I want to make video games.  It's been my goal for around three years now, and up until about a month ago, I'd been a failure.  Now, though, a crappy little dual-joystick shooter has been birthed from my fingertips, sent through the python interpreter, and emerged unto the world.

Because I want to make video games, I'm unusually harsh on them and sometimes forget to just have fun.  A good example is the mainstream darling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  While the entire world seems to be dripping at the site of this game, and I myself would have to shake the hands of the developers for coming up with such a good progression for a game type that is really very repetitive at its core, that doesn't mean that the gun combat is good.  

I grew up with an S style Xbox controller in my hand and a copy of Halo or Halo 2 in my console.  This has caused me to want a combat encounter in a game against another player to last more than half a second.  In the Halo series, players don't die instantly unless hit in the head with a sniper or at the feet by a massive explosion.  In CoD, death is imminently instant if you're spotted by a half-way decent player.  Here's the thing people, when it takes longer to kill someone, that means that you have to be a better player.  This means that Halo actually requires skill.

As a future game developer, I can understand very easily the three reasons that Infinity Ward made the decision to traverse the path of a low health shooter.  One, the satisfaction a player feels from killing someone quickly and seeing the big points flash up on the screen is basically like shooting heroine straight into your cornea.  The instant gratification is something that the console generation has grown accustom to, and it shines through in this game.  Two, twitch shooters are making a comeback.  They were never really gone, but the days of Quake lan parties are over and, let's face it, Quake is the quintessential twitch game.  Finally, because Halo's combat takes more skill, the level of play can be overwhelming to say the least.  A casual player will never be able to get more than a couple, more-than-likely, luck kills in a game when playing on the MLG playlist.  Modern Warfare lets you jump right in and kill even the best of players if you see them first.  Feels great to kill the guy with 35 kills on the match, am I right?

The last thing that I want to say is that if anyone reading this is a PC player who laughs at the idea of using a joystick to shoot people, I say enjoy it while it lasts.  The migration to consoles started long ago and it's only getting worse for you.  Hope your back problems get better soon, I'm gonna go lay on the couch and play Dead Space 2.

-Ian James      
 
P.S.  Please check out the website where this blog will be posted:  Archangel428 Productions