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More Blur Goodness

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Earlier today, I mentioned that Bizarre Creations is going crazy giving away beta keys to many websites for their new game, Blur. Let me be a little more descriptive about the game. Think Call of Duty 4 meets Project Gotham Racing meets Burnout Paradise.

Yes, you race for experience and go up in rank. As you get higher, you can unlock powerups and mods for your cars. Giantbomb has got a great video up with one of the games designers. I really love the look of this game. There is so much more mentioned in the video.

The beta opens March 8. It’s for the 360, but I think I’ll pick up the PS3 version.

Note: The Giant Bomb video doesn’t embed into our RSS. (Geesh). Those of you RSS readers need to head on over to the site for a look. Come on in to our house and stop looking through the windows. It’s creepy.

PS3/PSN Problems Make People Cry

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Bumbling irresponsibility, horrible math, and overall stupidity come to mind

Unless you’ve been living under a video-game rock, original PS3 owners (think “fat”) are experiencing all sorts of problems with their console in what appears to be due to an internal clock bug. My guess is that the system goes all bung-holio because the people at Sony don’t know how to do calendar math. Oh wait, they knew how to do it on the newer systems but didn’t really stop to bother with the older ones. My guess is a firmware fix would work. Problem: the PS3 fats cannot connect to the PSN to get it. What’s Sony’s solution?

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

I see what you did there.

Wait 24 hours for the day to go through the cycle and it works. Brilliant. Reminds me of the Zune fiasco.  In the meantime, no games, no Netflix, no media center, no nothing.

This, of course, affects our system at home. Ironically, since getting rid of our satellite, the PS3 has been our go-to media device. We don’t use it everyday, but Mondays are the days we use it the most. I guess not today. A couple of things:

  • I’m amazed that in 2010, a rather large company that has a computer division cannot due simple calendar math.
  • I’m amazed that many PS3 games will not work because they cannot check in to the PSN for various reasons. Want to play some Heavy Rain? Forget it.  (What do offline people do? )
  • We’ll see how Sony responds to this “outage.”
  • At least PS3 users don’t have to pay for their downtime. (Zing?)

It’s for the last reason alone that I’m not royally ticked, just mildly annoyed. Shame on them for allowing something so simple to happen, and shame on them for having so many handshakes for games and movies with their service.

Epic.

This Game You Should Play: Spelunky

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I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

Spelunky is spunky. Get ready for some rambling…Collect gold. Throw objects. Rescue women. Steal idols. Jump. Run. Fall. Throw women. Blow up caves. Buy items. Sacrifice women. Steal items. Die. Die. Die…and die again.

This is only the tip of what can be done with Derek Yu’s wonderful Windows masterpiece. If you think it, you can probably do it. Of course all of this is wrapped up in 8-bit graphics, sound, and music. Nostalgia wins big time here.

Death is something that happens frequently in this game. In many cases, it’s one hit one kill. Taking its cue form rogue-like games every gameplay session is random–and difficult. The fact that it’s different every time possibly is what makes this game so much fun. Frustrating at times, but fun.

The catch? Letting yourself go. Enjoy the experience. This is not a game you play to beat. It’s a game you play to play. Although it doesn’t have much of a narrative, there are little bits of humor in the various enemies, worlds, weapons, and items our hero can carry. Need some awesome swag and the store owner is selling to high. Kill him and take it all. Good luck though. It’s one of the more difficult things to do in the game.

Rescuing damsels in distress can net you one coveted health point via a simple kiss. However, sacrificing her to a god can get you a valuable item that makes gameplay easier. Of course, you can use her to spring traps as well. Let her absorb the arrow.

The point of the game is to descend deeper and deeper into a cave netting gold, gems, and idols along the way. Stealing an idol sets off an Indiana Jones boulder run. Getting to the next level with it nets major money.

There’s gold in them thar hills!

This game is difficult and brutal but it can be beaten. There are even a few challenges and secrets along the way. Just keep playing. The desire to won’t be hard after you’ve given it a spin.

It’s available right now on Windows for FREE and has become somewhat of an internet sensation. Derek is hoping to ride that success over to the consoles as he plans to release an XBLA version sometime this year.

He already has my gold.

One to Watch: Red Dead Redemption

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While everyone is out and about playing with their Commander Sheep, I’ve been scouring the internet looking into the future. One of my favorite games of all time is Outlaws (why is this not on Steam?), a spaghetti-western created by LucasArts. Although there have been a few western-themed games released since then, none of them have been able to capture for me the gritty wild west.. Maybe Rockstar’s sequel to Red Dead Revolver (which I just played this year—meh, too restrictive), Red Dead Redemption will change all that. Here is one of the few titles I look forward to this year.

Source: Giantbomb.

This Game You Should Play: Canabalt

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You ran 8953m before hitting a wall and tumbling to your death.

Canabalt is what Mirror’s Edge should have been–freestyle running that’s fun. It’s comparing apples and oranges, but there’s one other thing about the two games that must be mentioned. Mirror’s Edge uses a myriad of control schemes utilizing bumpers, triggers, and even a little bit of motion control. Finger-fu that leads to finger-flu. Canabalt uses one key.

Yes, it’s that simple. In the game you control a runner who is escaping from…well, something. Judging by the backgrounds it’s an alien invasion. However, the word control doesn’t describe it properly. Basically you tell him when to jump. The main character automatically runs the map, and his jumps are a few careful button presses that propel him from building to building, through glass windows, and over other obstacles.

Jump to retry your daring escape.

Not all obstacles are bad. Hitting some of them will slow the runner down. This can be a good thing because he progressively runs faster. (His stamina is amazing!). Play the game at a frantic pace or time the jumps by using the environment to control his actions. It’s a brilliant play scheme–one that involves only thought.

However, the difficulty is ramped up because the play area is randomly generated. It’s a new experience every time. Easy to learn, but a lifetime to master.

Surprisingly, the simplistic graphics make the experience enjoyable. It’s gray, white, and shades of gray. The smooth animations of the runner and the birds make it a pleasure to watch. Seeing the runner’s arms flail in the air never gets old. There’s also some nice narrative touches going on in the background.

For maximum awesome, headphones recommended.

The sound may be the best thing the game has to offer. From a great soundtrack to the beats of the runner’s footsteps on different material, it offers an immersion that one might overlook. Even the flapping of the bird wings is detailed.

Canabalt is available for FREE online as a flash game and in the App Store for $3. The iPod Touch version doesn’t have any buttons. Just tap.

Developer Semi Secret Software created this gem in five days for the Experimental Gameplay Project. This is an experiment that succeeded.

The game measures your progress by the distance ran. Give us your free-running record in the comments and become a legend.

This Game You Should Play: Star Guard

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Star Guard is one of those rare games that come along and wow you on simplicity alone.  The premise: guide the spaceman through the castle and defeat the wizard. You are green. The bad guys are red.  Along the way, you get little bits (ha!) of narrative in the form of text overlays.

The controls are simple: shoot with X and jump with Z. The left and right arrows are for movement. The author of the game suggests using a gamepad, and I would concur with the later stages of the game. There will be the need for some fast shootin’!

The game’s charm comes in its accessible gameplay and little nods to humor via the enemies and their placement in the levels. However, this platformer probably has the simplest aesthetic I’ve ever played in a game since Combat on the 2600. At most, six colors are used.

There are a few perks for the diehards such as a hard mode and a trial mode (the levels are timed) that can be played on the game’s nine levels. In hard mode you get one life whereas in normal they are infinite. There are checkpoints in the levels, and when you die you continue from them. There’s an interesting twist that the enemies and traps you’ve set are still gone from your first failed run through a level (if you got, say, half-way). In essence, you could go through a section and not have to do anything but reach the exit if you had earlier died at the end.

It’s available for Windows and Mac as a FREE download from developer Vacuum Flower’s website. See the key word? FREE. It was made in Flash but has it’s own executable. Perfect for a USB stick game on the go.

Lastly, it’s a 2010 Independent Games Festival Finalist in the Excellence in Design category. Based on the fun I’ve had with this title the last three days, it should be a contender.