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Welcome, dear readers, to my new home. It's a bit different from what you are used to in the real world I'm sure, in that (as the name suggests) the possibilities are endless. As long as you are here, reading this column, things you have come to embrace as sacred truths of the gaming world, may not be true at all.
You have been warned.
Today, electronic gaming does not exist. No Atari 2600. No NES. No games for the PC (although the PC itself obviously still exists). What is the world like now?
Let's skip the obvious observation, that if there were no gaming, I wouldn't be writing for a internet website and posting posts (like this one), because there wouldn't be a gaming site to write for. My colleague, N3MEMIS, suggested over in our forums that if gaming had not been invented, someone would have come up with another form of entertainment to take it's place. Possibly this would happen, but even if it didn't, I would say that other forms of gaming would be a lot more popular. Card games like Magic: the Gathering, board games like Monopoly, RPG games like Dungeons and Dragons, would all probably be a lot more popular if there were no video games (not to say that they are particularly unpopular now). If you can't play Baldur's Gate II because there is no such thing, it is very likely you would play the non-electronic game that it evolved from.
A few people responded that if gaming hadn't been invented when it was, it would have come about sooner or later. Thus, we'd simply be a few years behind in technology and such. While this is most likely true, it isn't quite what I had in mind. I wanted to know what would happen on the off chance that it had never come about at all. A stretch of the imagination to be sure, but that's what this column is all about.
In the same thread that I mentioned above, a reader calling himself Firebrand posted his thoughts on the matter. He is a believer that kids would spend a lot more time playing outside if there were no games to play inside. I particularly liked the way Firebrand blamed games for the number of fat kids today.
Is he right?
I personally don't think so. A lot of kids play outside a lot. A lot of kids play video games a lot. A lot of kids play both. If it wasn't video gaming, it would be another sedentary activity to keep the less active kids entertained. If a child hates playing sports now, taking video games away from him wouldn't turn him into a star athlete.
Of all the ideas that came to me regarding this topic, I must say that a conversation I had with ZeroX2 brought forth the best idea. ZeroX2 claims that video games keep kids out of trouble, and without them, we would have a lot more trouble making youths running around. He was quick to clarify, stating that by "trouble makers" he didn't mean gang members and drug dealers. He related a few stories about activities his father had done as a youth, when there were no games. I won't go into too much detail, due to space constraints, but his dad's adventures had included such games as "Dodge the Arrow," "Don't get hit by the Lead Pipe," and "Pitch Black Sewer Bike Racing."
ZeroX2, I mean this sincerely when I say, you are lucky that your father lived long enough to have you.
I think that, with the exception of Firebrand's response, it was unanimous that things are better with video games than without. I would expect this to be the case, on account of this being a gaming related column and all. So, with our first mystery thoroughly investigated, let's move on to the next one.
What if the Columbine massacre had not been perpetrated by gamers?
We have definitely seen a lot of angry mainstream media attention placed upon us as gamers, the gaming industry itself, and even non-gamers who like to use computers. So, I want to know what you think things would be like had this situation not placed us in such a negative spotlight. Would we still have found ourselves in this spotlight? Would anything be different at all?
******************
One of the more interesting responses came from a reader who simply said, "for one thing, this wouldn't be happening" with a link to the whole aspect of gaming. As our resident Super James recently explained, this idea is simply preposterous.
Over in these forums, my pleas for help went mostly unheeded, but a SR staff member Tony did have some insight to share. Tony, as always, makes some good points. The blame does often end up where it does not belong. It is completely ridiculous that people hear the word Columbine and they automatically think of violent video games.
This gets to the meat of the two points I really wanted to make regarding this issue. Firstly, if these kids had committed massive amounts of violence outside of school, we would not still talk about them two years later. Look at all the gang related violence that occurs in the United States and other countrys. I live not so far from London, so during my morning local news there is on average five or so stories of violence that is potentially gang affiliated, daily. Many of these crimes are perpetrated by teens. Many of them leave people severely wounded or dead. Many of them are perpetrated by repeat offenders.
What is my point? Does anyone ever ask about the gang member's hobbies outside of violence? When was the last time you heard about an arrested gang member who spent a lot of time playing Quake? Does never sound right to you? Also, notice how these things are so tragically common that you hear about a particular criminal or event once, and then it's over. The local news does not show updates on gang shooting number 20750927 two years later.
My second point I wanted to mention was simply the complete hypocrisy of our society. I got an email from a reader, who says, "It's all rubbish. It doesn't take a genius to see why these kids would have wanted to blast the hell out of everyone. There are kids at my school who I can totally see doing the same thing. There's these three guys who practically everyone picks on. A kinda overweight guy who plays a lot of those war games with miniatures, his friend who NEVER talks to anyone, ever, and the third one who is kinda a goth, wears some makeup, and despises conformity. Everyone talks rubbish on these guys. I've heard that the silent one hides in the bathroom at lunch because of it. High school is hell for these guys. I for one would not blame them if they responded violently."
Reading what he had to say, I can imagine a congruent group of kids at my high school when I was there. We can all remember kids like this. Some of us were kids like this. What do parents and teachers and pretty much any adults have to say about this? "Well, kids are cruel, and high school is tough, but you'll get through it." Well, with how easy it apparently is for kids to get their hands on guns these days, maybe that answer doesn't cut it anymore.
There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Why do kids behave this way? Because no one stops them, or teaches them to be nice. I can still remember the one news report I saw on Columbine that actually discussed how the perpetrators of the crime were picked on by their class mates, and how this may have drove them to their actions. How many reports have their been on the fact that the killers enjoyed a good game of Doom? Fair, unbiased journalism my butt.
What if Microsoft had never dreamed up the X-Box?
There is plenty of room to maneuver with this one guys, and it's a lot less of a provocative topic than the last one, so I want lots of response. So, head over to the post button in my post (Aye, it's MY one) and tell me what you think.
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I really thought this last question was an interesting one, but considering the amount of feedback I will probably get, I am probably mistaken. Regardless, today I will be discussing what the world would be like had Microsoft not decided to enter into the console market.
First of all, I'm pretty convinced the X-box was the last nail in the coffin of the Dreamcast. Sega is now developing games for the X-box according to the word I've heard, which they clearly would not be doing if there were no X-box. Thus, they would probably still be developing games for the DC, and perhaps even working on their next-gen system by this point.
Halo would still be coming forth on PC with a huge multiplayer focus rather than a large single player story for the X-box. The developers of Munch's Oddysee probably would not have such fashionable hats. Clearly a host of other games that are currently in the works for Mickeysoft's new console wouldn't be, some relegated back to PC duty, others onto the other consoles, others gone to the mists of probability.
All that stuff was fairly obvious though. Clearly you can't look at a parallel universe where something as drastic as this is different, without seeing some strange unexpected things.
In this particular case, our universe is clearly the better one. This is because had Microsoft not gone into the console market, it would have gone into another market. It is not widely known, but there were only two markets Microsoft had any interest in, the console market being one of them. To decide, Bill Gates flipped a coin.
Let's say it landed on the other side. Microsoft begins funding its "Doomsday Weapon" division, with those same large stacks of cash seen in that Penny Arcade strip I linked to. Along with more, similar stacks of cash, though these ones don't contain developers or hats. Thus, in November 2001, Microsoft launched the X-Jocks® program.
What this program consisted of was large robots fashioned after the guys who used to beat up Microsoft employees when they were kids. It became apparent to anyone with several degrees in astrophysics that if Microsoft were allowed to release the robots into the world, the world as we know it would not last long. Thus, these astrophysicists spent much of their time warning the population, and the population spent much of their time ignoring them.
A few days later, Bill Gates was appointed Dictator-in-Chief of the United Planet Earth, and he got rid of the X-Jocks® by telling them to hit the showers, where much horseplay with towel snapping occurred.
I'll take the X-box over the X-Jocks® any day.
Next question:
What if there was a game that was so good, that everyone loved it?
What would that game be like? What would happen to other games? Is it even possible?
**********************
Last time, I asked you all to reflect on the idea of the perfect game. The game that is so damn good, that everyone likes it. Everyone.
Although I did ask if it would be possible, I would like to point out that this post is entitled "Beyond the Possible" and as such, no one around here really cares what is and what isn't possible. Keep that in mind please.
As it is, if there were ever to be a game as good as that which we are reflecting on here, it would have to be an MMORPG of some sort. Within the MMORPG, though, would have to be a bunch of sub-games. Sure, you may be a fighter pilot in the greater scheme of things, but you are also on the Xxorxious Xenos in the greater space Baseball league, and you can play baseball to your heart's content within the game. Something like that anyway, though it still probably wouldn't please everyone.
Regardless as to what the game was actually like, what would it do to the rest of the industry? When initially asking the question last month, I figured everyone would agree that should a game like this ever come out, the rest of the industry would pretty much die. My logic was simple. If the game was so good that everyone liked it, then it would clearly be so good that everyone would want to play it all the time. If everyone wanted to play it all the time, no one would want to play anything else any of the time. Thus, there would be no need for any other games, and the industry would die.
If the game was that good, within a year we would have several rip-offs and maybe even a single strong competitor. We would also probably have an expansion pack, with a second on the way, and a sequel in the works. In a way, it would be an evolutionary step for the industry. If one of the two competitors did not license the name for add-ons to other companies it might go the way of BETA tapes. Either way, the surviving competitor would grow quite powerful, but would not be the only developer in existence.
This post, I'm going to ask a hardware related question, and thus, am going to get in WAY over my head. So make sure you give me some great feedback, because I am going to need it.
What if nVidia have never been created?
***********************
Friday, August 10, 2001. Reality. Stryke exits his local Puband heads towards his car, his backpack heavy with several Terry Pratchett novels. He sees a Greenpeace employee/volunteer outside of Trader Joe’s asking for a moment of people's time. He has a creeping suspicion that his new computer arrived today from Alienware, and thus, he doesn't want to share any of his moments. Yet, he knows this only increases the odds that she's going to demand one, so he decides to have some fun.
"Excuse me sir, could you spare a moment for Greenpeace?" she says in the way that only a girl can.
"Nah, I hate the planet, I'm going to blow it up someday," he replies with the absolute conviction of someone moderately more insane than he is in actuality.
She is a bit surprised at this bold claim, "Oh…" she flounders. "Really?" The question is said in such a way as to convey utter and total belief, yet still general goodwill.
"Yeah. BOOM!" Stryke says, his Italian lineage causing him to make a rather overly dramatic hand gesture to illustrate the boom.
"Oh."
"Well, good luck!"
That is a rather slightly dramatic, but entirely truthful account of what happened Friday afternoon. Without nVidia, the excitement might not have ended there. Read on.
Enter the absurd.
Stryke arrives home to find a stack of a couple boxes that seem to be rather computer shaped. After a brief rearrangement of furniture, and several comments on the ridiculous movie Vertical Limit, which happens to be on TV at the time, Stryke sets up his computer.
In a kinder, gentler universe, this computer would have had a Geforce 3 in it, though a keyboard might have been forgotten from the shipment. Though, in a kinder gentler universe, the company name of Alienware would have been a bit less literal.
Powering on the computer actually opens a rift in some dimension or something, and aliens show up on earth. Think Invid Invasion, we are talking Earth shattering events transpiring here.
Well, not literally, the aliens do not really shatter the Earth so much as take it over. In general they tend to be a rather horrible bunch of buggers, but not in the sense that most science fiction plots would have us believe. They are far worse than that. They are a race of politicians and lawyers. They don't do the whole conquering Earth thing. Rather, being extremely good (though obviously, not in the moral sense) politicians and lawyers, they manage to simply get into the positions of power and pass their own agendas, by exploiting legal loopholes.
Of course they aren't complete rems. They share their advanced technology with us, and send us off into space, though for much lower wages than we deserve for this sort of thing, and for some reason if anything bad happens to us, our insurance policies they signed us up for never seem to pay, but well, that's government for you.
Of course, it's not long before a resistance movement forms, and a key battle unfolds on a space station around earth. Bane is involved, fighting, or at least shouting, for freedom, or at least higher wages. It becomes obvious that the battle is going to end in a bad way, as those idiots have somehow got humans fighting for them (they aren't any good at fighting), so Bane wanders off. He finds himself in a large room that is behind a door that says, "Do not enter, especially if you are a member of the resistance movement!" In the center of the room is a big red button, right above a sign that says, "Do not push, especially if you are a member of the resistance movement!"
Press.
Zap.
Boom.
"You!"
"Oh, hello Ms. Greenpeace, I told you I was going to blow it up some day!"
That's what you guys get when I don't get much feedback. Regardless over the course of the next month, let's go with something easier.
What if Mario hadn't rescued the Princess?
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Today we are going to take a look back at the dreaded time when Bowser kidnapped the princess. You might find yourself wondering which time I mean, but since we are in a parallel universe, he only did it once. Here, he succeeded the first time.
How did it happen? Why didn't the player use one of the tricks to get 99 lives, and then try again and again until he won? Why didn't the bridge disappear, Bowser's toes wiggle a bit, and then he plummet to a lava filled (though temporary) death?
Well, quite simply, in this alternate universe, Bowser not only gained the ability to breathe fire from whatever created him, he also gained a semblance of intellect. He realized, after seven dips into the lava, that the whole standoff on the bridge thing wasn't such a hot idea. Perhaps it was too hot of an idea, on closer inspection, though closer inspection is something he wished to avoid.
So Bowser got to thinking, and he realized that Mario always ran past him, and knocked the bridge out from under him, sending him into the lava. It didn't take a genius to come up with a new plan. So, Bowser stood on the far side of the bridge, and blew the bridge when Mario was halfway across, sending him into the soup.
A pretty bad ending for a game, but surely there are no long reaching side effects, right? Unfortunately, it did have side reaching effects. Bowser, more intelligent than those people who insist that programmed video game characters can't get out of a game, got out of the game. He stomped around a bit in Tokyo, which is pretty much demanded of every giant lizard turtle thing.
Then, proving even more people wrong, he started entering other games. Once there, he showed stupid or poorly programmed bosses the error of their ways. "Look, if the good guy stands here, you can't even hit him if you just walk around following that pattern." "Come on Ganon, most of your minibosses are weak against the special weapon that Link will find just before he fights them, you why don't you just give him the Triforce?" "Look, if you just go find the party now before they gain fifty levels they will be a pushover."
Sadly, Bowser made a lot of sense, and most of the games just got a lot worse. No one wants to play a version of Final Fantasy in which, rather than facing Garland at level 3, Chaos is there to take you out. No one wants to play a version of Doom in which you never actually find any weapons or health kits lying around helpfully.
So, gaming begins losing popularity. Which is unfortunate for Bowser, because although he can survive outside of games, he doesn't really like it. So he ends up as a depressed disillusioned drug addict writing his memoirs in a small cramped apartment. Eventually, he is killed by a mysterious incident involving a clogged drainpipe, and someone stomping on his head, but the world is never the same.
Which leads us to the next question, What if there were no MMORPGS?
****************
Welcome to the latest edition of Beyond the Possible. As your host, I have presented you with a number of scenarios over the past few thousand words, and together we have explored what the gaming world would be like had those scenarios been true.
My favorite thing about writing this post is that anything is possible, because we are looking beyond the veil of possibility. We've taken a look at some odd scenarios, ranging from the whole industry having never come about, to the scenario of a "perfect game" being released.
This leaves me with a bit of a conundrum, as I can't simply end the article now, and place my question and move along. We do have some guidelines for length and all, and that would be falling pretty short. At the same time, I no longer have a topic to discuss for the time being.
What ever will I do?
Well, a large part of this column centers around important events in the gaming universe. Long before this column had been dreamed up, I found myself looking at a certain event (not necessarily gaming related), and wondering what the hell the world would be like if it hadn't happened. What if September 11th hadn't happened the way it did? What if the Florida election fiasco had turned out differently? What if Bonds hadn't broken the record this year?
Things would be different, of this I have to be sure, otherwise this post would make no sense. Not that it does all the time anyway, but you get the point. Just as there are events in the "real world" that have changed everything (or kept everything the same even), there are important events in the world of games serving the same function.
The concept of electronic gaming was invented.
Microsoft did decide to enter the console market.
No game has been so perfectthat everyone liked it.
These key events that happened (or didn't happen) have shaped gaming as it is today. There are others though. The first one, the invention of electronic gaming in general, is without a doubt the most important occurrence in the history of gaming. Had it not happened, there would be no gaming for there to be a history of. There have been other events, shaping gaming as a whole. Specific game releases, key technological advances, or maybe even key individual's work have had astronomical effects on the community as a whole.
Thaks for reading,
o(^_^)o
You have been warned.
Today, electronic gaming does not exist. No Atari 2600. No NES. No games for the PC (although the PC itself obviously still exists). What is the world like now?
Let's skip the obvious observation, that if there were no gaming, I wouldn't be writing for a internet website and posting posts (like this one), because there wouldn't be a gaming site to write for. My colleague, N3MEMIS, suggested over in our forums that if gaming had not been invented, someone would have come up with another form of entertainment to take it's place. Possibly this would happen, but even if it didn't, I would say that other forms of gaming would be a lot more popular. Card games like Magic: the Gathering, board games like Monopoly, RPG games like Dungeons and Dragons, would all probably be a lot more popular if there were no video games (not to say that they are particularly unpopular now). If you can't play Baldur's Gate II because there is no such thing, it is very likely you would play the non-electronic game that it evolved from.
A few people responded that if gaming hadn't been invented when it was, it would have come about sooner or later. Thus, we'd simply be a few years behind in technology and such. While this is most likely true, it isn't quite what I had in mind. I wanted to know what would happen on the off chance that it had never come about at all. A stretch of the imagination to be sure, but that's what this column is all about.
In the same thread that I mentioned above, a reader calling himself Firebrand posted his thoughts on the matter. He is a believer that kids would spend a lot more time playing outside if there were no games to play inside. I particularly liked the way Firebrand blamed games for the number of fat kids today.
Is he right?
I personally don't think so. A lot of kids play outside a lot. A lot of kids play video games a lot. A lot of kids play both. If it wasn't video gaming, it would be another sedentary activity to keep the less active kids entertained. If a child hates playing sports now, taking video games away from him wouldn't turn him into a star athlete.
Of all the ideas that came to me regarding this topic, I must say that a conversation I had with ZeroX2 brought forth the best idea. ZeroX2 claims that video games keep kids out of trouble, and without them, we would have a lot more trouble making youths running around. He was quick to clarify, stating that by "trouble makers" he didn't mean gang members and drug dealers. He related a few stories about activities his father had done as a youth, when there were no games. I won't go into too much detail, due to space constraints, but his dad's adventures had included such games as "Dodge the Arrow," "Don't get hit by the Lead Pipe," and "Pitch Black Sewer Bike Racing."
ZeroX2, I mean this sincerely when I say, you are lucky that your father lived long enough to have you.
I think that, with the exception of Firebrand's response, it was unanimous that things are better with video games than without. I would expect this to be the case, on account of this being a gaming related column and all. So, with our first mystery thoroughly investigated, let's move on to the next one.
What if the Columbine massacre had not been perpetrated by gamers?
We have definitely seen a lot of angry mainstream media attention placed upon us as gamers, the gaming industry itself, and even non-gamers who like to use computers. So, I want to know what you think things would be like had this situation not placed us in such a negative spotlight. Would we still have found ourselves in this spotlight? Would anything be different at all?
******************
One of the more interesting responses came from a reader who simply said, "for one thing, this wouldn't be happening" with a link to the whole aspect of gaming. As our resident Super James recently explained, this idea is simply preposterous.
Over in these forums, my pleas for help went mostly unheeded, but a SR staff member Tony did have some insight to share. Tony, as always, makes some good points. The blame does often end up where it does not belong. It is completely ridiculous that people hear the word Columbine and they automatically think of violent video games.
This gets to the meat of the two points I really wanted to make regarding this issue. Firstly, if these kids had committed massive amounts of violence outside of school, we would not still talk about them two years later. Look at all the gang related violence that occurs in the United States and other countrys. I live not so far from London, so during my morning local news there is on average five or so stories of violence that is potentially gang affiliated, daily. Many of these crimes are perpetrated by teens. Many of them leave people severely wounded or dead. Many of them are perpetrated by repeat offenders.
What is my point? Does anyone ever ask about the gang member's hobbies outside of violence? When was the last time you heard about an arrested gang member who spent a lot of time playing Quake? Does never sound right to you? Also, notice how these things are so tragically common that you hear about a particular criminal or event once, and then it's over. The local news does not show updates on gang shooting number 20750927 two years later.
My second point I wanted to mention was simply the complete hypocrisy of our society. I got an email from a reader, who says, "It's all rubbish. It doesn't take a genius to see why these kids would have wanted to blast the hell out of everyone. There are kids at my school who I can totally see doing the same thing. There's these three guys who practically everyone picks on. A kinda overweight guy who plays a lot of those war games with miniatures, his friend who NEVER talks to anyone, ever, and the third one who is kinda a goth, wears some makeup, and despises conformity. Everyone talks rubbish on these guys. I've heard that the silent one hides in the bathroom at lunch because of it. High school is hell for these guys. I for one would not blame them if they responded violently."
Reading what he had to say, I can imagine a congruent group of kids at my high school when I was there. We can all remember kids like this. Some of us were kids like this. What do parents and teachers and pretty much any adults have to say about this? "Well, kids are cruel, and high school is tough, but you'll get through it." Well, with how easy it apparently is for kids to get their hands on guns these days, maybe that answer doesn't cut it anymore.
There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Why do kids behave this way? Because no one stops them, or teaches them to be nice. I can still remember the one news report I saw on Columbine that actually discussed how the perpetrators of the crime were picked on by their class mates, and how this may have drove them to their actions. How many reports have their been on the fact that the killers enjoyed a good game of Doom? Fair, unbiased journalism my butt.
What if Microsoft had never dreamed up the X-Box?
There is plenty of room to maneuver with this one guys, and it's a lot less of a provocative topic than the last one, so I want lots of response. So, head over to the post button in my post (Aye, it's MY one) and tell me what you think.
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I really thought this last question was an interesting one, but considering the amount of feedback I will probably get, I am probably mistaken. Regardless, today I will be discussing what the world would be like had Microsoft not decided to enter into the console market.
First of all, I'm pretty convinced the X-box was the last nail in the coffin of the Dreamcast. Sega is now developing games for the X-box according to the word I've heard, which they clearly would not be doing if there were no X-box. Thus, they would probably still be developing games for the DC, and perhaps even working on their next-gen system by this point.
Halo would still be coming forth on PC with a huge multiplayer focus rather than a large single player story for the X-box. The developers of Munch's Oddysee probably would not have such fashionable hats. Clearly a host of other games that are currently in the works for Mickeysoft's new console wouldn't be, some relegated back to PC duty, others onto the other consoles, others gone to the mists of probability.
All that stuff was fairly obvious though. Clearly you can't look at a parallel universe where something as drastic as this is different, without seeing some strange unexpected things.
In this particular case, our universe is clearly the better one. This is because had Microsoft not gone into the console market, it would have gone into another market. It is not widely known, but there were only two markets Microsoft had any interest in, the console market being one of them. To decide, Bill Gates flipped a coin.
Let's say it landed on the other side. Microsoft begins funding its "Doomsday Weapon" division, with those same large stacks of cash seen in that Penny Arcade strip I linked to. Along with more, similar stacks of cash, though these ones don't contain developers or hats. Thus, in November 2001, Microsoft launched the X-Jocks® program.
What this program consisted of was large robots fashioned after the guys who used to beat up Microsoft employees when they were kids. It became apparent to anyone with several degrees in astrophysics that if Microsoft were allowed to release the robots into the world, the world as we know it would not last long. Thus, these astrophysicists spent much of their time warning the population, and the population spent much of their time ignoring them.
A few days later, Bill Gates was appointed Dictator-in-Chief of the United Planet Earth, and he got rid of the X-Jocks® by telling them to hit the showers, where much horseplay with towel snapping occurred.
I'll take the X-box over the X-Jocks® any day.
Next question:
What if there was a game that was so good, that everyone loved it?
What would that game be like? What would happen to other games? Is it even possible?
**********************
Last time, I asked you all to reflect on the idea of the perfect game. The game that is so damn good, that everyone likes it. Everyone.
Although I did ask if it would be possible, I would like to point out that this post is entitled "Beyond the Possible" and as such, no one around here really cares what is and what isn't possible. Keep that in mind please.
As it is, if there were ever to be a game as good as that which we are reflecting on here, it would have to be an MMORPG of some sort. Within the MMORPG, though, would have to be a bunch of sub-games. Sure, you may be a fighter pilot in the greater scheme of things, but you are also on the Xxorxious Xenos in the greater space Baseball league, and you can play baseball to your heart's content within the game. Something like that anyway, though it still probably wouldn't please everyone.
Regardless as to what the game was actually like, what would it do to the rest of the industry? When initially asking the question last month, I figured everyone would agree that should a game like this ever come out, the rest of the industry would pretty much die. My logic was simple. If the game was so good that everyone liked it, then it would clearly be so good that everyone would want to play it all the time. If everyone wanted to play it all the time, no one would want to play anything else any of the time. Thus, there would be no need for any other games, and the industry would die.
If the game was that good, within a year we would have several rip-offs and maybe even a single strong competitor. We would also probably have an expansion pack, with a second on the way, and a sequel in the works. In a way, it would be an evolutionary step for the industry. If one of the two competitors did not license the name for add-ons to other companies it might go the way of BETA tapes. Either way, the surviving competitor would grow quite powerful, but would not be the only developer in existence.
This post, I'm going to ask a hardware related question, and thus, am going to get in WAY over my head. So make sure you give me some great feedback, because I am going to need it.
What if nVidia have never been created?
***********************
Friday, August 10, 2001. Reality. Stryke exits his local Puband heads towards his car, his backpack heavy with several Terry Pratchett novels. He sees a Greenpeace employee/volunteer outside of Trader Joe’s asking for a moment of people's time. He has a creeping suspicion that his new computer arrived today from Alienware, and thus, he doesn't want to share any of his moments. Yet, he knows this only increases the odds that she's going to demand one, so he decides to have some fun.
"Excuse me sir, could you spare a moment for Greenpeace?" she says in the way that only a girl can.
"Nah, I hate the planet, I'm going to blow it up someday," he replies with the absolute conviction of someone moderately more insane than he is in actuality.
She is a bit surprised at this bold claim, "Oh…" she flounders. "Really?" The question is said in such a way as to convey utter and total belief, yet still general goodwill.
"Yeah. BOOM!" Stryke says, his Italian lineage causing him to make a rather overly dramatic hand gesture to illustrate the boom.
"Oh."
"Well, good luck!"
That is a rather slightly dramatic, but entirely truthful account of what happened Friday afternoon. Without nVidia, the excitement might not have ended there. Read on.
Enter the absurd.
Stryke arrives home to find a stack of a couple boxes that seem to be rather computer shaped. After a brief rearrangement of furniture, and several comments on the ridiculous movie Vertical Limit, which happens to be on TV at the time, Stryke sets up his computer.
In a kinder, gentler universe, this computer would have had a Geforce 3 in it, though a keyboard might have been forgotten from the shipment. Though, in a kinder gentler universe, the company name of Alienware would have been a bit less literal.
Powering on the computer actually opens a rift in some dimension or something, and aliens show up on earth. Think Invid Invasion, we are talking Earth shattering events transpiring here.
Well, not literally, the aliens do not really shatter the Earth so much as take it over. In general they tend to be a rather horrible bunch of buggers, but not in the sense that most science fiction plots would have us believe. They are far worse than that. They are a race of politicians and lawyers. They don't do the whole conquering Earth thing. Rather, being extremely good (though obviously, not in the moral sense) politicians and lawyers, they manage to simply get into the positions of power and pass their own agendas, by exploiting legal loopholes.
Of course they aren't complete rems. They share their advanced technology with us, and send us off into space, though for much lower wages than we deserve for this sort of thing, and for some reason if anything bad happens to us, our insurance policies they signed us up for never seem to pay, but well, that's government for you.
Of course, it's not long before a resistance movement forms, and a key battle unfolds on a space station around earth. Bane is involved, fighting, or at least shouting, for freedom, or at least higher wages. It becomes obvious that the battle is going to end in a bad way, as those idiots have somehow got humans fighting for them (they aren't any good at fighting), so Bane wanders off. He finds himself in a large room that is behind a door that says, "Do not enter, especially if you are a member of the resistance movement!" In the center of the room is a big red button, right above a sign that says, "Do not push, especially if you are a member of the resistance movement!"
Press.
Zap.
Boom.
"You!"
"Oh, hello Ms. Greenpeace, I told you I was going to blow it up some day!"
That's what you guys get when I don't get much feedback. Regardless over the course of the next month, let's go with something easier.
What if Mario hadn't rescued the Princess?
*********************
Today we are going to take a look back at the dreaded time when Bowser kidnapped the princess. You might find yourself wondering which time I mean, but since we are in a parallel universe, he only did it once. Here, he succeeded the first time.
How did it happen? Why didn't the player use one of the tricks to get 99 lives, and then try again and again until he won? Why didn't the bridge disappear, Bowser's toes wiggle a bit, and then he plummet to a lava filled (though temporary) death?
Well, quite simply, in this alternate universe, Bowser not only gained the ability to breathe fire from whatever created him, he also gained a semblance of intellect. He realized, after seven dips into the lava, that the whole standoff on the bridge thing wasn't such a hot idea. Perhaps it was too hot of an idea, on closer inspection, though closer inspection is something he wished to avoid.
So Bowser got to thinking, and he realized that Mario always ran past him, and knocked the bridge out from under him, sending him into the lava. It didn't take a genius to come up with a new plan. So, Bowser stood on the far side of the bridge, and blew the bridge when Mario was halfway across, sending him into the soup.
A pretty bad ending for a game, but surely there are no long reaching side effects, right? Unfortunately, it did have side reaching effects. Bowser, more intelligent than those people who insist that programmed video game characters can't get out of a game, got out of the game. He stomped around a bit in Tokyo, which is pretty much demanded of every giant lizard turtle thing.
Then, proving even more people wrong, he started entering other games. Once there, he showed stupid or poorly programmed bosses the error of their ways. "Look, if the good guy stands here, you can't even hit him if you just walk around following that pattern." "Come on Ganon, most of your minibosses are weak against the special weapon that Link will find just before he fights them, you why don't you just give him the Triforce?" "Look, if you just go find the party now before they gain fifty levels they will be a pushover."
Sadly, Bowser made a lot of sense, and most of the games just got a lot worse. No one wants to play a version of Final Fantasy in which, rather than facing Garland at level 3, Chaos is there to take you out. No one wants to play a version of Doom in which you never actually find any weapons or health kits lying around helpfully.
So, gaming begins losing popularity. Which is unfortunate for Bowser, because although he can survive outside of games, he doesn't really like it. So he ends up as a depressed disillusioned drug addict writing his memoirs in a small cramped apartment. Eventually, he is killed by a mysterious incident involving a clogged drainpipe, and someone stomping on his head, but the world is never the same.
Which leads us to the next question, What if there were no MMORPGS?
****************
Welcome to the latest edition of Beyond the Possible. As your host, I have presented you with a number of scenarios over the past few thousand words, and together we have explored what the gaming world would be like had those scenarios been true.
My favorite thing about writing this post is that anything is possible, because we are looking beyond the veil of possibility. We've taken a look at some odd scenarios, ranging from the whole industry having never come about, to the scenario of a "perfect game" being released.
This leaves me with a bit of a conundrum, as I can't simply end the article now, and place my question and move along. We do have some guidelines for length and all, and that would be falling pretty short. At the same time, I no longer have a topic to discuss for the time being.
What ever will I do?
Well, a large part of this column centers around important events in the gaming universe. Long before this column had been dreamed up, I found myself looking at a certain event (not necessarily gaming related), and wondering what the hell the world would be like if it hadn't happened. What if September 11th hadn't happened the way it did? What if the Florida election fiasco had turned out differently? What if Bonds hadn't broken the record this year?
Things would be different, of this I have to be sure, otherwise this post would make no sense. Not that it does all the time anyway, but you get the point. Just as there are events in the "real world" that have changed everything (or kept everything the same even), there are important events in the world of games serving the same function.
The concept of electronic gaming was invented.
Microsoft did decide to enter the console market.
No game has been so perfectthat everyone liked it.
These key events that happened (or didn't happen) have shaped gaming as it is today. There are others though. The first one, the invention of electronic gaming in general, is without a doubt the most important occurrence in the history of gaming. Had it not happened, there would be no gaming for there to be a history of. There have been other events, shaping gaming as a whole. Specific game releases, key technological advances, or maybe even key individual's work have had astronomical effects on the community as a whole.
Thaks for reading,
o(^_^)o
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Good Heavens! This is a damned monstrosity of a post!
Your name tag looks like scary child monster puppet Pob. Please don't change it though, your Pob face could earn you a small fortune.
monkey_man wrote:
> Pob wrote:
Why do you call me Pob?
> Pob wrote:
Why do you call me Pob?
oh pob, you shouldnt copy
thats not right
urgh!
DONT SPIT AT ME!
thats not right
urgh!
DONT SPIT AT ME!
to sleepy to read this.
Pob wrote:
Even if I did copy this I
> wouldn't be as stupid as to copy from the internets largest games realted web
> site.
He admits it!
Even if I did copy this I
> wouldn't be as stupid as to copy from the internets largest games realted web
> site.
He admits it!
Meka_Dragon wrote:
> column?
Sorry, I said column once instead of post.
> your forums?
I said 'our forums' as in the whole of SR. It is a free country after all.
> Gamespy? Could be.
Even if I did copy this I wouldn't be as stupid as to copy from the internets largest games realted web site.
> column?
Sorry, I said column once instead of post.
> your forums?
I said 'our forums' as in the whole of SR. It is a free country after all.
> Gamespy? Could be.
Even if I did copy this I wouldn't be as stupid as to copy from the internets largest games realted web site.
o(^_^)o wrote:
Thaks for reading,
hahaha
good one
Thaks for reading,
hahaha
good one
All I remember was that he used to gob all over the screen then write his name in it.
Pob rocked, and invented the Teletubby speech.
Pob rocked, and invented the Teletubby speech.
Pob was ace! I emailed Ragdoll and asked if there were any plans to show Pob again and they sent me loads of Pob leaflets! One of the leaflets even admitted to smoking weird stuff in the studios!!
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