Tag: ubisoft

#oneaday Day 139: Tr-Tr-TrackMania

Those who have — ooh. Hold on. [gets momentarily distracted by the new WordPress interface that has apparently launched today.] Pretty.

Ahem. What was I saying?

Oh yes. Those who have known me for a while will know all about my love affair with Trackmania United Forever Star Edition, née Trackmania United Forever, née Trackmania United. And indeed my Steam usage statistics would seem to back this up — with 24 hours' playtime recorded on it, and nothing else close. Granted, Steam doesn't seem to have tracked my playtime on quite a few games I know I've played through to completion, but 24 hours on a silly driving game is pretty substantial, and it just doesn't get old.

Yes, it's unpolished. Yes, certain aspects of it are inaccessible. Yes, it doesn't tell you about a good 95% of the possibilities it offers anywhere in the documentation — but somehow, despite all this, a huge, dedicated community has sprung up around the game and has been supporting it and driving it forward ever since its release. So much so, in fact, that it's spawning a proper, bona fide sequel, along with two exciting-sounding companion games.

TrackMania 2 Canyon looks like it will be a lot of fun from what I've seen so far — though the Canyon subtitle does make me wonder if it'll have the variety of environments and vehicles that United offers, but it's the other two ManiaPlanet games that intrigue me more, if anything. The possibilities on offer in ShootMania and QuestMania, offering the facility to create FPS levels and RPG games respectively, are potentially limitless. And while little has been revealed about how — and if — the three games will interact, the fact that they share a common community portal in the form of ManiaPlanet is immensely intriguing and offers some very exciting possibilities for those, like me, who are interested in game design but whose experience with building tools is limited to Lego, Scalextric and the Wolfenstein 3D map editor. (I remember trying to make a Duke Nukem 3D level once. That didn't end well, much like several efforts to make a Doom level work in any shape or form. And those games weren't even proper 3D. I like tiles. Tiles are good.)

For those who have never experienced the joy of TrackMania, it's worth remembering that the game's probably most oft-used environment — the stadium — is available as a completely free game to download, with a significant amount of content and the ability to make your own tracks as well as play online. It's not often you see that sort of generosity from a developer offering what is essentially a "demo", but there you go. Steam users? Knock yourself out.

Okay. That's enough TrackMania ranting for this year. See you next year.

So I'll see you on the loop-the-looped circuits, no?

#oneaday, Day 149: Games are Cool

After spending the last couple of evenings covering E3's press conferences for Kombo.com and discussing all things gamey over at the Squadron of Shame Squawkbox, I've come to a conclusion.

Games are cool.

Whatever you might think of Kinect, PlayStation Move, the Nintendo 3DS, the million-and-one first-person shooters on display, Assassin's Creed, Child of Eden, Ubisoft's DRM policies or fitness games, one thing is clear.

Games are cool. And they're here to stay.

There's always a lot of cynicism around at E3 time, particularly when new technology is shown off. Especially if said new technology appears to be somewhat gimmicky, or limited in its practical applications. But the flip side of all the more outlandish stuff we've seen so far is that it's a symbol of the diversification of the "gaming" genre. Games are no longer the sole preserve of the spotty, overweight, greasy-haired teenage boy who would rather lock himself in his room than go out and meet people. Though those people still exist. I am one of them. Sometimes, at least.

No, rather, we're getting to the stage now where there's something for everyone. I was interviewed for a position at a major chain of games retailers today, and one of the things I was asked about was whether I'd be comfortable selling something like a Wii game – you know, those interminable collections of minigames. Babysitting Party, that sort of thing. I could answer with some confidence that yes, I would, because I know people that those games would appeal to. They're not "gamers", they're not the sort of people who would be sitting around in their pants watching E3 press conferences (you know who you are) and they probably wouldn't even consider themselves part of the gaming community. But they're still there, and it's great that they are. They might never "graduate" onto more "hardcore" games, but that doesn't matter either. Who says you have to? If you enjoy reading but you find great literature tough going are you forced to "graduate" from pulp novels to Dostoyevsky? No. (Unless you're doing an English degree.) So it should be that if you enjoy Wii Play with friends, you shouldn't be obliged to end up playing Gears of War.

The barrier for entry to the world of games as an entertainment medium is now practically non-existent. Very little in the way of technical knowledge is required to get started, save the ability to plug things into the right holes in your TV. There's no arbitrary rules to follow – Atari users will remember holding down the "Option" key while they turned their system on fondly, for example – and there's no complicated things to learn. The experience is becoming more and more intuitive, and with technologies like Kinect, whatever you may think of its real-world applications, we're getting closer and closer to a world where absolutely everyone, regardless of age, gender and technical ability can enjoy interactive entertainment without feeling stigmatised.

We're not quite there yet. Games still do have a bit of a stigma to shake off. There are subcultures within the larger group who let us all down a bit. But they have just as much right to exist and enjoy what they enjoy as the sort of person who buys Job Island for the Wii.

Gaming is no longer a thing for just one specific group of people to enjoy. It is – or at least should be – something that absolutely everyone can enjoy on their own terms.

Games are cool. And if you close yourself off to that completely like some people choose to, you're denying yourself a whole world of entertainment.