Sunday Supplement – 6th November

Comic courtesy of Fat Gamers.

The Empire Strikes Back

It sounds like the way games were supposed to be – the way we were promised they would be; online, portable, free, fast, furious and fun. Even now, as the next generation shadow looms over the horizon, with its HDTV, beautiful graphics, complex storylines and months of gameplay, we haven’t experienced that utopian paradise. It’s as if it’s been casually forgotten, an idea consigned to the bottomless pit of unrealised gaming epiphanies. Well, now it’s here: Mario Kart DS; Wi-Fi, free – over food, over coffee, during a quick hour-and-a-half in a hotel room, waiting for a train, over a pint in the union, watching the football, reading a book… hanging around a payphone?

It’s free! It had to be Nintendo to realise the importance of free online play. Who else? What’s holding online gaming back? Cost. What have Nintendo done? Made it free! And the prospect of free online portable Mario Kart isn’t 2007, next year or even next month. It’s November 25 2005. In 19 days you’ll be able to play Mario Kart against someone from Japan over a latte in Coffee Republic – at no extra cost.

Nintendo just keep on coming – like a cut in the roof of Sony and Microsoft’s mouth that just won’t go away, no matter how much they tongue it. But it slices with a different knife. Nintendo have ditched the tech-spec infatuation and the polygon race, instead concentrating on what games are all about – fun. In the face of intense competition, dwindling confidence and tearful neglect, Nintendo are striking back with a new weapon – one they hope will wrestle back the hearts and minds of gamers of all ages from the clutches of Sony and Microsoft’s grinning bosom. One they hope will bring gaming home.

The Revolution’s controller has divided opinion among the gaming intellectual elite. Some hate it, some love it. Either way, Nintendo Wi-Fi has been developed in the same mould. It’s all about accessible fun. It’s about breaking down barriers – wires, millions of buttons on a joypad and fees for online play. In this sense, Mario Kart is the perfect Nintendo franchise to launch the service on – quick, instant reward (but huge satisfaction for dedicated players) against anyone from around the globe. I haven’t seen such a compelling reason to play anything on a handheld before in my entire life.

Reinforcing this policy, Nintendo Europe’s Marketing Director said this week that they may never release the Revolution’s technical specifications to the public. If that’s not sticking two fingers up at Sony and Microsoft, I don’t know what is.

He said: “While some of our competitors enjoy comparing specifications, it has little or nothing to do with how satisfied the consumers will be with the system and the games once they are released. I know people are hungry for information on Revolution and we respect and appreciate that, but we don’t want to contribute to the cloud of meaningless information that surrounds the next generation systems.”

So, add it all up. Free Wi-Fi, wireless joypads that tear the gaming rulebook into smithereens and a blank refusal to enter the tech race. Here you have the next evolutionary step in gaming history, or the latest daring innovation to fall flat on its face

Poo-Coloured Joystick Awards.

Yeah yeah yeah, GTA: San Andreas swept the board at Friday night’s Golden Joystick Awards. I’d never have guessed. Other obvious gongs went to Resident Evil 4 for GameCube Game of the Year (from what I’ve heard about the GameCube at retail, I’m surprised the console still has an award of its own), Halo 2 for Xbox Game of the Year (OMG I don’t believe it), Half Life 2 for PC Game of the Year (ahhckkk, I’m choking on my complete lack of surprise, Lord save me!) and World of Warcraft for The Sun Online – Online Game of the Year (now I’m dead).

But, sarcasm aside, all these winners are probably fair choices. No-one can deny that GTA: San Andreas is an amazing game, and the individual platform winners are sound choices. They even awarded Fahrenheit the Unsung Hero of the Year award, and made Nintendo Publisher of the Year, which is nice, if a tad unrealistic. Kudos to the Golden Joystick Awards.

BUT, there were some surprises, and ridiculous surprises at that. Best Film-Based Game of 2005 – Resident Evil. Er, is that a joke? If so I’m not getting it. Last time I checked, the Resident Evil franchise wasn’t based on a film, films were based on it.

The Game One Gaming Innovation of the Year – PSP. Er, no thanks. DS wins it for me I’m afraid. Dual Screen, stylus, sensors etc vs small PS2 with a nice screen.

This one is hilarious – The One to Watch for Xmas – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Hehe.

The Girl’s Choice for 2005 – The Sims 2. I know, let’s give the girls their own award – that won’t make them feel even more excluded from the male dominated game fraternity than they already are.

So, major work to be done, but we’re getting there. The ideal, of course, is to have a credible award ceremony on a par with the Oscars, the Grammys or the Emmys. That will take a long time and a serious change in the way games are perceived as popular culture. But there’s something else holding games back, highlighted quite brutally by the Golden Joystick Awards this week.

When a game wins an award, there’s no star to walk on to the stage to receive it. There’s no tearful acceptance speech that goes on for an hour and thanks everyone from the gardener to the plumber. It’s just impossible – there’s no way CJ from GTA: San Andreas can waltz up the red carpet, an Uzi in tow, without causing at least slight consternation. Unfortunately, our virtual nature is our downfall.

So what’s the answer? Celebratize the developers? Turn Miyamoto, Molyneux and Meier into global stars? Somehow I can’t see it. No-offence, but I doubt I’ll open tomorrow’s tabloids and find Peter Molyneux falling out of a London hotspot with some Big Brother reject on his arm.

Unfortunately it’s a conundrum, one I can’t see a quick and easy solution to. Until it’s found, though, game awards ceremonies will remain a pleasant, if limited, affair

Maybe now I’ll see what all the fuss is about

You can’t get Ico for love nor money. You can’t get it online (unless you want to pay £65 for it on eBay, which I don’t), or at retail (haven’t seen it pre-owned in a couple of years). Quite simply, it’s bloody rare.

Now I haven’t really cared. Sure, I’ve been aware of the whole “I am hardcore because I like Ico” crap, but I’ve never felt compelled to join that particularly exclusive club, until now. Why? Four words: Shadow of the Colossus. Now, that’s a game I’d play. Until then, as if in an effort to satisfy my urge to crawl up giant legs and penetrate weak spots, I want to play Ico – but I can’t get it anywhere!

Which is why the news that SCEE are re-releasing Ico for the PlayStation 2 is so welcome. It’s coming out in February next year, and will hopefully be distributed on a wider scale then its first offering back in March 2002. Then, sales were low because there were only a few Icos to go round. It was never going to sell bucket loads in the first week, but word of mouth quickly built up a loyal fanbase. Only problem was, once everyone sold out (and it didn’t take long) that was it.

So, fingers crossed, a stellar-selling Shadow of the Colossus will convince gamers who might otherwise have overlooked Ico four years ago to give it a shot, and provide the opportunity to those who desperately wanted to play it but couldn’t. That can only be a good thing for gaming. One thumb-up for Sony; it would have been two had they released Shadow of the Colossus in Europe this year.

This week on Pro-G

Just in case you missed anything, here’s a list of all the articles posted on the site this week.

Reviews

Quake 4 (PC)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 (PS2, Xbox and Cube)

SSX on Tour (PS2, Xbox and Cube)

The Warriors (PS2 and Xbox)

WWE Day of Reckoning 2 (Cube)

Midway Arcade Treasures 3 (PS2 and Xbox)

Vietcong 2 (PC)

L.A. Rush (PS2 and Xbox)

This week’s new releases

A quick look at the list below will reveal more games than any sane (or averagely paid) person could ever purchase. Unfortunately, quite a few of them should be on your wanted list, with the likes of Age of Empires III, Call of Duty 2, Civilisation 4, GT Legends and Resident Evil 4 all on store shelves as you read this. Did you notice that four of those are PC titles? Isn’t PC gaming meant to be dead?

Then, of course, there’s the small matter of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on the PSP. Being the only new GTA game to be released this year, it’s bound to be a huge hit for Rockstar and Sony (in terms of PSP sales). All reports suggest that the handheld game resembles its home console brothers remarkably well, making it one of the first must-have titles for the PSP.

• Age of Empires III (PC)
• Call of Duty 2 (PC)
• Civilization 4 (PC)
• Crash Tag Team Racing (PS2, Xbox, Cube)
• Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA)
• Dragonshard (PC)
• EyeToy: Play 3 (PS2)
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Cube)
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)
• Game Boy Micro
• Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP)
• Grand Theft Auto Triple Pack (Xbox)
• GT Legends (PC)
• Jak X: Combat Racing (PS2)
• Juka and the Monophonic Menace (GBA)
• LEGO Star Wars (Cube)
• Metal Slug 4 (Xbox)
• Resident Evil 4 (PS2)
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Wild! (PC)
• SingStar ’80s (PS2)
• The Sims 2 (PS2, Xbox, Cube, GBA, DS)
• Twisted Metal: Head On (PSP)
• Xenosaga Episode II (PS2)
• Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species (PC)

Next Week on Pro-G

Expect reviews for Call of Duty 2, Civilisation 4, The Suffering: Ties that Bind, Call of Cthulhu, Resident Evil 4 on PlayStation 2 and more.