411 Games Fact or Fiction 09.23.06: Microsoft's Neverending Quest, Game Replayability, Gran Turismo Microtransactions, More!
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 09.23.2006
Frank Mohr and Jordan Williams show no fear as they tell us how they feel about Microsoft's exploits in Japan, replaying games, Gran Turismo and microtransactions, game reviews, the Xbox 360's new powers, and movie-based games in this edition of Fact or Fiction Games.
Get ready for another great edition of Fact or Fiction. This week Jordan Williams returns to take on newcomer Frank Mohr. In case you forgot, Jordan stirs things up every week with his Working Title. This week he mixed things up a little by taking a look at some of the emails that he's received over the past week. Frank will be posting several reviews in the next few weeks. Make sure to check them out! Last week we had a six out of six. Will this week's participants give us the same score? Read on to find out!
1. Microsoft should continue to try to win over gamers in Japan.
Frank Mohr: FACT
I'm not going to be like some people and say that the Japanese market is ABSOLUTELY KEY to the survival of a console. What I am going to say is that MS needs to keep pushing themselves across the Pacific so we can get more of those delicious Japanese games. If the market for the 360 over there dies, then obviously there won't be any games being developed for the 360 over there. And that don't sit well with me. So push on, o giant of computing. Success will most likely be limited, but we can always hope, right?
Jordan Williams: FACT
It'd be stupid NOT to try to win over gamers in Japan. Who gets all of the new technology first? Japan. What country has the most teenagers/young adults with disposable income? Japan. Who will play the most crazy, off beat, nonsensical shit you could ever make? Japan. It's simple, if you make a game, Japan'll play the hell out of it. While it's easy to survive just on the US and UK alone (As the Xbox did) it's going to be pretty hard with the Wii and the PS3 (Japanese won't even flinch at the price like we do) because BOTH cater to what Japanese gamers like. The 360 has a hard battle ahead of itself, but if it doesn't ignore Japan, sooner or later it'll win them over and have a whole new area developing games for it.
Score: 1 for 1
2. You enjoy replaying games that you've already beaten.
Frank Mohr: FACT
Rare is the game in my extensive library that I haven't played to death. It's the cycle I go through, and I find it refreshing to reacquaint myself with some of the games of my past. Why, just a few days ago, with my 360 sent in for repairs, I plugged up my Dreamcast and played about 9 hours of Grandia 2. Nostalgia is a very important thing to the gaming community (at least, it should be), and I firmly believe that replaying good games is something everyone should do now and again, even if it's a fairly recent title, like Resi 4 or Fable.
Jordan Williams : FACT
That's half the fun of gaming. Replaying games you like over and over and over and over. What's the point in a game that you can beat once, do everything, and be done with it? If I paid all that money I expect a friggin' adventure. With new games starting to get few and far between, you NEED to have something to tide yourself over, this is when you dust off the SNES (or illegal variant of your choice) and bust out some old school Mario or Final Fantasy. Hell, for the last month or so I've been having a blast kicking ass in Day of Reckoning 2. If you go out and buy (and beat) every new game as soon as it hits the market, you are going to be two things - broke and bored.
Score: 2 for 2
3. It is being reported that a version of Gran Turismo HD will come without either cars or tracks. Each car and track will have to be purchased with microtransactions. This is living!
Frank Mohr: FACT
I'm cool with microtrans being things like extra costumes (like Kameo or Dead Rising) or miniature adventures (like the dungeons for Oblivion). Things like that are basically tiny expansion packs. Instead of waiting for all this crap to compile and be released in a big expensive package, we can pick and choose what we want at smaller prices. As long as GT HD stays as ONE VERSION that requires all the downloads, this seems to be an extrapolation of this. If you only want a few courses or a few cars, why pay for it all? Well, then again, having NO CARS OR TRACKS at all seems kind of stupid, but that's neither here nor there. Again, as long as this 'empty' set is just one, optional version, and there's another version packed full, then I'm game. If it's the -only- version, though, I shall be quite miffed. Yeah. Just making that clear.
Jordan Williams : FICTION
Maybe I missed a memo or something, but this makes not a lick of goddamn sense to me. Like Frank said, I can understand extra stuff being microtrans, like maybe some new car parts, or new cars added to the game. But pretty much paying for a coaster until I get points to pick and choose what I want? That just sounds pretty over the top to me. Sure, now I don't have to stare at that car I will never use, I just have to stare at the two or so cars I bought using points and the three tracks I like...for the same price of any other game I buy. I think this is going just a WEE bit overboard with the microtrans content. If anything they could release a fairly stripped down version of the game with all of the BASE tracks and cars, and then you buy part sets and upgrade sets. But having to pay for the game, then pretty much pay to play it? I call bullshit.
Score: 2 for 3
4. Game reviews are a major consideration when you are making a decision on which games to check out.
Jordan Williams : FACT
But barely. Sure, the decision to buy a game ultimately comes down to me, but that doesn't mean I can't get second opinions from others. I tend to read only a handful of reviews from certain sites just to get the gist of how the game is, but they don't impact the entire decision whether to get it or not. There have been tons of games that have gotten pretty mediocre scores that I actually sort of liked. Reviews can be a good tool in making a decision, but they don't affect the choice that much overall. But they do tend to sway me if I am completely on the fence, especially with reviewers who have the same tastes as me.
Frank Mohr: FACT
Again, just barely, though. If the game happens to be something I'm only mildly interested in, then I'll rely primarily on the review to decide on purchase/rental/etc. For games that I'm really psyched about, I could care less. But on the whole, yes, reviews are a great tool in choosing games.
Score: 3 for 4
5. The Xbox 360 being able to output in 1080p is a big deal.
Jordan Williams : FICTION
I'm really not sold on this whole HD gaming thing yet. Mostly because I don't have an HDTV. Sure, it makes the games look pretty and all, but as long as I can see them it's not a big deal. So I can't see every spec of dirt or make out every single texture, I shouldn't really be paying attention to that in the first place. Although, making games that are purely meant to be played on an HDTV is a bit annoying. Dead Rising, for instance. You are pretty much doomed to squinting as you try to read the extremely small text if you are playing on something that doesn't support HD. 1080p isn't a big deal as along as I have a choice not to use it, but when you force it on me, then it's a bit of a problem.
Frank Mohr: FACT
I'm sorry, but that's a shitload of pixels. While I agree that being forced into it with games like Dead Rising is annoying as hell, it's pretty much an annoyance at best. The small text isn't that big a deal, especially considering the overall graphical strength of the game, nonetheless the engine. I don't personally own an HDTV either, but considering how much stock is being placed in the 360's graphical power right now, the support for such an incredibly high def is understandable. If you have the technology, then there's no reason you shouldn't make use of it, am I right? And I can say from experience that seeing Oblivion played in HD is pretty much life-changing. This may just be my PC gaming roots showing, though, since we all know if you can run a game in higher def, then who cares about things like shadows or grass textures?
Score: 3 for 5
6. With the repeated success of the Lego Star Wars games, more companies will realize that it is in their best interest to make good games that are based on movies, television shows, and other forms of media.
Jordan Williams : FACT
I cannot tell you how many times that a movie has been perfect for a video game adaptation yet all you get served up is a piece of shit shell out that barely has anything to do with the source material. I understand with movies that they try to cover all of the bases with the marketing. More money is good, right? But when will they figure out that if the games they make are GOOD that they will sell even MORE and make MORE money? I mean, having a successful movie, which you put all of this time and work into, and then you half ass the game is fairly fuckin' stupid. Why settle for less when you can go for it all? Sure, there's budgeting issues and all other sorts of crap like that, but seriously, if you can't afford to put effort into something (THQ, I'm looking at you) then you shouldn't bother. All it is going to do is hurt both industries.
Frank Mohr : FICTION
Alas, placing stock in big companies to market things intelligently is naught more than folly. Really, most movies that get game adaptations are pretty mediocre, so I'd not expect much more than a mediocre game. Not to mention that the game is pretty much little more than extra marketing to cash in on the film, so I'm going to assume that most movie-based games are developed on a highly limited budget. Star Wars seems to have made several exceptions to this suggestion, but that's more than likely because it's fuckin Star Wars. I seriously doubt many companies will devote more effort than they do now to licensed games, no matter how much I want them to.
Score: 3 for 6
A final score of 3 for 6. Another first! Don't forget to come back next week for another dose of Fact or Fiction.
