Let’s see…where did I leave the fun?

Spring 1997: The last few weeks of my semester at Berklee were shaping up to be pure hell with final projects, final exams and long hours of piano practice. Thankfully I found refuge in the dorm room of Matt (my RA) as did EMB editors Tim and Will. Matt’s room was the place to unwind, drink beer, eat subs from Cappy’s and, most importantly, use the Playstation. While the beginning of the semester was spent achieving dangerously good skills at Wipeout, our game of choice for the final stretch was Resident Evil. Though it was a single player game, RE became as good a multiplayer experience as any one of us could hope for. The group dynamic changed from suspense and fright at the start to hardened determination and nerves of steel at the game’s finish. Collective screams as skinned dogs crashed through windows gave way to cheering and shouts of “The knees! Aim for their knees!”

I have played every game in the Resident Evil franchise and have been pleased with each one regardless of some repetition throughout the series. That is until I ran up against the train wreck called Resident Evil: Outbreak.

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I smell like butterscotch…

You can stop feeding your Tamagotchi because the next generation of virtual pets is here! Nintendogs is coming to the U.S. and co-dependancy as we know it may never be the same.

Nintendogs is the game that recently increased Japanese sales of Nintendo DS by 500% and it doesn’t take a marketing genius to realize why. Virtual pets have always been a huge success there. Hell, even Sony’s Aibo was successful! It makes sense in an often overcrowded society where having an actual pet is extremely difficult that people seek an electronic, pocket sized alternative for their love and affection needs. The Japanese also rarely express their emotions in public, so pressing a button to reward or punish is ideal.

So why do I think it will be effective in the U.S.?

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Back off, Lucas! Other people can have glowing swords too, you know.

What is it about the epic adventure game that is so hard to market? Oh sure, a title like The Legend of Zelda can get by on simple name recognition, even in its Cartoon Network incarnation. Try to make an original intellectual property in a genre that not only deserves it, but demands it, and it seems like the marketing people get confused over whether the pen goes in the left hand, the right hand, or straight up their asses. There’s already been more than enough posted about the amazing Beyond Good & Evil on this site, but if you haven’t been keeping up with us, here’s a refresher…the game is awesome, and all 5 people in the world who actually played it agree upon this wholeheartedly.
Following in the same vein of originality, accessiblity, and anonymity is the Eurocom title Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy.
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I finally got around to feeding the bomb to Rockstar’s “Manhunt” for the PC, and I must say it is everything I expected (whether or not this is a good thing, you can judge for yourself).

Thank god the NHL lockout is finally over! Things were looking pretty grim for the NHLPA…

First off - with all the recent controversy surrounding Rockstar’s flagship game series GTA, it has to be noted just how UN-noticed Manhunt was subsequent to its release. To be fair, GTA has sexy simulated sex (albeit only when the code is manipulated by users) whereas Manhunt

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Last night saw a bomb feeding to Fallout: Tactics (a post-nuclear tactical combat game, as you can see). This mediocre translation of the Fallout universe to a real time strategy game was crapped out by 14°East and MicroForte under the auspices of Interplay. It’s also the beginning of the end for the Fallout series. Within a few short years of the release of this game, Interplay and its RPG center Black Isle Studios would be no more, the Fallout franchise would be up for sale, and the wanderer would be washing windshields at stoplights in the Bronx.

The short synopsis goes like this: Fallouts 1 and 2 were huge hits because of the detailed storylines, the intricate game play, and the creepily realistic atmosphere of the game. So how do you follow two “Game of the Year” awards? If you’re Interplay you take the same game, spend all your time revising the combat engine so it plays in real time, strip out everything that made it fun, and then sign your own death warrant.

I’m being unnecessarily harsh with this game, but this game is a pale shadow of its predecessors and I’m feeling used and empty.

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The other day I bought an in-the-flesh used Atari 2600, and in a moment of delusion connected it to my 36″ HD television. Indeed, I’m not running the game from Mame or MacMame on my computer, this is the real deal. My intention to relive the past, to recall the countless hours of pure frustration as I tried to manipulate colored blocks on a TV screen. Ah, those were the days.

This was one of the original video game systems; Atari and a handful of other pioneer game companies set the standard for the games in the future. It’s well worth reliving the full home console gaming experience to see how games have evolved over the years.

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Ok I’ll admit it. I installed a mod chip in my Xbox. Since the modification, I have been very careful to disable the mod chip when I start up the console with an Xbox game inside. But a few weeks ago I forgot. I recognized my mistake within seconds of turning on the console but it was too late and now my Xbox is now eternally banned from the Xbox Live service. The manner in which this fact was revealed to me was truly a delight. I tried to connect and it innocently stated “Problem connecting to Xbox Live. Would you like to troubleshoot your connection?” Then it proceeded with the following song and dance:

Network Interface: OK, DNS: OK, TCP/IP: OK, Xbox Live: Not Found. You know where this is going but as it turns out, I win in the end…

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