Twitch Plays Pokémon

Twitch Plays Pokémon

"Twitch plays pokemon animated" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twitch_plays_pokemon_animated.gif#/media/File:Twitch_plays_pokemon_animated.gif

One of the most incredible scenes I witnessed on Twitch was when Twitch viewers played Pokémon through the chat channel or IRC by inputting words which translated to actions on the screen.

This social experiment had over 50 million views and over 80,000 concurrent viewers trying to move the character. Twitch estimated that over 1 million different viewers participated. The channel was chaotic, yet somehow it was addictive to try and see if the game could be completed. On March the 1st, the game was completed after 2 weeks (with a few tweaks).

This was an incredible feat and I myself, tried to help and give input into the game for a good few hours. I believe this experiment gave way for new interactions and a new original way to use live streaming than just spectating. It shows that even through chaos, that order can appear through the midst and still complete something through crowdsourcing. It shows crowdsourcing is a valuable way of working. Furthermore, It gave way to new games catered towards viewership and live streaming such as Choice Chamber as well as Quiplash. I further believe that while this experiment was not the first of its kind, it was the first in its type to really become popular and viral. This then gave popularity to more interactive games for spectators of Twitch. Recently Twitch has tried to complete the game Dark souls and eventually succeeded after 43 days. 

There is certainly potential for more interactive games for live viewership and I believe that developers are considering and taking this into account when developing games. Even if they do not, they cannot ignore the popularity that is Twitch as well as the importance of live-streaming. The input of viewers can produce important crowdsourcing material as well as paving an alternative way for games to be played, but still enjoyed.

Source: http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon 

Other Reading:  

Ramirez, D., Saucerman, J., & Dietmeier, J. (2014). Twitch plays pokémon: a case study in big G games. In Proceedings of DiGRA (pp. 3-6).

Margel, M. Twitch Plays Pokemon: An Analysis of Social Dynamics in Crowdsourced Games.

Game review: Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 Golden 

Platform: PS Vita

Now, I may be late to the party, but I have recently finished this wonderful game. Initially I started this game on the PS2. Yes it was released on the PS2 first but I never finished it. When I heard that they re-released the game with new content to the Vita I decided that I had to finish it! The story revolves around a small town called Inaba and you are a transfer student staying there for a year with your uncle. This small town eventually becomes an area of murderous crimes and it is up to you and your team to discover why and who the culprit is. With the use of your Personas, you defeat monsters whilst trying to find answers. It also has a pokemon-esque style of playing with its turn based attacks and finding new personas (or Pokemons).

So after many hours of it, I finally finished it. I have to admit, it has got to be one of the best games I have ever played in my life. For starters, it wasn't just about fighting or killing the end boss of each level. This game integrates a beautiful story line, with fighting, socialising, hanging out with friends, romance and even  exams!

What makes the game so good? It's the story and the feels you get when you play through it, you will come to love each and everyone of the characters that you meet. You find out more about them , you talk to them, you hang out with them and you can romance them.

The music is fantastic as well , although you may get sick of some of the repetitiveness of a particular song (heartbeat...heartbeat...heartbeat).

Overall, this game is a masterpiece and I wish I had finished it sooner. The dungeons are very linear and the monsters do not vary much except in colour and levels haha. Also some people may find the social aspect to be tedious, but I certainly enjoyed the banter with other characters and the feels when you come together.

There is also an animated version of this as well. But do play the game first before watching as it will spoil the story!

+ Amazing story
+ lots of content
+ Great music and combat
+ Personas are cool
+ Long game

- Dungeons are linear
- repetitiveness
- not much variety of monsters

Rating: 9.5/10

Game review: Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragments

SAO: Hollow Fragments

Platform: PS Vita

If you have watched the anime then you will know what this game is about. Of course, it is about the world of SAO! This game was localised and released digitally last month of the PS Vita and it would be classed as an offline MMORPG action game.

You play as Kirito or the main protagonist of Sword art online. This game takes place after level 75 ( where the anime stops) but instead of being released from the death game, they are in fact stuck in the game still and have to complete the last 25 levels. For the  fans of the anime, this game will be a great buy, but for the ones that haven't seen it,  I would suggest watching the anime up to episode 14, just so you know some story and the characters that appear in the game.

The combat in this game, is like an MMORPG, you have skills and you can press buttons to perform these skills. The combat isn't terribly difficult, but it does take time getting used to. There are many skills to learn and many weapons to try out. You fight monsters, you level up, you gain  skill points to use for new skills.

Now the story has two sides, there is completing the 25 floors of Aincrad or you can go into the hollow area where you will meet a new character called Philia. This hollow area is the new content added and is not in the anime. Again, in this area you have to find out about the place and explore around just like an MMORPG.

This game is very fun, the combat feels slow but it is very fun once you get used to it. The story doesn't really exist from where I am now currently. But it's being  a fan of SAO I can appreciate the little bits of the game such as the characters, the sword skills and the environment and UI of the game. Similarly, I think non-fans will also enjoy it as it is a different type of game that you get on the PS Vita.

The game has so much to offer and it does feel like I am playing an MMORPG. The max level currently is 200 and I am only at 117 with so many hours played. The new patch coming soon will bump this up to 250! I have hardly advanced floors as I always get side tracked doing other stuff. You can unlock costumes for you partners and you can romance them as well. You can hold their hands, you can hang out with them and in doing so, you will unlock achievements. You can also customise Kirito if you don't want to look like him too. ( I prefer him as  default Kirito)

However, there is a big flaw with this game. The English translation or localisation is abysmal. Although I can understand it, the standard is not up to scratch. But I can live with that. The game sometimes feels really grindy too and areas feel very similar.

+ Great for SAO fans
+ Lots of content
+ Lots of levels
+ Cool Sword skills

- Bad translation
- Grindy

Rating: 8/10

MMORPG review: Wildstar

Platform: PC only

As a player that had almost given up on all MMORPGs, this game made me rediscover why I spent so much time on them. The game still has the familiar feeling other games but it does so in such a unique and humorous way. Since this is not based on a novel or any past IP, it has limitless potential. When I mean limitless it means it is not restricted by lore or content with the name such as World of Warcraft.

It can create anything without restriction. It has been out for a a good few months now and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. What's even more incredible is that you do not even have to pay subscription if you earn enough in-game currency where you can actually purchase game time! If you are on the fence about this, I'd say just try it! They've already released a lot of patches for the game to squash the bugs and everything else.

Combat is very fun, you can sprint, dodge and although the mechanics of skills seem familiar they have spiced things up by making nearly every skills castable while moving. Although it is not innovative, it is certainly fun and improved on the old traditional ways. It feels fast paced, a sense of achievement when you dodge away from skills and just feels super slick to play.

The Sci-fi style is a much needed change from the traditional mmorpg's such as knights/wizards/priests etc and I think this is what made people interested in it. The humour really makes the levelling and content fun. There isn't just fighting x amount of mobs, there's also challenges and little easter eggs to find. For example, I was questing near the Aurin's place and discovered what looks to be the Mad hatter having a tea party. I was thoroughly laughing at this. 

This game caters towards the hardcore gamers and also try to incorporate casualness in it. Now while this is a good idea, it did fail to cater towards both. For a casual once you level up to the maximum level ( which isn't very hard), there really isn't much to do for  a casual. You can try to do the dungeons or adventures, but they are much harder than before. To get better gear, you had to do these. To get even better gear, you had to do them but on harder levels. Now this game gave a developed a bit of elitism as it used a medalling system where you get better loot as you do the dungeon better. 

For me, I enjoyed the levelling but I did not enjoy the dungeon aspects. Thus, there wasn't much to do after except dailies. Now I know this might have changed since I wrote this but it is a good game and enjoyable to play. Class balance also needed as some classes were broken and others were too overpowered.

+ Good MMORPG to play
+ Humorous
+ Limitless potential
+ Fun combat

- Elitism at end levels
- Not much to do at end levels
- Class balance

Rating - 7.5/10