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| Fanning the Flames: Luc Bernard, victim or raving idiot? |
| Monday, 18 August 2008 |
  What has now become known as simply Bernard Gate will go down as an infamous moment in the minds of many hardcore gaming forum members across the world. But was he simply a victim of the current state of gaming communities? Or did he perhaps leave himself open to this kinda of treatment as a result of the way he put himself in the public eye?
Popular gaming blog Destructoid recently posted a shall we say less than positive review of Eternity's Child. They gave it 1/10 and derided the game as worthless and not worth your time or effort in playing. The review did raise some interesting points namely in the introduction, highlighting how Eternity's Child had come to enter the limelight; "Talk about the game's creator, Luc Bernard, whose skill at self-promotion has put his work firmly in the public eye for one reason or another?"
To be fair the backlash from the review was far more from to do with the comments and it is really easy to lay the blame firmly at the feet of Anthony Burch and Conrad Zimmerman for their analysis in their article. Listening to the recent Podtoid does make the site shine in a far more distinct light as they defended their honest objectivity that is present in their reviews. If a game is bad you can trust them to tell you. They took the slant that Luc Bernard should not have gone and argued in their comments system and it is hard to not agree with this viewpoint. One thing they said is hard to justify was about his drinking, if this debacle has indeed led to Luc seeking refuge in alcohol it is surely not something to laugh about?
I recently spoke to Luc on MSN during the calm after the storm. It is clear to see Luc has taken all these comments very personally when he told me "You see when you get a certain number of comments on your blog telling you to kill yourself well erm lol you think and you're like ok if I continue I will end up like Uwe Boll". Uwe Boll of course the much hated movie director who seems intent on giving us videogame movies that are well to be frank awful. Whilst critizing a game is one thing there is no way you can justify personally targetting one and Luc has found both his personal blog inundated with insults and threats as well as his private email address. How is this in anyway fair? Certainly sending insults via email is an invasion of privacy and the arguement that he has entered into the public so is therefore fair game does not wash at all.
There can be little doubt that trolls have become the bain of the internet. Luc summarized it "forum and trolls are destroying everything", whilst this is a very broad statement and becomes a bit gloomy there is plenty of truth behind it. Trolls are a problem and if a reaction by them to a game like this can bring somebody to quit the Internet. This is something developers need to roll with and evolve to accept it. This new found culture of people going to extreme lengths to deliver their point of view isn't going to go away as new blogs and forums spawn every day of the week. It isn't going to go away, this kind of game conversation which would never have taken place on press sites prior to the up rise of the Blog. Bloggers aren't bound by the policies and integrity of the mainstream press and as such aren't held in high regard. Despite perhaps this lack of professional regard Blogs do create incredible reactions, controversial posts on popular Blogs seem to make the headlines as much as actual gaming news these days. Should developers enter the blogosphere though? Is it worth the hassle?
It does seem that whenever a developer goes into the public arena it only ends up ending in a less than favourable way. It is usually self preservation unfortunately Luc decided to compare himself with the ultimate forum whipping boy Denis Dyack.
Trying to compare himself to Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights was perhaps not the best thing to do. It's like George Bush trying to defend his war policies and comparing himself to Genghis Kahn. First up he went on 1up Yours and opened a whole can of worms by saying he did not approve of people previewing games, this of course had nothing to do with the poorly constructed demo of Too Human that made it onto the E3 showfloor, hey Denis don't want your games previewing? Then don't show them simple as. However Dyack didn't stop here, he has recently been running amok on NeoGAF and now alienating the very people who he is relying to buy the game. Luc Bernard on the other hand until this debacle has proven to be a very likable fella, with appearances on the Radio Ninty and N-Europe Show podcasts to name just a couple helping to reaffirm this belief.
As mentioned before I have had the pleasure of speaking to Luc on MSN and he does have an air of a very nice man, who is enthusiastic about what he does and has a lot of passion for the job. He was very passionate in his defence of himself. He explained his reasons for entering into the comments section of reviews and battling them head on, it was simply a case of fighting fire with fire. He felt his back was up against the wall and it would seem this is the only way he knew how to fightback.
Also of course Dyack has the advantage that of the six games published today he has managed to secure big publishers for those titles; Nintendo, Konami and Crystal Dynamics to name a few. Luc has not had this advantage he is an indie developer and any deals he has in place will likely mean he needs to hit a lot of downloads to make money from it. In conversation with him it is clear to see he thinks that this review from Destructoid has killed the game before gamers even had the chance to download it and therefore feels he faces a dire financial future if he relies on Eternity's Child as his main source of income.
Just for the record I have played an early demo of Eternity's Child and yes it did have glitches. However the potential was there, I think it had the hallmarks of good level design the sort of none linear mechanics that have been praised in games such as Castlevania and Metroid. It is worth noting the also the art style is gorgeous (something Destructoid's review did mention, see it wasn't all bad!) and Luc Bernard's admission that he will perhaps continue his stories through graphic novels will see this work survive in a different form at least.
In balance the truth likely lays somewhere between the two. What right do trolls have to publicly hurl personal slurs and taunts at a guy who is just trying to make a living? Comparing himself to Denis Dyack really hasn't helped in anyway, Denis is a different beast all together. Luc Bernard is a very friendly, likable, passionate and eccentric man; all traits which have unfortunately helped contribute to him being an easy target. One thing is clear though Luc Bernard will not be the last man to fall victim to the Internet forums of the gaming community. As the way we consume games evolves we also find the way we discuss games changes and everyone becomes a critic when they set up an account on any number of sites, its up to games developers to learn to use it to their advantage rather than let themselves get defeated by it.Labels: Fanning The Flames, Features, Wii, wiiware
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posted by flameboy @ 13:00  |
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| Review: Toki Tori (Wiiware) |
| Sunday, 17 August 2008 |
 Toki Tori by developer Two Tribes is a simple premise- you are plonked in a 2D level and there is a number of eggs you must collect. That's it. Well there are a few other things that spice it up- items like bridges, teleportation device, freeze-o-matic and hoover amongst others, as well as baddies to avoid. It might not be a huge list, but things can get pretty complicated and taxing nonetheless. Sound like fun? Well probably not from that description. The thing is, Toki Tori has an addictive edge where, even on the most difficult of levels, you always think you are on the verge of success so you want another go... and another... until you eventually perfect your approach and complete the level. Its made difficult because you only have so many uses of each item in each level- meaning you have to plot things out and make sure you use the items in the right places and not waste them, lest you be looking at that last egg and have no means to reach it. Even the baddies need to be used to your advantage. Each and every level has a very deliberate layout, which you will realise the deeper you get into the game- each single gap, platform, ladder, baddie... everything must be given consideration as you formulate the winning strategy for each stage.
In the early levels everything is straightforward as you are eased into proceedings but its not that long before you will be scratching your head. When stuck you will find yourself staring at the screen, working through how to reach the eggs in your head. Waiting for that moment of enlightenment, that elusive eureka moment when it all becomes clear to you. On completing a particularly tough level you realise how logical - and oft-times obvious - the solution was. You wonder how you could be so stupid when the solution was staring you in the face all the time. You'll jump straight into the next level to prove to yourself that you aren't that thick, but 15-20 minutes later, you will be stuck once more.
The game is made up of four worlds with ten initial levels each and then a selection of hard levels for each world after that, which takes the number up to seventy. There is next to no story, but that doesn't matter. As you play, Toki Tori will leave you messages on the Wii message board, keeping you up to date with his adventure, which is a nice touch. Graphically, its all good. The only glitch I came across was in the sound department- when you zoom the camera out to look at the level, some sound effects will continue even though the game is, in effect, paused. For example, if you zoom out when Toki Tori is flapping down off a ledge, the sound of his flapping wings will continue.
If you are worried about what control methods are available, then there's nothing to be afraid of. The game supports Wii remote (you can play it purely with the IR pointer, a la Zack & Wiki), Wii remote + nunchuck and the classic controller. If you use the remote at all, then it can be fun to switch between items as you have the choice of pressing left and right on the d-pad, or flicking the remote left and right.
What it all boils down to is that if you are looking for a game to appeal to the side of you that enjoyed games like Zack & Wiki and the Lost Vikings, then get Toki Tori because playing as a chicken has never been so good. It may seem pricey at 900 Wii Points, but its genuinely worth it.
 Labels: puzzle, Reviews, toki, tori, wiiware
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| posted by darksnowman @ 15:34 |
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| Review: Defend Your Castle |
| Sunday, 3 August 2008 |
Wiiware so far is a service that has shown a wide variety of gaming experiences can be offered at affordable prices. Whilst the likes of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles; My Life as a King have the challenge of proving themselves worthy of the higher end prices, it as the bottom of the scale that things can be far more interesting.
Some of the games priced at the lowest current price point 500 points have the challenge of justifying the purchase whilst also admitting that the title is unlikely to be as fully fleshed out as the bigger titles. The advent of browser based gaming becoming a more prominent part of PC Gaming has led to simplistic free games becoming more readily available. Defend Your Castle is one such game that this very much applies to considering its origins. XGen Studios originally released the game on their website as freely available Flash game on in your web browser. The game has built up a very big fan base and avid following as well as leading to a flood of clones. So with all all this in mind the big question is whether this game is worth 500 points?
The basic premise of the game is exactly what the title says; Defend Your Castle. You have to defend your kingdom by fighting off an onslaught of enemies. Things are a bit laid back at first as you effortlessly fling away from the stickmen, but once you reach about Level 20 things step up and notch and the game really starts to become a challenge. As the games ups the ante a variety of different enemies begin to appear, stickmen armed with lolly pop, bigger bottle top headed grunts and so on. As your progress through the game points can be spent on improving the castle which will in turn help to make defending it that tiny bit easier. The first upgrade is the pit of conversion which allows you to throw in stickmen and add them to your ranks, they can then be allocated to each of the castles various departments. The most simplistic of these is the Archery, whereby allocating more converts results in a higher rate of fire. The best is by far the Mage turret which allows for wealth of spells to be unleashed on the unsuspecting enemies. The first of these is an eraser which rubs out the stickmen's drawn bodies as their button heads tumble to fall, the more you allocate to this the turret the better the spells.
The game is made infinitely more fun and intuitive by the inclusion of motion controls. There is no better feeling than flinging stick men up in the air with a flick of the wiimote, it feels much more involving than mouse driven controls ever could. Aside from the throwing of enemies the game also uses the standard pointer based controls we have come to expect from Wii titles. It makes defending out your troops between the various stations easy and seamless. Finally the D-pad is used to unleash your magic attacks on the unsuspecting enemy.
Defend Your Castle on Wii along with the unique control system also comes with a radically new and improved artistic style. Whilst the flash version had simplistic stickmen and quick drawings for the rest, this iteration offers far more. Everything is presented using real world objects; the stickmen are drawn in felt tip pen and have buttons for heads who occasionally charge the castle with lolly pop sticks, the castle is made up of a series of paper cut outs, the pit of conversion is a paint bucket and finally the clouds are made from the cheap see through toilet paper you used to have at primary school and are carried across the screen by blue pieces of string! All of these make for a truly fantastic looking and unique looking game, there is a special magic to found in the sense of glee experienced when discovering another real world object being used to feel the invaders. With this in mind its perhaps best to leave a few surprises and not wreck them all!
Unfortunately there is very little in the way of diversity and options in the single player. There is just defending you castle from level one upwards. However where this game really comes into its own is in multiplayer. It adds a whole new element to the gameplay as you fight towards the common goal of wiping out all the enemies whilst at the same time competing for the points to be crowned King of the Castle. Up to four players can indulge in the fun and with the maximum number of competitors things can become very manic and disorientating but that's all par for the course and part of the fun.
This is a perfect example of old school basic game design enhanced by the Wii's motion based controls which helps to offer an experience you won't get anywhere else. So back to the question is this worth 500 points? The answer is yes, it offers enough and is presented in such a great way that its brought up and above the flash version and if you find yourself wanting a cheap title to pass the time then there are few better than this on Wiiware the moment.
 Labels: Reviews, Wii, wiiware
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| posted by flameboy @ 10:53 |
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