Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Origins is a role playing game from BioWare, the makers of Baldur’s Gate. It’s a highly complex game, with rich and complex gameplay.

Unlike some video games that are out there it’s available on multiple platforms; Xbox, Playstation, and on the computer, so that everyone that wants to play the game can without having to have the right console.

The game’s main character is one of the user’s choosing, and there is a different introductory origin story for each choice that forms the basis that the rest of the game is built on.

This isn’t to say that the story line is different depending on what choices you make, because over all you go through the same storylines no matter how you interact.

The difference is how you get the tasks done; you may be able to diplomatically diffuse a situation, or you may talk your way into a fight you didn’t have to have. The right discussions with the right characters can lead to rewarding side quests.

Some courses of action will annoy your group, because each character has their own set of morals, and may disapprove of your decision to help, or not help, a certain NPC.

You can affect how the characters feel about you to the point of forming a romantic relationship with them on one extreme, to having them abandon the party on the other. Each character that can join your party has their own unique traits, and the more they like you the more likely they are to impart that knowledge to you.

The plot is the typical one for most RPGs; the world is in grave danger and only you can help save it. Each character has a rich history and a full set of character traits and personality. Morrigan is a mage that lived in the backcountry with her mother learning the art of magic in a way not taught by the Mage Circle of Ferelden. Alistair is a Templar turned Gray Warden who had an interesting childhood.

These two are particularly interesting, because Templars are sworn to hunt down Mages that don’t conform to the Mage Circle standards, but they’re both in your party for a higher purpose. This is another area that the depth of the game comes in, because as you’re walking around town, these two will sometimes start bickering with each other.

There is witty banter, non sequiturs, and comic relief all interspersed in a long and intricately developed game. If you like RPGs even a little bit, this one is a can’t miss.

The actual gameplay is good too. The combat is of a real-time style, but does allow you to pause and control your party’s actions. You can set up tactics so that your teammates will heal when they need to, or pick off a weak enemy, or use a debuff on a strong one. Movement is easy, switching between characters is a snap, and the camera control is excellent.

The best part of the game is that you can pretty much set your own pace. You can speed through things, minimize boring storyline and get to the action. You can also delve into the deep storylines, plots, and history laid out at every turn. You can interact with your party to learn more about them, unlock different abilities, or blow them off and learn nothing about them except how they can help you annihilate the enemy. The game is a long one, but when it’s over you wish there was more. Luckily all signs point to a sequel.

New Sony Offensive

Sony launched a major offensive in the console war this week with a number of big announcements. During a presentation at the GamesCom 2009 event in Cologne, Germany they unveiled the new slim PlayStation 3 and talked about their plans for the platform. There have been suggestions that Sony are lagging behind Nintendo and Microsoft in the battle for gamers and this package of products and updates is clearly an attempt to redress the balance.

The Wii and the Xbox 360 have been outselling the much more expensive PlayStation 3 and Sony has resisted any price drop. Back in June they claimed to be happy with their price point, which even then represented a loss on every console sold. With pressure to stimulate the market amid falling sales they have finally made a move. The new version of their popular console heralds the long awaited price drop and the 120 GB machine will cost $299 in the US, ¢â€šÂ¬299 in Europe and £249 in the UK. By comparison the 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite remains priced at $399.

The new PlayStation 3 slim is 33% smaller and 36% lighter than the old PS3. The interior has undergone a complete redesign and the console will use less energy and operate more quietly than the old model. In fact power consumption has been cut to two-thirds the previous level and as a result the machine does not heat up so much so there is less need for noisy fan operation.

The console looks sleeker and more attractive than ever and the visual redesign has also seen the logo change to lower case and a matte, textured finish instead of a shiny one. It supports Wi-Fi out of the box, it has two USB ports and you can access the hard drive from the front and upgrade more easily than with the previous iteration. In fact you can now upgrade the hard drive without voiding the warranty. The old 80 GB and 160 GB models will now be phased out.

If you are looking for a downside then perhaps you could point to the lack of backwards compatibility for PlayStation 2 games, although it can run PlayStation 1 games. You also can’t store the PlayStation 3 slim vertically unless you buy a stand and they have ditched the option to install another operating system.

Sony didn’t rest there and the announcements continued with a big firmware update for the PlayStation 3 platform. PS3 Firmware 3.0 adds some useful menu updates which make navigation on the console a bit smoother with easier access to the store and a redesigned friends list. There are a few new cosmetic updates as well which allow animated themes and the option of new avatars for your profile. Most exciting for UK gamers is the support for BBC iPlayer. There is also a new video on demand movie rental service offering HD and SD movies due to launch in November.

These new developments look set to take advantage of the superior capabilities of the PS3 and technically speaking it is by far the best console of the current generation. The PS3 supports Blu-ray playback, it offers 1080p HDMI output, integrated wireless, free online support and a 120 GB upgradeable hard drive. The firmware update will combine with a big redesign of their online Home space where companies are now looking to establish an online presence.

The new offensive was not limited to the console space and Sony had news for the handheld market as well. The PSP Go was unveiled back in June. It is a smaller, slide open version of the PSP handheld. At GamesCom Sony announced that they will be launching a mini-game store for the machine and gamers will be able to download casual games which are under 100 MB in size. They also plan to launch a reader for the PSP which will allow people to read full length novels on it and the video on demand service due to launch in November will be extended to the PSP as well. To round things off it will be available in some funky colors.

There are obvious moves here to beat Microsoft on price and also to challenge Nintendo on accessibility and the casual gamer market. Sony is uniquely placed to capture hardcore and casual gamers and their PS3 console is truly an entertainment center. If consumers were to shop for a Blu-ray player with internet surfing capabilities and access to streaming video on demand they would be hard pressed to find a device cheaper than the PlayStation 3 and it offers gaming as well. Perhaps with this new design and all important price drop we’ll see the console really take off at last.

Is Tales of Monkey Island Ushering in a Renaissance of Adventure Gaming?

With the Monkey Island series now revived in the latest release from Telltale games, entitled Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, it might finally be time to announce that adventure gaming is back from the dead.

For any of you who didn’t experience the heyday of adventure gaming, The Secret of Monkey Island, released by Lucas Arts way back in the halcyon days of 1990, is considered by many to be one of the undisputable classics of the adventure gaming genre. Written in large part by Tim Schafer, the creator behind the upcoming BrƒÂ¼tal Legend, The Secret of Monkey Island had a fantastic story, hilarious and memorable characters, unique and satisfying puzzles, and some of the funniest dialogue ever featured in a video game. So it probably isn’t surprising that Monkey Island and its sequel amassed loads of critical acclaim and a pack of loving fans, who to this day nostalgically remember it as one of the best games of the early nineties.

Monkey Island wasn’t the only classic adventure game though. Indiana Jones, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Star Trek, King’s Quest, Quest for Glory, and many others were some of the most popular games of their time. But since those ancient, long-passed days of our youth, the adventure gaming genre has all but disappeared. What was once the most popular genre of PC gaming literally stopped existing, quickly and sharply losing popularity as the processing power of PCs and consoles ushered in an era of first person shooters and online gaming. It was a sad and puzzling development for fans of games like Monkey Island; adventure games brought great story telling, challenging puzzles and most importantly, an overall experience that was memorable in a way that no other gaming genre could provide.

As such, the fall of the adventure genre has long been a sore spot for its fans, and its long absence has been a puzzle that  many couldn’t solve (pun totally intended). But recently Telltale Games, the company behind the comeback of another classic Lucasarts title in Sam & Max as well as the Strongbad and Wallace & Gromit games, has been slowly and lovingly restoring the once extinct genre. Their latest project, Tales of Monkey Island, is finally bringing back the classic Monkey Island franchise.

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal brings back the ghost pirate LeChuck and the bumbling, well-intentioned wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood, along with all the ridiculous and fun stories that go along with them. I don’t want to give away very much of the story, since one of the best parts of adventure gaming is experiencing all the crazy puzzles and developments on your own, but much like the very faithful Wallace & Gromit series, Tales of Monkey Island captures all the character and style of the original Monkey Island, with recognizable voices, a bizarre and silly pirate story, and of course the humour that fans have come to know the game for.

The game has transitioned into a 3D affair, which might irk some die hard fans, but none of the charm of the original 2D version has been lost. The review copy we received had a few expected bugs in it, but these have no doubt been ironed out by today’s release, as Telltale hasn’t been known to let buggy products out the gate in the past.

Basically, Telltale has proven a few times already how proficient they are at bringing classic adventure gaming into the modern gaming world, and Tales of Monkey Island is no exception. So, if you’re a fan of the original, or you’re just hankering for some puzzle solving, story telling fun, then Tales of Monkey Island is an easy choice. The game is great and it is worth your time.

So that’s over with. Now on to the big question: does the revival of Monkey Island signal a comeback of the adventure game genre?

The easy, completely uninformative answer is that it’s hard to say. There are so many genres and so many game companies in the enormous modern game industry that it’s almost impossible to tell if Telltale’s updates of adventure gaming classics are making a significant impact on the gaming industry. Back in the nineties the market simply wasn’t as big, so it was easy to tell what types of games were most popular. In today’s industry there is such a massive selection of games that even good games tend to get lost in the crowd sometimes, never getting the recognition they deserve.

But there is another way to look at it. Telltale games has released four episodic series of adventure games to date and don’t seem to be losing any steam yet. If anything, Telltale’s adventure gaming focussed line of games is picking up momentum, making higher profile games for more systems, like XBox Live, then ever before. If this was an experiment to gauge the popularity and potential of an adventure gaming revival, then so far the signs are good. Telltale has seen enough success from their efforts that they’ve been able to continue releasing games with progressively higher profiles, finally reaching the coveted Monkey Island license.

Add to that the fact that the current infrastructure of the gaming industry is actually quite friendly to the adventure gaming genre. In an earlier article we discussed XBox Live arcade games to look out for, and noted that many of them are smaller-budget, experimental games that simply wouldn’t be possible at a large gaming studio. With avenues like XBox Live and profitable Internet distribution now available, companies no longer have to make every game an enourmous, corporate affair.

Around the time of adventure gaming’s demise these options simply weren’t available. PC gaming had grown to the point where bigger budget games were becoming the standard, and technology was advancing to the point where a simple 2D game wasn’t as attractive as it once was, but opportunities for more modest productions simply weren’t available yet. Adventure games were stuck in an unenviable position: with their once almost universal popularity giving way to PC gaming blockbusters like Quake and Duke Nukem, adventure games lost the drawing power necessary to justify the budget and team sizes that were becoming the standard, yet no alternative was available. Eventually, adventure gaming just went away.

But nowadays smaller companies can afford to develop games that aren’t necessarilly going to be the next GTA. In other words, small games can be designed by small teams without a Hollywood-sized budget and still be profitable, because the developers can get the game straight to the audience at a reasonable price compared to some of gaming’s behemoth titles. Of course, this means that modern adventure gaming is, for now, inherently a more low key phenomenon than it was in its golden age. These games aren’t being released with the budget, marketing and hype that blockbuster titles have behind them, and their popularity will be reflective of that.

But of course, this smaller, indie platform that adventure games are taking advantage of is a lot more than the nothing that existed a few years ago, and adventure gaming’s popularity only seems to be growing, even if a redux of Monkey Island doesn’t immediately usher in a new era of adventure gaming dominance. The games are lovingly crafted by fans of the genre for fans of the genre, and enough of them are buying through avenues that a few years ago didn’t exist that the future is looking strong.

Who knows, if Telltale’s games keep growing in popularity then some time in the future we may even see a big name developer try to get in on the action and take on the adventure game genre once again. For now, the technological advancements that once spelled the end of adventure gaming are now giving it a second chance. It’s safe to say that adventure gaming has found its way back into the industry’s heart, even if it is only a small piece of that heart.

So is adventure gaming still dead? If it is, it’s been looking awfully lively lately for a dead man.

Will the Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott Survive?

With Valve’s announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 came the announcement from a group of fans that they would be boycotting the zombie survival game sequel. But are their demands reasonable, or are they the mindless groans of an army of soulless meat puppets?

Sorry, that came off a bit rude. I was just trying to segue.

Left 4 Dead was one of last year’s most popular multiplayer games, pitting four survivors against the zombie horde in a post-apocalyptic world. With its wide popularity one would think that the announcement of a new and improved sequel would have fans excited, and without a doubt many are. But many fans are also downright rabid at the proposal of a new L4D. Rabid like the lifeless zombie hordes that yearn for brain matter.

I’m sorry, I did it again. Very unbecoming of me. I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand like that.

So what’s the deal? Why are the fans upset by the release of more of one of their favourite games?

Well, the fans are only angry because they love. They love L4D, and they want more of it. For free. The situation is not simple, but the problem seems to have its roots in a promise Valve made around the release of the first L4D. Valve claimed that they would consistently release free downloadable content for L4D, expanding the world with new levels and so on, in much the same way they’ve been doing for Team Fortress 2. Valve have made one free content update so far, adding a survival mode and some versus campaigns, but other than that the only new content fans have received news of is the not-so-free sequel. Cue boycott. Also cue shrill tenor note as decomposed hands burst through wall.

So what are the terms of this gaming resistance-movement? Lucky for us, the ravenous horde of almost 30,000 boycotters currently have something of a manifesto on the Steam forums, which explains their position.

So what do the disgruntled fans have to say? First, they make two acknowledgments: they recognize that Valve must make money, and that Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release, which is to say that the fans don’t really know if L4D2 will be worth what it costs until they actually get a chance to play it. Fair enough, you army of hungry zombie-gamers.

Now on to the good stuff: the accusations! The L4D2 boycott also plans to hold Valve to its promise of free downloadable content. The question of whether or not Valve has a duty to release free DLC depends on what the game was explicitly advertised to include and what the reasonable buyer would expect to get from it, and it’s hard to say whether Valve’s announcement of free DLC, which came after the release of the game, is part of those considerations. But it is safe to say that, whether or not Valve is required to release free DLC, it would be admirable of them to follow up on their plans and would leave a good impression on the mobs of bloodthirsty, groaning fans, whose arms are outstretched, reaching for more gaaaaaaames.

Is this whole fans as zombies metaphor getting old? I don’t care.

So far so good. But the L4D boycott makes another claim: that the release of L4D2 will split the online communities of L4D, making the online experience less enjoyable, and as such, Valve should not release L4D2 as a new game.

This is where things start to get messy, like the aftermath of a zombie ah forget it. You get the point.

First of all, if this is in fact a genuine concern, then the release of any sequel will result in community splitting. Stating that Valve should not release a sequel to a game, because doing so will reduce the quality of the online experience of its predecessor, is unreasonable, because it implies that game developers should not ever release sequels to online games. If reducing the quality of online play is something developers should not do, and releasing a sequel does as much, then developers shouldn’t be allowed to release sequels. This contradicts the boycott’s first acknowledgment that Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games. It’s also just clearly a bizarre claim.

This also doesn’t take into account the fact that the release of games from other companies can very well reduce the quality of online play by splitting communities. World of Warcraft split the communities of countless MMORPGs that came before it, lowering the quality of play for people who paid for an online experience with other games, but no developers were expected to somehow uphold the integrity of a gaming community, outside of making a place where a community can develop.

The fact is that the existence of an online community is not the responsibility of the developer of a game. Valve had a responsibility to make a playable multiplayer game with an interface that enabled players to connect –that is, they had a responsibility to facilitate a place for a community to develop– but no responsibility to somehow hold together a group of people. This is simply out of the control of a game developer, since things like the release of competing games, player interest, and many other outside factors will affect a community. A community is made up of people with the ability to make their own choices of what they will play, so it would be unreasonable to claim that Valve has a responsibility to hold such a thing together.

The boycott also claims that The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead. This is in direct contradiction with their acknowledgment that judgment cannot be passed on L4D2 until it is released. The simple fact of the matter is that no one knows yet whether L4D2 is a warranted sequel. We have seen a few screenshots and a trailer, but until people play it and reviews are released, the boycott cannot reasonably claim that L4D2 does not warrant a stand-alone release, especially when they themselves say that the value of L4D2 is as of yet unknown. The demand that L4D2 should be released as DLC is undermined by the fact that they simply don’t know what L4D2 will be like.

Finally, the boycott claims that L4D2 will make its predecessor obsolete. Again, this claim contradicts the earlier claims that judgment should not be passed on L4D2 and that L4D2 does not warrant a stand-alone sequel.

Again, the supporters of the boycott simply don’t know the quality of L4D2, and so can’t make claims about whether it will make the precursor obsolete. Further, if L4D2 is not warranted as a sequel to the first game –that is to say, if it is so similar to the first game that it should be included in the first game– it cannot make it obsolete; the sequel would have to be better than the first game to make it obsolete. Essentially, the boycott claims that L4D2 will be of such close quality to the first game that it shouldn’t even be a sequel, but also that it will be such a good quality sequel that it will make the first game obsolete. The boycott can’t have it both ways, but that is what they demand.

Just like a brainless zombie horde would.

Dammit, I did it again. Really, this is embarrassing.

Anyway, the supporters of the boycott are angry, but they’re also being unreasonable. They demand free DLC from Valve, which is fair enough, but go too far in demanding that Valve essentially never release a sequel to L4D. The only promise Valve made was to release free DLC for the first game, and as long as they do that they are free to make sequels as well. There is room for both, and the claim that Valve has a duty to not release a sequel to their game because they claimed free DLC would be available for it is quite a leap. It simply doesn’t follow that because Valve promised free DLC that a sequel is unfair or unwarranted.

In the end, the boycotters are free to boycott, and Valve is free to make a sequel and release free DLC for L4D. The result will be either that L4D2 is great and is worth buying, or it will not be worth buying and all the L4D1 players who boycotted it will be able to continue playing their favourite game with free updates. Everybody wins!

Except for those who have been consumed by the throngs of ruthless zombies.

Highlights of E3 2009

E3, the biggest gaming convention in the world, has recently had its annual meeting at the Convention Center in L.A.. The gaming companies love to make their big announcements at this time, and here is a list of what they have been holding out on the gaming crowd.

Xbox 360 News

• The open-world action game Crackdown will have a sequel, appropriately named Crackdown 2. Like its predecessor, it is only available for the Xbox 360.
• Mass Effect 2 will be out in early 2010 for the PC and Xbox 360.
• Accept no substitutions, the one and only Jack Black will star in Brutal Legend. Jack is a roadie in this game, who must battle demons for some reason. It is available for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and will also star Lemmy Kilmeister and Ozzy Osbourne.
• Put out an APB on APB, a game available for the PC and Xbox 360 where the gamer plays a gang member.
• One of the bigger announcements was Project Natal, Microsoft’s answer to the Wiimote. This is a camera and microphone that mounts on the television that can sense motion, three-dimensional movement, and sound. This controller that requires nothing but the user was introduced by none other than Steven Spielberg.

Nintendo Wii News

• Red Steel 2 is due out for the Wii, and will make full use of the MotionPlus.
• For the first time, Super Mario Brothers will be available to play on the Wii. A sequel to Super Mario Galaxy is also coming.
• WiiFit Plus and Wii Sports Resort are two sequels that encourage Wii gamers to be more active.
• Dead Space Extraction is a prequel to the popular science-fiction M-rated game. This one appears to be available only for the Wii and is due out September 29^th.

Nintendo DS News

• Nintendo DS users will have a unique gaming experience with Women’s Murder Club: Game of Passion. This is based on James Patterson’s novels, and I believe this had a series, didn’t it?
• Other new DS titles include Kingdom Hearts, Mario and Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story (Fall 2009), and Golden Sun DS (2010).

Sony PS3 News

• God of War 3 is slated to hit the PS3 very soon.
• PS3 titles to be released will be Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Assassin’s Creed 2. Believe it or not, Final Fantasy XIV is under development, exclusively for the PS3.
• PS3 is also developing a motion-sensitive controller similar to the Project Natal from Microsoft.

Sony PSP News

• PSP Go has finally been made official. The Go is smaller, has a slide-up screen, and no UMD drive.
• PSP games to be released include racing game Gran Turismo and a few others. For example, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker should be available for PSP in 2010.

Multiple Platform News

• Tony Hawk made a personal appearance for Tony Hawk Ride, which Zmogo has already reported on in a previous article.
• In case you haven’t heard, Beatles Rock Band will be released on 09.09.09.
• Lost Planet 2 will soon be available for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
• While we are on the subject of those three platforms and sequels, Dead Rising 2 will also be available soon.

The Future of “Hero” Games

With Activision’s announcement of the upcoming release of DJ Hero, featuring Jay-Z and Eminem, it looks like we are finally reaching the conceptual limits of the real-instrument-as-a-toy rhythm game, which is an exciting prospect for people who take joy in witnessing events of almost pure absurdity.

Even for those of us who love games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, there’s always been something just a little bit ridiculous about playing a fake guitar along to real songs. While the common internet troll’s cry of “get a real instrument” has always been an aggressive, narrow-minded view that ignores the fact that rhythm games are fun, there is perhaps a nugget of truth in their vitriol: learning to play songs on a real instrument is also fun, and everyone will think you’re cool if you can bust out a John Mayer song or some junk at a party. No one will think you’re cool if you bring your special edition Slash Guitar Hero controller to your friend’s get-together and start to fake-wail.

So with Guitar Hero we have replicas of instruments that can be used to simulate playing music. Kind of weird, but reasonable enough. DJ Hero on the other hand takes that dull point of weirdness off in the distance and makes it into a full-blown, retina-melting supernova. No longer will rhythm game players be using a replica of an instrument, but rather will be using a replica of a device used to play already-recorded music in the first place.

Let me elaborate. Want to play a song on guitar? You learn how to play a guitar. The mechanics of this are difficult, and so making a game that allows even the musically illiterate to simulate playing guitar is significant.

Want to play a song on a turntable? You put a record on the turntable and it plays the music.

I can’t stress this enough. In order to play a song with a turntable, all you have to learn to do is turn on the turntable. By playing DJ Hero, we are simulating the act of playing music on a record player. This is truly absurd, and also fantastic. As such, I predict that it is only a short matter of time before we start to see the most ridiculous of all instruments become the subject of rhythm games. What bizarre new depths will Activision bring us to with future instrument peripherals? The answers may surprise and disgust you!

So join me as we look at The Future of “Hero” Games!

Piano Hero

Appeal: The piano is a widely popular instrument used in everything from classical to jazz to pop, and as such the Piano Hero game is sure to be a success. But unlike guitars, which require strumming, and drums, which require hitting things, pianos only require that the player push a bunch of buttons. As far as I can tell, this is exactly how a normal videogame controller is used, which doesn’t exactly make a piano game controller sound too appealing. So, Piano Hero is going to need something to differentiate it from both normal videogame controllers and other rhythm game controllers.

How will Activision do this? That is a great question, fine reader, and I’ve got an answer coming straight at your question-hole right now: more buttons.

The standard guitar controller only has a wimpy five buttons, making it at best a dull abstraction of an actual guitar, and most drum controllers don’t even have cymbals or a high hat. The Piano Hero controller on the other hand will include a button for every key on the piano. Actually, scratch that. Piano Hero will just include an actual piano with the game.

That’s right, Piano Hero will be the first game with the balls, guts, and other anatomical stuff to push the rhythm game to its logical conclusion by going ahead and forcing the player to just learn how to play piano in order to play the game.

Too difficult? How about too awesome!? What could be a more immersive gaming experience than playing a game about playing piano with an actual piano? Nothing, that’s what. Well, except actually playing piano, I guess. Anyways, the goal of Rock Band is to make you feel like you’re a guitar player for once in your pathetic life, which is fun, so Piano Hero will maximize that fun by just making every Piano Hero player an actual piano player!

Even better, the programmers won’t have to fuss around with scaling every song down to an abstract level, because there will only be one difficulty setting: actual song.

Audience: Kids whose parents forced them to take piano lessons. Church ladies.

Tracks: I know we said that classical music and jazz are popular, but let’s face it, nobody who listens to that stuff would lower themselves to being anywhere within a 100 foot radius of a videogame. So, it looks like it’s going to be all Elton John, all the time.

Theremin Hero

Appeal: The theremin is a bizarre instrument that is played by not touching anything. This truly unique form of playing is the sole reason for  this unusual instrument’s esoteric appeal, since it sounds about as beautiful as an air-raid siren.

Unfortunately, this is a game, so it has to have buttons to press. As such, players will press a series of buttons on a normal videogame controller to manipulate a set of virtual on-screen hands, which will then move around within an actual 3D representation of a theremin. This a truly incredible advance that gives all the fun of playing a theremin while still being able to touch something!

But we couldn’t just stop there, oh no. The truly groundbreaking feature of this game is that it will require you to hold the controller in a theremin while you press buttons to manipulate the virtual theremin, giving the game an unparalleled true-to-life feel!

Audience: People who read Boingboing and like stuff that is weird for the sake of being weird, even though it is actually kind of awful.

Tracks: The sign-off tone of your local cable TV station.

Oh wait, this just in: the theremin has already been used by some nerd to play Rock Band. Ignore everything I just said.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OybiXxxkQG8[/youtube]

Bongo Hero

Appeal: Bongo Hero will be the first Hero game to allow you to tap into the exciting and visceral world of being that one guy on stage that doesn’t have a microphoned instrument, because why did we let him in the band again?

In contrast with most instrument peripherals, the Bongo Hero controller will only include one button: a bongo. But this game will make revolutionary use of that one button. Rather than encourage players to go along with the song, Bongo Hero will reward players for a-rhythmically smacking the bongo controller while bobbing up and down and swaying around with their eyes closed, just like a real bongo player!

On second thought, this has no appeal at all.

Audience: Smelly hippies who always show up to the show incredibly stoned then bang on their authentic African bongos that they got in Capetown during their “humanitarian aid work-term,” where they were really just trying to pick up girls who wear hemp and have dreadlocks.

Tracks: Whatever music is being played where more than one person wearing a Che Guevera t-shirt can be found.

Katzenklavier Hero

Appeal: It’s a freaking organ made out of cats. The end.

Audience: Renaissance-era ADD patients, dog-lovers, the deaf.

Tracks: Jingle Cats.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPp0g0A_6x8[/youtube]

Hero-Game Hero

Appeal: Do you suck at rhythm games? Of course you do! Your hands have been permanently locked into wretched, clenched claws from carpal tunnel-inducing videogame playing and masturbation. As such you are never able to join in on the fun of a boisterous game of Rock Band, and are instead forced to sit back and make a feeble attempt at drinking a beer with your horribly disfigured appendages.

But have no fear, because Hero-Game Hero is here! (Oh.)  With Hero-Game Hero, players will get to experience all the exhilaration and thrill of playing a set, without the need for any of that physical proficiency stuff!

The gameplay mechanics are simple: just choose the difficulty you want to play the song at, then enter the skill level at which you want the song to be played. Want to experience the excitement of completing Through the Fire and the Flames on expert difficulty? Simply set your playing skill to little kid phenom and watch the points roll in! Want to suck really bad at Bark at the Moon? Just set the song’s difficulty to expert and your playing skill to toddler chewing on the controller and experience the agony and tears of defeat.

The game will even include a selection of playing strategies to highlight the tactical aspects of Hero-Game playing. Strategies will include: know the song before you played it in the game so you don’t screw up until you get to the bridge that no one cares about, try to get overdrive to go off by tilting the guitar as violently as possible multiple times only to have it not respond, making you scream at your TV when you fail, and hit the right notes at the right time instead of the wrong ones.

The ultimate goal is to become the best Hero-Game player ever, giving you the skills and talent to beat any individual rhythm game ever created!

Audience: People who like the idea of rhythm games but not rhythm, people with no hands, fans of meta-irony.

Tracks: Every song ever made! (Due to licensing fees, the game will cost 849 million dollars.)

The PC Gaming Industry’s Incredible Comeback?

Jon Peddie research has just capped off a five year study of the sales, profits and strength of the PC gaming hardware market. According to the research firm, which specializes in graphics and multimedia studies, the PC gaming industry is looking stronger than the console gaming industry, despite the current recession. Over at Macworld they’ve taken the study at face value, but some might find it a bit hard to take seriously.

It is widely advertised that the videogame industry seems to be recession-proof. While most people have cut back their spending on indulgences like vacations and eating out, the desire to satisfy the videogame indulgence is almost as strong as ever. Overall sales of videogames and videogame systems have only seen a relatively small drop compared to the significant hit that other industries have taken.

The strength of the videogame industry is not news to most people, but Jon Peddie research has thrown a bit of a curveball regarding this trend. According to their latest study, PC gaming hardware sales are holding up better than console sales.

This may come as a surprise to some people. While PC gaming will always be a strong industry, the release of next-gen consoles like the Xbox 360 has put a serious dent in PC gaming’s chunk of the market. Gone are the days when the PC had an exclusive claim to the best graphics, online play, and genres like the first-person shooter. Nowadays the console provides just as impressive HD graphics, online play, and much more affordable prices than the PC. If anything, many people would find reasonable the claim that the PC gaming industry has been losing steam compared to the booming sales of the console market.

So what exactly did this study find that has so defied our expectations? According to its own site, The Jon Peddie study is a:

unique analysis that does a bottom-up forecast of systems based on GPU and PC shipments, and a macro-economic top-down forecast based on the eco-demographics which covers 36 countries.

Oh. Okay.

There are at least a few hard numbers given by the study firm. According to the site, PC hardware sales only dropped from $20.07 billion to $18.65 billion in 2008, and the study’s forecast for 2009 predicts only a $1.4 billion drop, which is less than the forecast for the console market. According to Jon Peddie research, this shows the value customers place on the product.

Fair enough. But how did they come up with the numbers for this study? This is where things get a bit muddy. According to the study’s site, console sales include money spent on consoles, accessories, and a factor for HDTVs to play the consoles on. Likewise, PC sales include money spent on PCs, accessories, after-market add-ons, and a percentage for a monitor, since the same monitor might be kept through the life of more than one PC.

Right off the bat a couple of things about the study’s use of factors and percentages demand looking into. How much is the factor for an HDTV compared to a monitor? How many accessories are presumed to have been purchased for an avergae gaming PC compared to a console? How much after-market modification do they assume someone does to their PC? If the percentages for a PC monitor are higher than for and HDTV without good reason, for example, then the numbers could be heavily skewed; a small percentage multiplied over millions and millions of sales will add up to a very significant difference.

The study’s unexpected findings are made even more incredible with a forecast that predicts that PC gaming sales will reach $30 billion in 3 years. Despite the current recession. And despite the fact that PC gaming hardware has caught up to the demands of most games and most PC gamers don’t need or want enough super-cutting-edge hardware to warrant such a massive boost in sales. At least some people might think this, without having a look any real hard numbers related to the PC and console gaming industry.

Unfortunately, there are no readily-available hard numbers, and also no answers to our questions, because the specific details of the study are not open to the public. All we are given is a somewhat half-hearted attempt at an explanation for PC gaming’s supposed market strength. Jon Peddie Research states that:

The conclusion the researcher at JPR have come to is that people are staying home more, less movies, less dinners out, postponed vacations, and turning to other forms of entertainment. PC Gaming is a very economical form of entertainment, a $50 game can provide hundreds of hours of play, and it’s not uncommon for players to replay a game. Also, purchases of a PC for gaming can be shared since the machine can be used for watching (and creating) videos, as well as office work and web browsing, something consoles can’t offer.

But this is a bit of a non-answer. A $50 dollar console game can also give hundreds of hours of play and replay. Further, consoles can and are used for watching movies. My household has all but written off the DVD player, opting instead to watch movies through the Xbox 360. Finally, gaming PCs being used for office work and web browsing does not account for sales of things like gaming accessories and high-end graphics and memory sales; any PC can be used for such things, and PC gamers are not going to spend more on gaming-related hardware as a result of their computer being able to do word-processing.

Overall, this study seems to hit us with some counter-intuitive conclusions. The signs are out there for anyone to see: console games are more popular, affordable, and powerful than ever, whereas PC gaming has fallen from its former days of gaming supremacy. Yet JPR’s study apparently found otherwise.

Is JPR’s study skewed towards giving the PC gaming industry a favourable look? Were more accessories and costs figured in for PC gaming than console gaming, and was there justification for such a choice? It would be nice to see the details of the study and find out, but unfortunately a copy of it costs $5000.

If consumers are willing to pay a price like that for a JPR study, then apparently the PC gaming industry isn’t the only one doing unexpectedly well.

Tony Hawk: Ride and the Video Game Peripheral Revolution

In case you haven’t heard, Tony Hawk is releasing yet another video game based on his extreme skateboarding franchise. I’ve played a few of them, and found them very much the same. This new one, simply known as Ride, comes with a very unique accessory.

The board peripheral is motion-controlled, which would make it a more advanced version of the WiiFit Balance board. There may not be any wheels on this board, but the player can manipulate it as if it was a real skateboard. More advanced stunts, such jumping and grabbing the board, are accomplished by kneeling and touching the buttons on the side.

Tony Hawk: Ride is planned to be released later this year for the Xbox 360, Ninetndo Wii, and Playstation 3. There is supposed plans that the board peripheral will be used for other games like snowboarding and surfing.

This seems to be a trend among video game peripherals to be used for more than one game. For example, the WiiFit Balance Board can be used with other games where balance is important, and has recently been incorporated in the Wii version of Punch-Out. So not only can the player use the Wiimote and Nunchuk like boxing gloves like in WiiSports, but this new version of Punch-Out allows the gamer a chance to dodge blows by shifting weight on the WiiFit board.

Perhaps we are seeing a dawn of a new age of video games where the accessory is a heavy part of the action. After all, Guitar Hero and Rock Band were simply complex controllers that were in need of a game, and they have swept the nation. The soon-to-be released DJ Hero will have a turntable peripheral that could be just as popular.

Sadly, this was not the fate for Steel Battalion. This was an X-box game which required an advanced peripheral with two control sticks and forty buttons. Granted, it completely immersed a gamer into playing a vertical tank, but sales of units were quite limited due to its complexity. The high price didn’t help it, either.

I would like to suggest other games that would come out, though it would require a huge peripheral.

Starbucks Barista: The game comes with a very complex controller that can make virtual coffee, espresso, lattes, in many forms. Players must compete as the morning rush comes in, and points are given as they meet all the orders exactly.

Folk Hero: Imagine that you are mythical American heroes Paul Bunyan, John Henry, or Johnny Appleseed. It is easy with the axe, hammer, and seedbag peripherals.

Crazy Climber 2000: I realize that we are long past the year 2000, but an update of the old-school Crazy Climber video game is long overdue. Of course, this version requires the user have their own climbing wall and a Virtual Boy. Now the question you have to ask yourself is: which is harder to obtain?

Rifle Squad: This game is made for all the cadets at the academy that have to do those rifle drills like at the beginning of A Few Good Men. Some of you might not remember that film, and I suppose it would not help to mention the film Stripes. Maybe you should catch the end of the Hillary Duff classic Cadet Kelly. Anyway, the motion-controlled rifle peripheral along with the game will make you feel like you are a part of the spinning and stepping rifle team.

I can’t really think of any more of peripheral-based games right now, but I am certain that the video game developers will. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if similar ideas are under development.

So does this age of peripherals do to the video game industry? It will encourage more gamers to get off the couch, and immerse themselves in the game. In short, it is preparing us for virtual reality gaming.

The Controversy of Six Days in Fallujah

Imagine if they had video games back in the early 1940s. Now imagine if they released Medal of Honor or similar World War II video game back then. Ask yourself how weird it would be to playing a game where soldiers are killing Nazis when the real thing is actually happening overseas, probably at that moment.

Not that little kids weren’t playing a World War II version of cowboys and Indians while their fathers were fighting the war in Europe and Asia. I suppose there is an instinct of game-making of writing what you know, and draws from current events for subject matter of games.

I’m not saying that is right or wrong, but this is the controversy of a soon-to-be released video game from Konami and Atomic Games known as Six Days in Fallujah. I’m sure that you can already tell from its title what kind of game that this is.

Yes, this takes place during the Iraqi war, the one that isn’t finished as yet. Specifically, it is about the second battle in Fallujah, Operation Phantom Fury. It is also based on Operation Al-Fajr, which took place between November 7 and December 23, 2004. Yes, that is more than six days, and I suppose those six days that this game takes place in are somewhere during that time.

Just a day after its announced release, there has been some serious controversy surrounding it. For example, Reg Keys, father of deceased soldier Red Cap Thomas Keys, stated that glorifying the Fallujah crisis of 2004 in a video game is poor judgment and bad taste.

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first game to based on the situation in Fallujah. There is an online PC game called Kuma War which draws from real events taken on the war on terror.

Is it odd we would use events from the war on terror as subject matter for a video game. It’s kind of like these movies like The Kingdom and Stop-Loss which don’t do very well in the theaters. It is complete understandable why, because box office results have shown that the general public doesn’t really want to see films based on something that too contemporary and too tragic.

Didn’t anyone think Fallujah wouldn’t be a controversial topic? I understand about using contemporary controversial material to sell your product, but this might be a little too much.

Well, unless the controversy is so thick that it stops production, gamers should expect to see Six Days in Fallujah sometime on the shelves next year for the Xbox 360, PS3, as well as the PC.

So, should we keep these games out of people’s hands because they are based on contemporary history that has not resolved as yet? I’m not certain about that one.

I think that it is a bad idea to make video games based on current events, simply because video games take so long to make. Six Days in Fallujah has taken several years already. If you’re going to make a video game based on current events, make certain it will not be passƒÂ© by the time of its release. Can you imagine making a Y2K video game? Yeah, that wouldn’t be such a hit if it was released in September of 2000.

If you want to create a video game set in the midst of a present day-crisis, just use the economy as your subject matter.

Source

Internet Famous – Part 1…the Nick Thune Story

Today’s technology has given us all the power to brand ourselves in whatever way we see fit. No longer does one need an expensive PR agency or a full-blown advertising campaign to define who we are or how we want to be perceived. Similar to how corporate branding defines how a company distinguishes itself, personal Internet branding is the sum of all one’s online activities which then triggers an expectation about who you are. Perception trumps reality when one seeks fame on the Internet.

The Internet has transformed the world — connecting cultures, streamlining commerce and revolutionizing communication. Not unlike a mosquito-infested swamp, the Web has become a rich breeding ground for buzz and viral transmission. The ability to become a worldwide celeb and the concept of becoming famous for being famous perfected by Paris Hilton and others can be developed fairly effectively on the Internet, without ever meeting one of your fans face to face.

Twitter can lay some claim for this individual branding movement. Presently organizing a conference this June, 2009 in NYC aptly called the “140 Characters Conference,” Twitter’s reach reinforces one’s ability to gain notoriety quickly. With their intent of not only attracting established celebrities who use their social network (e.g. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher), Twitter is also focusing on the new-found celebs who have learned how to harness the power of the Twitterverse to do their bidding.

For the naysayers who can’t conceive the Internet producing celebrity status, this is the first part of a two part series that will provide you with insight to contrary. The number of budding digi-stars are growing at a phenomenal rate with social media as its major catalyst. I tracked down some of the Internet’s biggest overnight sensations to see if they are truly exceeding their “15 minute of fame” expiration date. While some have settled into lives of quiet anonymity — others are now making grand livings off their Net-based fame. Living the Warholian dream, most of these innovative entrepreneurs are turning self-promotion into an art form.

One of those bright new shining stars is Nick Thune, a Seattle-born comedian now residing in LA and pursing the American dream in the entertainment field. While Nick’s modesty inhibits him from admitting to being an Internet celebrity, as a working stand-up comedian Nick first reached world attention when one of his YouTube videos went viral in 2006. Directed by Ruben Fleischer of MTV’s hit reality show fame “Rob & Big,” Nick’s video entitled “Phone Tag” is a funny sketch about a young man struggling to accept a break-up with a romance gone sour. Also starring Olivia Munn, the video currently tallies almost 1 million page views on YouTube.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssdfqTwZXY0[/youtube]

An even greater buzz was created with Nick’s production of “Masturbation.” As Nick tells the story, his stage work included a ‘masturbation’ joke that he thought would be even funnier as a short film. Once again with the assistance of Ruben Fleischer  a film version of the joke was produce that took slightly longer than the actual act of masturbating! A week later, after editing, Ruben Fleischer met with Funnyordie.com, the comedy video website. In tandem with their website’s debut launch, they posted “Masturbation” on their front page directly below Will Ferrell’s infamous Landlord Video, and Nick’s jerk-off session went viral!

While Nick doesn’t believe that the Internet brought him notoriety, he does feel that the attention it creates with casting directors and fans is immeasurable. On his second appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show in August,2007, Nick’s aptly named “Instant Messenger” stand up routine became an ‘instant’ success.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__3EZmzmIQs[/youtube]

Nick’s latest project is called “Nick’s Big Show.” According to Nick,”it’s an undertaking” that he hopes will be his “last webseries,” and will act as a stepping stone “worthy of TV” exposure. On March 23, 2009, Atom.com, a digital comedy network and Comedy Central announced the premiere of “Nick’s Big Show.” This new six-episode mockumentary, available now at Atom.com and NicksBigShow.com, follows Nick Thune as he puts his comedy career on hold to do something much more important: “make people laugh because they’re crying so hard.”

One could ask after watching whether Nick really have a clock that reads It’s Go Time? Or Why does he own a pimped-out low rider limousine (driven by his assistant, played by the funny Kate Micucci) – and, for that matter, why does Nick even have an assistant? In Nick’s world, nobody asks these questions, and Nick’s world is a better place for it.

In coming weeks, “Nick’s Big Show” will be distributed widely to consumers across Atom’s multi-platform distribution network, including the “Atom TV” series on Comedy Central, mobile phone partners and other leading Internet destinations including iTunes, AOL, Dailymotion and xBox Live.

Internet Celebrity is not lost on Nick Thune. He appreciates what it has done to help mold his persona and allow him appeal to a growing fan base. But when asked if he tracks his website traffic, Nick mockingly points out that he has “someone track his websites…” as he doesn’t “wanna know numbers. I tell them to tell me if the numbers are low, then I’ll put more work into it. Do you think Picasso knew how many people had or will have seen his work? Is anyone (really) keeping count?”

Well in the case of Nick Thune, I think a lot of folks are keeping count and will be marking their calendars for his next TV appearance which just so happens to be April Fool’s Day, when he appears on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Tune in to see the next comedic superstar with humble Internet beginnings. He measures up… all “5 feet 16 inches” of him!

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