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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs in section Gaming
Sunday, December 09, 2007
My Video Gaming History - Part I: The Commodore 64
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 09/12/2007 14:39:54Updated by Joel Dixon at 20/12/2007 13:57:25
Video games have played a big part of my life. NHL 94 encouraged a love for the sport of Ice Hockey. Samantha Fox's Strip Poker and others have introduced me to digital bewbies during my important formative years. And Distruptor for the PlayStation was an important game for me, as it was the first time that my older brother beat me to the end of the game (crushing). I've decided to do a little retrospective of my video game history, and hope that some of you will enjoy the walk down memory lane.
LOAD "*",8,1
This actually looks a lot like our system. Getting the disk drive was a huge time saver!
Excluding some generic "Game and watch" clones, the Commodore 64 was my first real introduction to video gaming - and I liked it! The Commodore was released in January of 1982 as a system designed to offer advanced hardware at a cheap(ish) price. I really took to the system (as did the rest of my family) and was sitting in front of it whenever it was "my turn". Turns got to be a bit of a problem whenever a cool game was acquired, with lots of fights between the family for play time. I can vividly remember my eldest brother waking up at 5 or 6 am before school to get a few extra hours playing California Games. I also remember feeling cheated because I was unable to wake up earlier than him!
You may have noted that I used the word "acquired" in the above paragraph - not many of our games were actually store bought. Pirating was rife - my eldest brother had a friend, who had a "contact", someone that provided us with as many copied Commodore 64 games that we could play. Those that know me now know that I am against piracy of any kind (except for amusing pirate jokes), but back in the day I didn't know any better. FastHackem fueled our piracy, allowing a game disk to be copied in 3 minutes instead of around 20.
That Commodore 64 was also life changing as it introduced me to the pastime of Basic programming. Basic in more than a name, my first program was probably something like this:
Basic Code:
> 10 PRINT "JOEL IS RAD!"
> 20 GOTO 10
> RUN
I also loved reading through the Basic books that were provided with the 64, and typing out the hundred line example programs. Armed with this extra programming knowledge, my coding skills were greatly expanded:
Basic Code:
10> FOR I = 1 TO 10(the first two lines is now an obvious loop. I had no idea what it did, but included it in my own programs because it looked cool)
20> NEXT I
30> INPUT "ENTER YOUR NAME: ", N$
40> PRINT N$; ", DID YOU KNOW THAT JOEL IS RAD?"
50> GOTO 40
RUN
For me, the Commodore 64 was the golden age of video gaming, and it kept me entertained even after we received more modern systems (such as consoles). A pictures is worth 1,000 words, so this video of 100 Commodore games should be worth a fair bit. Go to the YouTube page to see the list of games displayed.
100 Commodore games in 10 minutes
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Commodore 64
This is the 1st in the My Video Gaming History series
Part I - My Video Gaming History - Part I: The Commodore 64Part II - My Video Gaming History - Part II: The Sega Master System
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Zero Punctuation, Many Laughs
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 25/10/2007 11:51:46Updated by Joel Dixon at 15/01/2008 12:23:49
A while ago I stumbled across a series of video game reviews by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw under the title of Zero Punctuation (he speaks rather quickly). Very honest, and extremely funny, I usually watch each video a few times as they are crammed with jokes and by laughing at one joke I occasionally miss the next one.
Zero Punctuation is a must for video game fans, but still very funny for the people that aren't cool enough to catch all of the nerdy references
I'm a little behind on the videos, but about a month ago he reviewed Tomb Raider Anniversary and I found it particularly funny, and thought I'd link it. He also has some brilliant ideas for original video games!
Be warned - the occasional naughty word is included in this video.
The Escapist: Zero Punctuation - Tomb Raider Anniversary
# Posted in the Gaming section
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Xbox 360 Achievements Lead to Increased Sales
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/10/2007 09:32:10Updated by Joel Dixon at 18/10/2007 12:31:06
An interesting article came through my handy feed reader this afternoon - "Xbox 360 Achievements Lead to Higher Scores and Sales". I've made public my love for achievements before, so I actually read this item. Apart from referring to Achievements as "Accomplishments" (which shits me a little), the article did make a few interesting points:
I agree with this to a point - but it's important to remember correlation doesn't imply causation. Just because higher selling and higher rated games have a depth in Achievements - doesn't necessarily mean the Achievements the high sales and rating. I think if a game developer puts effort and planning into the achievements of a game - it's not the only factor that they're trying to get right.
Then again, if I had two next-gen systems and a game came out on all systems - I would probably buy it on the Xbox for the achievement points.
I completely agree with this point - as mentioned for Enchanted Arms - completion achievements can be a huge cop-out. I'd be happy if this research convinced a few more developers to put extra thought into the achievements they use.
But it depends on how they are counting this one (the actual source article is available for purchase, so I didn't check). If they mean 29% of games use only completion achievements - then that's no good. Put if 29% of total achievement points across all games are based on completion of a section of the game - it's a little lower than I would have thought. It's always good to receive a small chunk of achievement points for finishing a level, or game. It's when you get all of your points in this way that annoys me.
This is another interesting thought - though not true in my case. I have 5 completely unplayed Xbox 360 games, and I have taken steps to ensure I don't know what the achievements are until I start playing the game. In some cases I have a basic idea of what they'll be - but I much prefer to find out while playing the game as it makes that "achievement unlocked" much more sweeter when you're not expecting it. Like now:
sweet!
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Monday, October 08, 2007
Enchanted Arms
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 08/10/2007 13:54:09After completing Oblivion I decided to move on to the Japanese Role Playing Game of Enchanted Arms.
Boxart for the Enchanted Arms game
You take on the role of Atsuma, an "enchanter" at school with his friends, with a mysterious and powerful arm. Bad things happen, and you need to fix them (basically). As with most games in this genre, storyline is very important, and I found this story to be engaging and actually very funny in parts. Character development is a strong point (sometimes a little too strong for some, like with the un-ashamedly homosexual character Mokoto and his undying love for a school mate) and the visuals are satisfactory for a game in this era.
The in-game visuals didn't blow me away - but were more than good enough to keep me engaged in the story
A large part of the game is your fight against golems, which are essentially robot warriors. You can find or buy different types of golems and have them fight for you as well. This was a high point for me, as the different strengths and general variety of golems kept the game interesting. Of course, there were a unsurprisingly high number of robot "warriors" made in the image of a school girl, nurse, maid etc
Another important aspect of RPGs is the battle system employed, and Enchanted Arms gains points in this respect as well. You make your 4-member party up from a mix of characters and golems and battles take place in a 6 x 4 grid in which you cannot pass the halfway line. Different attack ranges, elemental attacks and the fact that hiding behind another character lessens damaged made this system fun and challenging. The biggest problem I had with battles was that there was very rarely a warning that a difficult battle was going to take place, and when you lost a battle you could either retry or quit. What's the point of having a range of golems at the ready when you can't edit your party after you've seen the type of battle you're about to have? You could runaway from a battle (but not all the time, especially with bosses) but this would cause a big health hit.
Another negative for me was the end of the game, and the achievements rewarded. Firstly, when you finish the game you can no longer progress through the world (and find extra golems) with your current party. You can save your game and use your characters for online play - but there were no more games being hosted when I looked - and multi-player seemed to be an afterthought. Basically, if you didn't save the game before you reached a particular point in the story, you are unable to go back through the game collecting golems.
This leads to another negative - all 1,000 achievement points are awarded over the course of finishing the main storyline (with a "happy ending"). Even though the game tracks the number of golems you've found - there's no achievement for finding all of the robot warriors. I feel this is a place where the developer could have provided so much more replayability to the game, but instead left the audience wanting. I guess poor achievements can be excused for release titles, and the fact the game was originally delayed a month probably explains why these kinds of things were lacking. But the biggest place where they fell down was by using a generic icon (a yellow symbol) for every achievement. This is something that would have taken a graphical artist no more than a day to fix, had achievements not been a complete afterthought.
The generic achievement icon - From Software could have done much better here with little cost
Overall, I definitely enjoyed the game - but it's a shame they didn't have enough time to finish it and polish it up a little. 3.5 out of 5
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Friday, September 28, 2007
XBLA: Texas Hold'em
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 28/09/2007 09:29:00Updated by Joel Dixon at 28/01/2008 14:51:21
My latest game review has been a month in the making because of a stupid developer's decision on the definition of a "hand type" - but more on that later.
Attempting to cash in on the huge popularity of poker, and specifically the Texas Hold'em variety, Tik Games have created this Xbox Live Arcade game.
An extremely bare bones, basic game with very little in terms of frills or features, Texas Hold'em is probably best described as a good game. When compared with other poker games on the 360 (such as World Championship Poker or World Series of Poker), this game will only match up when comparing price.
Gameplay is very basic - you have all of the essential elements of poker, but nothing more. After playing a little bit of real online poker before, I quickly missed features such as hand histories or an option to make your decision before your turn. Although gameplay is very basic, it's solid in the implementation - and also boasts connectivity with the Xbox Live Vision camera, which is pretty neat.
The single player game is next to useless, providing a place for complete novices to learn the game, as well as a few achievement points. Computer AI is very lame, and it doesn't take long to work out a system that will beat them every time.
The multi player game mode is where most serious players of this game will find their time - and the aforementioned camera as well as headset support really make the game a little extra fun. Online games exacerbates the issues with gameplay, as well a lot of waiting for people to act - but at least the opponents are not predictable. They will, occasionally, be complete knob-jockeys - but I've come to expect that.
Most of the achievements were simple to get and well thought out (like one for winning a pot with high-card, or winning an All-In bet), and the first 190 achievement points came pretty quickly. The last 10 points took me over a month to earn.
The last achievement is to be dealt one of each hand type of poker. That would have been fine, as in my 3,000 or so hands it took to complete the first 11 achievements, I had had at least one of each poker hand types: high card, pair, two pair, trips, straight, flush, full house, quads and a straight flush. The problem was, the developer stupidly decided that a royal flush is a separate hand type to a straight flush.
Now a royal flush is simply an Ace high straight flush, and not a separate type of hand. By adding this requirement for the achievement - the developer had significantly upped the difficulty. Apparently the odds of a straight flush are 1 in 72,000 - not too bad. The odds of a royal flush are 1 in 649,739 (much worse). And there's also the possibility that you may never receive a royal flush.
I'm a bit of a completion-ist - I spent a full day playing Prince of Persia to get the last achievement, and I spent a good week of solidly playing Kameo to get all of the A rankings. I ended up finding something heavy to place on my controller's A button - and let it play hands for me as I slept. 40,000 hands later - I had my royal flush and those last 10 points. Probably not worth the time, electricity, or fact that my Xbox will now die a hundred hours earlier than it would have - but once I completed 20,000 I couldn't turn back!
Overall Texas Hold'em is not a great game, it's barely above average, but it's OK if you just want a basic poker game. All considered - I don't think it's worth the money. 2.5 out of 5.
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Monday, September 17, 2007
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/09/2007 09:54:40Oblivion is the fourth game in Bethesda Softworks popular video game series The Elder Scrolls. Probably best described as a first-person role playing game, Oblivion puts you in control of a lowly prisoner that is in the middle of an epic set of circumstances.
The graphics and storyline of Oblivion are great, but what really hooked me was the free-flowing, open-ended gameplay. After the first little tutorial you are left to your own devices. You are given a goal to complete which follows the main story line, but you are free to completely ignore it. You can talk to locals to uncover smaller quests, join one of the four guilds and rise up the ranks or just walk around the towns pickpocketing people by day and breaking into homes by night.
An example of this is when I was teetering along, saving the world, when I noticed two computer characters having chat. I walked over and overheard their conversation, about a problem they were having. After initiating conversation with one of them, I was asked to help them out of their little problem. I agreed, busted a few heads, and came back to the guys and received a reward. Once finished this small side-quest I was back to saving the world (with a little extra cash).
The depth really is spectacular (I've put over 60 hours into the game, and never bothered with all of the small side quests), the storyline is engaging and amusing at times - Oblivion really deserved the "game of the year" award it was given by various publications.
About a year after it's debut, an expansion pack was released entitled "Shivering Isles". The expansion is straight-forward and can be finished in around 10 - 15 hours. Personally, I found it extremely funny, much more amusing than the base game of Oblivion (which does have its humor moments). The environment of the Shivering Isles is much different to Oblivion, which I didn't enjoy nearly as much. I preferred the regular feel of normal small towns, and probably won't go back into the Isles after earning the extra 250 achievement points it carried.
Speaking of achievements, the 1000 points are given out in a well thought out way. Some are given for the main story quest, and some for rising through the ranks of various guilds or the battle arena. This is good because you are exposed to all parts of the game. For example, I never really used much magic in my progress until I started the Mages Guild quests.
Overall, a very enjoyable game. It's also one that I would play extra hours in finishing side quests and leveling up my stats - if I didn't have a stack of 7 un-played Xbox 360 games waiting for me! 4.5 out of 5
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Saturday, July 28, 2007
XBLA: Uno
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 28/07/2007 12:46:47I recently bought a wireless headset and Xbox Live Vision Camera for my Xbox 360 - mainly because they double as a webcam for my laptop for when I leave for Canada. The Xbox Live Arcade game of Uno came free with the camera - and it's quite a nifty little game.
Uno
The card game of Uno was a favourite of mine as a youngster - even though the deck of cards was larger than my head. That popular card game is re-created excellently as an Xbox Live Arcade game, allowing 4-player online play, chat with an Xbox headset and video through the Vision camera (it'd be silly to include it with the camera if it didn't).
The graphics are un-important (although there are some nice downloadable custom decks), the music gets monotonous (but you should be listening to all of the Live teenagers bragging about pwning you) and replayability depends on how much you like playing Uno.
But if you enjoy the occasional game of Uno, the multiplayer lobby is very slick, there's room for heaps of customisation in terms of game rules, and the camera / headset support fosters an enjoyable online experience (as long as your opponents aren't all buttmunches). 4 out of 5.
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Kameo: Elements of Power
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 25/07/2007 09:28:25Updated by Joel Dixon at 28/01/2008 14:42:44
One of the games that I received when I purchased my handy-dandy Xbox 360 was Kameo: Elements of Power.
Kameo: Elements of Power cover art
The history of Kameo is somewhat interesting, and lengthy. Developed by Rare who were responsible for some of my all time favourite games (such as GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong Country) it was originally planned for the Nintendo GameCube. Once Rare was acquired by Microsoft in 2002 the game continued to be developed but for the original Xbox. Development eventually transfered to the Xbox 360, and Kameo became a launch title for the new console.
Kameo's a third-person adventure and gameplay is simple and very fun - it reminds me a little of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The main plot of the game involves collecting elemental warriors which Kameo can morph into during the game. These elemental warriors come with unique abilities that help Kameo progress through the levels and add a "cute" element.
In-game screenshot
Technically, Kameo does very well for a game with such a sordid development past - and runs very smoothly on the 360 for a launch title. The soundtrack is excellent and the controls are very responsive. The main concern most people have with the game is a very short and easy main quest. But if you try to complete all of the achievements in the game - playtime definitely increases!
600 of the achievement points are dolled out for the main quest - but the remaining points are very difficult to achieve. You can replay parts of the world which are broken up into "levels". Once you complete this level you are given a score based on the number of baddies you killed, and a ranking from A to G. There is one achievement for each level which requires an A ranking.
When I completed the first level, I was given a score of around 3,000 for the F ranking. A quick look on the Internet showed that 15,000,000 points were required for an A ranking. I had a lot of work ahead of me. Because Kameo has a combination-based scoring system, 15 million is not impossible - but it requires a lot of practice, and a perfect run at the level. I found that going for the A rankings in each level to be much more fun that completing the main quest the first time.
As an introduction to the Xbox 360, Kameo was a great start for me. In it's simplest sense - it is a very fun game, and gave me no end of enjoyment. Overall I'd give it a 4 out of 5.
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
XBLA: Prince of Persia Classic
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 18/07/2007 11:16:35While I had bought my Xbox 360 to take to Edmonton with me, I have found myself with three weeks at home (thanks to Work Permit issues) and little to do when Belinda goes out. As mentioned before a cool feature of the Xbox is the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) providing smaller games or old remakes for download at a reduced price.
When browsing through the titles on offer, looking for something small to tide me over, I stumbled on a childhood classic - Prince of Persia. A few dollars later (probably around 8 - I don't recall) I had downloaded an old masterpiece.
Title Screen
The first thing that blew me away were the amazing graphics and smooth gameplay. The original version earned a place in gaming history due to the responsive controls and character animation unparalleled at the time. Much as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time did, Prince of Persia Classic retained the elements that made the original great whilst improving the visuals and music.
Sweet!
The updated version is a true remake of the original, with the same level design and basic controls. On top of that, some really handy extras were added. Moves like running up walls and standing backflips make the game a little easier to get through in a rush. The sword fighting also received a bit of an update - but still retaining the old controls.
When combined with 200 achievement points - it's a must have for your game library. And those familiar with the game may find a challenge they weren't expecting. One of the achievements is to finish the entire game within the hour, without dying once (the regular game is happy if you die - you can take as many lives as you want so long as you finish within the hour). Man, it's not easy! But unlike some games, it's not dodgy and unresponsive controls, it's generally lack of patience and concentration.
4 out of 5
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
Monday, July 16, 2007
Yet another new addition
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 16/07/2007 04:41:00Updated by Joel Dixon at 23/05/2008 23:26:15
While it may not be as important as other recent additions to our family, I am now the proud owner of an XBox 360.
Growing up I was a Sega fanboy, owning a Master System 2 and then a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in North America). The Mega Drive is the system that helped introduce me to the sport of ice hockey.
In my early high school years the Sega Saturn didn't look that great and a lot of gaming interest was in the Sony PlayStation, which I subsequently bought. The games were great and it wasn't a hard decision to get a PlayStation 2 when it came out.
The PlayStations have served me well, with such great game series as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Metal Gear Solid and EA Sport's NHL series.
When the "next gen" series of video game consoles were announced, I kept a keen eye on the PlayStation 3. After it's $1,000+ priced release a few months ago I figured I'd wait a year before buying it at a reduced price.
Since then, I made plans to work in Canada and realised that I would probably have a lot of spare time on my hands after work and on weekends (and no car). At around the same time, a co-worker was selling his Premium Xbox 360 with 4 games for $350 (bargin).
I took the Xbox home and give it a quick trial - and I love it. In today's gaming climate where most of the games are ported to all available gaming platforms, the idea of a "system exclusive" game is not as important. The 360 has a large number of games available and the controller / system design seem fine. The real place where the 360 has impressed me is Xbox LIVE and the Xbox Dashboard (the console's GUI to control gaming, media, marketplace (purchasing online) and Xbox LIVE).
Firstly, I hate online gaming. Basically, the Internet is full of knob jockeys. I've tried online gaming with NHL games a few years ago, and the results were distinctly un-fun. This Penny Arcade comic explains my point perfectly (profanity warning). The reason I love Xbox LIVE (Microsoft's online gaming and content delivery service) is Gamer Scores and Xbox LIVE Arcade.
The icon that comes on-screen when an achievement is unlocked.
I loved the feeling of accomplishment after playing a game until 100% completion - but once I stopped playing the game, the achievement was pretty much forgotton. Xbox LIVE introduces "Achievements" which are unlocked by performing certain actions in every Xbox game, and contribute a numerical score known as your Gamer Score. Some of the achievements are straight forward (finish the main story line, win x games online), while some are decidedly more difficult (receive one of each hand type in Texas Hold'em - which counts a Royal Flush as a seperate hand to a straight flush). Now when you complete a game, your gamer score is updated (viewable by every other Xbox gamer - and also online). I'm sure there's some kind endorphin released when that wondrous "Achievement Unlocked" icon is shown on my screen! The other great thing about Xbox LIVE is the Xbox LIVE Arcade, providing smaller, downloadable games such as Doom, Prince of Persia and Uno recreated for Xbox hardware, for a relatively cheap price.
I think I might still buy a PlayStation 3 one day (at least a year from now), but in the mean time I am very impressed with my Xbox 360.
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
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