gaming

personal “best of the rest” list

Posted on Jan 4, 2010 in gaming, media, technology | 0 comments

This weekend I read through Joystiq’s Best of the Rest series of posts. In these posts, each author goes through and lists their favorite video games of the year as well as a few games which they found disappointing. Here’s my personal list.

Uncharted 2 – Definitely the top of my list for 2009. First, you couldn’t get closer to playing through a movie if you tried. Uncharted 2 had an excellent use of sound and graphics, as well as excellent interaction with the environment. My favorite part of any media is when it makes me go, “This is amazing, I can’t even begin to think how much work went into this.” Uncharted 2′s visuals were unbelievable. The level in the mountains of Nepal was breathtaking. I loved that there was almost no load time and I often was confused whether I was watching a cutscene, or expected to control Drake. I especially appreciated how much of a step up the game was from it’s predecessor, only because I thought the original Uncharted was an amazing game to begin with. Uncharted 2 added vehicles to interact with, more puzzles, another excellent story. It also continued to utilize sound not only as background noise, but as a main component. As soon as I started hearing drums and an increase in volume, my heart would start pumping with the expectation of a new battle with the enemy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Yeah, so it made many of Joystiq’s “disappointment” lists. Personally, I think these games are amazing. Yes, they stretch pretty far into the “this probably would never happen” side of things, but again, like Uncharted 2, the graphics, sound, and varied interaction was just awesome. This game was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played. It also made me reflect and pay close attention to how anyone else played through it. I played through the game and there were certain points, other than just the airport scene that made me go, “What the f***?! I can’t believe they actually did that.” It toyed with my emotions, and made me think. On the other hand, I also watched a close friend play the game with almost no regard whatsoever to what his character was being made to do. As soon as the airport scene came up he just started firing. Two other players, a bit younger, I let play the game. The older one, admittedly, was not within the “Mature” rating age, I sat with him while he played “the scene.” Although he didn’t fire at first, I could see he didn’t really think about what was going on. I explained thoroughly what was going on in the game, and what they were actually playing out. We had a quick discussion and both boys were surprised where the game was taking things… especially when the game makes you feel like you are a modern soldier with “realistic” missions. He stopped shooting. His younger brother played through the game and when he got to that part, he asked me to skip over it as soon as he was dropped into the airport. He was appalled at the task before him.

inFamous – So, at first, I have to admit that I had no idea what people were thinking when I saw this on so many Game of the Year nomination lists. The graphics are good, but not as good as the two previous titles I’ve mentioned. The story is good, but you don’t really understand what is going on throughout most of the game. The sound is alright, but not a major component. But the interaction and the sandbox environment… once you start to build up your powers, you can’t stop. I mean come on… you’re electric! Once I realized that I could toy with the game AI a little, I started to have some fun, now I can’t stop. You can climb literally everything, glide/fly through the air, drain anything electric of it’s power. You also start to acquire new powers which enable you to vary your attacks quite a bit. I still don’t think it’s GOTY material, but it’s definitely a blast.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time – I can’t help it, I love Ratchet & Clank. It’s probably one of my favorite series on the Playstation, and one of the main reasons I won’t switch to another console. Graphics, sound, script, interaction, weapon modifications… the fun never ends.

Other – Plants vs. Zombies and Machinarium.

2009 Titles That Look Awesome, But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Waiting To Be Played – (Too Many) Red Faction: Guerilla, Assassin’s Creed 2, Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3: DLC, SKATE 2.

Disappointments – Borderlands. It’s good. It’s creative. It’s attractive. It totally feels like a rip off of Fallout 3. And it takes sooo long to build up your character.

video game timeline

Posted on Dec 17, 2009 in gadgets, gaming, technology | 0 comments

Presented by Online Education

Personally, I think it’s missing quite a few important systems/games, but it’s still an interesting timeline.

gaming industry enables social networking

Posted on Nov 18, 2009 in applications, gaming, online, social media | 0 comments

This morning, I read a great post at the UW MCDM blog, Flip the Media. The post was titled, Social Networks and Video Games by Brian Johnson. The post went on to tell how game companies are just starting to work social networking into their systems and how useful social media integration could be.

When I read the post, it got me to thinking, why has it taken consoles this long to integrate social networking into the systems? Why didn’t PC games jump on the bandwagon a long time ago…and why haven’t they yet? Is they Wii going to jump on at all?

Yesterday, came the release of an Xbox update that added Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, and Zune support. Here’s a few of the features (accessible with an Xbox LIVE Gold Membership), as listed on Xbox.com:

• Facebook: The usual, plus invite friends to play over Xbox LIVE and see your friends up close with full screen photos
• Twitter: Read, reply, and post updates to your Twitter feed and keep up to date in real time
• Last.fm: Explore radio stations, skip, ban and love tracks as you listen
• Zune: Instant-on 1080p HD streaming video, share experiences through Video Party

Today, comes the PlayStation 3 Firmware update which will enable people to:

• Update your Facebook News Feed with Trophy and PlayStation store activity. It also enables developers to set specific criteria to publish additional game information to your feed.

No Twitter, or Last.fm support just yet. I seriously hope that they continue to add social networking features to all of the systems. It is a great way for people to share a common interest. You should be able to link to friends and share what’s going on as you play. As Johnson said, it would be great if players could connect and share tips and strategies for certain games as they came across certain areas in games. The Xbox update gives the ability to see which of your Facebook friends use Xbox LIVE and add them to your Xbox friends list. I really hope this is a feature that also gets added to PlayStation eventually.

The gaming consoles are just starting to dip their toes in the water on this one. I hope they decide to jump right in because it it would be great to see everyone connect while doing something that they enjoy.

my take on video games

Posted on May 11, 2009 in applications, design, gadgets, gaming, mobile, online, tech | 0 comments

I’m in a habit of sharing articles on Delicious, Twitter, and every now and then, on Facebook. The design specific ones I always share with the design group at LSC. From time to time I come across articles that I think friends would like, so I post them on their walls. Sometimes I come across something that I just think anyone who’s interested would love to see, but I don’t necessarily have anyone specific in mind.

The other day, I watched the trailer for the new game, Red Dead Redemption. It’s a Rockstar game that is set to be released some time this fall. From what I’ve read, it is basically Grand Theft Auto, but set in the West during the late 1800s. Usually I’m not into stuff set in the “old West,” but the graphics caught my eye right away. If the graphics are already that good in the trailer and it’s supposedly a huge, open world game from Rockstar, I couldn’t help but be excited. I posted it on Facebook and hours later I get the comment, “You spend so much time in worlds that don’t exist.” Of course it was a joke, not a jab or anything, but I started thinking about why I instantly felt like I had to defend myself.

I’m surprised that given what a digital world we live in, video games still receive such harsh stigma. I’ve loved video games since the first time I played the text game, Zork on our first computer, a tiny Apple II when I was 5. From there I went through several gaming systems including the Turbo Grafx 16, several Game Boy models, several Nintendo models, a Sega Genesis and every one of the Playstation models (PSX, PSOne, PS2, PSP, PS3).

I think the reason that I love video games so much is the challenge. I think another big part of the appeal is that it is the perfect blend of art and technology. Two things I’m very interested in. As time goes on, the challenges get harder and the graphics only get better. The art is no good if the programming isn’t smooth, but even that is making huge leaps. Last year produced some of the best video games I’ve ever seen (Little Big Planet, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, Fallout 3, SKATE, Burnout Paradise, Uncharted, etc.). This year is supposed to be even better. When you think about how much time and work goes into creating a game, I don’t see how anyone couldn’t appreciate it.

ah, how I adore my PS3- streams, video, PSN…

Posted on Aug 26, 2008 in applications, gadgets, gaming, online | 0 comments

So, yet again, I must express my love for everything Playstation. Several options for streaming video and televisions shows have started to emerge. Sony’s integration with third party, VidZone [N4G Trailer, Gizmodo article] is on its way as well with music video streaming. Then there’s the Playstation Store and any number of applications and hardware on the way. What’s not to love?