Dare to Play the Game

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I did get my brand spanking new 20″ screen. I think I cried in joy when it turned on. I had been flopping around with my 17″ tube for so long, I forgot what it was like to actually really see wh…t you are doing. My card also does the max resolution of 1680 x 1050 which is nice (and actually isn’t too small for me). The monitor also automatically adjusts which is something I was so sick of with old monitors. Just set and go, what a flipping concept. Guild Wars is drool worthy, seriously. I’m sure any other game would be as well but since I only play GW when it comes to PCs, it’ll have to do. Still need a good way to dispose of my old monitors, so again I’m putting up a notice to anybody who knows of a Houston outfit that might do such a thing.

It’s angelic, it’s like a sweet breeze coming up and over the landscape. (please don’t retch, it’s really destroying the moment). Anybody else notice the EB Games logo in the background? Yes I did look at something else besides Morgan in that picture. Yes I am getting old. Soon I will want to talk about dentures and cold creams and why Aunt Susie’s heart failure means something to the rest of us. Somebody shoot me now.

Game Devs Get Incentives to Move to Texas (from kotaku.com)

That’s right, Texas. They are willing to pay top dollar to lure Hollywood and game developers out to the Lone Star state, but the cash doesn’t come without restrictions. Governor Rick Perry recently signed a bill that allows game developers to receive grants up to $250,000, but they must meet certain requirements. Violent games or games that the State deem to have “inappropriate” or “obscene” content would not be able to enjoy the new benefits and neither would games that portray Texas in an unflattering way. Under the bill, the State would ultimately have the right to pick and choose which projects fulfill all the requirements. Although this seems strict, one of the developers already based in Texas sees this as an opportunity:Rodney Gibbs, an exec with Austin-based Amaze Entertainment (Lord of the Rings Tactics, The Sims 2 DS) said that Texas developers struggled to distance themselves from the mainstream image of games as excessively violent.

Texas will give you a quarter of a million dollars if you come out with a cool game about Texas that doesn’t have a whole lot of violence or any sexual matter (it is the bible belt after all) in it. Why does the Captain Planet game for NES suddenly flash in my head? The no violence doesn’t really follow Texas does it? I mean they profess Gun rights and kill more people in prison than any other state. Heck that would be a great game, let’s flip the switch and see how many people we can get off death row in 60 seconds or less. Let’s throw this on the Wii and you can simulate the whole throwing of the switch just like you see on the TV. (I know, I know, it’s only lethal injection now). I’ll let you make your own illegal immigrant game joke to yourself (make sure it involves an electric-fied fence and something about welfare). With my luck, we will get a game geared towards “Don’t Mess with Texas”. That’s right boys and girls, coming to the XBLA this fall, pick as much trash as you can but be sure not to run over by a mac truck. Also get an achievement for joining your local car pool. (I can see the hate mail coming from eco-friendly, texas-friendly and illegal-immigrant friendly groups a mile wide).

PS3

Sony Remind Church That Resistance Is Make-Believe(from kotaku.com)

This one’s going nowhere, and would have never seen the light of day were the building in question not a church. The game’s not real, the aliens are not real, and your character is not “encouraging gun battles”, he’s trying to save the world (and thus Manchester, and the church).

Here is the story for those who do not know. The Manchester Cathedral was used as one of the backdrops in the game Resistance for PS3. The church supposedly looks nothing like the real thing to boot. However, the church is complaining that the game is promoting violence in the church and just about every other rabbit out of the hat scenario. Sony has come back with the message of: this is just a game; grow a set and go play with your chess pieces (okay I added the last part). So now the church wants the game pulled and in the latest development wants some cash to boot. Hrmm, lets see, the best selling game on the PS3, over a million sold. Yeah, I’m thinking none of that is going to happen. Of course nothing is even remotely realistic in the game anyway. You are fighting aliens and by having gun battles, you are trying to kill the aliens. Not each other. I mean it’s not like somebody designed a level exactly like their high school in Counterstrike. Oh crap.

PS3

PopSci Predicts PS3 Dominance In 2009(from kotaku.com)

The PLAYSTATION 3 will outsell both the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii by the end of 2009.

Popular Science has a new set of predictions to vote on, some of which are no brainers and some that might require a little thought. Nobody will die in space during the first year of Galactic’s run. Hopefully not, but space is the final frontier you know. Skydiving record being broken in 2009, doable but I love how they put a human will do it. As opposed to Franklin, the skydiving pooch? I think my rabbit Hominy is going to attempt the skydiving record while yodeling the song in the Skittles commercial. Gas prices will break a record this year, yeah because we love our oil. NASA will finish the International space station by 2010, what, NASA will finish anything? Of course then they go and mention that the PS3 will outsell the 360 and the Wii by 2009. It’s June 13th, 2007. Wii is outselling the 360 and the PS3 combined last time I checked on a weekly basis. I have a friend who is desperately trying to find a Wii in the Houston area as a father’s day present. The PS3 still has crap for games. The Wii is selling like hotcakes and the 360 has a steady following that is increasing all the time. The lights are flickering folks and the power is about to go out. Sure the theory is that PS1 and 2 did so well that PS3 will follow suit. Yeah, but PS1 and 2 had an awesome library of games with no decent competitors. (don’t talk to me about the Saturn, 3do, Dreamcast, Gamecube or even the original XBOX). The PS3 is sinking and quick. Sony is going to have to come up with a million tricks (and a sizeable price drop) to make this happen.

By the time you read this, available for download will be the remake of one of the greatest platformers of all time; the very hard Prince of Persia. The original 2d platformer was famous for the fact that you had to finish it in one hour and to further complicate matters it wasn’t exactly very control friendly (jumps were always quite painful to execute properly). UBISoft decided to give Persia a face lift and make it very 3d-esque and change up the modes some so it would be more arcade friendly (and easier to get achievements). The first mode lets you play through the game, just trying to beat it. The second or more familiar mode is time attack which you are just trying to beat it in an hour. The third mode is survivor, where you are trying to beat it in under an hour and not dying. Plus, they supposedly softened the challenge some all around while tweaking the system. As long as it still plays great, I might just check it out. To be honest, I did beat the game back in the day but I cheated like a little you know what :).

A decent trio of games for your VC delight. Lode Runner is a classic platformer where your “runner” tries for find all of the golden nuggets on a given level. There was of course puzzles and tricks to make this happen. The included level editor is a nice option too. I still have this game somewhere for my PC, and I did design 10-12 levels for it…never got anybody to tell me if they were even decent :). Sonic 2 is the very decent followup to the original classic, this is where Tails got introduced. (I had the habit of leaving Tails all the time and then he would fly back in). Golden Axe 2 was also a decent follow up sequel and was slightly harder to boot. However, I found the new way they drew the characters to be a bit offputting. Good stuff overall especially Lode Runner. (small note: there is a Sonic collection on the Gamecube that can fufill your need for Sonic 2 and a whole host of other Sonic games).

PS2

Crash Bandicoot Action Pack
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2
Raw Danger
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

PSP

PQ2
Rainbow Six Vegas
Puzzle Scape

PS3

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

XBOX 360

Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia
Tenchu Z
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Wii

Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
Scarface
The Sims 2: Pets
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

DS

Time Ace
Zendoku
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

An alright release week. A slew of Fantastic Four releases for most of the major systems in what might be a decent game but probably not. Another Naruto game (believe it!)and Monster Madness looks to be finally coming out this week (might be good). Of particular interest however is Tenchu Z for the 360 which should be a fun and ridiculously hard game. I remember playing Tenchu 1 & 2 on the old PS1 and the second one had a cool map editor I believe. Unless you are just a Tenchu diehard, I would wait a bit though before dropping $60. Wii also gets a few decent titles in a re-release of Scarface which did reasonably well for the PS2 and other systems and Big Brain Academy should be a decent retooling of the DS version for families of all skill levels.

So after playing Guild Wars for about an hour on my 20″, I basically just find myself surfing and appreciate everything all over again. Then I turned it off and did something else :-P. Funny how that works. For the first time in a while with a wired connection I was able to play through a whole game of multiplayer Catan & Aegis Wing. Doesn’t sound special but it is to me since my connection suffers from drop-it-ice :). Maybe it is getting better, still contemplating getting DSL though and saying the heck with the whole thing. Been kinda itching to play NFL 2k5 on my PS2 again (I probably should try to see if there are 2k8 rosters already lying around) since All-Pro Football 2k8 hits this fall. However, I’m still having a hard time with the $60 for a football game without real players. I think $40 would be fair, but what do I know? That and I also received a copy of Phantasy Star Universe for the 360 at a very cheap price of $15 including shipping. It has a very small single player game (20 hours but all 1,000 achievement points come from it) since I’ll never pay for the monthly thing. Anywho kids, have fun and keep on gaming.

As Always,
Kedrix of Aldrianian
(*The Forgotten One*)