crouton days

I’ve become accustomed to being skeptical of ‘hardcore’ Wii titles and doubly so of anything published by THQ and exponentially so of risky seeming IP. How about a game where you play as a tarantula and a scorpion while you unearth a story narrated by Billy Bob Thorton, Dennis Hopper and clever set pieces? Yes, this is a real game that has actually arrived in my mailbox and it’s not half bad.

Kratos vs Hades in God of War 3 for the Wii Mini Lego Edition

Deadly creatures reminds me a lot of God of War; the cinematic presentation, lots of boss fights, the combat system, set pieces, the encounter/battle system. But it’s the cool, testosteroneLITE infused facade that makes this game appealing. The animations are both anthropomorphic and fun and the art direction is strong. Even the marketing is fun. It really makes you wonder what would be possible if publishers spent 25 million on a Wii title instead of 5.

What’s the story on this photoshoppery? Dead Rising 2 is being developed by a Canadian studio and being published by Capcom. Why is this disappointing? The Canadian interpretation of America versus the Japanese one. Sure, Canada has their stereotypes of the US, but can they pull off the social commentary? I’m obviously going to get the game but part of what made Dead Rising so great was the subtle stuff and arguably even the B treatment. The new House of the Dead game got it right.

I just started riding my bike a lot with the goal of making that my main transportation to and from work. From Culver City to Westwood is roughly 10 miles, uphill on the way to work and downhill back. Last Saturday I accidentally rode about 16-18 miles and found myself at the Marina. The next day I wasn’t feeling lazy and went for another, much more brisk, 8 miles.

 

rode to marina del rey

So, starting tomorrow I’ll be carrying my own ass to work and got some new equips (helmet and lights) to help get me there safely. I still need to do some mods to the bike; the front wheel doesn’t seem to be true and the handle bars are a little wide. Once I’ve got that basic stuff out of the way I need to change the gearing a bit and start looking for areas where I can lighten her up.

pretty fly for a ... bicycle

In Wii Music you can control tempo, tone, arrangement, dynamics and even composition itself. Sounds advanced, but this isn’t some bastard child of reason, pro tools and a Wiimote. No, the interaction is very simplistic and that turns out to be a good thing. That’s because Wii Music encourages variety, experimentation and incredibly, improvisation. Improvisation, in my view, is at the heart of creating many important and expressive types of music like jazz, rock and turntablism. Improvisation is the foundation of many deep, complex and sophisticated forms of music and it’s also the foundation of Wii Music.

rock the bells

It’s not surprising that Wii Music has been overlooked since gamers usually dismiss toys that masquerade as video games. And I’ll gladly concede that Wii Music may not be a good video game, but when I compare Wii Music to Rock Band I can’t help but see Rock Band for what it is; not a music game. That’s because nothing the player does is musical. No, Rock Band is a rock star game and I think most of us can agree that being a musician is not a requirement for rock stardom. If you think about it, even the drums and singing are just fancy controllers for matching colored bars. Wii Music encourages musical creativity where Rock Band does not. If you or your kids want to ‘play musician’ instead of ‘playing rock star’, try Wii Music.

Let me put it this another way. Everyone has music that they enjoy for simple entertainment value, personally that explains my collection of 80’s pop. Many people can also appreciate the musical contributions of specific group(s) or genre(s) on a much deeper level, that’s my Miles, Hendrix, Kid Koala, etc.. Music is not just about fun and entertainment and neither is Wii Music. Rock Band is all about fun, entertainment and maybe even ‘music exploration’ as Harmonix’ founder suggest. Harmonix’ founder also calls Haromonix a music company and Rock Band a music game. But how can Rock Band be about musical if we can program a robot to do it better than a human?

Last thing, I know some will say that Rock Band can teach you to play the drums. I agree and think it’s a great tool for learning some basic coordination. But learning to play the Rock Band drums (or the recorder) does not make you a musician even if it might start you in that direction.

by C.B.Leslie

Our first three dates were sublime and we clicked. Your controls were great, your pacing was wonderful and I always knew what you were thinking. The pressure of the chase was so intense it sent my heart rate up. Then, out of no where, you put on the red light. You went from gazelle on the run to a helpless salmon swimming upstream and everything fell apart. You forced me into combat with every encounter and you gave me no room to gain that wonderful momentum. What happened? I am reading into the fact that your low budget cutscenes got progressively worse with each outing? I bet it was your parents. I thought they were cool with you prototyping your first few dates. Did they force an alpha date on you that just wouldn’t work? God that makes me so angry. Well, I’ts too late for the blame game, Mirror’s Edge, you broke my heart.

When Apple announced plans to release an SDK for the iPhone platform I knew they had a secret plot. The iPhone itself is a great device, seemingly ubiquitous here in Los Angeles, but it’s still the younger sibling of the much, much, more popular iPod. The iPod has had an exciting 9 months with the launch of the SDK and App Store, the swarm of games available for it and the shift from the best iPod yet to the ‘funnest’. Since then, many have called it a DS killer and I conceded, it had the potential, the specs and the image. But where are all the games? Right now the App Store has plethora of games but, none of them truly exploit the hardware, none of them have the polish or feel of a retail product. The iPod is a success but it’s not a gaming machine. What a difference 9 months can make.

Yesterday I downloaded a game called Rolando. Rolando is brilliant in its simplicity; get your circles to the exit. But this isn’t match three simplicity, this has the essence of a triple-A title. It has excellent art and music (provided by Mr Scruff), it has achievements, its credits are a level, it quicksaves your game as soon as you exit. That may sound like a boring list of features but it’s actually the details that make an already fun game an A+ production. Understanding those types of details is a prerequisite to making good games. Yet It has the fit and finish of a $30 DS game and this breed of game could turn Apple into a bona fide gaming outfit.

that's how we roll in rolando

Rolando is tailored to the player; on an iPod, gamers might play for as little as 60 seconds so Rolando is instantly rewarding. Few iPod owners are gamers so Rolando’s developers gradually introduce mechanics while they avoid neutering a gamers enjoyment. It’s the kind of understanding of the user that smacks of Nintendo, and who else should Apple want to target? Nintendo has already fired back at the iPhone by creating the DSi; a DS with a memory card, camera, ‘online market’ and media playback capabilities.

Prices on iPod touches will drop and the DSi will never compete with the iPod as a multi-purpose device. But Nintendo is untouchable when it comes to software. Even something as intuitive and platform specific as Rolando might easily get lost in the herd of shovelware that lives on the App Store plain. What Apple needs is a way to brand their hardware with their software and the solution is to become a first party developer/publisher. 

Apple’s latest MacBooks, which are also Apple’s most popular laptops, now include a low-end gaming GPU and I bet Valve knows how many Macs are playing TF2. Apple has slowly and now more vocally been positioning their hardware as a vehicle for games and the time is right. They just need to capitalize on Steve Jobs’ exit and their billions in liquidity. Come on guys, just grab your balls and create the next Mario.

More at 11

So the secret of this column is; there will be no WoW-killer. WoW’s position is unassailable. We live in a time when absolute statements like that sound foolish, I don’t mind sounding foolish. I’d love to see a robust and mature MMO market where several games could be successful. But I don’t think that’s the reality. Whatever else is true, you will not be able to beat WoW’s network.

My good friend Matt has put together a great column on the challenges facing MMO developers today. He argues that Blizzard’s network is really why no MMO has ever or will ever come close to competing. I agree with much of what he’s written, but I’ve decided there is a way to beat WOW.

WIIIIIITCH!

It’s because I think there is something more powerful than the network, something that Valve understands about communities of players that Bungie and Infinifty Ward do not. If you’ve played any Halo game you know that there is a point of normalization where the human interactions live. Team Fortress 2 interactions are very different for a variety of reasons but one key reason is how Valve uses play-testing to gain insight into their players. What they call play-testing actually seems to more closely resemble scientific observation than focus testing. Players are given no direction, asked few questions and Valve observes all of their behavior with maximum neutrality. In doing so, Valve is able to craft the experience and even emotional reactions of players. With Left4Dead, Tutrle Rock and Valve created a game that can very accurately predict actual player interactions as well as emotions. You experience this as a player when the voiceover says “we were lucky to get out of there” at the same moment you mention to your friends “thank god, we made it out”. 

This study of player experience and interaction could easily be applied to WOW. Deployed in greater depth and on a huge scale, it would be possible to understand the experiences of individuals and groups that form a matrix of tiny interactions that create a total experience. WOW is arguably a vanilla experience where the users are the sprinkles, the flavor. Armed with tens of thousands of play-testing hours you could evolve those sprinkles, the moments of human interaction, into delicious chunks of candy bar. While at the same time, you could learn where WOW is vanilla and where it is hiding the occasional chocolate chip. Applying this study of experience to an MMO would allow give the player the best opportunities for intelligently designed shared experiences. 

So few games try to create moments of human experience but Left4Dead has shown me that it is possible to create genuine moments, even for hours at a time. Apply that to an MMO and you’ve got a game compelling enough to move an entire network. Anyone remember MySpace?

Turn the blog over to read the second part.

• LittleBigPlanet is full of wonder. It did for me this year what Mario Galaxy did last year; it made me feel like a little kid.
• Despite Left4Dead’s frustrating server system, a good game of L4D is the best multiplayer experience money can buy, and tearing into a survivors soon-to-be-corpse is completely intoxicating.
• WipeOut HD was a perfect introduction to the series. Everything about it is intensexy.
• Castle Crashers is catharsis, baby. Four players, one screen and pure joy.
• World of Goo is perfectly suited to the Wii and its sense of humor is beautifully subtle. 
• Rhythm Heaven is so strangely Japanese and unsurprisingly fun.
• Braid  struck a chord with me. The puzzles were mind bending and the delivery of character was emotional.
• Professor Layton is too smart for me but it’s designed it in such a way that I can still enjoy it.
• Mario Kart Wii has done something amazing. It has made some Drifting intuitive enough for your mom. I wonder how many drifters of the future are training in Mario Kart right now.
• Rolando found its way on my iPhone just in time to be part of 2008. Like Braid and Goo, Rolando carefully layers on the mechanics and is chock full of flavor.

EA says it will lay off a further 4 percent of its workforce as it either consolidates or closes down “at least nine” of its studios. Including the company’s recently-announced headcount reduction, this brings the company’s planned layoffs to 10 percent of its total — 1,000 employees.

..EA recently said its key titles underperformed in the latter part of this year, and as such, alongside the uncertain economic environment, it would need to reduce its financial estimates — and its title portfolio — into the new year. It also recently abandoned its plans to open a third location in Vancouver.

“EA is implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities,” said the company in a statement.

“The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.”

Gamasutra

Looks like EA’s marketing department has cut a trailer for Brutal Legend.

Left 4 Dead takes the crown for Zombie Action games but RE5 revives the Zombie Thriller genre to the current consoles (my beloved Wii is sadly absent). With the exception of the inventory no longer breaking immersion, the gameplay seems like a carbon copy of RE4. Thus far, the addition of the beautiful female partner doesn’t make much of an impact on the feel of the game. I haven’t tried co-op yet but I imagine actually playing with a friend could really change the experience. Like Left4Dead you and your partner can take turns rescuing each other and can share ammo, health, etc. The graphics are lovely even if they are a little pedestrian. The only thing that is a bummer is the lack of attention to detail on the characters that Capcom added to prevent a inevitable PR backlash. Come on people, that Rodney King thing was a fluke.

Overall this is the worst PoP game I’ve ever played. Yet, it’s so pretty I don’t want to stop playing it. 

Playing PoP, your inputs never feel connected to what’s happening on the screen. Even jumping on a goomba requires some precision and timing, but in Prince of Persia, any smash on the gamepad produces a dance of insane acrobatics. From an onlooker’s point of view you’re captain awesome, but in reality you know you didn’t earn it. Plus, the controls have a terrible feel and lack a good sense of weight. This combination gives us a game that could just as easily be controlled with an Atari 2600 joystick. PoP: Sands of Time had great feel and required lots of precision (sometimes frustrating amounts) but it made every single jump that much more rewarding. There is no sense of accomplishment to be found in this latest Prince of Persia, in fact, it should probably be reclassified as ‘interactive art’.

It’s so sad since I’m really liking the music, the characters and collecting the light seeds (aka: replay what you just did mode). I guess If the Sands of Time hadn’t set a high bar for 3rd person plaforming, this game wouldn’t feel like inept crap. But it did and it does, and even though It’s not a terrible game, it is a disappointing one. Congrats Ubisoft, Prince of Persia follows in the footsteps of so many recent games that choose to breastfeed the player. Plus, I love having my balls coddled, and the fact that you can do that while treating me like a baby is just grand.

Love,
d+pad

PS: I miss the days of games that presumed you were clever or at least made you think you were.
PPS: WTFmate? New letter writing style?
PPPS: No
PPPS: Someone wrote this post about Mirors Edge, PoP, falling, difficulty and all that jazz. But the writer forgets a few things. 

1) PoP’s mechanics and controls are not nearly as tight or demanding as Mirror’s Edge, there is arguably an order of magnitude of difference between the two. This is the real reason behind the complaints about PoP being “too easy” or giving the player very little sense of reward. But most players don’t know why they feel the way they do and instinctively blame the checkpoint mechanic. PoP would be nicely balanced if it had the mechanics and controls of Sands of Time and the Elika checkpoints.

2) It’s a video game. Both of these games involve doing things that are unrealistic for 99.9999999999% of the population. Games are such a amazing medium because they allow you to do things that you otherwise couldn’t do. Dying 50 times isn’t very realistic but if the player buys into the experience of the world they will also buy into the consequences of the world.

A former mid-level manager (of whom we do not previously know) has got in touch with us to potentially expose what is a very disturbing alleged occurrence in the games industry. On the condition of anonymity, he has revealed attempts of Montreal gaming studios to fix salaries of employees and rampant spying by Ubisoft Montreal on all emails to and from its competitors. The source (he was responsible for setting up the e-mail spying) forwarded us along an email between former director of HR at Eidos Montreal (Tremblay) to the Vice President of HR at Ubisoft Montreal (Baillet). In the email, Eidos note there is no benefit of raising salaries and hope the two companies do not so for competitive reasons and EA must be convinced to do the same.

I wonder where else this is taking place.

Related Links: Gamasutra, GamesMontreal