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Atarinvader

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Posts posted by Atarinvader

  1. Posted

    People seem to be tending to look at games that are heavyily lead by narrative. How about Space Invaders? Yes it has a narrative, but it is extremely weak.

     

    ...but to a certain extent, [films] got judged as art when arty films started being made.

     

    This is a bit of a chicken and the egg scenerio. How could 'arty' films be made when peoples interpertation of film as art were not yet defineded? Peoples understanding of subconcous semiotics didn't develope in a film sense as soon as someone said 'let's make an arty film', it was an evolutioniary process.

  2. Posted

    Yes, all 6 games are quite good, though I still say 1 is the best.  Many people forget that there's a Metal Slug X (which came out between 2 and 3).

     

    It's essentially a revamped version of 2 which was 'slow-down free' though, and there are 2 NGPC versions (which makes 8, with 5 on it's way and a special GBA version in dev). X is the one I was refering to with the 30 credits, I know loads of people can run 'one credit' runs on all the games, but your average gamer wouldn't come close on their first few run throughs, right? These games are tough to keep your continues down on.

     

    3 is the fans favorite. I've only played X and 4 and I have to say X is by far the best out of those.

  4. Posted

    A lot of games would seem to be most similar to other narrative art forms, books and movies. But by their nature, games tend to be a little shallow, with the dictates of making a world you can interact with via a joystick and a few buttons running counter to the deeper emotional and intellectual engagement that art hopes to achieve.

     

    The problem with interactive narrative is that it's extremely difficult to compare with conventional narrative rules (Todrovs etc), but with some stretch of the imagination they can be, but that is dependent on how you choose to interperate them. That is something that is a completely different subject and very difficult to explain here. If you trawl through the archive here you should be able to find an early draft essay I wrote on the subject about 3 years ago.

     

    But since the invent of modern art – some would argue - that narrative is no longer an essential element of art. Something completely abstract can be art based purely on aesthetics, however it’s an interesting subject none the less.

     

    An easy mistake is to compare with other media or art forms too easily, it's as if comparing a newspaper to a film - the narratives work in completely different ways. The games industry need to realise that and start to develope it's own unique open ended (to some extent) narrative, moving away from the linearity of Tomb Raider and Resident Evil and in to Shenmue and finally in to some completely organic, user decided, narrative. This however, would only become possible through mass-multiplayer games like perhaps PSO.

     

    On the other hand, I see more and more electronic art in galleries and what not, so there is some acceptance. But basically, there has to be a cultural shift that does to Mario 64 what Andy Warhol did to Campbell’s Soup Cans and Brillo Boxes: put it in the right context...

     

    Remember that the context of film never changed, yet since this 50's has been one of the most viable art forms. Before that actors acting in films were considered lesser than their more traditional thespian peers, often actors would change their names on film credits as to not be associated.

     

    The more tradition art forms (as mentioned in my article) will eventual reach out and grab from the Videogaming culture (in some ways it already has). Intertextuality between media and art forms is what makes for the richness and diversity of the current society we live in.

     

    Once Videogames have lost their 'new thing' stigma then people’s acceptance to them will be changed. Essentially in a strict sense Videogames are art, what this argument is about is when or how they will be seen as so and not if they are.

  7. Posted

    Below is an article I've just written for some on-line magazine or another. May try to get it published a few places....

     

    Are Videogames Art?

     

    The study of Videogames as art is something that for a long time has been the realm of research and study by pretentious forward thinking iMac touting scholars, and little has been written on the subject for the videogame playing layman. Why, however, is not very difficult to understand, Videogames have not yet been accepted in the world of academia because of it’s relative youth compared to that of Film or Television, with only any real kind of narrative being recognisable in games in the last 10 years. But does that mean that games aren’t art?

     

    If you ask most people if they think Videogames are art they will probably say ‘some’, with obvious responses being Ico, Viewtiful Joe or Rez. By why would some games be art and others not? What is the deciding line that needs to be crossed before a Videogame can be classed as more than a child's toy? When it imitates styles of other media? Peoples comparisons between Rez and Disney’s Tron were well founded - even down to the hacker trapped inside a computer story line, but why then isn’t The new EA Lord of The Rings game purposed in the same breath? It seems more to be based on favouritism more than actual logic, similar to a Film or Art critic denying a piece any credit because of personal opinion on its aesthetics . Perhaps it’s time for the industry to move on and gain a sense of respect for itself? After all it’s regularly trouncing Hollywood dollar for dollar.

     

    Dictionary.com gives the definition of art as ‘[a] human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature’. What that means I don’t know, however Andy Warhol’s definition of art was slightly less vague, he stated that anything that had a basic design was art, including even urinals. The implications of this view-point are far reaching, however a much firmer definition of art is needed than this.

     

    For many, art is a work that portrays some emotion, meaning or just some vague sense of narrative, for others, art is defined in a much more classic, or rather archaic,  sense of a painting or sculpture. The latter carries little weight in a modern world of ‘disposable media’ and videogames fit neatly in to the description put forward by the former, except perhaps in the sense of conveying emotion.

     

    Who can think of a great Videogame love story? Ken and Elisa from Street Fighter? Mario and Princess Peach? Or even Sonic and his sometimes-squeeze Amy? It isn’t exactly Gone With The Wind, but perhaps this goes back to my original point on the infancy of this particular section of the media industry. Videogames haven’t yet had their Casablanca. Perhaps in Japan, where dating games and their older brother in the form of Hentai are all the rage with the more embracing people of the East, but the Western kids aren’t ready for love (or sex) in their games, but prefer to opt for violence and guns. Maybe this is because of the lack of translated dating games in the West? The industry just accepts that we don’t want that, not yet at least.

     

    Unfortunately we seem stuck in a Catch 22, until Videogames get recognised as a viable form of art then the scholars won’t study, and until the scholars study then Videogames won’t grow-up. Where an industry is based on target audiences and research groups as heavily as this one is then the passion and creative story telling won’t flourish. However, all isn’t lost, with lots of Universities offering courses in Videogame Design it shouldn’t be long till we see a new generation of smarter - more in-tune - game designers popping up ready to create the greatest interactive story ever told.

  9. Posted

    Activision Anthology for the PS2 has a 3D intro in the style of Barnstorming, which is brilliant. Just thought I'd mention it.

     

    On some Gamecube models you can use the C-Stick to move the start-up logo like the menus on Super Smash Bros Melle. Also if you hold down the Z button while booting on the first controller the start up sound changes and if you have 4 controllers in and do the same on each you get a different sound again (The Jungle and Kids respectively).

  10. Posted

    I think that the explosion (especially in the UK) in perhaps the last 3-4 years in the number of collectors on the scene is a sure sign that videogame collecting is going to remain and that the current consoles are the future collectables.

     

    I think that perhaps making straight comparisons between the 2600 and the Dreamcast is wrong. The majority of the Dreamcast or Saturn scene is based on the import market, and I think that it's something that won't change. Although there will be the odd extremely rare release we'll never see another Men-A-Vision Air Raid because of the fact that the industry is much more regulated now than it was then.

     

    The finanical outlay involved in producing games means the publishers will want to make their money back, it no longer takes one person a few weeks to make a game, but a 100+ team months, if not years. Bigger outlay means a need for a higher return and less games but higher production runs.

     

    Perhaps people should start looking towards the East for their Jap Exclusive releases in limited edition boxed sets or the homebrew scene for the 'one off' runs. Feet of Fury is definetly worth the $19 from Lik-Sang I should say. Battle Spheres on the Jag is a good example of that.

     

    But could there only be about 10-20 years left in reusable media, it seems that pay-per-play downloads could be something of the future perhaps? The phone industry definetely have the right idea with that. Also, how long will TV's have RF inputs for? And after that will AV not be phased out by some wirerless comunication? If that happens games will be almost impossible to play on a standard TV and will perhaps be worthless?

  11. Posted

    It does all depend on condition, but due to postage costs (magazines are heavy) don't expect much over $70. Which is a shame because I'd love to have a complete US magazine collection.

  12. Posted

    many collectors are already deep into the saturn which in most respects is no different from collecting the modern systems.

     

    The problem with that is that there are many games like Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter etc which you can pick up for under £1 ($2-3) because essentially there was a higher demand for the game then than there is now, whereas games such as Panzer Dragoon Saga or Radiant Silvergun, which definetly aren't the rarest of Saturn games demand the highest prices. This due to the fact that people are still playing the Saturn whereas the mass of Atari collectors are just that, collectors.

     

    Games for the 2600 can have pure value just due to the fact that they're rare, Chase The Chuck Wagon for example, however, the Saturn or PSX is far off that just yet. If you take the two rarest PAL Dreamcast titles Aerowings 2 and Evolution 2 you'll notice a massive diference in price (about £10 / £40) this is because Evolution 2 is a much better game. I think that this is a trend that will continue for at least enough time until people stop wanting to play the games and the collector becomes the ruling class when it comes to deciding prices.

  13. Posted

    Any game that is hard to find, but criticaly acclaimed will be collectable or valuable as time goes by. Look at Quadrun for example, good game, low production runs -> high price.

     

    I think the future collecatables from this generation will be:

     

    Ico (especially Limited Edition with art cards)

    Viewtiful Joe

    Donkey Konga

    Steel Battalion (aka Tekki)

    Any Street Fighter / Capcom Vs. game

    Any DDR

    Gregory Horror Show

    Ikaragua (cube)

    Final Fantasy Tactics (GBA)

    Metal Slug X (PSX PAL)

     

    I think that rarity only comes in to play in prices currently either if the game is good (to be honest most rare games aren't) or is extremely-once-in-a-lifetime rare. The above games have a rarity about them, but more importantly are quality games.

     

    The PS2 collectables will gradually rise in price similare to the 2600 (with the crap being worth nothing), where as the Cube prices will rise a lot sharper due it's popularity with in the collecting / hardcore scene and low production runs (some games already being out of print, like Ikaragua). At least that seems to be the trend over the last 5 or so years.

     

    In the UK you'd be hard pushed over £50 on a PSX game, whereas Samba for the DC can go for as much as £230. Age seems almost irrelivant, it's the desirabilty of games. Some games even become collectable as much as a week after their release, for example Tekki which was only avaliable in the UK through a deposit at the equivalent of EB. It's price doubled as soon as walked out of the shop with it.

     

    As long as the collecting scene / market stays stable then current generations will definetly become as collectable as the 2600.

  14. Posted

    Uh... as far as I know, Capcom is the only company to make vs. games:

     

    I guess SVC Chaos is more of an SNK game than a Capcom game, but still...

     

    SVC Choas and SVC MOTM are both by SNK, it was part of an agreement between SNK and Capcom to share licences. SVC Choas being developed under Playmore and MOTM being SNK for the NGPC exclusively.

     

    EA Vs Marvel sounds like an idiotic idea, although it doesn't seem clear from that article that is what it's going to be. Let's hope whatever it is it's better than Shaq Fu.

  19. Posted

    To be honest, unless you're using a projector, LCD or massive CRT you won't need to worry about picture quality that much (in fact I run my DC through composite on my LCD projector and is fine).

     

    You'll actually find that (as long as your cables are well screened) the amount of signal lost between what I suggested and that expensive switcher would be minimal.

     

    If you want me to build you what I suggested in a nice little steel box then I could sort it for you?

  20. Posted

    The X-Box and Cube servers for PSO are indeed the same as those used for DC, but they don't allow DC users to play against Cube / X-Box owners. In fact all the Dreamcast infrastructure still remains for current and future Sega on-line games.

     

    I did use the Shenmue Passport disc a few times and I thouht it wasn't much cop to be honest, but that said, I never got in to the collecting of the toys thing or the mini-games. I am interested in the rumours that Yu Suzuki is looking in to a completely on-line third and final game!

     

    A game I did enjoy on-line was Chu Chu Rocket, but I wished that we'd have seen some of the Matching Service games, especially Street Fighter. The first on-line fighter we've seen in the UK is Capcom Vs. SNK 2 EO on the X-Box, the problem is that it's EO (crappy cheaters version), although I do beleve that on-line you have the choice of fighting those with it on and those with it off...

  21. Posted

    What I would suggest is getting a composite signal out of as many of the systems as possible, then getting a heap of phono sockets and hooking them up in series like below and stick them on a board:

     

    ---(0)----(0)----(0)----- Video.......>

    ---(0)----(0)----(0)----- Sound R ..> To TV

    ---(0)----(0)----(0)----- Sound L....>

     

    You could even pop in a SCART socket and have some serperate rails for RGB / S-Video.

     

    This way when one console is on the signal will pass through to the TV, there isn't any need for switching unless more than one machine is outputting a signal at one time.

     

    For RF you can use switch boxes, but remeber that the longer the cable the bigger the loss of signal. You'd be much better modding your system for AV.

  24. Posted

    You have to use the Planetweb browser to set your ISP information. This info is then stored in the Dreamcast's internal memory (Yes, internal memory... NOT on the VMU) so that other games can dial in automatically.

     

    Dreamkey 3 also flashes your modem, but some games are still designed to dial-up to Dreamarena (or whatever the US equivalent is). Which is why some people blagged some games for free using a free dial-up number that was used for registration on Quake.

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