Fun Friday: Poor Bob Edition

Voter Registration Coming to Xbox 360

This is great. I would have never expected anything like this but kudos to Microsoft for making this happen. This is an extremely important and historic election coming up, and now there will be no excuse for everyone on Live to register and make a difference. Gamers' voices need to be heard; get involved and make a difference.

Now the real challenge will be getting gamers to the voting booth. Maybe Microsoft could set up Street Fighter IV cabinets or Gears of War 2 demos (I think it comes out the same week as the elections). Or better yet: Voting Booth Babes. Sorry, I was just thinking out loud here.

Pwn the Vote: Register to Vote on Your Xbox 360

Massive Damage

It might look pretty...

...but they're not pushing game play forward if it solely consists of quick time events. It seems like Quantic Dream, who also developed Indigo Prophesy, may need to start directing actual cinema instead of tacking on button presses and calling it interactive. At least it isn't porn.

Congrats to 5th Cell!

For those of you who don't know, 5th Cell is the developer for THQ behind Drawn to Life and the upcoming Lock's Quest. I had a chance to work on both of these games and, while not perfect, they both demonstrate what a developer can do when they understand the platform they are working on. They are both unique in style and design and are a worthy addition to any one's DS library. Drawn to Life did well for us and I imagine Lock's Quest will do the same. I eagerly look forward to their next project. Good job on getting the credit you deserve and keep up the good work!

Gamasutra - The Gamasutra 20: 2008's Breakthrough Developers - 5th Cell

Capcom Has Gone Mad (Catz)

Street Fighter II is one of my all time favorite games. If I could afford it, my house we be furnished with an original arcade cabinet. I played the arcade version every morning for about a year at a donut shop near my bus stop in junior high. I played the crap out of the Super Nintendo version when it came out as well. Needless to say, I was excited when the XBLA version was released two years ago. But it was missing something: a quality arcade stick.

Capcom recently hinted that they would be releasing an arcade stick to coincide with the release of Street Fighter IV (which I am very much looking forward to). This made me very excited, as I had visions, as may others I suspect, of high quality Hori arcade sticks that would make playing the game pure bliss without spending about $4000 on a cabinet.

Then the official announcement came today: Mad Catz will be making the official Street Fighter IV fighting sticks. Ughhh. I associate Mad Catz with cheap crap. They're like the WalMart of gaming hardware. While we have yet to see them yet, I don't have my hopes up. And in the mean time, this is very disappointing.

I guess I'll have to try and make my own. Oh, I just found out that Hori does make a 360 arcade stick. OK, all is well.

I Think I Found Kaiden's Halloween Costume

All I need now is some tights for my King of all Cosmos costume.

Katamari Damacy King baby-hat - Boing Boing

See...

I told you so.

The Overlord Will Return!

I loved the original Overlord. It was a fun mix of action and strategy, with a lot of humor mixed in. I'm glad to see that sales weren't as bad as I feared and we'll look to not only get one sequel, but also Wii and DS versions as well. I guess that goes to show that when a developer releases a decent game in the summer months when there is little competition, people will buy it. Hmm, imagine that.

Besides, this game allows me to act out my deepest desires to order around my own little minions and have them do my binding. Oh, I may have said too much.

Three Overlord Titles Announced for 2009 | Game | Life from Wired.com

de Blob Devs Shaking Up Genres With Swords & Soldiers

The original creators of de Blob are at it again. They're bring a "side-scrolling RTS" to WiiWare. While I don't exactly know what that means, you have to give them credit for their creativity and sense of style.

Speaking of de Blob, it should be out soon and I'm still as excited for it as when we first got it in to test. I think we did the original creators proud and it is definitely our best Wii game to date. The controls actually feel useful with the Wii Remote; not tacked on. I just hope that Wii owners go out and buy it. Then, hopefully, we will continue to make more innovative products.

Swords & Soldiers: de Blob Devs Bringing Swords & Soldiers To WiiWare

Running Out Of Ideas?

Apparently, EA ran out of mini games to add to a Wii compilation game, so they just decided to make the avatars grotesques caricatures of mostly b-list celebrities and athletes. Yikes! I know, I know, we're not much better, but at least we have cricket and bocce.

Celebrity Sports Showdown: Celebrity Sports Showdown In The Creepy Flesh

Fun Friday: Old School Edition

I love this trailer for the upcoming Mega Man 9; it brings back some memories. I am not, however, looking forward to the supposed achievements! Bionic Commando: Rearmed has been brutal enough.

Time and Money Waster!

Minesweeper coming to XBLA: Pay money for a free Windows game

But hey, at least it will have achievements, right?

I Love Dessert

In a post a while back, designer Raph Koster takes a common belief held in the industry and turns it on its head for me. It is common rhetoric amongst our ranks to place the blame for our increased risk aversion on the gamers, citing that the purchasing public is only out to buy sequels and established franchises. Hence, we have halo 3, GTAIV, MGS4, etcetera, ectetera.

But Raph makes a simlpe analogy for how this is wrong. Basically, we are used to saying that gamers like chocolate ice cream and if we ask them if they'd like more, of cource they're going to say yes. But the catch is: how is that same gamer going to know they want mango gelato if they've never had it? It's up to the developers and, more importantly, the publishers to start taking creative risks and offering crazy desserts we've never heard.

And, if you think about, many already are.

The glut of originality is starting to get stale, even for publishers. All you have to do is look at the the upcoming list of releases and there are a surprising number of original titles coming soon. Our proud to say that my company, THQ, has several titles coming up that I am really proud of, including de Blob, Deadly Creatures, and Darksiders. Even EA, a company a have historically dispised, has a number of interesting titles coming up such as Dead Space and There is also the upcoming Mirror's Edge.Brutal Legend and Wet.

As I think back, I have played a number of original games over the last year that I didn't know I would like until I played them: Zack and Wiki, Civ:Rev, No More Heroes, Portal, Puzzle Quest, N+, and Braid to name of few. Granted, many of these are smaller titles, but there have also been big budget risks such as Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

I have high hopes that the industry will find a balance point where sequels and franchises can coexist with the new and unproven. I say bring on more sorbert and flan! Now I'm hungry.

Raph's Website » Do players know what they want?

Fun Friday: Believe (Again)