Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

Chatterbox Friday

PS2 is still a winner for gamers

WoW addiction causes drop-outs

Chatterbox Thursday

UK games market worth GBP 4 billion - but what does that mean?

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 1 days and 15 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/84460?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+UK+games+market+worth+GBP+4+billion+-+but+what+does+that+mean%3Fch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Nintendo+%28Technology%29%2CGames+%28Technology%29%2CTechnologyc5=Corporate+IT%2CGamesc6=Greg+Howsonc7=2009_01_07c8=1143810c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divp2009 may be different, what with the recession and all, but 2008 was a record breaking year for the UK games industry with the market worth over GBP 4 billion last year. Software accounted for nearly half of that (GBP 1.905 billion) with game sales up 23% on 2007. Hardware sales rose 14% to GBP 1.422 billion. But which format sold the most? Go on, have a guess./ppYes, Nintendo had a predictably fantastic year in the UK with the Wii accounting for nearly 25% of all software sales (around 20 million units). This was up a rather impressive 153% on 2007. Revenue from Wii game sales was GBP 481 million. This is the same revenue figure as the DS, which sold just over 19 million units â€“ a rise of 28 per cent.br / br /And what about the 360 and PS3? The 360 saw software sales rise 51 per cent (14.9 million units sold in 2008) with revenue of GBP 443 million. This compares to 10.4 million PS3 games sold which generated revenues of GBP 334 million. PS3 game sales did rise by an impressive 145 per cent from 2007 though.br / br /So what does this tell us? Well the top level figures prove Nintendo's dominance. 20 million Wii games and 19 million DS titles sold compares well to the 360's 14.9 million and PS3's 10.4 million. It will be interesting to see if the gap between 360 and PS3 game sales narrows in 2009, especially as the PS3 arguably has the more interesting exclusive titles this year.br / br /Anyway, how do you think UK sales will go in 2009? Will the Wii see slowdown? Will the PS3 catch-up? Will the 360 continue to grow?/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/nintendo"Nintendo/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games"Games/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231358360494010720100953119"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231358360494010720100953119" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" /

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slowdown,margins,gbp,recession,20 millions

Raid Gaza game satirises Israeli military action

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 1 days and 15 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/20122?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+Raid+Gaza+and+the+problem+with+videogame+satirech=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Game+culture+%28games%29%2CIndie+games+%28games%29c5=Gamesc6=Keith+Stuartc7=2009_01_07c8=1143726c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpIn case you haven't seen this yet, the conflict in Gaza is now the subject of a satirical Flash game. a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/476393"Raid Gaza/a is a stripped down RTS, in which you take on the role of the Israeli military, building tanks, fighter planes and missiles in order to pummel the Palestinian territory and kill as many people as possible within three minutes. Bonus points are awarded for hitting hospitals and police stations. Meanwhile, the Hamas threat is characterised by spluttering Qassam missiles, which whir out of Gaza and usually explode uselessly in fields. The author of the game claims in a href="http://www.nonvivant.com/2009/01/02/interview-creator-of-raid-gaza-flash-game/"a recent interview/a to have begun the project almost two years ago, in response to a href="http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/d9d90d845776b7af85256d08006f3ae9/be07c80cda4579468525734800500272!OpenDocument"a UN report/a on the human cost of the continuing conflict. /ppReactions have been mixed. News site a href="http://kotaku.com/5120808/gaza-strife-reflected-poorly-in-raid-gaza-flash-game"Kotaku/a clearly feels it's in poor taste, but political gaming expert a href="http://jag.lcc.gatech.edu/blog/2009/01/raid-gaza-editorial-games-and-timeliness.html"Ian Bogost writes/a that Raid Gaza is successful as a polemical attack on Israeli tactics./ppAt the heart of the debate is an ongoing question - are videogames an appropriate medium for political satire? br /br /Certainly, they are hugely successful. Notable examples such as a href="http://www.columbinegame.com/"Super Columbine Massacre /a and Molleindustria's a href="http://www.mcvideogame.com/"McDonald's Game/a have garnered masses of press coverage as well as thousands of hits. The fact that political pressure groups like PETA are now producing their own satirical games strongly suggests that this is an effective means of communicating controversial messages. /ppIt could also be argued that as the emerging popular artform of the day, games are emexactly/em the right forum for political satire. They are comparatively easy to produce, can be disseminated easily online and, if they're fun enough, will spread virally from user to user. Plus, the interactivity - which no doubt prompts most of the criticism - is an intrinsic element; it literally forces the player to take your side, or at least take ema/em side. /ppAnd where else should we go for satirical comment? To novels? It is debatable whether there has been much satire of worth since the era of Evelyn Waugh and Angus Wilson. As for TV, when was the last time you saw a really effective and controversial piece of political satire on the box? In The Thick of It was fun, but its targets were politicians not policies; The Daily Show has its moments, but is largely preaching to the readily converted. Can you ever imagine another Brass Eye - especially given the fuss surrounding the Brand/Ross answer phone scandal? /ppAnd more importantly would anyone watch it? The increasing marginalisation of 'proper' news content and the continued dominance of reality TV, drab cop shows and domestic sitcoms would suggest not. In the sixties there was Beyond the Fringe and That Was The Week That Was. The eighties boasted The Young Ones, Spitting Image and Not The Nine Olock News. Now we've got Gavin Stacey and the Midsomer Murders. Modern TV wants to be your friend, but a lone programmer with a chip on his shoulder couldn't care less./ppThere's an old rule about satire - if it doesn't disgust a majority of the audience it's not doing its job - "I'll publish right or wrong," wrote Byron, "Fools are my theme, let satire be my song". And the thing is, videogames still have so much power to disgust. People are, after all, still scared by the very concept of gaming, let alone the content. And while they're scared, they are at least listening./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gameculture"Game culture/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/indiegames"Indie games/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231358360660010720100953119"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231358360660010720100953119" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" /

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supers,literally,columbine,tanks,missiles

Tetris: an excellent treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder?

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 1 days and 22 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/59511?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+Tetris%3A+an+excellent+treatment+for+post-traumatic+stress+disorder%3Fch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Games+%28Technology%29%2CTechnology%2CScience%2CMedicine+%28Education+subject%29c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CHigher+Education%2CCorporate+IT%2CGamesc6=Charles+Arthurc7=2009_01_07c8=1143540c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Technology+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FTechnology+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpTetris is good for easing the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), scientists have found. Yes, you read that correctly: the infuriating, mind-swallowing piece-twiddling row-building game emactually has a medical value/em./ppThe a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004153"research/a, which was conducted at the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, suggests using Tetris as a "cognitive vaccine" against flashbacks from traumatic events. It's published on the open-source science research Public Library of Science (PLoS) website./ppHere's how they set out their recommendations: /pblockquotepThe rationale for a 'cognitive vaccine' approach is as follows: Trauma flashbacks are sensory-perceptual, visuospatial mental images. Visuospatial cognitive tasks selectively compete for resources required to generate mental images. Thus, a visuospatial computer game (e.g. "Tetris") will interfere with flashbacks. Visuospatial tasks post-trauma, performed within the time window for memory consolidation, will reduce subsequent flashbacks. We predicted that playing "Tetris" half an hour after viewing trauma would reduce flashback frequency over 1-week./p/blockquotepIn other words, if you're looking at falling squares, lines, hoooks and whatever those twiddly ones that are two overlapping lines of two are called, then you don't have time to visualise your previous bad experiences. /ppI'm glad I wasn't asked to take part: /pblockquotepForty participants watched a 12-min film of traumatic scenes of injury and death (n = 20 per group). Film viewing was followed by a 30-min interval before simple random assignment to one of two experimental conditions. There were no baseline differences between the two groups in terms of age, depressive symptoms or trait anxiety or gender. Mood was equivalent between the groups prior to watching the film, and as predicted, strongboth groups experienced comparable mood deterioration following the film/strong (ememphasis added/em)./p/blockquotep(Tell me about it. Someone at work was looking for gruesome scenes from ER involving helicopters and instead found a real-life one. I'm recommending Tetris to him.)/ppAfterwards, one group just sat quietly, and another played Tetris, for ten minutes. They then kept a diary about flashbacks they'd had; this showed that the group which had played Tetris had significantly fewer (with a probability that it was chance less than 1%)./ppIt's a remarkable finding; though looking at the long list of references, the idea of visual "distraction" as a method of desensitising people from visual memories has been around since at least early this decade./ppBut who'd have thought we'd find a potentially workable cure in a a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris"game/a that for a while 20 years ago seemed like a Russian plot to turn all our population into obsessive cursor-button pokers? (Wait, did it work?)/ppSo maybe that's going to be the new treatment for returning soldiers from the front: Nintendo Gameboys loaded with Tetris. Then, all we'll have to worry about will be a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/134285"curing their Tetris addiction/a./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games"Games/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/medicine"Medicine/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231331840643010712460753012"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231331840643010712460753012" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" /

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open sources,visuals,university of oxford,distraction,scientists

Chatterbox Wednesday

Stickman, Buccaneer and the whole future of indie game development

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 2 days and 19 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/81311?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+Stickman%2C+Buccaneer+and+the+whole+future+of+indie+game+developmentch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Technology%2CGame+culture+%28games%29%2CIndie+games+%28games%29%2CMicrosoft+%28Technology%29%2CPlayStation+%28Technology%29%2CWii%2CXbox%2CNintendo+%28Technology%29%2CSony+%28Technology%29c5=Technology+Gadgets%2CCorporate+IT%2CGames%2CConsumer+Electronicsc6=Keith+Stuartc7=2009_01_06c8=1142908c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpOnce upon a time, not long ago, it looked like bedroom coding was dead â€“ at least as a commercial pursuit. The nineties brought in a growing obsession with detailed 3D visuals, requiring ever-larger teams of ever more specialised coders, artists and designers. And while an indie gaming scene continued to flourish online, the fruits of those labours were largely unseen and unappreciated by mainstream gamers. /ppBut a lot has happened over the last three years. Vitally, Microsoft started trawling the indie scene for content to fill its Xbox Live Arcade service. Sony and Nintendo soon followed suit, resulting in the likes of a href="http://braid-game.com/"Braid/a, a href="http://2dboy.com/games.php"World of Goo/a, a href="http://pompomgames.com/mutantstormreloaded.htm"Mutant Storm/a and a href="http://www.telltalegames.com/strongbad"Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People/a becoming key downloadable releases. At the same time, the growing PC casual gaming scene, together with the arrival of the iPod and iPhone as fully-fledged gaming platforms, has built an audience that clamours for graphically simple puzzle and word games. In a sense, casual gaming has legitimised non-naturalistic, often 2D, visuals and intuitive gameplay, reclaiming videogame culture for the masses. /ppBedroom coding is back./ppWhat we're seeing now is an intriguing interplay between the community ethic of indie coding and the commercial clout of the industry's corporate giants. And a href="http://www.stickmanstudios.co.uk/"Stickman Studios/a is a great example./pp/ppFormed in 2005, Stickman is essentially Simon Nevill and Harvey Greensall, two ex-Codemasters staffers with backgrounds in web design and architectural modeling. Bored of churning out trees, tarmac and other peripheral objects for games like Club Football, LMA Manager and Colin McRae, the duo quit to set up their own studio. Originally, their plan was to abandon videogames altogether and work on a card trading game, but an encounter with a href="http://www.imperialglory.com/"Imperial Glory/a by Pyro Studios got them thinking about creating their own pirate adventure. /pp"We really liked the naval battles in the game which were set during the Napoleonic Wars," explains Nevill. "The ships looked great and it had a good feel to it, but it had a point-and-click interface and the ships moved incredibly slowly. We thought that a faster-paced, arcade-style game could work for this same period of history. Our own idea was to give the player control over a single ship as opposed to a squadron of boats and make the ship itself the 'character'. So we based the game in the Caribbean and gave the player direct control of their very own pirate ship"./ppThe result, released via Steam at the end of last year is a href="http://www.stickmanstudios.co.uk/buccaneer.html"Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy/a, essentially an arcade shooter, based in wooden ships rather than spacecraft. Players blast through a variety of missions, upgrading their boat as they go â€“ sort of Mutant Storm meets Midnight Club on the high seas. /ppIt's a remarkable achievement, especially considering it's ostensibly the work of two men â€“ and neither of them coders. Their first decision was to license a href="http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tge/"Torque/a, a fully-featured cheaply priced 3D engine developed by indie publisher a href="http://www.garagegames.com/"GarageGames/a and available to small studios for just $150. /ppBut price isn't the only attractive factor. As Nevill explains, "we wanted an engine that was not completely reliant upon having a full time coder sat working with us. Torque's script-based coding system meant that many areas of the game could be changed by us... simply altering settings in existing scripts. There is also a great community spirit on the GarageGames forums and any problems you encounter are likely to have been seen before, so there is always help readily available."/ppThe GarageGames set-up, part-commercial publishing hub, part thriving community, is what indie gaming is all about in 2009. And the fact that large publishers like Vivendi are employing Torque is another hint that the mainstream industry is now happy to court the indie sector if the price and the results are right. /ppIt's also the community element that insured Buccaneer became more than just an idea scribbled on the back of a fag packet. "We have had masses of help from a number of great people throughout the development process," admits Nevill. "Being basically self-funded (thus poor), we haven't had a budget for outsourcing work and so have relied heavily upon the good will of a number of people. Our time spent in the game industry meant that we already had contacts in the industry skilled in programming and several were willing to help us out in their spare time. Massive thanks must go out here to Neil Palframan, now working for Electronic Arts in Canada and Mr. "Winston Wolfe"./pp"We were also approached by a number of guys via the GarageGames forums who offered to supply audio work for us because they simply wanted to be involved with a pirate game. Our original plan was to do the vocal work ourselves and have some musically talented friends create a theme tune for us, but fortunately due to the incredible work supplied by some very talented individuals, Harvey and I were not required to get our microphones out. Special thanks have to go out to Pattarawit Arinyasak for his great Artificial Intelligence work, Joel Steudler for his unbelievable musical masterpieces and Captain Paul Bergel... the gravelly voice of Buccaneer."/ppBrilliantly, Stickman also somehow became involved with New Jersey-based, pirate metal band a href="http://www.swashbuckle.info"Swashbuckle/a who let the studio use some of their material in the game. They make a virtual appearance at the Buccaneer Tavern. "In return we put together a music video for their song "Drink Up!", which is accessible from a href="http://www.pursuitofinfamy.com/screens.html"our website/a."/ppAlong the way, Simon and Harvey carried out freelance work for a range of companies to fund their pirate project. One client was veteran Leamington-based developer a href="http://www.blitzgames.com/"Blitz Games/a, to whom the chaps showed a demo of Buccaneer. Suitably impressed, Blitz offered to support the remainder of the game's development, providing vital QA testing and also using its bulging contacts book to secure distribution via Steam. /ppCoincidentally, Blitz was also making contact with another small studio, Regolith Games, entering into a similar partnership with them to see through the development of crossword puzzler, KrissX. From here, the company decided to formalise the process, setting up it's a href="http://www.blitzgamesstudios.com/about_us/1up/"1UP programme/a to fund and support smallscale game projects. "Funding is just one of the elements that we supply, and in fact that part is always likely to be a minor element," explains Chris Swan, Director of Blitz Arcade, the developer's specialist downloadable game studio. "We aren't trying to be a publisher here, and in fact one of our clients put it best when they likened us to a 'Swiss army knife of an agent' since there are so many elements that we can potentially provide. Things like advice on game prototypes based on our knowledge of the marketplace, resources such as art, design, code and audio, licensing our high-end BlitzTech, providing PR or legal advice - these can all be put into the mix./pp"To be honest though I think one of the largest benefits is our network of contacts, which stretches all the way from outsourcing and developers to publishers and distributors. By being one of the largest independent developers we are also able to meet with a lot of the bigger players who are simply unable to provide the time for reviewing individual proposals from very small developers. So when Blitz has a meeting with a client, we can present an entire raft of games, some of which are ours and some which come through the 1UP programme."/ppBlitz's approach reflects an industry-wide interest in embracing the indie community. The likes of XBLA (which should see a conversion of Buccaneer soon), PSN and WiiWare represent a reasonable revenue stream for publishers and developers, especially with a recession looming. However, in-house staff may not have the skills required to punch out cool, hugely intuitive budget games, with little or no management. If you look at something like Geometry Wars from Bizarre Creations, the project was started in the free time of experienced coder Stephen Cakebread, and may never have happened had he been shunted on to different, larger projects (see a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/nov/06/microsoft-gameculture"my blog post/a on the subject)./ppInstead, big industry players are reaching out to the indie scene to source talent. Blitz has formed 1UP, but you've also got Epic buying small studios like a href="http://www.chairentertainment.com/"Chair Entertainment/a and a href="http://www.peoplecanfly.com/"People Can Fly/a, and Valve nurturing its own mod community into tomorrow's A list developers. /ppIt's probably the Valve model, of engaging with - and nurturing - a dedicated home coding community that's going to shape the industry over the next few years. Maintaining massive in-house teams will surely become all but impossible for many developers, and outsourcing only solves half of the problem â€“ outsource studios are usually highly specialized, perfect for churning out graphics and audio to strict pre-agreed templates, but often not able to provide their own creative ideas. Meanwhile, buying studios is a risky and expensive move, with no guarantee of subsequent product. /ppWhat 1UP points to is perhaps a videogame publishing model that works more like â€“ for want of a better allusion â€“ a terrorist network: independent cells working on their own projects with only the loosest direction from a higher authority. If one cell goes down, there are others to produce the goods. Of course, there will always be a place for epic Triple 'A' blockbusters, but at the moment, the industry is undergoing a major period of fragmentation, both in terms of audience and available platforms â€“ the only way to hit all the targets is to produce a lot of cheap, original content. /ppChris Swan agrees that creating small, highly-targeted games is going to be the way ahead. "It's always hard to predict ahead in this industry, but I'm confident that in the long run this is an area of growth. In particular, as the portals and platform-holders more sublimely present the consumers with tailor-made game lists, we should be in an era where every kind of game can reach and make an impact on its ideal audience". Through the inter-coupling of indie guile with corporate experience and finance, the industry is going long-tail. Nothing is really predictable from here./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gameculture"Game culture/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/indiegames"Indie games/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/microsoft/"Microsoft/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/playstation"PlayStation/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/wii"Wii/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/xbox"Xbox/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/nintendo"Nintendo/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/sony"Sony/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231260885089010617080837970"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231260885089010617080837970" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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visuals,xbox live,1up,spirit,chairs

Chatterbox Tuesday

Peter Molyneux talks sense (mostly)

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 3 days and 11 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/60604?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+Peter+Molyneux+talks+sense+%28mostly%29ch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Games+%28Technology%29%2CTechnologyc5=Corporate+IT%2CGamesc6=Greg+Howsonc7=2009_01_06c8=1142450c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpJust one more New Year post â€“ promise â€“ but veteran game designer a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Molyneux"Peter Molyneux's/a thoughts on 2008/9 make a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7804564.stm"interesting reading/a. Perhaps the biggest discussion point raised concerned game difficulty.br / /pblockquotepOn the gaming front, GTA IV was a real moment for the industry. Rockstar nailed how you characterise a game and their engine and cut sequences are state of the art. However, only a few people actually saw all the cut sequences because the game was so tough to play. Are we making games too difficult? That's a question the industry has been asking itself of late./p/blockquotepbr / br /Anyone who has played the very forgiving Fable 2 â€“ a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/dec/16/awards-games"my game of the year/a â€“ will know what conclusion Molyneux and his team came to. br / br /Xbox 360 developer Molyneux also talks about the PS3 â€“ "disappointing to say the least" â€“ but has kinder words for Sony title LittleBigPlanet. br / /pblockquotepOne of my personal favourites was Little Big Planet; superb artistry and a fantastic marketing job by Sony - yet it didn't make the numbers. I wonder if Christmas is really the right time to release a new title. /p/blockquotepbr / br /He has a point here but I'm not sure LBP would have fared better if released earlier in the year. The core PS3 audience was always going to be more excited by Resistance 2, Call of Duty and the rest. And the casual audience likely to be attracted by a href="http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169329 "Sackboy/a and co just isn't there - in sufficient numbers - on PS3 yet. But unlike Resistance 2 and forthcoming shooter a href="http://killzone.com/kz/"Killzone 2/a - which will likely chart high as the fans buy but then quickly disappear from the sales rankings - you can imagine LBP will still be shifting steady numbers in a year's time, especially to new PS3 owners. br / br /Molyneux is pessimistic about 2009 though.br / /pblockquotepNext year, well, it's all looking a bit dry. All the triple A titles came out this Christmas and while there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head I cannot think of anything next year that really excites me./p/blockquotepbr / br /Games too difficult? LittleBigPlanet not appealing to the masses? 2009 looking dull? So, do you agree with Molyneux?/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games"Games/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231201833664010600340852114"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231201833664010600340852114" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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conclusions,1up,wikipedia,game of the year,margins

Your New Year gaming resolutions

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 3 days and 20 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/38369?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+Your+New+Year+gaming+resolutionsch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Game+culture+%28games%29c5=Gamesc6=Keith+Stuartc7=2009_01_05c8=1142293c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpOkay, so most New Year resolutions are doomed to failure. We get carried away, overshoot and ultimately realise that we can't change fundamental aspects of our personalities because of a date on a calendar. /ppBut Gamesblog regularly asks readers at this time of the year, how they plan to change their gaming habits over the coming 12 months. So if you've included any game-based resolutions on your list, let us know. Perhaps you've resolved to play less sequels - an ill-advised move this year considering the imminent arrival of Resi 5, Killzone 2, God of War 3 and many, many others. Maybe you'll endeavour to keep up to date with the indie gaming scene? Or play more mobile games?/ppWhatever it is, let us know. And this will conclude our New Year-themed posts for the day (unless Aleks has plans I don't know about...)br //pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gameculture"Game culture/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231167043157010515040548301"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231167043157010515040548301" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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margins,ss,failure,images,god of war

SNK Playmore: a brief profile and interview

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 3 days and 21 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/53551?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+SNK+Playmore%3A+a+brief+profile+and+interviewch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Game+culture+%28games%29%2CPlayStation+%28Technology%29%2CXbox%2CWii%2CNintendo+%28Technology%29c5=Technology+Gadgets%2CGames%2CConsumer+Electronicsc6=Keith+Stuartc7=2009_01_05c8=1142258c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Games+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FGames+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpSNK should be dead. The veteran Japanese game publisher, arcade cabinet manufacturer and one-time console contender closed for business in October 2001 after twenty years of knocking out unashamedly hardcore shooters, fighting games and coin-op oddities. During the following weeks, no self-respecting arcade dweller would be seen dead without one of the hastily produced commemorative T-shirts, emblazoned with the phrase '2D Forever, SNK 1978-2001' and available from import game stores everywhere./ppBut somehow the company lives on. Months after the collapse, founder Eikichi Kawasaki set up a new company, a href="http://www.snkplaymoreusa.com/"Playmore/a, and successfully bid for SNK's intellectual rights. Unlike Atari, which today survives in name only, SNK retains its original founder and many key staff. SNK lives. /ppAnd, as it turns out, SNK also answers its email. A few months ago I sent over some questions to the company via its UK distributor, Ignition. I wasn't really expecting anything back â€“ Japanese publishers aren't great with interview requests. But just before Christmas, they got back to me, answering under the collective name of 'The SNK Playmore team in Japan' and dealing with every single one of my questions./ppBut first things first - why does all this matter? br /br /Well, for a start, SNK has been responsible for some smashing games. The company's first hit was undoubtedly vertically scrolling military blaster Ikari Warriors, which introduced the world to the concept of the co-op shooter about 20 years before it became achingly trendy. You can also thank SNK for the fondly-remembered footie sim Soccer Sidekicks and the brilliant Metal Slug series of humour-tinged sideways scrolling shooters. On the hardware side, there was the Neo Geo (and later Neo Geo CD) console, a competitor to the SNES, Mega Drive and eventually the PlayStation, brilliant for arcade conversions, but always too insular to complete on the world stage./ppPerhaps SNK's seminal release was 1991's Fatal Fury, a 2D beat-em-up launched just months after the epoch-shattering Street Fighter II, but reportedly in development embefore/em Capcom's show-stealer. The release, its subsequent sequels, and the onslaught of stablemates such as Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting and King of Fighters, set up a lengthy rivalry between the two developers, culminating in the wonderful SNK vs Capcom series, featuring characters and combat styles from both companies. Many gamers believe the Art of Fighting and King of Fighters titles were better than their Street Fighter rivals, with more imaginative fighters, better scenery and deeper fighting systems./ppIt also matters because SNK remains the beating heart of hardcore gaming; it is a symbol of the industry as it once was, dominated by tough-as-old-boots coin-ops. The company's brilliant handheld console, the Neo Geo Pocket was compatible with Dreamcast, and the sad demise of Sega's machine seemed to inextricably tie in with the fall of SNK â€“ two stalwarts of the arcade scene, battered by the prevailing wind of PlayStation casual-dom. /ppSo, for the last couple of years, the company has been successfully living off its rich back catalogue, releasing dozens of cut-price anthologies crammed with cult arcade and home console classics. Last year, we saw the likes of World Heroes Anthology and Fatal Fury Battle Archives. This March, SNK addicts can look forward to SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 on Wii, the Samurai Shodown Anthology on PS2, PSP and Wii and The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga on PSP and Wii. The publisher has also moved into the download market, supporting Wii's Virtual Console and sticking Fatal Fury Special, Metal Slug 3 and Samurai Shodown II on Xbox Live Arcade. /ppThis year will see the XBLA release of King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, which some consider the very zenith of 2D fisticuffs. "First among the list of new features is the 'Ultimate Mode'," explained the SNK chaps in their email. "This allows players to customise settings from Extra and Advanced Modes, giving fans a slew of gameplay options. The visual alterations / additional graphics, updated stages, newly arranged music, and variety of original content and game modes (plus online support) will make for an entirely new experience for fans of this classic KOF series installment. The remake also features even further improved game balance which has been finely-tuned by our staff, with an all-star roster containing nine additional characters for a total of 64!"/ppSNK also confirmed that it would be developing for PS3 this year and will make an announcement shortly. It's also likely that the company will extend its support for Wii as well. I also asked if any of its key Neo Geo Pocket titles â€“ the likes of Gals Fighters and SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters Clash - might appear on mobile or iPhone this year. "Keeping in mind we received great response for both of those Neo Geo Pocket Color titles, we will be sure to look into it!" was the enigmatic response. Oh, and if you're a connoisseur of import games, look out for a forthcoming (and currently Japan-only) compilation of Neo Geo classics originally developed by cult studio ADK, including Twinkle Star Sprites, Ninja Master's and Ninja Commando. /ppOf course, the key release of '09 â€“ the 15th anniversary of the King of Fighters series â€“ will be a href="http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/official/kof-xii/"King of Fighters XII/a, hitting Japanese arcades in April and no doubt arriving on home consoles before the end of the year. They're calling this a true rebirth for the series, echoing the language Capcom is using to hype up Street Fighter IV. The two old rivals are heading into the ring once again./ppFinally, I asked how the company has retained such a dedicated and obsessive following over the years. "First and foremost, through each game release we feel SNK has constantly kept our love and respect for our fans in mind. SNK Playmore tries as much as possible to listen closely to our fans' opinions, whether they are from questionnaires or at events." And that's really it. SNK exists mostly for its hardcore fanbase these days, resolutely and unrelentingly giving them what they want, like one of those old prog rock bands that continues to tour long after fickle mainstream tastes have left them behind; still going, still, at times, brilliant.br / br /strongbr /SNK tasting guide/strongbr /Fancy sampling the works of this veteran publisher? The most approachable are probably the Metal Slug titles â€“ I'd go for Metal Slug Anthology (PSP, Wii, PS2) or Metal Slug 3 on XBLA. If you're looking for an overview of the company's arcade heritage try SNK Arcade Classics 1 on PS2 â€“ it's got the original Metal Slug, Fatal Fury, World Heroes and King of Fighters titles as well as other well-known hits (although there are issues with loading times and some technical glitches). Otherwise, check out King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match when it arrives on XBLA later this year./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gameculture"Game culture/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/playstation"PlayStation/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/xbox"Xbox/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/wii"Wii/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/nintendo"Nintendo/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231167043257010515040548301"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231167043257010515040548301" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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street fighter ii,visuals,xbox live,t shirts,pockets

What game are you looking forward to most in 2009?

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 4 days and 2 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/30167?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+What+game+are+you+looking+forward+to+most+in+2009%3Fch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Awards+%28games%29%2CGames+%28Technology%29%2CTechnologyc5=Corporate+IT%2CGamesc6=Greg+Howsonc7=2009_01_05c8=1141381c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=Gaming+awardsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FTechnology%2FGaming+awards" width="1" height="1" //divpYou are probably, like me, still ploughing through the late 2008 release rush but take your eyes away from Far Cry 2 (the game seemingly on all my friends "will play it soon, honest" list) and Fallout 3 for a moment. Yes, it's time to look forward to what 2009 has in store. Well, sort of. /ppThere are plenty of 2009 most wanted type lists around if you need some suggestions but for me this year promises a more intelligent, less sequel filled, release schedule. Yes, the next 12 months will finally see gaming going big on narrative. Or in other words, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Rain"Heavy Rain/a and a href="http://www.alanwake.co.uk"Alan Wake/a better be bloody good. Both promise atmosphere, story and progression based on using your brain more than your thumb. /ppOf course, Alan Wake has been on the radar for at least three years but there is still no sign of its Twin Peaks meets Silent Hill action. Fingers crossed we see it in 2009. Heavy Rain is still scheduled for a 2009 release though and things are a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/heavy-rain-preview"looking good/a so far./ppSo, 2009 then. What game are you most looking forward to playing this year?/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/awards"Gaming awards/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games"Games/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231148729454010509520743634"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231148729454010509520743634" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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atmosphere,wikipedia,margins,seemingly,radars

Chatterbox Monday

PS2 wins; Xbox 360 beats Wii; original Xbox beats PS3

Guardian Unlimited: Gamesblog

- 4 days and 12 hours ago

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/72401?ns=guardianpageName=Technology%3A+PS2+wins%3B+Xbox+360+beats+Wii%3B+original+Xbox+beats+PS3ch=Technologyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Games+%28Technology%29%2CTechnologyc5=Corporate+IT%2CGamesc6=Jack+Schofieldc7=2009_01_04c8=1142090c9=articlec10=GUc11=Technologyc12=blogc13=c14=Technology+blogh2=GU%2FTechnology%2Fblog%2FTechnology+blog" width="1" height="1" //divpThe Nielsen Media Research group, better known for saying what the American public watched on TV, has released some research on "usage minutes" for games consoles in the US last year (Jan-Oct). It turns out that Sony's PlayStation 2 still leads the way, accounting for 31.7% of the time spent console gaming. However, the Xbox 360 (17.2%) came second, ahead of Nintendo's Wii (13.4%). Even more embarrassing for Sony, the original Xbox (9.7%) beat the PlayStation 3 (7.3%). a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/156259/nielsens_top_10_pc_games_and_consoles_of_2008.html/"PC World/a comments:br //pblockquotepEveryone thinks no one's playing the Wii. They're wrong. The 360 can claim the slightly higher usage-to-units ratio, but the Wii leapt from 5.5% in 2007 to 13.4% in 2008, a notably larger increase than the 360's 11.8% to 17.2%. br /The PS3? Its usage increase (2.5% in 2007 to 7.3% in 2008) was actually commensurate with the 360's. Still, Sony's got a year to really get the lead out if it doesn't want to be this generation's GameCube./p/blockquotepThe top PC game was World of Warcraft, which was being played for 671 minutes a week. However, its share dropped from 1,023 minutes last year -- a plunge of 17 hours to 11 hours. However, the launch of Wrath of the Lich King may have changed that since./ppThe top 10 for Mobile Games in last year's third quarter -- a new category -- was headed by a stunning game called Tetris (based on carrier-billed revenues). It's interesting that people are happy to pay rather than carry around an old Game Boy. Also, I wonder if any of the carriers have figured out they could make even more money by making Tetris just a little easier.../pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/games"Games/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231111615450010423320652499"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Technologycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1231111615450010423320652499" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

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consoles,pcworld,playstation,margins,beats

Chatterbox New Year