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...

And the PS2 keep chugging along

So long as I live, I will never, ever, EVER get tired of animated sprites. Also, this is some of the best 2-D animation I've ever seen. Odin Sphere just jumped from "I know about it," to "must have" on my list. Long live the PS2 (sorry PS3 owners, there's always MGS 4)!

Rumbling and Grumbling

Every time I hear anything about the PS3 controller, the same point is brought up: there's no rumble functionality. Lots of people seem to be really upset about Sony's decision to implement a rumble-free Sixaxis. Recently, these people have been pointing to Nintendo and saying, "look, they have motion sensitivity and rumble in a wireless controller, why don't you?"

My question is: why? Perhaps it's just me, but I've never seen the rumble feature as a huge selling point for a controller. Sure, it's nice with shooters, and maybe driving games, but past that, what does it offer to adventure games, RPGs, or most other genres? Honestly, the only time I usually notice a controller rumbling is when I put it down on a table and it makes that horrible sound (you know, that awful plastic-vibrating-on-wood sound).

Now, it's possible that I don't notice it because I've gotten used to it. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that when it's gone, I'll suddenly become cognizant of its absence. I don't think that's really likely, since in the last few years I've gotten in the habit of turning off the rumble feature on almost everything, save for the occasional TPS or racing game, but I'll admit that it's a possibility.

As everyone continues to make a big stink about the Sixaxis's rumble-less design, I think that they need the stop for a second and think, was gaming so bad before (correct me if I'm wrong) Starfox 64 gave us that humble (not so) little rumble pack? I don't know about the rest of the gaming community, but I still enjoyed games back when my controller was incapable of self-locomotion. Also, it's not like a lack of rumble functionality ever mattered in PC games. I've definitely never heard anyone say, "yeah, Half-Life 2 was good, but I think what it was really missing was a rumbling keyboard."

So, what do you all think? Is Sony's much ballyhooed lack of rumble a big deal, or am I not alone in my apathy towards controller rumble technology?

My PS3 Makes Me Cry...

Yep, Sidious and I have long been lamenting the state of the PS3 and it would appear that Sony lacks the simplest understanding of the market, or understands it at such a level that their strategy seems completely insane. My guess is the former, but I've been wrong before.

The PS2 gave Sony pole position in this market, but it would seem that they are trying to do everything possible to lose this race. Does that mean that the PS3 is circling the drain or even close to it? Of course not, but there are a few key things that need to happen to turn this ship around:

1. Developers need to crack the code on the cell processor. Right now programming for the PS3 takes longer and tends to produce worse results than on your "conventional" machines. Once developers figure out how to unlock the latent power theoretically contained within the cell processor, games produced for the PS3 should easily surpass their cross platform brethren (this was the spot the Xbox had in the last generation).
2. The PS2 needs to be officially abandoned. Sorry for all you PS2 fans out there, but part of the reason that the 360 and Wii are proving so successful is, once the next generation hit, that's where they focused. With some of the best games of the last several months and into the future coming out for the PS2 (Okami, Valkyrie Profile 2, FFXII, God of War II) it's clear that Sony hasn't thrown it's full weight onto their new horse. There's no excuse for producing first-party software on the old system (I'm looking at you God of War II), and generous incentives could easily "convince" developers to make the move more quickly. The fact is games move systems not the other way around.
3. The PS3 needs exclusives. With several former PS3 exclusives jumping ship and going multi-platform, most of the games for the PS3 are ports of old Xbox 360 games that are virtually indistinguishable from their original versions. That's clearly not a winning strategy. Again I say, games move systems, if Sony manages to release a Halo or a Twilight Princess, they can easily get back in the running, but looking out right now, there's no such system-seller in sight.

I have faith the Sony knows these things and that they are moving in the right direction, just very, very slowly. As of right now, however, my PS3 is a glorified Resistance arcade machine and The Last Samurai HD movie projector.

Seriously Sony

Well apparently this week is the week that Sony finally comes clean and admits that it has no idea how to market the PS3. In an effort to ensure that (Sony-developed) Blu-Ray beats out its rival HD-DVD in this generation of the format wars, Sony announced this week that it will be releasing, get this, a $600 Blu-Ray player.

This is all well and good except for one thing. Up until now, there has basically been but one reason to purchase a PS3. Its a $600 Blu-Ray Player. The next closest competitor was $1,000. Thus, if you wanted to experience Blu-Ray as cheap as possible, you would buy a PS3 regardless of whether or not you wanted to play games on the system (of course, considering the system's current selection of games, those not wishing to use it as a video game console are probably the better off). But with this brilliant move, Sony has effectively cut-off the PS3's best sales point. Avenger, you may be mocking for my references to ancient Mel Brooks movies/Broadway plays, but you tell me: Is it or is it not starting to look like our favorite Japanese technology giant is in fact secretly being run by monkeys?

C&C 3 Demo Now Available!

Just FYI for anyone who is interested, there is a Command & Conquer 3 demo now available!

I've been trying to download it off Fileshack but apparently it is so popular their queues can't handle the stress and are thus malfunctioning. Oh well...

Woah...

Wow, a 'The Producers' reference....weird.

Sony Missteps...Again

Well for those of you who haven't been tracking the launch of the PS3 in some foreign markets, it would appear that Sony is ceding the one advantage it currently has over the 360. That's right, for a mere $999 European and Australian video game players can experience the wonder, the mystery, and the awe, that is a PS3 which doesn't play PS2 games using the PS2's native CPU. Like the 360, the European and Australian model of PS3 will "emulate" the games of the system's immediate predecessor, resulting in players being able to play PS2 games that "mostly" work , some of the time.

What makes this particularly worrisome is that there is nothing preventing Sony from switching their American and Japanese systems over to this cheaper emulation model of system. Since Playstations of any generation are notorious for breaking down (usually days after your warranty ends, remember flipping the PS over to make sure it would run) it is possible that the next time you or I go to purchase a PS3 we could be getting the crippled version. Way to go Sony. The only thing I can figure is that the heads of Sony are actually trying to destroy their game division. You know in some kind of scheme straight from the mind of Max Bialystock. Yeah, that must be it.

RE: Mercenaries vs. Crackdown

I tend to agree in a lot of ways as Sidious well knows. Though I accept that much of that may be due to my deep love for Mercenaries. What I will say is Realtime Worlds has created an extremely fun sandbox: a beautifully developed city with a fantastic art style that is fun to move around in and shoot stuff. The only problem is there isn't that much to do in said sandbox. More bosses (ala "The Deck of 52" from Mercenaries) and actual missions would have really helped to flesh out the experience.

That being said, the game is undeniably fun and I do have a certain compulsion to pick up every orb I can find. Also, there's clearly something to be said for going online with a friend and sniping enemy gas tanks you ride on the roof of his car. Or letting him shoot people in the leg as you throw grenades at them. Good times.

Also, I got a response to my "enquiry" at Realtime Worlds:

Many thanks for your interest in Crackdown. Unfortunately due to the volume of enquiries we can't answer individual emails.

Oh well, here's hoping I am more than a single voice and I can actually go do missions with a friend. Otherwise, it will have to remain the "make your own fun" proposition that it currently is, which isn't such a bad thing after all.

Mercenaries v. Crackdown

Well since everyone else is doing it, I feel that it is my moral obligation to comment on Crackdown. Like Avenger, I think that the Co-op needs refinement in its execution. Right now the game acts as kind of an old school Game Boy Game. You know, the kind where the cartridge will only hold one save, so if you want to lend your friend a copy he (or she) will have to erase your data in order to not play on your game. This just makes no sense in a co-op situation.

As for the game itself, I can't help but think that its an extraordinarily watered down version of Mercenaries, the LucasArts/Pandemic sandbox game that cam out a few years ago. Like Crackdown, the premise of Mercanaries was to hunt down "bad" people. Unlike Crackdown's offering of 21 bosses and sub-bosses, however, Mercenaries had players capturing 52 of the world's worst war criminals. More importantly, in order to discover a given criminal's location, a Mercanaries Player had to complete a GTA-like mission. In Crackdown, the information is just given to the player if he or she drives (or spider-man jumps as the case may be) near the criminal in question. The lack of any missions in Pacific City really hurts the game. It just makes the whole experience seem that much more empty. Still, Incognito is right, the game is a lot of fun, even if I think that the dynamic of running and smashing is carried out a bit better in Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Crackdown Co-Op?

So I finally got my 360 back from the repair center and subsequently went out and purchased a copy of Crackdown. I enjoy the single-player component very much, but in my first experiences with the co-op gameplay I must say I was largely underwhelmed.

I can see where co-op could be fun, where you are both two super-powered agents fighting against almost impossible odds (e.g. Gears of War), but currently I think Crackdown fails to achieve this for a couple reasons:

1. Getting into and out of co-op sucks. While the system is set up so your friends (or really anyone) can join at any time you choose to accept a co-op request the game reloads and you both have to start over regardless of what you were doing. Also, if your co-op friend decides to leave, the game has to reload you back into the single-player (another reload and start over). The streamlined drop-in, drop-out Gears of War co-op this is not.
2. The campaign is attached to the host and cannot be restarted. The world that you both play in is attached to the host and short of deleting all your progress (including that of your agent) there doesn't seem to be a way to restart it. Also, the videos describing the gangs and their generals are disabled in co-op. As a result, if you are at all interested in knowing about who these people you're killing are and why, you'll need to play it on your own first, and then you've finished all the missions so you can't do them in co-op. Crackdown is screaming for a New Game+ or some way to reset all the campaign missions so you can do them with a friend. Screaming.
3. You can't start a new agent or a co-op specific agent. The problem with this is that let's say your friend, oh, let's call him Incog, has been playing Crackdown all week and has completely maxed his character. You on the other hand just got the game and so your agent but all reasonable accounts, sucks. The result is that if you want to play with your friend you're going to have to accept the fact that you are largely going to be observing him doing cool stuff while you run around trying not to die. The ability to start a new agent or scale your agent to that of the host would make for much more fun cooperative gameplay.

These are things that I think could be reasonably remedied, but the question is whether Realtime Worlds would even care to or if they're even aware there is a problem. Personally, I think #2 is the most damning and, oddly enough, the easiest to fix (I mean just have a button that sets all the dead generals back to alive).

Hmmmm, I'm going to send an email to Realtime Worlds and see what they say. Maybe we can make a difference. We'll see how it turns out and I'll be sure to post the exchange here. Either way I feel that Crackdown co-op has enormous potential since the gameplay is very exciting and enjoyable, but right now that potential is largely unrealized.

Things that are awesome

1. Frosted mugs. They keep beer cold for hours, and because of that their awesomeness can not be understated.
2. The Prestige. The DVD came out this week, and it was just as good the second time. It's one of those movies where you notice little things after you know the twist that you missed the first time.
3. Crackdown.

Is Crackdown a great game? Not necessarily. It's not very long, you could probably wrap up the "story" in ten to twelve hours. Also, the missions are all pretty much the same. Approach area, kill grunts, kill boss. Rinse and repeat.

Does this mean that Crackdown isn't fun? Hells no. The fun just lies elsewhere: in things like jumping from rooftop to rooftop, or throwing a semi cab at some pedestrians, or intentionally leaping from a very tall building just to hear the sickening thud when you hit the ground. If, for some reason, you were one of those ten people who didn't download the demo, you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot. Trust me, if you love homing rocket launchers and throwing vehicles (and who doesn't), you'll love it.

Re: Power PC

This isn't quite what you're talking about, but this does bring up something interesting in the computer vs. console game battle. It seems that more women play games on a computer than a console. Part of that, I think is our aversion to sitting down at a console and dumping 14 hours into an RPG (we don't have that kind of time...an article on this particular issue is forthcoming). But, truly, why do I like games on a computer more than games on a console?

Seeing as how the games I play on the computer are the more simple strategy games and I probably wouldn't know a difference in graphics if you showed them to me side-by-side (although that did work when I was convinced of the greatness of DVDs over VHS) there is something about playing computer that works better for me. Maybe it's because I'm a girl and didn't grow up with a controller in my hand or maybe it's because I'm lazy and using a mouse with some button clicking is easier than two hands on a controller. The other hand can be used for drinking something yummy and I don't miss out on some complicated button mashing battle tactics.

I'm not sure what it is but I've played the Sims on both computer and playstation 2 and I like the computer version much better. I think I just have more control over things on a computer.

Games About Books???

Hello all you gamers! What do you think about games that are based on books? I am thinking about things like Rainbow Six. Do you think that these are good for the industry or bad? And while we're at it...what do think about movies based on games? Many times I find myself thinking...WOW! That game would be a GREAT title for a new movie....but most of the video game based movies I've seen just aren't as good. Do you think there is something related to the interactive nature of a video game that makes its plot compelling on a computer or console, but not so much on a movie screen? I'm not sure. What are your thoughts?

Re: Power PC

Ummm...some might say the complete lack of games worth playing (no disrespect to Resistance of course and as a 'proud' PS3 owner) would be reason enough. As for the PC Power complaints Sidious is pretty much dead on. While your average PC gamer would say it's because the graphics were so much more impressive, in the era of HDTV that is becoming less and less apparent.

I know that the big reason for my obsession with the PC is strategy, but if the consoles ever actually manage to crack that nut, they may sway me to stop pouring money into my computer on a biannual basis. BFME II for the 360 was a good attempt, but the controls still weren't quite there and most of the reviewers appeared to miss out on the fact that the game ran like absolute and total crap.

I mean, I was playing BFME II a computer ago and it still ran about 5 times faster than the 360 version. We'll see what they can manage to do with C&C 3 using a completely ground up approach, but seeing as my PC rocks, you can imagine which version I currently have reserved...

Power PC

Ok, so I played the Supreme Commander Demo like the rest of the PC-Gaming universe. Like Avenger said in his review at the mothership. The demo didn't initially wow me. In fact, it kind of turned me off a bit. After giving it a couple of additional chances, however, I found that I quite liked the game and that it was both different from other RTS games that I had played and different from what I was expecting. Because of the experience I purchased the game on Wednesday.

Here's my problem. Apparently the demo never really got the game up to "full steam" as it were. Where as I was able to play the demo at a certain high resolution and with most of the textures and effects turned on, and whereas I was similarly able to play at such resolution and with such textures and effects in the initial stages of the single player campaign, once the **** really started hitting the fan in terms of number of units being displayed the game slowed to a crawl. Turns out that in order to play the game I needed to turn down the settings to the second lowest resolution with the lowest refresh rate with no effects and low textures. While the game functions in this condition, needless to say it fails to impress like the box shots.

Now my computer just isn't that old. I would have called it middle to upper-middle class about 18 months ago, and now it plays new games like its an old commadore 64 or circa-1984 macintosh with the chimney to keep it from over-heating. Obviously this isn't a problem in all instances, but as a consumer relatively new to PC gaming I can certainly see why the console markets have grown while the PC's has suffered. To upgrade my computer I could probably buy a PS3, so (other than the complete lack of games worth playing) why wouldn't I?

Fighting with the Playstation 3

Well, the first big name title to be released for the PS3 since its launch in mid-November of last year is finally upon us. My question to you is this: Are you going to get Virtua Fighter 5? It has been fairly well reviewed. Then again, as Avenger would say "It is just a fighting game." Will this help the PS3 sell, or are we still waiting around for a true system seller? (I defy anyone to label Resistance: Fall of Man as a true system seller. Halo that game is not.)

Re: Its going to be a long winter

Avenger, fortunately I think the correct name of your post is "It's been a long winter." It looks like the light is finally starting to penetrate the darkness. Supreme Commander, C+C 3, God of War 2, Motorstorm, NBA Street Homecourt, Crackdown, etc. all look worthy of our support. As for the way I play Battle for Middle Earth 2: The match was an hour and a half not two hours, I was beating you to a bloody pulp, and I unfortunately couldn't seal the deal. And then of course, pork chops, 'nuff said.

It's going to be a long winter...

For one of the first times I've seen Game Informer decided not to award a PC game of the month or a Handheld game of the month as they felt there wasn't enough suitable material to warrant an award. Ouch.

At least Supreme Commander comes out this week! I can't wait to have my first 4-6 hour multiplayer match! ;)

Though the way Sidious plays it will probably last about 2 min. Except when we play Battle for Middle Earth II then it will last for-ev-er. Our last 2 hour bout basically made me sick of strategy and all things strategy related for about a day...or at least a couple hours...

Getting fiscally hosed...again

If you, like me, purchased the Lost Planet collector's edition, you will no doubt be pleased to hear that the Battlegrounds map you got with your shiny new game will not be part of a future map pack. No. Instead, it will be released for free. Free?! If that map costs zero dollars, what did I pay for when I got the collector's edition? Are you really telling me that I paid ten dollars for a metal case (and in my case, a dented one), a miniature art book, and a couple months head start on a free map? Honestly, I feel as though Capcom owes me something more, and it's unlikely that I'll get satisfaction. Hopefully this isn't the start of a long history of Capcom sticking it to consumers via Marketplace, since I'd hate to see how far they would try to push people with RE5 DLC.

Seeds of a great new company

From EvilAvatar comes some great news. Some of the old members of the now defunct Clover development studio (thanks Capcom) have started a new one, called Seeds. I am very, very, very exited to see what a development studio with the directors of Okami and RE 4 on board can do. I have no doubt that they will make some "preposterously amazing" games.

Just one more turn...

I should really know better than to start a 4X game so close to bedtime.

Oh well, I still got some sleep and Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar really is that good. I mean, the original Galactic Civilizations II was a fantastic game and Dark Avatar just expands and improves on its predecessor. I definitely wanted to keep playing so I could just research one more technology, build one more ship, subjugate one more race, and that's exactly how a good 4X game should feel. Supposedly Dark Avatar also includes a program that generates a narrative of what occured in your game so once I figure out how to use that I will happily regale you all with the rise of Korxcom and the fall of the other major races under the weighty bootheel of Korx trading and diplomacy.

In other news, I haven't really tried to register since my 360 is in the shop (again), but I did see that the site has basically been down since the kickoff for the challenge. Too bad...

Xbox rewards backdoor

For anyone still having trouble with the broken Xbox rewards page, I have found a backdoor. First, make sure you have a passport account (hotmail, etc.), then go here to sign in. Then go here to register for the challenge.

Finally!

Xbox Rewards = broken

So, I have been trying to sign up for the Xbox rewards thing since the site went live last night. I have not yet been able to actually get into it. It started last night when none of the pages would load when I tried to sign in. I've been trying every few hours since then, and still nothing. As of February 13 at 5:32 EST, MS Game Studios says: "sorry we are very busy at the moment, please try again later." That's all that you see now when you try to access xbox.com/rewards. Thanks, Microsoft. Thanks for making this a smooth process.

If anyone has been able to actually log in, good for you. You must have hit that 5 minute window before everyone broke the site. I find it very surprising that MS may have underestimated the number of people who would try to sign up ASAP.

The original GOW

So did everybody see all of the God of War II reviews hitting the web this week. Its a little bit odd to say the least since the game is not slated to hit store shelves until early March. And these reviews are coming from big sites too: Gamespy, IGN, etc. Do you figure that these guys are reviewing pre-release versions of the game. I can't imagine that they would, and yet we're faced with almost a month-long window before the game is released to us.

Why would Sony hold a finished AAA game until March? Any thoughts?

Re: Re: Gamerwhoring

I agree with Avenger on his points, however, I do think that there is some danger on the margins. It wasn't so long ago that we here in the Den were arguing over whether it was a fair and just practice to tie gamerpoints to multiplayer gaming that mandates that the player play with anyone but his friends. The problems with this system are many: The player doesn't get to play with anyone he or she knows; The system usually boots the Player out of the game once it is completed, leading to a cycle of 5 minutes finding a game/five minutes playing a game; and The Player is far more likely to find him or herself playing with "Gamerwhores" who are not the most friendly of gaming compatriots.

My thought is that the addition of tangible rewards to the Gamerpoint system will practically mandate that all multiplayer acheivments are tied to "Ranked matches." At the very least Microsoft will have to keep better tabs on how developers choose to distribute their points. I mean, do we really want a class of games (see Fuzion Frenzy) that are popular solely because you can get 1000 points out of them quite easily? I know I don't.

Re: Gamerwhoring

Ok, first of all, regardless of what slam I decided to come back at you with you would have criticized it, so I decided, "why waste the effort?" I got across the point that your insult was, in fact, false and that was all I wanted to achieve. I would imagine that you of all people would understand and respect this kind of pragmatic laziness. Anyway, on to the business at hand...

First, I actually like achievements. I can't really explain why but for some reason seeing that little 'achievement unlocked' flash across my screen actually has some level of satisfaction, and I know I'm not alone in this. It's what motivates us to play through Gears of War multiple times, to try to go through a level of Lego Star Wars II without losing a life, or to see if you can manage to get through a level of Splinter Cell: Double Agent without being seen. It's the challenges that gamers have always been giving themselves for their favorite games, but now it has been given form and function.

Next, I like the concept of the rewards program. I don't think it is likely to make anyone more of an achievement whore than they already are (though it might convince to go finish King Kong which is about 8 hours long and a cool 1000), and it actually gives the Gamerscore some value even if it is rather small (I mean the Level 1 and Level 2 prize packages are like $5-$7). Before this, Gamerscore was just some limited measure of status that no one really cared about. Now, it has some purpose, I'm actually surprised it took this long to get here. I always thought that things like cool gamer pics should be tied to your Gamerscore: you want to be Master Chief, rack up 10,000 points and you earn it. Having to pay for gamer pics is completely ridiculous anyway, but that's an argument for another day...

In the end, I don't think that the Reward program will change the way most people play, but I do think it will encourage gamers to play their 360 a little more often and maybe aim at some of the more difficult achievements just a little more aggressively. I think that's exactly what Microsoft was going for, and with that I think they'll be very successful. This is another move in the right direction for XBox Live and another innovation that Sony would do well to downright copy.

Gamerwhoring

"Cram it"? That's your comeback? I really expect better from you Avenger.

Anyways, Microsoft recently announced their Xbox Rewards program, which will reward gamers who enjoy achievement whoring with worldly goods, like t-shirts, Xbox games, etc. I'm not saying that I won't register (1500 in 2 months, especially with Crackdown coming out is a slam dunk), but I'm not excited for the online environment that this will most likely generate for two months. I think I'll just avoid ranked matches for a while (especially in Gears), until the almost certain rampant Gamerscore frenzy is over.

So, what do you guys think? Is this a cool way for Microsoft to reward dedicated fans, or just a gimmick that will cause more harm (for gamers' enjoyment of their favorite games) than good?

Supreme Commander Demo Has Landed

First off, Incognito, I finished Final Fantasy XII less than a month ago (which you'd know if you actually read stuff at the website) and that was about 80+ hours...so cram it.

In other news, for those eagerly awaiting Chris Taylor's newest strategic masterpiece, Supreme Commander, if you haven't heard already, a demo for the game was made available yesterday. I am currently downloading a copy from FileShack (my favorite of the download sites) and plan to report back on my findings (either in a short article or a blog post) after I have had a chance to play around with it some. Just thought you all should know!

Really?

Wait, you probably won't finish Rogue Galaxy? I'm so surprised by that! Seriously, when is the last time you finished a 10+ hour game? 1998?

No offense intended, it's just that I haven't made fun of you for your poor game-finishing habits in a while. It's refreshing, like a fresh pair of pants straight from the dryer on a cold day.

A Galactic Romp for the Ages...

The concept of this post will likely become a one-minute review if I ever get around to writing it, but I just wanted to say my initial impressions of Rogue Galaxy have been very strong. Actually, my initial impressions (like the first hour or so) were somewhat weak, but having now played it for upwards of 15 hours, I can say it has really grown on me.

The characters are likeable and interesting, the combat is fun, albeit repetitive at times, and the adventure would seem to be chock full of stuff to do. You can advance the plot, go on bounty hunts, train your insectors for the insectron tournament, build items in the factory, or just explore the galaxy to you heart's content. From what I've heard of the length of this beast, chances are I won't finish it, but at this point I know I have an overwhelming desire to do so, and that's all I can ask for right now. Good stuff, if you like console RPGs, be sure to give this one a look.

A Day that Will Live in Infamy

All I can say is, it's good I wasn't in command of our forces in the Pacific during WWII...

In no less than three matches of Battlestations: Midway, my forces were handily defeated by the tactically-challenged Sidious. He may have limped across the finish line on a number of occasions, but a win is a win, and I'm not sure how he managed it. I don't know what it is about that game, but I haven't yet been able to wrap my head around it and it shows in my play.

Sidious and I have a long history of playing strategy games together. In Rise of Legends he hasn't captured a single one of my cities. He hasn't managed to win a single campaign in Star Wars: Empire at War (okay, he won one, but that was before we realized it auto resolved neutral battles and I sent the emperor to go capture a pirate planet, poor Emperor Palpatine). In the collective pantheon of RTS matches we've played (Age of Mythology, Age of Empires III, Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Command & Conquer: Generals, just to name a few) he's probably only managed a handful of victories. Yet somehow he managed three Battlestations victories in a row!

I'm not sure what to make of all this, but it was very unsettling, so I needed to vent (and counter his gloating over our Battlestations matches, with a little "scoreboard!"). Still, I congratulate him on his victories and assure him that he will not find me such easy prey the next time we meet. That is, if I can manage to tear myself away from Rogue Galaxy long enough to get in some practice...

You're a Big Boy Now

Just like in real life, lots of people online are douchebags. People in WoW gank you, people in Madden glitch you, people in Halo say stupid crap. The problem that this causes is not just social, it affects the gaming. There are PC FPS games, primarily MOH:AA, where I have played through the campaign but never touched online play. Why? Because I can't aim. I don't know what my problem is because I have good hand-eye coordination. But I can't aim to save my life...
Do I think I could have fun online without being able to aim? Heck yes I could. But I know that there will be people out there that will feel the need to belittle my lack of aim. In some games, this doesn't matter. In Tribes II it was okay that I wasn't that good at aiming. There were always enough people playing that I just tried to contribute. The smaller the game, the less likely I am to play online, partially cause I don't like losing and partially because its no fun to be that no-aim pariah.
Does that mean anything should stop you from playing Gears online? No. There are going to be some games where you'd rather smack you teammate with a polearm than congratulate him on a win, but other times it will be great. If you enjoy the game with friends, I'm sure you'll enjoy it online. If not, life goes on. It might even work out that the douchebag from the other night is on the other team. Sweet Justice!

Internet Social Anxiety Disorder

For the last 4 days, I've had a really strong urge to play Gears of War online. The problem is, I can't bring myself to do it. I'm just too terrified of joining a match full of douchebags that will ruin my multi-player experience (much like the last time I tried to play GoW with strangers), so I just turn on my Xbox and sit at the Dashboard while I watch TV. Over this time I have only managed to start gears twice: once to play some of the single-player campaign, and once to stare at the multi-player menu. Seriously, how pathetic is that? I should be making fun of myself for being such a wussy.

Not surprisingly, Gears isn't the only game that will do this to me. Just downloading the Lost Planet online demo was a huge leap for me, let alone actually playing and enjoying it. Why was that such a huge feat? That humble Lost Planet online demo marked the first time I had ever (as in: forever) played a console game online.

What I want to know is this: does this ever happen to anyone else, even occasionally? Please tell me that I'm not as crazy as I think I am (because if I ever become that crazy, the end of the world is nigh).

As it has happened many times before, my own insanity has more or less crushed my ability to do something that I should enjoy. In this case, that thing is playing multi-player games. I know that this shouldn't be a problem, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't like playing with people I can't see. I don't know if I will ever be able to shake the discomfort of playing with people over the internets.

So the next time you see me in your Friends list just sitting at the Xbox Dashboard, you'll know that I'm probably just sitting there trying to psych myself up to boot up Gears. When this happens, do me a favor and kick my ass. I deserve it.

I spoke too soon

So, it turns out that my previous information about Blu-ray was incorrect. I was under the impression that Vivid had already announced their support of HD-DVD, but I learned to today that the opposite is true: they are producing Blu-ray movies. My apologies to Blu-ray for my premature prediction of its lack of boobies and subsequent demise. However, I still don't trust Sony not to royally screw it up.

Question for Gamers: Where do you want to see gaming go in the future?

Okay all you gamers out there....Where do you want to see gaming go in the future? There are lots of new games being made and new systems being developed. What would you like to see happen?

I think that I would like better developed sim games. It seems like some games are made so quickly that attention to detail is forgotten and they aren't as much fun to play. I would also like to see a new version of tetris...maybe like a take on Magical Mickey Tetris for the N64.