['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which covers video game magazines from the late '70s all the way up to right now.]

Wow! A mammoth ferret for a mammoth two weeks in game magging! No less than fourteen mags came out alongside the PS3/Wii launches, and I reviewed all of 'em...except a little more tersely than usual, because I just got back from a trip to Austin and am still a little groggy.

Click below to find out about the three mags that got a full redesign this week, as well as which mag had a Zelda review and which gave two whole pages to coverage of The Red Star!

Electronic Gaming Monthly December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Halo 3

This is the first issue of EGM's big redesign, complete with new logo (although the polybags on newsstands still have the old logo for some reason).

As I surmised a few weeks back, the "EGM" abbreviation takes center stage on the cover, with the wordy and unexciting "Electronic Gaming Monthly" relegated to subtitle status. The blocky pixel font is now EGM's typeface of choice for section titles and such, but the rest of the redesigned is quite a bit less square -- instead, it's whiter, curvier, and a bit simpler. In fact, its closest cousin in design is probably Xbox Nation, the late Ziff mag that was the first to receive a full visual treatment from notable British import and Ziff game-group creative manager Simon Cox.

The basic magazine layout is still the same, with "Press Start" (an informal collection of news, previews, and general-interest game articles) up front, reviews and Seanbaby in the rear, and the big exclusive preview or preview feature in the middle. The one refinement that sticks out the most is a streamlining of Press Start, with all the old tiny departments (like Overheard and the news bits that used to run along the bottom of the page) now taking up a vertical column that takes up a third of most pages in the section. This makes Press Start seem like more of a real section, complete with its own voice and writing style, and less of the mishmash of random stuff that it was criticized for being before.

Otherwise, however, the redesign seems largely a cosmetic one. All the basic sections are still there, including Hsu & Chan and the crossword in the back, and the reviews are in the exact same format as before. The new art style, however, makes EGM seem a great deal different -- a bit more, I don't know, refined, friendly, professional-looking, instead of the pseudo-Maxim look it had going before. I was anticipating more, but still, I approve heartily. (The main complaint so far: The "rewards" that games receive in the reviews section are inconspicuous and harder to notice than before. You have to leaf through the pages carefully to find out what Game of the Month is.)

Next-gen watch: EGM got their hands on no PS3 titles and only one Wii launch piece (Super Monkey Ball), which they didn't like very much. Guitar Hero II and Bully (which gets one 10 from a hyper-excited Robert Ashley) tie for GOTM.

Games for Windows: The Official Magazine December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Dragon Age

While EGM has sadly lost its infamous title font (with the crazy curly "T"), the new Games for Windows has gained a truly amazing one for its own. Imagine a font that's largely square, yet laughably curvy and all over the place, and that's the new GFW title typeface. You can see it on the cover, and I think you'll agree that it truly does portend a new era for computer games media. A curvy one.

Although EIC Jeff Green said earlier that GFW would not be that radically different a magazine from CGW, I was surprised to find it far more redesigned than EGM was, the opposite of what I was expecting. "Start" now reads a lot more like EGM's own Press Start -- it's where all the quick previews, dev interviews, and the ever-famous Freeloader section go. The cover stories/features (this month, for Dragon Age) largely look the same, but you can see evidence of trying to lighten up the look of the design a bit, similar to EGM's new XBN-ization.

Reviews, meanwhile, have been completely redone. Again. Just a few months after CGW experimented with shuttling number ratings and turning the reviews section into a sort of one-man roundtable discussion (an approach I adored dearly), GFW is now back to ratin' stuff out of 10 like everyone else. The editors make it a point to say that 5/10 is truly the average score, just like EGM does, and the reviews section actually looks a whole ton like EGM's now designwise.

Overall I'm much impressed. I'm sad that the reviews are back to "normal," but otherwise the new design looks superb and really helps the mag stand out against the competition, something I think may have been a problem in the past. I look forward to great things, and in a 4-page advertorial in the back, Peter More agrees: "I think you'll really like what the [GFW] team has in store for you. It's a beautiful, informative, and irreverent publication worthy of its heritage."

Irate CGW... er GFW letter-writer of the month: "As a Russian-American whose family was directly affected by Stalin's purges, frankly I find Stalin's inclusion as a leader [in Civilization IV] to be patently offensive..."

Official PlayStation Magazine December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Resistance: Fall of Man

Boy, nothing like the announcement of the folding of your magazine to make the current issue seem moot, huh? It's doubly a shame because even OPM redesigned this month -- and its new title font (seen in boldface with "resistance" and "IT'S HERE" on the cover) is the looniest of all!

Nearly every section of OPM gets a graphical retouch, and as with EGM and GFW, the result is a much whiter, curvier, and more refined Euro-style design. Back when I worked at 1up, we used to call this sort of redesign "Simonization," since it always seemed to happen after Simon Cox got his hands on it. Again, it looks superb, although it isn't such a major leap in design compared to Ziff's other two mags since OPM, well, they've always been out there visually, you know?

The disc: Has .hack//G.U., the new Bionicle game, and that's about it for new stuff I reckon.

Rather amusingly: This issue seems to symbolize all the challenges mags face with timeliness. First off, Tokyo Game Show coverage which is way late. Second off, a big feature interview with Tomonobu Itagaki right before he got sued for sexual harrassment. And, indeed, news of the mag folding before I even got the issue. Ah well.

PSM Holiday 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: BlackSite: Area 51 (haven't seen the newsstand edition yet to see if it's different)

Finally, on to some mags that didn't completely revamp themselves! Things are the same as always in PSM-land, and that means big-arse preview features on Stranglehold and the new Area 51 game. Guitar Hero II wins top adulation in the reviews section, and a basic sort of launch guide occupies the midsection.

Paradox: If this PSM is only 96 pages long, then why does it feel so much thicker? Simple! That's because there's an enormous 32-page "Guide to Wireless Gaming" sponsored by Cingular -- yes, those infamous paid-for wireless gaming guides that used to be all over the Ziff Davis mags. There's one in this month's PC Gamer, too, where it's just as out of place as it was in Computer Gaming World.

PC Gamer Holiday 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Windows... yawn... Vista

Hold on -- is this the cover of PC Gamer, or PC Magazine? I suppose the editors figured a big fat Windows logo would sell the mag better than some unidentifiable art from Titan Quest or Assassin's Creed, and to be honest, they're probably right. Nine pages in the middle of the mag go over how Microsoft is going to transform your PC real soon now, although I have the impression that the majority of this stuff was already covered a few months back when PC Gamer last looked at the Games for Windows movement.

Play December 2006

Cover: Sonic the Hedgehog

Ohhh, if only more hardcore gamers cared about Sonic these days -- they'd undoubtedly eat up this month's Play cover feature / review, which kicks off with a centerfold-style vertical pinup of the guy runnin' atcha and continues on with a whole mess of screens, character art, and Dave Halverson massaging a platformer in the way that only he can.

Only in Play: Will you find a full-page review of the new SpongeBob Squarepants game. And also a full page on Xyanide. And two on The Red Star, which goes ignored in all this month's other mags. The only other mag who'd do that is XBN, assuming they were still around.

By the way: Rocket is Halverson's newest mag, a "pop-culture multi-media magazine" devoted to games, anime, movies, and you know, whatever else the kids like these days. It debuts in January and there's a full-page ad showing the first cover in this month's Play.

Nintendo Power December 2006 and January 2007

   

Cover: Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii and Zelda: Twilight Princess

I got my January NP in the mail just a few days following the December one. I don't know if this was deliberate or not, but the result almost seems like Nintendo's putting out a double-issue of NP to celebrate the Wii launch, then taking a break for Christmas 'cos nothing's really happening afterwards for a while. December has an enormous Wii game preview feature, of course, which goes over the console's menu system and everything. January, on the other hand, reviews 'em all, including Zelda, Wii Sports, Rayman, even Splinter Cell for chrissakes. Hell, there's even a strategy for Twilight Princess, and the 4 pages of Eiji Aonuma interview will be enough to make any Nbot squeal.

All told, when it comes to Wii, NP is schooling all the other mags with their early January issue. It's just like the old NES/SNES days!

GamePro December 2006

   

Cover: Zelda: Twilight Princess or Guitar Hero II (Level 2 edition)

If it weren't for Nintendo deciding to send my January issue a month early, GamePro would've been the only mag with much Twilight Princess coverage this month. It's GamePro-y, but still a lot of fun to read -- you really can't do much wrong with the Zelda art this time around, although it's kinda a drag to see the cover's just the standard GamePro "take some character art and do a Photoshop glow effect around it" stuff they've been doing for five years now.

   

GamePro also has these two launch guides out this month, both featuring a bunch of previews and some Best Buy coupons. You should be able to find both of these at Best Buy stores right now; one's also being packed with every newsstand GamePro.

Tips & Tricks December 2006

Cover: Guitar Hero II

The next gen hasn't hit T&T yet, but Guitar Hero II sure has! Not much else to say about this month's issue, except that I heard Bill Kunkel is doing some work for T&T these days, so is a Game Doctor re-re-re-re-return in the cards soon?

Hardcore Gamer December 2006

Cover: PlayStation 3

You know, Hardcore Gamer's covers have been looking damn stylish lately. This one probably won't stick out in the newsstand much, but for a Sony-bot it's almost like porn.

This issue contains features on MUGEN and the Bit Generation GBA titles. The copy I bought is also defective, or something -- it contains two copies of pages 34 through 50, one in the correct place and another wedged between pages 66 and 67. Crazy!

Game Developer November 2006

Cover: Prey

With all the excitement right now, GD gets shunted to the end. Sorry, Simon! The cover's very nice!

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. He's also an editor at Newtype USA magazine.]

Posted by Kevin Gifford at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ahoy - time for another round-up of the more interesting Gamasutra columns and news for this week (or at least, the GSW-worthy ones!), and there are some smart things to check out, hopefully:

- 'Playing Catch-Up' this week talked to Greg Johnson, co-creator of the ToeJam & Earl series, and has some excellent stuff on early influences: "It was during [a UCSD] course that Johnson encountered the game that would inspire ToeJam & Earl more than anything else - Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold’s 1980 randomised dungeon crawler Rogue. “I ran across it during a programming course at UCSD,” he recalls. “I stayed up many a night until 3 or 4am in the morning trying to get deeper into the dungeon. That was a great game. There were certain things about the mechanics that I just loved.”"

- We tracked down Ubisoft's Tony Van, who helms the Petz franchise nowadays, and got him to chat about the virtual pet series' resurrection, among others, why they rawk more than Nintendo's version: "Nintendogs is a high quality product, and Nintendo has done a great job of raising awareness of their game and setting the bar for a quality pet sim. That said, you can't get Nintendogs on PC, PS2, or even GBA. Nor can you play Nintencats, Nintenhorses or Nintenhamsters at this time. And our DS games offer experiences that Nintendogs doesn't, so anyone who is tired of Nintendogs can check out Dogz or Catz DS and see what it has to offer."

- A podcast transcript talking to The Behemoth's John Baez has some good bits about how indie indie is, exactly: "There was a lot of acrimony in some of the game development forums, just because they claimed we weren't an independent game developer. And the problem is that a lot of people who are saying that have second jobs and have health insurance. They didn't quit their jobs to make their game."

- Jim Rossignol's latest 'Blogged Out' column has some interesting feedback on whether the developers of Bully do, indeed, have significant social responsibilities, and Jim suggests: "Perhaps I’m on the wrong track – after all we do want games development to be more intelligent and less exploitative on sensation and controversy – but I feel that more accountability on the part of developers only ends up inhibiting inspiration."

- We chatted to IGF entrant Keith Nemitz about his fantasy RPG Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!, who "describes the game as “a teenage fantasy set in the 1920s” that “uses a virtual board game metaphor” and allows players to “scour their intolerant hometown with brazen hi-jinx”" - Keith is an interesting developer, and it's good to see him entering the IGF again.

Posted by Simon Carless at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over at Armchair Arcade, Matt Barton has been digging into '3D Monster Maze' for the Sinclair ZX81, one of the pioneering home computer video games, and subject to an Edge Magazine 'making-of' article earlier this year.

As Barton notes: "Of all the things you might expect to find running on a ZX81 in 1981, a real time, first-person, 3D maze game would probably be somewhere near "impossible" on your list. Yet, that's exactly what Malcolm Evans was able to pull off--basically in his spare time, as little more than a diversion for himself. Nevertheless, Evans' tinkering became one of the most celebrated games for the ZX81 and a forerunner of the modern first-person game."

The piece concludes: "The game has managed to retain a huge cult following to this very day. A remake of the game can be found on the NGS website." If you want to look up the original ROM, too, Barton recommends "...an emulator called Eighty One, which worked flawlessly in XP."

Posted by Simon Carless at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Cool - the ever-smart Machinima.com has an in-depth interview with the South Park animators on how they made the recent World Of Warcraft episode of the long-running, scabrous cartoon series.

A bunch of the footage was filmed in-world thanks to extensive Blizzard co-operation, of course, and the animators explain: "We didn't have to set up our own server. Blizzard was kind enough to let us use the alpha server for their upcoming Burning Crusade expansion, so not only did we have a fairly controlled environment, we also got a sneak peek at the new goodies!"

As for how easy machinima in the game engine ended up being, they grin: "It was different for us to tackle the 3D animation shots versus the traditional 2D animation stuff that we do. It took three full weeks of production to produce the WOW episode and it takes us six day normally to put a South Park episode on the air. It is much easier to produce South Park style animation than the Machinima animation. Although if you gave us some time to figure it out, I'm sure we could. We have the fastest crew in Hollywood." [Via In-Between.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We already mentioned why MTV Gamer's Week probably doesn't suck like you thought, and Stephen Totilo's blog now points out ways to easily see a bunch of the _good_ video content screened this week.

As he explains: "Yesterday we ran the first half of my tour of the Austin gaming scene, half of that written for MTVNews.com and the other half airing on MTV and at MTVNews.com. I could write a long post about how strongly I felt about telling the story of an American city rich in gaming culture. Or I could just point out that the video piece has Harvey Smith smashing a light fixture with a scooter and Richard Garriott rapping. Do I really need to say more?"

There are actually a mess of extra updates on Totilo's personal site, directly linking you to written and video coverage of all the neater content to come out of MTV's game coverage this week - which naturally emanated from his direction, and included the aforementioned "TV exclusive that features interviews with the [gold] farmers in China and a look inside the so-called [MMO] sweatshops?" Neat.

Posted by Simon Carless at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Via the Guardian Gamesblog, they've pointed out Charlie Brooker's column for the UK Guardian on why games rock, a fun endorsement for our beloved medium from a fairly well-known UK newspaper columnist and meedja type.

Now, those who remember Brooker's past will recall that his rise to semi-notoriety was via a longish stint on Future's PC Zone, before he wrote Nathan Barley with uber-cult UK comedian Chris Morris (oh, and also said in his Guardian column regarding the U.S. President: "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley, Jr. - where are you now that we need you?")

So there are probably no Secret Service investigations regarding this new column, but it is an endearingly blunt rave aimed at the kind of skeptics who probably read, uhm, the Guardian: "Apparently it's OK to be a sports buff , a movie buff , or a food buff ... but being a games buff still somehow offends society. People prepared to conduct tedious 15-hour analytical conversations about football or Kieslowski or the best place to find balsamic vinegar will have the audacity to call you a nerd for mentioning anything more obscure than Grand Theft Auto. Well, fuck your snobbery. Games are brilliant."

Posted by Simon Carless at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So we did a brief Gamasutra report on Game Developers Conference Mobile 2007, which will be held in San Francisco in March 2007, and "will bring together publishers, traditional platform game developers, handset manufacturers, aggregators, and operators to discuss the opportunities, challenges and viability in the space."

Thus: "Representatives from companies such as Sony Pictures Digital, Microsoft, I-Play, Digital Chocolate, GameEvil, Mofactor, G3 Studios, RealNetworks, Nvidia, ATI, Qualcomm, ARM Ltd., Texas Instruments, Ericcson, and Motorola" - all pretty normal.

But the big, somewhat unnoticed news seems to be a GDC mobile lecture called 'Guitar Hero Mobile: A Blockbuster Comes to the Little Screen', revealing cellphone SKUs for Harmonix's smash hit rhythm game.

Yep, apparently cellphone developer SONiVOX is bringing Guitar Hero to your mobile phone, and apparently the lecture "discusses how issues were dealt with in order to maximize the Guitar Hero experience for mobile handsets, such as synchronizing user input with rhythmic consideration and addressing how to create and maintain the multiple business relationships necessary to obtain licensing." But when, pray, is the game due?

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oddly enough, there really haven't been enough good humor articles related to the next-gen console launches, but 1UP singlehandedly redeems that with their Wiinjuries: Getting Hurt Playing Nintendo pictorial guide, from the inestimable Scott Sharkey.

It's explained; "The Wii comes with about seventeen pages of warnings about using the Wiimote without the wrist strap. The thing actually includes a sensor that can tell when you're not using it properly, electronically alerting Nintendo H.Q. whenever you're breaching the warranty. Trust me, they can and will exercise their legal right to release the wards binding Hiroshi Yamauchi into retirement so he can go to your house, judo-chop the top of your head off and feast upon your living brain."

Yet: "We know gamers. Ain't nobody going to remember to slip that goofy strap around their wrist. Hell, you'll make fun of any pansy friends who actually do use the thing. As a public service we've taken it upon ourselves to explore all the dangerous possibilities of improper Wii-mote use. At least three interns lost their lives making this feature, but if we can scare even a single gamer into Wiiing responsibly it'll be worth their sacrifice." We hear that Gama news guy Jason Dobson has thrown his Wii-mote into the chandelier already, so the resulting pictorials on the 1UP piece make a _lot_ of sense (except, uhh, a few!)

Posted by Simon Carless at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So, I was going to post about the winners of the 2006 IF Comp for text adventures, and then Grand Text Auto did a nice brief summary post, so I'm going to excerpt that instead - thanks, guys.

They explain: "The results are in, and Emily Short’s Floatpoint takes top honors at the 2006 Interactive Fiction Competition. The Primrose Path by Nolan Bonvouloir and The Elysium Enigma by Eric Eve placed second and third. Congratulations to these authors and to the others who finished games, entered them, and placed in the Comp. Another person who deserves thanks and congratulations is Stephen Granade, who has been running the Comp since 1999. All the games are still available for download, of course."

There are also heaps of reviews of the interactive fiction titles linked from the GTA post. The entries this year notably included Jason 'Loonyboi' Bergman's 'Game Producer', in which "...you're a game producer (surprisingly enough) and you've got N hours to whip the other people at your company into shape to get the game to go gold" - which is what Jason does in real life! Tres droll.

Posted by Simon Carless at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So you may recall previous discussions about XOC, the rather wonderful U.S. based video game cover version guy whose 'SMW' Super Mario World cover album is perhaps the best of its kind, like, ever.

Well, now, according to his official website, he's gone and built the NES Paul guitar, and he has step by step pics of making the NES-body guitar on his site - first noting of a _really big knife_: "I really had to use this knife. The jigsaw cut through the body of the guitar fine, but when it hit the plastic of the NES, it kept bouncing off. "

He also explains of the sacrificial console: "This is my original Nintendo from when I was ten years old. Awwww", and he ends by also noting: "Nintendo was kind enough to include various holes for the input jack." Hey, that's clever - and sure to spawn lots more ridiculous console guitars, since we've had a Genesis one before, right? How about a Virtual Boy one? I dare you! [Via Alistair. Also, XOC has the '100 shirts' project, which is fun.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, we're starting up a new occasional feature on GSW - we will, every now and again, be presenting our impressions of voguish new video games - in this case, Q Entertainment and Namco Bandai's Gunpey both for the PSP and for the DS.

Why would we ever add our cacophonous voices to the multitude of game reviews already out there? Well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we're not really reviewing, so much as just saying what we think of games that interest us and which may not be top of everyone's reviewing heap (which is why you'll see all four Q Entertainment titles released this month be discussed in due course!) And secondly - we're going to skip the whole 'marks out of 10' thing, and just say stuff. Like this.

Introduction

So, Gunpey. Firstly, and I think most people have spotted this by now, but Gunpey is named after Game Boy inventor Gunpei Yokoi, since his firm both developed the game and hardware for Bandai's Wonderswan handheld after his tragic death in 1997. These new versions of the abstract puzzle game are made by Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment, since they have a close relationship with Bandai.

Trusted Q producer Reo Yonaga helmed the titles, and Mizuguchi himself explained the reasoning behind doing the game in a recent Gamasutra interview: "Gunpey is a really primitive, nice game. It’s not gorgeous, in terms of visual and sound, but Gunpey has a really good principle. It’s like the bone of a human body. A very strong bone. And we had the idea that if we remade Gunpey with good music and visual effects, it would be pretty fun. So we asked Bandai – ok, let’s remake Gunpey with new graphics."

Gunpey For PSP

Well, since it's developed by the folks who brought us Lumines, as you'd expect, Gunpey for PSP feels a lot like that title, except retrofitted to receive that mellifluous line-based Gunpey gameplay. So, we get smooth Japanese techno as the aural background, plenty of abstract eagles flying around and odd vector-ish shapes, well-designed menus, and a plain stylish experience.

However, in some ways, the game feels like a slightly straitjacketed version of Lumines, because of the simplistic controls (you're arranging lines horizontally across the playfield, but you can only swap single blocks vertically). I ended up liking this in an odd fashion, because the game starts building up a sort of mindlessly compulsive Bejeweled vibe. But in the end, since you're always flapping to stop the puzzle pieces reach the top of the screen, and have to keep rearranging multiple times to slide blocks back down, there's just a bit too much busy work in here. (This is mainly fixed by the control scheme on the DS, which we'll get to presently.)

If you add that to the fact that the amount of modes in the game isn't that better than the (somewhat lacking) original Lumines, bar some minor innovations like the 10x10 playfield, well... I love the audiovisuals, but it doesn't _quite_ work for me. I don't go as far as the lovely Ed Lewis at IGN, who eruditely claims: "The gameplay is so slow and boring and who cares about seeing a crapping dog?" But Gunpey for PSP just ends up as mildly diversionary, sadly.

Gunpey For DS

However, Gunpey for DS, which goes for a completely different 'space Western' cartoony visual style, makes use of the DS touch screen in pretty helpful ways (looks like this uses elements from the Meteos game engine, just as Gunpey for PSP uses Lumines' codebase). This means a lot of the line-switching scrabble you end up doing one by one on the PSP can be accomplished with a simple stylus sweep on the DS - very good!

In addition, there's a Story Mode for Gunpey DS which helps too, since you get to square up against opponents who you can use special attacks on (or vice versa!) if you get rid of enough blocks at once. Twin the intuitive gameplay with the charming (almost Capcom late CPS-2 quality!) artwork, plus extra modes including Double Screen (similar to the 10x10 for the PSP) and you have a winner here. Even if one of the characters _is_ called 'Nick The Hacker from Haxxor'.

But it's the bonus 'Sound Box' mode, which we actually previously referenced on GSW in its Japanese 'Pico Pico Machine' incarnation - click to there if you want to see a video of it in action - which is the most awesome, giving you a programmable music synthesizer as an add-on to the game. Now sure, it's a _bit_ limited in some annoying ways (it just needed more save slots and the ability to make your custom sounds into backing tracks to make it infinitely more expansive). But it's a complete blast to mess around with using the touchscreen, and you can genuinely program your own melodies/rhythms and switch between them in real-time.

And if you add that to the intuitive and fun gameplay of Gunpey DS, then this is absolutely the SKU to pick, as long as you don't get turned off by the cute-ass cartoon visuals. In fact, I'd ever go so far to say that I've enjoyed it more than Meteos - which is a fiendishly clever puzzler, but doesn't seem to have much natural 'flow' for me. Your mileage may vary, mind you.

[On this note, James Mielke's review of the two games at 1UP has many more pertinent details, for those interested in more info - and his own blog page even points out a Gunpey DS 'Sound Box' & Kaoss Pad video that some hardcore Japanese fan has recorded, showing you really can make 'proper' music with it.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may recall that we recently linked to Uncle Monsterface, the 'sock puppet rock and roll extravaganza' band who are relasing a Wii album to coincide with the system's launch.

Well, they mailed us again to reveal some very cool remixes from some friends in the game biz: "In support of the soon to be released "fanboy album of rock", some of our friends at Harmonix (you know the guys that make Guitar Hero) did some rocktastic remixes for us!"

Thus: "inter:sect's remix of Lobster Building (inter-sect.net) and Izzy Maxwell's "Hump Everything" remix of Underground Mutant Prairie Dogs from Hell (izzymaxwell.com) will only be available for the remaining days until the release of NINTENDODE and The Wii!" Also extra points for trying to link the unlinkable: "Now, we here at Monsterface Inc. realize that GUITAR HERO isn't for any of Nintendo's fine platforms or systems. But the fact of the matter is that GUITAR HERO, like the NINTENDO Wii, embraces a notion of fun and inclusive gaming - games made to get people standing up and rocking out and having fun - together, even (perhaps while in the same room!). "

Also, their disclaimer in their press release is fun: "And once again, HARMONIX, RED OCTANE, KONAMI, NINTENDO, Rupert Murdoch, The NRA, The Justice League - none of these companies have prepared or approved or licensed or produced any of what we are doing here. Just to be absolutely clear..." Hey guys, you forgot Activision!

[Oh, and apparently, if you're in New York for the Wii launch at the Nintendo Store, the Monsterface guys reveal: "We'll be the guys with the giant monster handing out the cool "Nintendode: songs for the big N" promo cards." And getting carted off by security?]

Posted by Simon Carless at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

['MMOG Nation' is a weekly column by Michael Zenke about current events in the world of Massively Multiplayer Games. This week's column is a look at the site VirginWorlds, and the man behind the keyboard, Brent.]

The last Citizen Spotlight focused on a commentator who put his most cynical foot forward. (His left, I think.) Today, I'm going to introduce you to a gent who is more BBC commentator than Keith Olbermann. The VirginWorlds blog, podcast, and newsfeed is an all-in-one package offering MMOG fans everything they need to stay informed on the latest the genre has to offer.

I had the pleasure of talking with Brent, the one-man show behind Virginworlds. He had some very thoughtful, lengthy responses to my simple questions. This look behind the scenes is accompanied by my two-cent tour of the site. I'll highlight the best blog entries, feature commentaries, and podcasts the site has to offer, for your browsing enjoyment. Read on, and find yourself exposed to more MMOG-related edification than an average Thursday warrants.

A World of Virgins? Where?

Michael: Okay! If you're ready I'm ready. How you doing? How was your weekend? :)
Brent: The weekend was what is usually is, a flurry of action to complete a podcast.

Michael: How much time do you put into a podcast?
Brent: It varies, but not counting the actual collection of the news items, I tend to put in about 6 to 8 hours on each one. About half of that is in assembling the show notes and the other half is recording and post production. The actual recording is the quickest part. I've done them as fast as 3 or 4 hours but that is rare.

Michael: Do you just try to keep a running list during the week of interesting news? Or do you do it all the day of?
Brent: The nice thing is that by Friday when i start compiling show notes, I already have entered about 15-20 news items of note on the website, so I use my own site to compile the podcast-hit list. I just open up the news page, scroll down to the previous Sunday and start opening everything that looks like a possible podcast story. From that I assemble some rather detailed show notes that I work from. So, mostly I do the podcast all in one shot, but the news items themselves are already collected in short 30 minutes segments during the course of the week. I tend to write the show notes, sleep on them and do the podcast in the early morning so that I have a fresh head (and a rough voice unfortunately.) Interestingly enough, I get more love for those mid-week reviews and specials than the regular shows, probably just because people come to expect the regular show so they like a like something extra and out of the ordinary on those mid-week surprises.

Michael: Are you looking to do more of that in the future? Hopefully get a few more dev folks in front of a mike?
Brent: Yes, I do want to bring more people from the industry onto the show, and at this point, I'm relatively certain I could talk some of them into it, but honestly, scheduling can be hard (as you surely know) and seeing as I do this in any moments I can spare, it is somewhat hard to commit to tracking down people and working around the schedules of others.

Michael: Mind if I ask what your dayjob is?
Brent: Ah, the way I feed myself... I work in the information security field, so I'm at a computer by day as well, but my job is less and less technically focused every day, which is nice, because I can enjoy the tech on my own terms such as running my servers, writing code for the site and so forth. Technology 'work' is much more fun when you aren't doing it for someone else. But I still have to deal with it every day, for now. I was a developer for 6 years prior to moving over to security and at some point I decided that I was tired of writing other people's code, or more importantly, building products I didn't care much about.

Michael: What's your social life outside of games like? :) Married, girlfriend? Gerbils? :)
Brent: I'm married, have been for 7 years. Happily. And last August (2005) just a month or so before VirginWorlds.com launched we welcomed a baby girl. It has indeed been a busy year as you can imagine. Now I'm juggling a podcast mic in one hand and a toddler in the other.

Michael: Why do you keep doing it, with that kind of time crunch?
Brent: Luckily my wife is both super-wife and super-mom. I'm not sure who she takes care of more, me or the girl. Why do I keep doing it? Good question with several answers. First is the reason I sort of joke about on the 'About" page on the site where I say, "Meanwhile, a career in the IT business grew up in the cracks in the sidewalk, threatening to suck all the fun out of computers. In a desperate attempt to preserve his gamer-self, Brent started VirginWorlds." There is some definite truth to that. But it isn't the whole story. Second, is perhaps the the second biggest reason: All my 'gamer' friends got married and had kids as well, but unlike like me, they decided to hang up the gaming and move on to other things. But I didn't want to quit gaming. I like it too much, and more importantly I didn't want to quit talking about gaming. We (my friends and I ) used to meet for lunch and talk about games from the second we sat down until we left. Emails about the games and ideas flew back and forth all day. It was great. And then all that stopped. But I wanted to keep talking to other gamers about games, so that's what I'm doing I guess. BUT, the third reason that I keep doing it is the most important. Those previous two are the reasons I started. The reason I keep doing it, is because I know that there are a ton of people out there waiting for me to do it, meaning write a post, or release a podcast. I've noticed that solitary goals that I have had over the years tend to fall by the wayside in favor of things that other people are expecting me to do. And now, I have a huge amount of people waiting for me to do stuff. It is extremely motivating. THAT is the main reason I keep doing it.

Michael: On that note, what kind of response has the VirginWorlds Podcast received? How many folks listen, what kind of feedback do you get, etc?
Brent: Very positive. At this time there are about 1300 listeners each week. I get about 20-30 emails from people every week. Some ask questions, some thank me for the show, and some have ideas for me. The thing that has shocked me most about the feedback I get is the consistency. The 55 iTunes reviews that have been posted all echo similar themes and the listeners have latched onto some qualities that I never noticed until they started pointing them out. It is very enlightening and luckily, the feedback is positive as well. :)

Michael: Good deal. Do you mind sharing what listeners see as the best qualities of the show?
Brent: Sure. It seems that the listeners of the VirginWorlds podcsast consists of people who are looking for raw information and commentary that is more lucid than what is presented by the vast majority of the gaming podcasts currently available. I never set out to tell jokes or make a statement. I just wanted to tell people what is up in the MMO world and drop in my thoughts along the way. Time and time again the listeners make comments about my even handed treatment of the material. To be honest, that was surprising at first. I DO have opinions and I do speak them, but they seem to appreciate the fact that I'm not coming off too 'fanboi'. I also get plenty of positive comments regarding my treatment of the English language. I'm not throwing down expletives every 5 seconds. Seems like a minor detail, but many moms and dads out there appreciate it. Additionally, people seem to like the raw data and I guess there is a ton of it.

Michael: What would you say your favorite show has been?
Brent: My favorite shows are the ones that Brenden, the occasional co-host, appears on. Brenden and I have never met. We live across the country from each other and have only been acquainted via IM and Skype for maybe 4 months now, and yet our common interest and compatible, yet not similar, personalities seems to bring a ton of extra life to the show. Brenden runs a very long running web comic and podcast at Falcontwin.com. He once linked a news article from VirginWorlds on his site and I noted a bunch of hits flowing in so I went and took a look and checked out his comic and his podcast. A month or so later he contacted me on IM and asked about my podcast equipment. And there began the MMO news and commentary duo that you occasionally hear. Interestingly enough, more than a few people have assumed we've known each other for years and record sitting in the same room. We have not and do not, but I think that is an indicator of a pretty good fit when it comes to doing the show.

Michael: What was your first MMOG?
Brent: Let's just say that MUDs fueled the fire, okay? I started playing a MUD called 3K (Three Kingdoms) in 1993 and it blew my mind. And then I saw Merridian 59 sometime around the spring of 1997, pretty sure it was then. That was an interesting experience, because my friends and I had been pondering the possibilities of such a thing since 1995. We played a bit of it and decided that the internet and computers in general were not quite ready for the graphical MUD yet. I put that away and went back to screwing around in MUD for awhile. Diablo came and went. And then, I fell into that deep dark pit called EverQuest.

Michael: How many games, then, have you played? MUDs and MMOGs.
Brent: A played a handful of MUDs seriously or semi-seriously. I know I had at least a couple MUD characters that were around the 50 day old mark, which seemed like a big deal in 1995. With MMOGs, I've played quite a few, but as you know, they demand heavy attention so when I really get into one, I tend to stick for awhile. EverQuest is of course the one that got the biggest chunk of time. I recently checked and found I have characters that total up to over 400 days old in EQ. Pretty ridiculous. After EQ I played EQ2, Lineage 2, CoH/CoV, World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, Guild Wars, Auto Assault, Dugeons and Dragons Online, Saga of Ryzom, Eve Online, and a slew of the recent betas and ports from the east. Some which I cannot mention at this time. In the near future, Brenden and I are going to return to the roots and get some time in Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and maybe Asheron's Call too. Some of those I still play. Some I played briefly. And some I was totally absorbed by.

Michael: Okay...so you've played all these games, would you have one that you consider 'your favorite'?
Brent: It is one of those "first kiss" scenarios. EverQuest has the best memories for me and though I doubt I'll drop everything and go back to that full time, it will always be one of the game experiences (experiences being the key word there) that I'll compare all others against.

Michael: So, you've played a lot of massive games, and you've generally avoided single-player experiences. What about the MMOG genre has kept you coming back? The people, guilds, raiding?
Brent: It certainly isn't the raiding. The people is a big part of it, but my play style most closely resembles the 'explorer'. I love the sheer size of the worlds and the fact that they're all new and all put together to entertain us. They are truly virgin worlds. I love the complexities of play that other games don't have. I love the coordination with all the other players. I love the fact that the fun doesn't end in 10 hours. But remember what I said earlier about showing up because other people are expecting you to? That is a huge part of it. When I turn off Tomb Raider, Lara doesn't care when I come back. But when I log out of a MMOG, my friends and guildmates do wonder that. Add on the fact that they keep leveling and exploring without me. I need to get online and see what is going on. It isn't so different from dropping by the corner pub to see what the regulars are doing. (I'm singing the Cheers theme song now.)

Michael: Hard one for you: What would you say is your proudest moment from a Massive game? "The one you'll be telling the grandkids about."
Brent: I'd like to say it was whooping Vindi, or raiding MC, or something grand like that, but it is quite the opposite. One of my best friends and I used to 2 and 3 box in EQ all the time. It worked well for grouping because we didn't need to assemble a ton of people. If we had a ton, great, but if we didn't, we'd still get stuff done with a full party of 6, even if it wsa just the two us logged into the server at 5AM. It also made for a very nice command group when raiding because we knew each other's play styles very well, and in that single group we had all the stuff a solid EQ party or raid command team needed. Tank, healer, puller, crowd control, slower, etc. So one day, we decided that we were going to head out to the Temple of Veeshan, and take down some dragons in the Halls of Testing. Back in the day this was a serious high end raid zone, but at this point, it was mostly vacant because all the serious raiders were in the Planes of Power. We got it into our heads that we could probably take down the huge dragons with a single party operated by just the two of us. We tried again and again. I bet we spent 5 or 6 hours pulling, fighting, wiping, rezzing, pulling, fighting, wiping... But we were so close. Each time we'd get closer and closer. 53%, 42%, 37%, 22%, 17%! Here is why this is so odd as a proudest moment. We never won. We just kept trying again and again and laughing the whole time as we got closer and closer. We'd have never done it if any of the other guildmates had been there, because we wouldn't want to inconvenience them, but since it was just the two of us, we didn't care. We just kept refining it. Finally, we went to bed. Then, the next morning, the day we actually had a raid in ToV scheduled, we got up and went back. But it was early morning and only ONE other guild member showed up. A beastlord. So we're standing there with our "raid" party of 7. And guess what? We took down dragon after dragon after dragon with those 7. Sure it was slow going, but guess which three guild members got a ton of well earned drops that morning. That is the scenario that came to mind first when you asked that question. One of my best MMOG memories.

Michael: On the flip side (and I know there are lots to sort from here) what was your absolute worst experience in a Massive game?
Brent: Aside from every WoW and Lineage pickup group? The things that have been bad enough to actually carry over and disappoint me even outside of the game have been those scenarios where I've seen guilds full of people who were fantastic friends ripped apart by silly issues around loot and raiding. A bad night of raiding or a string of character deaths or a bad encounter with farmers can be shrugged off, but when I see a tightly knit group of people break up in dramatic explosions it is the worst. I often wonder how digital loot and raid progression issues can cause seemingly unbreakable guild-loyalty to vanish overnight. I've never been able to truly depart a great guild. I've had non-dramatic detours, but I always end up going back to the welcoming arms of 'the family'. I don't understand why more people can't be like that. I'm not perfect. I get frustrated with things too, but where good virtual-friends are concerned, I try to treat them as good RL-friends. I wish more people would remember that there are indeed real people behind those avatars.

Michael: Okay, so, there are (all of a sudden, it seems) a lot of MMOGs on the far horizon. What is the unreleased MMOG you're looking forward to the most?
Brent: You would think I'd have a great answer for that since I get asked the question practically every day. In the distant future, I am really looking forward to Star Trek Online. I'm not positive I'll love it, but I think there is a chance. Perpetual seems to be going in the right direction. In the near future, I want to fall in love with Vanguard, but I'm not sure that I will. Every word that Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler say gets a resounding "YES" from me. It is like they are reading my mind. But, I worry about the delivery. I worry about the design. I worry about my video card blowing up. And lastly, I look forward to whatever is is CCP decides to do next. Their merger with White Wolf that was announced this past week left a million gamers drooling in anticipation, me included. I think that some of the best game play and innovation continues to come from the small studios. They're fueled by passion and great ideas instead of gazillion dollar art budgets. The names that come to mind first are Dusktreaders from Granite Games (which may be overshadowed now by the CCP/White Wolf thing) and whatever Stray Bullet studios decides to do next. Let's hope they can stay afloat. I was very bummed to see another promising small studio go away recently when Tulga was dissolved.

Michael: Any hobbies outside of gaming?
Brent: One serious one. I'm a guitar player in a local metal band. Been playing for about 17 years and have been with the same group of guys for about 9 years now. Another example of a low drama "guild". We are putting the finishing touches on our first full length CD right now. Very exciting.
Michael: Ever played Guitar Hero? :)
Brent: I haven't. No consoles in this house. And honestly, when I can go down to the studio and unleash on a real guitar, why would I, right?

Michael: Is there anything you'd like to say to Virginworld listeners/readers?
Brent: What can I say aside from "thanks"? I've been extremely surprised at the response from the listeners and readers, as well as the other podcasters and bloggers. I never really expected anyone to visit, and listen, but they have, and that is great. When I started blogging I looked at people like Foton, Ethic, and AggroMe (among others) and was extremely impressed. When they linked me I was blown away. Now I see bloggers and podcasters coming up behind me who are inspired by what I've done, like I was with those before me. It is extremely exciting to see and it keeps me motivated. Those rewards are all we get in this line of dabbling, and believe me, they're more than enough to keep me doing this for a long time to come.

Michael: Thank you so much, Brent, for the time you've given me tonight. Especially with a little-more-than-one-year-old in the house. :)
Brent: Sir, it has been very enjoyable and a great honor.

The Words of the World

While VirginWorlds has primarily become a news reporting organ, Brent has occasionally sallied forth with some longer form commentary pieces. A piece from last December looked at Instancing from a Player's Perspective. It explains the pros and cons of the technology, and provides a bevy of links to commentary from other websites. That preference for providing references is a watchword around VirginWorlds, with Brent usually thoughtfully providing information for even the most casual of readers. His ongoing series called "What Makes Us Go Ding?", though, is almost reference-less; it's a very personal look at what Brent feels are the reasons we play these things. Part 1 looks at the newness of experiences we MMOGers crave, Part 2 covers exploration, Part 3 covers questing and the hero complex, and Part 4 covers the insidious attraction of community. Interesting and personal looks at the hook in every MMOG player's mouth.

The Snark of the World

Of course, VirginWorlds is also a blog, and Brent can be just as snarky as the next guy when he wants to be. Witness his 'WoW Haiku' ("azeroth grows stale / expansion still a figment / eve online installs") and DDO Haiku ("Clumsy interface / Click click click click click click click / Fifty wasted bucks"). Brent's been especially hard on World of Warcraft, hitting it with complaints about the patcher, lamentations about the boredom of WoW podcasters, and even statements that WoW just isn't that special. "It has the right marketing, the right look, the right depth, and the right competition and all have allowed it to be the success it is. It probably IS the most complete, fun, and accessible MMO available today. Blizzard has done a fine job, they have executed well and deserve credit, but on the other hand, WoW isn't special."

Despite all that, Brent has an unreserved enthusiasm for the genre that comes through very clearly in his less formal commentary. Where I and others are more likely to focus on what we're not enjoying about the games out there, Brent's appreciation for exploring new virtual worlds is like a cool drink of water for the angry MMOG Blog circle. For example, earlier this year he decided it was an oversight that he'd never played Star Wars Galaxies. While he wasn't blown away by SWG, it was very interesting to see someone completely new to the game comment on its post-NGE state. Brent's a big fan of EVE Online, and his enthusiastic coverage of EVE TV during the PvP battles earlier this year aided greatly in my enjoyment of the beautiful explosions onscreen. Likewise, his first experience at AGC made even an industry-event cynic like me smile. "I return to the show floor where I meet Brian 'Psychochild' Green from Near Death Studios. Blackguard records a VirginWorlds promo for me. The MOGArmy interviews... me?"

The posts Brent has written for the site that make me smile the most involve good old Everquest. It's got to be a standard in MMOGdom by now: you can take the gamer out of the game, but you can't take the game out of the gamer. Your first MMOG always stays with you, no matter where you find yourself /camping out on a day-to-day basis. Two particularly enjoyable posts on EQ and its successor have Brent proclaiming EQ Live the best MMOG ever, and the Revival of Everquest 2. "They've polished and finished their game. Today, EQ2 is what it should have been at launch. It has a strong and positive community team with a great new podcast. Our video cards have caught up with the future-proofed graphics. Trade skilling has been revamped numerous times, all for the better. The world size has been expanded and great diversity and falvor has been added in the well received expansions. The class progression was removed. Soloing ability was enhanced."

The Voice of the World

The most notable element of the VirginWorlds site is the weekly Sunday podcast Brent has put out, come rain or come shine, since March of this year. Like this past weekend's 'cast, each of these 20-40 minute audio tracks lays out the news from the Massively Multiplayer genre for the past week. The average podcast covers between 8-16 games, touching on any titles with noteworthy news for the week. Each news clip is delivered without commentary. The goal of the service is to provide information, not convey Brent's personal opinion. That, combined with his attention to some smaller titles, makes the VirginWorlds podcast an ideal stand-in for genre fans uninspired by yet another RSS feed.

He's also had the opportunity to switch up the format on occasion, offering additional commentary and information outside of the usual weekly news. He's had a few interviews, including one with Dusktreaders designer Erik Hyrkas, and the gents from EVE TV. He's occasionally done game reviews, such as his hard look at Ryzom, and his first-hand look at the dungeon experience in DDO.

With some 40 podcasts behind him, Brent has recently begun opening up the format of the show with some new elements. In October he and fellow occasional commentator Brenden opened up a compressed can of conversation by declaring a top ten of MMOGs in two parts. To give you some idea of the conversation sparked by their choices, World of Warcraft was only number 6. VirginWorlds listeners have also begun to accompany Brent on driving outings, in mid-weekly editions of the show meant to offer a more casual look at games and a chance to deal with reader mail.

By playing 'straight man' to the court jesters around him, Brent and the VirginWorlds podcast offer something hard to find in a world of self-made 'journalists': clarity and impartiality. He's also got pretty good taste in games, which helps a great deal. If you need any more proof, a final link and a heads up for the next Citizen Spotlight: A recommendation from Brent for Tobold's MMORPG Blog. Look for an exploration of Tobold's site, and an interview with the man behind the keyboard in two weeks.

[Michael Zenke is also known as 'Zonk', the current editor of Slashdot Games. He has had the pleasure of writing occasional pieces for sites like Gamasutra and The Escapist. You can read more of Michael's ramblings on Massive games at the MMOG Nation blog. ]

Posted by mzenke at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over at Serious Games Source, which is the sister site to GameSetWatch that deals with games for training, education, and other cultural shenanigans, Gonzalo Frasca has posted a piece discussing the questionable gameplay themes in Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS.

The piece does a good job of explaining how the game's arguably sexist concepts were toned down for the West (as previously discussed on GSW), but my favorite bit is an afterword: "On an incidental note, I would like to mention that a few months after Super Princess Peach was released, Nintendo launched another Mario platform game for the Nintendo DS: New Super Mario Bros. This game featured new superpowers for Mario, too. Rather than using his emotions, Mario was able to shift sizes, from tiny to enormous."

Frasca notes: "I never thought about this until I wrote this article but Nintendo’s choice of female and male superpowers for both games in nothing short of hilarious. One game defines women as emotionally unstable while the other one presents boys as being obsessed with their size. Why is Mario so worried about how big he can be? Who is he trying to impress? Has Luigi been recently dating somebody?" This line of questioning could go far!

Posted by Simon Carless at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Time for our new GameSetCompetition, and thanks to the folks at 'urban lounge gear' firm Sumo, we've got a deluxe Sumo Omni beanbag chair in a color of your choice to give away.

Looks like Sumo have been targeting blogs in general (and specifically gaming blogs, since gamers seem to enjoy lounging and playing games!) to help advertise their product, judging by the voluminous press (hey, the guys at Flash game portal NewGrounds are chilling in them, hah), but rather than doing a slightly out-of-place 'review' and keeping the chair for ourselves, we figured we'd give it away to one of you directly.

So, to win a Sumo Omni beanbag chair, which is "made from space age rip-proof nylon and filled with top quality Sumo Beads", apparently (gotta love the space age nylon!), you will need to answer the following question:

"Which popular '80s Epyx video game had you manipulating a much smaller bean bag to score points?"

Please send your answers to editors@gamesetwatch.com any time before Wednesday, November 22nd at 12 noon PST. There will be one winner randomly picked from the correct answers, the judges' decision is final, and that's that. Have fun!

Posted by Simon Carless at 2:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The 'Adventure Classic Gaming' site has done an excellent interview with Space Quest co-creator Scott Murphy, with plenty of both insight and vitriol levelled at the unraveling of Siera.

Murphy, who claims he hasn't really given interviews before due to his Attention Deficit Disorder, rages: "The bitterness I posses is at what Sierra and Ken Williams had become as they became more and more successful, and how the Space Quest 6 abortion came about after broken promises and the just plain fucking over I got from the people I’d worked so incredibly hard for. The more successful each game became, the worse they treated us and the less they wanted to pay us."

As for the future of adventure gaming? Murphy is brutally honest, but perhaps essentially correct: "I’ve never given it a thought since I know that world has come and gone. Adventure games have cult status. Companies don’t have interest in the kind of money cult work might bring." Mind you, there's TellTale's Sam & Max, right? Never surrender! [Via Indygamer.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We're pretty much Lore Sjoberg fans over here (he of Brunching Shuttlecocks fame), so were delighted to see a humor article about MMO forums posted at Wired News, as part of his alt.text column.

His intro is pretty much spot on: "If you play an online game that you enjoy, there's one surefire way to spoil the experience: read the forums on the official site. There you will find a vast underworld of lost souls keening their misery onto your screen. A game you thought was entertaining, well-balanced and attractive will be torn apart before your very eyes and pronounced lacking in every conceivable way."

Example - a 'magical realist': "Doesn't understand what a "game" is. Constantly makes arguments based on what would be "realistic," even if the game is set in a fantasy world run by wizards and pixies... Sample Quote: "You can't tell me a Mondlagarian Tiger Warrior is stronger than a Swamp Troll. That just doesn't make sense!"" Most fun.

Posted by Simon Carless at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's something you won't find...well anywhere! [EDITOR'S NOTE: Except on Insert Credit, from where this is crossposted to help spread the word - ta GSW co-editor chap Brandon!]

It's a charity auction [for the BBC's Children In Need charity] put up by devin shockwell of the blackmoon project. Blackmoon is a CD-i enthusiast site, and as such, this Zelda auction is related to that. To boil it down, the auction focuses on two Zelda games that were released for the CD-i; Zelda - The Wand of Gamelon, and Link - The Faces of Evil. The games, frankly, weren't that hot. But the art was very nice.

What devin has done is he's professionally printed out unique, original versions of the art, with story and whatnot associated, and nice frames. These are signed by the original artist, rob dunlavey, and come with a letter from him, detailing some of his work on the project. You can check out quite a bit of the art from the games in rob's computer games section.

The auction also comes with every CD-i game rob had a hand in: Alice in Wonderland, Sargon Chess, Laser Lords, Mutant Rampage, Zelda - The Wand of Gamelon, and Link - The Faces of Evil

What's more, it comes with the Retro Gamer magazine that covered the Zelda CD-i games, signed by the authors, and all of the proceeds go to charity. Check the auction itself on eBay UK for super detailed info - beware, only 4 days left, as I dragged on this a bit! The print is size A4 by the way - not super huge, but hey, it's for charity! Who are you to complain!? [Original post by Brandon.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some of you may have spotted (via my frequent XBLA references) that I'm a little bit addicted to Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360, possibly over and above the $60 retail games, so it's no surprise that I've added myself to the XBLArcade.com weekly Xbox Live Arcade points leaderboard.

It's a neat idea, which unfortunately isn't supported directly on the MyGamerCard site (where you have to go sign up for the XBLArcade leaderboard, in order for the XBLArcade site admins to extrapolate your Xbox Live Arcade-only points status) - but hey, any way it works, right?

In fact, I'm #49 out of 57 (gamertag = Simoniker) when the chart takes into account _all_ games played, not just Xbox Live Arcade games, but I rise all the way to #36 out of 57 when the Xbox Live Arcade-only version of the chart is calculated. This shows that I have an above average slant to playing those cute downloadable games, even within the group of people who've signed up for the XBLA-specific chart, but I'm still hardly competitive, hah. Wow, that was all a bit confusing - but I hope you get the gist.

Posted by Simon Carless at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, Gregg 'Greggman' Tavares has been a developer at Sony of Japan (most recently working on LocoRoco!) for quite a while now - with a long history including stints at Naughty Dog in the States, and he's updated his personal site to discuss an awesome custom wedding video game that he created for some friends.

He explains: "The wedding was to be in April 2006. Our group has had a little bit of a history of, um...., interesting birthday presents and so we got this idea that it would be really cool to surprise David and Elly with their very own video game on their wedding day. Something that could be presented at their wedding reception."

So what happened? "Ultimately we decided on making a bunch of simple mini games in the spirit of Wario Ware. We brainstormed a bunch of simple game ideas including many raunchy ones that we thought maybe we'd have to save for a special party without the relatives although in the end we made just one version with relatively safe themes." All of the mini-games are explained, from 'Protect The Sausage' to 'Put the Ring On', all personalized, and it's just an awesome idea - someone should go into business doing this! [Via The-Inbetween.]

Posted by Simon Carless at 3:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now, I'm sure a number of you have spotted the news that Ziff Davis is closing Official PlayStation Magazine in North America after the January 2007 issue - a sad state of affairs, due to the fact that the magazine "no longer fits its strategic vision" - and likely declining subscriptions, too.

I wonder also if it's because Ziff is reducing its reliance on print (even at the expense of lowered revenues) to make the Game Group a more attractive acquisition prospect - but that's neither here nor there.

What _is_ interesting, however, is that the Audit Bureau Of Circulations numbers for game magazines in the U.S. never tend to get reported widely, unlike the UK versions of the ABC, where they tend to get quite some press. I did actually find a list of Future's Jan-Jun 2006 US ABCs [.PDF link] somewhere on their site, so it got me thinking - what's the current state of circulations, and how is it trending?

The latest data (Jan-Jun 2006) is available on the ABC site, if you look closely enough. But we wouldn't have easy access to historical data, except for a 2004 Electronic Gaming Business story archived on FindArticles.com, and somewhat ironically named 'Magazines Hold Their Own In an Interactive Age', which lists several specific ABCs from 2003 and 2004.

So we're going to do a little list for each magazine with paid circulation specific figures from Jan-Jun 2006, Jan-Jun 2004, Jan-Jun 2003 - and if anyone can get us Jan-Jun 2005, that would be even better - ping us if you have access. (Also worth noting: since the Jul-Dec figures include the holiday season, they are often slightly higher, and average the yearly circ out a bit higher.) Here we go:

Official PlayStation Magazine (Ziff Davis)
Jan-Jun 2003: 283,827
Jan-Jun 2004: 264,432
Jan-Jun 2006: 252,267 (plus another 46,129 unpaid)

PSM (Future)
Jan-Jun 2003: 403,617
Jan-Jun 2004: 400,318
Jan-Jun 2006: 305,951

[So both magazines are taking a significant circulation dive, but with the cost of the license and official disc manufacturing, looks like Ziff have decided it's not worth it to continue. Interestingly, PSM has declined by the largest percentage since Jan-Jun 2003, though.]

PC Gamer (Future)
Jan-Jun 2003: 300,271
Jan-Jun 2004: 304,110
Jan-Jun 2006: 250,147

Computer Gaming World (Ziff Davis)
Jan-Jun 2003: 260,012
Jan-Jun 2004: 202,359
Jan-Jun 2006: 216,484

[Though I'm guessing that Computing Gaming World picked up a bit in the second half of 2004 and into 2005 before starting to decline again, its recent rebranding as Games For Windows is explained by the fact that it's currently running significantly under 2003 subscription levels. Mind you, so is PC Gamer, despite pulling ahead in 2004, and still holding an overall lead.]

Game Informer (GameStop)
Jan-Jun 2003: 1,095,841
Jan-Jun 2004: 1,647,350
Jan-Jun 2006: 1,994,488

Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis)
Jan-Jun 2003: 505,569
Jan-Jun 2004: 514,058
Jan-Jun 2006: 594,393

GamePro (IDG)
Jan-Jun 2003: 554,335
Jan-Jun 2004: 480,021
Jan-Jun 2006: N/A

[In the multiformat realm, there's some interesting results. Game Informer's gigantic surge in subscriptions from its GameStop loyalty card bundling has got it out in front, and there it seems likely to stay - it's an impressive #31 on the Top 100 U.S. magazines by subscription numbers for Jan-June 2006. EGM has also been holding its own and even creeping up, whereas GamePro was dipping as early as 2004, and I can't find any ABC results past Jan-Jun 2004, which may or may not be ominous.]

Official Xbox Magazine (Future)
Jan-Jun 2003: 344,731
Jan-Jun 2004: 406,176
Jan-Jun 2006: 425,243

Tips 'N Tricks (Larry Flynt Publications)
Jan-Jun 2003: 145,925
Jan-Jun 2004:146,566
Jan-Jun 2006: N/A

[Mopping up the other ABC-audited publications in the field, Official Xbox Magazine has been doing extremely well, even after the Xbox 360 launch. This is at least somewhat to do with its often excellent cover-disc, but I do wonder how well it will perform now that most Xbox 360 demos are available online? We'll see. Meanwhile, Tips 'N Tricks, from the ever-wondrous Larry Flynt, is hanging on in there, but doesn't seem to have any recent ABCs, which make us wonder whether it's having notable circ declines. But maybe it isn't, we can't tell!]

[UPDATE: A commenter asks about Nintendo Power, which I didn't list because it's never been ABC-audited - or at least not recently, as far as I can see. However, our wonderful Kevin 'Magweasel' Gifford notes: "Nintendo Power's circulation is not audited by ABC. Its guaranteed subscription rate base at the end of 2005 was 435,000."]

Posted by Simon Carless at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

OK, finally time for some news that isn't about us - in fact, it's about Ubisoft and Nvidia... no, wait, Ubisoft and, uhm, Nivea - under the excellent press release headline: "NIVEA FOR MEN Partners With Ubisoft to Integrate Products Into Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent(TM)'.

It's explained: "The video game industry has gained significant momentum over the past few decades. When games like Nintendo's Duck Hunt® and Mario Brothers® were first introduced to the small screen they captured the attention of young boys and occupied them through their teen years. Now, these boys have grown up yet haven't neglected their adolescent hobby. Men are now rushing home from work to spend the remainder of their evenings with a cold drink and a bag of chips to sit in front of the TV so that they can play video games." Yeah, stupid men and their cold non-alcoholic drinks!

In any case: "NIVEA FOR MEN, the #1 men's skin care line in the mass market, has partnered with Philips Norelco Cool Skin Razor to integrate product placements into Ubisoft's video game, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent(TM)." But we thought Sam Fisher was all stubble-y?

In addition: "NIVEA FOR MEN products appear at different stages throughout the game and have been seamlessly integrated into the video game environments. In addition to product placements and billboards, NIVEA FOR MEN and Norelco wanted to get more deeply involved with the game play experience. When double agent Sam Fisher travels through the streets of New York City, a billboard advertisement leads players to a co-branded Web site that provides game tips, www.thegoodside.com." Oh boy.

Posted by Simon Carless at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Over at The Escapist, Slashdot Games editor and sometime GSW columnist Michael Zenke has contributed an article named 'Game Journalists on Game Journalism', and it includes luminaries such as GameSpot's Greg Kasavin and Joystiq's Chris Grant, alongside a bunch of idiots from Game Developer and Gamasutra (myself, Brandon Sheffield, Frank Cifaldi) talking the state of game journalism.

I like Frank's reply on what it means to be a game journalist: "I think the more important question here is what it means to be a journalist; the "game" part is secondary, it's merely a specialized form. Ideally, a journalist is someone who is able to acquire facts, compile them and then present them to the reader in a clear, definitive, objective way. The role of a journalist is to relay information; the role of a good journalist is to make this information interesting without showing personal bias (or, in many cases, hiding it really damned well)"

Also fun is Kotaku's Brian Crecente on blogging: "In general, I think blogging scares print publications. But I do think that the gaming press is more able to quickly respond to that threat by changing their writing and reporting style, something I believe we've already started to see." OMG blogs FTW! Lots more food for thought in here.

Posted by Simon Carless at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

News from the Independent Games Festival - we've now put up a list of the 102 Student Showcase entries for this year, and there looks to be a wide array of high-quality student titles on view again (just as in previous years, when games such as Cloud and Narbacular Drop were prominent!) Go pick some favorites and tell us about them!

The IGF finalist announcement for the Student Showcase will be on January 4th, 2007 - and before then, the Main Competition finalists will be unveiled on December 9th, 2006, and the Mod Competition finalists on December 18th, 2006. In between now and then, we'll also be making some announcements about key lectures, roundtables, and keynotes at the 2007 Independent Games Summit, also to be held at GDC next March, so watch out for that.

Also, we just rounded up _all_ the Gamasutra interviews with IGF Main Competition entrants - so we're gonna add it here too. We've talked to the makers of Gibbage, Gamma Bros, Prime Time: Maths Adventure, Eets, Plasma Pong, SpaceStationSim, Minions Of Mirth, Everyday Shooter, Sim Tractor, Kudos, Aquaria, Golf?, Virtual Villagers, New Star Soccer 3, Armadillo Run, Motorama, and Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble! - click on each game name to read the interview.

Posted by Simon Carless at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know, we don't need to comment, we just need to link to the press release and boggle: "Santa Claus may ponder whether you've been Good or Bad, but Running With Scissors (RWS) CEO Vince Desi doesn't care if you were naughty or nice – he wants everybody to share in some POSTAL Holiday Fudge. "What would Christmas be without Fudge?" he asked rhetorically."

"Fortunately, POSTAL fans and newcomers to the infamous franchise won't have to contemplate such a dire fate. RWS has just released the POSTAL FUDGE PACK, a special edition of the series that brings gamers the entire POSTAL saga, from the original 1997 game to the multiplayer-optional POSTAL 2: SHARE THE PAIN and the climactic POSTAL 2: APOCALYPSE WEEKEND."

Waut, and you even get... Postal mods, too? "But this is the gift that keeps on giving. The POSTAL FUDGE PACK also contains the soon to be legendary fan conversion, ETERNAL DAMNATION as well as the fan mod -A WEEK IN PARADISE, which melds POSTAL 2 action and APOCALYPSE WEEKEND weaponry for seven days you'll never forget." And sorry about the graphic.

Posted by Simon Carless at 5:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We don't generally link to Gamasutra features, but when it's an interview with Blitz's Philip Oliver that reveals what's up with that lovable platform mascot Dizzy, we just _have_ to. (Oh, and he talks about Blitz's promotional Burger King games too, hence the pic!)

Oliver explains of the classic '80s platform egg: "The problem with Dizzy is the IP is owned by Codemasters, and we can’t do anything without their permission, and every time we ask for their permission, they say no! So we can’t do anything. And every time they ask us, and they don’t ask us that often, we sort of feel like saying ‘no,’just to be sorry for. But we signed a deal with them just a bit ago for some mobile phone stuff, so maybe that’ll happen."

There's also a hint on full-fledged downloadable games for the Wii, which I reckon will be around sometime in mid-2007: "We want to be a major developer of downloadable games, not just for Xbox Live Arcade, but for the Sony system and the Nintendo system... [when asked about new third-party Wii downloadable games]: I believe that on the other line is a conference call between the person at Nintendo and the head of our arcade division, right now."

Posted by Simon Carless at 1:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just got a note from artist and game designer John Freeborn, since we were one of the starting points for the information train (choo choo!) on his excellent (and previously GSW-mentioned) skateboarding vs. Pitfall Flash game, Skatefall, and he reveals: "I got a new game." But what is it?

Well: "Take name that tune, reverse it – name the song that sampled the song. And you have Sampla." Hah, neat - this is a bit more quizlike than actual interactive video game-like, but go check it out, anyhow.

What's more, Freeborn notes: "Some are hard, some are easy. V1 features 35 tracks, 10 are selected at random each time you play. There is a scoreboard, so you can show and prove your skills." Wow, so expect lots of George Clinton and early funk being sampled by lots of Snoop and De La Soul, among many other things - this really is a big geekout.

Posted by Simon Carless at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been looking around a bit for those interesting games that get a bit 'lost' at this time of year, due to the volume of game releases, and we think we might have found one - Justice League Heroes: The Flash for GBA, as recently reviewed positively over at GameSpot, and a retro side-scrolling beat 'em up blast from the past.

Now, this is a GBA-exclusive version of a multi-platform title, but it's done by the awesome guys at WayForward, who have been responsible for games such as Shantae and the odd/cool Sigma Star Saga, and whom we have previously mentioned on GSW.

Here's the blurb, explaining the waybackness of WayForward's concept for the (likely simple, but still likely fun!) title, which got 7.9 from GameSpot and 8.9 from the public GameSpot reviewers: "WayForward Technologies, the game's developer, has put together a beat-'em-up game that is along the lines of such classics as Double Dragon or Streets of Rage. The only difference is that the combat and atmosphere are heavily influenced by the Justice League universe."

What's more: "The settings are Keystone City, Gotham City, the Amazon, and Metropolis. And each level is populated with its own collection of robots and henchmen that are ripped from the pages of DC comics." Oo, fanboy drool. Has anyone played it yet?

Posted by Simon Carless at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, the time is here - we're giving away 3 copies of Gears Of War for the Xbox 360, thanks to Microsoft and our new God, Lord Clifford of Blesznisk-town, Epicland. (OK, well maybe not God, but certainly FPS figurehead.)

So, without further ado, the winners of one copy of Gears Of War each are: Jason C. Barr (hey man, I really liked The Crow!), John Guerrero (love your skateboard prowess!), and Scott McGowan (nope, I got nuthin'!)

So, for those who couldn't work out the answer, here's the full info:

Q: "What mammal costume is CliffyB pictured wearing in the pic accompanying his recent Game Developer magazine interview?"
A: A bunny suit! (here's the photographic evidence, btw.)

Look out for some more GSW giveaways soon - we actually have two lined up and ready to go, and one of them is very comfortable indeed, so we'll be starting that one a little later this week.

Posted by Simon Carless at 10:14 AM |