Gaz and I had been playing Rock Band for quite some time when Activision announced the impending Guitar Hero: World Tour. Rock Band had set the new standard with the full compliment of instruments and it was pretty obvious Activision weren’t gonna take that lying down. So what do all big companies do when faced with a good competitor? They copy them of course.

Now this in itself is an understandable gesture. Harmonix once again showed them a gap in the market, as they’re unable to spot em themselves and they made a competitor. Competition is a healthy thing in this environment as it only inspires people like Harmonix to do something better. And they did, Rock Band 2. Harmonix had obviously gotten wind of Activision’s plot (if you can call it that) and used the time to make a beefed up, polished off , leaner, meaner competitor. The stage was set.

Guitar Hero: World Tour versus Rock Band 2

GH:WT came out before RB2 (them’s your abbreviations) and Gaz and I were umming and arring on whether or not to buy it. For a long time it wasn’t immediately clear whether the GH:WT instruments would be backwards compatible and the RB ones would be forwards compatible. We didn’t wanna shell out more cash (and it was quite a lot) for a set of new bits and bobs that wouldn’t work with all the other games. In a move of frankly mind boggling sensibility, a governing body whose name I have forgotten ruled that Activision and EA should play nice and make their peripherals cross compatible. Hurrah! This enabled us to gauge our options safe in the knowledge that whatever we used would work on everything else.

As good as RB1 was, the drums were very loud and my GH3 guitar was really quite small. Gaz and I were a bit flush at the time and decided to upgrade our weapons to the latest and greatest. This decision lead us to the full version of GH:WT with new drums, guitar and microphone. In spite of whatever I might think about GH:WT now, I will still stick by these controllers as they are fantastic. The guitar was solid and reliable, so much so that I still use it now. The drums were a lot quieter and a lot bulkier which is quite handy when you’re bashing the shit out of them on a regular basis.

So with the arrival of GH:WT we stopped playing RB1 for a bit. Mainly because the instruments were great and we’d played RB1 to death and back. The new songs in GH:WT were a breath of fresh air with a couple of inspired choices among a large contingent of indifference. We’d been playing it for a while and something just wasn’t right. The nature of the problem became clear when RB2 came out.

RB2 isn’t really RB2. It’s more like RB1.5. A toned, polished version of Rock Band designed to bring that little bit more to the table in the face of competition. It worked. To be playing Rock Band again was a joy. It was when playing Rock Band 2 that we saw just how far GH:WT missed the point. It highlighted the fundamental difference in the core purpose of the respective games. RB (1 and 2) were designed to be multiplayer first and catered for single player whereas GH:WT is the complete opposite.

Everything about Rock Band was designed be as inclusive as possible. When playing a song in Rock Band, band members have the ability to help other members through a song. Pulling everyone together, fostering a group experience, helping you to feel like a band. Overdrive was implemented in a group fashion as well. Sections of the song had synchronous overdrive sections where everyone would get more overdrive if you all completed a section perfectly together. When overdrive was used, it counted towards a band multiplier, again encouraging group play. You were a band.

GH:WT had none of that. If one person failed, you all failed. You had one joined Star power (overdrive) pool allowing people to be greedy. There was no co-operation. You were almost fighting against each other in what was supposed to be a co-operative experience. It completely missed the point. You weren’t a band, you were group of people forced to play together. Some people may suggest thats what most real bands are like, but it certainly wasn’t Activision’s intention when it was made. It showed they didn’t get it at all. It was a one player game.

The lack of true core differences between RB1 and RB2 made lead you to question what the point of RB2 was. But aside from the polishing and tweaking there was another thing Harmonix did which showed the difference in the ethos of the two franchises. They allowed you import the songs from RB1 into RB2. This immediately doubled the track list and showed a desire for you to enjoy it. They knew they weren’t making a completely new game, so they gave you enough to make it worth it.

When you take it out of the game mechanic itself, RB2 was still eons better. The tour mode from RB1 was improved with different gigs in different locations. Giving you sense of moving forward as a band, again breeding a feeling of co-operation, a proper multiplayer experience. GH:WT just had a list of songs and said, go on, play that and fuck off.

Rock Band 2 won this battle by a country mile. I still play it today as it was designed from the ground up to be a enjoyable group experience. GH:WT is a single player game with the trappings of a multiplayer game.

The Decision

This brings us pretty much up to the present and due to comparatively recent events I have come to a fork in the road. New versions of these games have come out since then and I’m fairly sure GH5 has addressed some of the problems I have highlighted above. I say fairly sure because I haven’t played it. After GH:WT I wasn’t that interested. The track list was forgettable and I wasn’t convinced they’d ever get it.

My apprehension was vindicated when news hit of a flurry complaints directed at GH5. Guitar Hero (since version 3) has placed an disproportionate amount of value in their rock star cameos and GH5 was no exception. During development they had secured the rights to include the late Kurt Cobain as a playable character in GH5. When the game launched it became apparent that you could use Kurt on any song on any instrument, effectively trampling over his memory. I thought this was a shame but no more than that. I didn’t expect any better from them thats for sure.

I thought this was isolated slip up until Activision released their new game Band Hero. A game designed to appeal to a broader spectrum of people with more poppy songs, fair enough, whatever. I wasn’t fussed until I saw they’d done it again, this time with the band No Doubt. Again I’m not overly fussed about No Doubt but it was the nature of Activision’s statement on the subject that hit me, I quote:

“Some of the world’s most popular and iconic artists have been featured in Guitar Hero as playable characters, and we are proud to count No Doubt among them. Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero – an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry. Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band’s management in developing Band Hero. As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit. Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt’s obligations under the agreement.”

This is a formally worded middle finger to anyone who values music beyond the almighty dollar. We’re doing what we want. Fuck you. I had intended to show a video illustrating this but Activision’s intervention has gone further to prove my point. A while ago I found a video clip of Band Hero showing Cobain and Johnny Cash (another legend fucked) being depicted singing YMCA. It truly shows how little Activision care about music. The fact they’ve had it pulled shows they care even less than that.

You may think I’m naive for thinking they should care. This is a valid point but I don’t expect them to care. I don’t expect anything from them, they’re twats. I only highlight this because I’ve seen how good it can be when they do care.

Harmonix had been working for some time on Beatles: Rock Band (BRB). I wasn’t a massive fan of the Beatles at the time but for a long time I’d meant to have a proper look at what they were like. I was stunned. BRB is something of true beauty.  Everything about it was made with a true understanding of the music. Building on the solid foundation of Rock Band and placed into the magical world of the Beatles, a world I didn’t know before I played it. Here is the best example I can find, funnily enough not removed from the web. Maybe they’re proud of it.

Look at it. The use of colour, the gorgeous animation, the song itself. It’s an unbridled joy, a triumph. This is better than anything in any Guitar Hero game and it will stay with me forever. It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in a video game, it shows what games are truly capable of.

Beatles Rock Band is a game made with real warmth, charm and respect. Made with love. Harmonix should be applauded for making something like this and it leads me to the decision and the grand point of the last 3 blogs on this subject.

I am never buying another {insert name here} Hero game again.

I rarely make vitriolic statements like this but on this one I feel I should. This whole thing has showed me what can be achieved if we invest ourselves into what we make. Marvelous things can happen. If Harmonix can be bothered to respect the people they portray in their games, then I can be bothered to buy their games. Equally if Guitar Hero and it’s ilk can’t be bothered to respect those they portray, then why should I buy their games. It doesn’t take much and they don’t even want to do that for no other reason I can see than to not concede they made a mistake.

I might be wrong but Harmonix seem to make their music games with a heartfelt appreciation of their subject matter, Activision couldn’t give two shits, so fuck them.

I do wonder if I’ll extend this to anything released by Activision. Dolly steps I guess, I’ll be a fully principled human being one day.

The most recent idea came from the pub as most good ideas do. I’d like to take a quick tangent to mention something about the pub. It is a place called “De Hems” a dutch pub in Piccadilly Circus. I only mention it because the menu had the phrase

“Famous for Dutch resisters and music producers”

The explanation is quite literal as it was a hidey hole for the Dutch resistance during WW2 and was a prime location for music people during the 60s and 70s.

Anyway. I was talking to a friend of mine about my intention to read more as my 100 days challenge. She mentioned she was a member of her work’s book club and how it all works then it hit me

A video game club!

It’s so obvious that someone must have thought of it before now and they probably have but I won’t let that stop me. I talked about with our man Dan who was there at the time and he agreed it was a good idea. So that was it!

There are a few things to work out and at the moment I have assembled a rabble of 4 people to give it a whirl. Me (@mixmasterfestus), Dan (@shinyhappydan), Matt (@mystacon) and Paul (who doesn’t use twitter, boo!)

I had a noodle about the name and came up with something I like. It’s not set in stone, but atm I’m calling it

Sprite Club!

The general idea is

• One game per month
• Budget of roughly £15
• Preferably cross platform
• Meet at the pub to chat about it
• No talking about Fight Club
• No Homers (Stone cutter birthmark or not)

I’m thinking about maybe podcasting the meeting if it goes well and who knows, it could be quite cool!  I’m currently co-ordinating it via Google Wave (might as well make use of it) and it’ll be based in London for now. The interweb being what is I’m sure people outside the capital can take part in some fashion. See how it goes!

Let me know if you wanna join in, no games are decided as of yet but it shouldn’t be too long. Hot Dog!*

I used to be a Hero parts 3&4

I have finished 2 parts of this 4 part saga and I want to get em done so I can move on to new business. Will try and get em done over the next 2 weeks…

#00top5albums

Probably shouldn’t have started this before finishing the above but there we go. Have to do the 3 other candidates section then have a think about the winners. I think this can be spread up until the end of 2009.

Video game manual study

When I bought MW2 I was outraged at how crap the manual was, I remember being a thing of joy. I don’t wanna talk about it too much as it’ll go in the intro so save to say I have gathered many manuals for study

The old school PC game retrospective

While beavering away in the loft I found the boxes for 4 old school PC games which have a special place in my heart. I’m gonna give em a play and report back

My Transformers annuals

I found two transformers annuals in the loft and I found a bit of 5 year old Jashum scribble and some other cool stuff. Gonna give em a read and see if anything is bloggable

The Scummathon

I’ve still not finished the Scummathon as I have to play Monkey Island 1-3, Broken Sword 1-3 and the Simon the Sorceror games. Gotta play Grim Fandango to seal the pact.

My 100 days

Josie Long is running a project on Hundred Days for people to do something to better themselves for 100 days. I’ve decided to read a book for at least 20 minutes per day for 100 days. I don’t read enough and seemed like a fun thing to do, starts on December 1st!

Video game club

Needs a better name but after a chat with Dan, we hit upon the idea of a video game club. Like a book club, a game is chosen and everyone has 1 month to play it and then we meet up and have a chat about it. Not sure of the detail but really like the idea…

Phew. I think there are other things, but this is plenty for now…

The sheer amount of time I had invested in GHIII meant I was quite bored of the track list I had played to death and back and then back to death again. GHIII was the latest version available so I had to look backward. Options were scarce back in them days and a mate at work had a copy of Guitar Hero II. I’d been interested to give it a whirl because one of the songs it contained was…

Yes. Woman by Wolfmother. I luuuurve this song. So when I fired it up I was a bit disappointed. It was a bit rough around the edges and there were loads of songs I didn’t know. Now, I should have known from the lessons I learned from GHIII that I would probably grow to love these songs but I was young and foolish. So having played Woman I cast it aside.

The first two Guitar Hero games were made by Harmonix but after a presumably messy split with Activision the reins were handed to Neversoft. Neversoft are probably best known for their stirling work on the Tony Hawk games up until about Tony Hawks 3, after that it just got silly. Now Neversoft did a good job with GHIII but theres not a great deal you can do wrong (or so I thought), but I should have been alerted at the time to Harmonix moving onto other things.

Generally if there is a split between publisher and developer, it is the developer who have a modicum of integrity and come away not looking like a douche. The prime example of this is the break up between Eidos and Sports Interactive over the game Championship Manager. Sports Interactive signed with Sega and went onto make Football Manager and carry on being wildly successful. Whereas Eidos kept the name in a quite petty fashion and pursued to have a series of feeble games made under the Championship Manager name. It goes to show when you have a developer making a cast iron winner, you should give them whatever they want.

This brings me to subject of this chapter. Whilst Neversoft were busy rehashing the same idea for the third time for Activision, Harmonix were busy too. Now GHIII is a great game, but I’ve learned now that it’s exactly the same as 1 and 2 with more polish and different songs, it’s standard mainstream games development protocol. Harmonix were doing what all great developers do, Innovating. They were working on…

Cometh the saviour

Ah yes, Rock Band. The next step in the music rhythm game. Taking the original Guitar Hero idea (which itself was taken from the Japanese arcade game Guitar Freaks by Konami, which I’ve played, awesome) and expanding it to include vocals and drums to the original facility to use guitar and bass. Such a simple idea, but so much potential.

Now when I first heard about this I was very interested but the reported price was quite a stumbling block. There were enormous rabbles on forums about it being hideously priced compared to the US retail price. So I gave it a wide berth thinking I couldn’t afford it. When the time came around for it’s release I had a bit of a cash and Gaz was very interested. When we found out our GHIII guitars would work on Rock Band it was on like Donkey Kong. We split the price and bought the game and a set of drums (which I had to lump from Poole to Southampton).

It was a revelation. It just felt right. We played with all the instruments for a while until we realised that Gaz’s place was on the drums and my place was on lead. Our band, Go Go Action Bronco, which we still have to this day, were touring the world, gaining fans and tearing up all kinds of awesome songs. Harmonix had seen Guitar Hero as a skeleton for something bigger, grander, richer and they completely realised it with Rock Band. We totally forgot about Guitar Hero III, it seemed like a prototype for what we had now. Everything was focused on the band, playing together and helping each other through.

Gaz baffled me with how quickly he took to the drums. I could never divorce the movement of my legs and arms which meant as soon as the rhythm deviated slightly I would be a mess. Whereas Gaz could plow through without missing a beat. I was not to be outdone and focused on the guitar. By now I was venturing into Expert country, we were both trying it on GHIII before we bought Rock Band and it was helped by the virtue that Rock Band was a bit easier.

We played it all the time and loved it to bits and again discovered so many great songs on Rock Band, for example:

Gimme Shelter  – The Rolling Stones

Here It Goes Again – OK Go

Say It Ain’t So – Weezer

Welcome Home – Coheed and Cambria

Pleasure – Bang Camaro

And who can forget? (Choooooooooo! \m/)

This chapter ends much like the first, with me happy with my lot. Gaz too. We loved Rock Band to bits, but once again new things were on the Horizon. Activision had been working away on it’s answer to Rock Band, a contender maybe? a successor? and Harmonix aren’t the kind of company to rest on their laurels, they had things in the works too. Exciting times were ahead…

Tune in next time for I used to be a Hero – Episode 3: Battle of the bands

p.s. Writing this has reminded me I haven’t played Rock Band for a while, Imma go play it now <3

People downloading their songs

People not knowing who they are when they’re in a queue

The man trying to tell them what to do

There being a blue M&M in the bowl of brown ones

I haven’t done anything like that (recently) but I am a big fan of music rhythm games with the silly plastic toys.

Now I’m under no illusion that playing the Guitar Hero is anything like playing an actual guitar, it’d be retarded to suggest otherwise. You don’t play a guitar with sheet music, which is effectively what these games are. It’s more like playing whack a mole – see a colour, hit the colour, win.

I do however get tired of people saying “oh if you spent that amount of time with an actual guitar…”. If wanted to learn the guitar I would do and may do. I like playing these games, they are instant gratification and you get to rock out to your favourite songs (especially if you’re playing with @heychinaski) and not spend 8 hours trying to play 3 blind mice badly. Now I know some people (Chris) will counter this but I’ve heard it a million times and so check any objections with the indifference leopard.

Guitar Hero III

I first experienced the Guitar Hero phenomenon about a year before actually trying it. Back in the arse end of the Sandcastle days, we had a copy of Guitar Hero on the PS2 but I never played it.

This was mainly because I assumed I’d be rubbish at it and didn’t wanna look like more of an idiot than I do at all times. The other guys in the house would play it loads and I’d sit on ass doing nothing…

Roll forward to December 2007. I was living in a grubby little house in a faceless little village. It was quite a crap chapter in my life, not bad, just dull. I was doing things like entrusting my luck for the week to a bottle cap that I found, so it’s safe to say I was quite staggeringly bored.

One advantage of living in a room the size of a Ford Fiesta is the rent was fuck all. Being a little more flush, I could afford the occasional foolish purchase (nb. I still make foolish purchases, only now I can’t really afford them, so that makes them better). I’d seen a few reviews of Guitar Hero III and they were all good, so I picked it up along with the plastic axe.

Initially I was rubbish, couldn’t finish a song on easy. It was at this stage I went to the tutorial mode and realised you could hold the coloured buttons down in between notes. I was off and away!

Steadily I got better and better. Made the jump from Easy to Medium and started to see why it was so popular. The harder you set it, the more stake you have in the song, so the more in control you feel. It’s all an illusion of course but one I was happy to lose myself in.

The jump from Medium to Hard was definitely the harshest. The elusive orange button, out of the range of my piddly fingers, mocking me. I avoided it for as long as I could before Medium really wasn’t a challenge any more. It took some work and some swearing but I eventually sussed it and I was a fully fledged avrage Guitar Heroer.

I was completely hooked by this stage, playing the same songs over and over. Nailing hammer ons, grabbing more star power and getting that elusive fifth star. I couldn’t stop until…

There it was staring at me like HAL. The RROD. No more rock for you Jason. I remember it like it was yesterday, in fact I blogged about it on majigger. I quote:

“There I was…feverishly hammering away on guitar hero 3. Playing Down N Dirty by the LA Slum Lords and then it happened…my xbox made a kinda twing noise and froze. I feared the worst, any self respecting gamer knows if an xbox 360 stops, you know whats coming next…

I reset it…the familiar swirl of the xbox logo appeared, but before I could breath a sigh of relief, it did it again. One more reset and there it was.

The red ring of death. In the words of Hudson, “GAME’S OVER MAN, GAMES OVER”. I let out a wail of despair, a wail which contained quite a lot of swearing, perhaps this was indicative of me entrusting my fate to a bottle cap.”

Yeah. So I had to take a break.

When I finally got my 360 back I still played the balls off of GHIII and found about some fantastic songs because of it. The some examples would have be

Pride & Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan

Knights of Cydonia – Muse

Reptilia – The Strokes

Mauvais Garcon – Naast

In the Belly of a Shark – Gallows (cockney overload)

Lay Down – Priestess

I really enjoyed Guitar Hero III and still do. As you read onto further chapters you might question this. But this is one of those games which gave me so much, despite what I feel now, I can’t hate it. In the same way I still like Ash. Things were to change though, as they inevitably will.

I shall continue this saga in the next episode…I used to be a Hero – Episode 2: I joined a band.

I’ve always thought that some of the best games are the ones that reward you for concentrating. Games that *can* be played with an idle mind but only those who fully focus will reap all the rewards it has to offer. It’s such a shame to know a game has more tricks than the ones you’re using. An example that always springs to mind is something like Devil May Cry 3 but not having played that much I can’t really judge either way. I think the sign of a really good game is one where you can’t breeze through it without thinking.

The purpose of this essay (and it is an essay) is to outline a theory I have about video game concentration and my lack thereof. The title, Autopilot, by now should be quite self explanatory as it is the state I often find myself in when playing games and not really paying attention to what I’m doing. Games inherently have your attention when you’re playing them, but I think it’s perfectly possible to be playing a game and not really playing it at the same time. I have played WoW after all.

It manifests itself in different ways in different games. Mainly, it boils down to controlling a game how you naturally think it should be controlled rather than how it is supposed to be controlled. Now you may think that the game should work how you think it should and they all do, but only on a basic level. The true detail, intricacy and joy of a good game is unlocked by coming out of Autopilot and engaging with it in a more purposeful fashion.

In order to balance this all out we need a term to attribute to when I breach Autopilot to actively engage with the game. I’m gonna be really clever and call it Active Engagement.

I piss myself off on a regular basis where I will repeat mistakes I’ve made a million times before due to being on Autopilot. Here are a few games in which I have suffered from Autopilot and what I experienced when I came out of this torpid state:

Ninja Gaiden

What a game. HARD. AS. NAILS. Button bashing got you nowhere, whoring block and countering got you a little bit further than that. It was a game where you had to keep moving, get in your hits but not get too cocky.

I had enormous trouble with this game at first. I left myself open far too much, far too often and was frequently handed my own bum on a platter. When I finally got to the first boss (pictured right) I got even more severely served. This is Autopilot.

It took a while but when I started thinking about what I was doing, picking my shots, blocking dynamically rather than just holding it, the game clicked and completely changed, this is Active Engagement. This shift in play was a revelation and it immediately became clear why this game was so good. It really rewarded playing in a way which engages the brain and I like that.

That’s not to say a game has to do that, but at the same time I do like it when a game knows what it is and doesn’t make any concessions. There are plenty of games out there for everyone, so for a few to be designed to only appeal to a certain group is an honourable pursuit and perfectly acceptable.

God Hand

I bloody love this game, mad as a mad mad mad thing. Wrestling Gorillas, women turning you into a Chihuahua and the ability to clobber people into orbit. Made by Clover Studios, a development studio that was closed all too quickly (they also made Okami which is the prettiest game ever made).

You play Gene, a brawler type whose arm is cut off by marauding twats. For a reason I can’t remember he is granted the God Hand, a super powerful arm of a self explanatory purpose.

Again this was a game where button bashing really got you nowhere as the enemies would pick the holes in your attack and make a mess of you. Autopilot strikes again. Being messed up by the first few guys on the 1st level because I sat there hammering the attack buttons. Like Ninja Gaiden the first few times I got served, really quite thoroughly, and like Ninja Gaiden after a short time it clicked and a broad grin stretched across my mug.

It was all about kicking lumps out of bastards whilst dodging their attacks and being applauded for doing so. Oddly it was more satisfying to dodge an attack than deliver one, though by that I mean attacking felt amazing and dodging felt amazing+.

I was consumed in building combos (yes, you can build your own combos) which would exploit the enemies weaknesses, stringing together hits that complemented each other and countered the enemies attempts to attack me. Simply marvelous.

There’s no game I’ve played in which it felt so cosmically satisfying to get it right, cheers from the fake crowd ringing out as your enemy flies to the moon.

Marvel vs Capcom 2

Now we’re getting into proper Autopilot territory.

I usually quote this as my favourite game ever. Whether that’s actually true or not I’m not 100% sure. If I sat down and had a right proper think about it I’m perfectly willing to believe something could overtake it, but for now it’ll do.

When it appeared on XBL, I played the balls off this game. I’d already played it to Hades and back way back when but I knew before I started with the new version, playing online was gonna be a whole other proposition. This is the chasm between Autopilot and Active Engagement.

Anyone who has played this game will know it’s a blur and this is where Autopilot kicks in for me. I can hold my own against a fair few people but I find myself making the same mistakes over and over and over again. Doing moves I know won’t work, rehashing attack patterns and the all that kit and kaboodle. It seems the more frantic it gets the more I phase out.

I know this is the case because I will occasionally flash into moments of Active Engagement and be really proud of myself but then in the same breath do something really stupid that I’ve done countless times before. It’s infuriating.

Now this isn’t *that* much of a problem with Marvel vs Capcom 2. I find my level of Autopilot with this game can win me as many games as it loses (with a 10 match win/loss curve), which I attribute to the sheer length of time I’ve spent playing it. Unlike our next contender…

Street Fighter 4

We’ve all played it in some form. This game for me is a cathedral of Autopilotism. No game has given me the red mist more than Street Fighter and it’s latest incarnation is no fucking exception. The void between being able to play it and being good at playing it is enormous and Autopilot will forever bar me from being good at Street Fighter.

Street Fighter IV is all about timing and opportunism, knowing what to do when and being able to do it without fail.

Now I know what to do when some of the time and I can do it with about a 50%-70% success rate. I will often miss my chance to do a move and instead of waiting again for my chance, I will keep repeating the key combination till I’ve pulled it off. This is full blown Autopilot as I stop paying any attention to the fight and focus on trying to prove to myself that I can do a Metsu Hadouken. This is the tip of the iceberg with regards to Street Fighter IV and I know I’ll never really get it, but I’ll keep trying.

Alas, Street Fighter 4 is not the biggest culprit for my Autopilisitc tendancies, that title is held by…

FIFA 10

Lord high master of games in which I struggle to concentrate. In my last blog I went on about how much I like it but I also touched upon how vastly frustrating it can be. This is all self inflicted. It is the perfect environment for Autopilot to bed in.

You have the length of a match. I have it set to 7 minute halves which feels about right. Any match will require your full acute attention for 14 minutes. That’s a long bloody time. It is beyond me for my brain to maintain that level of proper concentration required for Active Engagement.

With Autopilot I find myself making the same mistakes with mind bending regularity. Trying to dribble the same way, pass the same way, defend the same way. This default set of operations I have been programmed with for these tasks are all wrong. They can work ok to a degree, but if someone susses that out then it all unravels and you get nowhere.

I do actively engage with FIFA quite often and do some really good stuff which only serves to make the Autopilot blunders even more fucking annoying. That said, it doesn’t dissuade me from playing it, far from it. FIFA is my white whale.

So what now?

So. Getting beyond Autopilot. Is it possible? I think so. As it stands I can get beyond it, but not for long enough.

Now it is worth reiterating that I don’t mean this for all games, far from it. But I like playing games which reward you in some meager, self indulgent fashion for investing more of your time, enthusiasm and passion into it. They are the best kind of games in my humble opinion.

How do I sustain Active Engagement? I’m not 100% sure, just be more aware I guess. I hate to say “live in the moment” but I can’t think of a less twatty way of phrasing it. Use natural breaks in the flow of the game, whatever it is, to take stock every few seconds to remind yourself to concentrate. Possibly easier said than done, I’ve tried it in the past and it’s certainly helped.

If anyone has any theories I’d be all ears for about 20 seconds then I might glaze over, it’s been known to happen.

In my moving to london summary blog I said and I quote ,

“As much I hate to admit it, I’m really not that interested in games any more”

Now. I should have factored one large facet of my personality into this piece of analysis. This facet is,

Jason Burt-D’Arcy is fickle

I am very much of a flavour of the month kind of person, so for me to say I’m not interested in games anymore is quite daft. I really should have said “at the moment” rather than “any more”.

Being the living in the moment, vigorous go getter that I am (was), I was going out doing things because I was in London and felt games had passed me by. Not true. I’m still going out doing fun stuff but I’m now quite passionate about games again, think you just need to find the right one. So there you go, I was wrong. To clarify this point, I feel the need state

Jason Burt-D’Arcy has always loved and always will loved games

(At this stage it is worth mentioning that this doesn’t mean getting my laptop was a bad decision, I lurve it and it can play games too!)

So what now?

As I said at the time I was still playing:

Rock Band

Street Fighter IV

Marvel vs Capcom 2

but I didn’t know if any other games would spark my interest. As we know, things change, and I haven’t played any of the previously stated games for a while now. I have found more new games to play! Games I’ve not touched for far too long, games I’ve bought because other people are playing them and games recommended by many a good reviewer. I’m gonna do a run down of what I’m playing and why.

Games I’m playing

FIFA 10

We all know that FIFA 09 was the game that knocked Pro Evo off the top and we know FIFA 10 cemented that position. So there’s not rehashing that information at length, we can take that as read. Now.

I have been LOVING this game, Chris and I are really into it. You feel so free, as free as you used to feel playing Pro Evo.

There aren’t many games where you genuinely feel that anything is possible within the scope of the game. It is the sign of a truly fantastic game when you feel like the only real limit is your own ability.

Therein also lies the blind frustration in the game where you make the same mistakes over and over again. But that is a problem with the way I play games like this and certainly not with the game, I’ll address this issue in another blog somewhere down the line.

The best example I can think of to illustrate how good it is comes at the Emirates stadium. Arsenal are 3-0 down at half time to a team I can’t remember, something like Wigan. Burt-D’Arcy stands on the touch lines scratching his head over how he’s gonna get out of this scrape. His assistant Chris James says, “Bring on 3 subs and see what happens”. I go ahead and make the changes. By the final whistle, the score is 3-3. Robin Van Persie coming from the bench to score a sublime hat trick including a perfect free kick. This is football and that in itself is the highest compliment you can give a game like this.

Resident Evil 5

Now I believe that Resident Evil 4 on the Wii is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played. The Wii was actually made for that game. Such was its impact on me that I actually avoided Resident Evil 5. That might sound strange, but the control system on Resi 4 was a thing of grace and wonder. So they idea of muddling that down to an Xbox 360 controller was of the greatest repugnance to me.

So why the change of heart? Two letters my friends, PC. I stumbled upon the PC version on my travels around them World Wide Internets and thought why not? Mouse + Keyboard will be happy compromise when faced with the possibility of playing it with an cack handed 360 controller *spit*

So, I’ve almost completed it now and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As good as Resi 4? No. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth playing. The introduction of the second character, Sheva, seems to be as a response to the racism rhubarb that Capcom had to fend off during the games development and it’s not a move I think works as well as it might.

I don’t like look after other characters in games, it winds me up. Now Sheva is ok as it stands, she can handle herself quite well. But I would rather be on my own and I’m fairly sure I would be if people hadn’t gone mad about the race issue (which was groundless) at the time. Hey ho, nevermind.

It’s pretty much the same as Resi 4 in most ways apart from the little things like the upgrade/purchase system is now faceless and dull. Gone are the days of

“Whadya Buyin? Whadya Sellin? I’ll buy it at a high price”

The merchant in Resi 4 was so cool and they’ve taken all that away, it’s a little thing but such a shame. Also by the end, the zombies have machine guns which is just plain silly.

So Resi 5, great but not Resi 4.

Mass Effect

I bought this on PC for £fuckall  quite some time ago and decided to give a whirl, not too much to say right now about it as I’ve only got to the bit in any game of this nature where it spreads out.

What I’ve experienced so far is encouraging though. Much like KOTOR, which is a game that I rate very highly as it is one of the few games where I genuinely cared about the characters. When Bastilla asked if I loved her, after 5 minutes of mulling I said no, then had to kill her.

So Mass Effect is coming along that way, I’ll let you know how I get on.

Brutal Legend

Ah yes, the Jack Black Metal fest. There were quite a few factors in me picking up this game.  They were

• Tim Schafer
• Seeing the vid of in game Ozzy Osbourne
• My deep love of energetic music of which this kinda metal definately is
• Tim Schafer
• and Eurogamer’s 8/10

Again like Mass Effect I haven’t played this for long enough to get a cast iron opinion but let there be no doubt, this game oozes Metal, good Metal. Everything I’ve played so far I’ve really really enjoyed. It’s a rich land of rock, gore and humour which is kinda what I’d like all life to be. We’ll see how it goes but the signs are favourable.

Call of Duty: World at War (Nazi Zombie Mode)

Now I don’t actually know what this game is like because I haven’t touched the WW2 mode. I’ve gotta problem with COD on single player, you can’t see who you are supposed to be shooting. It might be my feeble eyes and the brain they’re connected to but I just can’t do it. There is no such problem with the Nazi zombie mode though. Some of my chums on twitter play it and suggested I pick up a copy. I have to admit it’s damn good fun.

The first map is somewhat what of a “tribute” to Left 4 Dead Survival mode and by the time you get to the latest map pack it’s a full blown rip off, but what the hey it’s still good fun.

So what next?

Well I have more games to play than you can shake a stick at and there ones that are coming up…

• Dynasty Warriors 6
• No More Heroes
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barboros’ Treasure
• Condenmed 2
• Star Wars Lego
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Psychonauts
• EDF (\m/)
• Uncharted 2
• Modern Warfare 2
• Persona 3 (PSP)
• Okamiden (DS)
  
• and probably more…

I’d like to say I’ll blog about this stuff but I can’t guarantee that, who knows? I would like to write some stuff down. Musings about game psychology (ooOOooOOoo) and good sources of games evaluation. See how it goes, I’m back baby!