Free-to-play and the browser-based revolution

One of my favorite topics is how new technology is changing the gaming landscape. I’ve already talked a bit about how the current generation of consoles has given birth to the idea of adding functionality to a gaming platform in an effective way. Today, I want to touch on how the internet is changing the way we distribute games.
For the longest time, PC gaming was the top dog, elite market in our industry. Machines like the commodore 64 were way more powerful and functional than gaming consoles, along with being easier to develop and distribute games for. Soon after the inception of the graphics card, gamers were given the ability to upgrade and optimize their machines to ensure that they got the best results when playing games. PCs had the best looking games, the best first person shooters, the best casual games, internet play, you name it. And building the fastest, most up-to-date computers became a hobby for the hardcore PC gamers. And then something happened. PC gaming began to slow down. Golden Eye and then Halo showed people that first person shooters, long a staple of PC gamers, could be done well on a console. The playstation brought gaming to the mainstream arena in a way no gaming platform (other than the PC) ever had. The Dreamcast showed the world that a console game could go online and look just as pretty as a PC game. These were all just tiny cracks and are not by themselves responsible for the losses in the PC market, but statistically the PC market as we knew it is in a down-swing. The call to upgrade and spend tons of money on a gaming computer seems to have died down a bit. Fewer games requiring the highest-level specs are being released every year, and the sales statistics for these games are dropping (based on NPD numbers, which doesn’t count digital downloads. But based on developer support, this assertion can be assumed). The highest-selling games coming out support lower-end PCs (spore, the sims 3, team fortress).
But the PC market is not dying, as some claim, but changing. With high-speed internet spreading throughout our society, it is becoming much easier for a game to be sent through the browser. Sites like instant action and battlefield heroes, which support ad-based gaming, are providing high-quality yet simple games that do all the processing through your browser. This opens up the games to any internet-ready computer, regardless of specs (unless your computer is made of vacuum tubes or accepts punch-cards). Free-to-play online games like “Kart Rider” and “Maple Story” are blowing up world-wide. Internet access is spreading and becoming faster all over America, and every year the potential of these browser-based games increases.
The casual gaming market is constantly being tapped in new ways, and free-to-play and browser-based (most fit both categories) are leading the way on the PC front. Companies like Pop Cap and sites like Instant Action are providing quality experiences that both casual and hard-core gamers can enjoy on any PC, regardless of specs. Big name companies are coming in like EA and Id, and cloud-computing through services like OnLive promises to revolutionize what we can do on a lower-spec computer. PC gaming is not dead, it’s changing, and I’m very excited to see where it goes.

Console is evolving! How MotionPlus, NXE, and Project Natal are changing the way we view our gaming machines

The past decade has brought an exciting number of new trends to the gaming industry. Budget games (XBLA, WiiWare, PSN, etc.) are letting small-time developers make a big splash. Downloadable content is letting us expand our games past their expected life-time. And game-specific peripherals are allowing us to experience a new level of immersive gameplay. But one of the most important ideas to hit the console arena is the ability to expand the features of a console after its release. Console manufacturers have experimented with the idea of adding more power to their machines down the line to earn some extra money and bragging rights. Sega released a number of add-ons such as the 32x to the genesis, and Nintendo released a “disk drive” for the n64. But none of these were able to really catch on in a significant way. Most of these products were not well supported by wary developers, which made consumers skeptical: a nice catch-22.
But things might be changing on that front. Game-specific peripherals have been around for years, but it took a game called guitar hero to make them truly main-stream. The game took off like a rocket, and since then it has become one of the highest selling franchises in gaming. Consumers were willing to part with the extra cash for a reasonably priced peripheral with a great game. With the release of the Wii, Nintendo promised a slew of cheaper peripherals utilizing the Wii remote’s technology. And since then we have seen 5 peripherals (WiiSpeak, wheel, zapper, balance board, and motionplus) for the wii, all of which were packed in with a game and all of which sold through the roof. But these peripherals are merely the tip of the iceberg. Last year, Microsoft announced the launch of NXE, the new Xbox 360 dashboard, which it promised would re-define the way we look at Xbox. Many laughed at this, but since its launch Microsoft has added or promised in support for Netflix, facebook, avatars, twitter, streaming movies and games, Primetime channel (I could do a while feature on this one alone), etc. The xbox has transformed from a gaming-focused machine to a livingroom-dominating powerhouse. And with the release of project Natal, we can expect an incredible amount of new features.
The point I’m trying to make with this is that we can no longer judge a console based on its specs and launch games. Now more than ever, the attitude of the company calling the shots is the real deciding factor in how a console progresses throughout its life. We’ve seen the Xbox evolve from a hard-core only console to an incredible social machine, and Sony and Nintendo are not letting this slip past them. Sony is constantly tweaking its Home service, adding in features to its PSN, and is introducing its wand motion controller soon. And Nintendo has given japan a Wii streaming video channel and the Dsi a facebook app. Natal has been proclaimed to be treated to a launch event that “will be as huge as a new console”, and Sony and Nintendo have both claimed to have more tricks up their sleeves. It’s likely that things are going to heat up pretty soon, and I can’t wait to see how everything goes down.

Gamer on the Streets part 1

So, for the past few days I've been approaching people to talk about games as part of a long-term study I want to do. I go to Georgia Tech, where I assume the average person is pretty game savvy. I want to spend some time testing the public's awareness and opinions about gaming and gaming culture. I would eventually like to spread my examination outside of Tech to the general public, but I figure this is a good place to start. Plus it's a lot less awkward talking to nerds about nerdy stuff ;) This first segment has just been a practice run really, and it was very cool. I met some great people who I hope to have a chance to talk to again. I asked all the people I met what interested them about games (as in, what attracts you to a particular game), and if they were not gamers, then why weren't they. My answer is that I love games that are unique. Whether it's the art style or the controls or the story, I want a game that feels different and allows me to be immersed in a new way. Most people loved RPG's and other games that involved strong plots and interesting characters. In the people I was able to talk to, it was interesting to note that everyone seemed to like related genres. Though there were a few people that claimed to like all games, most people that likes FPS games also enjoyed racers and arcade games, which all involve lots of action and quick rewards (kills, winning races, beating levels). On the other hand, people who liked RPG's seemed to prefer games that had no real ending or a strong attachment to the main character and a slow pace. The common theme was that everyone wanted a game that pulled them in. Everyone liked community in games, be it multi-player shooters or MMO's.
It was very cool getting to talk to people about their favorite games, and I found some people that were really passionate. My next question will be more in depth, and I can't wait to see the responses.

Watch this Game: Excitebots

Today's game is Excitebots: Trick Racing. It launches on April 20 and is developed by Monster Games and published by Nintendo. The game is a successor to the Wii launch title Excite Truck, and the comparisons are obvious. The game appears to use the same engine as Excite Truck and plays in the same way, but with some very obvious differences. First off, you control a animal-themes robot instead of a truck. There are a number of robots available in the game, such as a frog, a bat, and a ladybug, and each one has it's own properties and play-style. The Turtle bot is very slow but really strong, while the bat is very light and has the ability to drift farther after a jump. The game still contains the same terrain deformation feature from Excite Truck (for those who haven't played Excite Truck, it allowed players to run over boxes that would raise or shrink hills and change the dynamics of each race), along with the star mechanic (the game encourages you to collect stars by performing tricks or placing well in a race, with the winner being the player who collects the most stars). However, the game now has "powerups" that enact a mini-game such as knocking over bowling pins or throwing a pie in a clowns face (they get really crazy, think WarioWare meets mario kart). Also in the game are vertical and horizonal bars that players can grab onto and spin around to gain a speed boost, as well as powerups that cause your character to loose their wheels and begin running, gaining speed and the ability ot slam other players out of the way.
Whew, let's take a second to let all that sink in. In one word, this game looks goofy. But based on the videos and impressions I've read so far, it's currently at the top of my list of Wii games to get this year. The game sits on a very strong base (Excite Truck was a great game that I recommend to anyone who hasn't tried it), and the min-games look to make a frantic racer much more so, and as long as it is able to stay interesting after a few hours I'm sure it will be a blast. Plus, 6-player online has been confirmed, and I can imagine the multiplayer in this game will be entertaining to say the least. Even if the style of this game doesn't sing to you, at least give it a try if you see it on demo. It ought to be a blast.

Excitebots is developed by Monster Games, who's website can be found at:
http://www.mgiracing.com/

On a separate note, Excitebots is very significant in that it was announced fewer than a month ago. This is hopefully a sign of things to come, as up until now Nintendo has been hanging games in front of our noses for extended periods of time to fill the gaps between releases. Hopefully Nintendo has a few more big guns up their sleeves (pikmin 3 please), ready for release during the slower months of the year.

Watch This Game: Scribblenauts

Today's game to watch is a DS title by 5th cell (of "drawn to life" and Lock's Quest" fame) called "Scribblenauts". This is a seriously cool game, with possibilities that make me feel like my head will explode. It's a puzzle game in which you try to help a guy named Maxwell reach a star that is somewhere on the map. The catch is that to help him, you must write out the names of objects, and they will appear on the screen. For instance, one of the videos showed a star up in a tree that the player had to reach. To do so, he wrote out "football", and a football fell onto the map. Maxwell grabbed the football and used it to knock the star out of the tree. As an alternate method, it showed Maxwell using a ladder to climb into the tree, and another showed a beaver chopping down the tree to make the star easy. The games takes things a step further by allowing objects to interact with each other. One example I read in an interview by IGN imagined a scenario in which the player used a fishing-pole to hang a piece of meat in front of a velociraptor and ride it across the map.
Now, the big issue I can see with this game is how it will live up to it's potential. It's such a big concept, how could the developer possibly make it work well, and on DS at that? I personally feel pretty confident about it's potential. The game has been in development for a while and still has many months to go before it is released (it's scheduled for Q4 2009). At the time of the IGN interview they mentioned having already spent something like 3 months working on word associations alone.
This ought to at the very least be a very interesting game to play, and I for one couldn't be more excited about it. For more info on the game check out the official website,
http://www.scribblenauts.com/about.html
The IGN interview,
http://ds.ign.com/articles/936/936157p2.html
or the developer's website:
http://www.5thcell.com/

Watch this game: R.U.S.E.

R.U.S.E. is a new strategy game developed by Eugen Systems and published by Ubisoft. It's a world war 2 game being released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 next march, and it is looking seriously cool. The main catch of the game is it's deception element. At the beginning of a battle, each player is dealt a hand of cards with different tactics meant to mislead your opponent. Through out the battle, you are allowed to play these cards to trick up your enemy and try to lead them into a trap. In the trailer (linked below), one player uses a group of decoy landers to draw out a cocky enemy's tanks, which he then destroys by launching a flight of bombers that had been previously hidden. In addition to this, the game has an innovative new interface based on the "iriszoom" engine, which allows the player to seamlessly zoom in from a birds-eye view to being practically on the battlefield. These zoom levels are divided into 3 types of zoom, each with their own contextual controls, allowing for an unprecedented level of control over your units. This sounds like a very complicated system, but Eugen Systems promises it will be incredibly intuitive and easy to learn.
Eugen Systems was previously responsible for the act of war series, "The Gladiators: galactic circus games", and "Times of Conflict". For a more detailed look at the game:
http://gdc.gamespot.com/story/6206612/
For more on Eugen Systems, check out their official website at:
http://www.eugensystems.com/

New Ideas

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I've been scheming up some big things. I've been working on a couple ideas for this blog, and I'm pretty excited. The first is a "watch this game" series, where I'll spotlight a game I think is or is going to be awesome. I'll try to do a new game every day to keep things exciting. Each one will have a specific reason why it's awesome and should be played, whether that is a cool gameplay hook, an interesting art style, or because it's just all-around cool but didn't sell well.
The second idea is a series of opinion polls where I'll talk to people around my college campus (Georgia Tech, go jackets!) to see where the general public stands on certain matters, be it a gaming debate such as "violent games and detachment" or "games as art", or simply how aware people are of games coming out or already out. Since I go to a tech school I'd be willing to bet that the people I talk to will be more informed on gaming than the general public, but I guess we'll see. The first in this series will probably be coming this saturday or sunday.
I have some more thoughts on new things, but I'm going to keep it simple for now and focus on these two ideas. Stay tuned!