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25 Feb 05
Lack of sleep does weird things to one's perception. You would tell me if I were going off the deep end, wouldn't you? I'll try to hold it together. David's good moods are getting longer, so that's encouraging. It does make his long, foul moods that much harder to bear.
I guess it's shameless plug time. If you look at the GoGamer ad on the side of the page, you'll notice there's some good, cheap strategy gaming to be had. If you click on the ad and place an order, the site gets a little money so I can start planning (read saving for) the next contest. The last contest kind of broke the bank, so the support is appreciated. I think the contest was a great success so please don't think I'm complaining.
If you haven't checked out the news section lately, I've added some interesting newsbit. I've also added some more screenshots. The screenies don't seem to get much use, but I'll wait a while before looking at cutting them. Anyway, head on over to News to check it out.
Speaking of the screenshot gallery, Empire Earth 2 screenies seem to be the most popular. There's a new Empire Earth 2 demo out there now. Look for it at the Usual Suspects.
I'm still amazed at all the gaming March is looking to hold. Meaningless list time:
Devil May Cry 3
Darwinia
Rise of the Kasai
God of War
Digital Devil Saga
Brothers in Arms
Samurai Legend Musashi
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Cold Fear
Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Time Splitters: Future Perfect
Stolen
Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Phantom Dust
Playstation Portable
Metal Gear Acid
Iron Phoenix
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Lego Star Wars
Act of War: Direct Action
Laser Squad Nemesis
Silent Hunter III
Matrix Online
Gary Grisby's World at War
Wow. Good thing I'm not an addict. Good luck making your choices.
Jason
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24 Feb 05
I recently mentioned Phantom Dust and Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics for the Xbox recently. I've been asked why I'm so keen on console strategy games. It's a reasonable question. After all most strategy games come out on the PC. Console controllers aren't the best for traditional RTS games (and some would say for most strategy games). Console games are perceived as "dumbed down" for the mass market. So why?
I think there are some good reasons. I don't believe PC gaming is dying, but PC gaming is shrinking as a percentage of the total gaming market. That means there's more and more money out there for developers if they go after the console market. So am I just trying to keep ahead of the curve? No. The problem with following the money is you have to look where the money is going.
Strategy gaming is firmly a niche on the consoles. If you take out strategy RPG's, there's barely a handful each year. Even with the SRPG's, it's still a small fraction of console games each year. That fraction can still generate huge sales compared to the PC side. However, it doesn't approach the top selling categories. If the best teams do follow the money, they might just follow it completely away from the strategy genre. That's the first reason. Strategy gamers much show publishers that there is support for strategy games on consoles.
Next, well you know how I keep preaching on the importance of community around here. Well, we can't all be crusty old grognards. There are tons of gamers who only game on consoles. I also know a lot of people who work on PC's all day and want to get away from the for their gaming time. In short, to grow the genre we have to go where the people are. Did I mention that a broader market encourages developers to take chances with themes, gameplay, plots and settings. I've mentioned the innovation coming out of Russia before. Can you imagine if that creative fire caught around the world?
Then there's my love of strategy RPG's. I think a good SRPG is as fun as a good RTS game. Story is often a weak point for strategy games, but SRPG's fill that gap nicely.
Let's not forget Asia. Asia has a large strategy market that already has made the move to consoles. There are a lot of cool games created over there that we'll never see. It's simply because publishers don't perceive it as profitable to bring them to the American market.
Finally, I think good design trumps the remaining problems. I've had bad control on the PC and excellent control on a console. A well designed game makes the highest priority tasks the easiest to select and perform. The solution's the same to the dumbing down problem. Combining multiple difficulty levels with well designed layered gameplay can make games accessible to casual players but offer challenges for the hardcore.
So how to sum up? I think we save ourselves from a troubled future by embracing the console market. We also can make our future gameplay experiences better. To me that's a win/win.
Jason
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23 Feb 05
Well, the Post Office surprises me again. My replacement Xbox power cord arrived today. They didn't use Yak delivery after all. I'm sure you can google image the cord if you want, but basically it looks like you took the old Xbox cord, cut off the plug, and replaced it with one of those bulky plugs from your hair dryer. I don't know if everyone had to do this, but I had to hit the reset button on the plug before my Xbox would work with it. I don't know about you, but I feel much safer now.
There's more next generation console information out there today, but most of it is fake, speculation, trial balloons, misinformation or hype. I did like the one about the Xbox 2 (aka the Xbox 360) have a removable hard drive that doubles as an Ipod killer media player. It's a cool idea, but I still think the hard drive as an add on is a bad idea. Developers must develop for the lowest common denominator. If they can't count on the hard drive being there, they have to create games assuming it isn't. That takes a lot of tools out of the developers bag.
As a refresher, here's my wish list for the next generation:
1. Lots of system and video memory
2. Good Middleware
3. Lots of storage space (flash, hard drive, online)
4. Backwards compatibility
5. Continued controller evolution
Note to Nintendo, I said evolution, not revolution. Please don't kill your multiplatform options by going too weird. I'm still sure there will be plenty of standard features across the consoles:
1. More Power
2. More High Definition Support
3. Digital Surround Sound
4. Online Play
5. Higher capacity media
Ah, well, we're almost to March and Sony's big announcement. Then maybe we'll get some hard facts. The important thing to remember is not to lose sight of the good to great games coming out. The end of a generation usually kicks out the greatest numbers of instant classics. I think I've mentioned it before, but it's a good time to be a gamer.
Jason
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22 Feb 05
I was all ready to start this column with something like: "The contest winners, except (of course) Unic in Sweden, should be receiving their prizes today and getting down to some gaming." Then I get an email from Unic telling me that his prize showed up today as well. No more bad mouthing international shipping for a while.
My first thought on getting that email was "Sweden must be pretty efficient." I thought about that for a second and realized why I was thinking that. My first job in the Air Force was the only one where I had a dedicated secretary. Other secretaries later worked for me, but they were more pooled than Ingrid.
Ingrid was from Sweden and was nearing retirement when I met her (sorry no "Producers" secretaries here). Ingrid was possibly the most organized person I've ever met. Needless to say, that's a great asset for anyone on their first job. She always knew what needed to be done and when. She took orders better than most of my troops. She could write shorthand faster than I could think.
Ingrid was a naturalized citizen and learned English as a second language. Apparently she put the same dedication she displayed at work to use when she learned English. Though she still had an accent, she spoke and wrote English perfectly. She knew all the language rules (and the Air Force style rules) by heart. I had more interesting conversations about the English language with her than with all my English professors combined.
In short, Ingrid is a credit to both her native and adopted countries. That's why I feel a little pride every time I look at the website statistics and see the hits from Sweden. It's nice to give back a little to the country who gave someone so impressive to us. Thanks Ingrid. I hope you're enjoying your retirement.
Jason
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21 Feb 05
It's President's day here in the States. I imagine it's not that big of a holiday elsewhere. The down side is that not much happened in the gaming world today. That's probably good since I didn't get much sleep today. I guess I'll give you some more blurbs.
I got some more stories up so don't forget to read through the Games Section. I'll try to get more up shortly.
I ordered my replacement free Xbox power cable Thursday. It shipped Friday. I guess they were prepared. I'm expecting it to be delivered by Yak or Mule this spring. It's amazing the variance on "discount" shipping times. Of course, it's not Microsoft's fault. They shipped it like lightning. Maybe that's not a good analogy for burning faulty power cords.
In anticipation of the Freedom Force 2 release, Irrational has released a beta patch for the original Freedom Force. It is supposed to solve some of the conflicts with XP service pack 2. Check it out Here.
I put up a press release on the news section concerning a new cooperative scenario for Dominions 2. It sounds like they're taking some chances on how coop should work. I like that idea. It should make for some interesting games.
I mentioned Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics as a game of the week a little while back. I'm sure most people know this, but the game is being released at the budget price of $19.99 so check it out if you're interested. You're welcome to use the site's sponsor links to order if you'd like to.
I'll wrap up with a new game of the week. I think we'll go with another budget friendly Xbox title. It's Phantom Dust (official site) from Microsoft Game Studios Japan. It's a combination action title and card battle strategy game. It's an anime inspired post apocalyptic quest to find out how the world was destroyed. Players will encounter over 100 missions and battle with over 300 skills. It's Live playable and offers multiple play configurations as well as skill swapping. It's coming out at the beginning of March at the budget price of $19.99.
Jason
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