1. Hitman: Blood Money
2. FIFA World Cup Germany 2006
3. Tomb Raider: Legend
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
5. X-Men: The Official Game
6. Animal Crossing: Wild World
7. The Sims 2
8. Half-Life 2: Episode One
9. Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
10. Championship Manager 2006
Author Archive
UK sales charts, September 9-16: Lego leads the board
Filed under: Business
Despite entering the charts at number three last week, Lego Star Wars II has proved a popular favourite with the British public, rising to snatch the top spot from Dead Rising this week. The rest of the chart follows in similar vein, demonstrating only a slight shuffle from last week’s positions. Several Xbox 360 titles are selling well, but the multiformat nature of Lego Star Wars may have tipped it to the top — that, and it’s Lego, man.
1. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
2. Dead Rising
3. Saints Row
4. Cars
5. Test Drive Unlimited
6. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
7. New Super Mario Bros.
8. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
9. Lego Star Wars
10. The Sims 2
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Jackson talks about Halo film
Filed under: Culture, First Person Shooters
Over at Ain’t It Cool News, there’s a lengthy interview with Peter Jackson, covering the director, script and visual effects for the upcoming Halo movie. Jackson’s enthusiasm shines through, and it’s clear he’s aiming at something better than your average “video game movie“:
It is original and new and has not been seen before on the screen. It’s not Ridley Scott, it’s not James Cameron, it’s not what we’ve seen before, but it’s something new and fresh and it’s cool.
The interviewer suggests the concept of an “adult” Halo movie; fortunately, there’s an older interview with director Neill Blomkamp to take your mind off the thought.
[Thanks, WebPimp]
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MMO golf game tees off
Massively multiplayer golf? Yes, you heard us right. Purporting to already have a million players worldwide, subscription-free MMO golf title Shot-Online hits retail stores this week. The game aims to combine the social aspects of MMO games with a serious golf mechanic, though its cartoony graphic style implies a less-than-serious approach.
From an outside view, this just looks like a golf game with a bit of social infrastructure slapped on; rankings, communication and levelling your character make a potentially dull sports game something that’s potentially engrossing. It isn’t true novelty — the idea of ranking and progression in sports games, as well as competitive multiplayer, date back a way — but at least it’s not elves.
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Gaming by introverts, for introverts
Filed under: Culture
An interesting tidbit dredged up from Raph Koster’s presentation at the Austin Game Conference comes via Wonderland: most gamers are introverts. Pardon us while we gasp in disbelief for a few minutes. Koster claims that most gamers fall into the Myers-Briggs types INTJ, INTP, ISTJ and ISTP. With INTJ being a classic scientist, and INTP a classic programmer, it seems as if games really are designed by nerds, for nerds.
As Alice points out, what would a game designed by an extrovert look like? How are those of us who have Myers-Briggs types beginning with E catered for by modern games? Perhaps we’re more likely to head off to the pub and pay someone else to level our MMO characters — perhaps we’re more drawn to social or casual games — or perhaps we just don’t play at all.
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Innovative controllers rounded up
Filed under: Culture, Peripherals
This article over at bit-tech.net looks at ten of the more offbeat game control schemes — from bongos and maracas to cameras and dance mats. It’s a nice reminder that gaming isn’t all “up up down down” and that sometimes you can have a little fun with the controller as well as with the game.
Of course, collecting multiple peripherals, one for each game, quickly becomes a hassle — will next-gen’s out of the box accessories render a cupboardful of controllers unnecessary? Or will we see some manufacturers continue to make third-party peripherals because their games simply aren’t possible otherwise? Perhaps it’ll be a bit of both — the thought of playing Guitar Hero with a PS3 joypad, or dance games with the Wii, has us reaching for our plug-in accessories already.
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UK sales charts, September 2-9: Dead Rising to top
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
The UK’s fastest-selling Xbox 360 game yet, Dead Rising has rushed straight to the top of the all-format charts this week. Beating popular newcomers Lego Star Wars II and Test Drive Unlimited to number one, Dead Rising’s debut means a drop in position for last week’s high-rankers Cars and Saints Row. A recent expansion pack means The Sims 2 is unfortunately still glued to the top-ten list.
1. Dead Rising
2. Saints Row
3. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
4. Test Drive Unlimited
5. Cars
6. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff
7. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
8. New Super Mario Bros.
9. The Sims 2
10. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
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The ‘death of childhood’? Blame games, say UK childcare experts
Filed under: Culture
An open letter in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper condemns “junk culture” — junk food, junk entertainment and a fast-moving culture — for its effect on children, with sombre phrases like “ruining our children” and “the death of childhood” weighing down its paragraphs. From the letter:
[Children] still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed “junk”), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.
A scathing commentary on the evils of modern life — and what’s more, plenty of readers agree that the hands-off parenting enabled by video games is a big problem for today’s youth. Perhaps the high profile given to this complaint (a national broadsheet) will open up some serious debate on the matter, rather than give a platform for rabid anti-gaming propaganda to spread to the UK as well.
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Multiverse becoming popular with indie MMO developers
Filed under: PC, MMO, Business
According to this CNET article, MMO development platform Multiverse is becoming a hit. The “talk of the Austin Game Conference“, about 100 developers are already signed up for the beta, and while some potential products seem to be going the sword-and-sorcery route, others look more interesting.
However, as a commenter at Wonderland points out, Multiverse isn’t the only option out there. With a high-profile investor in James Cameron, and plenty of publicity, it’s overshadowing products like HeroEngine — more options for development mean more diverse final products, but the ‘indie MMO’ space could certainly become quite exciting thanks to Multiverse and its cronies.
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Try Guild Wars expansion free … again
The next expansion in the Guild Wars series, Nightfall, is just around the corner — but for anyone who can’t wait until October, NCsoft are running an open preview event on September 22-24. During that weekend, Nightfall will be free to play for just about anyone, regardless of whether you have Guild Wars already.
The previous expansion, Factions, had a very successful preview event, so it’s no surprise the idea’s being repeated. It makes sense for NCsoft to capitalise on Guild Wars‘ free nature by, well, making it even freer — if only for a short while. Those of us already resigned to paying monthly for MMOs may find it a nice change to try a new one without cost, but as every hour spent on a free game is one that we have already paid for on another MMO, it’s hard to drag us away.
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Video game BAFTA nominees announced
Filed under: Culture
Part of the London Games Festival, the BAFTA awards for video games will help provide some recognition to gaming that’s on a par with film and TV — at least, in the UK. The nominees, announced today, cover a wide range of games — from popular favourites such as Tomb Raider: Legend and Oblivion to the more off-beat in Guitar Hero and Katamari.
Given the way the UK charts have been looking this summer, the mainstream games may well come out top in most categories, though we’d like to see more recognition for other titles. Fingers crossed; the awards are on October 5th.
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Sony keynote at London Games Summit, Games Festival hotting up
Filed under: Business
This October, the London Games Festival will be hitting the UK’s capital with a whole bevy of gaming events. (If you’re in the industry, or you want to be, that is.) First up, we have the European answer to GDC, GDC London, for the development types — sessions range from the excitingly-titled-yet-probably-dull “Combat: The Ninja Way” through to a Molyneux special on design inspiration.
More a business sort? The Games Summit is up your street, with buzzword-compliant “hard-hitting business content” for all tastes, from ARGs to — surprise! — another Molyneux special, this one on Lionhead. The newly-announced Games Summit keynote will be given by Michael Denny of SCEE, focusing on the networked age and digital distribution, which should provoke some interesting thought.
Other events in the Games Festival lineup include the London Game Career Fair and the BAFTA Video Games awards (a British Academy Awards, for games, with more swearing). For those of us interested in playing games, celeb-spotting and the slightly offbeat, events throughout the week of the Festival — 2-7 October — will hopefully deliver, with a showcase at HMV’s Oxford Street branch and a ‘fringe’ show which both look to be worth attending.
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Video Games Live hits London on November 25th
Filed under: Culture
Those of us this side of the pond may have been reading the various Video Games Live tidbits with a detached air of mild interest, but finally we’ll be able to get in on the musical action. The concert of videogame music will be hitting London’s Hammersmith Apollo on November 25th, and tickets went on sale last week.
We’ll be there, so watch out for the Joystiq t-shirt amidst the crowds; now, if only the concert would do a UK or European tour for those of us aware that London isn’t the only city on this continent.
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Develop: Everything you know about MMOs is wrong - apparently
Filed under: Online, MMO, Business
Thomas Bidaux of NCsoft Europe didn’t pull any punches with his presentation at the UK’s Develop conference. Instead, the MMO giant’s director of product development outlined four major ways in which the MMO world will be turned on its head. Or, rather, the ‘online’ world — rather than limit himself to MMOs, Thomas talked about online games as a whole.
Firstly, a platform revolution — including a push towards console gaming — brings with it challenges as well as opportunities for online games. Digital distribution and a wider audience are key benefits, but developing a console MMO means dealing with the genre’s baggage (keyboard and mouse controls, patches, inter-player communication to name but a few). Community is key to many online games, but achieving that while removing the requirement of PC ownership is another challenge.
Consoles aren’t the only platform, however; browser-based games such as Runescape already attract huge numbers of players, and the cross-pollination of casual gaming and MMOs will surely have at least one browser-based bastard child. Handhelds with their wifi capabilities are in a key position to take advantage of persistency, and while the heterogeneous mobile platform is in its infancy according to Mr Bidaux, other audience members disagreed.
Secondly, a cultural revolution can redefine what we mean by ‘online’ and how we interact with online games. Online isn’t just MMOs and a large, persistent world; it’s also persistent user data, such as achievements and skill level. It’s the ability to push updates to a client and help the game evolve post-launch. It’s the ability to play alone with thousands, even millions of people; to find the perfect opponent from a huge pool of possibilities.
Thomas gave the example of a Tekken-style game which could revolve around its online component (rather than having multiplayer added in as an afterthought). Online rankings and tournaments allow players to test each others’ boasts and shoot for the moon; persistent characters give the player the chance to evolve, learning new moves and customising heavily; constant content updates keep the game fresh and appealing.
Thirdly, an economic revolution may mean the $14.99 subscription model becomes defunct. Online games suit online delivery; digital distribution at its best. iTunes changed the way music is delivered, and models like micropayments, in-game advertising and the ‘no monthly subscription but constant sequels’ approach all help redefine the way online games work financially.
Older game distribution economics centres around the game’s genre, art direction and the technical canvas; in today’s online world, add “what do you pay for?” into the mix. Added value is the key phrase here — Bob can pay twice as much as Anna, but he gets twice as many character slots. Extending this to ingame artifacts such as money and items is an extremely tricky field, but even without that there are features that scale with cost.
Finally, a lifestyle revolution — identified by Mr. Bidaux as the advent of Web 2.0 — means more opportunities for online games. The Internet is constantly evolving; collective intelligence (e.g. Wikipedia) and viral content (e.g. MySpace) provide opportunites for community and collaborative efforts. The dematerialisation of software, as embodied by Google’s AJAX ventures, is an example of how persistency has power even outside the gaming world.
Overall, it’s an exciting time for online games, but we have to wonder how many of these ‘revolutions’ will have the impact Thomas predicts. New technologies and platforms such as Live Anywhere may help enable some of these visions, but the risk of investment in novelty means that many points may be a long way off, and changes may be gradual. The most exciting possibilities seem to be in the cross-platform ‘casual MMO’ browser space, where digital distribution and micropayments can be toyed with by smaller studios such as Three Rings — an interesting platform to watch. Also, seeing what NCsoft is predicting as the near and distant future is valuable in and of itself.
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Develop: Game design ideas worth stealing
Filed under: Business
Game development gets accused of stagnation on a near-daily basis, and yet recent games have all featured innovative steps that can appeal to a variety of players. From minor design choices which somehow redeemed a title, to major decisions shaping the entire nature of a game, it’s easier than you might think to make a difference. Margaret Robertson of EDGE gave her top picks from the last year or so’s crop of games at the Develop Conference; read on for the lowdown.
Skip the boring stuff. Games such as Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams allow players to bypass minigames when they become tedious. Letting players set their own agenda rather than forcing them to line up dots for hours means that games can cater to different moods, rather than simply different abilities.
Time spent shouldn’t be wasted. Ever run around aimlessly for hours in an RPG only to realise you’ve achieved nothing? By tying in achievements to measures such as play time or distance walked, as in Dragon Quest VIII and Gradius V, players become rewarded for simply playing the game. Even aimless sessions allow players to achieve something.
Gradual gratification. By constantly achieving small goals as part of a larger picture, players stay motivated. Jewel Quest has a literal ‘big picture’ — an image which is progressively revealed by completing levels — but even small things like changing the flags of a newly captured town in The Outfit can leave a mark.
Empowerment. World domination is but a step away with intriguing game mechanics that allow players to have an impact on other players — and their friends, and their friends, and… From zombie outbreaks in Infected to designs spreading around the globe in Animal Crossing: Wild World, viral content (especially easily trackable content) leads to power and greatness.
Easy heroics. Sometimes working your way up the ranks isn’t good enough. In Guild Wars, the character builds of the world’s top players are available for newbies to try out from the very start; Project Gotham Racing 3 only allows you to race top-end cars, rather than the usual racing mechanic of starting slow and working up. In today’s instant-gratification culture, the immediate power encapsulated here is seductive, although games like Guild Wars retain the option to start at level 1 and recreate the glory of the best.
Art and Me. Creativity and self-expression in games? Not just a pipe dream. Pac Pix, Magic Pengel and Okami all combine drawing with games in odd and entertaining ways — and being able to see your creations come to life and have an effect on the game world is rewarding. The passive nature of this integration (draw once, reap the rewards later) puts it in contrast with other games that actively encourage you to create within the world (such as Animal Crossing and even Second Life).
Showing off. The simple ability to take screenshots within games — maybe marking particular achievements, or cool moments — and share them with others is a PC staple, but what about consoles and handhelds? Loco Roco and Rumble Roses recognise that sometimes people just want to record pretty pictures, but being able to save screenshots from consoles is rare.
Smaller design ideas. While Margaret thought these seven ideas were particularly ’stealable’, there are also a load of tiny tweaks that make games just plain fun. For example, having a consistent “we’re red, they’re blue” mentality in multiplayer games; the ’sell useless items for cash while out in the field’ feature of A Bard’s Tale; the ability to both co-operate with your friends and smash them to a pulp in multiplayer Zelda.
The most stealable idea? Create your own new ideas, design tweaks that fix those problems that get you miffed. Copying other strokes of ingenuity is great, but originality’s even better.
Margaret highlighted a wide range of design issues that some gamers overlook and others praise; game design isn’t a perfect science, and new shortcuts, tweaks and improvements are continually introduced by new titles. Even innovation on a small scale is innovation; some of the improvements listed above managed to turn unplayable titles into playable ones, so never underestimate the power of a single small design decision.
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UK sales charts, June 4-10: World Cup fever
Filed under: Business
Football fanaticism? It must be that time of year. Yes, FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 is back on top — undoubtedly influenced by the big kick-off. New titles Brain Training, Moto GP 06 and Sensible Soccer 2006 debut in the top ten — and people are still buying Tomb Raider.
1. FIFA World Cup Germany 2006
2. Hitman: Blood Money
3. Tomb Raider: Legend
4. Moto GP 06
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training
7. Sensible Soccer 2006
8. Half-Life 2: Episode One
9. Animal Crossing: Wild World
10. X-Men: The Official Game
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Japanese sales charts, May 29-June 4: Mario on top again
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Action, Adventure
New Super Mario Bros is still going strong at the top of the Japanese sales charts this week. With over 330,000 sales — well over a million, cumulatively — the title’s dominance has well and truly whipped the rest of the charts into submission, with only a small amount of reshuffling since last week:
1. New Super Mario Bros. [DS]
2. Brain Age 2 (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS) [DS]
3. Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training) [DS]
4. Metroid Prime Hunters [DS]
5. World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 [PS2]
6. Tetris DS [DS]
7. Animal Crossing: Wild World [DS]
8. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke [DS]
9. Jikkyou Powerful Major League [PS2]
10. Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable [PSP]
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Why games suck
Filed under: Business
When games suck, we tend to blame the developer. This piece by David A. Rodriguez over at Buzzscope tries to shed some light on the development process behind bad games — helping us figure out why they suck.
As with many things in life, it’s all about the money — those who wield it have ultimate control, regardless of how unreasonable or impractical their desires. Rodriguez has a neat explanation: developers aren’t artists, but they’re in customer service. Whatever the customer wants, the customer gets. In this case, the customer is often the publisher, who wants to make more money by releasing a game that will sell. So, next time you think about picking up that copy of Crazy Frog Racer, remember this article — and don’t.
[Via Eurogamer]
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McDonald’s in serious games hoax
Filed under: Simulations, Business
“Today I’m going to tell you the story of a game so serious that it changed the direction of a company.”
Grave words indeed, delivered at the International Serious Games Event on Monday. However, as Water Cooler Games explores, the delightful speech about games causing environmental change was, in fact, a set-up.
Related to the anti-McDonald’s game we reported on back in February, the hoax presentation is a subtle and brave attempt at needling a large corporation, although others at the Serious Games Event may disagree with the choice of platform. Regardless of its (lack of) authenticity, the closing remark from the speech is a noble sentiment: serious software can change the world.
[Via Wonderland]
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Kicking up a storm: The Escapist on Blizzard
Filed under: Culture, Mac, PC, Strategy, MMO
This week’s Escapist is fascinating as ever, dealing with the behemoth that is Blizzard Entertainment. While the pieces looking at the rise of Blizzard and its company culture are interesting enough, the real gem is the World of Warcraft article.
Of course, no mention of Blizzard would be complete without WoW these days. However, the game’s dominance of the MMO genre means that, as the folks at Terra Nova noticed, no discussion of MMOs is really complete without WoW:
For better or worse, WoW is the face of the massive genre. In a very small part of the galaxy, it’s a gravity well bending light that passes anywhere near it. When discussing PvP, questing, guilds or class balance, commentators now have a lingua franca: the common tongue of World of Warcraft.
When on the hunt for a MMO to play that isn’t “just another WoW clone”, then, bear in mind that many people are looking at what clearly works for inspiration. We will certainly see games with strange and innovative MMO gameplay, but will they attract the numbers necessary to survive?
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UK sales charts, May 28-June 3: Double top for Hitman
Filed under: Business
This week’s UK charts look suspiciously similar to last week’s, despite the impending World Cup. Since we English can’t walk down a street without seeing at least five St George’s Crosses, perhaps all those who would buy football games are already playing them. Noticeable changes this week are merely the slight ascension of The Sims 2 and the new arrival of Half-Life 2: Episode One at number eight.
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