In Defense of the PS1.

NOTE: I originally posted this in the Fanzine issue of 2.5D which you can download in PDF form HERE

I hear it all the time from uninformed gamers. When talking about the PS1, they constantly attack it for having crappy games. They'll quote five or so games as the "only" good games on the system, and then proceed to tell me the rest of the PS1's library was crap. I'd be inclined to believe them if I didn't own nearly 200 PS1 games myself. Yes, as with any supported system, it did have it's fair share of crappy games, but I've never seen so much misinformation about a popular gaming system. Both the NES, and Snes had piles of crappy games. It comes with the territory of being the most popular system of the day. However, both of those systems are remembered for their great games, and not for the hordes of bad games. Why is there such a double standard when discussing the PS1?

Perhaps the worse defense I've heard to bash a system while defending a system that isn't getting supported is quality vs quantity. I have no problem if another system's games appealed to you more. I can understand liking another system better than the most popular system. I'm not saying that everyone has to like the PS1 as much as I do, but the excuse of quality vs quantity has always been a lame one. By simple mathematics, the system of the higher quantity of games also has the higher quantity of quality games.

Lets take for example the N64. I owned both a 64 and a PS1 at the time of their popularity. I had some great times with the N64. Goldeneye was my drug of choice, and I killed thousands of hours in the multiplayer. It was a good system, and is a good system to collect for now. However, throughout the system's life, there were massive gaming droughts. Some months the 64 would get 1 game per 10 PS1 games. Were all 10 PS1 games great that month? No, but even if there were three good ones out of those ten, then that means the PS1 had more worthwhile games that month. The pickings on the PS1 were never slim. The N64 would have a good month, and then four of slim pickings. Quality vs quantity means your system doesn't have the support it needs. No one was bashing the Snes for having tons of support during it's day. Why then does this idiotic argument still get thrown at the PS1 then? It doesn't make any sense.

Then name of the game is variety. The PS1 may not have had the best games in every genre, but it at least still had games in every genre. At the time, my main genre of choice was RPGs, and the PS1 was the king of RPGs for that generation. The Saturn had some great ones too, don't get me wrong, but I didn't own a Saturn until later, and now don't feel like selling a kidney to play some of those RPGs. Beyond RPGs, I played everything except sports games, and if you wanted a system with everything, the PS1 was the main way to go. I love variety, and I have very erratic gaming habits.

Variety is one aspect, but the PS1's library also had tremendous depth. Almost every system has gems that fall below the surface of the mainstream, but because of the sheer amount of games available for the system, the PS1 has tons of underrated, overlooked games. I'm amazed on how anyone who either never owned a PS1, or who never owned more than 20 games for it in it's lifetime can comment on the system's library quoting the same five or so games as being the only good ones. As I previously stated, I own around 200 PS1 games, have been playing the system since the summer of 1997, and I'm still discovering hidden gems that I overlooked. Games that got very little exposure, and that even I, being the avid seeker of the obscure I am, had overlooked. When a console can still surprise you over 15 years after it's release, then you know it's library had an awe inspiring amount of depth to it. I get the same way with the Nes, Snes, Genesis, PS2, and so many other great systems I still own and still collect for, and the PS1 deserves just as much a place of honor as those previously mentioned consoles. In fact from a personal standpoint, the PS1 is my favorite system of all time. Not that the Genesis, NEs, and Snes weren't great systems, but the PS1 has just been my most played system ever, and it bridges the gap between the 2D games I love, and the world of 3D gaming. The Saturn was better at 2D (and arguably better at 3D when properly utilized), and the N64 was better at 3D, but to me the PS1 will always be a perfectly balanced 2.5D system.

Love it or hate it, the system has forever left it's mark on gaming, so you should at least respect it for that.


NOTE: I'm not attacking the N64, I'm merely using it as an example of why the Quality vs Quantity argument is a weak one. If you get sensitive about it, then you're probably a fanboy who's not worth talking to anyways. I still own the system, and I still play the system on a regular basis, so before the fanboy accusations come out, you should probably look in the mirror first if you want to see who's really biased.

An entire playthrough of Killzone 1 on the PS2.

Here is an entire playthrough of the first Killzone on the Playstation 2 in video form:





Out of my normal youtube boredom, I decided to do an entire playthough of the original Killzone on the PS2. Here is is in playlist forme:

I don't normally do playthroughs, and this isn't the most skillful playing, but I know there is a lot of interest in this game now that Killzone 2 is out, so I though I'd do a full playthrough showing all the levels and the story cut scenes, so let me give you a SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't played the game yet.

To be honest, I think this game was unfairly panned by the gaming media. I really enjoyed it, but I will admit to it's flaws. First of all, it's glitchy. It's filled with graphical glitches (which you're likely to see in these vids), and occasionally the game will even glitch out and stop progression.The biggest complaint is with the controls. The default analog control setting it terrible. Luckily, the game's controls are 100% customizable, so you can fix, or mostly fix the aiming. I've never gotten it to feel perfect to my tastes, but I've gotten it close enough to where I can adjust to the aiming. Also, the Hellghast voices are extremely annoying at first, but you get used to them, and may even start to like them after a while.

To be honest, I'd have to disagree with the belief that the developer just tried to push more than the PS2 to handle in this game. I've seen games with nearly as good, or, arguably, better graphics run a lot smoother on the system. In reality it's likely that the game was rushed in order to beat Halo 2 to the market. It feels like it released too early, and it just lacks that final layer of polish. I hear they are bringing an HD version of this game to the PS3 with Killzone 3. I think I'd rather see a remake where they fix the glitches, and the other problems with the game.

We Want to be Creative

NOTE: This is originally from the Fanzine issue of 2.5D that I created a while back. To download the issue in PDF form (Click Here)

We Want to be Creative

Finally, console developers are coming around to the realization that we gamers actually like to be a creative bunch. PC developers have known this fact for years with the huge mod communities that have popped up surrounding some of their top games. Ever since id software left the source code in the original Quake for users to play around with, the modding community has exploded. From PC modifications have come such games as Team Fortress, and Counterstrike. It's been pretty obvious to PC developers for a long time that gamers want to be able to create something. They want to be creative. Granted, consoles were always a different beast than PCs. It has taken them years to catch up, but we finally have hard drives with the storage capacity needed to be able to support mods, or user created levels.

For years only a small group of console developers has realized the average gamer with no programming skills, or mod making abilities still wants to be able to create customized characters, or levels in games. Even as far back as Excitebike's track editor, gamers have wanted to be able to create a working game environment. Some series like, most notably, the Timesplitters series have successfully given players the ability to edit, and create their own multiplayer, and single players maps using pre-set tiles. Though the tile sets are limited in some respects, really creative users were still able to recreate environments from other games, or better yet, create something completely original. The only problem with Timesplitters and a number of the other games that allow for such creativity is that TS, though popular, never received the huge mainstream success it deserved meaning the idea never took off with the mainstream gaming public who was too enthralled with Halo to care about the innovations made by games like TS.

This gen, however, things seem to be different. Though it's not even up to even the original Timesplitters' standards, Halo 3's forge mode is a good start for the series. You can't create completely new maps, but you can modify the game's physics, game's speed, and the objects in the environment. Some gamers have been able to create some cool gametypes, or even make things like Goldeneye maps within the confines of the forge mode. The point is, that even when given limited options, creative gamers can make some truly creative things. It's just time that more developers realized that level editors should be standard in gaming. They extend the life of a game for years, because they give the player options to experience something completely new when they finally tire of the default gameplay.

Of the big three this generation of gaming, I'd say that Sony has done the best in bringing mainstream attention to games that allow gamers to creat their own stuff. The success of Little Big Planet has stirred the creativity bug in many gamers. Another good example of a game that has gotten a lot of attention is Mod Nation Racers. The PS3 also offers, as far as I know, the only console game to ever officially have mod support, and that's the port of Unreal Tournament III. All you need is the site where you download the mod from, and a USB thumb drive to transfer it to the PS3. It may be a wise move for Sony to carve their niche into the market by giving more attention to games that allow the user to be creative. However, I'd also love to see Microsoft get more proactive on allowing the common gamer to create their own stuff. Halo Reach should have a full blown level editor as opposed to what forge mode offers. It is supposedly the last Halo game, so it would be to their advantage to give it as much longevity as they can, and because it's Halo, it could very well make it the standard for all future console FPS games.

The Wii, on the other hand is something entirely different. You see, Nintendo released a system with absolutely no copy protection meaning the system has already been hacked and cracked, and there are already modders at work on the games. This makes online cheating pretty much unstoppable on the system, but also has people creating stuff like level editing software for games like New Super Mario Bros which would have benefitted greatly if Nintendo would have included it from the start. There wouldn't be a need for hacked levels editors that way, and gamers could use their creativity. Nintendo has always promoted creativity with games like Mario Paint, but I'd love to see them expand it more to gaming applications. If any company should have created a game like LBP, it should have been Nintendo.

I'm not forgetting that the download services from the big three are doing a great job of promoting independent game development, because they really are giving smaller developers a chance to get noticed without taking a huge risk by charging $60 for their games. I just wish this same spirit of promoting creativity would spill over more to the regular joe shmoe gamer. I know there is a market out there, and games like LBP prove there is a market out there. I'm just saying, we gamers want to be given the opportunity to be creative. Furthermore, we want to share that creativity with other gamers online. It's time more developers realized it. I may never make a mod, but I'll kill hundreds of hours in a level editor creating something new._teh2Dgamer