Heavy Rain: The Loop Holes

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar. This is a series of blogs that I have time to write now due to the holidays and a retrospective on my gaming experience in 2010.

            Heavy Rain took 5 years to make and even then it had loop holes. Can you think of another game that took 5 years to make and when it was released felt like it was an incomplete product? Ok, lols at dev cycles aside, there was a reason why Heavy Rain had loop holes and stuff edited out. Its marketing to the mass audience.

            To understand the reason behind the editing out of heavy rain, one must time trot back to indigo prophecy. The overall premise of that game was you are in a diner and you black out. During the black out, you were possessed to kill a man in the bathroom in a ritualistic manner and wake up just in time to cover your own tracks. So the story began, you had to discover your own murder mystery and there was a sanity meter and everything was just so interesting. That was until I got to the part of the story that showed the reason why: A demon did it. The reason wasn’t the only thing either. I didn’t mind that so much, but the game play at that point wasn’t trying to find something, but rather just Quick Time Events galore of fighting demons. Lets just I stopped playing the game at that point.

            I probably wasn’t alone and the devs probably got the memo that paranormal stuff is not going to go well with the masses. So in short just about every loop hole you could have thought up could be explained by some paranormal shit. Also, lets get straight what exactly is a loop hole and what is just bad writing. A loop hole is not explaining why the main character had black outs and why he folded origami while doing so. Why so many characters had crucial evidence to the case that they didn’t share with the police/FBI that had the man power to bring an end to the whole thing sooner is just how it was written. In so many movies/stories, if the characters had just used common sense, there would be so many horror/mystery movies and such that could have ended a lot sooner. Heavy Rain is one of them.

            As much as I felt some stuff wasn’t answered when I completed Heavy Rain, the game was still very good and was still a very unique experience. The game took 5 years to make, and of course Sony had them do some Kinect Support for it at the last moment (joke, joke). This of course strained resources and certain things just had to be cut out. The only sad thing about it was that fact that the devs said they will not be making any sort of sequel either direct or in spirit. But that is something I will save for another Blog.

So what say you GBers? If they left in all the paranormal shit as the explanation, would you be happy? How about instead of choosing any more stuff towards the end of the game, the entire game was just nothing but Quick Time Events that made you reload the game or else the story would have been: “and the killer demon got away”. 

SSF4: JWong and Daigo (and other assorted players) on blast.

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar, this is the only time of year I have to blog about gaming in 2010.

            Ever since Street Fighter ever had a tournament scene, there was the legend of Daigo. Daigo may not be the best in Japan, but whenever he went to American soil, he seemed invincible. As good as the child prodigy of Justin Wong was, even though he seemed unbeatable and the best player in the US, he never could conquer his white whale, Daigo. And so it went like Cain and Abel, the Daigo-Justin rivalry went on and Street Fighter 4 was just the continuation of this long feud.

            Out of this eternal battle it seems, America had always seemed to play second fiddle to Japan. After all, if America’s best cannot even beat someone that isn’t the best in Japan, what chance does the rest of America have against Japan? Well, this year the impossible had happened twice. Justin is no longer the undisputed best in America and Daigo is discovered to be human.

            For Justin, it all started at Evo courtesy of two people: Vangief and GamerBee. Justin for some reason just broke down and started playing unlike himself, making him not even be in top 8 of what is arguably the biggest competition in America. Even though Daigo won Evo that year, Daigo showed that he was human when he toured America for more then one tournament later in the year. Seasons beatings featured Daigo being a Pot monster not even making top 32. Sure GamerBee seemed unstoppable then, but come Socal regionals, GemerBee was put in place as once again (not even top 8) and finally, someone beat Daigo; twice and convincingly. Yes it was F. Champ.

            I could name more names of who beat who, but the overall point is, Daigo is human. As much faith as we put in Justin Wong, it wasn’t him that knocked Daigo out but a bunch of other players instead. Am I putting them all on blast, laughing at them saying suck it? No. The events that unfolded this year has made the tournaments that much more entertaining to watch since it is no longer the JWong and Daigo show, when it comes to whos the best. Before you start to name off “the better players Japan has to offer”, they all got beat either by Daigo, GamerBee, and others as well this year making them good, but not undisputed best.

            So, who is the undisputed best? No one as the game has evolved to the point that on any given tournament anyone can lose or win fame for that weekend. It is that unpredictability that makes the streams so much more fun to watch. 

Alright, enough about fighting games. Tomorrow will be a very different game, one that has played to role of 5 dollar adventure games on the PC for years, but now the good old adventure game makes another grand entrance. Heavy Rain. 

SSF4: Streams and making it a full time job.

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar, this is a retrospective blog about my gaming experience in 2010.

            In the beginning of this year, there was Frame advantage, iplaywinner, levelup and probably some others I cannot think of, off the top of my head. Sure enough, Frame Advantage died overnight as Team Spooky rose up and now Team Spooky is part of norcal’s iplaywinner’s stream. I have no idea why Frame Advantage died overnight and I’m sure there was some drama behind it. Yet one thing was for sure; ever since SF4 (and eventually SSF4) came out having streams for your tournament has become a standard.

            Sure, having viewers could bring in some potential ad revenue as well as the streams themselves could be sponsored and constantly drop names of stuff you should buy. Yet, the beginning of anything is very hard work as no audience is established and you are basically pitching people to give you money for something that is simply not established. Sure, as more streams get on, there would be more solid numbers to back your claims, but what about the audience of a “Stream Monster”?

            At Evo, G4TV had a grand time streaming the finals and the comments made in the stream chat was just trolling so hard it even made G4TV blush. Some of it is just a matter of a couple of bad apples spoiling the whole lot, since I watch plenty of streams but never actually enter the chat. As much as the chat is filled with Stream Monsters that can make a sailor blush, in the infancy of all the streams donations was the only thing that made it stay alive. As much as I never entered the fray of the chat box of being a Stream Monster, I also never actually donated any money to help the stream either. Perhaps there is something to it that can make the whole stream business sustainable.

            Another advancement in the tournament scene besides the fame of being on the stream, is actually being sponsored. Sure history was made in the drama of JWong disowning the Empire and signing with EG. But that was just the beginning as many other players now don’t have to beg for money to travel and can just focus on winning. This of course is another step forward since there are plenty of people that may not win tournaments, but are good enough to keep a certain level of competition or give insight into the streams that they are invaluable. The constant winners like Jwong and Daigo can actually make a profit by sheer winnings, but there is a mountain of other players that constantly lose money for every tournament they don’t place in.

            Sure the last place winners may not deserve to be sponsored, but the tournament/stream is only as interesting as the competition that surrounds 1 place. This is why players have to be sponsored as a step forward. If other competitions (like sports) had only given money to top 3 (or 8 in bigger tournaments), then the system as a whole cannot be sustainable. Now, before you laugh and say fighting games isn’t Sports at all, just remember, they are both there to entertain us.

So Stream Monsters, how do you feel about the state of streams today? Do you just roll your eyes at a player/stream asking for donations or would you rather just see it filled with advertising?

I’m not done with SSF4, tomorrow the more obvious one; JWong and Daigo. 

Bioshock 2: The franchise that lost its new flavor

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar, this is the only time of year I have to blog about gaming in 2010. This is part 2 of reminiscing over Bioshock 2.

            It’s good thing I had waited until the end of the year to write this since I am not alone. While I might not think the Bioshock franchise has “Jumped the shock” there was that certain something in the first one that drew me in. No it wasn’t the fire/ice effects, nor was it the relatively new setting of underwater instead of some WW2 again. It was purely the story setting. I had seen the trailers at E3 initially for Bioshock, and I wasn’t impressed. But it wasn’t until my friend had said “Bioshock is about you not knowing who you are, crash lands in a underwater city where you find out the outcome of a society based on science and freedom that radically hates religion and regulation.”

            I was hooked. Sure it probably helped that I never studied any politics in my life, so some of the story wasn’t as much entertaining as it was pure insight and education of politics in theory. Of course there was more, but it was enough to get interested into a new franchise. But now we are at number 2 and soon to be number 3.

            Since we can never truly “go back to the same home we remembered”, Bioshock would of course have to go forward. Its just too bad, the marketing team had totally lost sight of what made the first one interesting in the first place (at least to me). In Bioshock 2, the marketing was totally fixated on selling us the idea of fighting Big sisters and being a little sister. Bioshock 3 is like: “Yos, we’s in the Cloudz”. This may be interesting to someone else, but at least to me it just doesn’t do it since there is nothing of interest in it. You might as well show me the same flashy fire/ice effects of Bioshock 1, or the Vietnam inspired scene in Black Ops for the flash and flare; I’ll probably be just as bored as ever. Sure it may be fun to see, but it doesn’t draw me in. Just seeing the trailers, or someone playing these scenes would give me more enjoyment then actually playing it. This may not be true for those of you that love FPS games, but I’m sure I’m not alone.

Alright FPS fans, where do you see Bioshock franchise going? Does the trailers for FPS games showing all flash and flare do anything for you guys?

Tomorrow no more talk about a genre I know little about, instead it’ll be one I can write a book on. Fighting games.

Bioshock 2: If you ain’t MW2, don’t even try multiplayer

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar, this is the only time of year I have to blog about gaming in 2010.

            I gotta just start this off and say I am not a fan of FPS games in general. There is just something about most FPS games where I just get motion sickness and I can read in a moving car and boat just fine. So whenever a new must play FPS game comes along, I would be forced to play it in set playtime increments.

            This would make my favored FPS games mainly single player experiences since I can take my time and pause/save as needed to get through the game. To that effort, Bioshock 1 was the best FPS of the year it came out for me and it was all down the story telling and somewhat unique gameplay which is debatable. So what could top it, what could follow it up? Bioshock 2?

            I knew going back to an old world is not going to be as interesting as a discovering a new one, but the gameplay was still solid and a slight fleshing out of the story was refreshing. It’s just too bad, there was a big misuse of money from management is saying there must be a multiplayer segment in the game; and nobody fucking cared.

            MW2 had come out at least 3 months before and people had kept playing it. It doesn’t matter that other games like MAG, Bad Company 2, or Metal of Honor tried to do the same thing. Even Halo Reach is now deemed a faggy game by teenagers as nothing will beat the Modern Warfare franchise. Of course the only thing that will overcome MW2 was Black Ops and perhaps if I knew and understood the multiplayer aspect of FPS games I could understand why.

So FPS fans, did you think Bioshock 2 multiplayer was a waste of money to develop, or were they just missing that certain something that just didn’t make them good enough?

I usually don’t have the time to actually write, but seeing as this semester is winding down I now have some free time. Around the time GB was blowing up, of course many people emailed the crew on how to get into gaming journalism and whatnot. From the bombcast I would remember the general answer would be all based on being consistent with putting out content on time.

            For one brief time in my life, I thought I would give it a try. Just start a simple blog and if I could keep it constantly updated with content then I would have one aspect of what it takes to make it as a journalist in the modern times. The only problem was, after like the first week, I would have nothing more to say. This was probably due to me wanting to having actually significant and useful to say instead of just regurgitating the news back. Perhaps it was just an off month in which nothing much was worthy of being written or I am just not well versed enough in stuff to even know they happened. Either way my consistency was just off and I said Fuck it, I’m not cut out to be a journalist or even regular blogger.

            The other problem could just be that I want to say something unique even if its just a short page like how the Penny Arcade guys do it. But of course, those guys don’t always blog about games and perhaps with good reason. The fact is I do enjoy writing and even though it may not be top notch stuff, I figured that I would take a look back in my life of gaming and write about that.

            With a lot more time for things to sink in, I could express my thoughts in hindsight without being caught up in all the hype or hate in how a certain game was such a failure or success and tell my true opinion. Since I didn’t actually play 12 games this year, I decided to pick 6 and do two blogs on each. So, the first one would be Bioshock 2. 

Au voir PS3 I hardly knew yee. 

On weekend of EVO, I had planned out a weekend of being saturated of SSF4. Play SSF4 while the stream of EVO is up and perhaps pick up a trick or two. Instead I got the untimely demise of my PS3.

An intense online match up in SSF4 heated up so much that it brought on the YLOD. Oh wells, it was a 60 gig launch PS3 and lasted me nearly 4 years. Between hearing about costing 150 to send to Sony, or some cheaper but probably not as reliable pay some guy method, I’m really debating my choices. Yes for a bit more money, I could just buy a new PS3 slim or just pay for Sony to fix it, but that would guarantee all my saved data is lost. I’ll probably, just tinker around get some kind of temporary fix at least so I can back up my data before I ultimately get a new PS3 or shop around for a different system (nah, I’ll probably stick with the PS3, GT5 is coming out finally, and the PS3 tournaments on GB actually work out). With Starcraft 2 just around the corner I guess I can wait for a good reason to be back gaming on my PS3.

But that means no SSF4!!!

Yeah, that’s a bummer. But ever since SSF4 came out I haven’t had the time to play the game as much as I liked. There will be times when the only time I could play the game was after a long day, which is bad since SSF4 is a game that test your patience and coordination (something that’s used up by the end of the day). The result is, I’ll rage or just get clowned on in situations that if I could hold my cool and think clearly, it wouldn’t happen.

Believe it or not, I still haven’t picked up a main for SSF4. With ten new characters and a bunch of tweaks to old ones my summer plan was to walk the warriors path of “C to shining C”; document my process of hitting the learning curve of all characters (as well as get the feel of all of them) so I can definitively choose who to main without second guessing myself. I’ll admit it, I only initially picked Rog because Gootecks used him and Mike Ross made me believe in Honda. Being influenced by the forums on who to main is just as bad since it was peer pressure and not my own choice. As a result of “maining” characters I don’t actually flow with after a while, I get bored of them and move on when I’m forced to get creative and take those mains to the next level.

As long as fighter 4 nurburing edition doesn’t come out next year, I can always jump back in the game later down the line. Sure I’ll forget the timing of combos, but the fundamentals of spacing, footsies and mindgames will never be forgotten.

My Evo thoughts:

The Stream –

Overall the stream was good, sure I hated it when it went down or lagged, but how many stream teams out there have the experience to handle 30k people watching at once? Even DJWheat’s Devastation stream (a very good one, by a very experienced team), only had 5k-10k during its peak. Not sure how stream technology works, but EVO should really make special arrangements with UStream/Stickam or whatever to be able to handle 30k load of people watching. Live and learn it seems.

Justin Wong not in top 8 –

 For some this may be a shock, but not me. Leading up to EVO, Justin Wong was been winning just about every tourney he entered. However, Wong hadn’t been practicing SSF4 and instead was practicing to be in WCG ultimate gamer. Lets just say he went far in that but lost out with almost no prep time left for EVO. Sure even the week just before EVO, he and Marn had gone to and spanked the rest of the world (except Japan because they weren’t invited), but that just gave the rest of the world experience against them. Like a bad Rockstar story, Justin’s talent only got him so far and it showed at EVO. I mean Rufus vs Geif? Prime example of when you should start counter picking like Ricky O did. We have seen Justin Wong use other characters besides Rufus and win before, if he had been properly preparing this upset wouldn’t have happened.

Then there was GamerBee, I don’t know WTF happened, but Justin melted down and played so unlike himself. In the high stakes side tourney team spooky had later that night, I was kinda disappointed that Justin and Sanford (another great player that went out on a very weird way due to stick malfunctions) didn’t show up and GamerBee just took home even more money. Justin could have redeemed himself somehow, cause I sure as hell would have liked to seen a rematch. Even with the Daigo money matches afterwards it would have been great to see Justin or Sanford take on Daigo. Season beatings, did beat daigo before. Oh wells, at least Arturo Sanchez had the balls to run it back from last year.

GamerBee (The X factor) –

There is a reason why some pros was weary of the release date of SSF4, since it meant only two months to learn ten new match ups or even pick one of them up. It really sucks to travel to a tournament and get peaced out due to not knowing the match up, making yourself look like a scrub. Just like Inthul (padlong), or Yeb (Gen player) GamerBee had a very good showing busting out adon catching everyone off guard and for the most part GamerBee had an easier time adapting to their opponents than the opponents did against adon. However, the surprise element will be gone down the line since Inthul and Yeb didn’t make it out of their pools since people actually had time to analyze and adapt to their characters now. Not to take anything away from these players, they of course worked hard on their characters and deserves those wins, its just they have to work harder to keep getting wins when your opponent starts to wise up over time. GamerBee was certainly an X factor that you’d think someone like Justin Wong would secretly do the research required to know the match up (see above).

No 5on5 

–

I guess this made sense since last year’s theme seemed to be who’s the best in by having a 5on5 regional exhibition. This year they expanded the theme to the world as there were a lot more foreign players into the mix. Just sad they excluded this year, the after hours high stakes team spooky tournament made up for it a bit.  

Fuck ups to learn from –

I understand EVO is like the superbowl equivalent of fighting game tournaments. Just like the superbowl, you are going to get a lot more viewers that doesn’t normally watch this stuff. Having sponsors and stuff is helpful and in theory can only help. You really must learn however, that whoever you partner up with understands EVO or at least fighting game tournaments. Last year the fuck up was getting IGN to extort money out of us to watch the EVO matches 6 months after it happened (and it wasn’t even every major match that happened). This year we had a much better stream, that ran a lot smoother, but the final act of Adam Sessler made me rethink if SRK had learned anything. I understand the need to dumb down the tech talk for the masses. I understand getting an outside “celebrity” to be commentator because it gives exposure to the mainstream audience. However, when adam didn’t even know how to keep count of the score by games and not rounds, that is just wrong and a big middle finger to the community that made it as big as it is now (I can only forgive so much). Seriously, give him a crib sheet or notes to study and read from, so he doesn’t make an embarrassment out of everyone. Adam was there for the entire top 8 and he still couldn’t get the difference in his head by the grand finals (thats the last match for those of you that doesn't understand how retarded Adam's learning skill is). If you think I'm hating just cause the commentator didn't mention Frame advantages and other technical talk keep in this mind: Chris Hu talks in broken english and its a very simple "Player A show he no scared so Player B is mindfucked BAYBEE", and yet the community  embraces that just cause Chris Hu knows what he talking about. Also this isn’t just some WWE PPV where its common to go off air right after the main event. Give us some closure by showing the award ceremony and some player interviews, thoughts etc.

Closing thoughts

Goodbye my fair PS3, at least you died right before Starcraft 2 was going to come out. With the amount of Steam games I bought on sale and never actually play, I think I’ll be a PC gamer once again until I really get the shakes for some SSF4. 

For the longest time, I have always played fighting games on a pad. Sure I was fortunate enough to be near an arcade growing up, but having no money other than what my parents gave me, I would be stupid and split the difference between playing in the arcades and on console games, never actually buying a stick. Even if I had wanted to buy a stick back then, the only choices I had was to import a Hori one, or get a piece of shit Madcatz one, which was the sole reason so many people had modded and made their own.

Fast forward to the late 2000’s and the only arcades around, I have to drive an hour to, yet I actually have some money now. When SF4, came out I bought a HRAP3. Even though the TE stick was out and in stock when I choose to buy a HRAP3, I felt it was worth it, since at the time, the TE stick was 150 and the HRAP3 was only 100. Based on all the reviews and such, the HRAP3 was pretty solid, with the only exception of the buttons not being sanwa. A quick look at lizardlick, showed that it would take about only 40 bucks (including tax and shipping), to replace all my buttons and getting a matching ball top to boot. I totally felt justified in my purchase and should I get the urge to upgrade my stick to the TE quality stuff I would still save ten bucks in the long run.

Time trot to like maybe a month ago when just about every stream would offer some discount of TE sticks (or sticks in general), and once again, I would be intrigued. After all, my first stick, which I loved had supposedly crappy buttons. Once again, I compared the discounted madcatz sticks to something Hori was offering at the time. Even with a 20% discount on a $150 stick, the result would be $120; the same price as a HRAP3 SA.

Now at this point, there was literally no difference as both the TE and HRAP3 SA was all sanwa parts. The only difference was buying the brand name of Hori, or the official SF4 stick of madcatz. I personally hate all the puke art that came with the SF4 sticks, and seeing as how Hori never failed me before, it was a no brainer.

So, was it worth it?

Yes. Not only do I have two sticks now, I could directly compare the two type of buttons to put to bed once and for all, is spending the extra money on more expensive parts worth it, or just elitism.

First, I should say that the 20 extra bucks of HRAP3 SA over the HRAP3 wasn’t just for better buttons but also way more mod friendly (although why the fuck would one ever want to mod it since the stock parts are all top notch already?). 

In the HRAP3, I had to use regular screws to unlock the bottom panel. (not a problem)

Gallery

Then I had to get a 7mm nut driver that can reach the crevices of the nuts holding the top panel on place.

This was a problem since I didn’t have a 7mm nut driver that can do that, so add like 5 more bucks I would have to use to buy a tool for that reason.

Now lets look at the HRAP3 SA. The top screws, could be loosened using a simple hex wrench, the same kind you use on your bike, the same kind you use to put Ikea furniture together. Even though I have no plan to mod this stick, it just good to know that Hori was thinking about the user’s need to perhaps replace the sanwa parts with semitus, have some custom art, fireworks to come out as a taunt button to use in real life tournaments, the sky is the limit.

Gallery

Was it really worth it?

Totally yes. Just like every real musician that has experience with lots of different gear will say that a 2000 guitar is better than a 200 dollar one, it is very much the same analogy with these sticks.

Generally, the cheaper sticks that are around 50 bucks or cheaper will break down (from rumors no matter what company you buy them from), which is why even as my own personal entry level stick, I had bought the HRAP3 for 100, which had inferior buttons, but after one full year of pounding away on it, still works like a charm.

The differences in the buttons are noticeable, but this is coming from a guy that has spent at least 500 hours using the stick. Even then, its not like my combos came out easier or harder because I had different buttons since the speed of my fingers pressing down on the buttons negates any differences in spring tension and such between the different buttons.

What is noticeable is just the better quality of plastic used, and only if you press each button very softly the softer springs used in a sanwa button.

Is the barrier of entry for fighting games = getting a 100+ dollar stick?

NO!!!!!

Get this in your head. Just like every guitarist would prefer to play a 2000 dollar guitar over an entry level 200 dollar one, I’m sure most of them started out using a 200 dollar one, or even worse (like a guitar they found in the trash with 2 strings only).

The same thing could be said about sticks in fighting games. If you’ve been playing for so long, you would want to get the better parts. But if you are a new generation of this genre, you don’t even know if you are going to actually like or be good at the game enough to want to spend money on it. There are plenty of pad warriors out there that could probably make me sing freebird online and off even though I’m using a stick. 

Why I’m biased against madcatz and love Hori.

Even though I haven’t bought a madcatz stick before, I did buy their controllers and other accessories like memory card for past consoles, to which they broke after a month. While I hear the TE stuff is much better their level entry shit, I still flinch a bit before thinking of buying it just because its from madcatz.

Yet, even back then, there was nothing but praise for Hori. The only real problem was that their sticks were really expensive and you had to import them, since they didn’t do business in back then. Both of those problems are nonexistent now since paying 100-120 for a new Hori stick (or any quality stick) is totally reasonable. While I cannot speak for the 50 buck sticks that are around for either companies, I didn’t choose them just because those sticks (no matter who made them), are way too small to comfortably play on your lap. 

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar; today’s Topic: Game glitches

The topic of game glitches has been around before video games even. It has just been called something else. If put in a good light its: “Thinking outside the box” and in a bad light its: “Breaking the game”. To keep things from being too scattered, I write about game glitches in relation to competitive games. So then what if anything is a glitch. The term glitch used to only apply to electronic signals signifying an overall minor malfunction. That of course is not the apt application of the word as it pertains to video games. So then perhaps we should first define what a game is:

The overall consensus game designers and those who study it are:

“1. A rule-based formal system;

2. with variable and quantifiable outcomes;

3. where different outcomes are assigned different values;

4. where the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome;

5. the player feels emotionally attached to the outcome;

6. and the consequences of the activity are optional and negotiable.”

How the fuck does it apply to game glitches.

Well a game glitch that people love to complain about essentially breaks what a game is. This is technically correct for the first rule (A rule-based formal system). After all, any glitch is by definition something that breaks the rules that the developers had intended. However, game developers only made the rules of what they think is the most fair and fun way to play the game. While fun is subjective, fair is not. What is fair is always dictated by the players. The real question is then, which players?

Just who should the developers listen to?

Traditionally, the only people that really know what they are saying are the ones that play it at a high level to break it. These are of course people that play the game competitively. With online however, that line of course blurs. Even under all the inherent problems of online, the game can track everything. If something (whether it’s a glitch or not) is overpowered, then the game would degenerate down to nothing but that overpowered tactic. This is a grey area since you have to apply it to what is considered fair. If only one person can take advantage of it (say the host of the game can only do this), then of course that’s not fair. However, what if everybody can do it? How about a reloading a gun faster by quickly switching out to another weapon? How about finding a way to combo a melee attack with a shot from the gun for an instant kill that wouldn’t have happened with just a melee?

Should all glitches just be automatically patched?

Yes and no. A truly game breaking glitch is one that makes it so that there is basically no game to be played. If you find a way to spawn off the map, where nobody can shoot at you that is an example of a game breaking glitch. There is no game to be played here, but what about those quick reload glitches? Well, if you didn’t glitch fast reload, you would definitely be at a disadvantage, but you would still be able to play the game. To compete with them on a fair level, you would have to do the glitch yourself. Some glitches would essentially be higher level play.

But what about the Javelin glitch?

This is a controversial one, since the Javelin glitch is essentially super martyrdom. While the javelin glitch may be super annoying, is it game breaking? Based on the information of the javelin glitch on the web, there are still limitations to the glitch. Basically when the glitch is in effect, you can only knife, sprint, and jump, but any other action including shooting or climbing would cancel the glitch out. Then you add to the fact that you have to die to have this glitch work, means you cannot just rack up easy kill streaks with it. However, it does make it easy to take away someone’s kill streak.

That however doesn’t break the game. Using it doesn’t automatically means you will win, yet I can definitely see certain maps/game types where it can seem like it. The only true way to know however is in a tournament. You get a bunch of players that is super serious about it (and assumed to have some skill at the game), if the javelin glitch is that powerful, we would see every round of the tournament up til the end use nothing but that.

Too bad we will never see that happen. Activision has already said they will patch it soon, so we shall never know if the javelin glitch is truly game breaking or just a specialized class of suicide bomber that is essential in an overall team like the sniper.

And if you don’t like I got two words for you….

Get out!!!! This doesn’t just go for any glitches, but also the game itself. This overall blog has been about glitches and accepting/rejecting them. Yet the overall conclusion extends much further. If you think something is overpowered that’s not even a glitch, sure voice your opinion but after a certain point, just don’t play the game anymore. What makes a game good or bad is how much fun the game is in the long term. This emergent gaming from the players would also include certain glitches. If the all the tactics in the game was discovered in one month, it would just peter off quickly as the game wouldn’t be so deep. However, a true deep game would mean that over time the weak weapons would seem strong after people learn how to use them effectively. Perhaps it’s a glitch that makes the weak weapon strong.

Whether the javelin glitch is game breaking or not is subjective just like calling anything cheap or noob tactics. Glitches can be reasonable to ask for a patch, but don’t do it with a knee jerk reaction. Realize then, there are a bunch of other great games to play. If you are just fed up with the camping tendencies that MW2 harbors, then move on to another game that favors run and gun more. After all, if the inherent rules of MW2 that favors the play style you hate to run into, why play the game?

This blog was written as my one final cohesive statement on all threads that complain if anything is cheap, overpowered, should be patched, etc. If developers just patch everything that players have a knee jerk reaction to, then that takes away any incentive for players to be innovative. From this perch I shall fly away now until next time.

Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar

Me ranting

Games on the Perch

Off to the horizon