GamerNode: Eddie Inzauto's Columns

Is Silence Golden?

Throughout the years, I've become familiar with all manner of games, presented in a myriad of ways and told from many different perspectives. One particular method of delivering a gaming experience to the audience has always captured my attention, and that is through the use of the silent protagonist. At times, I feel this technique works perfectly, but on other occasions, it just doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.

The silent protagonist was not always an intentional device. Back when gaming was young, and technology was... low, putting voices in videogames was barely an option to be considered. It wasn't until CD-based software that speech could be included on a grand scale. Now, the capacity of game media has grown so much that character voice-overs are a somewhat ubiquitous feat...

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If They Were Halo

The massive anticipation is over. Halo 3 launch day has come and gone with great fanfare -- big events, long lines, eager fans, master chief, etc. In the first 24-hour period alone, the game grossed over $170 million. To put that in terms of copies sold, it's roughly equivalent to more than 2.8 million. Of those, 1.7 million copies were pre-sold.

With Halo 3 riding high on the extreme marketing push made by Microsoft and Bungie, one has to wonder if it would have experienced such success without it. Moreso, it is interesting to ponder what games might have done just as well as Halo 3 had they received the same tender loving care from their respective marketing departments.

I have gone through a slew of recent releases, and come up with a pair of games that may very well have been this year'...

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Halo Hype

Anyway, Halo 3 is almost upon us ("us" meaning those not named Brendon), and the anticipation for the title is at fever pitch. This game's fan following is built not only on the merits and successes of past Halo games, but also upon marketing and the highly influential, ever-present "hype engine."

The internet is actually an instrumental tool used to keep this machine well-oiled. In the past 10 days alone, GamerNode has run about seven or eight stories about Master Chief's new adventure, and nearly every one had something to do with the Halo 3 launch, sales, or obsession. Let's take a look:

For one, Wedbush Morgan analyst and gaming prophet Michael Pachter has predicted that Halo 3 will sell over 3 million copies in it's first 12 days on the market. In addition, analyst Colin Sebastian...

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Where Wii goin'?

I believe in the Wii. I have faith in the console, its technology, and the styles of play that are possible with the tools available to the gamer. There is so much potential in that little white box that has yet to be tapped into.

Just prior to launch, my vision for what the Wii had to offer the gaming world was as follows:

Total immersion. It's sort of a vague idea, but when I think of the Wii and it's input method, I am always seduced by the idea of the player's hands existing as permanent fixtures within the game world. One might think, "but doesn't that happen already in FPS on Wii?" Well, yes and no. The hands are always there, but their function is strictly limited. My idea is that the actions of the gamer are represented in a one-to-one fashion on-screen. Consider the following as an...

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Casual or Hardcore?

My apologies for the late update, but here it is:

The definition of the word "gamer" is pretty straightforward. It means, "one who plays games," usually referring to those of the audio/visual variety. Until recently, being a gamer meant that you were knee-deep in the industry, knew what games were coming, and had a good sense of what made a quality game. You probably owned two or more gaming systems and had a sizable collection of games. You were a gamer.

Nowadays, the term "gamer" is somewhat antiquated. Nowadays, a lot more people play videogames, but a lower and lower percentage of them fit the above description. Today's videogame market is divided into the "hardcore," who are essentially the "gamers" of yore, and the "casual." The casual gamer is an interesting type. They may sit online...

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Control Freak

When you begin a new PC game, what is the first thing that you do? If your name is Eddie Inzauto, you immediately hit the options screen and configure your keyboard and mouse. You change the default "WASD" over to "ESDF" to allow your pinky finger access to more commands; you make sure jumping and crouching oppose each other -- one on keyboard, one on mouse; you basically set thing up so that they are comfortable for YOUR style of play.

A major flaw in the design of console games has persisted for ages, and for the most part has been completely overlooked, as if it was not a flaw at all. If a gamer picks up a copy of Timesplitters 2 and goes through the usual motions of controller configuration, he will realize that the issue is actually glaring, but us gamers mostly wear darkly tinted glas...

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Tell Me a Story...

...but don't tell me you're telling it.

Videogames, more often than not, tell us stories. These range from the simplistic "rescue the princess" sort of narrative to much more convoluted plots, chock-full of twists and surprises. Not every game strives to tell an epic tale, and some obviously do a better job than others at keeping gamers interested.

Almost as important as what a story entails, though, is how exactly the game goes about presenting it. Is it really enough to have an incredibly storyline if the mechanism by which it is delivered to the player is inherently flawed or unexciting? Would you want to play a game where the main character sits and listens as his local librarian reads a novel out loud? I wouldn't.

Participation is key. Sitting idly by as the storyline is narrated is us...

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Why I Love Towns

I've been playing video games for a long time. I've played all sorts of games, from Super Mario Bros. to Bejeweled to next week's mega-release, BioShock. I even rocked a little bit of the mildly creepy Astro Grover for the NES (what is it about that game that always bugged me out as a child?). I've been around the proverbial block, as games go, and I guess one could say that I know the ins and outs of most of the genres out there. By now, I've even managed to formulate a pretty solid set of understandings and opinions about each one.

One type of game, however, has vexed me throughout the years. I've hated it, loved it, been indifferent to it, etc., and this cycle will probably continue for at least another decade. The genre in question? Role-playing games.

When I first picked up Dragon War...

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