Who is Sean Smith?

Stephen Totilo’s thoughtful and thorough eulogy to Sean Smith answers this question, highlighting Smith’s role as a husband and friend first, mostly through showcasing the man’s love of Eve.

It’s a beautifully written piece about life and not death.

Given how much I love The Last Story, you’d think I’d know a thing or two about the guys and gals that brought the game over to these shores when Nintendo would not. I did not, but thankfully, Jason Schreier has the story from the XSEED offices:

But while the bigger guys—giant game publishers like EA and Activision—duke it out over who can sell the most millions, Xseed is happy to stay small. They’re happy to focus on quirky Japanese games. And they’re happy to stick within their niche, even knowing that it won’t make them nearly as much money as they might make chasing after shooters and dubstep.

It’s not easy. Big retailers want nothing to do with them, passionate fans can be a little bit too passionate, and everyone in the company has to wear multiple hats every day. But Xseed keeps going. 

And an aside on the games you love:

“I mean, we take so much flack from our fans,” he told me, “because they say they bought it and they loved the first one, and why can’t we bring over the second one? Well… Half-Minute Herowas probably one of our worst-selling games.”

Schreier, Jason. “The Game Savers: How A Tiny Company Gives Neglected Japanese Games New Life In America (Kotaku: December 28, 2012) <http://kotaku.com/5971695/the-game-savers-how-a-tiny-company-gives-neglected-japanese-games-new-life-in-america>.

Kotaku presented this interesting article a while back and it’s an interesting one chronicling the end of Tiffany Claiborne’s marriage.

Games were a big part of her and her husband’s relationship—she pulled out a DS anxiously on their first date—so it’s fitting that it was through games that she attempted to reconcile their marriage. Ultimately, one act proved to her that this was the end.

The Zerg certainly seem like creepy-crawlies, don’t they?

Rajee Rajakumar highlights some of the similarities the Zerg share with real bugs, from tactics to appearance and beyond. It’s a neat read for those interested in biology, but anyone with even a passing knowledge of Starcraft will likely glean something.

Zerg rush!

I can’t say much about this story. It’s best you go in with relatively little if you’re not from Australia. This is a story about the evolution of selling games. It’s a personal story. And, for most, parts of it—if not all of it—should feel foreign.

Phenomenal read.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/09/the-long-way-is-the-short-way-the-30-year-legacy-of-the-gamesmen/

The Wii U is coming. 65 days now. It’s time to take the Wii out back and…you know.

But, before we trade the old fellow in, let’s take a moment to remember the joy it brought us. Mr. Totilo, take us home:

The Wii is, nevertheless, the console that ran some of my favorite games, including excellent versions of Mario, Zelda andMetroid. Its weird games were among the best oddball titles any gaming console has had. And it remains an innovator whose imitators have yet to improve upon it.

Expanding the audience…

The Wii was the first video game console that anyone plugged into my parent’s TV since the Odyssey 2, the console my brother and I played in the Totilo household in the early 80s. We would plug an NES and then a SNES in a different room, where my my brother and I kept our toys. When we left the nest, so did game consoles. But in late 2006 the Wii was something my parents had to see. My father liked the bowling. We dabbled with tennis. I eventually bought my parents a Wii, their first—and probably last—game console. My dad liked it for Netflix.

A failure or two…

Motion control was supposed to be better than the Wii allowed it to be. Even the 2009 Wii controller upgrade Motion Plus offered less than the 1:1 association between character and a player’s hand movements that early Wii trailers implied we’d get…

Totilo’s essay is not meant to be read in snippets. It’s a read that’s simultaneously personal and personally divorced. His view on the seven best games on the system will be challenged by many. And the Wii’s legacy is as of yet determined. Still, a worthy read.

Totilo, Stephen. “Farewell to the Wii, A Great Gaming System After All” (Kotaku: September 11, 2012) <http://kotaku.com/5942101/farewell-to-the-wii-a-great-gaming-system-after-all>.

I admire Kirk Hamilton’s ability to see a good article and then eclipse it himself in short order. He does just that here, noting:

[T]he Apocalypse Now thing smells like an easy way to slap an air of legitimacy onto an experience that is primarily about gunning down human beings. There’s a dubious distinction between “killing for killing’s sake” and “killing because it’s art,” and video games have, by and large stayed firmly on the former side.

Hamilton’s analysis from there out goes between Far Cry 2 and 3. It’s great stuff.

Hamilton, Kirk. “I Hope Video Gaming’s Apocalypse Now Fixation Isn’t Just An Excuse for Artsy Violence” (Kotaku: June 18, 2012) <http://kotaku.com/5919342/hopefully-video-gamings-apocalypse-now-fixation-isnt-just-an-excuse-for-arty-violence>.

Stephen Totilo assesses allegations levied against MLB 2K12 players vying for a million dollars: One player seems to think he’s been cheated out of contention. There’s a lot of great research and reporting going on here.