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In anticipation for the upcoming Punch-Out!! Wii game, IGN posted a review of Super Punch-Out!! for the Wii Virtual Console. I’m extremely leery about this new Punch-Out!! game; the core gameplay aspects of the first two Punch-Out!! games have long since been forsaken, especially by Nintendo. Punch-Out!! on the NES and its SNES sequel Super Punch-Out!! were both amazing games, due largely in part to the intense reaction time and pattern recognition necessary to defeating each opponent. Reflexive responses and pattern memorization have fallen out of popularity in most video games these days, which is unfortunate. Games today are praised for the amount of options available to the player – a concept in direct opposition to games that stress pattern recognition. Where Fable II and Fallout 3 boast a vast array of options to tackle any given scenario, older games like Punch-Out!! or Contra demand that the player follow a specific and difficult path, often coming down to an exact pixel in spacing or a split-second in timing, clearly limiting the options a player has in order to progress. And yet it made Super Punch-Out!! a fantastic game, and in IGN’s review (evaluated by today’s standards) the game received an 8 out of 10. Clearly, quick response time and pattern recognition still have a place in the hearts of gamers. Hopefully, the forthcoming Punch-Out!! sequel will embrace the tried-and-true methods of its predecessors, and even more hopefully, perhaps other games will follow suit.

The Map is not the Territory.

This is one of the big problems we face in rhetoric and critical analysis. Communication always requires some degree of abstraction. The word that represents your name is ultimately a abstraction of the name itself. And the name, itself, is a highly abstracted representation of the thing it references- i.e. you. The difficulty, it seems, lies in trying to maintain a balance between how much needs to be abstracted to communicate versus what gets lost in the abstraction.

Play is a pointed example of this meta-communicative tension. A game, or a play-experience, is just a stylized abstraction of another activity. Tag is an abstraction of hunting. RPG’s are an abstraction of social interaction. Call of Duty is an abstraction of modern warfare. But they’re not the things themselves. It’s a signification. An abstraction.

A game.

Questions:

* How ‘meta’ can you take this before it gets ridiculously postmodern? Can you do a game about games?

* Robots and 3D models of humans can be seen as abstractions of humans. They also suffer from the uncanny valley. Can a similar phenomenon apply to abstractions or simulations of non-human objects?

In a similar vein, we also have a “walkthrough” of a game as our second reading. For those uninitiated out there, a “walkthough” is a guide or cheatsheet for a game. The narrative usually reads like, “be sure to only go through the middle door once you’re in this room.”

So, given our previous reading, we really have an abstraction of an abstraction.

On top of that, most of the walkthrough we read this week was self-referential and critical of the game itself. Gameplay tips took a back seat.

So, we have critical analysis of a work- which, itself, is an abstraction. This is mediated by at least two levels of abstraction between the critic and the work. So, abstractions of abstractions, which are then abstracted. Then put down in words- which itself is a collection of abstractions.

It’s okay. My head hurts too.

Questions:

* If you incorporate walkthrough-esque gameplay guidance into the work itself (i.e. really detailed tutorials), is it then part of the work itself (and thus no longer an abstraction of it)?

* Is critical analysis an appropriate device to use in a walkthrough?

A couple sequences in Uncharted offer the player the oppurtunity to sneak up on enemies and elminate them. If they can. Enemies can be seen walking on their scripted patrols, but it is never quite clear what it takes for these enemies to notice Drake. Can they hear his actions when he pounces on an unsuspecting bandit? How good is their peripheral vision? The alertness of the enemies is very iffy, and it makes stealthy kills near impossible. Maybe the player will be able to successfully off one enemy before being noticed, but going any farther than that is unlikely. One segment later in the game seems to suggest that stealth is the best solution, but a firefight is a much more likely outcome and will also prove easier for the player. It’s a pity, because a little bit of stealth gameplay would go a long way to break up the monotany of some of the shooting sequences.

Uncharted 2 is promising more in the stealth department. The best way to make this fly would be to give clear definition to the enemies’ perceptive capabilities. This will prevent the player from inadvertently being spotted without even knowing why. Additionally, combat needs to be more punishing, or else stealth needs to be more rewarding, so that players do not feel like taking the quiet approach is a waste of time.

I want to work at Valve. I don’t think I’ve played a single game developed by the company (though Half-Life is on my admittedly long to-do list) but the creative process described by Ken Birdwell sounds like the kind of environment I would be most suited for. Games are becoming increasingly complex in their development that it seems almost impossible to allow for one man to head the entire creative process. The radical differences between programming and story-telling alone are enough to hamper a man’s ability to put together a cohesive title. The Cabal method that Birdwell describes seems to get around these problems while still avoiding the chaos that is present at the other extreme (allowing everyone to do their own thing without any shared direction). The Cabal method is a much more democratic creative process that I feel could be beneficial to not only creative designs, but even more practical or administrative practices. Let’s get a Cabal for the education system, health insurance policies, or anything else you can think of. And playtest your products/serivices before you release them!

Today has been a fairly productive day even though we started off ahead of schedule.
I am also at the four month mark of my internship and its getting down to the wire I feel.
My friend Lauren who pretty much got me the internship is the manager of account services.
She just asked me when my end date for the internship was up.  I told her i was never given one.
She then asked me how much longer I needed to intern to complete the program for school.
When I said that I was probably past that point, she replied, “Really?!? – jesus” and she jumped up
and ran around the corner to the creative directors office.

I am waiting for her to return to her desk so I can ask her why the hell she reacted like that haha.
I am hoping she is trying to push for them offering me a position here.
I am getting along better with my co-workers everyday, and it seems their confidence in me is rising.
I am willing to stay here as long as it takes as an intern, to show that I am dedicated
and hungry for a position here on the creative team.  I realize that I’m lucky to even be
where I am now – that others are starving for jobs like me.

Hopefully this ends well, I’ll keep you all posted -

-Jesse Labat Randall

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Although the Playstation 2 is basically considered a last gen console at this point, this price drop might not create a lot of hype in the gaming community, but for casual gamers this might help sell some of the extra consoles sitting in retail stores across the country. With the current position on the economy I think this is a good move, as long as Sony can afford to do so. I’d hate to admit it, but the only reason I’ve been putting off buying a Playstation 2 is the extra $30. I think now that its very affordable at $99 I would be more motivated to visit the electronic store and leave with a console and a game at the price the Playstation 2 has been for the last year or so.

So, last I left off Altair had just taken out the slaver and a good chunk of his men, reported to the guildmaster and completed the memory fragment.

After completing the fragment, Desmond comes out of the genetic memory machine for a rest. However, once he gets to his room, he finds he isn’t locked in. And he found something left for him. Seems someone might be helping him. My guess is the doctor’s assisstant.

Desmond then goes back into the machine for the next memory fragment. It comes to Altair with the guildmaster discusssing the next phase of assassinations. Next up seems to be taking out the people in charge of running the cities under the domination of the crusaders. The game lets me choose where to go next, so I return to the first city I visisted.

Returning gives me a new area to explore in the city, getting rid of the blue barrier that kept me in the first area. This means there’s new viewpoint towers to scale, new citizens to save, and an escalated amount of guards who are supposedly more suspicious because they have heard of Altair’s work. The local guild is still in the same place, meaning it may be more of a hike getting back after the job.

This week’s target appears to be a rich man  with power in the city. Intel on him is that he’s fairly reclusive, rarely coming out into the city. He’s fat and has a decadent lifestyle. This probably means he can’t fight. He’s going to have a party soon, and Altair finds that to be the perfect time to strike.

Not all that much new encountered this week in the preparation phase, although the new section of the city has rooftop archers, which, while not new, is new for the city.

For the job getting into the party was simple, they left the front door open to the target’s courtyard at his mansion/palace/thing. His moment of evil was poisoning all the guests at his party for apparantly not liking him enough and spreading rumors.

The battle started as soon as he poisons the guests, although some did not drink and instead run around trying to escape. The target is on a balcony with his two bodyguards, so Altair has to climb up and dispatch the guards. As soon as Altair gets up onto the balcony, however, the target takes off at a run through the back door and into the streets. At that point it’s a pretty simple chase. Altair takes out the target and completes the job.

Next up, two more targets to take out for the current memory fragment, along with, presumably, new sections of the remaining two cities.

I didn’t do much on Chrono Cross during Spring break, it was kinda busy even though it was a week off. During the time I did play it was pretty awesome. So in order to get Serge’s body back i have to look for clues about the whereabouts of “Serge” (Lynx in Serge’s body). I head out to Viper Manor to find it in shambles and being run by the military. Lynx is very respected and they allow me to pass undisturbed. In the basement of the Viper manor I speak to a Captain that speaks about the Dragoons disappearing( Axle, Zoah, Marcy and Viper) and that they might have a connection with Serge and the Dragon Isles. he joins my party and we go exploring the entire globe without a definite spot to search. I head for a shiny new part on the map, El Nido Triangle.

This place is underwater, it looks really cool and really detailed. I’m just bothered by everyone’s ability to walk, talk and breathe underwater. After battling some fish i come across a “Star Fragment” and there s nowhere else to go, so I just head out. I go around the different dragon isles but there doesn’t seem to be anything of interest until I reach the Sky Dragon isle, which happens to be invaded by a giant Alien looking for a Star Fragment. We fight and he joins my party so I can help him find his spaceship for him to go back home. I like his gun techniques and his innate color, he is very handy with getting high level white spells going when coupled with Serge.

It took me like two hours to figure out the next spot was a Combo between a casino boat and the Black dragon Island (Marbule) There is a story about a Mermaid crying at night. it is a long love story about a pirate falling in love with a mermaid who gives her life to save her people and leaves the pirate with a half-merman son. The son must learn a legendary song in order to open the Gates to “deaths door”, which is where Serge’s body is supposed to be…

The Hackers Manifesto was an interesting read to say the least. Or should I say an interesting set of rules/principles. While reading it I felt like I was in a futuristic movie where all humans are following a similar code and are programmed to abide by it.
The unique part about the manifesto is how I couldn’t find anywhere how majority of people in the world think of hackers as pest. All these rules and restrictions and all this language but not anywhere did I see a sentence stating how much the rest of the world really thinks of hackers. When people mentioned the word hacking it is never said in a positive way. At least not around the people I hang out with.

Maybe I’m hanging with people living a life that’s too honest. Or maybe, just maybe, there are not a lot of hackers out there who should be mentioned in the same sentence with Mother Teresa. People have always seen hackers as a threat to society and hackers have always rebelled against the “corrupt.”

Whether two will ever see eye to eye remains to be seen. Something tells me the answer to that is a clear NO!

http://kotaku.com/5190395/could-the-future-of-gaming-be-console-free

When I first read this blog I didn’t know what to think of this whole console free gaming possibility. The whole idea of this new way of gaming is definitely exciting and who knows where the gaming industry will be in the next 10 years. When I thought of new ways to improve the whole gaming experience I honestly never thought of the future of gaming going in this direction.

In my opinion PC gaming would be taken to new heights with the development of this OnLive system but I still think that the issue of lag would play a big role. Every time any of us play games online there is always that one guy or multiple ones, who are lagging and dragging down the whole group with them. I’m sure I’ve been that guy before without even knowing it.

Internet connection has improved a lot in the past couple of years, but in order for this new development to be completely functional and enjoyable at the same time, internet connection is going to be the key. While I think that this way of gaming is still some years away, the potential of it can not be underestimated even by the biggest of pessimists.