Remake Metal Gear???

Today, Gametrailers posted a comment made by Kojima, the creator of the fantastic Metal Gear series, expressing his interest in someone rebooting the franchise. Here's what I wrote and a lint to the page.

I wouldn't mind a remake. mainly because I think kojima backed himself into a corner w/ mgs4. it was a good game but all the high-tech stuff like raiden and the geckos made it seem like a sequel to be impossible. think about it, ocelot is gone, the patriots are gone and snake is supposedly dead. this is further proven by all the high-tech stuff in revengence. that kindof ruins the game for me when old-fashioned stealth is no longer needed.
http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/55355/just-add-water-thinks-they-should-remake-metal-gear-solid

I wanted to further elaborate on my comment. Metal Gear is one of the best game franchises of all time in my opinion. I'm not the only one, many of the games make any list of great games. Metal Gear had wonderful gameplay, fascinating characters, and a great story to contain such an amazing world. So you understand my concerns about a new take on the series. If you don't know, Ocelot is the villain, always one step ahead of everyone else, the Patriots are special AI computers that control the world made by a former comrade of the main hero Snake and Raiden is an ally of Snake who becomes a becomes a cyborg made with similar technology to make these geckos: large, bipedal machines that dominate any battlefield.

Basically, I'm concerned that my favorite tactical espionage game will be mistreated or misrepresented. I do believe that Kojima went to far with the fourth entry Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. There was all this technology that was way too advanced that I probably won't see in my lifetime...not that I expect to be on a battlefield. But the fun for me was that the Metal Gear series always showed off tech that feasibly be part of any military organization like a carrot dangled in front of you. The idea of possible technology has always fascinated me and Metal Gear definitely has that idea. From bipedal nuclear launchers to a camouflage suit that changes to whatever surface it touches, Metal Gear has always teased me with probable technology that may not be that far away. That was another drawl for me, the fact that the world in these games took place years ahead of the current time. The first Metal Gear Solid game came out in 1998 but took place in 2005. The game speculated what technology would be like in seven years, reminds me of how Star Trek imagined technology hundreds of years from now. Imagining the far-off future allows more freedom for creativity and exploration but the near future is definitely more difficult to imagine. Tech changes so fast and it becomes difficult to predict the next big innovation.

But I digress, I don't mind a reboot if it is done with respect and love. The newest game, a spin-off named Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, takes the technology to a whole new ridiculous level. Again, it is possible that this technology will be seen someday and in fact, some of this tech has already been theorized and made. But that destroys the fun for me. I don't want a super high tech game, I want a stealth game I can understand. I want to be in the trench with someone I can relate to.

The truth of creation

I have discovered a truth that I have literally known my entire life. And that is that creating things sucks. I'm in the middle of writing my ten page paper for the game I'm designing. It was fun at first when I was writing the story but now it's boring. It's so boring that...that I want to make a copy of it on a floppy disk (cause I hate floppy disks, the old squares you put into computers, they were stupid when I was a kid and they're stupid even as obsolete junk), smash it with a hammer, and light it on fire!

I wonder if Stephen King felt the same way. Like after he wrote Needful Things and he went up to his publisher and was like: "Here! Take the ****in thing! I never want to see this book as long as I live!

And, you know what? The more I think about the more I realize that being creative is like giving birth. It's awesome when you first start (usually), it has a few bumps on the road (swelled ankles and morning sickness) and then it all comes to a head with birth, which sucks. That's what it is, creating something is like giving birth to a child.

So why am I ranting like this? Because I came up with a cool idea for a game, it looked like a really cool idea. But then I got to work on it and now, it's just not a creepy as I wanted it. If I worked on it some more with other people I bet I could make it better. But it's my project, and my homework. It's due tomorrow. So I'm going to buckle down and finish it. Why? Because I've got several hundred documents on my computer that are half finished! I have "got to got to" (as Eddy Murphy would say) finish it.

Stephen King's analogy

In Stephen King's "On Writing" King creates a semi-biography mixed with tips on writing. In a later chapter he uses the phrase "There's no such thing as a bad dog." He goes on to say that that phrase shouldn't be used with someone whose child's face has been bitten by a dog. King says that in the same way there are bad writers in this world. And, this is the part that really upset me, no matter how hard a bad writer tries, he cannot become a great writer but he can become a competent writer.

I have several problems with King's statement.

1. Stephen King is an accomplished writer. The first few chapters of "On Writing" go into detail about the dedication he had as a young man toward writing. King has spent years perfecting his craft. Now these "bad writers" are a different story. I must agree though, there are terrible writers out there, but I don't think it's because they are just bad at writing from the start. There are two possibilities.

A. The writers may not care. I've seen dozens of books, games, and horrible movies be released on a daily basis. But for what reason? Either:

a. The writers work cheap

b. The writers know somebody (It's not what you know it's who you know) or

c. The writers have a big audience. (It's the only reason why those stupid Scary Movie-type films are released. By the way, I like Scary Movie 1 through 3.)

B. The writers are in the business for the money. I see authors plop out book after book, year after year. Koontz, Grisham, and Roberts to name a few. I have no idea how many books they've written but they keep on writing them.

To be clear, I have never read one of their books (which makes me a hypocrite I think) but I know people who have read their books. Who knows, maybe their books are all great, but when I see a new Koontz book on the Half Price display section every six months I get a little red flag go up in my head. It's like they got the same formula down but with different characters and scenery.

I've once heard that writers just write the same thing over and over. Their success depends on how well they can make the story look different. I can see that to a certain point.

Now somebody obviously loves what these people are putting out. Even Stephen King can be put into this category of authors putting out a new book every year or so. But there's my problem, when you have the formula down the magic is lost. I like to see works where writers are fumbling around in the dark. The attempt and lack of experience is what makes a work interesting to me.

There are exceptions though. People who master their art can create wonderful things. I look at the great animated Disney movies or Picasso's art. These works are the result of someone honing their art to perfection and while there is still experimentation, there is also an understanding of their format.

This leads me to my second point.

2. King compares writers to dogs. The analogy is: Dog bites child ergo dog is bad despite what others may say. In the same vein: Writer writes bad ergo writer is bad writer.

And there's the problem. King leaves out an important fact: the dog is the product of it's upbringing. The dog may be a stray or owned, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that when that dog bit the child, it was biting the child because it was threatened, hungry, or aggressive. Again, it does not matter why the dog bit but what led up to this attack.
 If you own a dog you know that dogs imitate their masters. My two beagles are lazy bums, why? Because I don't go exercise. I mostly sit around all day playing my games, read, watch TV, or get on the computer. If I walked more my dogs would do the same, especially if I walked them.
The point? Dogs are the results of their upbringing. In the same way, written works are the result of the writers. If a book is bad, it's because the writer is bad. What needs to be done is that the writer needs to train to get that work (dog) into shape. Unless abused constantly, dogs can be retrained. In the same way, written works can be redone and improved upon.

Two projects

Right now, I'm working on my ten page paper for my game class. But I wanted to announce two projects I want to work on. The first is a comparison of Stephen King's books, one of my favorite writers. I will compare his works to each other and see how they match up. Hopefully, this "homework" will be a good exercise in outlining and dissecting a book.

The other project is more personal. I will be looking at and telling my experience with the best comic in the world: Calvin and Hobbes. I hope to get work on these projects soon.

Like a fawcet

101 views?! Holy Crap! Thanks for viewing my blog! Anyway. Soon, I'm going to be publishing the first few pages of a short story I wrote a few days ago. It started slowly for like, two seconds and then flowed so easily. Every time I thought I was done a new paragraph popped into my head. Within 20-30 minutes, I had jotted down about SIX pages worth of story. And I've never had a story flow like this before. It's just magical, but also exhausting. I found myself begging my brain to stop coming up with new ideas. I was just about to get to a good part in Stephen King's "Needful Things" and I wanted to read instead of write. Hopefully, I'll get to the point where writing is a easy as reading, that way it won't seem like an effort but more of a pleasure.

Xbox one reverses mistake

I found this link on GameTrailers. Microsoft has announced that they are not going to use DRM, you won't need to be online every 24 hours and you can trade games just like you can now.
You can see the article here: http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/54954/confirmed-microsoft-reverses-xbox-one-drm-policies

 But there are still unanswered questions. Is the Kinect still going to be watching me? Do I need the Kinect to play games? Also, the PS4 is more powerful and cheaper by a hundred dollars. Damage has already been done so I'm going for a PS4. I'll be posting more later.

Two games

Today I just finished two one page assignments on a basic outline of a game. I made a puzzle game and a strategy game. I'm not going to tell you what my ideas are, someone might steal them, lol. It wasn't that hard to come up with an outline, I've been thinking about this stuff for ten years! Although, the puzzle game I just made up off the top of my head and...it's actually more detailed than most of my games.

What's wrong with Skyrim

So here's what can be improved in Skyrim. I gotta say, at first this was just a list but as you can see it became sentences which became paragraphs which became whole papers!

What can be done better

-          I hate how sometimes the people I talk to say the same thing twice. It’s like if someone has to tell you the joke twice, it ruins the moment.

 

-          I hate that I have to watch my character mine ore. Why can’t I do it? When you pick a lock you get to control the picking with the control sticks. So why can’t I do the work with another mini game? I know Bethesda is going for realism but still I don’t want to sit for ten second watching my character swing a pick. Better still, let me cast a spell to make the pick work without me. I summon creatures from the pits of hell, why can’t I cast a spell that makes my life easier?

 

-          I hate the loading in this game. Why is there a loading time from exiting or entering a small house? The house has three bedrooms, it shouldn’t take this long to load a small house. And I know that the loading times aren’t that bad. But when you explore a lot you see that loading screen a lot more then you would ever want to, trust me.

 

-          I hate the long loading times. There are short loading times where just fog comes from the bottom of the screen and then there are longer ones which, while they do let you look at some cool in-game items with some helpful tips, it’s still ten seconds long. The worst part is that as you progress in the game the load times get longer. Ugh, it’s like the game is trying to remember all the quests I’ve done.

 

-          I hate the weapon types. There’s one handed and two handed type weapons and there are only a few of each type. For one handed we got maces, daggers, war axes and swords. For two handed we got warhammers, battleaxes and longswords. Now, can you imagine how boring it gets when all you see is your character swinging the same way all the time? Each category swings the same way! There needs to be a difference in swings so it doesn’t look the same. And for that matter, where’s the morning stars or spears. How could you not include spears? There must be hundreds of weapons they could add that could be used to fight differently. You think you swing a scimitar the same way you swing a double-edged sword? No you do not. It’s similar but there’s specific fighting styles that go with the weapons.

 

 

-          I hate the ranged weapons. I got a bow and three types of magic, fire, ice and lightning. That’s it! What about blow guns, or sling shots or throwing daggers? Or shuriken, how about some freakin’ shuriken. You know, throwing stars? They may not have had guns way back then, and yes I know this is a fictional history that takes place in a different world, but common, there needs to be more variety. What about launching wind spells that cut through enemies or earth spells that come up from the ground? You get sick of your spells pretty fast. Keep in mind that this game has 300 hours of gameplay.

 

-          I hate hearing people say the same things. You know how many times I’ve heard a guard say “I used to be an adventurer like you. ‘Till I took an arrow in the knee.” Apparently I’m not the only one. There’s remixes on YouTube about this phrase.  And two bucks says you’ll hear someone who sounds VERY familiar in the same town. That’s because there’s only about ten voice actors and about several thousand people in the game. And then there are specific species. The Orc and the Argonian people, lizard people, (I shouldn’t have to explain what an Orc is) all sound the same. The only difference is the male and female voices. Sometimes they might have a different voice but that’s only if you talk to a character important to a specific quest. I spend more time listening to random people talk than important characters.

 

-          I hate the stealth in this game. How on earth do people know that I killed their friend? If an arrow killed the person next to you, would you know instinctively where the killer was? No! You might be suspicious if a guy with a bow comes up to you but if I kill someone with a long ranged attack and I’m definitely hidden (the game has a stealth mode) there’s no way you would know it was me. And speaking of stupid AI…

 

-          I hate my partner. You get to choose a partner in the game to carry your stuff and fight with you. But their all as dumb as the next. Let me give you an example: I visited a dungeon today, inside are floor traps. If you set foot on a wire it’ll release a spring-loaded gate with spikes that swings at you. Now I easily jump over the wire easily right? But my partner trips the wire which sends the spiked door at me killing me instantly. Is it too hard to make a competent partner?!? And that’s not all; I’ll give you another example. There are lots of mountains that you can jump from ledge to ledge to get safely down. But my stupid partner has to run around half the mountain to get to me, making me wait for her. So what do I do? I hit the select button which brings up the wait time (you can choose to wait in the game to switch from night to day and wait for people). I select how long I want to wait, usually an hour. Then I have to wait for the stupid game to register that I’ve waited. And finally, hopefully, my partner is there. If not, I’ll have to wait even more.

 

-          For that matter, I hate the stealth options. In a good stealth game like Metal Gear you can do hundreds of things to get rid of enemies. Use sleep darts, use guns, mines, sleep gas, poison, chloroform, etc. You can even change your camouflage. In Skyrim you can shoot arrows, poison enemies, turn invisible and throw your voice. There needs to be A LOT more stealth options to keep it fresh.

 

-          And that what it really comes down to, variety of options and get rid of the bugs.

 

-          I hate that the game freezes. Today is 6/17/13. I’ve had my game freeze about six times. Now that might not seem like such a bad thing but when I’ve just finished a quest and the stupid game freezes before I can save I’ve gotta do the quest all over again! Why am I mentioning the date today? Because the stupid game froze twice today!! And it’s not just this game. All of the open world games I’ve played from Bethesda (the developer) do the same thing. I even had a game that caused my system to shutdown. And Bethesda has been quoted saying that they build their games from the ground up to start afresh. No they don’t. If they did then I wouldn’t have the same stupid problem for each game. Bethesda has released three open world games for this generation of consoles: Elderscrolls: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Elderscrolls: Skyrim. (Fallout: New Vegas was done by a different company) How can three games have the exact same bugs in each entry? And I’m not the only one who’s complained about this. Every review I’ve seen about these games says the same thing!

 

-          I really, really hate the save feature. I’ve played Skyrim three times: once on the PS3 and twice on the Xbox 360. Why twice on the 360? Because the save feature ruined my game. Here’s what happened: I saved over my old game every time I saved. I get to a point in the game where I finish a quest, the next quest is supposed to start up right after I finished the old one. I get to where I’m supposed to go but the quest doesn’t start. I try reloading, I try talking to the guy who’s supposed to give me the quest and nothing happens. I called Bethesda and they said that the save memory is kind of like a napkin. They said it’s like what happens when you draw a circle on the napkin over and over, it wears out. So now I got to start the game all over to continue the game. I don’t remember that warning being in the manual! I don’t remember anyone telling me that I need to save to a new file every time!

Pledge

Honestly, I've had a bit of a dry spell, I don't know what to write and if I don't write I won't get to practice writing. So I want to promise myself to write something per day. I think if I push through this, I can get through the dry spell and get back to my workout. Every time I write I feel like I had a good run, not too tired or sore, but still got a good stretch.
That being said, this week my papers are about an outline of a game. This shouldn't be too hard, I've been thinking about game design for over ten years. I think I have a few ideas. I need the title, the description, the platform, and a list of games that are similar plus some other odds and ends. The book were using in class says that this paper is used just to get your ideas across. The next paper is ten pages and the one after that can be over three hundred pages! I wonder if I've even written that much in my life. I love being on the computer and typing but I wonder if that's why games take so long to make. They have to hammer everything down on paper, or in drawings.

cloud 9 to cloud 7 and What is done right in Skyrim

50 page views? Woohoo!! Anyway if you saw my last entry you'll know what last night was like for me. The problem now is that Sony clarified. Don't worry, THEIR games won't require DRM but other publishers might. It's like their saying "We would never do that, but we're not going to stop it either." It's up to the consumers to stop DRM now, which probably will happen since consumers hate that kind of stuff. It's like Sony's passing the buck or something. So why "Clouc 7?" Because my favorite games for the PS4 are going to be free of DRM. inFamous, Uncharted, Killzone, all that good stuff! And Nintendo's not going to do that either, so I'm good on their end too. And I don't think a lot of publishers are going to use DRM anyway. Bethesda won't do it (hopefully) and I think many others won't do it because of the bad image it gives. EA and Activision might try it but look at EA's seasons pass. They dropped passes after a while. So if we cause a large enough ruckus or boycott their games they'll either shut down or give in. Either way it'll give those companies the big kick in the teeth they've had coming for a while.

Anywho. Today I read in one of my gaming books about how to make fun games. The book suggested playing a bad game and identifying what could be fixed. It also suggested that I identify what I enjoy in a game. I'm going to post the list I made about five minutes ago but I typed it really fast without really considering grammar so please forgive the poor style. I basically listed what I enjoyed in the game at that moment and I gotta tell ya, going back and forth between typing and gaming is a surreal experience that really helps me look at games in a different way.

It's like I'm taking notes on a book I'm supposed to write a paper about but it's a game instead! This is perfect for me to practice my writing skills. It's actually kind of fun! And I like taking notes and junk so this is great.  I'd go from game to keyboard on my lap and back to the game.  I stopped writing it for today cause it really wears on your hands after a while. I wasn't even going to post something today cause I was so tired. But look at how much I've written (It's so much!) so I guess I'm not that tired.

What makes a game fun?

1.       Right now I am playing Skyrim, what do I like?

-          I like how I am constantly collecting powerups.

-          I like collecting loot that I can interact with like ore to melt down and make jewelry to sell or armor.

-          I like finding hidden secrets or loot like a bird’s egg up in the mountains.

-          I like finding piles of loot like a bunch of barnacles I can use in a potion.

-          I like finding small spots of ore veins that I would never find again in a million years. It’s my own personal secret.

-          I like the feeling that this game will never end and there will always be something else for me to do.

-          I like the mystery I find. Like why are these bushes on fire? Was there a dragon? A fight between mages? Or something else? I like to put the puzzle pieces together and solve the mystery.

-          I like discovering new places like a cave or a new dungeon.

-          I like finding out the importance of each place. I just found a sunken ship, couldn’t find any loot cause it’s too dark. So I went ashore and found a camp nearby. I wonder who’s at the camp. I found a bunch of loot I could steal from the camper.

-          I like the choices I have. At the camp, I could not take the loot, kill the guy, talk to him, or just walk away.

-          I like the silhouettes on the compass that lead me to a new place.

-          I like having the ability to sneak up on an enemy territory or go in guns blazing.

-          I like how random enemies can come out of nowhere and ruin my plans. Like how I was about to harvest some ore when a wolf attacked. Had to take care of the wolf first before I got the loot.

-          I like having the ability to occasionally reuse items like the air I just fired and can now pick up and use again.

-          Again with the mystery. I just found an overturned canoe with crabs in it. They were eating the remains of a Redguard. I know what he is because of the scimitar if found and the boots I found. All clues point to him being a Redguard that washed up on shore and died.

-          I like seeing things in the distance. Like the wrecked ship in front of me. Gives me a goal and an air of mystery.

-          I like the details. The washed up drift wood. The dead grass. The snow and the rocks blending together on the shore.

-          I like how some areas require tools like lock picks for doors or torches to see the way.

-          I like how the wrecked ship I’m in is askew and I have to navigate on it in a different way than if it was right side up.

-          I like finding random books that can power me up.

-          I like the fact that the only reason I found that book was because I’m very good at observation. I just as easily could’ve passed it.

-          I like how there are little places that hold treasure. Like the skeletons that have only a few pieces of gold on them but if I check them all, the gold will add up.

-          I like how there are places not marked on the map. Like this hedge stone –like thing I found. It’s not listed as a place; it’s just there for fun.

-          I like how there are puzzles that span the whole game. Like these dragon priest masks I have to find. I wonder what happens if I find all eight?

-          I like how I can run past everything or just take my time and walk past the scenery.

-          I like how I just walked into a random place, found someone fighting monsters, and agreed to join up with her to find a scroll. I like these kinds of tasks. I only found the job because I was looking on the very edge of the map. And as a bonus, I get to find a priest mask which I also like.

-          I like how much chaos there is in battle. My partner is firing powerful fireballs to the point that I can’t see while the enemy is shooting ice at me.

-          I like that there are bonuses for defeating enemies in different ways. I can upgrade my magic by using it on enemies or I can use a soul trap item to capture their soul into a gem that can power up other weapons.

-          I like the sound effects the urns make when I open them to find treasure. It’s like a mix between a glass and clay scraping sound.

-          I like how items can get moved in battle and you can find things still moving or find treasure out of place.

I’m going to stop for today cause its getting boring. I’ll do some more tomorrow.

 

I'm so happy I could cry! This is great!
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/po1fdm/playstation-4-e3-2013--ps4-used-game-friendly-announcement--stream-

E3 2013 top ten

I'm going to list my top ten games and stuff I wanna see or see more of at E3 this year. This list will probably change once E3 gets going and is in no particular order. I'm just listing stuff.

1. PS4

2. MGS5: The Phantom Pain.

3. Mirrors Edge 2

4. Whatever Naughty Dog is cooking up for the next gen.

5. infamous: Second Son

6. Thief reboot

7. The Evil Within

8. Fallout 4- It better be real...

9. Watch Dogs

10. Cooking Mama 4... Nah, gimme Game and Wario.

Once more comes out, I'll probably change my posts.

Xbox One 10 Fears and Concerns

Anyone else hear "We're not gonna take it" in their head every time Xbox One is mentioned? Well anyway, I do fear the use of DRM on consoles. If you don't know what that is, it basically means that publishers will charge you money to play a used copy of a game. So before E3 comes up, here are a few concerns that Xbox must address if they have any hope of regaining their position. Notice I said regain their position, not beat Playstation. Sony has already won at this point since they have appealed to the gamers.

1. No DRM. Simple right? I'm not going to pay extra for a used game plain and simple. I know developers need more money, but figure something else out. Developers rarely make money on a game, the revenue from game sales just covers their cost. Most of their money comes from DLC and merchandise. You think Angry Birds makes money when they charge a couple of bucks per download? No. They make their money from the toys they sell. I don't even know if the DRM money would go to developers so there's another problem.

2. No permanent online requirement. Do you really think I won't have a power outage sometime in the future? I live in Ohio and although we don't have to worry about hurricanes or earthquakes, we do get hit by the residue of storms that have hit the coast. The result? Ohio has power outages at least once a year sometimes more. Their rarely bad enough  that we have to throw all the food out of our fridge but the fact that they last about 24 hours means I would be unable to get onto the Xbox. So what? Will the box explode if I'm not on it for 24 hours? Will I lose all my data? Will Microsoft invade my house and make me play it? Who knows?
 And what if I want to play a different system. I haven't touched my PS3 for months, not because I don't like it, but because I'm playing the free Skyrim download I got with the console. I will return to my PS3 but it's not going to die of neglect. It's waiting there patiently for me. Same with the Wii, WiiU, the N64, and the Dreamcast. When I get into a good game all the others go off. And I go through phases where I will play a game for a while and then switch it up with many different titles. I'm not going to feed them everyday like a pet.

3. And another thing. I don't have great internet service. My service is fine but its not the absolute best you can get. If I don't have the absolute best internet services, can I still play?

4. Get the games. Xbox One was revealed with a Call of Duty game and a few EA titles. Never mind the fact that EA has been called the worst company ever this year. So Microsoft did not put their best foot forward. I want to see new franchises or something that will bring me to play Xbox. That's what brought me to buy a Playstation.

5. Always watching. I don't need a system to watch me while I play. When I get out of the shower do you know where I go? I go to my room cause that's where my clothes are. You know what else is in my room? My game consoles. What am I gonna do if the Kinect sees me naked? Strike a pose?  And no, I'm not going to move the Xbox One to the living room. For that matter, I don't know if I want an Xbox One at this point. ;p

6. Bad entertainment. This may come as a surprise to Microsoft but I DON'T WANT A HALO TV SHOW. I want a halo game. I doubt getting Spielberg to work on the show was cheap, that's a lot of money that could've gone toward developing a new franchise or Halo 5 or something.

7. All in one. Remember: XBOX is a GAME system. I don't get a game system to watch TV or surf the internet. There are devices dedicated to that process. I have a TV, a cable provider and a laptop, what am I supposed to do with a box that does them all. Give me a stripped down Xbox One if that's the case. You think I got my PS3 to surf the internet? Nope. I tried it once and went right back to my computer. The only thing I want to use the online connection for is to play with other people, that's it. If you want me to surf on your box, give me something that I can do that I can't do on a computer. Like how a smartphone is different from a computer.

8. Kinect 2. The Kinect was a bad idea, there were maybe 5 games that actually worked. Most of those games were dance games and the other game that caught my interest was the Gunstringer. And even that game didn't play too well. I don't have a Kinect, I don't want a Kinect. I play games so I can be a couch potato. I may swing a Wii mote around but only from my chair. If the Kinect was so poorly received, then don't revisit it. Name it something else or at least make it look different from that peripheral. If it works better than great! I would love to play a game that really recognizes my voice or pilot a mech like on Steel Battalion. That's cool!! What's not cool is flailing my arms around just to get something to work. And how much space do you think I have in my room? You think I have 25 feet so the Kinect can scan me? The Wii and WiiU motion sensors don't need that much room. And no, I wont move the system to the living room again.

9. "Xbox. On." Xbox one was shown to be able to turn on and off without a push of a button. When this was displayed on a stage there was no noise interference or wind blowing. I do live with other people, and I have a window in my room. If there is noise pollution is the Xbox going to turn off during my gaming? I'm not saying I have powerful winds moving through my room, but if I want to watch TV after playing for a bit and an Xbox commercial comes on, what's to stop the Xbox hearing it's own name and turning on or off? The tech is certainly there to make a receiver block out noise pollution but I don't know if the Xbox has it. Is it as good as Rosetta Stone or is this some device that Microsoft made?

10. Old Games. What about the 360? Right now I have to log in in order to access my account on Xbox Live so I can get my achievements. Is that going to stop once to 360 comes out. The Xbox One is not reverse compatible, if it used cloud games that would be fine but I haven't heard anything about it. What I want is to be able to say "Here is my copy of Sleeping Dogs for the 360. I want to download it from the cloud onto my 360 for free since I already own it." Now that's fair right? If I already own something, I should be able to move it to other devices to a certain degree. And what if I want to sell my game online? What if I don't want to sell my game back to Gamestop and sell it myself on Ebay or something? Can I do that, the person won't get a used code from me of course which means they can't play it and I can't sell it. I don't have the money to buy a new game every time I go to the game store. Unless I really like the game, I'm not going to pay full price for a game. I got Sleeping Dogs for $20 at a used game store and while I loved it, I wouldn't pay 60 bucks for it. Maybe $30 or possibly $40 but that's pushing it. And it's not a bad game but it's not worth all that money. That being said, there needs to be help for good games that don't sell well. Make it so they're only online so you don't have to pay for the costs of distributing the game everywhere. That being said, if, God willing, Sleeping Dogs 2 comes out, I'll be the first in line to get it.

So these are the things Xbox must address, and PS4 too for that matter, at E3 2013. Let me know what you think.

6/7/13

Today I'm working on a paper for my class about how I plan to get into the game industry. I never really thought about how to get in the industry before. I know that I want to get into something creative and maybe something in marketing, I would love to write and work a bit on commercials. I have a lot of ideas but no one pays you for ideas, they pay you for work. I need to do some research on this...

6/6/13

Wow, seven views, whoever looked at my post thanks! Right now I'm working on fifth paper for my class. The paper only needs to be 500 words which for a History major is a breeze. I was plopping out 500 words per assignment in some classes lol. In any case, the paper covers my plan to get into the game industry and what I want to do. I think I would enjoy multiple aspects of the industry. I'm always thinking of how I would commercialize my product despite my lack of knowledge in marketing. Maybe I should learn how to do AMV's before I think about commercials. I always have ideas that I think are good but no one pays you for an idea, they pay you for your work. So I gotta figure out what I would like to pursue. I actually had the same problem with college, just got into History cause I AM GOOD AT IT! :) And I enjoy reading books and writing papers on my findings. Maybe there is a job in research in games, I mean somebody has to do research for the designers.

First post

I am creating this blog to write about my work on video games and maybe get noticed out there. I would like to work in games some day but I have to find out what I want to do.