Some quick thoughts

I just wanted to drop a few thoughts from an interesting week...

Firstly is the new module I released.  'Nightmares to Dreams' which is in NW Vault.  The aim was to have something roughly playable to be released and that is finally out of the way.  Have not received much of any feedback but I'll let that sit for awhile there while I ponder on what to do next.  I plan to reinstall the NWN toolset into Linux.  I don't like working on Windows.

Second thing to get out of the way is the texture map task my brother keeps wrangling me about.  Hopefully by the end of the week, it'll be finally finished.

Third thing is how I have been indulging a bit on Witcher by reading short stories and watching the Polish serial.  It has been quite interesting and I fairly enjoyed the short stories.  The TV series seems to have some pretty laughable effects but I am still remotely interested in watching it.

Fourth thing is how more videos of Tatsunoko vs Capcom are finally going around and this game is looking like a winner.  One game for the holidays that is for sure.

Lastly, I had a good couple of hours with Tomb Raider Underworld on Wii.  In a word, it's a mess.

Anniversary had a very good control system and she was very agile.  The camera, while not perfect, was something I could adjust to.  The Wii exclusives also made Tomb Raider a much more enjoyable experience.  I have used the flashlight for so many times even if I do not particularly need it.  It was very nice additions and added to the immersion.  

Underworld was a straight up port sprinkled with even less Wii additions.  I am boggled why and how Underworld for the Wii got several steps behind Anniversary.  This game has an atrocious camera system, the motion capture moves makes Lara look like a clumsy lady.  The wall scaling system needs improvements and her acrobatic moves are gone.  One thing I liked about Anniversary was that Lara looked perfectly confident with the leaps she makes.  It makes for an exhilirating piece of acrobatics.  Underworld makes her seem ordinary.  That is not what it should be.  Furthermore, the control scheme seems to have been changed for the worse.  I always liked the nunchuck shake as the action for Lara to throw her grapple.  Now it's the 'B' button.  Less Wii immersion.  The swimming part is also incredibly bland and weak.  Also, there have been multitude of bugs in this game.  One puzzle had me scratching and I decided to exploit physics to solve it.  Hey Eidos/Buzz Monkey, did you playtest this game at all?

What did I like about Underworld?  The idea to use more of the Wii remote speakers.  The sound samples they used have not worked out though.  Sounds more like a broken speaker sound.  The graphics are alright even though I think Lara kind of suffered a bit.

Over all, if I were reviewing Anniversary, I would give the game a solid 8.  Underworld deservedly gets a 5 or a 6.  Granted I have only played the first few levels, that might end up being a bit higher to say, 7, if the changes dramatically make this an awesome game.  I doubt it though.  I am not sure if Buzz Monkey did Tomb Raider Anniversary but I am positive they did Tomb Raider Underworld.  If Buzz Monkey had nothing to do with Anniversary, I would suggest Eidos not to hire them again.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight put together

After the critically acclaimed Batman Begins ran its course to fairly tepid box office returns, I had always looked forward to what a new Batman flick would be with Nolan at the helm. In my opinion, Batman Begins is pretty difficult to top, where every minute is important and every decision made, whether that is cinematography, to effects has some reason behind it. It is refreshing to see a movie that treats you as a person with a brain and that movie engages you very well.

Fast forward to a few months back, The Dark Knight came as Nolan's second entry into his opus, and while it is definitely a hefty follow up, I have always come to think that Batman Begins was a better movie overall. We have seen so many articles that deal with The Dark Knight as a movie and how it has been the best of 2008, but this article is not about that.

Having watched Batman Begins numerous times, (and making it a point to watch it a day before seeing The Dark Knight in the theater), it is interesting how Nolan's vision of making that film every part linked to Batman Begins without really telegraphing it.

The first striking theme is how Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent are similar but due to different circumstances turn out differently. Harvey Dent was driven to madness when he saw how he had lost Rachel and everything else. Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins was also driven by similar circumstances, with the loss of his parents and the hunger for vengeance. It is thereby an interesting quote in Batman Begins that I think echoes very much what Dent lacked.

Henri Ducard tells Bruce during his time in the mountains, "Your anger gives you great power, but if you let it, it will destroy you." Who would have thought that such a line could ever ring so true in The Dark Knight when Harvey Dent feeds into his anger and ultimately let it control his course of downfall. Dent had no social support structure Bruce had during such a pivotal time. If Bruce had not met Ducard and had not been redirected from that path in the prison cells, Bruce would have been truly lost as Ducard said and as Harvey became. Harvey rejected what little help mentally he could have had and found himself directed only by madness, a perverted sense of fairness and the barrel of a gun.

In its definition of villainy, the League of Shadows and the Joker seemingly operate with similar means. The Joker often mentions how man's morality is a joke and that at the end of the day, every man is at heart evil. While the League of Shadows operated under a different rationale, Ras Al Ghul in the final act of Batman Begins mentions "Create enough hunger and everyone becomes a criminal." The League of Shadows had always been in a moral check in society and they have thereby noted how easy it is to fall into criminality. Like the Joker, they intend to create destruction and chaos because of man's evil, although they have different intensions in mind whilst serving that function.

It is also interesting to see Bruce's evolution from the creation of Batman to the man who now has that power and presence in Gotham. In the beginning, Bruce is a troubled soul, guided by his own morals as well as the tutelage of Henri Ducard. As Batman, Bruce channels all that rage and negative energy towards combating and defeating criminality. By the time The Dark Knight unfolds, you sense how Bruce has moved on from the brooding and incredibly hurtful place into one where he now sits more comfortably in his place as an experienced crime fighter. Gone is the psychological pain although he still remembers what drove him to be where he is, and in its place, the yearning to move on from that. The journey from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight that Bruce takes creates that natural progression that Bruce knows why he does it and he also now knows why it has to end at some point for him.

In the final act of The Dark Knight, Bruce realizes the sacrifice he is needed to take to help rid crime in Gotham as the same sacrifice he has done when he embarked on that journey to be Batman. He knows that because of the path he chose, there will not be the path for him to come back to normalcy. That is how Batman Begins ends, and that is, apparently, also how The Dark Knight closes.

Quite a fit for the two movies and I have no doubt that both will create such a strong connection when viewed side-by-side.

Understanding Castlevania Judgment

Castlevania is perhaps one of the longest running game series. It also did not have much of a story aside from a character or troupe embarking on a trip to Wallachia, Transylvania to rid of Dracula who by now has to be recognized as one of the most idiotic villains in the videogame world (How the hell can such a revered figure lose big everytime he is reincarnated every one hundred years?). I have learned from the old days of Castlevania never to take Castlevania stories seriously. They never seem to produce anything substantial even though the writers at Konami think they have something epic going on.

Trudging through the Castlevania games have been a relatively happy one although there are a few Castlevania games I wish to forget. Castlevania 1 was maniacally difficult with Simon possessing such an incompetent jump of which the game was literally filled with jumping sequences. Castlevania 2, my personal favourite, took the series to a different direction and one that I welcome. It has its own problems but frankly, I could care less. There's been quite a few Castlevania games since then and most of them are fairly similar. I have played Castlevania 3, and Bloodlines from the old days, respectable efforts I'll say. But needless to say not different enough to make a very powerful impression except for characters they introduce.

I liked Circle of the Moon but I did not appreciate all that much the "SotN-ish" approach. By the time I played Harmony of Dissonance, I was sick of it. And every game I saw that used that same template, I have skipped. I wanted something desperately different. I had even gone as far as say the brand needs a reboot of sort. Really. It is getting pretty ridiculous with the things they are doing with it. Also, fire your artists, Konami.

Anyhow, Castlevania's journey into the 3D realm has not been a smooth one in comparison to other franchises like Super Mario 64, the Legend of Zelda, and Metroid Prime. Castlevania 64 was a decent game, but it was nothing to write about. When you have a game as tight as Super Mario 64, it is hard to see the things Konami did right with Castlevania 64. I thought a lot of problems of Castlevania 64 had been ironed out with Castlevania Legacy of Darkness, but it is a shame because the game is too late. Castlevania 64 should have been this game and that was not what we got. For all the good things Legacy of Darkness achieved, it was for naught. It was a decent action game, far better than Castlevania 64, but largely went out unnoticed and also was not a strong enough entry to have an impression on gamers.

Fast forward to a few months ago, Konami riding high with Order of Ecclesia (aka yet another SotN-ish game), unveiled the mother of shockers to Castlevania fans (and gamers) all over the world. The Wii Castlevania game is a fighting game. Unlike the rest of the world weeping over this circumstance, I found it to be very good news. I was going to get something different and it is going to get a release on a console I find to be a good system too. Castlevania Judgment was born. The scorn of the many, and apparently the only person defending the game is Igarashi. I'd like to think the day they unveiled Judgment to be the fateful day the game would be doomed to failure. It was not the game rabid fans were expecting, and ultimately, I believe that most of the gamers have already made up their mind about it. Such an unfortunate circumstance, but I applaud Igarashi for trying hard and pushing into very unknown grounds.

Castlevania Judgment released a few weeks ago and I had expected it to get murdered in reviews. It did. Most of the reviews slagged this off, and complained again and again. Castlevania Judgment will largely be seen as a travesty to the series, but I have spent an entire day plowing through the game and I find that I have been largely right to stick my nose through all the bad reviews and try it for myself. For the Wii, reviewers are more often than not the most unreliable source of information. And I have learned to trust my own instincts over games I like and would be interested playing. I always felt that I "got" what Iga wanted to produce.

Let us get something out right now. Castlevania Judgment has one of the most horrible art directions ever. There is no question about that. But that is just a piece of the entire pie. Sure that Eric Lecarde looks horrible in the game, but that should not be what negative reviews are about. They should ultimately be discussing what the game did right, what the game did wrong, and the entire discussion should make sense. Every negative review I read left me with the impression that they approached the game wrong. Think of it like playing Fallout 3 expecting it to be a shoot-fest action game.

That is not to say Judgment has issues because it does, but I happen to see that the issues it has does not greatly deter from what the focal point of the game is. It is not a great game by a long shot, but it is a fairly decent effort from Iga and co.

Castlevania Judgment is a fighting game more of the ilk of Powerstone but tuned to the non-frame counting, combo-system-analyzing folks. You want a full fledged fighting game, go knock on SNK's doorstep. This game is a very nice entry-level fighting game with some of the more complex concepts (guard crush, juggles, combo cancelling) tweaked for a more accessible take on the genre. Each character does not have a whole lot of moves to do and frankly, I like it that way. After a few practice runs on training, you would have figured out some basic strategy for most characters. I had a kick out of some of the combos I was doing, though at times it does feel a bit oversimplified.

The game gives you the option of playing with the Classical Controller, Wii remote nunchuck combination, and the Gamecube Controller. I have only tried the Gamecube controller. It was readily available and I decided to give it a try and it works very splendidly. I definitely do not miss using the Wii remote at all. One of the few Wii games to make me feel that way about the Cube controller.

The character designs, I repeat, are horrible. And I also feel the necessity to reiterate that Konami needs a dose of artist change. In fact, get someone like Alex Ross or Clyde Caldwell to supervise art direction. Missed opportunity also is that the characters are redesigned so drastically that whatever nostalgic effect they were throwing in with the, mind you very awesome soundtrack, is gone. Carmilla looks terrible. Eric Lecarde does not look good either. Grant Dynasty design gets murdered. There is a whole lot more characters that the redesigns get really wrong but I do not need to go through each one.

As I said earlier, the soundtrack is amazing. It still gives me goosebumps listening to the classic ones and playing the games with the songs tuned to the max is not a problem. I feel Konami poured the most work here and it does really show.

The gameplay itself does have issues. Balancing is a problem. Some characters are incredibly cheap while others seem like they do not really belong there. Camera issues do exist here, especially in the heat of the battle and your eyes get lost as to what is actually happening, but it is not insurmountable. In fact, after a while, you get used to it, though it is never really problem-free. The Powerstone style of fighting where you roam free running around the background is an intriguing concept but one that needs more time to develop. It is not that easy to determine distances between items and sometimes it is not easy to face your opponent you are trying to kill.

Lastly, the problem with Castlevania Judgment is one that is handed down from one game to another. The writing is incredibly bad. The dialogs are incredibly stupid. The voice acting is cringing (I switched the voice acting to Japanese so I could not understand a thing they were saying). And lastly, whatever plot Castlevania Judgment ever had is lost inbetween horrible banters from Aeon, and other pointless pre-fight dialogs each character has, most of which do not really make sense unless you are familiar with the Castlevania lore. Entry level? Definitely not an entry-level game from the Castlevania lore point of reference.

There is also multitudes of stuff to do, of which the Castle mode needs a special mention for being a very interesting spin to the already quirky twist Judgment is for the Castlevania series. Castle mode plays a bit like the traditional Castlevania game where you go room to room until you face Dracula. It can get tedious but it is a welcome addition. One problem I see is that there is no real sense of location with the castle as the backgrounds are fairly limited. I would have rather had save points more often than the "save room" style they lifted from the SotN games but well, what the heck. The core game works. It plays fine and there is good fun here, especially if you have the not-so-fanatical fighting gamers around for you to joust with.

I feel Judgment deserves a sequel so as it can really spread its wings and soar. But it will not get the chance. Because everyone had already made up their minds on the game, most of them having not even been able to play it. It is a shame, but Iga should have known the sharks he was going to wade through to get this game out. Me personally, please give it another go, Iga. This is a welcome addition to the series. And I hope gamers keep an open mind and try it. It may not be a game everyone will love, but you will never know if it is from just reading at some media reviewer hacking away at his computer.

Some Thoughts...

I must admit I've not found the inspiration to continue blogging for so long and this post should not be an indication that there will be regular updates. There is little to talk about, which makes a couple of months of activity crammed into a single post a fairly lengthy article.

I have been trying different games and I think we can go directly to that. I was intrigued by this title called 'Culpa Innata'. It is a PC point and click adventure game with a dash of non-linear gameplay sprinkled on it. You're this female cop in this fictional futuristic world and seems off on a personal journey of sorts. I am always up for a good story so I thought I'd pick this up and figure how it fares. As in my previous blog posts, I very much do not like the standard formula for adventure games with developers seemingly hoping to add challenge by squeezing academic mental puzzles into the game. Culpa Innata is no exception. It has some challenges you would normally find beside the 'Tower of Hanoi' and I find that quite frankly rubbish. It does not seem like a very realistic rendition and I hope developers do try a little harder to make for a more believable setting and more believable and playable challenges without turning the game into a mental course quiz. While we are on the subject of puzzles, some of them are so abstract you may need to give up and attempt a trial-and-error style of play, which is so reminiscent of ancient adventure game design. We are already more than a decade older than King's Quest and Legend of Kyrandia. I think us adventure gamers deserve more than being introduced to these kinds of puzzles.

Moving on to other aspects of the title, I wish to touch on its production values. Firstly, the visuals of the game are eye-gougingly terrible. The character models are barely passable and the backdrops are extremely plain. I tend to think that if you cannot produce good production values for the visuals, you ought to try something else. Get creative and try a different presentation, perhaps using a full-blown animation video like what the old Broken Sword games did or perhaps use a graphic novel type cutscene. I would say games several years back like No One Lives Forever 2 can boast of better visuals. Culpa Innata's use of in-game cinematics also do not help its cause to tell its heroine's travails. Character animations are extremely stiff, and the cutscenes lack the punch to deliver the emotional stress of the protagonist. Add to that the very bland soundtrack that coupled with the bland visuals is bound to put you to sleep and you have a title that has some potential but never fully lives up to it, which is a shame.

Culpa Innata is not without its intriguing implementation. Its design for non-linear events make for a fairly good way of making sure players do not experience the same events over. The actions you make have very real consequence over what happens in the course of your game session. Its dialog system, allowing your character to call up her friend for a chat and touching on multiple of the game's plot points is a very good idea as it allows the player explore several insights over the game's progression.

Ultimately, inspite of this, Culpa Innata in the end is just not a title that lives up to expectations. It hobbles around its limitations while making a poor attempt at showing it does have some luster deep within its core. If you choose to make this journey, be warned that you may have to dig deep to find that satisfaction. While perhaps adventure gamers would be very much delighted with Culpa Innata and ignore my complaints, it ultimately shows that the title plays to a narrow niche and that majority of gamers will see its cracks from the word go and probably toss it in the bin, as I have.

After that supreme disappointment, I journeyed to install Neverwinter Nights. Yes, it is an extremely dated title and I was dying to get a game to play on Linux. This game fit the bill pretty nicely, and inspite of age, the game really shows it is an incredible journey. Very good story-telling and the game's production values age pretty well. Of all the three expansions, I have to say that Shadows of Undrentide is the worst, the plot is something I do not particularly care for and the NPC henchmen do not resonate with me. Hordes of the Underdark is the best of the campaigns but it is incredibly unforgiving, giving out very tough challenges and very tough puzzles for players. The kind of roleplay it provides has been lost in this day and age of gaming. Only Bioware seems to understand what it really is. For that I am extremely thankful for Bioware's existence. Unfortunately, it seems like NWN is the final Linux entry in Bioware's portfolio of great titles. Atari is not a Linux-friendly publisher and I do not think EA is.

Speaking of Linux friendliness, over at Phoronix, I found a funny story where a poster mailed EA asking where he could find the Medal of Honor Allied Assault Linux port (it exists here). EA's personnel had a very interesting quote:

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts.

The minimum required specifications for Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Spearhead are as follows:

* Windows XP, ME, 98, 95 and 2000 (Windows 2000 Server and NT are not supported)
* 450 MHz processor
* 128 MB RAM
o 256 MB for Windows XP and Windows 2000
* CD/DVD-Rom Speed: 8x
* At least 1.2 GB of hard drive space
* Sound: DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card
* Keyboard
* MS compatible Mouse
* A video card with at least 16 MB of video RAM with DirectX 8.0 compatible driver and one of the supported chipsets.

Supported video cards:

* Nvidia Riva TNT or Higher
* ATI Rage 128 or Higher
* PowerVR Kyro

If you need any further assistance regarding your question, please let us know by updating this incident.

Link to actual post is here.

Perhaps this is a clear indication that the new owners of Bioware will not even consider Linux a platform even though they did announce they were doing Mac ports of their Windows titles. Even with that, it is certainly a funny scenario.

While we are on the subject of Linux games, what about Unreal Tournament 3 for Linux taking an extremely long time to get released. Ryan Gordon had released teasers on it but there has not been much visible progress other than that. Hopefully they sort out those proprietary software libraries keeping it from release. Linux gamers need decent Linux games.

Over on the Wii side of gaming I got to play Ferrari Challenge and it has been quite a good product. It has a very serious and solid racing engine coupled with some pretty visuals to boot. It is nothing close to high-definition, but why buy the Wii if you are hoping for that? As a sim racing gamer, I have been hoping for something like this on the Wii for a very, very long time and no, Need for Speed does not do it. The AI is incredibly terrible in this game. Your opponents seem to run on rails and never really react to your car's presence. That is a shame, but I have seen few games do it right.

Perhaps what is most baffling with Ferrari Challenge is that they have a pretty moronic controller setup on Wii. I remember Bruno Senna remarking how he prefers a controller or steering wheel over the Wii remote, but I'd say he ought to try playing other racers on Wii and see how the controls stack up there. Eutechnyx's control setup has been the worst I have ever seen on a Wii title and the motion sensing code is not up to EA's efforts. Wii games need to have some leeway on controls because different gamers move differently. Ferrari Challenge does not offer that customizability on the controls and that is just common sense. I cannot believe they play-tested the controls and passed it as playable. Control issues aside, the racing is very good as is the sensation of speed. Any sim racing Wii owner should have this title, as these kinds of title on the Wii are far and few inbetween.

Last game is an interesting journey of sorts. I played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on DS, Wii and a tad bit on Xbox 360. First of all, it goes without saying that the Xbox 360 version boasts the most incredible visuals among the three. There are a lot of background interaction and lots of special effects that go into this title which makes for a very good visual show. However, I found the gameplay to be severely lacking. In terms of gameplay I found my home on the Wii version especially when you and your opponent's lightsabers lock and having to twist the remote to win the joust. After a while of playing with the Wii version, you get engrossed and simply the visuals do not matter anymore. I can forget Xbox 360's wow visuals in place for what I believe is the definitive way of playing a 'Lightsaber game' or sorts. Both the Wii and the Xbox 360 versions suffer from similar things though, and that is perhaps that the game levels are simply too long and tedious. That right balance of gameplay and length is what I found on the DS game. The gameplay is solid with the touch panels being slid to produce different moves is pretty good and I am at awe with nSpace's efforts as of late, pushing the DS to its absolute limit while capturing the essence of what its brethren's games are (Look at their Call of Duty 4 on DS and this one). Force Unleashed on the DS has that right balance of difficulty and the gameplay to keep me going back to it. Also interestingly, because the voice acting and 3d model acting is just not good on both the Wii and Xbox 360 game, I like the way the DS version handles the story telling, which is through plain text. That leaves so much to the imagination and I get a kick out of seeing the scene much cooler than what the console games do.

My verdict for Force Unleashed is fairly straight forward, despite its hardware limitations, the DS is the best of the versions. It has some very impressive visuals for a DS title and it handles everything very solidly while never really frustrating the player. The Wii version takes second place for the very engrossing gameplay that I prefer over Xbox 360's visuals. The Xbox 360 version is a solid title, but I do not agree with using the conventional controller on this game. It needs that much more now.

I have been busy with Neveredit, which is an open source NWN editor for Linux and Mac (and Windows). My main objective has been on this are:

1. Dusting off my OpenGL coding which has taken a very big degradation, the last time I have coded on it has been at least five years ago. Coupled that with forgetting some of the math concepts and I have had a much harder time dealing with it.
2. Second is to learn Python which is an interesting and easy to learn language. I am not a master by any stretch of the imagination, but I can work my way in the code.
3. To have an editor available for us Linux folks (Peter would perhaps lean on Macs instead. :)). It has been fairly frustrating to see that the only way I can get to use the toolset is through Wine. I try to avoid Wine when possible so I hope this project gives us some options.
   

The code is pretty complex and I have not had a good handle on it yet, but I have managed to iron out some graphics issues and some map issues. It has been a very interesting journey thus far and I have many, many thanks to extend to Peter Gorniak for his help and support.

As part of that work, I have delved deeper into NWN Toolset, writing a short module though it is surprisingly still a large undertaking. The story is mostly done on a general note and I have just been quite busy going through the module's most critical scenes first to get something functional. It's very interesting in that it is a very good exercise in game development, in terms of designing the level and how you would go about telling the story. The NWN scripting language is very much reminiscent of C and that is a very good thing for sure. Sometimes, it feels like a strange cross between C and other scripting languages such as TCL or Python.

Well, that is all I have to say as of the moment. Pretty lengthy blog post and I am not sure when the next update will come. When I feel like it, that is what I can say.

Epic Games Seems To Be Suppressing Linux Inquiries

Acting on rumors (which appear to have basis in reality) of deleted discussion threads, Michael Larabel of Phoronix posted an inquiry into possibly getting a small update on the state of the Linux version. The forum admin linked to their FAQ which indicates that the Linux version was coming and then closed the thread.---My thoughts: Epic has been very amibiguous on the state of the Linux port of Unreal Tournament 3. Whether or not there is a port still is up in the air, but the manner in which Epic decides to deal with this has been truly stupifying. Everyone deserves an answer, and this type of information snafu is not helping Epic in the eyes of Linux gamers. Don't beat around the bush, Epic. If there's a port, say there is one and at least treat these Linux gamers as mature adults who can understand and can be rational. Epic choosing to stop every Linux thread shows very disturbing signs and this just angers the Linux folks even more.Step up, Epic Games. Tell us the truth.

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Random Thoughts

Lately, I've been playing 'Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic'. It's a nice little roleplaying game from Bioware with a good story and lot of good rpg play into it. Nice games don't come often, and I don't usually give games high ratings, but KotOR is indeed a classic that needs to have a place in the list of games people must play. It's certainly dated on a technical aspect, but it doesn't loose it's allure. I certainly don't miss newer games when these old gems can really still bring you some good enjoyment.

These past months have been somewhat a time warp for me, checking out older games. I thought to check out Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which is one of the newer RPGs and by Bethesda. Judging from videos and screens, I'll probably never pick up a new RPG by them. Oblivion is a highly touted product, and with good reason too. So much work has been put into it, but it's all so strange that everytime I see it, my interest level drops to zero. I've put in countless of hours on Morrowind, it's predecessor and while Morrowind was a good product, it wasn't a great one. You have to acknowledge the flaws alongside its strengths, but overall, after playing Morrowind to the ground, the lasting memory of it isn't the roleplay that you do (or lack of), but the tedious nature of the game.

I'm sure Oblivion attempts to solve many of those issues but for a game that's built from the ground up, it sure looks a lot like Morrowind in motion. Morrowind's graphics are eye-gougingly bad by today's standards and for all the accolaides that oblivion receives from the visual department, it looks like crap. Everytime I see it makes me cringe, from the facial acting to the character models and the lighting effects. That's me talking from a visual aspect which isn't much to speak of when I play games. I play even older games with far less fancier visuals.

Oblivion's gameplay from videos look a whole lot like Morrowind did, and the Elder Scrolls series is the kind of game after I play once, I don't really look forward to going back. It's the same with Oblivion. It moves so much like Morrowind, the battles seem so much like it, and it really looks like another tedious game. I know Oblivion has a little bit of some thing like those teleport to location things, which by the way is a bad idea. I think that when a Dungeon Master warps his players to the 'exciting' parts just because his players are getting bored, something is definitely wrong with the game. Come on, Bethesda, you're more creative than that.

Or are you? Perhaps the Elder Scrolls series will benefit from a fresh different approach. Perhaps Bethesda ought to give another studio a shot at building this epic and gigantic RPG. I want to like The Elder Scrolls series. Don't let Morrowind be the last TES game I play.

Moving on, I suppose...

As depressing as TES is, the Linux gaming is just as depressing. The opensource games out there don't really peak my interest, and the games available are and few in between. Some people hinge their hopes on emulation which is a valid solution and has been for the past few years. This, though, only alleviates the problem to a certain degree. Emulation, for one thing, is always going to play catch up, and it isn't likely to run every game conceivable. The allure, I think loses its sheen when you have to work to get the games running and sometimes, there's just too much work to be done and too much waiting. The only solution I think is that Linux gaming leans on porting. For the same amount of effort you push into emulation, it's far more productive in the long term that portability tools be developed, hence giving development studios and big game companies a good reason to port for far less the cost.

I do think that unlike the previous topic, the Linux gaming scene is slowly changing. More games are coming and LGP surely has some aces under its sleeves. I hope this is the start of big and better things to come for the Linux community.

All in good time, I suppose. All in good time.

Rest in Peace Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax passed away at the age of 69 in March 4, 2008. While this post is 4 days after the fact, it's never too late to pause and remember all the great contributions this man has made for the game industry and RPG in its essence.

While Gary is gone, his works will live on and his achievements forever remembered.

Rest in peace Gary Gygax.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

"Every puzzle has an answer."

That puzzle for me had been this quirky Japanese game series, Professor Layton. Years ago, I've seen this title and it never seemed to arouse my curiosity, at least, not enough to actually go out and find it. Here was yet another DS title, albeit with a charming simplistic animation direction, that attempts to cram mini games down DS owners throats. With this conclusion, however, the game was somehow lodged at the back of my mind, whispering softly every now and then.

When the game finally came out in America, that seemingly small voice had grown more vocal. The charming characters had somehow found their way to my good side. But deep down, I knew Layton was nothing more than a dressed up puzzle game. It was the only thing I knew it was really about.

Even with that mindset however, somehow, it was a title I had never totally forgotten, and it seemed like something I would be willing to try now. This, I think, is the first real credit to Level 5's game. No matter what you see in the Layton games meat, the art design is always welcome no matter who you are. And at times, it may be so good that it beckons you to play it.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village unfolds as a sort of crime mystery filled with puzzles from the puzzle-addicted folks of St. Mystere. You accompany Professor Layton and his young apprentice, Luke in their quest to solve the mystery of the Golden Apple. Sounds like Sherlock Holmes? Indeed it is. Layton was indeed designed after the fabled inspector from London according to Level 5.

The puzzles you encounter range from the obvious, to the deft, to the devious. No matter who you are, there will be something that will make you scratch your head. This smoothly combines mind bending puzzles with a story that, by its own right, is a cleverly presented one. Layton also side-steps from the common pit fall of most adventure games. The puzzles aren't ones that you'd end up trying to turn lipstick to bullets (This is a reference to one game I absolutely abhor). Instead, the puzzles stand on their own and have little to no connection to the running plot. They are simply devilishly mind twisters meant to stir your thoughts.

This is the real meat of Professor Layton and the Curious Village. It's as I thought it would be. But there is a certain charm to it that keeps you going. Professor Layton's real power comes from the puzzles and a total charm of story.

But here, in its strength, lies the game's weakness. The puzzles you solve, don't have a life span that goes beyond it. For the hundreds of puzzles packed in the little cartridge, once it's done, there's no more going back to it. And frankly, the puzzles are often so absorbing, you might end up talking to people hoping they'd toss you another one. Often they do, but this gradually leads you away from the plot and into a puzzle hunt. At times, the dialogs will be totally unimportant and simply serve as a tack on to provide you with puzzles. I don't mind, but it doesn't make it all the more natural.

With this problem though, the game does gracefully guide you back to the plot. The expertly created animated cut scenes deliver the kind of feel that gets you right back into the game. It's also so well done, you'd want to go back and see it again. The voice acting is also equally superb. This is one area, that I believe the English version surpasses the Japanese version. The voice actor for Layton delivers the kind of intelligence you'd expect from a man of his stature. Luke shows the typical curious apprentice. In fact, a lot of Layton's characters are really typical but again, these are things that you tend to not mind a lot.

To say Professor Layton is a triumph of innovative game design would be a lie. But to think that Professor Layton series does not deserve merit would be a disservice as well. The truth is, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is as good as they say and is far more accessible than most of the conventional fair games out there. It's the one game I don't mind tagging along, even if the game concepts seem quite too simple for a single package. I wonder the longevity of the series, but till I hold the sequel in my hands, cheers to Layton and Luke!

PC Gaming... WHAT THE HELL?!

I started first and foremost as a PC gamer. This goes way back in the 80s. I've always been one even though I owned console games after. There are games that are just tailor made for PCs. I remember the classic King Quests and Quest for Glory, the games that brought back good memories. In recent years, some of the console games trickled on PC and I really have no qualms that they are around. It just means the games that aren't released on my console could still be played on PC and I spent quite a bit of cash to get myself a very good PC back in 2005. All was well back then, butterflies fluttering, birds chirping under the shade of trees, and me blasting virtual enemies away on my PC.

Looking at Assassin's Creed on PC coming out soon though, reality started to settle in. You can check the info here and here (courtesy of Kotaku). What the hell do they think? Do I grow a money tree in my backyard? Am I supposed to keep spending money on my PC parts just to play their new fangled games? I suppose if I really earned a lot of money and throw a couple of thousand dollars away for games and hardware this would be perfectly fine. But the expenditures are starting to outweigh the benefits. The specs are ridiculous and I suppose a few years and those prices will drop. But what will be the standard specs by then?

I'm sorry you moronic PC developers. I don't have infinite money. There's enough games out now that will keep me busy without having to pick up your games with stupid requirements. I'm out.

Thoughts on Rally Games

I have a tremendous love for rally games and I've played quite a few of them, but it wasn't always like that. I remember 3D-Hot Rally back in the old days, where Mario and Luigi drove a 4x4 monster truck on this never ending road that went to different surfaces. Back then, I barely knew what rally was, and I didn't have fond memories of that title. It was reminiscent of Sega's Outrun except that the car had damage and Mario and Luigi would need to make repairs at the expense of time, which you chased against. I could never finish that game, nor do I even want to try. It was practically impossible for me to play these games. Everything seemed so random. I passed on this and never looked back to playing it... and that gimmicky 3D goggles suck!

My next foray into rallying came in Lombard Rally on PC, in the good old CGA days. I still had no idea what rally was and played this game wishing it was much easier. The co-driver held a map, and you as the player had the responsibility to drive and look at that tiny map to figure out where to go. It was not easy, and chasing clocks were never my thing. I pretty much gave up on any racing game at that point. It just never seemed fun at all and I always lost.

Incidentally, after many years of playing different game genres, I found a motorsport I could connect with, Formula One. This is going to be brief, but I have to stress this. I played Video System's F1 World Grand Prix on N64 and it was nothing close to easy at that time. But instead of folding, I put in some good time and played some good laps. It was my reinduction to racing games.

From my beloved N64, I played Top Gear Rally, which was intriguing in terms of decal options, was not the kind of rally game I wanted. It felt like a standard racer and nothing more. I also played the atrocious V-Rally '99. And to think Eden Studios was supposed to be one of the best ones at it. The cars felt strange, and floaty. While this game was difficult, I was less interested to put in the time to it. In fact, I didn't want to.

Some time later, I found WRC on tv and managed to get more informed over what rallying was all about. It was a shame I missed the tighter years of WRC, but I could accept Loeb's battle against Petter and co. At this time, my brother played and eventually completed Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast. While I was opened to playing it and put in some laps, it just never really felt like rallying to me. It was understandably an arcade game, but it just never clicked, and playing a racing game on a split screen is never the way to go. I love to hear my engine. I love to see what my car did. And with Sega Rally being a game that seemed so much like other arcade racers, I just hung up my gloves on it.

Incidentally, it was at this time where I'd eventually find rally games that I loved. First up was V-Rally 3 on PC. It was unforgiving, but it felt 'right', at least at the time. The car choices were limited, and I was a little less interested in going the full mile, but I was content in running the stages and setting good times and doing it over and over again. That is more than I can say for any of the previous rally efforts.

When my new PC could no longer play V-Rally 3 due to potential issues with hyper-threading, my brother was indeed looking for another title. Colin McRae Rally 2005 or Richard Burns Rally. Unfortunately, he picked Colin's.

This isn't to say Colin's game is terrible, because it's far from it. I put in good stage times. I used the class B cars, class A cars and drove at my favourite stages. But the game just never gave me the satisfaction V-Rally did. It felt OK, but not mind-blowing. It was at that point that I needed to know what Richard Burns had to offer.

Unlike Colin's title, where most reviewers praised to high heavens, Richard's title had more mixed ones. Preposterous physics and a constant comparison drawn over Colin's effort were what I felt was the overall tone. But I played Colin's title, and I wasn't interested in what some bloke said made Colin's title better than Richard's. I had to find out for myself.

My first run at Rally School in Richard Burns Rally lasted approximately less than ten seconds. I didn't know, I wasn't looking at the clock. The first ford section threw my Impreza to the trees and the car never recovered. But somehow, for a title that seemed inhumanly difficult, it put a smile from ear to ear. It felt like gold. It felt really good. It felt like rallying. Those ten seconds I had with it was worth more than the days I put on Colin McRae Rally 2005.

I loved it. And I put a video to show my sample run, albeit not too good, was good enough for me.

Strangely though, it wasn't the last rally game I have fond memories of. I put in some time on portable space in the form of Colin McRae Rally 2 on GBA. It's an old title, needless to say, but it felt remarkably similar to its brethren, albeit in a smaller screen and on the go. It's good and it ultimately defined what my choices were on the portable space and the PC platforms.

As I think about all this, and wonder what Petter Solberg Rally will be, I tend to hope it would be as good or even better than Richard Burn's effort. And I also hope it runs on my computer. Here's to hoping for a great simulation and a very satisfying game. After all, it's all in the feeling.

Opinion on Adventure Games

Adventure games have been with us from decades ago. It is hard to believe how far the genre has survived since the old Sierra days. Adventure games had primarily been a story-focused affair with players being inundated with more developed graphics, videos, puzzles and a complex story. At first, I was at ease with this kind of trend. How much more game play can you really add to games of this ilk? Most of these games were laid-back gaming affairs, choosing to let the player play at his own pace and at the same time throwing strange and often frustrating puzzles as an indication of levels of difficulties. While at the time, I thought it was fine, my interest in them started to diminish.

My problem was primarily in that there's no real form of immersion. The pretty screens can only go so far, and the kind of game play involved harkened back to the early 90s. My thoughts about these games started to shift in that this can no longer be the same kleptomaniac style play of picking up all you can pick up and sticking the square plug on a circular hole till it fits. It's a shame that the gameplay has gone stale since then, opting to give you video cutscenes which in my opinion, isn't really a bad idea. But it cannot be the be-all-end-all of the game contents. Videos are good ways of pushing the story forward, but it surely does not make the game any more interactive.

I think adventure games need to have a higher level of interactivity, and a lesser level on throwing puzzles for the sake of it, and hinging your game success on videos. Games are interactive form of entertainment, and adventure games tend to have the least amount of them.

In recent memory, I remember two adventure games that have given me that kind of satisfaction and reinforces the thoughts for me. The first is Indigo Prophecy.

Atari and Quantic Dreams created a stellar of a game that dwelled on a great plot, as well as keeping a good flavour of adventure in it. It had a more engaging element to the way you played it and it certainly was all I had hoped for. It certainly was not a laid-back type of adventure game, which I believe lead to it being a hit or miss title for adventure gamers, but it gave a new level of interactivity to it, even though the ideas used aren't very original. Though the PC port had a bit more questionable controls layout, over all, it did not become a detriment in my enjoyment. That Quantic Dreams had focused on creating a game that gave players more to do than just picking up items and solving puzzles had earned them some respect in my books.

The second is Hotel Dusk: Room 215 on the DS. From the first screenshot and the catchy title, I had already marked the title as a must buy. Hotel Dusk though dwells a little bit more in the traditional adventure sense, but creates a satisfying dialog system that you don't mind talking to these well-written characters. It had created a good sense of immersion in the game. Unlike other adventure games were the dialogs only drop clues on what to do next, Hotel Dusk makes the dialog system part of its focal point in the game. The dialog choices have consequences, and it gives the player that bit more thought and interaction with the game. Even though Hotel Dusk follows adventure games a bit more in the traditional sense, it knows its strengths and focuses on that to give players a more engaging experience.

After playing these two titles, I am convinced that the genre can thrive, but developers have to try and put more thought and effort to the products they do. In my opinion, the traditional sense of adventure games is purely pre-historic. The genre has to evolve into something much more than the conventional sense. And I think it mainly involves a clever way of interactivity.

Gamecube - GBA Wasted Potential

In the era where Microsoft and Sony were the only focus of the console war, Nintendo was the odd man out. Trying desperately to squeeze itself into the picture, however, in spite of some very good first party titles, it lacked support. Support that even its predecessor enjoyed more. Their console was nothing short of a colossal failure while the others thrived. Companies put titles on the two elites, the Gamecube was left picking the bread crumbs from the dinner table. How was Nintendo going to etch itself back into play in the Gamecube years when the online support was nothing short pathetic? Nintendo would need somethings unique to the system that would make it a must-buy. One of such things they unveiled was the GC-GBA connection.

This connection allowed the Gamecube and the GBA to communicate with each other that could result in some more interesting gameplay opportunities. This concept isn't totally new though, as the N64 had the GB pak before though that wholely delved only in mere data transfers. Being able to directly link the two systems had tremendous potential and Nintendo was in a unique position in the industry to make it happen.

To utilize this feature, you obviously needed the Gamecube, at least a GBA unit, the cable that would hook the GBA into the controller port of the GC, and frequently, both GC and GBA titles. Adding all up, you had a ridiculous number of requirements to take advantage of this system. That said, such setup could result in some good potential, that may produce a fresh kind of play.

When the titles unfolded with this feature, a lot of application was downright rubbish. Football games that display score stats totally underused the potential. Hooking both products to unlock levels is another form of underuse. Primarily in both cases, the only form of use that happens is data transferring. There is no actual interaction that is now capable by connecting the GBA. Mini-games is a form of interaction, but totally from a GBA perspective. What is missed in this is the GC spectrum. All of them are totally useless ideas. The true intriguing point of the feature was new gameplay, not shoe-horn usage. The people who implemented these features had been nothing short of lazy.

In my opinion, the GC-GBA connection play is always supplemental to the GC game. It's not required to own this, but with such a feature, it creates a new dynamism to the GC game. Only two games I've played have ever done this effectively. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Legend of Zelda Windwaker, with Splinter Cell coming out on top.

A lot of people scorn and ridicule the "exclusive" feature of the Cube version, but what I feel isn't recognized with Redstorm's effort is that this was the first Splinter Cell that allowed two people to play the game cooperatively. The GBA connection allowed for disarming mines, taking control of guns, checking out enemies in the map and others. It was an invaluable tool, and under the hands of another player, it resulted in a kind of communication that was not in any of the other versions. It made the game experience different from the lone single-player affair of other releases of Splinter Cell. Granted it was not perfect, but the first effort was truly a good addition to an already well-executed product.

Windwaker employed a similar take with Tingle, the Rupee hungry gremlin that assisted Link through the use of different spells and abilities. Tingle may not be the most charismatic of characters, but the gameplay addition was welcome and was not overpowering. And the use of Tingle did not necessarily make the game ridiculously easy, though he does help at the hands of someone who knows how to make it work.

These are intriguing new gameplay additions resulted by it. But at times, this kind of focus goes overboard with the likes of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Not only was the single player totally a lonesome and ultimately boring affair, the multiplayer needed at least two GBAs and two connections to make it accessible. The kind of communication in multiplayer indeed makes for quite a different form of cooperation, but this kind of hardware requirement makes the product extremely inaccessible. To make matters worse, the GBA connection use on the single player mode is totally devoid of any sort of cooperative gameplay at all. FFCC had turned this feature from a supplement to a requirement, and that ultimately is a design mistake.

Looking forward to the Wii and DS, I am yet again dismayed by the lack of use of such potential. Using the DS as a controller and replacing the Wii controls is utterly not a good idea. The DS is capable of some very interesting potentials given the hardware capabilities. Would it be possible to have a rally game where the Wii player drives the car and the DS acts as a co-driver calling out the pace notes and perhaps even writing its own notes? Or how about a Formula One title where the DS formulates the team strategy while the Wii player focuses on the wheel? There could be special implementations such as when you have a Wii strategy game and the DS performs some interesting part of the game, perhaps acting as an adviser.

Hardware requirements are reduced but not totally lost. The requirement of the Wii and DS units still makes it somewhat a difficult requirement, but without the cable requirements obviously makes it more accessible. Please, give the time to think about this feature. Let's not waste a good opportunity for interesting gameplay, unlike the failure the GC-GBA connection was.

Wii, Hardcore gaming system?

This idea just makes my head swirl in pain. How many people have criticized or insert praises on the Wii because of the way it's churning out weird, quirky titles. It's been a year and true that we've seen some weird titles come out. Japan entrant Wii Fit surely signals the strange nature of gaming that we are in today. I've also come across several friends who tell me they don't want the Wii because it's a casual gamer's system. Well, I've got a question along that line.

What is casual? What is hardcore? Where do you draw the line between the two? I certainly don't know any definition that makes a clear division between the two. Let's see, hardcore games must have scantily clad women characters? More focus on story? I certainly cannot see how a casual game cannot benefit from one. What about casual games? What do you say to describe such titles? Are casual games those that are too shallow? I've certainly seen shallow games way before these terms have surfaced.

In my opinion, all these terms are just bollocks. I also blame Nintendo for it. Their marketing has given a focus on games that "broaden the market" and other games from other platform that are only for the "hardcore". In the end,I think this discussion on hardcore vs casual is a pointless one. I certainly cannot segregate each and every title in the universe and say this is casual, this is hardcore and that the Wii has very few titles that cater to the hardcore gamer. All I know is, if you buy a system and you have fun, isn't that all that matters? Enough of the chit-chatter on the casual vs hardcore. We should instead spend time on the games we like and have fun, because all that crap about hardcore and casual just snoozes me.

Another round of that? I'm out!

A tiny Wii bit of advise

The entire concept of the Wii has certainly created a stir in the industry. It's certainly selling a whole truck load of systems and that makes for a fairly interesting platform to throw an opinion on. The mere nature of the platform itself certainly has gotten a lot of criticisms and praise. Now that we are just over a year of Wii gaming, there's a few things I need to get off my chest about it.

It's fairly amusing how the media reactions have been with the Wii. All the 'Wii will fail', 'PS3 will overtake it', 'Xbox 360 will win' or those that say the Wii has beaten the competition are all loads of crap. First thing is that nobody has info from the future. Secondly, all the so-called analysts make a living making guesses. Thirdly, all of those statements are there to create a buzz around them. I certainly don't buy them and neither should you.

Analysts come, create a stir, then disappear after awhile, but the game reviewers surely don't. They've been the staple in the video game industry as those that report on how well the game did and whether people should buy them. If you trek through the Wii reviews, you'll likely see very polarizing or sometimes very grim scores for Wii games. There's a whole lot of crap being thrown at titles, especially third party ones and there's also some that tend to be more lax with them, and this is one thing that I really noticed throughout the year.

Reviews are especially an important benchmark for gamers read them to get a good idea whether or not a product is worth buying or renting at all. And it's with this that we need to bear in mind that no matter how objective the reviewer is, reviews tend to be subjective. After all, the only real report being done is within the eyes of the reviewer and how he interprets the game. And I believe this has never had a bigger impact than on Wii games.

More than any other platform, the mere design of Wii controls lend to even more subjective factors involved. If you are panting after a round of boxing, is it your fault or the Wii's? If you feel tired while swinging the sword, is that a point deducted on the Wii or is it because you've spent your life living on the couch? The motion detection is often reported as being wonky. Is it your fault or the Wii's? These things beg to question how Wii reviews are being evaluated at all.

The fact of the matter is, the reviews written are always the opinion of the players/journalists who played the game. It always was and it always will be. It also only represents a mouthpiece, which happens to be one people hear from afar.

My experience with Wii gaming is one that is interesting for me, since I have come across titles where agree with them and titles that I don't agree and at times, you tend to wonder what game they were actually playing. This is something that has existed in older platforms but I feel has been more emphasized on the Wii because of the very nature of play. This is also something I find disconcerting because there is quite a number of games that I like that just got slashed up to bits.

Thinking about it all though, if there's one thing I have learned from a year of Wii gaming, it is this:

Don't trust reviews.

Just don't. Nintendo was definitely right with one thing about the Wii, you have to feel it to know if it's for you. It's hard to put on paper the experience you get and often times what you feel, the person next to you has the exact opposite experience.

This isn't an article about not reading reviews. On the contrary, Wii game reviews are good articles to read for some information on the game. What it is not, is a credible measurement of the game being described. Do you enjoy a game because someone else said it's great? I don't think so. Do you think the title sucks because someone else said so? I hope not.

If there's a game you are interested, do yourself a favour and spend a few moments with it. I feel it's especially more important with the Wii because you never know what you may have missed by reading someone just dish out expletives at a title.

When all is said and done, you are the one who will play and you are the only one who can decide if it's playable or not for you. It's in the eyes of the beholder.

... Or maybe, I'm just an example of my own article. Ha!