#41; Tim Freakin’ Schafer

It’s OK. I understand if you don’t know who Tim Schafer is. Let me educate you into his world of greatness.

Tim Schafer. He created some of those wonderful games you may not have heard off above (and more including Day of the Tentacle and Manic Mansion!). The games he gets involved with end up being funny, fantastic, completely underrated (see Grim Fandango and Psychonauts especially) and he has a wonderful reputation in the gaming industry. He’s also a funny guy to boot and quite down to earth about not only his but games in general as well. Simply put… he is a legend in the world of gaming, and this week, he has his next epic Brutal Legend coming out for PS3 and X360, a game I’ve been anticipating with a huge amount of expectancy for a long, long time. It’s finally here!

I just wanted to write up a quick entry regarding the man because his games have gone under the radar too many times. Grim Fandango is my favourite PC game I’ve ever played, or at least tied with Monkey Island series (hey who co-wrote them I wonder?) but so very few people have even heard of the game which is an absolute shambles! If I could as all of you readers to do one thing this year, it would be to go out and find a copy of this game online for a few pennies or something and play it. It’s such a charmingly funny yet addictively brilliant adventure game set in the world of the afterlife that probably makes no sense yet once you get into it’s wonderfully dark yet witty and well-written story, you’ll realise just how sad it is that the game has been ignored for some long. It is truly magnificent!

Furthermore, Schafer’s last release (and yet first game with Double Fine Productions, whom he found and still owns) was the just-as-brilliant Psychonauts, an adventure game based in a world of psychic abilities filled with fantastic characters, varied settings from area to area and just a stupidly under bought game by the general gaming consumer. The genera reception is that even though it got such wildly excellent acclaim from inside the industry, gamers just did not buy it. Why?! I should really mention that Psychonauts is now available on the Xbox Originals service if you own an Xbox 360…

But yes, I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am for Brutal Legend. Having played the demo last week, and again after that, and again for a few more times, just that small snippet alone sent my excitement values into overdrive. It plays great, it looks superb, it oozes charisma and personality with it’s characters (Jack Black is perfect for the game, love him or hate him) and I really do hope it succeeds because if there’s something Mr Schafer deserves, it’s a big hit of a game. I’ll end this with the man himself explaining just what Brutal Legend is…

#40; Xbox Generation

If you know me, then by now I’m sure you’ll know how much I enjoy my video games. There is no denial from me that I am a big gamer; a geek; whatever term you feel suits possible for us who enjoy our games! At the moment I own the 3 major consoles – Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 being my own whilst the Wii is more my brother’s console that I rarely play in all honesty. This afternoon whilst doing, well, absolutely nothing it occurred to me just how little I play one console in comparison to the other. For example, take a look at my games collection at the moment:

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that I have way more Xbox 360 games than I do Playstation 3. This has always been the case – even when I have owned 5 or 6 games for the PS3, they sit alongside 15-20 Xbox 360 games! Yes, I do play the Xbox a lot more than I do Playstation and honestly, I prefer the Xbox 360 to the Playstation. But what is the cause of this? I certainly don’t dislike the Playstation… and there are games I own on the Xbox 360 that I could happily buy on the Playstation 3. It just got me thinking, what is it that I prefer about Microsoft’s console over a brand name that has been synonymous with video gaming for the past 15 years or so?

Well, let’s consider the facts. I got given the Xbox 360 as a Christmas present 3 years ago this coming Christmas, whereas the Playstation 3 I bought myself this time last year. Perhaps it’s more of the fact that the Xbox 360 feels more of a complete console to me – it does everything I need it do, it does it whilst looking magnificently pretty, it has a superb online setup working behind the scenes and whereas it’s about as reliable as a chocolate teapot at times, it is just a console I’ve vastly enjoyed playing over the years since getting it. To me though, this is just personal opinion and doesn’t explain why I prefer the Xbox…

Maybe if I change focus and take a look at the Playstation 3 as a console then perhaps I can solve it. It doesn’t die on you as much as the Xbox 360 does, which is a major bonus, and it does have a strong line-up of games behind it. again, these can easily be purchased on the Xbox 360 though so the exclusivity of titles on the console isn’t so strong for me. It has the classic Playstation controller that has been a stronghold in analog based joy pad designs since the original Playstation, and it has Sony who, with Nintendo, are arguably the fathers in modern video game consoles. Once again though… there is just something about the Playstation that doesn’t attract me in the same way that the Xbox 360 does.

Hmm.

It’s really very odd to analysis and work out why if I’m honest as I can’t seem to find solid reasons behind why I prefer the Xbox over the other. Sure, Xbox Live and always being able to socialise during games online is a huge benefactor to my bias without a doubt, the Playstation Network for me just doesn’t compare despite being free, and services like Xbox Live Arcade and the upcoming Twitter/Last.fm/Facebook update will be fantastic for a Twitter Addict for myself, but at the end of the day, I just prefer my gaming on my Xbox 360. Hopefully that will not cause any shouting at me in accusation of being a ‘360 fanboy’ but there’s certainly nothing wrong with the Playstation 3 – for me, Sony have just lost a bit of their mojo that saw many people my age grow up in the era known as the Playstation Generation.

I think I may investigate my ideas further with this eventually… there’s a lot that can be said about consoles these days…