Blog 26: Senior Project Reflection

1. I am most proud of my extensive research on my topic. This is because I put a great amount of effort in to finding good interviews, and articles to draw knowledge from. I feel that this produced a greater sense of confidence when I actually went to present.

2. a.Presentation: P
    b.Project overall: P

3. I think what worked for me was my independent components, as each one gave me valuable first hand experience in reviewing and writing about games in general. If it were not for those components, I would not have had that extra hands-on experience that made me all the more confident in my answer choices.

4. I feel what didn't work for me was my speaking length during my presentation. If I had the capability to go back in time, I would attempt to add more slides with talking points for me to go off of during my 2-hour.

5. Senior project has been helpful to me in that it has helped me prepare for presenting for great lengths of time, and it has improved my analyitical skills. The improvement in my analyitical skills comes from my topic. As a result, I know now the aspects of a game that do and do not work, something I can apply to a design career. For example, I now know that low health and small maps in FPS games is not an effective formula for tactical gameplay, rather, large health and maps are the better choice. In addition, the ability to sustain a presentation of this length could be useful in presenting ideas to game development companies. This is because games are multi-million dollar projects that would require extensive evidence and persuasion to pitch.

Extra: The best answer

New games journalism is just that, it is the new version of what we call "games journalism." This is why it does not surprise me much that I would arrive at it as my best answer. This is because new games journalism gained its traction as a result of what the consumer has begun to demand. These new styles of writing never would have survived if it were not what those reading took interest in. As a result, writing in this style will not only become more familiar, but it will keep the reader more engaged. This is essential in a industry whose life blood is that of its readers. Without a great multitude of gamers or consumers reading their pieces, publications would cease to exist.

Extra: The state of games journalism

The state of video game journalism can seem grave to many. However, as pointed out to me in an article, games journalism is not as bad as people think. This is because video game journalism is filled with a great number of passionate, unrelenting, critics; gamers. As a result of this constant inspection, honest video game journalists are far less likely to commit acts of dishonesty or deceit. Essentially, reading about something done wrong in the industry should not be disheartening, but rather, refreshing. As it is proof that at the sign of wrong-doing those which are guilty will quickly find themselves under the close eye of the public.

Extra: Movie License Games

Oh the terror, oh the humanity. It is the bane of the video game journalist's existence, the movie license game. These are games that are made under a movie studio's license, meaning that they are meant to tie in with the movies they are based off of. There is one problem with this, that tie results in heavy pushing on the developers of that game. This means that the game comes out rushed so that it can fit the release of the movie and attempt to maximize its sales. As a result, there is often a great deal of corner-cutting, and a lot of lazy work. This means that movie license games are almost always just, plain, bad.

Extra: Planetside 2 mini-review

Planetside 2 has a great idea on its hands. The primary piece of innovation that it brings to the table is its massive servers. As Planetside 2 has joined a minuscule handful of games that are capable of supporting literally hundreds of players on a single play map. Overall the game looks great, in fact, the quality is high such that only efficient systems will run it well.

The game plays well, though it does have a "Battlefield 3 feel" to it at times, it feels good and the guns are believable. The vehicles as well are a nice touch, and the massive size of the battlefield makes it almost impossible for lone wolves to make a large difference in the battle. So I would definitely recommend playing this free game to anyone who enjoys a teamwork oriented FPS.

Graphics 8/10
Gameplay 9/10
Sound: 7/10

Extra: Games Criticism Shrinks

I've found through multiple sources, that games criticism has a shrinking audience. This is because there are fewer people who take interest in its academic nature. The group which primarily stays true to the style, are game designers. These are people who, when they read these pieces, are seeking to improve upon their own designs and ideas. They may look to the articles on cultural stereotypes in games, and the games that are guilty of them, for the purpose of avoiding those errors. For some time, there was an audience outside the industry that took interest in this knowledge. However, now the audience has shrunk.

As a result, there is only one real strong "bastion" of this writing style. That is GameSutra.com, as the website focuses upon pieces written by developers or simply writers with great knowledge of the industry. That is not to say games criticism is disconnected from games journalism, one can still find pieces which remind us of the connection it bears. 

Extra: Gameplay

Gameplay is supported by many things. This is because gameplay is but a piece of a larger puzzle, each piece is supporting of the other. However, gameplay is the most important piece, the piece that can spoil the others if it were to fail. When any consumer plays a game that has irritating or frustrating gameplay, it becomes almost impossible to appreciate the great graphics, music, or story. This is result of the fact that games, no matter how they change, are still entertainment. If a designer takes away from what makes games that unique entertainment, that is the interactivity, the whole game will suffer. When one plays a game, it is a experience, gameplay is the core of that.