Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming

Black Friday (2014)

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 20:17:00 +0000

Resources for the savings-challenged:

CheapAssGamer.com

Ordered by platform and game: https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/338413-black-friday-2014-video-games-consoles-shopping-guide-organized-for-your-shopping-convenience-updated-112514/
Full list, including gaming ads: https://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/337824-black-friday-2014-video-game-deals-full-gaming-ads-inside/

Polygon

Aggregate Deals: http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/14/7221333/black-friday-video-games-2014
PS4, PS3, PS Vita: http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/25/7286107/ps3-ps4-vita-black-friday-deals
Xbox One, Xbox 360: http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/25/7279937/the-complete-guide-to-xbox-one-and-xbox-360-black-friday-deals
Nintendo 2DS, 3DS and Wii U: http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/25/7281595/the-complete-guide-to-nintendo-2ds-3ds-and-wii-u-black-friday-deals

Amazon

Black Friday Deals will be here: http://www.amazon.com/Video-Games-Deals/b/ref=bf2014_ln_vg?ie=UTF8&node=409566
Cyber Monday: http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Monday/b/ref=amb_link_426962562_2?ie=UTF8&node=5550342011

Disney Infinity Black Friday Deals

https://infinity.disney.com/disney-infinity-black-friday-deals
Starter Sets: If you missed last weekend's GameStop and Amazon sales on Starter Sets, your next best option is Walmart for $37 this weekend (Though Target, Best Buy, TRU, Disney Store, and Marvel Shop are all within a couple of dollars)
Figures: For individual figures, Walmart's $9 each looks to be the best deal, and TRU's B1G1 70% off is a close second (but that latter deal is just Thanksgiving evening)
Play Sets: Play Sets-wise, GameStop's $29.99 (Reg $39.99) is best, but TRU's B1G1 40% off is a close second (and goes through Saturday)
Amazon: Last year, Amazon met or beat all Infinity deals, and they're the only ones teasing Power Disc sales for Friday

Other

Steam Sales tend to be insane, and the "Exploration Sale" is underway now
Humble Bundle may be doing some Black Friday deals, too

For me, I'm hoping to pick up some more DualShock4s, and some mix of Shadow of Mordor, Second Son, Titanfall, Mario Kart 8, Alien: Isolation, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Metro: Redux, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Super Mario 3D Land.

(No. Not all of them.)

Happy spending!

Doing Cool Things with IP: Warner Bros. / DC

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I'm a big fan of intellectual property owners doing cool and unexpected things with properties. And I'm a firm believer that quality offerings will make better money than cast-off, shovelware schlock.

Even ignoring revenue, quality products elevate brands, and poor treatments (even those that are "free money for license holders") do brand damage.

Those who know me (and longtime followers) know I'm a comic book fan. And while that's primarily (hugely) on the Marvel side of the house, I've got a rich and sentimental history with DC Comics, too. That includes an admiration for creatives like Neal Adams and Denny O'Neil, to their treatment of Seventies-Era Batman, and characters like Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, though) and the Barry Allen incarnation of The Flash. And Christopher Reeve Superman (much less so the Superman Returns take). And the Michael Keaton Batman. And Christoper Nolan's take on The Dark Knight franchise. And Bruce Timm animated and illustrated everything.

So, marry quality game products with top-shelf DC properties, atypical game treatments, and the challenge to avoid the stereotypical comic book bad-game stigma, and you give me a bizdev/game development/comic book buzz.

And right now, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) has the potential to knock it out of the park on this front.

With Arkham Aslyum and Arkham City, WBIE already showed (twice) a triple-A comic book game can be made again.

They've made hay with the LEGO franchise, and despite some problems with a few mechanics (like flight), LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is a solid, evolutionary, franchise fan-service vehicle.

DC Universe Online continues to crank along, with a non-trivial uptick (and non-trivial expansion releases) since going free-to-play.

And making up for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (an abbreviated, feature-short, and lesser treatment of both franchises), Injustice: Gods Among Us is a genuine, fleshed-out fighter that took NPD's top spot in last month's April charts (genre titles and fighting titles struggle to get there, and Injustice is both). It's a great fan-service treasure trove, and I expect the DLC to continue and accelerate that trend.

Then there's a handheld metroidvania treatment of the Batman: Arkham franchise (Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate), at the same time Warner Brothers Montreal is working on Batman: Arkham Origins for the big consoles.

WBIE has also announced Infinite Crisis, an honest-to-goodness massive online battle arena game. A DC Comics MOBA, for crying out loud.

And then they went and announced Scribblenauts Unmasked, taking 5th Cell's linguistic puzzler into the DC Universe. Seriously.

What's next? A Don't Starve treatment staring Vandal Savage?

(I would so play that.)

Other comic book and IP rich-legacy back-catalog holders: What's your move?

Black Friday 2012 Deals

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:49:00 +0000

OK, normally I do a Black Friday video game deals post, but for various reasons, this year -- No.

A lot of other fine folks have you covered:

CheapAssGamer.com (Deals, and their take on the best deals)
VentureBeat (Deals, and store opening and sales schedule)

Xbox 360

If I were looking for a 250GB Xbox this year, I'd probably track down a "Holiday Bundle" (250GB console, Forza 4 (racing game), and Skyrim (best RPG evahr) -- and I'd probably look at Fry's "order at 11 a.m. Thursday at Frys.com, and pick up at your leisure after 9 a.m. Friday".

For the 4GB Kinect console, it really depends what you want. There are several sales on the Holiday Bundle (Disneyland Adventures & Kinect Adventures), cheaper for non-bundle 4GB Kinect consoles, and Walmart's white 4GB Skylanders Starter Pack Bundle for $149.99 is pretty cool, if you're looking to get into that franchise. Or want a white Xbox 360.

PS3

You can find the PS3 250GB Holiday Bundle (with Uncharted 1 & 2 and Infamous 1 & 2) for $199.99 at a bunch of places -- with TRU throwing in a free 2nd party controller for the same price.

Wii U

Nintendo's just-launched console is selling like hotcakes, so no deals on the console.

A few of the multiplatfrom games also have the Wii U version on sale (like FIFA Soccer 13), and there's the I-doubt-it-will-last Old Navy free Super Mario Bros Wii U game (with $40 purchase, doorbuster with "very limited quantities").

TRU is doing buy one, get one 40% off all games, and it doesn't look like they're excluding Wii U titles.

PS Vita

For the PS Vita, again, it depends on your game preference.

Action/Adventure game? Find an Assassin's Creed III Liberation system bundle at Amazon or GameStop.
Shooter fan? the Call of Duty: Black Ops bundle $199.99 at Best Buy, or at TRU or Fry's for extras (an essentials pack or storage card, respectively, for the same price).
Family fare? The LEGO Batman 2 bundle at Target.

3DS

Best Buy has the best deal for the 3DS Holiday Bundle (flame-red 3DS and Super Mario Land 3D) for $150.

Wii

Nintendo's previous console can be found for $89 for the basic white, or $99 for the sexy black version that includes Wii Sports and Sports Resort.

Games

Games-wise, there are a ton of great deals, depending on your preference. New games like Assassins Creed III, Borderlands, XCOM, and Dishonored can be found at Walmart for $25, the Microsoft Store is selling a ton of $25 games, and I'm hoping snag a $15 copy of Forza Horizon (also at Walmart).

Keep in mind, Amazon is matching most of the big game sales at various times throughout Thursday and Friday.

And don't miss Steam's daily PC games sale now through Monday (new games each day, including 4-packs) -- Ridiculously awesome discounts.

Look at that; I kind of did do a Black Friday post.

More than just CoD

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Full disclosure: I dig the Call of Duty / Modern Warfare franchise. I own all of them. I play through the single-player campaigns and multiplayer slaughterfests in each of them.

But there are other games.

My clan has a newsgroup that started years ago as a regional Halo clan (we still have twice yearly, massive linkfests), evolved to a Modern Warfare clan, and now has directed offshoots into Borderlands, Earth Defense Force, and other team-based forays.

Today, someone asked if he could be taken off of non-CoD messages. I piped in that there are other games out there.

His (tongue-in-cheek) response?

"There are other games than cod?"

My (more tongue-in-cheek) response?

"I've heard tell of games -- other games -- that exist in the Wilds of Gameslanderz.

"Games with stories. With characters you believe in. Games not all 'bout killin', and cussin', and being pwned by 12-year-olds.

"It's probably a myth. But, [muted], it's a beautiful myth."

There are other games. Go play them.

I want Microsoft to target me more

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:02:00 +0000

I remember reading years ago a comment an analyst made about targeted advertising, and rather than complaining about the future of personalized adverts, he welcomed it.

"Advertisements only about stuff I'm interested in and that I actually might want to buy? If only!"

I was thinking about that with my gameplay experience, particularly Microsoft's Xbox Live.

It's really harder than it should be -- and requires too much active effort on my part -- to keep up with all of my games, new DLC, upcoming stuff, and the massive amount of rotating XBL (or PSN, or Steam, or ...) deals.

What I'd like is for the "My Xbox" section of my dashboard to show things like "Minerva's Den [BioShock 2 DLC] is 50% off this week!"

Or, "New The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim videos are available" (because they know I watched a few videos about the title).

Or, it would serve up developer commentary videos for a specific game, when they know I've played the demo.

Ideally, this would be customizable, so I could click and record a "not interested" response, and get things moved down in my virtual interest queue.

Basically think of it like a Netflix dashboard, where XBL, PSN's "What's New", Steam, and whatever storefront with which the Wii U ends up are serving up "You might also like", "Top 10 for Adam", etc.

Oh, and profile / identity tagging (which Netflix does NOT have), so my wife isn't messing up my queue (No, I did not watch/play that romantic comedy game where everything worked out in the end so please don't suggest "The Bachelor: The True Story" to me.)

I know it's coming. I'm lazy and impatient, so I hope it's coming sooner than later.

X-Men: Destiny and Silicon Knights

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:36:00 +0000

My last post about next year's Transformers MMO linked to a post of mine from years ago about my ideas for the same type of game.

I also noticed in that same post that I'd want someone like Silicon Knights to do a "Too Human take" on licensed fare, and apply their "engagement theory" game design to established IP properties. (There's a nicely done video on their site that explains what they mean by their philosophy of game development).

Fast forward 5 years, and we've got an IP I dig (X-Men) getting the SK treatment in the form of the Activision-published X-Men: Destiny.

Sure, maybe the above is just a well-funded, slickly cut-together E3 trailer, but I'm genuinely stoked about the combinatorial potential of this game.

There's a high bar set by Raven Software's X-Men Legends games, and I'm hoping this new title is the same caliber.

Transformers Universe MMO

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 21:11:00 +0000

Nice -- Hasbro and Jagex Games Studios (RuneScape) announced the new Transformers Universe MMO at this year's BotCon.

It seems to take an aesthetic page from the Transformers: War Within comic series (and the under-appreciated Transformers: War for Cybertron game).

Wonder if they can take any game design notes from me?

(Seriously, I haz good ideaz.)

Game teaser and character design videos are below.

Changing how we assign RPG points

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Y'know what? I like RPGs (Role-Playing Games, to the uninitiated). A lot.

But I like to own my character -- assigning points, building my version of a fighter (brawler/heavy/tank), rogue (thief/ninja), mage (wizard/warlock/enchantress), ranger (Legolas-want-to-be), etc.

And auto points assignment? Puh-lease. I've suffered that when playing in a party with noobs, or in game designs that freeze the game any time any person in the party stops to assign -- or even look at -- their own stats.

Assigning RPG points drives me mad, because I want the benefits and customization of explicit skills assignment, but it interrupts the game. And, yeah, it's worse when I'm in a multiplayer game, and we're all of the same mindset.

How do we assign stat points without disrupting the flow of combat, action, or story in RPGs?

My solution? Allow retroactive assignment of RPG points.

Simply put, you wouldn't be required to assign points until you get to a break point, but once you do (and once you assign the points), you get the benefits of those skills assignments retroactively to the point(s) when you earned them. Sure, you won't get things like "Attack + 10" as far as doing damage to baddies, but maybe you will get multipliers, etc.

Think about it, you're tooling through the dungeons of Azeroth (or Dr. Doom's Latverian castle, or the Morlock Tunnels), going from battle to battle, and you don't have to stop. You don't interrupt the story, you don't get caught in the "Battle. Grind. Stats management. Battle. Grind." loop. You don't tee off your party members by interrupting their game.

Not to say this isn't potentially wicked hard to implement. Maintaining the count of unassigned points isn't bad, but holding onto which permutations of level ups for previously completed scenarios would take bit of work. But it's certainly doable, with the caveat that the scope of which past events are or aren't allowed retro skills assignment is communicated and intuitive to the player. (Under the hood, there's probably a difference between how you handle checkpoint (snapshot) versus save (write-to-disc) data.)

Game designers could even couch any trade-offs in a "late skills assignment tax" (but, y'know, renamed to something trope-appropriate).

This also creates opportunities for some cool design gimmicks.

Think about caching up your points, and then blowing things up in a single skills assignment binge fest, jumping 2, 3 or (madness!) 5 levels at once. And maybe there's a genre-appropriate "instant replay" mechanic, that will go back and play splashes of "big moments" that benefit from the skills assignment (that barmaid you chatted up in the King and Queen Tavern? You just got some more information, because of your +10 charisma allocation. (I betcha the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto could pull off this orcs and elves version of the "play-of -the-day".)

Heck, designers could create special features in hubs that make the leveling up that much more integrated to the mechanics of the game, and that much more meaningful and memorable.

Oh, and hey, I'm not saying you only do retro assignments to solve my frustration with points assignment. You still need to fix the bad, in-the-moment stats management problems, too. Don't freeze out other players while I'm checking my stats (even if I'm hosting).

Even if it's in the heat of battle, don't freeze me out from assigning my stats. Give me a "pay now or pay later" choice. Much like the jerk who takes all the loot from his party, if I choose to duck out of battle, let that impact the rest of my team when they need my help, so they can get on my case later. Give me an "Edifying Cloak of Invisibility" as I duck off into a cowardly corner to selfishly level myself up. Or, add a positive gimmick, like a "Cocoon of Character Enhancement" (can you tell I'm not a high-fantasy writer?) that protects me as I level my character, but attracts enemies who will attack my shell, weakening it, until it shatters, and they can kill me more quickly in my vulnerable state. This would add an urgency to the stats assignment, and a tactical element for team play -- I could attract a bunch of baddies (as long as I have skills points to assign), taking the heat off of my party, and they could launch an AoE attack on them (one that doesn't have friendly fire impacts, por favor; or maybe it does; Hmm ...).

So, who agrees this might solve some of this stats management headaches and game-flow interruption?

Or am I the only one who things about these things?

(By the way, the font I used to make the top graphic is "BADABOOM", from those ridiculously top-knotch Blambot.com guys.)

My so-called (MORE connected gamer) life

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:00:00 +0000

As an update to this post about connecting my gaming experiences (and connection gaps), I think I may have solved some of the gaps, and decided I don't want to fill one particular one.

Where we left off:

All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook (done)
Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn (done)
Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook (partial)
Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter (this is right out)

(First for #5, even though I figured out how to do it, I've decided I don't want to post my Facebook game activities to Twitter. Most of my time in those games at this point is industry research, would likely be noise to my non-Facebook following Twitter followers, and the recursive problem the Facebook-to-Twitter-to-Facebook pipe could cause -- while interesting -- is not something to which I should probably subject either set of followers.)

For #3, "partial" meant my Xbox Live activity and Facebook connectivity was limited to my Xbox Live Friends list that had also done the on-console and in-Facebook integration -- an overlap of maybe six, out of my dozens of Xbox / Facebook "friends".

So, that created this picture (the Xbox / Facebook app is orange, because it does what it's supposed to do -- just not as much as I'd like it to do):

The connected social media gamer: Gappage.

Enter raptr.com.

The site's headed up by Dennis Fong (former pro-gamer "Thresh", and the guy behind such things as Gamer.com and gaming social site Xfire.com); and RealNetworks/Rhapsody Ranah Edelin; and former eBayer Dave Swenson ('member me Dave? 'Member?).

Anywho, with a bit of tweaking and some recent upgrades that made it usable for my particular needs, raptr.com's slotted into the gaps I needed filled.

By creating a raptr.com account, and giving it my Xbox Gamertag (just the handle, not the account or login info), raptr was able to pipe my "now playing" and Xbox Achievements info to Twitter and/or Facebook (since I have that info available as "public" in the Xbox console privacy settings).

And it lets me post some other value-add information with those two bits of data -- like notification when I pass an Xbox friend with my Achievements, and a published daily summary of what I've played in a given day.

It also lets me customize some of the messaging, so my "I'm playing" notice reads, "I'm playing [gamename]. If it's got multiplayer, let's play ..."

(Sadly, it doesn't let me customize my Achievements comparison note, so no, "I just passed aancsiid with Left 4 Dead Achievements! Face!")

So, to avoid too too much noise to my outer circle, I use Raptr's sharing configuration to pipe the "I'm playing" message to Twitter (which auto-pipes to Facebook, since I have XBL friends on both services), and pipe the Achievements, daily game summaries, and braggadocio only to Facebook (via Facebook Connect), under the assumption my Facebook crew is more of an inner circle (at least compared to the Twitterverse), and may care more, and/or are less likely to tell me if they don't.

All of that looks like this:

The connected social media gamer: With Raptr.com goodness.

(And for Facebook connect, there's an option to not broadcast status of Facebook games, which my connections probably appreciate.)

So, all that's got some niftage by itself, but Raptr enables quite a bit more.

By downloading and installing the Raptr desktop client, I can have it do the same things for my Steam games it does for Xbox titles -- with no extra work or configuration. (That same client will enable the same kinds of things for World of Warcraft character status and Sony PSN Trophies.)

The client can do other things like serve as a Trillian-lightish IM client, and keep tabs on your various game connections and whether they're online. To be honest (and no disrespect meant), I could care less about that particular functionality -- but maybe that will change if I can get comfortable with a better understanding of how they handle and protect things like my Windows Live ID and password. (Besides, it's kind of onerous to set up.)

So, for completeness, here's how everything looks with Steam added in the mix:

The connected social media gamer: With added Steam-y goodness.

Right. So I've probably beat this to death.

But like I said in the original post, "I'm all about planned setup with minimal follow on work (work smart to avoid working hard, when possible)".

Plus, I got to make yet more Visio charts. So ... win?

Hrm ... up next ... maybe phone integration? Ve shall see....

Torchlight, paper prototypes, and iterative design (with kids)

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:36:00 +0000

I'm a big fan of Torchlight, the PC RPG darling from Runic Games.

I'm a fan because I like dungeon crawling hack-n-slash brawlers with smarts. I'm a fan of a game that takes the genre, refines what works, and adds new gameplay elements unique to the title (Pets! That you feed! And they turn into bigger, badder things! That have their own inventory and can do the runaround to return to the village and sell your unneedables, so you aren't wasting too much time doing inventory management and grieving left-behind treasures!).

Watching Runic move a successful PC game to the Xbox 360 (via XBLA this March), has been a neat case study in reworking UI, controls, and functionality to work on a different platform, without reducing features (and, in fact, back-porting some of the new features from the upcoming Torchlight II for PC to the XBLA version of the first Torchlight game).

Most of all, I like that Torchlight is fun.

But this post isn't about that; it's about usability, paper prototyping, and not learning things that keep you from learning.

Part of my background is formal usability. I've done the whole usability / human factors / user-centered design circuit at a few companies.

My kids have not.

Sure, they're firmly steeped in the comic book, toy, and video game geekdom that is going to be their life. But, because they're on the younger side, for personal and developmental reasons I've actually kept them fairly distant from a lot of the games I play (excluding stuff like Disney Epic Mickey, of course).

Recently, they started watching me play select games, including Torchlight (I turn the blood off), asking questions about RPG tropes, leveling, stat and inventory management, and the like. I was surprised by the detail and specificity of their questions, and their intuitive linking of design follow-ups based on previous answers.

Having watched me play Torchlight for a sum of 2-3 short sessions, they surprised me one Saturday morning with their own analog and paper prototypes of the game.

Granted, I'm biased, but understandably impressed not just with their reverse engineering the game rules after such short exposure to the game; I was taken with their mini-re-enactment of usability and paper prototyping.

First, there is this paper prototype they worked up.

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 1 (Too much fidelity)

They told me they abandoned it right away, because they realized after they made it, they didn't need the keyboard. What they hadn't been taught (but had figured out on their own), is a paper prototype too close to what you're trying to represent is less flexible, and it's tougher to iterate with it.

Next came this more stat-centric version of the rules. They said they didn't try to re-create the HUD like they had in the first prototype, because "they knew how that worked", and "that's not what we want to play with" (they wanted to iterate on the stats side of things).

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 2 (Sans HUD, more stats-driven)

This one captured more of the rules set, and let the girls iterate on the character, enemy, and weapons stats. This one is interesting to me, because while it starts with enemies and weapons they'd seen while watching me play, they quickly branched into the creative and invented their own "Rhino Monster", "Cobra Staff of Venom", etc.

They said they figured out, though, that as they changed the numbers (damage, rate, elemental, etc.), they were erasing and redoing work on the prototype, which was taking time and "making it messy" (my oldest has a bit of an attachment to order).

So, they created separate stat cards they could write up quickly, and lay on top of the paper prototype to "overwrite" previous stats, add stats to creatures or weapons, etc.

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 3 (separate, swappable stat cards)

Following closely behind this, as they were trying to explain the game to their two-year-old sister (they went through a lot of iteration before I woke up as a new audience). They found analog avatars a useful communication tool, so they dug out toys that closely matched what they were building, and used those to explain the game to their sister.

Torchlight kids paper prototype 4 (Physical avatars)

I'm not sure, but I get the sense at this point the prototyping effort went off-rails, and they started instead "playing Torchlight" with their toys. Wish I'd been around for (and videotaped) that.

Fascinating stuff, and fatherly pride aside, I'm impressed with how efficiently a 9- and 7-year-old worked through gameplay prototyping, not having learned stuff they'll potentially later have to unlearn in order to learn how to do it right.

Now I'm making game deconstruction and design a regular part of our unofficial learnings at the Creighton household.

(For those curious, the character, basket and potion are from the Mattel Disney Princesses (Polly Pockets-like) line; that's Bell. The sword and staff are from LEGO ninja and pharaoh single-pack capsule toys. The fish is from the Hasbro Littlest Pet Shop line. The rocks that represent embers are tiny, actual rocks. The cat I think is one of the few non-Schleich animals we own; Schleich stuff rocks.)

Xbox Live Gold is Free this Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:01:00 +0000

(I don't work for Microsoft)

Just a reminder -- The Xbox Live Gold Membership service is free this weekend to all Xbox owners.

So, if you're normally a "Silver" or "Free" XBL user, this weekend gives you a chance to see what all of the fuss is about. Get access to multiplayer gaming, things like Netflix streaming (if you're a Netflix subscriber), ESPN-exclusive content, Gold-only (or available first) offers and demos, and a bunch of the stuff that makes gaming (for me) preferable on the Xbox.

If you find you like the service, do yourself a favor and find a friend who already has a membership to refer you -- you both end up with some decent bonuses (extra XBL time, points for purchases, XBLA titles, and the like).

(Oh, and this isn't trumping up one service over another; think of it as a gamer-centric PSA for a weekend event. So, all PSN and other game services fanboys or trolls can keep their opinions to themselves.)

My so-called (connected gamer) life

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:24:00 +0000

I used to have my various social sites and feeds fairly connected -- in a way I wanted them to be.

That fell apart over time (for mostly good reasons, as authentication between services tightened). Since I'm all about planned setup with minimal follow on work (work smart to avoid working hard, when possible), I stepped back to look at how I could re-set what content goes where (and when), and at the same time push forward with what I'm calling an "integrated gaming" experiment, using Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Here are the pieces of my "integrated gaming" case study:

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Xbox 360 console title)
Project Legacy (Facebook app)
Ubisoft Uplay Website

The nice thing about the Ubisoft Facebook game and Uplay site is that despite still being in beta (there are some rough edges and non-enabled content), they take care of the integration / relation between the console achievements, uPlay account, and Facebook connections (once you do all of the requisite activations).

Pieces of the Assassins Creed integrated gaming experience.

Outside of Assassin's, to simplify the effort, broadly, here are my buckets of data:

My various blogs (7-12)
Xbox Live data
Social site feeds (specifically, Facebook and Twitter)

Now, I generally share differently for different audiences, and here are my most-used pipes for displaying the data:

The World

My Website
My blogs (The World +/-)
Twitter

Friends only

Facebook

Targeted view

LinkedIn
Game aggregate site (in this, case, Ubisoft's Uplay site)

And, in graphical form:

Data sources and data pipes.

Now, I want to do at least the following:

All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook
Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn
Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook
Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter

For the most part, I use Twitter to fire off to my various pipes. By default, everything that goes on Twitter goes to Facebook (if I want the world to see it, I'm fine with friends seeing it -- but not vice versa). I can narrow that, and make it so that just tweets with "#fb" go to Facebook (and even though I don't use it, for clarity I've marked data in these diagrams I'd like to show up in Facebook with the "#fb" suffix).

Likewise, currently, only tweets marked with "#in" go to LinkedIn, because I want to show a more targeted, professional slice of my micro (nano? pico?) posts on that site.

So, to make 1 and 2 above "easy", I used http://twitterfeed.com/ to post all of my blogs to Twitter, which then automatically pipes all of them to Facebook. To avoid having to create and maintain a separate Twitter ID for "professional posts" to go just to LinkedIn, and because the LinkedIn BlogLink application seemed to be down, I instead added the "#in" suffix in TwitterFeed to any posts from the two blogs I want to go to LinkedIn.

Blogs --> TwitterFeed (all) --> Facebook (all) and LinkedIn (select)

Getting my Xbox Live data (Achievements and what I've played / am playing) used to be as easy as logging onto the various gaming social sites, being careful not to provide Xbox Live credentials to potentially skeevy sites. My previous site of preference was GamerDNA.com, but at some point that seems to have stopped working, and is at best running a week or so behind what I do on my Xbox 360 -- which defeats my real-time notification goal.

Also, with regular changes to Twitter's API to require OATH, etc., and Microsoft understandably not providing an RSS feed of my XBL activity (privacy concerns for minors, etc.), it's a bit tougher to populate that feed. I understand the gimping, but if I've chosen to set my XBL privacy to "everyone", I should have access to that feed to do with as I please.

I was using Xbox Live Nation's Twitter integration, which is supposed to update just once an hour, when I'm online only, but I actually don't think this works anymore, since it doesn't use OATH. Xbox apps on Facebook have been spotty at best, and they don't solve my Twitter post needs.

Xbox Live data piped to Facebook, via three implementations, and only a partial solution.

That said, I'm also using the "Xbox 360 Live Gamercard" app for Facebook for now, which says it will post my status and Achievements to Facebook (I've used it before, but it stopped working, so I removed and re-added it, but haven't yet seen it update my online status). And I'm using the official Twitter / Xbox App, thought that only shows status to people in my XBL friends list who also have the official app installed, too.

So, for now, despite Xbox and Facebook having an integration, I seem to be stuck on being able to post my gaming activity from XBL to Facebook to a narrow audience. Likewise, I'm not able to post my gaming-specific updates (say, from the Assassin's Creed Facebook app and Uplay). Really, all I need to allow this is an athenticated relationship (via OATH or OpenID) that's bidirectional between Facebook and Twitter, and a keyword scraper, so that posts with "via Project Legacy" get piped to Twitter. (Don't worry, I don't publish every level jump and achievement -- that's annoying on Facebook, and more annoying for folks that are trying to avoid Facebook.)

So, here's where I netted out:

All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook (done)
Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn (done)
Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook (partial)
Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter (this is right out)

The complete picture.

If you have a better way to do this, let me know in the comments.

And maybe next time, I'll talk about the actual Assassin's Creed integrated gaming experience itself.

Some housekeeping notes:

While I have my Twitter feed available to the world, and I'm very cognizant, intelligent, and responsible social media user, I would probably change my tweets to "protected" if I were working for an anti-social media corporation.
This diagram is loosely based on "Context Diagrams" from Atlantic Systems Guild, the folks who did a portion of my requirements and systems analysis training back in the day, and I've used many of the tools ever since.
For my toy review blog, I now host the pictures on DeviantART, because this gives me a another audience for cross-posting.

CES 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 05:45:00 +0000

I so dig the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Partly, 'cause I digz the gadetz. But more, because I like to see technology trends positioned or realized.

Since this is primarily a gaming blog, I'm excited about the expected showings from folks like Turtle Beach for audio (I so need an all-in-one pair of gaming headphones); Mad Catz (for higher end, branded peripherals); and Nyko (for broad diversity and accessible peripherals).

And since 3D is "The Thing" (not a fad; I really believe it's A Thing, on the way to the glasses-less version), I expect to see 3D itself become a new platform for gaming hotness, with a lot of showcase media coming from gaming (I wonder how often Call of Duty: Black Ops will be used as the state-of-the-art for 3D gaming?). I expect NVIDIA to make a strong showing on this front.

And it wouldn't be 3D -- and gaming -- without one of the most anticipated forays in this space: Nintendo's new 3DS handheld device. Nintendo will actually be making an appearance at CES this year -- not a normal occurrence for a company that prefers to throw its own standalone quality debut shows.

Could be nifty...

Gamebryo lives!

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:16:00 +0000

As an update to this post about the sale of Emergent assets (the company behind the makers of game engine Gamebryo) -- Gamebryo lives again!

South Korean company Gamebase purchased the assets, is creating a new US-based company, and it will be run by the former VP of sales, David Brame.

From Gamebase president JY Park:

"The Gamebryo 3D engine has been a flexible, transparent, dependable solution for video game developers and publishers globally and has been used to develop hundreds of titles. Our first goal is to focus on the company's roots - working closely with customers and providing excellent customer service. This is one of the key reasons why Gamebryo evolved into such a popular development engine."

From new stateside president David Brame:

"This is an exciting day for Gamebryo customers. Over the next few weeks we will be actively communicating with Gamebryo developers around the world to update them on our future plans and activities."

I'm no longer associated with Emergent, but I'm glad to see something I invested some serious time and effort into back from the brink. Gamebase were great partners for us while I was there, and it's good to see the U.S. incarnation in the hands of someone as capable and supportive as Brame.

(Note, Gamebase in South Korea is different from the stateside GameBase.info, a much-needed initiative to make gaming accessible to gamers of all abilities.)

Gamebryo is dead? Long live Gamebryo!

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 23:40:00 +0000

Vincent Scheib over at his Beautiful Pixels blog links to a bit of news about the sale of assets from Emergent Game Technologies, and offers a bit of his own, typically eloquent commentary.

http://beautifulpixels.blogspot.com/2010/11/gamebryo-emergent-ip-and-assets-at.html

I'm frankly mixed about the news (assuming it's legitimate). Gamebryo did well for quite a while, and had even greater potential. I'm grateful for my time there, proud of what I was able to accomplish while I worked for them (both in Product Management, and as the producer for their demos), and -- most of all -- grateful for the relationships I forged.

I have an opinion about what happened, and what could happen with the assets from a biz dev perspective -- but I'm going to leave that alone for now.

Feels a bit too "jackals dancing around the kill" right now.

Disney Epic Mickey and Comic-Con 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:44:00 +0000

I'll be in San Diego for Comic-Con -- Since Disney Epic Mickey will be there, too.

The official line:

Game designer Warren Spector of Disney Interactive Studios' Junction Point and Peter David, award-winning comic writer and author of the upcoming Disney Epic Mickey "Tales of the Wasteland" themed comics, will share their insights on bringing the world of Wasteland to life in the upcoming Wii video game, Disney DigiComics and graphic novel.

Though you'll also want to pay attention to this little nugget from the press release:

The panel will include discussion, gameplay footage, artwork and a sneak-peak at the comics.

I'm just sayin' ...

E3 2010 - A great and limited view

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:42:00 +0000

I'm a bit late on my post-E3 coverage, but that's (mostly) because I was in the thick of it for the event itself.

If you caught the Nintendo press event, yeah, I was that Adam Creighton blessed with sharing the stage with the amazing Warren Spector, as he and Nintendo announced Disney Epic Mickey as an exclusive for the Wii, due holiday of this year.

In addition to the Nintendo event, Warren and I spent probably 12-14 hours each day of E3 doing demos, interviews, and game- and studio-related meetings. The game (thankfully) has been tremendously well received, people are excited by what they've seen, they want to see more, and they have lots of questions.

Hang tight. I'm not the official outlet. ;-)

I will say I am stoked to be working on a game that -- as a core gamer and as a family gamer -- has me so wicked excited.

But that meant I didn't get to see a lot of E3 itself, other than the overall spectacle, and a few moments with various game devs. I still may write a bit about my thoughts of the games and tech of this year's show -- some really good stuff there.

Like the Nintendo 3DS. Spent a lot of time with that. That thing's Teh Shizzle.

(You can also read some more of Warren's thoughts about the week here.)

Junction Point (Disney) hiring environment artists in Austin

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:29:00 +0000

Junction Point Studios (a Disney Interactive Studios studio) in Austin, Texas, is hiring a number of temp environment artists.

Are you interested? Are you amazing?

If so, please contact me directly (with your contact and portfolio info) ASAP.

Those who get their resume/portfolio in early will get first shot at interviewing for open positions.

Craigslist PostingID: 1759258302

Halo 2: Not a bang, but a whimper

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Anyone else play Halo 2 last night, during its supposed swan song on its last eve before being shut down for online play?

Did it suck as much for you as it did for me?

I've admittedly got a bit of a Halo fixation. Partly because I write about games, and it's a juggernaut in the market; partly because I genuinely enjoy the franchise. Enjoyed.

Last night, as Microsoft prepared to kill the game that is allegedly holding the Xbox Live service back (I'm sure it's not because it's potentially eating into other game sales and online play), I tried to get a bunch of long-standing Halo friends together to play.

In the end, there was only me.

See, you had to update Xbox Live to play the game. Then update the title (with artificially downrez'ed retro original XBL update screen, but points for trying). Then update all 4 map packs.

That was too much for people, and they fell away, went back to Modern Warfare 2, and it was just me.

Playing game after game that was only team slayer, and only ever on two maps. Glad I took the time to re-download all of the others.

And, like I posted last night, I was reminded why I don't like playing with those cartoons that make up online anonymous idiocy. I am frightened by how many dysfunctional people don't seem to realize they're racist social troglodytes.

And, Halo 2 evidently isn't dead, yet, as people have been playing it today, well after the midnight (PST) cutoff. Mistake? Mea culpa for a sucky last night? Unholy tryst?

Dunno. Stopped caring. Last night was aw bit of a stake in the heart of my sentimentality. Maybe I'll refresh it offline for my friend's once-a-year offline Halo / Halo 2 weekend, but probably not much beyond that.

Should have gone out with a bang, but it's just kind of fizzling out.

At least people who played last night will supposedly be getting free stuff.

Oh, wait; I haven't seen that, either.

Wicked cool video game commercial

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Written and directed by Patrick Jean and DPed by Matias Boucard, this may be one of the cooler commercial / video game vids I've seen in some time:

I'd love to link to these two guys, but "DIVISION" is a sucky name for a company when you're trying to Google it, and it turns out there are a ton of "Matias Boucard, Director of Photography" out there. Who knew?

How Street Fighter should look

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:20:00 +0000

A lot has been said about this already, so let me add my voice to the throng:

Street Fighter -- the gameplay -- should look like the stylistic trailers with which Capcom keeps teasing us.

Have you seen these? Watercolor! Splashes! Sandblasting!

Like this "Valentine's Day" trailer:

Ergh.

Give us beautiful innovative game visuals with the super fluid gameplay. Oh, and please take us out of "2.5D".

Put Okami, Street Fighter, and Mirror's Edge in a blender, please. Push the "Awesomate" button.

Iterate as needed.

Microsoft Drops Xbox Live Support for Original Xbox Games

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:16:00 +0000

Bummer.

In mid-April, Microsoft's pulling the online rug out from under original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox games playable on a Xbox 360, and the Xbox Originals they sell in the Xbox Live Games Marketplace.

While it sucks that they're going back on Xbox Live support for the awesome that was the backwards compatible games list [sic], it's surprising they're also yanking network support for their Xbox Originals, which are Xbox v1 games downloadable and playable on 360, that they sell on Xbox Live Marketplace (granted, only like 4 of them support mutliplayer, but hey -- it's the principle).

Bigger, though, is Microsoft calling out that this will also include Halo 2. Now, the cynical savvy side of me says H2 (and maybe other Xbox 1 games) are waaay to popular on Xbox Live, and cannabilizing sales on online play of other 360 (and maybe even, specifically, Halo titles).

This is far from conspiracy theory. Back when Microsoft's resident mouthpiece, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb (majornelson.com), was actually reporting breakout of Xbox Live activity, Halo 2 was far and away more played than 360 titles. He at one point even briefly removed original Xbox games from his list, until people cried foul, and it went back on the report -- but without the unique user data that was pretty damning for Xbox 360 online titles.

Admittedly, holding on to and supporting older tech can slow down forward movement quite a bit (look at Sony's waffling about PS2 support, first supported with what was basically a physical PS2 inside the PS3, and then later removed from post-launch versions of the console).

Worst case, this reduces cost for Microsoft (which is balls as far as benefits for gamers, since it's not like cost savings will be passed on).

Part of me is hopeful that the upcoming breaking changes that are "incompatible with" original Xbox games will be so compelling that folks don't even miss the dropped support for original Xbox titles.

And honestly, as a guy working in games, I find myself playing fewer and fewer older titles on a recreational basis, since it's kind of like designing the next version of an operating system and using Windows ME as my reference materials.

But, I am concerned Microsoft is making this change "because they can" -- what are gamers going to do?

Anyway, here's the official announcement from Xbox LIVE GM Marc Whitten (Notwen):

http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/archive/2010/02/05/gh789.aspx

A Letter from Marc Whitten: Discontinuation of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox Games
Dear Xbox LIVE Members,

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Seven years ago we laid out our vision for the connected console when we launched Xbox LIVE. We believed then that the power of the Internet to connect people would revolutionize living room entertainment. It started with amazing multiplayer games, and we've since seen that bet pay off again and again with the launches of Xbox 360, Marketplace, Netflix and powerful social features like Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. None of this would have been possible without the success of LIVE as a multiplayer gaming network.

There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the “Halo” franchise. “Halo 2” has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games. And while it’s difficult to see that run come to an end, the “Halo” franchise continues to act as the benchmark for multiplayer gaming in this generation, with “Halo 3,” “Halo 3: ODST” and soon “Halo: Reach” on Xbox 360.

Your Xbox LIVE community has grown to 23 million strong. And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games. We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.

We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox LIVE. I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn't be more excited about what we have in store with “Project Natal” and LIVE. The LIVE community is the driving force behind everything we do, and it’s because of the community that ground-breaking experiences on Xbox continue to be possible.

See you on LIVE,

Marc Whitten
Gamertag - Notwen
www.twitter.com/notwen

My new gaming gig

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:00:00 +0000

It's been a crazy, productive initial couple of years in the game industry, piggybacking off of a decade of previous tech and biz dev work, and now I'm taking it to the next (for me) logical step in my newly launched career.

I've moved from product management for a middleware (game engine and tools) company to a production role for a studio on an upcoming game. More specifically, I'm now an associate producer for a studio, working on a cool game for the Wii.

For those that don't know me, this might feel like a bit of a 90-degree turn, but it's actually a sensible next step that presented itself, and I jumped at it.

Remember, I previously left a very productive (but brutally demanding) senior gig in the financial services world to go to middleware. I did that because I wanted to be less fractured between my toy job and my passions -- the latter of which encompasses the creative me, and my passion for video games. Middleware seemed like a good (sorry) middle ground between the game industry and my enterprise background, where I could use my mad biz dev skills and help a large number of game developers.

As is often the case, the reality was slightly different. The job was necessarily more about the company first, and the developers second (it is a business, after all), more marketing than biz dev (the latter of which I had to fight ridiculously unnecessarily to do, not that I didn't still make massive hay on that front), and actually took me too far away from the project and personnel management skills I was leveraging at my prior gig at BigHugeCorp.

So, after much conflict, I took this associate producer gig. While I'll probably talk about the squishier aspects of that life decision conflict in my other blog, some of the conflict, frankly, revolved around the possibility -- on the professional path front -- this gig could make it look like I fell off a ski lift over the last few years; International Technical Director to Product Manager to Associate Producer.

But the reality is, at it's heart, my interest in video games is about me being able to help great teams make games. So, my title aside, it's about that. This is a great first studio and first title for that.

Interestingly, it turns out this gig gets me closer to the project, dev, and personnel management skills I found myself missing in my last job. I'll be managing sprint teams, doing resource juggling, and negotiating requirements and various trade-offs as I work to help get the project out.

Not that this isn't going to be hard. For all intents, I've moved from an executive career path to kind of starting over mid-career. This takes me away from explicit biz dev (though I'm wired that way, so I'm sure I'll find a way) . Not easy things, but concessions we were willing to make to be a part of something important (yes, I think this game is important).

But on the career front, this opp is also about me figuring stuff out about the game industry.

See, the game industry thinks it's so damn special. I have never seen a vertical industry so adamant that if you're not from within their industry, you can't contribute to their industry. Ludicrous. I've been pursued by and successfully navigated everything from financial services to health care to the film industry, and never experienced this kind of bigoted attitude before.

So, I wanted to get into the game industry, and see if it really is that special, or whether software development is software development, and professional impedance in games is just the result of a cottage industry that just hasn't completely grown up yet. (The reality is it's likely somewhere within the continuum, but I'm guessing it's closer to the latter than the former.)

Now, my studio is a great place for me to start to try to figure this kind of thing out. Unlike other studios, they've been up front about wanting to work with good people, regardless of background. This creates a good space for me to learn the ropes, ramp up on the obvious learning curve, and not worry about also fighting against folks who expect me to fail (and may want me too, so they can stay special).

Starting to ramble. Let's just see if I sink or swim.

Black Friday Gaming Deals

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:16:00 +0000

I'm in the midst of a move, so I'm not going to be able to do my typical pre-Black Friday shopping suggestions lists.

Be sure to check out value-add Black Friday ad aggregators like BFADS (link is to the video game section, but check out other categories as well), and deal mainstay CheapAssGamer.

There are some great deals from last Sunday through this weekend, like $15-20 off just released games (Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, etc. at Target), amazing bundle deals (like an Xbox Live Arcade unit with Guitar Hero World Tour and free shipping for $199 at Amazon), and Xbox titles from $10-$25, but you need to be watchful to scalp stuff quickly or you're SOL (ask Mom to explain the acronym).

Me? I've already picked up things like the Tekken 6 LE version (with the Hori wireless fighting pad) for the price of the game alone, and will likely run around to get some cheapy games as stocking stuffers. Maybe.

Apologies again for punting on the Black Friday list this year -- things'll settle down once I relo.

This week's releases

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Creighton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:25:00 +0000

I'm excited about a few of this week's game releases, as (after a bit of a lull), the holiday game season starts in earnest.

You can get full lists of the games at places like GameSpot.com or Kotaku, but here are a few to watch:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (360, PC, PS3) -- The sequel to a mondo game is a mondo game of its own, and the biggest of the week -- if not the year. We play every Monday and Wednesday nights.
Phantasy Star Zero (NDS) -- As an RPG franchise, I really dig Phantasy Star, and Zero looks to rock the Nintendo DS. At around 20 hours of story / gameplay per character (and three characters), this game'll likely take up residence in my handheld, now that I'm finally wrapping up Chrono Trigger.
Dreamkiller (360) -- I'm unabashedly a Painkiller fan (on the PC). Dreamkiller looks to be a spiritual successor to that game (complete with eastern European dev team), with a creepy, supernatural hook (psychiatrist goes into crazy's heads, a la an FPS trope, and ... erm ... cures them). Works for me!
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (NDS) -- Dunno if this one will work. I still keep trying to finish Dragon Ball: Origins, but the freaking 10-minute, non-skippable intro pisses me off, so I play it rarely. Still, I'm a franchise fan.
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (PS3, 360) -- I think DBZ: Burst Limit was really under-rated, and if you played this demo on XBL recently, you may agree that this frenetic 3D fighter might be the next Saiyan evolution. Or, you may not. But you're probably wrong.
Final Fantasy XI: Ultimate Collection (360, PC) -- Granted, on the PC it's the "Vana'diel Collection 2010" ('cause that'll get you the ladies), but whatever. It's the MMO version of the FF universe, and while it's been patchily received, this rendition will have the base game, all four expansions, and all three add-on scenarios -- all for less than twenty bucks.
Braid (PS3) -- If you missed this solid little indie title on XBLA, then PC, now's your chance on PSN. It's a fun, hearty little platformer that does a better job than some full-box titles. Sure, it might be a little over-rated. But genuinely good games are.
WorldShift (PC) -- Pretty sure this title, from Crytek-purchased Black Sea Studios, is actually powered by Gamebryo tech, since development was fairly far along before the acquisition. It's a good-looking RTS / RPG online / offline hybrid.
Rogue Trooper: Quartz Zone Massacre (Wii) -- OK, this one actually came out way earlier this year, but seeing it inadvertently included one someone's list for this week gives me an excuse to tout it again. I so liked this PS2/PC/original Xbox game, and gushed over it. Twice. Now, with my yearnings for a next-gen update, I kind of got my wish, as it's as it's polished and available for the now-gen Wii. No new content, per se, but if you missed it the first time, find an inexpensive copy. Go nuts.

That's it for this week. Next week, it's New Super Mario Bros. time!