The Pavlovian Game Cycle

The hardest of hardcore gamers go through it; internet forum users go through it; hell, even kids have to go through this mess. New video games that are released under the old, traditional business model have a hype period. During this period, publishers will show off their wares to magazines, web sites, and talk shows alike to boost the hype for a given game with a big budget. There's nothing wrong with this; after all, advertising your product increases awareness, but the method itself could use some revision.

What happens is that publishers talk to the same people over and over, meaning the same customers. They bring up the latest talking points, how the game is revolutionary, innovative, creative, intense, and all sorts of adjectives made to appeal to this audience whether the game has these qualities or not. They talk about the technology, the realism, the photo-realism, and other visual cues, too. There's also talk about the length of the experience (remember when games were about what level you got to and not how long you've played it?). Certainly not every game can be the best at all these, especially when these games are released a couple of months apart when in development for 3 years, can they?

Why do publishers like talking to the same people? Hype, and fast results. This strategy can get a few hundred thousand to a few million to buy the game in the first week or two weeks. Once the hype has settled down, and word of mouth spreads about the game, sales plummet to a few thousand a week in most cases. The only time sales continue at a solid pace, or even increase since release, is if the game is genuinely enjoyable and fun to play. But I'm not talking about those games, here.

Shortly after the release of one of these hype machine games (most games nowadays), it's pretty easy to find in the used game bin for resale. Now, I've talked about the attitude of the industry regarding used games before here, so I won't go far into it. Just know that if a game is in the used bin in large quantities, it's because the hype machine got the best of hardcore gamers again.

It feels to me like some of these industry executives are just ringing a little bell to grab the attention of gamers eager to find something worthwhile to play. When they find an empty experience, it's natural for them to feel burned, and get angry at the bell. Sometimes, the gamer doesn't respond, and the industry suffers for their false alarm. For me, personally, I'd rather the gamer stop listening to the bell altogether, and start listening to each other.

Let the word of mouth spread among like people with similar tastes, as it happens now, but with everyone doing it.

Nerd Rage

I've mentioned a bit about game industry hypocrisy and hardcore gamer attitude on this blog before. This generation of consoles has been so polarizing it's led to many angry, arrogant, hateful conversations among gamers and industry types alike. What is it that got so many people wound up? With many companies having failing strategies, where did they go wrong?

In business, if you give people what they want, you are rewarded with money. This should be obvious, but this seems to be lost on a few people I've heard in the news lately. The goal, then, should not be to make money, but to make customers, as they are the source. Making customers, then, should involve giving them what they want, even if they don't know that they want it. Many games and products this generation have integrated in them many more ways to make money than to make customers. Granted, there are a few that get it, but especially on the console side of things, this isn't so. Let me illustrate this.

By and large most 360 and PS3 games released come with available downloadable extras. These extras cost usually a few bucks apiece, up to ten in many cases, and are usually released shortly after the game is (one company had the gall to have their content up on day 1). The defense for this content is that the game is complete without it, and is simply there for those who want more content. The problem, and usually the counterpoint, is that the games themselves are expensive already (PS3 and 360 games are $60 standard), many people want a value for their money. Placing content outside of the regular game and charging for it means that $60 doesn't mean that you buy the game anymore, rather, you get the bare bones edition. This is actually something that the game industry can learn from movies: give a few extras on the disc, so it's a complete experience the first time.

Many game companies are risk-averse; this is usually okay, unless you work in entertainment. Entertainment needs to surprise people, and in order to do that, risks must be taken (you can't, after all, ask someone, "What surprises you?" and get a relevant answer). They view the Wii as much too risky of a venture, despite its success. This success is seemed to be limited to only Nintendo, as they have had more success with their platform than anyone else (partly true; Nintendo is a fantastic developer, to be sure, but it's not like the platform is exclusive). Many of these companies will go with "test games", used to try the market out with a small investment. Gamers, though, are pretty keen, and can tell when a game is cheaply made, or is entirely uncreative. So when these tests fail, and they always do, the blame is placed on the customers who didn't buy into their cheap crap. Making things worse for these companies is they refuse to develop proper games for the leading platform, because they don't know how to succeed (I'm paraphrasing, here, but these are their words, not mine).

So there is this industry with much more potential than is being realized. The conversation between gamers and industry can improve leaps and bounds, and when it does, both can be satisfied.

Movie Hype

I am definitely looking forward to the new Terry Gilliam film.

I certainly had fun watching several of his films (Brazil, I thought, was brilliant), and this one looks to be a visual treat. I just wanted to share this, in case any of you didn't see it yet.

My Yearly Review

I received my yearly review at work the other day (3 years! Longer than I've been anywhere). I wasn't very happy with the result. This year, and probably every year following, a budget crisis has hit the casino, and one of the ways they decided to cut their costs, was to cut the raises. The way they decided to go about this, however, was actually a bit sneaky; don't change the policy, just give them a smaller raise. In order to pull something like that off, employees needed to get low marks on reviews for any and every reason. So, let's get to my review.

The first item I noticed was that a couple of incidents managed to make their way into several categories for the review; the same event that I wasn't written up for due to managerial incompetence, not my own, was in the commentary for why my score was lower in both attendance and policies & procedures, for example. In fact, looking at the categories, there was plenty of potential for overlapping which meant that one write-up could bring your total score down by a few points at a time.

Second, for the things that were praiseworthy, and certainly my strong points as an employee, they didn't matter much at all in the review. My best qualities were at best worth 1 point, and with a potential 4 points in many positive categories, it just makes one wonder who they were kidding. I know I'm better than 1 point, and I also know that other people know that I am, too.

All in all, it was the worst kept secret regarding employee benefits at the casino. Cut the raises in half, but don't make it look like we're cutting the raises in half; the only way to pull this off is to make the employees look like they were pieces of crap in comparison to years before (I went from 2 5% raises the past 2 years to a 3% raise this one. Better than a pay cut, to be sure, but we're all in a situation where we need all the money we can get). I went from fantastic reviews to simply a mediocre one, and nobody wants to hear that they are mediocre.

How anyone could be surprised at my reaction to that (which they were) is beyond me.

A Glorious Dawn

Let's try this embedding stuff.

This song will get stuck in your head, but that's okay, as it's also a bit soothing. Just wanted to share that.

Edit:

I thought this was kinda funny.

The Man Test

Among the few guys on my shift there is a particular man test that all of us have taken. Here's how it goes: first, take a can of air, and a counterfeit pen cap (regulation size). Next, turn the aforementioned can d'air and turn it upside down, and squeeze the trigger gently with the pen cap just underneath the nozzle. The can will leak out the chemical used to make the air into the cap if done correctly. After that, hold out your hand. Finally, pour the contents of the pen cap onto your hand and hold it there for as long as you can. There it is; the casino cage man test.

Much like other man tests, this isn't exactly a smart thing to do. In fact, it is an unusually cold and painful sensation (it left frost on my hand). Also like other man tests, not everyone passed; it was clear then that one of the guys simply was not a man yet (don't make that face, I passed).

The test was not without casualty, though, as there is a bruise or something on my hand that has been there for days, and it itches like crazy on occasion (someone told me it was minor frostbite, but even that looks a bit much compared to this).

Bearing this in mind, a couple of the guys have already thought of tougher man tests to endure at work (you know, a cage match).

Anyway, the cage has to be one of the most spontaneously entertaining places for surveillance to turn to watch with all the shenanigans we're up to. On more than one occasion, we'd get a call from them and all they could do was laugh at us on the other end of the line. Well, it turns out that they make a tape of highlights for the next shift, sort of like an outtakes reel.

I'm glad I was able to brighten someone's day with my pain.

Turbo the Movie

Link Here.

It's about 30 minutes long, and some have aptly described it as Karate Kid meets Tron.

This may be some of what games in the future are like, actually. This setup itself may not work competitively, because while the moves are seemingly entirely dependent on your own skill, there isn't really anything in the way of feedback (at first, anyway). Anyway, the interface itself looks too much like it needs study, which is why only the most dedicated to the game would advance competitively. They pull off some moves I had no idea that the game would be able to interpret correctly, too, but it's a movie, and liberties like that must be taken sometimes.

Another thing that games can do, and will do in the future, is mind-controlled applications (they have running prototypes already; lots of sci-fi stuff). They can actually take that a step further, and have sensors for other things and react accordingly (exhibit A and B). These things look silly now, but so did Guitar Hero when it was first released.

Now, there's nothing wrong with a board game; one of my high school projects was a board game, and it was fairly popular with the open-house parent-and-valedictorian crowd. That said, the future tends to be exciting because it's unknown, and there's not much room left for surprising people with a board game (though imagine the scenario in which introducing one would be completely surprising. The priest says, "Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Who's up for some Settlers of Catan?" Sorry, that was pretty inappropriate).

PSP NoGo

Reviews are in.

From the day of its announcement, I knew Sony had its work cut out for them to make something like this sell. Much like the Game Boy Micro when it was released, its a new release of an older handheld with fewer functions, sleeker style, and a premium price point (See, I do have a precedent and not just bashing Sony due to some supposed bias). There are just too many compromises made for this system.

First, the UMD drive is gone. Okay, many people (including myself) didn't like the optical disc format in the first place, so it would make sense if Sony were listening to its customers to do something like this. But here's the thing: the reasons the UMD drive wasn't popular was because lugging around those games were tedious and unportable as they were, plus it drained the battery like crazy to have an optical drive on a handheld. Their solution with the Go does address the lack of portability, but not the battery life; it comes with a smaller battery, so it lasts as long as the old model does. Many gamers kept spare batteries with them when the PSP ran out of juice, as it happened frequently. But the Go makes this problem worse, as the battery isn't replaceable. Deal broken here.

Second, the current accessories no longer work, and new ones are proprietary. This one is for current owners mostly, and not too big a deal otherwise. The new memory sticks are pretty expensive, though.

Third, the download-only Go has the same old wireless 802.11b. Have fun not playing your games when you buy them, instead waiting for the download to finish. Sure, some games might not take too long, but many are more than 1GB, with no chance of resuming if your connection is interrupted (on wireless, that could be all the time). Plus, with the safety measures in place, no game or system update (required to play any game at all) will install without a full battery charge, meaning you can't get a new game when you're out (hehe, on the Go). Which brings me to the next part...

Service. All purchases are on the PlayStation Network, which is fine, but the PSN doesn't have all the PSP games. Furthermore, even if you did get all of them, you're not given ownership of your game; you get to download it up to five times. All at a price of MSRP. Speaking of price...

The Go itself is highway robbery at $250. Considering the PSP at 200, DSi at 170, and the DS at 130, you can do much better for your money.

Inundation of Information

Link Here.

The response is spot on; most people cannot possibly get away with cheating a casino, and if they do, it's just a matter of time until they get caught, provided they don't know when to stop. Most criminals really don't know when to stop, either, if any random gambler is any indication.

A casino may be a more attractive venue for crime than a bank, but the measures put in place to secure it make it very difficult for anyone to pull off. Plus, there are way more people working against you than with you if the system gets tested.

That said, there was one robbery not too long ago. This guy rushed one of the floor clerks and snatched his money pouch. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, he was on camera, and only made off with about 1,500 dollars. Sure, that's a bit more than a month of pay for me (some months it's not), but word spread quickly to local casinos and authorities; any attempt like that again at any casino in the area would be met with force.

At any rate, 1,500 isn't too much money when it comes to what's held in a casino. Some customers are in awe of the back cages full of chips, asking how much there is (I can't tell them, of course, but if they are good at counting chips...), but that just goes to show how unaware they are of the piles of cash in a casino, even a small one.

Every cashier and clerk is also trained to detect counterfeits, whether they are chips, bills, checks or what have you. Some of them are trained by the Secret Service to detect counterfeit bills (myself included), so those criminals that try and pass off bills have to be very confident in their process to do this directly. Truthfully, most counterfeiters may walk (or run) away from the incident, but they never fool anyone (it's easy to tell who's guilty by seeing who runs when we step back and make a phone call).

I could go on about how the casino works, but instead, I'd rather go to the renaissance fair.

Phenomenon

It's things like this that tell me that either I'm just not aware of the goings on, or we just don't know everything there is to know.

For years now, I've had this experience that I'm sure is totally explainable (and supposedly is), but there are some street lights that go out not only frequently, but every time I approach them, driving or walking. Okay, so confirmation bias might be at work here, as well as the idea that dying street lights go out many times before they go out for good, but there is another light at my apartment complex that isn't a street light at all, and that one goes out every time, too. There can't be a timer on it, as it happens any time I show up, but a motion sensor could. With that in mind, what light goes out when it detects motion? Every motion sensor light that I've seen turns on (apart from this one, of course), for ease of use and security. Plus, nobody that I asked has experienced the same thing. Weird.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying this is some magical aura type of thing, just a weird happening that I don't quite get (I'm not a loony, I swear).

If someone knows more, please, enlighten me (har har).