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Making the Wii Look Stupid
We did catch someone saying "this makes the Wii look stupid." And, actually, it kind of does. The 3DV Z Cam is a minuscule video camera equipped with an infrared beam, roughly the size of a web-cam, that sits on the bottom of your TV. That's where the fun starts. Flash gang signs to change channels or flick various components on or off; have a virtual dance-off outside of a specific square; KO a cartoon boxer with real jabs. But don't just take our word for it, check out the video above.
Guitar Hero's a terrific game, but doesn't do much in the way of teaching. (Unless you want to learn how embarrassingly uncoordinated you can be; in which case, kudos.) Enter a real maestro. Guitar Wizard and the forthcoming Piano Wizard go where few games dare to tread—they claim to make you more knowledgeable. Though initially skeptical, we have to admit, it seems to work. Their spokesperson promised to have web editor Megan Miller playing a song and reading music within 10 minutes. Lo and behold . . .
The Web-based science fiction game Eve Online is getting a major graphics overhaul next month. Eve, which is set in the far future, isn't the most popular massively multiplayer game, but it has set a few significant marks. Its subscriber base, currently over 200,000, is growing consistently, and this past weekend it set a record when more than 37,000 players were online, operating in the same futuristic cosmos at the same time. So, what's the attraction? It's kind of a science fiction geek's heaven. The Eve universe has massive starship fights, rebel factions, powerful industrialists, pirates and, sadly, even taxes. Check out the new trailer, which showcases the revised graphics, here. The fighters, spaceships and orbiting cities are unbelievably cool.—Gregory Mone
Though you'd think the latest gaming console would elicit little more than suspicious looks from grandma and grandpa, according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, it turns out that the Wii has spurred the elderly set to start asking for turns of their own.
Nearly a quarter of Americans over the half-century mark have played video games this year, up from less than ten percent in 1999. Part of this is marketing. Nintendo, for one, is targeting older groups with games like Brain Age. But the Wii's ease-of-use, along with the active but not too active style of play it offers, has proven especially attractive. The favorite? At one retirement community, bowling is the clear winner. And they don't even have to wear the funny shoes.—Gregory Mone
Nintendo this week released Super Mario Galaxy–the long-awaited debut of the world's cutest plumber on the Wii. The reviews, as expected, have been particularly stellar, and for good reason: the game combines a tried-and-true character, a wholly unique outer-space world (complete with gravity fluctuations) that feels more 3D than anything to come before it, a truly killer soundtrack and the unique control structure of the Wii, resulting in an overall gameplay experience that's among the most addictive Mario's had yet—and that's saying something.
The thing with Mario games, especially Galaxy, is this: sure, it's fairly easy for most gamers to tear through and complete the game—even finishing with all of the hidden bonus goals discovered is an attainable goal for even casual players. But what separates Mario from the rest is just how entertaining it is simply to exist in his world. Beating a level in a Mario game isn't just about getting to the end, it's about getting to the end with style—careening through tiny openings while flipping shells and deftly vaulting off stomped enemies, all at incredible speed and without leaving any coins behind. Or in Mario Galaxy's case, back flipping and long jumping through different gravitational fields, triple-axle-ing over frozen ponds on ice skates, surfing on the back of a manta ray...and so on. Galaxy takes the potential for players to gracefully freestyle through the game into the stratosphere.
Put simply, Mario Galaxy gives us couch dwellers a taste of what it must feel like to do parkour...in outer space. I would not be surprised if David Belle, parkour's grand-père, was a Mario player in his early days; the little acrobatic Italian was truly the first traceur (tracciante?), vaulting and plunging through the Mushroom Kingdom at top speed long before Belle began dancing his way around Paris in the late 1980s. But it's clear the two have a lot in common—both live for the freedom to innovatively propel themselves through interesting environments, and both do it to save the oft-imperiled woman they love from the clutches of a sinister dino/lizard/turtle. Right?
Take a look here at David in action:
Amazing. But can he do this:
For more videos of Mario's Parkour moves from Super Mario Galaxy, click the jump below. —John Mahoney
Finally, after months of anticipation, we can all go back to 1191 and jump into the thick of the Third Crusade as a ridiculously skilled assassin capable of swinging the massive war one way or another. Today—or tomorrow, maybe, since this release date has been elusive—marks the debut of Assassin's Creed, a highly anticipated new game from Ubisoft with some serious AI.
You assume the role of Altair, the aforementioned assassin, and—slight spoiler—you mix it up as a few other characters as well. The game, available on PS3 and XBox360, has created a huge buzz since its trailers first debuted, and according to some reviews, it does not disappoint. So pull up your hood, ready your blades, and get ready to run across some rooftops.—Gregory Mone
The controversial new game Manhunt 2, in which players take the role of a mental patient who has to hack, stab and maim his way out of a deserted insane asylum, will keep its Mature rating, and not be bumped up to Adults Only. The game has attracted attention from the ratings board, and numerous advocacy groups, for its uber-violent content. The game's publisher censored some of the content to keep its Mature rating, but hackers figured out a way to unlock some of that hidden code, and bring back a bit of the banished madness. All the details weren't released, but one of the reported hacks involves removing a blurring-type effect—added in to keep that Adults Only rating at bay—in a certain kill mode. Though this is good news for publisher Rockstar Games, the mediocre reviews probably aren't raising too many cheers at HQ.—Gregory Mone
One of the hottest exhibits on day one of the E for All Expo was for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Its sinister, military-bunker booth was full all day and into the evening, in part because this is the first time anyone's been able to play the game outside of Japan. Also, Kojima Productions tends to be secretive, which has apparently had the desired effect of driving its fans wild for the merest crumb. Today's demo was a lot more than a crumb, though.
The folks waiting in line were about to enter a tiny briefing room blanketed in camo netting to learn how to play before getting an all-too-brief, 20-minute test drive. (I was just starting to get the hang of the 8 different buttons and 360-degree visual scheme when I got the friendly tap on the shoulder).
As for the game itself, the thing that stands out is the meticulous attention to detail in rendering the environment. (The developers mention offhandedly in an earlier demo that the hero's mustache has the same number of polygons as does an enemy soldier from MGS3). Kojima has a staff of 200+ working on the game; even a background team that travels to undisclosed locations in Africa, the Middle East, and South America to take pictures of tiles, surfaces, and buildings that can then be rendered by the art department. In all, the game covers five different geographical regions—although the company won't say which, to avoid angering the various governments that (quite reasonably) think an association with covert war might not be the best thing for their public image.
The goal is make the video game as much like a movie as possible, even if doing so has sent production costs into the realm of what Kojima assistant producer Ryan Payton coyly describes as "tens of millions of dollars." Head designer Hideo Kojima and his team employ color filters to set mood, use discreet blurring behind foreground objects to create depth of field, and build off of the shadow rendering engine native to the PS3 to make the play of light more convincing.
Still, juggling all of the graphical information has required Kojima's programmers to develop their own shadowing techniques in addition. "With the PS3, we have the luxury of more polygons," says Payton. "But it's not much easier to manage the polygons."
A programmer's task is never done, I suppose, but consider my disbelief suspended. The realism of this simulated guerrilla combat comes through spectacularly, to an extent that can even be a bit chilling.—Andrew Rosenblum
PopSci reporter Andrew Rosenblum is currently blogging from the the Entertainment for All Expo, a four day gaming bonanza aimed at industry insiders and gamers alike and currently taking place in Los Angeles.
The Entertainment for All Expo touts itself as a video game show for the ordinary consumer, and that's both a weakness and a strength. The Expo turns out to be more of a marketing event that helps the general consumer get up to speed with what's out there, and initially I was feeling a little let-down about the shortage of genuinely new tech on display. Sure, there was some relatively new stuff like the HP
Blackbird 002 PC, a slightly more-reasonably priced entrant into the custom gamer market with a clever thermal management design and "screwless" insides that allow you to swap in a new drive in less than minute. Also, D-Box, the sit-down car simulator that vibrates when you crash or go off-road, had burly, middle-aged dudes as happy as a 10-year-old would be with the same material. But even these two cool items had already debuted prior to the show.
What is distinctive about E for All is the genuine excitement that a lot of the attendees bring. For the most part, the crowd doesn't consist of cynical journalists, overworked developers, or nervous investors. Instead, these are people who love video games enough that they're willing to plunk down between $50 and $200 just for the chance to learn more about the industry and play some of the upcoming titles.
Speaking of which, one of the biggest coming down the pike is Rock Band, the follow-up to Guitar Hero that incorporates drums and vocals in addition to guitars (release is scheduled for next month). The group captured below isn't going to make anyone forget about Anthony Kiedis, but they do seem to be having fun—just maybe next time the frontman shouldn't try to sing and play guitar at the same time.—Andrew Rosenblum
This is SportsCenter...for gaming geeks. Fans have been posting videos of some of their best kills in the new game Halo 3. One of the favorite genres is the "plasma grenade stick" kill.
There's an art to wielding these fiery-blue weapons, but players can get lucky, too. And just like on sports shows, the improbable scores always get the best response. In one popular clip, a player called BlackShadowMist throws one of the plasma grenades at an enemy and misses, but the explosive lands on a "gravity lift" and gets tossed back up towards the bad guy. Honestly, it's really cool.
If you've never played Halo 3 and wonder what the hoopla's all about, check out the highlight above.—Gregory Mone
After Halo 3 reportedly tallied $300 million in worldwide sales through its first week, the game's developer, Bungie Studios, announced plans to split from its corporate parent, Microsoft.
The two companies do plan to remain friends. Bungie says it's going to continue to develop games with a focus on Microsoft platforms, but it might start dabbling with other consoles, too.
Bungie started as an independent company in 1991 before Microsoft snapped it up in 2000. Now it looks like the studio managed to retain its independent streak. Let's hope that translates into even better games. You can find more details here and here.—Gregory Mone
Yes, yes, and yes. Owners of Nintendo's revolutionary new Wii system will soon be welcoming a new game to the stable, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Sure, you'll be able to play it on the PS3 and the Xbox 360, too, but why would anyone bother? This is what the Wii is made for.
Next year, players will be able to wield their controllers like a Skywalker. And you'll do so as a bad guy. Apparently, you'll serve as Darth Vader's apprentice, charged with ridding the universe of Jedi. That might not sound too appealing for those of you who don't like the idea of working for a murderous villain, but watch the trailer here, then try to tell me you're not ready to work for the Empire.—Gregory Mone
Two weeks before Halo 3, arguably the most anticipated game of the year, is due to go on sale, a pair of apparently legitimate copies were posted for auction on eBay. The seller, an Australian, opened the case and snapped a few shots of the cover (seen at left) and the disc itself to prove the items were for real, but the asking price makes you wonder.
Gamers have routinely been commenting not so much on whether this was right or wrong, but why in the world this person would only try to sell it for $125. People are seriously itching to push Master Chief, the hero of the series, through the next phase of the epic game, and would probably pay hundreds of bucks to get an early chance.
According to gaming site IGN.com, Microsoft had no comment on the early release, but you can imagine they're not exactly clapping gleefully.—Gregory Mone
I've heard of guys who will drive their families hours out of the way to catch a glimpse of a certain train in motion, who gather with others of their kind for a night of beers and train sounds on the stereo, who talk about superconducting tracks the way I talk about a great steak. But I never knew they were an actual market. For the Bobby Bacala in your life, here's Railfan: Taiwan Takatetsu, a PS3 train sim title (and a sequel, by God) which overlays animated cockpit graphics and readouts atop HD video shot from the nose of real trains. Sounds boring to me, but evidently some dudes will shell out fifty bucks for the experience of piloting a Taiwanese bullet from Taipei to Zuoyong Station. —Jacob Ward
A revised version of a brutal video game called Manhunt 2 will go on sale around Halloween. Originally, the U.S. Entertainment Software Ratings Board slapped the title with an "Adults Only" label. This was essentially a death warrant, since none of the big console manufacturers allow games with that rating to run on their machines. Take-Two Interactive Software, the publisher of Manhunt 2, modifed the game, which reviewers at IGN called the "goriest game we've ever seen."
Take-Two is the same company that created the similarly frightening BioShock, and also publishes the Grand Theft Auto series. So, you know, they're kind of accustomed to this controversy thing.
The preview for Manhunt 2 is straight out of a horror movie. I'm frightened just writing about it. In the game, you're the unlucky outcome of a government-funded project gone wrong. You have little or no memory, and essentially have to kill your way out of insane asylum. It's kind of like tossing Jason Bourne into one of the Hostel flicks. Personally, I prefer the little pizza-tossing brothers hopping around giant mushroom land, but if you're into the whole virtual maiming thing, I'd definitely give this a try.—Gregory Mone
Build Your Own Virtual Rube Goldberg Whizbang Doohickey
Whatever. With all the brain-splattering and thuggery of my gaming life, I think my wife would approve of my ignoring her in the name of getting a sprinkler to tip a bowling ball into a slingshot instead. Besides, it's good training for any entries I might want to submit to Purdue's Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. —Jacob Ward
Bioshock First Impressions: So Scary You Won't Notice the Art Deco Architecture
I managed to sit down for half an hour with my new copy of 2K Games' Bioshocklast night, and as a thirtysomething gamer, and something of a weak-kneed clerk when it comes to scary entertainment, I was overwhelmed. Appealing to my mania for art deco design while exploiting my total inability to think straight in a dimly lit, highly threatening environment, Bioshock is a nearly traumatizing experience. That's not to say it's no good. In fact, it's very good.
The backstory alone is worth the price of admission. As anyone who's been following the gaming press knows, in the game you're the lone survivor of a plane crash, circa 1960, plunged into icy waters in the middle of the Atlantic. You're so lucky as to have crashed near an elegant lighthouse, where a submersible carries you into the depths of an undersea utopia gone wrong — Rapture. You spend the rest of the game trying to stay alive amidst the corrupting genetic technology invented by the city's founder, injecting yourself with ability-granting plasmids, rationing ammunition for the few weapons you can scrounge up, and, in my case, trying not to freak out.
The place is also an homage to the romantic art and architecture of the art nouveau and art deco periods, which gives the whole place the feel of having fallen exceptionally far from its idealistic beginnings. If you were at all taken in by Myst, the 1993 game in which you explore mysterious, sumptuous worlds slowly and luxuriously (owing, in large part, to the slow processor speeds of the era's computers), you'll experience, as I did, the joy of realizing that this is just as mysterious, just as sumptuous, and yet it's all live and dynamic. It's a great feeling — You mean I can just wander up and inspect these marble staircases? — but it's immediately followed by the horrible realization that there's no time to enjoy the setting, because everyone's trying to kill you.
After spending a few precious minutes reading the plaques on the wall, languidly inspecting the glasswork and savoring the undersea view, unhinged people in masks started coming out of the woodwork, and the art historian in me had to go back inside so the survivalist could take over and keep us from getting killed.
All of which is to say: the game does what it set out to do, and if I can summon enough courage to actually make my way through it without doing psychological damage to myself, I'll probably go with all the major gaming sites and bestow a perfect score on the thing. —Jacob Ward
They're already starting to turn to simulated universes to study economics and human behavior, and now scientists hope to use online worlds to predict the impact of plagues, too. Epidemiologists first identified the scientific value of these virtual worlds after an imaginary virus began to spread unchecked in the popular online game World of Warcraft.
In 2005, programmers released a contagious disease called "Corrupted Blood" into a new zone in the game. At first, the disease effected some players, while others shrugged it off. But then it began to spread, both through avatars - virtual versions of real world people - and their pets. The game's overlords, Blizzard Entertainment, actually had to shut down World of Warcraft and re-boot the system to get things running normally again.
Scientists who study these problems in the real world typically deal in mathematical simulations, but the World of Warcraft case presented an opportunity to study the behavioral side of plagues, too. If epidemiologists can get a better idea of how people might react in such situations, they may be able to build stronger models, which will in turn help them predict what would happen in the real world. A group of scientists is in talks with Blizzard to see how they can work together in the future.—Gregory Mone
James Cameron Picks Game Publisher for Upcoming Film
Director James Cameron, the man behind Titanic and the Terminator films, has selected a publisher to develop the game for his upcoming movie, Avatar. The $190 million, roughly half-CGI, half-live-action movie, which is about an ex-Marine who exists as a human mind in an alien body, has generated tremendous buzz over the last year—science fiction fans are excited to see Cameron step away from doomed romances and back to futuristic battles. The director is also going to shoot it in 3D, using advanced new technology that he has claimed is the future of the movies.
For the game, he took a year to choose from among four major publishers. The winner, Ubisoft, is also developing the game portion of the upcoming movie Beowulf. (Though one could argue that all hero-battles-the-monster games are based on Beowulf.) The only downer is that none of the Avatar-related material is going to be available for a while. The movie isn’t scheduled for release until the summer of 2009.—Gregory Mone
Why they waited until after the big E3 gaming conference this weekend is a mystery to us, but a group of hard-line Iranian students unveiled a new game on Monday called Rescue the Nuke Scientist. Designed by the Union of Students Islamic Association, the same folks that hosted a Holocaust denial conference, the game is apparently a response to Assault on Iran, which was created by a U.S. company, Kuma Reality, and centers around a mission involving an Iranian nuclear facility. In Assault, your goal, as the central player, is to “infiltrate the base, secure evidence of illegal uranium enrichment, rescue your man on the inside, and destroy the centrifuges that promise to take Iran into the nuclear age.” Assault has drawn criticism in the past, and now this student group has issued its own response, creating a virtual scenario in which players rescue two scientists from facilities in Iran and Israel. Its designers say it is meant to promote defense, sacrifice and martyrdom.
Oddly enough, Reuters is also reporting the debut of another new Iranian video game, a first-person shooter called The Special Operation based on the story of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in 1982. No word yet on whether either game will be available on Nintendo’s Wii.—Gregory Mone
Early this year, Hu Jintao, China’s president, ordered his government to start promoting a healthier online culture – a move that applies to games, too. The official press agency, Xinhua News, reported that 500 players signed a petition saying they would no longer participate in the popular online game World of Warcraft because the company that distributes it in China has changed skeletons in the game into normal human bodies. A spokesman for the company, The9 Ltd., called the changes minor, and wouldn’t respond to a reporter’s question regarding whether they were driven by the president’s official decree. But one newspaper quoted an anonymous source within the company as saying, “It’s to promote a healthy and harmonious on-line environment.” That brave group of 500 probably won’t carry much pull, either. The game has over 3.5 million players in China alone.—Gregory Mone
We love the Wii, and we understand that there’s a growing obesity problem in the world, but real exercise? Nintendo now wants us to use its brilliant controller to break an actual sweat? OK, fine, it’s a good idea. Maybe a great one. At a media briefing on Tuesday, the company trotted out Wii Fit, a new program designed to help you run through a range of daily exercises, including push-ups and yoga. The new technology is the Wii Balance Board, a thin, white device that looks like a bathroom scale, but uses sensitive gyroscopes to record shifts in your weight and changes in posture. The product won’t debut here until next year, but the gaming pros at IGN, who very begrudgingly tested this latest effort to expand the reach of games, give it a fairly glowing review. Check out the trailer above for a preview.—Gregory Mone
After announcing that it will take a $1 billion hit due to Xbox 360 repairs, Microsoft spun some good news at this week's E3 Media and Business Summit. The company broke news of a new slate of games, including the much anticipated Halo 3, due out September 25th. But another interesting newcomer, the original – yes, that means it’s not a sequel, and not based on a movie – game Lost Odyssey has also been grabbing attention. There's a great summary of the story at gamespot.com, and it definitely seems appealing based on the trailer. The game revolves around a librarian – no, just kidding, he’s a warrior – who has a massive case of amnesia. He has lived for over a thousand years, and even survived a meteor strike, but he has little idea about his past.
To save his world, he has to fight some nasty foes, including what appear to be dinosaurs, dragons, giant robots, and possibly a few of the aforementioned strange creatures outfitted with exoskeletons. And, you know, you’ll probably try to help him figure out who he really is along the way, but really it’s the fighting that looks fun. One question, though: If this guy can survive a meteor strike, how does he ever die? Do you play forever? And how are they ever going to make a sequel to an infinite game?—Gregory Mone
Sweet Halo 3 Ad Is the Future of Game/Movie Symbiosis
As long as the people who make games continue to be limited to the type of people who play games, they'll never succeed in making the games look cool to the rest of us. But this Halo 3 ad, which debuted during E3 this week, would turn even my grandparents on.
A massive ship blots out the sun in the distance—there's a bit of To Live and Die in L.A. in the cinematography—and earth begins arming itself for war. We're whisked inside the military-industrial complex of tomorrow, where robots forge steel into 22nd-century rifles and floating warships. Then, of course, they have to go and muck it up by throwing in real live human actors dressed for futuristic battle (they instead look like they're in line for a comic-book convention), but hey. It's a step toward Hollywood's movie/videogame/cartoon future. —Jacob Ward
Last week Microsoft announced that it may spend up to $1 billion repairing busted Xbox 360 consoles—and that it's going to extend the machine's warranty from one to three years. The breakdowns are often signaled by three flashing red lights on the the front of the box, a sign known as the "red ring of death." One gamer, Justin Long, has actually gone through 11 consoles, and chronicled his repair efforts with each one. Still, the protests in the gaming community added up, and Microsoft was forced to respond. As Microsoft's Peter Moore, who runs the Xbox program, put it in a letter to gamers: "You've spoken, and we’ve heard you."
Microsoft hasn't come out and explained any particular hardware fault, and the news caused barely a blip in the company's stock price. This might have something to do with the fact that Microsoft's wallet is brimming with excess cash. A billion dollars isn't that big of a hit. But one analyst also suggested that the repairs might even boost loyalty in the gaming community, leading to increased sales in the long run. Clearly the Xbox 360 has staying power: Even Long, the gamer who burned 11 boxes, says he's still a loyal fan.—Gregory Mone
Boys aren’t the only ones who get a thrill out of virtual car theft and violence. A psychology blog points to a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health that says one in five girls play a lot of Grand Theft Auto – and that it’s their second favorite game, right after The Sims. The study, which surveyed 1,254 American kids, also revealed a few other interesting details about youth gaming culture. Apparently quite a few friendships spring up amongst boys playing ultra-violent games, and children often use the games as a way of dealing with stress.—Gregory Mone
Sabiston is most famous for designing Rotoshop, the software used to digitally create the distinctive rotoscoping animation used most prominently in director Richard Linklater's Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. Also an accomplished illustrator, Sabiston saw unused potential in the Nintendo DS, with the device's dual screens and touch-sensitive, stylus-based interface naturally positioning it as a great platform for drawing.
If you remember Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo, Sabiston's project will be right up your alley. Not only can you use it to create pixel- and vector-based illustrations; it also supports flip-book style animations and a sort of vector-graphics sequencer used to make more fluid animated works. No part of the DS's unique hardware is overlooked, as users will also be able to add recorded sound effects via the built-in microphone and upload their creations to the Web via Wi-Fi, providing near-infinite storage. Sabiston used the software to create the pixel illustration seen above (printed on a large canvas after additional image processing), with the DS's top screen showing the overall workspace and the bottom providing a zoomed workspace (more images are available on his Web site).
As of now, there are no finite plans for release. The project is on Nintendo's radar, but failing a commercial release,
Sabiston mentioned the possibility of making it available to homebrew
hackers on the Web. Here's hoping this powerful DS app makes it to the stores, though; after today's demo, I can't wait to get my hands on it. See below for a video of the app in action. —John Mahoney
Chainsaw wielder in-training Nicole heads out to battle, under the watchful eye of her Gearhed drill sergeant
One of the last videogames I played was Pitfall, back in the ’80s. I was 11, or maybe 10, I don’t remember. What I do recall with perfect clarity is my obsession for the game. I could play it for hours on end, prodding Harry to swing along those heavily pixilated vines and hop over inky blobs that were either tar pits or alligators, depending on their color.
Fast-forward 24 years, and I’m sitting on my friend Chris’s couch, holding a controller that looks like it could fly the space shuttle, trying to guide a chainsaw-wielding psychopath through a high-def war zone. Chris has agreed to give me a tutorial on the massively popular Xbox 360 game Gears of War (don’t ask why), and so far I’ve had my brains splattered and my guts eviscerated and, worse still, other players online are mocking me while it happens. Question: WTF? What the hell happened to videogames? And when did Quentin Tarantino and Cormac McCarthy start designing them?
OK, so I admit that at age 34, I’m sort of old and sheltered. I read books, I rarely watch TV, and I worry about my carbon footprint. I also happen to like vegetables and practice yoga. You wouldn’t expect me to embrace the gory new world of gaming, let alone the unprecedented violence in Gears of War. So why do I find myself aglow every time I blast the nuts off an enemy with my machine gun? And why is it that no sooner do I put down the controller than I want to pick it back up? Of course, I don’t share these thoughts with Chris, who is busy barking weird commands—“Pan left! Pan right! Kill! Kill! Kill!” Somehow I feel that it’s the wrong time to share, that Chris doesn’t much want to discuss my emotional response to chain-sawing someone’s face off, nor do I think he’s interested in hearing my idea of upgrading the game to have little cafés where players could rest and get to know one another before heading back out for more carnage.
Have I simply tapped some long-dormant compulsion for strategic button-pushing, or is it something more sinister? And how I do reconcile my peace-loving self with this budding obsession for a game whose promotional material says “Gears of War crushes its enemies, hears the lamentation of its women”? All good questions, I think—questions I’m hoping to answer as I continue my Gearhead training, with Chris as my drill sergeant—but none quite as pressing as this one: When can I play again? —Nicole Dyer
[Watch this space for more updates from GoW Boot Camp.—Eds.]
Spore.Spore, I said! Ever since that video of Will Wright's demo of this game appeared on the internet, I've been camping on the sidewalk in front of my local Best Buy waiting for its release date. As I lie here at night shivering in my sleeping bag, I can almost taste that succulent, procedurally-generated content, which is good because I am all out of food.
As you must know by now, Will Wright is the super genius behind a whole bucketload of games like The Sims, Sim City, and of course Sim [Insert Any Word Here]. He's currently working on Spore, a game he describes as "Sim Everything," in which you control the destiny of a species as it evolves from a single-celled organism into a race of interstellar travelers. One of the game's most exciting design elements is the use of procedurally generated content - you use the in-game editors to modify your species, and the game determines how it behaves based on your design. I spoke to Chaim Gingold, the game designer who created these editors, about the challenge of creating tools that are flexible enough to be powerful and still somehow smart enough to be fun—Jonathan Coulton
From the beginning, Nintendo's mission with the Wii console was simple—to use an innovative motion-sensing controller to open up the world of console videogames to an audience not exclusively composed of teenage boys. As a direct result of this mission, one particular genre seems to be getting a lot of attention in the console's first few months, from game developers and players alike: the minigame. Usually found in collections of tens or even hundreds of quick, skit-like sub-games in which players complete simple tasks, minigames have proved to be the perfect match for the Wii's more physical control scheme. Of the 10 most popular Wii titles now on Gamefly.com, a Netflix-like service for gamers, four are either entirely or partially based on minigames.
Currently at the top of the list is WarioWare: Smooth Moves, the latest addition (released last week) to the popular WarioWare franchise, all of which are collections of minigames. For WarioWare, though, “micro” seems to be the more appropriate prefix, since most of the individual games last no longer than a few seconds. Presented with the sense of humor and graphic style that can only come from Japanese videogame designers, Smooth Moves requires players to hold the Wii remote in various “forms” (between your fingers like a pencil, touching your nose like an elephant's trunk, etc.) and use it to complete any number of random tasks, from slicing barrels with an imaginary samurai sword to inserting imaginary dentures into an elderly woman's toothless mouth. [See the videos after the jump].
It goes without saying that a room full of people shouting “Grate that cellphone!” or “Interview that polar bear!” while flailing limbs and occasionally leaping up to do squats or a hula dance is, well, a unique scene. After witnessing such a scene, it becomes clear why the most viral of the Wii-related videos to sweep the Net almost always have the lens trained on the players of the games rather than footage of the games themselves.
Only a few months into its life, the Wii has managed to transform the spectacle of playing videogames (more often than not of the mini variety) into a form of entertainment in itself. I think it's safe to say that Nintendo might be on to something big.
For a closer look at WarioWare and the people who play it, click on through... —John Mahoney
It is with a heavy heart that we bring you this special weekend report. When PopSci's Wii arrived last week, it didn't spend too much time in the box. Ripped open without any hesitation, our little Wii gave us a long Friday's worth of furious Wii Sports and Excite Truck action at PopSci HQ. But then, it was time for it to go off to a photo shoot, where its fate would be sealed.
The plan was simple: carefully disassemble the little white box and controllers for a detailed inside look, then re-assemble it with ease and get back to where we left off, working up a sweat bludgeoning our little cartoon selves in Wii Sports Boxing. But the Wii proved to be one tough nut to crack. Due to Nintendo's special proprietary screws, we had to resort to brute force. And in the process of doing so, our precious white beacon of joy was rendered unplayable, forever.
But in the interest of making the best of a decidedly horrific situation, we figured it best to finish the job with a full, heart-wrenching disassembly. Here we bring you a visual record of our Wii's autopsy— put on your recording of bagpipes playing "Taps," get out your hankies, and click here to launch the gallery. Sniff. —John Mahoney
The scene Thursday outside of an Americatown, USA Best Buy. Photo by Matt McGee
What a day it has been. November 17, 2006: the date that will go down in history as the moment the world lost its collective mind over a new video game console. I'm as excited as the next guy about the sweet new hardware coming out this weekend, but damn...
I pose a challenge: find me a major online media outlet—local, national or otherwise—that doesn't have at least one mention of the insanity surrounding the Playstation 3 launch. With so many angles to choose from, it's going to be tough: there's the obvious low-hanging fruit in the unwashed hordes who, in forming ad-hoc shanty towns in parking lots around the country, sacrificed not only the $600 for the console and how ever much more for games and accessories, but also their dignity. But wait a minute, there's also the heartwarming tale of said unwashed immediately regaining said dignity (and an obscene profit) after, upon returning home, foregoing the urge to shower just long enough flip their just-purchased console on eBay.
In the pantheon of ubiquitous games (checkers, tic-tac-toe, etc.), Tetris is one-of-a-kind. For starters, there aren't too many members of that pantheon that are videogames, considering they've only been around for a few decades, compared with a few millennia for board games. Even more interesting, though, is the story of Tetris's viral rise from a puzzle-loving Soviet hacker's pet project in the1980s to your Grandma's favorite videogame, all during some fairly heavy Cold War years.
If you're thinking that the intriguing backstory behind one of the Soviet Union's most unlikely cultural exports is right in a BBC documentary filmmaker's wheelhouse, then you would be correct [see it on Google Video here (also embedded below), with props to the fine Kottke.org for the find]. At the core of the game's complicated story is the still-hot issue of intellectual-property rights, in particular the policies of the Soviet era, in which private ownership of an intellectual commodity was a completely alien concept. Seeing Alexey Pajitnov, the game's original creator, recounting in the doc's opening scenes how baffled he was to even think about how a piece of computer software could be sold or protected with a copyright gives an indication of just how crazy the ensuing licensing battle would become, as several international parties rushed to be the first to sell the impossibly addictive puzzle game to the West.
The documentary’s excellent Philip Glass–esque soundtrack and dramatically-lit Russian-official-in-his-office-type scenes make it well worth the 60-minute investment. You could even export it for viewing on your video iPod—that is, if you can stop playing iPodLinux Tetris long enough to watch. —John Mahoney
You think you have it bad in this age of draconian airport security? Imagine being one of the unfortunate TSA officers who has to pat down your scruffy, overfed self, not to mention rifle through your shoes and dirty laundry in search of a prohibited paperclip. Well, now you can do more than just imagine, with a frickin' funny online videogame titled, yes, Airport Security. The game pits you against an ever-growing queue of Lego-looking travelers and a down-your-neck-breathing supervisor who curses at you if you fail to comply with the TSA's increasingly unreasonable restrictions. One minute, stuffed animals are prohibited, and 10 seconds later you face an angry mob if you confiscate one by accident. Working that metal detector is tougher than I thought—my top score is 160 (a lot better than my first attempt: 10). What's yours? —Joe Brown
I'm, Like, So Much Smarter Since I Started Playing Brain Age
Joe Brown making Dr. Kawashima proud
Generally, if a company claims that its product does something cool, I don't believe it. That's my job, see? But I gotta hand it to Nintendo. Its newish Nintendo DS title, Brain Age (PopSci loves Brain Age), has actually made me smarter. Today is my one-month anniversary of playing the game, which claims to stimulate your prefrontal cortex with fun little mini games involving math, memory and split-second decisions. How do I know I've gotten smarter? Here are some examples:
1. I paid my rent not on time, but early. I usually forget until I'm crouching under the kitchen table on the sixth of the month while my landlady (Hi, Marie) pounds on the door.
2. I have already started Christmas shopping—no joke.
3. I destroyed a bunch of Irish folks in Charades at 5 a.m. Saturday night, solving most of the pantomimes within 10 seconds. It got to the point where they asked me to retire from competition and just come up with subjects.
And here's a prediction: New York City will have a blackout today or tomorrow. Our power grid is already waaay overtasked, and, with the damaged power lines in Queens, we can't handle two 100-degree days in a row. If I'm right about this, I'm running for office. —Joe Brown
Nintendo announced last week that its new game console is going to be called Wii. Which is quite possibly the stupidest name I have ever heard, especially for a system that has proudly borne the kick-ass code name Revolution for the past year. Wii at PopSci don't understand what Nintendo was thinking but, stupid name notwithstanding, wii're totally excited to check out the console when it hits the market. —Joe Brown
The Nintendo DS handheld gaming system has sold fairly well here in the U.S., but it’s practically on fire in Japan, where its games regularly dominate the weekly top-5 sales charts. The console itself has sold almost two million units so far this year (its closest competitor, the PlayStation 2, has sold only 500,000). Its success is due in large part to its uniquely unconventional games, especially Brain Age, a quirky educational title designed with the help of a Japanese neuroscientist that has dominated the Japanese market. The U.S. version was released last week.
The game is fairly simple—you perform a variety of memory and
cognition-based mini games, such as counting the number of people in a
house as you watch them enter and exit, or identifying the number of
syllables in a spoken phrase, all of which are supposedly beneficial to
your brain’s overall health. The game then determines how “old” your
brain is according to your highest scores (the younger your brain, the
better).
Despite a study by a psychologist at the University of Virginia claiming that the actual mental benefits of Brain Ageare almost nil,
the game’s success (especially among adults and even seniors, a
valuable and untapped gaming market) is already spawning imitators.
Sega has a similar title for the PSP currently in the works, and the
Japan-only Brain Age sequel is selling just as well as the original.
What do you think? Can your mind really benefit from Brain Age, or
is this all just a clever way to sell more games? Sound off in the
“Comments” section below. —John Mahoney
In the pantheon of ubiquitous games (checkers, tic-tac-toe, etc.), Tetris is one-of-a-kind. For starters, there aren't too many members of that pantheon that are videogames, considering they've only been around for a few decades, compared with a few millennia for board games. Even more interesting, though, is the story of Tetris's viral rise from a puzzle-loving Soviet hacker's pet project in the1980s to your Grandma's favorite videogame, all during some fairly heavy Cold War years.
