ugachaka :: Jacob was here

Time to switch to the red team.

Researchers studied the outcomes of 1,347 matches in Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC), in which players were allowed to choose between joining the red or blue team. The study found that the red team won 55% of the time.

via Shacknews

photo credit: William Hook

Yes, I caved. I bought Grand Theft Auto IV. I am a victim of the hype.

Not that I am disappointed. Now that I have an Xbox 360, I finally own a system that will play a GTA game. Previously, I have only owned Nintendo systems where the hallowed cars thefts and gun battles were not welcome.

Impressions will have to come later because the past several weeks have kept my Xbox cold, my Wii gently humming and my sleep hours low.

The verdict is still out on the new Bionic Commando, but the multiplayer looks interesting from the video posted at Giant Bomb — like a Spiderman multiplayer battle with guns.

Interesting. Very interesting.

As some of you may have noticed, there have been some changes here since your last visit. This blog has been upgraded to WordPress 2.5 in all its glory with a fresh new design and everything.

Now that the burden of upgrading software is over, there’s that gaming thing that I do. I’ll steal a page from a popular gaming blog to give you my gaming diary for the last several months.

Since my last post, I did receive a copy of Assassin’s Creed by returning my scratched disc, and finally did complete the main story of the game. Due to my obsession with achievement points, I finished the game lacking only 1 Templar and 3 missing flags somewhere in the huge Kingdom and the achievement for memory glitches — mostly because I had no idea what those were when I started playing the game. Anyone want to tell me where they found the last Templar? (Otherwise, I am just consulting the maps. [Note: no link because maps now seem to be down.])

Before I finished off Assassin’s Creed though, I also went all OCD on Mass Effect and completed a playthrough as the most evil Vanguard Nemesis that you could ever be — no, really, I think I finished with only 9 Paragon points because of mistakes I made. Who knew that beating a civilian across the level was equivalent to saving their life?

I’m not sure what I gained from the experience of being the most evil Shepard that ever lived. At a certain point — about 3/4 of the way through the game — I maxed out the Renegade point meter entirely. From that point on, the evil was only for my pure enjoyment, but I was committed to my goal.

I think on my next playthrough — oh yes, there will be another — I am going to try to be a completely good Vanguard as I get on my way to level 60. But, I still won’t play with Kaiden because he is worthless.

I have plans to complete a playthrough as an Adept at some point as well just because they seem like such a cool character when you max out that Singularity ability. I played most of the final portions of the game with Laila simply because she made everything in the room float to the middle and die. That’s an awesome party trick.

Luckily, I completed all of these game quests just in time to pick up my copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Yes, Brawl was the game I most eagerly awaited this year. While I regret that it doesn’t have online voice chat during matches — not even with friends — the multiplayer is outrageous. I can’t stop if I get going on it with a group of friends. I found that a simple speakerphone cell phone call plopped down on the couch will suffice for any online opponents that I may challenge.

I beat most of the singleplayer portions of the game already, and I plan to complete it all over — again and again — until I get every trophy. If you have seen the trophy wall at all, I haven’t used any of my hammers yet. I’m going to wait until there is really something good to use.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl has dominated most of the game playing since I got it. It hasn’t left my Wii, and my Xbox 360 has been used for little more than playing DVDs from Netflix.

I am just now starting to reclaim my free time from blogging and Smash Bros-ing. Next up on my gaming agenda is a little online game called Ikarium and Super Mario Galaxy.

I can see why reviewers were harsh to Assassin’s Creed. The game has a few parts where it seems a little broken–hiccups here and there with graphics.

Your master assassin might throw his arms in the air when he dismounts from a horse at odd moments, but at the same time, it has a few amazing elements that make it a great game.

There. I said it. I thought Assassin’s Creed was a great game. Like Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4, there were distinct moments in the game that made the story electrified and interesting.

Yes, it’s repetitive in some sequences, but if you give the game a chance, it becomes pretty addictive. Assassin’s Creed brought out the achievement junkie, a slightly obsessive compulsive element of my personality, and made me want to collect every single flag and complete every optional mission. I enjoyed the fact that it was repetitive but systematic, and each assassination was different.

That is, I enjoyed every single mission until I got to the final memory–a climactic moment I reached at 2 a.m. one weekend.

Ready to jump into the final conclusion, I selected it and entered the loading screen. There was my familiar assassin, Altair, waiting patiently in a cloud of light. As the 5.1 sound came to a constant hum, and the game was about to load, my Xbox 360 popped a message out of the right side of the screen–Disc Read Error.

What a cruel joke.

Apparently, a circular sequence of slight scratches on the disc that I had ignored were crucial to the disc’s final level but nothing else. I had almost sent the disc back early on, but decided to tough it out since the scratches caused no problems. I was impatient to start my journey as Altair.

I tried cleaning the discs several times–no luck. I finally jumped on the Amazon.com return policy pages to see about returning the disc–no luck. My disc was more than 30 days old and opened since Christmas Day.

My last chance was Ubisoft, the publisher of Assassin’s Creed. Luckily, I found an entry in the knowledge base two weeks ago that showed a disc replacement program. As long as the disc was purchased within 90 days–true–and the disc problems were not caused by any foul play on my part–also true–I would get free disc replacement. Whew! Relief.

It seems like it is going to be a little harder than a swap and replace, but for the moment, my Assassin’s Creed hopes will be at the mercy of Ubisoft customer support. It’s tragic when a gamer is separated from his ending.

I just finished reading Game Over: Press Start to Continue: The Maturing of Mario by David Sheff and Andy Eddy awhile back. Since it had such a nice business slant, I posted my review over at my business blog at wannabeMogul.com–even though I really read the book because of my incredible urge as a childhood Nintendo fanboy.

If you haven’t read this book and want to learn more about the gaming industry, read it. I suggest checking Half.com or Amazon to try and pick up a used copy.

The book is a great read even if you aren’t a Nintendo fan.

The really interesting part of the book is how it sheds a light on what Microsoft might have been thinking when they launched the Xbox and how much Nintendo’s plan for the NES might have influenced that.

The question has been posed all year with the breakout success of casual gaming and perceived casual console, the Wii.

How will casual gaming really affect the industry? Kill the hardcore market? Flood Xbox Live with a ton of soccer moms?

No.

I believe that the casual gaming market will help the entire industry in general.

For one, by bringing in a flood of new gamers playing a variety of non-violent, friendly fun games like Scene It! and Guitar Hero on the consoles, we might finally be able to raise off the stereotype of violent loner gamers that seems to hang so predominantly in the minds of every politician in the world.

Second, more gamers means more good games that may be more niche. With a larger market, game developers can devote the resources necessary to produce a game that may only be fun for fans of the Dr. Who TV series or Battlestar Gallactica. Don’t call me out if those aren’t niche enough audiences for you, but I am only suggesting that game developers can now focus on hitting up topics that may not have appealed to the hardcore gamer.

Regardless of the success of the consoles, hardcore gaming will not be abandoned. Even on the Wii, you are looking and a slew of new titles this year and next including Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a new version of Mario Kart. You have already had Metroid Prime 3. Altogether, these games will make the console a smash success for diehards and casual gamers alike–if any of them can find one in stores.

Overall, the market stands to get better because of this big push. If you are a true hardcore gamer, just ignore the casual ads. They are not for you, but guaranteed, once every three years or so, a studio will put out a masterpiece for you to enjoy just like you always have. No worries.

Download the new ViDoc from the Halo 3 crew when you get a chance. It’s worth the viewing.

‘Journey’s End’ is a collection of interviews with Halo insiders going through all the Halo games and the feel/emotion of the games from start to finish. Although it neglects going into a lot of detail about Halo 3–since it is still sort of pushing those final consumers to go pick it up–the ViDoc is a great book end for Halo fans who want a refresher or just want to watch a sort of “commentary reel” from the Halo team.

ViDocs are one of the great things that Halo 3 did throughout their production and marketing. Similar to a viral marketing plan, the ViDocs maintained the hype about the game all the way up until launch time and gave Halo 3 fans insight into how the game was coming along and new features. Rather than seeming like a commercial trying to get you to buy, the ViDocs made fans feel like stakeholders who really wanted Halo 3 to succeed.

I am a huge fan of ONnetworks and all their HD-produced podcasts. My love stems mostly from two of their programs: The 5 Minute Drill for my fantasy football addiction and Play Value for an entertaining “Best Week Ever”-style doc on the history of videogames from the very beginnings of Nintendo. The podcast follows along nicely with a book I am currently reading called Game Over on the history of videogames. You can check it out at the link below.

Game Over Press Start To Continue

Check out the latest edition of the video cast below, and be sure to check out all the Play Value episodes to feel smarter about your own knowledge of the videogame industry.

Really? Is this kid serious?

That’s all I could say at the end of watching this video confessional from Kris Henderson. Henderson filmed a “True Life” style documentary of his Halo addiction surrounding the launch of Halo 3. Not only did he take off work for a few days, but he stayed up late at night and avoided going out with friends to crash at home and fuel his gaming with pizza. You hear about people like this that love Halo so much they choose it over social engagements, but I still didn’t think there were cases this extreme. Henderson even neglected a tennis competition to keep playing Halo one weekend.

Lucky for Kris I guess, he does have a girlfriend–and even more bizarre, she will play Halo with him and “stick” him.