Worth Playing Pans Odin Sphere

Worth Playing recently gave the much lauded Odin Sphere a 6.8, and had this to say about the experience:

Many people accuse recent 3-D games of being all flash and no substance, and alas, Odin Sphere shows that 2-D games are not immune to the same syndrome. Odin Sphere is stunning. Rarely have games floored me with their animations and graphics as much as Odin Sphere did, but that is almost all that is worth recommending. The gameplay is dull and clunky and worst of all, repetitive. The characters are bland and boring, and the controls are a bit stiff and frustrating to wrangle with. I wanted to like Odin Sphere — no, I wanted to love Odin Sphere — but at best, I could tolerate it, and it was only the beautiful animations that kept me going. Don't misunderstand. While it has its flaws, Odin Sphere isn't unplayable or unworkably flawed; it just quickly grows tedious. The few elements that truly shine may be enough to justify purchasing this beautiful title, but be warned not to expect a gameplay experience as stunning as the graphics.

While Worth Playing probably isn't in my top five or even top ten review sources, it does give me pause, where I originally had no doubts about purchasing this game. Now I think I'll be waiting to see more reviews before I make my final decision.

Check out the full review to decide for yourself.

Why no Eternal Sonata love for America?

Riddle me this Microsoft: why would someone who was jonesing to play the Eternal Sonata demo be unable to download it? There's no punchline here, and I'm sorry if you were expecting one. This was something that was puzzling me yesterday whilst i was Googling "japan postal codes" (something that I never dreamt that I would Google, by the way). The game has been announced for an American release, so distribution licenses of something of that nature isn't the problem. The demo is entirely in English, so the language barrier isn't even a factor. The only reason I could imagine as to why someone would have to make a fake Japan-region Live account to get it was that there was no reason. Microsoft just decided that it would be Japan only, and that was that.

On the subject of the game itself, I'm still on the fence. Tri-Crescendo was involved with Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (admittedly, only on sound design, but still), which it still a sore spot for me. I hated Till the End of Time's battle system, and anything that makes me reminiscent of it is difficult for me to play. Fortunately for me, Eternal Sonata's battle system is just different enough. It's strongly influenced by position; every character can set two abilities for use. One of these abilities is a "light" ability, and can only be used the the "light" areas of the battlefield. The other ability is, coincidentally, a "dark" ability, and the reverse area restrictions apply. The timing is a mix of real-time and turn-based, and there are apparently different levels for the battle system that change the timing dynamics. There is also a defensive timing mechanism, similar to that of Paper Mario. However, this only works on attacks from the front and sides, further emphasizing the importance of positioning.

All-in-all I did enjoy the demo, and I think I will definitely be picking this one up later this year. I would recommend the demo to anyone who wants to go through the trouble of getting it. For the record: Japanese postal codes are in the form: XXX-XXXX. You're welcome.

Diary of an Aspiring Game Designer - 5.19.07

Dude, thank you for the awesomeness, that game looks sweet. I wish some more exciting PS3 titles were coming in this half of the year, but I guess beggars can't be choosers...

In other news, I have been officially accepted to the Guildhall for the July term (with the ability to defer to January if I so choose). I got a call from the Recruitment Director yesterday while I was at work and got the official email a few minutes later. There's still the decision to be made of July vs. January, but right now I am just so overjoyed at having gotten in I haven't even been thinking about it. It's the first real "success" since I started this journey and, I believe, worthy of much celebration. Probably in the form of gorging myself on Kingdom Hearts, LOTRO, and Halo 3 Beta.

w00t!

Gamer's Day Goodness

If you've been to any game-related sites over the past few days, it's been hard to avoid footage from Sony's Gamer's Day event. If you haven't done so already, do yourself a favor and check out the videos (particularly the developer walkthrough) for Folklore. It looks like the freakish love-child of God of War and Phantom Dust, with a dash of Lost Kingdoms. Is that a good thing? Hell yes. This just became my most anticipated PS3 game of the year. Sorry, Ratchet.

You know what? I'll just save you the trouble of searching for it and point you to the awesomeness. You can thank me later.

Nothing's tricksier than a hobbit...

except maybe a Spaniard.

That's it. Don't ask why I said it, just accept that I did and move on. There was never going to be a better time to drop that inside joke, and I had to seize the opportunity.

I'm a tricksy little hobbit

Don't you worry, Incognito, I haven't given up on KH just yet, it just hasn't quite grabbed me the way FFXII did at first glance. That may be do in part to my social situation being different than it was last October. Back then, I had just moved here, and I hadn't really assembled my core group of friends so I had all the time in the world and nothing better to do than play videogames until my eyes hurt. The reason I didn't play KH this last weekend was because Friday night I went out to a concert, Saturday I ended up playing Catan on the XBL with a couple friends all morning and then hung out with people the rest of the day, and Sunday I was mostly busy with errands I my newest gaming obsession, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a checkered past with MMOs. I often get excited for them play them for a little while but ultimately discard them for one reason or another. I am not sure that LOTRO will be any exception, but I will say that my initial impressions have been fantastic. While the game doesn't do anything new that I am aware of (maybe the way it handles PvP) it does bring together some of the best elements from games like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XI and many others. Add to that that it looks absolutely gorgeous (sorry WoW, you are starting to show your age) and that Middle Earth is a great place to play in and you've put together a very powerful MMO experience. I think I've played for around 10-12 hours so far and obviously haven't seen even a fraction of the content that is available. There are so many quests, deeds, and other things to do that I imagine this game could even keep the most hardcore MMO fan busy for quite some time.

I play as a hobbit burglar named Borbo, actually Borbo the Undefeated right now (the title system allows you to add various titles to your name, depending on deeds you've accomplished) and I occasionally run around with a Human Captain name Teoric (Sidious' avatar), so if you're every on the Windfola server keep an eye out for us. Until then I'll be busy making sure all the hobbits get their mail and pies in timely fashion. Ah, the life of a hobbit...

It's about time

Finally! Someone else makes a post!

Avenger, it would be a real shame if you got distracted from Kingdom Hearts. Unless, of course, you get distracted from it because you finally decided to go back and finish Shadow Hearts. You were on the precipice, but for some reason you refused to take that last step! Don't make the same mistake twice. Also, don't be such an Final Fantasy fanboy with your RPGs. If you can haul yourself though 70+ hours of FF XII, I think you can manage to make it though KH.

In short: don't be that guy, Domino.

My Return

Wow, I leave for a couple weeks and when I come back it's basically just Incognito yammering to himself about his RPGs. Well, somebody has to put a stop to that, so I guess that's going to be me...

So, first order of business, my application to the Guildhall is complete and submitted. The recruitment director informed me I should expect to hear something by the end of this week or early next week. Needless to say, I am a little nervous about the whole thing. This is what I consider my greatest opportunity, so a rejection here would cause me to seriously reconsider this whole game design thing as a career choice. Regardless, there's nothing to be done about it now so I have been using my newfound free time to go back to my most favored pastime of actually playing games, which brings me to my second point.

Typically, when I play I tend to meander between games and get easily distracted by new and shiny things (as this post will further reveal). Occasionally, however, I consciously or unconsciously decide to really pour myself into a game and just get totally absorbed in it's storyline and characters. As that hasn't really been a natural occurrence as of late, I decided to look into my substantial backlog of games (likely larger than even Incognito's, with perhaps fewer RPGs) and choose something to just blitz with whatever free time I had available.

This decision, much like Incognito's was not an easy one, and I had several options that I think could have provided excellent experiences: Metroid Prime, STALKER, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Dragon Quest 8, Rogue Galaxy, Okami, among others. Instead of one of these I chose to try to re-engage with a game that didn't originally grab me, Kingdom Hearts.

The first time I tried to play Kingdom Hearts I think I mostly was turned off to it by the battle system. The story and characters seemed interesting (I like Disney), though the narrative moved a little too slowly for my taste, but the battle system just irritated me. Say what you will about FFXII and the gambit system, it beats the crap out of the downright stupid AI partners you get in KH. Donald and Goofy will in no uncertain terms run at the closest enemy and basically blow all of their MP as fast as possible, and then they will die. No attempt to evade attacks or at least minimize damage from bosses highly predictable special attacks. Nope, full-on right in the face and then dead.

This second time through I think I am enjoying things a bit more because I have just learned to accept it. You are on your own and your companions are more like set pieces than actual gameplay elements. I am about 7 hours in and I am heading back to Traverse Town after doing Tarzan world, Alice in Wonderland world, and Hercules world, so I know I have barely scratched the surface, but unfortunately I have yet again been distracted by something new and shiny, and worry that I may not complete it as planned...again.

I think this post is already long enough so I will leave the new game for my next post, but I'll give you a hint, it's a new MMO. Talk to you all later!

Wii-markable Timing

So, I was on the way out of BestBuy today, and as I'm approaching the exit, an employee passes me with what appear to be three shiny new Wiis. For a second, I just stood there staring; I was dumbstruck. When I snapped out of it, I asked if those happened to be for sale.

"Yep."

"Can I get one?"

"Sure, just get back in line."

And so, just a few weeks after I resigned myself to go without a Wii until the holiday season, one just falls into my lap. The only downside is that I leave town for the rest of the week tomorrow night, so I'll cherish it tonight while I can.

So, in short...

Who's got two thumbs and a Wii?! THIS GUY!!

I apologize for blurting that out. I just really wanted to work that into this post, but I couldn't manage to do so in any sort of clever fashion.

Incognito's RPG Impressions: Replacing Ar Tonelico

Before we get to the meat of this post, lets play some Jeopardy!

Answer: 4

Question: How many time would someone see the credits roll in Ar Tonelico if they completed the game and Shurelia's (spoiler) Cosmoshere?

This is a record that I don't expect to be broken any time soon.

Now that Ar Tonelico is finished, I've had the same problem that I often have in these situations: finding a new game to occupy myself with. Even with my extensive back log of games from which to choose, this proposition is not as easy as it sounds.

Since Persona 3 is on the horizon, the first game I though of was Persona 2. This lasted all of 2 hours. It's not that there is anything wrong with the story. On the contrary, the story started of strong. The problem was with the battle system. Well, sort of. You see, because of that huge backlog of games that I mentioned earlier, I can be very picky about which one I play. The big turn-off in Persona 2 was the ridiculous menu system in battle. The default battle system is an auto battle; you set actions for all you characters and they will automatically perform them until you say stop. But what if you don't want it to go progress automatically? Well, there is an option to do one round at a time, but to do that you have to wade through menu level after menu level. As you can imagine, this gets really cumbersome, really fast.

So I decided to put my time to better use that paging through battle menus, and I picked up Rogue Galaxy again. You might remember Rogue Galaxy from when Avenger raved about it back in the day. In short, I was less than thrilled. I first started it soon after it was released, but I put it down after an hour, largely due to my dislike of the points-based real time battle system (which I will discuss in a future website article). Admittedly, its biggest short-coming is all in my head. Rogue Galaxy was developed by Level 5, the same crew that is responsible for Dark Cloud 2. I loved Dark Cloud 2, and I had always imagined that Rogue Galaxy would be Dark Cloud 2 in space. Well, it's not. It's much more hack 'n slash, much more .hack than Dark Cloud. All I can think about while playing Rogue Galaxy is how much more I would like it if it was Dark Cloud 2: IN SPACE! As far as non-superficial grievances go, however, the comparative strength of physical attacks versus special abilities is laughable. Why would I bother even used my sword, and risk having one of the retarded AI-controlled characters die in 3 seconds, when I can kill every enemy in one hit with Desert Wind? Recharge drinks can be acquired on the cheap, so constantly using AP is no sweat. At about the 10 hour mark, I finally decided to put Rogue Galaxy down again.

So, what next? Coincidentally, I already mentioned it: .hack. .hack//G.U. to be precise. Yes, I am one of the people who enjoyed the original .hack series. And recently, I've had the strange desire to dive into The World again. And now that my first two attempts at replacing Ar Tonelico have failed, it's time to go out and add to The List again.

If anyone out in reader-land has an any comments/feedback on this series of posts (love it/hate it/change this/change that), please let me know.

Calling All Bullet Points

• Calling All Cars - It's here, finally. I gave it a whirl when I got home from work today. I tried one game offline, but the computer's perfect aim was driving me insane. So, online I went. It could be kind of difficult to find a game, since there is no way to sort the list that I could find, so you basically have to scroll down the list until you find a game that isn't in progress. Of course, you could join a game in progress, if you don't mind waiting a while and listening to some twelve-year-old in voice chat. The game play is fast and simple, and highly enjoyable. I'm sure it's even more enjoyable if you know how to use more than one of the weapons.
• Forza 2 - I tried out the demo last night. Naturally, it didn't seem as gorgeous as the trailers made it seem, but that doesn't mean it's not easy on the eyes. It's hard to get a feel for it since there is only one track, but the cars handle magnificently, and I'm excited to get my hands on the full version and get my tune on.
• Settlers of Catan - I have often felt like I was in the minority: nerds who have not played the original board game. Now, thanks to Big Huge Games, I can enjoy all the fun of the board game on my 360! Huzzah! As best as I can tell, it functions as a reasonable facsimile for the real thing.
  

Linkin' and Thinkin'

First up, there is this article up that (eventually) gets to some info about Lost Odyssey game play. Really, it's not very insightful, other than giving an idea of how large to game is. No, what this is about is when they mention that the director of Legend of Mana is involved in the project. Yikes. Legend of Mana was a disaster. That was years ago, though, and hopefully whatever influences Legend of Mana has on Lost Odyssey are slight. Or better yet, non-existent.

Next, there is this press release for Shadowrun (via EvilAvatar). What bothers me is the second to last line, where they state the prices for the 360 and Windows version. Am I the only one confused as to why the prices aren't the same? I was under the impression that both versions were identical. Was I mistaken? Are there some fancy exclusives on the 360 version? If not, why is it $10 more? Can someone explain to me how this makes sense!? I mean, you're already shelling out the extra $50 a year for online multiplayer on XBL (which is available with the silver membership on Windows Live) with the 360, and now you're going to have to pay $10 more per cross-MS-platform title? Someone tell me why 360 owners should be OK with this! Jimmy, you have a degree in econ, maybe you can sort out this mess for me.

Almost like I dream about

There is going to be another Kingdom Hearts, but it's not going to be KH 3. No, instead it's much closer to what I fantasize about. While it's not exactly how I imagined it, it's close enough to get me all hot and bothered. If Riku is a playable character again... it's just too awesome to imagine. I think I need to go lie down for a minute.

Obviously, I'm very excited about this... unless it's PSP only. That would be a real downer. Of course, if there was one game that would force a PSP purchase from me, this is it.

Speechless

I'll let the video speak for itself. May 22 seems so far away.

Drat! Foiled again!

First, there was my confrontation with the DDR dance pad. Now, it the SIXAXIS that is screwing with me. Exactly how is it accomplishing this, you ask? By running out if power, of course. There I am, preparing for the final battles of Ar Tonelico, and up pops the "controller is low on power" message.

This was most frustrating, since the PS3 recharge cable is only 3 feet long. Of course, I don't sit within three feet of my PS3, so it was nuts to me finishing Ar Tonelico. I'm not sure what Sony was thinking when they decided on a length for the recharge cable. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the BestBuy to buy a third-party cable of reasonable length.

Incognito's RPG Impressions: Taking It In Stride

Game du jour: more Ar Tonelico. Just some general notes and comments; today I'm keeping it light and fresh.

1. Phase 3 of Ar Tonelico can be described as very Xenogears-Disc-Two-esque. There is a lot of text, followed my more text, then maybe a battle or two, and then some more text (for a change of pace). This is mainly a result of the fact that I already got to the top of the tower. The entire world has pretty much been explored, evidenced by the fact that I've only seen one new area in the last 6 hours. The only up-side is that I finally got the last Reyvateil, which means I get to explore another cosmosphere, which is by far my favorite part of the game.

2. If you were walking through the personal library of the major villain in a game, and as you were reading his diaries you realized that at one time or another he manipulated and/or attempted to kill all but one of the member of your party, you'd expect some kind of reaction, right? You'd expect someone, anyone, to say something, wouldn't you? Well, if you were to expect that from the characters in Ar Tonelico, you'd be wrong. For all the talking in that game, you'd think that someone would mention something from those diaries sometime, but no. Ridiculous.

3. I have seen the credits roll twice, and I'm still not done the game! Speaking of rolling credits, there is an update on the fake-out ending from the last post. It really is an ending, if you want it to be. Or at least I assume so, since I picked the text option that I thought was least likely to end the game.

I know I said I would keep it "light and fresh," but I guess I got a little carried away.

I'm gonna go lie down now. This blog is heavy, and my shoulders are starting to ache from carrying it. **OH SNAP!!!**

Odin Sphere mania!

I'll assume that since you're reading this, you read Penny Arcade. And by extension, I'll assume that you've read the glowing praise they have heaped upon their review copy of Odin Sphere. For me, this could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, I'm thrilled that Odin Sphere apparently plays as fantastic as it looks. I've been in eager anticipation of this game since I first saw the trailer. I will never grow weary of 2-D sprites, and here is a game seems to take them to a new level.

On the other hand, who knows how many copies of this game will be shipped in the US? Probably not too many. Penny Arcade is an extraordinarily popular site that holds tremendous sway over its readers, and all of this positive publicity may entice people to run out and pick up Odin Sphere; people that may not have done so if that review copy had never been put in the tray.

Hopefully this won't end up with a Disgaea-esque situation, where the only way to get your hands on the game is to shell out $45 at Gamestop for a used version with no case or manual.

Incognito's RPG Impressions: Game Over

Much like Avenger's "Diary of an Aspiring Game Designer" posts, this will be sort of a recurring topic for me. The title still may be a work in progress, though.

I've played what could be described as a "healthy" number of RPGs. In all my gaming history, if seen a lot of stuff. That's pretty much what these posts will be about. When I see things I like, when I see things I don't like, or when I see things that blow me away, I'll post them here. And I'll do my absolute best to avoid spoilers. Look for whited out text where appropriate. So, let's get started with the game du jour: Ar(rrrrrr) Tonelico.

So, what happened in Ar Tonelico that was worth a post here? Well, they pulled some craziness that I have never seen before: the psych-out ending. Yes, that's right. A full-blown, 3-consecutive-boss-battles- followed-by-a-few-lines-of-text- then-roll-credits fake ending. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out. I knew that there was supposed to be another phase, and I knew that I still hadn't controlled all the playable characters, but this is a game where there is some branching of the storyline. Was it possible that I screwed up hours ago and ended the game prematurely, a la Persona? Oh crap!

This and so much more was going through my head as I stared at the staff credits scrolling down my TV screen. Finally, those cruel credits came to an end, but just because the characters were back on screen, didn't mean that the game wasn't over. There is always the chance of some kind of epilogue. Mercifully, after a minute or two of dialogue, I was returned to the map screen. Phew!

I have to give Gust credit. I've played over 70 RPGs, and it's not often that I see something that is legitimately new. The fake ending was one of the more harrowing things I've seen in a game since Eternal Darkness. I hope I never have to see it again.

Emergency Release 1, Incognito 0

So, I feel like an idiot. Here I was thinking that my DDR pad was teh broken, when it was just one of Microsoft's little safety features getting the better of me. DDR was working fine for me last Friday, but when I tried to boot it up on Sunday afternoon, the light ring on the pad was flashing, but it wasn't making the connection to the 360. So my first thought was: oh crap. I've had this thing for less than two months, and I've already broken it.

When it didn't work again today, I was ready to take drastic action. I was online looking for warranty information, or maybe even *gasp* a third-party dance pad (which, for the record, are ex-pen-sive). As a last ditch effort, I went to the Xbox forums. That's how low I was: I went to a forums site. Anyway, after going through a few pages, I found a post from someone who was having the same problem as I was. The only suggested solution was to plug in the controller after the console was turned on. So, I go ahead an try it. Big surprise, it didn't work. So, in my frustration, I grab the cord and try to pull the plug out. *Pop!* The cord goes slack, but the plug is still in the 360. Wtf?! I go to investigate, and I find that there is a emergency release in the cord. So I reconnected it, and guess what? It worked perfectly. Apparently, it was plugged in just enough to get a few lights to blink, but not enough to work.

Damn you emergency release. I'll get you one day. I'll get you when you least expect it. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Ehem. Excuse me.

Now I can get back on my schedule of "trying to be less fat." Hooray for not being so fat!

Back in the saddle

Hoo-hah! The fundamentals exam is over, and I am ready to get back to gaming! W00t!

So, some brief points of interest:

1. I haven't even finished the first Ar Tonelico yet, but lo and behold, there is already proof of a sequel in the works. The interface seems to have received be a huge upgrade. That shiny new harmo gauge looks much better than the original. Sinusoids for the win.

2. Mass Effect has been announced as a September release. Everyone kept hoping for a June/July release date, but that unfortunately was not to be. Personally, I'm not too bummed. Yeah, I'll have to wait a little longer, but it will nicely fill that gap between Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.

3. I say this every year around this time, but the rest of this year should be great for RPGs. With Atelier Iris 3, Odin Sphere, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Persona 3, Dawn of Mana, and (hopefully) Lost Odyssey all due to hit before the end of year, it should be a busy time for yours truly.

And who knows, maybe I'll have Ar Tonelico 2 to enjoy before the year's out, too.

Pass & Play

For all you click-three, quick download, shockwave type players, I've got an update here you don't want to miss:

(1) Cathy's Caribbean Challenge (which you can download from Big Fish Games) is lame. Don't do it!! I'm warning you!!! Diner Dash it's not...in fact, not even close.

(2) Food Stand, however, with it's ridiculously lame title is excellent. You put together burgers and sell them to customers, but you have to put them together in just the right order and you can earn bonuses by adding sauces to them. It's awesome. So awesome that I bought it before my free trial was even over and I NEVER do that. Go to Big Fish Games and download it NOW!

Enjoy!

I wish I knew

I wish I knew what makes a good game. I've enjoyed games of all kinds. Other than a feeling of being complete, there aren't a lot of similarities. And even some of the games I've enjoyed seemed incomplete (see Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii). Maybe one day.

Fake Soccer Recap

I've been debating whether or not to post this all day. On one hand, I was really excited when it happened. On the other hand, it's really dorky to post something like this. It's like getting a championship ring for winning a fantasy football league. In the end, I decided to go for it. It's not like I can get much dorkier anyway. Plus there's a precedent for me doing stuff like this.

I've provided some links to relevant data for those of you who aren't "in the know."

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BETHLEHEM, PA - An epic game of football was played today, but not in the classical fashion. No, this game was played inside of Incognito's XBOX 360, but the magnitude of the game was larger than life. We are, of course, speaking of the UEFA Champions League final in Pro Evolution Soccer 2007. This would prove to be a magical match, as the Incogni2 controlled Tottenham Hotspur took on the third-ranked team in Europe: AC Milan. Both teams had a strenuous road to the title game, with Milan beating Barcelona in the semi-finals, and Tottenham crushing arch-rivals Arsenal (7-2) in the quarter-finals, and getting a hard-fought 1-0 win over top-ranked Chelsea in the semis.

The game did not start well for Spurs, as Gilberto Gilardino stuck home a second-chance goal off a save from Paul Robinson in only the second minute. Normally, Spurs are not a strong possession team, rarely winning the match's possession battle. However, the early goal seemed to galvanize Tottenham, and they dominated play in the first half, possessing the ball more than 60% of the time. Bastian Schweinsteiger had some exceptional runs from the right wing in the first half for Spurs, but he failed to get a shot on target. Milan took a 1-0 lead into the break.

The second half belonged to Spurs, specifically to Tottenham captain Robbie Keane. Keane's first nail in Milan's coffin came soon after halftime, when he struck a perfect header off the bottom of the crossbar and in off of a Young-Pyo Lee cross. Another Keane header found the back of the net after a throw-in found it's way to Jermaine Jenas, who delivered the perfect cross into the box.

However, Keane was still not finished. Halfway through the second half, Schweinsteiger showed some strong play in the corner, and was able to deliver the ball into the box. Keane leaped into the air, contorted his body, and struck a spectacular volley low and hard into the corner of the net to cap off his hat trick. Tottenham's defense was also top-notch. AC Milan was unable to mount any sustained pressure past the first five minutes; mostly a credit to the strong center defense by Tottenham's midfielders and center backs.

Tottenham 3 - 1 Milan

Champions League Best Overall Player: Robbie Keane (Tottenham)
Most Goals: Robbie Keane (Tottenham) - 8
Most Assists: DeMarcus Beasley (!) (Tottenham) - 5

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So, needless to say, I was pretty excited. Especially about Keane's 3rd goal. You really needed to see it, it is definitely one of my top 3 PES 2007 goals.

New Laptop=w00t

As the title would lead you to believe, this post is coming from my new laptop. Hooray! I got it just in time too, since today Windows Update totally f-ed up my PC for the second time in as many months.

Anyways, I've been quiet recently because I've been preparing for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam next Saturday, so don't expect to hear much from me until next Saturday night. However, I will will say this: Puzzle Quest is awesome, and fireball=domination.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, WHY ARE THE PHILLIES SO TERRIBLE! :(

Diary of an Aspiring Game Designer - 4/12/07

The SOE interview was a bust, or at least that's how I'm interpreting it. When the interview begins with "I'm not sure I'm the right person to be interviewing you..." you know it's probably not a good thing. Not to say we didn't have a good conversation about game design, but given that his areas of expertise were computer engineering and programming, we weren't really well aligned.

Supposedly they have open positions across the board, so I guess all isn't lost quite yet. He's supposed to talk to their Lead Designer about doing a phone interview with me, so we'll see what happens with that. I'll let you know!

Diary of an Aspiring Game Designer - 4/10/07

So I got a phone call from Sony Online Entertainment today that said they were looking at my resume from GDC and wanted to schedule a phone interview. Sweet!

It is with the Senior Infrastructure Programmer so I am not sure entirely what that means, but I presume it is similar to the systems design (read: game balancing) roles I have been looking at thus far. This marks my fourth "line in the water," so just for a brief status update here's what I'm looking at right now:

1. Sent card game to the CEO of Mind Control software on Sunday (4.8.07) - he ran the workshop I attended at GDC and asked that I send him something with "no computer required." My family and friends have played it and seemed to think it was decent, and I would hope they would know better than to lie about this.
2. Took systems design test for Cryptic Studios on Saturday (4.7.07) - not sure what to say about this. It's part of the interview process but the questions were pretty vague and open-ended so I can't judge how well I did. No idea when I might expect to hear back, but I plan to follow up next week
3. Interviewed for QA position at Lucasarts at GDC - yeah so testing isn't the most glamorous job in the games industry, but it's a great way to break in, or at least that's what everyone says. The hiring timeline got pushed back so I am "still under consideration." Planning to keep following up on a semi-regular basis.
4. Phone Interview with SOE on Thursday (4.12.07) - not sure what to expect here, I'm not even sure exactly what kind of position they are looking at, but at the very least it means something in my resume is appealing to some subsection of the gaming industry. Hooray!

This isn't everything I'm looking at, but they are easily the most likely to succeed. I'm also working on putting together materials to get into the Guildhall, a graduate program in game design out of SMU, but I think that is a tale for another time. I just bought G.R.A.W. II today (thank you, $10 off coupon!), so I'm gonna go give it a whirl before I have to get to bed. Later!

Long live the PS2

The PS2 games just keep coming. I'd like to direct you to this preview. It's for Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm.

How excited am I? Very excited. Very, very excited. While I was reading it, the first thing I thought was: a game with a timer? No thanks. But when I kept reading, I started to think that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Yes, that's right. For the first time ever, I might be OK with the idea of racing against the clock in an RPG.

Really, the selling point of the game is the blades system. As they mention in the article, Ar Tonelico has a similar system, but in Ar Tonelico it is only in place for a few characters, and it only changes little things like how fast certain gauges fill in battle. Extending this system to all of the characters, and having it effect not only appearance, but also weapons and skills, is too cool.

Conveniently, this game comes out the day before I get (essentially) a six day weekend. Booyah.

As a note...

...am I the only one who writes on this damned thing anymore?! It's the 7th of April and there are three entries (well okay, now four) and they're all mine.

What's up with that?

Diary of an Aspiring Game Designer - 4/7/07

Not sure if that is the actual title I am going to go with for this series of blog entries, but after talking about my adventures trying to break into the game industry with a few of the VP writers, Incognito thought this might for some good blog fodder, so here I am.

Since most of you have no idea what I am talking about I'll do my best to catch you all up on the key points. Some time around my final year of college I realized I had little to no interest in the actual profession I was studying, mechanical engineering. Sure I liked the classes and I was quite good at them, but my experiences in the real world, had left me largely unfulfilled, and faced with that fact I began to look at my options.

One of those options was to start my own game company. I've loved games ever since I was a kid and I had been training to be a mechanical designer for the past five years, so game design seemed like an easy choice, except for the obvious problem of having no training or experience of any kind in the field. Since that didn't really qualify as an option, I decided to explore other career opportunities, which is what landed me here in Richmond working for Capital One as an operations analyst.

Now don't get me wrong, I have a good job, a really good job in fact. The people are nice, the work is at least mildly interesting, and the pay is great. I really have nothing to complain about, but that whole concept of game design has been stewing in my head since I began thinking about it realistically a year ago, and in more nebulous terms long before that. I think I can safely say it's been my dream for a long time.

So in pursuit of that dream I decided to attend this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, and I must say it completely surpassed any of my expectations. For as hard as I still believe the game industry is to get into, it really made me feel like I could do it. I had the opportunity to attend a two-day workshop on game design that was just outstanding. It really got to the core of what it is that makes games great and allowed multiple small teams to rapidly prototype games that were actually fun to play. Not to mention I got to network with some incredibly interesting people, a remarkable number of which who were in my same exact position. In fact, one of my best friends at the conference was a Biochemistry student who is graduating this Spring.

GDC was an awesome experience and it really showed me that if this is what you want to do you can do it. I even had the chance to interview at two places while I was at the conference, one of which was on-site at their studio, and mind you I have no background or training whatsoever. Add to that all the professional contacts I made and follow-ups inquiries I've been conducting since then, I feel a lot closer to my dream than I ever have before.

Now, I am sure your thinking to yourself, "well, then why does it say 'aspiring' in the title?" and on that point you are correct. No one has seen wise enough to hire me just yet, however, I am pursuing this endeavor with all the resources I have at my disposal. Suffice it to say I still have many lines in the water and while I'm sure you'd love to hear about all of them, I think this blog post is plenty long enough already.

Just to whet your appetite a little tough, I will tell you that I spent the better part of my day today taking a design test for a possible employer and I've been developing a card game for another such possibility. If you're interested in hearing more about my adventures, you'll just have to keep checking in ;-). Thanks for reading!

I Hate Puzzle Quest...

...because it is too damned good and addicting and it is keeping me up late playing it instead of sleeping, being productive, or playing something else. I started playing it last night at about 8:00 with the full intention of stopping at around 9:00 and doing something else...I stopped at a little after midnight.

For reasons that I'm not even entirely sure I understand, this game has me addicted. As you are all probably aware (since it was mentioned previously on this blog), Puzzle Quest is a mix of the flash game Bejeweled with significant RPG elements (exploration, random encounters, stats, equipment, companions, quests, the whole shebang). I know when you think about it it sounds absurd. It certainly did to me, but the whole thing meshes together to be much more than the sum of it's parts.

Without going into too much more detail (I'll save that for a review) you should know it is one of the best examples of handheld gaming to date, and unless you despise puzzle games and/or RPGs you owe to yourself to pick up a copy. It retails for $29.99 and is available for the DS and PSP with a PC version being released later this year.

Re: A Clever Ploy?

I find it humorous that you cite an email while chastising me about not adding enough content to the blog. Lazy bum...

(Yep, this is another short one, what'cha gonna do about it? Nothing. That's what.)

Oh no you didn't!

I didn't know what to post about, until I read that last post. How DARE someone accuse me of spending more time arguing about games than play them. Just for that, I'll list every game I've played in the past seven days, including a few thoughts and/or impressions. And away we go...

Magical Starsign
It started fine, but the gameplay really hasn't evolved since then. It's still just: select spell, select target, execute a well timed tap of the screen to power the spell up, repeat.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife
What more can be said?

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Sometimes the evidence presentation is a little less than intuitive, but that doesn't make it unplayable by any stretch. One of the best-written games I've played in a while.

Dance, Dance Revolution: Universe
What? I'm allowed to like DDR. For the record: "Diamond Jealousy," even on the basic difficulty setting, is still crazy hard.

Ar Tonelico
It's still good.

Pro Evolution Soccer 7
It's long periods of boredom and frustration, punctuated by brief moments of excitement and jubilation. In other words, it's a great simulation of soccer.

Motorstorm (demo)
Meh. The physics are good, but it's still a racing game. Probably not my cup o' tea.

Resistance: Fall of Man
I love Insomniac. It's like they have a machine that does nothing but spit out awesome weapon designs.

Sphere
I started this a few weeks ago at work, but I forgot about it until yesterday. It has subsequently killed my productivity the last few days.

flOw
I saved flOw for last since I have the most to say about it. I had played it before on the PC, and while I didn't dislike it, there really wasn't anything about it that spoke to me. Maybe it's the fact that it's in HD, maybe it's because you move by tilting the controller, but I really love flOw on the PS3. I don't think it's a game that I could ever play for more than an hour at a time, but I think that it's a game that I will never get tired of playing. For me, it's the ultimate "casual game," something that I can pick up and play for 15-45 minutes when I feel like it, and then just walk away.

Look at that. Ten games. Ten. In seven days. I spend more time arguing about games than playing them? /spit.

Look upon my magnificence, and cower.

For the record, I lost at least 17.6% of my soul when I typed that /spit, but it was worth it. Crap, I just typed it again!

While the Boys Argue...the Girls will Play...

While you guys argue over command and conquer and various aspects of certain gaming systems *eye roll* I was busy actually PLAYING games....such as Fairy Godmother Tycoon (yes, I can't stop playing tycoon games...if it says "tycoon" I play it) and Chicken Chase. Both are excellent downloads. So, to all you women out there....when you want to tune out the men, download a free trial of Fairy Godmother Tycoon or Chicken Chase. Both are excellent...or EGGScellent as the case may be....

You can check out Chicken Chase and find Fairy Godmother Tycoon at www.bigfishgames.com

Team Vampire Penguin

So, I decided to create a Folding@home team for the Vampire Penguin, and anyone who wishes to contribute is more than welcome.

Team Name: Vampire Penguin
ID Number: 62236

Re: A Clever Ploy?

So Incognito recently purchased a PS3, frightened by the loss of backwards compatibility. Is this some sort of trend?

Seriously, great post. Nice to see you're putting an emphasis on rich, content-laden posts. But seriously, though, you're great. No, you're great.

I wouldn't exactly say that I was "frightened" by the loss of backwards compatability. In fact, I'll just paste the whole email here:

No, I didn't get a deal on the PS3, but I didn't need one. I resigned myself to this purchase a long time ago. I knew I was going to get it, I just hoped that I could hold out longer. Alas the threat of losing hardware BC finally pushed me over the edge, you know what by PS1 and PS2 library looks like. What are the odds that half the games I own (Hoshigami, Alundra, Growlanser, etc.) are going to be supported by software BC? Zero. Also, the only reason I waited for a deal on the 360 is because it's MS. I hate them so much. I still haven't forgiven them for Windows Me, and I hardly even used it! Normally, buying a system is a magical experience, but not for me with the 360. I just felt so unclean; like I just made a deal with the devil.

I haven't actually played the PS3 yet, at least not a PS3 game. I have Resistance, maybe I'll start that tonight. I checked out folding@home, which is pretty cool, and I played some Ar Tonelico without having to move my PS2 out of the entertainment system. That was the driving force here: I needed a wireless controller something fierce, and since I knew I was going to buy the damn system anyway, and I could afford it, I just said "to hell with it."

I'll stop now, since this is turning into a blog post. Hey there's an idea! I'll just post this to the blog! Cha-ching! 2 birds with 1 stone!

BC was simply one factor out of many as to why I bought the PS3. The final decision came down to what's coming in the future. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

And yes, I'm still developing the skill of managing money. Baby steps.

Also, while I was linking this post, I noticed that Breath of Fire 3 is coming to PSP in a few months. For anyone out there who likes RPGs and has a PSP, and for whatever reason didn't play the original PS1 release, you really owe it to yourself to check out the best game in one of the most underrated RPG series ever.

Note to Self:

Never use 'Connection Speed: Any' when trying to automatch on a multiplayer game.

The subsequent C&C3 match took well over 30 min. with a recorded in game time of just 11 min. I eventually had to quit out of sheer frustration, though admittedly he had me beat, it was just a matter of having to wait the insufferable 7 in-game minutes for his ion cannon to charge.

Bleh. Luckily I went on to find a suitable 2v2 match and claim victory, hooray! Look me up if you happen to be playing C&C3 multiplayer, Online ID: AvengerX, otherwise I'll just have to keep beating on Sidious until he submits.

A Clever Ploy?

So Incognito recently purchased a PS3, frightened by the loss of backwards compatibility. Is this some sort of trend?

LOL

Seriously, that last post was classic.

And you'll have to ask Sidious about his Trauma Center experience on the Wii. Needless to say, his career choice of lawyer was also a good one.

Recognizing that Trauma Center in little to no way represents actual surgery, I'd be interested to see a real surgeon play the game. Might be fun...

Good thing I'm not your doctor

Playing Trauma Center on my DS has taught me something: Civil Engineering was a good career choice. I lack the both the carpal speed and accuracy that surgery requires. And while Trauma Center is a good game, and lots of fun (where else are you able to cut someone open with a knife in a video game and have them survive), it sure is hard. Let's have a moment of silence in remembrance of the guy who just died on my operating table due to ruptured aneurysms in the intestines.

...

Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are caaaaaalling!

...

Thank you.

Oh those crazy Japanese

This has become one of my favorite new genres of music: Disney songs in Japanese. It's one of those things that didn't occur to me when I started listening to the Kingdom Hearts 2 OST: that "original" meant "in Japanese." Now, most of the songs on the KH2 soundtrack don't have lyrics, since they're just background music. However, this is not the case with The Little Mermaid songs. They really have to be heard to be believed, so I tracked down "Under the Sea" for your viewing/listening pleasure. I love how the Japanese always take ridiculous characters (Sebastian) and give them a suitably hilarious voice.

Re: Oh, the irony.

I'm betting on the latter, but that's just me...

Speaking of bets, Sidious and I have decided to set up a bet surrounding the imminent release of Command & Conquer 3 next week. Sidious has already declared it his "game of the year" (I think even he recognizes that's hyperbole), while I think that it will fall short of the acclaim that was lavished on Supreme Commander not more than a month ago. We are planning to use the Game Rankings overall review score as the objective criterion for judging this wager, but we are still working out some of the finer points. We will keep you updated as the situation develops...

Oh, the irony.

How ironic that you chose the phrase "Ring of Red forever," considering that's how long you have to play it to finish a battle. Even you have to admit that that turns in that game take ten times longer than they have any right to.

As a note to everyone out there on the internets, this Ring of Red argument between Avenger and myself is not new. It's been going on for at least two years now, and it will continue until he admits that I am right, or time stops.

It takes a little time sometimes...

You may be right.

Maybe it's just owning a PS3 at this point that is more depressing than Sony's actual outlook overall. I mean, it was a really big investment and most of the time I have spent with it has been playing PS2 games. I don't think that Sony is out of it yet, not by a long shot, but things are not trending in their favor right now.

It wouldn't take more than a few great games or at least better versions on multi-plat titles to change that, but it just hasn't happened yet. The original Xbox really managed to carve out a space for itself with better versions of multi-platform titles and a handful of great exclusives. They may not have "won" the last generation, but they managed to carve out a sizable portion of the market for themselves and get into power position for this generation.

Sony just needs to realize that all the theoretical power in the world won't make up for a poor game library. It's all about the games, and it always will be.

Ring of Red Forever!

Why Sony is not dead. Yet.

Yes, Avenger, giant robots are cool. And yes, strategy is awesome. However, that doesn't make Ring of Red a good game. I can think of lots of better ways to spend 45 minutes than one round of combat in Ring of Red.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a Sony fan-boy, I feel the need to inject some positive opinions about Sony into everyone's day. Everyone knows that Sony has been almost hemorrhaging exclusive titles, from GTA IV, to DMC 4, and now maybe even FF XIII. For the most part, except for the Final Fantasy news if it's true, is to be expected. The costs of game development make it nearly impossible to all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak. This console generation, as least as far as the PS3 and the 360 are concerned, will come down to first-party titles. Everyone talks about Microsoft's first party IPs, mainly Halo and Gears, but Sony isn't exactly a slouch in this department. Check out this list:

Ape Escape
God of War
Dark Cloud
Hot Shots Golf
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Jak and Daxter
Killzone
Lemmings
PaRappa
Ratchet and Clank
Resistance
Rogue Galaxy
Sly Cooper
Wild Arms

That a list of franchises that Sony owns the rights to. This includes notable second-party studios like Incognito, Naughty Dog, and Level 5. I think that we all need to give Sony some time. They made a decision to continue supporting the PS2, and while I don't disagree with that decision (look at the sales numbers from this past holiday season), having games like God of War 2 come out of the PS2 instead of the PS3 has really handicapped their next-gen software library. Once we start seeing the new generation of some of these franchises, Sony will probably start gaining some major ground.

Also, keeping FF XIII exclusive wouldn't hurt.

And my money goes to...

Armored Core 4 most likely.

The question then became which system should I buy it for, and sadly it seems that the 360 version is dominant. I say sadly because AC has always been a Playstation franchise, so it is sad to see it cross platforms, but more importantly, because yet again the PS3 version turns out to be inferior. The graphics are worse and its online functionality is not as robust on the PS3. Factor in the 360 achievements and it's pretty clear what is the optimal choice.

The sad fact of the matter is, as Sidious and I have been lamenting both on and offline, this is becoming the status quo for the PS3 and it's beginning to make the situation look pretty dire. With the stories of more exclusives jumping ship coming in seemingly every week and the 360 often having the preferred version when a game is cross platform the arguments in favor of the PS3 begin to diminish pretty quickly. I won't say I've given up on my PS3 just yet, but I will say I've lost a lot of faith in it and Sony's ability to do anything correctly in this space. Maybe they'll turn it around, but it's starting to look more and more likely that the PS3 will be relegated to last place this generation, barring some sort of miracle. As of right now the 360 is my favorite and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.

As a final note, giant robots are cool, strategy is awesome, and thus Ring of Red is a sweet game. I'm sorry you don't get that, Incognito ;). If they decided to make a game like that (an HD Front Mission for instance) for the PS3, you can bet I'd be the first in line. Though I will be sure to check out Ar Tonelico following your rave "review."

It's not about pirates

I can't explain it, but every time I say Ar Tonelico, I say it like I'm a pirate. So, if you asked me what I'm going to play tonight, I'd say: "Yarrrr, I'm gonna be playin' Arrrrrrr Tonelico!" It's not like the game has anything to do with pirates, either. I just see that "Ar" there, and I turn into Blackbeard. If you think that I'm crazy, then we're in agreement.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll get on to the matter at hand. This just so happens to be Ar Tonelico. Mainly the fact that it's good. Really good. For the writers here who are familiar with my List (and for everyone else, said List will hopefully be added to the site), it may be top 15 good. We'll see. I'm only 7 hours in (plus of minus), so there is plenty of time for that to change, for good or for bad.

I won't ramble on about it here, but it does a lot of things that I haven't seen before in almost every facet of the game. It even goes so far as to create new facets altogether. The soundtrack is also top-notch. I usually don't notice the soundtrack to a game on the first play-through, but when you have a game about music, the soundtrack tends to stand out.

The one thing that really doesn't impress me is the storyline: 17-year-old boy goes on a quest to save the world, blah, blah. However, I will give them credit for an original world for said storyline: a world previously composed of numerous floating continents suffers two world-breaking cataclysms, leaving 1 continent and 1 tower standing between the clouds below, and an impassable layer of plasma above. I've played a lot of RPGs, but that a new one even for me.

So, I'll end it here before this turns into a review. In summary:
- Ar Tonelico is good
- No, really. It's good. Gust makes really solid games. Look at Atelier Iris 1 and 2.
- Avenger's last post was conveniently timed. I recommend this for you. You should like it. Hell, you liked Ring of Red. You should like everything.

Anything out this week?

This is the question I often ask myself on Mondays. I know a bunch of good stuff came out last week (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, God of War II) and good stuff is coming out next week (Command & Conquer 3), but what should I get this week?

My current front-runners are:

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
Motorstorm
College Hoops 2K7

Does anyone else have any good candidates? I'm all ears...

Ummmm....

I'm curious, do you listen to yourself when you speak? ;-)

Meanwhile, I've actually started building my first level for my level design portfolio. I am making a hidden desert oasis in NWN. I'll admit not the most original idea I've ever had, but I think it should be a fun backdrop. We'll see how it goes.

I spent most of Saturday just setting things up and trying to design a talking door that could open of its own volition. I figured it out, but now I actually have to build the whole desert-oasis-village thing. Oh well, at least I'm on my way. Game design school here I come!

Glitches and such

Mario 64, a game you might have heard of, if awesome. One of the best parts upon replay? Glitches. Beating it with 16 stars. Oh, the bunny can do amazing things! What other games truly have the ability to distract a group of adult males on New Years Eve from the debauchery supposed to be taking place?

I propose more glitches! Yes, that right, and not stupid ones like in Madden and fully without hot coffee. Cool glitches. Better Easter Eggs. Such things make games more entertaining upon replay. The first time through, we play straight, but its fun to go back and fool around. And think of the possibilities in a game like God of War! Seriously, Cratos should be able to bite things, or backflip through walls. I don't know. I'm not feeling clever. But a magic carpet would not have been out of order.

Symphony of the Night on XBLA

According to Gamespot:

One of the most highly regarded PlayStation games ever made has a date with the Xbox 360. Microsoft today announced that Konami's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, one of GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time, will debut on Xbox Live Arcade this coming Wednesday at 2 a.m. PDT.

As the first title to be brought over to Live Arcade from another console, Symphony of the Night will feature "modernized" sound, widescreen support, achievements, and leaderboards. Players will be able to choose between the original graphics or altered visuals that address sprite pixelation when the game is played in high definition.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is rated T for Teen and will be available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

All I can say is, awesome.

Possibly Phantasic News

Why, oh why didn't I make this post from work. I would have posted before Avenger passively criticized the lack of posts, and I would have remembered where I read this. Oh well.

Does anyone remember a few years ago, Sega was supposed to release a compilation of Phantasy Star I, II, and IV for the PS2? I sure do. Unfortunately, it was canceled. But now, Sega has announced that they will release a Sega Ages compilation of the first four Phantasy Star games. Great news right? Not so much for people outside of Japan. As of now it will only be a Japanese release, but a man can dream. Hopefully, this will see the light of day in the US, so that we can all re-live the good ol' days: the days before Phantasy Star was a mediocre console MMORPG series.

Where'd Everybody Go?

I recognize I haven't been doing a great job of posting on the blog myself, but due to work and GDC and then subsequently more work I haven't had the time to get back on. I actually promised the writers for the site I would send out the weekly update two days ago (which is already over a week late) and still haven't done so. My apologies to the writers of the site for failing to keep things organized and to the reader of the site for failing to keep new material coming. This is a situation I will work toward correcting in the next few days.

As a side note God of War II rules! Though it may have a bit of a "been there, done that" feeling, it is a good place to be with awesome things to do so I think we can overlook that. Alright, peace out y'all and start posting again!

Clearing out the backlog

Every once in a while, I tend to drift away from playing RPGs. The last few months has been one of those times, which can be largely contributed to me getting a 360; a system that has almost zero RPG representation. Usually, I'll gradually drift back into RPGs. It's a natural process: it's like sleeping, only with more reading.

Well, right now I don't have time for nature to take its course. Here's what's headed for the rest of the year: Odin Sphere, Children of Mana, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Persona 3, Shining Force EXA, and (hopefully) Dragon Age. That's one hell of a list. Plus, on top of that I'm still in the middle of: Rogue Galaxy, Magical Starsign, Ar Tonelico, Disgaea 2, Enchanted Arms, and Final Fantasy 3 among others. So, this weekend, it's time for me to glue my ass to my recliner and get some serious game-playing in. It's time to forcibly re-dedicate myself to RPGs, and try to make a dent in my huge (and I mean huge) back-log of games.

Also a few notes on GDC:
1. As Sidious mentioned, Warhawk losing its single-player campaign sucks. Apparently it's because "single player just wasn't up to par." Did I miss something? When did developers start scrapping entire halves of games? So what if it wasn't "up to par." A sub-par single player campaign is better than no single-player at all.
2. I read some notes on Miyamoto's keynote. Didn't seem very impressive. Maybe I needed to be there.
3. I'm always worried when there is a large congregation of people in the internets. The Home lobby seems destined to become the console version of the "Barrens' chat" phenomenon. Color me skeptical.

Finally, wtf is up with daylight savings starting this weekend? It's March! Welcome to the shortest weekend of the year. :(

Sony Phone Home

Sony's answer to X-box Live?

Described as "the first of its kind," Home is an avatar-based virtual neighborhood built on the shoulders of every PS3 owner who participates. Offered as a free download from the PlayStation Store, the new networked feature installs a unique icon to your XMB and then launches just like a game does. Once connected, users are able to join online games, go shopping, talk with other people, and mess around with various media types for as long as they see fit. And to be honest, it's actually pretty cool.

***

Once an avatar has been chosen, it can then move about the world freely and its first stop will likely be "The Central Lounge." Here, patrons will be able to see other people moving about and conversing with one another, and Sony has truly thought of everything when it comes to communicating (Quick Write options, USB keyboard support, and Bluetooth voice chat seem to integrate seamlessly). Clients can also use emotes to convey moods or just be ridiculous with motions like disco dancing, shoulder shrugs, pointing, waving, and plenty more.

***

The Hall of Fame. Sony's answer to the Xbox 360's achievement system, the HOF gives users the ability to view trophies they've earned from playing games in a real 3D way (some trophies even have audio or video aspects to them). What's more, is that patrons can even modify trophy cabinets and pick which trophies they want to show to friends.

Now, I admit that I have come down pretty hard on Sony in the last few days. But Home sounds like a giant leap in the right direction. Where X-box Live is by far the most successful online service, it literally is just menus upon menus. If Sony can successfully pull off the Second Life-like world it proposes in Home, then online gaming may finally be moving into the realm of "next-gen." Color me excited.

Multiplayer Mishaps

Do any of you remember the video game company named Origin? If not, it was the company behind the wildly successful Wing Commander, in which Luke Skywalker fought cats in space (only a minor exaggeration). Unfortunately, the success of Origin's "Ultima Online" service caused them to drop out of creating single-player adventures completely. Annoying no small number of Wing Commander and Ultima fans. Well the modern corollary to this party is finally here: Enter Warhawk.

The original Warhawk was one of the mainstays of the PS1 gaming. It featured interesting vertical as well as linear levels, and the cheesy FMV that fans of this site already know that I love. It featured a ludicrous storyline featuring the fight against "Red Mecury," and in perhaps its most original story element, essentially had a "bad" ending if the player beat the game in the most straightforward way. (Players had to defeat the end boss by flying the warhawk into its "mouth" and ejecting, any other way, ie shooting it, resulted in the bad ending). But know all that is over.

As many of you know, when the PS3 was first announced, clips of Warhawk were a prominent part of Sony's campaign. As many of you also know, the PS3 has not exactly been deluged with quality exclusives. Warhawk was supposed to be one of those. Now, in this IGN article it is clear that Incog., the designers of Warhawk, have decided in their infinite wisdom to drop the single player campaign from Warhawk. Instead, Warhawk will no be solely a multi-player experience, ala Battlefield 2. I don't think that I can adequately express my disappointment in this forum. Suffice it to say, it didn't work for Origin and it won't work for Warhawk. Its too bad, because as developers and Sony continue to make such poor decisions, it is clear that Sony's market position is evaporating around them. Sony needs good exclusives and soon, and Warhawk, unfortunately, won't be among them.

Weekly PS3 Relevance Update

It was not too long ago that I was in this space asking whether or not Virtua Fighter 5 could be a system seller for the PS3. I think that after playing it for awhile, it is obvious that, though solid, the game just isn't unique enough to sell systems. That being said, today sees the release of the much anticipated Motostorm. So I will ask the same question here: Is this interesting, but not terribly unique racing game enough to sell the system? The answer seems fairly self evident to me, but what do I know...

Nostalgia Part 2

Yesterday, all I was excited about was Command and Conquer. Today, all I am excited about is Command and Conquer...with one exception. As has been discussed in these pages from time to time, the Wii's virtual console offers fun to be had every single Monday, and this Monday was no different. Indeed this Monday saw the release of one of my favorite arcade games of all time: Elevator Action. Like reminiscing about Command and Conquer, just playing Elevator Action for a short time transports me to another time and another place. You see, Elevator Action was the one arcade unit present at one of my family's favorite restaurants during my youth. Whenever I was able to convince Dad to give me some quarters, I would spend almost the whole meal carefully guiding my spy up and down those crazy elevators. Now can you beat that? Excellent release Wii, I salute you.

Nostalgia

So, in honor of Command and Conquer 3's imminent release (and, of course, in honor of the simultaneous re-release of cheesy full-motion video) I decided to pick up Command and Conquer: The First Decade this weekend. I must say that I am impressed on a couple of fronts. As a child of the 80s I have often purchased compilation packs, be they Space Quest, Mega Man, or Midway. Up until now, the Mega Man Collection has been my favorite. That collection featured re-mixed music and the ability to modify the earlier games' controls to mirror the refinements of the later games. It exemplified how cool a compilation could be.

Now, with Command and Conquer, I really feel that the same type of ease of use has come to the PC (and yes I know that the game has been out for quite a while). Unlike the Sierra compilations (or god-forbid, an illegal emulator), the C+C compilation is easy to use, and completely compatible with XP. And I couldn't be happier about it. Cruising around to tunes like "I'm a Mechanical Man" and "Fight, Win, Prevail," manipulating my little sprites to take out other little sprites makes me happy, and all the more excited about C+C 3. And wasn't that the point?

I got worms.

Actually, I don't have worms. Yet. Not until Wednesday, when Worms finally comes out for XBLA! This is my most anticipated Live Arcade game ever, by a considerable margin.

What's that? You want to play the original, Amiga released, Worms on an emulator? Where on earth would you go to get something like that?

Chrono Symphonic

I've been aware of this for some time now, and I thought that some people here (read: Avenger) would really enjoy it. I recommend To Far Away Times.

Reading Rainboooooowwwww

Ah, a Reading Rainbow reference. Good times.

Re: Rumbling and Grumbling

Incognito, I was actually surprised by how little I cared about the loss of rumble functionality. I will say this though. It does affect the enjoyability of driving games and it does affect the enjoyability of some PS2 and PS1 games built with the rumble feature in mind. (For example, a number of games in the last generation utilized the rumble feature as a kind of signaling device in lockpicking minigames). What is far more noticeable than the loss of rumble, however, is the loss of weight. The sixaxis controller is so light that it tends to feel fragile. Obviously, the feel of a controller hardly limits its functionality, but still, the sixaxis winds up feeling very much like a toy.

I think that the real reason that people are so upset at the loss of rumble in favor of tilting is that nobody uses the tilting feature, and when it is implemented it tends to be random at best. In other words, it can't compete with the Wii's functionality in any way, and the end result is that it feels like Sony's implementation of it was, like so many other aspects of the PS3, half-assed. But you don't have to take my word for it...