Spore

This past week my graphics card in my computer finally succumbed to time and died.  It wasn't anything special, so I wasn't too surprised to see it go after 3 or so years.  Right now I'm using the onboard card that came with this prebuilt and it's capabilities stretch as far as FreeCell.  So, I decided to go through my very small stack of PC games to see the potential for what fun I could be missing. It basically consists of World of Warcraft, Diablo II (which I snagged for 3 bucks at a garage sale many, many years ago), and Spore.  

  Now, the lead up t o Spore's release was widespread and lasted for what seemed years. Most of the game communities I browsed were up in arms about this game and all I could think to myself was how uninteresting the Sims has always been to me and I simply ignored it. The week of the games launch came and for some reason, I found mys elf becoming increasingly interested in this game that had been on the back burner for so long.
 
Looking back at the reaction of Spore's release through video game sites and the general gaming community is strange to me, and I almost feel like I dodged a hype bullet or was maybe playing a different game, because I loved it. It was a game that was completely breathtaking to me in every possible way when I didn't expect it.
 
Many people hav e their different strokes for what hits their sweet spot, and I've always been all over the map. Video games have always been the purest way of experiencing ideas, stories, characters, art, and music for me, and I assume that's true for many other constant gamers.  And some how, some way, this game was just one of those games for me.
 
My favorite crossover genre of all time is SciFi/Western.  Not exactly a common combo but every time I see someone tackle it, it's alw ays magical. Even before my deep love of Firefly, there was Outlaw Star, one of the only few animes I watch. There was The Gunslinger (which is less space scifi, admittedly). But these all stemmed from the fascination of space I've always had.  And those two shows, Firefly and Outlaw Star, both feature a group of virtual nobodies who are alone in space. Silently terrified at the thought of all the standard fears of space and what it means to be so nothing within something that is, well, everything.
 
That idea of the fear of possibility is unsettling some people.  Possibility is a great thing, but it gets scarier the broader it gets, and nothing is literally broader than space.  Spore is a slow burn. The stages of the game follow all the tropes you expect them to glance over. They're minimalistic in the way they present themselves and are only complex-ified by the player themselves when they create the various creatures or objects that soon populate their world. It's when the game gets to space and all of the things you have done previously are done. You create your spaceship, and that's the last amount of creative input the game gives you. The home planet you leave is entirely made of everything you put into it. You started literally from a microscopic being and you meticulously craft every single thing that makes that world home to you. And you leave it behind.
 
Maybe that idea didn't hit home with some people, but it hit home with me. That world was everything you made it to be. And the game as I now know i t hadn't even started yet.  Sp ace mode starts and you are a bit overwhelmed.  The first time you take flight to another populated planet, it hits you. You fly your spaceship low to the planet and you see creatures and towns with their own flair and you realize how that right there could have just been everything you did in the game so far.  So you zoom out from the planet.  You zoom farther and farther and when the iconic galaxy swirl of the universe is positioned on the screen you realize the scope of th e game. There are literally an uncountable amount of other planets that populate this whole entire galaxy. It's baffling . It's unnerving. And it's unsettling in the possibilities it presents.
 
Now, the game-play aspect of space mode does dissolve into spice trading, fending off the Grox (who are astonishingly an expansive empire), and formatting planets to fit your terra-forming needs.  I personally loved the idea of it all. Terra-forming itself has always been an awesome concept to me and it was an immensely fun mechanic to balance various planet's temperature and atmosphere into a habitable planet which then led to more spice trading, which did admittedly get a bit tedious.
 
But the sheer scope of the game at that point was truly mind blowing to me. What really gave me the most memorable experience  stemmed from an achievement in the game to visit the c enter of the galaxy. There was no mission given to do this, it was simply an achievement placed in the game that anyone could aspire to get if they felt like it. For me, it became the climax of the game and further established the game into one of the more memorable gaming experiences of my life.
 
After making a bit of money and upgrading my ship a bit, I thought I might tackle the achievement. It's a long journey to the center of the galaxy. This feat is all the more troubling when you slowly begin to realize that the further you get to the center of the galaxy, the more concentrated the amount of Grox controlled planets is. And they REALLY aren't the neighborly type. 
 
It's a frightening thing to delve into unknown territory.  It's the same exact feeling I get starting any game with an open world element to it.  You're afraid that at any point you might be heading into the wrong territory at that point in the game. Like running from Elwynn Forest into Duskwood on accident in World of Warcraft and realizing you have made a glaring and horrible mistake.  I've been very apprehensive anytime I begin a game that I know to have that open world element because it is physically taxing on me.  I have to slowly learn how to traverse this alien landscape while I'm still fumbling to understand the mechanics and ultimate goal of the game. It's a very daunting and terrifying experience each and every time.  And the payoff later in the game is always amazingly rewarding.
 
But Spore was this much grander beast that scared me more than anything. I would spend a chunk of time traveling. Maybe occasionally take a new planet and establish a trade route with some lone civilization I've befriended and restock on some essentials, all the while getting farther and farther away from that home planet I now felt apart of. Continuing towards this ultimate goal fighting off Grox. Running from them. Overcoming them. It's an insane feeling and almost like space planet parkour as you dodge around these Grox colonies seeing just which planets you might be able to reach as you inch to the center of the galaxy.  You're  fed up with bothering with these bastards and are zipping through planets with ease, getting the hang of it just as if you were playing an old Sonic Genesis game, all the while still leaving behind that ho me planet you forged so long ago.  Reaching that center never means so much to you as it does when you get there. Every planet you pass is a reminder of where you started. Of the cities you designed. Of the other creatures you conquered. Of the tiny, microscopic cell you started from.

Maybe Spore was a game I loved more for the concepts and ideas it made me mull about. Maybe it was its charming simplicity that drew me in. But looking at my dusty PC tower and then back at the case of Spore I hold in my hand I know I'll never forget the time I did spend with it.  Sure, I haven't touched the game since that week I was enthralled by it, but I don't need to. There have always been games that some people for some strange reason latch on to.  I'm sure there's someone out there who thinks Bubsy 3D was one of the milestones in gaming. And I will stare strangely at them. But maybe now, I'll have a small bit of resolve in my glare, because I've experienced that love for a game others may not have.

Hello!

Well another podcast for our listening pleasure this week we talk about: Duke Nukem Forever, Lost Oddesy, Rock Band, Fable 2 DLC, Sims 2, Sims 3, Spore, Fallout 3 DLC, Bioshock, Ghostbusters, Dolphin Olympics 2, You Have to Burn the Rope, Longest Journey, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Scary Girl and Don’t Look Back. We Chat about how rubbish DRM is and how it has ruined our lives.

WARNING "THE PITT" SPOILERS.

This week special guest Alex joins us again, who perhaps soon should be called a permanent addition to our podcast. We like her and we think you do too.

Any comments post on the site (it’s free) or send us an email: theguys@beatbritish.co.uk

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Paris

The original blog post can be found here

So Spore.. yeah. Not so much. I purchased (no pirating here!) and played it quite a bit through the weekend, and after spending some time with the game you can put me firmly in the camp of those who appreciate the ideas behind Spore but find so many faults and missed opportunities in the game that it's hard to enjoy as a whole. The camera control is awkward. The interface is dated and the art direction is just not hitting home for me. And even though I'm having fun with Spore at times there's no real hook that keeps me wanting to continue to play the game.

Q: "What game do you think Will Wright will make now that he has his own company?"

Went out to NC this weekend to go see Shinedown in concert. Sure, it was a six hour drive, but the boys are worth it. The show was amazing, even if I did contract some sort of weird throat devouring concert plague and now can no longer speak...but you know what you DON'T need your voice for? PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, OF COURSE. =D Yes, on our way through the cold and snowy expanse of Hickory, NC, my mom and I stopped to get lunch and do a little shopping...I found my way into a gutted Circuit City that still had a few PC games lying around for amazing discounted prices.

By the time all was said and done, I'd spent about $50, but I got three games for my trouble. First, I got Jade Empire: Special Edition, which I've been wanting to play since it came out (BioWare Fangirl Alert) but since I don't have an Xbox and only recently got a less crappy computer, I had to wait this long to get my hands on it...next up was Spore, which I've again wanted since it came out, DRM issues be damned. It's effing SPORE. And it's addictive as hell. Next I grabbed a copy of Unreal Tournament 3, so I can kick the ass of *cough* I mean, play nicely with one of my friends and we can have lots of fun doing all sorts of crazy things.

And as if that wasn't cool enough, when I got back home last night I discovered my super cheap $25 copy of Persona 4 and accompanying booklet had arrived in my absence! So now I can do my very own Endurance Run. Yay!

So yeah. Between all of this and the games I've already got (still working my way through the tedious slog that is NOLF 2 and of course there's WoW to consider) I'm going to be gaming for a looong awhile...just the way I like it! Because, of course, the only thing better than good video games are CHEAP good video games. <3

4. Unskippable Cutscenes

I do applaud developers that actually try to create some kind of stories with their products these days; however, some of them just take it too far. It seems as though these days nearly 90% of games that use cutscenes frequently are just a half-assed attempt by a rushed game developer to implement a story to their games. These rushed cutscenes are usually boring and do nothing other than hinder gameplay by stopping me from killing zombies, aliens, or any other form of baddies.

But wait, it gets worse! There are many games out there with cutscenes that cannot be skipped. This can be a real pain in the ass if you are playing through a game for a second or third time and don't need to see the story develop, or if you just really don't care that much. I would like to give the developers the benefit of the doubt and say that the corportations rushed them, thus they forgot to make a skip button. What if you do care about the story though and it is your fist playthrough? Then the next annoyance involving cutscenes is those pesky cinematics that just cannot be pasued. If you really have to go to bathroom during one of these unpausable cutscenes then you will be faced with an earth-shattering dilemma: piss yourself or find out what happens.

Worst Offenders

Assassin's Creed
Star Wars: Force Unleashed
Kingdom Hearts

3. What Downloadable Content Has Become

Big news for this generation of gaming was the introduction of DLC on consoles. For some time every gamer praised this concept, allowing them to get patches for their games promptly and download brand new content for games instead of waiting for expansion packs on a disc. Too bad for the average gamer publishers and developers have noticed the phenomenal success of DLC. In fact, they have even brought it upob themselves to find ways to scam you.

On the Xbox 360 Microsoft decided to use this thing called Microsoft Points as the form of currency on their Xbox Live service, instead of ... real money. Don't worry though, you can still spend your hard earn bucks to obtain these points either by credit card or prepaid card at any gaming store. Let's say a downloadable package costs 1600 points, no problem, you don't mind spending $16.00 on some content. Hold on there, 1600 points costs $19 and some odd change before taxes. Depending on where you live, $1.00 usually equals 80 points and can be much less than that outside of the United States. This is an odd marketing trick designed to squeeze some extra cash out of us gamers.

Back to the downloadable content itself, wow what a great idea! Companies have now decided that some completed content doesn't necessarily have to be included with the game, hell, people can just purchase this from the marketplace for an additional $10. It is all too common these days to see downloadable content for new video games less than one week following release, or on the same day if it is an EA Game. I would like to take this time to give a pat on the back to the few developers and publishers out there who actually release legitimate downloable content for games.

Worst Offenders

Electronic Arts
Microsoft

2. Game Breaking Glitches

It may just be the evolution of gaming forums or just sloppy development, but I for one have noticed a huge increase of game breaking glitches in this generation. Although I've never experienced one of these myself I anticipate that it will one day happen so it has replaced Tutorials as the #1 spot on this list. Apparently, these glitches conveniently happen towards the end of the game, and usually in games which only support one save file per playthrough. From what I've heard on this recent explosion of glitches is the lack of support from developers. If I were to experience one of these glitches I honestly wouldn't mind waiting it out for a couple days if a patch to fix the problem was promised in less than five days. Unfortunately it doesn't seem reasonable these days with the allegedly long and tedious process of patch approval that developers claim.

Worst Offenders

Fable 2
Fallout 3
LittleBIGPlanet
Gears of War 2

1. DRM

For anybody not in the know, Digital Rights Management is a form of anti-piracy that originated with music and video files. The restrictions with this being used in video games is basically a three strikes rules. You can only activate the DRM three times before the software locks you out of installing or playing the game ever again. What warrants an activation you ask? Hardware or software changes are a big one, that means if you upgrade your operating system or system specs than you have wasted an install. Let's say you have multiple computers and would like to play your single player games on them, well that will cost you extra install for sure. Let's assume under the very likely situation that you have used all of your allowed installs of a game protected by DRM. What can you do now? You are locked out of the game entirely so you can try calling customer service, unfortunately they will assume the worst as convince themselves that you did something wrong and will not give you any extra activiations, they are useless! Now you are stuck with a purchased copy of a game that you can't even use.

Now you must be pondering why any company would include such a nasty feature into any video game. The answer is the ever-growing rate of piracy. These publishers fool themselves into thinking that their coders can actually create a system that can lock out all of t hese illegal activities altogether. One flaw in this system that they didn't take into account is that their employees can be the best coders in the world, but there will always be a better cracker out there.

I'll give you a true story here. The popular video game Spore was released in 2008 sometime and used this DRM protection to prevent piracy. I was going to be one of the millions of anticipated gamers to purchase this game until the DRM claim was proven to be va li d. A full and cracked version of Spore was released on hundreds of direct download and torrent websites nearly one week before the official release of the game. Not only this, but the game was illegally downloaded over 500,000 times in one week alone , and has been downloaded millions of times by now.

Unlike 500,000 others I purchased the game at full price. At the time I was running Windows Vista and had some issues, the first problem cost me my second install. The latest thing to cost me my third install was surprisingly enough an upgrade in RAM (why the hell, I d on't know). Not long after I had to reformat because of a Vista related issue and had been locked out of my own game. I decided that I would not take this so I decided to download a copy of Spore and used to crack to conveniently unlock the DRM and play the game hassle free. Since then I have decided to never buy a game protected by DRM again, and will pirate it in a boycott to these companies. I know boycotting the publishers will never work, but it is an excuse for free games.

Worst Offenders

Electronic Arts

We're back after missing a week due to illness and overall "poopery". This week we play catch up and discuss what we've been playing: Call of Duty: World at War, Skate 2, FEAR 2: Project Origin, Resident Evil 5, Defense Grid: The Awakening, The Maw, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, and more! We follow that up with some news and then discuss some memories of the good friends we've made through online gaming. We may also have mentioned masturbating homeless people and peep shows in Target, but who's counting?

It's good to be back after a week of absence and I hope you guys enjoy the show. This show marks 11 months of podcasting and soon we shall reach the coveted 1-Year mark! If you're a fan and you like what we're doing...let us know with listener mail/questions which can be sent to either distributedfailure@gmail.com, or thekush3@gmail.com. We may not be that popular, but it's nice to know at least some people care and enjoy the show.

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Now let's see if I actually use this space for anything. I'm sure I'm not the only one but I tend to be rather absentminded when it comes to making blog entries. Since one assumes this is supposed to be a gaming blog, though, I might as well use this space to talk about what I've been playing.

Ah, Spore... I've wanted to pick this game up for a while. It's not exactly a complicated game, but it's addicting in its own way. So far I've focused on one save file. I managed to keep the creature phase going long enough to unlock almost every part, which was pretty fun in itself. I'm having an odd time with the space stage, though. I keep everyone as friendly as possible to me, but it's aggravating getting two alerts at once every time two of my allies attack each other.

Not much else going on tonight since I've mostly been in the mood to watch movies. I'll probably end up going to bed early tonight since I couldn't get any sleep at all last night.

Good night.