Dead Island: My PS3 Struggle, Why I Will Never Shop in Game Again, and How I Got A Free Forrest Gump DVD

STORY TIME!

In the Christmas of 2012, I was 16 years old with a ton of exams and very little money. Owning a PS3 was 100% out the question - they were still going for far more than I could hope to afford, and even if I was handed the money and went and bought the console, I couldn't afford any games for it. It would just be a really expensive decorative item. But then my younger sister managed to land one
of those elusive Saturday jobs, and splashed out on a PlayStation with her first pay packet (I was earning £30 every fortnight). It was revolutionary. I remember it like it was the biggest event of my life (and to be fair at that point it came largely secondary to ASs and Uni applications), my sister called me while I was out and gave me the news. Immediately I stormed into the nearest CeX and picked up the first game I saw - just to check out the system. I didn't know at that time that I had started what was going to be the most enjoyable gameplay experience I have yet to encounter, and as I handed over the £10 note (regrettably I had to forego the Subway I had planned for later as a result) and received my copy of Dead Island back, I felt sound in the knowledge I was jumping on the up-to-date gaming bandwagon.

Funny, gory, and just all round fun to engage in, Dead Island quickly became the only game played on the PS3. My sister had Skyrim and GTA for it but rarely got a word in edge ways in terms of the ownership of her PlayStation. Weapon modifications, the sometimes stunning visuals (you have to remember my gaming largely consisted of £1.50 PS2 games prior to my PS3 revolution), and the constant zombie-bashing opportunities meant I was totally hooked on the game. It was the game that I waited impatiently for my parents to go to bed for, so that I could turn to my sister, give her a look and we would both silently celebrate that it was finally time to play (Mum was not a fan of the bludgeoning, slicing, and electrocuting that had become a large part of my life). It was the game I played with my then-boyfriend for hours, becoming more and more frustrated with his (in my mind) poor technique, and then even angrier when he defeated the 'Thug' zombie in the garage that had managed to outwit me many times before. 

There were a few choice words from my sister when Uni came around and I asked if I could take the PS3. It was a long shot, and I ended up leaving for Exeter with no games console to call my own apart from a £20 PS2 that I bought as a commiseration (and the damn thing didn't work). 

The next chapter in my Dead Island story comes after I was (again) in CeX over the Christmas holidays. Looking at the PS3 section wistfully once more (as was tradition), I see a guy standing in the queue holding a PS3. Something could happen here, and something beautiful did happen. The guy saw me looking at the consoles and asked me if I was looking to buy. Trying to contain my desperate need for some kind of console, I said I was and he told me how he was trying to sell - nowhere would take it because the controller was pretty busted. He offered it to me for £50. This is a guy in the street, trying to sell me not only a PS3 but also a story about how he's getting rid of all his stuff to move to Paris to be with his girlfriend (I was wary). We agreed at £35, I had no idea if it worked or not and he really wanted to shift this PS3 - I didn't dwell on his dubious story, I wanted that damn PS3. It was glorious, mostly because it worked. I had pulled off every dream I ever had since those lonely days of 2012 and gained a 120gb PS3 slim for £35 that worked as if it were brand new (and got a free Forrest Gump DVD that was still inside - bonus). It says a lot about a game though, when I say that the only reason I was still searching for a PS3 at that time was to play Dead Island again at uni. And I did. I finished Dead Island in my second term after having to restart it with uni mates after we holed up in my friends room which I dubbed 'The PlayStation Station'. Playing Dead Island all day, everyday for about 3 weeks, it was a race to finish the game before term ended for summer. We managed it with literally minutes to spare before one of us had to leave for home, after a very tense boss battle and a lot of screaming.

So when I was in Game looking for Dead Island Riptide on my 19th birthday, I was shocked when the employee asked why I wanted such a 'crap' game. I put him firmly in his place, admittedly to the embarrassment of my mother, and walked out the shop. I know Dead Island gets some stick - the trailer built up a lot more expectation for the storyline than was necessary for a game with little emphasis on story, but it's still my go-to game for an assured good time. It lends itself to casual, do a mission here, build a weapon there gameplay ideal for half hour sessions if you've got somewhere to be, but can be played for hours on end at the same time. Play for days and never be put in the same situation twice, even if you die and have to restart something. You're always moving forward in this game, the zombies stay dead even if you end up dead with them, meaning you are always progressing - something that keeps bringing me back to the island and its characters.

Dead Island 2 is PS4 only. This is a circular story because there is no way I can afford a PS4 right now. I might just have to start dropping hints at my sister or hang around CeX in a couple of years looking for a shifty guy moving to Paris. 

Funniest Gaming Videos on YouTube

The strong relationship between gaming and online video content has proved itself recently with Amazon's famous purchasing of streaming site Twitch. Watching others play video games brings a certain kind of entertainment that's hard to pin down, but stems from the inherently social roots of the pastime. A playthrough can be tense, frustrating (watching a player get to the third chapter of story mode without knowing how to change weapons can make or break a person), but the best clips are watched by millions because they are funny. Tobygames and Pewdiepie create hilarious content that is shared across the internet every time they pick up a controller, but sometimes the real humour doesn't come from these twenty minute sections of gameplay, but from those who have taken games, glitches, characters and scenarios, made it their own and uploaded it for the rest of the world to have a two minute giggle at. So, here are some of my favourite YouTube gaming videos that will never fail to make me laugh.

 

 

Laddergoat

 

 

It’s often the simplest things that really hit the hilarity hardest, in this case what starts out as a personal attack on a goat turns into one of the most absurdly funny glitches I have encountered so far. As the goat makes his escape and slowly begins to rise up the ladder, it’s not difficult to see why the player breaks down. What ensues is 4 minutes of infectious laughter, repeatedly subsiding only for the player to catch a glimpse of the goat and collapse once more into fits of eye-watering roars, exclaiming “oh you, ladder goat, you so random”. I think we can all use a little more laddergoat in our lives.

 

What Slender Man Does Behind Your Back

 

 

If you need something to get rid of the pervading fear Slender Man places on your everyday life, then here it is (or it just might make it worse). For some reason, we fear this misunderstood, bop-loving tall guy in a suit, here we see him in an off moment. Slender’s 30 second dance party was created by FloboFilms and provides some comic relief for one of the most psychologically challenging characters to grace the PC scene.

 

Real Life Mario Kart

Taking to the streets, Remi Gaillard breaks down that fourth wall of gaming and throws some bananas at vans. Dressing as Mario and revving the engine of a fairly unstable looking kart, he pulls away from traffic lights, dodges some traffic, takes a pit-stop to fill up and takes first place in front of a clapping group of tourists. Possibly the best bit of footage however, is a pulled over Mario making an escape from an Accident Response van in his tiny kart.

 

Pacman Ghosts Discuss TV

 

 

I never thought about the ins and outs of their TV-watching, I know now that that was a mistake.

Dead Trigger 2 Review

Dead Trigger 2 was released in October of last year and is now proudly displayed in the App Store 'Zombie' section. I say proudly because, even though I've only had a handle of good, long sessions with it, I can safely say it is one of my favourite games I have played on iOS. And it's free. 

I'm fairly new to the game, but my first impressions are that this is an iOS classic. It's fun and easy to dip in and out of but if you have the time you can easily lose a good few hours running the battery down on whatever device you choose - I've tried it on iPod but a bigger screen allows for less claustrophobic gameplay, but as a zombie game perhaps that's a bonus to iPod and iPhone play. 

Employing a first person shooting stance governed by two primary controls: move around with left and look around with right, the game is set around a series of search and rescue / fix this very important commodity missions with various in game rewards. From the map screen, select your mission (be it a side mission you encountered before, a new mission to progress, or a challenge of the day type battle), using your hideout as an hq of weaponry, health, and gold mining. The missions get heart-racingly challenging, especially playing on iPad - turning round after defeating a horde of pumpkin headed zombies (celebrating the game's Halloween-ish birthday) only to find one gnawing on your shoulder has sent my iPad flying after desperate attempts to shoot. 

The controls fit the iOS design - simply move to look at your enemy, line up the crosshair, and the trigger pull comes naturally. By this I mean the game shoots automatically. This kind of frustrated me at first - I couldn't line up the perfect headshot without already shooting the guy half a dozen times. But it's an easy way to get the look and feel of movement on a console game on an iOS device that requires a simpler set of controls, and it makes the game slightly easier, so you feel like a boss. 

The story-line isn't that developed - the main basis is that you have been dropped into a zombie apocalypse, saved, and taken to a safety base by a woman you met in a tunnel. After that, it's more the completion of missions set in an impressively large set of locations, the simple controls, and the thirst for zombie blood that will keep bringing you back to Dead Trigger 2. 

Why I'm Loving #screenshotsaturday

Is there really a better way to convey the tone, genre, style, and overall sense of a game than through the good old screenshot? I don't think so, and this is why I am a lover of all things frozen in time and put on the internet. This is perhaps why i'm loving the #screenshotsaturday trend that's been going around in the blur between my Saturday and Sunday. I've spent hours browsing the exciting images of thousands of different games, each one presenting its own individual presentation of its own unique entertainment.

There's a distinct sense of pride that the screenshot conveys. For all the effort put into the game, especially when its independently developed (see my earlier post), it's relieving to understand that indie developers make this effort because of their love of entertainment and pride in their end product. Such pride is beautifully demonstrated in this shared display space of the internet. Developers posting screenshots of their works are not only trying to advertise their product, they're sharing with the world their own pride in the work they have undertaken.

Of all the ways the internet has changed the world, this space to share and the camaraderie that comes from it is perhaps the most important to me. With the recent gamergate epidemic, it's refreshing to see the internet's anonymity and freedom being utilised to breed positivity. I think it's too easy to fall into dwelling too much on the presence online trolls. Evidence of social networking, Twitter in particular, being used to exhibit a confident pride in a project and then being received by others sharing that pride, providing feedback and posting their own projects illustrates one of the greatest powers of the internet - bringing individuals around the world together based on common interests.

And I think screenshots themselves deserve some attention. They capture the essence of a game that could be hours long to provide the viewer with a wealth of information from just a glance. I think you can really get the feel of a game from an atmospheric shot of action, and they are composed (whether intended to or not) as art pieces.

I don't believe that pride is a bad thing. The fact that these developers are sharing their work with the world in such a public way shows their care, personal investment, dedication, and enthusiasm for their endeavours. Trolls are just the people who don't have anything worth showing off.

Secrets That Should Remain Hidden: Top 5 Creepy Easter Eggs

The term 'Easter Egg' to refer to secrets hidden by developers in games was supposedly coined by Atari after it was brought to their attention that Warren Robinett left a secret message in the game Adventure. Referring to the idea of the "Easter egg hunt", the phrase came to stand for any secret items, levels or messages left by developers. Nowadays, the term has been used to also cover hidden elements of gameplay such as audio files, as well as glitches and seemingly irrelevant story information.

Since it's Halloween, I thought it would interesting to delve into the top 5 of the creepiest easter eggs the internet has pulled up.

5. Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Shadows

When playing the Shiverburn Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2, the player can look up and see three strange figures atop the mountain. On closer inspection it seems that these figures are watching you, and with no reference to them in the game, it seems they are something to slowly back away from, before putting down the controller and running out of the house. What's even worse is the fact that hackers have tried to put an end to everyone's fears by searching within the game, but the mysterious figures seem to disappear if you are getting too close.

4. Halo 3 - Monkey Family

On Level Sierra 117, after seeing Sgt Johnson's pelican go down, enter the woods and kill all the snipers. Once you are at the end, go back down to where you started and jump up to the elevated part on the right. Turn around again, and walk along the wall to your left until it ends. Have a look around. You are not going mad if you see a family of monkeys with human faces occupying your wall with you. They do not move, but they are not part of the scenery as shooting them will cause them to bleed. So these weird monkey people inhabit the world of Halo more often than you might think. They are dotted around levels, some of which are practically impossible to access. Perhaps the worst though is at the end of Halo 3 ODST. Settle in for the credits and watch the cut scene after them, but be ready to move the camera to the left during the last few cut scenes. Look around the spaceship and find an old friend sitting next to you the whole time... yep... monkey man.

3. Red Dead Redemption - Tumbleweed

Not so much an easter egg, more of a creepy level not necessitated by gameplay, the ghost town of
Tumbleweed is advertised throughout newspaper articles throughout the game. If you actually take the time to go there, the creepy atmosphere, only intensified by the disembodied whisperings and mutterings. One player has got to the bottom of these voices however, by going through a previously locked door to find a few random characters hiding out in a small room. It's obviously pretty boring in Tumbleweed if they spend their days waiting for someone to walk past so they can whisper to them... The real fear, however, comes when you notice the dog that's been constantly barking throughout your exploits in Tumbleweed. You follow the sound of his barking until you reach a cemetery with an adjoining churchyard. Inside this church is a pulpit with the words "The Devil has got into that beast" carved into it, suggesting a creepy little ghost dog following you around, possibly inhabited by the devil. That's always fun.

2. Bit.Trip Runner 2 - Slender

The problem with fast-paced side scrolling platform games is the fact that you don't really have the time to stop and look around at the backdrop to your dashing, jumping, falling, and flying. That's probably a good thing in Bit.Trip Runner 2. If you happen to need to pause, and you are looking for an adrenaline rush, take a look at the background and you may see the horrifically recognisable image of the internet's favourite demon guy in a suit - Slenderman. The thing with this one is the fact that you could be playing the level over and over and not realise that Slender has been following you the whole time. The fact that the kids game is so colourful and light-hearted only serves to make Slender's appearance just a little more terrifying.

1. Game Boy Camera - Run

In the old days of the Game Boy Camera, if a user pressed the 'run' button while on one of the menu
screens, the game would sometimes freeze. An image of a face vandalised with marker would then appear with equally creepy text - the worst of which, "who are you running from", would have sent me straight to the Yellow Pages, looking up any good demon-exorcizing priests in the area. And this was in the days when googling why your Game Boy had suddenly turned against you was out of  the question. 

Gorillas, Carpentry, and Sewers: The History of Mario

In thinking about the origins of classic video game characters, who better to start with than Mario? The chubby Italian plumber bounced his way into the top spot in the video game hall of fame in the 80's and has broken more records than he has power up boxes in the decades since. Hailed as the video game icon, Mario's history is just as endearing as his famous catchphrases, stature, and gaggle of friends.

Around the time of the video game crash in 1983, Miyamoto understood that players were growing
tiresome of the similar designs of games that we're being rapidly churned out in the industry. Recognising the need for players to have a human character to connect with through the game rather than just a spaceship, he began working a carpenter character into his Donkey Kong game. And so the concept of Mario was born. 

Originally named Jumpman, Mario's original carpentry profession was developed to fit with the construction site setting of Donkey Kong. When he was granted his own title, however, his career path took a turn towards plumbing. It has been said that Mario's career was an effort to make him look more hard working, and therefore relatable to the player. A colleague apparently mentioned to Miyamoto that the character looked more like a plumber, and so Mario Bros. was based in the sewers of New York City. 

Mario's iconic outfit was originally reversed, with a red jumpsuit accompanied by a blue shirt. The character needed to stand out against his background and so his prominent nose, brightly coloured clothing and light-heartedly Italian moustache were necessary. Miyamoto completed the outfit with a red cap for simplicity's sake, to work around the issue of animating Mario's hair every time he jumped.

This appearance has developed with the abolishment of technical limitations. As the technology available for video games improved, so did Mario's characterisation. The colours of his clothes were reversed to what we see today, his cap took on the iconic 'M' marking, and his facial features became more animated. 

Charles Martinet is the prominent voice of Mario, and has been working for Nintendo since 1990. Originally uninvited to the auditions, he rocked up late to a video game trade show and asked to read the part. He originally planned a stereotypically husky Italian voice but developed the idea to become more child friendly, making his voice light, bouncy, and soft. The legend goes that Martinet's audition tape was the only one sent to Nintendo, but it must have been lengthly as Martinet stated that he maintained the Mario voice until the tape ran out. Martinet started as the voice of Mario at video game trade shows through the "Mario in Real Time" system - a motion capture interactive display in which groups of people would approach a 3D Mario head on a screen, watched on camera by Martinet, who would then have his movements synchronised with the image of his Italian character to respond to them. 

Mario is the proud icon of the best selling video game series of all time and has become one of the most widely recognised symbols of digital entertainment. With over 115 title games and countless other crossovers and references throughout the video game industry (everyone chuckled when the line "it's me Mario" was cheekily thrown into Assassin's Creed 2), his plumbing business has certainly had to take the back seat for a while. 

Hoops and Hurdles: Just How Difficult Is It To Go Indie

Creating video games without the financial backing of a large company comes with a new set of game design rules. Developers focus on what makes them unique - the innovation and creativity of one or two individuals or a small group, and have done since the 1990s. Early shareware allowed independent developers for PC games to distribute their creations among fellow developers and players. However the steep rise of technology that occurred during the millennium saw a larger internet audience, bigger expectations for the quality of video games, and a more competitive market. While this has seen a large growth in social media marketing, retail (through sites such as Steam), and the general means to create these games, developers need to jump through the hoops this larger audience scope demands. 

In writing this, I was attempting to consider some of the most challenging aspects of independent video game design, and came to the conclusion that I pretty much had no clue what kinds of issues faced these organisations in the digital age. So I channelled Sherlock and took to Twitter. 

Finances are a big thing on developers' minds, when asked their opinions on the biggest hurdle in indie game development, it seemed the biggest limitation was the dollar. Red Tentacle Studios (@Red_Tentacle),developers of Crazy Critter Dash for iOS, pretty much sum it up when they say "with limited financial resources you have to compete with game companies with millions to spend on advertising, making it feel nearly impossible at times". Relying on social media and word of mouth is stressful and risky, in that sense the advertisement of these games is a slow, repetitive process of plugging, tweeting, posting and pleading, whereas top games companies just have to say one word at the right conference and half the world starts pre-ordering for next year. 

And this is mostly funded through a day job, which in itself presents difficulties. For Robert Ota Dietrich (@nobunagaota), this financial matter is "like a timer" - financing a daily life around the demands of creating a successful video game is tricky. He says "for devs with day jobs, time is the biggest limit. Finding the time to make games can be hard. Especially if you have a family". Working around the timings and finances of daily life to create a game independently and then advertise and boost recognition means it's a sink or swim situation in the gaming world (which is why you can help Robert out and vote for his game Ookibloks on Steam Greenlight 

So you've passed the time constrictions and the financial risks, but the actual creative process of game design is what Voltwar Games (@VoltwarGames) reckon presents the most difficulty. Focus is something I had never really considered before these guys brought it to my attention, but now I can 100% understand when they say "no matter what, there will always be thoughts like "wouldn't it be cool if we added this thing or this other thing?". You need to learn how to handle that, when to say no". I suppose in the bid to stand out against this vast scope of internet audience, you want to do something innovative, unique and new. But in an unfocused project, this can run away with the developer and they end up throwing everything at a game and then realising it's far too unfocused and cluttered. Voltwar told me that "our first game was a disaster. We kept changing the concept, the target platforms, the scope of the entire project. We changed the art style, went from multiplayer to single player, changed the entire theme of the game... In the end we just put it on ice, because it was so unfocused."

So you've put the hours in, worried about the rent, re-modelled a game over and over until it was sleek, original, focused and fun to play - you have the finished product and you're pretty proud. But then comes the issue of quality highlighted by James Oliver (@JamesDestined) who says the most difficult part is "seeing the reality of how good your product is and not believing it is best / better in an unrealistic way". So after pouring so much of your life into this product, it's difficult not to become blind to its faults - it's what you've sacrificed months of your life for and it can be difficult then, not to get your hopes up for a Nintendo job offer. 

You've got your final product now, you've managed not to get your hopes up and don't have unreasonable expectations for its success. Now you just have to do that hard bit and get noticed. This, as well as financing, was the most common response to my inquiries. After all that work, you may still be a tiny, insignificant dot on the web. Steam, blogs, Twitter and Facebook seem to be your methods of advertising, while also relying on the risk of word of mouth. Lazy Lizzard (@TheLazyLizzard), creator of Stray Cat, told me that "it is way too easy to disappear in the crowd. Plus, the freemium market is unsustainable, so you either get rich quick or go broke". So once you've put the endless hours, worry, money, and risk into your project, you still have to break your way into recognition through the sometimes frustratingly slow process of social media marketing. 

I've discovered a new form of respect for independent developers now, I already had respect for their creativity and innovation. But the process of developing a game under normal pressures of every day life and then meeting the ever growing demands of both the consumer and the platform of advertisement creates a whole new respect for the dedication and resilience required to make a name for yourself in this day and age. 

Red Tentacle Studios: http://www.redtentaclestudios.com/ 

Lazy Lizzard: http://lazylizzard.org/

Robert Ota Dietrich: http://gamedevwithoutacause.com/ 

James Oliver: http://www.destined.com