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Having too many games to finish, of course, I picked up another one, Silent Hill – Shattered Memories. I never played the original [because I was purely a PC gamer then]. But even just playing Shattered Memories for an hour, I’m really pulled into this game. Yes, the graphics are part of that draw [notice I didn't say 'for a Wii game' although the animations, the textures, the details all put to shame many Wii games]. As the darkness looms all around, the flashlight creates some stark contrasts while also throwing up shadows to make me doubt sometimes what I think I see.

And so far, the story has pulled me in with a similarly appealing ambiguity. The question of what is real is an old one, going back to the pre-socratics at least and treated well by the likes of Philip K. Dick and many others. Yet, I still find it appealing in this game so far.

Games like this are thoroughly enjoyable, as much as frenetic jumping and action. Yet, some reviewers apparently have attention issues and can’t handle the slow pace, which adds to the game. Does it have ‘dull pacing’? I guess, if you expecting Modern Warfare pacing. Yet, I don’t expect a drama to have the pacing of a summer blockbuster. [Needless to say, I find the Game Informer review way off in its assumptions about what a good game should be, as well as in its assessment of the controls, which I've had no problem with.]

I think the assumption that games have to have X, Y, and Z is a problem because it assumes that we’re homogenous. So, some might not like this game, but that hardly means that it is a bad game. I return to roguelikes as an example of this–if you accept the premises and conditions of a roguelike, you’ll enjoy titles in this genre. But if you don’t accept them, then that doesn’t mean that such games aren’t fun . . . they’re not fun for you.

I find a slower paced game that isn’t driven by combat to be extremely appealing. I accept such a premise for a game. However, some might not. That doesn’t mean that Shattered Memories is therefore a good game . . . I’ll have to play more to judge that. [And it's possible that the game could indeed fail, even on its own terms. But that does not mean the GI review is vindicated . . . you can be right for the wrong reasons.]

Magazines like Game Informer contribute to an aesthetic, to definitions of games. Unfortunately, it’s one largely drawn from about a handful of gaming experiences. They remind me of the Talking Heads’ ‘Once in a lifetime,’ where the character doesn’t know how he arrived where he is. The dogged pursuit of one thing, of one aesthetic, means that we relinquish other aesthetics and pursuits.

Note: I had already drafted this post when I came across gnome’s comments on gaming, art, and industry. I think there’s some overlap between our posts, as it regards some fundamental forces that shape current games.

A French court decided that, just because something can be used in illegal activities, that thing itself is not illegal. That’s pretty obvious logic. But Nintendo has been hot to get flash carts banned because they enable piracy. But that French court threw out Nintendo’s case.

But I found the second part of the judgement far more interesting–Nintendo shouldn’t restrict development to only proprietary SDKs. This one is less common sense and creates a rather interesting precedent [for French courts, of course]. Nintendo’s Wii SDK, for example, is not expensive but hard to get. So, if there are libraries that someone else has developed that don’t use the Wii SDK, then the French court says that that is okay basically. Yet, I don’t think that’s quite the pandora’s box that it suggests because Nintendo can still find other means to restrict what games are released.

Surprising my kids with new DS games, I read the reviews and picked up Star Wars Battlefront – Elite Squadron. I’ve bought games that have been C games on metacritic but that I have immensely enjoyed, finding more to them than reviewers gave credit for. I’ve now played Elite Squadron for a couple hours, and overall, this isn’t a bad game, but it’s not very challenging, which results in repetition.

When you run into a room, you have to typically clear out the droids. With the auto-aim, you have to do little more than press B because the target automatically switches to another droid as soon as you kill the current target. So far, I’ve no need to use cover or to use the exploding tanks. Part of the problem is that hits do little damage. I’ve dropped grenades on myself and continued to fight, even while getting shot. So, I’ve been able to run into the middle of a bunch of droids and kill them while suffering little damage. But if you want to play it safe, you can slowly enter a room and as soon as you see a droid, start shooting. (Yep, you can shoot off-screen droids.)

And the game has no challenges for key objectives. For example, to open a game, press X at the very obvious terminal. Or press X to set the ship to self-destruct. I’ll take Jedi Alliance‘s puzzles or even Republic Heroes unlocking sequences over this “roll over and surrender” approach. (The problem with Jedi Alliance was that some puzzles had very unclear instructions but were easy after you knew what to do.) I realize Battlefront is an action series, but this isn’t the typical Battlefront game.

The racing sequences are also far too easy. For example, after setting a ship to self-destruct, you have to race back to your ship before the timer ends. I ran, expecting more droids or obstacles. Nothing that interesting. You just run. It’s ridiculously easy. Even with obstacles and droid attacks, the bike racing section was pretty easy as well. Again, Jedi Alliance had more challenging race levels.

As a result, the game has little to slow you down or make you think. And it’s a shame because this could have been better fairly easily–take more damage from hits, don’t give unlimited ammo for most weapons (like, give us a reason to use grenades), add some puzzles. Or design better levels that aren’t the usual room that you clear and move on to clear another room. Hidden areas? Give us reason to use cover or to cycle through all our weapons.

I played the multiplayer only slightly, to get a taste. But I played with bots as I have no friends. But the difference was night and day. 3-5 hits, and my character died, unlike the campaign. I had to use cover and grenades, again, unlike the campaign. Even with the bots, this felt like a different game, closer to Battlefront (though still not there yet). I know multiplayer can be more difficult because you respawn. But there’s no reason that the campaign couldn’t have at least some levels like this–levels where you have to fight through multiple, powerful enemies. Event he boss levels that I have played so far in the campaign weren’t as difficult as the multiplayer.

I’ll continue to play the game, in part to see where the story goes but also to see if it improves. (I actually find the space fights the most entertaining type of level so far, partly because I’ve also been terrible at flight games so there’s a little challenge in that respect.)

Now, my son enjoys the game, but he’s a Star Wars junkie.

This kotaku article about 80% of women gamers preferring the Wii over other consoles is good . . . mainly because of the comments. There are a couple of very good exchanges from women gamers. One exchange highlights a common problem of getting opinions about women gamers from . . . men. Instead of seeking out women gamers themselves. [In contrast, the Joystiq comments on this same news was the same dreary, cliche jokes about the Wii and women.]

The comment from Alexis especially impressed me–

Most young women (ages 18-35) grew up with marketing, brothers and gaming itself, telling them that video games are a boys club. I’d argue that even today women are told that only a certain type (casual, party games) are meant for them. When so many people tell you as a kid that something just “isn’t for you” you have a tendency to believe it and focus your interests toward something else. This is a trend that we’ve all followed on some level, whether it was us not playing video games or not playing with Barbies.

For example, my roommate (who is a girl) was playing SMB Wii with me and was self conscious about her playing ability. She kept on with “so sorry for fucking you up, so sorry I died” and stuff like that. I hear that A LOT with women when they play games with me, and get this I’m a woman,(and known gamer) myself! They all start up with “my brother never let me play, blah blah” and it basically comes around to “guys are annoyed with me when I play, so I try not to play”. That’s what you sound like when you talk about girls not being able to play. You may try your darndest to not be irritated, but as you said, its frustrating and women can tell you’re getting frustrated. In turn, a lot of them get self conscious about playing any video games at all. Therefore, they’re not as good.

I’m very aware of this when playing with my kids, especially my daughter. She’s a defiant, assertive 7-year-old who doesn’t like it when someone says she can’t do something. But at the core of that stubborn, assertive behavior is hurt. When a boy at school told her that she couldn’t possibly like Pokemon because she’s a girl, and girls don’t play Pokemon, she asserted herself and even enjoyed telling how she told him otherwise. But I saw still that hurt of someone excluding and limiting her based purely on her gender, which is very crucial to her as she develops her identity.

So, I never try to assume what kind of game she plays. Yes, she loves her Nintendogs. But she also loves Pokemon, Bakugan, and even my Deadly Creatures game. Yet, because of her age, she sometimes lags behind her brother. So, when we play New Super Mario Brothers Wii, she’s the slowest among us and the first to die. I’ve tried to work with my son not to be impatient with her or to command her, like she’s a follower [which is common among kids, no matter the gender].

What I got from Alexis’s comment is that, first, we should remember that the point of gaming is to have fun and that competition shouldn’t come at the expense of fun. Second, in that spirit of fun, we should learn to be better gamers, which means being more patient and even more helpful.

For example, I’ve watched gamers–kids and teens alike–and I see a huge change when they shift to multiplayer. If one kid is playing a game and another watches, the second offers advice and tries to help. But that same kid often behaves differently in a multiplayer game, whether coop or competitive, as he finds ways to assert his superiority or dominance. Gone is the helpful tone. Impatient tones dominate the gaming conversation.

If you like puzzle games, like a sudoku, then you might be interested in the PC game Everyday Genius: SquareLogic. I know the guys at Truethought who created SquareLogic, and I did some beta testing.  It’s tempting to look at it as a variation on sudoku, but I think it’s more challenging.

The goal is to fill in the correct number for each square using the following rules:

• No number can appear twice in the same row or column.
• Each board is divided into differently-colored “cages”.
• Each cage shows an arithematic “rule” in the top-left corner (such as 9+, 12x, or Odd).
• The answers for the squares in each cage must satisfy the rule. For example, a rule of 9+ means the squares in that cage must add up to 9.

In addition, the game offers a bit of customization for the difficulty and hints. For example, not only can you select a difficulty level, but you can also set the size of the puzzle from 4×4 to 9×9.

If you purchase the game through Steam, you’ll have access to leaderboards, achievements, stats, and even remote game storage so that you can resume your saved games from anywhere.

You can try before buying.

I’m still trying to get solve a 7×7 puzzle with no hints whatsoever, but I think it’s appealing because you can scale the difficulty really well. Plus, you don’t simply play puzzles in isolation because the game is divided into regions, and you solve puzzles to travel through and complete a region, providing a visual progression in the game.

Plus, unlike sudoku, SquareLogic isn’t the same puzzle everytime in that the cages and rules vary, as well as the possibility of hidden cages.

ah, nothing like a site outage. Some confusion with my host, but all is cleared up now.

Yesterday, I moved more firmly into middle age and got a boy and his blob as a present. I’ve barely played the game, so I can’t say a lot in detail about how good it is. But I have a couple of reactions.

First, between blob, Muramasa, and the forthcoming New Super Mario Brothers Wii, I’m finding how much I enjoy the 2D games. I’ve been impressed by some 3D games, like Arkham Asylum and Fallout 3, but I can’t think of one where my first reaction was ‘beautiful!’ Maybe that’s my age coming through, but perhaps not. As games moves towards greater realism, they begin to take themselves away from styles that might be more aesthetic and might actually reveal more about the subject. Depending on your definition of beauty, you could see it and realism as different ends of a spectrum.

Could Van Gogh have conveyed what he did in a more realistic style? Would Henry Moore’s be nearly as beautiful with more realism? I know this is a very tenuous argument, but looking at a boy and his blob and Muramasa, I’m seeing beautiful games that 3D realism cannot match.

Second, some have criticized the game for a lack of story, to which I say, ‘meh, who needs it.’  This is a very boyish game–we might not have ever been this type of boy, but I think many of us connect with it. I remember days of waking up in the summer and running off immediately to some adventure. I didn’t need a plan or a narrative . . . I just did things. What a wonderful thing to experience again on my birthday as an older guy.

I hope a boy and his blob continue to bring me the pure fun and joy I’ve felt so far.

Globeil is indeed working on a new version of virtual game maker DS, which I commented on before.

Check his site for more information about the beta version.

It would appear that the new version will allow you to create games on multiple platforms, as Globeil states in the announcement:

VGMDS (Virtual Game Maker) is a program that allow non-programmer people to make easily 2-D games,
like RPGs, Action-Rpg (Zelda-Style), Platform (Mario-style) or any 2-D style Game!
This version aimed to work on the most common platforms:
- PC
- Mac
- Wii
- Xbox 360
- Nintendo DS (low resources)
- PSP
- And maybe other versions…
And will be collaborative, so I mean that users will be able to
create their project together, through the internet. Several people developping
the same project in the same time !
Of course, multiplayer is OK.
The programmation method is new, and will prevent a maximum of bugs,
so I want that each functionnality working will work 100% bug-free.
I’m programming a demo, that I’ll release to a few beta-testers to improve the project!

How do you get songs from your music library to your DSi? We don’t use the DSi much as a music player, although the kids enjoy it. And with Flipnotes, you can use music files in the animations.

You might want to watch a free music library tool/player called Doubletwist, which was just released for beta and which will include in a future release support for the DSi, including converting the file to the acceptable format.

I like, too, that Doubletwist includes integration with Amazon’s music store [though not yet for the Windows version]. I’m always in search of a good replacement for iTunes, and this could eventually be it. [Songbird is still a little rough for my wife's use at this point, who has a low threshold for bugs.]

[Updated]

Nintendo released the 4.2 System Menu update a couple of days ago, which seemed focused on removing the Homebrew Channel, Twilight Hack, etc. The problem is that even those Wii owners who don’t have homebrew, updating to 4.2 probably isn’t a good idea because gamers are reporting that the update is bricking their system. Worse, some Wii owners are reporting that Nintendo support staff said that the owners would have to pay for repairing the bricked Wiis.

See team twiizer about their response to the 4.2 update. Even if you successfully updated it, you can re-install the Homebrew Channel. If you have the Homebrew Channel, update it before updating to 4.2.

Update: Nintendo says that they will fix bricked Wiis for free. However, some owners have said that they do not have modified channels or HBC but had their Wiis bricked by 4.2.

Sometimes, I think Sony thinks that they can succeed without customers because it seems clear that Sony doesn’t think about them much.

You see, they’ve announced that they won’t offer conversions for UMD conversions to those gamers who want to ‘upgrade’ from a PSP 1000/2000/3000 to the PSP Go. The PSP Go offers no significant upgrades from the 3000 other than the 16GB of internal memory. So, why would a current PSP owner buy the PSP Go? I’ve seen people who said that they might, that they like the small form and the enhanced storage.

The PSP Go, then, seems like something just for new PSP owners, at best. But at a higher price tag, the UMD PSPs seem like better deals, to which you can always add memory for storing downloaded games, if Sony stops UMD games altogether. The slimmer design is appealing, but when gamers moved from the DS Phat to the DS Lite, they didn’t have to give up their game library.

If the European response is any indication, consumers are saying PSP Go Away.

Although I’ve been swamped with work, I’ve been keeping my eye on games, and one thing that has caught my attention is the upcoming release of Dead Space-Extraction, another on-rails shooter for the Wii [Ghost Squad, Umbrella Chronicles, Target Terror, Link's Crossbow Training, House of the Dead-Overkill, House of the Dead 2 & 3]. Across several sites, I’ve seen a lot of hate for the genre itself, with lots of dismissal of the game because of the genre. Yet, as I played Beatles – Rock Band with the family today, I realized that it was an on-rails game itself, proof that preset paths don’t have to translate into shallow or boring games.

A part of the dislike for on-rails comes from the fact that the genre hasn’t significantly changed from its arcade origins. Some gamers contend that, without the freedom and control, the genre’s only fun comes from loading, aiming and shooting, which gamers probably don’t care to do beyond a couple of hours, and certainly not for $50. Dead Space-Extraction brings a supposedly good story and the desire to bring a certain movie experience to gaming. Regardless of the merits of this particular game, I think it’s a good question to ask–can on-rail shootera be interesting to more gamers?

The begged question, of course, is why do on-rails games anyway? We can this of many genres, but the subtext of this question is that the genre is a lesser one, so why not just do a free-roaming first-person or third-person shooter? It’s a valid question, though one with assumptions, so let’s not go into the weeds with it. Let’s leave it as a valid genre for these reasons–

• Unlike FPS or TPS, players can’t backtrack, unintentionally or otherwise.
• Its emphasis is action–fast action.
• It lends itself to controlled narratives because the player doesn’t control pacing or movement.
• Several variations of the on-rails games continue to do well–from platformers to rhythm/music games to beat ‘em ups.

First, let’s keep in mind what makes a rail shooter bad–repetition. With little or no variations in enemies, scenes or locales, weapons, or locations of appearing enemies, rail shooters often fail.

Second, rail shooters should have an engrossing story, which takes advantage of the pre-set pathing. Umbrella Chronicles provided a good story, and Extraction seems to, as well. Having a good story keeps the gamers’ minds off of the genre.

Third, rail shooters should have the right tempos and vary the pacing, keeping in mind that a slower pace for too long is even longer to gamers, even in the short episode formats.

Fourth, rail shooters should provide various ways to give the gamer choices and some control–

• Provide path choices, like in a choose-your-adventure story. Similarly, use dialog to offer choices, like in RPGs.
• Force the gamer to make decisions about items and weapons, which in turn affect strategy.
• Allow the gamer some movement, at least to look around.
• Provide some element of risk and choices. For example, if a gamer goes for a one-shot kill, the gamer risks not only missing but being able to shoot multiple times for a regular kill.
• Provide other actions besides shooting, such as dodging.
• Allow gamers to set controls.
• Allow gamers to upgrade or level up.

Also, I go back to Batman-Arkham Asylum which gives the gamer several things to do besides beating up enemies, such as finding puzzles, listening to character bios.

I see no reason why rail shooters have to be so abused by gamers. The wonderful thing about an established genre like rail shooters is that a game developer can use the established conventions to their advantage. The path is set, and the genre is focused on timing, but the game could mix what actions are used, using shooting as well as other actions . . . a shooter rhythm game? What about taking inspiration from a game like The World Ends with You–try a different type of combat, and maybe allow gamers to control two characters? Or how about moving away from the world of zombies altogether?

The rail shooter genre isn’t dead. Like a zombie, it can come back to life.

I’ve spent too much time of late on blogs and forums where gamers have talked about “deep” games, with too often the dark, moody games getting most of the acclaim and recognition. I’ve been enjoying Batman – Arkham Asylum, but I was a bit tired of it one night and went back to playing LostWinds, a simply marvelous game. And then I couldn’t resist a good deal on Muramasa.

It’s quite interesting to juxtapose these games, especially one that has the acclaimed depth of Arkham Asylum. The reason is that they all have game worlds that you can immediately identify and jump into. I find Lostwinds and Muramasa no less engrossing and immersive than Arkham Asylum. Yes, it helps that they have distinctive art styles, but LostWinds and Muramasa are 2D platformers. Partly, as familiar as I with the world of Batman, it’s not as new to me, especially as it’s based on a graphic novel and atmosphere from 20 years ago. What’s engrossing about Arkham Asylum is the ability to feel like the Batman, from the fights to the detecting to the gadgets.

You could say the difference is immersion through the character or the world. So far, Muramasa has two characters that you can play as, but in my initial choice of Kisuke, the ninja who has lost his memory. Besides being generic, gamers run through several stages in one level before getting anything resembling a story and character information, all told through exposition. In contrast, Arkham Asylum tells several stories in different ways–expository diaries, recreated memories as cut scenes, dialogues.

Yet, I find Muramasa no less compelling of a game world because of the rendering and the obvious folklore that it invokes. Unlike Arkham Asylum, I’m traveling through many different settings–woods, cities, fields. In Arkham Asylum, as with many Batman stories, I feel that I’m in an externalized world of the Batman’s psyche–it’s dark and brooding, with dangers around all corners. Arkham Asylum and even Gotham by extension are what you imagine a man obsessed with having witnessed the criminal murder of his parents.  [It's a Batman story I've long wanted to write--how Batman sees a much different world than the rest of us.]

In Muramasa, even though dangers lurk around, it’s in a beautiful world. The world is not the scary extended worldview of the character but of a much different view, one of wonder and even delight. Supposedly the game is placed during the ‘golden’ Edo era in Japanese history, in contrast to many games set in the Sengoku era, a time of civil war. This contrast of beauty and fighting creates its own tension, in a much different way that the reflective environment of Batman.  [I don't pretend to know Japanese history, outside of my paltry readings and work in oriental art class.]

In LostWinds, we have another fictional setting rooted in windy cultures of Tibet, Inca, and Maya. In LostWinds, gamers play two characters simultaneously–Toku with the nunchuk primary and Enril the wind spirit with the Wiimote. Like Murasama, the characterization is not deep, but as we know from good stories, characterization doesn’t have to be deep to be interesting or captivating. As in Ico, gamers play a bonding relationship in which Enril can do some pretty neat things.  At times, Toku seems like he’s merely along for the ride, yet he’s essential to Enril.

Lostwinds‘ world is beautiful–many times, I enjoy drawing the wind through the trees to see the blossoms flutter. Between the art and the music, Toku and Enril wend their way through the world, allowing the player to interact with it to solve puzzles. While the  puzzles might not be terribly innovative, they are nonetheless satisfying.

I think that, like Arkham Asylum, Toku’s world is something of a reflection of the character’s view. For the most part, it’s happy and bright, but it has its darker aspects, with the caves and mines. The over and under world is a staple of fairy tales and children’s stories. So, the structure is familiar while the presentation is fresh.

Yet, the 2D vs 3D and standard vs high def resolution has no real bearing on these games’ ability to pull players in. An interesting world is far more important than these aspects that we spend far too much bandwidth discussing.

David Perry’s article on the Dreamcast is interesting, a good retrospective on the console. Yet, it still doesn’t quite answer that question of why it failed after a blazing start. Although quite a bit of time was spent on the EA falling out, that wasn’t responsible for what happened.

The last page of the article has quotes about lessons learned. Bing Gordon’s quote about overconfidence doesn’t quite explain the fall because the Dreamcast was a well designed console. Instead, Charles Bellfield seems to offer the best explanation–money. It was a different time, then, and marketing for gaming was expensive, especially when Sega had soured people on its products. Even today, look at the 360 and PS3, consoles that have lost a lot of money. They succeed only because of the financial resources of Microsoft and Sony. Bellfield said that they had everything right . . . except the financial resources.

This article explain the causes of the fall a little more–mass market appeal and not getting back into the graces of retail chains and developers. Did the lack of a DVD player really hurt the Dreamcast?

For me, I wasn’t a console gamer, although I was very tempted at this time. In fact, I had walked into Babbage’s right after the holidays with the intention of buying a Dreamcast but didn’t. I didn’t know much about the PS2 at the time but decided to learn more and see if it might be worth waiting for. A friend owned the Dreamcast and encouraged me to buy one. But I wasn’t sure about consoles, as I loved my PC gaming. As it was, I’d wouldn’t buy a PS2 until 2003. Still, I’ve appreciated the Dreamcast and marveled at its decline.

It’s the sort of history that fanboys should keep in mind, especially when they get into the specs debates.

One reason that Batman – Arkham Asylum is getting high praise is that it is a deep game. I initially feared that it would be a beat ‘em up and would get tiresome. But the game throws different ways to keep you engaged while playing.

• Choose among different ways to take out enemies [straight-up fistfight, silent takedown, glide attack, tech toys].
• Select proper timing for different combat moves for certain enemies.
• Solve riddles along the way [part of exploration].
• Collect trophies [part of exploration].
• Work combos to improve experience so that you can upgrade your weapons, armor, or moves.
• Learn about different characters, and listen as they interact with each other and you.

This could sound like a recipe for a mixed bag, but there’s a focus to the game, which you might suppose is the story. While the story is a kind of tether for all the elements, it’s not really the focus. Instead, I think the game is centered on characters–be it Batman or the villains. Rocksteady went to great detail to provide each character their own story within the game. Yes there are the character bios that you pick up, but that’s just a part of it. You see the characters interact within the game, continue to develop what’s provided in the bio and even enrich it.

In the comics, Arkham Asylum itself has its own character, at least in the hands of the better writers. I think this game is trying to do the same, although I’m not quite far enough along to judge if it’s successful. Regardless, the asylum provides the focal context, so that there’s a reason to examine and to have such interesting characters.As someone who has worked [albeit briefly] with mental health/mental retardation patients, I think these problems provide great insight into even the ‘normal’ mind. At least, I came away with a great change in my values and a greater appreciation for many things, not the least of which is the very real and sincere emotions of these patients. Each patient had an interesting life and perspective. This game seems to realize this, although it’s dealing with criminals. In this respect, I think the game is very much in the spirit of the Arkham Asylum graphic novel. Maybe I have a preference for character-driven stories, but I think that this game succeeds largely because of the characters. [The action part of the game, especially the fights, does get a little repetitious after a while.]

Because of this character focus and detail, because of the variety of gameplay, and because of the art direction, the game is very immersive and deep, an excellent example of game design. I disagree with reviewers who talk about this game’s innovation because I’m not seeing anything I’ve not seen before. Instead, I think the vision, attention to detail, and focus with variety that is innovative.

I wish game developers and publishers could learn from this game, especially for the Wii and DS games. I don’t think it takes any particular power that the 360 or PS3 have to pull off this game. [Well, the graphics are a part of it, but hardly the whole.]