Random Gaming Thoughts II ~News Items Beware~

Good little up date on rezzed Mr Bob also glad to here good things about beyond eyes.

Just a random thought about indie games, a few years ago and even now a lot seem to be in the 8 or 16 bit style but now with things like Project Ukulele popping up along with a few others that seem t be channelling the N64 & PS1.

Is this what people now want also if this gen is N64 indie games does that mean the 9th gen will be gamecube style indie games.

The beautiful thing about being independent is you can do whatever the fuck you want.

I know that but it seems to be in vogue at the moment to do N64 & PS1 era type stuff.

I guess it also depends on what you grew up on even though I had a Mega Drive but really my earliest sort of proper gaming time was with the PS1 and I guess if a dev is my sort of age they might look back fondly to that era for inspiration.

I wouldn't mind an indie game that was in the style of SM64. That said, my thoughts on self-consciously retro art styles are well known, and (in Jay's case) not terribly popular.

As time marches on, more and more of gaming's past becomes nostalgic. The N64/PS1 era seems to be the object of that focus, or will become so soon. I'm happy with that.

The_Jaster wrote:

The beautiful thing about being independent is you can do whatever the fuck you want.

Tag line? I think that sums the forum up as well as it does indy games.

Consider it added to the list!

Saving the VC thread from this conversation:

JayMoyles wrote:

It's a weird one - from what I've seen of Journey, it isn't a particularly good "game", but it seems to hold up as a truly unique experience in videogaming. Metroid Prime is certainly the better videogame.

Fun fact: as seen here, Metroid Prime inspired a blog called "The Citizen Kane of Videogames", dedicated to finding example of  games journos referring to games as the Citizen Kane of videogaming.

I don't get the whole division of games into "games" and "experiences".  If you play it, and it's good, it's a good game, surely?

I'm not denying that MP is probably the better game, though - MP is an absolute blinder, and it'd be hard for anything lasting only a few hours to top it.  What's more, I think it combines both "game" and "experience" masterfully: the "game" is the exploration and boss fights and upgrading Samus, while the "experience" is the inherently lonely and forbidding atmosphere.

Balladeer wrote:

I don't get the whole division of games into "games" and "experiences".  If you play it, and it's good, it's a good game, surely?

I'm not denying that MP is probably the better game, though - MP is an absolute blinder, and it'd be hard for anything lasting only a few hours to top it.  What's more, I think it combines both "game" and "experience" masterfully: the "game" is the exploration and boss fights and upgrading Samus, while the "experience" is the inherently lonely and forbidding atmosphere.

Well, not exactly. Games like Gone Home or the Stanley Parable barely qualify as games - some could argue they're walking simulators - but instead use the medium of videogames to create an experience. They aren't games in the conventional sense. That's why I made the distinction between the two.

Oh, and I absolutely agree with your Metroid Prime evaluation.

I think the problem is just that "games" is just a really crap word for videogames. It implies losers and victors, rules and points and scores and only now are developers ceasing to use that as a crutch and realising how much more games can be.

For me it's just short for "videogames", and encompasses everything.  That includes things like Dear Esther.

Maybe at some point soon we'll call them IE, for interactive entertainment? But until we have a good shortening, they're all "games" to me!

I know. That's what I'm saying. Games are called games and I know what that means, but it is a silly word and implies certain things.

Balladeer wrote:

For me it's just short for "videogames", and encompasses everything.  That includes things like Dear Esther.

Maybe at some point soon we'll call them IE, for interactive entertainment?  But until we have a good shortening, they're all "games" to me!

They're still "games" to me too, but I don't think games like Dear Esther are very good "games" in the conventional sense. But as Drunka rightly points out, the definition of what it means to be a videogame is changing.

The IE is a good term and like Drunka pointed out about the Telltale games and there QTE's that there adding them to make the game feel more like a game then let's say interactive entertainment.

I guess it's what you want out of a so called game, I personally mainly want story driven experiences but doesn't I still don't mind just a pure fun game like Mario Kart 8.

But if we talk about Journey reason I said about it being one of the games of the decade is what like some of the games Jay brought have done for the medium that stuff can be more then just shooting things or a high-score they can have meaning.

Gaming is still a very young medium that will only grow in time.

(not so) Random thought: C'mon! Nintendo give us an action game for Captain Falcon and you could get Platinum games to help.

I'd love something akin to the Fast and the Furious; an action game with the races worked into the plot.

A spectacle fighter like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry but with ace racing bits dotted about the game - instant buys.

JayMoyles wrote:

A spectacle fighter like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry but with ace racing bits dotted about the game - instant buys.

Exactly this!

The F-Zero games have quite a few interesting characters which would be nice to see in the spotlight/fleshed out a bit more.

Boss fights with Samurai Goroh and the gang... yep, wanting this game now!

The_Jaster wrote:

The F-Zero games have quite a few interesting characters which would be nice to see in the spotlight/fleshed out a bit more.

Yup, I'd actually like to play as some of the other F-Zero racers! Perhaps a bonus level as Black Shadow, or as Beastman chasing after Bio Rex. Maaaaaaybe not Gomar and Shioh, mind.

It's a blinder of an idea, although if GX's story mode is anything to go by, it'll likely be too hard for me.

Perhaps James McCloud can make an appearance with some spaceship levels, rolling about in the sky and using the boost to get through.

A while back Drunka brought up about famous game directors, producers, developers etc

And we brought one's like Kojima that we really like well I would like to add Hajime Tabata to that list, he's not done main games and not all have even come out here and not all I've played like 3rd Birthday on PSP but the one's I have Crisis Core which is still my favourite final fantasy, one's I'm playing Type-O and one's I will FFXV have been excellent so far.

Balladeer wrote:

The_Jaster wrote:

The F-Zero games have quite a few interesting characters which would be nice to see in the spotlight/fleshed out a bit more.

Yup, I'd actually like to play as some of the other F-Zero racers!  Perhaps a bonus level as Black Shadow, or as Beastman chasing after Bio Rex.  Maaaaaaybe not Gomar and Shioh, mind.

It's a blinder of an idea, although if GX's story mode is anything to go by, it'll likely be too hard for me.

JayMoyles wrote:

Perhaps James McCloud can make an appearance with some spaceship levels, rolling about in the sky and using the boost to get through.

I've been looking at a list of F-zero characters as I'm not completely familiar with them all and they are very comic book hero/villain-esque, which is brilliant!

I love the simplicity of The Skull



The description for him on wikipedia is good as well.

"Former pilot of the old days of F-Zero who was resurrected from the dead by science and black magic to race again"

The Skull's voice acting is AMAZING.

"I see. Thank you for the interview."


"That's it, everyone!"



but aye that's a great voice for the skull.