Category: Games

#oneaday, Day 83: Crafting War

The reason why World of Warcraft is still fun eludes me. According to the game, my "main" character (i.e. my highest level one) has been playing for something like 18 days. That's 18 days total time logged in, not I started playing 18 days ago. 18 days… that's… (counts) 432 hours, or over four runs through Persona 4. And yet somehow, despite the clunky animation that all MMOs are cursed with, its inconsistent attempts at storytelling and its overwhelming focus on killing things repeatedly… it's still fun.

There are many things which could cause this. Perhaps it's the fact that you're constantly being rewarded. Recent non-MMO multiplayer titles like Modern Warfare 2 have cottoned on to this, rewarding players with points, perks and unlockable things just for playing the game normally, not necessarily being the best at it. WoW is the same. Do quests, get experience. Kill monsters, get experience. Whatever you do, you're achieving something that will better your character and make your experience more fun. And since Blizzard added an extremely robust Achievements system with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack, there's always plenty of things to do, even if you don't fancy level-grinding. Perhaps you could go back and solo some dungeons that used to give you trouble. Perhaps you could work on your crafting skills. Perhaps you could take part in one of the entertaining seasonal events, ending up with some sort of kooky reward. Perhaps you could delve into the infinite world of Add-Ons and customise WoW's interface to make it into the game you want it to be. (For my part, I've completely rejigged the interface and use an excellent system called Soundtrack which allows you to assign custom music to zones, monsters, special events and battles).

Or perhaps you could spend your time interacting with other players. That is one of the key things about a multiplayer game, after all.

I play on a roleplaying server – Darkmoon Faire, if anyone's interested – and this means several things to me. Firstly, it means that there are people out there who sometimes like to forgo the levelling experience for the sake of some in-character conversation. Anyone who has played a tabletop roleplaying game will know that some of the best moments come from the inter-party banter and improvised storylines. RP in WoW is no exception and while, yes, you do get a few teenage lesbian Night Elves around the place sometimes, and yes, you do get some people who don't know when to stop with the melodrama sometimes, for the most part RP on Darkmoon Faire is mature and entertaining.

The other thing about an RP server in my experience, though, is that those same people who like to RP tend to be the nicer, more articulate people that there are. People who write in full sentences, know how to use capital letters and punctuation. People who don't abbreviate everything just for the sake of it. And, hey, people who are polite.

I know a big part of my WoW experience is the people I get the chance to talk to while I'm playing. And while most of them are streets ahead of me in levels, experience, time played and skills, meaning that I rarely get the chance to actually play alongside them, the fact that I can chat to them on the channel they've set up, or turn up to the regular improvisatory RP sessions that are held in newbie-friendly areas makes the whole experience more worthwhile socially.

But still a massive waste of time. 🙂

#oneaday, Day 82: The Pile of Shame

Hello everyone! Late again. I'm just going to stop writing that at the start of my posts, as it appears that 2am is prime blogging time in my stupid world. Oh well. I could have worse vices at 2am. Or indeed at any time.

Few fun things to report. Well, one really, and one I can't talk about yet until I know a bit more. First up, I'm going to be writing for an upcoming retro-gaming site called B4HD, which specialises in games from the pre-HD era. (B4 HD. Geddit?) It was brought to my attention by the lovely and talented Jennifer Allen, who is also partaking in this One A Day nonsense (one of the few people who are still left) and also happens to be the deputy editor of the site. So thanks, Jen, for pointing it out. It's right up my alley. Now I just need to write something ready for its launch.

I also have several potential freelancing irons in the fire, so we'll have to wait and see if those come to anything. I'm being more proactive about it now, though, and badgering people I haven't heard from for a while. It's not really in my nature to act like that, but I'm learning. Assertiveness and all that. Plus journalism can be pretty cut-throat, so I better toughen up, right?

For the remainder of this post, I think I may just be lazy and list my current Pile of Shame – in this case, games I haven't finished – since it was Jen's post I linked to that inspired this one. So here goes. Starred games indicate games that I have at least started and played a reasonably significant amount of in the past. Non-starred ones have either not been played at all or very little. Some of these I will probably never get around to ever. But they're still there, mocking me.

PS1

  • Final Fantasy V
  • Final Fantasy VI

PS2

  • Final Fantasy XII*
  • ICO
  • Metal Gear Solid 3
  • Resident Evil 4
  • killer7
  • Persona 3 FES*
  • Odin Sphere
  • Project Zero/Fatal Frame*
  • Psi-Ops
  • Shadow of the Colossus*

GameCube

  • Resident Evil Zero*
  • Resident Evil Remake

Xbox 360/XBLA

  • Borderlands*
  • Numerous titles in the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (particularly the Phantasy Star series, Story of Thor, Shining Force II and Shining in the Darkness)
  • Alien Hominid*
  • Braid*
  • Castle Crashers*
  • Forza 3*
  • Lode Runner*
  • Perfect Dark*
  • Puzzle Quest*
  • Shadow Complex*
  • Splosion Man*

PS3/PSN

  • Matt Hazard: Blood, Bath and Beyond
  • Final Fantasy XIII*
  • Disgaea 3
  • Shatter's last two Trophies
  • Uncharted 2 multiplayer
  • Building a level in LittleBigPlanet

PC – god-damn Steam sale in early January saw to this one.

  • King's Bounty
  • King's Bounty: Armored Princess
  • Mount & Blade
  • Uplink*
  • Jade Empire
  • KOTOR as Dark Side
  • Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
  • Neverwinter Nights 2
  • Baldur's Gate 2*
  • Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal
  • Icewind Dale
  • Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
  • Morrowind* (played EXTENSIVELY, never got anywhere NEAR finishing)
  • Homeworld 2
  • Dungeon Siege 2
  • The entire Myst series
  • Gabriel Knight 3*
  • The Police Quest series
  • King's Quest IV
  • The Witcher*
  • Freelancer*
  • Startopia*
  • Ghost Master
  • Martian Memorandum/Mean Streets
  • Realms of Arkania
  • Relams of Arkania 2
  • No-One Lives Forever 2
  • Unreal Tournament 3

Yeah, that's right. Kicking it old-school with some of those PC games. It's actually quite fortunate I have little-to-no money coming in right now as I clearly have a backlog to last me until the end of time. Couple that with the fact that I'm in a World of Warcraft phase right now (halfway to level 75 with my best character now) and there's clearly plenty to be getting on with. So a big middle finger to all the triple-A games that have come out since Assassin's Creed 2.

Of course, when Blur and Split/Second come out soon, this will all go to pot. Still, never mind.

#oneaday, Day 80: Lift! And down. And lift! And down.

I started "playing" EA Sports Active again the other day, having got out of shape during my abortive attempt to return to classroom teaching. And yes, I blame the latter for the former. Partly because the 80-mile round trip daily commute I was doing meant I got back too late to go to the gym, and also that the stress caused tiredness and lack of motivation. Finding myself currently with relatively little to do (it's the Easter holidays, so I'm going to have to wait for supply teaching work) I decided to start it up again.

Those who have known me a while know that I used to keep a blog here. I'm thinking I may start using that again, as it was an excellent self-motivation tool. Even if others weren't particularly interested in reading about how many chest presses I'd managed that day, the act of writing that stuff down helped.

EASA takes a similar approach by constantly offering you feedback and achievable goals. God, I feel like an obnoxious management-type just saying those words, but it's true. For once. Start on the app's "30 Day Challenge" programme and you're automatically set some goals – a number of calories to burn in your first week, a total number of hours to achieve in the month and a number of workouts to successfully complete in the first week. You can also create your own goals, which is nice – though I'm quite happy with the ones it's set for me so far. There's also an Achievement-like trophy system that rewards you for completing workouts, burning certain numbers of calories, completing certain exercises several times – it's surprising how motivating adding these "game-like" elements is.

EASA also has the benefit of actually working. Unlike Wii Fit's all-you-can-eat buffet of exercise with no structure whatsoever (though I understand the Plus edition fixes this), EASA gives you a decent structured workout to do that isn't the same each day. Some days you'll be concentrating on the lower body and doing things that will make your thighs hurt for days afterwards. Other days you'll be using the included twangy red band to work on your arms. The band itself isn't very strong, so I've taken to wearing wrist weights while undertaking the workouts. They're not THAT heavy, but they add enough additional challenge to be able to feel the strain a little bit.

EASA will also get you breaking a sweat quite quickly. Again, unlike Wii Fit, whose only really challenging portion came in the bizarrely featureless monochrome world of the yoga and muscle exercises. Today I had a lot of jumping around, which looked ridiculous, but which was also genuinely hard work. This is good. If I come off a workout feeling tired, then I feel like I've achieved something. It may not be the most pleasant thing to be sitting there sweating, but hey.

Anyway, I shall be continuing with my 30 Day Challenge and seeing where it takes me. I'm also going to try and pick up my gym routine. Motivation!

Now, if only all this stuff I was doing was earning some money, I'd be sorted.

#oneaday, Day 78: It Never Rains But It Podcasts...

It's 3 in the morning and I've just finished recording the latest SquadCast on the subject of David Cage's Heavy Rain.

Featuring me, Chris Whittington, Mark Whiting and Jeff Parsons, we certainly all have plenty to say on the subject of the game. It should be a good episode, and I'll keep you all posted as to when it's up online and available to download.

For any of you reading this through the One A Day project, or stumbling across this blog for non-games reasons, the Squadron of Shame are a group of gamers who have come together with the express purpose of digging up overlooked underdogs and giving them a damn good (and often lengthy) critiquing. We podcast on a semi-regular basis about these games and tell you why you should play them… or not, in some cases.

For more information, if this sounds like something you might be interested in, check out our official (work-in-progress) site here or follow us on Twitter. You can also become a Fan on Facebook. Just search for our Page. I'd post the link but I'm on my iPhone right now. I'm sure you can find it. You're big boys and girls.

Gratuitous self-promotion now over, it's time for bed. Yes, that's it for today. It is 3am, after all.

#oneaday, Day 76: Daytime. Sort of.

Yes! A pre-midnight post! How about that. Since I'm in a writing frame of mind, I thought I'd write something. I've just written 1100 words on my story. Actually, I ditched what I wrote yesterday and started again. It's flowing a bit better this time, which is good. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up some sort of momentum.

I say I'm in a writing frame of mind but in fact I'm just trying to avoid the televisual monstrosity that is whatever that ridiculous audition show for The Wizard of Oz is on television. I'm really, really sick of these shows, as I've made abundantly clear on a number of occasions. These ones where the "winners" end up with a part in a West End show make a mockery of the whole process. Andrew Lloyd Webber sitting in a gold throne with everyone calling him "The Lord"? The sycophantic nonsense spewed by Graham Norton and others on the show is enough to make one want to vomit. Yes, Lloyd Webber has created some of the most successful musicals ever, but that doesn't mean I want to see people practically sticking their nose up his arse and rimming him on television. And I certainly don't want to vote on it.

Enough ranting on that subject, otherwise it'll annoy my wife.

Anything else interesting happen today? Well, no, not really. It's been very quiet since PAX East, but people are still talking about it, which is good. A good buddy over on BitMob posted a fantastic article about the experience, which summed up exactly how I felt about it as a fellow sufferer of social anxiety. I suggest you go and read it if you haven't already – even if you're not a gamer. It's a great piece.

I've also been watching some of the PAX 09 DVD which I picked up as a keepsake. The video quality on it is great, meaning the concerts, panels and appearances by Gabe, Tycho and Wil Wheaton all look and sound great. I'm actually really impressed with how good it is – I was expecting low-quality, hand-held shakeycam, but in fact it's a completely professional job. I should know better than to doubt nerds making videos, I guess.

Anyway, that's about it for today. Not very interesting, I know. But that's the way some days go.

#oneaday, Day 75: Late again

One of these days I'll post one of these entries before midnight. If you look at the dates, it looks like I'm a day behind. But I'm not. Oh no. I just stay up late. Which is perhaps not wise. But hey. It's too late now.

I wrote 650 words of story today. They're probably crap, but I made an effort to just churn them out regardless. I'll try and do at least 500 every day, preferably 1000. I can easily get through that. It's just a case of letting the creativity flow and not worrying about it being stupid. That's what the editing process is for.

Little else of note has happened today, really. I went out for a walk and took Gowalla with me. For the uninitiated, Gowalla is a location-based app for the iPhone where you "check in" at places to stamp a virtual passport. You can create your own spots too, meaning that eventually, a user-generated map of points of interest in an area is built up. There's a sort-of game mechanic in there too, with items appearing in places and allowing you to either collect them or drop them elsewhere for others to find.

I'm now up to a hundred stamps. That's cool, although I did create a whole bunch of them myself. Southampton was a little dry on "points of interest" when Gowalla first launched. Now, thanks to the machinations of myself and several others in the area, there's now lots to see. Interestingly, I've got to know a couple of people (not face to face… yet) simply through playing with Gowalla, which is nice. There is talk of a "tweetup" at some point in early April so if I'm feeling super-brave I may go and check it out. We shall see.

Elsewhere today, I rediscovered LittleBigPlanet, which is still one of the best-looking games on PS3. There's some incredibly creative levels out there, too – but you knew that already. Tonight, I played through a selection of excellently designed levels by a guy whose name escapes me right now, as well as a perfect recreation of the first bit of Bioshock, albeit with some rather poor writing spelling, punctuation and grammar-wise. My mind draws a blank any time I fire up the level designer for LittleBigPlanet and I am yet to create a level. I'm sure I'll think of something eventually, though.

Tomorrow, I have a music pupil in the morning and then the remainder of the day… who knows. Since coming back from PAX East, it's been an odd feeling to be "free", though of course the money thing is something of a worry. I have let various agencies know I'm available for work, however, and of course, if you know anyone who is interested in either music or computer tuition in the Southampton area, I invite you to direct them here for music lessons or here for computer lessons. That would be marvellous, 'cause if I get enough pupils between those two things, I won't have to set foot in a classroom, even as a supply teacher, ever again. But that won't work just yet, unfortunately. That's the plan, though.

Right. I'm off, because it's nearly 2am. Good night!

#oneaday, Day 73: Strategic Mind

I'm shit at strategy games. I mean really shit. That doesn't stop me playing and enjoying them, but I am just awful at them. I think it's an inability to think ahead or do those mind-fucking mental calculations required to predict what situation you'll be in ten turns down the road. If I start getting into thinking about that, I end up suffering from analysis paralysis and have to lie down for a little while afterwards.

This is frustrating when playing board games which you know are supposed to be really good, like Agricola and Power Grid. But I find myself consistently losing at them. Agricola is more of a problem than Power Grid, which I can normally do respectably in.

It could well be difficulty in prioritising things. In Agricola I'm never sure what action is the best thing to take, and seeing my regular opponents playing I'm always pretty sure that they are doing some sort of black magic to convince me I've had the same number of turns as them but in fact knocking me out for three rounds, getting into an extremely advantageous position and then waking me up as if nothing had happened. Of course, I know that's actually not happening, that it's just a case of me making poor choices. But it's immensely frustrating, and prevents me from enjoying the game as much as I should – because, I hasten to add, it's a great game.

Now games like Warhammer Quest and Arkham Horror? Fine. I work well as part of a team, so co-op games are good for me. Even Catan is fine, as the semi-randomised nature of the game means that I'm not totally reliant on my non-existent strategic brain. Ticket to Ride, too, is great. But as soon as the game comes down to nothing but my own skill and chance is kept to a minimum? I suck. Hard.

Perhaps I should find a way to practice strategic thinking. Does anyone have any suggestions?

#oneaday, Day 70: Thank You For Playing #PAX!!

These last few days have been the absolute best few days I've had for a very long time, representing not only some much-needed rest and relaxation but also an opportunity to meet some beloved friends face-to-face for the first (or, in some cases, second) time, hang out and talk shit about video games for hours on end. That was a very long sentence but it pretty much reflects how my mind is racing right now; I'm stoked to have met all these awesome people and I'm more convinced than ever that these long-distance friendships are not just "an Internet thing", they are very much real relationships that many of us have built up without, in some cases, having any idea what the others really look like – not that that should matter.

So I'd like to say a very public thank you to the following people for making this weekend a huge success from my perspective: Mike Minotti (because he'll complain like a bitch if he's not first), AJ Minotti, Chris Minotti, Chris Whittington, Mark Whiting, Lynette Terrill, Christopher Bowley, Chris Person, Jeff Grubb, Derek Lavigne, Brett Bates, Eric Majkut, Chris IforgotyourlastnameandamverysorryandamnotsureifIknewitinthefirstplace, Lik Chan (sorry we didn't get more time to chat!), Joey Chiu, N'Gai Croal, Shawn Elliott, the other guys I went to lunch with and can't remember your names (sorry!) and, of course, my awesome brother John Davison.

I may have missed someone inadvertently. If so, I apologise profusely, and it wasn't deliberate. Give me a slap in the comments and I will correct the above list forthwith.

I missed Wil Wheaton's keynote speech on Friday, but he was good enough to post an excerpt from it on his blog, summing up the way I think most of the 60,000 nerds who descended on Boston this weekend feel. "Games are important. Games matter. PAX is where we come together to celebrate that. Gaming is the foundation of the best friendships I've ever had, and it's the mortar that has held my group of friends together for almost 25 years."

The Squad has only known each other for a fraction of that time, but already it's clear that we're a tightly-knit group of people despite being scattered to the seven winds. (Are there seven winds? I just made that up, I think.) Meeting this weekend for the first time (in most cases) cemented that relationship and it makes me feel good to know that I've got friends that I trust and respect, friends that I can share what's important to me with – even if they're all thousands of miles away. Thanks to the Internet, we're always close enough to chat or play something together, and I know these friendships will continue for years to come.

I have a ton of awesome photos to share but haven't unloaded them from my camera yet. That will probably have to wait until I get back home on Tuesday, but rest assured there are some gloriously nerdy things to share.

One more time: PAX has been the most awesome time. If you're a nerd reading this and you've never been to a gathering of this magnitude, take the next opportunity to do so that you get. You won't regret it.

Sentimentality over. Flying back home tomorrow evening, arriving back in the UK early on Tuesday morning.

#oneaday, Day 69: #PAX Day 2

Wow, what an insanely hectic day. This is going to be a short one as I'm absolutely knackered.

Today we caught a couple of panels – firstly, the "Death of Print" panel that my brother was appearing on along with several others, and then the "Podcasting for PR" panel featuring Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green, Ken Levine, Major Nelson and a guy from Insomniac whose name escapes me right now. Both were excellent, thought-provoking discussions. The podcasting one in particular gave us some great ideas for future podcasts, and the "Death of Print" panel raised some interesting questions and food for thought about the future of the print vs online divide. Particularly after hearing those guys speak, I firmly believe there is a future for both, but each should stop trying to be the other.

I got the chance to spend some time with my brother today, which is an extremely rare pleasure, with the last time I saw him, if I remember correctly, being our wedding well over a year ago. I also got to hang out with Shawn Elliott, N'Gai Croal and some other media types whose (I apologise) names also escape me right now in my super-tired state. Not to sound like that pathetic fanboy, but it was actually quite an honour to get the chance to sit down and talk to a selection of people who have helped shape the games industry into what it is today. So I guess this is a public "thank you" for those guys giving me the time of day – and hopefully not just because of my last name. Thank you to big bro for letting me tag along, too.

Didn't get the chance to hang with the Squad as much as I wanted to today but, you know, family has to come first sometimes. Tomorrow, though, will be a different matter, as John flies back early in the morning leaving the day free for Squad activities. And I am certain there will be plenty – watch this space for further details!

I have more to talk about but I can barely keep my eyes open right now. More tomorrow!

The only last thing I do want to share is that PAX is awesome. It's such a good feeling to be in a place with sixty thousand other "harmless" and "nice" people. Normally I hate being in crowds as it makes me feel self-conscious, but the wonderful thing about PAX is that we are surrounded by people who are just like us – people who like the same things (to varying degrees), people who don't feel the need to be unpleasant just for the sake of it (the fear of which is what causes the greatest amount of anxiety to me) and above all, people who are just friendly, pleasant, intelligent and fun to be around.

Also, there was a totally hot Bayonetta cosplayer wandering around today, which made both Chris and me very happy indeed. You can mock cosplay all you want, but when someone is 1) attractive and 2) making a proper effort the results are just… wow. Anyway, enough of that. Late night delirium talking. *wipes dribble off chin*

To anyone still out on the town tonight: have a great one and I'll catch you tomorrow. To anyone back at home wishing they were here: you should definitely make the effort to come to a PAX if you ever get the opportunity. To anyone back at home reading this and thinking "what the fuck is he talking about?" – politely respect the nerds in your community and continue about your business.

Good night!

#oneaday, Day 68: #PAX East, Day 1

Wow, what a rush! Day one of PAX East is already over and it's been awesome so far.

Early part of the day was spent meeting, greeting and showering off our respective journeys. Chris "RocGaude" Whittington and I made it into the show just after Wil Wheaton's keynote speech, which is a shame because the buzz on Twitter made it sound rather inspirational. Still, immediately after that was Gabe and Tycho's Q&A session, which was seven degrees of pure-grade awesomeness. I'd never actually seen them in person before but their banter was hilarious and they have huge amounts of stage presence, wit and talent. I can see why they've become the huge successes they have.

Later, we tried to get in to a panel about the current state of storytelling in interactive fiction, hosted by, among others, Andrew "Zarf" Plotkin and Emily Short. Sadly we were just too late for that one, but we did manage to attend the first screening of GET LAMP, an extremely well put together documentary about the rise, fall and rise again of interactive fiction. The filmmaker had managed to interview a huge number of luminaries of the genre, including Don "Adventure" Woods and Steve "Infocom" Meretzky, both of whom were in attendance along with Plotkin and several others from IF's past for a post-movie Q&A session.

We also spent a bit of time with the BitMob crowd at the puntastic "Pour House" where the beer was flowing freely and, by the sound of his tweets, Jeff Grubb is absolutely wasted. Holla. I won a T-shirt too. Awesomesauce!

Tomorrow should be a busy day. Hitting the show floor to scoop some stories for my new gigs at Kombo and Daily Joypad, then later am getting the chance to catch up with my brother. Hopefully, then, later in the evening, the Squadron of Shame will be recording something awesome from PAX to share with you all.

Anyway, it's 1:15am EST right now and I should probably go to bed. Suffice to say that so far PAX is proving to be everything I hoped it would be. I wish there were more in the way of nerd superconventions like this in the UK. I had to cheer when Gabe and Tycho said their next aim for PAX is to do EuroPAX. That would be awesome.

Anyway. Good night!