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Gaming

Eidos: There’s A Pirate In My Belfry

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Batman: Arkham Asylum is a great game. It’s an excellent game. You should be playing it. It’s good enough to pay for. Apparently that wasn’t the case for one gamer who made the following post on an Eidos forum:

"Hi!
I’ve got a problem when it’s time to use Batman’s glide in the game. When I hold , like it’s said to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding. So he fels down in a poisoning gas. If somebody could tel me, what should I do there."

There were two initial problems with this. One, it was for help on the PC version of the game. It had not been released yet. Two, it’s not a glitch. From an admin on the forum who replied to the original poster:

"The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.

It’s not a bug in the game’s code, it’s a bug in your moral code."

Uh, snap?

Look forward to seeing a lot more of these wonderful conversations as more publishers adopt this style of copy protection.

Source: Afterdawn.

Cast Off Your Dream

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On September 9, 1999 I was was sitting at my workstation waiting for the sky to fall. Alarmists were predicting the pre-curser to the Y2K fiasco. It was my task to make sure all the clocks in the office computers would function properly. Planes were supposed to fall out of the sky. Nothing happened.

I had spent most of my high school and college working in the electronics department at the local Wal-Mart, and I was there for quite a few console releases. The Nintendo 64 was the last. I was a huge PC gamer at the time (a game a paycheck) and I couldn’t understand all the fuss over the last console—the Nintnedo 64. People came in at midnight to get it.

On 9/9/99 I had been married a month and was a year and a half removed from Wal-Mart. One of my old wedding buddies was still employed there. We (I still feel a part of the “family”—they were that good with loyalty) were the best store in the district. Sold the most goods. Made the most profit.

I remember my friend telling me that they sold one Dreamcast. One.

So began the rise and fall of the critically acclaimed Sega Dreamcast, a system that almost killed a company and eventually became a cult console.

I didn’t own one until I saw a used system on eBay used in 2004. By then the console had already been proclaimed a failure and I was buying it just to experiment, but more importantly to play a rare imported game that I came across that had become sort of a cult classic itself. I was a closet shmup fan, and I had spent more on the game than the system itself. Ikaruga was and is one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Over the course of the next year I came across Crazy Taxi, a Sonic game here or there, Soul Calibur (I still burn to play that one—not the sequels), and Ready 2 Rumble. After a year of play, in a state of confusion I sold the system and the games on eBay for a profit. I kept Ikaruga.

In April of this year the website Thinkgeek came across of a supply of new, unopened systems, and they were selling them for $100. I didn’t wait. Since then I’ve toyed with the idea of making a MAME cabinet using the console or at least an Ikaruga arcade cabinet.

The Dreamcast is now officially ten years old and it still has a little bit of life in it. With over 660 games it does see a few new releases a year although most of them are homebrew or done by an independent developer. Systems can still be had for a price and there is a relatively large underground market for games.

I have in my possession what I to believe to be seven of the most influential games on the system, and starting tomorrow and over the course of the next seven days I’ll be giving a little review of each one.

Do you have any favorite games on the system that you miss? My life with the console is short-lived and maybe some of you have married the system. What’s your Dreamcast story?

Update:

Cheap Game of the Week – The Orange Box

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I’m going to eschew my normal format this week because this is not about a game. No, in case you weren’t aware or are one of those rare individuals who do not own the Orange Box yet I am here to tell you that you’re missing something special.

For $20 you can get an excellent collection of games, one of which is perhaps the greatest puzzle game ever made. Even if you don’t like the puzzle genre you will appreciate this game because it transcends its genre. Not many games can do that. I can count on one hand how many games have appealed to me that have been in genres that I generally don’t touch. I would have fingers left over.

The Orange Box comes with Half-Life 2 as well as Episodes 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. All of these games can be purchases individually on the PC, but for X-Box 360 and PS3 owners this is the only way to get all of these games. Team Fortress 2 is an excellent multi-player only game with a great style and excellent balance, crippled by the fact that roughly 99.3% of the TF2 population is on the PC. Aside from that, the Half-Life games have always been quality productions, even the somewhat short side stories from the original game. By the time you get to Episode 2 it is somewhat repetitive, but even when Valve is bad they’re still better than most other developers out there. Half-Life 2 is not a great shooter, but it is an excellent interactive story.

Portal is the standout here. While all of the games are good, Portal is nothing short of excellent. Pitch black humor and incredibly well done puzzle solving all done from the same dogged first-person perspective of the Half-Life series.

I would hope that at this point anyone reading has already purchased the Orange Box. It was a bargain at $60, but at it’s current $20 it is an absolute steal. If you don’t own it, go get it. Half-Life 2 and Portal are two titles by themselves that should be part of any gamer’s experience.

Team Fortress 2: Good Behavior

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From the Team Fortress 2 blog, “Over the next few days we’ll be removing all TF2 items that were earned using external idling applications. We’re going to adopt a zero tolerance policy for external applications used to manipulate the persistent item system… If you’re interested, only about 4.5% of the players in TF2’s community will be affected by this cleansing process.”

The issue players had with the game was the random item/hat drop rates for the game were so low that a hat is a really rare thing to get. Whenever someone received a hat on a server it was broadcast server-wide and there were congratulations aplenty given and venom-filled spitefully jealous remarks thrown about.

“Meanwhile, everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory. ”

That new hat is a Halo with a level 1 Aura of Incorruptibility. I think that this was a smart way to punish those who chose to exploit the game and reward those who played the game as it was supposed to be played. Considering all of the harsh criticism that valve gets, with this move it seems to be pretty fair in my opinion. But I wonder what everyone else thinks. I know there are a ton of people who complain that they paid for the game and should be able to play it however they want to. While others say using third party programs to exploit the game is wrong and whoever did so is just paying the consequences now.

I for one will be thoroughly enjoying my halo while laying the smack down on the corrupt. 😉

P.S. BONK!!!

In the mail

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The folks at Pandemic Studios were nice enough to send me this sharp looking 1941 Replica Zippo lighter in the mail yesterday. Why would would they be sending me this? To invite me to be a member of the Resistance, of course. With the special Zippo, I can prove I’ve been contacted. I can also get a little preview of their game, The Saboteur at PAX. Since I won’t be a PAX, I’ll take solace in my secret membership in the Resistance.

Will you be joining the Resistance as well?

Saboteur Zippo

Fall Feelings

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As a family man, summers are awesome. The kids are out of school and get to stay up later, we go to all kinds of horrible movies that are tons of fun (G.I. Joe may replace Starship Troopers as my favorite bad movie), and there is the usual family vacation.

As a gamer, summer is a wasteland. Typically what happens is that I manage to purchase all the games I have been waiting to hit the price I am willing to pay for them. Once those are caught up I hit the usual ennui as I find myself stuck with the same titles. Honestly, without Shadow Complex and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 I may have gone insane.

Now that the fall deluge is upon us, there are more games than what would be financially responsible to purchase. On my radar this season are a plethora of games (“Would you say I have a plethora?”).

September 1st
Guitar Hero 5 –
85 songs, the ability to play any instrument you want at any time, avatar support, and Johnny Freakin’ Cash. Geez, the only way they could make this game sweeter is if they offered a free game with it. Oh wait! Order Guitar Hero 5 before October 1st and get Guitar Hero: Van Halen free! I love Van Halen! Sadly, even though I think Activision is flooding the market with these games and is going to single-handedly destroy the music rhythm genre, my pre-order is in. Also, the play any instrument any time feature is going to finally resolve the usual “Do you want to play Guitar or Bass” that precedes every song.

Section 8 –
The demo was awesome and everything about this game looks top notch. Here is the problem, it’s a shooter. A genre I already have a ton of quality games to play. If I had to pick, I am more excited about Section 8 than Halo 3: ODST to be honest. However, this game will have to drop to $50 before I buy it. Not a Day One purchase.

September 9th
The Beatles: Rock Band –
While I enjoy the Beatles, I’m not a fan. Harmonix always does a great job with these games and I have no doubt that this will be an awesome game and well worth the money. However, with Guitar Hero 5 already pre-ordered, this will have to wait until early next year. Why next year? Wait till November 3rd and I’ll tell you. A game I’m willing to pay full price for, but the timing of its release is terrible for me.

September 15th
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
A criticism I’ve always agreed with is that to enjoy these games you have to accept that Spider-man hits as hard as the Hulk as far as the game is concerned. If they can go more into making the heroes feel unique rather than variations on the same template I may become very interested. Otherwise it looks like a fancier Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Although it might take awhile, I may be willing to pay upwards of $40, but it’s solidly on my radar.

September 22nd
Halo 3: ODST
It’s Halo and thus it has to be on my radar by law. Halo Wars received an exemption because it was not a shooter. Bungie makes solid games, though the series was starting to feel derivative of itself with the last installment. Not a day one purchase, but like Section 8 I’d be willing to pay $50 for it. Unlike Section 8 and Halo 3, I see myself soldily avoiding multi-player. Despite Bungie’s best efforts they’ve made the multi-player experience too painful while the Call of Duty series has done well to reward people just for participating.

October 6th
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
I have to have one dark horse on my radar, a game that just looks too unlikely to be a win. I played the original Operation Flashpoint on the PC years ago and enjoyed the battles that were more open and allowed me to experience emergent gameplay before anyone knew what that meant. Unfortunately, the game was riddled with poor balance, a difficulty curve that resembled a brick wall, and terrible vehicle controls. I suspect this game will find itself adrift amongst all the other games being released, many of which aren’t even on this list since these are only games on my personal radar. This is a title that will likely drop in price rapidly, and my cheapness frugal spending will allow me to pick it up at a bargain.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
I have to get this, the kids demand it. They’re more excited about this than Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Republic Heroes does look like it might be fun in an arcade-like way. Will likely wait until November when we hit “Birthday Season”.

October 20th
Borderlands –
I have very mixed feelings about this game. The art and concept seem great, but the idea of combining RPG elements with a shooter is not exactly as new and fresh as they try to sell it. Actually, it seems less “role-play” and more “Diablo” but with an apocalyptic background and first-person perspective. Might be great or it might tank horribly. I’m interested but this is a game that I’ll wait until the post release buzz hits.

October 27th
Alpha Protocol –
A definite day one purchase, but more for the setting than anything else. Sadly, there are just no contemporary role-playing games out there. While I love the concept of a role-playing game with a superspy setting, what really sells Alpha Protocol is that it doesn’t tread the familiar ground of fantasy, sci-fi, or apocalypse. I’m hoping the game is a huge success just so it might inspire other games to explore a more modern setting.

November 3rd
Lego Rock Band –
I’m afraid this one is going to be overshadowed by Beatles: Rock Band. On one hand, I’m seriously wondering if the music rhythm genre is not already at critical mass. On the other hand, it desperately needs something more kid friendly. There are just too many songs on any of these games that make me wince. Not only that, but I see a real gap forming in the demographics these games cater to. There is a definite need to cater to a somewhat younger audience. Since my primary group for Rock Band is my kids anyway, this might be a natural for our house.

November 10th
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 –
I have mixed feelings about this. Infinity Ward makes some of the best games in the business and their multiplayer implementation for Call of Duty 4 actually made it fun to show up and play. However, I’m still not keen on spending $60 for a shooter. At some point it will go on sale or just drop in price and I’ll get it for $50. I’m sure it will still have plenty of players.