EULA

Sounds like it has something to do with the city of Los Angeles and the European Union, but that's not actually what it stands for (just my uninformed guess). Apparently it means "End User Licence Agreement" or to put it more simply a software licence agreement. It's that legal crap you have to read whenever you install a piece of software on your PC. Although for some reason most console games make no mention of it. Not that it would be understood by most gamers.

I recently had to install the latest firmware update on my PS3 to go online. A rather tedious process which started off mildly amusing when I read the version number (3.60). Dumb number joke aside once the installation was finished the EULA came up and...seriously...the thing was a massive amount of text. I think it would have taken me an hour more to read and understand everything, let alone remember it all. I can't imagine most gamers in their teens able to make much sense out of all the legal terminology. They really need to break these things down into a short list of easy to understand bullet points. Worse yet it seems like the PS3 operating system coders realized that no one would actually take the time to read an EULA and conveniently made it possible to skip it without even having to scroll through the text. Just click "Accept" to move on. Yet we're supposed to be held accountable for all that?

Here in lies the problem. When you consider that even United States judges don't bother to look over an EULA then why should anyone else? These documents aren't exactly quick reads that are easy to fully grasp. Even someone with a profession background in law would probably want to ask a corporate representative about the fine print. Not that you can request for any of it to be changed. Worse yet most companies reserves the right to alter any part of the agreement without your consent or even a warning. Not surprising the entire legality of an EULA is debatable, partly because no United States court has ruled on the validity of an EULA. None-the-less big game publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision can and do use the EULA to enforce their will.

Time to start pirating, you might say? Time to not buy any EA or Activision games, you might also say. I've heard that some gamers even buy legit copies of games like Dragon Age 2, but then never open them. Instead they play a pirated copy of the game so they don't have to deal with the EULA. I can't say any of these strategies are bad. But what really needs to happen here is the writing of some new ground rules by gamers and developers (not publishers though because they're just parasites) as to how things are done in the game industry. Maybe everyone won't get exactly what they want, but then again neither did everyone at the signing of the Constitutional Convention.

Bent, not Broken

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Capcom, Square-Enix, and Konami all struggling to make a profit. In the light of lackluster sales figures the talk on the interwebs is that Japan, with regards to game development is doomed to fade into obscurity. Meanwhile other regions such as Canada, Europe, and the USA are destined to dominate the video game market. Whether you consider this well wishing or a warning it is my firm belief that the time of The Land of the Rising Sun has not yet come and gone.

Looking to the recent past Persona 4 and Demon's Souls stand as examples that the Japanese gaming industry can still produce quality titles. "But what of the future?" you might ask. To which I say Dark Souls, The Last Guardian, and Metal Gear Solid Rising - all innovative titles on the horizon.

Just recently (at the time of the writing of this blog) The Last Story made it's debut in Japan and was well received for its innovative battle system. Now confirmed for an overseas release, Catherine proves that Japanese companies can break the teenagers-save-the-world mold by making a relationship driven story about thirty-somethings, parenthood, marriage and being faithful to a partner all set to a box puzzle game mechanic. Original? Yes. Interesting? I don't know, but I think it's safe to say smaller Japanese developers are trying new things which is essential to survival in the games industry.

If anything big dogs like Activision and EA should take heed of what is going on across the Pacific unless they want their bread and butter titles like Madden and Call of Duty going the way of Final Fantasy.

A Wish List for...

Hands down one of best games on the PS3, Demon’s Souls holds a reputation for brutally difficult (but deep and rewarding) gameplay. It probably comes as no surprise that I’m really looking forward to playing Dark Souls, the spiritual successor. That said there are a few things in particular that I’m hoping they revamp in the interests of producing an even better game than the original. So, without further ado here is my Dark Souls wish list:

1.)Relevant Armor
As realistic and practical looking as armor is in Demon’s Souls it becomes fairly irrelevant at higher levels. The defense provided is hardly worth the stamina penalties needed to make it work. Let’s hope that From Software adds an upgrade tree similar to weapons and shields in order to keep armor from being relegated to a mostly cosmetic role.

2.)“Random-less” Drops
No, I’m not talking about falling of ledges that (despite the frustration) is an integral part of the game, rather I’m talking about grinding. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go into some dank, god-awful place trying to find a chunk of “something-or-other” stone only to come out exhausted and empty handed. Either make the items need for upgrades set in fixed locations or have them always dropped by particular monsters in a given location.

3.)Long Range Lock-on
This is a personal issue that I have involving enemies making ranged attacks at me when I can’t even target them. Granted it could get equally annoying accidentally targeting an enemy oblivious to you halfway across the level rather than the one that’s right in front of you, but I feel like some tightening of the controls for this particular mechanism would be greatly beneficial.

4.)Smoother Inventory Management
Fumbling with healing and mana regeneration items in the midst of a battle is not fun. Nor is trying to get the right catalyst and spell selected in a situation where timing is critical. Maybe a wheel selector like that used in Mass Effect or Red Dead Redemption would be the most elegant solution, but regardless the system used in Demon’s Souls left something to be desired.

5.)Swimming
Bear with me on this one for a minute. It might sound silly at first (after all who actually enjoyed the water temple from Legend of Zelda?) but let me throw an example or two out there. You come to a wide river, but can’t swim across it unless your item burden is below a certain amount. What do you do? You can leave some gear behind, but then you’ll be more vulnerable should you have to fight something on the other side. Alternatively there might be a ford somewhere, but it’s probably heavily guarded. Maybe there’s a bridge you could lower later making the river less of an obstacle in the future. What if there’s a monster in the river, can you lure it into the shallows and slay? If done right swimming could make for an exciting new addition to the game.

Well that’s my list. I should note that some of my wishes have already been met such as seamless transitions between areas, more animations for attacks, and of course more areas to explore, spells to learn and equipment to choose from (not to mention monsters to fight). I’m sure there are some improvements being made that I haven’t even thought of (particularly to online play I’d wager). Well…until the game is released keep those fires burning otherwise only the dark will remain.

Where Have All the Gaming Girls Gone?

Ever notice that the magazine racks at your local newsstand/bookstore feature predominately pictures of women? Even magazines specifically targeting men will have an attractive female on the cover (or in some cases sharing the spotlight with a muscular alpha male). I always found this a bit odd, but then again video games are drifting toward the opposite extreme.

Now I know what your probably going to say "There are plenty of games out there that let you choose your gender and appearance" to which I would answer "Of course there are, but those characters are very much blank slates devoid of any personality save that which you give them."

No, for the purposes of this observation I'm only interested in game titles where you can play a female protagonist more or less exclusively in which said woman has a distinct personality (or at the very least a set of characteristics which define who she is). So what comes to mind? Samus Aran? Lara Croft? Jill Valentine? Granted female protagonists have always been in the minority, but check the list of women that popped into your head. Notice something most of them have in common? Sexy?...well yes, but I was thinking more about birthdays. Particularly the fact that they're almost entirely products of the 80s and 90s.

So this begs the question (especially when it comes to this console generation of games) "Where have all the ladies gone?" Well...the truth is they don't sell like they used to. One only needs to look at the sales figures for Samus' latest outing on the Wii (or if you want to go back into slightly more dated titles Heavenly Sword) to realize that games staring female protagonists don't exactly make the big bucks. Conversely, short-haired, scruffy faced, gravelly voiced male protagonists seem to be all the rage these days.

Maybe some of you readers are thinking "Good riddance!" and I wont disagree with the sentiment since I too prefer to play characters of my own gender. But I can't help feeling that gaming would be better in general if the sexes were more equally represented. As it stands now only Lara Croft still really holds a place in the limelight of iconic gaming characters. Even then I wonder if she'll be able to keep her place now that  her next outing will feature her with a realistic bust size. I guess only time will really tell.

Multiplayer Meat Grinder

Ever notice the online play in most games basically consists of a lot of people randomly murdering one another? Either that or team matches which amount to nothing more than two gangs if thugs fighting an endless war of attrition.

My hope is online play will eventually evolve beyond these mindless digital slaughterhouses into something with a bit more depth. For now we’ve seen some baby steps in a good direction with increased co-op play and interesting variations of what we traditionally consider online multiplayer in games like Demon’s Souls. But as of now there have yet to be any non-MMO triple “A” titles that have really pushed the boundaries of online play.

Even excellent games such as Red Dead Redemption suffer online from a lack of truly significant innovation, particularly with respect to the default online mode “Free Roam.” To give a clear example of what I’m getting at here let’s say instead of just having players randomly blow each other away only to re-spawn seconds later in RDR how about implementing a bounty system similar to what is used in the single player experience? So, anytime one player kills another without just cause “The Law” places a bounty on that murder’s head. Of course if the murderer gets killed there won’t be a bounty placed on the player that shot the murderer since that’s simply justice served true to the style of the Wild West.

Of course there can still be settings for death match, team death match and pure co-op for those who want it, but at the very least the Free Roam setting would greatly benefit from this relatively simple action/consequence mechanic. If such a thing existed players would have to consider the long term results of violent acts and the Wild West concept of bounty hunters and outlaws will doubtlessly be reinforced.

While it’s not likely we’ll see this kind of system in the near future perhaps Rockstar Games will consider such an idea for their next big sandbox title. Personally, I’m hoping for a GTA meets Mount & Blade, but that’s another story. Until then I look forward to That Game Company’s Journey and beyond.