At the end of the month I like to take a bit of time to look at what’s making me unique among gamers. Not to say that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, but to add some perspective and objectivity to the otherwise polarised views the gaming media seems to take. It’s too easy to jump to one site that’s making its' ad money by telling Xbox fans they are right about everything, then to another that is doing the same with Sony fans. But what about someone who couldn’t give a damn? Here is a list of the areas I see myself going against the pack.
I’m disappointed with the PS4.
Not the system itself mind you ... how could I be? It’s a fantastic piece of tech at a lower price then it’s competitor, and it addresses almost every issue people had with its predecessor. And not with sales or reception either. It’s still selling out in the US and from what I’ve seen the hype train shows no signs of stopping. Sony hit their first year sales goals in 3 months before even launching in Japan, which speaks very loudly to just how much people are loving Sony’s new entry. It’s almost impossible to overstate how fantastic the PS4 is doing right now, and with such a level of success you would expect a outpouring of support ... and here is where the disappointment comes in.
With only two current exclusives (I don’t count indie games or PS3 ports), the line up isn’t exactly stealer. You would expect Sony to use the 2.1 BILLION dollars we have given them in console sales to buy up some new studios or at least some timed exclusives, but instead we get a delay in “Drive Club”, a poor showing of “The Order”, and a VR headset no one wants. We see the first core “Metal Gear” game released on Microsoft Hardware. We see final fantasy continue a cross platform release even though sales of FF13 on the Xbox were disappointing and it would have been cheap* for Sony to buy them back to exclusivity. We see a PS3 exclusive GT6. We see a PS3 exclusive Persona 5. We see NIS confirm that all current projects, stretching out to 2015, are PS3 exclusive.
More people have the PS4 then have Nintendo Wii U’s right now, but the only game anyone has to look forward to in the near future “Infamous”, and the only exclusive of note is a military shooter with only a slightly above average rating. Even more confusing, a recent study showed that gaming makes up over 80% of the PS4 total usage (compared to numbers closer to 40% for the Xbox and Wii) and that in households with more than one system, only around 10% of them use the PS4 as the primary “non gaming” console. With millions of people already owning PS4 and hundreds of thousands buying new ones each week it begs the question ... what the heck are they doing with them?
*There is no wizardry to getting an exclusive game. You pay the publisher for every sale they will lose on the platforms they don’t put it out on. For FF15, the projected Xbox sales will be small number, in the million unit range. This means Sony could make FF15 exclusive for around 30 million ... or about a week’s worth of PS4 sales.
I thoroughly enjoyed FF13: Lightning Returns
I won’t say much seeing I plan a full review as soon as I complete the game, but I have spent a lot of time with "FF13: Lightning Returns", as well as a solid 2 weeks with FF13-X2 in preparation, and it’s been great. I even found the first FF13, universally scorned by fans (while still picking up an 83 metacritic, mind you) to be enjoyable for the most part. I’m impressed with the story, the production values are fantastic, and the new combat system is the most enjoyable we’ve seen out of Japan in ... ever. I get the feeling the people who are saying it’s a horrible game are doing so without ever trying it out of some desire to jump on a “hate bandwagon” because Square had the audacity to make something other than the exact game they wanted. Given that what “they” want is a stale FF7 clone, I commend Square for going in this direction and hope they never back down. And speaking of passing judgment on things you haven’t seen ...
I haven’t picked GOTY yet
You can go to almost any game site in the world right now and take part in a heated debate, with fanatics, theory-crafters and doom-speakers on both sides, about wither it will be “Titanfall” or “Infamous” that wins GOTY 2014. This seems rather odd to me given that
1) It’s February
2) Neither of these games have been released.
What’s more you can pop on any discussion thread about either game and find dozens of people assigning review scores to these games they have not played. I’m not taking about predictions; I’m talking about full on reviews with justifications. Now I get it; these are big titles and people want them to be fantastic, plus there is a bit of a rivalry between the camps that think you can only ever own one system and who will only ever get to play one or the other (which makes no sense because Titanfall is coming out on PC, but I've never credited fanboys for being overly intelligent). But isn't there enough to pointlessly drone on about without having to cross the line to that special type of crazy reserved for people who make factual assessments of things that do not exist? Doing so puts you in the same boat as that guy who spent a year using high level physics to come up with Rainbow Dash’s top flight speed, and do you really want to be in that company? Beside, neither of these games will in GOTY, because GOTY is garbage. That brings me to my next point ...
I don’t think “The Last of Us” was a good “Game of the Year” pick
Let me just start off being saying “The Last of Us” is fantastic. 9.5/10 fantastic. Everyone reading this needs to check it out if you haven’t already. Had it won “experience of the year” I would have nothing but praise. You would be reading my article about just how dang awesome the gaming industry is right now if it was the 2014 “interactive media” winner. I couldn't agree more with anyone who gave it best story, best graphic design, best characters, even most flat out amazing thing you can do with your PS3, or your time. I have a problem with “Game of the Year” however, because “The Last of Us” isn't any fun, and it isn't any fun because it’s not a game.
“The Last of Us” is a interactive story where you need to press button’s to get from one scene to another, and although the level of complexity in that button pushing is far greater than “Heavy Rain” or “The Walking Dead”, that’s all it is at the core. It’s to Naughty Dog’s extreme credit that the game play doesn't end up being a distraction, as they have masterfully crafted every sequence in a way that is always building character development and your connection with them. But how much of the overall “feel” of the game would be lost watching a play though on YouTube rather than “playing” it yourself? For me, almost nothing. For gamers who don’t like 3rd person I would say that’s the better way to go; there isn't anything is TLOU game play that is going to turn you on to the genre and you’ll find yourself grudgingly moving though the action due solely to your investment in the Story.
I can’t help but think that “Game of the Year” needs to be reserved for something that is simply fun to play. This is the second year in a row the majority of media outlets have instead sided with a great story packaged as a video game and I think it shows how truly confused we all are. Naughty dogs is trying to change the way we tell and experience stories and this deserves a lot of credit, while Nintendo is just trying to get me to enjoy collecting coins and deserves credit as well. What’s important is that these two goals intersect exactly never. It’s time the gaming industry acknowledged this and moved on from “Game of the Year” as the catch all award, and the only one that matters.
What makes you unique among gamers? Let me know in the comments below.
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