A story about a guy, his smartphone, his dogs and everything else in between.
Games
Flash Games Haiku
Jan 11th
browser is open,
no need for dear game system,
flash games are cheap fix.
Update: This haiku was entered into the “Flash Game Summit Haiku Competition” and I won !
My prize? A pass to Flash Gaming Summit 2010 in San Francisco, CA.
Check out Flash Game Summit or follow them on Twitter.
Paying It Forward
Nov 30th
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks bouncing around ideas with a few colleagues about a growing concern: the multitude of games that our friends are playing (quite addictively I may add) on social networks such as Facebook but no-one really knows much about them. Our solution: we’ll play them as well and review them for you, so you’ll know what’s hot, what’s not and what’s so Web 1.0
Feel free to visit the review site at Social Game Reviews or follow our reviews on Twitter @ SGReviews. Make sure and leave your comments too, we value your opinions and your views will help make for good dialogue !
Should sports videogames be subscription based?
Nov 4th
As an avid Fifa Soccer fan, I always get anxious every October when the release of the new version is imminent. My anxiety is more of a panic than it is a sense of comfort when it comes to this year’s iteration of the world’s most popular football game. I’ve strayed away from playing Fifa on the console for many years (owning my last Fifa game on Gamecube and PS2) and have chosen to get my footy fix on the PSP. I thoroughly enjoy being able to play a quick game of football on the go and while the visuals may not be next-generation console-beautiful, the PSP version is as feature rich as the console versions and that keeps me coming back for more, every time.
Although I set aside money into my yearly Fifa fund for the game, I wonder if my money would be better spent if the model for producing and delivering sports videogames were to change.
Case in point: after viewing the Fifa 10 PSP website, the following updates were made to the game:
- More responsive gameplay
- Improved goalkeepers
- Prematch scouting reports
These are just 3 changes made to FIFA 10 on the PSP this year. Another feature that was marketed on the website was this year’s Fifa would have better collision detection, but I’ll get to that shortly.
Given the list above, the first two (2) items are tweaks to the gameplay system and 3rd is simply an update to the game’s UI and loading screen system (as prematch scouting reports are represented as load screens before matches).
Now back to collision detection: I don’t think ANY company should market a better collision detection system as a feature that should sell the next iteration of their product. Better collision detection should be one of many minor tweaks that a game should have over it’s lifetime. Unfortunately, console games rarely ever receive any kind of performance or bug fixing updates. Once the game doesn’t ship with a game-breaking bug, it won’t see any bug fixes in its lifetime. (This is where the iPhone wins as a platform: applications and games frequently receive bug fixes via updates keeping games up-to-date).
One ugly bug (I say bug because I know it isn’t a feature) in Fifa 09 AND perpetuated into Fifa 10 occurs when you make a substitution. On making a player substitution, the player who comes onto the field is NOT visible for a few seconds (assumedly because the 3D model for that character is being loaded at the time). This is quite obvious when you make a half-time substitution to both of your strikers: the game will restart and you won’t see any of your strikers in the starting circle, just the football.
In addition, Fifa 10 PSP includes a two new modes and one rehashed mode from Fifa 9.
| Fifa 09 | Fifa 10 |
|---|---|
| Kick Off | Kick Off |
| Be A Pro | Be A Pro: Club and Country |
| Interactive Leagues | |
| Tournament | Tournament |
| Manager Mode | Manager Mode |
| Challenges | Challenges |
| Football IQ | Football IQ |
| The Season | |
| Practice Arena |
Fifa 10 offers a rehashed “Be A Pro” mode that monitors your player’s club performance which decides whether or not your player earns a position on his country’s national squad.
Last year’s Interactive Leagues has been removed but Fifa 10 sees the addition of “The Season” which lets a player play through a complete season with a team, removing any Manager Mode or Be A Pro aspects from this mode.
Fifa 10 also includes a Practice Arena which needs very little explaining.
With one online mode removed, one rehashed mode returning and one new mode added, Fifa 10 only feels like a small update to Fifa 09. More evolutionary, less than revolutionary. Fifa 10 features gameplay tweaks, improved goalkeeping features and improved UI updates which also add to the overall game but they still make FIFA 10 feel like a minor update to Fifa 09.
The question I ask myself is “Did I get value for money” on purchasing Fifa 10. Playing full price for a game that has VERY similar roots to it’s predecessor (graphics, models, modes, even sporting the same bugs) does not feel like a situation where I have gotten value for my money. Although I has quite happy to receive Fifa 10 as a birthday gift this year, I could have been quite content with playing Fifa 09 for another year (I have already done this: I owned Fifa 07 and played it for two years, skipping Fifa 08 because it was a small improvement over its predecessor).
Recently, I’ve wondered what sports videogames would be like if they were based on a yearly subscription model that expired after a two-year period.
Game prices being what they are, especially from powerhouse publishers like Electronic Arts, usually hit the store with an MSRP of ~ $40 USD (PSP) and ~ $60 (Xbox 360, PS3). Following the PSP model, over 2 years, you would have invested $80 in Fifa products.
Superficially, if Fifa 09 and Fifa 10 shared a similar code-base, the development team did not have to spend extra resources to build Fifa 10, as they already had a working base to build from. (These savings are never passed on to the consumer but then again, they will never state that they simply rehashed last year’s game and sold it at full price this year).
Why not offer the first year offering of the game (in this example, the first year offering would be Fifa 09) as a paid product (MSRP $40 given the current market price) and offer the second year offering (Fifa 10 in this example) of the game as a paid downloadable or UMD installable upgrade. Potentially, the update would have to be priced less than the game from the previous year, possibly at $20. The update in this case would offer tweaks and updates (such as better collision detection, better goalkeepers,UI updates and roster updates) but allow the player to enjoy the benefits of being able to continue playing on his year 1 game profile. Potentially, savings would be experienced by the publisher/developer given that a much smaller team would be needed to produce the second year update as opposed to building a new version of the game every year. This would also give the team 2 years of preparation time before the next substantial iteration of the game. This would allow developers to focus more of their team on creating a revolutionary products every 2 years, instead of churning out evolutionary (read lack-lustered) products every year.
What do you think: Would you be happy with a 2 year model for sports games or are you happy paying for rehashed versions of the same game every year?
*UPDATE* Where’s the PS3 to PSP connectivity? PS2 to PSP connectivity seems like such a legacy utility to add and like other features, it feels like an after thought. I’m hopeful for FIFA 11.
Fun times playing around with 2 Nintendo DS’s
Sep 9th
I was recently presented with a unique opportunity to find out what’s inside the broken Nintendo DS that I had laying around. I was given another DS to look at because the directional pad and buttons had become worn down and input was not being processed when pressed. With luck on my side (my broken DS and the DS I was given to fix were both the same colour), I decide to swap out the keypads and get the worn out DS working again.
The steps used to disassemble can be found in detail on the “Pimp My Console” website. The site has 2 tutorials that are quite in depth: one is a video tutorial, the other is a picture by picture walk through. I will only document my experience here.
Image 1. Two Nintendo DS’s waiting to be cracked open
Image 2. The DS on the left is the patient, the DS on the right is the donor.
Image 3. The batteries and rubber pads were the easiest parts to remove.
Image 4. Back of the DS housing removed.
Image 6. Removing the connected wires.
Although the video makes this part look pretty simple, re-attaching the black wire takes some finesse (because it has to be passed under the silver metal casing in the center of the DS). Solution: I tied thread to the end of the black wire and passed the thread under the silver unit instead. The circuitry under the unit made it slightly more difficult to pass the actual wire back under without snagging it on parts of the circuitry. The thread was met with less resistance and once it was through, I simply (and gently) pulled the black wire through.
Image 7. Left – DS with replaced directional pad and buttons. Right – scrapped DS.
Next up: I’ll consider changing out the screens. Which means I’ll have to test the screen on the broken DS first to make sure it works.
Aug 25th
With Alan Wake scheduled to be released in Q2 2010, you may be wondering what became of Alan Wake.
This picture was taken in Wendy’s in East Lansing. Even videogame characters need to make a living.
Zenzizenzizenzic
Jun 26th
After playing a few games of Balderdash the other night, I came across what I believe to be one of the coolest words I had ever encountered. As much as I enjoy math, I had never seen the word before and it became one of the running jokes for night.
The word is:
zenzizenzizenzic
The zenzizenzizenzic of a number is its eighth power. This term was suggested by Robert Recorde, a 16th century Welsh writer of popular mathematics textbooks, in his work The Whetstone of Witte, published in 1557, although his spelling was zenzizenzizenzike.
The word is obsolete except as a curiosity; the Oxford English Dictionary has only one citation for it. It survives as a historical oddity.
For more information, visit here.
I really wanted to acquire the domain, www.zenzizenzizenzic.com but it was already taken. Maybe I’ll scoop up the .us or .org sites.
So the next time you raise a number to the eight power, just remember, zenzizenzizenzic.
Click here zenzify your numbers. Note: large input values will not be “zenzified” (due to the limits of the unsigned integer).
First Game Posted on Kongregate.com : A Day at the State Fair
Jun 17th
A Day at the State Fair has been submitted to Kongregate.com and I am pleased to say that since it has been posted, it has been played 660 times. Not bad for a game that has been posted for only 13 or so hours.
Considering A Day at the State Fair was a 3-week project with a development team of 2, the fact that people outside the classroom have played it legitimizes the time and effort put into this simple point-and-click shooter. This is truly a rewarding feeling.
Just by posting the game on Kongregate.com we have seen a 300% increase in the game’s exposure. I have never dealt with Kongregate from the developer-side but my present experience has been a good one. Implementing the Kongregate API and adding it to the game was a breeze as was adding the code to submit and retrieve scores. Unfortunately at this time, neither of those mechanisms are functional but there is a post in the Developer Forum, so hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.
Another lesson learnt: Kongregate users are very honest and very critical, which is good for any designer. We already got feedback from users who liked the game but weren’t too captivated because of the game’s simplicity. Plus Kongregate users are the perfect batch of game testers for your game. I have already received feedback on in-game issues that will be cleaned up.
This exposure definitely improves upon a 2-person development trying to produce and then re-produce the same bugs all the time.
It truly is a gratifying feeling having the world be exposed to your game. It’s even more gratifying that they like it!
Go play A Day at the State Fair and be kind, rate it !
Would my PSP library be homeless if I got a PSP Go?
Jun 13th
Sony’s new handheld is upon us in the form of the PSP Go (which was E3’s worst kept secret this year but that’s for another post). As a consumer, I wonder what this new iteration of the PSP platform would offer me that my current PSP-2000 doesn’t. (The PSP Go definitely doesn’t have the limited edition Darth Vader print on the back of it. Score 1 for PSP-2000).
Soon to be homeless library of UMDs?
New PSP Go Features (and why I don’t need them)
1. No UMD Drive. The UMD-less design does not appeal to me because it makes my library of games useless. Sony has mentioned that a large number of UMD titles will be made available digitally but Sony has not commented on how this affects current UMD owners. Would UMD owners be able to download the digital equivalent of their game, much like DVDs that have digital versions available for owners to download?
2. Internal Memory. It’s nice to see that the PSP Go has internal memory, 16 GB plus a memory card slot for addition storage. This is a no-brainer since the Go doesn’t have a UMD Drive (see above). My concern is that 16 GB may disappear quickly if the user plays with the PSP Go quite often. The re-release of Final Fantasy 7 easily takes up 1.4 GB of space. If early UMD titles make it to the digital distribution channels that Sony has spoken about, would they be optimized for space or would they be “digital rips” of the games, consuming the same amount as they would on a UMD disk? As the price of solid state memory continues to fall, my PSP-2000 is still relevant because I can cheaply add memory to it.
3. Bluetooth. I see no reason for me to ever use this while playing on my PSP. ‘Nuff said. I’m sure it could have some application, such as using headsets for multiplayer games but this only interests me if I can use a bluetooth headset I already own. Having to buy a new Sony branded headset for this to work is a no-no in my book.
4. Universal Connector. This would have been great, if only it was a part of the original PSP’s design. With a slew of accessories already available on the market, it would be hard to convince me to trade up to the PSP Go AND have to buy new accessories to replace the older ones.
5. UMD Rentals. If I ever needed to rent/borrow a UMD, I could. Digitally, there is no equivalent.
And for these 5 reasons, I will hang onto my PSP-2000 for a while longer.
Where are the savings on Digital Downloads?
Feb 8th
Does anyone else see the problem with this picture? EB Games is offering Burnout Paradise – The Ultimate Box for $39.99. It is also offering the game in its digital downloadable form for the same price !
Shouldn’t there be some reduction in price if the digital version no longer comes with any physical media, printed booklets, plastic cd case or cardboard box?
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