Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. (wikipedia: vaporware)

This sounds more and more like the PSN which in a way, has been in a perpetual BETA since its launch. This passing generation has been one of intense digital experimentation and the market has spoken, it'll continue to strengthen an online interest. Should those interests constantly be online? That's a questionable and slippery slope that should rightly garner strict criticism. It isn't out of consumer bias that people generally would not like to see an always online and purely digital. It's out of the lack of control and sense of ownership a person has when they hold a game in their hand and know it will do what its supposed to, like a toaster, when you hit the power button. Remember when games didn't need patches and just-inexplicably, you know, did what they were supposed to. They just put a playable game on screen on demand. No patches, no load times (for the most part) and that age is dead. Somehow now a selling point of the PS4 is that it'll do all the loading and downloading and patches in the background so you can play games out of box. How is this a selling point? Has the market devolved that heavily? The celebration of its mediocrity hit a high note when SONY had those 'IN SHIRT XMB' T-shirts. That was a sorry display.



Out of all the disjointed rants I've written, I can honestly say the most passionate have been about the surveillance state of gaming which is touched on in what appears to be a drug induced rampage with words, I was sober at the time but its inexcusable and difficult to translate; and A Third Video Game Renaissance. Both of these things in conjunction with the looming threat of SONY alienating and destroying a loyal consumer base on the horizon, rests like the solar flare of an atomic bomb which is waiting to abolish all of your PSN purchases. All of the terms of service agreements you and I and everyone signed by clicking [AGREE] allows companies to terminate support of that title without notice at any given moment. This gives them license to terminate your purchase history by implementing a strict policy of intellectual and digital property licensing that boarders on a rental agreement.

Not allowing backwards compatibility of a hard copy format is understandable, when that disc will be the same format of the new consoles-its a bit questionable. Lacking complete digital support from the previous platform when it can clearly be emulated with a couple megabytes of code-that seems like bad business sense. Especially because SONY is one of the largest multinational electronics and software heavy industry corporations with holdings across multiple industries. How can one of the largest companies in the world have such poor business sense?



I've said this before-how can the videogames industry developers and publishers alike skrew-up on so many levels and so badly when they are literally the most hand-held (pun) industry in the world. Their consumer base literally demands and petitions and guides them through open discourse about what they want and what they want to see-yet, very little in way of receptivity is observed. Instead we're given always on DRM, the surveillance state of always streaming the PS4-as if the most efficient game-data collection wasn't enough, and now legitimate threats (so it seems) of Microsoft pushing an always-on internet-connected console which will destroy their hope of even 10% of the market.



This graph is a very rough estimate. Despite the best efforts of federal governments global population is at best-an estimate. I can only hope the margin of error is within a few million ±billion(s).

Where do I get 10%? People with internet connections only make up about 20% or so of people in North America. Globally, that number is less than 5%. It'll impact sales so much that it will almost be impossible to turn a profit with inflated budgets of current generation consoles being so high.

With SimCity a lot of people had buyers remorse. They felt like they got a bum deal-and sadly it was too late for any of them because they signed agreements saying the service had to be always-on, may not be active at all times, and may be terminated without warning. They also signed away any right to a refund. Buyers remorse doesn't help and signing binding legal contracts just signs away the right for justice.



I don't want to hate on the industry and I don't want to rally people to not buy the new consoles, but you know what? It wouldn't kill the industry if you didn't and maybe all the bad things and bad trends we're seeing, will straiten up. Maybe companies will be more likely to listen and maybe, just maybe, for once- we'll get what we pay for and not what we're given.

End the schlock.
LOCK OUT
BOYCOTT

Don't buy into bullshit and don't sell yourself short.
It won't kill games to say no, it'll make them better.

Look at your hand and play your cards. If you check, I'm sure you'll see you have all of them.

I'm sure this was made by a community member. You owe it to yourself to watch this video, especially if you are a regular podtoid listener - which you should be. It's a letter of love of hope.



Glorious.

In an attempt to write something that was big and wordy and drawn out I wrote something that was stupid long-winded and pointless. BLOG POST SUCCESSFUL

Anyway, to break down that wall of idiocy I posted about contrition and hate cake, it really comes down to these one paragraph:

The video games industry has so many avenues to pursue in terms of knowing what will do well. Granted, there is always a gamble even with big name franchise titles - the market could see them as stagnant and that is never an impossibility that can be ruled out of question. Its a hard, soul destroying, corporately ran industry - it doesn't need to be all these things but for the most part it is. With data collection methods, extended public BETAs, why are unpolished mediocre titles being produced when the gaming public is always talking about what they want to see and what they are willing to pay for. The video gaming industry is an industry that is being led by the hand through a field of origami roses made out of fifty dollar bills. Gaming industry - why won't you let us hold your hand? Being sad and disappointed in a game may create buyers remorse - but its too late by then. If you want change in something you have to stop buying. Every dollar is a vote and people have been voting for dictator-like DRM and schlock. You have to break this cycle by doing without and having a commitment to a message you want the corporations to get into their tight-fists-for skulls.

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^Trying to translate my 4a.m rant. I honestly don't know what else I was trying to say. Maybe I thought I was being funny? lol What an eyesore that fucking mess is. Makes me laugh at least. Why the fuck did I draw these pictures?!

WARNING: This is a rant heavy rant.



I like how the flair up of attitudes - what with emotions running high around the Sim5 launch and all - caused a little bit of a stir with some sensitive folks - who basically stepped into the spotlight and talked big about how people should calm down.

Well, requests to 'calm down' were more like insinuations about how the gaming public will be known for being testy, opinionated, hateful, spiteful, and a slew of other adjectives with net-negative connotations.



There was a post on the landing page that was something like We need to stop letting hate define us. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT I DON'T KNOW.

Big business doesn't really foster the pursuit of new ideas, a formula that works is going to be worked until dissolved into a generic sludge that can be made malleable into many shapes and flavour.

There is a technical and profound reason why its appropriate for gamers to be outspoken about their distastes. There are several systems in place to reduce margins for error considerably and they stretch across the most shallow points of the internet to the deepest of deep-web code chains.

1.) Game data is collected and monitored where there is infrastructure for it.
The community pages for Little Big Planet, Joe Danger 2, and source stats for your favorite shooter of choice are the superficial tissue paper thin coating that surrounds an incredibly complex and perhaps even intrusive data collections.

This is another point that I don't see anyone really thinking about in terms of what has been said about the PS4. I thought it was incredibly poetic that someone stepped out on stage during the announcment conference and talked about freedom, secuirty, and their personal prosecution by the authorities for protesting. It was a very strong and obviously personal moment – which seemed almost out of place at the conference and has since been made fun perhaps because it came off too strong and almost like a non sequitur without a punchline. It resonated with me as a strong juxtaposition. The framework of the PS4 has been integrated to openly broadcast games at all times with the ability to be 'directly controlled' by an outside source. This also means the gameplay data is probably also going to be fully recorded as the gameplay will be fully monitored in HD. I'm sure it can be toggled but it can also give license for those amazing contracts we see at the start of most big name games. Those contracts that protect against liability, allow personal information disclosure, and allowance for game data to be collected, notices that online content may expire at anytime, etc. Usual stuff now.



Why does this matter? It matters because developers have license to aggregate data so they can cater to their audience dynamically. Do they? Not too many HotFixes are made public so we can't say for certain. Maybe this is just a gripe made out of paranoia, but I think its a valid point that will make more sense latter. I'm building and argument cake.



2.) Perpetual BETA stage development, community tools, forums, the whole E-Shabang
When you join a closed BETA a lot of the time in the disclosure releases/contracts/T.O.S. - Those forms most people don't read and usually click OK to as quick as possible so they can get to their game; contain terms which state all communications in game, through the community and forum, and other mediums connected to the game become owned by the property holders – all ideas, concepts, and essentially every word you write/express through the service and game become owned by that game and it's creators/contract holders. That means they are free to assimilate every bright idea or remark people have about the content as they play it.

Now this isn't a bad thing at all. It helped make StarHawk a really oiled and focused multiplayer experience. Too bad it didn't see great success.

Cake icing for the second piece is in place. It's a hate cake btw. It'll taste good I hope, we'll see.

3.) Third and final point – the second piece of cake and the icing to coat the whole spiteful and delicious mess. - Gamers and people who care enough to lash out are outspoken about what could, needs, and should be considered for improvement in the case something doesn't meet expectation.



Now, there is room for liability going outside of a contracted, licensed, or official services for ideas or suggestions to be assimilated. It's risky but there is room on the part of developers for plausible deniablity if someone has a gripe about their ideas being incorporated without compensation. But if cops shooting up a car killing innocent woman in L.A. tells us anything – it should tell us apathy and the ability to bury shit on the internet is easy as fuck. Also, apathy.

So basically this cake is done.
I prefer to use red icing on the lettering, I think I'll just write 'HATE' and 'ANGER' on it. Red is good. Actually, fuck I messed up. I should have made it look like hands praying, or no...

HOW ABOUT TWO HANDS, CLASPED TOGETHER
LIKE THEY'RE HOLDING EACH OTHER

Hand Holding: The Industry



There are dozens of recipes that taste good, hundreds of thousands of complete cookbooks, a plethora of spices and wonderful flavors to incorporate, I've made this cake dick flavored.

Legit though:

Everyone is clear what they want and while you can't make everyone happy all of the time, it is so frustrating to see and hear the rattling cages of the pissed off canaries that sing the song of our people. It isn't really demands that are being set - mind you a lot are set, sure, but you can only head desk so hard or facepalm so much before you break your face and hurt your desk.

Finding something disappointing is personal and explainable. Feeling stolen from, likewise.
But in an industry as observed and controlled as gaming - usually big fuck ups or bomb titles are without any real explanation and this doesn't just leave something to be desired - that's short term. In the long-term in lowers expectations. Hate is a positive thing, being outspoken is a good thing. Buyers remorse however is not because the monster has been fed and it will go onto breed if enough people feed it - without fail. So buy smarter and talk about the best games you've played, maybe more games will be made like them if anyone is watching - and people - especially in this next generation are always going to be watching.

HEADS UP - this is a rant.



I'm noticing a huge - massive - how the fuck did you miss this and why isn't it being said firstly statement - regarding always on DRM, online authentication, and especially games which require a constant internet connection/verification/shit you need to do to even play...

Motherfuckers why are you not screaming this:

Any game which requires always-on-drm/authentication to start/community heavy/online heavy content - will fucking cease to be at some point.

Like an MMO - when the servers are turned off the game is destroyed, killed, never to recover.



Why the fuck - has no one made this the forefront of the widespread verbatim/insipid commentaries and comments?!

The poor deluded bastards who are just repeating what they are hearing are diluting a fundamental flaw that goes beyond simply needing an internet connection.

Yes it is a form of DRM as it is effectively Digital Restrictions Managment {fuck you, it's about control - not copyright} - you are restricted to play it how and when they see fit. They're playing players. EA/Maxis can at any point make an incredible change to the way the game is played, live, whenever they feel like. I blame the entire game generation for this as its too common place to sell unpolished - inflated BETAs. Because that is what SimCity5 is, it's a glorified retail BETA.

The problems with connections is slowly being ironed out, tweaks are being made to support the triple-speed function again {there were simulations problems at higher speeds causing server crashes apparently} and guess what - it all means jack shit to the consumer, the gamer, the player, the poor bastards who liked SimCity2000, 3000, and 4 and probably purchased 5... the game could just pop and not exist.



I can understand that after a few years online community support for a game goes offline. As long as players are still able to play the fucking game, any content they purchased is still accessible, and hopefully - if the damn thing had trophies or 'chiev'oes - players will still be able to create/host online games to an extent.

Think about this - Look at the PSN and current XBLA. It is totally possible that in a few years they can discontinue compatible stores which run on the PS3 and XBOX360 - we're just licencees and all we've purchased are contracts - not products. We have the right to use the software and they have the right to revoke that right whenever they want.

And you know what,
That's exactly what I'm going to think about next time piracy comes up in a conversation.
Because it isn't theft - there isn't a product.
You're just refusing to click OK when it is effectively a signature on a contractual dotted line.
Just click no, eject, alt+f4 - and get a refund.



Now as an exercise of impermanence, it is clear nothing lasts forever. But I think the expectation and precedent with interactive software has be fowled by tethers of control. Video games just don't work at launch anymore, is that really how it is? That's unacceptable and not required. Inflated development costs and expensive servers are not the problem of consumers and getting people to agree to terms and conditions of use - before they can even get a look at what they are buying is almost theft, because money has be transacted without the exchange of goods and the services you are hoping to get - that you have basically taken a gamble on apparently - is delayed. So why sign all these contracts and terms that say, "This game is a service and may be terminated without notice. --- Here is a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that basically says you can't do anything about it if we choose to abandon this project."

When you try to play an online game, it doesn't work or you have to wait hours for it to download and setup and patch, then you play for awhile but your saves are server side and get lost the next time you log in, it's unstable. Then after some time all the harsh reviews and word of mouth has gone around that the game is toxic shit and its terminated -

You get nothing, good day sir. Like you stole from - them.

Intrusion 2 is a well put together side scrolling shooter that starts strong and holds the momentum. It can be easily compared to other side scrolling shooters like Metal slug and Contra but it needn't be, even though it is apparent it has used these titles as inspiration it holds up as its own thing.

Within Intrusion 2 there is some very interesting points of exploration and a multitude of powerful weaponry and genuinely entertaining enemies to do away with. It is obvious at the beginning of the first level that you are in for a ride. As the protagonist parachutes into a battle field you get a clear picture of the art style which is a blend of 2D and 3D art.

There is no story to speak of within Intrusion 2. It is in its entirety a simple and well put together side scrolling shooter with some platforming elements and nothing more. The adage, "Do one thing and do it well." applies to this title as there are little to no hiccups in the setup and execution of the action throughout the entire game. The action seamlessly carries you from one checkpoint to the next with little indication of level changes. This is a good thing as much as it is bad thing as you may run the entire game in a matter of only a few hours without having realized how far along you were. To this effect there is a hard mode difficulty setting which I strongly recommend to anyone who has played games of this sort before. For the most part I only experienced one instance of true difficulty which took the form of a bullet-hell type boss that rappelled from one side of the room to the other spraying bullets and dropping rocks from above. If you play this and get to this point - conserve your ammo and wait for her to change her mode of attack, evade as best you can and be patient.



There is some formulaic exploration in the level design which isn't bad but it isn't really inspired either. Exploration consists mostly of getting past the half way mark in an area and back tracking on the roof tops and high wires to reach a hidden weapon or witty remark on a sign. Back tracking does not always respawn enemies but it may and farther along into the game that means machine gun wielding mechs with laser swords come back, be advised.

The sound is fitting to a game in this genre. The sound effects are on point although they are nothing exceptional or unexpected. The music consists of only a few tracks and is on a two minute repeat. The music being slightly repetitive isn't such a bad thing at times as the metal guitar riff track is fitting. With a playthrough running of about 3 hours or so, I suggest your own music, anything electronic or metal would fit.

Intrusion 1 is a free online flash game check it out.

Intrusion 2 is a very honest attempt and a good attempt at being a short and sweet side scrolling shooter. Fans of the genre may like this honest attempt at the genre. If you haven't checked it out and enjoy the side scrolling type genre you'll probably really like Intrusion 2. Check out the first at the link above, if its to your liking check out the demo for Intrusion 2 and then please consider helping out the talent behind it by purchasing Intrusion 2 from their official site or on steam. You can check out a demo of Intrusion 2 right here it is also available for download from the official site.

Without spoiling what weapons or enemies you'll encounter I think its best if you play the demo and play the first one in the series. If you like the demo I assure you this game does not stop its fast paced action, it really carries through the entire game and for that I have to commend the talent behind the title.