Weird Game

If you want a refreshing break from the same old games, try "Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space".

My boss brought this game to my attention, and when he showed it me I cannot say that I was too impressed. It took me weeks to load it up, and when I finally played it this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps this was due to my lowered expectations, but after tinkering with the game for a while tonight, it's obvious that the game is a solid title in its own right.

Funny, but Weird Worlds contains many elements that I usually don't like: confusing space maps, lots of text, strategy-lite gameplay, resources to worry about. But here's the deal: the maps are not confusing (they just look confusing), the text is entertaining (and pretty clever), the strategy parts are fun (if a bit unbalanced) and the resource management is super simplified (no credits to worry about). The drag-and-drop interface is really intuitive and easy to use, and best of all, you can play a session in about a half hour and walk away satisfied.

The general idea is: you are a captain of a space vessel. You travel from planet to planet, gathering weapons and items, meeting strange alien races, upgrading your technology, enlisting new allies and blowing the crap out of hostiles. Every time you play, the map generates randomly, so there's a lot of replay value. Plus, it seems that your missions and goals change as you play, although I have not gotten far enough to determine what the pattern is.

Interestingly, the game is an independent release, so it probably gets no mention in the mainstream press and certainly no shelf space in the mass retail outlets. How a game like this survives is beyond me, but I guess word of mouth (like this post) helps. I hope some gamers read this and decide to give it a try. It would be nice to see more games like Weird Worlds break out of obscurity and carve out a little niche for themsleves amidst the landscape of sequels and big-budget titles. There's room for all kinds of cuisine in the gamer's daily diet.

You know, like giant space snails.

Slimes Have Appeared!

OK, so like I've never been into RPGs or anything. But I just finished playing the Dragon Quest VIII demo disc and, boy, was I impressed! Great! I've often said that "Dragon Warrior" (for the NES) was the last proper RPG I can remember playing, and that was a looong time ago. So it seems appropriate that Dragon Quest VIII (as the series has always been called in Japan) would be the game that would make me sit up and take notice. The reviews have been calling it "old school RPG gaming at its finest" and so on and so on. Whatever it is, it sure is fun!

The demo took almost two hours to complete, which was quite a meaty demo, as far as I'm concerned. The monsters are hilarious.

Note that the commercial version of Dragon Quest VIII also contains a playable demo of Final Fantasy XII, if you care about that sort of thing.

Choose Wisely

This is hilarious.

Absolutely Fantastic

A black tie event attended by Mike Tyson ended in an all-out brawl. Unbelievable! This guy could spark a fistfight in a kindergarten.

Strike a Phoon

Come on...you know you want to.

Far Cry from Great

I'm playing Far Cry Instincts for the Xbox right now. The game had a lot of great buzz when it was released for the PC, and got some good reviews. Here's my take: Far Cry is a curious combination of Awesome and Not Awesome, so ultimately it's a wash. Which is a disappointment, considering how great the game starts out.

You land on a lush tropical island (gorgeous graphics!) with no weapons and very little understanding of the environment around you. The levels are huge, which gives you lots of of options. You can crawl through the jungle if you want, which is very dense and gives you a great feeling of protection. But at the same time, you don't know where your enemies are and it's diffucult to see, so you also feel vulnerable. The first third of the game requires a lot of sneaking and careful progression to stay alive, which was totally fun. I had a great time with this and really felt like I was "immersed" in the role of the character.

Then you gain animal powers, and the game's vibe does a shift. Suddenly, you're a lot more powerful, so you can run into most situations with guns and claws blazing. The difficulty level takes a sharp dive, and actually, it's for the better. Because it's suddenly so much easier to take out your enemies, you really feel the power of your new abilities. I thought this was really cool and subtle, but whether it was intentional is questionable. Because as you gain more powers, the game fails to keep up and starts using some really cheap tactics.

By the end of the game, Far Cry Instincts is suddenly not much fun. The bad guys become supremely powerful and pick you off instantly if you're not careful. The environments become dark and murky, a cheap ploy to force you to use your "feral vision". Even the jungles, once lush and protective, become a nuisance. The level design gets sloppy and in the last few stages on the island it becomes very easy to get lost or run up against the edge of the world. Not to mention the introduction of the worst kind of enemy: suicide bombers. You know, the ones that make a beeline for you and explode. Arrgh. I know the game's balancing act is shoddy, because suddenly armor pickups and first aid kits are everywhere. It's like the game starts to expect you to fail. I'm at the final boss fight right now, and I don't even know if I have the stomach to complete it.

In the end, Far Cry serves up some amazing fire fights, some cool action sequences and really gorgeous graphics (for the most part). There's also some fun to be had with weapons and options for how you want to tackle the missions. (Take the jet ski and deal with floating mines, or swim underwater and sneak up on the baddies with your silenced pistol.) I hope it gets a sequel, and that they put a little more care into the enemies and game balance.

Arj and Poopy

A funny cartoon for you to try.

Hell Is Other People

So I went to see Doom last night, instead of playing in my usual low-stakes weekly poker tournament. I have to say, I was quite pleased with the film. (Then again, I didn't have very high expectations.) Surprisingly, the beginning of the movie was plodding, but once the action picked up there were a few nice setpieces. The art direction did the franchise justice, as there were a lot of details carefully lifted from the games. For instance, I really liked how all the security panels on the Mars outpost looked just like the ones in Doom 3.

If anything, I was disappointed that the "portal to Hell" aspect of the game was downplayed. No pentagrams or demonic voices or anything, which was a shame. As a result, zombie trope monotony begins to set in towards the end of the movie ("Ohmygod, that dead body was right there. Where did it go? LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" etc.) instead of what should have been some serious hellspawn action. All told, not a bad movie, as far as videogame films go. The FPS sequence was pretty cool as well. But I still liked the first Resident Evil more.

Lord Henshingly Croft Would Be Proud

It's not too late! Cast your vote for this year's Walk of Game inductees here! And puh-leeze don't vote for EverQuest.

File Under: WTF

Seriously, there are no adjectives available to describe this.

Only in Japan

Here is a PS2 game from Japan in which you must shoot a giant bikini-clad woman in the boobies and the butt with rockets. Riiight. It's called "The Daibijin" -- which, loosely translated, means "I have some serious psycho-sexual issues that need to be addressed."

L@@K! Iron Maiden MIB! RARE!

Earlier this week, I went to a charity auction/dinner in San Francisco sponsored by the Entertainment Software Association. Called "Nite to Unite for Kids", this event is the gaming industry's biggest annual gala/fundraising effort. All the leading executives from the world's largest gaming companies attend. I saw the top dogs from Nintendo, Sony, Atari and so on. George Lucas received an award, which was presented by Hayden Christensen. As my friend Mark said, "It's nice to see the guy finally getting some recognition."

Anyway, what's really important is that there was a silent auction. Look what I won: a giant Iron Maiden action figure!


Fun note: I outbid Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, Day of the Tentacle, etc.) and took home the prize. Sorry, Tim!

Other items up for auction were a lot cooler (and more expensive) than a giant Eddie action figure. A PSP signed by Gwen Stefani, a Star Wars book signed by George Lucas and a Hello Kitty gift pack. Wow!

From the Times

Check out this piece in today's NY Times about GameTap's marketing campaign.

Blast from the Past

OMG: I haven't played Action Blast Land in years, but thanks to the magic of the web, now I can!

Download This!

Here are my photos from the big ol' GameTap-sponsored Download Festival '05 in San Francisco. Best moments of the day include:

- A teenage kid digging on Freeway
- Performance by the Lovemakers (imagine the Human League, sans shirts)
- The Gamer With No Name who came in and quietly beat Gunstar Heroes without uttering a word
- Two boys that appeared to be about ten years old in line for free condoms
- My friend Greg kicking ass at Pac-Man
- The Dome, man! The Dome!

Seriously, GameTap spent a lot of money and effort on what we have been cheerfully calling "the igloo" -- a giant Dome with numerous game stations and a huge 3D projection of the GT interface on the ceiling. Plus, tons of gameplay footage, screenshots and mind-boggling animations. Can you get into a 3D version of the Air-Sea Battle plane zooming 360-degrees around your skull? I can! The pictures I took, which are grainy and blurry, don't really do the Dome justice...but the light levels were really low inside and you could probably only get quality footage with a professional camera.

Too bad that the Doves, a band I really like, were not received with much enthusaism from the crowd. Hence, British crankiness ensued.

All in all, a successful and -- most importantly -- fun event!

Vampires Still Suck

What a disappointment! Darkwatch is a yucky game. Damn. I really, really, really wanted it to be awesome. It's not a bad game per se, but frustrating on so many levels:

- Mindless, endless enemies
- Crappy hit detection
- Boring level design
- Stupid good/evil system
- Dumb plot

The list goes on. Vampire powers are under-utilized. Weapon variety (and innovation)is lacking. The horseback levels, which are total filler, occur in these bizarre, barren environments where train tracks run back and forth between nothingness.

That said, there's a lot of great stuff about Darkwatch, most of which could be salvaged for a sequel. The character designs and atmosphere are both awesome, and the biggest selling points of the game, in my opinion. Screenshots really look great. The game is fast and smooth. The melee system rocks. Knocking a skeleton's head off with the butt of your gun delivers a satisfying crunch. But the game becomes brainless and aimless about four or five hours in. I don't mind a speedfreak shooting gallery, but it gets really frustrating when your bullets seem to be ineffective.

Anyway, I sent it back to GameFly before I even got to the much-ballyhooed sex scene. Far Cry is on its way instead, and I hope it's better!

Malevolent Anthropologist-Torturing Terror

The folks who brought you the brilliant Cyborg Name Decoder have now added a Monster Name Decoder. Check them both at namedecoder.com.

I Can Get Behind This

I never much cared for the White Stripes. I mean, I can appreciate their undeniable cool factor, but I heard White Blood Cells and thought it was just OK. Now, this is back around the time when the "garage rock revolution" was happening, and I'm a guy that likes the Mono Men and all that Estrus junk. So maybe I was just a little skeptical, all right?

(Yeah, but I bought that Strokes CD and I liked it. What can I say?)

So, like, a couple months ago I heard "Blue Orchid" on the the radio and I was like, "Damn, that sounds good." And then I bought the new Audioslave album. But I was in Full Moon Records the other day -- best Atlanta record store and you totally need to check them out -- and they had a copy of Get Behind Me Satan. Since every CD at Full Moon Records is 8 bucks, what did I have to lose?

Well, 'tis not the matter of what I was to lose, but what I was to gain.

Turns out, Get Behind Me Satan is brilliant. I was listening to it in bed the other night and I was thinking, "Is this what White Blood Cells was like? I don't think so!" White Blood Cells was scuzzy and a bit precious, as I recall. Get Behind Me Satan is that as well, but also offbeat and bizarre and sketchbooky and tight all at the same time. And it's got mojo -- you know, that thing Jim Morrison was always after.

Then I went online and read some reviews and it seems that a lot of White Stripes fans were disappointed with Get Behind Me Satan because it was weird, slow and/or just plain bad. Now, I definitely have a contrarian tendency when it comes to music, i.e., that which is deemed "brilliant" is often crapola in my book, and vice-versa. (See my copy of Spit, the Godfather of Smut.)

But waitaminnit, I played the album in the car on the way to work this morning (I didn't necessarily trust my previous nocturnal viewpoint) and it was still great listening, definitely. Blue Orchid, The Nurse, My Doorbell...no, this really is brilliant! I'm completely taken by surprise again. Get Behind Me Satan has a patchwork quality to it, like when you're standing at the bar and you can hear the jukebox...but also the band in the next room and the conversation beside you. Sometimes it sounds like a mish-mash of noise, but other times it all blends together perfectly. That's how I've described the Flaming Lips, and that's how I'd descrie Get Behind Me Satan.

Yeah, it really is cool!

Gee, 4!

So the CEO of G4 vacated his post, "passing the baton" to a marketing guy. This was just a few weeks ago. And it makes sense; the G4 network is struggling and they definitely have to try something/anything to get a rating. There was an old issue of Television Week floating around the office (August 22), which reports that G4 is "shifting its focus" from game-centric programming to lifestyle stuff -- all in an attempt to grab some of the guys tuning in to Adult Swim. Which might explain the somewhat baffling inclusion of a Happy Tree Friends-anchored animated anthology show.

But dare I say it? Smart. Too little too late? Maybe. They should have implemented this kind of programming strategy after they gobbled up TechTV. G4 has been losing viewership (if you can call it that) left and right, and now nobody's watching -- not the shows, not this "shift" in their approach. When you're only in 50+ million homes, you can't screw around.

Anyway, it's an interesting thing to watch. Personally, I'd like to see a games/gadgets/girls channel succeed. But as much as I adore Happy Tree Friends, I don't know if a decapitated bunny is the answer G4 is looking for.

Like Queen...But Good

Check out One Way Ticket, the new single from the Darkness, (exclusively!) on MySpace (?!?). I wish it was more balls-out, but it rocks pretty hard and indicates that the new album will be more of the same big guitar goodness we've come to expect from those crazy Brits.