Playable Future

As I wait for my committee to sift through my comp papers, I have been thinking about the days that I will have free from academic writing (for a brief while anyways) that I can fill with a bit of game playing. Top on my list is Machinarium

Machinarium is independent puzzle / adventure game developed by the makers of popular web-games Samorost and Samorost2.
A little robot who’s been thrown out to the scrap yard behind the city must return and confront the Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot-girl friend

Another game I am eager to get my hands on is Brutal Legend, due out today I believe (will pick it up this week if I can).

When ex-roadie Eddie Riggs is drawn back to an ancient world of heavy metal by a mysterious power, he lands in a world where humans are subjugated by demons and he is the only one who can save them. Legendary game designer Tim Schafer strikes again with a story featuring Jack Black as Eddie Riggs. Filled with humor, awesome characters, and melted faces, you will be on the edge of their seats.

I love the mix between rpg/adventure games and guitar hero. Although I haven’t played it yet, it is a refreshing premise that might coast on many a’rock cliché, but will no doubt offer hours of pure entertainment.

Another aesthetically ‘out of the box’  game that I am looking forward to is Borderlands. While I am not usually a fan of shooters (mostly based on my lack of skill as opposed to lack of  ’liking’), Borderlands looks amazing, with its animated feel and wide use of colors, not to mention the innumerable weapon combinations which should keep things interesting for a while. Boasting 4-player online co-op, I am looking forward to getting my heels (or thumbs) deep into the action.

A sci-fi / action RPG from acclaimed developer Gearbox, Borderlands combines the best in first-person action with player customization and vehicular combat for incredible layers of gameplay depth. The game features a groundbreaking content generation system allowing for near-endless variety in missions, environments, enemies, weapons, item drops and character customization. Borderlands allows for multiple players to share the same game experience simultaneously online in co-op gameplay. Players can freely join or leave each other’s games at anytime, or choose to play in the full single-player mode. The game also boasts lifelike character animations, impressive real-time physics, and customizable vehicles. (http://ps3.ign.com/objects/957/957207.html)

Saying I am not a fan of shooters isn’t quite true. I have recently been inspired to play Army of Two (and subsequently Gears of War 2) and have been having a blast. I must admit, while GoW2 has loads of narrative, a much boasted art style and the almighty chainsaw machine gun, I have to say, I prefer Ao2’s control and aiming scheme – as well as the overall lighter feel to the game’s aesthetic. That being said, I have been eagerly awaiting Ao2: The 40th Day – while not set to release till 01/10 – I am thinking it might be a great post-holiday game to start my year (and gameplay research) off on the right foot.

The wild boys of the SSC face hell again in this sequel to the hit third-person teamwork-based shooter. Army of Two: The 40th Day reunites Salem and Rios as they’re forced to survive in a city under siege. The sequel includes more co-op moves for players to use at any time, which will allow for completely different strategies and options in battle, adding up to a bigger, more organic and immersive co-op experience. (http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14293275.html)

EverQuest: 10 Years and still chugging along

The sad thing is, I missed EQ’s actual “anniversary”  this past March. The good news is I found an absolutely great write-up on it. As someone who started her hardcore gaming with EverQuest in August of 1999 (notwithstanding weekend-long Killer Instinct parties and an addictive passage through Super Mario Bros. on the SNES when I first started my bachelor degree in 1994 … ) this write up definitly encapsulates the nostalgia I feel when I talk about playing EQ “back in the day” and the sadness I feel when I tell people what I don’t like about World of Warcraft (and why I quit before the first expansion …). While it might not sound like fun, there has yet to be another mmo (imo) that developped such a sense of belonging to something – a community .. a world … in the same way.

Here’s a short excerpt from the article linked above (written by Egon Superb …)

To all but the most hardcore World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online or Age of Conan players, the original EverQuest would have seemed a monstrosity of unforgiving difficulty. There was little or no guidance beyond the original tutorial, and there were literally tens of quests, with no shiny yellow exclamation marks bobbing above NPC’s heads. In fact, most of the game was left up to the imagination and investigation of players, who were given no guidance beyond the knowledge of the name of areas and cryptic clues left by the designers throughout the original world.

In fact, the beauty of “Old World EverQuest” (referring to either the very first release of the game, or said world combined with the Ruins of Kunark and Scars of Velious expansions) was that most of the game – and I really mean almost everything – was left unexplained. After ‘hailing’ an NPC (pressing H or typing “Hail”) players would have to communicate with them – typing in random words and names, or handing over particular items in the hope that it would unlock the next step of the quest. This was at times aided by particular words being in square [brackets], signifying what word to type, but many times it was left up to the whimsy of the player to work out what to say. Much like the average player’s conversation with a woman.

Many of these quests didn’t reward experience, and for the most part you were left to grind – a negative term in the industry nowadays – all the way to level 50, then 60, then 70, then 80. The idea of moving to specific areas and completing quests was an alien concept – players did what they could to score as much experience as possible, and always in a group (as going solo was eventually suicidal). Some classes – for example Druids, Necromancers, and (during the Planes of Power expansion) Enchanters – would ‘kite’ enemies in circles, chipping away at their health bars with damage-over-time spells and keeping themselves as far away as possible, hoping that their prey would die before they got too close.

The Path

I have never been much of a player of horror video games, but thanks to a good friend of mine, I have found one that I absolutely adore, and can’t quite seem to get enough of. The Path is

… a short horror game inspired by older versions of Little Red Ridinghood, set in modern day. The Path offers an atmospheric experience of exploration, discovery and introspection through a unique form of gameplay, designed to immerse you deeply into its dark themes. Every interaction in the game expresses an aspect of the narrative. The six protagonists each have their own age and personality and allow the player to live through the tale in different ways. Most of the story, however, relies on your active imagination.

The Path is designed with accessibility in mind. There are no ticking clocks or monsters to defeat. No hard puzzles will ever halt your progress. Most activities in the game are entirely optional and voluntary. The player has all the freedom in the world to explore and experience. The Path is a Slow Game

Six sisters live in an apartment in the city. One by one their mother sends them on an errand to their grandmother, who is sick and bedridden. The teenagers are instructed to go to grandmother’s house deep in the forest and, by all means, to stay on the path! Wolves are hiding in the woods, just waiting for little girls to stray.

But young women are not exactly known for their obedience, are they? Will they be able to resist the tempations of the forest? Will they stay clear of danger? Can they prevent the ancient tale from being retold?

Developed by TALE OF TALES
Designed and directed by Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn

Music by Jarboe

While the website touts a “little red ridinghood meets emily strange, I find it kind of has a Fatal Frame feel to it. The graphics are rich and eerily inviting. Even though at the beginning, it says to go to grandma’s house and stay on the path, the forest looks so inviting, I have yet to actually walk the path the entire way! While the pace is slow – the run function alters your perspective to a point where you can no longer see where you are going … and eerily increases the pounding of your character’s heartbeat … the screen becomes darker and bloodspots appear… making walking the optimal choice, and really, why run when the game is so visually stunning, and there are many things to find hidden in the forest.

The price is right ($9.99), payable through paypal (gotta like simplicity) and even though they call it a “short horror game” , with 6 different characters to select, and a vast forest to explore, the replayability of this game is undeniable.

Getting Back Into (a) Game: Mirror’s Edge

I haven’t been much of a console gamer over the last few years. With MMO’s taking up most of my time since 1999, I have never quite mastered the console controller. As someone who gets scared quite easily,  playing games like Resident Evil and Gears of War became quite futile since my fear has always gotten the better of me – which almost always resulted in a quick and sure death. But with the release of Mirror’s Edge, I have been tempted to pick up the controller again, attempt to (re)learn the buttons and try this game out. The animation looks hot, the gameplay is intriguing and in a current market full of survival horror and action fps’, the game seems to have an interesting story to go along with its sharp, clean lines. Definitly looking forward to getting some time to give it a go.

Going Pro

Alternative career path?

RB & GH Ramblings

Over at West Karana, I read about this guitar transformation for Rock Band 2. As Tipa writes, the idea of making a ‘fake’ guitar out of a real one for a guitar simulation (of sorts) is kind of interesting. I wonder how my father would feel if we modded his prized drumkit…

I bought Guitar Hero 1 a few weeks before leaving on holiday – hadn’t had much time to play it. With a week in the city ’sans’ kids, I had alot more free time to play. I finished it on hard in about 4 or 5 hours (with a friend) and decided to be adventurous and try Expert. We finished it all in a few hours – except 2 songs – one by Stevie Ray Vaughn and one by Pantera… I can live with that. Although I was quite proud of myself, I had to admit that after GH1 they significantly upped the difficulty level for GH2 & 3.

The Rock Band 2 set list is out and I am drooling already. When we bought Rock Band, we had opted to buy it for the PS2, since my partner no longer plays on it since he got his xbox360 last year or so. The girls and I figured that if we ever wanted a chance to play, PS2 was the safer bet, that way we could play in the living room while he plays on the xbox in my office. But after experiencing downloadable content via a few friends, and getting bored with the static set list of RB on PS2, I am seriously contemplating buying RB2 for Xbox 360… but what about the PS2 instruments… its bad enough we have 4 guitars laying around the tv (one of the buttons broke on one of the wireless guitars, so we borrowed one from a friend – who lost her wireless receiver and could not replace it at the time). I have read about ‘converters’ for the instruments – anyone know if thats possible?

By the way, I was absolutely stunned to see my 5 year old nephew actually kick ass on the drums in Rock Band – I should take a video snip. He loves to practice when the game is not on. My father couldn’t be happier since he has been wanting to teach one of his (grand)children how to play the drums (my dad has been a rock drummer all his life, playing live since he was 12). Up until now, none of us have been coordinated enough to use all four limbs at the same time.

No Bass Love

So today, there was no one home, and I decided to play some Rock Band. Starting a solo career, I loaded everything up, picked my catchy band name and waited for the game to load. I was hoping to play a bass career on expert but was quite dismayed when the game recognized my “guitar” and automatically stuck me in guitar land. If I plug in the mic, I can sing solo and same with the drums. But no bass career option!? That REALLY does not make me happy. If anyone knows how I can fix this, by all means – tell me!

 

 

Bass by Choice

Yesterday, my oldest daughter and I decided to play some Rock Band, after a bit of Guitar Hero, she had a hankering to sing. So, we loaded everything up (which always takes a considerable amount of time, since my Rock Band disc has been VERY prone to Disc Read Error’s from day one – it’s my ancient PS2 though, since other people’s discs also have the same error message…). We joined our group, and I automatically selected bass. After about two or three songs on expert (not that amazing on bass) my daughter asked me – “why would you play bass when you can play any other instrument?”  

I have always liked the bass – something about the sound and rhythm – but she always thought I played it by necessity since she always picks lead guitar. You know, some people play bass by choice!

Sound Distractions

While playing and researching video games has been my intellectual bread and butter over the last few years, I was taken a bit aback this morning how annoyingly repetitive game sounds are when you are not the one playing. No big secret really. But I really thought that since I had become accustomed to my partner’s late night gaming sessions (we have a set up in our bedroom for such sessions) that I would be unbothered by such things. Unfortunately, trying to work and trying to sleep are two different things. As I settled into my office this morning to work, my partner had already climbed into the daybed and had the xbox up and running (I swear he races me in there when he knows I have to work!). While normally, I can work with any amount of background noise (having two kids since the beginning of your academic career will do that to you) today’s game (Ninety-Nine Nights .. ) drove me batty with all the repetitive battle sounds. Nary an interesting cut-scene to happily distract me, instead its lots of grunts, groans and clanging swords. I suppose when you are not enveloped in the gameplay, everything sounds the same, looping over and over and over again… and all I have to say is ‘aaaarrgh’!

Lord of the Rings Online – First Impressions

I downloaded the game client a week or two ago – waiting for the time when I would be able to dedicate a few solid days of gameplay, since I am playing on a 10-day free trial offered up by a good friend. Realizing that I would probably wait for ever with that standard, I decided to at least load up the game and create my first avatar.  My first impressions – in terms of avatar creation – were not overly enthusiastic. For the most current mmo of the day, I was hoping for more customization in terms of aesthetic and diversity (I couldnt give my elf black hair … dark dark brown – but not black). I wouldn’t have expected The Godfather to have more customization elements! That and the fact that I could not choose to play a female dwarf made me question how they managed to sustain their people!

My first impressions of the in-game world were a bit better. Graphics were on par with what I expected – keeping in mind that I am running it on an old Nvidia graphics card, surely with the newest technology the images would be smoother – but I am not sure where else mmo’s can go in terms of aesthetics. The images, artwork, lighting and shadowing all appear … normal … along current mmo standards.

I didn’t play beyond the first introduction quest – having me follow some guy to the gates and whatnot – and I was playing on a laptop with no mouse – so my avatar looked like she couldnt decide whether to run to the left or the right. But I will reserve my gameplay commentary (in terms of mechanics and intuitive design) until I play on my desktop and make a few levels.

My questions going into this are really quite simply. Cutting my teeth on EverQuest in 1999 (oh the  nostalgia!), then playing Dark Age of Camelot from release to its first expansion, Horizons (wonderful tradeskills – lonely world), (following my partner playing Star Wars Galaxies), LineageII beta, a short stint in Guild Wars and World of Warcraft (am I still paying for that account!?), I am looking for signs of innovative gameplay, unique design, interesting game element (tradeskills, craftsmanship, PvP, PvE, etc) that seperates LoTRO from the herd. For all the enthusiasm of my above mentioned friend, I wonder how far LoTRO goes to take that next step towards being the first game in a new generation of mmo’s.