There have been some very good complex DS homebrew games, such as a Touch of War. But I think there’s a trend for excellent homebrew games: take a simple but entertaining game, and do it very, very well with the ability to add to it. For example, StillAliveDS and Warcraft Tower Defense follow this model, as both offer level editors and ways to get new content to keep the game fresh.
Add to that the very excellent Marble from Noda. The game itself is simple–you have tilt a gameboard to move a marble to its goal, dealing with obstacles along the way. Marble placed third in the Neoflash summer 2008 competition [which StillAliveDS won].
Marble is quite a game, one that you can easily play for a long time. The game has some beautiful textures and backgrounds, and the game physics are really well done. But what is truly impressive is the level editor, in which you can edit the marble, board, and game elements:
Board — Adjust size, border size and width, texture [8 available], and diffuse light color
Board elements — Add walls, speeders, magnets, bumpers, black holes, life, portal, sticky; set size, position, diffuse color and other parameters for each element
Game — Set time, rebound, friction, main light color, main light position, and background [8 available]
I think Noda has a great game here, one definitely keeping on your cart. Now, the graphics are somewhat rough in places, but this is still very enjoyable and well done.
Of course, while the game might be simple, the work behind is hardly that. But I think the focus allows these developers to do it very well.
I played Advanced Civilization with 6 friends for about 13 1/2 hours on Saturday, and it was blast, especially since I’ve not played an all-day board game in ages. It’s amazing how well Advanced Civilization stands up after all these years as an excellently balanced game. At one point, I had 3 calamities that threatened to wipe me out, but I was able to get back into the game and remain competitive. The nice thing, too, is that there was talk of starting up a D&D 4th edition campaign. [The computer game Advanced Civilization is available for download at abandonia, and it's a very near, if not exact, duplication of the board game, unlike, of course, Sid Meier's adaptation.]
In that game session, I talked to several friends are game developers, and they confirmed not only how steadily the game companies in Dallas have continued to wane but how the recent cuts across game companies is going to affect the games we see, though not until 2010, given development cycles. Plus, the necessary credit for producing AAA games isn’t there. One large publisher is even concerned about the lack of new releases for the fall. [Again, I'm amazed that there's not more interest in producing up-market games for the Wii because of its relatively cheap development costs.]
I had played through a bit of Zack & Wiki and then stopped to play other things. But I picked it up again on Friday, playing with the kids who were very helpful. Games like this are actually excellent multiplayer games, as even my wife sat down and tried to help with a couple. The reason is that the game, unlike RTS, RPG, and FPS games, doesn’t rely on controlling the character to have fun–a puzzle is a puzzle . . . as long as the gamer listens to others and respects their suggestions.
I picked up Skies of Arcadia in trade from Goozex, and I’m looking forward to playing it. Having fun with Chrono Trigger has made me eager to play through those RPGs that i really didn’t give time to before. I found that Skies was actually rather available in different game stores as a used game. This could be one of those games that would probably make a good suggestion for a game club such as Michael Abbot’s [which I keep meaning to join].
Playing games, especially board games, as a family can be tricky largely because my 6-year-old daughter is at a disadvantage. I recently ran across a very promising coop board game called Pandemic, in which all the players work together using the strengths of their roles to prevent the spread of a disease. Below is a video of the creator talking about the game’s design. [It's a little advanced for my daughter, but as a coop game, it's easy to help her along.] I like the fact that the game not only encourages but also requires lots of discussion, which is both good for the family and good to help teach the kids about strategic thinking.
Is it just me, or does the follow video clip from the Wii game Fragile has something of Spirited Away about it? Or a faint echo of it? It’s not the visuals but something of the basic plot, the odd characters, the placement of a child in a strange place. Maybe it’s the floating masks [also in Spirited Away].
I’ve not been a huge fan of Japanese RPGs, but this one is very intriguing, perhaps because I feel a little inundated in western RPGs at the moment. Exploratory RPGs are fun, but this jrpg has a story hook that’s better than what I’ve seen in a while.
Miyazaki’s storytelling is an interesting blend of very imaginative characters and situations with a kind of meandering, episodic technique, although never boring. [I was amazed when my kids loved Kiki's Delivery Service, which has no real overall plot.] I think his type of storytelling could possibly bridge western and Japanese RPGs, an RPG focused on story but allowing greater non-linearity.
Regardless, Fragile’s developers have said that the game would take a good 30 hours to complete. I certainly hope this one comes to the west. It would be a great departure from Fallout 3, Fable 2, and Mass Effect.
The kids’ computer has died, so I’m now faced with hours of troubleshooting, which isn’t how I imagined spending my time off this week. The fact that it’s a Shuttle PC makes cannibalizing somewhat difficult.
Fortunately, there’s the ds to play to have some fun. Yes, I’m in the middle of Chrono Trigger, but I’ve taken some time to try some homebrew. Now I loved acromage, but bodom-child’s v0.99 had some problems. So, when cravesoft released Castle Wars v0.9, I knew I had to try it.
The game is based on a card game found in Might & Magic VII. It’s a castle destroying/building game in which you win by either building your castle to 100 points or destroying your opponent’s castle to 0 points. You have a hand of 8 cards that have three different resources–weapons, magic, and bricks. And you have builders, soldiers and magicians that produce these sources. For example, if you have 2 magicians, you gain 2 magic points each hand. Your cards have a variety of effects: building walls or castles, removing resources from your opponent, adding to your resources, and destroying walls or castles.
The graphics are very simplistic, especially compared to Acromage, but it largely works well, offering 3 modes–computer vs human, human vs human, and the enigmatic computer vs computer. I wish it had some difficulty setting as I tend to beat the computer 80-90% of the time. But still, it is enjoyable, and the outcome is never certain. It does have some bugs if you play 2-3 hours of the games, but that very acceptable. Because of the problems with Acromage, Castle Wars is a more than acceptable replacement, and I highly recommend it.
DSKiosk v1.11 is potentially an invaluable tool if you have a lot of DS homebrew. The problem with homebrew is that you can’t always put everything in one directory because some games have to be in the root directory. Plus, it’s always nice to have a graphic interface for selecting games, which is what DSKios offers. From what I can tell, you can use DSKiosk to find all the games on your ds cart and create links to launch those games using thumbnails. You can download thumbnails Kornflexx offers, or the DSKiosk can create thumbnails based on the .nds file.
However, so far, this is theory. When I installed and ran DSKiosk, I got a ‘missing ini file’ error, but I couldn’t resolve it since the download didn’t include such a file. I found and downloaded a version patched for the R4/Simply DS cart, and it started, allowing me to add games. However, when I click a game to start, DSKiosk seemed to hang in a perpetual white screen state.
So, for now, DSKiosk has a few problems to be worked out, but its potential warrants keeping an eye on its progress.
I have a few other DS homebrew games to try out now.
I’ve never been a big fan of Frank Miller for a variety of reasons, but I’m willing to give his work a chance. That said, his adaptation of the Spirit really put me off, as he was clearly Miller-izing Will Eisner’s work. So, I’m rather glad to see The Spirit getting an average score of 31 on metacritic, especially given that the movie’s biggest problem is the writing.
Looking for the latest game news about your favorite Wii peripheral? Check out the Wii Balance Board Games Roundup. I’m amazed there’s that much to say about the topic.
I guess a Wii Motion Plus Games Roundup is in the offing?
Anyone get any particular gifts they’d like to share?
When the post office delivered my wife’s present for me, I picked it up and noticed that it was quite heavy. I suspected that it might be a blu ray player, given the size and weight. I was very much surprised to find that it was Wii Fit, which might be her way of saying I need to lose weight.
My brother gave me an Atari Flashback 2, which was very unexpected. The kids were actually very interested to play it, and I was amazed that Pong was amused us for a good hour. My son, who is now obsessed with playing the Fusion Fall MMO, found Pong to be somewhat harder than he expected, and I could see where it required more eye-hand coordination than many games he plays.
Meanwhile, my brother is now obsessing on vintage game consoles, as he’s bidding on a Magnavox Odyssey on eBay. I recommended the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 to him. Even though there are much easier and cheaper ways to play those games now, he admits that he’s more interested in the hardware than the games themselves.
That said, as I continued to work on Christmas day and wrap up a project, this is one of those Christmas holidays where I definitely appreciate my family. The recent months have been a little tough for several family members, so it’s been good to spend time with my mom and focus on the kids, not on going to parties, buying stuff, etc.
Different strokes for different folks. That said, I can’t help but notice this ad for a Christian version of Guitar Hero, [Guitar Praise], there’s an interesting appeal at around 0:56 in the ad.
As we hit a lull in console games, folks are looking at the top games for next year, like this one for the 360 [of which 5 are FPS, 6 if you count RE5]. Wii owners are told time and again that they have no ‘core’ or ‘hardcore’ games. But 2009 is looking much better for the up market. Yet, even with what has been announced, I think it’s highly likely the second half 2009 will see, at least, new games from Nintendo. Plus, there are some games that have not been announced a North America or Europe release date, such Monster Hunter 3, Fragile, and Fatal Frame 4.
So, sticking with only games with firm announcements for Europe and North America, here are some up-market games to look forward to in 2009. I’m not putting these in order, and I’m looking at different types of games. In this post, I’m looking at the better RPG and Action titles confirmed for 2009. In part 2, I’ll look at other up-market genres.
It’s good to note that several of these games have distinctive visual styles, whether it’s the black and white of madworld, the Jananese art style of Muramasa, or Eternity’s Child. As much as I enjoy the high-definition 360 games, they often seem to come in as browns and blues. The 360 has its distinctively styled games, but for the Wii, this is almost a necessity because it cannot compete with the detailed, high def style of the 360 and PS3. And in the end, I think this could potentially make Wii games much more visually interesting than high def games.
After a while, highly detailed games can have a certain sameness simply because, by allowing greater detail and more realism, the games tend that direction. But with the better Wii games even today, they do not suffer a halo effect of looking similar, except for perhaps the core Nintendo games. Even so, Super Mario Galaxy is noticeably different from Mario Kart Wii and certainly far removed from Metroid Prime 3. THen there are very distinctive styles of Zack & Wiki, Boom Blox,No More Heroes, Lost Winds, and de Blob. The 2009 Wii lineup seems to advance this visual diversity.
If you’re like me and only have a slot 1 cart for playing homebrew, you’ve been missing out on some good GBA homebrew games. But one of them is not available to play on slot 1 carts. Anguna is a nicely done Zelda-clone adventure/RPG.
You can download the DS port from Nathan Tolbert’s website, as well as read tips and guides. Be sure to look at the readme for the game controls.
This is a well done game, one definitely that you should download and play. The graphics are well done, and the gameplay is solid. If anything, the game might leave you wanting more when you are done. Still, there are lots of hidden items to find, if you think the game is too easy. Anguna definitely is on my ‘keeper’ list. I need to update my zipped file of the best DS homebrew games, and I’ll be adding this one.
Linux is ubiquitous. And now it has a rather nice Wii presence. Xwhiite-linux0.2 by bertjan is now available, providing users with a graphical interface, remote desktop support [VNC and Microsoft], and other improvements over 0.1.The videos show multimedia apps, but I’m curious to see what other apps it includes or could support.
Why run Linux on the Wii? Because you can. Actually, for folks like me, when the PCs are occupied, it’s nice to have this option. It might be time for me to invest in a wireless keyboard.
The kids and I have now played three sessions of Dokapon Kingdom, increasing the number of weeks [7 turns per week] each time. The kids really like it, although my six-year-old daughter has a tendency not to venture out much and, thus, often comes in last place. Far and away the most difficult aspect of the game . . . moving. The auto move feature is sometimes frustrating, so I encourage the kids to turn it off and then, the games uses arrows to show all your possible finishing spaces.
I really like the risk-taking and exploration that the game encourages. My nine-year-old son has now been rewarded for a certain strategy, which is stealing and liberating towns. So, he’s setting off now for all the towns, moving into areas further and further from the starting castle, which has that ‘home base’ security that my daughter still clings to. Yet, no place is truly safe–you can be attacked by monsters or other players from afar, or you can get into several battles and lose track of your health. She sees my son succeeding by venturing outwards and is now trying to do the same. By playing a non-thief role, I’m trying to them how other roles, or jobs, can be rewarding.
Something else that is interesting is watching the kids develop informal rules, which, if you’ve watched kids play, often. For example, when the kids saw that thieves steal items from other players, they wanted to play a thief all the time, but then the advantage of the role quickly disappeared because everyone stole from each other. Partly out of self-preservation but also to advance the game, my son proposed that we not focus on stealing from each, or, as he said, ‘we just steal the same things from each other.’
This kind of gaming can be difficult to find, where the official rules of the game don’t overwhelm the players and allow them to be creative and even develop their own play. In a way, Dokapon Kingdom has only a few rules.
You can move or use an item each turn.
You have to earn gold to win.
Otherwise, the game is dealing with all the choices and responding to the different actions and events.
In a way, the game has that kind of tabletop rpg feel, even though in the multiplayer mode, there’s not a story per se. But it has that feel of finding the unexpected–that dynamic gaming feel. In a party game like Mario Party, you can do a few things to affect other players, but those actions are limited, until you get to the minigames. In Dokapon Kingdom, what you do, what squares you land on, has a significant impact–with battles, levelling your character, or getting great items that help you attack or defend against opponents.
With games like Mario Party, the minigames get old and there’s not as much of a progression outside of the board itself. With Dokapon Kingdom, it’s not about moving around the board in a specific order but about getting the most gold, which you can do several ways. You can be good, or you can be evil . . . in several ways.
But right now, I’m enjoying watching the kids play in ways I haven’t quite seen before–while not completely new for them, the risk-taking and game-making is at another level. Perhaps soon, I’ll have my tabletop rpg group, and we’ll have those marathon sessions.
After the break, I’ve posted images of the instruction manual, which give you a pretty good idea of how the game works, what the different actions, jobs, battle commands, and spaces are, and how to use the game controllers [for Wii remote, classic controller, or Gamecube controller].
Well, the Wii Speak Channel released in North America and Europe today. I’ll probably end up getting it, based on some of the comments and video that I’ve seen.
- Great Sound Quality. I was on the phone with my girlfriend and we were both in the channel and you could hear a little lag, but nothing terrible
- I really like the way it’s set up. The lobby shows up to eight of your friends that you choose and whether or not they’re online. You can also check if they even have Wii Speak.
- You can send and recieve photos and you can also send voice messages to your friends Wiis. I believe there is no limit to the number of people you can chat with aswell.
- You also have quick access to your Friend Code aswell as your address book. From what I read, you can chat with people you’re not even friends with, but, I dunno how that works.
- A great job at voice chat. I’m really impressed with the setup and the sound quality.
And you can have many people in one chat room, although it appears that you can’t run the channel in the background while playing a game. Also, you might hear some voices distorted, which is possible because you can add effects to your voice when speaking or recording.
One very nice benefit I’ve read in several comments is that you can see which of your friends are online. Niiiiiice.
Update: I picked up Wii Speak today, and I’m pretty impressed with it. Sitting on the coach 12+ feet away, it picked up my voice and the kids’ voices very welll . . . with yelling or even talking louder than normal. I liked the interface, although in a way, I’m not sure that they really need a chat room and a lobby. While it won’t run in the background of a game not designed for Wii Speak, it certainly adds a way to coordinate with friends and to talk some smack before and after the game. And, yes, you can see from the lobby which of your friends are online, but only if they are logged on to the Wii Speak channel. So, if you want to test out with someone, feel free to add me as a friend.
Trying to relax in the face of impending deadlines at work and feeling way too behind, I spent some of the Thanksgiving days off getting in some time with a couple of new games. Come December 19 at 7pm, I’m going to begin marathon sessions with these 2 new games, as well as Fable 2. Both are RPGs that are quirky and not your traditional RPG in many ways. Both emphasize fun, have large replay value, and should be approached on their own terms. Besides, who needs dark and brooding for the holidays?
After picking up Chrono Trigger DS last Tuesday before the holidays, I got in a couple of hours with the game. I never played the original, but I was expecting a silly little RPG that is fun. And it is. I can’t help but think of Philip K. Dick as I play the game because, like Dick’s stories, the writing itself, the expressions and the style, is often awkward and unpolished, but the idea of the story is greater than the writing. And, like Dick’s characters, the Chrono characters are often stilted and simplistic, yet there is something memorable about them, something that keeps you interested in them. What really got me was how earlier scenes, actions, and characters in the game were used in the trial scene as evidence of both guilt and innocence. It seemed like a very fresh element, even though the original game was released 13 years ago, the kind of thing that made me think, ‘wow, that was cool.’ Needless to say, this little RPG has pushed aside Fallout 3 for my game time for the holidays.
I have some extra points on goozex, and all the games I have requested have very long waits. So, I decided to try Dokapon Kingdom. I looked at it as a simplified multiplayer RPG that I could play with the kids, replacing the very tired Mario Party 8. When it arrived in the mail, I took a couple of hours to play the solo story mode, and I quickly realized that my assumptions about the game were wrong because Dokapon Kingdom has far depth than I expected. The battles themselves are not complicated [at least, initially] and have some variety, but it’s the board game aspect that really adds to the RPG elements.
I’m reminded of some of the excellent [often German] board games that introduce a certain amount of randomness that doesn’t overwhelm or dictate the game but rather provides opportunities to develop strategies for winning. Along those lines of dynamic play, you are also encouraged to change jobs/classes, either to deal with your opponents or to unlock more jobs.
The goal centers around getting the most gold, but there are many ways of doing that–completing quests, stealing from other players or from NPCs, investing in your towns. When I read how one player used a disguise to look like another player’s avatar and then stole from a merchant, leaving the other player getting blamed for the crime, I was hooked on learning more about the game. I also have found that you can play evil or good, like in most RPGs, but these paths are not overtly part of the game but part of your play style.
The game would great for LAN parties, particularly playing with experienced gamers. I’ve played just a little with the kids, but I think the game works well for them, too. While I understand some of the criticisms of the game, I think it’s much better than the 71 average score on metacritic. It’s a game that could be easy to dismiss as slow and superficial, but if you read stories from people who play it and approach it for what it is rather than it isn’t [as in, a traditional multiplayer RPG], I think you’ll find a great little game.
The game is based on a card game found in Might & Magic VII. It’s a castle destroying/building game in which you win by either building your castle to 100 points or destroying your opponent’s castle to 0 points. You have a hand of 8 cards that have three different resources–weapons, magic, and bricks. And you have builders, soldiers and magicians that produce these sources. For example, if you have 2 magicians, you gain 2 magic points each hand. Your cards have a variety of effects: building walls or castles, removing resources from your opponent, adding to your resources, and destroying walls or castles.
If you’re like me and only have a slot 1 cart for playing homebrew, you’ve been missing out on some good GBA homebrew games. But one of them is not available to play on slot 1 carts. 
photo by