Higher Technology

Pwning Noobs: How to Fix PSN and LIVE

2011-02-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I think they're both broken. Just in very different ways. I'm not going to address Nintendo's online system for the Wii because it is so far beyond broken I don't have the time or the energy to describe all the issues, much less how to fix them. So, let's get on to my issues with the applicable services, shall we?

First, LIVE and PSN are very different beasts and take very different approaches to online console gaming. LIVE is Microsoft's house. They hold the reins, they call the shots, every company that wants their game on LIVE has to report to the big M and dance however they are told. This has a lot of benefits for the gamers. Performance has a universal standard it must live up to and all games have to support a certain feature set. This kind of uniformity makes navigating all of LIVE and using it's features from a games familiar and intuitive regardless of the game you're playing.

PSN, on the other hand, is a free-for-all. With the exception of certain quality standards, game developers are free to make their online setup work however they see fit. Trophy support wasn't even required for generous span of time after it was first implemented. This "anything goes" type of system does mean freedom for developers to make things work however they want, but it also means a lot less stability for gamers when compared to LIVE. But then, being an open platform is also the reason that PS3 is the only system on which you will be able to access Steamworks and play Portal 2 Co-op alongside PC players. (Side question for Gabe Newell: How's that crow tasting?)

However, both of these systems have serious errors. The PSN issues mostly come down to performance such as instability, slow download speeds as well as lacking some of the popular features of LIVE like the oft-mentioned cross-game voice chat and game-agnostic parties (not needing to be playing the same game to be in a party with someone). While the main issue with LIVE is that you are charged for the basic functionality of being able to play your games online. This is much more insulting when one considers the fact that games on 360 and PS3 cost the same, but on 360 you can only play the single player half of the game unless you hand over another $60 a year to Microsoft. This looks especially bad when PS3, PC and even the Wii offer players the ability to play online without any charge whatsoever. The features advantage that LIVE holds are relatively minimal and certainly don't equate to a $60 price tag. Even worse, this was recently increased from $50 without the addition of any new features in an attempt to justify the increase.

That seems to be the way of things with Microsoft's products though. Whether it's the PC world with the absurdly inflated price of a Windows OS or Office bundle or the cost of a new hard drive for your 360. Let's look at that hard drive example a little closer, to really drive the point home. A 250GB HD for the Xbox 360 costs $130, I kid you not. For that money, I could buy a 1 TERABYTE drive (that's 4x as big) for my PS3 and still have enough left over to buy a game. Microsoft customers are far too willing to simply smile and say "Thank you sir, may I have another?" so there's no reason for the big M to stop screwing consumers on the price.

What Microsoft should be doing, in a world where Microsoft is fair to its customers, is have the ability to play games online included in the free LIVE membership, but save all the other perks for paid, Gold members. Keep all the exclusive demos, and parties and cross-game voice chat, and even premium download bandwidth for Gold members, but don't rob your customers of some of the basic functionality included in a game that they already paid full price for. Especially when the online component comprises such a large part of some of your biggest titles. Where would Halo, Call of Duty or Gears of War be without their online multiplayer? Charging customers $60 for a game and then telling them they can only play half of it until they fork over another $60 is the type of fine print switcharoo that normally gets companies in trouble. So why do gamers keep letting LIVE not only get away with it, but convince themselves that it is a superior service for doing so?

PSN, in a somewhat similar fashion, needs to change up how their paid vs. free services are structured. While the paid service, PSN+, is still more or less in its infancy and as such has some excuse, why not get things going in the right direction early on? As it stands, unless you buy a lot of downloadable titles or the free game offered that month (if there is one) is something you really want to play, there's just not enough to the service to warrant paying for it. Sony is starting in the right direction with the background updates, where your PS3 will check for software updates, download and install them all by itself, and the upcoming cloud game saves, allowing you to save your game to a server instead of your system so that you never have to worry about losing them and can access them from any PlayStation 3 you sign in on. There needs to be more though, and that means addressing the issues PSN has had from the beginning. Download speeds for everything from PlayStation Store games and movies to title updates are horrendous. A file that may take a few minutes on my PC can take more than half an hour on my PS3. That's pretty damn unacceptable. There's also the features people have been asking for since launch. Mainly features that have been available to LIVE users since their service launched. Features like cross-game voice chat, so you can talk to your friend and ask him if he wants to play something without have to A) be in the same game already or B) be willing to type out your message for 20 minutes using the onscreen keyboard and being able to create and join a party with friends that might be playing a different game. Personally, I've only run into a handful of occasions when I thought those features would be useful, but I'm only one man and the masses see them as a necessity. And again, like LIVE, PSN+ should allocate some extra bandwidth to it's customers so that those paying for the service don't spend the same 30 minutes waiting for Uncharted 2 to update that the free members do. In the same way that a LIVE Gold membership doesn't have enough features to justify charging for what PSN (mostly) does for free, PSN+ doesn't have enough features to warrant paying for little "extras."

PSN certainly has a laundry list of issues to work out, but its customers put up with them because they can still play games online for free. And while being able to play your games online is certainly a justifiable purchase to most gamers (why else do you think we pay for internet?) there's something to be said about the fact that LIVE is the only platform anywhere to charge an additional fee for access to features in a game that was already bought and paid for once. I enjoyed playing Halo: Reach online during the free trial offered on LIVE this past weekend, but with only a handful of exclusive titles on 360 there's not enough reason to purchase a LIVE membership when that money could buy me Dead Space 2 or Killzone 3 on my PS3, where I can play the multiplayer for free. And while I'm playing it over PSN, I'm still going to complain about the various issues and lacking features that everyone else has been complaining about for nearly 4 years now.

With an online component essentially being mandatory in modern games and replacing splitscreen play, both of these companies need to work on perfecting their online platform because they both need it in equal amounts. As for Nintendo...well they still don't think people want to play games online. And with the Wii and various DS iterations continuing to print money, there's really no reason for them to stop living in that fantasy world.

Go Forth and Calibrate.

2011-01-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

Who likes to play games and watch movies in shiny HD resolutions? Of course you do, look at what you're reading. And anyone that's ever messed with the settings has probably wondered what they're "supposed" to be set to. There are several ways to attempt and line the settings up to how the source material is meant to look. These range from "eyeballing it" to hiring a certified Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) tech to come hook up all kinds of gadgets to your TV and professionally calibrate it...for around $400.

The option most people take, assuming they take any, to attempt some kind of "pro" calibration is an optimization disk. This, itself, has quite a range of options to it as well. A few basic test patterns can be found on many DVD or blu-ray movies. The more dedicated can buy discs specifically intended for testing accuracy of colors, black levels, sharpness, tint, light levels and a number of other things. Calibrating an HDTV this way was limited for quite some time, as standard definition DVDs do not have the same range of colors and other, little(*ding* sarcasm detected *ding*), things as high definition video content.

Recently, Digital Video Essentials updated their offering to an HD version on Blu-ray. Other companies like Monster (most commonly known for grossly overpriced A/V cables) and even Disney threw down their own version of HDTV optimizer discs.
These discs will all do a fairly accurate job of giving you settings that will really make your TV's capabilities, and advantages of HD content, apparent to you. If you don't want to buy a disc just to get the settings on your TV at optimum, you can always rent it. Yes, Netflix has that. Or, you can get one for (mostly) free.

The answer to that "really?" that just popped in to your heads is the AVS HD 709 software. It's an open project that not only allows you to download free software for optimizing your HDTV, but also allows you to burn it to a regular dvd. And let's face it, if you have a blu-ray burner, you can afford to have a pro hook up your baby like it's going into the Matrix.

Yeah, that just happened.

The key to this disc is that there's not really anything about Blu-rays, other than their storage capacity, that allows you to have HD movies on them. And since an optimization disc is a just a few minutes of mostly static patterns, there are ways to get appropriate HD content on a regular old DVD disc for HD display calibration. The catch is that you lose out on some of the more advanced features, (pop-up menus mostly) a couple of the more optional test patterns and the disc will only work in certain Blu-ray players. But there is a list of working Blu-ray players included on the same page as the various downloadable formats of the software.

There are three different version of the AVS disc in total. One for burning to Blu-ray, one for burning to DVD to be played on a Blu-ray player, and one for burning to DVD to be played on certain DVD players. Yes, the 360 and PS3 work for their respective media formats. Exhale.
There is also extensive instruction on the site regarding which format you should use, how to burn it to the media of choice and issues you may encounter with certain layer/format combinations. I recommend downloading the manual as well. Not only does the explain the why and how of each test pattern on the disc, with excellent detail on what your trying to do with that pattern, it has useful links throughout the PDF document. These include direct links to resalers of the optional color filters.

The THX glasses may seem like the way to go, being only $1.99. But the shipping always seems to be $8-$15 so that price quickly goes up to the point where it's better to just buy one of the discs that includes a filter. Plus, it only contains the blue filter for the basic test. I recommend the more "expensive" option. A $4.99 pack that has blue, red and green filters with shipping around $2. These are the same filters often used in filming, so they're absolutely adequate for you to optimize your TV settings. You'll honestly be quite pleased with the results even if you don't get any filters, but it is definitely an available option.

On the disc you will come to a menu with several options. The ones you're really interested in are the Basic Settings and Misc. Settings. The HD Nation video is also quite helpful as it will explain to you that basics of how to use the test patterns on the disc. This is not a substitue for reading the manual however.

In Basic Settings you will find some basic test patterns for setting black level, (usually Brightness on your TV's settings) white level, (contrast or picture) scaling, sharpness and color. The color test pattern actually requires a blue filter to use properly, but you can get an idea of what all the colors look like and if you can pick out the individual shades.

The Misc. Settings menu will give you more test patterns to check out the same thing. here you really need to check out the manual though, as some patterns are intended specifically for Plasma, LCD or CRT, etc. Here is where order the filter three pack really shows its advantage over the THX blue glasses. In the Misc Settings menu there is a pattern for adjusting all of the colors and tints of your display. If you TV has the options available (typically under Advanced or Expert or some other heading) you can really fine tune each individual color your display outputs. I'll say it one more time, read the manual.

Personally, I like the semi-DIY route for HDTV calibration. You're the one that's going to be watching it all the time, after all. Whatever you do, you'll find yourself much happier with the results of a "properly" calibrated TV. At least when watching movies.

Games are a different matter. Games don't have the same universal standards for color and light depth, which is why you so often find a brightness, or similar, control prominent in the options menu. Some games even ask you to set this before playing. This will often lead to games looking far to dark when played on settings that have been calibrated for movie playback. There are a few ways around this.

The first is to utilize presets, as most modern sets have several presets that can be altered however you like. These are usually called standard, normal, cinema, movie, game, sport, vivid, etc. You should have the same set of adjustment options available to adjust for each of these settings. Use your calibration disc to calibrate everything the way you want it for normal TV and movie viewing. Once you're done, apply those same settings to whatever "mode" you want to use for games (Game is generally a good one) and pop in a couple games that you know have a brightness setup that uses one of those "increase until you can barely see the image" patterns. Now adjust the brightness setting on your set until you can just barely see the applicable image. Average this number out across multiple titles. Even Dead Space 2 seemed to take a lot more adjustment to make visible than Dead Space 1 did, so try a couple. This way, whatever your playing you should be at a black level that's just barely visible for the darkest parts of most games and can fine tune it from the game's settings if you need to. The other way is to find a middle ground between the movie black level and game black level and live with it. If you manage to have a set that works perfectly for both on the same settings well...aren't you special.

However you go about it, in the end you should find that your set is living up to its full potential of HD quality. And to make this a truly sweet deal, you did it for the cost of a couple minutes and a blank DVD. Big thank you to the people over on AVS forum that put this software, and accompanying instructions, together.

Bulletstorm: Everything Old is New Again...Maybe

2011-01-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Ahhh Bulletstorm, from unknown, to potential sleeper hit to regular guest star on Cliffy B's Twitter feed, the game's momentum just seems to keep growing. My enthusiasm, on the other hand, maxes out at "curious" at best. While the game does seem to have the potential for some serious fun, I have some issues with the "kill with skill" combat system at the core of most of the hype that ranges from serious potential for fun-killing repetitiveness to the fact that it's not as original as the parties involved would like you to think.

Full Story (360)
Full Story (PC)
Full Story (PS3)

Beyond Good & Evil HD. It's Not a 2, But I'll Take It.

2011-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

The good folks over at Joystiq have posted a trailer for the forthcoming LIVE and PSN HD re-release of (sorely underappreciated) cult hit Beyond Good & Evil. Since I played the original on PC, the addition of HD resolutions means little to me, but I can get excited about anything that encourages new gamers to discover this little gem and possibly renew interest in a sequel. Now if only someone could post a release date...

Pleased to Meet You, Hope You Guessed my Name

2011-01-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

There's an interesting editorial over at IGN about whether or not Activision is the most evil company in the world. While a lot if it is pointless fluff (comparisons to Pfizer, BP, Halliburton etc.) there are some good points in the latter part of the article. There's also the irony of an IGN article tackling such a subject in an editorial. You know, IGN, a company with a notorious reputation for giving overly favorable reviews to games or movies that pay hefty prices for advertising on their site. Yeah, those guys.

As much as I love using IGN as a resource, since they've got all kinds of tentacles in every bit of the world of video games, the bigger they gotten (I've been following them since they were Imagine Games Network) the more of their integrity seemed to be for sale, and the less professional some of the writing seemed to get.

Hey! We can get away with a lack of professionalism in our writing here, it's a blog. So there.

I digress.

I'm not going to get too much into the IGN article, you can follow the link and read it for yourself if you're interested, instead I'm going to give my take on the question of just how full Activision's evil-o-meter is. Since I've already stated that I worked at Activision recently, you are free to grab your grain of salt and hang on to it for everything that follows, but keep in mind I am still a gamer, and I still love Tim Schafer. Onward.

The biggest issue with thinking of Activision is evil is thinking of it as a singular entity, rather than a company made up of people. To say Activision is evil is to say that every employee of Activision is evil (or bad or crooked or greedy or whatever else the general gaming population associates with Activision) which is simply not the case. The people I worked with in the QA department were some of the nicest, coolest people I've ever had the privilage of working with. This includes the Senior testers, Project Leads - you know, the general boss types - and not just my fellow testers. So already the idea that everyone at Activision is out to trick gamers into paying as much as they can for whatever crap Activision poops out should be busted. There's more to it than that, however.

Actvision is just the publisher, they're "the money." They don't have as much influence over the actual games as many people seem to think. Activision provides the funds to pay the salaries of the people that do makes the games (Infinity Ward, Treyarch, RoboModo, etc.) as well as take care of advertising and actually getting those games on shelves. Any issue you have with the game itself falls on the name of whatever developer you find sharing space with Activision on the back of the box.

This reputation of being "evil" didn't materialize from nowhere, however, so there must be some merit to it, right? Scooping up Red Octane and the Guitar Hero name while kicking the company that created the franchise, Harmonix, to the curb is a move that can only be described as douchetastic. A similar descriptor could be applied to leapfrogging developers on the Call of Duty franchise in order to release series entries on an annual schedule. A move that almost certainly led to the infighting and implosions that affected Infinity Ward. What about kicking Double Fine to the same curb as Harmonix, then attempting to sue EA for the rights to Brutal Legend once it looked like there was some serious buzz about it? Douchetastic to the max. But, who is responsible for all these actions really? Individuals. More specifically, businessmen.

Businessmen trying to maximize profits for themselves and for shareholders. These people are not interested in whether or not their company's game does something new, or "pushes the envelope" or if the game's audience thinks it was a real improvement over the previous incarnation. They're only interested in whether or not people buy it and, so long as people continue to buy Call of Duty and other such games in record numbers, there's no reason to change the way things are going. But this is the struggle that has existed between publishers, developers and gamers since almost the inception of the video game industry. Gamers want some new experience, some significant improvement, developers want to push the limits of their ability and publishers simply want as large a return on their investment as possible. Do the higher-ups at Activision employ some of the more dastardly methods in order to accomplish that goal? Absolutely. But a few years ago the same thing was being said about EA, who is now considered the "good witch" to Activision's wicked witch. Which means some of you need to consider the fact that I'm trying to work in a good Wicked analogy here.

All this talk of how Activision is a publisher and as such is run by businessmen, rather than gamers, can't be complete without mentioning the man every gamer looks upon as Satan's earthly minion: Bobby Kotick. While the level of direct involvement Kotick had in some of the more dubious actions I've mentioned is something I can't comment on with any kind of accuracy, the man's reputation in the public leaves little doubt about how his company came to be considered "evil." Let's review some of his more recent appearances in the news: Lost a lawsuit levied against him by a law firm because he never paid them for providing defense in a sexual harassment suit that he also lost. A suit which was birthed from the "company" he and five friends created to manage their private jet in order to get tax write-offs for the use of said jet. Doesn't exactly create a warm and/or fuzzy feeling in regards to the man. But this kind of behavior isn't exclusive to Activision, the video game industry or even businessmen. Isn't one of the reasons we have "class warfare" and an arguably malfunctioning economy due to CEOs, VPs and the like preferring to dissolve entire buildings full of people that live from paycheck to paycheck rather than forfeit the profits that allow them to drive two Bentley's and have a "summer home" on an island whose name takes practice to pronounce properly?

When it comes down to it, Activision isn't really evil. It's simply a publisher run by a businessman displaying some of the most despicable traits associated with both. I'm sure if the public was able to dig deep enough they'd find there were people besides Kotick responsible for some of the most offensive decisions the company has made. Maybe not. So perhaps there are individuals in charge that could easily fall into the definition of "evil" but their actions are representative of only themselves, not the entire company. The worst thing I can think to accuse Activision, as a company, (rather than specific individuals) of is laziness. Rather than take the huge profits created by their biggest franchises and use them to branch out into new, potentially groundbreaking and risky IPs, the people in charge of the company simply rests on their laurels; assured that the next Call of Duty game or World of Warcraft expansion will buy Kotick another jet.

Should this change, and Activisions starts using those profits to take risks, birth new franchises or simply allow adequate development time on current franchises to create a truly "new" incarnation (again, much like the about-face EA did not too long ago) gamers will simply find another company to paint the evil target on. Because that's just the nature of video games, and I'm as guilty of it as anyone else.

Time Travel

2010-12-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

So yes, once again there has been a large...LARGE gap since the last installment of new content here on Higher Tech. I'm only one man, what can I say? Oh right, I can say the most recent gap was due to my employment in Activision's QA department. True, even when we were doing 12 hour days 6 days a week, I did have time to write something here...I was just afraid to.

I tend to get excited and go off on tangents about related gaming topics and other theories and info whenever I write something; you may have noticed this. While accidentally letting slip some small secret about Tony Hawk: Shred (my first project) may have gone unnoticed, any kind of leak related to Call of Duty: Black Ops (my second project) would have quickly gotten me fired, if not sued. So I'm sorry to the 5 or 6 of you out there that read this, but you're simply not worth staring down the barrel of Activision's legal department, much less forfeiting my long fought for first step into the video game industry.

In any case, some form of regular content should be appearing here again soon. At least until my gig at Naughty Dog starts in March. That's right, Naughty Dog. Uncharted 3. Be jealous, it's OK.

In the meantime, feel free to get more regular updates from my Twitter feed. Though far less informative, you'll usually still find video game related stuff, and it's always nerdtastic. Occasionally funny too. Woo! Ah hell, just go...

Gettting my Game Face on.

2010-06-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

At the suggestion of friends from The Game Cookery, where most Higher Tech articles can also be found, I've decided to begin chronicling my efforts to break into the video game industry. Of course, at present, I'm past the part where I swept my girlfriend off across the country to find more entry level positions in the land of the setting sun (California) and started making contacts you'll probably be wanting some prologue.

So, uummm...

Prologue

I love video games. I still believe the best Christmas present I ever received was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Before then I'd only ever played my friends' systems. That gray box with purple buttons was my induction. I played every game I could convince my mother to buy, and played them over and over. Yes, I'm somewhat ashamed to say I used a Game Genie sometimes, but I was a "newb" in the most literal possible sense.

As the years passed I grew to appreciate games for the unique artistic medium that they were. I found my greatest delights in uncovering some new way to approach the challenges presented rather than simply reaching the end and saving the princess/the world. I began to understand that video games were entirely unique in the realm of entertainment mediums. Unlike the passive experiences found in books or movies, games didn't tell you a story, they asked what your story was, or at least what version you liked best.

From the most basic, story-devoid, premise of Space Invaders which simply asks "Would you be able to survive an oncoming horde of aliens that move faster with each new wave?" to the most recent open-world game that simply asks "What would you do if...?" before trailing off into possibilities to numerous to be listed on the whole of the Internet, video games provide the opportunity for the play to take what story they're given and make it theirs.

The best works of art, movie, novel, painting or sculpture leave room for interpretation, the opportunity for the audience to take away a slightly different experience than the person next to them. These same works of art only improve with multiple viewings. But when was the last time you watched Citizen Kane and had an entirely different experience? Kane will always die, Rosebud will still be a sled, your (realistic) interpretation will always have very definite limits.

With a game, however, you can go back and see how the story were different if you were the bad guy, or if you had saved this person, or killed that one, or gone left instead of right, or managed to get the ice beam before the fire beam. Even the most linear game allows you to ask "What if I had been fighting 20 guys instead of 12 or what if those 12 guys had been MUCH better fighters?" and then opens the floor for you to play out that story. It's exhilarating to find something you haven't experienced before, some mechanic or application of it that you had never seen until that very moment. There are few things as rewarding.

Video games are not the story of what has happened, they are the story of what is happening. This is true whether the game is telling you a story or asking you to come up with your own. It was before I even fully understood this that I understood something far more important, I wanted to make video games.

Unfortunately I allowed myself to believe that a "career" in video games was childish and that, as a "genius" (but who believes IQ tests, really?) I needed to become a lawyer or a doctor or a CEO in order to be counted as successful. So off to college I went, a PS2 in one hand and a Pre-Med curriculum in the other.

As a grew to dislike the complete lack of stimulation medical science offered for my more creative desires I spent more time reading and writing about games, taking my Playstation, and Gamecube, apart talking about games with whoever would listen and, occasionally, even playing some. This led to a lot of skipped classes, but with my grades averaging somewhere around a B in most cases the professors left me alone.

My right brain would leave me alone however. Facing a future that would leave me unsatisfied and (Current Doctors, back me up on this) without a social life, I finally changed my major to Computer Science and decided to pursue a life of making video games.

This decision came too late, however, as my financial aid would not fund more than four years of college and I was in no position to afford a college education without that aid.

I was stuck.

But I wasn't beaten. I continued to do what I could with what I had. I kept up on all the latest trends and major game releases. I read about the new hardware and software being employed. I built, rebuilt, customized and repaired PC's in my small, western New York town to keep what up with what technical skills I had. I played everything I could, opting for standard editions over "special" or "limited" to ensure that I had the budget for a larger number of games. I hunted down classics I had missed out on to see what they had to teach me about design. I applied to every company I could think in an attempt to at least get feedback on what they were looking for. I bought Paid to Play and Break into the Game Industry and filled them with bookmarks on things I needed to memorize. Through all of this, I worked on my own design documents. Some of them never made it further than outline a basic mechanic I wanted to use someday, others blossomed into full game concepts, all of them engaged my mind in ways that nothing else ever could.

While doing all this I also worked a "real job" and saved up what money I could, no easy task with the *cough* crooked *cough* holders of my "private student loans" breathing down my neck. But I did it, I had saved up enough money that I could grab my girlfriend and move to the place most saturated with game studios, including some of my all-time favorites: California. If I couldn't get a degree then I would push my way into the industry by jamming my foot in the door labeled "Quality Assurance."

Once again, however, my timing was terrible. The video game industry was in bad shape, teams were being let go, entire studios were shut down, the Southern California market was over-saturated and studios were moving out. QA positions were nearly impossible to come by without previous experience. Again, I was stuck. But I was stuck in a better position.

Far from the middle-of-nowhere from whence I had come, the industry was all around me. I still encountered numerous people that had no idea what a "Game Designer" was, but for every 1 of them there was someone at a different stage of the same journey I was on. I was hopeful.

So, once again, I found myself working what jobs I can, including some "acting" as an extra for a less-than glamorous MTV show, while saving money to either buy myself an education in game design or programmers and artists confident in my ability to design something worthy of all their time and effort. I continued to read and write about everything in the world of video games. I continued to play every game that has something to teach me about the medium, or simply show me what its best can be. I continued to search for any and every opening or unpaid internship studios offer while claiming "Yes, I do want to spend my life working at this desk," in order to support the one thing I really do want to spend my life doing.

One day, however, I came across a little group called The game Cookery and, well that's the next part of the story so you'll just have to wait.

I'd call it a "MITten"...

2010-05-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

According to a recent post on Joystiq, Massachussets Institute of Technology grad student Robert Wang and professor Jovan Popović have devised a system that makes Move, Natal and the Wii look look both imprecise and overpriced.

With a total equipment cost of around $30 (~$25 for a basic webcam and $1-$5 for the Lycra gloves) the setup could bring you that much closer to reenacting everyone's favorite scene from Minority Report. In fact, the original article even mentions that in the subtitle of the article. Apparently the nerds are taking over (author's note: w007!).

The core of this system is the software design...and lots of RAM. Rather than do real time translation of the hand position into a rendered image, the software simply checks the position against a database of hand positions and renders the corresponding image. While this simplifies things on the processor side considerably, the necessary database requires several hundred MB of space in RAM.

Although the RAM requirement isn't an issue for most desktops, it could be a problem for more portable devices. I raise this issue because I immediately thought of something after watching the following demonstration video:

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

Heavy Rain. More specifically, the Added Reality Interface (ARI) used by FBI agent Norman Jayden.

See what I mean. Also, did anyone else notice a possible Massachusetts accent in Mr. Jayden's voice? Interesting indeed. On a related note, I call dibs on any patents that combine a webcam and LCD glasses into a single device. Especially if it's for the iPod/Phone. Dibs works on the internet, right?

Return of the Western: Red Dead Redemption

2010-05-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

The promise of the western making a cinematic comeback following the strong showing that was 3:10 to Yuma may have fizzled out, but the long-dormant genre may find new life in video games. That is if Red Dead Redemption, and Rockstar games, have anything to say about it.

Full Story (PS3)
Full Story (360)

Mustache in the Clouds. New Super Mario Galaxy 2 Impressions.

2010-04-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like Joystiq and IGN have some new impressions (and in Joystiq's case: video) of Super Mario Galaxy 2. This time the demo each editor was shed some light on a new power, the Cloud Suit, and the game's co-op mechanics.

If you took a "pass" last time SMG2 was covered: Yoshi's back, he's just like you remember him from World and he has some cool new power-ups like balloon and pepper which make you float and dash (up walls), respectively. This time, however, we get to see one of Mario's new power-ups, the Cloud Suit (not quite).

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We Need More Giant Robot Games. Also: Yes Kojima, You Really Should Retire Snake.

2010-04-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

First I'd like to say, if you already know exactly what giant robot game I'm going to talk about, congratulations on your acceptance into my personal "You're Cool" club.

Close your eyes and just think to yourself, "When was the last time a good giant robot game came out?" Depressing, isn't it? Considering the we're closing in on what would normally be the twilight of a console generation, having to look to the previous generation for any worthwhile entries into the genre leaves any gamer that grew up on Voltron,Transformers or Power Rangers quite blue.

The Armored Core series has been pretty downhill since the second game; and Chromehounds did not help From Software, who developed both series, to reclaim any credibility within the genre. Applying the Dynasty Warriors formula to the Gundam Universe also disappointed quite thoroughly. There have been a few other attempts this generation...but all of them failed to impress. Some hope still exists for Activision's Transformers:War For Cybertron, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Especially with the average pedigree of developer High Moon Studios. Fingers crossed though...

Sure, we occasionally get some decent giant robot action thrown into our other games. Lost Planet, FEAR 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Killzone 2 (you know, that one part). In the end though, a giant robot game is just not the same as a game with giant robots. Porting Virtual-On to LIVE Arcade doesn't count either.

So what happened? I don't believe there's anything noteworthy, if anything at all, on the horizon for some giant robot-on-robot, city-smashing, love. We came from Armored Core, MechAssault, Zone of the Enders, Steel Batallion (assuming you could afford it and find a place for the controller) to a complete vacuum. I'm not even picky! Give me the slow, plodding T-A-N-K-! style play of Mechassault or the fast-paced, anime-flavored combat of a Z.O.E. game and I'll be thrilled.

The technology currently on the table, or rather entertainment center, is particularly good at rendering metal armor, stones, and the accompanying lighting effects (according to Cliff "not Cliffy B" Bleszinski anyway). Hmm, good at rendering metal, stone, lighting ef-GIANT ROBOTS! You know how they say some formulas just scream out the answer? Like graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate screams...? Exactly. Well that's one of them.

Am I to believe that Activision, Transformers, and whatever re-skinned Armored Core From Software decides to poop out are all I have to choose from? What happened to all the people making these games? Will people abandon their WWII soldiers, modern day soldiers, and futuristic soldiers to shoot bad guys with a giant robot instead? I think they just might, especially if it's pretty.

Which brings me to Kojima. Leave Snake alone. you've said you were going to do it every game for nearly a decade, just do it. The story of Solid Snake has been as neatly tied up as once could expect from the trip through "WTF"-land that was the Metal Gear Solid series. The stealth genre is changing drastically to accommodate a market that, by and large, wants to shoot things, not hide from them. You're halfway there with letting another team take Metal Gear: Rising in another direction (assuming he stays "hands-off" as a producer). A huge "thank you" for that, by the way because, as I've mentioned twice before, I have to see how Raiden went from whiny wanna-be to kick-ass cybernetic ninja. Then, however, you cheated by creating the Naked Snake storyline to continue on with an almost identical character to Solid Snake acting out almost identical gameplay.

Just leave them all alone. You've go other series to work on. Give us another Zone of the Enders, because the world needs giant robot games. Kojima's name on a giant robot game could bring out quite the audience with the accolades MGS4 managed to capture. With one successful giant robot game comes others. With other giant robot games comes competition. With competition comes awesome giant robot games. And that's what we're working for here, folks.

Just let Snake die, he's old. Move on to some other series, or even give us a whole new one. Let the stealth genre settle down a little bit, not even Sam Fisher just sneaks around guys anymore. If technology evolves or you come up with an entirely new, truly revolutionary game mechanic feel free to do a reboot. In chronological order would be nice, since MGS3 managed to take place before MG, MG2, MGS, and MGS2. For the uninitiated, that means the 5th game (called the 3rd) in the series took place, chronologically, before the first game, which was made over 20 years ago. A modern take on the earliest games in the series (Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2) would be quite the moment for long-time fans too.

In the meantime, give us back our giant robot games. Oh, and Kojima-san? While we're talking about reboots and reviving franchises and what-not, remember Snatcher...?

The Box Art May be Bad But the Game Is Pretty Rad. God of War III Review.

2010-03-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Seriously, who was it that decided close-ups of characters' faces would make good box art this generation? GoW III is probably the worst example; it's not even his face, just one scowl-y eyeball! But I digress, on with the review.

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Peace Walker Sneaks Away from PSP Go

2010-03-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

As further evidence to how poorly the PSP Go is doing, the newly announced Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker bundle will contain a PSP - 3000 rather than it's diminutive, and (inexplicably) more expensive, cousin: the PSP Go.

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Bungie Running New Marathon?

2010-03-15T17:06:00.001-07:00

(click to Master-size)

According to IGN, themselves through superannuation, Bungie has filed a trademark for Marathon. For those that weren't Mac gamers in the '90's Marathon was the series that put Bungie on the map long before Halo or Xbox. In fact, you can find references to the classic series in Halo, if you're paying attention anyway.

With no further details on Marathon, it's unsure if Bungie is looking to revive the series, or simply keeping a hold on the name. Given the nature of the last story Bungie appeared here in, reviving the series could potentially be good for all kinds of people.

Low on PS3's? Not if Kratos has anything to say about it.

2010-03-15T17:01:00.001-07:00

With IGN reporting this past Thursday (March 11th) that Sony was having trouble keeping up with production of Playstation 3, they have a new story today stating that production will be stepped up to coincide with the increase in demand they're hoping God of War III's release will produce.

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What's a four-letter word for Playstation Motion Controller?

2010-03-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

(click to "move" to a larger image)

In something of a follow-up to Monday's story about the then-unnamed Playstation Motion Controller, GDC has finally brought a name to the peripheral: Playstation Move.

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Vanquish = Gears on (Japanese) Speed?

2010-03-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

Well if this is the direction shooters are going to start taking, I may need to get my design molded into something playable real soon. (Come on Activision, where are those details? Help me out here.)

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Rate Your Vengeance! God of War III Reviews are in.

2010-03-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

The game may not have dropped yet (although you can get some serious hands-on time if you happen to be in the San Francisco area) but the reviews are everywhere. God of War III can now be considered a hit amongst gaming critics.

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Some Cheers, Some Tears, Mostly Huh?'s

2010-03-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Those of you interested in the status of your favorite "is it ever actually coming out!?" game can check out the latest "Life Support" article over at IGN.

This lists the general status of several titles whose development status has remained amazingly questionable, for years in some cases. (Yes, Duke Nukem Forever is still on there, 13 years and counting!)

There is one interesting tidbit for readers of Higher Tech, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has had it's status bumped up to stable. However, no new details have emerged since HT last covered the game, so I'm not sure what caused the slight status promotion. But feel free to check everything out at the link above.

"Wand" Afterall?

2010-03-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

While the Playstation Motion Controller has yet to receive an official name, it looks like the unnofficial "Arc" moniker may have just been thrown out.

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Adding Molecules to the Playstation

2010-03-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

(click to feel even bigger love)

In a move reminiscent of their purchase of Naughty Dog in 2001, Sony Computer Entertainment has purchased LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule. Although it may seem kind of odd to purchase a company with only one title to it's credit, when that one title is as successful and beloved (by both players and developers) as LittleBigPlanet, purchasing early on is a pretty safe investment.

Reach for This New Trailer

2010-03-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

There's a new trailer up at IGN for Bungie's latest (and supposedly last) entry in the Halo series, Halo: Reach.

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Blood-smeared Impressions, God of War 3.

2010-02-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

(click for larger scowl)

In case you missed it this past Thursday, the God of War Demo was released on the Playstation Store. This is the same demo that was shown at least year's E3, but for the majority of us this was the first chance to play, so the level of asskickery contained within suffered no loss of awesomeness.

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Metroid: Other M. Hands-On with Joystiq and IGN

2010-02-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Once again I say that it must be nice to be a professional video game site, as both Joystiq and IGN got some hands-on time with forthcoming Wii title Metroid: Other M. Also nice: being a super-hot intergalactic bounty hunter with an insanely versatile suit of power armor.

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Xbox has the DVD blu's or: Lost (content) Planet 2.

2010-02-25T17:38:00.001-08:00

Since the start of this console generation, Sony fans have touted the merits of Playstation 3's Blu-ray format while those loyal to Microsoft have insisted the extra storage capacity of Blu-ray is insubstantial. If this article from CVG is any indication, however, that argument may very well be lost for 360 fans everywhere.

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Bungie is developing for Playstation 3...maybe. Also, an interview with the team behind Halo:Reach

2010-02-25T16:32:00.000-08:00

In a brief, but potentially important, article from our brothers across the pond at CVG, some new light may have been shed on Bungie's post-Microsoft plans.

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It's-a-me, Sequel! Hands-on with Super Mario Galaxy 2

2010-02-25T15:28:00.000-08:00

(click for mushroom power-up effect)

While Wii games aren't exactly few and far between, those actually worth picking up (in the eyes of most gamers, anyway) are a little on the rare side. Fortunately, Nintendo is pretty much the strongest first party developer in the world, owning several franchises that are synonymous with video games. The biggest of these, and perhaps single-handedly responsible for rescuing the video game industry in 1986, is Super Mario. And it just so happens that those crazy Europeans over at CVG (and teh local yahoos at IGN) got some hands-on time with the plumber's latest title: Super Mario Galaxy 2.

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God of War 3 to install only ass-kickingness, not data

2010-02-23T16:48:00.001-08:00

(click to Spartan-size)

While the ridiculous debate over whether the unreleased God of War 3 will surpass the current king of console graphics, Uncharted 2, rages on there is one thing that both games will have in common: a lack of mandatory hard drive install.

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New BioShock, same Tunnelvision

2010-02-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that 2k managed to botch the widescreen in the PC version of BioShock 2. Hmm...this sounds familiar...

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And Behind Door #1? It's More RAM! (Applause)

2010-02-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Playstation 3 is giving developers a gift: more RAM.
For those of you inexperienced in the world of modern console gaming, they actually have a lot more in common with PC's than you might think, as in: they have their own Operating Systems. Sony's PS3 had an OS guilty of more memory-hogging than any other OS around, eating up around 120MB of RAM for operation. Since the OS is always running in the background...

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Indie Game Developers: Stay Far, Far Away.

2010-02-19T16:25:00.000-08:00

Looks like Activision is planning to change up their current game plan and try and create an entirely new IP in collaboration with one lucky independent game developer out there.

In an announcement at DICE, Activision CEO and (if the comment section from the above article is to be believed) focus of hatred for gamers everywhere, (perhaps second only to Jack Thompson) Bobby Kotick announced a competition for independent game developers everywhere with the prize being sponsorship in developing the company's title. What, exactly, is Acitivion's definition of "Sponsorship?" Well apparently it's slightly different from Kotick's. Kotick claimed the winner of the competition will be granted a prize of $500,000. Activision, on the other hand, sets the prize at $100,000. (You can find all the currently known details of the competition here) Hmmm, somewhat the opposite of how I would have imagined such a discrepancy going.

If you don't feel like using the included link to read Activision's PDF on the competition, here's everything included therein:

"Activision announces the 2010 Activision Independent Game Competition!

This summer, one developer will win funding to make their game development dreams a reality. The official entry form and eligibility requirements will be posted in a few weeks. In the meantime, this is what we'll be looking for in submissions:

A two-page summary of your proposed game. Please include three to five bullet-point elements or goals that you feel define your project (i.e. 'open- world,' 'puzzle-based,' 'flying dragon combat'). Beyond that, you may structure these two pages as you see fit; creativity is encouraged.
A video, no longer than five minutes, explaining and illustrating your game. Footage of your game in motion, character models, animatics -- show your project and its elements however you feel would be most compelling.
The official entry form, which will be posted here soon
A non-disclosure agreement, which will be posted here soon

So get ready to send us your ideas either on your own or on a team.

Check back for more information in early March, and good luck!"

So why should any indie developer reading this stay far far away? Two reasons:

1) Activision has become infamous for grinding out the creativity of game development in favor of turning it into a business. Mostly this means churning out yearly, if not semi-annual, "sequels" to established franchises which, in general, means minor updates as opposed to full sequels. Ever wonder why Infinity Ward only develops every other Call of Duty title now? Well now you know. This is something of a no-no to most "serious" gamers.

2) I've got a design document or two (one in particular) that I want to see turned into games because...well I think they're awesome. (surprise, surprise...) so I'd like to cut down on the competition as much as possible.

Kinda makes you wonder about the truth behind my reasoning for number 1, don't it?

Persona 3, only smaller...but actually bigger.

2010-01-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ever heard of Persona? Apparently it's quite popular among JRPG fans. Well one of the latter entries in the series is making it's way to the PSP with a new remix. Notice I said "latter" entry, not the latest one, since the game we're dealing with here is the 2+ year old (released August 2007) Persona 3, not the 1+ year old (released December 2008) Persona 4.

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Scarf down some Fat Princess Updates.

2010-01-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Apparently there's still a lot of people playing Fat Princess. Since it always seems to take me awhile to find a game with more than 5 people in it, I'm not sure I entirely believe this claim. But then, the Playstation Blog would never exaggerate the popularity of one of their platform's exclusive titles, would they?

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Survive the Horror of Exaggeration in Demon's Souls

2010-01-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

If you've heard of PS3 sleeper hit Demon's Souls, you've heard how hard it is. Well in the opinion of Bitmob writer Tony Capri, this is a problem.

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All Beyond Good & Evil fans: join me in saying "Hip-hip-huh?"

2010-01-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

So apparently Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development, according to IGN and Ubisoft. This is stark contrast to comments made by Ubisoft president, Laurent Detoc, last July which gave the feeling BG&E2 had been put on indefinite hold or scrapped altogether.

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I agree with the choice but...

2010-01-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Although I've recently been stating that IGN's articles, and writing in general, seem to be getting progressively more immature, this video for overall game of the year (after the jump) completely reverses that opinion. And if you have to ask, yes that was sarcasm.

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Dark Void, Murky Combat.

2010-01-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

click to biggerize

So the Dark Void demo is finally out and I have to say: I think they could have picked a better section of the game to show off.

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Get your hands on 2 More Heroes. I mean, No More Heroes 2 hands-on

2010-01-13T02:01:00.001-08:00

Chances are, if you're a "core" gamer looking for something outside the casual titles the Wii is famous for, you've played No More Heroes. The good news for you is not only is the game getting a sequel, subtitled Desperate Struggle (How did you not already know that? Psh!) but IGN has gotten some hands-on time and even written about it! And now, i'm going to re-write what they wrote! W007, indeed, but try to contain yourself.

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Check out the Super new combatants of Street Fighter IV.

2010-01-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

Anxious to see the fighting styles of the three new pugilistic superstars of the forthcoming Super Street Fighter IV? Well GameTrailers.com has you covered.

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Wii watch movies! (Are the Wii puns old yet?)

2010-01-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

According to Engadget the Wii will be able to stream movies from Netflix sometime this spring.

This is a much bigger boon for Wii fans than it was when implemented into the PS3 or 360 as the Wii doesn't have a downloadable video library of its own. It will have limitations however. Since the Wii itself isn't capable of outputting resolutions higher than the relatively standard 480p HD movies will not be available. Also, just like the PS3, a disc will be required to stream movies. However, since the PS3 supposedly has a software update in the works to remove the need for a disc we can probably expect something similar from the Wii at some point down the road.

More evidence that Google will eventually rule the world through awesomeness.

2010-01-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

You may be asking, "Willard, how can I make my blog as awesome as yours by posting pictures without getting sued by somebody?"
Well, you can't. You can't make your blog as awesome as mine. I've filled the quotient for how awesome blogs are allowed to be and, like the Highlander, there can be only one.
Thanks to one of Google's newer features, however, you can post pics without worrying about the legal ramifications or trying to argue fair use. While I think fair use law will protect you in most situations, when you're unsure, or simply don't want to risk it, you can use Google's advanced image search feature.
As you can see from this screenshot here:

click to super-size.

there is now a feature within advanced image search option that allows you to search specifically for images that can be re-posted anywhere free of charge. You can even search for ones that will be used to create a profit for you. Neato, eh?
Now go, copy and paste to your heart's content.

Reviews. Army of Two: 40th Day, Bayonetta and Darksiders.

2010-01-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'll admit, I simply do not have the funds to buy the lastest games just to be able to play them, much less review them. (If any game news publications or game studios out there are reading this though: feel free to hire me. I'll even give a you a free "trial period")
What I can do, however, is give you a rundown of the reviews posted on other sites, so here we go. Please note that i've broken down what reviews I can by system so you can check out what, if any, differences exist between the two versions. Ok...this only actually applies to Bayonetta. The rest are either a universal review that doesn't specify system or the same review was copy and pasted for all systems.

Army of Two: 40th Day

-1up.com, all systems
-IGN, all systems
-IGN video review

Bayonetta

-IGN, X360
-IGN, PS3

Darksiders: Wrath of War

- 1up.com, all systems
-gamershell, all systems

Some bad news for Metal Gear movie fans.

2010-01-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

You could always just play the games though. Maybe have some kind of narration while you're playing too. It would just be like a very long movie. I know some of you out there love this kind of stuff.

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For just pennies a day, you too can adopt poor CliffyB

2010-01-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

Apparently the Gears of War franchise is broken and needs to be fixed FAST before the series is abandoned by gamers everywhere, according to IGN anyway. Anyone who has ever witnessed a Playstation vs Xbox fanboy squabble (or been involved in one, for shame) might find this hard to believe, but apparently IGN writer, Ryan Geddes -- in his second appearance on the blog today and somewhat in keeping with the same theme -- disagrees.
Mr. Geddes writes up an in-depth article on what's wrong with the Gears franchise and how to fix it. Whether or not you agree with the article it's still an interesting read and makes several valid points. You can check out the full article at the IGN link above.

Supreme Commander 2 details.

2010-01-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

Fans of science fiction RTS rejoice! No, StarCraft II hasnt' been released early, sorry. Didn't mean to get your hopes up. However, IGN has details on Supreme Commander II and that's almost as good...kinda.

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Reach for it...

2010-01-08T15:31:00.001-08:00

Well if the good people of Joystiq are to be believed, and they usually are, February's issue of Game Informer is going to have a 10 page cover story on Halo:Reach. The magazine's website will also leave a bread crumb trail of details for the rest of January throughout it's Halo:Reach section leading up to the issuess publication. These smaller articles will include details on the new game (obviously) as well as a look at the history of the franchise and profiles on employees of both Bungie and 343 Industries, the heir to the Halo mantle.
You can check out images of the February Issue of Game Informer's cover right here and pore over them for every detail you can squeeze out.

What Wii should be playing.

2010-01-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

It seems lists are kind of the thing to do right now, as IGN has taken it upon themselves to assemble blurbs on the Wii's top 25 games to date.

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That is SO chronological.

2010-01-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you that love lists, and especially lists that compare things, CVG has quite the rundown for you. They've got articles up on their site listing the best games of every year of this console generation. In their opinion anyway. Keep in mind this is a European site, so some release dates may not be quite what you remember them as.

Check out their thoughts on each year:
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

More Optimus, Les Shia.

2010-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

Whether or not that's a good thing in the movies is up for debate. In a game, however, that victory belongs entirely to Optimus.

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Why, that's a fanboy of a different color!

2010-01-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you out there who are firmly of the belief that IGN has a Microsoft bias, you may want to give this editorial a look. In it, writer Ryan Geddes, goes into his decision to "change teams" to Sony, while also revealing he still owns his 360. A curious article to say the least (why does IGN keep posting these types of articles as of late?) that seems to be the gaming news giant's way of insisting it has no bias. Or perhaps their PS3 section is just taking the Mac route of turning market minority into snooty superiority. Mysteries of the Universe...
Regardless of IGN's actions, this brings me to the main point of this article: The Myth of Website Fanboyism. It's true that some gaming news sites have some type of console/company bias, but these are few and as far between as they are from the same status of respect as the major news sites. This is because a company is not a sentient thing, and therefore cannot have a bias; only people can have a bias. Yes, the writer's for major sites may have a bias, but that's why they work in the news section that corresponds to their console of preference.
So no, IGN isn't an Xbot, Joystiq doesn't hold the PS3 on a pedestal and 1up.com isn't all about the Wii, you get the idea. Maybe if you think they have a bias it's because you're spending time reading articles about your "opposing" console and are mad at yourself for being so curious about the system you're supposed to hate. But that will take us down a route of transference and other such Freudian blah blah blah so we'll lave that alone. Just rest assured that your fanboy brethren will not actually beat you to death if they discover you have an interest in another system, in fact they probably suffer the same affliction.
All that said, does this site, Higher Technology, have a bias? Abso-forking-lutely. It's only got one writer and (terrible) cartoonist. And as much as I'd love to "catch 'em all" I simply can't afford to add a Wii to my collection, much less a 360 instead/as well. I try to keep my PC capable of playing current gen games so I can keep up with some of Microsoft's console exclusives: Halo 1 and 2, Fable, Gears of War, Mass Effect, as well as "timed" exclusives like BioShock and Braid. What I'm saying is; I try. With only the PC and PS3 to work from I do my best to keep a balanced news load for all consoles. But when it comes to thorough reviews of games or even editorials about specific games, PS3 is going to win out every time. I love gaming as a whole, I want to play it all so I play as much as I can.
Which brings us to the point of why I made the decision to go with Playstation in the first place. At the dawn of the modern age of consoles is simply made the most sense. Given the track record I could assume that I would eventually be able to play some of the Xbox's biggest games on my PC, but the same could not be said for the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted (and honestly, I'd probably follow Naughty Dog to whichever console they're on, Crash ftw!), Resistance, Killzone 2, Gran Turismo or Lair at the time when my decision was being made. Blu-ray movies playback was just a bonus and added excuse to buy a fancy new HDTV, so my decision was made. Now, if I wasn't good at tinkering with my PC or interested in playing PC games would my decision have been different? Probably not, but that's just because of my taste in games. To someone else, even someone who doesn't have a feverish loyalty to a particular company, the choice could have been totally different.
It's all about what you like to play. And if you love gaming enough to actually mean those comments you leave on boards all across the Internet, maybe you shouldn't be so afraid to look at what the other guys have to offer because nothing is as valuable in pursuing a career as knowledge of the industry you wish to enter.

Psh! Nailed it! Dead Space

2009-12-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

You know, I liked the original Dead Space, but I felt like it didn't quite live up to one of its promises: the weapons...

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Gamez rulez commercialz!

2009-12-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

So Adweek recently held a voting on the best commercial of the decade (I know, I wasn't told either) and, in a move that will probably have your grandparents shaking their heads if/when you tell them, two gaming commercials actually managed to make it into the top spots.

One of these was Sony's "Mountain" commercial from the heyday of the Playstation 2 which...well I thought was kind of lame. But that's probably due to my unexplainable dislike for anything involving Shirley Temple. Check it out and make your own decision.

The second of these commercials was from the Halo 3 "Believe" campaign (although this particular ad is apparently called "Diorama") and is pretty rad. I can't ever watch this commercial without thinking to myself "Man! I want all of those things and the time to set up that exact scene!"

Feel free to check out the other, non-gaming commercials as well. From serious political statements to commercials that make you say "Wait...what?" to the ones that just make you say "WTF!?" Enjoy.

The Missing Piece...of DLC. Assassin's Creed II

2009-12-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

Anyone else notice that memory sequence 12 AND 13 were missing from Assassin's Creed II?
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Come here! Go there! Army of Two: 40th Day

2009-12-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

Anyone interested (yes, that does include me) in seeing how the Army of Two sequel is shaping up (according to IGN's opinion anyway) can check out a hands-on at IGN this-a-way. Must be nice to be a "legitimate" gaming site, ahh well, move along.

LittleBigPirate (PS3)

2009-12-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

According to sources at IGN, MediaMolecule will be releasing a Pirates of the Caribbean level kit...

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Get Caught up on Mass Effect's Story! (at IGN!)

2009-12-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

Never played the first Mass Effect? Well first, shame on you, and second, IGN has apparently got you covered not only for being a bad gamer...

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Transform and Roll Out

2009-12-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

So, you may have noticed the site has changed a little. There's a (pretty spiffy) new look to the whole place. Ive made navigation a little easier with the sidebar; you can now choose to view news that only relates to your system of choice instead of sorting everything from newest to oldest. There's still links to all the webcomic episodes and there's even a link to the old HT website and all the (now out-of-date) stories contained therein.

There's a story or two that made it here by managing to still be fairly relevant and, of course, all the High Technology episodes.

All this should bring a much cleaner look to Higher Technology and make navigation easier for everybody.

Prestige Edition comes with what!?

2009-12-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

You've probably noticed that the art style for High Tech has changed yet again. Sorry. I'm still working on finding a way to draw that is relatively speedy without making it obvious just how much I can't draw. I call this look...wait for it..."sketchy."

Yes, that's correct, I actually don't have any plans to get Modern Warfare 2. Don't get me wrong, I liked the first one, it was a fantastic game. However I got it a long time after it came out, I mean a long time and I stopped playing it before the people who got it on release day.
Since I blew through the single player and I hear the sequel's offering isn't any longer I just... meh. Multiplayer is definitely cool, deserves most of the praise it got and kept me interested long enough to get through prestige mode 1 and a half times...but that was it. So I'm not foaming at the mouth to drop $60 on an improved (balance-wise, graphics-wise or otherwise) version of the same. And since I still maintain the opinion that MW2 doesn't quite match the visual polish of Killzone 2 and doesn't touch Uncharted 2, I don't need it for a visual showpiece to the power of HD gaming consoles.
Of course there is a good chance I'll end up grabbing MW2 anyway, I didn't plan on buying the first one either.

Sex and Playstation; Grow Up

2009-12-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

So I'm still sifting through the mass of news that accompanies E3 and finding the stuff worth writing about as well as waiting for confirmation on some of the more shadowy details that came out of this year's expo (Metal Gear Solid: Rising, I'm looking at you.) before I start writing my coverage of the videogame circus that is E3. In the meantime, however, I came across some of the details of BioWare's new IP: Dragon Age: Origins and the mounting controversy that tickled my irritate bone just enough that I had to write something about it. BioWare's including sexual relationships in the game. Gasp!

This isn't a first for a BioWare game, and far from a first for the industry, yet people still can't seem to get past it. Look people, sex happens. It's a regular part of everyday life, it's not something that needs to be hidden behind closed doors and looked down upon as something dirty (despite what the Catholic church tells you) just as it's not something to be held up on a pedestal as the ultimate goal in life (despite what the porn industry tells you) and if you're telling the story of an adult's life, sex is most likely going to be part of it. Yet the general public can't seem to accept this and continue to think of sex in videogames the same way they think of sex in their parents lives: it doesn't happen.
But let's get more into BioWare's take specifically. The first time they got into hot water (or Hot Coffee maybe?) was with the game Mass Effect. At the game's outset you create your own character, male or female, and edit their appearance however you like. Whatever you decide, there are two potential romantic interests. There is a male or female human depending on which sex you chose to play as and there is also an alien that is technically neither male nor female, yet whose appearance suggests the latter. Beyond the finger wagging that including a sexual relationship in their game earned them, BioWare also found controversy for allowing players to engage in an apparent lesbian encounter with said alien. What!? Videogames promoting tolerance!? Blasphemy! Depravity! Pornography!
To some of you that may sound stupid, but I remind those of you that we, as a society, still can't seem to decide if we should let homosexuals marry despite the fact that no one has yet put forth a legitimate reason not to. Videogames already catch flak and endure absurd levels of controversy for depicting things commonplace in other mediums so this really shouldn't have been such a surprise. Yet I remain flabbergasted by this. Yes, my flabber has been thoroughly gasted. There are games that throw in sex gratuitously (see the menage a trois minigames in the God of War series, or any Leisure Suit Larry game in general) but those are done in a very tongue-in-cheek way and never made out to be anything more then they are: indulgent, adolescent fantasy intended purely for entertainment. Speaking of God of War, it amuses/irritates me to no end that a game where you can literally tear a guy's arm off and impale him with it faced the most opposition because of it's depiction of bare breasts (this is Greek mythology we're dealing with) and a threesome minigame, with the actual threesome taking place off-screen no less!
BioWare games take an appropriately mature approach to the subject and make it more about the relationship itself and the consequences of adding sex to it. Choose the alien to foster your adult relationship with and your fiery subordinate is going to get angry and pout. Choose said spitfire and the alien will be hurt but understanding. And since your characters and the choices you've made carry on to the game's sequels (isn't modern technology grand) those consequences are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Dragon Age seems to be taking that idea of consequences even further (it didn't take place until almost the very end in Mass Effect...is that a spoiler? Whatever.) with your choices between romantic partners and how your relationship with one affects your relationship with the other, and possibly even more people than you would have thought. And as is the case with real life, even getting these relationships to the point where sex becomes a possibility takes some real effort. Shacking up with one woman makes the other jealous, and maybe even angry or hostile. If you've been flirting with both up to that point, the consequences are even more tangible than had you simply pursued one and left the other to her own devices.
Now both of these women appear to be more than just eye candy and a chance to get your groove on, they serve gameplay purposes. For example, Morrigan is a sorceress. If you break her heart she's not going to lend her magic to your side in battle...and there's always the chance she'll turn you into a toad. Alright, maybe not the toad part but you get my meaning.
The point is, people get to hung up on the sex. Sex is just sex people, it's an integral part of everyday life; without it we can't survive as a species. What seems to get lost amidst the idiocy, is what taking it to a sexual level means to your romantic relationship as well as how it affects, directly or indirectly, your relationship with others, it's part of the story. If you want to depict an adult that has a fully-realized romantic relationship, sex is going to be a part of that relationship. Pretending sex doesn't happen just because it makes you twitch is simply adding a level of pure fantasy to the story you're attempting to tell. The game isn't forcing you to have sex either, it's simply making the option available. This is a role-playing game, after all, a game in which you play a role, and putting as many options as possible at the player's disposal is what allows the player to play their role however they want. Want to go around banging any chick that bats her eyelashes at you? Go ahead, as long as you're ready to deal with the consequences of such promiscuity (digital STD's? hmmmm...). Want to be celibate and act like you're some kind of priest while simultaneously going around killing things? Hey, it is a fantasy game.
Forgetting the relationship and getting hung up on the sex part -- thinking it should be kept in the dark and out of sight -- is the reaction of a repressed individual and I pity you. Sex is sex, it's normal, it's fun, and most of all it's necessary. If you can't find a way to wrap your mind around that and move on with your life...well, you need to grow up.

Brutal Legend Tells of a Legendary Warrior whose skills were the stuff of Legend

2009-12-14T19:00:00.001-08:00

And that warrior...is Tim Schafer. Thought I was gonna say Jack Black or Eddie Riggs huh? Yup, it's ok, it happens.
So yes, the Brutal Legend demo did come out this week. And yes, it is awesome. How awesome you ask? Well, you've come to the right place to quantify abstract concepts: it's super freakin' awesome...but I guess you need more information than that. The best thing you could do would be download the demo and play for yourself. Actually the best thing you could do is go pre-order Brutal Legend to make sure another Tim Schafer concentrated disc of awesomeness doesn't get ignored completely *cough Psychonauts /cough* so we can get another one at some point in the future. For now though, we'll go with the second...third...a good thing you can do and read about Brutal Legend here on High Technology.
I'll dole out some quick background info on Brutal Legend for those of you that are really intent on ignoring all of Tim Schafer's work.

Brutal Legend is about metal. No, not shiny metal, but dark metal, heavy metal. I'm talking music here. And, as the opening cinema (of both the demo and the game) point out: real, skulls and demons and medieval (not MediEvil) weapons metal. No emo-y nu-metal or anything of that nature. Real M - E - T - A - L. Music that would make Dethklock proud. Don't worry though, even if you've never gotten/given a battle scar in a mosh pit and have no idea how to "throw up the devil horns" you will still enjoy this game. You will get more of the jokes though. Eddie Riggs is one of these lovers of metal, he's also the world's best roadie AND the game's main character, he's just a multi-talented guy. So talented, in fact, that he gets sucked into the Age of Metal by his magical, metal belt buckle after an unfortunate stage accident. Like I said, super freakin' awesome. Like I also said, it's best to see it for yourself. And the Age of Metal is in turmoil, lorded over by a terrible, metal-defiling demon whom only Eddie, it seems, can defeat. Along the way Eddie will pick up new gear (spellcasting guitar, hotrod called The Deuce) and allies (headbangers, Ozzy) to aid in his quest.
The demo actually covers a good portion of the game's opening. You'll see the opening cinema, get Eddies main weapon (a battle-axe called The Separator) his previously mentioned spellcasting guitar, and The Deuce. You'll even get your first ally/love interest, although you don't get the chance to teach her about french-kissing, in the demo anyway AND fight the first boss. Yet it's not a particularly long demo, hmmm...
The presentation you'll see in the retail release is in full effect in the demo as well. The menu consists of an elaborately packaged vinyl record being manipulated by a pair of hands. New game? flip open the cover. Multiplayer? Slide the paper sleeve out. Options? Slide the record out of the sleeve. You get the idea. All menu manipulation is done with the standard left, right method as well, they didn't make a minigame out of it. In fact, all the menus are littered with that special Schafer aroma. Pop-up menus asking if you want swearing and gore enabled or just explaining what buttons do have that little spice of Schafer-esque humor. The specifics of those I'm going to let you see for yourself, however.
Speaking of the buttons, once you get through the opening movie it'll be time to do some playing. Brutal Legend's controls are straightforward and the game trickles out it's tutorial information at appropriate and helpful times. Basically X is standard attack using the Separator with O acting as block and Square utilizing the guitar and it's magical spells. Triangle is a context-sensitive action button that can do everything from jump into the Deuce to grabbing your ally for a double-team move. The basic attacks have variations for holding the appropriate button down as well, and there's a combo that combines X and Square for a super usefull spell that involves some physical movement on Eddie's part as well. And there's no jump. I know, I know, "how can there be no jump?" There just isn't, and it works just fine.
Graphically, Brutal Legend isn't quite going to threaten teh crown currently held by Uncharted 2, but it certainy suffices. For the most part, textures are sharp and models are smooth and the animations is top-notch. Although you'll hear Jack Black's voice and realize it doesn't quite fit with the exceptionally muscular Eddie Riggs, the quality of the character's animation can regularly fog out that reality. For those that don't know Jack Black A) WTF!! and B) it may very well look flawless. And the art direction...well this is Tim Schafer and Tim Schafer loves metal sooo...look, I can't do everything for you here, some stuff you have to fill in the blanks on.
Speaking of Jack Black, he is in perfect form here. The same way that School of Rock dropped Jack Black into a movie best suited to his humor, so Brutal Legend does for video games. We could call it the Brutal School of Rock Legend...but we won't. How no one ever thought to put Schafer and Black together before I do not know, but i'm gladd I was alive when it happened. The collaboration really shines in things like the descent down the mountain of your arrival. While Eddie prays to the gods (player?) to move his conspicuously-absent-of-controls vehicle down the mountain you can cause him to stop and stumble verbally while trying to find appropriate adjectives by simply stopping the vehicle. Once you continue walking he picks up his prayer right where he left off. If you walk down the mountain nonstop the whole way, you'd never know the game even did that. Cool idea on Tim's part, funny dialogue on Jack's.
The music...I mean really, do I need to go into this? The game is about heavy metal so the soundtrack is entirely...heavy metal, yes, thank you. Moving on.
Considering how much fun I had with this excruciatingly small taste of Brutal Legend, I can't imagine how I'm going to wait the whole two weeks it will be before I can experience all of the different gameplay types, allies, metal legend cameos (Ozzy, Lemmy, etc.) and one-liners the full game will offer. I've considered cryogenically freezing myself, but that didn't work out so well for Cartman.

High Technology: Creative Differences

2009-12-14T18:57:00.002-08:00

Don't mess with the guy that draws you...

High Technology: In Rememberance

2009-12-14T18:57:00.001-08:00

High Technology: Rock Band

2009-12-14T18:55:00.001-08:00

I feel like I should mention that we live next door to a cop. That apparently loves classic rock...

High Technology: WarHawk

2009-12-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah, "Lewis" isnt' all that great at sharing when it comes to Warhawk. This is a frequent occurrance...