You And Your Friends Are Dead

Ahoy me hearties! (Sorry about that... still playing far too much Black Flag). It may seem a bit of a depressing title today but this is a message (or one of the messages) which we'd see many times as gamers until recently. Our soundtrack today is taken from a game we all knew and loved growing up, and one that didn't give you infinite lives either. Good old Sonic

There was a time, many moons ago, when developers made games which challenged us in many ways. Puzzles to test out mental capacity and even down to just plain hectic gameplay to test our motor functions. Games used to be pretty tricky and when playing on the hardest difficulty  (because obviously you're not living otherwise) some games became almost, or totally, unbeatable. They are even harder now!

I can only think of one game in recent years (though please let us know if you think we're wrong) which I've given up on not out of boredom or getting a new title, but because it was simply too hard. There used to be a large number of games where you just could not beat. In the early days maybe because the games simply had no end but certainly as we moved on games were sent to challenge us and make us work for the privilege of completion.

Now, it's impossible to get past the first ten minutes of a game without it telling you what you need to press, who to talk to, where you need to go. It's probably saved your progress every five steps and done your laundry as well. I find it hard to pinpoint when this trend started and, though I can maybe agree that it's good for enticing new gamers into our world (and heck, we are all for bringing new folks into our flock) it's seriously dumbed down most of the more hardcore gamers as well.

Dark Souls (or Demon souls, or Dark Souls II) has come the closest to getting back to the core of gaming. These are your objectives... Go! It hasn't pandered even on the lowest difficulties and I have to admire that, but the thing is, I've now grown so used to being spoon-fed every inch of a game that I don't think I'll ever complete it. In most games now, even on the hardest difficulty, our hands are constantly held, our objectives pinpointed and our guns auto-aimed, and it's made us soft.

I've been playing GoldenEye on the N64 again recently (setting up an N64 on my desk may not have been the most productive idea) and as ever I'm playing on the hardest difficulty. I was enjoying the first level, failed a few times, got near to the end and noticed something (before promptly dying again). I wasn't being given an objective marker. This game was making me think for myself again. What are my objectives, where do I think I should go? These enemies are a bit tough. Oh I'm dead. Right then, start again from the beginning.

No checkpoints, no little golden marker or a trail to the next thing on the list to pick up. No handy popup on the HUD to tell me to press the trigger to shoot somebody. This is the gaming that I remember. I remember a time when we as gamers were not promised an ending. Completing the game was not guaranteed, and you could fail at any time and be sent right back to the beginning. Without that, I don't think we can really call completing games an more an "achievement". It was always inevitable, given enough time.

Stay A While, And Listen

Welcome back, Pixel Tribe. Today we're looking at one aspect of gaming in particular. It's possibly not the most vital piece of the satisfaction puzzle but just how important is a good soundtrack? Obviously for a blog post it's very important and you'll soon see why we chose  the lead singer of Great Big Sea to sing us in today. Click play as usual over on the left here and we'll get underway.

Soundtrack may not be the first of the idols that great gaming aspires to. When you are giving ratings for titles these days first and foremost is usually (to our annoyance) graphics. Story will get a mention as well as generally how fun the game is to play. But like Ringo Starr, while the soundtrack isn't the most important part of the band, without some good work everything will fall apart.

One of the latest Free on Gold games for Xbox 360 is Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag. I'm quite miffed with myself that I didn't pick this game up before, thinking it would just be another standard Assassin's Creed game which I'd get bored of within five minutes. How wrong could I have been, the gameplay in itself offers a wide amount of variation to keep me interested and I adore this title. Possibly my favourite thing about the game though is getting on the open ocean and hearing the lads on deck pipe up with one of a large number of sea shanties.

It goes to show, I think, that a lot of attention has gone into the sound in this game. They could easily have left you sailing along with a few choice phrases from your salty crew and the lapping of the ocean against your hull, but they didn't. They took the time to record and program in a fair few shanties for your boys to sing, and you can collect more as you go through the game.

With this, as well as the general hustle and bustle (and even more singing) when you get into towns and around the taverns, AC IV has one of the best soundtracks I've heard since Dead Space (which actually won two BAFTA awards for it's audio) . This might seem odd to some, with dead space having to music to speak of, but we also have to remember that the "soundtrack" of a game isn't just about what music plays at certain points, but the entirety of the sound quality and consistency throughout the title, including the voice acting.
 

We've come a long way since the (admittedly epic) 8-bit chip sounds in the 80s where we were getting excited because it you listen really hard it almost sounds kind of like somebody saying a couple of words, and now to make a good soundtrack for a game is roughly similar to doing the same for a big budget film. Harder, I think in some respects as in a game you have to also try and write or choose music that your user will be able to listen to for hours on end without it getting on their nerves. It's not easy.

Now, the sounds you hear can do anything from making you tap your feet, making you laugh, and in a few titles build up so much tension it's better for you to wear your brown trousers. Though most reviews these days will put graphics up at the top of the review food-chain... I would always say that the soundtrack is equally, if not more important. It may be in the background in most games, and the job of any good soundtrack it to blend seemlessly with the other aspects of the game... but you'd miss it if it were gone.

Anyway, I'm back off now to sail the waves with a hearty crew of privateers. Sing up lads, hoist that mainsail, we're underway!

ALL HAIL THE COMPOSERS!

Get over here!

Happy Monday, Bloggerverse! It's been a lovely weekend over here in surprisingly sunny Wales and with the Grandparents babysitting the little boy (thank you GPs) we've actually managed to get a good gaming binge in...The only problem is, we only have one tv, so what can we do when we both want to play?! Our usual soundtrack remains and today we're bringing things up to date with a lament from Twilight Princess

Back when I were a lad (and all this were fields and you could get into t' cinema for t' jam jar) gaming was still in the early stages. It wasn't a toddler any more but it was still bringing people together in a much more real way than it does today.

Gaming with my brother was always full of the hard decisions... and even before the dilemma of 'which sibling will get the third party controler (always the youngest) we had to decide who would get the "normal" controls on the keyboard, and who would be relegated to the keys in second place.

 The younger readers here may have a slight problem computing this... but I can assure you, even in the late eighties, it was possible for two people (or more) to play a game using one television, one "console" and one keyboard. It was trickier to get four hands on and not get in each other's way, but if you wanted to game two player on an Amstrad, that's what you had to do.

We evolved fairly quickly from that into having consoles with two controller ports, and then the Playstation came along with its Multitap (and the N64 just gave four ports, because why not) and we could have up to four players huddled together to play Crash Bash, or Goldeneye. Micro Machines even kept things going, allowing 8 players to take part by each controller being split between two racers.

Things were going so well, we evolved into the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 having instant ability to attach four controllers... which seemed great, but where the hell are the games? Sure if you want online co-op or deathmatches, we're pretty sorted. But what about when me and the almost wife (one week today) want to have a break and game together when she gets a break from Indy-Plays, or have a party with friends all playing together?

Again, we don't really want to constantly be in deathmatches, but it's very rare these days to find a good game which will let you go through the story mode as a two or four player unit (even some which provide online co-op). We're currently going through one of this month's Free with Gold games, Army of Two III and it's good, cooperative play. We've gone through Lord of the Rings titles which were ok and, of course, Borderlands. All of these were ok when playing single player, but I will always enjoy a game more when I can play it with friends, and as I live with my best friend, I want to be able to play with her too!

Looking at the listings at Co-Optimus, it seems these days though, that the 'Couch Multiplayer' is a beast which is dwindling to extinction, and that makes me a little sad. Still, we definitely enjoy the ones which do support local campaign co-op via splitscreen, even if we are a little limited by what we can choose.

This is my favourite store on the Citadel!

We have quite a special blog today, because I've been chatting online to some personal heroes of mine from my childhood, and they let us fire a few quick questions at them for today's trip down memory lane. The soundtrack for today is taken from Fantastic Dizzy and is there on the left for you to enjoy.

The Oliver Twins started young, and were just 12 years old when in their bedroom, they started creating games which were at the forefront of the industry. I hadn't achieved much by the age of 12 but these guys were programming games to bring the fun home from the Arcade and play all night.

Their first exploit, "Road Runner" was published in CVG in 1983 and they didn't rest on their egg shaped laurels. Investing their fee in a new BBC computer with a whopping 32K of RAM they started out on the road which would lead them to create the great simulators of the time, Grand Prix Simulator (published by Codemasters, who are still going with their F1 series), Robin Hood and one you may have heard me mention a few times, Dizzy.

It's been a long time since magazines printed code for games which you could type in yourself and the twins are still going and still working together. Now heading up Radiant Worlds, they are hard at work with SkySaga. It's looking good, and you can check it out down at the end of this post.

Anyway, we came up with five questions to throw at the boys, and this is what they had to say;

So, I have known your work from a very early age with classics such as Dizzy, Ghostbusters II and Grand Prix simulator being firm favourites by the time I was four years old. Looking back now through ALL the games you've created, which would you say is your favourite?
That’s like asking who your favourite child is. There are several that have special meaning to us... Super Robin Hood on Amstrad CPC was our first breakout hit, written in about 1 month, whilst the first Dizzy was very creative and opened the Dizzy Series which is still fondly remembered by so many.  Fantasy World Dizzy (Dizzy III) was slick game and production (best box art too!), but Fantastic Dizzy was the culmination of so many Dizzy game ideas into one game that this has to be the winner.



You were developing games professionally with your brother, Andrew, before you even left school. At the moment, from what we understand, you are the ideas man, and Andrew is in charge of the technical side. Have you always had this left-brain / right-brain partnership while working together?

Actually we’re twins and we are very similar in skill set and divided things up pretty equally back then. As the business took off, we had to specialise more, and Andrew carried on more on the technical side whilst I ran the business, which included outreach to press & publishers.


Being at the forefront of gaming's return after the Crash of '83, you've come up with some fantastic and innovative ideas. Where do you draw inspiration from when coming up new things? Do you have a special "thinking zone" you retreat to or is it just your standard office?

We’re big fans of cartoons. In the early days that meant things like Tom & Jerry, Road Runner, Danger Mouse, He Man, ThunderCats, Count Duckula, Dogtanian, Hong Kong Fuey.  Video games, like Pac-Man, Gauntlet, Mr Do, Marble Madness, Defender, and films like StarWars and Ghostbusters!  The simulator games were just taking real world aspirational activities such as racing. Classic books like The Hobbit, Robin Hood and Alice in Wonderland and the Grimms tales. We didn’t read Lord of the Rings – it was too big! ;-)

No special retreat! Those games were written out our bedroom – you’ve seen the picture! And the GamesHeadz video. (check out the GamesHeadz short just here)

Looking to the past is always fun, but some would say the future is important too. I know you have your new title SkySaga currently in testing and seeing the videos it looks great. Is this a title you are excited about?

Excited? ... that’s an understatement!   SkySaga is an amazing game, it may be early, it may be called Alpha right now, but that’s because we intend to make it SO much better over many years. SkySaga will dwarf everything we’ve ever created by a factor of 100!  The team, our publisher, the technology, the community – everything has come together perfectly! We are VERY excited by SkySaga.


You folks seem to be one of the few who are fine with Youtubers and streamers using the Alpha testing for their channels, and even monetizing them as well. Do you think more developers should be allowing videos of their work online?

We love our fans! We want to encourage them to enjoy the games, make videos, spread the word... and if they can make some money doing so ... great! Good luck!   Yes other developers and publishers should embrace the community of gamers and the power of social media – especially YouTube, but that’s obvious... isn’t it?!

Last one, and a pretty heavy question. It's been 32 years since your first work was published... looking back at your journey since then, would you change anything?

We seen a lot of other people get rich from our work, whilst we haven’t. We’ve spend many years having to work on other people’s creations rather than our own to pay the bills. If we could have sorted out the money and contracts in the mid 80’s – we’d have had more control on our destiny and our games. That would have led to much better and more creative games. That said, SkySaga is fixing a lot of that now!  



Safe to say it's been great chatting with the folks who made my childhood so very memorable. Mornings battling with my brother through BMX simulator or Advanced Pinball would not have been the same without these folks so we'd like to say thanks for these, as well as for taking time out of their day today. Keep an eye out for SkySaga, it's looking slick and polished, even now! Check out the videos below!

Why, that's the second biggest monkey head I've ever seen!

Gooood Morning Pixel Land! We're taking a break from our thoughts for a day and instead thought we'd start heading into the wilderness of other people's minds. Today, we're talking to Recollect Review and they have chosen their theme, the amazing Guile's theme from SFII. Plug in on the left as usual, and enjoy some classic beats.

It seems to be a growing trend these days. Retro is making a comeback and, as we progress, so much more is being carried under that catch all umbrella. Where it used to be just the 8-bit classics, we're now looking at even PS1 and some even class PS2 games as Retro. Either way you look at it, there's a whole host of goodies waiting for the gaming uneducated to dig into.

Recollect Review is a fairly simple premise. A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man... who likes going back to the games he was unable (or didn't get a chance) to complete. Recollect review, an old loner on a crusade, to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless... ok, my Knight Rider paraphrasing may have to come to an end here.

Like us RR loves to look back and wallow in nostalgia, and though it's just starting out, there are a fair amount of reviews already on their RecollectReview Blog and they are adding more as we go. we thought it would be nice to have a sit down and go over their Origin story, where gaming is concerned.

Hey there and thanks for taking the time with us today. We're going over Gaming Origins... What's the first thing that you remember hooking you into gaming? Any particular Characters, consoles, or games? 

Cannon Fodder on my eldest brother's Amiga. That was the very first game I ever remember and laughing my 3 year old head off when I saw there was a level called "Bugger Me It's Cold". My own first console was a SEGA Mega Drive with Sonic The Hedgehog, I used to have to call my other brother upstairs to defeat Dr. Robotnik in Green Hill Zone, I just couldn't get past that big gold ball! 

When you think of "Retro Gaming", what pops into your head?

Family. Playing games with my brother, Golden Axe II and Street Fighter II. My dad playing PGA Tour Golf, my friend owning a SNES and me owning a SEGA and being envious of each other. 

That actually brought a little tear to my eye. A lot of people forget how gaming can bring people together. Anyway, we've all grown up since the 90s... but we still love heading back and playing older games. Do you ever head back down memory lane yourselves? 

Every chance I get. I prefer them.

Right then, console Wars... Please list your preference, high to low 

1. Nintendo 2. SEGA 3. Sony 4. Microsoft 

Well, that maps out your Gaming journey pretty well. Thanks again for spending time with us :D 

It almost harks back to our recent post about technology and children. A lot of people see gaming as antisocial and while it does have the potential to be that, I think it's important to remember that it can also bring people together and form some really happy memories.

We'll be back soon with more whimsy and opinion pieces (and a chat with The Oliver Twins creators of our favourite gaming series Dizzy) so hang around. If you want to know more about Recollect Review you can head over to their BLOG or, of course, find them on TWITTER

Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better!

 Hey there Pixel Lovers.  Today we're going over the subject of Video Game tie-ins... the good, the bad, and the downright disastrous. Our usual soundtrack is today brought you you by 1986 Amstrad classic - Aliens (CLICK LEFT!)

Over the years, there have been many, many video games tie ins... Possibly the most famous of these, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial has gone down in history as the game which broke Atari and the entire gaming industry back in the '80s (though, this isn't strictly true, it certainly did help) entirely down to the ethos which is still apparent in some games today.

Unfortunately, in a way quite similar to the annual sports releases, movie tie-ins are mostly a way to just rake in some extra cash. From my time working in games retail I can say with certainty that a good 90% of games released with a link to movies or television shows are not worth picking up. Some of them are not even worth picking up for free, with completely broken game mechanics, awful animations and often horrific voice acting.

It came as a nice surprise to see games such as Arkham Asylum break the mould and provide consumers with a game that was solid, gripping and, above all, fun to play. Unfortunately though these games do come along once in a while, they are bobbing heroes amid a sea of floating failures. Even in the days of the cassette tape there were some good tie ins, and those have continued to be a rare gleam in the filth throughout the years. The Aliens game above was excellent (and Isolation was also fantastic) and we've had maybe one or two every few years which have been made with love and affection... but it's definitely an exception, rather than the rule

The reason they are so bad all seems to stem from the same thinking that made E.T. bomb so hard, and though you would have thought developers and publishers would learn from their mistakes. Everybody seems to have forgotten the 29 year old lesson which Atari provided...

A good game, can not be rushed.

It somehow gets worse when a game comes out which ties in with a film which in itself was sub par. Jumper, for example, was a pretty bad film...  but the video game version released shortly afterwards was nothing short of gaming hell. In fact, its only redeeming feature was that you could easily complete it and get rid of it in under two hours. Saying that, a good film or show doesn't mean any guaranteed improvement when making the leap to gaming... I'm looking at you The Walking Dead (not the Traveller's Tales one though, that was awesome)

I wish these companies would learn that (to paraphrase Hank Hill), You're not making gaming better, you're just making your brand worse. Consumers, please learn... If it says anywhere on the box "The Official Videogame", leave it alone.

And what about the other way around? Movies from games?  Max Payne, Hitman, Tomb Raider... I'll leave that one with you.

Please, I'm begging you. If you're not going to invest in good script writers, good programmers, good actors and good testers... don't bother... It'll save all of us some time, money, and above all, dignity

It's Dangerous to Go Alone...

As you probably already know, we're a pretty solid family unit. We're working together today, to produce shared blog for both Pixel Bandits and Indy-Plays, as we think this subject works for both. As ever this blog will contain some epic synth, brought to you today by Silkworm, so press play over on the left.

We're quite lucky, in that myself and Mama Boba agree on pretty much everything we do when it comes to our baby boy. We're "gentle" parents (just read that as we're not total a**holes) and we pretty much always put our boy before ourselves, so it may seem odd to people that we send our 1.5 year old off on technology...

Well, almost anyway. We don't "send him off", we interact with him, with technology, and we both believe that it can be important. Obviously it's only healthy to keep everything in moderation, and we make sure that Indy gets a lot of regular play time as well, but we're both in agreement that as well as lovely wooden toys and messy play, it's important for kids to grow up outside of the technology ghetto.

When we were wee nippers, gaming was a treat. It still is in many respects, we enjoy playing as much as we did then (perhaps more) but with a kid, your time is severely reduced. Children growing up now though, will be using the latest advances throughout their whole lives and, much like reading with him and throwing messy Gelli all over the walls, we both enjoy gaming with him, and watching his progress.

He's a little information sponge at the moment (they all are!) and he was only just over a year old when he cottoned onto the fact that pressing the big shiny button on the controller makes the guide come up on the television... he has advanced since then, from simply being able to unlock my phone to being able to unlock it, go into kid's mode and then choose his favourite games, he can even get a pretty good score on some of them.

Yes, I agree it's important to do other things with your child, very important. And I would never say you should throw a tablet at your child so you don't have to deal with them, but I DO think that using it with them can help them to develop all sorts of processes, from motor function to problem solving. Certainly, teaching him that 2+2=4 is vital, but enabling and helping him to learn how to learn is what I love.

Also... there's just a possibility that I am really looking forward to passing on the games which I loved as a child... showing him the Flashback videos on our channel is all well and good, but seeing him play them, I think, will be awesome.

If you want to know more about our play activities with young Indiana, head over to Mama Boba's Blog, dedicated to her company, Indy-Plays

It's In The Game

Good day, folks and welcome back to the blog. Today's musing goes to the creation of our Parent's Guide series and why we thought this was a good idea. as usual, we have some epic tunes, today brought to you by Dave Lowe and Elite II. So press play on the left, and we'll begin.

We are of the age now where people who aren't gamers consider us "older gamers" (We like to think we just have more XP). People outside of our little world often imagine a sweaty neck beard touting teenager, living in their parent's basement, sitting by the T.V. all day and basically being a good for nothing scrounger. In today's industry, that actually couldn't be further from the case.

Those of us who grew up with video gaming are mostly people who still love it today. The target market has shifted and there are a lot of people now who would be considered "successful Adults" by most standards. The hobby has a much broader spectrum and is now much more accepted than it has ever been.

That said, there are still a number of people in their 40s and above who don't really know much about gaming. They know vaguely what it entails but either don't care or just don't have the time to look into it. Our Parent's Guide series was created for these people (as well as giving a review about the game as well for those of us who just want to know what it's like)

The series has been something I've wanted to create ever since I worked for retail giants Gamestation. It came to a head while I was explaining to a fairly pleasant lady exactly what Grand Theft Auto IV would entail, before she bought it for her 9 year old boy...

Her reaction was mostly one of shock that a) Games contained this and b) "You sell this to kids??!". It saddened me deeply when, even though she was momentarily outraged by the contents of the game she still bought it for her nine year old son

This series is for her. Maybe somebody will see what happens in these titles and instead of just letting them get on with it, make an educated decision as to whether they want their children to play that title. I'm not saying "Don't give your child this game" I am saying "If you are planning on giving your child this game, educate yourself first", and don't just base your decision on something you haven't looked into. I hope these videos help.

As well as the parent's parts, the whole videos are reviews as well.. so if you want to know what it's like from the view of somebody who's not a sweaty neck beard touting teenager, living in their parent's basement... head over and check them out.