The Pretentious Gamer

Hello from Tokyo and TGS.

Just a quick post to thank the editors at Gamasutra for selecting two blog entries of mine as their favorite user posts of the week. It was quite a surprise as I just began reposting some entries on my Gamasutra user page and certainly didn’t expect any recognition. Gamasutra editors, thanks again – and also thanks to all the users who commented as well.

Since coming back to work, I can see how much energy it takes to maintain a regular posting rhythm – even compared to my sporadic posting on sabbatical. When I commented about a topic that I felt he should write about, Justin said in so many words that when he spends the majority of his workday writing game documents, coming home and writing MORE about games seems like a tall order. The truth of that statement notwithstanding, we’ll do our best to continue to try to improve the quality and consistency of content here.

Now on to empty my wallet!

Spent some time with the newest releases from Neversoft and Harmonix yesterday.

Guitar Hero 5 plays great. The design is incredibly user-friendly and playing the songs felt fantastic. It reminded me of my first exposure to the series, and washed away some of the pain of subsequent releases.

On a business trip to a studio some years back, I had a chance to sit and play Guitar Hero 2 for a while. I was initially skeptical, as I had thoroughly grown out of my DDR phase, as well as harboring a little bit of, I admit, musician/music fan-pretension. I was fond of Harmonix’s earlier releases but hadn’t felt compelled to pick up the Guitar Hero series right away. Then I strapped on the guitar and within thirty seconds of playing realized I needed to own it, IMMEDIATELY. Guitar Hero 5 brings me back to those moments.

From what I’ve seen so far, the fifth installment is definitely the most approachable and flexible of the series – however even with these highlights I would not have felt so positive were it not for some improvements in other areas…

The art direction of the franchise has always sat poorly with me. In particular, Guitar Hero 3′s character, venue, and animation design were pretty miserable. The animation felt jerky and the entire presentation felt stagey; contrived. In fact, taking context into account, the lead male singer may have been the single most unappealing character design I’ve seen in a game, ever.

The art and general presentation of Guitar Hero 5 represents a huge improvement since that particular low point, although I am still not completely sold on the direction. I say it’s time to dump those old characters, Judy Nails, Pandora, Izzy Sparks and the like – they just haven’t aged well. Obviously the point is to capitalize on a distinct look and artistic personality to associate with the series, but watching cartoon characters play and sing these songs just doesn’t feel right anymore.

Speaking of that bit about cartoon characters… it should be interesting to see what happens regarding Courtney Love’s supposedly upcoming lawsuit. Does anyone NOT think that Activision will kick her ass in court?? That said, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl’s statement definitely resounds with me. Activision at the least should be considering their points very, very seriously. Their treatment of Cobain seems somewhat revealing as to how Neversoft approaches Guitar Hero as not much more than just a game, although they profess the same kind of rabid dedication to music as their primary competitor in this genre.

So enough about Guitar Hero. It was fun, I played for about an hour, looking forward to playing more.

Now, The Beatles: Rock Band – I played a marathon five hour session with friends, and it was absolutely sublime. There’s really not much more to say. I’m hoarse from singing those five hours, and can’t wait to further destroy my vocal chords. The DLC simply cannot come soon enough. It will be the first (perhaps only?) time I buy ALL the available DLC for a game.

In the recent weeks Beatlemania has descended upon me in force, for the first time in years. It feels good.