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2 Dec 05
I've been trying to work on a gift guide, but I have to say there's a lot of stuff out there for geeks. It's not like the old days when all you could find were pocket protectors and slide rules. I'm going to go over some games that might go over well with gamers in your life. We'll have to see if there's time for a follow up with gadgets and toys.
I'm going to break these down by categories. I'll give brief descriptions. I was going to do links, but prices keep changing, people have favorite stores and stock comes and goes so I'll just give a link and quick rundown of the site sponsors:
Best Buy -- They're nearly everywhere and offer store pick up. It's a little less hassle given how busy they tend to get over the holidays. They also have some good sales and clearance offers.
Circuit City -- I guess I could say the same things about them as Best Buy. They do offer the $24 gift card if your pick up order isn't ready in 24 minutes. Given how crazy the holiday shopping is, I imagine more than a few people will cash in on this.
Buy.com -- They're seriously going after Amazon's place at the top of internet sales. I used to shop them more for electronics, but now they have almost everything, games included. They always have a few games that are priced lower than anyone else.
Overstock.com -- You never know what they'll have in stock, but chances are the prices are going to be pretty good. They have some great gaming specials from time to time. For instance, I just saw they had Nexus on sale for $15.
EB Games and Gamestop -- They're in middle of completing their merger. There's not much difference in deals any more. They are the place to go to find current release games even if it's a niche product.
Amazon -- You can shop for almost anything on Amazon these days. They have some great deals from time to time. Mostly, they have great selection and good shipping options.
GoGamer -- They have a special place in my heart. Their 48 Hour Madness sales have crushed my resistance to impulse buying more than once. They have rare and hard to find PC games. They have some great PC clearance deals. They try to keep all their prices below retail MSRP. Their limited console selection is their down side.
Now that you have all these great places to buy, what should you get? Try not to hate me if I'm wrong, but I think these are some of the hot buys for the holidays:
Multiplatform:
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood -- I've mentioned this before, but it's one of the rare true tactical shooters coming out now. This is the sequel, but it's supposed to resolve most of the complaints of the original.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 -- It's not the deepest multiplayer online shooter, but it's just fun. The battles can be wildly chaotic and then some jedi jump into the mix.
Shattered Union -- It's turn based war game goodness. It's modern warfare across a scarred America.
Battlefield 2 -- Yes the console game isn't quite the same as the PC version, but it still laps the competition. It's modern combat online.
PC:
Civilization 4 -- It's Civilization in 3D. Just one more turn. What more needs be said (besides the fact it's in the current 48 hour madness)?
The Movies -- It's a Tycoon game and a movie studio all in one. You can focus on the management, the sims like stars and workforce or crafting your own masterpiece.
Battlefield 2: Special Forces -- You knew an expansion was coming. This time you get cool toys and night maps to play with.
Aspyr Media Combo Packs -- I have to give a special shout out to these. They're $20 each and packed with gaming goodness. I know GoGamer has them, but they can be found elsewhere as well. Basically, you get the original game and all available expansions. You can choose from The Guild, Gothic II, Spellforce and Silent Storm. That's a medieval sim, a great first person RPG, A RPG/RTS hybrid and a turn based tactical combat RPG. Spellforce is the only one with two expansions in the box.
Nintendo DS:
Advance Wars: Dual Strike -- Turn based combat goodness on the modern battlefield. Now in portable form.
Zoo Tycoon -- Yes, it's the PC game where you take care of animals by improving their environment, but now it's portable.
Mario Kart DS -- Not strategy related at all, but fun Kart racing that goes online.
Meteos -- More puzzler than strategy, but still one of the best DS games out there.
PSP:
Lumines -- See Meteos, puzzler and addictive.
SOCOM Fire Team Bravo -- Perhaps not tactical enough for the hardcore, but it tops the tactical shooters for the PSP.
Metal Gear Acid -- Turn based tactical stealth action with cards thrown in to boot, what more could a gamer ask for? Well, they'll have to wait for the sequel for the cool comic book style.
Xbox 360:
Perfect Dark Zero -- It's a stealth action shooter with both coop and many online multiplayer modes.
Quake 4 -- Quake isn't known for its tactics, but there are teammates involved. You've got to make due with what the launch line up gives you.
PS2:
Shadow of the Colossus -- I recently posted a review of this game that you can easily find on the site. It's a game that should be experienced.
Makai Kingdom -- The latest strategy RPG from Nippon Ichi. You get wacky characters and stories, turn based combat and huge combos.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms X -- Deep strategy on a console? Yes, you can start as a bit character and build your way to leading massive armies to conquer ancient China.
Xbox:
Operation Flashpoint -- Sure it's the same as the old PC game and looks like it too, but it's still one of the best military shooters out there.
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes -- This prequel fixes many of the problems of the earlier game. It gives you massive army combat combined with a healthy dose of hack and slash.
Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics -- It's an old school turn based hex wargame, and it's on the Xbox.
GCN:
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance -- It's an iron man strategy RPG where characters who die are lost forever. It adds tension to all the battles.
Battalion Wars -- I've talked about this one before. It's a third person wargame that thrusts you as the commander of combat troops in the middle of a series of huge battles.
GBA:
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance -- Perhaps I'm biased by my love of the original, but this is a fun strategy RPG that can be played and played on the go.
Rebelstar Tactical Command -- If you go in expecting XCom, you'll be disappointed, but if you'd like some fun XCom lite skirmish battles on the go, this is your game.
Fliers (games that I think are neat or fun, but represent more of a risk):
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (Xbox, GCN, PS2) -- Hulk Smash. It's one of the best comic book games out there now. It borrows the best from other comic book games. Smashing's fun.
Guitar Hero (PS2) -- Who doesn't want to rock? You get to wail on your guitar shaped controller. With skill levels going from easy to insane, everyone gets a shot at making a fool of themselves.
Stubbs the Zombie (PC, XBox) -- You actually get to play as the zombie in a zombie game. Can you lead your shambling hordes to victory?
X3: Reunion -- I still have a soft spot in my heart for space sims with open universes (thank you Privateer). It's also in the current 48 hour madness.
I'm tired. That's all I can give you for now. Hopefully you've seen something for the gamers in your life. Feel free to respond with comments or suggestions of your own. Have a great weekend.
Jason
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1 Dec 05
CDV sent word today that the Hammer and Sickle demo is out on the web. You can find it at the usual suspects. From what I've seen it's clearly using the Silent Storm engine, but it will be interesting to see how it works in a more dynamic relational campaign. They also sent me a kind of cool flash demo thing. I put it up Here.
There still hasn't been much word officially from Microsoft on the Xbox 360 update. Unofficially, Major Nelson put up a nice blog bit. In short, he said more units are going out all the time. Microsoft can't control what retailers do with units once they're shipped out. I'm guessing the 3 million units shipped in 90 days has been cut back to 2.75 million. Too bad only the first third of those 90 days are in the holiday shopping season.
Phil Steinmeyer has signed his first casual game with PopCap. I can hear the gears grinding in your head. Yes, Post Top PopTop Capt. Flips Light to PopCap Corp. It's Bonnie's Bookstore and looks interesting.
This week's game is another about war in the future. It's DropTeam (official site) from TBG Software. The Galactic Empire is crumbling in civil war and the free thinkers on the rim are left to fend for themselves. Some of them turn to raiding to survive. Technology has slid back from its peak, but weapons are still more than deadly. TBG aims to please both the grognards and the newbies by offering a simple to access tactical combat system that's hard to master as it accurately simulates combat details such as atmospheric density, gravitational fields, armor penetration and energy dissipation. Games play out in real time usually in 30 or 60 minute blocks. Look for DropTeam early next year.
Jason
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30 Nov 05
Forgive me if I get a little existential today. It seems the fight is being joined again as efforts are made to criminalize the sale of Mature rated games to minors. Even as both sides admit that past bugaboos (dime novels, comic books and pinball machines) weren't as bad as feared, video games are reserved as a new and special category. Both sides also seem to agree that such laws don't pass Constitutional tests. Both sides also agree that the games industry is doing better than the movies in ratings categories and education. I used to wonder if the generational disconnect was just too much to overcome. Now I think it's something deeper.
I think it's a societal problem combined with a social group problem. Microsoft wants to capture casual gamers and non gamers with their Xbox 360. Nintendo wants to recapture former gamers, and I don't think that's an insignificant distinction. There are gamers and non gamers. I used to think that non gamers were just people too old or technophobic to play games. Now I realize there are people spanning all ages and levels of technical proficiency that just don't find any interest in games. They don't want their entertainment to be interactive.
I know some gamers were upset with Roger Ebert's dismissal of games as inferior. I think he is a perfect example of this point. In the past he's clearly applauded directors for making some of their narrative vague or jumbled or unclear. He liked that each person could come away with their own reflections on the experience of the movie. With games, his dismissal is complete. He has no interest in coming away with his own reflections on the experience of gaming because the nature of the medium doesn't interest him. I can accept that, but I don't think a lot of gamers do. They believe there are games out there for every interest. I'm afraid that's not true, and it's not something you can design around.
When you have two groups that fundamentally don't understand one another, it's hard to have meaningful conversation let alone try to solve problems. It would help if the sides tried to listen to one another. Non gamers don't understand how their could be enjoyment or context in the images of violence they see in alarmist reporting on violent games. Gamers can't seem to accept that there are lots of non gamers out there who believe that games are the exclusive realm of children. Perhaps gaming will become ubiquitous and pervasive enough that the gap will disappear, but that won't help in the current debate.
So what's the societal problem beyond that disconnect? Conservatives might say it's the entitlement culture that enables parents to look to the government to cover any lapses in parenting. Liberals might say it's the lack of corporate responsibility that values the bottom line more than social responsibility. I think it goes deeper than that. It's one of my favorite topics, the blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality. Obviously, I'm approaching it from a somewhat different tack today.
Of course, like everyone else, I blame television. In this age of reality TV being entertainment and news shows being watched for their entertainment value, television's distinction between real and entertaining blurs more and more. Is Jon Stewart a primary news source? Apparently. There have always been stories people believing soap opera characters are real, but now you have 'Boston Rob' to the rescue on The Early Show. If there's even still a line between real and fantasy on TV any more, we can't see it.
Indeed, the distinction between fantasy and reality is particularly important for gamers. If it's there and clear, the games are fun diversions and escapes. If it disappears, we're being desensitized to violence and trained in our murder simulators. If you accept that premise, then the more realistic the visuals, the greater the antisocial impact will be on the player. If you reject the premise, the improved visuals result in greater immersion and fun.
Fantasy is significantly important to this place. It exists at the edges of fantasy and immersion. It is the foundation of this site that immersive games combined with open gameplay result unique experiences that are great stories to share around the virtual campfire. Those stories stop being fun if players believe those stories are real. It is the fantasy of stepping into the Admiral's chair or the soldier's boots without the risk or consequences that make the experience fun.
Is there an answer to the problem? I don't see a clear cut one. While stronger industry controls (particularly on advertising to ensure Mature titles aren't being targeted at kids) can help, there's no easy way to convince a non gamer that, unlike TV, there's still a bright line distinction between fantasy and reality in gaming. Need I mention that cosplay and virtual sex don't help. As always, your input is appreciated.
Jason
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29 Nov 05
If you recall my agile logistics thoughts on the Xbox 360 launch, I mentioned that we'd know quickly how well it was working. Microsoft claims they've shipped the next batch of 360's out already. I'm not questioning that. The problem is they're failing on two fronts (perhaps three). They needed solid quantities in each shipment and a steady flow of information.
Solid quantities might seem nebulous, but really it's pretty simple. The preorders need to be filled quickly. There need to be 360 sightings on store shelves. The Ebay auctions have to fall to reasonable prices. None of those seem to be happening. It's not hard to guess why. Even if all the production kinks that initially slowed them down have been worked out (unlikely), Microsoft still has European and Japanese launches to supply.
That brings us to the steady flow of information. That's even more important than huge quantities right away. Previous launches have all been call the stores, check the websites. Now we see that big retailers don't know about shipment quantities or times and customers are advised to call the stores and check the websites. I guess as an old supply chain guy, I wanted to believe. I like the promise of weekly shipments, but without quantities and information, it appears as haphazard and random as any other system launch.
There is one more area that the lack of information seems to be hurting Microsoft. It's again in the public relations realm. It doesn't matter how exaggerated the reports are, the word is getting out that the Xbox 360 is buggy. It's bad when people who don't even care about gaming know there's something wrong with the 360. You've got reports of disk scratching, over heating, brick over heating, crashes, lock ups and being bumped offline. Microsoft needs a better response than we haven't seen unusual numbers of reports when you consider the electronics problem rate of 3 to 5 percent. They need to get out in front of this and address each of those problems head on. I've been through console launches and know the numbers are exaggerated, but Microsoft can't afford to let word of mouth get out of hand. If they don't waiting for shipments of 360's can easily turn into waiting for the Playstation 3. We'll see if they turn these trends around.
Jason
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28 Nov 05
Happy Cyber Monday to everyone. Apparently, today is the start of the online shopping season. Everyone who couldn't bring themselves to face the crowds or couldn't endure them long enough to complete their shopping is (virtually) running to the safe haven of the internet. Hopefully, some of you will take the opportunity to use some of our sponsor links here. I'm going to try to put together a little gift guide using our sponsors to help you out with shopping for gamers. I'll see if I can get that up this week.
I could talk about the Xbox 360 problems. There's shipment confusion. There are reports of lock ups and crashes. There's a new report about how much Microsoft is losing on each unit. There are lots of complaints about the power supply brick.
That last one got me thinking. Sure the Xbox 360 brick is huge and reportedly runs hot (some have even suggested making sure the brick is out in the open to keep it from overheating, crashing the 360), but I remember old school.
Back in the day, every single piece of hardware had it's own power cord with a huge transformer. My old Atari computer system had a ton. The system itself had one. Each of the two single sided, single density drives had one. The printer had one. The monitor had one. I think the old cassette drive was the only thing that didn't.
It's slowly gotten better as engineers made better use of power and peripherals were integrated into the computers. Lower power requirements also meant the use of smaller transformers. Most of the ones under my desk today, are small and barely bigger than the plug itself.
The biggest one still under my desk is a relic itself. It belongs to my original Logitech Wingman Force joystick. Yes, it's the huge two handed monstrosity that's still the best implementation of force feedback ever. Sure, I knew people who turned off or turned down the force feedback for accuracy in their space sims. Where was the fun in that? I love the sensation of fighting the stick under the rocking explosions and the pelting of your enemy's mass driver while you adjusted speed and switched to your plasma launcher to teach him a lesson. That was fun, but the best were those Darth Vader "What?" moments when you're about to finish an opponent and out of nowhere the stick goes wild as his wingman blind sides you. Full Speed, Afterburners, shift power to shields, reacquire target, lock, Fire! Barrel roll as you fly through his wreckage. That's immersion for you. If you didn't have force feedback, you probably would have seen that as a small flashing light on your shields display.
The other vivid memory that crosses my mind, as I dust off the old Wingman, I don't remember the mission details. It might have been Freespace or Freespace 2. I had snuck in to an enemy fleet to destroy something. Whatever I destroyed blew my cover and turned the whole fleet on me. I had to evade and race to the jump node. It was beyond an unwinnable battle. It was suicide to do anything but run and juke. It was nonstop jolting pressure on the stick as fire and missiles rocked my craft, mostly from behind. I was almost dead as I reached the jump point. The constant barrage didn't let up as I tried to jump. I remember whispering, "just hold on baby." Right before death, I jumped.
I've got to say that brick earned it's place. Hopefully, whenever I pick up a 360, its brick will too. Sorry for the rant.
Jason
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