The Code Games News Report 12.09.06
Posted by Shawn Struck on 12.09.2006
Shawn returns with his biggest column ever: Will Wright, Console Emulation, Professional Gaming On network TV, Hamster and the C64, and more await inside.
I'd like to apologize to the readers of 411 Mania Games for my unexpected an extended absence. Last week, my wife Michelle had fallen very ill. She has asthma and type 2 diabetes, and getting an upper respiratory infection on top of that did help her health no good. Long story short, we had to rush her to the E.R., and it was until 2AM the next morning that she was even finally given a room. Needless to say, I pretty much just used my house as a place to sleep after hospital visit until they finally let her go home. She's taking today easy, a doctor's appointment and then more rest over the weekend.
I want to thank my fellow staff members for your well wishes, and Newbs and Ashish for being so supportive and understanding.
And you dear readers, will gain from my loss-- you're getting an extra-long column, plus a double-shot of "It Came From..." and "Now That's Cool". Whenever there's trouble, it'll be there on the double, it's... The Code!
Uwe Boll's Boxing Match Was Really Something Awful To Behold (via Wired)
Uwe Boll has finally gotten into print without appearing next to the words "box office poison". It was simple, really, All he had to do was "prove" how "macho" he is by challenging "internet critics" to a "boxing match". Because, we all know that physically pummeling others drives home the point that you are not a hack in any way. Wired.com's Chris Baker was there, and he relates all the wince-inducing details:
During intermission, [Something Awful's] Kyanka does an interview with streaming site Wavelit.com. He's trying to be self-deprecating — he knows the matches will live forever on YouTube — but is too furious to laugh it all off. 'He said he wouldn't hit me really hard!' Lowtax fumes, rubbing his head. 'I hate him as a human being! This event is a combination of PR and BS!' Meanwhile, [Ain't It Cool News'] Sneider is taking advantage of the country's socialized health care. As two EMS workers tend to him, he occasionally removes his oxygen mask to vomit. As the intermission ends, the director emerges from the dressing room, looking serene. Kyanka points to Sneider's sickly puddle. 'Look what you did!' he snaps. Boll glances back, bemused. 'It was boxing,' he deadpans. 'Not chess.'
Wow, you mean a trained fighter could beat up people who never stepped foot in a boxing ring before? I AM SHOCKED AT THIS TURN OF EVENTS, SIR.Anyhow, the article's called Raging Boll, and the rest of it's a pretty good read.
Rock-Hard Stupid Playstation Burglers (via WKRC News)
Two guys who have to be the world's most idiotic criminals, broke into a home, tied up the resident with a Playstation cord and then demanded money and ransacked the place.
A few minutes later the two men came back and untied the victim, after realizing that they needed the controller to be able to play any games.
Behind the Scenes with Will Wright and Colbert (via Newsweek, Kotaku)
N'Gai Croal of Newsweek, got a chance to talk with Will Wright backstage prior to the developer's appearance on the Colbert Report, and got the chance to bend the gaming genius' ear about all sorts of details on his upcoming game, Spore. Some of the interesting details:
Wright told Croal that Spore, expected to hit in the second half of 2007, is currently in pre-alpha five, a stage of development for the game that means that EA employees outside the development team can play it from beginning to end, though the game is still quite rough in spots.
The game is expected to hit Alpha next spring.
Croal, while seated in the certain luxury of the Colbert Report's green room, asked Wright if he felt pressured by EA head Larry Probst's recent statement that Spore could be EA's World of Warcraft. To which Wright replied, that everyone at EA's making that claim right now in hopes of getting their project green lighted.
Croal also thinks that Will Wright was in his element with the comedian, but I caught a rerun the other day, and I gotta tell ya... For the first half of the interview, Will Wright looked really nervous, and Colbert seemed to be a little off his game.
Colbert does get bonus points for using the word "nerdgasm", though.
The Disabled and the Wii: An Open Letter to Nintendo (via Kotaku)
Kotaku reader and avid gamer Samuel Kahn has Muscular Dystrophy and because of it has a limited range of motion. Unfortunately, this means he's been having some major problems with some Wii games.
He still loves the system, but he wants to make sure developers and Nintendo keep in mind not everyone can swing their arms around like a spider monkey on meth when they game and to perhaps include some sensitivity options in game settings.
Open letter to Nintendo: To whom it may concern, The first thing I should mention is that I'm an avid gamer and a huge Nintendo fan. I've owned nearly every Nintendo console, so as you could probably imagine, I eagerly anticipated the release of the Wii, both as the next Nintendo console and for what it signifies in terms of a revolution in the way we play and perceive games. As the console neared its release, I began having certain fears about it.
I'm disabled; I have Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disease that makes me weak and limits the range of motion of my joints, which becomes increasingly limited slowly over time. I began fearing that the Wiimote was something I may not be able to use effectively due to my limited range of motion. I hadn't seen anything published regarding the adjustment of control sensitivity for the Wii and its games. After buying a Wii on launch day, I discovered my fears were partially justified. I can't really play some of the games in Wii Sports, because of the broad physical movement required. Bowling is the most glaring example of this. I can however play games with more subtle movement controls such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This leads me to believe that more options related to the adjustment of movement control sensitivity could have been included in games like Wii Sports, as would fit the precision that the Wiimote seems capable of providing. Games are something I'm very passionate about; they are an arena in which I can compete on even ground with others despite my disability. It's very frustrating to have home video games, which have always been open and very liberating for me, become limiting. So, my goal in writing this letter is to voice my concerns to Nintendo and other developers, so they could address my concerns and perhaps take them into consideration when developing games for the Wii. I'm certain that I'm not the only disabled gamer with these issues. Sincerely,
Samuel Kahn
More and more developers are including closed-caption options for game cutscenes. I'm sure that adjustable sensitivity controls wouldn't be an added strain on developers-- a lot of games has the seed of that sort of feature already.
It'll Probably Be Stolen By eBaumsworld.com By Tomorrow (via Rockstar)
It's not very good for, say, prank calls (er, not that I or anyone here at 411 Mania Games or any of its subsidiaries or my gran'ma'ma would condone those sorts of behavior) since it only has one line for each character. But it's still fairly entertaining:
A soundboard based off of pretty much every character featured in Bully.
Judge Richard Posner coming to Second Life (via NWN blog)
Wagner James Au writes, "He's upheld the First Amendment protections of video games and contemplated the future of law in online worlds, and early December, in an apt progression, monumentally influential Judge Richard A. Posner will take on avatar form, to discuss the US Constitution in the era of apocalyptic terrorism."
The event is sponsored by the Creative Commons Foundation. When asked for comment, Judge Posner had this to say:
"I am very excited to have been asked to give a talk, via an avatar, in Second Life. Virtual communities are an important social phenomenon with trans-formative potential, and I know that Second Life is in the forefront of this latest stage of the digital revolution." And I'm very excited to welcome such an august figure in-world, joining Lawrence Lessig, Thomas Barnett, and other great public intellectuals who're among the first to transmit their crucial ideas into the meta-verse.
Michigan Will Have To Pay For Failed Gaming Law (via Next Generation)
Earlier in the year, Judge George Caram Steeh, rejected a bill in Michigan as unconstitutional that made the selling of violent video games to minors illegal.
Now it turns out that the state of Michigan will have to pay up over $180,000 in legal fees to the ESA.
That may seem like a lot, but when you compare it to what some of the other states had to pay (Washington state, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Illinois have been upwards of $510,000) for their overturned laws.
As Kotaku's Flyn DeMarco put it, "So, I guess the E.S.A. does actually do something besides threatening poor bloggers for copyright infringement."
Hamster in video game (via Sean Ness)
In this really clever video, a cute li'l hamster has found himself trapped inside the C64 game "Monty on the Run."
You might wanna check out the link while the gettin's good.
Edit: The original site hosting it is down, so thanks one's lucky stars for YouTube.
Academic Warcraft guild seeks role-playing PhDs
An guild of role-playing academics in World of Warcraft has been given a grant to recruit more academics (PhDs and ABDs, ONLY please) to play with them -- like the Terror Nova guild, but role-playing oriented and focused on credentials.
Tiger Team One, a medium RP guild on the RP server Kirin Tor (Horde), has recently received Title IX funds and a N.E.A. grant, as well as a "Stone Guard's Stipend," to recruit members and begin operations. Besides an advanced degree, applicants should be familiar with Rutger Haur films. Successful applicants will be expected to integrate PvP with RP. Chosen applicants will receive up to 5 silver coins in start up funds and access to a vent server. Future publications should address Conan-like dialogue and simply morality tales akin to Xena. Complete discretion assured. Our membership includes a MacArthur Fellow and an emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Study. Our manifesto is posted on http://www.tigerteamone.com. May the wind be at your back. We will not be interviewing at the M.L.A., A.H.A., A.P.A. nor the A.S.A.
The application link is here, along with further details.
I wonder what guild chat would be like?
EaRMaN says, "OMG! There are solutions to the field equations of general relativity in which space-time has the structure of a four- dimensional Klein bottle and in which there is no matter. In each such space-time, the claim that not p is false. Therefore, the answer is p. AH HAH PWNED LUSER!" Deez_Cartz says, "I don't think so. NOOB." Deez_Cartz says, "Waitaminute. Then if I don't think that means" Deez_Cartz has disconnected.
Asteroid's Revenge: game from the asteroid's PoV (via Flash Ninja Clan, BoingBoing)
Asteroid's Revenge is a Flash game that does for Asteroids what Interview with the Vampire did for bloodsuckers: retells the story from the villain's perspective. In Asteroid's Revenge, you play a heartsick asteroid who has watched many of your kin destroyed by heartless vector-art spaceships. You are determined to avoid their fate by actively attacking the spaceships.
Professional gaming is set to take television by storm, as the World Series of Video Games announces deals with CBS, CSTV, and Gameplay HD to broadcast coverage of the first annual competition. College Sports Television will actually be airing coverage as five weekly 1 hour episodes in January. Gameplay HD, VOOM's video gaming channel, will be providing continuing coverage throughout the month of December, with more in February.
The deal with CBS marks the first time professional gaming competition will be covered by U.S. major network television, though they aren't technically following the competition. They'll be airing "THEY GOT GAME, Stars of the World Series of Video Games" on December 30th, a 1 hour special that follows five professional gamers on the road to the WSVG, including Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel.
A Doubleshot of Now That's Cool:
The Resident Evil Energy Drink (via Kotaku)
Kotaku blogger writes that "It seems that Capcom has gone into the business of promoting their Resident Evil Franchise with energy drinks. Being the devoted fan that he is, Brian bought the "T-Virus Antidote" and even went so far as to drink it. He describes the taste as being "something similar to cherry medicine and watered-down sprite". Sounds like the T-Virus itself might be preferable to this sickly concoction.
Apparently the label touts it as being "based on a game rated M for mature by the ESRB. It is not intended for use by children." So, as Brian so eloquently puts it, "If you have a kid with the T-Virus, you're f*cked"
"Now That's Cool" #2:
NES gamepad controls espresso machine (via endgadget)
There's nothing like reminiscing about the go-go '80s, the decade that gave us the NES and the cocaine craze that would eventually be displaced by the "less addictive" espresso fad. (Just go with us.) But all of this caffeine makes us want to reminisce faster; shouldn't there be a way to drink an espresso while contemplating the classic, boxy NES controller?
Now there is, with this crazy-hacked espresso machine, complete with add-on microchip, temperature sensor, and text display, with the NES controller orchestrating the brewing process. Now how long before Nintendo emails hacker Tim Hierzel, warning him not to drink coffee if it's too hot?
Madden Players Smarter Than Real Players, Coaches (via The Washington Post)
IN a recent study published and mentioned in a Washington Post article, kids who grew up playing Madden NFL know the intricacies of the game better than many fans (and coaches) of the game "because of attention to arcane details that has demystified the complexities of football to a population that never before understood them".
No word on whether there's also a rise of these dame players spouting inane blather while you're trying to get DECENT play-by-play announcing.
This Week's It Came From...
It came From eBay:
Handmade Super Mario Bros. Sculptures!
Some cool Nintendo clay sculptures up for sale. Her colleagues have also offered some original Pitfall earrings, a Megaman Beanie, and a dizzy Pacman ghost t-shirt worth splurging on.
target="_blank">Check it out! T
It Came From Amazon:
What happens when anti-PS3 fanboys leverage Amazon consumer images feature to spread their console religion? Comedy gold. According to the now "enhanced" version of the Amazon product page, the PS3 bundle also includes two tin cans for communication, a TI-82 for processing, a fire extinguisher in case of explosions, and an interactive alternative to the SixAxis controller which consists of ... Richard Gere's hamster.
European Virtual Console Titles Retain Unnecessary PAL Slowdown (Pro-G UK, gamesetwatch)
Virtual Console games for PAL territory Wiis suffer the same 50Hz technical problems as their original releases, according to Pro-G's James Orry. In testing Sonic the Hedgehog, for example, Orry notes that the game "runs noticeably slower than the NTSC version and features sizeable borders at the top and bottom of the screen."
NTSC signals display in 720x480, while PAL signals use 720x576i -- hence the horizontal bars, which are somewhat understandable. However, displaying 50Hz signals on 60Hz sets cause a noticeable slowdown that, according to Orry, "has plagued [PAL] gamers for years. Now PAL gamers are used to proper PAL conversions and 60Hz gameplay options, and being forced to return to the 50Hz dark ages isn't something Wii owners expected."
Not all games suffer the same fate. In an e-mail to Joystiq, Orry notes that he has not tried other titles yet. CVG found similar problems with F-Zero, while Mario 64 and Donkey Kong Country (SNES) ran smoothly with no problems. For now, it's a grab bag.
I dunno, there's a difference to me in making "faithful recreations" and "not fixing easily fixable technological shortcomings".
And speaking of emulation...
Not To Get Off On A Rant Here... (via Sardius)
Sardius, writer for Hardcore Gamer, 1up.com, Gamasutra and other fine gaming sites that are not 411 Mania Games thoughtfully covered something I was going to rant about this week: "Collection Compilation" games being reviewed by people that have NEVER played the original games on the original hardware and getting inflated scores, with the recent Capcom Classic Collections 2 and Sega's Classics collection as being the most egregious examples. The way he sees it:
Inflated scores have been a problem with classic compilation reviews in the past, but the issue has never been so prominent as it is with CCC2. The same thing is currently happening with the Sega Genesis Collection, which in spite of having some really glaring emulation issues, is getting mostly positive scores from critics who claim that the included games are all "perfectly emulated," and "100% faithful to the originals."
What I think is happening is that these games are consistently being assigned to people who are unfamiliar with the source material. It's not like you can blame them when these collections are full of smash hits like Block Block and Avengers, but if you've never played the original versions of these games, how are you going to know which ones are emulated properly? For that matter, how would you know which ones are genuine classics, as opposed to filler?
When you assign these reviews to people who are unfamiliar with the original games and the gaming culture of the time, the result is going to be a 7 or 8 out of 10 every single time. These people do not care about emulation accuracy, nor apparently do they care if half the collection is garbage. They see a $20 price tag, a few good games, and several "forgotten classics"...which, in other words, are titles that they absolutely hate, but dare not criticize lest they appear ignorant for slandering something popular.
I agree with everything he has to say in his piece 100 percent. Just because something is a "budget title" doesn't mean a crap product should be excused-- especially when it's supposed to be ports and conversion of games that worked fine on their native hardware many years ago. Do it right or don't do it at ALL, people!
I also agree with xkeeper's comment later on down in the comments:
It seems like compilations should be two-player reviews.
1P, who has played at least most of the compilation games
- Overall emulation/port quality
- Bonus features or lack thereof
2P, who hasn't
- "Is it still worth buying today" factor
- "Were these games even worth padding" etc
In this really clever video, a cute li'l hamster has found himself trapped inside the C64 game "Monty on the Run."
Kotaku blogger writes that "It seems that Capcom has gone into the business of promoting their Resident Evil Franchise with energy drinks. Being the devoted fan that he is, Brian bought the "T-Virus Antidote" and even went so far as to drink it. He describes the taste as being "something similar to cherry medicine and watered-down sprite". Sounds like the T-Virus itself might be preferable to this sickly concoction.
