Are you a parent?, Just a lengthy idea that I came up with a couple days ago

 

Those of us that have kids are truly blessed. Those children that have us for parents are also equally blessed for having parents that are not against video games. I remember as a child wishing that my father would understand my intricacies with mario, zelda, and samus. There are so many video game magazines out there that we all subscribe to, have added to our favorites and more. We seasoned gamers have so much of an edge on our children that its a miracle and I wish that my parents had taken to this level of understanding back when I was a child.

This article is not really about us seasoned gamers. This is about the teeming masses, the 9-5ers that dont have the time, or the interest in the games that we do. The parents that focus on their world and just want to get their child whatever they want then move on with their life only to discover that their child has burned down a building, raped a woman in a back seat of a car then murdered her and recovered their financial deposit. Following this discovery, the parent usually returns the game, rips the sales clerk a new one, and storms out of the store without a refund which if they had made an informed decision to begin with would not have even occurred.

The two businesses that Ive worked that Ive had the most fun in are the video game industry, and book stores. Those of you that have read my fanfiction (fall from glory) know that I do have a bit of an imagination once given set boundaries and ideas to feed off of. The following are ideas that Im tossing around and will probably be intialized with an msn community/group since I lack any serious computer knowledge regarding web pages and dont have the finances for a full blown website.

This thought hit me when I was at a local barnes and nobles bookstore and browsing to see what there was out recently. I witnessed a child grabbing a copy of oxm and pointed out a game that he wanted to his parent, the parent did the typical open the magazine, scan the pictures, then put the magazine back. I dont know how long the child had been pushing for the game, nor do I know anything other than the complete dismissal look which a lot of us recieved from our parents or guardians growing up. I feel that the christmas issue really isnt doing parents any justice either since its only once a year. Annabeth and myself were also watching x-play on g4 and today there was an episode regarding childrens games. During my time at gamestop and eb games Ive also noticed that most parents dont even know in sum what the ESRB is or what the ratings even mean.

What Id like to do is to walk you through what Im thinking right now. For starters, my job at gamestop allows me to "rent" new release games a week before they are released to the public for a 24 hour timespan. Granted we only have a 360, an xbox, and a gamecube. This does however, allow me to cover the 360 releases which as we all know right now is the hot system to have and will more than likely be the system that most of the children these days will have.

I do know that Ive got the drive to be able to do something like this when I decide to dig my heels in. My first major project that I did was with mirc scripting and msn chat a few years back. I started out with a mere thought of being fed up with programs that did not work in their entirety and decided to take things into my own hands. Within 3 years, I went from an idiot that knew less than nothing to one of the top 20 programmers in that field for msn chat in the roleplay section.

I feel that even though the video game magazines do keep the gamer informed, they do nothing to promote the parents to be able to step in and take part. Talk of cell chips, blu-ray players, mmorpgs, rpgs, fpss, and digital and analog controllers to the world at large summarize themselves as alphabet soup.

I dont have a name for this project, and havent as yet started it. Im figuring on starting out with a website for about a year, submit the website to a few major magazines, then eventually push off to a subscription based format. Im wanting to do this not only for the money that comes with a business (no mistake made, Im a greedy sob) but also the positive feedback that would be sent to the gaming community in general.

My idea for this would consist of a name that would attract a parent of a gamer rather than a gamer (quite the conundrum) along with a non game related photo at the start (possibly chosen from pictures sent in by subscribers) followed by the usual message from the editor (myself) that would explain the purpose and intent of the magazine. Which would vary month to month based off of whats going on in the industry and families or whatever the topic of discussion might be at the time. Next up would of course be letters in pictures, experiences and more. From here I would move on to what I would feel would be most unique to the magazine itself. Family photos of gamers with their children doing what they do best (spend time together, live normal lives with gaming being a part of the family) and any new additions to their own family.

Next would be the game reviews which I feel are crucial. Rather than going into the technical speak, Id focus more on the content of the game, storyline but rather than the focus being on a gamers point of view, Id give out the facts on the content as the parents need to be concerned about examples being gore, types of violence etc. Every month Id give a family friendly award to the game of the month, and also give reccomendations on the age group for the game. The trick is to put enough details in to tell the parents what they should be aware of the game but not too much that the parent starts to lose interest in the article given the average adults attention span with life, this is going to prove to be the most tricky part of the scenario.

After the reviews, there would be information on websites that have chosen to submit their links as a family based gaming site (sg, 2old2play, geezer gamers, corporate websites and the like) along with links to the esrb and whatever else I can turn up from time to time.

I think that the reviews should be broken up (not in genre) but in age specific groups example 5-10 yrs of age, 10-15 15-20 etc. Most parents I feel dont know the difference between the fps shooter style of halo 2 and the ots view of ghost recon. The age specific format would also allow for quick browsing for the parents to quickly get a glimpse of what their children are for lack of a better phrase, eligible to play. Please note that I wouldnt be TELLING parents what they should be buying for their children. The words and phrases "I feel, I believe, It is my understanding, It is the opinion It is reccomended" would be liberally applied. Granted, thats not to say that it would never be taken out of context and as always you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

Im thinking of starting out on an msn community, and from there get about six months to a year of reviews and thoughts posted, after which dropping a few thoughts to online and monthly established publications to see if theres enough demand to keep pushing to an eventual subscription. Its a grass roots campaign if I start it off, but I was curious as to what sgers thought on this idea or would like to see from something like this or if you thought that it was just a pipedream.

Right now, no action on this has been taken in any direction. This is nothing more than an idea that spawned in my brain during a shopping trip. If I were to do this, it would be a hobby. But I feel that if it were to take off, it would be something that in my opinion would be quite literally a worthwhile cause.

Any feedback/suggestions/input/advice would be appreciated.

 

Posted by ashersgcorps @ 2:34 am EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

The state of online gaming as well as the media and games

Ive spent a lot of time playing online since first acquiring my xbox. Too many hours on halo2 and feeling lost on other games online features (or lack thereof). It astonishes me that halo 2 has stayed at the top of the xbox most played online since release. It also surprises me that someone has not done something as simple as just following bungies lead. Even with the advancements on the xbox 360s dashboard, its still a shadow of the masterful setup that bungie gave us. The matchmaking engine of bungie has been given mixed reviews, but the party system with which bungie endowed halo 2 with and comparatively speaking, its amazing that noone else has decided to implement this on a grander stage. Even some of the more basic features (clan support, mass messaging, mass invitations, and more) have seemingly gone unanswered or unchallenged by any other manufacturer. The only things that bungie missed in its formula in my opinion is the standard old-school optimatch (you set your own map, your starting weapon etc.) and the ability to make your own matches publicly available. I highly doubt that any developer is reading this that works for any company, but you seriously might want to stop and think about what Im saying here. If you have the right game, all you need is the right online setup and the game at the right price and wham instant success.
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Ive recently acquired the g4 channel as well. Ive suffered through x-play. This show in my opinion is a tragedy! We need a serious show that actually views gamers as what they are: people. I think that a show that would be akin to the 6:00 news (maybe weekly, maybe daily?) that would go for about an hour that would not only review games in a serious tone, but also go into the industry news, top games, as well as upcoming games. I dont think this idea will go anywhere until someone takes the plunge and tries it, but Id prefer anything to adam sessler and morgan webb who usually spend more time making fun of games (kind of like people sitting on couches at home detracting from a lot rather than actually offering up constructive criticism). I feel that this only further detracts from the seriousness of video games and video gamers.
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On another note, I think that it would be a good idea for a publisher somewhere to start up an actual magazine based for parents and video games. Im not referring to the annual x-mas special that comes out at the holidays that only covers what a grandmother or grandfather wants to get junior for the holidays.Im referring to an actual regular monthly periodical that goes into all the releases and discusses each game, what the content is (as a parent is concerned) and age reccomendations.
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I guess in summary that the press is in general taking games as always, lightheartedly. This allows more to go head to head with more and more finger pointing. Maybe this step would be towards the right direction. But we can always guess, cant we?

 

 

Posted by ashersgcorps @ 12:43 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

So, you kids think you have it soooo bad? Try this on for size

The coming of the virtual console,
It never ceases to amaze me how those of us from the atari/nintendo generation of gamers were able to make it without downloadable content. We were all amazed at the first site of extra levels/maps/player skins/game fixes on the original xbox. Game manufacturers currently have gone so far as to issue full games (xbox live arcade) for download onto a console with no need for a disk, Id like to think that sometime in the future, a disk will no longer be necessary and that all games will come in a digital foremat. Oblivion is the first next generation game to hint at using this feature to full advantage, and if implemented correctly, would truly bring about a never ending game and quite possibly an ever expanding world. Rare has gone so far as to implement cooperative campaign (something that many gamers have begged and pleaded with bungie to do with the award winning halo 2 to no avail) which I believe is no small feat. I hope that with this next generation of games, we shall see even more of this in the future as it not only extends replayability, but also increases the life of the game if we have more to do with a SUCCESSFUL game.

The downside to the digital age of games, is it removes the stress on the quality control of some of the developers. A prime example that comes to mind is ghost recon advanced warfighter for the 360. The game by default is by no means anything to sneeze at. However as always, there are those that push the games to their limits and do things that no programmer intended to be done with the game. This results in glitches that did not show up in gameplay testing. Sometimes these glitches do absolutely nothing to gameplay, other times they can be critical and can swing a battle one way or another. With the advantages of digital content, it appears as though game developers are pushed to get the game out rather than ensure that all factors are dealt with before release, knowing that fixes can be implemented later on.
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I would like very much to touch on the issue of the gaming public at large, history has proven to us that en masse, the human race is not the most organized of species. Collectively when pointed towards a common goal, we are capable of doing things that truly boggle the mind. Sadly, with any online gaming, as a general rule, we are the epitomy of disgrace.

I am referring to trashtalkers, cheaters, standbyers, glitchers, animostic modders (I know that modding and true modders are artists that are capable of doing wonderful things), racists, and glitchers. I have only to say this. There will be many ideas that halo 2 has done that will more than likely be implemented into future games, proximity voice, non-dedicated hosting via forcing host, modification of maps and physics engine with the maps on the hard drive, etc. I hope that proximity voice will not be included on future games, or will only be included as a selectable option. If you are striving for a new plateau in gaming, then I would reccomend that you hire actual gamers to test the games, rather than having the developers test the games to make sure that all things are agreed upon and would also more than likely raise the quality of gaming in general. Nintendo itself back in the nes/snes days used to go to temporary agencies to hire gameplay testers from outside the company, which obviously enough, ensured that the games were of the highest quality. One can only hope though.
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On a final closing note, Id like to discuss the hotly debated topic of "balancing" of weapons, spawn camping, and some of the more intricate levels of fps multiplayer gaming.

BALANCING
One of the more popular areas of debate in the area of gameplay is the "balancing" of weapons. Much talk has been done in many of the premiere fps style of games. For those of you not in the know, there is an organization called major league gaming. Their basis of arguement is for balanced weaponry, gameplay, and skill. Initially, I was against this organization, however since trying out their gametypes,I feel there is indeed a creedence in this arguement. Once again, I think that this is the ideal that I feel will be strived towards in the future of gameplay, but will remain an ideal that is to be blunt, unachievable. War is in its own nature an unbalanced thing to begin with. Weapons intrinsically have their strengths and weaknesses, these variables are commonly adjusted by such things as rate of fire, reload times, and availability. It is my opinion that once again, much of this may be alleviated by the developers actually speaking with the gaming public at large while the software is still in beta phase. Through feedback from gamers before release, a better sense of balance may be achieved that would be beneficial to both parties.

SPAWN CAMPING
Ahhh, the one thing that is so hotly contested. If it were not for the strong opposition on both ends and the complexities therein, where to begin to come up with a solution becomes quite the in-depth query.

Many solutions to this have been proposed, from limited invincibility, to a seperate spawn room. Some call it nuances of gameplay, others call it cheap and underhanded. Conker in my opinion (though rampant with spawn camping in its online gameplay) had many plausible solutions. From an armed automatic weapon over the spawn room, to limited invincibility, to selectable respawn points, I feel that this game (had it not been an online flop due to lack of updates to gameplay and dlc) hit on many positive alternatives to counter spawncamping. I agreed with conker on many points of their spawning tactics, but I feel that a little more steps to delve further would have been beneficial

Posted by ashersgcorps @ 9:06 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Thoughts on online gaming

What initially started my thoughts on this obviously was the whole uproar over being charged for themes, gamerpics, and of course, the hottest item of debate, the horse armor for oblivion. I find it very surprising myself that a lot of companies seem to "not know" what they should be charging for a product over download. What these people have in front of them is an opportunity for independent thought. Before you place something up for download, ask yourself these questions.

1)What would I pay for this item?
2)Is it something that is merely cosmetic, or functional
3)Is there more that could be added to this to justify a higher price tag?
4)Has this company tried running a multiple choice poll on the website to get a "feel" for how the gamers think about the cost of said item/items?

Next gen console wars are starting to heat up quickly guys. You need to start putting more serious thoughts on what you want to put out, and how you are going to distribute the product along with what size download. The oblivion horse pack would not have been so controversial if it had come with a few extras. While this does require more work and getting paid less, we as a gaming public are more inclined to actually pay for things when we feel we are getting our moneys worth.

On the topic of themes and gamerpictures, you guys seriously need to cut the charging out for this. These are ways for gamers to support and speak out for their favorite games. Consider it marketing or promotional material. If for example a gamer happens to like the idea of the new tomb raider game, has played the demo, has seen the trailer, and wants to make himself more into the game, then the pictures or themes for free wouldnt be that bad of an idea. I can understand charging for the themes, but its a little on the highside at the moment. People will pay for skins, extra quests, but you also might want to consider (after costs have been recouped of course) making them free eventually. Mechassault for the original xbox still is up for download for the obligitory cash of 5.99 this is a prime example of what Im speaking of. Its not to say that the content isnt worth the extra cost, but the cost of developing this extra content has no current leg to stand on so to speak. My reccomendation would be a minimum of six months for charged downloads, then cut the cost to a discount followed finally by a gratis download after full costs have been recouped.If you believe this to be a bad idea, historically speaking I merely will point out to you that bungie did it rather well with the halo 2 map and autoupdates. Bungie recieved more than enough financial reimbursement for this idea, but once the costs and profit margines were settled, they were offered for download at no cost.

Give us what we want, at a reasonable cost for the content, and we will continue to play and play happily. There will always be price gouging no matter where you go or what you do, but I think its going to be interesting when you look overall at the picture of gamers vs developers when things start to settle down on the marketplace and a meetingpoint between the two is finally made.  

Posted by ashersgcorps @ 5:48 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Greetings to you

Well, first blog and I have to do it on a gaming site. Well, all things considered even, we all have to start somewhere, so Ill give you an ideas as to what Ill be posting here.

My thoughts on different games and issues pertaining to the games

My thoughts on the gaming industry in general

Any other specific or non specific rants that I would like to vent on.

I dont expect anyone to read this, but if youve got any thoughts feel free to reply.
Other than that, I wish there were more to say, but theres not much to rant on right at the moment. Ill blather away later on when something about the industry lights a fire.
 

 

Posted by ashersgcorps @ 11:31 am EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments