Click to enlarge the pictures. They do matter and serve as a counter-point to my arguments.

You know, after writing a topic on demakes yesterday and watching the latest ZP video, it got me thinking about nostalgia:

“Were those old games really any good? Am I remembering them incorrectly? How do they compare to today’s games?”

For example, Yahtzee said that Twilight Princess is better than Ocarina of Time and that Mario Sunshine is a better game than Mario 64. According to him, he suggests that TP is better than OoT because it contains refined game mechanics and better graphics. In short, if you play the newer one before the older one, you’ll like the newer one and feel that the older one is a step back.

Well, actually I agree with that. But is Mario Sunshine better than Mario 64 for the same reasons? Not a chance in Hell, and I’m calling you out Ben. But why do I disagree? Have I fallen prey to nostalgia?

Nostalgia is what sells Bionic Commando: Rearmed. It’s the force that has sold more than 100,000 copies of Megaman 9. Appealing to our childhood is a good way to make a sale (Tigsource’s compo is certainly better for it.) But does nostalgia make bad games seem better than they are?

Yes. I don’t think there’s any way to argue that it doesn’t. Let’s face it, Croshaw is occasionally right and he nailed us on this one. Twilight Princess was everything Ocarina wasn’t. Go back and play Goldeneye and then YOU tell me that it’s a great shooter. Go try platforming in the old Prince of Persia after playing Assassin’s Creed. There are a lot of old games we like that, when examined as if for the first time, they aren’t the gems that we remember. What does that say about you? How did this happen!? MY CHILDHOOD IS RUINED.

Now, don’t panic. There are good reasons these mediocre games are fondly remembered. For example, in Goldeneye’s case, it was the only multiplayer shooter on the N64 for a long time. So it’s what you played. Over and over again. Maybe it was the only game you owned and you played it on boring afternoons, in-between rare trips to the rental store. Don’t worry, a lot of us fell into this trap.

Now it’s ten years later and you’re looking back at all your old games. But, of course, you look at them with the simple eyes of that child you were so many lifetimes ago. You love those games! And you’ll be damned if you’ll let a fool like me persuade you otherwise!

But has the crutch of nostalgia fooled you? It’s tough to separate our youth from our adult decision-making process. Let’s take a look at a concrete example: Sunshine. Mario Sunshine has better graphics! It has nifty water mechanics and reflections! Those secret levels are fun! It’s not on a crappy N64 controller! Yes, this is all true.

But I have a lot of rational gripes that good graphics simply can’t hide. I hate hunting for blue coins. Every time the princess speaks, I want to punch her face. The new boat physics simply don’t work. The ‘washing everything’ becomes really tiresome. And the level design (outside the secret stuff) is repetitive and boring.

You’ll notice that all of my problems with Sunshine stem from badly implemented ideas and tired level design. Super Mario Galaxy, on the other hand? That is a phenomenal game and clearly better than Mario 64. First off, the levels are great. The gameplay is smoother and has some nifty ideas. The story is better, even if it’s becoming tired by this point. And Rosalina is smoking hot.

So how do graphics matter? How does gameplay matter?

Sure graphics matter. But not every game needs super-awesome reflections or swaying grass or other nifty new tricks. I simply ask that a game maintains a distinct visual style. Some games can work in 2D just fine, they don’t need to be in 3D. And some old 2D games still look pretty okay even on older systems (like old Mario or Megaman games), because the artists have adhered to the technical limitations and worked hard to make it look good by any standard. Could they look better with newer technology? Sure, but they’re still pretty in their own way.

It’s not necessarily the level of detail that’s important, but how graphics can contribute to the overall ’style’ of the game’s presentation. We have to face it: art styles for games will end up as diverse as art styles for paintings or animation. There’s nothing wrong with black and white manga, even if 3D CG is technically more impressive.

This is not always the case. Some games just fail when it comes to the graphics. The truth is, OoT needed a lot more graphics punch to really pull it all off. Grand Theft Auto 4 won’t age well by these standards either. It reached for the stars, hoping to present an awesomely immersive environment. Instead we got pop-in, bad framerate, and other crappy issues.

You see, for games like this, the style isn’t an issue. They are simply borrowing from our reality. These games need all the technical tricks they can get. In other words, Oblivion looks nicer than Morrowind. Why? Because the technical level of the graphics makes the reality more immersive, since it’s emulating real life. But when you consider the visual style of World of Warcraft, it’s more appealing in some ways than Oblivion. Funny that.

The only other big factor for filtering nostalgia is considering the game mechanics. Is Megaman 9 a good game? It uses only two buttons and the idea is as old as mud. But I think it’s awesome. Why is that?

Well, when it comes to gameplay, I think about what the game is trying to accomplish and what it wants to offer me. I then measure it by it’s own standards instead of mine. For a game like Megaman 9 or Braid, 2 or 3 buttons is more than enough. But there are older games that simply don’t do right what their developers wanted. Either the camera was bad, the controller wasn’t complex enough or too big, or the ideas for handling the play control were immature. Once Z-Targeting was introduced, every game started working with it. Once move-able analog camera angles were introduced, everyone started working with it. You move with the left stick and aim with the right; this is a system we’ve all agreed upon.

So when I see a game upset or fail the status quo, (ie. no Strafing in RE4, switching look/move sticks, or using triangle to jump) I get pretty pissy. If the game offers nothing but confusion and frustration with this bizarre or old control scheme, then it’s hard to forgive. Well, guess what? Nostalgia is a huge culprit under these circumstances. Goldeneye had terrible controls by today’s standards. Two buttons doesn’t feel nearly enough for Street Fighter 2010. Some old games WERE simply limited by the standards of their time.

But I think there are simple game mechanics that work well and are still relative to us today. And I think describing simple control schemes as outdated is just false. The fact is, an idea like Megaman 9 doesn’t need more buttons. I think the presentation is great and even better than Megaman 8. I don’t care about all the fancy 3D possibilities, super Redbook audio, or anything else. Megaman 9 doesn’t need it to be good.

Ah, screw it. Forget my lengthy technical analysis of gameplay and graphics. You know what? The truth is simple. You can play an old game for the first time and still think it’s fun. This happens in my store every day. I get young kids coming into my store and playing my copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 with no idea what they’re doing. And they think it’s great.

mario, megaman, nostalgia, yahtzee, zelda, zero punctuation

I have certainly been enjoying my time with Megaman 9 (in-between bouts of Mount & Blade, of course). It’s nice to see the series return to it’s 8-bit roots. I can’t help but wonder if their return was inspired by that Megaman 7 demake awhile back. You gotta love any fan that knew to put Megaman 7 in the appropriate light. Now we just need a NES Megaman 8 to round out our collection.

Anyway, why do I bring up this business again? Well, because it segues nicely into my topic for the day. TIGsource’s latest compo has concluded for some time, and I’m reminding you all to VOTE! Also, I’d like to talk a bit about my favourite entries.

You can see the entire list of games for yourself. There’s a LOT of ‘em! It was a huge turnout and I bet it’ll be even bigger next time. Here are the games I thought had the highest concentration of awesome.

—————

Fable of Griselda This ASCII version of the original Zelda brings back a lot of fond memories, not just of that stalwart NES classic, but also of my days with ZZT and Kroz. Even though the graphics are so… *simple*, it still evokes a classic for the ages. I really hope the creator finishes this project beyond what is currently a demo.

Aquarium It’s too bad this game got sidetracked by the authour’s real life. I’ve played Aquaria and this game is definitely all that, even if it looks like a Gameboy Color game. I really hope this game is finished, because it was one of the few great indie demakes in the compo. I’m sure Derek Yu had a good feeling when he played this one.

Protobytes Hey look! It’s Elebits! You know, this game is basically done. Maybe add a few levels, some sound, some music… it wouldn’t take much! I’m surprised they were able to complete as much as they did; the gameplay is just awesome and the ending is wicked twisted.

Squish Yeah! I’m one of the ten people on this planet that has actually played Crush for the PSP. Squish is a great demake, taking out one dimension entirely and still ending up quite the puzzler. This is another game that would be great with some more levels; it does come with a level editor and hopefully the authour makes some sort of online repository. Give it a shot! If I can hook some more people, I may get some more levels….

Gang Garrison 2 There were a few TF2 ideas in the compo, but this one is the strongest. For starters, it has pretty solid network play, which is a must for any multiplayer game. Seriously, what can I say about this one? It’s TF2 but in 2D; you’ll be surprised at the attention to detail.

Soundless Mountain II For me, this is the winner of the contest. For starters, it’s easily had the most work put into it. For another, it IS Silent Hill 2. I don’t mean it evokes the atmosphere or feels a lot like it… no no no. This game is EXACTLY like Silent Hill 2, just you know, on a SNES or something. This game is sheer brilliance and the attention to detail is staggering. Bootleg? No. Awesome? Hell yes.

You know, I’m not the only one with an opinion. TIG is picking up a lot of media attention and I can only imagine their popularity a year from now. As it stands, it’s the best news + forum resource for the indie community. You just wait and see.

compo, demake, megaman, tigsource

I had an odd experience with a customer a few months ago. She approached me with a rather quizzical look on her face. With a tilt of her head, she asked a very strange question.

“Hi, I’m looking for a game with..um… there were like some serial killers in it. And you fight a lot. I played it at a friend’s house while we were all stoned.”

My first thought was immediately, ‘What the lol is Ms. Clueless talking about?’
So I did some research to find her the game. I asked her some questions to try and narrow a very long list (what can I say? Killing games are popular.) On a long-shot, I decided that Thrill Kill *might* be what she was after.

Clueless: “That’s it exactly! Can I order it from you guys!?”
ME: “What? No, no you– well, you can’t. It never came out.”
Clueless: “What? Wait, so how did I play it?”
ME: “Um… good question.”

My best guess was that her friend downloaded a copy off the internet and burned it to a disc. You’d need a modded Playstation to do it, but it’s not impossible. Now how would I explain it to her? But who cares about the rest of that story, right? The more interesting question is: What the hell is Thrill Kill?

Thrill Kill is an unreleased game, forgotten by the annals of history. Surprised? Not every game makes it. Most games are lucky if they survive past paper (usually in the margins of a high-school notebook.) Some games never amount to more than a tech demo like that PS3 FFVII remake or, even more controversially for Square, that Final Fantasy 64 setup at their booth so many years ago. And there are a lot of games (*cough* Marvel) that just end up in Development Hell due to lack of funding.

But, there are some games that make it to the finish line. They’re done (or at least 99% playable) and just aching to go Gold. The manual is written, the box art is finalized, everything is ready for launch… and then nothing.

It just disappears. We never hear of it again. Now you’re thinking, “What? That’s crazy!? Who would go through all the trouble and money to make a game and then not even TRY to turn a profit? Who in their right minds would can ‘their baby’?”

What can I say except: it’s always the fault of the executives. Now granted, this phenomenon happens less and less with each passing generation. As team size and fiscal responsibility increases, publishers are much more careful. But it still happens every once in awhile. Let’s look at the three major causes.

JAPANEPIC FAIL

Not every game makes it to the US. There are the cliched popular examples: Numbering the early Final Fantasy games resulted in notoriously bad math and Mario Bros. 2 wasn’t exactly a sequel. But it doesn’t end there.

Some of these old games weren’t released because it was simply too late. When the Super Nintendo came to market, the idea of spending money to localize a NES game seemed silly. We can’t really blame Square for skipping a few numbers, given the circumstances.

And sometimes they don’t get localized for stupid reasons. “Mario 2 is hard, let’s give them something else!” isn’t much of an excuse… although the replacement was admittedly superiour. At least Nintendo gave us something right?

You know, we miss A LOT of games because they are deemed “too Japanese.” There are a lucky few that do see an NA release, but they usually get butchered into some new Americanized form, like Panel de Pon becoming Tetris Attack. How is the cutesy insanity of Yoshi & Friends better than a bunch of Sailor Girl chicks? You got me.

Why does this happen? The Japanese think we can’t handle their style. It’s too ‘craaazy’ for us western folk. To be honest, they’re right for the most part (what with our Halo3ing and all.) But companies like Atlus have survived for decades by bringing us Disgaea, Soul Nomad, and other uniquely Japanese tidbits. Their success is opening the way. Soon, Nintendo and the rest may see the light and realize there are Gaijin Otaku just across the sea, slobbering rabidly for anything we can get. Until then, we’ll miss the love of Captain Rainbow, Stafi, Atelier Lise, Segagaga, and many more cool titles.

But wait! Sometimes a game does jump through all the hoops. It garners some love from the publishers and they want to share it with the world. It survives the localization intact with all of it’s quirky content. It gets advertised and covered in all the latest gaming magazines! It’s ready to go!

And then it just disappears off the radar. Now I bet you guys are thinking I’m gonna quote some obscure game you’ve never heard of. Yeah I could bring up Mr. Gimmick and how it was advertised in Nintendo Power, but then never released here. Let’s talk about something a bit more mainstream.

Let’s talk about Earthbound. Yeah, that’s right. Nintendo saw an opportunity to release a fun RPG on their system and hired NoA to do up a translation. It was ready to go with a box full of guides, posters, and other fun gimmicks. And then it was released for the SNES!

No wait, that’s not right. The Earthbound you’ve come to know and love? Yeah, that was the sequel. Just ask Phil Sandhop, the lead on the localization project. His team actually COMPLETED their task of Englishification. And then what happened?

“EarthBound was not canceled, it was just not produced,” says Sandhop. “Think of a movie that has been edited and need only to be copied and sent to the theaters, along with a marketing program. Sometimes these things sit for years before the studio feels it’s right.”

And that time never came. Thanks for that one Nintendo.

SENSITIVITY CLASSES REQUIRED

Some games don’t get released because they’re just too violent. Yeah, that’s right, Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto got reviewed by censors first. Most developers grudgingly accept the changes. They cut the swastikas out of Bionic Commando and Wolfenstein (Germany in particular is pretty sensitive about this), they removed the blood from MK for Nintendo’s sake and the nudity from Castlevania (great, I just lost half of you to Google Image Search.)

Fortunately things have changed a lot since the old days. Sure, we still have censors in North America, but we don’t have to play God of War under those old crazy rules. We’ve adapted a ratings system and it’s helped a lot. But some countries aren’t so lucky and still cling to the old ways.
Heavy censorship continues to this day in some parts of the world, even places you wouldn’t expect: like in Australia. I pity any gamer that has to put up with the ridiculous ranking system from down-under. Every game for them has to be fit for kids, cutting out any and all blood/sex/drugs. Their version of Grand Theft Auto IV is probably only two hours long and they’ve banned Fallout 3 entirely.

But there are some games that are simply so offensive, that no publisher in the ENTIRE WORLD is willing to even try and bring them to market. Some games like Thrill Kill. Paradox Entertainment went out of their way to make a brutal game, resulting in this blood-fest of a spectacle. Was it a good game? Not really. But being a victim of bad design is hardly a large nail for any developer’s coffin. Rather, it was a victim of bad timing. You see, Electronic Arts had just finished buying out Virgin Interactive, which included Thrill Kill. EA got one look at the game and said, “What the crap is this?”

EA went so far as to completely shut down the project. They refused to release it back to Paradox so it could be sold by another publisher. As far as they were concerned, canceling the whole thing was for the good of humanity. Paradox got mighty angry and released bootleg copies into the wild of the Internet. And it turned into one big angry mess.

Well at least we now have the ESRB system to sort out these situations. Let this 3rd party decide if the game is offensive or not; that’s one less worry for the publisher. I mean, so what if a game is so offensive that it gets an AO rating? That just means only adults will be buying it and we’re all better for being informed. Oh wait.

COPYRIGHT? WHAT’S THAT?

Of course, nothing gets a game canceled more quickly than plagiarism. The gaming industry is uniquely forgiving when it comes to this issue. But there is still a line that should never be crossed. Once it’s discovered that you’re a dirty stealer… it never ends well.

Some copyright infringers manage to get away with the deed, even when they’re caught. Jaleco wanted to give their Jajamaru series some ‘pop appeal’. They ‘lifted’ some ideas and graphics from Super Mario Bros, Megaman, and a few other well-known platformers of the time. When they tried to localize it, Nintendo finally caught on. Nintendo forbade them from an NA release because of all the questionable plagiarism, but still cut them slack in the Asian market. Nintendo helped us dodge that
bullet. Let’s just say the localization involved a lot of bad vegetable jokes and leave it at that.

Korea, in particular, has a lot of offending developers. The GamePark32 is rife with examples, but let’s leave homebrew consoles out of this. It seems when it comes to stealing, Nintendo has a big target painted on their back. When I first played Buzz & Waldog, I didn’t know what to think. It stole a LOT from Super Mario World. The jumps, the terrain, the enemies… Wow. You’d think it was a ROM hack.

But let’s face it: We all know the biggest and baddest offender on the block. That’s right, I’m talking about Limbo of the Lost. Let’s ignore the fact that it’s a stereotypically mediocre adventure game. Did the team at Majestic really think they would succeed in pulling wool over our eyes? Stealing graphics from another game is pretty low… but stealing graphics from Oblivion, one of the most successful and widely recognized PC games of all time? That’s just f**king stupid.

Of course they got called on it! Weeks of shame and denial followed. I’d be surprised if even one person responsible for that fiasco is still working in the industry. Maybe they moved to Korea.

IN THE END…

Each part of this article could easily fill out a whole page, but let’s keep it succinct. The real question is: Are we missing out? Not really. Games like Thrill Kill go for shock value because the developers can’t create something fun. Games like Limbo of the Lost are hardly original to begin with and could never hope to stand with giants like Myst and Sierra’s Quest games. And nowadays, most good Japanese games do get localized if the money is there.

But, like any topic in obscure gaming, there are a few games that ARE worth playing… even if they never saw the light of day. Thank God for ROMs and the internet. But you don’t need me for that journey. Let me just point you in the right direction. Have fun!

japan, obscure, roms, thrill kill, unreleased

That was quite the post last time huh? But you know, it was barely a scratch on the surface of just how awesome indie can get. There are a lot of indie developers out there pushing some excellent games. Last week was just a small sample of a very long list. Nifflas, Cactus, Remar, Pixel, McMillen, Thorson, Darthlupi, Venbrux…. If you have a conversation with me about indie games, one of those names is likely to come up.

What can I say? I love playing indie games. And here’s something you may not know about me:
I’ve been playing them since I was born. It’s true! At the tender age of 8, I would log onto my local BBS just to get these hidden treasures of DOS. I played them and I loved them dearly. They weren’t polished, they weren’t cutting-edge, they weren’t made by a team of experts, and I’m pretty sure some of them can’t be called ‘good’ by today’s standards. But so what? I was young and in love.

Oh sure, I had the same deities as every other gamer. I worshiped at the feet of Miyamoto, I prayed to the altar of Contra, I sacrificed my sanity for Ninja Gaiden, and I simply played the crap out of TMNT Arcade. But, when I was a kid, these were holy artifacts with so much polish they gleamed in my eyes. Sure, I could play the games. But I couldn’t relate to my Gods.

However, I looked up to my indie heroes each night on the Sasquatch BBS. To most downloaders, their games didn’t look like much. So what? They were simple, they were fun; goddamn it, they were indie! By their example, it occurred to me that normal everyday people were out there making games too.

It didn’t take long. I saw my appetite grow. Watching my heroes make games stirred the coals within me. Soon, a small child was screaming “Me Too! I wanna learn how to do this!” My mom bought me Turbo Pascal. It was scary. I grew into it. My obsession had begun.

I know the names of these people probably don’t mean much to any of you. But they sure as heck mean a lot to me. I wouldn’t be working in the industry with dreams of aspiration if not for them. Miyamoto’s Pantheon simply defined my favourite hobby; Hassey & Friends defined my future.

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William D. Rinehart

It all started with Gemstones III. Oh sure, I had played a lot of indie games up to that point, but it just never sunk in. After playing Gemstones III (which is honestly pretty mediocre), I realized that Rinehart wasn’t a big company. He was just a guy. He wrote the midi, he put together some simple graphics, he found a way to put it together. There was nothing stopping ME from doing this. He eventually made Connectris, which definitely won my heart. That settled it! If he can do it, so can I!

By the way, Connectris? What a great little puzzle game! It’s pretty simple to play; you’ll quickly figure out the rules. Just stack and connect all the pipes to make complete circuits. Very cool and definitely worth a shot. Where is Rinehart now? I have no idea. I tried contacting Axxis (his employers at one point), but was written off as a stalker. Rightly so.

Philip Hassey

My ambition to make games as a child never turned into anything. I still figured you had to be old and learned to succeed at the craft. Fortunately, Joe Snow and Nuclear Meltdown turned me around on the issue.

These games are fun! I have to find out who did this! Wait, Philip Hassey isn’t much older than me…. Maybe I can make games right now? I have to find out more!

My thought process was frenzied. I couldn’t believe we were nearly the same age. It’s weird looking up to another kid. As for Joe Snow, you really should play through them. I know it’s strange, but the third one is still my favourite. It’s a great series of games, although God knows I can’t tell you why.

Hassey has also done some really cool stuff in the past for Ludum Dare. Check it out. The man still makes games and plays some pretty cool music too. You can keep up with his work at Imitation Pickles, though he keeps his blog more up-to-date. In particular, he’s started developing apps for the iPhone. Very cool stuff; man, he’ll always kick ass in my books.

Everett Kaser

Shortly thereafter, my mom tried to get me into programming. I’ll level: it scared me. I just couldn’t see how this ‘code’ was gonna help me do anything. Fortunately, Kaser showed me something I could do. Snarf was a fun action game, but more importantly it came with a built-in level editor. Now THIS is what I needed, right!? I made a ton of levels in Snarf. It wasn’t long before I ‘graduated’ to Jetpack level editing and then finally moved into Doom mods. Ah, to be young again.

According to Kaser ( I contacted him myself a short while ago), Snarf was the last action game he made. It’s a pretty simple shoot-what-moves game, but still manages to be fun. But Kaser, he had more interest in making logic puzzles. His later efforts resulted in the brilliance that is Sherlock. It’s his finest work that has drained the free time of thousands of people, myself included. And he still sells it! Kaser Software is still going strong; it’s always nice to find survivors from a bygone era. I highly recommend checking his site if you need something to replace your time with Solitaire.

Christian Boutin

The whole “selling indie games” thing? It never really occurred to me. For some odd reason, I didn’t notice that some of my favourite games were for sale. OSP straightened me out with a 60-second wait each time I started the game. So painful! Annoying for most of us, but enlightening for at least one. I suddenly realized that my heroes were trying to make a buck. Connectris? Check. Kaser? Check. Construction Bob? Check. Huh. Good for you guys!

By this point, I had lost the will to push on with coding. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. But now I was a little older and I was beginning to realize there was an underbelly to the gaming industry. A nice, soft, warm, cuddly– getting distracted. What can I say? The thought of belonging to the group was overwhelming. I started saving my allowance just so I could buy their games. Gladiator is the first game I ever bought with my own money. It came in an orange duotang with poorly printed instructions. God I love that game.

Boutin made some great stuff. I, like everyone else, loved Construction Bob in the Bouncing Factory.
He even dabbled in crude 3D graphics that made me laugh when he sent Bob to Hell. Boutin still maintains his personal site, but doesn’t do much in the way of indie anymore. If you pay him some money, you can get all of his games in one package. That is a friggin’ sweet deal. If you haven’t played Bouncing Factory, you really have no excuse. What the hell are you doing right now? You can read the rest of this article later.

William Soleau

I started making my own little projects. They weren’t much to look at. I got discouraged a lot.
Whenever that happened, I played a Soleau game. I’ve talked about him on this site before and there’s one aspect I’ll always mention: this guy was incredibly prolific. I swear he had a new game every few months. Seriously, I think he’s made more games than any other single person ever (although I get the feeling Cactus will pass him.)

It constantly amazed me that he just kept pushing forward with his craft. Frog Hop, Blockman, Numlo, Oilcap… ahh, such fond memories. Although he doesn’t do much these days, you can still glimpse an amazing history just by looking at his games list. They’re not all winners, but some of them are just downright classic. If you got a beer handy, finish it now in this man’s honour.

—-

With all of these indie heroes on my mind, I worked hard and got into a program at UBC. I spent many years just learning and studying… and I’ll admit I lost myself. I forgot all about the games that built me up. But then a number of years ago, I played Cave Story. Then I found Nifflas. My lust was renewed. I was made whole once again.

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As for my old heroes, is this all of them? Not even close. Ronny Wester, Joosa Riekkinen, Wendell Hicken, Ken Silverman, Doug Beeferman, Mike O’Brien, Derek Snider, Tom Ricket & Sean Ford…. It’s a pretty different list than the one I keep today. I’m happy to see how much the indie community has grown. We have many new pioneers pushing every boundary in the way games are perceived and played. And the community blogs it all, unlike the old days when it was all a newly-minted disjointed mess. We indies surely have great days ahead of us. But let’s take a moment to look back on the old days and realize that we all stand on the shoulders of childhood heroes.

—

Bonus: If you added all the hours my friends and I have spent playing C-Dogs, Scorched Earth, Gladiator, Jetpack, Cyberbox 2, and Realms of Despair, it would equal the length, in centimetres, of your small intestine! See you Friday!

bbs, beeferman, boutin, hassey, hicken, indie, kaser, osp, rinehart, snider, soleau, wester

I have returned from my respite in Seattle.  I think it is obvious how I spent my time.  You won’t be surprised by the home-runs on display at PAX.  You all know to buy Mirror’s Edge when it’s released – I don’t need to tell you.  But instead of covering the convention from a media perspective, I’d like to share with you just what made PAX so interesting.

Castle Crashers? PAX Delivers.

This is a great looking game. But it wasn’t just the game that impressed me. The PAX 10 booth was great to see and very heart-warming. It seems that indie is far more accepted by the general gaming population than I once thought. It’s really something else to see a bunch of guys and girls on Sumo pillows crowded around a bunch of small-dev titles like Polarity and The Maw. The freeplay LFG room was also packed with N+ and Geometry Wars. PAX definitely didn’t let me down on this front and the indie scene doesn’t seem so small to me anymore.

I even learned some new things. For example, Indiecade is apparently a festival/con of sorts just for indie games. I’m still not sure how it all works. First I heard of it, but hopefully not the last.

Aion Online

There were a lot of MMOs at the con. Warhammer and LotR both failed to impress me on all counts. Champions looks like a waste of time and can somebody please close the coffin on City of Heroes? WoW made an appearance, although I was personally more interested in Starcraft 2.

With the dust settled, I’d say Aion most captured my interest. When I saw it a year ago, it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. But after playing it at the con, I am happy to report that it tastes a lot better now. It was interesting to find out how Korean games get localized before the game itself is even finished.

Bucephalus Games

These guys have some great games to play. My personal choices are Living Labyrinth and Rorshach. Overall, I was very impressed with the support that board/card games received at PAX. The whole building across the street was devoted to floor after floor of Magic, D&D, Puerto Rico, etc. I spent a lot of time with my friends just playing Apples to Apples. There was a good turnout for it and I bet it’ll be even bigger next year.

The Nintendo Booth

For starters, I don’t hate Wii Music as much as I expected. In fact, it’s nice to have a Wii game to anticipate. And even though I’m personally not a big fan of Wario… Wario Land – Shake It somehow managed to win me over. The nicest thing about the Nintendo Booth? The presenters knew what they were talking about. They were great at the games, knew the release dates, knew a lot of esoteric trivia, and in general managed to impress me. To find that, not just Nintendo, but most booths were hosted by developers and gamers instead of PR really won me over.

Sins of a Solar Empire

Speaking of developers… I spent the whole time at this booth just talking with the project lead. We didn’t talk much about the game (although the new expansion sounds like it’ll turn out great); I spent most of an hour just talking to him about his thoughts on piracy and other financial issues. Speaking with him has definitely laid rest to any fear I previously had about skipping anti-piracy. I talked C++ with a developer from Nokia, there was some interesting Q&A at a few panels…. Wow. Just getting the chance to have these conversations at booths and panels is the biggest selling point of PAX to me. I’ll glady return come 2009.

Pink Godzilla

But I’m STILL not done talking about the coolness of PAX. Custom Guitar Hero songs, gaming rock concerts, Wil Wheaton, competent booths, excellent schwag, I could go on and on forever. Only Dr. Who could hope to cover the entire convention in-depth. For the love of God, I hope PAX09 is more than just 3 days. But the biggest surprise to me was the quality of certain vendors. Und Specifica, the Pink Godzilla booth was highly super-awesome. Lots of retro goodness is packed into their online store and you owe it to yourself to add them to your bookmarks.

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So overall, I had a pretty good time. But I’m not gonna deluge you guys with more PAX. I’ve said all I’ve wanted. I’ll see you guys on Friday.  You can learn everything you need about PAX from Kotaku.  I’ve got a delightful surprise for you at the end of this week!  Also, in an unrelated story, Google Chrome is pretty neat.

bucephalus, castle crashers, pax