August 25, 2004
Nielson knows where you camp
Nielson has decided it wants to move into the game space. They are taking the approach of trying to quantify how many ads a player encounters in-game, much like their longtime service of tracking TV ratings and commercial impressions.
It seems to me that there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here. The data that Nielson could collect early on wouldn't be that useful, as in-game advertising is hardly a major force at the moment. However, it's unlikely that this type of advertising will gain popularity until it can be proven that there is a return on the investment for those who wish to advertise.
Posted by jb at 10:40 AM
August 17, 2004
Sixteen player Mario Kart
Via kottke.org.
The Ann Arbor District Library is organizing a once a month Mario Kart Double Dash tournament. They've rigged eight Gamecubes together to allow 16 players to compete simultaneously. The video feeds are pulled together for broadcast on a central screen.
Man, if I had this in college it would've taken me another 5 years to get out of there.
Posted by jb at 10:22 PM
August 16, 2004
Location-based games
Via The Ludologist. Here's a list of location-based games (Urban Mobile Games) that allow you to get outside to do your gaming. Some of our favorites:
(Note: for some strange reason, the URLs are all plaintext, forcing you to copy-paste. Uggh.)
Posted by jb at 08:52 AM
August 06, 2004
EVO2K4 shows how gaming stars are born
EVO2K4 is the 2004 edition of a three-day tournament of fighting games for the PS2, Xbox and Dreamcast.
In the Street Fighter 3 finals, Daigo "The Beast" Umehara battled Justin Wong, and a wonderful gaming moment was captured on video.
In many fighting games there is the concept of parrying. This essentially allows a fighter to block and nullify an attack by another fighter, and also allows the defending fighter to counter-attack. It's often a difficult thing to do, and requires very precise timing.
About halfway through the video, you'll see Daigo's character (the male dressed in white) get attacked with a "super" (big, repeated attack). He parries each hit in the attack (looks like a block with a blue flash), which is incredibly difficult to do, and comes back to win.
The crowd goes absolutely wild (turn your sound on).
Here is a link to the zipped video (may be slashdotted, in which case let us know and we'll mirror it). This is a must-see.
You can also read the ensuing discussion.
Posted by jb at 12:38 PM
August 05, 2004
Play the old Infocom games online
This is an old gem, but worth bringing up again. Elsewhere.org allows you to play any of the old Infocom text-based adventure games (and more) via telnet. You can even save games in progress. There are 39 titles to choose from, here are a few:
- Adventure
- Bureaucracy
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Journey
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos
- Planetfall
- Sorcer
- Trinity
- Wishbringer
- Zork 1
- Zork 2
- Zork 3
- Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
- Zork Zero
Don't get eaten by a Grue.
Posted by jb at 09:12 AM
August 01, 2004
The Swedes conquer the world
Not that there was any question, given that the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) Summer '04 Counter-Strike finals consisted of two teams from Sweden.
EYE was crowned the CS world champions after crushing SK 7-5 in the first half, and 6-0 in the second. There was some drama, however, as one match was interrupted when a cameraman accidentally unplugged the router.
Head over to Gotfrag for news, interviews and videos from the tournament.
Posted by jb at 11:05 PM
July 30, 2004
USB classic controllers
Via insert credit. RetroZone sells your favorite classic controllers in USB form, ready for some hot emulator action. They have NES, SNES, Genesis, Atari 2600, NES Advantage and SNES Advantage versions currently available. If you're feeling frisky, they also sell a RetroKit so you can convert your own.
Posted by jb at 09:38 AM
July 26, 2004
Adventure game revival
Some of my fondest gaming memories involve random clicking and princess saving. I grew up on Roberta William's brilliant King's Quest and LucasArts' Monkey Island, and I miss the old-school adventure genre. I want my Guybrush Threepwood!
Well, it seems that some ex-LucasArts folks have decided that adventure gaming needs a revival. Forming Autumn Moon, these talented developers are working on a project titled A Vampyre Story, and it sounds fantastic. They're still looking for a publisher, and completion is a long way away.
"You have heard of starving artists, right? They starve because they have to do what they love, market be damned. Well fortunately we love adventure games and they do sell, so we won't starve. But we create them not to get rich; we create them because we love it. Adventure games are an art form, very much like films and literature. But the great thing about them is that the viewer, or the audience, is the protagonist. The creators of these games still use all the time-tested techniques and conventions pioneered in the filmmaking, illustration and story-telling professions. We feel it is a natural next step in the evolution of story-telling."
You can also read about The Vampyre Story in the June edition of The Inventory.
Posted by jb at 05:30 PM
Professional gaming is hard
K5 has an interesting article about the current state of professional gaming in the US. The author points out 2 significant reasons why the sport is failing:
- Lack of a proper competitive platform (eg. the game changes and everyone's screwed)
- Games aren't made for competition play
It seems to us that these two problems are closely joined, and probably could be solved through some type of game studio/organizing body joint effort.
The bottom line is that unless you live in Korea, there's not much reality in the world of professional gaming. And here we thought it was all about non-stop parties, loads of cash, free hardware and prize Ferraris.
Posted by jb at 09:38 AM
July 24, 2004
Bungie and Microsoft are messing with us
The good news is that the trailer for Halo 2 currently playing in theatres is now available for download. The better news is that there's a very high-res version available too (1920x1080).
The really strange news is that there is a subliminal message hidden within. The www.xbox.com in the Xbox logo changes to www.ilovebees.com for a fraction of a second. A visit to this site shows some strangeness that is indicitive of a weird promotional/alternate reality game like that done for AI.
A little investigation:
A quick Netcraft query shows the following:
13-JUL-2004
Windows 2000/Apache 1.3.19
16-JUL-2004
Windows Server 2003/Microsoft-IIS/6.0
17-JUL-2004
Windows 2000/Apache 1.3.19
If you look at the meta keywords on ilovebees.com, you'll see "bee hoax, bee game" among other words.
Update 24-7-04:
Both ilovebees.com and ilovebees.net are owned by Margaret's House of Bees. If you dig (domain information groper) ilovebees.net, you get the following:
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.135
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.136
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.140
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.141
ilovebees.net. 69.25.27.170
ilovebees.net. 69.25.27.173
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.133
ilovebees.net. 66.150.161.134
Sounds like lil old Margaret knows how to configure a load balanced server environment. (or at least know enough to tell Rackspace she needs one)
Update 25-7-04:
It seems Bungie has a history of guerilla marketing. The whole thing seems to be indicating that the Marathon storyline will be part of Halo2.
Update 25-7-04:
There's now a netninja wiki dedicated to solving the i love bees mystery.
You can buy the t-shirt now too.
An interesting question is, what's to prevent some nefarious folks from hijacking the plotline and planting their own clues and story details? I suppose the same level of investigative work currently underway would uncover such a plot, but it could be interesting.
Weird.
Download the low-res version here.
Download the high-res version here.
There's a forum discussing it now over at unfiction.
Posted by jb at 12:13 PM
July 22, 2004
Modchips now illegal in the UK
Worst. Ruling. Ever. Sony just won a large victory against David Bell, a reseller of PS2 mod chips.
"The judge, Mr Justice Laddie, ruled that the defendant, Mr David Ball, had behaved unlawfully by selling 1,500 Messiah 2 modification chips ("mod chips") to customers in the UK. The mod chips which Mr Ball had sold had circumvented the copy protection measures on the PlayStation 2 console and allowed pirated copies of PlayStation 2 games, unauthorised copies of PlayStation 2 software (backups) and unlicensed Japanese and American PlayStation 2 software to be played.
The presiding judge then went further and confirmed that using such devices, knowing that they allow you bypass the PlayStation 2 console's technical protection measures to play pirated or copied games, is unlawful. He also concluded that advertising such devices and possessing them for a commercial purpose was also illegal.
Ok, so let me get this straight. It's illegal to sell modchips, it's illegal to adversise modchips; it's not illegal to own one, but it is illegal to use one. It turns out the PS2 you bought with your hard earned money isn't yours to tinker with after all.
Jackasses, all of them.
Posted by jb at 12:01 PM
In-game advertising gets some funding
Via Terra Nova. Massive Inc., a company focused on in-game advertising, just received $5.5 million in funding. This will supposedly help with their planned launch of a dynamic video game advertising network this October.
"Today’s announcement is the latest milestone for Massive in advance of the October launch of its dynamic video game advertising network, which promises to quickly become one of the most powerful opportunities for global brands to reach the coveted 18-34 male demographic. With this key audience increasingly shunning prime time television and print for interactive video entertainment such as online and console games, the Massive network will enable advertisers to serve dynamic, real-time ads into the environment in which young men now spend their time."
Uggh.
Posted by jb at 09:59 AM
July 21, 2004
Trent Reznor on DOOM III
Via Bluesnews. Trent Reznor addresses his absence from DOOM III in a discussion on the NIN site.
"john carmack and i had established a friendship while working on quake. he came to see up playing during the last tour and wanted to get my feelings on a remake of doom with a new advanced engine he was working on. we discussed how cool it would be to create a place that was immersive to the point it wouldn't need a "soundtrack" -- the technology was advanced enough to visually and aurally to create a rich environment you could truly explore and inhabit. we discussed my involvement as the overall sound producer -- from foley and voice over to ambient world noise.
later, i started work on what would be used at the e3 show 2 years ago. it was exciting working in a totally new way with new tools. i was working directly in the game editor and with the programmers refining the sound code and helping the environment come alive. tried "tuning" various environmental sound sources so they'd cohesively interact with on another in a "musical" way. the advanced technology provided enough horsepower to give me a seemingly limitless amount of freedom. it was a lot of work, a lot of thinking in a different way, and a lot of fun. i was working with the best guys in the field -- true geniuses.
out idea was to have no music, apart from a main theme i'd write for the intro. no rock, nothing current sounding, nothing to date the game.
well... eventually time and money and bad management came into play and it didn't work out. disappointing on a number of levels for me, but that's the way it went.
I have seen the engine at work and it is great. i'm looking forward to seeing what they've done with the game.
and i guess tool did the theme song"
Posted by jb at 10:33 AM | TrackBack
July 20, 2004
Mindball
Via /.
"Mindball is an experience product, a game where two players control a ball with their brain waves. The player being most relaxed wins the game. The brain waves are detected by sensors attached to the headbands."
Posted by jb at 01:47 PM | TrackBack
July 19, 2004
Religion in games
Gamerdad addresses the topic of religion in games present and past.
"If religion and spiritual concepts can potentially add so much to a game world, why are they only used superficially? Why are they caricatured? And what will the future bring? To answer these questions we looked at games from the recent past, and considered how religion is—sometimes cleverly, sometimes clumsily—used in gaming. We invited a few top game designers to come along and show us the sights, to in effect, play Virgil to our Dante."
Posted by jb at 02:59 PM | TrackBack
July 07, 2004
New Classic Gamer Magazine available
If you haven't checked out Classic Gamer Magazine, now's your time to do so. It's a very well done PDF periodical dedicated to retro-gaming.
The latest issue includes: where to find good classic games, homebrew reviews, a look back at Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, a history of James Bond games and oh so much more.
Posted by jb at 01:10 PM | TrackBack
Camping Pong
A couple of geeks go camping (the get bitten by bugs in a tent kind, not the hide in the shadows and frag noobs kind), and pong ensues. Sure, scoring is a judgement call, but it looks fun anyway.
Posted by jb at 11:32 AM | TrackBack
June 27, 2004
Game PR Catchphrases: What They Really Mean
Ryan "OMGWTFBBQ" Adams has written a wonderful article exposing the true meaning behind the words written to promote an upcoming release.
Quote: We've listened to what gamers are saying, and we're going to deliver. Gamers know what they want.
Indicates: This company really cares about gamers, and they've seen the light. Instead of sticking to their own designs stubbornly, they'll see how good the general public's ideas really are.
True Meaning: We fired that really awesome lead designer. Instead of having true direction, this game is going to be drawn and quartered by the six thousand directions people want their games to go in. You're all idiots. Have fun with your shooter/rpg/completely open-ended/expertly written/realistic/over-the-top/co-op train simulator.
Posted by jb at 04:46 PM | TrackBack
June 25, 2004
A Clash in Civilization
As a follow-up to our previous item regarding the Civilization Fanatics' Center, Kuro5hin has a great article covering Intersite Democracy Games.
A Democracy Game is when a group of people play a single country as team, deciding as a group how their game should be played. This often results in a meta-game, with participants employing political maneuvers to advance their strategic wishes.
This alone is a fascinating concept. However, as the article covers in detail, it has been taken to the next level. An Intersite Democracy Game has several teams competing against each other. Teams have taken different approaches to this, some creating their own governmental structure for decision making (Minister of War, etc.).
In the latest game, the two largest and sometimes acrimonious sites (Civ Fanatics' Center and Apolyton), are battling along with a few other, smaller sites. In addition, Fireaxis (the developer of Civ 3) has entered a team into the fray. The game has been running for over six months now, but I won't spoil the details about who is still in the running.
This is really an interesting development, and certainly speaks volumes about the complexity and depth of Civilization.
Posted by jb at 12:00 PM
