The Space Oddity will be on vacation for the next week or so without updates. I hope my regular readers will rejoin me on July 7. All nine of you.
Archive for June, 2008
Achievement Unlocked: Getting ‘Em Right
June 25, 2008A friend of mine recently pointed me to this article about the “Ten Commandments of Achievements, and I thought it had some smart things to say about how developers should utilize the Xbox 360 reward system. If you’re one of those people who can’t be bothered to click links, the 10 Commandments according to author Dick Ward are: Give Player 2 credit, give unique achievements to players 2-4, stack difficulty-based achievements, reward unusual play, create clever achievements, don’t let them ruin multiplayer, make online points benefit the experience, create achievements of opportunity, no zero point achievements, and give booby prize achievements.
Overall, I think this is a good list, but from a publisher perspective, it can be taken a step further.
Call of Duty 5: Splitsville
June 23, 2008It’s official: Call of Duty 5 is dead. In it’s place has emerged Call of Duty: World at War. I am far from the first to suggest that this title change points to a clear future for the Call of Duty franchise, namely that it will be split in two. The CoD: World at War games by Treyarch will stay rooted in historic military conflicts, while Infinity Ward will handle the CoD: Modern Combat series.
MGS4 vs. Fallout 3: Has War Changed?
June 18, 2008“War. War has changed.” – Metal Gear Solid 4
“War. War never changes.” – Fallout 2/Fallout 3
The recently released Metal Gear Solid 4 purports to have a lot to say about the nature of war, which can be summarized by the first line in the game, uttered by an aging and grey Solid Snake. “War has changed,” he claims, referring to the game’s constant reminder that wars are a business, perpetuated by private military contractors and the forces behind them. On the other hand, the upcoming Fallout 3 (lifting a line from the previous game in the series) takes the opposite opinion: “War. War never changes.”
Despite a post-apocalyptic settting filled with nuclear mutants and savage survivors, the Fallout series makes the claim that at its heart, war is always basically the same. What should politically aware gamers make of the fact that two two ultra-high-profile games releasing in the same year are taking diametrically opposing positions on the nature of war?
MGS4: The Beginning
June 13, 2008This article contains minor spoilers.
Like many of you, I played through the opening hours of Metal Gear Solid 4 last night. I haven’t played anywhere near enough to say my thoughts on the game are final, but so far my impression is… lukewarm. Am I mad? Everyone else seems to love it. Should I change my web address to crankyoldgamer.com? Or is it just possible that Metal Gear Solid 4 is, dare I say it, overrated?
