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Video Game Industry Thread: February's done, go to the new thread
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Touch screen controls aren't necessarily a problem if the game is built around them. Something like Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword would probably be pretty cool on iOS/android. not to mention that, as android is demonstrating, you CAN have buttons if you support a bluetooth controller. As iOS and Android mature into bigger gaming platforms, I wouldn't doubt for a second that more and more games will support bluetooth controllers. A bunch already do on Android.
The problem is virtual controls, which simulate normal buttons. Those just aren't very good to use.
The best use of touch screen, IMO, is the way Unit 13 uses them on the PS Vita. The main game controls via the sticks and buttons, but the edges of the touchscreen house context-sensitive "buttons" which expand the limits of the controller. It works pretty well, and I hope something like the WiiU feels as intuitive. The major factor in how good they feel is how close the touch screen is to the physical buttons and sticks.
Pffft hahaha. Man, they must have caught some flack for that one.
A personal qualm of mine is the reviews for Starcraft 2. To preface this, none of the reviewers got review copies, they all had to get the game on launch. Blizzard's reason for this was that the multiplayer community wouldn't be there otherwise, and SC2 depends on its multiplayer community.
So come release day, and all the major review sites are scrambling to push through reviews ASAP and beat the competition. Reviews started going up within days, within a week most major sites had their review up.
The thing that irritated me is that, of course, all the sites reviewed the multiplayer. But they didn't. Almost none the reviews I was reading knew jack all about the multiplayer. Ultimately it comes down to this: Starcraft 2 was a massively hyped game, and the multiplayer was a huge part of that and the reason it still even existed as a thing ten years on. So all these reviews praised the multiplayer incredibly, showering it with adulations, but all in the most ridiculously vague terms. They swooned at the amazing and "perfect" balance (something you can't judge at all within the first week, but there were already balance issues leaving the beta), the "incredible depth" (if they even played online, I'd be willing to bet almost none of these guys made it past bronze league and didn't pay any attention to the competitive scene, and so had zero idea of what actual depth the game consisted of) and similar. No matter where I looked I couldn't find any references to specific features or aspects to back this up, just blanket and wishy-washy phrases purely because that's what their audience was expecting as the outcome.
Personally I've got my issues with some of SC2's core design decisions, but that's besides the point. Evaluating a massive, in-depth multiplayer game and community in the space of a few days and trying to give some meaningful assessment of it is nigh on impossible, and SC2 hit that point home freaking hard. If the reviewers had any issues themselves with the multiplayer, anything that they thought was off, they simply didn't say anything about it, because they all knew how shallow their actual experience of the online had been and they didn't want to risk being called out on something that they might have missed or not understood.
It was just one big blotch of group-think, I can only call it pandering to hype and to the fans. For most of the reviewers, the game was praised because it had to be, not because any of them either understood what made SC2's multiplayer tick, or because they specifically found it amazing to play. And it's crazy to pass any sort of authoritative judgement in that manner, but that's what they all did.
This is what logic says, but then people are lining up around the block to get the new version. Apple's got some strange voodoo.
I multiple friends with iPad 2 ready to buy the new iPad. Two announced their intentions to buy it yesterday, sight unseen!
Ancedotal yes, but the numbers for Apple products tend to back it up. I'm not sure how sustainable that is though.
I write news there. It is fun.
I don't have much of a problem with games that are designed around the touch screen.
Problem is that it seems like 75% of the games on the App Store do the virtual buttons thing, and they're downright terrible.
That Sesame Street game is probably perfect for 'em.
PA Lets Play Archive - Twitter - Blog
They also gave the Wii version a better score and that has twice as many Werehog stages. However, it's still not as stupid as Gamespot's review of the game, which, they also gave the Wii version a better score.
tails Gets trolled
[citation needed]
Bow down to Steambox!
I wants me an iPad 2 once the announcement kills the price for one.
There's a reason I used the phrase "seems like".
I'm wondering if the Apple Enthusiast market is enough to support the thing though.
I mean, I know people with iPads, but none of them are the type who'd ever line up outside an apple store. And none of them are gonna want to upgrade their iPad every few years.
Yup, that game informer paper mario review was pretty much the moment I stopped giving any weight to reviewers. If the reviewers and editors admit that they score games based off of what they expect the game to receive, and nothing about the game itself actually affects the review score, then what's the point? That's saying the scores are decided before the game even launches, that "good" games are supposed to get good scores, and "bad" games are supposed to get bad scores.
And then you factor in how every single preview of every game is gushing with praise, it just makes it obvious how low these outlets think of their readers. By their own logic, the score of the games should already have been pre-decided during these preview sessions, so why endow the game with nothing but praise if you've already made up your mind that it's going to get a low score?
Call me arrogant, but I trust my own knowledge and opinion about gaming over anyone else. This isn't to say I don't respect other views, but in the end of the day, the only opinion that I really care about and trust completely is my own. I often feel, when reading reviews, that I myself could pump out a better review.
But they do make for fantastic bitch fests, I'll admit. No one likes to see a game they really enjoy get slammed for all the wrong reasons.
Yeah I played it. I really do think the reviewer is at fault. The game could have placed the player in front of the right beach, or placed the quest giver in front of the right place, or whatever. But there is a red X on the map. The reviewer has played a ton of games and should know to refer to the map. He was being lazy, and obviously didn't want to play the game.
Well, in my experience with iPhone games, less than 10 percent of them or so involve virtual buttons.
I do not, and will not ever, understand the hype and devotion that Apple has of it's consumers. They release a new thing every year, making your thing you spent HUNDREDS of dollars on seem worthless, and yet they are so willing to go ahead and buy the new thing?
They make things with some great tech in them. The screens, the cameras, Siri (which was a purchase of another company, I know), they make it all work in a slick package. But I still wouldn't throw away that much money on it.
And for gaming, all this iteration is definitely not a good thing. Now you have games that will run on iPad1 and up, iPad2 and up, and I'm sure more will release that will only play on the iPad3. Gaming needs some stability. Even the PC market generally allows for a good 5 years before you really need to upgrade.
Backloggery XBox Live 3DS: 1805-2274-4550 (Jonathan)
A port of Mega Man X, or a GTA game, that is not the time and place.
PA Lets Play Archive - Twitter - Blog
I think it's pretty obvious what he means - it seems like every console port, or console-like game on iOS (and android) resorts to virtual controls. GTA3, Sonic 4, Zenonia, etc. While, yes, games like Tiny Towers don't rely on virtual buttons, those clearly aren't the kind of games he's looking for. They might be good games, I agree, but it's hard to not see that they're a very different type of market than what you find on any other gaming device out there.
The problem is that, for something like GTA3, there is no reason it needs to use virtual buttons. There are numerous FPS games which have already figured out how to do console-like controls on iOS and Android by turning one half of the interface into a touchpad for aiming, and having a free-floating stick to move around with. And there are far better ways to make a gun fire than just pressing a tiny virtual button in the lower right hand corner of the screen. One of the earliest "big" iOS games was the "port" of MGS4, and it had probably the best gun mechanics of any iOS game i've played aside from maybe Doom 3.
It comes down to unimaginative implementation. Devs of the kinds of games he wants to play are trying to retrofit controls suited for tangible, physical controllers into a screen with no feedback (haptic feedback be damned). Devs either need to branch out and experiment more with alternative control styles in these sorts of games, or start supporting bluetooth controllers more massively.
Dear God no.
I write news there. It is fun.
This was the other concern. Constant major upgrades will lead to huge fragmentation in the software, which is I would think a bad thing.
The problem is that the spacing and sizing will change from person to person. Although, to be fair, most games with virtual buttons will at least let you freely arrange them on the screen.
My problem comes down to the lack of physical feedback. i rely on that heavily when gaming. When I first got my iphone, I used to put scotch take on the screen over virtual dpads and buttons, and it would greatly improve my ability to play those games. Eventually, though, I got tired to doing that and just kinda stopped playing those kinds of games on the iphone.
I had an idea a few years back for a glove which would fit over the iphone. Unlike detachable gamepad ideas, this glove would offer groves in the places where dpads and virtual buttons would normally go, so that you could fit it over your iphone screen and give you some feedback. The problem with this is that it'd require some level of standardization when it comes to virtual button sizes and placement.
Ideally, the best solution for those sorts of games, is just to offer bluetooth gamepad support.
That fishing quest is horribly, horribly done. The explanation is nowhere near what you have to do and I was stuck on it forever. Finally had to come here and ask what the heck I was supposed to do.
But quitting the game for it? That's mega turdy.
I had this issue with a platformer I was playing on my sister's iPod.
It was even good and only had 3 buttons (left, right, jump). But it would fuck you up often enough to be annoying because you never know if you are on the button without looking at your hands.
You are holding the damn screen, it's gonna shift around in your grip a bit.
Except then who's gonna hold the device?
You can connect the device to a TV and play it that way, or you can buy a dock and hold it up like that. That's how I play Sonic CD on my galaxy tab - I just stick in the dock when I want to give it a go. Or, worst case scenario, you just put the screen in your lap. I've done that before.
So the rumor about Blizzard giving away free mounts for inviting a person back to WoW was correct. I guess it was only a matter of time before they started using social gaming ideas to keep people in the game. Now they just need to start giving people special powers for the number of friends they have in this game...
I can maybe see that being a problem on a tablet, but on a smaller device like a phone it's nearly impossible for you to not see where your hands are. That particular control scheme, though, is why I like virtual analog sticks far more than virtual buttons for movement. You don't have to pick your thumb up to stop moving, so you rarely lose your place.
"Rumor"? They've been doing that for years.
edit: Actually I confused Rez with RAF, but they've been doing various kinds of "come play WoW" bonuses for a long time.
Why would I want to play a watered down version of Street Fighter 4 with virtual buttons, when I can play it on my 3DS?
Wii U and 3DS Codes
I don't keep up with WoW, but between the threads title and this post... has WoW been on the decline or something?
Yes, over the last year or so they've gone from 12 million active players to 10 million active players.
I got it a long time before the 3DS came out, it was extremely cheap, and I don't own a 3DS. It was just an example for the viability of the control scheme, not the actual quality compared to what it was ported from.
The Kinect Disney game is really fun. I won't lie, even I enjoyed playing it.
Of course the Kinect joke is on me; I only got it after seeing the SW Kinect trailer. Then they delayed, so I figured they were making it even bette.....WTF why are you making children look at Imperial Storm Troopers codpieces to see how well they're doing!
Luckily Fruit Ninja, Rabbids, and Disney are really fun.
I personally can't play either the iOS nor the 3DS versions. Both just feel wrong to me. I need either a saturn pad or an arcade stick in my hand.
But what if you don't own a 3DS and just own an iPhone?
Well, that could be a problem.
Wii U and 3DS Codes
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/06/street-fighter-x-tekken-cant-take-local-teams-online-on-xbox-360/
Odd. Can anyone who has played Mortal Kombat 360 confirm this?
Also, Microsoft is embracing the dark side.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/07/xblig-companion-app-available-now-for-windows-phone/
I'm getting used to it, and have to ask a friend on a regular basis how to get certain things to work. So far though, it seems I'll be using it more for other functions than the actual phone aspect of it. Some of the apps you can download are pretty awesome, and useful. Reserve a movie in redbox before I ever leave work to grab it, why yes I will. :lol:
So yea, I even surprised myself when I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy one.
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