Tag: Videogames

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

My third run of Dragon Age II is almost done and I plan on playing the game one more time (at least). I’m really digging the background banter between my companion characters. Mixing and matching allies leads to different conversations. I’m amazed by the sheer amount of dialogue and impressed that there’s always something new that cracks me up.

I’m missing DC Universe Online a bit. Hopefully my superhero powers aren’t too rusty when I jump back into the game. Perhaps I’ll give it a quick whirl this weekend before taking up the cowl in earnest next weekend.

Oh, I almost forgot that I have a quick work trip this weekend. I’ll definitely be playing Tactics Ogre in the friendly skies.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Insomniac Games Ted Price Speaks…and You Should Listen

Here’s my interview with Insomniac Games president & CEO Ted Price. My favorite part was when he explained why he wanted the original Ratchet & Clank referred to as a “character action game” instead of a platformer. Other topics include the company’s work on the Xbox 360, the socialization of gaming, and Insomniac’s 2011 lineup.

Confession: I really sucked in this interview. Thankfully Ted saved it with his great answers. As you can see, I wasn’t nearly as comfortable as I was during my Mike “Busta” Capps interview. I’ve known Ted for a long time and he’s a fantastic guy, but for some reason I kept thinking, “Gee, Ted Price sure is smart, successful, and handsome,” during the interview. As nice as he is, he can also be unnervingly awesome. Ha!

Coffee Talk #323: Will Gamers Always Be Scorally Fixated?

Are most gamers too lazy or indifferent to learn the reasoning behind the score? Will they always be fixated on the number instead of the reasoning behind it?

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 Barry Bonds trial, Chris Brown vs. windows, or Christina Aguilera getting a Twitter account, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

My video review of Dragon Age II finally posted. As expected, there were tons of negative comments from people that can’t see past their own perspective. Additionally, there were a lot of people that complained about the score being posted in the title of the review (not my decision, btw). For some reason, this was a big spoiler. Really?!?

Several of you know that I have all sorts of problems with the review process and score is a biggie. Considering how random and undefined most scoring systems are, it’s disappointing that so many gamers are fixated on an arbitrary number. If you’re interested in a game then don’t you owe it to yourself to find out why a game received the score that it did? Isn’t the reasoning behind the score more important than the score itself?

Am I expecting too much from the average gamer? (You guys and gals are all way above average, for the record.) Are most gamers too lazy or indifferent to learn the reasoning behind the score? Or do they just want to see a number and argue about it (without knowing whether a 5/10 or a 7/10 is average based on the outlet’s criteria)? Will gamers be able to get past scores? Or will they always be fixated on the number? Kindly share your thoughts in the comments section.

(And if you have extra time, please give my review a “thumbs up” on YouTube and leave a comment.)

Read My Dragon Age II Review (Please)!

I was waiting for the accompanying video to post, but I’m kind of tired of waiting. I’ll add that in a separate post. Anyway, kindly check out my Dragon Age II review at Machinima.com. I’m completely digging the game — even more than the original (I’m nearly done with my third play-through). Here’s a snippet from the review (I love quoting myself):

Some players will hate that Dragon Age II is smaller in scope, has less customization, and features easier combat. None of that bothered me too much and I think the hate is overblown. My biggest complaint was seeing the same environments over and over again. As for the gameplay, I enjoyed a lot of the streamlining and think people complaining about companion armor customization are a bit wacky (buy a doll). On paper, the combat is deep, but making the game more accessible left me without a reason to take advantage of my character’s abilities. Ultimately, I was left with two of the three things I expect from a BioWare game — fantastic story and brilliant characters. And that’s more than enough to leave me confident that Dragon Age II will end up being one of my favorite games of 2011.

If you have time, please leave a comment over at Machinima. If you want to talk more about the game here, I’m totally up for that as well. Please be warned that discussing Dragon Age II in this post will probably lead to spoilers.

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Square Enix Launches Hippos Lab Mobile Studio

Compared to its competitors, Square Enix has been aggressive with mobile game publishing, releasing a number of quality titles for iOS devices. The company seeks to bolster its mobile efforts with a new subsidiary called Hippos Lab.

Compared to its competitors, Square Enix has been aggressive with mobile game publishing, releasing a number of quality titles for iOS devices. The company seeks to bolster its mobile efforts with a new subsidiary called Hippos Lab. According to Gamasutra:

The wholly-owned subsidiary, launched on March 7, is looking to provide “high quality original content focusing on smart phones”.

The company notes that the popularity of the smartphone “has exploded in recent years,” and it believes that “the smartphone will run away with the show.” Hippos Lab aims to have its first release “ready soon.”

Square Enix is one of my favorite videogame publishers and I’m excited to see what Hippos Lab does on mobile platforms. While I’m sure a lot of its focus will be on iOS, I’m hoping that the company can help the languishing Android games market thrive. Also, where the hell is my Final Fantasy Tactics for iOS?!? *joke*

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Amazon Launches Android App Store, Free Angry Birds Rio

Android users will want to check out the Amazon Android Appstore. Amazon’s version of the Android Market offers great prices, easy browsing, and daily freebies, like Angry Birds Rio. The good news is that Amazon offers a more enjoyable shopping experience and, in some cases, cheaper prices than the official store. The bad news is that the app has to be side loaded, since it’s not an official Android Market app. The process is easy enough, but side loading means that AT&T customers running official software won’t be able to use it.

What do you think of the Amazon Android Appstore? Will you use it over Android Market?

Coffee Talk #321: Is Nintendo Being a Development Snob?

It was disappointing to see Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aims speak out against so-called “garage developers”. Some of the most innovative products have come from…

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, hot phone announcements from CTIA 2011, the Lizard being in the next Spider-Man movie, or Carmelo Anthony poisoning the Knicks, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Some of the best software in the world was created by a bunch of kids in a dorm room or a handful of friends in a garage. Sometimes small, independent groups lead to world-changing innovations. Just look at companies like Apple, Facebook, etc. With that spirit in mind, it was disappointing to see Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime speak out against so-called “garage developers”. In a recent interview with Gamasutra he said:

I would separate out the true independent developer vs. the hobbyist. We are absolutely reaching out to the independent developer. Where we’ve drawn the line is we are not looking to do business today with the garage developer. In our view, that’s not a business we want to pursue.

On one hand, managing and reaching out to “garage developers” would cost a lot of money and consume a lot of time. There’s no guarantee of finding a pearl in a sea of indie developers. From a business perspective, I totally understand where Fils-Aime is coming from.

That said, I believe that he chose his words poorly (which is surprising for such a smooth talker). He made Nintendo appear snobbish, as if the company looks down on small developers. His comments fed into the belief that Nintendo is anti-innovation when it comes to third parties. For a company that has a poor track record with third-party developers, why alienate puppies that could grow up to be pit bulls that will bite you in the ass? I also bet there are some people in dorm rooms and garages that no longer dream of making Nintendo games because of what Fils-Aime said.

What do you think of Reggie’s comments? Is he just talking about smart business? Or is he sending a negative message to aspiring developers?

All Retail NGP Games Will Be Available Digitally: Do You Care?

In a recent interview with MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president Andrew House said, “All [NGP] games that appear physically will be made available digitally.” While I absolutely love the immediacy and convenience of digital media, I know that some of you love physical media. Do you care that all NGP retail games will have digital equivalents? Will the NGP change the way you buy games? Can you see yourself buying the majority of games for your NGP digitally? Or are you still tied to the box and manual?

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This Week’s Videogame Releases

There are lots of interesting games dropping this week, spanning a wide variety of genres. I’ve really gotten into this season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, so I’m curious about LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. Graphics whores will want to keep an eye on Crysis 2. Koei is at it again with Dynasty Warriors 7. Do you miss Lara Croft? Well you can relive her greatest adventures in Tomb Raider Trilogy. Square Enix continues its quietly strong Q1 with Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] — it’s always cool to see characters from different Final Fantasy games hanging out together.

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Mark Cerny Talks Mobile, Social, Motion, and More

Here’s an interview I did with the legendary Mark Cerny. For those of you not familiar with the man, he has been designing games since he was a teenager, working on titles like Marble Madness, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Jak& Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, and so much more. Since he has pretty much seen and done it all, I wanted to get his take on newer trends in gaming, such mobile, social, and motion. As expected, his answers were interesting and insightful…which was great because I totally went fanboy in the interview. I think I called him awesome like 50 times. Ha!

Anyway, check out this interview with Mark Cerny. He is awesome.