Reading this article from Pop Matters inspired me to ponder the Apocalypse. Or, more specifically, the alternate reality settings many of our favorite games use to tell their stories. I favor the post-Apocalyptic settings because I think they provide an interesting landscape that speaks to the potentiality of society’s downfall in a variety of ways. We are often fighting against the disastrous results of what went wrong, searching for humanity amongst the rubble of corruption or supernatural force that has stolen control away. In Bioshock we are struggling to escape the mutated state of Andrew Ryan’s Utopia, because according to our perception what is happening in Rapture is wrong. We never see the mutations as a misstep in the progressive path of plasmid development and the game certainly doesn’t guide us into a scientific trial and error process to further Ryan’s dream. Why not? That story has potential as well. But in that context we are not saving a world gone wrong, we are assisting with its continual destruction. We are not heroes, we are villains.

In Borderlands you cruise through Pandora, a world abandoned by its corporate leaders and sent into chaos. Now, I understand that Pandora is a fictional world, but it certainly can be seen as the alternate history of a world abandoned by its economic infrastructure and left to fend for itself. You play a set of characters trying to create order from the dog eat dog world that remains. Why not play a set of characters destined to promote the ruffians subversive behavior and provoke continual discordance? That scenario isn’t very humane and it doesn’t have a well placed end result that allows the player to feel heroic. I am currently playing Alan Wake and trying to save my wife from a perceived ‘Darkness’ by using ‘Light’ in a nightmare (alternate) reality. I could have easily played the part of the villain and directed the narrative from her point of view. But I want to save my wife and be a hero. I want to see the end cut scene where we reconcile and everything is glorious once again-me and you against the world, dear. I stayed strong to save the Princess even when she was ‘in another castle’ because I was Mario, the plumber with a heart of gold who could overcome all of the obstacles in his path to win her favor. I like being a hero. I don’t want to be a villain. I want to save the world from chaos and unrest over and over again in different ways. I want to feel as though I could handle any situation the universe could head our way-I’m prepared.

I was thinking about this when I spent a couple of hours back in Denerim (Aw, you thought Dragon Age was behind me? Think again!) last week playing the most recent DLC, The Darkspawn Chronicles. This time I was playing for the wicked team as a Hurlock assisting the Arch Demon in taking down Ferelden. It felt decidedly gross to slaughter all of your teammates one by one and I swear I almost choked up when I savagely gored Alistair to death. Even if I hadn’t spent 40+ hours loving my Warden party, I think it would still be strange to kill off the characters that are fighting for peace and harmony across the land. When I was playing as War in Darksiders I felt as though the widespread angel massacre was all in the name of justice and balance-same with Bayonetta, who was supposedly a character playing for the wrong side. There is always someone else whose evil nature outweighs your own (You think I’m bad? Check out this guy!).

I am sure there are plenty of games out there where you guide the most evil character you can think of to the high point of chaos, but I don’t think those are for me. I love being the savior and hero. And I especially love all of the storylines that craftily steer you through a post-Apocalyptic landscape where everyone is counting on you-whether you are saving your fellow man from corruption or saving the world from supernatural annihilation. And although a game centered on plasmid research and development might be interesting, using it to further Ryan’s megalomaniac dream just sounds f**king crazy.

First we were given a presentation by David, where he elucidated on the theory of the design team when it came to building a  successful and better sequel. The problems, he said were “funneled into three big buckets. Those became our big areas of improvement for Dragon Age 2.”

Problem the first: The graphics. More specifically, the graphics of the console version of the game. “If you played Dragon Age: Origins on the PC, you will be happy with the graphics in the PC version of Dragon Age 2. If you played Dragon Age: Origins on the console, you will be blown away by how much better Dragon Age 2 looks.” Also of note, the design team realized that the art direction in the first game lacked serious cohesion, an issue we were told, that has been addressed in the sequel.

Problem the second: Combat. “A lot of people liked the fact that you could pause the game. You got to be a general. The problem occurred when you un-paused the game. You would go from thinking like a general to watching like a spectator.” A tricky problem to fix, RPG players have become attached to the mechanic of being able to pause combat, and direct each of your characters in kind.

Their solution was simple: “We’re going to still let you think like a general in Dragon Age 2. But once you start fighting, you’re going to fight like a Spartan. Very action-oriented. Very much in the heart of the battle.”  This is exciting news: the combat in the first game was intense, yet distanced. Pushing a key and watching your warrior decapitate a Darkspawn a second later was nice, but lacked the tactile satisfaction of hitting that key and immediately watching your enemy’s extremities take a long-term  leave of absence from its torso. It boils down to a simple philosophy: “When you press a button, something awesome happens.”

Problem the third: The story. This was surprising—Dragon Age: Origins was a strong, challenging story full of genuinely moving moments and difficult decisions that had to be made. How do you improve upon that which needs little improvement?

The answer was simple, and should make for a very strong and novel gaming experience. “We’re going to improve [the story] by changing how we tell the story,” David said, “It’s a framed narrative. A story that tells another story.” This is a real innovation as far as RPG gaming goes. Why? David gave us two solid reasons. First: “We can cover much more time in history. In Dragon Age 2 we span ten years. We are going to put you into the most important moments of the life of the main character.” Second: the game will be “Much more reactive. The problem with some of the choices you made, you didn’t see the outcome until the epilogue. With the framed narrative, you see the results much faster. This is our most responsive game to date.” Coming from Bioware, how can this not get you excited? Their storytelling is second to none, and it looks like they’ve managed to work some new ideas into what was already shaping up to be a great game.

We were allowed to catch a glimpse of the game in action as well. Two of the games three classes were available for demoing, the rogue and warrior. The first improvement we noticed was the combat speed. The main character dashed around the fight, engaging several enemies at once with sweeping and brutal attacks. The second was the differed feel of the two classes on display. The warrior hacked through hordes of Darkspawn, while the rogue dodged around enemies before burying twin blades in his target. It was satisfying, fun, and managed to genuinely refine a combat system that managed to be bloody and challenging into a combat system that was bloody, challenging, and a lot more fun to play.

The verdict? We’re excited to dive back in to the world of Dragon Age. Really, really excited. Much as the improvements from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 honed the experience of the game exponentially, Bioware has brought their considerable talents in innovation and storytelling to bear once again, and seemingly achieved the same result.

Dragon Age 2 is out March 8th, and if a strong story and brutal combat with terrifying monsters are your bag, then do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

While the plot of this game is every other mob movie you have seen rolled into one, the storyline stays compelling despite its lack of originality.  Mafia II does a few things very well, and one of them is a trend I have seen more and more in games, character development.  Historically a tactic more used in feature films, Mafia II makes you care for your criminal main character much in the way that many Mafia movies have as well.  It doesn’t matter that he is pumping rounds into someone’s head just to make a buck, the way the story is told, you don’t really feel like he is a bad person.  The down side is to establish such a feeling towards the main character, the first few hours of this game are painstakingly slow action wise. 

Another highlight of the story telling is the character dialog.  The writers of this game NAILED the mafia genre attitude for their characters.  The characters, even down to the NPC’s who are walking around on the street, have the mafia attitude from the vulgar swearing, casual racism, to the “I don’t give a #*#& what you think” attitude.  Oh, that word isn’t bleeped out in the game, and they say it a TON. 

Mafia II is also definitely a title for adults.  The violence is top notch, the swearing is bountiful, and the crime content itself is something to keep the kiddies away from.  But there was an additional adult feature I haven’t seen in a game before up until this point.  One of the collectibles in the world of Mafia II is classic Playboy pictures from that time period.  ACTUAL…PLAYBOY…PICTURES.  Yes, there are 40 some odd collectible pictures of 1940’s and 1950’s nude models in playboy magazine.  Sure I have seen naked computer generated people in video games before (Dante’s Inferno, God of War, etc), however to actually have real pictures of real people is a little odd.  Also a lot odder when you take into account most of those women are probably dead…

However for all the things Mafia II does well, it does a few things flat out horribly.  Firstly most of the game play is driving around Empire City.  Even the missions tend to be 50% driving.  Most other sandbox titles that have come out the past two years have found a way to get around this by allowing you to skip the long tedious drive around the city to get right to the action (often at the expense of dialog), or they just put the mission objectives close together.  This game does neither of those. 

Also the AI of the police that chase try and stop you is set to drooling idiot.   On top of that, they decided the police should try and arrest you for everything, including speeding and running red lights.  This just seems like a really poor choice when most of the game is driving.  So while you just want to go ahead and slam on the gas to get to the next part of your mission across town, you have to deal with a bunch of moron police officers trying to pull you over.  You can literally pull over, come to a complete stop, wait for the cop get out of the car and walk to your driver’s side window, and slam on the gas and get away 100% of the time.  Mafia II tries to compensate for the “speeding” thing by allowing you to toggle “safe driving mode” on and off which will cap your speed so you don’t get pulled over.  Personally I would have liked them to do away with it all together.  More realistic in a game doesn’t always mean better game play. 

In another lapse, the mission themselves are uninspired.  I don’t know if it is just the large amount of time you spend driving around during the missions, but I didn’t find them particularly as entertaining as other sandbox titles like Grand Theft Auto.  I found about one out of three of them actually fun.  The other two out of three were boring and just served to progress the storyline.  Truth be told it takes you about 5 hours of game play to even get to full on, mob violence style kind of mission.  Everything up until that is a lot of errand boy stuff.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m disappointed I bought the game, as I have enjoyed playing the title, but what I am finding most appealing in the game is the story line, the cut scenes, and how well the game nails the Italian Mafia genre.  Sadly the game play has little to nothing to do with it.  Additionally, the game length isn’t all that long (story line wise, it’s a sandbox so you can really play for a while without progressing the story line).  This game is definitely a renter to pick up from Gamefly or your local rental facility. 

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

The day was November 23, 2004, I was home from my Sophomore year at college for Thanksgiving break, Bush was president, Maroon 5′s “This Love” was just starting to get extremely annoying, and the Star Wars prequel series had yet to end. My brother, a die-hard Warcraft series fan was only talking about one thing, the debut of a massively multiplayer game based in the Warcraft universe, the game was called World of Warcraft and little did I know, it would become a huge part of my life for the next six years.

At the time, I was deep into a game called Star Wars Galaxies, playing consistently every day and because of this I was reluctant to get into WoW. After-all, I was a Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies… a Jedi! How could I leave that behind!?! Looking back on it, Star Wars Galaxies wasn’t that great of a game, I just have a huge affinity for everything Star Wars (see my rant on Star Wars for proof) and the night he bought it, I created a human mage character in World of Warcraft. I named my character Wilow (after the movie Willow, even on the first night the correct spelling was taken) and basically from the second the music started, I knew this was going to be my new game obsession.

The way I always justified the monthly cost to play WoW was that if I played it, I wouldn’t purchase as many $60 games and for the most part this worked. During its best days, Blizzard kept the game extremely fresh and the utter size and complexity of the game made me feel like I still had so much left to do and see. It would be beating a dead gnome for me to talk about the quality of what WoW became through the years.

Finally Hitting Level 80!

As I moved through college, I kept playing. WoW just sort of felt like an extension of life for me, but I swear I never really got to that stereotypical gamer state that so many of you may be thinking. I played very very casually, only hitting the current top level once. It wasn’t really about “winning” or “beating” the game. It was just a nice diversion to pass those quieter times between homework, classes, meals, and going out. It also was a great way to stay connected to my friends from home, and the others at school that also played. Using free trials, I got a number of my friends to play and in its best days, I had over a dozen “real life” friends playing at one time. It was like an exclusive chat room for my friends with a game on top of it.

The largest factor to me staying with World of Warcraft was I got to play with my friends. I can tell you, there was something absolutely addictive to teaming up with 4 other friends and beating a dungeon while joking around and talking about our lives over voice chat. It wasn’t just playing with them that made the game enjoyable, but the bond that was built from us all having one thing in common. Similar to how when the conversation runs dry, “guys” default to sports or “gals” default “shopping”, us nerds always had WoW to talk about. We can tell stories about things that happened in the game like real-life events.

Few games can get to WoW during Christmas level of fun.

Even though Blizzard continues to add new content to the game (in fact, they are revamping the entire world soon), I think it is time I move on and say goodbye to the world of Azeroth and Wilow. Who knows, this may not be forever, but I have not once stopped my subscription in over half a decade. The deciding factor was that since I left school, the people on my friend’s list in game has been dropping and now is vacant. Why? I think we have moved on… and not just to new games. We have moved on into adult jobs, different social circles, some even marriages. Although I know some of us still play, it just will never be what it was.

It is like the end of Toy Story 3, for Andy to move on with his life, he had to let go of his toys. That is WoW for me right now. Believe me, if you read this site you know I still play a lot of video games, but holding on to one with a subscription for pure nostalgia is just silly.

Goodbye Wilow and for perhaps the final time, For the Alliance!

Anamanaguchi is a band that also thrives on video game nostalgia, but doesn’t actually require you to have played the game.  They use NES and GameBoy sound chips (along with some guitars and a drum kit) to create modern music, the result being full-length songs that can fill a real album.  So the question at hand is whether Anamanaguchi, when limiting themselves to the confines of the video game soundtrack art form, can produce an album still worth listening to on it’s own.  First, let me make it clear that every single track the band put together is perfect play-along music for the Scott Pilgrim Video Game.  This is the best possible set of tunes the game could wish for.  However, if it’s going to be published as an album, I’m going to judge it (mostly) on it’s own two feet.  What is it like to listen to this if you are just a fan of chip music, but have no experience with the Scott Pilgrim game?

The 23 track count can seem staggering, but know what about half of them are game-driven filler.  Mostly these tracks complement atmosphere and style of play when used, but do not stand on their own.  They are just over a minute long, very repetitive, and intended to be looped over and over again for those situations in a game where the music shouldn’t be stealing all of the attention.

True love involves a fighting stance

That being said, there are some real gems in this album.  The opening theme is powerful and driving, while “Another Winter” manages to use those same trademark Anamanaguchi qualities to craft a song that winds up feeling mellow, even as the beats are hitting fast.  A deviation from typical Anamanaguchi style pays off for “Bollywood” and “Cheap Shop”; “Bollywood” mixes it up with syncopation and puts percussion as the focus, while “Cheap Shop” offer some excellent jazz guitar over 8-bit rythyms.

Other tracks that the casual listener may enjoy would the “The Dark One” and “Subboss Theme”, but the selection begins to tail off there.  For the Anamanaguchi fan, or those interested in video game soundtracks as a medium, I would highly recommend picking up this entire album.  I would still urge others to head on over to your mp3-dealing website of choice to pick up at least a few of these single tracks I have mentioned above.  Everyone needs a little chiptune love on their iPods!

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

P.S. It’s worth noting that the video game pun humor of the Scott Pilgrim comic books is alive and well even in the video game soundtrack.  The title of at least one track,  “Skate or Live” gave me a pretty good chuckle.

Red Version nostalgia...

The first time I played a Pokémon game was in 1998 — I have many fond memories of long car trips and rainy days discovering and catching little pixelated creatures.

Nearly 12 years later, I got nostalgic and picked up a copy of Pokémon Heart Gold, a polished re-make of my favorite game in the franchise, Pokémon Gold.  After cracking the seal on the box and popping the game into my DS I fell in love with Pokemon all over again.  The gameplay was exactly what I expected from a Pokémon game in 2010 — refreshing color graphics and an oh-so-adorable passel of digital critters.  Also included in the box was a small Pokéball shaped pedometer with a belt clip: the Pokéwalker.

The Pokéwalker

The Pokéwalker has small LCD screen and three command buttons functioning as select, forward and back. As you walk, you earn a currency per step called “watts”.  The watts you collect can be used to play mini-games like dowsing to earn items and rustling grass to catch Pokémon. You can also earn special items by connecting the Pokéwalker to a friend’s Pokéwalker. Any items or Pokémon caught, collected or earned while you’re on the stroll all are transferred back to your Nintendo DS when you connect the game-pack and the pedometer.

I was a little sceptical of this Poké-pedometer at first.  I was about 4ish hours into game-play when I found some time to bring Ulysses, my level 13 Cindaquil, with me to meet up with some friends at a craft fair nearby. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was to collect watts while simply doing my daily walking.  I was even more excited when my friend Beth pointed enthusiastically at my waist and proclaimed, “Is that a Pokéwalker? I have one with me too!”.  Subsequently, we connected our Pokéwalkers, got in-game items, and Ulysses and Beth’s Mareep went on adventures.  It was simply thrilling!

Cindaquil

Ever since my first day just running around with the Pokéwalker, I’ve experienced some unexpected benefits. Here’s a short list of what I’ve discovered while living the ‘Pokéwalker lifestyle’:

Pokéwaker in action!

1. When walking with a Pokémon I tend to take longer routes to get to where I am going, encouraging a less frenetic pace.

2. I’ve been immensely surprised about the number of friendly and adult (gasp!) Pokéwalker users there are. It has been an amazing way to connect with nice people in random places.

3.  I find that I ran faster and longer on the treadmill with my little buddy, racking up watts to play the mini games. It’s quite the motivator!

When I was little, I never thought that Pokémon would still be popular when I was in my mid-twenties, but I’m oh so glad it is.  I’d recommend picking up a Pokéwalker to any Pokéfan — even if you’re too-cool-for-school.

Point 1: It’s My Legal Right

I have nothing but respect for the developers of games.  They are a passionate group of people who work hard every day to bring me games that I enjoy.  However, it is nobody’s place to judge why I feel the need to purchase a title used instead of new, especially when it is perfectly legal to do so.  The first-sale doctrine, as established by the US Supreme Court, limits the reach of copyright law by  allowing consumers to lawfully sell previously purchased copyrighted work without permission.  First sale pertains to books, music, movies, and yes games as well.  Exercising your rights does not make you a bad person, although you may be painted in that light, which brings me to my next point.

Point 2: Keep Gamestop Out of the Argument

Those who attempt to frame used game purchasers in as selfish delinquents often run straight to the Gamestop example.  I don’t think we need to go into the reasons why Gamestop is evil, but if you are a gamer who is buying their games at a $5 used discount there, rather than 50%+ off online, you are beyond hope.  In the eyes of the haters, all used consumers are the thug guy pictured in the Penny Arcade comic, but this is simply not true.  When defending your stance as a publisher, do not try to attack someone’s credibility without actually addressing their stance.

Point 3: You’re Eating Your Own Lunch

A used game purchase is part of the food chain.  Obviously, there are a large number of individuals who turn around and sell their games once they beat them.  We wouldn’t be having this discussion if there were not.  Whether it’s a conscious decision or not, when those individuals decide whether to buy Game A or Game B, they will know that if one of those games has gimped features upon resale, that they won’t be getting nearly as much for it when they go to sell.  This is not hurting the used game purchaser, but the primary customer of the video game publisher, and it will cause some level of market erosion towards games that can be resold.

Point 4: The Market is Bloated

If a game publisher cannot stay afloat in the face of used sales, then there is simply not enough demand for their games to warrant that publisher staying in business.  Rather than create a new business model that taps into previously unexplored sectors of the gaming hobby, publishers are attempting to trap their existing audience into paying full price.  The reality is that for many people, the choice is between buying used and not buying at all.  Customers do not take kindly to being treated as criminals, and moves such as this are signs of a bloated industry.

Opponents may spin my previous point to say that gamers themselves are eating their own lunch by created a world where less games exist, but I argue that there is not enough time in a day to play every single great game as they come out.  I would gladly take quality over quantity any day.

This is a topic that will fold into a larger debate, and will occur with increased frequency as media shifts towards digital distribution.  The way in which we own media, and the right to both use and sell it, will be put to question in the coming years.  What are your thoughts on this topic?

When I was a preteen gamer, I loved playing Super Mario, Zelda and Dr. Mario. I was lucky to have a little brother who asked for console systems for Christmas and birthday gifts, so by the time I was a teenager, I was grinding levels in Final Fantasy III for the SNES (having already kicked some Shadow Link ass in Zelda 2 for the NES). Without Jordan, I would never have become the adult gamer I am today. While I was asking for things like My Little Pony houses and Barbie dolls, he was making sure we had copies of Ghosts & Goblins and Friday the 13th in our house. By the time I realized that girly junk wasn’t really my style, we had graduated to the SNES.  I was knee deep in Chrono Trigger and painting watercolors of Magus in high school art class.

We were always a Nintendo family.  No Sega Genesis in our house. I didn’t even play one until high school when a friend introduced me to Sonic while listening to Blue Oyster Cult on vinyl (pretty good mix if I say so myself). There is even an XBAND story from our youth: our first real digital connection with a gamer community and a place to play Killer Instinct with strangers. For those who are confused, imagine a less functional version of Xbox Live without any pretty colors and graphics. ( Weirdly enough, I also remember receiving a lot of creepy poetry from teenage boys with handles like “Church of Satan”. I guess teenage girl gamers in the early 90s weren’t as prevalent as they are now, so the novelty was noteworthy.) We moved from Nintendo to Sony to play Final Fantasy VII and by the time I was in college I had an SNES of my own and a PS2 that I used to play a lot of (drunken) SSX Tricky with Jordan and his friends. From there it was a hit and miss ride with whole years passing in between games. It was a Guitar Hero 2 session with Jordan that brought me back to my roots via the Xbox 360 and I’ve been here ever since-and more passionate about it now than ever before.

I was thinking about video games in relation to my brother this week because he finally broke down and bought a PS3 to primarily stream media via Netflix. Although Jordan was the purveyor of the video game paraphernalia in our childhood household, he has left a majority of his gaming life behind. He’s now a savvy business owner and outdoors-man, preferring faraway travel and mountain cabins to consoles and controllers. But for the first time in our adult life, where I am now the primary gamer in our family, Jordan and I have been reconnected via the PSN and I felt a little nostalgic for those days when we used to play together as kids. Jordan may only play Guitar Hero and some Katamari now (hopefully I can talk him into at least trying things like Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed), but just having my brother there makes me happy.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

Back in March, we were extremely impressed by PAX East.  So much so that we ran straight home to book flights out to Seattle for PAX Prime.  While East may eventually become the larger of the two shows [the new venue for PAX East 2011 and 2012 offers up 500,000 square feet, compared to PAX Prime's 300,000 or PAX East 2010's 150,000], we decided that one PAX per year is not enough.  Read on for, in no specific order, out top 10 things that you must see and do this year.

The Keynote
As an opening to the show, the PAX keynote speech is a must-attend event. Although one cannot predict what the topic of this year’s speech will be, the keynote serves as a forum for industry insiders to get up on their soapbox and speak on a topic they feel passionate about. More importantly, these keynotes serve as a rallying cry for the gamers gathered in the auditorium. If you are not pumped up for the weekend ahead when you sit down, I guarantee that you will be by the time the speech is over.

The past few keynotes have been delivered by Ken Levine [Bioshock], Ron Gilbert [LucasArts], and Wil Wheaton [King of All Nerds]. Warren Spector will take over the reins this year, and has quite a resume to back up this honor. You have played a Warren Spector game if you have ever enjoyed Wing Commander, Ultima, System Shock, or Deus Ex, all of which are defining titles of 90′s PC gaming. Sepctor is back in the industry after a several year absence, and is currently helming the highly anticipated Epic Mickey project for Disney Interactive Studios. Having someone with both classic and contemporary video game production experience should lead to a very insightful keynote speech, and one that you surely won’t want to miss.

Star Wars Games Reveal
Two major Star Wars games will be coming out within the next year: The Force Unleashed 2 in October 2010, and Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG in Spring 2011.  With both titles in near-complete states, BioWare and LucasArts will take the stage in the main theater for over an hour to reveal never-before-scene elements of both games.  The Force Unleashed had a lukewarm reception upon release in 2008, but LucasArts seems to be addressing fan’s concerns with this sequel.  Expect a full demonstration of all the new force powers, the big draw for this game.

The Old Republic is the more anticipated title, as Star Wars fans have been clamoring for a quality MMORPG since Sony Online’s dreadful Galaxies product back in 2003.  It’s been a long wait, but BioWare is up for the job.  With their experience creating Mass Effect 1 & 2 and the incredible success of their Knights of the Old Republic franchise, BioWare has set the standard in this industry already.

The Community
The strength of PAX lies in the dedication of its attendees. PAX community members have arranged an incredibly number of independent events taking place before and after the convention. You can check out the PAX Forums for more information on each of these, but here is a quick rundown:

• A large number of meetups to travel to PAX together, including a caravan for cross-country driving.
• Two days of organized sightseeing
• Two different pre-PAX dinners
• A Thursday night pub crawl
• Large organized game of Assassin during the convention itself
• Post-pax party
• Many,  many more forum-organized meetups and events

Sure, the convention itself is great, but half the fun is hanging out with great like-minded people.

The Late Show
A new event this year, Rym and Scott of the GeekNights podcast will be hosting the official late night show for PAX.  On Friday night, this show will be filmed in front of a live studio audience, and then broadcast on Saturday.  Now you can enjoy a piece of PAX even if you cannot make it to Seattle!

Guests include:

• Alex Albrecht, the co-host of Diggnation and formerly of Tech TV’s The Screen Savers
• Jon St. John, the voice actor behind Duke Nukem
• The guys from Rooster Teeth Productions, the group behind Red vs. Blue and other web hits
• A surprise musical performance

Since it is a new event this year, some people may not know what to expect.  Rym and Scott are seasoned veterans of the convention scene, though, so expect this late show to deliver.  I’ll call it now and say this is the event people will most regret not putting on their schedule when they hear about it after the fact.

New Playable Games from Harmonix [Rock Band 3 / Dance Central]
Admit it.  Your music games have been collecting dust, haven’t they?  The plastic guitar has lost a bit of its luster, and music games as a genre are off their peak.  Harmonix is giving the industry a shot in the arm this year as they debut live playable versions of Rock Band 3 and Dance Central.

The appeal for RB3 will be the new 2-octave keyboard controller.  With three-part harmony singing, that brings the total number of band members to SEVEN.  Harmonix will also be showing off their realistic guitar controller.  That’s right, no more plastic strum bar.  This thing is a true MIDI guitar.  You can plug it into an amp and make actual music.  It was obvious that at some point, music games would bridge the gap into performance.  While these products may never see the popularity of the original games, they are a serious music game fan’s dream.

Harmonix will also be showing off Dance Central, one of the flagship Kinect titles, which will translate your dance moves directly into the game.  No accessories are required; all you have to do is dance in front of the camera.  There is so much uncertainty surrounding Kinect.  Will it be any good?  Is it worth the money?  Dance Central will be a testament to the success or failure of this XBox 360 add-on.

The PAX 10
The best games no longer come in the largest packages.  Every year, PAX features the ten hottest upcoming indy releases.  These games often steal the show, so be sure to check them out early on the expo hall floor if you want to be the first to know about them. If you wait until Sunday, the line might be too long!  I’ll be making a beeline for Super Meat Boy, so stay out of my way!

This year’s games are:

• Altitude
• Bastion
• Fowl Space
• Hegemony: Philop of Macedon
• Plane Weaver
• Puzzle Bots
• Retro City Rampage
• Shibuya
• Solace
• Super Meat Boy

Acquisitions, Inc. – D&D Live
Fans of Penny Arcade are well aware that Mike & Jerry organize some of the most interesting and well-run Dungeons & Dragons campaigns around.  They also have documented them throughout the years, whether it be through podcasts, video recordings, or just photos of their sessions.  This has gathered a significant following as people tune in to both be entertained and to learn from others on how to run a quality game.

For the first time ever at PAX, the Penny Arcade crew will run a game on stage.  OK, so people are going to sit and watch other people play a game?  Yes this concept may sound strange.  It’s really not even something I am personally interested in or would attend.  It is, however, a big deal for fans of their games.  I can also assure you that knowing Mike & Jerry, the crowd will be kept involved and well entertained.

Torchlight II Reveal
If you’re not familiar with the original Torchlight, it is an action role-playing game with an all-star design crew.  The game development was led by the minds behind Diablo, Diablo II, Mythos, and Fate.  While World of Warcraft has dominated the hardcore MMO market, it has also turned off a large number of people.  This mass of casual RPG players have been left looking for something more like Diablo, and have waited an entire decade for a new dungeon crawling click-fest.

Torchlight was everything Diablo fans could have hoped for, except that it was single-player only!  Torchlight II was just announced on August 4th, and it will be a full multiplayer co-op experience.  The Runic Games booth will be showing off a pre-alpha build of the game, so expect their booth to be packed.

Concerts
Take your pick:  Friday has the rock lineup of Anamanaguchi, The Protomen, Metroid Metal, and The Minibosses, while Saturday has the comedic stylings of MC Frontalot, Paul & Storm, and Jonathan Coulton.  The real treat this year is that the concerts have been moved to the nearby Benaroya Hall.  If you have to pick one, I suggest the Saturday concerts, as the acts are more of a “sit down and laugh” event, and will benefit from being in a concert hall with actual seats (a big change from previous PAX concerts).  Also, if you’ve forgone the concerts in previous years due to the infamous acoustics, the concert hall should fix all of that.  Seeing these acts would cost more than the price of a PAX badge alone if seen at an outside concert, so don’t pass them by.

The Penny Arcade Crew
These are the guys who run it all.  Gabe & Tycho (or Mike & Jerry, their real names), along with their business manager Robert Khoo, are the driving force behind Penny Arcade.  There are several opportunities to see them (aside from the above mentioned D&D game).  The important thing to note here is that these are not just guys who sit in an office and write a comic strip.  They are extremely entertain on stage, and their panels are the hallmark events of the weekend.  The keynote rolls right into a 1-hour Q&A session with Mike & Jerry, so be sure to stick around for that.  Their is also a live drawing of a comic strip on Saturday morning, where you can see the whole process unfold in just over an hour.  The final events on Sunday are a second Q&A hour, followed up with a signing.

Even for the biggest gaming nerd, there are times when a game goes under the radar and they discover it months, even years later when borrowing the title from a friend, or shuffling through the discount bin at their local GameStop.  Recently, i discovered that an entire series had gone under my radar, Civilization.  A roommate recently picked up the most recent installment of this turn based strategy game, and i found myself deeply entrenched in what is an extremely entertaining way to kiss away two hours of your day at a time.  

At the beginning of each game you are able to select a specific civilization of historical significance to play as, each having their own unique units, bonuses, and weaknesses.  Each civilization has their own cartoonish version of a historical figure who you play as to lead your civilization (The French have Napoleon, American’s have Abraham Lincoln, etc), and who you barter and bicker with diplomatically throughout the game.  A round starts with 4 other civilizations on the map besides yourself, and your goal is to build up cities and expand across the map building your military, technology, culture, and economy.

  The game play is very turned based in every action you make, be it generating gold, researching new technology, moving units across the map, even building structures in each individual city.  The most significant difference between this format and the Real Time Strategies out there is the ability to take time to think about your choices before ending your turn, where as if this is something you choose to do in a Real Time Strategy (like Starcraft II for example), you’ll most likely get your clock cleaned. 

The aspect of the game that separates Civilization apart from many of the other Turn Based and Real Time Strategies out there is that there are multiple ways to win.  Sure, you can build up your army and brutally dispatch your enemies in a vulgar display of power (Pantera fans?  Anyone?) however you can also achieve victory without ever attacking anyone at all.  You can win by being the first civilization to achieve a bankroll of 20k in gold, or by achieving superior scientific advancements and being the first to develop a space program, or by being culturally superior.  This is really where the strategy aspect takes a different turn in this game.  Other strategy games, the research and development aspects are typically to improve ones defense and offense to more effectively dispatch their opponents.  In this game, decisions need to be made as to what direction you want to take your strategy, so you most effectively utilize your research.  Spending time researching cultural aspects will leave your troops behind the 8 ball, and you may find yourself with a group of archers trying to defeat a tank.   The flip side of that is that you may have superior troops, who run through every army your opponents put in front of you, and out of nowhere they begin launching ships into space and you lose.

Another testament to how strong the game play is, Civilization Revolution has an incredibly simple learning curve.  I had a complete handle on the game somewhere through my second or third time playing.  Critics of the game have commented that it is too easy to pick up, but i believe the strategy requirements  make up for what is elementary game play.  The Graphics are nothing to write home about, but strategy games never really had any requirements for stellar graphics.  The replay value for this is extremely high, as I’ve been playing it for a month straight without interruption.  All in All, This game gets a solid 4/5 from me.  Definitely worth checking out, or even buying since my guess is the game is a whopping $19.99.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

If you download and begin to play Limbo without reading the tagline ‘Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters Limbo’ you might be as lost as someone in, well, Limbo. The game opens in a gorgeously rendered forest. Awash in layers of watercolor grayscale, the foreground is fuzzy with vague shapes and the background alludes to a grandiose and unending world of shadows and light. A silhouette of a young boy with glowing white eyes awakens amongst the sharp blades of grass and waits for you to lead him on his journey.

Unlike other games, this one gives you almost no information, only allusion and action. You assume from the tagline that there is a little sister at the end of this journey, but that remains uncertain and almost irrelevant throughout the game, only nudging you here and there with an emotional reason to continue playing. The real game is winding through the gauntlet of Limbo, which aims to tear you apart at every turn. At its heart, Limbo is a puzzle platformer. You solve mechanical riddles by pushing crates or pulling pieces of the environment in place before you are allowed to progress. And the setting is a study in contrasts, which makes it all the more terrifying to navigate. Limbo is beautiful and understated, with glowing fireflies and butterflies occasionally fluttering about. But it is also horrifying. There are many living creatures in Limbo, but the game does not want you to connect with them at all; they are merely tools to advance. One of the first puzzles you encounter asks you to use a bear trap to trick a large spider into splicing off it’s own feet. Later in the game you surprise a mosquito nibbling on corpse by jumping on its legs to elevate you onto a higher platform. As you land you pull off one of its legs and it lies on the ground, twitching, while the mosquito tries to fly away haltingly. There is no mercy or compassion in Limbo, only action and progression.

Midway through Limbo you encounter other silhouettes who are assumedly the residents of this bleak world. They lack the same glowing eyes as you, only blank, dark faces that aim to kill. I got the sense that their existence had deteriorated into a kind of ‘Lord of the Flies’ tribe, where outsiders are untrustworthy and deemed instant enemies who must be eliminated. I concluded that their lack of glowing eyes meant they had no goal-maybe they were once like our little protagonist, with a mission to save someone or escape, but they left that behind long ago, lost their focus and the light faded away. Just like the other living creatures in Limbo, these shadow figures become tools, corpse platforms to use in water to prevent drowning or something to toss onto a switch to keep it activated. No remorse, only action.

And Limbo is so quiet. The game contains the sounds that one would expect if the ‘music’ was removed and only the environmental noises remained. Walking through the forest elicits nothing but a slight shuffle of grass or the buzz of a swarm of flies. Most of the time you are straining to hear if anything is coming from the speakers. Which makes it all the more terrifying when suddenly there is so much noise it almost overwhelms you-a saw blade spins menacingly above your head, and the growl is overpowering-many times I was so engrossed in the game that I didn’t even realize the noise had reached a blaring crescendo and would need to turn the volume down because it added so much to the intensity it was almost too much to bear. Noise = Death.

I think Limbo is one of the most fascinating games I have played in awhile. Its simplicity allowed me to create lavish ideas about what was going on even if the game gave no indication that it was even thinking about itself in any sort of imaginative way. Limbo contains everything, yet nothing. There are trees and glowing signs, houses and smoking chimneys, yet there is also the absence of color and life. You are only given the tools you need to use to progress, nothing more. It makes the game simple to the point of poignancy, where you desperately want just one glimpse of this absent little sister in order to make you believe that it can’t just be nothing-there has to be something or else the journey is meaningless. And the road is so hard-I can’t even tell you how many times I led this poor little boy to his untimely death. Probably in the hundreds. Platforming is not really my forte, so I dropped him onto spikes, drowned him, electrocuted him, fed him to spiders, crushed him underneath doors and threw him into saw blades over and over again. But it wasn’t sad. This is Limbo, after all. He was merely a tool, and I made it to the end, so it must have been his fate.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

The Wii Bowling Ball

Let’s just get this out of the way. There are enough useless crap attachments for the Wiimote to warrant a dedicated landfill. I’ll give a pass to those that actually add some functionality to the game, such as a racing wheel to provide a more accurate grip, or a gun attachment that provides a sight for you to better your aim with. What I cannot forgive, are the pieces of plastic that simply transform your Wiimote into a physical representation of the object on the screen, such as a Wii Sports tennis racket or baseball bat. We’re not LARPing here (nor would we ever), so what gives with the need to have an ACTUAL tennis racket in our hands?

The worst offender of all is the Wii Bowling Ball. For $25, you get the joy of holding a full-size bowling ball replica that can fit your Wiimote inside. The game itself is exactly the same, except now when the controller flies out of your hands, the object hurtling towards your TV screen is now twice as large and heavy. On the plus side, there is a hole to allow the Wiimote’s infrared sensor to poke through, so if you get bored and decide to let your hamster run around in it, the poor thing won’t suffocate.

The Battle-Rig Pro

The Battle-Rig Pro, or as I like to call it, the Fortress of Virginity, ensures that you have the optimal setup for computer gaming. It also has a door, because it’s important to keep people out of your gaming space, yet the walls are thoughtfully only waist-high, so mom can still deliver a plate of Hot Pockets without delay. The manufacturer is a custom woodworking shop that does not openly discuss pricing, but I cannot imagine this being cheap. If you have enough money to afford such custom work, and can afford a house large enough to fit such a monstrosity, well then I take back those nasty remarks and want to hang out next weekend. Also, can I borrow some of your games?

The Razer Spectre, Marauder, and Banshee

This line of adorably-named computer accessories are specifically geared to improve your performance in Starcraft II. Each one has multiple light-up areas, all of which will perform a series of coded blinks to notify you of important in-game events, and change color to inform you of your current actions-per-minute rate. My brain is at maximum capacity when processing all of the information Starcraft II throws at you, so if I were to be peeking away from the screen to check out what my blinking lights were doing, I would probably have an aneurysm.

Furthermore, I have no idea how many actions I perform every minute, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to know. My overly competitive nature would definitely lead to a cocaine addiction so that I could click fast enough to keep the fancy lights shining blue. I feel sorriest for the kid who buys the headset with the lights though. I for one, cannot see the side of my head.

That’s all for now, folks, but join us next time when we delve into the seedy world of horrible retro-gaming accessories. The only thing worse than a bad idea is a bad idea from 1985.

At one point I actually ejected the disk from the XBOX and declared to my wife “I beat it, I guess”.  However, I did not see credits roll so I got on the Internet and googled “I think I beat Red Dead Redemption”.  This led me to a handy Gamespot forum which informed me I did not.  Around six hours after I beat the big boss “bad guy” I stumbled upon the hidden (at the very least hidden from me) final mission and after four of five attempts I beat the game.

“Red Dead Redemption” is an excellent game.  Riding a horse through the vast game space and hunting is a simple pleasure.  Additionally, fun, off main story, missions pop up randomly as you ride.  Stopping a thief, saving a man from a pack of wolves, having your horse eaten by a cougar and only your reflexes to save you from its fate are some of the most memorable moments I have had in gaming in a long time.

The main story is fun, if meandering.  You will meet various characters that add, humor, depth, sorrow, and spunk to your “Redemption”.  Some characters are more memorable than others and sometimes you are forced by them to do some terrible things.

Which is where my major problem comes into play with “Red Dead Redemption”.  Everything regarding the main story of this game is a forced choice.  There is no good/evil when it comes to playing out the plot points that the writers came up with.  If you want to progress in the game you are required to deal with everyone and do exactly what they say.  After playing games like “Fable”, “Fallout”, and “Mass Effect” simply going along with what an immoral NPC tells you to do feels like a major oversight.

That said the game does employ an “Honor System” whereby you can be respected or feared by the populous.  But that system only applies to how you behave while wondering the country side.  If you kill a man you are docked honor, inversely, if you save someone you are awarded honor points.  Unfortunately event the most “honorable” player is forced to help completely immoral characters.

Mini-games range from fun to passable.  I loved hunting/skinning animals and taming wild horses.  I was perturbed that the horses I tamed I could not sell for profit (or at least did not figure out how to do so).  I also really enjoyed playing poker and blackjack.  I never bothered with five finger fillet, dice, or horseshoes.  I tried a movie once and walked out after twenty seconds.

In the end, I must say that I really enjoyed the overall package of “Red Dead Redemption” and cannot wait until the next installment.

For more from me check out my blog Sensyden’s Sounding Board over at http://sensyden.blogspot.com/

With 12 years of  heated multiplayer competition under its belt, the StarCraft community is one of the most dedicated groups of online gamers around, and these gamers have developed countless winning strategies.  Luckily for you, the opening moves to each of these strategies is nearly identical.  Without a strong first minute, it doesn’t matter what tactic you employ, so let’s start out “How to Not Suck at Starcraft” with an introductory lesson on resource collection and basic built orders.

Before I go any further, let me clarify that I will explain all of these instructions from the Terran point of view as a reference.  The Terran race is no less powerful than any other when in the hands of a professional player, but it is widely accepted as the most easy to grasp by new players.

Step 1:  Keyboard Hotkeys are Your Friend

Think about this.  If the opening moves for each strategy are mostly the same, then wouldn’t the player who is able to execute them fastest get the advantage?  The biggest waste of time is moving your cursor around the screen.  You should immediately learn the keyboard shortcuts for producing the most basic units and structures.  For the Terran player, you will want to know that the “S” key will instruct your command center to produce an SCV, and that the “A” key produces a marine from the barracks.  It’s also useful to know some basic unit instructions.  When controlling an SCV, key the letter “B” to enter the build sub-menu, and press “S” for a supply depot, “B” for a barracks, and “R” for a reactor.

Shortcuts are not limited to just the keyboard, though.  Certain actions require that you use the mouse, such as telling your initial group of gatherers (SCVs) to begin harvesting from minerals.  Rather than selecting the group of SCVs, clicking gather, and then clicking the mineral patch, simply select the group of SCVs and right click the minerals.  Right clicking in StarCraft 2 will automatically perform the most common action for that unit.  It also sets rally points for buildings.  When controlling a building, right-clicking open space will tell all future units produced by it to report there.  You can rally units directly onto other objects though.  If you take control of the command center and right click a mineral patch, all future SCVs will immediately start gathering minerals.

Step 2:  Build a Wall to Fight Off Rushes (a Basic Build Order)

Basic build orders use the supply count as a guide to tell you when to move onto the next step.  For a basic Terran build, immediately build 1 SCV at the start of the game, and continue building SCVs every time you reach 50 minerals, until your supply counter increases to 9.  Your 9th SCV will be used to build a supply depot.  Since supply depots can lower themselves into the ground, it’s suggested to put these at the chokepoint to your base and form a wall, preventing enemies from entering.  If you ever need to get out, simply click the supply depots and hit the “R” key to lower/raise them.

Your 11th unit should immediately build a barracks, and your 12th should build a gas refinery.  Remember, while you have these buildings going up, to make sure the next SCV is being trained.  Also, once the barracks completes, start building 2-3 marines.  Your 14th unit should be responsible for building a second supply depot.  Hopefully, this will form a complete wall, but if you are playing on a map with a large choke point, make sure to build your barracks there as well to form a larger wall (just make sure to rally your marines to the correct side of the wall!).

You now have 14 units, 1 supply depot, 1 barracks, and 1 refinery.  Your second supply depot is on its way, and you are pumping out both marines and SCVs as soon as the minerals come in.  This should give you enough juice to fight off any early rushes, and allow you to at least play out a complete game.

The Terran Wall in Full Effect:

Step 3: Keep Producing Gatherers!

The more resources you gather, the more you can produce.  If you don’t have enough minerals or gas, you can’t produce new units.  On the other hand, if you ever have more than 300 of one resource, you aren’t spending fast enough.  A perfect player constantly be spending their resources as they come in, resulting in the largest possible army. Every mineral patch or gas vent can handle three gatherers each!  That’s a lot of units collecting resources, so don’t feel as though you should stop when you see it getting crowded in there.

Your old friend, the keyboard, can help you continue to produce units as the game progresses, even when you may be distracted by combat.  Select your command center and hold the control key, then press a number.  Yes, you can assign buildings to hotkey groups as well.  Whenever you press that number, no matter where you are, you will then be controlling that building.  If you are looking inside an enemy base while waging an attack, but notice your resources are stacking up, that means you probably aren’t building anything.  Simply press the number you assigned to the command center, then press “S” a few times to keep if producing units.  As an added benefit, if you ever need to quickly look back into your base, tape the number you assigned twice, and the camera will center over that building from wherever it is on the map.

Strategies vary wildly from here out, and we’ll cover them in more detail in the future, but in the meantime go have fun and get off to a strong start in your matches!

I took the above picture at PAXEast and got an itch to rent The Calling last weekend. It starts off with a series of instant message texts across the screen where students are conversing about someone reading a website or watching a video and then disappearing or dying.  Imagine it as Fear Dot Com and Pulse (two really bad horror movies from a couple of years back) having a baby in the form of a Wii game. I played the first two chapters, both very spooky and dark with the occasional ghost popping in to say hello. You use the Wii-mote as a cell phone, so while you are nervously creeping through a house full of creepy dolls (ugh!) or an abandoned school, the phone will ring loudly and scare the pants off you. A child’s voice on the other end tells you they are on the way up to shake you (or something) which is wildly disturbing and certainly gave me the shivers. But the controls were off center and slight hand movement turned into giant screen movement. After about an hour I had to turn it off due to motion sickness alone.  Although it is definitely startling to get jumped by a ghost, if the game gets stuck and the same ghost keeps jumping you, the game play suddenly loses its eerie charm.

Last year I picked up Silent Hill: Homecoming for the 360. I hadn’t played any of the previous games, only watched others play them, so I wasn’t quite a veteran of the series (does watching the movie count?). Apparently, the Silent Hill games have very definitive strategies that I was unaware of, and the combat gets HARD. I loved the setting, a standard abandoned town and mutated creatures with drifts of snow and ash falling innocently around you, but I could only get about 1/5 in before I found myself in an impossible situation. Boss fight, no health packs, half life. Dying meant starting over in the same place, with no health packs and at half life. You can’t retrace your steps, either. The game only moves forward, so the only way for me to progress was to start over.  I was already about 7-8 hours into the game, so I admitted defeat instead. Sadly, I was having a lot of spooky fun prior to this setback and was disappointed, so in addition The Calling, I also acquired Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii. In the beginning, the game warns you that it will psychologically profile you to mold the game into ‘your worst nightmare’. Apparently, this means giving you a ‘Yes or No’ quiz that includes such questions as ‘Do you make friends easily?’ and ‘Do you enjoy sexual role play?’ Yikes-rated M for Mature, indeed. The premise is based on a past event-you are the main character speaking to a psychiatrist about getting into a car crash and losing your daughter in, of course, Silent Hill. I like it so far and intend to keep playing, but the ‘psychological tests’ make me giggle. For no explained reason, I colored this:

I like the Japanese survival horror games because they terrorize you psychologically more than physically. Chasing a butterfly in a quiet forest at night may sound peaceful and calm, but trust me, something wicked is certainly following behind. Western horror games tend to focus on monsters, zombies, and blood.  Your basic slasher film. I like the subtlety of the Japanese horror genre much more than the gore-fests the Western climate prefers.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

However something happened right around 10^th grade: I stopped caring about video games.

My gaming really only took on a retro focus, replaying old Sega Genesis games, or playing games that had been out for years and I picked up because I had time to kill. My gaming tended to be limited to the summer when I had time to fill between lifeguarding and wondering why girls didn’t like me. Once in college, gaming took on a social quality. Outside of playing Final Fantasy X (a gem that my roommate picked up at the time), my gaming was limited to social games like Halo, Super Smash Brothers, Day of Reckoning (a really under-rated wrestling game by the way), and retro Blizzard gaming such as the original StarCraft and Diablo II.

One would have thought my video gaming career was over. I graduated college and was focused on killing my soul piece by piece by becoming part of the daily grind and getting a desk job. Then, a chance encounter on Craigslist ushered in a second, unexpected video game renaissance. I found a guy who was selling a Xbox 360 with a 20GB hard drive and 3 games (Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, and Madden 07) all for about 250 bucks. After pricing that out on GameStop, I decided to pick up the unit as a “why not” sort of thing. I stopped by this gentleman’s house to pick up the Xbox 360, and found myself in a rather dangerous part of North Philadelphia. The house was falling apart, however the inside of the house had more expensive electronics than I had ever seen before. He had a 60 inch HDTV (this was 2007 before they were like 1500 bucks), and when I arrived he was selling brand new cell phones, which had yet to come out. He was telling me all about his “connections.” Now I’m not saying this guy was selling a stolen Xbox and stolen cell phones out of his house…because that would imply that I knowingly bought hot property, which is a felony…but I will say I started to get a picture of why exactly he could afford to sell it to me so far under the MSRP price.

After leaving North Philly with my new Xbox and my life, I picked up Fight Night on the way home, and concluded that I had myself a new system for casual gaming, DVD’s, and mostly for people to come over and play. In the box was a 1 free month subscription to Xbox live, so I punched in my code and decided to check out Call of Duty 4. And then it happened…I got sucked back in to gaming. Before really putting time into Call of Duty 4, I hadn’t realized there had suddenly been an output of games for adults. Now to be clear, there were certainly games released only suitable for adults like the grand theft auto series that introduced a level of violence, vulgarity, and sexual themes not seen in gaming before, however they still weren’t games for adults. The teenager was still part of their target demographic for those games (despite what their legal department may tell you.) Today games are released with the child gamer in mind, as well as the gamer who has been playing video games since childhood.

So now, at the detriment of my physique and sex life, I play a good 10 hours of games per week. The sophistication, graphics, and community aspects of gaming have become mind blowing. I once literally played Call of Duty with a squad of US Army Soldiers while they were stationed in Iraq (I believe it was about 3am EST) and was put on a team with them. They constantly yelled at me to “get back in formation” and I watched as they totally schooled every team we were put up against. While playing, I got to talk to them about serving in the armed forces, being in Iraq, even how basic training translated into them all being naturals at Call of Duty somehow.

Before picking up the 360, I knew the graphics had gotten better, but I had no idea the actual gaming experience had become so advanced. The idea that I would have deprived myself of such games as BioShock, Fallout 3, and Modern Warfare is a chilling thought. Just think, if I hadn’t put so much time into video games, I might be married, be more successful at work, and not have the body of someone who sits at a desk 8 hours at work then goes home to sit in a recliner for 3. It would be a strange world for me indeed…

Last October I decided that going to the gym is boring. Well, I thought this all along but still went on a semi-weekly basis because it was the right thing to do. Although I never minded the actual exercise, I really hated the monotony of the programs. So when Nintendo announced last fall that it was adding more game elements to it’s Wii Fit program, I thought it would be a great alternative to the slogging routine of a post-work gym membership. Instead of chugging along on an elliptical three times a week, I could play a game that would whip me into shape. I love games! The week Wii Fit Plus was released I canceled my gym membership, marched into a Best Buy, and confidently purchased the system and the game. I think I even did the math, bragging about how much my gym dues were versus my new Wii + Wii Fit Plus as some sort of long term investment plan. Obviously, I was a financial genius. And now we had the Holy Trinity of gaming systems as well. IT WAS BRILLIANT.

And for one month, it was brilliant. Every other night I would drag the balance board out, queue up several of the pre-programmed workouts and sweat it up in my living room. I quickly discovered my favorite of the mini-game type routines and was excited when they would appear during the session. I was a hula hoop and marching band master. I could never juggle well, but it didn’t matter because I was exercising. All through October I looked forward to my Wii workouts. But as October transitioned into November the love started to wane. A couple of days would pass where I would make up some excuse not to play and then it would turn into a week. It wasn’t because I was lazy and didn’t want to work out (well…), I just wasn’t terribly interested in the game anymore. Plus the game is programmed to make you feel extra guilty if even two days passes without a workout and I admit I was avoiding the computerized guilt trip more than anything else. The only way for a game like Wii Fit to have any impact on you physically is to use it all of the time, and with the limited amount of programs, there wasn’t enough content to keep me motivated to continue playing. With the exception of maybe Rock Band, I have a really hard time playing the same game for infinity. This is why I am not an MMO gamer. Now, I’ve never played an MMO so I will admit I don’t fully understand what goes on inside the magic WOW box…but the idea of going back to the same world over and over again and engaging in the same type of general game play sounds monotonous even if all of my BFFs are with me.

I wasn’t ready to give up on my new BRILLIANT workout plan, however. I decided that Wii Fit just wasn’t strenuous enough of a workout and acquired EA Active. Now, THIS was a workout game. I was running, doing squats-lunging! And the routine changed day to day-perfect! Yep, for two weeks. Once again, I got bored. I know my perspective was wrong-I should have been thinking about both as workout programs instead of GAMES, but I couldn’t. My BRILLIANT plan failed after only two months. I suppose I should know more about my motivations to play – I kept thinking that since at heart I am a gamer and not a workout maven that this would be the best plan for me to follow. Alas, I am a gamer with a limited attention span. This is why I am a console gamer – I love the mechanics of a great game, but I also love the epic cut scene at the end followed by the credit roll and the promise of something new on the horizon.

So now I am heading back to the gym. Now that I have my iPhone I have a BRILLIANT new workout plan that includes uploading videos and watching them while chugging away on the elliptical. Tried and true results, I guess. Matt bought Just Dance last night and we giggled and hustled around the living room to such classics as Eye of the Tiger and Step By Step (NKOTB forever!!). After an hour I realized that I was sweating and my heart was racing and briefly entertained the idea of entering it into the workout plan but quickly tossed that idea aside-I can now admit that I would be setting myself up to fail. I will treat Just Dance like I do any other game and just enjoy it before the next new and shiny comes along.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

I am rarely interested in games that involves regular people. Most of the time I like video game protagonists that are supernatural or supernormal with attributes that move them beyond the realm of hum-drum realism. This is one of the reasons I like playing-I get to be someone else and usually their story is epic beyond my own routine existence-pure escapism into a fantasy world. This is why I have never been a Sims or Second Life participant. Escaping the real world for a real world simulator seems depressing and isolating. I play games like I read fantasy novels-to get something ‘else’ out of my experience. Knowing all of this about myself, however, I still sought out Heavy Rain, where the characters are regular people without swords, magic or health packs. The buzz was enough to spark my curiosity-crime drama, kidnapping, urgent race to find the killer. What I didn’t know is how connected my normal gameplay ‘disconnect’ would become while playing.

Heavy Rain is a game about choices. Not necessarily character choices, though, but YOUR choices. Not terribly original, I know…it’s a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ game where the story evolves according to your decisions, but unlike any other game I have played, I felt morally responsible for what happened to each character based on those decisions. This wasn’t just an innocent hallway of doors, it was like a room full of mirrors where every bad choice you made for each of the four main characters reflected back on you.

Ethan Mars is the father figure in the game, Madison Paige is the female lead, Scott Shelby is a PI working for the families of the victims and Norman Jayden a drug-addicted FBI agent searching for the killer. The game makes each of them playable characters, sets each scene and lets you decide the outcome via a series of button choices ranging from simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ all the way to ‘Forgive’ or ‘Reject’. There is a HUGE difference between forgiveness and rejection, so some of the choices weigh heavily on your conscience.

The game can be cruel, oh so cruel.  If you were injured, you stayed that way during the rest of the game, bandaged or limping as a visual reminder of the choice you made. It got to the point where I started to see the characters as poor innocent souls with the unlucky hardship of having me pulling their strings. This being my first Playstation game in a long time (I have been an 360 player for awhile now), I occasionally mistook the circle for a square and made unwanted choices, but still had to face their unfortunate consequences. One of the times this happened I was devastated by the outcome. Sometimes your sense of urgency is greater than your cognitive process and you make quick, reactive decisions that you may regret.

All of this sounds terribly depressing, I know. Although the game is emotion-heavy and some gaping plot holes remain at the end, it truly is unique and great. Several times in the game Ethan has to make horrible decisions associated with the tagline “How far will you go to save someone you love?” Since the game leaves it in your hands, you can really consider these choices according to how far YOU think you would go. I was often very proud of the revealed consequences of my decision. As I moved towards the end of the game I started to think like a researcher, muttering to myself such things as “well, I know that she already knows A, so if she knows A then if he does B then C will likely occur so I need not do this”. I was incredibly satisfied with the ending I received (they are varied based on how you played the game). I became emotionally invested-especially in Ethan’s character-and related with Madison’s sympathetic role. I wanted desperately for everything to turn out for him and I wanted to be the one to help him get there.

For my initiation back into the PS world, I am glad I chose this one because I am now super familiar with the button labels again. With so many QTE’s and Twister-like button pressing (seriously, I have to push X, triangle and L1 at once?), I am now a semi-expert again.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

The Mario Marathon is no small event. In the past, the crew has raised over $45,000 and attracted over 300,000 viewers. To keep those donations rolling in, the marathon follows a scale of donation total versus total levels played. Theoretically, the Mario Marathon will play a total of 809 levels across all the different Mario titles, but only if enough is donated to unlock the challenges! At the time of writing this, it is already set that the crew will take on Mario 1, 2, 3, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario World, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 , and Mario 64. Based on past donation totals, you can expect them to add Super Mario Sunshine on to that list, and further donations will unlock requirements for them to go back and complete 100% of the objectives in each game such as getting all 120 stars in Mario 64.

Last year it took 96 hours to complete seven full games, so I don’t exactly recommend watching an entire marathon, but I encourage you to stay for a while and donate what money you can.  I’ve found the Marathon to be entertaining in the past as the crew adds some humor to the act of completing these games.  You can tell they really eat, sleep, and breathe Mario, as they’ve gone and created life-size wearable propeller helmets from New Super Mario Bros Wii, and a FLUDD from Mario Sunshine.  Also, check out these stop-motion LEGO animations they made.  If you head over to their website now, they are running these and other Mario themed YouTube videos on loop in preparation for the marathon start.

To top things off, there is a stream of contests running throughout the weekend.  Donate some cash or tweet about the event and you’ll be entered into a long list of raffles for Mari0 Marathon or Penny Arcade themed merchandise.  Check out the contest details here.

So if you’ve got nothing going on today, and you could use a little entertainment, head on over to their website.  Donations go directly to Child’s Play via PayPal and are tax deductible, so you’ve got no excuse!  Remember, “When gamers give back, it makes a difference!”

None of my friends will play Scene It! with me anymore! After working in the video rental world for about ten years of my adult life, I have to admit that I am a mighty challenging opponent. But come on…really?

When the first of the Scene It! series was released on the Xbox 360 I was eager to buy it because I thought it would have a lot of replay value. Any party game has purchasable merit because it encourages group play in drunken scenarios. I mean, would Mario Party really be any fun without alcohol? (The answer is no.) This was one I knew I would love because it combined my love of video board games and movie fandom. Matt was also excited to play, not only is he a movie lover himself, but also because of the whole ‘lack of limited same screen co-op or multiplayer games’ that I rail against often,  We could play against each other! What fun! It turns out, it wasn’t any fun (for him). Not that he doesn’t have an above average knowledge of film content, but because I am apparently an unstoppable juggernaut of movie knowledge and response speed. Mere competitive spirit isn’t enough for him to want to continue playing with me. And no, this is not bragging, but my unfortunate truth. When you think about it, it’s actually sad when your significant other will no longer play a game with you. Now instead of being my opponent, he has made himself my number one motivator, cheering me on during multiplayer games with strangers online.

So about the strangers online…Matt gifted me with the second in the series for Christmas of 2009 (See? He’s supportive!). The online multiplayer was immediately one of my favorite options (that and the ability to use your own Avatar) because I could now play real people who would challenge me! It turns out, they didn’t. I was still beating the pants off of almost everyone online (I did find a couple of competitors who beat me, but it was never by much…I would say my kill/death ratio was about 25/1). Most players dropped out mid-game, leaving me alone on the little animated couch in the end, holding my little trophy in an empty screening room where originally two or three other Avatars sat. And I have a hunch that my newly discovered anti-rep points for ‘aggressive behavior’ against my Xbox Live account are from these dark days. So now the strangers wouldn’t even play with me (and have terrible gaming habits, obviously). But surely I had some old Blockbuster friends who would play with me, offering the challenge I was looking for…right?

It turns out, most of them couldn’t. One of my good friends graciously agreed to play with me after hearing me lamenting about Matt bowing out. She was an ex-BBV employee and a movie lover as well, so I figured we were about even in the playing field. And indeed, Abi is an above average player and can surely kick your ass, but alas, I was still undefeated. Now she won’t play with me either. We did get together for a four-player couple playoff night awhile ago, but haven’t repeated the process since. Another friend and current BBV employee, Eric, and his lovely wife, Stefanie, had Matt & I over for a game night where Eric insisted I bring the game. If anyone was going to beat me at Scene It!, it was going to be Eric. But here is where I found that it’s not just the movie knowledge that was helping me achieve the high scores-it is my ability to read and respond more quickly than the other players. As I have stated in previously posts, I am a voracious reader and have learned the art of scanning words for quicker consumption-aka serious speed reading-and one of the ways to earn higher scores in Scene It! is to answer rapidly following the displayed question. I will concede that Eric probably would have certainly taken my Scene It! crown that night if response time wasn’t a factor, but this is debatable, as it still has not been proven.

Finally, after so much rejection, about a year ago my friend Jenn Mac came over to play some Rock Band with me and agreed to take the Jessica Scene It! Challenge. And she beat me. Repeatedly. But then she moved to the East Coast and abandoned her Xbox Live account shortly after. So here I am, a lonely single player Scene It! lover, holding the third in the series in my almost undefeated hand and wishing someone would play with me.

*In no way do I want to make it sound like any of the wonderful people mentioned above are not brilliant and unbelievably good sports, because they are. It’s not them, it’s me.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

Alan Wake is a game that flew under my radar a little bit, and this was largely because the game took around 5 years to develop.  In an age where games are cranked out rather frequently (sometimes companies will hire two separate sets of development teams so they can release two games of the same series in the same year), the fact that this game took so long to develop made it an interesting prospect in my mind.  After reading some very positive reviews of the game, I decided it might be worth my money, and finally gave me an excuse to trade in Final Fantasy XIII (which if anyone from  Square-Enix is reading this, you owe me 45 hours of my life back).

Plot wise, you are Alan Wake, a bestselling fiction writer with a 3 year case of writers block.  You are taking a vacation with your wife to a very scenic, quiet town in No-wheres-ville, USA to escape the pressures of pumping out your next best seller, and trying to escape the nightmares of crazy shadow people attempting to kill you. (Who hasn’t been there before, right?)  Unfortunately, your dreams start to merge with reality, and you wake up in a car crash having missed a full week of your life.  Your wife has been kidnapped, and stranger yet, you are finding pages of a manuscript you don’t remember writing.  A manuscript that seems to be coming true minute by minute.

Alan Wake is extremely engaging, which is probably what makes the large quantity of plot/cut scenes tolerable.  The first few hours of the game is very scant on game play, and even tries to compensate for this by having brief bits of pointless busy work, mainly to teach you the controls of the game, which are pretty simple.  But I cannot stress enough, the storyline is engaging enough where you really won’t care.  If anything, I’d recommend popping some popcorn before you sit down to play.

Game play wise, the game is a hybrid of Max Payne and Silent Hill.  Your character, Alan Wake, has regular voice-overs much like Payne, it’s a third person shooter much like Payne, and creeps the hell right out of you like Silent Hill.  Basically imagine the game being Max Payne with the plot written by Stephen King and you might start to picture what you are dealing with.  Instead of shooting drug addicts, you’re shooting people possessed by Darkness in the woods.

In an odd bit of development, the game is set up as though you are watching a TV show. The chapters in the game are called episodes, and at the end of each episode, they have a cliffhanger plot hook…and then it cuts to what would be the credits screen if you were watching TV, complete with a music outro. At the beginning of each new episode, they give you the “LAST TIME, ON ALAN WAKE!” plot recap, like if for some reason you had the memory of a Labrador Retriever and didn’t remember. Initially I thought this was a just a little bit of neat development to compliment the fact the game is so plot intensive, however, since your character is a writer who is trapped in his own story…I’m not entirely convinced the actual game isn’t set up this way as some kind of plot point…however that’s a bit of conjecture on my part and time will tell on that one.

On the downside, the game taking so long to develop, a little of the game is outdated. The graphics are good, but not great. The controls are good but not great, and the game play is good, but not great.  All in all I would give the actual game play an 4/5. But that’s not too shabby in my opinion, and as odd of a thing as it is to say about a video game, the game play isn’t really why you should pick up the controller and play this one.

Alan Wake so far as proven to be a game where I dare say you actually care about the main character.  Those action junkies out there may not really like this game, so if your cup of tea is sports games or racing games, you might not be all about this game just because of the hours of plot involved.  However I have really been starved for a game that sucked me into the story and Alan Wake has met my appetite. Any RPG fan or any fan of the horror game genre will love this game, and I’d dare say even the casual video gamer who likes psychological thrillers in the movie theaters should also pick this one up. This game is at least an 4.25/5, and in a year flooded with solid video game releases, this is a must play for almost everyone.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

When FFVII was released I thought it was the epitome of the perfect game. The game has an amazing cast of characters who are engaged in a classic good vs. evil dilemma, and all of this is set in a post-industrial fantasy world where the damage caused by increases in genetic and technological developments clash with an ancient earth-loving spirituality. I cried when Aeris died – the first time because of a video game. The whole Jenova/Sephiroth relationship was reminiscent of a creepy Dark Crystal feeling I had when I was a child (I can’t explain this any better than that). Summon spells were my weapon of choice – less for the damage they inflicted and more for the graphical display that came with the casting. Final Fantasy VII was so unbelievably beautiful and remains to this day the only 75+ hour game that I have played through twice: once on the PSOne and once on the PC. This isn’t really news, however, because I know a majority of RPG fans feel the same way I do. FFVII was critically acclaimed to the moon and back. So what happened? Why have I not been terribly excited about FFXIII? And why have I been less than thrilled with any of the Final Fantasy games since FFVII?

Well, what happened first was FFVIII. The storyline was almost indecipherable without some sort of political flow chart, and I got bored with the lackluster characters after only a few chapters. The next one I dubbed the “cartoon” game and didn’t even bother. When FFX was released it felt like a revival of the spirit of Seven with much improved graphics but it never quite captured my attention even though it had a compelling love story and some likeable characters. I’ll admit I own a copy of X2 but never had the energy to play a Charlie’s Angels version of the game, even if the ‘dress’ mechanics were intriguing. I skipped 11 since it was online and purchased XII but never played. Am I just not giving them a fair chance?

Sadly, I believe my love affair with JRPG’s is over. I mourned this loss when I attempted twice to play Eternal Sonata and just couldn’t bring myself to continue past the fifteen hour mark. It became clear when both Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery failed to entice. The slow paced methodical play of the JRPG has no place in my current game playing schedule. I imagine winning the lottery, becoming stinking rich and having so much time to idle away that JRPG’s would waltz back into my life and offer a beautiful flower, against the otherwise one-dimensional games that I could be playing. With so much free time and choices, why wouldn’t I want to play something that could bring me days (weeks!) of story engaging play? Because it’s boring. I am BORED with them, by them, beside them. I don’t want to navigate through endless menus of equipment and items and rings to find the best combination for combat. I don’t want to spend hours fighting the same four twisted monsters in a field to gain experience/levels. The only RPG title I am still enthralled with is Fable, but I think it has a lot to do with the real time combat aspects and the easy to digest menu system.

Final Fantasy XIII is currently holding a spot in my GameFly Q. I watch all of the promo videos (I didn’t even mute the horrible J-Pop during one of them) and read the press releases about the game. And although it sounds daunting, I am going to give it a shot. The game is inarguably the most graphically beautiful to date and took years to develop so I figure I should honor my long standing love of SquareEnix, Final Fantasy VI & VII and, of course, Chrono Trigger, by trying.

For more writings from Jessica, check out her blog, “It All Started With Chrono Trigger…“

Since its launch in late 2006, I have had a rocky relationship with the Wii.  After two previous console generations where I stood by underdog consoles (N64 and Gamecube), the prospect of Big N returning to the top left me with a palpable excitement.  Why then, has that little white box collected a thick layer of dust as it sits idle in my living room?  More importantly, why am I now suddenly encouraging people to now embrace the console?  Let’s start by defining the Wii’s major issues:

Problem #1: The motion control is a gimmick. This is the unfortunate truth.  While there was a high level of novelty in playing those first motion-controlled games, the Wiimote’s accuracy is just not high enough to offer the sort of fine-tuned control promised by Nintendo.  Games are appealing because they are a form of active entertainment.  However, when the accuracy of the controller inserts an element of luck, it ceases to be a test of their decision making and manual dexterity, and the player quickly becomes disengaged from the game.

Players expected their movements to correlate to the actions of a character, yet they were handed controls where “shake left” or “shake right” had the same effect as pressing a directional pad left or right.  This was not motion control as billed, but just a more cumbersome way of controlling an NES pad.  When Nintendo corrected this with the Wii MotionPlus, they should have sent every last Wii owner a free one as an apology.

Problem #2: Online play is cumbersome. The first warning sign was obvious in launch title Rayman: Raving Rabbids, where players who wanted to enter the online high-score leader board had to write down a code and enter it on Ubisoft’s website. Are we seriously in the stone age?  Online interaction is only as valuable as the strength of the community that participates, and when you put up barriers such as this, however small they are, it lessens that community’s presence.

For a company that has been unfairly stereotyped as the “kids only” video game maker, Nintendo is not serving the needs of its older gamers.  Those who grew up with the NES and SNES have moved away from their hometowns, graduated college, and generally made numerous personal connections that gamers may look to maintain over online play.  When every Wii owner first opened up their console, they went through the effort to hunt down friends and swap online codes in order to connect their consoles.  The need to exchange ANOTHER code for EVERY game you intend to play online is a slap to the face.

Why it is time to go back: Strip away the need for fancy motion controls and online play, and a good game is still a good game.  These worthy titles have been a slow trickle, but if like me, you have not played a Wii game in two years, the backlog of good games at low prices is a great reason to power up the Wii.

Obviously there have been some A+ first-party Nintendo titles released since 2008, including Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros, and Punch-Out, but what follows is a long list of some truly worthy titles that you can grab for well under $20, making them a great bang for your buck.  In fact, I picked up several of these titles for $9.99 this past month from an FYE clearance bin, so make your list and get shopping!

Lightgun Shooters: While the gesture recognition of the Wii is sub-par, the mechanic of pointing a cursor onto the screen works flawlessly.  Coupled with the fact that classic lightgun technology has died with the rear-projection TV, this makes the Wii a haven for rails shooters, with a collection not seen since the days of Dreamcast, including:

• Ghost Squad (2007)
• The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (2008)
• Dead Space: Extraction  (2009)
• The House of the Dead: Overkill (2009)
• Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (2009)

Action/Adventure: Early on, Resident Evil 4 was re-made with aiming controls that used the Wiimote’s ability to point on the screen.  It did not seem possible, but they made a Game of the Year winning title even better!  While I thought this could open the flood gates for FPS games with controls that had the same fidelity of a keyboard and mouse, this did not come to pass.  However, third parties have begun to figure out the formula for success, resulting in the following 1st & 3rd person titles:

• No More Heroes 1 (2008)
• Okami (2008)
• MadWorld (2009)
• The Conduit (2009)
• Red Steel 2 (2010)
• No More Heroes 2 (2010)

Downloadable Games: While Xbox Live Arcade is impressive, the Wii excels in bringing new retro content in their WiiWare shop.  Mega Man 9 & 10 are the best examples.  Each is a completely brand new Mega Man adventure presented in a classic 8-bit style.  They may be available at both stores, but does anyone honestly want to deal with the shoddy directional pad on the Xbox controller?  Do yourself a favor and play these games with Nintendo, the king of d-pads.

• World of Goo
• Cave Story
• Bit.Trip series
• Tales of Monkey Island
• Mega Man 9 & 10

When you are done playing all of the above, the Wii does have some great new releases that will surely drop in price by that point.  I would recommend checking out Trauma Team, Monster Hunter Tri and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor in about a year’s time.

Hopefully you will enjoy some of these bargain Wii titles.  If you’ve got any tips, or a game that has been left off of this list, feel free to add it in the comments!

EA Sports Active, 2009, 81.85%

Okami (2008) 89.81%

The rewards program has arrived after years of discontent from American Nintendo fans, who have witnessed the amazingly cool giveaways that Club Nintendo Japan has offered since 2003.  Wondering what sort of cool stuff Japan got?  How about exclusive DS games, a Wiimote with universal TV remote controls built in, full game soundtracks, and a Wii classic controller built in a a replica SNES controller casing.  They even got access to cool unique items like this Kirby frisbee:

I need this in my life.

To make matters worse, Nintendo had been shipping their games with registration codes to American customers for years, yet they were useless!  It all seemed to be a big tease, but the company has finally come around, and it is now our turn to revel in the rewards. All you have to do is register on the Club Nintendo website and start punching in those codes.  You’ll have the opportunity to take post-purchase surveys on everything you register to win “Nintendo gold”, their metric for rewards points.  Here’s how much you can earn:

• Wii game: 50 points
• DS game: 30 points
• Platform hardware: 100+ points
• Declaring an intent to buy before purchasing an upcoming game: 10 extra points
• Bonus surveys: periodically announced, with variable amount of points

Keep in mind, this only applies to first-party Nintendo hardware and software, so don’t get excited thinking you can register those Sega or Capcom games.

Right now, the coolest rewards lay at the threshold of 800 gold points.  They are two separate collections of the classic Nintendo Game & Watch games, ported over onto DS cartridges.  Game & Watch Collection 1 includes Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, and Green House, all originally released in 1982.  Just released is Game & Watch Collection 2, which includes Octopus and Parachute, both released in 1981, as well as Parachute X Octopus, a new original Game & Watch game that merges the mechanics of both classic games.  Finally, for 800 gold points you can also get a Nintendo character themed set of Hanafuda cards.  Hanafuda is the Japanese game for which Nintendo originally manufactured playing cards, prior to their entrance into the video game market.  Take a look:

It took me over 20 games between my Wii and DS collections to earn the 800 points, but I grabbed Game & Watch Collection #1 last week and it arrived in the mail today.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get another 800 being it took so many games, but I figured it would be wise to grab the older collection first.  It probably has a higher risk of going away, especially given the fact that Game & Watch Collection #2 is so new.  What are some of the other things you can get for lesser points, though?  How about a Mario folder and bookmark set, a Wii-remote holder (in white or black), or a DS game shelf styled after Mario’s hat?

The important aspect of Club Nintendo to note is that each year, you have the opportunity to reach gold or platinum status levels, and receive a completely free reward.  This is extremely important right now, because Nintendo inexplicably picked June 30th each year as the due date due qualify for an elite status level.  300 points nets you gold status, while 600 points earns platinum.  The 2010 rewards have not been announced yet, but 2009 had some pretty worthwhile items: a choice between an exclusive Punch Out! mini-game through the WiiWare store or an authentic Mario hat for platinum members, and a gold-member exclusive 2010 Nintendo wall calendar.

So what are you waiting for?!?!  You’ve got less than a month left, so head on over to Club Nintendo and start the arduous process of entering codes and filling out surveys.  Free stuff awaits you!  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some photos from the arrival of the Game & Watch Collection in my mailbox earlier today, starting with this thank you card from Nintendo: