I recently wrote about how I felt cheated by Ni no Kuni’s ending. After a brilliant intro that forced you to emotionally invest in Oliver and his journey, the game’s creators failed to provide us with a satisfactory conclusion. I’m realizing now that I felt robbed of being “rewarded” for completing the game. That leads to another question: should we be rewarded for playing through a game, or should the game itself be the reward? READ MORE
I recently read that there are no more nerds anymore. It’s an antiquated description. The stereotypical male, age 18-to-35, who lives in his parents’ basement reading comic books, plays Dungeons & Dragons, wears beat-up glasses and can’t function in a normal social setting still exists. But it’s becoming derogatory and ignorant to label anybody who enjoys video games or surfs the internet or doesn’t enjoy sports as a nerd, living in a basement somewhere, as a social reject.
Go back to ’80s sex-crazed comedies and all you’ll find are jocks and nerds. Jocks enjoy sports, drinking beer and having sex, whereas nerds will never get laid, enjoy electronics and speak in a nasally twang that nobody could possibly find attractive. That image is dead and buried deep. The concept of judging somebody based on their hobbies and interests has changed dramatically; the richest man in the world is a self-described nerd. Not as many would think to make fun of a quiet, shy boy or girl who happens to excel in computers. It’s a beautiful skill to have. READ MORE
Twists are tricky. They can be the signature moment in a story that will leave an impact for years to come, or they can be predictable, unnecessary and not all that interesting. They’re best used sparingly; utilize too many and you’ll lose the audience’s interest. Go watch the movie Heist and you’ll know what I mean: by the end, a real twist would have been no twist at all. You couldn’t believe anything you saw, because you started to predict that (surprise!) what happened wasn’t actually what happened. READ MORE
I tend to stay away from topical discussions. I prefer writing pieces about games that are at least a few years old. It gives me adequate time to think about them, and reflect on how the game left an impact on the industry (if at all). Any high emotions experienced can subside, and let me look at the game with more sober eyes.
Recently on the podcast, we’ve been discussing future consoles and digital downloads. It’s a fun topic; many of the Snackbar staff have bought at least one (or 50) games from XBLA, PSN, the Wii Shop, Steam, Origin, you name it. It’s all very futuristic; we all knew that physical copies of games would eventually go away, but that reality was always down the block and out of sight. Now that it has come into view of our front door, we’re not sure what to think. READ MORE
It’s very difficult to grab our attention these days. Gone are the days where gamers are thrilled by a simple screenshot. Our expectations are as high as ever, with emerging technology bringing us lightning-fast internet speed, HD graphics and constant social media bombardment. We have all the information in the world at our fingertips. Games play a huge part of the modern entertainment juggernaut, and the sheer capacity of information surrounding them is staggering. There are so many games, stories and characters out there for our potential enjoyment that it borders on unnecessary. I mean really, how many games do we need? READ MORE
