Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Milk Me

'bout time Comcast got around to fixing things. The internet (in total) is still a little fritzy, but I can get things done for the most part.

This is good.

So, here's the update since...well, apparently, the middle of April. Wow.

-- Job --

Went to interview at High-Voltage Software to see if they needed help on the Harvey Birdman project they're working on. Unfortunately, I showed up too late in the product lifecycle, but they really seemed interested in my skills/good looks, and we'll see if I can get involved in their next batch of games ("three to four months from now") as I am towards the top of people they intend to call.
In addition, I went and made some nice connections at EA Chicago (Mythic) and a few more at High-Voltage, but I'm still having trouble breaking into Midway (*cough* Mary Joyce DeLano *cough*) and Day1 Studios (although I intend to visit them on Thursday). All in all, I've actually been a little productive. Go me.

-- Games --

Can't say that I've really had the chance to play anything out of the ordinary. After my love affair with Castlevania, I got really involved in DOTA again (Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne custom map) and dabbled in a few "classics." Oh, and I'm apparently still really good at Halo 2. This is good news (Gamertag: GepettoZHog).

Well, until I realized how many versions there were of it. Let's play a little game called "Milk Me." How many iterations of a game have been milked out of a franchise? Today, we look at the game I was playing this morning -- Mario Kart.

Starting with the basics, I will be kind and count Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 as separate entities. There were enough changes in the game to merit them legitimately different, and I stand by that. Even after that, there is:

Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Super Mario Kart ported to SNES)
Mario Kart DS (Mario Kart 64 ported to DS)
Mario Kart 64 (Wii Enabled Port of Mario Kart 64)
Super Mario Kart (Wii Enabled Port of Super Mario Kart -- not yet announced)

Holy shit that is a lot of milking. I understand that there are franchises (you don't need to tell me!), but in order to be truly successful, you really need to reinvent yourself. Look at the difference between Super Mario Sunshine and any other Mario (especially the new "Super Mario Galaxy"). Mario Kart, on the other hand, changes very little from game to game. Double Dash (which sucked, by the way) was the last Mario Kart game to "stray from the formula." Using two drivers was actually a unique idea. Too bad.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Double Dash does take longer to get into then other mario karts, but ive found that many people judge it too quickly because of expectations they have from the N64 version (not that im implying you've done this--you could have logged quite a few hours for all i know--im really just speculating based upon some of my friends initial reactions). If you give it a chance for a few consecutive hours with some friends(the powersliding is a bit more advanced than the earlier games, among other changes which made it harder to pick up and play) it really changes your perspective. I personally think its the best game of the series. Its straight up addicting; to paraphrase xplay's episode of the top 10 gamecube games: "Double Dash is nintendo's best attempt yet of making crack in video game form."

The first time you smoke it it may not be your cup of tea, but after your used to the hardcore buzz your hooked.