The Sandbox

Are you an action-rpg fan? Do you like smearing? Do you gab with your play-buddies about how awesome it would be if someone would just take Diablo 2 and make it fully 3D? Are you a connoisseur of the gib? Are you a loot-whore? Does money and other goodies fountaining from pulverized demon bodies split you a grin wider than the San Andreas? Do you like Pina Coladas?

Well, then....

Flagship Studios, composed of quite a few of the visionaries who created Diablo 2 (as they are fond of touting), just released (yesterday), its first major product: Hellgate: London. And, yes, it is fully 3D, and yes, it has smearability galore, and yes, the shear quantity of loot and what you can do with it dwarfs the complexity of the Mars landing. Is it worth your while, though? Read on....

What's in the Kool-Aid over at EA?

First the vidgame industry's largest publisher suggested that it's time to forsake the console wars for a singular supermachine. Now the CEO John Riccitiello tells Fortune that $60 games are too pricey for consumers. “In the next five years, we’re all going to have to deal with this. In China, they’re giving games away for free,” he says. “People who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt.”

The giving away games for free part is worth noting. In Asia, innovative games like Kart Rider have been extraordinarily successful by relying on microtransactions instead of retail game sales.

The idea is this: give away a game for free or next nothing, then charge gamers small increments to accessorize their avatars with, say, clothing or weapons. Games like World of Warcraft and Everquest have proven the potential of the virtual economy, but still ascribe to the old $60 purchase price model. Game designer David Jaffe has been outspoken on the need for more Kart Rider style game models. It'd be nice to see a company as big as EA get on board.

Here we go again. Word is out that Manhunt 2, the latest blood-soaked title from Rockstar Games, has been hacked to reveal some extra-gory details. As you probably recall, Rockstar got into hot water (dubbed "hot coffee") when a sexually-explicit mini-game was discovered inside their game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. That led to a tidal wave of controversy (and legal proceedings) that's still crashing today.

The Manhunt 2 hack, performed on a Sony handheld PSP or the old PS2 console, removes a blurry content-blocking "shield" to reveal a violent killing in the game. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board has already tried to douse the flames by issuing a statement that says, in part, "we do not believe these modifications fully restore the product to the version that originally received an AO [Adult's Only] rating, nor is this a matter of unlocking content. Our investigation indicates that the game’s publisher disclosed to the ESRB all pertinent content in the authorized Mature-rated version of Manhunt 2 now available in stores, and complied with our guidelines on full disclosure of content." But expect this incident to have a massive fallout nonetheless as the moral majority of game crusaders once again cut the medium to shreds.

So my basement is an absolute wreck. Stuff everywhere. Boxes. Junk. And I hate to admit it, but in some of those junky old boxes are a bunch of really old games. Like Redneck Rampage era stuff. And try as I might, I can't part with them. Even if I don't play them anymore, they're part of my history, hard-wired memories, everlasting DNA.

The harsh reality is that getting old sucks if you're a videogame. No one wants to play you. You're outdated. You're lucky if you can even run on the new machines. No other medium is so ageist. We still read old books, watch old films, view old art. But what will happen to the art of videogames if the history is forgotten? Down at the University of Texas at Austin, they're trying to build a videogame archive for just this reason. To me, this is more than just an exercise in nostalgia. It's a pretty serious problem that more people - including those leaders in the industry - need to address.

I'd link it, but it's an iTunes-only link, [EDIT: Hey! I can link it now.] but Phase by Harmonix was released today in the iTunes Store. An Amplitude-like game for your iPod, it's the first game for the iPod that feels like a real game, actually designed for the iPod, that I actually want to play. And you can play it to your music, which it interprets very well.

How many versions of Bejeweled must I wade through? The iPod is the last device that I would consider using as a portable Bejeweled-fulfillment platform, having only played it in ninety-three different formats before it made the jump to the iPod and the upcoming "e-Ink backs of cereal boxes". But Phase, I can't play that anywhere else, and it fits the iPod interface pretty well. Harry-Bob gives it two thumbs up; it's well-worth the five bucks.

So, yeah, you know all about wireless motion-sensitive remote control for the Nintendo Wii. But how much have you non-Wii players heard about the Mii (pronounced Me, like Wii/We)? These are the little avatars that you create on the Wii and use in various games and configurations. They look sort of like Manga versions of Peanuts characters, and using a toolbox of features, provide a broad range of variation. I know some people who are maniacs - Miiniacs - about this stuff.

Now Nintendo is serving up a new online channel, starting Monday, called Check Mii Out, which lets the Mii Generation browse and vote on each other's creations. There will also be contests to see how can make, say, the best Miilary Clinton or Miidonna. To me, what's really interesting is how this represents the latest baby-step move into a dynamic, console-based, virtual world. Here's the official bit from Nintendo:

Not long ago, I blogged on EA's pitch for a super-machine: a universal console that lets you play any game on a single platform. Expect to hear more and more grumblings about this in months to come. What other medium parses your content access according to hardware? Imagine if you could only watch CSI on a Samsung TV set, or listen to Radiohead on an iPod. Shouldn't we be able to play Halo 3 and Metroid Prime 3 on the same machine?

Over in the UK, one developer is at least working to get PC games out of their tiny boxes. A company called t5 has created a way to bring PC games to set-top boxes. Here's the scoop: "Dubbed 'Instant Gaming', the virtual games console technology works similarly to the Remote Play option between PS3 and PSP (currently only poorly demonstrated with Factor 5's otherwise forgeable Lair) or video-on-demand services, essentially transmitting MPEG compressed video footage of the game from remote servers to set-top boxes. The games and t5 Labs software are maintained on central servers, meaning that consumers need only a compatible set-top box and no software."

Just in time for the holidays - a way to lock out all the Xbox addicts.

Today, Microsoft announced the "family timer," a way that parents can "set the appropriate amount of gaming and entertainment time for their kids, on a daily or weekly basis," according to the release. I seem to recall something like this for PC gamers years ago. It was a program called Addiction Manager, and you could use it to lock yourself out from playing too much Quake or whatever. The FF, on the other hand, is being pitched to parents as a kind of vidgame leash. Good luck. Most parents I know have no idea how to boot up an Xbox, let alone lock their kiddies out.

Yeah, people have been predicting the death of PC gaming for a long time now. Pretty much since the arrival of the original XBox and Playstation 2, pundits have been saying that PC gaming is on its way out, that consoles are going to rule gaming from now on. It hasn't been true, PC gaming still thrives.

Well, I'm joining the pundits. PC gaming is going away.

In the believe-it-not category, a 17-year-old Dutch kid was arrested - for real - for swiping $6 grand worth of virtual furniture from another member of the social networking site, Habbo Hotel.

How crazy is that? Or is it? As virtual goods take on real world value, the definition of criminality will have to evolve too.

Here's more:

So the UPS guy just showed up at my place with two giant boxes containing Rock Band, the play-along-with-the-music game created by the MIT geeks behind the Guitar Hero phenom. Rock Band cranks the volume up to 11 by letting four players - thus, the band - in on the action: a vocalist, bassist, guitarist, and drummer. The set-up is just like Guitar Hero - or Dance Dance Revolution - where you've got to pound, thwak, and thump in sync with a corresponding cascade of multi-colored dots on screen.

As Spectrum's Harry Goldstein can now attest (after a crack at Guitar Hero III with me last night), it's harder than it sounds. But here's the thing that's even harder about Rock Band - where do you put it? The game - with all the peripherals (drum, geetars, mike) - demands a basement, or, in my case, an understanding wife. In fact, this new generation of vidgames is flagrantly BIG and space-hungry. You can't play the Wii unless you have room to jump around. Same goes for EyeToy on the Sony or DDR or Guitar Hero, the list goes on. So games aren't just evolving into new forms of hardware and software, they're changing our environments, reshaping our recreation spaces. They're taking over!

So I spent the weekend playing Rock Band, the latest play-along-with-the-music game from the creators of Guitar Hero. Yes, it's awesome - a big, bombastic hulk of a vidgame that both restores one's faith in, and advances, the medium.

Like Guitar Hero, the object is to smack different colored buttons on an instrument-shaped controller in sync with corresponding dots on screen. It's oddly reminiscent of Space Invaders - the cascading blips on your screen that you have to eliminate. Except in this case you don't hit the fire button, you thwak your guitar or drum pad instead. You have three instruments to choose from: guitar, bass, and drums. You can also sing vocals, karaoke style, and your performance is measured based on your pitch and timing. Each song, like "In Bloom" from Nirvana or my personal favorite, "Wave of Mutilation" by the Pixies, can be a solo or multiplayer (band) affair.

Because I finally bought Heavenly Sword, and it's beautiful. I don't care about whether or not it's short, because with a new baby in the house, I don't really have time to play a super long game. I am very impressed with the art direction and animation, and I have enjoyed every minute of the game so far.

The Discovery Channel is starting a five-part documentary on the history of videogames tonight. I think I may be in the third episode, which airs December 5th, about first person shooters. The first installment is at 8pm ET/PT tonight.

It's amazing how little history/archiving there is for such a huge industry, and it's nice to see shows like this on the air. The other day, I blogged about a project in Texas to archive old games, and I think we need a lot more of this. How about a permanent videogame museum in NYC or San Fran?

I'm not sure how I missed this one. Electronic Arts and BP Alternative Energy are partnering to make a game that teaches players about climatology and environmental change. Witness: SimCity Societies.

Mass Effect is finally out, and those still hungover from Halo 3 hype should seek it out. Developed by BioWare, a company who sharpened their chops on Dungeons and Dragons, the game combines sci-fi action with role-playing immersion. Your choices - and interactions with your crew - determine plot thrusts.

Word has it that the game is the first of a trilogy. But can it achieve Halo-like relevance? Dean Takahashi over at the San Jose Mercury News sat down with BioWare's Casey Hudson to get the behind-the-scenes scoop. Check it out here.

Everyone's favorite crank Jack Thompson spent the day defending himself against disbarment. As a developer, I think of him as a boon to the industry: he sells games, and garners a lot of free publicity. Controversy does wonders, and mediocre games do much better than they deserve when he castigates them. So he helps guys like me continue to make games.

But I also know the toll he takes on our system of justice, the abuse he vomits forth on anyone and everyone he comes in contact with who doesn't share his particularly vivid paranoia. Gamepolitics.com endures a lot of abuse from him, as well as anyone who attracts his attention at all. He files frivolous lawsuits, plays "Media Circus" with cases involving real pain, real emotion, real torment, and as far as video games go, doesn't win, and often just escapes by the skin of his teeth from actually suffering the conequences of his grossly inappropriate actions.

But maybe, this is it. No more lawyering, he'll have to go on the Xtian talkshow circuit, and cavil against the grand conspiracy against him for the rest of his days. Man, I hope that happens.

So yeah the writers are on strike in Hollywood. Part of the dispute is over money from digital distribution. No one knows where the cash, if any, is going to come from in the future: downloads? webisodes? ads?

Meanwhile, there's one entertainment industry that continues to clean up: games. Revenues are heading towards a record breaking $18 billion in sales nationwide. Today, the Entertainment Software Association points out that the industry's 17% growth between 2003 and 2006 dwarfs the US economy's sheepish 4% growth. Maybe the Hollywood writers should start writing more games.

Vidgame geeks in India take note.

While the US and Japan get most of the attention, a new hub of videogame development is quietly growing in the shadows: India. According to NextGen (see more after the jump), Sony Online Entertainment, makers of EverQuest and other online games, is set to open a game studio in India this winter.

There's good reason for the interest. As I blogged back in June, vidgame revenues are projected to hit $125.4 million in 2010 - up from $13.3 million in 2006. Wouldn't it make sense that the country that provides so much tech support around the world would need/want rich - and richly localized - games?