Catching up

Aw heck. You know how it is. Feast or famine.

Yes, it’s been quiet on the koffdrop.com front recently. The main reason is because I’ve been enjoying playing videogames. See, shortly after getting a 360 (it’s still working folks!) I purposefully switched it off and attacked some older, previous gen games, that had been on my to-do list for a while. Having been through most console generations I know how older, unplayed games get totally forgotten. Heck, I’ve still got SNES games I want to complete.

So, having my interest piqued by media buzz, I’ve recently sliced and diced my way through Manhunt and Killzone. Before that I worked through Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. More recently, Kameo and Marvel Ultimate Alliance have fallen at my gamesplaying might. Somewhere amongst that lot I beat Kirby Squeak Squad (all treasures found) on DS too. So that’s six games since the last BEATEN post. Not too shabby.

I’ve managed to get through the games by simply refusing to play anything else other than the current game of the moment. Cutting down on internet activities such as updating koffdrop.com is another ingredient of my games-beating recipe. I’ve been enjoying the games and pleased as punch to get the extra mileage out of systems that could have been left switched off forever.

The other thing that’s been competing for my time is the insane number of movies I’ve been seeing. I think we’re through the summer blockbuster season – just a Pixar flick and The Bourne Ultimatum to go. I think I’ve seen every summer movie going and a lot of them haven’t lived up to their status. For what it’s worth, the ones I enjoyed or had the most surprisingly fun time at were Die Hard 4.0, Hairspray and the superb Zodiac. I’m serious about Hairspray, by the way.

And that’s all for now. Other than to say, Games Radar has an article stating Miyamoto’s displeasure at Haze’s focus on drugs.

I have one word for you Miyamoto: mushrooms

Beaten: Metal Arms – Glitch In The System

A game I’d been told repeatedly was ‘an overlooked gem’ for years.

I played it. I beat it. It was ok. The game had it’s moments but frankly, after 42 very angular and poorly signposted levels I’m glad it’s over. Ratchet & Clank or the Jak & Daxter games trounce this easily.

If anybody insists the game has some mystical charm or cunning, overlooked depth to it then they’ve clearly not played many (if any) good modern platformers or are a complete numpty. Or both.

Still, another game down! How many games have you beaten this year?

Lies, Damn Lies and The Games Media

Sitting where I do, it’s very easy for me to see the machinations and spin that feed the fanboy bias, selective memory and downright stupidity of ‘intellgent’ gamers around the world. Or “the gaming intelligensia” as they prefer to call themselves.

Proving to these people that the world is, in fact, round and not flat is another matter. After all, their belief is so strong and their willingness to ignore any information that contradicts their viewpoint is practically unshakeable it’s always a case of my word against theirs. And, after all, they’re the mighty gaming intelligensia, I’m just a game developer. What the fuck would I know? Where do I get my news from? And what does it matter – it can’t possibly compare to such unbiased sources as NeoGAF, Kotaku or Joystiq. Right?

Well, as some of you may have read, Ubisoft have announced a slew of dates for their games due to hit the second half of this year. One of these games, Haze, is a title I particularly familiar with. Far more so than any of the gaming intelligensia even.

Sadly, Haze’s recent publicity has been more to do with the fact it was stated as ‘leading on PS3’ than anything to do with the game itself. After all, ‘true gamers’ are so hardcore the game doesn’t matter. True gamers only seem to give a shit about what machine it’s on. After all, everyone knows that if a game is on BoxA it is good and if it is on BoxB it is bad. And if a BoxB game comes to BoxA then it becomes better but if a BoxA game comes to BoxB then it’ll be worse. The game, it seems, is irrelevent. The box is all important. That’s why 99% of the talk of Haze is all about which box it comes out on and not the game itself. That ‘true gamers’ see this as the focal point of pretty much every game release shows just how fucked up their perception of the situation is. But, of course, you can’t tell them that because not only are they TRUE GAMERS they are the GAMING INTELLIGENSIA. They know all. They absolutely will not tolerate criticism of their views or sources.

Anyway, Haze was reported by the media as being exclusive to PS3. Neither Ubisoft or Free Radical stated this – the media spun it that way. The ever-so-easily led gaming intelligensia decided this was an important point and the spin was regarded as fact and that was that.

Now, Ubisoft’s dates suggest that there is a week’s difference between PS3 Haze and Haze on other formats. The media is now reporting, in mocking fashion of course, that “LOL EXCLUSIVE FOR ONE WEEK!!1” is a joke. The gaming intelligensia who focus so hard on reading between the lines excel at missing what is actually written have now decided that a PS3 exclusive has been lost. Oh the hilarity!

But what’s this? Allow me to throw some very clear, very trustworthy facts your way:

• Haze has NEVER been announced as an exclusive of any sort. The only people spinning it that way is the media and the fanboys.
• If an exclusive never existed it cannot be lost.

Those are the facts. Unfortunately it means all the immature crowing of the self-obsessed Gaming Inteligensia is for naught as, by sticking to the facts, it shows just how clueless such agenda led ‘clued up’ people are. If you go back and check the way the media reported this news about Haze you’ll see just how far the spin goes..

..and if the media spin things about one game then what about all the others games. Are they free of spin?

Who watches the watchmen?

Like I said, from where I sit it’s abundantly clear how much bullshit is spun and accepted as truth. How easily the urban myth is adopted as fact and how people who claim impartiality are anything but.

You know the funniest thing?

Those Ubisoft dates – you’ll be seeing some changes to them in the near future, they were never intended to be released.

Still, from one perspective it’s nice to know that gamers – especially the ones that take themselves so very seriously – are so easily led. I mean, when it’s so obvious how to push their buttons.. ..well, it just sets them up for manipulation and exploitation doesn’t it?

Game music for the masses

Just a quick note to let you know of a significant site update.

If you click on the FILES part of the horizontal menu bar at the top of the page you’ll now be whisked to a rather large stash of videogame music in MP3 format. These are hosted on the RadioSega.net servers – all thanks go to SegaMark for his generosity.

More music will be uploaded over time – the collection should exceed 20gb when all is done. Simply click a column head to sort by that type. So click the DATE heading to organise the files in date order – which will allow easy identification of the newest content.

Enjoy.

Beaten: Tomb Raider Anniversary

I really enjoy agile platformers. By that I mean platform games where the player is particularly skilled and agile. Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider are the the titles that immediately spring to mind in this genre. I enjoy these games enough to dash out and buy them and, at the time of writing am very much looking forward to the XBLA Prince of Persia remake due later today.

Lara fell from grace over the last few years with Core and Eidos driving the licence into the ground. I optimistically purchased Core’s Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness and, by god, it was a chore. Very stiff and unhelpful controls. Undeterred, I looked forward to Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider Legend which was bags of fun but far shorter than it should have been – I was just getting into my stride with the credits rolled by!

Tomb Raider Anniversary is the Tomb Raider game I’ve been waiting for.

Firstly, the length – it’s about three times as long as Tomb Raider Legends and feels just about right. I clocked in at about 13 hours which is probably a bit on the slow side. The control of Lara is as good as it was in Legends (which means it’s a hundred times better than any of Core’s efforts). One analogue stick for character control, one for camera, buttons for functions like jumping, rolling, aiming and firing. I recall playing the original Tomb Raider and realise today that I would have gone through that game on the original PS1 controller with just a d-pad and no analogues. Doesn’t really bear thinking about these days!

The controls are detailed to the player as you make your way up a mountain to the entrance of your first tomb. By the time you’ve got the doors open you’ll have familiarised yourself with the basics. If I recall correctly, it’s at this open door that the original game began so it’s clear to see that Crystal Dynamics have taken a bit of creative licence with the original game to make things a more satisfying and sensible experience for today’s gamers. In fact, this re-imagining of Tomb Raider is present throughout the entire game and qualifies as one of the best remakes I’ve played in recent years.

Visually the game stands up very well. I played it on the PS2 but also have the PC demo (higher res, more bloom, depth-of-field effects) and I think the animation, environments and lighting effects are pretty damn good. It’s no Gears of War but Tomb Raider doesn’t need that. Whilst GOW may have set a new standard for all games to be compared against it’s worth appreciating that ultra-hi-fidelity visuals are not entirely necessary (nor appropriate) for all of today’s games. Tomb Raider Anniversary has great lighting effects (a flame-spewing puzzle room is a particular highlight) and the visuals convey a sense of age, scale, action and organic decay more than adequately. The different locales appear distinctive and the game strikes a great balance between eye-pleasing fidelity in everything but holding back enough detail for the crucial gameplay sign-posted areas to stand out. By this I mean special surfaces that Lara can grip, visual clues, floor switches and the like. See – that’s the thing with games – everything has to look high quality but you also need to separate general background visuals from the details that give the player information that’ll help them proceed in the game. Tomb Raider does this well enough to make everything look like it belongs without the sign-posting details getting lost or the typical background visuals looking like they’ve been deliberately toned down. Everything hangs together very well and there’s some superb effects including HDR-like lighting (on a PS2!), great water, waterfall and lava effects – not to mention some suitably archaic aging and dusty effects as ancient temple doors creak open for the first time in centuries.

Tomb Raider Anniversary, as it’s name suggests, is a remake of the original Tomb Raider game. We’re not talking like-for-like remake here. Certainly all the key settings and scenarios (as well as characters and plot) match the original game as do some of the puzzle concepts and ‘feel’ of the rooms and levels. However, Lara is a more capable performer than she was a decade ago with a broader and more diverse skillset which means, for this new game to exploit all Lara has to offer, the challenges that Lara faces in the game and the route she’ll travel to navigate the treacherous tombs is mostly new.

Lara can, for example, leap onto the tops of upright poles, wall-swing and perform some interesting combat moves. The combat has been fleshed out a little more than the original (and recent Legend) game. Lara has a signature combat feature whereby constantly attacking an enemeny will enrage it. You can keep plugging away at it (and possibly beat it) before it rampages towards you or you can make a special ‘adrenaline’ evasive move which triggers a bullet-time effect. As you’re evading in slow-mo two crosshairs converge over your enemy. Pull the trigger at the right moment and you fire the killer shot that will almost certainly take out that foe. Some boss battles use this (or a variation of this) the first being the legendary T-Rex battle. The T-Rex looks great and, like the previous Legends game, also features some simple quick-time-event moments to create exciting and interactive cut-scenes. These QTEs are sprinkled lightly through the game but are rarely all that challenging.

Checkpoints. Checkpoints and savepoints in the original games were an absolute bitch. This was, I’m sure, dictated by the architecture of the orginal console and I distinctly recall Tomb Raider being a pretty tense affair with countless reloads. By contrast, Tomb Raider Anniversary has plentiful checkpoints (which also serve as save markers should you wish to save your game). In fact, it seems that every room, corridor or switch is tagged as a checkpoint in TR:A and threatens the make the game a little too lenient on the player. All in all, I’d say it just about gets away with it. The payoff is that you rarely re-tread too much of the same ground if you screw up and the game has enough challenges to mean you won’t dash through it in a few hours.

All in all, the game is pretty lenient though. Although a variety of weapons become available to you through the course of the game – offering greater firepower for a swifter kill – I managed just fine plugging away using the default twin-pistols and limitless ammo. Ammo appears to be plentiful and can be found easily throughout the game. Large and small health-packs are also dotted the environments and I had no problem beating the game with a stash of unused health and ammo. The game makes it very easy for you to save health – if your health is 50% full and you’re holding 2 health packs and you fall to your death then you’ll start from the last (and, most likely, very close-by) checkpoint with full health and the same number of health packs.

To be honest, I find the contrasting difficulties of the early and later Tomb Raider games to be the most jarring thing about them and it makes me wonder if, with the new games, that this easier setting wasn’t an attempt to make the challenging Tomb Raider games more accessible to a wider audience in an effort to help re-invigorate the franchise. Everything’s a conspiracy!

Audio in itself isn’t anything particularly stunning. Lara huffs and grunts endearingly and many of her actions are accompanied by the sounds of cables and bits of metal jingle-jangling from her belt convincingly. One point worth noting is the music tha plays during enemy encounters – it’s very well implemented and, the moment an encounter is over the music doesn’t fade out or just cut it melodically concludes and, in doing so, sounds perfectly scripted to the particular scene. It’s something that you shouldn’t notice simply because it works really well – rat encounters are definitely elavated thanks to this techinque. Another point worth noting is that much of the music is directly taken from the themes of the original game.

Croft Manor appears as a side-game to the main meat of the game. Other challenges involve acquiring all the relics and artefacts secreted around a level. Spotting them is one thing, getting to where they can be collected is quite a different story. You can track your stats (time, kills, pickups) in an area by pausing and hunting relics will unlock bonus features such as new outfits for Lara, in-game design commentaries and other goodies.

A lot of care and thought has been put into this game and I believe it pays off in abundance. The game is true to it’s source whilst being updated in terms of challenge, aesthetics and accessibility. Overall, Tomb Raider: Anniversary succeeds in reminding gamers, like me, that had forgotten what a great game the original was and how chock-full of inventiveness and memorable moments it was.

Lara, it’s great to have you back.

If you see Sid, tell him

That synth melody gets into your head disturbingly quickly and, although Calvin Harris is trying too hard with the whole kitsch 80’s theme (he would have been, what, 12 years old or something?) 80’s mood + high pitched catchy melody = memories of C64.

That’s a win!

Waggle me don’t

Prophecy or irony?

It seems that, mere days after me ranting about the damning uselessness of a game like Resident Evil 4 being waggled onto the Wii, new of a game so astoundingly thin on playability is rumoured to be heading Wiiwards also.

The rumours come from two highly unreliable sources (1, 2) – the former having a reputation for promoting pretty much any Nintendo rumours and information and feeding their insatiable audience of trolls many times per day. The other is a gaming forum. No comment.

Killer 7 was a wonderful piece of gargantuan style over totally absent substance. The game was so focused on being special and different it totally forgot to be playable or that Nintendo fan’s buzzword of choice fun. For an example of a game that achieved all those things have a look at Sega’s REZ and then dash off to your nearest fanboy forum and tell everyone that “omg! REZ would be AMAZING ON WII! The Wii controller is PERFECT for it!”

Whilst I’m here, everyone pining for an Okami remake on the Wii because “omg! Okami would be AMAZING ON WII! The Wii controller is PERFECT for it!” are dumb. The paint-brush controls part of Okami would be good on a Wii controller. Unfortunately, they represent about 5% of the game’s playing time and, with the meat of the game being exploration, puzzling and a wide variety of combat techniques that far eclipse the depth that Zelda: TP waggled limply onto the Wii with, it’s simply not a worthwhile venture and would serve to show how remarkably inappropriate the Wii controller is for many aspects of already great games.

If you want to paint, get a paintbrush.

Do what I say, not what I do

OK, it’s been a little while since I’ve had an out and out rant over something and this one’s been stewing for a little while.

Today, I’d like to rant about the upcoming Resident Evil 4 for the Wii.

First of all, let’s cast our minds back to how the gaming community felt about the Wii this time last year. The notion that new and revolutionary gaming experiences were very strong. So strong, in fact, that many gamers simply couldn’t imagine how gaming would ever be the same. The Wii would break through the confines of ‘regular’ games and make good of Iwata’s promise of “You will say wow” (funny how gamers have stopped quoting that isn’t it?).

Let’s also remember that the wonderful Wii was a true gamer’s friend and claims 100% full backwards compatibility with Nintendo’s old generation Gamecube. Incidentally, writing ‘old generation’ sounds a bit silly. However, writing ‘previous generation’ would be inappropriate as, by Nintendo’s press releases, the Wii isn’t ‘next’ generation gaming but ‘new’ generation. Well, ‘old’ is to ‘new’ as ‘previous’ is to ‘next’. So, if Wii is new generation, Gamecube must be old generation, right? Right.

So, the Wii – the best of all possible worlds! New generation games, old generation classics. Who could ask for more?

I mean, if I wanted to play a game like Resident Evil 4 on my Wii then all I’d have to do would be to grab my disks and pop them in my Wii.

So a special Wii edition is pretty much pointless. Especially if the content is going to be the same. Hell, I’m not even sure that the content for the Wii version has been expanded to encompass the extras that were introduced in the PlayStation 2 version of Resident Evil 4. If it doesn’t then I can point a finger at Resident Evil 4 Wii and laugh at how it represents less than ‘old’ gen editions of the game and if it does have the extra content I can point a finger at the game and laugh about how the Wii is getting a port from the PlayStation 2.

Seeing as the Wii can run Resident Evil 4 perfectly, what benefit is there to be had in the new Wii edition besides waggle? It would seem that the answer is “nothing whatsoever”. I mean, that’s a simple and factual look at what this revoluationary console is bringing to gamers of this brave new generation.

Needless to say, the fervour with which Resident Evil fans embraced the news of a port and excitedly built up a froth over the idea of shooting zombies for 15 hours but now with added WAGGLE! was, I’m very sad to say, entirely predictable. The fact that, beneath the very pretty graphics Resident Evil 4 is a pretty shallow and unsatisfying gaming experience is a rant for another day.

Not wanting to suggest that certain news media sites have absolutely no backbone, objectivity, journalistic integrity or intelligence beyond desperately writing things they know their dumb readership want to hear, I read the following excerpt with complete contempt:

..the direct Wiimote-based controls offer a plus, making the game feel like something fresh and different. One reviewer said that the game offers the feeling of being closer to the action as well as upping the tension.

Multiple reviewers agreed on two points, that the new controls are simple and easy to get into, and that even those who played the original will be able to enjoy themselves.

We’ll be sure and spend some quality time with the title for ourselves when the RE4 Wii Edition hits Japan on the 31st and America on June 19th.

This quote was presented to me in quoted form. The quote is taken from an IGN piece (who else?) and, if you read more of the masturbatory drivel (which I’m deliberately not linking to) you’ll see that of a possible 40 points, the game scored 38. In a Japanese magazine. That’s known for handing out high-scores like candy. That also focuses exclusively on Nintendo games.

I learned of this article when it was reported as, of all things, a news article at another website. This so-called news was reported with a breathlessly excited headline stating “RE4 WII EARNS PERFECT SCORE!”. 38 out of a possible 40 does not represent perfection.

But what’s details like that got to do with anything when you’re busy whipping up excitement of a port (to Wii) of a port (from PS2) of a port (from GC) of a game that works perfectly (Gamecube to Wii) of a franchise that’s got THREE sequels (not including spinoffs) and therefore doesn’t need to exist at all? Oh, I forgot the revolutionary aspect of making the same stuff but slapping in a bit of waggle via the revolution of motion sensing.

But then, gamers were assured of innovation, originality and a whole new experience by Nintendo with their Uberbox weren’t we?

So what’s with this shit? Why is second hand dross (though the graphics are awfully pretty – even though ‘graphics don’t count! Wii = innovation!’) getting given the ‘mana from heaven’ treatment, being hailed as scoring perfectly when it isn’t and basically being lied about left right and center and being tarted up as being something special when, in cold, hard truth, it’s just the same old shit with waggle added on top.

This is gaming media. This is the crap that’s being pulled many times in every direction according to whichever agenda the author or site happens to have. And, let’s not forget – a chunk of that agenda is “get webhits, earn revenue”.

Once again, we’ve got a wonderfully clear example of how The Emperor’s New Clothes is being played out to the letter on a Nintendo platform and these oh-so-critical, oh-so-impartial, oh-so-knowledgeable gamers are lapping it up as though they’ve not eaten in weeks.

So what’s with the title?

Well who started this kind of behaviour? Who set the precedent for taking old gen games, slapping waggle into them and saying “Here is something totally new and amazing! Here is the realisation of the promise of the Wii!”

The answer, of course, is Nintendo, when they took Zelda and waggled it onto Wii. Perhaps if Nintendo want originality on their machine which they certainly tell developers to focus on, they shouldn’t have played such a cheap stunt with one of the most important titles they own. Sure, you get a strong initial sales quota but you also send an equally strong message to all your developers: if it’s good enough for Nintendo to waggle old generation games onto Wii then it’s good enough for us.

Iwata, I’m not saying wow. I never did. I’m still saying “What the fuck?” and still amazed that ‘true’ gamers are falling for this bullshit.

Events and spin such as the existence of Resident Evil 4 Wii and it’s reception is far more damaging to innovation and originality than anything else I can think of right now. If you already own Resident Evil 4 and buy the the Wii version instead of an original, new, game then you’re helping to stifle creativity and innovation too.

Buy Psychonauts or DRoD instead. Those guys have made more interesting games and would certainly benefit from the money more than Nintendo or Capcom right now.

Do your bit. Don’t help kill innovation and creativity. Learn to recognise it when you see it.

TIP: Resident Evil 4 isn’t it.

Odds! Ends! Osu!

This will be a shorter post than some of my recent epics and really serves to just give a quick update on some things.

Firstly, following yesterday’s post I recieved some criticism of the final point about using the mentality of “great sales = great game”. It was pointed out to me that this was a twisting of the original message. The correct message would have been to state that, had the games under discussion not been great games then they wouldn’t have sold like they did (we’re primarily talking about Halo here). Which, whilst an easier to swallow mentality is just as flawed as the sales=greatness one. A good game should sell well. However the suggestion that its quality is the driving factor for it’s sales is far too idealistic to be taken seriously – particularly of a game like Halo. This notion is further disproved when you look at the current game charts and see a game that’s scored very average reviews dominating the charts in the way that the Spiderman 3 game is. At the end of this week the poorly reviewed Pirates of the Carribbean 3 tie-in game will be released and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it mimic Spiderman 3’s performance. We have Shrek 3 to look forward to next. A game like Halo benefits precisely from the same status as a film-tie in – it’s profile has been manufactured to be very high indeed. Far higher than the quality of its content. Halo 2 and, of course Halo 3, will sell because they’re called Halo more than anything else.

Quality should sell a product – but it doesn’t. It’s a factor but it’s not going to make a difference if the carefully calculated positioning of media, tie-ins, promotions, publicity, and sheer might that some companies wield. Sorry, but that’s a fact and examples are everywhere. Now, it’s nice when that works in your favour and you’re a Halo fan. But gamers will argue the exact same things when they feel a game they like isn’t getting sales it ‘deserves’ due to a game they don’t like dominating the charts. Remove your emotional attachment to the game and look objectively at the product, the market and the economics and you’ll see how it works. Choosing examples selectively isn’t really a watertight argument.

On a less controversial note I’d like to let regular readers of Koffdrop.com know that the site will soon be publishing it’s first guest-written piece. At this time I have absolutely no information to share with you as to the tone or content. All I can say is that I know the author very well and have always appreciated his input into topics we discuss. Look out for it!

Finally, the Ouendan 2 soundtrack is available to you via the Koffdrop.com files area. This isn’t an official soundtrack but a collection of all the individual songs that feature in the game (yes, there’s a difference between the two). I’m enjoying this soundtrack as much as the original and favour tracks 19 and 16 in particular. 16 is an especially good example of some absolutely batshit bonkers over-the-top j-pop-screaming. The game’s not bad either. Enjoy.

Talk to the hand

I have a fair few names on my MSN messenger list and one of the more recent additions popped up to say hello and ask me why I had “Halol 3” as a suffix to my username. I responded to his query explaining that, after last week’s outburst I regard the game and it’s vocal fans as a joke.

I then went on to explain my complete apathy towards Halo and my overall distate at how such a generally underwhelming game (and its sequel) should be elevated to such lofty and, god help me, untouchable status in gaming circles.

What followed was a pretty intense brick-wall style conversation. The particular low-lights being the dismissal of pretty much any point I had about the game due to the fact that I worked for a company that made games this person didn’t particularly rate and, as such, meant that I really had no place criticising a game he did like. This, of course, coming from someone who has made precisely ZERO games and, by extension, has never made a game that anybody liked at all.

A few things became apparent throughout the conversation:

The person I was speaking with seemed to feel the best way of making any point about Halo was to compare it to a game he didn’t like. Certainly, it reinforces why you like one thing over another, I’m not arguing with that. However, making comparisons (particularly in such a one-sided way) is the laziest form of criticism available. If you want to convince me of the qualities or failings of a game then go ahead – but talk about the game and its content, don’t keep telling me how it’s not as good as brand X because you’re not actually telling me anything specific about your favoured brand. You’re not convincing me that you even understand what it is you like or dislike about one or the other – just that you have an opinion. I have an opinion too – if you want me to notice yours you need to learn to articulate your point of view in a far more relevent fashion.

Once things got heated a familar ploy reared it’s ugly head. This takes the form of knowing who I work for and then saying “Well, Halo is far better and sold far better than any of that rubbish you guys produced” or words to that effect. What does this achieve? In what way does this substantiate what you are saying? All it does is show that you felt, at that time, you felt the best and most reasonable response to the way the conversation was going was to direct a cheap shot at someone. It also damages the credibility of whoever said it. Credibility is pretty important if all you have to present an argument with is your personal opinion. That this little tactic got used a few times over the conversation really doesn’t impress me.

Here’s the thing though – the only people who ever use such a woeful ploy are the ones who don’t create and are directed at those who do. I’ve witnessed countless gamers tell me how developers don’t know how to make games. But I’ve never seen such people put any substance behind such claims. Gamers, it seems, have more right to criticise developers and industry than anyone else because (and here’s the most pathetic tactic of all) they pay our wages. It’s a knee-jerk reaction when you argue someone into a corner and it’s laughably desperate behaviour. It’s also rude and ignorant and always, always backfires. I know who pays my wages and it’s not gamers. Gamers pay my royalty bonuses – and I’m more than happy to top up my earnings by taking cash of arrogant shits who think $50 every couple of years means they own me or my right to an opinion.

The final, shameful tactic I wanted to mention in this post was the classic one of superiority-through-sales-figures. First of all, unless you’re a shareholder of the associated company then what the hell does it have to do with you as an individual. You’re using hi-score mentality to prove a point? Maybe it’s to be expected of gamers – hi scores mean something in those circles but, really, quoting how much money something made for someone else as a pillar of what a product means to you is hysterically misguided. Quoting sales-figures is just quoting a statistic. I have never seen any good come from quoting a statistic at another gamer. They’re open to interpretation and spin and, as some people have shown at this site, some will flat out deny the figures are real. The assumption that popularity equates to quality is simply broken logic. “This game sold loads – that proves how good it is!”. Arnold Schwarzenegger made movies that sold loads and were very popular. I wouldn’t call him a good actor. A popular actor? Yes. A good one? No – I’d say he’s pretty low on the scale of acting quality. Likewise, a game sells well so that must mean it’s good? No. Not automatically – that’s broken logic. That’s why loads of idealistic gamers cry “WHY??? HOW IS THIS HAPPENING??” when they see EA games dominating the all format top 10. That’s why the same cry is let loose when a great game doesn’t get the sales it “deserves”. In other words, for every example you show me that substantiates the argument that you can tell a game’s great by looking at it’s sales figures I will show you the same number of examples that proves that not to be the case.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. I’ve got someone on MSN that keep interrupting the composition of this post.

If you feel like chatting with me, be my guest, add comments below, find me on Xbox Live, use the discussion area. If you feel like employing some of the tactics outlined above then, please, don’t bother.