Archive for the 'Gaming' Category

This past Sunday afternoon, I made the decision to purchase The Orange Box on Steam, forgoing the traditional media route. You might recall that I did the same thing with Half-Life 2: Episode 1, swearing to never do it again. I have since changed my mind on the matter. It occurred to me that Valve is a company I truly want to support. Unlike any other game developer, I actually look forward to their game releases. Much like supporting local farmers through a local farmer’s market, I decided I would buy this package right from the source, cutting out the middle man.

The only downside to electronic distribution is the fact that you have to actually download the content. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is approximately 6 GB in size (according to Steam), so it took a while to get, even on our cable connection. Having the physical media to install with would have been much quicker, but I feel that my direct support of Valve outweighs that minor quibble.

I have since downloaded both Episode 2 and Portal, and have played through both once (I was up very late last night). There is so much I want to write about each, that I will separate my thoughts for both into two posts. Stay tuned.

My birthday was earlier this week, and I got The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for our Nintendo Wii. So far it’s been a great game, and I’ve only just started the story line (even though I’m only over 4 hours in). There are lots of great games coming in the fourth quarter of this year, and I’m so excited! Here’s what I’m looking forward to:

• Metroid Prime: Corruption (Nintendo Wii, Available Now!)
• The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS, Available Now!)
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (PC, October 9)
• Portal (PC, October 9)
• Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Nintendo Wii, October 28)
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, November 5)
• Gears of War (PC, November 6)
• Unreal Tournament 3 (PC, November 9)
• Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii, November 12)
• Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Nintendo DS & Wii, November 13)
• Crysis (PC, November 16)

So many games, so little time! What games are you looking forward to?

P.S. - This is post #400 at Year of the Code Monkey. Pretty cool!

Among all of the computer games I have ever played, one game has stumped me for as long as I have played it: the “Expert” difficulty level of Minesweeper. I have never, to my knowledge, beaten the game at that level, though I’ve tried a number of times. Granted, Minesweeper is a game that I rarely play, but you would think that I could have beaten the Expert level by now.

I’m happy to say that I’ve finally conquered this foe. Here’s my result:

I’ve played through BioShock a couple of times, so I thought I’d post my thoughts on the game. There are incredibly in-depth reviews all over the web, so I’ll try to keep this as short as possible (fat chance though, right?). All of these thoughts pertain to the PC release, my gaming platform of choice.

Read the rest of this entry »

There have been some recent reports that Bioshock installs a rootkit onto one’s computer. The 2K Games developers decided to use the SecuROM copy protection scheme, which installs a process with administrative privileges, allowing those users who do not have such privileges to run the game. A registry branch that happens to contain an asterisk also gets created, causing some rootkit detectors to flag the software. The service is apparently difficult to remove (which disappoints me), but it’s questionable as to whether or not this is actually a rootkit. I’m definitely going to keep my eyes open on this issue, especially since I’m so excited about this game. Here’s to hoping that things are as bad as people are making them out to be.

One of the first reviews of Bioshock has been posted, and it paints a really exciting picture. The verdict? 10 out of 10! I’m a big fan of the System Shock series, and seeing that Bioshock is a ’spiritual successor,’ really gets me pumped. The screenshots evoke memories of Myst, System Shock 2, and Oblivion, all rolled together. I simply can’t wait!

Wii Sports is the only game that my family currently owns for use with our Nintendo Wii. As such, it gets a fair amount of play time around our house. Although it’s a fun game, there are a number of areas that Nintendo could have greatly improved upon. Here’s a short list of improvements that I’ve thought up for the game:

1. Video Replays: When an exciting event takes place in the game, I’d like to be able to save a video snippet of what happened (a “play of the day” if you will). For example, I have hit two holes-in-one in golf over the past several weeks (a pretty exciting event, both times). Having a video replay would allow me to relive that exciting moment, and share it with others.
2. Larger Golf Course: I really enjoy the golf game, but nine holes is just not enough. Why can’t we have 36 holes, or better yet, 72? I can’t believe the courses take up that much space, and I would guess that they are pretty easy to develop (given the basic building blocks).
3. Bowling Tournaments: It would be fun to have some sort of bowling ladder available, where you could compete against either another individual or another team (either computer controlled or human). A handicapping system could even be provided, to allow weaker bowlers to challenge the seasoned pros.
4. Improved User Settings: Every time one switches users during a game, Wii Sports asks you which handedness you prefer (right or left handed). Shouldn’t I only set this once?
5. Fix the Baseball Bug: When playing against the computer in baseball, the “home” team (the player) starts first (top of the inning), while the computer starts second (bottom of the inning). If the “home” team is ahead at the beginning of the last inning, the game ends via the mercy rule. I’m no baseball expert, but I know that the mercy rule only applies to the bottom of the inning! This should clearly be fixed.

If you own Wii Sports, what do you think? Are there other improvements that could be made?

Nintendo announced a new peripheral at this year’s E3: the Wii Fit. It’s an interesting concept, but one that has sharply divided the gaming community. I’ve read a number of comments saying that Nintendo is further alienating the “hard-core” gaming community; catering to the “soccer-moms” of America isn’t what gamers are looking for, so how could Nintendo sell out like that?

Other comments have praised the device, saying that kids clearly need to get exercise, and this is one more step in encouraging such behavior. I tend to agree with this latter group; the Wii Fit is a great idea, though the ‘games’ they’ve shown for the device seem bland. As far as alienating the hard-core gaming community is concerned, I don’t think Nintendo is doing that at all. It’s simply a matter of broadening their horizons. While Microsoft and Sony are locked in the never ending battle of “bigger, faster, better,” Nintendo is quietly expanding their horizons, gobbling up market share that no one has claimed. And they are making a profit the entire time. Microsoft is losing money like crazy with the 360 (especially after the recent “recall” announcement), as is Sony. Nintendo has made a profit since day 1, and continues to do so.

In the end, I think Nintendo will come out on top. The Wii may not have the flashiest graphics around, but it’s got creativity, something the other guys don’t. What do you think of the Wii Fit? Will it be a success, or a flop?

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is the latest Nintendo DS game that I’ve been playing over the past few weeks. I just beat it last night, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the game.

This is the first Castlevania game that I’ve ever played, though the series dates all the way back to the original NES title. For those not familiar with the series, you play as a crusader set out to destroy the evil that has taken up residence in Dracula’s castle. It’s a classic 2D side-scrolling game, and is an incredible blast to play.

Your character has two ways to attack the various monsters throughout the castle: either with a number of weapons or via special abilities which come through harvesting the monster’s souls. Each soul you collect gives you a different ability. Some abilities cost mana to use, while others act as “enchantments” and are active all the time. You can equip three souls at any time (one “bullet” soul, one “guardian” soul, and one “enchantment” soul). There are also a few ability souls collected through the game, which are always active. This specific aspect of the game is quite enjoyable. Collecting all of the souls is much more difficult than you might think. I’ve been playing off and on for several weeks and only have about 75% of the souls collected.

Interestingly enough, there are only two real “levels” to the game: Dracula’s castle and an area (presumably of Hell) called simply “The Abyss.” The castle “level” has a number of stages, and is incredibly large. It took a long time to explore the entire level, and I have undoubtedly missed some hidden rooms.

When your character dies, the game is over. There are no “extra mans” to be had, so you have to be very careful. Thankfully, you can save the game any time at a number of save points throughout the castle. Make sure to save often; I lost a number of hard to get souls last night because I got overconfident.

I highly recommend this game. I’ve had a ton of fun playing it, and I’ve already started the next game (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin). This is excellent proof that 2D games are not dead (and shouldn’t be). My final rating: A+

It was announced on Monday that EA will reorganize into four labels: EA Games, EA Sports, EA Casual Games, and The Sims. This is an interesting move on their part, intended to “streamline the company” (don’t all companies seem to do this on a daily basis?). It should be interesting to see if this makes any real difference, though I doubt it does. I’ve heard that working for EA is like working in a sweat shop; it’s amazing that any products are released at all, if that’s the case.

What intrigues me most is the fact that “The Sims” will be broken off into its own label. Who knew that a single video game would spawn such an empire? I won’t deny that I was a Sims junkie at one point. I own all of the Sims 1 expansion packs, and I even developed several tools for that very game. The game was highly revolutionary at the time, and remains one of the best examples of an object-oriented programming model (Sidebar: Each individual game object contains the necessary sounds and animations used when a Sim interacts with that object. This programming paradigm is incredibly beneficial, since new objects can be added at a later time without a need to update the game’s core files.).

As one might expect, when the sequel (The Sims 2) was released, I eagerly picked it up. Surprisingly, I was disappointed with the game. Like many Maxis games, performance was sub par, even on my fairly beefy home computer (Sim City 3000, a game dating back to 1999, still stutters on my current machine). In addition, the game play mechanics had changed drastically: Sims had a finite life span, a number of goals needed to be reached through the Sim’s lifetime, and relationships were even harder to maintain. I lost interest fairly quickly, and haven’t played either title in several years.

So, to make a long story short, I’m a little amazed that the product line has continued to do so well. The Sims 2 has a total of 5 expansion packs (with at least 1 more on the way), 3 of which are essentially the same expansions as are available in The Sims 1. I get a “been there, done that” kind of feeling in that regard, but apparently lots of people don’t feel that way. Otherwise, EA wouldn’t have spun the franchise into its own label.