3D Zombies

Some students at Georgia Tech and the Savannah College of Art and Design have made something really special.

Watch it here:
http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2009/06/17

This is really something. It could have fascinating applications in medicine, science, and all sorts of fields. Or, granted, it could also be used to kill tons and tons of zombies.

One day, my kids'll be whining about 3D games being boring and I'll say something to the effect of 'In my day, we had Atari 2600s! We had tanks made out of 17 pixels and we were happy to have 'em!'

Technology is a wonderful thing :)

Cheers,
-Jason

I Need A New Game

As hard as it is to say, WoW just isn't doing it for me anymore. I got my Hunter to 70, got my Flying Machine and started leveling my Warrior. I got him to 64 and just kind of went 'bleh.'

It was just the same quests, only harder.

So, I need a new game. I don't care if it's single-player or an MMO, but I gotta hankerin' for somethin' new.

I have been playing Painkiller: Overdose, but it doesn't quite grab me. I play through a level now and again, but I feel no overwhelming drive to complete it (unlike the original Painkiller that I played through 4 times).

I was also considering going back to City of Heroes/Villains, but you can't solo past a certain point and I always find that frustrating. Well, you can, but you can't complete the AV story arcs.

I have been considering Pirates of the Burning Sea, but while the combat sounds fun, the whole economic model doesn't seem particularly interesting. I'm also considering Tabula Rasa, but I've heard pro and con on that one.

So, tell what's good out there right now. I like FPSs (I've played CoD 4 through 3 times already) and RPGs, but will play most anything if it's interesting.

Are there any hidden gems out there? Any little games, even 'casual' ones, that deliver serious fun? Let me know.

Cheers,
-Jason

BioShock (no spoilers)

I have been playing BioShock (Bioshock? BIOSHOCK?) lately and thought I would post a quick review of my thoughts.

As an FYI, I do play all the major FPSs (and some of the lesser known ones), so I have some familiarity with the genre. I have not yet finished BioShock, but am probably better than 80% finished.

First, the good news.
The game is gorgeous. The environments are really spectacular and the game conveys a slightly claustrophobic, slightly crazy atmosphere. The world feels right for the game, if that makes any sense. The sound is likewise impressive, from the scratchy records playing in the background, to the whistling of an enemy as he wanders the halls. The voice acting is excellent throughout, making the near constant diary entries actually pleasant to get through.

The plot is likewise interesting. I did guess at one major revelation early on (it is not particularly tricky). There is another, bigger twist that I did not see coming that is handled very well.

There is a scene with Ryan later on that I particularly liked. It was actually rather moving.

The level layout is decent, though not particularly imaginative. The weapons all look good and feel right, if you know what I mean. There is enough variety in the Plasmids and Gene Tonics to allow a variety of play styles and once you get enough slots, you will be able to custom-tailor your gameplay significantly.

Now, the bad:
The game crashes on my system roughly every three-four hours. I updated all my video and sound drivers, but that still has not really helped. I also have a weird problem where the game sometimes restores the default settings. I have some of the high-end graphics options turned off and on a number of occasions, I have had to go back in and reset them. This is a really strange bug that I have never seen in a game before.

There are really only 4-5 enemies in the game and I am getting tired of killing them over and over. The enemies also level as the game progresses, so the enemy that took 5 pistol rounds on level 1 now takes 15 on level 3 and so on.

Mini-Rant: I hate it when enemies level as the game progresses. My problem with it is that essentially any enemy from the end of a game could wipe out everything at the beginning. This always feels like lazy design to me. Give me new tougher enemies. Better yet, mix in the new, tougher in with the old, weaker enemies. That way I have to think about what I am shooting. I will also feel powerful (by wiping out the cannon fodder), but challenged by the bigger boys.

The Big Daddies are not particularly interesting to fight. I tried a variety of fancy tactics, but eventually got bored with trying to set elaborate traps. I just blaze away with whatever weapon has the most and best ammo. I die a lot on them, but it does not really matter.

Death does not matter. Often times, you repop right around the corner and just continue the combat, making any battle really a matter of time. In its defense, BioShock is not really a true FPS (more of a FPS/RPG hybrid), so that was probably a very conscious decision to make the game easier and more accessible.

The hacking gets very old very quickly. There is no reason not to hack everything, so obviously I do, but you can only play Plumber so many times. Alternated mini-game styles would have been nice.

Overall, the core of the game (the visuals, sound, weapons, etc) feel and look really great, but the constant crashes and setting resets hurt. The gameplay is decent, but there is nothing that really stands out. They do deserve props for some interesting plot twists and characters, however. Ultimately, I feel like more could have been done with the game.

BioShock is like a really fancy sports car with a crappy engine. Once the initial thrill fades and you realize its going to break down once a week, youre probably going to leave it in the garage.

Cheers,
-Jason

A Polite Request

I love video games. This is patently obvious, considering that I actually work in the video game industry. My two big loves are Role-Playing Games (RPGs) and First-Person-Shooters (FPSs) though I do appreciate a wide variety of games.

I, therefore, have one simple request for my esteemed brethren in the industry:

ENOUGH WITH THE AMNESIA ALREADY!

I am getting really tired of games starting with:

You wake up in a dark alley, clad in a pink tutu and combat boots, your only possessions a Barbie Doll with one arm missing and a machete. You cannot remember your name, where youre from, who your Prom date was, or why lima beans make your cry, but you know one thing: someone is going to pay!

There are other ways to prevent the player from learning pertinent information. True, these ways are harder and require a bit more work, but I, for one, would appreciate it.

Here is one for free: The hero is a highly trained government assassin who is targeted by his own side. Rather than giving him amnesia, maybe his superiors have been purposefully feeding him misinformation. So when he goes to the super-secret hideout, its just a Chuck-E-Cheese. Now he is uncertain that his information is good and the game can proceed normally. Easy, is it not?

Now, I am not suggesting that games can never use amnesia. Im sure it could be done well. Just do not use it if there is a viable alternative.

Here is a thought: Make a game where everyone has amnesia. The hero, the large-breasted love interest (there has to be one in every game, its a rule), the postman, the dog, your neighbors, everyone. Now that could be fun!

So, please, do it for the children.

Cheer,
-Jason

A Tale of Woe: Part 2

At long last, everything was ready. I hit the Launch button and an error message appeared. I tried again and was given the three original options again. I tried #2. A new error. I tried #1. Same error as number 2.

I decided to do some research and learned that DX10 only worked on Vista. I do not have Vista. I will not even think about installing Vista until Service Pack 2 comes out. The question then became, had I hosed MB by installing the DX10 bits? I dunno. Maybe. Possibly. So I uninstalled, intending to reinstall from the disc.

And what happened? Nothing! Yep, I now had a new error on trying to install MB (something not found) from the disk. I tried again and then again.

At this point it had been two-days since I purchased the game. I was beginning to break out in hives. My mouse-hand was beginning to atrophy from disuse. I considered an animal sacrifice, but all I had was a boneless chicken breast in the fridge. I stabbed it anyway. It didnt work. And then I thought: Steam! I could download the game! I could, theoretically, play MB at some point in the near future!

I started the download from Steam. It took roughly ten hours, but eventually, the percentage hit 100 and the Launch button lit. I pressed it and chose option#1, Launch MB.

Error. I tried #2. Same error. Pixel shader version detected: 2.0.

I used my own special swearword. I do not use this word lightly. It could, in the wrong hands, tear a hole in the space-time continuum and utterly undo existence. Yes, I was that irritated.

So what the hell did Pixel shader version detected: 2.0 mean? I ventured onto the web and discovered that MB requires pixel shader 3.0. Now, I have a badass video card. It was top-of-the-line two years ago and while old, it is still quite capable. But not anymore. Its pixel shader only goes up to 2. 3 is right out.

So, now what? I do not wish to buy a new video card, yet I would like to play MB (which at this point, had better ROCK!). If theres an inexpensive shader 3.0 capable card, I may just buy it, play MB, and then put my old card back in. We shall see.

Cheers,
-Jason

A Tale of Woe: Part 1

I recently purchased a new computer game. It is, I am assured by many, a wonderful game, full of promise, hope, and aliens that are in desperate need of immediate decapitation.

I will not tell you the name of this game, as lawyers may object to the things I am going to say. I fear no man, yet I have great respect for subpoenas (and lions). So I will simply refer to this game as Misplaced Biosphere (MB for short).

I purchased MB at the local EB Games and happily returned home, my mouse hand already twitching with anticipation. I opened the box and discovered much to my horror, that there was no disc inside. I returned to EB Games and after a brief conversation, was given a new copy. The clerk had mistakenly handed me the display copy, not the actual game. They were very apologetic and all was right with the world.

I returned home, plopped the disc into the tray and began installation. Now MB uses Steam. I am lukewarm on Steam (pun intended). When it works, it works well. When it does not, pain and suffering abound. Steam asked me for the 25-digit CD key. I entered it. Steam churned and then told me that the CD key had already been used and therefore was invalid. I reentered the CD key, but to no avail. It was back to EB Games, where they replaced the game, no questions asked.

Once more back home, once more to the install screen. Hooray, the CD-Key worked! After fifteen minutes of loading, the MB was ready to launch and I was presented with three options:

Launch MB
Launch the DX 9 version of MB
Launch the DX 10 version of MB

I was vaguely puzzled. Doesnt everything use DirectX? So, without thinking, I pressed option #3, Launch the DX 10 version. 75 minutes of downloading ensued. I went and watched TV.

Tomorrow: A conclusion!

The Business of Video Games: Part 6

And at last we come to the unsung (and often unwashed) heroes of game production: the Testers. Testers, well, test. They play the game in its various stages, looking for bugs and reporting them via some painfully obtuse bug tracking system. Sounds like fun, does it not? Surprisingly, no.

Take your favorite game and play it through 100 times. Randomly unplug your game system every so often. That is what being a tester is like. Now do that again, except with your least favorite game. Rinse, repeat. Insane yet? Do not worry, you will be soon.

Now I have been accused of being cynical about the games industry. It is true. I have spent a lot of years making games and it can be an amazingly frustrating occupation. Yet for all that, I keep plugging away. Why? Because with all that is wrong with the games industry, you still get to work with a diverse group of intelligent, talented people on something amazing. You get to make video games.

Cheers,
-Jason

The Business of Video Games: Part 4

During this time, the other departments also get busy. The Artists begin to do research. To the uneducated onlooker, it resembles looking at art books, comics, and other games a lot, and then surfing the net. However, artists will insist that it is actually work. Once they have gotten bored with their research, they then began to design Concepts.

A Concept is piece of art that incorporates all the descriptions the designers have written (it is, like, big, with spikes, and . . . uh . . . it is blue) along with a healthy amount of imagination on the part of the artists. Once all the Concepts are done, often with multiple Concepts per individual item, everyone else reviews them and gives feedback. The feedback varies from simple (that blows) to extravagant (that really blows).

Sometimes, someone will point out that the artist obviously does not Get what the game is about and that all of the Concepts will need to be redone. If you happen to be in the room when this happens, you should pick this moment to go to the bathroom, as there is a certain probability that the artist will attack this individual with a blunt pencil.

Eventually, once the Concepts have been decided on and any injuries have been seen to, the artists will begin to produce all the art required for the game, as well as whatever else Marketing asks for.

Tomorrow: Programmers and Producers

The Business of Video Games: Part 3

This is when the Game Designers go to work. They labor for days, typing out documents and having earnest discussions about how the economy of the Mushroom Men actually works. Blood, sweat, and tears will go into whether or not the Pink Pony has 21 hit points or 22. The job of the Designer is not only to figure out how the game works, but also to write down everything. How many, what they look like, who they hate, what their weaknesses are, tastes great or less filling, slacks or cords, one or two sugars, everything. And it all has to fit together and make sense.

The other departments like to mess with the Designers. They will come by and point out that on page 7 of the Master Design Document, the Gorillinarians speak with a British accent, but on page 113, they lisp. This causes the Designers to not only fix the problem, but to review every single thing they have written to make sure everything is consistent. This can take days, but it is vitally important that Design has everything exactly right.

The joke, of course, is that once the project goes into full-scale development, everything will change anyway.

Up Next: Production!

The Business of Video Games: Part 2

Now, assuming that an idea actually makes it to a developer, what comes next? More beer. Seriously. This helps write the Pitch Document.

The Pitch is a five to ten-page document, which details the high points of the game concept. It is often highly inventive and uses words like Synergy and Leverage. No one knows what those words actually mean, but they look good.

This document is presented to the Publisher, in the hopes that they will want to fund it. The Publisher reads the Pitch and generally, after a hearty laugh, throws it away. However, sometimes the Publisher will actually consider the Pitch and take it with them back to their lair. There, numbers will be crunched and otherwise mutilated, the innards of goats will be divined, and clandestine meetings will be held in alleys at 3:00 AM. Then, if the stars are right, the Publisher will offer the Developer not quite enough money to actually make the game. The Developer, thrilled to actually get an offer, accepts and thus begins the next phase.

Next: Design

The Business of Video Games: Part 1

I work in the video game industry and as such, am often asked a couple of common questions. These include:

Could you please stop sweating?

Did something die in here?

What is that smell? Is that you?

Occasionally, I am asked about the video game industry, specifically, how exactly games are made. By occasionally, I mean twice. Both times by my mother. Sometimes she forgets things, like how she calls me Susan. Anyway.

Phase 1: The Idea
So where do ideas for video games come from? The answer: anywhere, though beer is probably involved. In truth, there are probably thousands of good ideas for video games floating around out there. The problem is that there are also hundreds of thousands of bad ideas. How can you tell the difference? You cannot. No one can. Are there people that can? Maybe, but they are probably too busy making millions of dollars to tell you how.

Here is an actual, absolutely made up, transcript of how a game idea occurs.

Guy 1: Monkeys!

Guy 2: What?

Guy 1: No, gorillas! Undead gorillas!

Guy 2: What are you talking about?

Guy 1: Undead gorillas that fling their poo! The poo is like explosive or something!

Guy 2: Would you please be quiet?

Guy 1: And you have to drop anvils on them. From balloons. And snakes! Snakes with knives!

Guy 2: Sir, this is a funeral!

Tomorrow: The Pitch!

Run Like Hell

Childhood obesity is a rising problem in America. Apparently, a single American child is large enough to feed a small third-world village for a day. No, I am not advocating selling our children as food, no matter how much the idea amuses me (A Modest Proposal, anyone?).

The single largest thing that seems to get the blame for this is video games. Luckily for America, I have a solution.

It is a video game called Run Like Hell.

It is very simple. Your character is running away from something. If the pursuer catches you, you get an electric shock via a taser-like device that has been strapped to your body.

The components to build this game already exist. All you need is a dance-game floor pad and a locking belt with a built-in taser. Your child runs on the dance pad while watching the TV, which has a radar display that shows how close the pursuer is. There would be occasional safe areas where your child could rest and a finish line that would end the game.

The game would start out easy, with your character being chased by an octogenarian with a bad hip. It would ramp up to wolves, psychotic mass-murders, and eventually, Lance Armstrong. Failure would mean the aforementioned electric shock and starting over. If the taser is correctly tuned, you will NOT want to get caught, trust me.

I am confident that if forced to regularly play my game, the children of America would be in fantastic shape within a couple of months. There is a tiny flaw with the game, in so much that no one in their right mind would play it, but that is where the parents come in. I would suggest attaching the locking taser belt to your child in the dead of night and withholding food/allowance/clothes until they completed a session.

Is my idea perfect? No, but it is a start. Now if I can only figure out a way to make this work with other problems, I could make a whole series of Like Hell games, including Study Like Hell, Get A Good Job Like Hell, and Call Your Mother Once A Week Like Hell. The possibilities are endless.

Cheers,
-Jason

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part 10

Battlezone had tanks. This is reason enough to love it, but it also had flying saucers and a landscape littered with giant pyramids and cubes. There is no real explanation as to why you needed to drive your tank around and blow up stuff. I always assumed I just hopped in my tank for a quick drive to the store to pick up some Lucky Charms (substitute the foodstuff of your choice, if necessary) when I was suddenly attacked. I would certainly fight for my Lucky Charms, I assume you would as well.

Battlezone also had a city. I never saw the city, but my best friend, Chuck, assured me that his older brother had a buddy who had a cousin that saw it. If you played long enough, you would eventually reach the city and fight there. I have no reason to doubt this. After all, if you can not trust some cousin you never met, who can you trust?

Next time: Tempest!

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part 9

Berserk was not really a videogame. I know some of you are insisting that yes, it was, seeing as how you played it, but you are wrong. Berserk was actually a Kafka-esque commentary on modern life. Think about it.

You are trapped in an endless maze full of lethal, but not particularly bright robots who are trying to shoot you. Evil Otto, an unstoppable killing machine, always eventually appears and chases you relentlessly, forever. Your only hope is to keep running, but eventually you will falter and fail. This is a not only a brilliant commentary on life, but also an amazing allegory for high school. Moving on.

Next: Tempest!

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part 8

Berserk, also introduced in 1980, was one of the first games to include an actual voice synthesizer. Stop the Humanoid! and Intruder Alert still make me smile, recalling the good-old-days, when I was trapped in a maze and robots were trying to kill me. Actually, it was school and jocks, but you get the picture.

In Berserk, you controlled a little humanoid with no neck. You ran around a simple maze, trying to escape while robots tried to kill you. Everything was lethal, from touching the walls, running into a robot, or being shot. The robots, it should be said, were not particularly bright (not unlike the jocks). They would often walk into the walls and shoot each other, sort of if Laurel and Hardy were controlling them. If you cleared all the robots or the timer ran out, Evil Otto, a smiling, bouncing ball would appear and attack you. Evil Otto would indiscriminately kill anything it touched, including the robots.

Next: More Berserk!

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part 6

The next great alien attack came in 1980 in the form of Defender, also known as Oh-My-God-Is-This-Game-Hard. The game had roughly 114 buttons, 3 joysticks, and a thing you put your foot in. No one knows why you had to put your foot there, you just did.

The object of the game was to kill alien ships before they could capture the helpless humans, transport them to the top of the screen, and then, presumably, eat them. Why they felt a need to do this was never explained. I always assumed it was because humans were tasty.

I took Defender personally. It was simply implied that the aliens in Space Invaders were going to wipe out the Earth. The aliens in Defender actually ate people, a certain percentage of which were probably cute girls. This could not be allowed. However, I was not the person to stop them, seeing as how I really, really stank at Defender.

I was pretty good at video games and with few exceptions, could get a decent amount of play out of a single quarter. Not Defender. I rarely got past the second level and basically died immediately on the third. Sinistar was probably the only game I was worse at. I played and played and played and played and after dropping probably twenty bucks, I gave up. All the cute girls were left to be snatched up and eaten by aliens. This mirrored my dating life in high school, save that instead of being eaten by aliens, the girls were dating jocks. Sigh.

Next: Missiles!

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part 4

The next big thing was Space Invaders. This was not an innocuous white square bouncing around an empty black space. These were aliens intent on destroying Earth. If they succeeded, there would be no more pizza, no more Youth Soccer, and not even the possibility of seeing a naked woman. Granted, at that age we had no idea what one did with a naked woman, we just really wanted to see one. It was, in short, personal.

Space Invaders ran on an Intel 8080 at a whopping 2 Mhz. I have no idea what those numbers mean, but it sounds really, really small. Regardless, I played the game relentlessly. I dreamt of Space Invaders. I dreamt of being awarded a medal for defeating the alien armada. I was 10, what can I say.

Up Next: Big Rocks in the Sky.

A Brief History of Video Games: The Arcade Years: Part I

Once upon a time, there were no video games. I realize this comes as a great shock to many of you, but it is sadly true. Medieval peasants did not get phat lewt. Members of the court of Queen Elizabeth did not shout Ding! King Tut may have been cool, but he did not roxor.

So what did nerds do back then, in the proverbial (and literal) Dark Ages? I have no idea. It probably involved hard labor and dying from disease. But I digress.

There is debate over what was the first true video game. Some say it was OXO (or Noughts and Crosses), which was made in 1952. Some insist it was Tennis for Two, built in 1958. However, I have no knowledge of these games, so I we will leap ahead to 1972, when Pong was introduced.

The first time I saw a Pong game was in the mid-70s, when we went to a Round Table Pizza after a Youth Soccer Game. I am pretty sure we lost, as we sucked hard. However, the pain of our defeat was soon forgotten when somebody found a cocktail Pong machine in the back.

Tomorrow Part II: Revenge of Pong