Kotaku, a question [ December 10th, 2008 ] Posted in » PC

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Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that the number of posts on Kotaku’s pages seem to be decreasing at an alarming rate.  I’ve noticed this pattern over the last couple of weeks.  But before I said anything, and potentially looked like an idiot (or is that more of an idiot?) I wanted to make sure.  And now I am. 

Kotaku, as with all Gawker Network, sites use “more” button you have to click to read the rest of the article.  Can we all just agree this is a stupid idea?  The main reason for having a design like that is to track what articles are “viewed”.  It certainly doesn’t help the reader any by having to click a link 1 paragraph into a story.  Especially when Kotaku stories are very short to begin with. 

Gawker Network recently announced it was cutting back staff, despite making a profit.  They sited “troubling economic times” as the reason.  So who did they cut?  They cut employees from The Consummerist - a website devoted to helping people with financial issues.  So their most (socially) important website they cut when it’s “needed” most.

And that’s exactly what worries me - Kotaku, and the rest of the Gawker Network, are making a lot of “bottom line” decisions instead of thinking of the consumer.  I think companies should be allowed to do whatever they want in order to make money.  But as a consumer, and as one of their customers, I don’t like the direction they are going.  I’ve left websites (Eurogamer) and stores (I’m looking at you Circuit City) because of poor value/customer experience.  Kotaku is no different.  I find myself going there less and less, and I don’t even bother to check out Gizmodo anymore (for the same reasons as listed above).

Kotaku, while a little heavy on the nerd snark at times has always had valuable news.  But if I have to click additional links to read something, and sift through more advertisements with less content, then I’ll just find another place to read about games. 

I suspect any day now they’ll just have one post, and it will be a link to an advertiser. 

   

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Console Wars

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Final Fantasy is my favorite gaming franchise.  To me its bigger than Civilization, Half Life, Dragon Quest, and yes, even Diablo.  It’s also the only video game franchise that I would buy a console just to play.  (Actually that’s what I did with the PS2). 

So when it was announced that Final Fantasy would appear on the Xbox I think that’s pretty bad news for Sony.  This move takes away the one thing that made me think about buying a PS3.  Now the last card Sony has to play is the Blu-Ray angle.  Unfortunately for them, I watch very few regular movies at home, so the chances of me wanting to watch HD movies is slim to none.  

Which means I’m only buying a console to play video games.   

Both Microsoft and Sony are in trouble right now (even with Microsoft’s recent price cut).  As much as I hate to admit it, the Wii is dominating both of them.  But I’m a PC gamer first and foremost.  Which means that I’m not really in the market to buy more than one console.   That means I have a tough decision.  I haven’t wanted to buy the 360 because of it’s manufacturing issues.  The PS3 is just really expensive.  And the Wii doesn’t have many games I’m interested in playing.

Apparently my inability to choose sides in this console war makes me Switzerland. 

That’s why Sony losing an exclusive Final Fantasy game is bad for them, but good for me.  I’ll probably end up with a 360.  I’ll take that price cut, the better game library, a more robust online experience and my Final Fantasy.  But that means I’ll probably lose out on the Wii “experience”. 

Who knew staying neutral was such a pain?

 

September 11th, 2008 | 2 Comments

One more for the backlist

 

 

 

The RPG, a favorite gaming genre, is stacking up recently as the bane of this busy gamer.  I haven’t had time to play through Oblivion, GTA IV, or Final Fantasy XII but I can’t stop myself from picking up each latest and greatest offering to the role playing gods.  These great games sit on my shelf and mock me with their dozens of hours of gameplay, sidequests, unlockable characters and gaming escape. 

The most recent game to insult me so is Final Fantasy IV DS, the latest in a long series of remakes of the game first released in the US as Final Fantasy II for the SNES.  I spent some time with the game yesterday, to get a feel for the remake and torture myself with guilt and frustration that I won’t be able to give this little gem the hours it deserves.  Here are some initial observations:

1)  The opening cinematics are excellent and well-matched with the Uematsu soundtrack.  Characters retain the look of the cinematics in the Playstation releases, and Cecil and Kain both look imposing in their armor.

2)  There are in-game cutscenes which do a nicer job of presenting the story than just dialog boxes did.  I really like an early scene where Cecil in a contemplative mood is shown with the moon framed through his tower window. 

3)  The 3D models look pretty good, almost PS1 quality, but obviously don’t compare favorably to non-portable final fantasy titles released in the last five years.  The effort at the armor for Cecil and Kain ends up looking cartoon-y, in contrast to the cutscenes where it looks intimidating.  Still, the game pulls a lot of horsepower out of the DS and it’s fun to see familiar sprite-based locations, characters, and enemies get the 3D treatment.

4)   It would be nice if battles moved more quickly.  You’ll want to go into the menus and turn up the battle speed dial as far as it will go.  They should have made it go to 11. 

I haven’t played far enough to get a feel for the difficulty or the amount of grinding that will be necessary to experience this re-telling of a great story.   I’d give even odds that I never will (or at least will have to push off the time when I can get to it until something like “retirement”) but if you’re a lucky gamer with more time than I, I’d certainly recommend giving this game a try.

 

 

 

 

 

August 22nd, 2008 | Leave a Comment

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