As a consequence of this of course my available free time has become rather occupied, and I haven't been doing quite as much of other things as maybe I should. Some might call it video game addiction. Personally I'd say it's more to do with having a compulsive personality and shitty life. Anyway point is since I've been playing a lot of video games it means I've been THINKING a lot about video games. So why not turn this to my advantage and squeeze out a few posts on the subject?
So, let's start with some general faff and see where the thought train leads us.
Now, I suppose that, in setting myself up as some sort of video game pundit I should first establish my gamer credentials. But really, why bother? I can't honestly say that I particularly identify myself as a gamer, any more than I identify myself has a Dr Who fanatic or Ultraman nerd. Do I really like these things? Absolutely. Do I spend more time than is particularly advisable thinking about them and engaging in the various activities they provide for consumption? Damn straight. But are there people who truly eat, sleep and breathe these things out there who's knowledge of the subject far outstrips my own to a terrifying degree? Why am I even having to ask this? You've seen the internet, right? As has been said elsewhere, for all my interest in such things could be described as intensely nerdy, the actual term nerd has become essentially meaningless. At the end of the day I'm just a guy who likes stuff. And I have opinions on the stuff that I like, as I tend to think about that sort of stuff. This makes me less of an expert than basically the same as more or less EVERY OTHER DAMN PERSON EVER BORN.
And you know what? I'm happy with that. There are of course other issues with the idea of identifying oneself as a gamer that I really don't want to get into here. Let's save that rant for another post.
Now, I'd a Wii for quite a while, but found myself playing it less than I once did. I had an increasing desire to play the sort of games that you didn't tend to get on the Wii. This isn't to denigrate the system in any way. I think one of the major strengths it has is simply that it provides a different experience than you get on the xbox or ps3. And I'm not talking about graphics capacity or any bizarre notions of grown-up-ness. It's just a different tone in the library. Of course, Nintendo wasn't helping much. Whilst there a couple of RPGS that looked like they might be fun I was frankly getting tired of every single newsletter being full of nothing but DS games. I simply wasn't getting excited by what was available, and only really used it for wii fit.
So, having my interest piqued by a go some more traditional shooting and fighting I decided to try something new. Now, you may ask why I chose the xbox over the ps3. After all, if nothing else the ps3 had the new Dr Who game coming out, right? And that's a fair question. The point is that, whilst the wii is very much it's own thing no matter the fumbling moves the other consoles make in their misguided attempts to ape it, the ps3 and xbox 360 are essentially entirely interchangeable. They do the same thing and have almost all the same games. So really it comes down to the handful of exclusive titles available, the price, and which one your friends own. That Dr Who game will be released on PC should I really want it, and I kinda wanted to play Halo. Thus Xbox it was.
Obviously I didn't bother to get a kinect with it. I am not a masochist in the physical, financial, or indeed gaming sense.
Now, I've stated many a time about how the wii and the other consoles are basically doing different things, and really are only superficially comparable. But there is one thing that the wii does FAR better than the xbox, and it's rather surprising. Indeed, this isn't even something I noticed right away until I read a post on a games forum. And like the internet is so fond of reminding it us, once a thing is seen it cannot be unseen.
You'll get it eventually.
I'm talking about the dashboard. The Xbox 360 dashboard is, when you think about it, pretty bad. Let's grab an image off google and go through it.
So, this is the first thing you see when you load up your console. What's the first thing you notice here? It's dominated by fucking ADVERTS. When you factor in the size of that middle panel that's 6 out of 8 buttons all dedicated to not games. 1 button for the game currently in the drive, and 1 button for quickplay, which is a list of the few most recent games played. And if you want to play something that is installed on your system but ISN'T in the quickplay list you need to go to the Games panel. See those headers along the top? How many do you need to wade through before you get to the GAMES section of your GAMES console? Home -> Social -> TV -> Video -> Games. Is it a huge major pain? Well, no. Not really. it takes like a second or two. That isn't really the point though is it? The point is twofold. Firstly that this is an almost objectively bad design decision. Really, as much as microsoft want to make the xbox into some kind of multimedia uber hub, the first job of a games console is the playing of games. The second and perhaps more telling point is that you can't actually change this. You would think that it would be a small thing to include an option for organising these tabs to suit the user. Or maybe just that someone would realize that tv programs ARE video. Seriously, do we REALLY need those to be separate? Does ANYBODY?
No, let's have a look at the wii dashboard.
Firstly, note the total lack of intrusive advertising. Or indeed ANY advertising. Then realise that each of those channels can be moved around as you see fit. You can dump the handful of default uninstallable channels on another pane where you never have to look at them. You can add or remove channels as you see fit, be they actual games or whatever utilities it is they have on the wii these days. And hey, look at that the settings and messenger shizz is right there at the bottom of the screen. How about that.
The advert problem on the 360 isn't just confined to the dashboard though. You'll also be subject to ads via the various video services. Even when you're just watching, say, a trailer for a new game. Or an ADVERT as it's commonly called. For me, this principle reached it's apotheosis on Halo Waypoint.
For those who do not know, or probably care, Waypoint is like a central channel for the various games of the Halo franchise. It tracks your achievements across the various games, offers news and Halo related videos, challenges for the games. All kinds of extra stuff if you happen to like that sort of thing. And (this is the most important part) it's only available to gold members of xbox live. You only get access if you pay. The only reason I can even look at it is because I got a years membership with the console when I bought it, but after that...
So when I have to pay to access a what is essentially a promotional tool for a franchise, through which I wish to view a promotional video for that franchise you know what I don't want to be seeing? FUCKING ADVERTS. I don't expect to get everything for free. And initially I only regarded the ads as a minor annoyance but fairly typical. Then I remembered that the service was only available to paying members.
Actually more annoying than the fact that the ads are even there is the actual ads themselves. Because I've only seen one that wasn't for the bloody kinect. I can't even remember what it was for. But those fucking kinect ads get right on my tits. Not simply because I have no interest in the device or how repetitive they become, but the nature of them. Every kinect ad features people living in GIANT houses. Seriously, the living room depicted in all those ads is bigger than my entire house. If I wanted a room that wide I'd have to knock through the walls and take over my neighbours place. It's not just that whoever is making these ads has absolutely no conception of what a normal persons living space actually consists of. The unspoken message is that the whole kinect play experience is only POSSIBLE in a giant empty room. Because the spastic flailing it requires you to perform with your ENTIRE BODY is liable to destroy anything within a five meter radius. Then of course there's the one showing off the fantastic voice functionality of the device, as a the whole family hundles together on the one tiny sofa in the middle of the GIANT FUCKING ROOM and some woman laboriously calls out instructions to queue up a movie in approximately twice the amount of time it would take to do with a controller.
It didn't exactly sell me on the idea is what I'm saying.
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