We will discuss later after the break what work Glen and whoever else might be in our group might do, but I think it would be a good idea for either one of them to talk about the fighting game genre boom started by Street Fighter in 1991, and then maybe branch off and talk about the importance of the original PSOne console.
The PSOne introduced many famous Japanese gaming franchises that are still popular to this day. It is also important to note that the console was the first to be marketed towards adults instead of young kids. Since most kids that grew up playing the original Nintendo and Super Nintendo in the '80s and early '90s respectively, they were now teenagers and/or young adults.
It's also worth noting that the PlayStation used CD-based media that allowed the console to have cutscenes and proper orchestral music. Because of this advancement in technology, games had a more movie like quality to them than ever before. Games like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid truly made video games more cinematic and emotional than ever before.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
More ideas
Well, I was thinking about doing Gamecenter CX (also known as Retro Game Master in the USA), as the main premise of this show is to show old and popular games and to just have fun with video games.
Gamecenter CX began around late 2003, where the host Shinya Arino (part of the comedy duo Yoiko) is asked to "challenge" various games in order to see the ending, but he is often hampered by his novice video game skills, his forgetfulness, and his hubris, which more often than not leads to failure. However, those are the most endearing traits about him, as even with all of those obstacles, he continues pushing through adversity in order to reach the end. Since the show began, many of the things that are seen in later episodes (cooling pads, his catchphrase etc.) weren't yet established in the first few episodes. Even the title of Chief came later, as he started off as Senior Staff and had to work his way up the ranks.
Many of the episodes, along with challenging the given game of that episode, have a few other segments that are very fun to watch and experience. During the first few episodes, Arino had a segment where he would interview CEOs of various video game companies about either their video game history, how the company began, their company's popular series of games, and even how they get their inspiration. The interview segments were then finished, and were replaced by a few other segments, such as Game Collections, You Should Visit This Game Center Sometime, Ring-Ring Tactics!, The Aces of Hardware Won't Appear, and The Romance Never Ends. Along with these, there are also occasional special episodes where Arino and a few members of staff go to different areas of Japan or go to different countries. There is even a special episode where the Gamecenter CX staff and crew get Arino to challenge a game live on stage.
There is a lot more to Gamecenter CX than this, but this is a basic overview of the show, as there are also other parts like the Assistant Directors, or ADs, and the different games Arino plays. There is also the video game based on the show that is on the DS, which Arino helped create, which could be useful in the presentation.
Along with this, I could possibly add in comparisons with the west and the shows that they have on gaming and playing games. There are only a few examples of shows in the west that have video games as a central viewpoint (Ginx TV, the many G4TV series, GameTrailers TV etc.), and most of the shows usually get cancelled after a few episodes, either due to low viewer count or problems with funding.
Gaming in the west, unfortunately, still has some sort of social stigma attached to it, whereby the people that play video games are usually seen as either nerdy or lazy, or that they lack social skills in everyday life. This isn't really a surprise, as this has been the case since video games went commercial. In Japan though, video games are seen as being almost socially acceptable, and maybe even tolerated. Gamecenter CX is a show that anyone can enjoy, young and old, as it is both about playing old video games and reminiscing about the times one might have had during the years those games were released. This aspect is highlighted in the Game Collections segment, where games of a certain year (1986, 1987 etc.) are listed off in alphabetical order, with a brief synopsis and comment given to each game. There is also You Should Visit This Game Center Sometime, where Arino himself will go to a game center chosen for him by fans who send in postcards, and check out the selection of games they have on offer. Sometimes the sender of the postcard will tell him to check out a certain quirky part of the game center, which might be a rare game or the location of it or who owns it. Usually, these segments end up with Arino thoroughly enjoying himself and, again, reminiscing on his own childhood. In the west though, video game shows tend to only show the newest and most popular games on offer, rarely going into detail about the games that were, or the consoles from ages past. The only western example I can think of that comes even minutely close to Gamecenter CX is a series on youtube called Angry Video Game Nerd, or AVGN for short. AVGN basically shows the same things as Gamecenter CX (without the other segments of course), albeit with the typical western "nerd" stereotype portrayed by the presenter instead of the funny and charismatic character portrayed by Arino.
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Gamecenter CX began around late 2003, where the host Shinya Arino (part of the comedy duo Yoiko) is asked to "challenge" various games in order to see the ending, but he is often hampered by his novice video game skills, his forgetfulness, and his hubris, which more often than not leads to failure. However, those are the most endearing traits about him, as even with all of those obstacles, he continues pushing through adversity in order to reach the end. Since the show began, many of the things that are seen in later episodes (cooling pads, his catchphrase etc.) weren't yet established in the first few episodes. Even the title of Chief came later, as he started off as Senior Staff and had to work his way up the ranks.
There is a lot more to Gamecenter CX than this, but this is a basic overview of the show, as there are also other parts like the Assistant Directors, or ADs, and the different games Arino plays. There is also the video game based on the show that is on the DS, which Arino helped create, which could be useful in the presentation.
Along with this, I could possibly add in comparisons with the west and the shows that they have on gaming and playing games. There are only a few examples of shows in the west that have video games as a central viewpoint (Ginx TV, the many G4TV series, GameTrailers TV etc.), and most of the shows usually get cancelled after a few episodes, either due to low viewer count or problems with funding.
Gaming in the west, unfortunately, still has some sort of social stigma attached to it, whereby the people that play video games are usually seen as either nerdy or lazy, or that they lack social skills in everyday life. This isn't really a surprise, as this has been the case since video games went commercial. In Japan though, video games are seen as being almost socially acceptable, and maybe even tolerated. Gamecenter CX is a show that anyone can enjoy, young and old, as it is both about playing old video games and reminiscing about the times one might have had during the years those games were released. This aspect is highlighted in the Game Collections segment, where games of a certain year (1986, 1987 etc.) are listed off in alphabetical order, with a brief synopsis and comment given to each game. There is also You Should Visit This Game Center Sometime, where Arino himself will go to a game center chosen for him by fans who send in postcards, and check out the selection of games they have on offer. Sometimes the sender of the postcard will tell him to check out a certain quirky part of the game center, which might be a rare game or the location of it or who owns it. Usually, these segments end up with Arino thoroughly enjoying himself and, again, reminiscing on his own childhood. In the west though, video game shows tend to only show the newest and most popular games on offer, rarely going into detail about the games that were, or the consoles from ages past. The only western example I can think of that comes even minutely close to Gamecenter CX is a series on youtube called Angry Video Game Nerd, or AVGN for short. AVGN basically shows the same things as Gamecenter CX (without the other segments of course), albeit with the typical western "nerd" stereotype portrayed by the presenter instead of the funny and charismatic character portrayed by Arino.
Ideas For Group Assignment
I think I would start with an introduction about the importance of Japanese game developers in the industry. I think I would start talking about Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto. Nintendo pretty much made lots of new innovations to the industry. Miyamoto's Donkey Kong was the first video game to actually include some sort of narrative or storyline. Video games before Donkey Kong were basic shooting games or sports titles where the "high score" was the main objective. Donkey Kong changed all that as Mario had to save his girlfriend who got kidnapped by Donkey Kong. Now every game nowadays has some type of single player mode that includes a storyline or narrative of some sort.
Next I might talk about how the original Nintendo console pretty much saved the video game industry from dying out. In 1983, there was the infamous video game crash. Unlike today where the only consoles available are from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, back then there were heaps of consoles released from several different companies. Supply of video games and video games console were clearly exceeding demand and consumers obviously couldn't afford to buy them all. A lot of video game makers went out of business during this time and it looked like the industry was doomed forever. Thankfully, Nintendo came to the rescue in 1985 to essentially save the entire industry.
I might also look at the character design of Japanese games too. Japanese game developers are more creative with their character design than Western developers. Japanese games tend not to be "realistic" so you can get characters that look outrageous. Here is an example of some wacky characters that have been seen in Japanese video games.
Blanka - Street Fighter II:
Kimahri - Final Fantasy X
Mokujin - Tekken Series
Western game developers have not been so creative as of late. There has been some controversy about the lack of diversity and creativity recent games have with their main characters. Here's a look at some recent Western developed games and some of their main characters. Here you will see that they all look exactly the same.
Starkiller - Star Wars The Force Unleashed
Cole McGrath - InFamous Series
If I am to make a conclusion on our whole presentation, it would be the state of the Japanese gaming industry and how it stands right now. I will obviously do a bit more research on the subject, but as far as I can tell (I'm already a gaming journalist) Japanese video games are not as popular as they used to be. I mean back in the Nintendo era, games like Super Mario and Legend of Zelda were in everyone's homes. Fast forward to the Super Nintendo/Megadrive era and games like Street Fighter and Sonic the Hedgehog were just as popular too. The Sony PlayStation continued to create popular Japanese gaming franchises with Resident Evil, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo, Tekken and Metal Gear Solid. The PS2 was pretty much a sequel to the PSOne with most of those franchises dishing out popular sequels.
I think with the current console generation, the PS3 and Xbox 360 had more popular Western developed video games. With the exception of Gran Turismo 5 and Metal Gear Solid IV, most of the best selling games this generation were developed outside of Japan and Asia. Some of the games that spring to mind include FIFA 13, Battlefield 3, Red Dead Redemption and of course the annual Call of Duty series.
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