“Finishing A Good Book” or “Why You All Need to Stop Telling Me to Buy Games”

There’s nothing significant that I can add to the discussion about Double Fine and their Kickstarter project at this point. I’ll suffice to say that Day of the Tentacle was one of my first PC games and legitimately played a formative role in my life. I’m a longtime Tim Schafer fan, and I wish him, Ron Gilbert, and the rest of the team the best(I already donated). On that note, we return to our regularly scheduled Gonzo Gamer post.

I’m not particularly good at finishing books. I start a lot of them, let them fall by the wayside(sometimes starting another book), and, realizing I’ve spent too much time away from it, start over. Rinse. Repeat.

The same goes for many good single-player games. That’s not to say that games(or books) which lose my interest are all inherently bad ones, it’s just that I sometimes get too busy with work, school, the holidays, or going out. With some games lasting as long as 100 hours, it’s not that hard to imagine. I lose sight of my goal to sit down with whichever piece of “literature” I’m currently working on as I get distracted by other things.

The irony is that I’m pretty good at buying books. A visit to a good used bookstore can be dangerous, even for someone who struggles to finish books like myself. A 50 year old hardcover of one of “the classics” for 5 bucks? Sold.

I’m not, however, “good at” buying video games. The difference between buying a new book and even a used or otherwise discounted video game, is a larger amount of money than my habits of consumption will allow.

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Posted in Games Industry, Soapbox

“RPG Killed the FPS Star” or “How Character Leveling in Call of Duty Ruined Multiplayer Gaming for Me”

This is the first of many updates that will be published(hopefully) every Wednesday on Gonzo Gamer. We predicted the SOPA & PIPA fiasco by several months and wanted to be trendsetters, which is totally the real, not made-up reason Gonzo Gamer hasn’t updated. If we ever go a week without updating, then take it to congress and don’t give us any hell about it.

I’m guilty. I like first-person shooters. Despite having countless pseudo-intellectual discussions about the root of “what’s wrong” with the gaming industry having something to do with mindless violence, I’m still a sucker for a well-executed shooter. Especially multiplayer ones. The best multiplayer shooters are at once casual stress relievers and the platforms for competitive leagues where winning teams can win millions.

One of the things I love about multiplayer shooters is that they’ve historically been really easy to pick up and almost immediately put back down. Because of the “addictive” quality of action games, this might sounds counter-intuitive to some, but for me, it’s actually their biggest appeal. Unfortunately, games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, are departing from design that lends itself to this style of playing.

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Posted in Break it Down, Game Design/Theory, Soapbox

“My theory about ‘The Last of Us’” or “What ‘The Last of Us’ is obviously about.”

I was going to post this theory as a comment on a certain gaming blog that I won’t name. Then I remembered that I didn’t have commenting privileges on this blog that I won’t name. Then I was sad. Of course, then I remembered that I have this blog.

This teaser was shown at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, which is really not an awards show. It’s more of a big circle jerk, but I won’t get into that. I want to talk about the teaser I embedded above.

The teaser doesn’t let you know much of anything, except the implication that it might be post-apocalyptic. Everyone seems to be speculating wildly on what this game will be about, but after visiting the website for about… 30 seconds, I think I have it figured out. No. I just do. Continue reading

Posted in Soapbox

“Haters Gonna Hate” or “Why Consumers Have Every Right to Tell Games Journalists Shove It”

Haters Gonna Hate!

Yesterday, Luke Plunkett, a games journalist whom I think fairly highly of, wrote a piece on Kotaku, telling Call of Duty haters everywhere to give it a rest.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m not opposed to first-person shooters. Certainly not “realistic”, military-themed shooters. Anyone who knows me knows that I can geek out about guns, paintball, and room-clearing tactics with the best(worst?) of them. I do have a ton of issues with a lot of shooters out of the market today, but I’ll save the nitty-gritty of those rants for another post on another day. I’m not attacking the gaming industry today.

I’m attacking the games journalism industry today.

I don’t think Call of Duty haters are just “haters”. Games journalists love to talk about having the medium taken more seriously, but I’m not sure they mean it. A story I’ve seen popping up all over today is about the possibility of Metacritic “trolls” who are skewing the user ratings of Modern Warfare 3. It might just be the Ron Paul Effect, but I think that these Metacritic “trollers”(and annoying commenters) might be, in a way, giving games journalists a taste of their own medicine.

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Posted in Soapbox