Hello everybody. I've been a fan of Sega Racing games (Daytona USA 1/2, Scud Race, OutRun 1/2, Sega Rally, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Racing, etc.) ever since I first played Daytona USA 2 in the arcade around 2002. I like them and try to promote them as much as I can. Let everyone know about the magic that is Sega Racing Games!!!
I know a lot of you probably don't give a crap about Rock Band (the game), but I do. For a good part of '08-'12 I poured more money into that game than pretty much everything else. Like you guys would go to the store and buy multiple games--Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, BioShock, etc. I would just get Rock Band, Rock Band, Rock Band. Makes sense, no? That's how much the series apparently meant to me.
Every week for the last FIVE YEARS, Harmonix would release at least one new song for DLC. The average for each week was about 3 to 6 new songs but sometimes they would release massive albums/song packs of 10 or more songs and those were fun days. Always checking the websites each Friday to see which songs could be purchased the following Tuesday. To put things in perspective, I currently own 1,500 songs in my library, plus three RB2 guitars (with third-party strum bar and lots of WD-40 to make the buttons click), two RB2 drumsets (one with cymbals), three RB mics, a RB3 keyboard and a RB3 Pro Guitar.. All of that must cost at least $2,500. So Rock Band was a pretty big deal to me, don't you think???
Well, apparently, over the last year, the amount of weekly DLC dwindled...it was obvious the game wasn't as popular as it once was and that Rock Band was on borrowed time. AC-DC/Lego/Beatles/Green Day Rock Band (plus Blitz) were great to tack on additional songs/features but it wouldn't last. Last Tuesday, they released one last song--Don McLean's American Pie. It's not one of my all-time faves but it's a great golden oldie to end the 281 week run on. Dammit, this can't be true...there's so many more songs and bands to get in the game. Where's Van Halen, Led Zeppelin (I know they are picky), ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, etc? Where's all the keyboard wishlist DLC I wanted? It's not coming...it's all over...
Rock Band is dead. I'm utterly depressed but you know what? It gives me faith in this generation of gaming. Because Rock Band really was a game that should've faded away much earlier than it has now. The fact that the series has over 4,200 playable songs is because the people working on the game actually genuinely cared about the damn game they were working on (list of all the DLC)!! I can tell that they held out for as long as possible even though it was obvious the weekly DLC became less and less profitable. Honestly, I wish game devs actually stuck to their guns on great convictions like these.
Boy, I'd love to see a racing game get as much DLC as Rock Band did (Forza 4 with its car packs and one DLC track barely comes close). Thank you Harmonix for the inspiration. Rock Band 4 is super unlikely IMO cause there's not much else to add to the series (we got pro guitar/drums/keys, what now??? saxophone???) aside from the ability to create charts from any MP3 you own (which is absurd, I admit)? Now I can't listen to any song anymore without drumming my fingers to the notes, like I'm imagining a bunch of green-red-yellow-blue-orange notes coming down the lane as I press them like piano keys. So Rest in Peace, Rock Band, you will be missed...
The first DLC song I bought for $2. It started a Rock Band avalanche for me.
Well, I know this ain't a racing game but it's something close to my heart so let's talk about this months-old game. Rock Band Blitz.
Rock Band Blitz is a $15 game you can buy off of Xbox Live/Playstation Network. It does not require instruments. Basically, you pick a song as four/five lanes of notes come at you. You only need four buttons to play this game. Down arrow/A to hit left/right notes in your current lane, left/right shoulder buttons to switch lanes. Hit notes in each instrument lane to max out multipliers for the greatest possible scores. You might say "hey that's Frequency/Amplitude" well, yeah it is.
This game is friggin brilliant for a few reasons:
* It is the quintessential "Programmer Game." Basically I get up here and say "Games have too pretty graphics & cutscenes, not enough gameplay," well guess what. Look at any generic screenshot of the game. THIS IS THE WHOLE GAME. There are no "characters" in the game. You move through a seemingly endless city (a.k.a. "New Jersey" as Harmonix describes it) as buildings pulsate to the beat of the song. The only goal of the game really is to play songs over and over again trying to get high scores. Great game, huh.
* You take a look at every single song in Rock Band's history and there are MANY. There are over 3,000 SONGS you can download and play in Rock Band 3. And guess what, you can play all of those in Rock Band Blitz too. Basically, it gives your library a little more life...you can play songs on Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocals, Keys, and Rock Band Blitz which is like its own instrument.
* At the end of the day, you will have worn out your A button which is kind of cool yet sad at the same time.
* Play enough notes in a row to enter "Blitz Mode." Camera drops back a little as you start to haul ass through the city. Yet the notes stay in the same place (you still travel the same speed). Can you say SENSE OF SPEED at work here???
* On top of a new Rock Band experience, you get 25 songs to add to your library. That's 25 songs for $15. Usually, the average Rock Band song goes for $1 or $2. What a super deal.
Speaking of deals, I'll tell you some great news. If you've on the fence about buying some Rock Band DLC, then you're in luck because all pre-RB3 DLC (anything without keys/harmonies/pro guitar/pro bass, about 2000 songs in total) is half-off. Forever. You wanted to play some Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Boston, The Cars, Queen, Jane's Addiction, Guns n' Roses, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, The Who, No Doubt, Bob Marley, Weezer, Disturbed, System of a Down, The Offspring, Avenged Sevenfold (aw hell naw), well you're in luck cause they're basically giving away these songs. Before you would have to pay about $2 per song (song packs would reduce that to about $1.50 a song). But here, you can get songs for less than a dollar on average. So to repeat, GO BUY SOME ROCK BAND DLC IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. Go buy the DLC that I bought at full price. Yeah, I'm happy dancin' right now.
But there are some problems with the game and I really don't want to get into how to play the game because you can basically download the demo which comes with the full game but only three songs unlocked (All-American Rejects, Foo Fighters, Barenaked Ladies) so you can play that and come to your own conclusions. Here's my nitpicks:
* The "perks" are rather unbalanced. Note, these perks are out of order.
For the first perk, just pick the instrument with the most notes (usually the guitar or bass). Second perk, Road Rage is good for wiping out tons of notes easily but Jackpot is clearly the best (3x as long as you don't miss) for getting high scores. Third perk, Blast Notes are the best since it hits notes from all lanes, a very useful, predictable bonus. I can't see any use into turning the purple note into anything else, especially a pinball that bounces around Breakout-style which is distracting enough when trying to fill all the lanes in the first place. But there's on exception in which Pinball reigns supreme:
Harmonix QA, where were you?
* Playing held notes is kind of stupid. Assume you hit a held guitar/keyboard note. Holding a long note "fills" the lane just as much as hitting a lone note in an empty void. Think about some crap Tier 1/2 keyboard songs where the keys' only purpose is to chime in with some weird BG noise during the chorus. And you're trying to fill the drums lane. Okay, now you have to sprint to the orange lane (keys) every 5 second to hit that held note, run back to green lane (drums), hit a bunch of notes, run back between the two again and again. And because you didn't hit enough of the orange lane's notes (which had about 5 in a minute-long section), you don't raise your instrument multipliers to the max. Aggravating as s***.
* Switching notes to another lane counts as "missing" notes if you don't play them. So you are in Blitz Mode or have Jackpot activated. Good luck trying to "not miss" when switching lanes since if you move to another lane while a note passes, you miss and are penalized. It's pretty ridiculous especially when the game preaches "It's not about hitting every note, it's about getting a high score."
* A minor complaint but you can't play Rock Band 3 songs in Blitz. You can play everything else though because it's already on your hard drive. Yet I have RB3 installed on my hard drive too so the songs are sitting there idle yet Blitz can't play them...yeah, it's stupid programming but the option to play stuff like Caught in a Mosh and Fly Like an Eagle in Blitz would've been nice.
Review-wise, I give this game a typical 8 because it has some replay value if you have a large library. But after a while it gets repetitive and hurts your thumbs.
This leads me to my final point and it's about Harmonix and HOW THEY ARE TRYING TO EUTHANIZE THE ROCK BAND SERIES.
I always keep track of Rock Band's weekly DLC. DLCQuickplay is a good site to do so. Now in case you don't know about how Rock Band DLC works, basically it's a 3-to-6 month process. Harmonix gathers data on what songs are popular. Then they get the rights to the song, pass them through a machine that bangs out the song charts (notes), QA them, and plan to release them some time in the future along a time table. Great. But the stream of new songs have gotten weaker and weaker. Used to be that HMX was proud to release a 10-pack of some awesome band like Billy Joel or Bon Jovi every other week and we would be stoked. Next they toned it down to 5/6-packs and we were happy. Then they did 3-packs. Now they do 3-packs with songs that already exist in the Rock Band library. Sure, it's great that you would release "We are Young" or "Pumped Up Kicks" a month after I imported that garbage from Rock Band Blitz. It's like they're trying to wean us off of the DLC rather than go cold turkey and kill us all.
Nevermind the facts that Harmonix has never gone out of their way to support Wii before, or that one of the songs this week is a song Wii already has so they only get two songs this week, or that purchasing eight of the 25 songs would cost more money than just buying the pack (which doesn't include when it was on sale for $7.50), or that any songs released now will most assuredly not have retroactive pro support,
this marks the first time that no new downloadable content came out for a week, and that's huge. And it's a complete bummer. And it's asinine the way Harmonix has tried to disguise it as saying this is a result of community feedback that they're doing this, because if that were the case, these Blitz songs would be released as a supplement to regularly scheduled DLC, or as one big release week like the FIRST time they released these songs and claimed it to be DLC for that week, and not the only focus for a DLC week. There have been controversies before about whether or not the DLC streak technically ended with country packs or Green Day, but if it didn't happen before, this is the definitive broken streak. And that sucks, and it gives us every right to complain. Because none of us are complaining about the song choices this week - we're all complaining about there not being any song choices this week
If you need any hint that the Rock Band series is dying, just go to Amazon and search for a Pro Guitar, Pro Keyboard, or Drum Set. Cheap as it ever has been. It's a shame too since I poured a ton of money into Rock Band but if the series goes away, then at least it's understandable. We'll still have loads of Rock Band Network songs (custom songs people submit...most of it novelty/metal trash) but if you're expecting "real" songs like these bunches of requests that I wish I could play on Pro Keys (actual fun Classic Rock songs), well...I've lost all hope. Rock Band Blitz was basically chemo before the series' eventual death which gave us a little optimism but not much longer.
A toast to my dear Rock Band friend, thanks for keeping me sane during this racing game drought that we've been through for so long. Who knows how much longer you'll actually be relevant? A year, two years, three years? You have no idea how much this sucks for me, but at least Harmonix isn't "Sega-bad" at this point so I cannot complain. They had a really good run with the series--they didn't quit and actually managed to release more DLC than Sega ever will ever.
Adios! I rocked this song on Pro Keys.
LOL JK GUYS, we'll all wake up tomorrow and HMX will release a 16-song Muse pack and everyone will be happy, DAE believes with me???
We do this every year. We gather everyone around the table and let them know how much they have disappointed us this year! Whatever, this is late, un-proof-read, horribly biased, and already discussed in previous posts but let's do it. This'll be the best Festivus yet!!!
Sega: I know you've been on hard times and we love you. Even the Level 5 lawsuit may be on your side after all. But what's with the piss-poor advertising campaign for Binary Domain and Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed? I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch Speed Channel. And I've seen hundreds of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and Halo 4 Mountain Dew commercials but only ONE DANICA PATRICK in Sega All-Stars Racing commercial??? I hope you're doing a better job on other channels cause I've had friends who've said they only heard about these two games through my blog, sheesus..
Sumo Digital: Where's Ryo Hazuki and Segata Sanshiro as playable characters in Sega All-Stars Racing 2, noooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Electronic Arts: Taking pot shots at you is way too easy and everyone's done it (see the Worst Company in America contest). But I will bring up something new. I've been playing SimCity Social on Facebook for a little bit (my previous employer worked on Facebook games, after all) and I must say the abrasiveness of the game's in-game advertising is too much to bear. From the "Spin City" slot machine that pops up from start up (that uses diamonds paid for with real money...it's borderline gambling) to Burt in the U-Haul truck trying to sell you keys to get the crappy contents inside (stupid trucks drive around town with the arrows everywhere) to the constant friend message spam (you have to enter the game to answer messages...a pain in your friends' asses), all of this s*** that pops up on the screen that harangues me to death makes me want to light your game on fire and go throw crap all over my living room and pick it up since it's a lot more enjoyable than dragging my mouse pointer to pick up "doobers" in your "interactive Flash movie" that barely counts as a game (wow that was a long sentence).
Need for Speed/Forza Horizon: Do I really need to explain?
Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard/Ubisoft/Bungie/Rockstar/Bioware/Bethesda/Just About Every AAA Studio: Can't really pin this down on any particular person, thing, or franchise but here goes. Noticing a trend of games of turning games into movies...usually violent movies. And dumbing them down to casuals. And enhancing the "social" experience by trying to shoehorn Facebook-like features into games that I'll never use. And the Kinect which I will never like. Sorry if I sound like an ornery old gamer (24 years old, hooboy) but geez, you know what I'm getting at here. Getting old fast.
Harmonix: Well, I like your Rock Band DLC. But over the last year, your DLC stream has become weaker than an old man's prostate. Averages three new songs a week. And then last week was Elton John. This should be a GREAT week for keyboards. But they release a three-pack! Only two of the songs are new, the third one is already available in Rock Band Blitz (HMX did it again next week with a My Chemical Romance pack). Trust me, the two new ones are good but it's still a blown opportunity. The last chance Harmonix will ever browse Elton's library and they don't include Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer, Bennie and the Jets, or Beyond the Yellow Brick Road??? Rock Band Blitz was good, the half-off all pre-RB3 DLC sale was good, but at this point, Rock Band DLC has gotten really weak, possibly in anxious anticipation of the series' slow death. But still, why no Rocket Man???
GameFAQs/Reddit/Kotaku: I don't always want to light a match in a pool of gasoline, but when I do, it's from reading your comments/message boards. And when you do your little "Sega sucks" and "Valve rules" hit pieces.
Kevin Butler: RIP, Kevin. You blew it now, buddy. You had to dabble with Mario Kart Wii in those Bridgestone commercials. Now the last likable character from Sony is gone. And yes, I don't find characters like Kratos or Sackboy likeable, shame on me. Who's gonna be my main in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale??? D'OH, THANKS!!!
Danica Patrick & Dale Earnhardt Jr: For letting down the fans!!! Two most overrated drivers ever!!! WIN A RACE FOR ONCE!!! WIN A RACE IN THE SEGA CAR, DANICA!!! BUT NOOOO, THEY NEVER WIN!!! Seriously, I was the only one who got stoked for Danica's Sega car debut and she placed 14th which is mega underwhelming. Only good news is that she didn't wreck the car. What a piece of crap. Juniyah, have another Diet Mountain Dew.
Spike & G4TV: You done, son!!! Adios, TKOed, historical. G4TV is done and Spike (with its God awful VGA's) will be too with their imbecilic macho gamer programming! MANswers--do I need to be lectured about beer, boobs, boners, guns, and flatulence? Well I like guns so I can't complain. EDIT: That sounded kinda gay...I like women but when you deliberately stick boobs on TV, it's just dumb. When you go, take YOLO, Mountain Dew, and dubstep with you.
NFL/Roger Goodell/ESPN: Now the Saints have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Good riddance, this season can't end soon enough. Commissioner Roger Goodell is full of himself. Citing phony evidence of pay-to-injure bounties and slandering players who profess it never existed. Bans Sean Peyton and several players and takes away draft picks, a punishment unprecedented in the NFL. ESPN hypes up the issue and cheers as our world collapses on the year we have a chance at winning the Superbowl in our home stadium. And yet, Roger, taking the side of "player safety," is encouraging an 18-game season and Thursday Night Football games which means less time for players to rest, exacerbating injuries in general. And a team in London--could you imagine the jet lag of a team traveling from London to California/Seattle (8 hour difference???). Plus he's trying to dumb down defense as best as he can and pimp offensive stats to cater to the fantasy football types. This guy is a loathsome fool. Now NFL players, announcers, and sports pundits alike are starting to side with the Saints but it's too late...we missed a shot at the Superdome Lombardi and a year of Drew Brees' prime is wasted. Screw 'em, everyone one of 'em.
EDIT: I know this is old but how about this. What's with ESPN's rumors on Sean Peyton going to Dallas? And Mickey Loomis (Saints GM) "Wiretapgate", trying to dump on the Saints even more when there's NO PROOF that it's true? ESPN isn't in the biz of reporting news, they're in the biz of reporting made-up news for ratings. Again, screw that channel.
Speed Channel: Now I like Speed, it's the only thing I can tolerate on TV anymore (ESPN sucks ass now). But there's a few things to mention...do you guys have anything better to play in primetime besides My Ride Rules and Dumbest Stuff on Wheels reruns? And why did you cancel 101 Cars You Must Drive after one season? Alonzo Bodden only got to drive 50 cars, what a shame. And you also lost exclusive Formula 1 coverage which sucks but that's the biz. Hopefully you don't turn into Fox Sports any time soon (which explains why random UFC crap appears at midnight-3 am).
All My Web Browsers: Why is it when I browse ANY webpage on both my laptops, all the animated gifs DON'T play until I move the cursor or highlight over them? Is my Internet broken or something? This has been happening for months. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MY COMPUTAH!!!
Myself: For not working as much on Super Sprint as I should have. And for not updating the blog as much. And for getting fired from my job...
And now for the Feats of Strength but that's impossible to do over the Internet...perhaps a round or two of Virtua Fighter or Fighting Vipers instead???
But now for the bad news. I'm fairly certain everyone knows this but Sega has recently posted big losses of about $240 mil in the last year (March '11 to '12). Tons of people laying off and Sega claims they will restructure their development to only include big IP's like Sonic, Total War, Football Manager, and Aliens. We don't know what this means for titles still in development, like Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, or Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 2. Something's gonna get cut cause that's the business.
I'm a bit distressed by the news but it's not totally surprising. We all know Sega has been ailing for years and their only way out is to take even fewer risks. All of this on the heels of my "Sega needs to do more" rant. I know it sucks ass. No specific reason why Sega is doing poorly other than that they've gone back to being "Good Old Sega" again...the one that falls into holes that it can't climb out of. Oh wait, that's right, it's because of all the money spent on Dreamcast 2 development, thanks Zach Morris. (sike)
A brief aside pertaining to financial woes: I recently wrote a paper on Midway Games. Yes, the Midway of Mortal Kombat, NFL Blitz, and Cruis'n games. Like Sega, they were lucrative in the arcade business. In '01, they closed their arcade division due to financial losses. In '03, American media magnate Sumner Redstone owned 80% of Midway's stock. Later, Midway started publishing mediocre games like Area 51, Psi-Ops, and The Wheelman. Midway lost an ass-load of money and was eventually stripped and sued to pieces, only to have whatever remaining pieces to be bought out by Warner Bros. for cheap. But I'll get into Midway again at a later date--I'm getting off-topic and I want to save it for later.
It's distressing to me because I've said many times it's my "goal" to work at Sega. Then make some new racing games and actually restore sanity to video games. A while back, I took some initiative and asked somebody on the official Sega forums if they offer any jobs for aspiring programmers. Here's how it went down. This is me:
Here's a strange question. I'm studying to get my graduate degree in game programming at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (ranked 2nd in Princeton's Top 10 gaming schools) and will most likely be doing some intern work in the next six months. Rather than be harvested by Electronic Arts (like 2/3rds of my class will be), I was wondering if Sega was interested in holding some internships or job openings for programmers. I know Sega of America is in California but if I have to travel, then so be it. I like Sega so...I guess I would like the chance to work with you guys.
I'm just curious and am throwing this out there. Don't know where else to ask this question since Sega doesn't have a "contact" e-mail besides video game support (such as "perform a hard reset").
And this is an admin:
Gaming jobs are the best out there, so firstly - welcome to the first step in a satisfying career! For jobs at SEGA, keep in mind that we are a publisher, not a developer. If your programming focus is aimed at game creation, you'll be better suited for development positions. If you have interest in web programming, you'll be an excellent fit within a publisher.
My recommendation for anyone looking for jobs in video games covers off two main websites - www.gamejobs.com and www.gamasutra.com/jobs. Both should give you a ton of resources for available positions by company and region. SEGA jobs are listed in the above link (as noted), but again, this will depend on what you are looking for.
My final recommendation is not to be down on any company or job you take. Experience is experience, and you'll find that a diverse portfolio will be helpful in finding work where ever you go. If SEGA or one of our developers is in your sights, then figure out the kind of jobs they hire for and build your resume to match that, both in school and real world experience. Hope this helps, good luck!
That sounds like a great response and I really can't complain. The thing that gets me is how Sega is now labeling themselves as a publisher only. Ok, I've known for the longest time that Sega only publishes great games and doesn't make them themselves...but where are all these official Sega games coming from? I know they're making some on their own. I heard Sonic Adventure 2 was developed in San Francisco, hence the City Escape and Radical Highway stages.
And then there's the crap licensed games like Iron Man, Thor, Aliens...where are these games being made then??? Yeah, that's right--Sega Studios San Francisco, which I have no idea where it is...in a underground bunker under a non-descript building it seems. Shoot for the studios owned by the publisher...like if you're into Nintendo, go for Retro Studios in Austin, Texas.
Speaking of non-descript buildings, I've looked up Sega of America's headquarters on Google Maps multiple times. Here's what it looks like.
This is it. A plain brown 4-story building in a medium-density zone in San Francisco. If it weren't for the small Sega logo on the building, you'd never know it was a Sega building at all. LOL WHERE'S THE BLUE SKIES??? Yeah, Sega is some juggernaut, huh....performing hard resets in a modest San Fran office building. Living the life it seems.
I know many of you were expecting Sega to dwell in a massive university campus setup (like Microsoft, pictured above), but no, just a tiny brown building. Sega ain't that rich.
HA, now that we've gotten the building stuff out of the way, let's talk about actually working at Sega. And this is where it get's really sad...
It's about time I start to discount working there. Let's be real--Sega is downsizing. They aren't looking to hire anybody. In the meantime, job outlooks in general continue to get worse despite the fact that Electronic Arts is snatching up as many programmers as possible. No really, we NEED jobs and if that means doing the programming equivalent of shoveling horse manure at EA Tiburon, well....what choice do you have? Money talks--you need money to live. To make your family and friends happy. Am I going to throw away everything over the pursuit of lousy racing games???
And even if you did work at Sega, would it be that great? Travel across the country and sit in your little office cubicle working on Aliens or bad Sonic games just to keep Sega on the respirator. Never get to meet Yu Suzuki or Toshihiro Nagoshi. It would be lousy as you'd expect. And it all comes down to the climax which is this...
I think the outlook of new Sega racing games is really bleak. Maybe a new Sumo Digital title or another XBLA/PSN port but I can't see much through the fog. I have little faith at this point they can churn out new Daytona/OutRun/other non-derivative racing game. You need the stars to align to convince Suzuki-San and Nagoshi-San to make another racing game especially considering the sad outlook of the game industry, MUCH LESS have the chance to pitch the game to Sega altogether. Also throw in the possibility of another financial catastrophe and that likelihood can drop even lower or be wiped out altogether (as in Chapter 13, look it up).
So now what? Well, we can continue to chip away at Sega and its studios and hope to catch a break but it may be in vain. So we make our own racing game. And we do it without Sega, Yu Suzuki, Toshihiro Nagoshi, Makoto Osaki, Tetsuya Mitzuguchi, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, the AM2 team, the #41 Hornet car, and the Daytona soundtrack. Can it be done? Yes. Will it be painful. Hell yes it will.
WE NEED PROGRAMMERS. WE NEED PRODUCERS. WE NEED ARTISTS WHO ACTUALLY LIKE RACING GAMES. WE NEED SEGA FANS WHO ARE SICK AND F***ING TIRED OF THIS GENERATION OF GAMES. WE NEED TO GET TO WORK SOMEHOW!!! Cause really...what other choice do we have...?
So it can be done without the Sega/AM2/Daytona name, huh? Well let's look at two examples:
The first is Medal of Honor. The first game came out in '99 for the Playstation and it had excellent reviews. Electronic Arts bought the rights to the game but decided to kick the original team off the project. So 22 ex-employees formed their own little studio called Infinity Ward which would go on to make Call of Duty. Then Call of Duty would later triumph over Medal of Honor although that series has probably been run into the ground by Activision so that figures. What goes around, comes around.
Second is Guitar Hero. It was made by Harmonix. After making Guitar Hero 1 and 2, Harmonix was kicked out--Activision made Guitar Hero 3 and so on. Harmonix went on to create Rock Band. Despite the ultra-success of Guitar Hero 3, the series fizzled out while Rock Band re-innovated the music genre with a huge library of music and new instruments and gameplay modes.
And if, should the Good Lord will it, maybe Sega will see our good deeds and intervene like an angel and then we will be able to make the best racing game ever made. One can only hope. I may be wrong but as they say, "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst." We'll see what happens in a year or two . But be on alert people since WE MANY NEED YOU some day.
...
Uh, so you know what Sega needs? Sega needs a little help from his friends. HIS SEGA FRIENDS LIKE YOU AND I!!! GOD BLESS YOU SEGA!!!
I keep reading on these websites that this game is another "crap Sonic game." First, this game wasn't crap--yeah it wasn't flawless but it was good (78% on GameRankings). Second, in case you couldn't read, it's a "SEGA" game, not a Sonic game. The only really good Sega racer we got in recent times. Really, what else am I supposed to play? Mario Kart? Where are all these people flipping out over Mario Kart 7? No, cause Mario Kart 7 is mediocre (don't shoot me for this). Move over, Nintendo, cause Sega can do Kart racing too.
Look, the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing talk isn't old, I went into detail about it long, long ago. Sumo Digital also ported OutRun 2--I have a lot of faith in these guys to do better with SaSASR 2 than with 1.
EDIT: Guess I'll say this. I know that SaSASR 1 was lacking in the content department. Too many Sonic characters and recycled track assets. I think if they append what they did from the first game to the second (I am all in favor of re-using tracks from the previous game even if they undergo few changes) then that'll be great.
....Aaaaaannnnnddd, I can't talk much nowadays since I've done so much programming homework that at the end of the day, I'm not in the mood to stare at the screen. Second homework assignment I turned in five minutes before the deadline (11:55 pm). It's like defusing bombs with seconds to spare--it's fun!!!
Quick, you have 16 hours to finish the 32 hour-long assignment or else you lose 10% credit for each day late, PROGRAM FASTER YOU NUBS!!!!1!!1!!!!!!!!!!! What's that--you only have one hour left? Thirty minutes??? TEN MINUTES??? Will I crash the build if I submit this? WWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For someone with Asperger's (yes I'm not afraid to admit it), I really hate change. It's a trait of mine to stick to a routine (look it up) which is why I get all mopey when I have to leave to go somewhere. Only recently have I really noticed this. And this Christmas wasn't by any means "magical" but it was nice to spend time with my family. Now I'm in Florida again all my lonesome, surrounded by gaming nerds again. So this sucks ass but it's what I gotta do.
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And today I drove nine hours from Louisiana to Florida all by my lonesome. The last few times I did it, I had a wingman (my dad) to switch driving duties and call out directions like "Easy right maybe." But no, I just cruised to Florida because I'm a pro.
Anyway, this trip was very tiring. To keep active, I just partied in the car, singing along with every song and making jokes to myself. I also brought a 5 Hour Energy with me just in case I were to lose consciousness along the way. I've never taken one before so when I devoured the whole thing, it was a dramatic moment. And guess how I felt after taking? Exactly the same. Apparently a shiatload of vitamins and supplements can't substitute for good old-fashioned sleep.
But you know what did wake me up? I came to the Daytona USA soundtrack and that stuff just kicked my ass. I got all stoked and stuff. My favorite is the original '93/94 arcade version. Seriously, if you ever need to get into a good mood quickly, LISTEN TO THIS. EDIT: I hooked up my Sansa Fuze music player and listened to music the whole time. What else?
Daytona USA is MY 5-hour ENERGY.
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And I got to my apartment and my belated Christmas present I mailed to the apartment was waiting on the doorstep. Thankfully, no one stole it (thanks lousy mailman). What is it? A Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar!!! And guess what? Yeah, I'm way behind the curve on this device (RB3 came out over a year ago) but I also suck at it. Then again, a year ago I was equally bad at RB3 Pro Keys but I worked my way to the super-pro I am today.
Just the mere sight of this makes my head explode. And it gets much harder than this.
If you've seen the Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar Controller (which costs about $130 new on Amazon), then you'll see it has 102 buttons and six strum bars--err, strings. You might have to use a pick to play it.
There's also this Rocksmith game out. Basically it's like RB3's Pro Guitar/Bass but you use an actual guitar and the game just reads the sound instead. IIRC, that's the only instrument you can play in that game. RB3's pro guitar frets are buttons and not strings so it's not as realistic. But you know what? I don't care. I like Rock Band 3's format (various instruments, scoring, etc.) and massive library of songs.
And more importantly, I don't play RB3 for the sake of becoming a real musician either--I only have expressed interest in being a pianist/keyboardist anyway (the one instrument I enjoy the most and am the best at). Lest you forget, Rock Band is first and foremost a GAME, not a real-life band simulator. This whole myth that people play Rock Band/Guitar Hero to become a superstar is just asinine on many levels. And I admit Rocksmith isn't ass like Power Gig or Rock Revolution but it's not my cup of tea (I don't even drink tea, ha).
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And my second laptop (the non-school one) slipped off the bed and hit the hard floor. Despite the sudden trauma of seeing an expensive device take a tumble, it still works fine. However, when you shake it, it makes a slight rattling noise. I swear, that rattling is the most f'n annoying thing in the world. Whenever any device does that, I disassemble the thing and remove the broken pieces. Too bad I don't have a screwdriver to remove the lid...
I could use an adrenaline boost for school. Too bad I'm practically immune to 5-Hour Energy's effects. I just want to slingshot past everyone and crack some heads. Too bad I'm in a slump thanks to Christmas sucking and all that.
Well, like I talked about earlier, my racing game pitch at FIEA didn't work. Since it's been a day before the news, I've had the time to recompose myself and go back to school. I didn't get in any heated exchanges with anyone so don't get that idea. I wasn't so much mad as I was sad and mellow the whole day.
Today, after it had been decided that my game was out of contention, I had a talk with the Production teacher about my pitch. He had a lot of good things to say about it. Like I said before, every Producer must give a pitch. This is essentially an assignment for them--they're graded for how well they present themselves and how good the game idea is. I'm a Programmer which means I'm not graded for this assignment. So I go up there and speak and yada yada yada...
He said that out of 27 people, I would've had the 2nd highest grade out of all the Producers for that one assignment. Wow. That's nice for a socially-awkward Programmer. He was that moved by it. Apparently, many others were too and I can't believe it, no matter how many times they told me.
Now why did the game fail? Well, the teacher changed the grading scale at the last minute. The ratings were completely determined by student votes. Part of them were by Producers only--the other by Programmers and Artists. So if I could at least win over one side, I'd sail to the finish, right?
Out of all 27 games, I ranked 7th with Producers. As for Programmers, I did okay. The Artists are the main reason I tanked. Putting aside the general dislike for racing games, the main reason why is because they want more than anything else to animate lots of characters for their portfolios. Animating cars doesn't cut it. I pitched the idea for immersive, detailed environments but that wasn't good enough since environment art takes a back seat to character art, it seems. I ranked 20th out of all games in terms of Artists. That's horrible. I really wish I could've devoted more time to character animation but I didn't think to do that.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that artists are taking other classes in which they get to chance to model characters outside of the capstone game. So it's not like a racing game means they'll never get the chance to animate monsters/robots, they'll have plenty of those opportunities...
In the end, I was one of those bubble games that didn't make it. Had I actually managed to persuade a few more Artists, I would've made it to the Top 10. And when you get to the Top 10, you get a bit more freedom to pick & choose who works on your game. Basically, the Top 5 games don't have equal teams--the same number of Producers, Programmers, and Artists. The faculty allocates however many people is needed for whatever project. So if there's a very detailed game with many characters, then that game gets many Artists. If there's a complicated game, then that gets many Producers and Programmers. You get the idea?
And that's when I realized I missed the point as to what games get picked. See, going into this, I thought it was all about picking a game that you personally liked the most. I don't think this is the case. The game is basically a placebo for one to bolster one's portfolio. So that's why huge AAA games (within the scope of 20 students working for a few months) with a few action/adventure characters in a story arc are so popular there at FIEA. Cause it gives employers something to chew on in interviews. It doesn't seem like it's about the "passion" for the game anymore. It's just there. It's not as emotional to others as it seems.
Circumstances like this are one of the many things that affect my attitude towards video games. Some days, I wake up and say to myself, "My God, I'm a friggin loser gamer going to gaming college!" And then I want to run away but then I realized I must proceed with my other schoolwork.
So, anyway, racing games don't cut the mustard. I see that while we're in college and we have the manpower and the software to work on what we want, we should go for what we desire the most. I mean, there's no guarantee I'll ever get to work on a racing game ever again. And my pitch did hit home with some. I don't think everyone there hates racing games, but I was set back by this unfortunate fact...
If anything, I can walk away with my held high planting a seed that it is possible to make a good racing game if you just follow the recipe. Also, it was nice to make a couple of producers, even for just a moment, sweat it out, thinking "Oh my God, my pitch may lose out to a Programmer pitching a lousy RACING GAME..."
Sooo...about my teacher. Had he not changed the judging method, I would've most likely made it to the Top 10. But what can you say? I don't hate the man. As a matter of fact, some lucky SOB took my place in the Top 10. So to go back and wretch the game from his hands and say "Now we're making a racing game!" would be a complete asshat move on my part so there's no turning back. So, whatever...
There were also a few Producer friends of mine who pitched games that didn't get picked that I thought should have. Like one guy pitched a Walking Dead-type survival game which centers around people and what they have to do to liberate the whole town and survive. The other pitched a Hunger Games-type strategy game for Facebook. The visuals were 2D but they looked colorful enough for me. This guy is a professional--he speaks clearly, dresses nice, practices his speeches often, and designs enough sample material for you to get a grasp on the game. Like he made prototype screenshots of his game. He also typed out a fancy manual detailing all the rules of the game. So the fact that this guy didn't get picked blows my mind. There was one other Facebook game that got picked--why not this guy's? I ranked both these games near the top of my list.
So that's that. And then I went home and drank grape juice, played a lengthy session of Daytona USA, and indulged in some massive Country track pack for Rock Band. 20 Pro Keys songs for $20, what a deal. Good to get back into gaming for once.
To all doubters who thought my pitch sucked, to quote the great Duke Nukem, "Suck it down..."
First of all, didn't you hear that New York Comic-Con just came and went recently? And that Blizzcon is going on right about now? Do I care? NOPE.
Alright, so Sega recently published this game called Renegade Ops. Sadly, Sega did not make this themselves. It was developed by Avalanche Studios (who?). I pick on Sega for not making more in-house games but at least they're doing a good job now of picking good games to publish, like those by Platinum Games (Bayonetta) and Sumo Digital (Sega Tennis/Racing).
So Renegade Ops is an overhead arcade game in which you drive with one stick while shooting with another (think Geometry Wars). You drive cars, tanks, and helicopters. It's pretty cool. EDIT: Dammit Google, why do you keep linking me to broken image URL's???
I've only played the demo though. At least the demo gives you a modest 10-15 minutes of story play (it ends right after you get the helicopter though. You're just plowing through the world shooting infantry, jeeps, and tanks. Damn, you're such a bad-ass. You're also rescuing civilians although you never really see them walking around--you destroy the cages they're in and you magically pick them up and take them back to the church (praise the Lord).
Now about the story. You're treated to a little mini-introduction in this game in the game's sweet comic-book style artwork. You're looking at a shot of a peaceful city with people all around. Then a nuke goes off and everybody presumably dies. Great--just what I needed--another war game with innocent people dying. This bad guy named Inferno is threatening to nuke more cities and this wuss-bag at what appears to be the United Nations says we ought to perform sexual favors give in to his demands because the UN sucks like that.
NOT SO FAST as Mr. Hardass General guy never backs down from a fight. He tosses his precious medals on the table and walks out dedicated to killing this Inferno bastard. " Do you think a man named Inferno has good intentions?" he said. "Real American Badass. Really, we need more badasses like this. In a world where our football players wear pink. Yeah, we're losing it here.
As opposed to:
Hey, isn't that Kevin Butler?
"Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle." All I have to say is be a Man.
Really, Renegade Ops is pretty good. Controls while driving and shooting are a bit weird (especially since you're driving a car and can't make 180-degree turns on a dime), but it's a fun little arcade shooter without inundating you with an annoying plot. You can even play 2-player co-op with a buddy. Try the demo now.
Please note that being a "bad-ass" doesn't mean playing dark greyish-brown games. No, that's just stupid. Dark colors make you feel depressed which reduces your manliness (for some of us anyway).
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And now, I would like to talk about some more games. While I'm at FIEA, some classes are dedicated to watching a game being played out on a projector. The point is to figure out from a developer's perspective what was good and bad about the game. Two games we recently watch were Mass Effect 2 and Enslaved: Odyssey. And both games were rated pretty high from game critics (durr, of course). To tell you the truth, I have never played either of these games. But let me explain what I think from the 75 minutes I saw from the beginning of both games.
First, both games take place in the future in war-like settings. Surprising, neither use that crap brownish hue that games like Gears of War and Rage unabashedly use at every turn. They are heavily cutscene-driven. They both involve killing tons of robots but Mass Effect 2 is a shooter while Enslaved is a "hack & slash." Robots...just like Binary Domain, but at this point, I stopped giving a damn about the "humans vs. robots" motif so whatever. Just entertain me anyway.
Now some probably expect me to come on here and slam both games for being production-laden crap, but not really. Neither game was really that bad to me. Cutscenes were pretty good and I kinda wanted to know what happened next to the characters.
But that's just it...this is not a game, it's a DAMN MOVIE. An interactive movie, but still too movie-ish for me. The gameplay (shooting/mashing buttons) was okay but it didn't do it for me. Like in Mass Effect 2, I was more intrigued by the multiple conversation feature than the actual gameplay itself. Like I wanted to know what happens what the black guy or that rich dude in the chair says next, not "oh, I gotta shoot some robots again, oh joy." It's almost like the gameplay is secondary to the actual feature film at play here. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's cooler parts later in the game but if they aren't apparent from the beginning then I tend not to think about them.
Although one thing I must say that Mass Effect 2 did gameplay-wise is that your cohorts actually die when shot at. Well, they magically get up at each checkpoint as if they fell asleep, rofl. At least it's not some Call of Duty bogus crap where your story-driven friend (Ghost, Gaz, Price, MacMillan) just stands behind cover until you activate the next story trigger and off you go again.
I know some may say "Eric, you suck," but come on man. Lots of people are movie buffs (at least here in America anyway) so these games are highly appealing. However, I don't fit that mold. I don't think I've popped a DVD in the player (except Seinfeld) or went to a theater in ages. Well, I DO like some movies but not that many. That's just how I roll. My apologies.
I guess that's why games like Daytona USA, OutRun, Rock Band, and Advance Wars hit home for me--just present me with a setting, a short plot (if necessary), and let me control my own destiny.
That's really all I have to say here. If I haven't pissed you off already then congrats...you get a gold star under your name on the poster I have up on this wall here!
Good, it's coming out for XBL and PSN very soon!!! But why no hard copies of the game?
I think it is interesting that the AM2 logo is there. Maybe the actual AM2 team OR Toshihiro Nagoshi is involved! I would like to learn more.
Also, 8-players max is really lame. I know the original had just 8-players but come on. Not like I'm surprised if this is a high-definition port. At least the draw distance & textures look damn good. Like what they did with the XBL Perfect Dark port--more of the same goodness...
EDIT:Just realize the Achievement list has been leaked. Most are easy but three of them are interesting. Challenge Mode??? Survival Mode??? Karaoke Mode??? Karaoke, awesome...wish it were like Rock Band though (match the pitch). GET THESE SONGS INTO ROCK BAND!!!
But really Sega...now that I think about it. You're doing it all wrong. Here, let me illustrate what you should be doing:
GET THE HINT????? I got plenty more Photoshops to go through!!!!! Including Daytona: CCE and Virtua Racing!!!!
I'M BACK, BABY!!!!!
BTW, I'm fully convinced that BlogSpot hates Internet Explorer. Because whenever I post the YT embed code in IE, it screws it all up. Not so in Firefox. Plus, not to mention I won't stay logged in on IE. If only Firefox wouldn't take five minutes to start up then maybe I won't have to resort to IE.
Can't believe it!! Two weeks ago, just out of nowhere, I ordered two Daytona USA guide books (as you can see above along with my Daytona 2 book). They finally arrived today. I got them from this site (they also sell games and CD's). Each book cost about $7 including S&H which was $15. So $30 bucks for some Daytona memorabilia was a good deal for me. They each have about 80 pages, just as large as the D2 book.
Strangely, I ordered these books before the Sega Daytona port was leaked so this is purely coincidental.
OOOOO, CHECK IT OUT.... I should mention that both books are for the Saturn version, not the Arcade version, which I kind of a bummer. This is part-strategy guide, part-colorful pictures so it's cool to check out.
Table of Contents, sorry these pics are crap.
Oooo, the Hornet!!
It's an interview with Yu Suzuki!! Like I said before, Toshihiro Nagoshi was the producer but Suzuki was a supervisor, so to speak.
And here's an interview with Toshihiro Nagoshi. Strange cause he looks completely normal here.
And here's Takenobu Mitsuyoshi busting out those famous beats!!
A paper Hornet car? Hell no, I ain't shredding this book up. I suck at making these things anyway. Maybe once I scan this page.
Of the two books, the one with the flying cars on the cover looks cooler...it has the Suzuki/Nagoshi/Mitsuyoshi pages as well as screenshots of Daytona USA and other Model2 arcade cabinets. Verrryyy naice!!!
EDIT: Pictures didn't load the first time (I hate when that happens cause you have no idea if others can see 'em). So here they are now:
And this:
Also, two more awesome things that have happened lately!
I smoked this song (The Doors - Touch Me) on Rock Band Pro Keys. After being teased by this song for so long, I whooped its ass. DAMN, I'M GOOD...
Also, I got a Gameboy DS emulator working on my computer! It's the No$Zoomer emulator. You can play games just by clicking with your mouse (touch screen, remember?). BTW, I already own the games I'm playing...Advance Wars Baby!!!
