Fresh Loaf

Mirror’s Edge
Rated T for Teen
Released Nov. 12
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Developed by Digital Illusions CE
Published by Electronic Arts

Some video game players aren’t especially into violence. Not every gamer is dying to play through graphic recreations of historical and modern warfare. Sometimes there’s a limit to how many aliens, Nazis, and zombies one can willingly perforate any given day, much less alien Nazi zombies. The industry needs more high-quality nonviolent games, or even just less realistically violent games. But as awesome as Super Mario Galaxy, Animal Crossing and Viva Piñata are, an adult can’t survive entirely on child-friendly games. So thank the maker for EA’s new first-person parkour action-adventure Mirror’s Edge, as now gamers can experience some fast-paced action-packed thrills without either exploding heads or feeling like a 10 year old. (more…)

Bookmark It

Gears of War 2
Released Nov. 7
Xbox 360
Developed by Epic Games
Published by Microsoft Game Studios

Con Air is one of the best movies ever made. It’s also one of the most misunderstood. It’s a pitch-perfect parody of big dumb action movies, hitting every idiotic note with outsized aplomb, and with a roster of fully committed actors who play their cartoonish stereotypes with conviction. Those idiots that make Epic Movie and Date Movie never need to do an Action Movie, because Con Air got there first more than a decade ago, and did it with far more subtlety than those guys could ever hope for.

Gears of War 2 just might be the Con Air of video games. (more…)

Bookmark It

LittleBigPlanet
Released Oct. 27
PlayStation 3
Developed by Media Molecule
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment

Earlier this month, I wrote down some thoughts after poking around in LittleBigPlanet’s online beta testing period. Newsflash: I liked it, a lot. The beta revealed how far the game’s potential reached, as user-created levels both fantastic and mundane continually sprouted up. It didn’t give a good impression of the single-player mode, though, as only the first few tutorial stages were available. Well, after months of hype, and a last-minute one-week delay, the game has finally arrived, along with the 50 or so levels designed by the developer. They didn’t change my mind about the game one iota. Although fundamentally an old-school 2-D platformer, LittleBigPlanet transcends its limited run-jump-and-grab game play via a comprehensive suite of editing tools and an irrepressibly adorable design aesthetic. It may not be the best game of 2008, but it’s hard to think there’ll be one memorable and important than LittleBigPlanet. (more…)

Bookmark It

de Blob
Released Sept. 22
Nintendo Wii
Developed by Blue Tongue
Published by THQ

The Wii’s got a bad rep among gamers — one that’s not entirely unfounded. Personally, I don’t care that the system isn’t as technically powerful as the XBOX 360 or PlayStation 3. Games such as Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Zack & Wiki prove that greatness doesn’t depend upon state-of-the-art graphics or processing power. There aren’t nearly enough of those games, though. Most publishers treat the Wii as a dumping ground for underdeveloped, outdated embarrassments. Unfortunately, the sales figures tend to back up the decision to shortchange development, as quality non-Nintendo titles on the Wii rarely sell any better than the trash. It’s a genuine problem, and there’s no easy solution in sight.

Thankfully, the poor performances of most quality third party titles didn’t prevent THQ from putting some effort into the novel 3-D platformer de Blob. De Blob isn’t just one of the year’s best Wii games, but one of the better video games I’ve played on any system in 2008. From the inventive concept — a paint-filled blob helps a ragtag band of underground revolutionaries liberate Chroma City from an occupying force of color-hating black-and-white fascists — to the charming presentation and character design, de Blob offers a heavily detailed, thoroughly satisfying experience. (more…)

Bookmark It

Rock Band 2
Available now for the XBOX 360; in November for the PS3, Wii and PS2
Designed by Harmonix
Published by Electronic Arts/MTV Games

It’s been less than a year since Rock Band debuted and immediately made its precursor and chief competitor, Guitar Hero, irrelevant. Developer Harmonix, who created both games, consistently referred to Rock Band as a platform more than a game, seemingly precluding the endless series of ever-diminishing sequels that plague the video game industry. Still, it’s not at all surprising to see Rock Band 2 arrive so soon after the original. No entertainment industry is as crazed about sequels and name recognition as this one, and Rock Band’s publisher, Electronic Arts, is one of the worst offenders. There’ve been enough Madden Footballs to choke Madden himself, even though the annual installments’ chief selling point, updated rosters, could easily be released as downloadable content. With video games, if something sells, it will be repackaged, remade, and retailed at full price; so, Rock Band 2 was inevitable.

It’d be easy (and not entirely inaccurate) to dismiss Rock Band 2 as an expansion pack. The core game play is identical to the original. You’ll still be covering various rock hits of the last four decades on chintzy, space-wasting plastic instruments, while playing through a tour mode full of tongue-in-cheek humor. (more…)

Bookmark It

ARMY RECRUITING WITH VIDEO GAMES AT SIX FLAGS: Shoddy armor, amputations, PTSD, and lack of adequate post-war medical care not pictured. (Photo by Alex Gibbs)

Back in the day, game makers boosted sales of military-themed video games by making them seem like the Army. Now, with two endless, aimless wars depressing recruitment, the U.S. Army is taking the converse approach – trying to get young Americans to join the army by convincing them war is like a video game.

The Virtual Army Experience is a touring Army recruitment video arcade which stopped at at Six Flags Over Georgia last weekend. Children in the park were invited to “experience” life in the Army via a short video combat mission. After completing the mission, the kids got a recruitment pitch.

Bookmark It

Naysayers be damned, video games — especially good ones with an awesome storyline and graphics like Halo 3 — still rule. You have to make exceptions to being an adult when someone puts out a quality product like that.

I know what you’re thinking — “But Thomas, what the hell does Halo 3 have to do with traffic, the environment, development, all the wonderful things we’re so accustomed to seeing you blogging and babbling about?” Well, not too much, dear reader, but if you’re out and about around midnight, you might want to check which stores are hosting special midnight openings to hand off copies to the gamers who preordered the long-awaited title. If you were the type of person who went to Dragon*Con just to ogle sci-fi fans in oh-so-scandalous costumes, you might also enjoy driving by and seeing what the event brings out in terms of fanatics.

According to the retailer’s website, the only Best Buy in Georgia doling out the games at midnight is the Buckhead location at Sidney Marcus Boulevard and Piedmont Road. Just my luck that’s the store where I promised my roommate I’d accompany him to pick up his copy, so if you see a redhead dressed as a Master Chief, chugging Red Bulls and chain-smoking cigarettes in nervous anticipation, please know that’s not me. I’ll be the redhead cursing the world under his breath, furiously poring over transportation plans, and eagerly looking forward to the next morning’s State Supreme Court hearing determining the fate of Beltline.

(I’m waiting on Best Buy’s manager to call me back with details of sales, expected turnout and security preparations. I’ll update you when I hear back from him. Or her.)

For Gamestop locations propping open their doors at midnight for the overcaffeinated and strong-thumbed gamemaestros, visit their website. For a wonderful take on an übersecret and rapper-filled game preview that went down in our fair city, check out the talented Atlanta-based artist and GoldenFiddle.com editor Spencer Sloan’s piece here.

But for your giggling pleasure, CL compiled some of the better comments left at the AJC about the game’s release.

(Image courtesy Microsoft)

(more…)

Bookmark It

The New York Times featured a great article Monday on the use of the video game Dance Dance Revolution in physical education classes in West Virginia’s public school system.

To play Dance Dance a person steps on different arrows on a mat by watching what arrows pop up on a screen in front of her. The arrows are synchronized to a song. School officials hope the game can help kids battle obesity while having fun.

The implementation of Dance Dance into public school systems is a positive sign that a new realm of video games can help society. CL wrote about the new genre, dubbed “serious games” or “reality games,” in a recent cover story.

If Dance Dance won over public school administrators, who often view video games as brain-draining flights of fantasy, it’s likely that other video games could offer kids many more lessons. Already, games such as Ayiti, The Cost of Life and Revolution allow kids to budget a Haitian family’s finances and simulate the American Revolution in a virtual world, respectively.

And who knows what they’ll think of next.

Bookmark It

I just attended a symposium at Georgia Tech on video games that play with reality. It was a fascinating conference filled with cutting-edge innovations that showed games not only entertain, but also educate.

One of the best panels was titled “Playing with Health” and featured a variety of speakers who’ve helped people understand and cope with their environments and health — from autistic children to individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Ken Graap, co-founder of Virtually Better (located in Atlanta), showed a great slideshow on how a virtual world could potentially help heavy marijuana users lower their cravings. The “game” works like this:

Virtually Better has created several virtual rooms — the neutral room, the paraphernalia room (adorned with joints, cigarettes, black lights, Grateful Dead posters, etc.) and the party room (people smoking up, fresh pizza on tables). A person starts in the neutral room and then is taken to the other rooms. When he or she gets to the paraphernalia and party rooms, a USB port emits the smells of pot, pizza, cigarettes, etc. while music and conversations come through headphones. Throughout the game, a person’s heart rate is measured to gauge the intensity of that person’s craving.

The company has found that these virtual rooms, scents and sounds can “turn on” a person’s craving in a matter of minutes.

So of course — as Graap pointed out — wouldn’t this make the person want to go find a joint ASAP after leaving the lab?

The simulation brings the person back into the neutral world at the end, and cravings, data show, lower — not back to the initial state, but significantly from the height of the game. And it seems legit: the National Institute for Drug Abuse funds the project. Virtually Better hopes to use the data from these virtual worlds to figure out new ways to treat people with substance-abuse problems — from pot to cigarettes to crack and even possibly meth. And that could be really cool.

Bookmark It