61 Frames Per Second : kotaku

Watch The Last Express Like a Cartoon

Cole Stryker — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:00:00 GMT

The cult-classic rotoscoped The Last Express has been uploaded to Vimeo, and now you can watch all the cutscenes in the form of several video clips, the collection of which runs about 75 minutes.

The Last Express was one of the most expensive games of its day. It's a classic murder mystery set in the golden age of rail travel on the inimitable Orient Express. With 44,000 hand-drawn frames of animation, and countless hours required to play out each scene with real actors, it is worth watching a few clips just to see what kind of effort was poured into this game. Tragically, The Last Express is one of gaming history's greatest flops. Due to corporate restructuring, the developer's marketing department was unable to promote the game, and it was only on retail shelves for a few weeks. Sadly, the game was out of print within a year.

Here's Part 1:

(via Kotaku)

Mega Man is a Dick

Totally Bogus!: Club Mario

Facts and Figures: Why Do Gamers Care So Much about Sales Charts?

Cole Stryker — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:00:00 GMT

I got to thinking today about why gamers keep such a close eye on sales figures. In a completely unscientific experiment, I determined that Kotaku dedicated just under 200 posts last month to sales figures. Comments for these posts generally range from 50-100, so obviously some people care about sales figures enough to argue about them in an online forum.

We at 61FPS haven't made much of an effort to keep our readers updated on sales figures, as there are plenty of other places that do. We are men and women of overwhelming spiritual integrity. As John argued in December, there is a time to talk about sales, when astronomical numbers threaten to bring about tectonic shifts in the industry. But for the most part, why are people so hung up on sales figures?

I think part of it is laziness. On a slow news day, NPD numbers allow bloggers to phone in a quick and easy post that requires almost no creative input and is guaranteed to piss a few people off. A quick copy and paste job does the trick. I think this is especially true when bloggers resort to regional sales figures. Why do most readers care about how Gears of War 2 is doing in England? If I were English I don't think this would particularly interest me anyway.

But I think it's also related to something we touched on in one of our Roundtables, wherein I discussed how gamers rally around preferred consoles and games, developing a "personal brand" around their consumer behavior. It seems as though fanboys think that if their favorite game succeeds, they succeed.

Lastly, I'll offer a reason that seems to be the most legitimate. People like to see good developers rewarded with high sales and poor developers punished with low. I loved hearing that De Blob sold well enough to warrant a sequel. It doesn't make me like the game more or less, but high sales for games I like means the potential for sequels. This is probably the only reason I'll ever care about sales figures, barring the occasional paradigm shift described above.

How 'bout yall?

Facepalm: Kotaku Makes News out of Dude's Bisexuality

Cole Stryker — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:04:00 GMT

While we were on break, Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft reblogged a 1Up interview with former Capcom employee Yoshiki Okamoto. Weirdly, he focused on this rather saucy detail from the interview;

Mr. Nishiyama used to work at Capcom as well, so we bonded over the hard work we shared there, and we've been good friends ever since. Both of us had long stretches where we weren't in a relationship, but he would always be sharing a room with some guy. Not me, I mean we were friends. Just friends. I'm pretty sure Mr. Nishiyama is bisexual. But I'm straight. I only like girls, but he likes both. Mr. Nishiyama taught me how to turn my ideas into game design documents, but he didn't teach me about men.

And then Brian "Not that there's anything wrong with that" Ashcraft provides the following commentary:

Oh. Okay. If this is true and not just Okamoto making crap up, hey, more power to president Nishiyama. If this is not true and is just Okamoto making crap up, he should be more careful with things he says publicly.

Wait, what? First of all, shouldn't Okamoto just keep this knowledge to himself? Shame on 1-Up for even including it in the interview, but even more shame on Kotaku for amplifying this guy's sexuality into an issue deserving an individual post on the world's biggest gaming blog. If you read the actual interview, you'll find that the sexuality of this guy's coworker to be a very minor point, stated in an offhand way. It's certainly not the focus of the interview, so why did Ashcraft zero in on this insignificant detail, other than because New Year's Eve is generally a slow news day? I know I pick on Kotaku a lot, but really this is pretty awful.

Does Games Writing Need To Be More Accessible?

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Writer Leigh Alexander put together a great piece for Kotaku reminding us that many of the shelf-scanning customers at GameStop are not like you or I. The average gamer doesn't pay attention to reviews. They don't know a Miyamoto from an Igarashi. And they drink blood, but they're capable of walking in the daylight.

It's easy to assume that everyone within the walls of your local game retailer is a kindred spirit who will fire back with "It's-a-me!" as soon as you say, "Mario." Alexander's column reminded me that for every fruitful conversation about games I've had with an EB Games clerk, there have been ten instances of broken eye contact and embarrassed mumblings. "The World Ends With You? N-nah. Not into anime. I like Call of Duty."

Alexander talks about game reviewers' tendency to keep the different tiers of gamers distanced from one another. There's not an intentional push to scare newcomers away from game publications and websites, but Alexander likens the typical video game review to a music review in Pitchfork Magazine. Someone who says, "I dig music and I want to read about music" is going to be scared away by Pitchfork's jargon-heavy breakdown of the album of the moment. Similarly, game reviews tend to reference past titles, past developers and use words and terms that a newcomer (and there are more and more of these lately) isn't going to understand.

Should sites, blogs and magazines be making a conscious effort to be accessible to all gamers? It'd be no easy task, obviously. For experienced gamers, it'd be like sitting in class, trying to read Macbeth while other students are called on to recite the ABCs. Even so, I appreciate features and reviews that try to bring me up to speed on a topic that might interest me, even if I have no previous experience with it. There's a heck of a lot I don't know about Metal Gear Solid, for instance, but it's natural to assume that everyone else would recognise names and locations if they're flung around in a relevant feature article without context. That's not always the case, and it'd be nice if game writers kept that in mind.

Myself included, even though it's not my fault none of you punks know the name of Mega Man X's city or anything else useful.

Related Links:

Bringing Sexy Back: Susan O'Connor
Along Came a Gamer: James Patterson and Authors in Games
Mega Man 9 Review: Pay No Attention to the Numbers. For My Sanity and Yours

Entitled PC Gamers Whine about Rights

Cole Stryker — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Stardock's PC Gamer's Bill of Rights is a laughable and self-defeating piece of diggbait, sure to be received by mouth-breathing PC gamers with a hearty "hear hear". It's bull -- the moment you shell out cash is the moment you need to stop whining about rights. The list, with my take, after the jump:

1) Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.

Isn't this already the case? I remember returning Deus Ex at Circuit City ten years ago for a full refund (which I used to purchase Wheel of Time, an underrated shooter based on the fantasy novels. Don't worry, I replayed Deus Ex years ago). Now I'm more aware of my machine's capabilities, but still, as long as you keep the receipt...

2) Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.

No, gamers shall have the right to not buy games which have received low reviews due to bugs, or at least until suitable patches are released. This will only expand development cycles due to extensive testing.

3) Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.

Define meaningful. Contradicts #2.

4) Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.

This also contradicts #2. If all games are released in a finished state, who needs updates?

5) Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.

Again, this is already the case. Also, 'adequately' is a very subjective term.

6) Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.

This is perhaps the only legitimate point here. Nice work.

7) Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.

Again, contradictory to #2.

8) Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.

How about, "Developers should have the right to protect their intellectual property as they see fit, as long as it does not infringe on the rights of the user?"

9) Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.

I guess this one's OK, but I have yet to run into a game that demands this.

10) Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Why not? It's an easy way to cut down on piracy, and it's a very minor hassle for the user. This is the most ludicrous addition to the list, considering that a user who takes advantage of #1 and #10 guarantees a free game in many cases.

(via Kotaku)

The Contrarion: Games Critics Awards are a Pointless Waste of Time

Cole Stryker — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Each year, journalists form 36 media outlets aggregate their views on E3's best games -- "games that will shape the future of interactive entertainment".

What a stupid, worthless accolade. The journalists are basically judging on trailers and brief "hands-on" time. Why would any self-respecting journalist bother participating in such a masturbatory contest? Cripe, Kotaku managed to squeeze five posts out of it. Spore has secured a place for the last three years. Past winners include classics like Def Jam: Fight for New York, Majestic, Oni, Um Jammer Lammy, and Sentinel Returns. Real paradigm shifters, those. Shaping the future of interactive entertainment.

The full breakdown....AFTER THE JUMP!!!1

Best of Show
Fallout 3

Best Original Game
Mirror's Edge

Best Console Game
LittleBigPlanet

Best PC Game
Spore

Best Handheld Game
Resistance: Retribution

Best Hardware/Peripheral
Rock Band 2 Ion “Drum Rocker” Set

Best Action Game
Gears of War 2

Best Action/Adventure Game
Dead Space

Best Role Playing Game
Fallout 3

Best Racing Game
Pure

Best Sports Game
Madden NFL 09

Best Fighting Game
Street Fighter IV

Best Strategy Game
Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle
LittleBigPlanet

Best Online Multiplayer
Left 4 Dead

I promise this is my last E3-related rant.

Fat Princess Gobbles Her Way into Blog Drama

Cole Stryker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:00:00 GMT

You know, you just can't please these feminazis! All they do is whine about how women in video games all wear bronze bikini armor and boast gravity-defying boobies. Right guys? Enter Fat Princess. Finally, a game highlights a cake-guzzling damsel in distress, and they're still up in arms. From Shakesville via Kotaku:

I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes. It's not often I have the opportunity to congratulate a cutting-edge tech company on such splendiferous retrofuck jackholery. Way to go! The Fat Princess of Shakes Manor salutes you.

Charming!

More, from commenters over at Salon, of all places:

The social-reject coders that made "Fat Princess" ... went back to their cubicles littered with Angelina Jolie pinups and empty Mountain Dew cans to create this hilarious joke of a game. Their next gaming project will probably be "Grand Theft Auto: Kill the Darkie Hookers."

Ouch! All kidding aside, I see where these gals are coming from. The world needs more April Ryan's and Jade's and fewer Lara's. But removing her beauty and reducing her to a prop isn't the answer. Yet, the game's capture-the-flag chubby chasing presents a fascinating play mechanic. Oh I just don't know what to think.

Toys are "Better than Video Games"?

Cole Stryker — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

"Who put this thing together? Me, that's who! Who do I trust? Me!" - Tony Montana

That's what I thought of when I read the following:

Since Wii Music has no discernible scoring system, no goals and little in the way of those squishy innards that makes a game a "game," isn't it just a "musical toy"? That was the question posed by one European journo.

"Yes, that's right," Miyamoto curtly replied "And that's why it's better than a video game."

OK, Miyamoto, you've used up your last "Get out of Jail Free" card with this one. I stuck with you through the turbulent N64/Gamecube years, and I was happy to see you take it to the top with the Wii. But the above quote is so screechingly wrong, so not what I wanted to hear from E3. This quote sounds like the kind of giddy king-of-the-world arrogance that precedes a spectacular fall from grace. I'm not predicting that Wii Music will flop, I just think Miyamoto's burning up a lot of the goodwill he's managed to re-earn. Meanwhile, most of the quirky titles that don't depend on hardware (Flock, N+, Braid) that would be perfect for the Wii are still getting snapped up by XBLA and PSN Network. This is where you're supposed to shine, and yet we're stuck with Epic Fail!

Not a good long-term strategy. Serious gamers are faithful. Casual gamers are fickle. Don't forget where you came from, Miyamoto.

via Kotaku

Kojima's In Another World

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Depending on what side of the world you live on, you might even say Metal Gear Solid's daddy is Out Of This World.

I already know I'm a hopeless nerd, so I have no problem confessing that I love to find out about what inspires creative types. I get to say "Oh hey! Me too!" and for a precious second, I feel validated. Then the shadows gather again.

Kotaku published an article about the five games that matter to Hideo Kojima. Super Mario Bros is a given, but I was happy to see that Eric Chahi's brooding alien adventure Another World was on the list as well.

Another World, cleverly renamed Out Of This World in North America, comes from a rare point in history when computer gamers had every right to laugh at console gamers. While young scientist Lester Knight Chaykin picked his way through a grim and hostile alien world with seemingly no hope of getting home, he took hundreds of enthralled Amiga, Apple II and DOS owners along with him. Every move he made counted, because one wrong turn or one bad step was all it took to die a hauntingly animated death. Every victory in Another World was bitterly earned, every discovery mattered.

Meanwhile, console gamers said "Ook Ook", threw their NES controllers at the screen and picked each other for lice.

I'm just being a smartass. I was very much a console gamer, which is why I never heard of Another World until Interplay adapted it for the Super Nintendo in 1993. The computer versions animate a lot more smoothly (though I do like the music added for the SNES title), but the game still left an impact on me that lasted for years. I'm a fan of subtle storytelling, which is something Another World did brilliantly with its militant, mostly silent grey aliens. They don't necessarily like each other and they certainly can't be bothered to muster up any love for Lester.

Except for Buddy, of course. He is a good alien. We should all take his example and guide lost tourists past alien guards and razor-clawed beasts. If the tourists don't speak English, more's the better. If no beasts or poison leeches are around, substitute cars and sewer rats. If the tourists do speak English, respond to their threats to call the police with "Me-tsu-dah!"

Good choice on Kojima's part, even if he has yet to master the art of silent storytelling.

Related Links:

Hideo Kojima's Inability to Show Instead of Tell

Counterpoint: Games Shouldn't Try to Be Movies

Cole Stryker — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Tim Travers, Rolling Stone's movie critic has proclaimed GTA the "best summer popcorn movie" but I couldn't help but opt out of the merry round of high-fives going on over at Kotaku. For a couple reasons:

First, GTA IV doesn't really break any new ground. It's a better looking, more detailed iteration of GTA III. Travers claims it's a "wow of a start" (whatever that means) on the road to cinematic artistry. I loved what I saw of GTA IV. It's a visceral experience with excellent pacing. The game did not drag for a moment, and it's detailed universe is a huge improvement to Liberty City's literal and figurative jagged edges in GTA III. But mechanically, it's nothing new.

Secondly, and most importantly, I don't want to see games moving in this direction. I think Will Wright (boy am I in love with this fella lately) was dead on when he claimed in a recent interview that "...game designers suffer from envy...and many of them want to be film directors."

What excites me about games, is that they offer a limitless realm of open-ended, non-linear narrative, participative story-telling, and general interactivity that movies inherently cannot. The problem is, the more games try to be like movies, the more they limit their potential. Sure, GTA IV's story is among the best in the medium, but if we're honest with each other, we have to admit that one can find a more compelling story in the worst episode of CSI: Miami. Travers compares it to Tarantino and Scorsese, which makes sense in style, but certainly not substance. I only played the game for a few hours, but it was enough to find hackneyed dialogue and stereotypical characters a-plenty. That's OK, though. I don't expect games to live up to the best films in those terms. It's when they go where movies can't -- that's why I care enough about games to be writing this. GTA IV takes advantage of gaming's unique potential more than a lot of games, but not nearly as much as it could.

Christ Kohler of Wired wrote a much more thoughtful piece about the merging of passive and active media in Metal Gear Solid 4 yesterday. He goes easy on MGS4's long cutscenes because they're so gall durn fun to watch. Kohler is careful to point out that he doesn't think movies squeezed into games is the future of the medium, but he claims that good cutscenes can improve a game. Fair enough, but they certainly don't warrant all these think pieces.

We Can Kick Salman Rushdie’s Ass in Street Fighter

John Constantine — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Probably! I mean, it seems likely, I don’t even know if the guy’s ever played Street Fighter. He is a gigantic geek. Guy can speak Elvish! Admitted it in public and everything. While you might recall my mentioning a number of novelists crossing over into videogames, this is, unfortunately, not one of those stories. No, this is just one of those times that somebody famous said something mildly related to videogames. That, according to the laws of the internet, is news. With a capital EWS. Rushdie, in a chat with Mr. Stephen Colbert, was asked for his thoughts on the coming cultural sea-change in the Islamic world. His response:

Rushdie: I think the only good sign is that a lot of the younger generation in Muslim countries really wants that change. So maybe they will bring it.

Colbert: What can we do to help? Can we send them video games?

Rushdie: I think video games, YouTube, you know, these are the things that will change the world. Because when people see what garbage everybody else is consuming, they want it too.

Oh yeah, buddy? Well, Fury sucked! I’ll show you garbage! Go get yourself another hot wife and then divorce her whydontcha!

I apologize for this story, dear reader. The truth is, I just wanted to say I could kick Salman Rushdie's ass in Street Fighter in a public forum. This was merely an excuse to do so. That said, it has been a deeply satisfying experience.

Anyhoo, thank you, Kotaku. If only for making us into celebrity gossip mongers.

Kotaku Endorses Products Unaware

Cole Stryker — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Yesterday Kotaku published a post regarding how Figure Prints, a company that creates 3D models of WoW avatars, ran an ad in a comic book with a testimonial from Axel at Kotaku. The compelling testimonial reads, "Wow... I NEED ONE!!!"

Problem is, no one who writes for Kotaku goes by the name of Axel. It turns out that the company snagged the gushing prose of one of Kotaku's bleating commenters, attributing the quote to Kotaku.com, where it technically appeared. And the commenters are all slapping Axel on the back with hearty shouts of, "Kotaku commenters FTW!!"

You'd think Kotaku would cry foul, considering that their journalistic integrity has been compromised. Anyone can comment at Kotaku, even, say, a plant working for Figure Prints. Even if this guy legitimately NEEDS ONE, it's still a misleading ad, one that basically encourages any company to attribute any quote to any news source with a comments section. I'd be surprised if someone at Gawker Media hasn't sent Figure Prints a nastygram, but given the nature of the post alone, the editors don't seem to mind, which is strange because it makes every party involved look bad.

Perhaps Figure Prints assumed that Kotaku's superstar editors had enough name recognition, thus making it obvious that the endorsement was coming from some average joe. Whatever the case may be, this ethical dilemma seems far less sinister than Konami's recent bullying of reviewers over MGS4's content or the whole Gerstmanngate debacle. Compared to some of the conflicts of interest and payola happening elsewhere in the industry, it seems rather innocent. At worst, it was a bad judgement call on behalf of Figure Prints. There doesn't seem to be concious manipulation happening, but in the wake of the above scandals, the media would do well to put a stop to these questionable business practices to prevent compromising their journalistic integrity.

Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, But No Al Green

John Constantine — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

I’m pretty confident that panties were not thrown at Mr. Floyd when he presented this video in his Media Theory class at Savannah College of Art and Design. You can just tell he's no Prince of Love. Passing judgment on relative sexiness aside, Mr. Floyd’s put together an accessible history, analysis, and compelling argument on the future of sex in videogames. The man makes a good point when he says that mature treatments of sexuality must come from game designers themselves. But, truthfully, the people who play games have as much responsibility as designers in introducing thoughtful sexual themes into games. If gamers don’t show a willingness to turn a way from the stock settings and premises of most games, designers and, more importantly, publishers won’t see a need to satisfy that audience. Sexuality in games’ real hope lies not just in designers but in digital distribution. Game makers looking to explore human relationships, intimacy, and sex itself will find their greatest opportunity on the internet, free of publishing restraints and the scrutiny that comes from selling games in mainstream outlets.

All the same, good on you, Mr. Floyd. High five.

Thanks to Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Kotaku for finding the vid.

Editor's Note: I've been listening to Al Green all day. There may or may not be more Al Green references today. Our apologies to any readers who get sick of Al Green references.

This Just In: Japanese Gamers Perv Out At A Young Age

Peter Smith — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

...kind of. According to Kotaku, 2.8 percent of Japanese fifth graders play erotic games. This has raised a lot of consternation from Kotaku commenters, but looking back fuzzily, I seem to recall trolling various BBSs for porn around that age, covering the speaker of my 2400 baud modem so my parents wouldn't hear it. (Ah, porn — my Proustian madeleine.) If I'd had access to erotic games, I'm pretty sure I would've gone for 'em. Readers? Any scandalous coming-of-age moments?

For Love of the Game: Metroid II Remakes

Peter Smith — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

The original Metroid is one of my all-time favorite games, so my feelings about Metroid: Zero Mission, Nintendo's 2004 remake, are predictably mixed. Zero Mission repairs some of the archaic aspects of the original, like wonky controls, an annoying password system and the obligation to refill your energy every time you return to the game. On the other hand, it diffuses the sprawling, almost Lovecraftian eeriness of the original with its aggressive handholding — a trademark fault of late-period Nintendo games. It also unforgivably bungles one of the greatest climaxes in videogame history — the slaughter, by the player, of a shrieking brain in a jar, followed by a slippery-thumbed ascent up an exploding escape shaft — by tacking on a painfully out-of-place stealth section.

In any case, Nintendo's obvious follow-up was a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus, a game that arguably needed revamping more than the original. Metroid II introduced a host of new ideas, but in many ways it's the black sheep of the series. Here's a video showing some gameplay:

The screen size, as you can guess, is a problem; the Metroid series is set in vast, disorienting labyrinths, and having the extra disorientation of a small viewing window doesn't help. The structure of the game is also unusual for the series. Where other Metroid games allow organic progression — high-jump boots, for example, might allow you to explore new areas by jumping over large obstacles — Metroid II requires the player to kill all the Metroids in an area before proceeding past otherwise impassable lava pools. It's an odd and arbitrarily linear way to lay out the game, and it makes II feel more conventional than its siblings.

Unfortunately, no remake of II has been announced in the years since Zero Mission, and, unsurprisingly given how obvious the idea is, a number of fans have stepped in to fill the niche. None of these fan remakes has been completed yet — and given the general survival rate of most fan projects, it's possible that none ever will be. But there's some really impressive work going on. Perhaps most impressive of all is Metroid: SR388:

According to Kotaku, SR388 isn't an explicit remake of II, despite being set in the same location — the titular homeworld of the Metroids. Whatever it is, some beautiful work has clearly gone into it, with new abilities and beautifully enhanced animation based off the sprites from Super Metroid. With ice and fire caverns, it also looks to add some variety to II's samey landscape. (Hopefully not too much, though, since the oppressive monotony was part of the original's menace.)

Here's another project, cleverly titled Another Metroid 2 Remake:

This one's also quite handsome, and looks to hew a little closer to the original game. The multi-layered parallax scrolling backgrounds give a lovely sense of depth; the animation seems to be based, reasonably enough, off of Zero Mission's.

This one may or may not be defunct; I actually downloaded and played the demo some months back, and it felt a little awkward, though again, some of the graphics are well done. (Side note: notice how every remake uses the same graphic of that li'l SR388 denizen who appeared in the intro to Metroid Fusion. [This little rotter.])

Deceased.

This one might have the most beautiful background of all.

Will any of these projects make it to completion? Stay tuned. Making games is a total pain in the ass, and making them for free tends to be more work for less reward than most projects can sustain. Still, Metroid II deserves a makeover, and if Nintendo's not going to provide it, it's nice to see how much craft Metroid fans are putting into the effort.