My Thoughts on Tetsuya Mizuguchi

If you haven't heard of him, he's guy that had made titles like "Rez" "Lummies" "Space channel 5" and owns "Q entertainment". He is a real innovator when it comes to music themed games or as he calls them ""music interactives" giving himself such an unique identify within the games industry. Here I've taken a quote from my favorite part of this interview:

"Eurogamer: So you feel like technology is keeping pace with what people actually want from media? Some people certainly seem to feel like technology is ahead of our desires.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi: I'd like to think that human desire is always walking ahead of technology. I hope so, anyway. I think that every product - including games, entertainment, every piece of content or media - is always designed by human desire. Whether it's invisible or visible, with shape or with no shape... Artificial products, created by human beings, are always designed by our desire and our basic instincts. If we don't feel like, "I want to do this" or "I need this" - if there's no trigger like that, then people won't bother. They'll pass it by and say, I don't care about that - this isn't what I'm interested in. It's a really simple point, but all things, all products, are like that."

He has a really interesting perspective on gaming with how technology and interactivity through technology is developed and created via our own human desire which is something I've never thought of this in this way before. I've always thought that the latest current technology inspires new ideals for gaming like "Half life 2" for an example using Havoc physics or "Quake" using internet making it one of the first FPS online multiplayer experiences. Modern technology reflects what can be created within computer games medium, but it is of course its human desire/determination for discovery that creates technology and uses this technology in different ways catering for different needs.

My previous mentality regarding games technology was brought across from game developer's attitudes to their game development process and the type of games they produce, for example say "Epic games" are known for their hard focus towards producing advanced technology/engines such as "Unreal 3 engine" for their games whereas if you look at company like "Square Enix" they focused towards making more artistically creativity titles with the art and story being their main focus. Both of these companies produce high level of visual quality to their games via though different approaches; they are two opposite ends of the same Spectrum, art on one end and tech on the other end. I always used to dislike PC gaming for their heavy use of technology and lacking methods of creativity like Japanese console developers who seem more advanced in their art skills (Now I think I was quite naive to think that).

This has got me thinking about how it's all just a balancing act between the art and technology for the creation of a game but what really makes a game beautiful is fulfillment of your desire as gamer, remember the first time you got the sword in "Zelda: Ocarina of Time" or your first online deathmatch on "Quake 3" or when you figured out how to kill Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid, these are moments of fulfillment, joy and pure escapism that I will treasure in my heart. This is what I call good game designer thinking of the next thing we desire as gamers and people as it doesn't matter what approach is used for creation of the game but belong the designer allows his/her creative ideals push through into the product fulfilling people's desires. Like he says "It's a really simple point, but all things, all products, are like that".

The key to design is thinking out of the box, out of your field of expertise I believe and seems like he knows what he's talking about. Thinking about this topic has changed my thinking process towards games design as you have to think what people want next through the evolution of technology and surrounding pop culture but also have an understanding why they desire that, then you can truly capture people's hearts.

Beefjack is a site dedicated to hardcore gamers, read more reviews & blogs (or maybe play some games !) at our website - http://www.beefjack.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Hard Reset Demo Thoughts

In mere days, Flying Wild Hog’s gorgeous PC-exclusive cyberpunk shooter will be ready to party like it’s some vague, indeterminate part of the nineties. As someone who quite likes iron sights, doesn’t mind regenerating health and tries to avoid running backwards wherever possible, I had a few blasts through the demo to see if it could do its job and convert me into a paying customer.

The high-ranking private security type I’m controlling has been pulled away from the bar to investigate the first attack of what becomes an invasion by growling, sawblade-equipped death machines. In seconds, investigation becomes shooting. And it’s great – the default machine gun is ferociously loud, and even the most absorbent of bullet-sponge robots take hits with considerable force. Both that and the other gun, a lightning-spewing energy rifle, can be upgraded at certain terminals not just with token stat-boosts but with mods than morph them into completely different weapons. For this demo, most of the unlocks are, well, locked, but it’s still possible to turn the ‘NRG’ gun into a mine launcher (where the mines continuously lash out with glowing tendrils of electricity for several seconds) and the machine gun into a shotgun – a gloriously fun-to-use toy that absolutely shreds smaller foes. The main issue with turning two guns into six? The new modes aren’t nearly visually distinct enough from their parent weapons, so it’s not immediately apparent what you’ve just switched to without taking an eye off the murderous AI hordes to check the HUD. That’s no fun. Plus, the animations for mode switching aren’t quite as cool as they could be; a panel might shift and a barrel might extend, but ideally these things would be folding in and out of themselves in wildly different configurations like a confused Decepticon.

It helps that the things you’re shooting are genuinely menacing. The lowliest breed of bots attack in swarms of increasing size, leaping at close range to saw your face in half. The biggest, meanwhile, belie their broadness with rapid dash attacks combined with a ground-punching area-of-effect move, with a surprisingly wide splash radius. There’s not a huge variety of enemy types on show, but as a demonstration of Hard Reset’s approach to combat it works – fights are breathless one-on-six showdowns that test evasive manoeuvers just as much as aiming. None of it is particularly clever or original, but it’s certainly on the exciting side of frantic. Roughly five-sixths of the environment will explode once shot, and using these hazards to your advantage – it’s incredibly tough to battle large groups without them – adds some much-needed depth.

Amazingly, even with a screen full of robots, lightning and detonating cars, the demo looks and runs marvellously. From the harsh lights of translucent billboards to the cracked, rain-slicked streets, Hard Reset boasts a vision of the future that is at once oppressive and bright, broken and bleeding-edge. It’s lovely, even if there aren’t many chances to stop and admire it. Within the world are some nice little touches – hidden rooms behind destructible walls, holographic interfaces with are seamlessly interacted with in-game, and at least one cement mixer that, upon catching a stray bullet, grows a pair of robotic legs and flees. Speaking of destruction, it’s not simply aesthetics that benefit from Flying Wild Hog’s in-house tech. There’s a convincing heaviness to the way objects react to gunfire and explosions – larger stuff like walls and vehicles hurl debris through a thick cloud of smoke and dust, while items like tyres and cabinets are thrown back, landing with a clunky thud. The best fight scenes are utter maelstroms of sparks, bits of dead robot and the charred remains of anything in a fifteen-metre radius that wasn’t nailed down.

Now for the caveat. It’s a good little demo, but other than some new weapon and enemy types I’m not convinced the full game with provide an experience that meaningfully expands on it. Supposedly an antithesis to the pseudo-on-rails nature of linear modern shooters, there are a conspicuous abundance of corridors here, and not much other than shooting bad dudes or breaking down walls to do in them. To be fair, this was a tutorial section, and almost definitely not representative of the finished game as a whole. Still, hopefully Hard Reset’s old school ambitions won’t entirely preclude some new tricks, because even with a few nitpicky issues this demo has taken it from a curiosity to a great fat beeping blob on my radar.

View the original article here