The Gaming Experience: Part 1

What is it that keeps gamers gaming? Why do we spend so much time and money on games when there are cheaper and simpler forms of popular entertainment? A good game is like a good book, it has to have a good story and has to keep you interested somehow. The key with games is they create a two way experience, an input and an output. A good game meshes this idea of input and output seamlessly to create a genuine and unique experience that keeps people coming back for the new and the interesting. As an example of this I will use the game Earthbound(SNES), because I believe this game represents what’s good about all games.

First of all Earthbounds style is extremely unique and quirky as is its story, but in this way it's able to be extremely immerse and memorable. When it was first released it was not well received as other games of its genera at that time were really pushing forward graphically and gameplay wise while Earthbound was relatively simple in both respects. However today it has a cult following because years later we can look back and not be so hung up on how cutting edge it was and realize what a wonderful experience the game is. An example of something Earthbound does to achieve such memorability is the in game coffee talks it gives you. In the game at a select few points the player is presented with a table and a coffee cup on it. If the player interacts with it they are presented with a “coffee talk” which is basically a cut scene with a trippy back round, soothing music and scrolling text. The text is basically the game acknowledging you have been playing it, praising you for your accomplishments and treating you as if you are actually the character you have been controlling. It’s a very grounding experience for the player and immerses you emotionally unlike most games today are able to even with their hyper-realistic HD graphics.

I believe this type of gaming experience is what keeps us playing over the years even though a new generation of gamers are being introduced to games that operate more like classical conditioning experiments rather then experiences. Multi-player FPS games and cookie cutter MMOs work by giving rewards at certain intervals that keep the player engaged in repetitive tasks so they can get a small reinforcement. I know how it feels to sit in a halo server for hours running around the same map, getting a rush every time I kill someone. The end result of this experience usually ends up being frustration when the rewards stop coming at the same frequency i.e. you start losing. Also, you start become alienated from those experiential games that you love so much, because you are addicted to the impulse games. So remember kids; Hugs not Halo.

And I'm Off

No posts over the weekend, I'll be heading to Rhode Island for Digital Overload. It's Ctrl+Alt+Del's big LAN party, unique in the way that, somehow, they think having access to the internet is mandatory. Wouldn't that upset the whole concept of a LAN party, you ask? Wouldn't that mean the only way to play with people in the room would be to join their laggy internet games, you ask? Yes.

And lol, yes, people still ragequit at LAN parties. Our assistant editor can attest to witnessing that last year

Nevertheless, I had fun last year as I had never been a part of a gathering of so many PC gamers in one room. Alas, I won't be having my computer this year, due to Ctrl+Alt+Del's fail website design that leaves the registration button up far past its days of functionality. I'll be sticking to a little hub of a friend's Xbox, which should be aiight

I suppose there should be some point to this update......So here's Jerry Jackson!

The Best Games You've Never Played: I Swear It's Not Fetish Porn Edition

The 1993 point and click adventure game, Day of the Tentacle, is a shining example of doing it right. You may recognize titles such as Sam & Max or The Curse of Monkey Island which were similar, more popular Lucas Arts adventures. While these franchises are getting modern a re-envisioning, DoTT is left alone, fading slowly into obscurity. However, I believe it is by far the best adventure game of its time. The game is about a group of 3 misfits that appear to be out of an 80’s teen movie, who are transported through time by way of portable bathroom time machines. They become stuck in 3 separate times, the past, present and future. The two goals of the game are to repair the time machines and to stop a purple tentacle from reducing humanity to mere house pets. This game does a lot of things better than other point and click adventure I have played and on top of that it’s a lot of fun.

Why It’s Great:

-Does not frustrate the player with “pixel hunting” to find important items or paths, something that plagues the genera.

-The time travel aspect is interesting, many puzzles involve changing things in the past to affect to future and help you characters progress.

-Item usage is for the most part logical, albeit wacky at times; at least it makes sense in the context. This is another problem with the genera, “How was I supposed to know to nail the banana to the string and lure out the baby moose from the rat hole?”

-Game is full of humor and interesting characters; they have more personality then most modern games.

-Voice acting also much better than most modern games.

-Meet real historical figures in their natural habitat!

-It’s also totally bitchin’.

News and Booze

Bioshock 2 review that I've been working on the past couple days is live. Click on Mr. Bubbelz for the goods.

Summary in short: There was no change where change was needed

It's time for a little honesty: I suck quite awful at most RTS's. I've come across maybe one or two in that vein of style that have really engaged me. World in Conflict comes to mind, as does, uhhh Demigod? The Diablo style games as well if you count those. Already, I'm straining to bring to mind what titles really hooked me in the genre. Maybe two out of hundreds.

This makes the impending release of Starcraft 2 all the more painful, knowing the parthenon of battle.net 2.0 will collectively steamroll me. It was a great game when I played ages upon ages ago, but it's going to be interesting coming back. I'm on a strict regiment of some WC3 single player for training, but it's going to take alot. I refuse to take that baby online until I find the basic ingredient that's missing from my ability to just sensibly coordinate any kind of attack. Open to attack/defense strategies. And beta keys, if you would be so kind.

Perhaps an RTS online journal to catalog the progress that will never be made? Hmm?

An Indie Moment

Trying to make money as an indie game developer is something of a challenge. Gamers aren't willing to shell out between $10 and $20 for an indie game because they could get a "real" game for a bit more. Also, independent games are very platform limited, and by that I mean they barely reach the console market. It's gotten much better recently with some indie WiiWare and XBLM titles, but most indie devs aren't going to have to resources to get their games ported and accepted on these various platforms. Finally, piracy is a big issue with ALL software, but it hits indies games much harder for a few reasons. They already have a very small market of people to sell to coupled with the fact that their games get almost no promotion. Literally every sale counts toward, at the very minimum, recouping production costs. Secondly, they use almost no DRM of any sort and due to how most gamers view them, they just start distributing them like freeware. You might even pirate one by accident, who's going to question some 8-bit platformer they download, if it doesn't have 3D graphics at least one post-processing effect and some dude with a gun its probably freeware, right?

VVVVVV is a delightful 8-bit indie platformer with one simple mechanic, you can only reverse gravity up or down, no jumping. Its quite challenging and unlike other similar platformers you get a checkpoint after almost every obstacle rather then doing a whole set and dieing at one part then having to do the rest over and over and over again just to get one more crack at the difficult spot. The whole thing takes place in a trippy alternate dimension where you must find the crew of your spaceship. There are also challenging trinkets to collect that unlock bonus content. This game kept me glued to my screen for hours on end. Its fun, challenging and a nice throwback in terms of graphics and music. So, try it out here and if you like it consider buying it. If you don't this developer might have to end up taking your order at the local fast food establishment.

How I use computer?

Well that took far too long to find out how to make a new post.

Ubisoft's new DRM scheme for upcoming games is the topic for tonight. Really, utter hilarious. What it boils down to, and I saw this as being where this DRM mess was heading all along, is it's like having a Ubisoft representative with you in the house at every moment you are playing one of their games. An uninterrupted internet connection is required, and if something goes wrong with it or a serverside fiasco, the game will boot you out and all your progress since last saved will be lost.

And a $60 price tag on Assassins Creed II. Whatta joke.

We can look at the obvious reasons why this won't work. One, it will be cracked. There will always be cracks, and since it's confirmed there will be an inaccessible by nature save file created on your PC, that inevitably will expedite the process.

Two, I really don't know who they think they're fooling, but really who can see a large PC audience going for this? If anyone was prepared to buy Assassins Creed, they invested alot of time and money into building or buying rig powerful enough to run it. Researching things almost becomes second nature; I can't describe it, but anyone who is the least bit skeptical can see why something like this wouldn't work. Trying to undo years of building the PC as the ultimate open platform won't win them any fans.

Someone at these companies is getting to be quite the slacker. There are many ways to make a successful game on any platform, but when you start ignoring the strenghts of each one, it doesn't look very good. Call it console wars, but any reasonable gamer on a budget has a sense of pride of their platform of choice. Stripping features of a port because of how the original is handled won't look good to that audience.

And face it, through all the "PC is dying" insanity, there are THOUSANDS of excellent titles to be had. Noone is going to settle for a mediocre product , and for what? Assassins Creed was good, and I hear the second is better, but I don't think this was exactly the best vehicle for this feature.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 on the other hand.......could be a problem.

The Best Games You’ve Never Played: Animals That Are Named After Instruments and Drive Cars Edition

As an avid fan of the Banjo Kazooie series I was, along with many others, disappointed that after years of teasing the new game was not going to be the classic adventure platformer. Instead we were presented with horrific images of our beloved duo driving around in cars that looked as if they were made of Legos. However being the wise gamer I am I waited patiently in my mountaintop castle not passing judgment until I had further information. The game came out and received decent reviews, but fan reactions seemed very polarized. Many people hated it; however some were praising it as an amazing game. Eventually I willed a copy into existence with my divine powers and I didn’t regret it for one second.

Why It’s Great:

-The missions are varied, interesting and sometimes wacky which keeps the game fresh from start to finish.

-The vehicle editor is not only easy to use but it’s flexible enough to allow you to create almost anything you can think of.

-You can spend a ton of time making and tweaking a creation to use for a specific mission or just use one of the premades just to get by, it’s all up to your own creativity.

-Tons of BK fan service throughout the game and it keeps the humor and charm of previous games in the series.

-Very bright, fun and surprisingly good graphics.

-Hero Klungo Saves The World Minigame!

You're My Best Friend

Team Fortress 2 is the shit. More detailed breakdown to follow? That is all.

Bioshock 2 Impressions

I've been putting a good many hours into Bioshock 2 the past week, and I think I'm ready to at least lay down some form of mess of disjointed thoughts on the game.

-The Steam-o -meter is putting me at six and a half hours in, and I have yet to reach any location from the original Bioshock. Not even sure if there are any levels from the original, but it makes me feel like I'm exploring a completely different city, and I don't really like it.

-Big Sister encounters are pretty cool, and their impending arrival is introduced in a really menacing way. It's a reasonably tough opponent, and really feels like you need to put all skills to full use to take it down.

-I feel the same way about putting the Little Sisters to greater use. After a particularity tough first impression with this mechanic, I was about ready to give up on the game, and I'm not even kidding you. However, that stupid section aside, these parts really allow you to make use of your trap plasmids that were rather useless in the first game

-For all that BS2 does differently, it still feels very much like a carbon copy of the first. Playing as a Big Daddy doesn't feel too different from Bioshock's protaginist, and outside of the game forcing you to perform traits specific to a Big Daddy's routine, it'd be hard to tell the difference.

-Probably the most lasting impression I will take from this game is that it still sticks to the same corridor shooter design of the first. It's solid, but take away the (still awesome and eerie) audio diaries, and your left with some solid shooting mechanics and some fairly standard baddies on who you are to apply the aforementioned shooting mechanics.

I'm still a ways off from the finish of the game, so there may still be a few surprised I haven't unearthed. Full review to follow shortly.

L2P TV Episode 25: Underrated Cards

After a long hiatus caused by work, school, and a myriad of gaming, L2P TV is back. Today we’re going to talk about Underrated cards, both in Zendikar and the cards that don’t seem to be seeing much love in Worldwake. So let’s hop to it.

A Quick Note on Rite of Replication

Rite of Replication is a card that has received little or no love from the community since it’s release in October. People have been musing at the potential of this card, and I may have found a home for it. By no means is it a substitute for good cards, but it can sway the flow of battle greatly in your favor when faced with a problem creature. Take Baneslayer Angel for instance. It is a powerhouse on it’s own, but when Rite of Replication gives you 5 Baneslayers, your opponent often starts scrambling for answers.

More often then not, this spell has the potential to win the game on its own from out of nowhere. I have been using this card to great effect at my local FNM’s to do everything from turning your own Malakir Bloodwitch into 5 fliers for me that deal you 25 to giving me that extra point of damage I need to win the game. It’s incredibly versatile and I’m surprised no one is playing with it.

Worldwake Under The Radar

With the smattering of new cards in Worldwake, I’ve been noticing a few cards going unnoticed as of late. The first is Archon of Redemption. This flying creature enables you to gain life whenever you play another flier. Who couldn’t go for a few extra life? In decks designed to use cards like Sanguine Bond, this card could be a huge boon. In fact, between this card, Sanguine Bond, the new Lightkeeper of Emeria that gains life for each time it’s kicked, Malakir Bloodwitch, Vampire Nighthawk, and a few other cards to round out the base, this could make for a dangerous, evasive deck that goes a long way to keep your opponent out of reach to you and your life total. One final note on this guy. I’m sure there’s a lot of EDH fans that are looking at this creature and drooling to themselves. I can safely say that because I’m one of them.

The other card I wanted to discuss here is Jwari Shapeshifter. Now I was a big fan of Shapesharer from Lorwyn block and its ability to grant abilities to other shape shifters. Jwari Shapeshifter gives me that same tingle of excitement whenever I look at it. With the load of allies coming out, this card has the potential to make the cut in a White/Blue Ally deck. The greatest part is with the advent of a constructed viable Ally deck, this guy can be an absolute beating in the mirror. That’s right, he doesn’t have to copy your allies. Any ally on the battlefield is subject to his trickery, and that’s the way I like it.

L2P Episode 26: Magic: the Gathering Pricing

Allow me to preface this by stating for the record that I am not an economist and that my opinions are strictly for the sake of discussion. Being an avid fan of Magic: the Gathering as a gamer, I have always found some gripes with the cost of certain cards. With the introduction of the new Mythic Rarity, I was a little hesitant to trust this move as a way to lower the overall cost of play in formats like standard. Much to my chagrin, I patiently listened to the “experts” give their opinions on the subject and their claims that mythics would, in fact, lower the price of rares.

Divided Opinions

Now, over a year later, we have a nice even split in opinion. There are those who say that the system works, citing the lower prices of fetches, dual lands and staples like Archive Trap and Day of Judgment and we have the camp that says that the system doesn’t work, citing cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Baneslayer Angel. While both these camps do make valid points, I feel it is best to look at the picture as a whole rather than claiming one way or the other.

First of all, it is true that there are cards like Jace and Baneslayer that heavily skew the numbers as far as their pricing goes, but as noted by many, the overall price of normal rares has indeed dropped. We are seeing an unprecedented number of decks using complex mana bases featuring fetch lands, M10 duals and the Worldwake Manland duals, yet most of these cards are finding it difficult to breach the $15 mark, with most of them hovering at around $8-10 at local card shops. This is by far a departure from the $15-20 filter lands at their peak or the $30 Reflecting Pools we had to deal with a little over a year ago.

Land, Land, Land

My focus when it comes to money in Magic has always been the lands, because more often than not, good cards need good lands and all the best lands are usually rares. Most of the good cards, however, are the commons and uncommons that make your decks run. I’m talking about the little guys, like reactive spells to keep the board clear or efficient creatures that keep your opponent on their toes. As a matter of fact, most of my games lately were not decided by Baneslayers, but by cards like Bloodbraid Elf, Vampire Nighthawk or Lightning Bolt.

There’s one motto I’ve lived by when talking about competitive Magic: “If you want to be successful in a format over a long period of time, always get the lands first.” This statement still rings true today, as having all the good lands ensures that you will be able to play nearly any deck you want in the format without worrying too much about what you may or may not have. Sure, you won’t have that playset of Baneslayers initially, but rather than shafting yourself into any one deck you may get bored of, you open all the doors by acquiring all of the lands. And with respect to that motto, the introduction of mythics has indeed lowered the cost of entry for Standard.

For more information on this topic, see the Ben Bleiweiss article at Star City Games here.

Ho Ho Snow

So you might have heard about/experienced this today

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/weather/02/10/winter.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

It's probably going to be hitting two feet by tomorrow, so what better way to spend a snow day than digging out the handhelds!

Finally beat Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story today, and I was impressed almost every moment of the 23 hours it took to take that bad boy to completion. It's crazy how the experience and depth that a handheld title can give, and it actually outclocked my playthrough of Mass Effect (a mere 16 hours).

Most impressive, I'd have to say, are the Bros. Brothers and special attacks. Off the top of my head, I would have to say there are about 15, and each one is well thought out, powerful, and just alot of fun to use. I've been looking for RPG games to shift toward the kind of combat in Mario RPG games because, like it or not, that's where the meat of the gameplay lies. Looking back, you're gonna remember the stories, the set pieces, and the characters five years from now, but the enjoyment of now hinges on the combat. Done away with is the "trading blows" style of typical Japanese RPG's, and attacks can be dodged or countered in accordance with skill instead of luck. If grinding is your style, the fights are actually enjoyable.

It's not perfect though. Some sections hinge too much on stupidly mashing a button, and the repercussions of failure, in traditional turn based fashion, can be devastating. The level design is a bit straightforward, and a bit of it is trial and error. Still the game's sense of humor will put a smile on your face quite a few times, and the writing is simple, yet manages to create some pretty strong personality out of these normally silent characters. I could recommend this at $35, but people who are on the fence might want to wait for a bit of a price drop to try

Diffusing into the airwaves of the internet

...and we're live!

This is just a quick getting to know you thing. Putting our feelers out, so to speak. It's a big internet, and we're glad to be a part of it. Just rollin' along, whistlin to our own beat, or something like that.

Not much of a talker I see, so we'll start. We're Dead Pixel, and we hope to be a part of your daily balanced diet of gaming speak. We'll be offering up thoughts, reviews, and hopefully some playthroughs of vidja games new and old, because that's what we think is rad. Feel free to speak otherwise; we are a blog for the people. Keeping it real, and such.

We should be serving a little update daily, so keep checking back to see what we got!

-The Ed