Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
16 Sept 05
Ok, all the winning entries are up now. Go check them out in the Games section. While you're there read all the stories you haven't yet. If you've read them all, read them again. Once you have, post some thoughts in the Forum. Then write up one of your own stories for the rest of us to read.
I have to admit that reaction to the Revolution announcement has been surprisingly upbeat. I agree that there's a lot of potential there, but if they haven't nailed the "feel" of it, it will bomb. Still, Nintendo has had unexpected success with the DS. Now it appears that Battalion Wars might be surprise hit. I'll hope for the best, but it's clear they're competing in a different type of race than Sony and Microsoft. If you still haven't seen the pictures of the Revolution, I added them to the site with some other new additions.
Finally, I hope you've been checking out the news section. The Doldrums are definitely over. In case you were wondering, I don't try to post every scrap about every strategy/tactical game out there. I try to hit all the highlights so you can do some one stop shopping to catch up on the big events in the game space. Since the archive is searchable, you can also find information that may help you. Dig around, you might like what you find.
Jason
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15 Sept 05
My first thought, "Oh my, Nintendo's lost their minds." They've created a remote control for video games. Yay! That's Great! Wait, no it isn't. Here, look at this. My next thought was, "Haven't they heard of ergonomics?" Then I remembered it was Nintendo we're talking about here.
As an aside, I like the functionality of Nintendo controllers, but really. They haven't made one that was ergonomically sound. People have said they need to merge with Microsoft and just make games. I think they'd be better off with Sony as they know how to design attractive products. Maybe they could go with Apple and have iGames. Sorry.
I guess I'm pretty leery. I've used an air mouse. Compared to a regular mouse, it's awkward and hard to use. With practice you can get decent with it. That's just what we need, a controller with a learning curve. Let's do the run down.
The first and biggest point is that Nintendo got what it wanted. They've differentiated themselves from the competition. If you make a game to take advantage of the Revolution controller, it will be near impossible to port to another system with the same effect. On the flip side, it will be much harder to port anything to the revolution. I'm sure the big publishers can handle it for major titles, but beyond that don't expect to see much on the Revolution that's on the other two systems.
Next, they do provide a lot of options for developers to play around. You have pointing, the D pad, tilting and the attachable analog stick. There are a lot of possibilities. Sure, most of them will probably be mouse like, but if the precision is good and the ability to port from the PC is there (and relatively easy), that opens a ton of strategy gaming options. The down side to that is that if Nintendo sticks to their avoidance of high definition, you could lose a lot, since most strategy games are information dense. I'm sure Nintendo will come up with at least one game that's a killer app that could only be done with that controller.
The negatives seem just as obvious. First, gamers are lazy. I have wrist rest for my mouse. That way I don't have to keep my wrist in proper mousing position for hours of gaming. 3D movement sort of precludes lazy arms. You can rest your arms on you knees with a standard controller. Who knows what it will be like with the grand movements of the Revolution controller.
Next, there's the potential for simple game actions to become difficult to perform. This is a problem with any new controller. Simply, the bugs haven't been worked out. It's kind of like Black and White, there were a couple of simple spells that I just couldn't seem to get the recognition system to recognize. That ends fun.
Finally, we have the potential for gimmicks released as games. This also happens with any new controller. Sometimes it's an evolved tech demo. The problem is that the activities that are fun and captivating for a few minutes don't have the ability to carry the player along for the whole game.
In unrelated news, there's a new Winter Assault Designer Diary up. And Microsoft has released its staggered release dates. Cheers.
Jason
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14 Sept 05
All the prizes are in the mail, so I'm in a good mood. I'd be in a better mood if I was able to get more game time in. Soon. I'm going to make myself take some game time.
I love pointing to articles that I don't agree with. Here are the alleged Five Ways to Save Video Games. We start out ok. Female characters should be about more than sex, and there are many weak storylines in gaming. Then they run out of steam. Epics, Spectacles and Cinema influence can all be great parts of games. It's just they need the writing to match, but that's point two. Now that I think about it female characterization is a writing problem too. I guess it should have been the way to save video games: better writing. That probably doesn't fill up the page and generate the clicks.
Did I mention the first winning story is up? Check out the Games section. Ok, link for the lazy.
I don't understand Microsoft. They were doing so well at the beginning of the year. Now they're saying that the simultaneous worldwide release just means within the "launch window." What? They feed us a line, and then treat us like we're stupid for believing them. I told them before, just focus on the games. Oh, and stop with the bundles.
Hopefully, we'll be getting some good news out of the Tokyo Game Show soon. It should be interesting to see the Xbox 360 reaction.
Jason
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13 Sept 05
Another contest down. I love everything about these contest except running them. That is to say, it's fun giving away games. It's nice to be thanked for running the contest. It's great to see people excited about games. It's just the actual mechanics of organizing, soliciting for, updating, selecting winners in and shipping prizes for the contest that's not too fun. However, nearly all that's behind me until the next contest.
I'll be getting the winning entries up on the site this week. For all the non winning entries, if you want to pull your submission (so that it won't be posted on the site), please let me know by the end of the week. Otherwise, I'll try to get the other entries up this weekend.
I have to say there was great variety in the entries this time even with the smaller numbers. I'm also glad I didn't appoint myself the impossible task of judging their quality. That's not what this place is about anyway. It's not about the quality of the writing as much as it is the meat of the story. It's an emphasis of the unique, fantastic escape that games provide to each in their own way.
On to the winners, first place was Godzilla Blitz taking home Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich. Second place was Jax choosing Space Rangers 2. Third Place went to Brian "Escher0" Pilnick who took Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. That's when we ran out of prizes. Congratulation to all the winners. Thank you to all the entrants. Until the next contest, cheers.
Jason
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12 Sept 05
Tomorrow we're going to announce the winners from the contest. If you entered, look for an email tomorrow. I'll be contacting all the winners. If you don't hear from me tomorrow before the update, well, there's always the next contest.
It seems that some states are using the Hot Coffee controversy to try to force legislation restricting the sales of games. Of course, it's all being done to protect the children. Never mind that no one has proven that children need protection from games. Anyway, one of the merchants associations has issued a response to California's effort:
"The IEMA (Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association) remains opposed to AB 1179 for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is impractical - in essence creating a California-only class of products requiring retailers to buy, warehouse and distribute California video games separately from other inventory - it is unnecessary, in that our member companies have already voluntarily committed to carding policies to inhibit the sale of Mature-rated games to minors, and it is clearly unconstitutional. Time and again courts have uniformly held that video games, just like books, movies, and music, are expression that is fully protected by the First Amendment."
"We hope that Governor Schwarzenegger understands and appreciates the lengths to which our members who conduct business in the State of California have gone to fulfill their social obligations on a voluntary basis. It was disheartening to see the bill pass the house and senate, but we refuse to believe that the Governor will allow this matter to become further politicized and divisive - leading only to a course which would inevitably cost the taxpayers valuable resources, and an unceremonious fate that has been played out in the court system. We instead hope that he will veto AB 1179 and ask that the State work more closely with the games industry in much the same way that it does the music and movie businesses."
Hal Halpin
President of IEMA
I don't know how long it took to craft that statement, but I find it beautiful in its simplicity and clarity. I was going to try to explain what was wrong with the legislative effort until I read that. Sometimes you just have to admit that someone did it better than you and move on. Moving on.
There are only a couple of top games coming out this month that I've been asked about, and two of them are expansions. This week's game is one of them. It' Rome: Total War -- Barbarian Invasion (official site) from The Creative Assembly. As you might have guessed from the title, this expansion takes you to the fall of the Roman Empire. The empire is split in two and while they are officially allies, barbarians threaten the stability of the empire and the alliance. The Persians and the Huns are rising threats. The Vandals, Saxons and Franks care only for themselves without respect for the past. Can you guide the empire through this time or lead a new faction to power to conquer the faded remnants. The barbarians invade later this month.
Jason
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