The Dangers of Beautiful Days

Even more followers! This is so awesome. Thanks guys. I hope my excellent MS Paint skills are benefiting you. Perhaps you're studying my techniques, in an effort to enhance your own artistic abilities?

Yeah, that's probably it.

So I was visiting a friend a little while ago. He lives in a nice hot city, but when I checked the weather forecast for the weekend I was suppsoed to be there, it said nothing but storms. I was pretty bummed, but fortunately the forecast turned out to be total nonsense, because it was gorgeous all weekend. So we walked around, we enjoyed the city. We went on a boat. We drank some drinks. It was good times.

I was feeling great about being active and healthy and outdoorsy - as normally I'm the "stay in and read/play video games/sit on the computer" type. But, when we got home and I checked myself out in the mirror, I noticed something horrifying.

That'll teach me for going outside.

Traditional controllers vs the future

I sometimes feel like I'm the only person who hates hates HATES the direction video games are taking. All innovation and originality efforts are being poured into how the player interacts with the games, and not the games themselves. This, consequently, means companies will gladly make stupid, pointless, awful unsophisticated games, as long as they lend themselves to the current gimmick.

First it was motion controls... and now it's MORE motion controls.. and a bunch fo screens everywhere? Guys, it's like the rumble feature. It accomplishes nothing. Annoying buzzing in my hands does not immerse me in the game - it distracts me. Similarly, flailing around in my living room is not a superior, more interactive method of play than using a controller. Nor is whipping my head around the room to make sure I can an eye on every screen in use. It is, in fact, more difficult, less precise, and encourages developers to develop for that single feature instead of, oh for example: story, characters, challenge, humour, atmosphere, gameplay, or anything else.

I used to be a die hard Nintendo fan. I started to fall off the wagon when Gamecube failed to generate as many good titles as I'd hoped, and I jumped ship entirely with the Wii. I mean honestly now. And now, the other platforms are following suit with the motion control thing. When I talk to people about this, a lot seem to agree with me. But that doesn't explain how Nintendo and their silly gimmicks are KILLING in the market.

At this rate, in a few years, the only platform that will cater to my desire to game without gimmick is PC.

Sorry for the absence... plus MILESTONE!

Celebrate! Lo and hither and yon, rejoice! Hark, the heralds sing!

But before all that, sorry for the inactivity lately. I was moving. Many of you, I'm sure, know what moving entails. It entails fighting with the phone company over the status of your internet, so I've been without for quite some time. You'll call, tell them when you need it. They guarantee it. They fail to live up to their guarantee. You call again, remind them of their guarantee. They simply apologize and offer a new guarantee.

So their guarantees clearly mean nothing.

Then more deadlines come and go... then they send somebody over to look at the inputs and phone jacks... that person concludes nothing is wrong... so you argue with the phone company again. Yadda yadda yadda.

Long story short, it took a while for me to get my internet up and running. Now initially, I figured this saga would make a fairly good comic, but honestly, it's just too frustrating to relive in visual form.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE CELEBRATION:

A much better reason for a new comic! I totally neglected to mention hitting the TWO HUNDRED (two zero zero) 200 follower mark! Thank you guys so much, I'm glad you find my a) ranting b) poorly drawn comics or c) both entertaining enough to subscribe to me. I really do appreciate it.

I'm partying hard in my room right now. There's fireworks and debauchery and everything. Seriously. This is how hard I'm partying:

Platformers

I think not many of you will agree with me here, but I've just got to say, I think platformers are terrible.

Or, to be more specific, I think platformers are obsolete and should be put down.

They're a product of early video games. Back then, the technology was so new, that the simple act of manipulating something on a screen in a digital environment using physical controls was, in and of itself, so interesting and fun that games were built around it. The games were about, "how skilfully can you interface with the controls?" "How's your hand-eye coordination?" Hence early games like Mario. Timing jumps, judging distance... back then, it was new, and gaming technology was limited in how far it could push strategy elements, story elements, artistic elements, and so forth. So, platformers had their role.

But in this day and age? I'm sorry, but I think a game whose core still revolves around platforming is just lazy. I understand the nostalgia element, I guess, but since I came to gaming later than most, I never developed the love for platformers when they existed in their own time. Of course, all games involve timing and hand eye coordination - you're still using a controller, after all - but an FPS, for example, involves strategy and planning and coping with what other players or AI toss in your way. The game is not ONLY about how well you handle a controller. For the actual gameplay, and the challenge of a game, to be you, simply hitting the right buttons or flicking the joystick at the right time... and that's it? That's the whole thrust of the game? I just don't see the appeal in this day and age.


Take for example, the image below. Where's the fun in completing that level? I know what I have to do, I've figured it out. There are no surprises or ambushes or twists. The only challenge is that my finger might slip and I'll have to start again. This is fun?

So apparently there was some big rapture scare. Honestly, I completely missed it. Not that I buy into insane mass paranoia (remember Y2K, anyone?), but it's fun to keep track of these things and make snide remarks.

But oh well, I missed it. I guess I need to keep a closer eye on the news?

Anyway, that's not the point of this blog. The point of this blog is to discuss a gaming quirk of mine. I am what I term a "compulsive saver." When I play games, I save them every few minutes, spread across multiple save files. If I play games that don't allow for this feature, for example, Final Fantasy games that only let you save at certain spots or in the open field, it makes me uneasy.

A while ago I thought to myself, "what is at the heart of this compulsive saving behaviour? What is it's root?" I think I've figured it out. One of my deepest gaming fears is that all my progress is going to be lost because something is going to happen before I get a chance to save. Not something in-game, something from the real world. Like my computer crashes. Or, my worst fear... a power outage.

Think about it, you're trying a boss for the 10th time, FINALLY making progress, you think you're going to win this time... and then ZAP. Power outage. All progress lost.

It keeps me up at night.