The PC/Console Gaming Singularity
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/23/12 at 01:50 PM CT
Some attentive members of MeltedJoystick have already noticed this, and it was announced through our Press Release system. However, I would now like to officially announce that the MeltedJoystick database now includes PC games.
Why add PC games to a site created by console gamers, for console gamers? This site was built by two people who never played PC games and is run by two other people, one of whom rarely played PC games for the occasional exclusive and one who turned against PC gaming in its entirety. You could easily say that none of the MeltedJoystick staff love PC gaming for what it has always been: an expensive, error-riddled, exercise in poor controls, stiff necks, and first-person shooters. However, PC gaming is no longer the same as it used to be, just as console gaming is no longer the same as it used to be.
PC gaming and console gaming have reached a singularity. Where it used to be that PC gamers were the only poor bastards who had to put up with gigabytes of …
An Xbox 360 Controller and Steam Big Picture Mode: The Way PC Gaming Should Be
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/16/12 at 05:06 PM CT
I recently went through my cabinet of PC gaming paraphernalia to take stock of what games and peripherals I had accumulated and to see if any of it still worked. While I decided to hold onto the boxes of floppy disks containing games I was never able to play, the other pile I discovered quickly found itself dumped into a sack and hauled-off to the GoodWill: Controllers.
I’ve always preferred game controllers to a keyboard and mouse (one of the reasons it was so easy for me to abandon PC gaming in 2003 and not look back), ever since I first played a bizarre and terrible version of “Mega Man” on my Dad’s Tandy 1000. Controllers are small, you can hold one in your lap while kicking your feet up in comfortable recliner, they have a reasonable amount of buttons that can be manipulated solely by touch with a little practice instead of a full keyboard layout in which only a few keys actually do something in any given game, and they have d-pads (nowadays analog sticks) that allow …
The Windows 8/Xbox Live Crossover
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/09/12 at 01:13 PM CT
Ever since code combers first found embedded references to Xbox Live in the Windows 8 source code, I’ve been excited about the prospect of Microsoft finally doing right by their firstborn child and giving Windows some proper gaming attention, instead of lavishing mountains of praise on their misshapen hunchback of a bastard child, the Xbox line of unnecessary consoles. Unfortunately, now that we have seen Microsoft’s plans begin to bear fruit, we can also see that this fruit is so rotten that not even a Fruit Ninja would touch it.
Instead of creating a runtime environment or emulator for the dead Xbox or aged Xbox 360, Microsoft has decided it is in gamers’ best interest to only play Xbox Live Arcade games on their Windows 8 PCs. Okay, that makes sense, to some degree, as not every PC will have hardware capable of running disc-based Xbox/Xbox 360 games, with their higher production values and whatnot. Plus, it’s not a big deal, since most of the interesting Xbox 360 …
Backlog: The Embiggening - September, 2012
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 09/02/12 at 02:51 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. September is now upon us, and the Summer Game Drought is officially over, with a deluge of new releases. But is this the long awaited rainfall we’ve been awaiting, or is it a downpour of acidic pollution? I’m leaning toward the latter.
The FPS drought has finally ended with the multi-platform release of “Borderlands 2.” While I’m not terribly enthused about this game, a lot of people I regularly play with are. And I can understand why; from what little I played of the first game, it seems like the series has a lot more going for it than the typical FPS (it even pretends to be an RPG). I might pick it up on Steam when it’s down to $10.
The truly horrifying thing about the end of the Summer Game Drought is that the weeds in the metaphorical gaming garden – those horrible licensed games that are always there, no matter how hard we try to uproot them – have experienced a massive population boom. September is not only …
Review Round-Up: Summer 2012
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/26/12 at 02:32 PM CT
Welcome back to another installment of the MeltedJoystick Review Round-Up. Here’s what our staff has reviewed since last time:
Nelson’s Reviews:
Unlike last quarter, the MeltedJoystick crew had a very difficult time finding co-op games to play. As such, our only co-op game turned out to be “Tales of Graces F.” Other than that, I strove to knock-out as much of my Wii backlog as possible.
“Spectrobes: Origins” – 2/5
“PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure” – 3/5
“The Witcher” – 4/5
“Tales of Graces F” – 2/5
“Monster Lab” – 3.5/5
“Orcs Must Die!” – 4.5/5
Chris’ Reviews:
Chris’ review of “Tales of Graces F” barely made it in under the wire because he spent so much time playing through the optional “F” part by himself after everyone else bailed on him. Other than that, he reviewed new games in three of his favorite series and a new IP that caters specifically to his interests.
“Saint’s Row: The Third” – …
The Life and Death of OnLive
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/19/12 at 02:14 PM CT
OnLive, the video-of-a-videogame streaming service that launched in 2010 died this week. I can’t say I will mourn the loss, nor do I think the entire videogame industry will even notice such an insignificant passing. Only those who think The Cloud is the universal solution for everything computer-and-data-related should have even cared about OnLive and its wacky plan to turn videogames into software-as-a-service.
When OnLive first launched, I remember breathless coverage in the gaming media about how it would revolutionize PC gaming. Gamers would no longer need to own a $2000+ gaming PC to experience “AAA” PC games. Gamers would instead be able to “purchase” licenses of these games that would dwell on OnLive’s servers. These servers would then run the games remotely, streaming a video of the on-screen action to the player via an OnLive app or OnLive “console” (really a dumb terminal) and uploading inputs from the player’s controller/mouse/keyboard. It sounds …
Vaguely Related: Gopher Mods
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/12/12 at 01:14 PM CT
Catastrophic hardware failure: It almost seems like Microsoft and Sony purposefully engineered a limited lifespan into their 7th Generation consoles. Could it have been a clever ploy to sell more units to customers who needed to replace a broken Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3? Who knows? But there is a way to fight this seemingly-systematic cycle of purchase-malfunction-repurchase: Refurbishment.
It seems like nobody is immune to catastrophic hardware failure, and I am no exception. Back in April, I went to play a PlayStation 2 game on my fully-backward-compatible PlayStation 3, only to have the console beep at me and turn off after a short period of use. I turned it back on and, fearing the worst, attempted to do a hard drive backup, only to have the console give up the ghost entirely midway through the process. It beeped, flashed a yellow light at me, and refused to turn back on: It appeared that despite my low usage and careful handling of my PlayStation 3, I had received the Yellow …
Backlog: The Embiggening - August, 2012
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 08/05/12 at 02:37 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. This summer’s game drought is proving to be just as bad as the actual drought currently baking the entire Midwestern United States. Will the drought break, or will gamers wither on their stalks like so many ears of corn?
One thing I didn’t see coming this summer was the bi-annual Steam Sale, as I am still a new user of that service. The Steam Summer Sale, which ran from July 12 to July 22, took the bored, weather-beaten gaming populace by storm, providing discounts between 40% and 80% on pretty much everything currently available. As a result of this irresistible pricing, my backlog unexpectedly grew by 8 games. Sure, none of them are particularly new, but embiggening is embiggening.
But July and the Steam Summer Sale are in the past. What does August hold?
In an unprecedented move since the 7th Generation began (at least it feels that way), we are getting a second month without any new FPSes. I could almost be gleeful about …
Why you should buy a Nexus 7 tablet
Nick - wrote on 08/01/12 at 07:47 PM CT
The Nexus 7 Google tablet has been a long awaited release to compete with the popular Kindle Fire 7 inch tablet by Amazon. Many people don't want to pay the outrages prices of Apple products or for large screen sizes like the Galaxy tablets. Asus has done a good job in producing a Nexus tablet that has everything you need at an affordable price. Price is one reason why the Kindle Fire has done so well. Unfortunately, Amazon re-skinned the Fire (modified Android OS) and locked it in to use with the Amazon store. Still a great device, but the Nexus 7 blows it, the Nook, and the iPad, out of the water. And here's why.
Screen
The screen on the Nexus 7 looks spectacular. It has a 1280x800 resolution, which beats all the other 7" tablets which only have 1024x600 pixel screens. This is one place where price increases the most, it is amazing Google and Asus were able to use this great looking screen and keep the starting price at $200.
Android OS
The Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, …
Is Windows 8 a Catastrophe Waiting to Happen?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 07/29/12 at 02:30 PM CT
This past week, two of the biggest names in PC game development/publishing, Blizzard and Valve, had some… unflattering things to say about the upcoming Windows 8. According to both Gabe Newell and Rob Pardo, Windows 8 is shaping up to be “a catastrophe.” While I have not personally had the chance to try out Windows 8 yet, my impression of Newell’s comments – and his apparent newfound interest in Linux as a gaming platform – is that he’s just spreading a bunch of FUD.
Why do I think that the man in charge of the greatest PC gaming platform is mistaken? Here are five reasons:
1. Linux is Linux
If Gabe thinks gamers will switch from Windows to Linux in droves, he’s insane. Linux has been under open-source development for 21 years, and is still a user-unfriendly POS that has no place in the typical PC user’s life. You think Windows has been sold in too many different flavors recently? Linux laughs at the tiny variety of Windows versions, then goes back to …
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