Adventure

Day of the Tentacle

It might appear that adventure games are a subgenre of action adventure (or vice versa) because both involve exploration and item collection. However, where action adventure games populate their worlds with enemies, adventure games use puzzles, and that proves to be a game-changer. In adventure games, the fobs you collect are used to solve the puzzles, so if you don’t have the right stuff, you can’t really play the game. So genre entries end up being more about scouring the environment for any interactive item, no matter how small, and then puzzling over the random debris in your pockets (in case it’s not intuitively obvious to you that the best way to traverse a zip line is using a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle).

Notable examples
• The Curse of Monkey Island
• Day of the Tentacle
• Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Tags:   Feature · genreNo Comments.

The non-gamers who read this blog are here for many reasons. Some are family and obligated, some are friends who follow it as the sole sign that I’m not dead yet, and some just happened to stumble by while looking for something else. However, for all their differences, all these people share one complaint in common: they have no idea what I’m talking about. Gaming is an insular little hobby. We have our own jargon and incestuous little comparisons that make perfect sense if you’ve been following the hobby for a decade, but everyone else is out in the cold. So in the spirit of Nintendo’s blue ocean strategy (see, I did it again right there), this week we’ll be doing some outreach to the non-addicted community. This week we’ll be looking at gaming genres: what they’re good for, why we use them, and a primer for some of the more ubiquitous genres that’ll be suitable for linking in future reviews.

Tags:   Feature · genreNo Comments.

Nme.com has reported that, in a press conference to promote an upcoming documentary, Jack White and Jimmy Page have criticized the Guitar Hero franchise. The respective luminaries of The White Stripes and Led Zepplin, are upset that video games are introducing kids to music.

Said White, “It’s depressing to have a label come and tell you that [Guitar Hero] is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music…if you have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that’s a little sad.” Page agreed, adding that he couldn’t imagine learning anything significant about music from video games.

Isn’t it nice for the haters that one side can claim that video games teach kids how to commit murder while others can whine that they teach no practical skills at all? Of course, indulging that debate is missing the real point of Guitar Hero. As Geneforge developer Jeff Vogel pointed out on his blog, “Playing [games like Guitar Hero] is not a less involved way of making music. It is a more involved way of LISTENING to music.” If anything, White and Page should appreciate their growing mindshare as well as the room for them in the growing medium. Oh well, I guess no good press goes unpunished.

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That’s right! He’s single, Ladies!

Following up on the Tingle teaser seen in Famitsu two weeks ago, Nintendo has announced that the fairy-obsessed mapmaker from Majora’s Mask is getting a second game. It seems that Nintendo is trying to emphasize that Tingle doesn’t solely follow around little boys, because his upcoming game is entitled Irozuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip (loosely translated as “Tingle the Nubile’s Balloon Trip of Love” by 1up) and will follow Tingle’s quest to score a lady love. Tingle will hunt for jobs, spend his hard earned cash on gifts, and be thrown into jail for being a pervert–probably in that order.

Nintendo is promoting the impending game with a downloadable DSIware toolkit. The kit includes a calculator for tracking your rupee budget and a slideshow of Tingle dancing to freaky music, among other things. Perhaps the best part is an alarm clock that uses a selection of Tingle’s grunts as the alert. I don’t know about you, but I’d have trouble sleeping if there was any sign that Tingle was standing over me and grunting.

Tags:   DSi · Nintendo · TingleNo Comments.

Punch-Out!! is an excellent franchise retread, if a merely competent game. The attempt to integrate the Wii’s gestural controls will do little to entice casual gamers past the first handful of fights as the steep difficulty curve was clearly designed with a controller in mind. All in all, it’s game that’s low on content, but high on nostalgia.

Tags:   next level games · Nintendo · Punch-Out!! · WiiNo Comments.

Where otaku write crossover fan fiction, gamers write mods and make custom maps; though there’s usually less yaoi in the latter. Enthusiast Outatime has been working on an adaptation of Resident Evil 3’s environments in Left 4 Dead (via Evil Avatar). The enterprising mapper hopes to build Raccoon City and its Police Department, clock tower, hospital, park, and factory.

Only the city streets have been built so far, and they’re still in alpha, but the project is off the ground as proof of concept. Outatime also hopes to develop and add a Nemesis model to replace Tanks, though this feature will exist pending Capcom’s permission. Although that permission may never come, it’s heartening that Outatime has been in contact with the developer and hasn’t yet been served a cease and desist. Drop by L4Dmaps to download the map, or check out the video to see if it meets your standards for T-Virus zombie authenticity.

Tags:   evil avatar · Left 4 Dead · resident evil 31 Comment

Blizzard announced about a week ago that the World of Warcraft is shrinking, albeit not the way you would expect. The extraordinarily popular MMORPG has finally become so large that Blizzard will be speeding up mounts, as well as the rate at which you can get them.

For the unfamiliar, mounts improve a player’s basic movement speed (thereby helping your fiancee to finish “one last quest” before taking out the garbage). The list of major changes follows (the complete list is at 1up):

Apprentice Riding (land only)
+60% speed (unchanged)
Level requirement: 20 (down from 30)
Training Cost: 4 gold (+1/mount)

Journeyman Riding (land only)
+100% speed (unchanged)
Level requirement: 40 (down from 60)
Training Cost: 50 gold (+10/mount)

Expert Riding (land/flying)
+60% speed (unchanged) / +150% (up from 60)
Level requirement: 60 (down from 70)
Training Cost: 600 gold (+50/mount)

Artisan Riding (land/flying)
+100% speed (unchanged) / +280% speed (unchanged)
Level requirement: 70 (unchanged)
Training Cost: 5000 gold (+100/mount)

Major Warcraft updates tend to fall into one of two categories: they either shrink the world as with this update, or make it grow with content patches and expansions. Rancorous players have complained that the former types of updates pander to casual gamers and new adopters, and since the World of Warcraft’s advent, the level requirements for the first mount have indeed been cut in half. However, Blizzard is likely just trying to keep a stable population in earlier parts of the game to help players rise to the top (and therefore keep paying their monthly fee).

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Peggle has been getting the Tetris treatment, and not just insofar as unscrupulous companies want to steal the intellectual property. Peggle is being ported to every platform known to man, and the casual megahit has some fun for just about every type of gamer. However, the similarities end there because Peggle’s greater complexity means that PopCap has to re-optimize the game every time they switch platforms, so you never really know what you’re getting when you pick up a new version. The iPhone port has its own perks and quirks, but still feels like Peggle on the whole.

Tags:   iphone · Peggle · Popcap · ReviewNo Comments.

Ok, we’re down to the last 5% of the move. However, because that step can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 8 months, I think it’s time to return to your regularly scheduled video games blog. See you Monday!

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Kooloo-Limpah! Steal Tingle’s Magic words
and he’ll cut you!
Image courtesy of 1up

Anyone who ever doubted the wisdom of Nintendo’s friend codes needs to take a look at the latest issue of Famitsu (via 1up). Within, you can see that disturbing fairy wannabe Tingle has returned to darken your doorstep. So lock up your children, and tell them not to accept strange maps from stranger men.

Tingle and his skin-tight green bodysuit first appeared in Majora’s Mask. He has subsequently stalked Link through his less serious adventures, and ultimately starred in his own Japan/Europe-only RPG: Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland. There’s no Tingle news listed yet at the website detailed in the ad, though we can hope it’s the impending US release of Tingle’s RPG adventure.

Tags:   1up · Nintendo · The Legend of Zelda · Tingle1 Comment