“And in this moment, we can declare that the Bemani Pro League is a resounding success, a love letter and celebration of a genre that no one plays anymore and that would not have been cutting-edge if it had been released in the nineteenth century, produced by a company that hasn’t cared about the videogame business in over a decade.”
“[I]f you want the best singleplayer and multiplayer skirmishes in a genre which is heavily defined by the number of moving parts, then you start by cutting out the phase of play that looks more like the beginning of a chess game and less like the awesome simulation of war that RTS can be.”
“[W]hat I can assure you is that the game which forces you to demonstrate competency and mastery of a universe—often to the point where that universe is burned into your brain—is going to lead to a more satisfying and memorable impression than the passive experience that’s as challenging as a cheap television show.”
“I don’t care whether the journalists handed out their “universal acclaim” and I don’t care whether the “pros” say it’s good. It is my absolute fucking right to ditch your game, call it what it is, and move on to something else.”
“So what’s the problem? Well, the terms are often used interchangeably, and it leads those who clearly lack authority to inadvertently assert that authority.”
“Downloadable content says, “We have a game here that is worth playing. What can we do to add more content?” An expansion pack says, “We have a game here that is worth playing. What can we do to make the content better?””
“[I]f you’re playing alongside teammates and you’re not the best player in the world, then you will always be worse than someone else, and you will be holding them down. Just keep that in mind when someone else is holding you down.”
“And yet, in this culture where we do nothing but rank and compare things, we have people running around asserting “apples and oranges”, the idea that you can rank (compare) fighting games against real-time strategy games, but you cannot compare (rank) the systems and design of those games, because they’re too different.”
“Thus, “I play for fun” was born, the idea that experts are not enjoying themselves when they are doing everything they can to win, and we were all dumber for hearing it.”
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