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Archives for 2005

Nintendo is cool with the kids!

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The first time I read this, I groaned, recognizing this as instant “Nintendo is for kiddies!” Fodder. Then I thought about it for a while and realized what they’re saying is actually good news:

Asked to identify the three “coolest” brands, 42 percent of respondents 8 to 12 years old chose Nintendo, while 36 percent think Disney is among the coolest.

I thought back to my first experiences with the NES – I was about 11 years old. Nintendo was cool. I was firmly in Nintendo’s camp in the Nintendo vs. Sega battle. The fact that 42% of these kids are associating Nintendo with “cool” means they are growing up with Nintendo! They fact that they recognize Nintendo as a brand is positive. I’ve said before that Nintendo should embrace this reaction and run with it. Kids love Nintendo. Even 21% of the 13-17 year olds cite Nintendo as cool (tied with Sony, the perpetually cool company). Hopefully this will foster interest in the Revolution and a new generation of video-gamers will hold Nintendo in the same regard as those of us who grew up with it.

I noticed that Xbox was missing from these lists. They did ask the kids about “Brands” so that may explain why. Nevertheless, it doesn’t appear that Microsoft is cool with kiddies. Very interesting…

Long live the Internet!

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I have been connected to the “internet” for so long that I often forget life before Google (or HotBot or AltaVista or whatever). I feel I’ve become careless because I know that everything can be solved by Googling it. It’s a crutch, and I know it.

Well today wasn’t a case of carelessness, it was a case of an upgrade gone awry. Last week I added a stick of memory to my aging PC to give it at least another year of shelf life. I consider myself rather PC/Tech savvy — I built my current PC from scratch, so I know a little bit of how this works. I figured this was a no-brained upgrade. Sometimes, however, errors and problems crop up whose causes are unknown. By some weird cosmic combination of components and mismatched parts, Windows seems to go crazy and begins corrupting itself in some self-preserving, self-destruct mode. At first, it seems harmless. A simple BSOD pops up. Then an occasional reboot that happens out of the blue (no pun intended). Then things get wonky. This time around, I get an error message, on boot-up, along the lines of:

lsass.exe — system error indicates a revision number encountered or specified is not one known by the service. It may be a more recent revision than the service is aware of.

Huh? I swear I never touched lsass.exe! I’ve never even heard of it! Nevertheless this rendered my PC completely unbootable. After trying everything, I went to Google, looking for guidance. (Thank goodness for the laptop!) The nugget of wisdom that Google bestowed upon me came in the form of this site.

The steps were followed, windows was fixed and I was playing Guild Wars by 8:30. I could go on a rant and say how wonderful consoles are because when they crash (if they ever crash) a simple hard reboot fixes the problem 99.98% of the time. But I won’t, because my consoles don’t have 2+ years of baby pictures and movies. Or 4+ years of emails and contacts. I wasn’t so desperate that I was ready to wipe everything but I was close. Thanks to Google problems were solved and I have once again regained my throne of technical superiority in the eyes of those who care (mainly my wife).

Man it feels good to be a PC-fixing super hero. Now let’s see what happens when I put that memory stick back in…

Update: As Bobster noted in the comments, the problem was my Kensington Memory Stick being incompatible with Dual Channel Operation. Whether it some how corrupted data on my hard drive is unknown, I blame it completely for all my hassle.

So I’ve taken this as an opportunity to do a fresh XP install, clean out all the gunk and get back to a streamlined installation. Guild Wars is gonna fly now!

GamerWiki

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One of my favorite web desitinations is the Wikipedia. It is entertaining, educational, and never ceases to amaze me. I warn everyone I tell about it that it’s easy to get lost in its intricate maze of crosslinking. It’s amazing, the amount of information that is available. And everyone is always surprised to find out it’s 100% volunteer work and is freely editable by anyone. Calling it an ambitious endeavor may be the understatement of the century.

Recently I was contacted by the administrator of a similar project called the GamerWiki. In a nutshell it’s a video-game Wikipedia. I know they are lots of places to find video-game information (including Wikipedia) but having a central location seems like a pretty good idea. Take a look around and if you feel like participating I know they can use the help. I’m going to take a stab at helping out as well.

Carnival of Gamers #2

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Woohoo! This puppy would fly!Thomas has taken the Carnival of Gamers and thrown it on a 5.25 Floppy Disk and loaded on his Tandy 1000. And the results look fantastic. Go check out the 2nd Edition of the Carnival of Gamers. I haven’t had a chance to read any of the posts yet (sleepy time) but I had to make sure I posted this now so everyone checks it out.

I’ll have a chance to digest it tomorrow and I’ll check back in.

Update:: The second stop of the Carnival seems to have been a success. There were some great pieces. My vote for best quote goes to Maggie at The Game Chair:

After all, no one game appeals to all people – so why in the world would one game appeal to all women gamers? Each of us is looking for different things in a game, regardless of sex.

Excellent point. The whole thing was very well written and enjoyable to read.

I’ve read Foton’s AFKGamer for a while now but I missed this about his benevolence as a an EQ Guide. Foton granted god-like powers? Scary.

Josh hasn’t been given enough credit for the work his put into the Illinois video-game law happenings. I’ve read them all, fearing the worst. But honestly, aren’t we all helpless when someone says “Think of the children“?

Finally, I can no longer avoid it, I am giving Fate a try. I’ve been reading about it in numerous places but Bill lays out the goods.

Thanks again to Thomas for putting this together. I have a handful of new bloggers to read, which is great. My bloglines subscriptions are getting rather full. I look forward to the next Carnival stop. I’ll update the Carnival page when I return home from the in-laws this weekend.

I am a lucky man

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I mentioned early this year that I have the world’s greatest wife. Well, now she’s out-done her latest show of greatness. She’s packed up the kids and went to her parents house for the week. In the process, she’s left me a to-do list that consists of mowing the lawn and playing video games. I’ll only have to do the former once. The latter will be done over and over again. Mostly Guild Wars but I’ll sneak some other stuff in there. Man, this is beyond love. Sure I have to work everyday but she didn’t weigh me down with a to-do list of unattainable magnitudes. Just two things I can actually do

Like I said early, that’s true love defined.

The Carnival of Gamers HQ

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I thought that since I was involved in starting this whole “Carnival” thing, the least I could do was centralize it. I’ve made a “Headquarters Page” that will be a place for any information regarding the Carnival of Gamers, including contact/submission information and future hosts. Make sure to stop in any time you’re looking for information about the Carnival. After all the feedback we’ve received on the first one, I’m thinking of installing a suggestion box.

And don’t forget, the Carnival of Gamers #2 will be hosted by Thomas at Mile Zero. Head over there for all the details!

The Carnival of Gamers HQ

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Here you will find the latest information about the Carnival of Gamers, a travelling show of the best (and worst) kept secrets in the world of Video Game Blogging. We’ve had a successful, inaugural stop of the Carnival here, at buttonmashing.com and the momentum never stopped. The next stop is right here at buttonmashing.com on April 6th. You can always check back here for up-to-the minute information about the Carnival of Gamers. You can also read the Frequently Asked Questions after the Carnival Schedule

Next Carnivals: (in the waiting room: Urban Retro Lifestyle, Gamers Radio, Gaming Nexus)
#21 January 2007: Coming soon

Coming Soon:
#20 December 7th, 2006: MMOGNation

Current Carnival:
#19 November 2nd, 2006: Unfettered Blather

Previous Carnivals:
#18 October 5th, 2006: Man Bytes Blog
#17 August 17th, 2006: Dota 2 Accounts
#16 July 6th, 2006: Grumpy Gamer
#15 June 1st, 2006: �on pampers, programming & pitching manure
#14 May 4th, 2006: buttonmashing.com
#13 April 2006 6th, 2006: n3rfed
#12 March 2nd, 2006: Virgin Worlds
#11 February 2nd, 2006: Slashdot Games
#10 January 5th, 2006: Kill Ten Rats
#9 December 1st, 2005: The Game Chair
#8 November 3rd, 2005: Aeropause
#7 October 6th, 2005: Flicker Gaming
#6 September 1st, 2005: AFK Gamer
#5 August 4th, 2005: Unfettered Blather
#4 July 7th, 2005: Cathode Tan
#3 June 23rd, 2005: Man Bytes Blog
#2 June 9th, 2005: Mile Zero
#1 May 26th, 2005: buttonmashing.com

Carnival of Gamers FAQ

What is this Carnival of Gamers you speak of?
The Carnival of Gamers is a bi-weekly monthly gathering of video game bloggers at a central location. The premise behind the Carnival of Gamers is similar to those of other “Blog Carnivals” — it is a showcase of blogs that are about video games. Some of the participating blogs are almost exclusively about video games while others deal with a wide range of topics, from music and movies to politics and punditry to video game design. The Carnival of Gamers has an open format. Anyone wishing to participate in the Carnival is welcome. While the Carnival is hosted by a different blog each time, its entries are currently unedited and unfiltered. We reserve the right to filter entries in the future, but as it stands now, we accept all entries and present them as-is. This did cause a bit of a furor with the first Carnival but that seems to have settled down now.

Interested in reading more about Carnivals? Here’s a site with some great information.

Who can participate?
Anyone with a blog and an opinion about video games can participate. You can visit this page for a link to the host of the current Carnival, along with information regarding the Carnival in general.

Where do I submit my entry to the Carnival?
Josh of Cathode Tan has set up a Carnival Gmail account. You can submit your entries to carniegrue@gmail.com and the Carnival host will have access to that account. After you’ve submitted your entry, just sit back and wait for the next Carnival to be posted!

There are now TWO ways to submit your blog post to the carnival. Along with directly sending an email to the carniegrue email above, you can also submit via the Carnival Submit Form at Conservative Cat. Just select the “Carnival of Gamers” from the list of Carnivals, fill out the information and click “SUBMIT YOUR POST”. It will send a copy of your submission to the carniegrue email as well, but I set this up at the request of a commenter on the last carnival. This way more people outside of our “blogosphere” can find the Carnival and hopefully they’ll take part in the fun.

What if I want to host an edition of the Carnival?
I thought you’d never ask! We are always looking for hosts and gladly welcome anyone willing to put up with the hassle. So if you’re a brave soul wishing to host the Carnival, send an email to buttonmashing@gmail.com and you’ll be promptly added to the list!

Video Games and the Business World

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I read this article a couple weeks ago about video games and business skills. It’s not a bad article, but starting off with a quote like:

Video-game players often display exceptional business skills.

will make a rather tough sell. Overall the article points to some “proof” of this but I have a couple issues with the conclusions they make. The skill of multi-tasking has often been attributed to video game players:

“The people who play games are into technology, can handle more information, can synthesize more complex data, solve operational design problems, lead change and bring organizations through change,” said Luman, 38.

I agree with this, video gamers can synthesize data pretty efficiently. I’d also say younger kids (teens) are extremely adept at this. The article does a great job of trumpeting cases where video games are being used a useful, positive manner (i.e. kids playing Game Boys before surgery to calm them) and it side-steps the knee-jerk reaction of accusing video games of being guns and violence. But there is one conlcusion I have to disagree with. The article says:

Among the findings: Gamers are better risk-takers, show particular confidence in their abilities, place a high value on relationships and employee input and think in terms of “winning” when pursuing objectives.

That doesn’t really describe only gamers. That describes the male psyche. While males may not “place a high value on relationships” (some of us do) I would say men are risk-takers and almost all men I know think in terms of “winning”. I’m not saying gamers don’t exhibit those characteristics, I’m just saying that males in general exhibit competitiveness and self-assurance.

Other than that beef, it was a great article. What really caught my eye, though, was:

Beck said the findings are proving helpful to baby boomer-generation managers who lead teams of younger, gamer employees.

“They learn that they have to develop the teams, structure the tasks and build rewards in very different ways than they might have naturally,” Beck said.

This one has some serious implications. What if a manager knew he was over a handful of gamers and started tailoring his reward system like those of video games? I’m a sucker for unlockables. What if my boss started peppering my assignments with “unlockables”?

“You finished this report in two days! You’ve unlocked three hours of vacation!”

“Your time to completion on this project was less than your previous attempt! You’ve unlocked ‘Position: Senior Analyst’, you can now work your way to the next rung on the corporate ladder!”

They could go the way of EA, with the EA Sports Gamer: “You’ve been employed for 14,398 hours, you’re now a level 12 employee!”

Or what if they took a nod from RPGs and used Experience Points and other accompanying rewards?

“Document control has received your manuscript. You earned 2,000 XP and your standing with the Document faction has increased by 10.”

“Presentation was well-received by Management and you won the contract! You have earned 36,000 XP. Ding! You’ve gained a level. You are now Engineer III. You have also earned two skill points.”

I could go on, the mind boggles at the possibilities. What I’m really saying is that one thing video games have done is found a way to not only reward gamers but also “hook” them into playing more. Obviously, a game that didn’t hook you at all wouldn’t really do well, sales-wise. They need a hook (unlockables, experience levels, promise of future enhancements) to keep you playing. And that is so very suited to the business world.

Profit sharing, performance bonuses, and the like have their place, but those are big, one-time “power ups”. Managers that are able to reward employers (and it doesn’t have to always be monetary rewards) like a video game are bound to find success in motivating people in day-to-day operations. Maybe I’m just a statistics junky, but I’d like to know how many data points I’ve entered into the database for a given day, how that stacks up to the competition (or fellow workers, however you want to say it), and be rewarded for doing an exceptional job.

I may be way off-base here. This may not appeal to everyone, but I know this sort of thing would float my boat. And when I unlocked “Senior Management Position” and I earned the requisite 10M XP I would be one kick-butt manager!

It gets better …

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We’ve talked about the coming Nintendo Revolution and the possibility of downloading the enormous library of NES, SNES, and N64 games that will be downloadable (I wonder if they’ll make Game Boy games available, too. That would make my head asplode). Anyway, this morning I saw this over at Evil Avatar. Like the title says, this stuff keeps getting better.

“People sort of picked on us for not prematurely jumping into online or internet gaming,” he mused, going on to point out that now the company has more to offer besides online gaming. Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.

This is fantastic news. I would imagine 75-80% of the games that will be downloaded will come from the Nintendo library. To think that by simply purchasing the Revolution that you’ll immediately have hundreds of games to choose from is amazing. Who needs solid launch titles when your console launches with Mario 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time, Super Metroid, and hundreds more. Wow.

Another side effect this wil have is this — it will free up more money for downloading 3rd party games. Not having to pay for the Nintendo titles makes the price tag of Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger that much cheaper (overall).

Well played, indeed.

(See Also: Nintendo and the Long Tail)

Update: Of course some we do need perspective (and context) on this story, which can be found here.

Another Update:Unfortunately, it looks lke this was all speculation and wishful thinking. Joystiq is reporting that all Nintendo’s library will not be offered for free. It looks like some will still be downloaded for free but not all of them. That’s too bad. But so often is the case, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

The tent stakes are coming up

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Well it’s been an exciting and exhausting time, but I declare the Carnival of Gamers a success! A few stats for your digestion:

Total Carnival Entries: 20
Total unique visitors during first 48 hours: 3,279
Total number of pageviews first 48 hours: 5,621
Total number of unique visitors over Memorial Day Weekend: 4,477
Number of links to Carnival: 22 and counting

Links of Note:
InstaPundit (again, a great honor to be linked by the BlogFather)
Slashdot (albeit games.slashdot, but it counts)
Kotaku (I’m a Kotaku fan, thanks for the hat tip, Brian)
Craigslist (this was a weird one, never thought we’d show up here)
digg (thanks to Mike for this one)

There were some cheap shots taken at us in the slashdot comments, I tried to defend them however I could but it’s slashdot, so what can we expect. I did find this gem, though:

“Here you will find the best and brightest video game bloggers from around the world! Never before has such a group been assembled to bring to you the latest insights and observations from the gaming blogosphere. We’re a diverse group here, as you’ll see from the posts but we all have one thing in common — we are passionate about video games.”

Niether of them have a girlfriend either.

And someone who obviously participated but wished to remain anonymous replied:

“Niether of them have a girlfriend either.”

heh. Good thing too, or my wife would kill me.

Classic.

There was also this posted on Computer Games Online. (Deliciously titled “New Superblog Launches, Sticks Foot In Mouth Immediately”) It’s unfortunate, because Mr. Gallant sums up the Carnival by saying

If that’s what “Carnival of Gamers” is going to be about, they may as well not bother.

That’s a shame. If you’ve come here from Computer Games Online, please look around. While Mr. Gallant may not agree with one of the bloggers, don’t assume the rest are more of the same. I’ll be dropping Mr. Gallant a note when I get a chance to let him know he’s missed out on some good blogs. Funny thing is, The Big Corporate Website cgonline.com has only sent us a handful of referrals from his article. That’s not a very big audience they’re reaching. I’ve had more hits from some of the small-fry bloggers than him. Funny, but this is just another MSM vs. Blogger debate, something I didn’t think would happen with the Carnival. But that’s what blogging is all about.

So in conclusion, the feedback I’ve received has been positive, people have emailed me wishing they had known about the Carnival before the submission deadline, others wanting to get in on the next Carnival, and a lot of people thanking us for introducing them to new bloggers (the original purpose). So let’s keep this going! Thomas will be hosting the next one, so get on over there and email him your submissions. I’ve had a few people volunteer to host the next one, I’ll be in touch with you soon. This has been great! Thanks to everyone involved.

Game on!