I’ve moved this blog over to www.StuffWeLike.com. For all further updates please check this site out.

After an entire weekend of labor, version 7 of StuffWeLike.com is now officially online! What’s different about this version from ones in the past is that we now have a multimedia player! I’m looking into creating a video game music channel with this player. As such if you’re an indie developer and would like to have your music on this channel please contact me!

It took us a while to get the group back together, but we finally have a new episode. We gave the show a different format to what we thought would improve it. Please let us know what you think!

You can view it at: http://stuffwelike.com/podcast/podcast-e10.php

On this episode we discussed:
Stuff we liked over Winter break
SplitFish Games’ MotionFX Accessory review
Rogue Galaxy review
Japanese versus America Action games
Development of The Divine

Mythopoea Games (www.MythopoeaGames.com) and Packom Interactive (www.PackomInteractive.com) have formed a partnership to allow Packom exclusive publishing rights to Mythopoea Games’ Office Purks! This top-down 3D arcade game is a continuation of what Packom Interactive pledges to offer gamers: fun and entertaining games first and foremost!

Office Purks allows players to take on the challenges of the corporate world in a whole new way. As Percy Purks players will join him in his daily 9 to 5 battle against the forces of monotony. Wander the maze-like halls of your office dodging work and collecting paperclips to fulfill your life long dream of constructing the world’s largest paperclip chain. Stay out of sight from tattle tailing co-workers who’ll rat you out to the big boss. Get caught slacking off too many times and you’ll get canned! Keep an eye out for other random office supplies to boost your score. Try and survive all 20 levels before Percy leaves his job forever!

Office Purks is now available for $8.95. It can be purchased at www.MythopoeaGames.com

Demo:
http://www.mythopoeagames.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?cid=8&lid=6

Screenshots:

You know piracy does suck and that’s why I’ve made this site. PiracySucks.com is simple - make a blacklist of any review website that steals your review copy. The list is made by developers for developers. So if you have had any problems with a specific review website, please let me know and I will add it to the blacklist.

Video games have been a part of my life for nearly my entire life. I was four years old when I received my first video game console. Subsequently my life has probably changed in ways that I cannot imagine. As a child I never played extremely violent games, but as I matured I have played notorious titles like Mortal Kombat, Doom, and Grand Theft Auto. These games all have one thing in common: gore and violence. At times I wonder if my personality has in some way been affected by playing such games. Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure what effect long term exposure to violent games has had on me. But with the exponential growth of the video game industry, the subject of video game violence remains one of the hottest topics of the 21 st century. As the graphics in video games become more realistic, many have questioned whether the most damaging effects of exposure to video game violence are yet to come.

The first mainstream video game, Pong, was released in 1972. While this harmless game had players hitting a pixel from one end of the screen to the other, it did not take long for game designers to create experiences which lead some to question their morality. In 1979 an arcade racing title called Death Race had players drive around in a car running over gremlins. Controversy struck when the game was first released under the title Pedestrian. Even in the days of blocky black and white graphics one could easily pass judgment that the developer was teaching players to take pleasure in running over ordinary people, not monsters. The National Safety Council called the game “sick” and “morbid”. Violent and sexually themed video games continued to be released throughout the 1980s, but nothing came close to the commotion that a fighting game caused in 1992. In Mortal Kombat, players competed in a tournament to the death. This game featured realistic looking characters that each had a specific fatal move, such as ripping out the spinal cords of opponents, or causing opponents to fall to their deaths on a bed of spikes. Despite an uproar that included Congressional hearings, the violent games did not stop here. Wolfenstein 3D was the world’s first first-person shooter and its success paved the way for one of the most popular games of all time: Doom, where players get to play as a space marine who must shoot at any Hellish creature that crosses his path.

To address mounting concerns from Congress and parents, in 1994 the video game industry formed the Entertainment Software Regulation Board. The ESRB is a self-regulatory organization that rates games based on an age rating system. This system is meant to help consumers chose what games are right for them. Despite this, in many states a retailer can still sell M (Mature, 17+) games to minors. However, most retailers do not carry the highest rating, AO (Adults Only). If the ESRB had not been formed, Congress would have taken it upon themselves to regulate games, possibly forever changing this unique industry.

When Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a deadly shooting rampage in 1999, parents and school officials searched hard for reasons to explain the tragedy. One of the most popular theories involved the influence of first-person shooters on the teens. On behalf of the teacher killed in the attack, one group claimed that, “ absent the combination of extremely violent video games and these boys’ incredibly deep involvement…these murders and this massacre would not have occurred.” Both Eric and Dylan were enthusiastic fans of first-person shooter games like Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. FPS’s engross the player in a world of fantasy violence, where many gamers feels like they become the avatar. Ironically in 2005, a filmmaker named Danny Ledonne created a video game based on this tragedy titled Super Columbine Massacre RPG and set off a whole new wave of controversy.

Even though the video game industry has tried to solve its content issues on its own, the problem still persists. Most recently in 2005, the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has brought even more criticism of the practices of the ESRB. In what became known as the Hot Coffee mod, players unlocked hidden sex mini-games contained within the commercial title. This ignited the anti-video game activist movement. Lawyers like Jack Thompson slammed both the ESRB and GTA publisher Rockstar Games for allowing a game like this to get out into the public’s hands. “ How lovely that GTA weds sex and violence in the same game. We are training a generation of teens to combine sex with violence, just what America needs. ”As many parents became angered at the video game industry, politicians have jumped into the fray. Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman have suggested government regulation of video games. The 10th Annual MediaWise Video and Computer Game Report Card, issued by the National Institute on Media and the Family, gave the video game industry a “D+” and said the ESRB was “beyond repair.” On the other side of the argument, pro-video game activists declare that any government regulation would be censorship and a violation of the First Amendment. Just this week, the Electronic Software Association sued the state of Minnesota to try to overturn recently passed legislation regulating the sale of video games to minors.

Many research studies have been conducted to determine whether or not violent video games effect one’s behavior. According to Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman “Violent media increases aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive conditions, by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive affect state.” On the opposite side of the spectrum, according to Jeffrey Goldstein “Video games cannot ‘reinforce’ aggressive behavior since players do not engage in any aggressive behavior in the first place.” The bottom line is that the research is inconclusive; video games may or may not cause violent behavior. What is clear is that violence affects everyone differently.

What happens in the next few years will determine the future of the video game industry. With the business reaching higher revenues than the film industry, a total of $9.9 billion in 2004, video games have a major impact on the economy. Any new rules and regulations could have a chilling effect for the industry at large. In the meantime, new technological advances result in violent and graphic images that are becoming nearly lifelike. As the next-generation of consoles loom on the horizon, the line between freedom of speech and expression and the need to protect children and society from over exposure to violence will continue to be tested.

Bibliography

1. Death Race. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race

2. Video Game Censorship. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_censorship

3. Real-life death makes sick choice for video game . Leonard Pitts JR. 2006. http://www.freep.com/

4. Video Game Rating Act of 1994 . The Library of Congress. 1994.

http://thomas.loc.gov/

5. GameSpeak: Jack Thompson. 2005. http://www.cbsnews.com/

6. Clinton Introducing Federal Game Regulation. Tor Thorsen. 2006. http://videogames.aol.com/

7. ESA sues Minnesota over new bill. Jesse Hiestand. 2006.http://msnbc.msn.com

8. Effects of Violent Video Games On Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior. Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman. http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/

9. Does Playing Violent Video Games Cause Aggressive Behavior? Jeffrey Goldstein. 2001. http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/

10. NPD GROUP REPORTS ANNUAL 2004 U.S. VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY RETAIL SALES. 2005. http://www.npdfunworld.com/

11. ESRB. 2006. http://www.esrb.org

12. Columbine High School Massacre. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High

We travel to Gnomon and to the Viva Pinata Party to bring you yet another special podcast.

Check out the 11 minute video at http://www.stuffwelike.com/podcast/podcast-e8.php

After 30 years of existence the dividing lines between video game players is stark. Recently game companies are trying to merge these two gamer forces to increase their revenues, but making games that appeal to hardcore and casual gamers is a difficult task. If game developers can appeal to both audiences, a developer could sell millions of units.

The game industry was not always like this though. In the 1970s when they achieved mass popularity, video games were accessible to all types of people. Many games started off with simple controls, mainly only one joystick. Gradually, as time progressed the control schemes grew more complex. The early 1990s saw the rise of the fighter genre. With this the control pad included not only a joystick, but also six different buttons as find in games like Street Fighter II. This configuration allowed for multiple and complex combinations, which made the avatars do special movements. While the gameplay may have improved for some, the fighting games soon became unplayable to others. Fighting games sold very well in arcades, but the developer’s potential audience shrunk due to their game’s complexity. As time continued video games grew even more complex. All of this chiseled away at what used to be an entertainment medium that everyone could play. The sides started to form between those who used to be able to play video games and those who could play video games. In September 1996 the Nintendo 64 was released. It was the first Nintendo console to see Mario in three-dimensions. In previous incarnations, Mario was a two-dimensions side-scroller. Its simple controls and family approved content allowed the game to be played by all gamers. The problem with the Nintendo 64 version of Mario, Super Mario 64, was that millions of Mario fans were not used to the 3D environments. For some players it was not a simple thing that they could fix over time. For some they did not have the hand and eye coordination to play the game and for others they simply got motion sickness. Games are meant to be an entertainment and if they cannot serve this purpose gamers will not play them. Every console generation since the Nintendo 64 has built itself on better 3D graphics rather than focusing on easier and simpler control setups that could be used by the mass consumer market. While the console market is not a niche market, in comparison to other entertainment industries video games lack the massive audience that those mediums reach. Everyone can watch a movie or listen to music, but not everyone can play a video game on a console.

At the same time, with the advent of online PC distribution, the complete opposite effect occurred, PC games started to open up to mass-market penetration and the group known as casual gamers formed. Casual gamers are players of video games whom may have not owned a video game console or could not play complex video games. They can be people either at work or at home who play games such as solitaire on the computer. According to a survey done by RealNetworks, a leader in the casual games market, “More than 70 percent of people buying casual games from the company [RealNetworks] are women age 40 and older.” With the internet these gamers went on to play free games on the internet such as flash games and puzzle games. As broadband became introduced in the home, casual gamers moved on to actually buying games that they could download online.  Casual games consist of game mechanics that made video games popular in the first place. They are games that anyone can pick up and play. In order to be successful the game has to have simplistic design with original and addictive gameplay.

On the other hand, hardcore games are the complete opposite. They usually have complex control schemes, often rehashing the current gameplay methods, and are often judged based upon their graphics rather than gameplay. It is not to say that hardcore gamers do not like originality, but there are only a handful of titles that innovate every year. It is highly unlikely that those few titles can support this $10 billion industry. Hardcore gamers like to play games that they feel familiar with. These are usually games that are filled with some form of violence or another form of extreme action. Hardcore gamers do not like sitting through non-violent puzzle games. Developers have been forced to make games specifically targeted at either the hardcore or the casual game crowd.

The resulting effect of hardcore games on the video game industry has been tremendous. While the industry makes billions of dollars, the costs of making commercial games for the hardcore audience is getting higher and higher. The budget for next-generation games (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) is going into the $10-20 million range. Considering that the manufacturer’s suggested retail price for these games is $60, developers have to sell hundreds of thousands of units to make a profit. The quality of a game is very important, but the higher the quality the higher the cost. The game industry is becoming highly competitive. Once highly regarded developers such as Acclaim are going out of business or being bought by larger development studios. When one game selling poorly could lead to the death of a company, there is a problem with the industry.

That is the reason why many developers are choosing to create casual games. Casual games can be developed in a couple of months with a budget that is usually less than $1 million. It is in a developer’s best interest to create a handful of titles at the equivalent cost to one hardcore commercial game title. This way the developer is more likely to have a game that sells well and can continue to fund future projects. According to the International Game Development Association, the casual game market is expected to be worth over $2 billion in the year 2008. Obviously there is a lot of room for developers to continually expand in this market, but the issue is that developers should not have to relay on casual games’ low cost and high yields to fund the development of multi-million dollar hardcore games.

Nintendo realized the issue with the video game industry and is trying to lead the way to what they believe is the solution. They are trying to mend the fractured wounds that the hardcore and casual markets created. After all a game is just a game. In an interview with the BBC News the President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata said, “Nintendo wants to bring gamers and games back to the start line of 20 years ago.” Nintendo believes that games should be a form of entertainment enjoyed by everyone, as video games were when they were first developed. With Nintendo’s next-generation console Wii, Nintendo is forcing developers to cut their budgets by not having a console with the horsepower that the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have. With the Wii Nintendo decided to change the way the player interacts with the game. Rather than sticking the current controller scheme of two analog sticks, four face buttons, and 4 should buttons, the Wii uses a brand new controller. Its nickname is the Wii-mote because it looks like a Television remote. Nintendo is cashing in on its easy to play console. It has created a console where both hardcore and casual gamers can play the games that they want too. Most importantly though, developers can target both hardcore and casual gamers with their games as in theory any game will be easier to play. If the Wii is successful in making games accessible to everyone in the home, it will revolutionize the way that the video game industry works.

While the line between hardcore and casual gamers has been around for years, it has only been recently that the industry has tried to do anything about it. It is going to be impossible for the industry to continue to grow at the rate that it has within the last couple of years if this division among gamers is not mended. All types of gamers must realize that both hardcore and casual games are fun in their own respected ways and it is up to the video game industry to make sure that all games are easy to play so that this line does not continue to divide the community.

 

Work Cited

“IGDA Creates Special Interest Group for Casual Games.” 12 Jul. 2005. 26 Nov. 2006.

.

Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. 1^st ed. New York:

Three Rivers Press, 2001.

“The NPD Group Reports Annual 2004 U.S. Video Game Industry Retail Sales.” 18 Jan.

2005. 20 Nov. 2006.

content_id=2076>.

 

“Research Reveals Casual Games Provide Mental Balance, Stress Relief and Relaxation.”

14 Aug. 2006. 29 Nov. 2006.

casgames_research.html>.

 

Waters, Darren. “Nintendo ‘fears for games industry’.” 24 May 2004. 28 Nov. 2006.

.

Finally my first published game is here! Now I can act as if I actually know what I’m jabbering about!
United Minds Games (www.UnitedMindsGames.com) and Packom Interactive (www.PackomInteractive.com) are thrilled to announce that Space Renegades: The Series is now available! Now the world can experience the glory of old-school space shooting action!

Screenshots and demo are available at www.UnitedMindsGames.com. Space Renegades: The Series is available for $8.00. Save $2 by signing up for the United Minds Games newsletter!

Screenshots:
http://www.unitedmindsgames.com/screenshots/sr2/4.png
http://www.unitedmindsgames.com/screenshots/sr2/6.png
http://www.unitedmindsgames.com/screenshots/sr2/7.png

Demo:
http://www.unitedmindsgames.com/content/view/22/#download_demo

Trailer:
http://www.unitedmindsgames.com/videos/sr2/sr2_trailer.php

About United Minds Games:
United Minds Games is dedicated to preserving the spirit of the “golden age” of video games — the fun, graphically fresh, easy to play 2D games with creative themes and memorable music that kept us glued to the screen or returning to the arcades with our pockets full of quarters.

About Packom Interactive:
Packom Interactive’s goal is to become a leader in Production, Distribution, and Marketing of independent games. Unlike most publishers, we realize that an independently made game is a long and arduous process. The last thing that a developer wants to worry about is how they’re going to sell a game.
Our goal is to simplify this process for the developer so they can continue to make great quality games, no matter the content nor the genre.

General Space Renegades 1 & 2 Game Information:
Title: Space Renegades: The Series
Developer - United Minds Games Homepage: www.unitedmindsgames.com
Publisher – Packom Interactive Homepage: www.packominteractive.com
Space Renegades Homepage: www.unitedmindsgames.com/content/view/22/
Genre: Casual/Top-down Shooter
Platform: PC, OS X
Player: 1
Release Date: PC December 4, 2006, OSX December 2006
System Specifications:
Pentium II 300 Mhz - 500 Mhz
DirectX Version 7
16MB video card with Hardware Acceleration
Windows 98/2000/NT/XP

I’ve been busy with random stuff so here’s an essay that I wrote for English class. It’s on the history of video games.

Beep, buzz, zing, wakka-wakka: these are the sounds that echo through any hardcore gamers head. Video games have been a part of popular culture ever since their creation in the early 1970s. It was only two paddles and a ball that started the craze and the world has never been the same since. That is why video games need a monument that not only talks about the history, but the cultural impact that they have instilled across the world.

It was in 1972 when Atari released their first arcade game known as Pong. Although not the first video game, its basic principles it led the way to the video game industry boom. Pong showed that if a video game was simple, fun, and addictive it could make a company millions of dollars. These are the same principles that I would found my monument on. Gamers are people looking to be entertained and my monument has to feed that craving. At the height of the video game arcade boom, arcade machines started appearing in stores, restaurants, and even churches. When video games first came out, they were able to break through all consumer barriers. It did not matter whether one was old or young, black or white, or male or female, as long as one had a quarter one could play a video game. This is why the monument needs to educate its visitors about video games. Not all the visitors attending the monument understand or even have the hand-eye coordination that is required to play video games. Non-gamers will feel left out if they are not told why video games are such a popular medium.

As video games evolved, some parents began having issues with them. As video games are addictive in nature, their children fled to the arcades when they should have been doing other things such as attending school or using their lunch money to play video games. Not only that, but video games grew in their violence. In 1976 a game called Death Race had players running over gremlins in order to win. The problem arouse when the simplistic graphics made the gremlins appear as stick figures, which were mistaken for humans. Violent video games were only the beginning of things to come. Eventually sexually explicit games started appearing on home consoles. The most disturbing of these was called Custer’s Revenge. In this game players played as a naked cowboy who had to rape an Indian whom was tied to a stake. While my monument would, overall, celebrate video games, dedicating an area that discusses the controversy in video games is needed.

In recent years, video games have been at the center stand when politicians want to blame someone for the corruption of America’s youth. In 1994 Congress forced the video game industry to form a regulatory body, which rated games based on their content. The Video Game Rating Act of 1994 jump-started the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). While this independent organization has made it easier for consumers to understand the content that they are looking into buying, it does not enforce whether or not specific age groups are allowed to purchase a mature game. In 1999 the Colombine tragedy occurred and the world yet again blamed video games as the cause of the school shooting. The Colombine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were avid players of the violent shooter game Doom. Even more recently, in 2005 the Hot Coffee Mod was created for the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This modification allows players to go through a sex mini-game. But these are the only type of games that make media headlines. Every month multiple games are released that are kid friendly and educational. Most gamers will say that video games are not reality and that know the difference between the real world and the virtual world. They recognize the consequences if they brought over this violent mentality that video games allow them to express.

As with any medium there are plenty of monuments that show off its industry, but video games have always been treated as a child’s play thing. To many extents this stereotype used to be valid. According to the Entertainment Software Association, as of 2005 the average age of a gamer is 33 years old. It has only been since these past couple of years that seniors have begun playing casual video games across the internet such as poker.

While the video game industry has surpassed $10 billion in revenues, according to NPD Group in 2003, few people can name one worker on a video game project. It is interesting that people can name the directors of movies yet they cannot name the creative directors behind popular video games. There is no reason to say that someone who makes a video game is lower class than if they made something on another medium. I want to give video games and the people who make them respect they deserve. No job in the video game industry is 9am-5pm. At times people may work over 15 hours per days. Writing thousands of lines of code or drawing hundreds of concept artwork sketches is a tough job. According to GameDaily.com, a video game industry insider website, a major video game developer Electronic Arts did not pay for overtime work from 2001 to 2006. Electronic Arts was sued by its programmers and forced to pay $14.9 million.  This goes to prove that video game professionals have had their own hardships to work out just like any other industry. In my monument I want to honor developers for their dedication to making their games fun for people that enjoy them.

While my monument would be held in a building, I would try to make it an interactive experience. I would put the information about a game next to a playable copy. Next I would include tons of mini theaters that showed off game play videos, trailers, game commercials, etc. Throughout the entire monument there would be a collage of game characters and their creators. It would start from the very first video game and go into current time. As the video game phenomenon is not only in the United States, I would have an area for video games that were developed around the world. It is important that gaming community feels connected to the monument itself. Unlike other monuments I want the environment to be casual and laid back. The monument would be made for gamers. The idea would be to get them to revisit the site again and again. In order to get a steady visitor count I would hold monthly tournaments with cash prizes for the winners. Also I would invite actual game developers to come and talk with gamers about their games and how they got into the industry. It is important to inspire the next generation of game developers and a monument with these features truly could. The monument must have the support of the people inside the video game industry, as they are the ones who drive the video game community. They are the ones who will make this monument something special to gamers all around the world.

I visited the Metreon, a mall owned by Sony that honors video games, in March 2006. It was actually a depressing experience. It was great that they had some stars on the floor with the name of the honored game or developer, but it was the rest of the site that failed to live up to my gamer dreams. The fact that the site itself is in a mall, where most of the stores are shut down is absolutely pathetic. They had an arcade room, but half of the machines were broken and all of the games themselves were outdated. Why would I as a gamer want to go to a place that doesn’t respect video games? A mall is about commerce, video games are fun and exciting. Honoring video games in a run-down mall just does not work.

On October 15, 2006, I attended the Los Angeles National Cemetery. The layout of this monument does not work as well because it is an outdoor environment. My monument needs to be enclosed in a building so that there is no glare on all of the television screens. Also the whole mood of any cemetery is sadness. Video games are the complete opposite in that they can bring out joy and that is the mood that my monument needs.

With the deep history that video games have had in our culture I’m shocked to see that no one has properly honored them. That is why I would want to make a monument dedicated to them and the people who make them. Uniting gamers with the games they love could have a lot of potential. With an industry worth over $10 billion it is definitely the industry that has always been misunderstood and underrepresented. My monument would change that.

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Brightman, James “EA Settles Overtime Suit, Pays $14.9 Million.” 26 Apr. 2006. 31 Oct.

2006. .

“Columbine High School Massacre.” 2006. 21 Oct. 2006

.

“Death Race.” 2006. 22 Oct. 2006. .

Lieberman, Joe. Video Game Rating Act of 1994. US 103^rd Cong., 2^nd sess. S. Rept. 

     1823. 1994. Washington: GOP, 1994.

Los Angeles National Cemetery. Los Angeles. 15 Oct. 2006.

Metreon. San Francisco. 6 Mar. 2006.

“The NPD Group Reports Annual 2004 U.S. Video Game Industry Retail Sales.” 

     NPD Group.18 Jan. 2005. 31 Oct. 2006.

2076>.

“Top 10 Industry Facts.” Entertainment Software Association. 2006. 31 Oct 2006.

     .