I Don't Think That Means What You Think It Means

I just played the new skin for Lumines -- the one that features the song "Heavenly Star" by Genki Rockets. It's the kind of of infectious J-Pop sung in the rudimentary English reserved for bubblegum music and teenage love. One bit of the chorus struck me as redundant, in a cute sort of way. Lumi sings the line "heavenly star above."

I'm glad she cleared that up. For a second I thought the girl was talking about subterranean stars, the kind you find below, you know...in the dirt.

The skin is free for Xbox Live Gold members through February 21st.

The Story of Pure Pwnage

My buddy Jeremy sent me this clip, a 45 minute interview with Jarett and Geoff, creators of Pure Pwnage. They describe the growth of the show from 300 viewers to over 2.5 million downloads a month.

Watch the clip here.

Life After Defender

Is it me, or are old-school video game record holders among the most fascinating people on the planet?

Ned Troide was singularly famous for scoring 72,999,975 points on the video game Defender, the highest score ever recorded, in a single session lasting 62 1/2 hours. What is less known is that he also created a curious set of Heavy Metal end tables.

This quote is particularly telling:

Troide said the tables were the furniture he needed and that he didn't understand why they were not available for sale at the local furniture store.

The pieces of furniture are an AC/DC remixing machine, a Jack Daniels fountain and a hot dog roller/fake fireplace combo. Guys like Troide makes me proud of my Floridian heritage.

Via Think In Pictures

Movie Critic Uses Children of Men Review to Bag On Video Games

I like to read reviews of movies after I see them. Not because I'm afraid of spoilers or anything like that. I like to use other opinions and interpretations to help me better understand how I feel about a movie or video game I've just experienced.

Last week I bounced over to Rotten Tomatoes to check out some of the criticism inspired by Children of Men. This quote from a local movie critic jumped out at me.

There is a stark absence of gadget porn in this futuristic adventure; the most advanced device we see is a video game, innovation at its most trivial.

That's from Colin Covert's review of Children of Men from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.

My first thought was, "Where the hell does a video game pop up in Children of Men?" Then I realized that Covert was referring to the scene where Theo Faron enters the world of the wealth to acquire transit papers -- the bit with the battered statue of David, the reference to Pink Floyd's Animals and the King Crimson music in the background.

While Theo and his brother are dining, we meet who we assume is Theo's nephew -- a distracted, moody youth jacked in to some kind of device. As a reader of sci-fi I assumed the kid was connected to the web like characters in cyberpunk novels. For a split second we get a glimpse of the guy scrolling rapid fire through content -- like he's consuming mass amounts of text messages.

Like much of the movie Cuaron leaves much up to interpretation. We don't see enough of what the kid is doing, but Covert immediately assumed he was a gamer because of his glazed look. Not a surprising reaction from the film crowd -- who are as befuddled by video games as the monkeys in the opening of 2001 were confused by the concept of a bone as a tool.

Lost Planet Posters in the Wild

I spotted this poster for Lost Planet at my local AMC theater tonight. There was also an full-length Lost Planet ad (all CG, no gameplay) during the 45 minutes of ad rape before Children of Men screened. Sorry about the shitty phone cam quality.

Two Glaring Omissions

Okami and Bully neither made my favorite ten or my games I need to play list.

I've played both, but not enough to to recommend them yet. And though I think both show excellence early on, Okami with it's gorgeous art style and Bully with it's snappy writing and characterization, I didn't want to throw them onto my favorites list just because I'm supposed to.

I imagine there are quite a few gamers, like myself, who passed over these two nuanced games. I blame the crowded year end market. There are just too many options and too little time. Games like these deserve a little room to breathe. They require careful, long-term marketing. Rockstar has a record of supporting games long after their release, so Bully may have a chance to find an audience. Okami, on the other hand, may be another Ico -- a game that generates more talk than sales.

10 Games From 2006 I Still Need To Play

1. Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC): When my old PC died mid-2006, the first game I played on my new machine was Half-Life 2. I tried to play day one, but my old computer just kept stuttering. Now the game plays as smooth as butter. I've hopped onto Steam a couple times to get this next chapter, but something always distracted me from pulling the trigger. I think I'd better just snag it before Burning Crusade comes out.

2. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Nintendo DS): Here's how lame I am. I haven't played a Castlevania on any of Nintendo's handhelds. I tried Lament of Innocence and it was pretty terrible. I'm fully aware of how awesome the games have been since Circle of the Moon. I came really close to buying Dawn of Sorrow from Virgin when I was at E3 last year. But then everything goes blank. The next thing I remember I'm at Hooters on Hollywood eating wings. Maybe I'm just a little flinchy after my ordeal with Castlevania on the PlayStation 2. I'll get over it.

3. DEFCON (PC): If this game was turn based, I probably would have jumped the moment it was available. I'm just not a huge fan of real time strategy games for some reason. Getting spanked raw in StarCraft probably has something to do with it.

4. Sam & Max: Culture Shock (PC): I had a GameTap subscription for a while, but I let it lapse. I think I may have reached my threshold of monthly gaming fees. I also wasn't terribly wowed by the first Bone chapter. My love for Sam & Max Hit the Road ought to trump these trepidations eventually.

5. Exit (PSP): It's the PSP game for puzzle connoisseurs. For a while I couldn't find it anywhere. Then, once I'd spent all the store credit I'd accumulated, I started to notice it again. I think I wound up snagging Intelligent Cube (which is still shrink wrapped) instead.

6. Gunpey (Nintendo DS): At this point, I've played almost every game Q has released in North America. I sorta have to play this as a matter of tradition. I'm still quite curious about the music-making feature included on the DS version.

7. Odama (GameCube): I wish they'd left the bongo controls. I remember seeing this game at E3 and just smiling at the fact that not only did someone at Nintendo have the gall to make a medieval Japanese military strategy game fused with pinball but that they had enough juice to get the game demoed stateside with a fancy-schmancy display to boot. I hear there are some pretty good sales on this one after the holidays.

8. Bit Generations (GameBoy Advance): I mail ordered Sound Voyager, which was really keen, but didn't have the cash to nab the rest of the titles. The next time I'm feeling flush I'm going to mass order the rest of the series. Then two days later they'll be available for download over the Wii Virtual Console.

9. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP): I'm sorta avoiding this game for my health. I'm still of the mind that Metal Gear's controls are still due for a Resident Evil 4-style overhaul. The free camera in the Snake-Eater redux was a good start. The idea of playing this game on the PSP with tougher controls makes me want to cry.

10. Rainbow Six: Vegas (Xbox 360): The demo level surprised the hell out of me. I found Ghost Recon: Action Warfighter a little trying in its complexity. I was able to master the controls in this game fairly quickly. I need to get this if only to test out the face mapping with the Xbox Live Vision Camera

Best of 2006

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii): There's not that much new about this game. It's more an example of taking the adventure games of the last generation to their logical, triumphant conclusion. Like Spinal Tap, the game turns the scale, drama, pacing, difficulty and design up to eleven and very rarely hits a sour note. So now that we've had our near-perfect serving of dungeon-crawling comfort food, I'm ready for a sea-change re-imagining of the franchise.

2. Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo DS): The game is diabolically hard, but the game's got an underlying enthusiasm (and positivity) that is damn near irresistible. Even if it pummels you with failure after failure. Most important is the way this game (like Gitarooman before it) continues to free music games from the constraints of the scrolling musical staff. Someday there will be a music game that grants jammers the creative freedom that Tony Hawk Pro Skater gave to wannabe skateboarders. There's a good chance that iNis will have made that game. But seriously; if you have a DS and don't own Elite Beat Agents you're a very bad person.

3. Guitar Hero II (PlayStation 2): Nobody does song selection better than Red Octane and Harmonix. The playlist this time around is an outstanding exploration of three decades of crotch rock. This edition trumps the originator by creating a subtle story arc from garage roots to arena rock greatness, culminating with an encore of "Free Bird" so satisfying that I jumped up and cheered when my final show was over. For a second I remembered what it meant to believe that "God Gave Rock 'N Roll to You." Serious life changing stuff.

4. Viva Piñata (Xb0x 360): I wish this game were a little more accessible and a little less harsh, because it truly is one of the best simulators I've ever played. The game's Darwinian toughness could work in its favor, making it a sort of family teaching tool for kids just learning the ways of nature. A couple of downloadable lightweight modes for folks who don't want to see their beloved piñata torn to shreds would really broaden this games audience. That's how good this game is. Everyone who plays it wants to brainstorm ways to bring the rest of the world in on the goodness.

5. Gears of War (Xbox 360): Cliff Bleszinski's cinematic shooter is a triumph in packaging. The core 15 minutes of duck and cover gameplay comes wrapped in an ever-changing coat of eye-popping scenery and diverse action set pieces. Just as a setting or scenario starts to get that "not so fresh" feeling the whole affair shifts to new distractions. The game is also stacked deep with visceral moments, like the curb stomp and the chainsaw kill, that sate blood lust like no game has in ages.

6: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (Nintendo DS): This one came from left field. I suspected the game would be good, but had no idea that I'd fall in love with it's goofy puns, lovable slimes and fun-as-fuck tank battles. After cruising through the good, but not great traditionalism of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, I thought I had this series figured. Turns out I was totally wrong. Could the awesomeness of this modest game be a bellwether for the forthcoming DQ: IX? Let's hope so.

7. Dead Rising (Xbox 360): It took four tries for the Resident Evil series to get zombies right. Dead Rising nailed the horror of the undead from the get-go. Then, just to show off, it captured the unbridled awesomeness of carving through mindless flesh with power tools and sporting goods. Finally someone in the game design world understands what made the Evil Dead II, Dead Alive and (of course) Dawn of the Dead so dang awesome -- the bit where you get revenge!

8. Final Fantasy XII: (PlayStation 2): If there's one thing this generation of gaming should be noted for, it's the way that many great series shook loose traditional, sometimes canonical design elements and evolved to saner and ultimately more satisfying experiences. Huge changes to combat didn't transform the heart of Final Fantasy an iota. It just made the exploration and fighting more palatable. The change was vital, because God knows when Square Enix is going to stop making their stories so Goddamn self-serious. At least the parts between the cut scenes are fun now.

9. Drill Dozer: (GameBoy Advance): Rumble matters. On its own Drill Dozer is already an outstanding platformer. The bone-shaking vibration that kicks in every time you change gears, or plow through an enemy makes the game's action fell more substantial. The game is built around the core idea that it feels good drive manual. It's also a work of art rendered in low-res sprites. Buy a Micro off dust of your Lite. Just play it.

And that's all I'm going to name. There were tons of games that were great, but not awesome enough to make the list. There were also a bunch of games that I never got to play (or play enough to fully recommend). Watch this space for lists that address both groups.