Really? Is this kid serious?

That’s all I could say at the end of watching this video confessional from Kris Henderson. Henderson filmed a “True Life” style documentary of his Halo addiction surrounding the launch of Halo 3. Not only did he take off work for a few days, but he stayed up late at night and avoided going out with friends to crash at home and fuel his gaming with pizza. You hear about people like this that love Halo so much they choose it over social engagements, but I still didn’t think there were cases this extreme. Henderson even neglected a tennis competition to keep playing Halo one weekend.

Lucky for Kris I guess, he does have a girlfriend–and even more bizarre, she will play Halo with him and “stick” him.

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I don’t think I have ever scrolled down to the bottom of a videogame review to see how many out of ten it was awarded and based my decision on what game to by on that number. In fact, I think the only reason numbers are present in reviews these days is so fanboys can know which comment boards to flame.

Back in the day, I used to use scores as a basis for comparison–How good is the new Zelda in comparison to last gen’s version? How good is GoldenEye in comparison to Perfect Dark? How good is Halo 3 in comparison to Solitaire? You know, that sort of stuff.

The HDR Knowledge column on GameSetWatch about game ratings and reviews. The column tries to find the meaning behind review numbers in the world today.

While that may be nothing more than conspiracy, there is incongruency in the text of the review itself. Is a game that is not for everyone a bad game? Not every person enjoys action games like Halo, yet the series (deservedly in some regards) receives superb reviews. Why then does a game like Dodonpachi or Ibara receive disappointing reviews for the same reason? Does a small audience for a game mean the game itself is bad? This cannot be the case, as some “diamonds in the rough” such as Treasure’s Sin and Punishment, and Sega’s Panzer Dragoon Saga received fantastic reviews in their time, largely attributing their lack of success to either lack of exposure, or poor marketing.

Some good games do still go under the radar even after receiving very high reviews of scoring. Psychonauts comes to mind.

Scores are not terrible, but they are inherently flawed. Something is seriously wrong with attributing a numerical score to a subjective activity as reviewing, especially when, past graphical and aural prowess, the gaming rating criteria are in many ways, unexplainable. Not many can explain why Halo, a game series with uninteresting and often terrible single player level design is still so incredibly fun, nor can anyone explain why Super Robot Wars, a series that has largely remained unchanged for 15 years, is still so addicting in each installment.

I am a supporter of a world without numbers on reviews. Many top gaming outlets have tried at one time to do away with them, and I applaud the ones that have succeeded. Even if one reviewer absolutely hates a game, their comments and description may sound appealing to a reader who is a fan of the genre. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

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EA wants a single platform. Like several other outlets, I wouldn’t have seen the comments coming to the BBC.

Gerhard Florin, Executive Vice President and General Manager International Publishing for Electronic Arts, recently told the BBC that incompatible consoles make life harder for developers and consumers and that he can see a day when set-top boxes replace the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

His argument that individual consoles will eventually be replaced is based upon online gaming’s take off recently. Florin thinks that we will one day be able to boot up a single unit and stream games to our console. I doubt the success of a completely streaming game delivery system for all gaming. Just look at the Apple iPhone community that tried to get everyone to work with online widgets. Users are crying out and hacking their individual iPhones just to be able to take advantage of actual third-party software.

I like the fact that there are multiple hardware companies simply because it drives innovation and competition for that killer app game. I think having all games streaming online would make the industry stagnate–worthless.

Besides, console-makers and techies in the gaming industry are always looking to make things bigger and better. Right now, we have developers and media outlets debating whether Xbox 360 can continue to dominate the hardcore market with PS3’s having the ability of BlueRay storage. There are rumors now of an HD-DVD 360 hitting the market in the future. Streaming games would take some time to become the preferred delivery method. While they compliment the catalogs of current gaming stations, there is no way they could take over without significant improvements on Internet speeds and hardware.

The topic might be worth revisiting years from now, but maybe EA is just looking far beyond their 10 year plan.

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N’Gai of Newsweek and Stephen Totilo of MTV had another intelligent discussion recently about the confusion that is caused when a game switches from 2-D to 3-D. Suddenly, instead of constantly moving forward, you have to try to keep track of where you have been by the appearance of walls. You can’t just constantly move right on the screen.

It’s interesting the points they make. I prefer 3-D games, but especially in the Metroid series, I have gotten really lost before.

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If you haven’t read any of the exchanges between Stephen Totilo of MTV and N’Gai Croal of Newsweek, you should. These guys lay down some of the smartest commentary on boss battles and game mechanics that I have ever read. Check out the latest from N’Gai on boss battles and the fundamentals that make them great.

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If you love videogames enough to make one, this article over at the Game Career Guide shares the thoughts of DigiPen students who have spent semesters and years creating games and learning it the hard way. They explain what it takes to get a game from start to finish.

But building a game is like any other formidable task, like building a cathedral or writing a novel or painting a picture. Building a video game takes passion. It takes dedication. Some might even say it takes obsession. It takes a great deal of your time, energy, and thought. It’s never finished. Even when it’s technically finished, you find things, new things, little things, that you could correct or change or fix.

Just like every creative industry, part of the building process involves “killing your darlings” as my English professor used to say. In other words, you have to let go of the elements and devices that you thought were unique and amazing if they aren’t working for the testers and the focus groups.

Focus testing is a series of really harsh blows to your ego. You’ve spent so much of your time and effort and energy working to make this project a reality, and now, when a bunch of strangers who have never even heard of you play your game, they don’t understand it. They have trouble navigating the menus. They don’t understand where they’re supposed to go, what their objective is, who they’re supposed to talk to, or where they’re supposed to jump.

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In Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Area Digital Industries Consortium is attempting to recruit gaming companies to move to the area to help improve the economy and build a workforce. Many cities and states promote movies to come film in their location, but, as the article says, the game jobs stick around for years with their longer production cycles and bring income to the city from the consistent pay of salaries of around $40k to $55k a year–so says the article.

It’s a new move for city projects. Maybe people are finally starting to think better of the videogame industry and use it as more than just a scapegoat for the corruption of America’s youth.

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