Pokemon Red is made canon for the anime.

In the lead up to the remakes of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire later this year, I decided to watch the entirety of the anime over the next six months. I only planned to watch the first season, but as Netflix only has two thirds of the season, I had to locate the rest and decided to continue on. Over eighty episodes later, I though I would write about some of the conclusions I have come to from watching the series so far.

The beginning of the first episode mirrors the intro to Pokemon Red. This may seem obvious to some people, but Ash was one of three naming choices for the main character (The others being Red or Jack). In Blue, these were the choices for the rival. Imagine if Nintendo had chosen the Blue version to be cannon instead, we could have been following the adventures of Gary Ketchum for the last fifteen years!

The first episode also shows a variety of Pokémon not found indigenous to the area around Pallet town, such as Spearow, Manky, and Sandshrew. The Pidgeotto that Ash catches in Viridian Forest should also not be there, but when Yellow was released later, Pidgeotto was added in to the area to reflect Ash’s journey through the series. Strangely, this allowed the player to catch a Pidgeotto at a lower level than the Pidgey it evolves from!

I could get wrapped up in inconsistencies all day, but let us have a look at something interesting the anime does; creating new moves not seen in the games. Pikachu has a couple here, using a weak static attack against a Paras instead of a full Electric Shock. He also improvises a new move by using Thunder to propel a boxing glove, which given how strong Pikachu’s attacks usually are, is not very effective at all. At times the anime follows the Yu-Gi-Oh style by creating new cards (or in this case, moves) to obtain a victory when the story calls for it, such as when Charizard uses Arial Submission by spinning around in the air to damage the Magmar clinging on to him.

The anime has brought us glimpses of future Pokémon. In the very first episode, Ash spots an Ho-Oh flying high above. Anyone might have thought that art from the anime was used in creating new Pokémon for generation II, but the reverse is true. Gold and Silver were actually due out in late 97′, but were pushed back to take advantage of the upcoming Game Boy Color. This means that the first episode of the anime was released within half a year of the expected release date of the sequels, well within the time necessary to have the designs finished for the hundred new Pokémon that eventually shipped with the game.

Ash takes forever to walk a short distance.

In the Anime, Ash does take rather long routes to traverse what are rather simple paths. He has to cross a river to get to Viridian City from Pallet Town, despite the fact that the maps show nothing of the sort on the road between the cities. Perhaps this is why Gary always seems to be one step ahead of him. In fact, Gary is so far ahead of Ash, he has managed to acquire ten badges when only eight are available to collect in the game. The anime does mention there are other gyms that Ash does not visit. Perhaps Gary visited the Johto region to collect more badges before heading back Kanto. This is supported by the fact that the player can travel to Kanto in generation II to earn extra badges. Also, the League does not seem to mind what badges a trainer collects, as long as they have eight.

Finally, the league is very different than the games. There are no elite four and champion awaiting Ash, instead a tournament is arranged where the winner can go forward to challenge the elite four. Or they could just challenge the champion directly as many people seem to do in the games and anime.

So, that is my experience of the Anime after playing all the games. I never watched past season three, and even then I only saw an episode here and there. I look forward to hitting generation three, especially with the Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby remakes coming up.

What is your experience of the Pokémon anime? Have you seen any of the banned episodes? Is it still necessary after almost sixteen years? Should I do another editorial when I have watched a few more seasons? Let me know in the comments!

Microsoft’s original concept of an all-in-one media console now lays in tatters!

Microsoft’s 180 Is Now Complete

Lusipurr.com has long been predicting that Microsoft would eventually be forced to abandon the Kinect in order to better compete with Sony’s PS4, and it would seem this week that particular penny has finally dropped, as Microsoft have announced plans to drop the Kinect and offer the Xbone at a $399 price-point, the same price-point as the PS4. It is funny to think that within the span of six months Microsoft has managed to annul everything that the Xbone stood for. The two central pillars of the Xbone strategy were to be its always-on status, and its media functionality – both of which are now gone. Sure, the Xbone still has media pass-though capabilities, yet without Kinect it is difficult to see how the media capabilities will be of any particular benefit. Talking about Kinect navigation, navigating the Xbone dashboard with a control pad has been a shambles since launch, so it seems likely that the Kinectless Xbone will have a pretty bumpy roll-out when it hits the market on June 9.

The Xbone console is undoubtedly a more appealing proposition without the always-on ecosystem, and it is assuredly a better proposition without Kinect, but without those two quirks it has suddenly lost any differentiating factor to separate it from the PS4, with the only point of difference now being that the system’s GPU is significantly weaker than that of the PS4. To this end the absence of Kinect may presumably help a little in time, owing to the fact that the Kinect reserved ten percent of the Xbone’s GPU, yet any boost which comes from freeing up more in the way of GPU resources is unlikely to be much of a game-changer in the Xbone’s fight against the PS4.

More than a few 360 gamers have jumped ship to PS4.

One-Eighty Degrees of Spin

Probably the funniest thing to come out of this week’s announcement, other than the comprehensive debasement of Microsoft’s initial gameplan, has been the corporate BS aimed at saving face from this colossal u-turn. Yusef Mehdi was actually able to announce with a straight face that all of the Xbox 360’s current user-base of eighty million gamers are wanting to trade-up to Xbone just as soon as it becomes affordable. This is more than a little confusing given the epic number of 360 owners who have made the PS4 their console for the duration of the generation:

“We have 80-plus million Xbox 360 users today who want an Xbox One, and many of them tell us, ‘For me, it’s an affordability issue. I’m gonna get there, it’s just a question of time. If you make it more affordable, then I’ll upgrade faster.’ So this is an opportunity to really make it easier for them to get there at their pace.”

Given the substantial lead that Sony’s PS4 has been able to amass over the Xbox One, one might be forgiven for thinking that this move has been made in direct response to Sony’s sales domination, but not so according to Microsoft. No, to Microsoft the inclusion of Kinect has been so successful in positively defining the Xbone that it now makes sense to dispense with it entirely [?!]:

“For us, it has not really been about that. First, it’s about that aforementioned choice. Second, the folks at Xbox feel as though, at this point, they’ve completed their goal of “defining a next-generation console.” As such, moving on makes sense (to Microsoft, anyway).”

Do not attempt to think too deeply on this, as it is liable to do your head in. Decoupling the Kinect from the Xbone is obviously a ploy to sell more Xbone units on account of the symbiotic growth known as ‘Kinect’ being a dismal failure. In fact the entire concept of motion controls has been pretty much discredited at this point, as the entire lifespan of the Wii was only able to produce a small handful of games where motion controls could truthfully be regarded as anything more than obtrusive and regrettable.

It was not just Microsoft who were grappling to find the words to express their humiliation this week, as arguably the biggest losers from this announcement were the studios who are currently in the midst of developing Kinect exclusive software [along with anyone foolish enough to have bought into the console on the promise of motion-controlled gaming]. Harmonix, who are currently working on Fantasia: Music Evolved [a Kinect-only game], responded caustically to the news, while Paul Mottram, the head developer of Zumba Fitness, responded with some considerable regret:

“From a developer point of view it’s a shame, as it all but kills the chances of making an original Kinect title unless it is a major licensed Fitness or Dance product – and even those will suffer as it’s unlikely we’ll see Kinect 2 units even come close to the installed base of the original now. Even then it was a challenge.

I just feel sorry for those developers who had Kinect titles in development who’ve had the rug pulled from beneath them and may now stand little chance of seeing a return on their investment.”

The sales of the original Kinect was a massive fad, meaning that its successor has next to no chance of ending up as a viable platform in its own right. It is very tempting to dismiss any grievances on account of these awful games serving no legitimate purpose in existing, yet one must at least concede that it is fairly shitty on the part of Microsoft to promise these developers that every Xbone owner will have the means to play their game, and then renege on that undertaking. At the very least this should mean that motion-controls can stop being a thing now, a sentiment that is certain to meet the approval of Lusipurr.com readers, by-and-large.

There ain’t no saving the Wii U.

Nintendo Continues to Flounder

Embattled Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has this week raised eyebrows during an investor question and answer session by suggesting that the fortunes of the near-stillborn Wii U could be reversed by the release of a single game. Iwata likened the situation to that of the OG Game Boy before and after the release of Pokemon, which is as preposterous as it is ludicrous, given that the Game Boy was already an established and highly popular system at the time:

“The fate of a video game system is often influenced greatly by the introduction of a single title. As many of you probably remember, before the release of the Pokémon game, Game Boy had been showing slow growth, and many people wondered whether it was the end of Game Boy. But the Pokémon game singlehandedly changed the landscape of the system, which then started to show the strongest sales in the lifecycle of the system.”

As far as wishful thinking goes, this one was a bit of a stretch even for Iwata. As the recriminations and calls for resignation around him grow, Iwata must be running desperately low on excuses to try and liken one of Nintendo’s least successful systems to one of their most successful systems. And it is not just himself that Iwata is having to protect now, but the Wii U itself. Iwata understands that it would be utterly catastrophic for Nintendo’s long term viability if the company were to abandon the Wii U now, but that is not exactly a message that can be understood by a room full of investors, who are all overanxious for Nintendo to move on to their next console. When asked whether Nintendo was hard at work on the Wii U’s successor Iwata responded thusly:

“I of course believe that launching new hardware will not produce good results unless we first make sure that those who have already purchased our platforms are satisfied. We will continue to work hard to ensure that consumers who already own our platforms are satisfied, and make sure that people will continue to see great value in our software, but I would like to say that we are preparing for our next hardware system, and in fact, we already have a clear idea to some extent about the direction our next hardware is going to take.”

It sounds as if Nintendo could be launching their next console in 2016 or 2017 if all goes according to plan. That date likely could not come soon enough for jaded investors, though they might see their fondest wish of killing off the Wii U fulfilled well before then if Philips is successful in getting the Wii U banned from sale in America.

An Impressive Collection

Download: Produced 2014.05.11

Lusipurr demands that Sabin present himself for duty despite illness, and, with the help of SiliconNooB and Iliya Moroumetz, the panel announces a new Reader Membership Drive, through which, dedicated readers can assign games to Lusipurr for review.

Square hates emulation. If a device could play Final Fantasy, no doubt it will inevitably get a port.

Where would gaming be today without emulation? Even home consoles use forms of emulation to play older games. It allows us to play classic games without having to dig out older consoles, or without disturbing rarer games that may be on display as part of a collection. Some of these games have never seen a modern release, or have never been made available in some western territories. Why then is it, that emulation is seen in a negative light by the majority of the video games industry?

Okay, obviously some companies would still like to profit from games that are available on a current generation system. Square Enix are notorious for releasing Final Fantasy for every piece of hardware imaginable, but what about games that they have chosen not to make available? Secret of Evermore did not receive much love back when it was released on the Super Nintendo, but as a teen gamer looking for the next Secret of Mana, I thought it was a worthwhile investment of my time. Today it would be financially prohibitive to track down both the game and a console to play it on, only for it to disappoint with how it looks on a massive television.

This is a problem with playing legitimate versions of games that are almost twenty years old, they look awful on the large, high definition screens we enjoy today. The games of yesteryear were often played on smaller sets in bedrooms rather than in the living room. Those same games are more at home today on mobile or handheld systems where the sprites do not show their age as much. Emulating games on a PC is almost as good, as the screen size can be adjusted until it reaches a resolution that looks good.

Speaking of emulation on handheld systems, the PSP was utilised for this very function by gamers worldwide from the moment it was released. Many systems need technical know-how to use homebrew software, or have complicated instructions written by members of the community whose primary language is not English. This was not the case with the PSP, as early versions of the firmware used on the system did not prevent the use on unsigned code on the device. Essentially, this allowed coders to write their own pieces of software for the device, including ports of many well known emulators from the PC. It should not surprise anyone then, that hardware sales of the device grew quicker than the software sold for use on it.

The PSP was the place to run emulation software. Now we need a Vita hack too.

The difference in growth can also be explained by the fact that the same firmware enabled piracy on the system, meaning that some unscrupulous users bought the system without ever purchasing software to use on it. This is not what emulation is about, and while yes, some people may say there is very little difference between downloading the latest game or one that was released last century, there is a small detail that changes everything; a lot of us still own the games we are trying to emulate. It is not widely known, but in the UK, we are legally allowed to make backups of games that we own.

Using emulators to run these backups means that, not only can we take games with us that we would be unable to do otherwise, but we can also share our save data with other gamers across the world. Different sections of games can be handled by different people as they each pass a save game file from one to another. Perhaps high score data can be uploaded to the internet where anyone can download the save file and attempt to beat it. More interestingly, entire grinds can be skipped by downloading save files where the work has already been done.

This brings me to something I have been considering the past week. As many readers of the site may know, I have been trying to collect all the Pokémon. I am currently left with legendaries that I would otherwise be unable to get until Nintendo sees fit to make them available again. My quandary is this; should I hold on and wait until I can find the Pokémon myself, or should I try and find a save file already has all the Pokémon I need? A compromise between the two would be using a ROM to give myself the items necessary to unlock some of the legendary encounters, then use my own party to attempt to catch the ones I need.

So Lusigamers, do think that emulation is good thing, or is it detrimental to the industry? Should I, or should I not use an emulator to get the missing Pokémon I need? Let me know in the comments!

Strangely apt.

Download: Produced 2014.02.23

Lusipurr, editing the podcast several days later, cannot remember what transpired during its recording. Insulated by his ignorance, he fabricates the details: Durga Syn explodes, knocking out both Regg and Mel, but Brock sends in Geodude for the win!

The addictiveness of Flappy Bird comes from its insane difficulty.

It is fair to say that most people had not heard of Flappy Bird prior to its explosion of popularity at the end of January. For that reason, it will come as a shock to most people that the game was released all the way back in May of last year. The sudden exposure of both Flappy Bird and the games creator, Dong Nguyen, have also unearthed a few shady practices in regard to how developers can take a game that has fallen into obscurity, and turn it into an overnight success. Nguyen’s decision to remove his highly successful game from both the Apple and Google app stores is attributed to the disruption of his simple life. Criticisms have been leveled against him of similarities between his game and other works that have come before it.

The most obvious are the pipes that form the obstacles of the game. They look like they could have been ripped out of Super Mario World, except they have not. They are original, although uncreative, sprites. Mario disappears down pipes, everyone knows that. Those pipes are green, and the best way for anyone to convey that something is a pipe is to colour it green for instant recognition. That being said, any number of other obstacles could have been used to gate progression during play, perhaps something more relevant to the bird that does the flapping, like trees for example.

Dominating the mobile market, it is no surprise that Flappy Bird has spawned several imitators to its crown, but the games itself has similarities to another that has come before it, Piou Piou. While yes, both games are about avoiding obstacles on a constantly moving screen, that is where the similarities end. The obstacles in Piou Piou are not lethal like they are in Flappy Bird, nor are the gaps quite as narrow. Death comes from being pushed off the edge of the screen when failing to dodge quick enough. Also, gravity is more of an issue in Flappy Bird, forcing the player to tap the screen more often and therefore make more mistakes. As the game goes on, the pace begins to pick up in Piou Piou and eventually becomes impossible to continue, whereas the difficulty never increases in Flappy Bird, leading to a more skill-based game.

The Pokemon formula changes little between iterations.

So, while Flappy Bird is not very creative, it is an original piece of software that has enough difficulty to drive people insane while keeping them coming back for more. But creativity is something that people continually ask for, yet the market seldom seems to want. Pokemon is such a strong brand that it can sell hardware as well as software, yet the core game has changed little between its iterations. Yes, there are quality of life changes and improvements to the gameplay with each new title, as well as a host of new Pokemon with each generation, but nothing is radically different. If the RPG mechanics were removed and people had to rely on skill rather than better stats, would the game still be as popular?

Games cannot get away with blatant theft though, as the developers of Limbo of the Lost discovered when people realised that the game contained assets from no fewer than ten other sources. These were not coincidental texture usages, but complete architecture theft in some cases. Despite spending thirteen years in development, the game was pulled shortly after its American debut. Duke Nukem never had it that bad.

At the end of the day, Flappy Bird is no longer available for most of us to play, short of spending a few thousand on eBay. Nguyen will continue to reap the benefits from people who still have access to it, and for now is free to continue developing more games in relative peace. Until the next big thing comes along, the internet will continue to simultaneously rage over not being able to play the game, and not wanting to play a rip-off.

Have you played Flappy Bird? Do you think it needed more creativity? Does the mobile market lack creativity in general? Let me know in the comments!

Celebrate the holiday by transferring Pokemon!

Oh joy, Christmas is here again. This year, it falls on a Wednesday, which means I have to write the Christmas day post. Anyone expecting a post filled with seasonal celebrations and merriment must be very new to the site, because although it is that time of the year when most people visit relatives and buy expensive gifts for one another, I treat it like any other day. My family has far too many birthdays around the holiday for us to feel like making an effort for Christmas as well, so we do not. Aside from splashing out on a few gifts for my children, I do not do much to celebrate Christmas. On the day itself, I can usually be found on my computer or PlayStation the entire day. Today is no different and I will explain why.

Anyone who plays World of Warcraft will have some kind of horror story about how a looking for raid group wiped on a boss. The damage dealers blame the tanks for not holding aggro, the tanks blame the healers for not keeping them alive, and the healers blame the rest of the raid for not following tactics. This could happen to any one of us 99% of the year. On Christmas day though, people tend to be a little more forgiving.

In the EU, raid lockouts reset on a Wednesday. Today. Christmas day. A whole bunch of people that do not have much else to do will log in and attempt to kill bosses together on Christmas day solely because they have the ability to clear a raid again. Even guildies will log on, run a dungeon or scenario, and wish everyone a merry Christmas. Azeroth gets just a little bit more cheerful. Scandinavian countries celebrate the holiday for three days, so EU realms are in the festive spirit for longer than our friends across the Atlantic Ocean. This is perfect for those whose families get into arguments over the holiday.

There is more to celebrate than just Christmas. Steam sales are back and are draining my bank account as I write this. The Pokemon app will be available in just two short days. I have been hard at work this year trying to collect them all, and when the transfers are complete, I will be short a mere twelve Pokemon from my collection.

So, even for someone who plans to spend all their time in front of a computer screen, there are still many reasons to enjoy the holiday, even if one does not celebrate the day. Merry Christmas Lusifans, and have a happy new year!

There’s a good reason this logo gives me warm childhood memories.

Nintendo is the oldest company in gaming, and in many regards it really shows. Commonly referred to as “conservative” and “frugal”, much about Nintendo’s business strategy is slow to change. But how did some of their positions in the video game industry take root in the first place? This week, I shall attempt to examine Nintendo’s position as the “kid’s company” of the industry. This moniker is one that has earned Nintendo equal parts praise and insult. Since their breakout success in this industry with the Famicom/NES, Nintendo has hewed close to a specific target demographic and regularly rubbed up against attempts to stray further up the age brackets. One of the earliest and most popular examples of this is in the SNES build of Mortal Kombat where the blood effects were recolored to look like sweat.

It would probably make for a nice story to suggest that Nintendo’s affiliation with children’s games stems from their lead talent and their design choices. Shigeru Miyamoto does often seem to design games well suited for children, after all. Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokemon and founder of Game Freak, is another cornerstone of Nintendo software also aimed at a younger crowd. It might then follow that Nintendo aims for a younger gamer because its games and game creators are best suited for them. This, however, I find ignores how figures like Miyamoto and Tajiri got picked up by Nintendo in the first place. Looking for talent to further Nintendo’s new video games venture before the NES, then-president of the company Hiroshi Yamauchi chose Miyamoto for his raw creative abilities. This creativity would prove to lend itself well in a field where extreme limitations would demand a creative mind (as I wrote about previously). From those early days, of simpler contemporaries the likes of Pong and Colecovision, the NES would see the home console market boom and bring video games into the home and out of public spaces like bars or arcade halls. This, in turn, would expose a much younger crowd to gaming and give rise to the prime target demographic for a new and whimsical electronic toy. With the average age of gamers at the youngest it would ever be, Nintendo enjoyed massive success and formed a great deal of its franchises and strategies during this time throughout the life cycles of the NES and SNES. By then, firmly entrenched in their ways, Nintendo would seek out Game Freak founder Satoshi Tajiri and later buy majority control of his company. Yamauchi was brilliant at culling the necessary talent for the time and these men, among many others, proved to be the right talent at the right time.

Moving forward, in the twilight of Yamauchi’s tenure and after his company’s fall from pole position with the release of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo would show signs of wavering on their old strategies. With exclusive games that aimed at a decidedly older crowd, Nintendo would begin to question their position as a content creator and distributor primarily for the child demographic. Prominent examples include Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and most tellingly The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Later examples exist on the GameCube, a system that further tested the resolve of Nintendo’s strategies, but I think the development of Majora’s Mask marked a kind of “low point” (to say nothing of quality, as I adore the game) wherein Nintendo was willing to really test new waters. It may not seem like the most adult or extreme example of a game on a Nintendo platform, but to allow development of a mainline flagship title like Zelda to dabble in darker tones was a big move for them. The first title in the series not directed by Miyamoto, instead by the now-current series director Eiji Aonuma, Nintendo took a big risk on this entry in the franchise and in some regards it did not pay off. Though critically praised, Majora’s Mask would only hit sales numbers half as good as Ocarina of Time‘s. These steps may seem anemic, but small steps indicate big ideas bubbling under the surface at a company like Nintendo and it would take a great deal to shift them from their original trajectory.

Majora’s Mask marked an odd time for Nintendo, but not one that lasted very long.

As much as the N64 and GameCube may have tested Nintendo’s resolve, neither console’s lackluster performance would prove enough for Nintendo to give up on the younger markets. All along their console missteps, Nintendo’s handheld business had been booming ever since the original Game Boy and remained essentially unchallenged in their market space. Indeed the home of Pokemon would prove for Nintendo that their image as a kid’s game company was lucrative and foreseeably evergreen. Though the game industry has since begun catering to older and older gamers, with the average age now sitting somewhere in the mid thirties, Nintendo has found themselves as the only demonstrably dedicated child friendly console maker and game publisher. And with a name still synonymous with video games, they have a brand and legacy all too easily tapped into to appeal to parents of young children. Perhaps that legacy is a bit of a curse (something I will expand on later), but Nintendo has even cemented themselves as the console maker no one expects to push the technological limit. Once truer of their handheld division, as Gunpei Yokoi’s mantra of “lateral thinking with withered technology” is how he crafted success with the Game Boy, Nintendo has adhered the philosophy more completely to their home console designs of late.

I still feel like Nintendo’s home console strategy is very uncertain, but perhaps it is not any more so than the state of console gaming is uncertain. Many outside factors threaten to change both the handheld and console markets and it is Nintendo’s plight to navigate these changes as much as it is their competitor’s, though it should be interesting to see if a company as rigid as Nintendo is up to the challenge. Whatever the industry faces, Nintendo’s past as a hardware and software producer for children is as certain as it has been profitable.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s strategy? I never even mentioned the new 2DS, a move aimed squarely at children. Is this a course Nintendo can continue to chart or will they have to give in to their older fan’s demands if they hope to survive? But if the WiiU is any indication, Nintendo needs to pick a path and stick to it!

The completion of Black 2 had eluded me for a year while my enthusiasm was missing.

Some readers may remember last year when I wrote about my efforts to catch ALL the Pokémon. Well, it has been over a year now and I really did not get a lot further. When I wrote the post I had collected 412 Pokémon across the five generations. Today, that same cartridge holds 486. Somewhere down the line the task became far more tedious than I realised it would be, and I had to take a break. Black 2 and White 2 had an imminent release impending, and I did not want to be burnt out by the time they became available. Sadly though, that is what happened.

There are a few legendary Pokémon that can only be obtained from events, but a great deal are scattered throughout generation four and five games. To collect them all would require either someone giving me their irreplaceable companions, or purchasing and playing an additional four games; Pearl, Soul Silver, White, and Black 2. Excluding Platinum, I would have ended up owning all the games available for the DS. Then there is the time needed to play each game to completion, an estimated twenty hours per game (totaling eighty plus hours), before I can even start collecting most of the legendary Pokémon that I still need. Needless to say, this project which had started out rather fun, soon drained me of my enthusiasm. That was, until X and Y were released.

Soon I will have all six generations of starters in one game.

The ease of leveling Pokémon in this new generation is a downfall when focusing on a single experience playing through the game, but it becomes a major boost to any collectors who need to fill out their Pokédex with some high level evolutions. Playing through Y got me excited all over again to carry on the project I had started a year ago, so much so, that I picked up White 2 again and captured every legendary I could. I even acquired White to carry on the momentum, but then I had to stop. For all I had done to progress in my quest, I still could not move my Pokémon into the sixth generation because Nintendo have not yet released the app with the functionality to do so.

So here I sit, waiting, hoping that I still care this much when Nintendo manages to release the Pokébank for the 3DS. X and Y have as much content as the older generations, but most can be breezed through with the overpowered team that is easily built while playing. The life of the sixth generation will be massively extended with the ability to move Pokémon across, and I hope it renews the obsession I have with the series. I can live with missing a few event only Pokémon, but the rest of the list demands to be filled.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo releasing the Pokébank app two months after the games? What is the closest you have managed to catching em’ all? Let me know in the comments!

This is a picture of Paul Giamatti. Not Ethos.

Do not ever believe that I am truly gone, LusiSprites. Just when it appeared as though my guest-column stint was over and as all LusiDenizens prepared to breathe a collective sigh of relief, I have returned with a brand new weekly feature! Of course, the term “brand new” is a little massaged, as it is possible that this format is not entirely new to me. Also, this is probably – without resorting to the hyperbolic – my one hundred thousandth time returning to write for the site, so perhaps this was expected after all.

For those who do not follow my every exploit, this new column is meant to be something of a companion piece to our very own SiliconNooB’s distinctive weekly piece. While he editorializes the news to hilarious and devastating effect, my column aims to present “topics of interest” to indulgant and eye-rolling effect. Because by “topic of interest”, I obviously mean “topics of interest to Ethos”. Because that is what I do anyway, so we decided that we might as well harness the narcissism instead of trying to fight it.

But enough preamble, let us dive right in!

Pokémon! Obviously.

While I have been downloading all my Nintendo games recently, the release of Pokémon X and Y is a different beast entirely. Armed with the confidence that I did better than I ever had before in terms of avoiding information about the game, I walked down to the closest EB Games for the midnight launch to pick up two physical copies. I thought it would take me just under thirty minutes, but I underestimated both the busyness of downtown game store locations and the incredible popularity of Pokémon. After being constantly mocked by insecure dudebros on their way to drink their brains out at horrible clubs, the line finally shifted inside the store and I could finally discuss my anticipation with strange nerds in an effort to make the time pass more quickly.

It did not help that EB Games is horrible and used the fact that we were all trapped in a line to make sales pitches to us. I finally left with my copies after two excruciating hours. The games themselves may or may not have been worth it.

“Bubble people” only a problem during fade outs

Wind Waker HD Is Baller

For all of their infinitely confusing large-scale decisions, Nintendo continues to produce exceptional software. Wind Waker HD is just a port of sorts, but Nintendo’s attention to detail shines through in Aonuma’s attempt to truly realize his original vision for the title. If nothing else, Wind Waker HD proves that Zelda is a series that would utilize higher power and better resolution better than most others. Too bad that Nintendo itself seems to insist on keeping their technology about a decade behind the times. Anyhoo, I still think Skyward Sword and Majora’s Mask are better, but this version definitely bolsters my opinion of the title.

Tales of Still Not Suck

Graces f was apparently not a one-off. Tales of Xillia has been a surprisingly deep game, both in terms of story and gameplay. Character design and voices are still heavy cause for eye-rolling, but the Final Fantasy XII-esque world and deceptively layered characters make this an extremely promising entry. Perhaps Tales is a series that can grow with its audience, however slowly.

Back to Pokémon! Obviously.

Remember when I mentioned that I picked up two copies at the midnight launch of Pokémon? Well that is because this version was my attempt to get my girlfriend into the series. Despite being a gamer herself, she never really gave the series a true chance. She agreed that she would give the series a proper shake when I said I would buy her a copy. And – of course – the combined power of an already great series with the streamlined opening of X and Y was too much for her and now I have yet another converted Pokémon junkie. Where is my referral cheque?

PS4? More like PSNOPE!

Nothing really to say here except that now that I have the money to get a PS4 on launch day, it is too late to guarantee myself a console. Oh well, I would probably just play Assassin’s Creed on it anyway.

Well folks, that is it! I hope the return of Ethos has been appropriately underwhelming. I will be back next week with another jumbled collection of my gaming thoughts for the week. I will leave you with my final word.

Ethos’ Final Word: Pokémon, doofuses

This game is going to be absolutely massive.

Ah, September is here at last. Most of my fellow Americans are excited for cooler weather and the return of American football, but not me. Living in Arizona, I do not get the luxury of cooler weather until sometime in late November, if I am lucky. As for football, I can think of many other things that I would rather do than watch hours of the sport, one of which involves a long stick and my asshole. I look forward to September because, for me, it brings the height of anticipation with it. Summer always brings a long drought in terms on new releases, and this year was no exception, but now that September is here, I can attempt to prepare myself for the onslaught that is October and November.

With Grand Theft Auto V, Pokémon X/Y, and the PlayStation 4 all set to release in the next three months, it is shaping up to be a huge fourth quarter, not just for me, but for millions of gamers. The most difficult part of the lead up to an anticipated game’s release is not inundating myself with every morsel of news about the game. With every video game site having a preview article, this can be easier said than done. While I did my best to avoid Pokemon X/Y news for as long as possible, the announcement of mega evolutions made me crack. Grand Theft Auto V has been a similar beast, but I do not have the same self-imposed ban on news, mainly because such a ban would have chained me to CatFancy for a few months.

In an effort to take my mind off the impending releases, I have begun to play one of the many games I have yet to conquer, Persona 3 Portable. P3P has proven to be a great choice for me as it is a game that requires many hours to complete, and has the added bonus of collecting personas in an attempt to fill my personadex…er, I mean, my compendium. As much as I am enjoying my time with Persona 3 Portable, I fear that it may fall by the wayside once I get my hands on Pokémon X/Y. I may be just a bit late jumping on the Persona bandwagon, but they truly are great games for people who enjoy JRPGs. The added bonus of having them all available for the PS Vita is fantastic as they translate well to the handheld.

Persona 3 Portable is a fantastic game, but it will probably lose to Pokemon in October.

Grand Theft Auto V and Pokémon X/Y are huge releases, but they pale in comparison to the November release of the PS4 and the Xbone. All the tactics in the world would fail at insulating a gamer from the deluge of next-gen console news. While I do not plan to join the PlayStation 4 army at launch, I can not help but get a bit caught up in all the hype that is going on. The release of new consoles is always exciting, but I am most looking forward to the fallout of everything that has happened over the last nine months. It is fun to read the news articles and make premature predictions, but the true enjoyment will come late this year. Between Nintendo’s failures, Microsoft’s u-turns, and Sony’s trolling, the stage has been set for some November excitement, and not the kind I would normally expect to kick off a pair of console launches.

October and November have been favored months for triple-a titles for quite a while now. With Christmas just around the corner, developers strive to get their title to the market with enough time to build momentum. Although gamers are punished with yearly releases like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, it does not mean all fourth-quarter releases are repetitive bullshit. The holiday season has become the time for large developers to either shock or disappoint, and this year is no exception.

The anticipation for a game can strike at anytime during the year. I find it hits me the hardest during these later months because of all the titles lined up. As any gamer knows, some years present more difficult waiting games that others. This year is proving to be one of those years for me, but I take solace in knowing that my anticipated titles are weeks, not months, away. In the mean time, I’m going to kick back and try to power through Persona 3 Portable while other people go insane.

What are some of the titles you are looking forward to the most this holiday season? Do you have any tactics you employ to make the wait seem more bearable or do you have extreme patience? Lastly, what game(or console) were you hyped up the most leading up to its release?

The same feeling that I get when I realize that I missed something in a game.

I am a completionist. I am not the type of obsessive-compulsive completionist that has a nervous breakdown knowing that I will need to capture over seven hundred Pokémon if I am to become a master of Pokémon X/Y, but I do get quite a bit of enjoyment knowing that I have seen all a game has to offer. The same enjoyment that I get from completely beating a game also can cause me a fair amount of stress during the journey to my goal. Missable items, branching paths, and multiple endings all lend to the headache that is attaining one hundred percent in a game.

The first game that brought out this trait in me was Donkey Kong Country. From the moment I saw the percentage sign next to my save game, I knew I wanted to hit one hundred. Due to my desire to get everything, Donkey Kong Country became the first of many games that I bought a strategy guide for. Since I did not turn ten until 1997, I had ample time to plow through many Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games in my preferred manner. Soon, the rest of the Donkey Kong Country series was under my belt, along with Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario 64, and Banjo-Kazooie, to name a few. With the help of my strategy guides, there was not one game that could best me in my quest for one hundred percent.

September 30, 1998 marked my introduction to the Pokémon series, and was also the first game that threatened to put a dent in my completionist armor. Pokémon proved to be quite the beast, but part of the beauty of being an eleven-year-old is that I was not expected to do much more than homework and a few chores, and once those minor obstacles were out of the way, I was back on my way to capturing more of the monsters. After a mere one hundred twenty hours, a few trades with my brother, and some skipped homework assignments, I had finally caught my last monster, Dragonite. Pokémon was the first game that took triple-digit hours for me to complete, but it also prepared me for future RPGs.

As I began to delve deeper into the RPG genre, I found myself having to deal with the dreaded “missable item”. These items caused quite a few restarts in my pursuit of perfection of some classic games. While some “missables” were ridiculous to obtain, like grinding Limit Breaks with a useless character just to get her last one, only for her to be killed minutes later by Sephiroth (Thanks, Obama), others did not require much effort to obtain, but missing them would stick in the back of my mind. Once again, thanks to my youth, I had the me the flexibility to restart a game just to make sure I got my hands on that pesky item the second time.

Final Fantasy has always had lots of side quests, but XII went to the extreme.

Unfortunately, the sixth generation was extremely unkind to me. While the first couple of years were fine, I turned sixteen in 2003, and had to get a job. Soon, my shelves were stocked with new video games, just begging to be played, but the time constraints of school and work meant they would be untouched for weeks, sometimes months. This was also around the time that developers begun packing in extra content like mad. Games like Final Fantasy XII and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas offered hours of extra content to keep me busy. This was all in addition to my addiction to the Pokémon series, although I have never attempted to catch all the monsters since Pokémon Red. This was the generation that I begun to learn that a perfect playthrough is not always good for my sanity.

Needless to say, I still love it when I have time to complete a game, but it is rare when the opportunity presents itself. Now, games are stuffed with more content than ever, sometimes to the point where even experiencing half the content is a feat. Skyrim is a perfect example of this and I expect Grand Theft Auto V will be a similar beast. Two other commonly found things games today have also helped change my mindset, glitches and lengthy opening sequences. I have written about both of these items in the past, and they both have contributed to the abandoning of my former mentality. Glitches are the reason I stopped playing Saints Row 4 after only seven hours, completing a story quest four times only to have it negated by a glitch each time is infuriating.

The idea for this article came to me as I was restarting Persona 3 Portable for a third time due to a missed social link trigger. Knowing that the game is a hundred-hour affair, erasing three hours of progress seemed like a small sacrifice to me. The road of a completionist is not easy and I do not strive for it like I used to, but it is still quite rewarding for me to know that I have completed a game to the fullest extent. Have you ever restarted a game because you missed a single item? Do you prefer to blaze through a game’s story or do you play in a similar manner to me?

If this was the only glitch in Skyrim, the game would be breathtaking.

Just like any type of software, video games carry glitches. The complexity of the programming behind video games often leads to hundreds of bugs and glitches in even the highest of budget games. While glitches have been around since the beginning of gaming, many newer games seem overloaded with all types of glitches. Glitches come in varying degrees of severity, with many being annoying, but harmless. Other glitches have been known to make games unbeatable, or worse, unplayable. While companies are usually quick to patch these programming errors, many times one can not help but wonder how so many bugs made it into what is supposed to be a finished product.

My first memorable experience with a glitch was with the infamous Missingno from Pokémon Red. Nintendo Power documented the glitch back in May of 1999, about eight months after the release of Pokémon Red and Blue. The blossoming popularity of the series, Nintendo Power‘s coverage, and the Internet all played into the widespread awareness, and misunderstanding of the the glitch. Missingno would prove to be only the tip of the glitch iceberg for the initial releases of the Pokémon series, as many more glitches have been uncovered in the games. For many people, me included, Pokémon Red and Blue hold a special spot in their heart, not only because they were the first titles in this great series, but also because the plethora of glitches allow for many ways to replay the games.

The transition to the 3-D era was not kind to developers. Suddenly, the former 2-D worlds were given depth, no longer was Mario running against a flat background, now he was running around in a 3-D world. While both the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation had their share of glitchy games, the Nintendo 64 sticks out as worse of the two. Many Nintendo 64 games suffered from graphical glitches, in large part due to Nintendo’s decision to use cartridges over optical media. The limited ROM and texture size often led to developers stretching low-resolution textures, resulting in boundaries that were quite easy to break. These graphical glitches, combined with other gameplay glitches, have made some Nintendo 64 games hugely popular in the speed running community.

Breaking through the boundaries can have some unique consequences.

As games have gotten even more complex and loaded with more content, the quality testing process has seemingly took the backseat. Mel touched upon this in his article: Progress for the Sake of Progress? I echo Mel’s sentiments that patches are becoming a crutch for developers to lean on, allowing them to ship games with minimal bug testing taking place, effectively turning the consumers into bug testers. Studios like Bethesda and Rockstar have released some of the largest games this generation. Said games have also featured more than a handful of game-breaking glitches. At times, I have wondered if Bethesda and Rockstar simply opted to ax the entire testing department and use the budget space on developing even more broken content.

While a game devoid of glitches is next to impossible, developers should still strive to deliver a product that is as close to perfect as possible. While glitches can be entertaining, it does feel like a bit of a slap in the face when the game I just dropped sixty dollars on has multiple glitches in my first thirty minutes of playing. What is even more frustrating is when I am unable to play a new game because it is such a wreck that it needs an immediate patch. The Obsidian developed, Bethesda produced Fallout New Vegas was released to an excited fan base that were instantly disappointed when it became clear that the game should have been delayed a month. To give an idea how many bugs Fallout New Vegas had, the mod project Mission Mojave has continued to patch the game long after the last official patch. The latest release of Mission Mojave has twenty-seven thousand bug fixes that were not fixed with the official patches.

With no foreseeable end for large, complex games, I do not anticipate a changing of the guard anytime soon. Developers are all too willing to take a bit of criticism over bugs at launch if it means avoiding a delay. One day, everything may come to a breaking point. One company will push too far, probably by releasing a game that will freeze the moment the title screen hits. The aftermath of such a move would hopefully involve gamers becoming fed up with being unpaid bug testers. If anything, my initial experience with Skyrim taught me that purchasing games at launch is often a bad idea in the era of patches. How have glitches and bugs altered your gaming experience? Have you ever ran into a glitch that enhanced your gaming experience? Does watching Super Mario 64 get beat in six minutes ruin your childhood like it did mine?

How I feel when Warcraft will not hold my attention. This happens more often these days.

Some days it can be hard to sit down and choose a game to play. With the abundance of new releases nowadays, the temptation is always there to purchase a new game on day one. Who does not like the smell of a new instruction manual? Half played games fall to the wayside for exciting new encounters, and so a backlog of unfinished games starts to build up. Is this then why, when faced with a whole day to play games, some of us end up spending more time choosing what to play than actually playing something?

My story starts early on my day off. My usual go to game is World of Warcraft, but as it is the day before raid lockouts reset, I have already progressed as much as I can on my character for the week. I do have a second account to play with Lusipurr on the American servers, though any progress I make their will mean there is less that he and I can do together when he has time to sit down and play. This leaves me with a difficult choice; what game should I play instead of Warcraft?

There are a few games that I will play for a few minutes here and there, flash-based browser games and iPhone titles. Each of these can be played for hours on end, but do not give a sense of fulfillment that some larger titles give. Maybe it is because I am unable to gain achievements in these games that I give them less weight than other titles, or maybe it is because few of my friends will ever play them. I spend most of my gaming time playing by myself, even in online games, though I can always hop on Ventrillo or Skype and chat to friends who play the same games as me. Playing something different to everyone else means they mostly get an explanation of the game I am playing, though if we are all playing the same game we can share stories of our adventures and little details instantly recognisable.

Book of Heroes is good for half an hour of time wasting, but it will not fill a day of gaming.

So, this left me looking for something a little more ‘meatier’ to play. I lost progress in many of PlayStation collection last year when my PS3 broke, including Skyrim and Final Fantasy XIII-2. By now most of the plot of these games have been spoiled for me, but I have always wanted to experience them for myself. The trouble is, when faced with huge worlds like these, it can be hard to muster the effort required to play them through until the end. Knowing that I have to go back to the usual (but enjoyable) grind in Warcraft the next day, I try to avoid anything that would take me longer than a couple of days to play. This rules out the majority of my PS3 collection, and any game I would want to play there.

This leaves me with my handheld systems. I have had a project in the works for a while to collect as many pokémon as I can and put them into one cartridge. This is a goal I can spend most of the day doing, then leave it until I have another day free to pick up again. With a new generation of the Pokémon franchise out in three months, I should be preparing to transfer my 500+ pokémon over to one of the new titles. A quick scan of my collection shows that most of my collection either requires hours of grinding to obtain evolutions, or starting games from scratch to collect rare pokémon. Again, this task gets left until I have the enthusiasm to spend time playing through another whole game.

So, what did I learn from my day of not playing games? First, I should put off buying more games until I finish the ones I have. Secondly, I should get out of the house when I am off work, maybe that would encourage me to play my handhelds more often. Lastly, MMOs are not quite as addictive as one might think. Well, the school holidays are right around the corner, and my days off will be filled with needs of my children, so this will not be a problem for much longer.

What about you readers? Do you suffer from having too many games to play? Are you plagued by indecision? Let me know in the comments!

Just seeing the box art brings back memories.

This year will see the release of the next generation of Pokémon games, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. Along with starting the sixth generation this year, Pokémon will also be turning seventeen years old. Pokémon is a series that I have followed religiously since it was first announced that the greedy Japanese would allow it to come to America. This week, I will be taking a look back at the main series of Pokémon and how its evolution (pun intended) has shaped the series into what it is today.

My first game in the series was Pokémon Red, a game that devoured close to two hundred hours of my young life. Granted, that was when I was ten years old, an age that allowed me copious amounts of video game time. This first generation of Pokémon brought a number of things that would be copied for years to come, foremost being the collection aspect. Collecting trinkets in the RPG genre was nothing new, but Pokémon took it to the next level. Not only did you aim to “Catch ‘Em All” but it was vital to progress through the game. Many gym leaders could prove extremely tough if your Pokémon team had a type disadvantage to that gym’s type. The huge initial explosion of popularity in Pokémon led to many other games trying to capture the same magic. Some games, like Robopon, did not attempt to hide that they borrowed liberally from Pokémon, but none of the clones came close to matching Pokémon‘s popularity.

Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver aimed to take all that made Red and Blue great and expand upon it. A pair of new types, Pokémon breeding, and one hundred more monsters were just some of the features that the second generation brought the series. Gold and Silver also featured significantly longer adventures than their predecessors as they allowed players to travel back to the Kanto region as a second part to the adventure. Due to Gold and Silver being able to trade with Red and Blue, trainers could take their favorite team along for the new journey.

Ruby and Sapphire marked the movement of the series to a new console, the Game Boy Advance. This move to the Game Boy Advance meant that Pokémon masters would not be able to carry over their beloved monsters from earlier generations to the new generation, something that aggravated many. This problem was eventually remedied with remakes of the original games in the forms of Fire Red and Leaf Green. Another negative thing that the third generation brought was version-exclusive legendary Pokémon. While each version in the series had always had exclusive Pokémon, this would be the first time that a player had to trade to obtain a legendary Pokémon. The downside is that the rarity of the legendary Pokémon often meant that many players could not have both exclusive legendary Pokémon on one cartridge, unless that person had an easily persuaded younger brother (like me). Besides these negative aspects, the third generation deepened the mechanics of battles by introducing abilities and reworking the IV system that was found in the earlier games.

Stupid girl, there are 649 Pokémon now!

The move to the DS brought the series better graphics, many more features, and, of course, more Pokémon. With the Pokémon count just under five hundred, many wondered just how the hell would it be possible to catch all the beasts when the only trading option was friends that lived nearby. The answer to this was the Global Trade Station, which allowed players all over the world to trade with one another. Along with allowing players to trade across the world, the fourth generation also brought Wi-Fi battling to the Pokémon universe. As great as this sounded, it was hamstrung because of Friend Codes. Despite this hurdle, the competitive battling scene was quite thankful for the ability to test their teams against trainers across the world.

With Black and White, GameFreak attempted to give players the same thrill they got the first time they popped in Red or Blue into their Game Boy. Set in a region far away from the earlier generations, the fifth generation is notable because each Pokémon encountered is brand new. Pokémon trainers that had long tired of being assaulted by Geodudes and Zubats in caves would momentarily be relieved when they realized that Roggenrola and Woobat had replaced them. New Pokémon aside, Black and White brought a ton of more features and changes to go along with a huge update to the graphics. Pokémon battles in the past featured largely static sprites, however the fifth generation brought new life to battles with much more animated Pokémon and moves.

While I have forced myself to abstain from most Pokémon X and Pokémon Y news, I am quite pleased with how the new battle animations are looking. It seems GameFreak is further building upon the graphical improvements brought last generation. Apart from that, I do hope that the sixth generation brings another wealth of features the same way Black and White did. The true beauty of the Pokémon series is that despite being around for nearly two decades, it still retains the magic that made the first games so special. Even a metric ton of spin-off games does not take away from the shine that the main series has. The future appears strong for Pokémon, and come this October, I will dive into yet another Pokémon adventure, will you?

Get your Diablo 2 out of my Baldur’s Gate!

Hello, Lusinazis! In a strange turn this week, I shall not be bashing EA or feminists like Tim. While Mr. Che the Fey rapidly hammers out his “Games are Racist” manifesto (I am looking forward to tomorrow’s article, Tim!), I will be talking about something a bit less serious, but much more important, modding. Modding has been around for quite some time, and has been something that PC owners gloat about to their console-locked friends ever since its beginning. The increasing complexity of games has giving way to mod tools that are capable of generating equally complex user-created content without much difficulty. Today, it seems that the only limitation placed on modders is not their skill but rather their imagination.

Modding early PC games posed quite the task to the early trailblazers. Games like Doom and Quake did come with a suite of modding tools for fans to utilize like today’s games. Still, this lack of resources did not hinder the creativity of the public. Through vast amounts of trial and error, experimentation, and communicating with peers, many impressive mods were distributed on the internet. Some of these mods garnered their respective creators a vast amount of notoriety. In fact, two of Valve’s biggest series, Team Fortress and Counter-Strike, began as mods of Quake and Half-Life, respectively. These releases impressed Valve so much, that they would later hire the development teams behind both mods.

Games that have large modding communities can experience an unprecedented level of longevity, Diablo 2 being a perfect example. Released in the year 2000, Diablo 2 was insanely successful, taking home awards from many different gaming publications. This success helped grow the Diablo 2 mod community to epic proportions, leading to a veritable sea of mods. These mods varied from the simple, like additional weapons, to full-blown overhauls of the game. Apart from helping maintain Diablo 2‘s popularity early on, the modding community also allowed for a sustained level of popularity that continues on even today, thirteen years after the game’s release. When Diablo 3 was announced, many fans were disappointed to hear that the inclusion of a Real Money Auction house would mean that not only would the game require an internet connecton, but also that modding the game would not be allowed. Some fans of the series even chose to stick with Diablo 2 because of this.

What is better than having friends?

While modding is not normally available to console gamers, many people have taken to ROM hacking. ROM hacking is a form of modding where the additional features are hard coded to the game’s data. Games like Super Mario World and the Pokemon series are particularly popular with the ROM hacking community. While official hacking tools are never released for these titles, that has not stopped the hacking community from developing their own. Due to the nature of ROM hacking, most hacks aim to be full overhauls or translations of a game rather than adding a few small changes. On the console side of gaming, almost all hacks are developed for the SNES and PSX eras of gaming. Consoles from these eras can easily be emulated on a computer, something that is vital when dealing with ROMs. The story is quite different for handhelds as even DS titles are extremely popular to hackers.

Sometimes, a quality hack can even produce a game that is more fun than the base of the hack. A hack of Pokemon: Heart Gold/Soul Silver that goes by the title of “Pokemon: Sacred Gold/Storm Silver” surpasses the original in quality, quite the feat for anybody that has played the it. Instead of attempting to rewrite the story, the creator focused on other aspects of the games. Along with being more difficult, all 493 Pokemon are available without the need of another game, meaning even the anti-social can satiate their need to “Catch ‘Em All”. Many other features have been added to these hacks, but not at the expense of the core story experience of the original game, resulting in a fantastic way to play even if it is one’s first time playing the game.

Wait, what the hell is a car doing in Skyrim?

With so many great things that modding is capable of bringing, it should be expected that there would be some sort of drawback to counter the greatness. The truth is that modding presents very little in terms of drawbacks, and the drawbacks that do exist are usually mere annoyances. One drawback is that modding can make multiplayer in games like Torchlight 2 a bit difficult because both players must be using the same mods. Single-player games like Skyrim can present a difficult decision for gamers that have both a mid-level PC and a console as they may have to pick between mods and a better graphical experience. The last drawback has to do with the more ambitious mods that set out to completely mod a game. Many times great mods are abandoned in an unfinished state because their creator underestimated the level of dedication required to complete a full overhaul mod.

The number of companies that release mod tools has been steadily growing this generation. I hope that this trend continues as mods can be an excellent way to add free content to a game. Some larger companies worry that promoting modding will cut into DLC purchases. While modding combats retarded DLC like vanity items, companies like Bethesda and Fireaxis have proven that modding works well with DLC that is focused on story and gameplay content. I hope that the next era of consoles can finally bring modding to the living room, and with consoles becoming closer to PC, this may become a reality. Now, LusiHitlers, how have mods/hacks altered your experience with a game? Also, do you feel that modding will be the next of the PC-exclusive features to fall?

Ni no Kuni Box Art

Ni no Kuni is many things; part Pokémon, part Dragon Quest, all JRPG. As a joint venture between Studio Ghibli and Level-5, the game features a cast of memorable characters (not always for the right reasons) as well as excellent visuals and animation. Both companies are highly regarded for their quality products in their field, so expectations ran high for this title. While it does measure up to a degree, it is let down slightly by simple oversights that could have otherwise made a brilliant game.

The story begins in the small town of Motorville, a quiet place that likes its cars. Slipping out late one night, Oliver heads to meet his friend Phil to test a new vehicle he has created. Things do not go as planned though, as a broken wheel soon sends Oliver straight into the nearby lake. Thankfully his mother, who was out searching for him, was close at hand to rescue her boy before he could drown. Sadly, the stress of the situation causes her already weak heart to give out, but not before she manages to give some final words to her son. As Oliver spends days crying over the death of his mother, his tears magically awaken a stuffed toy she had once given him. This toy is none other than the Lord High Lord of the Fairies, Mr. Drippy, who teaches Oliver the spell necessary to travel to the other world where he might be able to save his mother.

The other world is full of magic and monsters. It is not long before Oliver is taught the spells needed to fix the brokenhearted. This mechanic forms the majority of the tasks that Oliver has to perform as residents of both worlds have been affected by evil magic. It is while learning these spells that Oliver is taught how to summon familiars, small Pokémon-like creatures that Oliver is eventually able to tame during battle. All battles in the game are fought using a party of three characters, and any character can be substituted for one of the three familiars they are able to summon. Familiars can be freely swapped between characters and a limited number of reserves outside of combat.

Ni no Kuni features simple action based combat.

Catching new familiars is handled by the second character to join the party, Esther. As only she is capable of taming the wild beasts, Esther needs to be kept alive long enough to tame them. As long as the monster does not run away during this process, success is guaranteed. However, Esther can only tame monsters that want to join the party, and there is no method to make them want to join. It is all based on chance when the beast is about to die, often requiring many battles to collect even the most common familiar. In combat there is nothing to indicate if a monster has already been tamed, frequently causing double-ups to be obtained.

The combat in Ni no Kuni does not offer much challenge. On normal (the highest difficulty) regular battles do not require much more strategy than mashing the attack button, then topping up health after combat. As only one character can be controlled at a time, the AI can be set to perform certain roles during combat. The AI will also ignore any harmful effects on the floor, sometimes killing themselves while on low health. Mr. Drippy will jump in during boss battles to offer ‘helpful’ advice on how to defeat the enemy. This is usually as obvious as “defend against X attack” or “Use fire on this ice beast”.

The training wheels never feel like they come off in this game, as Mr. Drippy will offer clues for each magic-based puzzle. The answers to these are never very challenging, as most non-combat spells are required once or twice throughout the game and seem more to prevent areas or sections of story from being skipped. An extra level of difficulty or an option to turn off advice would have been most appreciated.

The Ghibli anime scenes compliment the cel-shaded art style.

Graphically, Ni no Kuni is absolutely gorgeous. The anime cut-scenes are of the highest quality, with the rest of the game looking as if it has leaped out of the drawings. The same art style is maintained throughout the entire game. Each town has its own theme and feels unique (if not original) and alive because of it. The level of detail in some areas is simply amazing. Enough cannot be said about how good this game looks.

The audio is equally impressive. It is composed by Joe Hisaishi and fully orchestrated by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra right down to the humblest of town themes. The voice acting is solid, though sparse. Less vocal work could have been used during combat and instead added throughout. Of particular note is the Welsh accent of Mr. Drippy, it is pleasure to hear him rambling on whenever he talks, and the subtitles reflect his accent in the style Level-5 have used in other games.

Ni no Kuni is worth picking up to play. Fans of the Dragon Quest series can expect a simpler, though action based combat. A completionist could have some trouble in acquiring all the familiars in the game. While the game may at times seem simplistic, it is still a little too complex for a child to play by themselves. This could have been the JRPG of this console generation, but its many simple flaws prevent it from being perfect.

Diablo inventory management used to be about arranging items to fit the limited space.

The most common experience of micromanagement in an RPG comes from the inventory. Limited space is often found in online games or those found on older consoles. Players can only carry so much before returning to town to vendor their hard earned loot. Sometimes this is combined with a Tetris like backpack in which items must be organised to ensure optimal use of the space. Veterans of the Diablo series understand the pain of having to find a merchant to sell to every five minutes because every pack of enemies drops something shiny. Thankfully the latest iteration of the series allows the player to carry around more items at a time, though frequent trips home are still required.

Grinding is usually found in hard games, or as a way to alleviate the difficulty of future content. Whether it is for experience, currency or drops, players need to discover how best to achieve their goal in the shortest time possible. In World of Warcraft players often need a considerable amount of materials to increase crafting professions. This requires time to gather all the materials oneself, or to earn enough gold to purchase them from other players. Whatever method is used to acquire the resources, players will have often been required to perform many repetitive actions.

Leveling up characters is compulsory for heading further into a game, but it is also another form of management. Maybe another level will award a few more stat points to allocate. Maybe it will allow a character to equip that rare weapon that dropped a few hours ago. Either way, a player often has to consider what leveling up means to a character and what benefits it brings. Pokémon uses this to great effect as a pokémon can be trained to increase specific stats upon leveling. Repeating this six times over for the perfect party is time consuming work, but is only really necessary for competitive play.

Some games limit how much that can be achieved while playing. In the recent Persona games characters can only perform a few actions each day while not in a dungeon. Players need to work out where their day is best spent for the best results later in the game. Even during the dungeon delving portions of the game players need to work efficiently. Spending too much time in the dungeon tires out a character, thus having a negative impact on the following day. Large sections of the game may need to be replayed if too much time has been devoted to socialising and not enough on dungeon crawling.

Persona allows you to spend time improving yourself outside of combat.

The RPG series that offers players the ability to manage their character to the point of being overpowered is Disgaea. A few maps in each iteration of this strategy RPG offer the player the ability to quickly level a character. High level characters can be ‘reincarnated’ starting them out at level one again, albeit with higher base stats. Repeating this process several times creates characters that become powerful very quickly. If the character was at a high enough level before reincarnating that an improved class may be unlocked further increasing that characters ability. These powerful characters can then delve deep into the item world dungeons to earn the best equipment.

The game does not stop at making characters powerful either. A piece of equipment must be chosen to enter the item world. The better the gear, the stronger the opponents inside and the better the rewards will be. Clearing floors within the item increases the power of the item itself. Each item has a rarity value with higher rarities offering a greater number of floors inside the item for a player to clear. Creating a character this powerful might seem like overkill for the final boss of the game, but it is nothing compared to the optional event bosses found in the post game.

Love it or hate it, micromanagement will part of the RPG genre for years to come. This gamer only hopes that more developers make use of it in the way that Nippon Ichi has with the Disgaea series.

How do you feel about micromanagement in RPGs? Does it give you a reason to play, or is it a turn off? Let me know in the comments!

SNES Converter

During the sixteen bit era, when Sega and Nintendo ruled the world of video games, imports were often hard to come by and usually command a hefty price. As many regulars to this site will know, I live in the UK and as such did not have the opportunity to play some of the amazing titles that remained in Japan and the US. Today, when I speak to people who imported games during that era, they often comment on how much import vendors in the UK charged for their precious cargo. It was not unusual to pay over £100 for a much wanted game, such as Chrono Trigger.

Even games that had a later release in the UK (as was often the case at the time) could fetch a small fortune. Specialists selling a US copy of Street Fighter 2 just days after its release could charge around £120 to those unwilling to wait another five months. Playing these games was not even a simple affair as in the US. A special cartridge adapter was required to bypass the lockout on UK systems. The US had no lock, requiring only the removal of a couple of tabs to allow the game to be inserted.

When internet shopping became a trend, import prices came down somewhat. Physical stores could still be charging up to twice what their online competition would. I bought a US PlayStation 2 from a specialist a year after the machine was released. I had a decent collection of games for the original PlayStation, but was missing some of the classics that never made their way to these shores. eBay soon became a site I visited almost daily. Even after filling out my PlayStation collection, I started purchasing PlayStation 2 games ahead of their UK release. A game would often only cost a fraction more than in the UK, but be available two to six months sooner.

Don’t support region locking.

Today, most games enjoy a worldwide release, or they come out within a few days of each other. Compared to the PlayStation 2 I have imported relatively few games, mainly the Disgaea series. Having multiple PlayStation network accounts across the regions means I can choose the best price, whatever currency it is in. Owners of Sony devices have never had it so good, though sadly the same cannot be said for Nintendo.

The SNES was the last console Nintendo released that was region free (in the US at least). Their handhelds have traditionally been region free, though this came to an end with the 3DS. Nintendo have long disliked the importing of their games from other regions, though have often turned a blind eye to it. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl got their release in the UK three months after the US, during this time Nintendo threatened any retailer selling import versions with cease and desist letters.

I should not leave Microsoft out. Neither of their consoles are region free, but publishers can choose to make their games region-free. PC games are difficult to lock down, though surprisingly Valve managed to enforce the lock on The Orange Box using their Steam service. Blizzard keep Warcraft and Starcraft 2 regions separate as well. Annoyingly, this also means that achievements are not shared between regions, even if an account holds the same game on multiple regions. These are rare occurrences, but it would not surprise me if Origin or Uplay decided restrict their own games somehow.

Region locking suited the industry when it was more expensive and took longer to sell games in other territories. With digital downloads readily available, companies should be doing all they can to ensure that games are only released once the appropriate ratings (and any other legal matters) have been secured across all major regions. Games should not cost the world.

Readers! Have you ever imported a game? Are there any games you wish you could play that were not available to you? Let me know in the comments!

Tetris, the king of the piecemeal gaming sessions.

So with that out of the way I would like to go over which games I find to be the best for this type of gaming style and why. At the top of this list has got to be the king of piecemeal gaming, Tetris. Most gamers have played it at work or school when they needed to kill some time. Tetris is probably the easiest pick up and play game I have on my iPhone. The great thing about Tetris is that the game is never-ending so players can keep progressing and easily track their line making skills. The sessions save themselves so I can pick them back up literally at any time ever. I remember I started playing a Tetris session in January 2012 and picked it back up again a couple months later. Another portable game that is great for piecemeal gamers is any game from the Pokémon series. With the challenge of catching all six hundred some Pokemon, a piecemeal gamer can really go to town on this one. I can just pick up the game for a few minutes to catch, train or breed some Pokemon and get closer to having them all. I do have to say that if potential piecemeal gamers are going to play Final Fantasy VI on a portable console, they can have a great time with the game. In short bursts, gamers can level their Esper abilities so that playable characters can quickly become over powered and be able to get through the game when the player so chooses.

For piecemeal gamers this is a perfect game. But for people who are more interested in a more hardcore RPG experience I would recommend the Nintendo Wii RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles. With tons of small quests in each town and the ability to save anywhere at any time, this game lends itself greatly to the piecemeal gamer. I can pick up the game, do a few quests, save, and turn the Wii off and feel like I have accomplished something. Also the story is set up with frequent breaks and “system saves” so one can continue the story in little bits as well. In terms of the quest aspect, they all add to the story and culture of the different cities or dungeons in the game. A second console game that I would recommend to piecemeal gamers is Fallout 3 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. The game has so many things to do with discovering new towns, monster caves, survivor settlements, and tons of story and side quests. A piecemeal gamer can spend many, many sessions doing tons of things in the Fallout universe and much like Xenoblade Chronicles there is the ability to save anywhere and at any time.

The Pitt is for piecemeal gamers…

If one is looking for a massively multiplayer experience I am sure many of the staff would agree that World of Warcraft is the best MMO for the piecemeal gamer. With the daily quests a piecemeal gamer can quickly level their professions and if one has a bit more time then usual they can also do quests to level up their characters quite easily. I am sure Imitanis and Lusi will agree that the game has become much more casual friendly in the past couple of years so that gamers with less time can achieve as much as a gamer with tons of playing time. Even some of the raids can be done in an hour or so with a half-way decent group. Apart from WoW, I can not really recommend any other MMO for piecemeal gamers to try out. As many will know, besides WoW, I have played Final Fantasy XI Online and Final Fantasy XIV Online neither of which a piecemeal gamer should try out.

In conclusion, the games I would recommend are Tetris, Pokémon, Final Fantasy VI, Xenoblade Chronicles, Fallout 3, and World of Warcraft. Is there another game that you like to pick up and play? Do you agree/disagree with my list? Let me know in the comments.

The League of Legends metagame has champions filling one of five distinct roles.

The primary reason that metagaming has been on my mind lately is the completely revamped Twisted Treeline map in League of Legends. While Summoner’s Rift, the primary map, has a well-established and often very strict metagame when it comes to champion roles, laning, and team compositions, the community as a whole has yet to adopt a solid set of metagame rules for the new version of Twisted Treeline. The end result is a less rigid and more chaotic gaming experience that can also be very frustrating as players try to learn what will and will not work on the new map. Team strategies are difficult to coordinate when one enters the matchmaking queue alone, since there is no consistent meta for team compositions and lane placement.

The concept of the metagame is certainly not a new one, nor is it even unique to video gaming; chess and Magic: the Gathering are two examples of games whose entire communities are shaped by the metagame. One advantage that collectable card games and especially video games have, though, are flexibility. Unlike chess, which has set defined rules that do not change, something like M:tG or LoL can change as the developers themselves come to learn and understand the metagame. Video game metas are especially prone to this, as patches to an online game can happen throughout its life cycle. Which champions in LoL are considered viable picks can and will change constantly, with buffs and nerfs happening every few weeks.

Whether or not metagames are a good thing is a matter of debate, but what is certain is their inevitability. Any competitive game is going to have people who will do whatever they can to win, and any game complex enough to have a large number of possible strategies can be analyzed and reviewed. The final stages of a metagame are usually driven by years of research and player experience. MMO metagaming, for example, is frequently backed-up by theoretical statistical research and hours upon hours of hands-on in-game testing; the optimal build or builds can be determined by analyzing parameters like DPS and damage tanking ability. Metagames can change as games change; the competitive Pokemon metagame has grown and evolved as new games introduce new moves, Pokemon, and mechanics.

Tier lists are another big part of metagames, especially in fighting games and Pokemon games.

Some friends and I have discovered a few team compositions that work extremely well on the new version of Twisted Treeline, but we reached these compositions entirely based on our speculation and in-game experiences. I feel that the primary reason we are successful is not because we have stumbled upon the ideal metagame but simply because we have found a metagame at all. While other teams experiment with more traditional compositions bound to the older meta, we have had great success by creating our version of the metagame. The fact that we have an organized strategy allows us to win more than we lose. I do not say this to be arrogant, but only to point out how things have gone for us. I have no doubts whatsoever that we will hit a plateau as other people begin to discover strategies and compositions for the new map.

While metagames often are criticized for their rigidity and people claim that they make a gaming experience stale, the fact remains that the meta is an important part of any long-running gaming experience, especially in competitive gaming. Even single-player games arguably have metagames; one could easily argue that speedrunning is a form of metagame. As long as there are people who want to be the best player of the game, metagames will exist. Whether this is good or not is frequently a matter of debate among gamers. On the one hand, a complex meta allows for high-level competitive play, on the other, adding a metagame on top of the main game can make the learning experience unpleasant for new players. Additionally, a strict metagame can lead to people so dedicated to the meta they hate on those who try to break the mold, like the “no items, Fox only, Final Destination” Super Smash Bros. crowd.

Do you have any experiences with metagames, Lusi-voters? If so, how have metagames shaped your perception of a particular game. Did you conform to the meta, or try to break out of it with something new? Let me know, Lusi-pundits!

Look, I created a clone of Darth Vader!

Story

Story has come a long way from the early grind-heavy games found ten years ago. I played Ultima Online and Everquest briefly back in the day and honestly cannot remember having any narrative driving me forward in the either. Even Warcraft relied on content from past games to flesh out its universe, adding little to tie the world together as Blizzard have with their recent expansions.

Technology has come a long way, allowing players to experience content through the use of phasing. This allows developers to change the world for individuals as they quest through a zone, or to act out scenes in-game when activated by a player.

The best use of story I have found in an MMO to date is in The Old Republic. What it lacked in its end-game content, it made up for with its questing experience. Never have I felt more the hero than I did while playing this game. Now that it has gone free-to-play it is worth checking out, especially if you enjoyed the two Knights of the Old Republic games.

Farming really is end-game content now.

End-Game Content

Raising a character up is all well and good, but once the level progression has ended what is left to do? If the game in question was The Old Republic I would suggest starting a character of a new class and begin all over again. Not everyone wants to play these online games like they would an offline one, so there need to be content for characters who have achieved the max level.

In EVE Online characters never finish progression. Skills can take months to max out, only for there to be a whole new set to learn afterwards. There is much to do here once a considerable number of skill points have been obtained in a specific field of skills. Whether one enjoys crafting, gathering, warfare or economics (especially economics), the game has something to be enjoyed. That being said, it can be difficult for new players to break into this game for the very same reasons.

The model adopted by EVE makes it difficult to introduce narrative into the game; the idea being that players create their own stories through their actions in the game. It is for this reason that World of Warcraft is a clear winner due to the almost overwhelming amount of content that can be experienced at the end-game.

Blizzard have refined raiding with every expansion, Mists of Pandaria being no exception. Raid finder offers all players the ability to see content, which previously was only available to the top half a percent of the player base. Even gearing up for heroics is simple with the introduction of Scenarios, delivering story-based encounters to a smaller group of players, with upgrades for newly dinged level nighties.

An Epic Conflict

Group Content

I have spent countless hours raiding in Warcraft with my guild over the last three years. We studied the fights, prepared ourselves with the best gear available, then threw ourselves headfirst into epic encounters. I mainly raid in a ten-man group, though I have also tried twenty-five and even forty-man content over the years. None of this can compare to EVE Online though.

Corporations (EVEs guilds) often consist of many veteran players with considerable wealth behind them. Fight often break out over sectors of space which are not controlled by the games NPC factions. These are highly desired by corporations for economic or military reasons. The fights can get rather large, as anyone in the sector can join in. Fifteen hundred pilots engaged in an epic conflict that caused the destruction of in-game property estimated at roughly $27,000. Warcrafts forty-man PvP battles should be ashamed.

Conclusion

Even veteran developers would struggle trying to blend together these diverse systems into a beast of a game. I’m sure one of the studios has come to the same assessment as me though, so it may not be far away if it is possible. Blizzard’s project Titan could be unveiled any day now. My copy of White 2 is sitting right next to me though, and promises me hours of enjoyment for the next few weeks. Actually, forget everything I’ve just written and give me Pokémon Online instead. Please?

Readers, have I forgotten any games in my categories? Can you suggest a better idea to put into a new game? Let me know in the comments!

The Mascot of These Addicting Japanese Demons!

Addictions are something that many people have to deal with everyday, from alcohol, to drugs, to the oft speculated porn addiction many of us know someone or are related someone who has been addicted to something. In recent years, with the major boom of video games, we hear more and more about video game addictions. We have heard the stories on the news about someone playing too much StarCraft and forgetting to feed themselves or their children, or someone who plays video games till they literally pass out, the list goes on and on. We see the media completely jump all over these events and then they proceed to completely blow them out of proportion, making accusations that video games are taking over the youth of the world and that they are going to drive society into the ground, like Snooki and Honey Boo Boo Child have not already hijacked that plane.

This whole topic of gaming addiction came to mind with the release of Pokemon Black/White 2. The Pokemon series is the first series I remember hearing the word “gaming addiction” tied to. Seeing headlines about kids feverishly trying to “collect ‘em all” and becoming hopelessly addicted to the Japanese pocketmonster demons and that was when there were only one hundred fifty of them. Presently, we now have over six hundred Pokemon and it is quite hard to try and “catch ‘em all” as our own Scott Mundy will attest to. Personally, I have never gone into a Pokemon with the goal of catching them all, I am more the type of Pokemon trainer that will get all eight badges, beat the elite four, do the post game story, see the new features, and call it a day with whichever version I happened to pick up. I do not really care about collecting Pokemon beyond the ones I need to beat the game. Sure I will catch some of the newer ones or the ones that are version specific but I have gotten it down to where I know what types I want for my party and which Pokemon fit those best. Honestly, I would not consider Pokemon too addictive of a game series; it is more of the gateway drug to other games. Before I move on, can someone tell me how are kids these days supposed to get all six hundred something if most of them do not have access to the old games like Fire Red and Leaf Green?

The Land of My Addiction.

The next time I came across a type of video game addiction was when I start playing Final Fantasy XI Online. I have perviously gone over my FFXI story and will not bore you with another retelling, if you do not know, the too long did not read version is I was hopelessly addicted for about two full years before I stopped play completely. If there ever is such a thing as gaming addiction here it was. I was playing four to six hours on the weekdays and eight to twelve hours on weekends. While this may sound a bit tame for some of you readers, I assure you at fourteen this headlong dive into the world of a hardcore MMO was quite worrying to my parents and friends. For some reason I did not get as far as some of the other players I knew, but that is probably more the problem I had with leveling different job classes instead of focusing on just one until it was at the level cap. Did I go through FFXI withdrawal when I was not playing it for long periods of time? No. I would miss it for a day or two and then find another way to entertain myself, either by reading a book, doing my schoolwork, or by playing another game. The second I was able to get back into the game though I would dive back in at full force.

In conclusion, I do not think that gaming addiction is an actual addiction that should be paired with addictions to drugs and alcohol. I think that gamers who say they are addicted to games are not really addicted at they are just over enjoying their game of choice; squeezing everything they can out of it. Much like myself with FFXI, these gamers dive head first into these games and for some reason seclude themselves off from other games or gaming experiences. Could these people live without that game and not suffer physical withdrawal effects? Yes, I believe they can. Unless you are from South Korea then you may have a real problem, but more on that another time. What are your thoughts on gaming addiction readers? Also donate to the PunchBeginner, seriously just do it.

This is not a metaphor for the way in which Lusipurr.com is run.

Produced 2012.10.07

Lusipurr invents the Punchbeginner without any help at all from Blitzmage, much to the chagrin of the latter. Feeling that the Red Menace has grown too big for his boots, SiliconNooB puts his foot down and, with the aid of Deimosion, victory is a shoe-in.

These are books. They’re like the video games, but on paper.

With the start of the school year I have found myself looking back on previous years and how I managed my time between playing video games and school, personally, it has been a constant struggle. As far back as I can remember I have known that having a portable video game console during school hours was a huge “no-no”. I remember Game Boy Colors being taken away from small, tearful eyed, children as a teacher told them that the child’s parent would have to come and pick it up for them at the end of the day, I also remember watching other students trade Pokemon in the back cubbies before school started and the thrill they got out of using their Game Boys in school. However, I was spared these painful and thrilling experiences because I never had to worry about my Game Boy getting confiscated. You see, my mother was teaching fourth grade at the elementary school I attended. In the mornings before class, I would hand over my Game Boy to my mother who would then put it in her desk until recess when I was allowed to hang out in her room, since her class had recess at in the same time black, with a couple of friends. We would all play Pokemon RedPokemon in the seclusion of her room but instead had to venture forth into the wildness of recess. After that time, the only time that I remember that teachers gave us permission to play only when we had indoor recess. Then once we were free from the oppressive chains of school I remember heading into my mother’s classroom, finishing my homework as fast as possible, and then continuing to play Pokemon. These times were of prue entertainment, fun and joy. No time before and no time after could replace the experiences of gaming during the elementary school years.

But middle school was a whole different beast though. Without the protection of my mother, I rarely brought my Game Boy for fear of it being stolen or taken by a teacher. Yet still the black and twisted spirit that is middle school seemed to reach out it’s black hand and affect my playing of video games. Middle school was the first time I found myself being punished for poor grades and my “video game privileges”, a term my mother coined and used for many more years to come, being taken away. I was ultimately unprepared for the difference in work load between elementary and middle, which then negatively affected my grades, which then pissed my mother off forcing her to take action. This began what I call “The Age of Hidden Gaming”.

No child plays games like this.

I literally had to hide whilst I played video games during the week days. The hidden gaming process had a few rules and step ups to it. The rules I had self imposed were things like, never do a hidden game night two nights in a row, if possible during the hour period take a nap, if a test is that week do not game for the two nights leading to said test. The process itself started the afternoon on the day of the hidden game night. After the lunch bell rang, I would quickly scarf down my lunch and find the least occupied computer lap to take a nap for the remaining forty-five minutes. This usually resulted in me being late to my next class seeing as I was relying on the end of lunch bell to wake me up, if this did not happen however I would usually be woken up by the computer science teacher(s). After school, I would then be transported to my mother’s school and take another hour long nap. This would then give me roughly two hours of sleep I would not need that night. Then finally, once my mother and I had retired for the evening, I would get under my covers and start to play. These night time gaming sessions lasted between two and two and a half hours. Even now I am surprised that I was never caught doing this.

Then came the final leg of my public school journey, high school. At the high school I went to none of the staff really cared if you had your Nintendo DS or PSP on you, they just did not want to see it during school hours. However, many of the teachers would allow us to use our phones, listen to our iPods, and play games during the lunch hour. So, even though I sometimes had my “video game privileges” taken away I was still able to sneak my DS or PSP out and play before school and during lunch.

In retrospect, if I had spent as much time in middle school on my homework instead of coming up with a way to play video games without my mother finding out, I probably would have been able to get out of my punishment and not have to hide. So readers did you ever have any of these issues during your school years as a gamer? Did you have any of these problems when you first played Final Fantasy XII in 2006? Were you even in school in 2006? Let me know in the comments below.