The Video Game Thread

[TimeForGuinness]

What a disaster. I love the timeliness of the message, Sony.

7 days...you couldn't let people know? What a mess.

[Michael]

[Felix The Cat]

Where is the evolution of 1v1 fighting games? Why don't we see some stunningly gorgeous game, with fully adaptable body models reacting with realistic physics, controlled by our very, very ductile controller schemes?

The fighting game genre has been relatively stagnant because its popularity pre-SF4 had been decreasing steadily. Investing the time/money to design ultra realistic graphics for a niche genre would've been a poor business decision. Increasingly complex control schemes is probably the biggest reason why the fighting game community got smaller and smaller (newcomers are too overwhelmed by the numerous button combinations, movelists, etc. to commit to the games while older gamers move on to other things) so heading further along that spectrum would've been disastrous.

It'll be interesting to see where the genre goes from here since the big names spearheading the renaissance of 2D fighters have borrowed heavily from past installments in order to recapture the mainstream gamer.

Mortal Kombat pretty much invented/perfected the 2D fighting game experience. Besides, they broke the mold in introducing a brand of ultra-violence that literally created the need for the ESRB game-rating system. It's a pillar of gaming history, and this new version of the classic performs very, very well.

I loved the Mortal Kombat series but 2D fighting game perfection? Seriously? It did what it did well but it doesn't hold a candle to SF/KoF in the gameplay department.

And obligatory linkage to probably the most watched fighting game clip ever of the true perfect 2D fighter:

[/youtube]

[Maclowery]

I think what my drunk-rant yesterday was getting at was that the entire 2-D fighter experience basically hasn't changed since 1992 or so, as far as I can tell.

Everyone fondly remembers N64's Goldeneye as some kind of phenomenal gameplay perfection. But it's been fourteen years, and FPS shooters are about eight iterations beyond the crappy controls, linear levels, boring guns, and weak enemy AI that that game presented.

Sports games are exponentially more complicated than they were in the Super Nintendo days - which is why I still love Madden 94, and am totally inept at any PS3 football game. RPGs are much, much more in-depth. Compare Oblivion to Breath of Fire, etc. Strategy games are nuts nowadays, I can barely even keep track of Civ 5's crazy complex micromanaging, versus my old Civ 2 floppy disk back in the day.

In the mid 90's, the gameplay of MK2, Virtua Fighter, Tekken 2, SF:Alpha, etc, etc, had basically mastered the complex balance between the different characters' strengths, players' abilities to pull off tough moves or complex combos / counters, etc.

I was too inflammatory last night, but I suppose I was trying to say was that I expect, with all our massive processing power, high-paid professional game designers, plus much better control systems (dual analog sticks, extra finger buttons, etc), that some fighting game would have come out that would have much more fluid game mechanics than block, low-leg-sweep, jump-kick, combo, etc etc.

[letsgocards89]

$50 Best Buy gift certificate netted me Transformers War for Cybertron and Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. I played a little of the Transformers game last night at it was a lot of fun. Based on what I've read here I'm reeeaaaaly looking forward to Fallout.

[TimeForGuinness]

$50 Best Buy gift certificate netted me Transformers War for Cybertron and Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. I played a little of the Transformers game last night at it was a lot of fun. Based on what I've read here I'm reeeaaaaly looking forward to Fallout.

Fallout = you spend 200 hours exploring the same dungeon in different locations because...because...BECAUSE...YOU JUST HAVE TO!

[Cronos]

$50 Best Buy gift certificate netted me Transformers War for Cybertron and Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. I played a little of the Transformers game last night at it was a lot of fun. Based on what I've read here I'm reeeaaaaly looking forward to Fallout.

Fallout = you spend 200 hours exploring the same dungeon in different locations because...because...BECAUSE...YOU JUST HAVE TO!

And unlike Fallout: New Vegas, at least the game won't freeze on you every five steps.

[TimeForGuinness]

$50 Best Buy gift certificate netted me Transformers War for Cybertron and Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. I played a little of the Transformers game last night at it was a lot of fun. Based on what I've read here I'm reeeaaaaly looking forward to Fallout.

Fallout = you spend 200 hours exploring the same dungeon in different locations because...because...BECAUSE...YOU JUST HAVE TO!

And unlike Fallout: New Vegas, at least the game won't freeze on you every five steps.

ooooh, really? I haven't picked it up yet...I thought there was a patch coming soon to address the issues.

[Jocephus]

for our pacman fans

http://worldsbiggestpacman.com/

[letsgocards89]

$50 Best Buy gift certificate netted me Transformers War for Cybertron and Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition. I played a little of the Transformers game last night at it was a lot of fun. Based on what I've read here I'm reeeaaaaly looking forward to Fallout.

Fallout = you spend 200 hours exploring the same dungeon in different locations because...because...BECAUSE...YOU JUST HAVE TO!

And it's going to be AWESOME