Pocket Universe

In just one week, you will be able to order the trial version of the Spore Creature Creator! For those of you who don’t know about Spore…well first of all, it was my pick for Game of the Year at E3 2006, so get reading. The game itself doesn’t come out until September, but the Creature Creator serves two purposes in the interim.

First, it placates people like me who are most excited about the idea of constructing their own aliens. I fully anticipate spending many hours just playing around with the editor and seeing what it can do. If you haven’t seen it yet, it looks amazingly easy to build, paint, and watch your creations come to life.

But more importantly, the Creature Creator will allow users to pre-populate the Spore game world. You see, when you play Spore, you create your own life-forms, but you also encounter hundreds, if not thousands of other aliens as you explore your planet, solar system, and galaxy, and every one of those beings was created by another Spore player through an electronic form of cross-pollination. By released the Creature Creator early, Maxis can make sure that the game world is already teeming with life when the first player starts his game. It also appears that you can track aliens by who created them, and even tell the game that you would like to see more from that person, so this aspect of the game appeals to the artist in me.

As you can tell, I am incredibly excited about this! I will let you know more once I get the trial version, and since you can easily email pictures or upload videos to YouTube, I may even start sending out links to what I’ve done.

Andy’s Rating: One notch below Loved It (12/13)

As the first Metroid game released for the Super Nintendo system, the designers of Super Metroid had a legacy to live up to. The original Metroid for the NES introduced non-linear gameplay on a large open world, into which the player (as bounty hunter Samus Aran) is dropped with very few abilities. Over time, Samus gains new powers that allow her to enter previously inaccessible areas, and she discovers hidden doors and passageways that let her explore deeper into the planet. But the player is given little direction, and elaborate hand-drawn maps are practically required to figure out where to go next.

The Game Boy sequel, Metroid II: Return of Samus, alleviated this lack of direction by introducing a new gameplay element: deadly lava, which blocks access to the next area until certain goals are met. In this way, there is still a vast planet for the player to explore, but always has a rough idea of where to focus his attention. Although this provided more clear-cut goals, many criticized the game for straying from the more organic progression of the original.

Thankfully, the third game maintains the non-linear gameplay of the first, while removing most of the frustrations, and also inherits many of the advancements made by the second game. In Super Metroid, Samus returns to the planet Zebes, the setting of the first game, where she once again has to face off against the Space Pirates and their leader, Mother Brain. The villains have stolen the baby Metroid that Samus rescued at the end of Metroid II, and retreated to their newly rebuilt lair. From the start, this gives the player familiar territory to explore, and it is fun (and a little eerie) to pass through the room that you destroyed at the end of the first Metroid.

Progression in Metroid is all about the weapons and equipment, and Metroid 3 takes nearly everything from the first two games, and then just about doubles it. New suits provide damage reduction and added mobility, and the Varia Suit has never looked better. (It also retains Samus’ iconic rounded shoulder armor, introduced in Metroid II as a way of distinguishing the two suits on the monochrome Game Boy screen.) There are also addition beam weapons, but while previous games required you to track down the original powerup each time you wanted to switch beams, Super Metroid makes things easier for the player by allowing you to switch each beam on or off at will. As an added convenience, some beams can be combined; so for example, you can equip the Plasma Beam, but still retain the Metroid-freezing power of the Ice Beam.

Besides the various suits and beams, Samus gains a number of new tools in her arsenal. Notably, the x-ray scope makes it even easier to find hidden passageways. As another nice touch, if you can’t destroy a block with a certain weapon, it will show you which weapon is required to remove it. There are many other abilities that Samus can collect during the game, but sadly, the Spider Ball (a favorite from Metroid II) is missing here. In Super Metroid, it may have rendered some of the puzzles too trivial, but it was a welcome addition that really opened up the previous game to complex exploration.

It should be clear by now that Metroid 3 adds more of the weapons, abilities, and tools that you loved from the previous games. But it also introduces gameplay improvements that make this game less frustrating and more fun. First and foremost, Metroid 3 finally has an auto-mapping system! Yes, you can say goodbye to those cryptic hand-drawn maps forever! The game shows you where you have explored, and convenient map rooms give you an idea of where to go next. However, the maps do not reveal everything, so some exploration is still required, but they take a lot of the tedium out of it.

Another huge change is how you discover new items and abilities. In the first game, a seemingly impassible area would suggest that some new ability was needed, but it was often unclear what you needed or where you would find it. Metroid 3 also has these same obstacles, but they are usually discovered when Samus falls into an area that she can’t escape. This added to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the game, but also provides a better idea of where you need to explore next, because there is always some way out. It may sound like a subtle difference, but it provides the same sense of progression, without worrying that the necessary item is tucked away in some distant corner of the world. Instead, you feel trapped, and there is an urgency to find your way out.

There are a few frustrations that creep up along the way, however. While many of the controls were streamlined or improved, some of the new moves are difficult to execute. In particular, the wall jump is tough to pull off with any consistency, and there is nothing more frustrating than making nine or ten jumps up a tall vertical shaft, only to miss the last one and have to start all over again…and again, and again. Other moves like the Super Jump are difficult to decipher, and frustrated players may find it necessary to consult a walkthrough to proceed.

In all, Super Metroid maintains the sense of wonder and exploration from the first two games, while including many changes to keep the player from quitting the game in frustration. The energy charge stations from the second game are retained in this one, and you even get a few reserve tanks in case you get really desperate. The mapping system relieves you of the manual effort, but the game compensates by giving you a world which is much larger than either of the first two games. The sound is more subtle, the music is better, the enemies are bigger, and the battles require more strategy. And to top it all off, the graphics are absolutely gorgeous, making great use of lighting, color, and effects. This really is one of the best examples of great 2D graphics from the 16-bit era.

Setting the story back on the planet Zebes was a nice touch, because the player can really appreciate the graphical improvements from the 8-bit to the 16-bit era. Having a familiar setting also makes you notice the little differences, which often give you an idea of where to explore. The storyline remains the high point of the series, with an ending that is tremendously satisfying. Without revealing the details of the extended ending sequence, players who have completed the first Metroid game will be taken by surprise by the battle in Metroid 3. It is amazing how much adventure, fun, and genuine emotion the designers were able to pack into this game. If you have never experienced Super Metroid, it is definitely worth your time.

Andy’s Rating: One notch above Really Liked It (11/13)

When we last left Samus, she had just wiped out the Metroids on the planet Zebes and defeated Mother Brain. Oh, and she revealed that she is a woman. With that mission complete, she now proceeds to planet SR-388, the home of the Metroids, in order to wipe them all out.

And when we last left me, I was complaining that the original Metroid was too open, and it was hard to tell where to explore next. Also, many of the secret areas had to be found by trial and error, and when starting from the last save, Samus would begin with a minimal amount of energy, forcing the player to go through a tedious process of recovering health before continuing.

Andy’s Rating: one notch below Really Liked It (9/13)

I grew up playing the Atari 2600, and in the early ’80s, computer games were really starting to take off. So by the time the NES came out in 1985, I had pretty much gotten out of console gaming. I never owned a Super Nintendo or a Nintendo 64 either, but I started getting back into console gaming late in the life of the PlayStation. I eventually picked up a Game Boy Advance SP, and decided to catch up on all the classic games that I had missed. Thanks to that wonderful little system, I played through all the Super Mario Bros. games. (I am now playing Super Mario 64 on the Virtual Console.) More recently, I turned my attention to other big-name Nintendo franchises: The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. My goal for each of these games was to complete it without reading any hints or walkthroughs.

I blog so rarely that sometimes I think, “I wish I had another blog, so that I could avoid posting to two blogs at once.” Well, my wish has been granted: I am now a contributor to Garden of WiiDS, a Nintendo-oriented blog created by a friend of mine. As much as possible, I will be making some of my videogame posts there. You may want to check it frequently, especially if you are into classic Nintendo games (as I’m sure none of you are).

It looks like more songs from Guitar Hero II have been announced, bringing the list of licensed songs up to 25 (from an expected total of 40). I’m not familiar with some of them (never really a big fan of Black Sabbath or Anthrax), but I was pleasantly surprised to see some favorites on the list. “Message in a Bottle” by The Police would be particularly good, since it has a good guitar part and a great bass line. (Remember that in co-op mode, one player will be on lead guitar, while the other will play bass or rhythm guitar.) I am also pleasantly surprised to see “Misirlou” by surf-guitar god Dick Dale, which is probably best known as the theme from Pulp Fiction. “Crazy on You” by Heart is a great choice, although I would have preferred “Barracuda.”

There were two song selections in particular that stood out, ranging from fantastic to ingenious. “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd is a rock staple, with a nine-minute running time, and a gloriously long and involved solo at the end. But while “Free Bird” is an obvious choice, it must have taken a true genius to secure the rights to “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” by England’s loudest band, Spinal Tap.* With Nigel Tufnel at the lead, it goes without saying that the lead guitar line is stellar, beginning with the extended string of hammer-ons. The additional guitar part (I presume it will be rhythm guitar) is suitably driving, and I’m sure those of us with kids will enjoy having them sing along with lyrics such as, “You’re too young, and I’m too well-hung.” It is nice to see that the makers of Guitar Hero can pay tribute to such a great rock band as Spinal Tap. One can only hope that “Big Bottom” is somewhere on the sequel, with its rousing triple bass line.

Including the ones that have been previously announced, here is the set list so far, complete with links to iTunes:

“Arterial Black” — Drist (Original Track)
“Beast and the Harlot” — Avenged Sevenfold
“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?” — The Rolling Stones
“Crazy on You” — Heart
“Free Bird” — Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Heart Shaped Box” — Nirvana
“Jessica” — The Allman Brothers Band
“John The Fisherman” — Primus (Original Track)
“Laid To Rest” — Lamb of God
“Madhouse” — Anthrax
“Message in a Bottle” — The Police
“Misirlou” — Dick Dale
“Psychobilly Freakout” — The Reverend Horton Heat
“Shout at the Devil” — Mötley Crüe
“Strutter” — KISS
“Surrender” — Cheap Trick
“Sweet Child O’ Mine” — Guns N’ Roses
“Tattooed Love Boys” — The Pretenders
“Them Bones” — Alice in Chains
“Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” — Spinal Tap
“Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart” — Stone Temple Pilots
“War Pigs” — Black Sabbath
“Who Was in My Room Last Night?” — The Butthole Surfers
“You Really Got Me” — The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen
“YYZ” — Rush

* I apologize for the incorrect spelling of the band’s name, but the OS won’t let me type the dieresis over the “n.” That’s probably because no one ever uses that punctuation (“¨”) over a consonant. I guess Spinal Tap is also too revolutionary for the typesetting industry.

There�s an interesting thread over at Evil Avatar about backwards compatibility and the future of video games. Basically, the editorial suggests that developers release �greatest hits� packs containing selections of classic games, primarily for those who have never played them before.

The discussion brings up an interesting point: Why is it that you can go to Best Buy and pick up a movie that is fifty years old, but you can�t find a game that was made more than a few years ago? Can you imagine if someone wanted to watch a movie, but couldn�t get anything that was released prior to 2000? Or if a salesman said, �Why do you want to watch that old movie? You should check out of these new movies that just came out!� For some reason, we have great respect for the history and tradition of movies, but games are still stuck in the �newer is better� mentality. And of course, as a side effect of the short release cycle for games, they typically retail for $50, to maximize the profits during their relatively short shelf life.

This strange dichotomy between movies and video games just struck me, which is why I wanted to mention it. Hopefully the Wii, with it�s downloadable games from the first three generations of Nintendo consoles, will allay this accepted practice somewhat. Instead of a game that uses two analog sticks, four face buttons, and four shoulder buttons, I could show my son a game that uses one joystick and a jump button. I think need to remember where we came from to truly appreciate the games of today.

Okay, I know this is woefully late, but I wanted to toss out my list of honorable mentions from E3. These are the games that showed potential and were interesting, but weren’t quite the best of the show.

Red Steel (Wii)

Another first-person shooter? I admit that I wasn’t excited about this game prior to E3. However, using the Wii control scheme, it looks like it will (dare I say it?) revolutionize the genre. You move with the thumbstick and aim by pointing to the screen; already, it seems like shooting is going to be much easier than with a standard controller. But they added other unique gameplay elements. If you get to a closed door, you can make a movement with your left hand like you’re pushing the door open, and you see your in-game hand opening it. Each weapon has a different way of reloading, and if you’re using the shotgun, you actually hold your right hand upright, and move your left hand like you’re pumping the barrel to reload. Very cool. When you have your opponent disarmed, you can just wave your gun towards the ground, and he will understand that he’s supposed to lay down. Oh, and you can hold your gun sideways if you want to look like a gangster for some reason.

But the coolest element has to be the swordfighting sequences. You slash and thrust with your right hand, and bring your left hand up to block. It remains to be seen how precise the motions will be (the demo showed the player holding a sword to his opponent’s neck), but if it’s anything near what was shown, it should usher in a whole new way of playing FPS games. Hopefully other developers will take the cue and start thinking differently about the controller and its effect on gameplay.

Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for cute. And I’m a sucker for sim-type games where there is no predefined goal. Oh, and I’m a sucker for cool uses of online connectivity. Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 delivers all of those, in spades, along with a graphic style that you have to see to truly appreciate. Every character and item in the game looks like it was made from that crèpe-paper piñata material, and everything is very colorful. I could just sit and watch this game all day.

The premise of the game (and please, bear with me here) is that you’re cultivating an area of land to attract living piñatas. One of the examples given was that if you have water, grass, and apples, you will attract the horse piñata. As you change and develop the environment, different types will arrive and leave. Maybe some types only show up if other types are already present. Some animals don’t get along, so you’ll either have to keep them separated, or there’s going to be a lot of candy spilled on the ground. Sometimes a sour piñata will arrive in your town, being violent and attacking the other residents. You can either lure him away, try to cure him, or just get your shovel and beat him until his sour candy pours out. Of course, then you risk other animals getting infected….

I suppose that if there were a goal to the game, it would be to eventually collect every different type of piñata. To that end, you can package up one of your residents and give or trade it to a friend over Xbox Live. Some will be common, and some will be rare. Maybe you will end up with a rare color combination that you can sell in the Xbox Live Marketplace. If you want, you can pay someone else to come in to your town (again, over Xbox Live) and do your gardening and take care of your town. And of course, the developers will continually be adding new items and piñatas that will be available for download.

Although I am a big fan of the potential for online connectivity, there are admittedly some concerns. The developers mentioned having new content available, but were unclear whether it would be free or not. Is this entire game just a ploy to get obsessed gamers to play $1.99 each month to download the latest cool pets? Or will most of the content be free? And why is there already a cartoon tie-in planned? I suppose the jury is still out on this one. It sounds like a mere shadow of what Spore will be, especially since the types of piñatas are limited by what the developers create, while Spore has an infinite number of creatures designed by millions of other players across the globe, all downloaded to your machine seamlessly in the background, for free. But from a strictly 360-centered point of view, I think Viva Piñata looks intriguing.

Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Not much to say about this one. It will have something like forty new licensed songs, and a number of other independent tracks. One of the licensed songs is “YYZ” by Rush, and I got to try out the bass line. I don’t really have any news other than that. It will come out this fall, and you’ll buy it, because it is insanely addictive and one of the best PS2 games ever made. What more do you need to know?

Heavenly Sword (PS3)

Oh look, a PlayStation 3 game made it onto my list! Well, don’t get your hopes up too high. The demo of this medieval fighting game was set in an arena, where your double-bladed heroine gets to face off against scores of enemies. Gameplay-wise, it seems very similar to God of War, as you have several different attacks using your chain blades, as well as pre-scripted combo moves that you execute by hitting the right combination of button presses following the on-screen prompts.

So why did this make my list? Three reasons: One, it is just a lot of fun to play. They really make you feel in control of the character, as she jumps around and pulls off various combination moves. Secondly, the graphics are just stunning. Everything is suffused with a golden glow, from the metal on the armor to the ethereal haze of the weaponry. This is the only PS3 game I saw that really looked better than the 360. And finally, it seemed to have some great character A.I. When you start off the demo, the enemies are watching you practice your moves in the arena. As you perform various tricks, they laugh and clap and cheer and goad you on. Then, as they start attacking, the onlookers react realistically to what is happening on the battle. If other games can start having background characters that act this realistically, then I will be very pleased with the direction the next generation is headed.

Super Paper Mario (GameCube)

For some reason, Nintendo chose not to have any GameCubes on the show floor. Okay, maybe there was a good reason, since Super Paper Mario looks like the only new first-party GameCube game they announced. But it looks like the GameCube will go out with a bang! Super Paper Mario looks like a traditional side-scrolling action game utilizing the 2-D paper look from the Paper Mario RPG series. However, as with Paper Mario, this game plays with those conventions in interesting ways. Since the characters are literally flat, they can slide under obstacles, roll up and blow away, turn into a paper airplane, and do all sorts of other crazy feats.

This looks like a game that plays with the conventions of traditional side-scrolling action games, and throws in a bunch of perspective changes from 2-D to 3-D just to confuse the player. From the demo movie I saw, there were shots of a giant Mario character drawn in the blocky style from Donkey Kong, characters running on walls as gravity changes direction, and strange art-deco–inspired moving backgrounds. It’s been a while since the GameCube has had a good, classically-inspired Mario game.

After much consideration, I am finally ready to reveal my favorite game of E3.

Game of the Show: Spore

Spore is almost maddeningly difficult to describe. (However, the flash intro on the web site actually does a pretty good job of summarizing the game; go check it out.) Adding to the difficulty is the fact that Spore appears to have a near-infinite amount of depth and replayability. With that in mind, I am going to keep my description short and to the point. Otherwise, I would end up spending hours talking about it.

Spore was created by Will Wright, the genius behind SimCity and The Sims. It is a sandbox game, where you guide the development of a race from a single-celled organism to exploration and conquest of the entire galaxy. There are six basic phases, some of which directly correspond to other games. You start off in a two-dimensional tide pool, eating and avoiding larger creatures. As you eat, you gain DNA points that allow you to customize your creature; you can add better flagella, for example, or something that allows you to attack would-be predators. Eventually, you graduate up the creature phase, where the game switches to 3D, in the water and, eventually, on land, as you develop the appropriate appendages. Again, you eat, attack, gain DNA points, mate, lay eggs, and use those points to develop your creature even further.

Here’s where it gets good: You can modify your creatures through a spectacular creature editor that lets you choose mouths, eyes, limbs, hands, feet, weapons, and decorations for your creature. Depending on how far along your creature has developed, you get different sets of items to choose from, and what you choose affects your creature’s strength, speed, stealth, and eating habits (herbivore or carnivore). The amazing thing is the amount of control you have over every step of the creation process. Not only do you place parts on your creature, but you can alter their size, shape, angle…you can make a creature with two mouths instead of one, or something with two legs, each of which ends in two more legs…you can put a hand on your tail, or have six arms and four legs. You have infinite possibilities for what you can create, and the amazing part is that whatever you make is procedurally animated, so it knows how to walk, attack, cheer, and play.

Get comfortable, because we still have a long way to go. Once you design your creature, you can then choose how to color and texture it. Want a black creature with white stripes? Done. What about dark blue with red ridges down its back? Easy. What about a mottled purple scaly coat, with maroon stripes and yellow polka dots? Not a problem. You can create a base texture and layer up to three other textures on top of it, and the end results are amazing. Will Wright has said that their goal is to let someone create a creature in a few minutes that it would take a Pixar artist a week to design, and from what I can tell, they have done it. I imagine that I could spend weeks just designing new creatures. Wright even pointed out that with his previous games, they made these fantastic editors that were only really used by maybe ten percent of the players. So what is the point of sitting around designing cool creatures, if you’re the only one who sees them? Read on….

Okay, so now you have your creature designed and evolved. Eventually it becomes sentient, which means that you switch from controlling one creature, to controlling an entire race of creatures. At this point, it switches to a tribal game, much like Black & White or Populous. Now you influence your creatures by providing huts or tools or weapons or musical instruments, to control how they act and what they do. After a while, you switch to the city phase (à la SimCity) where you help develop architecture and technology as your city takes form. And like the creature phase, you have a building editor, where you can design your own edifices if you don’t like the ones provided for you. (More on that below….) You can also use or design vehicles for your creatures, either walking vehicles, tanks, or planes. Again, a full editor is available for each of these.

As you develop and branch out, you will run into other cities on your planet. At that point, it switches to a civilization game (like Civilization, natch) where you choose how to deal with the other inhabitants of your planet. You can invade them, defend against invasion, try to make peace, trade…whatever you want. One way or another, you will eventually have control over your entire planet.

Then you develop space travel.

Yep, you get a spaceship (or design it) and travel out through your solar system. Here is where the space phase starts. You discover other planets, some of which are uninhabitable, and some of which might have other creatures. You can choose to place a colony in a sealed bubble, or you can choose instead to terraform the planet to give it an atmosphere that can support life. At that point, you can colonize the planet, or just abduct some of your own indigenous creatures and plant them on the planet. And if you’re lucky, you may find an ancient artifact that you can use to upgrade your technology.

Once you’re done with the local solar system, it’s time to travel out through the galaxy. In stages, you travel farther and farther away, discovering other solar systems, each with its own set of planets. Along the way, you will discover other cities and other civilizations. Will these people worship you as a god? Will they want to trade with you? If they are friendly, then how will they react when you try to abduct one of them? Or maybe they’ll just attack you outright. So maybe you retaliate and destroy their city…or their planet. Oops, it turns out that it was just one colony of a much more powerful race, and now your homeworld is under attack. Are you going to go back and help them, or just keep exploring the galaxy? After all, there are literally millions of solar systems out there to discover….

So you go from a single cell to conquering other solar systems. To call this game “epic” would be an understatement. But I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet: Each of the other solar systems in your galaxy is populated with creatures and cities and civilizations from other players. Read that sentence again. When you play, you are designing your own unique creature, and the computer is watching what you build and how you play. That information gets uploaded to the internet, and then downloaded to other players’ computers for them to discover. At the same time, the millions of stars in your system contain data downloaded from other players. While you are not playing against those players directly, the computer will control those civilizations and play them in the same way that the original players did. That’s the genius of this game: It takes the universe of other players and playstyles, and turns it into a literal universe to explore and interact with. The content will never get old, and there will always be something new to discover.

Now, remember all those editors I talked about earlier? There’s the creature editor, flora, buildings, vehicles, and spaceships, and maybe a few others I don’t know about. Well, when you design something in one of those editors, it again gets uploaded to the internet, and downloaded to everyone’s individual machines, and their content comes to you. So that means that when you want to, say, get a fighter for your creatures, you can choose from ones designed by thousands of other players. Not only will those selections be sorted by popularity, but your previous design choices will also influence the recommendations. Oh, and if you like something by a particular players, you can bookmark them, and other items they design will be recommended more highly in the future. Basically, it’s like an Amazon recommendation system for in-game design ideas.

So that’s the game in a nutshell. I haven’t even gone into detail about many other things, like the fact that how you play your creature early on affects how it acts socially, or that you can collect other creatures that you have scanned into “gotta catch ’em all”-type trading cards, or that you can develop a race of weak creatures who are more powerful because they hunt in packs. I sat through a 15-minute demo, and I already have more information than I can succinctly share. Personally, I imagine just spending days and days designing various creatures and spaceships. It seems like the game is whatever you want to make of it. If you like the creature phase, just play that. If you want city building, then work on that. It seems almost too good to be true, but if even half of what has been planned comes to fruition, this could be the be-all and end-all of sim games. It comes out in 2007. I can’t wait.

For those of you on a Mac with iPhoto, or with an RSS-capable newsreader, you can now subscribe to my E3 2006 photocast. Either click on the link above, or go into iPhoto and select File: Subscribe to Photocast, and paste in the URL. You will then be subscribed to my photocast, which you can view at your leisure, place on your desktop, or set as your screensaver. Just go nuts! Later, I will post the accompanying guide to the various celebrities I ran into at the show.

It looks like E3 is finally over and done with, and I know everyone is waiting with breathless anticipation for my ranking of the various consoles. Wait no longer!

1. Wii

After the initial skepticism about the “revolutionary” new console from Nintendo, the Wii started out strong with a two-hour wait to try it out. By Thursday, the wait was four hours, and the crowds didn’t die down the rest of the week. Nintendo finally showed off games for its new system (26 to be exact), and reactions were almost universally positive. There are still some details that need to be ironed out, such as a little too much sensitivity when using the pointer. But other than that, the Wii had a tremendous showing, with many highly-anticipated games the demonstrated that the new controller is not just a gimmick.

The Wii has everyone buzzing about its potential, and for the first time in a long time, it really got me excited about the potential for completely new types of gameplay. However, unlike some other systems (see below), they actually had a solid group of games to back up their claims, including some high-profile third-party games like Red Steel. Add in the always-on connectivity, the ability to play classic games by Nintendo and others, and the added surprises with the controller, and you have the smash hit of the show, hands down.


1.5. Nintendo DS

Okay, this isn’t technically one of the big three consoles, but I had to include the Nintendo DS in the mix, simply because, again, it had such a large variety of games to show off. There were a surprising number of first-party Nintendo titles being shown, including many sequels to old favorites: New Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Kirby, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2, Star Fox DS, and Yoshi’s Island 2. Then you have some surprising new games like Mario Hoops 3-on-3, and the completely bizarre but engrossing Elite Beat Agents, about a group of male cheerleaders.

And just like the Wii, the DS games displayed many examples of new and unique gameplay techniques. Tap the screen in Mario Hoops to control the rate and position of your dribbling. Tap in time with the music in Elite Beat Agents to perform the correct cheers. You can direct characters in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 Phantom Hourglass. In the third-party game Spectrobes, you can excavate fossils using the touch screen, and then get rid of dust and particles by blowing on the screen (thanks to the built-in microphone). And I haven’t even talked about the Wi-Fi internet connectivity. Developers keep coming up with more and more ways to use the unique advantages of the DS.

As for the hardware, the functional DS has been replaced by the sexy DS Lite, which is both smaller and lighter than the original, with brighter screen and a glossy white exterior just like the very best Apple products. This system is so impressive that there have been lines around the block in Japan just to get one, and they have been selling out consistently for months now. And remember, this isn’t even some new system; it is just an update to the current one. When an updated version continues to sell out, you know you have a hit on your hands.


2. Xbox 360

I will admit that the Xbox 360 games at the show looked excellent. However, I was a little put off by the number of first-person shooters. Oh look, this one is in the snow! This one is in the jungle! Oh, and this one takes place in a war-torn post-apocalyptic city! How original! There were however some stand-out titles that I saw, which I will discuss at a later date.

What really fascinates me about the 360 is the Xbox Live features, specifically Xbox Live Arcade. With cheap, simple, fun games that you can purchase and download, the 360 looks to be a great platform for the small developer who doesn’t have the multi-million-dollar budgets of an EA. And you will be able to play Lumines Live over Xbox Live, which almost sells the console right there. I think the system has a lot of potential, which pains me to say since I have been such a Sony fan since the first PlayStation. However, at $200 less than the PS3, it looks like a much better deal.


3. PlayStation 3

Microsoft’s Peter Moore recommended buying a Wii. No no, he hasn’t gone crazy; he simply pointed out that instead of a PlayStation 3, you could buy an Xbox 360 and a Wii for the same price. And you have to admit, he has a point. At $599 for a console, the games for the PlayStation 3 would have to be pretty impressive.

And honestly, they just weren’t. Sure, they looked pretty, but they were pretty versions of the same old gameplay. A sword-fighting game? A World War II(-ish) shooter? A prettier high-definition version of the same old Gran Turismo game? At least the pretty graphics will give me nice dreams while I fall asleep from the gameplay.

You know, I’m a huge Sony fan, and they really wouldn’t have had to do much to impress me. Sadly, they couldn’t even do that much. I mean, yeah the grass in Madden looks nicer, but in the end, the gameplay is still the same. I saw nothing to lead me to believe that the PS3 would take gaming to the next level, other than a lot of empty promises about Sony’s online service being the “Xbox Live killer,” and some stuff about how easy it will be to buy music and movies online. Yawn. I was not impressed by the PS3, and at this point, unless they come up with some amazing games between now and November, I predict that the 360 will beat them this holiday season, if not longer. I really wish I had something better to say about Sony, but I really don’t.

It�s late, and I�m bored and tired, so I give you The Cynic�s Guide to the Microsoft E3 Presentation. Enjoy. I�ll report back later if anything blows my skirt up.

How many of you know someone who has never seen a movie, or watched a TV show, or read a book? None? Of course not. Its preposterous.

Now, how many of you know someone, maybe even within your own family, who has never played a video game?”

And with those words, Reggie Fils-Amie eloquently stated Nintendos strategy: to expand the market by attracting people who have never played video games.

Once again, you can read a painstakingly-detailed description of the Nintendo E3 2006 keynote over at Kotaku, but let me give you the short version:

The Nintendo DS is selling like hotcakes laced with caffeine and slathered in crack.

People laughed at the idea of the DS, but now non-traditional games like Nintendogs and Brain Age are selling to a different demographic

The Wii controller…

The second part of the controller (the nunchuk”) has an analog stick for movement. However, it also contains a tilt and motion sensor, so you can do things like slash a sword with your right hand, then block with your left. Or if you come to a door (using your right hand as the gun), you can open the door by making a push the door open” motion with your left hand. It looks really, incredibly easy to use, and will open up whole new areas of gameplay.

But what about the games? After all, whats a new system without games? Well here are a few for starters: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; WarioWare: Smooth Moves; Super Mario Galaxy; SUPER MARIO GALAXY!!!!!!111!!!!!; a new Sonic game, a new Rayman game, and some whole new franchises like Project: H.A.M.M.E.R. and Disaster: Day of Crisis. Basically, nearly everything looked interesting, fresh, and looks like it will use the controller in a multitude of ways. I have not been this excited about a new system for a long long time.

Oh, and for the GameCube: Super Paper Mario, which, again, looks unreal. Think a 2D platformer, with a bunch of mind-bending 3D effects. Really, you have to see the video.

And the DS? Yoshis Island 2, Starfox DS, Mario Hoops Three-on-Three, Elite Beat Agents, Mario vs. DK: March of the Minis…the list goes on and on.

Lets see, what else…? Oh, the Wii will be connected to the internet even while its sleeping, so a game developer can push new items or levels, or a friend can visit your Animal Crossing town and drop off a present. Cool.

And then they invited a guy from the audience to play a four-man tennis match with Shigeru Miyamoto, Fils-Amie, and Satoru Iwata. The gameplay looked easy to pick up, and just fun. Oh, and 27 games will be playable on the show floor.

So thats it. I am thrilled about the Wii, and I cant wait to try it out! I will give more reports tomorrow night, after I try the games out. I think this could revitalize the gaming market in a way no one has ever imagined.

You can read a report from the Sony E3 2006 press conference at Kotaku, but let me give you a few highlights:

Lots of new games for the PS3.

Sony free online service will do everything that Xbox Live does, except twice as fast and much shinier. Oh, and it will cook you dinner.

You can buy new levels and items for your games. Yay.

The new PS3 games will be pretty much like PS2 games, except with better graphics

The PS3 controller will be wireless, and have tilt sensors in it, except without the position sensors of the Wii controller.

And what�s with the faux-Wii controller? Gee Sony, weren�t you just talking about the �gimmicks” that the other systems are using? This implementation is much more limited than what the Wii controller will be able to do. Since Sony and Microsoft already have tons of overlap for third-party games, that pretty much guarantees that the PS3 version will not use the tilt sensor, or will use it just for a few little gimmicky extras that no one will care about.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the price: $499 for a version with a 20GB hard drive and some features stripped out (HDMI, Wi-Fi), or $599 for a fully-featured version with a 60GB hard drive. Contrast that with the Xbox 360 price of $299 for the version without a hard drive, and $399 for the version with. Or the Wii, rumored to be between $199 and $250.

Here�s the thing: I�m the target market for these guys, and I love my PlayStation 2…and I didn�t care about the Sony press conference. I saw nothing there that makes me excited. In fact, I see the potential for skyrocketing development costs that will result in the same old games, except shinier and high-definition. Right now, I feel like people are going to start realizing that the emperor has no clothes. I predict that people are going to pay $599 for a system, and say, �I spent all that money for THIS?” While I don�t think it will lead to another videogame crash, I will go on record with my prediction that this generation of PlayStation will be a very slow starter. Maybe a few years down the road, when HDTVs are more commonplace, and the price has dropped. But not this holiday season, and not the next. It hurts me to say it, but that�s how I feel.

For you Mac users out there, I have published a few pictures from my previous trips to E3 in 2003 and 2004. Each evening during the week, I will update it with pictures from this year. To use these pictures as your screen saver, go to the Apple menu, System Preferences, Desktop & Screen Saver, and click the Screen Saver tab. Then from the list of screen savers, select .Mac, and click Options. Type in my .Mac membership name (bates), make sure the slide show is checked, and you should be set! As new pictures are uploaded, your machine will automatically download them and update your screen saver.

I don�t know how I missed this last week, but Penny Arcade received a press release listing seven of the songs from the upcoming Guitar Hero II. They are:

�Psychobilly Freakout”—Reverend Horton Heat
�Strutter”—KISS
�Who Was in My Room Last Night”—Butthole Surfers
�War Pigs”—Black Sabbath
�Arterial Black”—Drist
�You Really Got Me”—Van Halen
�YYZ”—Rush

Rush?!!?? YYZ?? Not only is this fantastic from a lead-guitar point of view, but it will include a second track for the bass line. YYZ is one of those incredible bass songs, and my mouth is watering waiting for this one!

When I read truth, I love to share it. And thanks to 43 Folders, I found a fantastic article about living a backlogged life. The gist of the article is this: At one point in time, if we missed something, it was gone: a phone call, a TV show, whatever. But now, thanks to the wonders of technology, these time sinks are now collected and sorted and aggregated for future enjoyment. Instead of letting technology free us, it has removed our ability to let go of the past.

As I’ve been trying to get my life organized, this point particularly resonated with me. As I try to get my life organized, I have realized that the more you hang on to the past, the more difficult it is to enjoy the present. The more I worry about sorting and deleting and responding to my old email, the less time I spend actually working on things that I need to do today. And sure, I have hundreds of hours of shows recorded on the TiVo, but which are the ones that I watch as soon as they are recorded, and which are the ones I think that I might get to someday, maybe?

This has also affected my life in a purely financial sense. A long time ago, I read a great book by the Motley Fool entitled You Have More Than You Think. The authors offered a piece of advice about purchasing luxury items which has great application to daily life: Don’t buy something new unless you’ve used up what you already have. For example, don’t buy a magazine at the newsstand if you have a magazine you haven’t read sitting on the coffee table at home. Don’t buy a new book if you have a shelf of unread books in your office. It’s really a simple rule, and it’s very lenient if you’re using what you have. I have been trying to follow that rule, in general, but recently I have gotten very specific in applying it.

A few weeks ago, I was feeling very poor, and feeling like my spending was getting out of control. In an effort to get ahead of the game, I decided to go into lockdown. I have so many unread books sitting around, and so many unwatched DVDs, and so many unplayed video games, that I could literally not buy any media for probably a year, and still have plenty to do in my free time. So, until I have made some headway on what I already own, I am not buying anything new. I expect that at some point, something will come along for which I will bend these rules a bit, but I hope that will be the exception rather than the norm. Until then, I hope to find a new appreciation for the things I already own. Maybe I’ll finally get to that great book that I’ve heard so much about, or that videogame series that I never finished. It’s as if my entire life were leading up to this point. I’ve collected all this crap my whole life; time to start enjoying it.

Have you seen an Xbox 360 blog? No, I�m not talking about a blog about the Xbox 360; I�m talking about a blog by the Xbox 360.

Really, you have got to be kidding me.

I know it�s two weeks early, but this is breaking videogame news, so I�m counting it in the first of the E3 2006 news reports. The new console from Nintendo has been known by its code name, the Revolution, for some time. However, Nintendo have now provided its official name:

Wii

Yes, Wii. Sounds like �we.� Here�s the information from the official site:

Introducing Wii.

As in �we.�

While the code-name �Revolution� expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer.

Wii will break down that wall that separates video game players from everybody else.

Wii will put people more in touch with their games�and each other. But you�re probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like �we,� which emphasizes this console is for everyone.

Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive �ii� spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people gathering to play.

And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of video games that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that�s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you.

Because, it�s really not about you or me.

It�s about Wii.

And together, Wii will change everything.

At the very least, I�m intrigued. I�m not sure what the ad campaign is going to be though. �I can�t do my homework now Mom; I gotta Wii.�

Even though a set list is not yet available, it has been announced that Guitar Hero II will be released in November, with at least 55 playable. No word yet on whether they will all be hit songs, or whether some of those will be from independent artists, like in the current Guitar Hero, which has 30 classic tracks, and some number of additional no-name tracks.

One of the fantastic additions to Guitar Hero II will be expanded multiplayer. In the current game, if two people play together, they either alternate playing the lead, or play it simultaneously. In the second game, there will be an additional music track for each song. For some, it will be rhythm guitar, and for some, it will be bass. You can then choose ahead of time which person will be playing lead, and which will be playing backup. I sent an email requesting a Bass Hero game a while back, so it sounds like somebody listened to me!

Oh, and I heard elsewhere that they are expecting to release five or six Guitar Hero games between now and next year, including the possibility of themed games, á la Karaoke Revolution Country. For my money (literally!), the more games, the better.

You can read the entire interview with the game�s creators for more information.

In just 28 short days, I will be in the middle of E3 2006, the Electronics Entertainment Expo! (Actually, I�ll be there 27 days from now, but I forgot to post this yesterday.) For those of you who don�t know, E3 is to video games what the Super Bowl is to baseball (or soccer, or whatever that sport is). All of the game manufacturers come together and provide playable versions of their games coming out in the next year (or more).

It�s also the place where all the major console manufacturers announce their plans for the next year. This year is particularly significant because it�s the once-every-five-years event where all the new consoles are released (give or take a year). According to the venerable Wikipedia (which is only as reliable and accurate as the general population), this is the seventh generation of video game consoles, although it is the sixth by my count, as I start counting at the Atari 2600, which really started the video game market.

Let me step back a moment and recommend that everyone read about the Video Game Crash of 1984 (incorrectly cited by Wikipedia as the Video Game Crash of 1983). It is important that we study history; otherwise, we are doomed to repeat it. It was a crazy time to be a video game fan, to be sure. I vividly remember my favorite magazine, Electronic Games, changing its name to Electronic Fun (With Computers and Games), in order to distance itself from the dying console market. (I have no idea if the modern Electronic Gaming Monthly is in any way related to the original Electronic Games.)

The impact of the Crash was so great that I got out of console gaming, missing the NES era entirely. (I am only now experiencing the best games that I missed, thanks to the brilliant Game Boy Advance console and its healthy supply of retro games.) I returned in the middle of the 16-bit era, picking up a Sega Genesis during my late college years, about three years into its five-year life cycle. I remained behind with the next generation, and only got a PlayStation for Christmas in 1998, again, about three years after its release. The net effect of getting into that console so late is that there was already an established library of great games for me to choose from. My experience with the PlayStation was so monumentally life-changing that I picked up the PlayStation 2 at launch in October of 2000.

A few years later, I repeated my PlayStation experience of getting into a console late in the game, and picked up a Nintendo GameCube for the low low price of $99, which included four classic Legend of Zelda games: two from the NES era (which, as previously mentioned, I had bypassed) and two from the Nintendo 64 (which, again, I had missed altogether). In fact, one of those Nintendo 64 games, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, is widely considered to be the greatest video game of all time. I haven�t played it so I can�t comment, but my favorite video game of the modern era is somewhat different.

Which, in a convoluted way, brings us back to today. The Xbox 360 has already been released, so that�s old news. The new darlings for E3 2006 will be the PlayStation 3 and the wild card Nintendo Revolution. Though both were announced at E3 2005, this year is the first where the games will be playable (including, hopefully, Metal Gear Solid 4).

Will Sony maintain its place at the top of the console heap? After all, no company has maintained console superiority for two successive generations…at least, not until Sony came along. (Starting with the 2600, the progression has been Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Sony.) But have gamers become tired of just more of the same? Or will Nintendo pull gamer in with their new controller, which promises to change current gameplay completely? Nintendo has already stated that there is at least one more secret to the Nintendo controller that has yet to be revealed….

In any case, I will keep you posted as news leaks out over the next few weeks. Historically, many of the big news announcements have been during the Tuesday press conferences prior to the opening of the exhibit floor on Wednesday. I�ll provide a news update then, and nightly reports from the show floor. And, as with E3 2003 and 2004, I will be staying with Dave in his newly-Mac�ed guest room. As far as vacations go, it doesn�t get any better than that.

Some have accused me of having little self-control when it comes to purchases. If that�s the case, then these Katamari Damacy t-shirts could be very, very bad for me.

Rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution have been around for quite a while now. While a few can use the standard console controller, such as the fantastic Amplitude, most of them require a specialized peripheral to complete the experience: a dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution, a miniature Japanese drum for Taiko Drum Master, or bongo drums for Donkey Konga. The problem with these peripherals is that they can sometimes seem gimmicky or unnatural to use, or even somewhat unnecessary. Maybe they take some skill to learn, but more often than not, they are only good for a laugh at a party, as you watch someone jump around on a dance pad or bang on some goofy plastic drums.

So when peripheral maker Red Octane set out to make a guitar game, it is fair to be a little skeptical, thinking they would just want to whip out a quick game to sell their goofy plastic guitar. But then they selected Harmonix to develop the actual software…Harmonix, who created the aforementioned Amplitude, as well as Karaoke Revolution series. As a company, their stated purpose is “to create new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music.” So with one company making the hardware, and another working on the software, the question remained of whether Guitar Hero would end up as merely a gimmick, or as a satisfying music experience.

Wonderland has a transcript of the keynote speech from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. It provides some important context for the reasoning behind the Revolution controller, as well as Nintendo�s view of the worldwide videogame market in general. Definitely worth reading.

If you don�t know anything about the videogame world, then you may not be hip to the controversy surrounding Nintendo�s next-generation console, the Revolution. Let me catch you up in three sentences: The Revolution was revealed at E3, but the controller was not shown. Nintendo says that the controller will be revolutionary, and change how you play games. Some people think that Nintendo are geniuses, while some think they are just blowing smoke.

All caught up? Good. Here�s the Revolution controller. I have no idea what to think about it at this point, since I haven�t even read the article. My short five-second opinion: It�s a remote control that is tilt sensitive. Other than that, I have no opinion as of yet.

Well, what are you still doing here? Get reading!

Of course, everyone remembers the old Nintendo Game & Watch LCD games, and everyone knows that they were later revived with the excellent Game & Watch Gallery games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. So what�s my dream? That they would recreate the old dual-screen Game & Watch titles for the Nintendo DS. After all, the designs of the 2004 DS and the 1982 Game & Watch look strikingly similar.

For another perspective on our GTA-fueled violent society, you might want to read this article at Game Revolution.