Dare to Play the Game

Game Cards, MK & DC gets the T, & National Gaming Day! – Welcome to the column that should get a national holiday just as long as it doesn’t have to divulge what nation it actually belongs to known as Dare to Play the Game.

I spent the last week in Ohio, I’ll try to refrain from any major jokes about buckeyes or Deliverance music or how freaking hilly the state is. I like my states flat, just like I like my wom…errr that just doesn’t sound right. Anyhow, it was a pretty nice trip to relax and enjoy the cold air. Yeah no Texas fall up there. October and already in the 40’s. My shivers were shivering. I also ended up with a cold as I mentioned last week. Truth be told, I really did have the cold up until the last day I left Ohio. Now I’m okay and my girlfriend is sick. Poor thing, I’ll probably have to nurse her back to health.

This week I will be turning my gaming focus to two games for probably the next month or so. One is Fable II LE (360) which I received while I was gone on vacation. Had it on pre-order for a few months over at Amazon. The pre-order was only so I could get Pub Games which I am happy to report I am debt-free and have $3,000+ & nine items to convert over. A $2,700 2nd place finish on Fortune’s Tower 4 star tournament on Monday night cemented that. The second game was picked on a semi-blind buy. Fallout 3, also for the 360. No, I didn’t get the CE or the really fancy Survival edition from Amazon but the game looked amazing and a must try. I also picked up the guide for $3 & change from Circuit City due to coupons & gift cards. The guide is immense, 464 pages long. With these two games, I might just need a vacation from WoW. *Lich King comes out November 13th* Hrmm, maybe I can push that one over to Sarah, she’s the qualified WoW expert in the family. Everybody who wants Sarah to review Lich King, please write into the column and express your praise. Ignore her 40 comments about that she doesn’t want to. *wink* she does.

Ode To Morgan Webb Mila Kunis



























Well Mila thinks that people don’t believe she is innocent. I do. See, in a way all of God’s creatures are innocent. Innocent lambs sprung upon the world of deceit, crime and indulgence. Alright, maybe that is stretching it a tad. However, from her interviews Mila certainly seems like the girl next door. The girl next door that plays WoW and other assorted games but ends up going out with the jock down the street anyway. Fulfill that innocence and shop for a gamer just like yourself. (One has to try doesn’t he?)

Game Cards

I had an interesting discussion this week on the topic of microtransaction models, East-West interaction, and the fact that few people pay much attention to such issues (or dismiss them out of hand); Games In Motion has a nice interview up illustrating the ‘fly under the radar’ nature of a lot of those microtransaction models. WIM sat down to chat with Rob Goldberg, CEO of GMG Entertainment — the company produces branded pre-paid cards for a couple of franchises, sold at big box stores like Target — to talk about where the market is currently and where it’s headed. They estimate somewhere between $75 and $100 million in sales this year, but what about the future?:

We see this market growing dramatically in the next two to five years.
The whole interview is an interesting look at how the industry deals with retailers via middlemen like GMG; it also points to the popularity of these models that many ‘serious’ gamers tend to ignore.

I’m not sure what is so surprising about Retail Game Cards doing so well. These cards range from the ones for World of Warcraft 2 monthers to the ones like the Xbox Live Arcade game cards you see at Target for Worms, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Uno and so forth. These do well for the simple fact that people do not like to be tied in for anything. Heck, if we could buy our house mortgage on a pre-paid card, some of us would probably do it. It keeps us anonymous to a certain point and here is another reason: it’s easy to hide from parents, spouses and other people who don’t want you gaming. It’s not an issue in our family because we both play WoW & Xbox Live. But in houses where gaming can be the source of arguments *caugh ex-marriage caugh*, it can be an easy out for keeping your nose clean. No honey, I sure didn’t buy another 2 months to World of Warcraft, I bought milk and eggs. Since when does milk & eggs cost $32.46? Damn that economy.

National Gaming Day

November 15th is National Gaming Day at your local library (apparently); they’re billing it as ” the largest, simultaneous national video game tournament ever held! Kids will be able to compete against players at other libraries and see their scores in real-time online while playing at their local library.” What’s pretty cute is the justification for holding such an event — the FAQ is a thing of beauty, including questions like “aren’t video games just a passing fad?”:
1. Aren’t libraries about books and reading?
In the 21st century, libraries are about much more than books! In fact, libraries work very hard to provide patrons of all ages with a rich and current menu of CDs and DVDs, as well as electronic and online resources. Video game resources and programs at the library actually complement these existing services. Featuring this new gaming media helps the library expand its reach while meeting community expectations.

3. Why should kids play video games at the library?
Lots of kids play video games at home – alone, with siblings, or with friends. The library is a safe and non-commercialized space. At the library, kids socialize with their friends and play video games while surrounded by books, librarians, and knowledge. Video gaming at the library encourages young patrons to interact with diverse peers, share their expertise with others (including adults), and develop new strategies for gaming and learning.
There’s several more bits of promotional material, and while I think this move to get games into public libraries is of questionable efficacy in terms of getting them to read books, it’s interesting watching gaming move into a really public space (and targeted at kids, no less) in a concerted manner.

And then some jokes write themselves. Don’t you have November 15th circled on your calendar? Heck, if it wasn’t a Saturday I might get my boss to let me take off. But the faq is full of hilarity and I thought I might inject a little bit of my own nonsense. Here are the real answers to the three questions above:

1) Aren’t libraries about books and reading?
Answer: Heck no, those ideas went out the window after Reagan took office. Truth is we use those books as something to show Congressmen when they want to shower money at us. Libraries are about socializing and looking at porn on the Internet. If you wanted to actually learn something we would send you to the private school down the road. (not that they have any success either)

2)Aren’t video games just a passing fad?
Answer: Silly child, of course they are not. Games are hip, games are splendid. Call your BFF and we will sit you down and show you the latest kid friendly games like Little Big Planet & Viva Pinata. Wait, those have Muslim references & depicts cannibalization? Well F***. Just sit down and start running over citizens and pick up some hoes would you?

3)Why should kids play video games at the library?
Answer: We figure if we can entice you to come play our video games, we can also give you candy. You like candy don’t you? Candy from strangers? That’s good, take the candy and follow me to my lair, I mean dungeon…I mean where you play games that have dungeons and lairs…there there my child now play.

So in conclusion, celebrate November 15th by letting your child go to your local library, they will thank you!

MK vs DC Universe

First the good news. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is still great fun. We played it from the comfort of the Kotaku couch this week and had a blast. Now the bad news. That amazing Joker fatality, the one where… well, if you haven’t seen it yet, we’d suggest you watch it now. It’s awesome.

Sure, it’s disappointing — Joker’s original finishing move was one of the best we’ve ever seen — but the game would simply not exist with an M-rating. We’ll just have to take solace in the archived video-only version, occasionally rewatch it misty-eyed and forlorn, and realize we’re going to get the game regardless.

That video is epic. Seriously, one of the top 3 fatalities I have seen ever. Joker’s little dance in-between shots is something of wonder. Sadly, the original version of this won’t be in the game, some horrific altered version will. You can’t kill Superman because of DC, you can’t have the Joker fatality because it is not T for Teen, I won’t be buying the game because the pansy police have taken over, etc. Heck, at this point I’ll be surprised if I don’t see gray sweat coming off the characters instead of blood. Everybody who gets that reference, you receive one brownie point. Midway has simply become pansies due to the bottom line. They hope that the T rated game gets more sales simply because they expect parents to go look at and go oh, that’s Mortal Kombat but it has a T rating. It must be good for my kid. Newsflash: most parents know what Mortal Kombat is about, if they are actually paying attention to ratings, it wouldn’t matter if it was rated E and had people shaking hands and hugging after each fight. They wouldn’t buy it. Instead you piss off the hardcore who will actually buy the game by altering it in such a way that it could possibly alienate them. Wow, expect me to do an article about the Mortal Kombat name being sold to Sega or EA or some other company in the next year.

More mayhem from the Penny Arcade folks. Episode One did pretty well and one has to think that this one might follow en-course. The 1200 points is still hard to swallow for some but one can not deny the interesting concept & wonderful humor the game has provided to date. My concern is how many of these episodes will we see? 3? 4? 24? It is my feeling that this series will reach 4 episodes and fizz out after that. In either event as long as the number is small, expect to see a disc only release for about $40 after everything has calmed down. There is a chance that won’t happen but there is a viable aftermarket that would eat a retail compilation up. You are looking at a member of that market.

Jeff Foxworthy never looked so creepy. XBLA opens its heart to gameshows this week by giving us a game that will truly make us feel like a complete idiot. Lots of questions to answer here along with that gameshow feel. Multiplayer is a gimme for this and it will give us the opportunity to play a gameshow online with people around the world but not traveling to California to do it. Expect DLC and other perks if this sucker takes off, it probably will. I only wish Whammy or Press Your Luck would have done it first.

Hey, I missed Episode 2 a few weeks ago. If you liked the first two, this is one of those scenarios where there is nothing I could tell you to stop from buying it. I mean I could say Strong Bad is going to have a gay affair with Barney the Dinosaur(I’d be lying) and you would still shell out 1,000 Wii Points. Truth is in this episode, he is setting out to dominate the Battle Royale of the Bands. Can he rise to the top & win the cash money? It’s up to you to find out.

Speaking of third installments, here is the third game with the funny title of Art Style. So far we have been treated to two rather interesting and cheap puzzle games with lots of character. In fact, they have been kinda sleeper titles that many have simply ignored. The third one allows the player to form hexagons of a solid color by rotating colored triangles which drop from the top of the screen. Initial levels start out with two colors, harder levels allow for faster drops and even more colors to test your skill. Many modes exist including an endless & multiplayer both co-op and competitive.

Jim has a fond place in my heart. He’s one of those mascots that emerged in the 90’s that did really well for a while but faded out. Kinda like Gex, before he developed an Australian accent and sold car insurance. The story in the first installment was that Jim, an ordinary earthworm comes upon a super suit which mutates him into an intelligent and large super hero. He overhears the evil plans of Psy-Crow & Queen Slug-For-A-Butt and decides he must save Princess What’s Her Name. Plenty of platform goodness and that ultra wackiness make this a good pickup. Hopefully it does well, there was a rumor earlier this year that another Earthworm Jim title could hit major consoles. *fingers crossed* If only they would bring Clay Fighter (EJ did a cameo for this title) back as well.

WoW time. 54/33/30/19. My troll rogue, Lantanador actually leveled to 54. Sunken Temple and 6 quests await him in the near future. I can actually see him making it to 60 which is kinda a scary thought. The biggest jump this week was the dwarf priest, Talloween as he jumped three levels by running through a combination of SM, RFK & RFD and more blues than you can shake a stick at. However, the real story this week ended on Monday. Zombies. In preparation for Lich King, Blizzard decided to throw around the idea of plagued rats & suspicious boxes at Booty Bay which would turn others into Zombies. As Zombies you gained new abilities and could infect towns which would turns others and NPC’s into Zombies. It was a nice idea, but horrible execution. What seemed merely an annoyance at first turned into an event that led to giant cities becoming a zombie wasteland. Auctioneers, Quest Givers and anybody who you had normal interaction with were replaced with fighting mad zombies. Every step was an exercise in futility and nothing got done. You either fought against the zombies or were one yourself. Furthermore, most of the zombies were bored level 70’s who decided to take this opportunity to kill their own faction and devastate starting areas across the board. So after who knows how many complaints and threatening messages of account cancellation, Blizzard ended the event on Monday a full two weeks before Lich King but generating some publicity in the process. The moral of the story: If we wanted to play a Resident Evil MMO, we would play a Resident Evil MMO. Or at least rent the movies and gaze at the beautiful creature that is Mila Jovovich. Have a fun week kiddoes.

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