The Code Games News Report 09.01.07
Posted by Shawn Struck on 09.01.2007
All the news, reviews, previews and awesome exclusive columns!
C:/dev/null/run dacode.exe -w -t -f
Goooood morning, 411! Good morning to all the 411Maniacs and Struckoholics! Good morning to all the news, reviews, previews and awesome exclusive columns!
Who day and night, must scramble for the obscure stuff, always bringing more stuff, to share it all with you? This column, this column... The Code!
Yes, Virginia, There Is A Polybius
An Urban Legend Comes To Life.
As the story goes, whispered in back alleys of arcades in the US, an unheard-of new arcade game appeared in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon in 1981. The game was called Polybius, and was supposed to be incredibly popular... to the point of addiction! It was said that obsessed video game wizzes lined up to play the arcade game constantly.
Soon after, rumors abounded that smartly-dressed men in black suits began visiting these arcades that had Polybius . Instead of the expected marketing or demographic data you'd expect to be collected by company visitors to arcade machines, they collected some unknown data, allegedly testing responses to the psychoactive machines. The players themselves suffered from a series of unpleasant side-effects, including amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and supposedly even death. Some players stopped playing video games, while it is reported that one became an anti-gaming activist.
The supposed creator of Polybius is Ed Rottberg, and the company named in the urban legend is Sinneslöschen (German for sense-delete), often named as either a secret government organization or a codename for Atari. The game play is said to be similar to Tempest, a shoot 'em up game with vector graphics.
Such a spooky game made for great storytelling, but no one ever could point to the real thing.. until now.
Yes, some dedicated classic game fans and digital prankster couldn't find Polybius.. so they created it. Not only can you download the ROM file, they also include free fake artwork and game cabinet stickers. They even wired a flickering bulb effect into the main bios... this group thought of everything. So now you can build or convert your own arcade cabinet into a Polybius cabinet and freak people right the eff out.
Nobuo Uematsu Working On Mystery PSP Game
Not a Chocobo In Sight.
I mentioned how Nobuo Uemtsu is directly responsible for one of the greatest moments of my life last week, so it's no surprise that I'm a fan and follower of his work. The tunesmith for Final Fantasy's most memorable musical tunes, is partnering with AQ Interactive on a sound novel game called Anata wo Yurusanai, or I Won't Forgive You. According to 1UP.com, "...players will hold the PSP unit vertically and use the analog nub to search, take photos, tail a suspicious person and perform surveillance."
The game is scheduled for a November 15th release in Japan.
It's Official: Video Games Not Connected To Virginia Tech Shooting
Brought To You By Leading Sociology Review Journal 'Duhhhh'.
The final official Virginia state report by the Virginia Tech massacre review panel found no link between video games and the murders committed by Seung Hui Cho. This corroborates the federal government findings and report in June which found no link. The only game cited in the report at all is... Sonic the Hedgehog.
In the mental health history section of the report regarding Cho it says, "None of the video games were war games or had violent themes. He liked basketball and had a collection of figurines and remote controlled cars."
So, how did the idea "Cho spent lots of time playing violent video games and then he snapped and shot up his campus" start? Like nearly all bone-headed, misinformed crackpot ideas on video game violence, it was a link first pushed by professional attention-whore Jack "Voldemort" Thompson.
Thompson, who may or may not be linked to erectile dysfunction in mice, went on FOX News hours after the tragic event and (as Joystiq later showed) started making stuff up.
Not to be outdone the Washington Post later followed up with the lurid claims without any solid evidence, which they later ended up retracting. According to both the state and federal reports, whatever caused this guy's mental illness, it wasn't video games.
(thanks, gamespolitics!)
All You Tube, All The Time:
Tetris Fight, Symphony of the Night, and Luca Blight
Tetris Fight breaks out at Anime Expo. Kinda like a Mega64 skit, but more pointlessly violent than randomly funny:
Symphony of the Night has a rather unique glitch: With the right relics and vampire powers, you can actually fly outside the castle! Check it out:
Luca Blight-- the inanse RPG villian that just.. won't... die! 3 super long boss fight, a hailstorm of arrows, and he's still kicking. But he has one of the best death scenes, ever.
This Week's "It Came From...":
E-bay BioShock BioSwag
It's always insane to see how much people pay for random stuff on ebay. The image to your left is from an auction where a bag of BioShock swag from the release party in Boston is being sold.
The winning bid is $202.50, which is a much, much higher than I would ever consider paying, but I guess if you're a big BioShock fan and have over 200 beans just burning a hole in your pocket, well... more power to you .
From the auction link:
You are bidding on a very rare collection of items obtained at the exclusive Bioshock launch party on Monday night.
This auction includes the following items: BioShock Nylon Bag, BioShock Aluminum Gaming Pad, BioShock Adam pen, BioShock glowing drink stirrer, BioShock Coaster, and lastly a limited edition XBOX 360 BioShock Faceplate (#3290 of 5100). This game is amazing! Get these VERY RARE collectibles while they're hot! All items are brand new and will come with all original packaging. Contact me for more information or for more photos. Good Luck and Happy Bidding!
A comic that had me laughing for 5 minutes straight.
Via LBD at Poison Mushroom and the webcomic Digital Analog. Because seriously, haven't you always wanted to do this?:
(Thanks to Takashidaimao for the rockin' Dave.)
The Eight Greatest Mistakes In Game Design
Soren Johnson-- lead designer of Civilization IVrecently joined the team working on Wil Wright's Spore game for the PC. He has a really neat series on his devoloper blog covering what he sees as the eight greatest mistakes in game design.
From Part 1:
"One of the most common pitfalls for a game designer is to fear that the game is not hard enough. This fear often leads to hard-core game conventions, like restrictive save systems and unlockable content, that only put roadblocks in the way of the mainstream gamer who is just looking to have a good time."
"I still want to make my point, though. I don't like story in games. I don't like the boring cut-scenes. I don't like the stereotyped characters. I don't like the plots that I have no control over (and, sorry, the Bioware you-are-either-God-or-Satan twists count too). I especially don't like it when games stop me from fast-forwarding through the crappy dialogue (I'm looking at you, Japan). But what I really hate is when a story gets stuck somewhere it really doesn't belong. Like in a strategy game."
The whole series is a fascinating read, whether you agree with him or not.
Pimping Is Easy When You Use The Code!
The Full Circle News Report by Mike Minotti is jam-packed with details on the Call of Duty 4 beta. I don't have an Xbox of my own, but I've played a little bit of each iteration in the series, and the details has drops have me really excited to see CoD 4 when it comes out.
The Wonder Years casts its wise-yet-wide eyes upon the Mega Man franchise.
Ooooooh YEAH, dig it! Cory Moore looks at the wrestling video games from the '90s, in the latest edition of Press Pause.
The Select and Start News Report has lots of news on the recently re-rated Manhunt 2, BioShock news and boo-hoos, and price cute news you can use.
411Mania Game's very own Nintendo para-elemental, Theo Fraser, serves up the latest Nintendophiles with Ninja Gaiden DS news, Metroid Dread rumors, and lots of bile for Ubisoft.
Tommy Coloma hits reset, opens the gaming floodgates and talks about how anime and baked goods are a sweet match in the latest Negative Edge News Report.
In his latest Flashback Steve McHugh tackles more of Knights of the Old Republic 2.
As the story goes, whispered in back alleys of arcades in the US, an unheard-of new arcade game appeared in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon in 1981. The game was called Polybius, and was supposed to be incredibly popular... to the point of addiction! It was said that obsessed video game wizzes lined up to play the arcade game constantly.
It's always insane to see how much people pay for random stuff on ebay. The image to your left is from an auction where a bag of BioShock swag from the release party in Boston is being sold. 
