Tag: Video Games

PS4/XboxOne Midnight Release: Dos and Don’ts You’ll Need to know before You Line Up

With both Playstation and Microsoft releasing their next consoles in the upcoming weeks, it’s inevitable that people are preparing for the tried and true tradition of lining up for the midnight releases. Midnight release parties are a culture in their own right; New laws exist, the meek become the strong, and getting your hands on a console is the only thing that matters. Thus, for your sake and mine, I’ve decided it’s time to learn a little bit about the dos-and-don’ts of Console Midnight Releases.

Fair warning: Midnight releases get can get rough. Not dangerous or sketchy or anything, but rough on the sights and sounds. We’re talking lines of gamers, mostly dudes, whom have been standing in line for hours, if not days. While standing in a midnight release line for the Ouya I became inebriated by the fumes of my fellow gamers. I then begin to hallucinate for hours that I was in the game BattleToads.  I awoke hours past midnight in a nearby Pinkberry covered in yogurt and toppings with a screaming teenage employee holding a large spoon yelling at me. That story, of course, was a lie; no one cared about the Ouya.

Without further ado:

DO: Show up earlier than later.

Yeah, not standing in is nice, but so it getting a console at midnight. If you’re dedicated to getting a midnight released console, arrive earlier than later. Don’t wait until a line starts forming, if you’re really dedicated you won’t be afraid to be the first one in line. All of your waiting and patience will pay off when you get to play those sweet sweet launch titles…well, maybe not.

DON’T: Go Alone 

This one probably is the least followed rule of the midnight release, since many of us won’t be able to find a friend as passionate about having their console directly at midnight. That said, you’re still standing outside in the middle of the night with strangers. Launch lineups can be dangerous places, you’re essentially in a crowd of individuals each with the intention to spend at least 400 dollars on a video game console. Many muggings and thefts have occurred during midnight releases, often time after gamers have received their consoles. For your safety, please bring a friend, family member, or someone who will have your back even if they are only there to keep you company.

Do: Prepare before hand

One of the worst things you can do is line-up without having prepared to stand in a line for hours. Beyond sheer will, you’ll need other essentials including food, drink, and entertainment. That means plan ahead, bring bottles of water and snacks to get you through the night. Plan accordingly for the night: don’t go in just a t-shirt and shorts, even though you’re lining up at 3pm in the day. Also, bring your 3DS or Vitas, as you’ll be a line of gamers who may also have their handhelds on them; It’s a great way to pass the time and maybe even make some friends in the mean time.

Don’t: Go.

I know, it’s a little contradictory of me to give you some advise about going to midnight releases and then flat our advise not to go. But really, don’t go. You’re really not gaining that much by getting a game at midnight, at most you’re getting a few extra hours with a console that you’ll probably be too tired to really appreciate. Stay home, sleep, and wait until the morning and get a console at a store that isn’t holding a midnight release. Better yet, preorder in advance or have it shipped to you the day it releases.  If you’re worried that you won’t get a console at midnight unless you line up then just wait, the drought of consoles typically only last a few weeks at most. You’ll be able to eventually get your hands on a console, and besides: Launch games typically aren’t all that great.

For those who of you set on being there for a midnight release: Be safe and enjoy.

Forbes Releases Their Choices for the Top 10 Powerful Women in Gaming

Forbes Releases Their Choices for the Top 10 Powerful Women in Gaming

Forbes released their list of the 10 most powerful women in gaming today. In an industry dominated by men, the 10 listed women are blazing new ground for female game developers in the industry. Check out the list and get to know these 10 women shaping the game industry.

That’s all I have for today. Not failed attempts and failed humor or witty insight.

Video Games to Celebrate Halloween With

As I said a few months ago with “Games that to Celebrate the 4th of July with”, if video games mirror aspects of society, then it’s only natural that they celebrate our customs and holidays.  With Halloween only a few days a way, here are some spooktacularly fun games to celebrate Halloween with:

piump

Now there’s plenty of games gamers may go to for their Halloween gaming, specifically horror and survival games like Resident Evil, Deadspace, or Silent Hill. While these types of games are all great choices to play on Halloween, I’ll be focusing on games that actually celebrate Halloween…I’m talking Pumpkins, costumes, and, of course, trick and or treating. Here we go.

Animal Crossing Series (Nintendo)

I mentioned the Animal Crossing series in my 4th of July piece, but it works for pretty much all holidays and occasions. With Animal Crossing’s internal calendar and clock it celebrates holidays in real time. For Halloween the game has a reoccurring character that only appears in your town on October 31st. Jack, the pumpkin wearing character, appears in your town each Halloween starting all sorts of Halloween festivities and havoc upon your town. Jack is kind of a jerk, asking you to do all sorts of strange things and, to be honest, he’s a little too obsessed with Halloween for his own good. One must ask: what does he do with the rest of the year? The other villagers will get into the spirit by dressing up like Jack, offering candy, and giving out Halloween specific items. So if you haven’t checked your town in a few months (Sorry Isabelle and Nook, Pokemon took your place in my 3ds) perhaps it’s time to check in with your town and enjoy some of the Halloween fun this Thursday.

Costume Quest (PSN/XBLA/Steam 2013)

Honestly, this one I have not played but may give it a shot this Halloween. I have heard great things and it’s from trusted developer Doublefine, makers of  the hilarious and great games Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. Anyways, what better game to play on Halloween than a game set on Halloween. The game places you in the role of one of two siblings as they seek out their sibling after they are kidnapped by a giant monster with a sweet tooth while trick-or-treating on Halloween. The game is a mix of adventure and RPG aspects, with the player being able to switch their attack styles by switching different costumes. For those of us too old to go trick-or-treating, why not go in the virtual world with this game. All in all, it’s  supposed to be a really fun game with a Halloween backdrop that’s fun for all ages. Sounds perfect, eh.

Team Fortress 2 (Valve)

This one is moreso for the people  who have already played Team Fortress 2, as you’re probably not going to enjoy it too much if you’re only going in for the Halloween fun because you will get massacred and cry . For the last couple of years, Team Fortress 2 has updated the game with Halloween specific skins and festivities each year. Many developers had little fun Halloween skins and other fun things each year (Ex: Minecraft, Uncharted 3, etc) but Valve really has been known to out do other developers when it comes to Halloween. So if you’re a Team Fortress fan, take some time and playing TF2 this Halloween.

Jersey Devil (PS1 1997)

For those craving something a little older than those titles already mentioned, why not give Jersey Devil a try. The game puts you in the role of the infamous Jersey devil as he makes his way through levels filled with skeletons, pumpkins, and other Halloween related goods. The game may not be as favorably remembered as other PS1 classics like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon, but it was a decent platformer for the time. Plus, it’s the only game to feature the elusive Jersey Devil, whom isn’t nearly as popular as the yeti or the eskimo.  That said, if you can find this game in a bargain bin it’s worth a try.

Kingdom Hearts Series (Square-Enix)

Last but not least is the Kingdom Hearts series. This one if more a guilty addition, as I they’re some of my favorite games. Many of the games in the franchise feature worlds based on the Tim Burton classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, which is  the perfect setting for any Halloween Video Gaming. Granted, there’s a debate whether the film is more of a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, and Kingdom Hearts 2 definitely deals with more of the Christmas side of the film, but regardless Halloweentown is certainly applicable and fun to play on Halloween. It’s also a great game with a great remake that was just released on the PS3, so it’s worth a play anytime of the year.

So there you have it, some games to spend you last night of October with. Let me know what game you plan on enjoying this Halloween?

Research Claims There’s A Connection Between Sexist Video Games and Rape

Research Claims There’s A Connection Between Sexist Video Games and Rape

A recent study coming out of Stanford is claiming that there’s a scientific connection between sexist video games and rape. Honestly, the study is more about a connection between video games and self-objectification, but we’ll go with that they’re claiming for right now.

A sample of the sexualized avatars used in the study

The study evaluates shifts in perspectives on rape culture and physical embodiment after playing with sexualized in-game avatars. The research group went about examining these shifts by having groups of female gamers play with highly sexualized avatars and then having them answer questions regarding views on rape and sexism. A control group of female gamers playing with non-sexualized avatars were used in comparrison to those with the sexualized avatars. The study found two things: The first, that gamers who were playing with sexualized avatars were more likely to give into myths about victim-base rape culture and that, two,  when the groups were playing with characters that mirrored themselves (including having their real life faces posted on the characters bodies) the proponents were  even more likely to give into victim-blamed myths about rape.  What the research contends is that gamers embody characteristics of their avatars, which alter their real-world perspectives as players with more sexualized avatars were reported as having much more body related thoughts than those without sexualized avatars. This would contend that sexualized avatars create more self-objectification than non-sexualized avatars.

What’s this mean? It would suggest that sexist female avatars and characters have negative effect on female gamers. Beyond the consequences of being more susceptible to myth about rape, which is what the study focuses on, the research seems to suggest that inaccurate representation of females in games have harmful effects on how female gamers are viewing themselves and females in general. While the study doesn’t go into the effects that sexist video game characters have on men, it does provide evidence that sexism in video games has effects on how gamers view women, which is certainly a great issue.  With a lack of accurate a fair female representations in the gaming world, the surplus of sexist and inaccurate video game females is showing to have more and more effect on female and male gamers alike.

 

I’m not really doing the research justice, so please go check out the link to the research study’s paper that was published in Computers in Human Behavior

IGN Has Created an Interactive Mario Museum Online

Online Video Game Museums: Mario

This is just more of a fun link than anything else, but IGN has created an interactive online museum for the Mario Bros. franchise. Granted, it’s not as complete as many fans would wish it to be, but it’s a fun little time waster. With Video Games making their lasting mark on contemporary culture, museums and preservation of video game history and video game past will become important as the old hardware begins to time out (which is currently happening to many video games). Without proper preservation video game history may be lacking in the future. Digital or non-digital, video game preservation is an important issue in the video game community.

But for now, check out the online museum and play around with them bros.

Research Suggest Some Video Game Promote Unhealthy Foods

Research Suggest Some Video Game Promote Unhealthy Foods

After being gone for an extended time, the Sociology of Video Games is back!

We’re coming back today with….A research study that suggest some video games promote unhealthy food.

Don’t eat that, that’s cat food!

A Michigan State University Research team conducted a study on “Advergames” and their prevalence in the video game world. An Advergame, for those of us who don’t inherently know made up words, is defined as an online game that specifically promotes a product, service, or company.  This isn’t surprising, as marketing teams have realized the obvious connection between kids playing games and kids getting their parents to buy them things. Of course, such games have been around, even before the advent of online video games. Let’s take a quick look at some of those great titles!

McKids (1992)

McKids was the fine product of copying Mario Brothers and McDonalds. Players got the chance to play around the magical Mcdonald world of talking food products, creepy clowns, Hamburger thievery, and whatever Grimace is. If you’re up for the challenge, you may even get your hands on Ronald’s Magic Bag! Oh boy!

 

 

 

Chex Quest (1996)

 Chex Quest was the best cereal based first person shooter of all time. Taking control of The Chex Warrior, players battled their way through levels fending off Chex hating aliens. The game was released as a free-in-cereal-box title for those who bought Chex cereal. Just beware, the game will make your computer smell like Chex!

 

Playstation All-Stars Island-Sponsored by Coke Zero (2013)

One of the more recent offenders comes to us from Coke and Sony. Playstation All-Stars come together for IOS minigames and promotion of coke! All proceeds go to Coke, Sony, and having no respect.

But we have to ask: is this a concern for video game players or advertisers? These games are going to made regardless of players consuming them or not. Similarly, it begs to reason that if a company (like coke or Mcdonalds) is big enough to be able to create an entire game based around their product it’s probably not the best product in the world.

“One of the things we were concerned about was that the majority of foods that received the most interest were those that tended to be energy dense — high in calories — and not high in nutrients,” said Lorraine Weatherspoon, a co-director of the project and an associate professor of food science and human nutrition. “These foods typically included high-sugar snacks and cereals as well as instant or canned soups, sugar-sweetened beverages and several types of candy products.”

Well..yeah, that’s because those companies that are big enough and well known enough for these types of marketing stunts to actually work are products that kids and consumers already know about.

So what’s to be done? Should Video Games cut ties to big corporation and marketing stunts all together? No, because that’s not something that can  realistically happen. Corporations are going to make games to market their products just like anyone can make a video game to push whatever strange idea or thought they have. If anything we shouldn’t be surprised that corporations are using video games to promote their unhealthy products.

Do Game Developers Need to do More to Prevent Addiction?

Published recently in Addiction and Research Theory, a paper entitled “Social responsibility in online videogaming: What should the videogame industry do?” questions whether developers of online video games should actively do more to prevent players of their games from getting addicted. Should they? Will they?

Before we delve into the content of the paper,  we should make note that video game addiction has become a growing problem over the years, grabbing many headlines and creating quite the concern. For some statistics about video game addiction, I’d advise to head over to www.techaddiction.ca for some interesting facts about this problem.

ONTO THE PAPER I SAY!

The paper has already gained notice in the press, as both the BBC and Washington Post have written articles about it:

Do video game makers owe it to players to keep them from getting addicted?

Do Online Game Developers Need to Do More to Prevent Addiction

The paper, given what we know about addiction to video games, calls for developers to decrease some of the elements in their games that cause addictive tendencies. This includes decreasing the number of long missions, decreasing the importance of doing repetitive tasks for the sake of leveling up characters (Grinding or farming), and making crazy uber-rewards for players who sink countless hours into the game. While many gamers may find these aspect of their favorite games essential, they’re often the most time consuming and addicting parts of them. Should game developers comply? Is it reasonable to be asking them to take measures to prevent addiction when video game addiction, for all intensive purposes, is financially positive?

While some of what the paper calls for seems a little far fetched, specifically taking out grinding,  some publishers have already taken steps to prevent their games from getting overly addicted. For example, Blizzard Entertainment, the maker of World of WarCraft and most of the games that will get you addicted, took out a reward in WOW for players who reached the highest level possible to prevent gamers from over doing it for the sake of obtaining this reward. Likewise, warning of over-playing have been used in numerous games in the past. Nintendo, for example, ask players to take a break from playing in several of their games if they exceed a certain number of hours in game. Similarly, games like Animal Crossing even go as far as to only allow players to do certain content during normal hours of the day, not giving players much to do during night hours. These little reminders, while easily ignored, do help to remind gamers that they need to step away from their gaming devices every once and awhile.

With gaming getting more and more intertwined with daily life, it’s only natural that more and more gaming will become addictive. You can talk with your friends, watch shows with them and even share content, so the need to remove yourself from your gaming devices is lessening. So perhaps it is up to gaming developers to at least try and make some in-game  attempt to prevent their players from over addiction. It’s not crazy, honestly; we ask our manufacturers of Alcohol to ask their consumers to not over do it. Social responsibility for their products is not asking too much of game developers. After all, a healthy gaming populace is a happy gaming populace.

If you have an opinion, please let me know! I’m very interested to learn what players of MMOs and other games that fall into what the media calls “addictive” think about this matter. Not being a MMO player, or much of an online gamer, myself I can really only take the stance of an outsider on this.

 

Tropes vs Women in Video Games – Part 3:Damsel in Distress

The third installment in the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series has been released today. I’m not going to say anything about it,  but here’s a brief description:

This is the third installment in our three part mini-series exploring the Damsel in Distress trope in video games. In this episode we examine the rare Dude in Distress role reversal and then take a look at the use of “ironic sexism” in retro inspired indie and mobile games. We conclude with an investigation of some titles that attempt to subvert or deconstruct the traditional damsel narrative.

Can Video Games Help Alleviate Dyslexia?

Can Video Games Help Alleviate Dyslexia?

A recent study out of the University of Padua in Italy found some interesting findings on the results that video games have on those with dyslexia.  The study, although very small, found that participants with dyslexia had their reading speeds increased after sessions of playing action-based video games. This begs the question: Can video games help kids with dyslexia improve their reading ability?

The Study: A research group at the University of Padua measured the improvements in reading scores of 20 kids with dyslexia after playing video games. One group had nine 80 minute sessions of playing an action-based video games, while the other group had nine 80-minute sessions of playing a non-action based video games. Essentially, one group played something akin to Sonic and one group played something akin to Professor Layton

Stay away from my dyslexic kids LAYTON!

The Results:

The study found that the kids who played action-based video games had their reading speeds increase moreso than those who played the non-action-based video game. Likewise, the scores outpaced the normal improvements children with dyslexia naturally gain over the course of a year. Thus, there seems to some evidence to suggest that playing action-based games that require a lot of shifting of attention may help kids with dyslexia improving their reading speed.

It can’t just be Krato’s menacing stare that is causing these improvements with action-based video games and not others. The researchers suggest that action-based video games hone visual attention skills, which are lacking in children with dyslexia. Action-based video games help hone these skills by constantly making the player shift their attention and focus in game. This could mean that children with dyslexia can actually benefit from scheduled playtime with games that are more action based. An issue for many parents with kids with dyslexia, the article points out, has been keeping their children’s interest in the programs meant to help alleviate dyslexia, an issue video games typically don’t have with kids.

Obviously more study will have to be done on this issue before anyone can call it definitive evidence, but it is interesting to say the least. I would be interested to see how video games rank in helping dyslexia compared to the gains found in organized programs, if such results are found. But who knows, maybe this is something parents with kids with dyslexia look into- they’ll be playing video games already most likely, so why not choose something a little more action based like Sonic or Mario Kart

Nintendo and Racial Under Representation

This is a picture of the character select screen from Super Smash Brother Brawl, a fighter featuring many of Nintendo’s main characters. You may notice it, but something is certainly lacking in this picture (No..It’s not MegaMan)

Nintendo has been in the video game industry for well over 30 years, and the number of franchises and characters they have created is unrivaled in the industry. However, Nintendo certainly has been slow to change on certain issues (Wi-Fi, DLC, Account Systems, hardware, etc). They’re by no means the most dynamic developer out there, despite revolutionizing the industry many times over. One issue that they seem to be trailing behind is that of racial representation in video games.

Let’s think for a moment: How many non-white Nintendo characters can you think of? How many characters of color? I can think of two: Doc Lewis from Punch-out, and maybe Ganondorf.

What gives Nintendo? Two characters out of hundreds, neither of whom are playable and one of which is a villain. There may be some characters in the Fzero universe, but who knows the characters outside Captain Falcon from Fzero? So we’re essentially left with zero, and there are certainly no protagonist who are non-white.

Another concerning issue comes from their lack of customization to include non-white players. For example, the recent Animal Crossing allows players to customize nearly every aspect of their character and city. One feature lacking is the ability to change or choose your characters skin tone. Gamers of colored have asked “Why can’t my character’s skin color match my own”?

It’s only recently that Nintendo has allowed players to choose between male and female, so why has an option for skin tone been missing from most games? Mii’s skin can be darkened or lightened, so why not in game? This isn’t isolated to Animal Crossing either, as games like Pokemon lack this ability as well.

Reasons Given for the lack of diversity:

“Most of Nintendo’s characters were created in the NES days, non-white characters would be more difficult to distinguish”

This excuse may have worked when Nintendo was first developing for arcades, but certainly the NES was powerful enough distinguish non-white characters. As I mentioned, Doc Lewis and several of the punch-out casts were characters of color, so it was certainly possible. Even McKids featured a non-white playable character. Is Nintendo really unable to do what McKids can? Regardless, Nintendo has had 20+ more years to make more characaters, and with expanding universes like the Zelda universe there’s no reason why Nintendo can’t create more diverse characters.

“Japan isn’t as diverse as we are”

I understand that Nintendo is a Japanese company, and racial diversity isn’t as big of a concern in Japan as is it here, but being one of the foremost worldwide gaming developers Nintendo has to consider a wider audience. Being a Japanese company hasn’t stop other developers from creating characters of color. Likewise, Nintendo’s mascot is an Italian plumber- I don’t think they’re letting region dictate their characters.

So there you have it. While I am singling out Nintendo, this issue goes far beyond the big N. Characters of color have traditionally been very underrepresented, and often misrepresented, in video games. Varying studies have been done on the representation of race in video games, and they hardly even come out too positive. As the video game industry progresses, it’s important that we demand diverse and interesting characters. Children who are non-white need positive heroes and protagonist just as much as their white peers.