Plants and Zombies Cuteness

PopCap is legendary for their ability to churn out quality games over and over. Their latest game is Plants Vs Zombies, a tower defense game where the player controls a flower who must defend her planter against hordes of zombies. The game's graphics and music are cute and the game play well made. Definitely check out this game if you have time.

Scratch Vs. Activision Decision Upheld

An LA County Superior Court upheld the previous decision by a lower Los Angeles County court ordering Activision and 7 Studios to hand over source code to Scratch DJ's game. 7 Studio's has already turned over software and assets but until now haven't turned over the actual source code leading to the new ruling today.

Source: Kotaku

Anyone up for lunch at EA?

Image credit: Kotaku

Starcraft II Open Beta Finally!

Yesterday Blizzard announced that Starcraft II's Beta would be open for sign-up for current Starcraft Battle.net users. The beta would begin during the summer and signals the final stage the games development.

Graphics VS. Developers

I've always seen the graphics card business as being in an arms race with video game developers and it seems like Twenty Sided agrees with me. PC gamers usually need to update their video cards every 2-3 years while game consoles like the Playstation 3 can last for almost a decade.

Eurogamer Scandal

Eurogamer is facing outrage over allegations that they gave a negative review to Darkfall Online without giving the game a chance.

Darkfall Online claims - and has activity logs from their servers - that Eurogamer's Editor spent 2 minutes in the game's startup menu but didn't actually play. A second member of Eurogamer spent 2 hours and 33 minutes playing during which he constantly asked other players "how do I cast spells...help" and "this game is awful".

The allegations are disturbing if true, game critics have great influence over what players decide to buy. A negative bias by an individual reviewer would cost a game developer and undermine the credibility of game critics eerywhere.

Darkfall online currently seems to be in the right, they've offered to fly Eurogamer's IT techs over to Darkfall to inspect their logs and verify their claims but have been refused. Further compounding Eurogamer's problems is the fact that the biased reviewer, Ed Zitron, has been accused of simmilar things in the past.

New Class Announced For Star Wars: Old Republic

Star Wars the Old Republic is the highly anticipated MMORPG based on the Star Wars universe. It's developer BioWare announced a new playable class this morning.

HONOR, DUTY, DEFENSE OF THE REPUBLIC

Not all heroes carry Lightsabers. Some just have the will to fight.

For decades, the armed forces of the Galactic Republic defended their civilization against the seemingly unstoppable Sith Empire. Despite countless setbacks, the men and women of the Republic military never backed down until the Senate ordered them to do so. These brave souls remain ready and willing to lay their lives on the line today.

In the wake of the Treaty of Coruscant, the Republic military has begun recruiting from within its own ranks, creating cutting-edge Special Forces squads for the inevitable day when the war with the Sith Empire begins anew. These advanced strike teams are comprised of only the most talented and disciplined soldiers—a new breed of elite Republic Troopers.

These Troopers are the embodiment of the Republic military’s highest aspirations—the most advanced fighting force in the galaxy. They are equipped to face any foe in any environment, but it’s not their gear that makes them tough—it’s their guts. The Troopers’ greatest weapons are their indomitable spirit, their unwavering sense of duty and their undying loyalty to each other and to the ideals that the Republic represents. In this age, the stakes have never been higher. The Republic must win or face extinction. The fate of the galaxy rests upon ordinary men becoming extraordinary heroes. This is the path of the Republic Trooper.

RELATIONS WITH THE JEDI

The Knights of the Jedi Order have defended the Republic for generations, but they have not fought alone. A host of unsung heroes have marched at the Jedi’s side—common men courageous enough to enlist and face the same risks as their Jedi comrades despite not having access to the Jedi powers of protection. These heroes have not gone unappreciated by the Jedi. The men and women of the Republic military are accorded complete respect and admiration by the Order and by the Republic’s political leaders.

In the years since the Treaty of Coruscant, the Jedi have withdrawn in significant numbers to their homeworld of Tython. Their presence in the Republic military, though still significant, is not what it was during the war. In many ways, the Republic’s newly-trained elite Troopers have stepped up to take charge of the Republic’s defenses. When Troopers are partnered with the Jedi, they are a force to be reckoned with on any battlefield.

The game's coming along great, can't wait for it to be released. World Of Warcraft needs real competition.

A response to: "Ethics and Bullshit Morals"

A writer going by the alias "K" has posted an article over on Angry-Gamer titled "Ethics and Bullshit Morals". The article is a profanity filled analysis of the video game industries hypocrisy. K's arguments can be broken down into a few main points:

• "Its human curiosity to find out what kinds of reaction you can get by employing force and it’s simply natural to enjoy the suffering of someone else."
• If a gamer wants to he should be allowed to kill children in Video Games because it’s not any worse than anything else he can do in the game (his example is killing the child's parents.)
• Sex should not ban while hardcore violence is encouraged.
• "Rapelay" (A Japanese rape simulator) is a great game that has been given a bad rap.

K's entire rant seems to predicate on the idea that human's enjoy the suffering of others. This statement is widely inaccurate and highly generalized. I personally find human suffering to be a horrible condition and seek to alleviate it (as I did in Fallout 3). To say that it is a fundamental human characteristic is flawed and shows K's warped view of reality which led to this article.

His second argument about the double standards of video games has more merit. He cites Fable 2 and Fallout 3 as games where you can go on a murderous rampage - slaughtering whole villages - but as soon as you attempt to hurt a child you find yourself unable to do so. Yet what K doesn't understand is that video game developers have made their in-game children invincible for a variety of reasons. Video game developers are first and foremost, businesses; they must take public outrage and ESRB ratings into account when designing a game. A "MA" or "AO" rating would put a serious dent into a games sale as younger gamers find themselves unable to purchase the game. Public outrage may have worked for Grand Theft Auto but it seems to be the exception, not the rule.

Another reason developers frown upon the killing of children is for the simple fact that it is the killing of children. Society reacts differently to the death of a child because "they were so innocent" or "they were so young", a child’s death disturbs people because as creatures whom take of their young we are conditioned to protect our offspring -- we are given the inclination to protect those that are unable to protect themselves.

Video games create outrage every time it includes sexual content or is alleged to have sexual content. K has a valid point when he asks why sexual content is taboo when murder is not. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas generated controversy when a secret mini game titled "Hot Coffee" was revealed. The mini game depicted the main character having sexual intercourse with his in game girlfriend. The scene was never intended for release, it showed no nudity, was crudely animated, and feature animation problems. In addition the programmers locked away the game so that players could not access it. The only way to play the scene was to hack into the games software and make modifications. Despite all this "Hot Coffee" sparked media frenzy, news agencies condemned it, politicians decried it, and parents were incensed.

When Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was only about running around and killing people there was no uproar, people accepted that it was a violent game but still bought it for their children. Yet as soon as something sexual was revealed (regardless of the fact that it was the gamers, who went to extraordinary means to access it,) people went ballistic. K equates this rightly as a double standard, it is indeed hypocritical to criticize one and not the other, but his argument that "more developers should have the balls to display some nudity or show a sex scene" is again erroneous for the same reason as the killing of children: Video game developers are trying to sell games, if the ESRB dislikes it or parents don’t buy it for their children then sales will drop and the company may go out of business.

The most incendiary of K's arguments is his belief that Rapelay, a Japanese rape simulator, is harmless. Rapelay is an extremely controversial game which made my skin crawl just by reading about it on Amazon (yes the internet giant briefly sold the game online.) I won't go into any detail but if you really want to learn more or just want to see something horrible you can look at its Wikipedia page. K's twisted argument is that because the developers were paid and the consumers paid for it, the game isn't hurting anyone. It goes back to the argument that video games are fiction and therefore no one is really getting hurt. His argument goes further and calls Rapelay a "well deserved piece of entertainment", but is it really? Is a game whose main objective is rape really a "well deserved piece of entertainment?"

K does make a valid claim when he asks why rape is considered worse than murder. Why do people accept games whose only goal is to assassinate people and then condemn Rapelay? To understand this you must first examine mainstream violent video games. In every case the developer has tried to put in a story explaining why the protagonist is doing the things he does. The player could be fighting Nazis, or terrorists, or a myriad of other unsavory characters, but there's always some kind of reasoning behind it. When players go out and wantonly slaughter civilians it is their choice but not the intent of the developer. Rapelay is different; the developers specifically made the objective rape and are unashamed of it. Its players are playing the game for one reason, they enjoy that sick concept. And that is why Rapelay is so disturbing to people, there is no use for the game other than to appease a sick perversion; the game adds no real value to society. Unlike contemporary games it has no well written back-story, no attempt at teaching morals and ethics, no entertainment value - it is the very definition of useless garbage.

The article is brought to a close with the following summation:

"All I wanted to say is that developers shouldn’t enforce their bullshit morals unto us and that there should be no limit to artistic expression. Good labeling to warn the buyer of the content is essential, but never should someone’s imagination and creativity be limited by someone else’s fear or displeasure."

The closing argument is well written and has valid points. Some people feel that developers are hypocritical enforcers of a double standard and as such cannot tell us the gamers what is acceptable and what isn't. He has a valid argument that imagination and creativity shouldn't be stifled by one person’s personal objection (an argument that has been debated inconclusively in forums much greater than the blogosphere.)

Then he ruins his arguments by jokingly suggesting that the Pussycat Dolls should be "gagged, raped, sliced up and fed to wild orcas". Seriously? Not cool.

Microsoft financing a 3rd Season of "The Guild"

Felicia Day must be jumping with joy right now. Her labor of love "The Guild" has been approved for a third season by Microsoft. The Guild's first two seasons were financed through viewer donations and garnered 9 million views.

"The Guild is a independent sitcom webisode about a group of online gamers. It is written for gamers, about gamers by a gamer. Episodes vary from 3-6 minutes in length, and follow the Guild members’ lives online and offline."

You may know Felicia from her starring role in another internet sensation, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog along with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion.

Nintendo Sales

Nintendo released sales figures for the Nintendo Wii and the DS this morning.

Microsoft trying to acquire Big Park Studios

Microsoft is attempting to buy Big Park game studios.
Big Park is working on a Xbox 360 title that will "expand gaming audiences around the world and bring them together through accessible and highly entertaining interactive experiences."
This is clearly a play by the Redmond Giant to try and fight the Nintendo Wii's hold on women and young children gamers.

THQ's Q4 Losses

THQ just posted record losses in their fourth quarter earnings reports.
Check it out here.

Video game accessories getting more expensive

RockBand is counting on the popularity of the Beatles to help it sell video game accessories. The music rhythm game has signed a deal allowing it to sell replica controllers based on the instruments of the Beatles:

• Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass
• Ringo Starr’s Ludwig drum set
• John Lennon’s Rickenbacker 325
• George Harrison’s Gretsch Duo Jet

The new instruments will be available September 9th along with the newest installment of the RockBand series.

Free Music Videos from Playstation

Sony announced that it will offer a free music video streaming service this summer. The feature will be a Playstation 3 exclusive and include thousands of music videos for free. Sony has gotten the backing of several major record labels so content should not be a problem.

The feature allows users to save music videos onto their Playstation hard drives and stream it onto their PSPs (Playstation Portables). Users can also arrange their downloads and form custom playlists.

As I wrote before, the Playstation 3 is definitly becoming the better buy in the long run.

The Rise of the Playstation 3

At the end of World War II a man by the name of Masaru Ibuka founded a small radio repair shop in the devastated city of Tokyo. Throughout the next few years Masaru would slowly expand his company until 5 years later, on a trip to the US, he was able to convince America's Bell Lab's to license the newly invented transistor to his company. His company quickly developed the first commercially available transistor radios which quickly became a huge success, selling hundreds of thousands of radios to the Japan and America.

With the success of their transistor radio business Masaru moved his company to Tokyo and after careful consideration combined the Latin word “Sonus” (the root word of sonic and sound) and Sonny (a colloquial term used in 1950's America for boy) in order to create Sony Corporation. Sony went on to become a leader in electronics, video game consoles, and motion pictures. In 1993 Sony Corporation spun off its video game division into its own company, Sony Computer Entertainment. Like its parent company it quickly became a leader in the video game industry. Within a year of its inception it released the Playstation -- a revolutionary video game system.

The Sony Playstation was released in December of 1994; at the time American gamers knew little of Sony and it's Playstation console and their ambiguous launch campaign, “Enos Lives”, didn't help(“Enos Lives” was meant to be read, Ready Ninth Of September, the official launch date of the Playstation.) Sony quickly revised its campaign and it is now known for its innovative –and sometimes controversial-- campaigns produced by famous directors and animators helping it sell over 102 million units, cementing the Playstation series in video game history.

The console's successor, unimaginatively named Playstation 2, carried on the record breaking sales tradition by selling 136 million units and counting. The system is famous for its longevity and massive game library. Released in 2000 the system is still going strong with strong sales for a console that’s been around for nine years. Even now as more powerful consoles are being offered by Microsoft and Nintendo game developers are making hit games for the Playstation 2 such as God of War II and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, incredibly the system is projected to have over 1900 titles available by the end of this year.

Playstation launches are usually enhanced by their roster of blockbuster games. The Playstation 3 (also known as the PS3) broke this tradition by launching with a limited selection of lackluster games. Sony decided on making a system with advanced components and revolutionary software, as a result game developers found the system extremely difficult to program for.

To compound Sony's problems its competitors Microsoft and Nintendo both came out with their own Next Generation systems, the Xbox 360 and the Wii respectively. Microsoft released their system a year earlier capturing a sizable portion of the market and developing many hit games. The Nintendo Wii became a hit with young children and women, an audience the other consoles ignored.

Many had given up on the PS3 calling it the downfall of Sony yet there are signs that things may be turning around: first, game developers are finally utilizing the PS3 to its full potential and making great games, second, the technical superiority of the PS3 is finally becoming apparent, and finally, the PS3 has finally found a marketing strategy that works.

When the PS3 first came out its game lineup was rated mediocre at best. It's games didn't fully utilize the Playstation's capabilities and it's A-list game franchises – Metal Gear, Midnight Club, Final Fantasy, and Gran Turismo, to name a few-- we're still in development. However if one examines Playstation's current lineup the story is completely different. Games like Killzone 2 and Heavenly Blade have graphics surpassing anything the Xbox 360 and the Wii can produce and in the case of Heavenly Blade are rendering objects in previously unheard of numbers. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Midnight Club: Los Angeles were both released in America this year to impressive sales and rave game reviews. Final Fantasy XIII and Gran Turismo 5 are on the verge of release with most critics anticipating huge sales figures and graphics surpassing anything seen yet. Playstation 3 is also creating new game blockbuster Gaming Franchises with innovative games like Little Big Planet and Killzone 2. As Playstation games continue to improve and expand more and more video gamers will be driven to purchase PS3’s increasing its market share in the long run, a process that has already begun.

Many consumers were driven away from the Playstation 3 by its steep cost, $699 US dollars, nearly double its competitors. Yet as the saying goes, “you get what you pay for”; The Sony Playstation 3 comes with a built in Blu-ray DVD player, backwards compatibility, wireless adapter, 60 gigabyte hard disk, and online play. When compared to its closest competitor, the Xbox 360, the difference really hits home. Microsoft backed Toshiba in the HD-DVD versus Blu-Ray war and lost when all the major movie companies sided with its rival. Sony’s Blu-Ray is now industry standard, making the Xbox’s drive obsolete. The Xbox offers wireless adapters and extra hard drive space at $100 dollars each eliminating their price advantage. This price advantage is completely gone when online play is factored in, Xbox Live (Microsoft’s online gaming service) is offered for $15.99 a month, Sony offers its Playstation Network for free – for life. Microsoft and Nintendo are already developing new systems to replace their aging consoles, meanwhile Sony plans on producing the PS3 for another six years, a testament to its quality.

Sony’s initial ad campaign for the PS3 seemed reminiscent of the failed original Playstation marketing. Their ads took place in a empty white room with ordinary objects acting in strange, surreal ways after an encounter with the PS3. Consumers were confused and left uninformed as to what the Playstation 3 offered. Recently however Sony seems to have hit upon a marketing strategy that works.

The company has spent 4 million US dollars in a surge of television ads demonstrating the graphical superiority of Killzone 2 and Major League Baseball: The Show, both Playstation exclusive games. Meanwhile another set of television ads is running that features a visually stunning mural made of PS3 games moving across a dark city. All of these ads are meant to communicate one thing to the consumer; Playstation 3 has the best games. Playstation 3’s increased marketing spending coupled with its competitor’s cutbacks is poised to make Sony a leader in video games once again.

In January of 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s President, David Reeves, told the press that he believed the Playstation 3 would become the leading console in the next few years. He was quoted as saying “I’m very, very, optimistic for what I see for Playstation’s future.” The Playstation 3 is indeed on the verge of taking the market by storm. In the next few years gamers will flock to the system as more and more blockbuster games are released. Others will be converted by the built in hardware which more and more people are considering the better long term purchase. And all of these gamers will have been influenced by Sony's hard hitting marketing campaign. Playstation 1 and 2 became such huge successes because of the staying power of its hardware; games were being released on the systems years after their competitors had moved onto new systems. People took notice and Sony developed a reputation for building quality machines. After a rough start Playstation 3 is set to continue the tradition, a triumph of interactive entertainment.

An Oblivion Massacre

A hilarious picture essay about one man's booze fueled gaming session.

PSP Go!

1UP's latest podcast revealed details about Sony's newest playstation portable device, the PSP Go!

According to 1UP the PSP Go! will feature "slide out” or “flip out” controls, a step away from the old PSP. In addition the system will feature either a 8gb or 16gb hard drive and launch with Digital’s Gran Turismo Mobile as a launch title.

The most talked about point was Sony's abandonment of the UMD disc as a means for game delivery. Instead it will utilize internal memory with games being downloaded from the Playstation Store onto the hardrive.
For more information check out the gamersmag article.

A different kind of patch

Vampire: The Masquerade got a patched this morning to version 6.1.

Now normally a game update would be nothing to talk about but this patch was released by fans rather than the developers who have gone under. It is always amazing to see what lengths a video game community will go to in order to improve their gaming experience.

LA Court rules in favor of Scratch

A Los Angeles Court found in favor of Scratch DJ Game LLC granting them access to their source code and software held by Activision.

About a month ago the creaters of DJ Game filed a complaint against the gaming giant alleging that they had "conspired to sabotage Scratch development in order to reduce competition for DJ Her, Activision's own DJ title."

It's important to note that the Judge found no evidence of sabotage, and ordered just the return of intellectual property.

Ordinary People Playing Spore

A rare glimpse into the spore experience through the eyes of play-testers.

RTS Eye Candy

Check out Crispy Gamer's entertaining article on what gamer's today expect from a RTS (Real Time Strategy game) in terms of graphics.

Activision leaves PCGA

Activision Blizzard, one of the biggest video game production companies in existence has decided to leave the PC Gaming Alliance, an organization dedicated to promoting PC games.

Taking their place is Sony DADC best known for their SecuROM software. As most of you know SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection system infamous for corrupting installs and generally hassling owners of certain games(BioShock and Mass Effect).

Via: GamePolitics.com

80 million game

Disney's pumping a huge amount of money into their newest game

BGE2

Beyond Good and Evil 2 Looks Great!

PS3 Game the Agency

Sony Online Entertainment is developing a new game titled The Agency for the Playstation 3 and the PC. The game is a Spy based MMORPG in which the player joins an Agency and performs missions for it. As the player completes their objectives they acquire operatives and eventually can take those operatives and form their own group.

What makes the game so special though is the fact that in game characters can send you real text messages and e-mails to inform you of whats going on currently (The game is persistent and continues even when your not logged in.)

Definitly keep an eye out for this potentially revolutionary game.

OnLive on webcomics

Ctrl+Alt+Del joins Penny Arcade in mocking OnLive, seems like most of the larger webcomics aren't taking it very seriously.

Click for larger image

Yet ANOTHER new contender enters the ring..

There's no doubt that todays gamers are in a sort of "arms race" with the video game industry. Developers publish new games each day that require more and more system resources to run and new consoles need to be purchased to play the latest titles.

However a new startup company is hoping to change this. OnLive seeks to put all the hardware and processing power necessary for next gen games not in your living room but rather on their servers and machines which will then deliver the content to you through a broadband connection, basically applying the concept of cloud computing to gaming.

The gaming world is buzzing with people either bashing or praising OnLive's novel idea but I'll wait til the beta has been underway for a while before I form a concrete opinion.

A detailed look at Everquest II users

Gamespy released an interesting graphic today, a by the numbers break down of Everquest II players. Some of it is somewhat predictable, 80% are male and a disproportionate number have been diagnosed with depression(predictable only when you subscribe to the negative stereotype of video gamers perpetuated by society).

However more interesting is the unexpected information.

First contrary to what South Park would have you believe Everquest's gamers are on average, less obese than the average American.

Secondly more than 50% of Everquest users are over the age of 30 rather than the teenagers that society so often thinks of as gamers. A possible reason for this may be the fact that Everquest users must pay a monthly fee to play, making it slightly easier to access for those with a income.

And finally, on average people that have attended college are more likely to play Everquest than those without. Something worth noting but not totally unexpected.

Check out the higher resolution image at Gamespy's site if not for the information than just to look at the aesthetically pleasing charts.

A new competitor enters the ring...

A new video game startup company is developing a low cost console targeted at developing countries like Brazil, Russia, China, and India. Named "Zeebo" the console will run older games such as Resident Evil 4, Quake, and Sonic Adventure, all video game classics which have sold millions of copies in the US alone. The company has an innovative distribution model that they hope will both drive sales and reduce privacy. Rather than having gamers go out and buy physical copies of the game or set up broadband connections to download the latest games a-la Steam or Xbox Live Arcade, Zeebo wants to use the existing cell phone networks in place to sell games.

On paper the idea seems to be sound but I have my reservations...

For one, the makers of Zeebo hope to sell it at about $199 to make it relatively cheap and affordable. Yet $199 is still extremely steep for many inhabitants in the developing world not to mention that due to recent price cuts the Xbox 360 is now only $150 in most locations.

Secondly Zeebo is trying to sell classic games at 10 dollars a pop, yet the games vary wildly. For very old games such as Quake and Sonic Adventure this seems doable, yet I doubt companies like Capcom would want to sell their recent hits like Resident Evil 4 for the same amount.

And finally most games are written specifically for the consoles they will be released on. The Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo all have different coding systems requiring each game to have a team of developers porting it for secondary systems. The possibility of developers hiring employees to port their games to the Zeebo is slim.

Yet who knows, the Zeebo can be the next big thing, revolutionizing the way video games are marketed in developing countries. For now all we can do is wait and see if the makers of Zeebo can solve their significant and many obstacles.

Late April Fools

Bethesda decided to play with its fans a bit today. They've announced that all their Xbox 360 downloadable content would be half off...except for the horse armor.

Haha, horse armor.

Ethics in video games? Yes!

Fallout 3 is the newest release from Bethesda Studios. As many of you know Bethesda's last game Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls was 2007's smashit, accumulating over a dozen game of the year awards from G4, IGN, Gamespot, and numerous others. Fallout 3 doesn't dissapoint, selling over 600,000 copies within the first month and is well on its way to win game of the year.

Fallout 3 is the third installment of the award winning Fallout series taking place in a post apocalyptic future. Everything in the game is more or less inspired by the "atomic age" from Big Boy Bobbleheads to round robot butlers. The player starts the game as a baby choosing his or her S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats(Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) and how he or she will look, all masked under an ingenious system designed to keep the player immersed in the game. Upon the players completion of character set up a series of events is put in motion starting with the characters father fleeing their safe but oppressive home "Vault 101". The player is forced to look for his father and is free to choose how to do so, attacking enemies in his way, completeing quests for NPCs (Non-Playable Characters), and accumulating the best weapons and gear.

Many recent games have attempted to include a system of ethics that would affect gameplay, two notable examples are Fable and Grand Theft Auto IV. Lionhead Studios' Fable is a very linear rpg which measures the players moral alignment based on the actions that he performs. For example, running around and punching small children will net you evil points while saving traders from bandits will net you points for good. In Fable your alignment would lead to a change in your appearance, good players tend to appear more human and if really good, have butterflies flit around the character. Characters that have eschewed the path of righteousness gradually become paler, their eyes become bloodred, and flies gravitate towards them.
Fables innovative execution of good and evil resulted in players playing through the game multiple times trying to experience the game through both views.

Grand Theft Auto IV took a different approach to how players interact with morality. At certain points within the game the player is forced to choose between killinga character or sparing their life. The game has multiple endings that are determined by which path the player chose to take. GTA IV also presents the player with a choice of getting revenge or dealing with those that have wronged him, also leading to different possible endings. Yet even though there were morality choices in GTA players usually only played the game once because no matter what the player does the only thing he misses out on is a cutscene which he can see online with no real feeling of loss.

Fallout 3 takes a new and unique approach to tackling good vs evil. Players are awarded good and evil karma for not just the actions they take but also how they interact with their environment. Fallout 3's creator did not want the player to be performing random acts of opportunistic evil that would be canceled out by a equal act of good, he wanted it to be more like real life where you are considered good or evil based on all your actions. To this end the players cannot see how "evil" they are or how much "good" they will accumulate for performing certain deeds.

My roomate and I have been playing through Fallout 3 utilizing two very different strategies. I have elected to take the path of the righteous do gooder, helping the inhabitants of the capital wasteland. My roomate on the otherhand is on a path of death and destruction, killing everyone he meets and stealing from the poor and rich alike.

During the course of the game we encountered many towns and locales including one called Megaton which had been built around an ancient atomic bomb reminiscent of Fat Man. The mayor approaches the player with a simple proposition, disarm the bomb for the town and receive a palrtry sum of in game money, caps. A little while later we encounter a mysterious Mr. Burke in the town saloon who offers us much more money and a plush suite in a luxury tower in return for detonating the bomb which would result in the death of all the townspeople. Furthermore Mr. Burke provided all the items you would need in order to blow up the bomb and collect your reward immediately whereas if you wish to save the town you need to wait until you level up quite a bit and raise your science and explosives skills, something that takes hours of gameplay.

The player is thus confronted with a dilemna, destroy the town and reap the rewards quickly or delay gratification and help out the people of Megaton. Playing the part of the messiah I spent hours leveling up my character and collecting the necessary skills before finally completing the quest and collecting my reward which by then seemed inconsequential to my rich character. My roomate immediately destroyed the town and was able to obtain his simmilar reward which helped his low level character immensely.


Later on my roomate and I were in the middle of a mission, escorting a group of scientists to a safe fortress while being chased by evil Enclave soldiers. Halfway through our escape into the seweres one of the scientists suffers a medical emergency and the player is forced to choose between four different possible actions.

The player can convince the others that they should leave the injured scientist as he could slow them down and lead to their capture.

The player can give the injured member 5 stimpacks(items that replenish health) which are fairly hard to come by and creates a significant dent in the players medical inventory.

The player can give the injured member 3 buffouts(items that give a temporary boost to strength at the cost of a bit of health, the in game equivalent of drugs) however these are also semi-rare and can help the player significantly later on.

And finally the player can shoot the injured scientist in cold blood and eliminate the problem. This obviously leads to a loss of karma and confidence from the surviving scientists.

I had in my inventory enough stimpacks to heal him, however I wasn't keen on just giving away my hard earned items for free. Giving out buffouts was a more attractive choice as they cost less than stimpacks and I personally hadn't used them in a while (the reason which I will get into later on), however I only had 2 of the necessary 3 so that wasn't an option. I debated leaving him behind but I felt an obligation for keeping him alive --eliminating the option of killing him as well-- therefore my decision seemed fairly straightforward. I gave him the five stimpacks and kept going, with no reward save a few karma points.

When my roomate encountered the same situation he chuckled a bit, pulled out a .44 magnum, and shot him in the head, execution style, end of story.

One of the best things about these "go anywhere, do anything" games is the amount of creativity it inspires in players. Case in point is the concept of "proxy killing", in order to avoid losing karma and still kill certain NPCs that need to be terminated players have come up with an ingenious solution. Rather than kill the NPCs themselves players will provoke them by targeting them with a non lethal weapon or punch them barehanded turning them hostile. Once the NPC becomes hostile you are allowed to defend yourself and kill them in self defense.

During the final minutes of the game the player is thrust into an epic battle of good versus evil, fighting for the survival of himself and every individual in the Capital Wasteland. You are forced to make the ultimate decision, sacrificing the majority of the wasteland but saving "pure" humanity, or allowing mutations and mutants to persist and save everyone. In this one instance both my roomate and I both decided to save the innocent civilians of the wasteland.

Games like Fallout 3, Fable, and GTA IV, all understand that allowing the player to make his or her own decisions is an integral part of creating a truly immersive and captivating game. Players can indulge in their fantasies of destruction and revenge and become the most ruthless villains yet in the end even the most cold hearted will pause and reconsider his path.

Racist or not? Part Deux

Penny Arcade had a hilarious take on the whole "controversy" with Resident Evil 5.
Good to know that people see the ridiculousness of the accusations.

Amazon sells Video Games

Amazon has entered the video game distribution business offering windows users the opportunity to download games instantly.

Velvet Assassin gets the comic treatment

The creator of Aeon Flux (the comic book of cult classic fame) Peter Chung is making a 15 page graphic novel for Velvet Assassin the video game about a world war II allied assassin.
The novel will be available for those who buy the game at Gamestop.
Velvet Assassin will be available for Xbox 360 and PC on April 14th.

Resident Evil 5

Gamezine had an article this morning talking about possible racist connotations in the upcoming Resident Evil 5. First a little background for those of you unfamiliar with the game, it takes place in Africa where locals are turning into zombies. Your character is then forced to fight for his life by blowing away hundreds of black zombies.
While some people may be uncomfortable with this it really is a minor issue. The game emphasizes the fact that the enemies are only attacking you because they have been changed against their will into flesh eating zombies. The game also has a few white zombies that are just as vicious.
The studio behind Capcom was merely trying to tell a story in a new location. With so many First Person shooter games coming out these days it seems like every type of story has already been told, the space marine fighting aliens, the Allied soldier fighting nazis, the everyman fighting the evil corporation. A new game taking place on the African Savannah and dealing with tribal zombies is something completely new and exciting, and judging by the number of people downloading and talking about the demo, its on the right track.

(Gundam + Dynasty Warriors) X 2 = Happiness

Gundam Musou 2 or Gundam Dynasty Warriors 2 is the convergence of two massively successful video game franchises. Both Gundam and Dynasty Warriors have sold thousands of games and have made millions in sales. This sequel to their first popular lovechild looks good, allowing the player to fight hundreds of enemy robots at once.

Who wouldn't want to pilot a giant robot and wreak havok?

Video Games outperform economy

The video game industry made 22 billion dollars in 2008. In an economy that logged huge losses for 2008, the video game industry was able to increase their sales by 22.9%.

"Even in difficult economic times, the video game industry continues to support our country’s local, state and national economies with record-breaking sales figures and rapid technological innovation,”
-Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA

While some may argue that the industry took hits in the second half of the year like the rest of the economy, they still managed to rake in a whopping 5.3 Billion dollars in December sales alone.

For more figures and statistics check out the entertainment software associations full article.

15 Gigabytes

Empire: Total War specs were announced today.
Whatever happened to the days when 1 gigabyte hard drive space meant a huge game. 15 gigabytes? Really?

Regardless, when the game releases in March I will definitely be picking up the latest installment of my favorite video game series, Total War.

Starcraft and College, together as one!

UC Berkeley is adding a new course dedicated to Starcraft, one of the bestselling games ever and awarded a massive number of awards.
The course will:

"go in-depth in the theory of how war is conducted within the confines of the game Starcraft. There will be lecture on various aspects of the game, from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles are conducted. Calculus and Differential Equations are highly recommended for full understanding of the course. Furthermore, the class will take the theoretical into the practical world by analyzing games and replays to reinforce decision-making skills and advanced Starcraft theory."

I'm not sure how any of this applies to future success unless your working for an RTS developer but it is every gamer (and many a South Korean's) dream come true.

For further details you can check out the courses official site at http://michaelo.phswebs.com/BerkeleyStarcraft/ or facebook group.

Drugs, Alcohol, and Video Games

A few days ago professor Laura Walker from Brigham Young University published a study that video gamers are more likely to "use drugs, drink alcohol, have poor relationships, and poor self esteem". The article raised some red flags in my head not because it came from BYU, a school that has a strict honor code mandating no drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and coffee to name a few, but because of the way the survey was conducted. Sureveyees were invited to the survey after having read a specific newspaper ad raising questions on the studies impartiality and bias.

As expected a few newspapers took the study and published it, decrying the evil of video games. The Telegraph for instance published an article where they presented the findings as fact, listing out the many negative conclusions drawn and adding a small alternative view from Walker herself which in the end turned out to be a validation of her own work again.

"It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time," she said. "My guess is that it's some of both and becomes circular."

Well today Valke from NuclearGeek was able to obtain an interview with Walker to discuss her findings. Walker defended her findings with a well written email that almost convinced me she was a fair and impartial person until the end where she wrote:

"Also, please remember the nature of the statistics shows that as one variable goes up the other went down. For example, the more one played video games the lower their quality of relationships."

"Also please remember, these are averages. Just because you happen to be an "exception" doesn't mean that the results cannot be "true" for a good number of young people. Right?"

She is defending her claims although by her own admission her study only focused on the extremes of gaming and she did not know if video games caused these behaviors or if these behaviors drove people to video games.

Take what you want from this study but remember, these are extreme cases and not representative of every gamer as the mainstream media would like you to believe.

Microsoft Games still going strong despite layoffs

It looks like Microsoft is committed to keeping Windows a "first-class gaming platform".

This morning Ron Pessner the chief of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division and now Interactive Entertainment Business as well, announced that they would continue to invest in the platform and continue to develop and publish new games.

The announcement was no doubt intended to assure investors as 1,400 employees were laid off, many from the video games division. Chris Early, former general manager of games for Windows Live was also let go and his duties will be assumed by Pessner.

As a PC gamer myself I am glad to see that Microsoft decided not to axe their entertainment division altogether. Although games on Windows live were a joke to many in the industry, more traditional pc games like massively multiplayer online role playing games and and real time strategy are all important genres which just wouldnt be the same if ported to consoles.

Incredible

An hilarious interpretation of Final Fantasy in musical format!