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In the early nineties, gaming mascots used to be kings. A new Mario or Sonic game would be given masses more attention than a licensed movie game, and that was a lot of what fuelled early gaming debate and rivalry. Mascots. There's been much talk over mascots of newer consoles though, what was the PlayStation? Lara Croft, Crash Bandicoot, Solid Snake? Well, the answer is none. In recent years, mascots have died out. Sonic has shrivelled, Mario is still strong, but the PS2 and Xbox have no mascots.
But I'm not here to talk about mascots, but games characters. I find games becoming more and more realistic every week, with increased specifications comes increased realism. Games become faceless, driving games have no heroes and shooters, such as Medal of Honour, have faceless characters never named. Well, if mascots - named, famous characters - drove the video game industry through its growth spurt of the early 90's, then what's happening now?
Wouldn't it be cool if you played a game, where the story was based around a high-tech farmyard, and every mission was played with a different character. Certain animals had certain abilities, such as Bessie the Cows horns, or Porky the Pig's ability to camouflage itself in mud. Ok, this doesn't sound amazing, but it would be good. Do you understand what I'm getting at - games with character are more involving.
Character, nowadays, insinuates two things. Tacky voice-over, and double-D bra. Games are all advertised with scantily-clad beach babes draped over the logo - even SR does it (but we like it anyway :-D). What I'm talking about, is proper characters. In Blinx, we see a cat with time travelling abilities. Quite innovative, but I'm yet to see another half decent game with a cat in it. Sonic introduced the hedgehog into gaming, and again, is one of a kind. But characters are increasingly less being animals. I remember Jazz Jackrabbit, ages ago on the PC. It's coming to the GameBoy Advance, and it was a great game - get it, is all I can say. Anyway, it featured a 'groovy' rabbit in a standard 2D platforming affair. It was fun, because it utilised character abilities.
But nowadays, 'character abilities' is just a phrase used to describe a person who can use a rocket launcher, or unlock doors, or heal wounds. True character abilities come from the actual creature being played as, be it Pikmins' ability to withstand fire, or Spyro's ability to fly. Not what technology is available to them. And notice another thing - the two examples I mentioned are all from 'cutesy' games.
Which brings me on to another point. Gamers are stupid. They claim there's a lack of fun in new games. But, they won't play 'childish' games such as Mario. Well, I'm afraid you nay-sayers, that if you're going to stick with Gran Turismo and Metal Gear, you're going to find not much innovation and minimal enjoyment. If you're going to diss 'cute' games, don't come crying that there's no fun in gaming.
But the main point I'm trying to get across, is that gaming characters are becoming faceless. The games are focusing on the weapons, not who is holding them. Games were great when there were people who you could associate with, think about and play with (:-S). Final Fantasy is so gripping, because there are characters in a fantasy world. You learn to love the characters. In Metal Gear, it's not so. I've heard Raiden being called a Mulletted freak, and Snake is only liked because of the coolness of actually being a spy. Metal Gear Solid 2 has been described as an interactive movie, but it lacks one thing which all good movies have - characters which you like. A movie with a great plot but crap characters just isn't any fun to watch. The same goes with games.
I like playing games, and I like playing my cutesy games. Call me childish, but I'd rather hear the smart and crude remarks of Conker than the cold, detached exclamations of Snake. Consoles need mascots to make people love them, to get true fans. And games need lovable characters to be sold, because people need somebody then can attach themselves to. Most of all though, games don't need to be about human aspects of this world. They can involve animals, monsters and aliens. They can be based at the bottom of the ocean on dolphins, rather than cruising the sky in plains. And most of all, there is nothing wrong with flying through space in an X-Wing, playig Yoda. You know what I say? Long live childish games. They say our childhood is the happiest years of our life. If they're including videogames - I agree.
But I'm not here to talk about mascots, but games characters. I find games becoming more and more realistic every week, with increased specifications comes increased realism. Games become faceless, driving games have no heroes and shooters, such as Medal of Honour, have faceless characters never named. Well, if mascots - named, famous characters - drove the video game industry through its growth spurt of the early 90's, then what's happening now?
Wouldn't it be cool if you played a game, where the story was based around a high-tech farmyard, and every mission was played with a different character. Certain animals had certain abilities, such as Bessie the Cows horns, or Porky the Pig's ability to camouflage itself in mud. Ok, this doesn't sound amazing, but it would be good. Do you understand what I'm getting at - games with character are more involving.
Character, nowadays, insinuates two things. Tacky voice-over, and double-D bra. Games are all advertised with scantily-clad beach babes draped over the logo - even SR does it (but we like it anyway :-D). What I'm talking about, is proper characters. In Blinx, we see a cat with time travelling abilities. Quite innovative, but I'm yet to see another half decent game with a cat in it. Sonic introduced the hedgehog into gaming, and again, is one of a kind. But characters are increasingly less being animals. I remember Jazz Jackrabbit, ages ago on the PC. It's coming to the GameBoy Advance, and it was a great game - get it, is all I can say. Anyway, it featured a 'groovy' rabbit in a standard 2D platforming affair. It was fun, because it utilised character abilities.
But nowadays, 'character abilities' is just a phrase used to describe a person who can use a rocket launcher, or unlock doors, or heal wounds. True character abilities come from the actual creature being played as, be it Pikmins' ability to withstand fire, or Spyro's ability to fly. Not what technology is available to them. And notice another thing - the two examples I mentioned are all from 'cutesy' games.
Which brings me on to another point. Gamers are stupid. They claim there's a lack of fun in new games. But, they won't play 'childish' games such as Mario. Well, I'm afraid you nay-sayers, that if you're going to stick with Gran Turismo and Metal Gear, you're going to find not much innovation and minimal enjoyment. If you're going to diss 'cute' games, don't come crying that there's no fun in gaming.
But the main point I'm trying to get across, is that gaming characters are becoming faceless. The games are focusing on the weapons, not who is holding them. Games were great when there were people who you could associate with, think about and play with (:-S). Final Fantasy is so gripping, because there are characters in a fantasy world. You learn to love the characters. In Metal Gear, it's not so. I've heard Raiden being called a Mulletted freak, and Snake is only liked because of the coolness of actually being a spy. Metal Gear Solid 2 has been described as an interactive movie, but it lacks one thing which all good movies have - characters which you like. A movie with a great plot but crap characters just isn't any fun to watch. The same goes with games.
I like playing games, and I like playing my cutesy games. Call me childish, but I'd rather hear the smart and crude remarks of Conker than the cold, detached exclamations of Snake. Consoles need mascots to make people love them, to get true fans. And games need lovable characters to be sold, because people need somebody then can attach themselves to. Most of all though, games don't need to be about human aspects of this world. They can involve animals, monsters and aliens. They can be based at the bottom of the ocean on dolphins, rather than cruising the sky in plains. And most of all, there is nothing wrong with flying through space in an X-Wing, playig Yoda. You know what I say? Long live childish games. They say our childhood is the happiest years of our life. If they're including videogames - I agree.
The only time I would ever play a game with a character in it called Porky the Pig is if I was drunk or had been turned into an uncerebral n00b, I mean child!
In the early nineties, gaming mascots used to be kings. A new Mario or Sonic game would be given masses more attention than a licensed movie game, and that was a lot of what fuelled early gaming debate and rivalry. Mascots. There's been much talk over mascots of newer consoles though, what was the PlayStation? Lara Croft, Crash Bandicoot, Solid Snake? Well, the answer is none. In recent years, mascots have died out. Sonic has shrivelled, Mario is still strong, but the PS2 and Xbox have no mascots.
But I'm not here to talk about mascots, but games characters. I find games becoming more and more realistic every week, with increased specifications comes increased realism. Games become faceless, driving games have no heroes and shooters, such as Medal of Honour, have faceless characters never named. Well, if mascots - named, famous characters - drove the video game industry through its growth spurt of the early 90's, then what's happening now?
Wouldn't it be cool if you played a game, where the story was based around a high-tech farmyard, and every mission was played with a different character. Certain animals had certain abilities, such as Bessie the Cows horns, or Porky the Pig's ability to camouflage itself in mud. Ok, this doesn't sound amazing, but it would be good. Do you understand what I'm getting at - games with character are more involving.
Character, nowadays, insinuates two things. Tacky voice-over, and double-D bra. Games are all advertised with scantily-clad beach babes draped over the logo - even SR does it (but we like it anyway :-D). What I'm talking about, is proper characters. In Blinx, we see a cat with time travelling abilities. Quite innovative, but I'm yet to see another half decent game with a cat in it. Sonic introduced the hedgehog into gaming, and again, is one of a kind. But characters are increasingly less being animals. I remember Jazz Jackrabbit, ages ago on the PC. It's coming to the GameBoy Advance, and it was a great game - get it, is all I can say. Anyway, it featured a 'groovy' rabbit in a standard 2D platforming affair. It was fun, because it utilised character abilities.
But nowadays, 'character abilities' is just a phrase used to describe a person who can use a rocket launcher, or unlock doors, or heal wounds. True character abilities come from the actual creature being played as, be it Pikmins' ability to withstand fire, or Spyro's ability to fly. Not what technology is available to them. And notice another thing - the two examples I mentioned are all from 'cutesy' games.
Which brings me on to another point. Gamers are stupid. They claim there's a lack of fun in new games. But, they won't play 'childish' games such as Mario. Well, I'm afraid you nay-sayers, that if you're going to stick with Gran Turismo and Metal Gear, you're going to find not much innovation and minimal enjoyment. If you're going to diss 'cute' games, don't come crying that there's no fun in gaming.
But the main point I'm trying to get across, is that gaming characters are becoming faceless. The games are focusing on the weapons, not who is holding them. Games were great when there were people who you could associate with, think about and play with (:-S). Final Fantasy is so gripping, because there are characters in a fantasy world. You learn to love the characters. In Metal Gear, it's not so. I've heard Raiden being called a Mulletted freak, and Snake is only liked because of the coolness of actually being a spy. Metal Gear Solid 2 has been described as an interactive movie, but it lacks one thing which all good movies have - characters which you like. A movie with a great plot but crap characters just isn't any fun to watch. The same goes with games.
I like playing games, and I like playing my cutesy games. Call me childish, but I'd rather hear the smart and crude remarks of Conker than the cold, detached exclamations of Snake. Consoles need mascots to make people love them, to get true fans. And games need lovable characters to be sold, because people need somebody then can attach themselves to. Most of all though, games don't need to be about human aspects of this world. They can involve animals, monsters and aliens. They can be based at the bottom of the ocean on dolphins, rather than cruising the sky in plains. And most of all, there is nothing wrong with flying through space in an X-Wing, playig Yoda. You know what I say? Long live childish games. They say our childhood is the happiest years of our life. If they're including videogames - I agree.
But I'm not here to talk about mascots, but games characters. I find games becoming more and more realistic every week, with increased specifications comes increased realism. Games become faceless, driving games have no heroes and shooters, such as Medal of Honour, have faceless characters never named. Well, if mascots - named, famous characters - drove the video game industry through its growth spurt of the early 90's, then what's happening now?
Wouldn't it be cool if you played a game, where the story was based around a high-tech farmyard, and every mission was played with a different character. Certain animals had certain abilities, such as Bessie the Cows horns, or Porky the Pig's ability to camouflage itself in mud. Ok, this doesn't sound amazing, but it would be good. Do you understand what I'm getting at - games with character are more involving.
Character, nowadays, insinuates two things. Tacky voice-over, and double-D bra. Games are all advertised with scantily-clad beach babes draped over the logo - even SR does it (but we like it anyway :-D). What I'm talking about, is proper characters. In Blinx, we see a cat with time travelling abilities. Quite innovative, but I'm yet to see another half decent game with a cat in it. Sonic introduced the hedgehog into gaming, and again, is one of a kind. But characters are increasingly less being animals. I remember Jazz Jackrabbit, ages ago on the PC. It's coming to the GameBoy Advance, and it was a great game - get it, is all I can say. Anyway, it featured a 'groovy' rabbit in a standard 2D platforming affair. It was fun, because it utilised character abilities.
But nowadays, 'character abilities' is just a phrase used to describe a person who can use a rocket launcher, or unlock doors, or heal wounds. True character abilities come from the actual creature being played as, be it Pikmins' ability to withstand fire, or Spyro's ability to fly. Not what technology is available to them. And notice another thing - the two examples I mentioned are all from 'cutesy' games.
Which brings me on to another point. Gamers are stupid. They claim there's a lack of fun in new games. But, they won't play 'childish' games such as Mario. Well, I'm afraid you nay-sayers, that if you're going to stick with Gran Turismo and Metal Gear, you're going to find not much innovation and minimal enjoyment. If you're going to diss 'cute' games, don't come crying that there's no fun in gaming.
But the main point I'm trying to get across, is that gaming characters are becoming faceless. The games are focusing on the weapons, not who is holding them. Games were great when there were people who you could associate with, think about and play with (:-S). Final Fantasy is so gripping, because there are characters in a fantasy world. You learn to love the characters. In Metal Gear, it's not so. I've heard Raiden being called a Mulletted freak, and Snake is only liked because of the coolness of actually being a spy. Metal Gear Solid 2 has been described as an interactive movie, but it lacks one thing which all good movies have - characters which you like. A movie with a great plot but crap characters just isn't any fun to watch. The same goes with games.
I like playing games, and I like playing my cutesy games. Call me childish, but I'd rather hear the smart and crude remarks of Conker than the cold, detached exclamations of Snake. Consoles need mascots to make people love them, to get true fans. And games need lovable characters to be sold, because people need somebody then can attach themselves to. Most of all though, games don't need to be about human aspects of this world. They can involve animals, monsters and aliens. They can be based at the bottom of the ocean on dolphins, rather than cruising the sky in plains. And most of all, there is nothing wrong with flying through space in an X-Wing, playig Yoda. You know what I say? Long live childish games. They say our childhood is the happiest years of our life. If they're including videogames - I agree.