61 Frames Per Second : bob mackey

Talkin' RPGs With Itoi

Bob Mackey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:05:00 GMT

Shigesato Itoi, a true Renaissance Man of Japan's entertainment world, is mostly known to us gamers as the mastermind behind the Mother RPG series. And it's his iconoclastic, "outsider" view of the video game medium that makes his projects so unique and cult-friendly; someone deeply entrenched in the world of RPG development is far more likely to make a derivative Tales of game than anything approaching the level of Itoi's imagination. With how creatively successful the Mother games have been, it's surprising that developers haven't tried bringing in more outside artists to derail the tunnel-vision quite a few franchises and genres currently suffer from.

Thanks to Itoi, I was deeply engrossed in Mother 3 over the fall and winter months of 2008, mainly because it took such a different approach than the other Mother games; rather than having a huge, worldwide scope (the usual method of most RPGs), the final entry in the Mother trilogy scaled things down to a much smaller and more detailed world that eventually changed (for the worse) over time. It was a fascinating approach that led me to care more about the game's world and inhabitants, all the way up until the heartbreaking ending.

The reason I've been thinking about Itoi lately--aside from the fact that he's so dreamy--relates to a few translated interviews with the jack of all trades posted by the equally-dreamy Tomato over at Earthbound Central. The interviews may be framed by a larger discussion of Animal Crossing, but Itoi still has a few interesting things to say about RPG game design.

Take his comments about Mother 3's small scope, for example:

That’s when I thought of an RPG in which you stay in a certain town for a long time...

The game would have character relations, and the people would all have their own lives. This way, we could do all sorts of things in the game. For example, someone who recently hung laundry out to dry would be wearing those clothes the next day. I wanted to make an RPG in which you could grow closer to the people as time went on.

Interesting stuff, though I wish there was much more of it. You can read the first part of the Mother-related interview comments HERE, and the second part HERE.

Related Links:

The Mother 3 Handbook: Better than Advertised
Mother 3's Soundtrack Disassembled
OST: Mother

Series That Have Lost All Identity

Bob Mackey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:05:00 GMT

Grandia was one of my favorite JRPGs on the original Playstation; despite the game's wonky translation and status as a crummy Saturn port, it had a certain air of infectious, Dragon Quest-y, aw-shucks adventuring that made it very refreshing. A few years later, though, I was unexpectedly disappointed by Grandia 2, which featured the evil church-iest of "evil church" plotlines along with a distinct attitude that didn't mesh well with the previous game--it wasn't too fun to play, either. So, I dropped the series in the early days of this decade and never looked back; and since then, both Grandia Xtreme (argh) and Grandia 3 have come into being, each with their own confused take on what Grandia is supposed to be (whatever that is).

The latest news for the series deals with Grandia Online, an MMORPG announced back in 2005 that'll be seeing the light of day--in Japan, anyway--this May. In a way, Grandia's relatively lukewarm popularity makes this game's continued existence a bit baffling, but one thing makes sense: Grandia is a faceless, shapeless concept that's been synonymous with RPGs for over a decade now. Not the most popular name, sure, but branding is still branding.

There's another franchise out there that's a lot like Grandia today, though it's had many more games and a chance to define itself in its early years: Shining Force. The early Shining games were fantastic--though simple--strategy RPGs, and even the spinoffs had a "feel" that kept them tied to the main series, despite their differing takes on the RPG genre. But when Camelot left the series after Shining Force III--which I'll probably never play thanks to the circumstances of the Saturn--the Shining series went in some weird directions that aren't entirely entertaining. And while someone out there is looking to get the series back on track with Shining Force Feather (argh), which takes the franchise back to its traditional SRPG roots on the DS, there's also Shining Force Cross, a four-player arcade brawler that's--um--you should probably just watch this video.

Just like with Grandia, the Shining Force title is nothing more than a generic RPG signifier now. Any other examples of this depressing trend in action? It'd be interesting to see if any other franchises out there have completely lost their identities.

Related Links:

Your JRPG Narrative is Bad and You Should Feel Bad
Roundtable Discussion: The Relevance of Japanese RPGs
Star Ocean and the HD-JRPG Conundrum

Mega64's Movie Adaptation of Shadow of the Colossus Possibly Better than Sony's

Bob Mackey — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:30:00 GMT

I hate to ruin your day, but Sony is making a Shadow of the Colossus movie--the news is a few weeks old, actually. So how, exactly, is Hollywood planning on handling such a beautiful, understated game? About as well as you would think. I'm pretty sure all I need to do is quote Variety's The Cut Scene blog to give you a full understanding of how the final product will most likely turn out:

I understand the folks working on the project are planning to have some of the characters who appear only momentarily in the game, such as those who try to track down and stop Wander, play bigger roles in the film. And despite the game's somewhat "artsy" cred, they're hoping "Shadow" will be a "Lord of the Rings"-style fantasy tentpole.

The silver lining to this ugly little cloud comes in the form of a video by gaming pranksters Mega64, who were undoubtedly inspired by Sony's unfortunate announcement. While I'm sure Sony will throw millions more dollars into their own adaptation, there's no denying that far more entertainment can be found in the group's 2-minute take on this PS2 classic.

Related Links:

Time For Me To Play Shadow of the Colossus
Super Secret Castle Discovered in Shadow of the Colossus
Team Ico’s Fumito Ueda at the Nordic Game 2008 Conference

Good Old Games Deals: More Fallout Than You Can Handle

Bob Mackey — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:45:00 GMT

I may have been late to the party on Fallout 3, but Bethesda's RPG masterpiece (yeah, I went there) is one of the few games I had to force myself to finish, just because otherwise I knew I'd be playing it forever. Mainly, I wanted to clear my plate of Fallout and go back for a second helping this upcoming summer, where I plan on playing through the game again (and purchase all of the expansion packs) as a right wasteland bastard, instead of the goody-two-shoes of my last apocalyptic adventure. But now that the fine folks over at Good Old Games are offering Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics--along with some super-nice goodies--bundled together for the odd price of $14.37, I suddenly feel the urge to visit the early years of a series I inexplicably missed as a mid-to-late-90s PC gamer.

As with anything available at Good Old Games (who is in no way paying me for this post), the real incentive for their digital downloads--aside from the ultra-low price--are the extras bundled with every purchase--and this Fallout three-pack has some good ones:

- 3 original soundtracks in MP3
- 9 hi-res wallpapers
- More than 300 artworks from all games
- Fallout Bible with special introduction by Chris Avellone (205 pages)
- Set of avatars
- 3 original manuals and reference cards

As someone who would legitimately read a Fallout novel, the "Bible" seems especially interesting. And if you share my recently-developed love for this gritty RPG series, you should probably know that GOG's deal on the bundle ends at 11:59 PM on April 27th--which should be just enough time to shake $14.37 out of your couch cushions.

Related Links:

How to Create Good Game Economies when Money Grows on Trees
BREAKING NEWS: Sony Announces Potential Price Drop for the PLAYSTATION............2. oh.
Spring Cleaning: Dusting Off Your Old Games

Rez: 4/20 Game of the Day

Bob Mackey — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:00:00 GMT

It may be a bit of a stereotype, but I'm willing to bet a lot of you gamers out there--people known for laid-back, couch-bound fun--plan on celebrating the High Holiday (of course, no pun intended) of April 20th. People unfamiliar with this special day should probably be aware that--wait, you're not a cop, are you?

To avoid personal incrimination and also to talk about naughty, illegal things in a self-aware, cheeky fashion, I'm just going to assume that you know entirely what this holiday is about. And if you're wondering if I'll be participating, know that we video game bloggers lack the disposable income to take part in in today's many rich customs--also, some of us have to spend the rest of our daylight hours writing an insufferable term paper about 19th century working-class women's autobiographies. I'm thinking about selling my blood.

But if you're lucky enough to have ample free time and a steady supply of towels to jam underneath doors, you may be wondering about any video games out there that may enhance your experience. It's a bit cliche at this point, but you should really look no further than Rez; it was designed by a rave-friendly DJ (for Christ's sake) as an experience that envelops all of the senses--except for taste and smell, which may require the use of accessories found in your local supermarket.

Rez could be the stereotypical Bob Marley poster of the video game world, but it's hard to think of many other games that fit today's festivities so appropriately--and it helps that the game has a built-in mode where losing is impossible. It's almost as if designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi built an altered-state lightshow that requires only as much input as your body will allow; this may work out well for those out there who find both arms trapped inside of bags of Cheetos, the traditional food of today's feasts.

I might have went for the most obvious choice, but I'm sure you 61FPSers have some good ideas. Are there any overlooked games out there that are particularly enhanced by the good vibes of April 20?

Related Links:

The Long and Winding Road: Rez’s Journey From Proof-of-Concept to Game
Ports That Need To Be Made: iTouchRez
BIT.TRIP BEAT is Hella Sweet

Resident Evil 5 Succeeds Without Building a Better Mousetrap

Bob Mackey — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:05:00 GMT

March's release of Resident Evil 5 was met by a hail of criticism; while the game tried to capture the same spirit that made Resident Evil 4 so breathtakingly amazing, many thought certain core design elements used by RE5's older brother (no strafing, no running and gunning) were a bit too archaic to rehash without significant revamping. But rehashing is something Capcom does very well, and they took this familiar approach to their famous survival horror series with fantastic results: Resident Evil 5 was last month's best-selling game (thanks to Game|Life for the stats). As much as we like to gripe about the lack of innovation in gaming blockbusters, there's something to be said about the comfort that familiarity brings--a comfort borrowed entirely from Resident Evil 4's goodwill.

Of course, if you look at the sales numbers, you'll see that this is the case for some of the strongest performers. New Super Mario Bros., a game that's been out for nearly three years, has rarely--if ever--dropped out of the top 10 DS games--hell, it's usually in the top five. But having played New Super Mario Bros., I can't say it's entirely deserving of its success; the core Mario gameplay is great, but having to shepherd around the power-ups necessary to open up certain levels adds a level of off-putting randomness to The Mushroom Kingdom's typically immaculately-designed world. Resident Evil 5 has its own share of problems, but, like Mario, it offers a familiar setting without any big shake-ups, which is why so many of us hardcore gamers are facing franchise fatigue.

My point with this post isn't the overly-obvious "big-name franchises sell well;" it's more of a general hissy fit over the lack of innovation seen in big league series. I'm a bit of a hypocrite because I didn't really mind Resident Evil 5 being more of the same, but I remember a time--Nintendo during the GameCube era, specifically--when developers would use sequels as the testing ground for new ideas; because the audience was already built in, there were less worries over whether signficant changes would be alienating. But we all saw what this kind of franchise experimentation did to Nintendo's bottom line during the last gen, despite experimental, critical darlings like The Wind Waker (and Majora's Mask before it). Nintendo's been pretty quiet about any possible upcoming Wii Zeldas, but if they pull an RE5 for a second time--in my opinion, Twilight Princess was the RE5 to Ocarina of Time's RE4--I'm not sure if I'll be interested.

Any thoughts about familiarity versus experimentation in big-name franchises? The Resident Evil series can make an argument for both the former (5) and the latter (4).

Related Links:

The 61FPS Review: Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5: If You're not Offended, Then You're a Racist?
Up All Night: Dark Sector

Metal Gear Solid 2: The Novel?

Bob Mackey — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:15:00 GMT

I have a bit of a soft spot for Metal Gear Solid 2; while it certainly has its share of embarrassing flaws, I'm probably one of a dozen people who were pleasantly surprised--instead of enraged--by the protagonist switch from Solid Snake to Raiden so early in the game. But even I have to admit that MGS2's story was mostly unintelligible by the end, though some of this may be due to the content cut from the game because of the September 11th terrorist attacks--or perhaps that mysterious shipment of mushrooms which arrived on the steps of Konami's HQ in early 2001.

Whatever the case, you have to give Kojima some credit for throwing so many baffling, off-the-wall ideas in what was intended to be the Playstation 2's first big blockbuster. And in case the director's unique storytelling style has still has you confused about what the hell happened in Metal Gear Solid 2 a whole eight years later, then you'll be happy to know that publisher Del Ray has a novelization of the game in the works, penned by Raymond Benson, who apparently wrote a novelization of the first Metal Gear Solid in 2008. Not exactly striking while the iron's hot, eh?

According to Game|Life's Earnest Cavalli, Benson is no slouch when it comes to video game novelizations--but I still have to question how this novel could be any more informative than the text dumps and game scripts for MGS2 that have been floating around on the internet for years and years. Though it's possible that Benson's novelization could be worth reading just to see how (or if) the author turns all of that batshit content into a cohesive narrative. My guess is this will be Benson's final project before the inevitable forced institutionalization.

This little bit of news has inspired me to show you a preview of my Metal Gear Solid 3 novelization, which I plan on submitting to Del Ray in 2012:

The Pain, covered in bees, shot a steady stream of bees at Snake, who was not covered in bees. The bees soon reached his bee-less body.

"Agh! Bees! Covered in bees!"

Snake dove underwater and decided to contact HQ for assistance. Perhaps a smoke grenade was in order?

If you would like Solid Snake to use a smoke grenade, turn to page 154.
If you would like to stop reading, close the book.

Related Links:

The 61FPS Review: Metal Gear Solid 4 Part 1
Metal Gear Solid: Hideo Kojima’s Inability to Show Instead of Tell
C'mon Kojima: Port Metal Gear!

WTFriday: Pac-Man Vs. France

Bob Mackey — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:45:00 GMT

Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week.

While Pac-Man is usually viewed in a positive light, fans of this old-school gaming celebrity conveniently forget one important fact: he is a remorseless eating machine. Strawberries, pretzels, and even keys disappear into the gaping maw of this urine-colored glutton as he searches for a way to blot out the pain inflicted by his apocalyptic divorce from Ms. Pac-Man (formerly Mrs.). And sometimes, it gets ugly. A recent videos of Pac-Man's latest episode have surfaced (via Kotaku) which features what we can assume to be a PCP-fueled rampage through the streets and golf courses of France. For the following video, parental guidance is strongly advised.

Pac-Man is currently being held without bail in a French prison cell. He has been allowed to make a single phone call, and eat a single baguette. No word yet on if any cheese was consumed.

Related Links:

WTFriday: CNET's Don Reisinger Is Afraid of the Human Body
WTFriday: A Serial Killer's Ideas for Wii Games
WTFriday: The Super Mario Bros. Anime

Kids' Games too Complicated for Kids

Bob Mackey — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Since I try as hard as I can to be a well-rounded gamer, I like to experience as many kinds of games as possible. Take Fallout 3, for example; I was once highly allergic to non-linear, Western RPGs, but in the past two weeks I've invested over 50 hours into Bethesda's little masterpiece. And I had the same intentions when I picked up Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise--I had no idea if I would like the game, but the endless amounts of praise it received (from adults, mind you) convinced me to buy it at a budget-friendly price. I'm not averse to kiddie games, but I was initially worried that maybe Pinata was going to be a little too simple for my gaming tastes.

But when I got through the game's all-too-brief tutorial, I could only think one thing: "Children are supposed to understand this?"

As someone who's been a gamer for over 20 years now, I pride myself on being able to figure out even the most complicated of in-game mechanics; but when I'm given no assistance by the game itself, I'm usually not too enthused about playing for long. I ran into this problem when I decided to slip into the Civilization series a few summers ago; after picking up Civ III and realizing that my only tutorial was a 200-page book, most attempts to come up with any sort of strategy were shot down by my lack of knowledge of how the game actually worked--and this was after reading all of thosse pages. Viva Pinata has its own tutorial and isn't nearly as complex as Sid Meier's world sim, but you're only taught the very basics of Pinata-raising, leaving important questions like "What is the goal of the game? How do I get money? Why do murdered Pinatas come back from the dead?" unanswered.

It should be noted that most of this information can be found in the game--albeit in a text-only "help" section that's nearly impossible to read on my large SDTV (thank you, Rare). I am having fun with Viva Pinata, but after playing it for a few hours, and watching my girlfriend tend to her own paper mache critters, I've noticed that some of the most basic elements of the game have still gone unexplained. After playing my share, it's hard to believe that Viva Pinata could ever be appealing to kids naturally attracted to bright and colorful cartoon animals; the game requires as much in-depth micromanagement as your typical SimCity, though the economy is much more abstract.

I'm happy that I find the game entertaining--if a bit messy and confusing--but VP is really an adult's game dressed up in kiddie clothing. This works out fine for all of us, but Rare seems to be a bit confused about their target audience. I'd be interested in knowing if any of you 61FPS readers out there have been privy to a child's experience of playing Viva Pinata; it's possible that I may be underestimating the abilities of our youth.

If you're interested in the subject, you should also check out John's post about the kid-friendliness of VP; our opinions differ greatly.

Related Links:

Of Children and LEGO Games: A Valid Concern
The Impetuousness Of Youth
Children are the Future (Of Cheap Gaming Junk)

Brainstorm: What Happened to Connectivity?

Bob Mackey — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

When Nintendo launched their limited campaign of GameCube/Game Boy Advance connectivity, I was an English-majoring undergrad (AKA "that dude with too much free time") with two friends who were nerdy enough to also have GBAs, link cables, and a high tolerance for gimmicky hardware tricks. Our time was limited to the three main games playable for this sick intercourse between console and portable gaming systems: Pac-Man Vs., Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. The first two titles gave us our share of fun, but the last one marks one of the best (though brief) multiplayer experiences I've ever had in my life.

I've never been too excited about online multiplayer, because--for me, anyway--it's always been alienating and lacking that distinct sense of entertaining madness that comes with a group of friends screaming at each other in the same small room. So I was a bit bummed when Nintendo dropped their connectivity plans so soon after starting them; despite requiring a lot of gear to get working, the whole GBA/GameCube pair-up allowed for some amazingly unique multiplayer experiences. And now that the worldwide takeover of both the DS and Wii has made countless homes equipped with enough Nintendo hardware to start their own GameStops, a newer and easier form of connectivity could bring back some of that joy I experienced so briefly five years ago. But why has Nintendo dropped the ball?

I've always wondered why Nintendo limited Wii/DS interaction solely to the downloading of demos when so much more could be done between the two systems. Sure, Miyamoto and company may still wake up screaming with bad memories of last-gen's connectivity going over like a lead balloon, but wireless technology has made things much simpler now. And considering how happy Nintendo is to foist confusing, unintuitive features on its audience (*cough* friend codes), a Wii and a DS making sweet wireless love seems too simple to screw up. Considering the low budget nature of Four Swords Adventures, why not throw up multiplayer episodic content for WiiWare? It'd be an inexpensive undertaking, and the press would go crazy for a "new" Zelda game being released for a Nintendo platform that sees its share of garbage. I could just be crazy, but I always thought system connectivity wasn't explored nearly as much as it should have been.

Any thoughts on this?

Related Links:

Miyamoto Says Something Was "Missing" From Zelda: Twilight Princess. We Know It, Too.
The Legend of Zelda: Manifest Destiny
Pick Up Chicks In the Zelda Mobile

Fan Projects to Die for: Grim Fandango Action Figures

Bob Mackey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Despite being produced at a time when 3D graphics on the PC were shockingly ugly (in retrospect), Tim Schafer made Grim Fandango a beautiful game; taking a nod from the art associated with the Mexican Day of the Dead, LucasArts created a striking, iconic cast that didn't exactly require millions of polygons to construct. Even more than ten years later, it's easy to cruise around the world of Manny Calavera and the rest of the game's interesting, well-designed characters without the shock that usually comes with seeing now-ancient 3D--and I actually plan on replaying GF very soon because of my secret shame of never having finished the game. Until I have the time to do that, though, I can always stare at the lovingly-created action figure versions of Fandango stars Manny and Glottis--scuplted by English artist Iain Reekie--and dream of a world where these things could actually be mass-produced.

These fantastic little models are, unfortunately, one-of-a-kind, but we can at least be inspired by Reekie's devotion to this little LucasArts classic. It's been said countless times (especially by me), but with the recent re-release of the 1996 PC adventure game Broken Sword for both the Wii and the DS, LucasArts would have to be crazy to not give some of their old titles new life in a now-welcoming marketplace. But they are pretty crazy, aren't they?

Thanks to The International House of Mojo for the news tip.

Related Links:

The Abandoning of a LucasArts Legacy
LucasArts Classics On Nintendo DS?
Whatcha Playing: The Thirst For Adventure, Pointing At Things, and Not Knowing What to Say

Xenogears Perfect Works Translated

Bob Mackey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Classic PSX RPG Xenogears may have had its share of flaws, but its ambition was impressive; the game contained so much mythology that much of the story ended up being untold (or told poorly) due to budget problems. Fans of Tetsuya Takahashi's epic tale followed the writer through a labyrinth of Xenosaga games some years later, but most were disappointed by a follow-up series that didn't stick to the plans laid out in a little book called Xenogears: Perfect Works. This Xenogears bible, released in Japan by DigiCube in 1998, wasn't just an all-encompassing source of information for all things Xenogears; it also indicated plans for the series as a whole, as Xenogears was intended to be the fifth episode of an epic saga. Unfortunately, this book has only been available in Japanese, and is notorious for its insane resale price--so you may want to sell your copy now that a completely scanned translation (AKA "scanslation") is available on the Internet for free.

Apparently, Xenogears fan Ultimate Graphics dumped five months of his life into this project, and the results are amazing. The fact that he (and I'm guessing it's a he) managed to translate and physically edit over 300 pages of Xenogears-related text should even impress those--like me--who played through the game a decade ago and can't see themselves going back. But if you've got an urge to plow through Xenogears again with knowledge about what the hell was actually happening in the story, you'll definitely want to head over to the project's flickr page to see what you've been missing.

Special thanks to the Retronauts Twitter for the news tip.

Related Links:

The Kids Don't Get It: Sonic Epoch Advance and Misplaced Maturity
Mega Man Fan Movie Trailer
Paper Covers Rockman

Ghostbusters: Slimer Edition to Come with Free Plastic

Bob Mackey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:15:00 GMT

What you're looking at right now--courtesy of 1UP.com--are the various plastic trinkets bundled with Amazon.com's Ghostbusters Exclusive Slimer Edition (not pictured: LEGO ripoff figurines of four random ghouls). How much would you pay for a collection of plastic trinkets that could easily find their way into your average McDonald's Happy Meal? 10 dollars? 20 dollars?

How about 70 dollars?

That's right, for a mere 70 dollars more than the "bare-bones" retail version, Ghostbusters: Slimer Edition will reap you the following rewards:

* An exclusive Slimer bust designed and created by the original movie sculptor, Steve Johnson. Comes complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by the sculptor himself.
* Exclusive Ghostbusters Minimates. Only be available with the Slimer Edition.
* Exclusive Ghostbusters Gamer Graffix Console Skins.
* Exclusive Ecto 1 Key Chain with lights and sound.

Along with Steve Johnson's signature, I'm wondering if the sculptor will also include a few choice words about economic responsibility. "You moron!" and "So long, suckers!" both seem to fit the bill. Of course, if you drop 70 extra dollars--let me repeat, 70 extra dollars--on this shameless and exploitative cash grab, it's possible that you deserve more than an insult scribbed on a certificate of authenticity. Food for thought.

Related Links:

Screen Test: Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters: There Are No Words For How Good Bustin' Makes Me Feel
Film to Games: Ghostbusters is the Beginning of a (Hopefully) Beautiful Friendship

The Japanese PlayStation Store Gets Final Fantasy VII, Life Declared "Unfair"

Bob Mackey — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Let's face facts; the American PlayStation Store is...not so good. Just take a look at the number of original Playstation games you can download in Japan, compared to what's available here. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Surprised? Then you probably haven't been paying attention. No offense intended, of course, but if you've been following PlayStation Store release news since the PS3's launch, then you're probably familiar with the disappointment all PS3 owners feel when they see so many of their favorite games just out of arm's reach. Of course, it's always possible to go through the rigmarole of creating a Japanese account and "tricking" the PlayStation Store into thinking that you deserve access to its superior Japanese marketplace, but you shouldn't have to. Hell, if Sony got their act together and started pimping the PS3 as the place to get your affordable fix of their respectable and immense library (especially the PS2), I'd consider adding their new console to my rickety fire hazard of an entertainment center.

And to add insult to injury, one of the most beloved, sought-after games in Sony's history, Final Fantasy VII, has just popped up on the Japanese PSN store, causing Final Fantasy fanboys country-wide to start wailing in agony.

Despite being so successful and so reprinted, Final Fantasy VII inexplicably goes for unreasonable sums on sites like eBay. Its price in PlayStaion Store? 1500 yen (roughly 15 bucks), which isn't too shabby for a game approaching its twelfth birthday. So far, Square's released quite a few games for the PlayStation Store--including the ultra-rare Einhander--but they've entirely ignored their American fanbase. Making Final Fantasy VII available outside of Japan would basically be like printing money, though it's important to note that Sony seems to have taken a firm anti-money stance this generation. Whatever their justification, I hope they at least think about expanding their American PlayStation Store soon--if only to quiet those misguided fools who still regard Final Fantasy VII as the "best game ever."

Related Links:

PSOne on PSN: Somehow, it’s Suikoden
Beating the Dead Horse Who Has It Coming: Playstation Releases on PSN
Far Out, Man

The End to Microsoft SpaceBucks?

Bob Mackey — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

We can all agree that digital download marketplaces have been one of the best advancements of this console generation; sure, we sometimes get gauged on horse armor and whatever Namco-Bandai's got up their sleeve, but a lot of this gen's best games would be MIA if they couldn't be bought for a small, download friendly fee. The only problem with this--on XBLA and the Wii's Shopping Channel, anyway--has been the necessity of "points," the fake console currency purchased using real money. In theory, this is a nice way for console manufacturers to enforce one consistent form of exchange throughout many territories, but the fact that both Nintendo and Microsoft make you purchase points in prescribed amounts means that nearly every purchase nets you a tiny remainder of useless change.

Nintendo may be unapologetic in their use of funny money--the launch of the DSi introduced a new form of currency separate from the points you purchase with your Wii--but Microsoft seems to be taking baby steps with the new XBox Live Arcade store on Amazon.com.

Credit goes to Cheap Ass Gamer for the news, which I haven't seen reported much elsewhere (unless I'm not paying attention). It's certainly not world-changing, but it'll be nice not to have to drop a few extra bones whenever I want to buy anything from XBLA. I'd be really interested in seeing DLC (as opposed to stand-alone games) show up on Amazon, but until that happens, this is at least a step in the right direction.

Related Links:

The Problem With XBLA Pricing
For Indie Games, These are the Salad Days
The Best News In Sixteen Thousand Years: Cave Story Coming to WiiWare

WTFriday: CNET's Don Reisinger Is Afraid of the Human Body

Bob Mackey — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:50:00 GMT

Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week.

So it looks like CNET's Don Reisinger has a bee in his bonnet about EA putting the most terrible, abominable, vomit-inducing creations of all time--human female breasts--into the video game adaptation of The Godfather Part II. If you've grown up in a lovely culture influenced by Christian morality, then you probably know that the naked human body is an affront to God and should be covered at all times, lest we get "devil britches," the unofficial terminology for not feeling any shame. Don seems to subscribe to this interpretation of the world, as his"review" of Godfather 2 is entirely fixated on the presence of nudity--he spends three sentences evaluating the game outside of his boob-induced outrage. Three sentences.

I imagine this hard-hitting commentary was very hard to write for Don, what with him coming down with "the vapors" so often.

Specifically, Don has two problems with Godfather II's boobies: A.) the original film didn't have any nudity, and B.) he's outraged that breasts could even appear in an M-Rated game. Let's take a look at the first issue:

Earlier this week, I contacted The Godfather II developer, Electronic Arts, with questions about the game's depictions of nudity. I tried multiple times to have my questions answered. After three days of waiting, I received a simple response to a not so simple issue.

"Nudity fits with the fiction, tone and style of the game we created," an EA spokesperson said. "It is part of the team's creative vision. The game is rated M for Mature."

But there's a problem with that response. The Godfather II, the movie, has no nudity in it. Considering the game is supposed to be based on that film, I don't understand why nudity was part "of the team's creative vision." Wasn't the team supposed to follow the movie's creative vision?

Translation: "Hi, my name is Don. I am a pedantic moron. You may not be aware, but I have just given you the green light to ignore me."

And here he splits hairs over the distinction between a Mature and an Adults Only-rated game:

There's just one problem: only the Adults Only rating makes mention of nudity. According to the ESRB's ratings, Adults Only games include "prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity." Sound familiar? The Mature rating is defined by the ESRB as "intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language."

[After a reasonable ESRB response]...I don't buy it. I don't see any justification for The Godfather II's Mature rating if we follow the ESRB's plainly stated ratings parameters. The Godfather II should have been rated AO, according to the ESRB's definitions.

Even if the nudity in Godfather II is gratuitous, Don's issue with the game indicates an opinion that can be applied more broadly. Based on what he writes, it seems as if any game that dares to show a breast (or nudity in general) should be given the ESRB's Adults Only rating--AKA retail death--in Don Reisinger's enchanted, sugarplum world. But why? Outside of the cultural baggage Don is schlepping around, there's no real reason nudity alone should merit the Scarlet Letter of the ESRB. Seeing boobies--polygonal boobies, mind you--should not be cause for concern, and every time some idiot has has a nervous breakdown over mature content in a game specifically made for adults, the industry takes a step back when it comes to what's considered "appropriate" content for a video game. And we all get just a little bit dumber.

I assume no one has told Don Reisinger about the visible penis in the GTA4 expansion pack The Lost and the Damned, and that's probably for the best; I imagine that Don's fear of the human body is so intense that he has to pee with the lights off. You probably shouldn't ask to use his bathroom the next time you visit.

Related Links:

How Much Simpler Do ESRB Ratings Need To Get?
Editors, Where Are Your Manners?
Puerile Pure: Disney Racer’s Profanity Revealed

More Discount Friday Gaming Deals

Bob Mackey — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Due to the extreme popularity of PopCap's world-conquering Peggle, it will soon be illegal to not own a copy of this addictive little game for at least one of its many supported platforms. Those of you who haven't yet experienced the joy of PopCap's instant gratification funhouse needn't fear a midnight assasination by the Secret Peggle Police, though; this weekend on Steam--the frugal-friendly digital download marketplace--you can pick up both Peggle and its sequel, Peggle Nights, for a mere $9.99. Considering the first Peggle debuted on XBLA for this price alone, you really can't find a much better deal--that is, until next weekend, when Steam will inevitably have some new mind-blowing bargain available.

In other wallet-friendly news, Good Old Games' spring sale, featuring seven different bundles at 25% off, will run until the end of this Thursday. All in all, some nice deals from the most dependable sources of gaming in these trying times--especially when compared to the competition. Anyone out there plan on grabbing any of these titles on the cheap?

Related Links:

How the Recession Will End the Wii’s Torrent of Sewage
Recession Gaming Deals: The 360 Arcade Pack-In
The Perfect Recession Game: Tetoris

Good Games Ruined by Bad Controllers

Bob Mackey — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:25:00 GMT

When Street Fighter IV was released a few months ago, I found myself a bit annoyed by every gaming journalist informing me that I had to drop another $60-$150 on an arcade stick to fully enjoy the game. Longtime readers of 61FPS know that I'm a notoriously cheap bastard when it comes to gaming, so you can probably guess my response when these earners of a living wage stressed the importance of spending an obscene amount of money on a peripheral necessary to make a single game playable. The sad thing is, they were right; Capcom's fighting masterpiece turns into an unresponsive game of chance if you happen to be using something as poorly-designed and unreliable as the XBox 360's d-pad. But Street Fighter IV alone is not the only victim of bad controller design.

I want to make a distinction between games with bad controls and games hampered by a bad controller; for the former, that little lump of plastic in your hand is not to blame. But if you happen to be a well-meaning game that's entirely reliant on the XBox 360's d-pad, then may God have mercy on your soul.

I may be about two years late to the party on this one, but with my recent (cheap) purchase of a disc featuring quite a few XBLA arcade game, I was completely psyched to sink my teeth into Pac-Man: Championship Edition. Psyched, that is, until I realized that the only four controller inputs required (up, down, left, and right) were completely fudged by that brain-dead square of plastic known as the 360 d-pad. It's hard to get angry at Microsoft, though; Nintendo's patent on the plus-sign d-pad has made less-effective alternatives a necessity. I can only imagine how sweet Pac-Man would be with an arcade stick, but some rich relatives need to die before this dream can become a reality--and these relatives don't even exist yet.

So, 61FPSers, have terrible controllers ever taken the proverbial leak in your cereal bowl?

Related Links:

The Periodic Table of Game Controllers
Bringing Sexy Back: Retro Controllers of the Future
WTFriday: Dragon Quest Crotch Buddies

The Problem With XBLA Pricing

Bob Mackey — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:15:00 GMT

When the amazing Bionic Commando: Rearmed launched last summer at the cost of 800 Microsoft Points (10 dollars), fans of the old-school franchise were relieved--and some were even worried that Capcom wasn't charging enough. But just a week before this, the 1200-Point price tag attached to the equally-amazing Braid caused a bit of alarm--though most agreed that an extra five bucks was more than worth it for such a unique and unforgettable experience.

These days, the 800 Point-and-under pricing structure of XBLA games is seemingly becoming a thing of the past; this week's releases of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix and Flock are available for 20 and 15 dollars, respectively. For the gamer on a budget--or me, anyway--the 10-dollar price point is the sweet spot for XBLA game prices. And as new XBLA releases find themselves slipping further and further from this comfortable territory, I'm finding myself less and less interested in what's available in the marketplace.

Before I'm ripped to shreds, I'd like to state that I do want to see the makers of these XBLA games adequately compensated for their work--it's just that the perceived value of a new game (downloadable or not) is far less than publishers think it is. Even at the happy price point of $10, frugal gamers can get much more than a single XBLA game; in fact, if you're a regular follower of Steam's fantastic sales, you could have bought both Bioshock and Tomb Raider Anniversary for this tiny sum.

Of course, these games can be had for so cheap because their publishers have already sold as many copies as they could at retail prices, but that doesn't mean that this competition doesn't exist. The Xbox Live Marketplace has been slashing prices on some of their more-popular games--the first episode of Penny-Arcade Adventures has had its originally-outrageous price chopped in half this week--but we're creeping closer and closer to having 15 dollars as the norm.

What do you 61FPS readers think about the situation? Has the rising cost of XBLA games made you just as miserly as me?

Related Links:

Whatcha Playing: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Again)
Board Games Should Be Downloadable
Yahtzee Says, Support Your Local Independent Developer (He's Right).

Stalin Vs. Martians Trailer Is... Interesting

Bob Mackey — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:45:00 GMT

Apparently, there is a game called Stalin Vs. Martians--and I'm just finding out about this today. Because I am hopped up on enough cold medicine to knock over a Clydesdale, I at first assumed this bizarre premise was merely a figment of my DayQuil-addled imagination. But when all of the little gremlins stopped dancing around my living room, I checked out the game's website again, and--sure enough--it's for real. I have to question the taste of including one of histories greatest monsters as the playable protagonist, but, for some reason, Stalin has always been viewed as much more of a comical figure when compared to someone like Adolf Hitler--you can probably blame his big, bushy mustache.

As Joystiq points out, the game is coming out on April 20th; if you're unfamiliar with this American holiday, this date marks a yearly event where people from all walks of life gather together in solidarity for one purpose: to smoke a hell of a lot of weed. I'd question Joystiq's take on the game's release date, if not for Stalin Vs. Martians' strange trailer, which features gameplay footage intercut with video of a dancing girl who seemingly crawled right out of 1986. It doesn't make much sense, but I have to credit the developers for at least trying to make their game's trailer memorable.

Stalin Vs. Martians will be out for the PC on April 20th. At this point in time, it's unclear if a collector's edition containing a paper towel tube and some fabric softener sheets will be available at launch.

Related Links:

Will OnLive Change Everything?
10 Years Ago This Week: EverQuest
My Hand, My Neck, My Gun: The Mouse Turns 40

Bust Some Heads with The Onion's "Close Range"

Bob Mackey — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

I've been playing a lot of Fallout 3 lately. A lot. And because of my addiction to Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG, I've been blowing up a lot of heads with a vast array of in-game weaponry. A lot of heads. So when I heard about a new game from the satire superstars over at The Onion that involves nothing but the exploding of craniums, I was a perhaps a little too interested.

If you're familiar with The Onion's M.O., then you've probably already realized that Close Range is a parody of--or perhaps a take on how the "outside world" views--the hyper-violent video game blockbusters of our time, like Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto 4, and the aforementioned Fallout 3. But Close Range doesn't just set its sights on violent video games and the people who play them; gaming journalists who instinctively praise every upcoming multi-million dollar gaming extravaganza with words like "immersive" and "compelling" are also taken down a peg.

Of course, hearing about a joke second-hand is no real way to get the comic effect. For maximum yuks, check out The Onion News Network's report on this world-changing new "game."

New Video Game Consists Solely Of Shooting People Point-Blank In The Face

Oh, and you can also play a demo of the game for free at Close Range's web site. Just don't do this in front of any lawyers.

Related Links:

Barack Obama: Master Debater
Mega64 versus Metal Gear Solid 4's Dad
Two Stupid Viral Videos for Your Friday

Watcha Listening to: Myself (Again)

Bob Mackey — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Three months ago, the amiable Kole Ross invited me onto his Stand Under the Don't Tree and Riddle Me This program as a special "celebrity" guest to discuss the recent 1UP buyout and the calamity that followed. We laughed, we cried, and some would say the world was changed forever. These people may have a serious problem with overestimation.

Well, it seems as if Kole must not have received too much hate mail from my appearance, because last week I was once again invited to be a special call-in guest--though under much happier circumstances. The latest episode's video game-related discussion deals mainly with all of the good (and a few bad) things that came out of this year's Game Developers Conference. If you listen, you may hear Kole and I talk about the following things extemporaneously:

- The magic of OnLive.

- The Punch-Out trilogy and my sick fascination with the SNES sequel.

- Hello Kitty MMORPG? (Yes.)

- The trials of being a Rock Band nerd with no tolerance for Pearl Jam.

- Various ramblings, stutterings, and misinformation on my part.

- And many more!

My 40-minute segment starts around the 26:00 mark, but you should really listen to the whole thing so this post is less self-serving than I intended it to be. And if you like what you hear, rejoice; provided I still have a working phone and a pulse in the future, I may be returning to Stand Under the Don't Tree for more fun.

Related Links:

Watcha Listening to: Myself (Technically)
Watcha Listening To: Rebel FM's Bully Game Club
Watcha Listening to? A Life Well Wasted

Lego... Rock Band?

Bob Mackey — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

April Fools' Day was nearly a week ago, so we've all had quite a few days to let our guards down and start accepting everything at face value again. I was lucky enough to not fall for some elaborately-crafted hoax this year, which is why it's hard for me to take a recent 1UP news story without the requisite grain of salt. But, given the calendar date, it seems that Lego Rock Band, a new installment in Harmonix's smash-hit music series, may actually be in the works.

The only evidence we have at this point is an older version of Harmonix's GDC presentation slides accidentally posted to the Internet, which seemingly confirm the game's existence. According to 1UP,

[T]his slide was among a batch that was sent for "speech approval" by Harmonix senior designer Dan Teasdale for his GDC presentation, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Design Lessons Learned From Rock Band," but never shown. According to [Harmonix senior designer Dan] Teasdale's blog, they resurfaced when Think Services posted the earlier versions by mistake.

They seem to confirm the existence of Lego Rock Band, which was apparently set to be unveiled last Friday at GDC, but never materialized. If it's indeed real, it will evidently be arriving later this year between Rock Band: Unplugged and The Beatles Rock Band.

So, what exactly does Lego have to do with Rock Band? To be fair, the interlocking blocks are just as relevant to Star Wars and Indiana Jones. As ridiculous as the pairing of Lego and Rock Band may initially seem, this is a great chance for Harmonix to bring out a kid-branded version of their hit game for the younger set. While the songs available on Rock Band don't get much saltier than your average afternoon FM broadcast, I'm sure there are lots of parents out there who'd rather have their kids playing along with songs that are a little less suggestive. And for the rest of us, this means Harmonix can dump a whole lot of tween-friendly music onto a disc, thereby freeing us from having something like The Naked Brothers Band take up valuable space in Harmonix's weekly releases. Everybody wins.

As of now, Lego Rock Band has not been confirmed by Harmonix, but some kind of announcement seems very likely to happen soon.

Related Links:

Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy--The Beatles: Rock Band Priced and Dated
Rock Band: My Anti-Music
Whatcha Playing: A Little Singin’, a Little Dancin’

The 61FPS Review: Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard

Bob Mackey — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Longtime Simpsons writer George Meyer once stated “Cleverness is the eunuch version of funny.” And Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is just that: clever, but not funny. The game starts with a promising premise: after a long career with many titles under his belt, titular video game action hero Matt Hazard finds himself unemployed as the result of some poor career decisions. So when an opportunity to revive his popularity arises, Matt jumps on it—without realizing his new starring role is a trap concocted by former Hazard gamer Wallace Wellesley, whose life was ruined by the extreme difficulty of Matt’s games. What follows from this setup is an action game starring an action hero who’s world-weary and well aware of his genre’s tropes; but for as much promise as this idea holds, it’s really just an awkward, toothless, and unfunny framing device for a lousy third-person shooter.

To explain the overlying theme of Eat Lead’s humor, it’s first important to define a writer’s term that’s not universally known: “hanging a lantern.” To fix any glaring issues that may annoy an audience to the point of distraction, a writer can “hang a lantern (or lampshade)” on a problem by having a character acknowledge it, thereby quieting any anxieties. That being said, the majority of Matt Hazard’s jokes have the hero grumbling about gaming clichés we find ourselves grumbling about; for example, the requisite tutorial at the beginning of the game has Matt complaining about the patronizing nature of being rewarded for completing the simplest of tasks.

But there are two major problems with Eat Lead’s comic intent: A.) Matt Hazard’s self-awareness isn’t inherently funny, and B.) hanging a lantern on problems may work in fiction, but it certainly doesn’t work in video games.

It would be easier to excuse Matt Hazard’s gross miscarriage of humor if the action was halfway decent, but Eat Lead’s third-person cover-based shooting is so awful that the game doesn’t even try to salvage it with lame jokes about how awful it truly is. Instead, it presents the bulk of the game with complete sincerity, with Matt making a few stock action hero quips (out of a very limited repertoire) with absolutely no sense of irony. It’s all a bit strange, because if anything in Matt Hazard requires some serious lantern-hanging, it’s the monotonous, joyless gunfights that wear out their welcome by the end of the first level.

Basically, the bulk of Matt Hazard involves clearing room after room of bad guys who wear different clothes from level to level, but operate with the exact same brain. The addition of cover adds a little spice to Eat Lead’s blandness, but the fact the enemies can practically teleport anywhere into a room ruins any sense of strategy a player could have.

After passing about a dozen identical enemy encounters in Matt Hazard, I thought to myself, “The basic idea of killing everything that moves in a video game isn’t inherently boring, so why is Eat Lead so frustratingly dull?” It was then I realized the game’s biggest flaw: it gives you absolutely no feedback. The gunplay is inconsistent to the point where killing enemies feels like mindless busywork with absolutely no sense of accomplishment; sure, you can go for headshots, but when they only work a third of the time, why bother? And you get no real reward for clearing a room full of enemies, aside from the meager array of underpowered weapons they may drop.

At its most fundamental level, the gameplay of something like Resident Evil 4 isn’t much different, but Capcom’s designers know that an ever-increasing trail of rewards—along with some very nice set pieces—can make even the most methodical of gameplay premises fun. But with Matt Hazard, your only real reward for eradicating a group of enemies is moving on to repeat your actions in a different room with some minor graphical changes; that box you hid behind in one room might turn into a side of beef or an outhouse in the next. The action in Eat Lead is so repetitive that my best moments with the game could be found in the brief, happy instances where I wasn’t shooting anyone.

A lot of Eat Lead could be salvaged if it was actually funny, but the game drops the pretense of humor throughout the levels only to have the most obvious, easy video game jokes appear during the segments in-between. Really, this material doesn’t get funnier than what we saw on Captain N: The Game Master 20 years ago, and, at times, it’s almost if Matt Hazard is trying to ape the lazy humor of shows like Family Guy by being content with referencing things the audience may be aware of, but avoiding any kind of creative twist on said things.

The parody involved in Eat Lead is also disappointing, as it’s really more of cliché celebration than an attempt to take cliché-ridden games down a peg. As I’ve observed in the past, it’s frustrating that video games—above all other media—seem to be so afraid to present humor that’s truly complex and subversive; and, had Matt Hazard aimed its comedic sights a little higher, the lousiness of the game itself might be excusable on some level. But in the end, we’re left with nothing but an unfunny mess that could have went amazing places with its premise.

Grade: D

Previous Reviews:

The 61FPS Review - Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop (Wii)
The 61FPS Review: Resident Evil 5
The 61FPS Review: Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

Sega's Yu Suzuki Steps Down

Bob Mackey — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Yu Suzuki is perhaps one of Sega's biggest names; with titles like Out Run, Hang On, Virtua Fighter, and Shenmue under his belt, he's left his mark on the industry with some technically innovative and memorable video games. But since the Dreamcast failure/Sega-Sammy merger, he's been quiet in his role as the company's R&D creative officer--so quiet, in fact, that Sega of America CEO Simon Jeffrey once believed Suzuki was no longer employed by the company at all. He's since realized his mistake.

Jeffries' comment may have been a bit misinformed at the time, but with Friday's announcement that Yu Suzuki is indeed stepping down from his position at Sega, the company's American CEO may want to consider starting his own Psychic Friends Network.

According to GameSpot:

[T]his week Sega parent company Sega Sammy announced that the designer has stepped down--the publisher used the word "retired"--from his position as a R&D creative officer with the company. However, he isn't departing Sega entirely. A Sega of America representative confirmed for GameSpot that Suzuki will stay on with the publisher in a diminished capacity, continuing on as manager of the R&D department for Sega's AM Plus division. To date, AM Plus has released a pair of Japanese arcade games, the touchscreen fighter Psy Phi, and the character-driven racer Sega Race TV.

I'll admit that Suzuki's games never really appealed to me, but I've always felt some sort of sympathy towards him as Sega's own Gumpei Yokoi. Like Suzuki, Nintendo's Yokoi was an early (we're talking 1960s. here) innovator at Nintendo who found success in developing classic games like Metroid and, most importantly, the original Game Boy; but when the problematic Virtual Boy met with catastrophic failure in the mid-90s, all of his old successes were forgotten and he eventually resigned out of shame.

Suzuki never really left Sega, but his presence--as well as the Sega "house style"--was certainly lacking after Shenmue failed to meet the acclaimed developer's commercial ambitions. It's a little unfair to say that Shenmue killed Sega--given the state of the company at the time, it was really more of a final blow--but Suzuki's stature at the company had to change greatly after sinking so many millions into what was essentially a pet project with virtually no cross-cultural appeal.

All in all, Suzuki deserves a good, long retirement, but it would still be great to see something innovative from him in the future. That's what he does best, after all.

Related Links:

The Untold Story of Sega Killing Their Own Hardware Business
Sega, Show Some Decency
You’re Doing Great, Sega: Space Harrier Returns

Discount Friday Gaming Deals

Bob Mackey — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:30:00 GMT

If you're a frugal--or in my case, incredibly cheap--gamer with a working PC, then you probably know that Friday is a very special day. Yes, in some cases, Friday is payday, but more importantly, the last day before the weekend always means amazing deals from Steam and Good Old Games, which both do an excellent job of getting me to buy games I won't have time to play until 2019. If you're willing to forego a cheap lunch or an expensive coffee, you may also find yourself with far too much gaming on your hands, as this week's bargains are especially sweet.

Steam's weekend deal is the 2006 Tomb Raider remake, Tomb Raider Anniversary, available this weekend for just $4.99. Most people regard the original Tomb Raider as the best of the series, but it's a bit hard to go back to do to the overly-mathematical, grid-based control. Anniversary takes everything great about the original Tomb Raider and deep-fries it in about 10 years of 3D game design evolution. The result is a crispy little classic that may be the most perfect take on Tomb Raider to date. Definitely give it a try if you're unfamiliar with Lara's recent Renaissance.

If you're a fan of classic adventure gaming, you may want to head on over to Good Old Games this weekend for their $9.99 double-pack featuring Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror and Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon. While I can't speak to the quality of BS3, the first two Broken Sword games were heralded at the time for their quality 2D graphics and similarity to the legendary Lucasarts point-and-click games. Worth checking out if you've got that old-school adventure gaming itch--and if you're wondering why the first game isn't included, it's because it was remade and re-released for the Wii and DS last month. Fans of that one may want to look into its mega-cheap sequels.

Related Links:

Steam Weekend Sales Will Save Us All (Money)
Ridiculously Cheap Indie Gaming: The Impulse Weekend Sale
Indiana Mackey and the Kingdom of the Cardboard Box

Friend Codes from an Outsider's Perspective

Bob Mackey — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

If you're a hardcore Nintendo gamer, you've undoubtedly run into the problem of friend codes. For the most part, the unintuitive nature of Nintendo's online service (quick, tell me how to find your Wii's friend code) has been aggravating to those of us used to the user-friendly ways of XBox Live and PSN, as well any pedophiles out there looking to snag a pre-teen's digits--though I guess we shouldn't feel too bad for the latter group.

The topic of friend code frustration came up on the always-entertaining Drunken Gamer Radio this week, when one of the hosts talked about the impossibility of explaining the friend code system to a casual gamer eager to hop online with a Nintendo title. I experienced the very same thing a few weeks ago, when my girlfriend picked up a DS along with Animal Crossing; she planned on checking out the online features of the game, and asked me--an Animal Crossing veteran--how to do such a thing. At this point, I poured a big, sweaty glass of scotch and muttered, "Sit down. This is going to take a while."

What follows is a written reenactment of our conversation.

"So what do I do to get online in this game?"

"Well, first you need to find out your friend code. I can't remember if the DS has one or if the game has one." (I hit up Google) "Oh, it's just the game."

"So how do I know what my friend code is?"

"I'm not sure." (I hit up Google again) "Oh, you have to get it from someone in your town."

"Now what?"

"Now you need to find someone who has the game and make sure that you both have each others' friend codes. Then you need to coordinate a time when at least one of you has the game on in online mode."

"But I don't know anyone else with the game."

"Um, Internet?" (At this point I made a break for the door.)

Keep in mind that this post is not intended to patronize the uninformed; it's meant to show how impenetrable Nintendo's online features can be if you're not aware of how stupid they are--hell, when I picked up the DS Animal Crossing for myself a few years ago, it took me a bit of digging to find out just how I could play that bad boy online. Admittedly, Nintendo's ass-backwards ways do a good job of keeping children safe without parental intervention, but I can't imagine the amount of people who've given up on trying to take a Nintendo game online due to all of the convolution involved. Sure, complaining about friend codes is akin to pissing in the wind at this point, but it still seems a bit odd that the company is happy with befuddling and frustrating their casual audience along with us uber-nerds.

Related Links:

Two Years In: The Wii's Feats of Strength and Its Disappointments
Why the Wii's Hardware Sucks
NYCC 2009 - Ghostbusters Wii

Give Super Punch-Out a Chance

Bob Mackey — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:00:00 GMT

I've been talking about Punch-Out a lot this week, from blogging about the new Wii update yesterday to gabbing about it on the Stand Under the Don't Tree and Riddle Me This podcast on Tuesday (episode release forthcoming). In fact, I've had so much Punch-Out on the brain that I happened to overlook the fact that one of my favorite games of all time, Super Punch-Out, saw a Virtual Console release this Monday. And now that I no longer have to play Sophie's Choice when it's time to decide which Wii Channel needs to die for the sake of a new download, you can bet I was beating the living snot out of large, cartoonish boxers as soon as humanly possible.

I've come to observe that Super Punch-Out is mostly unknown and unloved, especially when compared to its iconic little brother--a cultural touchstone for anyone growing up in the 80s (I guess we all wanted to beat up Mike Tyson). But when you strip away the nostalgia, Super Punch-Out is actually a much better game. Regrettably, it lacks a bit of the character that made the first one so memorable--there's no Doc, NYC jogging vignettes, or mid-round chatter--but Super Punch-Out is still a perfection and expansion of all the things that made the original game so great. And you get to beat up a clown--the deepest, darkest desire of any normal human being.

I'll admit that I overlooked Super Punch-Out back during the game's original 1994 release--after all, what more could you do with such a limited premise? But when I played it years later through the magic of emulation, I discovered it was everything I loved about the original game, but better: Little Mac had a few new moves to play around with, but some new power punches were nothing compared to what his 16 opponents (no repeat boxers here) could do. And, just like the original, SPO is a real showcase of Nintendo first-party polish; the characters are huge, well-animated, and still impressive today--and the realistic sound effects are contrastingly brutal for such a cartoony game.

Rather than reimagining old franchises, the best games of the 16-bit era perfected them; and Super Punch-Out--along with Super Metroid, Super Mario World, and A Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past--is a fine example of this trend. Don't miss out on this great game a second time.

Related Links:

The Problem with Punch-Out
Warning: Wii Punch-Out!! Might Just Kill You
The Erotic Adventure of Little Mac

Attention BioWare: Mid-Fantasy Is Still Fantasy

Bob Mackey — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:15:00 GMT

During last week's GDC extravaganza, I listened to quite a few podcasts; on a few of these shows, I heard the BioWare guys touting their upcoming RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. My first reaction to this title way back when it was announced was nothing more than ambivalence. While I'm sure the folks at BioWare are capable of making fantastic games, if there's one setting I'm sick of, it's traditional fantasy--and we Westerners tend to make it as ponderous and needlessly epic as possible. But it's important to note that we're not the only ones with this problem; the Japanese also abuse and overuse the fantasy setting in their RPGs as well, which is why games like Earthbound and the Persona series stand out so much from the crowd.

For whiners like me who are sick of swords, dwarves, and dragons, BioWare does have an answer, but it really only pays lip service to the problem of fantasy RPG oversaturation. Essentially, Dragon Age is not the Lord of the Rings ripoff many thought it would be; instead--BioWare claims--it's a mix of Tolkien's high fantasy and the low fantasy seen in the novels of authors like George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire). Obviously, this line was cooked up (and repeated multiple times) to assuage the fears that BioWare is taking a step back in creativity; after a stunning take on sci-fi with Mass Effect, it's more than a little disappointing to see BioWare spinning their wheels in the ground they previously tread with games like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

The big problem with all of this is that BioWare isn't being honest with themselves. They obviously like the fantasy setting; why tiptoe around that fact? People who love old-school fantasy (and there are a lot of these people) are going to buy Dragon Age in droves, but those of us who've grown tired of the medieval style will probably never be convinced. BioWare is full of talented developers who know what they're doing, but I'd be more impressed if they made a new game with a setting that wasn't so obvious--as long as we don't see anything like Jade Empire again.

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The Problem with Punch-Out

Bob Mackey — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Hardcore Nintendo fans have been grumbling this generation, and most would say rightfully so; the Wii updates to beloved franchises like Super Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, and Super Smash Bros. have been rehashes--and sometimes downgrades--of games seen last generation. Even The Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess wasn't much more than a prettier Ocarina of Time. But Nintendo knows what bones to throw to the hardcore, and they throw them well. Take the upcoming Punch-Out, for example; old-school Nintendo fanboys have been heralding it as the Wii equivalent of The Second Coming, despite the fact that it's merely a pretty remake of a game they played 20 years ago. For Nintendo, this is a win-win situation--after all, they can keep the most vocal minority of their fanbase happy while appealing to the casuals who will no doubt buy this game en masse. But to the impartial observer, the freak-out over this long-awaited sequel calls into question just how much we're willing to forgive when something repeatedly jabs at our nostalgia nerve.

Before the hate starts a-flowin' let me say that I'm super-psyched for Punch-Out, but I still have a healthy dose of skepticism. While the game looks (and reportedly plays) like it was developed internally, if the reports of it being no more complex than the original Punch-Out are true, I'm going to be a tad disappointed. With Super Punch Out, the better but less-iconic sequel, Nintendo realized that the puzzle-fighting of the original game could only be stretched so far, so they added only a degree of fisticuff complexity along with boxers which had a much larger variety of moves. All in all, a perfect game, and a logical conclusion to the Punch Out series. But this new game looks to provide a more accessible and familiar experience at the cost of everything that made the sequel so great.

For now, I'm hoping that the gameplay impressions I've been getting from podcasts and the like will be improved upon with some in-depth previews sometime this month. Until then, I'm going to be a big, stinky curmudgeon about Punch Out, mostly because I hate fun. Please forgive me.

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