Did Console Kill The PC Gaming Star? (TAKE 302)

The future does not look good either: Gabe Newell declared once that he does not find in Vista anything that might help him in any way possible. Coming from a guy like him, that’s just awful. But what is Windows Vista doing for gamers is really not that spectacular: an automated detection system that chooses the right settings for a game, based on the installed hardware; improved parental control, for games rated “M”; the possibility to access games from a separate menu (now that’s just like a useless appendix…); the possibility to search for upgrades automatically (no thanks, games have that too…); Direct X 10 (yeah, I’ll need to buy a new graphics card to have Aero work…). And only a single famous title that will fully use Vista’s capabilities for 64-bit computing and its DX 10 feature: Crysis, produced by Crytek. Of course, to be able to play it you’ll need to totally renew your PC, which might just make you think a PS3 or an Xbox 360 or even a Wii is not that bad…

- Analysis: Did Consoles Kill the PC as a Gaming Platform? [Playfuls]


The article makes many of the same points as before - piracy and hardware complications make the PC less and less desirable for developers who are getting increasingly better development tools and more mature consumers from consoles. Course, I've been up like 40 hours out of the last two days - so maybe it doesn't.

"Kill" is of course the problematic term here. "Greatly diminish" just doesn't sound the same in headline, though. The PlayStation 3 is more of a wildcard than ever before as well - with Linux support out of the box and broad compatibility with Bluetooth keyboards and mice in the pipeline as well (some devices may already work). As HDTV's bring the living room's viewing resolution to the same graces that PC owners have kept secret in the second bedroom for so long, as the Wii tries to bring you weather and news at the flick of a wrist ... consoles are making inroads in more ways than just cheap ways to get powerful, customized hardware.

Course, PC's still have the World of Warcraft. So there will probably still be sales for some time.



tagged: game, gaming

For Sunday: My Pakistani Step-Dad

This incredibly irreverent comedy comes courtesy of our friend at mini red satan and is wrong on several levels - but it's perfect for Thanksgiving weekend.

What Sound Does A Space Turkey Make?*

My dad used to call the sum of all computer games "shooting space turkeys" - a reference to an ad he saw once in a magazine. I don't think he ever lost the humor of it ... probably to this day. Even though he is now a GameCube owner and something of a TimeSplitters addict.

So enjoy your Space Turkey Day peeps - I should be back in the chair by Sunday.


* hubble, hubble, hubble





tagged: game, gaming

Marvel Ultimate Alliance Additional Notes

We're still hooked, but a few new things:

1. You might have noticed a Genji bug which Kohler describes as a "game-killer". Both X-Men Legends II and now Marvel Ultimate Alliance featured similar problems. XMLII had a bizarre issue about finishing the Temple level - if you left at the wrong point of the level and didn't come back the same way ... you would never get back. Last night, the Arcade Boss level in Marvel Alliance literally placed itself in the corner ... and proceeded to get stuck there. The XMLII bug required us to actually restart the whole game. Thankfully last night, we had just saved before entering Murderworld.

Yes, these kinds of bugs suck. But I wouldn't assume it's because it's a PS3 launch title. It's just because it's a title.

2. Arcade mode isn't getting enough credit in this version. This is where only the people playing are in the game - no coop AI players. No hotswapping between heroes. For one thing, the game feels more like a straight up action RPG. For another, it reduces clutter on the screen. Finally the end "tally" screen is a fun addition to a night of playing some couch co-op.


tagged: game, gaming

Replacing the PlayStation 3 HDD

Wow, that looks incredibly easy to do - just get a notebook style HDD with similar specs and pull the Sony HDD out, put yours in, format and reboot. Almost simpler than flipping a PC hard drive. Does this make the low end model a little more attractive? I think I might go without the media card reader to save cash on a big hard drive.

This is not possible on the Xbox 360, right? Custom interface, I think. At least Sony has shown some real smarts with the design of this console. It apparently runs cool and silent. It's largely stock components and interfaces it seems. You can install Linux on it. I mean, go hack-crazy people. Don't let the man slow you down or anything.




tagged: playstation 3, gaming

Happy Thanksgiving

Via Pat Beyer's photostream.

Eat, drink and be merry people. Because after this, you get to deal with the Christmas season.

Is Lost Failing ... As A Game?

I have bemoaned the sorry decline of Lost over the last season and a half (or so - Season Two started out strong enough) quite a bit ... and for now I'm willing to see if the producers took any notes with them when they started shooting the second half of Season 3 (which I think by the break, they were about half done).

However, there is another angle. Lost has been compared to a new wave kind of game - the marriage between television elements and in particular, Alternate Reality Games (like Jaime Kane or I Love Bees. The fact that the show begged viewers to watch, record and rewatch for various hints and clues as to the mystery of the island is similar to web users pouring over HTML code, decoding images and watching videos for hints.

So if the television critics have turned on Lost - what might a gamer think?

No Wocka-Wocka
No, I don't mean Lost needs a talking bear. One of the first things I ever read about game design talked about how Pac-Man's "wocka wocka" was a kind of instant gratifcation for the player. A simple and pleasing sound to indicate that points were being earned. Think the "bling" noise of Sonic.

Lost, on the other hand, is an exercise in delayed gratification. You'll see a flash of a tidbit - and then it's gone. Sometimes for many episodes ... or even a season or more. Remember Adam & Eve, the mysterious bodies in the cave? Yeah, neither do I. No, I'm not expecting a Pokemon style call-out for every important facet shown on the island - but when episode after episode fails to reward for paying attention to detail ... it doesn't make the details any more noteworthy or desirable to chase after.

In an ARG - attention to detail is usually rewarded quickly with new information. Clues cascade into each other and build into a revelation. On Lost, they often just dwindle away. Even more frustrating is the complete seperation between the show and ... the show's ARG, "The Lost Experience." Knowledge of one isn't particularly relevant to the other, and this lack of synergy feels like a missed gaming opportunity.


No powerups
In games, powerups give players a brief feeling of power. They can quickly change the fortune of a battle on the screen. They might take the player into completely new directions. On Lost - upgrades are fleeting and random. The characters get dynamite - but use it only to blow up the hatch. They get a radio - but it does them little good. They find a plane - and it kills one of them. They build a boat and ... well, you're seeing the pattern emerge here. The island giveth and the island take twofold away.

Locke is about the only exception to this rule. When the guy saddles up, the viewer feels like someone is going to get their ass kicked. For most of the other characters - when they try really hard, it almost makes you cringe in fear as to what might happen to them next. Most characters who go through any kind of empowerment on the show just end up dead.

No Boss Fights
Some designers would say this is a good thing - that boss fights are a throwback to coin-op evolution that we haven't figured out how to shake just yet. I like them plenty ... if they're designed right.

So far - big confrontations have been short on the island. We had Ethan - and it was good. We had the polar bears - but they were brief. We've got the Smoke Monster - but that's pretty one sided. In fact, the Smoke Monster is turning into the kind of boss fight that designers love to hate - overly convenient, mostly specially effects and ultimately meaningless.

Wrong Genre
In general, Lost seems to be more modelled after old school adventure games than ARGs. In lieu of meaningful clues, there are object hunts and location finds. Poke around the jungle enough and find the hatch. Go to Dark Terrority and get dynamite. Use dynamite on hatch. Open hatch. Enter Season Two.

ARG? I think the best format for a Lost game might be a text adventure. Seems like a pretty straightforward translation to me. And I don't mean that as an insult - I love me text adventures.

But a warning to the producers - it's very hard to make them commercially viable.







tagged: lost, gaming

The $100 360 From Amazon

For Turkey Massacre Day - Amazon may be selling 1,000 Xbox 360 Cores for $100. I say "may" because it's one out of four possible nominees - although at last check it was ahead in the voting (which is now closed).

I will probably be stuck in Central Illinois and removed from the power of technology. In general. So I'd say my chances of getting there in time are pretty slim, since I imagine Amazon handles 1,000 concurrent connections regularly. What that means is that the whole thing will probably be over by the time the little hand moves another step.

A few tips, from a web developer, in trying for this thing:

- Have one browser window open. Shut down all other apps. In fact, shut down the browser and start it up again. Windows users - you might even reboot. Browsers are clientside applications and a lot more processor heavy and memory heavy than people give them credit for ... especially with big sites like Amazon.

- Go to the page early and reload it. Just once will do, but this should get those common images and filles cached locally on your computer. Don't shut down your browser now (a new sessions may check for new files). You might double check your cache settings to be certain they aren't set to something like "Request From Server Every Time". Cache is speed, and speed is good.

- When the time comes, get a few minutes early and don't be shy about stopping and refreshing. It's true that web servers will just see these as mutliple requests - but as long as Amazon has prepped for the load ... the client doesn't really care.

- Chances are - the page will not need to be fully loaded to be functional. This is rarely the case, especially for forms, because the submit button is generally right when the form ends and should be after all the info that needs to be sent on.


Well, good luck and good hunting. The 360 hasn't had enough appeal to me to drag me in - but it's really hard to argue with the price, even for a Core unit.




tagged: 360, gaming

Apple Mouse Buckle

Via New Launches.


tagged: apple, geek

Link To Welcome You

More events should have life sized statues of Link to greet you, goes without saying. From Jen Chan's photostream.



tagged: game, gaming

PS3 and Wii Estimates

We estimate that Sony will sell 600,000 to 700,000 of its PlayStation 3, and Nintendo will sell between 1 million to 1.1 million units of the Wii. We expect titles to drive near-term sales growth throughout the early stages of the next-generation transition. While the numbers of new consoles build, we think game makers will continue to capitalize on the current equipment by releasing games on PlayStation 2.

-- Bright Holidays for Video Game Makers

Big winners, according to these analysts, seem to be the developers who can help herald in the new consoles while continuing to cash in on the Playstation 2. The 600k figure might sound a little odd since some had suspected that the holidays would only see 400k PlayStation 3's - so at this point the real figure might be somewhere in between "anyone's guess" and "whatever Sony manages to ship".

EDIT: I guess the 400k number is about what was shipped for the launch, so this is assuming another shipment of the same size also selling out.

And note to Microsoft - I think they mean sold to consumers ... not retailers.



tagged: game, gaming

PS3 Buyer Contact Info Goes For $1,100

Via Destructoid, Marginal Revolution notes the tale of an eBay sale for nothing more than the contact information for a PS3 owner - not the PlayStation 3 itself. He "may" be willing to sell, but of course is not contractually obligated to even pick up the phone.

What was that? The sound of a kid running into a pole? Why yes, I think it was.


tagged: game, gaming

GamePolitics Down, O'Reilly Still An Idiot

GamePolitics had the rundown on O'Reilly waxing moronically about how horrible geeks are, which is funny since as Cult Of Mac points out ... the guy delivers a podcast. Apparently the weight of the pinheads who actually take O'Reilly seriously have maxxed out GP's hosting because at the time of this writing, the site is suspended. (EDIT: This just got Slashdotted too, so maybe it's those evil computer geeks taking down the internets as well!)

O'Reilly, who along with conservative pundits like Hannity and Limbaugh, makes a practice of being belligerent to guests and cutting their mics when they might have a point - suggested that it was near impossible to have a conversation with computer geeks.

And then, of course, he accuses all computer geeks of aiding terrorism.

Sorry Bill, I'm too busy re-watching that shower scene from V for Vendetta to really give a damn.


tagged: o'reilly, geek, gaming

PSP Firmware Offers PS3 Integration

New Launches is reporting that the latest firmware update for the PSP adds, among other things, better PlayStation 3 integration. You can play music and view pictures over wifi that are stored on the PS3 as well as use the PSP as a remote (as you can see in the image I stole from them above).



tagged: playstation 3, gaming

Gameplay: Marvel Ultimate Alliance

The Girl and I started playing Sunday afternoon and we've been hooked since. I'm prepared to say it's the best Diablo-esque game for the PlayStation 2 since the original Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. The new combat moves bring a much needed layer of complexity to the melee - not ... complex per se ... but you have a few more options to your buttonmashing as it were. Raven finally revamped the gear system so that it's not an annoying treasure chest management minigame. Powers are more streamlined so as to avoid useless branches and overall character management is much smoother (even though oddly the menus feel kinda clunky).

Oh, and the game looks better than most of the genre before it. GG, Raven, gg. I don't see us putting down this one for a while.


tagged: game, gaming