Sunday, August 31, 2008

Can Microsoft Stop Racists on Xbox Live?

I'm no stranger to Internet tough-talk. I've dealt with it for years, and have even been an Internet-argument starter myself. It's fun.

My skin is tough, my self-esteem is high, and my confidence in the quality of humanity is severely jaded. I don't mind being insulted or made fun of in an open community when it's relevant. I do mind when it's unnecessarily turned into a racial issue.

The most accurate glimpses into human nature can be found in YouTube comments, message board postings, and chat room discussions. The Internet isn't real life, but it's safe to say that real thoughts come out when people can't really see you.

Normally, I can dismiss the negativity if I'm not in a position to end it. If I can't moderate something, I'll simply shrug it off and move on.

But if I said I wasn't just a little bit bothered by a racially-charged tirade, I'd be lying.

It's unfortunate because I should know better.

It shouldn't be my problem that the bass in my voice and New Yawk accent force people into letting their insecurities show. It's not my fault that someone harbors such a deep resentment for all that is unfamiliar that they feel compelled to target my nationality while pwning no0bz.

There are extremes I go through when I'm confronted with racism during a game.

One aspect of my personality wants to lash out and escalate the situation...as if anything will ever happen. Other times, I simply locate the user's gamertag, and Mute/Block the user.

Then there are the times when the hatred is so random, unjustified, and intense that I'm left clicking through my 360 dashboard in vain.

Microsoft doesn't offer an option to file a report against racism. They give you harassment, but that generalization doesn't fully capture the gravity of being called a nigger.

Making fun of someone for sucking at the game, having a high voice, or costing your team a round is not an equivalent to racism. It's not the same harassment. Reporting such misconduct shouldn't be absent from Xbox Live.

I don't pay $50 per year to be called a 'nigger' every time I speak during a game. And while Microsoft can't dictate the personalities of their subscribers, the company should initiate policies that accurately reflect the different levels of harassment on their servers.

Microsoft has no issues processing my payments for using their service; but when I expect the service to work for me, the effort clearly isn't being reciprocated.

I understand that it's virtually impossible to moderate all interactions in a massive community. Every member can't be disciplined accordingly. But Microsoft shouldn't plead ignorance and hope it goes away.

This issue took me to a point where I refused to play Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 because that community attracted some of the least sensible and most volatile Klan members with an XBox Live account. After spending $60 on a game, that really shouldn't be part of my experience.

In the spirit of honesty and full disclosure, I've been called all sorts of things on the Playstation Network, too. Sony's network isn't racism free, either. However, I've always appreciated the "you get what you pay for" philosophy. The PSN is open to anyone with an email account, so I couldn't reasonably expect Sony to enforce their Terms of Service.

It appears as if Microsoft is content with sweeping this problem under the rug, accepting it as a futile battle, and chalking it up as a point for the bad guys.

There needs to be an end, or a better effort made to establish a reasonable balance. I don't play games online to segregate the community and play strictly with 'my own kind.'

I only want to be assured that my involvement in an on-going conversation will be respected, and not met with a barrage of racially-motivated attacks.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

Establish a force of gaming moderators to police the community.

Moderators can be selected after applying online. The ideal candidate will be someone whose account is in great standing, plays at least 15 hours a week, meets a particular age requirement, and has an honest commitment to enforcing the terms of service for the sake of quality gaming.

I wish I could count the times my teammates would sit in silence as one ignorant user ruined the experience entirely. The presence of an anonymous moderator would be the best way to keep everyone honest, and make sure time on XBL is spent playing together and not debating skin color.

Giving a moderator the authority to suspend a user's account for twelve hours, one day, one week, and eventually resulting in complete banishment may help rid the community of the rampant hate mongering.

The only people I've ever known to be punished on Xbox Live were those who cheated the gamerscore system.

It's time to tackle something a little more serious, Microsoft.

Okay, you can continue
Saturday, August 30, 2008

When Good Games Get Ruined

It's happened to all of us. We can be sitting there with our controller in hand, undecided as to whether or not we're truly enjoying our gaming experience, and BOOM! We get sucker punched in the most ridiculous and unjustified fashion one could ever imagine.

Sometimes it's not too bad. We can still play the game, mainly because we've invested so much of our time into completing the hero's quest. And other times, it's so aggravating that the game ends up right back in its packaging as we contemplate ways to finagle GameStop into giving us our money back.

I understand that the purpose of most gaming is to escape reality and suspend disbelief as you control a character that can do virtually anything. But for some reason, developers have a tendency to lose their minds and kick up the obnoxious meter to unexpected levels.

The first game that comes to mind in this instance is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the PS3.

This game was INCREDIBLE! Drake was a sarcastic, charismatic hero that could figure out ancient puzzles, jet ski around exploding barrels, scale crumbling walls, and eliminate an army of mercenaries without flinching.

Naughty Dog made a beautiful game that had me calling for my girlfriend's attention every few minutes as she sat at the computer. I don't know how many times I shouted, "Baby! Look at this!" I know she understood my excitement.

Then it happened. I had a feeling it was going to happen because the story foreshadowed it for a while. But I wanted to ignore it.

Around seven hours into the story, the creatures started crawling out from the depths of the caves. Not satisfied with these human-like crawlers/demons dwelling beneath the surface, the fortune I had been seeking was cursed as well. My riches have killed Nazis, pirates and all classes of treasure hunters for centuries. YAWN!

Now, not only am I being chased by creatures that have no discretion and kill anyone in their way, but I still have to deal with mercenaries that don't care about the new bad guys as they keep trying to kill me! I would have figured they'd be just as desperate to escape the island as I was.

I have no problem suspending disbelief. But when this game spent so many hours rooting itself in reality beforehand, I couldn't appreciate the game's transition from National Treasure to The Mummy.

However, I did still enjoy the game. Graphically, the game is top-notch. The voice-acting is well-executed, and the story surrounding that one ridiculous plot development is very good. I certainly recommend it.

Sorry for the spoiler.

And then there's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The supernatural elements in this series are no surprise to me, so I have no real problems with that aspect of the game. I expected it.

What I do have problems with is that I have a gadget man that can make an invisible robot that will tag along with me anywhere I go, climb rocks, and crawl through tight spaces—but for some reason I can't get a damn scope on my assault rifle.

Apparently my $60 for the game wasn't good enough! No. Now I have to manage my 'Drebin Points' in the game, and purchase accessories to customize guns I collected off the bodies of the bad guys.

Don't play God with me, Konami! Making me sit through installations and mid-action cut scenes for 30 minutes of dialogue didn't feel a little gratuitous to you in the development stage? Now you want to thinly veil your aspirations for godliness with choices to customize my weaponry?

You devilish corporation, you.

I paid to play a game, and if judgment calls were in order then I would have preferred if they were integrated into the story and not my arsenal!

How about your experiences? Which games have absolutely aggravated you? Was it the terrible camera angles that were used, or was it awful dialogue coming from a hero you actually want to see die?

Let me know.

Okay, you can continue
Friday, August 29, 2008

Rock Band DLC 8/29



As reported by Xbox 360 Fanboy, the replacement track pack for the epic failure that was Rush's "Moving Pictures" album has hit the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Store today. Hit the jump for the low-down on what to expect.

Coming at us are three songs from Locksley's 2007 album "Don't Make Me Wait."

  • "Don't Make Me Wait" 80MSP/$1.00
  • "She Does" 80MSP/$1.00
  • "All Over Again" 80MSP/$1.00


Of course, as a track pack, all songs can be purchased together for 240MSP/$3.00

So what's the verdict my fellow gamers? Does this make up for the technical failures?

Okay, you can continue

PAX Woes and Wishes

Sadly, because I get paid to sit around on my laptop and play video games, I don't have the means to go to Seattle this year to hit up the Penny Arcade Expo.

Okay, between us, I don't get paid to sit around.

I actually don't get paid, at all.

With my last job as a bank teller (which paid less than detailing cars), I found myself unwilling to apply to another sales position where I had to interact with people. Explaining to someone who doesn't understand why they have no money after overdrawing their account by $200 isn't my definition of living.

Quite the conundrum if your brain capacity is aped by that of prehistoric man.

Which brings me here to this lowly, dimly lit hallway of forgotten blog stardom. Perhaps this would be more appropriate as a blog more akin to a personal diary, peppered with embroidered hearts and a padlock preventing all those rotten boys from exposing my one true love: my passion for video games.

If only I could visit PAX this year...

They have a damned conference titled "How to Get Paid to Blog."

It's as if my lords, Almighty Goddesses Mac and Cheese, have looked down upon me, and in a hailstorm of white, cheddary bliss, have shown me the light.

And they shut it off, only to say, "Neener, neener, neener! You'll never go there!"

Ah well, I'll keep writing to you diary. You love me, right?

Okay, you can continue
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Still Your Father's Madden NFL Football

Now, I don't mean to be hasty. It has only been a week now since everyone's favorite (read: only) NFL-licensed game hit shelves, but I can't help but shudder at every review that rolls out for the latest iteration of EA Sports' John Madden football: Madden NFL 2008.5 2009.

The newest Madden, while a good game, lacks what we as gamers deserve: innovation.

Yeah, I'm going there.

Madden has been getting roughly the same score from all of the major publications since Madden '07. There's nothing wrong with the games being showered with 8.0's and 8.5's, I just have a problem with how these games are scored.

The IGN's, Gamespot's, EGM's, etc., all dole out scores on a 10.0 scale. Sure, the system is flawed, and there are far superior alternatives like Kotaku, but it's not the score. The score is adequate, for what it's worth.

The one thing sports games aren't subjected to are marks for innovation. This means that no matter how many times an A++ caliber game gets rehashed and relabeled, it will always hover around a score plateau, which is what we're seeing with Madden.

The next-gen Madden series is now four years old.

Last year, when he turned three he was cute. He did a lot of things right, and he escaped his terrible twos which plagued everyone around him. He spoke a little better, his mechanics were a little smoother, and he stopped shitting in his diapers at a constant rate.

Now that he's four, he's getting ready for pre-school, can speak in full sentences, and he looks a little different; a little taller, and a little wiser. But he's still a little four year old. He's temperamental, lacks control, and still likes shitting in his pants.

Madden is supposed to be 20 years old. He's supposed to be out getting hammered and waking up with his pants off, cold and alone in an alley somewhere in South San Francisco after a 49ers game.

He's supposed to be relatively mature and advanced. And if he's like most of us then he should be relatively intelligent compared to the younger versions of himself.

EA Sports is not being held accountable for their utter lack of innovation in the Madden franchise games recently.

What happened to the strides we saw in the PS2 era? Save for players feet not touching the ground and sidelines full of players sporting number 88, the game functioned pretty damn well.

It was fully-featured, sported few technical hiccups, and while it didn't show leaps of improvements each year, the core game that was expanded upon was good enough—something that can-absolutely-not be said for this generation.

So What Should Be Done?
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV has laid out what appears to be a very well placed plan for extending the life of their game. In the form of downloadable content, GTA will be rejuvenated with add-ons that will provide hours of gameplay to the core game mechanic.

Why couldn't this be adopted in the sports gaming world? Here's my proposal:

  • Create a base game from the ground up which can right the wrongs done by much of the core game mechanic.
  • Every so often release DLC which extends the life, adds features, and changes the game without subjecting us, as consumers, to spending $60 for an expansion pack. Stop giving the fans a reason to dismiss the game as an expensive roster update!

    Something akin to the 2k series and their Highlight Reel add-on for NBA 2k8-2k9 would be a good starting point. Sure, the Highlight Reel is probably on the game disc, but with 120 GB HDD's I don't imagine this can't be in some way, shape, or form impossible.
  • Release a new Madden every two or three years, as opposed to every August. Make an effort to completely change the experience from the previous version, so the presentation doesn't feel so stale. Take the time to add enough features that can't be ushered in through DLC and more people will be enticed to buy the game.
Now, I must admit that there could be potential pitfalls to this plan. EA is more than likely holding back some of the better features for future iterations. But at least there would be a better business plan in line.

You wouldn't expect Bioshock 2 to be the same game as the original. Outside of the story, we all expect there to be new gameplay features, a decent amount of innovation, and something that has makes us say "wow." We expect to see something that was built upon.

New rosters, camera angles, and thinly veiled online "leagues" (let's be honest, they're tournaments) don't excite me. But hit stick-esque style innovation does.

Do what's right, Peter. It's your choice...

CHOOSE WISELY.

Okay, you can continue

I want to welcome everyone to the first of my many lazily crafted blogspot blogs. The first feature should be up soon, a commentary on a popular video game that was recently released.

Thanks for checking me out!

Okay, you can continue