Fun Friday: Portait Edition

Forge is an awesome addition to the Halo 3 package. I haven't spent a lot of time with it, but it gives very creative people an outlet to express them self through the game. One such player and Flickr user, Rit Dye, has used Forge to astonishing effect. It is sort of an optical illusion and plays on the 3D space but the end result is nothing short of amazing.

We're Doing Smoething Right

Next Generation beat me to it with an expose on whether or not this has been the greatest year ever for games released. They have fancy charts and graphs and came up with the hard fact that, overall, this is the second worst year since 2001 in terms of actual reviewed games. They go on to point out that while this seems to contradict the feeling that we have had a great year, we have other cause to celebrate. The industry has been able to sustain a four console race, bigger games and sales, and the presence of online across most platforms is all quite admirable.

The only thing I would add to their in depth report is what I noticed as a trend on Metacritic. On all current generation consoles, their top ten list has been dominated by new releases in the last four months. With the exception of Gears of War and Oblivion, the Xbox 360 has eight new titles in the top ten since August. The PS3 top ten list includes five games from the last few months. Super Mario Galaxy is the second highest rated game of all time.

Next Generation speculates that the last generation had a similar spike about a year after their release only to peak three or four years into the life cycle. If in two years, we have another peak in game quality and the top ten lists are all replaced with new games, gamers have very bright future. It also means that someone is probably working on possibly the greatest game of all time right now.

Fun Friday: The No Video Edition

This week's Fun Friday does not include a video. To change things up, I'm quoting an article that I found on Digg earlier this week that actually had me rolling. In an article that cited the top ten hot computer driven careers, they included video game developer. So far so good, I wholly agree with that. Even though times are tough, the industry as a whole is having tremendous success. However, there was a link to becoming a tester that was full of wisdom such as,

Is your Play Station controller soldered to your hand? Did you buy a Wii before anyone else? Do you like nothing better than spending hours in front of the TV playing Halo? Instead of playing those games for fun, why not play them for a paycheck? Get paid to pay video games!

Thanks for perpetuating the stereotype! One of the hardest things for gamers who become tester to learn is to stop "playing" the game and actually test it. But the article is not done yet. Since the job is mostly fun and games, how much could this unbelievable job pay?

Because video game testers are considered entry-level positions in the gaming industry, they are often offered jobs on an as-needed basis rather than a regular nine-to-five position. But this doesn’t mean the job doesn’t pay well, because it can—anything from $10 to over $100 an hour. Pretty good for a video game job!

The emphasis is mine, but wow. I must be working at the wrong company if other testers are making nearly ten times what I make.

I Comment on What Other People Think

I came across two posts today that peaked my interest and required me to throw in my own two cents. Firstly, GameSetWatch pits Guitar Hero against Rock Band and begs the question of which one makes you rock out and how the public will respond? While many of the comments picked Rock Band to come out on top due to Neversoft's infatuation with nipples and boss battles, I took a more visceral outlook on Guitar Hero,

I used to come home after school to an empty house. I'd strap on my garage sale guitar and crank up my second hand amp. For the next couple of hours I was a rock legend, attempting to bang out a my favorite punk and grunge songs of the day. I never got particularly good but it was awesome and I appreciated music and those who could play well a whole lot more. Guitar Hero captures those old feelings of rocking out for me, allowing me to relive those afternoons. I have yet to play Rock Band but I am curious to see if the same feelings I had living out my garage band fantasies with my friends can also be recreated.

The other post came from game designer Steve Gaynor who posits that games are too long, suggesting that people don't often walk out of movies but if they would if they were as long as games. While I agreed that too many games run with a game mechanic and stretch a game out far too long, I offered a second analogy,

Many great novels can be quickly read, even serialized. On the other hand, there are those that can't be quickly read, such classics as David Copperfield or War and Peace, which many people start but don't finish. Length becomes an issue in the same way for games because the player or reader doesn't have the patience, the time, or maybe even the desire.

Fun Friday: Mr. T Edition

I don't play World of Warcraft, but this is the funniest add I have ever seen for a game. Mr T makes everything better. There's also a William Shatner commercial which is mildly amusing as well, especially when he says, "dog."

Achievements: Good vs. Bad

Achievements are my favorite feature of this generation. From a design perspective, they present a significant challenge though. They can encourage a player to experience the game in a way he might not of thought to try. They can be a deciding factor in a purchase decision. Unfortunately they can also divulge a lack of creativity, budget or foresight.

The Orange Box did something with achievements that seems so simple and yet makes games that don't do it seem incomplete. There is an Achievements option in the menus throughout the game that, while most games bring up the guide to view the achievements and their descriptions, shows the player's actual progress towards each achievement. So instead of guessing how many kills you have accumulated towards one achievement or another, it actually keeps track of the actual number for you. Many games, like Gears of War, have achievements that require X number of something to unlock. I lost count of my Boomshot, Pistol and Execution kills after the first several matches. I would have needed a spread sheet near by to keep track of my progress with any certainty, especially when going for the 10,000 kill "Seriously?" achievement. Many games may not need this because the player's progress is self explanatory if, for example, he needs to get to level fifty and he's currently at level thirty-two. Still, after playing through Portal and Half-Life 2, I absolutely believe that Microsoft should add this functionality to the TRC's so that every game includes this feature.

On the other side of the coin, there are games that seem to forget that achievements can enhance a game, not just lift its rental status due to it's insanely easy achievements. EA used to hold the crown as the producer of games that usually handed out achievements like candy, but their title has been usurped by none other than my own company, THQ. The release of Avatar: The Burning Earth was probably going to go mostly unnoticed this holiday season. That is until everyone learned how criminally easy it is to acquire all 1000 gamerpoints in less than two minutes and thirty seconds. Enjoy the following video!

Fun Friday: Failing at "Life"

Video games never really get a chance when it comes to popular media. New show, Life, manages to incorporate a plethora of stereotypes and inaccuracies in just under three minutes. Ignorance of technologies: check. Gamer stereotypes: check. Picking a game loosely based on the antagonists ethnicity: check. Phantom controllers: check. Girl gamer shows up male gamer: check. Obligatory game montage with vaguely connected music: check. "You win!" text: check. Beating the game unlocks Excel documents on the Xbox: ch... wait, what? You got to be kidding me! Try not to let your eyes roll out of your head as you watch the following video.

'Amping Up the Difficulty

Guitar Hero III and Rock Band are two juggernauts that will be duking it out for this holiday's undisputed rock champ. Since Rock Band is the spiritual successor of Guitar Hero, one might wonder how the difficulty stacks up against each other. Games Radar did the leg work for us and put together some side-by-side comparisons of the songs that the two games share in common. Check out the first video below or here for a second video.

The overall conclusion is that Guitar Hero III is much more difficult than Rock Band. I think this is too be expected and a excellent design decision. While many of Guitar Hero's gamers will be well versed in the ways of the guitar and ready for challenge that expands on the last iteration, many of Rock Band's gamers may not. There's a good chance that when getting people together to play as a "band" there will be a couple of non-gamers, or at least some who have never played a rhythm game before. By keeping the difficulty level toned down a bit, it's more accessible. This allows for less frustration and more time dedicated to rocking out.

On a side note, I'm a bit bemused by the art direction for the actual game play in Rock Band. I much prefer the aesthetic in Guitar Hero, especially when they're placed side by side. The flat note indicators remind me of Beatmania and evokes an electronica feel, not rock 'n roll.

When Did Sports Games Forget to Add the Fun?

I used to play a lot of sports game back in the day: Tecmo Bowl, Double Dribble, Blades of Glory, Genesis versions of NHL, Joe Montana Football, International Superstar Soccer on the Nintendo64. But for my taste, the genre has gone down hill. In an effort to make the most realistic simulation of sport gaming, developers has consistently piled more and more features and controls on the player. They also seem to build off of each other forcing a player to master last years iteration before he can move on to the newest game.

Luke Plunkett at kotaku made this observation while playing NBA 2k8 a while back and then Zack Hiwiller expanded on the idea by pointing out the ridiculousness of the compounded complexity of sports games.

Your friend tells you about this movie he is really excited about and he convinces you to buy a ticket and see it with him. The theater is mostly empty when you sit down, except for a few kids in the front row holding those big foam #1 fingers. Before the previews start, your friend tells you it his ninth time seeing the movie. It starts and immediately you find it incomprehensible. There are dozens of characters whose origins and motives aren’t explained, you have a rough understanding of the plot, but the movie seems distracted with minor plot points and half the movie seems to be overwrought establishing shots.

When the credits roll, your friend applauds but you sit there confused. He nudges you and tells you, “Don’t worry. I didn’t start really “getting it” until the fifth time I saw it. Hang in there!” You are a bit dumbstruck: “Five times? I’m not wasting my time and paying to see that mess again!”. Your friend then gets angry with you: “Whatever. You just don’t want to put in the time to struggle for something sophisticated.”

That’s basically the game industry’s sports genre.

He goes on to say that there is "a push each year to add new features" which really just translates to "complicate this for the reason of depth." FIFA has done the same thing as the Madden franchise in an effort to catch up to Pro Evolution Soccer, which has been held in higher esteem for its "realism."

The developers may have eliminated aspects that took away from the purity of the game, adding layer after layer of complexity to create the most realistic sports sim ever, but the sacrifice has been too great. Gone is the debauchery of high-scoring, rowdy gaming encounters with friends and family. I still play competitive soccer when I need my fix of "realism" and I watch Manchester United with fanaticism. In much the same way the racing genre lost me when RC ProAm and Out Run gave way to Gran Turismo, the sports genre lost me when they cut the most appealing feature of all: fun.

Fun Friday: "Still Alive" by GLaDOS Edition

I borrowed a copy of the Orange Box this week and booted up Portal straight away. Although it's short, it was a great from beginning to end. Thinking about how my actions will be effected by the actual physics of jumping through rips in the space/time continuum was a lot of fun. I didn't get as attached to the Companion Cube as some people, but I really felt for the lonely (and hilarious) computer in the end. When the credits role, they are accompanied by a very catchy and brilliantly awesome song. Some spoilers are contained in the lyrics but they aren't too bad. This game is a highly recommended diversion.

Fun Friday: Adorably Sweet Halloween Edition

I have never been a huge fan of Halloween and I haven't dressed up in years. But I love Bioshock and apparently the following dad does as well. He dressed up as a Big Daddy and got one of his daughters to be a Little Sister. Ahhh, family bonding at its best. I look forward to many moments like this with my own children.

I Broke the Five Digit Barrier!

It took just over one and a half years, but I finally eclipsed the 10,000 point mark for my gamerscore. While it is a relatively low score in comparison to my friends and especially 360 players in general, I am quite proud of my accomplishment. I don't play a lot a games. For one, I don't necessarily play a lot of games. But more importantly, I'm very picky about the games I do play. I stay away from most sports games and popular franchises, as I look for games that provide new experiences and stories. Of the 483 achievements, two stand out above the rest.

• Most people get the Escape the Imperial Sewers first when playing Oblivion, I got it last. I had just received my 360 and didn't really understand the profile system just yet. I put in nearly 200 hours acquiring the other 49 achievements before I could allow myself to start a new game just to get the tutorial level achievement. So it's memorable to me because, while not terribly challenging to get all of the achievements in Oblivion, it took dedication.
• I have never been very good at twitch gaming. I always struggle in first person shooters, like Halo and Gears of War. However, on a fateful night in September, not only did I come from behind to win a Slayer match on Isolation, I did it in style; with an overkill earning achievement in the dying seconds of the match with the rocket launcher.

I've mentioned before and I'll say it again, achievements are one of the best features of the current generation of hardware. Furthermore, I find myself using websites like Achieve360Points to see what a games achievements are like before I make a purchase decision. Studies are even beginning to show that a more diverse list of achievements, meaning one that asks a player to play a game in ways they may or may not normally play, can lead to greater sales. Here's looking forward to my next 10,000 points!

Fun Friday: Kick Ass Videos Edition

This week saw the release of two awesome teaser trailers. Street Fighter II is one of my favorite all time games and I plan on owning a arcade cabinet as soon as I can afford one (or my wife lets me buy one, which ever comes first!) They lost me when they started adding hyper and super and turbo stuff; I guess I'm a purist in some ways. Capcom announced Street Fighter IV with a simply sublime teaser. In my opinion, they don't even need to make a game. Just make a Street Fighter movie in the same art style and I'll buy two.

The second video is fro Tim Schafer's newest project, Brutal Legend. They game looks awesome in so many ways. After reading the article in Game Informer, this game is definitely on my radar. And while his movies have struggled as of late, Jack Black will be voicing the lead character. It will probably come off like some of his Tenacious D stuff, but that's a good thing! I wonder if Kyle will make a cameo as well?

Nintendo: You Were Bored Before the Wii

The blogosphere has already pointed out the cogency, or lack thereof, in the recent statements from the outgoing Nintendo VP of Marketing, Perrin Kaplan. She, as well as Nintendo, saw that before the Wii was released, "gamers were getting bored, even though they didn't know it yet." Well, I'm sorry to say that, as a gamer, there has been plenty of games that have kept me quite entertained. Unless of course, she was referring to the GameCube. Only three titles were able to keep me entertained long enough to play through them: Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, and Resident Evil 4.

What many gaming news outlets didn't really comment on was the further statements by Robert Matthews, Nintendo's senior director of consumer marketing.

Just look at the way people consume entertainment today. The idea that you would spend hours playing videogames is just not real anymore.

While I do agree that people attention spans are shrinking and, as I get older, my time is split among many things, this blanket statement doesn't seem true in light of media in general. Movie times have steadily lengthened over the last few decades. The hour long drama is increasingly dominating the television line-ups as the sitcom seems to wither away. The Internet is absorbed in smaller chunks, but mostly due to the sheer volume of information out there.

On the other hand, epic games of forty hours or more are also diminishing. These are being replaced by the moderately paced ten to twenty hour campaign. So while there is a market for short attention span gaming, it is not the industry's savior. Games are adapting, allowing players to jump in and out of the game at any time with better save systems and level design. Besides, my 360 is played on a near daily basis. From what I understand, many people are starting to notice that the Wii may be collecting dust. At least until something better than Wii Sports comes along.

Feed the Dog, Take Out the Trash, Collect Trinkets?

While playing a game, gamers are asked to do many things. Some of those things are fun, others are not. Juuso Hietalahti, at Game Producer Resource, posted a quick article suggesting seven simple elements that can be added to your game can make it more fun. I agree with six of them.

As a kid, I collected all kinds of crap: baseball cards, Star Wars figures, soccer pins, comic books. Eventually I grew out of it (except for a resurgence of Star Wars figures around 1999) except I still have what I consider collections, like my video games, books or DVDs. I always had fun while I was doing it but I never really got too crazy.

However, I hate when a video game asks the player to collect things. In my opinion, it is not fun. It's busy work, a chore. It distracts from the game at hand. It has become one of the worst video game clichés and a crutch to synthetically lengthen game play.

While playing through Gears of War, I could never suspend my disbelief that Marcus would stop and look for COG tags while the Locust are bearing down on him or while he's in a hurry to save humanity. The same goes for Master Chief and the golden skulls. It seems that every platforming game to has the player collecting hundreds, if not thousands, of random, shiny object all in the name of meeting some goal of 100% complete. It has also become quite fashionable to create achievements around collecting. I hate collecting achievements. Which is saying something because, in general, I love achievements.

At least in the original Mario games, collecting 100 coins would earn the player an extra life. In Grand Theft Auto, collecting secret packages makes items spawn at your safe house (although, I usually stopped actively searching for them once the body armor was unlocked). These days, collecting things nets you a few gamer points and some concept art. If I'm going to be collecting something, it better be necessary to advance the story line and provide my character with new abilities. When a game play mechanic is no more important or as enticing as chores around the house, I'm not really have any fun any more.

Fun Friday: Wet

I absolutely love this new trailer for the upcoming game Wet. As I went to post it for Fun Friday, I noticed that it was my 69th post. Oh, the irony. While there has not been any in game footage for this game yet, I am really digging the Taratino vibe in this trailer. It sets a tone that I can only hope that will set it apart from other action games. I have faith in the developer as well. A2M worked on our Monster House games, and the GameCube and GBA versions actually came out pretty good. I am looking forward to more info on this game. In the mean time, enjoy the video.

Puzzle Quest Postmortem: Required Reading

Puzzle Quest developer, Infinite Interactive, posted a postmortem for their surprise hit in the September issue of Game Developer magazine. Of all the postmortems that I have read in this magazine, I was most impressed, and inspired, with the philosophy and wisdom the developers shared in the article. While many postmortems seem to spout the same "what went wrong" and "what went right" issues while creating a game, Infinite Interactive touched on many things that I have seen, and have been bothered by, during my short time in the industry. I have yet to play the game, but now that it is out on Xbox Live Arcade, that will be remedied soon.

This is the first postmortem that I can remember that stated that taking their time to finish the game was one of the things that went right. The game may have only been released on the DS and PSP, but polish is what seems to separate the quality titles of the current generation from those that are hoping to make a quick buck. I know that most publishers have quarterly goals to meet and that developers are usually working on tight deadlines and even tighter budgets. The problem is that it shows in the number of quality titles that are released throughout the year. Infinite Interactive spent nearly two and a half years making the game the best it could possibly be. They were rewarded by not being able to keep the game stocked on shelves.

Of the things that went wrong, "underestimation" is something that is not exclusive to Infinite. Every new developer we work with, and even ones that we've worked with a lot, seem to make the same mistakes. Something that I have suggested and pushed at work is echoed in the sentiment of Puzzle Quest's lead designer, Steve Fawkner.

My advice to any teams just getting into Xbox Live Arcade development is to read the TCRs over and over until you have them committed to memory. You may even want to run your design documents (especially the UI designs) past an Xbox Live Arcade Q/A team before implementing anything.

He talks about Live Arcade but I think that would be useful for anyone developing on the DS all the way up to PS3. It never fails that a game will come into test with only about two months till submission, but every Guideline fails. It then becomes a test of wills on whether or not to fix the issues or wait to see if they're found in submission. I can only imagine the time that would be saved if games were built around the guidelines for a particular system as opposed to throwing it together on one system and then attempting to shoehorn it onto another.

Lastly, he gives props to his "two excellent test teams." Being the lowest rung on the pole is not easy. At the best of times we can feel under appreciated and at the worst, seemingly blamed for everything. There is no glory to be had in Q/A and even the best teams are fallible as Fawkner points out that a heinous, if not serious, bug made it into the release version. It makes me happy to see developers chalk it up to an enormously complex game and not lazy testing.

Developers like Infinite Interactive seem to be few and far between. They have tremendous passion and the will to succeed, and it shows in their success.

Fun Friday: Hollywood Ax Edition

Today is a sad day for fans of video game movie adaptations, with the plug being pulled on both the Halo and the Gears of War movies. But then again, there aren't many of you out there, are there? Games are interactive and have yet to translate well into a move. The best fit for games and cinema is when it is created by the gamers. Hence the following two videos. Enjoy!

Teachers Encouraging Teachers to Use Games

My wife is a teacher and belongs to the National Education Association. Each month they send out a magazine covering topics of interest for teachers. Sounds intriguing, I know, but the October issue's cover caught my attention as I was about to throw it out. "Game On!" appeared in large, bold characters and caused me to double take. Although I was a little discouraged when the subtitle suggested that kids could learn a lot from their "Xboxes," I was inclined to give the article a read.

Surprisingly, the article was not only well researched, but highly in favor of using games as teaching aides in the classroom. The author, Cindy Long, points out the educational value of simulation games that encourage the students to problem solve and think strategically. Games she points out specifically for the classroom include Civilization and SimCity, where the focus is on creating situations that allow the students to interact with the subject instead of passively engaging the material. And not only does the lesson encourage more active learning, it is also a lot more fun. As one teacher, Mr. Brock Dubbels of Minneapolis, puts it, "'We’re going to play a game’ sounds a lot more appealing to a class than, ‘We’re going to summarize a story and analyze a plot diagram.'" While I'm inclined to think that the author thought high school kids would benefit the most based on the game selections, I think that this would benefit all students, including elementary. Additionally, it is very encouraging to see a national organization in our corner.

The article even quickly touches on the inevitable topic of violence by disseminating some common sense, at least among gamers.

Games like Grand Theft Auto are popular with kids, but are “spectacularly inappropriate for the classroom,” MacKenty says. Look for games with age-rating labels and do your research to weed out the violent titles.

One point that really hit home for me was about clearly defining objectives for the lesson. By creating a discussion before hand and then following up after game play allows for extensive critical thinking regarding what the students have learned. As a gamer, I am not used to playing games in a way that encourages this level of thinking. In my defense, games have not traditionally been very deep, but as our industry matures, more games like Bioshock will attempt to stretch our mental muscles. Gamers need to be ready to meet those challenges, seeing the game on it's many levels, or we may be doomed to mindless shooters and football games.

Fun Friday: Halo 3 Edition

Halo 3 came out this week so needless to say, posting has been a little thin. Bungie has put together an amazing package with this game. In addition to standard campaign and multiplayer, the theater and forge elements are well above and beyond what anyone could have expected from this game. I believe it is safe to say that I will play this game for months to come. Inspired by N'gai Croal's posting earlier this week, above is my first multiplayer kill. That's me in the background and a very unlucky HARASSMENT OWNS getting splattered.

Ready to Finish the Fight!

It took almost three years, but I finally played all the way through Halo 2. I spent the last couple of nights playing through the original two games to refresh myself on the story and actually complete the second game. I did it on easy, which many may feel was cheating, but I wanted to get through the games quickly and it made me feel like the bad ass that Master Chief is as I stormed my way though waver after wave of the Covenant and the Flood.

Many people seemed to dislike the end of Halo 2 for it's abruptness, but I liked it. The game did a good job of setting up the third and the alliances between the Master Chief, the humans and the Elites, with converging story lines on multiple battlefronts. It's kind of like Empire Strikes Back in that sense. Although, I may not have liked it as much if I had to wait three years to find out what is going to happen. However, I think it's clear that the human race survives due to the museum and the "Believe" commercials, the questions remaining seem to be who will survive.

Fun Friday: Want to Get Away?

Resident Evil 5 Rumored to Resides in Haiti

Kotoku is reporting that a very reliable source from within Capcom is confirming that Resident Evil 5 takes place in Haiti, the supposed birthplace of voodoo and zombies. That's what I said.

Lesson Learned: Motion Control's Big Assumption

The summer before second grade, I fell out of a tree on a camping trip and broke both bones in my left forearm, the ulna and radius. Ever since them my left arm has been slightly more "bowed" than my right. It's nothing crazy. I'm not a mutant or anything, but if you compared my two arms side by side, they would look a little different. However, it wasn't until very recently that I realized that my left arm has a minor limitation as well.

We have a racing title on the Wii in test now that switched up the controls from last year's version. Last year we went with holding the Wii Remote horizontally and steering like a real steering wheel. It seemed to work fine, but in this year's version, that's a secondary control scheme. The new default scheme has the player holding the Wii Remote in one hand and the Nunchuk in the other. So far, there are no problems. However, while racing, if the player wants to powerslide around a sharp corner (which is somewhat necessary throughout the game) they have to twist the Nunchuck from left to right, or vice versa, to powerslide in that direction while turning with the Control Stick. For most people this would probably be no problem, except it has been for me.

Due to my injury sustained about twenty years ago, I have trouble twisting my left arm outwards, away from my body, making left turns while powersliding nearly impossible. Since it is not a motion I do very often with my left arm (even my right for that matter), I never really put much thought into my own limitations. And my own issues are not even a real problem, as there are people out there with far more severe limitations.

As motion controls become more and more the norm and game designers look to eagerly implement them into their games, this is hopefully something that they take into consideration more often than not or risk alienating a segment of our gaming brethren. Not to say that all motion controls are bad, I just hope that they aren't shoehorned into games and then forced upon the player.

Goose Bumps

I'm a sucker for stark, moving music and movies that evoke emotions of honor and duty, movies like Saving Private Ryan, even Armageddon (I know it was cheesy). The new Halo 3 ad "Believe" gave me the same chills. Very nicely done.

I Needed More Motivation To Be Bad

Bioshock has succeeded. It has already garnered the level of cult status and it is a classic experience that all gamers should enjoy. Still, I have a tiny, tiny bit of a problem with the game that in no way hindered my original experience but I think could have given much more weight to the dilemma that the player is faced with early in the game. I hadn't even really thought about it too much until reading N'gai Croal and Stephen Totilo's face off. Croal writes:

My finger was hovering over the X button, ready to harvest...and all of a sudden, I couldn't do it. There was a little girl, albeit virtual, cowering in front of my avatar, and I couldn't bring myself to harvest her, as she'd been presented far too sympathetically. At the same time, I couldn't bring myself to rescue her either, because I wanted that Adam. Yet there was another complicating factor, one which is the true mark of the brilliance of BioShock's fiendish conundrum: the promise of an unspecified reward from Tenenbaum for rescuing the Little Sister.

What was puzzling me was the nature of Levine's game. He was pitting my basic humanity against my greedy self-interest and against my curiosity--a cruel hybrid of a moral dilemma fused with the Trust Game. This was a far more devilish problem than had it been a simple binary either/or, and it had completely paralyzed me. Should I treat this game as a Rorschach blot and do what I would do in real life: rescue the Little Sister? Or should I treat it solely as a fantasy and do precisely the opposite, explore the road I'd never take in the real world. I didn't know what to do.

While I totally hesitated in that moment over whether to save her for the promised reward or to put her out of her misery, the ADAM was never really a major draw at this point in the game. The game offers that if you do harvest the little sister, you will gain more ADAM for spending on plasmids, but does the player actually understand at this point what that means?

Our only experience up until this point in the game with plasmids in the electricity plasmid. It is very useful and fun but there is no hint at what comes with enhanced powers. You could use your imagination but it's easiest to see this power only becoming stronger. So what's the draw for more ADAM? Is it the desire to become as powerful as possible? Curiosity? I felt more sorry for her than anything, so I chose to save her.

Now, let's suppose that the game does something a little different the first time you inject yourself with a plasmid. You body has no idea how to react to this genetic mutation and you suddenly have a vast array of powers at your fingertips that is unstable (very similar to a sequence later in the game when you have an adverse reaction to an antidote). After experiencing all that ADAM can offer and its power, it is taken away from you only to be offered a way to get back by taking it from the little sisters. Like a drug, it has been taken from you and you now have a way to get back but at a terrible moral cost. Now here's a dilemma!

Now, while this borrows heavily from the Metroid formula, as well as adjusting the a bit of the story line, I think it would have added a lot more weight to the harvest/save problem. Now I wasn't the game designer and maybe they thought of this and thought the game was better their way. Either way, it is still an experience that transcends the norm.

It's Not Worth It

In preparation for the arrival of the the September issue, I flipped through the August issue of Game Developer Magazine. I reread Steve Theodore's latest Pixel Pusher article entitled Fight the Good Fight. He puts forth more strong arguments against the self inflicted practice of crunch time, many of which I strongly believe and attempt to convey to others around me, unfortunately, not to much avail. A couple of the things he stresses is pacing yourself and then learning how to manage your own time so you can foresee problems before they get out of control. However, the message that comes at the very end of the article hit closest to home, especially as I look to expand my own family.

There has never been a game that was worth a single divorce, but anybody with a few shipped titles on their resume could name you a title or two that cost that much.

That's why it's up to us to grapple the crunch monster. Growing out of our frat house work habits isn't just good advice - it's a deadly serious duty. The family wants you home from the trenches, safe and sound, not just another anonymous game industry hero in the small print of Mobygames. Don't disappoint them.

Fun Friday: Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

With the impending release of two rhythm game heavyweights, someone has created two sites with YouTube clips of most of the songs to be featured in Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. I'm still partial to Guitar Hero based on the track list. See the mind blowing video below for some Tenacious D awesomeness (and with dancing robot for the win!) But I have to admit that the drums, as well as some of the menus and player customization stuff in Rock Band, look pretty sweet.

Does One Game Make a Franchise?

On Friday Evening, I finished Bioshock while saving all of the Little Sisters. By itself, it was a very emotional and powerful ending but the themes of fatherhood hit particularly close to home. The game was phenomenal from start to finish and it will easily be the game of the year.

Earlier today, Take Two held their earning call and praised their hit title. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said of the game's success "Clearly, we have a new hit franchise on our hands." This stuck me quite odd. While the game is clearly a critical and financial success, I don't see one game as a "franchise." Zelda and Madden are franchises, long running series that have been successful year in and year out.

I understand that this talk came from the people responsible to the shareholders that want a promise of more success to come. Games that transcend the banality of our industry are not immune from the franchise mentality that plagues this industry. Shareholders want high returns on little investment, they want sock prices to go up. Unfortunately, they want to capitalize on this success.

But it has not always worked out. Great games are not always the launching pads for viable franchises. For many reasons, consecutive titles in a "franchise" fail to meet expectations: KOTOR, Maximo, Prince of Persia. On the other hand, the major franchises have all started all small, developed a cult following and progressively improved from year to year: GTA, Final Fantasy, Tony Hawk, even Halo. Bioshock set the that first franchise step pretty high and its going to take quite an effort to maintain that level of excellence.

Fun Friday: Medal of Homer

The Simpson's TV show lost me somewhere around 1996. I just totally lost interest in the show. Needless to say, I have stayed away from the games as well. Although I have to admit that this new game that is coming out in a couple of months looks like it could be a lot of fun and captures what made the series great when it first started. And this trailer is hilarious. I may have to check this out, even if EA is publishing it.

Ode to Cut Scenes

God of War. Final Fantasy. Metal Gear Solid. Shadow of the Colossus. Resident Evil. Awesome games that have a common thread: they all have somewhat lengthy, pre-rendered cut scenes. While many people seem to hate them, I am in the minority that do not. Stephen Totilo on the MTV Multiplayer Blog, questions the following long standing belief:

Years ago — before it was in vogue to hate health bars and boss battles — it was cool to complain about cut-scenes. The flashy, melodramatic movies that appeared between chapters of game play undermined games by interrupting interactivity. They misrepresented the graphics in the games they were in. They told bad stories. They needed to be skipped, and, wouldn’t you know that the worst kind of cut-scene was one that an A or X button couldn’t eradicate in one tap.

So that's where the majority is coming from. But I have always felt that a really well executed cut scene was a reward at the end of that level I just completed. And these rewards just get better and better as the game crescendos up to a final climatic cut scene, gushing an orgasmic finale to an exquisite gaming experience.

My favorite example of this if God of War. Throughout the game the back story is beautifully told through artistic and stylized cut scenes that become available to watch in succession after completing the game, as if it were a movie. And it's a gorgeous movie at that, rivaling any animated movie not made by Pixar. I think God of War II lost the plot a bit in this department but still was quite impressive.

Stephen makes another great point, many of the greatest moments in gaming history have taken place in cut scenes. In addition to his great examples, there is Aeris's death in Final Fantasy VII and the Cyborg Ninja's hallway rampage in Metal Gear Solid. These are all pivotal moments that should not have been missed.

Moving forward, it is clear that developers are adopting a more interactive approach to cut scenes, like in Resident Evil 4. Also, as real time graphics rapidly approach what can be achieved in a pre-rendered scene, the lines will continue to blur, like in Bioshock or Heavenly Sword.

If there is one thing that games have yet to truly achieve on a regular basis is great story telling. Vivid cut scenes can fill that gap and, I for one, look forward to them. So, in the meantime, bring on the popcorn and watch some well earned cut scenes.

News Round Up

PAX and the holiday weekend threw off my posting schedule, so here’s a rundown of things that have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks as I play catch up.

• Manhunt 2 is Dated for a Halloween Release: I was off by a couple of months as far as the release of a ‘modified’ version, but I think they have achieved the desired effect – buzz.
• Guitar Hero III Achievements Unveiled: I love achievements but these suck. I know, I know, you should have to achieve something to earn them. But for the love of all things holy, I can understand a few, but not the majority of them. I initially thought that these achievements were fake. Firstly, they are way too specific and require unnatural skills at the game. Secondly, some of them have errors in them, like the ‘Now That’s Impressive’ achievement that states 750,000 points on a song with a 1 million point image. Thirdly, there are no achievements for progressing through the game past the bosses, like Slash and the recently announced Tom Morello. Finally, I noticed that there were 59 achievements. Juiced (a THQ game) had submission problems because they had 60 achievements but was then passed, maybe because of Guitar Hero. But, come on, look at the requirements for Tone Deaf and Button Masher. Seriously?
• Sequel to The Ship is Coming to 360: I love the premise of this game. You are given a name and must find this person on a cruise ship full of people and kill him – all while avoiding the unknown person who has yours. Quite a departure from most online multiplayer games, this one requires some stealth and skill, not just run and gun. Awesome!
• Pit’s Intro in Super Smash Brothers Brawl: I don’t care about SSBB. Not one bit. But if Nintendo finally went ahead and created a new Kid Icarus game, I would finally have enough reasons to own a Wii. It looks like they have the assets. Come on Nintendo, let’s get this done.
• Zero Punctuation Reviews Bioshock:

THQ: DS Past and Future

My first week at THQ was spent testing Ping Pals. In French and German. I'm surprised I made it past that week but fortunately I was snatched up by another team. For those who aren't laughing their ass off right now about my first testing gig, Ping Pals was an ill advised chat game that was no better than the DS's built in Pictochat. Although according to the project manager it was one of our greatest financial successes, it was met with ridicule and review scores averaging at about 0.5 out of ten. The developer, Way Forward, has gone to develop many DS titles and has two on the way that may the most anticipated games of the Holiday season barring Phantom Hourglass: Contra IV and Duck Amuck. In an interview a couple of weeks back with Stephen Totilo, creative director Matt Bozon explains some of the rationale that went behind that ill fated title.

They had just a handful of weeks to make the game. "We needed dev kits desperately, and here was a chance to get them."

But the problem with "Ping Pals" wasn't just time. The DS already had an IM program called "Pictochat" that came embedded into every DS. Did anyone raise their hand and ask about that? "I did that on day one," Bozon said, laughing. "THQ had their plan, and they were going to run with it.

This is quite typical of our philosophy but hey, we had a billion dollars in sales last year, so they must be doing something right.

One of those things right was picking up the publishing rights to Drawn to Life. It's an ambitious project that has the unfortunate timing of being released in one of the most crowded launch seasons ever. Hopefully people will still pick it up and encourage to take more chances like this and we can develop a sequel to smooth out some of the rough edges. In the mean time, check out the first official trailer. And yes, you can draw penises if that's your thing.

Fun Fridays: Super Belated Edition

Seeing as it is Tuesday, this is definitely late. But that's okay because fun is awesome even when it's late. Last Friday, I was unsure what to add as my Fun Friday post and then I read my email. Amazon sent me the above recommendation that made my day. Apparently, a generic, licensed racing game should appeal to those who enjoy incredible, 200+ hour RPG's. Who knew? Wait, isn't there something else coming out on September 25th?

Back Home From PAX07

I'm back from the Penny Arcade Expo! I had a lot of fun in Seattle (my first time visiting) despite my feet and calves throbbing after three days of being up on them, showing off our games. I have to say, I expected the place to be bigger. My only other major expo experience was E3 in 2006. Otherwise, the people were all really cool and the atmosphere was one of a kind. I met a lot of really interesting people, including the folks who were demoing N+ and Kim from Bioware, who was demoing Mass Effect. We got a chance to quickly talk about testing such a massive game

My highlights for the show were playing N+ and Castle Crashers. They are very unique and satisfying experiences that are a perfect fit for Live Arcade. I watched people play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption over their shoulders; it looked amazing on the massive plasma screens they were playing on. I'll definitely be picking this game up if I get a Wii. The Mass Effect demo was amazing. Despite some who were disappointed or not awed, I think it really showed off the little details that are going to make this one of the greatest games ever.

I spent the majority of my time demoing our upcoming Wii game, de Blob. Originally developed by students in Utrecht, it puts the player in control of the rebellious Blob who is acting out against the evil Inkt Corporation by literally painting the city red, or whatever color you want. It was on the inside of our booth, so I don't think as many people saw it who could have, but it still managed to draw a large crowd when they did see it. I even had a few people tell me that it was their favorite game of the show which made me very happy. It still has quite a while in development and test before it hits store shelves, so I hope that marketing can get the word out in the mean time.

Testing in the Open World: Crackdown

"Everyone knows that testing a game thoroughly is essential to its quality," is the debatable first sentence in a Gamasutra post from Microsoft's Gamefest concerning a forum on how they overcame testing the massive size of Crackdown. While the article is sparse in detail, it provides an overview of what steps were taken to ensure that the game was thoroughly hammered. Essentially, due to the overwhelming scope of the game world that was compounded by the fact that much of the game rose in the y-axis as well, much of the testing was automated. Environmental bugs, including the placement of items and graphical seam issues, numbered well above the 10,000 mark. I have not seen many multi-platform games get that high in total, let alone one bug type.

THQ: Reading Your Mind

Not content with just selling the latest iteration of our annual franchises, THQ is seeking some cerebral assistance for the direction and design of our upcoming games.

We typically rely on people to tell us what they think. Using EmSense technology, it's not what people say, but what they're thinking about it. And that's so much more accurate.

Going above and beyond the standard focus groups, EmSense uses technology that "measure people's brain waves, heart rate and sweat responses while they played the military-theme game." That military-themed game is Frontlines. I haven't had any hands on time with the game but it looks promising from what I've seen. This seems like a great idea, and I'm all for creating experiences that interact with the senses and emotions.

Panademic's Saboteur is Looking Good

This game, Saboteur, was announced a while back but a new teaser trailer as hit and it definitely has my interest piqued. Set in Nazi occupied France during World War II, it follows our protagonist as he hunts down Nazi and taking them out for coming between him and three of his favorite things: "his friends, his car and his women." While the premise sounds, well, a little goofy, some of the game mechanics and art direction look very good. Much of the game play appears to be stealth based and the color palette of the area shifts from monochromatic to color as occupied areas are recaptured. I'm going to have to keep my eye on this game as the game gets closer to shipping next year. In the meantime, check out the cool trailer.

J. Thompson Hates on Bioshock Ad

In his most recent stunt along his crusade against all things gaming and Take Two, Jack Thompson sent a complaint letter to the FCC. His issues stem from the fact that several Bioshock ads were aired during Friday's WWE SmackDown episode. He claims that Take Two are aggressively targeting all of the "children" who watch wrestling much the same way cigarette companies targeted them with Joe Camel. He even cites Rockstar in the despite the fact that they have nothing to do with the game. Their evil ways must be infecting the entire company. The wrestling is fine for the kids but not the thirty second spot for a mature themed video game; the irony is very thick. Chris Kohler at the Wired's Game|Life said everything I wanted to say. Only he did it sooner and better.

Thompson provides no viable solution, but it's okay, because the problem he's describing isn't even a problem at all.

Why Jack Thompson Is Wrong About BioShock [Game|Life]

Fun Fridays: Two For One

First up is a Penny Arcade comic from Monday. This was absolutely hilarious to me on many levels. Firstly, it caters to my insatiable appetite for achievements. Secondly, in one week's time I'll be at the Penny Arcade Expo so I probably won't be able to post next Friday.

The comic is influenced by last weeks Stranglehold demo. I downloaded it and played through it once. Then I deleted it. A lot of people I talked too really enjoyed it. They pointed out that it really fits John Woo's style (flying pigeons and all) and it was a lot of fun. I agree for the most part on both points. However, I had a really hard time suspending my disbelief as Chow Yun Fat's character's stiff animations slid awkwardly across every surface like Hong Kong was covered in a thin layer of very slippery ice. The graphics had that really shiny 'next-gen' look that really creeps me out. And the action was so loose, the aiming reticule flew all over the screen looking for enemies that seemed to pop out of every nook and cranny imaginable. I did like the concentrated aiming bits, but the rest just ruined it for me. Thankfully I will pass when this game comes out.

The second offering is a video clip from Yahtzee Crowshaw. His pointed and uproarious commentary was first brought to my attention on Game|Life and he has been quickly snatched up by the Escapist Magazine to do a weekly show, called Zero Punctuation. The first video explores the Heavenly Sword demo and the Resident Evil 5 trailer. Do your self a favor and watch his other videos as well. Below he lambastes Fable but the Darkness video is great as well.

Lara's Wii Controls

I haven't been terribly impressed by any controls to date on the Wii. I recently laid out what I thought makes or breaks a game's motion controls. Crystal Dynamics did a fantastic job resuscitating the Tomb Raider franchise, and I think they may go three for three as the following video lays out their controls for the upcoming Wii version. They aren't trying to do anything too crazy; simple flicks of the wrists for dodging and the Pointer for shooting and looking. The more complex moves come in the form of environmental puzzles and exploration when the action slows down, aka the actual archaeological stuff. This is definitely the right direction. I may have to check this out when it ships and hope that other developers take note of the controls.

What Do I Want From a Wii Game?

The Wii offers a new ways to design and, ultimately, to play video games. Unfortunately, it has been a struggle that even, in my opinion, Nintendo has yet to over come. This week saw the release of EA's Boogie which has been met with some wildly varying reviews. Stephen Totilo at MTV's Multiplayer Blog took the chance to chat with the game's lead designer, Jean-Charles Gaudechon, and discuss his reaction to the reception the game has received.

When I see a 3 out of 10, I think it's people completely hermetic to it, just not getting it.

I understand his consternation, seeing as he has devoted a good chunk of his life to creating this game. However, from a gamer's point of view, the game is not an easy thing to understand. The game, on the surface, appears to be an amalgamation of two genre's: karaoke and DDR. The only problem is those two games seem to do the job better on their own and the combination is not like chocolate and peanut butter. I have yet to play the game, but I see a major problem with game play. The article states that the dev team had trouble linking Wii Remote moves with dance moves, and for very good reason. Dancing is a full body exercise, it's not just in the hands (at least not good dancing). I think a limitation of the Wii Remote is that it can only simulate certain actions and feel natural. Dancing is not one of them. This is where Boogie fails and DDR succeeds.

At the end of the article Stephen asks a series of questions that boils to: what makes a good Wii title? It got me thinking. I spend a good chunk of every day looking at our Wii titles and have been largely dissatisfied.

Firstly, graphics are important. The Wii is not and never will be able to display photorealism or compete with the 360 and the PS3 graphically. However, they still have the potential to look fantastic. The only stopping every game from looking as good, if not better, than games like Resident Evil 4, Okami, or God of War is budget. The importance in this area is to pick an art direction and run with it. Show some passion and dedication to the game's look. Don't just slap some assets together or reuse last year's. It's about making an impression and it does matter. I think Boogie succeeds here because they took a unique look and let it permeate throughout the game, like Katamari, Paper Mario or Rayman.

Controls has definitely been the make or break feature for Wii games. Unfortunately, it seems to break more games than not. The accelerometer and motion controls can only detect so many movements. Therefore, movements need to be kept simple or the effect is lost. Boogie and SSX Blur are good examples of this. They both seem to use complex combos of movement that aren't easily conveyed between the player and the game. But it is a balance, because if they are too simple, they appear tacked on and gimmicky. I would like to see my actions reflected on screen in a realistic, nearly, 1:1 ratio. This is why I think that only certain movements will translate. Swinging, pointing and slashing are examples of what have worked and what will work in the future. It is also an indication of the limitation of the system as they are motions along a single axis. Better designers than me will come up with special uses but only time will tell. The worst case scenario for Wii controls is when arm flailing will garner as much success as someone who is concentrating on the "correct" controls.

Designers on Wii games have an uphill battle. There are no easy solutions in this new paradigm for control schemes. Personally, I don't see too many good things on the near horizon from anyone but Nintendo, and I'm really not into too many of those games.

Bioshock: Sweet, Sweet Demo Action

I took just over thirteen hours to download the demo (7PM last night to 9AM this morning) but it was definitely worth the wait. The game looks like awesome cherry cheesecake: sweet. It is evident that a lot of love went into the entire process. Water has never looked so hot. It is most definitely not "just another just another f**king PC FPS." The action is smooth and frantic. It took me only about forty-five minutes to get through the demo but it had a lot to offer. The game has drama, suspense, atmosphere, intrigue, sheer heebie-jeebie moments... my thesaurus has run out of adjectives. It's cliche, but I had two distinct games come to mind while I was playing the demo: Condemned and Oblivion. Since these have been two of my favorite games on the 360, this is a very, very good thing. Especially since the best elements of these two games are ratcheted up, like they're hopped up on Eve. My insatiable desire to get my hands on this game is now at a breaking point. Thankfully, we only have a week or so longer to wait.

An Eventful Week

It seems lots of things happened while I was away camping. Instead of going into too much detail I'll just hit up some details.

• Halo 3 pre-orders at 7-11: WTF??!??
• Resident Evil 5 trailer is racist?: No. You only have yourself to blame for feeling that way. Not all black people live in Africa. My first impressions were that they could have been in on a Caribbean Island, like Haiti, as well. Additionally, they are Zombies, not people. Please stop there. Thank you.
• GTAIV delayed! Nooooo!!!: Damn, now what am I going to get my wife on her birthday? Now, was it technological challenges or the PS3? I'm going with technological problems on the PS3.
• Marathon on XBLA makes you sick: No shit, I nearly needed a bucket after only five minutes. Thank god for demos or I would have been a very pissed off camper.

Fun Fridays: 2.0

It's seems that G4 Media had a problem with my Xplay clips and had them removed from YouTube. Oh well. I'll probably just start posting some screen captures or something from my intern gig. In the meantime, enjoy this clip from the upcoming Wii game: Zack and Wiki. Now, is it just me, or is this dirty? First, there's the naked child and then the falling tree! I must see sexual innuendo in everything.