If you aren’t wooting, our relationship is over

January 31st, 2009 •
Tags: deals, shopping, Tech, woot, woot.com

I’ve enjoyed these last couple of weeks. I really have. We really have a lot in common. I assume we have at least a little in common too; otherwise, why would you be here? But, there’s a problem: you’ll never understand my daily pilgrimage to the various woot sites to find today’s insane deal. You can’t understand because you just aren’t wooting yourself! You won’t know what it means to wake up and see the lights on the page meaning two things:

1. It’s a woot-off.
2. You’re not going to get anything accomplished today.

I feel your pain. I once was an innocent babe with no concept of what woot was. Luckily, there is something you can do to salvage our relationship. Check out woot.com, sellout.woot, wine.woot, and shirt.woot today to see what the deals are. You may not see anything you like so keep checking throughout the upcoming week. If you’re a geek (and you must be) you are bound to find something within a week’s time that you absolutely must have and is 30% cheaper than any other online retailer.

If you can’t learn and come to understand my relationship with woot, I’m afraid we will have to cut this whole thing off right here. That’s right, you’re going to need to find another blog. I just can’t think of another way out of this!

Actually, you’re welcome to stick around, woot-fan or not, but you should really check it out. I can’t think of anyone I’ve told about it who didn’t immediately become addicted. Enjoy!

Weekend PC gaming deals 1/31/09

January 31st, 2009 •
Tags: deals, FPS, Max Payne, pc gaming, Rockstar, shooters, Unreal Tournament 3

Photo by TW Collins of flickr

This weekend has brought with it a couple of cool deals on PC games. The first is GoGamer.com‘s 48-hour Madness Sale that brings a buttload of first-person shooter deals. My pick is Unreal Tournament 3 for $9.90, but there are a number of other great titles like F.E.A.R., S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and P.A.I.N.K.I.L.L.E.R. Hmm. Maybe that last one isn’t an acronym after all…

The next deal comes to us via Steam. This weekend, the Rockstar library is 30%. If you haven’t tried GTA IV, this is your chance to get it for $35. It’s also a great opportunity to go back a few years and get both of the Max Payne games (which are fantastic) for $10.50.

Recession could bring about another “dark age” for gamers

January 30th, 2009 • 2 comments
Tags: Burnout Paradise, DLC, economy, Electronic Arts, movie games, recession, Rock Band, sequels

Electronic Arts was on fire last year with a number of unique and stellar titles. This was a pretty pleasant surprise for most gamers since recently EA has been known for churning out sequels, roster updates for sports titles, and licensed games. In fact, EA suffered from something of a backlash at the hands of hardcore gamers not too long ago; many of them were tired of being bombarded with “safe” releases from EA who was the largest game publisher at that time. It seems the publisher has now found its way, and, although they still release lots of drivel, there are some risk-taking gems that temper their lineup from time to time.

Now, we face a worldwide economic recession. There are arguments from both sides as to whether or not the video games industry will be affected. Most can agree that the industry has not been affected profoundly as other sectors of the economy have. There is no doubt that things are at least tightening up—developers are closing up shop, laying off workers, and halting projects. Companies across the spectrum are playing it safe and cutting back. Will this recession take us back to the all-too-recent days of sequels, updated rosters, and movie adaptations?

I, for one, don’t want to go back to those days. If they do return, I can assure publishers and developers that I won’t be purchasing many of their titles. Movie games are notoriously bad (in most cases). Sequels are easy money. Roster updates should never be anything but downloadable content at this point since all current consoles are capable of this.

The hardware makers have all been saying that this console generation will start a ten-year cycle—twice the length of the cycle that has been in place virtually since the days of the NES. It is a smart move on their part. The platforms are all very mature and can withstand a longer cycle this time around. Our consoles are delivering a gaming experience that is very complete (with the possible exception of Wii online play). Why replace the platform when it is perfectly capable of delivering the experience users crave? This is also a sound strategy considering the current economic climate. Software developers could learn a lot from this approach.

Quake 3 Rally is a racing game built on top of an FPS

If developers can stop thinking of their games as single encapsulated experiences, games themselves can also become platforms. We don’t need a new game engine every time a developer wants to tell a new story. We don’t need a $60 boxed title to update a years worth of roster shakeups. We don’t even necessarily need a new engine to deliver a new game type (proven by the modding communities that have blossomed around popular PC games). Most of all, we certainly don’t need an endless stream of easy-money titles from now until the economy is back on its feet. This strategy of games as platforms has already been put into practice by a few smart developers.

Harmonix has released two excellent music titles in Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Yes, the sequel was just released this past year, but Harmonix has already stated they will not be releasing a new edition in 2009. However, the Rock Band music library is updated weekly with new tracks that can be purchased and downloaded over Xbox Live. I venture a guess I have spent more money downloading new tracks than I have on the game itself. This is monumental considering the game with instruments was somewhere in the neighborhood of $180. I’m sure the development time spent on adapting a song to the Rock Band platform is minimal in comparison the time invested in developing a new sequel to the game. I speak for myself and many others like me in saying I do not feel a burning need for additional features to justify a new sequel to the game this year or even next for that matter. I am perfectly satisfied purchasing new songs.

The much-anticipated Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars DLC includes this gem

Burnout Paradise is pretty much the perfect arcade racing game in my estimation. I am not a fan of racing games in general and definitely not a “car guy.” This makes it all the more amazing that I have poured hours upon hours into this game and still enjoy it immensely in spite of it having been released last year and my notoriously short attention span. Criterion, the game’s developer, has already come through with some free downloadable content even going so far as to add motorcycles to the game! Their plans for the upcoming year include some really exciting DLC that expands the game in ways that have traditionally only been done through new boxed releases.

All current-gen consoles are capable of receiving downloadable updates to games. They all have a marketplace setup to take payments for said downloads. In this time of economic strife, rather than devoting valuable time and energy to adding inane features and minor graphical updates, or worse still to adapting the hottest new family film, why not flesh out some of the fantastic platforms that are already out there in gamers’ homes. This model is cheaper for developers, cheaper and more convenient for gamers, and may just be the stimulus package the industry needs to keep it strong in this climate of counting pennies and cutting corners. Expanding existing games may be the best way to avoid the new gaming “dark age.”

LOTR: Online Free Trial

January 30th, 2009 •
Tags: games, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings Online, LOTR, Massively multiplayer online game, MMORPG, online games, Role-playing game, Roleplaying, RPGs, Warhammer

Turbine, developer of Lord of the Rings: Online, has opened up a 10-day free trial for their popular MMORPG. I have made it a habit to at least try many of the MMO‘s (RPG or not) that have been released pretty much since the beginning of graphical MMOs. I have found that most of them failed me for one reason or another. I thoroughly enjoyed WoW and Warhammer, but I have yet to try this one. My only barrier has been initial cost; I am really tired of forking over $50 for a game I really can’t play because I don’t enjoy it enough to justify the subscription fee. Thanks to Turbine for the opportunity to kick the tires on this one for free!

Earthbound: A profession of love

January 29th, 2009 • 1 comment
Tags: Earthbound, Final Fantasy, Game, Mother, Ness, Nintendo, Nintendo of America, SNES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Video game, video games

Once upon a time, Nintendo released a game called Earthbound for the Super NES. Unless you were gaming back in the 16-bit era, you may never have heard of the game. It stars you as a young boy called Ness who has been chosen to save the future from the mighty villain Giygas.

Let’s back up a bit. My awakening to the RPG genre was Final Fantasy II for the Super NES—in its own right a pretty fantastic game. This was the fourth game in the series but the second released here in the States. I completely enjoyed it, and this really was an awakening. For the console gamer at this time, there was no such thing as a “Western RPG.” RPGs were all from Japan. Unfortunately, Japanese RPGs all tend to be very… derivative. I would estimate at least 90% of JRPGs still today are swords and sorcery. This was even more so in the olden days. Despite all this, I fell in love with the genre and followed in closely throughout the console life of the SNES and beyond.

About six months prior to the release of the original PlayStation, Earthbound was released in North America. The game shipped in an oversized box with a strategy guide included. It came on the scene to a fair bit of critical acclaim, but it ultimately failed. Many claim this was due to miss-marketing by Nintendo. The marketing was rather strange. They seemed very interested in playing up how gross the game was. The game itself didn’t really feature this prominently, and this is certainly not what it is remembered for.

Regardless of the reason, Earthbound was a failure for Nintendo in the States. It has come to light since its release that the first game in the series (Earthbound was localized from the Japanese title Mother 2.) was completely localized for the US by Nintendo but never released. A collector actually purchased a prototype and made the Nintendo localization available to players via the magic of emulation. It seems Nintendo has never forgiven the failure of the original. A number of Mother releases have been shunned by the company for localization: the Gameboy Advance saw the release of Mother 1+2, a single cart containing the first two titles in the series, as well as Mother 3.

The release of Mother 3 ushered in something of a firestorm of fan activity here in the United States. Starmen.net is the home of Earthbound fans. Its founder Reid Young and the community have organized a number of stunts to attempt to gain the attention of Nintendo of America and to alert them of the interest in more US releases from the series. None of these stunts has been successful in achieving their ultimate goal. As a result, members of the Starmen.net community decided to end-run Nintendo by releasing a fan-made translation of the latest game in the series. This translation is now complete and available. It is also fantastically authentic!

Now that you have a quick history of Earthbound, you may wonder, “What could cause a game released nearly 15 years ago to still have such an active and rabid fanbase?” The possible answers are many. These are the aspects of the game that make it so enduring for me:

1. Its setting is different from most JRPGs- Earthbound is set in the modern world we all know albeit with some extras thrown into the mix. It is a fantastical re-imagining of our modern world.
2. People can identify with what’s happening- This setting allows for the game to feature concepts we all know as part of our culture. You’ll find arcades, vending machines, shopping malls, ATMs, telephones, baseball bats, and a plethora of other everyday objects.
3. It gives players a sandbox world- Since the setting is very similar to modern life, the fantastical elements are much more satisfying. In reality, a young boy would never wander off on his own to embark on an epic adventure, but it happens in Earthbound. He is parented from afar; he calls his mom for comfort; and his dad deposits money in his bank account when he levels up. Players are given a world much like their own but much more freedom than reality allows.
4. The game is light-hearted and fun- Excellent and tasteful humor abounds in the game. The actual in-game humor is nothing like the gross-out stuff played up by the marketing campaign.
5. Great music- Earthbound’s score is nothing like that of the Final Fantasy series, but it really conveys the whimsical charm of the game. It’s also quite catchy.
6. Innovative storytelling methods- The best example I can recall is the silly font used for Mr. Saturn to convey he is speaking another language.

This article may seem a bit more reverent than many I write. There are few games that really hold a special place in my heart; Earthbound is among these. In general, I tend to cheer for the underdog. Maybe that is another reason I still love and remember Earthbound to this day. It cast off many of the tropes of the genre opting instead to go its own way. It may have failed, but it is definitely a failure I can admire.

Apple plans “Premium” games section on iTunes

January 29th, 2009 •
Tags: Apple, AppStore, games, iPhone, itunes, premium games

Complaints leveled at the iTunes app store by developers are that any app priced over 99 cents risks being overshadowed by the plethora of quick and cheap apps. I have to admit it takes much less deliberation to decide if I should fork over a buck for a game. A five-dollar or more game receives a little more thought. This is natural, and I’m not sure there is any way to avoid it.

Apple has decided the best remedy is to separate so-called “premium” games from the standard games section of the store. The only problem is that the new division of the store is said to be limited to large publisher. Fans of indie games and developers will be a little miffed to say the least. The app store has really leveled the playing field to allow small-time developers to compete against the larger developers. It would really be a shame to see all that go out the window.

Thanks to Cult of Mac for the heads-up.

Apple To Open $19.99 ‘Premium’ Game Area

Organizing Twitter with hashtags

January 28th, 2009 • 7 comments
Tags: hashtags, tagging, twitter

The use of hashtags is a valuable skill for serious Twitter users. They aren’t really very difficult to grasp and use, and they really pay off. The challenge is to educate as many people as possible about the use of hashtags so that their use becomes more widespread, and they will be more valuable to everyone in the community.

You may have seen a user include a number sign (#) directly followed by a word in one of their tweets. This is a hashtag in use. The user is tagging his tweet with that word. These tags are linked by most Twitter clients to the search page for that word which will find for you other tweets with the same tag. This is often used in the case of large events. Livebloggers create a hashtag, inform others, and use it on every tweet that is related to the event. For example, the hashtag for the inauguration was #inaug09. Keep in mind there is nothing magical about that particular tag except that it links to a search for other tweets with the tag included. The tag could just have easily been #inauguration; in fact, it was. Some users decided on the tag #inaug09 while others used the tag #inauguration. I would probably favor the former since it is a little shorter while still clear, but one is just as valid as the other.

There is no process associated with creating a hashtag. Just include it in a post, and it is created. It’s value will come mostly from others using it. However, even if you are the only user to ever use a hashtag, it can still have immense value. My wife (her Twitter is @tiffypooh in case you’re wondering) was recently captivated by the We Are One inaugural celebration. She could have wasted space in each tweet to specify the event she was tweeting about, or she could have left it ambiguous and just included the information she wanted to get across. Instead, she created a hashtag (#weareone) and included that in every post. Not only was this a way to organize Twitter as a whole (at least if others used her tag), but it was a short way to let her readers know what she was talking about. This eases the pain of having to duplicate so much information in each little 140-character message.

Here is my suggested use of hashtags. This is a pretty open-ended concept so there are certainly other ways to use it. Use them however you wish, but if you don’t know what to do with them, try following these steps:

1. Check to see if there is already a hashtag for your topic. Hashtags become more valuable as more people use them. Don’t create a hashtag unless there aren’t any for what you’re talking about or you really think the ones that exist are terrible. If a good one exists, simply write your post and include it somewhere. If a hashtag does not exist…
2. Come up with a good hashtag for your topic. It should be short but easily recognizable even by a user who hasn’t been told explicitly its meaning.
3. Introduce your hashtag by telling your followers what it is for and asking them to use it in their messages on the same subject. Be sure you actually include the hashtag in this message.
4. Write your tweets on the subject and include the tag. You may include it in the context of the message like this: “I’m so excited about the #weareone inaugural celebration!” Alternately, you may just want to tack it on to the end like this: “The mix of people and performers is so ecclectic. I love that so many different people are excited! #weareone”

Hashtags are incredibly useful They are currently used only by a small percentage of the Twitter community. Luckily, a small percentage of the Twitter community is quite a lot of people. This means you can still get a lot out of using tags both in your own tweets and to find topics you want to see on Twitter.

If you like this post, please follow me on Twitter @ twitter.com/raddevon. For more posts like this, subscribe to the raddevon.com RSS feed (or maybe you only want the Internet category feed).

Web site offers new ways to browse Netflix InstantWatch

January 28th, 2009 •
Tags: instantwatch, movie, Netflix, streaming, Video

ReadWriteWeb has discovered a new way to browse Netflix InstantWatch titles. I am a huge fan of the InstantWatch system. It always seems that when I have time to watch a movie, either my discs are still in transit or I’m not in the mood for the movie I have. Without InstantWatch, I may have already ditched Netflix even though I think it is an excellent service even if the only offering were discs by mail. There is nothing like the convenience of being able to sit down and watch any time I please. The newly launched Xbox 360 integration is icing on the cake.

One of my biggest complaints about Netflix in general is that browsing for movies is very inflexible. For instance, while browsing Blu-ray movies, I can’t filter by genre. In the InstantWatch section, it seems there are too few ways to separate the good from the bad. In short, any site that will make it easier for me to find cool stuff on InstantWatch is a site that gets tagged in my delicious. Instantwatcher.com offers just that. I’m already loving the “Highest rated” list and the ability to call up a random title.

NetFlix InstantWatcher: A Netflix Mashup for Impatient People

Review: Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook

January 27th, 2009 •
Tags: Aspire One, Computers, Dell, Dell Inspiron Mini 9, Linux, netbooks, reviews, Solid-state drive, Ubuntu

I purchased the entry model of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for my daughter for Christmas. I am not among those hanging on every morsel of netbook news out there. I’m interested in the relatively new netbook market, but I don’t really think the form factor is for me. I did think it would be a perfect gift for my daughter, though, since she has small hands and needs a smaller notebook. Also, she is very young and this is a first computer.

I can compare the Dell only to the Acer Aspire One as it is the only other netbook I have first-hand experience with. A few of these have been purchased for colleagues by my employer. A notebook of this size is very pleasing to look at and to hold. Of course, the screen resolution makes it difficult to do much with it, but this could be expected from this type of product. The product is decked out in piano black and that faux-aluminum silver plasic that seems to be all the rage among notebook manufacturers. It’s really quite ugly, but I didn’t really expect much in that regard either.

My number one issue with this netbook is the battery placement. The battery is inside the lid of the computer just behind the keyboard. I would venture a guess that Dell placed the battery this way to maintain the form of the computer. The Aspire One has a battery that hangs a little off the back of the notebook. The problem with Dell’s placement is that it leaves very little room for the keyboard which would already have been cramped by nature of the fact the computer is so small. The major compromise is that the apostrophe (‘) is moved from directly to the right of the semicolon down to the bottom of the keyboard. Should you ever forget about this foul arrangement and attempt to place an apostrophe, you will instead press the “Enter” key. I just hope you weren’t typing in any sort of field that takes the “Enter” key as anything but a line break. If you’re typing an IM or entering text in a single-line web form, your data is already off to the races!

Another minor issue is the trackpad. I’m unsure if this problem may be a behavior of the OS (Ubuntu Linux) or an attempt at a hardware compensation for the trackpad’s diminutive height. The mouse pointer tracks much more quickly vertically than it does horizontally. The effect is very disorienting and really takes some adjustment.

My last complaint is that the 4GB SSD is really very small. I realize I chose the most basic hardware package, but I believe this notebook should not have been made available with less than 8GB of solid state memory.

On the up side, the OS is very snappy in spite of the system’s specs. Dell has even included some custom extra software to make the netbook experience more complete. Puzzling is the install of several applications designed for playing and burning CDs… by default… on a computer with no optical drive. Hmm.

I’m not very happy with this particular netbook. For my daughter’s part, she loves it, but I really wish I had chosen a different option for her. It should be good enough to get her started in computing and maybe provide her with some learning opportunities over the next couple of years, but I unfortunately cannot recommend it.

This is the joystick dreams are made of

January 27th, 2009 • 2 comments
Tags: Hori, Joystick, video games, Xbox 360

I have owned a couple of Hori joysticks in the past (back in the PSOne days). They are beasts. You won’t break them; they break you. They are the most fantastic console joysticks I have ever used. They laugh at kryptonite and eat Hattori Hanzo katanas for breakfast. This new joystick for the Xbox 360 looks to have the same build quality as those old Hori sticks I remember fondly, but it also has some style. Forget MadCatzzzzzzzz. This is the joystick for your 360 fighting enjoyment. Thanks to Kotaku for pointing this one out.

Badass 360 Arcade Stick, Made From The Bones Of Real Arcade Sticks