Generational Crisis - PC Games 2010

Much of today's games lack of difficulty and challenge, to find challenges that we must look back to the classics of yesteryear. Instant health regeneration, checkpoints in every inch of terrain, obstacles that are passed automatically ... How did it come to this?

Every time I read the comments from readers regarding my articles appeared in Back to the Past, the retro gaming section PCGameTrek is not uncommon to end meeting people who says he is disappointed with the current generation of consoles, even to the point of rejecting it altogether. The grounds, away from the hackneyed "any past was better" or "no longer make games like they used to," speak of disillusionment, loss of interest of securities that fail to fill enough to be worth them spending their leisure time in them ... I, the undersigned have thought himself free from this, to call it somehow generational crisis. There has always been disappointed with what it offers a new generation about what could be found in the former. He passed on the baton from 16 to 32 bits, happen again in the replacement of 32 by 128, and was expected to occur also in the change of the 128-bit for this generation "high definition."

I had remained indifferent to all these generational changes in the sense that the new generation games as much as I loved the old ones. Concepts are transformed, mechanical ways of understanding both the game as the industry itself and a thousand and one things, but still enjoyed the same level of Donkey Kong Country, a WipEout, a Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or Oblivion. My unconditional love for this world remained impassive without changing trends and developments of this and that kind could erode. "Till death do us part, you'll never be unfaithful" I used to think about my favorite hobby. But something is changing. It has been two titles of the current generation who have blown my internal alarm. In recent weeks I have been playing a couple of shooters who had outstanding taste for some time: Killzone 2 and Uncharted 1. The result? Never in all my life, I was so bored when playing pc games.

The two titles I just mentioned have technical levels brutal, overwhelming, tremendous. The staging, artistic values, overwhelmed in the moment you set eyes on the screen. However, both games have me bored. Why? They are simple walks without any emotion or challenge, empty experiences in which you feel to be an omnipotent god to anyone or anything get to kneel. Both Killzone 2 and Uncharted in the first I played with the maximum levels of difficulty, and yes, on occasion managed to lie down. But when you lie down and you see that continuing in the same exact spot where you have lost their lives (although videojueguil concept of "life" became meaningless long ago), or even somewhat later (recurring situation in Uncharted because if you fall off a cliff, more often than not you find that reappears a few meters beyond that barrier, finding yourself with the game has risen to the challenge for you), you lose all interest in continuing to play. Because that's what I do: play. And for that I need a challenge, I need the game somehow penalize me if I fail, so that the failure to have any meaning or rationale.

Also, it's not just that you do not get penalized when enemies lie down, but not care less that reach hurt. With cover you for a few seconds, all fixed. It is called "spontaneous regeneration" that the popular Halo franchise and has done so much damage to the shooters. Where are the health units of yesteryear? Where is this tension, that measure your steps to the millimeter, because your health is low ebb and you know you have a new impact will be the end? What happened with that "I found a kit but do not need, so your location memorizaré back for him if I am on minimum? "And that feeling of loss when, after a shooting, you see your health bar has fallen by 50%? The lives and health units or continuations, have stopped making sense. And with that the games are over simple walks in becoming the only thing you can do is admire the magnificence of the graphics. Never mind that the enemy AI is more or less realistic. Opponents of the first Doom, possessors of an artificial intelligence that allowed them to go straight to you while shooting, were far more dangerous than the current enemies, no matter how elusive and accurate they are or how well you know barricade behind a column.

And not just talk about Uncharted and Killzone 2, but Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia (of course the current, not the classic) and many games of this generation. Where did it come that denial on the part of developers in providing challenges to the player? "No, by God, facilitémosles things as possible, lest they become frustrated and stop playing." That seems to be the unwritten rule that today everyone keeps to the letter. What are the impact of a bullet? Curémosles automatically, at that moment. What fall off a cliff? Let reborn and saved with that obstacle. What end up losing a life? Let's put checkpoints on every inch of land to avoid having to repeat a single previous installment. Forward, forward and forward. That seems to be the only thing that can be done in most current games. For that, you see, I see a movie better.

Yes, instead, what I did was return to the past. After turning on my PSP and take a turn in the PS Store I found the first Rayman, a game originally released in 1995. A delightful little gem of a two-dimensional platform that I did not hesitate a moment to download. And it all came back to make sense: difficulty, limited lives, no more than two checkpoints per phase, no health regeneration spontaneous ... That really was a game, instead of walking through the park that flood the store shelves by day today. If we focus on the evolution that has been (and never better) the Rayman series since that first and charming title that the franchise is today (the Rabbids), one can not help regretting the way you are taking Much of the industry.

Fortunately, there are still titles that have not forgotten how to be a pc game or what the user seeks to take up a control pad. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer. Hopefully, that indomitable Gauls located in certain coastal village, now and forever resist the invader. If not, well, we can always look back. Before I say goodbye and go and have a little game the first Crash Bandicoot (another wonderful franchise now disgraced), let me applaud the statements of this man. I wish everyone thought like him.

The Effect GT Gran Tourismo 2010

The first real demonstration of Gran Turismo 5 has left the public cold. While trying to find out whether or not a final version, users highlight the importance of providing a quality product as evidence of fire before disbursing € 60 for a title.

How many referendums are necessary so that the developers are aware of the importance of dealing with a demonstration launch of a title (especially a triple A) shortly before it sees the light in the market? Users have spoken in a recent survey shows once again what we have been repeating in this weekly podcast home for active and passive: the 'demos', trial versions that allow us an idea about the look that will look particular security in question should be a prerequisite of any game that appears on the market. When the job is done well, community feedback is immediate. It puts in motion the machinery of mouth to mouth I taste, I like, and when the opportunity arises, I invite people around me to share in my discovery.

But what happens when it does not follow this line of work? When a developer, whether for the reasons whatsoever (internal pressure, speed in production, massive demand from fans ...) and offers the user a trial that generated more questions from those addresses. Konami he lived a few months ago with the presentation of PES2010 reviled, ground with a stick from all sides to bypass 50% of the news that was supposed to include the franchise this season. A Square Enix was happening the same with the first minutes of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. Now it is the turn of one of the heavyweights of the industry, Sony's right hand, a great ally of the kind of driving, it was reinvented a decade ago to the delight of lovers of the four wheels: Polyphony.

The demonstration of Gran Turismo 5 has left an unimaginable shock a few days before that was done their appearance in the official official Sony Store. Within hours, the bazaar was totally collapsed, flooded with hundreds of thousands of fans who rushed ready to prove the supposed "first final" driving simulator. Days later, with little time to calmly analyze the quality that holds the show, are beginning to shuffle the reasons why Polyphony made available to its community of fans spoiled only the Nissan 370Z at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Certainly very austere, even for a test contralerroj as being organized for GT Academy.

First, you can not expect much more of a package of barely 300mb, a size that seems a little low for the technical power, that we have been enjoying in the international book fairs is highlighted. Secondly, it is clear that the physics engine, collisions, damage and many other basic features of any simulator is not integrated in its entirety. Third (though no less important), both the number of cars and circuits that we have access to less ridiculous is when to perform a review with feet and head, as it has wanted to do certain sectors of industry . Eye, may not understand these words as an uncompromising defense of the title of Polyphony, but an appeal for reflection on the consequences that may result in throwing a show like this a few months after Gran Turismo hits the shelves worldwide.

Going a little further one could say with confidence that this move by Polyphony has all the earmarks of being a term of Sony, a call to raise expectations about the imminent release of the game. We understand from the outset that a show does not necessarily represent the final quality of the title in question but, if so, in this case, why include a message that gives the opposite to start playing? Or one or the other: what ever do is play with the players generate impressions after trying a game. Not only bad for the fans, who do not know what to expect from the final version, also for the binomial publisher / developer. This leads to a sad conclusion: no win, neither party gets its target, which in business terms is defined as a failure.

We have reached a point where it almost does not matter what title is talking about when it comes to analyzing what gives a demonstration. The effect is usually always the same among the public. In Batman: Arkham Asylum live a totally different situation: Eidos hopes to have the title ready to then provide a petit avis of what is to come. It is the basic concept has always bear in mind when posting a trial version that does not convince. Create a bad show is what comes to be throwing stones on the roof of your own home, as we say in day to day: what you're doing bad yourself. It seems an easy concept to understand, so obvious, that does not explain how some companies are still sinning constantly commit the same error. It is time that things start to change, the user is taken as an integral part of the game and not simply as an obstacle before enriching their pockets at the expense of others.

Let's be sensible: the price of a game is too high to require a demonstration (in fact, has been that many users maintain a strict policy based on rent a game before buying it to prevent fraud, which represents a significant change in the psyche of the consumer), and even more for having to face situations such as that caused in this case the first contact with Gran Turismo 5, the title for many (so wrong) and has become the biggest fiasco next season. This is what is called the effect GT: poor management of your resources can ostracizing less twinkling of an eye. You'd better to Sony, and the other companies in general, begin to value more and better the effect may involve a mistake like this.

If it is really a failure or a mistake: we know that many times the counter-advertising works better than traditional sales methods, but this, of course, is another matter sand.

This column reflects only the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of PCGameTrek.

World of Warcraft: The Secrets of Ulduar

INTERVIEW
Those of you who are weary of "raid" Naxxramas again and you're in luck, because the patch 3.1 is here. The number of new features is endless, so nothing better to discover all that talking to those most responsible for its development, Greg Street and Cory Stockton. Do you dare to challenge the old gods of Azeroth?

It has been hard to get, but the patch 3.1 is here. World of Warcraft never been more than 5 months without an update of content, and that is why millions of players around the world who daily pass into the lands of Azeroth went and eager to discover new challenges in the MMORPG Blizzard. The patch 3.1, titled "The Secrets of Ulduar" enter World of Warcract about 1 giga of news, both in terms of new content and settings of all that entered the patch for the latest expansion Wrath of the Lich King .

To celebrate this special event in what is the day to day the successful MMORPG, we have had occasion to talk with the heads of the ongoing development of World of Warcraft: Greg Street (Ghostcrawler), chief designer of World of Warcraft responsible for balancing the different classes of the game, and Cory Stockton, responsible for developing maximum dungeons and architect of what is the biggest novelty of the patch 3.1, Ulduar. So, we leave you with an interview that will probably answer all the questions revolve around the first big patch after the release of Wrath of the Lich King.

Broadly speaking, and before delving into the various sections, what gives us the patch 3.1 to players of World of Warcraft?

Well, as you know, the patch revolves around the new dungeon, Ulduar, so we could say that this new "raid" is the biggest novelty. However, we have introduced a host of new features, among which are the Argent Tournament to be held from now on in Icecrown, a massive amount of new objects to get the double branch of talent, several additional difficulty modes for 14 heads of Ulduar, new achievements ... in short, a lot of content for any player.

Now you mention the double branch of talent, and on the basis that since the launch of World of Warcraft one of the design features of the classes was that virtually all of them could develop different roles within the battle, why it has taken both made a much-desired functionality like this?

Although it is true that already in the past several hybrid classes could be considered as to their role in the battle, it was not until recently when all these roles were really truly viable. Before The Burning Crusade, our intention was that a warrior was a tank, a healer and a priest. There were alternatives, yes, but they were balanced, much less as they are now. Not the same way we took care of all talent trees. However, and especially after the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, we do believe that now any class can be viable in more than one role, and that is why it is now that we have decided to implement this feature, which allows all players quickly change talents and glyphs without having to go each time for coach class.

Many players, especially the most experienced, complained about Naxxramas presented little difficulty and, in general, most of the PVE content that introduced the latest expansion. Ulduar Could that be the dungeon that the players more "hardcore" were waiting for?

Yes, without any doubt. Naxxramas dungeon was the most difficult of the game before the release of The Burning Crusade, and the reality is that very few people got to move on it. We wanted to make Naxxramas in its version for 25 people a dungeon accessible to all players and if we also take into account the content of it was almost the same as the old version, it is normal that the more experienced will be missed a challenge. But as we said, Ulduar dungeon itself may be considered ideal for this kind of player, for the leaders who live with, as happened with Sartharion, several modes of difficulty for the clans that want to get the best possible equipment.

Mass Effect 2 is the way

Bioware's latest work has returned to swat the foundation of the gaming industry. The excellence of this game allows you to simply become a necessary purchase, but questioned the limitations of the action game in the third person appeared so far.

Mass Effect 2 is the name of fashion in the world of videogames. In a spectacular start at the 2010 Games, and what is yet to come, "the sequel to Bioware's space opera has won all outbreaks of the industry. Metacritic, the collectors notes in the press, asked last week about Shepard's new adventure, if we were at the game of the year in the month of January. The numbers justify such audacity: 96 half after more than eighty international analysis. They are not alone. Number of prestigious publications have not hesitated to compare him with the great name of 2009, Uncharted 2, or wonder if there really is a match for Mass Effect 2 in the eleven months remaining to finish the year.

"Victims of excessive hype around the game there or the real reasons for such extreme praise? Rather the latter. And totally justified. After finishing immersed in the suicide mission of Commander Shepard during sessions in which one never finds the time to close the console, Mass Effect 2 shows, simply, that is the way forward in the world of videogames. The experience is the game at all levels provides sufficient grounds for the formula is copied and exploited by other companies. It is not compared to a specific game, it goes beyond. This is the concept; playable base that sits above the table.

Mass Effect 2 surcharge. Toca many keys. And it does so with excellence in each of its sections may despair to those who want to classify pc game genres. In the future it will cost about labels. And therein lies the greatness of Bioware's work. Mix Master battles with third-person action-type that hold to the greats of the genre, with rises of skills, better weapons and equipment and classes to choose from. Indeed, also in simplified form (the purists have a role here for the pseudo-critical vein) and accessible to all. Not counting the strategy used when the possibility of attacks and give orders to teammates. The great war that Marcus Fenix in Gears of War falls short by his side. And speaking of the game from Epic Games, it can do any other game in the third person action or adventure. The current proposals, as supply concerns and possibilities, they pale next to Shepard and company. Why? are limited.

And is that not simply mixing RPG and action. It is meaningful action, "leaving behind arguments that are merely excuses to kill without rhyme or reason, and likely to tap our movements. And in that, with the created universe and its characters, no rival in Mass Effect 2. And if so, surely some mention Bioware's own work, experts in the field. A world alive with people of all kinds. Some may say that huge mapped vast in NPC (non playable characters) and tasks to be solved and there. Oblivion, Fallout 3, Dragon's Age. These games need something that only serves to magnify the world of Mass Effect: the charisma of its inhabitants. Characters deep, full of feelings, contradictions, and stories behind them.

Moral decisions are the icing on the cake in a staging mature than most. We decide how we are, what we want around us. It really goes wrong in depending on which intersections, and subsequent doubts do not disappear: 'What if ...? "Is repeated within us while we are convinced we did the right thing. The point differential in Mass Effect 2 is that this does not affect the personality of the characters. We chose the path, they will remain living, charismatic, believable. The power of decision is at odds with having characters 'real'. Understanding how these actors not real they choose their own path but do not speak, no one sees them, they are not feeling.

Some will say that this debate could have been put on the table with the first Mass Effect. Yes and no. While the original work had a more pronounced RPG component, but the balance of your proposal is resented in moments of action. This second part of the polished, continues to move inexorably to what can be considered the total game and shows that the limitations we have always taken as normal, under the umbrella of being an adventure, be an action game, etc.. and conventions that this entails, and meaningless. Mass Effect 2 clearly demonstrate to the rest: If a character decides on its own through a video sequence, is not due to the linearity of a particular genre. It is due to the limitation of the proposal playable. And if you can not shine next to Bioware's work in any of the ways. Those who consider action adventure, third person shooters, or similar, have much work ahead. The overall game concept has form and name.