Posts Tagged ‘Super Street Fighter 4’

Darren and I are back again, and just in the nick of time to fulfil our twice-monthly commitment, although we both still seem dead set on declaring that the show is weekly. We aren’t, and I will leave it for you to decide if that is a good or a bad thing.

This show’s unintentional theme is cultural divides. With me returning to the UK later this year Darren decided to prepare me for re-entry with terrifying snippets from the British tabloid ‘The Sun’. While this is an apt reintroduction to the state of my home nation, I cannot help but feel there is a veiled message from Darren to stay in the land of sushi and fun that is Japan, rather than heading back to the doom and bombed out Woolworths that now seems to be the hallmark of my home nation.

Beyond this new ‘scare Alex off coming back to the UK’ segment we hit all of our usual topics. Heaven and Hell see Android phones and Word Press taking pride of place in discussion. This is swiftly followed by some games we have been playing (Jump Ultimate All Stars, Final Fight and Super Street Fighter 4) and a few highlights of news from the last two weeks. To top off all this game discussion we visit the topic of game design and how Japanese and Western methods inform each other, or not, and the results of such collaborations.

Also of course there is Darren’s Old Games, which I am determined to rebrand as ‘Darren’s Good Old Games’. This week he imparts his vast array of Mario knowledge.

If you enjoy the show, have an idea for features, or just want to scare me off my return to England, please let us know. See you in two weeks.

The DoFuss Show – Trying To Bridge Cultural Divides. [ 1:14:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Top title game releases are becoming a year round event. Gone are the days when a gamer could binge at Christmas and fast through the winter, surviving on the fat of Santa’s spoils. But while the release calendar has changed my buying habits have not, and that maybe about to become a problem.

It was no secret that the traditional lull really wasn’t coming in January this year. Initially my supposition was that the large number of delayed games had simply shifted the off-season to around March. With this in mind I kept buying games. I bought Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2 and MAG to name but a few. I ground my way through all of these, leaving aside titles from Christmas that I planned to return to later when the slump finally arrived. But my belief that the flood of releases would slow was wrong, because as March came and went, and the games kept coming.

I don't want to sound like I am complaining, this is not a bad problem to have.

Now I find myself sat with a pile of fantastic games that I am still itching to finish. They sit on my metaphorical coffee table, begging for attention. Yet even with this heap of games I have discovered that I continue to check new releases, unwilling to miss out on the next significant title.

Late in March it became apparent that it was getting beyond a joke. With games to review, articles to write and a life to lead, it had to stop. I had more than enough unfinished and unplayed titles to keep me going until sometime in October. Even big releases like God Of War 3 I knew I would not have time for; I could easily save myself effort and expense of buying it. I realized that once the buzz died and the price dropped I could come back to it, if I was still interested, but right now I don’t need it in my life. So I made a simple vow; no more new games until I finish the games I already own.

Kratos is just going to have to wait his turn.

Even as I made this promise I add clauses. I reasoned that games applicable to my ‘Scared Gamer’ page on Game People, would have to be bought for coverage. Plus any title that may be hard to find at a later date would have to be snapped up. Sensible provisos I could argue, but the more astute reader can no doubt see them as pre-made excuses for my purchases of Metro 2033 and Deadly Premonition. Yet even with these loopholes I have already broken my promise.

In many respects my actions were almost innate, see wanted game, I buy it. As an adult there is always enough money in my wallet for any game I want (which is different statement from actually having enough money). By simply having the economic means, the chance of me weakening to an impulse purchase rise exponentially. I was coping though; since I made the oath no new games had entered my house. Technically in fact I still have not gone back on my vow, but in my heart I know the preorder for Super Street Fighter 4 sat in my wallet is not sanctioned.

To make matters worse its the collectors edition.

My problem was that Street Fighter is something very special to me. In my youth this was a series that saw me saving for months to enable me to buy it day of release. A franchise that saw me hauling my tubby thirteen-year-old ass through Birmingham (at speeds it had rarely seen) go to Game, just to grab the latest instalment.

I could make a good many justifications to myself (some may even be convincing) to explain breaking my oath for the latest Street Fighter. Deep down I know however that, like so many others, this games will sit unwrapped for some time. My life has changed, I can no longer sit and play for hours on a Saturday with friends, and online play simply does not scratch the same itch. My time for this kind of gaming has passed, so while I can hope to one day relive it, the fact is I will be lucky to ever recapture this part of my youth even for a day.

On the plus side the bonus rounds are back.

Super Street Fighter 4 was simply the game that highlighted this problem that I, and I am sure many other committed gamers have, habitually buying games. Now as an adult I struggle to break the habit of buying games when I can, a pattern established during a time in my life when I could finish every game I could afford. As much as I try to rationalise it and excuse my purchases (‘its for review’ or ‘I have to keep up with the discussion’), I have to accept that I am now an adult with limited time. I am sure that I am not alone in having to take a long hard look at my hobby, its costs and my consumption of it, before conceding that many of my purchases are at best frivolous, and at worst wasteful, especially as the industry now appears set to feed my addiction all year round.