Welcome Back 1up!!!

Welcome back 1up!!!

For those of you wishing that I was baring that news that 1up members are not being made redundant then look elsewhere.  The topic of this article though ironic is meant to signify a new chapter in the gaming medium.   Though I am saddened that 1up will change structurally, I am excited about the opportunities which could also come out of it.  Don't get me wrong, I am not rooting for UGO, instead I am rooting for the former and current 1up staff. 

I think that we can all agree that with new situations come new opportunities and it should be no different for the hardworking 1up staff.  They have proven themselves over the past several years to be the most dedicated of video game journalists, who have not only provided the basic news and reviews, but have also provided hard hitting features that delve deeply into the psyche of the video gaming culture (though I exaggerate, you get the point if you have followed 1up even if as an in-active user as myself).  No one can argue theriveting sensation you get when reading a James Mielke feature or the anticipation you had when downloading the new episode of the 1up show.   What made it all great is from feature to podcast the entire 1up community (staff and members) were intertwined and from there, brilliance was created in more than one occasion.   On the front cover it may seem that the front runners of the 1up brand (the staff members who appeared on the podcasts and the shows) such as Mielke, Shane, John, Ryan, etc… are the ones that kept it all together, but in fact it was a combined effort of the entire 1up staff, whether they were the front runners or the editors and producers who worked behind the scenes to ensure that the quality of the site and its affiliates are kept to high standards. 

Which brings me to the topic of this blog; What do I mean when I say welcome back 1up? Well, what made 1up great were its personalities and their creativity and now with no corporate restrictions they are freer to do as they please.  What is great about it is, instead of getting a multitude of personalities working on 1 project on 1up, we now have a multitude of personalities working on multiple smaller gaming projects at a time.  Imagine having collaborative blogs, starting new podcasts not only with the same people but with the ability to bring in any guest without having to subdue to any corporate pressure, and the list goes on.  As an example, a new podcast entitled Rebel FM to be produced by 1up Alumni's such as Nick Suttner; new blogs are to be created and old quirky blogs are to be initiated such as http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/ (in fairness just checked it out for the first time today, so my assumption that it's quirky is an off the rail first impression).   Now imagine when these multiple project launch and become successful, it would be like the first time you watched the 1up show; even better, imagine when the 1up alumni start co-collaborating, it would be reminisant of when John Davison came back as a regular member of 1up yours after leaving the Ziff Davis Group. 

Many people may be saddened by the loss of 1up yours, 1up show and 1up FM; but from that loss we are getting new projects that are sure to stand up to par. 

Therefore yes, I do say welcome back 1up.  I am saying welcome back to the heart and the creativity that was seen several years ago during the 1up boom with the introduction of the 1up show and 1up yours; but instead we are now saying welcome back to new projects, we are saying welcome back to a whole multitude of projects; and even though they may not be presented with the 1up sticker, they will still have the heart and ambition which was poured into 1up by its great staff.

To the current and former staff of 1up, if you are reading this; I am truly sorry for the sad news, I hope that you guys get back on your feet soon and I can't wait to witness your new creative endeavors.   You may no longer be a 1up employee, but you will always be the soul of 1up.  I wish you guys the best of luck.  Till we meet again.

Yours Truly

Middle Eastern Gamer 

Free capital economy and gaming

Before I begin I would like to apologize for several things; I am sorry for taking all this time to update the blog and I am sorry for not publishing the "Little Big Planet" article as I promised.   I intend to provide an expose` on the LBP incident however; my sole opinion doesn't necessarily represent the opinions of Middle Eastern gamers.  The LBP article will eventually be written once I have done some proper research.

To start the article, I'd like to throw out an ideological hypothesis that is; people would be much happier with less choice than more when buying a singular product.  Crazy right; but just go with me on this!   

Today's article will discuss the mass market free economy and its effect on the video game market.   In a free capitalistic economy, consumers are given the ability to choose from an array of the same product.   For example, if a person wants to buy a humidifier, they will have a multitude of brands to choose from.  As freeing as it may sound, I personally find it constricting and hindering on a consumers ability to effectively choose what they want.  It may be true that the more choice a consumer has the happier they are, but is it truly happiness if you have to spend a considerable amount of time deciding if one brand is better than the other.  I bet most people have fallen in this dilemma and not necessarily in buying humidifiers; different technological brands (laptops and phones), cars and even video games can be applied. 

People may question how video games apply to such a hypothesis and I will hopefully do my best in explaining my hypothesis.  If I were to go to a game store today and ask for a shooter I would be given a multiple of choices ranging from Gear of War, Resistance, Halo, Haze and so forth.   It would be ridiculous to assume that all gamers buy a game on its release date and I like many other gamers, I wait for a couple of months before buying a certain game. Now, by the time I attempt to buy a game from the shooter genre a new game would be out, which may be different aesthetically, but is fundamentally the same underlying game. 

Let me explain my point a bit better.  If I were to buy a shooter, most of them will have the following characteristics; It would most probably be set in a post-apocalyptic city/world, the color choice would range from gray, grayer and grayest, You can sustain multiple hits while enemies die from a single shot regardless of difficulty, weapon choices are always the same and only differ in their name, and you rarely get the chance to play the story line as the no-good doers (aka. Bad guys!!!).  Such intricacies may not affect the mainstream gamer, but seeing how video games are only starting to become a more fordable mainstream medium (the wii effect) most avid gamers will likely be aware of the mechanics of different games before they are released.  Therefore, how should a gamer make the choice on which shooter to buy if most of the games are presenting the same product but the wrapping is a bit different!

This is also true for genres other than shooters.  Take for example mini-games; this particular genre has been up and coming since the introduction of the Wario Ware games on the gba and has now multiplied in variation and games thanks to the Wii.  The Wii market has been saturated with mini-game products many of which are low in production value; with its oversaturation it has become quite difficult for consumers to make a choice on which particular game to buy, especially since most of the games require you to just waggle the remote, the only difference being in the way  the waggle is presented. 

Platformers have also presented a similar problem.  This specific genre may have not saturated the market such as shooters and mini-games, but in premise they have never really changed.  Platformers have mostly consisted of a basic storylines with the protagonist hoping from point A to B and collecting as many doodles on the way.  These basic concepts have been in existence since Super Mario World and the first Sonic game, and not much has changed since then.  Most platform games still hold true to this formula, whether it is Mario, Sonic, Ratchet, Jack, Nights, etc.  The problem therefore is not having too many options to choose from, the problem is having too little differences between the games, which is really the undertone of the hypothesis. 

To try and conclude what I have said; video game publishers should put more effort in trying to distinguish their games.  Consumers are very rarely given the choice to choose a completely unique game that is separated from its competitors by more than gimmick (Galaxy = gravity, Sonic= super Sonic, and many other gimmicks in different games which I can't remember at the moment).I as a consumer am put off when I have an abundant of games to choose from which are very similar in play style, look, mechanics, and  have most probably come across the same kind of game within my gaming life span.

My point is not to bog down the free market economy or video games.  Choice is great; however, it becomes a hassle when you are given the same product but in a different wrapping.  Many games have however proven my hypothesis incorrect, such as Call of Duty 4, Psychonauts and Mirror's Edge; but there are too few games that individualize themselves and too many that stick true and trident to the trend. 

I hope you enjoyed my article; I apologize if my writing is not yet up to par, hopefully it will improve with time.  Please feel free to comment, this article is of my subjective reasoning and I would like to hear your comments regardless of whether it is for or against my hypothesis.

Till next time;

Middle Eastern Gamer 

Welcome!

Hello and Welcome to my first blog! I should really start discuss the purpose behind this blog but I won't, simply because I don't know what I plan to write about.  All I can tell you is, most of my topics will discuss video games and technology, with the latter being the more prominent.  

I do however have a vision for this blog or at least a vision of the outcome of my blogging expedition.  That vision is to create an innate network between gamers in the Middle East.  Let's be honest, video gamers in the Middle East usually get the shit end of the stick when it comes to video game distribution in the region.  Not only do some Middle Eastern countries receive shipment of some games months late, but most if not all video games are sold at atrocious prices; with most games costing twice their original prices.  What I hope this blog will do for us gamers is, create a network where we can buy our games, legally, quickly and at reasonable prices.  

Some may have noticed that I mentioned purchasing video games legally. What is meant by that is, buying original copies of video games.  We all know that the Middle East is scattered with millions of  dollars of copied games; These copies are a necessity in the Middle East seeing how original copies are so expensive in comparison to their prices in Western Countries; and as long as video games are sold at high prices in the Middle East then there is no reason why copies should not be sold.  If video game companies and retailers plan to screw us over then, there is no reason for us not to screw them over.  

Finally, I hope that this blog will help Middle Eastern developers emerge; if we play the games, we might as well develop them.  I also hope that through this blog we can provide our perspective as gamers on the state of the industry and on the different topics surrounding video games and especially those relative to the Middle East.  Thus, my first article will be an opinionated article on the Little Big Planet "incident" and the whole media ruckus around it. 

Sorry for going on for so long! I hope this blog is a hit.  If you enjoy it please let me know and please feel free to contact me if you have any information or ideas about how to advance the blog.  

Yours Truly

Middle Eastern Video Gamer