My Brief History With PAX

I have Chreekat to thank for my indoctrination into the Penny-Arcade world as well as PAX and also becoming an [Enforcer].  In late summer 2007, Chreekat drove off to Seattle, WA during Labor Day weekend to be an [Enforcer] at the Penny-Arcade Expo, all of which was foreign to me.  Except Labor Day, I knew what that was when I wasn't getting it confused with Memorial Day.  Which I still do, all the time.

Jump forward to early/mid 2008 and I was given the opportunity to become an [Enforcer], and if you didn't click on the above link, an [Enforcer] is a volunteer who helps out the people running PAX.  You are assigned to a specific department such as PC Gaming, Tabletop Gaming, Handheld Gaming, Current Console Gaming, Registration, Information Desk, et cetera.  For my first year, I request to be put into Handheld Gaming as that was where my current video gaming knowledge was firmly based.  Thankfully I was placed in Handheld Gaming and worked the 9pm - 3am shift, which was perfectly fine with me.  The remainder of the day was spent walking around the expo halls and Spare Boarding (which is like working in any department that needs extra hands at a particular time).

PAX08 was a blast, in short.  I was able to meet Jerry Holkins, one of the creators of Penny-Arcade (Jerry, some other [Enforcers] and myself were looking for a steam punk themed Penny-Arcade cake that was thought to have been stolen, but was found a few minutes later); I saw Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh just walking around (when they weren't at their booth or during panels) and along with a hundred or so other people was at a bar (after the setting up for the convention the day before it opened) saw Wil Wheaton.  I was also able to meet up with one of my friends SneakyTiki [I was in charge of letting the first groups of people through a set of doors which lead to the Expo Hall (a hell of a first job mind you)].

To say that PAX09 was a lot of the same as PAX08 is selling it short, even though it kind of was.  Does that diminish how awesome the expo itself was? Hell. No.  The differences were that the convention itself was bigger, more of the Seattle Convention Center was able to be used, all new games were demoed/exposed/played; I saw The Legend of Neil at a panel with Sandeep Parikh and Tony Janning.  I worked again in Handheld  and I didn't feel like a complete n00b.  This was also the year that Rabies came up with ConSARS, a quickly developed contagion-type game on the third day of the convention.  Coincidentally enough, that was the year that 50+ people at the convention came down with H1N1 (swine flu).

PAX Prime 2010 (2010 was the first year of PAX East in Boston) I was moved to Classic Console, which plays games from older systems such as the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Atari 2600.  You know, "classic" console video games.  I was initially sad leaving the people in Handheld that I'd been working with for two conventions, but I still had a blast in CC.  PAX10 I probably spent the most time out-and-about and less time hanging out in the department I was working when I wasn't working.  I was also able to meet up for sushi with my friend Taylor (she doesn't have a handle as far as I know) who lived in Seattle.  PAX10 definitely felt lower key than the previous two conventions, but not any less fun.

PAX Prime 2011 I wasn't able to attend for a number of reasons.  The first being that I was low on money after having recently moved from Woodland, CA to Portland, OR and I couldn't afford to drive/fly/train up to Seattle.  I had also started a job at an assisted living facility and didn't think that I would be able to request and receive four days off from work.

PAX Prime 2012 begins today and goes through Sunday September 2nd.  I am sadly unable to attend this year for slightly different reasons.  Mainly money issues, which always suck, but whatever.  My girlfriend Conklederp told me yesterday that I'm going to go to PAX next year (assuming that the world doesn't end in less than four months) and I'm afraid that I have to agree with her.  I'll be putting in my time off request once PAX Prime 2013 is announced.  I'll be looking forward to finding out what department I'll be working in and it really is a tough choice between Handheld and Classic Console (although I could double up and request to work both departments and do a double shift).

To everyone at PAX right now, have fun and with luck, I'll be joining you again in 2013.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Insert Line From Schwarzenegger's Best Film

Emulator Hour: 3D Classics - Kid Icarus (3DS)

I previously mentioned (somewhere) that I played Kid Icarus a bit on the NES but that I apparently really sucked.  I had said that Eggplant Wizard was really annoying when he turned you into a walking/floating eggplant, but now that I'm going through the game again, I don't think I even made it so far as to go up against such a necromantic angiosperm.  Which brings me to the point of today's ramblings: I recently purchased 3D Classics - Kid Icarus through Nintendo's eShop on my 3DS.  

In short 3D Classics - Kid Icarus is an updated port of the Kid Icarus that was released on the NES 26 years ago, in 1986.  "Updated" in that the backgrounds are now matte paintings with some motion that are used to help create a layering 3D effect while nearly everything in the foreground are the original 8-bit NES level-era sprites.  Even the music is the same as the 8-bit original soundtrack, but without the silencing of one of the three audio tracks to make way for random sound effects like jumping, shooting your arrows, collecting hearts or enemies dying.

From what I remembered of Kid Icarus, it was a combination of Metroid and Super Mario Bros.  This has held true as I went through the first level.  And promptly died three times while trying to figure out what the hell I was doing.  I would've hoped/liked it if with the purchase of games from Nintendo's eShop, a virtual instruction book was also included.  In the meantime, the internet will have to do to know what the Donkey Kong Hammer and Barrel are used for.

The beginning of Kid Icarus starts out with the main character Pit (is that short for Icarus, or is "Kid Icarus" a given title?) somewhere that's reminiscent of Hades as there's rivers of fire in the background and flying one eyed demon things, which is never a good thing.  Oh, and snakes too.  It plays like a vertical scroller (like side-scrolling, but going up and not being able to go back down into a bottomless pit) although I assume once you exit the Underworld that you'll be able to go through traditional side-scrolling levels.  And your wings, yeah, they're currently just for looks.  You can "buy" the single use ability to save yourself from falling into a pit, which is like Princess Toadstool's hover ability in Super Mario Bros. 2.  But again, it's a single use only item, kind of like an insurance policy against falling.

Moving onto the game itself.  I died quite a number of times at first, which means I had to start over from the beginning each time.  Turns out you only have one life to give for your goddess Palutena.  After death, you have to start the stage from the beginning, or wherever your last save point was, which are at the end of each level.  It wasn't until after I had died at least twice that I realized you can shoot your arrows up instead of just right and left.  So all this was somewhat of a minor shock, but not at all hampering in my liking of the game.  It basically lets you go through levels until you're proficient at killing enemies without dying.  At the same time, it can be really frustrating getting through a rough patch, then into a new area of the same level and then dying, only to have to go through the level again to figure out what went wrong.

The music is about the same as I remember it.  But as I'm still in the first stage (1-3 currently), the background music has yet to change, so it's been the same catchy song for the 54 minutes I've been playing. Even though I have the soundtrack, I'm going to make it a point to not listen to the music so that I can be pleasantly surprised when I get to new stages and thus, new music.  That's just how I am.

All-in-all though, the difficulty of the game (not Ninja Gaiden difficulty mind you) is not going to deter me from completing the game.  Or at least doing my damnedest to complete it.  Stupid Eggplant Wizard.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

"Look at me father, I'm flying!  I'm like a bird!  A true king of the air."

Two Card Games The World Plays Wrong

I'm going to move away from video games again for this post and move into card games.  Cards are just fun things to have around at almost all times.  Years back when The Kid and I went to Disneyland, I brought a deck of cards for us to play 5 Card Draw when we were standing in line.  We even got a couple of people to play with us while in line for the Matterhorn.  This week I wanted to cover two card games, one's a single player and the other is traditionally a two player game although rules exist to have more people.  I don't remember exactly when it was that I found out that I play both Pyramid and War differently than pretty much the entire world, but it was one of those moments when I began to wonder why everyone else was playing it wrong.  Let's begin then with Pyramid.

Pyramid
I learned to play Pyramid from my Mom when I was don't know how old.  It was a simple enough concept. You deal cards out in a pyramid shape then add two cards up to 13 and remove them.  Ace = 1, King = 13, Queen = 12 and so on down.  You go through the deck once, after that, if you don't have all the cards cleared, the game's over.  It wasn't until I got my Mom a CDRom compilation of card games that I found out we had been playing the game wrong for over a decade.  And our "wrong" way of playing was so much better than the official rules.

The only variation we played with was that all the cards are faced down, except the bottom row and any cards that you uncover and are able to flip over.  I really don't understand why you would have the cards face up?  From my perspective, it would be like having the cards faced up when playing Solitaire.  I feel like having the cards face up makes the game too easy.

How I was taught how to play:

Ignore the fact that I'm missing one row of cards.

Versus how the "real" rules say how to play:

Playing this way feels like cheating.

Anyway, I guess I just suggest try playing it both ways and see which way you prefer.


WAR
I don't remember when or where I learned to play War.  My first memory was from my neighbors across the street from my parent's house when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, so it was probably some time around then.  The basic rules, I play the same as everyone else:  highest card wins; two of the same card, start a war.  It's the rules/procedure for the war though that seem to differ from everyone else I've ever played.  And, the version I've been told my numerous people, is even different than the "official" rules that are up on Wikipedia.

In traditional rules, when two players deal the same card, a war happens.  For this war, each person deals three cards face down, chooses one and that determines the war.  I've also seen it played that after you deal three cards face down, the forth card dealt is face up and that determines the outcome of the war.

The rules/procedure that I've played with, and still insist on playing with are as follows:

• Three cards are dealt face down
• Each player flips over one card at a time
• Two out of three battles wins the war
• Any war to occur during these battles negates the previous battle count.

I just find this way of playing War and Pyramid to be more interesting.  It could also be that phenomenon when you prefer something the way you learned it, or the version of a song you heard first.  I'm sure that's a real phenomenon but I can't think of what it's called or find it on the internet, but I know it's real because my brain told me so.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Voices Are Subletting Again.

Nintendo Power: The End of an Era

I found out this morning that Nintendo Power announced yesterday (on Tuesday August 21st, 2012), that they would not be renewing their contract with their current publishers (Future Publishing) and the final issue's release date will be December 2012.  As of this writing, there's still not a whole lot of information out there regarding the final days of Nintendo Power, but this guy will definitely be sad to see them go.

My subscription to Nintendo Power began with the September/October 1989 issue, although "how" that subscription came about, I am not entirely sure.  I can guess though that one of those flyers came with either the system that my sisters and I got for Christmas or in a subsequent game that was purchased.  My neighbor across the street was actually a member of the Nintendo Fun Club and had those issues as well as the massive tome that predated what we now know as strategy guides.  Dr. Potts was also a subscriber for many a year.  My subscription ended though with the July 2011 issue as I had just moved up to Portland, was jobless and couldn't justify renewing when I had no income and quickly dwindling funds.

But wow.  I was a subscriber for nearly 22 years.  71 percent of my life was spent in wait for the beginning of the month when the mailman would bring me my copy of Nintendo Power.  I would read those things from cover-to-cover.  I would even bring them to school, up until I lost an issue sometime in 3rd grade when I lent issue #22, the Metal Storm cover issue to a kid in class and he never returned it.  I even managed to hold onto most of my issues until I moved and knew that I was just holding onto magazines that I hadn't looked at in about a decade.  I did keep a few issues that had some kind of sentimental attachment to or if they had something to do with Mario Paint that I knew I could use for cross stitching.

Nintendo Power was such a large part of my early childhood.  Keep in mind, my childhood consisted of the late 1980s through the mid 1990s.  The internet wasn't accessible let alone known about by the public at large until the later half of the 1990s.  GameFAQs didn't exist until 1995 and even then it was incredibly small compared to what it grown into.  The only source of gaming information and questions pertaining to "how to kill that stupid boss enemy" were answered for me by Nintendo Power.  I relished that information and would have to occasionally fight with my older sister over who got to read the newest issue first.

Even into my 20's and the year and-a-half I was a subscriber into my 30's, I always got that familiar feeling whenever I picked up my new issue.  Granted the intensity of that feeling may have been less and less as I got older, but it was always there.  It was like receiving a bound together package of nostalgia that was also full of current gaming information.  Even after the magazine was taken over by Future Publishing and the style of writing and articles changed a bit to cater towards older audiences (as articles were now being written by people who had grown up with the magazine as I had), articles, interviews fun to read despite the fact that it was a printed publications with some information which may have been "breaking" during publication but "old hat" by the time issues were delivered.

I don't know how many times I wrote to Nintendo Power's Counselor's Corner department asking questions about how to pass certain areas or for their opinions on games that were never reviewed by Nintendo Power staff, (this was done for Enix's Paladin's Quest among others).  Only once did I have to call the hotline for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link because I couldn't locate the new town of Kasuto.  I think I paid back my parents the $5 (which was their money to begin with since I earned that doing chores), which went to my grandparent's as it was their phone that I used.  I still never was able to kill Shadow Link on my own and ended up becoming so frustrated that I had to use Game Genie.

So now I say farewell, Nintendo Power.  Your strategy guides were well coveted and worn out by the end of games.  You served us all well.  You will be missed, but not forgotten.

Classified Information (manila colored pages)
Counselor's Corner
Pak Watch
Player's Pulse
Howard & Nester Comics
Nester Awards
Fold Out Posters & Maps
Power Players Challenge / The Arena
Player's Poll
Epic Center
Pokécenter



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Yes, I Just Wrote A Eulogy For A Gaming Magazine.


P

ms paint adventures

This is something between a comic and a game.  Check it out.

www.mspaintadventures.com

Game Scores: Willow (NES)

Willow, on the NES was a game that I bought for a couple of reasons.

1. I loved the movie.
2. It was by Capcom, and they made Mega Man, so it must be awesome.
3. There was a box label that said it was $10 off (but only after you bought one or two additional Capcom titles).

I hadn't heard much about the game aside from what I read in the November/December 1989 issue of Nintendo Power.  So I bought the game (sadly found out that I didn't immediately get the the $10 discount) and played it.  I was introduced to the game with this awesome intro movie sequence and amazing score.

(For those of you who never played Willow, it was like a combination of The Legend of Zelda, but you gained experience and could equip various swords, shields, armors and spells).

Now back to the music.

The composer/programmer for Willow was Haruji Fujita who also composed the music for Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gargyole's Quest, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and others.  Basically, she knows her shit.  Sadly, there isn't a whole lot of information about Haruji Fujita's compositions for Willow, so we'll just have to admire the music as is without any sub-context, which is perfectly fine as the music is awesome and stylistically varied.

The overworld music, which is probably the piece that's heard most often, is a great "We're going on an adventure!" theme:

The theme for Nockmaar Castle starts out as this beautiful medley then moves into a harpsichord/Baroque-esque that doesn't sound quite right, as if the music were trying to show you the glory that Nockmaar Castle once held before it fell into ruin and overrun by evil.  And, for me at least, the music makes me a little uncomfortable, which is great because it's the last area of the game before you defeat General Kail and Bavmorda:

So that's my brief go around with some of the music from Capcom's 1990 NES release of Willow, which I would recommend playing, both for the music and because it's a really fun game.  If you have a functioning NES, pick it up,otherwise download for an emulator.  There's plenty of music (well, 15 additional tracks) that I didn't list here that are all equally as beautiful as what was written for the game and again, highly recommended.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Peck, Peck, Peckpeckpeckpeckpeck!

Full Review: Portal 2

I just played through this game, so I suppose I should post about it.  Fun game.  Please play Portal 1 first.  In fact.  I am tempted to go back and play Portal 1, to compare the experience. But today I am talking about Portal 2, and in doing so, I will undoubtedly have some small *spoilers* that I am now alerting you to.   

Portal 2 spent a lot of time and effort on the quirky characters and storyline.  And I'll be honest with you:  I really liked Wheatley, right from the start.  The dramatic, destructive cinematics juxtaposed with his self depricating, uncertain humor were really entertaining.  I had thought he was Ricky Gervais based on the content of his humor, and I was close.  But not quite.

JK Simmons is always fantastic in everything he does.  However, I didn't particularly care for those sequences.  In fact, that section was exactly when I began to think the game was too long.  Like that last Batman movie.  But after a little while, I came to realize that the scope of the game was simply longer than I had anticipated, and then I got more comfortable with the length and forgave the designers for inspiring my earlier feelings of impatience.

To tell you the truth, Portal 2 is a game I wish would never end.  Portal 2 adds more features, but the core ideas are the same as the first.  And I wished it would never end either.  I have yet to explore any of the extra features, including the level editor.  Perhaps there is some good stuff there waiting for me.

GLaDOS is a great character.  In fact, part of why I want to play Portal 1 again is to compare her character.  I had originally thought her voice was entirely computer generated, but as it turns out, she was performed, in both games, by the same woman.  Her character growth in Portal 2 is most welcome, I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.  And while there are plot-based expansions on her character, I mostly appreciate her character for the dialogue.

But, ultimately, I do almost feel a bit of 'lacking' in Portal 2.  One example I can share is the various game locations in which you can see outside of the chamber you're in.  Sometimes you can see the edges of walls and other chambers, and there are machines lined up in grids, or large chambers in the distance.  And there was one particular sequence I remember when I got to put a portal on a wall that was so far away, the portal was just a dot.  That was awesome.  

While this is all super-cool environment building, I felt like it wasn't quite enough.  The designers clearly worked hard and got very creative.  And exploring the Portal 2 world gave me the urge to jump outside the levels and look around, which is a feeling that 3D games gave me from the very beginning.  And I think that's the thing that I'm missing in Portal 2:  exploration.  The first game... okay, spoiler alert!  stop reading right now if you haven't played through Portal 1.  I will not forgive myself if I ruin that game for you.  In fact, you shouldn't even be reading this at all if you haven't played through Portal 1 - go play it!

Anyhow.  The ending of Portal 1, or should I say, the 'ending sequence' of Portal 1 was a real treat.  All this time spent in Aperture Labs, with the cold and unfeeling laboratory designs, to suddenly be traveling around underground, behind the walls, it was such a thrill.  That sequence of the game delivered on all of the work I had done to get to that point.

Portal 2 never does that.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are bunches of, sort of 'travel' sequences that take you out of the testing realm to travel around, in a way that is very similar to the end of Portal 1.  I would guess that you experience the gameplay of that sequence about three or four times throughout Portal 2.  But what is missing is the contrast, the Payoff that the end of Portal 1 had.

The gameplay grows steadily, with very good pacing, all through the game.  You learn about newer features of the game, including laser triggers and that gel stuff.  The plot and characterization also grows with the gameplay.   Wheatley is dangerous, but then ultimately moronic, GLaDOS goes through her own growth leading to forgiveness of a sort.  But there is no real point of surprise and eye-widening, grin spreading potential that I felt when finishing Portal 1.

I think what would have done the trick would have been some non-linear or sandbox sequences.  Think about it - what could you do in a sandbox game with a portal gun?  A freaking PORTAL GUN!  But no, Portal 2 follows this basic formula:  Linear story sequences, Series of Test, Linear Story Sequences, Series of tests, until you get to the end.  And it's got a lot of fun, but it did make me a little impatient at times.

Also:  Do they ever explain why your character was back at Aperture Labs?  I mean, you escape in Portal 1, right?  Why would you ever go back?

So, don't get me wrong, Portal 2 is a great game.  I was on Cloud 9 through the first half of the game, right up until Wheatley takes over. I think I would have preferred a shorter game, or even an episodic release - two games at half the price.  The game took me 13.6 hours to complete.

The Game wowed me at first, but by halfway through I had settled into a comfort zone.  Portal 1 wowed me because the game concept is so awesome, then as it progressed I stayed with it, and then it totally wowed me at the end, big time!   I feel like Portal 1 left with so much potential, and Portal 2 was just a little superficial.  But still a great game.   Portal 1 gets an A and Portal 2 gets a B+  ... I think.  Maybe A+ and B+.  Sequels always have more to prove.  But sometimes they are better than the original.  It does happen.  

And though I am not anticipating a third portal game.  If it does come, I really hope for some open world exploration-type stuff.  Weee, Portals!

-D


P.S. I also want to mention that I bought Portal 2 on Steam as part of a 75% off deal that included Portal 1.  Gotta love that Steam!

Controller Style Confusion

I was playing Super Meat Boy the other day, or more likely, I was trying to play Super Meat Boy and since I don't have a USB or an xBox 360 controller for computer games, I was forced to use my keyboard.  The keyboard controls for SMB (Not that SMB), uses the arrow keys to move and the space bar to jump and shift to sprint.  I didn't make it through the first level.  I didn't like using the arrow keys to move, although, more specifically, I didn't like using  my right had for directional controls.  That last thought is what got me thinking, because that's a contradictory statement based on my controller preferences for games on other systems.

I started my video gaming life playing the Intellivision and the Atari 2600 and for both of those systems, I played right hand directional control and left hand/fingers buttoning.  With the advent of the NES controller, that all flipped to left handed directional pad and right handed for buttons.  Despite the apparent flip in hand orientation, this layout seemed very intuitive and I never questioned it.  With Goldeneye 007 on the N64, you were allowed to customize the N64 controller so you could decide which buttons moved you, meaning either the directional C-pad or the joy stick.

So now we'll go through the differing control styles that I seem to favor and if there's a reason why.

Consoles Games

The majority of games on consoles and hand held consoles are played by moving around with the directional pad with the left hand or the analogue stick and button mashing with the right hand.  The exception for me though is with FPS'.

When Turok: Dinosaur Hunter came out on the N64, I was pretty new to FPS'.  I had played a bit of Doom and Castle Wolfenstein, but only very little, and only enough to know that I didn't like that you could only look left and right, but not up or down.  But with Turok, my world was opened, and I gladly entered.  The controls for Turok were that you moved with the C-pad and looked around with the joystick, which is what I used when I began playing Goldeneye, which had an even greater amount of semi-customizable (new word) control styles and I quickly fell in love with 1.2 Solitaire, the same controls as Turok.

What drew me to moving with the C-pad buttons, controlled with the left hand instead of the joystick which would be controlled with the right hand, was the fact that I felt that I had more control when looking with the joystick and the C-pad felt very stilted.  Granted, moving with the joystick, you could go between walking and running, but I felt that was a bit unnecessary.

Oh yes, and the y-axis controls (up/down) had to be inverted.  Why?  It just felt more natural for me.

This control style held true for the other FPS' that I've played on consoles, which coincidentally were also made either by Rare or those who split off from Rare to create Free Radical: Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters, TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.  Additionally, any time that I play any FPS' on a console, I always have to go to the controller customization and tinker around until I can move with the left joystick and look with the right and making sure that the controls are inverted.

The only problem I've run into with the above mentioned control scheme was with Halo and Left 4 Dead II, both games had the ability to jump which took my right thumb off the movement controls to be able to jump. I don't recall if there was complete button customization or presets to choose from, but I remember that I wasn't happy with the control set up.  Oh, and with Perfect Dark: Zero, which only had one control scheme and it was something that I didn't like and couldn't get used to.  I think I fired a single shot, opened one door and turned the game off.

PC Gaming

Control styles in PC games can be a bit more varied, but my preference for "moving" is with the WASD keys.  Going back to SMB, I can't stand moving by using the arrow keys with my right hand.  I feel very uncoordinated and clumsy.  However, with platformer PC games, I still feel very clumsy using WASD with my fingers instead of using a directional pad with my thumb.  I mean I could probably fumble my way through SMB with either the arrow or WASD controls, but it would take a lot of frustrating time.  Think going through Super Metroid with only WASD for movement.  However, with VVVVVV,  despite the fact that I haven't beaten the game yet, I find using the arrow keys to move around very easy to get used to.

As for FPS' on the PC, it's all about WASD for moving and the mouse for looking.  With the mouse y-axis being inverted.

Huh.  I guess it's slightly simpler than I had previously thought.  But when playing any game, on any system, I know that I might have to tinker around with the controls to suit my personal taste.  And when transitioning between say, Doom III and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Which I like a lot more than Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and I'll cover at a later date), I know that my brain won't have any troubles moving from one control style to the next.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

up-up-down-down-left trigger-right trigger-left trigger- right trigger-b-a-select-start

And now I present to you the ultimate in controller design:

It can only be called "Awesome."

First Impressions: Lone Survivor

This game is a survival horror game in the 16-bit style.  It is definitely plays as a traditional survival horror;  I don't know if I'll live or die every time I play it.  In fact, I'm more likely to think that I'm going to die.  Your character must eat and must sleep.  Food is hard to come by, and his sleep is of a poor quality if he's hungry.  

I can't tell, but I think it may be possible to paint yourself into a corner in this game.  By this I mean to progress to a certain point without the proper amount of items to actually survive and beat the game.  I had this problem the first time I played a Resident Evil game.  I got to the last boss with a knife and five handgun bullets.  Oops.  As I'm playing Lone Survivor, I am very nervous that this will happen again. But I think this is a good thing, not a bad thing.  I want Survivor Horror to be challenging in that way.

There's also a good air of mystery and insanity, making this game more akin to Silent Hill than to Resident Evil.  So far, so good, but I have to admit that I don't beat scary games as fast as I used to.  I'm turning into an old man, I guess.  

I got Lone Survivor as part of the Humble Indie Bundle V.  And since that was a gift from my blog partner here, JDubConian from Woodland,  I didn't pay a dime for it.  But I see you can buy it for $10.  

-DRPFW

First Impressions: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (PSP)

I've played for just over an hour so far and I currently have mixed feelings about it, although not so mixed that I'm going to stop playing.

First off, a brief description of the game for those of y'all who'ren't (yes, double contractions are accepted here) familiar with the Megami Tensei series, is that it's similar to Pokémon in that you "collect" "demons" and facets of your personality to fight for you in random encounters.  The goal isn't to "catch 'em all," but having a list of demons/facets that you have had is pretty cool.

In the Shin Megami Tensei series (hereto referred to as SMT), I've played about 80% of SMT: Strange Journey on the DS, so the concepts in this game are not entirely foreign to me.

At this moment in the game, the only thing that it taking a while to get used to is the map and moving around within the overworld.  The game world is set up in four districts and, presently anyway, you move around by walking through the streets.  The problem with all this is that your character has been a resident of the area for I don't know how long, yet the player has only just been introduced to the city/world/map and knowing where things are is a bit confusing.  None of the buildings are labelled.  Part of me says that I'm only complaining too much and want my hand held just to cross the street.  My defense is that when, during dialogue, you're told that you need to go to Building X, which is just east of Building Z.  That's all and good, except that I don't know where Building Z is.  So within the first hour, I went looking online for a map of the four districts so I can at the very least where the damn buildings are, rather than wandering aimlessly trying to enter any building that looks somewhat plausible.

Part of my problem could very well be that I'm not sitting down and devoting and hour+ to getting to know the world and familiarizing myself with the locations over everything.  I admit, that's all on me, and something I should get around to fixing.

I should probably also say something about the music, which I am quite enjoying.  For the most part, the music seems pretty standard fare for RPG's, except that the music has a modern flare to it.  And then there's the "Battle" music, which sounds like a J-Pop song with vocals singing something in Japanese with the obligatory English words thrown in for exotic-ness.  I'll admit, the song is pretty catchy and I'm really interested to see if the song changes as the game progresses, which would be really awesome.

So that's really where I'm at with SMT: Persona right now.  I really want to like this game as it's apparently a hugely popular RPG series in Japan and I want to get into another RPG that isn't a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest series, not that I have problems/issues with either of those series, but it is nice to have something fresh that I'm not entirely familiar with.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I'll Take A Look At Your Specials Menu, Thanks.

More Games!

I just remembered this game!  And I'm having an "Awww" moment, like when you see a kitten.  I loved this game.  I'm going to play it again before writing more.  I very strongly encourage you to play.  Actually, no, I'm not encouraging you, I'm asking you: Please play this game.  It doesn't take long, it plays in-browser and you control with the arrow keys.

oh my god, this game was part of a game contest too.  48 hour Global Game Jam 2011.  More to come on that...

Another Round of Free Flash Games

hexagon 
My God this game is hard.  And it's kinda neat, and it was made by Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV), and I think he's pretty neat.  Give it a try, see how long it takes to get addicted and then frustrated.

where we remain

This is an interesting sort of adventure/exploration game with multiple endings.  I've gotten only one out of three endings, I am curious to see what else this game holds.




  

gravity hook 

This game requires just a mouse and one button, and really, I hardly even move the mouse when I play, and it somehow has an awesome amount of game-play depth for being so simple.   I haven't played the HD version, but I highly recommend giving Gravity Hook a whirl or two.  

A Super Mario Summary

This game is pitched as 'a compression of each of the 32 original super mario bros levels into one screen apiece.'  I found it to be not exactly that, but pretty fun to play.  

First Impressions: Pilotwings Resort (3DS)

Pilotwings Resort was the first game that I was able to fully tinker around with on the 3DS.  Yes, that was because I received the game free as a promotional thing when I purchased the system, but I had plans of buying the game anyway before the promotional deal came about.  It was just what I needed to kick me in the pants-side to get around to purchasing one.  That and the previously mentioned $100 in Gamestop gift cards I'd been saving for the past year.  Anyway!  Pilotwings Resort!

All I knew about the game before playing it was that it took place on an island and that your characters would be the user created Miis as opposed to the selectable characters as in Pilotwings 64.  The only thing that I "Ahhhh'd" about in a somewhat negative way, was that your characters didn't have any attributes.  You know, now that I think about it, I don't know if the planes/jetpack/parachute/hang-glider/flying squirrel suit act any differently if you played with the tallest/shortest and heaviest/lightest options for a Mii.

Yes.  I said there's a Flying Fucking Squirrel Suit option in one of the levels.  But possibly more on that later.

The game plays very much like Pilotwings 64 for which I was very happy about.  That also is why I'm not able to complete/get full stars on some of the levels.  In Pilotwings 64, I was never great with the hang-glider missions.  I liked it well enough, but hitting the thermals in the way so that you would not only gain altitude, but also increase your speed to hit that other mid-air thermal in order to fly through that one ring; yeah, those gave me problems.  I seem to recall Dr. Potts having some skill with the bloody hang-glider.  So yes, Pilotwings Resort is kicking my Mii's ass in some of the levels, for which I do appreciate it very much.

I was very happy to see that there was a "Free Flight" around the island of Wuhu, albeit a timed free flight.  Then after playing for a couple of hours, I found that through completing various tasks in the main game, you're able to extend the amount of time for your free flight.  And, you're able to have various optional tasks added to the free flight to earn points/coins/what-nots in order to unlock other features for Free Flight.  Kudos to you Nintendo.  You've tricked me into thinking that this little flight around your island was simple and basic, and here you've added mini missions that I don't have to participate in.  But, what kind of person would I be if I didn't fly through that ring and perform a counter clockwise roll while banking around the lighthouse.

Since the game is on the 3DS system, it wouldn't be a complete initial review without mentioning the 3D effects in the game.  The 3D effects are very well done.  I've played levels with and without the 3D effect as well as varying degrees of 3D-ness.  In this game, I like to either have it off, or turned all the way up, and now I don't feel so silly (not that I ever did in the first place) leaning with the system, hoping beyond hope that the system's built in gyroscope will register what I'm doing, be a bro, and help another brutha out so that I don't crash into the ocean.

At the moment, my only critiques are minimal:

1)  I feel that landing a plane is too easy.  Do I mind that I'm able to land a plane without crashing into the ocean?  Nope.

2)  I would say that I am sad that there's no cannon, but as I know that I haven't unlocked everything in the game, I'm hoping that there's a good chance that the canon will be unlockable.

To sum up, if I hadn't received the game for free, I would not have been disappointed in spending the $19 necessary to play this game without the risk of being arrested for walking out of the store without making the transaction.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

3-2-1 Break Right!

The Art of Storytelling- Cutscenes: Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden had the best cutscenes of the 8-bit era.  I feel confident I can make that statement and have it go unchallenged.  And hell, if there are better cut scenes out there, I'd be glad to watch youtube videos of them.

I recently read a book called "Reinventing Comics"(2000) by Scott McCloud.  This book was the sequel to "Understanding Comics." (1993)  Both books are fantastic, and I recommend them to anyone with even a mild interesting in the subject;  I got my copies at my local library.  In these books, McCloud talks about the future of comics, and how technology will influence the design of comics to come.  He spends a few panels talking about the possibility of including sound and animation in comics, which I've seen before.   

However, McCloud doesn't seem to realize that video game cut scenes were already doing just that.  And, to tell you the truth, I don't think I've seen it done better.  Animation and sound in comics tends to annoy me, but cutscenes work just fine.  Perhaps it's because the comic 'panel' takes up the full-screen, so there isn't a weird contrast when placed next a still panel.

The link I included up top is to a video of all the cutscenes from Ninja Gaiden. While it's fun to view the cutscenes in sequence, there is definitely an element lost.  In Ninja Gaiden there are cutscenes before and after ever level.  Or Stage.  Whatever.  It is very consistent.  By having it framed against the game play, there is a feeling of a continuous story flow.  The high-action scenes are the game play.  The talking is done in the cutscenes. 

I think in later games, especially after FMV moved in, a lot of it was just done for flash.  There wasn't a clean and understandable flow from one scene to another.  Abes Oddysee, for example, has some of my favorite cut scenes ever, but they are few and far between, and seem inconsistent in their placement.  FF7 was acclaimed for its cutscenes, but I think they suffered from the same problems of inconsistency, and varying quality.  

What video games have your favorite cut scenes?