I've pondered a lot of different ways to approach the same subject - the Wii. I've enjoyed the Wii this year more than I've enjoyed any console I've ever owned (...and I been playing since the Atari 2600s, so the list goes back a long ways).
I've considered doing an end of year post about the Wii games that really delighted me this year, but it feels like I'm talking to the wind. The common statement of Wiis gathering dust really makes me sad.
Another angle.
Recently there was an article on Gamasutra about gamers aging and how that would change some of the types of games that would be appreciated as people's tastes change as they grow old. The article was responded to with lots of comments stating that tastes don't change and how stereotypical the article was.
However, it's also full of truth, that's why stereotypes exist. In this case, the fact is that as people, men in particular, age, their testosterone levels drop, which has a direct impact on their desire for the things that desired as adolescents. Some people go on wanting shooters, but as Nintendo and others have seen, many don't and leave gaming altogether. It's really of no surprise that the comments were in large part from people whose tastes haven't changed...it would be expected that the majority of those whose tastes did change simply moved on. They're not commenting, because they aren't playing games. They're the majority of people out there, living as doctors and teachers, businessmen and janitors.
Nintendo and PopCap have discovered that they still like to play games and they are providing games that this group enjoys. Unfortunately, by the old guard of gaming (which turns out to be made up of mostly adolescents), these gamers are some sort of problem that is ruining them, and so hate instead of friendship rules and the Wii gets the hate.
Dust Free Wii
Which leads me back to the beginning. I've never had more fun with any console than I've had with the Wii. Over the course of this year I played well over 350 games. I played a couple hundred for the Mac at my day job (http://www.reflexive.com/), I played well over a hundred for my indie hobby (http://www.gametunnel.com/), I played a dozen on the DS, and I played a bunch more on the Wii (~50).
In the course of doing all this playing, I found a lot of games that I really enjoyed. It's lead me to wanting to share why those games were so great (and once I did share). I've tried to figure out why people don't seem to like the Wii. One thing that's become abundantly clear is that people aren't playing the games that they are complaining about. It's sort of anti-intuitive, but the same people who say every Wii game sucks at Kotaku, don't actually play the games.
The Wii has become an icon to hate.
So there is the real problem, hate. I've called it Wii Hater Bias (WHB) in the past.
How do you make someone stop hating?
It's a topic much bigger than this post or gaming. It floods through every aspect of our lives. I've praised the good in Indie gaming for years and years, and I've become used to people dismissing things without considering them. Though I'm used to it, it still gets under my skin.
When people care, they see the good. That is true in every aspect of life from your relationship with your significant other to the Wii.
When people hate, they see the bad. This is also true in every aspect of life. It's a part of what makes relationships fail and is absolutely why people keep saying there aren't any good Wii games.
It's not that there aren't good games for the Wii. There are. Lots of them.
It's that people hate the Wii to the point that they can't see the good. All they can see the is bad. (and there is plenty of that to be found in every aspect of life if you look for it)
When you look for the worst in people you'll probably find it.
The same is true here.
I find it discouraging and disheartening to think about, and it really makes me sad to think of all the people missing out on things they would like. More so, it just makes me sad that there is so much hate and anger. It's an emotion that doesn't make life better.
As 2009 starts, I hope we find a way to break through some of the hate, bias, and prejudice that keeps people from considering the world they are condemning.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Top Wii games of 2008 [Metacritic]
Metacritic has put together a list of the top 5 Wii games of the year: http://www.metacritic.com/games/bests/2008.shtml
1 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2 - World of Goo
3 - MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade
4 - Okami
5 - Tetris Party
#3 hasn't been released in the states yet, but looks really interesting...and is likely to show up on Monday, just making the end of the year. Interestingly, after all the maligning of WiiWare, 3 of the top 5 rated games per Metacrtic are WiiWare games. I'm not surprised personally, WiiWare is horribly under-appreciated.
I grabbed the next 5 (well 6) from Metacrtic for the year as well:
6 - Guitar Hero World Tour
7 - Bomberman Blast
8 - Art Style: ORBIENT
9 - Boom Blox
10 - Mega Man 9
11 - No More Heroes
3 of the next 5 are WiiWare titles as well, bringing the total to 6 of the top 10...and Strong Bad, Lost Winds, Dr. Mario and Final Fantasy aren't even on the list.
So point one - WiiWare is under appreciated.
Point two - Innovation on the Wii is under appreciated. From that list of 10 I'd say at least 4 of them are innovative and different than what we are seeing on other platforms (World of Goo, MaBoShi, Art Style: Orbient, Boom Blox).
I've heard complaints that the Wii was supposed to change gaming, but it is failing horribly. I disagree with those sentiments of course, and I think the variety found in the Top rated Wii games is proof of it. (also interesting is the DS list - World Ends with You, Professor Layton & the PSP list Patapon, Space Invaders Extreme).
Notably absent...shooters.
...but I'm really not missing them.
I enjoy the occasional shooter, but I have to say, the Wii Top 5 list is far more diverse and interesting to me than the Top 5 list on either of the 2 shooter consoles.
1 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2 - World of Goo
3 - MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade
4 - Okami
5 - Tetris Party
#3 hasn't been released in the states yet, but looks really interesting...and is likely to show up on Monday, just making the end of the year. Interestingly, after all the maligning of WiiWare, 3 of the top 5 rated games per Metacrtic are WiiWare games. I'm not surprised personally, WiiWare is horribly under-appreciated.
I grabbed the next 5 (well 6) from Metacrtic for the year as well:
6 - Guitar Hero World Tour
7 - Bomberman Blast
8 - Art Style: ORBIENT
9 - Boom Blox
10 - Mega Man 9
11 - No More Heroes
3 of the next 5 are WiiWare titles as well, bringing the total to 6 of the top 10...and Strong Bad, Lost Winds, Dr. Mario and Final Fantasy aren't even on the list.
So point one - WiiWare is under appreciated.
Point two - Innovation on the Wii is under appreciated. From that list of 10 I'd say at least 4 of them are innovative and different than what we are seeing on other platforms (World of Goo, MaBoShi, Art Style: Orbient, Boom Blox).
I've heard complaints that the Wii was supposed to change gaming, but it is failing horribly. I disagree with those sentiments of course, and I think the variety found in the Top rated Wii games is proof of it. (also interesting is the DS list - World Ends with You, Professor Layton & the PSP list Patapon, Space Invaders Extreme).
Notably absent...shooters.
...but I'm really not missing them.
I enjoy the occasional shooter, but I have to say, the Wii Top 5 list is far more diverse and interesting to me than the Top 5 list on either of the 2 shooter consoles.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Record sales! Record layoffs!?
The latest NPD numbers for North America are out and guess what? Video Games have never been hotter or sold more. 2008 is still on pace to be a record year for the industry!
So why is it that every other day we are hearing about layoffs and how the studio closures. Why are they fighting to stay alive when the industry is doing better than ever? Why is everyone so glum?
A few thoughts:
1 - The Party's Over
Over the years Nintendo noticed that the number of people playing games in Japan was decreasing. Doesn't that seem weird to say? More people play games now than ever! ...but what are they playing? Nintendo say in Japan that people played in their adolescence, then stopped, and that the number of kids was not increasing. They saw a highway to nowhere and so they changed strategies assuming the US would follow course.
Interestingly, the US has followed course. Strip out the Nintendo numbers and the industry is down this year by a lot. Those core games like Fable 2, come out, make a big splash and then disappear. The problem is, they cost a LOT to make and they need to have legs. However, there just isn't an audience for them beyond the first 6-8 weeks at retail...and that's for the hits. Costs more to make taken with flat to declining sales = industry in jeopardy. It's not the whole reason, but it's part of the problem. Nintendo adjusted, the industry has been sometimes on the attack against Nintendo, and has become especially so as they start plummeting. It's easier to blame Nintendo for the problems than it is to look at the industry and realize that there just aren't enough gamers who like the old 'core' games to support making them at the current costs. (which btw makes for more than one obvious solution)
2 - The Party's just beginning
Nintendo has opened up the public to gaming like never before. It's an opportunity to experiment and try different things as you have tons of niches that can likely support a game. You don't have only the option of shooters and sequels anymore! If you want to make a game about lacrosse, now is the perfect time! How about a stock market game? Rodeo? Personality testing? It's an opportunity for innovation with a better chance of hitting the mark than in the past (notably it's still pretty low ;)
3 - 3RD Parties are desperate need of some business schooling.
Quick, name a single 3rd party title that was made by the 'A' team at EA, Activision, Take 2, Ubisoft or well, any game developer not called Nintendo? Boom Blox? That wasn't the 'A' team. It was a good game, but not the 'A' team.
So the current cycle is something like this:
Big games from the 'A' teams are coming out on the PS3 and X360
Big game loses money
Little game/shovelware comes out on the Wii
Little game/shovelware doesn't make money because...well it's horrible...
Publisher/Developer claims Wii is destroying the market
Repeat
Why not put the Bioshock or Dead Space or Mass Effect team on the Wii?
(I'm sure you have all kinds of protests in your mind...that's what happens at the big game developer's too, that is why the cycle just repeats over and over instead of being broken)
A final note... Rock Band on the Wii was the top selling version of Rock Band in November. Rock Band 1! Not Rock Band 2 that has been advertised and advertised over and over. You know why? Rock Band 2 doesn't come out on Wii until this week!?
Apparently either EA or Harmonix didn't get the memo that Guitar Hero sells best on Wii. Or they are just stuck in the cycle above? My guess is that they took soo long to release the horribly gimped Rock Band 1 on the Wii that they wanted to give it time to sell and didn't really care that customers were getting a piece of garbage. Apparently the brand value isn't very high and they wanted to horribly damage it? I'm really not sure, but I have to say it was the bone-headed business move of the year.
Instead of building brand on the Wii, what should be the lead platform for Rock Band, EA hurt branding and let Guitar Hero reign supreme. This is especially a bad move in light of the up-coming Beatles game. The Wii is the only console that can boast having an audience who listened to the Beatles in the 60s. So the Wii is #1 for music games and #1 for having an older audience. Do you think EA/Harmonix will bring the Beatles to the Wii first when it comes out? My guess is that the answer is 'no.' ...and the layoffs will continue...
A final, final note...
Can you name one publisher who is putting at least some of it's 'A' platform on the Wii (though perhaps not the 'A' team).
Square Enix...though it's really a long ways off, I expect it will pay huge dividends on the DS and then the Wii. Now if the FF team could get moved over, we might really have something. From one developer at least ;).
So why is it that every other day we are hearing about layoffs and how the studio closures. Why are they fighting to stay alive when the industry is doing better than ever? Why is everyone so glum?
A few thoughts:
1 - The Party's Over
Over the years Nintendo noticed that the number of people playing games in Japan was decreasing. Doesn't that seem weird to say? More people play games now than ever! ...but what are they playing? Nintendo say in Japan that people played in their adolescence, then stopped, and that the number of kids was not increasing. They saw a highway to nowhere and so they changed strategies assuming the US would follow course.
Interestingly, the US has followed course. Strip out the Nintendo numbers and the industry is down this year by a lot. Those core games like Fable 2, come out, make a big splash and then disappear. The problem is, they cost a LOT to make and they need to have legs. However, there just isn't an audience for them beyond the first 6-8 weeks at retail...and that's for the hits. Costs more to make taken with flat to declining sales = industry in jeopardy. It's not the whole reason, but it's part of the problem. Nintendo adjusted, the industry has been sometimes on the attack against Nintendo, and has become especially so as they start plummeting. It's easier to blame Nintendo for the problems than it is to look at the industry and realize that there just aren't enough gamers who like the old 'core' games to support making them at the current costs. (which btw makes for more than one obvious solution)
2 - The Party's just beginning
Nintendo has opened up the public to gaming like never before. It's an opportunity to experiment and try different things as you have tons of niches that can likely support a game. You don't have only the option of shooters and sequels anymore! If you want to make a game about lacrosse, now is the perfect time! How about a stock market game? Rodeo? Personality testing? It's an opportunity for innovation with a better chance of hitting the mark than in the past (notably it's still pretty low ;)
3 - 3RD Parties are desperate need of some business schooling.
Quick, name a single 3rd party title that was made by the 'A' team at EA, Activision, Take 2, Ubisoft or well, any game developer not called Nintendo? Boom Blox? That wasn't the 'A' team. It was a good game, but not the 'A' team.
So the current cycle is something like this:
Big games from the 'A' teams are coming out on the PS3 and X360
Big game loses money
Little game/shovelware comes out on the Wii
Little game/shovelware doesn't make money because...well it's horrible...
Publisher/Developer claims Wii is destroying the market
Repeat
Why not put the Bioshock or Dead Space or Mass Effect team on the Wii?
(I'm sure you have all kinds of protests in your mind...that's what happens at the big game developer's too, that is why the cycle just repeats over and over instead of being broken)
A final note... Rock Band on the Wii was the top selling version of Rock Band in November. Rock Band 1! Not Rock Band 2 that has been advertised and advertised over and over. You know why? Rock Band 2 doesn't come out on Wii until this week!?
Apparently either EA or Harmonix didn't get the memo that Guitar Hero sells best on Wii. Or they are just stuck in the cycle above? My guess is that they took soo long to release the horribly gimped Rock Band 1 on the Wii that they wanted to give it time to sell and didn't really care that customers were getting a piece of garbage. Apparently the brand value isn't very high and they wanted to horribly damage it? I'm really not sure, but I have to say it was the bone-headed business move of the year.
Instead of building brand on the Wii, what should be the lead platform for Rock Band, EA hurt branding and let Guitar Hero reign supreme. This is especially a bad move in light of the up-coming Beatles game. The Wii is the only console that can boast having an audience who listened to the Beatles in the 60s. So the Wii is #1 for music games and #1 for having an older audience. Do you think EA/Harmonix will bring the Beatles to the Wii first when it comes out? My guess is that the answer is 'no.' ...and the layoffs will continue...
A final, final note...
Can you name one publisher who is putting at least some of it's 'A' platform on the Wii (though perhaps not the 'A' team).
Square Enix...though it's really a long ways off, I expect it will pay huge dividends on the DS and then the Wii. Now if the FF team could get moved over, we might really have something. From one developer at least ;).
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
In defense of WiiMusic
The game industry needs to grow up.
It's young and as a medium, games provide so many opportunities that aren't being taken.
I think the industry needs the gaming equivalents of Driving Miss Daisy and Life is Beautiful, but increasingly, it seems gamers and game developers, when considering making games that appeal to "grown ups" are limiting themselves to Saving Private Ryan. That narrow-minded approach is perhaps causing players and designers alike to completely ignore one of the most amazing titles of the year, Wii Music.
Movie = Observed, Game = Involved
On the way out of Disneyland last week I was talking to my kids about the new Toy Story ride. The ride is like a video game with 3D screens and a gun (cannon?) that you use to fire at various targets. It's an amazing ride that is a lot of fun, especially for someone who really enjoys games.
I told my 5-year-old that she should tell her Mom all about it, and she stopped me and said "But Dad, you told us not to tell Mom about Movies." It was a great moment for me to stop and think. For her, she couldn't see the difference between a movie and a game. She'd been told many times not to tell Mom about movie endings so as to not ruin the movie, and she thought this game/ride was the same thing.
Of course the ride is nothing like a movie. In describing it, I wouldn't talk about the story, and there is absolutely no way I could ruin it for you because you have to experience it to understand it. While there are some games like movies, I think the greatest strength of games is the fact that they are an 'experience.'
A 'Mini-Rant'
However, it seems that despite interactive being an integral part of games, when attempting to discuss how to make games that tackle more 'grown-up' issues we often limit our approach to that of movies and other observer types of media.
Books, movies and music are all bad comparisons with the whole of what video games offers as a medium. They all make statements to the audience instead of involving the audience in the statement. Interactivity is what gaming offers that makes it the most amazing form of entertainment and media of our time. Interactivity can provide a way for people to experience things and broaden their minds in ways that no other form of media can do. I believe gaming will struggle to be all it can be if we only consider a narrow band of what gaming can be.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has become the favorite system for gamers. (at least in the US if no-where else) The type of game given the largest advertising budget over the 4 Christmases it's been available, has been amazingly constant:
2005 - Perfect Dark
2006 - Gears of War
2007 - Halo 3
2008 - Gears of War 2
That list I find amazingly disappointing because the approach is all in the same little box. Where Microsoft is putting its top advertising dollars is a very strong statement about who the gaming industry is. I don't want to take anything away from the games, they are great. The problem is, when we look at our efforts to make the industry grow-up or better appeal to adults, placing so much focus on such a narrow slice of gaming, hurts the industry. If we limit ourselves to trying to discuss weighty matters that are of real significance within such a small approach vector, we are condemning video games to a limited role in society.
So why the rant?
After watching E3, I scratched WiiMusic off my 'get' list. I was sure Nintendo and Shigero Miyamoto had lost their collective minds. In the weeks leading to the game's release, I watched the occasional video and read snipits on gamer blogs about the game, trying to grasp what the point was. During that time, it was easy to join the 'haven't played the game, but somehow understand it enough to hate it' mass that seem to define gamers of our day.
The first crack to my shell came from reading a piece from Stephen Totillo on MTV Multiplayer talking about the moment he 'got' the game while playing Every Breath you Take. I'm a fan of Sting and of Stephen's honest writing style, he had me interested.
Then I watched a video from JC Rodrigo on YouTube. I was further interested and thought the game would be worth a try at least and since I had a $25 gift-card to use, so it wouldn't be like a full-priced game anyway.
I've put in over 10 hours on WiiMusic in the short time I've owned it, and I feel like I haven't scratched the surface. It is a game unlike any other I've played, the closest thing that comes to it is WiiFit. (another much misunderstood and much maligned game by "gamers") WiiFit has made me think about myself and my health in a way that I never got out of a movie or any book. By being an experience I was having instead of something I was observing, it much more strongly impacted me.
Another tangent - WiiFit
Simply weighing myself every couple of days and doing simple exercises changed my perception. I became aware of how I balanced my body on my heels and started mentally trying to correct this. I realized how positive an impact exercising (outside of the game) had on my weight. I also had fun in a new and different way. I came to love several of the balance board games and looked forward to playing them for a few minutes as a reward for doing some of the exercises. I didn't play the game daily and play it much less now that I've had it for 6 months, but it has impacted my life. It has changed my perception of myself and my health and has done so by being a video game that pushed the boundaries in a way that made most gamers uncomfortable and has brought it under a lot of scorn. I bristle when I hear such things. If I never play the game again, I can say it impacted my life in a positive way, in a way that no other form of media could, and I'm pretty amazed by that.
So back to WiiMusic.
I've enjoyed singing in choirs and when I was younger I played in bands. I play piano pretty badly, but not horribly (which is how I play guitar). I like music and enjoy a wide variety of it (my interests are far from satiated by the play lists in Guitar Hero and Rock Band). Despite coming from what I thought was a pretty solid music background, WiiMusic made me 'get' music in a way I'd never gotten it before.
The game includes a few music lessons, and in one of them, you play each piece of a band on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It seemed dumb, and I was somewhat affronted by playing such a silly song, but no-one was watching, so I played on. Playing each piece, one at a time, seeing how different they were, and then seeing how it all came together to make something that sounded so rich and full was really amazing to me. All the parts were so diverse, but all the sounds jelled together so well. I of course had understood this concept before, but actually playing every part, made me understand it in a way I never had before. Ever since, as I hear music, I'm picking out the parts and thinking about them in a different way that I can't quite explain other than to say I feel like my mind has been awoken.
Of course that was really just the beginning of my love of WiiMusic. Playing the songs in the game, it turns out, is really a challenge. Though most people I talk to think they get that each part is different, in practice, everyone just waves their remove or presses buttons like a mad fool, creating noise, lots of noise, and very little music that sounds interesting.
Playing a song well, at least my definition of well, which isn't quite Peter Gabriel, but nonetheless pretty intense, is hard, really hard. I played Motzart's 'A Little Night Music' over and over with my wife. Each time we'd finish and either she or I would say that we'd messed up on timing or in rhythm that made one part of the song or another sound garbagy, like we were a band learning how to play together, which in fact is exactly what we were doing.
Then there came that moment, after an hour plus of rehashing and playing the same song over and over again, where we really did jell together. It created the same sensation of accomplishment that I got when doing piano recitals and band concerts years ago. We really sounded pretty good. However, in watching the video, we saw areas where we could do better.
That's just one of the great moments in the game. An even more amazing moment comes as you push past making a particular song sound great and start making it sound like it is yours. That's when my creative side starts tweaking things, changing parts, timing and rhythm. Out of that, something new is created and I feel alive. It's the main reason I make games for a living. I love that feeling. WiiMusic provides an amazing workshop where you can create and tinker in a way that has never been done before, and in a way that only video games can do. It has opened my mind to a new world and left me humming my own favorite remixes of tunes that I created.
For me, I am really saddened by the negative reviews and comments that I've seen by the game. Based on the game's low sales, I'd guess that most of the people commenting about it haven't played it, or if they have, it was a brief experience at a friend's house.
WiiMusic isn't WiiSports. The first little bit may be fun, but it's not immediately accessible in the way WiiSports is. It takes time and experimenting, and a little bit of putting yourself into it to understand it. One I 'got' it, it changed my perspective about what games for adults should be like.
Some games can change the way you think and act by giving you information that you can only learn by experiencing it. WiiMusic did that for me. The fact that games are an experience is one of their greatest strengths! WiiMusic, I think, really capitalized on this.
...and it did it in a mature way, at least the way I think of mature -- that of expanding your thinking and changing your perceptions.
For any who have considered the game but passed on it, I hope you'll reconsider.
It's young and as a medium, games provide so many opportunities that aren't being taken.
I think the industry needs the gaming equivalents of Driving Miss Daisy and Life is Beautiful, but increasingly, it seems gamers and game developers, when considering making games that appeal to "grown ups" are limiting themselves to Saving Private Ryan. That narrow-minded approach is perhaps causing players and designers alike to completely ignore one of the most amazing titles of the year, Wii Music.
Movie = Observed, Game = Involved
On the way out of Disneyland last week I was talking to my kids about the new Toy Story ride. The ride is like a video game with 3D screens and a gun (cannon?) that you use to fire at various targets. It's an amazing ride that is a lot of fun, especially for someone who really enjoys games.
I told my 5-year-old that she should tell her Mom all about it, and she stopped me and said "But Dad, you told us not to tell Mom about Movies." It was a great moment for me to stop and think. For her, she couldn't see the difference between a movie and a game. She'd been told many times not to tell Mom about movie endings so as to not ruin the movie, and she thought this game/ride was the same thing.
Of course the ride is nothing like a movie. In describing it, I wouldn't talk about the story, and there is absolutely no way I could ruin it for you because you have to experience it to understand it. While there are some games like movies, I think the greatest strength of games is the fact that they are an 'experience.'
A 'Mini-Rant'
However, it seems that despite interactive being an integral part of games, when attempting to discuss how to make games that tackle more 'grown-up' issues we often limit our approach to that of movies and other observer types of media.
Books, movies and music are all bad comparisons with the whole of what video games offers as a medium. They all make statements to the audience instead of involving the audience in the statement. Interactivity is what gaming offers that makes it the most amazing form of entertainment and media of our time. Interactivity can provide a way for people to experience things and broaden their minds in ways that no other form of media can do. I believe gaming will struggle to be all it can be if we only consider a narrow band of what gaming can be.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has become the favorite system for gamers. (at least in the US if no-where else) The type of game given the largest advertising budget over the 4 Christmases it's been available, has been amazingly constant:
2005 - Perfect Dark
2006 - Gears of War
2007 - Halo 3
2008 - Gears of War 2
That list I find amazingly disappointing because the approach is all in the same little box. Where Microsoft is putting its top advertising dollars is a very strong statement about who the gaming industry is. I don't want to take anything away from the games, they are great. The problem is, when we look at our efforts to make the industry grow-up or better appeal to adults, placing so much focus on such a narrow slice of gaming, hurts the industry. If we limit ourselves to trying to discuss weighty matters that are of real significance within such a small approach vector, we are condemning video games to a limited role in society.
So why the rant?
After watching E3, I scratched WiiMusic off my 'get' list. I was sure Nintendo and Shigero Miyamoto had lost their collective minds. In the weeks leading to the game's release, I watched the occasional video and read snipits on gamer blogs about the game, trying to grasp what the point was. During that time, it was easy to join the 'haven't played the game, but somehow understand it enough to hate it' mass that seem to define gamers of our day.
The first crack to my shell came from reading a piece from Stephen Totillo on MTV Multiplayer talking about the moment he 'got' the game while playing Every Breath you Take. I'm a fan of Sting and of Stephen's honest writing style, he had me interested.
Then I watched a video from JC Rodrigo on YouTube. I was further interested and thought the game would be worth a try at least and since I had a $25 gift-card to use, so it wouldn't be like a full-priced game anyway.
I've put in over 10 hours on WiiMusic in the short time I've owned it, and I feel like I haven't scratched the surface. It is a game unlike any other I've played, the closest thing that comes to it is WiiFit. (another much misunderstood and much maligned game by "gamers") WiiFit has made me think about myself and my health in a way that I never got out of a movie or any book. By being an experience I was having instead of something I was observing, it much more strongly impacted me.
Another tangent - WiiFit
Simply weighing myself every couple of days and doing simple exercises changed my perception. I became aware of how I balanced my body on my heels and started mentally trying to correct this. I realized how positive an impact exercising (outside of the game) had on my weight. I also had fun in a new and different way. I came to love several of the balance board games and looked forward to playing them for a few minutes as a reward for doing some of the exercises. I didn't play the game daily and play it much less now that I've had it for 6 months, but it has impacted my life. It has changed my perception of myself and my health and has done so by being a video game that pushed the boundaries in a way that made most gamers uncomfortable and has brought it under a lot of scorn. I bristle when I hear such things. If I never play the game again, I can say it impacted my life in a positive way, in a way that no other form of media could, and I'm pretty amazed by that.
So back to WiiMusic.
I've enjoyed singing in choirs and when I was younger I played in bands. I play piano pretty badly, but not horribly (which is how I play guitar). I like music and enjoy a wide variety of it (my interests are far from satiated by the play lists in Guitar Hero and Rock Band). Despite coming from what I thought was a pretty solid music background, WiiMusic made me 'get' music in a way I'd never gotten it before.
The game includes a few music lessons, and in one of them, you play each piece of a band on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It seemed dumb, and I was somewhat affronted by playing such a silly song, but no-one was watching, so I played on. Playing each piece, one at a time, seeing how different they were, and then seeing how it all came together to make something that sounded so rich and full was really amazing to me. All the parts were so diverse, but all the sounds jelled together so well. I of course had understood this concept before, but actually playing every part, made me understand it in a way I never had before. Ever since, as I hear music, I'm picking out the parts and thinking about them in a different way that I can't quite explain other than to say I feel like my mind has been awoken.
Of course that was really just the beginning of my love of WiiMusic. Playing the songs in the game, it turns out, is really a challenge. Though most people I talk to think they get that each part is different, in practice, everyone just waves their remove or presses buttons like a mad fool, creating noise, lots of noise, and very little music that sounds interesting.
Playing a song well, at least my definition of well, which isn't quite Peter Gabriel, but nonetheless pretty intense, is hard, really hard. I played Motzart's 'A Little Night Music' over and over with my wife. Each time we'd finish and either she or I would say that we'd messed up on timing or in rhythm that made one part of the song or another sound garbagy, like we were a band learning how to play together, which in fact is exactly what we were doing.
Then there came that moment, after an hour plus of rehashing and playing the same song over and over again, where we really did jell together. It created the same sensation of accomplishment that I got when doing piano recitals and band concerts years ago. We really sounded pretty good. However, in watching the video, we saw areas where we could do better.
That's just one of the great moments in the game. An even more amazing moment comes as you push past making a particular song sound great and start making it sound like it is yours. That's when my creative side starts tweaking things, changing parts, timing and rhythm. Out of that, something new is created and I feel alive. It's the main reason I make games for a living. I love that feeling. WiiMusic provides an amazing workshop where you can create and tinker in a way that has never been done before, and in a way that only video games can do. It has opened my mind to a new world and left me humming my own favorite remixes of tunes that I created.
For me, I am really saddened by the negative reviews and comments that I've seen by the game. Based on the game's low sales, I'd guess that most of the people commenting about it haven't played it, or if they have, it was a brief experience at a friend's house.
WiiMusic isn't WiiSports. The first little bit may be fun, but it's not immediately accessible in the way WiiSports is. It takes time and experimenting, and a little bit of putting yourself into it to understand it. One I 'got' it, it changed my perspective about what games for adults should be like.
Some games can change the way you think and act by giving you information that you can only learn by experiencing it. WiiMusic did that for me. The fact that games are an experience is one of their greatest strengths! WiiMusic, I think, really capitalized on this.
...and it did it in a mature way, at least the way I think of mature -- that of expanding your thinking and changing your perceptions.
For any who have considered the game but passed on it, I hope you'll reconsider.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Off-topic: Microsoft Movie Maker and making software for the masses
I recently made my first DVD viewable on my TV through my DVD player. The process took nearly a year.
In going through it all, I found myself frustrated at Microsoft for the same reasons I'm always frustrated with them, and wondering why so few people are mentioning the problems I saw (and why there doesn't seem to be a solution through Movie Maker!?).
So the short of the story, we have a miniDV camcorder and I was able to easily bring my video recordings of Disneyland and Birthdays from a single 60 minute tape over to my computer. I thought I was half done in taking my movie from the camera screen to the big screen...but boy was I wrong.
The next step was easy enough, I used Movie Maker to splice up my movie, at cut effects for transitioning and even add some music at different spots to liven things up. I then tried to burn the movie to DVD. You have one option to do this in Movie Maker with not ability to control the quality of the output...and so I burned a DVD and watched the movie and it was, in my personal opinion, horrible. It was agonizing to watch the tape through the camera and see a crisp picture on the screen and then go to Movie Maker and have the movie turned into refuse. I gave up the project for 9 months and started back into it last week...6 hours of web searching and trial and error later I finally had my movie.
So let's get back to where my problem was. It isn't how Movie Maker makes amovie. In fact Movie Maker makes great movies! If you save the movie to your hard drive at a high-quality setting (for some unknown reason you only have that option WHEN saving to your computer) you will find that it comes out looking like a champ. Using Windows Media Encoder 9, you can even create your own profile and save the movie in HD and it will look fantastic. (seriously!)
...but if you try to have Movie Maker save the movie to your DVD, it lowers the quality...and there is simply no-way around it (short of swapping the files that Movie Maker writes to the DVD...while it is writing, a horribly stupid process!).
Using Movie Maker to make your DVD will ruin the perfectly good video you made by lowering the quality with pixelation and somewhat washed out colors. You can't change the save to DVD settings, there is no options to choose or ability to change it. Microsoft wants you to do it a specific way and you will do it the Microsoft way!
This lead me to another tirade about what I call Microsoft's Communistic Commands. Often in the name of helping customers out, Microsoft will decide there is a best way to do things...and then absolutely force that on the customer. For example, ClearType in IE7, which can help the Internet be more readable on monitors using DVI. It is turned on by default despite causing huge problems for anyone not using DVI (I was ill after upgrading and was looking quite desperately for a solution...). Microsoft nonetheless forced this option to be enabled by default in IE7 fearing that if they didn't turn it on by default, people wouldn't know it was there. My opinion has always been that if what you are doing is really valuable, they'll find out about it and use it. At worst an option could have been given during the upgrade process that enabled it by default, but gave the choice to turn it off.
Of course my opinions often don't matter when it comes to the way Microsoft does things. When a communistic command comes down, I can fall in line or get another program (which I have been doing increasingly often). In Outlook, for example, only certain attachments will come through your email. When you get an email with a non-allowed attachment, Outlook will happily tell you that it blocked the attachment, like a dog looking for applause after digging in the flowers. Outlook won't give you any option to access that attachment, even if you were waiting for it desperately. It will just tell you it blocked it and show you the attachment icon for the email that no longer actually has an attachment. You can't go into your options/settings and make it allow that attachment type...no the only solution is to go into your registry and manually allow the attachments.
So when I found that I couldn't change the quality of the output to DVD, I was frustrated...but unfortunately not all that surprised. To reach wider audiences, you have to simplify the interface of programs. For example, giving the customer no options after they click save to DVD. However, when the option to save at different quality levels IS available if I choose to save to the computer, I'm just at a loss.
In the end I was able to make a higher-quality DVD using DVDFlick and ImgBurn after first making the movie in Movie Maker and then saving the high quality version to my PC.
The long process to burn to DVD frustrated and fascinated me as I consider what making software for the masses entails...and what it should entail!
In going through it all, I found myself frustrated at Microsoft for the same reasons I'm always frustrated with them, and wondering why so few people are mentioning the problems I saw (and why there doesn't seem to be a solution through Movie Maker!?).
So the short of the story, we have a miniDV camcorder and I was able to easily bring my video recordings of Disneyland and Birthdays from a single 60 minute tape over to my computer. I thought I was half done in taking my movie from the camera screen to the big screen...but boy was I wrong.
The next step was easy enough, I used Movie Maker to splice up my movie, at cut effects for transitioning and even add some music at different spots to liven things up. I then tried to burn the movie to DVD. You have one option to do this in Movie Maker with not ability to control the quality of the output...and so I burned a DVD and watched the movie and it was, in my personal opinion, horrible. It was agonizing to watch the tape through the camera and see a crisp picture on the screen and then go to Movie Maker and have the movie turned into refuse. I gave up the project for 9 months and started back into it last week...6 hours of web searching and trial and error later I finally had my movie.
So let's get back to where my problem was. It isn't how Movie Maker makes amovie. In fact Movie Maker makes great movies! If you save the movie to your hard drive at a high-quality setting (for some unknown reason you only have that option WHEN saving to your computer) you will find that it comes out looking like a champ. Using Windows Media Encoder 9, you can even create your own profile and save the movie in HD and it will look fantastic. (seriously!)
...but if you try to have Movie Maker save the movie to your DVD, it lowers the quality...and there is simply no-way around it (short of swapping the files that Movie Maker writes to the DVD...while it is writing, a horribly stupid process!).
Using Movie Maker to make your DVD will ruin the perfectly good video you made by lowering the quality with pixelation and somewhat washed out colors. You can't change the save to DVD settings, there is no options to choose or ability to change it. Microsoft wants you to do it a specific way and you will do it the Microsoft way!
This lead me to another tirade about what I call Microsoft's Communistic Commands. Often in the name of helping customers out, Microsoft will decide there is a best way to do things...and then absolutely force that on the customer. For example, ClearType in IE7, which can help the Internet be more readable on monitors using DVI. It is turned on by default despite causing huge problems for anyone not using DVI (I was ill after upgrading and was looking quite desperately for a solution...). Microsoft nonetheless forced this option to be enabled by default in IE7 fearing that if they didn't turn it on by default, people wouldn't know it was there. My opinion has always been that if what you are doing is really valuable, they'll find out about it and use it. At worst an option could have been given during the upgrade process that enabled it by default, but gave the choice to turn it off.
Of course my opinions often don't matter when it comes to the way Microsoft does things. When a communistic command comes down, I can fall in line or get another program (which I have been doing increasingly often). In Outlook, for example, only certain attachments will come through your email. When you get an email with a non-allowed attachment, Outlook will happily tell you that it blocked the attachment, like a dog looking for applause after digging in the flowers. Outlook won't give you any option to access that attachment, even if you were waiting for it desperately. It will just tell you it blocked it and show you the attachment icon for the email that no longer actually has an attachment. You can't go into your options/settings and make it allow that attachment type...no the only solution is to go into your registry and manually allow the attachments.
So when I found that I couldn't change the quality of the output to DVD, I was frustrated...but unfortunately not all that surprised. To reach wider audiences, you have to simplify the interface of programs. For example, giving the customer no options after they click save to DVD. However, when the option to save at different quality levels IS available if I choose to save to the computer, I'm just at a loss.
In the end I was able to make a higher-quality DVD using DVDFlick and ImgBurn after first making the movie in Movie Maker and then saving the high quality version to my PC.
The long process to burn to DVD frustrated and fascinated me as I consider what making software for the masses entails...and what it should entail!
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