If I could give one piece of advice it would be that dropping a TV onto your brand New Xbox 360 is not a good idea.
Yeah guess what happened to me when I got home…
I was taking the DVD cable out of the back of the TV and because the TV is only a really stupid smaller wheelie stand… well it was an accident waiting to happen let’s just say.
I moved the TV only ever so slightly and it unhooked from the stand and because I couldn’t hold the weight of the TV it fell onto my arm and onto the Xbox.
I caused I think about £1,500 worth of damage as it left a large dent in the laminate floor. When my mom finally cooled down she came in with the great news that my Xbox is completely unharmed apart from a little mark from the TV, however the TV was a bit screwed up but it still worked.
Thankfully the TV screen didn’t smash and it didn’t do more damage to the Xbox because the corner landed on my arm instead. My left arm was completely out of action, as I couldn’t hold it up without it going numb so I think I sprained it slightly.
Lucky the TV would still turn on and seemed to be fine except that the edges were bright green and it would turn itself off every few minutes – yeah it was fine…
One of the strangest things about me is that I have horrid bad luck followed by extremely good luck. When I was packing my Xbox up for Uni I had to unplug the cable from the back of the TV and had move it slightly in order to do so. Well I turn the TV back on and low and behold it works perfectly, no green edges and no turning itself off. I fixed the TV without really doing anything.
Good Luck, no?
Monday 15 January 2007
Impulsive nature
Today is the day that I welcomed a new member into the family. Did my mom give birth? Did my Dad get re-married? No – I finally bought my Xbox 360.
I’ve been playing to buy one since the first shreds of news appeared on the Internet however when the launch came and went I still found myself without one as I simply did not have the money and with no wealthy benefactor to donate, I patiently had to wait.
However all that has changed as now I have my next-gen baby. Go me!!
I went into Merry Hill with plans of shopping and as usual wandered into Game to browse and despite the plenty of conversations my mom about waiting just a little bit longer until the price goes down, I decided to conveniently forget all about that and buy one with the student loan and Christmas money.
Bought an extra controller, Enchanted arms and Ninety Nine Nights. I’m also really pleased with the fact that Game has their point card system meaning that now I have £17 to buy another game with.
Happy days are here again.
I’ve been playing to buy one since the first shreds of news appeared on the Internet however when the launch came and went I still found myself without one as I simply did not have the money and with no wealthy benefactor to donate, I patiently had to wait.
However all that has changed as now I have my next-gen baby. Go me!!
I went into Merry Hill with plans of shopping and as usual wandered into Game to browse and despite the plenty of conversations my mom about waiting just a little bit longer until the price goes down, I decided to conveniently forget all about that and buy one with the student loan and Christmas money.
Bought an extra controller, Enchanted arms and Ninety Nine Nights. I’m also really pleased with the fact that Game has their point card system meaning that now I have £17 to buy another game with.
Happy days are here again.
Monday 8 January 2007
Week 10: Game Play and development
As human I believe that we are all inclined to enjoy a good story whether listening or even telling a story of our own. Therefore it is almost a fundamental rule in gameplay to have an engaging storyline with characters that we find interesting and appealing.
Most if not all successful story driven games achieve such success due to character development and engaging the player. Gaming is falling alongside other storytelling media such as films and books. We sometimes have to look at a game as an interactive book.
An example which I personally think is worth having a look at is Fahrenheit designed by David Cage. It is a almost a new genre, a movie-game. Although it is far from achieving the look of a movie it certainly does invoke a new sense of gameplay as the player has an almost psychical experience as a lot of the game requires intense use of the controller.
It also features three primary characters with a twist. One is a murderer and the other two are cops so the player is trying to catch himself and yet also escape. Although it’s far from a perfect game I do believe that is on the right track when it comes to create a new way to perceive and play games.
When it comes to characters, if I can remember a game character 20 years on from now then I believe it to be highly successful however it’s not all down to the games. It’s a clever business practice to market a popular game character via a blockbuster movie (Tomb Raider), TV series (Sonic the Hedgehog), MacDonald's toys (Mario) and plush toys(Pokemon). In a way to reach the target audience the easiest way is to flood every avenue open to them to ensure that the market will see as much of the product as possible.
However it’s not all about business is it? When it comes down to storyline and characters the genre most looked at would be RPG’s such as Final fantasy etc. When so many hours is placed in a game it’s hard not to remember a character. Too many times have I came across a game when the main protagonist has had no appeal that when something good comes along chances are you’ll remember it.
When trying to sell a game that relies heavily on character development and storyline - you must create a hybrid of a book, movie and game and balance all aspects. Character development is crucial, if the game starts out with an happy,easy going protagonist then after seeing his town blow up , girlfriend die and dog runaway, and if he remains the same person completely unaffected by the events I would wonder what the hell was going on. It’s important to anchor characters with humanity as I don’t want to play a game where I can’t relate to a character in one way or another, that would make for a really boring and therefore unsuccessful game.
Most if not all successful story driven games achieve such success due to character development and engaging the player. Gaming is falling alongside other storytelling media such as films and books. We sometimes have to look at a game as an interactive book.
An example which I personally think is worth having a look at is Fahrenheit designed by David Cage. It is a almost a new genre, a movie-game. Although it is far from achieving the look of a movie it certainly does invoke a new sense of gameplay as the player has an almost psychical experience as a lot of the game requires intense use of the controller.
It also features three primary characters with a twist. One is a murderer and the other two are cops so the player is trying to catch himself and yet also escape. Although it’s far from a perfect game I do believe that is on the right track when it comes to create a new way to perceive and play games.
When it comes to characters, if I can remember a game character 20 years on from now then I believe it to be highly successful however it’s not all down to the games. It’s a clever business practice to market a popular game character via a blockbuster movie (Tomb Raider), TV series (Sonic the Hedgehog), MacDonald's toys (Mario) and plush toys(Pokemon). In a way to reach the target audience the easiest way is to flood every avenue open to them to ensure that the market will see as much of the product as possible.
However it’s not all about business is it? When it comes down to storyline and characters the genre most looked at would be RPG’s such as Final fantasy etc. When so many hours is placed in a game it’s hard not to remember a character. Too many times have I came across a game when the main protagonist has had no appeal that when something good comes along chances are you’ll remember it.
When trying to sell a game that relies heavily on character development and storyline - you must create a hybrid of a book, movie and game and balance all aspects. Character development is crucial, if the game starts out with an happy,easy going protagonist then after seeing his town blow up , girlfriend die and dog runaway, and if he remains the same person completely unaffected by the events I would wonder what the hell was going on. It’s important to anchor characters with humanity as I don’t want to play a game where I can’t relate to a character in one way or another, that would make for a really boring and therefore unsuccessful game.
Week 9 Games technology
It is hard to believe just how developed and profitable the games industry has become. In less than 60 years the game industry has quickly developed to such a common everyday thing in our lives, in this day and age it is becoming the norm that every youth owns some sort of console one way or another.
The industry is extremely successful and therefore highly profitable with higher standard then ever before for game play and graphics. Lucky we are to be able to see such a fast improvement in both these areas over the past decade or so.
So let us have a look at the history of this technology,
The early 70’s were the launch of the video game console with the extremely successful game PONG placed a lot of attention upon the newly developing industry.
It was only in the late 70’s that Atari would release its Atari 2600 VCS, which introduced cartridge based consoles. Although the industry was met with many hardships such as two crashes it would stabilise in the 80’s due to Nintendo and it’s NES.
Some of my earliest gaming memories were on the Atari and the NES, I was especially fond of Duck Hunt because of the gun however a lot of people can say the same thing.
The fifth generation of consoles consisted of Sony’s PlayStation One, the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64.The jump in technology meant that both the PlayStation and the Saturn started to use CDs over the old technology of a cartridge. The Gaming industry would continue to use CDs over the years and then moved on to DVDs. The industry was booming and with growth of technology the acceptance of home based consoles was cemented.
In the next few years the industry would see the rise and fall of Sega’s Dreamcast which was the first internet ready console with built in modem, advances to computers and handheld consoles, the console wars and the information super highway.
However I don’t believe that the industry would where it is today without the use of the Internet. Microsoft has benefited with its Xbox online capabilities and it’s very successful Halo franchise. Although the PlayStation 2 also had online capabilities it wasn’t as well received as the Xbox with online play. This also applies to handheld consoles as the DS and PSP both allow for online play.
The next generation consoles (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3) has seen an even further and higher advance of graphics and technology. All online enabled and the arrival of new wireless controllers that read via infrared and blue tooth.
As an industry the gaming market has realised its mass appeal and therefore has produced games towards different markets an example of this is the Nintendo DS lite in a pink version along with the game Nintendogs; targeted at younger females.
Not only has the industry jumped in leaps and bounds when it comes to technology (the 8-bit era seems almost primitive in comparison to today’s standards) it also has moved forward in terms of marketing and recognizing it’s mass appeal in modern society.
The industry is extremely successful and therefore highly profitable with higher standard then ever before for game play and graphics. Lucky we are to be able to see such a fast improvement in both these areas over the past decade or so.
So let us have a look at the history of this technology,
The early 70’s were the launch of the video game console with the extremely successful game PONG placed a lot of attention upon the newly developing industry.
It was only in the late 70’s that Atari would release its Atari 2600 VCS, which introduced cartridge based consoles. Although the industry was met with many hardships such as two crashes it would stabilise in the 80’s due to Nintendo and it’s NES.Some of my earliest gaming memories were on the Atari and the NES, I was especially fond of Duck Hunt because of the gun however a lot of people can say the same thing.
The fifth generation of consoles consisted of Sony’s PlayStation One, the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64.The jump in technology meant that both the PlayStation and the Saturn started to use CDs over the old technology of a cartridge. The Gaming industry would continue to use CDs over the years and then moved on to DVDs. The industry was booming and with growth of technology the acceptance of home based consoles was cemented.
In the next few years the industry would see the rise and fall of Sega’s Dreamcast which was the first internet ready console with built in modem, advances to computers and handheld consoles, the console wars and the information super highway.
However I don’t believe that the industry would where it is today without the use of the Internet. Microsoft has benefited with its Xbox online capabilities and it’s very successful Halo franchise. Although the PlayStation 2 also had online capabilities it wasn’t as well received as the Xbox with online play. This also applies to handheld consoles as the DS and PSP both allow for online play.
The next generation consoles (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3) has seen an even further and higher advance of graphics and technology. All online enabled and the arrival of new wireless controllers that read via infrared and blue tooth.
As an industry the gaming market has realised its mass appeal and therefore has produced games towards different markets an example of this is the Nintendo DS lite in a pink version along with the game Nintendogs; targeted at younger females.
Not only has the industry jumped in leaps and bounds when it comes to technology (the 8-bit era seems almost primitive in comparison to today’s standards) it also has moved forward in terms of marketing and recognizing it’s mass appeal in modern society.
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