Early Access and YOU!

      There is an epidemic afoot. It's sweeping indiscriminately across the gaming landscape, leaving nothing but sour tastes and broken promises. I am of course speaking of Early Access games, that seem to be running rampant on the steam marketplace. Every day one goes out of development, while two new titles roll up to fill it's spot. These titles have sparked some amount of ire in the gaming community, but is it warranted?

      2015, the year of "No Pre-Orders" as it were on Reddit and other gaming communities.
A movement born from the pains of 2014, which was one of the worst years for gaming in recent memory. Broke-ass games shipping left and right, caused the people to put their collective foot down and shout a resounding "Naaaaaaah." Now, has this so called movement worked?

      Maybe, maybe not. The PC version of Grand Theft Auto V is, to this day, on the top 5 best sellers list on Steam. That is beside the point however, there was a real problem. Games being labeled as "complete" $60 products that were shipped to stores, were essentially broken. This has to stop, but do the same rules apply to games that are clearly labeled as "Early Access"?


                               
                        The most accurate review I've seen for Assassin's Creed: Unity

      If you are unaware of what early access is; firstly, c'mon bro, and secondly, Early Access is a forum where developers can put their unfinished games up for sale. Keyword in that statement is "unfinished"... let that sink in. There is a fundamental difference between a retail game and one that is purchased on early access, one you can get angry about, one... you really can't.

      The myriad of reasons early access titles are picked on is endless. It's Buggy, it's empty, no development updates, developer is seemingly dead...on and on forever until we all eventually succumb to Typhoid fever. The lynch pin however, is that not so subtle word unfinished. Buyers beware, value is not promised. Nothing about the Early Access market is concrete. A game could be here one day and gone the next. We have to stop treating these as sure fire games and more as possibilities.

                                    
                                                      I bought this game, neat huh?


      Everyone works hard for their money, on the flip-side, everyone makes their own choice what to do with said dollaz. No one forced you to spend those last 25 bucks on The Stomping Land. That's not saying that there has never been a shitty outcome to an early access title, but remember; these games are unfinished. The flaw is the idea that since I am paying for something I am guaranteed something, but that's not the case here. This is a volatile area of the industry, and people need to be willing to deal with consequence. In no way am I condoning some of the gross misconduct that has been exhibited in this market, But for Pete sakes people, know the risk.

      In the end early access is a good thing for the industry, there I said it, back off. It is a platform for new ideas to flourish, for new devs to be seen, and in the best cases; for an audience to be heard. I've been duped by these kind of games before, but remember, we're all new to this rodeo. There will be fuck-ups, there will be mistakes. So proceed with caution and be ready to get burned now and again. But if you make the call to throw money towards an uncertainty. Don't whine when those $15 fly the coop and you're left with 700 Mb of dead executable; you're better than that.

      What do you think about the Early Access scene? Drop me a comment below! I'd love to hear your stance.

     
 
   

   

                   
                             
                         
   

Everyone Dies...In Video Games

        What ever happened to consequence? In games I mean...Not from like avoiding taxes or something. Increasingly the punishment for death is becoming milder and milder, and while convenient. It may not always be a good thing for game design.

        Lets take a fantastic voyage (credit: Coolio) back to 1986, a year that brought us the NES title Ghosts 'N Goblins. A side scrolling action-platformer, and arguably one of the most difficult video games ever forged in the fires of Mt. Doom. It bludgeoned players into submission with some gut wrenching level design, trillions (read: lots) of enemies, and a hero that couldn't take as much as a passing glance from Glass Joe before he was out like a light. A complete lack of a save system meant a game over was met with a title screen and no option to continue. Did I mention that upon completing the game once, it threw you back in a second time and required you to do the whole thing over again...y'know; for kicks. Suffice to say that the player was afraid of death, the penalty was steep and the sense of time lost was too much for some to bear. Now what could have been different in Ghost 'N Goblins to make it a more palatable experience?

                                        
                                            "At least I'll die surrounded by my money"

      Jump forward one year, enter stage left...The Legend of Zelda. Up to this point, home consoles were doing everything they could to emulate the arcade experience. They were meant to be played in a single setting, a sort of test of skill; but a shift was underway. The Legend of Zelda is influential in many ways, but maybe the biggest being the small battery powered RAM chip in the cart, that allowed players to save their progress. Revelatory to say the least this opened up a floodgate of possibilities. Video games no longer had to be a half hour, "Holy Christ, I've spent $40 on this" race to the finish. Devs knew players could come back to this at leisure and complete it. Death was still present in  The Legend of Zelda but the paralyzing fear of it had subsided. Saving unlocked a whole knew avenue of game design, and death in games was not the 400 lbs, all muscle, creepy uncle that it once was.


                                       
                                                    "Tri-force can wait, I saved brah"

       Finally they had it right, death was an annoyance, but not a deal breaker. This went on for several years and everyone was super chill...until that fateful year, 2007. Bioshock descended from the heavens, it captivated us, and rightfully so; it's flat out fantastic. One thing however I think it got wrong, the death penalty.

      You're strolling through Fort Frollic, admiring Cohen's macabre work and gently caving in the skulls of every splicer you meet. The sound of a Big Daddy lurking around the corner piques your interest and you rush headlong around the corner to face the titan. Unlucky for you, this Big Daddy has a propensity to shove it's drill arm directly through your torso...which it does. You're dead, bud.

      But wait, what's this? In a matter of seconds you are reanimated about 30 feet away, the footsteps of your murderer still echoing through the halls. All the Splicers are still dead, you have the same ammo count. You never died, you just got pulled away for a moment. This is the day the death penalty died.

                                        
                                            "I don't know doc, I just really got a toothache"

      Now before you crucify me for saying Bioshock is flawed, let me speak. I don't mind the way it handles death, what I do mind, is the deluge of games that took it to the next eventual level of not punishing the player at all. See, death in games was a system that forced the player to move forward with skill, to learn the games systems and tactics. When you take away all punishment for making mistakes, you also remove motivation to improve. Mind you nothing is dealt with in absolutes, of course you need to improve to progress. But this method of handling punishment encourages attrition over art.

     There has however been a resurgence of brutally hard games, the Souls games, X-Com, and of course QWOP. These games all handle death in different ways. Though they all have a sense of finality in death that has been lost in recent years.

                                        
                                      Seconds away from being burned alive and beheaded

      In the end there is no real right answer on how to deal with death in games. Design is an art and people view art differently. Developers should however keep in mind that penalty is not a bad thing. Failures help us grow.

      What do you think about death penalties in games? Drop a comment below, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.

My top 10 video game music

Hey all,

Having finished my first piece on video game music I thought I'd make a brief list, chronicling my top 10 video game songs and pieces. I will keep 1 song per game, so it may be hard to narrow down my favorite, but I'll do my best. So without further adieu...

10. 
Icarus - Deus Ex: Human Revolution.



Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a neat game with some interesting ideas about what the future will be like. With that setting it needs to have some especially kick ass future music, Which this exemplifies.
With a steady build and some tight vocal harmonies this song eventually explodes into pure, horrific, bleek-future filled bliss. 10/10 Would augment ears to hear better.

9. Discovering Banjoland - Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts



Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, int' it? Say what you will about the quality of the game (it's fantastic, go to hell) Grant Kirkhope is in top form on the soundtrack. This song forms a medley of the original themes from the well loved N64 classic Banjo Kazooie. On top of the fact that the songs are still ass kicking to this day; they are lovingly recreated with a full orchestra. Adding to the fuck-ton of awesome that already exists.

8. Helghan Forever - Killzone 2



You want some bombast? Fuck yeah you do, you are sick of playful melodies and bassoon filled basslines. Here have this... It's in your face, triumphant, and beautiful. Hint: listen to this while taking a shower in the dark... it's one of the most purely transcendental experiences you'll have this year; for many reasons.

7. Stickerbrush Symphony - Donkey Kong Country 2



Ok, now that we have officialy raised our collective blood pressures up a couple points, lets chill a little. This piece is chill defined, this piece has game 4 dayz, this piece will get you places. But on a more real note, this is one of those compositions that uses the limited sound board on a SNES more efficiently than many others and is timeless because of it. #cruisin'music

6. Standing Stones - Dear Esther



Lets continue our fantastic voyage down chill street with slight right onto Depression Avenue. This piece exemplifies the feeling of helplessness and loss that follow you throughout Dear Esther. Eventual building into a Fugue-like, almost disastrous mess of stings, all the while maintaining it's Spooky beauty. TOO DOPE.

5. In Cirlces - Transistor



I had a really hard time deciding which song from transistor was going to make this list, as I didn't want any repeat offenders. I ultimatly chose In Circles for a couple reasons. First off This song switches between 5/4 in the verse to a more smoothed out 6/4 in the verses. I love every bit of this song, the timbre, the ethereal vocals, the floating piano. And it eventual gets pretty dirty in a bass tinged instrumental; that just makes me say "fuck"

4. Sonic Heroes Theme - Sonic Heroes



Because I am not afraid to say "Fuck it, I like what I like"... Also that vocal harmony on the chorus.

3. Password Theme - Mega Man X



I CAN NEVER BE HAPPIER!  But seriously I can think of a song that puts me in a better mood than this.

2. You're Not Alone - Final Fantasy IX



Not very often does the game have the guts to take the main character and change him on a very fundamental level. After Zidane learns the truth behind his birth, he is reduced to a shell of his former self. The once shamelessly optimistic, overly confident thief is reduced to a lifeless, nihilistic husk and all but gives up on his journey. This song plays as his friends and party members rally around him and speak words of encouragement. Reminding him that he is he who thinks he is, not what other tell him he is. Go Get em' tiger.

1. The Oath - Final Fantasy VIII



Here it is folks, my ultimate piece of gaming music. This piece went as far as birthing my piano playing. The scene it creates as Squall steps up to the mic to deliver a speech to his fallen and falling comrades is sublime. Bravo Uematsu

Why music matters in games

                                         ♫ Like a good neighbor state farm is there♫

Chances are you know the exact melody that line is sung to, the cadence, and the tempo. Of course it is the well known jingle of State farm insurance company and acts as not only a tagline for the company, but a device to penetrate the brand into the minds of the viewers. Music works in a interesting way; much like a familiar, fragrance it can bring memories and emotions to the forefront of our thought unlike many other experiences. A particularly robust or dramatic score can enhance a scene or setting and convey a mood, sometimes even better than a visual can.

 Melodies work in a interesting way, they are essentially a function of space more than anything else. We pull melodies out of the jumps between notes rather than the note itself. A melody that Starts on an "A" and jumps 2 notes to "C" will still be recognizable when played starting on "B" and jumping two spaces to "D".

Video game music has evolved along with games themselves. The scores games will have can stand side by side with hollywood film scores, and are often even written by the same composers. Lets explore some of the most influential game music and dive into why it is so important, and what it's accomplishing.

Super Mario Bros. Theme - Koji Kondo



Possibly the most instantly recognizable piece of game music is of course the theme to Super Mario Bros. Play this tune for anyone and chances are they will be able to tell you exactly where it's from, even if they don't play games at all. The theme is accomplishing a couple different goals; firstly its setting a playful scene. This is a video game we are playing after all. The bouncy baseline and overall playfulness of the melody suggest that you should probably just sit back and have fun with the game. The theme has been reworked and remixed countless times, but no matter what instruments we hear playing that catchy melody we are always reminded of good ole' 1-1 and that there is a power mushroom in that third block on the right.

One Winged Angel - Nobuo Uematsu



Jumping forward 13 years brings us to another familiar piece; the bombastic and frightening "One Winged Anger" from the final battle with Sephiroth. Arguably one of the meanest sounding works composer Nobuo Uematsu has put out. This play as somewhat of a death-march and plays a very different role in the game than the Mario Bros Theme. It's apocalyptic, it's threatening, it's clashing, and all of this adds to the mood that money is on the table with this one. Play time is over, your 40-50 hours is culminating here, be afraid.

Although this one may be a little less recognizable to people out of the know, it still resounds with the people play games. Even those who may never have touch a Final Fantasy game can usually place this as an FF joint. It's that kind of impact that a song can have on a game, a far reaching influence that iconifies certain moments and games.

The Legend of Zelda: Overworld Theme - Koji Kondo



Are you ready for adventure? Well you'd better be dammit, because this piece is going to force it upon you. Zelda was the first of its kind in many regards. It gave you a huge world, teeming with dungeons to explore, monsters to face, and the player agency to pretty much discover it all for yourself. But there was an issue initially with the first Zelda game, play testers didn't know what to do. They were thrust into this open world with no real direction. This piece serves as a make shift objective to players to "go and explore". This music does more than just lend a recognizable melody. It inspires exploration, its orchestration and melody boast a world yet to be discovered.

There are so many notable pieces of game music that I can't cover, But I thought these 3 were a good place to start to explore why game music is so important to the overall experience. they create moods, cast shadows, and create memories far more than mere button presses. They can connect us with people inside and out the game world. But most of all, they are just good music. So keep listening and drop me a line if you there is a piece of music you want me to cover.

Thanks for reading and Keep Gaming Folks.

The Genesis

Where do I start? I love Video games. Always have, Always will...

There is video of me as a one year old, jamming a NES Light gun to the TV screen trying desperately trying to shoot every duck out of the air, and failing at it. But my first actual memory of gaming is being completely ass-backwards fucking confused, trying to navigate Descent on my older brothers PS1. I don't know if it was the way it controlled, or the early 3D environments, but my 5 year old brain could not get around it.

                            Try as you may, You'll never escape

But from then I was hooked... I wanted to get my hands on whatever I could. Every new Jampack and OPM demo disc I could get my hands on was a veritable gold mine for young me. But there was no other disc that could compare to the Jampack winter '98 disc. Fuck, what a banger. MGS, Medevil, Tomb Raider III, and Spyro just to name a few. I'm fairly certain Metal Gear Solid changed me on a very fundamental, sub-atomic, not-realize-til-I'm-45 kind of way. listen guys, I don't mean to be immature but they swore, had blood, and there was Goddamned robots; the 3 necessary ingredients in any game to instantly make a 8 year old, top-ramen fueled kid absolutely flip his shit.

Plus, Meryl was a fox...

But of all the classic PS1 games I have had the honor of faking sick to stay home and play, Final Fantasy IX stands tall. Everything about this game is magical for me. It wasn't my first or last FF, but it's most definitely the one I hold most dear. The game is magical, and I still cry during the final cut-scene... sh...shut up...

Bruh... *sobs*

Anyways, that's all I really have for this time. I am excited to start this and get some of my ideas and thoughts down. I don't really have any set goal with this, I'll write about what I feel like...so like, fuck you and stuff. I'll try to keep it frequent as possible. Thank you for anyone who reads this. comments and suggestions are always welcome. Keep gaming folks.