Teal City Industries

Scott Pilgrim vs. World

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:53:00 +0000

Just got back from seeing "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", and I have to say that it was a surprisingly good movie.

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I read the original comic. I remember picking up the first volume, but it wasn't until the third one that I fell in love with the series.

So with that in mind, the first time I heard that they were making a live-action Scott Pilgrim movie I thought it was a joke. I honestly did not realize that it was in fact real until I saw the trailer. At which point the movie went from being just a joke in my mind, to a really bad one.

In retrospect, I still don't think the trailers won over too many movie goers. I mean just look at this:

"On like Donkey Kong"? Was that ever a good line? And even if it was, it couldn't possible sound any more insincere coming from a movie trailer. It's no secret that the only thing Hollywood likes geeks for is to be the social-awkward, genius/comic relief stock character, and the fact they cast Micheal Cera as Scott Pilgrim almost ensured that they wanted this to be the next Napoleon Dynamite.

So I was quite surprised that the movie was largely faithful to its source material and barely hit the "geeks are awkward" comedy well. This isn't to say it's a perfect movie. Actually it would be more accurate to say that it is two halves of two different, but potentially, perfect movies fused together to one good, but definitely, flawed movie.

Actually, let's take a step back a bit. I just realized I wrote the last couple paragraphs with the assumption everyone out there knew what the hell Scott Pilgrim was. Where if that was actually the case, I probably wouldn't have to write anything to being with.

So to start from the beginning, "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" is an adaptation of a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. In it the titular character falls in love with an American girl Ramona Flowers and the story deals with their relationship. Except that in order for our hero to date Ramona, he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends. I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense either; he actually has to fight seven evil exes that range from sports/action movie heroes to ninjas to vegan super psychics. The whole package is wrapped in a candy shell of interesting side characters, stylish art and clever video game references.

The movie attempts to adapt all six volumes of the original Scott Pilgrim, but the way it does so differs significantly from the beginning and the end. The change will be most obvious to those who read the original comics, but even if you haven't you would have to be blind to not notice the change of pacing. After boyfriend number three the story kicks into high gear and never comes back down. The effect works surprisingly better on screen then it does on paper, and the second half of the movie still stays pretty true to the source despite despite mostly doing its own thing.

Still I can't, help but feel the movie would have been better if it had just rearranged the story altogether rather then the halfway approach. Makes me wonder if their original plan was to make two movies, one for volumes 1-3 and one for volumes 4-6, but then found out the studio wasn't planning on a sequel. That's merely my speculation though.

Anyway, what surprised me more then the fact the movie managed to do a good job of adapting the story of the comics was that Micheal Cera managed to do a good job of being Scott Pilgrim. I won't lie: I thought Micheal Cera was a fundamentally terrible choice of casting. In the comics Scott Pilgrim is best described as being loud and dumb, and while Micheal Cera can do the latter quite well, the former seemed quite beyond him. Somehow it works, and while he is still not my perfect casting choice he still makes a a good Scott Pilgrim.

This one idea encapsulates the whole move: it's a good adaptation, but not a perfect one. For all the stuff they manged to fit in, shuffle into new place or adapt in an interesting way, there's still a lot of stuff that was missed. Again, I think the film makers would have been better off either going completely faithful or crazy with the original story, but I'm happy with what they made.

Of course the biggest tragedy is that this movie completely failed to appeal to an audience. Fans of the comics probably snubbed it for being too difference, fan of Micheal Cera probably walked out in confusion, and the geek population who may have genuinely enjoyed it dismissed it as hipster garbage. Years from now, Scott Pilgrim may be redicscovered as a lost gem, though I'm sure that's a cold confort to the studio and producers of the movie.

I feel like there's so much I could still say about the movie, but I'm trying to avoid outright gushing or spend all my time comparing the movie to the comic. My point is if there is still a theater that is showing the movie anywhere near you, then you should see this movie. It's got some cool effect, interesting characters and is just a fun movie. If you like it, then you can always track down the original comics, but don't conisder it required reading to enjoy.

Welcome to Rapture, now get the hell out!

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:48:00 +0000

I'm trying to decide whether I should be excited over the announcement of the next Bioshock. While I loved the first game in concept from most everything I've read the second game was largely an unnecessary rehash (before anyone rushes to the latter game's defense know I haven't actually played it, because I still haven't finished the first game. I may love the concept, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired). So the idea of a third sequel sends off warning signals in my head.

BioShock Infinite Premiere Trailer

That being said, the new trailer looks good (though what trailer doesn't really?). And while it's easy to crack jokes about how the game will be 'Splicers on a Plane' at least they actually realized how implausible it was for a decaying underwater city to somehow continue to exist.

Perhaps this this game might be the one that actually adds elements and expands the series properly. Either way, I'm probably not picking up this game at launch.

NiGHTS: Can I Enter the Dream Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:23:00 +0000

For all the games I've ever played, there are at least five more I really wish that I had. I've been working hard to make up for what I've missed, but there are some titles that are harder to track down then others. Like pretty much anything on the Sega Saturn.

Since that oft-maligned console was damn near impossible to emulate until relatively recently, it meant that the only way to play Saturn games was the old fashioned way. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that the old-fashioned way quickly becomes the really-expensive way. Like the triple digits kind of expensive.

Could be worse, I could be collecting NEO GEO carts

Anyway, the end result of this is despite actually owning a Saturn, I have very few games to play. This is why I picked up NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, the Wii-exclusive sequel to the original NiGHTS Into Dreams, when I saw it on sale for about $10 used. I had always wanted to play NiGHTS, at the very least to understand what it was and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

Boy how wrong was I.

I know this sounds mean, but Nights is a actually a pretty terrible character design

The problem with NiGHTS JoD is that it's not made by the same Sonic Team of the Saturn-era, or even the Sonic Team of the Dreamcast-era that was could at least give us Sonic Adventure 2. This is the Sonic Team that gave up Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which was a game so badly designed that running in a straight line was an impossible task

NiGHTS JoD isn't nearly that bad. In fact it's pretty good, when it actually lets you play NiGHTS. Similar to the Sonic Adventure games before it, you have to go through a lot of bullshit in order to actually play NiGHTS. The most obvious offenders are the 3D platforming segments, but equally egregious at segments where you play as NiGHTS doing inane tasks such as rescuing ~~Chao~~ Nightopian. It's like the development team was worried that people would get bored with just the regular NiGHTS sections, so they padded it out with other missions. Oh, and cut scenes. I definitely can't forget those.

Actually the funny thing about the cut scenes is that they're not bad on a technical level. The story being told, two children are having nightmares reflecting their insecurities whilst having dreamworld adventures with Nights itself, is pretty standard, but not overwrought. The modeling on the two kids is a little off sometimes, but the scenes themselves are actually well-scripted and decently acted for Sonic Team game (especially compared to Sonic 2006, or really any Sonic game from the past decade). The real problem with the story scenes is that they're way too numerous and too long. Every new mission starts with about a two minute long cut scene.

"So what?" You might say, "That's nothing compared to the likes of Xenosaga." While this is technically true, the problem is the stages themselves are barely longer then the cut scenes. I actually tried to care about the story when I first started playing, but I eventually got burned out and found there were just too many cut scenes, which are of course unskipable on the first play through.

The end result of this was that I actually returned NiGHTS JoD after only three days, which is incredible rare for me. I then went and tracked down a copy of the original NiGHTS and found that not only was it a better game then it's sequel, but it was still a very good game in it's own right. I'd actually be playing more, except when I pulled out my Saturn for the first time in about a year I found two lines were broken on its component cables resulting in a lack of any sounds.

I guess this means I am fated to never to experience NiGHTS the way it was meant to be played. That or I need to by new cables for my Saturn.

Fans Threaten to Boycott Sonic 4 by Purchasing Sonic 1, also Misunderstand Meaning of the Word "Boycott"

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:31:00 +0000

There have been a lot of strange video game boycotts lately, but this one tops them all. Apparently there's a group of Sonic fans that feel, based upon the scant screens and videos released, that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 *cough* Episode 1 *cough* will not be the true return to form for the series and should be boycotted by all True Fans. So basically, they're in stage two of the Sonic cycle.

A scientifically documented process

What makes this protest notable is that the boycotters plan to make their displeasure known on Sonic 4's launch day by buying the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Let's have the rabble rousher speak for themselves on the matter:

Fans of the sonic series are like most sega fans, we want their old games brought back to the glory days when sega was pretty much the power in video games. Seeing the gameplay of sonic 4 has made many of us realize what we already knew, Sonic 4 will simply not be anywhere near as good as the original sonic games. Either way, We will decide to finally show sega what the fans truly want. A real sonic 4, as long as sonic 4 stays the way it is, we will not buy it, we will in fact buy sonic 1 on release in protest of sonic 4, till we end up with a re tool, or change, we want sonic in hd, not sonic RUSH HD. We will not buy a future sonic game, till we get a true successor to sonic 1/2

I think I have to take back my earlier comment. I think these guys have jumped straight to stage three.

Destructoid via 1up

It's Boss Time! Also, Blog Posting Time!

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:01:00 +0000

So this week herald the arrival of the tenth installment in the Mega Man series. With a new Mega Man game comes eight new robot masters to fight. And what better way to celebrate the arrival of eight new old school bosses to fight then by profiling them?

Why the box art? Because the only Mega Man 10 boss lineup pictures I could find were fanmakes

Except I can't because I haven't managed to beat any of them yet. Okay that's not true. I did beat Sheep Man, which is an act that is much more impresive then it sounds.

In any case, since the game hasn't even been out for a week it's probably too soon to profile the bosses from that game anyway. So instead will take a look at arguable the hardest boss from the previous instalment in the series.

Fear his disturbingly small head

I may not travel the Mega Man fan circles much, but I think few would disagree that Plug Man is the hardest boss in Mega Man 9. What actually makes Plug Man so hard is much more elusive.

It's not his attack pattern, which largely consists of alternating between short and long jumps around the room. Occasionally during his jumps he will fire his special weapon, Plug Ball, which travels round the room and drops from the celling when it's above you. Plug Man's pattern is downright sedate compared to say, Concrete Man, who will sometimes be completely easy and sometimes utterly destroy you. No, Plug Man would be complete joke, if not for the fact his boss room is designed to murder you.

The den of the Satan

To the uninitiated eye, Plug Man's room doesn't look dangerous. After all, it doesn't have spikes on the ceiling or anything. What makes it so dangerous are those two block pyramids. Remember how I said that Plug Man's pattern was basically just jumping around firing his wall-crawling weapon? If the room was completely level this would be a complete joke to avoid. Those block pyramids mean that it's impossible to just run under him, and they limit you options to dodge the Plug Balls. Those little valleys between the pyramids become funnels of death as you move to avoid a falling Plug Ball, only to be crushed by a falling Plug Man.

It's actually kind of a refreshing callback for the series, one of many that characterizes Mega Man 9. See, when most people think of Mega Man boss fights, they think they all take place in a large flat room. However, this is really was true of the later games, where they needed to be flat in order to accommodate the slide. There was a time boss room layouts were just as much a part of a robot masters attack pattern as their weapon. Don't believe me? Then let's step back a couple decades and look at another boss that depends of the room to be effective.

Bet you didn't know he had something on his back

Quick Man is also arguably the hardest boss from his respective Mega Man game. He's fast, does a lot of damage and has the indecency to be completely immune to Metal Blade, and let's not even get into the instant-death causing Quick Lasers you have get past to even fight him.

A rare shot of someone not Time Stopping Quick Man, also a surprisingly hard shot to find on the Internet period

The thing is, Quick Man doesn't really have a dangerous pattern. It mostly consists of him jumping up high and tossing Quick Boomerangs and running across the room. Sometimes he will even spend time running into walls. What really makes the fight hard are those raised areas of the room that once again, limit your mobility. If you need even further proof for some reason, then look no further to the re-fight with him that takes place in a flat room. He suddenly becomes easy to dodge since you can run under him or jump over him without too much danger.

So I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes a little terrain variation add a little spice to a boss fight. Honestly, it's something I wish game developers would take a bit more to heart. Sure, flat rooms make things simple, but what's life without a few complications?

Boss Rush: A Shmup that the Exact Opposite of What You Think it is

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:58:00 +0000

As much as I like shmups, there is a certain point when they all start to blend together. It doesn't help that most recent entries into the genre are all bullet hell games.

Don't get me wrong, I like the challenge of weaving through a massive wall of bullets. It's just that I like some variety to my shmup palette. Which is why an indie game called Boss Rush seems so appealing to me.

The warning messages are a nice touch

Now looking at the above image you might be thinking, "So what? The game looks like every shmup ever." This would be true except that you're not playing as the lightly armed (and even more lightly armored) ship trying to kill the giant boss armed with more guns then god. No, you're controlling actually the boss and using your excessive firepower to swat the annoying fighter that's trying to paper cut you to death.

It's such a neat and obvious inversion of the tradition shmup formula that I'm surprised no one's really done before. The only other game I can think of that attempted anything similar was an obscure arcade game (even by my standards) by Sammy called Change Air Blade, and there you could only temporarily control a boss in the game's versus mode.

Boss Rush on the other hand, seems to be all about playing as the boss (though there seems to be a versus mode if you want to rain bullets on a friend). It has five different engines of death for you to control as was a bunch of challenges and a survival mode if you want to see just how long you can last.

While the game is technically done it hasn't been released yet since the developer is looking for a sponsor. Hopefully the developers will get a deal soon, because I'd love to be able to play the full game.

Paper Dino via A Little Bit on the Awesome Side

A (Sports) Game to Actually Remember

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000

Obviously someone's not too familiar with the retro game market. Very few people think to talk about old spots game, save a select few such as Tecmo Bowl. When Gamestop still carried older platforms, the majority of the titles game were sports titles.

Still, perhaps it is unfair that older sports titles get disregarded by core gamers (and to clarify, when I say "sports games," I mainly mean licensed sports games. Games like Mario sport series are completely different beasts). I'm sure if you actually sat down and played through a bunch of them from different eras there would be a clear evolutionary gameplay trends to them.

The problem is that any gameplay trends tend to be overshadowed by the selection of teams. It's probably safe to say most people buying the latest version of Madden are doing less for the gameplay innovations and more to play as the most current version of their favorite teams. Sure, EA could slow down the cycle and let people download the latest team stats, but why would they want to when the game sells like gangbusters every year?

The conundrum reminds of the one that surrounds games based on other licensed property. People will buy a Harry Potter game, regardless of whether or not it's any good because it's Harry Potter. People buy Madden because it lets them play as their favorite teams. The situation existed long before EA's NFL exclusivity contract, though that certainly doesn't help the situation.

Frankly, I can't see a way to easily change the situation. I myself don't really play sports games, so any suggestion I have would probably be detached from the reality of the situation. Granted, the reality of the situation is why I don't play those games so it's a pretty vicious cycle of indifference there.

in reference to:

""Do you really think, five years from now, you're gonna hear ‘Is Grand Theft Auto on PlayStation 4 as good as Grand Theft Auto on PlayStation 3? Will Halo 6 people really say, ‘Is this as good as Halo 1?'" Justice muses. "I don't think so.""
- Maybe the Greatest of All Time, but not In Its Time - Sports - Kotaku (view on Google Sidewiki)

GeoCities Closes Doors, Receives Most Attention in Years

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Today we've officially reached the end of an era for the Internet: GeoCities is dead. Yes, Yahoo finally pulled the plug on the free web hosting service. While the news is sad, it's certainly not unexpected. How many people out there actually visited, much less created or maintained, a GeoCities site in the past five years?

This is pretty much every GeoCites Page ever

While GeoCities ultimately became cesspool of bad layouts, broken images, blinking text and those little animated "under construction" gifs, it still deserves some respect. GeoCities attempted to provide an outlet for the major creative outpouring that occurred at the beginning of the public Internet. Their ambition wasn't just to create a free hosting service though, they wanted create a virtual global community. If you have any doubts, then just look back at some of the original terminology they used. Their users were called "homesteaders" and their sites were grouped into "neighborhoods." Heck, their very own name embodies the idea of a single global city.

In retrospect, they were doomed to fail from day one.

I won't even begin to guess at how many GeoCities pages were made throughout its entire history, but I'm sure the number is staggering. I will guess that if it weren't for the dot-com bubble, then the service would have imploded after its first year. As it was the bubble burst all but killed GeoCities, and the services has been on life support ever since.

While GeoCities fell completely short of its ideal it would be a lie to say it was a complete failure. It provided a valuable learning experience both for people producing content for the web and those who host it. Things like blogs and Facebook would never have come into being without GeoCities (note: please hold off on the "and that's a good thing?" jokes). I myself probably wouldn't be writing here without GeoCities (note: ditto).

So if you have the time, please observe a moment of silence for GeoCities. You will be missed, but you probably could have left five years ago.

Games I'm Playing: The Funny Animal Edition

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Bit more productive with games this week. It's amazing how not being sick increases your ability to do stuff. I even managed to finish another game this week, which means I've actually managed to beat at least one game every week since I started this (Rocket Knight Adventures and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past would be the past two). That's shockingly productive as far as I'm concerned. Anyhow then:

Klona: Empire of Dreams (GBA) - About a month ago I got the remake of the original Klona for the Wii. After playing through that I started to revisit some of the other games. Currently I'm on this one, which is also the first Klona game I owned.

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Klona series, having first discovered the series through a in-store demo for the second game on PS2. Unfortunately I did not have a PS2 at the time, so I was unable to jump into the series until this game.

Unlike Klona's console incarnations these games are much more puzzley. There's been a couple times where I had to pause for a few minutes and wonder how the heck I was supposed to proceed. I'm still going through it faster then my very first playthrough, especially since I'm skipping the forced scrolling and hoverboard stages.

Overall the game is still as fun as I remember, though I'm noticing how it lacks a lot of the charm and polish of its console brethren.

Sparkster (Genesis) - The second Rocket Knight game (or third, depending on how you're counting) brings a lot of new elements to the table, thought not all of them are improvements sadly.

Changes that are awesome: The rocket pack automatically charges, and you can now boost consecutively. This means Sparkster can effectively fly in most stages, opening up a lot of new options for the player.

Changes that are not awesome: For some reason Sparkster lost his projectiles, and is left only with a very slow sword slash. This makes combat a lot more awkward then it needs to be since you have to get so close to enemies now. Also collecting gems now activates an item roulette, which largely gives you items that are either superfluous or even dangerous most of the time.

The game is still pretty good, but I'm not enjoying it as much as I did Rocket Knight Adventures.

I also played a bunch more of Sonic Chronicles, but since I actually finished that one I'll talk about that separately. What I will say that it is a bizarre game that feels both highly polished and yet very amateur at the same time.

Sony Address Critical Playstation 3 Hardware Problems by Completely Ignoring Them

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:02:00 +0000

This console generation has been rough to Sony. They went to the trouble of trying to make an uberconsole in the form of the Playstation 3, only to watch it get its pants beat by Ninendo's underpowered, yet lovably oddball Wii. Then they had to stand by and watch as their third-party exclusive titles like Devil May Cry IV and Final Fantasy XIII suddenly suddenly became less exclusive. And let's not even get into the emotional ball kick that was the announcement of Dragon Quest IX would be a Nintendo DS exclusive. That had to drive more then a few Sony employees to go drown their sorrows.

My point is that Sony has to take their comforts where they can get them, like how their console isn't prone to catastrophic mechanical failures like that other guy's one. After all, Sony would never put out a product without checking for massive design flaws, right?

Oops: The Last Word you Ever Want to Hear in Engineering

What you're looking at is the Yellow Light of Death, which occurs when the soldering on the Playstation 3's motherboard overheats. This renders the system completely inoperable, short of a trip back to Sony for repairs. A trip that will cost you about $150 if your system is out of warranty, which is likely given that it only lasts for a year. If this problem seems oddly similar to the Red Ring of Death suffered by Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that's because it's the exact same thing.

Sony is handling the problem with the grace an dignity of any large corporate entity, which is a nice way of saying they're sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling, "LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

More recently, a consumer advocacy show on the BBC called Watchdog did a story documenting this phenomenon. Sony responded by blasting them with a six page letter that explained in very meticulous and technical language that they were misinformed and dumb for even bringing up the issue.

You would think that gamers would be getting up in arms over the issue, but the general opinion consists of either apathy or outright denial of the problem. Just take a look at this one reader comment in response to an article on Joystiq about these recent events (for reference, it's the first one on the page):

u need to look at the hole picture...

MS replace your console and u have a 3 year warranty but u have like 60% chance of it breaking again in the next year, out of the warranty this time.

while the ps3 warranty may only last one year its clear that 90% of the PS3 owners don't even need it....

soo it doesnt matter if u have like 10 broken ps3 ... because even if u have like a hundred it will still not be even one percent....

if your ps3 YLOD or whatever ... u just have terrible luck...

The commentator's words and attitude are troubling on many levels (especially grammatical ones). Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't people jump down Microsoft's throat when they claimed that the 360 only had a 5% failure rate? Why does Sony suddenly get a free pass?

Incidentally, Microsoft made that claim two years ago after the same show did an episode on the 360's failure rate. Five months later, Microsoft admitted that there was a hardware problem with the 360 and extended the warranty on the console to three years.

Posted at the behest of Hardcore Gaming 101

In Memory of Captain Lou Albano, the voice (and face) of Mario for a Generation

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Do you remember the Super Mario Bros. Super Show? Of course you do. Anyone who had an NES and a pulse watched that show religiously back in the day. They ignored the fact that the plot lines were contrived fairy tale/movie/whatever parodies of the week simply because it was Mario in cartoon form.

Nowadays though, most people deride the show cheap cash in it basically was. It didn't help that since every episode was a parody of something, they often felt like they had nothing to do with Mario (Nintendo must have noticed this too, since later Mario series would be much more game orientated). If there is any part of the show that is remembered with any fondness though, it was the show's live-action segments featuring wrestler Captain Lou Albano as Mario.

It kind of amazing that Nintendo got him to shave his beard for this

Unlike the cartoon, these segments were more like a sit-com with Mario and Luigi (played by Danny Wells) siting at home, while occasionally receiving celebrity guest stars including Vanna White, Magic Johnson and Sgt. Slaughter.

In retrospect, it's kind of amazing that these segments exist, because there's no way Nintendo today would ever let a former wrestler play Mario on low-budget sitcom. However, I'm not just bringing up the show to reminisce about it. I bring it up because I just found out that last week Lou Albano passed away.

I'll confess, I don't know much about the man outside of the fact he was Mario, but that's actually more then enough. Aside from the live-action segments, Lou Albano also voiced Mario throughout all of the various cartoon production. And since those shows were syndicated and rerun to hell and back for many years, this meant that Albano performance of Mario became the definitive version in many people's eyes. Even Bob Hoskins' performance as Mario in the ever infamous Super Mario Bros. movie and Marc Graue's in the better-off-forgotten CDi game Hotel Mario seem based off of Albano.

Of course, Nintendo themselves seemed to think otherwise (possibly since most of the things I just mentioned are technically pretty bad) seeing as the first time Mario spoke in a Nintendo-produced game it was quite different then what people were used to.

For my part, I've long accepted and gotten used to hearing Charles Martinet high-pitched, whimsical Mario voice. However, whenever I imagine Mario speaking in anything other then one-line quips I can still imagine Albano's more gravely (and arguably less stereotypical) version. So I'll end this tribute in the only way possible:

Peter Moore Says Disk Based Media is a "Burning Platform." Surprisingly, not Making a Joke about 360s

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:48:00 +0000

When Sony got rid of Ken Kutaragi, I thought it would leave an unfillable void of hyperbole in the gaming industry. I hadn't counted on how many other execs would come rushing to fill it. Like Peter Moore, Microsoft's former chief PR guy, who claims that disc-based systems are a "burning platform" and those that stay on the platform "face certain death."

Seriously, just look at this:

“The core business model of videogames is a burning platform,” said Moore, speaking at the 5th annual PLAY Digital Media Conference.

“Look at the platform we’re on, it’s a burning platform,” said Moore. “As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.”

“As digital distribution becomes more and more, we’ll continue as an industry to work with retail and to ship discs, but more and more of the content will be in the ‘cloud,” added Moore, as reported by consumer website IGN. “More content will be delivered daily, weekly, or monthly, and less will be of the old model of cartridges and discs.”

What makes this really funny, is for all his bluster of digital distribution, EA isn't exactly leading the pack on this front. On digital distribution site Direct2Drive they an impressive 75 items available, but not all of those items are games since the search didn't filter things like bundle packs, DLC and a strategy guide for game EA doesn't actually publish. They're showing on other digital distribution sites is even more lackluster, with only 20 titles on Valve's Steam and about five on Stardock's Impulse (I'm not exactly certain because you can't search by publisher on that one for some reason).

Perhaps Mr. Moore should get off of the platform before he yells at everyone else about it?

GamesIndustry via the Armchair Empire

Games I'm Playing: The Plague-Born Edition, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the Dark World

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Well this is somewhat awkward. I make a big show about how I'm going to give gaming snapshots every week, and then I go and mess things up by playing practically no games the following week.

There are many things I could blame this on, but the most appropriate target would be the fact I was sick for the better part of the week. While I was never sick to the point I stayed the whole day in bed (the fact I'm only working temp being a contributing factor), I was sick to the point I had trouble gathering enough focus to write. In between the time I spent coughing up lungs and feeling generally miserable, I did have time to play one game...

The one everyone but me likes

In that past I've been rather...unkind to this game, to put it mildly (link to come when I can actually find it). The reasons for my dislike are long and complex, so I won't go into detail with them right now. Instead I will give the highly-abridged-but-concise version: I was being dumb. Really dumb. In fact, I was being so dumb, I made the Zelda CDi games seem like a good idea.

I'm not sure what was worse, that joke or this image.

My dumbness wasn't apparent to me until recently, which prompted me to go back and play the game in order to exactly quantify how dumb I was being about it. Currently I'm ranking in at approximately 15 giga-dumbs, but that number could easily climb before I reach the end of the game.

Self-deprecation aside, I've actually been enjoying the game a great deal. For the first time I've been able to appreciate Link to the Past for what it is, instead of some internally warped perception of what it should be. The game still isn't perfect in my eyes, but I can understand now why some many people like it.

I'll probably talk about the game more at length later, but for now let it be known that I'm sorry that I once hated this game.

But Link's Awakening is still better!!!

Games That I'm Playing: The First Set

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:21:00 +0000

I've recently realized for all the time I spend talking about games, I don't really talk about what I'm actually playing. Occasionally I might do a review/opinion piece on a game after I finish it, but due to time and forgetfulness these come few and far between.

So I'm going to try and change that by posting weekly snap shots of the game I'm currently playing. Be warned that they might be somewhat eclectic, because sometimes I'll just jump between games for no good reason. I'd also mention some of them might be a bit obscure, but that's kind of a given for me.

So without further ado...

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - This is the game I've sunk most of my gaming time into lately. It's one I've actually been meaning to play through for a while, but I didn't really have an opportunity until I saw the game in a bargain bin.

While the game overall is pretty fun, it does have some surprisingly large flaws that I won't go into now. I'm about three-fourths of the way through the game, so hopefully I should finish it so I can write a more detailed piece.

Mega Man 9 - Now here's a game I'm really late to the party on. I've actually got to Wily's Castle once on my brother's system and stopped playing.

A few days ago, I decided to pick up some games on the Wii shop. The choice was between Contra: Rebirth and this game. Mega Man won out in the end since I heard a rumor that the long-term sales of the game weren't so good, which was making Capcom hesitant on making another (can't find an article confirming this, so don't quote me on it).

Since I've technically played the game, and watched a lot of other do so, I blasted through the eight robot masters pretty easily. I didn't have much trouble with the fortress either, until I got to the Double Demon boss. Haven't had a chance for a rematch yet, but I do plan to.

Rocket Knight Adventures - Hey, I did say I was going to play through these games. I actually started on this one yesterday after work and made it through level four before taking a break for the night.

The game is fun, but pretty challenging. While I'd love to learn how to conquer the game on my own, I unfortunately do not have time to play it completely straight. I do try to minimize the cheating, especially when it comes to the boss fights.

So that's what I'm playing now. With any luck I should actually finish these titles instead of just figuratively finishing them and moving onto other games.

A New Age, Retro Game Approaches

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:20:00 +0000

There's been a bit of a Renaissance in gaming lately as developers old styles of games and revisit them in a new light. The best of these, such as Bionic Commando: Rearmed, take the solid underpinnings of the original game while updating some of the peripheral elements and presentation for a modern audience.

Some purists have taken issue that many of these game eschew traditional sprite-based graphics in favor of polygonal ones. They feel the only way to properly make a 2D game is with 2D graphics.

I wonder how those people feel about 3D Dot Game Heroes, which is a 3D game done with 2D graphics. Well, actually more like the 2D graphics are being done in 3D. Look, just look at the video to understand what I'm saying:

Crazy looking, isn't it?

Koopa Kids Return to Kick Ass and Fire Smoke Rings, Though One Does Not Preclude the Other

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

I haven't really been paying attention to coverage on New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This isn't because I'm uninterested in the game, quite the opposite really. Nintendo had me the moment they said "four-player Mario co-op," so really there was nothing more previews could offer me. At best they would simply reaffirm that I had to get this game, and at worse they could spoil little things about the game I'd want to discover for myself. As a result, it wasn't until just now when I discovered that the Koopa Kids were going to be in the game.

Helpfully labeled, because even I can't remember all their names half the time

Yes, Bowser's often-forgotten offspring are returning to harass Mario and Co. for this game. There aren't any pictures or videos of the fights online to my knowledge, but according to a preview on 1up the fights are similar to the Kid's Super Mario Bros. 3 experience, with a slight twist. In the fight with Iggy for example, he still bounces around on his ball and shoots stuff out of his magic wand, but parts of the floor will rise and fall. And before the fight even begins Kamek from Yoshi's Island shows up and ensorcells the room, which changes the floor to ice.

Basically what I'm trying to say is the boss fights sound like they're going to be crazy awesome.

While the inclusion of the Koopa Kids in any new Mario game makes is 100 times more awesome (it's worth noting that the only other recent game to use them, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, was also awesome), it also fixes one of the big problems with the original New Super Mario Bros. Namely how the reoccurring antagonist role fell solely in Bowser Jr., who in addition to being a less interesting character design was also incredibly boring to fight.

This raises the inevitable lingering question: are the Koopa Kids supplementing Bowser Jr., or replacing him?

Does anyone care if it's the latter option?

Story via Retronauts
Picture via Brandokay Productions

Stop the Presses: Monopoly Can Go On Forever!

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Ah Monopoly, the classic board game of finance and negotiations. A game of high risks and competitive play that captivates the world over, at least until you get down to the last two players. For most people, this is either where they stop playing Monopoly, or where other people make them before the game goes on forever.

Of course, these concerns are more figurative then literal. Surely all games of Monopoly have to end sometime, right?

Not according to a study by researchers at Cornell University. According to their research there is a 12 percent possibility that a two player game of Monopoly can continue forever.

Think about that for a second. They're basically saying that if you play a two player game of Monopoly there is a better then 10 percent chance that the game will be impossible to complete within the remainder of your life. For those smug people in the back, please refrain from the "I could have told you that"s.

True hell would be if you had to play Monopoly forever, but could never land on Free Parking

Realistically speaking though, the odds of a Monopoly game continuing infinitely are nonexistent. The world record for the longest Monopoly game is 70 days, but most people would probably kill themselves then even consider playing just seven hours.

As an interesting corollary to the story is that of all the places an infinite Monopoly game could occur, it's unlikely that it will happen at higher levels of play. Apparently in professional-level Monopoly game (and it really shouldn't surprise you that there is such a thing) games are so aggressive that they don't last more then an hour.

San Diego Union Tribune

Sparkster: Konami's Lost Mascot, Recently Rediscovered

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

One of the most heart-wrenching moments of retro gaming is when you find an obscure title that's completely awesome, and then discover that its been more or less forgotten by its creators. Such is the case with Rocket Knight Adventures, a platformer for Genesis by Konami.

Platforming in this case involves rocket packs

The game came out during the animal mascot game era or gaming, among other such contemporaries such as Bubsy and Aero the Acrobat. The mammal du jour of RKA is a possum named Sparkster, who blasts through a vaguely steampunk world saving other possums from an army of pigs while occasionally fighting his rival, Axel Gear.

More games need to let you fight your rival in giant robots

Like most mascot characters, Sparkster pretty much disappeared by the 32-bit era, which is a shame since his games were notable among the genre in that they were actually good. Aside from some odd cameos here and there it seemed like Konami had forgotten about Sparkster. Which made it all the more surprising when I saw that 1up.com was doing a cover story for a new Rocket Knight game.

To be honest, I couldn't be more surprised if Nintendo announced a new 2D Metroid or an English version of Mother 3

What's even more surprising is that this new game is actually trying to recapture the spirit of the original game instead simply making a grimdark adventure and calling it a day. I'd go into more detail about it, but it seems a little superfluousness without actually giving more background on Sparkster and his game. So in the following few days I'm going to play through all three of his games and post my impressions here. That way everyone can have a better idea of what the series is and what this new sequel should do to stay true to it.

1up's Rocket Knight Coverage

NES Screensaver: Gaming for the Indecisive

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Fact: There were a lot of games for the NES. Like easily over half a thousand.

Theory: Most people will never get a chance to see, much less play every NES game ever made.

Hypothesis: If there were a way to view multiple NES games simultaneously, then it would be easier to for someone to randomly play one.

Conclusion: Someone should make a screensaver that displays multiple NES games in progress and let you jump into one at any time.

What your looking at is M \ K Productions NES Screensaver, which displays a combination in-game demo modes with emulator-recorded movies to create a wall of clips from NES games. At any time you can click on one of the tiles and start playing the game in an emulator (specifically UberNES, which was made by the same people).

Of course, some of you out there might be thinking, "this seems interesting, but what use is it to me? A fine, upstanding individual who would never even consider downloading a ROM file." Well, speaking as a fine, upstanding individual who would never even consider downloading a ROM file myself, I can say that this screensaver can still be used without infringing on anyone's intellectual property.

The only thing the screensaver really requires to work are UberNES movies, which by themselves are not illegal. Said movies can be downloaded from the emulator's movie gallery and contains enough unique footage for two full days of play.

Sure, this won't allow you to actually play the NES games through the screensaver, but those are the sacrifices one has to make as a fine, upstanding individual.

Uber NES Nintendo Screen Saver via GameSetWatch

Scope: Play with Your Toys, But with Rules!

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

There's something elementally pure about tabletop wargames. Sure, the mere mention of the term brings up images of sweaty men crowded around tables loaded with pewter miniatures, who spend most of their time measuring distances and arguing about positioning. However, if you tear away all the obsessive military recreations and space marines, then you're left with a game where you pit your toys against another person's toys. The only difference between a wargame and what you probably did as a kid is that wargames have rules.

Lots of rules, actually. Which are pretty expensive. So are the miniatures, for that matter. Especially when you add in the cost of paint. Makes you wonder why most people prefer to play video game?

I bring this up because of Scope, an project that attempts to use augmented reality (which is essentially virtual reality's practical younger brother) to create a tabletop wargame with the streamlined interface of a video game. What really makes this project interesting it the you supply the minatures for the game in the form of your old toys.

As far as I can deduce, the game works by using a combination of special markers and a camera-equipped, head-mounted display. The camera reads the symbols and feeds them back to a computer, which in turn feeds images to the glasses. Actually picking the symbols seems to be done by focusing on them.

The end result is you have basically have a wargame with a video game-like interface that effectively deals with hassles typically associated with wargames (most of them involving distance in some form). Furthermore, the game is can also take obstacles into account for things like cover, which you can supply in the form of boxes, old building blocks or anything along that line.

Perhaps the only bad thing about Scope is the same problem associated with any augmented reality project: the technology involved is probably too expensive to seriously consider as a retail product. At least it doesn't risk potential safety hangups like some other augmented reality projects.

Scope via GameSetWatch

Now is the Beginning of a Fantastic Story!

noreply@blogger.com (discord_inc) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:55:00 +0000

The hardest part of any work is starting it. The beginning of anything needs to carry a certain amount of gravitas that doesn't need to be present in the rest. Be it either the opening chapter of a story or the first post of a blog.

This first post is kinda of interesting in that it is the first post of this blog, but actually the third or fourth "first post" I've ever done. It also has the advantage of being written by a writer who is more wise then he was when he wrote those other first posts.

I guess where I'm going with this, is that for the first post of my "professional" blog I felt I should go with something more then looking over video game news. Everything else should be less pretentious and more personal from here on in.