61 Frames Per Second : xbox live

Virtual-On and On: Oratorio Tangram Resurrected on Xbox Live Arcade

John Constantine — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:30:00 GMT

I’m not sure that the videogame fan’s fetish for promotional and limited edition hardware is much of a problem. Most people just love having stuff. Some folks are into shoes. I’m not talking about people who hang out at Footlocker waiting for a fresh shipment of Lebron Signatures. I mean there’s a whole freaky subculture of people who collect and buy custom made sneakers designed by graffiti artists. They spend thousands of dollars on pairs of sneakers. Sneakers they already have. Those sneakers look different than their other sneakers. The things you learn watching Entourage, I tell you…

The gamer’s most disturbing predilection is his unceasing devotion to brand. Nothing gets our blood going like the latest sequel, remake, or re-release. It isn’t just nostalgia, that ready scapegoat for franchise excitement. The iterative nature of game design (and business) has simply made us gluttons for the familiar. We are addicts for the names we know being followed by ever increasing numerals and for the inevitable resurrection of classic milieus.

I’m feeling particularly guilty about it today. When it came out last night that Sega’s Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram was getting re-released on Xbox Live Arcade I damn near wet my pants. I’m a sucker, what can I say.

Virtual-On, so ya know, is a game that has you controlling angular, bi-pedal robots in single combat. These fights take place in large arenas, allowing you to run, leap, shoot, stab and strafe at high speeds. Your goal is to make another robot blow up. Discerning 61FPS readers may recall my writing a surreal devotional to Sega’s robot fighting game just a few weeks back, so the announcement that the series definitive arcade entry, Oratorio Tangram v.5.66, is coming home made me doubly giddy. There isn’t much to report. It isn’t confirmed the XBLA version will even release outside of Japan and it’s guaranteed Sega won’t be making a new twin-stick controller just to accommodate rabid devotees. Who cares though?! HD ORATORIO TANGRAM!

(Much love to duckroll for letting US citizens know about Weekly Famitsu’s latest news)

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Rite of Spring: Flower and What’s Lacking in the Romantic Games Movement

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:00:00 GMT

Last week was full of everything you want out of a vacation: a change of setting from urban sprawl to glorious mountain range, rancid air exchanged for clean winter wind, great food, better scotch, and the best company. Of course, there was also a smorgasbord of great portable games. Retro Game Challenge, Atlus’ under-the-radar curiosity My World, My Way, and Kirby Super Star Ultra made for marvelous palette cleansers, washing away the last traces of Epic Holiday Gaming morsels still stuck between my gaming teeth. It was restful, brief, and rejuvenating. When I returned, I knew that it was going to be time for 2009 hardcore gaming to go into high gear what with Street Fighter IV and a Killzone 2 demo waiting, but the first thing I had to spend some time with was Flower. As soon as it had finished installing, well, it felt like my vacation had just gotten an extension.

The game is exhilarating. Having grown up in rural upstate New York, the contrast of Flower’s city-bound preludes and its soaring bucolic playgrounds pulls at very specific heartstrings in me. The game is brief but I’m no less taken with it. Jenova Chen and ThatGameCompany are damn good at eliciting just this sort of emotional response with their games. Their debut Cloud was rich with the same bittersweet catharsis that characterizes Flower. Both are something like the game equivalent of a symphonic poem, their fluid flight-based gameplay replacing music as the visceral informant of a visual/audio narrative. They’re games unified in subject too; Cloud and Flower chronicle escapes to a pure, natural world from metropolitan confinement. They are concerned with beauty and simplicity.

I wouldn’t say that Chen and TGC started it, but they’re certainly poster children for what appears to be a burgeoning romantic movement in game design. As much as Jon Blow’s Braid was a commentary on play conventions, it was also a deliberately lyrical game. Trading in pastoral visuals and acoustics to inform its tale of romantic loss and redemption, it shares more than a little with Flower and Cloud. I’m wondering, though, why these new romantics have yet to explore more emotionally troubling and challenging themes. Gamers and critics are constantly citing “dark” themes as a mark of credibility in mainstream game design, but the darkness they refer to is usually tied up in angst driven narrative and violence. Where are the games that are legitimately dark, games that don’t just gain their emotional thrust from beauty or human ugliness? Braid’s ambiguous conclusion and TGC’s exploration of predatory natural selection, Flow, flirt with ugliness and dissonance but never make them their focus. (Flow’s poetic prescript “…life could be simple…” limits the game’s reach from the start.) But why can’t the lyrical style and play of these games be applied to subject matter like Procedural Arts’ Façade, a game that places you directly into a married couple’s complete relationship breakdown?

I’m excited by these creator’s efforts and, yes, moved by them. I was caught up in Flower from the start. But I am anxious and thirsty for the romantic games’ movement to find its Stravinsky, that artist who asks me to look at and hear and play something I’d rather not to make their work that much more powerful.

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Fez May Finally Be More Than a Totally Sweet Demo

John Constantine — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For awhile there back in 2007, it was looking like blending 2D and 3D in a single game was going to be a bonafide trend. Super Paper Mario was the highest profile experiment in dimensional puzzle solving, but it was Zoe Mode’s overlooked Crush that really demonstrated the lasting potential of the new genre. Shifting the levels between sidescrolling, overhead 2D, and full 3D made for some inspired level design and hair-pullingly difficult puzzles. When the Independent Games Festival rolled around at the beginning of 2008, it looked like the 2D-3D mash-up was finally going to have its masterpiece in Polytron’s Fez. Fez mixed the same sort environment manipulation from Crush with deliciously retro graphics and sound. It looked awesome. Then it disappeared. I was sad.

Gaming gods be praised! Fez re-emerged, like a glorious sleepy groundhog signalling an early spring of sunshine and raw joy! Polytron posted up a new screen on their homepage. As you can see, something wonderful is about to be happy and it sounds like that something wonderful is a release announcement. Not only that, but the conspicuous green A button in the message seems to indicate that Fez will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade. Nothing’s confirmed yet, but this is swell news.

I must have you and your delightful 2D-3D wares, Fez.

(Link: Infinite Lives)

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Nolan Bushnell Joins GameWager

Cole Stryker — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Kotaku reports that Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell is dipping his toes back into the gaming industry.

From the press release:

Designed for gamers of all skill levels, GameWager’s platform introduces a reward system that lets gamers earn virtual tokens for completing in-game actions like kills, objectives and team wins in multiplayer PC games like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. Earned tokens can be redeemed for a chance to win sponsored prizes like Alienware laptops, Nvidia graphic cards, a Hypernia hosted server for 1 year and much more. Nolan serves as an “executive advisor” to the company that has seen over 60,000 gamers earn 25 million tokens since its’ launch last July.

Xbox Live's achievements system never motivated me much, but I can see myself putting a few extra hours into a game if it meant a chance at a video card upgrade. It's a material reward, a big improvement from ethereal achievements. Of course, being good at video games only scores you a chance at prizes. They are guaranteed to no one, but the better you perform, the higher your chances of getting rewards.

With sponsored giveaways, GameWager's reward scheme is completely free. I'm not quite sure how they plan to profit, but if Nolan Bushnell's involved, expect plenty of corporate drama.

Microsoft’s New Year’s Resolution

John Constantine — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

For the second time in history, an American company has created a massively successful videogame console. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is, without doubt, America’s greatest triumph since the Atari 2600. Of course, this is discounting personal computers of all stripes, and even the achievements of Microsoft’s first green-tinged box devoted to gaming. But 28 million consoles sold worldwide is a monumental feat for any gaming machine and, contrary to some speculation late last year, it looks like the system’s sales have yet to plateau. As far as creativity and growth of the medium, Microsoft pioneered downloadable content on home consoles, established one of the first easily accessible independent games services, and brought online gaming into more homes than ever before. Not to mention how they’ve published some of the most enjoyable traditional gaming fare — shooters like Halo 3 and Gears of War as well as RPGs like Fable 2 — of the last two years. Yes, kudos to you Microsoft. Ya done good.

BUT YOU CAN DO BETTER! What’s up with 2009, guys? Halo Wars? That’s what you’ve got? Where’s Alan Wake, you punks! Ninja Blade? How about a freaking action game without a ninja in it?! Geez!

Okay, okay. I am calm now. I am fine. Announcing some great first-party software for the 360 would be a pretty logical resolution for Bill Gates’ house of pancakes. But I was thinking more along the lines of modernization.

Microsoft should resolve to make Xbox Live free to all Xbox 360 owners in 2009. At the very least, they should expand on Xbox Live Silver Memberships, allowing more games to be played online at no additional cost as they did with Street Fighter HD Remix. Alternatively, they could start adding more perks, such as free Arcade downloads with Gold memberships. Regardless, now that Xbox Live has proven itself, it is time to stop charging players needlessly. There is absolutely no reason that Xbox owners should have to pay for multiplayer in 2009. Hell, if nothing else, making Xbox Live free would give the entire world one fewer reason to buy a Playstation 3.

Think about it, Microsoft. Oh, and announce some more first-party titles already. Not Too Human 2.

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The New XBox Experience: A Brief Reaction

The New XBox Experience: A Brief Reaction

Bob Mackey — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:00:00 GMT

The New XBox Experience is finally available to all XBox 360 users today, and I couldn't be happier. Microsoft's old "blade" format had quite a few problems, most of which involved finding stuff on the marketplace; to use the old GUI effectively, you pretty much had to train yourself to think bass-ackwardsly. And when you got to the right place, sometimes you couldn't even find what you were looking for; I remember a certain summer adventure when a friend and I wanted to play the newly released Commando 3, only to find it minutes later listed under WOTB--which caused me to forever think of the game as Woe Tub.

The best idea out of all of the new changes has to be the Netflix streaming movie integration. As a loyal NetFlix customer, I was aware of their streaming service before the NXE announcement, but never really used it because I sit in front of my computer too damn much as-is. But now when I'm alone or entertaining (and most importantly, far from my computer desk), I can choose from a good selection of quality (and not-so quality) programming that further justifies me not having cable TV. My own cheapness can only excuse so much.

The Avatars--Microsoft's bone thrown to the non-hardcore--have that same kind of limited appeal that that Nintendo's Miis have; though, in Microsoft's favor, I think the 360 uses their little cartoony creations much more effectively by actually including them as part of the interface instead of segregating them to a separate program. I could honestly give or take my Virtual Bob, but Avatars are an astoundingly better idea than paying Microsoft for the benefit of using a tiny, blurry image to represent yourself. I once paid for some GamerPics with some leftover Microsoft points and now must live with the shame forever.

All in all, NXE is a pretty monumental--though expected--change to the 360 interface. I especially appreciated the simplification, as the combination of both NyQuil and DayQuil on my brain is making it hard to do simple tasks, like navigate menus and construct simple sentences. Hopefully you haven't noticed the latter.

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Boy Addicted to Call of Duty 4 Found Dead

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:56:00 GMT

Phillipe, a five-year-old otter who resides in Achewood often tortures himself by asking his friend, LieBot, about sad occurrences in the world.

"LieBot," he says, "what's the saddest thing?"

LieBot is always obliging with an answer, usually something to do with a simple man crying over a cracked chicken egg and promising this egg that one day it will be a real chicken capable of a loving friendship. I felt as helpless as Phillipe when I read about the death of 15-year-old Brandon Crisp, a boy who ran away from home when his parents made him stop playing Call of Duty 4. It's especially bad news for his parents, who called his bluff and helped him back when he threatened to run away. Ouch ouch ouch.

Crisp's disappearance brought to light a lot of discussion about video game addiction, some of it enlightening and a lot of it negative. There's been a small surge of "Look what games do to our kids" chest-thumping by alarmists who (as usual) ignore the core problem: addiction. Addiction has few prejudices. If Crisp hadn't become addicted to Call of Duty 4, he could have just as easily fallen into alcohol, drugs or monkey-sniffing.

I do feel badly for his parents because they noticed a problem and tried to tackle it with good old fashioned discipline. Taking away the source of the issue makes sense, but fighting addiction is not like straight-up behaviour correction. I'm not a psychologist or even smart, but I believe the generation gap also played a part in the conflict. Chances are there are a lot of adults out there who just see video games as an extension of the idiot box: turn it off and the kid will find something else to do. But games are different. They give you a sense of accomplishment that can fill inner gaps you never knew you had. Approval, of course, is addictive. I never knew I cared about Xbox Live Achievements until I realised "Hey, I like this little army of icons I have on my profile! They make me feel good (and they tell me to burn things at night)!"

Aside from hoping Crisp's family finds some peace someday, I hope others will take away a lesson from this episode other than, "Holy shit, look what happened in Canada, get that demon box out of our house."

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One Crazy Summer of Arcade

Bob Mackey — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Today's LIVE Arcade release of Castle Crashers and the recent trend of incoming college freshmen gathering in front of me to learn writing can only mean one thing: summer is over. But man, what a summer it was. So many memories made while only moving slightly to avoid bedsores.

Of course, I speak of Microsoft's five-week-long "Summer of Arcade," an event that saw the back-to-back release of five awesome Xbox Live Arcade titles: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Braid, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers. Sure, it started a little late, and it neglected to include a few of the more recent remakes (Commando 3 and 1942: Joint Strike got just a little bit screwed by the timing), but I can't remember a time that so much multi-genre awesomeness was packed into such an affordable month.

More importantly, though, I think it's a look at things to come for the future of gaming.

I'll admit that I haven't gotten around to getting Galaga and Castle Crashers yet--blame the deviousness of both Braid and Bionic Commando for this. But the thing is, I plan on eventually getting all of the Summer of Arcade titles because they're perfect for my life right now. It's not that I'm exceptionally busy--I'm just suffering epic-induced burnout that might have been brought on by playing Grand Theft Auto IV far past the point of enjoyment. Really, the thought of any game taking up more than 10 hours of my time makes me long for the simple joys that XBox LIVE has brought me over the past month. April was the last time I bought a full-priced 360 game, and I really can't see myself doing it again until the holidays.

All of this has made me ponder the following discussion-worthy question: is XBox LIVE Arcade making us rethink the current philosophy of bank-breaking, world-destroying, blockbuster games? I'm content to live in a world where a new (ostensibly) NES Mega Man is a celebrated certainty, rather than the dream of a ROM-hacking madman.

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Ender’s Games: Where Are the Fictional Games?

John Constantine — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Spoiler warning.

After the past two weeks, it’s a wonder that the entire internet didn’t up and die from media poisoning. The combined onslaught of E3 and the San Diego Comic Con have flooded the digital world with write-ups, trailers, screenshots, tie-ins, celebrity voice actors, and a billion other pieces of useless but tantalizing information. Both events were admittedly short on surprises but they both demonstrated that the future is a veritable smorgasbord of interactive entertainment. Strange then that a comic book adaptation of a novel was what got me thinking about the possibilities for videogames more than actual games.

Orson Scott Card was at Comic Con to discuss the graphic adaptation of his novel Ender’s Game. If you’re curious about the plot, I recommend reading the book. Why Ender’s Game got me thinking about videogames as a medium is that it’s one of a number of fictional works that prominently feature imaginary videogames as a central part of their narrative. There are actually two, a spaceship battle simulator – it’s ultimately revealed that the game isn’t a simulator at all, but a digital interface for war – and a second that is more amorphous, a sort of digital storybook that reflects the user’s subconscious. The characters in Ender’s Game play another game, though this one is a physical sport called the Battle Room. Chair Entertainment is currently working on a videogame adaptation of the Battle Room for Xbox Live Arcade. But no one is making real life videogames of the fictional videogames from Ender’s Game.

Why don’t we see more adaptations of fictional videogames? If Orson Scott Card actually helped create actual versions of these digital games, would they enhance the story that spawned them? Why don’t developers find inspiration from fictional videogames? Ron Mallet would have never developed his time machine project if hadn’t read a comic book adaptation H.G. Well’s Time Machine. How many great games are out there that need only to be coded?

Points to the first reader to name one besides the Tron games.

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New Mega Man 9 Trailer: I'm Drowning in My Childhood

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:18:00 GMT

Don't throw me a lifejacket, though. I'm quite happy here.

On its way to gearing up for E3, IGN posted a fresh new Mega Man 9 trailer. For starters, the trailer finally confirms that Mega Man 9 is in fact destined for PSN and XBLA as well as WiiWare. Game news outlets and even series creator Keiji Inafune have been back and forth about this. In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Inafune said "We haven’t announced a XBLA or PSN title yet. Do the fans want them?"

I guess he was playing around, that sly dog. I revere him.

The trailer includes a good deal of gameplay footage. Lots of pits, spikes, and those disappearing-reappearing blocks that used to haunt your childhood nightmares. I know a certain robot dog who will be fitted with his jet upgrade as soon as possible.

What's really thrilling to see make a return are the big colourful animal robots that would block your progress in Mega Man 2 and beyond. A circus elephant with a big red ball will be joining the mechanimal stable, which includes notables like Hot Dog from Mega Man 2, those damnable orange cats from Mega Man 3 and of course, Dragon. You know what game Dragon is from, right? He made you crap your Alf underwear when he first appeared. Don't deny it.

Little bits of the opening story are available in the trailer as well. Looks like Mega Man's dealing with a good ol' fashioned robot rebellion with just the slightest twist of intrigue: Dr Light has been framed for the latest party. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, there's no mysterious new heroes, no angst, no batty Biblical references. Good.

Other characters might be playable, though. Did you happen to spot Roll clinging onto the RushJet for dear life? It's funny because housekeeper robots are supposed to stay in the kitchen! Ha ha!

Mega Man 9 Goes Back To Your Roots. Way Back.

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:00:00 GMT

If you grew up playing the Nintendo Entertainment System, then you also grew up with a persistent blue scamp named Mega Man. The adventures of the little boy robot and his red dog take us back to long hours spent in chilled suburban basements, stuffing our gobs with pizza while eluding Dr Wily's robots.

The Mega Man series has given birth to no less than six spin-off series over the past twenty years, taking us far away from those days of greasy control pads and cherry Kool-Aid. The last entry in the original series (as in, numerical sequels without any extra letters attatched to "Mega Man") was Mega Man 8, released over a decade ago. It was no surprise when recent whispers about Mega Man 9 were dismissed as rumour.

But lo, the August issue of Nintendo Power talks to series creator Keiji Inafune about the phantom game, which is a phantom no more. The original Mega Man is back. Literally. Mega Man 9 will feature NES-style graphics and will be available for download on Xbox Live, Playstation Network and as a Wii Ware title.

These are not "NES-style graphics" as in neon-shaded highlights slapped over old sprites that throb obsencely to pumping music. Looking at the screenshots in Nintendo Power will hit you so hard with memories of Mega Man 2, your teeth will rattle.

The simplicity is a pretty big jump back from the lush graphics of Mega Man 8. I mean, nostalgia is awesome, but dayumn.

Still, maybe this is what the gaming world needs. A budget-priced download that will doubtlessly provide at least a few hours of uncomplicated hardcore platforming. I know I'm due for my fix.

Oh, and what's a Mega Man title without its harem of Robot Masters? Mega Man 9's stable reportedly includes: Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man(!!!!), Tornado Man and Splash Woman(???) .

I don't know what to say about Splash Woman. I guess I wanted to see a female robot master when I was eight years old, but I'm kind of over the gender inequality now. It's a good trade-off for blowing up evil robots.

And the less I speculate about Plug Man, the better.