Ultimate Gamer?
You may or may not be aware, but there's a tv show called "WCG Ultimate Gamer" on tv. I believe someone told me about it recently, but let it lapse from my memory until last night. I was tuned in to watch the Office on Hulu and instead of watching 30 Rock afterward, I saw and clicked on the link to this show.
It's done in the now-cliché elimination-style reality show format as seen on Survivor/BigBrother/RockOfLove/Bachelor(ette)/Idol/etc/etc. Oh good, that never gets old, does it? And of course, rather than the standard physical challenges of, say, Survivor, they now have challenges that include and/or parallel the use of video games (Play NBALive AND later use a trampoline to dunk basketballs! IT'S TOTALLY XTREME!!!). And from the little I've seen, they exclusively play console video games.
So it was amusing today to see that VGCats updated (no really! I swear! You can check it out yourself as long as he hasn't pulled it for some reason...) with commentary on this very subject. I think Mr Ransoomair makes some good points about the dumbing down of video games.
On the one hand, as anyone who has tuned into "Ariock Band with the Posse" knows, I LURVE me some Rock Band. It's nice to play a casual game sometimes, especially when it brings together friends who can't exactly play Fallout 3 together. I mean, that would be impossible.
HOWEVER, I also LOOOVED Fallout 3 as it was. It had depth and character and wit that just isn't possible in a very casual game. And yet, I did feel the "dumbing down" factor mentioned in that comic. I didn't mind the lockpicking or hacking minigames the first 20 times I did them. After the 40th, I was less enthralled. And don't get me started on the hacking minigame in BioShock. Really? Pipe Mania? Over and Over again? But still, Bioshock was brilliant/beautiful enough to forgive an annoying detail like that.
Anyway, back to the show. In the episode I saw of Ultimate Gamer, the following games were played:
NBA Live (from the previous episode)
Project Gotham Racing
Rock Band 2
Halo 3
Looking at the site, they've also played Virtua Fighter and DDR. Every single one is available for XBox360, I believe, so they don't even switch up the console platform. This is really more the "Ultimate XBox360 Casual Gamer" than the "Ultimate Gamer."
What I'd LIKE to see would be for the WCG to follow around the Omeganauts at PAX. The Omegathon crosses ALL Platforms (including no platform at all), ALL types of games, ALL in the course of three days. The person who makes it through THAT is a real Ultimate Gamer. Also, you don't have to be a 20-something hipster to become an Omeganaut. Or maybe they could have their ultimate gamer compete in the Omegathon.
It's done in the now-cliché elimination-style reality show format as seen on Survivor/BigBrother/RockOfLove/Bachelor(ette)/Idol/etc/etc. Oh good, that never gets old, does it? And of course, rather than the standard physical challenges of, say, Survivor, they now have challenges that include and/or parallel the use of video games (Play NBALive AND later use a trampoline to dunk basketballs! IT'S TOTALLY XTREME!!!). And from the little I've seen, they exclusively play console video games.
So it was amusing today to see that VGCats updated (no really! I swear! You can check it out yourself as long as he hasn't pulled it for some reason...) with commentary on this very subject. I think Mr Ransoomair makes some good points about the dumbing down of video games.
On the one hand, as anyone who has tuned into "Ariock Band with the Posse" knows, I LURVE me some Rock Band. It's nice to play a casual game sometimes, especially when it brings together friends who can't exactly play Fallout 3 together. I mean, that would be impossible.
HOWEVER, I also LOOOVED Fallout 3 as it was. It had depth and character and wit that just isn't possible in a very casual game. And yet, I did feel the "dumbing down" factor mentioned in that comic. I didn't mind the lockpicking or hacking minigames the first 20 times I did them. After the 40th, I was less enthralled. And don't get me started on the hacking minigame in BioShock. Really? Pipe Mania? Over and Over again? But still, Bioshock was brilliant/beautiful enough to forgive an annoying detail like that.
Anyway, back to the show. In the episode I saw of Ultimate Gamer, the following games were played:
NBA Live (from the previous episode)
Project Gotham Racing
Rock Band 2
Halo 3
Looking at the site, they've also played Virtua Fighter and DDR. Every single one is available for XBox360, I believe, so they don't even switch up the console platform. This is really more the "Ultimate XBox360 Casual Gamer" than the "Ultimate Gamer."
What I'd LIKE to see would be for the WCG to follow around the Omeganauts at PAX. The Omegathon crosses ALL Platforms (including no platform at all), ALL types of games, ALL in the course of three days. The person who makes it through THAT is a real Ultimate Gamer. Also, you don't have to be a 20-something hipster to become an Omeganaut. Or maybe they could have their ultimate gamer compete in the Omegathon.