The Save Spot

Economic Meltdown

 

 

 

 
Well it was bound to happen.  The economic meltdown has finally hit us close to home - one of the GAUGE staples (animal cookies) are no longer going to be made.  The company that baked them is going out of business due to increased costs and an inability to get loans from the bank.

This is truly a sad day for all…

   

     

Nintendo DSi

 

 

 

For the last few weeks I’ve been trying to decide if I want to upgrade my DS.  (Currently I have an original DS.)  Which, of course, as you can see by the picture is a bit clunky.  But I’m not the type of person to upgrade when I have something that’s working perfectly fine.  Oh sure I can’t really see screens if I’m within 100 yards of a candle.  And it ways as much as a small car.

But otherwise it works perfectly!

Despite all this, I still couldn’t shake a desire to get a new DS.  Now with the DSi launch, maybe I’ll have enough justification to go out and purchase new hardware.  

So what does everyone else think?  Is the DSi worth it? 

   

  

         

Star Wars Galaxy Designer Commits Suicide

 

 

 

It’s easy to tear at someone else’s work from behind a keyboard. 

We do it all the time. I’d bet there are very few people who post thoughts on the internet that haven’t said unkind things about someone at least once.  Even the best intentioned of us can make these mistakes.  But for many, Nerd Snark is a way of life.  If you read the comments on major websites like Kotaku or any news site discussing politics or religion, you get a feel for it.  The quick judgments.  The self righteous anger.

Don’t get me wrong: many products are completely worthless or defective.  Many games have promised “revolutionary gameplay” only to give us broken controls and defective experiences.  I get the anger.  I get the frustration.  But if we ever want gaming to be taken as a serious medium, shouldn’t we collectively hold ourselves to a higher standard than Nerd Snark?

Why do I bring this all up? Because news hit today that Jeff Freeman committed suicide.  Freeman was responsible for making changes to the Star Wars Galaxy gameplay.  To say those changes didn’t go over well is an understatement.  Freeman was viciously attacked and maligned.  And now he’s dead.

His brother says it was personal issues that drove him to suicide, not the internet attacks.  And maybe that’s true.  But does that excuse our behavior?

They say “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”  Sadly that’s not true at all.  All people need relationships and a sense of community.  When we’re attacked, when we’re rejected, we feel pain.  How can we not?

Maybe the internet didn’t drive Freeman to commit suicide.  But I bet it didn’t stop him.  Maybe we should think about that before there’s a “next time.”

(View more screenshots for Star Wars Galaxies)

  

Comfort food

 

 

 

Sometimes I’m in an adventurous mood, eager to zip out to an unproven restauraunt or willing to (gasp) try a new dish at a favorite spot.  Other times, I just want to sit at home with a beer and some salty snackage.  I was in the latter frame of mind on a recent family vacation (yes, I know I’m too old for a National Lampoons-style family vacation.  No, that didn’t stop me!)  Naturally, there was much beer and salty snacking involved but I also indulged in a different kind of comfort food, video game comfort food for my PSP in the form of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

MUA is a fantastic game, a great example of a dungeon crawl that gets almost everything right and also leverages a genre-appropriate license quite well.  It is a lengthy game (30ish hours), a replayable game (there are many hero combinations you could play again with), a richly deep and customizable game (stats, powers, equipment, and hero teams can all be customized), and a game filled with interesting optional sidequests and colletion goals.  So, when I say this game is comfort food I certainly don’t mean to suggest that it isn’t deep or is not enrossing.  It’s a pleasant romp, a nice way to kill some time, a game that doesn’t require too much thinking, and a well-balanced game that is neither too easy nor too difficult or frustrating. 

For me, it’s a game that I’ve now played through substantial portions three times (the first three acts are well-traveled territory for me, most enjoyably as a core event of GAUGE VII).  It walks a fine line between button-mashing gameplay and a need to sometimes play with more strategy and on my recent trip it provided a pleasant escape that didn’t require too much mental overhead or engagement.  I even let Marvel make an important decision for me, and played as the Fantastic Four. 

MUA is one of those games that came out on almost every game system - you can purchase a copy for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, or PSP.  If you enjoy Diablo-style gameplay and have even a passing interest in Marvel superheros, go get yourself a greatest-hits copy right away.  I recommend the 360 version since you’ll get access to exclusive playable characters including the Hulk and Dr. Doom, and because nerd points are fun.  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has also been announced, and I’m expecting good things!

What’s your video game comfort food?

 

 

I hate better graphics

 

 

 

Have you ever heard the argument that goes something like this, “I’m tired of better graphics, I want new game play. I don’t care about processing power, I want innovation.” But what happens when innovative game play requires processing power that simply isn’t there?

That’s the case with Dead Rising, a game originally released on the Xbox 360. The Wii simply lacks the ability to put the endless waves of zombies on the screen which makes an interesting game rather mundane. Part of the intensity of the game comes from the claustrophobia of being surrounded by masses of zombies.

This is completely lost in the Wii version, where it feels more like you’re surrounded by 10 annoying friends.

There’s no doubt that “better” graphics are a poor substitute for quality game play. But lets not fool ourselves into thinking that better graphics are somehow inferior to game play. Clearly the Wii, since it’s a weaker system, loses something with a port like Dead Rising.

Everything has it’s own place. Including graphics.

Choosing a band name

 

 

 

Anyone who followed our GAUGE exploits knows that one of our major goals was to play through Hard on Rock Band.  Well this was almost derailed by our inability to come up with a name for our band.  Naming things is NOT our strong suit.  After many weeks and approximately eleventy billion emails, we finally settled on The Wutai Clan. 

That’s why I was glad to see this xkcd comic.  It’s nice to know we aren’t the only ones to struggle with this…

 

 

Collectively speaking

 

 

 

Video games are generally a lousy investment.  Now, before you start writing me angry letters, games can have a tremendously high return as measured in hours of enjoyment per dollar spent on entertainment.  There are many games in my collection which have ended up costing far less than $1/hour of entertainment.   But I’m not talking about the somewhat intangible return of personal enjoyment - I’m talking about cold hard cash!

By a dollars and cents measure of return on investment, most games are quite poor as investments.  I often pay $40 - $60 for a cool new game, that just a few months later can be had in a budget release (or used) for half as much.  As the years go by, only a precious few games hold their resale value - and most never sell for more than orignial MSRP. 

Even so, I find it enjoyable to collect some of my favorite games from over the years and rather than trade them in when I’m “done” with them, I tend to keep new releases on my shelf.  And I’ve enjoyed picking up classic NES and Genesis games from eBay, too.   Remember how expensive the original Phantasy Star was for the Sega Master System, and how revolutionary and expansive the game seemed?  You can pick up a nice, complete copy for $20-30 if you’re so inclined.

As with all collectables, price is a function of supply and demand - and the supply of most games is quite high.  If you start building up a collection of classic games over the past couple of decades, some of the more expensive games are consequently for some of the less successful platforms.  The Sega Saturn, for example, has several classic titles for which you will have to pay $50, $100, $200, or more if you would like to include a nice copy in your collection.  The RPG Panzer Dragoon Saga, for one, typically retails in the $150-$200 range.  It’s an early 3D multi-disc RPG that had an unusually small production.  A classic shmup, Radiant Silvergun, will set you back even more - plus you’ll need to figure out how to play Japanese import games (you’ll need a Japanese Saturn or a special memory card based region-unlocker).  

Limited editions are an interesting step towards adding interest in treating new games as collectables - but it is terribly ineffective unless the limited editions are actually limited in suply (I bet you’re kicking yourself if you paid full MSRP for the Halo 3 Legendary Edition!)  In this regard, I think game publishers could take a page from comics publishers and publish (say) 1 out of 25 copies of a game with variant box art. 

Do you have a game collection?  Do you keep everything or trade in your used games?  Are there any gems in your collection that you keep as an investment?   Let us know in the comments. 

 

Flagship going under?

 

 

 

Well color me surprised.  The rumor on the internet says that Flagship went under this last week.  Which puts Hellgate: London in serious jeopardy.

Hellgate has had a very troubled history.  And the fact that they appeared to focus more on the pay model of the game than the actual development caused serious concerns.  So much so that I never bought the game, despite drooling over the fact that I might get my Diablo-esque fix.

As Bill Harris (Dubious Quality) said back in 2007, “Sometimes, you just get a good vibe about an upcoming game.  BioShock had a good vibe before it was released. Mass Effect has a good vibe.  Rock Band has a good vibe.

Then there’s Hellgate: London. Bad vibe.

What’s interesting about Hellgate is that the bad vibe doesn’t come from the game itself, necessarily, but it seems that the developers have spent more time thinking about the revenue models than the game”

Seems like he might have been on to something there.

This is one of my biggest “fears” of the MMO / online / downloadable content monster that’s been created. If the company goes under all your time and money is totally gone.  When you rely on a company’s servers to play the game, when those servers close that’s it.  No more game.

For me that risk isn’t worth it. I don’t want to waste my money (and more importantly my time) on something I can’t control.  There are better options out there.  And right now I’m very happy I didn’t buy Hellgate.

Diablo 3

 

 

 

There are important moments in history. The Revolutionary War. The first man on the moon. And the development of Diablo 3.

Diablo has been part of my gaming make up for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can’t even recall when I first started playing some iteration of it. As far as I know, I’ve always been playing.

Last week Blizzard began teasing the world with a “major announcement” on June 29th. There was a lot of speculation. Some thought it was another StarCraft game, others wondered if it had something to do with Warcraft, and even a few (myself included) wondered if it might be a sequel to Lost Vikings. Kotaku even made fun of people who thought it was going to be Diablo 3.

Fortunately Blizzard finally announced Diablo 3. After years of rumors, denials, and more rumors, we get to start counting down to its release. It’s too early to have any idea if Diablo 3 will be any good. But it’s made by Blizzard and they always seem to release good stuff.

But as a busy gamer, this poses a challenge for me. I find myself consumed with thoughts of a game that probably won’t be released until 2010 at the earliest. That’s a long time to wait and think about what might be.

Do I have the stamina for that? More importantly do I have the patience for that?

I suppose only time will tell. One can only hope that someone will have built a time machine by then…

 

Monster’s Den: Book of Dread

 

 

 

Four brave and adventurous souls set out to explore the depths of a dark and mysterious, blah, blah, blah. I will rarely say this, but in some cases the story in a game simply doesn’t matter. And Monster’s Den: The Book of Dread is one of those games.

The Book of Dread is the most compelling internet browser-based game I’ve ever played. I couldn’t stop. As of this moment I’ve played The Book of Dread 10x longer than I played Supreme Commander. If this game was around when I was in college I never would have finished a paper on time.

And the sad thing is, I’m not exaggerating.

The game does all of this without any shiny graphics, any cool sound effects, or stunning FMVs. What we’re left with is a tried and true game play.

  

  

The game consists of a series of dungeon floors. With each floor you clear, you gain one level. And with each level you kick more of evil’s ass. Simple. Efficient.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you.

There’s several things that make this game fun. The first is the simplicity of the design. In a world of highly complex games (which I love by the way), sometimes all you want to do is play for 15 minutes. This is the strength of games like Rock Band, or consoles like the Wii.

Within each battle lies some serious strategy. Especially at early levels. Since there is no way to reload a battle - when you die, you don’t get to restart. You’re forced to live with the consequences of your (poor) strategy. Each death carries with it a penalty of random equipment loss. That means that great armor you just bought, or that sweet sword could be gone with one careless round.

Painful, but not too steep.

This penalty actually affects you before you enter a battle. Rarely have I been so nervous going into a fight knowing that I could lose my favorite gear. As with all risk though, the thrill comes when you survive. Not only did you win, but you got to keep your favorite gear. What could be better?

  

  

Kill – Loot – Equip – Repeat. Anyone who’s played Diablo will be quickly at home with the inventory system. Part of the fun of these games is finding new equipment. And there’s plenty of gear to be found. Purple is elite, blue is rare, green is magic, and white apparently comes from Wal-Mart.

I can’t stress enough how much fun The Book of Dread is to play. And did I mention it’s free?

Do yourselves a favor, don’t walk, but jump on a T1 and click your way into battle. Your gaming addiction will thank you.