Adressing the Masses 2

Yup. It's that time to respond to comments. As always, thanks so much for commenting. You make blogging fun and worth it. Let's get to it.

A note was made about shooting games on the first Adressing the Masses post:

"Acrade/shooting games may seem violent but it actually enhances strategic concentration. A better way of venting without harming anyone but the computer screen."

First off, the blog had nothing to do with this, so I have no idea why this person left this comment. But to comment on it, I agree and disagree. Shooting games are violent. They don't seem violent. They are. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Games require a certain amount of violence to be appealing and realistic. Secondly, this person is right that video games do improve concentration. Video games have also been shown in studies to improve peripheral vision and hand-eye coordination. Finally, I find that venting with a shooter is not very smart. In my opinion, it isn't a good idea to vent with violence as all the agression one may have can turn into more agression. Good venting games are puzzle and thinking games. These settle you down, and get your brain working so you can think rationally.

A comment was made about my post on MMO's and World of Warcraft:

"A note about WoW: Yes, it has monopolized the MMO market. But that's not a bad thing. Blizzard adores their fans and is constantly updating the game for the players' enjoyment."

I disagree. Monopolization in video games is extremely bad for the market. By taking such supremacy in this area, it is near impossible for other developers who might have good ideas to enter into the market. Video games are all about new innovations, new ideas, and (capitalism FTW) competition. This is true at all times, even for the MMO market. Now, I disagree also that WoW has monopolized the market. There is room for another MMO, as long as it isn't like WoW. A unique and different MMO has as much chance of succeeding as WoW. And in regards to Blizzard caring for thier fans, I agree all the way. This shouldn't hinder other companies though; this just sets for them a great example for the future.

Lots of comments were made about my post about the lack of quality in sports games.

"I hear you, but only the sports games produced by 2K and EA [are bad]. The realistic ones suck. And be careful when you say sports because things like racing and skateboarding fall into that, and there are plenty skate games that are fun."

And in response to that:

"Those are fun, however, they keep puking out remakes sometimes and they get stale."

A very valid statement. Technically, games such as skating and racing fall under sports, but I tend to not consider them sports games because they stand out on their own. Racing games are an entire crowd themselves, and yes, there are many racing games that are good. Skating games also stand out as a seperate crowd, although they are recently becoming more and more like the rest of sports games. God knows the Tony Hawk series is in trouble, and EA will keep popping out Skate sequels for years to come. And of course, their are exceptions to what I am saying. The old sports games were extremely fun, and unique games like the old Blitz series of games were really fun.

Someone also commented on the use of motion control, ala Tony Hawk: Ride.

"I think the only way to bring innovation to the genre is by using motion control, but at that point you might as well go out and play sports anyway."

I think motion control is great and innovative, and it could be a way to rejuvinate some sports games. Natal was shown playing Burnout Paradise, and that looked amazing. It must be done correctly however. Tony Hawk: Ride showed the enormous room for error in this field.

A very cool comment on my BioWare post.

"Stop making me want an xbox...RPG's FTW!!!!"

I agree. RPG's are FTW. By the way, have you played Mass Effect?

Lots of comments on my post about sequels and the effects of singleplayer and multiplayer by moving to a sequel.

"In a nutshell, single player stuff isn't replaced with a new game in a series. However, multiplayer does move on. I don't hear many people playing Halo 2 or Gears of War for multiplayer."

Agree with most of that. Singleplayer stuff tends to be unique to each game, as I said in the post. Multiplayer in most instances is a replacement factor, but some multiplayer things just are so good that they are worth going back once in a while. And believe me. There are still people on Halo 2. I even checked. There were about 6,000 people on in the last 24 hours.

I loved this comment on the post.

"Early final fantasies are the best...please prove me wrong."

Okay. By early I think you mean I-VI, before 3D. VII introduced an amazing convoluted story of corruption, love, betrayal, death, and destiny. It presented a single relateable hero, Cloud, rather than multiple people you really can't get attached to. It introduced 3D of course, and it was one of the first games ever to have such a long and epic narrative. VIII would also repeat this with a solo protagonist, and it also introduced voiceovers, and staple of not only all of the future Final Fantasies, but of RPG's. IX would bring the same, plus a new artstyle. X was the first game on the legendary PS2, and has one of the best sales records of any game in history. It also brought a solo protagonist, and broughts themes not heard of in early FF's, like passion, which is an emotion unable to be expressed in 8-bit. X2 was the first spinoff of the Final Fantasies, and it widened it's perspective by introducing new gameplay, like rhythm games. XI made Final Fantasy into an MMO, and it had record breaking sales. XII was super innovative, with previously unseen levels of facial expression in the graphics, and the elimination of random encounters in favor of seeing every enemy in the field. Finally, XIII will introduce a new combat system combining action with menu based combat, and it will have groundbreaking visuals never before seen in a video game. How's that?

A comment on my review of Modern Warfare 2:

"I would post a witty comment...but hey, it's MW2 and I don't really give a shit what others think. No offense. :D"

None taken. Good for you though. That's what reading gaming stuff is all about. Liking the content, but not really giving a shit one way or another. XD

A comment on my VGA post.

"Flower. Pfft. Splosion man should have gotten the award..."

Agreed. I thought Splosion Man was awesome. Of course, I haven't played Flower, so it might be that good. Still, that guy deserved that award...

Finally, a very long comment (which I love) on my 2009 year in review:

"I agree that Sony had the best year. It may not appear that way on paper..."

I don't know. The paper actually looks kind of convincing. After the price drop the PS3 oversold the Xbox 360 for the first time ever. Although it went back to number 3 the next month, the sales numbers were triple that of previous months. And this loss was probably due to everyone buying MW2 with a 360 in November.

"Nintendo needs to get back to their roots. They did good with bringing back Mario, but they need to bring other things like Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox..."

I agree somewhat. Nintendo is knowne for the flagship titles, and these are the games people buy. It just consoles can't survive with just these games. Third party games account for the majority of sales on a console, not first party. They need to start having innovative and exciting third party titles too.

"Delays suck but I think that some are necessary...For all we know, the extra time that Batman had could have made it from an okay game to a great game."

Actually, I am fairly positive Batman: Arkham Asylum was finished by June. All reviewers had finished copies. The delay was made to maximize profits by putting it at the end of summer rather than the beginning, which probably was a good idea. Still, I understand your point and it is definitely true. But a game like Alpha Protocol which had been delayed 4 times already is loosing interest. There is only so much time you can grab before you lose the crowd.

That's all for now. Keep on commenting, it's what keeps me going!