Stephen Conroy: Internet villian

Someone on the PAL Gamer Network dug up a quote that I found quite true to this situation:

"As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."

-Adolf Hitler

One thing that has bothered me in recent years is Australia's reputation of being a "live and let live, I don't care" sort of persona. It doesn't bother me because that's a bad attitude to have, quite frankly I think that's the best thing about this country. It bothers me because politicians with a minority of baby boomer wowsers are doing everything they can to skull fuck that reputation and insist on treating grown adults like a bunch of children who cant tell right from wrong and insist they make these decisions for you.

Stephen Conroy is one such politician, insisting on deciding what you can and cant view in the Internet is his dayjob. What does this have to do with games? Well I was given a great excuse to put this on the blog when I found out that he insists on blocking websites that sell or make freely available anything that doesn't fit Michael Atkinson's draconian 15+ or banned regime.

"This is the worst Communications Minister we've had in the 15 years since the Internet industry has existed."

- Michael Malone, Managing Director at iiNet

Now this just gives me an excuse to put the Internet filter topic in this blog, but I want to dig into the censorship filter itself. First of all they either need voluntary cooperation from the industry or legislation to get this filter up. The ISP's have expressed this filter is terrible from both ethical and technological grounds. Meaning its impossible, unworkable and immoral.

As far as legislation goes, they need the senate to pass it, the Liberal Party are being uncharacteristicly liberal for a change and opposing the filter, and the greens are against it too, so if Labor want to pass it they need Steve Feilding from Family First and the independent Senator Nick Xenophon who were both for it originally however they have both changed their minds. Xenophon came to his senses and realised this opens up the door for alot more than just blocking websites hosting child porn (I am on the mindset a filter would just make paedophiles harder to catch anyways). Feilding says he likes it in principle but has realised its unworkable. So even if Feilding changes his mind Xenephon has withdrew all support making the filter effectively dead.

Have these 2 come to their senses? Have they saved us from draconian censorship?

As far as the web filter goes, its been documented by anybody with any sort of technical competence that it wont work, and personally I would be even more worried if it did. Back to the game related stuff, what happens to MMO's? They are totally online and therefore not rated by the Australian Censor regime known as the OFLC. All it really takes is one person to do something anywhere in the world off the mark and AMCA could effectively pull the plug on World of Warcraft if it saw fit (they are not answerable to anybody).

They also plan to block sites that sell copies of games that are banned for sale in Australia as well. Last time I checked, forcing companies to change their practices to suit your law, even if they don't exist in your country is a practice only done by the likes of China and Iran (in fact only countries with terrible censorship reputations actually have a filter to begin with). So sites like PlayAsia get blocked, which sucks because I order alot of games from there (the markup's here are ridiculous, I will only support local industry when it starts supporting me (by offering decent prices).

Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you. This just makes you geek enemy #2.

Another thing these politicians have forgotten about, its only illegal to sell them in Australia, not own. Even Atkinson has dismissed it as not a big deal if you want it bad enough, nothing stopping you from importing it. Well there will be if the filter goes ahead, but lets just hoping the only thing that Conroy achieves out of this is the prestigious Internet Villian Award. I personally have no issues with my taxpayer money flying him up to the UK to accept it.

I could go on and on about both the R18+ issue plus the firewall issue but I think that can do it for now. I may revisit the R18+ thing another time, and the firewall issue if I ever get round to doing a more politics based blog.

[PROTOTYPE] or inFAMOUS?

As the mid-year gaming drought takes its course yet again its refreshing to see a few good titles come out this month in the form of Prototype and Infamous. If you have to choose only one game which one will it be?

First of all if you have only a 360 and no PS3 the decision has been made for you: Prototype, as Infamous is a PS3 exclusive. But if you have a PS3 (or both, like me) then you have to make a decision. The decision for me was also easy: I got both and you are welcome to do the same of course.

But which one is better? This is probably my first positive piece on this blog: Both games are freakin awesome sandbox games using cool super powers to cause devastation and give Jack Thompson a heart attack (just a side note: apparently he's appearing on an upcoming Penn & Teller: Bullshit, cant wait to hear Penn introduce him by saying "Then there's this asshole!")

So where was I? Oh yeah, both sandbox with cool powers. Infamous you posses supercharged electricity that you zap enemies with, Emperor Palpatine style. Where in Prototype you possess mutating abilities to turn your arms and hands into giant hammers, blades, whips etc. Both allow you to upgrade your powers with XP to create some cool weapons like arc lightning in Infamous or the really cool looking devastator attacks in Prototype

Both games take place in New York ala GTA. Like GTA, in Infamous they rename it to Empire City where as in Prototype it takes place in Manhattan and don't bother to hide it. Getting around in Prototype is easy because you can run up walls, jump really high and glide whereas Infamous its not so quick and easy.

Prototype mostly behaves like your typical 3D action game like Assassins Creed or Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (the latter was developed by the same guys) while Infamous, combat is mostly 3rd Person Shooter style, resembling GTA more with cover systems and everything else except the guns.

Prototype is the grittier of the two

Combat is the key to both games, I find it amusing that the enemies in Infamous are a lot smarter than the ones in Prototype. The former are supposed to be junkies while the latter are meant to be a highly trained military force. Enemies in Infamous will get you on almost every shot, but for what Prototype lacks in AI it makes up for in numbers. In Prototype there is a constant war between infected and the military and you are a 3rd side in this war, its pretty chaotic, while the junkies in Infamous are more organised and are fixed on you. In Prototype you can also disguise as key military personnel by absorbing them and inheriting their memories and health.

Both games tell good stories and have a comic book superhero vibe about it. In Infamous you don't need to be the hero, the morality system is present in this game, but to get the best upgrades you need to be all good or all evil which rewards consistency. Prototype you don't really know if your good or evil, Alex has no memories and learns more about himself the more he absorbs people that know him and the rest is a revenge plot.

Freakin lightning bolts!

The biggest difference where I go back to is how the combat plays out, weather Assassins Creed style or Uncharted style. Depends on your own personal tastes really.

Personally I found Prototype to be the one I had more fun playing but there also may be a bias considering how long I have been waiting for it while Infamous sort of surprised me out of nowhere (which was pleasant and refreshing). I would have thought though if I was going to have a bias it would be towards Infamous because Prototype was published by Activision and I hate Activision (future post about why) and its a shame that I didn't wait to buy it second hand so Activision wouldn't see a cent out of me... ah well there's always Modern Warfare 2.

Why Sony is in last place

One thing I love doing more than anything else is annoying fanboys. I was a fanboy back in the day, I proudly sung under the Sega banner until 2005 (2 years after the Dreamcast ended and Sega left the console business) but now I am an odd sort. I dislike all 3 companies but like all 3 consoles.

My distain for Microsoft has nothing to do with the Xbox 360, I think its a fine console (when it doesn't die on you like it has with me and almost every 360 owner I know). Its more to do with my hatred for Windows but thats a story for another time. I like the Wii, I dont love it but its OK but cant stand Nintendo, thinking they are so great they think they dont even need gamers, they release garbage and it sells millions (Wii Fit, Wii Music etc)

So I cant stand any of the companies but out of those 3 Sony is special. Its an odd sort because the Playstation 3 is a fantastic system that has so much potential, and the PSP could have its place but Sony themselves are preventing that. My anger towards them is they themselves are the cause of their products being in last place.

PRICE PRICE PRICE. Yeah yeah cry me a river about the Playstation 3 being sold at a loss still and all that. The Playstation 3 is by FAR the most expensive device on the market, the Xbox 360 has a higher installed base because mostly you get the same games on a cheaper device.

Despite it will be less of an issue on the hardcore (which you can win over with enough exclusives but still an issue) they are forgetting the reason why the Playstation 2 was so popular. The PS2 got its numbers from the same place the Wii is getting its numbers now: the casual. Even the casual has gone beyond the PS2 now so stop pretending like its still relevent! At least they abandoned their "keeping gaming simple" chart after they got laughed at pretty hard there.

Shame, it could be a great console if it didn't cost your left testicle to afford one

Unless the price drops, PS3 will remain in 3rd place. Its alot better to sell them at a hit than not selling them at all. Its bigger hit when its stuck in your warehouse. One thing I want to make clear, I got over the price thing for myself and bought one, actually on my 2nd one after the first died on me in under 2 months.

So my main gripe personally with the PS3 is the controller, it has not changed since 1995 with the Dual Analog since then with added rumble and tacked on last minute tilt sensor. Even on the PS2 I felt the DualShock felt like it needed a redesign, the thumsticks still feel like an afterthought, as if the world wasn't quite ready to jump into 3D yet. Seriously Sony we have been feet first in the 3D world for well over a decade. Time to put the d-pad to the odd part to reach on the controller or ditch it alltogether.

Now onto the PSP. I think their PSP-3000 redesign was utter crap, screen felt the same, wasn't that much lighter than the 2000 model with worse battery life. The PSP-Go has been a long time coming but I never expected Sony to actually not add anything that would make anybody want one over an iPhone or DS. How could they be so stupid? The PSP-Go is no doubt cheaper to produce than previous models with not having to make a UMD drive but Sony intends on selling it for US$249? The same price as a Wii? Is this some sort of sick joke?

I am reminded of "599 US dollars" all over again.

No joke, its a rip off and everyone knows it. Even Michael Pachter called them out on it and then they forced an apology out of him? I found that to be quite gutless of Pachter, especially when he was right when he said "$249 is too much... period". What was Sony's justification? To compete against the iPod touch? First of all nobody cares about iPod Touch, they get iPhones or the old iPods and they cant say they are competing with the iPhone because the PSP is not a phone. The PSP Go is a gaming device, more expensive than the Xbox 360 Arcade and the Wii, no way in hell that price can be justified, they are squeazing every last dollar they can from their fanboys and one of the few times I have felt sorry for fanboys.

2nd of all the iPod Touch actually has a touch screen, as does the DS. Its the standard control method of handheld devices this geneation: the PSP and the PSP Go do not have touch screens. I would have considered a PSP Go if it had a touch screen (or even a 2nd thumbstick) but for a PSP redesign with PSN store only (eliminating special deals at your local retailer for cheaper). No thank you Sony, I am happy with my (hacked) 2000 model and my DSi. Funny they never mentioned the DS, best not remind people that despite its likely the PSP Go will sell for $400 in Australia, the DS Lite sells for $188 (and no, the DSi is not a worthwhile upgrade neither, trust me)

UPDATE: We now have a Sony guy basically admitting that Sony is ripping off the consumer for no other reason than because they can. I for one now officially endorse a boycott of the PSP-Go.

E3 Thoughts Part 3: Nintendo

Why am I reminded of abused wives going back to their husbands when I look at Nintendo? Maybe it is because last year Nintendo openly gave their core audience the finger and announcing they were leaving you for your parents!

This year felt more of the same with a booty call or two. First lets start with the good this time as it wasn't much.

• Super Mario Galaxy 2: OK that one caught me off guard, a sequel that sticks to the first games formula? I cant really complain considering Galaxy was brilliant, one of my favourite titles of 2007 (one of the few years I was fond of Nintendo where they didn't release a major Zelda title). Considering the first game won a crapload of Game of the Year awards you can tell this is going to be a major release. Oh yeah and theres Yoshi! I forgot about him/her/it... whatever it is!

• Metroid: Other M: Another great title from Nintendo in 2007 was Metroid Prime 3, a title I felt was superior to Halo 3 (yet didn't touch BioShock) and really showed off the Wiimote as a great controller for an FPS (after Call of Duty 3 & Red Steel fucked it). Other M has got me more excited than the Prime games for a couple of reasons, first the fact that its not all first person: it seems its got first person, 2d and 3d action as well. The 2nd reason that g0t me all pumped up for it is the fact that its done by TEAM NINJA! Yes I know Itagaki-san no longer works at Tecmo but that doesn't mean it wont rock. Don't forget... Shinji Mikami had virtually nothing to do with Resident Evil 5 and that still rocked.

• Despite nothing really new, there are a few interesting 3rd party titles coming including The Conduit, Dead Space Extraction and Red Steel 2 (provided it works this time!)
  

But that was about it for the good things, just 2 announcements and trailers and that was pretty much it, the rest was all downhill

• Wii MotionPlus. Yeah yeah we saw this last year and its already out... next

• Someone needs to remind Nintendo who the audience is at E3! Who that attends and watches these things give a flying fuck about Woman's Murder Club and Wii Fit Plus? Like last year Nintendo fills their show with the casual garbage and throws in a hardcore title every now and then just when your falling asleep.

• Wii Vitality Sensor? Are you serious Iwata? Gee that's great! We could possibly understand what your trying to get accross if you at least displayed a software demo or even explained what the point was except to help games put you to sleep. Seriously Mr Iwata, if a game puts you to sleep there is something seriously wrong with the game. Not to mention its already been done, you released Wii Music last year remember?

• Relying on 3rd party again to back you up, didnt work last year neither. You seriously have nothing for this year? Oh thats right, New Super Mario Bros Wii! Yeah because a multiplayer Mario that kills all sense of speed running (you know, the stuff that made Mario and Sonic the kings of the 2D world?) for something multiplayer? Sorry but it would be better off without it. I love 2D platformers, and its shame to see something like a 2D mario reduced to a gimiky excuse for Mario Party 9

• Cammie Dunaway... I hate Cammie fucking Dunaway! What on earth is this moron doing at a games convention AGAIN? She looks like my game hating aunty pretending to be hip! Microsoft got Felcia Day, the hottest gamer geek in the world! Nintendo got a Sarah Palin reject! Im dead serious, Dunaway trying to talk games is as laughably depressing as Palin was trying to talk forgin policy! I dont know what her credentials are but gaming is not one of them!

So all in all Nintendo had a few nice suprises but over all they sucked. I will give them credit though, they did better than last year. At least Miyamoto managed to avoid embarrasing himself this year.

E3 Thoughts Part 2: Microsoft

On to Microsoft. I felt Microsoft put on the best presentation of the big 3 yet lacked substance compared to Sony.

First before I go into what they did right I want to do a few criticisms first.

• Beatles Rock Band: Bad way to kick off, especially a title that is most likely going to be selling on Wii (the older generations who only really buy Wii Fit). The Beatles were way before the time of most gamers and not really something to show off.

• Don't encourage Activision selling 3 digit numbers for another piece of plastic. The market is flooded with plastic junk and Activision is the main culprit (Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Tony Hawk). Don't encourage them!

• They seemed to want to give the impression that Metal Gear Solid Rising was a 360 exclusive: It's not.

• Shadow Complex? That's the new big Cliffy B project? Sure it looks a little fun but I expected much more from Mr Gears of War

• Halo: ODST was supposed to be a small expansion and now its a full priced game.

All that being said Microsoft did have some good stuff to show, as I said before their exclusive content wasn't up to the level Sony had but still an impressive line up.

• The exclusive game they displayed above all others was the one that we have heard squat about for a long time: Alan Wake. The game looks awesome in the sense it reminded me of Alone in the Dark before they ruined it only creepier. Cant wait to see more!

• Metal Gear Solid: Rising is one we all saw it coming but it is a big announcement for Microsoft, just like how they snagged GTAIV and FFXIII, Sony's biggest exclusive 3rd party franchises going multiplatform has been great for them. However I was reminded that you play as Raiden, the guy you played as in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and I also remember that during that time Raiden was more hated than Luigi. Kojima did a great job making people love him in MGS4 making him an ultra-cool cyborg ninja so now people are excited to play as Raiden... funny how things turn out.

• Splinter Cell: Conviction going exclusive was a good move on Microsoft, sure its 2nd best in the stealth genre behind Metal Gear but now that Rising is 360 bound as well they can brag they have the 2 big stealth franchises on their system. The game looks like it has come a very long way since the first trailer was leaked a couple of years ago to the point it raised my eyebrow.

• Despite I do not care about Halo at all, Halo: Reach looks like its going to sell millions weather its good, average or total garbage. Personally I don't like the name, sure I know its the name of the planet but how will new games (possible converts) know that? Give it a new name, I would even settle for Halo 0 or Halo: Zero, that way it would indicate that this game is the prequel to the first game (and highlight how much I care about the game).

Now onto Natal: Obviously Microsoft wanted to show off Project Natal as their big surprise (which it wasn't, after they bought the company that actually made the thing it was obvious) and despite I think it has the potential to be big I want to stress one thing: This is not new technology, just more up to date technology in the old ideas, which is good. If the technology is there than it could finally be pulled off and will feel new.

I am not at all convinced that the little demo (Milo/Mylo, however you spell it) of the little boy understanding sentences and all that, I felt was staged and not really real. My suspicions were confirmed when I was listening to a podcast on GameTrailers where someone tried it and Mylo was only talking very generic statements that could apply to anything.

With that said the stuff like the dodgeball demo all looked legit and looked like fun. That would never sell on its own but do a Wii Sports like bundle (maybe even with the camera itself) and Microsoft could be on to something but I don't expect it to be released until they have enough of a game library that supports it.

Overall I think Microsoft had a good solid E3 and what they lacked in substance they made up for in presentation. Sony could really learn something from Microsoft's PR.

E3 Thoughts Part 1: Sony

I was going to start this blog during E3 but I had other commitments at the time (such as traveling and having a life) so I decided to wait until I got back where by now every half wit that thinks their opinion matters has it expressed on the Internet in one form or another. So here I am voicing my opinions, sure I know they don't really matter but I'm not exactly being paid for this so I don't particularly care.

During this first part I want to talk about Sony's performance at E3 and will deliberately leave the PSP-Go out of it because that deserves its own entry.

Sony I felt had a great press conference, and despite I couldn't care less about Grand Turismo 5 or God of War III, I know alot of people do and it will sell lots of units. Lets start with the bad because that's the most fun.

• Yes yes Sony we know the PS2 is still alive but honestly it's on life support. Xbox 360 hit in 2005 while the Wii and PS3 hit in 2006! We are approaching 4 years since this generation started and despite the PS2 still has its place with the casuals that have yet to buy a Wii its not relevant to the types that watch your press conference.

• Your conference felt all over the place with no real structure, sure you had content but you seriously need an overhaul in the presentation/PR end and has been that way since we first heard the famous "Giant Enemy Crab".

• Sony you really need to stop with the "Me too" stuff. I see how people are bragging about how accurate your new motion sensing wand is, but honestly who is going to buy 4 of those PLUS the camera? Oh and for that accurate motion sensing stuff? Its already out.. its called WiiMotion Plus so stop trying to come off as innovative when everyone knows your just playing catch up

• Sony still didn't drop the price, more on that in a future post ;)

• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crank in Time sort of felt like it got lost in the shuffle.

With that being said I must say that Sony delivered where it all really counts... the exclusive content. Sure everyone knows Modern Warfare 2 is appearing on the system but the exclusive content was what made Sony in my view a real winner this year.

• Jak & Daxter, LittleBigPlanet & Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker make much needed additions into the PSP's kind of dry library but I still don't believe Sony really get handheld gaming which is a shame because it seems even Apple are starting to get it now, more on PSP later.

• Uncharted 2 continues to wow me. Now I own and am playing Prototype, Uncharted 2 may be the game I am looking forward to above all others this year (Bioshock 2 comes close). With multiplayer components being revealed to us earlier in the year, Uncharted 2 looks like it could be Sony's big release this year.

• MAG looks like its going to be the thing to finally put Playstation Network on the map. So far we have yet to see the initially promised 256 player mode but the 64 demo displayed a great sneak preview of what's to come.

• Agent, possibly the big new thing from Rockstar, The Last Guardian from Team Ico as well as Final Fantasy XIV declared PS3 exclusives was a big notch in Sony's belt after Final Fantasy XIII and Grand Theft Auto IV were multiplatform while Metal Gear Solid Rising heading that way too gave people the impression 3rd parties were bailing on Sony. These announcements were certainly not the case. FFXIV will no doubt be a system seller and could make PSN the place to be online
  

All in all despite a few nagging issues and the PSP Go, Sony had a great press conference and have the best line up coming. Now all they need is an affordable console.