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Category Archives: Opinion

March 2012 Apple Event Predictions

Ugh, another Apple event upon us. And quite frankly, being an iPad owner, this used to be the only one I cared about. Last year, if they had come up with something more than cameras and a faster CPU, I actually might have upgraded. This year, having actually seen and played with Windows 8, I think that will be the next tablet I acquire. But, I know people love to laugh at my predictions for events, so here we go.
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More Reasons to Hate Origin

From an interview with Peter Moore on Kotaku:

“It’s one of those things where I would ask give us 18 months to two years. And if we sit here two years from now, start looking at it then,” he said. “I think the ability to have your own direct platform with the consumer is going to be very important in the digital world going forward.”

Clearly, PC gamers are crying out for each game developer to have their own digital distribution platform…..NOT.

To be successful, you need to offer people something unique other than exclusive games for people to want to use your service.  Valve started it with the first unification of all your games into one place, and then added features like community, chat, and Steam Cloud features to make people choose the service.  Not as popular, but services like Good Old Games provides people for a way to obtain and play classic games on newer computers, and up and coming sites like Indievania are all about getting very small indie titles some promotion, and actually give 100% of the sales to the developers, which gives you a nice and warm feeling inside.

Common Sense isn’t Common These Days

Specifically, people still don’t understand the concept of international data being more expensive that local, getting ridiculously large bills, and somehow thinking it’s not their fault and making a huge story out of it.

I’m really getting sick of these stories, and everyone even slightly involved is to blame:

  1. The people who rack up these large bills need to understand that you signed a contract for what you pay, and that includes the fact that international data is pricey.  Leave it at home!  Don’t take it with you!
  2. News journalists, social media, and anyone else who immediately cries foul at this thinking it’s the Telecoms being evil or unfair or whatever.
  3. The Telecoms who seemingly cave in every time this happens, thus backing up Group 2′s arguements.

IGF Season!

Call me pretentious if you must, but I love the IGF season.  Indie games are usually the most innovative and fun games coming out these days, and considering that this year no one had to compete against Minecraft, I actually felt interested in checking out the list.  So, after going through all 550+ entries, here were some of the more interesting ones.  Some I’ve played, some I own but haven’t, and others look really interesting and give me reason to try them.  Still, here’s my personal choice for “Cream of the Crop” games:

Games I’ve played this year:

  • Capsized: Saskatchewan-made platformer that created a breathtaking atmosphere through art and music.
  • Dustforce: A cruel and demanding, yet beautiful and fun platformer.  Requires perfection, but still fairly relaxing to play.
  • GIRP: Rock climbing sim composed of making good decisions and button memory.
  • Lightfish: A very advanced version of Jezzball, and while it is a short game, it is good fun.
  • Mos Speedrun: A platformer for the iPad that does mobile controls well.
  • Q.U.B.E.: First person puzzle game that looks like Portal, but lacks a story yet has more puzzle elements.
  • Rock of Ages: Combination of tower defense and racing, with Monty Python style cutscenes about history!
  • Solar 2: A solar system simulator that gives you enough laughs and gameplay missions to hold your interest.
  • SpaceChem: A hard puzzle game, but a great concept with very methodical thinking required.
  • Xotic: Crazy arcade score competitions inside of a first person shooter.

Games I’ve heard good things about:

  • Blocks that Matter: I actually had this game gifted to me at Christmas, and it caught my eye as a puzzle game with a really interesting premise.
  • Creavures: Artistic, nonviolent platformer.  Own it, and the first level was quite fascinating and different.
  • Serious Sam Double D: 2D sidescrolling shooter with ridiculous weapons.  Own it, and need to play it more.
  • Serious Sam: The Random Encounter: JRPG spin on the Serious Sam series with 8-bit graphics.  Own it, need to play it.

Games I’m interested to check out:

  • Beat Sneak Bandit: A music based game for mobile devices that requires rhythm and timing to beat, and games like that are always fun.
  • Blink: First person platforming which, when done right, is quite fun.
  • Bumpy Road: A mobile driving game where you control the road as opposed to the vehicle.
  • Crashtastic: 3D physics based puzzle game.  What’s not to like about it?
  • Dear Esther: An interactive storytelling experience.  Coming to Steam Feb. 14, and will probably pick it up day one.
  • Fingle: A kind of twist on Twister, except meant for two peoples’ fingers on an iPad.
  • Prom Night: Social interaction sim where, unlike The Sims, past experiences affect future decisions and relationships.
  • Retro City Rampage:  ”Grand Theft Auto meets Super Mario meets… well, just about EVERYTHING!”.  Looks like crazy, simple fun.
  • Spelunky: Platformer with randomly generated levels each time you play it.
  • Stay in the Light: Platformer with a LIMBO art style and a gameplay twist summed up best by its title.
  • Twirdie: Simple golf game where the distance you hit the ball is based on you guessing a word and seeing how often it appeared on Twitter in the past minute.
  • Wonderputt: Crazy looking mini-golf game.  Need I say more?

A little later I might adventurous and make predictions on winners, but we shall see.  I’m confident of some of the categories, but some I don’t have much experience in.

It’s Official

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

I’d like to think of myself as a fairly mildly-tempered person, but this is just beyond the point of stupid.  Minecraft is a LEGO simulator!  Anything you can make with LEGO you can make in Minecraft as well, with each having their own advantages and disadvantages!

I had already lost a lot of respect for Minecraft just because of the ridiculously dumb fanbase it has, but this would almost be enough to make me lose respect for LEGO too.  Sadly, with actually cool sets released like this Fallingwater one, it will have to try a little harder to lose my love.