Sigh...FINE

Okay so I set up a Facebook profile. Happy now? Can't wait until it becomes obsolete so I can set up another stupid profile. Oh yeah, and don't forget to read this.

Great Gift Idea

I just gave some of my colleagues personalized storybooks from My Child Book, and they were a big hit! Aviella received one of these from a friend, and when I was thinking about what to do for work gifts, I decided this would be perfecto! I got a Justice League one, and a Marvel one, a Scooby Doo one, etc. You enter the recipient's name, their age, their hometown, a few friends, and this is the result: "John, age 32, from Atlanta, Georgia, was hanging out with Batman and Superman at the amusement park!" And so on. Great fun!

I was very tempted to get the horribly generic (and terribly illustrated) title called simply "Ninja" (pictured), but went with the licensed stuff instead. Recommended! And it won't break the bank, either.

New Photo Albums

I have gotten with the times and created a Picasa web album -- finally! You can find it here and also with the handy-dandy link on the right.

FusionFall Newsletter

Hey, the first FusionFall newsletter was released today. Check it out, or better yet, sign up at the official site.

Maple Story Ads

Some folks at work yesterday were talking about the new Maple Story TV ads which have been cropping up on cable. They are certainly attention-grabbing, although their effectiveness is debatable. (Hmmm, reminds me of an ad campaign for a certain all-you-can-eat games subscription service.)

Snails:


Fish:


Pig:


Despite the weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird vibe, I have to admit that there's a certain charm to the line, "Is that pig wearing a gentleman's hat?" But: the fact that we do not see even one image from the game in these ads -- to tie it back to the live-action silliness -- is a shocking creative error in my opinion.

The ads can also be found here, on the Nexon site that launched in conjunction with the ad campaign. Wish them luck!

YTMND <3 DTMB

A few weeks later, and this is still cracking me up. Thanks, YTMND.

Flash MMORPGs

Has anyone played Dragon Fable, a free massively-single player RPG for your web browser? I just signed up for an account to give it a try. It's a little clunky and ugly...but it's free! There's another one (from the same company, it seems) called Adventure Quest, which has to be the most generic game name ever. Why didn't they just call it "Hero Fight" or something like that?

Apparently, both of these games have something to do with Arch Knight -- the "Original Web RPG" that you probably never played.

Fun With Satan

Unholy crap! A totally rare Atari 2600 game has been unearthed from the bowels of Hell. I can't believe I never heard of this one. Check it out!


Ha, ha, ha. Did I fool you? That image was totally falsified using the super awesome Atari 2600 label maker. Oh, the fun we can have with teh internets...

Thanks, Atari Age! And thanks, person who made the label maker!

FusionFall Q&A

Gamasutra has an informative Q&A with FusionFall's exec producer, Chris Waldron.

It's A Small World, After All

Though it was previously reported that Sony was going to buy mini-MMO Club Penguin, turns out that the Mouse House got the goods. Disney may pay up to $700M! Okay, just how many original MMOs could you make with that kind of cash? We'll see if the audience was worth the sticker price.

WTS Wolf Pee

Wolf Quest is a new free game coming later this year, which allows kids to go online with a wolf and form "packs" with other players. This game showed up on a number of the game blogs today. While the video is indeed terrible, and the environments staggeringly barren and ugly, the game is an interesting concept. (I'm not sure what it's going to teach, though, other than wolves like to howl, pee and kill elk.) Hey, at least it's not dwarves and orcs for the gabillionth time. The game trailer is also here on Gametrailers.com.

More FusionFall

YouTube has the trailer up and running:


Fan reaction at Comic-Con was wildly positive! Everyone seems to be excited about the new look for the characters and the general creative direction. Kids had fun with the game, too. It really couldn't have gone better, actually.

FusionFall Trailer

I can't figure out how to embed this, but check out the FusionFall trailer here on the Warcry Network.

FusionFall

It's out of the bag...I will be trolling the web today, but caught a glimpse on Kotaku this morning. Stay tuned for more hits from teh internets.

What the--?

When I sent the Chore Wars link to my friend Katie, saying that I thought the game was gooftastic, she said, "Sure, but have you seen this?

Chore Wars

This is seriously awesome. Using Chore Wars, you can create RPG characters and level them up by doing chores in real life!! This is one of the kookiest gaming applications I've ever seen. What fun! "But daaad, if I don't get to wash the dishes tonight my dark mage can't equip his Eternal Fire staff!"

Destructoid brought us the link.

1.18.08

The "Cloverfield trailer" is now available on the Apple trailers site, now dubbed "1.18.08". Thanks, Benjy!

Gold Farming on Marketplace

Great story last night on public radio's "Marketplace" program: gold farming regulation in South Korea. Best part is the closing interview:

Gagliano: Do you ever stop and think, "There's all this money and all this time and effort — and now laws and trading associations — being built up over these items that don't exist?"

Park: I would say never.

Them Koreans love them some virtual commerce!

My Daemon

I just went to the offial Golden Compass movie site and got my own personal daemon.

Her name is Aurora and she is a crow. A crow?!? Can't I get a badass leopard or something? This movie sucks! I want a leopard.

Cloverfield Trailer

Get it while you can...that awesome trailer for the unnamed J.J. Abrams project that ran before Transformers is popping up on teh internets, then disappearing just as quickly. Check it out and marvel at some amazing marketing that leaves audiences begging for more...clearly the best thing about going to see Transformers in theaters!

Welcome to Demongo

And welcome to my new favorite website.

Clone Wars Returns

In case you missed Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliant take on Star Wars, the animated Clone Wars "micro-series" is now available for viewing once again on Toonami Jetstream. Sweet.

Calamity Game

This is very cool, though I don't really have time to play with it. It seems to be a black-box Flash physics tool, with a bunch of stuff to create your very own "kill the rag doll" movies. Sweet.

New MMOG Nation

GSW's excellent "MMOG Nation" column has moved to a new home on the 1up network. Now entitled Massive Update, it contains a lot of choice news and interesting tidbits about the MMO multiverse. Such as: Mattel's new Barbie MMO!

Black Temple

Here's a new WoW something-or-other with orcs and stuff. I guess a few people will be interested!


Thanks to Katie for the head's up.

Sony to Buy Club Penguin?

Many online sources are reporting that Sony is looking to purchase Club Penguin for as much as $500M. Yes, that's 500 MILLION DOLLARS.

Gasp!

Lara Croft Meets GameTap

GameTap is doing some pretty cool stuff for the upcoming Tomb Raider Anniversary release, including offering Tomb Raider Legend as part of their service. Check out this trailer for an upcoming documentary:

Exclusive GameTap Tomb Raider Documentary Trailer

And here's further proof that sex sells: "The first time in history when all the Laras have been gathered together." Hallelujah.

Exclusive - GameTap Tomb Raider Models Trailer

There are also some animated shorts in the works, and other cool stuff, so stay tuned. Thanks to Gideon for the links.

NYT <3 LOTRO

Seth Schiesel of the New York Times loves Lord of the Rings Online. Seriously? Turbine should be creaming their jeans over this review...it's about as gushing as it gets.

I just installed my copy this evening after work and intend to take a spin through Middle-earth some time this weekend. Wish me luck!

Gamefly Totally Sucks

Let's just get this straight right now: Gamefly, the "Netflix for games" rental service, is terrible. I've been a subscriber for a number of years, and amazingly, Gamefly has actually gotten WORSE over time. Yes, they have always had slow turnaround on shipping. But when I first joined, you could pretty much always get the games you wanted, even if you had to wait a while. These days, I wait 2-3 weeks for a game to be registered as a return, and about as long for a game to arrive. Plus, their sale selection, which used to be pretty good, is now remarkably limited. (Madden '06 for $7, people!) And the new releases, which used to be fairly easy to get, are now impossible to obtain. God of War II? Forget it. Super Paper Mario? Keep dreaming.

Here are some stats: Diddy Kong Racing DS returned and reported missing after 2 weeks. (They miraculously found it.) Disney's Meet the Robinsons shipped 4/14, still not yet arrived. (And this game was my fourth choice.) Flatout 2 purchased for $12 a few weeks ago, still hasn't arrived. Oh, and last I checked, there was a "short wait" for just about every game in my rental queue. Wow, that's really worth the $28/month. Looking forward to getting the Pokemon DS games some time in July...

(If you don't know me and think my taste in games is questionable, keep in mind that I'm checking out kids' titles on purpose.)

Put it this way, I don't even pay for Gamefly out of my own pocket (it's a work expense), and I still want to cancel. The enthusiasm couldn't be lower, people.

Player Haters

So I just saw a post on GameSetWatch about the Acclaim MMO import, Dance Online. As I previously posted, these Acclaim MMO titles have clearly gone the "cheapie" route when it comes to localization and, more specifically, culturalization. See below:

Black is an EXTRA feature. It makes your person look unique, so that is an EXTRA feature. Therefore, you having to PAY for it. (Or ask a friend to pay for it).

Typos aside, this goes a long way toward proving my point: culturalization is the sleeping dragon when it comes to importing games from Asia. Culturalizing, in terms of a definition, is the process of making content changes above-and-beyond the basic relanguaging of a game for other territories. For example, some Asian countries are -- shall we say -- a little more "liberal" with reagrd to low camera angles and teenage undergarments. Therefore, a little sensitivity (and work) is required when bringing an Asian game to a more "prudish" land such as the United States.

Sure, it seems so easy! Grab some games from Korea! They make so much money! They are so awesome! Until you realize..uh-oh! There are not a lot of black people living in Korea, and therefore, black skin is considered an "extra feature" in their games. Whoops!

In all fairness, the story goes on to say that Acclaim is offering the "African-American upgrade" for next-to-nothing in the item shop. C'mon, guys. If you're gonna import these titles without understanding their content, and then try to prop them up with limited changes in order to make a quick buck, you're gonna have to deal with the raminfications of your laziness. Boo on Acclaim!

ATHF on XBL

To celebrate the launch of their movie, the Aqua Teens will be on Xbox Live playing Uno with fans. Uh...okay!

Who: Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Time: 7-8:30 P.M. ET/ 4-5:30 P.M. PT
Game: UNO
Gamertag: ATHFGWF

Be warned: the milkshake cheats.

My Mii

Speaking of Miis, here's a handy web device that repurposes the Mii character creator!

2 Moons

Open the bloodgates...Acclaim's Korean import 2Moons promises to be spilling lots of the red stuff.


I tried Bots and I thought it was a big snoozefest. Maybe 2Moons or their martial arts MMO 9Dragons will fare better. As soon as I have some free time (yeah, right) I'll try them both.

I think Acclaim has done quickie localization and virtually no culturalization, so it will be interesting to see if these products can compete in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of MMOGs. Check out the Gods & Heroes trailer Kotaku posted here if you don't believe me.

Penguins FTW!

Per my earlier post about Club Penguin and Webkinz, see the latest edition of MMOG Nation on Game Set Watch for a more gamer-centric perspective on massive games for kids.

Pong 2.0

A great Flash game called Curveball makes 3D Pong fun again. Check it!

Ultimate Ultima Blog

Joystiq reports this totally awesome blog project. One man, nine games, and a single quest: play through all the original Ultima games from start to finish, and blog about it. Amazing! Even better? The blogger's name is Ophidian Dragon...and he's unemployed! But, as Mr. Dragon notes in his introduction, he is not trying to get through the games as fast as possible or play more than 6-12 hours/week. Mr. Dragon is nothing if not a sensible dragon. (And presumably with a few other responsibilities in life, like finding a job.)

Seriously: I poke fun. But props to you, Ophidian! I'm going to try and follow your exploits and live vicariously through your adventures in Britannia. I, myself, only completed Ultima III back in the day...and just barely. (Hell, I've only ever touched Ultimas III-V.) If you can make it through all of these games and live to blog about it, you will have my highest geek respect. Good journey, sir, and watch out for the orcs.

More MMO

A few choice articles in the mainstream press worth looking at:


CNN Money talks Webkinz and Club Penguin and why stuffed animals and flightless waterfowl are both stickier than YouTube. (See chart.)

BusinessWeek profiles Maple Story and mentions Sony Home while still falling upon the journalistic cliche of "Hey, they met in the game and got married in real life! And then they got married in the game!"

Nerds!

LEGO MMO

So I'm back from GDC. Still gathering my thoughts, while putting together business cards in little piles on my desk. One thing I will say: them game nerds like to hear themselves talk. A lot.

Surprise of the conference? Sony keynote beats Nintendo keynote in a photo finish!

Anyway, while we were out in San Fran, Chris sent us a note that LEGO has announced an MMO, to launch some time next year. Schwing.

Penguin Dreams

Check out this hilarious column about Club Penguin from this month's Wired. Once again, a mother of two entertains with her article about online games! Will wonders never cease?

Best quote: "Why is there a black puffle named Fax Machine in my igloo?"

I don't know, dear. I don't know.

POTCO A-Go-Go

Very interesting preview of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online that is certainly worth a look. Sounds like Disney is doing a lot of things right, but it remains to be seen how the fully-featured game is really going to play. I still wonder if people (kids, especially) truly like pirates enough to want to play in a world completely dedicated to their antics...even if Voodoo is involved. And what's the deal with gambling mini-games in a kid's title?

On a side note, the article is written by a woman. And not just any woman, but a MOM. How often do you see THAT?

Doesn't Really Manage

Steve Jobs says that DRM doesn't solve music piracy. Well, duh!

For Whom the Phone Rings

Sad, funny or both? Check out these Metallica ringtones for some truly hilarious (and downright depressing) examples of exactly what a band sounds like when it exchanges the final vestiges of its dignity for cold, hard, cash. Yes, the guys who brought you "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen" now bring you, "Hey, this is James from Metallica. I'm in your purse. Answer the phone!"

(Thanks to all the Jillies for the laughs!)

Target Targets Gamers

In case you don't play Maple Story (and Dear Lord, why wouldn't you?), there's some pretty sweet in-game advertising to be found in the little burb of Kerning City:


I guess Target is interested in going after potty-mouthed prepubescent cosplayers. Makes total sense. When one gamer saw me (in screenshot, above) standing next to that nifty Target kiosk, he proclaimed, "hahahahah he wants noob lewtlololol!"

Super Deluxe

Out in the world of broadband entertainment, Super Deluxe has quietly planted its comedy flag between the buttcheeks of online America -- having launched just yesterday. I don't know if it is funny, yet. But it sure is live! Check it out.

This Rox

My friend Kellam sent this link to me. The developers call it a "virtual toy" and the description is apt. Click the dudes and the objects and watch them fly. Have fun!

Wii Music Player

Many game sites have been reporting on the Finetune Music Player built specifically for the Wii Opera browser. With big, dumb buttons and a Wii-friendly interface, the app is extremely smart. (I'm listening to it at work right now, and it works pretty good in Explorer, too.) It will be interesting to see how many online businesses create Wii-enabled portals for their content. I know the porn sites are all over it...at least that's what I hear. No, really.

The "radio" feature is currently down due to high demand, but you can check out their "Best of 2006" playlists in a number of different genres.

Turner Online

Last week, the Wall Street Journal offered a pretty comprehensive report on Turner's online strategies. Why GameTap was not worth a mention is somewhat confusing, but overall, an interesting read.