I thought this might be worthwhile. But for those too damn lazy to click the link, hereeeeeeeeeee ya go!
Quote:Oughtta Stay Out of Pictures
Why video games shouldn't be like the movies.
By Clive Thompson
Posted Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005, at 3:13 PM PT
... but first, a message from our plotline
... but first, a message from our plotline
Critics have called Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a blood-soaked crime simulator that valorizes the worst gangsta stereotypes. What they haven't noticed, though, is that everyone's favorite shoot-'em-up is also a family drama. Early on in the game, my character discovers his brother and sister fighting over her decision to date a South Side Hispanic man. I don't need this racism, she says, from "a no-good, narrow-minded, hypocrite gangbanger."
These minimovies, called "cut-scenes," are part of a longtime trend in gaming to create more nuanced characters and more story-based play. Whether a cut scene explains your next mission or just sets a mood, the basic idea is to make a game seem cinematic—more like Citizen Kane than Pac-Man. For many designers, crafting bravura cut scenes has become the best way to transform a mere game into a genre-smashing event. When Halo 2 shipped, for example, the game's creators bragged that they had created nearly a feature film's worth of scripted scenes.
These Hollywood flourishes are good for dazzling mainstream journalists and pundits. That's because there's still a weird anxiety about adults playing games. Most people still think that video games are sophomoric kid stuff; the ones that have a narrative and emulate the movies seem more serious and, well, mature. In fact, I think the truth is almost the opposite. The more video games become like movies, the worse they are as games.
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Playing a game, any kind of game, is inherently open-ended and interactive. Whether you're playing chess, Go, or Super Mario Bros., you don't really know how things will wind up or what will happen along the way. Narrative, on the other hand, is neither open-ended nor interactive. When you're watching a story, you surrender masochistically to the storyteller. The fun is in not having control, in sitting still and going "Yeah? And then what happened? And then?"
That's why cut scenes are such a massive pain in the neck—they enforce passivity. There's nothing more annoying than going on a shooting spree, then having to break the rhythm of play by putting your game pad down for minutes at a time. Before my character embarks on a home invasion in GTA: San Andreas, a quick cut scene shows the layout of the house. As I'm sitting there, waiting to start mashing buttons again, I can't help but think that this is kind of lazy design. Isn't there a better way to do this inside the game itself? Why ask the player to stop playing?
There are rare instances where cut scenes are truly wonderful: Final Fantasy X and last year's Ninja Gaiden include several tiny masterpieces of kung-fu melodrama (you can see them online here). And for all my bitching, I'll admit that some cut-scenes in GTA: San Andreas have dialogue funnier than Tarantino. But the fact remains that storytelling halts game play, and thus removes the central thing that makes games gamelike.
Today's games are strongest not when they're slavishly emulating cinema, but when they borrow from disciplines like urban design and architecture. Few of my friends got particularly jazzed about the story in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. But everyone raves about the open-ended environment—the hundreds of buildings you can enter, the dozens of souped-up cars you can jack, the fact that you can ignore the missions and just perform sick BMX stunts for a few hours. As a story, GTA is no Boyz n the Hood. But as a theme park? It's better than Disneyland.
Halo and Halo 2 succeeded for the same reason. Both games had forgettable storylines—pure alien-invasion boilerplate—that were redeemed by the game's superrealistic physics. Long after I finished the game, I used Halo 2 as a playpen for physics experiments, tossing grenades beneath vehicles or bodies to see how high I could blow them in the air. (Some players took that to an amusing extreme.) That same mojo has fueled the enduring appeal of The Sims. No purple-prose narrative there—just an open-ended game so terrific that 25 million people wanted to explore it.
In my more cynical moments, I think this whole pursuit of narrative is the industry's sneaky way of forcing gamers to buy more products. When a game has a story that "ends" after 40 hours of play, you have to throw it away—and go spend another $50 on the next title. That's movie-industry logic, not game logic. Chess doesn't "end." Neither do hockey, bridge, football, Go, playing with dolls, or even Tetris. Worse, by selling "narratives," game publishers can cover up the fact that they rarely create truly new forms of play. In any given year, I'll play a dozen first-person shooters with different stories—Save the world from Martian devils! Penetrate an island full of genetic freaks!— that are all, at heart, exactly the same game.
Only a few designers are talented enough to create new, durable forms of game play. But every once in a while, someone proves that it's possible. One recent example is Katamari Damacy, a daffy little Japanese import in which you roll a sticky ball around and "pick up" objects that you encounter. Like a snowball, it gets bigger and bigger—while you start off picking up tiny objects on a desk, pretty soon you're rolling across cities and picking up street signs and people. The first time I started up Katamari Damacy, I played for hours, racing against the clock and making sure my ball didn't get too uneven when it rolled over cars. There are no nuanced characters, no reams of dialogue, no bloated plotline—just one simple premise and an insane amount of fun.
Clive Thompson writes about gaming and technology for Slate.
Image from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas courtesy of Rock Star Games.
This server has 500MB of space. Right now we've got about 30MB free. We've got a lot of crap on here, and it's starting to reach critical mass.
There are 100MB of attachments on this forum alone. I'd appreciate it if some of us who know we have a lot of attached files here would go into the admin CP, under the Attachment Manager, look through their attachments, and start clearing out old ones, that you know you no longer need.
Also, those of you with FTP access, I would appreciate if you would login and moderate things that you have on there that might be contributing to the cramped conditions.
This is not a complaint per se, because I'm as guilty as everyone. I merely want to resolve this issue before performance ends up affected.
Thanks to everyone in advance. If you need help, let me know.
http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/castle...17375.html
And a new preview and some sceenshots of Castlevania DS. Oh, there's also a Frogger game, but if anyone really cares about that you can find the article yourself. :)
Quote:Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball, developed by Exile Interactive and Nintendo, includes players from every Major League Baseball team. Players will be able to compete in all 30 current Major League ballparks, as well as in a few from the past. The game has been licensed by Major League Baseball Properties, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, with statistics and ratings provided by STATS, Inc.
In addition, players will hear real-time, in-game commentary and announcing from some of the best in the business. Nintendo has secured the services of veteran sportscasters Bob Brenly, Rick Rizzs and Tom Hutyler.
Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball will feature new game modes that combine the authenticity of Major League Baseball with the great game play that consumers have come to expect from Nintendo.
The game is currently set for a release in the United States on April 4, 2005. No word on a European release yet.
Quote:Little Mac joins the Fight Night line-up, plus you can play Super Punch-Out!
Hot off the heels of the exclusive inclusion of Mario, Peach, and Luigi in NBA Street V3, Electronic Arts has announced another exclusive collaboration with Nintendo. Little Mac, the start of the Punch Out! series will be included as a playable character in EA's upcoming Fight Night Round 2. The Super Nintendo classic game Super Punch Out! will also be included in this new Fight Night. Below is the official press release.
EA SPORTS FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 2 PACKS THE ULTIMATE PUNCH WITH THE INCLUSION OF THE CLASSIC NINTENDO BOXING VIDEO GAME, SUPER PUNCH-OUT!!
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 25, 2005 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Nintendo announced today that the popular boxing title, Super Punch-Out!!™ for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, will be included exclusively in the Nintendo GameCube™ version of EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 2. Shipping on March 1, 2005 under the EA SPORTS™ brand, the newest addition in the award-winning EA SPORTS Fight Night series is making its debut on the Nintendo GameCube bundled with an added bonus only available for Nintendo GameCube fans.
“We grew up as fans of the Punch-Out!! series that delivered hands-down, the best boxing gaming experience of its time,” said Kudo Tsunoda, executive producer, EA Chicago. “Now we’re offering Nintendo GameCube gamers double the boxing excitement with one of the best sports titles of the past as well as the most realistic and knuckle-clenching boxing game of today with Super Punch-Out!! and EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 2. This is the ultimate match-up.”
The sequel to the best selling boxing title of 2004 will introduce Nintendo GameCube players to the most innovative and realistic boxing video game on the market via EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 2 as well as bring a sense of nostalgia to gamers as they step into the ring with Super Punch-Out!!. Players will also be able to unlock Little Mac from Super Punch-Out!! to duke it out with more than 30 real world boxers featured in EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 2.
“The Punch-Out!! series defined boxing video games,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “We have a new contender in the ring that’s changing the face of boxing games. What better way to introduce our Nintendo gamers to EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 2 than allowing gamers to experience two boxing franchises that have had the most impact in this sports genre from the beginning of boxing games to now.”
EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 2 introduces exciting new features to the series including the EA SPORTS™ Haymaker, EA SPORTS™ Cutman, a unique create-a-player option and an extensive career mode. The game packs in more fearsome punches and total boxer control so that players can truly dominate the fight inside and outside of the ring.
See? It can be cool when it's all in context. I might even rent this just for that little extra.
With my very first game... which we now call a "test"... so I guess it isn't technically my first game. But whatever.
It's only going to be a few levels but it'll give you a taste of what's to come. Allow me to explain.
I had this idea for a 2d platformer early last year--an elaborate idea that I came up with while typing an email--and me and my programmer friend have been sloooowly working on it since then. We built everything from scratch. My friend built the engine using java and I built all of the graphics that you will see, save one or two temporary sprites that I may be too lazy to change. I came up with the idea and designed everything while my friend Robert did all of the tough programming. And we both learned a lot working on the game. A lot. So much so, in fact, that a couple of months ago we decided to to finish up work on the "test" game and get to work on a full version, with a completely new engine, completely new graphics sets, and tons of ideas that we couldn't get into this test and also ones that I came up with while we were working on it. So when you play this game, keep in mind that it is only a test and that the real game will be much, much, much better. I learned a lot about level design, balance, and fun while working on this test, and I hope to use that knowledge in the next game (the "real" version).
Whoever wants to play the game send me an email at prancetron2000@yahoo.com and I'll send you all of the files once we're finished (which should be within the next couple of weeks). I only want to send the game to people who have a decent gamepad (with key mapping software) because a keyboard will suck, and can give me some feedback on it.
Quote:REDWOOD CITY, Calif. & STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2005--Electronic Arts EA Holding AB ("EA") today announced the completion of its offer to the shareholders of Digital Illusions CE AB (publ) ("DICE").
The acceptance period for EA's offer to the shareholders of DICE, made on November 15, 2004, expired on January 20. Shareholders with a total of 3,235,053 shares in DICE(1), including Bonnier & Bonnier AB and DICE employees with significant shareholdings, have accepted EA's offer. This corresponds to 32.0% of the outstanding capital and votes in DICE. In addition to the above-mentioned offer, EA has acquired 898,264 shares in the market corresponding to 8.9% of the capital and votes in DICE.
Together with the 18.9% of the outstanding capital and votes already held by EA, EA now holds a total of 6,044,720 shares, a controlling interest representing 59.8% of the outstanding capital and votes in DICE. Additionally, EA holds warrants in DICE priced at SEK 47.23 which, if exercised, would bring EA's holdings to 67.3% of DICE shares. EA has not yet declared its intentions on whether those warrants will be exercised.
EA declares that the conditions for the tender offer have been fulfilled. Payment of the offer price to shareholders who have tendered their shares pursuant to the offer will commence and the transaction will be completed on or about January 27, 2005.
EA reserves the right to acquire additional shares in DICE in the market.
(1) EA has also acquired the 1,500 warrants previously held by an individual in Canada. EA now controls all the 2,329,102 outstanding warrants in Digital Illusions. Each warrant entitles EA to subscribe for one Series A share.
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