I Relinquish My Crown

Many people know me as the "Shenmue Guy" aka, the guy who stood up during the announcement of the Shenmue III Kickstarter at Sony's Press Conference at E3 2015. That was a long time ago, but it feels like it was only last year. To many people that moment solidified me as a legend, a true Shenmue fan. However, that moment means a lot more than just a game. That moment symbolizes how far I can go. That I can make my dreams come true. That I can achieve what I set my mind to. E3 has been a holy grail of gaming, and I have wanted to go ever since I found out that such a conference existed. And I was able to secure the fact that I was there, and that I left an impact on the community.



All of that being said.... I hate Shenmue.

Well, hate is a strong word. Let's talk about what I don't like about Shenmue, and why I don't want to be the "Shenmue Guy" anymore.

After going to E3, and being discovered as the Shenmue Guy, I started live streaming on Twitch a play through of the original game for Dreamcast. looking back, the game doesn't hold up. The characters, story, gameplay, voice over, and especially the QTEs all fall flat. So, let's break down what I think are the shortcomings of this game.

1. Characters
I believe that in order to have a good, thoughtful, and engaging story, you have to have characters that are equally so. Shenmue does not have any of these. The story is about Ryo Hazuki, who comes home one day to find his father being confronted by a mysterious man from China, asking about a "mirror". Ryo's father is killed by the mysterious man in cold blood and leaves with the mirror in hand. Ryo then scrambles to his fathers side to hear his last words which are thus: "friends, those you love, keep them close". Ryo then swears revenge, and sets out on his quest to hunt down and kill the man who killed his father. This is pretty typical of a kung fu movie, and even more typical of a video game. The thing is, Shenmue sees itself as a game that tells a story about self discovery, and evolution, yet throughout the entirety of Shenmue, Ryo's character arc goes from angry, to angry. He's flat. He's boring. His attitude and focus does not change at all. Ryo pushes everyone aside to focus on his goal of vengeance. This is the opposite of his fathers last wish. Ryo does not keep anybody close to him. In fact, he pushes them all away if they refuse to help him or try to dissuade him of pursuing vengeance. What is the point of this character? What is the point of this game? Ryo might just be an example of what not to do. Now, I'm not entirely sure of what I would do if I saw my father killed by some guy. I think that I would try to go after him too, but I would also go to the police. Something that Ryo has not done. In fact, nobody even mentions the authorities at all. Late 1980s Japan must have been a lawless time, where vigilantes who know karate solve all the crimes and deliver justice.



Now, I've seen a few martial arts films in my day, and most of them specifically say not to seek out revenge, or use martial arts in a manor of offence. I went to grade school with a kid who was in a karate school, and he always said that karate was not for beating people up. I guess it wouldn't make for a good story if the main character didn't have any flaws, or obeyed the rules, but Ryo doesn't even consider the fact that he is going against the teachings of his father. These teachings are barely referenced throughout the game, unless you do very specific things at very specific times. Plus, there are framed pictures of mantras and mottoes all around Ryo's house about keeping one's mind "as clean as a polished mirror". This is the games attempt at theming, because of the aforementioned mirror that the mysterious man was asking about, and the constant mention of the polished mirror. None of this reflects (eeyyyyyy) very well on Ryo, as his mind is constantly clouded by anger.

2. Story
The story of the game is pretty typical of a video game, of which most plot points revolve around rescuing a princess or girlfriend, and vengeance. This plot can also be summed up in a kung fu movie that only lasts about an hour and a half, rather than the envisioned six part series of game that the director Yu Suzuki had originally planned.



I've heard it said that if you're going to tell a story about a character, why not make it about the most interesting part of their lives. I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact quote, but Shenmue is boring. There is a lot of aimlessly wandering around, and even more waiting around. Ryo is supposed to be a highschooler, but is throwing himself into these situations that not even a sensible adult would follow through on. Like when seedy looking individuals tell him to meet them in a dark alley at a specific time, and Ryo actually does it! Aside from the few and far between moments where Ryo is doing something interesting like beating up bad guys, or sneaking around in places he's not supposed to be, he's talking with random people around town trying to follow up on leads that he doesn't have. The structure of the games story starts out pretty strong, but about half way through it, you feel as though you're just grasping at straws because the leads that you do discover never lead anywhere. I don't think that a game like this should be a linear experience, but there should be some amount of hints or clues to guide you through it.



Take a game like L. A. Noire. This game is about being a detective and solving murders. Players have to explore, discover, and logically put together all of the information from said clues and witness testimonies to make sure that they come to the truth. Shenmue is the start of this kind of experience in video games, though I can't help but feel as though this could have been executed better. Storytelling is something that transcends media. Video games are notorious for having bad stories, though in this day and age of gaming, stories have gotten a lot better and much more engaging. Still, if a game like Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VI (or is it III?) can have stories with characters that I find interesting and relateable, what is Shenmue doing wrong?

3. Presentation
One thing that I cannot front Shenmue for doing poorly is its environment. The game does really make you feel like you're in small town Japan. People in the town of Dobuita and Yamanose walk around, and meet with their friends. They go shopping, they have errands to run. It all feels very organic. However, they all look and talk like robots.



The animators of the game seemed to only put time and effort into the movements and animations of Ryo, the main character. Everyone else moves like wooden dolls, and their faces don't emote when they speak. It's really weird when the only person who does is just the one character. Maybe Ryo is stuck in some kind of poorly made simulacrum of Dobuita. I'm not sure, but the terrible voice acting doesn't help to resolve that hypothesis.



Every character, including Ryo, speaks with a very flat and boring tone, doing very little to add to the immersion of the game. Those that do attempt to add character, only add caricature. These few actors that the studio had at their disposal must have been getting tired of working on the game, and maybe were just phoning it in for those lines, but everybody just sounds awful. I know that these were the early days of the immersive storytelling game, but I think that voice acting had been around for a time longer than 3D video games.



4. QTE
Imagine walking down the street to go to the store, and someone who passes you by suddenly shouts at you to press X, if you don't do it, they punch you in the face. That, in essence, is what a Quick Time Event is. Shenmue was the game that brought them to the forefront of video games. For some reason, they have become a trope in video games. QTEs are an unnecessary addition, and nothing would be lost if they were to go away. Even in Shenmue. If Shenmue didn't have its notorious quick time events, nothing would be lost from the story or the experience of the game overall. It's as though the developers believed that because Shenmue is a video game, and not a movie, that the players must have some kind of interaction, otherwise they would get bored. Even during conversations with characters, players have to push the A button in order to keep things moving forward. Why am I not allowed to listen or watch? What if I want to take notes on what is being said? Why do I have to always have to hold the controller? I think that cutscenes and dialogue scenes can serve as bookends to scenes or acts of the story. There's no real balance to the ebb and flow of Shenmue's storytelling method. It's either very slow and boring, or it's very intense action.



5. It's Boring
Shenmue is, overall, a boring game. Most of it is just wandering around town, talking to anybody that you can talk to in order to find the next clue, or whatever, to get to the next action sequence in order to advance the plot. After awhile, the game loses it's charm, and it all becomes mundane. There's no way to advance time. There's too many dead ends or leads that don't get you anywhere. Most of the time, I would just happen to come across the next thing that I was supposed to do. That's no discovery, that's an accident. Shenmue WAS a masterpiece for its time, but it's time to take off the nostalgia goggles. I don't see that Shenmue III is going to change or make any kind of improvements to its formula or design philosophy, and it'll be another boring game, trying to masquerade as a deep and intelligent story about revenge and changing ones heart.

Sticks and Stones

It's no secret that the gaming community online is toxic. What I mean by that is that they are rude, hateful, and open to spitting out vitriol whenever possible. If you jump into a game of Call of Duty, Halo, Overwatch, League of Legends, or any kind of online competitive game (which is a majority of them) you will likely come across somebody with a microphone who will insult you and talk about how they slept with your mom. This kind of mentality has been shaped by playing video games.

In an article written by my friend in early 2016, he talks about the "myth of redemptive violence", which is a common theme in video games that tells gamers that most problems can be solved through killing the bad guys. This myth has bled into the psyche of gamers and has made them think that if something negative happens, the best way to approach it is to be rid of it. Even gamers know that actual physical violence is not the solution to problems. That principle has been instilled in us since we were children. However, nobody said anything about hurting someone else's feelings to make them go away so that we wouldn't see them again.

Video games haven't made people rude. I'm not saying that. However, video games have made us rude to people that gamers view as the opposition. Anita Sarkeesian is a journalist who set out to create a video series that discussed the portrayal of women in video games. Most of what Sarkeesian had to say didn't put video games in the brightest light. With that, the gaming community lashed out at her for undertaking this task. Death threats, threats of rape, threats of physical violence, publishing her address of her place of living, photoshopping pictures of her face beaten and bruised; the list goes on. All of this because of video games. If you asked any of the people who did some of these things, they most likely would respond with "I wasn't going to do it". For some reason the idea of "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" has prevailed in the minds of gamers. However, one could call this frequent stream of threats violent. It is harassment. It is assault. It is slander, and they are lies. All of these things being amoral. Though, none of these things matter to the gamer, because they weren't actually going to make good on their promise to hurt anyone, they just wanted them to leave, and shut up about video games.

The stereotype of the gamer is one who sits indoors all day, playing their video games in the dark, eyes glued to their screen. Sadly, this portrait of the gamer isn't too far off from the vocal minority that has banned together under the flag of #gamergate. This hashtag has brought out the worst in the gaming community. The reality is that they are few, but they can still make a lot of noise. #gamergate was originally started because of a journalist named Nathan Grayson at Kotaku. Word had got out that Grayson was in a relationship with a game developer named Zoe Quinn. Quinn has developed several games by herself, and had released them all for free on Steam. Grayson had never written any articles about her games, as it would have gone against Kotaku's policies of integrity. However, Quinn's ex had found out about the relationship and had written up a slanderous piece about the couple and had spread it across every forum that was available to him. This lead to a multitude of gamers calling for the heads of the "corrupt" journalists in the video game journalism industry. The backlash of this forum post was monumental. Zoe Quinn was the most hated person on the internet. Everything I mentioned that happened to Sarkeesian happened to Quinn tenfold. When Quinn went to the authorities to ask for help, her claims were dismissed. Most likely because all of her evidence came from Twitter, and that she couldn't place the names and locations of where these threats were coming from. While #gamergate has yet to hurt anyone, the threats to these peoples livelihoods is real.

Using various forums to meet, members of #gamergate had resolved to harass advertisers of particular gaming sites by making false claims that what the website was publishing was offensive. #gamergate sent hundreds of thousands of emails to stop advertisers from giving money to these sites, cutting off income from the people who work for these sites. This was a real act. This was not a threat. This was not just harassment. This was something that gamers had banned together to accomplish, and it worked. I'm sure that they felt pretty proud of themselves for eliminating an enemy in their sights.

This is the mentality of gamers. In most games, threats are dealt with through violence. If an enemy is killed, that is a good thing. One less thing to worry about. Gamers tend to see things in black and white, because that's how the stories usually go in video games. Save or harvest, paragon or renegade, good or evil, light side or dark side. Games too often provide players with binary choices with clear consequences. Slowly, subtly, this has warped the views of gamers. If something is bothering them, a gamer must take care of it with the means at its disposal. If someone is badmouthing a game of their childhood, they must be destroyed. If someone is threatening the status quo of gaming, they must be destroyed. If someone didn't touch on the gameplay element of a game in their review, they must be destroyed. #gamergate has gotten so out of  control, that the slightest disturbance is worthy of their ire. It is a group of immature children that have figured out how to use twitter and email to harass and threaten those who have different opinions of them. Because in video games, if you're not for us, you must be against us. You're either on the red team, or you're on the blue team.

Life is not black and white. The stories of peoples circumstances are more than what is presented upon your first meeting. Video games are magical, and wonderful, but they are not a direct simulation of life. They're just fantasies. They are just something to be enjoyed, and when people in these communities are acting out like this, it is hard for me and many others to call themselves proud to be a gamer. It's bad enough that people who don't play games think gamers immature and childish, it's even worse when they think us violent and angry. #gamergate does not do anyone any service. The mentality of eliminating opposition due to a difference of opinion, diversity, or just because they aren't playing a video game as well as you are, is no way to live life. This is a deplorable facet of video games. It's become so common, that most of us have just accepted that it's just how things are in gaming communities.

But I say no. I say that we all should do our best to clean up the gaming communities. We can be just as loud as they are and shout a different message. One of kindness and love. I know that's really difficult when you're losing, but maybe we need to exercise some self control and step away for a while. Getting angry will only hurt yourself and others. Games are entertainment, and they are art, and if they leave us in a bad mood, perhaps we've spent a bit too much time with them. We all need to keep a positive attitude, and that can be just as infectious as a negative one. We need to encourage others and lift each other up. Leave comments on videos that are kind. Tweet out kindness. Don't build gates, build bridges. Make an open doorway into gaming. Because we love video games, don't we? We love to see our friends playing them and enjoying them. We should want to share our passions with others, not hoard them like some kind of dragon. Don't be a dragon. Dragons don't have friends. Also, people want to kill dragons and be rid of them. You want to be the hero, don't you? Slay dragons. Kill them with kindness. Be a positive change. Be a force for good. Be a force for kindness. Show love and compassion for those around you. Even if you don't know them, or have never seen their face. Show kindness.

Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is a game that is widely heralded  as a classic. A revolutionary game that influenced and inspired the masses on what a game could be. Recently, I played through it for the first time, and here are some of my thoughts on the legend.

The Final Fantasy series has always irked me in one way or another. Either the story and characters never resonated with me, or the combat system was too confusing for me to get a hold of. I decided to be patient with VII and give it a chance. The result was a resounding "it's okay, I guess".

The Final Fantasy franchise always has top marks in visuals and soundtrack. However, those do not make for a great game, and the aesthetic isn't really consistent with the overall tone of the game. Most of the places you visit and the things you see are just visually interesting, and don't really hold any value other than to look pretty, so it seems rather empty. The soundtrack, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is as wonderful as ever. While I've never played most of the Final Fantasy games, his renown is well known. I've even been to a few Final Fantasy concerts because I know how great the music is. Final Fantasy VII is a testament to his creativity. The songs in VII are catchy, and they help to embed the areas that you'll visit in the game in your memory. It would be nice, however, if I could listen to them for more than five seconds.

Random battles are annoying. It doesn't matter what game you're playing. They just ruin the moment. This was one thing that I found to be grating on my nerves throughout most of my playthrough of Final Fantasy VII. Sometimes in video games, I just like to run around in circles with my characters while I think of the next thing that I need to do. I can't really have the opportunity to do that when every few steps are interrupted by a random battle. I couldn't really think at all of what was going on, because my train of thought was constantly interrupted by a loud noise and the screen going all crazy just to transition to a handful of random monsters that aren't even worth enough experience points to warrant casting a spell on them.

Something that made the experience of Final Fantasy VII dull was the lack of variety in the characters. Sure, they all looked visually distinct, and they all had their individual personalities; however, everybody could cast spells, use techniques, and summon creatures to fight for them without any kind of class based skill or statistic. I've been playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons lately, and the thing that makes for an effective team is composition. In recent titles like Overwatch, this element is stressed heavily, but Final Fantasy VII isn't a competitive online shooter, it's an RPG. When everybody can use spells just as well as the other person, nobody is special and all of the battles come down to wizard battles. Why is it that Cloud, who is iconic for wielding a huge sword, barely uses it? It was ineffective to continuously use the standard attack, when I could cast a spell that would deal just as much, if not more, damage to all targets on screen? Barret, the guy with the gun for his right arm, was assigned to be my healer because Aeirs (the girl who dies) died on me. The reason this bothers me so much is because the personalities of these characters only come through when they have a bit of dialogue.

The characters didn't have classes. They could use any spell that they wanted. The only thing that separated them were their limit break moves, which only happened once their gauge was full. Sure, it was cool to see Tifa suplex a dragon, but the rest of the time she was using ice and fire spells. She's supposed to be the hand-to-hand martial artist, but she's casting Ice 3 like a level 20 wizard. Because of the games indifference towards classes (which as I understand were a huge element of earlier Final Fantasy games like 3 and 4), composition didn't matter. Even if composition did matter, there was no way to read party member statistics to differentiate them.

The characters of Final Fantasy aren't very unique to being with, however. Everybody fills in the roles that their supposed to, and nobody really stands out as a unique character to me. Plus, the game forced the romance between Cloud and Aeris, when I wanted Cloud and Tifa to be a thing. The game takes you on its narrative, and doesn't allow for much, if any wiggle room. I was just there for the ride. I know that if you do a specific thing, you can have Cloud go on the date at the Golden Saucer with someone other than Aeris, but I didn't really know how to do that, since spending time with different party members only occurs in the aforementioned team composition. It isn't like Mass Effect where I can chat with my crew for a bit and get to know them more. The thing that bothered me the most is that nobody really surprised me all that much. Save for Cait Sith turning out to be a spy for the bad guys. Tifa plays the childhood friend. Aeris: the beautiful girl whom the main character immediately falls in love with. Barret: the radical who acts like he has nothing to lose, but who has a family to look after / token black character. These archetypes aren't interesting. They're boring and frustrating. Nobody changed throughout this adventure.

All in all, Final Fantasy VII is a video game. You have your cast of characters, and you save the world. That's it. There's a few interesting moments here and there about identity, and big corporations flippantly killing the planet (which seems more relevant than it ever has been these days). Other than that; nothing special. A few moments caught me off guard with random encounters being way above my level and wiping my party, but I was able to make it past them once I figured out how to run from battles. Final Fantasy probably would have blown my mind if I had played it when it originally came out. Is it worth playing now? I can't be sure. The genre of the Japanese RPG has evolved to a new standard, and Final Fantasy VII seems archaic by now.

B



Side note: The ATB system still doesn't make any sense to me, and I think it's trash. Also: random encounters that can wipe my party during a crucial moment in the story are bull shit.

For Honor Closed Alpha Starts Thursday

For Honor is an upcoming game from Ubisoft about medieval warfare. Players can choose from three different factions: Knights, Samurai, and Vikings. The full game is set to be released next February 14, but this Thursday players can register to get into the closed alpha and get a taste of the game before its' full release.



The alpha will have quite a lot of features including: being able to play as two of the four available heroes from each of the three factions (knights, samurai, and vikings), three (3) maps, three different multiplayer modes (1v1, 2v2, and 4v4). There will also be a little bit of leveling up to do in the alpha that will allow players to unlock cosmetics for the available characters as well as perks and equipment.

If you want to sign up to get into the closed alpha, go here, and sign up with Uplay.

via: Games Radar

The Last Guardian Delayed Until December

The Last Guardian has once again been delayed. Even after the announcement at E3 2016 that the game would be released on October 25. The announcement of the delay comes from Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. In a blog post on September 12, 2016, Yoshida makes the announcement, to a surprisingly calm internet. Perhaps because this game has been in development for a very long time, and we're all just kind of used to this thing by now. However, The Last Guardian is still slated for a 2016 release, and it seems as though the development team are just ironing out the bugs now to make sure that the game is what they want it to be.



via: Game Informer

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

This is my 200th blog post! Yaaaaayy!!!!

While some of my posts are very old, and I wrote them long before I started to dedicate myself to this blog and practicing my craft more. I'd say that it still counts.

Either way.

I've been writing on this blog consistently for a while now, and I'm really proud of myself for doing so. It is not the most popular blog on the internet, and most of my personal friends forget that I even write this blog. However, that doesn't stop me from doing so. I really enjoy writing. It's my passion, and I know that there is room for improvement. Practice makes perfect, as they say, so I like to keep on writing. It's important to me that I do so, because I don't want to lose whatever edge that I've spent so much time developing. I kind of feel like a character in an MMO, where I am frequently told that only I can save the world, but there are seventeen thousand other characters of the same class who follow the same quest line and get told the exact same thing, and we all follow the same missions that can "change the tide of battle", but it doesn't make a difference one way or the other. It just feels kind of pointless at times, but whatever. I'm still having fun doing this.

There are lots of times when I don't update my blog, and I get pretty upset about it. At the end of the day, I just have to shrug it off. I missed a day. It isn't the end of the world. Besides, it isn't as though I can't update again, or write on a day that isn't when I had planned to write. Inspiration can strike at anytime, and that's when I like to write.

Often times, it does seem rather fruitless to continue to write on this blog, especially when I do such a poor job of sharing it around, but I like doing it. I play so many video games, and in reality they don't help me to get anything accomplished, but I have enjoyed myself. I just want to be happy at the end of the day, and if I can feel accomplished by making a blog post, or by playing some video games, then that should be enough. It's kind of difficult to be an adult these days. There's a lot of things that stress me out. I battle depression on a regular basis, and I'm only just making it by financially. Yet, there are still things that I can do to just be happy.

Happiness is a concept that we learn about when we are very young. At some point along the way, probably during school, we forget about being happy. We start to take ourselves seriously. We have responsibilities, and deadlines, and all of these things that stress us out. More often than not, we're worried, and we're just doing okay. It's difficult for us to say that we're happy. I love my video games, and I love this blog. I like spending time with people I care about, and I like having fun. It's kind of sad that I have to make time for those things, but it's really important that I do, because I should be happy. We all should. I don't think that it's worth working all the time, so that I can have money, so that I can work more, so that I can get more money, so that I just end up staying in this vicious cycle that doesn't leave any time for myself, or the things and people that I care about. Even the Bible says to keep the Sabbath holy. In other words: take a day off. Treat yourself. Enjoy life. Because so many of us are just existing. I know that I am. I have to fight to break that monotony of rhythmic routine. That's why I like video games. That's why I like writing. That's why I like spending time with other people. Because it breaks that routine where it becomes mind numbing.

I may have rambled for this post, but it felt good to do so. I know that life is difficult, and that it's hard to see the bright side sometimes, but also, we have to make the bright side. There's probably something that you can do today to make yourself just a little bit happier. Go be happy. It isn't childish. It isn't silly. It's something that we all need, and we all deserve.

I intend to keep on writing this blog, whether you read it or not, because it makes me happy, and I like doing it.

More Anime For Your Buck

Streaming service Crunchyroll recently announced that Funimation has entered into a partnership with them. This means that Funimation shows that premiere in Japan will be available the next day on Crunchyroll. Other Funimation anime will also be available on Crunchyroll, such as Cowboy Bebop and Psycho Pass.

Crunchyroll is basically the Netflix of anime, and has a huge selection of shows to watch. Crunchyroll also offers the viewing of new anime that is released the day after it premiers in Japan, so anime lovers can stay current with all of the new anime that comes out. It's also a good way to support the official release, and makes it easier to get your hands on professional and official English dubs of anime without having to scour the darker corners of the Internet.



via: Kotaku

Sonic Beats Mario

There have been a lot of takedowns by Nintendo of fanmade content. Namely Pokemon Uranium and AM2R (a full remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus).

On the other end of the spectrum, a fan made a Sonic game called Green Hill Paradise. Instead of making a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), Sega decided to let it ride. The Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account further punctuated this by posting this:



Sonic has even gone so far as to bring fans on to help develop future games such as Sonic Mania.

Personally, I think that Sega doing things right by letting fans continue to let their creations stay up for others to enjoy. Nintendo is well within their right to take down fan creations for the sake of protecting their properties. However, I, along with many other fans, would like to see these games available for everybody else to take a look at. Especially since there hasn't been a new proper Metroid game since Metroid Fusion. After all, Nintendo is one of the most influential game companies of all time. I think that they should be honored that so many people are paying tribute to them by making these games. While I may be unfamiliar with the laws of copyright and DMCA, I still feel as though Nintendo is being a bit too harsh with these takedowns.

via: Kotaku

Sony Says 'No' to Mods

Bethesda had announced that there will not be mod support for their games on the Playstation 4, but not of their own volition. Sony did not approve of allowing mods for both Fallout 4 and the upcoming Skyrim Remaster. In a post on Bethesda.net, the company revealed that Sony themeselves were responsible for this prevention.

"After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition.

Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience. However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available.

We will provide an update if and when this situation changes."

This seems similar to what happened with the original Skyrim on the PS3. While players on Xbox 360 and PC were enjoying the DLC packs that were released for Skyrim, Playstation 3 users did not get to experience them until the game of the year edition was released on store shelves. However, this is all just personal speculation. I think that Sony is making the wrong move here, especially when Bethesda has made an effort to make sure that the mod support for the PS4 versions of Fallout 4 and Skyrim would work on the console.

via: Kotaku

Neo is Now Pro

Sony held its Playstation Meeting today in New York where they made many announcement. One of those announcements was the official announcements of the rumored Neo, a higher powered version of the Playstation 4. The Playstation 4 Pro is basically what the Neo was, but now with the name of Pro.



With a new look, upgraded specs, and a 1 TB hard drive, the Playstation 4 Pro is a new generation of console generation within the current generation of consoles.



The Playstation 4 Pro will be released November 10th 2016.

via: Eurogamer

Super Mario Makes His Way to iOS

Nintendo is slowly starting to make their presence known on the mobile market. Earlier this year, they released Miitomo. Today, during the Apple conference Nintendo announced Super Mario Run. The app is a simple one touch runner, where players collect coins and make their way to the flag at the end of the stage. Super Mario Run will also have a competitive mode where users can face off against friends and strangers from around the world and set high scores. The game will be released this Holiday 2016.



via: Kotaku

Nintendo Direct: September 2016

Over the weekend, Nintendo released their Nintendo Direct, a video containing new announcements and details of things to come from the company. While many were expecting more details on their upcoming console, the tentatively named "Nintendo NX", there were a lot of surprising announcements for their current handheld console: The 3DS.


source: Techraptor

Of course there was some more information about the new Pokemon Sun and Moon games coming out later this year. A new Mario Party game was announced. A new Picross game, and a few other digital games that will be available in the future. However, some of the more impressive announcements were the ports of some Wii U games to the 3DS.


Source: Kotaku

Titles like Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World, and Pikmin. All of these games are available on the Wii U, but now they're available on the go. These aren't special editions, but rather, direct ports of these titles of Nintendo's console.


Source: DualShockers

While I have a 3DS, I don't play it nearly enough. There are tons of great games out there for the handheld, and it looks like Nintendo is doing what they can to ensure that 3DS owners are getting the most out of their console. Having direct ports of Wii U games is great, because not everyone owns both a 3DS and a Wii U. Good on you, Nintendo.

Source: Destructoid

The Art of League Of Legends

Riot Games, creators of League of Legends and nothing else, just released a digital artbook that folks can look at and admire completely free. Entitled "The Art of League of Legends", it is a collection of concept, splash, and alternative designs of the champions of League of Legends. While not a fan of the game, I still really appreciate all of the effort that goes into the design of League of Legends characters. Riot Games is a studio that is driven by passionate people, who care deeply about their community and the game that they are creating. By releasing this art book to the general public for free, that's just one way of showing the fans that they care. So have a look at The Art of League of Legends.







Via: Kotaku

Hail To The King, Baby

This year is the 20th anniversary of Duke Nukem 3D, and to celebrate: Gearbox (developers of Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever) are releasing a remastered version of the original Duke Nukem 3D along with eight whole new levels. These new levels are created by a team of developers who worked on the original game back in 1996. Allen Blum III and Richard "Levelord" Gray return as level designers for the new chapter, and Lee Jackson returns as well to compose the music. Of course Jon St. John reprises his role as Duke.



Duke Nukem 3D: World Tour will have a swap-able graphics mode between HD and the original, not unlike the Halo: Combat Evolved remaster. Plus, the game will include developer commentary, so players can get a look into what goes on behind the scenes.

Personally, I think that Duke Nukem is old hat, and needs to be thrown out along with the rest of the machismo trash that this game inspired. Duke's portrayal of masculinity is absurd, and most likely intended as a joke, but this kind of humor just doesn't land anymore. I feel as though video games have matured beyond this. Not just with the inclusion of more playable female characters, but in their storytelling and world building. I know that there are a lot of fans of Duke Nukem 3D out there who are probably shaking their heads at me for saying that we need to do away with Duke, but I stand by it.

Duke Nukem 3D: World Tour is released for PS4, Xbox One, and PC October 11

Via: Kotaku

Make Sure You Have Your Buddy

Niantic, creators of Pokemon GO, have officially announced the new buddy system for their game. This was rumored for a while due to the efforts of some data miners from around the Internet.  The Buddy System is said to unlock "unique in-game rewards and experiences". This will include players receiving additional candy for their buddy Pokemon. 



This feature will be represented by having your buddy Pokemon appear alongside your trainer avatar. Niantic also said that buddy Pokemon can be swapped out at any time.

This is great news, as players might not always get that Pokemon that they were looking for. In my experience, I got to choose one of the three starter Pokemon, and have yet to find another of its kind to trade in and level up the original. Having a Buddy System in place like this will allow for me and other players to walk around and regularly earn rewards for my preferred Pokemon. While there has not been a date announced as to when this new system will be in place Niantic said that it was "right around the corner". I'm looking forward to going on some more Poke-walks in the future.



Via: IGN

YouTube No Longer Advertiser Friendly

On August 30th 2016, many YouTube content creators had their videos struck with notifications of their videos having monetization removed. The reason being: YouTube had rephrased their policies to allow for advertisers to better allow themselves to flag videos for inappropriate content. However, the list of reasons and topics that are considered "not advertiser friendly" cover the gamut of things that are in pretty much every YouTube video ever.



This image was posted on PhillyD's Twitter, and it highlights the reasons for some of his videos having their advertising being removed. In a video that PhillyD posted on the day of the policy clarification, he discusses the concerns that he had about the changes. PhillyD is one of YouTube's earlies content creators, as he mentions in the video, and he has only been flagged roughly twelve times during the course of the ten years that he has been consistently making videos on YouTube. However, because of this new rephrasing of YouTube policy, that number has doubled.

YouTubers make their money from advertising revenue. If they can no longer have advertisements on their videos, they can no longer make money. This is obviously a problem for the individuals who have made their living from said advertiser revenue.

For a YouTuber like PhillyD to have his monetization pulled for "controversial or sensitive subjects" is worrisome. I, myself, watch a lot of Youtube, and a lot of them technically violate these newly reworded policies. While these are not new policies according to YouTube, they have just been reworded so that advertisers can flag videos that they deem not appropriate for their advertisements and have a more clear reason for doing so. These flags are brought up by the advertisers, and not users, which is a good thing. However that probably wouldn't stop a group of people from flagging a video themselves, and complaining to the advertisers to take down their advertisement. This is the tactic that #gamergate used a few years ago. However, those people wouldn't even have to do that because of things like AdBlock, which removes nearly all forms of advertisements that help YouTubers make money. While their are other ways for these content creators to make money, with things like merchandise, Patreon, and donations from their respective communities, this is still a problem. Not everyone can afford to give money regularly, or even afford merchandise. The best way for them to support their favorite YouTubers is to simply watch their videos, and let the YouTube algorithm sort out how much money goes to that creator.



via: Kotaku

Ready For Anything.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who prepare and plan ahead, and those who just wing it. I, myself, fall into the latter of those two camps, and it's gotten me pretty far in life. However, I know that if I actually took my time and planned a little bit, and maybe actually give the future some thought, I would make it further. Recently, I finished playing The Witcher III, which is all about planning ahead.

The Witcher is a series that has been going on for a while now, and I decided to jump in on the third game. Turns out that was okay, because everything was so well made that I immediately fell in love with it. The game is unlike most others that I've played before. Sure, I have played Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda, but Witcher does things a bit differently. The game makes you choose. Now, most games will tout "game changing decisions" on the back of the box, but those are primarily binary choices between what is clearly good and clearly evil. Not so much with The Witcher, however. Witcher has players making decisions both narratively, and mechanically. 

What I mean by this is: that the player much choose how to go about advancing their character; not just with equipment and weapons, but also with perks and abilities that come with leveling up. In most games, players can level up, and up, and up, and up, until they become nigh unstoppable and a one man army that is close to godlike status. This is because the game will allow players to pick every perk and point along the way to the top of that characters tree (a list of perks and abilities that are placed along a path that branches out, resembling a tree), and let them keep each and every single one. Even the lower level ones that aren't even that effective anymore. The Witcher III only has so many slots that the player can designate these perks/abilities to, forcing them to choose what to improve, what ability to keep, which ability to sacrifice, and what ability to go with next. This doesn't prevent players from becoming stronger, but rather, it allows players to become more invested in the path that they take when forming their character.

How does the player want to play? Do they want to be stronger with magic? Do they want to be stronger with sword combat? Do they want to become more adept at alchemy, and making their potions and oils last longer and be more effective? This is how The Witcher III makes players choose and plan. Other RPGs will also force players to choose how to build their character, but those have set classes that they are constrained to. The Witcher III allows players to branch out a bit more, and create a character that is uniquely their own.

Another way in which The Witcher III helps players to better plan ahead is with its potions, oils, and decoctions. Potions are pretty common among video games of all kinds, but Witcher III treats them differently than most other games. Each potion has a toxicity rating that limits the use of them. Cutting off any player that wants to down a potion of regeneration, followed by a potions of greater strength, followed by a potion of damage reduction. Plus, players can also brew new improved versions of the potions that they have by finding the recipes and ingredients in the world of the game. Players can also learn the different kinds of plants and elements that they need for specific potions. Being able to find a specific plant and identify it in the world, is a pretty cool feeling, and knowing what it is for is even more cool. It gives off the vibe that you're a true survivor, and that you know the lay of the land and you can live off of it, because you're a tough guy/girl. The game itself also strongly advises the use of these potions that the player can craft as they are not invincible. Players should have a decent selection of potions to use before heading into a battle. Whether that is taking on a camp of bandits, or delving into a monsters layer, players need to be prepared.

Speaking of monsters, players are often encouraged to read up and research their prey. As the main character of The Witcher is a hunter of monsters, he should know a thing or two about them. Players can take a look at the bestiary and learn about the creatures that they have fought, and are going to fight. What their weaknesses are, what spells to use against them, what kind of creature they are, where they can be found, and what strategies to use when fighting them. The bestiary is a wealth of knowledge that I spent more time than I thought that I would reading. Usually codex entries in games are either insignificant, or just plain boring. The bestiary in The Witcher was not only useful, but it helped to build up the world of the game.

Finally, there is a sort of "detective" portion of The Witcher III. The main character of the game has super human senses that allows him to be a better tracker. Couple that with his extensive knowledge of monsters and the world around him, and you have yourself a pretty savvy detective. Often times, players will have to track down monsters, and solve problems of the local populace. This sometimes involves inspecting some gruesome scenes of mangled corpses. The game gives players the options to inspect these bodies in an effort to gain more information about what exactly they are dealing with. The descriptive dialogue that comes from the main character gives players insight into his thought process and give them a heads up about what they are going up against. My favorite part about this is how practical all of this is. While Geralt, the main character, might have superior senses, and he is also dealing with mythical beasts: basic sleuthing still gets the job done. Examining claw marks, blood trails, and the surrounding crime scenes help to gain information about what happened. Just like normal detectives do. With wit, cunning, and just plain smarts, players gain a huge sense of satisfaction from tracking down the truth.



Most other games don't really give players this kind of experience. They just trundle through them, with little to no involvement. Skyrim, for example, just has players faffing about in the sandbox that is the game world, taking on quest after quest, without having to worry about the consequences that they yield. Plus, as far as preparation is concerned, most players just get by with winging it. There's nothing wrong with that, though. Shooting and looting is the name of the game in Skyrim. Players can freely wander about the landscape, adventuring and having a good time. Clearing out dungeons, bandit camps, caves filled with monsters, and exploring ancient temples is fun, but all seems... rote. Don't get me wrong, I've spent a lot of time playing Skyrim, and some of the best adventures I've had have been going from one area to the next, exploring different monuments and landmarks to discover new things. However, because of my play style of purely magic use, I was death incarnate by about level twelve. It was a simple plan of attack: sneak as much as possible, then go loud and proud with firebolt. Nothing could stand in my way. If I ever ended up running low on mana, I would drink whatever potions I had found randomly along the path, and be back at it. If it ever so happened that I didn't have any of these mana restoring potions, I could just wait for it to refill, because it doesn't take all that long to refill. How is this different from The Witcher?



 Well, I feel more invested in all of the items that I have on my character. The potions I have are because I gathered the ingredients myself. The equipment I have is crafted by a blacksmith that I had to travel the world to find, so that I could have top quality gear. Some pieces of my loadout have a story behind them as to how I got them. In Skyrim, rarely do I get the sense that the things that I have on my person have any sort of bearing or investment on my character. Sure, some items were acquired after completing a quest line, though these quests were completed solely for the purpose of acquiring this gear. It's just another step to optimize damage output and self sustainability. I'm simply just improvising my way through the game. Some things that I pick up on the way only seem temporary. The weapons, equipment and spells that I pick up are only temporary.



The same could be said for the Legend of Zelda franchise. Players go through these games picking up specific items along the way. Some items are universally helpful, but for the most part, these items are only used in the temples that they are found in. They're place outside of these dungeons are rather pointless.They just occupy space in your inventory, never to be used again. This kind of reminds me of how I stumble through life.

I wish that I could be more well equipped like The Witcher. I wish that I could plan things out more. I'm sure that I have the capacity to do so. I like the feeling that The Witcher gives me when I am prepared. I feel so smart, knowing that I picked the right spells to invest in, the right potions to have equipped, the skills that I leveled up. I am invested into making the character the best that they can be with the limited amount of resources that I have, and boy do I know a lot about having limited resources. Careful thought and planning can change the outcome of the future. It's like when you study for a test, rather than just trying to go from memory of what you had heard in class. Some people are really good at paying attention in class, and listening to what the teacher had to say. Others are not. Perhaps it's time to make a change in my life where I maybe do some planning ahead, in stead of constantly trying to just wing it in hopes of putting one foot in front of the other without tripping over them.

That's One Giant Step...

Let's talk about fear. Not the kind of fear that you feel when you see a scary monster, or some kind of horrifying scene with blood and what not. I want to talk about the kind of fear that most of us experience daily: the fear of the future. Right now, I find myself coming up to a rather large fork in the road of my life. I could stay the course and play it safe, or I could take that turn and change things. I suppose that this option has always been available too me, yet the possibility for this change feels more tangible than it ever has before.

Last night while at work, I found myself stressing about this decision and mulling it over and over and over again. While I was having a self contained panic attack, I was also working at my job, which required me to push skids of boxes across the floor like Link from the Legend of Zelda pushing large boxes to solve puzzles.

This got me thinking about my boy Link, and what he was doing before he set off on his adventure that would earn him the title of "The Hero of Time". The aforementioned fork in the road of my life would be a dramatic change for me, as was the decision for Link to step outside his house and set off on his adventure. What I find to be confusing, and rather envious of, is Link's willingness to do so. Link does not stress about what he is leaving behind. Nor does he fear the potential failure of moving ahead. Link just heads out, without a second thought, because that's what he's supposed to do.

Life is nothing like a video game. Things are way too open ended. There are too many decisions to be made that can change our lives on a daily basis. We fear these decisions, because we fear change. We fear the unknown consequences that they will bring. Our digital heroes that we see on screen do not have these fears. Even though we are the ones who are controlling them, they do not worry. We, who have these fears and anxieties. Why do we fear so much? Why are we so afraid of change? Why do we hesitate to step out the door, and set off on adventure?

The consequences of playing a video game and failing is but a simple reset to the last check point, but failure in life could potentially lead to a permanent Game Over. The reason that I stress about this change: is because it's a big deal. It isn't a simple matter of a change of scenery, but also a change in the course of my life. I feel as though making this change could, well, change everything. Sometimes I wish that life were as simple as a video game, where I could follow the path, and end up being the hero. I wish that I didn't have the anxiety of potential failure, like the characters that I play in video games.

What if I took a page from Link's book, and just went out on blind faith that this change was going to be the next step in my quest?  Link does not fear failure. Nor does he worry about letting people down. Link strides out in confidence, and does not look back. I don't think that Link knows that this adventure would be as daunting, or thrilling as it turns out to be. Link doesn't become the hero that he is because he wants the fame that goes along with it. Link doesn't want to have songs written about him. I'm not even sure he does this because he knows that it has to be done. I think that Link takes this step out on faith because he wants change. What is Link doing at the start of every Zelda game? Pretty much nothing. Link is just a normal dude, doing normal things. When the opportunity presents itself, he goes after it.

So, here I stand, seeing that giant fork in the road that could change the course of my life. I'm not sure if it will be for the better. I'm not even sure if it is the right thing to do. But, maybe, I should take a stab at it anyway, because it could lead to a new adventure.

The Journey, Not The Destination

Throughout my life, I've always seen the goal of where I want to be. I've just never seen the path to get there. I had the realization last night, that maybe I should start enjoying life more, and maybe living in the present, as opposed to trying to figure out how to reach the goal. Don't get me wrong, it's important to have goals to strive for, but it seems as though we are a culture that is obsessed with reaching goals and accomplishing things. I feel as though we scarcely take the time to enjoy the things around us, or we are so caught up in trying to make ends meet, or doing what it takes to reach our goals, we don't really see what's around us. I think that if we took a page from the time that we put into video games, we might learn a thing or two.

Recently I completed The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt and its expansions. I played the main game and the first expansion the way that I eat my plate when I go out to eat: I finish the main course first, and then move on to the sides. I don't particularly think that there is anything wrong with this, especially since the writing in the story makes it seems as though I am so pressed for time, but perhaps I really missed out on enjoying the world of Witcher III. By the time I got around to obtaining the second and final expansion, Blood and Wine, I decided that I would do just that. It also helped that the expansion gave a nice change of scenery as well. I took my time with the game, and decided that I would hunt down side quests, and just explore. I was a pretty well experienced Witcher, and I had some good equipment to boot, I was going to go wherever the wind took me. Because of this, I enjoyed myself. I took on any side quest that I could find, and really enjoyed each one. They were filled with interesting characters and memorable moments. If I had gone my normal route of focusing on the main quest, I probably would have ignored all of these little moments.



Games don't often encourage side quests. They are constantly portrayed as something that is secondary, even tertiary, and yet the writers and designers spent just as much time on them to make sure that they would be a quality experience. Well, at least for the bigger side quests any way. Take for example: Batman: Arkham City. In this game, there are several side quests that the player can choose to pursue, and each one feels like it could be its very own game. The story and characters are well crafted, and the overall experience of them feels fulfilling. However, the game does nothing to stress their importance, even though during the course of these quests the lives of several characters are on the line. If Batman were to just ignore the precedent set by his psychotic foils, the lives of the innocents would be forfeit. It seems rather odd that Batman has the option to ignore saving people. After all, that's what he does. What if a game actually forced the player to focus on side quests?



Mass Effect 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. It's in my top 5. What ME 2 does, is just that. The game forces players to take on side quests, and each one is amazing in its own way. If you've never played the game before: Commander Shepard is at it again, fighting off evil aliens that are reeking havoc across the galaxy. However, because of the mystery of these evil n'eredowells, their tactics are just as confusing. The evil alien race in question are the Collectors, mysterious bug-like beings that only appear when they want to, seemingly at random. This time around, they are directly attacking small human colonies and abducting everyone there. As is befitting to their mysterious nature, the Collectors use hit & run tactics. They come, they abduct, they leave. So, during this time of the Collectors absence, Commander Shepard has some time on their hands. Apparently, a lot has happened with the crew since the good Commander has been gone, and some things need sorting out. These are the side quests of the game. Throughout, the player will find themselves being asked to speak privately with each crew member about something that is bothering them. Because of your attachment to the characters, and the need for them to remain focused during the final mission of the game, you happily oblige to hear them out. Each crew member tells their story of what has been on their mind, and through this, you learn more about their past and personality. To see each character reflected in the nature of the missions that are provided is something that is just way too cool! Each mission feels tailor made to the respective character. While Commander Shepard feels pressed for time in stopping the Collectors; them being gone puts my mind at ease while I'm helping out my crew members. This, I believe, is how side questing should be structured.



Side quests make up a majority of what RPGs are, and yet most of them get ignored, or are just a poor excuse for XP grinding. Side quests should enrich the world, as they are a good reason to explore it. They can be a way for players to learn more about the universe that they are exploring, and yet the most common side quest is something along the lines of "go to this place that I've marked on your map and bring back item X to me". That's it. That's all there is to it. The experience of doing such a thing turns out to be trivial and not even worth doing, as the in game reward isn't even worth it.

Now, maybe we have something in life that we can do with ignoring, and maybe there are some things that just aren't even worth looking into. What if, though, we took a chance and changed course? Our end goals will still be there, because the path is unclear. We may not know exactly how to get where we want to go, but if we keep working towards it, we might just make it. Even if that means taking a detour every once in a while.

Time to Let Sleeping Dogs Lie -THE END