With this current generation of game systems, console gamers were finally graced with the ability to have their games updated, improved and expanded without the need to buy a new disc. 360 and PS3 owners are now familiar with the idea that their games don’t have to remain buggy for eternity. The content of their games are no longer limited to what was in the box they brought back from the store. Multiplayer games can evolve with community feedback. This infrastructure of online connectivity and downloadable content has had obvious benefits to console gaming on the whole.

Even in the advent of comprehensive console networks like Xbox Live and Playstation Network, it was easy to see how this could be a great feature for specific games and genres. One of the clear beneficiary genres is fighting games. Online multiplayer modes and persistent leaderboards have acted as an arcade renaissance allowing for a quarter dropping experience….without quarters.

However, for anyone even remotely familiar with fighting games, the promise of downloadable content and regular game updates was practically messianic. Back in the barbaric and archaic days of the 80’s and 90’s the only way to update or expand a game was to make another full retail release. Fighting games were particularly vulnerable to this inadequacy. Any new characters or gameplay improvements post-release required a new disc to be printed and a new cabinet constructed. Take Street Fighter II; a game that has had a full 6 arcade releases. While it is easy to see these iterations as quick money grabs from die-hard fans, the changes they brought were usually accepted or desired improvements.  Now, with a internet-connected console, game companies no longer have an excuse to ask fans to shell out for multiple copies of what is ultimately the same game.

Despite franchises like Soul Caliber and Virtua Fighter embracing this system with paid DLC and free patches, it doesn’t look like Capcom is ready to let Street Fighter IV join this generation. To be fair, Capcom has shown that they are capable of improving their games through online means. The Championship Mode DLC pack was an appreciated and free addition to Street Fighter 4. That free content made the announcement of Super Street Fighter 4 even more confusing and frustrating.

8 new characters and updates for every existing fighter sounds great to anyone who has enjoyed Street Fighter 4.  Prior to the game’s release I crafted an arcade stick specifically for the game in the same fashion that a Jedi builds his own lightsaber(see below). I happily purchased the game on release day for $70. It was safe to say that the Super Street Fighter announcement was well-received news. I was ready to whip out my credit card and buy some Microsoft points to immediately purchase the Super Street Fighter 4 DLC pack on day one. However, I looked closer into the press release and noticed that my downloadable assumption had just made an ass out of you and me.  

Apparently, Capcom decided that the business model of old was a little to rich to abandon just now. 8 new characters and several gameplay tweaks was enough for them to justify a new retail product. Now, this in itself isn’t awful. Fallout 3 has a Game of the Year Edition coming in a few weeks, which is just the original game along with all add-ons released previously online. However, Street Fighter is taking a different tact. According to Capcom, it was impossible to add these changes to the original game via DLC and a new disc release will be the only way to get them. While I am probably not the first person to say this, I would like to join the chorus of gamers chanting “Rip Off!”. The game’s producer Yoshinori Ono was quick to promise that Super Street Fighter 4  “won’t be sold at full price”, but Mr. Ono should keep in mind that we’ve heard that one before.

Despite the groups who share my sentiments, there are still people who are defending this choice. Personally, I always find it odd when fans feel the need to defend the idea of being sold the same game twice. It is plain to see that this is simply a coping mechanism of fans who are justifying their purchase pre-emptively through vitriolic forum posts and bombastic blog comments. Still, I feel that gamers need to question Capcoms assertions regarding the abilities of DLC, and the reasoning behind the disc-only release of Super Street Fighter 4.

First off, the fact that they aren’t going to be releasing the 8 new characters as DLC for the original game is already an admission of guilt. They are well aware of the fact that these “extensive” changes are not enough to justify a new purchase, so they are throwing exclusive bonuses in to prop up their glorified patch. Capcom has even stated that people who own both SF4 and SSF4 will be receiving an unannounced “bonus”.  They are actually trying to lure gamers in with the equivalent of a goddamn Mystery Box!

As for their “extensive changes” and character updates, Capcom should really know that those go by another name to gamers… patches. The changes they are incorporating were directly influenced by community feedback. That is the very definition of patch. Updates that help fix and balance your game shouldn’t cost a cent, especially when you can deliver them quickly and cheaply through an online service like Xbox Live and PSN.

In online oriented games like Halo 3 and Left 4 Dead substantial changes have been made to the multiplayer aspects of those games through online updates. Anyone who played Left 4 Dead at launch can quite clearly see that the online gameplay has changed drastically thanks to updates. The amount playable campaigns doubled (with a fifth one recently arriving), an entire new and expansive “Survival Mode” was added in and countless balance issues were fixed. All of which were done through DLC and free game updates on a home console. It is not out of the realm of possibility for Capcom to have integrated these changes into the original game through a series of patches and DLC packs.

Capcom attempts to justify the disc-only course through claims that the game code they laid out didn’t allow for the changes that Super Street Fighter 4 brings. If anything, this is even more damning than simply being a regular cash grab.

Let’s not be naïve about this. Street Fighter 4 is only 7 months old. There is no way that SF4 went gold without them starting work on DLC like new characters or game modes. The Championship Mode DLC was released before the game even hit store shelves. So what Capcom is trying to tell us is that they knowingly released a game that they couldn’t make substantive updates to, so now we have to buy their do-over version of SF4 in order to get the complete experience. They have just admitted to making a game so broken that the normal means of fixing it are unavailable.

However, it is not only opinions that will be divided regarding this choice. The game’s online community will now be split between those who shelled out for the feature complete Super Street Fighter 4 and those who are stuck with a paid beta of Street Fighter 4. For a game which is so focused on maintaining such a high pedigree of multiplayer gaming, this is truly shameful.

Usually gaming news like this elicits demands official petitions and boycotts. Super Street Fighter 4 is simply the perfect example to justify that kind of reaction. It is incompetent, careless and opportunistic profiteering. I don’t plan on organizing a boycott myself, and I’m pretty Capcom doesn’t really care what some fan thinks of their business practices. All I can say is that the Street Fighter franchise has taken enough of my money. If it is unwilling to move into a modern and online marketplace, I won’t be joining the series on its future endeavors.

With the wake of this years Academy Awards lapping at my feet, I’ve been treated to another reminder that for a self-considered movie buff, there are a lot of good movies that I have not had a chance to watch yet. One of these unviewed films that has haunted me for years is The Iron Giant. For an animated feature, it has pretty much combined three of my favorite things, Giant Robots, Vin Diesel and Nuclear Paranoia. It’s really hard to top that sort of triple threat in my book.

So finally, I managed to find the time to sit down and watch a movie that had a potential to usurp the best animated film spot that Wall-E currently holds in my own personal life-long Oscars. As soon as I pressed play I was not disappointed… at least for the first 81 minutes. I’ll try my best not to mention any specific spoilers, but the ending of The Iron Giant lacks…. consequence. For those who have seen the film, I’m talking about a certain something in Iceland.

             While I can understand this being a choice to help parent deal with their tearful children, it was made at a huge detriment to the overall movie. It is the equivalent to Nemo finding not only his dad, but his miraculously alive mother, or of Bambi’s not-dead mom making an appearance at the end. There is a reason writer’s usually avoid a deus ex machine ending.

            It is especially a shame for a movie that presents important themes like self-control and the damage of paranoia to go out like this. When the audience is treated to the cinematic equivalent of a “just kidding” message, your thematic messaging gets thrown to the wind.

            Sadly, the ending of the Iron Giant reminded me specifically of the abomination that was X-Men 3. At that end of that movie, the conclusion basically was that the mutant vaccine that the plot was totally centered on didn’t actually work, and that Professor X was still alive. So, with the exception of the two most annoying characters being killed off, nothing really happened over the entire course of the disastrous film.

            Please don’t take me for someone who demands that all stories end with gut-wrenching tragedy which always succeeds in making kids cry. Parent’s have enough work as it is. I adored Wall-E even with its memory-restoring “kiss”.

I guess my real problem lies with how blatant and explicit the ending is. There is no mystery left when the credits roll, the proverbial kimono is opened up for all to see. Which isn’t good considering that self-exposure isn’t an ideal feature for a movie marketed to children. Where other films give room for the audience’s imagination, The Iron Giant forces it’s specific and somewhat awkward ending upon the viewer. Instead of leaving a memorable ending for us, we were left with a justification for a sequel that is unlikely to see the light of day.

For the gaming industry, I really shouldn’t be so surprised by how much can change in a year. 12 months ago, gamers were still recovering from the onslaught that was the 2007 holiday season, where from October through to December brought forth iterations from gaming’s biggest franchises. And in the cold months of February there was still the din of anticipation for two colossal games whose titles end with a 4. Where 2007 was the year of bankable franchises, 2008 looked like a bold future with companies investing in new IPs and unorthodox markets(DLC). The only real debate amongst industry media was whether 2007 or 2008 would take the nebulous title of “Best Year Evah!”

Now after a quick fast-forward to the present, it seems that the industry has been forced to a harsh reality. Now the major gaming blogs are filling their front pages with stories of studios shuttering and locked office doors. This genuinely seemed surprising as the last Depression was a giant boon for the entertainment industry, with movies acting as a distraction for the worried masses. With the burgeoning main-stream appeal of games, it seemed like this was the time for the industry to shine. The news of industry-wide downsizing looked like a reminder that the gaming industry was not immune to our Neo-Depression after all.

This disturbing trend of bankruptcies and layoffs struck many powerhouses of past years. Midway, Free Radical, Factor 5, Eidos and Pandemic were once craftsmen of AAA games like Rogue Squadron, Mortal Kombat, Goldeneye and Battlefront. There is the obvious tragedy for the developers who have found themselves joining the legions of the recently unemployed. While my sympathy does lie with the countless employees who have been let loose, I can’t help but feel that this force is a natural culling for the industry.

All of these companies share more in common than a mutual demise. They all have shown similarly poor performance within the market over the past few years. These studios closing their doors should not signal the impending doom of a weak 2009 because these companies have already had too many weak years thanks to their own handiwork.

Each of these developers’ names almost immediately calls to mind a critical mess of game. Factor 5 has Lair, Free Radical has Haze, Pandemic has both LOTR: Conquest and an unfinished Dark Knight game on their tarnished records. The fact is that the next-generation of games has made full retail games an even bigger gamble for studios than before. And with these studios putting their chips down on arguably awful project, or in the case of Midway and Eidos games with poor promoting or release timing these layoff stories should not come as a surprise, nor should they be blamed upon these hard economic times.

What has been created by this recession is what biologists call “selection pressure”. More factors have made survival harder and harder, producing a much more stringent natural selection for the industry. In other words, what we are witnessing is a culling. The wheat of the industry is separated from the chaff, and then the chaff is forced to declare bankruptcy protection.

However, don’t go on believing that this will force studios to get their act together and only produce top-notch AAA quality games. In fact, you should expect to see a lot less full retail productions in 2009 from big publishers like EA. Sadly, the business model of the new industry is a lot closer to that of Activision Blizzard. Despite this fiscal crisis, their plans for expanding the Guitar Hero franchise remain unwavering. What 2009 will be is the year of bankable titles. Only the most successful and stable franchises are likely to see a successful 2009. Games like Resident Evil 5, Wii Sports Resort and Guitar Hero: Metallica are only the beginning. This year creativity will take a step aside to allow profitability to take the limelight.

One only has to take a quick glance at the numbers to understand the reasons for this. In 2008, EA became a critical darling with more original titles like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. Now, the company is facing a layoff of 10% of it’s workforce. On the other side is Activision Blizzard, which despite it’s lowered critical reputation due to thoughtless and low-quality iterations saw great financial success in 2008, announcing that a single title hada  revenue exceeding $1 billion. The lesson learned here is that garnering critical praise and making good games won’t get you on the cover of Forbes magazine.

At the beginning of the 2009 I made my New Years resolution to not buy a new game for the entire year. Looking at the sad reality that the industry is facing for 2009, this might be one of those resolutions that I can actually keep.

At the Gamestop Managers Conference, there was a rallying cry to convince both employees and investors that they have some measure of security… at least until 2020. Gamestop’s CEO Dan DeMatteo gave an interview to Game Daily during his conference devoted to gaming’s brick and mortar leviathan. What made this interview notable were the questionable comments the CEO made about the future of gaming sales.

Specifically, he claimed that digital distribution still had a lot of time to go before becoming a threat to his company’s bottom line.

His full quote:

“The first digital distribution was Napster and it was illegal. Let’s just start there. The software publishers are afraid to death of piracy. Once a full game is lying on a hard drive, there’s the potential for piracy. Aside from the games, the bandwidth, etc., our studies have concluded that the network won’t be in place to do digital distribution of full games until 2020 to 2025. And that’s using today’s size, but as consoles get more powerful, games get bigger. Right now, a 30GB game with your best T1 line is about 72 hours to do it.”

To be fair, he is right about one thing. Software developers and publishers alike are scared of piracy. However, in my experience I have only really seen retail games bear the brunt of this. All you have to do is think of the top three consoles that were plagued with this problem. The ones that come to mind are Sega’s Dreamcast, Microsoft’s Xbox and the Playstation 1. And those weren’t usually digitally distributed games. These games were lying on store-bought DVDs, not hard drives. They were retail copies that were ripped, copied and shared with great ease. Mr. DeMatteo seems to forget the security system that is in place for digitally distributed content on consoles.

Let’s take Xbox Live for our example. It is not an “wild-west” open system that is easy to modify or manipulate. You can’t just connect it to the internet and download a free copy of Braid from some shady Korean server. You are forced into using Microsoft’s online service solely. There is no way for a user to get around that. Presently, the only real modification for the Xbox 360 is the ability to play “backup” discs. So even with this current generation hosting the advent of digital distribution on consoles, the only games that you can truly pirate are retail games. However, Xbox Live is more than just a closed network; it is also heavily monitored. While this supervision will never rid us of racist 12-year old miscreants, it will nail you badly for playing Halo 3 early. Basically, while playing on Microsoft’s online platform, you are being watched for any unscrupulous activity. So really, for publisher’s this is probably the safest way to release a game right now.

            Despite Dan DeMatteo’s obvious ignorance on the platforms that he shills games for, his biggest gaff has to be his Nostradamus-esque premonitions of digital distribution. The idea that you won’t see full game downloads for 12 to 17 years is completely bogus. He decides this based off his own math wizardry which tells him that a 30 GB download will still take 72 hours, even on “your best T1 line”. Let’s see how that theory actually holds up….

30,000 MB / 72 hours = 416.67 MB/hour

416.67 MB / 60 minutes = 6.95 MB/minute

6.95 MB / 60 seconds = 0.12 MB/second

            Unlike Dan, I’m willing to show you my arithmetic. And my math tells me that his “best T1 line” maxes out at 0.12 MB/second. Looking at my Canadian ISP’s website, it claims to offer me a higher speed than that in their low-end DSL packages. Also, when did 30GB become the standard for game sizing? As far as I know, that only applies to the biggest of PS3 games. I think it is safe to say that most full-retail games can presently fit onto a DL-DVD which is about 9 GB of space. I wonder if any consoles can distribute content that large through digital means?

            On the Xbox 360, you can download 720p movies along with full versions of Original Xbox titles. A feature length film at 720p resolution is around 8 GB of space. Even some of those Xbox Originals are pretty substantial downloads (Jade Empire closes in on 7 GB of space). Over on the Playstation 3 it is an similar story. Titles like Grand Turismo Prologue and Warhawk are available digitally on the Playstation Network. Right now you can even go and buy Burnout Paradise, a fully featured downloadable version of the game which you could have bought at your local Gamestop. This fact turns Dan DeMatteo’s gaff into an outright lie. Needless to say, there is a network ALREADY in place which can distribute “full games”.

            The part of his statement that really irks me is that this man has the gall to believe that he knows what the internet and gaming will be like in around 15 years. It is pretty common knowledge that technology moves pretty quickly. Even in the short time-span of this console generation, the humble ambitions of the Xbox Live Marketplace have grown into a quarter billion dollar money maker.

            I would like to give you some perspective by showing you where gaming and technology were 15 years ago. So I present to you 1993 in five points.

- Bill Clinton is sworn in as the 42^nd President of the United States

- Midway is in the midst of controversy over Mortal Kombat’s violence

- Panasonic releases the 3DO

- Id Software releases Doom

- Nintendo releases Star Fox

            A lot has managed to change since then, hasn’t it? A lot more than how fast your internet connection has grown. Speaking of which, Dan should really take a look at what the “network” for digital distribution was like 15 years ago before he goes running his mouth off again.

One of my earliest memories comes straight from 1992 when I was five years old. My older brother had just dragged me out of bed to watch some cartoon with him. He vehemently promised that waking up at the crack of dawn would be worth it. Getting up before my parents was pretty much the only way to circumvent the no-violent-television rule that had been ruthlessly imposed on us. So, we quietly sneaked downstairs, made ourselves toaster strudels and sat in front of a 17” tube TV. Then at 7 am we watched a show where a rich play-boy turned crime fighter beat the living hell out of man-bat. There was also a badass rocket car involved. From that day forward I never doubted my brother’s judgment on pretty well everything.

That day also marked the advent of my near psychotic love of the Batman franchise. While my fanaticism for the caped crusader waned during some low points for the series, nothing disappointed me more than the fact that in my time there was never a good Batman game.

Over 16 years I got used to this sad reality and had moved on. This would soon change when word got out that the makers of the fan-service collectathon LEGO Star Wars had turned their sights on Gotham City. The announcement truly shocked me. How could someone combine all the significant loves of my childhood into one product? Needless to say, I preordered this shit right away.

When it finally came out and entered my 360 the opening cinematic complete with Danny Elfman’s familiar theme brought me right back to the first time I saw Tim Burton’s Batman. This made it very clear that Traveller’s Tales had an understanding of the source material and their audience. That is pretty much the game’s real selling point. It is fan-service done with tender, loving care. That alone probably makes it the best Batman video game of my lifetime.

The LEGO game aesthetic and style fits the Batman universe perfectly. There are tonnes of must-have collectables and unlockables that keep you coming back to harvest more studs. The tongue-in-cheek humor provides some much appreciated inside jokes to long-time fans. And most importantly, the game is simple fun that makes you feel like a kid again.

When judged solely as a game, that is where the magic starts to falter. If the sales numbers for LEGO Stars Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones are to be believed, millions of people have already played LEGO Batman. This iteration does bring some improvements in terms of the amount of content and variety of missions with the ability to switch over to the opposite side of crime and play some missions out of Arkham Asylum. However, the only substantive gameplay change is the inclusion of the Batarang, which adds another dimension to your quest to find more studs.

If anything that is the truly defining difference of LEGO Batman. They have added even more goddamn studs to collect. Getting your file to 100% is a serious commitment now. I feel like my Bruce Wayne is more of a destitute than a gazillionaire with the way he voraciously strip-searches the level for more studs. The LEGO series seems committed to making Banjo Kazooie look like a short game of 52-Pick-Up. While you can probably just skip out on collecting all the mini-kits and super hero kits, for those gamers who border on OCD, this is practically predatory.

It is really hard to blame Traveller’s Tales for this though. There is a limit to how far you can stretch their best-selling formula. With this most recent iteration the fundamentals of the series are being tested. In all honesty, LEGO Batman is probably going to be the last LEGO: (Insert Franchise Here) game I will end up buying.

Despite the fact that Traveller’s Tales may have done all they can do with their constructable platform sub-genre series, there are still some shocking omissions from the LEGO series. I am referring to the criminal exclusion of online co-op. These games are practically built around the fun of drop-in drop-out cooperative play. Limiting this to local co-op is simply heartbreaking. My good friend bought this game under the assumption that this would be a core feature of the game. While it doesn’t show off his keenest consumer skills, I can’t say I blame him for the shopping gaff. This is going to be the 4^th LEGO style game that is going to be released on current-gen consoles. How can you make 4 near identical games for a console and not be able to add a feature as commonly used as Live-freaking-co-op?

While my inner Batman fan has been substantially satisfied with this game, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with this game due to these tragic oversights. This game had the potential to be so much more than a re-skin of their previous titles. They could simply add any online functionality to breathe some semblance of originality to the series. Sadly, I can’t help but feel that this cookie-cutter design trend from Traveller’s Tales isn’t going to end anytime soon.

Once again, the process of deciding whether this game deserves your money is as simple as the other LEGO games. If you are a fan of the franchise receiving the plastic brick treatment, then you probably stopped reading this review the minute you saw Danny Elfman and are presently in line at your local Gamestop. Alternatively, if you are parent trying to subtly influence your child to love the Dark Knight as much as you do, this is probably a great place to start. As for the rest of the human race, I can’t genuinely recommend this game to anyone else; it has relatively limited gameplay with tacked on replayability and absolutely no online functionality. It is sad to say that the block-building series might have run its course, being unable to stand on the laurels of it’s own game mechanics.

2 years into this “next-generation” of home consoles a few revelations have been made quite clear to enthusiast gamers. Arguably the most startling for this group is the paradigm shift of Nintendo and its subsequent abandonment of its loyal fanboy army. They appear more interested in moving to the grandma and soccer mom audience with their friendly white-boxed Wii.

While most gamers like the idea of an expanded audience in theory, the reality of it is not as pleasant. In practice this means that the new and prettier installments of their beloved franchises get ignored in the wake of a torrential downpour of mediocre mini-game collections and gimmicky accessories. Throughout the internet this outcry is heard loud and clear. Gamers are begging for Nintendo to return to the glorious days of yesteryear where Mario stuck to plumbing and Starfox stayed in his Arwing.

The problem with this whining is that if you take an honest look at Nintendo, this isn’t a new direction for them. The difference is that this time, they’ve actually been successful.

First off, Nintendo is a business. This may sound like a rather simplistic thing to point out, but it is quite apparent that most of the Wii Whiners out there don’t understand this idea. While you may swear eternal loyalty to the big N, that loyalty will only be reciprocated as long as you pay the bills for them. If you take a look at the sales figures of the last generation, it becomes clear that the Ninty fans weren’t doing a stellar job. So while there are petitions and forums devoted to getting an Earthbound sequel, those same folks need to understand that a project like that will only make a tiny fraction of the amount of money that Wii Fit 4: Your Still A Fatass! will inevitably rake in.

Even the actual pursuit of this fabled “wider audience” for gaming has not become a sudden endeavor for Nintendo. This is a company that got its start making playing cards. Hell, their first step into electronics was a fucking love tester. The company was nearly 100 years old when the NES launched.

When they finally got into the home console business, their super special trade secret for success was simply having a seal of quality (It is worth noting that they took the word “quality” out of their seal before the Wii released). After the oversaturated shit-show that was the Atari series of consoles, Nintendo understood that poor movie-licensed games and jingoistic crap could end your chances in the fledgling video game industry. In 1985, Nintendo had reached that “wider audience” simply by making a system that had consistently decent games.

Even their family friendly orientation was present from the start. They were so strict in their licensee agreements that even Joe Lieberman applauded their efforts. Keep in mind that this is at a time when most Japanese companies were honestly considered a “threat to the nation”. In recent years you can see the consequences of their family friendly nature. I have a Purple…er… Indigo Gamecube that presently acts as a bookend. Not exactly the most badass of color schemes. My point is that this reputation for being the company of hardcore gaming was never truly warranted.

Do you waggle fans remember me?

Before you decide to chant out a litany of games that stole your time years ago and that “hardcore” gamers speed-run to this day, remember one thing… THAT WAS YEARS AGO! Back then, games like Chrono Trigger, Super Mario Kart and Metroid weren’t known specifically as “hardcore” games. They were simply games that were designed to have a wide appeal at the time because they were genuinely original when they were released. They were not targeted specifically to reach the tiny, niche market of only time-altering RPG fans or lovers of female bounty hunters. Games have grown since then and moved on to new forms. It’s about time that “hardcore” gamers do the same.

However, mediocre E rated games aren’t the only things that are clogging store shelves thanks to the Wii. Almost anyone who has entered a game store has probably noticed the unending stream of cheap plastic accessories that are made for Nintendo’s new white box. This has become another sore point for fans believing that this is further evidence of Nintendo selling them down the river to plastic shell peddlers Joytech and Mad Catz. While I would prefer to see actual games on store shelves rather than accessories that turn your Wiimote into all manners of murder weapons or sex toys or both I have to say that this is just par for the course with any Nintendo console.

You see, I have a theory that most Nintendo fanboys have a criminally selective memory. They all seem to be under the belief that each Nintendo console only had releases that either started with Super Mario or Final Fantasy and the only peripheral that ever came out for their systems was the Zapper.

Let me jog your memory. The NES pioneered the concept of drowning gamers in either useless or broken peripherals. As I am writing this article there is a R.O.B. staring back at me with those empty red eyes, just begging me to play some Gyromite with him. The constant stream of crap peripherals has been associated with Nintendo since 1985, they’re recent success has only reinvigorated this strategy.

His gaze is unending.

I suppose that’s ultimately what it comes down to. We liked Nintendo better when they were the loser of the business. They were the equivalent of the kid that you only hung out with because by comparison you were just so much cooler. That may sound awful but desperate attention starved people are willing to go to great lengths to earn your love, and in Nintendo’s case your money. This is what gave us a steady supply of faithful reinterpretations of the games which entertained us for years before. Nintendo knew that they could count on us. But, much like the loser you used to score cool points with, they will find a new group of friends who will appreciate them for who they are….

Then you’re fucked and have to find a new underdog to keep you company.

Well, already in the first week I have broken my attempt at a religious routine of blogging.

I refuse to let this be the end of my attempts to become more responsible, but goddamn this is harder than I thought.

Yesterday, I ended my day after a half-day of work and a single a lecture. Immediately I was called by one of my friends who wanted to hang out. Being 2:30pm I figured I had a few hours to spare. After going school shopping with a group of friends and a few levels of Braid later it was 9pm and I still wasn’t working at home.

Needless to say I neither studied, read, exercised or blogged yesterday.

On the plus side, despite the wash that was yesterday I have managed to stay up to date on both my readings and exercising. However, when I look at my upcoming academic schedule I visibly shudder. It makes me wonder how I could get through these past semesters with such a lazy attitude. However, this may be a little too early for me to be this concerned. Time will tell.

So, despite the fact that my previous post doesn’t mention it, I feel I should now. It has been a long hiatus from writing for me. Needless to say, summer was busy for me. I was fortunate enough to have another full-time government job that I will get to continue on at this fall.

With the influx of distant friends and the burden of school off my shoulders all semblance of order or restraint washed away swiftly. Despite the implication, nothing regrettable happened; it was just the usual fun time-wasting antics of summers past.

Actually, this might have been a more productive summer considering the money I made along with earning a useful G2 class driving license and with it the freedom to meander the city in a beat-up grey Mazda minivan.

But, I’m back now.

I made a vow to myself that there would be some significant changes to my lifestyle in September. My vow was to stick to something I never really had dedicated myself to… a routine. Mostly I wanted to get out of the unhealthy cycle of laziness and screen-looking that plagued my previous academic years. While some of you may say that maintaining a quasi-personal blog is very counter-intuitive, I would like to rebut that with a stern but friendly, fuck you I like it.

First off, there is the exercise plan. With tuition this year costing me around $5500, I figured that I might as well milk this university thing for all it is worth. In other words, my gym attendance will increase infinitely this year. I am also coupling this gym regimen with a nightly push-up routine brought to me by the intertubes.

While health and fitness was a good motivator to start, it certainly wasn’t as powerful as vanity. Recently I was informed of a looming family vacation to Barbados which is both awesome and daunting. This time on the beach I would prefer to not look like a cushy surrender flag. It would be nice to blend in for once, and maybe get to look like a bronzed god…

Putting academics after a section devoted to my desires to get killer triceps kinda makes me seem like a big fucking haircut doesn’t it?

The way I see any schooling is that it just takes time. When I was having marathon study sessions at the library learning more in a week than I did most of that semester, I decided that a less intense regimen throughout the year might not be a bad idea. As much as I prefer being at home, my productivity in the library is at least 10-fold that of my study sessions in my room.

Attendance for classes was never a major problem for me. And that alone could get me high B’s for many of them. However, if I want to give this med school thing a legitimate shot I should go for the gusto and get some A’s.

There is also a good chance that this academic routine will play wonders for some other problems I have such as my insomnia. The best way to make sure that I both go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times is to have a rather rigid schedule to base myself off of. Nothing will ensure a quick sedation than reading through 2 chapters on point mutations.

And of course, no routine is complete without some form of leisure. This sounds remarkable geeky, planning out your fun-time. Luckily my weekends have remained perfectly free of any commitments. I plan on quarantining my gaming and usual hanging out to this limited time period.

However, I do want some of my free time to be at least personally fulfilling. Recently I’ve picked up my guitar again, and have decided to reintroduce myself to it. With my friends’ newfound enthusiasm for music, I feel I should try to join in on the fun. 30 minutes every weekday should be sufficient practice for me to get back into the groove of things.

While it is really exciting to plan this new way of living for myself, I am aware of how much of a challenge this will be for me to maintain in the days to come.

Neversoft, you have got to be kidding me.

Anyone working on Guitar Hero: World Tour has absolutely no right to criticize Harmonix on innovation. It appears that World Tour’s director Brian Bright has forgotten who actually started the series that his company has been riding the coattails of. The name of your game is itself a rip off of the premiere game mode in Harmonix’s Rock Band.

How he was able to say say this without either himself or the interviewer cracking is beyond me. He just has to look back to his own projects disastrous debut, when his boss was immediately called out for both lying and copying another company’s innovation.

For some reason Tony Hawk and a drunken Paula Abdul (there is good chance that she still thinks this is the set of American Idol)

Neversoft’s gaff has brought up a larger issue to light though. Why the hell should anyone care for Guitar Hero: World Tour? I’ve read the previews, seen the few unique features of World Tour and I still don’t see the appeal. Why should anyone should even remotely consider this game over the Rock Band series?

The vast majority of features that have been announced are already present in Rock Band and will likely be advanced upon in Rock Band 2. This means that Activision is already playing catch-up in this genre. Yet there is still a great deal of faith being given to Neversoft, believing that they can make a game that has an experience even close to that of Rock Band’s.

Let’s just think about this for a second. Rock Band can easily be described as Harmonix’s magnum opus. This is a company that has made more than 13 music-oriented and rhythm games over the past decade. Most of Harmonix’s employees have substantial experience in music, many moonlighting in relatively successful bands.

On the flip side, Neversoft’s claim to fame is the Tony Hawk franchise. Now maybe I’ve been playing Tony Hawk wrong for 9 years, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a revolutionary rhythm game.  The idea that they can create a better full-band rhythm game than Rock Band on their first try is bat-shit fucking insane.

Before anyone accuses me of being a speculative cynical jerk I should let you know that this isn’t entirely speculation. Neversoft has had the chance to iterate on Harmonix’s success before. While Guitar Hero 3 is probably the best selling game in the series (it helps that it was released on every console known to man) don’t let that financial success confuse you. Most plastic axe battlers probably didn’t know or care about the developer switch until it was too late.

Guitar Hero 3 was the game that turned me off the Guitar Hero franchise for good. I was amazed at Activision and Neversoft’s ability to make a sequel to a game as profoundly simple as Guitar Hero worse than its predecessor. Sure, the game had some good songs (Cliffs of Dover, etc.) but the actual game-play just felt strange. The actual note-charts felt obnoxiously overloaded for the sake of difficulty, having you playing notes that weren’t actually there. The prime example of this is the game’s most notorious song, “Through the Fire and the Flames” the hardest part of which was actually a synth piano opening. These oversights spelt it out pretty clearly. Music wasn’t exactly Neversoft’s strong suit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s hard to pick out the perfect Dead Kennedys song to accompany a 720 Benihana, but that doesn’t make them qualified to tell the difference between a C sharp and their assholes. Their game lacked the appearance of any technical understanding or passion for music. While I will never argue that Guitar Hero is a substitute for actual musical talent, the note charts that are in the previous clearly were made with care. They corresponded with the notes in the actual song; their progression followed along with the musical scale, etc.

Even the new features that Neversoft brought to the table were awful and half-baked. The battle mode was just broken and un-fun. It ultimately became a contest to see who could get the first power-up to win. The single player boss battles were even worse. They felt like idiotic wars of attrition that kept you from getting to play real fucking songs. Neversoft even had the gall to take features like co-op quickplay out. Why the hell would you ever want to make a sequel have less features? This is one of the best examples of the stupidity that Activision nurtures.

Despite that, Guitar Hero at its core is a fun party game that plays off our wildly awesome and childish rock-star fantasies. The first two games captured that perfectly with notebook scribble menus and epic rock concert venues with animatronic zombies fighting at the Stonehenge. Guitar Hero 3 felt like it was trying to teach us about the sad reality of rock n’ roll where you will be drowned in product placements and dealing with one heroin addicted lead singer.

Lets look to the present now. World Tour is promising to have the full band experience with regular DLC featuring full albums. For now lets ignore what Rock Band has and focus on what Activision has both promised and delivered in the past.

Prior to GH3, I remember hearing promises of regular DLC. GH3 went months without having additional content. And even when songs you wanted were added to the online catalogue, you were purchases were forced to endure Activision’s draconian bundle and pricing system. You had to buy songs in 3-packs, regardless of how shitty the other two songs were. The songs were also priced at the uncomfortable rate of 500 points for 3 songs. This comes to about $6.25US. It also helped that most of the songs were present in previous Guitar Hero games.

This record makes it quite clear about what we should expect from World Tour. A feature-lite version of a game that has been out for a year with ugly aesthetics, arbitrarily competitive game-play with an equally limited and expensive DLC catalog. But hey, there is a midi sequencer to make up for all of it.

Please don’t accuse me of actively wanting the release of a bad game. I would love to have two high-quality rhythm games to play with my friends. It’s good to want things. However, gamers have to be both realistic and reasonable about their expectations for the next Guitar Hero. Gamers have already tasted the fruits of Neversoft and Activision’s labor. All I’m saying is that it takes a special kind of idiot to be anxious to eat shit twice.