Classic Pump: I dunno?

Well I promised you bastards an article, and I’ll be damned if I don’t make at least some semblance of an effort to deliver.  I just got back from a tournament in The South, specifically North Carolina and Virginia.  I had previously acquainted myself with Raleigh during other traveled.  Virginia was new to me.  If there is ever a state that could be accidentally mistaken for a golf course, Virginia fits the bill.  Other than that there isn’t much I can say.  I flew 6 hours to Raleigh, and then hitched a ride with a local furry chap for the 4 hour drive to the location.  Immediately after we crossed the border we were severely accosted by local authorities.  Ostensibly for excessive speed and driving in the median, but such a pretense is ridiculous.  This was quite plainly an instance of fursecution, and also clearly of athletic intolerance, as speeding is the name of the game for Pump players.  (cue worlds faintest rimshot.  Seriously, wikipedia will be necessary to understand the humour of the last sentence fragment.)

Anyways, this tournament was supposed to be a shot across the bow for all the bastards of the classic pump community.  I have been involved in a number of high profile quarrels in the past, both over my tournament record and over my involvement with Pro.  It started with the pretty dramatic botching of the MMSD pump tournament way back in the summer of 2007, in Omaha.  To explain further it will be necessary for me to deliver some context.

Music games other than guitar hero and rock band have something called a timing window.  This differentiates between different levels of accuracy when hitting a note, as opposed to simple hit and miss.  In classic pump, it is extremely easy to hit notes with the highest level of accuracy.  However, there is also something in dance games called machine score.  For the longest time I thought it operated through some sort of voodoo magic, and to a certain extent I still think that plays a role.  In pump, the machine calculates score something like this:

Perfect = +200

Great = +100

Good = 0

Bad = -100 and combo break

Miss = -200 and combo break

In addition, everything good or better increases combo and every combo over 50 adds something like +200 per note.  A combo break resets this, essentially making a bad worth as much as -11,000 and a miss worth as much as -12,000 (from optimum score, being an FPC or full perfect combo.)

In contrast, music games like DDR, ITG, and more recently Pump Pro have not included combo in their machine scoring mechanisms.  Tournament organizers have also made no effort to stress combo play.  They have, however, made efforts to remove it from pump.  This is what happened at MMSD.  It happened badly.

Let me elaborate.  A system where minus points are delivered for certain levels of innacuracy is absolutely necessary to PA (perfect attack) play.  This was not done at MMSD.  Instead, 1 point was awarded per perfect, no other factors were considered.  This makes a miss of exactly as much consequence as a great.  This means a player such as myself could literally ignore the more technical parts of songs, focus on getting perfects on the easy parts, and win.  The technical patterns in question are what classic pump players center most of their training around learning how to hit.  They determine who the winner is in any sort of high level play, and rightfully so.

There were other sins committed as well, but none of them quite so egregious.  Anyways, way back in the day I took second (of 6) at the tournament in question.  A list of winners of the tournament went up.  My name was omitted.  About a year later I revisited the topic and complained.  Apparently this was taken as a sign of an ego problem, triggering a drama cascade which continues until this day.

So there’s a whole load of rather specific context.  More broadly, classic pump players tend to hate PA based systems and prefer combo based systems.  Why?  I can’t be sure.  As far as I have been able to discern, combo play only makes accuracy less important to the extent that sliding is easier than turning.  This is profoundly ironic given the stated emphasis classic pump players place on turning.  The real epiphany for me came when playing a song called Love is a Danger Zone, which is filled with rather complex turns.  I had learned them all, and in the process I had raised my score on Pro to a 96%, which I’m told is in roughly the top 6 recorded scores in the world.  I had 5 misses.  Asking Jboy if this was a competitive miss count for classic pump, he flat out told me no.  Then he showed me how it was customary to play it.  He comboed the most technical section without turning, finishing with a dramatically low percent score.

PA based pump play incorporates turning, and it incorporates comboing by necessity except in very specific cases, those ironically being difficult turns which can be better comboed by sliding or double stepping than by turning.  That much I have learned, and am confident of.  Hence from experience I have concluded that the classic pump purists do not actually understand the game.  Their issue can only be the lack of applicability of combo-based strategy to PA systems; It is my firm impression that PA-based strategy has greater applicability to combo-based gameplay than vice versa.  Certainly more than the purists would care to admit.

This tournament was supposed to be a test case.  Instead, it ended up being pretty close to Omaha all over again.  About 18 people were supposed to show up.  It ended up being 5.  I took first, but I can’t even begin to claim any sort of consequence to it.  I did not even perform to my own satisfaction, picking up misses on songs I am accustomed to FPC-ing consistently.  In the entire tournament, I believe there was only one song I lost.  It was Bemera CZ, and as far as I know I only lost because I gave up halfway through the (5 minutes of 200 BPM drills of the) song.

I wanted to consider the importance of strategy on PA vs combo systems, as opposed to simple skill.  I cannot really evaluate that at present.  My hypothesis was that it would be harder to consistently combo a song than to play it for accuracy, and that this would lead to players being strong on certain songs and weak on others, hence making information about other players more important.  I suspected this because of some of the more eccentric pump charts, and the techniques they required for comboing.  I realize now that to the largest extent, PA techniques translate to comboing techniques, and there are not enough eccentric charts to lessen the importance of simple skill.  The tested skill set just broadens to incorporate sloppy techniques like sliding.

Foot alternation does not change in utility.  Hand use does not change in utility.  Turning decreases in utility.  That is the only discernable difference I have so far encountered.  The only other issue I could possibly consider is which style of play requires greater consistency.  It seems to me that combo based play might, and that this would stress the importance of stamina more than usual.  Given the higher priority of sliding techniques, and the lack of sufficient evidence to examine, it is hard to rule either way.  My intuition tells me that stamina and consistency are marginally more important in classic pump than in pro.  It also tells me the difference isn’t enough to actually make a difference for a high level player.

I lost my opportunity to shut them up this time, but I have a renewed sense of dedication to that purpose now.  Classic pump, by all measures I can yet see, is an inferior game for an inferior player.  Also, all I won for my troubles was a copy of Fallout 3.  They didn’t even give out door prizes as promised.  So yeah, now I have a $400 dollar copy of Fallout 3.  Maybe I’ll review that sometime.

– Kilroy

Dance Dance Revolution DVD Game: A Video Review

“AMUSEMENT GAMING” Professionals are Officially Morons

The news in brief, once again secondarily reported from excerpts of The Stinger Report.

At the recent ATEI gaming trade show in London, two new dance games were displayed:  DDRX and Pump it Up: Absolute.  While reading through the report, these two excerpts caught my eye:

“During the show, the machine was overrun by the leading Dancing Stage fan players from across the internet. ATEI’09 had worked with Stinger Report owners KWP to come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with the Non-Trade problem at the show. Though it is impossible to hold back the tsunami of fan players interested in the latest BeMani titles, a need to manage the needs to promote the game and to sell the game (without a hoard of sweating players) proved an interesting challenge.”

“On the UDC booth the company had the highly anticipated ‘Pump It Up!: NX Absolute’ (PC Hardware) – the game was mobbed by fans of the dancing stage title during the show.”

Let me be the first, and perhaps only person to say: WTF.  Two things catch my attention here.  First, a horde of sweaty players?  That’s awesome.  A special Infinity Injun shoutout to S34n, who was among those sweaty players, and who I can only assume was one of the first people to have to deal with the retarded cultural logistics programme these morons apparently decided to implement.

Second of all, is the entire industry collectively retarded?  If you operate an arcade, of all the factors you could possibly know about a game, which is more important:  that it uses a USB memory stick to store player data, that it has a 37 inch screen or, oh yeah, that “it is impossible to hold back the tsunami of fan players”?

One of these things is not like the other.  Maybe the only reason arcades are dying is because operators don’t actually know how to run a business.

-Kilroy Del Dancefighter Economist the First

Infinity Injun Arcade Terrorism Advisory Alert

Greetings readers.  It is my duty to inform those of you who are still involved in the arcade scene of a pernicious, and I can only assume enduring threat:  Arcade Terrorism.  My source is the Stinger Report.  Being so named I can only assume it will post any updates on this grave security issue.  Rather than paraphrasing, I will simply quote directly:

Date: 24th November 2008	Location: Milky Way Express Arcade, Chongqing, China	Injuries: 5 Fatalities
Incident: The amusement venue was operating normally when a gang of over 20 men with knives and metal bars attacked employees of the arcade facility. At the end of the attack five individuals (four men and a woman) employees of the venue had been fatally injured at the scene; over 80 police and ambulances then rushed to the scene.
Suspected Cause: A police investigation suggested the incident started when a local gang leader approached the venue owner and then called assailants; the woman murdered was the venue owner’s wife and worked in the cashbox, in this Rider Misadventure incident.

NOTE – The number of organized gang-related attacks on amusement and attraction venues has soared – this latest mafia style attack in China is becoming a common problem, with corruption and protection money a factor of operational life in this country. Many countries are extremely secretive regarding the level of the problem, with a number of arcade venues in the UK recently seeing organized gang attacks for the ready money they carry.

That’s right, arcade terrorism.  Not yet in America thankfully, but elsewhere; to an extent we cannot be sure of no less, thanks no doubt to bureaucrats more interested in national image than the actual safety of their citizens.  So for those of you gamers who travel or live in any non-American country, look out for yourselves.  I’m wishing best of luck to S34n and Rosie in particular, since you’re both active in the UK and Chinese competitive dance game scenes, respectively.  May you both avoid any Rider Misadventure.

American gamers!  You are not without risk of your own!  Again, to quote directly:

– Guest Problems

[…]

It was reported in the Wall Street Journal that law-enforcement agencies across numerous States of the USA had seen an alarming number of serious disorderly conduct calls to what they called ‘Pizzacades’ – this term referring in the majority to some of the 540 ‘Chuck E. Cheese’ venues. This situation mirrors park riots at Six Flag venues in California and a riot of guests at a LotteWorld in Soul South Korea

The law-enforcement offices in the WSJ interview stated that it was a mixture of high tensions over children’s parties, crowded conditions and the mixture of alcohol that caused many of these incidents – in some cases arriving at mass riots between children and adults throwing chairs. This bad publicity of the CEC chain was countered by a statement that the sites were instigating measures to address these incidents. The list included the removal of alcohol from the menu (only 70 per cent of the chains sites have it on their menu), hiring of security staff, screening of weapons on site, and the addressing of gang colors and signs on clothing. Guest-on-Guest and Guest-on-Staff violence rose in intensity during the year, a number of near riots and fatal shootings taking place on park property or at FEC venues.

One example of the severity of the incidents for the ‘Eater-Tainment’ scene was revealed recently with the winding down of the METREON entertainment location in San Francisco – it was revealed that four individuals had been shot (three fatally) at the site. A number of venues have become gang turf with the incidents that engenders – though facility operators are keen to play down the association.

So for those of you playing games on American soil, be wary that you are not patronizing a gangland arcade.  It is my belief that riots instigated by debauchery are fairly readily predicted and hence reasonably avoided even without warning.  The issues of gang violence and terrorism are less so, however.  It is my hope that this article encourages gamers to pay attention and stay on their toes, and avoid any grievious physical injury or death.

Book Review: Arcade Mania!

Surely the question that immediately springs to the mind of the savvy reader is “what makes this book review worth my time?  There are many book reviews on this subject, and why should I spend my time reading and digesting this one as opposed to any of the others freely and readily available to me?”  Well dear reader, let me tell you why; because this review has character.  First of all, I don’t just have one but rather TWO copies of the book.  By simple math that makes this review at least twice as good as certain other book reviews that shall remain unnamed.  Secondly, there’s a better story behind it.  I didn’t go the boringly pedestrian route of buying my copies of the book, oh no.  I won them, in glorious MSpaint battle for the pleasure of Sir Aaron of Japan.  A man, I might inform you, of supremely high standing.  His forums exist as a glorious beacon for the righteous and proper ideals of music gaming (even in these dark times).  In addition to all of that, however, he actually makes a contribution to the contents of the book under discussion!  That, my friend, is why this is the superior book review.

A lot is covered in a fairly short period of words in this book, something I am at once suspicious of, as sheer unbridled verbosity is quite naturally a major goal of any true writer.  The book is organized as a Japanese game center presumably is, although having never been to Japan I can only question whether or not it even exists.  This in addition to clear contradictions like reports of game centers dedicated entirely to only one game, such as Purika no Mecca, which specializes in photo booths.  As far as I can tell photo booths aren’t actually a game at all.  Strike two Mr. Ashcraft.

The section on music games is about as slanderous and ridiculous as anything that has ever been said on the subject, which leads me to question why Sir Aaron of Japan has chosen to affiliate himself with it.  Then again, an outsider could never possibly understand the complexities of electronic rhythm-action games and the glorious and intricate communities that have been built around them.  This would hold equally whether they were writing a book on the subject or in fact reading it.  Upon investigation it turned out that Sir Aaron had been misquoted.  I suppose such errors will simply have to be written off as an unavoidable part of the cross-cultural discussion.  A non-player will simply never understand such subtle distinctions as, for example, the difference between doubles mode and 2p mode, or the difference between pattern recognition and pattern memorization.  It is not within their range of cognition.

Given this I cannot obviously recommend this book as a sound overview of music gaming.  In fact I am not sure I can do so for any type of gaming, as I can’t be certain that similarly eggregious offenses weren’t commited when describing other important genres and cultures.  However, as an unsound overview it may just be adequate, and in that capacity I not only recommend it but in fact wholeheartedly endorse it.

From this book I learned, rightly or wrongly, about the sheer complexity of 2d shoot ’em ups, or “shmups”.  The genre is much more malleable and rife for creative exploitation than I ever could have imagined, with games like Parodius, Otomedius, and Muchi Muchi Pork apparently combining classical 2d shooting action with pornography!  Truly exciting stuff.  “A shmup is  a good playground to try new game features” says Doujin software maker Kenta Cho.  Indeed.  With a backlog of clever genre mashups to look through, I will have plenty to study for ideas when I begin production on the shmup that I have been planning for the past few seconds.

One of the things that impressed me throughout the book was the constant reports of individuals and small groups who had made big things happen in the gaming industry despite seemingly large obstacles.  This includes Doujin software makers like Kenta Cho, but also Manga artist collective CLAMP and even the group that made Ikaruga, both of which consisted of a mere 4 people.  I guess it just goes to show that people can really do amazing things when they just get off their damn asses and put forth something even vaguely resembling an effort, Jeff.

The section on games of both luck and skill was interesting as well.  I thought it was especially fascinating to see the the subject of bad beats brought up in the context of Mahjong, because it reminds me that there are people who complain that they lost illegitimately or by luck in every game, and even though some of them are bound to be right, infinitely more are just whiny good-for-nothing scrubs.

Lastly the discussion about epic card-based arcade games was, well, epic.  I can’t understand how demand doesn’t exist for them stateside, considering things like Derby Owners Club made the trip across the pacific.  Apparently soccer based card game World Club Champion Football was released in Europe, I imagine principally due to the lasting international appeal referring to Soccer by the wrong name has for foreigners.  Games like Sangokushi Taisen, however, which is set in the Three Kingdoms era of the fictitious nation of China are apparently too culturally distant to present to Gaijin, even though stabbing people with swords for justice is generally a theme that carries quite well across cultures.  It’s also been my experience that westerners are typically quite eager to voraciously and senselessly devour anything that even hints of being cultural (in this case cultural meaning anything from somewhere else).  Truthfully, I always figured eastern culture was more popular in the west than it was in the east.  You’ll certainly never find any westerners extolling the virtues of western culture.  I say that fictional or not, the east is quite marketable in the west, and companies should bring games like these stateside.  I also wish arcades weren’t all dead here.

In conclusion this was a book review.  Goodbye.

-Kilroy Del Dancefighter Estallion the First