OXM Message Center (October 2007)

PROSE AND CONS
In response to the question in your June 2007 issue about whether we read books based on videogames, I’d like to tell you that I do…especially now. I regret to say it, but I’m in an Arizona state prison and I’m unable to play my 360. But me and 900 of my new “close friends” (literally) on the cellblock absolutely love the Halo, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell novels. They’re a great way for us to enjoy the game without, well, enjoying the game! We also need to thank you for the Mass Effect: Revelation excerpt. It looks like another great novel to fill me in until I can once again fire up my console. (Three years to go…don’t commit crimes! It’s not worth it!)
— Mister Brutus

We say: Sounds like you’ve found a way to make the best of a bad situation; we occasionally get mail from inmates who say OXM helps remind them of what’s waiting for them on the other side of the wall. Mass Effect will indeed be here when you get out, if not its sequel. And as for novel excerpts, watch for another in our next issue.

THIS LETTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY OXM
I just read your “And Now a Game From Our Sponsor” article about in-game advertising, and I’m confused. Why did you print something saying that in-game advertising is a bad thing, when on your monthly disc you have a clip about Progressive Insurance? The article also criticizes the advertising in Test Drive Unlimited that had you buying Ben Sherman and Ecko clothing to get an Achievement, but on your demo disc, you have to watch that insurance clip — which is essentially “in-game” advertising — to get 50 OXM Points for OXM Universe. And on previous OXM demo discs, Stride gum and other companies have had advertisements. Please sort this out for me.
— Jason Bull

We say: Uh, that’s stretching it a bit, Jason. Just like there are ads in the magazine you’re holding (and such ads have existed as long as magazines have), there are ads on the disc that complements the magazine. The ad is not interrupting or integrated with a game experience, and you are not required to check it out (though, sure, if you want all the goodies, you need to jump through hoops, some of which are advertisements). By contrast, you don’t have the choice to avoid an in-game product placement. And to clarify, the in-game product placements we object to are the ones that feel shoehorned into a game world where they don’t belong or matter. Tony Hawk riding Birdhouse skateboards? Perfect. Tony Hawk talking on a specific model of Nokia phone? Pointless. So we understand what you’re suggesting…but we’re not buyin’ it. For more good feedback about this article, check out the sidebar on page 14.
 

FACE FACTS
In your August 2007 Letter From the Editor, you seemed puzzled and bemused by the fact that many game designers don’t get the recognition they deserve for making the games we love, while so many movie and television stars do. The reason for this is simple: facial recognition. When watching a movie or show, we see a handful of faces over and over again, so it’s easy to attach their names to those faces. But it’s not just game designers that are getting the attention-shaft; it’s pretty much everyone else outside the silver screen.
    Take book authors, for example. Michael Crichton, Steven King, and Anne Rice are huge — they’ve been selling millions since before Will Wright had Windows — but you could stand right next to one of them in a fast-food line and never think twice about it.
So I say that if game developers/designers/publishers/whatevers want more individual recognition, they need to come out from behind the curtain and take a bow. Why not include some behind-the-scenes featurettes in more games? How about blooper reels or group photographs displayed during the credits so that people actually watch them?
    Or maybe these folks should just be glad that they can do what they do, make the money that they do, and not have to pay the price in privacy that movie stars do. Because I don’t know about you, but I really have no interest in seeing grainy photographs of Shigeru Miyamoto vacationing on a nude beach.
— Scott Maisel
 
We say: Good point, Scott. It’s true that many game developers don’t embrace their “celebrity.” Actors naturally get more exposure because their work is visual, beamed into homes and displayed in theaters. Many game devs we’ve met don’t think of themselves as famous; like writers, they’re more concerned with what they’re creating than with personal glory. There are a few people who currently do both, whether by choice or not — CliffyB comes to mind, as do the folks you mentioned, Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto. But Bryan James Hamilton agrees with your point wholeheartedly: “With big names, the industry may inherit big egos with more pride than personality. The videogame industry seems to have a ton of down-to-earth, who-cares-about-botox type of people in it, and I appreciate that.” Us, too. Maybe it’ll take a larger social shift for game devs to get respect outside of our insular circle.

LOADED DOWN
Your rating of downloadable content is broken. I find that you review the content itself more on how much you liked the original game than on how much content there is and how good it is. You gave the Gears of War HF Map Pack a Buy. It’s $10 for four maps, and the only good thing I’m getting out of your so-called review is that these maps look good. How can you say “almost” too expensive? I pay $50/year for Xbox Live; those maps should be half that.
    Likewise, you scored the GRAW 2 Throwback Pack a Fanboys Only. Sure, these maps are remakes, but you get 10 maps rather then four, and I’m sure lots of people have never played them before. And the Crackdown Gettin’ Busy Pack, which is some of the biggest bang for your buck as far as DLC is concerned — new cars, weapons, and equipment, and a ton of races — you also rated a Fanboys Only? At least Crackdown players can have fun getting good Achievements that are time-consuming yet not impossible like the extra Gears of War Achievements (which suck, aren’t fun, and can be earned in an unranked match).
    Marvel: Ultimate Alliance’s Heroes & Villains Pack is $10 for eight new characters, and you gave it a Buy. Same with Lost Planet Map Pack #1 — two maps for $5, for a game that’s flawed no matter how many maps you throw at it. You guys bring way too much bias to your DLC reviews. As a loyal subscriber for years, I find that kinda pathetic.
— Kenny Gould
 
We say: Is it just the amount of content for the money or the amount of fun for the money? We’re thinking about both quality and quantity, Kenny. DLC poses a unique question: Was the original experience enjoyable enough that you would want to extend it? And if so, does that DLC extend it in a good way, or just give you more busywork? Guitar Hero II’s song packs don’t give you many tracks, but they offer plenty more of what the game already does so well.
    Clearly, we’ve disagreed with your take on what’s fun and what’s not. But if we gave a bias about DLC, it’s purely a desire to not see anybody waste money if the game they originally bought already got the job done.

TO EACH THEIR PWN
Man, am I tired of seeing kids use “pwn” for the word “own” or “pwnd” for “owned.” Is it a slip of the pre-teen wrist or the pre-adult mind that thinks the p is an o? And to see an official publication use this term (Message Center, July 2007) is getting out of hand.
    So what’s society coming to...an UNofficial use of the English language, or is this just another joke like Ebonics? Hey, I know — why don’t we just start replacing all the first letters of words? Yeah, that’ll solve our children’s inability to read and write. Tours yruly...
— Robert (or should I say, Tobert)

We say: Tobert, we blame teh interwebs. Language always evolves, and we really don’t feel that a winking knowledge of the oft-misspelled language of gamers is cause for alarm. But thx 4 wr1tng in.