Wooo... E3 is over, and with it my embargo on discussing the complex world of being a gamer. It goes without saying that there are dozens of topics I'd love to cover, but given your limited patience and my limited time, I'd like to hit on just two - Prototype and Milo.
Wolverine Origins has never looked better... oh wait...
I wish I could tell you that Prototype is a polished, sophisticated experience, brimming with technical wizardry and guaranteed to silence the forum-haters. I can't - the game is full of little quirks, like the ability to push cop cars around by walking into them, or how no one seems phased when you "stealth kill" someone by ripping them in half. What I can tell you is that none of that matters - Prototype is one of the most fun games you'll play all year. Everything feels right, flying through the city, smashing the ground, leaping off of buildings, skewering people as you run past them, throwing taxis into helicopters - the game is amazingly fun, and what's more, the story is strange enough to keep you through the missions.
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Believe me when I say, you don't want me to spoil it for you - like an episode of Lost, you're left confused but insatiably curious.
The original Internet Hate Machine
Unfortunately, the gaming world is full of hate - (thankfully) this time not from the reviewers, but from the forums. Despite being a multiplat, Prototype became viewed as a rival to Infamous, and fans of the both games took up arms in yet another "Xbox 360 vs. PS3" showdown. I'll leave the details of the conflict to those more "qualified" than I to comment, but suffice it to say, the argument is stupid, and both games are fun.
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The situation surrounding Prototype heavily parallels the growing controversy surrounding this E3's biggest announcement: Project Natal. Microsoft certainly drew a target on themselves. With all three companies now sporting motion controllers, claims of "ripoff" have been flying, with the latest gossip claiming Milo, a Natal showcase game, is fake.
Microsoft staking the future of their company on a little boy? Another Nintendo ripoff!
In the post-E3 commotion, I was asked a fellow System Warrior my thoughts on the whole "Milo-thing".
| Bingbaocao wrote: |
| I was wondering subrosian what are your thoughts on Milo? I mean everyone knows that you have a clear dislike for Molyneux, but what are your thoughts on Milo and the fact that it's being created by him? |
Well Bing, frankly I'm impressed by Natal.... but, for the record, Peter Molyneux is completely full of it. There is absolutely zero chance of him, or his studio, ever producing a little boy I care about as much as real person, or a game where helping a child do their homework "immerses you in another world". Anyone suggesting that wiggling your fingers in front of a camera to "splash the water" is any more immersive that punching with a Wiimote in Punch-Out!, is selling you a bad bag of goods. They are equally phony experiences - you never feel the water, or the solid connect of shattering someone's jaw (though in the latter case, that may be a good thing).
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The point being that at the moment Milo is unpolished. But to be honest that doesn't matter or make it "fake". Polish in practice is a bit like that English teacher who didn't care what you wrote, so long as you spelled it correctly. She didn't make you a better writer - solid concepts are what make the case, and if the core concept is flawed, it doesn't matter how much you polish it, a turd is still a turd.
Milo impressed me because it showcases that 360 developers are going to have access to a tool I personally find exciting. However, Milo itself is a patented Peter Molyneux production - something that is hyped to the sky, and will ultimately deliver just another videogame.
"Subtle" facial changes helped Fable create "real world consequences" for immoral behavior.
Still, Natal and Milo impressed me, if Microsoft "ripped someone off", they stole from the best, Yutaka Saito. And, as I can see the puzzled "who the hell is that" from here... Yoot was the mind behind the game Seaman and Odama. Seaman, on the Dreamcast, was a creature-sim game in which you utilized a microphone to communicate with the ever-evolving lifeforms in an aquarium. If it sounds weird - well, it was - but it contains the basic premise of Milo - use a character with an engaging "real" personality and voice chat to connect the player.
Real creativity - far more likely to give you nightmares
Seaman was incredibly fun not because it "immersed you in another world" or any such nonsense as that, but because it was well-written, endlessly funny, and loaded with personality
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Despite the differences in gameplay, Prototype and Seaman fall into the same category of being fun games which are simply misunderstood, or taken too seriously. The expectation on them seems to be that not only must they be creative, fun, and engaging, but they have to be a museum piece as well. I can't escape the feeling that such a mentality has invaded Milo as well. Peter Molyneux has an obsession with creating ordinary characters - his love affair with the "everyman" has spawned a plethora of dull NPCs and un-engaging main characters. And yet we let him carry onward, under the guise that he's an "artist" and "creative visionary".
Frankly? I call bull.
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Take a game like Mass Effect - a gauntlet of diverse NPCs, each replete with thousands of lines of dialogue, deeply emotionally engaging story moments, and overall personality - ultimately drove the game. Even if you skipped the sidequests and text-snippets, just the main game and its dialogue wheel provided more interaction than Milo.
Mass Effect drew controversy over its famous alien love scene. Picture thankfully unrelated.
The defense of Milo is that Project Natal is new technology. But to the devil's advocates I reiterate - how can technology replace good design? Mass Effect wasn't engaging because it had a camera, Prototype isn't a blast to play because it knows what color shirt I'm wearing - these games are fun because at the fundamental level they're built around taking solid elements and running with them. Natal is promising because it can enhance good design - imagine replacing the dialogue wheel in Mass Effect with real chat, or being able to rip enemies apart by gesturing violently at the screen. Those are enhancements to solid design brought about by technology.
But Milo? Milo is just a showcase that Natal can be used - and a reminder that it should be used for something better.
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So Bing... and the rest of the gaming world, maybe we shouldn't take the polish, or Peter Molyneux, so seriously. When someone tries to sell us on a "life experience" instead of a game, we ought to look back and politely ask "and how will that be fun?". Ultimately it's going to come down to solid design. Project Natal excites me, but its success or failure will be determined by games in the vein of Prototype and Mass Effect - if such games get enhanced by it, it will be a success - if the only games we see are Milo and wannabe Wii Sports... no, it will ultimately fail.
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But hey, if it doesn't work out, they can always make more Halo.
No, I'm serious - why hasn't MS made this?
I'll take my $50 million in cash please Microsoft.
Death star, black car, shoots up the ***** bar. Unapologetic gangsters, ranters; teenagers. Blame it on the government - case illegit, judge acquits, so back on the pavement. Money spent - popping pills, seeking thrills. They blame it on the white man, sun tan, the dead man with no plan. It's an economic wasteland - America, land of opportunity, lied to me. Who we are, what we be, what we should - trying to be a man, walking fast, can't do what we can.
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All around us sits an infinite opportunity for greatness - which we sacrifice daily for mundane victories. Socio-Capitalism is a system whereby our deepest wants are satisifed by our most base realities - the cost of all progress, therefore, is always our souls.
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Yesterday a good man hung himself, he worked for a bad bank, government's man breathing down his neck like the fires of Lucficer - and all of America blaming him for the world. We're all hopped up like jackals, little wind up bunnies with mallets ready to burst. Half-mad folks ready to start nailin' to walls. Don't tell me about the economy news-man, shut up your self-righteous rating humping. The whole dam feels like its going to burst - every day cryin' on the edge - give me my fellow man over your Wall Street tango and political yack-box... I'm tired of caring about the imaginary.
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