Category: March

I remember going onto the Humble Store in the past year and seeing that Square Enix games were on sale. From past experience I knew that the sale would only include their Western titles such as Tomb Raider, Life is Strange and Deus Ex. A few days later, I saw that Square Enix Japan had decided to join the sale. However, whereas Square Enix’s Western titles were as much as 85% off, their Japanese games were limited to 50% off or less. This made me think about how Japanese publishers price their games during sales compared to Western publishers.

The first thing I want to address is the possible misconception that this article is about self-entitlement. I could easily imagine someone reading the first paragraph and thinking “This guy just wants cheap games!” However, as I’ve mentioned before, I primarily play Japanese games and my only platform for video games these days is the PC. It wasn’t too long ago when very few Japanese games came out for PC and I wish to see them succeed on the PC platform.

I can remember the controversy of Final Fantasy XIII when it was released. People had a variety of problems with the game (I’m more fond of the game than most as evidenced by my Final Fantasy game ranking) but one of the more prominent issues was the linearity of the game. Considering how open world Final Fantasy XV ended up becoming, I thought it might be worth discussing the pros and cons of linear vs open world game design.

To start with, I should explain that I have always leaned towards Japanese games over Western games. In my youth I played as many JRPGs as I could get my hands on (this usually meant just Final Fantasy). These games tended to favor a linear design which meant exploring a world where you progressed from point to point, occasionally exploring a side area but, in general, limiting exploration until you acquired vehicles that allowed you to traverse mountains, sea and air late in the game.

It has been nearly 4 years since the first commercially available VR (Virtual Reality) headsets such as the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR were released. Despite all of this time, it still feels like VR gaming is niche and has yet to break into the mainstream. 2020 is poised to be an important year for VR and I felt like having a discussion of why I’m excited about VR while, at the same time, pointing to some of the problems that must be sorted out.

Let’s begin by explaining what VR gaming is. Pretty much all VR headsets feature a screen for each eye and the goal is to make you feel immersed in the world of the game. Beyond that, the headsets differ in how they track the movement of your body, whether they use a console, PC or other device and what controllers they use.

2016 felt like we were on the verge of a gaming revolution. The first VR headsets became commercially available and we began to see YouTubers and streamers showing off VR games. Many of these games felt more like tech demos than proper games but, even so, we saw many interesting titles such as Job Simulator, Space Pirate Trainer, Superhot VR and more.