Zen Of Design

The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer

Month: November 2006 (Page 3 of 4)

Real Life Rockers and Guitar Hero

November 12, 2006 /

Wall Street Journal, of all places, has a pretty good story about real-life rock stars who are addicted to Guitar Hero. This amuses me. Guitar Hero is the greatest game ever, because it is so good at wish fulfillment – no other game in history captures the feeling that you’re living your fantasy. So what does it say when real life rock stars find that fantasy so compelling? (Reading the article, what it says is that ‘drummers wish they could be attention-whoring guitarists)

Anyway, amusing Friday quote from the article:

Michael Einziger, the 30-year-old guitarist for the hard-rock band Incubus, says he was “shocked at how hard it was” to play the videogame’s version of his song “Stellar.” He admits he was handily beaten by his then-14-year-old sister, Ruby Aldridge, when the two of them squared off earlier this year. “It doesn’t have anything to do with playing guitar,” Mr. Einziger says. “It’s all rhythmic.”

Virtual Reality Reality Shows

November 9, 2006 /

I’ve posted in the past about Second Life’s amazing ability to draw attention well beyond what their population merits. This trend seems set to continue – Big Brother (the TV show) is set to hold a contest inside of Second Life.

Imagining a reality show set in a Virtual World has interesting ramifications. On one hand, the frozen, static faces of an MMO avatar cannot hope to capture the true magic of reality television: the inadvertent bitchface on a contestant’s face when another contestant has done something truly repugnant.

On the other hand, the level of repugnancy can only be high, when you combine the standard reality TV contestant’s desperate need for attention with the anonymity that the web provides.

Might and Magic is the Unluckiest License

November 9, 2006 /

There are two ways to treat a license, once you find yourself holding one that is loved and respected.

One is to treat it like it’s gold, only release quality product, to ensure that the brand continues to hold it’s value. Licenses like Doom, Unreal, and Mario are licenses about which bad games are rarely, if ever, made. Because why on earth would you kill the goose that lays the golden egg? Continue reading

Guitar Hero and Election Joy

November 8, 2006 /

Sara and I spent the evening watching the election results. Right now, the Senate is tied 49-49 with two votes to go. That’s close enough to guaruntee at least gridlock. Good enough me.

We also spent time playing the new Guitar Hero II. Yeah, yeah, I couldn’t wait. First impressions is that … some of the song covers are really bad. In particular, the songs with distinctive lead singers really were jarring: Rage Against the Machine is the worst, with Nirvana, Aerosmith, and Alice in Chains all coming out pretty bad as well. I really don’t remember having this reaction to the first one.

Still having a blast, though. More to come.

Go Vote!!!

November 7, 2006 /

I’ve stopped posting about politics since the last election – quite simply, there are a lot of bloggers out there doing it a hell of a lot better than I ever could, even if I had the time. That being said, Tuesday is a big election here in the states, and I’d feel remiss if I didn’t urge my readers to actually get out and vote. It matters.

Who am I voting for? It’s more of what I’m voting against. I’m voting against ’staying the course’ when that course has no discernable evidence of success. I’m voting against a party that twisted limited evidence of WMDs to launch a preemptive attack in Iraq. I’m voting against the party that committed us to Iraq with insufficient troops, equipment or allies, and that actually slashed veteran benefits. I’m voting against a party that managed to make Iraq a more dangerous place than when a bloodthirsty lunatic was running it. Continue reading

A Side Comment Re: Blu-Ray vs HDDVD

November 3, 2006 /

Am I the only person who has stopped buying DVDs altogether? I read an article recently that mentioned that DVD sales have slowed.  The studios seem to think it’s because people have finished filling their libraries.

Has it occurred to anyone that there are probably a whole bunch of people who don’t want to buy more DVDs until we know whether or not to pursue HDDVDs or Blu-Rays?

Anyway, until someone wins, I’m just Netflixing everything.

Wii Doubles Sony’s Launch Numbers

November 3, 2006 /

One hidden aspect to Nintendo’s strategy for world domination is the rather unique idea of actually having enough product on the shelves. EA estimates that there will be 900K to 1.4 million Wii sold in North America by the end of the year, which contrasts sharply with the PS3 numbers, which look to be half that.

Sony has been trying to spin this as a way of creating a sense of demand, and that this will be the ‘hot product’. How well that will work when mom can turn around and buy a Wii or a 360 instead remains to be seen. And don’t be fooled – consoles are Christmas gifts in North America – having more boxes under trees dramatically increases Nintendo’s odds of hitting critical mass. Shipping substandard numbers in North America for Christmas is going to mean a lot of kids who currently only live off allowances will have to wait a year to get their hands on the box (especially considering PS3’s substantial price tag). Continue reading

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