Re: Bigger's Not Better

While participating in the New Media class last semester I discovered along with this blog, pod casting. Not that I would be creating these pod casts mind you but I have started watching/listening to them.

I have discovered the G4 cast, which is nice because it was one of the few channels that I watched on tv back home. This now enables me to keep up with the gaming industry some what. Along with their main pod casts are a plethora of smaller ones. One of which is called Sessler's Soapbox. I'm writing this part assuming most of you haven't watched G4 being that its not on basic cable. Anyways Adam Sessler is one of the hosts on the show X-Play which is on G4. He has this podcast where he rants or praises various aspects or events that are going on in the gaming industry.

In his most recent cast, he discussed the original Banjo Kazooie for the Nintendo 64. He, I, and many other gamers thoroughly enjoyed this game. And though I never played it, Sessler was disappointed by the sequel. Though I have heard both good and bad things about it.

Anyways let me get to the point Sessler's qualm with the game was that the Dev team claimed that it was so much bigger than the original and that's what made it better, when in his opinion it did not. This same marketing tactic was used for the newest addition to the series Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Along with a larger world came the ability and focus on using and building vehicles. To Sessler this was again using a game gimmick to try and improve marketing and move away from the original game.

In my opinion this is a completely different game with a focus completely different from the original. I cannot count the hours I and many friends have spent watching this game and laughing our brains out at the sheer craziness of the thing. Creating and customizing various machines that look like rolling armored pyramids or death stars that are held up with balloons. Just because a game plays differently than the original, it doesn't mean its bad.

Look at the Legend of Zelda series, that in many ways has stayed faithful to the original game. People are getting bored of it. With the meager profits and media coverage of the second installment of Banjo Kazooie I don't see how a step back to the original game would have helped the developers at all.

Anyways I'm going to stop ranting now and write my papers that I need to hand in late.