The Two Faces of Nostalgia
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/27/19 at 04:22 PM CT
As gaming comes into its own as a mature medium, it is looking more and more to the past, as do so many other artistic media. Remakes, remasters, reboots – all are just euphemisms for ‘rehash,’ as developers and publishers struggle to come up with new ideas or even to iterate on existing ideas in meaningful ways. Nowhere is this love of hindsight more prevalent than in the now-fully-mature Independent games ecosystem.
I last looked at Indie games and the development thereof way back in 2012, shortly after MeltedJoystick first launched. Even then I was wary, as the movement was clearly a two-faced Janus, with the Good Face represented by labors of love and games that weren’t popular enough among the Mainstream audience to be profitable for “AAA” publishers, and the Bad Face represented by cheap, lazy, no-effort attempts to snag a few bucks before people caught on. Even in the concept’s infancy, Indie games and a ‘retro,’ nostalgia-driven yearning went …
Japan Takes a Step Closer to Dictatorship with New Law
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/19/19 at 04:21 PM CT
We aren’t even a month into 2019, and an Epic Fail that is destined to make the Year in Review list is already on the books. According to information dug-up and translated by Siliconera, Japan managed to sneak in end-of-the-year legislation that bans any and all forms of hardware or software modifications for videogame consoles. As an amendment to Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act, anyone participating in soft-modding, hard-modding, or grey market keytailing will be subject to a $50,000 fine and 5 years in prison.
Modding game consoles and console games is a tradition that dates back as far as the 3rd Generation, when Galoob’s Game Genie allowed gamers to make ‘magical’ changes to their horrible, barely-playable NES games, such as unlimited lives or invincibility. The phenomenon continued to evolve with the Game Shark and Pro-Action Replay devices taking over in the era of optical media. But in the age of online games, digital distribution, and draconian DRM, …
New Year’s Backlog Ablutions 2019
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/13/19 at 03:53 PM CT
With a new year upon us, many people take the opportunity to make overreaching New Year’s Resolutions that they will never be able to own-up to. Whether it’s losing weight, controlling your temper, or drinking less alcohol, most of the typical Resolutions are a real drag because they go against the Nature of the Beast, and all of us are the way we are by-and-large due to things that are far outside of our control.
However, when MeltedJoystick’s erstwhile photo/video-grapher (and part-time member of the MeltedJoystick Crew) came to me with the idea that each of us should commit to clearing three games out of our Backlogs in the coming year, I really liked the idea. Unlike trying to make changes in immutable biology or psychology, clearing games out of one’s Backlog is FUN. Plus the minor pressure that comes with putting one’s annual commitment in writing could provide the light kick in the pants needed by certain members of the MJ Crew to play any games at all.
But …
Backlog: The Embiggening – January, 2019
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/05/19 at 06:41 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! 2018 is officially over and done, and its mixed-bag of offerings need no longer haunt us as we plunge ever-bold into the future… except for those of us who still have 2018 games in our Backlogs and Wishlists! Let’s take a look and see how the “AAA” corporate gaming industry and the Indie rip-off artists plan to usher in 2019.
TWO MONTHS IN A ROW? Without shovelware? It’s an incredibly unlikely occurrence, but here we are! After ending the year with no licensed garbage, annual releases, or super-casual non-games, we get to begin the new year the same way. But don’t get too excited…
…because the ports, remakes, remasters, repackages, and other euphemisms for “pretending old stuff is new” are just as overwhelming as they’ve been for the last few entire YEARS, with no less than 15/22 January releases falling into this category. The Nintendo Switch is maintaining it’s (un)healthy influx of ports, but the one …
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