March (& Feb) GEAR gaming columns
Hey, it's the first of March today so I thought I'd put up the coluumn that is appearing in the March issue of GEAR (this doesn't of course mean that you now don't have to buy the magazine to experience my mind-numbing brilliant commentary). Still, here is what I think is one of my best columns, followed by the one that appeared in the February GEAR.
Also, as a side note, GEAR is going to be a solo mag as of April, appearing at retailers in an A4 format, with a DVD of goodies, and priced at R32. Please buy it (if only to support moi). Intelligence Publishing is not adverse to pulling the plug on magazines that don't do well- like my beloved Total Movie *sniff*.
---
Child’s Play
Probably the most dangerous thinking about gaming is that it is an activity solely for children. Disappointingly, this seems to be the view that dominates South African society, as well as large, influential portions of the international community.
Recently, a respected South African newspaper had a 13 year old reviewing assorted game releases. These included age-restricted titles like The Suffering: Ties That Bind. No wonder the reviewer found The Suffering ‘the scariest game I have ever played.’ He shouldn’t have been playing the No Under 18 game in the first place.
You could argue that the irresponsible ignoring of age restrictions is simply the newspaper acknowledging that teens do play restricted games. Of course it happens. We’ve all been guilty of it at some stage.
But the newspaper’s ignorance can just as easily be explained as stemming from a refusal to acknowledge the existence of adult-orientated titles. Far too many non-gamers view gaming as a pastime confined to children, and adults futilely trying to reclaim their childhood. If it’s a computer or PlayStation game, it has to be for kids.
This thinking seems to be shared by American anti-gaming activists, Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton.
In 2005, the discovery of Hot Coffee, a secret sex-themed mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, had Thompson and Clinton leaping onto their soap boxes. How dare Rockstar corrupt the world’s youth by publishing such a socially irresponsible title!
It wasn’t as if Hot Coffee was hidden in Sonic the Hedgehog. San Andreas has an 18 age restriction. Forget secret mini-games. The game’s central storyline encourages you to run around in a gimp suit bludgeoning pedestrians to death with a pink, 15-inch, double-sided dildo. Clearly San Andreas isn’t for teens, but for adults. Maladjusted adults, but adults none the less.
Thompson, Clinton, and their growing list of misinformed supporters, seem unable to realise that the gaming industry actually caters for people over 16. As the first few generations of childhood game-players have grown up, games have matured to suit their evolving tastes and personalities.
Developers have realised that very few people want to play Super Mario Brothers into middle age. Of course the colourful, child-safe Mario games are still produced but they sit on shelves alongside mature material like Max Payne, God of War and innumerable war-themed shooters like Battlefield 2.
It’s rare for me to play anything that doesn’t have at least a 16 age restriction.
Continuing to assume that all games are for children is as worrying as George W Bush with his finger poised over a nuke-launching button. Unfortunately for gamers, a general change of non-gamer thinking involves that most underdeveloped human capability- discretion.
Frustrated gamers are left then to defend a pursuit so often blamed for encouraging violence and other anti-social behaviour in contemporary society. And all this because of the myopic mindset of those who look at the snarling Hellknight on the Doom 3 box and still think that the game is suitable for a 10 year old.
---
Pitfalls of Retro Gaming
Another festive season has gone the way of Christmas lunch leftovers. In terms of gaming, an interesting trend emerged. While retailers punted PC and PlayStation games, and assorted consoles, equally prominent on the shelves were various plug-and-play devices devoted to gaming classics.
The Atari Flashback, for example, is a system modelled on the 7800 console of the mid 1980s. Simply plug the Flashback into your TV and you can play 20 built-in titles including such gaming hall of fame residents as Asteroids, Breakout, and Millipede.
Atari aren’t the only ones grave-robbing to unearth a quick buck. Many cellphone games are heavily indebted to decades-old platformers and shooters. Cartridge consoles and the old 600-in-1 cartridges are still available. A large number of PC users buy Logitech gamepads simply to play emulated Nintendo and Sega classics, like the original Mario games, Adventure Island, Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe.
Clearly, retro gaming, the return to old gaming titles and platforms, is popular right now. And it is understandable. As a mainstream recreational activity, electronic gaming is only around 28 years young. Many gamers have grown up with gaming as a phenomenon. People playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas today played Space Invaders yesterday.
For many gamers, overwhelmed today by the dozens of new games released every month, its easier to escape the choice and retreat to the cupboard of old titles and fond memories.
Ultimately though, retro gaming is like ordering a tub of chocolate mousse when you are already bloated by that 500g sirloin steak. It seems like a good idea until you have it sitting in front of you.
There has been a jump in gaming sophistication on all levels. Just as gaming has evolved, so too have gamers. It’s not easy quantum leaping back a decade or more to revisit vintage games.
What once had you square-eyed and blister-thumbed in front of the TV can now barely hold your attention for 15 minutes. You marvel at how you once jumped and punched your way through 20 game stages with only 3 lives and, horrifying now, no save system.
When the haze of nostalgia eventually clears, you realise that the Olympics sports title you loved so much is essentially 50 variations of Pong.
You may counter my claims, stating you’ll never desert your retro favourites, like the much younger, but increasingly dated-looking, Diablo II and Half-Life. It’s all about playability, you claim. That’s fine, but given the unstoppable surge of technological development- new consoles unconcerned with backwards compatibility, PC operating systems unfriendly to anything pre-1996 - one day you won’t be able to play them.
Gaming in South Africa is in the midst of a growth spurt right now. There’s a feast of gaming to gorge yourself on. Local gamers should be enjoying the spread, and inviting friends to the party.
Meanwhile, old games should be left to retire peacefully, but never forgotten. Let that covert session of Tetris that you insist on sneaking become a visit to a veteran rocking away in an old age home.
Also, as a side note, GEAR is going to be a solo mag as of April, appearing at retailers in an A4 format, with a DVD of goodies, and priced at R32. Please buy it (if only to support moi). Intelligence Publishing is not adverse to pulling the plug on magazines that don't do well- like my beloved Total Movie *sniff*.
---
Child’s Play
Probably the most dangerous thinking about gaming is that it is an activity solely for children. Disappointingly, this seems to be the view that dominates South African society, as well as large, influential portions of the international community.
Recently, a respected South African newspaper had a 13 year old reviewing assorted game releases. These included age-restricted titles like The Suffering: Ties That Bind. No wonder the reviewer found The Suffering ‘the scariest game I have ever played.’ He shouldn’t have been playing the No Under 18 game in the first place.
You could argue that the irresponsible ignoring of age restrictions is simply the newspaper acknowledging that teens do play restricted games. Of course it happens. We’ve all been guilty of it at some stage.
But the newspaper’s ignorance can just as easily be explained as stemming from a refusal to acknowledge the existence of adult-orientated titles. Far too many non-gamers view gaming as a pastime confined to children, and adults futilely trying to reclaim their childhood. If it’s a computer or PlayStation game, it has to be for kids.
This thinking seems to be shared by American anti-gaming activists, Jack Thompson and Hillary Clinton.
In 2005, the discovery of Hot Coffee, a secret sex-themed mini-game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, had Thompson and Clinton leaping onto their soap boxes. How dare Rockstar corrupt the world’s youth by publishing such a socially irresponsible title!
It wasn’t as if Hot Coffee was hidden in Sonic the Hedgehog. San Andreas has an 18 age restriction. Forget secret mini-games. The game’s central storyline encourages you to run around in a gimp suit bludgeoning pedestrians to death with a pink, 15-inch, double-sided dildo. Clearly San Andreas isn’t for teens, but for adults. Maladjusted adults, but adults none the less.
Thompson, Clinton, and their growing list of misinformed supporters, seem unable to realise that the gaming industry actually caters for people over 16. As the first few generations of childhood game-players have grown up, games have matured to suit their evolving tastes and personalities.
Developers have realised that very few people want to play Super Mario Brothers into middle age. Of course the colourful, child-safe Mario games are still produced but they sit on shelves alongside mature material like Max Payne, God of War and innumerable war-themed shooters like Battlefield 2.
It’s rare for me to play anything that doesn’t have at least a 16 age restriction.
Continuing to assume that all games are for children is as worrying as George W Bush with his finger poised over a nuke-launching button. Unfortunately for gamers, a general change of non-gamer thinking involves that most underdeveloped human capability- discretion.
Frustrated gamers are left then to defend a pursuit so often blamed for encouraging violence and other anti-social behaviour in contemporary society. And all this because of the myopic mindset of those who look at the snarling Hellknight on the Doom 3 box and still think that the game is suitable for a 10 year old.
---
Pitfalls of Retro Gaming
Another festive season has gone the way of Christmas lunch leftovers. In terms of gaming, an interesting trend emerged. While retailers punted PC and PlayStation games, and assorted consoles, equally prominent on the shelves were various plug-and-play devices devoted to gaming classics.
The Atari Flashback, for example, is a system modelled on the 7800 console of the mid 1980s. Simply plug the Flashback into your TV and you can play 20 built-in titles including such gaming hall of fame residents as Asteroids, Breakout, and Millipede.
Atari aren’t the only ones grave-robbing to unearth a quick buck. Many cellphone games are heavily indebted to decades-old platformers and shooters. Cartridge consoles and the old 600-in-1 cartridges are still available. A large number of PC users buy Logitech gamepads simply to play emulated Nintendo and Sega classics, like the original Mario games, Adventure Island, Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe.
Clearly, retro gaming, the return to old gaming titles and platforms, is popular right now. And it is understandable. As a mainstream recreational activity, electronic gaming is only around 28 years young. Many gamers have grown up with gaming as a phenomenon. People playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas today played Space Invaders yesterday.
For many gamers, overwhelmed today by the dozens of new games released every month, its easier to escape the choice and retreat to the cupboard of old titles and fond memories.
Ultimately though, retro gaming is like ordering a tub of chocolate mousse when you are already bloated by that 500g sirloin steak. It seems like a good idea until you have it sitting in front of you.
There has been a jump in gaming sophistication on all levels. Just as gaming has evolved, so too have gamers. It’s not easy quantum leaping back a decade or more to revisit vintage games.
What once had you square-eyed and blister-thumbed in front of the TV can now barely hold your attention for 15 minutes. You marvel at how you once jumped and punched your way through 20 game stages with only 3 lives and, horrifying now, no save system.
When the haze of nostalgia eventually clears, you realise that the Olympics sports title you loved so much is essentially 50 variations of Pong.
You may counter my claims, stating you’ll never desert your retro favourites, like the much younger, but increasingly dated-looking, Diablo II and Half-Life. It’s all about playability, you claim. That’s fine, but given the unstoppable surge of technological development- new consoles unconcerned with backwards compatibility, PC operating systems unfriendly to anything pre-1996 - one day you won’t be able to play them.
Gaming in South Africa is in the midst of a growth spurt right now. There’s a feast of gaming to gorge yourself on. Local gamers should be enjoying the spread, and inviting friends to the party.
Meanwhile, old games should be left to retire peacefully, but never forgotten. Let that covert session of Tetris that you insist on sneaking become a visit to a veteran rocking away in an old age home.
Comments