Splitting reality.

So in the recent history of video-gaming there has been some serious talks about nipping and tucking content. It started with Day1 DLC and similar. Something that most people feel miffed about (but most often to me seemed to be a bored art and asset team putting in a few extra hours.) and while we did not really see the nightmare scenarios materialize. But it is not open to debate that we today have a culture of micro expansions and other forms of DLC in pretty much every game. Enter Telltale Games. The by today crowned masters of episodic content re-wrote much of how games would be released. They proved that a good idea did not need a complete game. Rather they took a cue from TV and told their story in small bite sized chunks.

With this came a new dawn. One we are just seeing the effect of. More and more companies try their hand at carving their games up and selling them ala carte. The biggest names right now being the FF7 reboot and the upcoming Hitman game. Now I have no real problem with this approach as long as the design from the start is to produce the game episodically. Since you really need to have the pacing down to a pat. Each episode having its own narrative structure. To see if Sqeenix can do that with the FF7 game will be interesting, because that game will need all the help it can get. If nothing else it will be a horrid train wreck and we all go back to playing the original.

Now as for hitman you would think the design of the game would make it perfect for episodic content. Make each contract an episode. Fill it out with the overarching story and let the player do them at their own pace. If well designed Hitman contracts have several solutions and paths to said solutions. But here is the thing… The game in question have changed model about twice a day. So to now carve up a game that was not designed for episodic content to begin with can lead to some very awkward storytelling and really poor pacing. It also tells of a really poor confidence in the product. Now going forward this could turn in to a really annoying trend, because companies love to lower the barrier of entry and being able to do so without the stigma of F2P must sound really tempting. But it is also a very different way of making games and I doubt that many companies have the agility and flexibility to pull it off.

But what I look forward the most is when the asset flipping early access trash that populate the dark side of Steam figure out this… Not only will they sell you shit games, but they will sell you shit game chopped up like a game tartar. 

That will be glorious. 

Howling at the mob.

So i was going to write about how the Crew has been delayed due to its console port being poop. But then I once again got proof that your average gamer has the attention span of a goldfish and only care to express their opinion when something is not working… And then only express it loudly and ill-informed.

First some background. As I have mentioned earlier I play a game called Mechwarrior online. It is a really nice game but suffers a little from “small player base” syndrome. This causes matches in the game to from time to time have a fairly big gap in skills between players both within a team and between teams as the matchmaker loses its restrictions in order to launch a match. This is ofc not uncommon but in order to sort of fix the problem the developers decided to redesign the system behind the matchmaker. In short the change was to switch form a system where players picked what game modes they wanted to play and the matchmaker tried to match them up to a system where the players choose the game modes they preferred to play and the matchmaker put together as even teams as it could. This to eliminate the problem of the MM finding a perfect match skill wise but being unable to launch it because people choose different game modes. Any way you can read more about this HERE

This change was communicated in every way possible short of them going to your house and tell you personally. Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and ofc the official forums. The feedback was generally positive and while some people was unhappy with losing control over what game mode was to be played everyone was in agreement that faster and more even matches would be a good thing. Yesterday this patch was implemented…

I give you one guess as to what happened…

If that guess was that a good section of the community flipped the proverbial shit (and most likely a table or two) you would be right to such a degree that the devs are now looking in to removing the change. Now this is very typical in my mind for how your average game community acts and reacts. You have a simmering and gloopy morass on a subject. The devs wade in and try to set it right, giving the community a chance to voice it´s opinion. Most people do not give a flying fuck until the change go in, then they skip the patch notes and go directly to complaining in-game until someone tell them to shut the fuck up and go to the forum. Shortly after that we have a minor rebellion on our hands. Now the interesting thing is of course that most people do not leave any feedback before the change go in but rather come howling after it is done. It is estimated that between 2 and 10 percent of a games active player base visit the forums so that there will be some people who only comes around to complain about a change is to be expected but that you see them same pattern from the so called regulars. How come that so few people partake in a game and have such a strong desire to proclaim their opinion but yet are so reluctant to actually read any of the information outside of the game. Is this a trend.. Am I the odd one out who reads up on things and try to understand what is going on and if so.. Is the system of higher education doomed as people seem to be unable to do basic information gathering. I just assumed that this was such a common skill that I usually give people I game master in rpg´s with a modern or futuristic setting a free leg up on information gathering.. Perhaps I have been wrong and held a way to positive view on things.

Anyway, I just felt I had to rant a bit about this. And if you are one of those people who like to complain, do so by all means but do things in the right order… Don´t be the person who skip voting and then comes yelling that nobody ever listen to your concerns. You are the main reason that communication between developers and community dries up, after all what is the point of them taking time to try and communicate when you just shit on those efforts and then go rampaging around the forums like a howler monkey on PCP.

Any way… This is Taw.. over and out.

Simply The SIMS 4.

So the EA behemoth have released in a new version and as usual a lot of people on very obscure game forums are very angry.

And I simply love it.

The fourth version of the game has one key word… Or well you know... and that is Stream-line. Everything has been slimmed down, smoother and in general easier to operate unless you are an old SIMS fanatic… then you might be a bit confused at first.  The new interface is a lot different and takes cues from EA´s other sim game. So you see people Sim City did something good. Actually it did at least two good things even if one was unintentional.

The Sims 4 is about as off-line as you can get it. Yes you need to register the game trough Origin but that is about it. After that H and I played the same copy of the game at the same time on two computers. Yes only one player at the time can access the online features but honestly so far that has not been an issue. So no weirder always on-line mode and no more validation checks. Just install and enjoy your personal lordship of digital people.

But yes in the name of streamlining much have changed. First off and perhaps what I miss the most is the ability to color the clothes of the sims yourself. No more pattern matching everything down to the last spork. In fact some clothes are actually down right boring now and finding a suit top and pants that match is a bit of a nightmare. Tim Gunn would not approve. But beyond that there is a good range of styles and items to mix and match and they included green and blue skin for you aliens out there. Next up on the missing list is one thing I personally do not miss. Just like with SimCity the well city is gone and your neighborhood is broken down in to smaller instanced blocks. No longer can your sim go on a cross city jog or travel seamlessly from location to location…. But on the other hand this means you do not need to much about with your city each expansion… Because there will be more than a few of those… we all know that. Now each expansion will most likely get their own area. This cuts down on loading times… A LOT. Because let’s face it getting in to the game usually took enough time for you to write a shot book… and get it published.

I know some people will hate this and I guess that will have to stand for them. I cannot argue against it as it is a matter of taste but for me the instanced areas feel big enough to keep the illusion alive. Now on the positive side gone are also the days of only being able to talk to one person at the time. We now have group conversations… Praise your deity of choice. Gone are also the days of just doing one thing at the time. Multi-tasking let you do a myriad of task at the same time... Like texting and talking or reading on the loo. This makes it a lot easier to keep your friends happy and the party alive. Now I am sure there is some little things that have been removed that I forget… .. . Yes… Toddlers are gone… Can´t say I miss them but I guess it makes the min-max people annoyed.

Is that you Mal...

Gone are also the days of you choosing your sims traits on a whim. Now they impact your sims behavior a lot. Pick the crazy trait and your sim is bonafide, coco for Choco-puff, no holds barred, cat tossing insane. By the same token if you shoose that your sim hate children… They HATE children, in a “yell at them rather than talking and always make them feel bad” kind of way. This goes for every one you pick. They really impact your sims behavior. They also impact the buffs you get, if your sim feel flirty even the most introvert bookworm might dare to flirt a bit and even the most confident alpha male can become embarrassed. These states open up new dialogue options and interactions that range from a flat boost to a task like a work-out or making a meal to pure flavor ones like “taking a pee like a champ” for the confident one or adding the word “vigorous” to interactions when your sim is pumped. It is nice and give you a visual cue with different colors for different states helping you to quickly identify not only your sims mood but what might be ailing them.

Also they removed the need to sell the sofa just so you could afford that computer and find a proper job.  No more reading the paper each day hoping for the best. Simply pick the phone up and check for jobs… With eight listed there is a very good chance that your planned career is there. Again I know some people enjoyed flogging them self and going by the book. But let´s be honest most skipped the paper step and either sold something to afford the computer or did the motherload cheat… That still work by the way.

Now it is worth mentioning that your relations drop pretty quickly and you need to work to keep them at decent levels and that can feel a bit daunting compared to the pace in sims 3. But the sms option in the phone and the fact that you can have group conversations goes a long way to ease the transitions.

Now I have only had this game for two days and have barley scraped the surface but to me this is the best Sims game to date and I have played them all from the Sims 1 all the way up to the weird Facebook game and now Sims 4. If you enjoy the series you will know what is in store and if you can keep an open mind about the changes I think you will find a really nice game.

I will update you all on the game as I get more time in it.

Also check out my Gauntlet giveaway in the competitions and giveaways page to the right.

To toss a man in a pod… And announcing a giveaway

So with the summer over I once again can look forward to new seasons of most of the pod-casts I follow and since I am back communing to University I have time to listen to them. Not that there is that many of them. But I felt I should give them some time in the spotlight.

I am so happy i am glowing.

First up is the pod that is set to return today. Nördigt

Nördigt is a Swedish pod-cast about geek and nerd culture in general and serves up a weekly dose of reviews, spoilers, interviews and a good amount of humour. The pod Is mainly broken down in to subject by matter. So you have a part of the pod talking about games, then a separate section talking about books or comics and so on. They usually also feature mixed mash-ups between their own theme and themes from shows and games. Pretty funny stuff.

I highly recommend this pod if you can understand Swedish… Or if you don´t listen to it any way form some good “Swedish chef” moments.

My second pick is Svamppod Fyrkant a gaming pod-cast with a strong console leaning. But seeing as it is the crew from Swedish gaming site Svampriket (Mushroom kingdom) that should come as no surprise. This is not a Nintendo podcast despite the name. It follows a loose format of the members talking about what they have recently played and then moving in to news and listener mailbag. While not as tight as Nördigt the focus on gaming makes it less hit or miss subject wise and while I am mostly a PC player myself it is nice to hear about how the other side lives. They also have a few specialty episodes such a a current series of spoilercasts for the mass effect series. Part one covering Mass Effect 1 is out and the sequels are to be covered in episodes released later in the year.

Again I think it is worth listening to and if you happen to have kids they have a family oriented show Svamppod junior.

Now going in to pods that have not been on hiatus but I just have not listen to as much, are two Smodcast shows. Smodcast ofc is the Pod cast Empire of Kevin Smith. Kevin is mostly known as the man who made the Clerks movies.

Jay andSilent Bob get old is actually not about Jay and Silent Bob… It began as an intervention podcast to help Jason Mewes who played Jay in most of Kevin Smith’s movies staying sober and accountable. But have since evolved for the most part in to a slice of life show. I recommend it if nothing else for you to listen to the earliest episodes as Jason tells his story from cradle to very close to the grave and you can follow in the show the transformation of a man. Beyond that the talk is mostly about sex, dick and fart jokes, weed and what is going on in their lives. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I find it good easy listening.

Finally we have Fatman on BatMan. 

This is pretty much nerdvana if you are a fan of DC comics as Kevin Smith sits down with most of the big names in DC who have in one way or another worked on Batman, or people that are in other ways related to the caped crusader. It give you a very personal glimpse in to the mind of people like Denny O´Neil, Grant Morrison, Paul Dini and Mark Hamil. Simply a very fun and at times very incoherent show. But if you like a free lecture by some of the biggest names in comics this is the show to listen to. Not only will you get a understanding for how we came to where we are today but you will also realize that getting in to comics is mostly luck and attitude.

Now when you have something to listen to I will explain a little about the give-away. 

First I can say happens because this blog reached its first milestone of 500 views. Now it might now sound like much but I appreciate each and every one and i feel it is worth to celebrate. I will hold these giveaways each time we reach a milestone and when I come across cool stuff. Some will be digital and some will be physical goods. But to not exclude anyone I will do my best to keep these as digital goods. 

So come this Friday I will post the giveaway on the contest and giveaways page found to the right 

 that will run from Friday 18:00 CET to Monday 18:00 CET and by simply doing something to helpme spread the word of my blog you will be entered in to a raffle and could win a special item provided by #LootCrate for use in the game Gauntlet.

So stop by Friday and check out the details and if you feel that this is a dud. Do not worry there will come other chances for other stuff down the road!