Doom and Gloom

Oscar Wilde said “we are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.”

The mention of Doomguy kind of ruins the metaphor by
making actual hell his world, so I think Wilde maintains
prescient insight on this one

To address anyone paying attention: yes, yesterdays post was a meager helping of miniscule proportions, and most certainly represented a rush job if there ever was one on ATE. I tend to go through phases of creative endeavor and struggles of personal self-worth, which I will usually see reflected in my posting regularity. Some months I’m satisfied writing seldomly and only when I’m in that ideal sweet spot of feeling ready to launch directly into the stratosphere of self-actualization, other months I’m either inspired enough or personally forceful in my own work ethic to write every single day, in the name of “progress”.

Progress looking like a confusing mess at times

That’s the thing I suppose, in an ideal world, I would always just be primed and ready to write about video games and only video games. I’ve never known this world to be ideal, and thus we are left with the barren reality that lays before us, one where even getting out of bed should be considered a massive victory, for better or worse. A small update on Doom: The Dark Ages to keep this relatively grounded in gaming chatter, I still have not finished the game, in spite of my best efforts. On work days especially, it can be difficult to find time to get anywhere in my current rotation, and to give you an idea of just how difficult, I’ve been on the same level in The Dark Ages for three days now. I reference difficulty only in the matter of finding time, not ingame challenge mind you, finding only enough moments to basically complete a single encounter before needing to shut it down, and that’s mostly just to say I still actually played the fucking thing on that given day. The one thing I could potentially talk about of interest that has some conversational merit was an element of The Dark Ages that was left purposefully obscured to me before I played it, making its eventual reveal a nice surprise. This thusly leads me to the notion of not wanting to spoil it for y’all at the current moment in time, going full circle, right back to not having anything to talk about in the world of Doom.

Pictured: this spoiler thing I can’t talk about right now?
Super cool. Trust me.

Aside from the thing that will not be mentioned, another small updated to mention is in the form of an actual update, with the director of TDA’s game development, Hugo Martin, streaming about info involving an update helping polishing the entire experience, some of the enhancements including the balancing of higher difficulty levels, which should come as a delight for any of the masochists cutting their teeth on Nightmare and beyond. He also mentioned that some of the elements of the gameplay tweaks, outside of an “official” update, don’t require a patch to implement, with Martin referencing “tunables”, his pet name for some behind the scenes fine tuning that allowed the adjustments to be made silently and on the fly. I’m wondering how many devs do something similar without any mention of such a reality, and how these small changes end up driving players absolutely fucking nuts in the process.

The face out of the loop gamers are probably
making when that thing they practiced 500 times
suddenly isn’t working after id software messes around
with their “tunables”

Outside of the small improvements to be made mention of, the game has predictably reviewed well, ranging in the 80-90’s range of quality, and scored more than 3 million players during launch, providing leaps and bounds of faster turn around player involvement than Eternal offered. Of course, a big part of this was Gamepass, in having The Dark Ages available day one for players to try, which does leave people wondering if this is enough to qualify TDA as “profitable” as Eternal was, which is really only a concerning problem for shareholders and money makers. When it comes down to it, a fun video game being more widely available for a greater audience on the cheap is pretty much just a net positive, isn’t it?

Normally, I would admonish a dismissal of not pushing for further inquiry into a matter or calling off the dogs of aggressive curiosity in terms of deconstructing deeper meanings behind a happening. However, and perhaps I’m just feeling a yearning for the simplicity of optimism in a moment of drained defeat, perhaps its okay that the take away with The Dark Ages launch is that from a pure numbers standpoint, a greater number of people are getting a chance to enjoy the title…

…and maybe that’s enough.

-Pashford

Pashford Posits: True Wealth is Enjoyment

There’s a fine line between love and hate.


A tale as old as time

Ultimately, when I attempt to come up with an idea for ATE, the genesis of the interest is indeed genuine intent to entertain and inform, though I often find myself at odds with a struggle involving content, delivery, and presentation, though I’m always of the mind an authentically good idea or grandiose spirit imbued within a concept is worth sharing. I abhor fanboyism and fandom in general, even though I know what good can come of community, and that it will always be the individual that helps make up the bottom line at the end of the day.

I think the notion of blind fanaticism sickens me deeply, the same goes for shallow attempts at shilling product, which is why I got out of doing paid gigs in this line of work awhile ago. Puts me in a properly fucking weird place though, as most people don’t know how to make heads or tails of someone engaging in an activity if not for the sake of money in this day and age. There’s hobbyism, sure, though I’m tempted to posit the notion pure hobbyism has an inherently hedonistic bent, where one is indulging in their fancy of choice willy-nilly, even throwing caution to the wind and without a greater cause in mind for the sake of basic self-gratification. I don’t know if something like a publicly facing writing project (I.E a blog) or something of a similar variety can truly be classified in the same manner, with both the want to fulfill others curious moments with pleasure and wisdom likely not up for consideration as a truly selfish endeavor by definition, though the simple idea of gratifying others through sacrifice and devotion would qualify as one hell of a queer kink.


Though the competition is stiff in that regard

I think both the abstract nature of creation, play, imagination, and whimsy remain powerful agents of change for the everyday, and perhaps the greater the disparity between distinct lines drawn to fit an entire medium, or even art-form, if you’re feeling generous in the moment, is likely for the best, as everyone’s interpretation in regards to the perception of the matter helps to color the tapestry of possibility involved. As with most modern day conveniences, the erosion of quality is usually directly tied to the financial machinations of whomever is in charge, so my only plea of consideration is to prioritize the premise of quality of life first and foremost for the individual, and hopefully any profit there after is not just one of monetary consideration, but the truly virtuous benefit of enjoyment for the the majority whole at large.

Happy gaming.

~Pashford

Raw Dogging the Rough Cut

This photo captures the essence of self-deprecation
involving my sales pitch of this post, but I promise
you the vibes are at least twice as funny and four
times less shitty in execution

In reference to my visual sarcastic aside above, I kept putting off a similarly slapdash attempt at a return to proper writing (about video games) for arbitrary reasons, though I imagine unless I had been kidnapped by a traveling dance theater to perform for them due to their outlandish threats involving being sent to actual hell before I die, outside of that obviously reasonably likely scenario, just about any other reason for a mood being spoiled thus halting the creative process would come off as arbitrary.


Like when family get togethers really spoil the holidays,
for example.

The joke would be on that ill-fated group of stylishly groovy kidnappers regardless, as December does represent a kind of personal hell for me every year, though I refuse to elaborate within any serious context as to why. I do attempt to keep this first and foremost about gaming after all, and the reasons I reference fall far outside the boundaries of the virtual. Now that it is almost February, and I’m in a much better place overall, I will eschew the notion of waiting for my first piece of writing, “the return” if you will, to be some grandiose affair or some amazingly well thought out narrative or brilliant deconstruction of the industry or some title I’ve recently beaten. I’m just going to casually riff about games in general for a bit, if that’s okay.


Just the average Pash like creative noodling for
your idle entertainment, just like old times

I recently gifted myself an Xbox Series X for X-mas, not that I even care about celebrating the event in any serious way, but I’ve been attempting to curtail my more Grinchly demeanor in many small, celebratory fashions to attempt to hold back the cynical tide that washes over me. In a twist of unintentional spiteful reinforcement of my complete apathy towards Christmas itself, I did in fact not even open the damn thing on the day of, and even waited till the New Year to do anything with it. While I have been thoroughly enjoying my experience with said system, as I have always been an advocate of any major platform within the realm as someone who identifies as platform agnostic, the series X is by and far the least substantial jump from one generation to another I have ever seen. It makes sense on some level, as why fix what’s not broken, as the UI for the Xbox family has always been mostly functional, so keep the ecosystem similar, right?

Fair enough, though I do think this among many factors indicative we, as a collective, are starting to come to a head here in terms of sheer innovation for consoles moving forward, and I’m not just picking on Microsoft here. Having seen the PS5 UI in action, and at least glimpsing the very “same-ish” nature that the Switch 2 is bringing to the table, I think the day of the truly new and the innovative, in terms of pure individualized ingenuity, is likely behind us at this point, for many reasons I think is worthy of a much longer winded, well constructed post on the matter, so I’ll save elaborating on that thought for another time.


An example of a well constructed post

The game I chose to be my “launch title” was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and truth be told, while the experience has been fun, I’m kind of shocked that this console is already four years into it’s lifespan and this is the supposed peak that we’ve hit with it thus far. Like, yes, I realize it runs at a high frame rate while stable, with hi-res textures and a shit ton of enemies on screen moving around, but the fact that it comes off as kind of a derivative Gears of War third person action romp comes off as a little underwhelming. Much like the Series X; yes, its fun and I’m enjoying myself quite a bit, but I certainly wouldn’t advocate to anyone to rush out and drop several hundred dollars on picking up the new Xbox offering or upgrading their PC just to enjoy this. Both feel like warm greetings to someone who hasn’t just arrived, but is “already there”, if that makes any sense. I know any stans of either MS or 40k are probably just vomiting blood at this point due to my perceived heresy in having reserved expectations about consumer products I interact with instead of trying to be the next big shill in the content creator space, but I didn’t start writing about games to blow smoke up the ass of either developers or fandoms while giving them a reach around with every prevailing thought I have regarding their favorite hobby/industry of choice.


I did not get into this line of work cause
I enjoy gargling wieners mind you

However, one is lucky enough once in a great while to enjoy a come hither experience that runs parallel to a gratifying sexual release, which is where my mention of downloading the Castlevania: Dominus Collection comes in. This would in fact be a double dip, but this is one media allegiance I don’t mind getting undressed for, as we normally have no problem having quite the sexy time together. That is of course, when Konami isn’t being a bunch of shit heels cause they’re too busy putting out low-grade pachinko machines for horny middle aged Japanese business men, and doesn’t leave me high and dry by sitting around with their thumbs up their stubborn asses for a better part of a decade doing absolutely fuck all while Nintendo and Netflix do all the heavy lifting in reminding people how awesome Castlevania is.


So awesome

Good thing I did download it, too, as Warhammer took an astonishing 11 hours to install on day one, and I desperately wanted to actually use my Series X for something on January 1st aside from using it as one of the most gloriously excessive paperweights of all time. Since I had recently just finished Portrait of Ruin on the Switch, and I had not touched Order of Ecclesia since it’s days on the DS, the choice was obvious (sorry Dawn of Sorrow). Such a damn good game that helped to set the ground work for what would become it’s marvelous spiritual successor Bloodstained. If nothing else, I praise OoE for it’s mindful editorialization, as the pacing is par excellence. I mean, everything is about as Castlevania-ey as it gets, so the game is a complete package, which goes on to help further showcase the the mind numbing, head scratching direction Konami would travel forward with after a successful series of three top notch titles on the DS, by going the Lord of Shadows route immediately following, soon after diverting into complete obscurity for the series in total.


Seen here: Konami helping to lay the ground work for
the eventual shift into focusing on their pachinko machine
machinations

Game pass has been sorely missed, and for all of the very reasons I love it, I also ironically can’t really utilize it. The value involving the content available with the sheer number of titles is astronomical, and definitely helps to continue to set the tone for what most platforms should have moving forward, but my problem is time, not access. To wit: I happily picked up Rare Replay once again after so long away, to continue my long and arduous trek to get the end all be all equivalent of a “soft” 100% of the title by finally acquiring the achievement “Stamper Brothers Forever”, which is essentially mastering like, 30 games. I double checked, and come this August, it will have been a decade since I started this insane quest, and I do not plan to slow down any time soon. Though, referencing my point about time being my problem, not access, outside of the last couple years where I was in a purgatory of sorts in a myriad of ways that prevented me from having an Xbox full stop, time is not on my side when considering the excessive standards, beefier offerings and ridiculously overstuffed with content that modern day gaming represents.


Surely, we must stop and ponder what might be
considered too much of a good thing?

I have many more thoughts to share, and even ones mentioned here deserve far grander elaborations, but this is my first post in months, so I’m going to give myself a Pash on the back and let this small victory breath for a moment while I muse what and or how I may continue to write with consistency in the near future.

Till next we meet…


~Pashford

Pokémon, Streaming, and Final Fantasy’s…

Quite an amazing realization that my desire to actualize thoughts through writing is only ever impeded by the presence of a keyboard in front of me.

I can put my thoughts “in” the computer?

Today is definitely one of those days I’m attempting to squeeze blood out of stone right now, as a lot of the gaming news I see is a little bit too by the numbers to share for my liking, and I haven’t really started any new games as of late. I’ve have one article idea in mind for awhile now, but that bun still needs more time in the oven before it will be ready. The problem is only furthered by the notion of me not even really sure who I am even writing for, the demographics of that happening are completely beyond my reckoning, and something I even brought up in my recent musings involving Pokémon “getting real”.


Which the series has displayed flashes of,
from time to time

Maybe it was obvious by the article’s conclusion, but my insistence was in fact sincere, even if it was dressed up in irony…largely the approach I’m known for. “Getting real” in this instance was more of an insistence of getting more relatable, as the series needs to propound it’s very core fundamentals in order to grow. Not just in the competitive realm of course, though a focus on what makes the meta-game tick would do wonders for long time players, but also within the notion of being relatable to the every day. The games have this weird habit of being too abstract almost, their own little world feeling too microcosmic in scope, or “shut off” from greater realities, whether they be fictionalized accounts or otherwise. I think Pokémon Go did tap into an idea of creating greater context for the game series, and something the games would benefit from moving forward.


Nintendo could also just continue to get fucking weird
with it, take the easy route, give the fans what they want

Whatever floats your S.S. Anne.

I also saw this little tidbit involving the PS5, with Sony SVP Naomi Matsuoka uttering the phrase: “Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle,”. I can’t fathom why any Sony exec would even begin to dream about saying this phrase out loud anywhere on this planet ever, let alone when they’re still hyping up the announcement of the PS5 Pro and even still selling the regular PS5 as their go to console which is currently seeing new releases.


Whole lot of nope coming out of the Sony camp
recently, with varying flavors of nope to choose from

I know my existence is not the end all be all of what dictates the gaming world, but I haven’t even obtained a PS5 as of yet, inspite of my desires to do so for the last four years. In my defense, the first two years of the god damn thing’s existence saw the device being next to impossible to find, and following that, it really wasn’t until the last few months I even gave a shit about a successive number of games launching for the system that would compel me to get it. Hearing now that the PS5 is in it’s twilight years isn’t exactly a comfort in raising any kind of hype levels for a system I have always remained relatively luke warm on, and now the only silver lining I’m left with is the very notion of much cheaper hardware being available with the inevitable launch of the PS6 on the eventual horizon.


Some random PS6 mockup I just pulled from google.
I know it’s fake but, probably close, right?

Over in Microsoft land, the company announced they would finally allow users to stream their games, after a long line of delays involving the eventuality. This does feel as if a massive delay in what should have been an obvious go to option for Xbox players for awhile now, but better late than never. MS apparently had to clear up some licensing issues publishers and developers in regards to being able to stream as one of the biggest culprits for the delay. As I mentioned during one of my Gamescom articles, Microsoft is positioning itself in a very peculiar way these days, in terms of how easily and accessibly you are able to enjoy their offerings regardless of system or setup. On top of how many big publishers and devs they do have at their disposal, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a big pivot in the future to focusing more on software, streaming, and online services as being favored over hardware. Reports have always suggested the hardware side of things for Microsoft has always been an area of discomfort in regards to their gaming offerings, and with Game Pass helping them to generate so much money, the whole shift in market perspective might make more sense than one thinks initially.


Though Microsoft has a track record of doing
very stupid things, so it’s hard to say what their next
greatest bed-shitting extravaganza will take the form of

And finally, the gaming world is faced with an epic conclusion of sorts, as iconic Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu, has announced Fantasian Neo Dimension will be the last title he works on as a video game composer, effectively announcing his retirement from the industry. With decades of releases under his belt, and essentially setting the standard for how RPG’s should sound like with his work at Squaresoft throughout the 90’s, the industry icon made a short statement involving a press tour for the upcoming release date of Fantasian Neo Dimension, which launches on December 5th for most platforms, with a simple sentiment: “This is my final project as a composer of video game music. I hope you’ll pick it up and play it! Thanks for your support!”.


The characters from the game reacting to the news:
even they were shocked to hear it!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Black Mages songs to go listen to…

~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off : A Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.


Fittingly enough, the percentage completion rating for
Portrait of Ruin is 1000%

My first write up involving the Dominus Collection was in fact, more of a to the point headline piece involving the launch trailer. Nothing wrong with a quickie mind you, as I sometimes just very unfortunately do not have the time to get much done in the way of the creative before my day job proper but after my sleep deprived ass finally gets some well earned shut eye. I did however, waste a perfectly good article name that I thought was far more deserving of a much greater piece of conceptual execution, hence why The Belmont’s Day Off moniker continues to get some mileage.


To be fair, so did their lineage..
the bastards have been around
for 1000 years, mind you

My first write-up ended up being more of a quick recap of the fall of the series itself, and in a weird twist of irony, spoke about the ways in which the other two titles, Dawn and Order, were more unlike Portrait of Ruin, the game of which was originally suppose to be my main focus of writing. The article ended up having some excellent fruit to bear, so I let it ride. A further irony involving the Dominus Collection was how slow of a burn it has been in enjoying the games, which comes as a shocking revelation when one considers just how long I’ve been awaiting the titles seeing the light of day once more. I nearly didn’t even pick the collection up on top of everything else, as it was not made available for the PS4 (I still don’t have a PS5), and I do already have a healthy little pile of Castlevania trophies on the system I was wishing to throw a few more onto.


Same vibes

To be honest, writing directly about Portrait of Ruin has me feeling antsy for some reason, and I can’t necessarily pin down why that is. I normally love sharing my thoughts about gaming and infusing some humor and philosophy in my approach at deconstructing any virtual reality set before me, so feeling a bit beside myself in crafting an article specifically about Portrait is definitely a head scratcher, to say the least. Perhaps the game is evoking some seriously nostalgic sensibilities within me, which has been something of a regularity in the past on ATE, so I’m led to believe it is not entirely just that element. I do know that PoR does what any good game should do to me when I task myself to write about it: and that’s wanting to play it more than wanting to write about it, and that does prompt me to wonder how many and or what kind of games fall into which category in that regard.


I can’t help but feel he’s involved somehow with that sentiment

I also feel like I’m kind of in a strange energy of a creative fervor, where I have a load of thoughts in my brain that I just want immediately out and onto the screen, but seemingly don’t have the patience to do so, not unlike how illegible my handwriting gets due to my writing speed not being able to match the pace at which my brain works. I am self-aware enough that my penchant for speed running often gets in the way of my ability to maintain orderliness, but this is starting to get out of hand. So in the spirit of just how massively discombobulated both myself and this write up are now currently being reflected upon as, and in turning my back on any proper etiquette I may have cultivated over the years as an editor proper, I am just going to word vomit onto this keyboard and hope for the best.


Really missing out an a Typing of the Dead high score opportunity
with that kind of approach in mind

At this point I’m half tempted to just continue writing a massive ramp up only to end up *not* talking about Portrait of Ruin, in some weird schadenfreude level of comradery with the reader. Laughing now at the one person who came here because they’re like the #1 PoR fan, totally fan-personing out over the idea of getting a fresh take on one of their favorite games of all time just to be devastated that what they’re met face to face with instead is some surly son of a bitch taking the piss about Dracula related affairs. This does bring up a great point about the idea of inherent value in writing and in sharing conceptual worth just on some basic, visceral level. Like, maybe if I had advertised a killer pumpkin pie recipe and then went on a 1000 word tangent about the absence of a dusty clan of vampire hunters gone M.I.A only some blood sucking, sweet toothed maniacs would be giddy with glee about, both as Dracula enthusiasts and baked good devotees, who know a good pumpkin pie recipe when they read one.

In a fun twist: it would still be Castlevania related, I contend.
(Thank you Curse of Darkness for being positively absurd).

But I guess this is all very much on point for me with Portrait of Ruin, as it is with much of the Dominus Collection. The Belmonts are very much nearly not there, just haunting the hollowed grounds that set the wheels of current events in motion, which is kind of where I’ve been with writing about the collection thus far. Perpetually at a distance, being a relevant player behind the scenes, while simultaneously doing my civic duty to support the awesomeness that is ensuing, one day at a time. I will leave you with at least one final thought related to the main qualitative value of Portrait of Ruin: historically reflective.

Next time on Active Time Event: Portrait of Ruin
(With the follow up having 1000% more analysis)
~Pashford

After The Money’s Gone

Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground…


Same as it ever was

I had about one bi…*trillion ideas I wanted to write about today, so of course I spent most of it absolutely not executing on a single god damn one. Certainly ideal for a day off, me thinks. In the future, look forward to a couple of article concepts I’ve concocted, involving at least some rambling about the recent Nintendo indie info dump, including some more thoughts on Cadence of Hyrule, which I’m totally vibing with, a fun little speedrun of a shorter rando I stumbled upon, and probably more nonsense involving the Belmonts, as I continue to celebrate the ridiculous bastards they truly are.


A clan of willy little shits, the lot of them

That’s next time of course. For now, I’ll just bring to your attention something potentially interesting if done correctly. Though, knowing the company involved, that’s a Death Egg sized if* involved. According to recent reports, Gamestop is looking to make some of their locations nationwide hearken back to the days of yore, by providing some retro offerings to old school aficionados. The retro gaming array of older offerings will include the NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, N64, DS, Wii, Wii U, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS Vita, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast.


Gamers the nation over weep for the severity of this revisionist
injustice done this day in the name of the Virtual Boy

I have some immediate questions, but based on some of what’s been listed, I already have some unfortunate answers. Checking out Gamestop’s website only revealed four different locations that carry the retro product that I will have access to within 100 miles of my location, not a promising sign to put it lightly. And while the potential selection sounds great *if* it was across the board, this early rollout, if we are assuming there ever will be a greater expansion of stores that will carry the older product, which stores are going to include, if any will, the majority of the old games from every system? Browsing some more common titles and being familiar with their prices, used Pokemon titles are going for more than when they came out new. Which, again, doesn’t surprise me an iota, but given the profit margin Gamestop will no undoubtedly be aiming for, how many people are going to casually drop $50 bucks on a game, especially when one considers the possible cheaper digital version. And what of the trade in prices?


Gamestop customer: I brought a copy of Gale of Darkness to trade in! I heard it goes for like 800 bucks these days!
Gamestop employee: We can give you 8 dollars in store credit for this.

I like the idea in theory, but the execution of this has to clear such a high bar of financial irrationality for it to end up being an appealing offer my nose started bleeding just thinking about it In any case, it looks as if Gamestop is starting a rollout on the strategy already, so if you’re interested, be sure to cross your fingers that you’re near a bigger city to see if there will be any reasonable chance a store around you will be carrying some retro fare, but get ready to pony up for some old school pleasures.

~Pashford

The Belmont’s Day Off

(EDIT: Article no longer glitched: now with 100% more article appearing.)

Anyone who’s followed my writing for any length of time has probably picked up on the idea that I like Castlevania. As in like…like like.


Most of the time…

To that point, I’m actually quite surprised at the lack of more robust writing pieces involving the infamous Castle and the Belmont Clan that serves as the Wallachian health and safety regulators to condemn it time and time again. One day, I will correct that injustice, as the series stands as one of the more deserving of prestige in the gaming realm. Today is not that day, however, but it is not all woe and misery, as a new collection was both announced and stealth launched on the very same day.


A veritable Belmont’s day off

That’s right! The infamous non-connected trilogy that headlined the DS era, and arguably the strongest stretch of quality Castlevania titles ever released, has *finally* seen a refresher port, and made it off of the original system they launched on. The three games, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia, have been stuck in old hardware hell, as they have never once been re-released on another system, making it more than a solid decade since their domineering relevancy was able to rock gamers faces.


Emphasis on faces

(A fourth title, an early arcade title in the vein of Castlevania 1 called Haunted Castle has also been included as a bonus as well.)

Konami has finally bundled all of them together in one collection, following in the footsteps of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Advance Collection, updated the lot, and are all now available to play on The Switch, Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. Annoyingly, they are unavailable to download on the Xbox One or PS4, so if you don’t have Sony or Microsoft’s latest offerings, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Trailer below:

~Pashford

May The Power of Gaming Compel You

With Gamescom wrapping up, it’s acted as a nice reminder that gaming has still retained some of it’s old Je ne sais quoi that larger gaming conventions use to apologetically remind us about.


Truly priceless moments you just couldn’t slap a dollar value on

Which is ridiculous in and of itself, as unlike years in my own past where I was able to physically cover an event like E3 on multiple occasions,this time I had to take a backseat and wait for the news to be reported like everyone else not having been at Gamescom myself. I always wanted to go, and even got invites to the event when I was working as an Editor-in-Chief back in the day, but Germany is a lot further than California when you live in the US.


If only there were a cheaper way of travel

And from reading many articles about opening night, the overlook of the entire event, and the write-ups of both the games on display and the culture that was surrounding them, I got a sense of whimsy about the industry, which is a refreshing feeling after a crushing year of layoffs impacting the industry in a brutal way. With as cut throat as the video game industry can be, and any protections that have been put in place and *still* need to be put in place to make sure the workers have stability to make the games people want to play, news coming out of Gamescom seemed to have a genuine sense of a breath of fresh air in celebrating all of the positive aspects of our favorite hobby.


Unless you were a Monster Hunter fan, apparently. Hope you had
someone to hold your spot to go to the bathroom for that 10 hour long wait

In terms of some of the things that interested me, was that inspite of the horrendous timing involving the movie totally bombing, the Borderlands 4 teaser trailer still has me excited about the prospects of the next follow up to the acclaimed looter shooter franchise. Will they finally expand the scope of the game and have a larger player cap to go on adventures at once? Say perhaps maybe like like an 8 person party system all adventuring and looting and shooting together? Whatever route Gearbox takes, and as solid as the original trilogy was, I think it’s about time the Borderlands series tries something new, and pushes into unfamiliar territory to really up the ante in making 4 feel bigger and bolder in a fresh way, without losing it’s atmosphere or sense of humor about it.


They definitely have a good idea of what not to do, in anycase

While I have a tendency to get down on Peter Molyneux for his history of talking shit about upcoming games, I am still genuinely interested in Masters of Albion, in whatever form it is going to take. I have absolutely no doubts the man is going to fall prey to his old habits once again and completely over promise on just how much the game is going to offer, but MoA still has a good shot at being something of note, as Molyneux’s team does look to be sticking to their strong suits and focusing on a core experience that falls comfortably within their wheelhouse. I think that a reasonable budget and a refined focus with a smaller scope intact, and Masters of Albion may be one of the first games Molyneux has been involved with in more than a decade that may actually be worth a damn.


One would argue that after rock bottom, the only place left
to go is up in any case.

Though Black Myth: Wukong seemingly came out of absolutely nowhere during Gamescom, winning both hearts and minds (as well as awards) during the show, the title in reality has been in development for years in the capable hands of a previously unknown developer known as Game Science. Looking at both the impressive Steam stats of the immense popularity of the title in such a short time, in combination with ridiculous sales numbers of it’s launch in the past week, and it looks as if there may be a new industry darling on our hands. With both fast paced action oriented gameplay and slick visuals, Wukong has everyone in the industry talking with intense fervor about the souls-like formula from a Chinese perspective. Will the success of Wukong help expand the boundaries of the relevancy of the Chinese gaming market in the AAA space, and is this a sheer sign that souls-like titles are here to stay? With both this and the smashing success of the recently released expansion of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, I think the gaming public has spoken.


Gamers: give it to us hard and fast

Another interesting point of note, which I even questioned myself on when I originally posted about it, going back and forth on the article as a possible non-gaming news piece(?), only to be vindicated in the following days with others following suit with further thoughts on the matter, was the announcement that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was coming to the PS5, which seemed shocking to some. The decision does continue to signal that Microsoft is wanting to branch out in setting new precedents within the gaming industry. With major acquisitions in the past few years in the form of Activision and Bethesda, two massive publishers with some of gamings biggest franchises in tow, it’s hard to imagine Microsoft leaving so much money on the table by keeping their games an Xbox only exclusive. Though, it leaves one to ponder on whether or not between both the success of Gamepass, having access to such a stable of impressive IP’s, and the continually evolving technological landscape of the gaming industry as a whole, is this the beginning of a slow pivot by Microsoft to go more into a software predominant position ala SEGA, but with the added benefit of having the PC market in their corner and massive publishers on their side? Only time will tell.


Pictured: A dramatization of Microsoft’s business strategy
in the coming years

Truth be told, keeping up with Gamescom was delightfully exhausting this week, as opposed to the regular kinds of tried I have been from just working my day job and playing the games I already have. With so much content announced in such a short period of time, I’m still slogging through it all, as there are still plenty of games to check out that debuted at Gamescom, which is the best kind of problem to have. I’m sure we will all still have even more info to look forward to about the slew of titles that showcased this year in Germany, even after the convention hall has officially closed it’s doors tomorrow night.

~Pashford

Get That Bread: Economics 101

I had mentioned wanting to discuss more of the culture and news involved with the gaming industry for awhile now, partly because I enjoy the coming and goings within the realm, but also so I don’t have to start a new game I then low key lament wanting to then finish in it’s entirety once I’ve previewed it.


“Let me just preview this one and then blow through it real quick
for a review, I’m sure it won’t take long at all…”

Once I remembered Gamescom was about to pop off, I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized there should be no shortage of things to discuss during the events time frame, so keeping ears and eyes out for such happenings would take little effort. I also don’t always have an amazing amount of time in which to balance recreational activities, of which I am including game journaling, so any interesting ideas or quick concepts I can shoot the shit about are par excellence in my world.


Especially if the subject matter is legendary of it’s own accord

One interesting nugget that came across my dashboard in the past day was this brief exchange Phil Spencer had at Gamescom involving Microsoft’s lineup, including the fact that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle had been announced for the PS5. That sentence perhaps doesn’t come off as either head scratching or shocking to some of you reading this, so I take this moment now as a reminder that Microsoft acquired Bethesda awhile back, meaning they own the intellectual property holders of such series as DOOM, Wolfenstein, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls series, and Commander Keen, just to name a few of the juggernauts they’ve got on their side.


The Commander having such a legendary pedigree, his progeny
would go on to destroy both the Nazis and the hordes of hell themselves

To that point, and perhaps speaking redundantly so, the traditional school of thought involved with such an arrangement would be platform exclusivity, for many obvious reasons. There has been a long standing historical precedent within the gaming realm of exclusivity being a real but understandable evil in terms of console wars and there relevant ups and downs over the years. The needle has moved considerably from generation to generation in many different regards, and Spencer reminds us that it will continue to forge ahead with innovations and trying new things with the Indiana Jones brand moving forward.


Which, you know, hasn’t historically always worked out for
the best, but I think we good this time

Which all in all, felt like a bizarre but noteworthy share in terms of gaming news relevancy, as I mean…obviously that is going to happen. It is currently happening already with many of the previously mentioned game franchises on other consoles. But, much like Spencer felt the need to make a statement on the reality of the situation, I too felt the need to chime in on the happening, as gaming is continuing to evolve, and what once was just can’t be anymore. As much as Microsoft wants people to buy an Xbox for their games, some consumers will just never be sold on that system ecosystem, and with the Playstation brand being such a massive seller, MS would be dumb to just leave money on the table like that, especially when they’ve already played nice with both Sony and Nintendo in the recent past about collaborating on shared value in terms of content and reaching across the virtual aisle in doing so.


With smashing results, I may add

With others like Square even dwelling in possible regret about part 2 to the FF7 remake underselling due to it’s exclusivity on the PS5, I’m simply amazed we haven’t already heard of a “demake” of sorts coming to at least the PS4, if not downright porting it to the Xbox family to recoup losses on the development side. Console exclusives were always divisive, and represented a different time in gaming that didn’t have to deal with all of the realities that modern day gaming does, and in most cases make absolutely no viable business sense in placating a smaller group of would be buyers in such a modern cut throat market. If the massive layoffs of this year in the gaming industry is any indication, then making sure as many people get their hands on a game as possible is a win/win/win for both gamer, developer, and publisher a like, and will continue to be the reasonable way forward.

If a mode of thought has no practical application or sustainability to it’s premise, what value remains attached to the premise at hand?

~Pashford

E3 2016: Nintendo, Microsoft, And Sony

Hey Gamers,

Once again, I excitedly share the news about being invited back to E3.

Like, as excited as making bacon pancakes excited.

I have always found E3 to be one of the biggest highlights of the gaming year, and having had the pleasure of experiencing a couple firsthand, my opinion has only been strengthened in it’s resolve. I always cover the show as Editor-in-Chief of Gamersyndrome (as I will this year, too), but due to server issues, I can’t even log into my own site right now. Oh the frustrating irony of it all.

Like Batman being locked out of the Batmobile.

Like every year, before the show, I always enjoy talking about what we can expect, by throwing around some fun speculation, and generally, shoot the shit about what the fuck we are waiting for. This year is no different, and I want to take this moment now to run down some of the major players and what they have to bring, at E3 2o16. First up, we look at Nintendo and see what massive variety they have planned for the show floor.

That’s right folks, The Legend of Zelda is just the beginning (of the end).

It’s been no secret that Nintendo has vowed to finally showcase Zelda NX, in all of it’s beautiful glory at E3 2o16. What’s more, is that the big N plans on having multiple kiosks for Zelda on the show floor for attendees to play and enjoy, along with a Treehouse Live special going on during E3, which has developers hands on with the title, showing off the new Hyrule in all of it’s next gen bravado for the world to see.

If that wasn’t enough, Nintendo has also said Zelda will simultaneously release on both the NX and the Wii U, much to the delight of any Wii U owner, and one of very few delights they will know in the next year or so.

Pictured: Wii U owners reactions when they heard Zelda wasn’t coming out until 2017

Most of that sounds good, right? I hope it does, because Zelda at E3 is about the only thing Nintendo fans have to look forward to this year. For the third year running, Nintendo has opted out of doing a press conference, which makes some kind of sense, as it would be very hard to rationalize what would ultimately be a 90 minute commercial for Zelda, and not subsequently get pissed on by the collective gaming community. I know it worked for Nintendo with Super Mario Bros 3 and The Wizard once upon a time, but we live in a very different time now.

“Very Different”

So yes, Nintendo isn’t doing a press conference, and they won’t have anything but Zelda on the floor. That is incredibly unprecedented by any E3 standard, and should help reinforce just how much trouble Nintendo has been in for awhile. Not a “Nintendo is doooomed” kind of implication, but all of these massive underwhelming announcements for the next year, in combination with the complete lack of content for the Wii U in 2016, and Nintendo is struggling to do anything outside of flashing their Zelda bling. Which admittedly, they do well.

As a fan of Zelda, I’m thrilled I’ll be surrounded by my favorite green clad hero. As a critic, I’m like “Dudes, are you serious? One freaking game?” I do my best to rationalize the situation in the sanest ways possible.

The upshot to this is that no one is really expecting anything from Nintendo at all this E3, so if Zelda is surprisingly good, they will  get great press about it. Which is perfect, cause they will likely get little press other than Zelda. They have back peddled recently to say they will mention in some capacity a few other titles, like the new Pokémon titles Sun and Moon, along with Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest VII for the 3Ds, but have safe expectations going into the show.

Let’s hope Nintendo hasn’t done to Zelda ‘s E3 showing what Link has done to love letters.

Safe Expectation: Zelda. Seriously, that’s it.
Impossible Expectation: Nintendo has been lying about not showing the NX this year, and we get a physical look at the console, with an official name.

Next up, we have Microsoft, the tech giant that went from disastrous launch, to admirable sales for the Xbox One, with their system currently outpacing the success of the 360 in comparison of sales to time on the market. MS is still almost twice as far behind as Sony’s PS4 however, and will have to continue to pull out all the stops to catch up.

With one of the stops being continually not bringing up the failure that is the Kinect.

I know you wanted the Kinect to be embraced by your core base, Microsoft…but it’s just not going to happen

Microsoft is likely to continue their “games first” strategy that we saw them steam ahead with last year, tech add on’s and vague promises of future upgrades just (haven’t) and aren’t going to satiate the expectations of gamers. With more than 50% of all games announced at last years E3 (from all companies) still not out a year later, MS is going to have to wow the crowds with some concrete content with solid release dates.

Luckily, among the contenders for games likely to be announced at the show this year for the X1, we’ve got Crackdown 3, Cuphead, and Gears of War 4 all riding the hype train to E3. All three of these games have been in the works for some time, and round out an impressive variety that MS has been trying to compete with Sony on, a company that has had a quality stable of varied content in the past couple years.

Not that Sony hasn’t had a varied amount of content that hasn’t seen the light of day. Everyone is looking at you FF7.

To that point, we already know Gears 4 will be coming out October 11th, and it’s going to be one of the games to beat this year in terms of hype factor. I’d be surprised if Crackdown 3 didn’t finally have a release date announced, as well as Cuphead finally getting a launch window. I’m excited to finally see Rare showcase Sea of Thieves on top of it all, as they’ve had plenty of time to get the project off the ground, though a 2016 launch for it feels unlikely to me.

I think Recore and Scalebound are doomed to delay till 2017, considering what little we’ve seen of either in the past year. With Inafune heading up Recore, and having trouble getting even a small project like Mighty No.9 out, and Kamiya heading up Scalebound, who’s notorious for being patient in development to put out a quality experience, I will be very surprised if either see the light of day in 2016, but expect awesome previews at Microsoft’s conference non the less. It’s been rumored Halo Wars 2 will finally be announced, and I’m foolishly hopeful that it’s been in development long enough to be ready by years end.

But in the end, this is Halo we are talking about. We will likely be bummed about having to wait a little longer.

Other honorable mentions go to Microsoft’s continual need to remind us it owns Mincecraft, some kind of Windows 10 pimping, and perhaps most excitedly, the rumored Xbox One slim, which is suppose to be almost half the size, and with possible 4k resolution support. There have also been rumors of an “Xbox Scorpio” flying about, which is supposedly far more powerful than the Xbox One, and possibly equipped with VR in mind, but with the Slim being the likely candidate (and MS still being mum on any possible VR focus), it would be pointless for Microsoft to announce the hypothetical Scorpio, as Sony and Nintendo have vowed not to bring new hardware to E3.

Which is believable, as Nintendo has  vowed to barely bring any new software to E3 *twiddles cigar*

Safe Expectation: Microsoft announces a slew of release dates for big games, and the Slim is unveiled with a cool design and reasonable price point
Impossible Expectation: Microsoft shows working prototypes of a virtual reality machine, with a late 2017 launch window.

Last but not least, we discuss what Sony may do come this years E3, and what they have to avoid in order to not be the laughing stock of the gaming community.

Step 1: No crazy announcements

 

Step 2: No crazy long term promises

 

Step 3: Seriously…just don’t be crazy, Sony. Sheesh.

While Sony has had their fair share of missteps in the past, they regularly have an incredibly strong showing at E3. Even when they announce something ludicrous, or ham fist some heavy handed promises, it’s at the least extremely entertaining on a memetic level. Though Sony has confirmed the existence of the  “PS4 Neo”, a new iteration of the PS4 line (much like the X1 Scorpio) which has been confirmed by Sony’s president to be more powerful and more expensive, it has also been confirmed it will not be making it’s E3 debut this year. Sony is still ramping up on showing off it’s not to distant future VR offerings with the PS4 VR add on, Project Morpheus, which will be the cheapest way to get your VR funk on.

Though, unlike their competitors, no word yet on whether or not Sony will offer games which will have you getting funk off of your VR,

PS VR helps to solidify  the PS4 as the most attractive offering on the console side, and Sony has the sales numbers to back that up. There are quite a few games Sony has planned to discuss at their show this year, with some impressive names like Gran Turismo, Ace Combat, and Harmonix showing off titles for Project Morpheus for gamers to enjoy. Other titles which will be explored include Rigs: Mechanized Combat League, Dreams, a project from Little Big Planet Developers Media Molecule, and even a VR version of Rez, the highly acclaimed cult classic rhythm experience.

There are another dozen titles or so planned for PS VR, and it seems Sony is putting a great deal of focus on showing it off this year, which leads me to believe we may get a solid release date in late 2016, with the price point of $400. I know not everyone is sold on the idea of VR, but after having the joy of experiencing it myself at E3 2014, I can’t help but be excited for the future of virtual reality in gaming, which will only become more popular as the price goes down.

And like most major modern day tech innovations, I’m sure porn will most certainly convince everyone to jump in and help expedite cost reduction.

Putting aside the saucy nature of possible VR advancements, Sony has regular software lined up for their conference, including looks at Horizon: Zero Dawn, a futuristic open world third person action game that looks beautiful in motion, and a game I’m crossing my fingers comes out this year. The Last Guardian, which better have a release date this year, or is doomed to catch up with the number of times Duke Nukem Forever was delayed, the long awaited sequel to the gravitationally challenged Vita darling Gravity Rush 2, and possibly the rumored announcement of a Norse myth focused from one of Sony’s biggest, God of War 4.

Spoiler Alert: Kratos will still be a massive asshole.

The last couple of years I’ve gone, while some companies have delivered the goods in terms of conferences (Microsoft 2014, Bethesda 2015), Sony always seems to be the ones to beat in terms of variety of content and showmanship. Let’s see if they can pull it off again this year.

Safe Expectation: Sony will announce a lot of cool shit
Impossible Expectation: Any of it will be cheap or come out any time soon.

And that concludes my overview of the big three in some of the preliminary analysis of E3 2016. What’s exciting is that the show is always anyone’s game, and even if one company rises above the rest, they all always have a chance to impress, and to collectively succeed to make an excellent show. What’s more is that this year has seen a surprisingly low number of leaks, so there are still a ton of surprises left, with dozens of unannounced projects just waiting to shock and awe. Stay tune as I cover the conferences and the show live from LA, as we all enjoy the awesomeness that is E3 2o16.

~Pashford