There have been a couple of sleepless nights at
The Warp Pipe household lately; a large rat getting into the crawlspace and scurrying along the walls, a set of nearby security lights staying on all night, and some exam related panic from my partner all contributed to reduced snoozing hours.
The inability to sleep usually results in deep thought, and it just so happened that most of these thoughts were related to video games, so this week we'll have a look at a couple of random video game related thoughts.
Midnight Musings
Sometimes when it comes to picking topics for The Warp Pipe, good material goes unused because it's simply not enough to base a full column on. Other times, the material is utterly silly and would probably undermine what little credibility this column still has. So once in a while I compile these random ideas into a little column for your amusement.
- This is the first year for as far back as I can remember in my PC gaming career where there has been no major release for the PC for Christmas. One could argue that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty would have been the ticket, and that Dragon Age: Origins is damn close, but the reality of the situation is that there's nothing. It's a stark contrast to five years ago when it seemed like everything I wanted to play was on the PC.
- It almost seems like PC gaming is going backwards. Publishers are chipping away at its advantages in the name of short term profiteering. Removal of user made levels and mods in order to better facilitate paid DLC may harm game development in the end – user mods and levels have usually been the breeding ground for the next generation of game development talent. There's already a shortage of talent in the industry as it is, yet they're making moves to make it even worse.
- In what sort of crazy world are we in where people believe that a peer-to-peer multiplayer solution is superior to a dedicated server solution? There's just no way you can spin that argument. Yet that is the direction we are headed in if Modern Warfare 2 and Rage are anything to go by. P2P matchmaking solutions effectively eliminate the ability to revisit a game after its time has passed. Right now you could go and jump into a game of the original Quake if you wanted – you're not likely going to be able to do that as easily in Modern Warfare 2 in 2015.
- Atlus' next PSP release Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble not only has an awesome name, but the premise sounds pretty kick-ass too. You play as a Japanese high school thug who hears that there's going to be some sort of all Japan schools field trip to Tokyo, where all the other high school thugs are going to meet up and have a battle to determine who the biggest badass in Japan is. As you defeat the other thugs, you grow stronger and the size of your pompadour increases. It's due out this week in the States.
- Tekken's Mishima family has a pretty messed up way of solving their problems. Got a beef with someone? Throw them off a cliff or into a volcano. Want to take over the family company? You'll have to win a fighting tournament first. Unhappy with the result? Start your own company, with its own army to destroy your father instead. Even then you're not safe from your illegitimate son who can transform into a goddamn demon.
- I'm a sucker for collectors' editions – I think I've said that about a million times before. In 9/10 cases, if there's a collectors' edition, I'll grab it over the standard, regardless of the cost. One thing has really been getting to me about CEs and LEs lately – digital content. A number of upcoming limited editions are packed with extra digital content – downloadable armor packs, new weapons and new missions. For me, the point of having a CE or LE is to have something extra nice sitting on my shelf that I can always go back to; art books, steel cases, cloth maps, figures, soundtracks and bonus DVDs – once those digital codes are redeemed, the package is utterly useless. The worst offender has to be Battlefield Bad Company 2, whose LE extras consist entirely of Day 1 advantage items.
- Looking around a few import sites lately, I noticed that SNK has prepared two box sets for the PS2 consisting of their various Neo Geo ports, previously available as single releases. It's something that's happening more and more on the PS2 – a company packaging all of a particular series' iterations on that system together to get a bit of extra revenue (Prince of Persia, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid all got the treatment). I'd like to see it happen more on the current systems with tarted up ports of last gen's games – kind of like what Sony is doing with God of War Collection. Perhaps one day we'll get to the point where box sets of older games are released when a new format launches, similar to DVD and Blu Ray. Extra content would sweeten the deal, but I imagine the cost of producing such sets (porting the older games over, developing emulators etc.) would outweigh the probable revenue.
- Is it just me, or are PlayStation 3 Trophies and Xbox 360 Achievements becoming a lot harder to unlock? I've only reached 1000/1000 on five new 360 releases this year, and have unlocked the platinum trophy on just one PS3 game (though I'm about five easy trophies away on a second game). I'm not as much of an achievement whore as I used to be, but I swear they used to come a bit easier. Multiplayer achievements are still the devil.
- Everyone is excited for the big first quarter next year – Mass Effect 2, Bayonetta, BioShock 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction and so on. The quarter is so jam-packed with gaming goodness however that it starts on January 7th – personally, there are more than half a dozen games that stick out as must buys. Two years ago, the prospect of releasing anything in January was an utter joke. Now it looks like the industry won't get to enjoy its long post-Christmas break. Hopefully you've all got enough money to buy these games, or there are going to be some high profile bombs.
| | 
No good PC exclusives this Q4 - what gives? |
Dedicated servers for life, bro |
The secret to being a badass is having a big pompadour |
Stick your Day 1 advantage and digital extras where the sun doesn't shine |
More games series need to get the box set treatment |
Q1 2010 starts on January 7 |
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