Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Video Games help heal wounded soldiers


Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post has written an excellent piece about wounded soldiers recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and how they are using Video games to aid in the healing process.

These soldiers are laying their lives on the line to protect freedom, but they are serious about their games too.

Chuck Ziegenfuss, a major in the Army, was wounded in Iraq in 2005 and spent six months as an inpatient at the hospital. For soldiers who have just been hit with life-changing injuries, playing games helps reconnect with entertainment they enjoyed before they arrived at the military hospital, he said. When Ziegenfuss was in Iraq, he'd see guys come back in from a 20-hour mission and immediately pick up game controllers. Playing games again here "gives them back a sense that they're normal," he said.
Ziegenfuss, who has also been a peer counselor to wounded soldiers, said some soldiers with new prosthetic limbs have even retaught themselves how to drive with steering-wheel game controllers.

Army Spec. Juan Alcibar (pictured above) has parked his crutches to the side and tried to lure a friend into playing along with him before he rips into Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" on the guitar game. "Wanna try? Come on, you know you wanna be a rock star!"

This monthly gathering, designed to encourage some of the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed to socialize, is put on by a soldiers' aid group called Cause. Alcibar, who was hit by a sniper's bullet that shattered a femur in Baghdad in March, is a big fan of the event.

"When you're just sitting in your room thinking about what happened, it drives you crazy," he says. "This is something to get your mind off your sorrows. . . . I wish they had it every week."

The rest of the story talks about some other people and groups that donate games and consoles to the hosital. It is a touching example of how games can truly enrich lives and ease suffering.

Next time you think about trading in some game you never play anymore for a less than fair trade-in value at a games store, instead consider donating it. You'll be helping someone else and making yourself feel good at the same time. A win win by any standard.

Read the full story here.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Big Daddy figurine with Bioshock LE


Those of you planning to pick up the limited edition of Bioshock can look forward to receiving this Big Daddy figurine with the game. The image above is not the final figurine, they are still finalizing the color scheme.
Seeing that giant drill arm takes me back to seeing the video below. You'll need everything in your arsenal, including the kitchen sink to take one of these badboys down.






Bioshock is scheduled for an August 21st release.

Analyst says PS3 needs $200 price cut to recover

Via Joystiq:

An analyst at Bank of America believes for Sony to make up the ground they've lost this console generation they don't just need the expected $100 price cut, but a $200 price cut. The analyst who made these remarks to GameDaily.biz, Michael Savner, believes this is unlikely, but believes it is the way to recovery.

Read the full story here.

Halo 3 Beta Impressions

I have ventured back into the sunlight after a week of playing the Halo 3 Beta and I'm ready to report my initial impressions of the game. First of all, everything I say today should be taken with a large grain of salt since the game is in fact a Beta and not a completed product. This holds especially true for graphics since a large part of polishing happens during the very last phase of development on most games.

Graphics are a big part of the Halo franchise, and while Halo 2 didn't make any huge leaps beyond Halo 1, it did look more polished and had some nicer textures. Judging from the Halo 3 Beta, I would say the same generally holds true this time around too. Some things in the Beta seem much improved, mainly explosions. Now, when you throw a grenade, whether it explodes in the snow or in the dirt or sand, the particle effects are very nice and quite cinematic. Dirt flies realistically and smoke looks very believable. After you play a while little things start to catch your eye too, like the footprints left in the snow by yourself and your enemies or the textures used on some of the buildings (the gold honeycomb pattern especially).

I like the new High Ground map a lot. It is not overly large but has many different paths for approaching your enemy from either end of the map. It can be a good map for sniping, but is best for medium or close-range combat.

Valhalla, as has been reported is a remake of a map from Halo 2 and Snowbound is a large circular snowy level with two small hangars in the middle for gathering nades and such. Underground tunnels connect much of the map as well.

Gameplay wise, it took a little while to get used to the new dual wielding and equipment controls, but once you adapt to them they are very nice additions to the franchise. Especially the equipment key (X button). I haven't found anything more satisfying so far than letting a warthog loaded full with enemies drive straight towards me, then hitting "X" to deploy a trip mine and then leaping as they pass below me. While in mid-air, I spin around and watch as they explode into so many charred bits a couple seconds later. This is truly a visceral experience. Otherwise, as far as movement and "feel", the gameplay feels very much like Halo 2, which is a very good thing. Another great moment was when I followed an enemy in one of the flying craft, I ran up behind him, deployed an energy drain grenade which grounded his bird. Then, while he was surely screaming something along the lines of "why the hell won't this thing move!?", I ran up to him and bashed him in the face with a melee attack while he was still seated in the cockpit. Priceless!

The new FILM feature makes scenes like the above even more thrilling when you get to watch them over again in the "theater". You can upload "films" to share with your friends too. With the Beta, you can upload up to six "films" for sharing, but I haven't reached a limit on how many you can save for your own private viewing. I probably have 15 or so saved right now. There may not be a limit as they are saved to your harddrive. A nice thing about the "films" is that they are not mpeg files, they are just stored data of your round so they are MUCH smaller files than they would be if they were simple recordings of video. The "films" are played back using the games engine, so they are an exact replay of everything that occurred in the round. While the Beta limits you to one perspective, the view from your character, apparently the full version is going to allow you to view replays from any character or any other point on the battlefield and from any angle. You'll also be able to rewind, pause and fast forward, all things that are unavailable in the Beta.

Lag is a non-issue unless you choose to play with people from far corners of the earth. Even then, I experienced only occasional lag while playing with some friends in the UK. In those games my character's movements were unaffected but I saw some of my teammates skip across the level or get hung up in long launches from the man cannon as if suspended from a giant invisible yo-yo. It was pretty funny actually.

The matchmaking is as fantastic as ever. Finding the kind of game you want to play and the players you want to play against is as easy and customizable as ever. Halo has always been the standard by which all other online matchmaking systems are measured, and that remains unchanged.

Overall, my time with the Halo 3 Beta has been very fun. The only moments of frustration for me are during Sniper/Shotgun only rounds. I SUCK at sniping but I'm great at getting sniped; sometimes I think my head must be five feet in diameter.

All in all, I'd say if the beta is any indication, Halo 3 looks like a winner. Halo 3 is scheduled for release on September 25th.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Halo 3 Beta fixed and extended


Assuming your brain hasn't undergone a complete meltdown from the todays Halo 3 Beta anti-launch, I have good news. The problem for players using the Crackdown disc to enter the beta has been fixed and installed on the servers.

One caveat, it may take up to four hours for your system to receive the update which will come via a Crackdown game update when you start up the game. Full details here. The good news is Microsoft has extended the Beta by four days to compensate us for all the hassles, to June 10th, which includes an extra weekend of play.

So, although it's been a high stress day for many gamers who took off of work/school in anticipation of this mornings scheduled Beta launch, I'm sure it was much more stressful for the men and women working hard to fix the problem and thankfully the light at the end of the tunnel is visible and Halo gaming goodness is right around the corner.

See you online!

Halo 3 Beta absent, internet is exploding!

After months of waiting and constant jokes about having bought the Halo 3 "demo", er uh Crackdown, 8:00 AM EST, the announced time of arrival, came and went and still our "download the Halo 3 Beta" boxes remained grayed out. Now, as of 10:40 EST, the Beta remains unavailable.

Bungie's Frankie is already on the case, saying "We have alerted the appropriate Live authorities and they are taking care of the problem as we speak. More news as it comes in. With any luck this will be a short delay. People enetering the Beta through other methods - Friends and Family, Rule of Three and so on, are unaffected." So, only the people that actually paid to play the Beta are affected...not good.

Do all the people who bought Crackdown just to play the Beta care about the fact that all the other three groups of Beta players are unaffected?? Apparently not, and they are pissed! A scan of the Bungie forums reveals more anger than David Banner right before he turns green. At least one kid is happy though, saying, "7:03 and no download but my parents just decided to let me skip school :):):):):) so its all good." Glad to know the parents have their priorities in the right place. How could little Johnnie possibly go to school after being scarred by the trauma of the absent Beta?

A couple of other comments were "YES I AM SAD AND NO I STILL HAVE NO BETA :"( *BEATS HEAD ON CONSOLE*" and "I just died a little inside...still grey."

The absence of the Beta is annoying to be sure, but making it even more annoying is the fact that Crackdown has like 17 unskippable pre-load screens that make it VERY annoying to even check for the Beta.

Unhappiness abounds.

More when it becomes available.

Halo 3 invading the planet September 25th

If you were lucky enough to be a winner in the Rule of 3 contest or if you bought an early copy of Crackdown, Halo 3 will be hitting your hardrive tomorrow in the form of the Beta. Now the Official Game also has an official release date...September 25th, 2007.

At $130 for the legend edition, I'd bet this game is gonna rock some wallets as well as ruin some relationships and grade point averages.

See you online!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Do you want to make video games?


It's every gamer's dream.

Scott Brodie of Livonia, Michigan scored an internship with Microsoft Games last summer, just before his senior year at Michigan State University. He worked on the side-scrolling space shooter "Aegis Wing" with two other interns. Not only did Microsoft decide to go ahead with the game -- which launches Wednesday as the first-ever totally free game on Microsoft's online Xbox Live Arcade -- but they decided to go ahead with Brodie, too.

Brodie gives some good advice on how to break into the games industry. Teach yourself how to do what you love.

"It definitely hasn't worked out the way I expected," he says. "I was just happy to be involved with the game and be able to contribute. This is a good fit for me, and I've put in work to get there. Take the time, make a game. It's OK if you fail -- you just need to try. It's harder than it looks."

The lesson is...if you have a passion for making games, then don't wait for someone to hire you to do it...do it yourself. You never know what may come from it. At the very least you'll learn some things and gain some skills that will make your resume more attractive to possible future employers.

Read the full story from the Detroit Free Press. It's a good read for anyone who's dreamt of becoming a game developer.

Aegis Wing will be available tomorrow for free download from the Xbox Live Arcade.

Friday, May 11, 2007

The Secret World Xbox 360/PC MMO revealed


"For there really is a world within ours, a secret world, where magic exists, monsters roam and ancient forces are fighting for the dominance of earth. It is a world of legendary stories, ageless conflicts and powerful cabals. In this world, even modern cities hide secrets. In this world, players can take part in the greatest conspiracies of our age, and battle the forces of darkness across the world and throughout time."

That's the description from the Funcom website introducing The Secret World, a new MMO for the Xbox 360 and PC. Placing an MMO in a contemporary setting may seem like sacrilege to players of WOW or the new LOTR MMO, but seeing as how this game is being developed by Ragnar Tornquist, the man behind The Longest Journey, there is a very good chance this game will successfully avoid employing every stereotype it is going to fervently strive to avoid. So, I don't think you'll see anyone passing through a wardrobe to a hidden world or wrestling fire breathing dragons while tumbling into an impossibly deep abyss in The Secret World. While I don't expect the game to be completely cliche' free (I am a realist after all) I do expect a compelling story filled with well-developed characters.

“We believe there are millions of gamers out there who want to explore something beyond traditional fantasy and sci-fi games,“ said Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “'The Secret World' is just that – a fantastic new setting that will fuel the imagination of online gamers, and keep players busy for years. We have a golden opportunity to bring something fresh and exciting to the genre, and we firmly believe the game is an ideal extension of Funcom’s MMO portfolio.”

The MMO genre badly needs an injection of originality and Tornquist may be just the kind of fellow to give it just that. Put this on your short list of "games to watch in 2007", assuming of course it is released this year. The game is currently in a playable state but no release date for either platform was announced.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Forza 2 Demo races to Xbox Live tonight!


The highly anticipated Forza 2 demo news is here. Turn 10 community manager Che Chou has revealed that the Forza 2 demo should hit Xbox Live Marketplace sometime tonight. It sounds like the demo will show up fairly late in the day, as Che notes that "it'll be pretty painful for east coasters." I know that everyone is chomping at the bit to get their hands on Forza 2, and now we'll have the chance.

I've made no secret about the fact that I don't buy very many console games anymore. I choose to save oodles of cash by renting from Gamefly. Forza 2 however is not a renter to me. I have my preorder in and May 30th can't get here fast enough. I'm finally going to get to put this uber-sweet steering wheel to good use.

So, who's staying up late to grab this one? I know I am!

Century Sutra 1688, the craziest PDA phone yet


Some news coming from Phonedaily (Taiwan), they always seem to get their hands on the craziest products imaginable and today's example is a PDA Phone offered with a Gamepad and NES Emulater built in. So now you can play Mario, keep up on stock prices and text your significant other all on the same device. I think my head just exploded. Sign me up!

No word on the price, but my guess is expensive!

Shadowrun coming May 29th to Vista and Xbox 360


Halo 2 drops May 22nd and it will be quickly followed by Shadowrun hitting retail on the 29th. Shadowrun will retail for $60 for Xbox 360 and $50 for the Windows Vista version. Shadowrun will be the first game to pit 360 Console gamers against PC players. WASD vs Gamepad. I expect there to be some balancing issues initially, but in the end it will be a great evolution of the gaming space for everyone. Afterall, more available gamers to pwn is always a good thing, right?

In order to play against Xbox Live gamers, you will have to buy a Gold level Xbox Live membership, which is $50. Without Xbox Live Gold, you can still play Vista Shadowrun online, you just won't have matchmaking or the ability to play against 360 gamers.

So, which camp are you in, keyboard and mouse or gamepad?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Gamers raise over $14,000 to help classmate

Proving that video game players aren't the cold, robotic androids that most media reports like to portray them as, gamers in Kaukauna, Wisconsin held an event yesterday to raise money for a classmate who was struck by a drunk driver. (I live in Minnesota and would normally be required to make a joke right there, but this is not the time or place) The result? Over $14,000 raised.

All of the money raised will to go the hospitalized Tiffany Pohl as part of her recovery. Tony Bushner of the Kaukana Gamer's Club said, "It was successful to a degree that none of us even dreamed of, and we are all deeply touched by the community's involvement." Pretty impressive for an event that sold $1 raffle tickets for things like a Nintendo Wii and 50 cent tickets to play games like Guitar Hero, DDR, and Super Smash Bros.

You think this story will make the national news? Not when they would rather blame all the world's ills on games and gamers. We need more positive stories like this to come from the gaming community. Great job Kaukana!

3-D Screenshot of Call of Duty 4

Now that Infinity Ward has moved the Call of Duty franchise away from the stale WWII setting, apparently two dimensional screenshots are like, soo 2K6. So, they have released this admittedly pretty cool 3D screenshot of the game. It rotates and stuff, very high tech. Enjoy. I need to get outside more.

Xbox Live Spring Update tomorrow


You've been waiting and here it is...the Xbox Live Spring Update hits tomorrow morning at 5am PST. Did you know microsoft has it's own Messenger program? Well, now you do and it will be on your Xbox 360.

All kinds of other exciting things in the update, ok maybe not exactly exciting, but updates nonetheless. You can now tell your 360 to shut down when downloads are completed. You will be able to see what game is in your console without having to get off your duff to actually, you know, open the disc tray. Also is support for H.264 video and the ability to fast forward, rewind and chapter skip while downloading marketplace content. WHOOPDEEDOO!

NPD online gaming report shows Solitaire still dominates WOW and Xbox Live is King!

The NPD Group has released Online Gaming 2007: The Virtual Landscape, which is a marketing report containing statistics pertinent to the growing field of online gaming. It is a statistical breakdown of who's playing what online when and on what devices. The information contained in the report is of vital importance to game, console and PC developers who will use the information for formulating future strategies for maximizing revenues.

For gamers it is interesting to see exactly what types of games are the most popular online and it might reveal some interesting future online gaming trends.

Their research indicates that 62% of all gamers play online games. You may have expected MMO's like World of Warcraft to be the number one genre of online game, but the fact is MMO's are not even second. The top dog of internet games is still casual card, puzzle, arcade, and word games, which represented 44% of the online games available across all platforms. Meanwhile, family oriented games made up 25% of the share while MMO games of all types held only 19%.

According to the NPD's research, 42% of all online gamers are female, which may account for the high popularity of casual games genres. In addition, the report also reveals that the majority of online gamers fall within the bracket of middle income ($35,000~$75,000) households.

In terms of the most popular gaming consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360 has solitary control over the top spot, with the highest percentage of actual online use at 54%. However, owners of the Nintendo Wii may be the most internet savvy, as 76% of Wii owners surveyed are connected to the internet. The percentage of connectivity for the other two next-gen consoles hovers at around 70%.

While Nintendo Wii owners may have the highest percentage of internet connections, they aren't spending most of their time online with their Wii's. According to NPD's data, Xbox 360 users spend the most amount of time online, with an average of approximately 7.1 hours per week. The PS3 came in second at 6.1 hours a week, while PC/Mac users spent about 5.8. All other connected consoles amounted to less than four hours a week of online playing time.

If you think about it, none of this seems very surprising to me except maybe the amount of Wii owners with an internet connection. Otherwise, I would always expect casual games to dominate the online PC gaming space. People have a lot more opportunities for playing those types of games during the work week than they do to sit down and waste 4 or 5 hours playing WOW. Xbox Live is the best console online gaming platform available so it dominates the Console online space.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Skate video interview

To follow up the Skate story below, here is a video interview showing some of the beautiful graphics of the game. Now you can see why I've been so excited about this game.

EA shows off "Flick it" controls in Skate

EA's Skate has been one of my games to watch for the past several months. It looks great visually and now seems to be taking the final steps to dethroning Tony Hawk as the top skating game with the introduction of it's new "flick it" control scheme.

Using the right analog stick to pull off moves looks very intuitive. Watch the video and you be the judge. Is there a new skateboarding king coming to town?


First Person Shooter opens in San Francisco


Last night in San Francisco, Aaron Loeb, who works at Planet Moon Studios (Armed and Dangerous and Infected) premiered his play First Person Shooter at the San Francisco Playhouse. The guys over at GayGamer.net attended a preview friday night and have a review up on their site. The story follows a successful fictional company known for making violent video games. Things go wrong at the company when they are blamed for a schoolyard shooting and the young CEO of the company has to deal with the lawsuit which follows and the parents of the victims.

The SF Playhouse says, "Aaron [Loeb], who now develops videogames, worked as a journalist covering the world of videogames at the time of Littleton, Colorado shootings and 'wanted to write a play about the people caught in the echo chamber of the debate. What must it be like for the people actually accused of making a game that turns kids into killers? What about the parents of the victims? Their children are dead and the news is jam packed with talk of something so trivial as videogames!'"

The play premieres to the public tonight and runs until June 9 at the San Francisco Playhouse. Ticket information is available at the playhouse's website. If you live in the San Francisco area go check it out and let me know what you think. Hopefully after the play's run they'll make a three camera video of it. Sure, it kinda defeats the purpose of seeing it live, but not everyone that wants to see it can make it out to San Fran and it sounds like a good play.

Source: Joystiq

World of Warcraft Credit Card...priceless!


A new form of e-currency is almost upon us with the announcement from Blizzard that they are offering World of Warcraft themed Visa cards that turn your real world spending into WOW virtual world game time. The card will take 1% of what you charge and turn it into minutes that you can use to visit Azeroth. So, if you want to rack up a lot of time, hand this to your mom/wife/sister when she makes her next mall run.

This comes on the heels of The Sims credit card, which will likely be something similar. MAKE magazine predicted something of this ilk a year ago, and it looks like they were on the money. Now if they can turn our real world purchases into WOW money you can get that uber cool sword that costs a bajillion WOW dollars. Have fun storming the castle!

Xbox Live... Where is everyone?

Recent visits online to Xbox Live have revealed a disturbing problem, there hardly seems to be anyone playing online. Is it just me or are there no people online? Is it part of the matchmaking that I don't see other opponents? Or are people just waiting for the spring dashboard update? Or is the dashboard update being implemented and clogging up the works?

I tried several games, Gears of War, Ghost Recon 2, MLB2K7 and DOA3 online and the result was the same across all of these games...where there are normally dozens and dozens of games to join, there were only two or three to join this weekend. Clearly something is amiss.

I have emailed Epic and Microsoft for an explanation. When and if I get a reply, I'll let you know.

Until then, anyone want to meet me for a game of Baseball?