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No Man’s Skydive

No Man’s Skydive

What can be said about this example of business fireworks except it is just about time to get the marshmallows out because if this will be good for anything it will be to make a good s’more. Hype was the first poison in this little cocktail, and what a dose it was.

This game if it had come through on more of what they were aiming for would most likely one of the top ten selling PC games this year. Standing right now people who bought it are mad enough to just wipe the entire experience from their mind except a warning to be more careful next time. It had gone through a process of building itself up over multiple times before it was launched that took people a couple weeks to actually figure out what they got. Next ingredient in for this little cocktail was the action of the company behind it.

Hello Games should not have been going for so much. This was a project clearly outside of their normal set of games which was the entirety of the Joe Danger series, and they promised everything in this new project. Putting it simply they wanted their game to sell. If their game sells then obviously it is a sign of success, but you do not say things are in it that are then not in it at launch. Being looked at for misleading advertising by the Advertising Standards Authority does not help matters.

Some of the die hard super fans before this game came out added their own brand of vermouth and suffering. When you have death threats, poor attitude, rampant stupidity, coming from a fan base before something released then you either are going to get a lot more people in that group, or you are about to have a lot less fans. After the things some of these super fans did it reflected poorly on the project to some degree and to all gamers to another. That let down intensified any misgivings the game would have making it even harder for them to bear.

Taking all these things we already can see a situation that will have a polarizing result. It will fly or it will dive and the price point of the game just made sure of it. Value is something that more people are looking at and to have something like this going for retail at sixty dollars only ramped up the possibility. Sony backed that price point despite not a lot of evidence saying this would be a success to the degree it was pushed. They helped make this toxic cocktail turning one of the biggest deliveries of gaming this year in to one of the biggest disappointments and personally they should take a drink of that as well to sober them up.

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It Is Okay To Be A Casual Gamer

This was the first of three test articles for Opnoobs.com. The next two will be in the next two days.

It Is Okay To Be A Casual Gamer

Casual is a word that is thrown around in some circles usually to the vision of the person who likes games, but does not completely throw themselves in to the gaming world. There is this rift seemingly setting two different groups of people who like the same thing at varying levels of passion against each other. For a moment think of two young feuding children who claim they love their mother and in that moment you can see how more it can be both in some ways funny and annoying.

Despite the two groups what defines one from another changes from group to group, and even person to person. Casuals supposedly are the evil spawn of the gaming community bound to crush everything the hardcore gamers love with vast amounts of money, other hobbies, and short attention spans. Hardcore gamers supposedly sit in their mother’s basements or small apartments rubbing together their limited edition triforce branded leather gloves wondering why no one wants to play the game they pumped 800 hours into. Both sides have become stereotypes that have no use, and I can prove it.

One person I know is a bit of a rabid learner. He tries to do well spending as much time to learn about things that interest him. This person goes to protests and debates with people about important issues whenever he can just to learn more about people and the world they inhabit. He plays games to take a moment decompressing over the issues of the day in a setting where the worries can melt away in the enjoyment of a good game. We get together have a drink, and maybe enjoy something he found in it.

Another person is someone who has gone to anime and game conventions up and down the west coast. While doing they had done well in gaming tournaments claiming top eight or sixteen in fields of hundreds for the Super Smash Bros. games. In short this person was good and whooped me on it like I had owed him rent.

Both of these people are playing games, and their money goes to the companies that sold and published those games whether how much they love it or don’t. We can as a group of people that like or love to play games make the community better for each other instead of trying to blame the other for some of the supposed ills of the industry. Those two people described above can get together for a drink and a play session when both of them feel up to it and it is great despite one of them being a casual.

Different people will like different things. If we can take a moment though respecting the opinion of others who we do not agree with then maybe we can find ways to make gaming better. Be hardcore or be a casual just play the games and enjoy.

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