Tag: ign

9GN: How IGN Went Overboard With Game Reviews

9GN

IGN gave 84 games a 9 or higher in 2012, which is considered “Amazing” on their scale.

I shouldn’t have to say anymore than that to render you speechless, but let’s look at the full description for a 9 on the IGN rubric:

“One of the best games out there. When this generation of games ends, people will look back and say, “This was one of the best games made for the system.” It might have a few flaws, but this is a must-buy.”

Again, that should be all I need to say. IGN says there were 84 of those in 2012. Seems incredible, right? 2012 was a surprisingly good year for games, but 84? How many games did you play last year? 12? Maybe 15 on the high-end? And yet IGN is telling us that when this generation of games ends, we will look back at 84 different games in 2012 (this isn’t including each version of a multiplatform title) and say it was one of the best games made for its respective system? That’s insane and it is becoming an issue. What is the average gamer supposed to do with that? Continue reading 9GN: How IGN Went Overboard With Game Reviews

Wanted: Original Heroes

Cole Infamous 2

I don’t mean to be a grumpy old man about the state of games these days – as you know, I love them fiercely. Think of it as a mama bear and her cubs. And yes, I’m the mama bear. Anyway, while I try to stay positive and don’t want to pounce on the things that bug me all the time, I will say that in addition to poor writing in modern games, another problem that I’ve seen is a new tendency towards weak protagonists.

In my mind, these two problems easily fit together hand-in-hand. I feel like writing in games suffers precisely because of weak protagonists, who are designed to be bland so as not to affect the plot itself or even your memory of it. While story isn’t everything in games, there’s something to be said for an experience that works alongside the gameplay.

To underscore this unsettling trend, IGN posted a feature a couple of weeks back that highlights the Devolution of Character Design. It’s really disturbing to see, especially as they photoshop several heroes together without any hitches. I knew that heroes were growing more unoriginal, but not to such a staggering degree.

So what do you guys think? Do we need more original heroes? Who’s your favorite protagonist in recent video games? Who is your least favorite? Go!

Source – IGN

Kinect Doesn’t Like Couches?

KinectAs you’ll hear in our podcast that releases tonight/tomorrow, we have some pretty harsh words for the XBox Kinect. I was never too amped about the thing to begin with, but Monday’s press conference raised some concerns about the technology and the kinds of games that are going to be associated with it.

While I’ve been telling myself that I don’t want to judge it too harshly before it’s even available for regular mortals like you and I to try out for ourselves, it’s hard to watch things like Kinectimals and remain optimistic about the whole thing. People that have tried it out at E3 so far seem to be mostly positive, however, IGN posted a well thought article titled 5 Concerns about Kinect, which totally hit on some things that I had been thinking about since the press conference bomb.

As I said, they raise some good points, and the most disconcerting one is the assertion that some Kinect developers are saying that you can’t play Kinect while sitting on a couch. This has always been one of the big barriers for me and motion control. I’m not a lazy guy by any means, but when I sit down to play games, I like having a controller and hanging out on my couch. It seems that Kinect has problems recognizing a skeletal frame when it is sitting down. In fact, the IGN article actually said this earlier, but was later edited. According to VG247, a Microsoft rep says that this experience differs depending on the game. Once again, it’s far too early to tell this, but it’s definitely food for thought as the launch window rapidly approaches.

So what do you guys think? Fair or foul if you can only play Kinect while standing?

Update: IGN released a kind of retraction later, though the quote here is slightly different from the one given to VG247. Regardless, Kinect still didn’t work well with folks sitting down at E3, and signs point to this perhaps being a future issue with certain games, so this topic stands.

Source- IGN