That was the year it was: 2020

And so we come to the end of another year. And so Game Tumour will go into hibernation, only to emerge in the new year (unless of course there are some last minute surprises between now and the new year). 

It should be noted that this year has seen some milestones for this blog. Not only has it seen a full decade of existence - which, let's be honest, is a millennium in internet terms - but it should be noted that this post is the one thousandth post in this blog! 
Yeah I don't know how I did that either but this is major achievement: Granted this may be a dying medium but to come so far, even when other blogs tend to have a limited lifespan (or at least the one's I have seen) and are written by people who's interest and commitment tends to die off rather quickly, is something to be proud of. 

So to everyone who has seen this blog, who has been following it and who kept coming back to it, through periods of activity, stretches of nothing happening, through posts of both insightful observations and just utter nonsense, I want to say Thank You.
From the bottom of my heart Thank You.

As for 2020, it's become something of a cliché to deride 2020 as a seemingly never-ending year of disaster, where it seemed a challenge to say how things could get progressively worse. 
But it has seen something of a boom time for gaming. Because, after all, when Lockdown has you stuck inside your house, what else are you going to do? Well, personally I completed Borderlands 2, Rakuen and Wolfenstein 3d (at last!). I have upgraded both my gaming chair and the Retropie to the Raspberry Pi 4. I have said goodbye to ESO, was traumatised by Phasmophobia, and viewed the Space Australia that was the Borderlands Pre-Sequel. 
And I swear I have spent more time waiting for games to download than actually playing them. 

So where do we go from here? 

Well the way I see it, there are still plenty of more adventures to be had in this wonderful world that is gaming. So whilst my interest in this hobby and this blog may have quietened down in recent years, I am not prepared to give either up just yet. 

And with that, Game Tumour bows out for 2020.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to speak to you all again on the other side of 2021...

In this corner...

 Here's something that came to my attention recently: Australian current affairs programme Four Corners is doing an investigation on gaming. Or, to be more specific, an investigation in seeing how gaming affects relationships and health (physical and mental). 

If anyone is interested in finding out more, please go here

Transferring over

 On Wednesday, I was watching the Gruen Transfer.
For those not in the know, it's a show on Australian TV which discusses advertising with how it works, the tactics utilised to sell a product.

And on this particular night, they finally discussed gaming.

I say finally because in my mind it has been a long time coming: There have been some brilliant gaming ads made in the past that would have been an inspired choice for Gruen to analyse - 'Michael' anyone? - but perhaps I should be grateful that it's happening. 

Truth be told, there wasn't a lot revealed that I didn't already know. But Russell sure looked awkward...

Selective memory

This week I have been looking back at past issues of CVG and having a major nostalgia trip. It is fun to see gaming of the early nineties being documented in such manner, especially when one considers how many games of that era still hold up today. 

Funny thing however is that I can't help but notice that many games of that era are overlooked. This is fascinating when one considers the games that have entered history in the years since: Final Fantasy 2 and 3 (4 and 6) never get a mention; the undisputed classic Super Metroid gets a score of 91%, 1993 goes by without any indication of something called Doom and the Lunar series, one of the highpoints on the Mega CD, are nowhere to be found.  

I suppose much of CVG is through a British perspective as it was the magazine's country of origin. And it is likely that many of the console games were handled in it's sister magazine Mean Machines (which I never read and therefore have no attachment to). But it is fascinating to see a) a history that has since proven to show a narrow view of the story and b) a perception that isn't from Japan or the US. 

How does the saying go: That history is written by the winners?

Playing Up

In the last post, I mentioned going through old editions of CVG (circa 1992). In one of them I found this tidbit:

Source (page 17)

True this was written in the wake of the Sony/Nintendo deal falling through but hindsight makes this too funny for words.

A Distinct Lack of progression

When I was a young lad in the early nineties, I was an avid reader of a magazine known as CVG (Computer and Video Games).
I can imagine that, having said that, many veteran gamers are now getting misty eyed with thoughts of nostalgia. It never fails to impress me how many people read this magazine back in the day and how many of them think highly of it years later. Granted the magazine in question had a very long shelf life (1981-2015) but for me, this was an important source of information in my tentative steps into the world of gaming. 

For this post, I would like to share with you all, something from the December 1992 edition. A reply to a reader's letter whom found a lot of Atari 2600 seemed more challenging when compared to the 16-bit era:

...Technical wizardry isn't necessarily a substitute for a good idea, and many of the games we're seeing today are substandard rehashes of ideas which are ages old. Why is this? Have all the good ideas run out? The simple answer is no. There are still plenty of good ideas out there, the the wrong people have them. 

I'll try and explain: in the old days a programmer would come out with an idea, sit down and bash out the code on his machine. He didn't have to work for anyone, didn't have to worry about so-called quality control and could work whenever he liked. That was how the all-time greats like Manic Miner were born. So what's gone wrong now? Computer game shave become such big business that programmers are forced to work in teams to compete, often writing specific projects dictated by software houses. These projects are dictated by business - will the game make money in the long run? - and very few people are prepared to to take any risks with the result that many good ideas are left on the drawing board. The upshot of all of this is what when a truly great game like Streetfighter 2 comes along everyone jumps up and down and makes a huge fuss, when there was a time when people were banging out brilliant software left, right and centre! 

At the end of the day, though, it's all up to you lot. If you go on buying the same old games the software companies will just go on producing them. If, however, you demand something decent then maybe the right people in power will take a long hard look at the future and realise that something has been lost. When was the last time ANYBODY wrote anything nearly as good as Defender?.... 

Unless you lot - the buying public - decides you want better more playable games you simply won't get them. Personally I'm sick to the back teeth of sub-standard licensed games and I for one am not going to tolerate it much longer. Start shouting for your games NOW! 

Source (page 48)

This may seem like a echo of the problems facing the current gaming industry but the thing is, this in 1992 - nearly three decades ago. It may be abused to think that such problems have grown to a monumental scale but they have. 

And the more things stay the same.....

When there's something strange...

 Recently I got talked into trying an early-access game that is doing the rounds on Steam: Phasmophobia.
And it seems that I am not the only one as this has been generating quite a lot of buzz on Steam, with it's use of atmosphere and horror as well as it's multiplayer aspect. Well, I'm certainly one for trying something new so here we go.....

What we have here are the players being a group of ghost spotters: They start by gathering equipment and then entering a supposed haunted location to find evidence of ghosts and other paranormal activity. It's a simple concept but whilst it's one thing to have an idea, it's another thing to make it work. 
And boy, does Phasmophobia make it work: The strength in this game is purely in the atmosphere and the building of suspense. I found myself being put at ill-ease upon entering the location. I felt a sense of relief upon leaving said location. I found myself dreading every small noise and unfamiliar sound. I found myself uncertain to enter any new location. I began to panic upon seeing signs of a threat approaching.

But if this is the reaction I get from an early access, imagine what reaction the fished product would inspire..