Welcome back my bloggers to another exciting edition of the Video Games and More Blog. OMG what a week, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was released in theaters and let me tell you it was....amazing. Of course I'm a bit annoyed that they split the plot of this book into two movies, but whatever...Harry Potter 4ever. In addition during this week, I had the unique pleasure on presenting my girlfriend with the SIMS 2 (and yes I know SIMS 3 is out) as a gift and almost immediately she has fell in love with it. Of course I could really understand why. So I needed to investigate this. And so I decided that this week, we will explore what is the SIMS and why is it so popular.
The Sims first came out in the early 2000 as a simple simulation game developed in order to have the player simulate an avatar life. Since the release of the original game, there have been two additional sequels to the game. The Sequels are Sims 2 and Sims 3. The Sims allows a player to create an avatar and to play out their avatar's life in any way, shape or manner they want. This sense of customization give the player unique control over the fate of their character....(it is kind of god like).
But what would make a player want to play this game? What are some of the reasons?
Escapism: I think that most of us have ideas on how we would like our lives to be? And so I think that many people who play SIMS create their ideal life, and in many ways use it as a way to develop their lives for the better.
Controlling fate: Can we control fate? Well in SIMS there is this theme that we have the ability to control the people we create lives'. So is there a satisfaction in knowing we are God to a set of virtual beings?
But these are the reasons I have listed to why the SIMS is playable?
I apologize for the look of it, problems with the site and HTML Coding.
Welcome back to another exciting edition of the Video Games and More Blog, and so now we are about to head into part 2 of the worse video games of all time. Before we begin lets recap, number 7-5 of our countdown of the worse video games.
7. SHAQ-FU
6. The Smurf Rescue
5. Pac-Man (Home Version)
So lets not waste time, lets dive right into the the last 4 of the worst video game ever.
4. Daikatana:
To be real honest I have never heard of this game before today, but aftr reading some reviews. It just makes sense why it is one of the worse game around. Daikatana was suppose to be this game that offer an awesome story and great first person shooting. The problem was that it simply didn't, a hype surounded this game but it did deliever this at all. It was boring, dull and the character were so stereotypical.
3. Cluster Revenge (Mystique, 1982)
Before I give my opinion, I wanted my public to read the synopsis of this game.
"Custer's Revenge, starring a mostly naked General Custer (he wore boots
and a hat) and a mostly naked Native American woman (she wore a
feathered headband), who is tied to a post. Your job was to guide Custer
through a hail of arrows and a field of cacti to reach the woman and
engage in the type of behavior one expects in a Swedish Erotica
production."
..Already...I could say...enough said...but I won't...
The story is stupid and according to my source, no only was it stupid, but really hard for no reason. It was a bad game to start and still a bad game now.
2. Super Columbine Massacre RPG (Danny Ledonne, 2005)
"Here are questions to ponder over "Do Violent Video Games inspire horrific, violent acts in the real world? No one really knows for sure....but Do horrific violent acrs in the real world inspire violent video games?...Well Super Columbine Massacre RPG shows that they could. It is also a game that was in bad taste. That is the sole reason that this game was unsuccessful.
FINALLY THE WORST GAME OF ALL TIME:
As many of you may have realized from my last couple of blog ET was the worst game...but why was it? Here were some of my reasons.
1.The product was rushed: Because the E.T. movie was so popular,
the video game industry wanted to capture some of it's success, so in
July of 1982, plans starts to developed this game and by the end of that
year the game of finished (5 MONTHS). Most game take at least a
year to be fully developed, if not longer. Due to this, the gameplay,
was lousy which leads to multiple forms of frustration to the game
player.
2. The Gameplay was too difficult to use: since the game was in
fact rushed, the game play had cut-screens that just happened which
throws the player off, scenes where people randomly come out of no
where. And probably the worse issues that this game had (besides the
horrible color) was that the game was only one continuous level, where
even if a player was to beat (and I say this phrase loosely) the game,
the game would simply restart and put the items ET collected in other
places.
And there we have it....the best of the worst.
But do you agree with these choices. Comment on these...This is Kevin T. James Signing Off.
This is a current paper, I was writing, not a blog entry for grading....Part 2 of the Worse Video Games of all time at the end of this week.
Once upon a time the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) System was a system developed in order to regulate the sales of violent and crude video games to minors. Over time, however, the rating system became heavily criticized because it had various loopholes and issues with it. In the past 18 years, the video game industry has evolved so much that some critics argue whether or not the system is still useful. Over the past 2 decades the video game industry has evolved tremendously. Not only has it evolved when it comes to game play and graphics, but the content in Video Games has certainly become more graphic, more violent and certainly rawer. The original rating system was developed in order to protect minors from certain video games, but now since times have change and the content in games has certainly change. The question is: Do we still need to protect our kids and if so is out current system adequate enough to do so?
During the early 1990’s, video gaming progressed into the 16 bit-era where graphics and sound capabilities were dramatically increased. Things such as blood and gore were clearer. And the release of games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom, made parents feel that video games during that time were too violent and graphic. Ultimately, these concerns were lobbied to members of congress, where Senator Herb Kohl from Wisconsin and Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut lead various hearings to deal with these new games and their potential impact they could have on children. They handed an ultimatum to the Entertainment Software Association, either develop a system to rate games or the federal government would. This resulted in the development of the ESRB Rating System. According to esrb.org,
“The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a non-profit, self regulatory body established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).”
The ESRB Rating System consists of a 2-part equal rating system. Ratings, which can be found usually in the front lower left hand corner of a game or the back lower right hand corner, consists of a letter grade and a small statement which indicates something about the nature of the game, eg. violence or crude language. There are currently 6 different ratings used within this system.
1.Early Childhood – (EC) – Titles that are rated EC are usually suited for Kids ages 3 and up. And usually contain no inappropriate content for kids.
2.Everyone – Titles that are rated for everyone are usually suited for children ages 6 and older. Titles in this category contain forms of cartoon violence (minimal) and minimal suggestive themes.
3.Everyone 10+ - Titles that are rated E10+ are usually suited for children 10 and older and contain more mild forms of cartoon violence and suggestive themes.
4.Teen – Titles rated T (Teen) have content that is only suitable for kids ages 13 and up. Titles rated in this category usually contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood and/or usage of strong infrequent language.
5.Mature – Titles rated Mature have content that are suited for individual ages 17 and up. Titles in this category contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
6.Adults Only – Titles rated Adults only have content that should only be played by persons 18 or older. Titles in this category contain prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or sexual content and nudity.
The ESRB Rating System is a highly recommended system but is strictly voluntary. Today major corporations such as GameStop and Best Buy work hard to follow the system (voluntarily) for the simple fact that most of these companies don’t want to have a law suit or a bad public image if they sell a controversial game to a minor. According to Gamestopcorp.com,
“In 2006, GameStop launched a nationwide public education and awareness campaign to assist parents in making informed decisions on video game purchases. The campaign is an extension of our ongoing corporate commitment, in concert with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), to restrict Mature-rated video game sales to minors and to provide age-appropriate content information regarding video games.”
In addition, GameStop Corporation even went as far as to create a 2006 public awareness campaign for the voluntary rating system called “Respect the Rating.”
However, despite the efforts of these companies, many people argue that in today’s time most people, especially parents don’t care about the rating system. An example of this theory would be the one on one interaction between Scott Steinberg, an expert in Video Game theory and managing director of Embassy Multimedia Consultants, and Chang Liu a former employee of an independent game store. According to gametheoryonline.com,
“Chang Liu’s store had enforced the ESRB ratings during his time. (He) told me that his store would not sell, rent, or trade M-rated games to kids under 18…ID was necessary to do any kind of transaction at the store. Parents reacted to the store’s zero-tolerance…Apathetic at best, and hostile at worst. “I never once had a parent ask me about the ESRB rating…Nearly half of all parents didn’t care if what their kids were buying was mature or not. Most minors we turned away came back with a parent or relative…who made never made a fuss about the purchase, though in one extreme instance I saw a kid grab a random passerby heading inside the store.”
Surprisingly enough as a consumer, I find this to be a norm in both corporate stores and independents. More and more, parents are ignoring the rating system and kids (especially pre-teens) are looking for any way to get their hands on a mature rated game even going as far as asking random adults to buy these games for them.
But what does this example of the Rating System show us about today’s society? Well first, in today society, violence, crude language and humor exist in a more wide spread manner in our media. It can be found on TV, the internet and even in print media in which most kids today are exposed to on a regular basis. Does this mean that our kids are becoming more desensitized to these things because of this exposure? It’s hard to tell. A case, however, can be made that parents are no longer putting as much effort in shielding their kids from such games. Does this mean that the rating system is obsolete? Not necessarily. The purpose of this system is to inform parents about these games. Whether they care enough to ensure their kids are not exposed to this is their choice. In addition, since the rating system is voluntary, many independent stores have the option of following it or not. Many could simply choose not to follow it due to the fact that kids under the age of 17 have extendable income and it is simply profitable to sell these games regardless of the nature to them. Ultimately, the ESRB Rating System is a uniquely complex rating system, it isn’t perfect, but it is what we have at the moment and maybe with time, this system will be subject to change and hopefully for the better.
Works Cited Page
Esrb., By The. Entertainment Software Rating Board. Web. 08 Nov. 2010. <http://www.esrb.org/ratings/faq.jsp#1>.
"Do Video Game Ratings Work? ESRB System Reviewed." Game Industry News, Interviews and Videos | Game Theory. Web. 08 Nov. 2010. <http://gametheoryonline.com/2010/09/21/video-game-ratings-esrb-violence-mature/>.
Could something be so bad that it is actually good? Well there are times where really bad things could bring entertainment and joy. But when it comes to Video Games, this can actually be quite questionable.
When a video game is bad! It is really bad!!!! A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of doing a blog about one of the worse Video Games of all time. This time however I wanted to explore the topic of the worst video game(s). So lets explore the best of the worst.
7.
SHAQ FU (Electronic Arts, 1994)
Ok, so games have had for a long time a lot of celebrity tie-ins. But one that I have heard from an want to play for amusement has be Shaq-Fu. And yes my adoring fans or fan it is exactly what you would imagine a game named Shaq-Fu would be about. This is a game where you play as a Shaq who apparently has the ability to fight as a karate master. Along with the poor concept, the gameplay according to reviewers was sloppy.."Shaq Fu looked like Mortal Kombat...but you had to hit your opponent in exactly the right spot in order to do any damage..that and shaq fighting evil in his basketball uniform was too much"
6.
Smurf Rescue (Coleco, 1982) (Atari)
I loved the smurfs growing up, they were smart, talented and blue. I mean there were awesome. Of course they followed certain stereotypes like the damsel in distress....(but I'm not judging), but some times just because something is enjoyable, doesn't mean we need to make a game out of it. I mean seriously....LEAVE THE SMURFS ALONE....LEAVE EM ALONE....I"M SERIOUS . But they didn't and we have this massacre..."according to pcworld" Your smurf, on a quest to rescue the lovely smurfette...the journey however requires the patience of a saint...as being juast a little off...would send your smurf off to death." The Gameplay was so sensitive, that if you moved the wrong way, you would instantly die. This game's gameplay was reflective of another game that came out for the Atari. I call this game "It that should have never be made nor played" (ET).
5.
PacMan (Home Version) (Atari, 1981)
Now before I get a whole bunch of hate-mail...from my only fan...(Lol). Let me explain, apparently, because PacMan was a highly successful in arcades, Atari wanted to bring the game to the home, and so PacMan (Home Version) was born. The problem with this game was that it was not like the original. In fact the graphics were horrible, the ghosts came in and out of existence and the famous "waka-waka-waka" was replaced by "bonk-bonk-bonk". This was simply a bad game.
But as we look at these first 3 games can we determine them to be bad by themselves or are we being biased to the older systems they were played on. Atari, for example was a pioneer in the gaming industry but at the same time pioneers will always get heat after there games become "old". Are we being fair with this determination?
So Lets Begin. 
