I review the process of reviewing,

                          It's time to review!
                             


At the end of the day, I have never had a huge interest in reviewing or people who review simply because we all have our own opinions over a game that won't correspond to what the reviewers say. Yet, just because I personally don't particularly care for them, that doesn't mean they aren't important when it comes to sales. That is pretty much what reviewing is all about, money.

 You are sitting back watching TV and an advert comes on advertising a movie, what do we look at? What the rating is of course! Why? Because it tells us as potential customers whether or not the product is worth our money. If a movie at the cinema is only rated with two stars chances are you won't want to see it as much as a movie with five stars, especially if they cost the same. Well, the world of gaming is no different, the people who buy the games want to know if it is worth their money, as a single game can become quite costly.
                                                                 

 One of the main problems I find with reviews is that they tend to be bias, especially if they are a big company or site, such as IGN. They play a game, they review the game, they get paid for reviewing the game, people then buy the game. Pretty simple, except the fact that a lot of the opinions they present say the best about a game. Say the new Assassins Creed game that came out recently. They aren't going to post on their site, made to sell the game "2 Stars, Bland characters and glitches!" No! They would pick the best review they could find, or even pay somebody to write a review to promote the game. In the end we are pretty much brainwashed into thinking a game is amazing, when in reality it has major issues.

Hence the reason I don't try to watch reviews too often, if it is a game i am interested in I will play it for myself. Then watch a review afterwards, usually so I can spam my opinions in the Youtube comment section. Which I do, frequently!
 People quite often follow what reviewers say be it in a magazine or video and seem to suddenly know everything about the game without even playing it! Which I too am guilty of. I get so sick of seeing people posting how amazing COD is, yet I haven't properly played it, so why do I have the right to moan? Because we like debate, we like to fight, it's in our nature. Or so I think.

                                                                   
  I myself have bought games due to them having good reviews. Mass effect 2 being my prime example. Everybody hyped over it i thought I was majorly missing out on something. I got bored, very quickly. I am particular over what I play, I prefer horror gaming to RPG and action to long, speech related or puzzle games. (Give me Amnesia over Mass Effect any day.) Hence why I have learnt to just play them for myself.


 For example, lets look at this blog here on the guardian... oh no, lets not. Another dud link...

 Lets try another then.  Ah, here we go! Eurogamers review on Project Gotham Racing 3. It starts "in love. Everything is so perfect with it there is not one bad comment I can say about it, graphics are lush, framerate is stunning and controls are like silk." - Sounds pretty good, this person seems to really like the game. "Not a glitch" is later mentioned... Ok, well there isn't usually a game without a single glitch, this person then goes on to say that two of his friends agreed that the game is good. Wow! Ok, I must buy it then! sounds really good! No. This review is too superficial. It is just too positive for a review, its as if the person was a robot all along, working for the company that created this game. However, if it is so superb, why was it only rated an 8/10? Surely if it is so perfect then it would be given an instant 10/10.

  Note to self: Reviewers lie for money, they work the same way as everybody does in this world. Everything is about money, if it wasn't then big gaming companies wouldn't exist. At the end of the day, a review is a review, written well or badly. This whole blog is pretty much a review, of reviewing. My verdict? It sucks. Form your own opinion, get out there and play the game. You'll never know until you try.


References:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/SWiAYcTHVxI9I
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/game_culture/2005/03/ten_unmissab
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/egrr_550_62798

My Personal Gaming History.

                       

                      1994 - I am born, Hello world!
               Also in 1994 - the PlayStation 1 is released, which in several years time will become my first ever console, which is where it all began...


My memory is not amazing, I can never remember exact years of when I received things, but what I do remember is that I always had a fascination with video games.

 No, I didn't come from a gaming background, my family doesn't play games (on the occasion of my father) but as far as I am concerned, I am the first dedicated gamer in my family, so it didn't take me long to receive my first console. My very own PlayStation 1. Sure it was preowned, but what did I care? It came with a few games including Bomberman, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Spyro probably being the most memorable and the third being my favourite. Who else remembers running around trying to headbutt Money backs to get back all the gems he took from you throughout the game? The first three Spyro games definitely being the top of their game and only getting worse with every new release.
              
 My other good friend was my Game Boy colour, along with Pokemon Yellow which I played religiously. Whenever we went to the caravan for a holiday me, my sister and friends would go in the play area, sit upon the wooden castle and all play Pokemon together, it was brilliant! I also remember my nan holding my Game Boy hostage - of course I never knew, telling me I had lost it and even going as far as to help me put up posters on the campsite asking if anyone had seen my little handheld. She then later pulled it out of the glove box when we were in the car and exclaimed that I didn't look after it properly. Note how I will never forgive you for this nan.

 From then I advanced up through the handhelds, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP (including special tribal design) Nintendo DS and PSP.
                                                  

However my heart has always remained with the consoles. After my PlayStation 1 and my sisters GameCube came my very own Xbox, along with a copy of Halo Combat Evolved. I cannot lie, it is still one of my favourite series today, but it wasn't the first game that got me hooked. It was the second game with the introduction as playing as the enemy, the Arbiter. This half of the game I enjoyed much more than the chief play through  because I finally got to play as an alien rather than the usual human character, this I found exciting. I have remained mostly loyal to the Xbox consoles ever since. Yes I did have a PlayStation 2 for so long, simply because of this game:

                                                         

Now I think back this game was one serious pile of shit. Yet I adored it. Who wouldn't love playing as a crazy dog who could fling his own poo at people and chase cats all day long, plus rescue other dogs in incredibly strange situations. Give me a copy now and I would still love to replay it.

However I was put off gaming too as a child when my dad bought me a copy of Conkers when I saw it in the shop and wanted it for the adorable squirrel(?) on the front. However that game is far from adorable, I still feel slightly scarred from one particular scene in this game.


Yeah, this one.

The other favourite of course is good old PC gaming, I have never been an online gamer however my PC still gets a lot of time spent chasing monsters in Amnesia or digging down in Minecraft only to hit lava, die and then lose everything you had collected. Also most recently, I do enjoy playing in group versus on L4D with friends.

To move on. I have mostly stuck with Xbox 360 ever since (with a slight off-track year of playing Wii games. I came to my senses in the end.) Mostly because I do so adore the Halo series. It is always so hard to try and think of favourite games, so rather than having a top three I think I will just leave this blog with a nice little list of a collection of games I love and haven't mentioned on this blog. Thanks for reading!


                      

I went to the year 2000!

We finally travel into the 21st century and video gaming is at an all time high for popularity and as a major hobby. Its amazing that over just 50 years we have come from a tube that creates light, to black and white dots on a screen all the way up to high definition  realistic and even in some cases 3D graphics, along with huge amounts of storage for memory and it is all compressed into such small consoles and handheld devices. Games with graphics as good as the PlayStation 2 can now be played on mobile phones, they are literally one hand-sized consoles (well, practically.) However, it may be amazing knowing how far we have come but we still have much further to go, there are still many problems plaguing the industries and even the players. 

Many of us who now study games design understand how expensive video games are to create and how much time and effort it takes to get them right, yet most people of the public do not understand this and as the prices constantly rise for a single game it becomes harder to get enough profit from a game hence why many gaming companies now seem to continue creating sequels and prequels to well known series, such as Call of Duty and Assassins Creed. 

So lets start with what I know, "The Big Four" as I call them, PC, Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox. Walk into any game shop and these will be the four main areas people will be browsing. Xbox I believe rules supreme due to it's huge player base, being the most affordable console on the market with such a huge range of games it tends to be the most desirable. However it has its drawbacks, such as the subscription fees to join and remain a member of Xbox Live, when the PlayStation 3 offers the same services absolutely free! The main issue with the PlayStation Network is that it tends to get hacked much easier than other consoles. The PlayStation also offers similar game standards as the Xbox with realistic graphics, high memory and easy to use controllers - Seriously, what were they thinking with the N64 Controller? Apparently people grew a third arm and hand at some point, unless you were meant to use your feet...

The Wii was incredibly desirable when it was first released, as it offered an experience no console had before (but some individual games had) which was the built in camera with motion detection, meaning people could experience the game by literally standing up and shooting, or batting the ball.  However people quickly realized movement was not needed as people could easily laze across a chair at sofa and "bat" the controller, it worked pretty much the same. This was obviously seen as a threat by rivals Xbox and PlayStation as they then went ahead and created their own version of the Wii's motion detection, namely the Move and Kinect. I foresee that Nintendos hold on consoles is severely loosening as they seem to be unable to keep up, as the Kinect and Move offers the same motion detection gaming with no controllers at all and still much better graphics. Nintendo seem to be trying to hold on by re-releasing favourite games such as Mario and Sonic. But we will see what is in store when they later release their "Revolution.

            

 However, when it comes to handheld gaming the Nintendo DS, or their newest, the 3DS. Another revolutionary little device in the face of gaming, although majorly overlooked as technology grows within recent years. It offers the player a chance to play games in 3D without the use of 3D glasses. However for many this had many problems, such as the causing of headaches. It also meant that release for games on the DS was highly limited meaning people had to buy the new 3DS to keep up with the release of games.

I would see companies in the future still increasing the prices of games as the cost of development increases and the competition for the best graphics, memory and overall popularity continues. Smaller gaming companies may become bankrupt due to lack of funds as smaller games get less attention and advertising as the well known series, in the end leading up to the possibility of another crash similar to the one of 1983. However I cannot read the future, we will see as we grow older how gaming will advance and what will come next.

                                            

1980-1990's

During half of the 1980s arcade machines ruled well within shopping centers, restaurants and more after Space Invaders was created. Many companies were realizing the benefits and possible profit from investing into video games. It was also becoming more popular as a mainstream hobby.

 

Due to a war between Atari and Mattel plus the addition of many new and evolving home consoles, there came the "Great Video Game Crash" in 1983. Atari went bust after trying to take the credit away from their game designers and developers, as well as trying to sell off their consoles for cheap along with their games. The problem with this is that there are many other companies offering the same for a better price, also the fact that many of the designers left Atari to create their own companies (Activision being an example.)

 When 1983 came around Atari had managed half a billion dollars in loses, along with many other companies who were losing money due to there being too much competition. The huge loses (aprox. 3 billion down to 100 million according to Time Business) This pretty much killed off lots American gaming business for the next two years. It was then later picked up again when the Japanese introduced Nintendo, a console with greater memory capacity which meant better graphics and so more popular games! To this day Nintendo has been a dominant contender within the world of console and handheld gaming. Bet many of you didn't know that Nintendo was originally a playing-card company because I most certainly didn't. Anyway, the Nintendo Entertainment System swept the competition with its incredibly popular titles Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros and many others, along with a strict licencing policy.

                                                   

It was then Nintendos time to shine - again, after the release of the Game Boy in 1989. The first major handheld console which then further offered their version of Tetris, this sent sales sky high.

In 1990 the Neo-Geo console was born! Which had offered very highly detailed 2d graphics the likes of which beat the arcade machines and was available as a console to play on at home! Nothing could be better right? Wrong! The price of one of these machines was approximately $650 on its launch! (Around £450) then on top of that it cost a ridiculous $200 for the games. The problem with the pricing caused this poor little machine to never gain its full credit for how advanced it was. It's no good making something amazing if nobody can ever use it!

                                          

1995 Saw the release of the Play Station 1 console, which was also my very first console - Sorry, I am not that retro. This console offered a chance for cheaper games as each were based on discs rather than cartridges  The problem with this is that loading came around and memory cards were needed to save process which was not needed with cartridges  Along with its incredibly popular titles such as Resident Evil and Crash Bandicoot it soared up to the top along with Nintendo. PlayStation now being another of the "big three" consoles available.

The Nintendo 64 also became available during 1996 which still used the same bulky cartridges and had a much smaller range of games available, yet became incredibly popular due to the release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time and Goldeneye, ushering the beginning of MMO and first person shooter gaming.

                                                      

Go on Link, try this in Skyrim. I dare you!

Back to the 1950s

This tale begins with Mr Christopher Strachey, a computer scientist of British descent born in 1916. It was in 1951 that Chris seemed to have enough free time and designed a game of draughts to play on the ACE  - Or as Alan Turing described it, a "universal computing machine." Problems quickly arose when the ACE's memory burnt out, it just couldn't handle the complexity of a board game. However Strachey was more successful on his second attempt created on the Manchester Mark 1, which had a much larger memory capacity. He claimed that it could "play a complete game of draughts at a reasonable speed." This was quite revolutionary as people began to realize computers could be used for entertainment purposes.
Next came OXO (no, not like the gravy.) This was a computer-made version of the famous tic-tac-toe, or now more commonly known naughts and crosses. This was created by Professor Alexandor Shafto Douglas. Another British computer scientist. It was developed on the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) in 1952. It was created to support his work on human-computer interactions at Cambridge University. Sadly it never had the chance to become popular as it was a unique computer to Cambridge Uni.

It seems that there wasn't much (or any) recorded information on the development in computer gaming between 1953 and 1957, however it was picked up once again in 1958 with the creation of "Tennis for Two" which was basically the original Pong. This was developed by the American physicist William Higinbotham.  He heard that one of the computers at Brookhaven could "calculate ballistic missile trajectories" so of course, the first thing you would think to do with a missile tracking device is to play tennis on it. It is fairly logical. However, Higinbotham was always interested in entertainment and apparently had a love for pinball machines, I feel like I could relate well to this man. You interacted with the ball by the use of two simple controllers that controlled the movement of the "player" as I shall call them and a button to hit the ball. This was the first controller and the main reason why I find this man so amazing, as I have always found my games more enjoyable when using a proper big, chunky controller. Hence why I have never had much of an interest in the Wii or Xbox Kinect, as amazing as they are.  This game became incredibly popular and hundreds queued for hours for a chance to play it.

                   (Picture taken from wheels.org)
Next and definitely of high importance came Spacewar! When you sit playing the new Halo or Mass effect. Or even when you hear an argument over "which game is better" simply announce Spacewar! Lets be honest, without it there would be no inspiration for such games, as this game, created in 1961 by the brilliant Steve Russell was something unique. It is in human nature to want conflict. We are a species who create war over the simplest things. We fight and some kill. So it makes total sense to create a game where we can kill without actually harming anyone (but this doesn't mean video games have no influence over crime in modern day society, because they do.) But it is still a lot better to do it on a screen than in real life.
 Spacewar! was made on the DEC PDP-1 which took two players and made them fight each other whilst having to dodge obstacles... In space! It is considered one of the first influential computer games (taken from bmigaming.com)

It was then a whole five years until Ralph Baer began developing the Brown Box which I shall speak more of in my next blog. Baer wanted to create a machine that people could play games on, it would feature action, board, sports and chase games along with a variety of other games. He wanted these games to appear on Channel LP which stood for "Lets Play!" a common name now used through video walkthroughs.  He also later created the worlds fist game that could be played on the television, called the chase game (Original, isn't it? Well actually, I suppose it is.) Then in 1968 the first console prototype was created, this ran several of his intended games. What I find most interesting about Ralph Baer is that he never came from a technology based background. He graduated from the National Radio Institute and later graduated with a degree in Television Engineering. He makes a good role model as someone who really pushed with his design and was successful enough to be named "The Father of Video Games." Not a bad title to go by in my opinion.

I apologize if this blog was a little tedious to read! I find it difficult to write a history of gaming blog without writing about... well, history. I hope you are all still alive and kicking after reading this, because I will warn you. there is more to come! :D


Now, time for a little break, which means a little treat. Where did i put my cookies?

Oh distractions. I love you.

How I feel every time I go to start my blog:

Right... going to do my blog. Lets go! -hits the distraction wall- (Or in this case, floor.)


This week will be great fun, but I have only brought it on myself. Time to catch up on some blogging! Darn you internet for distracting me so easily. I am sure most people can relate to this, I was lucky to get into my first (and only) university choice and I feel like I am wasting my opportunity. So lets drink some coke (because I hate coffee) and get some work done shall we!

So my little plan for this week: A blog a day! History part one tomorrow, part two on Wednesday and so on. Then I can have fun ranting on about everything I hate about the new Assassins creed.

Lets hope that a blog a day will keep an angry Mike away!