TheCity

Tag: Video game

  • Teething problems hamstring record-breaking consoles

    Teething problems hamstring record-breaking consoles

    This Christmas season will see tech-giants Sony and Microsoft go head-to-head as the newest generation of consoles hit stores globally.

    The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been in the pipeline for several years and now the time has come for gamers to sink their teeth into them.

    Despite both being in competition with each other and Nintendo for over a decade, this is the first time that both a new PlayStation and Xbox have been released in the same year.

    The dissections and verbal blows between the two companies have been extra sharp as a result, including Sony’s cheeky nudge at the Xbox One’s second hand sharing capabilities.

    Despite the phenomenal day one sales for both the PS4 and XB1, the build quality of the consoles has been widely criticised as gamers have fallen foul of reliability woes.

    Faults such as discs not being read and graphical flickers or crashes have been found by the first set of customers, which have reverberated around social media.

    This will unquestionably reignite memories back to numerous PS3 and X360 problems, especially the latter’s infamous Red Ring of Death. Social media was still growing at the time of these launches which meant some customers had to suffer in silence.

    Here we go again - the Xbox 360 was once plagued by the 'Red Ring of Death' system failure. Similar problems could be disastrous for the new Xbox One and PS4.
    Here we go again – the Xbox 360 was once plagued by the ‘Red Ring of Death’ system failure. Similar problems could be disastrous for the new Xbox One and PS4. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

    Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii U is approaching its first year on sale in Europe, but it has yet to capture the hearts of customers like the original Wii did.

    The more cynical gamer will look at the comparison videos and pictures of the next-gen Call of Duty and FIFA 14 and think why not keep their current hardware for a while or invest in a top of the line gaming PC?

    According to Conor O’Neil, the Events Officer of the DIT Gamesoc, he had one or two issues with the XB1 at the Dublin launch event. “With regards to presentation, most of these games left a lot to be desired. There exists the same blatant animation glitches we saw in the last generation of consoles and apart from that, there really isn’t much room for improvement,” he said.

    However, he was taken aback with games that showed a graphical enhancement. He explained “Battlefield 4 looks stunningly real, as expected, and fairly smooth with regards to visual effects. This is probably evidence of the machine’s display capabilities and so the issues I found may simply lie in the individual games.”

    “I anticipate the improvement in the power of the console(s) will have a very positive impact on games as storytelling devices in the next few years as players empathise more with characters that move and look more like real people,” he concluded.

    Patience is ultimately the key as the next-gen needs time to expand its catalogue of games. Just two months ago, Grand Theft Auto V burst onto the scene but it was only created for 360 and PS3. Whether those who have purchased an unreliable new console have any patience left is the more pressing issue.

    Featured image credit: – EMR – on Flickr

  • Gaming and Violence – GTA 5 is “not for kids”

    Gaming and Violence – GTA 5 is “not for kids”

    Violent games are not for kids.
    Violent games are not for kids. They can be used as a release for adults.

    Violence in video games has always been a contentious issue, but until recently, the debate has been largely one-sided. As part of the recent film Video Games: The Movie, leading industry figures discussed the issue of violence in video games and what effect it has on the children and adults consuming them.

    In a scathing review of the mainstream media mind-set toward the topic, Mikey Neumann, creative designer at Gearbox Software, Cliff Bleszinski, creator of Gears of War, and a handful of other important industry figures tore into some of the common misconceptions and misdirected blame that revolves around violent video games.

    Neumann called attention to the fact that blame is often diverted from parents themselves and onto video games, “It’s weird how when you watch the people and they go to Congress and they’re angry: ‘Our kids are being corrupted.’ I’m like ‘Yeah, exactly. Your kids.’”, he continued, “They’re your children. You should be not corrupting them. ‘I leave them alone ten hours a day; he’s getting corrupted by this.’ Well no s***. It’s like finding your dad’s Playboys under the bed and then blaming Playboy.”

    Bleszinski spoke of the illegitimacy of the connection between video games and violence, saying, “People like to make just kind of a causal link and say well video games cause violence. It’s like, let’s see, so, there’s more crime in the summer and more ice cream is sold in the summer, therefore ice cream causes crime. That’s not how legitimate scientific research works.”

    Brian Fargo, founder of InXile Productions, used the industry’s strict rating system as an example of how games are meant to defend against underage players, “We’re just like any other industry that we have these rating systems in place and there’s going to be something for everybody.” This echo’s Neumann’s point that the parent is responsible for the content that their child can acquire, not the industry.

    This outlook is echoed by Steven Ogg, the man responsible for bringing the maniac Trevor Philips to life in GTA 5. Speaking in an interview with PC Advisor he said, “The hypocrisy drives me crazy,” he says. “It just sets the wrong focus. Why not talk about gun control? Why not talk about parenting? Why not talk of lack of family values? There are so many other things to talk about.”

    Real-life ex-gang member Shawn Fonteno, who plays Franklin Clinton in the game, told PC Advisor he believes that this is where a lot of people’s misconceptions stem from. Regardless of the fact that it’s advised for adults only, the lingering view that games are just for kids means uninformed parents assume that Rockstar is deliberately trying to market towards them using hyper-violence.

    “People already have it in their mind that GTA is for kids because it’s a game,” said Fonteno.

    “Then they hear about the violence and they’re instantly going to attack because it’s a game. Now, if it was a movie it would be a different story and these same people would be out there supporting it. GTA V is like a movie.  Once they get the game in their hands, they’ll see. It says it big as day–Mature. It’s not for the kids to go get. It’s for mature audiences only. If kids get it, then that’s on their parents.”