January 2008 Message Center

LEAVING THROUGH WINDOWS

I’ve but a question to ask of thee.  Why the hell are all the Xbox exclusives moving to PC? I’ve noticed that not only did Halo 2 move over this year but then Gears of War defected around the holidays. So, like I said…why the hell?
— C.J. Umber

We say: Forsooth, we can answer. Why the hell the games migrate from 360 to PC is simple: There’s money to be made. Many times, when a game is “exclusive” to one platform, it’s for a limited amount of time and not the entire lifespan of the console — that’s a little detail they usually leave out of the press releases. The publisher and console manufacturer (in this case, Microsoft with the Xbox 360) choose a secret date at which point the game can seek more fans on another system. Can you blame a publisher for trying to earn more return on its massive investment? Of course, sometimes the door swings the other way — Supreme Commander is en route to Xbox 360 from PC, and every megahit GTA game appeared on PlayStation 2 before it arrived on original Xbox. After you’ve had your fun, why not share your toys?

HOORAY? PHOOEY!

Regarding “The Business of Xbox” in the November issue…am I the only reader who was disgusted by such an article? The article emphasizes how it’s good news because the delay would inevitably help Microsoft with sales due to GTA IV’s delay until after Christmas. Because the game has such a following it would still sell, but because of the Christmas season, people would be less likely to buy PS3’s.

It may be good for Microsoft, but the majority of your readers are gamers, not investors. This article would have been better placed in The Wall Street Journal. How about giving us an article on what happened to delay the game, or maybe just leave the topic alone because we, as the gaming community, are already bothered by the fact that we won’t see GTA IV until next year.
— TwEaKeDT DOA

We say: Microsoft paying off Rockstar? That’s quite a conspiracy theory you have there, but the truth is a little easier to swallow: We saw GTA IV running with our own eyes, and with some frame-rate issues, it needed a little more time before it was ready for release. No matter how much we want to play it, we’ll gladly wait for every issue to be addressed rather than see a developer push out a high-profile game before it’s actually done. Chris Morris’ column took a completely different approach to the disappointing situation and showed that, while the delay is clearly a drag for gamers, it might have a positive effect on the long-term health and financial success of the 360. And for the record, the column was called The Business of Xbox – so we’re not going to apologize when it covers, you know, the business of Xbox.

AXE BATTLER

Why doesn’t Guitar Hero III support the Rock Band guitar? Is it a company rivalry thing, where RedOctane doesn’t want anybody to use other people’s controllers but its own in its game, or did Harmonix build something new into the Rock Band guitar that the Guitar Hero team wasn’t aware of? It seems kind of stupid that there are two games on 360 with toy USB guitars that aren’t compatible. So who’s to blame?
— Darnell Barrie

We say: Both of your theories hold weight with us, though we were leaning toward the latter — after all, the Harmonix controller features five extra buttons and that five-way switch for changing effects, so maybe it’s just wired differently, right? Not so, says a Harmonix spokesperson: “Harmonix develops and bases all of our games, guitars, and other peripherals on open standards established by platform manufacturers such as Microsoft and Sony. Rock Band is no exception and supports an open controller standard. Guitar controllers are like any other standard controllers — it sends a signal back to the game depending on the buttons you push. If a third-party game controller is based on open standards, then it should work with Rock Band as well. If certain controllers do not work with Rock Band, questions about those controllers should be directed to the peripheral manufacturer. In addition, we welcome any third-party software that wishes to support Rock Band guitars. If a third-party guitar/music game does not support the Rock Band guitar controller, questions regarding this should be directed to the game manufacturer.”

So...Guitar Hero III is so awesome, the Rock Band guitars can’t keep up? Um, okay — but we’re not done yet. As any Guitar Hero III owner can attest, the GH guitars do work in RB, so whatever is proprietary about the Les Paul’s accelerometer is not so difficult that Harmonix couldn’t support it out of the box. Plus, Rock Band guitars don’t work in Guitar Hero II, which Harmonix developed. If the RB guitars are truly open-standard with nothing fancy under the hood, shouldn’t they also work with GH II? Or is the GH software engine to blame?
Clearly, there’s no easy answer for what seemed like a pretty easy question. This is all the information we can get out of anybody who really knows the answers, and we can’t help but feel like someone’s not telling the whole story. Our head hurts.

THE PERFECT STORM

Looking at OXM this last year I’ve noticed something. As a writer for a small-time gaming based website I know that people who read reviews barely read them — but they love the big number at the bottom of it. Quite often I see phrases like “a 10 is not perfect” or “this is a different kind of 10.” The last couple months have seen a few 10 scores awarded, and I can only imagine more to come with all the stellar titles coming. What bugs me more and more isn’t the 10 that the game receives but what the 10 represents.

The point of a number scale is to define the quality of the game. But different outlets, online and print, have drastically different scales. Your sister magazine PC Gamer uses a 100% scale, with 100% meaning perfect (and has yet, never awarded), while OXM uses a 10 scale with the impossible 11 being perfect. What’s the point of having numbered scales if it’s not possible to ever attain perfection? No, no game can be perfect, but mathematically 10/10 is a perfect score. If you can’t ever give a game a “perfect” score, then why the numbers at all?
— Mitchell Dyer

We say: Don’t think of 10 as perfect; think of 10 as the highest praise we can award. Olympic gold medalists rarely get perfect marks, but they do get the highest honor. So why not just go to Olympic rankings? Because there’s more gradation in what we see than merely “Good, Better, Best.” Games are creative expressions that might excel in one area and fail miserably in another. It’s unfair to hold games to an unattainable standard of perfection and never award the top honor as a result of pure mathematics. We cheekily added the “11: Perfect” to our range of scores because other people began projecting their misinterpretations and assumptions onto our clearly defined scale.

So the OXM 10 is our strongest endorsement for a game that is as good as you can expect to find — realistically, since games are made by human beings and not besotted fanboys with irrational expectations. And all 10s aren’t the same because all games aren’t the same. High scores are awarded for different reasons — narrative, technical, emotional, historical, creative, maybe all of the above. But to find out exactly why each game earned a 10…as you point out, you’ve gotta read the words. They’re not just filler between screenshots.

NEGATIVE CASH FLOW

I just finished reading the December 2007 issue’s article “Where Does Your $60 Go?” I really do hope that gamers who read that article take into account how important it
is to support publishers and developers to the full extent in order to keep the awesome titles coming. And what I mean by that is, stop buying used games! Do they even understand that zero dollars go to the game makers on a used game?

I’m doing my part in supporting the hobby and industry I truly love, and I hope that this letter and your article will open
up minds to the importance of buying games new.
— Gamer4Lyfe

We say: Most consumers are what marketers like to call “price motivated.” The lure of cheap games is undeniable — and for some folks, if it weren’t for used games, they wouldn’t have any games at all. It’s tough to tell a gamer on a fixed budget, “Hey, ignore that awesome deal – you’re only cheating yourself in the long run.” Yet it’s the absolute truth. The retail chains don’t share those (massive, according to recent reports) used game profits with the game creators.

So it comes down to numbers: Factoring in the inevitable used game market, can a publisher still sell enough units at full price to turn a profit? We’re personally in favor of seeing more Beautiful Katamaris and Test Drive Unlimiteds at the $40 level, on the principle that an enticing price will sell copies and make up the fiscal difference. That’s certainly better than seeing developers go out of business because they didn’t make enough cash to stay in the black, but it’s still a gamble, because there’s one more wildcard: You. Does a lower “new” price make you “price motivated” gamers more likely to pick up a game, or just make you suspicious? Write and tell us.

ROCK: THE NEXT GENERATION

I’m writing in response to Greg Suarez’s letter claiming that games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band will keep kids today from actually learning to play real guitar because they fulfill their need to feel like rock stars. Well, I’m a teenager who happens to love GH as much as Halo, and even though I still can’t beat “Jordan” on Expert, GH has inspired me to take a shot at guitar. Yeah, I know, real guitar is much harder than pressing five colored buttons on a piece of plastic, but the dream of one day being able to play the very songs I rock at on Guitar Hero keeps me working to improve myself.

I can see how some kids who might not care for music as much might be satisfied with shredding the TV with their friends, but playing a instrument simulation (even one as good as GH) will never keep any of the kids who consider learning the real thing from giving it a try. Who knows — maybe ten years from now, while some TV host interviews the latest rock star and asks him or her how they got their start, they’ll reply,”It all started when I first picked up a little plastic guitar and learned what rock was all about.”
 — Ben Lopez

We say: This is kind of what we suspected, too. If you’re really inspired by the feelings that Guitar Hero and Rock Band evoke, it’s only natural to want find other ways to trigger those responses. Playing real guitar is much more work, but it’s much more satisfying, too.

THE MOST BORING GAME IN THE UNIVERSE?

I understand that someone put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into creating OXM Universe. I appreciate their effort. The music is pretty good. The graphics are pretty good. The design is massively flawed and boring (at least, it gets that way after eight months). Stick to reviews.

I do not care about OXM Points. If you must continue using this gimmick, then offer your subscribers a more interesting payoff — perhaps unique gamerpics or themes. Maybe you could work out a special deal with a game publisher to offer your readers a chance to unlock a full version of an older Xbox Live Arcade game, or “cash in” OXM Points for real-world goodies. That would keep me awake.
— SW

We say: Tough talk from a compass direction. But fair enough — the glacial pace of OXM Universe can’t be denied, and we understand why you’re frustrated with it. Maybe we’ve spent too long building up the anticipation (we, too, are learning as we go), but our ideas from the start are in line with your expectations of what rewards should lie ahead. There’s certainly a plan (that pinpoint of light in the sky really is a destination you’ll visit soon, honest), but since OXMU is being dynamically developed month-to-month, we can’t just skip to the end. Like a comic book, there’s no end; there are only multiple story arcs and plot developments in store. Hopefully you’ll be awake when some of them reveal themselves. (By the way, you already get unique gamerpics on every disc — check in the Bonus Content section once you’ve collected your OXM Points.)

THE LAST WORD

I’ve been reading the magazine since 2003, and I always felt one thing was missing at the end of each issue: a teaser of what to expect for the next issue. PC Gamer always does this with their magazine, and it does make the next mag worth waiting for when they write that Crysis will be reviewed next issue. Do any of you think that this would be a good idea?
— Ender Soldier

We say: Right now, we play it fast and loose. Stories that we line up sometimes disappear; other times they materialize and we have to shift gears at the last moment. We usually have features planned several months in advance, but it just seems safer not to promise and then get people angry if we can’t deliver for whatever reason. (We’re still groaning about the six-month delay with delivering the Epic Journey videos.) So while we think it’s a good idea, right now it’s not something we can promise.

A MALE DIVA…A DIVO?

I have recently turned 15 and, well, I’ve hit puberty and I’ve started to change. But, more noticeably my voice has begun to change and now frequently cracks while I’m in the middle of a conversation with my friends or when I’m giving a report to my class. I am also a huge fan Guitar Hero fan and can’t wait for Rock Band. One part I’m really excited for is being able to sing along to a couple of my favorite songs such as In Bloom by Nirvana, which I do anyway, but now I can earn Gamerscore for it! I need to know if my voice cracking will mess me up on any of the songs. Love the magazine. Thanks!
— Tyler Galloway
 
We say: First of all, congratulations on your ascent into manhood. Enjoy the thrill of shaving. If your voice cracks uncontrollably, yeah, you’ll probably have a little trouble with Rock Band – like Karaoke Revolution on the original Xbox, Rock Band judges on accuracy of pitch and length of notes held, so if you can’t stop your voice from suddenly jumping or dropping half an octave, you’ll need to stick to the easier skill levels, which are more forgiving. Unless, of course, you can convince your voice to crack in full octaves, at which point the game wouldn’t even notice — you can sing the notes in a higher or lower register than the recording, as long as you remain on-key. If you can make this happen…upload it to YouTube, because we want to see it. And remember: puberty only lasts a little while, but Rock Band will be there long after your larynx has discovered girls.