In the Next Generation of Video Games, Indies are the New Exclusives

Now Minecraft has no overarching objective, so it instantly challenges McGonigal’s claim that a goal is required in a game. But actually, Minecraft Collectibles ’s main goal is composed of multiple smaller goals. It doesn’t have a «grand» objective, but it has smaller objectives, little bite-size incentives that replace each other over time and take the role of a larger objective. First you collect resources, then you build a house, then you survive the night, then you wake up and continue, but each with steadier and steadier increases in scope and scale. Even better, there’s no one direction to go. Being able to explore in multiple regions and build whatever you feel is satisfactory is open-ended. You are given tools and no direction, yet you are still creating. You’re making the direction. This is a massive undertaking, one that changes everything that anyone knew about videogames before, and it’s a bigger embodiment of the «sandbox» mentality than Grand Theft Auto has even been.

The lore behind these creatures is unknown but likely unpleasant. It seems as if these warriors met their demise in the frozen parts of the world and returned due to dark powers. Who knows how many Strays are buried in the frozen ice and snow, just waiting for the player to come al

Ideally it’s the optimal situation for consumers. You buy a system, and you have access to almost every major game, with as few exceptions as possible. To me though, it’s a sad thought, as I sometimes long for a time when there were an assortment of games I couldn’t play because I could only afford one system. When that one guy in the neighborhood who bought the Xbox would show us all «Halo» and have us regret our PS2 decision (if only for a moment), or when N64 owners could stretch arguments with their Playstation rivals on into the morning by just dropping the name «Goldeneye» every now and then.

Telltale Games has a way of making games based off of characters or stories that already have impressive stories and making them better. With Minecraft: Story Mode, however, they managed to create an entire universe and story based off of a game that didn’t necessarily have either of those. We’ve seen our hero, who is meant to play the role of your average Minecraft player, traverse the overworld with his friends, each who represent different types of players, in order to meet his favorite band of heroes. Of course, not everything goes as planned as chaos ensues and Jessie and his friends are put in a position as the only ones capable of saving the world from the Wither Storm. This episode, though, is much after those events with Jessie being in charge of the new Order of the Stone, fighting monsters and searching dungeons for loot. They’ve become what the old Order used to be and are loved by the common folks but hated by other adventurers who do the same thing but aren’t as well known as them.

The collective groans of the Assassin’s Creed faithful heard upon the announcement the game was getting a multiplayer mode were not only noted, but honestly were not without merit when considering gaming’s long history of tacking on multiplayer modes to games best left as single player experiences. While that could have easily been the case here, thankfully the boys and girls at Ubisoft recognized the inherit potential of a multiplayer mode within this world, and executed it.

Minecraft: Story Mode — Episode 5: Order Up! shapes up to be an incredible introduction to the Order of the Stone’s newest adventures, but still manages to fall a little short. Telltale introduces new concepts, characters and worlds, but their biggest mistake was shoving it all into a single episode. Had they created a separate season talking about the events of Sky City and expanding a little bit more on the environments and characters, this episode would have been much more successful. That being said, however, this episode does deviate from previous installments as being much more adult and changes the characters as once being small time builders to being full-fledged heroes risking their lives to save common folk. Hopefully Telltale will continue to capitalize on that aspect of the characters and convey it in the following episodes.

Think about when you were a youngster and you went to the sandbox at the park. You weren’t told «build a sand castle» by your parents. You had your shovel, bucket and action figures and you did what you wanted. Fundamentally, you had no real goal; the end result was completely secondary to what you were doing to reach it. That’s the idea of a «sandbox» game: you aren’t being told what to do and you can feel free to express yourself creatively. You can break the status quo and go to places that you couldn’t otherwise. It’s not based around how much is given for you to do; it’s based around giving you tools and letting you discover what to do yourself.

Wii Sports may be good enough for Grandma to play as advertised, but what’s most amazing about is not it’s ability to ensnare the leisure time of the elderly, but rather how it created an experience that can be enjoyed on an equal level amongst all who play it.