Videogames BeYonder cambia casa - post finale

Da molto tempo questo blog non viene aggiornato con nuovi articoli. Numerosi cambiamenti sono intercorsi dal 2018, anno della pubblicazione dell'ultimo post, tanto nel settore dei videogiochi quanto nelle vite personali di noi autori. La passione per la scrittura, però, non è mai andata via, e nel caso di Videogames BeYonder, oasi per me ed @antonio su cui esprimerci senza scadenze né diktat editoriali, il suo spirito è approdato su un lido diverso, più moderno e modellabile secondo le nostre esigenze:

WWW.WAWWS.COM

WAWWS è l'acronimo di We Are What We See, "siamo ciò che vediamo", in riferimento alle arti visuali oggetto dei nostri scritti. L'obiettivo, come sempre, è quello di offrire punti di vista, spunti concettuali ed analisi circostanziate dei nuovi media (con particolare attenzione ai Videogiochi ed alla Realtà Virtuale), così da potere indirizzare il lettore verso una loro interpretazione che sia personale, ma anche competente. Riteniamo che la nuova vetrina permetta di raggiungere questo obiettivo in maniera più accattivante e strutturata, cosa che vi invitiamo a verificare personalmente visitando l'URL specificato sopra.

Il nostro viaggio di scoperta continua, e saremmo lieti di ritrovarvi in tutte le forme previste dalla nuova piattaforma. 

Marco "Strider Hiryu" Tinè

Antonio Maria "antomaaba" Abate

Do gamers fear Responsibility? The real problem behind Detroit: Become Human

On May 25, 2018, Sony Interactive Entertainment will release Detroit: Become Human for the PlayStation 4, a Sci-Fi adventure that has been drawing attention from the media long before its actual debut on the market. Latest brainchild of David Cage, one of the most divisive authors in the game development scene, Detroit places it's narrative foundations in real world issues such as segregation and discrimination. Everything is seen through the eyes of three different synthetic characters inhabiting the same society as humans, and serving as extremely advanced, yet obedient assistance tools. As it often happens in science fiction, some of these androids harbour an independent conscience at the start of the story, or end up developing one over its course, which puts their decision making into a different perspective.

The natural expectation coming out of these premises is that of a social and ethic clash that, as far as the genre goes, has nothing really earth-shattering about it. Detroit, though, embraces the challenge of depicting this clash at different scales: the wide context of society, and the isolated domestic spaces where interactions between humans and robots becomes more granular and nuanced. One of these latter instances marked the exact moment where Quantic Dream's adventure really started to make waves: on October 30, 2017, at the Paris Game Week, the team showed a gameplay trailer featuring Kara (one of the three aforementioned androids, and star of a memorable PS3 tech demo back in 2012), the little Alice and her abusive father Todd. Let's take a look at the scene known as Stormy Night, with a due mild spoiler warning from here on:

As you can see, the player's lack of action or proficiency can cause the death of Alice, which is something that didn't sit right with a portion of the media and the audience. During the following months, Quantic Dream received a slate of accusations such as gamifying domestic abuse, taking things too far in the name of spectacle, or even just dare tackling the issue at all. Part of the concern came from David Cage's debated reputation as a storyteller, something he implicitly acknowledged by seeking the help of professional screenwriters for Detroit, which has the vastest script ever handled by the studio. Some outlets (Le Monde, Mediapart) even tried to root the alleged lack of sensibility in bad corporate culture and toxic work environment reports, ending up sued by the developer as recently revealed by Kotaku's Jason Schreier.

Storytelling doesn't just exists
to expose challenges to its audience,
but to pose them challenges too.

Is Death Stranding's surreality just a smokescreen?

It's been two or three days since famed japanese game designer Hideo Kojima, from the PSX 2017 stage, treated the world with a new in-engine trailer for Death Stranding. As it's usual for Kojima's creations, Death Stranding has been at the core of many discussions about a fairly basic point: what is this game all about? Aside from a generic allocation in the third person open world action genre, people only have a handful of elements to make sense of the plot, the characters, the narrative universe, or even how it is going to be played.

Kojima Productions and Sony, which is supporting the game's development from several angles (base technology, development and marketing budget), have been working towards an advertising style based on drip-feeding the audience with information, but keeping the whole thing shrouded in mystery and surreality. Chances are you've seen something about Death Stranding already, but here's the third, puzzling outing from the game:

Now, judging from what can be read on forums, message boards and commenting platforms all around the Web, people kinda expected this new outlook to shine a little more light on the product - you know, actual details about its nature as a commercial thing. Sony itself seems aware of this, as lead PS4 architect Mark Cerny felt the urge to make clear how "it all makes sense 4 to 5 hours into the game", but it is safe to say that not everybody is comfortable with this marketing tactics. Not all players are into decoding clues or having to research their way into something that's supposed to entertain them in exchange for money; if there's a problem, though, it's two-way.

On one hand, we have a marketing approach that on the surface, does the exact opposite of what anyone would do in the intent of selling a product, especially a videogame. In theory, trailers and such should instruct the player about the game's setting, establish the hero, show his line of action and maybe hint at his motives a little bit. Once the interest of the viewer is picked, it is possible to expand the scope of the advertising narrative by gradually disclosing further details. We might call it an inductive process that works well in most cases, and for the vast majority of the potential customers. In the case of Death Stranding, the advertising narrative started way before it was first shown to the world.

Death Stranding is one of
those rare cases where
the history of the product
entwines tightly with its
author's real life experiences 

It's one of those rare cases in game development where the history of the product entwines tightly and publicly with its author's real life experiences: after the sad goodbye to Konami, Hideo Kojima had to reconnect with the world, the audience and to some extent, the industry. He became strongly involved in social networks, so that anyone could have insights on his personality, his lifestyle and gaming related ambitions . He went on a personal, yet very public "journey to the West" in search of the technology that would provide the backbone of his new project, something that involved strands - ties, relationships, cataclismic endings and new beginnings. It's hard not to see the real life themes that goes into the genesis of Death Stranding and the way it is presented.

Danger signs: what does mega-patches and microtransaction tells us about the industry?

This conversation between me and Disqus user RhubarbForFingers started as a reflection on the state of microtransactions and day one patches in the upcoming Xbox One racing blockbuster Forza Motorsport 7, and steered rapidly towards an exchange of outlooks into the gaming industry as a whole and its state. Some recurring trends we're seeing as of late might be the sign of an industry in a state of hardship, possibly in need of some kind of reform in the interest of self sustainability. Disclaimer: lengthy dialogue.

Me: 

Forza​ ​7​ ​is​ ​just​ ​the​ ​tip​ ​of​ ​an​ ​emerging​ ​trend​ ​in​ ​AAA​ ​products.​ ​It​ ​may​ ​have​ ​come​ ​from​ ​any
other​ ​manifacturer,​ ​so​ ​I​ ​won't​ ​condemn​ ​the​ ​game​ ​as​ ​much​ ​as​ ​the​ ​phenomenon: unfortunate as​ ​it​ ​is,​ ​it's​ ​up​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Xbox​ ​fans​ ​to​ ​make​ ​the​ ​company​ ​aware​ ​that​ ​this​ ​won't​ ​sit​ ​well​ ​with​ ​them -​ ​dammit,​ ​it​ ​shouldn't​ ​sit​ ​well​ ​with​ ​anyone​ ​forking​ ​out​ ​60~70$/€​ ​upfront​ ​for​ ​any​ ​game.​ ​But yesterday​ ​was​ ​Nintendo​ ​(in​ ​their​ ​own​ ​special​ ​ways),​ ​today​ ​it's​ ​Microsoft,​ ​tomorrow it's​ ​going​ ​to​ ​be​ ​Sony.​ ​I​ ​think​ ​microtransactions​ ​in​ ​high​ ​profile​ ​games​ ​are​ ​an​ ​industry-wide issue,​ ​not​ ​a​ ​banner​ ​related​ ​one,​ ​and​ ​something​ ​we​ ​all​ ​should​ ​be​ ​vocal​ ​about. 

RhubarbForFingers: 

"But​ ​yesterday​ ​was​ ​Nintendo​ ​(in​ ​their​ ​own​ ​special​ ​ways),​ ​today​ ​it's​ ​Microsoft,​ ​tomorrow​ ​it'sgoing​ ​to​ ​be​ ​Sony."
Yup.​ ​I​ ​will​ ​be​ ​amazed​ ​if​ ​the​ ​new​ ​Gran​ ​Turismo​ ​game​ ​doesn't​ ​have​ ​some​ ​monetisation
mechanisms​ ​in​ ​it.​ ​And​ ​Nintendo​ ​are​ ​already​ ​locking​ ​modes​ ​and​ ​other​ ​content​ ​away​ ​behind the​ ​purchase​ ​of​ ​plastic​ ​toys. I​ ​totally​ ​appreciate​ ​this​ ​is​ ​a​ ​business.​ ​I​ ​fully​ ​empathise​ ​with​ ​a​ ​publisher's​ ​need​ ​to​ ​generate revenue.​ ​I​ ​think​ ​it's​ ​100%​ ​fair.​ ​Games​ ​cost​ ​much​ ​more​ ​to​ ​make​ ​today​ ​than​ ​they​ ​did​ ​20​ ​years ago.​ ​People's​ ​expectations​ ​are​ ​higher.​ ​Yet​ ​the​ ​RRPs​ ​have​ ​stayed​ ​the​ ​same.​ ​You​ ​don't​ ​need a​ ​degree​ ​in​ ​economics​ ​to​ ​know​ ​that​ ​that's​ ​not​ ​sustainable.​ ​It's​ ​unreasonable​ ​to​ ​expect otherwise.
As​ ​a​ ​consumer,​ ​I'm​ ​not​ ​required​ ​to​ ​care​ ​about​ ​any​ ​of​ ​that.​ ​I'll​ ​vote​ ​with​ ​my​ ​wallet.
Talk,​ ​especially​ ​internet​ ​talk,​ ​is​ ​cheap.​ ​It's​ ​de​ ​rigeur​ ​to​ ​express​ ​your​ ​outrage.​ ​How​ ​we​ ​act
matters​ ​far​ ​more.​ ​And,​ ​historically,​ ​we're​ ​not​ ​very​ ​good​ ​at​ ​sticking​ ​to​ ​our​ ​guns​ ​or​ ​accepting the​ ​consequences​ ​of​ ​our​ ​actions.
​
Me: 

As​ ​much​ ​as​ ​I​ ​understand​ ​where​ ​you're​ ​coming​ ​from​ ​-​ ​your​ ​points​ ​are​ ​all​ ​fair​ ​-​ ​it​ ​is​ ​hard​ ​not​ ​to see​ ​certain​ ​business​ ​practices​ ​as​ ​devoid​ ​of​ ​regard​ ​towards​ ​the​ ​main​ ​source​ ​of​ ​revenue,​ ​the consumers.
The​ ​practices​ ​I'm​ ​talking​ ​about​ ​concerns​ ​things​ ​like​ ​releasing​ ​gigantic​ ​day​ ​one​ ​patches​ ​to
include​ ​entire​ ​game​ ​modes,​ ​shipping​ ​with​ ​glaring​ ​bugs​ ​that​ ​even​ ​the​ ​laxest​ ​of​ ​QA
departments​ ​should​ ​have​ ​pointed​ ​out,​ ​or​ ​locking​ ​basic​ ​functions​ ​behind​ ​paywalls.
These​ ​are​ ​horror​ ​stories​ ​in​ ​the​ ​relationship​ ​between​ ​studios​ ​and​ ​publishers,​ ​not​ ​physiological realities​ ​of​ ​modern​ ​game​ ​development​ ​that​ ​we're​ ​graciously​ ​supposed​ ​to​ ​accept.​ ​I​ ​mean, why​ ​should​ ​I​ ​do​ ​that​ ​when​ ​publishers​ ​are​ ​not​ ​willing​ ​to​ ​extend​ ​their​ ​deadlines​ ​for​ ​the​ ​sake​ ​of shipping​ ​an​ ​acceptable​ ​product​ ​at​ ​launch?​ ​People​ ​who​ ​proceeds​ ​with​ ​their​ ​day​ ​one purchases​ ​oblivious​ ​of​ ​it​ ​all​ ​are​ ​part​ ​of​ ​the​ ​problem,​ ​as​ ​they​ ​actively​ ​push​ ​the​ ​spiral​ ​further down​ ​for​ ​everybody​ ​else.
As​ ​consumers,​ ​I​ ​guess​ ​we​ ​have​ ​every​ ​right​ ​to​ ​get​ ​full​ ​fledged​ ​products​ ​in​ ​exchange​ ​for​ ​early, upfront​ ​full​ ​price​ ​purchases.​ ​I​ ​refer​ ​to​ ​complete​ ​experiences​ ​that​ ​are​ ​not​ ​clearly​ ​and
arbitrarily​ ​mutilated​ ​or​ ​riddled​ ​with​ ​major​ ​bugs.​ ​Of​ ​course​ ​devs​ ​and​ ​publishers​ ​have​ ​every right​ ​to​ ​expand​ ​on​ ​the​ ​base​ ​material,​ ​provided​ ​that​ ​base​ ​material​ ​is...​ ​a​ ​full​ ​game.​ ​One​ ​that can​ ​stand​ ​on​ ​its​ ​own​ ​legs. While​ ​this​ ​is​ ​increasingly​ ​not​ ​the​ ​case​ ​for​ ​many​ ​high​ ​profile​ ​games,​ ​there​ ​are​ ​other​ ​products out​ ​there​ ​showing​ ​how​ ​what​ ​I'm​ ​talking​ ​about​ ​is​ ​not​ ​science​ ​fiction​ ​-​ ​it​ ​can​ ​be​ ​done,​ ​it​ ​is factually​ ​possible​ ​to​ ​ship​ ​AAA​ ​games​ ​in​ ​a​ ​complete​ ​state​ ​and​ ​sell​ ​them​ ​very​ ​well.​ ​It​ ​only requires​ ​better​ ​coordination,​ ​working​ ​pipelines​ ​and​ ​professionalism​ ​from​ ​everyone​ ​in​ ​the backend.
P.S.:​ ​I'm​ ​totally​ ​ready​ ​for​ ​that​ ​in​ ​GT​ ​Sport.​ ​Totally​ ​and​ ​sadly​ ​so.

On Language and Scope of Game Writing

When I think about good stories, especially in videogames, there's a handful of bullet points that shapes that idea for me in broad, yet recognizable strokes. Not being a storyteller kinda takes some weight off my opinions, but I'm gonna try to sort them into a reasonably coherent whole for the sake of discussion.

In videogames, stories first comes to life as basic ideas about the main characters, their goals and the settings, and the plot gradually unfolds through many iterations to make sure that the technology at hand supports the events. The process involves lots of flexibility from both the creative and technical parts of a team, often working under strict time constraints. So when we come across a well arranged and presented story, it's usually the result of an efficient dialogue between various aspects of development, and the developer's ability to conceal the underlying tradeoffs of said efficiency.

The best stories are arguably those
that provides peripheral events
that are just as carefully
thought out as the main ones,
and thematically/emotionally
tied with the latter

The complexity of the process kinda slants the art of game writing towards being on point with its contents, and making the most out of what you can work with. A good writer can take a single location and flesh it out deeply, inserting elements that hints at its own history and at the same time,  resonates factually or emotionally with the events in the game and/or the feelings of the characters.
Interactions and audiovisual cues goes a long way towards establishing moods, creating anticipation and telling us something about places and persons. So even in relatively limited spaces it is possible to establish what some calls "sense of place", a communicative microcosmos where a player can explore and figure out things that goes beyond his current time and/or space.

As a modern medium, videogames incorporates a rich language derived from photography, literature, movies, music, architecture and more. It's a highly versatile language that demands research, awareness of the scope and goals for which it's going to be used, and the sensibility to make everything - characters, environments, events, motivations, cause and effect relationships etc. - come together meaningfully. However, more often than not, it ends up being utilised far below its potential: what I feel are the best stories manages to create connections - some immediately apparent and some left to player discovery - between the language's elements, mutually elevating themselves towards a sense of richness and depth that is the very spearhead of game writing.

As in any other form of art including an element of composition, good game writing becomes a matter of economy, so it's not entirely wrong to assume the existence of an unwritten rule about the ever looming risk of overexposure: never show what you can hint at, unless it's absolutely needed. With the sensorial arsenal at its disposal, the language of videogames is just terrific at hints, loosening the dependence from words and inviting the authors to choose them carefully. So the game writer mainly provides what we might call a direct view on things and events, but at the same time he can enrich it through other elements of the language to form a peripheral view - something the player feels and can be compelled to explore.

I feel that narrative rewards in videogames can be just as powerful as material (=gameplay related) rewards: they can help you flash out mysteries, relationships and personalities; they can provide foretelling or explanation for future developments in the story. Building a web of indirect references is an important skill for game writers as it greatly contributes to plot coherence, helping the player feeling invested with the story and the characters. The best stories are arguably those that provides peripheral events that are just as carefully thought out as the main ones, and thematically/emotionally tied with the latter.

#RAPIDFIRE - 7: Game development, keep it grounded

Switch Me Up: discussing Nintendo's new console on YouTube

This brief article is based upon a response I gave to a YouTube user complaining about the negative sentiment that some people in Italy expresses in relation to Nintendo's new console, the Switch. Our national commenters often manages to be less gentle than the worldwide YouTube average, which prompted a disgruntled reaction from the young Giuseppe (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjKjHQXGauy8up1BOURZdyw):

Comments to this video are really sad, you're just making excuses of any sort to dump shit on a console that has no issues as of today. I've read some people complaining about "too much stuff to plug in and remove"

That's kinda sad, actually, so I decided to step in and clear things up in favour of a device that is not flawless, as many outlets are pointing out in these hours, but has every right to play a good chunk of the match before being dismissed. Here I go:

I'll tell you, Giuseppe, despite having immediate issues with the Nintendo Switch design choices, I've always been possibilist about it. The Wii had a cyclopean success, while its unlucky successor still has some great games that people should go back and play. Saying that the console is flawless, though, sounds a little bit too defensive in light of the opinions of those who already had the chance to test it and share their experiences on YouTube, as opposed to us. 

Speaking of the manifacturing, the console doesn't sound sturdy at all: I've seen the tablet shaking inside the docking station to a worrying amount, and the joycon's fastening at the sides of the tablet doesn't seem keen on accomodating energic solicitations.

The most sensible thing to do would be sitting comfortably on our sofas and wait for the developers to show us what happens when they really settle on making this pretty little harmless looking console sing 

As far as the autonomy outside of the docking station is concerned, the best observed value amounts to 3 hours and half on the OS interface, with the screen always on (75% luminosity) and no games played, before the console died out. Frankly, it is hard to deem this acceptable, improvements are bound to happen in the next firmware updates, but energy consumption is typically hard to improve on the initial figures, so we better not delude ourselves. 

Computing power: the chinese portal Taobao.com already dissected the console to find a Tegra/Maxwell chipset inside, which includes a 1.78GHz CPU, a 921Mhz GPU and 4 GB of shared LPDDR4 RAM, which lines up to a recent leak from Foxconn. Those clock speeds decreases from 15% to 40% in portable configuration, in a developers defined figure that directly impacts battery life. On the technical side, then, the Switch doesn't even try to come close to its direct competitors, and everyone is free to deem this a valid approach or not, depending on what they expect from a console. 

So, is the Switch flawless? It is not, and that's perfectly physiological for any kind of device. But nonetheless, it's way too early to dump shit on the Switch, when the most sensible thing to do would be sitting comfortably on our sofas and wait for the developers to show us what happens when they really settle on making this pretty little harmless looking console sing.

Rebuilding a legacy: the Shenmue remasters

On January 5, 2017, registrations for the ShenmueHD.com and ShenmueRemasters.com domains by SEGA Europe have been found and made public by outlets TSSZ News and ShenmueDojo. Both domains, registered in September 2016, points to blank pages as of now, but SEGA expressed interest in remastering the first two Shenmue titles back in May 2016. So the stars may be aligning slowly but surely for the company's ill fated epic: the announcement of Shenmue 3 by Ys Net at Sony's momentous E3 2015 conference is mostly responsible for putting all the gears in motion, rekindling the hopes of a sizeable hardcore fanbase and tickling the interest of a much younger audience at the same time - people who have never played a Shenmue game before.

The followings are opinions and speculations based on the existence of two official web domains pointing out to remastered versions of the original Shenmue 1 and 2. Explicit confirmation from SEGA is yet to come.

Since the end of Shenmue 3's record setting Kickstarter campaign, updates from legendary game designer Yu Suzuki and his team has been pretty regular, and last December they reassured everyone about a smooth and steady development, prompting SEGA's aforementioned domain registrations. That's welcome news for sure, but the enthusiasm one can expect from people such as me (or the odd neighbour that kept playing his Dreamcast in 2001 while the PS2 was taking the world's markets by storm) can be put aside for one moment to ask why is SEGA caring about Shenmue at all, after relegating it to a limbo for about 15 years.

The Shenmue remasters sounds
more like chasing an opportunity rather
than a renewed act of faith towards
the series' groundbreaking legacy

For those who were interested in videogames back when SEGA had to quit the hardware business, it's easy to picture the company's struggle with Shenmue: on one hand, they had two of the most beautiful, complex and ambitious titles to ever grace an home console, while on the other, they represented a 70 million $ gamble that had a significant impact in their subsequent financial dramas.
What happened to SEGA in 2001 was a painful sign of where the gaming industry as a whole was heading, a place where the dream of a true open world with detailed visuals, highly granular interactions, a strong reliance on systemic features and artistic merit was just too big for the budgets of the time. From then on, in order to ensure (a) that the software quality reflected the capabilities of newer hardwares and in turn (b) financial sustainability, game making became a strictly collaborative effort.

Only recently SEGA has returned to an healty status thanks to smart investments on the PC market, but this alone doesn't justify a new investment on the Shenmue series: the kind of wound you've been reading about until now is extremely hard to recover from, and would rightfully make any businessman wary of the past and overly cautious about his future choices. There would be no need to reintroduce Shenmue to a new generation of gamers without future perspectives, which in this case comes from Ys Net, not even SEGA itself. That's why the Shenmue remasters sounds more like chasing an opportunity to me, rather than a renewed act of faith towards a series that tackled narrative open world design in a way most developers of today still strive for... or rather shy away from because, you know, games are just business.

There's a good part to Shenmue's legacy, SEGA. With so much water under the bridge, you really should know better.

#RAPIDFIRE - 6: A tip for morality in games

5 quick takeaways from the Nintendo Switch annoucement

Striking while the iron is hot, shall we? Not more than a few hours ago, the Nintendo Switch was annouced as the next home console from the japanese company - with a catch: it's a modular device that you can hook up to your HDTV, or carry outside and play on the go on a (supposedly touch) compact display. Just a look at the announcement video embedded below, and you can see how the whole thing screams Nintendo Difference from every angle: the diversity from the traditional setup of the PS4 and Xbox One is stark. And there are a few key concepts that we can already associate to this new product to better understand the impact of its nature on software development.

It's a crossroad between home consoles, portable devices and smartphones, and it can lend itself to all these kinds of gaming experiences. Developers will have the outmost freedom in terms of design, ranging from orthodox couch experiences to casual mobile stuff and everything in between. They will even be able to create specific mechanics for specific scenarios of use in the framework of a single game. Once again, Nintendo came up with a console able to provoke software maker's creativity, without treading too far from its recent past: it's basically a more refined take on the WiiU that accounts for true portability while not messing with the 3DS's market position. In particular, the fact of having two tiny controllers in the portable setup brings up interesting social applications.

The company should not be afraid of tackling highly popular genres as third person action adventures or shooters, bringing its own exquisite taste for quality, refinement and incremental experimentation as a precious added value.

It's powered by a custom new generation NVidia Tegra chipset, which makes it very easy to port stuff from mobile to Switch and viceversa, while offering enough power to support home console level contents. Unfortunately, the exact specs of the machine remains unknown, with only The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (this one as a simple proof of concept, not an actual product) giving a rough idea of its power. It should be noted, though, that Nintendo specifically required *fast* APIs, audio and video renderers from NVidia, so we might be looking at something that in the right hands, may produce visuals not too far behind the PS4 and Xbox One's. Support for resolutions higher than 1080p, though, seems unplausible at the moment.

Third party publishers are there, but... as per usual with Nintendo, we'll have to wait 12 to 18 months to actually see whether they'll stick to the console, or slowly distance themselves from it just like it happened with the WiiU. You may have noticed a change in tone for the advertising campaing of the Switch, which appears to be focused much more on the so called "millennials" rather than the whole family. New software propositions from Nintendo itself outside of their well known brands may encourage third parties to be just as daring and caring: the company should not be afraid of tackling highly popular genres as third person action adventures or shooters, bringing its own exquisite taste for quality, refinement and incremental experimentation as a precious added value.  

The aestethic element seems to have taken a backseat this time around. The Switch is definitely not the best looking console from Nintendo, and not because of its grim choice of colours: the Joy-Con specular design is neat, but when attached to the massive central square element that makes them work as a traditional joypad they look very awkward, especially in comparison to other more refined controllers. The rest of the components (the TV connecting base, the secondary display etc.) sports an angular, deep black design that frankly isn't anything to write home about.

A proper acknowledgement of e-Sports is probably one of the most interesting parts of the Switch announcement. We can see people bringing their own consoles to a tournament stage in the video, and crowds of people cheering them. Considering how crucial is Internet viewership to all of this, we might as well speculate about an alleged newfound interest from Nintendo towards the online world. The Nintendo Network, the StreetPass and NFC technologies, the Miis and their social features may receive special attention from now on and grow into a more cohesive, better integrated and connected whole.

Instruments Vs. Ideas in the console gaming space

I find the title to this article to be sufficiently effective in typewriting terms, but if Blogger allowed for subtitles, I would have probably gone for a more explicative "... or what people don't get about roles in the gaming industry". As you might have heard, something very interesting is happening in the console space, where Sony and Microsoft are bringing about the latest technological trends (VR, 4K rendering, and the introduction of HDR colour gamma) in pretty different ways - the former by creating an enhanced version of the current PS4, the latter by going generational with a new and exponentially more powerful platform. It's a moment of intense water testing for the companies, and the console market as a whole is poised to massively change its configuration from the next year on. Looking at the social networks output, the general gaming public is not too happy about the situation.

Some complains about companies jumping too soon onto the 4K bandwagon, while forsaking the implicit promise of this generation - true 1080p/60fps gaming. Others, apparently more concerned with a general lack of innovation in game design, are asking console manifacturers to put the technological theme aside, and instead focus on giving devs more ways to express their creativity. The oxymoron here is strikingly obvious: what should manifacturers do other than providing the hi-tech gadgetry needed to flex the software makers' creative muscles (and offering appropriate promotion, of course)? In terms of pure game design, higher resolutions and color depth have next to no impact on gameplay features, but the thing is, every developer is entitled to use the additional power as they see fit. Having a 4K capable machine doesn't mean you have to run your software at that resolution, especially if you plan to have lots of on-screen objects, advanced AI, physics or any combination of those.

That's to say that nowadays, if a team has a really good idea and the talent to back it up, chances are the available machines are powerful enough to turn it into an actual product

That's to say that nowadays, if a team has a really good idea and the talent to back it up, chances are the available machines are powerful enough to turn it into an actual product. Traditional consoles are perfectly good instruments. Paying a little bit of attention, people should be able to realize that a good chunk of the most brilliant gameplay concept of the last decade can be replicated on much less powerful machines than those they were brought on - the demake culture has made a whole point out of this. The problem is, a sizeable part of the gaming audience is neither able to, nor concerned with, assessing the basic relationship between ideas and instruments.

This leads to sadly frequent, yet almost comical misunderstandings such as comparing the VR phenomenon with the 3DTV one to prove how the former is actually just a gimmick and it's going nowhere after these days' boom... Believe it or not, some people are actually convinced of that. Instead, they should realize how VR constitutes a new instrument with enormous potential to deliver radically different experiences than what we're accustomed to - new design ideas that stems from VR and makes real sense exclusively in that purview. In other words, it's the manifacturers' most appropriate answer to those concerned with the lack of new avenues for creativity (*): once game creators will have found their footing with it, we can realistically expect them to develop a specialized creative mindset and come up with something really evolutive. And that, sirs, is how the roles really are laid out.

(*) unless Nintendo NX turns out to be something truly groundbreaking, but nothing seems to suggest it at the moment.

Game or experience? The Virginia case

One of the things making the indie gaming scene so interesting is that there are very little restraints on what developers can try, both in terms of concepts and form. Of course, such freedom of experimentation is far from a free ticket to attention or success, and I guess the guys at Variable State knew better when they set in stone the design of Virginia. But what's going on with the game, for starters? Well, today's subject is a Steam Greenlight project with an interesting hook (its story is set in the titular American state, and features two female FBI agents dealing with a bizarre case of disappearance) and an approach to game design that focuses entirely on storytelling at the expense of player agency.

What may sound like a walking simulator at first is actually a shade of that genre where dialogues are completely absent, and sound effects are sparse at best: the player is supposed to explore the surroundings, feel the mood set by the music while looking for clues, and use these cues to understand what is happening in the scene. Yes, the experience is structured in discrete, sequencial scenes intersped with various kinds of cuts (temporal, oniric etc.); interaction is limited to walking around and manipulate objects that are essential to the story with a simple left click, and fixed results. Virginia is a game that makes a clear functional point out of its stern linearity.

The whole design is in fact aimed at surrounding the player with a deeply atmospheric story told through non verbal means, where all the beats happens precisely when they have to, and characters emerges from their scripted actions - or the reactions to what little the player can do. There's an interesting, yet stark opposition between the barebone gameplay scheme and a rich visual language sporting exquisite care for framing, lighting, timings and cuts: the scale of variation is purposely leant towards the latter, and as a result, the mood and emotional impact of every scene are bumped up extraordinarily. This is not at all a first in the gaming world, as we often see AAA productions reinforce their climatic moments by briefly restraining the player's agency: Virginia, though, extends this approach throughout the whole span of the adventure.

A working gameplay structure can rely on simple one button contextual interactions, as long as it serves another basic function besides "click here to progress the story", and that's challenging the player on some level

In a touch of cleverness, here and there are scattered some very short scenes that does nothing to push the story forward, but only exists to reveal some facets of the world and its inhabitants: in one instance, the older agent stops by a convenience store leaving you in the car. A few instants later, a blue coupé with some white boys stops by your car, they give you the middle finger and then flee. In a matter of seconds, you get to understand the youngsters' relationship with the law, the female gender and the black people (both agents are black).

As you may have guessed, there's no arguing the validity of this structure in experiencial terms, but whether Virginia constitutes a proper game or not is another matter. There is so little to do in the game that some may feel compelled to say "I could have watched it on Youtube after all"... and yes they could. It's a pertinent doubt spawning a legitimate question about whether interactivity alone can turn something into a game, and if not, what type and degree of interactivity is required for this to happen. In my experience and opinion, a working gameplay structure can rely on simple one button contextual interactions, as long as it serves another basic function besides "click here to progress the story", and that's challenging the player on some level. As far as the demo goes, Virginia technically does this - you have to walk through the scenes and look for that particular clue that triggers the next event - but it's too straightforward in its approach.

Rare is the impression of working towards an objective in this experience, as powerful as the narrative rewards are. In this sense, there's an unavoidable comparison to be made with Dear Esther, a game widely criticized for its structural simplicity, but with a stronger element of challenge in the randomization of story clues at each new playthrough. The narrative may not be as elegantly exposed as in Virginia, but the player is required to reconstruct it and make it come together in his mind, thus bringing a tangible sense of accomplishment upon succeeding. The same basic mechanic, used in a different way, ultimately brings more weight to the gameplay and the meaning of the interactions, making the act of playing Dear Esther more attractive than watching it on YouTube. Virginia stays on the very edge of what we call "games", and does it knowingly.

Going by how favourably Virginia is being received by the specialized press, it can't be said that Variable State's gamble hasn't paid off: it sits comfortably into the wider spectrum of interactive experiences, naturally lending itself to other media such as VR. Ironically, working so well in video form doesn't do any good to its interactive nature.

Understanding PS4 Pro, an infographic

Aside from the questions it poses about the whole future of consoles marketing strategy, a quick stroll throught the Web reveals how controversial is the reasoning behind the PS4 Pro existence, its purpose and functions still not exactly clear for some customers. I made this quick infographic to clarify what the machine does when used with different TV sets, with a FAQ section addressing some of the most common doubts/complaints about the platform   

#RAPIDFIRE - 5: The Internet overreacts to PS4 Pro

#RAPIDFIRE - 4: Fast engaging characters, how?
 

Speed Oddities: embracing the flaws in Genki games

When we think about racing games, names like Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport and Need for Speed are unquestionably the most popular in town. Over the years, we saw those series routinely set new standards in terms of polish, accessibility and mass market appeal, their influence bleeding into every declination of the genre's landscape - from hardcore simulations to pure arcade racers. Raising the people's expectations towards the category since the late nineties to such an high extent, though, had both good and not so good implications: on one hand, the overall quality of the products rose accordingly, while on the other, developers that used to do things a little bit differently ended up falling by the wayside somehow, especially in the West, and that includes the japanese Genki.

I've never concealed my appreciation for this studio, born in 1990 and firmly rooted in the racing genre (but they did Jade Cocoon for the PS1 in 1998 too, a lovely JRPG). Awkward logo aside, most people will probably recognize them for the Shutokou Battle racing series, known outside of Japan as Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Tokyo Highway Battle, Import Tuner Challenge or Street Supremacy, depending on the publisher. Born in 1994 on the SNES, this longstanding saga had 10 main releases up until 2006, when it was officially discontinued, and something like 11 spinoffs that dabbled with its core gameplay in interesting ways. Western developers recognized Shutokou Battle's importance by embedding some of its tropes (japanese cars, the focus on tuning, high speed public roads used as racing tracks, especially at night) into hit series like Need for Speed Underground, Midnight Club and Juiced.

Despite sharing some of its elements with the titles we've just mentioned, the core racing dynamics and rules in Genki's products are apart from all of them - so far apart, in fact, that they could even be considered the main factors behind the generally mixed reception of Shutokou Battle in the West during its 10 years run. To better understand why, let's try to sum up the Genki driving experience: racing occurs mainly on the Shuto Expressway, a sprawling system of highways that encompasses four prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama), and is articulated in multi-lane routes with tunnels and elevated roads, all faithfully reproduced in the games but most importantly, blazed through at speeds far north of 186 mph (300 kph).

In Shutokou Battle, the fun emerges as the player becomes more and more aware of how to exploit the game systems' interactions - not by cherry picking and dismissing them for not being as elegant or refined than [insert any big racing game name here]

The extreme speeds makes breaking, cornering or even the basic lane changing maneuver far more dangerous and complicated than they should be, courtesy of some very deliberate vehicle dynamics: straight breaking at 300 kph screws up the cars' weight distribution, making them swerve nervously until the player tames them with equally nervous wheel corrections. Understeer affects each and every single car to various degrees, so the cornering phase has to be set up as early as possible in order to send the vehicle into a state of controllable drift: there's a precise timing for this, but randomized traffic placed in trajectory can make its evaluation pretty hard, so it's easier sometimes to just ram into the barriers and let them do the job.

Power vs hardware design: assessing the Nintendo (NX) way

Following a report by Digital Foundry on what is supposed to be the hardware design of the still mysterious Nintendo NX, gamers have flooded the wide spectrum of social networks - be it forums, sub-reddits, Facebook or anything else - with opinions on whether the company's alleged new design is going to make it or break it. Especially when I read comments about consoles being underpowered, I realize how poor is the general understanding of why they were designed the way they were. In the same way, talks of the NX being either dead on arrival or a godsend sounds a bit silly to me. Internal software library, third party support, functions and price are what defines success in this market space, and the points every new console should be judged upon.

Sure, having 1080p/60Hz out of the box is nice, but it comes just as late in the generation as the WiiU did, with the consequences we've all seen. The NX is relatively close to launching, yet third party support looks sparse and despite the uniqueness of Nintendo's internal offering, its appeal towards an extremely diversified mainstream market doesn't seem particularly strong on the software side. For instance, I'd like to see Nintendo experiment outside of their historical brands' comfort zone, either by creating actual new IPs or better valorising the neglected ones.

Internal software library, third party support, functions and price are what defines success in the console market space, and the points every new machine should be judged upon

What about Nintendo's approach to hardware design? I believe the informations coming through Digital Foundry to be accurate: providing controllers that you can either use at home and interface with a TV screen, or carry outside of your lounge at any moment's notice caters to the same, immense smartphone users demographic that is so engaged with Pokemon GO these days. This could influence the company's home software plans massively, and I'm really interested to see if this is actually the direction Nintendo wants to go for.

It's not a matter of hardware, really. It's all about vision, strategy and contents - these are the fields where Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony are going to clash hard, no matter how (or even if) they'll try to distance themselves from one another.

#RAPIDFIRE - 3: On the need for elegant game design

#RAPIDFIRE - 2: A Game of Timings

 

#RAPIDFIRE - 1: How do you do stop-gap consoles?

Hello everyone! Today, I'm going to start a little column on Videogames Beyonder titled #RAPIDFIRE: it is based on concise, straight to the point opinions that makes for very fast reads, but with more breathing space than Twitter's strict 140 bar less characters rule. Hopefully it'll enable more frequent updates to the blog too :) Text blocks on #RAPIDFIRE will be formatted differently from regular articles in order to make them identifiable at first sight; the format may change over time to further improve readability. Let's start with a topic that went on fire in the very last days:

EDIT 06/20: 40 chars per line, 15 lines/600 chars spaces included at best. Seems like an acceptable format.