August 17, 2007
MTV Rocks Gaming World with Cash
My ongoing fascination with Rock Band takes another turn with this bit of news:
GameDaily BIZ: MTV to Invest ‘Well Over’ $500 Million in Video Game Sector
While this half-a-billion dollar spending spree isn’t specific to Rock Band, there’s no doubt that MTV sees games as a the cultural gateway to younger consumers. Either that, or they just have finally admitted that they don’t know music anymore. Or maybe even that music just doesn’t carry the same hip cachet it used to.
On the other hand, this may bode ill for an endless series of games based on shows like The Real World.
My bet, and the GameDaily article suggests the same thing, is that Rock Band sits at the center of the whole new approach to getting music to the masses. You don’t have to be much of a futurist to see a day where a large amount of music, new and old, is consumed during social gatherings in the home. People surf through millions of songs ala iTunes, and select the music they want to sing and play along to. It would be like the old days when families would gather around the radio to listen to favorite shows crossed with a karaoke bar.
And as far as I’m concerned, this is a good thing. Lets face it, as cool as the iPod is, it’s slowly ruining music. Everyone walks around wired into their own private soundscape. It’s getting more and more rare that anyone actually shares music–and no, I don’t mean file sharing. I mean more than one person actually listening to the same song at the same time. Kids driving around listening to cassette tapes, listening parties gathered around the hifi and even soothing background music of a radio tuned in while mom makes dinner are as quaint as the sock hop.
This introverted music world that Apple has helped create (and Sony, with their Walkman got started) is beginning to harvest its own butter fruit. Say what you will about loner gamers playing by themselves. But if you look at games, they have been on this long trajectory for years to bring people to play together.
So, here we have MTV putting buckets of cash down. Maybe they are just trying to capitalize on the next big thing. Or, maybe they get it. And maybe they will help bring music back as something we do together.
I’ll have my Rock Band rig set up as soon as I can get a hold of it. And, yes, you are invited over to play.
August 3, 2007
Videogames Killed the Radio Star
While walking through the grocery store last, I overheard a conversation between a kid, who must have been about 12, and his mom. The store’s loudspeaker was playing music when the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” came on.
“I can play this song great!” the kid enthused.
“Really,” his mom murmered. Then she said something about liking Sting.
“Yeah,” continued the kid. “I played it in Guitar Hero.”
Figure this kid was born around 1995 and that means he’s gloating about playing a song that hit the airwaves 16 years before he was born. This elementary-age kid was gushing over a song recorded almost 30 years ago.
And this is why MTV bought Harmonix.
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July 28, 2007
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Commerce
Say what you will about spin offs of spin offs of spin offs. Lucas has made the usual same-old-thing into a fresh form of artistry. No, I’m not talking about the Star Wars films or the toys or the cartoons or even the bedsheets. I mean LEGO Indiana Jones.
If you haven’t been following along, LEGO produced a series of very popular building sets based on the long-in-the-tooth film series. When these became a hit, people started remaking the entire Star Wars epic by animating the miniature figures, frame by frame.
Eventually, Lucas figured out that this was a good idea and then made a very popular, and frankly very good, set of games based on the LEGO Star Wars motif.
So, bringing Indy to LEGO, or LEGO to Indy, makes perfect sense. This game will be a smash hit just based on the idea. Why not play through the Indiana Jones movies in LEGO? This is toy cinema meets toy culture. And it makes for the most sensible mashup possible.
Once again, videogames are just there to take advantage of the cultural wave.
July 20, 2007
E3 Leftovers
A week after the Electronic Entertainment Expo has wrapped and a safe distance away from the hype and free drinks, I can safely sit back and reflect on the games at the show.
While it is traditional to assign winners and losers, I’m skipping that to just provide a quick tour of the stuff that looked like it would be fun. Like a first grade soccer team, I want everyone to feel like a winner.
Luckily, there was more than enough to stop and play.Let’s start out with some of the big ones:
July 12, 2007
E3: It’s Getting Better All The Time
The videogame industry apparently knows that it is in a rut.
But not for long.
Two-and-a-half days of looking at videogames at E3, and
another day to go, and I keep hearing over and over about interesting ideas and
publishers finally willing to take some risk to try and come up with a best
seller.
Sony Online’s The Agency dumps the swords and sorcery stuff
that has dominated the massively multiplayer online game world to let people
play in the world of spies and espionage. Cool.
Hannah Montana: Music Jam is obviously targeted toward tween
girls. But don’t be surprised when dad sneaks off with the DS for the chance to
record a four-track drums and bass master piece. Very cool.
Legendary: The Box looks like your average first-person
shooter. Except it’s a first-person shooter in a world filled with armed
opponents and legendary monsters such as werewolves and giant golems built from
concrete and asphalt. This makes the fights unbelievably hectic and
complicated. But in a suspenseful way. Again, cool.
Sure, I’ve seen plenty of derivative junk. Some of it
actually might be a lot of fun to play. The point is, new ideas, genres and refinements
continue to float up. If you look for some sort of comprehensive theme to wrap
up this year’s show it would be “try it.” In years past the theme has been “MMO”
or first-person shooter or casual games. Not this time. It’s the refreshing
winds of change blowing in, publishers looking for the next big thing and
developers trying to deliver it.
Death by Press Conference
Talking about games is boring.
As much as it pains me to say so, being a person who spends an inordinate amount of time talking about videogames, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to after spending all day yesterday at E3.
After attending the Microsoft press conference on Tuesday night, I was sort of wondering whether Halo 3 would be any good. They showed a few clips of the game, but mostly just talked about how cool it was going to be. Sure, whatever.
After seeing it in action Wednesday afternoon, I assure you that it will be awesome. Take it from a cynical, cranking, seen-it-all, sarcastic and grumpy game journalist–if you liked Halo or Halo 2, you will be thrilled with Halo 3. I know I am. >> MORE
July 11, 2007
E3: Here we go again
Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I’m just in the groove of the new, much smaller and toned-down E3, but after spending the evening at Microsoft’s press conference and then getting a sneak preview of what should be Sony’s PS3 blockbuster Killzone 2, I’m satisfied, but nowhere near excited. >> MORE
July 6, 2007
Taking E3 to 11
Next week the videogame new year starts. And for the first time it’s in July.
For 12 years, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, threw open it’s doors to tens of thousands of game retailers, jouranlists, hangers on and fan clever enough to sneak it. It was a bachanal of marketing and hype and the one point on the calendar you could count on game companies to be on their best behavior, trying as hard as possible to convinced everyone that their new games would be the next great thing.
So, you’d go to E3 every year to see what was new.
This year E3 is going to be maybe a 10th the size it used to be, has moved from LA to Santa Monica and it’s going to be in July.
E3 Media & Business Summit 2007
While everything else seems to have changed, E3 still marks the beginning of a new cycle of game product. While the vast majority of interesting new games have been announced and previewed before E3, E3 makes it official. And for someone like me, this will be my first chance to check out Rock Band, play Assassin’s Creed and, I hope, get my hands on LittleBigPlanet.
This marks my 11th E3, and with all due respect to Spinal Tap, I hope that the new E3 turns out to be the new and improved E3 by turning it up one more.
I’ll let you know next week1
June 21, 2007
iPhones and Games
My friends know that I’ve long predicted that the iPhone wouldn’t be the huge hit everyone seems to think it will be. I’m sure it will do fine. It just wont change the cell phone market as we know it.
Happily, today, i discovered I’m not alone, as David Platt notes on his blog:
The designers and technophiles who encouraged development of the iPhone have fallen into the trap of all overreaching hardware and software designers; thinking that their users are like themselves. As I expound in great detail in my book Why Software Sucks (Addison-Wesley, 2006, http://www.whysoftwaresucks.com/) your user is not you.
I bring this up not just to bash on Apple but to raise a point that is not heard enough around gaming:
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June 14, 2007
Goofing Off
I suppose I could be playing Forza Motorsport 2 on my Xbox 360. Instead, I’ve been lounging around, enjoying some casual games from Playfirst. Dream Chronicles manages a Myst-lite, providing a lush style of illustration most appropriate for a ladies lingerie department, or maybe a tea room, with a whimsical story of exploring a dreamworld in search of a lost husband. The simple seek and click play won’t cause you to loose any sleep. Then again, it does provide the perfect brain-break from the tedious grind of work.
Chocolatier is a “resource management sim”, meaning that you win the game through shrewd buying and selling of goods. In this case, you must build a fine chocolate empire by traveling the globe, sourcing the best ingredients at the lowest prices, collecting new recipes and sorting out the shifting tastes of the consuming public. What makes Chocolatier unique is its manufacturing phase, which requires a quick and steady mouse finger to run the chocolate machine at its highest potential. Combining this mini-arcade/puzzle game in what is otherwise a bean-counters delight, makes the game that much more alluring.
June 13, 2007
Play Games on the Mac. Really?
As a long time Mac user, this news should have exited me:
EA BRINGS HIT PORTFOLIO TO APPLE MAC OS X
Redwood Shores, Calif., – June 11, 2007 – Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a commitment to bring its portfolio of hit games to Mac OS X. The first EA Mac titles slated to ship this summer include the wizarding adventure Harry Potter
Actually, it kind of left me cold. For one reason, I recently abonded my PowerBook that I’ve lugged around for the past five years for a new XP machine. Secondly, after decades of indeifference to Mac gamers, I can’t get all excited that Steve Jobs finally cares. Shoot, I’ve had a PC on my desk at home for 10 years now for one simple reason–I couldn’t play the games I wanted on my Mac.
So, goodbey Apple. My PowerBook limps to the shelf as a backup machine, my iPod is broken and I wont be buying an iPhone. I’ve been co opted. I’m on Bill’s team now. And it’s because he had the sense to support games way back when.
Anyway, thanks to my new PC-friendly attitude, I can now synch my Windows Mobile Smart Phone with my laptop, download and play just about any game on the market and I can use cool tools like:
This microcompact drive allows me to shove over a 100gb of data into a suit pocket. Best of all, it has some sort of virtual file system that lets me install games on it and then run those games on my laptop, on my home computer or even a computer at work (when no one is looking). It’s very cool and priced mind bogglingly low.
I know, I know. Everything the FreeAgent does for a PC the Mac can do out of the box with any old USB drive. So, sure, I miss my Mac. But when I sit down to play Command and Conquer 3 on my laptop, it’s hard to shed a tear over that glassy Apple design.