Vidfest 08: PopVox Award Winners Rocketmen Axis of Evil, N+ Nick Waanders Slick Entertainment.

Homegrown gaming gets recognized

At last week's PopVox awards, two local videogame studios were recognized for their efforts in game development in the categories of Best Game for Console/PC, and Best Casual Game. Slick Entertainment, and Metanet Software took away the award for Best Game Console/PC for their title N+, which is available on the XBLA platform, while the Best Casual Game award went to Acronym Games for their Rocketmen: Axis of Evil, which was also released on the XBLA online distribution service.

When you think about the other games in the Best Game Console/PC category which included Queasy Games Everyday Shooter, and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, you have to wonder exactly how these smaller lesser known games (N+, Rocketmen) managed to beat out the more established titles that have been around much longer and have garnered more praise from gamers, and critics than all the PopVox award winners combined. PopVox (from vox populi – L. voice of the people) claims to give the power to the people by giving them the chance to determine the winners by casting their votes, but something tells me there's a bit of a hidden agenda behind the scenes. (That, or the entire voting system is screwed up). This is after all, the Vancouver International Digital Festival, presented by none other than New Media BC. So when you have a local event with local submissions, it would be in their best interest to highlight the local industry and it's talent. Right?

I'm not saying the winners aren't deserving of the award, N+, and Rocketmen are good games, but they definitely aren't creme de la creme when stacked up against such blockbuster titles like Assassin's Creed. Now that I think it of, perhaps PopVox should rethink it's categories. Typically downloadable titles on the XBLA or Playstation Network, would be considered 'Casual Games', so a category for 'Best Downloadable Game' would make sense. N+ and Rocketmen would fall under that. Yet there are Casual games that aren't necessarily downloadable, so keeping the "Best Casual Game" category would work too. That way you could avoid mixing big console games, with smaller downloadable titles. N+ beating out Assassin's Creed still makes me laugh.

As I sat in the audience during the award show, I wasn't at all surprised that the awards soon became predictable. "Wow! Another winner from Vancouver!"

To see the other award winners check out popvoxawards

Related: PopVox - CellMap, PopVox - Local Gaming Gets Recognized, Vidfest 08 Summary

I think I'm gonna be sick.. Too much Final Fantasy...

RPG's + Handheld = Not-so Casual gaming

Whoever said that portable gaming was solely for the casual gamer definitely hasn't played a good ol' RPG on the Nintendo DS, like Final Fantasy III, or Final Fantasy VI. Just the other day I found myself glued to the friggin' hand-held for several hours, on top of the 30 hours I had already clocked in while playing FF III; the once console, now portable RPG had me hooked. That was due in part to the lack of save points prior to the final battle. I had to play through two areas packed with monsters, and then fight the final boss, all without saving. Whoever neglected to put a save point at this part of the game is a total WANKAH!.

Games that require the player to level up constantly in order to progress through the story like a traditional RPG does, definitely require a lot from the player, in fact they're down right time consuming. Sure like any portable title, you can pick it up and play just about anywhere you want, but some games aren't for the casual gamer, nor can they be defined as casual games. I'm really not fond of the label anyway, because if I for example play a game like Puzzle Quest (or the aforementioned FF's) for hours on end, it's not really "casual" now is it?

In any case, after struggling to get to, and then beat the last boss in FFIII, I can finally say I finished the game, and well I think it's overrated. Needless to say I wasn't very impressed with this Final Fantasy. Even though it features everyone's favorite job-swapping system, I didn't really find the characters or back stories all that interesting, or the game for that matter. And yet I played it for 30 hours... wow.

It was entertaining to say the least, just not one of my favorites.

And just when I thought I'd be done with Final Fantasy, here comes FFCC: Ring of Fates for the DS which I picked up last week, and then FFVII Crisis Core for the PSP this week. OMG why all the Final Fantasy?! These 2 games will definitely take up my time... I feel bad for neglecting Mario and friends. I picked up Smash Bros. Brawl as well, but haven't been able to play it as much as I'd like to. Will there ever be a FINAL fantasy? I think I'm gonna be sick after these two Squeenix adventures. Hopefully I don't change my handle to some horrendous faux anime/rpg name, and start cosplaying. That would be bad, but an excellent example of how playing too much Final Fantasy can influence the mind.