Category: Entertainment

Most Anticipated Games from PAX East

PAX East

A few weeks ago we traveled to Boston to attend PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) East. It was awesome and I’m still reeling from all the amazing things we saw. Kari had a great time, got tons of swag, and even won some pretty cool prizes.

While there I kept a running list of some of the games that I’m most looking forward to. In no particular order here are a few worth checking out when they release in the near future.

 

Zombie Tycoon II (PS3 and Vita)

This is by the very talented Frima Studios, makers of the throwback bullet hell shooter “A Space Shooter for Two Bucks” that came out on the PSP a few years back. As always, the production quality is top-notch with unique designs and animation. This is a RTS where you control a horde of zombies, a mobile base and a special monster as you try to not only take over a town, but keep the opposing zombies at bay. Kari and I played a round with her on the PS3 and I on a Vita. She liked it a lot. (We also won a PS Vita in a drawing, but that only sweetened the deal.)

 

Mercenary Kings (PC)

Paul Robertson (NSFW) is an insanely talented artist, known primarily for his over the top pixel art. He did the sprite work for the recent Scott Pilgrim game. It’s a 2D 4 player Metal Slug-esque shoot-em-up.

 

A.N.N.E. (PC)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC6Re76NriA

Reminds me of Cave Story with some heavy and deliberate Super Metroid influences. The guys manning the booth were super cool and the playable version at PAX was promising. (are you noticing a trend of awesome retro gaming?)

 

Tearaway (PS VIta)

Media Molecule, the genius behind Little Big Planet have a new game coming out this October that revolves around a little messenger in a land made of paper. You have to help guide him along his journey using all sorts of input methods. Not only an amazing looking game, but their booth was top-notch as well. The booth is made of paper for a game about a world made of paper where you can print out objects in the game with paper – infinity.

Tearaway

 

Super T.I.M.E Force (PC)

Yeah, nuff said.

 

Mighty Switch Force 2 (3DS)

I really enjoyed the first one on the 3DS. Here’s to hoping this one is bigger and badder than the first. You play as Patricia Wagon, who in this go round is now trying to save the reformed criminals from the first game with her unique powers. Wayforward, the makers of this game, are also in charge of the remaster of the SNES classic Ducktales!

 

Monsters Invade (iOS)
This is on the list mainly for the crazy inflatable they were handing out. LOLWUT?

http://instagram.com/p/XLRU9Wo-Sm/

 

This list doesn’t include tons of big triple-A titles like Hawken, Luigi’s Mansion – Dark Moon and The Last of Us. These should be at the top of everyone’s list already.

I should also mention a few games that were on display that I’ve already play and recommend as well.

Major Magnet (for iPhone)

 

Beautiful animation, spot-on chiptune soundtrack and the level designs take me back to Sonic and the 16 bit Sega Genesis. The devs are two young guys who were nice to talk to and I wish them all the best.

Major Magnet

 

Ridiculous Fishing (also for iOS)

Imagine an arcade-y fishing simulator where you have to see how deep you can cast your line. Then imagine that you have to catch as many fish on the way back up. Then, on top of that, imagine that as you reel the fish from the water you have to shoot them as fast as you can. Oh, and all the imagery is in weird 45 degree parallelogram shapes. Did I mention that your lure has a chainsaw attached to it? It’s, well, ridiculous.

Oh, and anything by Double Fine, including the release of Brutal Legend for PC!

 

I will never tell her she’s doing it wrong.

I love getting emails like this one:

No, I’m not being sarcastic. You see, this email came from an iPad/iPhone game called Pocket Frogs. In this game you breed and nurture tiny frogs. You can feed them and race with them with the goal to create new generations of offspring with new combinations of colors and designs. To encourage new users the developers have a messaging feature baked in. You can message your friends to let them know about the app in hopes they’ll download it.

So why do I love emails like this? Because they’re from my daughter. At the ripe old age of five, she’s discovered how to use the in-game messaging – she taps on the frog, then the “Share”, then “Email” and sends a message to my name, stored in her Grandmother’s iPad.

So while I’m staring at code, sitting in a meeting or editing video for 8 hours a day, my daughter sometimes thinks about sending her newest frog to her old man. I’ll never tell her she’s doing it wrong.

The Speed of Things

First, a prediction. This generation of hand-held consoles will be the last.1

How can the multi-year spans between console releases compare to the yearly improvements of devices like the iPhone and iPad? Apple claims that the iPad 2 is 9x more powerful than it’s predecessor. In benchmark testing Anandtech confirms – yeah pretty much.

While it’s early in the life of both the iPhone and iPad, it’s hard to imagine that future incarnations would not continue this increase in graphical prowess.2

Year after year the iOS devices continue to improve while companies like Sony and Nintendo are in a cycle of releasing a device and then supporting it for a few years. The DS was released in 2004 and just this month is being replaced by its successor, the 3DS. The PSP has also been around a while with an original release in 2005. Its successor, the Next Generation Portable or NGP, is planned for a late 2011 release.3

According to this article from Business Insider the iPad 2 is “equal to NGP in terms of raw graphical horsepower”. Wait, that can’t be right. Sony’s much heralded next-generation portable that won’t be released until November is only equal to a device that is in consumer’s hands right now?

I’m not trying to over-emphasize graphics, there are many other factors when it comes to an enjoyable gaming experience. You can ding the iPad for lack of physical controls or the DS for not having many mature games. While smart intelligent readers such as yourself realize this, there are tons of consoles bought due to graphical fidelity over gameplay or library selection.

—

The genesis of this post came to me while laying in bed this evening. I was playing Real Racing 2 on my iPhone 3GS and was struck by a few things. 1) How well this game looked on a 2-year-old phone. 2) How smoothly it ran – no stuttering and load times were all but nonexistent. 3) How well the controls worked on a device without buttons.4

Next to me were a Nintendo DS and a Sony PSP, both loaded with a few top-notch games. Yet, here I was playing a racing game on my cell phone – a game that was about $25 cheaper than similar titles on its console brethren.

So the iPad 2 is as fast as the NGP, which won’t ship for another 9 months and the old cycle of developing a console and waiting a few years to improve is dead. Or dying. Develop, a website about game development noted that next-gen handheld console budgets have tripled. How much are the games going to cost? $50!?

I’ve been able to play the same games over the last 4 generations of iOS devices with out a hitch. In some cases the games are even improved on newer hardware. Meanwhile DS games are fuzzy on the new 3DS and all of my UMD games for the PSP will have to be re-purchased when the NGP is released. :-/

From one perspective, not only are the graphics a huge win, but also the financial and vitality aspects of this new breed of gaming devices.

Photo by sneeu – Licensed under Creative Commons

Top 10 Songs for 2010

It’s about time that I belabor you with my musical likings from the last year.

 

Top 10 songs5 added to my iTunes library for 2010.

  1. Daylight – Matt & Kim – Grand
  2. Intro – The xx – xx
  3. Animus Vox – The Glitch Mob – Drink the Sea
  4. Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ – Hanson – Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’6
  5. Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare – Matt & Kim – Grand
  6. Difficult – Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans
  7. Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
  8. Colors – April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Songs For A Sinking Ship
  9. I Hope I Become A Ghost – The Deadly Syndrome – The Ortolan7
  10. Right As Rain – Adele – 19

 

Top 10 released in 2010

  1. Animus Vox – The Glitch Mob – Drink the Sea
  2. Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ – Hanson – Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’
  3. Difficult – Uffie – Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans
  4. Colors – April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Songs For A Sinking Ship
  5. Rill Rill – Sleigh Bells – Treats
  6. Horchata – Vampire Weekend – Contra
  7. Bombay – El Guincho – Pop Negro8
  8. The Grid – Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy
  9. The Game Has Changed – Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy
  10. If You Think You Need Some Lovin – Pomplamoose – 3 New Songs Woot!


Here’s my lists from 2006, 2008 and 2009 if you’re interested. You can see what else I’m currently listening to on Last.fm.