It seems it's the othercheek that's the sexiest part of a man's body. Go on, girls and see who you think has the sexiest cheeks. But for god's sake, DON'T get it wrong! You'll hate yourself in the morning.
I almost thought it was satire, or a typo, but apparently Activision has filed a breach of contract suit against Viacom for letting "the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay."
They claim that the license is now "significantly diminished" in value as a result of the latest series' poor ratings and the lack of a new movie.
It's usually the games developers who get schtick for mucking up a brand, not the brand owners themselves...
I can't bear to leave the blog mired in so much negativity, so here - if you're bored - is what looks like some rather challenging origami projects, thanks to the Yamaha Corporation.
Interesting bit of brand diversity. I coulda sworn they made motorbikes (metal ones, not paper).
(via b3ta)
It's going to be the next big thing, I'm telling you. If not an Olympic Sport (I'd watch the Olympics if there were entries like this), then the next line-dancing craze is definitely going to include dogs.
You gotta love it. (And you gotta love b3ta)
I really do have to get back to work, but I couldn't resist this other link from the aforementioned Spinneyhead. Apparently someone has managed to turn tables on a Nigerian scamspammer.
Priceless.
Right, so if you haven't heard of it, the Beeb is doing a joint TV/internet gaming thing where you have to create and train a "warrior" to be the "perfect fighting machine".
I joined and was setting up to be a contestant on the TV show since so few women (girls) were getting involved. The problem is that I don't like the game.
They originally said that they had designed it to appeal to girls as well, but the sum total of that female friendly design seems to be offering warrior body parts with breasts. Otherwise, it's a bog standard fighting game. You don't so much train a warrior as train yourself to control the character and you don't so much build one as choose from a pretty limited set of body parts.
I found it not in the least interesting. Guess you won't be seeing me on the TV show anytime soon...
A bit of email silliness sent to me by Mark: "Imagine if all major brands started making their own condoms and kept the same tagline". See "more" for more.
Sainsbury Condoms - making life taste better
Tesco Condoms - every little helps
Nike Condoms - Just do it.
Peugeot Condoms - The ride of your life.
Galaxy Condoms - Why have rubber when you can have silk.
KFC Condoms - Finger Licking good.
Minstrels Condoms - melt in your mouth, not in your hands.
Safeway condoms - Lightening the load.
Abbey National condoms - because life is complicated enough.
Coca Cola condoms - The real thing.
Ever Ready condoms - keep going and going.
Macintosh condoms - It does more, it costs less, it's that simple
Pringles condoms - once you pop, you can't stop
Burger king condoms - Home of the whopper
Goodyear condoms - "for a longer ride go wide"
FCUK condoms - no comment required.
Muller light condoms - so much pleasure, but where's the pain.
Halford condoms - we go the extra mile.
Royal Mail condoms - I saw this and thought of you.
Andrex condoms - Soft, strong and very very long
Renault condoms - size really does matter!
Ronseal condoms - does exactly what it says on the tin
Domestos condoms - gets right under the rim!
Heineken condoms - reaches parts that other condoms just cannot reach
Carlsburg condoms - probably the best condom in the world
Mars condoms - a condom a day helps you work rest and play
AA Condoms - for the 4th emergency service
Pepperami condoms - its a bit of an animal
Polo condoms - the condom with the hole!
Kinda amusing Guide to the A-List Bloggers. The list is a bit selective. No Hammersley (whence this link comes) or war bloggers, for example. I'm not sure who wrote it or what their beef/agenda is, but I link it 'cause I'm mentioned in the very first sentence!
OK, so that's probably not me. Which is probably a good thing.
Or it could be a load of pre-pubescent males on a jolly.
Still, we've needed a games event for the public as well as industry so this week-long event should be quite a laugh. The inaugural Edinburgh International Games Festival takes place in August. Nice too 'cause I've never been to Edinburgh. Any chance the weather will be good in August?
Just noticed this page. Hide the company names and skim down the list. Which face belongs to the giant conglomerate games corporation? Now imagine the voice of that really annoying bloke that presents The Planet's Funniest Animals.
Oh how we laughed.
Why gaming is good for you. Must be a slow news day. Seems we have an article like this every couple of months now... I'm not complaining, mind, it just seems like such old news.
Bit of a geek alert, but Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions
is a cool way of seeing how sci fi spaceships measure up. Or if you prefer, deciding who would win in a fight between the StayPuft Marshmallow Man and a B1 bomber...
(via b3ta)
Combining some of my favourite things, Shaolin martial arts, football and cheesy Hong Kong kung fu movies, I've just got to see Shaolin Soccer.
Check out the Tripitaka-like goal keeper...
If this doesn't make you giggle, nothing will.
(Make sure you wait for the sound to kick in. Thanks to IdleType, not surprisingly.)
Silly, silly Weebl.
(Warning, features a scary clown! This one, on the other hand, just has flange baskets.)
Via Nick (that would be Nick of the eponymously urled nickbarlow dot com, as opposed to someone else's blog entirely) comes advanced warning that the EuroVision Song Contest is looming. Oh dear, I do hope I miss it. He posted some brilliant lyrics from the Austrian entry and since Nick's permalinks aren't working (or perhaps it's the other blog's permalinks that aren't working), I'll just have to reproduce it here:
'Man is the measure of all things' by Alf Poier:
I like most animals on this earth
But I really prefer little rabbits and bears
Soon all birds and beetles will die
But Adam's in bed with Eve busy reproducing
Rabbits live in the woods
Cats in the meadows
And cockroaches
Live under tiles
Little rabbits have short noses
And kittens soft paws
And Mother Holle likes her wool
From the african dromedary
The difference between animals such as apes and primates
Is no bigger than between noodles and pasta
But whoever wants to know more about animals should study Biology or inform himself on my homepage
Some animals have wings
And others have fins
Some live outdoors
And others in cans
Small rabbits…..
Pure genius, don't you think? Anyway, there are rabbits in, so that makes it A-OK in my book...
According to the Beeb, a new US Army combat simulator is due for an Xbox release early next year.
I think it would be quite ironic if the US military decides they can make more money making computer games than by waging war. It just might make a fervent capitalist out of me yet...
Fight for bovine freedom. Cute, but now I've got the bloody tune stuck in my head...
(via Grayblog)
Ooh, it's all on the Q-T, but a client's project is just entering its beta stage and I'm on the look-out for beta-testers.
The product is a Mac port of a million-selling PC game. The only hint I'll give is that it's not a shooter or anything of that ilk. If you've got MacOSX, and have some time for beta testing, drop me an email at yoyo at nicelytoasted dot net and I'll tell you more...
Damn - anyone got a spare $1000? I'm not sure I can live without this fab Tiki Bar.
Oh my, oh my... look at all the wild stuff (Daddy-O).
My Second Life house wants to be an homage to the sixties and so does my avatar. Sixties City is a nice collection of fashion and fabric images and also has interesting media images, including a couple of Daily Mirror front pages.
and make me stop with the quizzes already!
But, no, I can't, because it makes a nice tidy little multi-subject linky post. Starting next week is the games industry's day of infamy as that nightmare on Figueroa Street known as E3 begins. It really is quite unfair as everyone I know is going and as much as I hate the noise and willy-waving, I'm disappointed to be missing it.
So, big news at E3 this year? I suppose the biggest so far is Infogrammes announcing their impending name change to Atari. I don't know - big brand, very hip, hugely valuable, loads of history - seems wrong somehow...
Atari, by the way, is a term used in the game of Go, which basically means "check" like in chess. How do I know that? 'Cause I took the Video Games Quiz, silly. (go me: 70%)
Way hey - another quiz. Gotta love'em (I know I do). And, you know what? I always wanted to be a secret agent. Via IdleType who always says such nice things. My result is below...
OPERATIVE TEST
YOU SCORED: 75.32 %
Top Drawer - congratulations.
It appears that you may have what it takes to become a full service agent. You are clever, knowledgeable and have lightening reflexes.
Fulfil your potential and you'll be cruising your way around the world with other Double Os before you can say Vodka Martini. Don't attempt to contact us, say your goodbyes and we'll pick you up in 30 minutes from there.
There's a lot remaining in your training.
Pick up tips from the man himself.
EA have announced The Sims 2 today and it looks like more Creatures-inspired gameplay (OK, maybe not). Anyway, the big news now is that your Sims will now have "DNA" that can be passed down generations.
Ooh, and facial animations. Weeee. And a scoring system. Woo hoo.
Go read the press release...
(via GamesPress)
CONTROL YOUR SIMS OVER AN ENTIRE LIFESPAN
Chertsey, UK. - May 6, 2003 - Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS), the world's leading interactive entertainment software company, today announced that The SimsTM 2, the next generation of the #1 PC franchise of all time, is currently under development at the company's Walnut Creek-based MaxisTM studio. For the first time, players control The Sims over an entire lifetime for the very first time. Every choice that is made has a relevant and dramatic effect on the life of a Sim. More life-like Sims, all new gameplay, and the ground-breaking addition of genetics, with the DNA of Sims passed down through generations, gives players a more vivid, realistic, and in-depth Sims experience. All of this takes place in a new amazingly life-like 3-D world.
"The Sims, themselves, always have been the most interesting part of the game experience for me. Giving them DNA makes them even more life-like and increases the personal connection between players and their Sims," said Will Wright, Chief Game Designer at EA's Maxis Studio, "The strategy of playing Sims across a lifetime and experiencing their emergent traits and behaviours will give players a deeper and more realistic experience."
Next Generation Simulation
Guiding your Sims through "Life's Big Moments" takes on new importance, as players now get a "Life Score" to measure how well they are playing each individual Sim. The decisions that players make throughout the lifetime of their Sims now have an impact on their long-term success or failure. A choice made as a toddler has a direct effect on the teen and adult Sim they become. Will players be able to successfully lead their Sims through such important events as a first step, first crush, or marriage proposal, all while the clock is ticking?
Next Generation Sims
The Sims in The Sims 2 are more aware and responsive to both other Sims and their surroundings. Sims truly come to life expressing moods and feelings through more realistic body animations and for the first time facial animations. They form complex relationships and are able to distinguish between family and friends, platonic friendships and romantic love. Sims in The Sims 2 now have DNA. Passing along physical characteristics and traits to their offspring, Sims both resemble and behave like their ancestors. As in real life, the appearance of the Sims now changes over time. In addition to getting older, a Sim that spends too much time on the couch will develop a paunch and a Sim that works out will enjoy rock solid abs.
Next Generation Features
An entirely new 3-D engine makes the world of The Sims 2 more life-like and dynamic. The Sims 2 will also introduce an all-new "Create-A-Sim" feature. This allows you to customize the facial features of your Sim with a few simple clicks, to a level of detail never realized before. In The Sims 2, players are now able to build dwellings over two stories and have the ability to coordinate and customize the homes of their Sims to a new degree of design with all-new furniture, lighting and objects.
The Sims franchise celebrated its third anniversary in February 2003. The game skyrocketed to the top of the charts when it began shipping to stores and quickly became a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. The Sims base product was the #1 seller in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Translated into 17 different languages, The Sims has inspired six expansion packs, five of which have all been top sellers. They include The SimsTM Livin' Large, The SimsTM House Party, The SimsTM Hot Date, The SimsTM Vacation, The SimsTM Unleashed, and due out later this month, The SimsTM Superstar. Combined sales for the franchise have topped 24 million units life-to-date. For more information on The Sims franchise titles, visit http://www.thesims.com.
Where The Sims Online failed, this alternative virtual world looks as though it may have a better chance. Second Life, like Creatures, isn't a game, but a persistent world experience where creation is both the main activity and the goal.
If you remember Active Worlds (which may still be around for all I know), you were able to customise avatars and build buildings and objects using primitives. The problem I had was the lag and the seeming emptiness besides the fact that I was never able to figure out how to do much.
Second Life is similar, however, the customisation tools are amazing, allowing really precise control over all aspects of your character. This version of me is still not quite there (I was doing it from my perception of myself rather than a mirror, so clearly it's quite idealised!), but it was a blast to do - sort of like sculpting. It's also got a powerful and flexible scripting language which allows virtually anything to be constructed, from weird weaponry to flashy furniture.
There's also a well-thought out economic system which provides players with a weekly stipend which can be increased by improving one's reputation and status, usually by creating and uploading new objects and textures.
Loads of dosh has gone into this project and it shows. It's currently in Beta and thus only playable from 8pm to 8am, which is just as well since it's highly addictive (when it's my go - which is rarely).
A bit of news of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon has been released. Looks, hmm... OK. But then, it was never the visuals that were all that important, I guess. I suspect they may be going overboard in their press release, calling the game " the future of adventure" and "a landmark in interactive story-telling" with a "revolutionary" interface. Hmm...
George and Nico are back and hanging out in the Congo, Prague, Paris and Glastonbury. This time they're trying to unravel the secrets of the Sleeping Dragon and save mankind from the threat of a global catastrophe. Hmm again. All of the sudden I'm not quite so enthused. Oh well.
(via Games Press)
For I am Entertainer Sim.
What Sim Persona are You? Silly thing doesn't let you copy and paste the text though. Missing a trick there, they are...
Aw, shame. The BlogShares spider has finally caught up with me and my blog value has crashed big style. By the looks of the blogs in the top 100, it appears that they've compensated for the bug/feature that valued my blog so highly originally (spidering whilst I was linked from Moveable Type).
That said, if that has been changed, it makes Moveable Type's value irrelevant I would think. So maybe they haven't and the "market" has somehow righted itself.
Who knows. I can't figure this stuff out.
Saeed al-Sahaf, that is. welovetheiraqiinformationminister is still trying to track him down, but in the meantime, you could play with this MSS Soundboard. Unfortunately, it's not quite as well done as the Bush one, which is a shame, as it could be hilarious (it's quite hard to make complete sentences with it).
I'd love it if it had, "I speak better English than this villain Bush" or "Who is this dog Franks in Qatar?" or maybe, "Even those who live on another planet, if there are such people, would have condemned this action before it started".
(via IdleType)
So, independent games developers are pretty much in the shit and the future looks bleak. But maybe not - maybe there is some other way to go about it. One of my Clabs friends said he's been far more productive since he's been made redundant and has designed three new games. How fab - he would have been stuck doing level deisgn had he still been employed.
Of course, that's no way to buy baby new shoes if you can't sell the games to anyone.
Unless you can do something like these GarageGames guys. They have a rather nice engine that they license for a reasonable price and some interesting revenue and distribution models as well.
As for me, I've not been at all productive and am still finishing up the protfolio from hell before looking for work in earnest. I'd be working on that right now if the weather wasn't so amazing.
I have priorities, allright?
The Blogshares thing is quite a laugh. For some reason, I'm still doing rather well, with Burnt Toast now at the number 10 spot in the top 100 stocks list. Since I have rather a lot of shares in it, I've been listed as a top player in at number 39 with a portfolio worth $42469.04. What's even weirder is that my Tea and Toast blog was listed as a hot stock the other day and has doubled its share price over the last three days. Clearly no one looked at the blog before they bought stock, since there's virtually no content and no links in or out except to Amazon and to and from my own blogs.
So, it looks like that glitch that placed me so high at the beginning is not going to be adjusted - I suppose that's cool. I would imagine that real stocks are sometimes valued at silly prices. I'm still waiting for the big crash though.
Unfortunately, I still have no clue how it works or what any of this stuff means. LBO? Stock Split? Issue Shares? Should I do that? What does it mean? Bloody good thing it's not real money...
In the best tradition of blatant swearing and great URLS comes fuck the shop, the brainchild of some friends and former colleagues of mine (should I say what else you guys do?). It's an online shop with an amazingly huge selection of sex toys and all sorts of hilariously silly stuff for every sexual persuasion. My favourite is the Mucky Ducky, which, they say, "will grace any bath, pool or jacuzzi and innocently wait to smooth away your stresses and strains and help to put a smile on your face!"
Over 18 only, obviously. Obviously.
We Love the Iraqi Information Minister. Dot com no less!
There are a bunch of quotes, but they don't have my favourite, which was when he told a news conference that reports of the American troops being on the outskirts of Baghdad were just "silly".
Bless. (via Funjunkie)
Ever wanted to jump a jeep off a cliff and onto an aircraft carrier? Wondered what would happen if you strapped a big ol' explosive to the bottom of a tank? He Said Wood - Stunt Video is another one of those mad Battlefield 1942 movies with some amazing stunts. (You probably don't want to bother unless you've got broadband - the files are rather large.)
It really is ever-so pointless, but I've got time on my hands, ok? Watch those wascally wabbits and see if they get into any mischief. If I can find a longer usb cable I'll put the cam at bunny height...
The Sims on GameCube and Xbox is shipping today, and despite my vow to spend nothing at all until I'm employed, I'm going to have to get one or the other. The question is, which one?
The Xbox is in the lounge, the GameCube is portable. The Xbox is the grown-up toy, the GameCube is my daughter's.
The full press release, by the way, is here.
EA Ships The Sims for the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube
The #1 PC Game of All Time is now on All Next-Generation Console Platforms
CHERTSEY, UK, March 25th, 2003 – Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) today announced that The SimsTM for the XboxTM video game system from Microsoft and the Nintendo GameCubeTM has shipped. Players can create and control their Sims like never before with level-based gameplay, two-player modes, and dynamic 3D graphics.
"The unique and challenging experience of The Sims is now available on all next- generation console platforms," said Sinjin Bain, Vice President and Executive Producer of the game at EA's Maxis studio. "After the wildly successful launch of The Sims on the PlayStation® 2, we are excited to bring the zany and creative gameplay of The Sims to Xbox and GameCube players."
Now Xbox and Nintendo GameCube players can create and explore in the entirely new 3D world of The Sims. The Sims for the Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube features an all new level-based mode called "Get a Life," where players can start with just one Sim and move him or her through life's big moments including moving out of Mom's house, getting a job, and having a family. As players progress through new challenges, they will unlock console exclusive objects. A love tub and aromamaster are some of the wacky items your Sims will discover and use to spice up their lives. Both versions will also feature the classic Sim-style open-ended gameplay.
Players can interact with a cast of madcap characters that are exclusive to the next- generation console platforms, including a Monkey Butler that can be unlocked to serve the every whim of your Sim. Customising the appearance of a Sim reaches a whole new level of detail with accessories such as stylish hats, trendy glasses, cool hairstyles, and an enormous variety of clothing options. Unique to the console versions, players will be able to make changes to their Sims appearance mid-game with the unlockable vanity mirror. In addition, players can play The Sims with or against each other in challenging two-player modes.
The Sims for the Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube were developed by the company's Walnut Creek-based MaxisTM studio in conjunction with Austin-based, Edge of Reality, Ltd. and carries an ELSPA rating of 15+. It is available in stores now for a recommended retail price of £39.99. More information on The Sims for the Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube can be found at http://www.thesimsconsole.com.
The Sims skyrocketed to the top of the charts when it began shipping to stores in February 2000 and quickly became a universal gaming and cultural phenomenon. The Sims was the best selling PC game of both 2000 and 2001 and is now the best selling PC game of all time. Translated into 16 different languages, The Sims has inspired five expansion packs; The SimsTM Livin' it Up, The SimsTM House Party, The SimsTM Hot Date, The SimsTM On Holiday and The SimsTM Unleashed. Combined sales for the franchise have topped 24 million units life-to-date. For more information on The Sims franchise titles, visit http://www.thesims.com.
Electronic Arts (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of more than $1.7 billion for fiscal 2002. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EA GAMESTM, EA SPORTS BIGTM and EA.COMSM. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.info.ea.com.
# # #
Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS, EA GAMES, EA SPORTS BIG, EA Store, Maxis and The Sims are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA.COM is a service mark of EA.com Inc. Nintendo GameCube is a trademark of Nintendo. Microsoft and Xbox are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
I notice a bunch of Creatures Community members are visiting from Creatures Caves and German Creatures and so I wanted to say hello and say how sad I am about the whole Creature Labs thing.
As I go through all my projects from my time at CLabs I've been remembering all the incredible stuff that went on. I even ran across a biography of Douglas Adams at Heffers today that said his extemporaneous talk at Digital Biota back in 1998 was his finest public speech. I remember how excited I was to be a part of that - meeting Douglas and Richard Dawkins and swearing I'd never wash the cheek that Chris Langton kissed.
Of course, Creatures was amazing - is still amazing. To this day it's the only game I've been completely obsessed with and so many others say the same. Creatures changed my life rather dramatically. It introduced me to ALife, chaos and complexity and completely changed the way I look at the world. Later, when I went off to work on Yeren (which was called Beasts at the time), I had the opportunity to learn about Tibetan Buddhism and had the most remarkable revelation that really, they were both the same.
And then there's you lot - the Creatures Community. You are amazing as well. Loyal and critical at the same time - critically loyal, maybe. Scrappy and argumentative, but capable of so much depth of feeling and kindness. And undeniably clever. I wish we were able to poach more community members into the company. As Frimlin and Daniel will tell you, we certainly had our problems, but we were still a great company to work for.
You guys taught me a lot and I only regret that I didn't get a chance to re-connect with the community. The saddest thing was I was working on a new Creatures title but wasn't quite at the stage where I could get public feedback. In fact, I was only at the stage to start getting internal feedback when it all came to an end.
Well, I had hoped to do a better, more considered epitaph to the wonderful Creature Labs (AKA CyberLife), the incredible bunch of people that worked there and the phenomenon that was the Creatures Community, but knowing me, I'd never get around to it anyway.
So, thanks for the memories (and the fish). Enjoy your Albias and take good care of those Norns! And most importantly, in the immortal words of Masha, "peace and carrots."
You know, I'm all for war games. It seems somehow healthy to be analysing strategic tactics within the context of a virtual war where the only downside to getting killed is that you respawn in the same bloody bunker every time.
There's been rather a lot of Battlefield 1942 being played around mine at the moment. Perhaps it's because you can cheer the winning side. In the real war, I can't do that - it feels wrong to want anyone to prevail when real death is the result.
So, on that note, you can start looking forward to a second expansion pack, tentatively titled "Battlefield 1942 Special Weapons".
I reckon there will be weapons. And they'll be quite special.
Colorgenics is another one of those quiz sites, and while the tests themselves are interesting, the results are fairly incomprehensible. Nevertheless, this "Fantasy Abstraction Profile" is quite good. It builds up a little story and analyses the choices you make.
Mark and the rest of the Time of Defiance boys are down at I15, Multiplay's giant LAN gaming event in Newbury this weekend. I15 is hoping to be the first UK LAN party to break 1000 participants.
Wish them luck in whatever it is that they'll be doing there...
We may not know what it is but it's coming says Greg.
"The mood at the Game Developers Conference this year was, fundamentally, one of despair. To even the blindest apologist for the silly, if monstrous, construct the game industry has become, the handwriting on the wall was clear. Ten years ago, you could find a dozen publishers to pitch to; today, perhaps five. And of the remaining, half are on their last legs..."Year by year, budgets increase. Year by year, sales increase less. And year by year, the publishers become more conservative; at $3m a pop and a 3 year dev cycle, it's too risky to invest in any game that's--risky. Thus only sequels and licensed drivel get funded."
But, he says, "Something is about to blow."
We live in hope.
Football side names are a curious thing. Rushden and Diamonds, Sheffield Wednesday, West Bromwich Albion, Queen's Park Rangers - funny names to a merkian anyway. But even more amusing are the team nicknames.
says Peter Molyneux, Managing Director of Lionhead Studios.
He adds that "making a successful video game has become too expensive for the smaller, independent developers.
"It is well known that Britain leads the world in development terms. There's no other place on Earth that has the concentration of development talent."
More importantly, Britain possesses some of the most creative dev teams in the world and their demise will surely mean fewer original and interesting games.
The BBC article also points out that "ten years ago, the average game cost £200,000, whereas now the average budget is £1m," but I can assure you that is hardly an average - more like a minimum for anything save the cheapest, nastiest PC-only or GBA game.
Molyneux adds "A few developers are really, really struggling."
That's not the half of it - again, as I can personally attest...
Messrs. Orange, Pink, Blonde and White will appear on PS2 and Xbox at some point as SCi snaps up the interactive rights to Reservoir Dogs.
Says them:
The game design will remain faithful to the original movie with gamers able to play all the key characters, including the infamous Mr Blonde. There will be the opportunity to take on the role of key policemen, plus take part in large multi-player games. As well as significant amount of combat action involved in the heist itself, which is described in the movie as a “bullet festival”, the game will also include a number of highly charged driving escape sequences.
Sony has announced European trials of the online gaming service for PS2 will start at end of March.
Unlike Microsoft, Sony won't be charging a subscription fee for online play, but wants to ensure the service is compatible with as many broadband providers as possible.
You'll need to buy the £40 PS2 network adaptor which also contains a headset and a version of SOCOM: US Navy Seals and then you'll be ready to kick virtual terrorist butt.
I really shouldn't laugh being a bunny-lover and all, but, I can't help it, Eat Bunny is just too cute. There are icons for Mac and PC, as well as a CafePress Shop and was made by one of those funny bunnies at b3ta.
Don't worry, pixels aren't fattening...
(via IdleType)
Poor old Wired. Used to be so cutting edge and now it seems the whole machine has had it's power cable ripped from the wall.
Their recent article, Hacking the Matrix, An Exclusive Look at the Technology Behind the Game, is so dumbed down as to be, well, dumb, actually. And really quite wrong.
I suppose I knew it was going to go bad when the article claimed that, "every cast member was cyberscanned into a 3-D synthespian." Cyberscanned? Synthespian? Ick.
Obviously, I was intrigued to see what they'd write about the technology behind Bullet Time, only to find that, "Of course the game has it." Gosh.
I also expect that Shiny's artists were disappointed to learn that, "A typical game character's repertoire consists of 300 to 600 moves, most of which are animated by programmers." I think the animators may want a mention for that, but hey, maybe they got credit for the "cyberscanning". Or possibly they're still trying to figure out how "A modeling technique called alpha-mapping animates each lock."
(ta to a workey type person)
In gaming at least, a reticule is the pattern on an eyepiece usually used for targetting. I was interested to know the etymology of the word and found that it also refers to a small drawstring handbag or purse, usually made of netting. Presumably that's the source of the cross-hair reference. It's also spelled "reticle" and it seems that the latter spelling refers primarily to the eyepiece definition, whilst the former is more likely applied to a handbag.
There's also the synonym graticule, which additionally means a "design or draught which has been divided into squares, in order to reproduce it in other dimensions."
So. There you go.
A beta version of Small Ball Football joins ickle Small Ball Baseball. My tiny team, Toast Wednesday, drew in its first match against No Tengo Chances. They kept possesion and made the shots, but were just a bit slow. They're currently running their little arses off in the background and will hopefully do better next time...
(Sorry, still no Mac version)
All the boys are playing Battlefield 1942 and the new mod, Desert Combat. It's not my thing, but good fun to watch others play. Desert Combat has the AC-130 Gunship, so you can see if you can do better than these guys (how much does one of those missiles cost, exactly? Wouldn't it make more sense to take out the vehicles rather than some poor sod hiding in a ditch?).
One of the clans has also done a movie called P.O.W. which is quite good. Unfortunately, it's at FilePlanet and you'll need to register to get it...
Waste about a minute of your day with another one of those little mini-you makers. They didn't have my hair, so I had to edit, but they did have the Guinness!
(via The Art of Rhys-isms)
Isn't it disturbing? But somehow I can't look away... Find more of this madness at a website I won't even try to name (but comes via b3ta, of course).
And for more of the same, only different, check out this romantic tale of love and passion...
"Primal Art - a Portrait of the Artist as a Video Gamer" runs from the 6th to the 9th of April at The Institute of Contemporary Arts on The Mall, London SW1 and features art from our friends at Sony Cambridge.
This is going to take some time to read through, but via interconnected comes this fascinating Chronology of Game Theory.
The BBC now has what they call their Gamesblog. Nothing particularly new on there at the moment (and, inexplicably, no direct links to anything they talk about), but maybe it'll pick up...
I suppose it'll be no surprise to learn that rumours are flying about that "accidentally" booted boot that sent David Beckham to casualty on Saturday.
Arseblog's forums discuss some locker room gossip that suggests the row between Becks and "Sir" Alex is hetting up. One gunner reckons Arsenal should pick Beckham up and I for one would love to see that. He may not be the brains of Britain, but in a match like Saturday's where almost everyone was taking the piss and diving in a most unseemly way, he was a class act that just got on with it.
And we know he looks good in red...
GameSpy.com's Developer Diary tells the often tragic tale of the epic search for a publisher.
...and it's Guinness-flavoured: Guinness Fudge. (over 18 only - you may have to copy and repaste the link after you confirm your age)
Fiendishly hard and very addictive is this little Skears game. Or you may wish to try the sequel, Skears 2.
B-Movies are the bomb and Canopy Games are releasing a game based on the best B-movie monsters - I Was An Atomic Mutant.
Check out the (32Mb) PC demo as well.
Hurrah. Someone else has said that gaming 'is good for you'.
"It gives people an option of actively participating in some kind of fantasy role they could not do in real life that allows them to play with their own feelings," said Prof Wright [of Loyola University]."It is an area that's bricked off from everyday life that you can enter and leave at will," he said. "It offers you a way to play with things you may be scared of in a safe way where there are very few consequences."
Which, of course, is just what Gerard Jones says in his book, Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Heroes and Make-Believe Violence. And gamers will tell you it can be a good way to blow off steam.
Hey, what ever happened to that PS2 we bought Bush? Did he break his toy already? Tsk.
From the wargamers on the TMP Message Boards, let's Name That War!
"As the troop buildup in the Gulf continues, it seems that war is almost inevitable. So far no code-name for the operation has been made public. Once actually used as top-secret codes for upcoming military actions, these operation names are now an important part of the mass-marketing for public approval of military strikes.I guess the guys at the Pentagon who are responsible for naming operations haven't been able to come up with anything catchy since all the good ones (Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Just Cause, Ensure Freedom, ...) have already been taken.
Let's lend these folks a hand and give some suggestions for naming the operation we will be wargaming in the future."
I quite like 'Operation Hey, your shoes untied'.
Or 'Betty'. 'Betty' was good.
Looking for some hot, babe action? Some non-PC hardcore fun? Some minging live action semi-naked women?
Go on then, download the Bikini Karate Babes demo.
More complete rubbish than the city dump. Funny though.
Buy, buy, buy! You'll be doing your part for the war effort. You know it makes sense!
The All-American White House Gift Boutique is open for business. Do check out the Wartime Morale Posters and the excellent Bush Quotes-Wear...
(via PolitX)
I just had to take this one... unfortunately, I'm really not a huge Linux fan. I mean, games on Linux? Phhft.
(via Polynomia)
And now I have one. Would you like to visit the beautiful Sultanate of Yoyolotl? Better go quick before I fuck it up!
Get your own country and run it into the ground at Nation States.
(via Frimlin)
"A Norwegian MP has been caught playing games on his handheld computer during a debate in parliament."
Quite right too. (
Tantrix is a cool multiplayer strategy/puzzle game. There's also a Tantrix puzzle which is very addictive.
Not unlike the very nicely-done Tintoonic Squares puzzle Rogi found the other day...
I'm practising my football chants leading up to Arsenal's meeting with ManU in the fifth round FA Cup in a couple week's time. Technically, this could split the household, though in reality, it's simply an opportunity to hurl tuneless singing and other forms of ritual abuse.
I may be up for the role of brunt, however, as Arsenal check their filofax to see if they can fit the match into their busy schedule.
I love your ingleesh futbol, but the whole FA/Premiership/Champions League/UEFA thing is really weird.
Design your own karma-sutra. Make sure you click the upper right corner square for the Instant Karma DIY.
Actually, it's not too un-work-safe if you work with people with a sense of humour.
(from b3ta, not surprisingly)
Here's a strategy game that you can play, but you don't get to make any of the choices: idleworm: gulf war 2. Funny that.
Dance with Glen. From the Argie handbag artist bloke Carl Baldwin.
(via b3ta of course)
Ever come into your office and find your computer has re-started for some unknown reason? Happens to me all the time. This could explain things.
(via DeadManJones)
Now this Bush parody is really well done. (6Mb) Almost makes you want to see the original to find out how they did it. Nah - maybe not.
(thanks to All Out of Angst)
Some company in the Florida Keys has just announced plans to release a brand new broadband console (like there weren't enough of the damn things!) which is proported to be much better than any of the others, have 32,000 games available and ready for release in December. Uh-huh.
I do believe that this is probably closer to reality...
The magical Monkey returns with Tripitaka, Pigsy and Sandy as Channel 4 re-runs the 70s cult classic series just after midnight this Thursday.
Must buy a videotape...
)It's probably the longest I've gone without posting since I started the blog, but I've been a tad busy. I've also found my home laptop less than pleasant to use these days (it needs replacing rather badly), so I'm spending more time away from it.
Nevertheless, I do bookmark the odd interesting snippet now and again. Here's a selection from my draft posts:
Writing for the Web
Via Mediakit (aka "Not All Who Wander Are Lost") comes the source of this post's title. Webraw has some tips on writing for the web. There's some excellent advice there - particularly suggestions about keeping column widths down. I was also interested to read that people read web pages up to 25% slower than printed text, which I suspected but never saw documented. Unfortunately, their page suffers from excessive width and horizontal scrolling, but nevermind...
Writing the Book of Life
Aunty Beeb reports on scientific community's goal of finding and naming every species on Earth within the next 25 years. The article contains one of the finest quotes I've ever seen from Lord Robert May of the Royal Society in answer to the question of why this should be done: "The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the pieces."
Finally, Re-writing all the Good Books...
Another comic to add to the list, Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida is an irreverant look at all sorts with an emphasis on taking the piss out of religion. You may wish to start at the beginning.
New Scientist reports on a patent filed in the US that is stirring rumours of distributed computing capabilities in the Playstation 3. According to the article:
The application, made on 26 September 2002, states: "The architecture employs a consistent modular structure, a common computing module and uniform software cells."Sony was unable to confirm that the patent was linked to the company.UK computer hardware site The Inquirer links the patent application to the next version of Sony's PlayStation console, citing an unnamed source. One of the names on the application Masakazu Suzuoki is reported to have worked for Sony on the design of the current PlayStation2 console.
I spent a good chunk of yesterday evening listening to one minute vacations - a selection of one minute recordings from all around the world. It got me thinking how important and creative sound is. Not everyone can paint or write beautiful prose, but everyone can listen to a snippet of sound, close their eyes and imagine the scene.
I loved:
- Feb 18 - morning chants in Nepal
- March 25 - call to prayer in Bangladesh
- May 6 - dozing yaks in Nepal
- June 17 - sunset at Angor Wat
- July 8 - mani wheels in Nepal
- Aug 12 - Indian sleeper car
- Sept 30 - Nenes honking
(thanks again to IdleType)
This should keep you going for a while: B3TA AWARDS 2003.
Now, excuse me while I work on my evil plan to make rabbits b3ta Animal of the Year 2003 (and, may I add, to knock penguins of the list entirely).
bwahhahahaha! (woo. yay.)
again. And again, it's US Senator Lieberman who has it in for us. The National Institute on Media and the Family, the senator and Representative McCollum present their Seventh Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card.
Says David Walsh, the founder of TNIM, "I am outraged that millions of children are playing video games that include such graphic images of violence.... Allowing children access to such potentially psychologically damaging material is patently irresponsible."
...of the parents, I hasten to add. Just like violent and realistic movies, some games really should not be played by young children. The industry has responded by self-regulation in labeling. Parents need only look at the box before deciding if the material contained within is appropriate for their child or not - same as they should do with movies.
But you go right ahead and live in a nanny state if you like, but beware, as Doug Lowenstein, president of US trade body IDSA warns, "What we have here is a group with an ideological agenda."
If you thought reproducing central London for The Getaway was a tough job, have a dekko at True Crime: Streets of L.A., a GTA-style action game that attempts to recreate 300 square miles of Los Angeles stretching from the Hollywood Hills to downtown to Santa Monica to Marina Del Rey.
Once again, an opportunity to drive LA without the traffic jams. From Activision for PS2 and GameCube and due for release in Spring 2003.
Pepys spent his day either playing at cards or trying to extract his mates from various card games on that January 4th back in 1660. I was interested to know what kinds of games they might have played and found that England was at that time in the midst of a great passion for gambling.
It seemed that exiled royalist supporters picked up the gambling bug whilst on the continent and upon their return to England the fashion spread rapidly through all the classes. The 1655 edition of Wits Interpreter, (The English Parnassus) by John Cotgrave was the earliest English book to contain detailed descriptions of various card games including Ombre, Picquet, and Cribbidge (Cribbage). In the preface of the 1662 edition, Cotgrave credits the newly-restored King Charles II with helping to popularise the games.
Later in his diary, Pepys mentions that he doesn't yet know the rules to Cribbage, so it's not likely that his friends were playing at that game 343 years ago. Where Ombre is said to be Spanish and Piquet from France, Cribbage does seem to have been a uniquely English game, supposedly invented by Sir John Suckling (a Trinity College graduate as well as poet, playwright, lawyer, MP and soldier) but possibly based upon an old Tudor game called Noddy.
Another game they could have been playing is Whist - the forerunner of the modern Bridge - which was also variously known as triumph, trump, ruff slam, ruff and honours, whisk and swabbers, and whisk. The first recorded reference to Whist is in 1624, however, it was at the height of its popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries.
...these bar signs from the brilliantly named "Modern Drunkard" could come in handy. May need a little translation for use on this side of the pond, but totally priceless!
(via All Out of Angst, who recommends printing out and laminating for use on your next bender...)
Look kids, recent discoveries at Engrish.com.
Today! Find out why coffee tastes so good when you're naked with your family, why PorkJoy is your hands' good partners and where you can find "it" up completely. At any purpose.
That's something like. Drinking!!
Rumours are flying about Sony and Nintendo's out-of court settlement over the Playstation copyright which was originally given to a joint-venture add-on for Super Nintendo. Sources say that Sony has agreed to pay Nintendo 10% of all past and future proceeds made off of the name to the tune of 2.3 billion USD just in back-payments.
Another source says that the money will be used to set up a new studio. We're hearing stories of multi-character RPGs and platformers a la Super Smash Brothers and Marvel vs. Capcom.
Someone's flogging their manager on eBay. I do hope it gets above a fiver eventually.
Have a go at this flash snowboarding game. It's fun, but so far I've not managed to get a single point. Good huh?
Francois Dominic Laramee asks, "Should working in games be more fun?" and outlines some of the realities of the games industry.
Francois also points out these sobering thoughts in another article:
It does make you wonder why we do it...
Brain scans of chess and go players suggest that playing the games are more a matter of experience than brute intelligence, says Nature.
And apparently, Go requires instinct and "human" strategy - something that a computer would be hard-pressed to replicate, whilst chess players select from a limited set of possible moves - something a computer can utilise by simply throwing lots of computer power at the problem.
According to Blue's News, ARUSH Entertainment and Groove Games have signed a multi-year, multi-product, worldwide licensing agreement with Playboy to create a world-builder style sim that will allow you to be a virtual Hugh Hefner.
Hopefully you can choose not to wear the dressing gown and slippers.
Gamer TV has an interview with the developers of Private Dancer, the strip poker computer game that rewards your progress with virtual strippers.
Personally, I think this is a great concept for a game. It takes a well-established game and mechanic (poker) and provides rewards and progression in a manner that is highly targetted toward the audience (men).
Still, there are plenty of people who have negative reactions to the game for all the standard reasons. However, the article points out that "Private Dancer is far, far milder than either Vice City or BMX. No-one gets killed, no-one cycles bikes topless and the stripping is purely virtual, as opposed to BMX XXX's full-motion video booths."
Adds producer Andy Seddon, "Private Dancer is a fun game to play. It uses sex, but it uses it in a fun way. It's not hardcore pornography, it's just male titillation."
As are so many things. ;-)
A snip at only $20 grand, the 180 Computer Monitor could be your own personal Matrix. And for only $650 extra you can get someone in white gloves to deliver it.
(ta to Rogi)
GameSpot reveals new Ice Nine details, but for me the news isn't good. Instead of a game centred around the excellent Cat's Cradle (from whence the game gets it's name), it appears it's a stealth-orientated FPS. What's worse, it's from Bam! which means there's a good chance we'll never actually see the finished game in any event...
I've come over all Pythonesque reading that there is currently a drunken moose alert in Norway.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...
I was clearly quite bored last night and took a few of those silly personality tests. I got a kick out of the Pig Test however... (no, it's not really about the sort of pig you are)
A new web comic joins Angst technology on my linklist (or it will do as soon as I update that page). The toonie peeps are employees of fictional gaming magazine PVP.
[Gratuitous plug warning: plus they're currently running special Time of Defiance bonus strips]
go on!Sorry, but there's absolutely nothing going on in my little world today, so all I have is some office wisdom courtesy of David Brent (and thanks to Angie):
There may be no 'I' in team, but there's a 'ME' if you look hard enough.Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Process and Procedure are the last hiding place of people without the wit and wisdom to do their job properly.
Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Never do today that which will become someone elses responsibility tomorrow.
Show me a good loser and I'll show you a LOSER!
Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office.
The Office is set to arrive in more than 60 countries, as the hit BBC mock fly-on-the-wall documentary is sold abroad, including to Bosnia and France. The US, of course, will be doing their own adaptation of the series, which is a shame, because it is fantastically cringe-worthy and absolutely fabulous. ;-)
I enjoyed this. But as I always have my computer muted, I missed out the sound for some of the beginning. D'oh!
(via Scaryduck)
Another little timewaster, this time, a based-on-a-classic bike game, via BBG.
The Getaway may find itself more of a mass market proposition than it bargained for as we learn that the female lead character is dressed exclusively in Karen Millen. Ted Baker also makes his fashion mark on the male character's wardrobe. Combined with an excrutiatingly accurate representation of over 40 km square kilometers of central London, unprecendented realism, 3 plus years of development and a huge high street marketing campaign, this has all the makings of a blockbuster.
Still think I should be able to shop in game, though.
Bless its pixelated heart. City Creator is a little town-builder/time-waster with a new winter-wonderland bit. Cute as a cute thing in cuteville.
(via Imperial Donut)
...or whatever. I'm theming the blog this month, remember?
Anyway, Radica have announced a new board controller for surf, skate and boarding games (looks like Xbox only from the site). The Sportsboard provides ultra sensitivity and an "analogue experience".
I won't tell anyone if you won't...
Continuing with the beach theme (it's not me, it just keeps happening) Bob makes a penguin film and Weebl goes to the beach.
(Thanks to Scary Duck, the pie-watcher)
Then play this Flash wedudesign Toboggan Jump game. There's just something about little virtual people crashing and burning that makes me laugh...
I've not been having the best day ever (could a day be any longer?), but this (25Mb MPEG) helped enormously. (apologies if you've seen it before)
(thanks Petey!)
Free market economics has been dealt a blow in a unique real-world test of economic theory using sports trading cards. Traditionally, free markets are assumed to be the most efficient, but buyers' and sellers' previous experiences are never taken into account and the experiment reported in Nature shows that this can reduce market efficiency to below 59% in some cases.
Play-bySync is a new cross-platform multi-player strategy game intended for wireless devices such as PDAs and Nokia 60 phones, reports Gamesindustry.biz.
I have to say I'm a little dubious - not of the technology - but of the gameplay value offered by a company that purports to be a "business development consultant" as well as a games developer, but I'm traditionally cynical...
Eurogamer reviews SimCity 4 and their current impressions indicate that this is really more of a graphical update rather than an innovative gameplay overhaul. But why should it be? Sim City has always been great (for those with the patience) but I always wanted to see more detail and realism. One new feature which should prove popular is the ability to put characters from The Sims into your new city. There's also a new terraforming tool that sound quite fun.
...depending on your point of view, is this rather unconventional press release from Zoo for their new PS2 Football Management game (yes, another one).
The release quotes (as well as it can) 1994 Leyton Orient manager John Sitton's cri de coeur:
"That is the f****** straw that broke the camel's f****** back and that is typical f****** Leyton Orient! You've had two performances and you think, "I'm f****** Bertie Big B******* tonight, I'll f****** play how I like!". But you won't play how you like, because if you play how you like I'll stick the f****** youth team in."Premier Manager is the first successful attempt to capture the emotional rollercoaster of real football management.
I guess that means there'll be plenty of swearing. Woo Yay!
Full release below.
-------
NEWS RELEASE - 24.09.02
'I HATE THIS GAME! I HATE THIS GAME! I LOVE THIS GAME!'
PREMIER MANAGER PS2 - Managing your emotions is the easy bit
There's more to being a football manager than knowing your way round a spreadsheet. To succeed in Premier Manager on PlayStation 2 you'll need to combine the tactical genius of Erwin Rommel, the business acumen of Richard Branson, the media savvy of Alistair Campbell, the inspirational abilities of Winston Churchill, the negotiating skills of Kofee Anan and a hide thicker than Vanessa Feltz.
Being a manager is about getting the best out of people. Getting the best performance from your players and coaching staff, getting the support of the board and the media and the best deals out of other clubs and player agents.
Get it right and it can seem like the easiest job in the world - everyone thinks you're great - but all it takes is a little bit of bad luck and you'll be hanging on by your fingertips. Back in 1994 Leyton Orient manager John Sitton delivered the following speech in an attempt to curtail the worst run in the club's history:
"(Calmly) Now all I'm saying to you is when it pops out, you've got to be crafty, you've got to drift off and when it pops out, you've got to establish possession for Orient, for a red shirt.
All I'm saying to you is get your body in the way, you were lucky you got the free-kick.
(Erupting with seizure-inducing anger) Now don't be coming back at me when I'm shouting at you above the crowd and above the next bench. All right? Because I run this f****** football club until I'm told otherwise by the f****** circus upstairs. And if you come back at me, you'll be off the field and you'll be following Terry down the road.(Turns to an amazed Terry and explains) You come and see me tomorrow, you've got a fortnight's notice, because that performance is the straw that broke the camel's back and that will not be tolerated in this dressing room while I'm in charge.
"That is the f****** straw that broke the camel's f****** back and that is typical f****** Leyton Orient! You've had two performances and you think (almost singing and dancing) "I'm f****** Bertie Big B******* tonight, I'll f****** play how I like!". But you won't play how you like, because if you play how you like I'll stick the f****** youth team in."
Despite this cri de coeur, Orient were beaten and John Sitton lost his job.
Premier Manager is the first successful attempt to capture the emotional rollercoaster of real football management.
Pick your team from one of the five European leagues (UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany) running simultaneously and take complete control of transfers, tactics, team management, squad rotation, finances and club development.
All this action takes place in a fantastic 3D environment, within which you must interact with characters from the world of football. You'll be requesting money to rebuild the squad from your chairman, issuing instructions to trainers and coaches, handling negotiations with player agents, massaging player's egos and trying to fend off the more intrusive members of the press.
You'll experience all the emotions of football management, scheduling you weekly workload. What will be more important: taking control of a training session, doing a newspaper interview or renegotiating a contract?
The interface provides unique face-to-face meetings in realistic 3D settings - pay close attention to their expressions and learn how to get the best out of them.
To keep in touch with the world outside your club, you'll need to access Eurosportnews the in-game TV channel, which displays tables, fixtures and results, plus news about transfers, sackings and stockmarket flotations.
Covering every aspect of the job from training ground to post match press conference Premier Manager is going to seriously damage your social life.
-ENDS-
For more information or review copies please contact ZOO
Kate Lee
T: 0114 241 3700
E: k.lee@zoodigitalgroup.com
M: 07977 474 441
Steve McKevitt
T: 0114 241 3717
E: s.mckevitt@zoodigitalgroup.com
M: 07974 729 902
Rumours from Kyoto suggest that Nntendo aren't quite as disinterested in online as they have traditionally implied. Particularly evident as they've apparently "made an application with the Japanese Patent Office to register a server technology related to massively multiplayer online gaming", says Games Industry Biz
Great quote stolen from Clayton's blog: "Al-Qaeda leaders were killed in Yemen on Monday when their car was struck by a missile fired from an unmanned CIA aircraft. It was a reminder to our enemies. The U.S. may not be any good at hide-and-seek but our Nintendo skills are outstanding." - Argus Hamilton
Have I mentioned those wacky Acclaim marketing bods recently? I have? Oh, well, they're at it again with a competition for Ms. BMX XXX.
Go on girls! You do it on your blogs - go win yourself something better than a date with an internet stalker (though you may manage one of those as well for all I know.)
EuroGamer offers a very in-depth review of The Getaway, a game I'm looking forward to. It's been a long time coming, but re-producing 40 square miles of central London in excrutiating detail sounds like a tough task to me.
Eurogamer calls it "a tense, challenging, utterly compelling, and well crafted, well paced piece of digital entertainment."
What's best, you can manage better than 5 miles an hour in the virtual smoke...
wKen is running for President and he's got Dr. Suzie for a running mate.
I'm not sure what their platform is, but I suspect it'll have something to do with sex and tiny little furballs in every home.
I may even go back to the states and vote.
Go wKen! Go Dr. Suz(ie)!
Why not have a hand at managing Arsenal your own damn self? Just Football's Official Arsenal Management Game is available from November the 15th. Read the press release below.
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Good old Arsenal, you're proud to say that name, but can you handle the pressure?
Are you bored with the all clubs in one box football management games that give you the choice of any club to manage and offer nothing specifically Arsenal? The ones that treat The Gunners as just another club? In Arsenal - The Official Management Game you're the boss. There is no choice, there is nowhere else to hide, and it is you and Arsenal, against the rest.
If you have ever disagreed with a team selection, choice of formation, or a transfer decision, this is your chance to manage Arsenal Football Club. Work with the players, build your squad, and strive for every result. See and hear the action unfold, get behind the scenes at Highbury, and lead The Gunners to glory.
Arsenal - The Official Management Game is packed with these outstanding features:
The Real Teams - includes full and up to date squad lists, even reflects a number of real-life injuries.
Get Up To Speed - ease yourself into the hot-seat with tutorial commentary, as well as tips and suggestions from your assistant manager.
Work Them Hard - develop daily training schedules to address each player's strengths and weaknesses.
Your Tactics - you decide who plays, and who sits on the bench. Choose the formation you want, and give specific instructions to individual players.
See Your Squad - scores of match-action player pictures let you see the games as they happen.
Buy The Best - strengthen your squad with the players you've always wanted, from teams all over Europe.
Listen To It Live - commentary and analysis by a real Premier League commentator, from a real Premier League press box.
Go On The Road - English, Scottish and European stadium photos let you see where your team is playing.
Win Everything - league, domestic cup competitions and the top European tournaments provide the ultimate challenges in club management.
Just Football's Arsenal - The Official Management Game, is the first and only specific Arsenal football management game. Priced at £24.99 it will be available for your PC from November 15th 2002, from all Arsenal club shops and good computer games shops including Game, HMV, Virgin, MVC and leading independents.
Check out the Just Football / Arsenal homepage at www.justfootball.net/arsenal
Jane at Game Girl Advance is lucky she lives in Tokyo. Look at the fun you can have with Rez.
It seems that Microsoft's Xbox price cut has moved the console up a notch, overtaking GameCube in the UK. Apparently, both consoles are starting to release tech specs (link only works twice in a day!) of the next gen versions to favoured developer Rare and Lionhead as well.
I do find it odd that a company desperate for titles would hold back information, but life's competitive, so I guess I'm not too surprised.
Yesterday a new mystery game aimed at a grown-up market was launched, according to CNET news which promises a jackpot of at least $250,000 (£160,000) for whoever solves the case first.
TerraQuest is a game by MindQuest Entertainment and there's a trailer on their website. They say it's due this fall and the news release said it was launched yesterday, but I can't find the actual game online. Not much of an online game then, is it?
Nokia takes on Nintendo with game console phone reports the Hindustan Times (don't ask me why the link is to them - it came via MCV).
Nokia has demonstrated its new N-Gage phone - supposedly the first mobile phone that also allows consumers to play high-quality games and is being touted as serious competition to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The new phone features Bluetooth networking, a colour screen and removable memory cards.
I'd buy one.
The poor old games industry really takes a beating when it comes to content. We can now add outrage over sexual themes to the ad naseum ranting over violence in video games.
-----
Friday's MCV is chocka with stories about how US stores are refusing to stock BMX XXX because of the nekkid pimp and hooker characters. Says Acclaim CEO Greg Fischbac in the trade mag, "We are dissappointed that there are groups who fail to see how this humourous product is truly on a par with such widely accepted mainstream entertainment experiences, including movies like American Pie and TV shows like The Sopranos and Sex in the City." Apparently UK shops aren't having the same problems with the title and will be stocking it.
Then of course there're the Empire ads for Big Mutha Truckers that have been banned from tube stations in London. Why? Because the game's title is a play on a well-known naughty saying. tsk tsk.
Finally, Ernest Adams is in an uproar over a trade competition for Private Dancer which offers a membership to Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen's (lap dancing) Club to the winner.
Says Mark from Nicely Crafted, "No one blinks an eye when PR for a driving game involves giving away race track days, " and in entering the competition, Mark's offered his winnings to Ernest.
I've entered as well, and will probably send my membership to Ernest too, unless of course I have a better offer. Any takers?
Home of the Underdogs is a very cool classic games site that supports the concept of "abandonware" - games that have been discontinued, although their raison d'être is to promote "underrated" games of all types, including great text-based games like "Leather Goddesses of Phobos", the fabulous and previously mentioned "Grim Fandango" and the brilliant P.A.W.S, the Dog Simulator.
You'll also find a plethora of other cool stuff like downloadable gamebooks.
MCV reports that Sony has now announced its plans for a phased European broadband roll-out starting next spring.
The Broadband Gaming Pack will launch at £44.99 and includes a PS2 Ethernet adaptor.
A couple of the 'network enhanced' titles to be released include SOCOM: US Navy Seals, Frequency 2, This Is Football 2004 and Everquest.
Oh, I dunno, I'm not sure I can imagine David without his Lara Croft action ponytail.
On the other hand, maybe there's such a thing as reverse superstition?
[Update - oh pul-ease. That barely counts as a haircut]
I've run across a rather interesting collaborative "Space Opera" called Orion's Arm. The Intro explains the premise:
It is eight thousand years in the future. Civilization spans the stars. Trillions of sentient beings exist across billions of cubic light years - on the surface of planets, in giant orbital habitats, on domes on moons and comets and space ships.But Humankind is no longer in control
Humanity has been downgraded.
Instead of explorers and leaders,
inventors and change agents,
designers and scholars,
we are now social dilettantes,
pampered pets, bored low-lifes.Welcome to Utopia...
Via Prandial comes a worthy campaign to allow Mr. GW to play out his "militaristic fantasies" in the safety of his own white house.
And they've done it as well. Now, why not buy him a copy of America's Army for his PC. He can learn to be a sniper in the game's Sniper School seciton. Fun!
Oh, well, if it's any consolation, mathematicians at MIT have proven that Tetris is really, really hard. The team concluded that building an algorithm that will beat Tetris is close to impossible...
Oh, dear. A 'Psychic' landlady has seen Liverpool winning the Premiership in her beer foam.
An article in Gamespot mentions a mysterious parcel bearing cryptic messages about Ice Nine.
Ice Nine is the secret substance in Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 novel "Cat's Cradle". If "Player Piano" dragged Vonnegut kicking and screaming into the ranks of science fiction authors, "Cat's Cradle" firmly implanted him there.
The Sunday Herald reports on why it's so hard for games developers to survive these days. A comprehensive look at the problems we're facing at the moment.
Particular problems are faced when trying to find investment outside publisher advances and the article points out a key problem when investors fail to understand how long games take to produce and how we depend on international publishers for the ultimate success of any games that do make it through to master.
From one of my teenage haunts comes a tiny little web-based baseball game. Small Ball from Half Moon Bay-based developers AndNow LLC is a massively-multi-player online baseball game.
Says the press release, "Your 'living' players will grow and evolve over time. As you observe their abilities you will determine their strengths and weaknesses, and how to train them. SmallBall Baseball is played in a public arena with an active community of other players that will see your every triumph, and your every failure! SmallBall Baseball is not about reaction time. You don't hit or pitch."
Dante names his new arrivals...
...and it's funny actually, I nearly named my daughter Samantha (being born in Salem as she was) and her half brother is named Max. I definitely missed a damn trick there. Who could have known?
"Edinburgh, Scotland, October 21st 2002. The rapidly evolving mobile entertainment market became sweet, adorable and cuddly today, as The Games Kitchen announced a partnership with Sega Mobile, a division of Sega.com to create Sega Pet TV, a game for the new 'breed' of Java-enabled mobile phones."
(How boring of me to cut and paste, but it's a press release after all - read the whole thing below...)
----------------------
Animal Magic
Pack a Pet in your Pocket With The Games Kitchen and Sega Mobile
Edinburgh, Scotland, October 21st 2002. The rapidly evolving mobile entertainment market became sweet, adorable and cuddly today, as The Games Kitchen announced a partnership with Sega Mobile, a division of Sega.com to create Sega Pet TV, a game for the new 'breed' of Java-enabled mobile phones.
Sega Pet TV allows phone owners to adopt a tiny Pet on their phone and then groom it for super stardom in its own TV show.
Pets range from the domestic and cuddly to the exotic and challenging. Hamsters, Dogs and Cats are 'purr'-fect for first time owners, while the more experienced can adopt a Bear, Lion or Snake. For the true connoisseur, however, Sega Pet TV features a real live alien. Not the gut-busting acid-dripping horror of movie fame, but still a demanding pet for the adventurous owner.
As well as keeping their pet healthy, happy and content, owners also have to train their Pets in a range of different mental and physical skills. As the Pet grows, the owner will have to choose carefully if prime time TV is ever to be reached. Teaching a snake to juggle for instance, may be a waste of time! If they get it right, owners can turn their fully grown pet into the 'mane' attraction.
The Games Kitchen has created Sega Pet TV to take full advantage of the latest generation of media-rich mobile phone handsets, with full color screens and realistic polyphonic sounds. This makes Sega Pet TV the best way to own your own pet, with no yapping, roaring, squeaking, clearing up or being slowly asphyxiated in ever tightening coils of death.
David Thomson, the CEO and Head Chef of Games Kitchen, said, "Sega Mobile is leading the charge in mobile gaming and we are very proud to be working with them to create a new generation of mobile games. One of the greatest challenges -- and opportunities -- of working in the mobile gaming sector is that the audience is so much broader than that of any other games platform. Mobile ownership is so widespread that it offers a real possibility of drawing in players who would never otherwise touch a game on a traditional games console. The task faced by games developers is to create games which will appeal to this incredibly broad audience and help to actually extend the penetration of mobile games into new areas. With Sega Pet TV we think we've managed to create a game which will offer instant appeal to non-gamers as well as giving more experienced players a game with a great deal of depth."
ENDS.
Notes To Editors:
The Games Kitchen
The Games Kitchen (www.gameskitchen.com) is a world leader in the design and creation of games mobile devices. The company provides a comprehensive understanding of games design and technical expertise in mobile device capabilities. This allows The Games Kitchen to create games across a broad range of technologies including SMS, WAP, Java, Palm OS, Symbian and Pocket PC.
The Games Kitchen has established relationships with many of the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers, media companies and content publishers. The company has already created a number of titles which have been released worldwide and attracted a large audience of dedicated players.
As the industry continues to evolve and grow The Games Kitchen intends to remain at the forefront of advanced games creation.
SEGA Mobile
SEGA Mobile (www.us.segamobile.com), a division of Sega.com, is an interactive gaming division that is dedicated to bringing the thrills and excitement of networked gaming to cellular phone and PDA users in North America. The new division consists of Publishing, Content delivery, and Marketing teams solely focused on providing innovative, unique and classic content for the mobile market.
Sega.com, Inc
Sega.com, Inc. (www.sega.com) is a network entertainment company that integrates Internet technology with innovation while leveraging a video game heritage dating back more than 50 years. Sega.com also built SegaNet the only high-speed online console gaming network and community destination for gamers. Sega.com is dedicated to bringing the technology and content required for networked entertainment to game developers and game players alike, leveraging the network possibilities for a multitude of devices including game consoles, cellular phones and PDAs.
Contacts
The Games Kitchen
Business Development
Scott Massey
T: +44 (0) 1506 203 020
E: scott@gameskitchen.com
Press
Brian Baglow
Indoctrimat PR,
M: +44 (0) 7747 792247
E: brian@indoctrimat.com
This year's Game Developer's Conference in San Jose is getting a sister event with GDCMobile. Just as gaming drives broadband (says the gaming analysts), could it also be the thing that drives the mobile evolution?
Naughty Acclaim are in trouble again as retailers in the US are refusing to stock their new 'BMX XXX' Game on the grounds that features full-action nudity with prostitutes and pimps as major characters.
IGN likes it though.
I guess games stores are just going to have to put in a backroom and stock up on plain brown paper.
Incredibly, there are other people in the world who play conkers (I thought it was just the boys in my office - don't ask!). But no, apparently, Ananova - Britons have gained revenge in World Conker Championships, beating last year's French winner.
Microsoft is messing with kids heads by offering £10,000 to the student who can out-drive all opposition in the Play More Challenge.
Heats for the Xbox Play More Challenge will be held at universities around the country during the autumn term with a grand final in London in December.
In related events, it's not Rag Week so why was I being accosted by St00ds in funny wigs this weekend?
Digital Media World was a veritable cornucopia of new meedja and arty types on a jolly. The conference itself was quite good with quality speakers and a good selection of workshops and hands-on demonstrations.
There were very few toys or blaggables, unfortunately, though I did have a play of Jedi Knight on a very cool set of three Eizo monitors running on Matrox's new Parhelia graphics card. That was very cool indeed.
The exhibition itself was not so impressive. I was on a particular mission myself and would have liked to see more out-sourcing facilities and freelance agencies. As it was, there was a preponderance of facial animation plug-ins and not much else. Discreet, Alias and Adobe stands were packed, however.
As for TIGA's Mobile games conference, there was some interesting statistics and it's clear that the networks and handset companies are keen to incorporate gaming into the mobile phenomenon, but there are still huge barriers for developers, not least of which is a lack of coherent standards and no clear revenue model. Other than that, apparently mobile gaming's gonna be huge.
If the Digital Arts World Film Festival is anything to go by, rabbits are definitely the hot thing in character animation this season. The US Blockbuster ad 'Carl and Ray' from Tippett Studios was one of the funniest things I've seen in ages and featured a rabbit and guinea pig in the starring roles. Besides the cameo appearances all over the shop, bunnies are centre-stage in "The Sexiest Man in Jamaica" and "Bunnies" from Filmakademie (incredibly).
Now, for art from the bunny's perspective, I present the second in our rabbit art series, "installation number six", a collaborative lagomorphic sculpture. Notice the subtle use of texture on the interior of the piece.
Tim Tyler's Repton, the '80s BBC Micro Classic, is now available for your Nokia 7650. The game features a faithful recreation of the original gameplay in addition to bonus levels and comprehensive tutorials. Repton was a big seller with over 125,000 sold in the UK. You can get Repton from Masabi.com.
Another absolute corker from Scary Duck today as he and his townie mates strike terror into the hearts of sheep all over north Wales.
Really, really, really funny. I mean it. Tears were coming from my eyes, I laughed that hard!
World Chess ChampionVladimir Kramnik has beaten Deep Fritz in game two of the "Brains in Bahrain" man vs. machine chess match with a bizarre blunder on the board.
Go humans!
(photo: REUTERS/Hamad. I. Mohammed)
or not...
The games industry is seriously a-flutter over the FairPlay consumer campaign which hopes to persuade people not to buy games for a week in protest over high software prices. MCV ran both sides of the argument on the front cover last week, followed by an editorial (time-limited content) inside lambasting the campaign and the trade mag plans a big feature this week as well.
Games publishers, retailers and, interestingly, the games press, are outraged and admittedly, the consumer group's arguments are horribly flawed in some cases, but boo-bloody-hoo. Games are over-priced.
The press is, in fact, getting a bit nasty about the fact that the organisers used a Pete Molenuex quote that was "6 years old and taken out of context". Personally, I'm willing to let this slide - it is a grass-roots campaign after all and they can be forgiven for not understanding the proper journalistic ettiquette.
However, what I find interesting is the fact that PC games are often launched at the group's recommended price of £20. The problem primarily lies in those hardware-dependant games like PS2 and GBA (I mean really, £30 for a GBA title? No wonder my daughter only has two). When you look at the market breakdown you'll find that PC titles account for 40% of unit sales, compared to 29% for PS2 and 15% for PS1 (with the other consoles accounting for the rest). Compare that to the market share value of 37% to PS2 and 33% to the PC. (source: MCV Magazine)
I'm no financial analyst, but could the console manufacturers be partially to blame for this mess? They certainly add a considerable amount to the production costs, as well as taking their own share of sales. I'm not 100% sure what their role in setting RRPs is, but I believe they have some pull in that regard.
As for me, I wish the campaign well, and whilst you won't be seeing prices drop anytime soon, it's perhaps a bit of PR that the games industry needs to see and take note of.
Bob holidays in France! See Bob pissed! and remember... "only a fool forgets this rule." (via Scaryduck)
Some of the UK's top footballers are being recreated for Codemaster's new series of Club Football titles, reports Games Press (Games Press requires registration and I really must remember that. The whole press release can be found below).
And for the gooners amongst you, here is virtual Cole, Pires, Seaman and Bergkamp from the collection.
October 2002: With the 02/03 football season well underway, Rio Ferdinand, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, David Seaman, Stephen Gerrard, and Barry Ferguson are just some of the UK's top football players who are being recreated as computer-generated 3D models, complete with their new home and away strips.
Hundreds of big-name footballers are being digitally recreated in striking photo-realistic visual detail for a series of Club Football video games, coming this spring 2003 to PlayStation 2 and Xbox, from award-winning game company Codemasters.
Images released today show perfect digital doppelgangers of key players from each of the seven UK clubs that form the Club Football series. The games include: Arsenal Club Football, Aston Villa Club Football, Chelsea Club Football, Leeds United Club Football, Liverpool FC Club Football, Manchester United Club Football and Rangers Club Football.
The images released today show the following players:
ARSENAL CLUB FOOTBALL
Robert Pires,
Ashley Cole
Dennis Bergkamp
David Seaman
MANCHESTER UTD CLUB FOOTBALL
Rio Ferdinand
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Fabien Barthez
Laurent Blanc
Juan Veron
LIVERPOOL CLUB FOOTBALL
Steven Gerrard
Emile Heskey
Danny Murphy
John Arne Riise
Jerzy Dudek
ASTON VILLA CLUB FOOTBALL
Mustapha Hadji,
Gareth Barry
Darius Vassell
Hassan Kachloul
Peter Enckelman
CHELSEA CLUB FOOTBALL
Celestine Babayaro
Gianfranco Zola
Eidur Gudjohnsen
Frank Lampard
Carlo Cudicini
LEEDS CLUB FOOTBALL
Robbie Fowler
Danny Mills,
Eirik Bakke
Alan Smith
Paul Robinson
RANGERS CLUB FOOTBALL
Barry Ferguson
Peter Lovenkrands
Lorenzo Amoruso
Stefan Klos
Codemasters' computer artists have been working confidentially with each club over the past year and were given privileged access to the players and the designs of each new strip.
Rachel Wood, Club Football's Lead Artist is in charge of getting the visual detail right:
"The squads have been re-created wearing their new strips, in full 3D, and they all look great.''
"We have worked closely with the clubs and each individual to allow us to re-create instantly recognisable players and kits with a level of detail which has never before been possible in a computer game."
Set to revolutionise the football games market with its innovative approach, Club Football is a family of 15 individual football games, each dedicated to one of Europe's top football teams.
With each individual Club Football game, you can become part of your favourite team, wear the new team strip with pride and have your name on the shirt. When you're playing as part of your club's first team, thrill as the crowd chants and go for the goal. It could be your winning goal that takes your club to the top of the league and victory.
# # # ENDS # # #
GAMES IN THE CLUB FOOTBALL SERIES:
UK CLUBS
Arsenal Club Football
Aston Villa Club Football
Chelsea Club Football
Leeds United Club Football
Liverpool FC Club Football
Manchester United Club Football
Rangers Club Football
MAINLAND EUROPE CLUBS
Borussia Dortmund Club Football
Hamburger SV Club Football
FC Bayern Munich Club Football
Ajax Club Football
AC Milan Club Football
FC Inter Club Football
Juventus - Club Football
FC Barcelona Club Football
CLUB FOOTBALL WEB SITE
www.codemasters.com/clubfootball
ABOUT THE CLUB FOOTBALL SERIES
Taking football gaming direct to the fans, Codemasters is creating a series of Club Football games with a dedicated edition for each of Europe’s 15 most successful football clubs.
In the UK, PlayStation 2 and Xbox Club Football games will include: Arsenal Club Football, Aston Villa Club Football, Chelsea Club Football, Leeds United Club Football, Liverpool Club Football, Manchester United Club Football, and Rangers Club Football. Another eight European editions of the game will also be published.
Each team edition of Club Football will be an exclusively tailored game and will put the player into the action like no football game has done before. Fully immersing the fan, gameplay makes everyone feel they really are a part of their favourite team.
Delivering a club specific game for every fan, on-pitch gameplay puts the gamer in the squad as a key player up against their club's rivals in both domestic and super league championships. The "Career mode" will allow fans to create a unique in-game character, with their own squad number and name on their shirt. This will allow the game player to fulfil their life-long dream of playing for their club alongside their instantly recognisable heroes.
GameSpy's BizBuzz reports that Wireless developer Mforma has purchased Cambridge-based games developer, nGame Limited and says "that the nGame purchase will help it lower the costs for mobile-service providers to offer customers gaming, data delivery and other content."
Acclaim's marketing department is determined to make enemies, this time the Department of Transport as they offer to refund the fines of any driver caught by speed camera on October 11 to mark the launch of Burnout 2: Point of Impact.
I'm not really sure what to say about Tecmo's Extreme Beach Volleyball Trailer. GameSpy calls it the best example of demographic pandering they've ever seen - they would do and all. Downloading the trailer requires registration with FilePlanet, but if you'd like a similar experience without the hassle (or the bouncing), you can go browse Anime Wallpapers.com for all the sailor-suit wearing, white knicker-flashing you can stomach.
All of the wallpapers are very well done and make good design inspiration, and some are very cool. I quite liked these, one of which is from a favourite movie, Ghost in the Shell:
Miramax Films and Black Label games have signed a deal for an action game based on Quentin Tarentino's upcoming film, "Kill Bill" which features Uma Thurman as a betrayed assassin who kung-fu cat-fights Lucy Liu and Daryl Hannah.
Black Label Games are the developers of "The Thing" and a part of Vivendi Universal's Games division (a pretty recent part, actually - only picked up in August).
Damn, some studios have all the fun.
When I was a kid, I loved Mad Magazine and my very favourite comic was Spy vs. Spy. Created in 1961 by a Cuban cartoonist who fled the cold war and ended up in New York working for Mad, the strip features two spies who wage a silent war of spyish mischief-making.
Never played the NES version, but I'm happy to see that TDK are bringing the classic characters to Xbox, PS2 and GameCube.
For a week, says FairPlay - The Campaign for cheaper videogames. As a consumer, I know very well that games are over-priced. I rarely take a shot on a new game unless I'm sure I'm going to get my money's worth (well, unless it's on expenses, of course).
I want to be able to go into a games shop and come out with three titles, not one... or more likely recently, none.
Well, you never know... but somehow I can't assign much credibility to the rumour that Microsoft is considering making an offer for the legendary arcade developer, Capcom, reported today at TotalGames.net. I do wonder where this speculation comes from...
Oops, update already. MCV tells us that Capcom considers the acceptance of such an offer unlikely, although Microsoft is clearly interested in acquiring a big name Japanese developer. SquareSoft, perchance?
Oooh, someone is determined to relieve me of all my money. Stuff LIVE 2002 starts at Earl's Court on Thursday. Brand new "stuff" is expected from all our favourite brands: Apple, Tosh, Scalextric and Fuji.
Lots of game "stuff" too, at the Games Matrix, with FourFourTwo - Football Management and surround sound for your PS2 (among other things).
EuroGamer's new Editor Kristan Reed's first assignment is an "all expenses paid trip to Spain to play games, ride rollercoasters and be plied with free alcohol." He is quite rightly chuffed about the whole thing, but manages to stay sober long enough to talk a little about the point of X01 Seville.
Microsoft didn't hold back on the special guests, with Ed Fries, J Allard, the ubiquitous Peter Molyneux and Yves Guillemot singing the praises of Xbox. And Microsoft was there with assurances "that 160,000 Xbox titles are coming out before Christmas, give or take 159,840," many of which constitute the future of games, apparently.
Hmmm, a decent salary or jollies and freebies? Tough choice. I'm going to have to think about that one.
Reuters reports that the games industry are starting to poach some of Hollywood's best talent. Good scriptwriters are just what the games industry needs, but the article misses the point when they assume that extra PC power would have made Harry Potter less "wooden" in the eponymous computer game. Good game animation needs good animators with an understanding of interactive movement.
(via Rogi)
Chatter on the RebelScum forums seems to imply that our R2D2 Interactive Droid is getting a warm reception! Check out the nice comments and then go buy one already!
Oh, can't find one? Looks like they're on eBay at up to 50% over retail! Way hey!
So, to update on the performance of the Yahoo! Games on Demand offering, I never did manage to successfully play the Star Trek Elite Force demo. I checked my system and despite having OpenGL libraries already, I re-installed them, but to no avail. So, instead, I tried the Evo 4x4 demo. That went considerably better and downloaded quickly.
Of course, I was entirely unable to play the game without a controller. I dunno, I'm a good driver in real life, but on a keyboard, well, let's just say you're better off not getting in the car with me...
It's all over everywhere if you want information about Microsoft's plans for Xbox Live (broadband gaming service for the console). Here's some specifics:
- X02: Xbox Live European launch details
- Telewest plays with Xbox Live
- Xbox Live to go online with BTOpenWorld
- X02: NTL to launch Xbox Live peripheral
- Xbox Live reported by the BBC
Despite the fact that Microsoft said they would offer the smaller Xbox Controller S in Europe and then changed their minds, they've now decided to release Controller S in Europe after all. It's already been released in Japan and the US (who, everyone knows, have much smaller hands than those European giants.)
The new controller is similar in size to the PS2 controller, and has the right diamond buttons arranged in a more traditional diamond pattern (as opposed to a skewed parallelogram). Maybe I'll play something on that dusty old Xbox now.
Sweden’s Unique Development Studios has acquired the rights to create video games based Futurama. Spong reports that the game will include most of the original voice artists from all the major territories and uses a custom-made cartoon-rendering engine.
Broadband is really getting there as Yahoo announces "Games on Demand" rentals of popular PC titles such as GTA 2, Serious Sam, Thief, Tomb Raider Chronicles and Civ III. You need a broadband connection to play, as well as Windows 98/ME/XP/2000 and DirectX 8.0a (sorry again, Mac users) as well as the Yahoo games launcher. Priced at around $3 to $5 for 3 days, it's about comparable to console rentals from video outlets. I'm giving one a go now and report back...
Update (11:21am): Hmmm, well, on our 2Mb/s (2048kb/s or E1) pipe, the pre-cache took about 20 minutes to load. It seriously sucked up all our bandwidth. I'm on my work network, but it's pretty low volume this time of day, so hopefully no one suffered as a result. Unfortunately, when I launched the game, it threw an error: "could not load OpenGl subsystem". Shag. Nevermind... I'll try the other freebie later... or tomorrow. Maybe.
Leveraging, huh? That doesn't really bode well, but, Sega might be able to pull it off.
The European Leisure Software Publishing Association today announced the UK sales awards. Selling 300,000 plus units are Medal of Honour Frontline (PS2), Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2) and Championship Manager Season 01/02 (PC). Medal of Honour's sales have topped the 300,000 mark in just 12 weeks of sale.
The silver award for selling 200,000 plus units goes to The Sims Hot Date (PC) while Jax and Daxter (PS2), Spiderman (PS2) and The Weakest Link (PSX) have all managed to hit sales of more than 100,000.
OK, so it's too early on a Monday morning for anything of great interest to be happening in the gaming world, but I did find an announcement of a partnership between Intrinsic Graphics, the developer of the Intrinsic Alchemy middleware solution and Quazal, networking middleware developers to deliver a version of Quazal Net-Z a distributed game state engine for the Intrinsic Alchemy platform, intended to support PS2, GameCube and Xbox MMOGs.
Quazal also offers a product called "Eterna" which is an infrastructure solution for online gaming which supports the above consoles as well as Windows, PocketPC and Linux. Sorry Mac peoples... guess you're out of luck (again).
OK, so maybe not quite yet, but come Oct 3rd, Kelly Slater Pro Surfer is released on Xbox. I never managed to surf (not successfully, that is) in all my years in California. Best I could do was a rather lame attempt at body surfing The Wedge. A mouthful of sand cured me of that quick-like. I did better as a surf bunny, to be honest, but I always dreamed of the green room and this looks like a fine alternative to the real thing - if you're crap like me, that is. Definitely one for my letter to Santa.
Well, if you're bored, type "go to hell" into Google (including the quotes).... you won't be surprised. (thanks to a certain spikey-haired Austrian for this one)
Play in London Zone One
SPOnG.com reports that SCEE has given a release date for The Getaway, SCEE's £5 million plus mission-based racing title. The game offers nearly all of Zone One in London as a playable environment and required a team of ten photographers photographing every nook and corner of the area on foot for two years!
Now, can we actually go in the shops and buy stuff?
Missing Boy Found Playing Nintendo
Massive police search called off after missing boy found playing Nintendo.
Girls in bikinis anyone?
I played the new Beach Life (Spring Break in the US) demo yesterday. 
If you're a fan of resource management sims like Theme Park World and the Tycoon games, you'll probably enjoy this. I really didn't think it was anything special, personally. Nevertheless, here's a direct link to the UK PC demo exe.
Or, you can read the GamesDomain review. BTW, note the difference in art style between the UK and US versions.
Product placement gone mad as The Sims Online puts a McDonalds in the upcoming MMOG. Apparently EA says that this deal is just the tip of the iceberg for product placement in the game.
Ick. I'm sorry, but I'm just not willing to pay for a big 'ol advert, thank you kindly.
Bored fans prompt Mexican wave
"How many fed-up fans does it take to start a Mexican wave? About 25, say researchers in Europe. Their computer models of crowds' behaviour could help control rowdy hooligans."
...says the incredibly behind the times Newsweek... difficult to know when they don't date the stories. Anyway, we've heard it all before, but I felt inclined to quote the last bit at least (speaking about Nancy Drew): “These aren’t girly games,” Gaiser says firmly. “They are intelligent entertainment.” And maybe that’s all that girls—and some boys—really want.
Maybe? Tsk, you could have just asked me...
According to Silicon.com, "Sony's PlayStation 2 will gain TiVo-like video functions with software to be announced Monday by two start-ups." However, David Coleof DFC Intelligence, noted, "I think the overall idea of being able to view video and other content via the game console, that has real long-term potential, but I think you're talking four or five years down the road," adding that it would be more successful when consumers are more likely to have home networking capacity.
Quick! Go look at CNN.com and see our baby R2 in all his glory. Or some glory - I don't subscribe to CNN so I can't see the vid, but CNN?
(Bet they don't mention us - we only built the little bugger)
[Update: damn, and now it's gone... 10:15 PM]
Sierra's announced a forthcoming title based on The Hobbit which is said to be part Zelda and part Mario. According to the GameSpy article, the interpretation follows the book quite closely.
There's suppposed to be plenty of adventuring and combat spread across 14 levels plus a healthy dose of platform jumping, but you'll have to wait until the end of next year to play it...
In a deal said to be worth between £250 million and £350 million, Microsoft is rumoured to be buying games developer, Rare Entertainment. An official announcement is expected at X02 in Seville later this month, though speculation has been ripe on the edge forums for weeks..
Rare has been one of Nintendo’s leading second-party development houses with such titles as Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie and Jet Force Gemini on N64 and this deal should prove a real coup for Microsoft as they attempt to ramp up development of Xbox titles. Rare is currently working on Starfox Adventures for GameCube and production is thought to remain uneffected by the sale.
Going the Way of the Samurai
Due for release on Friday in Europe and Australasia only is the top-selling Japanese PS2 title, Way of the Samurai, published by Eidos Interactive.
Way of the Samurai is a samurai adventure game based in feudal Japan where you take on the role of a wandering samurai who is drawn into a conflict between two warring factions. The press release says it's the "first true multi-path adventure; the story is determined by the player's actions, each decision and action affecting the outcome of the game" and "features realistic sword combat where you can master up to 40 different swords featuring 200 unique fighting stances and attacks." (via GamesPress - requires registration)
If you've any contact with the games industry, you'll have heard ad naseum that "games have outpaced Hollywood" in revenues. As exciting as that is to hear, if it's not true, we can't be doing with it. A Business 2.0 magazine article, Wireless Catches Up to Land Lines, Videogames Trail Hollywood, and More tells us it's not.
Sony's been dropping hints about the possible shape Playstation 3 might take in 2005. CNN reports on Sony's four-year project, code-named "cell" which hopes to create a powerful processor for home electronics with ultra-fast Internet connections. They haven't decided how to integrate the cell processor into hardware, but "the general idea was to use the chip in Internet servers and home electronics to divide computing tasks among networked machines."
Far-fetched, you say? A ZDNet article provides more details, including news that it will be capable of one trillion calculations per second (teraflop) or more of floating-point calculations and more than 1 trillion mathematical calculations per second, roughly 100 times more than a single Pentium 4 chip running at 2.5GHz.
Galleon ships in December
via PlanetXbox comes confirmation that Toby Gard's (of Tomb Raider fame) Galleon is on course for a December release on Xbox and GameCube.
Who the daddy?
Oh, Henry's the daddy, he da man, he's my hero. And quoth the young fellow-me-lad at work who discovered this article, "So, how can I arrange for this guy to become president of the USA?" For your edification, Penny Arcade - The Henry Jenkins Interview.
Henry on games in education:
"We're also shifting our focus to think about humanities education, so we're working with groups like the Royal Shakespeare Company and we may be doing a game around the concept of "The Tempest", which has a sort of game-like structure in Shakespeare's original play. But it's not like you can tell the story of "The Tempest" in a game - that would be too hard-railed and too linear but what you can do is expose students to the environments, the logic, the properties of the world, the weapons, the language, all of the things a game can expose you to."
Cool - let me at that one!
On school shootings and violence in video games:
"...a lot of real world violence impinges on the lives of these kids. They don't need to play games to have violence in their lives, these kids see it in their immediate environment. The problem is that every time we take a step to deal with games as a solution to these problems we convince ourselves that we don't need to take the hard steps, which are to look at how we deal with the roots of real violence in the real world. How do we deal with the breakdown of the American family? The way that schools treat kids who are different? Those kinds of factors that really do lead to real violence are much more important."
Anyway, go on and read the interview and then go back tomorrow for Part 2: The Comics Code, Gender, and Gaming. (Be warned that Penny Arcade's definition of "tomorrow" may be different to yours.)
Trad Media over-reacts
"Again" did you I hear you say? An update on the post about gaming being banned in Greece, via a locked post on the Edge Forums (apparently locked when it degraded into mindless racism):
"Anyway, most of the articles on foreign sites (non Greek that is) are 10% story and 90% crap. I'm not going to write the whole story again (search for yesterdays threads if you re interested) but I'm gonna give some facts...- No tourist had been arrested for owning a GBA or a mobile phone, nor it will ever be.
(FFS - about 85% of the Greek population does own a mobile, GBAs are available everywhere and most Greek kids carry one with them at all times)- Consoles, video and computer games are being sold as usual.
- Arcade halls are indeed closed down at the moment. Many arcade owners had put dual circuits inside the cabinet and could switch between innocent arcade games and illegal gambling slot machines at a press of button, upon appearance of the police. So the police decided to close down the lot. When some articles mention that the police couldnt distinguish between slot machines and arcades they are refering to those remote controled "dual" cabinets. Its not like if you put virtua fighter next to a slot machine, a policeman is not able to tell whats what! (policemen are thick but they are not THAT thick).
- Internet cafes are not allowed have games running on their computers.
Many netcafe owners discovered that they can use the web and the various online casinos as a great alternative to the prohibited slot machines. This is why games are no longer allowed in netcafes.The people who are protesting at the moment are obviously the arcade owners (who are pretty fucked up at the moment) and the netcafe owners who lose a lot of income due to the fact that they cant organize multiplayer gaming on their computers anymore.
The law is vague, idiotic, very badly written and can be interpretated in various ways. Eventually it will be revised.
In conclusion, gaming is NOT banned in Greece. Don't believe the outrageous crap that some people write."
The above post can be found here (and sprinkled all throughout the forum, to be honest) and a translation of the law can be found here.
Don't go to Greece if you're a plane-spotter or a gamer
According to GameSpot,
"Greek Law Number 3037, enacted at the end of July, explicitly forbids electronic games with "electronic mechanisms and software" from public and private places, and people have already been fined tens of thousands of dollars for playing or owning games. The law applies equally to visitors from abroad...Internet cafes will be allowed to continue to operate, providing no games-playing takes place. If a customer is found to be running any sort of game, including online chess, the cafe owner will be fined and the place closed."
The phone manufacturers were out in force at GDCE. I saw some very, very nice phones being bandied about, I can tell you. Some cool ones that you can turn 'round and hold like controllers and ones with little slide-out keyboards. Very nice. I also saw this 3D shooter running on a phone as well. It was a basic, but not bad. You could do a lot with something like that. Don't try it if you need glasses, though. Itty-bitty, ickle screens...
Oh, and some of them made phone calls, too.
Oh, yum - speedfest coming in October. This will do nicely, thank you. All that speed and no consequences. I'm so there.
Oops, better get a PS2 for my new floaty house...
GDCE/ECTS or "What I did on my summer vacation"
I suppose since I've gone and come back alive, I should give some idea of my impression of GDC-Europe, 2002. I'm obliged to do one for work as well. Will I be more or less blunt in this personal account? Let's just write to the end and find out, shall we?
GDC in the states is, I've been told, a huge event and is the most important gathering of games developers in the western world. Since I was previously on the "dark side" (marketing), I never had the opportunity to attend. Besides, it's in San Jose and we know how stupidly expensive it is to go there on business. I have, however, been to four E3s and three (and now four) ECTS's (the American and European Games trade shows, respectively).
I have to say I enjoyed GDC-Europe immensely. It was very, very small - probably not more than 500 people - and this made it possible to meet and talk to some really interesting and well-known games luminaries. Everyone seemed comfortable and it was easy to strike up conversations with anyone because you knew you had something interesting in common. I mean, what could be more interesting than the design and creation of entertainment products that are nearly unlimited in scope? I love the people in this industry - despite my often protestations to the contrary. I think it's rare that you'd see the kind of passion that you get from games developers in many other industries. What's more, there's very little competition. Yes, individual egos abound (we all know who I mean!), but for the most part, game developers are a geeky crowd and love to share their knowledge and experiences.
But I have to confess to not going away particularly inspired. Yes, Ken Perlin's lectures are always inspiring and Richard Leinfellner's tour through the good (and the bad) in getting F1 2002 onto the shelves was a great reminder of important production management principles, but all in all, I sensed a lack of new ideas. This could have been a result of the sessions I attended, but I get a feeling that it's the current business mood which is making the games industry somber. Publishers are risk-averse and overly-dependant on film licenses and sequels; the public and the media continues to demonise games; and small developers are feeling the squeeze and are unable to see their way out of work-for-hire contracts and endless concepts and pitches that never get bought. It can be depressing, I can tell you - and it shows.
As for ECTS, I could barely manage 20 minutes in the place. It reminded me of printing tradeshows I used to attend (and work!) with the white dividers and generic furniture. The place was so depressing, I couldn't bear to get out the camera. The consumer event, the Playstation Experience, reminded me of a mediocre E3 exhibit. I saw only two games that interested me: Primal is the soon-to-be-released action-adventure out of Sony Cambridge Studios. It's looking fantastic and I'm proud to say that Mitch Philips, my former lead artist and animator on Yeren, is lead character animator on Primal. Mitch is the most talented character animator I've ever met and can do things with a human body you wouldn't imagine (better stop imagining right there!).
The other thing was a Ping Pong Arcade machine that uses real paddles. Hilarious. Reminded me of the first time I saw Samba de Amigo being demoed.
So, all in all, it was not all that. I hear plenty of people say that there can be only one, and E3 is the daddy, but the US and Europe are clearly different and worldwide publishers need to understand and embrace this. Sports titles and first person shooters may dominate in the states, but Europe has somewhat broader tastes. If that's going to be addressed, then European developers need to be nurtured and encouraged. A bit of interest from the publishers wouldn't go amiss either. Maybe it's time to get the trade bodies to light a little fire under their collective asses (in a nice way, of course)?
Cultural Support for Games
The Copenhagen Post reports that Danish politicians are "suggesting that the games themselves have reached such an advanced state of development that they can, for funding purposes, be considered cultural activities on a par with film."
Here, here for them. It seems that Britain and France have now had their day in the sun (as it were) and if GDCE was anything to go by, it looks as though the Scandinavian countries are set to become the next big games powerhouses with funds for games research and development helping to boost the industry in those countries. I wonder how they feel about long-distance teleworkers?
Pencil Whipped!
Cute first person demo from ChiselBrain Software is 3D rendered as though it was pencil-drawn. Funny! Silly!
Adventure games making a comeback?
Oh, I hope so. Following on from the Sam and Max news is an announcement that Broken Sword 3 is due at some point. Broken Sword is one of my all-time favourite games and this is definitely one I'm going to be waiting for.
The official site is pretty light on information, but there are screenshots and concept art at Just Adventure and more news that I'll trawl through later at the unofficial site...
[update: apparently it impressed at ECTS]
LSN Spawn beta 1-12 and patch now available
A beta and patch for Laser Squad Nemesis... You will need to have the new version to start new games, but existing games should still work. The Spawn Beta includes the Spawn, a rapacious alien species that are genetically adapted for hostile environments and can reproduce very rapidly until they overwhelm their opponents.
Sam and Max hit the road again
News from Games Press shows that the long-awaited sequel to the hilarious Sam and Max Adventure game from Lucas Arts is well and truly on its way. I wasn't waiting, but it's nice to know it's coming anyway.
Embodying Emotion
Totally exhausted again. Or is it still? Got home from the states yesterday and worked as a volunteer at GDCE in London today. Volunteering gets me free entrance and since the conference isn't cheap, it works out brilliantly. It wasn't taxing, necessarily, just a lot of travel. Working the show isn't hard either, but simply involves a lot of standing around looking helpful.
I did stand around at some interesting presentations, but the one that I was most looking forward to was Ken Perlin's session on procedural animation techniques. Ken is director of the NYU Media Research Lab and earned an Oscar in 1997 for Technical Achievement for his procedural texturing techniques which are used in feature films and television (and games).
As always, Ken's session was hugely entertaining and his techniques really should be used more widely in the games industry. I'm a big fan! You can play with one of the demos he showed too. It's a real laugh - give it a go!
I like to add a good dose of schmoozing after the conference (every little bit helps!), which makes for rather a late night and then it's back again tomorrow morning. I want to try to fit in ECTS as well (erk). I sort of hope my jet lag holds out so I can stay awake, but somehow I suspect it doesn't work that way and I'm heading for a huge crash!
Dr. Henry Jenkins of M.I.T. has made a post about his appearance on Donahue back in July which essentially made him out to be a shill for the games industry. It was obvious from the transcript that he was set up and even more so when you see what went on behind the scenes.
I'm in the mood for a little rant now. As a woman and a mother, I'm not a huge fan of ultra violent computer games (though I do play some sometimes), but I refuse to do anything but support other's right to play them. It is the parent's responsibility to their children to ensure that they do not have access to inappropriate material of all types, be it games, magazines, movies or television programmes.
I truly believe that blaming computer games for the ills of society is shifting the blame and I have found some support for this in a survey done by the Home Office in 1998 which found that it was "exposure to violence at home, and already developed delinquent tendencies, which were likely to nurture an unhealthy taste for on-screen violence." and that, "The research points to a pathway from having a violent home background, to being an offender, to being more likely to prefer violent films and violent actors." This study came about after the Jamie Bulger case when it was revealed that the two boys in question were fans of the movie Child's Play 3 (as well as having already displayed violent, anti-social behaviour from the age of 7).
And whilst I hesitate to be seen as an American basher (being one myself and all), I have to wonder if the gun violence that is so prevalent in America (remember, I speak from experience here), is due to inherent violent tendancies that are only intensified by the insistance on keeping guns in the closet, under the mattress and on the bedside table rather than from playing violent computer games?
Or maybe we just need to decide that some people are just not responsible enough to have children?
GigNews' latest Dev Life article, The Urge to Create references my studio's flagship products Creatures and the original designer, Steve Grand. Whilst somewhat interesting, for me the most important quote relates to the science of Artificial Life, upon which Creatures is based, "I believe this [Creatures] is an important milestone in our industry's history for several reasons, not the least of which is that artificial life may well be one of the breakthrough technologies of the new century."
A-Life has been around for quite a while now and much of the problem has been in finding uses for the technology. It has found some commercial applications in the field of biotechnology, but Creatures remains the most successful commercial A-Life product to this day. I joined Creature Labs because of what A-Life could teach me about the nature of life and since has led me to all sorts of research interests. What we learned some time ago, however, was that the key concepts were complexity, emergence and unpredictability since it is this that provides convincingly life-like behaviour from virtual game characters.
On the other hand, however, lies the knowledge that games are, at their most basic, systems of rules that provide a framework for player challenges. If the characters are unpredictable, the rules begin to fall apart. So where can we apply life-like behaviour that uses the science of A-Life, while still providing a playing experience free from frustration?
The article's author, François Laramée, has hit upon the answer and that lies in the need to create. Not the need a game designer has to create a product that sits on a shelf, but the need a player might have to make something uniquely his or her own. We noticed that Creatures attracted a wide and diverse audience that was fairly evenly split down gender roles, however, I wonder if this isn't a conceptual split as well. Traditionally, games provide opportunities to solve problems, defeat an opponent or overcome an obstacle, but titles like Creatures provide something completely different - the chance to build something and share it with other people in a completely non-competitive environment.
Creatures and The Sims currently provide us with this opportunity, but I want to make more of these because it's what I want to do in my spare time (my what?!).
What do you want to play?
According to the official site, The Sims Online will open to external testers "in about a month". If you subscribe to The Sims Online newsletter you'll have the opportunity to be randomly selected to participate in the Play Test. The test is set to grow from a few hundred to over 50,000 players in the next few months and they'll be charging $5 to offset the shipping and handling for the two-CD set that you'll require once selected. Although the article doesn't state, it's possible that this beta test opp is open to US residents only.
My rumour mill has also informed me that the Sims Online will not be available outside of the US, the bar-stewards...*
*My rumour mill is not guaranteed to be completely accurate and should not be used for gambling or investment purposes. PopupToaster makes no representations, expressed or implied, to any actual or prospective viewer as to the existence, ownership, accuracy, description or condition of the listed information. 7.5% A.P.R. The usual restrictions apply.
I guess the ads on headstones campaign was a success for Acclaim. Now they're trying to convince fans to change their name to Turok for the launch of Turok Evolution.
Oh, what ever will they think of next?
While EA is "hoping to create promotional synergies" with the music industry by partnering with mainstream musicians, this is good news for games developers as well. Good music can really enhance the playing experience and sets a mood better than virtually anything. Whilst our games audio specialists are hugely talented, sometimes it takes that special something extra that independant artists can offer that puts the icing on the cake.
Anything that will help us get access to more musical talent is a Good Thing (tm).
PGR2: The First Screenshots - yum
Oh, oh, oh - how purty is that? If they can do me a nice 954 or maybe a '67 AC Cobra, that would be velly, velly nice, indeedy...
[top site, by the way - lovely photos, drool, drool]
Advance rumours
Word from Japan (via MCV Mag) is that Nintendo's planning on a new version of the GBA to be released later this year. Rumour has it that there will be an improved screen and contrast control.
Good. I can put the girl-child off for a few more months... gotta get one with a screen she can actually see.
Wage of mythology
Research is one of my favourite parts of the game design process. There is so much out there to draw from - history, politics, myth, science - all sorts. In the latest GameSpy Developer Diary, Bruce Shelley describes the research that went into Age of Mythology. I'm sure it's going to be a great game, but the article made the cool research stuff sound terminally boring. This may be due to the fact that political correctnesss has run wild - even in the games industry (yes, it's true).
Says Shelley of games designer Ian Fischer, "He focused first on determining which mythologies were sufficiently accessible, populated, familiar, and non-controversial. The three that best suited our requirements were the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian."
They had to pick myths that weren't the basis for any current major religion so as not to piss anyone off. Shame, that. There are so many cultures and stories that I'd be more interested in playing around with. Central Asian culture is my current personal interest, but the Mayans, Aztecs, Sumerians, and Hindus also have fascinating mythologies upon which to base a game.
There's a big world out there - we should be learning more about it.
All your burgers are belong to... (groan)
Tired of being whupped online by teenagers on their school holidays? Looking for someone even smaller and weaker to beat? Today's Daily Victim has a brilliant idea.