Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy...Conspiracy

   Psi-Ops is a PlayStation 2 game that was released by Midway in North America on June 14, 2004. The plot revolves around a soldier with psychic powers as he tries to stop a terrorist organization known as "The Movement". As the game progresses, the main character, Nick Scryer, regains his psychic powers and fights several other psychics along the way.
  
   General sales were not particularly low, but they were not very overwhelming either. Psi-Ops did however receive good marks across the board from several reviewers. It was also included in  a list of games that deserved sequels, by UGO Entertainment Inc. The reason that I'm including this game in my blog is not because of it's sales but because of how quickly it disappeared from the public eye. Although it never made a significant splash among the gaming community, but it did garner enough of a fallowing that it is surprising just how quickly it was forgotten.

   Part of Psi-Ops disappearance is due to the fact that it had no sequel, when its story clearly left room for one. A man named William L. Crawford put an end to any hopes that there were for a sequel. On February 20, 2007, Crawford filed a lawsuit against Midway on the grounds of copyright infringement. Crawford claimed that Midway had stolen the idea for Psi-Ops from a screenplay he had written. The game supposedly shared the same name, similar if not identical characters, and even similar plot points.

   The court ruled in favor of Midway since there was no solid evidence saying that Midway stole anything. Even though Midway won, Psi-Ops had attracted too much negative attention, so other games were pursued in Psi-Ops' place. Even though there is no chance for a sequel, Psi-Ops can now be downloaded for free on a PC with integrated advertising.

   Until next time.



Sources:

  Brendan Sinclair (Mar 13, 2007). Midway sued over Psi-Ops. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/news/midway-sued-over-psi-ops-6167348

 

   Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psi-Ops:_The_Mindgate_Conspiracy. [Last Accessed March 26, 2013]. Read more:http://www.americanessays.com/tool-box/apa-format-citation-generator/#ixzz2Onaa4v3H

God Hand: Backhanded by IGN

   God Hand was a PlayStation 2 exclusive that was released in North America on October 10, 2006. It is an homage and satirical take on old school brawlers, and game play mainly revolves around hand to hand combat. It also features an adaptive difficulty system where the game gets more difficult as the player does better in combat.

  It's difficult to say just how many copies were sold because God Hand never reached any of the best seller lists in America. Sadly, American consumers all but ignored this quirky beat em up adventure. However, when it was released in Japan just a month before its American debut, it quickly became a top seller and over 48,000 copies were sold. So why was there such a big difference? Reviews. Most of the reviews for God Hand, in both America and Japan, gave it a decently above average score and usually only had complaints about difficulty or graphics. One of the most prominent American game reviewers, IGN, gave God Hand its death sentence in the form of one of the most controversial reviews of all time.

    Saying that God Hand was too hard or that its graphics were bad is understandable. There is no doubt about how brutally difficult this game is and the level design could be considered pretty bad for an old N64 game, but IGN's review by Chris Roper is inexcusable. The various aspect that Roper holds against God Hand, including things like mindless button mashing, bad camera angles, and boring enemies, are unfounded and blatant lies. Kind of makes sense once you realize that he never played more than the first few levels.

   That's right; Roper eventually admitted that he did not fully play the game once IGN listed God Hand in their Top 100 PlayStation 2 games list. Evidently, Roper wasn't willing to get used to the unconventional game play so he just based his review on his run through the first few levels and repeatedly getting his butt kicked. He just slapped a 3 out of 10 on it and went about his business.

   Luckily, God Hand is still available for download on PSN with only a few minor bugs and original copies can still be found on sites like Ebay. If nothing else check out the credits on youtube so you can at least get a feeling of how zany God Hand is.

   Until next time



Sources:

   IGN (Nov 2, 2010). Top 100 Playstation2 Games. Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/top/ps2-games/100
     
   Chris Roper (Oct 10, 2006). God Hand Review. Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/10/10/god-hand-review

   (2013). God Hand. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Hand. [Last Accessed March 24, 2013].

Hello Everyone

   Every year, dozens upon dozens of games are released, both for consoles and for computers. Most of the time, AAA titles and the highest rated games receive the majority of the attention and low budget and low quality games go by unnoticed by most. Sometimes though, games that deserve their fair share of time in the spotlight get pushed aside and get lost amid the sea of failed video games. As for what makes these games slip into obscurity, it varies from situation to situation. Sometimes, sales are ruined because of bad marketing, or selling to the wrong demographic. Other times a game is doomed by a bad release time or even a faulty review.

   My name is Sean Johnson and I'm here to talk about a few of those games and why they failed so horribly. I'm currently studying game design in college so while I may not be the undisputed expert on all things related to gaming, I do recognize a well-made game when I see one. With any luck, I'll manage to convince you to actively seek out more obscure games or maybe even get you to play the games I'll be talking about on this blog. Either way you would be supporting the men and women who worked so hard to produce quality entertainment.

   Until next time.