BACK TO THE MSX

Someone said people look in their adulhood for the things they lacked in their teens. Now that I come to think about it, I lacked many things back then, but I'm putting a solution to one of them: MSX.

In the mid-eighties, you had to have a personal computer. The most popular was the Spectrum, but there were many Commodore users too. I don't think Amstrad was particularly popular in Spain but it should be in other countries so there were plenty of games for it. And then it was the MSX.

As far as I know it was successful in Japan, were it was first created, but also in Holland (Phillips manufactured several models, including mine) and Spain. I owned an early version of that system and it became obsolete quite soon. I couldn't play the latest games because my model was limited in memory. I couldn't afford to buy another one so I gradually lost interest in computer games... until my cousin Pedro got rid of his first PC and gave it to me.

Well, I've just bought a second-hand MSX2, which allows me to buy all those games that I couldn't play back them. Right now I'm betting in Ebay for cartridges, and I'm planning to make myself a nice collection. Vintage rules!

DOUBLE FINE ROCKS

Ok, from now on Double Fine (Psychonauts, Brutal Legend) is my new best videogame studio forever an ever of the month. Tim Schaffer is not new to this blog, but from now on he's got a little bit of my heart.

Take a look here to find out why.

THE HEART OF THE APPLE

Steve Jobs passed away today. I've never been an apple guy, but the importance of iPhone and similar devices for the videogame industry is huge. I always wondered if Jobs expected so many companies developing for iOS, or it was a lucky move. Anyway, small companies never had it so easy to create and market their products.

Rest in peace.

NEW IPS NO, PLEASE

The other day I found a list of the most anticipated games for Christmas. Take a look here.

As you can see, the vast majority are sequels or games created onto a pre-existing IP. Only Dead Island manages to get into the ranking.

Unfortunately this is old news. The top sellers in the videogame industry are generally follow-ups. As far as I can tell, only during the transition from one generation to another there is some space for new IPs. The rest of the time we have to content ourselves with new iterations of already-known IPs.

It also happens in movies, particularly in the last 10-15 years. The only good thing is that in videogames the 2nd or 3rd iteration is generally better than the first game, specially regarding graphics.

BREAKING NEWS

I value myself as a creative person. That means I have ideas for fresh content in movies, tv series, books and of course videogames. I have dozens of folders with lots of ideas for potential games, the vast majority pure crap. However, some of them I think are great.

Nevertheless I've had little opportunities to turn those ideas into real games. Practically my whole career is based on developing someone else's creations. What does happen to me from time to time is that some of my ideas becomes a real game, made by others. This has just happened with 'Breaking news', a game that I envisioned in which the user controls a journalist, armed with a camera, and his goal would be to collect evidences of corruption and crime in his city. The newspaper offices would serve as a hub to deliver and get missions, and gameplay would be based on stealth and taking pictures in the proper moment.

It doesn't sound bad, but the only chance this idea had to become a real game was while I was working at Pyro. Management organized an idea contest and I presented 'Breaking news'. It was rejected in favor of one of the manager's idea. But I recently found out there is a company making a game based on the same premises: Warco: The news game.

I guess I was right and the idea had potential. Let's see how it evolves. I'm definitively interested in that title.

UPDATE ZELDA, PLEASE

I recently completed Twilight Princess and while I was playing I took notes of all the improvements I'd made on the game. I ended up with more than 2 pages. It's not only the difficulty level (the game can be really hard to complete. It's not that it took me up to 50 hours to finish it, it's also his creator kind of agrees with me :D) but also the whole concept of 'you're alone in the world with no help whatsoever. Ain't that fun?'.

Anyway, it is my opinion that the series has aged without major changes. Maybe the DS versions have advanced the design a little bit, allowing more agile travels and a clearer interface which helps you to know where you are and where you are supposed to go, but it could also be simply that DS peculiarities (such as taking notes with the stylus) forced those changes and we won't see them in future titles.

Let's see the upcoming new Zelda. I'm not planning to buy it, but it would be good if they eventually try to make the concept evolve. It's one of the most important videogame sagas, design-wise. It deserves it.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS

After 4 years, I finally finished Twilight Princess. I bought the game when the Wii was released, and I was determined to make it the first Zelda I completed. I was wrong. The game was not interesting enough for me, and I abandoned it for a long time.

But I have this policy that every game I buy I finish, so after completing 2 Zeldas (those two released for the DS), I decided it was time. I had not played for 4 years, but my save game was still there. It took me 55 hours, I think it's the longest Zelda so far, and not exactly worth it. It's not a bad game, but it lacks something. I've checked with some Zelda hardcore fans and they can't define what the game it's missing. The most common accusation was 'it doesn't have charm'.

The game it's not cute, I guess that's what they mean. It's slightly dark and realistic (although graphically it's no more good than a PS2 game). However I didn't enjoy it mostly because of the Zelda gameplay itself, common to other games: The gameplay is too based on puzzles, and there is only one possible solution to any of them. Too many times it's not the most logical solution but one the designer thought it would be cool. I don't have the patience or the time to spend a whole afternoon figuring out what they had in mind when they created the dungeon, so I had to check internet walkthroughs VERY often. No, I don't find any joy in finding the solution by myself after 4 hours.

Aside from that, I think Zelda's design (and particularly Twilight Princess) is out of date. Supporting mechanics such as saving, health, interfaces, lack of achievements and multiplayer makes me think the series could really use a serious revamp in the following titles. I doubt they will, anyway, and it's a pity.