The adventure begins! Rico’s journey down the long and winding road of the Jojo-verse starts here, as he meets faces both new and familiar. We have to talk about this localization, though…
You can catch Rico streaming over at Twitch.tv/Kikko_Mang and/or follow Pixel Legends on Twitch.tv/Pixel_Legends to never miss an episode of our weekly podcast. We record LIVE each week!
Sure is spooky around here!
Join Ricardo on his first baby steps into the shuffling madness of Yharnam in the inaugural episode of Bloodborne Blunders. Bonus points to anyone who can tell us who was calling the phone in the beginning of the video.
Wake up, work out, eat lunch, lounge around for an hour, search for job openings, maybe apply for one or two that seemed to have career potential, eat dinner, watch a movie and then… play video games.
For three months, that was my life. It was an endless cycle that quite frankly felt more and more depressing with each following day. Why? Because I felt stuck. It was like playing an unfamiliar game genre for the first time with no hints. Ya, good luck getting to the next level without the internet (the main reason why I don’t live in the middle of a forest).
I have no idea what’s going on…
Anyway, as I mentioned before I was feeling depressed and when people feel depressed, they often look for ways to divert their attention from the matter at hand. Some people exercise, some people abuse substances, and some… play video games. I was the latter.
Despite having played video games for years, this was the first time I could recall playing for a reason other than just having fun. I was really trying to escape. To think about something other than my less-than-desirable situation and I quickly noticed to my dismay, gaming lost much of its magical, happiness producing goodness. Not because the games I played were bad (The Wolf Among Us was awesome), but rather that when gaming I felt I wasn’t positively contributing to my future.
I know that seems kind of silly because when most of us play video games we don’t go into it thinking “I’m positively contributing to my future” in terms of financial or career growth (though I would say it can positively affect our emotional day-to-day state). That lack of personal growth produced a feeling that negatively affected my gaming experience. I even came to a point where it just felt wrong to play like I was doing nothing with my life. And even though I would only play late at night and never during the day (which I reserved for being productive), I just couldn’t shake the feeling.
What I look like in productive mode.
I soon realized that up to this point, gaming was always an add-on to my life rather than the main part. Like an add-on to school or when I was trying to build a YouTube business. But now, I had no main everyday activity that was moving my life forward. I was in a limbo and it was especially hard knowing that I’d be getting married in less than a year with no job lined up. Not to mention that my fiance was working full-time.
For the first time (or at least one of the first times), gaming wasn’t making me happy. Really all that was was seeing my fiance on the weekends and seeing friends from time-to-time. But thankfully after a long three months, gaming and I once again enjoy spending time together. The solution? Well, getting a job.
While on some level I wish I could say that gaming helped me overcome my hump, I’d be lying to you if I said it did. However through all of this, I’ve come to better understand my relationship with gaming. I, and I’m sure many of you, need to feel that you’re moving forward in life and since gaming wasn’t enhancing my ability to earn more money, have the career I wanted, or bring about world peace (at least not yet), gaming has become that buddy I hang out with on occasional evenings and with groups of friends. Unfortunately, gaming can’t solve my problems or times of emotional hardship, but it can help with blowing off a little steam and having a fun night of storytelling and gameplay.
What has your experience with gaming been like while being unemployed/employed? Has your relationship with gaming changed over the years? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
With the holiday season upon us, we can now unabashedly enjoy the many end-of-year traditions. Eggnog (preferably with full fat content), Christmas music/decorations (the dorkier the better), and of course Christmas movies (Will Ferrell as an elf? Heck yeah!). However, despite all of these wonderful things, it feels as if something is missing…
Do you feel it too? We’re missing a Christmas video game to add to the holiday traditions!
You know, a game that has all of the richness of eggnog, the nostalgia of Christmas music/decorations, and the heart and sincerity of Christmas movies. Is that so much to ask for? Well, probably.
“What do you mean I’m too glitchy for Christmas!?”
Now with all of this other stuff to fulfill our Christmas celebration needs, why would we need a video game too? Well, I see it as an enhancement of the holidays. Look at it this way. During this time of year, it is all about displaying compassion towards others, remembering the importance of loved ones, and re-focusing on what really matters in life (which in my humble opinion is love and friendship). And for better or worse, the holidays also tend to emphasize on commercialism… Thank God for online deals on Black Friday.
Anyway, I really want to play a Christmas game that captures the soul of the season that would also be enjoyable re-playing every December. I mean, we revisit movies and music every year, so why not a video game?
“I wanna’ game again!”
Let us get one thing straight though. While there are games that take place during or around Christmas, such as Batman: Arkham Origins and Duke: Nuclear Winter, it doesn’t make them Christmas games. Call me picky, but I define a Christmas game as being one that possesses the spirit of the holidays. And no, shooting evil snowman doesn’t count.
In its own crazy way, Saints Row IV: How the Saints Saved Christmas, by my definition, is a Christmas game or at least Christmas DLC. Sure it is over-the-top as Saints Row always is, but it does deal with the holiday spirit (in this case being on Santa’s “Nice List” and just being a good person). Of course, this “don’t take me too seriously” attitude doesn’t lend itself to the idea of a traditional, heartfelt game, but it’s good fun nonetheless.
Okay, so what would my ideal traditional Christmas game look like? Well, here are a few of my recommendations to Kevin Levine. What?! I love the Bioshock stories.
Am I as compelled by the story as Santa is compelled to eat cookies and drink milk?
– The key factor of many classic Christmas tales are their gripping stories. Do I connect with the characters, the circumstances, and do I get that holiday cheer/feels from the experience?
Who would have guessed that checking the naughty and nice list twice would be so much fun.
– Perhaps the hardest piece of this Nutcracker puzzle is coming up with great gameplay that would still be fun despite updates in graphics and gameplay in the future. Well actually, we’d probably get a remastered version eventually so scratch that last part (unless it’s as rocky as the Halo: Master Chief Collection. Yikes.). In terms of genre, I feel that a beautifully simplistic game would be the best bet. Something like Journey for the PS3. Ideally, a game that you could jump in and immerse yourself in without all the complexities of inventories or character stats. As for length, I feel that a two to four hour game would be good. A small time commitment that wouldn’t take up all of the holiday weekends.
Waiting to jump down the chimney every year? No problem.
– Just like my holiday music and movies, I not only enjoy getting to indulge in them when December rolls around (even though I’ve already watched or listened to them many times), but even waiting for them! Waiting patiently becomes part of the fun (said no kid at Christmas ever)!
What do you guys think about a Christmas game joining your holiday traditions? Would you be interested in one? And if you are, what would the ideal one look like to you? Let us know in the comments below!
Also, Happy Holidays! I wish you much joy, love, and video game sales!
Take a moment to think about some of the most recent ultra-hyped games.
Did your list happen to contain any of the following?
Chances are, you probably came up with at least two of the listed games, which is not surprising. Why? Well, these are the types of games that people generally keep track of. Violent video games.
vi·o·lence
ˈvī(ə)ləns/
noun
- behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.
Now let me be very clear in that I’m not saying that violent video games are bad or that there should be less gore and violence in modern games. Rather, what I’m trying to do is point out a trend that we rarely (if ever) think twice about, which is that mainstream games tend to be heavy on the violence. For the most part, we’re geared and ready to go for the next game featuring monster decapitations, badass guns, and kill animations.
But, what if we lived in an alternate reality where violence wasn’t the most idolized aspect of gaming? Obviously, gaming and other forms of media are reflections of the cultures that they cater to, so if a society wants more blood and gore, then that’s what the people will get (unless you’re in a place like Australia where gore is censored). However, going back to our hypothetical situation, let’s assume that this alternate reality is the exact same world that we live in today except for the fact that violent video games aren’t mainstream.
Of course the biggest question we would need to ask ourselves would be, “what would take the place of violence in mainstream gaming?” Puzzle solving? Adventuring? Adult activities? Actually, based on the picture below from Statistica reflecting 2013 game sales, our most likely substitute would either be sports, family entertainment, or racing.
Based purely on these statistics, it would look as though Sports would fill the voids of Action and Shooter, but maybe that conclusion is a little too simple. If two game genres were to disappear, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that the next best-selling genres would take their places.
Another perspective to consider is that many violent games include aspects of other genres such as puzzles (God of War), RPG elements (Fallout), or racing (Knights of the Old Republic). Could any of those included elements take the place of violence in gaming? Personally, I think it’s possible. The game that immediately comes to mind is the puzzle game Portal. While Portal‘s story did have undertones of a violent past, there was no violence until the very end and yet, I greatly enjoyed the experience. So I certainly believe that it’s a possibility.
Good, clean, family fun! (Just ignore the crazy robot trying to kill you).
But here is the big question, “is there a gaming genre or element that could replace the satisfaction and enjoyment that comes from playing violent games?” Maybe there is no substitute for violence. Perhaps, violent video games are a form of catharsis and are safe environments to express our violent nature. I’ll be honest, I have a hard time thinking of a comparable experience to “Boom! Headshot!,” however just because I can’t think of a similar experience from a non-violent game, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
While we probably will not see a time when violent video games aren’t on top, I find it fun thinking about such a reality. Not because I am against violence (Halo will always be close to my heart), but because I think it’s good for us to look at gaming trends we usually don’t think twice about.
Anyway, back to slaughtering Darkspawn for me!
I just finished Spec Ops: The Line, and a certain part of me wishes I hadn’t.
Playing a game that sets you on a path as part of the story, and then chastises you for following along seems exploitative, and perhaps it is. But Spec Ops really made me question my own decisions as a player as well as the decisions of the characters in the story. At one point I said to myself, “This is horrible. I am not having fun.” Yet I couldn’t stop playing, and no one was forcing me to do so.
Delta Force Captain Walker’s horrifying journey into damnation and insanity begins as any generic military shooter would. If you’ve listened to this week’s podcast you know that the beginning of the game is so standard it could be considered boring. It’s not until over an hour into the game that the slippery slope into chaos starts to become truly evident. However, the idea is that it could have been avoided long ago; by the player, by Walker, by his squad, or by the rogue American soldiers you were sent to find in the first place. Things just get worse and worse, and no matter what decisions you make trying to fix things there’s a feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you that things aren’t getting better. Then they get even worse.
Spec Ops: The Line does not glorify war.
Some have called Spec Ops: The Line a statement about military shooters, American patriotism, or violent video games in general. While arguments could be made for all of these, writer for the game Walt Williams has said in various interviews that the main target of criticism are the players themselves (warning, links contain major spoilers, do not read/listen unless you’ve finished the game.)
So you have a game that is an amazing work of storytelling. It’s something that you want to experience, juxtaposed with a message telling you’re enjoying killing people (albeit fictional, digital people) for your own entertainment, and you should stop.
See why I’m a little upset?
Yet I can’t recommend Spec Ops: The Line enough. Just know what you’re getting into.
If we play games for entertainment; for fun; what does it mean when a game shakes us in such a way that is not pleasant, yet still drives us to keep going? Does a game have to be fun to be entertaining, and does and game that ceases to be “fun” in that standard way also cease to provide the same entertainment?
Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead is another such example. As soon as the recently released Episode 2: Starved for Help gets started, the game makes it clear that your choices have consequences and no choice will solve all the problems and keep everyone happy. No matter what you choose to do, people get angry, violent, or die as a direct result of your actions. Even after the episode calms down it only becomes a waiting game as the tension builds toward a gut wrenching climax that you can do nothing to prevent, no matter how much you see it coming.
The Walking dead forces players to make tough choices.
While The Walking Dead doesn’t go to quite the extreme that Spec Ops does, neither episode has ended that you would call a happy one, and it doesn’t look like things will be getting better in the coming episodes.
Yet both these games I enjoy, and both these games have received praise for their engaging stories and choices that are more than the overly simplistic “good vs. evil” system we’re used to.
So does a game have to be fun to provide entertainment? In a certain sense, yes, but the entertainment doesn’t come from simple enjoyment or happiness. Horror games have been taking advantage of a similar effect for years. Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw said as much in his review of Spec Ops, calling it was almost a horror game in its own right.
In recent times Amnesia: The Dark Descent stands out as a game that effectively uses horror, so much so that players have reported being so terrified they haven’t finished it. It’s the adrenaline and excitement and morbid fascination of discovering what lies around the next corner that keeps players going, not necessarily because it falls into the normal realms of “fun.”
Amnesia: The Dark Descent has been known to completely terrify its players.
Spec Ops: The Line makes you feel bad while playing it because that’s its goal. While we may view games as entertainment, sometimes the consumer’s desire for entertainment conflicts with the creator’s goal for the story or message. If you can enjoy that message, even if the message is offensive, horrifying, or possibly condemning the player, then games can still be enjoyed without necessarily being “fun.”