WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[RedTwoster]

I (justificably) gush about @FLips brilliant gaming posts all of the time, but @Jazzy G's gaming posts are fast catching up as some of my favourites on the forum. Really brilliant stuff. 

Bit of a blast from the past for me this week, as I've been playing Wiz 'n' Liz on the Mega Drive. There's nothing quite like it even now, you frantically run around catching 'wabbits' who turn into letters allowing you to spell words, as you compete with a timer (it's also bags of fun in multiplayer mode) - it's better just seeing it really to get a grasp as to what it is, but I'd love to see someone bring this gem back. 

I could have posted this in the retro gaming thread, but it's not the only game I've been playing...

Is it Super Meat Boy? Celeste? Nope, it's Love, Eternal and in spite of being comparable to those two games in some ways, it's a very unique beast. It's a horror game and an ultra-hard platformer all rolled into one. The narrative is really strong, and it's a weird game in that it's short, but I suspect a lot of people will never finish it and find out how the story ends because of its difficulty. That's a shame too, I thought it was excellent. I do like this kind of platformer anyway, but the story alone is good enough to stand by itself, without any of the gameplay. It's cheap, so worth a try if you like that kind of thing. 

[Jazzy G]

Thanks you @RedTwoster, I try but my ramblings aren't a patch on the retro gaming love letters @FLips composes.

[The Gaffer]

13 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Elder Scrolls VI is officially titled... Sentinel. Well I'm glad that's all sorted. See you in 2028 (earliest) for the actual game. 

I know nothing's really going to live or die by its title, but Project Sentinel just sounds like the codename for Xbox's new lethal dose of restructuring poison. I can't imagine it having the same sort of cool cultural weight and longevity as Skyrim.

Edited 4 hours ago by The Gaffer

[Onyx2]

Good use of AI found: vibe coded compilation of the ~16 bit WWF games.

 

[FLips]

It's a good idea but I just can't get behind someone saying "I did this" and "I created that" when ultimately they've done bugger all. As far as I can tell his own video graphics are AI generated. So it's a guy using AI to vibe code a mod for an already existing game, using AI to design his own content and then claiming he did it. Sorry Onyx but I just can't get behind it. I'd rather someone took a year to do it by hand and it come out worse, but at least you can genuinely pat them on the back for the effort.

Edited 4 hours ago by FLips

[Chris B]

Sorry, but that's absolute shite. There's some interesting stuff in there - the idea of using AI to uncover aspects of how a game works and make a video about that? Cool - that point about checking positions as often as they do? I liked that.

But it really says a lot about how AI works that he spent all his time building 'promo' and 'storyline' sections, while producing something unplayable. It looks the part enough to make a video about and otherwise is just poorly replicating what people actually made that we all responded to back in the day.

Fuck's sake, the actual games are out there and you can emulate them.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Review embargo is up for the Ocarina of Time Remake on Switch 2.

Surprise surprise...its a well reviewed game!

Currently 96/100 on Metacritic after 80 reviews. 

[The Gaffer]

God the title of that video can get fucked as well. 

You forced AI? How completely kerazy of you. It must have put up quite a resistance. 

[Merzbow]

Aside from the 16bit renditions of wrestler themes those games have zero positive elements to them, truly awful and even my child brain knew it at the time.

[Jazzy G]

I have been watching a series where somebody has been getting ChapGPT playing the SNES version of Street Fighter 2 as each character. He gives it a little guide to how to do the moves, then runs it a couple of frames at a time so "Sol" as it's been named has chance to try and figure out what to do in the situation it finds itself in. It's been an interesting series. Struggles a lot figuring out where Vega (claw) is when he does the cage climb. Presumably as a little tribute to Justin Wong it won a lot of rounds as Chun Li by establishing a life lead then running down the timer. So far it's done the best as Guile, but Guile is arguably broken and the best character in original Street Fighter 2. The channel creator has said at some point they're going to try it with Super Turbo instead, which has super cheap input reading enemy behaviours.

[Devon Malcolm]

43 minutes ago, Jazzy G said:

I have been watching a series where somebody has been getting ChapGPT playing the SNES version of Street Fighter 2 as each character. He gives it a little guide to how to do the moves, then runs it a couple of frames at a time so "Sol" as it's been named has chance to try and figure out what to do in the situation it finds itself in. It's been an interesting series. Struggles a lot figuring out where Vega (claw) is when he does the cage climb. Presumably as a little tribute to Justin Wong it won a lot of rounds as Chun Li by establishing a life lead then running down the timer. So far it's done the best as Guile, but Guile is arguably broken and the best character in original Street Fighter 2. The channel creator has said at some point they're going to try it with Super Turbo instead, which has super cheap input reading enemy behaviours.

When we're all burning again next summer I'll be thinking of how my heat stroke was somewhat caused by ChatGPT doing Let's Plays.

[SuperBacon]

3 hours ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

Review embargo is up for the Ocarina of Time Remake on Switch 2.

Surprise surprise...its a well reviewed game!

Currently 96/100 on Metacritic after 80 reviews. 

I haven't played a new console, aside from the rare arse kickings my youngest gives me at FIFA on her PS5, but Ocarina of Time is my favourite game ever. I saw an advert for it last night and it looks absolutely gorgeous and great, now I need a Switch 2.

[FLips]

I'm not laying blame at Onyx and Jazzy specifically because it would be massively unfair, but one of the most dangerous uses of AI is this "well they're only using it to do X so it's ok". Usually innocuous stuff like in this case coding old WWF games or playing Street Fighter 2. It's very easy to look at the wider AI landscape and see the things most people hate like creating artwork or music and say how shit it is, but the more it's normalised with minor things like this then that's a foot in the door and before you know it we'll be accepting the AI artwork because at least it's not something else worse, and eventually it will just be universally accepted.
Every time one of these videos is shared and accepted of "AI is rubbish except this time, this time is fine" it's a step closer to just having entirely AI games with AI art and AI code and AI sound and there being no point to any of it except the planet got a little more fucked creating it.

[westlondonmist]

Has anybody played Godzilla Destory All Monsters Melee remastered? I've not played the original or any of the sequels but it looks tremendous basic fun. A wrestling game with monsters essentially. The roster looks a bit thin though, feel like there should have been more variations on the different monsters. 

[Devon Malcolm]

26 minutes ago, FLips said:

I'm not laying blame at Onyx and Jazzy specifically because it would be massively unfair, but one of the most dangerous uses of AI is this "well they're only using it to do X so it's ok". Usually innocuous stuff like in this case coding old WWF games or playing Street Fighter 2. It's very easy to look at the wider AI landscape and see the things most people hate like creating artwork or music and say how shit it is, but the more it's normalised with minor things like this then that's a foot in the door and before you know it we'll be accepting the AI artwork because at least it's not something else worse, and eventually it will just be universally accepted.
Every time one of these videos is shared and accepted of "AI is rubbish except this time, this time is fine" it's a step closer to just having entirely AI games with AI art and AI code and AI sound and there being no point to any of it except the planet got a little more fucked creating it.

Yes to all this.

The stance on the usage of generative AI in art is an entirely binary one. You're either for or against it. If at any point you say "well I don't like AI but..." then, I'm sorry, you are NOT against it.

And it's such stances that are actually the real danger right now, not the techbros who are using it to do everything but wipe their arse - they are still very much a minority. It's the insidious worming into the habits of those who thought they were sceptical or those who hadn't give AI a moment's thought that will kill us in the end.

Edited 7 minutes ago by Devon Malcolm