Movie Review - Wreck-It-Ralph

Over Thanksgiving weekend we took the kids to see Wreck-it-Ralph. With plenty of video game nostalgia and Disney and Pixar love, I think I was as excited to see this film as the kids were. From the trailers we knew the premise to be centered on the villain (Ralph) of an old ~80s era video game called Fix it Felix Jr. The game is similar to Donkey Kong with the single screen platforming action, the villain at the top causing destruction and the hero racing up the building to conquer him. Ralph is frustrated that he's always the "bad guy" and thus feels like a bit of an outsider and wants to do something heroic. He even goes to a "Bad Guys Anonymous" meeting to discuss his frustration. So he starts "game jumping" and chaos and hilarity ensue.

The high level premise seems kind of fun on the surface but a little trite. I was a little nervous that it would face-plant much in the way of other "video game movies" from the past (I'm looking at you Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Doom, Super Mario Bros., etc…they had twinges of fun but certainly weren't "all that"). Fortunately the execution was better than the sugary glaze promised by the trailers. I suspect part of the success lies in having John Lasseter on board as part of the production team. Lasseter headed up creative control for Pixar for many years and I'm glad to see his creative force and vision applied to the core Disney Animation concepts. Not that there have been "awful" Disney films in the past decades…but they've certainly been overshadowed by their siblings at Pixar (and even competitor studios like Dreamworks).

My other worry was that the movie might cater too much to gamers and be less interesting for the non-gaming crowd. While there was plenty of video game fun to draw in gamers old and new, I think the writing and plot holds the interest of non-gamers and will work to draw them in. The meta-setting for the movie is an arcade building with tons of great cabinet games. This in itself was great since I loved going down to the arcade to pump quarters into machines. Sadly, the nearest arcade to our house recently closed to make way for a pizza place (the third or fourth in that mall). Even recent movie theaters built in the area don't house arcade cabinets anymore. It makes me sad. I somehow doubt it, but it would be cool if this film generated a resurgence of the old arcade parlor. But I regress.

Within the arcade, each of the games are connected. At the end of each day, the characters (if they wish) can hop a train/shuttle transporting them (via power cables, plugs, outlets, etc) down to Game Central and from there they can visit other fun locations. I loved seeing the characters interact in other fun game worlds (I especially loved having them sit on barstools in Tapper…fabulous fun).

The impetus for Ralph's escapades comes not just from dissatisfaction but also from contention between him and the other characters. He feels awkward, out of place and snubbed. One of the other characters in his game says (somewhat sarcastically) that Ralph could hang out with them if he was able to win a medal like Felix has. With that goal in mind, Ralph sets off to get a medal from some other game.

New Prince of Persia Trailer

Enjoy...

More Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time News & Previews

Fixing the world with online games

Cool video from Jane McGonigal one of the "ten fascinating people you've never heard of" from the TED2010 conference. I might have to try out Evoke...sounds interesting. Kind of "sim city" for the 21st century?

Review - Assassin's Creed 2 - Initial Reactions

The following is my review of the game after my first 3 hours of gameplay (noting that with my play style, those three hours barely took me to a point where I had a weapon…which is promising in terms of game duration/depth). While I try to keep them to a minimum, this review will also contain a few small spoilers (most of which you'll already be aware of if you've followed reviews/previews to this point)

****************

OK…so I picked the game up on my way home from work last night. I still had responsibilities that kept me from playing until about 8:30. Before digging into gameplay I ran the "bonus level" codes to make sure they were unlocked from the onset (since it sounds like you can encounter them in standard gameplay through the story). Then it was time to begin.

I'd read the various preview articles about the opening sequences, so there was no big shock/story value there for me. I liked controlling Desmond and being able to run, jump and punch with him. I was sad to see that those controls disappeared once he got into 'animus proximity' again (I really would prefer to run or at least jog around the animus room rather than having to casually stroll). Still, it was nice. I like the character animations and details with the exception of Lucy's mouth which really bugs me for some reason.

Even though I'd read the previews, it was a little strange to literally play as "baby" Ezio. It definitely wasn't what I expected. When the previews said you start as a baby and worked through his youth, I figured the baby would be a cut scene and then I'd wander around as a 5-6 year old throwing rocks or chasing cats or something. The way it played it was strange. Not bad, just different.

It took me a minute to get back into the combat system but it quickly felt natural again. I enjoyed the story presentation of the street brawl followed by banter with his brother. The "romantic mini-game" with Christina was a little out there but it helped characterize Ezio and give a feel for his attitude and mannerisms, so I'll go with it. It made him feel more human…and it wasn't presented in a vulgar or over-the-top way.

My standard method of play is rather completionist so even though I played for ~3 hours, I didn't progress much through the story. Instead, I got a good feel for the controls and the current limitations (starting with no weapons/gear, etc) as well as the general layout of the city and what to look for. I like the ability to pickpocket most NPCs for money as well as to loot various chests around the city.

So far I've progressed far enough to purchase a pair of leather bracers so I'm not sure of the extent of the economic system, but I look forward to using it. There are also "doctors" around town that can heal you up as well as sell you medicine packs you can use for a quick heal on the road. This is a nice new feature that saves you from those annoying "resynchronization" periods where you're forced to reload and replay an entire scene that you were just about to beat.

The initial missions are presented in a straightforward manner but each unlocks a new type of side-mission. I'm sure I'll miss some of them, but so far I've unlocked "courier" missions, "race" missions and "fight" missions. They're fairly similar in style to the missions from AC1 but the presentation value is greatly enhanced and feels much more immersive.

I did jump into the water once and it felt good not to immediately drown. Swimming was a bit odd, especially since I didn't have anywhere to go, but I look forward to feeling out this new feature.

When Ezio's family is arrested, I did miss a "mini-game" button press when walking in the door (I suspect if I'd pressed the button, I would have dodged the 'attack'). I had thought I was going into a cut scene and so had set the controller down to grab a drink. I guess I'll have to make sure to pay attention all the time since they're likely going to try and keep the story as interactive as possible.

Upon retrieving Giovanni's gear, I was fairly certain where the story arc was headed, so the traitor wasn't a big surprise. Although I'm not sure why Ezio wasn't hunted down during the night or prior to the execution…it seemed a little inconsistent.

After the execution, it was intense to race through the city to escape the guards and having them chase me much more intently than in AC1. In AC1, I could usually just make to the rooftops and put some distance between us. Here, I couldn't do that as they were hot on my heels. I also liked the fact that I couldn't just run around the corner to break line of sight and then hide in the hay…the guards have a sort of "proximity monitor" based on your last sited position and they'll poke into any hiding spots within that proximity.

I haven't yet retrieved my hidden blades or other weapons, but swordplay felt fluid and natural. The combat system is nice and, so far, doesn't feel like it's going to get repetitive (especially with the promise of new weapons and of disarming and using weapons from the enemy).

Overall I've really enjoyed the first few hours of gameplay. The story is looking to be very immersive. The world is vibrant, detailed and gorgeous. The side-missions and other tasks are fun enough that this game has a lot of core depth as well as plenty of peripheral tasks to keep me occupied for a while.

My only regret in purchasing the game is that I still have a big fat paper to write for school…and I've suddenly lost a bit of the motivation to finish it. Still, I'll (hopefully) spend some time tonight and finish up the paper so as to free up time for entertaining diversions. ;)

Definitely recommended.


5 out of 5 stars

Assassin's Creed 2 - Release Day Plans

After much waiting and excitement, Assassin's Creed 2 is officially released tonight at midnight.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first game and was super stoked to hear that a sequel was in the works. I pre-ordered it as soon as Gamestop allowed me to do so and I've been planning for some mid-winter gaming ever since.

My release day/week plans are still a little bit up in the air. Even though my local Gamestop will be doing a midnight release party, I'm not sure I'll be attending. It might be fun to pick up the game at midnight, but I fear I'd be too tempted to pop it in and start playing…and as a result, I likely wouldn't get much/any sleep before work in the morning. And since I've got multiple morning meetings followed by an afternoon at school, I think I should try to get some sleep in.

So, alas, my evening tonight will likely involve hanging out with the fam and then a couple of hours reading to catch up on my homework…after which, I'll probably hit the sack around 11.

Tomorrow, after work, school, and meetings…I'll make a very necessary detour past Gamestop on the way home and pick up my "Master Assassin" edition of the game.

Tomorrow is also Lynette's birthday. We went out to dinner last weekend and she already received most of her presents…but I still hope to hook her up with some cake and ice cream before her friends show up for book club at our house.

So, while she's hosting book club, I'll work on reading to the kids and getting them settled for bed. As soon as they're settled, I "should" spend time working on my paper for class…but since I've already got it ~halfway done, it couldn't hurt to pop in my new game for an hour or two, right?

My goal is that by 8:30 or 9 at the latest, I'll be sitting in front of my 360, reveling in the latest Ubisoft goodness and venturing into the assassining world of the Italian Renaissance.

Sadly, I do have a fair amount of school work to do…and I am still pushing through NaNoWriMo (not doing a great job, but still trying to get into a writing regime), so I'm not sure how much gaming I'll get until the semester is over, but I hope to get a good feel for the game by the end of the month.

Wish me luck.

Prince of Persia Movie Trailer

I've been a fan of this franchise for a long time. I really enjoyed The Sands of Time. I never did finish playing through the entire trilogy with that Prince, but still had fun with it.

I'm a little iffy on the casting for the movie version. I trust the producer/director to do a good job, but even after seeing the trailer, I'm a little unsure on the casting (and I'm worried about some of the cheesy dialog).

Still, it looks to be a fun adventure movie and I'm looking forward to watching it in the spring.

Assassin's Creed 2 - Join the Medici Family

The countdown to AC2 is in the single digits and things are heating up over in the Creed Community. There is still plenty of time to join the Creed, complete missions, and earn some cool swag.

Please click through to the creed community to join. And when it comes time to join the Medici family to help us in our family missions.

Review - Batman: Arkham Asylum

Amid the joys of family, church, school and work adventures, I've spent some of my "down time" for the past few weeks playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'm currently "49%" of the way through the game but I figured it was time for a review. I'm playing the Xbox 360 version, so some of the details may vary for the other versions.

When I first heard about this game, I was stoked. I've always enjoyed Batman and I'm a big fan of action/adventure games. As more and more features were announced, my interest was more and more peaked. (NOTE: Images used in this post are borrowed from various sites around the web. I have left on watermarks of the sites as indication of 'ownership.' If you are the owner of any of these files and want them removed, please let me know. I intend no copyright infringement and imply no creation or ownership).

Graphics
To start off with, let me just say that the game is gorgeous. The detail on the characters and the environment is amazing and completely immersive. As with any came, some of the thugs feel a bit repetitive over time, but generally speaking, each character I've encountered (even the 'stock' characters) feel remarkably real to me.

The work on Batman himself is awesome. His suit and body look great (and over time, aspects of the suit get scratched or torn, which is a cool effect). His animations and movement are fluid and believable.

The Joker and other key henchmen look fabulous as well. Their appearance and mannerisms is wonderfully portrayed and implemented.

In addition to the 'in-game' representations of the characters, you also get to unlock "models" of some of the characters. These are high-res statuettes of the various characters which you can zoom in/out and rotate around. They look absolutely amazing. As one who collects these sorts of figures in real life, I definitely appreciate the effort here.

Sound/Dialogue
The soundtrack is great. Like a good movie soundtrack, it's not in-your-face (or in-your-ears, as it were) such that it detracts from the experience. Rather, it amplifies the theme and the emotion of the various scenes. When I sit back and just listen, I enjoy the ambient background soundtrack…but when I'm playing, I'm not really aware of it. It just feels natural.

The voice acting on the characters is fabulous. The script is well written. I enjoy the verbal interactions between the characters. The banter between Joker and his henchmen and/or the other super villains is fun. I also like that Joker (and some of the others) will "take over" the island's PA system and make general announcements to Batman or to others on the island. These are fun and quirky, but can get a little receptive over time as there are a limited number of these ambient comments and then they start looping. Similarly, the comments from the thugs and henchmen quickly get very repetitive both as they wander the island and during fight sequences.

Gameplay
And now for the real meat of the game. After all, a game can look and sound great, but if it doesn't play well or isn't immersive/engaging, then what's really the point?

From moment one, I felt engaged with this game. It opens very cinematically with a lengthy cut scene of Batman delivering Joker to Arkham Asylum. As the cut scene ends, the player is given control of Batman to help escort the Joker farther into the Asylum. During this slow progression through the halls of the Asylum, the game's opening credits play, again presenting that cinematic feel.


Once the Joker escapes and begins his rampage across the island, you are immediately thrown into the action. I'm playing on the Hard difficulty level, so I'm not sure how it plays on the lower difficulties, but I can say that I like the way the game presents the controls of each element unobtrusive way. Some games have formal tutorials and the first few minutes of gameplay here serve that purpose but definitely do not feel like a tutorial. Rather, you are thrown right into the heat of gameplay and given helpful advice to make sure you succeed.

The combat system (one of the first things you learn), is effective, intuitive, and simple. At first, this was discouraging to me as I thought it would quickly become a repetitive button-mashing fest similar to the Prince of Persia games Sands of Time & Warrior Within (the latest PoP game was a little better thanks to the addition of Elika, but even then, it got a little button-mashy after a while).

You can certainly make your way through combat just mashing buttons…but only for a while. You quickly find that you'll be overwhelmed if you don't adequately chain together combos or use the proper move at the proper time against the proper enemy. It actually has a lot of depth to it. As an added bonus and keeping true to the Batman world, you don't actually kill the enemies you fight (at least they haven't so far…I'm hoping this won't change as the game progresses). Rather, you incapacitate them or knock them unconscious. This is very true to the Batman character and I love this element.

In addition, as time goes on you discover/unlock gadgets that you can use in battle such as the batarang and batclaw. And even these can be upgraded over time to become a double/triple batarang/batclaw. Overall, the combat system had the potential to become repetitive but so far has been engaging.

Speaking of the gadgets, there are a ton of special gadgets that are used to help you navigate the island and access certain locations or better take advantage of certain situations. The way these items are unlocked fits in logically with the storyline (most of the time…there have been a few 'stretches') and with the Batman world as a whole.

Not really a gadget per se, but a special mode of play is Detective Mode. With the press of a button, the view is changed to Detective Mode where everything takes on a slightly bluish hue and certain objects are highlighted brighter or in orange or red as indication that they can be interacted with. This view mode is VERY helpful. It allows you to identify where thugs are located so you can plan an attack before entering a room. It helps you discover walls that can be broken or ledges that can accommodate your batclaw. It highlights some of the 'secret' items to be found throughout gameplay (to unlock the character statuettes I mention above as well as other game modes and elements).

My biggest complaint with the Detective Mode is that it is too effective and as such, I want it on all the time. As a result, I am almost constantly in Detective Mode and miss out on the "real" texture and color of the island itself. Instead, I'm playing the game through a slight tinge of blue and white. I generally try to switch out of Detective Mode before I leave a room or area to take a look around and appreciate the detailed artwork. I'm not sure where the happy medium for this is and it's possible that I'm the exception rather than the rule. I'm a completionist gamer so I want to make sure I find all the secret items and passages. Being constantly in Detective Mode allows me to do that.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to just say that I LOVE the stealth element of the game. Most of the thugs thus far are unarmed or just have pipes or knifes. However, many of them also carry guns…which can certainly be detrimental to Batman's health. As a result of the guns as well as the increasing number of thugs, it becomes increasingly important to be stealthy…to remain in the shadows or the rafters and plan your attack wisely. There are numerous stealth moves that allow you to take out an enemy from behind, below or above without having to engage in a lengthy and dangerous fight. In addition, a stealth attack doesn't inform the other thugs of your presence and as a result, you can take out one thug at a time rather than being mobbed by a few or a dozen.

Story
I am very impressed with the cohesive and integrated nature of the story. This game isn't just a 'dungeon crawl' or 'street brawl' game. You certainly could just rush through and take on enemies and environments like you would in those genres but you would miss out on a lot and (based on my experience), you would likely fail before too long.

The story is immersive and unravels itself a bit at a time the way a good comic, book, or movie would do. Batman truly acts as the detective that he is in seeking out clues and following them along the path of the story. The communication/interaction with Oracle and Batman's detective mode/computer are a bit too powerful for me at times, but otherwise, the story balance feels just right.

Overall
Overall I am thoroughly enjoying this game. I'm very impressed with the graphics, sound and other technical aspects of the game. I absolutely love the character presentation both in terms of appearance and voices and in terms of the depth presented by the story/script.

The controls are intuitive and natural and combat hasn't yet gotten repetitive. I love the various gadgets you receive and I totally enjoy the Stealth and Detective aspects of the game. I'm a little annoyed at the power/importance of Detective Mode because it means I'm almost constantly in that mode and miss out on some of the mood/art of the game as a result.

The story is entertaining and immersive. I'm looking forward to seeing how the whole thing plays out.

As an Xbox 360 player, I'm a little jealous that the Playstation users have the option to play as the Joker. I'm not sure how that gameplay works, but I'm hoping it comes to Xbox live as a downloadable feature.

The violence aspect is definitely up there even though Batman just "knocks out" his opponents and there is a moderate amount of swearing or 'unkind' language throughout. There have also been some creepy and even grotesque elements (Bane and Joker's 'Titans' are over-the-top and the Scarecrow scenes due an excellent job of creating fear). This certainly isn't a game I play with my kids around.

I certainly can't recommend this game to everyone. Even though it's got a lot of action and is immersive, the stealth and detective aspect may make it feel too slow for many players. The violence/language/fright levels are also going to be a turn off for many.

But for those who like Batman and are willing to play a game based on the way Batman really behaves…and for those who didn't cringe too much at the last two Batman movies…this game should be right up your alley.


4.5 out of 5 stars

Live By the Creed - Assassin's Creed 2

About 2 years ago, I was very stoked about the upcoming game Assassin's Creed. I joined an online community and participated in various missions to help get us all excited for the game's release. As a result of participation, I got some super cool prizes (including a cool statuette of the Assassin Altair which is sitting behind me right now).

Well, Assassin's Creed 2 is about to be released and there's a new community to promote the Creed and once again, I'm participating, trying to build excitement for this release and hopefully getting some more cool swag.

Help me increase my score by heading to the Community Website and signing up with my invite link. It'd be even better if you participate and earn goodies for yourself, but at the very least, you can take solace in knowing that you've helped me earn a shirt or soundtrack or some other cool bit of swag.

Assassin's Creed 2

I had a ton of fun with AC last year and was excited to hear about the sequel. Just put my pre-order in yesterday. Enjoy the widget.

Video Game Goodness - E3 news recap

Well, last week was E3. For many, that means nothing. For big fans of video games, it means a week full of great new announcements, exciting new trailers and websites, and confirmation of long whispered rumors.

I've only been to the E3 once and it was a lot of fun...but generally, I just follow the news via the web. Being busy with family, work and school, my time in the gaming trenches is less than it has been in previous years. Still, there were some things that really excited me from this year's expo.

Here are a few of the highlights for me:

---

Assassin's Creed 2

After much hype and waiting, I devoured AC1 and loved it. The combat mechanic was a little repetitive over time (as is the case of many Ubisoft titles), but I was willing to overlook that thanks to a very intriguing story line, stellar graphics, and a wonderfully immersive world. I'm very stoked for the sequel...set in Renaissance Italy, one of my favorite eras & locales. Plus...he swims! ;)

---

The Secret of Monkey Island

I've always been a fan of the Adventure genre in games and I love the humor and fun of the Monkey Island series, so I'm very excited to see Monkey Island resurrected, even if only as a small PC or Xbox Arcade download. This should be a lot of nostalgic fun. I'd love to see it breathe some new life into the mostly-dead adventure world.

While Secret is just a remastering of the original...LucasArts is also planning a brand new Monkey Island adventure, Tales of Monkey Island. Huzzah!

---

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Video Games | Batman: Arkham Asylum | E3 09: Exclusive Joker Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This particular game has already garnered plenty of hype and is on my pre-order list (saving for the special edition that includes cool bonus items like a real batarang *grin*). But at E3, they unveiled the trailer above that shows the playable Joker character. Very excited for this title!

---

Castlevania: Lords of Shadows

Waiting to see more detail as development continues on this, but my initial reaction is mmmm, yummy.

---

Alan Wake

This is another one I've been hearing about for a while. It looks like it will be fun...perhaps a little too similar to Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but still looks fun. At the very least, it looks like it's got an intriguing story line, good graphics and a nice combat system. I'll try the demo first, but my curiosity is definitely peeked.

---

Lego Harry Potter

In addition to putting out a second Lego Indiana Jones game, Travelers Tales is also bringing their Lego goodness to the Harry Potter world. If you haven't played any of these Lego games yet, you're really missing out. They are lightweight yet truly tons of fun. My kids have loved all of them so far. I'm thinking this will be a Christmas gift for them...I'll try to not let them even know the game exists, so it will be an even bigger surprise. :)

---

---

In other news, Blizzard hinted that the goal is to get Starcraft II released by the end of the year...though they always add the caveat that they will only ship "when the game is done." I both love and hate them for this. It means they make sure the game is solid before release, but it makes the wait longer.

Halo is getting a Bungie created update, which should be good. Though honestly, I haven't yet played through the entire campaign of any of the other 3 Halo games, nor do I play a ton of multiplayer with the game. Halo is definitely the best multiplayer shooter, so it's what I prefer to play if it's shooter time. However, I'm truly fine with Halo 2. I might grab the new Halo at a discount just so I have the new version to play on Live.

Microsoft also showed off "their answer to the Wii", a motion sensor camera that let's you play games (and do other stuff), without any controller at all. The concept advertisement showed a little innovation and the stage demos showed that they may be able to achieve at least some of what they hope. Still, as with other Microsoft ventures, I suspect it will be at least the second version before Project Natal really starts gaining any traction. By then, they'll nail many of the bugs and might have third party devs truly breaking through the technology and doing something cool with it. Still, I could have sworn something like this was tried in years past...oh yeah, how could I possibly have forgotten the EyeToy for Playstation. While cool in concept, the implementation was pretty poor...you had to have the lighting just right, and move just perfectly, and make sure there wasn't anything else to interfere with the camera's vision of you. Project Natal looked a little more robust than the EyeToy, but I'm definitely not going to rush out and thank Microsoft until their project has survived at least a year or two.

Dante's Inferno sounds interesting from a literary standpoint, but the game itself didn't look that exciting or noteworthy to me.

The new Metal Gear looks astounding!

A new Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis game was announced and should be fun. They also announced a follow up in the Professor Layton series which is cool.

---

Overall, it looks to be a good year of gaming. There were plenty of other titles that lots of folks got very excited about (God of War, Metroid, a couple of Mario games, and more), but my main hype is with the titles above.

With my schedule the way it is, I don't by as many games on release day any more, so it will probably be mid-2010 before I play most of these. I'll probably grab Arkham Asylum and Lego Harry Potter and might get Assassin's Creed as well if it has any fun pre-order swag.

To all the other gamers out there. What are you excited for this year?

Review - Prince of Persia

I picked Prince of Persia up as a fan of the games and of the general adventure genre of the Arabian Nights style.

The story was intriguing and thoughtful. It's presented as two stories set ~400 years apart with the first story creating and influencing the legend/action of the second story. The stories are presented side-by-side allowing the plot points to expose themselves gradually which leads to a feeling of mystery and intrigue. The female characters felt stronger to me than the male characters both in terms of their strength of mind and their initiative and drive to get things done.

The art was clean and simple while still detailed enough to really draw me in. The tone created by the art changed based on plot points but was generally fairly light (after having recently read Watchmen, the art here felt almost airy). Some of the depictions of violence were fairly graphic...it wasn't spewing blood, but the violent imagery was pushing PG-13 at times.

The art and the plot were fast paced and kept me scanning from panel to panel and page to page quickly. I think I flew through the book in about 40 minutes. Which was my main complaint. I wanted more. The depth there was good and the story flowed well. I just felt like it was over too quickly. There was a little deus ex machina that sped things up a little bit, but the story itself flowed well. I think mostly I would have loved to have seen the book double in size, stretch a few segments out, and add more scenes before ending.

The book also came with a very cool afterward by the developer/designer responsible for the first Prince of Persia game and involved in creation of the subsequent titles. Having worked in video games, I was really interested by his description of the creation of the initial games and of how the process changed for the later titles. I also really liked his insight into the adventure stories and histories that helped inspire the games and the book. I'd been looking to read Arabian Nights and he recommends the translation I'll likely use.

****3.5 stars (out of 5)

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings

I've been a huge Indy fan since I was a kid. I have great memories playing Indy with friends...sliding under closing garage doors, jumping of "cliffs" and escaping certain death. So naturally, I was excited a few years back when LucasArts announced a new Indy game being developed.




I'm very bummed that it won't be on the Xbox 360 (generally my console of choice thanks to great graphics, Live/Downloadable Content support, and "gamerscore"). Still, I really like the interaction that will be provided with the Wii through the Wii-mote. Hopefully it will get a port to the 360 eventually, but for now, I'll gladly take the Wii version for some whip cracking good times.

I'm super stoked!

Blizzard Theme Park

It's contests like this that make me wish I had more artistic talent. I could write a story in a Blizzard based theme park, but my drawing would be quickly put to shame. I look forward to seeing the entries and the winners.

Prince of Persia DLC

mmm....Ubisoft released the Prince of Persia Epilogue as downloadable content today. Now if only my weekend wasn't already so full.

The trailer doesn't show much, but I definitely look forward to more gameplay rather than just running around looking for more light seeds (although the world is gorgeous).

Video Game Industry articles

A couple of industry articles I read lately.

First, an article from a "woman in games" and her perception of what that really means.

Second, the salary survey results which I like to read just to see what that market is still acting like now that I'm out of it. (Looking at those numbers makes me glad the "business" world pays more for QA than the games world...it's also interesting that there isn't a demographic for a 6+ year tester who didn't become a lead)

And finally, an article about why we need HUD, GUI and other elements that "break the illusion of reality." This one was especially intriguing since during my last title, there was a TON of hubub both in my studio and in the industry about ideas of getting entirely away from HUD and GUI elements so that the gamer was completely immersed.

Anyway, I thought you might find these interesting.

EDIT:
One more article I was recently sent. This one is an article from PBS debunking 8 popular myths in the video game world. I know that you can use stats/data to skew things in any direction, so I'm fairly middle ground on most of these "myths." My main belief is that, as with anything, video games need to be approached with moderation and with a sense of proportion and prioritization. Anything taken too far can be bad. If you find video games you don't like...don't play them...don't let your kids play them...write letters to the designers. But don't make a blanket statement that video games are bad as a result. There are plenty of games I feel are awful influences and should never have been made. But there are others that I find very enjoyable and I think provide some good influences.

Everything in wisdom and moderation.

World of World of Warcraft

'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

It was only a matter of time

Shouldn't a freedom award recipient fight for freedom rather than censorship?

Well...Jack Thompson is coming to Utah to receive an award for his efforts in promoting “freedom”?

While I agree with him sometimes...that “mature” media content shouldn’t be allowed to get in the hands of kids....most of the time, I find him too alarmist and off-the-handle. And I definitely don’t view his bevy of lawsuits as fighting for freedom.

Top Spin 3

I wasn't officially on the team that worked on previous versions this title, but I helped out when I could when my current projects were slow enough to warrant it. And I definitely enjoyed playing the game once it released.

So it wasn't without excitement when I heard that Top Spin 3 was going to happen. It's not that Wii Sports Tennis isn't fun....well, maybe it is...but I'm stoked to get a cool Tennis game going with the Wii remotes.

Looks like fun. Now if only my games budget was bigger. ;)

For some reason my "embed" links aren't working, but there are some decent videos over on the site linked above. Enjoy.

Taking strategy guides one step farther

OK, so I was stoked for Assassin's Creed since they first announced it ~2+ years ago....I waited in angst as the release date was pushed back and back. I picked it up finally and have loved every minute I've been able to play. I'm still only about halfway through the game but I'm enjoying it. I can see where critics are coming from calling the game repetitive...it is repetitive in some points, but still varied enough that even the repetition is enjoyable.

Anyway, I'm on UBI's mailing list about the game and I got a link recently to their "HELP" site.

I purchased the official strategy guide early on but haven't cracked it yet (other than to oggle the oversized map). I bought it because of the deluxe art book that came with it. But that's another story. I generally only pickup strategy guides for the swag that comes with them. A year after finishing up Prince of Persia, I picked up the strategy guide (at a nice discount) for the cool poster. I did the same with the second Prince of Persia...but in reverse, I bought the strat guide months before the game, solely for the poster.

Generally, when I actually turn to walkthroughs is when I am legitimately stumped and have been for some time, or when I am in "completionist" mode and just don't have the time for full exploration. With Assassin's Creed, I plan to pull out the strat guide when it comes time to find the hundreds of flags over the world in order to get my achievements.

Well, this site that UBI sent me won't help with the flags, but it is a cool idea. I've seen video walkthroughs for games on YouTube for a while. But this is the first time I've ever seen a company actually create and host an intricate set of video walkthroughs for their game. That's not to say it hasn't been done, just that I haven't seen it.

Check out the link. It's a pretty cool idea and laid out very nicely.

If I wasn't so much into accessing the story on my own and immersing myself in the world, I'd hop over and watch the vids. I've watched a couple of the assassinations I've already completed.

It's a cool concept, but I'll be bummed if the paper strat guides actually go away...I'll miss out on my cool swag. ;)