume the pizza.  Not only have I wasted your time, I've been a complete douche bag in the process.  And perhaps that is what the inmates at Bungie have been all this time: a myriad of class clowns that had a few funny jokes, but can't graduate from the realms of destructive comedy, bad pranks, and fart jokes.

The 10 Sins of game development. pt 3

#7 Bland environments

The problem: Environments within the gameworld are repetitive, and/or many elements within the game are inoperative.  I.E. doors that lead to nowhere or cannot be opened, hallways without signs or distinction, and repetitive objects that can neither be moved or interacted with.

Major culprits: Halo: Combat Evolved, Doom, Condemned: Criminal Origins

Avoidance: Specifically tailoring environments by designing them to be completely interactive.  I'll never understand why devs put doors in the game yet I can never use them.  What the hell is the point in that!  Less bottles, crates, and cardboard boxes; more specific objects that relate to the environment.

#6 Linear gameplay

The problem: There's only one way to get through this FPS, if you don't like it TS!

Major culprits: Rainbow Six, Call of Duty 2, Perfect Dark

Avoidance: Designing the game to let the player choose what objectives are done and how they should be accomplished.  In this case, I singled out two older games and a launch title, because most modern games are designed to be non-linear.  However, there are still third party devs that seem not to get the point.  Games in this day and age, especially first-person shooters, should be designed to leave objectives and environments open, giving players the choice to accomplish objectives how they please.

The 10 Sins of game development. pt 2

#8 Bad cameras

The problem: 3D cameras that revolve around the main character lack flexibility, functionality, and complicate the perception of geometry within the game world.

Major culprits: Drake of the 99 Dragons, The Simpson's Game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Avoidance:  If the camera can't rotate 360 degrees around the playable character, then it's not finished.  At any point in time a 3D cam should be able to revolve around the users character within the game world.  Anything less is well...unacceptable.  To complete time trials, countdowns, or find collectibles you need a functional 3D camera; and to expect a player to accomplish any of the these areas of the game without a working cam is foolhardy.

#9 Time Trials and Countdowns

The problem: Countdowns and time trials are essentially a way of increasing a game's intensity and drama.  However, it is often done in a way which either destroys the illusion of the game world or exposes major flaws within the game itself.  It's never fun to replay a level where the goal is to complete a mission as fast as possible, and doing so to obtain an achievement is just flat out annoying.  Very few Dev's have managed to do this well and those looking to incorporate this mechanic into their game should look to the Bungie's example at the end of Halo: Combat Evolved.

Major culprits: Tomb Raider Legend, Saints Row, TLOZ: Ocarina of Time (yeah I said it).

Avoidance:  More care should be taken to develop the environment so that the countdown or time trial is both entertaining and moderately difficult.  Additionally Dev's should restrict the implementation of this mechanic until the last act of the game where characters have been fleshed out.  You know those hack and slash movies where they start killing the kids off early before you even know any form of a back story or premise, and you could really care less?  Well that's bad writing and translating that into game development is as equally ignorant.  Lastly, the game's progress should not rely on any of the aforementioned, to expect players to play the same segment of a game to progress the story smacks of a lack of imagination and foresight.