Orange Lounge Radio

Since I've received permission from MrKenji, I'm posting this fantastic letter:

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Dear OLR,

Congrats on your coming up on 200 episodes! I've been watching OLR since the late 80 eps, and while I've been unable to watch you guys on a consistent basis, I applaud your perseverance against the Machina-dominant big-wig video game journalists. Praise Yevon- err, I mean Orange Lounge Radio!

I have a feeling this is going to be a long e-mail. Please brace yourselves.

Anyways, onto the matter at hand- the verge of the Next-Gen War. Well, if
you can call it that. With the way the world is moving, people just don't have time for epic-sized entertainment anymore. People trying to drive with internet-ready, IM-capable cell phones; watching DVD movies on planes and trains; podcasts, tablet PCs, and so on and so forth.

In an uber-famous manga made by the God of all Japanese Comics, Osamu Tezuka's "Phoenix", the world, in its constant drive for technology, becomes a megalopolis that reaches out to explore and conquer the outer reaches of the galaxy in a sort of super-technological Manifest Destiny. But somewhere along the line, something happens- human progress comes to a standstill, and slowly but surely regresses. Mankind pulls away from their occupied planets and colonies; a love for the nostalgic becomes mainstream; and inevitably, the world tailspins into a desolate wasteland, with only a fraction of the humans trying to survive selfishly underground.

In the end, the world is reborn- but Tezuka's "Glass Earth" question remains: Will mankind learn from their mortality and hubris?

I believe that where we stand right now is similar to Tezuka's magnus opus- take modern game companies. Small dev teams and six month, six-digit production cycles are by the wayside- to make a blockbuster game, it seems, takes a multi-million dollar budget, a small army of developers, designers, testers, and marketers; two+ years to make, and substantial buzz to even get off the ground. Hell, game developers are being worked to the bone to make sure that the next installment of "insert famous franchise game here" gets out on time- without overtime- or pay- at all.

Then there's E3- what was the game media's equivalent to Mardi Gras, now seems unnecessary- the multi-million dollar booths to advertise the years' games simply can't be justified. Whether it's the hitch in game and console development or the giant marketing black hole that is, E3 as we know it as exists only in the memories past- and TGS, I suppose.

And what was once a race against Moore's Law has now become something of an unsettling sine curve- the further we go in the console wars, the less noticeable improvements become- until we achieve some sort of pseudo-photo-realism to the point where we'll just substitute live action for CG scenes- and perhaps that is what is making gamers think twice about the 360 and PS3- and even the Wii, to some extent- great graphics, powerful hardware, teraflops and gigabytes a great console do not make. And I think it's getting to that point that gamers are recognizing that.

I think somewhere, secretly, Sony and Microsoft are reassessing- or will be in the very near future- the essence of video gaming- and if, in the current direction it's going, is even profitable. Sony, in their wide, wise use of trojan horses, may shy away from gaming in the coming years to focus on their multi-use widgets (the PuSP, as Penny Arcade so admirably calls it). Microsoft can afford hemmorhaging money out of their ears, disgusting as it may seem, and might continue their focus on the US market. But they, too, must come to realize the horrible, inevitable fate- after graphics and sound have reached their pinnacle- what's left?

Gameplay. Hence the handheld love, the adoration for everyone's favorite
innocently-yet-so-vulgarly-named Wii, games with the ability to simply pick up and play, and- of all things- retro gaming. See the Intellivision Lives! consoles in Target? The mock-up 2600s that now store pretty much every (good) Atari game within its tape-deck like cabinet? The TV games that were on everyone's christmas wish list a year or so ago? Because there is a growing community that realizes that maybe the forefathers of Video Gaming had something going- Pong graphically sucked balls. But it still has the staying power due to its (at the time) imaginative gameplay. Super Mario Bros. was beautiful in the fact that it only took (at most) two lives for even the most dim-witted of people to get the hang of what you had to do. And the list goes on and on.

In fact, what do the majority of people who game on their PuSP use? NES,
SNES, NeoGeo, and Genesis emulators, nonetheless.

Gunpey(i), Mr. Yokoi's magnus opus for the WonderSwan, is now being remade for the current gen. Bit Generations and Touch Generations are catering to a whole new type of gamer. XBOX Live Arcade is an ingenious Microsoft strategy that I applaud, even if I do loathe their very being.

The times are changing- gameplay, pick-up-and-play-ability, a return to
gaming's roots- when graphics were two parts what were on the screen, one part the pictures in the instruction booklet, and one part your imagination- this will be the gateways to the Second Renaissance of gaming, given developers open their mind to it. And chances are they already have- look at the runaway success of the DS. The Katamari series, while now drilled into the ground, became a cult hit in a matter of weeks. Mother 3's praise for the "rhythmic hit combat system", along with it's unique storyline, has put it as the must-have for the GBA in Japan. Loco Roco for the PSP seems to have people quite in a stir. And for any more evidence as to unique gameplay, just look towards that Guitar Hero guitar- or that Dance Dance Revolution pad- or that IIDX controller- or that godawful headset to play Lifeline on the PS2.

For that reason, and that reason alone, Nintendo, whose chant has been
"about the gameplay" all along, may very well reclaim the lead in this
"Next-Gen War", given they play ALL their cards correctly, and harbor the
beginning of this Second Renaissance, of which I hope Sony and Microsoft
will follow suit.

Epic games will not win this war, people. There's no money, nor staff, nor
time for that- it's about design, creativity, and gameplay- who will be able
to put out the highest quality in these categories will surely change the
way we look at games now and in the future.

Here's to hoping the gaming world doesn't end in nuclear armageddon like in Tezuka's Phoenix.

Sorry for the long e-mail; any and all criticism/comments are appreciated.
Love your show,

Kenji M- (DS note: I tend to edit names just in case. )

P.S.: NiGHTS FOR THE WII!!!

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