Author: steven

My opinions on Sonic the Hedgehog 4

Sega recently released their game Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, the sequel the classic side-scrolling series which ended 16 years ago. Playing it myself I have found the game to be enjoyable and a nice homage to the classic series of Sonic games. While the game isn’t perfect, and few games are, I felt it was a fun title that also happened to be a decent Sonic game. Especially compared to the previous titles released by Sega in the past years.

Now I don’t speak for everyone, there are armies of fans that were divided on this game at the start. The game is just a week old now, but everyone is crawling out of their basements to complain about what is wrong with the game and how horrible it is. Some gamers have nothing but nice things to say excluding some quirks, while others are calling the game a horrible piece of junk not worthy of the memory it uses on their system. Why so much drama? Well these people are passionate about their Sonic games. They grew up with the series as a kid most likely and they want their experience today to be exactly the same as when they were 7 years old with a 3-button Sega Genesis controller in their hands. Well that isn’t going to happen.

Why so blue?

The problem with a situation like this is there is no way you are going to please everyone, it can’t be done. You can not take a 20 year old video game character, make a new game today, and have it be just like it was in the old days, or even better. There are many, many factors working against you, it would be impossible to please everyone. The gameplay, the technology, and the people have all changed. People today may not be as excited with a simple side-scrolling game without some new elements. While the technology to create a classic throwback title is available, as we’ve seen with Mega Man 9, most companies want something that looks new and modern. This may be due to consumer demand, or the decision from the company itself. They may fear someone trashing the game just by it’s visuals and not bother to give it a try – “that looks horrible and outdated.” is a first impression you want to avoid. Avid fans may love the 8-bit Mega Man look, but your average 13 year old kid will wonder why it doesn’t look as pretty as the current game he’s accustomed too. The game was obviously geared toward a certain audience, one they may not have the ability to return as much cash as more modern-looking game. People judge a lot of things on their looks alone and video games are no exception to the rule.

Now what about the gamers? They’ve changed too of course. From their youth maybe they started playing games on their parent’s Atari 2600 system in the family room and now they have a PlayStation 3 system hooked up to their own HDTV in their very own apartment. Just as their life changed it’s no doubt that their expectations for games has changed as well. In 1991 when Sonic the Hedgehog was release for the Genesis there was no game like it that could match it’s speed, gameplay and fun factor. It was something new for gamers to experience. Twenty years later this concept is no longer something new, it’s old, it’s familiar, it’s almost dated. Sure it’s not without it’s charm, but something needs to be updated or changed in order to appeal to the general audience of gamers out there.

Let’s face it, Sega is making games to make money. Without their revenue they can’t pay the developers and designers that worked on the game and they won’t make back their investment on the project. They are not making a game for the percentage of gamers who dislike Sonic’s green-eyed design or the fact that Dr. Robotnik is now called Dr. Eggman. They are making it for the general audience which means there will be compromises made in attempt to try and please everyone. Now this may not be the best route to go when the target of the game should be the fans of the original series, but they’re going for a bigger audience, not just for the older crowd. During the development of Sonic 4 Sega often noted that they were changing the game due to the feedback they received from their fans. While this is a nice show of support, this is tricky. If they listen to the fans 100% of the time their game would probably be something very different from what it is now, however if they ignored their fans it could have turned out far worse. Either way when gathering suggestions and input it’s a mixed bag, you always must take things with a grain of salt and move forward with what your gut instinct tells you.

What’s in a name?

Also a majority of the complaints coming from gamers are due to their personal expectations of the series. Sega decided to name this game Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and tie it to the original series. Putting it in direct comparison and competition with the previous titles. It’s easy to say Sonic Rush is similar to Sonic 3 in terms of gameplay, but to also realize that they are two different games. But it’s harder to think that Sonic 4 is different from Sonic 3 and accept it’s differences. Especially in gamer’s head. They will always compare this game to the previous ones, that is what you do with sequels. People compare Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with the original Star Wars film, or The Land Before Time with it’s 24th sequel. That’s what you get for putting it in the same series, it will be compared to the others. If Sega wanted to please fans on this issue maybe it would have been wise to name this game ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’s Spiritual Remix HD”. But that doesn’t draw as much hype and excitement as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 4’ can.

Sega’s Mean Bean Hype Machine

Let’s not forget the hype. Sega has been hyping this game for over a year since it’s announcement. Teasing the game titled “Project Needlemouse” and then further revealing the title “Sonic the Hedgehog 4” gave a tremendous amount of hype to the game. Continuing the elements and gameplay from a series that ended 16 years ago will do that. Along with the hype comes unrealistic expectations from fans of the genre. But you can’t blame Sega for trying to hype up their game, they’re spending money on making something and they want everyone to be excited about it and look forward to buying it. Steve Jobs does it with the iPod and Sega does it with their games. However with such a strong legacy of classic games and a recent catalog of disappointing titles the ‘Sonic curse’ a  is a real concern for fans. It also doesn’t help for Sega to hype press releases that turn out to be an announcement of a delay and try to cover it up with the fact that they’re making the game for the iPhone as well.

But do the fans expect too much? Maybe, but isn’t that the point? Sega is trying to sell what they think is a great game. But unless it’s given out freely to everyone along with a bonus of a $20 bill it will be hard to please everyone. Even with that effort I’m sure people will protest that they didn’t include a free game system to go along with it. People will always find a way to complain about something and it’s easy to see how being a critic can be fun, but sometimes you focus on everything that has gone wrong to lose sight of everything that was good. Now I’m not saying that a gamer shouldn’t have the right to be excited, but from my point of view they should try to be a bit realistic. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will not solve world hunger or the ache in your back, so don’t expect it to do so.

The Game Itself: Part 1 – Level Design

Sega decided to continue the Sonic series with Sonic the Hedgehog 4. They made it an episodic adventure, meaning the game will be split up into different parts to buy. It’s a popular format today, especially with digital download only games. What we bought was Episode 1, the start of the new series. The game barrows heavily from the previous titles, scenery and graphics have the same theme or concepts found in previous titles. Almost everything is either a reference or a new version of a previous concept from an older game. While this does not give you an experience that is 100% new, it gives the player two things. A familiar world to enter with different twists and turns one wouldn’t expect. It’s not 100% new, but then again it’s not an exact duplicate either. I feel that it was important for Sega to keep the first episode familiar to fans, throwing Sonic into a radically different world right off the bat would feel odd. However copying elements is nothing new to the series, Sonic 1, 2 and 3 all share a grassy green stage, a harsh factory stage, and an underwater stage.

That being said it is my personal opinion that this episode has almost relied on a bit too much from the previous games. Sonic 4 feels more like a ‘Sonic the Hedeghog Remix HD’ then an actual new game in the series. And I believe that is where we’ll find most of the complaints from gamers, there isn’t anything really too new. I’ll admit, with the exception of some new gameplay elements or designs the game copies a lot of old material. I hope that the second episode takes a bolder step to a newer world to show us some new exciting places. It’s fun to re-do some elements in a game, but if nothing is really that new then why bother making a new game at all?

Part 2 – Boss Battles

As with the levels in Sonic 4 the boss battles are almost directly pulled from previous games. There is a small twist however, when mid-way through the boss will change it’s strategy or start a new attack pattern. Visually we’ve seen most these bosses and machines before. The first boss is a copy from Sonic 1, the second is a copy from Sonic 2’s Casino Night Zone and so on. While it would be nice to have some new machines to beat up I again feel like Sega was trying to ease us into a new Sonic game slowly. Who knows what we may see in Episode 2, however I hope it’s something new. Then again how many different machines can one evil scientist make without repeating himself?

Part 3 – Physics and Attacks

One item that has been constantly nit-picked by fans of the series is the physics of the game. Now this is an important one. The physics of the game control the character, the enemies and the whole world. If this is off everything won’t seem just right and it can lead to a lot of frustrated players. Sonic 4 does not use the same physics engine from Sonic 1, 2 or 3 – there is no way it could have. In fact to call what the Genesis had a physics system is a bit of a leap. Simulated cartoon gravity is more like it. However this is another area where Sonic 4 doesn’t live up to the avid fan’s expectations. There is something a bit off here. Sonic is slow to run from the start, he seems a bit heavy or like he’s chained to a giant boulder. Compared to the 1st game where he is quick to accelerate this is step in the wrong direction. Especially in a game that’s suppose to emphasize the speed of it’s main character. Rolling down a hill as a ball has some odd effects too. If you played the original Genesis titles you often rolled up into a ball to increase your speed and shield yourself from attacks. But it seems like in this game when you’re rolled up it actually slows you down. Whether this was intentional or not is only know to Sega, but it doesn’t work like I would have expected it to. So the physics system needs some tweaking, especially when you can stand at a 45 degree angle and not fall back down the hill.

The homing attack is a new feature added to Sonic 4. This feature originated in Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast in 1999. Basically after you jump once you are able to press the button again to hit a nearby object or enemy. You’re basically dashing to it in mid-air, like a homing missile. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about here. The Sonic series has always added more features, in Sonic 2 it was the spindash, in Sonic 3 it was the fire, water and ice shields. In Sonic 4 it’s the homing attack. The attack is useful and you’ll be thanking Sega for it when you get to the final boss and some of the harder stages in the game. My only issue is that power-up items from the previous Sonic games should make an appearance. A water shield giving you unlimited air would be nice, or an electric shield to gather rings would be sweet. Sonic 3 never removed any features that were available from the first two games, so it’s my feeling that Sonic 4 should have the same amount of extras. We should be moving forwards, not backwards.

Closing Thoughts

So I believe I’ve summed up most of the complaints from gamers out there. These complaints, while solid, can be fixed. After all Sonic 4 is a digital download. This isn’t a circuit board with a ROM chip in-capable of being changed.Who’s to say that Sega won’t release a patch to fix some of these issues. Stranger things have happened before, so we can only wait and see. For major fixes I’m sure from all the heat Sega will at least fix some of the more noticeable issues in the next episode in the series. They would be crazy not to, especially if they want to sell more games.

At the end of the day Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a decent platforming game. It’s one of the better Sonic games in recent history, and while it has some rough edges there is definitely some good things here. The game isn’t perfect, but I found it fun and enjoyable to play. Even with it’s flaws it takes us back to a time of running on green hills and battling bosses in a classic 2D style. I hope Sega takes their time to make the second episode in this series a worthy purchase and that they try to bring back some of the magic they created over 20 years ago.

Digital Video Recorders and Television

A DVR today is a household term and a household item. Since TiVo helped bring the idea of recording TV on a hard drive instead of a VHS cassette the world of TV watching has changed. Instead of fiddling with stacks of blank VHS tapes and re-recording over cassettes for sub-par quality recordings we all admired the ability to look at a digital TV guide on our screen, push a button, and not worry about a thing.

Many cable and satellite TV companies are now offering DVR capable boxes for an additional monthly fee. TiVo also has a similar monthly fee system, or a pricey – but worth it – lifetime subscription service. Either way you’ll find yourself paying a monthly fee to record your shows and watch them anytime you want. What, there’s an alternative you say?

Alternatives

Well of course there is. In this world of technology there’s almost always an alternative. If you want the ability to record shows without ever having to buy a VHS cassette again, but you aren’t the type of person that needs to record two shows at once and so on, consider this. You can purchase a DVD recorder, this is exactly like a VCR, but instead of using cassettes it uses blank DVD media. You can purchase 50 blank DVD discs for under $10 or 15 usually, each disc will hold at least 2 hours (with a maximum around 4 or 6 hours if you don’t mind the quality dip). DVDs take up less space than VHS tapes and the quality is much higher. Regular DVD discs can only be burned once, meaning you can not edit or re-use a disc, however you can buy RAM or RW model discs to get some re-use of your discs. This of course all depends on which model of recorder you buy.

The DVD Recorder is a good option for those who don’t want to pay a monthly fee and want to still record their shows at DVD quality.

My Samsung DVD Recorder and my Sony Analog to Digital Converter

Geeky Alternatives

Okay so if you’re really into your TV shows, and I mean you love TV and you can’t miss a second of your shows. Then this option may be for you. Maybe you’re not a fan of the cable / satellite companies with their fees, taxes, and extra charges. Maybe you get your TV via the antenna or you don’t want the monthly fee of a DVR box. Well there is a solution, but it’s initial price is high. About $400-500 high (a bit less if you’re creative). Now why so expensive? Well because you’re going to be building your own DVR. Yes, you read that correctly. A mini-computer, small enough to fit inside your entertainment cabinet. Equipped with a video capture device, enough storage to save a year of programing, and internet connectivity, this option is very popular with geeky folks everywhere.

Computers can do basically anything they’d like, which is why a small computer with enough power can easily record video on a schedule. You’ll also have the flexibility to burn shows onto DVDs, convert the videos for portable devices like an iPod or an iPhone and upgrade your storage space in the future. Now I won’t go into the details too much here but you have some options. First you need software, you can use Windows Media Center, or a free Linux distribution called MythTV.  Then the hardware, depending on where your channels come from, you’ll need a TV Tuner or a Capture Card, or a combination of both in one internal card, there are also USB and FireWire external devices, but these can get pricey quickly. Of course the core of all of this is a computer, you’ll need something pretty modern to convert and save all of your TV signals, especially HDTV signals. If you’re at this point want you want to know more I’d suggest searching for some specs, if you’ve made it this far you’re probably geeky enough to figure the rest out. 😉

The Road Less Traveled… There’s A Reason Why

Of course there’s always another odd choice I’d like to add, which is the main reason I started to write this article in the first place. Ever hear of ReplayTV? You may have. Around the year 2000 when TiVo was still young ReplayTV tried to join in on the DVR fun as well. Some of their boxes were sold by companies like Panasonic, which re-branded their boxes and sold them under their brand, Panasonic ShowStopper. I recently picked up one of these boxes, even though it’s only standard definition. Why you may ask? No monthly fees – ever! That’s right, this system was created to be used without fees, it’s initially high selling price was high enough most thought. However I bought one of these for only $29 at a local Goodwill store. This Panasonic model boasts up to 30 hours of recording on “extended” mode. I took a gamble since I didn’t know if it worked, however it seemed to be almost new in the box. There was not a scratch on the unit and all the cables and accessories were there.It has a pair of inputs and outputs, with one S-Video port per input and output. The unit works fine for recording manually just like you may have with a VCR.

So why doesn’t everyone have one of these? Well it’s easy. It’s painfully outdated. The unit I got was fresh out of the box. Upon turning it on it wanted me to plug it into a telephone line so it can dial in and download some TV listings… no biggie right? Well 10 years later that phone line it likes to dial to no longer exists. With no option to punch in your own number, you’re pretty much stuck unless you pay Panasonic $150 to upgrade the software for you. Harsh I know, they should have thought of an upgrade path. It’s a shame there’s no USB or ethernet jacks on this baby, just an archaic serial port.

But since it’s me, I wasn’t about to give up that easily. I found an enthusiast site named ‘ReplayTV Upagrade’ (www.replaytvupgrade.com). From there I downloaded the right upgraded software for my device and read the instructions. Basically the Panasonic DVR has a hard drive in it, opening the box and disconnecting the drive I then plugged it into my Windows PC. Following the instructions I erased the DVR’s hard drive and installed the newer software onto it. I put the drive back in the case and crossed my fingers.

To my surprise it worked without an issue! 🙂 The system bypassed the seemingly mandatory dial-in via a telephone line and got straight to business. I setup my video output settings, confirmed I had the right cables plugged in where, and it worked. I was able to record live TV from my cablebox directly to my newly bought 10-year old Panasonic DVR. Now I came to realize why nobody uses these anymore, they’re a bit of a pain to get going. But hey, they still work fine. It’s not HD, but it’s fine for catching up on a show. The built-in TV guide needs a telephone line to download the TV listings data. Since I was able to get the unit up and running without a phone line after the upgrade I didn’t see the need to disconnect everything and go into the other room to download the guide. If it’s still available that is.

At this point I was satisfied with my purchase. I can use the device to record TV shows, record myself playing a video game, or copy family home video VHS tapes. I do have a converter for my computer that does this. But sometimes it’s handy to not have to use a computer just to record something. Where was I… oh yes, the DVR.

Television will never be the same way again, the DVR has changed the way most of us watch TV. We no longer live our lives around when our shows are on. If we miss it we know it’s recorded for us at home. The DVR is a great invention, and while TiVo’s DVR is a highly-polished and well made device, it’s good to know there are alternatives out there. From the high-tech mini-computer in your media cabinet, to the 10 year old DVR that nobody expects to be in use today.

LaserDiscs – The Blu-Ray of the VHS Era

Looking back, in my geeky opinion, LaserDiscs are kind of the Blu-Ray of the VHS era. VHS video tapes were one of the first mainstream consumer video recordings. Sure before these there were old Super 8mm films and even BetaMax, but VHS was the most common and after winning the format war it would go onto dominate the market for years until finally being defeated by the digital DVD.

Above is a LaserDisc copy of Toy Story, which looks like a giant compared to it’s modern DVD version.

But before DVDs came along there was an analog video format, with an analog or digital audio track called Laserdisc. A Laserdisc is about the size of a vinyl record, with a cover just as big. Allowing for a great piece of cover art, and a book-like jacket with notes, descriptions, stories, and photos from the film. Laserdisc players and movies were expensive, and they were very slowly being adopted. Most users didn’t know the difference of the media and decided not to bother with it. LaserDiscs also couldn’t store the entire movie on one disc, even though each one was double-sided. Many movies over an hour were split across multiple discs. For Example the 1993 LaserDisc release of Star Wars has 5-sides just for the movie, that’s 3 discs with 2 sides per disc, with the 6th side remaining for supplemental features such as trailers and interviews. Early players could only play one side of the disc at a time, requiring the viewer to get up and flip over the disc manually. It wasn’t until later on where more advanced players could read the other side of the disc on their own. So if you wanted to watch “The Empire Strikes Back” from start to finish you would need to get up from your cozy sofa at least 5 times to switch discs and sides. 6 times if you wanted some bonus material.

Above is a LaserDisc compared to a DVD. The DVD is almost the size of the middle of the LaserDisc!

But the picture quality was a bit better then VHS and instead of needing to rewind a tape, you could navigate to a chapter in the film instantly. No rewinding was ever required and you could easily skip to your favorite part in no time. This quality would also not degrade overtime and was consistent. Unlike VHS cassette tapes there is no wear and tear. A laser reads the information off of the disc without ever touching it, unlike a VHS cassette where the tape comes into contact with a series of wheels and servos. The Laserdisc image and audio will remain the same for years to come… unless the disc succumbs to laser-rot, where the physical layers of the disc separate and deteriorate. This usually happens to discs stored improperly or if the disc was poorly manufactured.

The makeup of a laserdisc is an analog composite video track and various audio tracks. Some audio tracks were actually digital and some were analog. In the case of the Star Wars Trilogy – The Definitive Collection LaserDiscs, the analog audio track was actually used as a commentary track. While the commentary track is not for the whole length of the feature, and there is a lot of silence between tacks, it would pave the way for DVD feature-length commentaries in the future. Players usually had composite audio and video output with maybe a digital audio connection if you were lucky. If your LaserDisc player has an S-Video port you may still be better off using the Composite video connection unless your player is really high end. But even then your TV’s comb filter is likely far better and will work with the Composite signal better.

Not only could the LaserDisc pause and freeze-frame, but with more advanced discs you could usually scan through a scene with a frame-by-frame control. Allowing you to study the frame of the film as detailed as you’d like. Also some discs included pre-set chapter stops, where a screen would inform you of an artwork gallery ahead. You would then use the skim or frame buttons to navigate through the gallery of images.

While DVDs have made VHS cassettes and LaserDiscs a thing of the past, DVDs would never have came to be if it wasn’t for the advancements of the first big experiment in the consumer home video market – the LaserDisc. It was the Blu-Ray of it’s time, but unlike Blu-Rays they died out before their popularity could peak and before the format got a true chance to shine. Well, more like HD-DVD… but there was no popular competing disc format to get in the way.

I started collecting LaserDiscs for their cover art, and I mainly still do. They have beautiful pieces of artwork, usually a more grand version of their cramped VHS counterparts – and sometimes a surprising styled cover adapted from an alternate poster. I have my LaserDisc player setup today and even though it’s kind of silly to have it plugged into an HDTV it’s sometimes fun to take a disc out and see what it was like to be on the cutting edge of home entertainment many years ago.