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Coffee Talk #42: Real-Time Strategy Games on Consoles

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Allen Iverson starting his second life as a Sixer, scooter luggage, or Danica Patrick driving for JR Motorsports, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Real-time strategy games on consoles took a huge step in 2009. Ensemble Studios’ excellent Halo Wars set a new standard for the genre, while Double Fine’s Brutal Legend deceptively mixed RTS gameplay with adventure. It’s still a niche genre on home systems, but it’s possible that these two games have paved the way for future RTS successes on the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

Halo Wars

Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that purists scoffed at the notion of first-person shooters on consoles. Gamers swore that they’d never abandon the pinpoint control of a keyboard and a mouse for a gamepad. Titles like GoldenEye 007 and Halo changed all of that, making shooters arguably the most popular type of games today.

Today I wanted to see what you thought of RTS games on consoles. Do you think they’ll ever be a big deal? Do you think that Halo Wars and Brutal Legend opened the doors for future titles, similar to how GoldenEye and Halo paved the way for all the great shooters available today? Or is the genre simply too complex to be controlled with a gamepad?

Pachter Says Xbox 360 Price Cut Coming in Early 2010

Due to increasing pressure from Sony’s PlayStation 3, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Microsoft will announce another price cut for the Xbox 360 to ring in the new year. He told Joystiq:

We think that the PS3 will again outsell the Xbox 360 in November and December, prompting a price cut some time early next year.

Xbox 360 controller

That seems a bit crazy. Microsoft’s most recent price cut went into effect in September — a little over three months ago. I can’t imagine the company slashing prices again a few months later.

What do you think of the predicted price cut? Too soon? Or a smart way to establish who’s the boss (Moan-a! Samanth-a! Angel-a!) in 2010.

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This Week’s Videogame Releases

This is probably the last week of the year that “big” games are being released. For PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, there’s The Saboteur, which has been getting mixed reviews and some interesting attention for its unlockable nudity. On the Nintendo DS, Link returns in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Finally, the Nintendo Wii gets a dose of frights 38 days after Halloween with Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

The Saboteur

Any of you guys and dolls planning on picking any of these games up? I have my eye on Spirit Tracks, but will probably wait until it goes on sale.

Coffee Talk #41: Create Your Own Videogame Beverage!

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, yesterday’s NFL awesomeness, Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams, or Tiger Woods’ recent “indiscretions”, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

FFXIII Elixir 3

I’m completely jealous that Japanese gamers have the opportunity to enjoy Final Fantasy XIII Elixir by Suntory. In America, the best videogame soft drink I can enjoy is World of Warcraft Mountain Dew. It’s not nearly the same. Slapping videogame branding on an existing beverage is one thing. Having a beverage maker concoct a new brew just for a game is another. The whole thing got me thinking about videogame beverages I want. Here are a few.

Dragon Age: Origins Darkspawn Blood — This tomato-based beverage might not make you a grey warden, but its numerous vitamins and minerals would give you the morning boost you need to save Ferelden on a weekly basis. Think of it as V8, with a touch of darkness.

Leisure Suit Larry Cialis Cocktail — This drink is part energy enhancer and part male potency provider. Your body will be up for a night on the town thanks to the taurine and the Cialis will make sure your joystick is up for a night in the sack.

Uncharted Filtered Water — When you’re searching for treasure and dodging danger in remote lands, it’s tough to find a pure glass of H2O. This bottled water ensures that you don’t have to worry about parasites and microbes getting in the way of a grand adventure.

Anyway, those are some of the videogame drinks I’ve imagined. I’d love to hear yours. Leave me your excellent elixirs in the comments section (please) — bonus points will be awarded to clever use of alcohol, particularly premium tequila.

Random Rants: The Four Biggest Problems with Boxing

Saturday’s fight between Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez was one of 2009’s best. It was a highly competitive scrap between two amazingly skilled pugilists. I scored the bout 115-113 for Martinez, but there were enough close rounds that I could easily see a close decision going to Williams. I had no problems with Lynne Carter scoring it 115-113 for Williams and Julie Lederman scoring the fight a 114-114 draw. The third official judge, Pierre Benoist, scored the fight 119-110 for Williams — that’s just some pathetic scoring right there. According to Benoist, Martinez only won one round the entire fight, which is laughable to anyone that actually saw the contest. While the overall scoring wasn’t as bad as Ali Funeka getting jobbed out of a title the previous Saturday, Benoist’s scorecard illustrates one of boxing’s biggest problems. Let’s take a look a the four major reasons boxing isn’t as prominent as it was in the ’70s and ’80s.

Three Blind Mice

1) Inept and/or Corrupt Judges — Boxing is one of the few sports where an athlete can put on a superior performance and lose. Using the recent Ali Funeka vs. Joan Guzman fight as an example, it was pretty clear that Funeka beat the crap out of Guzman for 75 percent of the fight. For some reason, the bout was scored a majority draw. Fights like that are such a turnoff to fans. Why would you want to watch someone put forth the effort of a lifetime only to have it decimated by three blind judges? Sadly, this is probably the least of boxing’s problems.

2) Sanctioning Bodies — The WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF are generally recognized as the four major sanctioning bodies in boxing. Each group has its own champion and rankings. For the most part, each organization sucks. All too often these groups post questionable rankings and declare unworthy mandatory contenders for their champions. Sometimes they’ll create “super” champions, recognizing a title holder that has also won a belt from another group; this means that a weight division can have two champions — a “super” champion and a regular champion. Ultimately, it’s just a lame ploy to extract more sanctioning fees from more boxers.

Adding even more confusion is that fact that many people recognize Ring Magazine’s champions as the legitimate ones. So yeah, the sanctioning bodies or so inept and corrupt that a magazine has to sort through the muck to tell the people which boxers are really the best. That’s more than a bit ridiculous…but wait, there’s more!

Continue reading “Random Rants: The Four Biggest Problems with Boxing”

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

My knee has been acting up again, so I’m going to try to stay in bed and keep my leg elevated most of the weekend. Thankfully, I have a bunch of Green Lantern trade paperbacks to devour — most of them are repeats (Rage of the Red Lanterns, Agent Orange, etc.), but I borrowed Emerald Eclipse from a friend, which will add some new GL goodness to my life.

Scribblenauts

Man cannot live on comic books alone though, so I’m happy that I picked up Scribblenauts during Amazon’s Black Friday week. This game came out while I was in Japan in September and with all the craziness over the last few months, I kind of forgot about it. I’m looking forward to testing the word parser and seeing how imaginative the game can be. Some of my more competitive friends said it was boring, but admitted that they used the words “trampoline” and “angel wings” way to much. To me, winning isn’t the point of Scribblenauts. I want to see how creative it will allow me to be. I’m really looking forward to it!

How about you? What’s on tap for your gaming weekend?

Coffee Talk #40: Your Favorite Videogame Villains

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the U.S. vs. England in the World Cup, the return of Paul “The Punisher” William, or whether Pacquiao/Mayweather is a go for March 13, 2010, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I was chatting with some industry friends about videogame villains when I realized that I don’t have a favorite one. That just seems odd to me. I can spout off dozens of comic-book baddies I love. The same goes for movies and television shows. But for some reason, I don’t have a favorite videogame villain.

M Bison

There are certainly no shortage of bad guys to choose from in games. Whether you like cerebral assassins, evil dictators, comedically ineffectual turtle overlords, or guys that just want to blow crap up, gaming has it all. Maybe it has something to do with how I don’t like playing games as an evil character; perhaps the interactive experience makes me actively dislike videogame villains? *shrug*

Perhaps you can help me out. I want to know who your favorite videogame villains are. Maybe your great selections will help jog my memory so that I can pick one baddie to rule them all.

Coffee Talk #39: Gamer Girl Hot

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, whether the New Jersey Nets will go 0-for-December, Tiger Woods’ adventures in adultery, or whether Nokia can make Symbian competitive, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

There are certain things a woman can do that make her 20 to 30 percent more attractive than she already is. Female sportscasters are a great example of this. A cute female sportscaster will automatically be promoted to beautiful. A beautiful one elevated to goddess. (See ESPN’s Erin Andrews.) It’s called being “sportscaster hot”.

Female gamers benefit from this “gamer girl hot” phenomenon too. Is it shallow? Maybe…but I am of the opinion that elevating gamer girls is a good thing. On a practical level, it’s a common interest. For the sake of changing the image of what a gamer is, it’s fantastic to show that there are hardcore gamer women out there. In my mind, any woman that’s an avid gamer should be considered attractive because she has an awesome hobby.

Ginger Reyes

My big weakness is female bass players. I had a huge crush on D’arcy Wretzky for years — she was definitely a cutie, but playing bass made her sexy. Ginger Reyes is another beautiful woman that’s too-hot-to-walk-the-Earth because she plays bass. Paz Lenchantin is either my dream girl or too much woman for my brain to process — she plays bass and videogames!

Are there any sportscasters, gamers, bass players, actresses, or singers that you find more attractive because of what they do? Please list any gals or guys that pop in your head.

Google’s Top 10 Videogame Search Terms for 2009

Google Zeitgeist has posted its top 10 search terms for a bunch of entertainment categories, including videogames. Here are the top 10 queries for games.

ghostbuster
ufc
saw
bakugan
batman arkham asylum
twilight
fifa 2010
modern warfare
transformers 2
resident evil 5

Ghostbusters the Videogame

The list is pretty interesting and indicative of what casual consumers search for. While a few of the titles on the list are definitely for the hardcore, a bunch of the search terms are mainstream. And then there’s Bakugan…which shocked the hell out of me at #4.

Anything on the list surprise you?

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EA’s Future Looks Digital

John Riccitiello

While analysts have been pounding EA’s 2009, the company is trying to maintain a hopeful facade, saying that this year was a transitional period. EA CEO John Riccitiello believes that it’s all part of moving to a digital future. Take a look at some of the things he said to Gamasutra:

My kids are still listening to music even though Tower Records is gone.

We felt that the company we want to be had 1,500 fewer jobs dedicated to packaged goods.

We’re trying to become a company that looks more like a direct-to-consumer business.

While experts continue to debate when digital distribution will be the norm (not the Norm from Cheers), there’s no doubt that it will eventually become the standard (as the excellent Chris Taylor noted). It’s certainly something that videogame publishers will have to adjust to. I’m sure EA will still be a dominant name when that time rolls around, but I wonder if it will ever be as dominant as it once was. I also wonder which kings digital distribution will dethrone and which new kings it will crown.

What are your thoughts on how digital distribution will change the videogame publisher landscape?

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