"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

NCsoft To Shift Away From Games? [Ncsoft] Posted: 25 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST Despite plenty of good news for NCsoft in the past couple of weeks (acquiring new IP and Tabula Rasa finally going live for all the non pre-order people), some of the higher ups are expressing doubt over the future of NCsoft in the gaming world: The Korea Times reports on one of NCsoft's new directions, and while it's still in the virtual realm, it's a definite shift away from gaming, moving towards social networking and the like. The reasons? A quickly declining stock price, a plateau in the Korean game market (and a declining subscriber base for the Lineage games), and somewhat lukewarm response to their other gaming ventures: Korea's largest game company this year has released a series of social-networking services from Openmaru, an in-house software studio, with strong support from its CEO Kim Taek-jin. Meanwhile, its stock price almost halved over the past two months, as investors raised doubt about the prospect of its online games business. CEO Kim said Wednesday that the firm will increase investment in the online services sector, which is dominated by big portal operators such as Naver, Daum and SK Communications. "After games, the Internet has become my new dream,'' he said during a special lecture to students of Seoul National University .... Steve at PlayNoEvil sees this as a potentially bad move and wonders why they don't just shift gears in the gaming market. Tabula Rasa may not have been the best advised project ever: "... Social networking / Web 2.0 type businesses are intensely competitive and a lot of innovation has come from new startups, not existing companies. It would seem more sensible for NCSoft to work on acquiring additional game properties and build on its existing market than move into a completely new direction." This might just be excitement over moving business in a new direction, but it will be interesting to see how this develops. NCsoft Shifts to Non-Game Internet Services [Korea Times via PlayNoEvil]

Bayou Billy Commercial [Clip] Posted: 25 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST There are just two things that bother me about this clip: the guy's dreadful "Cajun" accent and the odd construction of the beginning of the video. I mean, what the hell are we supposed to think that guy is doing with his hands? Oh... wrestling a gator... I see...

Are Virtual Worlds Liberating? [Virtual Worlds] Posted: 25 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST Terra Nova has a thought provoking little piece up on the liberation (?) of virtual worlds - rather, are they liberating? Or are they just another method for dominant ideologies to be reinforced? Just a new arena for old social superstructures to be played out on a new stage? The notion of 'liberation' in some sort of all-encompassing way makes me skittish in most contexts, but there are some interesting points contained within: In general virtual worlds seem often to replicate structures of labour and production - they even support a class hierarchies based on geography, contextual knowledge, time in the given community etc. At the same time virtual worlds offer the promise of liberating us. Not quite in the old utopian ideal of freeing us fully from pre-existing notions of self but at least opening up new opportunities for self-exploration. What's more should you have access to a virtual world the barrier between roles of consumption and production seems to have been lowered such that both within the context of a virtual space e.g. as a crafter or builder in second life; or outside it, say as a fan fic creator, many can participate in a mixed traditional, amateur and / or gift economy. The long (loooong) comments section is good to settle down with and read through, and not one mention of Foucault so far in 100+ comments! Bonus points for that. Do virtual worlds liberate us? [Terra Nova]

The Sunday Song: November Posted: 25 Nov 2007 01:34 PM CST As promised, here’s that new song, “November.” Once again, this is in C G C G Bb C tuning. This tuning is really… mellow. I am sure I can get it to rock out, but I haven’t yet, that’s for sure. This is recorded on the Blueridge, not the Gibson, with the same double-mic set up as last time. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

冒牌天神？ Posted: 25 Nov 2007 10:36 AM CST 快睡了，刚看了个金凯瑞的片子《冒牌天神》。 小伙子对现实，对生活，非常消极。于是上帝给了他一周时间做上帝的权限，同一时间收到的要处理的祈祷有几十万，当然这也是因为基督教人太多…… 做了上帝又如何呢？所谓当官不为民做主，不如回家卖（种？）红（白？）薯。 当然这个片子意有点散，没有说到高深的地方，一会是写上帝要为人做主，一会又是鼓励这个小伙子找回老婆。 一周后，小伙子觉悟了…… 搞笑倒也一般，回想了很多事情。 所谓上帝，不过是人类对未知的机会的一种解释。当然，还有老天，佛什么的。 机会其实是在自己手里，我一直这样看。 明年，我打算再进学校，两年读研…… 自己的人生，一直把握在自己手里。 想到的很多，只是不好说出来。 每个人，一出生如同就在卷向一个旋涡，这个旋涡的最下就是死亡。 所谓机会，是在你下沉过程中的一种释放，这样的释放，你我随时都可以，只是看如何释放而已。

Subotron Seeks Female Artist In Residence [Arts] Posted: 25 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST From the awesome Subotron Shop, a retro gaming museum/store in Vienna, Austria comes word that they are currently looking for female applicants for their spring 2008 artist in residence program. The chosen entrant will receive free studio space at the museum and money to cover their expenses. The topic of this year's residency is Gender & Gaming and all applications must be turned in by December 14th. Past alumni include indie game designer Januz, street artist Space Invader, character designer Ryoskuke Tei, gameboy-sequencer Oliver Wittchow and that irrepressible troubadour, Jonathan Mann aka Game Jew. Sounds like an amazing artistic opportunity and a chance to see some beautiful country to boot. To get all the skinny on requirements and such, check out the Subotron website which is presented in both English and German.

《火暴狂飑Paradise》PS3版封面公布，画面进一步加强！ Posted: 25 Nov 2007 09:44 AM CST    08年1月28日发售！

制作中的价值：项目管理的价值 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 07:58 AM CST 原作者：Heather Maxwell Chandler 译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的 链接地址如下： http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1886/production_values_the_value_of_.php   原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。 译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：   Production Values: The Value of Project Management (Page 1/3) Next As veteran producer, I have first-hand experience with development teams viewing me as the “enemy,” more intent on following some schedule rather than making a great game. While this is not the case, it is hard to overcome the team’s perception because I am often trying to motivate the team to work harder and/or faster to ensure the game meets its scheduled ship date.     以下省略   －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ 以下译文   点击图片放大

改进游戏QA部门的10个技巧 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 07:51 AM CST 原作者：Phillip DeRosa 译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的 链接地址如下： http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050202/derosa_01.shtml   原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。 译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：      Top 10 Tips on How to Improve a Game Quality Assurance Department I'm director of quality assurance at Alberta, Canada-based BioWare Corp. BioWare is the developer of upcoming titles like the martial arts action-RPG Jade Empire and the fantasy RPG Dragon Age, among others. I've been meaning to write a piece like this one for a while now - hopefully, some of this information will prove useful to some of you regarding practical tips for improving quality assurance regarding approaches to video game bug and standard testing.     以下省略   －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ 以下译文   点击图片放大

通过可用性评估和可用性测试改良游戏 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 07:45 AM CST 原作者：Sauli Laitinen 译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的 链接地址如下： http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050623/laitinen_01.shtml   原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。 译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：      Better Games Through Usability Evaluation and Testing No one wants to play games that are either frustrating or difficult for the wrong reasons. The best way to make sure that unintended problems do not hinder enjoying the game is to take usability into account in game development. This article presents how this can be done and what kind of results to expect. Usability is an integral part of software development and has been so for the past 20 years. For one reason or another, usability has not gained similar popularity in game development. This, however, is about to change. Ease of use and optimal user experience are already important in games and will become even more so in the future.     以下省略   －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ 以下译文   点击图片放大

随机数有多随机？ Posted: 25 Nov 2007 08:06 AM CST 作为一个常识，每个程序员在做入门学习时，都会被老师谆谆教导：我们用的编程语言中的随机函数，只能产生出伪随机数。它有它的内在规律，只能作为对显示世界的随机事件的近似模拟。接下来，我们通常会被传授随机种子的概念。以及用物理上更随机的量做种子。比如系统时间、两次敲击键盘的时间间隔、多次移动鼠标的偏移、甚至系统出错的出错信息码等等。 作为游戏数值策划，除了加减乘除，用的最多的数学概念恐怕就是随机数了。有经验的数值策划或许从他的前辈那得知计算机中程序产生的随机数并不太可靠；或者他本身就受过程序方面的训练。如果游戏项目更幸运一点，担当数值策划的他是一个数学爱好者，并读过诸如《计算机程序设计艺术》这样的技术书籍，那么事情会好的多。可惜大多数境遇下，策划们从不深究计算机随机数背后的细节，也不太关心所谓“伪”随机数究竟“伪”到什么程度。 最近几天，有测试人员向我抱怨，我们游戏中某些概率设定总感觉有点怪怪的。似乎跟文档上的不同。 这种抱怨并不少见，许多网络游戏玩家都在抱怨系统生成的随机数不太对劲。善良点的玩家会归咎到自己的 RP 上，阴谋论者则指责系统作弊。运营着的游戏背后，数值策划和程序员们有苦说不出。 有必要科普一些数学常识，也作为我周末读书的一些笔记。 鉴于我所接触过的多数游戏策划大多没有很高的数学素养（这里用于对比的参照物——我自己，在数学方面的修养已经够差了），下面不列公式，只列常识。如果涉及一些数学上的结论，也回避证明过程。 以扔硬币为例来看概率： 如果硬币本身没有问题，那么每次实验的结果，正面和反面的出现概率理应一致，都是 50% 。 btw ，如果碰巧连丢了 10 次都是正面的话，认为第 11 次出现反面的概率更高的读者可以不必看下去了。根据基本的概率理论，作为独立实验，相互间是不会造成概率影响的。无论前面出现多少次正面，下一次正面的概率依旧是 50% ，不会多也不会少。当然，如果是现实中出现这种情况，我会认为是道具本身出了问题，或许这个硬币两面都是正面。这样的话，第 11 次倒是极有可能再次出现正面。 对独立的随机事件的单次预测做不到准确，但却可以从统计上得到一个稳定的数值。我们知道，大量做丢硬币的实验 n 次。随着 n 的增大，出现正面和反面的次数会趋与一致。 OK ，以上都是作为一个游戏数值策划应该具有的常识。只是人们往往忽略了一点：若是正面和反面在多次实验中出现次数严格一致的话，又反过来是一件小概率事件。例如：丢一万次硬币，正好出现 5000 次正面的概率大概不会比你买彩票中大奖的概率高多少。 如何看一个均匀分布的随机数发生器产生的数值到底随机不随机，简单的用统计产生出来的数字的分布是否接近均等是远远不够的。接下来介绍一下统计学中最著名的 χ 方检验。 假设我们投一个六面骰。每次 1 ~ 6 的点数出现的概率均为 1/6 。如果用计算机来模拟它，采用函数 random (1,6) 来产生一个 1 到 6 之间的随机整数。怎样判断产生的数字够不够随机呢？ 我们可以投 n 次（n 很大，比如 n=10000 ），统计出每个点数出现的次数：Y1,Y2,Y3,Y4,Y5,Y6 。理想的次数则都应该接近于 p=n/6 次。 取 V=(Y1 - p)^2 / n + (Y2 - p)^2 / n + (Y3 - p)^2 / n + (Y4 - p)^2 / n + (Y5 - p)^2 / n + (Y6 - p)^2 / n 划简后 V=6/n * ( Y1 到 Y6 的平方和) - n 这个 V 即量化表示了这 n 次实验反应出来的数字随机性。当 V 过大时，骰子可能偏向某几个特定点数更多一些。而 V 过小的话，则可能是随机数发生器有一些明显的规律（事实上，所有伪随机数产生算法都是一定有规律的）。 我们现在需要知道的是，对于一个随机数列，什么样的 V 是比较合理的。对于用随机数做骰子的实验，V 的值也是随机的，当然不是均匀分布。实际上它符合 χ 方分布。如果我们投骰子用的随机数是真正的均匀分布的话，V 值出现特别小或特别大的概率都很小。 实际上，在这个六面骰的例子中，V 有 1% 的可能小于 0.5543 ，有 5% 的可能小于 1.1455 ，有 25% 的可能小于 2.675 ，有 50% 的可能小于 4.351 ，有 75% 的可能小于 6.626 ，有 95% 的可能小于 11.07 ，有 99% 的可能小于 15.09 。 我实验了 gcc 3.4.2 的 libc 中带的随机函数去模拟六面骰。做了五组实验，每组分别为 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000 次。得到的 V 的值分别为： 9.088 3.371 6.432 15.805 1.7204 注：我使用了系统时间做种子，每次做此实验都会得到不同结果，本质上这些值也是随机的。 每组次数不同是因为：伪随机数列往往具有一定的周期性，当不知道它的周期特性时，n 选的不合适可能导致多段非随机带有某中倾向性的区间相互抵消其影响。 我们再次分析上面得到的五个数据，若随机数真的随机，他们出现的概率大约落在这样五个区间75%~95%) ，(25%~50%) ，(50%~75%)，(99%~100%)，(5%~25%) 表现不太坏，但也不算好。尤其是第四组实验数据，V=15.805 ，这是个很大的值。因为 V 值本应有 99% 的概率小于 15.09 ，所以出现这个值的概率应该只有不到 1% 。当然这也可能是个巧合（1% 的事件发生并不算太奇怪）。我后来又反复取不同的 n 测算了几次，有一次 V 又小于了 0.55 ，这也不太正常（也只有不到 1% 的可能性）。 最后，我的结论是：我用的 gcc 这个版本的 rand 函数不算很好。至少不能应用于极端要求随机性的场合。它对大量模拟六面骰这件事情上做的不太成功。 ps. 关于 χ 方分布的选定的百分值，可以参考《计算机程序设计艺术 第二卷 半数值算法》的 P39 页。上面我摘取的第五行。因为这里六面骰的点数分布有五个自由度（第六种点数的出现次数可以用其它五种出现次数推算出来）。 前几天写过一篇 blog ，里面随手举了个例子：游戏设计人员设计了一个 10 万分之一的凋落率 。一个做策划的朋友在 gtalk 上问我，这并不是个复杂的问题呀。难道有什么玄机？ 按这个朋友的思路，产生两次随机数就够了，一次 random(1,1000) 一次 random(1,100) ，只有两个数值都为 1 时，这个十万分之一个小概率事件才发生。 不错，理论上是这样，实际我们大多也这样的。而且很高兴看到，作为一个数值策划，他回避了直接用 random(1,100000) 。有编程常识的兄弟们都知道，大多数语言提供的标准数学函数库中不提供十万分之一级别精度的随机函数。 但是精度问题依然存在。我反过来问如果产生一个十万分之七的随机数时，他出现了一点小失误：random(1,100) * random(1,1000) <=7 是不对的。当然这个小错误很容易被修正。 实际应用中，更为正确的做法是回避直接使用高分辨率的随机数列。因为通常所用的线形同余序列产生的伪随机数列都不适用（道理很简单，每个随机数的精度要求提高意味着伪随机数列的周期变短，过短的周期性必然带来随机性的丧失）。如果真的有这类需求，我们应该让程序员去专门写一个了。 不光是这种超高精度随机数的需求应该尽量被回避。单次随机量的自由度也最好被限制。计算机模拟丢硬币总比模拟投六面骰看起来要真实一些。而模拟六面骰又好过二十面。用固定面数的骰子模拟出来，也比数值设定时八卦一个百分比概率要强。 原因并非完全源于它们需要的精度不同。更重要的是自由度小一些的随机量，更容易被统计方法检验是否合理。一旦程序产生的伪随机数随机性被检验出来不太好，我们总有机会去尝试一个更好的，不是吗？

Zombie Game Project Video Clip (#1) Posted: 25 Nov 2007 09:39 AM CST Yesterday I promised to show you a short video clip. As mentioned in that post, I have got some things finished faster than I anticipated. I’m actually going through my stories (that’s extreme term for “big task” or “objective” or “feature”) this weekend and new planning, since most of the tasks I planned for the next 2 weeks are finished. Here’s a brief video that gives you little taste about the game… all art is placeholder art, so the style will somewhat change when I get to put proper stuff there. If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

分支剧情 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 09:07 AM CST 　　“J.Test”考试成绩出来了，325分，比我预计地低了二三十分，整体来说，听力错得蛮离谱的我对下来。F级总算有了，下次——明年2月，挑战E级，。我现在是以玩游戏的心情来学日语的，考试就如同挑战关卡。这就叫作把学习生活化、把生活游戏化，基本上没什么压力。75回开始试题形式会有变化，多了笔试题。笔试题和选择题的区别就是，选择题不会还可以猜，笔试题不会就只好放弃。真正考验实力的我觉得就是听力和写作（读、说也很重要，但不可能考），我这些方面总体来说都比较差，以后一定要好好学习天天向上啊！（这句话说了十几年了……） 　　游戏《SPSW（临时简称）》的仕样书初稿（缺了剧本和人设两大部分）写好了，现已交付主程真人。没想到这么个小游戏剧本也这么麻烦，主要是状况太多，根据不同状况还有不同剧情，不像我以前写过的一个用“RPG MAKER XP”做的游戏的剧本，都是一条线发展下去就像写话剧似的。 (more…)

GALgame巡礼之名厂篇——Alicesoft社 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 08:33 AM CST Alicesoft是日本一家美少女游戏公司，成立于1989年4月。她被称为业界的第一大手，制定了很多业界认同的标准，如游戏的回想模式，文字略过等。Alicesoft的前身是Championsoft,成立于1983年9月。出过Little Vampire,学院战记等作品，主要制作人是TADA.alicesoft的官方网址是www.alicesoft.co.jp，现任开发部长是TADA，业务部长是长谷川吉孝(ヨシタカ)。Alicesoft的userclub成立于1990年10月，次月发行了第一本会志，名字叫电池爆弹，那时发行不定期，从1992年7月到现在，固定为每两个月一期。1995年4月Alicesoft的总部正式搬到大阪北区天满，总部的名字叫Hanny building(ハニービル)，是一幢六层的蓝色建筑。 Alicesoft成名的系列游戏主要有：RANCE系列，Alice的馆系列，DPS系列，斗神都市系列等。其他不成系列但很有名的游戏也很多，如Mamatoto,Darcrows,DiaboLiQuE,ATLACH=NACHA等。Alicesoft的游戏不注重H场景的描写，H系的cg不多。她主要以靓丽的图画，离奇的故事，风趣的对话，良好的操作性和极具魅力的角色设定而著称，因此也吸引了不少的女性玩家，这也可能是Aliceblue成立的原因。 Alicesoft的开发队伍一共50多人，多是20-30岁的年轻人，堪称美少女游戏界的最强组合。以下介绍排名不分先后。日本的原画家在中国最出名的是山本和枝，但日本业界公认的第一画笔却是Alicesoft的MIN-NARAKEN，主要作品是斗神都市系列，零式，Mamatoto等。织音从蓝斯四代开始加盟Alicesoft，由于其独特的画风，也拥有为数不少的拥趸，主要作品是DIABOLIQUE等。另外他还是麻将高手，开发速度极快。DragonAttack(元雷丸)和Shade堪称Alicesoft的音乐的双璧，「DiaboLiQuE」「DARCROWS」是DragonAttack成功的代表作，shade可以说是alicesoft甚至hgame业界的最强音乐制作人，「アトラク＝ナクア」堪称他的最高杰作，其他作品中多是精品，不胜枚举。HIRO以前是cg着色和原画辅佐，见到过作品是bus girl。现在在Alice内部他主要负责H部分的剧本，从「ぱすてるチャイム」到「DARCROWS」，H剧本都是他写的。WAO和TADA都是业界屈指的程序员，Alice的系统即出自他们之手。Alice的bug消除也都是他们的功劳。TADA是Alicesoft的开发部长，喜欢眼镜娘，自称Hanny king，现主要负责剧本，蓝斯系列之父，超天才！！！ＹＵＫＩＭＩ可是Alicesoft元老级人物，蓝斯系列1到4都是他的作品，此人的特点是很有独创性。おにぎりくん(出身地在美国)也是Alice著名的原画家，名作「アトラク＝ナクア」即出自他之手，塑造出身着黑色水手服的初音大姐这样成功角色的人，可以说很伟大。但是在那之后，同是出自他之手的Alice的异色作「DARCROWS」，使得アリス信者内部对他分成了「容認派」和「拒絶派」，而且还爆发了一场大争论。那之后特创作趋于冷静化，大家对他的下一步作品还是比较期待的。かれん(KAREN)也是Alice著名的原画家，「夜が来る！」「ぱすてるチャイム　－恋のスキルアップ－」「かえるにょ·ぱにょ～ん」都是他的作品，信者甚众。とり主要负责正常剧本的的编制，他和TADA已经是10年的同事了，「闘神都市２」「アトラク＝ナクア」是他的代表作。ふみゃ也写是剧本，不过她是女性的缘故，主要负责女子部分的对话等，现已转到Aliceblue.ぷりん和むつみまさと名义上是原画，其实他们原画，编剧本，编程什么都会，是不可多得的人才。上田庄吾是Alice的新人，还没有什么正式的作品，但他的潜在能力非常高，「妖精」(Alice论剧情这个游戏排第二)「Keep　out」已经证实了他的能力，自称兄メイト……ちーぼう是画cg的，在Alice内部也是拥有很多狂热fans的，Alice会志上的「CGは１７年ゼミ」证明了他的实力，而且他还懂音乐，只不过从未进行过创作。イマーム是从明日香小姐的故事(あゆみちゃん物語)时加入的，是有名的剧本制作者，其后还制作过「ぷろすちゅーでんとGood」，他的入社还被记在Alicesoft的历史上。桜秀蘭也是Alice的原画之一，不过98年9月到现在他主管internet事务，alice主页80%都是他作的。かずし也是一名程序员，Alice内部领导之一。Ｋ是Alice的一名原画，「ぷろすちゅーでんとGood」是他的代表作。斎藤美華是Alice内部的间谍……ちょも山(女)Alicefan对她的评价不一，守り神様，王道勇者等的主要原画。 Alicesoft的游戏对系统的要求不高，大多数玩家的机器都能满足要求。方便的画像取入功能，深受玩家的好评。Alicesoft还提供System系统供玩家自作游戏用，这个系统使用C/C++语言编程，现在最高版本是3.9。简单易学，这也增加了人们对Alicesoft的兴趣。 ALICESOFT STAFF　介绍（详细） 括号中的名字是别名，本页和简单介绍页一样并不保证资料的准确性！ イマーム (今村) 是剧本开发人员。 以前是一个玩alicesoft游戏的人，后来在als-net（als-net是在internet流行之前供alicesoft玩家互相交流的互联网）上提出明日香小姐工程（project），然后加入了alicesoft。 最初主要担当的是prostudent G 在alicesoft中主要负责爆笑和热血系的剧本，然而业界对这两个系的作品并不是十分需要，所以，一般对他没有很高的评价。但是，alicefan本身对他的支持是强烈的。 然而，放弃自己的强项作了一般的恋爱游戏SEEIN青（seein青的意思是蓝色场景，seein其实是scene,不能拆开……）之后，引起了玩家的强烈不满，甚至有人说出了“不像alice”这类的话。 代表作 「prostudent G」「Only you」「王道勇者」「ぷろすちゅーでんとGood」「SeeIn青」 拥有ビッグパパ（ビッグ=big パパ=爸爸）绰号的巨汉。 动画，特别是70-80年代的动画可谓精通。他的搞笑对alicefan的影响很大。 ぶるま教教祖！「ジーク、ぶるまぁ！」（可能类似于上帝保佑……） 上田庄吾 剧本开发人员。 以前在外部开发了迷你电子小说「蒼海に堕ちて…」，该游戏在alice cd内公布并获成功，然后，98年冬正式入社。 现在还没有主要担当开发过游戏，但从alice cd等作品中可以看出他的潜在能力很高，非常值得期待。特别是seein青附赠的alice cd中的妖精，得到了比本体seein青更高的评价。 次回作大恶司正式登场，本来TADA大人密谋让他担当文字部分，后来更有让上田庄吾成为该游戏主要计划者。 代表作（アリスCD内）「メイドのススメ（文字）」「蒼海に堕ちて」「妖精」、（20世紀アリス同梱「これDPS!?」内）「Keep out」「Iron Maiden」 入社以后，笔名还没决定的时候，栗林大人曾经送他「兄メイト」（メイト=mate）作笔名，但被本人拒绝。但是，从那以后，大家（alicesoft内部）就都管他叫兄メイト了，另外，TADA大人还曾经送他「蠅取り紙」当笔名…… 在TADA大人以及とり大人的教导下，正在学习剧本以及企画能力。 会志以及OHP（officially home page）内有很多他的趣闻，新人能有这样的待遇应该是很幸福了吧。 おにぎりくん 原画的一人。 最初担当主要原画是alice的馆4·5·6里边的「人間狩り」和「アトラク＝ナクア」。当时画的很像karen的画风，所以很多人都搞错了。但是和karen不同，他在H方面下了很大的功夫，所以，现在alice画风最H的画家除了他不会再有其他人了。然而，darcrows的尖下巴（「尖り顎事件」）事件爆发以后，引起一时的骚动，不过，现在好像改善了。 是min-naraken的后辈，是经过min-naraken的介绍加入alicesoft的。 代表作（アリスの館４·５·６内）「人間狩り」、「アトラク＝ナクア」「ダークロウズ」（アリスCD内）「扉」 おにぎりくん在入社前参加同人活动时叫无名，到底有没有名气也不太清楚。最近是1999年和karen大人一起和出了一部画集。而且，2000年的冬comic也参加了，本人是抱着随便玩玩的心情参加的，和min-naraken一样被分配在会场的外围，结果引起了大骚动。人多到了连第一次来comic market的TADA大人都觉得可怕的地步。而且有受伤者，真可怜呀。但是，不考虑到自己的知名度，是很危险的呀。 可能是alice的ツルペタ（查不到,推测是child h）的最右翼势力，和かずし和HIRO关系很好，常一起去看职业摔跤。 而且，他很喜欢自行车，骑车的技术很好。 Karen （かれん、Karen-X） 原画的一人。 计算机专门学校毕业以后，加入了alicesoft(94,95年左右)。刻苦修行了影子的画法以后，97年第一次担当了主要原画，作品是「かえるにょ·ぱにょ～ん」。 然后，由于成功塑造了コレット这个角色，使他的人气立刻到达不可动摇的地步。估计是现在alice中人气最高的原画（其实不然，大概是min-naraken或者知音，AFIC谈）alicefan心目中和min-naraken合称双璧？ 代表作は「かえるにょ·ぱにょ～ん」「ぱすてるチャイム」「夜が来る！」 以前，喜欢画コミカル·タレ（查不到）系的眼睛，最近是ツリ目（查不到）。但是注意到ツリ目系角色并不好看，于是又准备改变回原来的样子。 而且，这个人也喜欢ツルペタ。 桐島千夜 原画兼万事总代理。 过去是画原画关系的工作，现在是设计怪物，设计机器，设计系统画面等。 关于设计怪物，普遍认为没有知音大人做得好。机器设计（特别是真实系）的非常好，是其他社少见的贵重人才。 代表作「零式（机体）」「SeeIn青（机体）「夜が来る！（怪物）」 前会志「乳通」的总帅，alice唯一的喜欢巨乳的人（？）。乳关系的话题说起来没完没了。好像很喜欢魔女的样子。他也大概很喜欢各种车辆以及自行车，alice的绘画人员好像都喜欢车。 K 原画兼设计。 本职是原画担当的是PROSTUDENT系列，以及一些动画的图案，动画相关的没有什么太多的资料。 作为原画本领还算可以，但由于是前辈STAFF所以经常担任主原画（是一种职务,和主要原画不同。居然是这种评价，不过好像这样已经不错了，AFIC谈） 代表作（原画）「prostudent G」「ぷろすちゅーでんとGood」 相当喜欢模型。特别是喜欢ガンプラ（查不到，能翻译的请告诉我，多谢）。本人的代理叫做「バロネス」是一个黑发碧眼带着太阳镜的女性角色。这个角色很早以前就在STAFF ROOM里登场，可能比K本人还有名。而且会写文章，斗神都市2的赠品里有他写的迷你推力小说。而且，还写过恶作剧小说まんま綾●行●「黒●館の殺人」。 織音 （旧名：ORION） 原画兼万事总代理。 「DiaboLiQuE」给人留下了很深的印象，特别是有女性玩家说「織音＝（少女漫画）纤细的构图」的印象。一时间就有知音有成为少女漫画家的愿望的谣言。 然而，知音的特性是画怪物，就算是在「DiaboLiQuE」里也一样。他的画力是业界屈指可数的，贵重的人才。画画速度非常快，各种游戏关系的人物模型，画的时候可以看到他非常的忙碌。 代表作「鬼畜王ランス（魔人）」「DiaboLiQuE」「ママトト（召唤精灵）」「PERSIOM（一半女子怪物+全男子怪物）」等。 玩布的，塑料的玩具。玩具相关有很多爱好。可以算帅哥。 最近和イカ（ふみゃ，ALICEBLUE）闪电结婚。招来了很多话题。 Shade 音乐制作人。 和DragonAttack（旧名：雷丸）是ALICEMUSIC的双璧。DragonAttack并不是ALICE的人，难道是ALICE唯一的音乐制作人？（当然最近新招募员工里可能有音乐制作人。） 主要是作曲，其他还负责音效以及系统周边的维护等。 最初主要担当的是ALICE的馆3。 初期以HR/HM 以及舞蹈系的乐曲受到好评，其后「アトラク＝ナクア」使个人的名气大爆发。除了叶(leaf)键(key)，唯一个人的名字广为流传的音乐制作人。有很多崇拜者。 代表作「アリスの館３」「Only you」「学园KING」「乙女战记」「走り女２」「鬼畜王ランス」「戦巫女」「アトラク＝ナクア」「零式」「ぱすてるチャイム」「ママトト」「PERSIOM」「夜が来る！」等 喜欢烟，酒，女人…… 现在不知是不是了，原来是alice内部唯一穿着制服上班的。最近好像是黑色的。 TADA alicesoft设立的时候资格最老的人。开发本部长。 编剧，游戏设计，现在最喜欢的头衔是制作人。 和elf的蛭田昌人一样制造业界黎明的人。初回作品是「リトルプリンセス」（little princess）（这个名字和鬼畜王中来水美树变成的魔王的名字相同 afic谈） alice的看版作品兰斯系列，斗神系列的生身父亲，毫无疑问，ALICE的代表。 最近是专门负责计划，写文字则由其他人担当。他的世界观非常独特。或者是STAFF们评价的非常有个性。 代表作「ランスシリーズ」「闘神都市シリーズ」「零式」「守り神様」「大悪司」 人们都评价他为从没见过的游戏制作人。关系到个人则有各种不知道是真的还是开玩笑的话。 有「喜欢戴眼镜的女孩」 有「炸肉饼英雄」 有「平面游戏的书呆子」 有「大日本帝国万岁」 有「HANNY KING」 多的不胜枚举，但不是企业的顶级人物。 是ALICE的看版怪物HANNY的生身父亲。 ちょも山 ALICE原画的一人，唯一女性原画。 最初主要担当的作品是学院KING。 和其他原画画的不一样，色情的描绘说是业界第一也毫不为过。 全都是肉感的，情欲浓厚的绘画。原画担当的游戏都是H的东西多，人气的方面是一般。 「PERSIOM」以后画风有所改变，朝一般向的方向改变，「20世紀アリス」里边的「これDPS!?之Iron Maiden」的最初原画是否是她也不太清楚。 代表作「学園KING」「王道勇者」「守り神様」「PERSIOM」等 以前和とり大人，ふみゃ大人合称「御三家」。 有相当的紧缚的技术…… 而且，喜欢猫狗，Macintosh的桌面是キライ（トラウマ，机器猫）的样子。 DragonAttack （旧名：雷丸）(雷丸以前是1太郎，2太郎，随着作品增加数字） 作为ALICE的外部音乐制作人，是从ALICE的最初期开始的。 不管怎样和SHADE大人不同，纯粹只提供背景音乐，作品全都给人很普通的感觉，没有显著的评价，但确实有实力。特别是OP用到很多吉他，鼓的曲子感觉也不比SHADE大人的作品差。 代表作「ランス4」「闘神都市2」「AmbivalenZ」「王道勇者」「DiaboLiQuE」「ダークロウズ（DARCROWS)」「妖精」等。 为什么到现在了还是外部人员这全是谜。 而且个人情报也全是谜。谜还有很多呀。 とり （桜音梨花） ALICE的编剧的一人。资历最老的STAFF的一人。 美学的，保守的文风。公认的是她的细微的情景描写。 另一方面，又能写出让人很有欲望的描写，这也算她的二面性吧。「H文字要让观客看的心怦怦直跳。」。名言。很少用未知的语言文字创作。 代表作「AmbivalenZ」「夢幻泡影」「あぶないかつみ先生」「DiaboLiQuE」「PERSIOM」等 ALICE内部的王母娘娘，部长TADA也拿她没办法，恐怕是ALICE内部最强。 いやな奴的母亲……。 喜欢狗，老头，30%的戴眼镜的男人。最喜欢的人是有馬紅葉（AmbivalenZ）。 MIN-NARAKEN （奈良県民） ALICE著名的原画。 初期就加入ALICE的资格很老的人。 曾经一度辞职去当漫画家，后来又回到了ALICE。设计出了斗神2的叶月的到了空前的好评。 和其他原画不同，纤细的画风，不光是ALICEFAN，在一般人当中也很有名气（某著名网站的原画家评价排行第五 AFIC谈） 代表作は乙女戦記、鬼畜王ランス、零式、ママトト、SeeIn青、斗神都市2等。 2000年冬夏的COMIC MARKET都参加了。没有把握住自己的知名度，发行了一些同人志，由于数量不多结果会场大乱。后来中古店乱抬价格，还给OHP带来了许多麻烦。2001年夏COMIC MARKET没参加，其他ALICE的原画家也都没参加，是惩罚？ 最近的画稍微有些脸和身体不协调比较令人担心。 本人说「H原料用尽了画不出H的东西了」最近很烦恼的样子。 ALICE当中好像是好青年的样子，偶尔会大暴走。很喜欢车和自行车。 HIRO ALICE的编剧的一人。 最初的主要作品是「ぱすてるチャイム」。 「萌え」（这玩艺只能意会，大概就是那种人或者物，你一看上去就想紧紧拥抱。然而对象并不是实在的人或者物，多是动画或者空想的东西。FROM新语辞典）和「エロ」（H）的文字都能写的万能型人才。 他担当的游戏总能给人以不同的感觉。随心所欲的游戏系统和情况，或者是人气的原画家，总之因素很多，剧本关系的评价，有人认为不好，到认为好的不得了的人也有不少，所以很难做出评价。 代表作「ぱすてるチャイム」「ダークロウズ」「夜が来る！」 喜欢吃咖哩，每天都要吃。 也喜欢职业摔跤。 作为一般男人，很多人都认为他是好样的。但是，对于H可以说是业界第一人士。以下是会志上的选集： おにぎりくん：ウフフ、エロではどんなシチュエーションが好き？ HIRO：女の子の履いているニーストッキングの内側にちんちんつっこんで精液出したりするの（即答） おにぎりくん：……具体的すぎ！ （本人AFIC拒绝翻译……） ふみゃ 编剧的一人。 入社后表现很好，很快就担当了「学園KING」的主要剧本。 其后还在鬼畜王当中担任文字部分，后来枯叶（leaf）在业界抬头，空前的电子小说风潮兴起。 这时就有了「alice也做一个电子小说出来吧」的呼声，于是有了alice的馆456里的「アトラク＝ナクア」，这是一部大ブレイク（break）作。 然而，这之后没有主要担当什么作品，就转移到aliceblue去了，要求她回到hgame界的呼声很强，学園KING的一般评价并不是很高，可见不能不说是「アトラク＝ナクア」一部作品的影响。 代表作「学園KING」「アトラク＝ナクア」「HUSHABY BABY」 自画像是イカ，自称是ユリイカ的母亲。 和とり相比是爱猫人士。 主食是咖哩和マクド（翻译不能，えびちり談）。而且，也喜欢奶酪。 最近和織音结婚。恭喜。 ぷりん 简单原画兼游戏设计。 喜欢无属性的中年男人。alice游戏当中的シブ以及有魅力的中年男人（イカス親父）的设计几乎都出自他之手。 给alice带来了和其他会社相比有个性的男性角色多这个优点。alice必不可少的一人。 现在的画风是非常的濃い（厚的，实际是h，呵呵~~~），过去的画风是更加濃い的样子。 另一方面也是游戏设计者。迷宫系slg全都是这个人设计的，适应玩家的需要改进了每回合时间都很长这一点。「ママトト」和「かえるにょ国にょアリス」等等可以说是完壁级的作品。最近确实稍稍有些没独创性的评价。 代表作 （原画）「ランスシリーズ（親父キャラ全般）」 （游戏设计）「DALK」「かえるにょ·ぱにょ～ん」「ママトト」「PERSIOM」「かえるにょ国にょアリス」 出生在姫路城。 从名字就可以看出喜欢布丁（プリン） 喜欢机器猫的样子。已婚。 む～みん 游戏设计。 主要是育成和地牢系所谓「潜り」类游戏的设计。 然而，很早就有了并且对一般玩家不十分方便的地方也是明显的。这就造成了游戏部分和故事部分脱离，作品全体的平衡性不是很好。 代表作「乙女戦記」「戦巫女」「ぱすてるチャイム」「夜が来る！」 alicenet时代(アリスネット,WWIV时代)的玩家。上学时曾经帮alice进行debug工作。 由于考试工作停止，后在游戏厅遇到とり，受到とり女皇很大的注意。 自画像是カバ。非常喜欢酒，特别是波尔多的红酒。 むつみまさと （むっち） 原画的一人。 DPS系列的时候作为社外原画，后借此加入alice。 所谓「カワイイ系」（可爱系）的画风，在当时alice的画风中最为一班人所接受的就是他了。所以从YUKIMI那里正式接替了兰斯系列以及吉祥物alice的绘画工作。 但，兰斯5代制作顿挫，所以长时间的空白。但从来都是很容易受其他作品（特别是动画）的影响，所以画风不是很固定。 代表作は「DALK」「Only you」「鬼畜王ランス」「戦巫女」等。 喜欢的角色的属性是幼女，绑发，水手服，巫女实在是多种多样。最近的最强属性是妹的样子。 其他正义的味方以及正统的女主角都喜欢。 而且，和TADA大人一样，对近代战史异常明白。

为什么成都出不来好产品 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 08:52 AM CST 今天下午, 刚从成都回广州. 西南地区, 特别是成都地区, 网游玩家的数量都是为数不少的, 也是具有相当"职业水准"的, 按理说, 有这么好的玩家基础在, 应该也会出一些比较好的网游产品才对. 而事实刚好相反, 自网游开始出现以来, 成都出的网游产品没有哪一款是真正作出了名堂的, 包括各大网游公司设在成都的分公司或研发团队,  没有一个作进了全国前三, 目前出现在媒体的企业和产品多数都是唬人的, 没有象样的业绩拿得出手, 这样的事实, 似乎让人不可理解. 但是, 真正了解成都本地网游研发情况的人可能心里都非常清楚, 为什么成都作不出来好产品. 作出一个好产品, 无非是靠这几项: 1. 资本实力; 2. 人才资源; 3. 周边创业环境. 尽管成都有钱的人也不少, 但是, 与上海和沿海城市相比, 其民间资本的实力相对还是要弱小许多, 而这样的大环境又决定了网游的投资环境相对比较恶劣: 要么很难找到投资, 要么投资额比较小, 撑不到产品出来的时候公司就完蛋了. 纵观这几年几股新兴网游研发力量的崛起, 其背后无不带有强烈的强势资本特征, 特别是华东, 上海, 浙江一带, 由于民营资本的力量相对比较雄厚, 所以, 也更容易出现以雄厚资本实力培育出来的有实力的产品( 不管"征途"算不算好产品, 但其投资额和市场营销费用都是西部地区的企业所无法相比的). 研发资金的相对缺乏, 造成了研发人员待遇水平的相对偏低, 这样进一步导致大量的成都本地人才外流(最典型的就是电子科大的优秀毕业生毕业后留在成都本地的非常少), 而缺乏大量优秀人才的研发环境, 必然导致研发质量和效率大打折扣. 所以, 说到底, 还是一个"钱"的问题. 但是, 如果成都有一家企业也愿意投资一个亿来打造一款游戏, 那是不是就意味着一定能作出来呢? 我的看法是: 不一定. 网游, 是成都市打造数字娱乐城一个非常重要的内容, 加上成都历来以休闲之城称名于世, 所以, 网游更是暗合了这种休闲文化理念, 可以把它看成是年轻一代的成都人一种新的休闲方式. 但是, 很多的时候, "数字娱乐"这个词仅仅被当成了一句口号, 而真正在作事的人, 却少之又少, 更多的人和更多的企业是在想着利用这个概念圈政府的优惠政策, 圈投资者的钱, 这样骗来骗去的若干年后, 你会突然发现: 当你再跟别人谈数字娱乐这个概念的时候, 可能已经没有多少人会相信了. 不是我有意贬低成都本地的企业, 而是从一些自己所听到的看到的经历来看, 成都本地的网游研发管理堪称异常混乱, 也显得太过儿戏. 梦工厂和裘新, 这个在网游发展初期在成都很被看重的成都本土网游企业, 作了2个版本的侠义道之后, 仍然一名不文, 在产品出不来的现象背后, 暴露的仍然是管理和人才的问题. 在看似繁华似锦的成都网游市场背后, 实际上存在的是一个管理混乱, 秩序颠倒的研发企业圈, 这块秩序的建立, 我想还需要不少时间, 这不是一个企业两个企业作好了就能带起来的问题, 它需要的是整个行业的素质提升, 我暂时看不到成都本地网游企业站起来的那一天. 我想, 如果有一天, 有哪个企业能站起来了, 它最起码具备以下特征: 1. 团队成员要象沿海城市的团队一样有压力感, 摒弃成都本地人的休闲特质, 要具有非常强烈的拼搏意识, 要把自己跟外边的团队比, 而不是老是跟成都本地团队比; 2. 成长环境相对宽松, 有比较雄厚的资本支持, 即使没有1个亿, 也要有几千万来支持研发期的高待遇, 所谓重赏之下必有勇夫; 3. 要有比较规范和有效率的团队运营管理方法, 不该要的人坚决不要, 合适的人重金赏识, 即使从外地拉人也未尝不可, 建立一支高素质的有凝聚力的团队是出好产品的前提. 如果有一个团队, 配齐了研发, 市场, 运营相关人员, 回成都去作, 可能是一种比较好的方法. 其实, 我想说的是: 团队文化, 最好是借用外地的团队文化, 而不是成都本地的团队文化, 因为我觉得成都本地的团队文化相对来说也象成都本身的休闲特征一样没有太过强烈的拼搏意识, 承受压力的能力不强. 带着这种文化, 去融合熟悉成都本地市场的人员, 这样作起来, 可能成功的希望会更大一点. 而且, 不一定一出来就作全国市场, 完全可以先作西南市场, 继而再在全国扩大.

ps2《NiGHTS：深夜入梦》 Posted: 25 Nov 2007 08:13 AM CST   sega宣布将于2008年2月21日在ps2上推出土星名作《NiGHTS：深夜入梦》（NiGHTS into dreams...）的重制版。     ps2版里还很厚道地附带了原土星版：     关于SS版的《NiGHTS》，之前也介绍过，是十多年前SS上用来与PS、N64竞争的3D游戏代表作（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ahk.html ），没想到现在sega把新作出在了N64的后续主机Wii上，把SS版重制在PS的后续主机PS2上。   Wii《NiGHTS: JOURNEY OF DREAMS》都还没有推出（预定2007年12月13日在日本发售），sega在现在就公布了ps2版重制作品的消息感觉有点奇怪，这个消息如果说会影响到Wii版的销量也不是没有可能的。其他日本厂商在这种情况下一般会先发售老作品，再发售新作，但sega却是反着来的……   相关链接： http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000ahk Wii版《NiGHTS》 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000cne Wii《NiGHTS: JOURNEY OF DREAMS》视频

namco的Wii原创rpg Posted: 25 Nov 2007 08:01 AM CST namco将在Wii上推出一款原创rpg，名为《フラジール ～さよなら月の廃墟～》（FRAGILE～再见了月之废墟～），题材比较另类：游戏里人类正走向灭亡，城市和设施渐渐变成废墟，主角在这样的世界里四处探索，寻找人类灭亡的真相。     玩家可以用Wii手柄当手电筒来照射四周，这种操作方式实际上早在前年tgs2005上的“革命”概念影像（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000cg2 ）就有过类似的演示，当时以为会有厂商用这种方式来制作一个恐怖游戏，没想到namco做了rpg。     本作的气氛并不是恐怖，而是荒凉、毫无生气。     制作这个游戏的namco团队之前制作了ps2的《7：莫尔摩斯骑兵队》和《维纳斯和布雷斯》两个游戏，都很有个性，不过也许因为这样所以都叫好不叫座。现在在Wii上推出这款《FRAGILE～再见了月之废墟～》估计也是一款实验性的作品。

<b>xna</b>,you piaop Posted: 31 Oct 2007 10:11 PM CDT 现在好想到了没有人认识到的地方去，感觉到好无力。本以为结局会是我满意的，看来不是我想的那样，

Zz关于DirectShow SDK 和Windows SDK,及DirectX SDK Posted: 13 Nov 2007 09:50 PM CST FamilyID=c2b1e300-f358-4523-b479-f53d234cdccf&DisplayLang=en http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7614fe22-8a64-4dfb-aa0c-db53035f40a0&DisplayLang=en 包含有.net 3 SDK,没有完整的DirectX SDK. XNA Developer Center ...

16,17,18 Posted: 18 Nov 2007 07:50 AM CST 另, 欣喜的发现, 不光我用firefox不能写space, ie6也不能. 而且ie6连页面都不能正确显示. 这是多么二儿的事儿阿, 他妈妈的. 不过ie7是不打算装了. 目前win下吸引我的软件就是acrobat professional和Visual Studio--XNA了. 嗯, 对于这几件颇具反讽意味的 ...

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Sponsored Quicklinks [Sponsored] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 02:23 PM CST Now available on Kotaku: Sponsored Quicklinks (like this). For more information, or to order, visit our Sponsored Quicklinks page.

Xbox 360 Fall Update Coming Dec 4th, Adds Social Networking [Upgrades] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 02:20 PM CST The Xbox 360 Fall Update will be coming Dec. 4th, and its biggest new features is "Friends of Friends." Now you can check out the friends of anyone on your friends list, ala Facebook. To limit who can see your friends list, there will be a "Friends List" setting right on the dash. It will have three settings for those allowed to see your friends that can be set now on Xbox.com: -Everyone (only available to members 18 and older) -Friends only (available to members 13 and older) -Blocked (available to all members, and automatic for anyone under the age of 13) Apparently, along with Xbox Originals, there will be more features in the update (*cough* DivX please *cough*) announced at a later date. Here's the full press release: Microsoft is making it even easier to expand your Friends network on Xbox LIVE®, starting with the Fall Dashboard Update on December 4. You'll be able to check out the friends lists of fellow Xbox LIVE members right from the Dashboard. With this new feature, members can find old friends or connect with new ones within the community of more than eight million people on Xbox LIVE around the globe and send messages and game invites, as well as compare games and Achievements. With the prevalence of social media websites such as MySpace and FaceBook, this type of capability has largely come to be expected from consumers as a means to relate in an online community. Xbox LIVE continually seeks new ways to better serve the expectations of its members, which often result in free enhancements made available through the bi-annual Dashboard updates. Friends List Settings When the Fall Dashboard update is distributed on December 4, the new default setting on Xbox LIVE will be active, enabling members to see the Friends lists of other Xbox LIVE members. If you'd like to keep your friends list private, you can take the following steps to change your settings beginning today: Log in to www.xbox.com/fof and select one of the three options available for your Gamertag: * Everyone (only available to members 18 and older) * Friends only (available to members 13 and older) * Blocked (available to all members, and automatic for anyone under the age of 13) Stay tuned for more information about the Xbox 360 Dashboard Update later this month! Fall Dash update coming next week (Dec. 4th.) [majornelson] [image]

Puddy Explains Why Videogames Aren't Funny [Seinfeld's Puddy On Games] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 02:00 PM CST by John Gaudiosi LOS ANGELES--To millions of gamers, actor Patrick Warburton is best know as David Puddy, a character that appeared in only 11 episodes of NBC's hit comedy series, "Seinfeld," but left an indelible mark in that time. Many fans probably recall the episode that featured that colorful, ugly leather jacket. "I thought when I did that episode that the jacket might be worth something some day so I asked if I could have it," said Warburton. "The wardrobe people said they'd sell it to me for $1,000. I remember thinking even back then, before Ebay was around, if I paid $1,000 in 10 years I could probably sell it for $1,000. Is it really worth $1,000? I know it's real leather, but come on. I would never wear it. I didn't buy it, but for $500, I would have bought it. It'd be fun to have today. I even have my 'Seinfeld' crew jacket that stays in the closet. You can't wear that around, it's kind of gaudy. 'That's right, I was on 'Seinfeld.' Read my jacket.'" Warburton, who currently can be heard on television as Joe Swanson in "Family Guy" and can be seen on the sitcom "Rules of Engagement," spent time in the recording studio bringing Ken to life for Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee Movie" and Activision's "Bee Movie Game." When told the new game was out, Warburton said he was going to Best Buy to get the Wii version of the game so "Daddy can play." "It was a lot of fun to do the game because everything gets so pared down in the movie," said Warburton. "In the game, Ken gets all jacked up, especially when he's playing tennis. Jerry would feed me 20 or 30 crazy lines to do and we'd have a bunch scripted and then I'd just go nuts get all irate. I think Ken will be fun in the game because he's such a jerk." Warburton said Seinfeld was in the recording studio every single day that he did the movie voice work and the one day he spent doing the recording for the game. As a father of four kids, Warburton has every game console in his house. "I don't even play the games any more because it's too humiliating," said Warburton. "Ever since my eldest, who's turning 15, was 9, he could beat me on any game. I think the only game I could actually beat him on was the new Frogger. He has all of the games. I've tried Halo 3 because it looks really cool. I love the Wii because I can actually compete with the kids on those games like bowling and golf." Back in the day, Asteroids was Warburton's game. But a lot has changed in gaming since then. "I remember riding my 10-speed bicycle from Huntington Beach to Newport Harbor High School," said Warburton. "It's about a four-mile ride. The highpoint of my day was pulling over at the liquor store where PCH meets Balboa and there was an Asteroids machine there. I'd have my two to four quarters and that would last a good half-hour. I could stay on that Asteroids machine for a good while." Aside from the Wii, Warburton spends most of his time watching his kids and their friends play games. "Unless I do some really intensive program, I don't think I'll ever be able to compete with them," joked Warburton. Although he doesn't play as much these days--the actor did say he'd download Asteroids on Xbox Live Arcade--he spends a lot of time bringing videogame characters to life. Warburton has worked on games like the Tak & the Power of JuJu franchise, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Family Guy Game and Bee Movie Game. "Videogames are fun to do," said Warburton. "I don't really see how you could make a living off of it. These games can make jillions of dollars, but the piece of the action that actors get is really miniscule compared to what these things do. But any paycheck is better than a kick in the pants. It's fun to work on them and be part of them." When it comes to humor in games, that's something that's still pretty hard to pull off. "It seems to me that there's this element...when you're watching 'Family Guy' it's absurd and random and it's a bit insane," said Warburton. "If you're playing a videogame, you have to have a goal and something to accomplish. All of these things are obstacles in the way of humor. Family Guy can be complex and absurd. Much of it is off-putting and un-PC. Playing a game is very segmented in moving from one level to the next and there are so many specific things going on, it's difficult to get humor going. Plus, anything that's funny the fist time loses that humor hearing it over and over again." Even his kids, who enjoy hearing Dad on the big screen and in TV shows, get sick of hearing his voice in games. As his clan gets older, they're able to see and hear more of his work. "I let my oldest son watch 'Family Guy' when he turned 13, so now my daughter just turned 13 and she wants to watch it and I'm like, "Oh, shit," said Warburton, who's a huge fan of the show, himself. He went into detail about how funny the 100th Episode was, which feature Seth McFarlane interviewing real people that hated the show. And when asked about the recent episode in which his character was able to walk again--temporarily--Warburton said, "Joe can kick some ass."

Nintendo Can't Smash All Piracy [R4 DS] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 01:40 PM CST The Nintendo DS may be a crazy-successful piece of hardware, but the side effect is that the R4 DS game loader, equipment that allows one to load DS games that were downloaded/pirated/backed up, is pretty successful, too. The Times has just gotten wind of the R4 DS, and points out that its ease of use (from their "testing") means it could make a major impact on DS game sales. So how did Nintendo respond? We are keeping a close eye on the products and studying them. But we cannot smash all of them. And our head is filled with visions of some poor sap, dressed in a Mario costume, trudging through suburbia, knocking on doors and grabbing DSs from those who answer—throwing them on the ground and stomping with vengeance. The R4 chip is only small - but it looks like a giant pirate to Nintendo [via MCV]

Philippine President Now Resides In Second Life [Digitized] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 01:20 PM CST Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wanted to make an impact with the announcement of the new Philippine National Innovation Strategy. So what did she do to commemorate the occasion? What anyone would do—she created her own Second Life avatar to hang out in IBM's Second Life Innovation Center. For now, that's the entire story. But we'll keep you apprised to any developments as to her choice of virtual penis manufacturer. Arroyo activates virtual self in Second Life [via gamepolitics] [image]

Gaming Should Be More Like Mowing The Lawn [So True] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST We run developer quotes a lot here on Kotaku, but this one might go down in history as extra special. From Dungeon Siege/Supreme Commander/Total Annihilation's Chris Taylor, this is what it should feel like to play a video game: When I ride the lawnmower I don't think about steering and cutting grass... I think about life. I think about work. I think about things I have to do. I recharge - charge my batteries up. He continues: When I finish mowing the lawn, I haven't done a chore - I'm actually ready to take on something. That's what I think gaming needs to be. Taylor, you need a push mower to balance out your life a bit. But we know what you mean. Sometimes we're so tired after working all day, our minds aren't sharp enough to keep up with a game. Or after playing all Sunday, we're not mentally rested enough for Monday...or Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. That's it, we're going on strike. Suck it, great video games we've been waiting years for! We just bought a new Toro. Supreme Commander dev has intriguing ideas for games [gamesradar] [image]

Nintendo Denies PR-Induced Wii Shortage Stories [Finger Pointing Fun] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST Maxconsole pointed out that two UK newspapers ran near identical stories...too identical (hit jump for big pic). Identical like...the sub headline is exactly the same: "A shortage of one of the year's must-have gifts is sure to cause tears and tantrums on Christmas morning." The quotes are the same...the exposition is mostly the same. Look, they're the freaking same story, for all intents and purposes. Maxconsole implied that Nintendo must have fed a press release to the two publications...which, reading between the lines a bit, might imply that Nintendo had not so indirectly written these two news stories. Nintendo has gone on record to state that, despite accusations, their PR did not supply the story to writers. We are strongly reject and resent the accusation that we are "PR-ing" stock shortages and no press releases are being distributed. We are doing all we can to ensure that the unprecedented demand for Wii can be met as far as possible in the run up to Christmas. This is being done through regular and multiple deliveries of Wii stock to the UK, globally we are working at maximum capacity, producing 1.8 million units of Wii hardware a month to try and meet this demand as far as possible." So can we believe Nintendo? Probably. Because the story is more likely just shared between these two (or more) publications, similarly to the way AP news functions, showing up in national and local papers alike. Nintendo: We strongly reject accusations of 'PR-ing' [maxconsole]

Fahey And The Holograms [Rock Band] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 12:20 PM CST At around 6PM on Saturday my brother and his son Wade arrived at my Atlanta-area apartment secret lair, where I have been watching my other nephew Xavier doing much better at Halo multiplayer than I could ever hope to, making me look good by using my gamertag and not talking on the headset. This gathering wasn't about Halo, however. It was about Rock Band. I didn't really have high hopes, as I had tried playing with Xav a bit earlier with hilariously sad results. "You know how to play?" I ask. "Yeah, I played Guitar Hero." He then proceeds to miss almost every note, failing the song at 33%. "Well I never said I was good at it!" While members of my family are great at bullshitting, we're also pretty good with rhythm and music. My mother and her mother before her ran dancing schools for most of their lives, with most of the girls in the family performing at some point. My brother Richard and I both dabble with musical instruments. He is an excellent guitar player in his own right, and I can pick up just about any instrument and at least peck out a simple tune or two. When I put my mind to it I'm a pretty good singer as well, so we were pretty sure we would make an excellent Rock Band group. We start off with me on vocals, Xavier on lead guitar, Richard on bass, and Wade on drums. We immediately discover that knowing which of the guitar tracks on the screen is your own is of paramount importance, and the drums are extremely hard for a novice to play. We swap Wade and Richard, but once again the drums prove a bit too complicated, especially for a lifelong guitar player. As I sadly hand my mic over to Wade, my leg starts throbbing in anticipation of becoming the band's drummer. Until you find the sweet spot between stomping and tapping, your leg is going to hurt. There is no way around it. I'm surprised professional drummers don't have to special order their pants to accommodate freakishly giant calf muscles. As soon as we launch into Weezer's "Say It Ain't So", we know we've found our places in the band. Well, as soon as we relaunch it, after my brother fails due to playing the wrong side of the screen. Xav picks up on the guitar quickly, Richard is pretty much a natural at it, and Wade - while not knowing the lyrics - performs an admirable if warbly rendition of the hit song. As for me on the drums, I actually don't do half bad. Once I get into a rhythm it's hard to break me out, though when I do stumble the recovery time is nasty. After doing a few quick songs, we decide to try out career mode. We let the game randomly generate a band name, but in my head we are the truly outrageous Fahey and the Holograms. For the sake of brevity, our band members are named A, B, Alan, and Fahey. It's getting late, and we decide we're going to do a couple quick songs and call it quits. If you've played Rock Band single player, you haven't really played the game. Whereas the single player game is just about completing a set number of tracks to open up a new set number of tracks, the multiplayer is about opening new venues, playing mystery sets, and earning fans and fame. An hour and a half after deciding to just play two more songs, cheers ring out as our band wins a 1967 van, allowing us to travel to neighboring towns to spread our musical love there. My brother and I bow out soon after, but my two nephews are still playing about an hour later, nearly having to be pried away from the Xbox 360 when time comes to go home. What started out as an excuse for ordering pizza ended up being one of the best times I've had with members of my family in recent memory, even if one of my nephews reeked of onions (he's still figuring out this whole deodorant thing). We don't get together very often, but I've a feeling Rock Band is going to be a staple of such get togethers for a long time coming.

$5 Australian Pac Man Shirt [Clothes] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST I found this gem while shopping at a outlet Jeans West story here in Australia. It may not be the coolest gaming shirt I own, but at $5 Australian it sure is the cheapest. I just wish there were more Pac Man ghosts on the shirt.

Trading in Games, Is It Worth It? [Discuss] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST According to a recent claim (by a media trading company, Hitflip), gamers lose 50% of game value through trade-ins. The scientific accuracy of the 50% may be in question, but the fact that it sounds reasonable is argument enough. And it got me wondering, do you really think trading in games is worth it? And if so, why? Because to me, it makes a lot more sense just to rent games if you expect to beat them and toss them aside. For the price of one new game, you could snag a ton of rentals a month. Game chains capitalize on us selling them premium items at a less than premium price, prices they would never dare sell the same game for. So why would we? But if what I was saying really made sense to all our readers, this wouldn't be a topic of discussion. So talk! Gamers face 50 per cent loss on pre-owned exchange [mcv]

Eidos Montreal Confirms Deus Ex 3 [Rumor Confirmed] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST Eidos has thrown wide the doors to its new Montreal, Québec development studio, and despite their promise to deliver AAA titles, their first game has absolutely nothing to do with roadside service contracts. Instead they has announced that they are hard at work on Deus Ex 3, the next title in the critically acclaimed FPS / RPG hybrid, rumored since May. Gamasutra spoke to Eidos Montreal GM Stéphane D'Astous, who once again lied about AAA titles. "We're only working on AAA, major titles. We're going to be developing only major AAA games, using only next-gen technology." Deus Ex 3 is excellent news and all, but until I get a game about sitting is a musty office fielding emergency road service calls, there is no AAA game. Eidos Announces Deus Ex 3, Talks New Montreal Studio [Gamasutra]

First Ever Game Kiosk [Retail] Posted: 26 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST I was checking out the mall in Hornsby, Australia, (about 30 minutes north of Sydney) when I ran into this curiosity: A Game Kiosk. The apparently permanent kiosk was set up just inside one of the main set of doors inside the mall and featured a pretty big selection of games and even a live demonstration of the Wii. There was even a Nintendo rep on hand to play demonstrate the Wii for most of the day. My understanding is that Game only has two of these kiosks in the world and that they are test sites for what could become a norm in malls around the UK, Australia and points beyond. It seemed like it might be a bit of a pain for the employees working there (what with the lack of a bathroom or back room) but it was a great location of customers and gave video games a lot of face time.

一部好的电影--《以父之名》（In the Name of the Father） Posted: 26 Nov 2007 09:27 PM CST   之前就听说过这部片子，最近在jyoro的强烈推荐下终于找来看了，一部差点遗漏掉的佳作。   故事背景让人感觉非常适合如今的中国社会。因为同样的事情也在“和谐”大地上不断发生。前有林昭张志新，今有湖北佘祥林，山西聂树斌。佘祥林在杀妻案入狱十一年后有幸等到妻子偶然归来，冤案不攻自破；聂树斌则在被枪毙十年后真凶归案才得以洗刷罪名。中国的黑手，如果不比英国的更黑，实在是并无二致。   另外片中终点篇幅放在描写主角父子之间的感情变化。片中的父亲让很多人感到那么熟悉，依稀记得学生课文中那篇朱自清写的父亲的背影。父亲在我们生命中拥有那份不可替代的深远影响。

Kutaragi given AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award Posted: 26 Nov 2007 02:24 PM CST The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has named Sony's Ken Kutaragi the recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award

Virtual Console Gets Double Dribble, Vegas Stakes And Ecco Jr. Posted: 26 Nov 2007 10:09 AM CST Nintendo has announced that this week's regular Wii Shop update will see the addition of three new classic games to the channel's offerings for Virtual Console, all available as of 9:00 AM PST on November 26th. The new offerings include Double Dribble, the five-on-five, fill-court home basketball game originally released by Konami in arcades in 1986 and for Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. With support for single or two-player modes, it's priced at 500 Wii ...

GameFly Charts: Assassin's Creed Stays On Top Amid Little Movement Posted: 26 Nov 2007 10:38 AM CST This week's top rental charts from U.S. game rental company GameFly, representing the most requested games for the week ending November 26th, highlight both to-be-released and already released games in a unique demand-specific chart. This week's top five all-platform requests show very little change, with last week's top four among all-platform requests sticking in place: Assassin's Creed hangs on to the first spot again, with Mass Effect in second,Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare steady ...

ZeniMax Online Studios Licenses Simutronics HeroEngine For New MMO Posted: 26 Nov 2007 08:21 AM CST Simutronics announced today that ZeniMax Online Studios has licensed the Simutronics HeroEngine, the company's MMO development platform, for an unannounced project currently beginning development. Simutronics first launched HeroEngine as a licensed development platform in 2006 after five years of development. It incorporates rapid-prototyping and world-building tools with a content pipeline aimed specifically at the needs of MMO development teams. Earlier this year, Simutronics announced three new licensees: Virgin Games UK, Stray Bullet Games and Colony ...

Report: Perpetual Entertainment Liquidating Assets Posted: 26 Nov 2007 07:13 AM CST In an SEC filing, Korean-based developer Gravity (Ragnarok Online) disclosed that in October, it received a notice that U.S.-based online game developer Perpetual, in which Gravity invests, would be liquidating all of its assets. According to the filing, the notice said that a separate company called Perpetual LLC would "shall liquidate the Assets, wind down Perpetual, and distribute the net liquidation proceeds to creditors of Perpetual." The date on which Gravity stated the notice was ...

Popcorn Arcade Label Adds Climax/Eurocom Vet As COO Posted: 26 Nov 2007 06:30 AM CST UK developer and publisher Data Design Interactive has announced it has hired former Climax Entertainment and Eurocom designer Matthew Humphries as Chief Operations Officer, specifically to work with DDI's Popcorn Arcade studio label. Humphries began with Climax as a technical designer on Warhammer Online before joining Eurocom Entertainment, where he worked on several games up until his most recent role as lead Designer on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for Xbox 360 and ...

Game Design: Yahtzee On "The Keyring Syndrome" Posted: 26 Nov 2007 02:17 PM CST Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw (author of the extremely funny Zero Punctuation series at The Escapist) is also an adventure game designer, and has a a series of blog articles about common adventure game flaws. His latest is appropriate to adventure games and RPGs - it's concerning what he calls the "Keyring Syndrome." The problem comes from the simplified interfaces of graphic adventures as they "evolved" to the point where there were so few verb / object combinations available that you could brute force the solutions. In particular, the "Use on " combinations that allow you to unlock a part of the game simply by going through your inventory blindly. But more than that just criticize the problem, he also suggests some solutions. It's a good read whether you are a designer or a fan of adventures or RPGs: Ben Crowshaw: Use Key On Door Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

And The Winners Are … Posted: 27 Nov 2007 05:02 PM CST Despite only recently shaking off my tryptophan-induced Thanksgiving stupor, I wanted to give thanks once more to those of you who participated in the first-ever PlayStation Schwag contest. Hundreds of readers submitted answers to 10 fairly-difficult questions, and it’s time to announce the winners. I personally graded all the tests (we’re going to have to move to Scantron tests next time ) and I can say that most of you performed very well, with an average score of about 8 out of 10. The most commonly missed question: Q: What game is this character from? A: Blasto The first contestant to answer a perfect 10 for 10 was Vladislav Kravtsov of San Francisco. The remaining perfect test takers went into a hat to randomly draw 9 more winners, listed here: Tim Bledsoe, Vancouver, WA Matthew Wright, Tustin, CA Steven Belina, Newington, CT Tom Benson, Temecula, CA Chad Haught, Carrollton, TX Chris Taylor, West Columbia SC Tom Balistreri, New Berlin, WI Darren Tilley, Portland, ME Mark Kitchin, Germantown, MD Special thanks to (in order of appearance) Chris Taylor, Mark Kitchin, and Tim Bledsoe for sending in some pics of themselves geared up with some of their PS schwag. Again, response to this contest was great, so next time we’ve got something cool to give away we’ll do something like this again.

Wii Melts Icy Heart Of Anti-Video Game Mom [Physical Fitness] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 04:20 PM CST The Nintendo Wii may just be the best thing to happen to non-gamers since the invention of the... I don't know, let's say the polio vaccine. It not only gives retirement home detainees a replacement activity for staring longingly out the window, it gets them occasionally moving. It has given us the Alpha Mom, the laughing Wii Baby, and Wario Wario Smooth Moves. Now, it has transformed one hardline anti-gaming mom into a Wii devotee. In a new column, New York Times health reporter Tara Parker-Pope focuses on the cardiovascular silver lining of games like Wii Sports and the EyeToy series as the reason she's reversed her "no video games" policy at home. Oh sure, she points to games that require physical interaction, say Dance Dance Revolution and Nicktoons Movin' Jellyfish Jam, as being heavy calorie burners, but I suspect ulterior motives. My guess is that she spent two hours in line to play Manhunt 2 as it was intended. Moving Beyond Joysticks, and Off the Couch [New York Times]

Win a $500 Gift Certificate [Contest] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 04:00 PM CST Don't forget about our week-long, and Storm Trooper-free, contest to win a $500 gift certificate. You just need to do some digging around about our three guest editors and send in your answers by Friday, from there we will randomly choose a group of finalists who have to watch the site Monday for their final question and be the first to answer it. Hit the link for the details, questions and rules. The $500 Wish List Contest [Kotaku]

Today's most popular headlines are Greenpeace ... [Stats Feed] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 04:00 PM CST Today's most popular headlines are Greenpeace Say Nintendo Eat Dolphins, Kill Pandas For Sport (11,650 views today), EA On Need For Speed Porn: Oops (5,934) and British Sales Charts (4,225). Today's most discussed stories are Greenpeace Say Nintendo Eat Dolphins, Kill Pandas For Sport (225 comments), JT On Trial For Crimes Against Inanity (102) and Xbox 360 Even More Backwards Compatible (96).

Guitar Hero For The Commodore 64 [Hacks] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 03:40 PM CST The Commodore 64's fondly remembered SID audio chip seems like a perfect match for a retro rhythm game, doesn't it? It seems that Toni Westbrook thinks so, as he's fashioned the PSX64 controller adapter to work with a Guitar Hero guitar controller—the PlayStation 2 type—and is hard at work on the C64 port of the game. Lo-fi hacking at its best. Shredz64 [The Shredz64 Project via Waxy.org]

MTV Talks About Rock Band the TV Show [Rock Band Tv?] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 03:00 PM CST I wrote up a pretty nice three-page package on Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 for the Rocky Mountain News before I left for Australia. Most of it is geared to a pretty general audience, meaning it's a lot of explanation, impressions and factoids, but one of the stories in the package is pretty packed with interesting details for even hard-core gamers. I spoke with Paul DeGooyer, MTV's senior vice president of home entertainment, music and games, not once but twice to write With 'Band' in hand, MTV eyes evolution. (My harddrive crashed and I lost all my notes :( ). In the story DeGooyer touches on some interesting things, including MTV's take on whether Rock Band will be coming to the channel as its own television show, how the Grateful Dead helped tweaked the game and Metallica's deal for the game. Hit the jump for the details. On Metallica: MTV and Harmonix have plans to release new music weekly for the game, eventually pushing the game's library into the thousands. And DeGooyer says that musicians, both established and up-and-coming, are lining up to get their music into the game. Some artists may even forgo the traditional route of MTV or radio and premiere new songs directly on Rock Band. "There are a couple of things we've committed to, one of them with Metallica for example," he said. "They've reserved the right to give us their first single from their new album for the game." In other cases, musicians might release music to the game to tie in with a new record or tour, he said. On Grateful Dead: Musicians have been fans of Harmonix's games almost since their original Guitar Hero hit stores. With MTV backing them, musicians are getting more hands-on time with the game earlier in the process. The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, drummer and quite an audiophile, even had his hand in some of the design work. "We presented the game to the Grateful Dead, and Mickey Hart, the drummer, had some suggestions about the audio and about what could be implemented and we used some of that," DeGooyer said. DeGooyer said he helped show off the game to musicians at Abbey Road Studios, setting up Rock Band in famed Studio Three where Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was tracked. "Everyone who was working in the studio, from engineers to musicians, stopped by to try it out," he said. On Rock Band TV: While Rock Band has MTV's full support, the television network is being very careful not to overdo it. Specifically, they are holding off on any Rock Band-themed television shows, for now. "The risk is that a show would be put together that's not very good, " DeGooyer said. "We need the right concept, one that looks at how gamers engage with the game. There really isn't this impetus to put the wrong show up. The game speaks for itself." That last bit, which didn't make the final cut of my Rocky story, may be DeGooyer saying they're not doing a Rock Band television show, but the implication was most certainly that they weren't doing one yet. With 'Band' in hand, MTV eyes evolution [Rocky Mountain News]

Xbox 360 Even More Backwards Compatible [BC Update] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 02:40 PM CST Today is the day I put my original Xbox to rest. Larry Hryb has posted a list of newly backwards compatible titles for the Xbox 360, and with it my last non-compatible game, the brilliant Armed and Dangerous, now works in my 360. A little stuttering during the cut scenes, but the gameplay is solid and the humor intact. In fact, I nearly missed posting this story because I got wrapped up in playing, so it obviously works well enough. Armed and Dangerous is joined by Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, The Bard's Tale, and...The Guy Game, along with many more, bringing the BC list past the 300 mark. Hit the jump for the list in its entirety. *sigh* Goodbye, giant black box. I don't know I'll fill the space left in my entertainment center left by your passing. Perhaps a small island nation. November 2007 Back Compat titles added: 2006 Fifa World Cup Germany 25 to Life AMF Bowling 2004 Apex Arena Football Armed and Dangerous Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance Batman Rise of Sin Tzu Bionicle Blade II Blinx: The Timesweeper Blitz The League Blood Omen 2 Blowout Breakdown Burnout 2: Point of Impact Cabelas Dangerous Hunts 2 Championship Manager 2006 Colin Mcrae Rally 2005 Crime Life: Gang Wars Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 Dungeons& Dragons Heroes ESPN College Hoops 2k5 ESPN NFL 2k5 Fantastic 4 FIFA 06 Soccer Fight Night: Round 3 Final Fight: Streetwise Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone Freedom Fighters Freestyle Street Soccer Future Tactics: The Uprising Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee Godzilla Save the Earth Goldeneye Rogue Agent Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball Max'd High Heat MLB 2004 Hunter: The Reckoning Indiana Jones And The Emperors Tomb MLB Slugfest Loaded MVP Baseball 2003 MVP Baseball 2004 MVP Baseball 2005 Nascar Thunder 2002 Nascar Thunder 2003 NBA 2k3 NBA Ballers NBA Inside Drive 2002 NBA Street V3 NCAA College Basketball 2k3 NCAA March Madness 2005 NCAA March Madness 2006 NFL 2k2 NFL 2k3 NHL 2005 NHL 2K3 NHL Hitz Pro Nightcaster: Defeat The Darkness NTRA Breeders Cup: World Thoroughbred Championships Playboy The Mansion RLH Hunt or be Hunted Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown Rocky Rugby 2006 Shattered Union Shrek Super Party Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter Starsky & Hutch Syberia II Techmo Classic Arcade Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Test Drive The Bard's Tale The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe The Guy Game The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age Thousand Land Thrillville Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers Turok: Evolution Van Helsing WarPath Worms 3D Zathura November '07 Back Compat Update [Xbox Live's Major Nelson via Saving Progress]

Helpful Parental Game Buying Tips From Leland Yee [Strategy] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 02:20 PM CST Violent video games have topped the charts on and off since gaming began, and California State Senator Leland Yee couldn't help but notice that many parents suck at keeping them from children. Instead of using traditional methods of dealing with inattentive parents, Yee has decided to bring your mothers into this and simply release a list of helpful tips for purchasing games this Holiday season. For example: Pick games that require the player to come up with strategies and make decisions in a game environment that is more complex than punch, steal, and kill. I would go as far as adding that smaller children are excellent at fooling parents, and they should not be discounted. Sure, the bigger kids are more impressive and tougher, but those little guys know your firing rate and can swim circles around you. Yeah, I couldn't keep up with the theme towards the end there, but you get the point. Yee decided that he would get himself a little more notice as a crusader against violent gaming by issuing a helpful press release warning all of the parents out there that their adorable little children want to play Manhunt 2 and will stop at nothing to try and get you to buy it for them. One such violent video, Manhunt 2, is on many children's wish list. It was recently revealed that the game - which many have called the most violent video game ever produced - has accessible content designed for an Adults-Only (AO) rating. Despite the graphically violent scenes which were supposedly removed in order to receive the downgraded Mature (M) rating, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has refused to re-rate the game. Yes, the ESRB has put our adorable little 17 year-olds in danger, and Leland Yee wants to make sure everybody knows it. My personal favorite tip? "Avoid the "first person shooter" and "third person shooter" killing-machine games." Killing-machine games? Is this a genre I've never heard of before? Does it involve a thresher? I think the point I am trying to make here is that we need a game where we kill people with a thresher. Happy Holidays. Yee Urges Parents to Avoid Violent Video Games when Holiday Shopping for Kids Monday, November 26, 2007 Ultra-Violent Video Games Top Many Holiday Shopping Lists SACRAMENTO - Citing potential harmful effects on minors, child psychologist and Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) today urged parents and grandparents to avoid violent video game purchases for their children this holiday season. "Eighty-seven percent of children between 8 and 17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults," said Yee. "It is vitally important that parents and grandparents consider the content in video games before making holiday purchases. Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children's games." One such violent video, Manhunt 2, is on many children's wish list. It was recently revealed that the game - which many have called the most violent video game ever produced - has accessible content designed for an Adults-Only (AO) rating. Despite the graphically violent scenes which were supposedly removed in order to receive the downgraded Mature (M) rating, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has refused to re-rate the game. Manhunt 2 has been banned in England, and Target stores in the United States have refused to sell the game. The game is still readily available at Wal-Mart and other major retailers however. Yee's 2005 law to prohibit the sale of extremely violent video games to minors in California is currently being litigated. A bill authored by Yee in 2004 which has gone into effect, requires video game retailers to post signs to inform consumers regarding the use of the video game rating system. "Unfortunately, some parents don't realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities," said Yee. "These violent video games are learning tools for our children and can result in more aggressive behavior," said Randall Hagar of the California Psychiatric Association. Parents and grandparents should consider the following before purchasing video games: • Be aware of advertising and marketing to children. Advertising pressure contributes to impulse buying. • Check the age ratings video game descriptors found on the box. Read other reviews, such as www.mediafamily.org, www commonsensemedia.org, and www.familymediaguide.com. • Become familiar with the game. • If there are violence and sexual themes in the title and cover picture, you can assume these themes are also in the game. • Look for games involving multiple players to encourage group play. • Pick games that require the player to come up with strategies and make decisions in a game environment that is more complex than punch, steal, and kill. • Avoid the "first person shooter" and "third person shooter" killing-machine games. • Discourage games that reward the player with more points or new scenes for anti-social and violent behavior. For information on toy and product recalls, visit the United States Product Safety Commission website at www.cpsc.gov. ###Discovered via The Escaptist

The Life-Sized Plushie Companion Cubes [Funde Razor 07] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 02:00 PM CST What you see before you aren't just the coolest damn game-related plushies on the planet. They're not just life-sized, and very huggable Companion Cubes, no they're also the grand prizes for the Brooklyn and Denver Funde Razor events happening on Dec. 12 to raise money for Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity. That's right, not only can you hang-out with fellow gamers in Brooklyn and Denver and play a little Rock Band or Guitar Hero on a big-screen, but you have a chance at winning one of these Companion Cubes created by Diane Koss with the help of a grant from the Bond Street Group. Each of the two cubes, seen here sandwiching one standard-issue human female, will be awarded to one test subject in each Fünde Razor facility. Also: We'll be giving away some LEGO, courtesy of Lego and Net Devil, co-creators of the upcoming LEGO Universe massively multiplay online videogame. More prizes to be announced as we get closer to the event. Joel Johnson will be on hand at the FR in Brooklyn to make sure people get the goodies and I'll be on hand in Denver to rock out. Hit the link to check out the complete details for the upcoming, and hopefully soon to be, annual event. Funde Razor

Helpful Undertow Hints From Chair [Strategy] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 01:40 PM CST Undertow has topped the Xbox Live Arcade charts since its release last week, and developer Chair Entertainment couldn't help but notice that many of you suck at it. Instead of using traditional Xbox Live methods of dealing with sub-par competition, the folks at Chair have decided to leave your mother out of this and simply release a list of ten helpful tips for dominating Undertow's excellent multiplayer mode. For example: Use cover. There are areas the two smaller units (Marine and Dragoon) can hide from view. This is a great way to take enemies off guard. Hide in tall grass, behind pillars, buildings, or in clumps of rock and debris. I would go as far as adding that smaller units are excellent, and they should not be discounted. Sure, the bigger ships are more impressive and tougher, but we little guys know your firing rate and can swim circles around you. The game has an amazing amount of depth (HA!) in a tiny package. It is essentially the essence of any elaborate 3D team-based shooter in a simple, 2D form. Damn fun to play. Even more so if you read the tips provided below! UNDERTOW TEAM OFFERS 'TOP 10 TIPS' FOR DOMINATING THE GAME Since its Thanksgiving launch, the award-winning Undertow has been the #1 selling Xbox LIVE Arcade game on the system. This week, the development team at Chair Entertainment Group is releasing its "Top 10 Tips" on how gamers can dominate multiplayer matches and master the game! Upon first trial, gamers will quickly discover the key is to boost! around the levels and rapid fire unlimited ammo, but here are some additional tips from the experts: 1 - If you are playing with a buddy online, try to coordinate what units you are. One killer combo is the Destroyer and the Dragoon. The Dragoon can hide inside the Destroyer, protecting it from nearby enemies and shooting down enemy torpedoes, allowing the Destroyer time to bombard the enemy with its huge explosions. 2 - Low on health? Take cover and wait for your health to regenerate. 3 - When trying to take an occupied enemy Control Point, swoop in with a fast unit type like the Corsair or the Marine and drop all your depth charges on the enemy. When they die you will have enough time to neutralize the Control Point so the enemy can't spawn there anymore, allowing you to quickly take it. 4 - The Corsair, while not as strong as the Dragoon or the Destroyer, has an incredible rate of fire at a long (and relatively safe) distance. Try to find pinched-off areas where the enemy will bottleneck their forces, keep a steady rate of fire on that section, and watch the kills roll in. Even hitting the wall next to an enemy can be effective - Corsairs and Destroyers do a lot of splash damage! 5 - Remember that Undertow doesn't happen in space -- gravity is still a factor. There are serious advantages to having the high-ground in a face off. 6 - You can't shoot while using Turbo (X button), but you can use depth charges. Zipping by a pack of enemies for a bombing run is a good way to get some kills. You can hold up to five depth charges! 7 - Control Points don't have to be yours to get a shutout. Sometimes taking a Control Point to neutral can be advantageous if one is simply trying to deny opponents from spawning. Taking all the Control Points to neutral, and then killing all your enemies (before they can get another Control Point of course), is a quick way to win a match. 8 - Use cover. There are areas the two smaller units (Marine and Dragoon) can hide from view. This is a great way to take enemies off guard. Hide in tall grass, behind pillars, buildings, or in clumps of rock and debris. 9 - The five circles at the top represent the Control Points, and they're laid out from left to right according to where they are located in the map. You can see their timers counting down when you're taking a Control Point. The more team members you have taking a Control Point, the faster you'll take it! 10 - Upgrades are immediate - making you faster and more powerful! It also fills your health bar. Remember that during battle! If it's late in a match and you're getting owned, remember to check your points. If you have points - use them! Press the Y-Button to enter the upgrade menu, select the unit you want, and then press the A-Button to upgrade. BONUS - Communicate! When playing multiplayer, put on your headset and talk to your teammates. The best way to decimate your opponents is to communicate your strategies!

Skin Your Rock Band [Mods] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 01:20 PM CST If you happened to name your Rock Band "Add Your Band Name," then you're in luck, because Digital Camo already has your custom Rock Band bass drum attachment in their system. It's part of a total drum kit customization package they have going on sale on the 1st of December, which includes options to skin your stand and drum heads along with the nifty personalized bass drum attachment, created from lightweight plastic and fastened to the front of your kit with the magic of velcro. Tack on the already available guitar and Xbox 360 skins, and you've got the makings of your own rock legend. No one will ever forget the name "Add Your Band Name". Hit the jump to see how the drum heads look all gussied up. I'm wondering how those heads are going to hold up to my frenzied-Muppet drumming technique. Luckily they're relatively cheap at $14.99 for the head kit, $19.99 for the bass drum attachment, and $12.99 for the stand decals. Add on the guitar and Xbox 360 skins for $14.99 and $24.99 respectively, and you've got a lovely Christmas present for the gamer who went and ruined your gift idea by picking up the game early. Digital Camo also has skins available for all Guitar Hero controllers, so there's no real excuse not to color coordinate. After gazing at these pictures, I am almost ashamed to go back to playing my naked drum set in the living room. Almost. Digital Camo Skins Product Page [Digital Camo]

Translating Bionic Commando [Bionic Commando] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST It's a gamble. A big, big gamble. Capcom is trusting one of its most requested sequels to a first time producer. Not only that, a first time non-Japanese producer working out of Capcom's Osaka headquarters. If that wasn't risky enough, this first timer is overseeing a development team based outside Japan. In the stodgy and safe Japanese business environment this kind of gamble is more of an unheard of anomaly. A risky as hell one at that. "This may or may not work out," American-born producer Ben Judd says of his Bionic Commando sequel. Judd is frank, straightforward and knows there are a lot of expectations placed on him not only by fans, but by his company and the guy who created Mega Man. Almost twenty years ago, Super Joe (AKA "Ladd Spencer") and his bionic arm swung over enemies the Badds. The game was one of those big-in-America-not-in-Japan kind of things, and Capcom sat on the property for a decade plus, releasing every kind of sequels save for one that Western gamers really wanted: Bionic Commando 2. Enter Ben Judd. "I kept telling Inafune that we had to do another Bionic Commando," says Judd, himself a huge BC fan. "And Inafune was always like, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'" But as the Dead Rising and Mega-Man creator kept hearing "Bionic Commando" popping up in interview after interview with the foreign press. Judd was heading up Capcom's localization team in Japan, a team that he created. Japanese-to-English game translations have traditionally been, for a lack of a better word, crap. Until recently, most Japanese companies viewed them as an afterthought, and it showed. Badly. More often than not, they're literally translations that miss the nuances of culture and language. While working for Capcom USA, Judd began gathering game assets in Japan and was asked to do some localization on Resident Evil: Outbreak. Things went well, and Capcom greenlit Judd's setting up of a localization studio at Capcom HQ. Judd was a logical choice to bridge the proverbial East-West gap. "The first I really became aware of Japan was when I was about eight years old," he says. "My dad was in the Navy, and he brought me a Transformer-type Bullet Train toy after a two week stay. We didn't have Transformers in Ohio, and we sure as hell didn't have Bullet trains." He remembers pouring over the back of the toy box, looking at the unreadable Japanese character. An interest was sparked. Flash forward to the early 90's. "When I was 16 or 17, people would yell at me for having a Japanese car," Judd says. It was the Bush-era cars wars with America patriotism manifesting itself in General Motors. "It's America, should people be able to drive whatever they want?" The political climate of the day made a profound impression on Judd, which was cemented after reading The Ugly American in high school. The book encapsulated everything he didn't want to become: Insensitive to other cultures and unwilling to learn new things. Interested in games and anime, he started learning Japanese and studied abroad in Japan. Judd recalls, "The only thing that really surprised me about when I first got here was that I saw more anime in America than I did in Japan." After graduation, he got a job at an import video game shop and kept studying Japanese full speed. He measured his progress by his ability to understand Final Fantasy games in their native lingo. "When I got Final Fantasy VII and Cloud showed up in a bath with other men," Judd remember, "I had no clue what was going on." By the time he got to FFIX, he could completely understand 98 percent of the game in Japanese. But Judd knew that if he was ever going to use his language skills, he need to get it damn close to perfect — as perfect as it was going to be for a non-native speaker. Making the trip out to Japan again, he got a job teaching English. His free time was spent honing his language skills. "Then about that time, there was a death in the family," Judd says. "Here I was whiling away my time in Japan. I needed to get back to States." Capcom USA had a job opening, and Judd applied. Translation tests, interview-after-interview and teleconferences in Tokyo followed. Judd was hired. And after a stint working in the American office, he was back in Japan. With Judd and Western press pushing for more Bionic Commando, Inafune saw that there was a very real built-in audience for this game. But it wasn't a Japanese audience. This was a game that mattered to Western gamers. It needed a Western producer. Inafune backed Judd, and the project was pushed through the corporate bureaucracy — less an uphill fight and more a vertical climb. A PSP Bionic Commando was approved. The game was slated to run on the Ultimate Ghost and Goblins Engine and a team began work on the project until Inafune said to scrap it. "He said it should be bigger," Judd says. "A next-gen game." Bionic Commando was now officially a AAA title, and newcomer Judd a AAA producer. "I was in shock", he says. "I didn't want to get excited, fearing that the rug would be pulled out from underneath me. Here I am, making a dream of my youth." With all systems go, Inafune suggested bringing on Western developers to make sure it appealed to the audience's taste. Judd points out that Bionic Commando is indicative of the way that Inafune (and Capcom) have been moving. Take Dead Rising and Lost Planet, both were made with Western audiences in mind. "Japanese programmers aren't as good with things like physics as Western ones are," points out Judd. "That's probably due to a history of working mainly with consoles instead of PCs. Good physics are really important in Bionic Commando." Things are pulled and thrown in Bionic Commando. They've got weight. Swedish developer GRIN was brought on to do the heavy lifting. "Capcom Japan is adding the spice," adds Judd. How is it as an American working in Japan with a Swedish dev team? "Let's be honest," Judd says. "It's a hassle. I love and hate it. But some of the best work is produced when creative forces are pushing hard in opposite directions." The team has gone through the original screen by screen, combed back through the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color game as well as the entire Commando canon. They know it, they respect it. "I really hope it's something that the fans can appreciate," he says. With any updating, there are complaints. Bionic Commando is no exception. The biggest complaint was by far Spencer's dreads. The laundry list of those in a nutshell: The original character didn't have dreads! White people look horrible with dreads! Those dreads look like hot dogs! "Of course, the character has changed," says Judd. "He's been in prison. It's like Captain America's fall from grace." In short, this isn't the Bionic Commando you grew up with anymore. If you want to play that game, it still exists. You can play it, even. Other complaints attacked things like the size of the arm and more importantly those orange hot dogs inside it. Addressing that singularly important issue, Judd says, "Granted, Kotaku has its own culture surrounding it, but no one else has really has pointed out any hot dogs in Spencer's arm." Everyone else is apparently blind. Still, purist are wondering: Why not make it 2D? "The fact is that today most people won't pay sixty bucks for a 2D game," Judd points out. "They'll pay ten bucks for a 2D Xbox LIVE game." Capcom wanted to give Bionic Commando to the largest audience possible, and that in this day and age means translating it to 3D. Regardless, the game is not a straight up remake. It is a sequel, set ten years after the first game. Better yet, think of it as a translation. "There are plans to tie it back," Judd says, refusing to reveal more. "The good thing about showing what you are working on is that you can get feedback," he adds. With that, comments can be incorporated or ignored in the evolutionary process that is game development. "Two months from now," he says, "some of those concerns will be addressed in an announcement we're calling 'The Bionic Commando Megaton Bomb.'" Some of those may not. We're hoping the odds are in our favor for a hot dog arm nixing. Check back tomorrow for our write-up of the Bionic Commando demo walk through.

JT On Trial For Crimes Against Inanity [Law And Order] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST I know I generally don't like writing about our good friend JT Lawyerman if I can avoid it, but then he generally isn't in the midst of an ethics trial in Florida court that could result in his disbarment. Yesterday marked the start of the trial we knew was coming eventually, as the Florida Bar explores several complaints regarding JT's professional conduct in his dealings with the video game industry. The anti-violent gaming crusader was metaphorically drug kicking and screaming to court, with a failed bid to block the trial last week followed by an offer of 3 months voluntary suspension filed over the weekend, which fell on deaf ears. Not so deaf now, as the Florida bar informed GamePolitics that the entire week has been set aside to hear the case, with the referee Judge Tunis having until the 21st of December to rule. It may look grim, but don't count JT out yet. All he has to do is win a court case and he...yeah, he's pretty much doomed here. Jack Thompson Faces Trial Before the Florida Bar Today [GamePolitics.com]

Virgin Comics And Perspective Team For New IP [Announcement] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 12:20 PM CST Generally you have a comic book that gets so popular a video game is made (Turok), or a game with so many fans that it spills over into the realm of comic books (Halo).Virgin Comics hopes to skip that whole annoying process, teaming with computer animation house Perspective Studios to create a portfolio of new intellectual property aimed at multiple formats. While the new characters and franchises will get their start in graphic novels or short animations, each will be designed with video games, television shows, or feature films in mind. Perspective has a long history of working with other game companies, providing animation for both GTA and Ghost Recon series, and now they're itching to do their own thing. "Our past experience with many memorable properties has long inspired us to see what we could accomplish with original content," said Steven Lehrhoff, CEO of Perspective Studios. "The Virgin Comics team, with such a unique creative vision, will make the ideal partner for this undertaking." Virgin Comics most recently dipped their toes in the video game industry with the announcement that Sony Online Entertainment would be working on an MMO based off of their Ramayan 3392 A.D. series. I dunno. It just seems to me like this sort of multi-media expansion generally happens best when you aren't expecting it. Look at Sam and Max, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You get a much different feel to a comic book when you start off thinking, "I'm going to create a comic book" rather than, "I am going to create a multi-platform intellectual property." Call me old-fashioned. VIRGIN COMICS AND PERSPECTIVE STUDIOS JOIN FORCES TO DEVELOP SLATE OF ORIGINAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES International Comic Publisher and Leading Computer Graphics Animation Studio to Collaborate on Innovative Multi-Platform Franchises NEW YORK & GLEN COVE, New York - November 27, 2007 - Virgin Comics today announced a partnership with Perspective Studios, an industry-leading computer animation production house, to co-create and develop a diverse slate of original intellectual properties. The goal of the collaboration is to create a compelling portfolio of new characters and franchises for exploitation in multiple formats, including comic books, mobile content, video games and feature films. Virgin and Perspective will initially launch each new franchise as graphic novels and short-form episodic animation for online and mobile distribution, taking advantage of Virgin's substantial relationships in these markets. The partners expect to focus on content properties that are likely to resonate with online and console gamers. Virgin announced last August that their popular Ramayan 3392 A.D. comic book series has been licensed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) as the basis for a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Perspective has provided animation for many noteworthy and highly-anticipated game titles, including Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series and Ghost Recon for Ubisoft. "Perspective is bringing a great deal of experience and versatility to the table," said Sharad Devarajan, Virgin Comics' CEO. "With Perspective's growing animation capabilities and particular expertise with video game animation, we have full confidence that they'll go above and beyond when it comes to fully realizing a unique creative vision." "Our past experience with many memorable properties has long inspired us to see what we could accomplish with original content," said Steven Lehrhoff, CEO of Perspective Studios. "The Virgin Comics team, with such a unique creative vision, will make the ideal partner for this undertaking." Virgin Comics and Perspective Studios will be making additional announcements regarding the specific franchises resulting from this collaboration, as well as the talent involved with the properties, in the near future.

Sunday Telegraph Lists PS3 in Annual Tech Guide [PS3] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST This week's Sunday Telegraph Magazine, the Sydney Telegraph's weekend magazine, includes a Tech Guide which gives readers a chance to "Eye up this year's latest and greatest, from all singing and dancing mobile phones to the mod squad of gadgets." Only one video game console made the cut to be included in the five-page special feature. Listed under the category "Beyond" with a laptop, digital weather station, keyboard and wireless mouse and home digital media player is the Playstation 3. Game consoles have come a long way, and so too have the price tags. For those among us who winced when Sony released its PlayStation 3 with a $1000 price tag, the company has wiped $300 off just in time for Christmas. The new 40GB model doesn't quite match the 60GB model that was released earlier this year, but should provide enough storage and features to keep gamers happy, pumping out exceptional gaming experience at a more affordable price. And don't forget, it connects to the internet and plays music and high-definition Blu-Ray DVDs, too. Nothing against the PS3, certainly not now that its dropped its price and is getting some amazing games for the holidays, but it does seem weird to not include the 360 and Wii, especially without any explanation.

Kwari's Five Steps [Clips] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST Kwari is a 'free' PC game where you put down money to buy ammo and then lose or gain money based on your performance in FPS battles. As I've mentioned in the past, this sounds unbelievably dangerous for the ultra-competitive FPS gamers out there. Luckily for them, this advertorial video for the game which walks you through the five steps of Kwari success is so utterly terrible that it could very well do more harm than good. After watching this I have absolutely no desire to play this game whatsoever. Nada. Cute hamster though.

XBLA Sensible World Of Soccer Dated [Live Arcade] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST Merry Christmas, old-school soccer gaming fans! A post over at the Codemasters Community Forums has confirmed that the remake of the classic Amiga (now there's a machine) sports title, announced way back in September of 2006, will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade on the 19th of December, just in time for the long holiday. The game features both a classic mode as well as an enhanced, prettier version, along with online multiplayer that has fans of the original quietly doing unnatural things to themselves in anticipation. For me, SWOS marks the sweet spot of soccer video gaming, with just enough soccer to be recognizable without all the complicated bits from later footie games that confuse my poor American mind. In short, hooray! SWOS on XBLA: 19th December *CONFIRMED* [Codemasters Community Forums via CVG]

Royal Air Force Games for Recruits [Military] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST Signing up for the military has never been so easy. The Royal Air Force ran an ad in the "Rock Band" issue of Edge featuring a faux video game called Battle Manager and telling air force potentials to text "BATTLE" and your email address if you're interested in joining. Hit MTV for a glimpse at the full ad... and then text to your heart's content. How The British Military Attracts Gamers [Multiplayer]

Be The NBA Ballers Chosen One [Game Announcement] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST If you thought NBA Ballers was a snicker-worthy title, Midway has a real treat for you next year. They've just announced the latest installment of the basketball lifestyle series, entitled NBA Ballers: Chosen One, heading to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this Spring. "NBA Ballers: Chosen One will allow players to live the life of an NBA superstar," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Featuring new competitive combo and super-move systems, the NBA Ballers Franchise returns with the amazing realistic graphics for which the franchise is known as players take part in the ultimate challenge to become the next 'Chosen One." For me the title brings to mind at best The Matrix Trilogy, and at worst Berry Gordy's 1985 martial arts classic, The Last Dragon. If you don't achieve 'The Glow' when you reach Chosen One status, the game ain't worth buying. Sho'nuff! Live The Lifestyle With NBA Ballers: Chosen One Midway Announces Third Installment of Popular NBA Ballers Franchise Coming to Next Generation Consoles in Spring 2008 CHICAGO - November 27, 2007 - Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, today announced NBA Ballers: Chosen One as the next installment in its top selling NBA Ballers franchise. The fast-paced one-on-one and two-on-two action returns as players can select from more than 65 NBA superstars to be the next "Chosen One". NBA Ballers: Chosen One is scheduled to ship for the Xbox 360™ and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system in Spring 2008. "NBA Ballers: Chosen One will allow players to live the life of an NBA superstar," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Featuring new competitive combo and super-move systems, the NBA Ballers Franchise returns with the amazing realistic graphics for which the franchise is known as players take part in the ultimate challenge to become the next 'Chosen One." With an optimized next-gen graphics engine, NBA Ballers: Chosen One will continue to set the bar for graphic quality, with the most true-to-life athlete likenesses seen in a sports video game. The franchise's hallmark pick-up-and-play gameplay allows Ballers of all skill levels to master combos and pull off amazing super-moves as they hoop-it-up with the best players in the NBA.

Rock Band Gets Healthy Dose Of Bowie [Dlc] Posted: 27 Nov 2007 10:20 AM CST Bowie is good. This is a universal fact. Singing, of course, but also acting (Labyrinth, The Prestige), and lending his creative influence, voice, and likeness to video games (Omikron: The Nomad Soul). While the Bowie pack for Rock Band, available today via Xbox Live Marketplace, might not contain my personal favorite Bowie tunes, it is Bowie and that's good enough for me. Well, technically it's Bowie. Two of the three songs in the 440 point pack - Queen Bitch and Heroes - are cover versions (or Fauxie, if you will), you do get David's original recording of Moonage Daydream, and if you are really particular you can pick and choose your songs at 160 points a pop. The pack isn't available on PSN yet, but I can't imagine it will remain unavailable for much longer. Oh, and just in case I forgot to mention it: Bowie. Rock Band Content [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

Study: Violent Games, TV Influence Aggressive Behavior Posted: 28 Nov 2007 12:12 PM CST A recent study by the University of Michigan has concluded that repeated exposure to violent television and video games is a stronger influence on aggressive behavior than is living in poverty, engaging in substance abuse or having abusive parents. According to Brad Bushman, a professor of psychology and communications studies and a research associate at the University's Institute for Social Research, the correlation between media violence and aggression is stronger than the link between condom ...

MIGS 2007: Spore's Hecker On AI, Photorealism Posted: 28 Nov 2007 11:02 AM CST As a technology fellow and Spore developer at Electronic Arts, Chris Hecker focuses on solving hard game design and technical problems found at the intersection of gameplay, aesthetics, and engineering. At a massively wide-ranging, complex talk at the 2007 Montreal Games Summit, Hecker discussed a variety of challenges in game design, and how hybrid approaches can help address these issues in the years to come. In particular, Hecker highlighted some of the challenges in dealing ...

华语游戏制作类书籍索引(Book Index){第一部分} Posted: 28 Nov 2007 09:44 AM CST 书中介绍的很多创作手法既巧妙又高效。此外，作者还从职业角度为想进入游戏行业的人们提供了许多宝贵的意见。从某种意义上说，这是第一本真正将艺术和游戏设计有机地结合在一起的书籍。Dearbook 市场价：￥49.00 书名：游戏关卡设计 作者：Phil Co ...

Célu is Going to Gamma 256! Posted: 28 Nov 2007 02:52 PM CST This isn’t Aquaria-related, (or the big announcement, that’s still coming!) but a side project of mine called Célu is going to be part of the Gamma 256 event happening in Montreal today. If you’re in the Montreal area, and you’re reading this blog right now, and you’re not already going (haha) - you should go check it out! Also, a bunch of people that worked on testing/improving Aquaria will be there! (Steve Swink, Daniel-D. “Guert” Guertin, Brandon McCartin and Noah Decter-Jackson [who worked on the game a bit back in the stone ages!]) Basically its a showcase for games made with 256×256 resolution or lower and use the XBOX360 controller. You can check out the full list of featured games on TIGSource. I’ve been wanting to make a game partly inspired by Le Petit Prince for a while. Célu is kind of like that, but its not all that I wanted it to be yet. I’m hoping that once Aquaria is done I’ll be able to go back and flesh it out a bit. (I’ve only been able to spend ~4 days work on it over a couple months so far) It also has music by yours truly! You can grab the music in MP3 format here.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Big Fish Acquires MMO Developer Thinglefin Posted: 28 Nov 2007 10:37 AM CST Casual game developer and distributor Big Fish Games has announced its acquisition of Thinglefin, an MMO developer founded by design and infrastructure vets who worked on The Matrix Online and Asheron's Call. Earlier this year, Thinglefin announced it had completed a Series A financing round led by California Technology Ventures to self-fund development of its free-to-play, browser-based MMO. At the time, founder Toby Ragaini, lead designer for Matrix Online and Asheron's Call, said Thinglefin is ...

On the Writer's Strike Posted: 28 Nov 2007 12:37 PM CST I have to apologize for my long absence. I've been working, writing, and doing other things off-line. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting more regularly, and you'll see shortly that I'll have some pretty nifty things to share with all of you. The topic on many people's lips these days in our neck of the universe is the Writer's Strike. Whether or not you agree with such a concept (and before

Reggie: Wii Shortages Are "Missed Opportunity" [Success' Victim] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST Nintendo hasn't met crazy Wii demand, despite cranking out 1.8 million Wiis per month (now). But the weird part is that despite losing major sale opportunities, Nintendo still seemed happy-go-lucky. Because while Wiis being sold out after a year makes a great headline, the bottom line would be doing even better if Nintendo could provide more consoles. Reggie Fils-Aime has finally broken the smile and admitted that, yes, it sucks not having more product to sell and asserted, no, the idea of fake Wii shortages are idiotic at this point. There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren't avid gamers. He continued: They aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity. Maybe that's the biggest downfall of pursuing casual gaming—casual gamers are too casual about their purchases. Ihref="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9823945-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1001_3-0-10[/url">Will the Wii be a set-top box? [via gamesindustry]

Upgrade Your PS3 Hard Drive [Howto] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 12:20 PM CST One of the neatest features of the Playstation 3, in my book, is that you can swap out the hard drive it comes with yourself using an off-the-shelf hard drive. Sure it may be pretty self-explanatory to some, but not everyone knows how to upgrade the hard drive on their Playstation 3. Fortunately, Seagate was kind enough to send me a little howto guide and kit. The guide walks you through the relatively painless process for upgrading your 40GB or 80GB hard drive to something roomier, like say a 160GB drive. The upgrade allows you to swap out the built-in drive with a new one, without losing any of your content. Why is Seagate explaining how to upgrade a Playstation 3? Because they sell hard drives silly. Hit the jump for the even-Brian-can-do-it instructions. What you need: An external hard drive for the backup (Seagate suggests their Maxtor OneTouch Mini) A new hard drive (Seagate suggests their Momentus 5400.3 160GB (~$120) or a Momentus 7200.2 160GB (~$160).) Mini screwdriver How to do it: Plug in your external drive and reformat it so the PS3 will recognize it. Copy current PS3 hard drive content to your external drive. Remove the standard issue console drive, following the installation instructions in the PS3 manual. Replace the console drive with a the new drive. Format new drive. Plug in external drive and transfer content to the new drive. Play Uncharted.

GTA IV Box Art Revealed [Grand Theft Auto IV] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST What you are looking at here is an image that will be accompanying news stories, getting plastered all over video game retailers, and featured on posters and magazine ads from here until the next Grand Theft Auto game pops up. This is the official cover art for GTA IV, unveiled today on Rockstar's official GTA IV web page. Snipers, cornrows, cellphones, copters, and the obligatory hot girl, complete with suggestive lollipop licking. A video of the cover reveal is available on the site, which loads with a splash page promising a third trailer for the game on December 6th at 3pm Eastern. Hit the link below for an assortment of fine wallpapers, buddy icons, and avatars. Hooray! Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV Page [Rockstar]

Old People Sometimes Play Wii, We Get It Already [Breaking] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST Dear mainstream media, Please listen up. Some senior citizens in some retirement homes play the Wii. We heard the story before, and it was really nice. And then we heard it about 1000 times since. This is no longer a story, along with these other topics: 1. The Wii is in demand this Christmas. 2. It will be tough to get a Wii this Christmas, especially for a senior. 3. Elvis is still alive, and he owns a Wii. As an alternative, may we recommend that Wii causes cancer story you've prewritten for January. Thank-you, You friendly Kotaku staff. Nintendo's Wii a surprise hit with seniors [msn] Thanks Colin!

MiniCopter Takes Off On The Wii [Game Announcement] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST Aksys Games (don't mix those first two consonants!) is bringing tiny helicopter action to the Wii next Spring with MiniCopter: Adventure Flight. The game will feature mission-based gameplay across seven environments, customizable helicopters, and the choice of Wiimote control or classic, for that true RC copter feel. "MiniCopter: Adventure Flight is a great game for budding RC modelers and children who enjoy playing with RC toys," said Akibo Shieh, President, Aksys Games. "MiniCopter allows kids to customize their helicopter without worrying about breaking their toy and seeing immediate results. When I was a kid, my dad spent one summer getting up early every Saturday and taking me to the field to spend several hours NOT letting me fly his RC helicopter. While the screenshots look a bit rough, I'm buying this for the catharsis. MINICOPTER: ADVENTURE FLIGHT TOUCHES DOWN ON THE Wii™ IN THE SPRING OF 2008 All the fun of RC helicopters without the fear of losing an eye! Torrance, CA (November 28, 2007) - Aksys Games, a publisher of interactive entertainment products, is bringing the popular RC hobby onto your television screen when MiniCopter: Adventure Flight is released on the Wii in the spring of 2008. "MiniCopter: Adventure Flight is a great game for budding RC modelers and children who enjoy playing with RC toys," said Akibo Shieh, President, Aksys Games. "MiniCopter allows kids to customize their helicopter without worrying about breaking their toy and seeing immediate results. MiniCopter: Adventure Flight Features: • Mission based gameplay! Engage in 42 missions in 7 different environments from a child's bedroom, hospital, hotel room and more! Use your air cannon and lift suction to discover hidden areas and coins. • Customize your RC Helicopter! Outfit your helicopter with a variety of body kits and parts that can alter the performance of your heli and improve your scores in Mission Mode. • 2 Player Split Screen Mode! Battle against your friend in a Race for the Rings Mode to see who's the best helicopter pilot! • Customizable Controls! Choose from the Wii Remote™ tilt, pointer controls or play with a Classic Controller! MiniCopter: Adventure Flight has not yet been rated by the ESRB. More information about Aksys Games and MiniCopter: Adventure Flight can be found at www.aksysgames.com.

UK General Praises "Playstation Generation" [Military] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST General Sir Richard Dannatt told an audience of business leaders that the "Playstation generation" was more than a match for what is required for combat in Afghanistan. "There was a time when commentators and some more experienced members of the Army expressed concern as to whether the 'PlayStation generation' were up to dealing with the gritty bloody conflict that is routine business in southern Afghanistan and Iraq. "Well, I'm pleased to say that they are. Our young soldiers, drawn from across British society, are more than a match for what is required of them and I salute every one of them." Well there you go, but what about the Wii and 360 generaiton? Army leader backs 'Playstation generation' [IC Wales]

Two Worlds Expands [Expansion Pack] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST Despite the fact that everyone I've talked to who has spent any amount of time playing Xbox 360 and PC persistent-world RPG Two Worlds has utterly despised the game, the developers are still supporting it, announcing an add-on to be released in the first half of 2008. Two Worlds - The Temptation will feature new territories to explore, an enhanced combat system that includes active blocking, and an entirely new method of transportation - here's hoping for horses you actually control. The release is relatively vague, and the website they provide in it only contains three wallpapers, so for now the expansion might as well be called Two Worlds - Three Wallpapers. We'll keep you posted in case anything actually happens worth mentioning. "Two Worlds moves on"! "The Temptation", the add-on for the smash RP already in the pipeline Karlsruhe, 28. November 2007 - Head for a new horizon! With the add-on, "Two Worlds - The Temptation", the "Two Worlds" universe continues to grow, introducing new game content, extended gameplay and providing you with the answers to many questions and mysteries which arose in the main story! The developers are focusing on a blend of the proven and the new: besides several well-known regions of Antaloor, there are also completely new territories to explore. The combat system has been further enhanced too - now you can use active blocking, for example. Many other additional developments have been added - developments which have enabled a completely new means of transport and a much enhanced reaction from NPCs - but more on these and a whole host of other surprises shortly! The release of "Two Worlds - The Temptation" for PC and consoles is planned for the first half of 2008. You can get an idea of what to expect at www.2-worlds.com/temptation.

Sony Online Entertainment Looks To India [Industry] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 10:20 AM CST India may be the world's best source for colorful musical numbers and technical support, but the MMO industry is just getting started there, and Sony Online Entertainment will be there. They are currently in taks with local talent, with plans on opening a studio in the country early next year. "We need to have Indian content for our games and we are looking for local partners," said Dave Christensen, VP of business development and international operations at SOE, speaking during a gaming conference in Mumbai, India. SOE is currently working on an MMO based on Ramayan 3392 A.D, the futuristic comic book retelling of an ancient Hindu epic. The game will launch in India, and if successful it will spread to Europe and the US. SOE Heads to India [Next-Gen]

Want $500? [Announcement] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 10:00 AM CST

Don't forget about our week-long, and Storm Trooper-free, contest to win a $500 gift certificate. You just need to do some digging around about our three guest editors and send in your answers by Friday, from there we will randomly choose a group of finalists who have to watch the site Monday for their final question and be the first to answer it. Hit the link for the details, questions and rules. The $500 Wish List Contest [Kotaku]

Kuju Launches Digi-Download Studio [Industry] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 09:40 AM CST UK dev Kuju takes aim at another segment of the gaming industry and a new studio opens. Their new Double Six studio will be dedicated to developing addictive games for Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, WiiWare, and PC. The studio is made up of developers from Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Wii and DS as well as Nucleus for PSN, overseen by the new studio head, James Brooksby. "We want to become the best, the go-to place, the studio that is known for carving out our own part of the industry. Double Six is going to be the place to go for the absolutely best games on digital platforms" Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Brooksby then goes on to explain that they will be creating games that are sometimes arcadey, sometimes casual, and sometimes quite complex. It's really all over the place. Head over there and read their article...it helps if you imagine him speaking like a breathlessly over-excited kid. Points for enthusiasm! Kuju targets digital downloads with new Double Six studio {GamesIndustry.biz]

The Chosen One Don't Ride Elevators [Clips] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 09:20 AM CST This debut trailer for NBA Ballers: Chosen One, announced just yesterday, gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect in the latest installment of Midway's basketball lifestyle franchise. Become the Chosen One and you get to ride in helicopters and wear normal clothes while play. Probably one of the first basketball trailers I've seen that doesn't feature someone actually putting a ball through a hoop in some form or fashion. Of course, this whole lifestyle thing is fictional. Real NBA superstars have already pooled their money to develop teleporter technology. Helicopters. Hmph.

Heroes' Producer to Talk at GDC [Heroes] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 09:00 AM CST Jamil Moledina, the executive director of the annual Game Developers Conference, kicked off his GDC blog last night by announcing that Jesse Alexander, the executive producer of TV show Heroes, will be giving a talk on creating each season of the show. How Heroes Are Made: A Collaborative Approach to Serialized Content in a Transmedia World will look at how Alexander uses game development processes to manage the writing on Heroes. Sounds pretty interesting. Moledina also unveiled in his blog that Tim Bennison and Eric Holmes will be talking about their upcoming game Prototype and how they are trying to produce gameplay that mimics true behavior. Sounds like this GDC will be as much a must see as ever year's is. Director's Cut: Save the Cheerleader! [GDC Director's Cut]

Getting Ready for America Help [Night Note] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 08:40 AM CST To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: K-I-S-S-I-N-G Actually, I'm surprised Tristan doesn't already have his own bird shirt! In about two weeks and a half weeks or so, I'll be heading to back to Texas for a lengthy holiday. I am actually starting to get giddy. My family lives in Dallas, and Dallas isn't that exciting of a place. But, still! I love visiting America. It's a blast. There are Americans and American things and big roads and tons of nonsense. I've already started making lists of food I want to eat starting with bean burritos. It's nice living in Japan, but after a while, it becomes really really normal. Belly aching, I know! Actually looking forward to seeing American tv. I don't have cable here, so I feel kind of disconnected with American pop culture with that regards. Is there anything I need to see? Any CDs or movies that I definitely must see? I'm kinda in the dark! Crib notes appreciated. What you missed last night My Funde Razor contribution It prints money. Still. AC impressions What's Bionic Commando's swing like PS3 orange box okay?

Activision: Sorry, Now We'll Make Even More Money [Activision] Posted: 28 Nov 2007 08:20 AM CST Activision had originally forecast that it'd be making $1.050 billion in total revenue this Christmas season. Not anymore. No, as the realisation dawned on them that Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 are conjuring money, they've bumped that estimate up to $1.225 billion. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick: We are well on our way to delivering our 16th consecutive year of revenue growth and the most profitable year in our history. We are confident that the third quarter of fiscal 2008 will be the largest and most profitable quarter ever. More profitable than the Pitfall era, even? Exciting times at Activision Towers!

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

Source: Hudson Lays Off Half of US Staff Posted: 29 Nov 2007 03:33 PM CST Next-Gen has learned that Redwood Shores-based Hudson Entertainment has laid off approximately half of its workforce.

AM3's DSVision To Provide Downloadable Media To Nintendo DS Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:38 AM CST AM3 has announced it has partnered with majority shareholder Dai Nippon Printing to establish a Japanese online shop for downloadable movies, books, comics and other media directly to the Nintendo DS. According to a report from consumer website IGN, the download service, called DSVision, is fully licensed by Nintendo, and set to begin in 2008. It will deliver content to flash cards which are then plugged into the DS through a special adapter cartridge. In ...

Penny Arcade Adventures Interview Posted: 29 Nov 2007 02:27 PM CST You know, when I first heard about Penny Arcade Adventures (Subtitled, "On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness"), I thought "Graphic Adventure Game." Like Sam & Max, or the old LucasArts / Sierra adventures. Especially when Ron "Monkey Island" Gilbert came on board to help with the design. But from the sounds of it, it's going to have a lot of RPG-style action going along with it. It looks like we'll have yet another comedy-oriented indie RPG out there soon. I think there's room for two :) The combat system is a "blend of turn-based and real-time," according to this interview. It's definitely off the beaten path. The setting is... well, all kinds of awesome to my ears. According to Jerry Holkins (AKA Tycho Brahe), "Story-wise, it's meant to be a kind of ridiculous horror game. It's modeled in kind of a winking way after the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft, and it's designed from the ground up to be a kind of pulp serial. It takes place in what seems to be a slightly mystical, prohibition-era urban and suburban setting." Sign me up. This sounds pretty dang awesome. Check out the Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Interview at RPG Vault.

Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril

One Large Pizza With A Side Of Xbox, Please Posted: 29 Nov 2007 02:18 PM CST BLOG—For the first 12 days of December, Dominos Pizza is giving away Xbox prizes with every online pizza order including ten Xbox 360 consoles a day.

炫动中国2007校园巡讲第十七站：四川美术学院 Posted: 29 Nov 2007 12:12 PM CST 发表者：水晶石数字教育学院北京中心 黑板报小组 Annie 一路南下，11月26日，此次“炫动中国2007全国CG精英讲堂”专家团来...

AcroGames Licenses Unreal Engine 3 For Online PC Title Posted: 29 Nov 2007 09:52 AM CST Korean developer AcroGames, comprised of contributors to NCsoft's Lineage II (pictured) and Softmax's Magna Carta, has announced that it has licensed Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games for an unannounced project. In addition, Gamasutra contacted Epic to discover whether the company was working on an online PC game or a console game, and Epic noted that this new Unreal Engine 3 project is an online PC title, presumably (though not confirmedly) an MMO. According to ...

GamerMetrics Analyst Talks Wii Core/Mainstream 'Fine Line' Posted: 29 Nov 2007 09:39 AM CST [As part of a new analyst newsletter, IGN GamerMetrics' Nick Williams has been discussing Nintendo's Wii dilemma, specifically the 'fine line' between keeping core gamers happy and attracting mainstream gamers, with particular reference to the console's 2008 releases. We reprint his editorial in full here with his kind permission.] As Nintendo moves forward with its strategy to expand the videogame market beyond the traditional 18-34 year old male buyers, it's important not to lose sight ...

Spike TV Awards Announce Presenter, Game Previews Posted: 29 Nov 2007 09:05 AM CST Spike TV has announced that, at its upcoming Video Game Awards event, it will unveil previews of upcoming titles including Borderlands (2K), Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony Computer Entertainment America), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft) and TNA Impact (Midway). The company also announced that the event, now in its fifth year, will be hosted by film star Samuel L. Jackson for his third consecutive year, and will also feature a first look at ...

Dear Windows Vista Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:34 AM CST Why do I care?

Report: MGS4 Needs 1 mln Day-One Sales Posted: 29 Nov 2007 01:19 PM CST Metal Gear Solid 4 needs to be a million-seller on day one in order to recoup its heavy development costs, according to a new report.

360 Rivals Wii Black Friday Sales Posted: 29 Nov 2007 01:19 PM CST UPDATE - Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg tells Next-Gen that top retailers had reported Xbox 360 hardware outages during Black Friday week, as the new Arcade package performs above expectations.

AM3 announces DSvision Posted: 29 Nov 2007 12:55 PM CST AM3 has officially announced the DSVision service, allowing users to download movies, books, and manga

New Resistance Map Pack Out Today Posted: 29 Nov 2007 12:42 PM CST As some of you may have seen thanks to IGN, a second set of maps for Resistance: Fall of Man will be available soon. How soon you may ask and where can I get them? Today and via the PLAYSTATION Store in that order. There are two new maps (each of which is playable in all sizes and all modes) named Axebridge and Bracknell. Click here to go to the IGN story, which does a nice job of describing the maps (it also keeps me from being long winded… which I can get from time to time :). Map pack two, which contains Axebridge and Bracknell, will cost $4.99. For time being, the maps will be available via the standard PLAYSTATION Store and not the in-game ‘Purchase’ option. We are also releasing a bundle of both this and the first map pack together, which will run $7.99. Next time: I don’t know… maybe something Ratchet. Maybe something… else (cue evil laugher).

成都, 今夜请将我遗忘 Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:54 AM CST 几年前, 还在重庆时, 就已经看过这本小说; 上周末回成都时, 看到成都的电影院里已经有了这本小说的电影版, 今天晚上, 在优酷上将电影版又重新看了一遍. 电影的主题曲"成都好吃嘴", 听起来很有感觉, 歌词里描述的都是成都好吃的地方所在. 总体感觉, 比起电视剧版的, 电影版的要更加忠实于原著一点, 但还是觉得小说要更好看一点. 我想, 可能只有真正在成都生活过的人才能完整体会剧中的诸多感觉: 麻将, 茶馆, 夜啤酒, 酒吧 ..., 生活就象在放牧, 没有这么强的压力, 随时可以消遣. 成都的朋友曾经问我, 杭州和成都相比, 我更喜欢哪个一点? 老实说, 比起成都来, 杭州反而让我感觉更加亲切一点, 跟老家的味道更相近一点. 但如果说更爱哪个城市, 我想应该还是成都吧. 这种感觉, 就象你面对两个女孩子, 杭州是你的妹妹, 而成都是你的爱人. 成都有一种别样迷人的美, 虽然不常出太阳, 但在灰灰的天气下, 倒是平添了几分神秘和阴柔的感觉, 没有太过强烈的阳光, 只有微风拂面的惬意, 对, 就是惬意的感觉. 原先, 我还很乐意向身边的同事推荐成都, 向他们描绘在成都生活是一件多么让人身心愉悦的事, 而如今, 我已不再干这样的事, 我想, 再美好的事物, 只有自己亲身经历过才会真正体会, 而如果没有经历过, 说得过多, 反而起反作用. 成都美不美, 在那里过着舒不舒服, 自己知道就行了, 没必要跟别人说太多. 成都, 是一个让我始终挂念的城市, 因为那里有让我挂念的人, 让我挂念的往事.

XNA Game Studio European Tour 2007 Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:27 AM CST Dave Mitchell Director | XNA I'm pleased to share details on an exciting European tour that will be commencing in just a few days and featuring XNA Game Studio 2.0!  Charles Cox and I will be blazing through 7 countries in roughly 10 days as we bring XNA Game Studio 2.0 goodness and local game industry speakers to the following locations.  If you happen to be near one of these venues, do stop on by and join us for an afternoon and be sure to say "hello" while there. Denmark http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032357699&Culture=da-DK Finland http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032358906&Culture=fi-FI Italy http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032358822&Culture=it-IT Sweden http://gameawards.se/events Our amazing friends in Microsoft offices throughout Europe have pulled together this incredible tour and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to spend time with our community members, students, faculty – anyone interested in making video games using XNA Game Studio.  Should be a lot of fun!

征途是一枝黄花 Posted: 29 Nov 2007 12:06 PM CST 　　当一个相对封闭生态环境中出现了一个生存能力极强，并且又能危害其他物种生存，降低该生态环境的物种多样化程度的物种，一般称之为入侵物种。的确，入侵物种降低了生态环境的物种丰富性，这对这个生态环境是有害的（因为一个生态环境中物种越多样化，该生态环境整体的生存能力越强）。但是，这是自然规律，尽管它有害。除非有上帝之手（比如人类干预），否则就只能按自然规律来。 　　“一枝黄花”就是这样的入侵物种。 　　市场规律也是如此，有些游戏生存能力很强，对其他游戏生存能力的危害又很大，降低了市场上产品的丰富性，减少了玩家选择的面。但这是市场规律，除非有上帝之手——政策干预，否则就只能按市场规律来。这不是靠做个健康游戏就能解决的，甚至不是靠做100个健康游戏能解决的。如果在这类游戏面前，健康游戏有明显的竞争劣势，那健康游戏也只有被淘汰的命运。 　　征途就是一枝黄花。

Player sues player over user-created content, wins (sorta) Posted: 29 Nov 2007 12:16 PM CST Folks who have been around a while may remember this case, about a Second Life player who makes virtual sex toys, had them cloned/copied/ripped off, then went after the perpetrator in court. Well, the alleged perpetrator didn’t answer the filing, which means that a default judgement was entered. Now, the aggrieved party can seek damages. Once again, virtual worlds avoid a substantive court case that could discuss implications of virtuality and goods…

月光行 Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:11 AM CST 今宵此刻自当狂，把酒孤杯兴亦张。 酒号燕京甜味味，津生解气意洋洋。 当年壮趣平生欲，尔夜清心志愿扬。 卅载心怀思已现，三生故念志还长。 为报恩知思尽献，胡行驽力且平常。 没心情写了，这样吧，算首。 走在京城的城铁，有点悲哀，不过是茫茫人海中的一员，道什么意气，说什么纷发？ 哎，今日这样吧。 本想看看片的，状态不允许，明日还需要怒行其道。 倒是很久没有写诗词了，有三年了吧，哎，吾衰竟谁陈啊。

New MotorStorm Vehicles Out Today Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:33 AM CST Hey MotorStorm fans! Are you ready for more high-octane content? Drive on over to the PSN Store later today and check out the latest vehicles and skins from our hard-working friends at Evolution Studios. The new pack available includes two new vehicles - The Mohawk Roadhog Bike and The Lunar-Tec Buffalo BigRig, both with three different paint jobs. Two new skins, QuickFoot and Crazy Samurai, are included in the pack and will allow you to place a new skin on any or all of the seven different vehicle classes in MotorStorm. The pack will cost $1.99. And for those of you who haven’t checked out the Devil’s Weekend downloadable content that was made available earlier this month, it is worth clarifying it includes the Devil’s Crossing, which is a brand spanking new track for fans to race. In fact, it is the biggest track available yet for MotorStorm and we foresee quite a bit of bone-crunching action online as well. Oh yeah, we also included a brand new music track that’ll fit right in to the game, keeping racers on edge as they look for their next victim to destroy. We hope you enjoy your new rides and skins, and please check back in the near future for more exciting new content for MotorStorm. Until then, survive the off-road!

New Nexus Project Posted: 29 Nov 2007 11:31 AM CST One of our banner submitters, Tripp Robbins, let us know he was eager to get word out about a project he is working on to use virtual worlds as an educational tool.  The website of the project is here and I asked Tripp if he could write a short summary of what he is up to for the blog so that people can have a chance to provide input.  So that follows below.  Thanks, Tripp! ------------ Summary of the NEW NEXUS PROJECT for Terra Nova After spending a lot of time in various virtual worlds/games/simulation, the idea of using a VW for education seemed powerful. I spent the last 18 months or so doing research on “what’s out there” (and I’m sure I missed a lot). After a great seminar on “Using Videogames in Education” at Stanford University with James Gee as the key presenter (and others from UWisconsin and Stanford) last summer, I came away feeling like what was needed is a tool kit for educators to create VW content. That led to the creation of the New Nexus project. The goal of the New Nexus is to see the creation of a software tool set for creating 3D virtual world experiences for learning. This "Dream Kit" should be: 1) free to the public to use or modify 2) easy to use (well, as easy as possible) 3) powerful, flexible and adaptable 4) suited to multiple operating systems (or in different OS flavors) If and when the Dream Kit is created, educators around the world will be able to use it to create Learning Modules. (My conservative ballpark guess is that a reasonable tool would only be useable by 1%-2% of primary and secondary teachers; at its most user-friendly, it’d still require some tech savvy.) Each new module can be shared on the web and available for free download so that the storehouse of available, ever-improving materials will always be growing. (Alternately, it may be wise to allow some users/organizations to create works for commercial sales, since the incentive to recover costs would allow for more time and energy to be put into a module.) We are not naive about the challenge that this project poses; we are inspired by the potential it shows. The possibilities are staggering. We see two possible routes to the development of the Dream Kit. The first is an open source approach, with volunteers working collaboratively to create something for the good of mankind and harnessing the power of the web to fuel the work. The second approach is to obtain funding from charitable organizations and/or individuals to hire world-class software engineers and artists to create the kit. For either approach, regular updates to the engine would be expected. Having a little familiarity with software development, I understand that creating something that is really powerful/flexible AND user-friendly is hard, really hard. I’m sure the reason such a tool doesn’t exist is because it’s extremely hard to create. But it’s not impossible. So if it’s possible and if it’s worth doing, how do we get it made? Which approach, Open Source or charitably funded (or a hybrid) is best?

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

Rock Band First Impressions: The Good, the Bad, and the Clash Posted: 30 Nov 2007 02:39 PM CST After sending DrScotto questing all around Maryland in search of Rock Band last Sunday, he arrived with the large box in tow and laid it at our feet to dig through many boxes, baggies, and instructions. Him, The O, my little brother, and myself rocked out for a few hours that night, each taking a turn at the different instruments. Since then, The O and I have played a few nights through the world tour, switching off guitar and bass. Here’s what I think. The Instruments If you’re familiar with Guitar Hero, you’re already most of the way there. Guitar and Bass work the same as you’d expect with only some minor differences. The included guitar is not my favorite, featuring a more difficult to use strummer and an obstrusive extra switch for controlling whammy effects. The whammy bar, however, is larger and easier to use. Of course, the biggest downside to the RB guitar is that it won’t work with Guitar Hero, but Guitar Hero guitars will work with RB. Also, as a seasoned guitarist, I found most of the Rock Band guitar parts to be relatively easy, featuring more repetitive sections that in songs we’ve seen before. The bass is even easier and more repetitive for most songs. I’m not sure if the hard mode is actually more do-able as a result, which is one of the next things I have to try. Drums are in some ways more intuitive, since you just have to hit the appropriately colored drum pad at the right time- with the pedal being an extra button represented by a straight line (and a source of leg pain if you’re not high enough off the ground.) A number of online reviews are of the opinion that the drums are the most faithful to the real instrument, and enough practice might carry over from one to the other. It’s convinced me that I never want to be a drummer. The microphone is a lot more fun than I originally thought. You’re not just trying to match the lyrics as they slide along the top of the screen, but it measures the octave of your voice, and judges much more on that than anything else. Sometimes circles appear in the singing track, which means you’ve got some tambourine or cowbell to hit the microphone in time to. Maybe I was doing it too hard, but it really starts to hurt your hand after a while. Also, even on easy, Don’t Fear the Reaper is a difficult song to pass, so my cowbell attempts didn’t last very long before I reached failure. The Band Whereas Guitar Hero 3’s art direction looked like it came from someone whose design experience was limited to cutting and pasting, Rock Band shows that Harmonix really understands the fun of being in a band. Not only can you customize your characters right from the start, you can spend money that you gain through gigs to buy extra clothes, hair-styles, and some bitchin’ mutton chops. Every one of these options is accompanied by a funny tidbit, and all the names are hilarious and often puns. When actually playing, the visual style emulates a variety of music video styles, but of course with your characters playing on the stage you’ve selected. The characters feel organic, as they do things randomly in the song like having the guitarist sing into the mic during a chorus, or the lead singer stage-diving into the crowd when given some time off. While the star power effects of the GH games are gone, there’s still plenty going on to watch that adds to the game. The loading screens likewise add to the effect by featuring your band or band name doing rock and roll traveling things. The Tour I’ve not yet played the single player, but the multiplayer World Tour mode. However, the Tour is quite innovative and a logical extension of the premise. You start out in a home city, and play gigs there (either single songs, or sets of songs.) You earn fans and money, which open up other gigs and opportunities. At times, you’re give the chance to add extras to your band like roadies, a tour bus, a sound guy, etc. The open nature of the play makes it more interesting and adds a lot to the game (and you get to argue with your band mates on where to go next, just like a real band!) There are some serious downsides to the way it’s set up. Many of the cities have boring “make your own setlist” and “mystery set list” that you have to slog through to complete a gig. And when doing these sets, you will have a lot of repetition in songs. Instead of continually unlocking songs like in Guitar Hero, you have to go back and repeat many of the same songs, and go long stretches without hearing anything new. The amount of songs in Rock Band is fewer than in Guitar Hero, and the repetition really makes you feel that lack of diversity. The other problem is an issue that drives me crazy but I know other gamers go for. There’s only so far you can go on any given difficulty: you reach an arbitrary “fan limit”, which then tells you to play on a harder difficulty. Many gigs need a certain amount of fans to unlock, which means that there are places you cannot go if the best you can do is Medium. It also looks like you’re limited by the lowest skill level in the group, so if your drummer can only play on easy, you’re stuck with the easy limit. The Songs As usual, there are some great choices, and some not so great. Wikipedia has the whole list, but there should be at least one great song (OKGO!) in there for everyone. The downloadable content has already begun to roll out, which is a big plus. A game like this is going to benefit from having constant influxes of music, and I imagine is a blast to play with others online. I have heard from others, though, that changing instruments is a pain to change profiles to ensure that you’re getting credit for your drumming. The Finale Rock Band is a blast to play, and looks to replace Wii Sports as my multiplayer of choice. There are lots of customization options and a big tour to play around with, in addition to mastering all the different instruments. Unfortunately, you’ll probably get sick of certain songs quickly, as you will have to play them many times in the course of your career, whether you like it or not. Coupled with a limited amount of gameplay per difficulty level, and you may run into various replayability issues. That aside, if you’re a fan of Guitar Hero and similar games, you’ll find that Rock Band… dare I say it… hits all the right notes. (For another perspective, I highly recommend checking out the article Rock Band vs. Real Band, written by the guitarist of Sleater-Kinney.)

GALgame巡礼之PS2GALgame列表 Posted: 30 Nov 2007 09:04 AM CST

UK XNA Event on December 4th! Posted: 30 Nov 2007 12:01 PM CST Dave Mitchell Director | Microsoft XNA Just a quick heads up while on the road in Europe.  My good friend Andy Sithers in the UK just let me know of a very cool event taking place on Dec 4th in Bristol.  It is being hosted by the .NET Developer Network and will feature great speakers and awesome looking game demos created using XNA Game Studio.  You can get more information on the event from the .NET Developer Network website at http://www.dotnetdevnet.com/.  We’re not able to stop by the UK on this XNA Game Studio European tour so check these guys out for the next best thing!

EA: Black Friday Completed Console Transition [Now Gen] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 01:20 PM CST EA chief exec John Riccitiello has been talking a lot to Reuters lately. But we couldn't pass up posting a little more on Riccitello as he reflects on the transition to the newest generation of consoles, and claiming that Black Friday sealed the deal on the new market. "It's been the longest, hardest transition in the history of the industry...Last Friday marked one of those points where you can say something's changed...Around the world, based on the data I've got, it was pretty clear that the transition is now over. What about Sony? It looked like it might have been a two-horse race, but it's clearly a three-horse race...I think from this point, pleasantly for me, it's sort of fat city in the game industry. And they love horses in fat city. Surprisingly good eating, apparently. Video game industry has turned corner: EA [via gamesradar] [image]

Rock Band Drums Mod, Tested (Verdict: Good) [DIY] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 01:00 PM CST A few days ago, we posted a Rock Band drums mod promising to quiet the loud experience of actual drumming that sometimes gets in the way of Rock Band's (virtual) soundtrack. Apparently some people actually listen to our mindless rantings (as we try to perfect the legendary art of typing in tongues), because one of our readers tested the method and found it to work quite well: I followed the tutorial you posted earlier, except I used colored foam sheets (2 thin layers stacked), and black felt on top. Here are the results. I think it actually looks cooler this way. It doesn't make the drums silent, by any means, but the difference is very noticeable. It cost me $27 for everything, the bulk of which was the circle-cutter at $16. The pads peel off the drums very easily too, so there's no danger to your drum set. I think we're sold. Time to make our way down to the old arts and crafts store and bust out our frequent shopper's card.

Game Head Takes On Thompson Tonight [Television] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 12:40 PM CST Tonight on Spike TV's Game Head, the man forever to be known as former Kotaku guest editor Geoff Keighley will be taking on everyone's favorite and possibly former Florida lawyer in a bit of debate from this year's VGXpo in Philadelphia. The show promises a look at the real JT...his cause, his opposition, and "what his son's friends in high school say about him". Intriguing! With the fate of JT's professional career hanging in the balance at the moment his time in the spotlight might be waning, so you really should get as much Jack in your system as you can, just in case. That could be taken multiple ways, and most likely should be. You have to be up at 1am Eastern to catch the show anyway, so you might as well party.

The Xbox 360 And The Killer Sofa [Advertising] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 12:20 PM CST I really love it when you guys do all the research for us. DC area Kotakuite Billkwando saw a version of the above advertisement on the side of a bus while making his way around town, only in Spanish with the heading, "El Sofa Asesino", which of course translates into "Awesome name for a luchador." While I understand that The Health Care System Foundation, who created this advertisement, would have to go to the trouble of photoshopping the Xbox 360 into a more nondescript form and have the child holding a wired controller that isn't technically plugged into anything, there are a few things I don't understand. For instance, why pick such an overweight child for a model, and Killer Sofa?Come on. I mean, it certainly is a nice sofa, and it looks comfortable, but I wouldn't call it a Killer Sofa. Nice sofa maybe. Not killer. Download The Killer Sofa In PDF Form [The HCS Foundation - Thanks Billkwando!]

Xbox 360 Fall Update, Details Announced, Brings DivX [Update] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:55 AM CST We've already covered details at least twice about the upcoming Xbox 360 fall update, but Microsoft has just released the (almost) final, mega press release with all the details. The big news? DivX support. Here's the complete list of updates, with brief descriptions for easy digestion: - Xbox Originals: Download Xbox classics. - Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits: Games like Lumines LIVE! available for less. - Inside Xbox: News ticker. - Enhanced online profile: Let people know, does your personality match your Zodiac sign? - Expanded Friends List access: See friends of friends. - Enhanced Parental Controls: family timer. - New video features: They promise, among other things, "advanced codec support." Could this mean DivX? UPDATE: YES! But only for Divx 5.0 and newer files. Pretty ho hum in my book, other than the DivX support. Here's the full press release: Xbox 360 Introduces New Features and Console Enhancements with the 2007 Fall Dashboard Update Free system update hits connected consoles worldwide on Dec. 4; Xbox Originals, Family Timer and more available through download As promised, Microsoft is bringing some early gifts to your Xbox 360 just prior to the holiday season. Beginning at 2:00 a.m. PST on Dec. 4, the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update will be available for all connected Xbox 360 consoles free of charge, bringing an array of new features and enhancements to the leading gaming and entertainment system. Among the key new enhancements are the previously announced Xbox Originals game download service, Family Timer parental control feature, and expanded social networking experiences. Xbox 360 owners can also look forward to enhanced navigation, profile and video features and Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits. This free update will be digitally distributed over Xbox LIVE to the more than 8 million Xbox LIVE members worldwide (Xbox LIVE Silver and Gold) with no disc or hard drive required. Gamers without an Xbox LIVE account can easily sign up for the free network by connecting their console to a broadband internet connection. New features and enhancements include: MORE DOWNLOAD OPTIONS: * Xbox Originals - With this new service, announced on Nov. 13, consumers can download-to-own full original Xbox games that were previously only available at retail. The digital shelves will always be stocked with classic titles, such as "Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex," "Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge," "Halo," "Fable," "Fuzion Frenzy," "Psychonauts," and more as the catalogue grows over time, at 1200 Microsoft Points per game. * Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits - On Xbox LIVE Arcade, the Arcade Hits program kicks off where some of the best sellers will become available at permanently reduced prices, making it easier than ever for everyone to build a library of downloadable games! The first games to become Arcade Hits will be "Bankshot Billiards 2" and "Lumines LIVE," which will be available for 800 Microsoft Points each, and "Marble Blast Ultra," "Small Arms" and "Zuma Deluxe," which will be available for 400 Microsoft Points each. With free trial downloads for every game and over 100 games to choose from, Xbox LIVE Arcade offers something for every member of the family. NEW WAYS TO KEEP UP TO DATE AND CONNECTED: · Inside Xbox - A new direct feed brings current news straight from Xbox.com into the Xbox LIVE Dashboard providing members an easy, predictable entry point where they can discover what's new in: game releases, events, and Xbox LIVE Marketplace offers. · Enhanced online profile - Members interested in sharing a few more details about themselves will have the option to go beyond their motto and further personalize their profile with an expanded bio. The extended bios will be visible to "Friends Only" or the entire Xbox LIVE community. · Expanded Friends List access - A quick and easy way for gamers to expand their personal community on Xbox LIVE, members will be able to see the Friends Lists of other Xbox LIVE members, boosting their social networking experience on the service. ENHANCED OVERALL EXPERIENCE AND CONTROL: * Enhanced Parental Controls - Family Timer, a strong and flexible new addition to the Xbox 360 Family Settings, enables parents to set the amount of time their Xbox 360 can be used on a per-day or per-week basis by their children or other members of the household. * New video features - The convenience of full-screen movie previews and enhanced video codec support further expand the options when it comes to the Xbox 360 entertainment experience. * Easy-to-use navigation features - With several noteworthy changes in the Xbox LIVE Dashboard, from the new Game Store button to the Video Store button to enhanced visuals and descriptions in the video library, Xbox LIVE members can find what they want, when they want it. These features are just some of the new enhancements Xbox 360 owners can expect as part of the Fall Dashboard Update. On December 4th a list of all the new features and improvements will be posted at: http://www.xbox.com/live. And more info on DivX support here.

Blizzard Hoped WoW Would Sell A Million [Honesty] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:40 AM CST Blizzard never expected that WoW would become the fastest selling drug since the two-way tie between Krispy Kremes and cocaine—according to a recent interview with former Blizzard man Bill Roper. You have to remember...that the most successful American MMORPG at that time was EverQuest with about 500,000 players. He continues: It would have been impossible to predict that World of Warcraft would take off as a cultural phenomenon as it did, but those are the kind of surprises that you like to get in life. No, getting an extra cheeseburger in your value meal is a surprise. The situation with WoW would better be classified as a miraculous industry-crushing bolt from the heavens. Roper: 'We hoped WoW would sell a million' [cvg]

Jeff Gerstmann Fired From Gamespot, the Internets Explode As Result Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:41 AM CST Wow. I think the internet has exploded. Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann is one of the few "big name" reviewers that video game fanboys instantly recognize. Lately, though, he has been making a reputation as a tough cookie, having infamously given Twilight Princess an 8.8 (really not that big a deal, to be honest with you, even though I totally disagree with the score). So the firing of Gerstmann comes as a shock. Even more shocking are rumors- and, to be sure, this blogger has seen absolutely nothing that is NOT in the realm of message board innuendo, that Gerstmann was canned because he gave Kane and Lynch: Dead Men a very low review score of 6 out of 10. Eidos had a large advertising campaign with Gamespot, and they were pretty mad, I guess, at the low review. The timing of all this is what mostly stinks. Yet and still, you cannot just assume that something is so because of some correlational reason. I'm not going to do the "blogger thing" and leap to conclusions and opine about the lack of objectivity with the big review sites; that's silly- it isn't that hard to study a particular reviewer's tendancies and know what the biases are going in. So what do I think of his Kane and Lynch review? Well, the "rumor" is that Eidos was upset with the "tone." Well, I didn't really find anything that seemed polemic in the review. The arguments seemed quite sound. That said, I haven't played the game (I find the premise to be repugnant, for one thing) so I have no clue if what he says about the AI is correct or not, so the publisher could have a point if he reported outright falsehoods in the review. We will be debating this for a long time on forums like NeoGAF. Here's a sampling of what is going on in the internets regarding the Gerstmann story: The Videogamecritic.net's message boards seem to have a balanced view, with some interesting defenses of Gamespot. One user seems quite certain that the evidence is "in," while another points out that Gerstmann was losing his professionalism. I'm also attacked for not reading the Tea Leaves (I post under Feilong80 on that board). This blogger at Gamespot hints that maybe Jeff was getting tired of the job anyway. Penny Arcade isn't taking any prisoners here (as usual). They jump right out and with their latest cartoon and say what they believe happened. On this message board, a guy purporting to be from Eidos talked about how he was pretty sure Gerstmann wasn't canned to due his negative review. Then, after getting linked to every blog in the universe (because, you know, a message board is PUBLIC), he deletes his post and then goes on a rampage about the evils of bloggers, blah blah blah blah. Finally, here is the infamous Kane and Lynch review in all of its glory. See article.

It's All A Coincidence! Posted: 30 Nov 2007 12:54 PM CST A reviewer writes a less-than-stellar review of the big Christmas release of a major publisher... and major advertiser of the game review site. He's subsequently fired, and later many of the ads and branding for the game are pulled from the site. An editor subsequently resigns. Maybe. I'm sure it's all just a coincidence. Or not, if Penny Arcade nails it. Either way - perception is reality in these things. The product of game review sites is one who's value is based on trust. An erosion of that trust is a bad thing. Thanks to Primotech, Destructoid, Kotaku, and Joystiq for the heads-up. And Brian H., who personally gave me the heads-up when I was too sleep deprived to notice anything happening beyond the odd voices in my head.

Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality! Our Newest Games: Virtual Villagers 2 and Depths of Peril

水晶石董事长卢正刚在投资洽谈会的演讲实录 Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:14 AM CST 图为：北京水晶石董事长卢正刚(腾讯科技配图) 主持人：谢谢李建光先生的演讲，下面我们请北京水晶石数字科技有限公司董...

In-game ad estimates "wildly optimistic," says EACEO Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:16 AM CST EA CEO John Riccitiello thinks that in-gameadvertising revenue forecasts are wildly optimistic

讲稿 Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:50 AM CST 如果不出意外的话，我现在正在准备在 2007软件开发2.0大会 上的一个演讲：大世界网络游戏服务器的构架 。马上就要上讲台了。 其实主要是介绍下我们这两年正在开发的网络游戏引擎服务器部分的设计。这里有 PPT 可以下载 。

Operation: Omega Dawn Posted: 30 Nov 2007 12:00 PM CST We’ve just finished development of our v1.2 patch and our first Booster Pack, Operation: Omega Dawn!…which is very different than “Red Dawn” or “Dawn of the Dead” I’d like to give our blog readers a bit of info on our first downloadable content – and I’ll try to keep in away from sounding to much like a sales-pitch filled with shallow marketing-speak. The team and I really wanted the Omega Dawn Booster pack to add a new gameplay experience and to enhance the replay value of the core Warhawk game. Not be some nickel-and-dime upgrade that takes advantage of our player community!!! (That’s my own personal opinion on DLC so I’ll get off my soapbox now) So without further ado… The Omega Dawn Booster pack adds 3 key things: * A night-time battlefield with 6 layouts called the “Omega Factory”. It’s huge btw. * New 7-player aircraft called the KT-424 Combat Dropship. * And 5 updated bonus layouts for battlefields from the original game so that you can play using the new Dropship. First let me ramble on about the new battlefield: Many of you all wanted a night time level so that’s what we did. The battlefield takes place at night well… actually at early dawn. We wanted to make this level a bit more challenging and visually improved than our previous levels. It has more involved building layouts with more vertical structures, platforms and detailed spaces for ground troops. Here’s the map of the entire battlefield. This more advanced layout compliments the dropship really well as there are some places in the level that are only accessible by air. This is especially cool for transporting vehicles! We also added some macro scale color changes to the bases to help players communicate locations within the symmetrically balanced battlefield. You’ll see all of this more in these screen shots so I’ll stop talking about the new battlefield now The Combat Dropship is pretty damn sweet I gotta say. During the entire Omega Dawn dev-cycle I was trying to have us deliver on the crazy notion of a “Multiplayer BOSS”. Something that a team could all work together to control and that would require other players to work as a team to defeat the opposing team’s “BOSS”. We’ve had several just wicked memorable moments playing with our testers that felt like classic BOSS battles … but in a fast-paced multiplayer game! What else? Oh yeah…we also integrated the Combat Dropship in the 5 biggest layouts from the original game. It really changes the way those levels play which is good ‘cause it gives them a fresh feel … like an Irish spring! Ahh…there are 2 things you will all ask immediately I’m sure: “when does it come out?” and “how much does it cost?” We are in our final global test phase right now (internally it’s called format testing). Once we pass and go “gold” (which is a pretty odd term given a purely digital distribution but whatever) then I can announce a specific date. But we are still on track for our “December” release. And as far as pricing goes – the Omega Dawn Booster Pack will sell for $7.99 on the PlayStation Store. Why don’t we just charge $8.00? I mean seriously? Does that one penny really fool anyone? I’ll probably need to make some follow-up posts once you all have had a chance to comment. So smash this site with questions and I’ll do my best to post a FAQ about the upcoming Booster Pack! As always … Rock on!

仙四工长君 领衔次世代游戏研发公司上海烛龙 Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:58 AM CST from:新宇新浪博客      今日，久未有消息的仙四著名研发领军人物之一，原上海软星的仙四研发总监工长君的新闻终于对外公开。在一份最新公司招募信息中，上海烛龙信息科技有限公司这...

Frayed Knights: Twisty Paths and Flickering Torchlight Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:58 AM CST Frayed Knights is an indie computer role-playing game (CRPG) in development in something of the style of old-school first-person-perspective dungeon-crawlers like Wizardry, the original Bard's Tale series, and the D&D "Gold Box" games. But then it totally throws the whole thing on its ear with a comedy twist and a refusal to take the genre seriously. Here is another of the weekly updates in the ongoing development saga. If bleeding out of the eyes persists after reading, consult your physician. Dungeon Dressing - Ranch Style! Back when I was 12 or so, I loved reading through all the appendices of the Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D. Yes, I was as much a geek then as I am now. In order to help DMs (Dungeon Masters) with their creativity, one appendix was filled with "Dungeon Dressing" (Appendix I, if anybody's counting...) A random table of all kinds of junk you might find in a dungeon. Nevermind that if you just threw those into any old dungeon room, it would make no sense whatsoever. An acrid oder, a broken arrow on the foor, a torch stub, scattered teeth, and a buzzing noise... All that junk might work in the Temple of Pokmor Xang, though. As I was describing the level to Kevin a few weeks ago, I told him to imagine that the temple was the domain of some "trailer trash orcs." In fact, I want to give the high priest's bed a broken leg, so it can be propped up on a block or something. Unfortunately, that means content. Lots and lots of content. So I spend a bit of time this week working on the "dungeon dressing." Not all the random bits I just described, but certain key elements like light sources, doors, gates, and other objects that need to be interactive, give off light, or respond to scripts. Torching Things You know what? A simple freakin' torch in a sconce can take a LOT of time. Maybe it's only because I'm still not a very fast modeler or something, but for some reason I chalked the whole idea of making a torch - something less than 100 polygons - to something I could whip out in oh, say, an hour or something. How hard can it be? (Yes, it is that very question that probably causes all insanity in game development.) Well, not hard. But time-consuming. For those unfamiliar with the process, the steps include: #1- Finding some pictures on the web to base my model on. Not that I actually used any of them directly, but it helped to know what different designs of torch sconces have in common #2 - Building the geometry, which is actually pretty fast. #3 - Texturig the model. UGH. This is probably the slowest, painful, and least-satisfactory portion of the process for me... at least for models that don't need to be rigged and animated. Fortunately I have Genetica, which is good for creating a base-layer texture for almost anything. #4 - Repeating steps 2 and 3 for all levels of detail (LOD) of the model. Although at this stage, I'm not doing much with LOD. And to be honest, this stage usually comes after stage 5 and I know the high-LOD version is just right. #5 - Exporting the model into Torque's DTS format. I've done this enough that setting it up for export in Blender is cake. But it takes a couple of iterations. #6 - Creating a particle system for the torch flame. I use an example particle system as a base, but it needs tweaking. That means a lot of iteration. #7 - Creating appropriate lighting information for the torches. #8 - Going back and repeating steps 2 - 7 until it looks just right. When all was said and done - the quick, stupid little torch sconce ended up taking me about three hours. And it still doesn't look perfect or anything. So there was one full night of development. Pictures of Pimple Gods... I repeated similar steps for a candle, a table, and a portrait of "Happy Pokmor Xang". You can see the end results in that top picture - though the candle is barely visible in the distance. Besides this, and adding some smoke to the firepit in the altar room (the altar IS being turned into an actual 3D model even as I type this!), I have been adding scripted doors and a portcullis (still not fully textured or animated) to the level. Which brings up another interesting story... Well, interesting if you are me. But I'm a programmer, Which means I get laughs out of stories that end in punchlines like, "Oh, and then I realized that I hadn't dereferenced the pointer before post-incrementing it, so I was stuck in an infinite loop!" Hah, hah, good times.... But I digress... Dealing With Dungeon Speed-Runs I was doing a "walk-through" on the dungeon, and I realized that, if you played it just right, you could actually bypass about 70% of the content as it is currently designed. Now, I'm all about the optional content and secret areas and stuff like that. In fact, my biggest concern is that with the game being so heavy on the story and dialog, that it might be too linear. So while the chapters occur in pretty linear fashion, I want the player to be able to chart his course through it pretty much as he pleases. But, I also would like to not have players complain that the first dungeon is way too short, or that the Frayed Knights is only fifteen minutes long. So I did a little bit of redesign, drawing upon my experience as a Pen & Paper RPG game-master. There are all kinds of ways of solving this problem, and I'm going to try and adopt a similar policy for all content in the full game: Hard Barriers First of all, you've got hard barriers - the traditional way to handle things that you see in almost every game. This comes down to designing the areas in a fashion where it's simply impossible to get to point E from point A without passing through points B, C, and D. This can be done with dungeon layout, as well as providing obstacles between A and E that can only be removed by visiting these other areas. I resolved this by adding some defensive portcullises to the dungeon that must be raised in some other area. Yeah, boringly traditional, that's me. Soft Barriers But I also wanted to introduce the concept of soft barriers. Which means more coding on my part. These are things that encourage the player to hit the other points without forcing the issue. Example #1 - the key to a locked door is in another area. However, you can still pick the lock. It may just take more time and risk. Example #2 - As they approach the big "boss encounter", the Frayed Knights note out loud that since they haven't cleared out the areas behind them yet, they could find themselves surrounded in an upcoming fight. Which happens, if the player refuses to take the hint --- the player will have to face one or two waves of reinforcements during the boss battle (depending upon how much of preceeding areas they've tackled). So they can brute-force it if they want. I'm going to try and be more mindful of creating some more of the "soft barriers" to challenges in the future. Basically, the soft barriers provide the player with additional choices. I figure that's a good thing. The trick is to make sure the player knows he's got a choice. In example two, it comes from the characters making a mention of a possible threat. In the first example, how does the player know that the key to the door is available? So that's what's been going on this week. Mostly between the hours of 11:00 PM and 2:30 AM. How's your week been? (Vaguely) related examples of cruelty to pixels: * Frayed Knights: Are You Experienced? * RPG Design: The "Brute Force" Problem * RPG Design: Why Can't I Get Past the Stupid Door? * Big World, Small Dungeon: Does Size Matter in RPGs? Wanna Talk About It? Here's the Forum Thread.

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GHII Gets Xbox Live Indie Lovin' [Guitar Hero II] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:20 AM CST While the rest of creation has since moved on to Guitar Hero III or Rock Band, there are still some Xbox 360 owners out there who prefer the great taste of Guitar Hero II, and to you Red Octane is sending out some love. The Indie Label Pack has just gone up on Xbox Live, featuring three songs from artists whose names are only vaguely familiar to me. . For the standard Guitar Hero DLC price of 500 Microsoft points, you'll get "State of Massachusetts" by Dropkick Murphys, "You Should Be Ashamed of Myself" by The Bled, and "Memories of the Grove" by Maylene & The Sons of Disaster. Of the three, Dropkick Murphys is the most vaguely familiar, and so they get a nice giant picture atop the article. The other two must try harder, and maybe next time you'll make it! New Guitar Hero 2 Song Pack Hits Xbox Live [Shacknews]

Wild ARMs Puts Hex On PSP [Game Announcements] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:00 AM CST I am convinced that the PlayStation Portable is going to become the best platform for Japanese RPG if they ever get around to phasing out the PS2, and XSEED's announcement of Wild ARMs XF (Corssfire) coming to North American PSPs in Spring of next year only strengthens that belief. The first handheld Wild ARMs game ever, XF is the natural progression of the series from the hex grid system used in the past two console versions into full-on hex-based strategy. It places you on the dying world of Filgaia, where a personal story of revenge slowly transforms into a mission to save the world. Pretty standard for Wild ARMs, really. What isn't is standard is the turn-based strategy, which features over 60 stages, tons of optional battles, and 20 job classes to help customize your party. As a special bonus, the US version includes a 20 track music library accessible from the game's main menu, letting you listen to the game when you shouldn't be playing. Check out the gallery below for tons of portable Wild ARMs goodness. XSEED Games Announces Wild ARMs XF Journey Through the World of Filgaia With Strategic Hex Battle System Torrance, Calif., (November 29, 2007) --- Are you ready to carry around the fate of a dying planet in your hands? XSEED Games today announced that it has acquired North American publishing rights for Wild ARMs XF, a deep and challenging turn-based strategy RPG for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, scheduled for release in Spring 2008. Wild ARMs XF (pronounced "Crossfire") is the newest installment in the long-running role-playing series which marks a couple firsts for the franchise; the first one containing tactical strategy gameplay, as well as the first Wild ARMs game to appear on a handheld system. Wild ARMs XF offers a unique strategy role-playing experience with a hex-based grid system producing more tactical positioning options, a large number of job classes allowing vast party customization, and a wide range of mission objectives making it one of the deepest strategy games on the PSP® system. Wild ARMs XF features an all-new cast in an epic story of death, betrayal and redemption played out against the backdrop of the dying world of Filgaia. The Story The once vibrant world of Filgaia is slowly dying, a result of some cataclysmic event lost in the dim, misty reaches of the past. The few pathetic remnants of once mighty nations are caught up in an endless cycle of war, fighting over Filgaia's ever-dwindling natural resources. Amidst the carnage and slow decay, there is one kingdom that has until recently managed to avoid the chaos and suffering plaguing its neighbors; the kingdom of Elesius. However, the kingdom is slowly descending into anarchy with the king inflicted with a mysterious illness that has kept him bed-ridden, intensifying the future uncertainty as the heir-apparent disappeared a year earlier and is presumed dead. An opportunistic senate has formed its own police force and is gradually usurping power from the royal family. It is against this backdrop of political intrigue and social decay that the main character Clarissa Arwin, accompanied by her half-brother and protector, Felius, enter Elesius hot on the trail of Rupert Dandridge, the man who murdered her mother. What started out as a personal vendetta soon turns into an epic battle to not only keep a kingdom from falling, but to save the world of Filgaia from being turned into an uninhabitable wasteland. Key Features · Innovative hex-based battle grid system allows more tactical positioning options, such as Formation Arts and Combination Arts, as opposed to the traditional square-based battle grid. · One of the deepest strategy games on the PSP system with over 60 stages containing a wide array of mission objectives, as well as numerous optional battles. · Almost endless party customization with over 20 unique job classes to choose from such as Berserker, Elementalist, Grappler, Geomancer and Sacred Slayer. · Extensive material creation options to create more powerful weapons, spell books and armor by combining rare materials obtained by sending out hired mercenaries to scavenge throughout the world of Filgaia. · US-exclusive inclusion of a Music Library containing 20 select tracks from the game accessible any time from the game menu. The ESRB rating and suggested retail price will be announced at a later date. Additional information on the title will be available at http://www.xseedgames.com.

El Paso Police Nab Fugitives With 360s [Crime And Punishment] Posted: 30 Nov 2007 10:40 AM CST Rule of thumb here people. If you are on the run from the law for a crime you did or did not commit, you don't win video game consoles. Even if you do, you don't. A lot of fugitives from justice learned this lesson the hard way in early November, when police in El Paso Texas staged a roundup using an Xbox 360 and a television as bait. The fugitives in question were informed that they had won a fabulous video game prize, and when they arrived to pick it up they were arrested on the spot. The operation led to 115 arrests, 129 cleared warrants, and the collection of $25,686 in unpaid traffic fines. Not one Xbox 360 was given away. Once again, if you are on the lam, you win nothing. Don't try to collect a prize, show up for the game show you suddenly get invited to, or follow that piece of candy being mysteriously drug along the ground by a string towards a waiting paddy wagon. It can only end in tears. 115 fugitives, lured by gifts, arrested in El Paso sting [El Paso Times via GameRush Entertainment]

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

Coventry University Takes 'Mobile Campus' To New Heights [Academia] Posted: 01 Dec 2007 11:00 AM CST In the past couple of months, there's been lots of 'news' regarding colleges and businesses making a (somewhat) mad dash for virtual spaces in the hopes of upping enrollments, offering virtual tours, and perhaps making that Biology 101 class a little less boring. Coventry University in the UK is taking the virtual model and running with it, sans Second Life - I have to admit the idea of some sort of virtual doctoral coursework makes my blood run cold, but I've got to give them credit for trying to be ambitious: The university wanted to help give its Serious Games Institute (SGI) a technology platform on which to build a digital model of the campus building, so that students' movements in both the real building and its virtual reconstruction trigger location based access to learning content and experiences. This means that content can be pushed to students by the most suitable method for their location and the device they are using. The solution uses Cisco wireless location services to track real-world positions and movements integrated within the Giunti Labs learn eXact® learning content management system. The Giunti Labs software also allows any form of digital learning content to be repurposed 'on the fly' for use either in the virtual SGI environment or via any device connected to the Coventry University Cisco wired and wireless networks. And there's more, naturally - while I've no doubt some people would find all this stuff useful, I'll take my in-person seminars and not having bleeding eyes from trying to do everything via mobile device. Coventry University creates a unique mobile learning environment in its Serious Games Institute [Click Press]

Totally Awesome Star Wars Gamecube Mod Posted: 01 Dec 2007 11:00 AM CST Photo from www.nintendowiifanboy.com The folks over at Nintendowiifanboy.com have found a pretty cool Gamecube mod. I wish I had the time and energy to mod my old stuff like that! I'd bet I'd get a whole lot more on eBay for it! Personally, I sorta regret selling my Gamecube, because it meant I had to give up my Gameboy Advance Player with it. Read. See article.

psp《大众高尔夫携带版2》电视广告 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 08:56 AM CST 2004年12月12日和psp主机同时首发的sce自家名作《大众高尔夫携带版》是初期卖得最好的psp软件，累计销量在40万份左右（如果加上后来推出的廉价版合计在60万以上），目前为止在psp软件排行榜中名列第4位（前三分别是怪物猎人两作以及CCFF7）。   续作《大众高尔夫携带版2》将于12月6日在日本发售，fami通对该作的评分高达37分（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000f2h.html ），看来是素质颇高。本作的电视广告近日开始在日本电视台播放：     这个游戏今年倒是和“马里奥聚会”系列颇为有缘：暑假期间ps3《大众高尔夫5》和Wii《马里奥聚会8》同时在7月26日发售，现在psp《大众高尔夫携带版2》和nds《马里奥聚会DS》（11月8日）又相隔一个月在年末商战先后发售。   估计以psp目前在日本的普及量，《大众高尔夫携带版2》应该有好于ps3《大众高尔夫5》的表现。   相关链接： http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000e1o.html psp《大众高尔夫portable 2》公布 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ens.html 2007年末的三款高尔夫游戏

什么样的感觉？ Posted: 01 Dec 2007 09:33 AM CST 我最近突然发现，有一个人的职业生涯非常有趣。 他曾是国际一流唱片公司A的CEO，在若干年前，他将公司的分支机构，一家游戏软件发行制作单位卖给了另外一个大游戏公司B。 现在，大游戏公司B遇到了麻烦，于是股东们把这个人请来，做B公司的老大。这种感觉好怪，就好像是去抱养自己儿子的人家当家长。 这个人名叫：   我最近还看到了一段对话纪录，很感动，虽然事情过去了已经四年半了，但那次谈话的时刻我还记得清清楚楚。这次对话后发生的很多事情直接或者间接的改变了我的命运。回头想想，人生的路仿佛绕了一个大圈……螺旋式的大圈。   当时的谈话纪录，我本以为它会随着当时贴出来的论坛消逝了而找不到了，没想到还有有心人保留着。

哪一笔是自己 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 09:08 AM CST 　 　　李敖记清朝刘墉（1719~1804）： ……书法用墨厚重，人称“浓墨宰相”。他的学生戈仙舟是翁方纲女婿，翁方纲问戈仙舟：“问汝师哪一笔是古人？”刘墉听了，反唇相讥说：“我自成我书耳，问汝岳翁哪一笔是自己？” 这话说得真妙，意思是古人是古人，我是我，不同的人写不同的字，他们的字好归好，我的字也不差，何必一味模仿。反问别人“哪一笔是自己”，就是看不起你们这些跪着的人。其实这种抱古人大腿的行为，清朝前有，清朝后也不绝。在历史进程中，我们做的很多事的确绕不过古人，少不了他们的痕迹，但要是现代的我们还超不过他们，不能在他们的基础上另有创新，那可就太说不过去了。让我们在历史中写下自己的一笔吧。 (more…)

风格独特的韩版手游《三国志》 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 07:50 AM CST 刚刚出品的一款韩国公司制作的手机游戏《三国志》，水墨画面风格和一些设计比较有特色。不知道在手机上的运行效果怎么样，看看啥时有包了体验一下。         游戏的宣传展示动画  水墨效果的《三国志》

游戏业界历史上的今天（12.2）（下） Posted: 01 Dec 2007 08:13 AM CST  2003.12.2 洛克人EXE4红日/蓝月(CAPCOM/GBA)     “洛克人EXE”系列是CAPCOM随GBA首发的RPG作品，以经典的洛克人角色和世界观配合独特的战斗方式，再加上流行的养成要素赢得了许多新的用户，并随着制作了对应的动画。本次的4代效仿“口袋妖怪”也发售了两个版本，而这一要素也为游戏带来了前所未有的成功，销量迅速突破百万，这也是CAPCOM从2003年开始一路溃败之后唯一的亮点。     经典度：6     推荐度：6     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/GBA/20051004/8067.html          http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/GBA/20050606/4996.html 2004.12.2         NDS(任天堂)     NDS作为山内溥在离开任天堂社长位置前的最后一项建议，获得的成功恐怕谁都没有预料到。一个在机能方面完全落后于对手、依靠前景难料的触摸作为卖点的东西，是否能够继续任天堂在掌机业界的不败神话，许多人都持相当的怀疑态度。但是，事实证明任天堂对游戏业界的发展趋势以及NDS产品本身的定位有着非常清醒的认识和非常充分的准备，首发作品中除了有“马里奥64DS”以及“触摸瓦里奥制造”这样的名作，也有充满创意的“为你而死”、“大合奏！乐队兄弟”、“天堂独太”等新作问世，而随着“任天狗”的推出和触摸世纪一发不可收拾的迅速蔓延，NDS的成长势头连岩田聪社长都一再表示是“好得过了头”。仅仅3年时间，NDS在日本销量就突破了2000万大关，这个成绩连当年FC和SFC都没有做到过，比起PS2整整快了一倍，并出现了4款作品销量超过400万，其中两款超过500万，甚至可能全部超过500万，这一系列纪录都是空前的。而如今还有着DQ以及FF系列的众多新作蓄势待发，仅仅是凭这一点，谁都不敢预料NDS将会继续发展到什么程度。目前NDS全球累计销量是5700万，对手PSP则是2700万，任天堂在掌机领域的霸主地位依然是无可动摇。     经典度：10     推荐度：8     下载： 超级马里奥64DS(任天堂/NDS)     本作完全移植自N64的首发大作“超级马里奥64”，并且加入了对应触摸屏的新要素。虽然NDS秒间12万多边形的处理能力似乎与N64相差甚远，但是由于液晶屏幕本身的像素限制加上针对性的优化效果，使得NDS版看上去并没有缩水之处，相反显得更加精致流畅。游戏中对应触摸的要素不算出色，不过凭借本身超高的素质，还是获得了116万的销量，全球累计达503万，马里奥的名头实在是令人无法不肃然起敬。     经典度：7     推荐度：8     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/NDS/20070805/19686.html 触摸瓦里奥制造(任天堂/NDS)     以最多、最短、最速为卖点的“瓦里奥制造”系列第三作（不算GC版），作为NDS的首发游戏，当然要对应触摸屏，用触控笔的直接进行操作，感觉与之前的按键操作完全不同，但是任天堂的巧妙制作使得游戏非常容易上手，而且很快就会难以自拔，让玩家充分领略触摸带来的畅快。游戏中总共设有200多款小游戏，并且可以和不久前刚刚发售的GBA版“回转瓦里奥制造”进行联动。本作获得了FAMI通36分白金殿堂评价，是NDS首发唯一的白金大作，在日本销量是120万，全球累计218万。     经典度：7     推荐度：7     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/NDS/20060407/11238.html 2006.12.2 Wii(任天堂)     任天堂在掌机领域所应用的创意策略被再次用到了家用主机上，Wii这台在正式发售之前一直充满神秘色彩的主机完全没有追求强大的硬件性能，而是以突破传统家用主机操作概念的遥控器式手柄为最大宣传点。一直以来，任天堂就在积极寻求掌机和家用主机成功经验的互动，但是一直没有获得预期的成功，两个领域似乎是无法进行拷贝的。但是，这一次的努力看来已经见到了成效。实际上家用主机的手柄进化一直都是任天堂在领路：FC主机的十字键，SFC的L、R键，N64的模拟摇杆，这一次Wii的革命虽然还没有完全实现，但从Wii能够在短短一年时间里反超XB360，全球范围内缺货的现状来看，实在是很有乐观的理由。与NDS一样，Wii的首发不仅有“体感瓦里奥制造”、“塞尔达传说 黄昏公主”这样的传统大作保驾护航，更有“Wii SPORT”、“第一次的Wii”这样的充分体现体感效果的全新作品，并且事实也证明了新概念的游戏方式确实吸引了大量的新用户，“Wii SPORT”日本销量223万、全球累计1245万，“第一次的Wii”日本180万、全球700万，而“黄昏公主”则是日本56万、全球388万。目前Wii在日本销量已经直逼400万，这个成绩已经达到了GC的总销量，比几乎是PS3的三倍，而全球累计1500万的成绩也是三大主机之首。异质的路线到底能走多久也许还有不少玩家存在疑问，但是任天堂确实已经用实际成绩证明了创意对于游戏业界的重要性。     经典度：8     推荐度：8     下载：

游戏业界历史上的今天（12.2）（上） Posted: 01 Dec 2007 08:07 AM CST 游戏业界历史上的今天（12.2） 首先向12.2过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧。 任天堂如今势头正盛的两台主机都是在今天发售的，不错吧 1988.12.2         桃太郎电铁(HUDSON/FC)     桃太郎是日本有名的童话故事，HUDSON将这个名著搬上游戏舞台之后也非常的受欢迎。最初的“桃太郎传说”是以RPG方式出现，而这款“桃太郎电铁”则是一款类似“大富翁”的桌面游戏。游戏以掷骰子方式决定行动的步数，到了不同的位置就需要选择相应的项目，目标是发展壮大桃太郎电铁公司。游戏支持4人进行，对于喜欢桌面游戏的玩家非常合适。本作系列后来在GB、PC-E、GG、SFC、PS、PS2、GBA、GC、乃至XB360和Wii等主机广泛登场，PS版“桃太郎电铁7”还创下了百万销量的佳绩，正因为该系列的红火，任天堂才专门选择了HUDSON为其开发了“马里奥聚会”系列。     经典度：5     推荐度：4     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/FC/20050626/6614.html _20063121437193.gif (6.01 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 _20063121437194.gif (5.83 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 半熟英雄(SQUARE/FC)     SQUARE在“最终幻想”获得预期之外的成功之后可谓是信心大增，一扫之前作品默默无闻的凄凉局面，并进而开始向更多的领域发展。这部半熟英雄是一款SLG，不过却已经带有当今流行的即时战略特色，而最大的卖点则是那个几乎有点令人难以接受的疯狂的半熟世界设定，这个设定在后来的系列作品直到PS2版和NDS版都得到了很好的保留。本作当时受到了普遍的好评，后来在SFC以及WSC都推出过复刻版。     经典度：5     推荐度：5     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/FC/20050620/5921.html _2006629848303.gif (4.55 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 _2006629848304.gif (15.68 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 突然袭击(VICTOKAI/FC)     主角因为飞机失事而在荒岛上迫降，并使用手中的猎枪开始了冒险。游戏中如果子弹用光，主角就只能抡起枪柄打人，不过一旦得到巨人变身就会所向披靡。这部横向卷轴的平台式动作游戏虽然有着不错的画面与音乐亲和力，但是难度实在是高得可怕，当时只怕没有几个人可以打穿。     经典度：4     推荐度：5     下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2005/200507/7981.shtml _2006531336363.gif (6.8 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 _2005731014484.gif (7.56 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 1989.12.2 超级忍(SEGA/MD)     世嘉经典的忍者动作游戏，在MD主机的早期拥有超高的人气。玩家可以在游戏中使用4种忍术，有名的空翻八双手里剑更是赏心悦目，强大的画面冲击力给当时的FC玩家带来了耳目一新的震撼。年仅22岁的古代佑三为本作制作的配乐也可谓妙到毫巅，充分的突出了日本传统乐器所表现的那种独特风味，与游戏的场景配合得天衣无缝，也因此成为了游戏史上第一位也是仅有的一位能够在游戏的标题画面上出现名字的作曲者。此君后来在“怒之铁拳”系列、“光之继承者”系列以及“莎木”中的表现也给人留下非常深刻的印象。     经典度：6     推荐度：6     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/MD/20050824/7641.html _2005771257553.gif (8.08 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 _2005771257554.gif (16.97 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 1994.12.2         龙之战士2使命之子(CAPCOM/SFC)     CAPCOM的经典RPG续作。实际上游戏原本的名称是“火焰的气息”，而“龙之战士”只是初代的副标题，却成为了更为广泛接受的称呼。本作中将会出现前作中玩家所熟悉的角色，其中龙和妮娜也成为了系列一直以来的不变主角。而前作中8名角色可以任意组合变身的设定在本作中改成了由同伴和火、水、风、土、圣、魔六名使者的合体，多重结局也依然健在。游戏中会出现能够提供音乐欣赏的商人，这样的设定很有新意。本作的销量是36万，作为一直以来擅长动作类游戏的CAPCOM，制作出如此精彩的原创RPG系列实在是令人惊喜。     经典度：6     推荐度：7     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/SFC/20050310/616.html

饿狼传说SP(HUDSON/PC-E SCD)     SNK的经典对战游戏，同时也是这家厂商与CAPCOM争雄业界的成熟标志。PC-E SCD版本对应专用的街机系统卡，因此可以达到非常高的移植度，而且在对局开始时出现的角色特写画面非常魄力，甚至超越了街机版。虽然在读盘速度以及动作帧数等方面相比街机版还是存在不足，但相比之前的SFC版以及后来的Mega-CD版，这个版本似乎才是最好的移植版。     经典度：4     推荐度：6     下载：http://emumax.uuu9.com/download/2006/200605/13897.shtml _200651986133.gif (13.46 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 _200651986134.gif (46.75 KB) 2007-12-1 22:07 1999.12.2         屠龙战记(NAMCO/PS)     NAMCO为PS主机的贡献绝对是功不可没，除了铁拳、山脊赛车、王牌空战、魂之利刃等街机大作外，许多早年的名作也纷纷粉墨登场。本作作为早年从FC主机就延续下来的A.RPG“屠龙记”的后续作品，在PS主机上实现了画面全面3D化，玩家将在3D的战斗场景与巨大的龙作战，这也是NAMCO首次在PS主机上制作3D的角色扮演游戏（之前的传说系列都是2D作品）。不过尽管游戏本身的品质不俗，但在那个超级大作近乎混乱的千禧年末，却并没有受到应有的关注。     经典度：4     推荐度：5     下载： 龙骑士传说(SCE/PS)     这部作品是SCE包藏野心、全力打造的RPG大作，意欲使其成为像“大众高尔夫”和“GT赛车”那样的黑马。SCE为此付出了4年的心血，共计投入60亿日元的资金，这已经超越了PS上“最终幻想”系列的开发费用，在整个业界也只有世嘉的“莎木”可以超越。由于之前在“波波罗克”、“妖精战士”以及“荒野兵器”系列上积累的经验，加上拉拢了原SQUARE的开发人员，游戏原本应该获得相当大的成功，当年夏天游戏的CG演示DEMO还获得了西雅图的CG技术大赏。但实际的销量打破了SCE的美梦，游戏最终在日本销量不过47万，完全无法与企图超越的目标“最终幻想8”相提并论。玩家们认为游戏的剧情拖沓，角色单薄，类似“BEYOND THE BEYOND”的战斗方式令人感到厌恶，世界的设定也过于小气等等，这也从此打消了SCE重金打造RPG超大作的念头。不过随着时间的推移，游戏反而成为了续作期待排行榜上的稳定高位，实在是有些讽刺意味。猪头个人对RPG很少有感兴趣的，但对本作中黑龙骑士ROSE的设定倒是非常欣赏，史前飞龙大战的CG片段中ROSE撕心裂肺的呼唤给猪头留下了深刻印象。此外，游戏的片头曲也相当经典，是猪头为数不多的能够对歌词感到欣赏的游戏歌曲。     经典度：7     推荐度：7     下载： VR射手2(SEGA/DC)     本系列自从在MODEL2主板登场以来，就稳居街机足球游戏的龙头宝座，MODEL3主板的2代更是以近乎无敌的素质傲视群雄。DC问世之后，NAOMI主板上也推出了系列的最新改版，这样DC版的推出就是顺理成章。这也是玩家们第一次能够在家中见识到如此豪华的足球游戏，画面效果远远超出了之前的WE系列以及FIFA系列，仅凭这一点就足以吸引玩家了。由于是街机游戏，在操作方面不像家用机游戏那么复杂，简洁而易于上手，特有的射门评分系统非常有中毒性，使得玩家不断为了一脚精彩的射门而反复研究。游戏获得了32万的销量，虽然在当年的DC游戏中算不上特别突出，但是比起后来DC的一系列街机移植作品可怜的销量就是非常难得的了。     经典度：7     推荐度：7     下载：

12月1日《Wii Fit》日本发售 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 07:52 AM CST 今天（12月1日）是《Wii Fit》日本的发售日，fami通网站也对发售现场的情景进行了报道，这在往常是新主机发售或者少数“大作”才有的待遇，《Wii Fit》作为一个原创新类型游戏，居然得到如此对待，说明各大媒体还是比较关注这个游戏的。

从图片可以看到小小的排队人流，虽然还不是特别壮观，但至少代表了销售情况比较顺利。目前还不知道任天堂首批出货数量，有网站推测在20万-30万左右。《Wii Fit》面向的用户群并不是那种为了尽快得到游戏就去抢首发的人，所以这样的数量作为初期供应也应该是足够了——去年12月2日发售的《Wii Sports》的首周销量是17万6167份（ http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007zs ）——未来是否能掀起“羊群效应”才是这个游戏能否成功的关键。   tgfc论坛有一些人已经入手了，有兴趣可以看看他们评测心得贴： http://tgfc.qwd1.com/club/thread-5928802-1-1.html http://tgfc.qwd1.com/club/thread-5928737-1-1.html   相关链接： http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b0100088r 我最期待的Wii软件 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000con 【E3 2007】《Wii Fit》公布 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000cpf 体重计和跳舞毯 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b01000edl Wii平衡板的承重能力 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000eik.html 日本amazon接受《Wii Fit》预约 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000elj.html 《Wii Fit》给流通商制造的压力 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000etm.html 《Wii Fit》地铁广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000ew3.html 《Wii Fit》地铁广告2 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000eya.html 岩田聪和宫本茂谈《Wii Fit》 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000f0m.html 日本《Wii Fit》电视广告

Matt Casamassina: Old Nintendo Franchise to be Redone For Wii Posted: 01 Dec 2007 06:00 AM CST Matt Casamassina, IGN.com's Nintendo scoop-meister extraordinaire, is at it again! According to our friends at Gonintendo.com, Matt claims that Nintendo is recreating an old, previously forgotten franchise, and we are to be excited about it. So..... Kid Icarus, anyone? Perhaps Ice Climbers? Or, maybe....... This game? Image Source: www.vintagecomputing.com Just kidding. In any case, I'm excited to find out what Matt is talking about. Click here for Gonintendo's post. See article.

【CH世界大事记-3】——做猪还是做人 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 03:43 AM CST          个体不再被告知有多少种输入输出或者可以选择什么，代之存在一系列通用的效应器和感受器，让个体自发地选择效应器和感受器来构成自己的身体。类似于自然界，生物的结构本身就是进化而来的。个体具备一定的结构后，就可以产生一定的功能性行为，这些结构可以认为是功能性器官在图形上直观的表现出来。                   上面图形单元表示目前我给予的四种功能器官，物种可以自由选择这些器官（包括种类和个数）构成自己的身体，这些器官产生神经网络的输入或者对神经网络的输出激活某些行为。        左一表示个体具有速度敏感的感觉器官。有多个这种器官的话，则有多个这种圈出现在个体身上。        左二的一根细线表示个体装备了一个雷达，或者广义的视觉器官（眼睛），颜色的R分量表示雷达类型（目标敏感型、形状敏感型等等），G分量表示雷达能探测到那种目标，比如探测到个体的雷达目前就没有什么用。B分量表示该感受器生长在生物身体上的位置（角度）。因此从不同颜色可以直观看出个体具有的视觉器官。        左三是一个可以驱动运动的效应器，相当于生物体的运动器官（腿），一个运动器官需要两个输出神经元来驱动才能生效（左右加力），因此我又称它为“双驱动器”。        左四是一个取食器官（嘴），可以激活取食的行为。目前取食行为仅对food有效，因此个体的行为模式比较简单，能够分析出来。        进化中可以看到，个体能进化出多个感觉器官（开始是一两个眼睛，进而越来越多，我相信个体不需要太多眼睛就能适应这个环境），同时能进化出运动器官和取食器官，有的个体还具备多个运动器官（多条腿）或者多张嘴。模拟中可以看到，在目前的场景环境中，对自己速度敏感的感觉器官似乎没有什么用处，也不知道是不是还没有到使用它的时候，即合适的进化阶段还没有到。        试验中发现，大量个体能够形成不同的物种种群（species）。因此模拟采用了和自然界一样的方法，在个体交配时种内个体交配几率极大大于种间交配。这样既保护了优势基因的进化，同时也提高了进化效率。否则在巨量个体中杂交，还真不知道是做人还是做猪啦，呵呵。        学术界有种说法，基因本身的表达过程较为重要，即从基因型到表现型的转化。生物界有发育过程，因此计算机模拟可能需要加入发育的过程。基因在发育过程中的某个阶段才能适当表现出来，这点也许是相当重要的。

这样 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 05:30 AM CST 　 　　有人说—— 　　社会就是这样 　　我要对他说 　　你可以不用这样 　　如果人人都不肯这样 　　社会也就不会那样 　　有人说—— 　　生活就是这样 　　我要对他说 　　你可以不用这样 　　如果你敢于追求 　　生活就会变得不一样 　　有人说—— 　　你改变不了现状 　　我要对他说 　　等着瞧 　　我要改变得令你难以想象 　　有人说—— 　　你怎么老是这样 　　我要对他说 　　我干嘛要和你一样 　　说的人摇摇头，都走了 　　我也只好说—— 　　唉！你们就是这样 (more…)

12月2日-12月8日日本七日游 Posted: 01 Dec 2007 04:09 AM CST 恩，玩回来会给大家带照片的，放心好了。

Win Hellgate With "Hell" [Contest] Posted: 01 Dec 2007 01:00 AM CST Our Show-Us-Hell-Win-Hellgate: London contest continues! Reader Joey sends us this "Hell" from a Pokémon card. Clever! Remember, we're giving away a copy of Hellgate: London. Here's the contest: Show us the word "Hell" on something -- anything, but just don't write it. Take a picture of it and send it to kotakucontestATkotakuDOTcom. Deadline for this is next Wednesday, December 5th. Remember: You're not just playing for a copy of Hellgate: London but the proverbial INTERNET FAME. Good luck! Hellgate: London [Official Site]

A Week In Comments [Hyper Multi-tap] Posted: 01 Dec 2007 12:00 AM CST Mickey Mouse Doesn't Look Like a Mouse Comment by: aldo_14 Nominated by: skrame @Sailorcancer: Does Japan have to worry about west nile virus? Nah, it's in the east. There Is No Shortage of Homophobes on Xbox Live Comment by: Campster Nominated by: sholmes I think it's pretty awful to assume that using a name like xxxGayBoyxxx is "asking for it." By the same logic a woman who signs up as HaloChick23 is just opening herself up to being called a bitch, or a Muslim who signs up as IslamIsNeat is opening himself up to a bunch of Jihad and towel head jokes. While putting personal information on such a public forum isn't a brilliant idea, it doesn't give people the right to be assholes. You can't say "Being gay isn't a crime, but admitting to it is." Wearing a low-cut dress doesn't make a rape victim less of a victim, and putting "Gay" in your gamertag doesn't make you any more deserving of hate. This is a well thought out and perfectly articulated comment on a very serious issue. Please put it front and center for others to read and learn from. Thank you. $500 Gift Certificate Contest Ho! Comment by: balls187 Nominated by: skrame sounds dumb, but I typically donate my used game/systems to the local battered wife/kids shelter. Id score a wii and a bunch of games and donate it. JT on Trial for Crimes Against Inanity Comment by: ShaggE Nominated by: Copesetic I hope the judge has enough of a sense of irony to end the ruling with "boom, headshot." 350k Wii Sold Last Week, Record DS Sales Comment by: Fnor Nominated by: Dylan I just confused the crap out of myself. See, I went to turn on my Wii for some Fire Emblem, only to realize that the game I thought was just released actually does not exist! Not to be discouraged, I reached for my Metroid Prime 3 box, only to learn that I imagined the entire experience! Desperate, I tore my room apart, desperately searching for some sort of game, any game, to keep myself from being branded as one of the "sheep" by the cool kids of the video game internet world. I lunged for my laptop and searched EB.com. There was no Wii section! Finally, my cat moves, and under him- what is this?- Super Mario Galaxy! I pick it up and cradle it in my arms, overjoyed that I won't feel compelled to tell anonymous strangers who don't give a damn about what I say about how I'm sick of nintendo and selling my wii. But then, to my dismay, the shiny, mario-bearing box DISAPPEARED. No power on heaven or earth could stop the wrath of the internet gaming troll. Literally dozens of them raised their angry fists into the air, and with a solitary shout of "The Wii has no games!" willed it to be so. They care not for personal preference. They have myriad reasons for wanting to trivialize Nintendo's success- overattachment to one genre, overemphasis on internet play as The One True Gaming, wanting to look cool for ignoring the common trend- but all that is in the past, as their pure nerd-rage has caused every game designed and released for Nintendo's little box that could to blink out of existence. This is Nintendo! Look upon its works, ye mighty, and despair! Sales will not save you. Facts will not save you. Public goodwill will certainly not save you. Angry people on the internet have spoken, and with their shrill keening comes your doom! K-I-S-S-I-N-G Comment by: dan Nominated by: hikergirl Def need to look into getting his own little bird shirt. Well that should definitely help stop his clothing dilemmas. Going to school? Bird shirt. Going to a friend's house? Bird shirt. Making a television appearance? Bird shirt. You could even go all Men In Black with it. "Let's put it on..." "Put what on?" "The last shirt you'll ever wear." Helpful Parental Game Buying Tips from Leland Yee Comment by: Archangeldeath Nominated by: Samos42 At least he doing this the right way. Instead of going back in time killing the creators of Pong so that he can "Save the children. Save the world". Helpful Parental Game Buying Tips from Leland Yee Comment by: Tonx82 Nominated by: Mansteak >Go north >/You enter a large room with vaulted ceilings. A stone PEDESTAL sits in the middle of the room. In the PEDESTAL sits a SWORD./ >Get sword >/What?/ >Look pedestal >/What?/ >Help >/Your can [p]unch, [s]teal, or [k]ill./ >Kill Sword >/The sword is dead. +10 points. Man Swaps Garbage Filled 360 For Cash Comment by: altgod Nominated by: Essonse Guys, I'm not sure that this man is responsible for this. I just cracked open my 360, and it has roughly the same stuff inside: stray wires, crumpled paper, and a book (Sentence Composing for College). I think those are just the compenents. I put the case back on and I'm playing Gears right now.

Trading in Games, Is It Worth It?

Comment by: EndersGame Nominated by: edb87 Worked at EB a LONG time ago for five years. It's possible to make a "good trade in" when you trade in your games. It's also possible to win the lottery. I would say winning the lottery has a better chance. Want to nominate comments? Send to tips any insightful or funny comments you read from other commenters. (Read: NOT YOURSELF). Be sure to include the post's URL, the commenter's page, the actual comment and your commenter page. Also know: Dip into tool territory and we'll ban yer ass. And quick!

日记 [2007年12月01日] Posted: 01 Dec 2007 02:29 AM CST    对于电源功率不大而多硬盘的用户一定要小心了，这个问题直接让我的电脑近一个星期不能使用，至于间接的对于本人斗志以及精神上的打击那更是相当承重。可能由于光驱的需电量比较大，所以跟sata硬盘接一条电源线的时候会出现各种稀奇古怪的现象，让我头疼了N天，现在终于解决了！！！         此事件让我的结课作业不仅受到搁置，而且受到无情的摧残，又要重头开始了…… 现在我还没有完全回复斗志继续创作，不过已经差不多了，要加油了！     准备去理发，然后逛趟超市，再吃顿好的，做好一切准备迎接结课的各种作业。

《贝奥武夫》(Beowulf)硬盘版 Posted: 23 Nov 2007 04:56 PM CST 转自SVR 游戏名称：贝奥武夫 英文名称：Beowulf 游戏制作：Ubisoft 游戏发行：Ubisoft 游戏语种：英文 游戏类型：Action Adventure（动作冒险类游戏） 游戏平台：PC 游戏容量：1DVD9 官方网址：http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/Info.aspx?pId=5876 [QUOTE]风险提示：硬盘版资源不能进游戏的几率较大，且需要下载者有一定的计算机操作水平 硬盘版游戏报错常见解决办法： 1、下载并安装最新版的DirectX9.0c 2、下载并安装Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0再试 3、游戏安装目录最好全英文 4、操作系统用户名最好全英文 5、彻底关闭瑞星及其后台程序 6、更新XP补丁、更新显卡驱动[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]PC hardware minimum requirements Supported OS : Windows XP / Vista Processor : Pentium IV 3.0 GHz or AMD 3000 RAM : 1GB RAM Video Card : Nvidia 6800 / ATI X1600 Sound Card : DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card DirectX : DirectX 9.0c (included on DVD) DVD : 4x DVD or faster Hard Drive Space : 8.0 GB free PC hardware recommended requirements Supported OS : Windows XP / Vista Processor : Intel Core 2 duo 4400 or AMD X2 4800+ RAM : 2GB RAM Video Card : Nvidia 7900 / ATI X1900 Sound Card : DolbyDigital 5.1 and EAX 4.0 compatible DVD : 4x DVD or faster Hard Drive Space : 8.0 GB free 注意:游戏手册里已说明不支持SM2.0的显示卡,X1300以下(9500-X800XTX)都是不可进的. 没有1G内存也可以玩,降低效果吧 [/QUOTE] 《贝奥武夫(Beowulf)》由4HEAD制作室与3D-IO合作开发，这是一款以北欧神话为故事背景的动作冒险游戏。 　　《贝奥武夫(Beowulf)》是盎格鲁撒克逊人的伟大文学杰作，故事可以追溯到公元六世纪，忠实呈现了维京人早期时代的风貌。可以说是后来流行的中世纪剑与魔法题材的祖先，是很多奇幻文学的灵感来源，包括托尔金的《指环王》。《贝奥武夫》的游戏版则是采用了原创的故事和角色，玩家扮演传奇战士贝奥武夫，在北方地带探索，与超自然的敌人战斗。本作将会采用独特的战斗系统，基于中世纪真实的战斗方式。 《贝奥武夫》游戏特色 1，虽然将与电影版同期上市，但《贝奥武夫》将带领你在长达30年的游戏世界中，进一步探究这个传说中勇者，并领略较之电影更为完整的神话故事。你将在扮演传说中勇者的过程中，打造属于自己的传奇。 2，随着你在游戏中所扮演英雄的技能不断提升，你将组建一支由4-20名士兵组成的军队。 3，“肉体力量(Carnal Power)”允许你发动更猛利的攻击，并使用包括“柱子”在内的特殊武器。 4，在冒险历程中，你可以对自己的军队下达各种命令。其中包括队员站位、向某个地方或敌人发动攻击。 5，在一些场景中，你可以命令下属去触发游戏中一些机关(比如打开大门)。 6，“肉体”升级将使你获得历时更短的眩晕以及更长时间的狂暴化。 7，在探索世界的过程中，你将获得组合技、格挡以及技能的提升。 8，当遭遇障碍或遇到巨型怪兽时，你可以采用“攀爬”或者“徒手攻击”解决问题。 9，随着冒险的不断深入，你所获得的经验点将使自己所控制的角色获得规模更大的部队、武器更换以及“肉体”能力的提升。 10，《贝奥武夫》将向玩家展现一个真实华丽的游戏世界，而这一切均来自于曾因成功架构《汤姆·克兰西之幽灵行动：尖峰战士(Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter)》系列而备受美誉的YETI技术。而且，《贝奥武夫》所使用的技术将是YETI技术的强化版。 ================= =============== =============== ======== ======== \\ . . . . . . .\\ //. . . . . . .\\ //. . . . . . .\\ \\. . .\\// . . // ||. . ._____. . .|| ||. . ._____. . .|| ||. . ._____. . .|| || . . .\/ . . .|| || . .|| ||. . || || . .|| ||. . || || . .|| ||. . || ||. . . . . . . || ||. . || || . .|| ||. . || || . .|| ||. . || || . .|| || . | . . . . .|| || . .|| ||. _-|| ||-_ .|| ||. . || || . .|| ||. _-|| ||-_.|\ . . . . || ||. . || ||-' || || `-|| || . .|| ||. . || ||-' || || `|\_ . .|. .|| || . _|| || || || || ||_ . || || . _|| || || || |\ `-_/| . || ||_-' || .|/ || || \|. || `-_|| ||_-' || .|/ || || | \ / |-_.|| || ||_-' || || `-_|| || || ||_-' || || | \ / | `|| || `' || || `' || || `' || || | \ / | || || .===' `===. .==='.`===. .===' /==. | \/ | || || .==' \_|-_ `===. .===' _|_ `===. .===' _-|/ `== \/ | || || .==' _-' `-_ `=' _-' `-_ `=' _-' `-_ /| \/ | || || .==' _-' `-__\._-' `-_./__-' `' |. /| | || ||.==' _-' `' | /==.|| ==' _-' \/ `== \ _-' `-_ / `'' ``' ______ _____ _____ |_____/ | |_____] | \_ __|__ | ° °±°±±²±²² ²²±²±±°±° °     ²° °² ²² Beowulf Multi 5 ²² ² ²° °² ² ² ² ²  ² ²°   °² ² ² ²² ²² ² Thanks to CCZ (CaCtuZ) for the modfied UHARC unpacker ² ² ² ² ² ² Game Notes: ² ² ² ² ² ² Crap game made by ubicrap again but heck Angelina its there and ² ² hers pixel 3d BOOBSSSS ² ² ² ² ² ² And now the real notes: ² ² ² ² ² ² To install u will need 5 gb of free space. ² ² The game is buged as hell so if u get freezes after the tutorial ² ² then u can say damm ubicrap (dunno if its a crack problem or from the ² ² game) a guess will be that the game will freez if u have plugged in any² ² gamepads so before playing unplug any gamepads u have connected to your² ² super high end pc. ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² Install notes: ² ² ² ² Unpack using winrar,run setup.bat, play with Game\Beowulf.exe ² ² Change your language from the language selector folder, to enable ² ² subs go to Audio in the option menu ² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² Ripped: foreign speech , music, company logos and Trailers ² ² ² ² ² ² Release date : 18.11.2007 ² ² ² ² ² ² File size : 241 x 9,53mb (2,1 GB) ² ² ² ² ² ² Thanks to RELOADED for the no-cd(crack) ² ² ² ² R I P IF YOU REALY LIKE THe GAME, BUY IT!! R I P ² ² ² ²±   ±²     

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Casual Games For Christmas - Chickens Rush & Chicken Invaders Posted: 01 Dec 2007 12:44 AM CST Chicken Invaders 3 Christmas Edition is my first pick for games to get before Christmas. If you eat chicken (grilled, roasted, stewed, you name it), eventually they will come and invade the Earth - enjoyable shooting ahead. Game Club pass owners can get the game as low as $6.99. Chicken hamburger meals can cost more than that. Chicken Rush game shows how casual games bring action in games. Instead of shooting horrible zombies, or creating frightening atmosphere - the game puts dozens and dozes of enemies in front of you. With Game Club pass it costs only $6.99. Both of these games rely on very, very simple game mechanism - put tons of stuff to handle - and pack it for sale. How’s that for a recipe about making a successful game?

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What's Zeppo Playing This Weekend? He's Cruis'n for a bruisin'... Posted: 30 Nov 2007 11:44 PM CST As you know, it is common among video game blogs to have a "What Are You Playing" feature on Fridays. Or, well, in my case, 12:29 AM Saturday morning! However, I thought it would be much more fun to turn to the Howard family black sheep, little known crazy uncle Zeppo Howard. Zeppo, you see, has one of those crazy, "modded" Wiis you hear whispered about, and often shops for his games in a dark alley from a shady fellow named "P-Tron." As such, Zeppo often plays, well, some rather curious variants of the latest Nintendo Wii and DS games.... This is uncle Zeppo. He looks quite a bit like Ernest Borgnine, as you can see. Rob Howard: "Hey there, uncle Zeppo. I'm writing for a new Nintendo blog now, House of Nintendo. I'd like to ask you every week about the games you are currently playing. I know you stay up on all the latest releases. So, what'd you think of Cruis'n? Is it a worthy follow-up to the old N64 classic?" Uncle Zeppo: "Oh, yeah, it's great! I really love how you have to manuever around Oprah's couch, paparazzi, and angry studio executives!" RH: "Huh? Isn't this a racing game? Um... well, never mind. Let me ask you about one more release this week. Mario Party came out on the DS. How are you liking that?" Uncle Zeppo: "I don't know. I really didn't think it was fun at all." RH: "That's understandable. Some people just don't like Mario Party. The board game format is a little..." UZ: "Board game? I WISH it had a board game! It's all about this former NY Governor, and how I have to help his son get a job at a major TV network, and..." RH: "Ok, ok, we get the idea. Well, there you have it, Nintendo fans. Crazy Uncle Zeppo. Who knows what odd black market finds he'll stumble upon next week?" Check out the actual week's releases, via nintendowiifanboy.com. See article.

Area 51 Designer Leaves Midway Posted: 30 Nov 2007 10:45 PM CST It looks like Blacksite designer Harvey Smith got that PR call after all: Today, a Midway executive told ShackNews that Smith's speech at the conference was tantamount to a "public resignation." Smith was working out of Midway's Austin studio. Midway Austin studio head Denise Fulton confirmed the designer's departure, but refused to discuss the cause, saying only that it was "by mutual agreement between Harvey and the studio." Well, that's one way to quit a job. Personally I've always gone the writing-a-polite-letter route but I never cared much for giving speeches. via GameLife See article.

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名越稔洋的游戏哲学研究（零） Posted: 02 Dec 2007 09:52 AM CST 　 名越稔洋简介 　　名越稔洋（なごし としひろ，Nagoshi Toshihiro）先生是日本游戏业界著名的游戏制作人。他出生于1965年的日本山口县下关市。1965年出生的人当中，诞生了一批很优秀的游戏人，除了名越稔洋，还有松野泰己、三上真司、稻船敬二、船水纪孝、中裕司、水口哲也等，这可能和日本企业的招聘制度有关，但也不失为一段佳话。名越稔洋毕业于东京造形大学电影系（映画学科），在他后来的游戏设计哲学当中，或许就包含了一些电影方面的元素。1989年，他成为世嘉（セガ，SEGA）公司的一员。在这之前，因为一直是任天堂（NINTENDO）支持者的缘故，在选择公司时他还曾一度感到迷惘过。也正因为这样，后来当世嘉决定进行跨平台的软件制作策略时，名越稔洋立刻就带头为NGC（Nitnedo GameCube）开发游戏（《超级猴子球（Super Monkey Ball）》）。在人们批评任天堂主机玩家年龄层太低的时候，他也站出来为之辩护道： 　　……我认为小孩都能玩好的游戏在大人中也能流行。现在强调年龄层观念，可能是由于现在业界太在意将商品诉求于有消费能力的阶层。我不是要去否定作为成人取向的特殊文化游戏本身，但是再怎么说，最起码只要我自己在制作家庭用游戏时，会把低年龄层“可以”玩的游戏当作是我的主轴。（译自日刊《电击王》2001.10，《游戏批评》第13期） 这个主轴也是其多年业界沉浮的领悟，让我们回顾一下他的职业历程。 (more…)

策划基础杂谈：Visio卷——谈谈流程图 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 08:48 AM CST 为了便于大家阅读，本文就没有加上任何的水印和标识字样了   希望转贴的各位手下留情，最好经我的同意再行转贴，实在要转贴的时候请把原作者标明。   谢谢   由于文章内容太长，且有Visio图和表格。如果分开多篇，实在麻烦了大家又麻烦了自己，故用图片格式   以下正文，点击图片放大查看

Weekend Thoughts: 'Are The Kids Alright?' Posted: 02 Dec 2007 03:05 PM CST [The second in our 'Weekend Thoughts' series sees Leigh Alexander's recent Game Set Watch column examine whether gamer behavior online is becoming less defensible, and whether it may affect justifiability in protecting ourselves from "sensationalized accusations of the mainstream media, politicians and TV psychologists."] Combine the veil of anonymity with the community elements the internet supports and you've often got a vocal mob. Far from being an exception, gamers are perhaps a case-in-point - off ...

店长的火狐周记：一图胜千言的NSFW Posted: 02 Dec 2007 11:32 AM CST 很多博客作者认为写文章放太多图片是态度不够严肃的表现。 我反对。 我非常反对。 所以我要用图片来写周记，并证明只要正确选择了图片，客栈只需要很少的文字就能容纳非常多的内容，前提是我愿意舍弃点隐私，以及懒到连搜索引擎都懒得用的你改改习惯。 (more…)

Activision and Vivendi Games merge to become world's largestpublisher Posted: 02 Dec 2007 11:32 AM CST Activision and Vivendi Games are to merge, becomingthe world's largest independent videogame publisher, in a dealvalued at $18.9 billion

Breaking: Activision, Vivendi Games Merging To Create Activision Blizzard Posted: 02 Dec 2007 08:21 AM CST In a shock move, Activision and Vivendi have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi's interactive entertainment business with Activision, creating the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be ...

游戏业界历史上的今天（12.3） Posted: 02 Dec 2007 10:06 AM CST  游戏业界历史上的今天（12.3） 首先向12.3过生日的玩家朋友道一声生日快乐！ 下面让我们一起来回顾一下游戏业界历史上的今天吧。 今天可是SCE的游戏王朝登基的日子。正是13年前的今天，被认为是业界黑马的PS的出现，宣告了任天堂经营十余年的家用主机霸权的土崩瓦解。联系昨天的情况来看，任天堂的卷土重来真的是令人感慨万千啊。 1993.12.3 对战忍者龟(KONAMI/FC.MD.SFC)     “忍者龟”系列无论是在街机还是FC、MD、SFC等主机，之前都是以动作游戏方式出现，而KONAMI本次将其制作成对战游戏，也引起了不少玩家的关注，因为原作中各角色的招数动作就相当适合这个题材类型。本作中玩家使用的依然是4位忍者神龟，而原作的各个BOSS角色也都会登场亮相，其中铁面人的实力非常强悍，几乎是破坏了平衡性。游戏原本是同时发售在SFC和MD两大主机上，不过对于曾经被誉为黄金搭档的FC主机，KONAMI依然没有忘却，这是该厂的最后一款FC游戏，同时也是FC对战类游戏中手感最为流畅的一部，当然，KONAMI在对战类游戏方面的经验毕竟不足，玩家不要指望本作的可玩性能够与“街霸2”相提并论。     经典度：5     推荐度：4     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/FC/20070616/17951.html（FC版）            http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/MD/20070210/15323.html（MD版）           http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/jiayongji/SFC/20050412/2230.html（SFC版） MD版 FC版 SFC版 唐老鸭梦冒险2(CAPCOM/GB)     本作是移植自同年4月发售的FC版，内容基本相同。故事描述唐老鸭的三个侄子发现了藏宝图，于是唐纳叔叔就出马寻宝。利用拐杖对付敌人以及进行弹跳是游戏的主要操作方式。由于当时已经是FC主机的末期，而GB却正在蓬勃发展的高峰，出现这样的高水平移植作品无疑是一件好事。     经典度：4     推荐度：5     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/rom/zhangjiyouxi/GB/20070403/15961.html 1994.12.3 PlayStation(SCE)     PS主机最初的形态是作为SFC的光碟机外设，这也是任天堂为了对抗NEC以及世嘉的光碟系统而采取的措施。双方在1990年1月就签订了合作契约，但是由于索尼试图以此直接介入硬件市场，加上其强大的技术实力，一直对此怀有忧虑的任天堂最终在1992年5月悍然单方面毁约，这一举动导致了SFC光碟主机的彻底难产，也促使索尼最终决定单独发售PS系统，向任天堂的霸权地位发起挑战（其间还有索尼一直以来的宿敌松下公布3DO主机计划的催化剂）。     PS主机使用32位的RISC处理器R3000，主频33.6MHz，内存合计28Mb，有24路ADPCM音源，由于内置专用的JPEG硬件解压芯片和GPU三维图形描绘芯片，使得PS的动画播放效果和3D多边形生成能力及特效非常出色，而索尼在拉拢第三方软件商方面也比直接对手世嘉更加灵活有效，与PS同时首发的游戏达到了前所未有的8款。由于PS主机首发定价39800日元要比对手SS低5000日元，加上名厂NAMCO的全力支持和索尼在软件发行方面的天生优势，所以一登场就能够与世嘉形成拉锯战。之后随着SFC时代所做的努力逐渐显露成效，任天堂又顽固的坚持了其64位主机依然使用卡带，PS终于成功拉拢了任天堂阵营的重臣SQUARE，并进一步得到了ENIX的支持：1996年初FF7宣布在PS推出，1997年初DQ7也宣布在PS推出，这造成了任天堂阵营的彻底崩溃，PS从此一路高歌猛进，成功的成为了日本市场的第三款“国民主机”（其标准是日本市场销量超越1000万）。最终PS在日本市场达成2160万销量，是第一款突破2000万大关的家用主机，全球累计10250万也是家用主机第一次突破1亿大关。     经典度：9     推荐度：8     下载：http://www.emu999.com/html/Tool/jiajimoniqi/PS/20061108/14103.html 山脊赛车(NAMCO/PS)     这部作品随PS主机同时发售，是NAMCO与街机宿敌世嘉的又一次正面对抗。由于PS主机在设计之初就参照了NAMCO的SYSTEM11系列主板的硬件规格，所以本作能够很好的在PS上得以再现，其移植度比起SS版“梦游美国”可谓是高下立判。该系列一贯的甩尾系统从本作就开始确立，游戏的操作感以及速度感都非常出色，画面质量和帧数也十分稳定，充分展示了PS主机的优越性能。FAMI通给本作打出了37分的高分，80万的销量也成为了系列一直到PS2版5代所保持的水准，如此稳定的支持度在整个业界都是罕见的。而读盘时可以玩“小蜜蜂”、赛道上可以看见“小精灵”等细节之处无不体现出NAMCO“120%移植”的严谨态度，令人赞赏。     经典度：7     推荐度：6

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SUPER 32X(SEGA)     这个装置并不是一款独立的系统，而是搭载在MD主机上的一款提升器。在其内部装有与SS相同的32位SH2处理器，因此能够大幅提升MD以及MEGA-CD的运算能力，发色数增加到32768，多出了2路PCM音源，并可以进行多边形即时演算，对应的软件是卡带和专用光碟。原本世嘉预计利用这个价格相对较低的装置使在北美市场有着广大普及量基础的MD生命周期得以延续，但事实证明在性能更强的SS和PS主机都已经问世之际这个想法是相当愚蠢的。最终32X只有十几款作品问世，对应的专用光碟游戏更是屈指可数。

经典度：5     推荐度：4     下载：

1995.12.3 山脊赛车 革命(NAMCO/PS)     1995年底大概要算是PS最为低调的一个时期，在SFC层出不穷的大作攻势以及SS三大街机力作的强力反击下，本作可以说是PS唯一一个拿得上台面的大作。实际上游戏相比前作在音效、操作等方面并没有提高，甚至画面贴图以及色彩还显得有些凌乱，不及前作清爽。不过作为PS一周年的纪念性作品，游戏自有其过人之处：除了追加新的赛车、新的模式以及新的赛道之外，最大的特色就是增加了通信对战功能，玩家可以利用通讯对战线将两台PS主机连接起来进行对战，这样就不用忍受分屏的画面限制了。这也是最早应用该功能的游戏大作。本作因此获得了FAMI通39分的超白金评价，当时接连3天出现SS版“VR战士2”、SFC版“风来的西林”和本作3款超白金大作，被称为是FAMI通史上的神奇时段。

经典度：6     推荐度：6     下载：

1996.12.3 山脊赛车3(NAMCO/PS)     NAMCO一年一度准时在PS周年之际推出的系列新作，本作的名称虽然是“RAGE RACER”，但依然被作为系列的正统3代，从该系列之后的作品命名来看也确实如此。本作在画面效果上相比前两作有了长足的进步，贴图水准和赛道描绘达到了当时的巅峰水准，通过比赛获取奖金进而购买新的车辆这一设定受到了普遍欢迎，自行设计车队标志更是许多喜欢DIY的玩家的至爱。此外，作为系列代表性人物的赛车女皇永濑丽子也是在本作中正式登场的，其人气度至今依然不减。本作的FAMI通评分是34分，猪头个人认为这还是比较合适的分数，前两作尤其是2代的分数实在是太过高了。     经典度：7     推荐度：6     下载： 1998.12.3 山脊赛车4(NAMCO/PS)     这部作品的推出标志着PS的机能被推向了又一个新的高度，对此，只需要知道本作是继去年的“GT赛车”之后再度夺得CESA年度评选的最佳画面大奖就够了。在DC问世、N64全力反击之际，PS已经成为机能方面最弱的一方，但就是在这种情况下PS反而迸发出了强大的生命力，说本作的画面效果达到了N64的水准并不为过。虽然游戏在可玩性方面被指责为不及前作，车辆的获得是依靠与不同厂商签约，显得变化较少，赛道也相对较为单薄，但FAMI通依然打出了35分的高分。另外值得一提的是游戏的片头CG，配合那首激情洋溢的主题歌也成为了玩家传颂的对象之一。     经典度：7     推荐度：6     下载： CAPCOM精选5格斗家们(CAPCOM/SS.PS)     猪头每次想起这款游戏就会忍不住赞叹CAPCOM的伟大！本作中收录的是“街霸2”、“街霸2DASH”以及“街霸2TURBO”三款作品，这大概是所有从街机版练起的街霸玩家所最为期盼的事情——虽然现在基本认为X版才是SF2系列的顶峰，但至少猪头个人的感情还是偏向于DASH版的。这其中尤其要提到SS版，虽然没有对应扩张4MB，也做到了没有读盘等待（实际上是将读盘时间融合在对战前的特写画面中），这一点无论是相比PS版还是与之前的“街霸精选集”相比，都是猪头的最爱。此外，游戏还实现了3个版本的角色相互对战，猪头当初与几个朋友是每天都有固定的街霸时段。本作唯一的不足就是CPU的AI偏低，此外，SS版没有美版是一大遗憾。     经典度：9     推荐度：10

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2001.12.3 杰克与达斯特(SCE/PS2)     SCE选择在PS的生日发售的3D动作游戏大作（不过是美版的发售时间，日版则是12月20日），也是顽皮狗小组在失去了“古惑狼”的版权之后全力打造的新品牌，试图再次创造经典。游戏的画面是PS2实力的体现，广阔的场景加上出色的流畅度完全具备取代“古惑狼”的潜力，而游戏中角色的美式俚语台词搞笑百出，也是一大噱头。大概正是由于游戏的美式风味过重，因此尽管获得了FAMI通34分金殿堂评价，SCE在日版发售前还免费派送30万张体验版，也没有使游戏的实际销量超过15万，实在是很大的讽刺。不过游戏全球累计321万的成绩还是相当不俗。

经典度：6     推荐度：6     下载：

2002.12.3 瑞奇与叮当(SCE/PS2)     PS主机8周年的纪念性作品，是由制作了在PS上累计销量近500万的“小龙斯派罗”的INSOMNIAC小组制作。本作是一款强调火爆射击场面的3D动作游戏，场景以及武器道具设置都相当丰富，动作也十分流畅，因此能够在SCE新的3D动作三大系列中后来居上。由于借助了PS家族庆典日的势头，原本美式风格浓厚的本作在日本也获得了58万的好成绩，并同样被FAMI通评为34分金殿堂，全球累计销量达293万。

经典度：7     推荐度：7     下载：

没游戏玩，是寂寞；玩游戏，更寂寞 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 10:08 AM CST  这是一篇很YY的文章。我很少这么YY的。但或许，有些用。          有一个很有意思的BOSS。我曾经想过，是否要将他放入网游设计之中。        人会以事情多，时间少为理由来解释事情。        这也正是我没去考虑这个的原因罢。        打开BLOG更新列表，找不到能让我十指大动的题目。于是想到了这个BOSS……       意念螳螂是《合金装备》系列里最独创性和最让人棘手的boss之一。他不仅能控制你的手柄，操纵你的电视输出（PS版是“都”一声后黑屏，屏幕左上角显示“HIDEO”（不是VIDEO），一般人还以为自己电视机有问题了），甚至还能读出你的心（至少能读你的记忆卡），利用你的恋爱兴趣（它可以读出Konami的《心跳回忆》的存档）来攻击你。他还能和你的攻击键建立心灵感应，这样当你按攻击键时，实际上也帮他按了回避键。要打败他，你得跳脱出常规的思维，把手柄接到2号接口上。这样你就能冲上去好好的揍一顿这个耍了你好久而且喜欢滥用心灵能力的魔王了。当然，他强大的能力的确让人印象深刻。       众所周知，我们的很多秘密都在电脑之中。可能有你藏起的情书草稿；或许兰兰的片子被你放在了system文件夹中；还有小蜜的相片躺在了自己都忘记了路径深处……     在设计网游时，玩家之间的交互性总是我们最关注的内容。而玩家之间交互能有多深，这似乎只有玩家自己才明白。   另一种交互应该就是游戏和玩家之间的交互了。这类的交互，传统上，我们通过任务，NPC和游戏背景进行完成。这部分是我们可以把握的内容。那么，我们可以做到什么程度。 如果，我们可以像意念螳螂那样，查阅玩家的未加密文件夹内容，搜索电脑上的关键字，如果我们可以获得玩家IE浏览器上的历史记录……如果这些行为合法，不做得太过分，我们可以设计些什么？ 我们的BOSS可以叫嚷着玩家玩过的其他游戏里的技能名字？退出游戏时可以帮玩家打开收藏夹中的页面？我们的NPC可以引用玩家看过的文章里的经典对话？我们可以用玩家收藏的音乐作为背景音乐？我们可以知道玩家经常搜索的关键字，在NPC对话中提到？可以查到迅雷和BT曾经下载的文件，我们还可以……？   当我们希望游戏能给玩家带来些什么时，有没想过要触动玩家心底的弦，而成为玩家的朋友呢？

英国ps3电视广告 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 09:32 AM CST 英国ps3的最新电视广告拍得比较艺术。     相关链接： http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007kf ps3的日本电视广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007yv ps3日本全新广告主题：家族 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4938f71b01000er4.html 40GB版ps3日本广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007aa PS3的美国广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007el 美国PS3的第二个广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007gw 美国PS3的第三个广告 http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/4938f71b010007ks 美国PS3的第四个广告

流媒体网IPTV闭门会议感想总结 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 09:00 AM CST   文/Leeforce （LoftMatrix International 总经理 兼 首席分析师）   北京最牛的地方就在于，你永远能找到一帮很牛的人聚集到一个很牛的地方讨论一件很牛的事。   时间：2007年12月1日下午13:30～17:00   牛人：UT斯达康首席科学家、华为数字娱乐Marketing经理、长虹信息技术公司总经理、CRI新媒体总监、北广传媒新媒体总监、Kasenna北亚销售副总裁、信产部电信研究院通信标准研究所副主任、联想-微软联合创新中心代表、韩国SK电讯BizGroup经理、英国NDS销售经理、凤凰传媒流媒体运营副总监、深圳iPanel.tv高级副总、Skyes首席技术官、……   牛地：位于海淀区蓝旗营附近的万圣书园内部隐蔽之醒客咖啡厅，破败的城市外表下藏匿的精深奇特会所……   牛事：流媒体网主办之IPTV行业闭门讨论会议，谢绝媒体出席。   UT首席科学家杨景教授给大家带来的美国方面最新动向比较吸引人。NBC和NewsGroup联合发起成立网络视频平台Hulu.com，这个事件虽然我之前就早有耳闻，但杨教授所述模式“媒体切片技术 - 媒体资产重构 - 媒体产业链重构”的思路却让我对此有了更高一层的认识。   家电厂商方面如今也是对新媒体领域虎视眈眈。之前康佳推出的“酷开”系列网络视频电视产品虽然较好不叫座，但已在业界引发很大的冲击。明年会有很多新产品面世，并越来越多地将电视机与互联网相结合。不过家电厂商现在面临一个主要的问题就是受到行业政策的限制，缺少行业主导性的地位，施展不开。   联想集团基于PC的“数字家庭”居然不声不响地已经把用户做到了200万之巨。我想想现在全国IPTV用户也不过100万左右，不禁汗颜。不过，联想介绍的经验也表明，互动教育乃是网络电视领域最具潜力的业务。   来自政府方面的消息是，明年将在对IPTV产业政策上掀起很大的变革浪潮。目前国内的IPTV产业标准混乱、步履艰难，希望明年能够借奥运的东风带来利好的政策调整。若问具体是怎样的政策，结果答曰“一切尽在十七大报告中”（汗）。   我以崭新的身份参加此次会议，并且也做了一些发言和讨论。我认为，IPTV应当寻找自己独特的定位，而不是盲目地去跟广电系的数字电视机顶盒做正面的冲击。   现在行业内尤其是硬件厂商有一种短视的做法，就是把机顶盒越做越便宜，用牺牲盒子性能的代价来换取“跑马圈地”的战略目标。我觉得，“价格战”从来就不是一个好的竞争策略，IPTV应当充分发挥自己与网络互动的优势，在功能与内容上与数字电视的机顶盒区别开来。比如北京歌华有线强行给我家安装了数字电视机顶盒，但丝毫不会影响我对DVD播放机和PlayStation游戏机的使用，这是一样的道理。   IPTV最大的优势就在于其与互联网业务的广泛连结。也正是在这个基础上，我认为IPTV的机顶盒不应当越做越便宜，而是应当针对各种细分市场推出功能丰富的新产品，以中高端辐射低端。比如互动教育产业就是一个很好的细分市场，联想方面也提供了很好的业务例证。   此外，在IPTV增值服务方面，我觉得设备厂商参与的力度明显不够。这里面包括IPTV中间件标准制定等方面有很多利益的考虑、博弈与冲突，并非短期内能够解决。希望明年大家能够借助政府力量的介入，重新规范产业链条，并作出新颖健康的IPTV商业模式。       LEEFORCE VIEW http://www.leeforce.com ～　转载请注明出处　～

Webgame的市场分析和前景展望 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 09:49 AM CST 1．Webgame的发展趋势和前景： 1)WEBGAME由来已久，对广大早期网游玩家而言并不陌生 早在网游诞生之初WEBGAME就已出现，并凭借其方便性和简易性吸引了一大批早期的网页用户。以《第九城市》《笑傲江湖》等为代表的早期作品多是基于BBS社区和聊天室为基础扩展而来，其可玩性虽然不高，内容也不够丰富，但是交流性和互性性极强，已经初步具备了网游的基本特征。而随后的《kingwars》和《战神》等策略型WEBGAME则已经完全脱离了交流社区的范畴，而正式发展成为独立的游戏类型，并开始逐步提高其游戏性和可玩性，在内容设计和系统数值上也有了进一步地深入和完善。尽管以《传奇》《石器》等为代表的早期网游开始兴盛之后，无论黏着度和可玩性都无法与之相提并论的WEBGAME就逐渐开始走向没落，但是凭借其操作简单上手容易的特点还是培养了一大批早期的网游玩家，为网游在中国的发展奠定了基础。 2)WEBGAME异军突起，大有与MMORPG和休闲网游三分天下之势 也许谁也不曾料想到，一款国外引进过来的星战题材《OGAME》和猫扑网以图形化社区演变而来的《猫游记》能使早已在国内衰败的WEBGAME死恢复然，并掀起了其在国内火热的第二股高潮！尽管在这几年时间里，国内也不断有新的WEBGAME作品上市，但是在MMORPG和休闲网游的强大光辉下根本不可能有多大发展的空间。而随着《OGAME》的引进，不但逐渐在OFFICE和大学校园里兴起了一股“星际殖民”的高潮，以其为原型复制出来的各种题材的版本也应运而生，例如英雄无敌题材的《战神世界》，罗马战争题材的《部落战争》，春秋战国题材的《乱舞春秋》等等。与此同时，一些以清新画面和简易操作取胜的RPG类型WEBGAME也开始兴盛起来，例如《猫游记》《创世之光》等，逐渐形成了自己特有的用户群体。而国内很多知名网游公司也十分看好这个新生的市场，纷纷推出自己的拳头产品，如盛大的《纵横天下》，摩力游的《图腾三国》等，开始与MMORPG和休闲网游形成三足鼎立之势。 3)WEBGAME的市场潜力巨大，与其他类型网游相比有着强劲优势 业内普遍看好WEBGAME其实并无道理，与MMORPG和休闲网游等其他类型网游相比，WEBGAME有着投入成本小，开发周期短，技术门槛低和维护费用小等优势，这些对刚涉足网游行业的中小型开发公司而言都是非常有吸引力的。而其不用下载客户端，直接浏览网页就能游戏；不用疯狂点击鼠标键盘，只需要简单的按钮操作就能完成指令；不需要长时间泡在游戏中也能取得较大的成长等种种特点，也非常适合长时间呆在办公室和校园的OFFICE一族和大学生一族，他们可以轻松地“在老板眼皮底下”享受游戏的乐趣，这些都是MMORPG和休闲网游所不能比拟的。而这部分用户大多具备消费游戏的经济能力和消费需求，因此市场潜力相当巨大。 4)WEBGAME的用户群逐渐培养起来，极有可能成为未来网游用户的一支主力军 对于WEBGAME的用户定位，从上网地点和从事职业上有着明显的划分：网吧用户都是付费游戏，没有多少人愿意花十几块钱上网来玩节奏缓慢的WEBGAME，所以基本排除；而在其他地点上网的用户中，家庭用户因为机器配置和游戏需求等方面的因素，也基本上不会考虑长时间地玩WEBGAME；而真正喜欢而且能够长时间泡WEBGAME的用户基本上都是OFFICE的白领一族和校园网的学生一族。这部分用户要么从未或者很少接触其他类型网游，要么由于工作或学习时间不方便玩其他类型游戏，所以基本上不与其他类型网游的用户相冲突，可以培养成一个相对独立的用户群。而这个用户群都是具备消费能力和长期上网条件的，如果培养适当极有可能发展成为未来网游用户的一支生力军。 2．Webgame的现状分析 1)游戏类型过于单一，真正优势没有发挥出来 截止目前，国内已上市的WEBGAME大大小小不下数十款，但基本上都是以OGAME模式为主的策略类，以猫游记为代表的RPG和各种体育经理模式，目前这几大模式的市场都已经基本饱和。而事实上WEBGAME相比大型网游，最大的优势在于它不需要太长的持续在线时间和离线后游戏照常持续的特点，这就决定了其在游戏类型上可以更多元化，游戏模式也可以更多样化。 2)潜在用户还未被发掘，可以拓展的空间还非常大 WEBGAME和大型网游的用户有着明显的划分，家庭用户和网吧用户基本上可以放弃，OFFICE一族和大学生一族则是重点培养对象。其中，尤以游戏知识比较贫乏，对游戏上手难度要求非常低，要求操作简单方便的新手玩家为主。这部分玩家基本上还是空白市场，如果可以针对他们的游戏习惯和消费需求进行设计开发，可以扩展的空间还非常大。     3)大公司涉足不深，小作坊模式的游击队仍然有生存空间 目前涉足WEBGAME的大型网游公司还不多，WEBGAME的开发和运营还多以小公司甚至民间团队为主，一方面是其成本小周期短等特点比较小公司的成长，另一方面也是市场发育不成熟的缘故。而正是由于大公司还没有过多的涉足，才使得小作坊模式的游击队可以通过小规模短周期低成本的方式，来寻求生存的空间。以2-3人的开发规模，5-6个月的开发周期和10-20W的开发成本就能开发出一款品质不低的游戏产品，这绝对是让很多平民游戏制作者走向成功的一条捷径。 3．Webgame的出路和方向 1)避大型网游之锋芒，坚持走游击路线 Webgame与大型网游相比，存在着可玩性低，黏着度低和画面表现粗糙等诸多不足，而这些不足是足以令同类型同题材的Webgame与大型网游不可相提并论的致命伤。如果WEBGAME还是要原封不动地继续沿袭现有大型网游的成功模式，甚至不惜定位成做某个成功网游的WEB版，它的前景是可想而知的。WEBGAME中的成功案例OGAME和体育经理模式等都告诉我们，只有做大型网游没有做过的类型或模式，走适合WEB形式的游击路线才是避开大型网游的强劲竞争另辟奚径的首选。 2)针对用户群大胆创新，敢于突破固有模式 WEBGAME有自己特有的用户群，就应该根据他们的游戏习惯和消费需求来做针对性地开发和设计，如果延续大型网游的思路去设计游戏只会牛头不对马嘴。比如，MMORPG针对的是那些愿意而且能够长时间泡在游戏里，通过不停点击鼠标来寻求刺激的玩家，休闲游戏则是针对那些愿意而且能够在较短的时间里全情投入紧张操作来娱乐的玩家，而这些都不是利用工作或学习的空余忙里偷闲轻松一把的玩家所能接受的，对他们而言，操作时间不能太长，不需要长时间泡在线上是他们选择WEBGAME的根本。只有了解这点做针对性的开发，才是WEBGAME取得成功的出路。 3)运营模式上多借鉴大型网游的成功经验 尽管由于用户群定位和游戏品质无法相提并论等多方面的原因，在游戏设计上我们可以借鉴大型网游的东西很少很少，但是就运营模式而言却有很多值得借鉴的地方。比如什么类型的游戏适合时长收费，什么类型的游戏适合道具收费，在收费方式和具体定价方面，大型网游都给了我们很多的启示。比如盛大运营的《纵横天下》的收费模式上就明显可以看到《征途》的影子。这不但可以避免我们在运营和收费上走很多弯路，而且也比较适应玩家目前已普遍接受的消费模式。

How to Avoid the "Writer's Stigmas" and Promote Yourself Posted: 02 Dec 2007 09:46 AM CST For those of you who enjoy writing, I'm sure you've heard of many of the stigmas that authors face from time-to-time. From being accused of anti-social behavior to not living in the "real world," as artists who write for entertainment or for business, it's sometimes good to consider what you're getting into. Many famous authors and writers weren't necessarily remembered for their works, but because they had a personality and were relatively quirky. Some personality tics can help you sell your work, because you're creating a persona to tie into your work. However, there are others attributes, that we all have, that aren't so great which can really put a damper into your ability to get work. Here are a few tips to help avoid the stigmas to earn yourself a professional reputation, and the ability to find more work: Keep up with Technology: In related posts, I had talked about how to use your technology wisely. From avoiding flame wars to ensuring you speak grammatically correct, your command of technology and computers is important in this "cyber age." I know how frustrating it can be when new things come out on the market (Hint: Microsoft Vista or new forms of PHP programming), so consider spending a few dollars at your local community college and sign up for a four-to-six week course for whatever software you're weakest on. They're not that expensive, and you'll gain confidence in your abilities as you go along. This link is a veritable writer's toolbox perfect for crafting some savvy online tools to promote yourself as well. You'll need to sift through the links, but the descriptions are pretty easy-to-read and you'll be able to quickly ascertain what will work for you. Join your Local Business Organizations: If you're like me, you probably work a full-time job and then write in your spare time or, you spend a lot of time looking for work to keep up with bills as you grow your freelancing career. Time is valuable to you, especially when you're trying to move forward in your career. I highly recommend looking for local business organizations in your area to network, and also join your university's alumni association. Start (or Join) a Book Club: It's very easy for your social skills to weaken as you spend more and more time in front of a computer. One way to hone those skills, while getting something out of it for yourself, is to join (or start) a face-to-face discussion about a particular book once a month. Not only will it force you to read something outside of your normal scope, it will help you diplomatically improve your debate skills and get that intellectual discussion I know you crave. Work Hard, Play Hard: In another tip, I had talked about the importance of play. I can't stress enough how important it is to remember to balance your writing with getting off the computer and enjoying yourself. It's so easy to fall in the trap of burn-out or worse, writer's depression. Please, please, please reward yourself for all the good that you do in this field by spoiling yourself through fun. When you're happy and well-adjusted, other non-writers will pick up on that and your business will grow. Balance Promotion with Common Sense: As I had stated above, the worse thing you can be accused of as a writer is being dysfunctional or flighty, because it implies you're not reliable, so a lot of the time we have to work around that by showing how unique--not crazy--and healthy we are. If you have a decent photo of yourself (make sure you ask someone else if you're not sure) post that on your blog or website. Are there things that you do to promote yourself that I haven't listed here? I invite you to share your tips, and I will follow up with another blog post in a few weeks crediting your advice. Be sure to include your website or blog if you are interested. Happy promoting!

8 More Game Producer Questions Answered Posted: 02 Dec 2007 08:59 AM CST I was asked to some game producer questions earlier, and here are the rest of the questions and answers. Question #8. What makes you tick? Something like this. Question #9. Who or what has been your greatest influence in the videogame industry? Hmm… maybe it was the time when I discovered “C64 BASIC programming” book in the library. Question #10. Do you see role of the producer changing in the future? Yes, I’m sure it will change - although I cannot tell how it will change. Whatever happens, the important part is to embrace change. Question #11. What advice would you give to an aspiring producer? My top 2 tips would be: 1) Do what you have passion for. 2) Never give up. See also game producer interviews - there’s plenty of information from many producers who have loads of experience in game production. Question #12. What is your favorite videogame? And favorite that you have worked on? Same answer to both questions: this one. Seriously: the game project I’m currently working on has always been my favourite, and hopefully always will be. Question #13. What makes a game producer tick? Tough one… depends on the producer I think? Question #14. Education, qualities, attributes or skills of a Producer Check out breaking in the industry. It contains massive amount of information from AAA producers: it will tell you what kind of skills and qualities are necessary - and what kind of meaning education has. Question #15. Top Producers in the game industry - your opinion The ones who keep the team going forward. The ones working without making a big fuss about everything. The ones whose names we probably won’t even see.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

关卡设计入门-第二部分：设计遵循的法则和部分的建议 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 08:43 AM CST 原作者：Tim Ryan 译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的 链接地址如下： http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990423/level_design_01.htm

原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。 译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：

Beginning Level Design Part 2: Rules to Design By and Parting Advice This article is the second of a two-part series that covers theories behind level design and suggests a set of design rules. The intention is to aid gamers who want to design levels for pleasure or pursue a career in level design.

以下省略   －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ 以下译文   点击图片放大

关卡设计入门-第一部分：关卡设计原理 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 08:38 AM CST 原作者：Tim Ryan 译者是自GAMASUTRA的链接上看到这篇文章的 链接地址如下： http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990416/level_design_01.htm

原文如下（由于字数限制，这里只能贴出一部分，详细麻烦大家点入链接内查看。 译文在原文之后，烦点击进去阅读）：

Beginning Level Design, Part 1: Level Design Theory This article is the first of a two-part series covering theories behind level design, establishing some rules for level creation. The intention is to aid those new to the field who want to design levels for pleasure or pursue a career in level design.

以下省略   －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－ 以下译文   点击图片放大

日本第一日：大阪的考验 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 07:17 AM CST         下了飞机就遇到一点点小插曲，算是第一站考验了。         在出站的时候，为了检查反恐，所有人要留下指纹和照片。         并检查护照，给我检查的是一个日本MM，很友善的。都办妥之后，说了句OK，我说了句THANK YOU。         然后我走过去，继续向前走。         就发现身后那MM步伐匆匆的向我跑来，一边跑一边喊：mi sang mi sang!         然后继续喊：chiu do chiu do ma te!         实在不会读的，对着这个发音：米桑米桑，秋都，秋都，嘛爹。         大意：先生先生，等等，等等。         天啊，要知道我是不会日文会话的……但是听得懂，于是，回答：HEY，WHAT'S WRONG？         接着：pa s po do……         实在不会读的参考这个：怕死破多         其实是说：passport啦。         我又把护照给她，她拿着我的护照急急忙忙跑回刚才检查的关卡。         无奈，我也跟着往回跑。一边跑，一边问：HEY，WHAT'S MATTER？WHAT'S WRONG？         回去就见那MM匆忙盖了几个戳，然后给我，对我连续说了两遍：go mei na sai！         实在不会读的参考这个：扣没一拿赛！                大意：对不起（道歉态度非常非常好的道歉用语。）         其实到这里我都不知道发生了什么，回答：THANK YOU！         其实每句都懂了，但是每句都不知道下边应该应对什么，就这么以：         “一句日文、一句英文、再一句日文、再一句英文……”的顺序，完成了一次艰苦的和日本人对话……

在四川北路 Posted: 02 Dec 2007 07:06 AM CST 这个周末基本上就在四川北路，虹口足球场附近晃荡过去了。   周六在四川北路上逛街，买了双蓝色的鞋子……和一个钱包，毕业那年叔叔送给我的钱包两年前被偷了，后来就没再买过钱包了。 老婆挑了一个橘色的小挎包。然后就去海宁路避风塘吃晚饭了，这条路对我们来说，意义很特别。避风塘隔壁的国际电影院，也曾是我们第一次看电影的地方，周六晚上那里只有色戒，苹果什么的，没什么兴趣，就算了。   今天下午又去了虹口足球场，看什么体验奥运的大型活动。只见足球场里竖起了很多简易房，每个门口都有人排起长队。结果我排队好久才进入一间屋子，体验赛艇，拳击和击剑。击剑的体验方式就是和两个正在击剑的雕塑合影，赛艇则是做到一个手脚并用的健身器材里，拳击最火爆，因为分明就是游戏厅里的拳力测量游戏。我打出了550分，离纪录只差30分咯。其他各个屋子前面排队的人都很多，风又大，我们就跑掉了。中途还听到会场主持人在问一个小朋友，中国第一个获得奥运会冠军的人是哪个，小朋友答得很棒，说是姚明，然后主持人就问他姚明是干吗的，小朋友就说是“投篮”的。另外还有一个问题难度更大，问中国第一个获得奥运会跳水金牌的，这个估计要25岁，30岁以上的人才能答对，各位看我blog的朋友，你们不查google，能答出来么？   和老婆老婆弟弟老婆弟弟的老婆，四个人接着去了足球场隔壁的高点保龄球馆打保龄球，我今天发挥得还可以，打了78分，比以前好多了，很可惜的是一个全中也没有。打完保龄球，又跑回足球场里，找乒乓球馆打了一个小时乒乓球，出了点小汗，就去吃火锅啦。吃火锅的时候碰见一个女的很强，她同时跟她老公说上海话，跟她老公的朋友说普通话，以及跟她自己的朋友说粤语。   周末出来走走，逛街血拼，打球健身，唱歌跳舞，都很棒，都比在家里窝着要好，身体好了就要乱跑，这样才对得起好身体嘛。

Birdy Man Posted: 02 Dec 2007 03:04 PM CST “像素啊～其实俺不是故意冷落你的，实在是俺现在正处于事业的上升期。有时间我会把你和‘手绘’妹子一起捡回来，一有空就涂上两笔。”

Nintendo Having Trouble Pressing Enough Wii Discs, Says Midway Posted: 02 Dec 2007 06:00 AM CST According to Midway's VP of publishing Miguel Iribarren, Nintendo is "a victim of their own success," and they are having trouble keeping up with the demand for Wii game product. Now, we all know that Nintendo has had troubles keeping up with the demand for the hardware itself. This is the first evidence that I'm aware of that the problem of demand extends to disc manufacturing. Unfortunately for Midway, this means less product on the shelf, hence a reduced financial outlook for the company. However, this begs the question: Is it really true that people just buy a Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Play, and never want to buy another game afterward? I've always felt that narrative to be a bit of a crock. Perhaps this evidence lends a little proof to my gut feelings? This may also explain the difficulty some gamers have had finding copies of games like Zak and Wiki and Victorious Boxers Revolution, as Midway states that this problem seemed resolved for "front line releases" n [via Gamasutra] See article.

ProStreetPrj 5 | 别作弊了，OK ? …… NFS11 的AI作弊 Posted: 26 Nov 2007 05:25 AM CST  AI作弊一直是近年来的要害问题。在ProStreet中略有改善但仍未根治。细分至底，有两大因素。 一是动力修正。当AI赛车开始落后一段距离之后，系统便会给落后的AI赛车增加动力。直到AI赛车超过玩家之后，这个动力修正才会消失。这个设计的初衷是为了提升游戏的挑战性，使得不同级别的玩家都能找到驾驶的乐趣但在实践中，自动加速的AI赛车更多给玩家带来的却是郁闷。郁闷的原因不是速度本身，而是第二点。 二是轮胎性能修正。AI赛车的轮胎无时无刻都在享受着附着力的加成，无论是否劣势。这样的作弊行为带来的结果是致命性的。AI的赛车在入弯时可以更晚的刹车，入弯的位置也因为轮胎的特性而不同。 本身具有优势并不是什么过错，只要记得小心不被AI的错误行为引导即可。而较为难以对付的困难是当不正当竞争的AI赛车处于玩家车后的情况。AI赛车会更晚的刹车也就罢了，甚至即使从后方撞到前方的车辆也不会主动退让。因此避开在减速过程中处在AI赛车的正前方对安全性是有益的。 不要试图甩开AI赛车。因为速度越快，AI的加速度越大。除非有十足的把握可以轻车熟路。否则除了增加事故几率之外并不会有什么特别的好处。也不要被AI对手所牵制。因为AI赛车的行为规则可以说是“自由散漫”，模仿其驾驶行为有害无益。 毁伤系统的加入使得反AI干扰成为可能。ProStreet的毁伤系统源自以往系列中警车毁伤系统的积累，高速度撞击和翻车可以直接报废赛车，其余冲击即使不能影响车辆操控也有明显的减速作用。在障碍物前横向排挤AI的赛车使其撞上障碍。在入弯前向前推挤AI的赛车使其滑出赛道甚至撞上护墙。采用制造伤害的方式来削弱AI的方法是被证明为有效的。 -------------------------   连载到这里，大部分的内容已经差不多。下次会写一些别的关于写作过程的东西。敬请期待…… 博动生活 心动乌镇 BlogBus五周年庆典 敬请关注

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

Sony invests in Gaia and virtual movie theaters Posted: 03 Dec 2007 04:22 PM CST A few years back, I had a proposal for an MMO project called “Stages.” It was the idea of using virtual worlds as essentially communal audience spaces.  If you could get a live act or a video going in a virtual world, you could then offer virtual stages where the audience could actually mingle and chat with one another while watching the performance. Of course, this is not really anything new — on a small scale, it’s happened for a while. But what I was envisioning was a platform basically built for the purpose, stripping away all the other stuff that comes with a virtual world by having the showing happening within an instance. Well, although various worlds are now doing similar things to various extents, few do it today as well as Gaia Online, which offers movie theaters where you and your friends can get together to watch movie trailers. Apparently, my opinion that they do it well isn’t only mine, because Sony Pictures is taking an equity stake in Gaia, and both it and Warner are planning on streaming movies, some even for a fee: Netco started its virtual screenings earlier this year with public domain pics such as “Night of the Living Dead.” Sony content will include “Spider-Man,” “Ghost Rider” and TV clips it is already putting on the Web, like the offerings of its Minisode Network. WB is providing films including “The Matrix” and “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.” PPV films will cost $1.99 each to watch. Why does this make a hell of a lot of sense? Because the key premise of virtual worlds is the other people, and movies and music are more fun when you’re with your friends. Among other things, Gaia lets you toss popcorn on your friends, point laser pointers, and even throw tomatoes at the screen. Now you can do that with your buddies who moved away. All that’s missing is sneaking from theater to theater when the first movie sucks (something I recall doing with some Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor movie… alas, we ended up in “Pet Sematary” instead. Oh well, you win some, you lose some). It’s like YouTube in real-time. It’s interesting, of course, that once again this comes as an initiative from outside the games biz. Sony Pictures does, of course, own Sony Pictures Digital, which in turns owns SOE. Perhaps SOE was involved in this deal — but the bottom line is, neither Gaia nor Sony Pictures are game companies. The question for the game industry is, when will initiatives like this emerge out of an EA or a THQ?

Two Capcom PS2 Titles Lose Online Play Posted: 03 Dec 2007 03:38 PM CST BLOG—As of December 31st, 2007, two of Capcom’s PS2 games—Resident Evil: Outbreak and Monster Hunter will no longer feature online gameplay support.

Mario Superstar Tennis Wii by flames101 Posted: 03 Dec 2007 02:35 PM CST Mario Superstar Tennis Wii is a fun tennis game for the Nintendo Wii. It is the sequel to Mario Power Tennis (GC). New features include Wi-Fi and Superstar Shop. The game can support up to 4 players simultaneously. Gameplay: Choose characters, a court, and number of sets and matches in Freeplay Mode. Make your way to the top and become the ultimate tennis master in Tournament Mode. Practice your skills in various minigames in Minigame Room. Battle other gamers from around the world with Wi-Fi Tennis. Purchase items, trophies, alternate clothing and much more with Tennis Points in the new Superstar Shop. Characters: Playable From Start: Mario Luigi Peach Yoshi Daisy Wario Waluigi Donkey Kong Diddy Kong Bowser Bowser Jr. Boo Shy Guy Fly Guy Koopa Troopa Paratroopa Wiggler Petey Pirhana Unlockable / Secret: Birdo - Clear Shroom Cup with Yoshi. Dry Bones - Clear Shroom Cup with Boo. Baby Mario - Clear Dandelion Cup with Mario. Baby Luigi - Clear Dandelion Cup with Luigi. Toad - Clear Bullet Cup with Peach. Toadette - Clear Bullet Cup with Daisy. Kamek - Clear Flame Cup with Bowser. Koopa Kid - Clear Flame Cup with Bowser Jr. Hammer Bro - Clear Superstar Cup with Koopa Troopa. Blooper - Clear Superstar Cup with Shy Guy. Cups: Cups are the different tournaments played in Tournament Mode. One must complete Shroom Cup to advance to Dandelion Cup, and so on. Shroom Cup - A very easy cup perfect for beginners. Dandelion Cup - A fairly easy cup for advanced beginners. Bullet Cup - An intermediate cup for intermediate players. Flame Cup - A cup designed for the advanced players. Superstar Cup - An extremely difficult cup for experts only. Superstar Shop: The Superstar Shop is a place where a variety of gameplay enhancements can be purchased with Tennis Points (points that are earned by playing the game, completing challenges, etc.). Here, players can purchase trophies, stickers, more minigames, different clothing options, new shoes, power-ups and so much more! Wi-Fi Tennis: Now you have the oppurtunity to play online against others who have a copy of the game! You can select different modes like Two Vs Two, Head To Head, or compete in Minigame Mode. During gameplay, you can also send messages along with taunts. You even have the ability to select players from your Friends List, or participate in a quick match with random players; it's your choice! Courts: Selectable From Start: Mario Mania Peach's Castle Court Yoshi Island Daisy's Cruise Court Luigi's Mansion Bowser Jr. Fire Bay Bowser

Bioshock Patch and DLC Posted: 03 Dec 2007 03:06 PM CST Some of the staff over at 2KGames have just told the world, via the Bioshock site Cult of Rapture, that some downloadable content and a patch is soon to be available for the game. No real announcement on what the content will be, but I'd assume it will add something extra to do in the game, and maybe unlock some of those new powerups that people have found by delving into the code. See article.

Activision and Blizzard merge Posted: 03 Dec 2007 02:54 PM CST The BBC are reporting on a shock expensive merger between gaming industry giants Activision and Blizzard have decided to merge together to become the originally named Activision Blizzard! The merger, said to be worth 18.8billion, mainly due to the stupid amount of people who subscribe to World of Warcraft, has been done so that the most profitable games business ever can be created. So long as it doesn't hurt either companies output, I'm happy. See article.

Microsoft Prepping Rez HD, N+, Sensible World of Soccer For Release Posted: 03 Dec 2007 12:11 PM CST Though no games are in line for this week's regular Xbox Live Arcade update as Microsoft launches its fall dashboard update, the company has released its lineup for the weeks following, including Dreamcast/PS2 update Rez HD, Metanet's N+, and Gameloft's mobile brain training port Brain Challenge. As part of the fall update, Microsoft will be launching its previously reported Xbox Live greatest hits initiative, 'Arcade Hits,' permanently dropping prices on Bankshot Billiards 2, Lumines LIVE, ...

GDC Lyon: Antonov Talks Visual Design, Half Life 2 Posted: 03 Dec 2007 08:09 AM CST At the 2007 Game Developers Conference in Lyon, independent art director Viktor Antonov, who art-directed and did concept design for the award-winning Half-Life 2, discussed how visual design in games can accomplish so much more than a sales-driving pretty package -- the game world can be a powerful tool for storytelling, and with that in mind, Antonov presented his lecture on meaningful visual design in games. "The topic today is sort of abstract," admitted Antonov ...

Release This: Japan Gets Heroes, Innocence; SingStar Hits UK PS3s Posted: 03 Dec 2007 07:55 AM CST Gamasutra's regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list. Japan will see the bulk of this week's biggest new releases, with Tales of Innocence and Lost Odyssey taking center stage, while titles like No More Heroes and Arkanoid DS promise to find an audience both in Japan and overseas. Europe, meanwhile, will score ...

Activision Blizzard Planning Guitar Hero IV, Call of Duty V Posted: 03 Dec 2007 07:15 AM CST As part of the details emerging from the recent merger of Activision and Blizzard, Activision has announced its product pipeline for titles in development including return franchise entries as well as entries in new genres for the company. Though perhaps unsurprising given their already strong success, Activision has said Guitar Hero IV and Call of Duty V, are currently in the works, as well as a new Tony Hawk, a James Bond title, and new ...

ESA Hires Former MPAA Exec As Communication VP Posted: 03 Dec 2007 06:02 AM CST The Entertainment Software Association has announced it has hired Rich Taylor, a former senior executive with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and aide to Congressman Jim Chapman (D-TX), as senior vice president for communications and research. The ESA represents U.S. computer and video game publishers, and including its most recent inductees, Codemasters and Epic Games, currently has 29 member companies. Taylor served as a Senior Vice President for the MPAA, a global advocate ...

Serkis Launches East England Games Biz Network Posted: 03 Dec 2007 05:29 AM CST English actor and director Andy Serkis, known for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and King Kong films, will launch Games Eden, a new video game industry network in the East of England region. Serkis, who most recently performed motion capture acting in Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, will spearhead the new network, which aims to promote, support and develop the region's digital games entertainment community. According to the announcement, companies based at the ...

LEGO Zapper Mod Connects All Pieces Of My Heart [Mods] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 02:40 PM CST My friends, there are mods and there are mods. But for a mod to be awarded the immortality of Kotakutalics, it need be something extraordinary. This Wii Zapper constructed (solely?) of LEGOs is indeed something extraordinary. Because at long last, Man has the proper peripheral to play an honest game of LEGO Duck Hunt. And we're sure it's every bit as wonderful as we thought it to be. Here is my lego zapper! [via gonintendo]

Wii and Xbox 360 Close In December [Sales] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 02:20 PM CST Pach attack! Analyst Michael Pachter is predicting a very close December in console sales. Based upon Thanksgiving figures in which the Wii edged out the 360, Pachter predicts the Wii winning December, but by the narrowest of margins: These figures imply that Microsoft will sell 1.5 million Xbox 360s in December in the U.S., that Nintendo will sell 1.7 million Wiis, and that Sony will sell around 800,000 PS3s. Wow these figures are close. But I wonder what these projections would look like if Nintendo had no production limits...if only we you had a slightly different, parallel dimension when you needed one. Wii and Xbox 360 Sales Neck and Neck in December, says Analyst [gamedaily] [image]

The Big Question [Contest] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 02:00 PM CST See, if you read the site regularly you'd probably know I only write posts on the hour and that since I'm in Australia, I don't usually wake up and starting writing "live" until 1 p.m. Denver time, or so. For those of you finalists who figured it out, good for you. Now the first person to answer the question found on the jump in the comments for this post will win the $500 gift certificate. Question: What items from the 2007 Gift Guide of Obscene Nicety and Sublime Naughtyness would you spend your $500 if you won. Remember it has to be on our gift guide and equal $500. It also doesn't have to be just one item.

Swarovski Crystal Wii Owners Can't Complain Ever [Gear] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 01:40 PM CST If you are lucky enough to own not only a Wii but a one-of-a-kind Zelda Wii covered in 7,500 24-carat dipped Swarovski crystals, then no, you can't complain to us about much of anything. Sure, you may still have family or relationship problems--we know money can't buy happiness. But apparently money very much can buy objects that induce happiness by attracting new friends and new family to your prominence. But if the custom Wii is our of your price range, maybe you'll settle for the same designer's swank Mario DS: At $350, that DS is not such a bad price. And I'll admit it...I actually kind of like it. But only kind of. Crystal Icing Mario DS [via GoNintendo - who has the Zelda pics]

The Wii Brings Families (And Pets) Together [Clips] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 01:20 PM CST We won't go into details with this vid: the answers will reveal themselves in time. Maybe Fahey put it best when he explained, "The best part of that video is when you realize this kid's dad is just sitting there filming." Or maybe the best part is when you realize that the dad trained the dog to curb his son's Wii addiction. You decide, but know that the clip is very loud and a little NSFW.

Nolan Bushnell Reminisces On NPR [Interview] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 01:00 PM CST For those who may not have wasted away the weekend with a bottle of Jack and their favorite National Public Radio programming, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell made an appearance to celebrate the 35th anniversary of PONG. In his short interview, he talked about things like the public reaction to Pong "How does the tv station know what I've turned this knob?" before taking a few shots at the violent and complex games that followed. Listening to the interview feels a lot like eating the comforting, nostalgic food that only your mom could make right, and then cracking a carton of decade-old, freezer burned ice cream for dessert. Still, it's worth a listen. Pong: The Ping Heard 'Round the World [via vh1gamebreak] [image]

Blizzavision Conference Call [Ring] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 12:40 PM CST This morning, Activision and Blizzard cracked the OJ for an AM conference call to investors (and of course, interested gaming media). It was a bit too early for our weekend hangovers to stand, but luckily MTV's Stephen Totilo wrote an extensive account of the meeting. Here are the highlights aside from rumors of Dark Elf McMuffin ingestion: • WoW is not coming to consoles. • But if a Blizzard title were to come to consoles, Blizzard would manage it. • Actiblizzard will have 15% of worldwide gaming market and 6000 employees. • Blizzard announced their revenue for the year: $1.1 billion. Reports suggest that upon the announcement, Activision quickly moved a nearby file over their crotch. Activision Blizzard Update [MTVmultiplayer] [image]

The Boo Mario Cake Symbolizes Death [Game Cake] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 12:20 PM CST Back in high school I had this one English teacher who was obsessed with death, or so it seemed. Every story we read in class, she could find something that symbolized it. A broken coffee mug, a handful of balloons, a newborn baby - all symbolized death. I'd like to say that this Boo Mario cake symbolized triumph over death, but I'm afraid she'd find me on the internet and come to my apartment to chastise me. She was scary. This cake was actually submitted to me via GameCakes.com, but I've not had too much time to work on that site lately, and it is due for a good spam-comment cleaning. Still, this cake had to be seen. Excellent job, despite a little sloppy tongue-work - but who hasn't been guilty of that?

DS Love [Pdga] Posted: 03 Dec 2007 12:00 PM CST Luke and I spent Monday hanging out in Sydney and meeting with Logan of Kotaku Australia. Luke and I ambled around town, hitting up a couple of very cool bookstores and an arcade before going our separate ways. At one point we walked into a tea shop and I spotted this couple cuddling in the corner over a matching set of DSes. I think it's the first public display of gaming affection I've ever seen. Unrelated pro tip: When a tea lady asks if you want edible "pearls" in your iced tea say no.

["game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader]

"game" via 柠檬杀手 in Google Reader

ESRB on the Defense Posted: 04 Dec 2007 03:50 PM CST The Entertainment Software Rating Board has accused the National Institute on Media and the Family for undermining the credibility of the ratings system.

ESRB Unveils New Oklahoma Senator PSA Posted: 04 Dec 2007 11:47 AM CST The ESRB, in conjunction with Oklahoma State Senator Glenn Coffee, has unveiled a new Public Service Announcement campaign to explain and encourage parents to use video game ratings, timed to coincide with the holiday shopping season. In the TV and radio ads, previewed for the news media at an Oklahoma City Blockbuster video rental store Tuesday morning, Senator Coffee encouraged parents to check game ratings when purchasing or renting them to ensure that it is ...

GlucoBoy Oh Boy! Posted: 04 Dec 2007 03:22 PM CST BLOG—GlucoBoy, a new game compatible with the Nintendo GameBoy Advance and DS Lite, helps kids develop good health habits by incorporating gaming with checking your blood glucose level.

Street Fighter IV Info Coming This Week Posted: 04 Dec 2007 03:22 PM CST BLOG - A Capcom rep has told Next-Gen that this Thursday, we just might finally find out what Street Fighter IV is going to look like...

The 2007 Nintendo Wii and DS Buyer's Guide: Part 2 Posted: 04 Dec 2007 02:00 PM CST Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition Anyone looking to play one of the finest games in the last ten years, look no further. Resident Evil 4 is a masterpiece, taking the Resident Evil formula and injecting it with much needed action. First, you'll be scared (VERY scared), but then you'll realize, even as you are shaking in your boots, that you can't stop playing! Selling Points: Furious action, which is a new feature for Resident Evil games. A real cinematic experience: others will want to watch, if they can stand the horror! The voice acting is some of the best you'll hear. All of the PS2 "bonus" stuff is included, such as the Ada Wong side quest. Wii remote provides pixel perfect shooting accuracy. Cheap, can be had for less than $30! Potential Drawbacks: You may have played this on the Gamecube or PS2. Picross DS A deceptively simple puzzle game, Picross is mind bending fun. Using the stylus, you'll remove blocks to reveal a picture. Sound simple? Yes, it is. But trust me, the rules of the game make it quite challenging! A fun multiplayer mode is included, as well as "Daily Picross," which tracks your progress and rewards you for sticking with the program. And if that isn't good enough, you can download new puzzles free from Nintendo's Wi-Fi connection service! Selling Points: Simple, addictive fun. Local multiplayer is a blast. Tons of puzzles, and you can download more. Daily Picross mode gives the game a "Brain Age" feel. Cheap: Only $20 new. Potential Drawbacks Don't buy if you don't like puzzle games. This isn't a "flashy" puzzler, like Meteos or Puzzle Quest. It's a pretty vanilla affair. See article.

THQ doesn't have Toy Story 3 rights Posted: 04 Dec 2007 02:33 PM CST THQ CEO Brian Farrell noted that his company doesn'thave the videogame rights to the Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 filmscheduled for release in 2010

What Were the Best Indie CRPGs of 2007? Posted: 04 Dec 2007 02:46 PM CST It's about that time of year again, when most of the magazines and websites begin tallying up what they think were the most-hyped best-marketed best games of the preceding twelve months. It's a little topic guaranteed to stir up about as many heated arguments as talking about politics or religion. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? I wanna play, too! Now, I'm a game developer who only tinkers with doing reviews or "First Impressions" or whatnot. This isn't a gaming review site, so I tend to avoid doing full reviews of games here. In fact, I actually haven't PLAYED all the indie games that came out this year labeled "RPGs." In fact, I'm pretty certain that I don't even know about all of them. But I'm trying, striving to keep abreast of all of them as best as I can because I do enjoy them, and I like to stay informed. And that has been quite a challenge this year. 2007 has been - in my mind, at least - a great year for indie RPGs. We had a slew of outstanding releases, as compared to previous years where we had little besides the perennial Jeff Vogel release and a couple of abandoned-half-finished RPG Maker projects to talk about. But this year, we've had a ton. To start with, we received Geneforge 4, Depths of Peril, Eschalon: Book 1, Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest, Nethergate: Resurrection, Loonyland 2: Winter Woods (was that a 2007 release?) Avernum V (only a Mac release for now, but count it - that's THREE releases from Spiderweb!), and Cute Knight Deluxe (a new and improved version of 2005's award-winner). And those are just the "bigger," more publicized indie RPG releases. We've also had some lesser-known titles arrive like The Last Scenario, Parhedros: The Tunnels of Sethir (warning: NSFW), Final Vision, Knight Man 3: The Demon Within, and probably a half-dozen others that have actual made a 1.0 release that I don't know about or can't remember. And at least one more (Birth of Shadows) that might squeak in before January. If you were counting, that was thirteen titles. Well, actually, that's in case you weren't counting, because if you were counting you already knew that. Does thirteen constitute a ton? It's more than one a month, at least. And having played several, I know that many of 'em didn't suck. In fact, some were pretty dang awesome. But which were the best? I have my own feelings on that. But I'd rather hear yours. So what is your top pick (or picks) for the indie RPG of the year? Did any of then outshine the others? WHY? What made them stand out? And what other releases have I missed? What are your thoughts on the state of indie CRPGs in 2007? Let me know in the forum thread! Or here in the comments, if you prefer to remain anonymous and unregistered while you are plugging your own game and tearing down your competitors or something... :)

Did you enjoy this article? Be sure and check out past articles and the comments HERE. Rampant Games: Games With Personality!

Our Newest Games: Depths of Peril and Eschalon: Book 1

Xbox 360 DivX/XviD Tested, Approved [Fall Update] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 01:20 PM CST Our friends over at Gizmodo got up early this morning to put the Xbox 360's new DivX and XviD support through the paces. They confirmed that, yes, burned media plays back just fine without being copied to the hard drive. And the software supported every file they threw at it with ease. The only catch is that once in a while the aspect ratios get wonky—something that you see in all types of media products but proves annoying nonetheless. Still, they put the experience at "90% of the way there." And since much of the gaming industry never gives anything 100% anyway, that's basically a 95% or better. Xbox 360 DivX/XviD Playback Tested (Verdict: It's Almost Perfect) [gizmodo]

Miyamoto Gives Increasingly Crytpic Feedback [Design] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 01:00 PM CST So what's it like to work with Nintendo's tiny titan Shigeru Miyamoto? Super Mario Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi talked about the experience at length with GameLife's Chris Kohler. You should read the entire interview, really, because Nintendoites usually keep pretty tight lipped about the design process. But here's a spot I found interesting from within the interview in which Koizumi talks about Miyamoto's feedback. Mario has a creator, Miyamoto, and you have to consider Mr. Miyamoto's thoughts when you're making a Mario game. But we share thoughts back and forth first for quite a long time. And once I start to outline some really broad strokes about where we're going with the game, then I can get a little more feedback from Miyamoto. Then, getting a version together, I have to go to Miyamoto as soon as possible as we can get more feedback. The process continues... Over time, as all of these broad ideas get a little more narrowly defined, the feedback becomes a little more subtle, until finally it gets to the point where Miyamoto will give us feedback, and the only person who has any idea what it means is me. And everyone else who is CC'ed on these emails from Miyamoto have absolutely no idea what he is talking about. So I'll translate for everyone else, "I think he's trying to say this." Having that sort of information gap is sort of like a puzzle or a riddle. It's like playing Brain Age. And we think that's a compliment. Interview: Super Mario Galaxy Director On Sneaking Stories Past Miyamoto [gamelife]

Rock Band Gets All Black Sabbathy [Rockdate] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:40 PM CST This week, Rock Band gets Black Sabbath. Or wait...maybe it just gets Black Sabbathesque, since these recordings are covers only. Content: Black Sabbath Pack 01 Price: 440 Points Availability: United States Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) MILD LYRICS,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES] Build your Rock Band library by purchasing this game song track pack, which includes: "N.I.B.," "Sweet Leaf," and "War Pigs," which are covers of songs made famous by Black Sabbath. Some of you may remember War Pigs from Guitar Hero II. I for one remember it as my trial by fire, playing a GH game for the first time at E3 06 on the Harmonix bus...on easy. That song's like 10 minutes long you know—or 3 hours in perceived torture—or a lifetime of subsequent shame. Rock Band Content (Black Sabbath) [majornelson] [image]

Culdcept Saga Demo Shuffles Onto Xbox Live [Demo] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:20 PM CST Culdcept is one of my all-time favorite PlayStation 2 titles, and next month it's getting an Xbox 360 sequel, Culdcept Saga. Quite popular in Japan, Culdcept combines the board game real-estate collection mechanics of Monopoly with Magic's monster card battles to create something I can only describe as geektastically blissful, and it will be that much more awesome when the 360 version introduces four-player online and the ability to customize your avatar with unlockable items. *squee!* It's much easier for you to try it out for yourself than for me to explain it, so clear off a good 620megs or so off of your 360's hard drive and download the demo. If you don't like it you aren't my friend anymore, and I want my lawnmower back. You've had it for months now, and you live in an apartment so it doesn't even make any sense. Freak. Demo: Culdcept SAGA [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

IGF Finalists Named [Indie] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:00 PM CST The 2008 Independent Games Festival finalists for the main competition have been named and it doesn't look like a single one of the games I helped judge in the initial round made it to round two. Fortunately, now I, along with all of the other judges, get to play the finalists, something I'm quite looking forward to. Hit the jump for the breakdown of finalists. Seumas McNally Grand Prize: * Audiosurf * Crayon Physics Deluxe * Hammerfall * Noitu Love 2: Devolution * World of Goo Best Web Browser Game: * Globulos.com * Iron Dukes * Tri-Achnid Design Innovation Award: * Battleships Forever * Fez * Fret Nice * Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island * World Of Goo Excellence in Visual Art: * Clean Asia! * Fez * Hammerfall * Synaesthete * The Path Excellence in Audio: * Cinnamon Beats * Fret Nice * Audiosurf * Clean Asia! * OokiBloks Technical Excellence: * World of Goo * Goo! * Audiosurf * Axiom: Overdrive * Gumboy Tournament Sounds like I have some fun judging in store for me over the coming weeks. IGF Finalists

The Future of the PC PlayStation Store [Downloads] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 11:40 AM CST The PC-based PlayStation Store hasn't taken the world by storm yet—a PC-based system that allows users to download content to their PSP—but the possibilities seem promising, especially if it gives us a greater chance to get rid of pesky media like UMD. MTV's Stephen Totilo sat down with Eric Lempel, PlayStation director of network operations in charge of the store and asked him if we could expect more digital delivery on the platform ala iPod. I don't think we're ready to look at that and say, "This is the way it should go right now." But we're at an interesting point in the industry where consumers know they can get things fast and they're getting used to it with other devices from other companies. So it's something we always wanted to do. So what about the future? ...we want to start opening up some of these channels and getting consumers used to that and experimenting with it...I would say it's a glimpse towards the future. Definitely just by releasing a UMD title in the store it definitely puts ideas in people's heads, but no I wouldn't categorize this as a shift in business model at this point. Why shift the business model? Why not just offer both options to consumer: hard media or digital download? And do it wirelessly on the PSP's Wi-Fi and make lots of money. The PSP Online Store - 'A Glimpse Towards The Future' [mtvmultiplayer]

BSG Advergame Channels Every Extend Extra [Hot Flashes] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 10:40 AM CST Casual game developer Blackdot has created one of the best Battlestar Galactica video games ever by taking a proven concept and slapping on Battlestar graphics. Raptor's Revenge, the free to play advergame created to coincide with the release of Battlestar Galactica: Razor on DVD, is pretty much Every Extend Extra. Your Raptor is out of guns and has switched to nukes, seemingly detonating itself amidst waves of Cylon forces, creating chain reactions that take out massive numbers of enemies at a time. It actually plays pretty well, and would be quite enjoyable if not for the long, unskippable trailer that plays out before every game. Annoying, but necessary. Them DVDs ain't gonna sell themselves now. Raptor's Revenge At Kewlbox [Kewlbox.com]

Use Hell, Win Hellgate [Contest] Posted: 04 Dec 2007 10:00 AM CST Our Show-Us-Hell-Win-Hellgate: London contest is totally heating up. Look at the fantastic entry from Kotaku Mr. Fuzzypaws. He writes: This is a scene from the end of 28 Days Later, an excellent movie and much better than the suckfest called 28 Weeks Later. The picture even gets a little gaming flavor by having Mario with his Wiimote in it and I was playing the movie on my Playstation 3. Brilliant! Here's the contest: Show us the word "Hell" on something -- anything, but just don't write it. Take a picture of it and send it to kotakucontestATkotakuDOTcom. Remember: You're not just playing for a copy of Hellgate: London but the proverbial INTERNET FAME. Good luck! Hellgate: London [Official Site]

Mystery Stalker Cake! Posted: 04 Dec 2007 01:23 PM CST Today, one of our artists got a cake from a mystery sender, which happened to contain a phone baked into it. At first we were all excited, figuring it to be our game’s first crazy stalker fan. Turns out, it was just a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, a movie which seems to be getting a ton of ARG support behind it.

GDC 2008 Confirms Jones, Koster MMO Talks Posted: 04 Dec 2007 09:51 AM CST As part of his latest Director's Cut post, GDC 2008 executive director Jamil Moledina has revealed new MMO-related talks from Real Time Worlds' Dave Jones and Areae's Raph Koster as part of the February conference's line-up. The 'Director's Cut' section of the weblog is slated to run regularly leading up to the GDC 2008 show itself (part of CMP, as is Gamasutra), and Moledina's second entry reads, in part: "Dave Jones, the creator of Lemmings, ...

Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:22 PM CST Hey ya’ll! This is David Jaffe, co-founder of Eat Sleep Play and former SCEA Santa Monica Studios Game Director/Designer. When myself, Scott Campbell (my partner in crime) and a handful of other Incognito folks left the SCEA mothership about eight months ago, we told everyone we were working on three new games for PLAYSTATION 3. And we are … work is moving along nicely on our first new PLAYSTATION Network title and we’re hoping to let you guys/gals in on it soon. But we’ve also been working on this: Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition Now when SCEA first asked us to make this game, we were a bit hesitant. It was our first game from our brand new company and we didn’t want players to think we were making “just another port.” Eat Sleep Play is a lot of things, but one thing it’s not is a “port house.” But then we started talking and thinking and wondering: what if we could make it so much more? What if we could just stuff the thing to the brim with bonus features and new levels and updated graphics and really give the Twisted Metal franchise a fantastic send-off on the PlayStation 2? And when we thought about it like that, we got really excited. And so that became our mission, our goal. And while ya’ll will - as always - be the final judge, we feel we’ve succeeded. Here are some screens of the game to give you an idea of the new levels and the updated graphics for Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition: Twisted Metal: Lost: Man, it’s been so much fun to work on a new Twisted Metal again. I thought I was burnt out on the whole franchise but the second I sat down to design, it was like coming home. It’s been so much fun! So there she is. Our first game from EAT SLEEP PLAY! Our love letter to Twisted Metal fans old and new. We hope you’ll give us a shot when we hit this Spring and we hope you’ll feel - like we do - that with all that’s been crammed onto this little PlayStation 2 disc, that this game is the Ultimate Fan Edition… This is - Twisted Metal: Head On: Extra Twisted Edition. Talk to ya’ll soon!

跨过位面，世界就不再是原来的那个世界 Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:45 PM CST 银河的列车拉响长笛，车轮轰轰的转动起来，载着怀有各种各样梦想的人，穿越虚空中的那道星门，去向了未知的空间。   对于在宇宙空间旅行的人们来说，永远都要记住，当你觉得这个星球是你旅途的终点时，它往往只会是你新的起点，银河铁道的旅行，是没有结束的航程。   所以，当垮过位面，世界就不再是原来的那个世界，纵然还有留恋的朋友在月台上泪眼婆娑，旅人也得收起自己的行李，轻轻的道一声“再见”，因为我们将要出发前往新的星球，当几百年后再回到这里，这个曾经停留的地方，只已变成一个似曾相识的旅程中点。   其实，再见的意思，往往就是再也不会相见。   小记：感悟最近的一些信息，送给曾经和我一起旅行，以及现在还在和我一起旅行的朋友们。

The History of Play and Leisure (Syllabus) Posted: 04 Dec 2007 12:49 PM CST So here's my first stab at actually teaching about games. In this case, since it's a class that needs to be in my home department and discipline, I've integrated digital games-related material into a wider history of play and leisure. I actually think that's an interesting grounding for discussion of contemporary games, both in terms of thinking about issues like time and "addiction" in virtual worlds and in terms of foregrounding some classically "ludological" questions about formalism.<p> It's also a course for first-year students, so there's a lot of emphasis on skills development that I might otherwise not feature so heavily. I'm still making a few adjustments here and there, so suggestions are welcome. (The reading loads may appear very heavy in some weeks, but in many weeks, I'll be dividing the students into groups, with each group reading something slightly different and then having to present about their assignment as a way to build confidence about discussion participation.) In this course, students will examine both the long-running global history and philosophy of play, games and leisure in human societies and the distinctive modern, post-industrial construction of leisure time and activities. Play is a serious question: there are deep questions about why humans do it and how it has changed over time, and powerful debates about the economic, cultural and social centrality of games and leisure time to modern societies. Do not take this course if you are looking for an easy or casual course: the reading load is often heavy and there are significant writing requirements. Regular attendance and active participation is also required. In some weeks, the seminar will be divided into several groups reading different assignments: in those weeks, you will be responsible for summarizing and describing your reading assignments to the other groups. History 1L is also a first-year seminar, and we will be working on skills development in writing, persuasive argument, reading and discussion throughout the semester. Deep Histories Thursday January 24th Gordon Burghart, The Genesis of Animal Play, pp.3-20, pp. 45-110 Brian Sutton-Smith, The Ambiguity of Play, pp. 1-51 Exercise: Skimming for argument, note-taking for discussion. Thursday January 31st Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens, all Roger Caillois, Man, Play and Games, pp. 37-70 Exercise: Argument formation. Thursday February 7th David Shenk, The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, selection R.C. Bell, Board and Table Games From Many Civilizations, selection Alison Futrell, A Sourcebook on the Roman Games, pp. 84-119 Maria Teresa Uriarte, “Unity in Duality: The Practice and Symbols of the Mesoamerican Ballgame”, in E. Michael Whittington, The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame Tomoko Sakomura, “Japanese Games of Memory, Matching and Identification”, in Asian Games Exercise: Themes across reading, synthesis of information. Verbal summaries of readings. Leisure, Time and the Making of the Modern World Thursday February 14th Compton Reeves, Pleasures and Pastimes in Medieval England, Chapter Four and Five Alessandro Arcangeli, Recreation in the Renaissance, selection Chris Humphrey, The Politics of Carnival: Festive Misrule in Medieval England, selection Reading TBA on contemplative practices/otium in monastic life Nancy Struna, People of Prowess: Sport, Leisure and Labor in Early Anglo-America, Chapter Three and Four Movie: “Tom Jones” Exercise: Outlining and flow in writing. Thursday February 21st John Plumb, The Commercialisation of Leisure in 18th Century Britain, selection Hugh Cunningham, Leisure in the Industrial Revolution, selection Louise McReynolds, Russia at Play: Leisure Activities at the End of the Tsarist Era, selection Brad Beaven, Leisure, Citizenship and Working-Class Men in Britain, selection Phyllis Martin, Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville, selection Catherine Yeh, Shanghai Love, selection Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class Tamara Hareven, Family Time and Industrial Time, selection 1st paper due. Childhood and Play Thursday February 28th Howard Chudacoff, Children at Play: An American History Mariam Formank-Brunell, “The Politics of Dollhood in Nineteenth-Century America”, in Henry Jenkins, ed., The Children’s Culture Reader Selections from Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden, Little House in the Big Woods Movie: “Peter Pan” Revision of 1st paper due. Sports Thursday March 6th CLR James, Beyond a Boundary, Chapter 4 David Goldblatt, The Ball Is Round, Chapter 8 Laura Fair, "Football and Leisure in Early Colonial Zanzibar", in Zeleza and Veney, eds., Leisure in Urban Africa Emmanuel Akeyampong,  "Bukom and the Social History of Boxing in Accra" Elliot J. Gorn, The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize-Fighting, selection H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights Movie: “Langaan” Exercise: Evaluating methodology. SPRING BREAK Play, Hobbies and Domestic Life Vacations and Tourism Thursday March 20th Hofer and Jackson, The Games We Played Steven Gelber, Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America, pp. 23-58 Ekegami, Bonds of Civility, selection Ruth Lampland, Hobbies For Everyone [1931] Austen Riggs, Play: Recreation in the Balanced Life [1935] Cindy Aron, Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States, selection Pieter Judson, “Every German Visitor Has a Volkisch Obligation He Must Fulfill” Exercise: Primary sources and historical evidence Source analysis paper due. Gambling, Drink and Drugs Thursday March 27th Thomas Malaby, Gambling Life: Dealing in Contingency in a Greek City, Chapters 2 and 3 Jackson Lears, Something For Nothing, Chapter 2 David Schwarz, Roll the Bones: A History of Gambling, Part 2, 5 and 6 Emmanuel Akeyampong, Drink, Power and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, selection Madelon Powers, Faces Along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman's Saloon, Part 3 Zhang Yangwen, The Social Life of Opium in China, Chapters 5-8 Movie: “Rounders” Exercise: Formulating research topics Digital Games: Applying the History of Play Thursday April 4th The debate over digital games Jesper Juul, Half-Real Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen, Rules of Play, selection Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck, Chapter 7 Nick Monfort, Twisty Little Passages, Chapter 8 Exercise: Search and other research skills. Research topics for final paper due. Thursday April 10th Experiencing and interpreting games Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games, selection McKenzie Wark, Gamer Theory, selection Mia Consalvo, Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames, selection Stephen Johnson, Everything Bad Is Good For You, selection Hands-on: Console games Exercise: Sources and historiography Source reaction paragraph due. Thursday April 17th Themes, Genres and the Development of Videogames Leonard Herman, Phoenix, selection David Kushner, Masters of Doom JC Herz, Joystick Nation, selection Hands-on: Doom, other computer games and emulations Exercise: Abstract writing Abstract for final paper due. Thursday April 24th  Gamer Culture TL Taylor, Play Between Worlds Gary Alan Fine, Shared Fantasy: Role-Played Games as Social Worlds Various machinima Hands-on: World of Warcraft, Second Life Thursday May 1st Iain Banks, The Player of Games The debate over the future of leisure Exercise: Discussion of drafts of final paper. Final 8-12 pp. paper due by 5pm May 9th.