There’s one aspect of games today that I forget about almost completely until I sit down to play them. Even then, it’s not every time I sit down that I’m reminded of this travesty, although when it does happen, headaches naturally ensue. I’m sure many of those reading this blog will know the feeling, having plopped down on the couch with a television remote in one hand, controller in the other. You switch the television on, then the game system. The LED light on your controller blinks three times, then fades. Batteries are dead. You need another set again.
Swear these little bastards used to last longer
Up you get, off the couch to scavenge around the house for some more. You try another controller – oops! Looks like the reason you weren’t using this one in the first place was because its batteries had died too. No use switching in the ones from the television remote – they were previously used for a controller anyway and are too low on life to power your games now.
Rechargeable batteries are something I thought I’d be able to give up after the release of the Gameboy Advance SP, but apparently the way of the future is to go wireless with everything else. Wireless, of course, meaning batteries. You just can’t solve one problem without introducing another in its place, can you?
Right now I own a couple of Xbox 360 controllers, a couple of Wii Remotes, some wireless Gamecube controllers, a camera, wireless mice and a Gameboy Color I still use from time to time, all of which use up AA batteries. Usually I wouldn’t mind buying rechargeables for the lot and then some, but having to cycle the batteries through so that I always have some in the controllers and some being recharged is just a little bit too much of a hassle for an unorganized git like me, especially with the Wii since Nintendo has had recharge cables packaged with their handhelds for over five years now. It seems ludicrous that they would release the Wii Remote with none of the same recharge functionality, leaving third parties to come up with their own recharge devices which can’t even work properly.
It doesn’t help that those devices which do have an AC adapter included can’t agree on one standard recharge device either. Why is it that I have to keep an entire drawer dedicated to AC adapters for various family mobile phones and Nintendo handhelds? Why can’t Nintendo themselves keep one adapter for all of their handhelds instead of introducing a new one with each new DS model and adding to my entanglement of wires and transformers? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Transformers and battery chargers themselves are a royal pain in the backside for me due to the amount of space they like to take up. I’ve always had this hope in the back of my mind that the reason they parked their arses across two power sockets at once was due to them requiring more power than other appliances and to prevent some sort of electrical overload hazard or something. But if a game console or television or computer or whatever can keep its cables confined to one socket, you would think they’d be able to design the bricks on the end of your recharge cables to do the same. The sockets in my room are limited in supply, so if the time comes where I need to recharge my DS, it’s a real annoyance having to go through the cables and checking which ones I really need plugged in at the time.
I digress. Batteries aren’t my largest complaint with gaming today by any means, but these are still problems I’d like to see fixed sometime in the future. A lot of games today aren’t just there as basic entertainment or timewasters – they’re developed to deliver a certain experience to the player. If my experiences with the top titles each year have to keep being interrupted and set back because of a pair batteries though, I won’t be a happy lad.
In other news for today:
I finished up my Ocarina of Time file the other day with most sidequests complete aside from the skultulas. Decided I’d move onto Twilight Princess and try to complete some things there since I needed a reminder of why that game was good, and because riding around a vast and empty field was marginally more interesting to me than sailing around a vast and empty sea. I’ll get back to Wind Waker eventually though, I promise.
I also started a file on Resident Evil 4 for halloween and boy, that game is fucking good as ever. I’ve reached Chapter 2 once more and the point where Ashley is introduced, but it’s weird now how, after games like this, today’s titles can’t seem to handle AI sidekicks or escorts quite as well. I admit, I’ve amusingly killed Ashley in the past by accident when she got in the way of my shotgun blast, but this was a one off occasion and otherwise she works really well at not getting in your way and hiding in dumpsters when you need her to. Better her than a so-called sidekick who steals your ammuntion and health drops then proceeds to waste them by shooting in the wrong direction for the next few minutes, I’d say.
Finally, as promised, I picked up Grabbed by the Ghoulies again as a bit of Halloween morning fun. It still holds up for me though, for the simplistic sort of fun it offers, and I still adore the classic Rare charm which has been poured into it. Not sure if I’ll take the time to finish it up again but I’ll just say that my love for Ghoulies has not diminished.
Underappreciated Game Tune of the Week:
Damn, this song brings back memories. One of the only RTS games I really enjoyed and committed to, although that’s partially because of my love of Warhammer in general before this was released.
May I quote a rare, intelligent youtube comment to sum up my thoughts on this piece:
“This is much better than the Halo music, it has no hope or certainty of good over evil, only the determined battle march of every race towards each others destruction. Halo gives hope with high notes and a fast base, this shows determination in the face of death through a steady beat. In halo there is hope in warhammer only an eternity of slaughter and the laughter of thirsting Gods”
That’s all I’ve got for now, though. Exams are almost upon me but I’ll try to keep posting small updates when possible. Catch you next time.
~Kowz
