A Koster Conception
For those of you who know me, and read Penny Arcade regularly, you’ve no doubt been waiting for this post since last Wednesday. (The) Raph Koster wrote a guest post for Tycho, it was about a game idea Tycho had and discussed with Raph at San Diego ComicCon which is an MMO Construction game of sorts. This is definitely a near and dear to my heart topic as I work in the construction industry and I concurrently very much enjoy not only playing games, but pretending to design games.
First off, Raph is apparently designing a type of game tool (which is itself a kind of game? no?) called Metaplace where people could get together and make a game like what we’re discussing. Someone please give me more information about Metaplace. Anyway, Tycho asked Raph to write up a whole design article for last Wednesday and boy did he.
Basically, he said, he had this idea for a construction game. “Like, SimCity?” I said. No, like with dumptrucks and demolition balls and cranes and architects with blueprints and everything. Like, real construction, Bob-the-Builder style.
And he wanted it as an MMO.
I am very curious why SimCity seems to be the only game that anyone thinks of when an idea like this is mentioned, and then I think for a short while and realize that it’s really the only game that comes to mind for me also. Why the heck aren’t there more games like SimCity out there exploring these different ideas? [Read the rest of this article]
Inq. of the Week: Famous Dragons
Of course, the original Nintendo Entertainment System rules the day as most owned console, and indeed, the greatest. Playstation 2 came in second, with third being the original Playstation, and the Super Nintendo close behind. At the bottom end, nobody owned a Neo Geo (and you thought the PS3 was expensive.) Only one person admitted to owning a 32X (me), only one person admitted to owning an Atari Jaguar, and only one person owned a 3DO. I know someone who still has a 3DO, but that’s only because he used to program for it! Anyway, some really interesting results there.
The final round of the Real Ultimate Showdown is commencing, and it doesn’t look good for the wizards. The dragons had some tough matches, but made a snack out of all who challenged them. It was strange to me, however, that I could think of far more examples of wizards than I could of dragons. So I compiled a list of some of the more famous dragons, and placed them in a list to ask…
Loading ...It was tougher than I thought to think of examples. Maybe there’s some big ones I forgot (and no, I didn’t forget to put the Sean Connery dragon in.) But clearly, dragons rock, but which one rocks hardest?
Comic Snap Reviews: SPX 07
On Friday, the lovely Melinda and I visited the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD (though it was essentially in Rockville.) The Small Press Expo, or SPX for short, st what I can only describe as one of the big indie comics conventions. The convention mostly consists of a large exhibit hall, where various comic writers and artists buy booths and try to sell us passer-bys their comics. Many will greet you as you walk by, a common customer service practice. Some will actively try to get you to pay attention to their booth by what they say, and some will give you free stuff to entice you. Frankly, on first glance, it’s fairly overwhelming. If you’re not really really into the scene (which I’m not), it’s tough to pick out what’s worth even checking out.
So the stuff that I ended up coming home with could easily be divided into three categories: Stuff I Knew About Ahead of Time, Stuff That Caught My Eye, and Stuff I Was Handed for Free. And I have to say, even if you’re not a comic fan, there was a lot of stuff that would appeal to fans of our other categories. I was really pleased that it wasn’t a room full of depressing autobiographical comics, but instead had self-made stuff about D&D and video games.
So here’s what I bought:
Real Ultimate Showdown FINAL ROUND
So it has come to this at last. 32 entered, and after this round, only one will leave, proving once and for all who the coolest group out there.
The road had been long to reach the final round. There were many surprise upsets along the way- some big favorites were knocked out early. We had no idea when it started that it would come down to this classic D&D matchups… but the people have spoken. Wizards and Dragons rock. But which one will win out?
Voting will end October 17 at 11:59 PM. VOTE FOR WHO YOU WANT TO WIN in this final round of the Real Ultimate Showdown!
Inq. of the Week: Consoling Gamers
Our Classic Game Trilogies Inquisition was a big hit with people being forced to make the tough choice between many of their favorite classic games. Coming in tied at first place with 24% each is the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Mario Bros. 3. Second place rightfully goes to Final Fantasy 3/6 with 19%, followed by Super Metroid in third. We’re really sorry for posting what was deemed the “most evil polls ever”, but thankfully many of you are Paladins and could easily resist it’s demonic tendrils.
With our poll two weeks ago flopping so badly, both Dave and I were amazed at the percentage of readers who don’t even own X-Box 360′s and therefore don’t care too much about Halo 3. Today I’m really curious what consoles you guys DO own (or have owned), because last week’s poll proved that we do indeed play videogames it just appears that we all are still stuck on the classics. So here it is:
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Real Ultimate Showdown Round 4
[This round is over, go vote in the FINAL ROUND]
The final four combatants… or is that the fatal four? The fighting grows more intense in this penultimate round of the Real Ultimate Showdown.
Venture on to vote for WHO YOU WANT TO WIN in both match ups to determine who will advance the final round, and whose proxy will have a chance to win the grand prize. Voting for this round ends October 10th, 11:59P EST.
Inq. of the Week: Classic Game Trilogies
So, how about that Halo 3, huh?… ::crickets::
Over 80% of you don’t own an Xbox 360, and won’t be picking one up to see what happens to the intrepid Master Chief and his supply of Mountain Dew. (No wonder Super-Soldiers were eliminated right away in the Real Ultimate Showdown.) At least 3 of you are hardcore and picked it up as soon as you could, and 3 of us decided to buy the game when the lines had died down a bit. I really want to buy it, but I have the feeling that it would impact my performance in grad school. Plus, my Halo 1 & 2 co-op partner moved to Canada, and I don’t have Xbox Live (still don’t want to pay for an adapter) so it just wouldn’t be the same!
Game trilogies and series have been around since the NES. They may seem more prevalent, and indeed it does seem like the big companies are way more interested in churning out sequels than coming up with new ideas. However, that doesn’t mean that the sequels are any worse than the originals… indeed, because of technology advancing, I often enjoy them more. (This is different than the movies, as we’ve discovered.) Inspired by the huge Halo 3 launch, and in playing more classic games via the Wii’s virtual console, I ask…
Loading ...I’ve defined “classic video games” to be Super Nintendo era and before. If there are any that you feel absolutely must be included, leave a comment, and my crack team of researchers will look into it!
[image credit: Mushroom Kingdom for this snapshot of the classic movie The Wizard]
Comic Snap Reviews: 9/29/07
Now with even more spoilers than usual! You’ve been warned!
Real Ultimate Showdown Round 3
[This round is over, go vote in the FINAL ROUND]
Eight groups enter, only four will advance. The epic battle to determine what is the coolest thing of all rages on. Some unexpected warriors have made it this far, but they still have difficult battles ahead of them.
Below are the four match ups for the week. Remember to vote for WHO YOU WANT TO WIN! Six of you still have a shot at winning the grand prize… get the word out for everyone to vote! [Read the rest of this article]
Inq. of the Week: Halo 3
The most obvious choice for this week is to ask everyone about Halo 3, and whether you couldn’t care less or if you’re already waiting in line checking the site on a laptop or your iPhone! But first, let’s cover the results of Dave’s question about upcoming sci-fi shows premiering this week. The results are that exactly half of you don’t care, or don’t watch any tv. Congratulations! The show that got the most people interested/excited is not very surprisingly Bionic Woman, which premieres this Wednesday at 9pm (on sci-fi), with Pushing Daisies coming in second. Unfortunately Cavemen only got one vote, which I honestly can’t remember if it was mine or not, but needless to say not many people have hopes for a series based on what is a great series of commercials but shows little hope of filling out an entire episode, much less a season. Also unfortunate is that I have only heard disappointing things about Bionic Woman as well, but we can only hope it picks up later in the season, or just becomes a hit despite its quality *cough*heroes*cough*.
Now then, based on Microsoft’s and Bungie’s rabid advertising campaigns, not the least of all including some excellently delicious Mountain Dew variants, I assume you’re painfully aware that Halo 3 comes out at midnight tonight (ie – tomorrow). This finale to the trilogy (was it a trilogy from the get-go, is it only now a trilogy, if there’s a fourth does is its trilogy-ism revoked?) is being lauded as one of the most anticipated games ever, blah blah blah, yadda yadda. The reason it’s hotly anticipated is because the brains behind the series decided to blue-ball everyone with the absolute worst “ending” ever concieved in the second game. So the question I have for you is,
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.The hype for this game really isn’t as pervasive as a lot of people would have you think, but to me it is more in the ridiculous direction then the annoying/in-your-face approach. For instance, the Washington Post had an article not particularly about Halo 3 as a game or its launch, instead they covered how members of the Redskins football team were given an early opportunity to play the game. What’s cool about it is that they got to play the game online, against members of other football teams across the United States. [Read the rest of this article]
