Bears and Birds

Banjo and Kazooie are not really what I remember them to be. I got Banjo-Kazooie on the XBLA yesterday and played a bit with it. I almost fully completed three whole worlds in about two or three hours. Something is wrong here.

It came out originally 10 years ago when I was still a little 10 years old boy with big open eyes in front of the wonders of 3D. In my memories, the worlds were huge and it would take hours just to collect everything in them. Yesterday, I rolled through Mumbo's Mountain in 15 minutes. Now, is it because of the nostalgia that makes everything bigger and better, my memory that fails me, the fact I was young and that 3D was so new, is it because I remember collecting all of those ten years ago, or am I just a better gamer ? I think that there is a little from all of the above that makes the experience different. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the game a lot, but it makes you take some distance and wonder. If a game like this (albeit with better graphics) came out today, what kind of score would it get, what would the critics and reviewers think of it ? What would I think of it ? Would I give it a try or just let it sit there on the shelf and look at the new shooter that just came out. I can't really judge since nostalgia is clouding my judgement, but maybe my opinion would be different about the game.

To para-quote my movie history teacher, Marie-Christine Breault: "The historical context around a movie is very important". The same applies to games. Banjo-Kazooie came out in the last leg of the platformer genre era before it's death around mid 2000, with some of it's last representatives being Super Mario Sunshine and Vexx. It all felt new and shinny, but today it can only appeal to the ones that remember that little twinkle in their eyes they had in their youth playing with a shorts wearing bear with a bird in it's backpack.

I need to write more

I've just (and by just I go back to last weekend maybe) finished: a 12 pages work on narration in video games, a 12 pages work on the of the Dead horror movies, a 13 pages work on the evolution of westerns, a 10 pages work on some stuff about society (the teacher killed what could have been an interesting subject), watched 5 movies of which 2 were fun and studied for 3 exams that I all did between last Wednesday and today.

I am drained. But strangely, doing all this, being proud of my works (I may just translate the narration one and post it here) and performing like I never did, I have a strange envy to write even more. Write about games, write about the gaming culture, anything and from the point of view of both an academic and a fan. Henry Jenkins would be proud.... if he knew about this blog. So my (early) new year resolution is to at least write something once a week. About anything that may grab my attention during the week. Just to keep me writing and keep me motivated. But not this week. Like I said, I am empty, my brain is dead, I'm out of sodas and the week sucked anyway. VGA's were misogynist (from what I've heard) and more people are loosing their jobs in the industry. I will start my weekly routine after I get drunk (this Friday) and hopefully keep it going.

Snow on the city

There's snow on the city and that means the year is coming to an end. And what is happening when the year is coming to an end ? You make lists! A full month is still remaining(too short when you have 4 works due for the middle of the month) so a lot can still happen. A few games are still gonna come out and other events could get my attention.

But before I go into listing I want to say how happy I am right now. I just learned that Bernard Perron is going to be one of my teacher next semester. I'm really thrilled to be in contact with one of the few teacher really interested in video games. Hopefully I'll be able to get more info on the international conference “Thinking After Dark: Welcome to the World of Horror Video Games” .

Ok, list time.


GotY: One thing is sure, it's gonna be a sequel. It's kinda sad that a new, innovative game cannot be GotY but I guess it's just the way the market is right now. I am sure that everyone, me included, are missing on the best game this year just because everything else was (over)hyped. All of the contenders have major flaws in my opinion. But then again, can we expect all games to be perfect ? No, we can't. I'm just gonna write down what are the flaws with those games since pretty much everyone knows what they did well.

GTA4: Not as much fun as Saint's Row 2. A shame that a game that have a really deep story, makes an accurate criticism of modern America and let the player makes relevant moral choices, and all while showing me around NYC is, at the end of the day, less "FUN" than a game where you play a morally questionable banger blowing shit up. And this is exactly why it's more fun. But then again, Schindler's List wasn't fun either.

SSBB a.k.a. SSBM.2: Yep, the title says it all. But it justified my Wii and was fun..... for a while. But you know Nintendo fanboys will be pushing this as GotY like it was the Christ's return to earth.

MGS4: Kojima is a great storyteller. Weird stories I will admit but it really was a fitting ending to the fucked up MGS series. Twists, turns and people who are not dead but you were sure they were for the last 3 games. Of course, it would be better if the story wasn't told through cutscenes ONLY. Very few story elements are given interactively. And some cutscenes would just go on forever(I'm thinking of a certain death scene). But, to borrow an expression from Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, criticizing a MGS for long cutscenes is like criticizing a midget for being short.

My prediction for the winner ? I don't know. Really, I don't. I hope it's either MGS4 or GTA4 because well, they are deeper and more relevant than SSBB. Sadly, none of them had the impact Bioshock had on me last year. Maybe I'm just jaded, cynical and stressed beyond the point I can't be moved by a game anymore. Well, Lost Odyssey made me cry twice but since it's pretty niche, I doubt most people will see it as a serious GotY contender. I hope I'm wrong.


Disappointement of the year: Wii would like to play.
My Wii has been gathering dust for the last few months. After having my fun with SSBB, the console lost it's appeal. No game really grabbed my attention. I don't really care for wiifitnessing, wiimusciing or Animal Crossing since I've played the game two times already. The virtual console ? Sure it's fun. But it's hardly new material and your Wii will be filled pretty fast and since Nintendo don't have any solid plan to fix this issue, I kinda stopped caring for it.

But the Wii won't fail. It's still selling like crazy, they make 6$ per unit sold and that strange new beast, the casual crowd, is buying. I tip my hat to them for their brilliant business. The core feels left out but Nintendo still prints money.


Hot subject of the year: You've got casual on my gaming and defining a culture and it's actors.
The first half of '08 saw a boom in casual gaming. Developers found an unexploited market and like in the virgin west, they went digging for gold. And they found it. Now that a majority of people "play games" and almost every households have at least one console, companies decided to court the moms and dads. And the success of the Wii shows it works.

The second half of the year but mostly the last few months saw the rise of discussions about the culture surrounding gaming. The latest talk in town is about the role of reviewers and what they should and shouldn't do. I'm pretty sure that discussions about this and the gap between "us and them", not casual and hardcore but culturists and just plain gamer, will pave the first few months of '09.


Special thanks of the year:
Fallout 3: for making me discover a great series of game. I got my hands on 1 and 2 for a bargain and as soon as I have time(in two weeks maybe) I will make my way through them.

Sarah Palin: for an endless source of lols and MILF porn.

Lost Odyssey: for showing me a game can make me cry.


And at last, to get your groove on for the holidays: MUZIC