Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 3: Truckin'

And we're back! The game started off strong, with plenty of abilities to run across sooner rather than later, and it certainly seemed like it wasn't going to let up much at all. We'll be finishing off Chapter 2 today, along with going after the incredibly short chapters 3 and 4. Keep in mind, all of these observations are written fresh after beating each level, with the occasional note during play.

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CHAPTER 2:

LEVEL 4: I should probably mention that I have a soft spot for animal vehicles in games. Especially weird ones. LoS lets you ride on giant spiders, which immediately elevates it to the upper echelon of "cool shit you can do" tier games. You wind up reining in both a giant spider, as mentioned, and a large cave troll. Trolls can knock down unbreakable things; Spiders can create webs and pull trees you couldn't otherwise yank. Shadow Magic is introduced here; unlike Light Magic, which heals you as you hit enemies, Shadow Magic enhances your damage, and also opens up certain seals. Light and Shadow have their own magic meters, thankfully, and you can choose which meter to fill when sucking up magic energy. Very smart decision.

Clever use of the hook: When rappeling on one segment, I had to swing off the wall face, leap off, and hook onto a grapple point that was just around the corner. It was easy to do, but the marvel is the implementation: even having never done something like that before, I was able to get it without much coercion from the game itself.

LEVEL 5: The levels are really starting to "standardize," not having nearly the variety visually as the first chapter did. This is okay, actually; the design of each level is incredibly distinctive, and each one has its own unique secrets. This level has more stuff to ride, including Wargs. These guys are built for jumping over gaps and climbing things Gabriel couldn't normally access.

LEVEL 6: Much more focused on grappling and area traversal, this level features a lot of secret areas only accessible using leaps of faith. You encounter your first flying enemy as well, and man... Those little devils are annoying. I mean it, they're actually little devil things. They arrive en masse at times, which makes it almost impossible to tackle them in the air. While annoying, their health is low.

LEVEL 7: This one focuses entirely on gathering four shards of a large crystal. Evidently, it can be used to summon a giant beast to help destroy everything on screen, but the game didn't recommend this route. Instead, it ends with a mirror puzzle. Before you plotz, it's a very minor one that's easy to grasp and solve. Unfortunately, you lose the crystal after the level. No big loss for now.

LEVEL 8: Entirely a boss battle. Much like the last giant boss, this one employs very similar SotC tactics. It manages to change things up by employing a few new wrinkles, including countering some of the giant stones it throws. It manages to be very similar to the previous titan, and yet it is a different enough experience to never feel TOO familiar.

LEVEL 9: Again, another straight-up boss fight. This is also the only level in the game thus far that has absolutely NO findable items. It's a no-nonsense battle, and it's a bit of a toughie. Though the enemy is smaller than a titan, it's got one particular attack that can be very difficult to dodge, and it is CONSTANT. It borders on annoying, but luckily the checkpoint system allows you to pick up at a later point in the battle.

CHAPTER 3:

LEVEL 1: Finally, I can try out the summon! And... it is murder. It took out three Greater Lycanthropes in one shot. Luckily, you don't need to collect four parts of a whole shard; rather, just find one and you're okay. This level introduces fairies, which are akin to little homing missiles, or tiny, naked suicide bombers. Much more environmental exploration this time around, with loads of grappling and swinging.

Also, great moment in game design: You are given a rod and two separate winches in which you must insert the rod. You use one winch to open a gate. You can actually then TAKE THE ROD OUT and insert it into another winch. As heavy as those last statements are in innuendo, I'm just so glad there wasn't the "one time use" problem I see in a lot of other games that do this.

LEVEL 2: Very short chapter, as this is the last level in this one. Obvious from the start that it's a boss area. By this point it's painfully obvious that the narrative tries really hard not to get in the way of the gameplay, to the point where it actually becomes difficult to follow. Yet, when a cutscene happens, it makes sure to grip you, even if it can be occasionally difficult to follow. Solid voice acting, solid animations for the most part... Even early on, it's a sign of good things to come.

The boss here is the first multi-form one. First form is fairly easy; powerful, but not much of an issue. The second, however, requires much quicker reflexes to stay alive, but otherwise doesn't deviate too much from the Wargs and Greater Lycanthropes. The final isn't so much a form as it is a last ditch effort, where you must attack an alternate target.

New item, the Cyclone Boots. Basically, allows you to dash, which nullifies much of the Warg's usage as a ridable enemy, save for climbing vines. Also adds quite a few new attacks! Very nice stuff.

CHAPTER 4:

LEVEL 1: Another two-level chapter. This one manages to successfully add in quite a bit of use to your boots. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to hear someone say your full abilities aren't on full display here, which is really showing the strength of the game. There's a rather fun boss battle in the middle, which pits you against a giant ogre of sorts. While not particularly difficult, his moves are occasionally hard to avoid.

The end of the level does something a little different... I really am not going to spoil this one, other than saying it's a very strange, weird change of pace from the usual combat.

LEVEL 2: A far more vertical level. You fight a new enemy type, a ghostly swordsman. These guys are actually pretty annoying; some may enchant their swords and will do some serious damage for a short time. Luckily, a summon will take them down quick.

The traversal upwards is easy, though I got hung up very briefly at one or two points, wondering where to go. The boss of the area is unconventional in that you don't actually attack it directly. You'll be doing a lot more fighting with some of the little broodlings the boss sends out. Redirecting the projectiles the boss fires is a bit hard to get used to, thanks to having to twirl the analog stick in a very specific direction, as you had to do against the second titan.

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Well, I am now officially one third of the way through the game, chapters-wise. The next chapter seems to be a bit beefier, at seven levels, so hopefully I can knock out two or three more by tomorrow. The game is honestly shaping up to be a heck of a lot of fun, and there was certainly a lot of care in the level design. The game holds your hand a fair amount of time, but never in an overtly pushy way. It saves you from a lot of bottomless pit deaths and tries to idiot-proof the gameplay as much as possible without making it simple, which certainly works in its favor.

Stay tuned. Looks like I might be doing a one-shot review of Comic Jumper before the week is done, so be on the lookout.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 2: The Beginning of the Journey

Note: I'll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum, but there WILL very likely be gameplay spoilers. Just keep that in mind.

CHAPTER 1:

LEVEL 1: The first level drops us in the middle of a hectic thunderstorm, complete with pouring rain and rainslick... everything, in the middle of an old village. Acting as a tutorial level of sorts (of course), this is where we come to grips with the meat and potatoes of the combat system. Those who have played God of War will instantly feel at home, and, thankfully, it shares a solid, yet smooth feel with its Sony exclusive cousin. Combat is generally tight, though perhaps just the slightest bit looser than some might prefer. Regardless, the core mechanics are fun; you actually FEEL like you're doing some decent damage.

An old wrinkle of Castlevania is back: Subweapons. No hearts this time around, however, as you now actually have a set amount you can carry with you at once, replenishing with drops from enemies. This may seem bad, but at least with daggers, the drop comes up fairly often, and they're actually quite a bit powerful, dropping Lycanthropes with a single toss. Problem, though: the number count for how many of a subweapon you have is incredibly tiny, even on an HD television. I have to squint just to see it.

The boss is a good couple of shades tougher than your usual foe, but with some smart dodging and blocking, he can be taken down somewhat easily. Slacking off can get you killed VERY quickly, however. Finishing off the fight involves lifting up a spear-like tree branch at just the right time as the Warg leaps off a small craggy outcropping after you. Impaling is SUCH a fun way to end a battle.

The game employs an experience system that acts more like a currency system: trade in points for a variety of new abilities, including but not limited to aerial combat moves, subweapon supermoves, and additional counter-attack types.

LEVEL 2: Showing off the variety in the game, half this mission takes place on horseback. You're fending off various Lycans and Wargs while trying to remain atop your valiant steed. Easier said than done, but as long as you recover after each hit with a cool head, you'll be fine.

Regardless of whether you stay atop the horse (it IS possible to be knocked off), you'll go through a couple of combat rounds with Lycans and Wargs, learning about counterattacks. They're pretty dang handy, especially when you get involved with larger crowds, as counterattacks are difficult to interrupt.

LEVEL 3: You're in a big swamp through this area. This level focuses on exploration; much of the bog involves navigating syrupy marshes that fork repeatedly for half the level. This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't move so slowly.

You net the Hook Tip for your weapon, the Combat Cross. It's essentially a hook shot, a la Zelda, save for the wrinkle that you can actually rappel on it. It's a fun addition, and actually gets utilized fairly well in this level.

The boss is a giant swamp troll in the middle of a cemetary. He uses tombstones as weapons against you, but is otherwise fairly harmless, if a bit durable. Afterwards is a platforming segment; it's almost impossible to fall unless you completely screw up a jump, which, again, is hard to do more thanks to rather spot on design and mechanics than hand-holding.

LEVEL 4: A very quiet level with no enemies. Your goal is to find five medallions with runic symbols on them. Luckily, they glow like the dickens so it's not particularly difficult. The medallions aren't exactly necessary to beat the level, but it's best to have as many as possible, as they are used to open a gate at the end. Basically, you match up the runes shown to you with the ones you have. A very easy puzzle if you explored often enough.

Another puzzle comes up: The kind where you have to turn a series of rings with marks on them, attempting to line up the marks. Moving one ring also moves another. There's a limit to how many turns you can take, though there's a Reset option. I managed to get it in five turns on my first try, something I don't think I could accomplish again purposefully.

LEVEL 5: Almost entirely a boss level. You fight a gigantic ice titan. The whole battle is very reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, even down to having to attack various runes placed on the titan's body. It's far faster paced, and the game basically tells you how to traverse his body using glowing body parts. It's easy to get thrown off, and it can occasionally be unclear when to dodge, but otherwise, it manages to capture a bit of that feel of SotC remarkably well.

It should also be noted that each mission has a trial you can undergo after beating it. The trials are essentially just tasks you can complete in order to attain more unlocks and percentage points to the level completion goal. Some are fairly easy, like Level 1's, where you have to keep just one survivor alive after the Warg fight, but some seem to be fairly tough, like Level 5's time limit mission, which I couldn't even get halfway through before time ran out. The game sets up fairly early that you're going to need to go back with beefier powers in order to complete the game 100%.

CHAPTER 2:

LEVEL 1: Further giving more visual variety, we're now in a more Mayan-looking area, with plenty of ruins within a slowly dying forest. New things learned here: Light Medallion, which, while you have magic active, heals you with every attack. You can get more energy for it by killing enemies without being in magic mode. You also get a Focus meter, which, for as long as you don't get hit in combat, gives you more magic energy than usual. Pretty nice incentive to learn the combat, actually.

LEVEL 2: Taking place under the rotted remains of an ancient tree, the caves are basically one really great excuse to shove spiders into a level. And I'm not talking itty bitty things there to shave off your health, I'm talking big honkin' spiders who poison you and tackle you. You fight a few of these throughout, and they're pretty fun battles. A few tight-rope walk segments which are actually pretty tolerable as well. New weapon, the Spiked Chain, which allows you to saw through some stone relics.

LEVEL 3: Though called a labyrinth, I'd hardly adjectivize this as "labyrinthine." However, it does add another cool thing: riding your enemies. Warthogs are introduced in this level, and if you can weaken them enough and rid them of their goblin riders, you can hop on their backs and lay waste to all your enemies. This is actually a very fun little segment that is probably too brief, but a great change of pace.

You also fight Greater Lycanthropes (well, one, to be exact), which are a fair deal tougher and faster than their Lesser counterparts. However, they're fought with much the same strategy, except they have unblockable attacks and, in turn, can block as well. We also get a few old cliches: rotating mechanisms that open doors. It's a little annoying, and causes confusion at the end of the level to figure out just how you're supposed to operate one, but it's a short-lived frustration, thankfully.

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TL;DR Version: There are definitely some cliches here. God of War's combat system [for the most part], Legend of Zelda's heart piece system [split into fives rather than fours], rotating winches, Colossus-style boss battles, traditional 3D tightrope walking... But here's the thing thus far: Unlike some games which purposefully ape another game or three, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow understands why some of these mechanics are fun in those games, and actually utilizes them in ways that honestly fit. The levels are just about the right length, all told, none taking up more than ten to fifteen minutes, MAYBE twenty if you're thorough. It is definitely inspired by old school Castlevania, and so far, that's nothing but total compliment.

Stay tuned for the rest of Chapter 2. Each level description's going to get shorter as time goes on as I'll have fewer new things to cover. Anything you guys want to see specifically? More plot references? More descriptions of the mechanics? Less level-by-level description in favor of something else? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 1: Unboxing

And right on time, the game comes in! [Enslaved: Journey to the West also came in, but we'll save that one for later.]

The first thing to notice is that it's got a rather fancy-pants cover. Rather than a 3D render of the main character, we get a rather lovely (if dark) painting of almost the exact same cover.

It's a lot more showy than the original art, and has that more "flair" kind of style akin to the Castlevania series as a whole, particularly later Metroidvania entries.

The plastic cover is so thin that I actually couldn't tell this thing loaded from the side! I nearly dropped it on my way to grab the camera. Still, though, it feels nice and glossy.

The case itself actually opens up like a book:

It starts out with a pretty decent art book glued right into the case. Unfortunately, it's a bit cumbersome to wield, but the plus side is that the print quality is gorgeous. Everything is glossy and beautiful, even if the contents are a bit paltry (30 pages, each with only one, MAYBE two concepts). There doesn't seem to be a lot of spoiler content in here; nearly everything within can be seen in any of the game's trailers, so don't worry too much about diving into it beforehand.

After that is the soundtrack, which is placed in its own cardboard sleeve on the next page (again, awkward to wield). The soundtrack listing is as thus:

1. Besieged Village

2. The Warg

3. Hunting Path

4. The Dead Bog

5. The Swamp Troll

6. The Ice Titan

7. Labyrinth Entrance

8. Waterfalls of Agharta

9. Agharta

10. Cornell

11. Maze Gardens

12. Castle Hall

13. The Evil Butcher

14. Laura's Mercy

15. Carmilla

16. The God Mask

17. Belmont's Theme

18. Final Confrontation

19. The End

20. The Last Battle

The last bit is just the typical case and manual (the latter of which features the standard edition cover art). The disc is a bit difficult to get out or even put back in, thanks to the center tab, to the point where you're less afraid about breaking the tab and more about the disc itself. A little care and extra pressure on the tab and you're fine, but this might worry some people.

Overall, this is a pretty nice setup. The soundtrack alone seems to be worth the extra $20, but the art book and packaging are definitely well done. However, with no extra game content or extra incentives, unless you've got the money to spend on luxuries like this, the standard edition might be the way to go. Still, all told, it looks quite nice on a shelf, isn't too large, and doesn't clutter much up.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3)

Coming soon! An actual blogpost! We'll be doing a playthrough of the long-anticipated Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, developed by MercurySteam with supervision from Kojima Studios.

Day 1 will involve an unboxing of the Limited Edition released in the States, as well as a three-hour (or more) play-through akin to my Parasite Eve run, though hopefully more well thought out and laid out. Spoilers will be minimal, only covering the beginning of the game. When the game is wrapped up, I'll hunker down and do a full review in its own post, so those who don't want to have gameplay mechanics and such spoiled won't have to worry.

Also stay tuned for an Enslaved playthrough and review as soon as LoS is wrapped up. I don't know about you guys, but playing as a buff monkeyman with a hot, redheaded slave-driver really gets my biscuits buttered.

Move and Kinect: The Definition of Insanity

For those of you who don't know but are mildly interested in video games [big surprise, coming from me], here's something you might take interest in: Motion detection is the new big thing.

Now, Nintendo's Wii has been doing this for a little while now. Though many consoles have experimented with motion technology, the Wii was the first "mandatory" setup, with a remote that is detected by a single sensor bar and acts as a medium to translate physical movement to interaction on the screen. Sony quickly added motion support in very limited fashion with the Dualshock 3, née Sixaxis, but it isn't until this holiday season that we see full aping of the ground Nintendo's broken: The Playstation Move setup, and the XBox 360 Kinect, née Project Natal.

First, let's get into how they work, because they're actually two pretty interesting ways of answering the same question.

Sony's answer to motion controls is not a huge departure from the Wii. In fact, at first glance, you may look at the Move's "wand" as an off-brand Wiimote, and the analog stick controller as a Wii nunchuck. The few key differences are in the number of buttons on any given controller [featuring nearly every single button normally present on a Dualshock 3] and a big, glowing, rubbery ball at the end of the "wand." Also, rather than a sensor bar you place carefully below or above your TV, you instead deal with a camera not unlike a webcam in both size and function, and this is what detects the position of the wand. Though there are a number of extra features, the core experience is almost directly translatable to the Wiimote and its addon Wii Motion Plus, which adds in far more precise range of movement, creating a near 1:1 experience.

Microsoft's Kinect, on the other hand, provides what is arguably a more "immersive" experience: Rather than using any form of held device, all that's given is a long two-point camera which is utilized to capture an image in a 3D space. The idea is to completely remove the controller from the experience, and is especially evident by a motion-controlled dashboard or main menu, which can be navigated by swipes of the hand.

Plenty of developers are jumping into the motion sensor pool of development, an especially confusing concept when third party support is short-changed in terms of the Wii. With big names like Rare and Harmonix taking the initial charge, on the surface, it looks as if it's a much stronger contender for motion controls over the Wii. However, recall during the Wii's inaugural year and the years that followed, and you become aware of a frightening term: shovelware. Games made on the cheap which utilized the controls in the basest of ways, in entirely uncreative ways which do not separate from more traditional "controller" experiences except for the fact that you "waggle" the controller a lot. This frightening word is recalled very quickly when the realization hits that a majority of the first wave of games being released for the Move and Kinect feature the same level of creative thought: experiences that do not depart from more analog approaches, and possibly only make things more difficult. There are notable exceptions, of course, such as with Harmonix' Dance Central, a game which utilizes actual dance moves and techniques and assembles them together to perform both well known and unique routines to an entire library of songs, but these are very few and far between.

Of course, one experience may be easier on your wallet than another: The Kinect is expected to release at an eye-popping $150, quite a price when you're considering how gung-ho Microsoft is about pushing this supposed new generation of gameplay forward. The Playstation Move, however, is instead something cheaper for smaller parts: The wand controller and camera is closer to $50-60, and the entirely optional analog controller adapter is in the range of $30-40 [the Dualshock 3 can be used as a clunkier alternative to this additional controller]. Even getting the "full" single player experience with the Move, we're already featuring a cheaper initial investment to test the waters. Microsoft claims the Kinect's price is a far better deal as you're buying a controller for every single person who wants to get involved, which presents two problems, one of which is this: If the games aren't good, wouldn't it be better to spend $50-60 to try it out than $150? It's a considerable risk, considering it still isn't a quantifiable success yet.

There's an additional problem with Kinect, though, one which those outside the gaming community aren't aware of: Microsoft isn't technically done building the Kinect. There are quite a few problems with its detection technology. For one, it has trouble recognizing people sitting down. For those who don't have the energy to play a game standing up for long periods of time, this is a bit of an issue. We also don't know how many people can be detected at once for a game. While the Kinect's detection handling is fairly sophisticated [the aforementioned Dance Central can detect a total of three unique dancers, for instance], it doesn't seem to be able to handle people who are curled up or trying to be casual.

That isn't to say the Playstation Move is altogether a better alternative; For one, those who have the Wii will likely feel a disturbing sense of deja vu. The Wii still has the notorious history of poor third party support, and if the Playstation Move is merely updating what's already available, how are we expected to believe the software experience will be that much better? How willing are we to risk entering the same experience and expecting a different result? Isn't that the very definition of insanity? Kinect at least offers an experience not seen in any significant fashion, and may actually prove to be a very interesting novelty to show off to friends, more so because perhaps awkward pantomiming may be less demeaning than waving around a wand with a glowing orb on the end of it.

The fact of the matter is, the industry is very driven to make motion sensing the next big thing. For the most part, consumers have a verbal interest in seeing some very interesting stuff coming out of this, but aren't very willing to show interest with their own money. Sure, the Wii has one of the most alarmingly grown and installed base of consumers, meaning more consoles in more homes far more quickly than the 360 or the PS3, thanks largely to its cheaper price and more accessibility to those new to gaming, but software sales pale in comparison. Even games geared toward hardcore players, more mature themes and higher difficulties, even when showcasing a high critical success, are completely passed up due to the "gimmicky" tag the Wii ended up with thanks to the new style of control -- not to demean the impact of Nintendo's "kiddy" schtick it got stuck with since back on the Gamecube.

I'm personally excited for how developers will handle this hardware. New forms of experiences means a load of creative possibilities, a new canvas for some of our more creative development studios to take up. However, a canvas is only a clean slate: it takes a skilled artist to make something beautiful and unique from it. Naturally, we're going to see a majority of uncreative and stupid to a minority of truly exceptional games, but the disparity between the two may be pushed to a similar extreme to the Wii, where there are too few actual "good" experiences to even warrant the price of admission.

Though, if nothing else, maybe it'll help shave off a few pounds.

Piracy: Who's Right?

I'd like to start with an obnoxious title. Piracy is a weird issue, especially in the gamespace, and, quite frankly, I'm not entirely sure there will be a victor in the long run. It's been an interesting dialog so far, however, and there've been a number of points made to both sides.

Jason Robert Brown started a discussion with a teenage girl on the subject of copying sheet music. Though it's a very different medium, I feel there are a lot of similar sentiments to be shared:

http://www.jasonrobertbrown.com/weblog/2010/06/fighting_with_teenagers_a_copy.php

Now, the article itself is incredibly dense, so I'll go over the basics:

The girl, referring to herself as Eleanor, is contacted through a sheet music "trading" site by the original composer of the works. What followed was a debate as to whether there was an ethical or moral infringement, not just a legal one, in what the law describes as "unfair use" of the original creator's works. The end result played out with Brown essentially teaching about copyright law from scratch. Though some of Brown's analogies are imperfect in how they're expressed, as indicated by the myriad of comments hung up over his initial "screwdriver" analogy, he makes a lot of sound points. If someone creates something and intends to put it up for sale rather than give it out for free, is he not entitled to that payment?

Now, at no point does Brown assume the system is perfect. It still has plenty of problems. Copyright laws themselves have been a veritable clusterfuck almost since day one, and only get worse as time goes on. Yet, there are plenty of points one can follow which will nearly evade any significant sordid events. Brown's point, ultimately, is to merely express what the law is, and how the current moral fiber of those who attempt to step around these laws have struck a questionable low.

I'm not one to say whether Brown is wholly right, and that has more to do with my dissatisfaction to the current system in place, something Brown seems to agree with. He expresses his point well enough, and though there are some comments a bit out of line for him [something he made a particular point of, considering he left Eleanor's own words unedited as well as his own], he doesn't denigrate his point with sidetracking or talking down to the recipient.

I look at piracy as a whole, and there's only one thing I can think of: It's illegal. That should go without question. Yes, the laws should be altered, but theft is theft. However, that isn't to say I am unquestionably against piracy to every extent. There are situations where piracy can actually be helpful for the average consumer; acting as a license-free rental, pirating a game can inform a user exactly what the game is about before buying. On the consumer end, this is a dream: Trying a game before you buy, absolutely free of charge, could be considered an impetus to take a closer look at a game one would not normally give a second glance. It could potentially save the user a good $50-60 they might have spent on a game they wouldn't even like, simply because a preview or review they've read happened to praise the game. It's easy to say one should be careful with any opinion given out, especially with reviews, but hype has the power to sway even the strong-willed. It is, on the surface, a great concept.

On the developer/publisher side, it's a loss of sales. Is it significant? Using a pro-piracy article as evidence, it's at most 10% of total sales as far as iPod apps are concerned:

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Another-view-of-game-piracy

Don't get me wrong; Piracy isn't nearly the problem game developers and publishers make it out to be. The number of pirates compared to legitimate buyers of games is incredibly dwarfed. It's easy to argue that the majority of pirates are those who have no intention of buying a certain game anyway, thus incurring an even lower number in lost sales. The problem is the fact that it's an unaccounted for market, one that cannot be accurately described. On its surface, again, it doesn't seem like much, but what developers and publishers will tell you is another fallacy: There is no telling what those who pirate the games would do if piracy wasn't an option. Would they buy the games? Would they ignore them entirely? Again, it's completely unaccounted for, yet it is typically the argument to counter the previous.

There are only a few things which could be taken as absolutes: Piracy, as it is being done now, is illegal. There's no argument there. DRM practices are ineffective against piracy, and are, at absolute best, an extra hindrance for those who legitimately buy these games. Very little argument there. With PC games which require absolutely a constant internet connection -- agonizing considering, in the case of Assassin's Creed II, its console counterpart doesn't require a connection at all-- and limiting the number of household computers which are allowed to have a game installed on them, it is a ridiculous uphill climb, one in which pirates are able to easily avoid.

Here's the problem: Piracy, to pirates, is seen as a rebellion against the current system in many cases. Piracy, to developers and publishers, is seen as DRM not being effective enough. These publishers and developers actually do have the right to not want their games stolen. Of course, not wanting it to happen is no defense, but neither are the various services they're trying to implement to prevent it.

So, of course, it seems we're at an impasse. Neither side is right, but technically, neither side is exactly wrong. Illegal things have happened on at least one side, certainly, but there is a clear message here, and it's the same thing that's happened with the music industry and with literature: The system needs changing. Of course, literature, or, rather, fine literature to be exact, found a pretty decent answer with eBooks. It's not perfect yet (I could certainly do with having an eBook code for every hard copy I buy), but it's difficult to complain too heavily against it. Music is still at odds, as even the musicians are torn on the issue, young artists and old. Games just need some kind of answer to this problem of piracy.

But what are the answers? This is yet another problem, as the pirates and the publishers and developers are really making no meaningful attempts to open a dialog. This happens because there's no real unified voice on either side; each company enacts its own version of DRM, each pirate finds different sites to torrent from. It's honestly enough to want to beat one's head in against a wall, because both sides are claiming to take the moral high ground when all they're doing is enacting severe stubbornness. How are they supposed to start a dialog when everyone's values are mixed?

There are at least some interesting individual solutions. Services like Steam are making it more beneficial to buy games through them, by having a site which basically does a lot of the nastier work, such as patch downloads, making DLC available on the same service, an instant messaging client unique to the service, and even an in-game browser, and it somehow works for just about every single game in the service. OnLive, the cloud-based game streaming service, also for PC, helps those who want high quality PC gaming without the thousand-dollar PC purchase a chance to play the games they'd otherwise not have the money for, all for a subscription fee. Hell, it even offers rentals. Of course, this doesn't quite answer the same problem on consoles, of which there are still difficulties. Demo versions are getting more and more difficult to make thanks to how complicated games are getting, an issue that caused one of the largest gaming conventions on the planet, the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), to falter for a few years. This means people aren't able to try out games before they buy nearly as easily as before.

What seems to work, or, at the very least, what seems to work for the time being, is an answer that makes a lot of sense: Those who buy the game legitimately get tons of developer support. Give players a reason to lay down the money. THQ has been making some interesting pushes, by offering older games for practically nothing when you buy a brand new game in their line (Vigil Games' Darksiders came with a redemption code for a copy of Red Faction: Guerilla, for instance). Sony's recent Playstation Network push, Playstation Plus, offers full games on both trial periods and in complete form while you're with the service, running through a cycle of titles evidently by a per-month basis.

Of course, some answers don't seem to be received quite as well: EA has made mention of an Online Pass, au gratis for folks who pay for a game new, is as it sounds, as it allows folks to get online with their games for no charge. Those who get it used have to pay an extra $10 to get in on it. This is especially confounding, considering this was a service that has since been considered, and has been executed as, common sense. If you get a sports game, you get to play it online, provided you have the capabilities. What's worse is, Ubisoft is considering the same plan, meaning those looking to save a little money will end up having to pay $10 more per used title, infuriating considering used titles in most major used games retail places only have a markdown of $5 for pre-played games, thus essentially adding a $5 charge for those "unwise" enough to buy a title just a little bit more cheaply.

There's no answer that everyone seems to agree on, and it's doubtful there'll be one any time soon. DRM seems to be getting more and more annoying. Those who support piracy are claiming this is part of the new business model, yet won't explain what the new business model actually is. There are a lot of cogs in the wheel of this situation, and with every proposed solution, with every point of view given, any number of cogs are left out of circulation, and the system goes haywire.

This post isn't necessarily to decide what the answer is, or even propose that there is a solution on the way. The goal here is to point out how complicated things are, without even touching heavily on the decline of PC gaming, on new markets cropping up -- such as the dubiously named "casual market" -- or even the new technologies entering into the gaming business with price tags difficult to swallow, including the Microsoft 360's Kinect (currently marked at $150) and the PS3's Move (which includes two separate controllers and a camera bundled together with a Wii Sports game for only about $50 less than the Kinect), and with very few games actually there to back up any justification to jump in. Piracy isn't the biggest problem facing the industry, but it's certainly one of very few issues as loud as it is.

Perhaps, when we have one single console on the market and no others, and it is completely impervious to hacking, perhaps, just perhaps, this issue will go away. Until then, we'll have to deal with both sides squabbling, not getting anywhere, and constantly throwing stones, hoping something lands with any form of impact instead of just getting regular gamers caught in the crossfire.

Now Playing: Parasite Eve - Part 3

The Chrysler Building can go screw itself.

Here's the thing about the building: The intent is to play through the game multiple times and knock out a good dozen or so floors every once in a while. That's all well and good, since the game gives you a key for every ten floors you climb. This is all well and good, considering this particular dungeon is, for the most part, absolutely insane after each ten floors.

With a good equipment setup and plenty of bonus points [which you gain extra of at each chapter], you can get through most of the place with some ease. The boss battles are pretty epic, with the consideration that half of them are simply recolors of former boss battles [in other words, typical Square].

The one good thing about the final ten floors is how well everything sets up. Before this, all the stories look alike, with puzzle-piece screens that assemble the randomized maps, with no hope for a map or distinguishing marker. It's aggravating, tiring, and wears your patience down, especially if you're like me and take everything all at once instead of in bits and pieces as the developers somewhat intended.

Conversely, those last ten floors wipe all random encounters for the sake of prepping you for the final battle. You're given a very small map, a single screen, for each floor. The first of these final ten is fairly clean, looking like a presentational area like a museum. As you climb, you notice that orange ooze that was prevalent all throughout the main game. The further you climb, the more it takes over each floor, until any sight of the actual structure is completely absent in place of the mitochondrial goop.

This is the set piece for the final battle. It's basically the hardest boss in the entirety of the game, though you get the added benefit of actually defeating the final boss instead of running away from it as with the main game. The identity of the boss is essentially the very source of the events of Parasite Eve, both the book and game. After fighting through several forms [again, as is customary with Square], you're given one last dialog between Aya and the antagonist. From a story perspective, it's at least a fair deal better than the closure the main game gives you, but all you get is some brief animations all on the same screen as where you fought the boss, then credits. [In fact, you change discs just to see the credits if you were on disc one. Which I still have to scratch my head at.]

The game was definitely very memorable, but the endgame was a bit disappointing. I still pray this game gets put up on PSN, because more interest needs to be directed toward the series. Third Birthday will hopefully find its way to the States, and perhaps it will spawn further sequels, if warranted.

I'll be working on Parasite Eve 2 at some point, which is a drastic departure from Parasite Eve 1 in terms of both story and gameplay, taking on many of the Resident Evil cliches and infusing more action into the series, abandoning the ATB style pretty much entirely. Should be interesting.