If Dark Souls Had Mods...

It seems a lot of people out there really want a PC port of Dark Souls. The idea has merit, particularly with regards to potentially improving frame rate issues in places. Talk about possibly doing Skyrim style modding has me less excited though. Don't get me wrong Skyrim has some great mods it's just that the most banal stuff tends to be the most popular. So, for kicks I decided to make a hypothetical list of the most popular mods for a PC version of Dark Souls:

• "Perky Nipples" mod for Quelaag and her sister.
• "No Helmets" mod for Siegmeyer, Seiglinde, Ingward, Shiva of the East, and Maneater Mildred.
• An obligatory "Lightsaber and Giant Purple Dildo Weapon" mod.
• An "Anime and J-Pop Hair Set" mod for character creation.
• A "Bust Size Slider" mod for Gwynevere. Note that the smallest setting is original size.
• ...and of course the number one most popular mod would be an online hack that griefers use to invade you even when your in hollow form. Let's call it the "Middle Digit Red Orb."

Deceptively Complex

When it comes to video game graphics often times the most common things we encounter in reality are some of the hardest to create in-game. So much so that even now with three decades of entertainment software development experience much of what should be taken for granted still stumps the greatest minds of the video game industry.

Take wind for example. Aside from a lot of smoke and mirror tricks the only game series I've played that really took this weather phenomenon into account was Zelda. Kind of strange when you consider that the cartoon visual ascetic of Wind Waker doesn't exactly demand a realistic depiction of air currents. Then again the fact that Nintendo designers tried to tackle the ethereal problem of wind in video games might be why Zelda: Wind Waker is one of the best received games of the series since its 16-bit days.

Water and fluid dynamics are another aspect of games that has never really been depicted in a believe manner. From Dust managed to depict water on a grand scale thanks to recent improvements in CPU processing power, but when it comes to an on screen individual interacting with liquid H2O the DLG Hydrophobia is the only one that comes close. Sadly, water is pretty much the only thing good about this game. Maybe the developers suffered from tunnel vision? And as a follow up question why isn't there a single game studio that understands crushing darkness and cold increases with underwater depth?

Improvements in lighting and particle physics have helped fire enhance its look in the world of video games, particularly in titles like Far Cry 2. Unfortunately a major byproduct, smoke, is still lacking. Sad really...smoke has played an important role in the history of war and is even mentioned prominently in Sun Tzu's 2200 year old book The Art of War yet all these war-themed video games drop the ball with regards to this aspect of man's first great weapon.

Four-Legged creatures are fairly difficult to animate. Just ask the developers of Red Dead Redemption. Horses don't move the same as dogs which in turn don't move the same as bears. Ever wonder why there aren't many games that feature elephants, large birds, or certain types of insects? It's because humanoid creatures are much less likely to get hung up on world geometry since they are more vertically oriented.

Foliage or more specifically leaves and grass tend to be very resource intensive to render onscreen. Because of this a lot of designers resort to using deceptively simple textures which seem okay in the distance, but under close inspection look extremely fake. Crytek made it their mission for a while to crack this nut and to some degree they were successful. Since then other companies such as Naughty Dog have followed suit, but sadly I still see a lot of trees in games that look like they were made by Lego.

Video game characters must really burn through the hair spray because if I got a dime every time I saw a character with gravity defying helmet hair I would be a rich man. Even depictions of long hair tend to come off as several textures chained together or worse yet clip like crazy through the characters clothes or shoulders. It's sad really...I can think of a few characters like Geralt from the Witcher 2 which have well-rendered hair, but other characters he interacts with end up with hoods, hats and stubble instead. So, consider this final entry the next big hurtle in gaming - realistic hair! Chances are the first game to really pull it off probably won't even get much recognition for it.

There you have it - wind, water, fire, four-legs, foliage and hair. They may be common enough in our daily lives, but in the digital world they're illusions within illusions and tricks within tricks designed to fool the eyes even more so than the rest. I'm not much into Zen Buddhism, but I can see why its devout followers have such an appreciation of the natural world. So much of what we see in gardens and parks is far more complex than most people give it credit for. Unless of course your a game designer...in which case mother nature has probably given you a few harsh lessons in humility.

Full Circle

I'm going to start off by saying that despite the title this blog post has nothing to do with the Xbox360. If your wondering what "Full Circle" is referencing I promise you'll understand by the end. So, what am I getting on about? In a word - Podcasting. It's a new year and I thought I'd begin it with a bit of sharing with regards to five websites that present news on the game industry in a manner that doesn't bore you to tears:

Epic Battle Cry
These three guys are good if you need a pick up, like puns and listen to heavy metal music. Their voices don't grate on your ears. As advertised they give a no bullshit view on things and as a result tend to keep it under an hour. Their spin off podcast (The Axe Factor) isn't nearly as good unfortunately.

This Week in Games
In sharp contrast to the above, this podcast is much more of a downer. The two speakers tend to focus on the business side of the industry though which is what separates them from the pack. Other than that be prepared for a lot of grumbling as well as doom and gloom. Good to listen to if your a cynic or just like getting a weekly dose of pessimism.

Giant Bombcast
Usually four members, this group is pretty diverse in what they like which makes for an interesting spectrum of opinions and view points. They sometimes get distracted by movies, music or food, but even then these diversions can be entertaining in their own right. Expect to spend a lot of time with this colorful crew though because sometimes they go on for two hours or more.

Invisible Walls
The number of people here varies a lot with many guests coming and going on a regular basis. Generally this podcast involves a lot of arguing. Much like a no-holds-barred debate show these guys like to throw down on hot topics and just about any game related controversy they get their hands on. Stupid things are often said, but don't worry people in the comments section make that blatantly clear to anyone who actually cares.

8-4
Unlike the previously mentioned, "8-4" is a biweekly podcast based out of Japan and as such focuses on the Japanese game industry. It also has (surprise!) a girl speaker. Unfortunately she doesn't speak all that much. Partly because she's running the sound board, but more so because I don't think English is her first language. Some of the guys can get tedious to listen to after a while too. That said if you want a decidedly Asian view on the games industry by all means give this a shot.

It's interesting to think that my grandfather and his father before him most likely sat down in front of a radio to listen to discussion programs about sports, politics and the topics of the day. Then with the advent of TV that faded until the emergence of portable MP3 players and the internet. Now, I find myself doing what my ancestors did nearly a century ago. It just goes to show you the more things change the more they stay the same.

Surviving the Horror

At first glance you might think the title of this post is a reference to the holiday season, but don't forget that this is a video game blog page. That said I will admit that the inspiration for this comes from the newly released Prometheus movie trailer. So what am I getting on about? Well...you see...after seeing a preview of Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi/horror genre I got to thinking about horror video games and how they've kind of faded into the background recently. Jim Sterling over on The Escapist did an excellent little piece on what's need for games to be scary, and while I more or less agree with his points I think that there's something else to it. In order for horror games to work they need to have an element of unpredictability to them.

Take Doom 3 or even Dead Space for example, both are a blending of sci-fi and horror which put the player in a survival situation. Both revolve around a series of jump scares and set piece moments designed to fill the player with dread. The problem is the pattern becomes predictable at some point and players quickly find themselves getting immunized, or worse yet annoyed, by each new "gotcha" surprise. Don't get me wrong especially when it comes to atmosphere these games are oozing with it, foreboding architecture mixed with ominously lit environments and an eerie sound score make for a great setting to cause some player anxiety. The problem is said players know where all the monsters are hiding. Couple that with lots of guns and it's not really scary, rather it's simply a dark action game. So, how to solve this problem? I think the best solution would be to take some advice from one of the masters, H.P. Lovecraft. In effect he's famous said that it's fear of the unknown that really gets under people's skin. To apply this to video games two things need to be done.

First, don't let players know the full extent of what their getting into. Doom 3 failed to frighten many players simply because the story and enemies were a rehash of the first game. Dead Space sufferes from a slightly different problem in that the main threat "Necromorphs" are exactly what they sound like. No twists like they are the byproduct of nanobots gone wrong or some kind alien collective of micro-organisms...sorry turns out they're just a bunch of mutant space zombies. If you watched the high production value trailer then you pretty much already know everything about your foe which kills a lot of the suspense.

Second, there has to be a kind of randomization to the scares. Not knowing where and when the monsters will appear increases the dread quite a bit. Condemned: Criminal Origins succeeded to some degree with this by using non-scripted AI routines. But to be honest dragon attacks in Skyrim are probably some of the best examples of how to keep players on their toes. Plus it avoids the monster closet or worse yet the teleporting behind you trick which gets especially irritating in subsequent playthroughs. Utilizing such a system also plays to the strengths of video games since other forms of horror media can really only get you the first time you experience it.

I should conclude by saying that I'm a big survival horror fan, and have played everything from Resident Evil and Silent Hill to Fatal Frame and Clock Tower. But I have to say I have never played a horror title that keeps the player in the dark knowledge-wise while fully embracing emergent gameplay. What would such a game be like? I don't know for sure, but I bet it would be pretty damn freaky.

Remetal Gearance

I'm not opposed to new terminology in the game industry. In particular I really like the recently introduced term DLG (Down-Loadable Game) to help distinguish between DLC, which implies that the download is simply adding additional material to an already existing game. Especially since "Inide Game" is a somewhat overused term often referring to any game with a low budget and small team of developers. Rather than its originally intended meaning of an independent group working outside the influence of big game publishers.

That said terms like "transfarring" seem completely unnecessary and Kojima Productions latest attempt at wordsmithing has spawned the word "revengance" which comes across as bad grammar...or at the very least a typo. But this isn't the worst nomenclature to come out this console generation. The Nintendo Wii for example was originally supposed to be called the Nintendo Revolution, a far more suitable name when you consider that its motion control system was attempting to be a major departure from other gaming input methods at the time. While we're talking about motion controls I can't help but briefly touch on the fact that the Sony Move and Sub-Controller have to be some of the most uninspired names for such devices. It doesn't help Sony's cause that the PS VITA has a lackluster name combined with two equally valid ways of pronouncing it. But it's not just Japanese game companies that struggle with the English language.

Microsoft had their motion sensor peripheral codenamed "Natal" before it eventually became "Kinect" which in my opinion wasn't much of an improvement. Especially since the "K" in the beginning stinks of Midway Games' inability to use the letter "c" whenever it happened to come up in the beginning of a word. Did I mention people get paid to workshop this stuff? Considering how many game titles have the word "requiem" or "rising" in them I can't help but think there is a lot of no-talent copy-cats when it comes time to choose names. Then again you'll also get very bizarre cases of Bethesda suing the creator of Minecraft for using the word "scrolls" in their upcoming title while Nintendo goes and releases Skyward Sword just over a week after Skyrim unmolested. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I heard someone say Elder Scrolls: Skyward Sword either intentionally or by accident in the bottom half of November, 2011.

Regardless, the day is done and who know what tomorrow will bring. XBox720 seems unlikely and PS4 will definitely not happen considering the number 4 is unlucky in Japanese culture, sounds too much like the word for death in their language. Then again "PlayStation Death" complete with jet black casing and screaming skull logo sounds a lot better than some of the focus group tested crap the game industry has been puking out lately.