Mirrors Edge Work

Let me make one thing absolutely straight. Mirror's Edge is one of the best new IPs of the decade hands down. It truly shames me how terribly this game was received in the market.

Back in the magical year that was 2008 EA kicked off their new campaign to attract gamers toward their products. It was called the "at least we aren't as evil as Activision" campaign and mostly consisted of bringing a plethora of new IPs for gamers to salivate over. Most notable being Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. They also rescued some popular ideas from the brink of death, such as Brutal Legend (a decision that I will forever love EA for). The initial trailer for Mirror's Edge blew my, and the collective game playing communities, socks right off. It was absurd to show a launch trailer composed entirely of in-game footage, especially when it looked this pretty. In a world filled with increasingly brown shooters Mirror's Edge dominated the screen with its simple palette of vivid contrast. This is what the Portal generation of shooters could create, and the future never looked brighter.

Then the game actually came out. It was greeted by mediocre reviews and a scathing review by Zero Punctuation (who is the source of more lost sales than any other reviewer on the market). The strange part is, the game delivered on everything promised on the original launch trailer and more but it was missing one key element, fun. No matter how revolutionizing Mirror's Edge was for first person movement or for visual design the fact remains that it was not a fun game. None of the elements that the game promised really fit together with the actual game. The promise of fast flowing non-gun orientated combat was bogged down by inescapable shootouts. The promise of intense muti-branching chase sequences was lost to slow puzzles with convoluted solutions. Don't even get me started on the Esurance style cutscenes. The game quickly drifted into bargain bins and obscurity alike and has not risen since.

Now in the sequel riddled brown world of 2010 we can really appreciate what this game was and what could have become of it. Before we complain about another Call of Duty or Resistance game or Nintendo making the same damn Mario game that they have been making for the past half decade remember the promise of Mirror's Edge. The promise of triple-A titles made by small development teams with unique ideas. Sure Mirror's Edge wasn't any fun, but it was unique. In an age where "fun" can be generated with specific formulas and sequels and remakes are considered "bold and inventive", isn't uniqueness what really matters?

Trailing Off

Video game trailers are a strange beast. No one really cares about them except for the most hardcore of gamers, and even then very few of them get seen. They aren't commercials, and the only people that care about them will look elsewhere for actual information about the game. Developers pour money into these trailers with seemingly no reason other then to generate pure unadulterated hype. While that is a reason enough on its own, I think that the real reason for the existence of video game trailers is due to the desire for the video game industry to mimic the movie industry.
The problem is that video games are not movies. Video games rarely have "scenes" that one can splice together to allow a customer to get the general feel of the product. Video games are based on gameplay that simply cannot be conveyed with a montage of footage. The worst offenders are the "cinematic" trailers that misrepresent the game while generating free press. Recently a trailer for the upcoming game Dead Island made a huge splash in the gaming community. I highly recommend checking it out. (due to my lack of blogging experience there will be a link to a youtube video instead of an embedded one, sorry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ialZcLaI17Y

Impressive right? It is deep, well paced, and nails your pathos right in the gut. Dead Island is undoubtedly one of the best movie trailers to come out in the last few years.
As a video game trailer, it falls flat.
When I watch video game trailers I am looking to grasp what kind of game I will be playing, not what kind of movie or cutscene I will be watching. The game has the entire experience to sell me on the story but the trailer has one chance to sell me on the gameplay. So as a movie trailer Dead Island is beyond fantastic, but it only tells me two things as a video game trailer. First, somebody is making a zombie game. Second, the game will try to be sad. Nothing else was said about the game. We don't know what perspective it will be in, whether it will be turn-based or real time, or even what freakin' platform it is on. All we get is a sad zombie family.

Good video game trailers are much less noticed and much less flashy. A perfect example is the trailer for the upcoming game Batman: Arkham City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1ZF5cNYCs

This trailer isn't nearly as entertaining as the Dead Island one, but it reveals quite a bit about the game. The playstyle, similarities to the first game and characters are all shown in quick succession without the need for a boring developer video or the polish required for a full demo. On the other hand, my skepticism was well placed in the Dead Island scenario with the gameplay trailer revealing under the game's high production cost coating it is just an incredibly racist shoddy Left 4 Dead cash-in.

E3 2011 predictions

With arguably the largest video game conference in the world at our doorstep, I thought I would list some predictions for the next week.

Nintendo:
With the Project Cafe Nintendo hopes to appeal to its new found causal audience. The Cafe will utilize innovative new technology to introduce touch screen and application technology to allow a completely unseen angry birds experience. Launch titles include Angry Birds, Angry Birds 2, and Angry Birds Mario Galaxy.

Microsoft:
With the kinect remaining one Microsoft's most popular products, plans for the coming year will include revoultionary software to play on the kinect. Unfortionatly none of it will be very fun or work well, and the only exception still being Child of Eden.

Sony:
With Microsoft releasing Gears of War 3, Sony hopes to keep pace by releasing three new brown shooters with one being a brilliant new IP. Resistence 3: Dirt of the Chimera, Killzone 4: Desert Sun, and Blasted Earth: Mud Explosion. Sony also hopes sell more 3D tech with new improved glasses for the low price of 200$. After the disaster with the PS3 pricing Sony has a competitive price plan for the NGP starting at 400$.

Valve:
Valve unleashes a surprise announcement, it has been producing Left 4 Dead 3 under the name "Dead Island". No future plans involving Half-Life are revealed.

Sega:
The highly anticipated game Sonic Generations will introduce an exciting new character to the Sonic universe, Claws the rat. Claws will appeal to the teenage audience with the an edgy habit of consuming the intestines of his foes. No future plans for Jet Set Radio.

Capcom:
Capcom announces Resident Evil 6. The game will star an obscure character that no one cares about with exciting new plot developments involving the umbrella organization.

EA:
Mass Effect 3 will be kinect only. The world weeps.

A New Challenger Has Appeared!

What is this we have here? Is this a blog? Why yes it is!
After years of telling people that I will make a blog and years of procrastination, it is finally here! I, Judgegrumble, have decided to put my money where my mouth is and try my hand at this whole, "writing on a consistent basis" thing. It is a huge step forward for me and hopefully I can entertain some of you in the process.
As for content, this will be a video game and anime blog with an occasional pinch of traditional gaming. The content will be safe for work (for the most part) and will contain only the most classy of words (mostly). I hope to provide an insightful look into both worlds and bring the almost constant interaction of the two to light.
Right now this is not exactly the prettiest website. Expect to see massive changes to the blog layout as I discover how this wacky program works. I will post approximately once a week, but this is subject to change depending on how terribly I overbook myself.
As for introductions I think I am set! Everybody should visit often and get me lots of hits!