OrtizGames

One of my friends recently told me today (after having read my People Hate the PS3 post) that while I had hit many of the key points as to why PS3 was getting such bad rep right now, the reason he personally “hate[ed] the PS3 with a passion” was because it was just too expensive. He also said the games coming out for the PS3 weren’t interesting to him, though I was intrigued as to how he liked Perfect Dark Zero and PGR3 over Resistance and Motorstorm.

After listening more and more, I came to the conclusion that, in all honesty, he was just a casual gamer. He pointed out that none of the games PS3 had come out with were easy to get into or had really fun split screen. I thought about it, and realized the games he plays on his Xbox (Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Halo 3) are all just glorified party games, and not really all that hardcore at all. Wait, Halo 3, a casual game? Halo, I concluded after a while, could really just be called casual. It’s pointedly simple, quick and requires very little strategic learning or improvement. Most people I know are good at Halo because–just that–they’re good at Halo. They didn’t practice, they didn’t get better–they’re just good at it because they are. This is from a biased perspective, of course, but I suspect it’s more or less the issue. People CAN get better–there’s the whole Rock Band and Guitar Hero progressive improvement based on difficulty level, same for Legendary Mode–but really, I can do voice on Expert at Rock Band, and I barely struggle. I was just GOOD at it… and I know there’s plenty of people that were good at Uncharted and Gears of War, but those games were bound to provide a real challenge to complete.

So that’s just it–what IS casual? What is hardcore? Where can you find them? It seems my friend would rather play games on his Nintendo Wii, so maybe that’s a more “casual” console? He bought the 360 because it’s cheaper than the PS3, but in all honesty does he like it more? Is it “more casual” or “less casual”? He says he’s neutral towards the 360 while hating the PS3, but I’m thinking if the PS3 were to release a few more on-console multiplayer games (like Killzone 2 or LittleBigPlanet, for example) and he had waited until then to make a decision between Xbox and PS3, he wouldn’t know which to buy. He’d go for the cheaper one, I’m suspecting–and the PS3 is lowering in price, now that production costs are at 400$ per console (Sony actually is making money off sales now). So what would happen in that instance?

In the end, I’m not sure. I’ve figured that the real competitive showdown in the industry is between those games that are deemed casual and those games that are deemed hardcore. Who’s the bigger audience? Casual. Who’s more likely to take to a game? Hardcore. How do you balance these out?

I’m thinking someone needs to come up with a symbiosis–something truly extraordinary, that will appeal to people all over. Games like SPORE (and maybe Rock Band?) come close to what I’m thinking, but nobody’s hit it on the nail yet–a merge between hardcore and casual, a game anyone can play but that feels just as epic as a game like Mass Effect. Something that appeals to everyone.

Portal? Maybe.

I don’t know. I’m just at a loss tonight.

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!![Edit: This article is so old but people keep reading it. For more new news on Heavy Rain, please check my recent posts, such as this one.]!!

A while ago, it was plastered all over my Netvibes that co-founder of Quantic Dream, Guillaume de Fondaumière, announced that the uncanny valley which had so plagued the game “Heavy Rain” when it was in technical demo stages (still magnificent stages, but understandably somewhat awkward and at times unappealing) is now no more.

To recap for you readers who aren’t huge on clicking my alluding links, the Uncanny Valley is a phenomenon, predicted by the roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, that occurs when a viewer becomes unsettled as they watch something attempt to be too human and fail. I’ve heard it being presented as a viewer interpreting something as being “too real,” but I’ve come to learn that this is a misnomer. Were game developers to make a game that looks absolutely and perfectly true to life, people would have no trouble enjoying it. The problem comes in when something is attempting to be real, and cannot attain the ultimate perfection. Humans will be thrown off by the tiniest hints–no blemishes, unnatural skin tone, perfect teeth… those things will hint to you that what you’re seeing isn’t real, and you will be not only discomforted but repulsed by it.

To illustrate, I present to you the original tech demo from way back in 2006.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9133667929405103814]

It’s beautiful, but a bit unnerving, right? The lip animations and almost too-perfect teeth and tongue are what throw people off when they watch this. The motion capture technology and the well-rendered eyes is what really makes the visuals so impressive. When the actress in the video isn’t speaking, and is simply making faces, I become entranced by how lively she looks, how full of personality. When she speaks, and her mouth and lips move irregularly, I becomes rather turned off by the visuals.

Well, French company Quantic Dream, the fellows behind a beautiful and key game dubbed Fahrenheit also known as the more-popular-titled The Indigo Prophecy, which I loved. Understandably, I was dying to see what de Fondaumière was talking about when he said that they had done what was previously expected to be, if not impossible, highly unlikely until at least two or three years have passed, but no more demos or revelations came, and I spent December in relative misery while I waited for further news on this much-anticipated game. Of course, good things come to those who wait: with the new year, we’ve received new screens.

There’s not a lot to gawk at, to be honest. There’s two close-up screenshots of a woman’s nose and eyes, with a bit of hair visible and a wonderful focus effect to the camera. Mostly what impresses me is the sheer amount of detail and realistic imperfection in the skin. I’ve always found it hilarious that many women worry so about their skin and wearing makeup in order to hide imperfections, when often those imperfections make them all the more interesting and alluring. Then again, I love skin details because I’m into game design and textures. I may just be a freak of nature.

Still, as it stands, these screenshots are frighteningly beautiful and I’m ecstatic to see in-game shots or a trailer. If Quantic Dream has indeed bridged the Uncanny Valley, Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer marks an entry into video games that had previously existed only in imagination: the perfect visual representation of life.

Virtual Reality to soon follow.

Also, this game has not yet been declared as to which consoles it will appear on. Most people seem to readily assume it’s a PS3 exclusive, as previously stated by Quantic when they released their tech demo. Later on, however, Quantic revealed they were considering releasing it for every console, including the Nintendo Wii. I’m not certain if that’s even possible, but let’s assume for now that Quantic has an idea of what they’re doing when it comes to consoles. My verdict: PS3 owners, I guarantee you this game. Xbox 360 owners, pray for ports. Wii owners, you’re getting a different game.

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I remember thinking in summer of 2006 that I wanted an Xbox 360, and bad, for one game. One, single game was catching my attention. I wasn’t waiting for Halo 3, I wasn’t excited about Gears of War–which really wasn’t even that big yet, so whatever–no, I wanted to play Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

To me, that was the selling game of the 360 during that time. A multiplatformer.

Fast forward to one year later, and the games that sell the PS3? None. Despite the fact that it has FEAR, The Darkness and Oblivion in its repertoire, it has no selling point at all. And people hate it. They hate the PS3. They hate Sony, too–not that they didn’t have a reason to, with Sony’s constant confusing marketing strategies that are about as commendable as falling on your face on purpose. Everything seems geared completely against the Playstation 3, and what’s the argument used against it?

“It doesn’t have any games.”

At the very same time in the PS3′s lifespan, it holds just as many interesting titles as the Xbox 360 did in its time–and yet people hate the PS3, with a passion.

Why is that?

I have a theory that has three points of reasoning behind it.

1) PS3 does not have a Gears. Gears of War was the game that turned Microsoft’s sales completely around–whether it be because of the overhyped marketing put across for it about how it would be a ‘Halo-killer’ or just the general attitude of the game itself which somehow appealed to the exact same audience that would be interested in Halo, plus ten of their friends. Christmastime, and PS3 has no Gears of War title to show–it could have been Uncharted, or even Folklore, but Sony simply didn’t back the game up enough–they threw their support behind games like Heavenly Sword and LAIR which were, to be honest, simply atrocious compared to what was promised in the advertising. Heavenly Sword was by no means bad–I loved it, it was gorgeous–but it just didn’t live up to what people wanted, like Assassin’s Creed. And LAIR… let’s not go there.

2) Sony screwed up too much. Microsoft had the Red Ring of Death and crappy launch titles and the whole “This is an Xbox 180, not a 360!” bit. Sony had a lot of bad rap for not having “PlayStation Live” or having any good exclusive games. But they didn’t fix things. They screwed up with the Boomerang controller, which I have a high suspicion was supposed to have motion sensing technology but they wanted to save the news for later. Upon hearing people’s dislike for the controller, they went right back to the drawing board–only Nintendo came out with the motion sensor technology announcement first. And then Sony were left looking like jackasses as they raised their Sixaxis timidly, “We added motion sensing, too.”

Then there was the horrible PSP advertising, and bad management of things like prices and titles being held back, all of which made the console look like it was either not worth it or too hard to develop for.

3) Above all other factors, though, it comes down to competition. The Xbox 360, during its starting year (we all remember), had no competitors. It had CRAP games, like Perfect Dark: Zero, Kameo and Battle for Mattle (My affectionate name for Battle for Middle Earth II). It had some good ones, like PGR3, but those were so niche it was difficult to sell via mainstream (and PGR3 was rather limited compared to PGR2, to be honest). But it didn’t have any next gen console to compete with. It could make its mistakes, and there would be no other company to compare to.

Sony comes out with the PS3, making a lot of the same errors and having many of the same difficulties as the 360, but now that Microsoft has an established fanbase, Sony’s called out as if they were incompetent, because they have trouble catching up to a console that has already been out for a year. Now, let’s think critically here, you naysayers who seem to believe PS3 has no games: what are the REAL differences between PS3′s launch and the 360′s?

Decent but somewhat unimpressive shooter

(Xbox 360) Perfect Dark: Zero

(PS3) Resistance: Fall of Man

Fun But Otherwise Unremarkable Driving game

(Xbox 360) PGR3

(PS3) MotorStorm

Oh Look A Multiplatform Game

(Xbox 360) Oblivion

(PS3) Also had Oblivion, but also recieved games like FEAR, Project 8 and Fight Night

A War Game? Oh Wow

(Xbox 360) COD2

(PS3) COD3

I mean, the list goes on. We didn’t have that much of a success story with either of these launches. Or do you remember Xbox 360s in very short supply? I certainly don’t. And PS3′s been getting back up. Xbox 360 had to do exactly the same thing. We barely ever sold 360s when I was working in the game shop. The thing is, nobody was really aware Xbox 360 had been tripping. Now, with Nintendo and Microsoft also competing in the NextGen market, Sony has to not only establish their console but also maintain face as an approachable platform for games release.

In summary, all I’m trying to say is, lay off Sony, peeps. Yes, they’ve screwed up. But in the long run, PS3 has a very bright future ahead of them. All they need is a must-have, and a killer app.

I nominate MGS4 and Final Fantasy. But we could really use something right now.

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Enough said.

We have the advantage of textures, models, maps, engines, hi-quality renderers… why aren’t we using them? Because we want to fit COD4 on a DVD? I understand the need for multiplatform, but that’s ridiculous. We all know PS3 has more power, more capability, more space. And there’s already an extensive list of must haves for the PS3, not including the ones that haven’t been released.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Folklore

Eye of Judgment

Heavenly Sword

Rachet and Clank

Warhawk

Rock Band

Unreal Tournament 3

Assassin’s Creed

Oblivion: GOTY Edition

The Orange Box

And no, many of them are not exclusives–but UT3, for example, is coming out with exclusive content for the PS3 in the form of uploadeable user-created content–in fact, Mike Rein specifically said the game was designed for PS3.

So it’s just a matter of time before developers start really kicking into gear and adding some serious content.

That, or we run the risk of future multiplatform games looking like this.

And no, it’s not coming out for 360.

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What the hell.

Apparently, Activision has no desire to share their controllers with Rock Band. Perfectly understandable, from a business point of view. But look here, and you’ll realize how little it makes sense when compared to what’s going on on the other end of the spectrum. On Xbox 360, the Les Paul (GH3 controller) works fine with Rock Band.

Now, either Activision couldn’t kill off the compatability forthe 360 version of Rock Band, or they’re making a move that makes no sense at all. They gain nothing from angering the hundreds of thousands of PS3 users that would want to use their Les Paul on either game. They stand to lose a lot of future Guitar Hero sales and they stand to lose a lot of leeway with Sony when it comes to releasing multiplatform and exclusive games.

So… what are they thinking?

Discuss.

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The Swedish developers of Battlefield: Bad Company released a developer interview video that outlines some of the key features of the Frostbite engine they created. It’s funny, though it skips over a lot of the details. I kind of wish they would go into more depth on how the engine works.

But anyway, it’s fascinating to watch, and I’m glad to see the PS3 and 360 used to a higher potential that has been done before.

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When Reuters says something, it tends to be rather serious, so in this article they just released on MGS4 I had to bite my lip a little. I promised I would write about M.U.L.E., but I really haven’t have that much time recently so I’d rather mention this current issue briefly.

Reuters suggests MGS4, along with a lot of other upcoming exclusives for the PS3 (and Wii and presumably Xbox 360, if in fact it’s getting any?) are among the last of the fading breed of console exclusives. Now, they may have a point that if games continue to become more and more pricey in their development, they’ll eventually be unable to sell their product enough to get a product, but there are several things that Reuters is not taking into account, and I say this in the humblest manner possible.

It is my opinion that exclusives will forever be a major part of console’s selling points, because each console has such a unique personality. It would be impossible, for example, to design a Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the Wii and maintain the attitude, grandeur and power of the PS3 version. We see what happened wih COD3 on the Wii. And the same goes the other way–I can’t imagine third party developers being too keen on developing a game based on motion-sensing technology and have to put it on the Xbox 360 and PS3 (though in some cases I guess the game could be ported to the PS3, too).

When we continue to hear things like the console war is still heated and rolling, it makes me think that exclusives must continue to play a huge part in the future of this industry, like a checks-and-balances political system; you release a Zelda, we release a Halo, they release a Final Fantasy.

Also, there’s the matter of the rising trend of online purchases. Through things like Xbox Live, The Wii Channel and the Playstation Store (I’m putting my money on it becoming integrated into PSHome pretty soon) players will have all sorts of unlockable/buyable, downloadable content. Costumes, add-ons, weapons, features can all be sold by the same developers for their exclusives and they can make a much larger cash influx (sort of how Blizzard just keeps making money off the same stuff). Because developers won’t have to go through stores and distributors (though I’m not sure how much they have to pay to put their work on each console’s online portal) they’ll be able to make a lot more profit off each feature sold.

Finally, to address the issue of MGS4′s looming deadline, I have a feeling well over 33% of Playstation 3s sold were bought by people who wanted Metal Gear Solid 4. After all, look at all those rumors (and another) spread around by Xbox 360 fanboys that MGS4 is cming out on Xbox 360, when Hideo Kojima already confirmed the bloody thing for PS3.

I remember reading at some point that Kojima replied, when asked why so many rumors kept popping up about MGS4 for the Xbox 360, “Well, because obviously people want it on the Xbox 360.” I lost the source, so I can’t really cite it, but when I read it I thought that was such a concise and clever answer.

So if this many people want it out, even those that don’t have a PS3, I don’t think MGS4 has anything to worry about.

And I believe firmly, despite the negativity I’ve heard around me, that it will be an excellent game.

Here’s to hoping.

P.S. WordPress somehow deleted this post which I put up earlier today… I seem to have had a draft saved so I could rewrite the end, but man, that was irritating and frightening.

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