properly implemented achivements= sales?

this is probably the most interesting video games study i've heard of in a long while. it's not just some slapdash gathering of sales charts that compares microsoft to sony to nintendo made games, trying to figure out if master chief could out arm wrestle mario.

no, this breaks down whether or not the proper implementation of achievement points in a game, that reward the player just enough for their hard earned time and money, and tries to discern how much that affects their sales.

in fact, the study, featured on gamespot, seems to link games where developers spent time and effort developing incremental rewards with over 30 achievements (or trophies, if the ps3 is your bag) with better game sales.

as a rampant consumer of video games I can honestly say that this is not only one of the smarter uses of bar graphs that i've seen used to take apart game sales metrics, but also the most interesting study period.

yes, we know more girls are playing games than ever before, and old people like the wii. but proper implementation of a reward system to foster a relationship with the user and encourage them to not only see all the different aspects to your game, but show them that you appreciate their time. wow. didn't see that coming til i pulled it off my google reader.

bloggin' and loggin',

JD

i don't even know what to think

so grand theft auto has been generally observed as a scapegoat for modern pontiffs of fear news (ie. 'video games are making our children kill/violent/eat human flesh, what can you do about it?').

just today i stumbled across this story on kotaku:

Grand Theft Auto Helps Preteen Save Family's Lives

???

well, that's certainly...good? i don't really know what to think about this one. i mean, great! she saved her families live potentially, but wtf? it's because of GTA? i thought kids weren't supposed to play that game?

maybe if she'd played burnout, she'd just be waiting for the car to reset on the road and reduced boost...

missin' the movies,

JD

downloadable games that don't suck

in the past, i've kind of ignored the downloadable games available to me with my three consoles, unless they're explicitly given to me for free and i test them for a couple days.

i played a couple capcom shooters (1942, wolf of the battlefield, the space one) and was left unimpressed. but recently there's been a spat of actually really good games that i find myself playing more than full disk titles. that is, until the next wave of killer games comes out; force unleashed, nhl 09, etc., etc.

here are a few i'm currently loving and a couple older ones that are great too:

bionic commando: rearmed (XBLA & PSN)


this one came out of left field for me because, admittedly, i'd barely played the NES original (read: never).

the swing mechanic (by which this title would succeed or epically fail) feels perfect and the combo of the incredibly inventive ways to kill the bosses, the upgradable and satisfyingly designed firepower with that perfect swinging makes for a game that feels like it could deserve a stand alone release.

this is a remake that doesn't feel like a remake (like all those frogger incarnations) and outdoes just about any other game on either psn or xbox live arcade right now. it's fun and has a free demo so check it out.

my only gripe= why is this not downloadable to PSP yet?

special note: pick up the PSN version if you have the option because it's much more fun to play with a proper d-pad and not the xbox's failed attempt

castle crashers (XBLA)


this nifty little game is barely out and the buzz around it is huge. it has one of the best multiplayer implementations out there in the arcade games and a tremendously addictive gameplay reminiscent of the old TMNT arcade games and double dragon style beat em ups.

the art style is wicked, there's cutesy blood and gore and really, most important of all, it's fun. it's not so challenging as to scare off new gamers (who don't love frustrating shoot em ups). it's just wacky and weird and violent and cool, it hits all my bases. i look forward to downloading the full version once i get together somewhat of a team to play through the full campaign with.

various boardgames and card games (XBLA)

the only ones i can truly recommend are UNO and carcassonne, and that's because they're fun, easy to pick up and great to play on live.

one thing to note, however, people are really talkative in the UNO rooms and to me, that's a good thing. if it's anything like when the game was available free on live back in last year, carcassonne is just full of people grinding out the 200 achievement points in complete silence. boring.

notable mentions

here are a few that might be worth your time, at least for a few seconds. they're not perfect and won't steal a ton of your time but they're cheap and quite fun, depending on how much you get in to them:

- geometry wars (1 or 2) (XBLA)
- super stardust HD (PSN)
- pain (PSN)
- soul calibur (XBLA)
- kirby's adventure (VC)

arcadin' and lovin' it,

JD

must read: todd levin's history of 'his' gaming

this guy...this guy.

i don't know how to even phrase this, but i'd have to say that it enters the shortlist for this year's 'media that seems to have been written expressly for me'.

this dude knows how to write, and has a confidence in admitting a personality that i have slightly less confidence in admitting closely resembles my own.

consoles i have known was a multi-part chronicle of todd levin's adolescence and early adulthood through the gaming consoles he has owned, from the radioshack pong clone forwards.

it's funny, scathing and incredibly self-deprecating and surely worthy of the short bursts of attention required to get through the entire thing.

please give it a shot, especially if you ever found yourself in the unique position of not caring about sports or school dances but not having enough attention to even fit in with the magic card playing or D&D nerds.

laughing my way to the poor house,

JD

now that everyone and their mom has 4.1...

playstation

playstation has released their version of gamercards. see exhibit a in the right column.

they've also pushed back home again, as of E3 this week, but supposedly it will be worth the wait (and from what i've heard, it's looking quite a bit better than the beta did).

more news

more stuff has been happening, though, than the release of another inconsequential status symbol...

the wedding is in like two weeks, and i'm totally stoked for it. actually, at this point, i just want to get there and get it done. i mean, i'm going to have a great time, it's just that this has been a long process and i can't wait to hit the finish line.

oh, and we moved again. the new place is sweet though, even though i've been relegated to the psp since all my consoles are still packed up and most of the apartment is in boxes.

e3

and speaking of changes, has anyone been kind of bored by this years' e3 announcements?

i mean, i know it's been tapering off for a couple years, but microsoft's biggest announcement was jumping on the gui redesign bandwagon (though i am a little excited for the fall update, but not at all for the 'avatars'), and sony really didn't have much to show.

all the games we saw were well known for a while, and i'm getting bored of nintendo announcing more and more casual games that i'll play for about a week. i mean, the wii motion plus looks neat, and 1:1 for the wii remote would be cool, but isn't this what the wii remote was supposed to be on launch?

2 years, and now they've built the perfect wiimote by plugging a chunk of plastic into the end?

yikes.

anywho, off to a fab thursday (i'm sure),

your partner in crime,

JD

i guess i'm the only one with ps3 firmware 2.40 now...

so this is an unofficial test drive as no one else seems to have the 2.40 firmware since it was recalled shortly after being released.

i downloaded it with no complications the morning of so here are my impressions.

to be completely honest, the list of things it can't do is as long as my arm, and if you're expecting xbox live level of usefulness and interactivity, prepare for disappointment.

short list of fails:

- no access to ps store in game
- can't stream music in game (but can play music on the console hard drive)
- can only play music in games that support it

they've also introduced an achievement trophy system. to put it bluntly, so far, it's completely safe to call it half-cocked.

i got ahold of a copy of super stardust hd (don't let anyone else tell you different, this is the only game that currently supports them) and not only is the sound kind of lame (nothing compared to the now classic xbox *bing*) but everything about it is low-key.

quiet unlock noise, small upper-right hand logo for trophy notification, and so far, they're all pretty hard. i think the balance of achivements is lacking, but again, this is only one games' impression worth, so take it with a grain of salt.

*bing!*

JD

we're out of beta, we're releasing on time (ds download)

someone made an oh-so-delectable version of portal for the ds which is not only fun and intuitive to play with the stylus controls, but also supports customizable maps.

download the game and the map editor here.

it's called still alive ds and you can catch me playing it on the bus and subway from now until motion sickness kicks in.

still alive (mostly),

JD

edit: you will need some way to mount this little bit of software to your ds, like an R4 or something like that. just don't go using it for pirating ds games! i'm sure they're all worth $40...