Today I had an itch to talk gaming. So, lets give a little bit of context to my gaming life:
I’m not a hard-core gamer but rather a casual one. Make no mistake that gaming is a huge part of my media consumption. I’m a console guy; my parents bought me an original Nintendo Entertainment System with Duck Hunt (the dog was a dick) and R.O.B. (whose busted ass never worked). I did become a PC guy back in the 486 PC days of Myst, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom. Gaming has been something that’s come and gone in my life (I missed the PS4 era) but has steadily made a comeback over the last decade, and it’s here to stay in my life.
For everyone’s curiosity, my favorite games:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [N64]
Myst [PC]
Red Dead Redemption II [PS4]
Doom [PC]
God of War [PS2]
Final Fantasy 7 [PS1]
Wing Commander [PC]
Tetris [GAMEBOY]
Metal Gear Solid [PS1]
Conker’s Bad Fur Day [N64]
A Grand Theft
I think we can all agree that the stance that Sony and Take 2/Rockstar are taking with Grand Theft Auto VI isn’t “consumer friendly” in the nicest of terms. I could say a lot about this, adding in a lot of expletives, but I won’t. I find it wild that Sony’s hard turn to try to take away games and “ownership” from gamers, but not surprising. It’s not shocking that a corporation wants to keep you buying the same thing over and over again, bleeding you dry. What is surprising about this release is Take 2/Rockstar’s release of details about the game, and it’s how, shall we say this … performance.
For a game that’s being touted as not only one of the biggest releases but the most advanced bit of gaming we’ve had in a long time, every gamer should be shocked about the “take back” they’ve done in the last week about FRAME RATES. Even on a PS5 Pro (many of whom bought for this very release), the game is only expected to get up to 30 FPS. “Up to” is the operative word. They did not say, “a minimum of”. Meaning that the best-case scenario for anyone with a PS5 Standard or Pro is below the standard. For those non-gamers, the standard currently for any Next Gen AAA title Game (think big budget Marvel movie) is usually 60 FPS.
That’s like saying that you purchased a ticket for Doom’s Day in IMAX/INFINITYVISION and you get to the theater and their playing the film on an old-school 28-inch CRT TV for the entire theater.
This, coupled with the digital-only release, the pre-order cancellation issue, and the download speeds … it all seems to be leading to a crash. This isn’t even considering the game itself and whatever bugs and glitches are in store for gamers. Take 2/Rockstar isn’t even close to the consumer-friendly standards of CD Projekt Red (see my Witcher III praise). They’ll be inclined to let those bugs rot for a while or play the blame game.
I was out on this one from the moment it was going to be an all-digital release. The more I’m seeing, the more I’m glad I’m missing this one at opening. I may visit it in December during my vacation. First, let’s see how this all plays out.
An Ocarina to the Past
Like many, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time. It came to me at a personally low time in my life. The game was the first truly deep world adventure I played with an emotional storyline that demanded hours and hours of my life. I’ve played the game no less than four times. It got me back into gaming after a long spell out of playing. At the time, and even now, the leaps in storytelling and gameplay it took are still unparalleled or matched by another game. More than those tech advances, it was the emotional story and journey that made Ocarina of Time such an all-timer. Unmatched in its beauty and ability to transport you to a world in a way that no other medium can.
When it was announced over the summer with that evocative trailer, I was instantly thrown back into the era that the game was released. Friday nights into Saturday morning … Celeste pizzas, Surge Soda, Family Size Funions, Homemade Velvetta microwave nachos, and that game with no cares in the world for that ten-hour stretch. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Zelda, along with Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Bonzai, Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Columbo, and David Bowie, for better or worse, are indelible cultural touchstones that shaped my pop culture tastes. That is to say that Zelda as a series is important to me.
Playing this remake of Ocarina of Time is a potent example of how to perfectly reimagine a game for a new modern generation. The game’s story remains intact, but the mechanics, the puzzles, and combat have been slightly changed for the better. The rendering of the world is the perfect dream of what your memory of the game was when you first played it on N64. Zelda has always had a commonality with the work of director Hayao Miyazaki, and Ocarina of Time in its Switch 2 iteration is just that. To call this a remake is to take away from its beauty and accomplishments.
I’ve only played around eight to ten hours as I’m spreading out my gameplay to make it last, but the time I’ve had with this world is a powerful reminder of not just how great The Legend of Zelda series is, but the potency of a great game.
We will be back next week with another edition of The Media Lab
Welcome to The Media Lab
Today I had an itch to talk gaming. So, lets give a little bit of context to my gaming life:
I’m not a hard-core gamer but rather a casual one. Make no mistake that gaming is a huge part of my media consumption. I’m a console guy; my parents bought me an original Nintendo Entertainment System with Duck Hunt (the dog was a dick) and R.O.B. (whose busted ass never worked). I did become a PC guy back in the 486 PC days of Myst, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom. Gaming has been something that’s come and gone in my life (I missed the PS4 era) but has steadily made a comeback over the last decade, and it’s here to stay in my life.
For everyone’s curiosity, my favorite games:
A Grand Theft
I think we can all agree that the stance that Sony and Take 2/Rockstar are taking with Grand Theft Auto VI isn’t “consumer friendly” in the nicest of terms. I could say a lot about this, adding in a lot of expletives, but I won’t. I find it wild that Sony’s hard turn to try to take away games and “ownership” from gamers, but not surprising. It’s not shocking that a corporation wants to keep you buying the same thing over and over again, bleeding you dry. What is surprising about this release is Take 2/Rockstar’s release of details about the game, and it’s how, shall we say this … performance.
For a game that’s being touted as not only one of the biggest releases but the most advanced bit of gaming we’ve had in a long time, every gamer should be shocked about the “take back” they’ve done in the last week about FRAME RATES. Even on a PS5 Pro (many of whom bought for this very release), the game is only expected to get up to 30 FPS. “Up to” is the operative word. They did not say, “a minimum of”. Meaning that the best-case scenario for anyone with a PS5 Standard or Pro is below the standard. For those non-gamers, the standard currently for any Next Gen AAA title Game (think big budget Marvel movie) is usually 60 FPS.
That’s like saying that you purchased a ticket for Doom’s Day in IMAX/INFINITYVISION and you get to the theater and their playing the film on an old-school 28-inch CRT TV for the entire theater.
This, coupled with the digital-only release, the pre-order cancellation issue, and the download speeds … it all seems to be leading to a crash. This isn’t even considering the game itself and whatever bugs and glitches are in store for gamers. Take 2/Rockstar isn’t even close to the consumer-friendly standards of CD Projekt Red (see my Witcher III praise). They’ll be inclined to let those bugs rot for a while or play the blame game.
I was out on this one from the moment it was going to be an all-digital release. The more I’m seeing, the more I’m glad I’m missing this one at opening. I may visit it in December during my vacation. First, let’s see how this all plays out.
An Ocarina to the Past
Like many, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time. It came to me at a personally low time in my life. The game was the first truly deep world adventure I played with an emotional storyline that demanded hours and hours of my life. I’ve played the game no less than four times. It got me back into gaming after a long spell out of playing. At the time, and even now, the leaps in storytelling and gameplay it took are still unparalleled or matched by another game. More than those tech advances, it was the emotional story and journey that made Ocarina of Time such an all-timer. Unmatched in its beauty and ability to transport you to a world in a way that no other medium can.
When it was announced over the summer with that evocative trailer, I was instantly thrown back into the era that the game was released. Friday nights into Saturday morning … Celeste pizzas, Surge Soda, Family Size Funions, Homemade Velvetta microwave nachos, and that game with no cares in the world for that ten-hour stretch. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Zelda, along with Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Bonzai, Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Columbo, and David Bowie, for better or worse, are indelible cultural touchstones that shaped my pop culture tastes. That is to say that Zelda as a series is important to me.
Playing this remake of Ocarina of Time is a potent example of how to perfectly reimagine a game for a new modern generation. The game’s story remains intact, but the mechanics, the puzzles, and combat have been slightly changed for the better. The rendering of the world is the perfect dream of what your memory of the game was when you first played it on N64. Zelda has always had a commonality with the work of director Hayao Miyazaki, and Ocarina of Time in its Switch 2 iteration is just that. To call this a remake is to take away from its beauty and accomplishments.
I’ve only played around eight to ten hours as I’m spreading out my gameplay to make it last, but the time I’ve had with this world is a powerful reminder of not just how great The Legend of Zelda series is, but the potency of a great game.
We will be back next week with another edition of The Media Lab
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