Gaming Signal: September 2007 Archives

Monday September 24, 2007

Bioshock, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Chris Taylor

I was reading an editorial by Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor this morning that rang true with me. The gist of the message was that people don't like to be punished by games. His point was that we should get rid of Game Over screens, and not punish players for failing to achieve objectives.

When I read that I was reminded of two very different gaming experiences I've had recently. The first was Bioshock. This is a game I'd have bought regardless how hard it was - the universe was that intriguing to me, and knowing it was the spiritual sequel to System Shock 2, one of the best games I'd ever played, didn't hurt, either.

I started the game on Normal mode (not easy) and when I encountered my first Big Daddy I found that dying was something that I'd be doing a lot of in this game. No matter, though, the Vita Chamber takes away all penalties for dying. This was something I'd not encountered in a game before - I could die and when I came back, the mob would still have all the damage I'd given him before! This freed me up to try all sorts of wacky ideas for ridding Rapture of bad guys. And, I believe because of this feature, made the game a heck of a lot of fun to play. (Well, that is until the end-game where there's no Vita Chamber, and no way to gain additional health packs or Eva).

Contrast that with another game I'd read a lot of good things about and wanted to try, Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the Playstation 3. This gorgeous ninja action game had gotten a lot of good press on the XBox and also on the PS3. I'm not great at twitch games, but I'd heard a lot of good things about the game, and a review I read said that it had 5 difficulty levels, so that it was approachable by all gamers, so I gave it a try. I was dismayed when starting the game to find that there was no difficulty setting, but I got through the first couple bosses without a problem. The third boss, though, stopped me dead. After dying three times, I was asked if I wanted to abandon the way of the ninja. The manual mentioned nothing about what happened if I chose this route, but I chose it, and then asked if I was sure, and then if I was sure I was sure that this was wanted to do. Afterwards, I was belittled by one of the characters in the game who, in essense, called me a panty-waist and then said something to the effect of "Oh well, there are things that need to be done, I guess you'll have to do."

Of the two gaming experiences, which would you prefer?

Tuesday September 18, 2007

Halo 3 Ending Rumors!

In what should come as no surprise to anyone, someone has released spoilers about the ending of Halo 3. The fact that somebody is claiming to release this data should come as no surprise to anyone given that this game is receiving what I consider to be the Sherman's March to the Sea of marketing campaigns. Now this is also the same person that was trying to sell a pre-release version of the game on Ebay. In order to save all those folks who wish to have the ending remain unknown and to save my sanity (since I still think this game is not all "that"), I will reiterate what the fine folks over Joystiq and 360Fanboy have stated - go out on our friend Google and search for "Halo 3 Ending". But I will tell you this much before you rush out to watch the videos and read about the ending, the game will "end" and most likely will not answer all the questions folks have. There is my take on it...

Thursday September 06, 2007

I Can Has Free Games?

While there is some ability to acquire games "freely", this is an area that is not recommended since it both deprives the developer of income and also runs the risk of infecting machines with viruses and malware. Therefore, it is always a treat to get full games for free, and in this case we have several different options.

First up is the massively multiplayer market. This market is full of free game options, and more are added all the time. Now there is a qualifier on the free element to these MMOs, and that is that some advanced features or unlocks are available only via purchases through an online store. Anarchy Online has been free for some time now and is one of the very few science fiction based MMOs. Now one would expect that only older titles to be available in this format, but that is not the case. Newer titles like like Archlord and Sword of the New World have both given up collecting monthly access fees and gone the free route. Admittedly, these are not World of Warcraft, but they do offer the experience of an MMO. The final game that is loosely titled an MMO is Dungeon Runners, and we have touched on that before.

The next area for free games is encompassed by older titles that are now being made available by either GameTap or by downloading from another service. The GameTap route has a set of free games and they update part of that list every week (usually on Thursday). The games are accessed through a local game browser that integrates some ad support to help offset to the costs. They also have a subscription model that gives players access to a very large library of titles from a variety of platforms.

Now these "other services" include games directly from the publisher like the release of Command and Conquer which is now celebrating its 12th Anniversary. Mechcommander Gold and Mechcommander 2 are both available for free from Mechcommander.org. Finally Ubisoft made several of its titles (mix of old and new) available on FilePlanet and can be downloaded with a free account. The current list of titles include Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Farcry, and Raving Rabbids.

So remember that gaming is available no matter how much you spend on it. The key is to get out there and game.