Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Capcom CEO: Social games had 'earth-shattering' effect on industry
Speaking with Bloomberg Japan, Tsujimoto said that social games make up about 6.6 percent of Capcom's profits, but he expects that to explode to about 30 percent "in a few years." But despite the wild profits Capcom expects to make from social games, Tsujimoto said to Bloomberg Japan that he's still excited about Nintendo's upcoming console, the Wii U. Well, here's to hoping the console has some sort of social gaming support, but we're sure the company has wised up by now.
Collapse! Blast, UNO Boost burst onto GameHouse games portal
Between its new mobile platform and now this, Facebook looms like the spaceship from Independence Day over the Internet. Casual and social game creator GameHouse announced that both of its Facebook games, Collapse! Blast and UNO Boost, are now available on GameHouse.com. The games are playable on GameHouse's home turf through Facebook Connect.
Former Playdom GM takes the reins of social game start-up 519 Games
Melnick left Playdom and Disney just as doubts grew as to whether the latter could properly use the former to succeed in social games. Since then, Playdom has finally moved to take advantage of Disney's immense branding support, first slapping "Disney's" onto Gnome Town. A number of Playdom games featuring the company's properties will see the light in 2012. Playdom also announced Secret Agent X, a Facebook game shrouded in secrecy that lives up to its title--very sneaky, sis.
The Killer Pumpkin assaults Pocket God on Facebook this Halloween
While the game is down for maintenance as of this writing, a new Global Challenge awaits the game's 190,000 monthly players. The Great Jack-o'-Pygmy wants pumpkins everywhere this Halloween, and has granted players with the power to summon a giant pumpkin that transforms pygmies into pumpkins. And when those gourds grow to gigantic proportions, they can even be used to crush more pygmies.
Enrique Iglesias says, 'I Like How It Feels' in CityVille, visits next week
Toward the end of the event, you will have the chance to build Enrique his very own Euphoria Arena in-game. Once you do, the guy will be so nice as to show you a sneak preview of his brand new music video, "I Like How It Feels" (featuring Pitbull and The WAVs). Of course, this is far from the first time a Zynga game has enjoyed celebrity exposure.
Monday, October 24, 2011
3DS Monster Hunter Won’t Have Online
One of the things that impressed me most about the 3DS was its online. With the 3DS, Nintendo has delivered a solid online experience — an experience that will be M.I.A. for Monster Hunter 3G.
It is possible to get online with Monster Hunter 3DS to do things like download event quests. You just won’t be able to play with your faraway buddies.
The game’s Wii version did support online; however, the 3DS version will not. Instead, players can connect via ah hoc wireless play. Old school.
It is possible to get online with Monster Hunter 3DS to do things like download event quests. You just won’t be able to play with your faraway buddies.
The game’s Wii version did support online; however, the 3DS version will not. Instead, players can connect via ah hoc wireless play. Old school.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
One Hour With World Of Warcraft’s Pandaren Monk
Join me as I go on a mystical journey on the back of a giant turtle, learning the ways of the new Monk class, the ways of the Pandaren race, and how strange it is to play a melee character in World of Warcraft without an auto attack.
Blizzard may take forever to finish their games, but when they announce one they make damn sure they’ve got something playable to show for it. That’s how I got my paws on one of Mists of Pandaria‘s Pandaren Monk for an hour this morning at BlizzCon 2011.
I’ve often said the journey of a thousand kilometres begins with character creation, and in the case of the Pandaren demo at BlizzCon that’s a very limited beginning. Since female pandas are currently just male pandas with labels over their heads that say “I’m a Girl”, the only real option I had was deciding my Monk’s name. Eager to get into the action, I chose my default trade show MMO character name.
Crecente the panda came to life in the Pandaren starting zone of The Wandering Isle, so named because it’s built on top of a gigantic turtle. The first thing I did was type ‘/dance’. Sadly, nothing happened.
The Monk class starts with two skills at level one. Jab is a basic attack that uses the regenerating Chi resource, the Monk equivalent of Rogue energy. Using Jab generates light and dark energy, represented as four dots on either side of an Asian dragon-styled interface element. These dots are used to power advanced martial arts techniques, like the second starting skill, Tiger Palm, a more damaging attack.
These skills are put to the test during my second quest (the first merely involved fetching a pair of handwrap fist weapons from a rack), in which I was tasked with beating up some training dummies. I walked up to one, clicked it, and nothing happened.
Oh yeah, no auto attack. How odd.
Where other melee World of Warcraft characters can simply click on an enemy to automatically begin attacking, the Monk can only initiate an attack by using a skill or ability. It feels odd at first, but later in the demo I began to get skills that helped shed light on the reasoning behind the choice. Around level four or five I earned a darkness-fuelled kicking skill that replenished a point of dark power if I killed an enemy with it. That’s a task made much easier when you don’t have to worry about an auto attack futzing with your rhythm. I imagine Monk players will be extremely busy during combat as they get up in levels; at least the good ones will.
A series of quests led me across a distinctly Asian-flavoured land, filled with serene majestic temples, mystical caverns, calm, tranquil waters and monkey creatures that jump on your back for no damn reason.
No, seriously, I was on a quest to repel monkey-creature invaders from a village and one of the monkeys leapt onto my back, clinging to me as I killed his companions. For one brief, shining moment I was a panda with a monkey on his back, and I understood the mystical balance of all things.
The balance of all things plays a large part in this opening story, steeped in ancient wisdom, focused on the spiritual and the elemental. It was at once familiar and foreign. One moment I was performing a standard gather X number of Y quest, the next I was battling other Monk students while balanced on wooden poles, or chasing the Spirit of Water across a pond, playing tag.
Or fighting the most adorable little bunny creatures away from a farmer’s carrots. I really wish I had a picture of these Vermind (I believe that’s what they were called). They’re the next Murlocs, mark my words.
The familiar and foreign theme carries over to the Monk class as well. With their Chi energy and the light and dark dot mechanic they felt like Rogues initially, only with outrageous rolling about instead of stealth. Once I earned the Flying Tiger Kick, the Monk version of a Warrior’s Charge skill, I began to see how they might function as a tank.
Unfortunately the choice between healing, DPS and tanking (as well as Alliance or Horde) doesn’t happen until level 10, and I had to stop at seven.
There is much promise here, in this ancient Asian land, where the pop culture references turn from sci-fi fantasy to kung fu movies and comic book martial artists; where the battle between the Alliance and the Horde isn’t as important as the battle for inner peace and tranquility.
I feel sad, knowing that war will soon spill over into this untouched land, but I get the impression Crecente the Panda Monk will be able to handle anything they throw at him.
Blizzard may take forever to finish their games, but when they announce one they make damn sure they’ve got something playable to show for it. That’s how I got my paws on one of Mists of Pandaria‘s Pandaren Monk for an hour this morning at BlizzCon 2011.
I’ve often said the journey of a thousand kilometres begins with character creation, and in the case of the Pandaren demo at BlizzCon that’s a very limited beginning. Since female pandas are currently just male pandas with labels over their heads that say “I’m a Girl”, the only real option I had was deciding my Monk’s name. Eager to get into the action, I chose my default trade show MMO character name.
Crecente the panda came to life in the Pandaren starting zone of The Wandering Isle, so named because it’s built on top of a gigantic turtle. The first thing I did was type ‘/dance’. Sadly, nothing happened.
The Monk class starts with two skills at level one. Jab is a basic attack that uses the regenerating Chi resource, the Monk equivalent of Rogue energy. Using Jab generates light and dark energy, represented as four dots on either side of an Asian dragon-styled interface element. These dots are used to power advanced martial arts techniques, like the second starting skill, Tiger Palm, a more damaging attack.
These skills are put to the test during my second quest (the first merely involved fetching a pair of handwrap fist weapons from a rack), in which I was tasked with beating up some training dummies. I walked up to one, clicked it, and nothing happened.
Oh yeah, no auto attack. How odd.
Where other melee World of Warcraft characters can simply click on an enemy to automatically begin attacking, the Monk can only initiate an attack by using a skill or ability. It feels odd at first, but later in the demo I began to get skills that helped shed light on the reasoning behind the choice. Around level four or five I earned a darkness-fuelled kicking skill that replenished a point of dark power if I killed an enemy with it. That’s a task made much easier when you don’t have to worry about an auto attack futzing with your rhythm. I imagine Monk players will be extremely busy during combat as they get up in levels; at least the good ones will.
A series of quests led me across a distinctly Asian-flavoured land, filled with serene majestic temples, mystical caverns, calm, tranquil waters and monkey creatures that jump on your back for no damn reason.
No, seriously, I was on a quest to repel monkey-creature invaders from a village and one of the monkeys leapt onto my back, clinging to me as I killed his companions. For one brief, shining moment I was a panda with a monkey on his back, and I understood the mystical balance of all things.
The balance of all things plays a large part in this opening story, steeped in ancient wisdom, focused on the spiritual and the elemental. It was at once familiar and foreign. One moment I was performing a standard gather X number of Y quest, the next I was battling other Monk students while balanced on wooden poles, or chasing the Spirit of Water across a pond, playing tag.
Or fighting the most adorable little bunny creatures away from a farmer’s carrots. I really wish I had a picture of these Vermind (I believe that’s what they were called). They’re the next Murlocs, mark my words.
The familiar and foreign theme carries over to the Monk class as well. With their Chi energy and the light and dark dot mechanic they felt like Rogues initially, only with outrageous rolling about instead of stealth. Once I earned the Flying Tiger Kick, the Monk version of a Warrior’s Charge skill, I began to see how they might function as a tank.
Unfortunately the choice between healing, DPS and tanking (as well as Alliance or Horde) doesn’t happen until level 10, and I had to stop at seven.
There is much promise here, in this ancient Asian land, where the pop culture references turn from sci-fi fantasy to kung fu movies and comic book martial artists; where the battle between the Alliance and the Horde isn’t as important as the battle for inner peace and tranquility.
I feel sad, knowing that war will soon spill over into this untouched land, but I get the impression Crecente the Panda Monk will be able to handle anything they throw at him.
The Blizzcon 2011 Cosplay Winner Must Be Seen To Be Believed
n a show filled with people dressed in cardboard copies of World of Warcraft armour a woman dressed up as the Adjutant from Starcraft completely stole the show at last night’s costume contest.
I was on my way to the Kotaku Meetup party last night while the costume contest was going on, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Adjutant costume on my way out, and my jaw just about hit the floor. I think I might have just developed a robot fetish. About damn time.
I was on my way to the Kotaku Meetup party last night while the costume contest was going on, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of the Adjutant costume on my way out, and my jaw just about hit the floor. I think I might have just developed a robot fetish. About damn time.
News Domain Registrations Confirm Assassin’s Creed Movie?
Variety reported on Wednesday that Sony Pictures and Ubisoft were in talks to make an Assassin’s Creed movie. Turns out Sony’s already registered 16 domains for such a picture, making this seem like a done deal.
The domains were all registered on October 20, the day before the Variety story, reports domain name eye-in-the-sky Fusible.
The project will be overseen by Ubisoft Motion Pictures, an arm of the company set up to specifically ensure that film adaptations of Ubisoft games don’t suck. Here’s hoping that they succeed.
Assassin’s Creed Movie a Done Deal, According to Sony Pictures Domains
The domains were all registered on October 20, the day before the Variety story, reports domain name eye-in-the-sky Fusible.
The project will be overseen by Ubisoft Motion Pictures, an arm of the company set up to specifically ensure that film adaptations of Ubisoft games don’t suck. Here’s hoping that they succeed.
Assassin’s Creed Movie a Done Deal, According to Sony Pictures Domains
Saturday, October 22, 2011
R.I.P. Squaresoft
For 10 years of my life, Squaresoft has been and always been my most loved Developer. Back in the day(the good ol classic RPG renaissance days), they have churned out countless of RPG that i have love so dearly to this day. Final Fantasy, Front Missions, Tactics Ogre, Threads of Fate, Parasite Eve and countless others. With the merging of Enix and Squaresoft into one company, and having Yoichi Wada be the president was the day that Squaresoft died, with it the RPG empire came crumbling down, gone are the final fantasy's, front mission, and other new and fresh RPG tht they might have develop. I really don't get why a Japanese company such as Square Enix and even Capcom would want to westernize their games, isnt the appeal of their games in the first place is because they are of different culture and we want to understand or learn about that culture in the first place. They have countless of times made bad decisions one after the other. So i say, goodbye squaresoft, what a brief but sweet time i had playing all your games that i loved so much, farewell, i hope that we meet again down the road but I'm not holding my breath, farewell to the blissful afternoons playing your games, levelling my characters, acquiring all hidden secrets, you'll be miss.
The funniest and most ridiculous fanboy/troll quotes - X360
Here is my list of the funniest and most ridiculous fanboy quotes on N4G - Note: all quotes are real and no usernames will be given. -
In no particular order:
1. "its good to know that Microsoft really cares about the quality of their products"
2. "When did Guerrilla Games matter? They crapped out a sticky turd called Killzone and crapped out a much more solid turd called Killzone 2"
3. "The World of Playstation 3, Is "make.believe" *ba dum tish*"
4. "Hmm Im not sure who should be the Sony mascot, Maybe the main character from Haze?"
5. "BTW Sony fanboys are so loyal to Sony that Sony could take over the world if they wanted to. Their will to defend Papa Sony is soldier like will."
6. "What it does is makes PS3 1% closer to becoming a next gen console. So expect at least 99 updates more"
7. "If you're a 360 fanboy stay away from PS3 threads AND 360 threads because ironically that's where most of the PS3 community on this site is"
8. "Sony should never have made the PS3"
9. "Sony fanboy's is what's wrong with the gaming industry. Matter of fact Sony fanboys is what's wrong on planet Earth. I wish the Power of the Cell could send them to outer space"
10. "PS3 fanboys are more emotional because they love Sony like a father while 360 fans simply like the 360 with no emotional attachment like the Sony fanboys"
11. "Ever since i saw the ps3 i knew it was the beggining of the end for Sony."
12. "master chief' is actually the most legendary charachter of games. It's nocontest ps3fanboys drake or snake not handle a Spartan (master chief) Master Chief kills all this garbages charachter of family of ps"
13. "Strange, i must be the only one that the RROD fixes itself !!!!!!!!!"
14. "Killzone 2 got a 9.5 in visuals and so did Fable 2, what does that mean ? That both are the best looking games this generation obviosuly"
In no particular order:
1. "its good to know that Microsoft really cares about the quality of their products"
2. "When did Guerrilla Games matter? They crapped out a sticky turd called Killzone and crapped out a much more solid turd called Killzone 2"
3. "The World of Playstation 3, Is "make.believe" *ba dum tish*"
4. "Hmm Im not sure who should be the Sony mascot, Maybe the main character from Haze?"
5. "BTW Sony fanboys are so loyal to Sony that Sony could take over the world if they wanted to. Their will to defend Papa Sony is soldier like will."
6. "What it does is makes PS3 1% closer to becoming a next gen console. So expect at least 99 updates more"
7. "If you're a 360 fanboy stay away from PS3 threads AND 360 threads because ironically that's where most of the PS3 community on this site is"
8. "Sony should never have made the PS3"
9. "Sony fanboy's is what's wrong with the gaming industry. Matter of fact Sony fanboys is what's wrong on planet Earth. I wish the Power of the Cell could send them to outer space"
10. "PS3 fanboys are more emotional because they love Sony like a father while 360 fans simply like the 360 with no emotional attachment like the Sony fanboys"
11. "Ever since i saw the ps3 i knew it was the beggining of the end for Sony."
12. "master chief' is actually the most legendary charachter of games. It's nocontest ps3fanboys drake or snake not handle a Spartan (master chief) Master Chief kills all this garbages charachter of family of ps"
13. "Strange, i must be the only one that the RROD fixes itself !!!!!!!!!"
14. "Killzone 2 got a 9.5 in visuals and so did Fable 2, what does that mean ? That both are the best looking games this generation obviosuly"
Make Your Halloween Party Rock(Band)!
UPDATE: Thanks to all our entries, so much fun!! Winners will be announced Friday, October 22.
Want to add some RockBand to your Halloween party? Here's your chance! Harmonix has sent us five of their finest, and what are we if not truly awesome at sharing?
What's at stake:
LEGO RockBand (PS3)
Green Day RockBand (PS3)
RockBand Metal Track Pack (PS3)
The Beatles Rock Band (PS3)
RockBand 2 (PS3)
4 RockBand tees, and enough RockBand buttons and stickers for your whole band!
How to Enter:
- Comment on this Blog with a picture of your best gaming themed Jack-o-Lantern!
How to Win:
- Entries will be judged by N4G staff - we want to see serious devotion to the craft, so be creative!
More Details:
- You can enter as many times as you want, but you can only win once!
- Don't have a pumpkin to transform? Well, this is the internet, where finding loopholes thrives. Show us some masterful Photochoppery, or MS Painting, or whatever fuels that artistic fire!
- Five winners will be chosen by staff, with the first winner choosing their game first, second second, you know the drill. Winners 1-4 will receive t-shirts. All winners will receive buttons and stickers for their band.
- Games are for PS3, licensed for NA distribution only.
- You have until Midnight (PST) October 20, 2010 to enter. (NOTE: Due to some unexpected N4G downtime, the contest deadline has been extended)
- We want to be sure it's you, and your pumpkin. Give us a clue!
- If you've won a recent monthly N4G contest or other giveaway, you're still eligible to enter this one.
Want to add some RockBand to your Halloween party? Here's your chance! Harmonix has sent us five of their finest, and what are we if not truly awesome at sharing?
What's at stake:
LEGO RockBand (PS3)
Green Day RockBand (PS3)
RockBand Metal Track Pack (PS3)
The Beatles Rock Band (PS3)
RockBand 2 (PS3)
4 RockBand tees, and enough RockBand buttons and stickers for your whole band!
How to Enter:
- Comment on this Blog with a picture of your best gaming themed Jack-o-Lantern!
How to Win:
- Entries will be judged by N4G staff - we want to see serious devotion to the craft, so be creative!
More Details:
- You can enter as many times as you want, but you can only win once!
- Don't have a pumpkin to transform? Well, this is the internet, where finding loopholes thrives. Show us some masterful Photochoppery, or MS Painting, or whatever fuels that artistic fire!
- Five winners will be chosen by staff, with the first winner choosing their game first, second second, you know the drill. Winners 1-4 will receive t-shirts. All winners will receive buttons and stickers for their band.
- Games are for PS3, licensed for NA distribution only.
- You have until Midnight (PST) October 20, 2010 to enter. (NOTE: Due to some unexpected N4G downtime, the contest deadline has been extended)
- We want to be sure it's you, and your pumpkin. Give us a clue!
- If you've won a recent monthly N4G contest or other giveaway, you're still eligible to enter this one.
Do games like L4D & L4D2 prove that gamer's aren't patient?
Note: There was probably a post similar to this I didn't read or remember, and if I "copied" it, I apologize.
I must confess: I love killing zombies. The sheer satisfaction of red hot bullets tearing through the zombies' flesh and empty cranium. I loved all the Resident Evil series (except for the travesty that was RE5, and yes, I enjoyed RE: Outbreak 1 and File#2). I've watched a countless number of zombie flicks from oldies, to remakes; but ultimately, I was waiting for the ultimate zombie game.
Enter L4D. When Valve announced it back in 2006, I was more than excited. I was ecstatic. Valve was a respectable developer, catering for PC gamers. It promised to emulate the feeling of being in a zombie apocalypse. I knew this game was going to rock. A few frustrating (and I mean VERY frustrating) delays later, I had my copy. I was trembling with excitement. I fired the game up, and the opening cut scene blew me away. I told myself "This game is going to be AWESOME!!!"
A few lag issues and another few annoying players were in the way, but I was having fun. but something kept irking me. I didn't have that overwhelming feeling I though I would have when I dreamed of this game's release. Instead, I kept thinking things like "What if they added..." or "What if they did this instead of..." In short, I personally felt there was a lack of content. To show you what I had expected or wanted, I provided a list:
*Sprint option
*Aiming down the sights
*Melee weapons (L4D2 provided this, however); and more dynamic melee weapon differences (i.e. attack speed, damage, swing radius, reach)
*"Crawl" option when a player is down. (Additionally, another player can "drag" the downed player; the downed player can use his/her weapon, while the other can only use a pistol while he is dragging the player.)
*Scavenging items
*NPC interaction.
*Bloodier survivor deaths
*More spontaneous gameplay, instead of going from Safe Room A to Safe room B
*More engaging story
But while I was conjuring these thoughts, I was thinking, "They must have left these out on purpose!"
Now (Sorry for taking too long) is the question I want an opinion on: Are gamers not patient? Adding more features meant a deeper learning curve. A lot of individuals hate steep learning curves, so something simple is what caters to them. I realized L4D is more of a pick up and play, rather than being immersed inside it.
L4D, for me, was a like a unfinished hamburger; the core ingredients were there (the hamburger and hamburger buns) but the other, important ingredients that compliment it and make it even better were missing (the cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickles, etc). It was good, but it was missing VARIETY. It costs more to make a more extravagant hamburger and people might even not like the additional ingredients, so the makers (or developers) stick to what is simple and what works: Sausage and buns.
I am not bashing L4D or L4D2. I still have a lot of fun with it. I was not one of the boy cotters, nor was I planning to be one. L4D, simply, did not meet my high expectations.
So, I want to ask the readers (if you read this) of your opinion. Should developers make a more game diverse, or do you believe in the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" idea? Should gamers be more patient?
And finally: Was there a game you were so excited about but ended being a disappointment? What features would you have added/removed to this game? If there was a sequel to this particular game, did you find it better, or worse, than it's predecessor?
I must confess: I love killing zombies. The sheer satisfaction of red hot bullets tearing through the zombies' flesh and empty cranium. I loved all the Resident Evil series (except for the travesty that was RE5, and yes, I enjoyed RE: Outbreak 1 and File#2). I've watched a countless number of zombie flicks from oldies, to remakes; but ultimately, I was waiting for the ultimate zombie game.
Enter L4D. When Valve announced it back in 2006, I was more than excited. I was ecstatic. Valve was a respectable developer, catering for PC gamers. It promised to emulate the feeling of being in a zombie apocalypse. I knew this game was going to rock. A few frustrating (and I mean VERY frustrating) delays later, I had my copy. I was trembling with excitement. I fired the game up, and the opening cut scene blew me away. I told myself "This game is going to be AWESOME!!!"
A few lag issues and another few annoying players were in the way, but I was having fun. but something kept irking me. I didn't have that overwhelming feeling I though I would have when I dreamed of this game's release. Instead, I kept thinking things like "What if they added..." or "What if they did this instead of..." In short, I personally felt there was a lack of content. To show you what I had expected or wanted, I provided a list:
*Sprint option
*Aiming down the sights
*Melee weapons (L4D2 provided this, however); and more dynamic melee weapon differences (i.e. attack speed, damage, swing radius, reach)
*"Crawl" option when a player is down. (Additionally, another player can "drag" the downed player; the downed player can use his/her weapon, while the other can only use a pistol while he is dragging the player.)
*Scavenging items
*NPC interaction.
*Bloodier survivor deaths
*More spontaneous gameplay, instead of going from Safe Room A to Safe room B
*More engaging story
But while I was conjuring these thoughts, I was thinking, "They must have left these out on purpose!"
Now (Sorry for taking too long) is the question I want an opinion on: Are gamers not patient? Adding more features meant a deeper learning curve. A lot of individuals hate steep learning curves, so something simple is what caters to them. I realized L4D is more of a pick up and play, rather than being immersed inside it.
L4D, for me, was a like a unfinished hamburger; the core ingredients were there (the hamburger and hamburger buns) but the other, important ingredients that compliment it and make it even better were missing (the cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickles, etc). It was good, but it was missing VARIETY. It costs more to make a more extravagant hamburger and people might even not like the additional ingredients, so the makers (or developers) stick to what is simple and what works: Sausage and buns.
I am not bashing L4D or L4D2. I still have a lot of fun with it. I was not one of the boy cotters, nor was I planning to be one. L4D, simply, did not meet my high expectations.
So, I want to ask the readers (if you read this) of your opinion. Should developers make a more game diverse, or do you believe in the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" idea? Should gamers be more patient?
And finally: Was there a game you were so excited about but ended being a disappointment? What features would you have added/removed to this game? If there was a sequel to this particular game, did you find it better, or worse, than it's predecessor?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Killzone 3 MP Beta Impressions
I'm going to level with you guys, I come into the KZ3 beta without being in any way hyped about the game and having not been entirely pleased with KZ2's campaign or online. What I had seen of this game from the close beta looked quite good to me, but certainly not ground breaking. As I intended to do a review of the OB, I decided to jot down some notes during the course of my time with it. This write up will include every issue I have found with the game, everything I like about the game and general observations about many things.
To kick it off, I will start with my 'likes'. In Killzone 2 it took quite a long time to take down opponents, something I wasn't satisfied with. Gladly, this has been rectified and kills in KZ3 are very quick, especially at short range. The one map in the OB is good without being great. As a result of the map being fairly one tone (i.e. lots of similar indoor rooms, stairs etc), it can be hard to remember early on (for me it was the first hour or so) where the part of the map you are in is in relation to other parts. The map is at lest conducive to fast paced and somewhat dynamic gameplay.
I also love how quickly and freely you can vault over objects like railings, and it goes without saying really that the animation in KZ3 is pretty impressive, with everything from melee kills to running looking very smooth. Speaking of smooth, during about 4 hours of game time so far I've encountered only 2 laggy sessions which is certainly better than CoD. The control feel is certainly anything but smooth on the other hand. There is still noticeable weight to the guns, and although it took me over an hour to fully get used to the control feel, I'm now very happy with it.
On the graphics and sound front, nothing particularly disappoints. The menu music is great, as are sounds generally (although I have a few issues with it I will address later). The graphics don't stand out to me as being awesome, although I’ll certainly admit they're amongst the best on consoles. But really, it's sad that people think this is comparable to PC games and again I’ll talk about this later.
Now I'll get onto my dislikes, and a warning this section will be very long.
First thing I noticed is that there is a lot of film grain to this game, more so even than there is in say Bad Company 1. It adds harshness to the graphics without having any benefit in return. The next thing to annoy me was that you have to select your kit on every spawn. In Bad Company (which like Killzone has mid game kit customization) you can customise your kit and then tell the game to go with that setup on your next spawn, but no such system is present in KZ3 and I found it an unnecessary nuisance.
While I'm on spawning, let me go into the spawn system. It's a mess. I found that it would frequently spawn me within metres of opponents who have direct line of sight on you. Frustratingly it especially frequently spawns you near enemies using the disguise ability (more on that later). On one occasion it even spawned me literally with the other team at the very start of the game. I thought they were friendlies using disguise, and then one killed me. There is also a spawn point on the OB map which sees you spawn with your face literally up against a very dark wall, not exactly fair. Also, after dying you can usually be revived or can choose to bypass that waiting time. Then you have to select your kit and then respawn. However, there is a glitch which I experienced several times whereby you instantly respawn as soon as you are shot down.
The disguise is an ability available for the infiltrator class which allows the player to appear to enemies as a friendly. It changes their name tag to that off a friendly player (and its colour to green), and it also changes their appearance to that of a friendly. This is a game breakingly bad choice from Guerrilla. Many games descend into simply shooting everybody you see because so many people are using disguise to sneak up and melee you that it is simply safer to shoot everyone and do away with the chance that they are an enemy. This also leads me into the ridiculous melee system.
Brutal melees look cool, there is no doubting that. But if you actually look at their affect on gameplay it is certainly negative. If you choose to melee an opponent and it goes into a brutal melee and then another enemy appears, you're in trouble. The melee simply takes too long to complete. You can easily lose a kill during the animation to a team mate you decides to shoot instead, or you can get killed yourself. There is also a plethora of issues surrounding the system. Firstly, if you engage in a BM (brutal melee) and the opponent is killed part way through, it takes about a second to return control to you. Secondly, if experiencing lag it is possible to shoot an enemy, then have them attempt to BM you, but during the attempt your bullets catch up and they die by your gun. There is again about a 1 second delay between them dying and the player getting back control. Thirdly, the gap between attempting melees is simply too long (about 4-5 seconds). Fourthly it's on the wrong button. Why would you put melee on the L1 and zoom on the right stick. They should have just stuck with CoD like controls of shoot on R1, scope on L1 and melee on right stick press, it is much more natural. Fifthly, engaging in a BM ruins immersion, as because the animations are canned, there is a significant camera position jump upon BM initiation. Sixthly, I found that initiating in a failed BM where the opponent is killed can reload your gun (only happened twice to me).
Now onto the UI. It is fucking hopeless. After each game there is a one minute gap before the next game starts. All you can do is check out the scoreboard from the last game and see how many points everyone got. You can’t do any of the normal stuff like check your/opponents stats, send someone a message, change controls, access options, etc. What makes this particularly horrendously ridiculous is that you can actually check your overall stats during a game, exactly when you don’t give a toss about them. WTF! On this note, checking the scoreboard isn’t advisable as it completely takes away your control. In pretty much every game ever, you can check the scoreboard and continue to run at the very least. Here though, it isn’t possible to quickly bring up the scoreboard and check how your going while on the move, as it takes too long to appear/disappear, plus the aforementioned issue. The menu’s also have a generally poor design both in terms of functionality and visual appeal. The red background makes things hard to quickly skim over for me at least, plus it is simply ugly and often things are hidden unnecessarily in sub menus.
I also take issue with the Guerrilla Warfare mode’s body count, which at 50 is far too low. The games go for up to 10 minutes, but at least on the OB map I haven’t had one go for more than 6 minutes. Another issue is that the FOV in this game is incredibly restricting, even more so than in CoD. As I said before there is an interval period of a minute between games. The game doesn’t even use this for loading the next map (if it does, the loading is very slow), as the new game loads at its conclusion. After this there is another 30 seconds before the game starts which you can use to customise your load outs. Why could this 30 seconds be removed by giving the player the ability to customise during the interval? Honestly the interval period in KZ3 has to be the biggest over sight in gaming history. The loading times on Friday night particularly varied widely, with the loading sometimes taking mere seconds to complete, yet sometimes it took until into the second minute of the next game for the loading and connecting to complete. I also had the loading freeze completely twice, although oddly I could still bring up the XMB and quit the game without it restarting the system, as generally happens when a game locks up. This leads to my next set of issues.
If you choose to load something, you can’t back out of it. I’ve faced infinite load screens at several places and had no option but to quit the game. These infinite loads occurred once on loading the leader boards, twice on selecting the ‘multiplayer’ button, and once or twice on loading a session. They need to put in an abort button to each of these in order to fix the infinite load problem.
General gameplay issues come down to a few things. Auto turrets for example are simply not welcome for me. For the same reason that automated gunships are bullshit in CoD, turrets are bullshit here. The game is an FPS, not an FPSwAB (FPS with Automated Bots)! The grenade throw takes a long time to complete, and you can also not throw a grenade or shoot while vaulting an object until the animation completes. When it comes to weapon balancing, the shotgun is very powerful over about 15 metres, but over the next 10 metres you can go from 1 shot kills to 3 shot kills, which is bollocks. After sprinting it takes about a second for the cross hair to come back up, which is a bigger issue than it would otherwise be as one of the way to detect a disguised enemy to that the crosshair colour still changes when over a disguised enemy.
The sounds are very hard to localise, which is possibly due to the hectic nature of the map and also because of the ambient sound effects being quite dominant. In most games, it is possible to hear enemies approaching by their footsteps; you somehow get a sense of having someone behind you. This is not the case with KZ as the map is so confined that there is always loud gunfire nearby. You’re hearing also gets completely dulled when on low health, so if you take a shot from off screen it is practically impossible to work out where it came as you can’t even hear them firing when on very low health.
The games unlock system is quite irritating, as it completely stops you from jumping from one class that you’ve ranked up to another that you haven’t and still having a chance at doing well. Once again referring to Bad Company, in that game you could say unlock pistols as you rank up which can be used in every kit, leaving only primary weapons to be unlocked for each kit individually. In KZ3 though, incredibly you have to purchase each secondary weapon for each kit separately. This wouldn’t be such as issue if you had a pistol from the start, but you don’t. Then once you buy the first pistol, it’s useless from more than a (very heavy) stone’s throw away.
Nearing the end now and my final gameplay related issues are that the double kill (and triple kill) timer is very, very long, in fact so long as you get your next kill within 5 seconds or so of your previous then that counts as a double/triple kill. It’s simply too long, but I feel it has been made so long so that people can get double kills with BM’s. Once you die you can be revived by people with the right class. Dead allies appear on the map as a green cross regardless of whether you can revive them or not. The issue here is that once dead yourself you have no way of knowing whether that team mate nearby is able to revive you or not, which means that you often waste time waiting to be revived by someone who can’t, or choose to take your life and respawn when a team mate was about to revive you.
Finally onto my issues with the graphics. The lighting downright sucks. For example, the lighting volumes readjust as you move. So if you move forward by an inch, the light dulls while moving and then comes back up once you stop moving. Lighting from internal light sources particularly is very soft and ill defined, and the shadowing even appears out of place in some (I’ll try and get a screenshot to show you guys what I mean). The lighting is also very dark in a lot of places indoor, for my money too dark. The games water has received a lot of praise, but I have only criticism for it. Anyone who has played Crysis knows that the waves are very detailed in terms of their shape. It’s as though they aren’t constructed of polygons. In Killzone 3 though you can easily make out the polygons which make up the waves by the way the light reflects of them. On top of this, the waves bob up and down completely unnaturally. Object textures are generally good by console standards but the OB has its fair share of sub CoD resolution textures (again I’ll try and make some screenshots to show you guys them), some examples of which are the hand rails along stairs and the large (oil/gas?) tank which sites outside up against a wall. Grenade detonation is certainly less than spectacular, and the particles it throws up don’t seem to depend on the material it lands on. The game uses HDR lighting, and an example of this is looking in the sky in the direction of the sun. This makes pretty much the entire sky go white, and is perhaps a bit too aggressively integrated (many games are guilty of this).
There are only a few bugs left to mention, and then I’m heading for the hills. The Ribbons counter in the stats menu does not update correctly. I’ve earned many more of each ribbon and also a wider range of ribbons than it has showing up. When using the shot gun, the sound effect for chambering the next round after firing often doesn’t play, and also for the shotgun, I once had it only reload one bullet at a time (I had to press the reload button after every individual bullet was loaded).
So there you have it, the longest and most boring review of a one level demo/beta ever is complete. But what do I actually think of the game itself? Despite the many issues, it is still good enough fun for me to have this down as a definite purchase. I doubt I will be able to stick with the game for that long, as the disguise ability particularly gets on my nerves too much, but it should last long enough to warrant the asking price if the OB is anything to go by. My Recommendation is for everyone to try out the beta before committing to a purchase, but I would be surprised if the majority of people didn’t enjoy their time with the game.
To kick it off, I will start with my 'likes'. In Killzone 2 it took quite a long time to take down opponents, something I wasn't satisfied with. Gladly, this has been rectified and kills in KZ3 are very quick, especially at short range. The one map in the OB is good without being great. As a result of the map being fairly one tone (i.e. lots of similar indoor rooms, stairs etc), it can be hard to remember early on (for me it was the first hour or so) where the part of the map you are in is in relation to other parts. The map is at lest conducive to fast paced and somewhat dynamic gameplay.
I also love how quickly and freely you can vault over objects like railings, and it goes without saying really that the animation in KZ3 is pretty impressive, with everything from melee kills to running looking very smooth. Speaking of smooth, during about 4 hours of game time so far I've encountered only 2 laggy sessions which is certainly better than CoD. The control feel is certainly anything but smooth on the other hand. There is still noticeable weight to the guns, and although it took me over an hour to fully get used to the control feel, I'm now very happy with it.
On the graphics and sound front, nothing particularly disappoints. The menu music is great, as are sounds generally (although I have a few issues with it I will address later). The graphics don't stand out to me as being awesome, although I’ll certainly admit they're amongst the best on consoles. But really, it's sad that people think this is comparable to PC games and again I’ll talk about this later.
Now I'll get onto my dislikes, and a warning this section will be very long.
First thing I noticed is that there is a lot of film grain to this game, more so even than there is in say Bad Company 1. It adds harshness to the graphics without having any benefit in return. The next thing to annoy me was that you have to select your kit on every spawn. In Bad Company (which like Killzone has mid game kit customization) you can customise your kit and then tell the game to go with that setup on your next spawn, but no such system is present in KZ3 and I found it an unnecessary nuisance.
While I'm on spawning, let me go into the spawn system. It's a mess. I found that it would frequently spawn me within metres of opponents who have direct line of sight on you. Frustratingly it especially frequently spawns you near enemies using the disguise ability (more on that later). On one occasion it even spawned me literally with the other team at the very start of the game. I thought they were friendlies using disguise, and then one killed me. There is also a spawn point on the OB map which sees you spawn with your face literally up against a very dark wall, not exactly fair. Also, after dying you can usually be revived or can choose to bypass that waiting time. Then you have to select your kit and then respawn. However, there is a glitch which I experienced several times whereby you instantly respawn as soon as you are shot down.
The disguise is an ability available for the infiltrator class which allows the player to appear to enemies as a friendly. It changes their name tag to that off a friendly player (and its colour to green), and it also changes their appearance to that of a friendly. This is a game breakingly bad choice from Guerrilla. Many games descend into simply shooting everybody you see because so many people are using disguise to sneak up and melee you that it is simply safer to shoot everyone and do away with the chance that they are an enemy. This also leads me into the ridiculous melee system.
Brutal melees look cool, there is no doubting that. But if you actually look at their affect on gameplay it is certainly negative. If you choose to melee an opponent and it goes into a brutal melee and then another enemy appears, you're in trouble. The melee simply takes too long to complete. You can easily lose a kill during the animation to a team mate you decides to shoot instead, or you can get killed yourself. There is also a plethora of issues surrounding the system. Firstly, if you engage in a BM (brutal melee) and the opponent is killed part way through, it takes about a second to return control to you. Secondly, if experiencing lag it is possible to shoot an enemy, then have them attempt to BM you, but during the attempt your bullets catch up and they die by your gun. There is again about a 1 second delay between them dying and the player getting back control. Thirdly, the gap between attempting melees is simply too long (about 4-5 seconds). Fourthly it's on the wrong button. Why would you put melee on the L1 and zoom on the right stick. They should have just stuck with CoD like controls of shoot on R1, scope on L1 and melee on right stick press, it is much more natural. Fifthly, engaging in a BM ruins immersion, as because the animations are canned, there is a significant camera position jump upon BM initiation. Sixthly, I found that initiating in a failed BM where the opponent is killed can reload your gun (only happened twice to me).
Now onto the UI. It is fucking hopeless. After each game there is a one minute gap before the next game starts. All you can do is check out the scoreboard from the last game and see how many points everyone got. You can’t do any of the normal stuff like check your/opponents stats, send someone a message, change controls, access options, etc. What makes this particularly horrendously ridiculous is that you can actually check your overall stats during a game, exactly when you don’t give a toss about them. WTF! On this note, checking the scoreboard isn’t advisable as it completely takes away your control. In pretty much every game ever, you can check the scoreboard and continue to run at the very least. Here though, it isn’t possible to quickly bring up the scoreboard and check how your going while on the move, as it takes too long to appear/disappear, plus the aforementioned issue. The menu’s also have a generally poor design both in terms of functionality and visual appeal. The red background makes things hard to quickly skim over for me at least, plus it is simply ugly and often things are hidden unnecessarily in sub menus.
I also take issue with the Guerrilla Warfare mode’s body count, which at 50 is far too low. The games go for up to 10 minutes, but at least on the OB map I haven’t had one go for more than 6 minutes. Another issue is that the FOV in this game is incredibly restricting, even more so than in CoD. As I said before there is an interval period of a minute between games. The game doesn’t even use this for loading the next map (if it does, the loading is very slow), as the new game loads at its conclusion. After this there is another 30 seconds before the game starts which you can use to customise your load outs. Why could this 30 seconds be removed by giving the player the ability to customise during the interval? Honestly the interval period in KZ3 has to be the biggest over sight in gaming history. The loading times on Friday night particularly varied widely, with the loading sometimes taking mere seconds to complete, yet sometimes it took until into the second minute of the next game for the loading and connecting to complete. I also had the loading freeze completely twice, although oddly I could still bring up the XMB and quit the game without it restarting the system, as generally happens when a game locks up. This leads to my next set of issues.
If you choose to load something, you can’t back out of it. I’ve faced infinite load screens at several places and had no option but to quit the game. These infinite loads occurred once on loading the leader boards, twice on selecting the ‘multiplayer’ button, and once or twice on loading a session. They need to put in an abort button to each of these in order to fix the infinite load problem.
General gameplay issues come down to a few things. Auto turrets for example are simply not welcome for me. For the same reason that automated gunships are bullshit in CoD, turrets are bullshit here. The game is an FPS, not an FPSwAB (FPS with Automated Bots)! The grenade throw takes a long time to complete, and you can also not throw a grenade or shoot while vaulting an object until the animation completes. When it comes to weapon balancing, the shotgun is very powerful over about 15 metres, but over the next 10 metres you can go from 1 shot kills to 3 shot kills, which is bollocks. After sprinting it takes about a second for the cross hair to come back up, which is a bigger issue than it would otherwise be as one of the way to detect a disguised enemy to that the crosshair colour still changes when over a disguised enemy.
The sounds are very hard to localise, which is possibly due to the hectic nature of the map and also because of the ambient sound effects being quite dominant. In most games, it is possible to hear enemies approaching by their footsteps; you somehow get a sense of having someone behind you. This is not the case with KZ as the map is so confined that there is always loud gunfire nearby. You’re hearing also gets completely dulled when on low health, so if you take a shot from off screen it is practically impossible to work out where it came as you can’t even hear them firing when on very low health.
The games unlock system is quite irritating, as it completely stops you from jumping from one class that you’ve ranked up to another that you haven’t and still having a chance at doing well. Once again referring to Bad Company, in that game you could say unlock pistols as you rank up which can be used in every kit, leaving only primary weapons to be unlocked for each kit individually. In KZ3 though, incredibly you have to purchase each secondary weapon for each kit separately. This wouldn’t be such as issue if you had a pistol from the start, but you don’t. Then once you buy the first pistol, it’s useless from more than a (very heavy) stone’s throw away.
Nearing the end now and my final gameplay related issues are that the double kill (and triple kill) timer is very, very long, in fact so long as you get your next kill within 5 seconds or so of your previous then that counts as a double/triple kill. It’s simply too long, but I feel it has been made so long so that people can get double kills with BM’s. Once you die you can be revived by people with the right class. Dead allies appear on the map as a green cross regardless of whether you can revive them or not. The issue here is that once dead yourself you have no way of knowing whether that team mate nearby is able to revive you or not, which means that you often waste time waiting to be revived by someone who can’t, or choose to take your life and respawn when a team mate was about to revive you.
Finally onto my issues with the graphics. The lighting downright sucks. For example, the lighting volumes readjust as you move. So if you move forward by an inch, the light dulls while moving and then comes back up once you stop moving. Lighting from internal light sources particularly is very soft and ill defined, and the shadowing even appears out of place in some (I’ll try and get a screenshot to show you guys what I mean). The lighting is also very dark in a lot of places indoor, for my money too dark. The games water has received a lot of praise, but I have only criticism for it. Anyone who has played Crysis knows that the waves are very detailed in terms of their shape. It’s as though they aren’t constructed of polygons. In Killzone 3 though you can easily make out the polygons which make up the waves by the way the light reflects of them. On top of this, the waves bob up and down completely unnaturally. Object textures are generally good by console standards but the OB has its fair share of sub CoD resolution textures (again I’ll try and make some screenshots to show you guys them), some examples of which are the hand rails along stairs and the large (oil/gas?) tank which sites outside up against a wall. Grenade detonation is certainly less than spectacular, and the particles it throws up don’t seem to depend on the material it lands on. The game uses HDR lighting, and an example of this is looking in the sky in the direction of the sun. This makes pretty much the entire sky go white, and is perhaps a bit too aggressively integrated (many games are guilty of this).
There are only a few bugs left to mention, and then I’m heading for the hills. The Ribbons counter in the stats menu does not update correctly. I’ve earned many more of each ribbon and also a wider range of ribbons than it has showing up. When using the shot gun, the sound effect for chambering the next round after firing often doesn’t play, and also for the shotgun, I once had it only reload one bullet at a time (I had to press the reload button after every individual bullet was loaded).
So there you have it, the longest and most boring review of a one level demo/beta ever is complete. But what do I actually think of the game itself? Despite the many issues, it is still good enough fun for me to have this down as a definite purchase. I doubt I will be able to stick with the game for that long, as the disguise ability particularly gets on my nerves too much, but it should last long enough to warrant the asking price if the OB is anything to go by. My Recommendation is for everyone to try out the beta before committing to a purchase, but I would be surprised if the majority of people didn’t enjoy their time with the game.
I like Kinect....but..
Xbox 360 Kinect, the future of gaming, the saviour of the Nation and as luck would have it a cure for the common pot belly, sounds amazing!! It is amazing…..for a little while. In much the same way as my original wide grinned enthusiasm for the Nintendo Wii had morphed into my bored clock watching ‘can we do something else now?‘ face within two hours, Kinect did much the same. I should have seen it coming, a true de-ja-vu moment. Two hours into Kinect Adventures and it had transpired that the future of gaming was all about jumping and dancing for twenty minutes before collapsing into a sweating heap on the sofa to do a great asthmatic Darth Vader impression.
Now i’m sure Kinect games will become something more solid than the current crop of, let’s face it, party games we’ve been offered thus far, but even when that happens i’m not sure i’ll be convinced.
As a father to five awesome nippers 90% of my gaming is done between 10pm and whatever time in the morning I crawl into bed. For a few hours i’m immersed. I’m Commander Shepherd answering a call from a distress beacon on some distant moon or Marcus Fenix taking the battle to the Locust Hordes or maybe i’ll have the pedal to metal as I fight for pole position and all the while my children are sleeping soundly in their beds…..now imagine me trying to do this while playing Kinect. Leaping and crashing my way through level 1, dodging to the left, ducking to the right, punching, kicking, sweat flying, drinks toppling, wife shouting, kids awake, Kinect off, bed….
And that’s why I hope Kinect remains a luxury, dusted off and brought out when friends and family pop round, turning up at Christmas for a couple of hours between dinner and the Queens speech and making hundreds of clowns redundant as the nations new kids Birthday party entertainer, rather than the must have future of gaming Microsoft are aiming for.
Dear Kinect,
It’s not you…..it’s me.
I’m old school, I like buttons, I like pulling the right trigger to fire, I like pressing A to jump and clicking the left stick to sprint, I like the feel of a controller in my hands, it’s solid, it’s real and I love doing this from the comfort of my well used armchair, coffee sat near and a biccy or two for dunking.
Now i’m sure Kinect games will become something more solid than the current crop of, let’s face it, party games we’ve been offered thus far, but even when that happens i’m not sure i’ll be convinced.
As a father to five awesome nippers 90% of my gaming is done between 10pm and whatever time in the morning I crawl into bed. For a few hours i’m immersed. I’m Commander Shepherd answering a call from a distress beacon on some distant moon or Marcus Fenix taking the battle to the Locust Hordes or maybe i’ll have the pedal to metal as I fight for pole position and all the while my children are sleeping soundly in their beds…..now imagine me trying to do this while playing Kinect. Leaping and crashing my way through level 1, dodging to the left, ducking to the right, punching, kicking, sweat flying, drinks toppling, wife shouting, kids awake, Kinect off, bed….
And that’s why I hope Kinect remains a luxury, dusted off and brought out when friends and family pop round, turning up at Christmas for a couple of hours between dinner and the Queens speech and making hundreds of clowns redundant as the nations new kids Birthday party entertainer, rather than the must have future of gaming Microsoft are aiming for.
Dear Kinect,
It’s not you…..it’s me.
I’m old school, I like buttons, I like pulling the right trigger to fire, I like pressing A to jump and clicking the left stick to sprint, I like the feel of a controller in my hands, it’s solid, it’s real and I love doing this from the comfort of my well used armchair, coffee sat near and a biccy or two for dunking.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
What is the deal with The sun and all the hating on gaming?
I think it just rather odd to see the batch of articles coming from that bastion of journalistic integrity, "The Sun." First they report a girl dying of a heart attack after playing her 360 for 8 hours straight (cannot find the article, sorry) and now this one about a student who played his for 12 hours at a time and dies from deep vein thrumbosis ( http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol...
First off, the biggest thing that this article has against it is the Headline (which reads, "Death by Xbox.") but than you look at the secondary headline (which reads, "Game addict, 20, killed
by deep vein thrombosis") and they don't really seem to match up at all (minus the whole sitting down for long periods).
The next problem it seems to put the blame greatly on the shoulders of the 360 but then it goes on about the Thrombosis. Yet the author cannot help but keeping the xbox in the article; in fact, it mentions the damn console no less than 7 times. And to just burn that fact in the back of your skull, they show a picture of the 360 (with a caption on the bottom that reads, "Addictive ... Xbox 360.").
This is just sensationalism, pure and simple. What killed the damn kid was deep vein Thrombosis. Now it is sad to see a young man dying in the prime of his life from such an unfortunate condition but to see the Sun use this tragedy to pull this kind of sensationalism is seedy and in poor taste. They focus of the article should have been about 'Deep vein Thrombosis' and not gaming. It wouldn't have mattered if he was watching TV, playing games or even reading a book.
First off, the biggest thing that this article has against it is the Headline (which reads, "Death by Xbox.") but than you look at the secondary headline (which reads, "Game addict, 20, killed
by deep vein thrombosis") and they don't really seem to match up at all (minus the whole sitting down for long periods).
The next problem it seems to put the blame greatly on the shoulders of the 360 but then it goes on about the Thrombosis. Yet the author cannot help but keeping the xbox in the article; in fact, it mentions the damn console no less than 7 times. And to just burn that fact in the back of your skull, they show a picture of the 360 (with a caption on the bottom that reads, "Addictive ... Xbox 360.").
This is just sensationalism, pure and simple. What killed the damn kid was deep vein Thrombosis. Now it is sad to see a young man dying in the prime of his life from such an unfortunate condition but to see the Sun use this tragedy to pull this kind of sensationalism is seedy and in poor taste. They focus of the article should have been about 'Deep vein Thrombosis' and not gaming. It wouldn't have mattered if he was watching TV, playing games or even reading a book.
Not enough REAL women in video games.
User blog
Allo allo allo, what's this all about then? Why is I talking about this then? Ok serious time now. I was thinking about all the games both in my video game collection and what's coming and and came to a realisation, there are too many men in video games (Also all these men are mainly grizzled 30 something year old men) and not enough women and on top of it there aren't many women in games who are actual women. What do I mean? Well since you asked.
First let me link you to a video that helps me with my case to start with. Have you ever heard of a show call Extra Credits on The Escapist before? They did a video on the subject I'm talking about... kinda. Here's the link http://www.escapistmagazine...
Well that video does cover the majority but I'd feel really lazy if I didn't explain why I'm bringing this up. Well let me start with the visual depiction of women, mainly clothing. Sure I could bag out the giant breast and impossible to attain figures they have but that just goes without saying. You see the current looks most women have in games are highly sexualised. Now my gripe about this is the fact that most gamers are apparently between 25 and 30, which means men and women. The current designs of women are appealing to 2 main groups, teens and the sexually deprived.
The outfits of women in video games are very strangely designed. Look at a game in a fantasy setting, the female characters are usually running around in something that could best be described as a leather bikini. How about fighting games, especially Dead Or Alive? The "women" in the game are wearing outfits that flash cleavage and upskirt shots. Basically they are designed to "look" appealing but to a person like me who's a 25 year old male they are silly. Why you may ask? Well I've grown up and even though I'm single, I just find real women more visually appealing and REAL. Thing is I don't want these styles of video game women to go, just become less frequent.
Then there's the personality. MovieBob in in his video "I Heart Bayonetta" kinda nailed the basic types of "Ice Queens" and "Girls". You hardly ever see women characterised in a way that makes them feel like an actual women. I honest have trouble thinking of women in games that actually manage to be close to a real women. Most women in games are usually either soft and mousy or well... stereotypical butch lesbians (No offense to actual lesbians is implied). I'd give examples of the types but it's easier to ask you to tell me which women in gaming don't fall in these areas that aren't silent. I'd really like to see more female characters who could actually pass as a real woman in personality.
Now then there's a story to suit a female character. The only games I've seen women in are action and fighting games to show of their physique and jiggle physics. Now this isn't so much a problem as the fact that the stories in them are usually focused on giving them a slim reason for them to be there. I'd like to see games with women that tackle real issues women go through that would actually take the call to action outside of employment and the "we need girls in this game" idea. I like the ideas the Extra Credits crew came up with to be honest.
Pretty much in short I'd like less of the usual women in gaming and more non sexualised, naturally endowed women with a realistic female personality. I'd also like to see those types of women in games that suit those women and women in general. I'd like to invite you to leave comments of examples of the REAL types of women in video games. I know of a couple but I'd like to see how many there are.
Allo allo allo, what's this all about then? Why is I talking about this then? Ok serious time now. I was thinking about all the games both in my video game collection and what's coming and and came to a realisation, there are too many men in video games (Also all these men are mainly grizzled 30 something year old men) and not enough women and on top of it there aren't many women in games who are actual women. What do I mean? Well since you asked.
First let me link you to a video that helps me with my case to start with. Have you ever heard of a show call Extra Credits on The Escapist before? They did a video on the subject I'm talking about... kinda. Here's the link http://www.escapistmagazine...
Well that video does cover the majority but I'd feel really lazy if I didn't explain why I'm bringing this up. Well let me start with the visual depiction of women, mainly clothing. Sure I could bag out the giant breast and impossible to attain figures they have but that just goes without saying. You see the current looks most women have in games are highly sexualised. Now my gripe about this is the fact that most gamers are apparently between 25 and 30, which means men and women. The current designs of women are appealing to 2 main groups, teens and the sexually deprived.
The outfits of women in video games are very strangely designed. Look at a game in a fantasy setting, the female characters are usually running around in something that could best be described as a leather bikini. How about fighting games, especially Dead Or Alive? The "women" in the game are wearing outfits that flash cleavage and upskirt shots. Basically they are designed to "look" appealing but to a person like me who's a 25 year old male they are silly. Why you may ask? Well I've grown up and even though I'm single, I just find real women more visually appealing and REAL. Thing is I don't want these styles of video game women to go, just become less frequent.
Then there's the personality. MovieBob in in his video "I Heart Bayonetta" kinda nailed the basic types of "Ice Queens" and "Girls". You hardly ever see women characterised in a way that makes them feel like an actual women. I honest have trouble thinking of women in games that actually manage to be close to a real women. Most women in games are usually either soft and mousy or well... stereotypical butch lesbians (No offense to actual lesbians is implied). I'd give examples of the types but it's easier to ask you to tell me which women in gaming don't fall in these areas that aren't silent. I'd really like to see more female characters who could actually pass as a real woman in personality.
Now then there's a story to suit a female character. The only games I've seen women in are action and fighting games to show of their physique and jiggle physics. Now this isn't so much a problem as the fact that the stories in them are usually focused on giving them a slim reason for them to be there. I'd like to see games with women that tackle real issues women go through that would actually take the call to action outside of employment and the "we need girls in this game" idea. I like the ideas the Extra Credits crew came up with to be honest.
Pretty much in short I'd like less of the usual women in gaming and more non sexualised, naturally endowed women with a realistic female personality. I'd also like to see those types of women in games that suit those women and women in general. I'd like to invite you to leave comments of examples of the REAL types of women in video games. I know of a couple but I'd like to see how many there are.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Angry Birds for PC
Finally, those birds that everybody likes has arrived on PC. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, Angry Birds has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on laptops and netbooks and will cost you only $4.99 to download. Nice price for this lovely game.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you’re not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of this franchise.
Overall it’s pretty much an identical game play experience to the iPhone app, with some minor differences. It’s snappy, gorgeous, and it sounds amazing. On the netbook version you use a mouse or trackpad instead of touch. There is an open hand icon when the mouse is in hover state, and a closed hand icon when you are clicking or dragging. This visible clue when pulling the slingshot is a nice aid. It allows you to fine tune shots more than just observing the angle of the slingshot band.
Angry Birds for PC
Larger screen means more visibility in the game. On many levels you can see the target that can’t be seen on the iPhone. The previous shot trail is more easily seen, allowing fine tuning of your next shot. Overall the animations and physics seem to have more fluidity.
In terms of features, options, menu etc it’s pretty close to the original. On the netbook the replay level icon has been added to the game space. So you don’t need to pause first then replay. If you start off with bad shot, just click the replay icon, then you can start over. Saving a click is nice. There is a Menu button in the Pause menu that gets you back to the Start screen. There are some things not in play on the netbook version. The leader board and achievements are not available in the main menu. The Golden Eggs are there.
Angry Birds strikes an interesting balance of repetitive, simple tasks and challenging game play working for the many scenarios. So, if you liked this game on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll sure like it on your big PC screen. If you are new player, don’t hesitate and join the fun now.
You must know and recognize the game from the Rovio, Angry Birds.
This game consists of seven birds with super abilities are different. By using slingshots, you can control the jump and the height of ill-tempered birds to tear down the building where the collection of green pork fat is shelter.
Where is a funny collection of birds swelled, turned into a grumpy group of birds which destroy the kingdom of lustful pigs these cunning thieves.
Angry Birds now not only for the iPhone, Android OS, PS3 and PSP. even Angry Birds has been available in Ovi Store for Nokia. And now Angry Birds have been available for Windows XP and Windows 7
Free Angry Birds for PC
Plenty of dodgy website owners want to rip off Google and push traffic towards their sites on the bogus promise of the free version of Angry Birds for PC. This is only a scam but in fact there exists a download free Angry Birds for PC nevertheless, you will need to move quickly to take advantage of that offer
Finland games producer Rovio Mobile has produced their very 1st version of Angry Birds Game for the Apple iPhone. This particular game was immediately caught by the iPhonesters, and Rovio understood that they will become successful. That has been fine. However, Rovio needed to get going by recoding Angry Birds Games for several programs, which become easier for small companies to get done.
Several weeks went by and finally, the Nokia and Android users could get themselves the Angry Birds Game. After that, the RovioMobile switched their attentions to the huge users of the PSP or the Play Station Portable and the PS3. That has been an additional huge porting project for Rovio operations.
During that time, the PC users have been reading and hearing rumors regarding Angry Birds for PC. Ultimately, in January, Angry Birds for PC was released, and downloading is not for free. However, not everybody is willing to pay for $5 for just a game, even if they will enjoy playing with it. These days, several users have grown to be familiar of getting some thing for free, so there are many who are on the lookout for a totally free Angry Birds for PC download. It can be downloaded via Windows 7 and Windows XP and Vista, or Mac support. But downloading can only be downloaded if you have an internet connection for the process to activate successfully.
Angry Birds pc is one of the well-known games that have taken the popularity with over 200 million downloads. The availability of this game is taking place in almost all of the popular platforms. In addition to playing the game online in the browser you can now download it on your laptop and take it wherever you may go to enjoy the amazing games, enabling you to play whenever, wherever you go. Take it to your workplace or even in the park, while resting and basting under the sun. Probably launching the Angry Birds for PC the wisest and the best move the game maker ever made. This availability made for the millions of platform owners, even made the popularity of Angry Birds known to more video-gaming enthusiasts more than over.
Incoming search terms:
* angry birds for pc
* activate free angry birds for pc
* angry birds FLASH SCAM
* angry-birds-online scam
* free angry birds games full version for window xp
*
- Angry Birds PC Updated
The PC version was updated last week which we talked about in this post. This update will finally include all episodes of Ham ‘Em High and the two chapters of Mine and Dine. I’m sure this is welcome news for all the PC players who have been feeling left out. It shouldn’t have taken this long to get all the episodes out but that’s in the past now so lets just get to playing. Since all the chapters are available you also have access to all of the golden eggs. You can finally complete your collection!
As a side note because I didn’t want to do an entire post about the subject, have you all seen the Angry Birds bra? It’s available over on etsy you should go check it out. I personally don’t know anyone who would wear it but i’m sure there is someone out there who would. I don’t recommend buying this for you girlfriend or wife unless she really loves angry birds.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
e Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Nick Jr., MTVN expand in Asia
Rugrats and music fans in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to tune in to “Dora the Explorer” and 24-hour music videos, docus and concerts with the launch of Viacom’s Nick Jr. and MTVN HD in the territories in coming weeks.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Command and Conquer 3: Mod Wars
Command & Conquer is a popular series of real-time strategy war games. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is one of the series’ most successful titles. Here are some mods to enhance your C&C 3 experience and continue your work for Kane.
Alternate Warfare by ravagecn Alternate Warfare by ravagecn Ravagecn’s highly rated C&C 3 mod, Alternate Warfare, sets the player in an alternate Cold War era battlefield. As the general, you are given access to a vast arsenal of experimental weapons. Additionally, the conflicts range in size from regional unrest to full-scale nuclear war. Download this mod! It is regarded as one of the more epic C&C 3 mods to date.
Alternate Warfare by ravagecn Alternate Warfare by ravagecn Ravagecn’s highly rated C&C 3 mod, Alternate Warfare, sets the player in an alternate Cold War era battlefield. As the general, you are given access to a vast arsenal of experimental weapons. Additionally, the conflicts range in size from regional unrest to full-scale nuclear war. Download this mod! It is regarded as one of the more epic C&C 3 mods to date.
Monday Mod: UDK – Prometheus
Tired of playing by yourself but lack the diligence to make friends? Games are always more enjoyable with friends, but people can be a hassle with their desires to talk about sports or the meaning of life. Now if only you had clones of yourself you could enjoy games in co-op without the drawbacks of social interactivity. Prometheus does that and it does it by using the marvelous UDK.
Your character has the power to work with your past and future self to complete objectives, giving the mod a fresh gameplay twist. Prometheus has custom art assets and an amazing dynamic music generator featuring moody and appropriate music given whatever situation you are in. If you’re in need of a friend who is exactly like you (because they are you), this is the mod for you.
Your character has the power to work with your past and future self to complete objectives, giving the mod a fresh gameplay twist. Prometheus has custom art assets and an amazing dynamic music generator featuring moody and appropriate music given whatever situation you are in. If you’re in need of a friend who is exactly like you (because they are you), this is the mod for you.
Battlefield 3 Graphics Showdown
Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2.0 engine promises to push your PC's silicon to melting point, but how does it look when running on the consoles? With the beta eating into our sleeping hours over the last week, we found the time to grab some 360 and PC footage to see just how different Battlefield 3 looks when you spend a grand on PC hardware.
We should point out the specs of our capture PC, which has recently been upgraded as a Battlefield 3 Beast, packing dual NVIDIA GTX 580s and an i5 2500k running at a healthy 4.5GHz. Basically speaking, it's stupidly overpowered for the beta. We've tried to upload the highest possible quality footage, but YouTube can only pump out video so fast, so some of the PC's superior resolution advantage has been compressed out in the YouTube version. We'll have a more detailed video comparing all three versions when the full game releases in just a few short weeks.
We should point out the specs of our capture PC, which has recently been upgraded as a Battlefield 3 Beast, packing dual NVIDIA GTX 580s and an i5 2500k running at a healthy 4.5GHz. Basically speaking, it's stupidly overpowered for the beta. We've tried to upload the highest possible quality footage, but YouTube can only pump out video so fast, so some of the PC's superior resolution advantage has been compressed out in the YouTube version. We'll have a more detailed video comparing all three versions when the full game releases in just a few short weeks.
LOTRO: Rise of Isengard Review
"This tale," J.R.R. Tolkien said in a foreword to The Lord of the Rings so long ago, "grew in the telling." The same might be said of Turbine Studios' ambitious Lord of the Rings Online, which has seen its playerbase, content, and reams' worth of story text mushroom since its first appearance back in 2007. Ever the leisurely MMO, it parries the temptation to issue fast-food releases and instead thrusts with a depth of storytelling prowess that only Star Wars: The Old Republic may be able to match. It's a tradition Turbine has further maintained with Rise of Isengard. Indeed, this is a game that relishes every syllable of Tollers' lore so devotedly that only now, after four and a half years of midnight skirmishes at the summit of Weathertop and murky expeditions into Khazad-Dum, do we stand before the iron gates of Orthanc.
Watch the official Rise of Isengard trailer.
It's tempting, of course, to criticize this pace as Smaug-style hoarding, all the more so since Turbine was assimilated into Warner Brothers in April of last year. The longer Turbine can keep us from Mordor, the argument goes, the longer they can cash in on the franchise. But Rise of Isengard does much to disprove these fears. LOTRO went free to play by September, and Turbine reports that the switch has tripled its annual revenues and attracted a new set of players who otherwise may never have experienced the hidden treasures of Middle Earth. Partially thanks to a feature-packed pre-order package, Rise of Isengard is the game's best-selling expansion to date, offering three new zones to explore, a new raid instance, a free-to-play option for Monster Play (LOTRO's version of PVP), the first new crafting tier since The Mines of Moria, and an increase in level cap to 75. Other additions won't be out until December (such as three three-player dungeons, one six-player dungeon, and one 12-player raid), but the current content proves that Turbine still has the player experience close to its heart.
"As always, Turbine serves its storyline with as much love and attention as a hobbit does his breakfast."
As always, Turbine serves its storyline with as much love and attention as a hobbit does his breakfast. Rise of Isengard largely relates the tale of the unwashed rabble that Saruman roused in the film version of The Two Towers, along with your attempts to keep some of them from aligning with the White Hand. These, you quickly learn, are not flea-ridden hobos that simply spout "arrr" and slice their palms for oaths; these are real people, and when one collapses in camp from exhaustion, you feel willing to take up his task of making spears in an effort to keep the nearest officer of the White Hand from smashing in his skull (even if those spears are meant for you). It's a strange but welcome angle on the coming war, since it means that you spend much of the expansion hobnobbing with Uruk-Hai that you would have been introducing to your sword in Eregion not long before. And if you think that's a departure from Tolkien's usually refreshing world of clear-cut politics, just wait until you meet the orcs.
But it also means that the threat of Sauron's wrath feels stronger than ever. Agents of Saruman and Sauron have always capered in the wings in Lord of the Rings Online, but dealing with them felt sort of like sneaking to your high school's back parking lot to deal with the resident bully. For the most part, you had to take the fight to them. Here, you ride among them and share in their daily lives. Here, you align with different factions of Dunlendings and attempt to convince them put aside their fears and turn against Saruman. Here, you even stop by Isengard and help out with the chores. It's the actual design of the quests that falters. LOTRO has always had an infatuation with the tired "kill x of y" formula of MMOs, and Rise of Isengard is no different. Never mind that you've flipped off Nazgul and tangled with Durin's Bane; Turbine still insists that you pick up 10 pieces of wood and kill 18 wolves at almost every turn.
What really happened on the Isen River?
I could think of worse environments in which to grind. Rise of Isengard's textures are by far its biggest improvement over the previous expansions, with a few cozy valleys approaching almost photorealistic glory and lavish Rohirrim gear that will have many players chucking rare cosmetic items for quest rewards. Dunland, the Gap of Rohan and Isengard all showcase some of the finest work of Turbine's art team, even if the last two zones feel rather small. On some occasions, the landscape effects are stunning. Eleven or so years of jaunting across the landscapes of multiple MMOs have somewhat made me hard to surprise, but I admit my jaw dropped when I crested a ridge and saw the bustling camp of Wulf's Cleft spread below me. Elsewhere, I found constant enjoyment in Turbine's clever use of permanent phasing to storyline, as its implementation that doesn't segregate you from other players in the area (as in World of Warcraft).
"...it wasn't until I was approaching level 71 that I felt the need to guzzle a morale potion..."
If only it weren't so easy--at least in the first few levels. I've played through most of the content with two different classes, and it wasn't until I was approaching level 71 that I felt the need to guzzle a morale potion or even use my Lore-master's few heals for anything other than my pet. While it's clear that someone at Turbine thinks that giving almost every new enemy some kind of instant stun somehow equates into difficulty, the actual experience is more one of annoyance than challenge. Rise of Isengard also has its share of bugs, which shouldn't be terribly surprising only a couple of weeks after launch. Most are minor, but a handful can stop your progression faster than an arrow through Boromir. At the time of writing, there was a particularly nasty bug in the Gravenwood area that could wall off an entire quest chain if someone else tagged the targeted enemy after you summoned it with a quest item.
Even so, Rise of Isengard is a joy to play if you're a fellow Tolkien fiend--at least while you're leveling. Endgame is another story. The only real endgame content available in Rise of Isengard for now is a 12 to 24-player raid featuring an enormous bearded dragon named Draigoch, which several kinships have already downed. Slightly more casually minded players, however, will have to wait for the instanced dungeons to be implemented in a future update. That means that your only options are to spend time leveling your professions, fighting against other players in Monster Play (which you can also do now if you're a free-to-play player), or simply leveling an alt. You can also slog through all the dungeons that used to be scaled to level 65 since they've been scaled to 75 now, but I, for one, just can't bear the thought of enduring my 500th Great Barrows run right now.
A serious case of Death Breath.
However, Lord of the Rings Online was never designed to be rushed. To get the most of out of Rise of Isengard, take the time to read about why one Dunlending feels as though his people have no choice but to throw in their lot with Sharkey (Saruman's GameSpy-friendly nickname). Take the time to explore the world itself, which is arguably as great an homage to Tolkien's legendarium as Jackson's movies. Rise of Isengard may not have shipped with much of its end-game content, but its omission seems to be an invitation to slow down and enjoy the journey for the time being. We may not have reached Helm's Deep, but Rise of Isengard makes it clear the War for Middle Earth is about to kick off in earnest. Somewhere on the near horizon lies Rohan, Minas Tirith, and the Dead Marshes, and Turbine demonstrates here that, despite a few stumbles, they still have the drive to take us to the very fires of Mordor.
Lord of the Rings fans, take heart: the road goes ever on.
Spy Guy says: My favorite part of playing LOTRO was having a few tankards of ale in the Prancing Pony. What adventures have you had in this beautifully crafted virtual Middle Earth?
Watch the official Rise of Isengard trailer.
It's tempting, of course, to criticize this pace as Smaug-style hoarding, all the more so since Turbine was assimilated into Warner Brothers in April of last year. The longer Turbine can keep us from Mordor, the argument goes, the longer they can cash in on the franchise. But Rise of Isengard does much to disprove these fears. LOTRO went free to play by September, and Turbine reports that the switch has tripled its annual revenues and attracted a new set of players who otherwise may never have experienced the hidden treasures of Middle Earth. Partially thanks to a feature-packed pre-order package, Rise of Isengard is the game's best-selling expansion to date, offering three new zones to explore, a new raid instance, a free-to-play option for Monster Play (LOTRO's version of PVP), the first new crafting tier since The Mines of Moria, and an increase in level cap to 75. Other additions won't be out until December (such as three three-player dungeons, one six-player dungeon, and one 12-player raid), but the current content proves that Turbine still has the player experience close to its heart.
"As always, Turbine serves its storyline with as much love and attention as a hobbit does his breakfast."
As always, Turbine serves its storyline with as much love and attention as a hobbit does his breakfast. Rise of Isengard largely relates the tale of the unwashed rabble that Saruman roused in the film version of The Two Towers, along with your attempts to keep some of them from aligning with the White Hand. These, you quickly learn, are not flea-ridden hobos that simply spout "arrr" and slice their palms for oaths; these are real people, and when one collapses in camp from exhaustion, you feel willing to take up his task of making spears in an effort to keep the nearest officer of the White Hand from smashing in his skull (even if those spears are meant for you). It's a strange but welcome angle on the coming war, since it means that you spend much of the expansion hobnobbing with Uruk-Hai that you would have been introducing to your sword in Eregion not long before. And if you think that's a departure from Tolkien's usually refreshing world of clear-cut politics, just wait until you meet the orcs.
But it also means that the threat of Sauron's wrath feels stronger than ever. Agents of Saruman and Sauron have always capered in the wings in Lord of the Rings Online, but dealing with them felt sort of like sneaking to your high school's back parking lot to deal with the resident bully. For the most part, you had to take the fight to them. Here, you ride among them and share in their daily lives. Here, you align with different factions of Dunlendings and attempt to convince them put aside their fears and turn against Saruman. Here, you even stop by Isengard and help out with the chores. It's the actual design of the quests that falters. LOTRO has always had an infatuation with the tired "kill x of y" formula of MMOs, and Rise of Isengard is no different. Never mind that you've flipped off Nazgul and tangled with Durin's Bane; Turbine still insists that you pick up 10 pieces of wood and kill 18 wolves at almost every turn.
What really happened on the Isen River?
I could think of worse environments in which to grind. Rise of Isengard's textures are by far its biggest improvement over the previous expansions, with a few cozy valleys approaching almost photorealistic glory and lavish Rohirrim gear that will have many players chucking rare cosmetic items for quest rewards. Dunland, the Gap of Rohan and Isengard all showcase some of the finest work of Turbine's art team, even if the last two zones feel rather small. On some occasions, the landscape effects are stunning. Eleven or so years of jaunting across the landscapes of multiple MMOs have somewhat made me hard to surprise, but I admit my jaw dropped when I crested a ridge and saw the bustling camp of Wulf's Cleft spread below me. Elsewhere, I found constant enjoyment in Turbine's clever use of permanent phasing to storyline, as its implementation that doesn't segregate you from other players in the area (as in World of Warcraft).
"...it wasn't until I was approaching level 71 that I felt the need to guzzle a morale potion..."
If only it weren't so easy--at least in the first few levels. I've played through most of the content with two different classes, and it wasn't until I was approaching level 71 that I felt the need to guzzle a morale potion or even use my Lore-master's few heals for anything other than my pet. While it's clear that someone at Turbine thinks that giving almost every new enemy some kind of instant stun somehow equates into difficulty, the actual experience is more one of annoyance than challenge. Rise of Isengard also has its share of bugs, which shouldn't be terribly surprising only a couple of weeks after launch. Most are minor, but a handful can stop your progression faster than an arrow through Boromir. At the time of writing, there was a particularly nasty bug in the Gravenwood area that could wall off an entire quest chain if someone else tagged the targeted enemy after you summoned it with a quest item.
Even so, Rise of Isengard is a joy to play if you're a fellow Tolkien fiend--at least while you're leveling. Endgame is another story. The only real endgame content available in Rise of Isengard for now is a 12 to 24-player raid featuring an enormous bearded dragon named Draigoch, which several kinships have already downed. Slightly more casually minded players, however, will have to wait for the instanced dungeons to be implemented in a future update. That means that your only options are to spend time leveling your professions, fighting against other players in Monster Play (which you can also do now if you're a free-to-play player), or simply leveling an alt. You can also slog through all the dungeons that used to be scaled to level 65 since they've been scaled to 75 now, but I, for one, just can't bear the thought of enduring my 500th Great Barrows run right now.
A serious case of Death Breath.
However, Lord of the Rings Online was never designed to be rushed. To get the most of out of Rise of Isengard, take the time to read about why one Dunlending feels as though his people have no choice but to throw in their lot with Sharkey (Saruman's GameSpy-friendly nickname). Take the time to explore the world itself, which is arguably as great an homage to Tolkien's legendarium as Jackson's movies. Rise of Isengard may not have shipped with much of its end-game content, but its omission seems to be an invitation to slow down and enjoy the journey for the time being. We may not have reached Helm's Deep, but Rise of Isengard makes it clear the War for Middle Earth is about to kick off in earnest. Somewhere on the near horizon lies Rohan, Minas Tirith, and the Dead Marshes, and Turbine demonstrates here that, despite a few stumbles, they still have the drive to take us to the very fires of Mordor.
Lord of the Rings fans, take heart: the road goes ever on.
Spy Guy says: My favorite part of playing LOTRO was having a few tankards of ale in the Prancing Pony. What adventures have you had in this beautifully crafted virtual Middle Earth?
Why Quake Changed Games Forever
Quake may be the most influential game of all time. Not the best game, not the most innovative, but the most influential. Without it, the industry would be a very different place today. It gave rise to many of aspects of modern gaming that we take for granted. Its developers, modders, and even the very code of the game itself are ubiquitous in the industry today. Id Software's 1996 FPS gave rise to 3D gaming, client/server online play, the most prolific mod scene in history, multiplayer clans, server browsers, eSports, mouse-look as the PC control standard, Valve and dozens of other companies, and even 1UP's sister website, GameSpy. Without Quake, it's unlikely another game that featured the same suite of innovations would have come along. We would have had to wait for each of those things one at a time.
Quake came together almost by accident. There was no design document for the first half of its development, and the game that shipped was very different from what the creators first held in their minds in the beginning (if they had anything in mind). In 1994 id Software released Doom II. The company was riding high and seemed unstoppable. They announced that their next game would be Quake, a project they had started and abandoned years earlier, according to John Romero, id co-founder lead game designer, and Tools Programmer, "When we finished our first Commander Keen series on December 14th, 1990, we immediately started working on Quake in January. It was a top-down RPG, and was supposed to be based on our D&D campaign we were playing. The character of Quake was in this group called the Silver Shadow Band. It was a very small elite group of super badass characters. [He was this] Thor-like guy, and he had this amazing hammer, and this thing called the Hellgate Cube -- which was a sentient inter-dimensional cube that would rotate around him and go do its own thing depending on what was going on." He continues "We worked on it for two weeks and it was like, 'you know what, there's no way that this thing is looking as awesome as Quake really is, so let's just stop making Quake right now. So we decided to just sort of shelve it and wait until we had really great technology to make this a reality."
The tech came quickly. Each new id game was a technological revolution. Wolfenstein made the first-person shooter mainstream; Doom introduced the world to deathmatch and modding. It seemed only natural that id's next game would be an equal leap forward. The team made it look so easy. It was anything but. The tech required for Quake was far more complex than they ever imagined, and the id Software that started the game was very different from the one that finished it. In the year following the game's release developer blogs and interviews to the press were filled with gossip about id's troubles. At the same time, the team was revolutionizing 3D graphics and online play with an OpenGL version for then-cutting edge 3D accelerators (known today simply as video cards) and QuakeWorld, which added server browsing and improved online performance.
How did a small company of less than two dozen change the entire industry? The various stories from the game's developers fit together in a Rashomon-like way. Often during our interviews, we would hear the same story from three different people and get three drastically different takes on the past. Sure, the general facts line up, but if we didn't know better, we'd suspect our interview subjects were working on different games entirely. The men who were there making Quake can't even agree on the origins of the game's most revolutionary feature, internet play.
Before Quake, online gaming was something for those willing to pay a premium. Services like DWANGO (Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation) and TEN (Total Entertainment Network) sprang up overnight to provide online play for games like Duke Nukem 3D and Doom that supported LAN play, but had no internet functionality. Quake changed everything with the creation of the server/client architecture still used by games today. Players would login to a host computer that was preferably dedicated solely to that task alone. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, according to level designer Tim Willits, "In 1996 there wasn't much of an internet. Doom was a peer-to peer-system, and a pain in the ass. Quake was the first true PC server/client architecture system. People told us we were crazy. They said, why would anyone run a Quake server on their machine to allow people they don't know to play a game?"
Quake came together almost by accident. There was no design document for the first half of its development, and the game that shipped was very different from what the creators first held in their minds in the beginning (if they had anything in mind). In 1994 id Software released Doom II. The company was riding high and seemed unstoppable. They announced that their next game would be Quake, a project they had started and abandoned years earlier, according to John Romero, id co-founder lead game designer, and Tools Programmer, "When we finished our first Commander Keen series on December 14th, 1990, we immediately started working on Quake in January. It was a top-down RPG, and was supposed to be based on our D&D campaign we were playing. The character of Quake was in this group called the Silver Shadow Band. It was a very small elite group of super badass characters. [He was this] Thor-like guy, and he had this amazing hammer, and this thing called the Hellgate Cube -- which was a sentient inter-dimensional cube that would rotate around him and go do its own thing depending on what was going on." He continues "We worked on it for two weeks and it was like, 'you know what, there's no way that this thing is looking as awesome as Quake really is, so let's just stop making Quake right now. So we decided to just sort of shelve it and wait until we had really great technology to make this a reality."
The tech came quickly. Each new id game was a technological revolution. Wolfenstein made the first-person shooter mainstream; Doom introduced the world to deathmatch and modding. It seemed only natural that id's next game would be an equal leap forward. The team made it look so easy. It was anything but. The tech required for Quake was far more complex than they ever imagined, and the id Software that started the game was very different from the one that finished it. In the year following the game's release developer blogs and interviews to the press were filled with gossip about id's troubles. At the same time, the team was revolutionizing 3D graphics and online play with an OpenGL version for then-cutting edge 3D accelerators (known today simply as video cards) and QuakeWorld, which added server browsing and improved online performance.
How did a small company of less than two dozen change the entire industry? The various stories from the game's developers fit together in a Rashomon-like way. Often during our interviews, we would hear the same story from three different people and get three drastically different takes on the past. Sure, the general facts line up, but if we didn't know better, we'd suspect our interview subjects were working on different games entirely. The men who were there making Quake can't even agree on the origins of the game's most revolutionary feature, internet play.
Before Quake, online gaming was something for those willing to pay a premium. Services like DWANGO (Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation) and TEN (Total Entertainment Network) sprang up overnight to provide online play for games like Duke Nukem 3D and Doom that supported LAN play, but had no internet functionality. Quake changed everything with the creation of the server/client architecture still used by games today. Players would login to a host computer that was preferably dedicated solely to that task alone. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, according to level designer Tim Willits, "In 1996 there wasn't much of an internet. Doom was a peer-to peer-system, and a pain in the ass. Quake was the first true PC server/client architecture system. People told us we were crazy. They said, why would anyone run a Quake server on their machine to allow people they don't know to play a game?"
Homebrew Mods that Cram Games into New Genres
Remember when you were sitting in Arby's with your folks, as a kid, and you'd get an idea? You know the one we're talking about: What if you mixed some of that sugar with some of that yellow-packet stuff, with a little ketchup, maybe some tangy Arby's sauce, and some of your Coke? A concoction would be born. It might be disgusting. It might be awesome. You won't know if you don't try.
The same thing happens to video game designers, sometimes. They'll see an engine they like, maybe a TV show they're fans of, hell, might just be a silly line of dialogue or even another video game -- and they'll mash 'em up. This time, with no parents to tell them not to, and a healthy dose of social awkwardness, the results are sometimes spectacular... ly bad. We've catalogued a few of these Frankenstein monsters for you here. Gaze and be amazed.
EarthBound as Tower Defense
Great news! The 16-year wait for somebody to turn EarthBound into a so-so tower-defense game is finally over! Okay, so the game itself is kinda mediocre -- its three levels (one per difficulty) are bland and its unit-upgrade system is predictable -- but it's a digital gingerbread house held together with love for the source material that serves as thick gobs of nostalgic frosting (Mmm, tasty nostalgia.) Stranger still, the original game's main character, Ness, is mysteriously absent from this homebrew, edged out by Mr. Saturns and Foppies banding together to prevent the dreaded Starmen from invading Eagleland. Gamers' undying passion for this dusty classic is indisputable -- good luck with those online petitions to get another sequel made, chums -- but this is clearly one of the most endearing/saddest homages to the SNES game. Interesting though it may be, sometimes the past is best left where it lies.
Download the EarthBound Tower Defense Game from Fileplanet
The Simpsons as Doom
Yes, that's right! You didn't know that Springfield's first family were converted into bloodthirsty demons and renders of the mortal flesh, did you!? Well, they were -- and all their weirdo neighbors and fellow townsfolk along with them. While this isn't exactly a game-to-game conversion (to be sure, there have been several games based on The Simpsons), it made our list from its sheer bizarreness, and the fact that it's actually kinda fun to play. Controls are pretty much the same as in the original Doom, although the weapons, enemies, and levels themselves are obviously vastly different. Not to mention the sound bites -- Ned Flanders, one of the game's tougher enemies -- shrieks "Whoa Nellie!" when you finally shove your last rocket-diddily up his yellow Christian butt and send him to the big animation library in the sky.
Download the Doom Simpsons Mod from Fileplanet
Left 4 Dead as an NES action-shooter
The whole 8-bit fixation prevalent in gaming lately is a little annoying and insincere, but this re-imagining of Valve's co-op, zombie-apocalypse FPS as an old-school NES game, by Eric Ruth is so lovingly made that we're willing to look the other way. The nearest approximation to the type of Nintendo game this emulates is Die Hard, though it's far better than that movie tie-in. (Don't tell Bruce Willis we said so.) All five maps of all four campaigns have been recreated here, and damned if the game isn't still a blast to play. They say the mark of a great song is that it still stands up when recreated in another style (like when Willie Nelson did a reggaeton cover of GG Allin's "Eat My Diarrhea" in the outtakes for Countryman) , so the same must hold true of games.
Download the Left 4 Dead NES game from FilePlanet.
Legend of Zelda/BattleToads/Contra/Mega Man/Castlevania/Monkey Island as FPSes
A lot of people like using the WASD keys, it seems, and not a gamepad to control their favorite console heroes. Popular action-adventure titles like the Legend of Zelda, and even beat-em-ups and platformers have been converted into the FPS format, with mixed success. The engine of choice for most of these seems to have been the Half-Life 2 engine, which did an awesome job of recreating the original town in Monkey Island (as a joke only -- it ain't playable), although a few earlier ones used the Doom or Unreal engines. While some of these conversions seem to make logical sense (Mega Man and Contra, for example, feature characters who primarily shoot stuff), none of them turned out to be particularly playable, as you can see from the video below. Is it just us, or is BattleToads just a little bit weird?
Crysis as Mechwarrior
Those of you familiar with the Battletech tabletop game will know that it has been converted into several video games over the years, perhaps the most successful being a first-person "sim" of the game's combat, with the player in the role of the pilot of a 60-foot high gigantic combat robot, called a 'Mech. These "Mechwarriors" go around and shoot each other with energy weapons and try not to overheat the fusion reactors powering their robots, and the whole thing is really fun and a perfect fit for a killer FPS engine like Crysis. This is one conversion that's actually worth playing -- and it looks damn good for a fan-made, too. Just keep in mind that it's online multiplayer only, so if you are forever alone, you'll just have to go back to playing against your cat in the tabletop version.
Download the Mechwarrior Crysis mod from FilePlanet.
We don't know about you, but we're pretty starving after tirelessly researching all these instances of gaming chocolate getting mixed up with fattening mod peanut butter. We're gonna bounce and head to the kitchen to mash up a Reese's peanut butter cup with some zesty salsa we just remembered we had.
Spy Guy says: Yup, that's a pretty whacked out bunch of mods right there, even by our standards. What's the freakiest mod you've ever played?
The same thing happens to video game designers, sometimes. They'll see an engine they like, maybe a TV show they're fans of, hell, might just be a silly line of dialogue or even another video game -- and they'll mash 'em up. This time, with no parents to tell them not to, and a healthy dose of social awkwardness, the results are sometimes spectacular... ly bad. We've catalogued a few of these Frankenstein monsters for you here. Gaze and be amazed.
EarthBound as Tower Defense
Great news! The 16-year wait for somebody to turn EarthBound into a so-so tower-defense game is finally over! Okay, so the game itself is kinda mediocre -- its three levels (one per difficulty) are bland and its unit-upgrade system is predictable -- but it's a digital gingerbread house held together with love for the source material that serves as thick gobs of nostalgic frosting (Mmm, tasty nostalgia.) Stranger still, the original game's main character, Ness, is mysteriously absent from this homebrew, edged out by Mr. Saturns and Foppies banding together to prevent the dreaded Starmen from invading Eagleland. Gamers' undying passion for this dusty classic is indisputable -- good luck with those online petitions to get another sequel made, chums -- but this is clearly one of the most endearing/saddest homages to the SNES game. Interesting though it may be, sometimes the past is best left where it lies.
Download the EarthBound Tower Defense Game from Fileplanet
The Simpsons as Doom
Yes, that's right! You didn't know that Springfield's first family were converted into bloodthirsty demons and renders of the mortal flesh, did you!? Well, they were -- and all their weirdo neighbors and fellow townsfolk along with them. While this isn't exactly a game-to-game conversion (to be sure, there have been several games based on The Simpsons), it made our list from its sheer bizarreness, and the fact that it's actually kinda fun to play. Controls are pretty much the same as in the original Doom, although the weapons, enemies, and levels themselves are obviously vastly different. Not to mention the sound bites -- Ned Flanders, one of the game's tougher enemies -- shrieks "Whoa Nellie!" when you finally shove your last rocket-diddily up his yellow Christian butt and send him to the big animation library in the sky.
Download the Doom Simpsons Mod from Fileplanet
Left 4 Dead as an NES action-shooter
The whole 8-bit fixation prevalent in gaming lately is a little annoying and insincere, but this re-imagining of Valve's co-op, zombie-apocalypse FPS as an old-school NES game, by Eric Ruth is so lovingly made that we're willing to look the other way. The nearest approximation to the type of Nintendo game this emulates is Die Hard, though it's far better than that movie tie-in. (Don't tell Bruce Willis we said so.) All five maps of all four campaigns have been recreated here, and damned if the game isn't still a blast to play. They say the mark of a great song is that it still stands up when recreated in another style (like when Willie Nelson did a reggaeton cover of GG Allin's "Eat My Diarrhea" in the outtakes for Countryman) , so the same must hold true of games.
Download the Left 4 Dead NES game from FilePlanet.
Legend of Zelda/BattleToads/Contra/Mega Man/Castlevania/Monkey Island as FPSes
A lot of people like using the WASD keys, it seems, and not a gamepad to control their favorite console heroes. Popular action-adventure titles like the Legend of Zelda, and even beat-em-ups and platformers have been converted into the FPS format, with mixed success. The engine of choice for most of these seems to have been the Half-Life 2 engine, which did an awesome job of recreating the original town in Monkey Island (as a joke only -- it ain't playable), although a few earlier ones used the Doom or Unreal engines. While some of these conversions seem to make logical sense (Mega Man and Contra, for example, feature characters who primarily shoot stuff), none of them turned out to be particularly playable, as you can see from the video below. Is it just us, or is BattleToads just a little bit weird?
Crysis as Mechwarrior
Those of you familiar with the Battletech tabletop game will know that it has been converted into several video games over the years, perhaps the most successful being a first-person "sim" of the game's combat, with the player in the role of the pilot of a 60-foot high gigantic combat robot, called a 'Mech. These "Mechwarriors" go around and shoot each other with energy weapons and try not to overheat the fusion reactors powering their robots, and the whole thing is really fun and a perfect fit for a killer FPS engine like Crysis. This is one conversion that's actually worth playing -- and it looks damn good for a fan-made, too. Just keep in mind that it's online multiplayer only, so if you are forever alone, you'll just have to go back to playing against your cat in the tabletop version.
Download the Mechwarrior Crysis mod from FilePlanet.
We don't know about you, but we're pretty starving after tirelessly researching all these instances of gaming chocolate getting mixed up with fattening mod peanut butter. We're gonna bounce and head to the kitchen to mash up a Reese's peanut butter cup with some zesty salsa we just remembered we had.
Spy Guy says: Yup, that's a pretty whacked out bunch of mods right there, even by our standards. What's the freakiest mod you've ever played?
News Replay Games Remastering Leisure Suit Larry
Back in the day, Sierra's sexually charged PC adventure Leisure Suit Larry was the Hot Coffee of gaming. (Hey, it was the mid-80s, we were innocent back then.) The franchise has changed hands a few times over the years, producing a handful of disappointing sequels, but now Replay Games is working with series creator Al Lowe to remaster the original, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, and bring it to today's generation in high-def.
EGM reports that Replay Games has acquired the rights to Larry and is now working on an HD multiplatform remaster of the 1987 original with an assist from Lowe.
- EGM
Old Larry.
- EGM
Larry's new look.
"I'm overjoyed to see Larry released from his digital dungeon after all this time, and be placed in the hands of someone who understands him and wants to see him, brought back to the forefront by people who love him and understand him," Lowe told EGM.
Replay plans to remaster Sierra's four original Larry games, and if those titles are successful, new installments in the series will be created beginning in 2012 -- the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
No release date was announced for Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards HD.
Spy Guy says: I was a little kid when Larry first hit the scene, and I remember hearing wildly exaggerated tales about the lovable loser and his sexual exploits. When I finally got to play the game myself, I discovered (with a mixture of disappointment and delight) it was much more of a comic adventure than videogame porn. It will be interesting to go back after all these years and play Larry again.
EGM reports that Replay Games has acquired the rights to Larry and is now working on an HD multiplatform remaster of the 1987 original with an assist from Lowe.
- EGM
Old Larry.
- EGM
Larry's new look.
"I'm overjoyed to see Larry released from his digital dungeon after all this time, and be placed in the hands of someone who understands him and wants to see him, brought back to the forefront by people who love him and understand him," Lowe told EGM.
Replay plans to remaster Sierra's four original Larry games, and if those titles are successful, new installments in the series will be created beginning in 2012 -- the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
No release date was announced for Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards HD.
Spy Guy says: I was a little kid when Larry first hit the scene, and I remember hearing wildly exaggerated tales about the lovable loser and his sexual exploits. When I finally got to play the game myself, I discovered (with a mixture of disappointment and delight) it was much more of a comic adventure than videogame porn. It will be interesting to go back after all these years and play Larry again.
News BioWare Details Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer
Australian mag PC Powerplay let the digital cat out of the bag yesterday, confirming that yes, there will be a multiplayer mode in Mass Effect 3. Today, BioWare stepped into the breach, providing details on the co-op mode that will allow up to four players to join forces in the Galaxy at War battle.
Posting on the official BioWare forums, community coordinator Chris Priestly explained why the studio wanted to include a co-op multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 and how the game's new Galaxy at War system will bring the mode to life.
"We have always maintained that we would only add multiplayer into the Mass Effect series if it made sense and did not compromise the power of the single player campaign," Priestly stated. "Fighting together against a common threat was the multiplayer experience that made the most sense for Mass Effect 3. The way we have designed co-op as a way to take control of key conflict zones in the galaxy is a natural extension of the premise of Mass Effect 3."
ME3's new Galaxy at War system will allow players to manage their in-game experience, both in the single-player campaign and four-player co-op, and while BioWare notes that co-op is "entirely optional," playing co-op can give players "an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory" in the campaign.
The rundown from BioWare:
Players can choose from a variety of classes and races, form an elite Special Forces squad, and combine their weapons, powers and abilities to devastating effect as they fight together to liberate key territories from enemy control. Success in multiplayer will have a direct impact on the outcome of the single player campaign, giving players an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory against the greatest threat mankind – and the entire galaxy – has ever faced.
Priestly said that a dedicated team at BioWare's recently formed Edmonton office is developing the multiplayer mode while BioWare's Montreal office "remains dedicated to delivering one of the most amazing single-player campaigns gamers have ever experienced."
BioWare also revealed that players will manage a galactic map in the Galaxy at War system and use co-op to battle to take back "key conflict zones." Players will create custom characters in co-op, and the mode will include a separate character progression, weapon upgrading, and leveling system.
Mass Effect 3 is in development for Windows PCs, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The game is set for launch on March 6, 2012.
Spy Guy says: With the game's various classes -- which are really sci-fi versions of the classic warrior tank, rogue ranged, and mage magic user fantasy classes -- Mass Effect should be perfect for co-op. The single-player campaign can be a bit too easy at times, even with your AI companions, so hopefully BioWare will up the difficulty of enemies significantly. Other than that, I'm all for co-op in ME3 -- are you?
Posting on the official BioWare forums, community coordinator Chris Priestly explained why the studio wanted to include a co-op multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 and how the game's new Galaxy at War system will bring the mode to life.
"We have always maintained that we would only add multiplayer into the Mass Effect series if it made sense and did not compromise the power of the single player campaign," Priestly stated. "Fighting together against a common threat was the multiplayer experience that made the most sense for Mass Effect 3. The way we have designed co-op as a way to take control of key conflict zones in the galaxy is a natural extension of the premise of Mass Effect 3."
ME3's new Galaxy at War system will allow players to manage their in-game experience, both in the single-player campaign and four-player co-op, and while BioWare notes that co-op is "entirely optional," playing co-op can give players "an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory" in the campaign.
The rundown from BioWare:
Players can choose from a variety of classes and races, form an elite Special Forces squad, and combine their weapons, powers and abilities to devastating effect as they fight together to liberate key territories from enemy control. Success in multiplayer will have a direct impact on the outcome of the single player campaign, giving players an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory against the greatest threat mankind – and the entire galaxy – has ever faced.
Priestly said that a dedicated team at BioWare's recently formed Edmonton office is developing the multiplayer mode while BioWare's Montreal office "remains dedicated to delivering one of the most amazing single-player campaigns gamers have ever experienced."
BioWare also revealed that players will manage a galactic map in the Galaxy at War system and use co-op to battle to take back "key conflict zones." Players will create custom characters in co-op, and the mode will include a separate character progression, weapon upgrading, and leveling system.
Mass Effect 3 is in development for Windows PCs, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The game is set for launch on March 6, 2012.
Spy Guy says: With the game's various classes -- which are really sci-fi versions of the classic warrior tank, rogue ranged, and mage magic user fantasy classes -- Mass Effect should be perfect for co-op. The single-player campaign can be a bit too easy at times, even with your AI companions, so hopefully BioWare will up the difficulty of enemies significantly. Other than that, I'm all for co-op in ME3 -- are you?
Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter Review
Heroes of Neverwinter is a Facebook game. Wait! Don't leave! You haven't suddenly ventured into enemy territory; this is a game for you. Well, assuming you're the sort who enjoys grid-based dungeon-crawling, full party management, multiple difficulty levels with unique loot, and the ability to construct your own dungeons – storylines and all. And yes, there are also actual freaking dragons. If you're thinking "Oh, no problem! I'll just pester them to death with Facebook notifications," then I highly advise that you go back to your farm.
First off, Neverwinter bucks the single biggest Facebook gaming trend by actually being, you know, a game. Admittedly, its four character classes and bog-standard storyline rate roughly 7/11 (as in, the convenience store) on the excitement scale, but the underlying mechanics are actually decent and fun. I won't lie, though: if you're a seasoned gamer, Neverwinter probably won't be your first trip down this particular rabbit hole.
"So yes, Heroes of Neverwinter is a Facebook game. And I'm just fine with that."
In short, you gather a well-balanced party and charge through battle-heavy dungeons turn-by-turn. All the while, your characters level up, gain new abilities, and maybe – just maybe – learn a little something about themselves in the process. It's standard – albeit simple – tactical RPG fare. But what it lacks in originality it makes up for with sheer compulsiveness. And it's always just a browser tab away.
Microtransactions, however, lurk around every corner. Most annoyingly, the game chains you to a slowly replenishing "energy" meter, which stops your adventurers dead in their tracks if it dips too low. At that point, you can either occupy yourself with something else (I suggest reading a book or aging) while it refills, or you can sacrifice a few dollars to leap back into action. Beyond that, I never felt particularly compelled to set down my wand and pick up my wallet, although reviving my party near the end of tougher dungeons was tempting.
Standard yet compulsive RPG fare.
Facebook's not just a liability, though. The phrase "social features" may make you want to mumble a series of prayers while clasping an Elder Scrolls game, but Neverwinter's are actually pretty neat. While it's not true multiplayer, you can bring a friend's character with you, and your friend will reap gold and experience for their avatar's trouble. You can also spectate when a friend has kidnapped your character for a day in the dungeon (not what it sounds like!) and even lend a hand with buffs. That said, it's not perfect. Unless you're in lock-step with friends' leveling, you may find your characters woefully over or underpowered.
Then there's dungeon creation, which allows for a surprising amount of variation. Tile sets, structure, storyline – it's all up to you. Your friends can take your sadistic creations for a spin, theoretically giving the game absurd amounts of replay value. Perplexingly, however, that feature – possibly the game's coolest – is walled off until you hit the level cap.
Rough spots and all, though, Neverwinter succeeds in establishing itself as a big fish in an ocean-sized pond. It's a smart, quick RPG with some actual depth that'll slyly hook you before you even notice. So yes, Heroes of Neverwinter is a Facebook game. And I'm just fine with that.
Spy Guy says: Take out the word Facebook, and this sounds like a fun freebie. The question is, can you look past the social network trappings, particularly the painful "energy" system, and enjoy playing D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter?
First off, Neverwinter bucks the single biggest Facebook gaming trend by actually being, you know, a game. Admittedly, its four character classes and bog-standard storyline rate roughly 7/11 (as in, the convenience store) on the excitement scale, but the underlying mechanics are actually decent and fun. I won't lie, though: if you're a seasoned gamer, Neverwinter probably won't be your first trip down this particular rabbit hole.
"So yes, Heroes of Neverwinter is a Facebook game. And I'm just fine with that."
In short, you gather a well-balanced party and charge through battle-heavy dungeons turn-by-turn. All the while, your characters level up, gain new abilities, and maybe – just maybe – learn a little something about themselves in the process. It's standard – albeit simple – tactical RPG fare. But what it lacks in originality it makes up for with sheer compulsiveness. And it's always just a browser tab away.
Microtransactions, however, lurk around every corner. Most annoyingly, the game chains you to a slowly replenishing "energy" meter, which stops your adventurers dead in their tracks if it dips too low. At that point, you can either occupy yourself with something else (I suggest reading a book or aging) while it refills, or you can sacrifice a few dollars to leap back into action. Beyond that, I never felt particularly compelled to set down my wand and pick up my wallet, although reviving my party near the end of tougher dungeons was tempting.
Standard yet compulsive RPG fare.
Facebook's not just a liability, though. The phrase "social features" may make you want to mumble a series of prayers while clasping an Elder Scrolls game, but Neverwinter's are actually pretty neat. While it's not true multiplayer, you can bring a friend's character with you, and your friend will reap gold and experience for their avatar's trouble. You can also spectate when a friend has kidnapped your character for a day in the dungeon (not what it sounds like!) and even lend a hand with buffs. That said, it's not perfect. Unless you're in lock-step with friends' leveling, you may find your characters woefully over or underpowered.
Then there's dungeon creation, which allows for a surprising amount of variation. Tile sets, structure, storyline – it's all up to you. Your friends can take your sadistic creations for a spin, theoretically giving the game absurd amounts of replay value. Perplexingly, however, that feature – possibly the game's coolest – is walled off until you hit the level cap.
Rough spots and all, though, Neverwinter succeeds in establishing itself as a big fish in an ocean-sized pond. It's a smart, quick RPG with some actual depth that'll slyly hook you before you even notice. So yes, Heroes of Neverwinter is a Facebook game. And I'm just fine with that.
Spy Guy says: Take out the word Facebook, and this sounds like a fun freebie. The question is, can you look past the social network trappings, particularly the painful "energy" system, and enjoy playing D&D: Heroes of Neverwinter?
News Comics Writer Marv Wolfman to Pen PlanetSide 2
Longtime comics scribe Marv Wolfman will lend his talents to PlanetSide 2, Sony Online Entertainment announced today, penning the backstory for the MMOFPS franchise and setting up the conflict between the game's three factions.
Wolfman, who has worked on some of the biggest titles in comics during his 40-plus years in the industry, including Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern, is perhaps most famous for writing the Crisis On Infinite Earths series, effectively streamlining 50 years of DC comics history.
"Marv is an extremely talented writer and was an instrumental partner in the creation of DC Universe Online; we are thrilled to team up with him again," SOE COO Russ Shanks said in a statement. "Marv has the ability to create powerful storylines, compelling characters and rich, interlocking narratives that will provide an all-new depth and meaning to the PlanetSide experience for players to enjoy."
"I'm thrilled to be working with SOE again," Wolfman said. "Not only do I get to take elements from the original PlanetSide and further develop an extensive backstory that can help players more fully understand this incredible new world, but even better, I get to create dozens of individual characters that I hope will help bring alive the story of PlanetSide 2 for the entire player community."
Planetside 2 is now in development for Windows PCs. The game's release date remains TBA.
Spy Guy says: Nice. PlanetSide definitely needs a bit of meaning added to its conflict. Glad to hear Wolfman is the man doing the adding.
Wolfman, who has worked on some of the biggest titles in comics during his 40-plus years in the industry, including Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern, is perhaps most famous for writing the Crisis On Infinite Earths series, effectively streamlining 50 years of DC comics history.
"Marv is an extremely talented writer and was an instrumental partner in the creation of DC Universe Online; we are thrilled to team up with him again," SOE COO Russ Shanks said in a statement. "Marv has the ability to create powerful storylines, compelling characters and rich, interlocking narratives that will provide an all-new depth and meaning to the PlanetSide experience for players to enjoy."
"I'm thrilled to be working with SOE again," Wolfman said. "Not only do I get to take elements from the original PlanetSide and further develop an extensive backstory that can help players more fully understand this incredible new world, but even better, I get to create dozens of individual characters that I hope will help bring alive the story of PlanetSide 2 for the entire player community."
Planetside 2 is now in development for Windows PCs. The game's release date remains TBA.
Spy Guy says: Nice. PlanetSide definitely needs a bit of meaning added to its conflict. Glad to hear Wolfman is the man doing the adding.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Kevin James visits the critters of Zoo World 2 in Zoo Keeper promotion
After watching Kevin James bumble around as a firefighter feigning a domestic partnership and later as a blundering mall cop, I wasn't so keen on watching him play a clumsy zoo keeper. But hey, maybe it'll make for a fun Facebook game event, and RockYou seems to agree, as it announced that Zoo World 2 will honor James's comedic, klutzy exploits in Zoo Keeper.
Zoo Keeper has come and gone in theaters, but picking up the Blu-ray or DVD release of James's summer comedy will score Zoo World fans 12,500 Zoo Bucks (normally $10) to blow in Zoo World 2. Of course, digital zoo keepers will be joined by characters from the movie including Griffin (Kevin James's character), Bernie the Gorilla, Joe the Lion, Mollie the Giraffe and Barry the Elephant.
Zoo World 2 will feature several goals involving the cast of the film, and players will net extra rewards when taking care of the critters from the movie. Leveling up during this promotion will produce customizable, Zoo Keeper-inspired notifications that players can share with each other. The original game gets some love, too, with four Zoo Keeper-themed animals.
Gallery: Zoo World 2 Zoo Keeper Promotion
RockYou has finally caught wind that, hey, branding is where it's at right now in Facebook games. (And perhaps a big name will give the game's 370,000 daily players a boost.) Not only has Enrique Iglesias landed in Zynga's CityVille, but studios like Ecko|Code have launched full-blown branded games like Dexter Slice of Life. And, if big time social game execs have anything to say about it, this trend isn't going anywhere. Let's just not make an entire game surrounding a Kevin James flick, kay?
Are you a Zoo World 2 fan already? Do you think this promotion is a good fit for the game, and does it make you want to play or try the game out any more than before? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Zoo Keeper has come and gone in theaters, but picking up the Blu-ray or DVD release of James's summer comedy will score Zoo World fans 12,500 Zoo Bucks (normally $10) to blow in Zoo World 2. Of course, digital zoo keepers will be joined by characters from the movie including Griffin (Kevin James's character), Bernie the Gorilla, Joe the Lion, Mollie the Giraffe and Barry the Elephant.
Zoo World 2 will feature several goals involving the cast of the film, and players will net extra rewards when taking care of the critters from the movie. Leveling up during this promotion will produce customizable, Zoo Keeper-inspired notifications that players can share with each other. The original game gets some love, too, with four Zoo Keeper-themed animals.
Gallery: Zoo World 2 Zoo Keeper Promotion
RockYou has finally caught wind that, hey, branding is where it's at right now in Facebook games. (And perhaps a big name will give the game's 370,000 daily players a boost.) Not only has Enrique Iglesias landed in Zynga's CityVille, but studios like Ecko|Code have launched full-blown branded games like Dexter Slice of Life. And, if big time social game execs have anything to say about it, this trend isn't going anywhere. Let's just not make an entire game surrounding a Kevin James flick, kay?
Are you a Zoo World 2 fan already? Do you think this promotion is a good fit for the game, and does it make you want to play or try the game out any more than before? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Scott Steinberg: Facebook could be in music games' future [Interview]
"It was too many games in too short a time, playing to too niche of an audience at too high a price--in the middle of the worst recession possible." According to technology analyst and public speaker Scott Steinberg, this was what essentially killed the enormous music gaming franchises, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The age of sitting around your living room with three friends, plucking and fiddling with plastic instruments to Rush's Tom Sawyer is all but over ... for now.
Well, at least those exorbitant pieces of plastic are through. Steinberg details the rise, fall, and imminent resurrection of music-based video games in his new novel, "Music Games Rock: Rhythm Gaming's Greatest Hits of All Time," which you can read for free right here. (If you're so inclined to support the guy, it's also available on iBooks, Kindle and in paperback.)
According to Steinberg, music games inspired by Guitar Hero and Rock Band's wild success will get their second shot in the limelight on Facebook and in your smartphones. We recently sat down with Steinberg to hear his thoughts on just how Facebook games can take advantage of this golden opportunity, why it hasn't happened just yet and what the killer Facebook music game might be like.
What advantages would you say social games have to capitalize on the downfall of music games?
There's a number of advantages, right? Free-to-play and incredibly low barriers to entry. You certainly don't have high-end system requirements, and you don't have to buy pricey plastic peripherals. They can tap into your existing music collection or stream it live, and you have millions of players connected to a platform that's uniform.
You don't have to worry, for the most part, about bugs or errors, because everybody is playing the same thing at the same time. So, what you have is a ready made audience, say, on Facebook alone of 800 million people who are incredibly connected. [They] used to playing with one another and are taking part in a platform that's uniquely tailor-made to take advantage of digital music--and oh, by the way, it's completely free to play.
When you take it in this context, coupled with the fact that every human being on this planet is hardwired to enjoy music, that really is the common unifier. Social games really are uniquely poised to take the genre to the next level.
Music Games RockIn your book, you mention that the music genre has enjoyed a revival on social networks through Facebook games like Nightclub City and Dirty Dancing--largely simulator games. But what about games that more closely resemble the now-defunct rhythm games like Pump It? Which of the two do you think has a better chance at thriving on Facebook?
Actually, I would argue that some of the better ones that have a chance of surviving may not even be traditional games at all. Look at a service like Turntable.fm: Wouldn't consider it a game per se, except it's powered completely by gamification elements. You're creating custom play lists, you're interacting with other players in a social environment and ultimately you're competing for the approval of other users by liking the songs.
Or, if you look at other games like YooStar Playground or apps like VidRhythm--these are the titles that are to do particularly well. That said, simulation titles [have a] strong audience for them and proven capability, and certainly because that's where so many games got their roots [on Facebook]. There's likely to be a lot of people interested. I've even seen a number of unreleased games that are in prototype that essentially allow you to take on the role of managing or performing in a rock band--I think they're uniquely well-suited.
I think what's not going to translate over well is simply the standard tap in time with the on-screen indicator type games. Though, these can continue to succeed on mobile platforms, because in the mobile context you're typically looking to play maybe with one hand in a span of five or six minutes. Whereas social games may only be a 15-minute spurt, you're sitting down in front of a PC and you're typically more engaged.
There are some music creation social games on the fringe already, like BreakOutBand, that rely on players to share content to succeed. How important would that be in a social game centered around music?
I think user-created content, as it relates to social games, is massively important, because at the end of the day the developers can only take a game so far. And it's the players' ability to interact with and reshape that music or related content that really creates a sense of community, and allows a title to constantly keep feeling fresh and people coming back for more.
It's essentially a win-win, because for the developer it's a very affordable way to keep adding content to the game and keep people talking about it, and coming back after weeks and weeks. Players aren't constrained by office politics, licensing issues, and--to be frank--everybody loves to mix and mash creations.
But how much of that is going to be super-high quality, or chart-topping hits shall we say, versus underground little diddies? This is social interaction at its core, right? So, if you don't have that level of user interactivity, at the end of the day what you have is essentially a game with a bunch of canned content. And not much reason--unless it's saying you need to recruit other players to earn money for your band or unlock new stuff--there's not much incentive to pass it along.
A good amount of music games already exist on Facebook, but none are taking off like music games did before the turn of the decade. What do you think it would take for a music-based social game to enjoy success and notoriety like Guitar Hero?
You need to have a concept with extremely wide appeal that allows players to enjoy rock star wish fulfillment in a matter of minutes without the painful side effects. What also is important is to have recognizable band scenarios, you know, licensed music. But also the ability for players to put their own spin on it and a reason for them to engage with one another.
The problem is, to succeed on social networks where you literally have thousands of titles competing, dozens of them coming out every single week--all of which are completely free to play versus Guitar Hero, which was completely brand new. To have that success on Facebook or another social network, I almost think what you're going to see is a title that's going to have to align itself with Spotify or another one of these streaming services to tap into a massive database of real-world artists and then finds new ways for you to interact with that music.
Dirty Dancing Facebook game
Back to the branded music games like Dirty Dancing (pictured). As you know, they're reaching critical mass, so what do you think is the likelihood of a monster brand like Guitar Hero or Rock Band appearing on Facebook?
Oh, it's a certainty. It's not a question of 'if,' but just a question of 'when.' I think a lot of that is because the game makers aren't unawares. Activision, Harmonix, Mad Catz: They understand the power of social networks as a platform. The problem is that their business has been thus far founded in either selling peripherals--good mark up on those plastic guitars--or selling software for 60 bucks a pop.
They haven't had as much incentive to scurry and think, 'How do we make a free-to-play platform where we're probably going to make a lot less money in the immediate?' But slowly and surely, as so many game players are migrating to these platforms, convenience is winning. It's almost as if they're being forced to acknowledge it. It's a completely new approach to game design--Wal-Mart's not going to order a million units. They'll embrace it; it's just a question of 'when.'
Try to describe your dream music-based Facebook game to me. In other words, what do you think would be the ultimate approach to a music game on Facebook?
The ultimate Facebook music game would not only be able to tap into your full library of digital music, but also stream millions of songs on demand. [It would] allow you to set up on stage custom concerts for your friends, featuring this music or original music you created. [You would] style your avatars, build your own bands, create your own followings, sell your own virtual merchandise and connect over shared love of music with millions of players across the world.
It would effectively recreate the rock and recording industry experience, only in a virtual setting. What I mean is a combo listening service, social network, slash simulation game that effectively allows you to build a rock band and recording industry career from the ground up. I don't see any reason why you couldn't create avatars for your band--it's own look, logo, virtual stickers, t-shirts. You could buy branded gear like Gibson's or Marshall's, earn cash from touring, build your own virtual labels. I don't see any reason why a platform wouldn't be able to break new artists.
Wow, I think it's time for you to call the patent office. Thanks for taking the time to chat, Scott.
What do you think of the prospects of a wildly successful music game hitting Facebook? Who do you think could be the first to create the ultimate music game on Facebook? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment
Well, at least those exorbitant pieces of plastic are through. Steinberg details the rise, fall, and imminent resurrection of music-based video games in his new novel, "Music Games Rock: Rhythm Gaming's Greatest Hits of All Time," which you can read for free right here. (If you're so inclined to support the guy, it's also available on iBooks, Kindle and in paperback.)
According to Steinberg, music games inspired by Guitar Hero and Rock Band's wild success will get their second shot in the limelight on Facebook and in your smartphones. We recently sat down with Steinberg to hear his thoughts on just how Facebook games can take advantage of this golden opportunity, why it hasn't happened just yet and what the killer Facebook music game might be like.
What advantages would you say social games have to capitalize on the downfall of music games?
There's a number of advantages, right? Free-to-play and incredibly low barriers to entry. You certainly don't have high-end system requirements, and you don't have to buy pricey plastic peripherals. They can tap into your existing music collection or stream it live, and you have millions of players connected to a platform that's uniform.
You don't have to worry, for the most part, about bugs or errors, because everybody is playing the same thing at the same time. So, what you have is a ready made audience, say, on Facebook alone of 800 million people who are incredibly connected. [They] used to playing with one another and are taking part in a platform that's uniquely tailor-made to take advantage of digital music--and oh, by the way, it's completely free to play.
When you take it in this context, coupled with the fact that every human being on this planet is hardwired to enjoy music, that really is the common unifier. Social games really are uniquely poised to take the genre to the next level.
Music Games RockIn your book, you mention that the music genre has enjoyed a revival on social networks through Facebook games like Nightclub City and Dirty Dancing--largely simulator games. But what about games that more closely resemble the now-defunct rhythm games like Pump It? Which of the two do you think has a better chance at thriving on Facebook?
Actually, I would argue that some of the better ones that have a chance of surviving may not even be traditional games at all. Look at a service like Turntable.fm: Wouldn't consider it a game per se, except it's powered completely by gamification elements. You're creating custom play lists, you're interacting with other players in a social environment and ultimately you're competing for the approval of other users by liking the songs.
Or, if you look at other games like YooStar Playground or apps like VidRhythm--these are the titles that are to do particularly well. That said, simulation titles [have a] strong audience for them and proven capability, and certainly because that's where so many games got their roots [on Facebook]. There's likely to be a lot of people interested. I've even seen a number of unreleased games that are in prototype that essentially allow you to take on the role of managing or performing in a rock band--I think they're uniquely well-suited.
I think what's not going to translate over well is simply the standard tap in time with the on-screen indicator type games. Though, these can continue to succeed on mobile platforms, because in the mobile context you're typically looking to play maybe with one hand in a span of five or six minutes. Whereas social games may only be a 15-minute spurt, you're sitting down in front of a PC and you're typically more engaged.
There are some music creation social games on the fringe already, like BreakOutBand, that rely on players to share content to succeed. How important would that be in a social game centered around music?
I think user-created content, as it relates to social games, is massively important, because at the end of the day the developers can only take a game so far. And it's the players' ability to interact with and reshape that music or related content that really creates a sense of community, and allows a title to constantly keep feeling fresh and people coming back for more.
It's essentially a win-win, because for the developer it's a very affordable way to keep adding content to the game and keep people talking about it, and coming back after weeks and weeks. Players aren't constrained by office politics, licensing issues, and--to be frank--everybody loves to mix and mash creations.
But how much of that is going to be super-high quality, or chart-topping hits shall we say, versus underground little diddies? This is social interaction at its core, right? So, if you don't have that level of user interactivity, at the end of the day what you have is essentially a game with a bunch of canned content. And not much reason--unless it's saying you need to recruit other players to earn money for your band or unlock new stuff--there's not much incentive to pass it along.
A good amount of music games already exist on Facebook, but none are taking off like music games did before the turn of the decade. What do you think it would take for a music-based social game to enjoy success and notoriety like Guitar Hero?
You need to have a concept with extremely wide appeal that allows players to enjoy rock star wish fulfillment in a matter of minutes without the painful side effects. What also is important is to have recognizable band scenarios, you know, licensed music. But also the ability for players to put their own spin on it and a reason for them to engage with one another.
The problem is, to succeed on social networks where you literally have thousands of titles competing, dozens of them coming out every single week--all of which are completely free to play versus Guitar Hero, which was completely brand new. To have that success on Facebook or another social network, I almost think what you're going to see is a title that's going to have to align itself with Spotify or another one of these streaming services to tap into a massive database of real-world artists and then finds new ways for you to interact with that music.
Dirty Dancing Facebook game
Back to the branded music games like Dirty Dancing (pictured). As you know, they're reaching critical mass, so what do you think is the likelihood of a monster brand like Guitar Hero or Rock Band appearing on Facebook?
Oh, it's a certainty. It's not a question of 'if,' but just a question of 'when.' I think a lot of that is because the game makers aren't unawares. Activision, Harmonix, Mad Catz: They understand the power of social networks as a platform. The problem is that their business has been thus far founded in either selling peripherals--good mark up on those plastic guitars--or selling software for 60 bucks a pop.
They haven't had as much incentive to scurry and think, 'How do we make a free-to-play platform where we're probably going to make a lot less money in the immediate?' But slowly and surely, as so many game players are migrating to these platforms, convenience is winning. It's almost as if they're being forced to acknowledge it. It's a completely new approach to game design--Wal-Mart's not going to order a million units. They'll embrace it; it's just a question of 'when.'
Try to describe your dream music-based Facebook game to me. In other words, what do you think would be the ultimate approach to a music game on Facebook?
The ultimate Facebook music game would not only be able to tap into your full library of digital music, but also stream millions of songs on demand. [It would] allow you to set up on stage custom concerts for your friends, featuring this music or original music you created. [You would] style your avatars, build your own bands, create your own followings, sell your own virtual merchandise and connect over shared love of music with millions of players across the world.
It would effectively recreate the rock and recording industry experience, only in a virtual setting. What I mean is a combo listening service, social network, slash simulation game that effectively allows you to build a rock band and recording industry career from the ground up. I don't see any reason why you couldn't create avatars for your band--it's own look, logo, virtual stickers, t-shirts. You could buy branded gear like Gibson's or Marshall's, earn cash from touring, build your own virtual labels. I don't see any reason why a platform wouldn't be able to break new artists.
Wow, I think it's time for you to call the patent office. Thanks for taking the time to chat, Scott.
What do you think of the prospects of a wildly successful music game hitting Facebook? Who do you think could be the first to create the ultimate music game on Facebook? Share with us in the comments. 1 Comment
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)