Oh Sony Where Art Thou?
When I was growing up, Sony became king for me once the Walkman was released. Listening to your own music anywhere you went was awesome. Because I didn’t have much money, I had a knock-off brand until much later, but everyone just referred to the portable cassette player as a Walkman. I was hooked on Sony products from then on. The Discman was cool. Sony CD players were great. I didn’t care about the whole Betamax/VHS thing because I didn’t know what it entailed at the time, and I never really thought of anything but good times with Sony products.
When the Playstation came out, once again I was hooked. Tekken, Wipeout, and Resident Evil sealed the deal and made that my system of choice. I was a long time Nintendo die hard fan, but I never got a Nintendo 64 until after it was on the way out. I had my first official console game testing job on the Sega Saturn, and I thought it was cool. It certainly had some awesome games. However, it was the Playstation I kept coming back to. It just had all the games that rocked. Plus, since I owned a first gen PS1, I could disc swap any time and play Japanese imports (the Japanese Symphony of the Night is one of my all time faves [*Sigh* if only the Saturn content had been added to the new PS1 port on XBLA], and I’m still disappointed at what was cut out of Ace Combat 3). Being a tester and developer, I saw some of the not so nice parts of Sony, especially with dev kits and burning submission discs, but the system and the games still kept me going. Metal Gear, Tecmo’s Deception, Ape Escape, the Resident Evil series, Bushido Blade, Spyro, Tenchu, the list of awesome games seemed neverending!
Then the PS2 come out, and once again I was sucked in. I replaced my wonky DVD player, got to play my old Region 1 games still, and could even get some of them to load faster and look a tiny bit better. The list of great games continued on and on (and is still going, if God of War II is any indication). I love my Dreamcast dearly (that system is still one of my all time favorites) and I wish it had stayed in competition with Sony. I also think the Gamecube rocks, but I still end up booting up my PS2 more than almost any other console that I own, just because I can play my whole Playstation library on it. I play a fair amount of Gamecube, but since I got a Wii, I mainly use it for the Gameboy player. I have been envious of my friend’s super cool Wega for quite a while, and I got a PSP as soon as possible. I dig all the classic gaming and taking movies and mp3s with me on trips. Despite some flaws, I still take it everywhere to check my email on the go and get in some gaming here and there. I carry artwork samples for the comics I write on it, so I can show people, and demo recordings of my band, so people can hear them. It is a cool machine!
I was all about the PS3 when I first heard about it, the specs were amazing, a new high density disc sounded great, the new Killzone looked incredible, everything seemed ready to take over. Then it slowly wore away for me, the videos were pre-rendered “target demos.” I’ve learned over my years in the games industry to only believe preview or demo footage when you have the actual game in your hands at release, but this was just too much. I started hearing about developer problems with wrangling the cell processor, the new format wars between HD and Blu-ray, backwards compatibility issues, and a few other things here and there. Finally the PRICE! I know that the price is comparable to a fully loaded 360 (wireless adapter and the whole nine yards), and perhaps that is true, but I don’t really need Blu-Ray right now like I did a DVD player when the PS2 came out, and Xbox Live is pretty cool. So, why do I need a PS3? I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m still trying to justify it in my head (and to my budget!). Plus now we are being told that the present games are only using 20% of the PS3’s power. If that is true, it stands to reason that the WOW factor of Ico and Metal Gear Solid 2 compared to Fantavision and other launch games for PS2, will be nothing compared to what we see once the leap between the impressive visuals we are getting at 20% are compared to the 3rd or 4th generation titles that will come about once developers master the cell chip’s power. I just hope that it isn’t too little too late.
Don’t get me wrong. Other consoles have their own flaws and no game system is perfect. I try to play games on almost every console I own. I guess I am just disappointed that as a PS2 fan, the PS3 just didn’t hold the same magic. I don’t know many gaming friends who have one, and the list of games now is pretty lukewarm for me. I want to be excited about more games, more exclusives (although I dig that so many more people can play the games that have switched to be being multi-platform). I just feel lost as a Sony customer and fan. I want my old Sony back, free from DRM scandals and upsampling/downsampling image woes. I don’t want to just mark time until Metal Gear comes out, or base my decisions on when to buy the console on when the new virtual trophy tour browser (“Home”) comes out. How about being able to download PS1 game directly to my PSP so I can give my money to you directly, instead of making those games only available through the PS3? I want to be won back to the Sony camp, I want to see what the Icos and Gods of War of the PS3 will be. I want to be a fan again, to know that all kinds of good games are right around the corner, and that I can play my old games by just putting them in the shiny new box and pressing Start. I want to feel bad that I ever doubted the PS3. I don’t want to bash, I just want that old Sony pride feeling I still had before I realized I could get my gaming kicks elsewhere, to say “Holy Moley, I can’t believe I didn’t spend this money before!” Sell me (and other gamers on the fence) on the system. Come on Sony! I’ll be waiting!
-TS
In thinking about the games on the Playstation, I thought of something else: Why can’t we get a good Gundam Game?! In 26 years since the franchise launched, can’t I play a game where at best I have to quantify “It’s pretty cool for a Gundam Game”? Granted, I haven’t played every import title. It just seems like there are a lot of cool mech games out there, why don’t any of the Gundam ones compare. Come on Bandai… You can do it too.
Welcome back to the Boss Battle! Blog. Recently, I have been playing a lot of old school games on Xbox Live and the Wii Virtual Console, and this trend has led me to ponder graphics, controls, and how gaming has evolved since I first started playing games. I’ve thought a lot about the role nostalgia plays in downloading and replaying the games of my youth as well. When we play a game that just doesn’t hold up to today’s gameplay standards, should it be written off as a terrible game, or does it mark a stepping stone to where we are today?
I’ve come to realize that I don’t have as much time to game lately and I have to make choices in what I am going to spend my time playing. I do a lot of retro gaming, but I can’t sit down and play a bad game no matter how much nostalgia I have for it. There’s been a lot of todo recently about games the reviews of games on the virtual console and how they are perceived in light of how they hold up to newer titles, and I wonder if the reviewers are right. Maybe we forgave a lot of the flaws in older games because that’s all there was.
I still believe that most old school games need to be taken in context of when they were made. However, gamers who didn’t start out in the 8bit generation (or before) probably aren’t going to have the same take on some of my favorites like Kid Icarus or Legend of Kage. Kid Icarus is pretty darn hard, even for people who can beat Ninja Gaiden Black, and Legend of Kage is not a super game by today’s standards at all. At the time however, Kid Icarus had some really neat features, you could save with a password system, beating it again netted more points and a better ending, the different ways the levels scrolled etc. Legend of Kage was the closest thing to a Shaw Brothers kung fu movie I had ever seen when I played it in the arcades. The NES port lacks the graphics of the arcade game (and luckily I have that one and it’s 3-d remix on import PSP), but it still holds that kernel of what I saw in it back in the day. Robotron and Joust on XBOX Live still hold up to me and I’ve had more fun playing them than some recent titles I’ve demoed or rented. This makes me wonder, are younger gamers picking up and getting into these older titles, or are we just riding a wave of nostalgia? Which games will hold up and be the Beatles and the Stones of gaming, and which ones will become the one hit wonders?
I think the best games still fall into the “easy to pick up, difficult to master” category. This is something that a lot of older arcade games were really good at. They had to be easy to pick up because you wanted players to keep playing, but they had to be challenging so they took your quarters. Thus you had to be left you feeling like you could still win, if you just put in a little more money and a bit more time (the continue feature in arcades was a work of geniu$). A lot of older console games share in this legacy. The games I keep coming back to over and over all have a simplicity on first play that deepens as you get into it. On my download list has been Legend of Kage, Zelda Link to the Past, Military Madness, Kid Icarus, Robotron, Joust, Streetfighter, and the like. Some just to play for old times sake, others because I can play them for hours on end no matter what. I’ve also come to realize I may have softened up a bit as a gamer. I mean, Kid Icarus is hard, Ninja Gaiden for the NES is pretty brutal. Of the hundreds of games I have played on the NES, I still have yet to beat Battle Toads, Legacy of the Wizard, and Rolling Thunder (that one even with a code!), but yet I still can complete some of the harder next gen games. I wonder if those games were just not designed well, or if I am still missing some critical gaming skills that would take my gaming up an extra notch.
So this leads me to the feedback questions of the week. Do you think we are spoiled by next gen graphics and gameplay? Are the newest games just that much better, or have we gotten soft? What can we learn from old school games (I mean many of the classics are now old enough to drink!), and should we still be trying to dissect them? Is it time to just move on, like ditching an old microwave oven or VCR, or is there a reason to hang on to the past like vinyl records in the age of CDs and Mp3s?
Let me know what you think!
-TS
Hello and welcome to the launch of RGX Life Gaming section and my editorial space here on the site, the Boss Battle! Blog. I’m Tony Salvaggio, and I wanted to take time to introduce myself and give you the scoop on what this section is all about.
I’ve been a gamer since I could barely reach a Space Invaders machine; I’ve owned most of the consoles, and beat (literally) hundreds of games. Through the power of emulation, tons of time in arcades, and hours and hours spent in front of monitors and TVs, I’ve played thousands and thousands of games. I’ve been active in the industry for over ten years now, as a tester, animator, designer, and occasional writer. Playing games and discussing them is a large part of my life, and I’m happy to be doing that for RGX Life!
I want to hear from you! This is a place for you ask questions and give feedback. The best of which might even have the chance to win some cool stuff as well.
So, come back to the RGX Life gaming site often. We’re working hard to give gamers, from the casual to the hardcore, a place to hang out and step up their game!
On that note, I want to hear your take on the following:
Our first feature is about all the active gaming software and hardware that has come out over the years, as well as the new crop of great software and hardware that has gotten gamers off the couch and into moving and grooving. What I want to know is:
Do you think that this is still just a fad? Or do you see this kind of stuff as the prelude to the gym of the future, high scores for weight lifting, cardio guitar workouts, and drum machine calisthenics? Let me hear your take by writing me below!
Write Me and let me hear from you
See you next time at Boss Battle! Blog.
-TS
