#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

There’s something about the phrase “Character creation” in a game’s description that makes our eyes go wild with joy and possibility. I mean, who doesn’t love putting a virtual version of themselves into a game and slaying a dragon or buying a huge house and throwing crazy parties in it?

The evolution of character creation was slow. Of course it started out in those pen and paper games we all love, and when PC gaming and console gaming came around, well there was just nothing stopping us. And it’s not just games where you fight hordes of monsters or save princesses.

I bought Fight Night Champions the other day. Why? Cause I like boxing and I like beating people up, that’s why. Don’t judge me. But I bought it and I was looking through the game modes and found out that you could create a little boxer dude and have him go through a career in boxing, fighting made up boxers and real ones. How could I resist?

So I made digital John Sollitto, seen here:

And off I went. Really the big thing about making a character for me is that level of immersion. It’s letting you do all those things you’ve always wanted to do but never could, to fully escape reality. It’s why people read books, or watch movies, except you’re inside of it and your decisions influence the outcome. It’s your tale.

Sports games do this all the time now and thankfully so because I am crap at some of the games in real life but by god can I catch ANYTHING in Madden or score six hat-tricks in a string of hockey games.

Of course you get people who are like, “Why don’t you go out and ACTUALLY play soccer?” Why don’t I do that? Because I’m terrible at it and I want to play in the FIFA World Cup one day and if I spend $60 I can go there in a second and be amazing and win, as opposed to training my whole life and maybe getting there.

Is it so wrong to live out a dream in digital form? Can’t we just escape reality and turn our volume up on max and watch ourselves score goal after goal in glorious succession to the roar of the crowd? Or what about seeing ourselves climb to the top of a mountain and defeat a dragon?

I literally jumped up and down in my house when I defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Fight Night. The dude is a MONSTER. He had like 7 inches and 20 pounds on me and I KO’d him with a straight crack to the face! IT WAS AWESOME. I mean look at him! He’s crazy looking! He’s like the non-blonde Ivan Drago.

What I’m trying to say is that video games offer us just as much of an escape as other forms of art and literature. Games are glorious and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without the little digital Johns running around in the video game universe saving worlds and winning title matches. They’re fun, what else is there to say?

I think the industry has finally realized that immersing the player in the game creates a level of investment that you honestly can’t replicate. It’s ingenious, it’s incredible, and I applaud game devs.

However, the more this happens the better the immersion has to be because if people feel cheated with a character they’ve created and feel that their level of freedom is cut off, then creating a character can backfire. We’re seeing that now with the Mass Effect debacle.

My favorite is when they tell you that the player has “INFINITE LEVELS OF CUSTOMIZATION” and what they really mean is “You can change the character’s clothes and weapons! And choose their skills! But you have to be the same character because that’s our story.” There’s nothing wrong with this, but there is misleading market speech when you say “character customization.” That phrase comes with so much expectation now that there should be more specificity to diffuse potentially disgruntled customers.

I’m so excited to see what the future of the industry brings, especially with so many cameras and facial technology coming to the front. We’re about to see a lot of our own faces in games, and not just the best recreations we can do. THE FUTURE IS NOW!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

The gaming industry is having an interesting bout of horrible security. Have you noticed that? “BREAKING NEWS! New trailer leaked of this game!” “SCREENSHOTS LEAKED OF THIS GAME!” “INFORMATION LEAKED ABOUT THAT GAME!”

Whoever is in charge of marketing and PR for all of these companies is either a genius at causing buzz, or quite possibly the worst secret keeper ever. It’s guys like these that get Lily and James Potter killed. DAMN. I just made a HARRY POTTER DEATH JOKE. I’m on a roll right now, I swear. There are like ten of you reading this right now that are so pissed off at me. I don’t even care, that joke was awesome.

Anyway, if you’ve been paying attention to the gaming world you’ll see any number of leaks or breaches of information or hacked games going on the market. It’s like people can’t wait anymore for information to come to them in a timely manner. Has it really come to this? Can we no longer just let the company tell us, when they’re ready, what they’ll be releasing?

Honestly, patience has either totally disappeared or the companies themselves are “leaking” it all just to make it sound controversial. Sooner or later it’s going to get all Boy Who Cried Wolf up in here and we’re just going to stop caring about whether or not the information is leaked and what the information is. Wouldn’t that be something? I mean, we all remember the Assassin’s Creed 3 images leaking close to the release of the Game Informer issue ALL ABOUT THE SAME GAME, right? Coincidence, or just clever wordplay? (Assassin's Creed image goes here somewhere)

Did you hear about those guys who freaking hijacked a truck full of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 games? I kid you not, that happened. In France, yeah, France. People stopped a truck and stole 6,000 copies of the game. They stole approximately $551,000 worth of games. THEY USED TEAR GAS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!

Do you need to cut out the middle-man that badly that you can’t just pre-order a copy of the game to ensure that you get one, wait till the day it is released, sleep in, then walk to your games store and get the game? No? WHAT THE HELL?!

What about those people hacking Capcom games to play the unreleased characters of Street Fighter X Tekken? You can’t shell out five or ten bucks for some DLC? Honestly, if you’re that invested in a game that you want the DLC, have the courtesy to buy it.

These are games people, not drugs, not weapons, not freaking money, they’re games. They bring enjoyment to your life and to others. The industry is suffering enough with people getting laid-off left and right, don’t screw the companies like that.

As for gaming sites and other journalists, don’t say things are leaked unless they actually are. If so, prove it by naming a source or saying that there was an anonymous source. Can’t do that? Oh, is your definition of leaked getting it in the press packet? Well then I do not think that word means what you think it means.

There’s too much leaking and hacking going around that it is becoming both unbelievable and just unconscionable. Let’s just all realize that if we want something we have to wait for it, and sensationalizing information, true leak or not, doesn’t really get the buzz that it once did. Can we all agree on that? Thanks.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

So I’m not sure how I feel about the new consoles looming on the horizon. Of course at this point everyone knows about the Wii U and its imminent release, and then there are the new Xbox and Sony systems that have begun to surface like sharks in bloodied water. Oh yeah, I just compared them to giant sea predators, because really, that’s what they are. Why do I feel that way? Because from what I have seen, this is what happens in the industry:

Nintendo makes a system, let’s call it the Nintendo Revolution (get it?). It has a revolutionary new peripheral and game mechanic, so revolutionary in fact that it gets a lot of people to want it. Microsoft and Sony, with their systems that have very fancy games and huge names in development, see the gimmick. They make new systems with better graphics and hardware, including a way to perfect on the new thing that Nintendo has done. And repeat.

Don’t think I’m right? Well that’s okay, let’s look at some of the history. The Wii comes out and about a year or so later, Microsoft Kinect and Playstation Move are announced. While that’s happening, Nintendo continues work on their handhelds and owns that department in the industry.

While the Kinect and Move are released and do moderately well because the gimmick has died but their systems work better than the Wii’s, Nintendo has announced a 3D version of their already prosperous handheld. Microsoft, owning the computer gaming market, does nothing. But Sony, feels threatened as it is now losing both the consoles and the handheld, and begins making the PS Vita.

While Nintendo is riding off the sales of their handheld, they announce the Wii U. And good lord does that cause a buzz. And now we’re caught up ladies and germs.

I feel like the industry is running out of ideas, sometimes. Our systems are all the same now: great graphics, good hardware, just different company. This whole last year felt like “The Year of Continuation.” Sequel after threequel after prequel. It was almost as if there really wasn’t enough original games coming out and if they were they weren’t brought to light or couldn’t outshine the obvious mainstream titles.

I’m a fan of a lot of the games that came out this past year. I mean, I’m not saying that it’s bad to continue stories or for franchises to continue, but it definitely makes the ice cream bar seem filled with quite a lot of vanilla. That’s why I was so excited for the Kickstarter projects that were successful and what that might mean for the industry and indie game developers.

Of course this doesn’t mean that Kickstarter will save the industry. Absolutely not. What I think is that we need more companies like the ones that made Little Big Planet and Limbo to come into their own and have room to play. We need more ideas in this industry, more risks need to be taken, and people’s minds need to be open.

This is an industry of creativity, of imagination! We should be using that at all times to make things that are new and exciting all the time! Just because the words “new” and “imagination” are used, that doesn’t mean that you just update the graphics. I love lifelike graphics or stylized graphics. I love them. But if the game is crap, it won’t save it for me. Any of the Call of Duty games could have had the graphics from Call of Duty 2 if their gameplay was improved each time.

I know people will disagree with me. People love seeing better graphics each time and if the game ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s a common idea and if you like that, then that works for you. But this is a consumer market and because of that, you have to realize that not everyone will be happy with the same old in a different package.

I love the products that are coming out. They’re fun, but this formula can’t stay. The industry will suffer if something new doesn’t come out. And new does not mean more motion controls or 3D. I mean, changes in gameplay, changes in franchises, new ideas, new everything. Let’s give this industry a cleansing, people. I think it’s time to call the doctor in.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

Is it me or are a lot of people pissed off about a lot of stuff these days? Especially in the nerd realm? I mean, I’m one of them but there’s a point when stuff is taken too far, am I right? Buckle-up kiddies, I’m about to go full frontal nerd on you. Prepare yourselves.

Let’s just take it to a more contemporary example and work our way back through time, shall we? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Who doesn’t love those amphibians who practice Japanese martial arts in an effort to stop crime, am I right? Oh man, love’em. Michael Bay, must hate them because he wants to make them aliens for his upcoming movie. Aliens. Am I missing something or is there a word in the title of the franchise that I’m not seeing? Is it Teenage Mutant ALIEN Ninja Turtles? No? Just mutant ninja turtles? Oh, okay then. What the hell Michael Bay?

Look, I’m all for rebooting a franchise to make it more appealing when you’re trying to make money off of people at the movies. I get that you have to do that sometimes. I don’t like it, but I get it. What doesn’t make sense to me is changing the entire backstory for no apparent reason. Do aliens coming to Earth and learning the art of the ninja strike new comers to the series as more probable than mutant turtles raised by a mutant rat man? Cause if that’s the case then I could see that. But both of those backstories don’t make any f#$king sense, so why the hell would you change it?

Look, I know, okay? “It’s not real, it’s a movie, just get over it! There are people with real problems all over the world who need help.” If you were in the room with me now I’d be doing a comical voice with that whole line of dialogue and it would be much funnier than reading it, I swear. The joke is that I don’t get why Michael Bay would do this.

Then you’ve got people all over the internet crying “Bloody Mary” over the ending of Mass Effect 3. I get that people are unhappy with the fact that after three games, your choices boil down to three defined ways to save the galaxy and that there is some controversy as to what the fans wanted from the ending. I won’t say too many spoilers because I understand not everyone has beaten it, but it’s been a while folks, it’s fair game.

This, however, is an example of the creators wanting to do whatever they want because they made the game and they can do whatever they want. If you don’t like it and you’ve heard from the reviews it is bad, then don’t buy it. It’s as simple as that. The creators can do whatever they want to the franchise, regardless of how good it will be in the end. Deal with it fans.

The same could be said for George Lucas. Sure, the prequels were not as good as the original trilogy. But, in all honesty people, you didn’t make Star Wars, Lucas did. He can do what he wants with his franchise and by gum he’s done it. Let it go. They may not have been what you wanted, but he doesn’t have to do anything that you say to make you feel better. Neither do the creators of Mass Effect. I mean, I know it’s hard to accept the fact that a franchise you’ve grown to love does NOT revolve around your opinions, but worse things have happened.

And it’s not just movies and games. Look at Lost. People went bananas over the ending of that. The epilogue of Harry Potter’s seventh book? Holy bejeezus do my friends still fight over that crap. And I am one of them so I am not throwing stones.

Even comics got hit. People were outraged with the New 52 in DC, saying it was spitting in the face of decades of comic history. It’s hard to argue with that. People flipped out when Miles Morales became Spider-Man (and I was one of them, not because of race but because they killed Peter F@#king Parker and that’s just not right).

Then again, it’s not like you won’t have those old comics of DC to re-read over and over again. And let’s be honest fans, it was getting hard as all get out to remember what the hell was going on in the DC Universe. And not to mention, that if you love Peter Parker Spider-Man, you can read any of the 20 bajillion titles of Spider-Man they have where he’s still alive.

What I’m trying to say is that stuff like this, the comics and games and movies, this is all miniscule to the real plights of everyday life. If you focus on the things that aren’t real, you lose focus on the actual goals in life that you may need or want to accomplish. And this is coming from someone who complains about this stuff morning noon and night. I’ve just sort of come to this realization myself, honestly.

Whenever my mom will say something like, “Oh that CSI was really sad tonight,” my dad will always look at her from across the couch and put a hand on her knee and say in the most comforting tone, “Sweetheart, it’s not real. Get over it.” And that, dear friends, is what I say to all the people who flip the hell out about fictitious things. It’s not real. I understand you were invested in this and that you had your heart with these characters, but if I had a nickel for every time I was disappointed with something I read/watched/played I would be a rich man. I could probably single handedly cover the national deficit with my disappointment funds.

There are real things going on in the world and in your real lives that need attention. Go out and do the things you need to do. Take care of all that work you say you don’t have time for. Talk to the people you’ve lost touch with. Follow your dream! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to a forum somewhere and complain about X-Men: First Class and how everything about it was wrong. Bastards ... 

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

You want to know something funny? I’m basically tricking the Honors Program at my school. And they totally know it and are okay with it so much so that they’re letting me get away with it.

So as a senior I have to do an independent study project that has something to do with my major, then do a presentation and write a paper on it. So you know what I proposed? Here, I’ll put the academic pitch for you:

I propose a study wherein I document and study the ability of students to practically apply the knowledge that they receive while in a university. Their goal will be to achieve professional and legitimate status as a professionally recognized media outlet in the videogame community.

What that meant was that I proposed making my senior project about my blog/website/Youtube/Facebook for The Game Creators Vault. I told the head of the Honors Department that I was just going to write a paper about the extracurricular I was doing for my own personal gain, and she was like, “Yeah, as long as you make it academic.”

In my head, I was like, “I’m not going to do any more work than I want to, or than I am already doing because screw work, that’s why.” I made my proposal, found a professor to be my mentor, and have since then, been ahead of my entire class in the Honors department because I figured out that school work doesn’t necessarily have to be as complicated as we make it.

I mean, I have friends who are bio-medical majors and teaching majors and those are really ones where you do need to do a research project that is heavily academic. But since I’m a communications major, the all-encompassing major of majors, and that gives me a lot of freedom because anything and everything is communication.

But the funniest part of this whole project is that I get to do stupid stuff like this and get a grade for it later:

I mean that’s just not fair. I’m getting a grade for playing videogames and writing reports on them and talking to industry professionals and doing what I love. OH WAIT. That’s why you GO to college. To get rewarded for learning and putting into practice the things you learn for what you want to do.

I feel like a lot of students are worried about how they’ll get a job outside of school, as opposed to looking for the job now or a way to apply their knowledge practically to be more attractive to an employer. We’ve been given this idea that if we have a degree and we do some clubs in college or university, then we’re appealing to someone who will hire us. The cold hard truth is that is TOTALLY not true.

The reality is that the most appealing people to a professional company is someone who knows what they’re doing even in school and shows it by doing it even without the degree. I’m not saying you need to start up some sort of black market medical practice if you’re a med student to demonstrate that you know how to perform surgery to prospective hospitals. What I am saying is that if you can demonstrate your skills and knowledge during the process of getting your degree and stick with it, it shows you have four plus years of experience and a degree when you come to an employer. Who are they more willing or likely to hire? Someone who knows their stuff? Or someone with a degree and says “Hire me please!”

Looking for internships is the key, honestly. Making connections while working in a professional environment shows that you’re a professional and may even get you a job straight away where you’re interning. But say you’re in a position where internships and other methods aren’t exactly viable to you.

Maybe then you can make a job. I mean, that’s what I did with the Vault. Mark told me that he was looking for a writer two years ago. And two years later we have a Youtube channel, a Facebook, a blog, and over 1,000 fans and followers! If things take off, I might be able to do that for a living and already be an Editor-in-Chief by the time I’m 23. How cool would it be if you could make your job? I mean, Jen did it! Look at her!

Don’t think so “inside the box,” especially these days when the job world is so crazy and fluctuates all the time. Try and be creative and sooner or later, you’ll realize that there’s a lot more you can do for yourself and your professional career than just sit around and study and watch Hulu.

Learn what you need and get your degree, but make the most of the time you have at school and utilize the resources it gives you to get a head-start. You don’t need a degree to be awesome. Look at all the famous people who dropped out of school and became historical figures: Ben Franklin, Einstein, Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, hell Walt Disney dropped out of school at 15!

I know it sounds really weird coming from a guy who hasn’t graduated yet and who is really young, at least think about what I said. Practical knowledge and experience matter more than a degree. Who knows more? The man who works with trees all day and cuts them down and shapes them into furniture? Or the guy who has only read about doing it?

Don’t waste your time in school, but definitely don’t think that you can’t do what you love without a degree. I’m already doing it, and you should be too.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!