Color Me Skeptical: Sega's New Console

Sometimes I'll read something that just feels like a real head scratcher. This might turn into something of a series...

First is this assumption that a recent Sega trademark hails a new console. For one thing, I've seen where patent and trademark speculation get us - and it isn't pretty. For another, it ignores the fact that Dreamcast aside, Sega has a healthy interest in hardware - so another trademark has a far simpler explanation than the company re-entering the home market.

And what exactly would be gained by a Sega console? It's a fierce generation for competition, with Sony and Microsoft shelling out dollars left and right for control of assets. Sega would have to take a bloodbath in production, advertising and development costs to get a dent in at this point. Remember that Microsoft's ability to buy marketshare was a factor in the Dreamcast's fate to begin with, and now would not be any different.

So Sega would be out a truckload of cash to offer gamers ... anything new? It seems unlikely unless Sega has some kind of hardware trick, a la Wiimote, up its sleeve.

In general, though, I wouldn't wait around for something which would cost a ton during a global recession, especially when its unclear if gamers would even want it.

TV Watch, Lost, The Little Prince

This season is starting to feel off balanced to me, and I think I'm getting an impression as to why. I'm getting in line with the sentiment that the On Island scenes seem to out pace the Off Island scenes so much that episodes feel lopsided as a whole. The show has gone from flashbacks to flashforwards and now on to some kind of flashoffonisland tango thing. The first season of the show worked best when the flashbacks proved out some kind of poignant character development. The flashforwards worked best when they pieced together some kind of portion of the larger puzzle. The flashoffonisland tango parts just don't create any kind of synergy for the show.

I'd honestly vote for one full episode off island, one full episode off. As it is, the off island parts seem slow to me. Sayid's parts are keeping it interesting, and I think I am physically unable to dislike a scene with Hurley in it, but I can't help but think that fate as been so powerfully involved in this plot that legal tricks and tranq darts feel a little low brow.

The on island parts seem to be earnestly building to something. My only real complaint is that parts feel more clip show than time travel. And honestly, I must have microslept there a moment because the outrigger escape made very little sense to me.

So in general, this was mostly another bridge episode - but I'm hopeful that the next episode will reveal enough about Crazy French Lady's adventure that it will pay off in the end.

Game Play: Savage Moon (PSN Exclusive)

Savage Moon has managed to occupy quite a bit of my relatively sparse free time of late. It's a tower defense game and for the most part holds all the trappings of that genre, which isn't always my favorite, together in the kind of bundle you'd expect.

I really like the setting, this isn't some cutesy defense game ... you're blowing up space bugs. You will probably turn down the volume on this game at least once. I like that when I'm dropping a row of mortar towers - I feel like I'm really destroying some stuff. There are some very pretty explosions to be had.

The tutorial levels will trick you into thinking that the game is easier than it really is - expect to get your ass kicked early. I fumbled through a few levels, then thought I had really mastered the game and ... am now getting my ass kicked again. If the normal game isn't challenge enough, there is also a vengeance mode where the waves never stop and you're just out to last as long as possible.

As a tangential thought - is it me or are tower defense games the evolutionary leftover of the old school god games? I feel like there's a bit of Populous here, like where it turned right after a night of passion with Starcraft.

Anyway, highly recommend especially for fans of the genre.

Movie Watch: Slumdog Millionaire

Largely, Slumdog Millionaire lives up to the hype. It's a fun little drama that doesn't shy away from the occasional scene that will instill a wince into the audience.

The biggest triumph from the movie is its ability to play at the heartstrings without feeling like a Hollywood movie. If anything, Boyle brings his distinct touch to the film which gives a unique air. The movie isn't Hollywood, it's not Bollywood - even though it certainly lifts aspects of each.

As an aside, Danny Boyle is a damn impressive director. Anyone who can bring us Millions (which if you enjoy Slumdog, I highly recommend), 28 Days Later and this film is about as versatile as you can get. He's certainly on my "I'd watch anything he makes" list.

If there's any critique of the movie, it is that it is a slow ride to a rather predictable ending. That's a shallow problem all and all though, since the ride is interesting, at times poignant and often a joy to watch (or wince).

Highly recommend. Soundtrack is pretty good too...

For the record, this is why I left web forums

There are 63 IGN reader reviews of Killzone 2 at the time of this writing. Right now the average is 7.2, but that's more of a mathematical sum of the flaming platform war going on there, especially since the game doesn't come out until the end of the month.

Game Play: Penny Arcade Adventures, Episode 1

I feel like a dissenter in a sea of fans, but I'm not coming down on a terribly positive side for this game. I'll probably poke at it some more this week, but it is in danger of being shelved after just a few hours of play.

The humor is of course, present - these are funny guys after all. Hothead has done a good job of translating the 2D style of their comic into a 3D world as well. This isn't some cheap rollout to cash in on Penny Arcade's considerable fame.

That said, there are several nuisances which add up quickly. There's little stuff, like "New Game" consistently being the default even after you've played a few times. More annoying is the sketchy method of running into objects to interact with them, which comprises a decent amount of the gameplay and yet you'll find yourself dancing around objects routinely. It's not super annoying, not a crime against nature or anything - but when it happens over and over again, and your reward is just some pithy description of a tack ... it wears a little thin.

Combat is what's really killing me. True confession, I've never been a big Final Fantasy fan, but I don't think that's the fault here. There's something about the interface which is just more work than play. You're watching the status of your action buttons to see when you can attack, but you're also supposed to be watching your opponents to see if you're supposed to be blocking since the game falls prey to the "turn based isn't good enough" philosophy of role-playing and everything occurs in quasi-real time. So while I'm squinting at Tycho's inventory to see if I have any bandages left, I'm trying to block with another and ... damn, I think I might have just healed an enemy. It's like a combat system for people with ADD. The best part of the combat, using minigames for powered up attacks, is reserved for those patient enough to wait to be beat on for it to be available, generally only to fail and get partial damage on it anyway. Not really a reward worth the effort.

And speaking of enemies, I might not have anything against mimes and robots in general - but I don't exactly get why I walked right over a pair of robots when I was by myself with a rake, but three of them wiped out my entire party in a heartbeat last night. The production values are fine - but, seriously ... enough with the damn robots. If you're going to throw two enemies at me of clearly differing difficulty - throw two enemies of me that look like they're clearly different. After the like tenth robot battle, it's one thing to be a little dull - but why be confusing too?

Part of me wants to like this game for its humor and charm. For a moment there, I was reminded of Anachronox , but no longer. And I can get the humor and charm for free from the web comic without having to bump around a suitcase so that I can open it and get killed by a lousy interface and a couple of robots.

How To Spot A Cylon

Up and coming Colonials might want to check out this handy poster which gives friendly and handy tips to spotting a Cylon:

Do they ask questions about classified subjects?

Do they seem unusually strong, smart or self-assured?

Do they say God instead of Gods?

Have you seen them before, but you know it's not the same person?

Do you see them hanging around secured or restricted areas?

Do they seem to hear music that no one else can hear?

Do they seem unusually fearless, as if death has no meaning for them?

Do they exhibit sociopathic behavior around other humans, especially defenseless children?

Are they unusually adept, almost empathic, with machines?

Does their spine glow red when they get... excited?

TV Watch: Battlestar Galactica Catch Up

I think Saul said it best when he quipped if it would be handy to have a chart. A recap of the show's events up to this point is like a Greek tragedy meets space opera which, at the very least, fits the show's basic themes.

Spoilers abound here, obviously.

I referred to the "final Cylon hunt" as something of a reverse murder mystery, where where it is more like hunting for a body than a killer. The resolution proved just as that would pan - a sea of red herrings before you find the real fish. Was it Baltus, with his seeming Cylon-like visions? Or Kara who certainly seemed to have visited a resurrection ship? Or an important background character like Dee?

Nope, it was Saul's wife? Don't even really know what we should do with that. It feels a little anti-climatic to me, and I can only hope the writers will make it work in the end.

The real open question, I think, is what the hell is Kara? Not a Cylon, but ... dead? She's a zombie? I'm also a bit confused on the whole "Cylon Earth" angle. It was a whole planet populated by clones of twelve people? Or was that just the models that survived to resurrect in space?

I think I get where they're going though. Cylons, humans - just sides of a coin which have been destroying each other, fleeing, repopulating, destroying, repeating history for thousands of years. Betting the "unknown Cylon helmet" turns out to be something human and that there are others Earths out there as well.

For Sunday: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead

Thanks, Corvus:

TV Watch: Lost, "Jughead"

I rather liked this episode - it managed to make sense of itself despite all the wacky time travel stuff, moved the plot forward and gave us some decent character moments. Faraday is possibly my favorite character at this point, so I'm sure that didn't hurt either.

I had previously thought that Locke was inadvertently controlling the time skips, but that may have just been from how the last couple of episodes were framed. It may well be just like Faraday's analogy - Ben caused something with the island to stop working correctly when he moved the Frozen Donkey Wheel and there will be no rhyme or reason to it.

Although, that feels odd for an island which seems to be able to control just about anything. It seems like everything that is happening is still "fate" as Locke sees it, just displaced in time. So him running into Richard sets the events in order for him to become leader, etc.

There's a theory going around that the grey haired lady who is somehow tracking the island's movements is Faraday's mom. If so, we can see how Desmond could easily get roped back into Ben's plan and back on the island. Somehow I see Penelope as a single mom in about three episodes or so...

Can't tell if I'm more or less confused about The Others now. Did Richard used to be in Ben's shoes? Is that why he doesn't age? Dollars to donuts we find out that he was on the Black Rock when it shipwrecked. It's weird though, because DHARMA and the others seem like they're intertwined. Was Ben's mass murder just the climax of a civil war? Or was DHARMA an interloper like the US military and Ben just took over after? Trying to get my head around why these Others Mark I (Richard's) are trained the same as Juliet. Maybe the story is always about the defenders (Others) and some set of invaders (Losties, military, DHARMA, Widmore's crew).

Curious that Richard doesn't seem to have the same plan as Ben, with lists and who is good and bad, etc. Locke certainly seems like he got the short end of the documentation stick, jobwise. Leader of the Others and there's manual?

Anyway, good episode. Now I'll have to watch everything, however, thinking "there's an H-Bomb buried somewhere around there..."

Test Your FEAR

Eurogamers who want to be part of the join the Dead Echo squad for the FEAR 2 live event should head over to www.whatisfearlive.com for registration, while everyone can try out their skills at some aptitude tests and see a bit more of the game over at /www.testyourfear.com.

Game Anticipation: Feb, March 2009

I had thought that once I weaned myself off Fallout 3, I may not have much to do for like the rest of the year. Actually, February is looking pretty swank, especially for the PlayStation 3, and March not so bad itself...

F.E.A.R. 2 (Feb 10th)
The demo more or less sold me on it, this will either be a purchase of GameFly depending on the game's length and multiplayer reviews. I actually quite liked the online play of the original's PC version, so my expectations are pretty high.

Flower (Feb 12th)
More curious than anything else, but if the reviews are to be believed - this is will be a must download from PSN. flOw is still a pretty popular game here at the pad, and I'm hoping for more of the same.

Noby Noby Boy (Feb 19th)
Same as above - I know very little about this game other than how much I loved Katamari and how hard it was to explain that game without just playing it.

Godfather II (Feb 24th)
Grand Theft Auto with strategy elements? Yes, please.

Killzone 2 (Feb 27th)
Honestly I feel I should play Resistance 2 before committing to this title, as I think R2 got a bad deal from a very poorly handled demo and bad visibility with the holiday season. Still, I quite liked the original, even though I'm a bit afraid that the sequel will fall under the same "good title despite the hype" problem.

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (Mar 3rd)
I once joked that some Unreal modders could take the basics of Duke Nukem, create a similar beefcake main character and get a decent game out before Duke Nukem Forever. Well, it's not from a mod team - but we have Matt Hazard pulling off basically the same stunt.

Resident Evil 5 (Mar 13th)
Does it really need an explanation?

Sacred 2 (Mar 24th)
I really can't wait for this game, actually - I've been wanting a decent Diablo-esque coop for the PS3 since I've gotten it. Granted, I haven't tried Untold Legends yet, but let's hope Sacred can vault over that mediocre standard.

On the Wii, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was interested to see how Onechanbara - I mean, c'mon. Bikinis. Zombies. Could they add beer and bacon? Echoes of Time of time comes out the same time as Sacred 2, so I guess if the western coop RPG fails me, I have the Japanese one to comfort?

For Sunday: Chen Shows Off Flower

Flower game demo from Dean Takahashi on Vimeo.

From Dean Takahashi's preview, the game is apparently a work of art and really showcases the technical prowess of the Cell setup.

Fallout 3's DLC

Operation Anchorage is hitting the streets, but not being a PC/360 owner - it's not entirely relevant to me. As I said before, though, I'm still playing the main game ... so why do I care?

Apparently this add on works by having players pick up a new signal to find the missions. Which feels a little off to me. If I just paid for new content - should I really have to hunt the wasteland looking for it? I'm probably misreading things, maybe the DLC tells you to head off to the northwest area or something.

Finally - an upcoming DLC will raise the level cap. Before I hit level 20, I didn't think about that much. Now that I'm bouncing around the DC area, blowing off the heads of pretty much everything around me - I must ask, why? Do I need ten more levels to raise what ... my barter skills? Big Guns?

App Store Hijinks, Pricing and More

Following up on a round of App Store related reading, the story of a developer making a 'ringtone' app and making cash off it is becoming somewhat prevalent.

The App Store is something of a phenomenon, but some of this was somewhat predictable. For one thing, when the iPhone launched, even high end apps seemed to be capped at around $9.99. Now if Sega is going to spend a lot of time and money porting Super Monkey Ball for ten bucks, is something I've been working on going to go for much more than a dollar? Price pressure has been around since the beginning.

Course, that interview makes a very insightful point - there are a lot of people out there that find joke/ringtone apps hilarious and will gladly spend a dollar on them, show their friends who are probably of a similar mindset and, well, we're off to the races. You're not going to get that kind of viral marketing for a business app.

In other words, the ringtone apps are cash cows because they're crap. If they were real apps with real functionality, people would have to think twice about buying them. Even if the developer wants to maintain a "lite" or "free" version, this becomes a harder sell.

And to Sterno's point, if you are in even a moderately crowded field - pricing will be distinctive. Plus, if you charge too much and have any kind of problem with your app - be prepared for the negative responses.

Time permitting, I may release a couple of apps I've been developing outside of work. Mostly just stuff I've written to make the phone easier to use. My asking price? Certainly 99 cents. If it makes some beer money, great. If someone doesn't want to try it because it's not free? I'm not going to starve.