A recent Games for Windows magazine has a 2-page layout about Line Rider. In the article there are links to some more good Line Rider videos, plus mention of a fan site by one of the premier Line Rider artists.
That line rider thing
Reply
Category Archives: Gaming
When gaming cliches go real
As gamers, we often realize how precarious the fate of the universe can be. Often, most people think all is going well and the universe is not mere moments from ceasing to exist. However, there are beings out there, waiting the perfect adventurer to come so that they might hand out a quest which ultimately saves everything we know and care for.
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?
.
30 years of very stupid monsters
As I began reading this long eassy on many of the stupid animals in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, I really wanted to hate it. The article begins with a two-paragraph long wall of text. I don’t care much for the font, text-size, nor color combination of the page. The background is too busy. His dismissal of Dungeons and Dragons comes off as snooty. But damn if I didn’t find the write-up quite entertaining.
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:
Rock, paper, scissors – the next generation
Play much rock, paper, scissors? Well, you might if you had access to all the super-advanced play options in what can only be deemed Rock, paper, scissors – the next generation.
And there’s more where that came from. Oh so much more. That clip is but a small sample of the full-blown guide, so get over there and see what your RPS game is missing.
Technorati Tags: Rock/paper/scissors, Advanced RPS
The great Red Ring of Death shirt
This 
one is really just for the hardcore gamers. Here’s the image for a shirt coming from SplitReason in the near future.
For those not familiar, it is the Red Ring of Death that many XBox 360 consoles have suffered since the console’s release. Red Ring = Blue Screen to those who suffer it, only the Red Ring of Death requires returning the console to Microsoft for repair rather than simply rebooting as you would do for a computer that gets blue. (via TheBBPS)
Technorati Tags: Shirt, Red Ring of Death, Microsoft
Pirates vs. Ninjas
It’s an age old question, really – which is more insanely awesome and power: a Pirate or a Ninja? And might I point out that due to their awesomeness, both MUST be capitalized when asking which is more insanely awesome. Of course, there has been debate over the ages. The Pastafarians believe Pirates to be more insanely awesome. Anyone in on Int3rpipe memes knows that this Ninja is pretty freakin’ awesome. But who wins in the ultimate showdown? Could either REALLY beat Chuck Norris?
Thankfully, development team Blazing Lizard has stepped in to help answer the question. From the team comes
Yes – the ultimate face-off between the ultimate foes: Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball. And why should we car and trust these guys? Well, this team is composed of some folks from Volition/THQ, the developers responsible for such awesomeness as Freespace and Red Faction.
Blazing Lizard was founded by three former THQ/Volition veterans who were behind games like Red Faction, Freespace and Saints Row. Now expanded to a mighty team of four, they intend on releasing their first (of what they hope to be many) PvN-themed games in January 2008. That is, as soon as they sign a publisher and actually decide on which downloadable platform is right for them (PSN or Xbox LIVE).
If you aren’t pumped about this, you just aren’t a gamer. If you are pumped, check out Joystiq’s Pirates vs. Ninjas gallery for more pretty pictures.
(Oh, and with all the links, if it isn’t clear what you need to click for all the goodies, just click the pretty picture above)
Technorati Tags: Pirates, Ninjas, Pirates vs. Ninjas, Flip out and kill people, Real Ultimate Power, Joystiq, Kotaku, Freespace
More on the stupid – don’t game so damn much
It’s a little embarrassing how much of a work-out the stupid category is getting here on the Blahg, yet I’m realizing I should have instituted it earlier. Hell, I might need to start StupidBlahg just to track all the stupid in the world these days.
That said, here’s a new story of stupid, that, sadly, is something of a repeat of stupid like we’ve seen before. This time we have news of a man in China who died after a 3-day gaming marathon in an internet café.
A Chinese man dropped dead after playing Internet games for three consecutive days, state media said on Monday as China seeks to wean Internet addicts offline.
The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged about 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the Internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.
And I know it’s unkind and maybe a bit politically incorrect to call this man stupid, but I don’t know how else to call it. I love gaming, but even I know to get my fat ass away from the computer every once in a while and do something else. (via Wired’s Game|Life blog)
Technorati Tags: Man dies after gaming marathon, Stupid, Gaming addiction?
Centipede made by a girl?
Just very recently, I found out that the old arcade game Centipede was programmed by a woman – Dona Bailey – the only woman programmer at Atari at the time. Although I sucked mightily at the game, I always loved Centipede. Unfortunately, the industry was not kind, nor did it recognize that she was worth keeping.
Did things change once you’d done Centipede?
Yes, but I’m not sure it was for the better! There was a lot of surly attention after that. It’s not always popular to do something [like] that — the first thing that happened, I was not ready for at all, and I still haven’t figured out how to deal with this part — people just started, y’know… the typical kind of thing that people would say was, either it was a fluke or I didn’t really do it, somebody else did it. I’m a very peaceful person, and I felt sick of fighting, so I really just disappeared, and I haven’t had contact with the industry for at least twenty years.
Eh, what can I say? Men weren’t very open to women in the industry then, and while I understand it is better now, I’m sure there are still places where women are viewed as outsiders to the gaming industry.
Regardless of that, though – the entire interview is pretty cool to read, really. She pretty much left gaming not too long after the success of Centipede, but is now back into it somewhat – she teaches a game design course at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Come on Sony and friends – make me want a PS3
I really want Sony and other developers working on games for the PS3 to release a load of really great games that will finally make me want a PlayStation 3. I already want a Wii, and have since before it was released and became the surprise hit of the current generation of consoles (and I told you folks long ago that it might well be a great hit once released). I already want an XBox 360, primarily motivated by my currently owning an original XBox (well, 2 actually, but I haven’t had a chance to mod the 2nd one into a media player). Believe it or not, I’m rooting for Sony to make the PS3 a console I’d want, too.
Not that my wanting any of them really matters, since I lack the time and finances to actually buy one. But I figure if I find enough good stuff on the console to make me want one, there’s a pretty good chance a lot of other gamers will feel the same. And the better each console does in a generation, the better off the parent company will be for the next generation. And we gamers are never satisfied with the hardware we have now – we’re always looking ahead at what is coming along that will be better. That, and my older brother has a PS3, so I figure if I ever do get one, I can share games with him. I hope.
All that nonsense out of the way, I decided to go looking at how some of the recent PS3 releases are actually doing. Not just checking at my preferred gaming sites (Penny Arcade, Bill at DQ, Joystiq, and Blue’s are the top of my list, by the way), but at what the industry overall has rated these games and what other gamers are rating them. For this, I need MetaCritic.
Tetris grand master
This is the most insanely awesome gamer clip I can ever recall seeing (and I’ve watched a lot of them). Think you are good at Tetris? You probably won’t after watching this guy. If I could find a WordPress plugin to let me inline the video, I’d do that, but I haven’t found such a plugin yet, so I’ll just send you to the GameBrink.com page for it.
Technorati Tags: Tetris, Gaming, Tetris grand master, Insane gameplay
Bioshock video critique
While I’ve already spoken against purchasing Bioshock due to draconian legal-user restrictions (i.e., those who pirate it aren’t affected, but those who paid money are treated are necrotic lepers with erupting pustules of bitter smelling acid), I do still admit to finding it a good game. Here’s a video review done by a British gent who agrees it is good, but can still point out the problems with the game.
Now that I’ve got System Shock 2 working on my system, I can play and compare (yes, I failed to play SS2 originally or over the past 4 years I’ve owned a copy) so I can see how accurate his criticisms are.
Technorati Tags: Bioshock, System Shock 2, Video Review, Necrotic Leper, Erupting pustules, Securom 2 STILL sucks
New Ngage platform
Catching up on my latest techie/geek news, I saw this news-bit about the new Nokia N-Gage platform update, the N-81 gaming platform. It’s a fine looking update from their awful first- and second-gen gaming phones.
This is Nokia’s new N-81 gaming device built upon their revamped N-Gage gaming platform. The S60 device packs HSDPA (sorry, no US band support) for on-line gaming, integrated speakers (and 3.5-mm headphone jack), and D-pad navigation for getting your game on. Still, it’s not just for gaming as it fully supports all the audio and video you’d expect in a new “pane-driven,” UI which carousels your windows instead of lining them up in tabs — a UI which will evolve in the coming months in line with Ovi. On sale Q4 in Europe in an 8GB flash model (€431/$585) or €360/$490 pre-bunged with a 2GB microSD card.
The screen and control layout looks so much better than the previous versions. There’s a gallery with more images in the Engadget article linked above. This might even be enough of an improvement to get folks to finally buy in to the N-Gage platform.
[tags]N-Gage, Gaming, Nokia[tags]