Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
28 Jan 05
You're running out of time to vote in the Game of the Year poll. It goes final at the end of January. I'll announce the winner on Tuesday.
Happy Anniversary to Us. Happy Anniversary to Us. Talk Strategy is one year old today. Try to rein in your excitement. We're going to have a contest to celebrate. Yes, it's our birthday and we're giving you gifts. Due to the unpredictability of my life recently, the prizes aren't here yet, so I won't announce what they are. They should be here by early next week so you'll find out then. Suffice to say that they're quality PC games. I could have thrown in a console game or two, but I don't think I've convinced many here that consoles are viable strategy/tactical gaming platforms.
Barring complications, we should have five prizes. The first place winner will select first, then the second and so on. If there are no prizes remaining that a winner wants, they are free to pass on to the next lucky winner. Unfortunately there's no budget for consolation prizes if there's nothing you want when it gets to you (if you win). There will be a maximum of ten winners selected. If there are any prizes left after the tenth winner selects or passes, remaining prizes will go back into the prize vault. I reserve the right to snap up any remaining prizes for review purposes by myself or the person of my choosing.
So, how do you win? It's pretty simple. This site is based on gaming stories. To enter you have to write one. Let's keep entries between 100 and 1000 words long. Please clearly mark the beginning and end of your story. Longer stories may be entered and edited at my discretion. Stories should be based on your gaming experiences. Entries must be sent to contests@talkstrategy.com. Entries should be in English and describe a gaming experience. Entries must be received by 11:59 pm CST on Valentine's day (Feb 14, 2005).
Entries will not be evaluated on the quality of their content. Each entry will be assigned a number. Winning numbers will be randomly drawn. However, winning entries will be published on this website along with the winner's name. If a winner chooses to pass and not claim a prize, their entry will remain in the pool of non winners. All non winners have the option to have their story published or not on the website.
This contest is taking place in Texas and is void where prohibited. It is not required that you be a registered member of the site to enter the contest. Only one entry per person. You must write your story yourself. If you do have a username on the site, please include it in your entry. Please give your full name with your entry. Please contact me with any questions.
Jason
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27 Jan 05
Tomorrow's the big anniversary for the site. The prize budget isn't quite what I hoped, but I'll scrape something together. I'm thinking we may have some creativity required in the contest. I'll think about it and let you know tomorrow.
I feel much better today after a little sleep. You don't expect much with a newborn, but you do need some. Anyway it's time to get back to Darwinia. The game is supposed to be the story of a virtual theme park based on classic video games being invaded by a virus. You're enlisted by the creator of the theme park to fight off the infection. This character, Dr. Sepulveda, is working to improve the tools at your disposal to fight the viral menace.
Maybe I'm a natural discontent. I'd like to think there could be a better story here. How about this. You're a legend in certain circles. Unfortunately those circles are only full of old geeks. See, you were the champion record holder in the 80's of all those classic video games people played at arcades. You had memorized the levels of Pacman, waves of Galaxians had fallen to your bolts, and you could play Tetris in your sleep.
The arcade days had passed and so had most of your glory. You have a shelf full of trophies and your name still shows up on some message boards with reverent praise, but mostly you're forgotten and have settled into your humdrum existence.
That's why you find it odd when one day you receive a call from MI-6. An agent Sanderson asks to meet you. As a loyal citizen you respond favorably. After a brief meeting at a pub where the agent verifies your identity with some strange scanner, you're whisked off to somewhere. It seems you've lost consciousness somewhere along the trip.
In a scene reminiscent of the old Batman TV show, by the time you wake up you find yourself in an underground complex somewhere. There's technology buzzing all around, but few people. You're lead into a small room where you find a rather common computer monitor, mouse and keyboard. You ask what it's all about.
"It's quite simple," Sanderson says. "We need your help to save the world. I know that's surprising, but your unique talents are what we need. Look at this."
Strangely instead of appearing on the monitor, images start appearing on the wall even though you can't see a projector. "This is Dr. Sepulveda. You'll be working with him," Sanderson continues as a bearded face appears on the wall. "He's working on a special project for us. He was designing smart agent programs that could search through huge amounts of internet data looking for hidden terrorist chatter. They used evolutionary subroutines that mimic genetic codes. The most successful of these for each generation were "mated" together to produce the next generation. We called them Darwinians. Sort of a little joke there.
"Things were working well until it happened. The terrorist found out about the program. We underestimated their resources because they were able to create a virus to attack our Darwinians. It was a deceptively simple program, but it was designed to either convert the Darwinians to their side or destroy them.
"When it tried to convert the Darwinians, it created a modified version of itself using some of the Darwinian code. Its soul as it were. It was a new virus that adapted to its surroundings but maintained the same simple corrupting, destructive drive. Then an interesting thing happened. Instead of waiting to be corrupted, the Darwinians developed an escape protocol. They 'ran home.' Home in this case was a testing mainframe that Dr. Sepulveda set up. It was a kind of virtual world that tested the Darwinians abilities. It was set up like a training base or park. The Darwinians had some ability to modify this world."
"What happened next was very odd and why we need you. Apparently, the Darwinians 'decided' they needed to trap, fight and destroy the virus. Dr. Sepulveda maintains that they 'believed' they could resurrect their fallen comrades as well. To implement their plans they need a way to fight the virus."
"I take it you know what a MAME emulator is?" Sanderson asked. He continued once you nodded your head. "They found a MAME emulator on the network and imported it with some ROMs into their world. Remember that scene in Star Trek 2 where the genesis device is activated and the whole world is converted? Well, something similar happened to their world. It changed everything. The layout, the Darwinians and the virus they had lured there. It was now in a form that could be fought, but they can't fight it directly. You see those old ROMs were games designed to be fought by a hero, the player, you."
"That's why we need you. You know these games. You can beat them. You can lead the Darwinians to victory." Sanderson gestures to the monitor which springs to life showing you a strange world. As your hands reach for the mouse and keyboard and the "real world" starts to fade away, you hear Sanderson say, "Dr. Sepulveda will work with you to improve the modified tools available to you to save the Darwinians. We're not as sure about the doctor as we used to be. Clearly there were some things he wasn't telling us. Keep an eye on him. Remember, if you lose, the terrorists win."
Jason
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26 Jan 05
I think I'll save some Darwinia musings for tomorrow. I haven't gotten much sleep in the past 24 hours and I'd like to be a little more alert for that. Babies have good days and bad days. Let's hope there aren't too many bad days in a row.
EA had an interesting day (nicely summed up by Slashdot). Profits were up. People were fired. No new exclusivity deals yet, but they did say that the price of games will be going up next generation. On the surface this makes sense. New consoles have a small installed base. Next generation games will cost more to produce to utilize the potential of the new hardware. Until the base gets big enough, higher prices even out those costs.
If you scratch the surface, it doesn't look like such a great idea. Launch titles by their nature have limited hype. Without buzz, you need quality to move units. Launch libraries generally have one good (or great) title, everything else is mediocre or worse. People don't pay premium pricing for mediocre. That turns into a vicious cycle. Once customers start waiting for price drops, they might be distracted by new releases or they might just wait for it not to come to the $50 price point; they might wait until $30 or $20.
Then you can't forget the current generation. Most early adopters of new generation console hardware are already multiple console owners. The end of a generation usually has a few top titles coming out. So launch games are competing against more than just the weak launch library.
The most vicious part of the cycle could be that overprice launch titles could weaken sales overall. That could shake developers' and publishers' confidence in the new console. That weakened launch could be blood in the water for the next console's launch. Remember the Dreamcast launched first. It didn't sell badly, but the perception was that it didn't launch well enough. I don't think we'll see any casualties of that magnitude for this coming generation, but if all the rhetoric about overtaking Sony is to be taken seriously, the competition must minimize their negatives. We'll see what happens.
Jason
Comments?
25 Jan 05
Well, the voting for the Game of the Year is tight. Right now Silent Storm and Rome: Total War are tied. I guess I can't complain since I'd probably list them 1, 2. I'm not saying which is which right now. I suppose I'm the tie breaker if it ends up tied at the end of the month. The voting is still open to everyone, so fans of each game should mobilize their friends and compatriots.
The 28th is fast approaching. That celebrates the one year anniversary of this site. We're going to have some kind of contest, but I'm still working on the details.
Speaking of contests, any artistic types might want to check out CDV's Cossacks II wallpaper contest. Prizes include (not surprisingly) copies of the game when released.
If you didn't believe me about the unique Darwinia demo, perhaps you'll believe Bill Harris or Tycho from Penny Arcade. I don't claim everyone will love it, but it is something to be experienced. If buzz is truly created by the "hardcore" crowd, then this game deserves our best effort. You can't really complain about lack of inspiration, creativity and the ability to take chances in the industry if you don't support those who do. I'm not saying that everyone must run out and preorder it, but pass the news along and discuss your experiences with the demo. Perhaps tomorrow I'll write up mine.
Here's a strange article courtesy of Slashdot. I disagree with the premise, but the rambling style is amusing. It reminds me of someone.
Jason
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24 Jan 05
I suppose I could jump in the fray and say that Take 2 hasn't learned anything from the negative response to EA's exclusivity deal. They're just playing tit for tat. Quick recap. Take 2 has reached an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball (players association, I believe) for seven years. The difference is that it only applies to third party productions. The first party console makers (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) can continue to produce baseball sims. This good news for Microsoft who bought the High Heat code base and rights. Then Take 2 bought Visual Concepts (and Kush) from Sega, so they have their own sports division.
I guess the difference in the deal does change my opinion. There's still competition. EA (and I guess Midway) get locked out, but players can still choose their baseball game. Even if the first party games aren't up to snuff, they can still innovate and take chances. Those good ideas can (and probably will) be incorporated into the competing games leading to steady improvement. It also doesn't leave any console swinging in the wind if they can't reach a deal with the exclusive license holder.
The Make Something Unreal contest winners were announced. Check it out Here.
I mentioned the Darwinia demo a couple of times. It's very different than anything you've played before. It's got a bit of Tron, a little Populous, some Robotron, even some Snake, and other stuff from old arcade games. You'll either say it's ugly or genius. It's a small download. Check it out.
I guess we need a game for this week. Ok. Here it is. It's SWAT 4 (official site) from Irrational Games. It's a tactical shooter where you lead gangs through the war torn countryside of modern France. Ok, no, you lead a SWAT team against criminals and terrorists. They're using the Unreal engine and going for the gritty urban look. Irrational is promising the AI will actually show signs of intelligence this time and not randomly wander into your crosshairs while you're firing. SWAT 4 is due out this spring.
Jason
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