Rockband(s)

I sincerely hope at some point Activision and Harmonix get back in touch with the gaming public soon - we are TIRED of buying instruments in this area of $4.20 per gallon gas. Besides destroying available real estate within my house, I simply cannot afford to drop $200 everytime a new version of Rockband comes out. What happened to the good old days of allowing a peripheral to be used with several games before a new version is even considered? Is Dance Dance Revolution the only holdout that doesn't require me to buy a new dance pad with yodeling ability with every new mix released to the public?

I speculate, but perhaps the developers of these hugely grossing games have massively large houses they purchased at the cost of a few mil. This could explain why they're able to justify the high cost of the "Mary Poppins Box of Band Instruments" with each new version of the game. Not to mention their massive houses could actually store all these toys, unlike my fair size apartment (as far as apartments go). If this trend continues buying an iPhone could actually be cheaper than buying a video game!

As "authentic" as these games are trying to be, it's getting gimmicky to the point of ridiculous. A drum set that is velocity sensitive and can adjust the volume for the sound it makes in the game? Adding more things to hit instead of something manageable to a newer player? Excluding bands who won't provide master tracks? At what point do you throw down the controller and go start an actual rock band? Have we reached this point already? Guitar Hero: World Tour allows for a full electronic drum set to be used in place of the drum peripheral. Next the publishers will just provide sheet music, right?

Activision and Harmonix - most of us like your companies and definitely get into your music games, but for the love of pete, will you stop with the oneupsmanship in the instruments and let us actually ENJOY them for a while? I don't think I'm the only one who is becoming turned off by these iconic titles due to the high cost of entry. You stand to make a lot more money by simply releasing a new version of the game that uses my current peripherals, instead of making me choose between money for groceries and a game.

Non-Japanese are SMRT!

Video games have carried a tragic, but historic legacy of being unreleased or dumbed-down for release outside of Japan. The first prominent example of this is Nintendo of America's decision to not release Super Mario Bros. 2 and instead create a faux sequel from Doki Doki Panic, citing American gamers would struggle too much with the greatly increased difficulty of the original sequel, hurting sales in turn. It took until 2008, roughly 20 years later, when the game was properly labeled Super Mario Bros. 2 for release in North America. Europe got it even worse - they only had access to the title on the Wii's virtual console for a mere week or so before it was taken down as part of its promotional run. The fortunate upshot of this was a very unique title got a chance to show its face around the world when it would have wasted away, otherwise. However, I digress...

Why is it a trend today to release games where death either contains no real consequence (because you have 2,000 other lives) or you just cannot die period? Is it some sort of hyperextension of Dr. Spock's theories or the fact companies really do think non-Japanese are impatient or something else entirely? Regardless of the reason, non-Japanese gamers are being denied many wonderful opportunities in gaming, either permanently or for extended periods of time.

Point-in-case: Square-Enix and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. This title will likely never see the light of day outside of Japan, however it is one of the most masterful pieces of gaming to be released since The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Note: I am not speaking about the original KHII, I am speaking very specifically of Final Mix). When the original KHII was released in North America, critics bemoaned the lack of a truly-difficult setting, which turned the game into a button mash-fest. Despite having three difficulty settings included, many believed the hardest setting available was equal to a regular strength difficulty in other games. The updated Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is only available through Japanese import, and by comparison contains a much more difficult game when set to the same "hard" difficulty equivalent of the North American edition. It is in this difference of difficulty-between-regions that a whole new level of appreciation can be gained. New bosses and much needed bonus material aside - the game demands incredibly precise timing to even score a hit on some bosses that was not even a thought to me when I played the American version. Clearly the US version's difficulty was noticeably lessened compared to the Japanese version. Final Mix even has a newer, even more difficult level of play, named "Critical"! Despite all this potential insanity, the sense of personal accomplishment in conquering the game was far better than any sort of Gamerscore achievement.

There is a version of Tetris, rarely seen outside of Japan, called Tetris: The Grandmaster. Played in arcades, this version of the classic puzzler starts off like any other version, however it progresses to incredible speeds, eventually entering a mode commonly called 20G. Pieces fall instantly down and have slightly less than a second before they lock in place, creating an incredibly difficult but rewarding experience - after lasting a few minutes at 20G, you can earn the highly coveted, but rarely earned rank of "Grandmaster" and your name will remain on the high score screen for all to see. Interested? Unless you live by an intensely dedicated import arcade, you'll probably never see the game outside of some YouTube videos and an emulator. Reason for lack of release is widely believed to be the level of difficulty being too hard for non-Japanese.

Sadly, it seems like the small details that made a game an AAA-grade title are going by the wayside in favor of not disappointing someone who cannot beat it on the first try. There is still something to be said in this day and age for the sense of personal accomplishment felt when after a few tries at timing a particular move against a boss it is finally pulled off and you progress a little further. Am I the only person who played NES games in the 1980s and despite becoming frustrated, knew I was making it a little further each time I died? Where, I ask you, dear game developers, have all the flowers gone? Japan?

Perhaps all the flowers are being squandered on the new gamer. A school of thought has been established which dictates games must be fully accessible to every single person who picks it up. Death can't loom too close and game overs can't have full consequences. Certainly all games should be playable by everyone but catering so very hard to ensure everyone can play easily has resulted in the loss of the "oni"s and "critical" modes that didn't cost a lot of programming time and satisfied plenty of the old guard of gamers.

I'm not arguing all titles released outside of Japan are dumbed down for the sake of other regions. I've participated in Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Puyo Pop, F-Zero, Castlevania, Contra, and Ninja Gaiden and pulled my hair out multiple times. While these games are testaments to the legacy of video games, there are fewer and fewer hard titles as time goes by, replaced with titles that are "softer" as they're localized. This isn't to say games that had problems, such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Wind Waker, which had the owl statues added and a greatly improved triforce locator implemented, are softer. These are necessary improvements and are good for gameplay.

I'm also not arguing that all games should be made blisteringly hard, but there should be a good, lasting level of difficulty available for those who desire a challenge beyond the typical. Don't pull the "but the children!" card - Japan has children too, and American children of the late 1980s and early 1990s lived without severe defects after dying on the Mother Brain sequence for the 48th time. All I want is a good challenge to be available to me, if I so desire. It makes good business sense, too. It increases a good game's replay value and overall recognition among fans, and carries the side effect of me being far more likely to purchase a sequel title.

Remember "Beaver Bother"? I do. The feeling of accomplishment was worth it.

The World is Moving for no Reason!

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about platformers and he asked a question "What is the point of a scrolling screen? It doesn't make sense from the point of the character." I laughed gave the obvious answer: the challenge. He retorted "No, that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm supposed to be the guy on screen, it doesn't make sense to me." He had me. I couldn't answer. I mean, have you just been sitting around and had the world start to suddenly rotate so suddenly you're forced to keep moving to survive? NO! (If you're answering yes you need to stop reading this now and go nap.) Can you just imagine walking down the street and suddenly you're running as everything scrolls by at some uncontrollable speed and for no real reason? It makes no sense! Why do we retain this holdover from the 80s?

Sure, there are falling ceiling tiles and moving floors, but those can make sense in fantasyland because they're still plausible. However, a scrolling screen makes little sense to the character, especially since the feat can't be replicated in 3D. Moving platforms just make more sense and can be used far more creatively - think Rainbow Ride from Super Mario 64. Let's bury this odd contraption we call the scrolling screen and move on. It had its time and I'm tired of it pissing me off.

Xbox Live Arcade Desires: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Live!

The Xbox Live Arcade service has proven to be a great platform for revitalizing older PC and console titles and delivering them to a newer audience - however there are some games missing that may prove to be excellent additions to the service. Consider this....

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Live!
Stop singing the Rockapella jingle in your head. We're not talking about that.



Many children who went to school during the 80s and 90s will recall several games fondly - Oregon Trail, The Munchers series, and Carmen Sandiego in its various flavors. A crook has committed a spectacular heist and it's your job to track them down. Fond memories include the blocky graphics chosen to represent the various cities around the world, the henchmen as they snuck across the screen when you chose the correct city to go to, and the occasional flying knife or other object intended to harm you, the gumshoe. Collect all the clues and you could get a warrant from your successful sluething. Find the crook before you get your warrant and they go free. The howls of frustration still ring in many ears.

As with the Xbox Live Arcade Desires series of titles so far, the same case can be made for this game's revival. Carmen suits the family demographic Microsoft is desperate to steal from Nintendo, by cleverly educating players while injecting a good dose of fun to cover up the "not-so-awesome" parts. Again, the title is flexible in the sense mom and dad can take part in the fun while the child can still be the star. And nostalgia is just plain cool.



Improvements here could be simply amazing, depending how much effort is put into rebuilding this title for the Xbox 360. As agents travel they could see other henchmen and have to help act as an informant to other A.C.M.E. agents working on other cases ("I saw him with a red coat.") by choosing from a few possible responses. As cities are traveled to, news feeds from the area could scroll on the screen courtesy of RSS. And of course cities could be changed and updated with new pictures and relevant information over time. A mega-case could be put out in which agents must work together to help find the ever elusive Carmen herself. The possibilities here are amazing.

So Where is it?
Carmen Sandiego has perhaps the toughest time of all Xbox Live Arcade Desires games so far - revival attempts on the GameCube resulted in a spectacular flop. While Carmen Sandiego and the Secret of the Stolen Drums was considered a decent update by many critics, marketing was poor and as a result the desired sales did not materialize. When you're expecting sales off a beloved title that flops it puts more than a single nail in the coffin for future revivals. With the economy struggling, securing funds for a doubtful sequel just may not happen.

If someone out there with power is reading this, consider a revival of Carmen Sandiego. There is definitely a market out there, but keep the expectations real.

A Letter to WoW Addicts

I have a saying - you're gay, straight, or WoW. I do not like World of Warcraft at all. Even the abbreviation WoW bothers me. There's nothing "Wow" about the game in my opinion. I thoroughly oppose this total crap with a fiery vengeance. How can I say this? How can I offend the mighty Blizzard gods? Frankly, I don't care if I offend the gods of Blizzard.

If you're a fan of the game and don't fall into this definition by all means skip down to the next entry. This is not about you. This entry is about the folk that do nothing but eat, sleep, and WoW. The ones that schedule their life around WoW and delay actual physical activities in the name of a raid. I'd like to deliver breaking news to you - there is life outside of the computer. You can go out there and see actual things that you can touch and feel and hold. You cannot pay credit cards with gold or maintain good health. Your level one billion sword of awesome? It isn't real. You have achieved nothing. Turn off the computer and go outside. See the burning ball of gas commonly called "The Sun". One day your game will end and you'll realize you've wasted so much time and money doing nothing. Leave the WoW, come back to real life. Use the internet for what it is meant for (it isn't Night Elf porn). Email your friends, tell them you've recovered. Start WoW anonymous. Someone misses you.

Much Love,
-Digital Stardust

Nintendo World Class Service?

Rewind back to the late 1980s and 1990s and think of Nintendo. Besides crazy colored dinosaurs, mushrooms, Chozo Statues, hypersonic rocket cars, amazing 3D evolution, and a yellow rat, the house that Mario built seemed to be a generally friendly, customer-oriented company. Contact Nintendo today and compare it to contacts from 10 years ago - you'll find eroded customer orientation and a much stronger corporate mentality. Is Nintendo HQ taking the fun out of games?

One thing has traditionally been accepted by users of Nintendo's product: it is reliable but when it breaks contacting Nintendo for repair is a friendly, easy experience. Call 'em up, tell him what's broken, get a fix as quickly and friendly as possible. So prevailed this attitude from the beginning of Nintendo's video games through the 90s - it was even supported by the famous "Nintendo World Class Service Centers" with emphasis on "World Class". Despite Nintendo's failures in other areas (broken hardware promises and cancelled games), the repair process was always a pleasant experience.

Contact Nintendo for an repair today and you'll find much has changed. As Nintendo moves to a more corporate mentality, gone are the "World Class Service Centers" and in general the special "World Class" touch that made Nintendo a great company and replaced it with a good company. Callers are now pushed in the front and out the back door. Yours truly called upon the breaking of his DS's R-button to speak with Redmond. The representative I spoke with was polite, but she was definitely not "World Class". The conversation went something like this:

Nintendo: "Thank you for calling Nintendo, how can I help you?"
Me: "Hi! My DS is broken in the R-button region. I know it's out of warranty but I just wanted to know the cost of repair."
Nintendo: "OK, sir. A Nintendo DS costs $90 to repair out of warranty but it will get you another year warranty."
Me: "Wow, expensive. What are my other options?"
Nintendo: "You can purchase a refurbished unit for $X instead."
Me: "Also expensive. It's almost the same price as a regular retail DS. I would like to think about this."
Nintendo: "OK, thanks for calling Nintendo."
Click.

Nevermind the fact I actually had another question relating to my customer file with them and wanted to update some information. I never got the chance. I would also have liked to thank her for a moment of her time but I was not allowed this. A polite representative but definitely not the Nintendo of yore.

I had the chance to dial Redmond again when my Wii broke. The conversation was definitely better and I could tell the person I was speaking with actually enjoyed their job and had been with the company a while. He took the time to answer my questions fully and brief me on the fine points of my repair (you may lose your saves, Miis, etc.). I found the experience on the whole to be far more enjoyable than before. But I will still shocked from the other experience as I had never heard of this treatment from Nintendo.

Now I'm not a demanding fellow on the phone like consumers often are. I answer phones for a living too and understand it's easier for everyone if I just get to the point, say what I need, and move on. I don't dally or ask redundant questions. We all have more things to do in life. It's made my contacts for repair easy.

The second part lies in the repair itself. Nintendo made it easy for me by sending out a label via the internet...when before they'd send a box and a UPS fellow to take it from me. It was a nice personal touch. Whatever though, I can deal with it since the FedEx/Kinkos is so close. I boxed the Wii and sent it out for repair, able to track it online. Nintendo still delivered the fixed product earlier than estimate (I got my Wii within a week instead of two, like I was quoted). There was a small detail I noticed - Nintendo did not handle the repair themselves. The box itself was not from a company name! It was from a "John Trujillo" (or similar name) and listed some random California address. Creepy.

As I opened the box and pulled my console out I found my Wii had made friends with some muddy-looking handprint at some point during the repair process. This had never happened to me before on any previous Nintendo repair. The horrified gamer in my promptly cleaned the console, nevermind a photograph, I was far more concerned muddy handprints were inside the console too and I wanted to make sure the thing worked properly. (No I didn't actually open the console.) After plugging it in I did find a sweet note - Minitec, the third party repair company, had actually transferred the Miis and saves from my console to this one, including the locked ones. (You don't know the relief in knowing you don't need to play Subspace Emissary twice.)

After verifying everything else but the handprint seemed to be in working order, I decided I'd let Nintendo know what was up since I had simply never seen this come from their name before. I made the mistake of dialing Redmond a third time and spoke with someone with quality between call one and two. The conversation went something like this:

Nintendo: "Thank you for calling Nintendo. How can I help you?"
Me: "Hi! I had my Wii repaired and I wanted to share a few things with you regarding that."
Nintendo: "OK, what did you want to share?"
Me: "Do you change serial numbers when a console is repaired for easy reference?"
Nintendo: "Yes."
Me: "OK, well I am unaware if my console was outright replaced or repaired, but I guess someone you contracted for the repair handled it-"
Nintendo: "Yeah, we've had a lot of demand for the Wii and have contracted two other companies to help us with handling repair. One is in California, where yours went, and the other is somewhere else. It looks like the PCB[*] was replaced."
Me: "Oh! OK. Well that's good to know. I have some old and some new console. Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that while I appreciate the repair and am happy to have the console back, the experienced was diminished."
Nintendo: "How?"
Me: "There was something that appeared to be a muddy handprint on the console housing."
Nintendo: "A what?"
Me: "Something that looks like a muddy handprint. Can you let Minitec know they're trading in your name and repairs like this really make me question if my repair is complete or reliable? I understand you did me a favor and I don't want to be the person who complains like an ungrateful person, but I just wanted to pass that along."
Nintendo: "Absolutely, I'm so sorry. I'll forward this along."
Me: "Thanks. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a nagger but you've traditionally been great to work with so I thought you might appreciate the feedback."
Nintendo: "I agree. Thank you!"
Me: "Thanks!"
*PCB is slang for motherboard in repair-world.

The call was ho-hum, but I was surprised when Nintendo called me a few hours later the same day.

Me: "Hello?"
Nintendo: "This is Nate from Nintendo, how are you?"
Me: "I'm good."
Nintendo: "I understand you were unhappy with a repair."
Me: "Yes, my Wii had what looked like a muddy handprint upon being returned to me. I thought I would share the feedback with you so it would not happen again."
Nintendo: "Oh absolutely. I'm very sorry this happened and I will let our third party know. You have a good day."
Click.

At this point several things went through my head. The first was "WHAT?! My issue was escalated and you didn't do jack!" The second was "What the hell happened to Nintendo?" The third was "I hope my Wii doesn't break again." The fourth? "I am going to request my repairs go to the factory only in the future."

Nintendo sent me a letter this week and asked for more detailed feedback. I fully intend to reply and let them know what happened, but my faith in them is waning.

So what happened at the big house of N? I learned a few other things about them in my conversations. Nintendo now has three call centers. Redmond is mostly Spanish-speaking, California has most of the English-speakers, and the third call center handles other calls (I believe French-Canadian, though I am not able to verify this). Nintendo's working beyond capacity, as stated when the representative indicated they're contracting repairs.

As Nintendo has grown and begun to relocate some operations to other locations it appears they're also moving call centers. In theory this makes good sense - you can spread your time zone coverage around easier and save your employees moaning and groaning about schedules, reducing turnaround and training costs for new employees. The downside is communications can be very slow to move about. I personally believe service was 100x better when it was all housed in Redmond under one roof. This isn't so much a commentary on bad service, there are plenty of sites on the internet you can go to for that. This is more an addressing of Nintendo's slow transition from being "World Class" to operating as an "okay" global company. I don't deny Nintendo needs change, but when changing it is critical to remember the things that make customers come back.

Woah. A good Sonic Game?!

Sega may have finally stumbled upon a GOOD Sonic game. Kotaku has posted a humorous take on the new trailer but when it comes down to it, the trailer is COOL. I'm actually interested in this game. And you know it has a shot at being good since Bioware is developing it. Anyone else find it interesting?