Thanksgiving Gaming in Minnesota's Northwest Corner

My girlfriend Nikki and I are trekking across Minnesota tomorrow to spend the holiday/break with my parents in the state's Northwest corner. It's a scenic drive until halfway when we reach the upper half of the state. There, the terrain flattens and trees disappear. I call it the North Dakota effect.

I always tell myself it'll be a gaming-free trip - a nice time to "unplug," relax, and get more in touch with my roots. But videogames always come with, and somehow I still relax and do all the things I desired when my favorite medium and obsession wasn't involved. Go figure.

This year I'm bringing my Xbox 360, Wii, and PC for the four-day weekend. It's a lot of tech to carefully pack, carry down my long apartment's long hallways, and load into my 2000 Blazer, but I find it absolutely necessary year after year, despite my initial lapses in judgement. I'm not afforded many opportunities to game with my family, other than my brother and cousin who both play World of Warcraft and anything and everything else, so I relish this rare occasion.

On the 360, I hope to organize a few games of the new Buzz TV!: Quiz World and show my dad, a lifetime car enthusiast and former street racer, Forza 3 and its extensive customization features.

The only Wii title I'm bringing back is the New Super Mario Bros. I'd love to take more with, but I haven't purchased any others for the console since Brawl. I'll gauge their interest during this holiday, and, if they are positively receptive to the Wii and possibility of playing other games, I may need to pick up one or two more for Christmas.

My PC's traveling with because I don't have a laptop and I may need to do some work. My parents have one, but their setup can't run World of Warcraft...and there I go giving myself away. In-game holiday events, no matter how trivial, are too silly for me to ignore.

Sometime after the trip's over, I'll post how everything went, and possibly an article I'm really excited about. Until then, lemme know if gaming's in your holiday schedule.

Games of the Year: A Review of Left 4 Dead 2

We  didn’t ask for this, but developer, publisher, and multi-faceted industry pioneer Valve software delivered Left 4 Dead 2 barely one year after the first anyway. And company chose to do so despite the passionate and sometimes ludicrous objections from fanatics clinging to an all but bygone way of industry distribution (Valve typically spends years perfecting each iteration of a property while maintaining consumer interest in those at market with free updates and downloadable content).

Months ago, the loudest protesters received an invitation to play the title they so strongly opposed at Valve’s own headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Shortly after, the community-driven petitions received fewer signatures and boycott groups disbanded. Valve won, but did gamers as well?

After months of waiting, and Valve playing coy drug pusher with a brilliantly concise and addictive demo, the game’s out now on both the Xbox 360 and PC. The explanation behind the death of the defying few’s doubts  is obvious now. Valve destroyed them with better game design.

The first Left 4 Dead now plays like a developer trial run. The linearity of its levels rarely encouraged exploration and/or alternative pathing – telling survivors to always find the optimal straight line in their A to B journeys and stick with it. Nothing good could ever warrant deviation. 2’s levels remain linear by design, but traveling in these expansive environments feels more organic and diverse. Repeatedly during each campaign, players must take note of their current health and inventory and decide whether or not distancing themselves from the vaguely beaten path is worth an unidentified reward that may or may not exist. Sometimes it is, and the group can move forward with greater confidence and efficiency, and sometimes people die. This risk/reward system’s present in nearly every videogame ever created (I’m aware of many exceptions, thanks), but implementation here is strikingly vital to player perceived enjoyment.

In a single-player game of Left 4 Dead 2, a risk/reward thought procedure includes few factors involving the group’s efficiency. Computer-controlled allies don’t carry throwable items like the Boomer bile, pipe bomb, and molotov cocktail, but they will find and use a chainsaw or a grenade launcher regardless of your own personal preference and capability. These teammates are stupid, too – sometimes falling from a vital location or ignoring others incapacitated by the zombie pack. Out of necessity, players must think only of themselves when playing alone. “All that matters is if I can reach the end,” they likely think.

Add a few more flesh-and-blood teammates to the mix and more factors get thrown into the risk/reward situational blender. Emotion, the bittersweet spice, inevitably slips its way in as well. Groups filled with equally capable players are rare, and at one point or another, everyone eventually debates whether or not it’s a good idea to use a healing item on the fool with a constantly dropping health bar. “Perhaps it would be a better idea to save the invaluable first aid kit and use it on someone else, someone with more kills and a greater sense of what it takes to survive,” we wonder. “Or maybe we should check in that dark corner behind the motel. I once saw a health pack there during a different playthrough.”

Undoubtedly the best campaign.

Situations like these present themselves at the end of every bleak corridor and inside each brightly outdoor environment in Left 4 Dead 2. From the small, “this zombie will hit me in maybe three seconds, but one might hit me from behind in two…what should I do?,” to the big, “I’m at the end of the level and all of my friends are lying on the ground getting attacked by everything. Do I save them or leave?” Valve’s successes in inserting these moments dictate the game’s unexpected achievements in playability. Don’t be fooled, the zombie apocalypse is just pretty packaging.

As I stated earlier, the title’s levels are brilliantly crafted environments that allow the intended gameplay design to work exceedingly well. The craftsmen themselves deserve substantial credit, but will probably receive very little from those outside their field. It’s okay, guys and gals, few realize the visual splendor of films like Brokeback Mountain and 25th Hour are due to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s involvement.

Making the level designers look even better...

Read the rest at IPR's Multimedia blog.

Forza 3’s Community Defies Online Gamer Stereotypes

I typically don’t spend any measurable time inhabiting online game communities and conversing with the residents , especially those with console houses. They’re often a mean sort, drunk off the anonymity afforded by the internet. Pitchforks, or rather, controllers in hand, they rally against anyone who doesn’t meet a predetermined set of standards. Their dialect  – slangs and slurs that would get any pre-teen a mouth full of soap should he utter but one. Well, you’d think so anyway. Join a multiplayer game of Halo or Call of Duty and you’ll inevitably hear a plethora of vulgarities from some uncouth young boy who has yet to experience puberty. Other, more civilized folk, live here too, but their pleasantries are muted against the blowhorn-wielding neighbors.

 
The infamous “gayboy” video.

But make no mistake, this type of behavior’s not limited to online shooters or even videogame consoles. It’s all over – favoring almost no genre. These people are ready to pounce as you build bases in real-time strategy titles and stab you in the back as you hone your skills with a fire-ball tossing hero in fighting games. They’re even ready to sink their teeth into your neck when you are at your most vulnerable – reclining back in your favorite chair, feet on an old familiar ottoman, and playing a simple, relaxing game of Uno. Sometimes, when I’m feeling energetic and sassy, I make it my mission to give these people a hard time. I rebel against the rebels, and grief the griefers. It’s a great time, and one I’ll be digging into much deeper in an upcoming post.

People are people almost wherever you go. Some qualities are universal across all cultures, but this one, this is mostly American. In one of the final episodes of videogame website 1UP’s now-defunct “1UP Yours” podcast, host Garnett Lee and guest Mark McDonald, a former editor for 1UP and former director of Gamevideos.com, discuss the behavior of Japanese gamers in online gaming environments. Mark, a Tokyo resident since leaving 1UP two years ago, explains to Garnett that online gamers in Japan are patient and polite people, when they actually speak. It’s customary to politely greet someone when they join your game, and it’s customary to politely say “goodbye” when they leave. Even more different from American gamers, if a teammate’s comparatively not doing well, the rest don’t get on his or her case, shout names, and belittle the gamer. Instead, the Japanese offer tips and encouragement.

Supporting Mark’s claim are many pieces of information coming from the top Street Fighter players from the U.S, such as Justin Wong and Gootecks. When they travel abroad, they notice the Japanese competition’s unified – helping each other overcome flaws to achieve greater individual, and group, mastery. But, for the most part, Street Fighter players in the United States remain divided and selfish – unwilling to divulge information for fear of aiding the competition and potentially triggering their own demise. With this in mind, there’s no wondering why Japan remains dominant in the fighting game scene to this day.

Read the rest at IPR's Multimedia Blog.

Capcom Says Community Decided DLC Delivery Method of Resident Evil 5 "Alternative Edition"

Capcom just sent this out to anyone and everyone on their mailing list:

"Hi Everyone,

You can try to forget the fear but it will never go away…

Following the announcement of Resident Evil 5: The Alternative Edition by Capcom Japan at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom’s North American and European community sites decided to post polls and determine how fans in the pan-western regions would like the new Resident Evil 5 content delivered to them. The surveys asked the Capcom community to state their preference- either a hard disc with the new content included or as downloadable content. Based on the results of the polls, Capcom is pleased to announce that new downloadable content will be available for Resident Evil 5 owners this spring via XBOX Live and PlayStation Network."

So...community votes on new dlc for a game rather than re-purchasing it to gain access to new and updated content? Big shocker there. Just getting the dlc's cheaper and easier. But I'm a little confused. Why not force Super Resident Evil 5 in disc form down everyone's throats instead? I mean, it's what you're good at, Capcom.

PC Version of Batman: Arkham Asylum Offers Significantly Greater Immersion Than Console Counterparts.

“This isn’t one of those in-game pre-rendered movies, is it?” As Batman: Arkham Asylum played on the screen, a Game Night attendee demanded answers. I couldn’t fault him for questioning the graphics’ validity. Videogame companies notoriously employ smoke, mirrors, and feature film-quality 3D animation to mislead consumers into buying a product that can, in no way, live up to such a high visual precedent. In truth, it’s my fault I was caught off guard by the question. I should’ve expected the interrogator’s response. I often ask the same exact question (Thanks, Killzone 2!).

Batman doesn’t need in-game movies. The title immerses the player in the Bat-experience without them. The cinematic encounters aren’t observed, like in some “Final” titles, they’re played. Developer Rocksteady shows players this almost immediately during the lengthy introduction of escorting the Joker into the depths of Arkham.  As many of us know, this kind of medium interactivity isn’t new.

Cutting to a computer-generated or, heaven forbid, full motion video clip during an interactive game can segment the experience. In the world the player inhabits, he or she can move the protagonist around and interact with various objects and people. The boundaries are known, if only somewhat, here, and the objects are, in a way, tangible. But the world the clip inhabits might be entirely different, and potentially occupied by a similar, but bizarro-ish protagonist who possesses the capability to make decisions contradicting, or slightly off, from those made by the player. We assume they’re the same, because continuity and what games have taught us throughout years tell us, but we really don’t know. Think of it this way, you know the properties of an orange when holding it – the pleasant smell of the citrus flavors, the round and sometimes ovular shape, and the smooth but bumpy texture – but if all you know of an orange is what you’ve seen in a picture, then you can only assume. The power of a first-hand experience must never be underestimated.

Since this is a licensed title, it’s more vital than normal that the player feels like Batman (we all expect certain things from the Dark Knight). Through smart, and extremely well-designed gameplay mechanics, Rocksteady achieves this. Next, it’s up to the visuals to do their part (no sense in creating elaborate mechanics for Batsy Watsy if he looks and moves like a black tin can wearing a cape). Spoiler: The art department proved themselves as capable as the gameplay guys (and gals?). Arkham Asylum can hang with the biggest of visual baddies (not including the great emperor Crysis), in lighting, shadows, and raw pixel count. It’s really a beautiful game, and even better looking on the PC, provided you have the necessary setup.

As I said in my other Arkham Asylum-related article, the game includes added support for NVIDIA’s PhysX technology (”a proprietary realtime physics engine middleware software development kit). Since I possess a capable computer, I figured I’d bite, and see what kind of improvements this flaunted technology offered.

The difference is staggering. As the HardOCP folks say in their review of the title, “… there is absolutely a graphical effects payoff in Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

Read the rest of the article at IPR's Multimedia blog.

Smell the Cheese? Brogamers Hail New Call of Dooooooooodie Modern Warfare 2 Trailer

“‘Sup brogamers! The new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 trailer aired last night during the Sunday night FOOOOOOTBALLLL(!!) match between the Steelers and the Chargers. It was AWESOME! There were explosions, and people running around in military stuff, and like Bible references, and OMG the music! It had power chords! ROCK ONNNN! Like, words that can accurately describe this monumental achievement in interactive entertainment don’t even exist. I’d make one or two up, but my mind’s still trying to process how AWESOME it was. Ya know what I mean, dawgs? Of course you do! You’ll be standing by bros like me outside of GameStops everywhere on November 10, waiting to slam down s 150 greenbacks for the totally mindblowing Prestige Edition! Recession? Psh. I need my CALL OF DOOOOOOOODIE!”

The paragraph above didn’t seep through the mouth or fingers of another oil-sucking American. I made it up, and snagged the pic from my favorite industry webcomic,VGCats. But modify a few words, swap out brogamers for some hip term tossed around by the white baseball cap-wearing collar-popped social “elite,” and it’s the same dribble splattered across dozens, if not hundreds, of message boards and forums. The beautifully awful gamer prose even rears its worn out mug in news items by game “journalists.” Check out the snippet below from Kombo.com:

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is big. Really big. So big that a new trailer for the game can’t just debut on the internet or on a videogame-oriented program like GameTrailers TV or XPlay. No, only one entity is big enough to hold the awesomeness of Modern Warfare 2 – the National Football League.”

Here’s another from Kotaku Australia:

Read the rest at IPR's Multimedia Blog.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 "Infamy" Trailer Sparks Typical Gamer Commentary

The new Call of DOOOOOODIE trailer surfaced last night and elicited not-so-intelligent commentary and discourse among its YouTube fanbase. After combing through pages of comments, most of which contain an unbelievable number of references to "cum" and "jizzing," I figured I'd share a few of the uh...neater...ones.

mrrelentless279: 
this game is going to piss of so many people... why do you ask because its to fucking holy to unwrap when you buy it. i still can't belive you cant prestige untill you hit level 75! thats the olny thing i hate bout the game but hey every game has its flaws and greatnesses... and this game kicks so much ass

yourCRAZY0001:
.....speachless

kaizersosa81:
That boat scene looks like its gonna be a bitch on Veteran... oh well Veteran diffulculty right off the back as always...

Pwnz3rProductions:
OBAMA ON FIRE

r3dark:
modern warfare 2 is much more cinematic with the snowmoblie thing and the boat thing and even the way you get on that vulcan its just fuckin amazing and yes for all how are wondering i too jizzed 
:)cant wait!!!!

fkinflapjacks:

hay terrorist cant take over the white house!

eddypurpus

FUUUUCK ALLL YOU NEEEEEEEEGROS!

IRiShxBaNdiTxxxRaTeD:

Cant fucking wait :) best game of the year FACT.

clo5ure:

disappointed at the DC setting, kind of unbelievable and outrageous

halo81312936:

haha looks like our country gets raped in this game ahhahaahaha

r3dark:
remember when thos guys got hit with the mines....thats how im felling right now....!!!!!BLOWN THE FUCK AWAY!!!!!!!
TEHE!!! PUN

xavier8381:
Speechless... Wow! This is gonna be the game of the year and a new bar is set for upcoming warfare games IW has claimed the battlefield!

IxassasinI

FUKKKKKKKK CANT FUKING WAIT ONE MORE MINUTE...im going crazy!!

T23Gunz:
Game of the Year - Uncharted 2. This is obviously amazing, Uncharted 2 is under rated by the average person, and has 97% avg rating online.

SPARTS3000:
Loooks like somebody Epicely FAILED to protect the united states FRom the hands of Middle East. IM not saying His name!!!!!

Juicenewton248:
i saw the white house, OBAMA BETTER BE A BOSS IN THE CAMPAIGN

NineLivesProduction:
pffff no then the game would fail and we would lose

almonds111133:
BEST TRAILER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! while everyone was at homecoming tonight i wasn't and i got to see this first yaaaa bitchez!!!!

soccerfan295:
omg i hope obama is in the game

Mustang3813:
Hope so, so he can see what he was done!!

stopterrorismnow21:

obama going to fuck them up the booty hoe

MrSeriopedo:
i have not seen anything special about this game

raulcortez13:
suck a fucking dick and nvr talk shit about thsi game fag

KoGofXG:
Holy fucking shit. November 10th cant come any quicker. Fighting the hojis in DC. they take over the fucking white house

KoGofXG:
poor obama. HAHA!

MrGoose187:

Hella More Better Then Gaylo 3:ODST

darklordoprah:
why is it always so awesome to see the white house on fire? :)

1emonation:
i have a gcse on the teth of november and ill be sat for twos hours hinging to my self, i could be at home right now seeing what infinityward have unleashed on us

rotzlo:

Infinity Ward and Activision are sons of bitches MW2 will be awesome and everywhere they write its comes out 11.november but NOOO these fuckers just bring it out for consoles on 10.november-.- IW YOU SUCK!!!!

DigitallPimp:
Thats because it is better for consoles, more of a recreational thing. Too many nerds on PC's anyway.

Tracerex:
oh please spare me the biblical references. if i wanted high literature i would read a book. its call of duty ffs lets not get ahead of our selves, the story doesnt make sense anyway. the villanous voice over only made me cringe further. plus how could a bunch of third world militia rejects do that!!!

v200x:
Looks shity,bf bd 2 and of looks mucyh better

bigc072004:

....so why are you watching the trailer fagboy?

Final Observation: Anyone who liked the trailer either "jizzed in their pants" or "came 4 times." Anyone who didn't like the trailer is gay, according to the observations of the "jizzers."