Library Voice

This is a sweeping generalization, but I found this commment to be fairly descriptive and funny:

Social gaming is big in Europe, and FPS and Action games are big in the US. Japan likes gimmicky tamogotchi-like games with fuzzy creatures and characters with hairdos that defy gravity.

For the record, I’m currently playing one of those gimmcky games from Japan, and I’m liking it.

I’ve got a hefty backlog of games that I want to play. Many gamers refer to this backlog as a “pile of shame,” as they are often games that they’ve been meaning to get around to for quite some time. There’s quite a few games out there for my current systems, the PS2 and the PSP, and many of these great games are available at very cheap prices (around 20 bucks or less). With those low prices, it’s quite easy to pick up a game for a good deal periodically. Unfortunately, each game you get for a good deal can make the pile of shame grow even larger. I’ve done my best to limit my purchases to games that have been highly rated (generally 8/10 or above) or that happen to be on one of the many greatest games lists.  In this way my gaming dollar and gaming time is only spent on the higher-quality titles.  Nevertheless, in picking up great games at a bargain, my backlog had gotten quite large.   In an effort to attack my pile, here’s a list of games that I am working on.

I’ve been chipping away gradually at this backlog.  I’ve tried to limit myself to only playing one game on my PSP and one game on my PS2.  I recently finished Ratchet&Clank:Size Matters on my PSP, but rather than moving on to another PSP title, I may try to spend some time unlocking additional items in Ratchet, Syphon Filter, or other games that I have finished in an effort to complete the games.

Here’s a list of games that I have finished in the last 6 months.  Unless otherwise noted, the games are PS2 titles.

• Ratchet & Clank:Going Commando
• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Daxter (PSP)
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (PSP)
• this one).
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP) (just finished last night)

Here’s the list of Games in Progress under my TV:

• Metal Gear Solid 3 (currently about 60% (~12 hours) of the way through this one).
• Ratchet & Clank (currently on the last level. As this is the first in the series, I don’t know if I’ll complete this one.  )
• Kingdom Hearts  (stuck on Ursula in the little mermaid level.  I go back and forth if I really want to beat this one.  I currently have about 25 hours invested in the game, and am likely 75% complete.)
• Bully (approximately 75% (~20 hours) finished with the story, but only 54% complete with the game. )
• Shadow of the Colossus (I’ve beaten the first two Colossi, but haven’t picked the game up in a couple of months.  Likely I will delete my saved game file and start this one over.)
• James Bond: Everything or Nothing (I’m approximately 60% finished with this game, although the difficulty has ramped up significantly and may prevent me from returning.)
• DIsgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)  (just got started with this one)

Finally, here’s what is sitting on my shelf:

• Resident Evil 4 (played about 5 hours into this one.  I love the game, but put it down for too long.  I have since deleted my save file, as I will start from the beginning again)
• God of War (same as RE4 above)
• Jak 3
• Ico (I played about 2 hours into this in one sitting.  I’m not sure why I dropped it, but I’m definitely looking to get back in to this one. )
• Psychonauts
• Dragon Quest VIII  ( I really want to play this one, but I am a bit concerned about the amount of time needed to finish this enormous role playing game).
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary (I beat the original Tomb Raider on PS1a long time ago, but I’m looking forward to reliving the experience).
• Prince of Persia:  Sands of Time  ( I got to the first real boss and put it down for a while.  I’ve since deleted the saved game in hopes of returning to it again.)
• Dead Head Fred (PSP)
• Metal Gear Solid (PS1) ( I played through this one until you had to swap to the second cd.  My PSOne would not switch to the 2nd disc for some reason.  I got the game back from a friend, who had it for about 5 years.  Even with dated graphics, I’m looking to play this one again.)

In addition to these two lists, I also have a list of games to be on the lookout for that I’d like to play but do not own.  However, I’ve resolved to not purchase any more PS2 games.  I figure by the time I’ve finished or played all my PS2 games to satisfaction, the PS3 will actually be within reach of my budget.  On the other hand, I’m spending more time with my PSP these days, and there are quite a few titles on my to-get list.

Paul doesn’t know that I’m doing this, so we’ll see if he responds.  He and I have been a tad busy this summer with a variety of things, so we haven’t been as active with our Versus Mode as we would have liked.  This is my first attempt to revive the series.

In a recent post, Opposable Thumbs explored the topic of what appears to be the shrinking gaming dollar.  These days, games for the XBOX 360 and PS3 cost around 60 bucks each.  That’s a lot of money for a video game, and in some cases, the games are shorter, not longer, than the games of the previous console generation.  Do the newer games offer additional value to merit the $60 price tag?  Do the fancier graphics make the price tag easier to swallow, even if there is not as much gameplay?  These are some of the questions gamers have to wrestle with when deciding if and when to buy a title.  Personally, I have yet to get a PS3 or a XBOX360, although I will likely get a PS3 someday.  I’m holding off for a cheaper price on the console and also cheaper prices on games.  Most of my games that I have on my PS2 and my PSP were bought as greatest hits titles with the discounted price of around 20 dollars.  WIth the cheaper prices, my dollar goes a lot farther.  As an example, I recently paid 15 bucks for Ratchet & Clank:  Going Commando.  The game took me about 20 hours to beat, so I definitely got a huge return for my buck.  While I don’t necessarily get to play the brand new titles as soon as they are released, if I wait  while, I can get two or three games for the price of one.

By contrast, a new version of Ratchet & Clank is available on the PlayStation Network as a downloadable title.  It currently lists for $14.99.  The game is not to be a full game, but merely a shorter experience.  The full version of the latest game, Ratchet & Clank:Tools of Destruction, retails for 60 bucks.  While the downloadable title offers a good experience, the question is whether its worth the money.  As Opposable Thumbs says:

But, for all that is good about the title, there’s no getting around the fact that the game is short. My first run through, with most of the secrets uncovered, ran just over 3 hours. That’s $14.99 for 3 hours of gameplay. To me, there’s nothing wrong with that; Quest for Booty is a highly-polished title from a great studio with some unique ideas. I could regurgitate the arguments comparing the price of the game to the cost of a movie in the theaters or a cheap meal, but the fact of the matter is that no amount of protest will prevent some people from skipping over a $15 game

As with most blog posts, the comments in the post are good to look at for getting some insight into this debate.  The question as it applies to libraries is this: Should more libraries be circulating video games in an effort to extend the value of a video game?  Isn’t that what libraries are all about?  Don’t we buy books, movies, music, and other media so that more people may use them as often as they wish?  Won’t our dollar go a lot further if libraries buy a game and have it played so much that it won’t play any more?  I can understand why many academic libraries are hesitant to buy games as many still think they are not research material, but how do we get past this barrier?  How do we realign our budgets to allow the purchase of games at the expense of books, movies, or cds?

Chris Kohler, from Wired, confesses to have never played a Grand Theft Auto video game. I’m in the same boat, although I did have a brief stint with GTA: San Andreas, and am currently working on GTA: Liberty Series Stories on my PSP. In preparation for the arrival of GTA IV at the end of April, he’s working his way through some of the GTA series. In this post, he writes about his experiences with 2001’s GTA III. While he talk mostly about the gameplay mechanics and story, one thing of note is that he discusses how the game makes him learn. I’ve quoted an excerpt from his post below:

in this mission, you have to drive to a parking lot, grab somebody’s car, take it to a chop shop where a car bomb is put in it, drive it back to the lot, arm the bomb and run.

Sounds easy enough when it’s described to you. But there are several reasons why it isn’t, and each one of these problems (that a player is likely to run into) teaches you something critical about the gameplay.

• The cops might pick you up. The parking lot isn’t far from the garage where you get the mission, but situated right between them is the Liberty City police station. Since the mission is timed, and the fastest way to the parking lot is right through a little grassy area that nice people do not drive on, you’re likely to just go straight over it. Then blow a red light. Then maybe wing somebody. All perfectly OK, unless you’re in full view of the cops. More than once, my Wanted level shot up to two stars just by driving by here like a jackass. Lesson learned: Drive carefully.

• You can ruin the car pretty easily. If Mike Lips walks out of the Italian restaurant to find his car’s windshield busted and the hood missing, what’s he going to think? He’s certainly not going to jump in and start the engine, triggering his demise. So if you have any collisions on the way to the chop shop, you’ll need to take the car to the repair shop and get it fixed up. This kills two birds with one stone: It teaches you how to drive a car and not ruin it, first of all, and it also reminds you where the repair shop is, because knowing how to use it is an important part of the game otherwise — if you get your car repaired, the cops can’t find you anymore.

• You have to park the car perfectly. On my second try, I got the car back with time to spare, but pulled it in the wrong way. The game told me I had to park correctly, so I tried to, but the car I’d originally arrived in was blocking the way and I couldn’t get it right. Then, while trying to adjust the car’s position, I slammed it into the wall and now it was busted up. Mission failed. What did this teach me? The next time I did this mission, I parked the first car way outside the lot, thus leaving myself a clean path to pull the bomb-car in next time.

Once you successfully make it out of this mission, you’ll have learned a great deal about the rules of the game. As such, accomplishing all of this was a great feeling.

Yes, while the Grand Theft Auto series is controversial and a bit violent, this excerpt is a prime example the learning process in video games.