SideQuesting

Nobody likes the act of moving to a new house.  Perhaps the most terrible part of moving to a new place involves rummaging through your possessions in your old apartment and deciding what goes with you and what gets thrown out.  As you pick up each item, you ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”  Items that get the nod get to make the trek to the Promised Land  — a nice brown box, a trip in a U-Haul, and the new house.  Unfortunately, some items — things like old magazines and wire hangers — are not as lucky.  They usually end up on the curb inside of a big, black Hefty bag.

A similar phenomenon happens in the video game industry.  As years pass and more consoles are released, it becomes more apparent that some genres either relocate or become obsolete.  Where are our puzzle games, 2D platformers, and on-rail shooters today?  For the most part, they’re restricted to hand-held consoles, DLC, and arcade cabinets.

We’re knee deep in this current generation of consoles, and I’m wondering if the Japanese RPG has a similar fate.

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For every game that gets created, there are dozens that get put on the chopping block.  Here are a few that didn’t quite make the cut.

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Video game publications, websites, and communities have a tough job at the end of every December: selecting their top game of the year.  Will it be Uncharted 2 or Assassin’s Creed 2?  Is it an exclusive?  Is one console’s version better than another?  Is it an original game or a refined sequel?  There are plenty of factors that are looked at when determining whether one game is considered the “GOTY”.

I have often wondered how some of my favorite publications have selected their top games.  In many cases they rely on a point scale awarded to the individual editors/community members’ selections.  For simplicity’s sake this seems like a clean and standard method that has made the rounds:  Each voter selects 5 games.  The top game gets 5 points, the second gets 4, and so on down the line.  When all votes are tallied the highest scoring game generally wins out.  (This is in fact how SideQuesting is selecting our GOTY for 2009.)

But then I noticed some variables starting to pop up.  For one, the voting method is inherently flawed.  In a 5-point scale, there is a greater chance for ties to happen.  And, is a game that gets 17 points really better than a game that gets 16 points?  Also, point scale methods seem to have a “gray area” where the amount of voters plays a role in making or breaking the system.  Too many voters = too many games with low point totals.  Not enough voters = one-sided voting towards one or two games.  These issues were just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s time to get down to business.

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The year 2009 is over. The great Q1 2010 is upon us. Many may argue that this will be one of the best years ever in terms of quality releases. (Not sold? Check out our big list of 2010.)

We know software will be abundant, but this year especially we will be introduced to several intriguing and potentially game-changing advances in videogame technology. Whether it’s for a console, handheld, or home computer we will be inundated with possibly exciting new ways to interact with our favorite games.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the more notable advances that we know of, but feel free to add more in the comments or to let us know what you are personally excited about.

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Recently, EA’s boss John Riccitiello came forward to voice some of his frustration with the lower-than-expected sales of EA games on Nintendo’s Wii.  Citing Nintendo’s lack of support of third-party publishers to help push games, Riccitiello noted that EA’s games were some of the highest rated on the platform for the year.  We can’t argue, as while Dead Space: Extraction (review forthcoming) was a relatively fantastic game to play, the sales were abysmal.  Madden 10 on the Wii didn’t fair any better, and the NCAA and NHL licenses have disappeared from the Wii completely.

Whether it’s Nintendo’s lack of support or EA’s misunderstanding of the Wii audience, or any factor inbetween, remains to be seen as the clear reason why the publisher is up in arms.  But there is a glimmer of hope, as EA has faired relatively well with Tiger 10 and its EA Active series.  How can EA change its game design mechanic to create more unique experiences that may actually do well on the system?  We take our lunch break and offer up some interesting game ideas for the publisher.

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By: Dalibor Dimovski, Managing Editor

Review scores.  Sometimes they are a determining factor in a gaming purchase, helping a potential buyer choose between “mediocre” and “great” games.  At other times they are sought after for marketing purposes or even reasons more sinister, such as if a particular sequel will be greenlit or a job lost.

Examining the reasons behind why scores are valued so much often leads to fisticuffs.  After all, many a reviewer will say that the meat of the review process isn’t the score, but the text that accompanies it.  A review is an expression of a viewpoint about a game, a summary of the experience and whether it is either good or bad or somewhere in the middle.

The score acts as a summary of that text.  Yes, in effect it is a summary of a summary. And like a copy of a copy, a score can sometimes represent a ultra-minimal and deteriorated viewpoint without much in common with the review itself.  Example: a 9.0-level game is viewed differently by different gamers.  Would a 9.0-level puzzle game in Peggle, be considered the same kind of 9.0-level as a Halo 3?  The review text may actually hold the correct score within its verbiage and speak to the right buyer, but the score represents something completely different.

In comes Metacritic, a summary of those arbitrary numbers which are themselves a summary of a summary.  Confused yet?  You should be.  And if not, it only gets worse from here on.

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Available now are the snazzy new SideQuesting shirt & hoodies!

The limited edition T-Shirt comes in several colors and portrays some of our favorite gaming controller plugs of the past… can you guess which is which?  Not only are these shirts a great way to support the website, but they are also geek-flavored without being too cliche (we hope)!  Only 100 of these shirts will be made, so make sure you get one while they last.  $19 Buy here

The hoodies, perfect for Fall/Winter, show the SQ logo in white/red and come in 3 colors.  We offer both a pull-over and a zip-up style hoodie.  $34.90 Pull-over and Zip-Up

A problem has been brewing in the blogosphere regarding the usefulness of video game reviews.  During the past year, I’ve come to realize that there’s a little uncertainty regarding how you should approach a video game review.

For example, my roommate lives and dies by the reviews he sees on Gamespot.  He finds their reviews to be hard on games and only buys games that score above a 9 on their review scale.  On the other hand, I have another friend who believes that game reviews are useless these days; he thinks that they only represent the views of the writer, not necessarily that of the readers.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a frivolous spender when it comes to games.  In the past, I’ve been guilty of loading up Wikipedia on my Blackberry as I walk to the local video game store to quickly read up on a certain game’s reception section.  I can understand what my latter friend says about reviews being unnecessary, but it’s so easy to plop down $40 dollars for a used game that scored a 95 on Metacritic.  Reviews are the voice that talk me into buying games.  I find it hard to stay away from them.

Are video game reviews dependable? Read the rest of this entry »

Bought yourself a fancy new price-cut PS3 (or XBox 360 or Wii) did you?  Looking to indulge yourself in the wonders of gaming on said new console?  Well then, Good Sir or Madam, you have arrived at the correct location.  Here at SideQuesting we have done the dirty work for you and sifted through the seemingly endless lists of gaming possibilities to be had on your new purchase.  Taking a look at the top 10 highest reviewed games for each console, one can have a fairly good list of gaming experiences to indulge in.  We’ve focused on exclusives, with multi-console games on a separate list at the end.

All information was weened and culled from Metacritic to provide the lists, although as we know there will be some glaring omissions here and there due to the websites that the review scores were taken from each having varied opinions.  At the end of each list we’ve added a couple recommendations of our own.  Also, the list is based on the most recent reviews scores, including games that may not have been released yet (we’re looking at you, Uncharted 2).

Read along and find out what games are worth buying on your new price-reduced gaming console!

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I’m a big fan of user interface — well, I should clarify: GOOD user interface.  I think my iPhone is hot, Windows 7 is sexy, and of Natal as the future of interaction.  I love looking at visuals and how I interact with them, in what is known as HMI (Human-Machine Interface).  As gamers, we’re most familiar with on-screen HUDs as our preferred user interface.

While playing with iTunes’ Cover Flow recently I came to the sudden realization that first-person view, something that gamers have been accustomed to for almost 20 years, has broken into the mainstream graphic design and HMI world.

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