Friday, May 25, 2007
Newsgames on the NYT
Just learned something really cool, via Grand Text Auto. Ian Bogost and the crew over at Persuasive Games put together a game that demonstrates an opinion on current events through its gameplay. Okay, so that's actually nothing new, they've been doing that for a long time. But the cool part is that it's appearing on the New York Times opinion page (web edition). The time has come where you can submit a game as an opinion piece to a major newspaper. How cool is that?
Labels: culture, serious_games
Friday, May 18, 2007
Know Your History: Ultima Underworld
Via Rampant Coyote, I discovered this great older (from 2002) article on the impact of Ultima Underworld, which was arguably the first 3D first-person computer game, released right around the same time as Catacomb 3D and Wolfenstein 3D. It's an incredibly pivotal title, and I believe it's the first title that was released under the Looking Glass name. So if you're an industry n00b, it behooves you to read up on UU!
As a side note: if you had told me back in 2002 when the article was written that by 2007, I would have hung out socially with everyone quoted in the article, I'da peed my pants! But such is the power of networking. Or at least, the power of showing up to game industry events.
As a side note: if you had told me back in 2002 when the article was written that by 2007, I would have hung out socially with everyone quoted in the article, I'da peed my pants! But such is the power of networking. Or at least, the power of showing up to game industry events.
Labels: games, know_your_history
Thursday, May 17, 2007
What I'm Playing
So I've actually been playing video games! I'll do a quick rundown of what I've been playing for the last month.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
I recently played and "beat" Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. Granted, there are a million things you can do after you beat the game, but I got the "good" ending and I reached 993% completion (out of 1000%--don't ask). So I more or less completed the thing, as much as the Japanese ever will let you do.
I was pleased with the game. I got the action I enjoyed from Symphony of the Night, combined with a team-based mechanic that didn't feel belabored. Plus, there were some nifty puzzles where fighting a monster with one character instead of the other makes the fight much easier. I wouldn't call the game a classic, but if you want a solid-to-great platformer it's definitely worth a shot, and it works great on the DS. I didn't try any of the wifi modes, although they looked pretty good (there's co-op!)
Shadow of the Colossus
Okay, so I'm like a million years behind the times. I loved Ico but never picked up SotC until last week. Holy crap, what a great game. And it's cinematic enough that my girlfriend will actually watch me play, for about 30 minutes. I attribute this to the excellent animation: watching your hero cling for his life to a giant colossus creates a palpable tension in viewers as well as players. I'm at the 3rd colossus right now. Can't figure out how to climb onto him...
Also, for some reason I don't want to resort to GameFAQs to figure out puzzles. Usually I get frustrated, but figuring out how to fell a colossus is fun, probably because they put a save point right before the colossus and dying doesn't feel like much of a penalty.
Metal Slug
Yep, been playing the original arcade Metal Slug on GameTap. Have I mentioned I love GameTap? Oh yeah, I have. Anyway, the animation in Metal Slug is awesome, although not in a SotC sense. While the game itself is a pretty dumb side-scrolling shooter similar to Contra, the whole thing is made fun because of the game's sense of humor. Also, in GameTap I have save states and don't have to pay a quarter every time I lose three lives. That probably has a lot to do with it.
Come to think of it, I would have hated this game in the arcade. But I get to play it now and enjoy it. Hooray for save states!
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
I recently played and "beat" Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. Granted, there are a million things you can do after you beat the game, but I got the "good" ending and I reached 993% completion (out of 1000%--don't ask). So I more or less completed the thing, as much as the Japanese ever will let you do.
I was pleased with the game. I got the action I enjoyed from Symphony of the Night, combined with a team-based mechanic that didn't feel belabored. Plus, there were some nifty puzzles where fighting a monster with one character instead of the other makes the fight much easier. I wouldn't call the game a classic, but if you want a solid-to-great platformer it's definitely worth a shot, and it works great on the DS. I didn't try any of the wifi modes, although they looked pretty good (there's co-op!)
Shadow of the Colossus
Okay, so I'm like a million years behind the times. I loved Ico but never picked up SotC until last week. Holy crap, what a great game. And it's cinematic enough that my girlfriend will actually watch me play, for about 30 minutes. I attribute this to the excellent animation: watching your hero cling for his life to a giant colossus creates a palpable tension in viewers as well as players. I'm at the 3rd colossus right now. Can't figure out how to climb onto him...
Also, for some reason I don't want to resort to GameFAQs to figure out puzzles. Usually I get frustrated, but figuring out how to fell a colossus is fun, probably because they put a save point right before the colossus and dying doesn't feel like much of a penalty.
Metal Slug
Yep, been playing the original arcade Metal Slug on GameTap. Have I mentioned I love GameTap? Oh yeah, I have. Anyway, the animation in Metal Slug is awesome, although not in a SotC sense. While the game itself is a pretty dumb side-scrolling shooter similar to Contra, the whole thing is made fun because of the game's sense of humor. Also, in GameTap I have save states and don't have to pay a quarter every time I lose three lives. That probably has a lot to do with it.
Come to think of it, I would have hated this game in the arcade. But I get to play it now and enjoy it. Hooray for save states!
Labels: games
Friday, May 11, 2007
LOTRO Kicking Some Butt
I've gotta say I'm really delighted to see the positive reviews (in the 80-95 range) come in for Lord of the Rings Online. The team that built the game is awesome, and it was a joy to support them with gameplay metrics while I was at Turbine. Ya see, often, great teams can still somehow build bad games. But I always love seeing a great team build a great game that's also appreciated by the players. Makes the world feel right!
Congrats to the guys and gals of the LOTRO team!
Congrats to the guys and gals of the LOTRO team!
Labels: industry
