Xbox 360 Game News, Reviews, and Columns - XboxFocus

Search Columns

Columnist Information

The Overheater

Good morning friends, I am Chris Holmes, a keen evangelist of brilliance. I am something a bit different; you remember as a kid that you could be really nice one moment but like explode into a full-on technicolour rage the next? I am essentially like that all the time. I hide my dark side behind a brilliant thirst for life but I earned my Overheater nickname for my pure rage and after having four 360s develop the ill-fated red ring of death.

I have a big rivalry with one of the other columnists and you’ll see that come through in our writing, I’ll let you figure out which one, but let’s just say he also had his fare share of rings. Before I met him I was an extremely happy and warm man but now I am tainted with viciousness and have all the subtlety of an elephant on crack. If you want me to talk about something with all my personalities, fire me an email at Chris@XboxFocus.com.

Column Day: Thursday

Featured Column

Columns List

• Achievements: Becoming MS' Bitch

  by Chris Holmes September 19th 2008 6:55 PM CDT4 Comments

  Since the beginning of this generation, there has been a growing trend in the Xbox world that has worried me, especially since you people have been lapping it all up and have become so ignorant of the side effects from it. The trend in question is the so-called “achievement culture” that has been sweeping Xbox LIVE and my friend s list.
  
  Now, don’t get me wrong, achievements can be quite enjoyable occasionaly, and can prolong a game’s traditional lifespan to often stupid levels. However, there is one question behind their exsistance that has me believing there is something fundamentally something wrong with them:
  
  Why does a “gamerscore” even matter?
  
  
  
  
  Microsoft has indoctrinated all of us into believing those little numbers below your gamertag prove your mettle as a gamer. However, all they truly show is which people can follow instructions better and spend the most money.
  
  In essence, the entire system is based on addiction: the addiction to keep on earning more points in the blind hope that our peers take notice and praise us. The points offer no commercial value and currently can’t be used for anything other than bragging rights, but they are currently the most coveted things on the platform (besides Gears of War 2).
  
  Completing a game is no longer the main port of call for us. Now, we look at achievement lists to see far we've really gone into a game; then we go go about shooting a ridiculous amount of pigeons instead of paying attention to a game's story.
  
  The culture that goes around this system is very aggressive too. Just the other day, some young stalker-type freak proclaimed he was better at Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise than me. I was bemused by such claims from this young squire, as I was a higher level gardener pulling in the big guns of the Pinata world, where as he was just some small-fry trying to home some worm-like creatures with matchsticks. When I compared our achievements, it was suddenly obvious where his attempt at boasting had stemmed from: he had 40 more points than me. It’s a bizarre state of affairs when some lackluster kid can claim to be better than me based on some kind of nonsensical and non-purposeful score.
  
  Microsoft has created a monster incapable of being controlled and tamed. Games are now work, and fun is controlled by the very system we support because we believe it gives us some form of advanced entitlement, but instead we are just another brick in the wall. They have changed the way people have played their games forever, and the problem is not going away. Sony have recently launched the PS3’s copy and its “trophy” system; which are essentially achievements under a different name.
  
  So what does this mean for us? A return to the old collect-a-thons of old as devs run out of fresh achievement ideas is most certainly on the cards, and forcing players to complete a game on a certain difficulty level above their natural ability to get is definitely going to become more prevalent. However, the worst thing that could possibly happen is already seeping into our games quietly, and that’s achievements that actually force users to purchase accessories. Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2 and Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise actually require the Xbox Live Vision camera to get some achievements, and this is where the system will be tested to its limits. Will people actually go and get an expensive addition to their system in order to get more gamerscore or will it awaken people to the cage they are trapped in? It seems this will be the only way to deter us dumb sheep from completely allowing Microsoft to trap us in this constant bizarre vortex of points and pointless numbers.
  
• Patch me, I'm New

  by Chris Holmes August 30th 2008 12:39 PM CDT1 Comments

  Patch me, I’m new
  
  This 360 has brought us some  wonderful features, but has also brought us a fair amount of annoyance. Patching is one of them.
  
  Patching can be good, as adding new features to games helps eliminate any issues with the them. Did we need patching last generation? No. Back then, games only had one shot to be perfect, and had to be thoroughly tested to make sure they were fit for the general public
  
  Now though? Games are rushed, with developers being pushed to breaking point to meet tight deadlines by constrictive publishers who are insensitive to a game’s needs. This results in some glaringly obvious bugs and glitches; which shouldn't be in games marketed as "perfected".
  
  
  
  
  It has gotten to the stage where you expect to find something wrong with every single game, but us gamers seemingly accept it and take it because we’re living in an age of imperfection and paranoia. In essence, the perfect game can’t possibly exist in this vortex of unfinished tosh. We need to stand up and tell developers that this is not good enough. A game should be finished up to the level where the most obvious bugs are fixed and thoroughly tested.
  
  A recent example of a title coming complete with some seriously game-destroying bugs is Castle Crashers, which not only features a broken Xbox Live mechanic, but also has freezing and saving issues. My main character was left without half of his weapons and animal orbs after one session, and when I finally completed the game with my secondary character, I didn’t get the achievement and unlockables for it. I defended a lot of issues with the game in my review, but with the ability of hindsight I would’ve let it burn.
  
  I respect The Behemoth for taking their sweettime in developing the game, but after three years, you would think these things would come up during a play session. Microsoft doesn’t get off easily either, after having the game in testing and certification for three months. One can only imagine how they tested it when these glaring omissions are left present in the final build. The Behemoth has came out and said that a patch is in the works, but is this really good enough? We paid 1200 microsoft points for a product, and we should’ve had a close to flawless experience.
  
  This is an awkward time for gamers, as we are given the marketing once-over with hype machines consisting of flashy trailers, bigmouth developers whoring themselves out, and general hyperbole and madness. All this creates a strong desire for us to purchase the final product as soon as we  can. When we do, we are given a rushed title that wasn’t tested and polished enough.
  
  
  
  
  It seems this culture is really starting to eat into even the bigger studios. Rockstar’s GTAIV needed a patch for its multiplayer right after its releas. I really feel sorry for developers In all this, as they not only get whipped by publishers and fans to release a game on time, but then get it all over again to release a patch to fix their mistakes for rushing. This is complete chaos and the entire situation needs to be addressed.
  
  If games want to be taken as a serious medium, we have to ensure that full, complete products make it to store shelves. You don’t see films and music being fixed over time outside of re-releases and director's cuts. Quality assurance needs to make a comeback, with titles being properly tested instead of a long-ass certification processes which seemingly does jack. We do not want betas or work in progress anymore, we just want our games back.
  
• Beta Up Buttercup

  by Chris Holmes August 20th 2008 5:30 PM CDT1 Comments

  Back in my day, developers paid intense attention to detail, doing all their own work in getting their title out. Then, betas started to become prevalent in the PC area, with developers using them as a tool to both test elements of their games and as a marketing device to help drum up support from future punters. This process continues to this very day, but for the first time, we are seeing them become very successful and useful in the console department. Now the 360 has been getting quite a few betas since its release due to the increasing accessibility and userbase of Live.
  
  This has helped to push the word “beta” to one of the latest buzzwords in gaming, something all the cool kids are doing to show off in their own little playground. In essence, they are the new form of demos.
  
  The first public beta on the 360 was for Final Fantasy XI, which required a CD from an issue of Official Xbox Magazine and a stupid amount of updates to be downloaded from Square Enix’s poor PlayOnline service. However, I was captivated by it and the whole process. It might not have been the best game or easiest to play, but this beta was essentially a free MMO, something not commonly prevalent on the 360.
• Marketing Madness

  by Chris Holmes August 18th 2008 3:56 PM CDT2 Comments

  This is the first column in what will be a tenaciously brilliant journey through my inner psyche, pushing the fourth wall between me, the dreamweaver, and you, the reader. This week, I am tackling the complete state of pandemonium that videogame marketing has found itself in now that we’ve finally settled into this generation of consoles.
  
  Firstly, let’s start with these loud developers and producers who like rambling on about their games as if they are the messiah delivering us salvation. The likes of Denis Dyack, Peter Molyneux, Jade Raymond and Cliff Bleszinski (I think Steve will have me fired if I call him CliffyB) all love to just run into the media screaming “look at me, look at my game”, and this is incredibly annoying.
  
  How many directors randomly run and proclaim the second coming at the media in Hollywood? I can assure you it’s not as much as the games industry. I think the problem is this new focus on community, and marketing directly to fans has morphed to a “false dialogue” stage, where developers reassure fans their certain features in sequels and forget to include others; promising the game will be just as good as past additions. I’m sorry, but why should sequels be “just as good”? Back in the day, sequels made games entirely better. The 2D Mario and Sonic series pushed the gameplay and design with each iterative release.