But then, I decided to start paying attention to what the game was offering.  The concept is simple – spin a set of four jewels, try to get three in a row.  It lacks the immediacy of the original, but it gives some new twists that add depth and strategy.  Here’s a video someone else made showing a bit of gameplay.

Read more of what I saw in the game below the hump.

Unlike the first 2 versions, you don’t have to make a match-3 on every move.  This lets you twist things in such a way as to set up a 4-in-a-row twist.  If you do this, you can an exploding jewel.  Much like the original, these blow up when matching in a 3- or 4-in-a-row.

On top of the regular play, you build up your multiplier by making consecutive matches.  That is, each move has to make a match, or you reset your multiplier.  Get 3-in-a-row 3 times, and all subsequent are worth double points.  Get 5 more matches in a row, and your points are tripled.  I didn’t get further than a 3X multiplier, but I imagine it will keep going higher.

You can also get bonus points by clearing sets of jewels in a particular order of colors.  For example, clear a set of white, then red, then purple, then another set of white.  This gets you a big points, and clears any penalty jewels (covered below) – at least, it cleared the penalty jewels I’d seen.

Now, on top of the bonuses, you get penalty jewels, too.  These drop in occasionally, and come with a number on their face.  Every move you make decrements the number.  If it reaches zero, bad things happen.  I confess to not knowing what bad things, as I never let one run out.

I haven’t purchased the game yet, but I intend to.  Once I get a little further, I’ll pop up some more images and throw in some more play details, if there is any interest.  Honestly, this is clearly a deal for $20.  Admittedly, it’s no Peggle, but it’s a fantastic, quick-play casual game to have around.

Technorati Tags: Bejeweled, Bejeweled Twist, PopCap, Casual Game, Casual Gaming, Peggle

Oh, the gaming variations this would add.  (via TechCrunch)

2. Steam/Half-Life 2

Yes, yes, we all love Steam now. It’s the model of digital distribution and community management in PC gaming right now, utterly shaming Microsoft’s embarrassingly inept Games for Windows Live initiative. But back in the day, we were even harsher on Valve than we now are on Microsoft — because the official launch of Steam on November 16, 2004, which coincided with the launch of Half-Life 2, was an utter nightmare.

Wall-of-text warning on the original article, though.  Seems the web-layout folks might want to educate the writers on the importance of more paragraphs and other visual breaks.

Technorati Tags: 1Up, Half-Life, Worst game launches, Gaming

If you click on that video and go to the YouTube patch, you’ll find links to other video guides, plus a number of other Atari 2600 game-related videos.  Oddly, when I look there is a link to a “worst games on the 2600″ video, which suggests Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the worst games on the Atari 2600.  The video below that is the video guide for the game Superman, which actually is on my list of worst Atari 2600 games ever.

If you’d like to know more about the Raiders game shown in the video, I highly recommend Atari Age as the source for pretty much all 2600 and other Atari console information.  Click on the little Pac-Man looking icon in the top right corner of the screen to get the ROM, and then get the open source emulator Stella for running it.

Technorati Tags: Atari, 2600, Atari 2600, Emulator, Game, Gaming, Console, Raiders of the Lost Ark, YouTube, Vestron

Not as good as looking out real-world locations, but extremely impressive for a game engine.  Most of the engine driven stuff is flatter or duller than the real-world video, but I’m still looking forward to being able to run something with CryENGINE2 when I make my next system upgrade.  (via Joystiq)

Drunk cubism fighters? Sign me up.

Technorati Tags: Sumotori, Gaming, YouTube, Drunken Cubism

The first minute or so of the video might seem a bit boring, but it’s a setup for a really neat demonstration of the effect of real spatial movement effecting the display.  I tried snagging some images from the video to show the effect, but it’s the motion and not the image that makes the effect so cool.  In motion, parts of the image do appear to stand several feet out from the screen, and moving forward will put you behind those parts of the view so you don’t see them any more.

Technorati Tags: Penny Arcade, Head mounted display, 3D enabling technology, Wii, Nintendo, Sensor bar

That’s just rich, isn’t it?

Technorati Tags: Gordon Freeman, Barney, Security, GMan, G-Man, Half-Life 2, Coast to Coast

No information available yet beyond the trailer, but watch the Raptor Safari web site for updates.

Technorati Tags: Gaming, Raptor Safari, Games, Physics, Dinosaurs, Jeep based raptor hunting

Once I finished, I started looking at what others had to say about the game. This lead to stumbling on some YouTube Portal videos that are just great. Below the break, I’ll pop out a couple I really like. They are speed runs of some of the tougher or more puzzlish parts near the end.

– Escaping the room of turrets near the final room

– Speed run of level 18 (and I found another slightly faster, but I liked this one enough to post it anyway)

– Bypassing the puzzles on level 14

– Stupid fast level completion

Technorati Tags: Portal, Orage Box, Speedrun, Puzzle

As yet unbeaten in the console sales charts since it debuted in the US last November, Nintendo’s Wii has consistently outsold its competitors by healthy margins. However, far from reaching its saturation point, the Mario Factory has yet to meet demand for its console. According to Nintendo of America president and CEO Reggie Fils-Amie, that situation isn’t going to change as the already-booming gaming industry heads into its busiest time of the year.

I want one, but haven’t been able to convince the wifey-person to get one. And I’m not willing to face the hell I’d suffer were I to just buy one – I already spend enough on computer hardware and software to know better than to push my luck.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo Wii, Gaming, Consoles, Wii, Game consoles

This is the story of such a character. A wizard, seemingly stripped of power but urgently needing to deliver a scroll to a nearby companion. He would deliver it himself, but for reasons unknown, he is held fast to a single spot. Will anyone help him?

About a year and a half ago, the idea struck me that RPGs had a particularly odd phenomenon that required investigation. Now, I don’t pretend to be the first person who thought it strange that in the majority of role-playing games, strangers will march up to you and ask you to do their chores/rescue their daughters. But I do pretend to be the first person to dress up as a wizard, go into the streets of Bath, and find out if it was realistic. Below is the story of my adventure, originally published on The Escapist, and now in its full glory for you, today.

. . .

The plan: To take to the streets, dressed as a wizard, with a quest for the good peoples of Bath, England. Would they really help out a stranger with a strange beard? Would they even stop and listen? Is there any truth to this convention we’ve otherwise entirely accepted?

First of all, I should immediately get this out of the way: No one, at any point, approached me to ask for a quest. Short of suspending a yellow exclamation mark above my head, I’m not sure what more I could have done to attract the attention of any passing adventurers braving the cold thoroughfare through the centre of the town. If anything, people did their very best to avoid me, refusing eye contact, moving far away from my pleading face. It was already concerning.

I should explain the scenario. I, the brave wizard, had transferred through a portal into this dimension, but could not leave the spot on which I stood. It was imperative to the survival of the universe that the magic spell I held (a rolled up scroll of paper, engagingly tied with a purple ribbon) be given to the girl in the red cloak and hood, waiting outside what you humans call “the shoe shop,” 300 yards down the road. Upon completion of this vital task, a bag of gold coins would be given as a reward. In my dimension, chocolate coins are of the very highest worth. Would anyone go out of their way for me, in order to be the savior of all mankind, for the prize of a bag of candy?

Curious as to his success? Wondering if anyone helped this now-powerless wizard? I know I am. Let’s head over and see how things turn out. (via /.)

Technorati Tags: Gaming cliches, Virtual conventions go real, Wizards, Real-world gaming, Gaming experiments, Will you please save my child?

.

Despite the clever misspelling, you’re looking at an evil cow that stinks. Even better, read the first sentence there. “Cattle of the Nine Hells.” Smelly cows from hell. Awesome.

. . .

Sometimes, when its your job to be creative, you really don’t want to be. Take Werewolves for instance. Every fantasy game seems to have them. But after a while, an author wants to leave his mark. He wants to add a twist that no one’s thought of. In Dungeons and Dragons, this is often see by simply reversing the word “Werewolf” so that it cleverly appears as “Wolfwere”. Since this was done a long time ago, later writers would have to add their own novelty to the were-act. So in come were-foxes, were-sloths (no kidding), were-bears, and other fun little crossbreeds. And then people thought they’d be original and call a wolf that turns into a man a “Wolfwere”. That only started someone onto the path of doomed…well…check this out:

That’s an asswere, by the way. And he takes time to properly mock the concept and the creature.

Trust me – if you were in to Dungeons and Dragons when you were younger (and probably even if you are in to it now), there’s a good chance you’ll get some chuckles out of the article, if you can make it past the intro wall-of-text. It’s a bit long, but it gets better as it goes.

He has a section on hybrid man/animal horrors, creatures designed to look like other things (think monster who looks like a ceiling, for example), inexplicable monster designs, and his own top 5 worst monsters. I especially like his number 5 example, but check out this wonderful commentary on the effect and effectiveness of his number 1 bad monster:

Yes, it’s an Ork wearing panties on his face…because that’s what how the Raggamoffyn want him. His body now does the bidding of someone’s dirty laundry…his will is not his own. And since we’re talking about a dirty laundry monster, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve read all night. If I ever played D&D, I’d have the players attacked by a crazy ork with panties on his face. He’d kill them all and all the players would have an irrational fear of monsters that wear their panties on their face. God. Words fail me. It’s just too stupid.

Yup. Ork. Wearing panties. On his freaking head.

Jared, count me a fan of this one.

Technorati Tags: Worst monsters, Dungeons and Dragons, D&D