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June 8 [2008]I used to hate RPUntil YouTube educated me properly, I had no idea of the ridiculous number of emote animations in the Age of Conan. Look at this thing: I assume the list covers every conceivable aspect of human expression. On top of that, one can string together dance combos for MMO dance and emoting parties made of some fairly substantial win. Emote RP and dance combos are what MMOs are made for. And the toplessness. May 2 [2008]In in ur mailing list hackin ur betaHow do you get into the upcoming closed beta for Tribes spiritual successor Fallen Empire: Legions? Very easily. April 21 [2008]10 anticipated games we’ll never get to play
I’ve been down on Cracked’s content in the past (notable exception: the life-changing Monkeysphere article). Despite pulling in extremely talented comedians and writers to generate their content, the site unfortunately falls back on uninspired top ten lists time and time again. But it’s hard to fault a top ten list that covers the most hotly-anticipated vaporware games, and even includes a healthy does of Hellgate: London hate. And while it’s difficult to imagine Project H.A.M.M.E.R. as a game that anyone was actually looking forward to playing, Cracked’s write-ups of StarCraft: Ghost, Shenmue 3, and Metroid Dread are right on the money. Congratulations, Cracked. With this single article you’ve proven yourself to be a more worthwhile gaming site than GamesRadar. 10 Highly Anticipated Video Games You’ll Never Get To Play [Cracked] April 19 [2008]Members Only: A week in The DORK Club
Because I only cover topics I’m at least marginally interested in here, I tend to run out of content for the day fairly quickly, which is why I’m rarely left with anything post-worthy after noon or so. There are, after all, only so many MMO and DLC announcements on any given day. So, let’s celebrate another week of half-days filled with gaming news by reliving all the best stories posted on this site during the past week which, coincidentally, just happens to be every story posted on this site. Nothing but gems here. Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: April 14 [2008]Quake engine family tree
Bits bytes pixels & sprites found this amazing image of the Quake engine family free squirreled away at Wikipedia. It tracks the Quake engine’s descendants down through the generations, tracing the many games that share common ancestry with id’s lovely first-person shooter. With any luck, someone is already hard at work on similar family trees for the Unreal and Infinity engines. Click the image above or visit either of the two sites below to see the entire tree. Quake Engine Family Tree [bits bytes pixels & sprites via Wonderland] April 12 [2008]Members Only: A week in The DORK Club
I’ve looked into other hosting solutions, and found one that gets rave reviews across the board and offers a fantastic feature set. Unfortunately, it costs more than twice what I’m paying at my current host, and I just started another billing cycle here less than a month ago. If this site goes offline just one or two more times, however, I’ll suck it up and shell out for the superior host, even though it means I’ll probably have to eat the cost of the eleven months of hosting I’ve already paid for here. And it actually looked like this site was going to pay for itself this year. But enough talk! We have a week to review: Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday April 7 [2008]Stephen King: Video games aren’t the problem
“What really makes me insane,” writes King, “is how eager politicians are to use the pop culture — not just videogames but TV, movies, even Harry Potter — as a whipping boy. It’s easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud.” King points to HB 1423, a proposed Massachusetts bill that would outlaw the sale of M-rated games to anyone younger than 18, noting that if passed, “a 17-year-old who can get in to see Hostel: Part II would be forbidden by law from buying … the violent but less graphic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” For King, parenting should be left to the parents rather than mandated by legislature. He reminds his Constant Readers that “videogames, like movies, have a ratings system, and ones with the big M or A on the box mean ‘Not for you, baby brother.’” Even though King admits “videogames are not [his] thing,” he realizes that our culture is inherently violent, and this violence manifests itself in television, movies, music, and all forms of media; video games don’t have an exclusive license. Stephen King: Videogame Lunacy [Entertainment Weekly via Sensible Erection] April 5 [2008]Members Only: A week in The DORK Club
And yes, the site was just offline for the last ten hours. Expect plenty of annoyed ranting on Monday. Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: April 2 [2008]Fulton: Gamers’ online behavior driving down sales
Bill Fulton, who started and led the Microsoft Game Studios User-research program and served as a designer on 2007’s Shadowrun, believes that gamers’ behavior online is scaring away casual players and ultimately negatively affecting game sales. In a Gamasutra article on this very subject, Fulton writes, “Of all the ways I spend my free time, playing games online is the only one I would describe as ‘frequently barbaric.’ Insults of all kinds, including racist and homophobic slurs, are commonplace.” As Fulton sees it, the biggest problem facing online games “isn’t connectivity issues, or even the quality of the games — it is how people are fuckwads online.” In fact, it’s this juvenile behavior that causes many players to give up on a game after only playing online a few times. Fulton claims that “the online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales, and continues to stunt the growth of our industry. Non-gamers simply don’t love games enough to put up with the crap they get online.” Of course, he has a few solutions to this problem, but concedes that there’s no easy (or quick) answer. Fulton, who has four years of graduate training in Social Psychology and Research Methodology at the University of Washington, suggests that many of online gaming’s problems can be addressed through social design, pointing to the movie industry’s ability to combat cell phones ringing during movies through a “silence your cell phones” advertising campaign. Fulton notes that filtering profanity from chat and dividing up rewards for beating opponents in team-based shooters have already been proven to reduce harassment and selfish behavior online. He goes on to give himself a congratulatory pat on the back for Shadowrun’s clever vote-kick system, which recognized when feuding players were abusing the mechanic and forced them to risk getting booted from the game if they wished to continue. Unfortunately, Fulton is rather short on solutions to what is obviously a pervasive and damaging problem, but still does a good job of addressing a complex issue that often goes ignored. He notes that as games like The Sims, World of Warcraft, and Rock Band continue to expand the gaming audience, developers will need to allocate more resources for social design to ensure they don’t lose valuable casual players to the loudest hardcore jerks. March 29 [2008]Members Only: A week in The DORK Club
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Because most of the people posting video game news in any sort of professional capacity know about the news before they post it, waiting for embargos to lift before sharing the information with the Internet, each morning tends to begin with an explosion of gaming news. Just a few hours into the day, however, most sites go quiet, having already regurgitated the new press releases, screenshots, and videos of the day. Particularly ambitious sites post news around the clock, stretching the definition of “news worthy” by covering Super Mario Bros. quilts, StarCraft tattoos, and Portal cakes.
