The Problem With Fallout: New Vegas

Although I haven't done a formal review of Fallout: New Vegas, I touched on the game during "The First Annual Wherein I Rant Awards", and called it a fantastic game, with superb writing, gameplay, and one of the best example of storytelling in games I've ever seen, and make no mistake, I would easily hold Fallout: New Vegas storytelling up there with Half-Life 2's, or dare I even say it, Portal's.

But, I did mention one enormous flaw with the game. Something which, even though it's a fantastic game, made me bump it down from my Game of the Year, down to runner up.

So what was the flaw so blatantly obvious that it would knock down such a fantastic game to a mere second place? Simple. It wasn't finished yet.

You see, Fallout: New Vegas is buggy. Really, really buggy. The game, while fantastic, simply should not have been released so soon. In fact, I bought the game over a month after it's release, and still found it plagued with game breaking glitches. Random crashes, companions would stop following, character clipping through the floor, and one (rather amusing) bug where characters (hostile or not) would stand in the nearest corner as though they were put in a time out.

You might think I'm exaggerating here, but I'm not. On multiple occasions, I found fights incredibly easy because the enemy was completely stuck, knees down, clipped into the ground, unanble to move. That's pretty game breaking.

Now, I by no means expect a game to be perfectly coded when I buy it. One thing you simply have to live with when you're buying a product like a game, ESPECIALLY a game like Fallout: New Vegas, which is absolutely massive, is that the game will have bugs. The code is just too massive, and it just wouldn't be feasible, economically or rationally, to expect a perfectly bug free code. HOWEVER, what you can expect is for GAME BREAKING bugs to be fixed.

You see, I spent about 50 hours on my first playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas. I noticed dozens, if not hundreds, of major bugs. Now, how long did they play test the game for bugs to not notice these? I have to imagine they couldn't have gotten all that far without noticing these bugs.

So either: A. They didn't properly playtest their own product, playing it for a grand total of less that 50 hours before releasing it to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, or B. They DID know this game was unfinished and buggy, and chose to release it anyway.

Either of these options are simply not ok. You see, either way it says to me they didn't care about their own product enough to polish it before finishing it.

But is this an isolated case? Is this simply one game company, Obsidian (who aren't exactly well known for releasing flawless products...) releasing a game sooner than they should? Or is this a shocking trend, one which absolutely should not continue?

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to say it's becoming quite the trend. Not, perhaps, as obvious as Fallout: New Vegas, but still quite bad. Take, for example, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Now, let me begin by explaining that, although most movie games are shovelware, Star Wars is the exception to that rule. While there certainly ARE Star Wars shovelware games, Knights of the Old Republic, Battlefront and Battlefront 2, Lego Star Wars... These are all good games. In fact, KOTOR has writing which I would hold up to any of the movies. I mean, KOTOR gave us HK-47, and if you don't find HK-47 funny, you're clearly not a meatbag- Sorry, I mean a Human.

In any case, TFU is not shovelware. It's a good game, perhaps not a great game, but a good game nonetheless. It put you in the shoes of the secret apprentice of Darth Vader, trained to kill the emperor, and gave you ABSURD force powers. You could force lightning, you could pick guys up and throw them out into space, you could disintegrate stormtroopers, you could pick enemies up and throw them at each other... It was awesome.

When it was released though, it wasn't exactly... Well it was pretty darn buggy. For example, during the final boss fight? I force pushed the final boss, and he fell behind some rubble, completely unable to move for the rest of the fight. He would stand up, and play a walking animation... But no movement.

That's, again, a pretty game breaking bug. Now, while it's certainly not as obvious as some bugs in Fallout: New Vegas, it still makes me wonder how much bug testing they must have done. I'm inclined to believe it wasn't much.

But why would companies release unfinished products? Certainly long term sales would be exceptionally low for a fundamentally broken product? Well, the answer is quite simple: Patch it later.

You see, patches were not available in the days of the NES, SNES, N64/PS, and even the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox. Patches are bug fixes or additions to a game (or other software product, but for this context we're using the term for games) which is sent out by the company later, and downloaded by the computer or console. Back before all the consoles had an easy internet connection, if you wanted to make a change, you'd have to change the code on the next edition of cartridges. Nothing could be done about the copies already out there.

For example, let's take for example, one of the greatest games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for the N64. True geeks like me will already likely know the story I'm about to bring up, but for the sake of the masses, let me tell you the story of the gold cartridge.

You see, when OoT was originally released, it was released on a golden cartridge. No real reason why, just an aesthetic thing. However, only the first batch, if you will, the first editions, would be released on a golden cartridge.

You see, after the game was released, although it had been rated E, the players of the game noticed a few things. Namely that the final cutscene featured the final boss being stabbed in the head, and (red) blood, spewing across the screen. However, that alone was not the only thing that got the gray cartridges changed. You see the Fire Temple (one of the dungeons you adventure through late in the game) featured, in one room, islamic chanting in the background music. Something which met with the attention of extremist groups.

Keep in mind this was in the 90s, pre-9/11, and had it been post 9/11 it likely never would have made the cut, however, it was pushed through, and met certain Nintendo employees with death threats.

As such, in the next release, the gray cartridge, the chanting was removed, and the blood was changed to a yellowish green color. However, nothing could be done about the first batch of cartridges, and to this day golden OoT cartridges remain a collectors item.

Now, this may not be the best example, as those things weren't exactly "bug fixes" but I imagine you get the idea. You see, today those things would simply be patched.

Now, patches are by no mean a bad thing. They're a great thing in fact! However, they're only great when used properly. You see, many companies have used the existence of patches as an excuse for releasing unfinished products.

For example? Well, Fallout: New Vegas. Which has already gotten several patches that have fixed major problems. Thus, those who bought it on release were essentially paying $50 to $60, to test an unfinished product, something which Obsidian should have done in the first place.

These paid betas... Are simply unacceptable. Thus, Fallout: New Vegas biggest flaw. It could have been a real candidate for Game of the Year 2011, unfortunately, it was released in 2010.

E3 2010 Day One: Highlights and Lowpoints

E3 is, and has been since it started, the biggest gaming event of the year. Whether it be a new console, a new major name title, or a bold new project, E3 is THE PLACE to premiere it.

The first day of the convention is over. So what's my opinion on day one? ...Meh.

Hightlights:



Everything about Natal- I'm sorry, Kinect, that wasn't a game.
"Project Natal" was the big reveal done by Microsoft at last years E3. It once again took the spotlight, now named "Kinect", during the Microsoft Press Conference this morning. And you know what? It looks nice. The technology is really impressive. For those who don't know, it's a camera which tracks you in 3D space to track your movements and lets you interact with the console without any form of controller. And the features other than, y'know, actual games are really nice. You can watch movies on it and fast forward/rewind just by reaching out and grabbing the time bar on the screen. You log in simply by waving at the screen and Kinect will find your profile by looking at you, and then log you in. The video chat is also impressive, you can video chat without any sort of headset, with anyone else with a Kinect. Then you can move around and Kinect will track you, without you having to move the camera. You can even watch a movie with whoever you're video chatting with, and a third screen will pop up with the movie on it. I'm skeptical of how well that will work, it seems like it will have latency problems, but it's a good idea. ESPN will be free to watch for anyone with Xbox Live Gold, with over 3500 different events, or whatever. I couldn't care any less about sports. Overall as a media center it looks like it'll be incredible, and probably worth getting just for that aspect for some people.


New Xbox Model - Shipping TODAY

Microsoft shocked me personally today announcing a new redesign of the 360 that is NOW SHIPPING. That's big. You can get one next week. $299 will get you a 250 gig hard drive, built in wi-fi support, and supposedly, a whisper quiet system. Which is good. I may actually get an Xbox now. Maybe. Possibly. It could happen.


Hope


I NEED THIS NOW. NOOOOOWWWWW.



Rayman!

A Rayman 2-d sidescroller that has nothing to do with rabbits? Yay!

Lowpoints:
Kinect Games

A Mario Kart Ripoff? A Mario Party Ripoff? A Nintendogs Ripoff? 4 Wii Fit Ripoffs?

The lineup of Kinect games is one of the biggest "Screw you!"s Microsoft has ever done. It shows that Microsoft has realized they can make money by ripping off the Wii, and plan to do just that. The dance game by Harmonix looked pretty okay I suppose.

Laser Tag


THIS IS A VIDEO GAME CONVENTION. STOP SHOWING US THINGS THAT DO NOT COUNT AS VIDEO GAMES. USING XBOX TO TRACK SCORES DOES NOT MAKE IT A VIDEO GAME.


Michael Jackson: The Game
No, you didn't read that wrong. Someone is making a game based on the king of pop. It's everything I hate about rhythm games. It puts you in the shoes of Michael Jackson and has you sing and dance in concert. It'll work with the Kinect for Xbox and the Move for PS3. It will also be terrible. IT'S BEEN A YEAR PEOPLE, GET OVER IT, MJ IS DEAD.


Star Wars Kinect


Ugh. This could be so good, but looks so bad. This shows all the problems with Kinect, and motion controls in gaming. It never looks authentic. Something about the movements just look off. You CANNOT swordfight without having any feedback, and those beams look TERRIBLE. This game just looks so bad.

Kinectimals Demo

I saw that Microsoft. I saw you try to convince us Kinectimals isn't garbage using an adorable little girl, and an adorable little tiger and it's named Skittles and it fell and oh my gosh it's SOOOO CUTE- Sorry, I had prolonged exposure to ADORABLE there for a second.

The Lady Showing Off the Kinect Video Chat

i r da gud public speaker durpity durp


Why No Blu-Ray?
Since they're going through all the trouble to redesign the 360, why no blu-ray? It seems like a pretty big oversight to me. Even if you don't use it for games, just the ability to play blu-ray movies would be nice.

In Soviet Russia, Kinect Controls YOU!
Here's a video of the Star Wars game being "played". Impressive how the character moves before the player, isn't it? What's that? This is proof that this Kinect demo was fraudulent and it's not that responsive? Yes. Yes it is.

Final Comments:

What an underwhelming first day for E3. Here's hoping tomorrow will be better?

The Case Against CGI

(Note: This doesn't apply to computer animation movies such as Pixar.)

CGI or, Computer Generated Images, is quite popular in movies right now. And why wouldn't it be? CGI lets filmmakers create anything they can imagine! Back in the day, that kind of power didn't exist. You were restrained by the limits of technology. You wanted a dinosaur in your movie? Ok, but it was going to look terrible.

So is there any downside to CGI? At first it seems like there isn't. Sure, perhaps the cost is an issue, but for large budget movies it seems like it's a great option! But there's a very good case against CGI.

You see, the first issue with it is the fact that it's not real! I mean, sure, CGI has gotten to the point where we're almost out of the uncanny valley (the point where things look realistic enough that they look creepy), but even if we do get out of the uncanny valley, there's still issues with it.

This was the big problem with Star Wars I, II, and III. Take a look at these two pictures.






Now you see, the bottom one from A New Hope feels real. Luke, Leia, and Han feel like real people, in a real room, in real danger.

The top one, when you see it, you probably think "OOH! COOL! That's some dang good effects!". Yeah, you're right. The Star Wars prequels did have amazing effects. (The originals had good effects for the time too of course.) The problem is it brings you right out of that scene. And that happens over and over again in the prequels. You know it's not real because it isn't real. In the original movies, things weren't CGI, they were real. They were on sets. Real, physical sets.

But in the prequels, every scene had CGI in it. A lot of CGI in it. And sure, it looked cool the first time you saw it, but the original movies are still good today.

The second point, looking again towards the prequel movies as an example, is the fact that it makes acting really dang hard. Let's face it, a lot of the acting in the prequels was really terrible. Especially in Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. But I really don't think it was the actors fault. It has to be really hard to act when... Well... There's nothing there. Literally, nothing there. I mean seriously, CGI means that what the actor is looking at is essentially a blue stick.

Thirdly, it's over relied on. HELLO AVATAR! Seriously, I enjoyed that movie, and it was pretty. The technology behind it was great, but the story was not what you call gripping and compelling. Like I said before, technology is a tool. Think about, say, Terminator. Terminator is a much, MUCH, better movie than Avatar. Terminator was made before CGI existed in the form it does now. Terminator had a great, compelling plot, and really gripped you and pulled you into the story. It was awesome. You were certainly never thinking about the technology behind the movie while watching it. So what happened to that James Cameron? Did you forget how to write a good story, so you just made Dances With Smurfs?

Now I'm not saying CGI should be done away with. What I'm saying is filmmakers need to use it, not abuse it. I get it, I really do. It's a shiny new toy. Who doesn't want to play with a shiny new toy? The problem is CGI is a tool. Filmmakers are trying to pass of CGI as a painting. CGI is a paintbrush.


Oh, and of course, I gotta mention things like this:



That's bad for entirely different reasons of course.

TOR Playable Species, What Is And Isn't Possible.

So. I like the Knights Of The Old Republic games. Specifically, I like KOTOR1. I didn't think the second one was very good compared to the first. But that's because Bioware left the series and the second one fell into the hands of others. It was good, the gameplay was a step up from the first, but overall the writing, which was the big draw of the first game was not.

So I'm very excited for the new MMO sequel to the games, "Star Wars: The Old Republic". So much so, that I've become a semi-active member on the TOR forums. My name is Zuldim, in case anyone cares to look me up on there.

Now, there's been a lot of talk on there, because while a lot has been reveal on the game (scheduled for Spring 2011 release), playable species have not. They've been confirmed to be in the game, but no specifics have been given. I've seen a lot of speculation on what species will and will not be in the game, so here is my opinion on what is likely, what is possible, and what is unlikely. (Most of my research was done on wookiepedia)

*Spoilers for KOTOR and KOTOR2 follow*


Humans
Duh
Likelyhood: Confirmed


Twi'lek
Twi'lek played a big part in KOTOR, are widely popular with fans, appeared many times in the movies, are known to have connections with the force, and can speak basic. I would be shocked if they were not playable.
Likelyhood: Almost a given.


Zabrak AKA Iridonians
You had an Iridonian companion in KOTOR2, Bao-Dur. Iridonians are well known because of Darth Maul, and they can obviously have a connection with the force. They can also speak basic.
Likelyhood: Probable.



Wookies
Everyone loves Wookies! Unfortunately, they cannot speak basic, due to their physiology, and all the classes are confirmed to have the same voice for each race. All classes are also confirmed for each race, and Wookies cannot have a connection with the force.
Likelyhood: Highly unlikely.



Gand
Gand are a popular fan favorite among the TOR forums, but they're relatively unknown outside of the hardcore KOTOR fans. They can have a connection with the force, and speak basic (I think) though.
Likelyhood: Unlikely.


Jawa
There is only one Jawa known to have had a connection with the force, or be able to speak clearly for that matter. It's possible they could be in as the "short race" ala Dwarves in WoW, but they only ever wear those same robes, so armor would be a problem.
Likelyhood: Very unlikely.


Selkath
In KOTOR Manaan, homeworld of the Selkath was an entire planet you visited. I liked Manaan, and the Selkath were kind of cool I guess, but they really seemed to value neutrality. They've been known to have connections with the force, but I don't recall one ever speaking basic. They may have given up neutrality in the past 400 or so years since KOTOR though, and it's possible some can speak basic and choose not to.
Likelyhood: Possible.


Droids
Droids can't use the force, and cannot have a moral compass with which to make decisions.
Likelyhood: Not gonna happen.


Rakata AKA "The Builders"
The Rakata were one of the first races to discover the force, and used it to conquer the galaxy with unspeakable acts of evil (they were the ones who turned Tatooine into a desert planets, from the lush planet it used to be). Eventually, however, the dark side corrupted them, and they fell. Since then, only a few remain, they have regressed to tribal days, with little to no technology, and have lost connection to the force.
Likelyhood: Extremely unlikely.


Kel Dor
Kel Dor can speak basic, and use the force. The character narrating the timeline videos that are being released is a Kel Dor, which could be interpreted as a hint. The only thing about this is that they aren't well known enough.
Likelyhood: Possible

Other races not worth mentioning: Tusken Raiders, Ewoks, Sarlacc (THAT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE AND YOU ALL KNOW IT), Whatever the heck Yoda is.

I don't really know what to say.

So here's Pee-Wee Herman being VERY SERIOUS.



So um... Uh...

Hey, here's some random funny pictures:

Knights of the Old Republic

Is a pretty cool game.

I just thought I'd let you all know.