Funkster Foo has crashed firmly into the reality barrier by getting hit classic retro platformer Wibble World Giddy onto multiple formats.
Giddy close (but not-quite-enough-for-copyright-infringement) resembles a certain ovoid game hero of the late-80’s and sports unfeasably large hands, wibbles his way through some 30 puzzles to the climatic final bit of the game. Amazing.
One of the traditional Christmas gifts I get these days is a few quid from my mum who [a] knows that I tend to buy/have everything I need and [b] doesn’t really like traipsing around shops on the off chance she’ll find something interesting. Still, that gave me the change to buy a new XBox game as opposed to something six months old, so I plumped for EA’s parkour-inspired Jump-em-Up, Mirror’s Edge.
There are plenty of reviews of the game kicking about the Internets for anyone who hasn’t heard of the game before, so I won’t bore you with yet more details of the same. Instead I will bring to your attention a bizarre effect I noticed the other day that occurs after an hour or so of gameplay, and that is Real-Life Runner Vision.
Observe, if you will, the following image:
How a typical street scene (left) appears to a Mirror's Edge player (right).
Heading out into the real world after a healthy hour or so playing Mirror’s Edge results in the player automatically scanning the environment for the quickest way up onto a roof. The problem is easily triggered when a bright red object is seen – such as a Post Box or Phone Booth (above), and the player feels an overriding impulse to climb up such items.
The solution is fairly straightforward: Players should not venture outside immediately after playing Mirror’s Edge and should instead sit down and have a nice cup of tea and perhaps a biscuit.
Day three of the Tokyo Game Show is the first that is open to the general public as opposed to those ‘in the trade’. We arrived at around 11am expecting to have to queue at least a little, but the sight of thousands of people already ahead of us in the huge meandering line gave us pause for thought.
After checking with the attendants it transpired that, yes, even ticket holders were in this line, which was slowly snaking its way around the entire forecourt in front of Makuhari Messe. Figuring that the inside was going to be just as crowded as the outside we decided to stay a couple of hours and meet up and the giant Norton inflatable out front.
The inside of Hall 5 had changed drastically. Gone were the huge publisher booths, and instead there were booths dedicated to individual games from various companies. Several countries had their own little areas – places like The Netherlands, Canada and even China had all of their national talent under one roof. Smaller companies lined the walls of the hall with their own tiny displays.
Some of these smaller houses were touting wares that were more imaginative than the big boys’ offerings. One company had a title that tied in with a webcam so that your actions on the table in front of the camera caused the on-screen character to do something. Sadly I didn’t catch the name of that one but it looked interesting – certainly more interesting than the latest Madden or Need for Speed.
Another of the smaller titles was Castle Crashers from The Behemoth, a four-player co-op where each character has specific abilities that may or may not help the team complete the level. While this may sound like Sony’s Little Big Planet, the action in Castle Crashers is more beat-em-up than puzzle solving, and the graphics and huge, colourful and just a little bit mad. It could be good.
One thing that puzzled us both is the absolute insistence of some companies to forbid people from taking photographs. It’s as if they don’t want the publicity at all. No harm will come of someone leaking a wobbly, slightly-out-of-focus video of the rendered scenes or even the game play, and in fact it would only whet the appetite of those looking to buy the games. Heh, screw you guys, I’ll just take my videos from further off, with a mono/tripod and a zoom lens. I saw a few people doing this.
I was hoping to find out more about Ushiro, the grungy-looking haunt-em-up that Level 5 are working on for the PSP. I sincerely hope this comes out on the Xbox 360 because it looks amazing. Sadly the crowds were too dense (in more ways than one) and I gave up around 1pm, electing instead to go and get something to eat and drink.
The public day was certainly different from the business-only days in that it was much more about the games and there were more of them, whereas Thursday was more about the publishers and their offerings. While I don’t really want to suffer the crowds on the public days, I think it is necessary to go to both days to a broader spectrum of what’s on offer.
Up with the lark, we showered and dresses earlier than usual to catch the train to Tokyo and then on to Kaihin Makuhari on the Keiyo Line and Makuhari Messe – home of the Tokyo Game Show 2008, or TGS for short. The convention hall itself was well signposted, but it was really just a case of following the crowds since everyone was heading in our direction. Once we rounded a corner and were greeted by an inflated VG character we knew we were on the right track.
Today is the first day of TGS, which means it is open to entertainment-related businesses only. I was pushing it with my Web Design job but I’d recently had some business cards printed up where my title was given as Design/Consulting so I used those, and I’d recently given K tips on games and stuff so that’s consulting, right?. I presented my completed application form with the requisite two business cards, paid my entrance fee and away we went – we were in!
All of the big names were there, from Nintendo with the Wii to the likes of Sega, Sony, Konami and more. Microsoft didn’t have a booth specifically but there were plenty of XBox 360 kiosks to play on. Level 5 had an enormous stand incorporating a closed theatre showcasing some excellent-looking titles on a huge high-definition screen. Sega’s stand seemed dwarfed in comparison, but was still one of the better looking ones, decked out in blues.
Welcome to TGS
TGS Booth Babes
PS3 Keyboard
Many of the booths featured the obligatory Booth Babes who on the whole were pretty to look at and didn’t mind posing for photos in between handing out all manner of freebies. We scored a few fans, pens and badges, DVDs and countless product brochures, so much in fact that our bags were beginning to weigh us down towards the end of the day.
Gaming machines were numerous as you would expect but there was also a huge presence from KDDI and NTT Docomo with their mobile gaming offerings including Tetris League and a 3rd Person ‘Monster Spree’ thing that saw you running around a city killing spiders and possibly the other online players. The Japanese market is massive for this kind of stuff, since the subways are packed with commuters doing something on their mobile phones or handhelds.
Big-Box gaming was well represented as well, with Gran Tourismo Prologue, Silent Hill Homecoming and Metal Gear Online all being showcased by their publishers. Anyone could play these on the hardware provided and we made sure to give it a go. Versions at the show are special ‘TGS’ versions which can be reset to a default state with a few clicks of the controller, and only have certain levels/features available.
The Nintendo DS seemed to be everywhere, but three quarters of the games (to us at least) were the click… click… click… RPGs that the Japanese love so much. We can only stomach so much of these, not least because there were no English versions, and the low point of the show was having to persevere with a space-based version (click… click… click…) because a camera crew had set up just behind us and we were in the shot. Still, the NDS is a hotbed of development right now, with everyone piling on. Phantasy Star Zero looks to be one of the titles to wait for.
Oh, and Taiko Drum Master is coming to the motherlovin’ Wii! I’ve already kinda decided to buy it based on my terrible performance at the show, and I can only apologise in advance to the distress I am going to cause my neighbour.
One of the last things we did was try out an Earthquake Simulator – a small mockup of a dining room atop a hydraulic lift that shakes, rattles and rolls everything around you, simulating a quake of 7 on the Richter scale. We spotted a couple of Japanese TV celebs (no idea who they were, sorry!) filming a segment in the machine and decided to have a go as well. Talk about laugh.
After spending at least six hours wandering around, snaffling freebies and taking photos, we decided to call it a day and make a run for the train before rush hour combined with Tokyo Disney (which is on the same route) to bring everything to a crawl. We’ll be going back on Day 3 which is the first day open to the general public to see how different things are.
While looking round for some free entertainment I came across a great arcade racing sim called ‘Track Mania Nations’ over at TrackMania.com – free to download and play.
Imagine, if you will, the classic Stunt Car Racer from the Amiga days, but with massive updated graphics and F1-style cars instead of old bangers. Extend the race types to include acrobatics, speed races and obstacle courses and you’ve got Track Mania. The full version includes different scenes and weather conditions as well as cars, but the free version is worthy of your bandwidth.
The ‘Nations’ bit of the game title refers to the fact that there are millions of people all around the world competing. You can challenge people online or play solo, and can check your Global, Country and Regional rank. I’m currently in the top 15,000 in England, apparently, or maybe it was Britain as a whole. I don’t actually know if that’s any good.
In the solo game there are no other car on the track as such, but you do see the current Medal-winning performance running alongside you (It’s a ghost car so it can’t ram you off the track) as well as your own fastest performance, so you can see where you need to adjust your driving to win. Racing lines are very important but there’s a little bit of luck involved as well, especially on rough ground.
Most of the races are single-lap affairs that only last 30 seconds or so and they increase in difficulty as you progress, though there are a couple that seem out of place in the learning curve. Occasionally you’ll find a track where it seems impossible to meet the Gold Medal time, which brings me to the games only major fault.
If there’s one thing that lets Track Mania down it’s the fact that the Gold Medal times – the runs you have to beat to get gold – are frustratingly difficult. Touch the wall once, even the gentlest of kisses, and your ‘opponent’ will disappear off into the distance.
That said, perseverance pays dividends and can propel you up the Global Rankings 10,000 places at a time for every medal you win.
The graphics are simply stunning and very quick. 1600×1200 on an nVidia 6600 and a 2GHz AMD CPU looks absolutely gorgeous with no slowdown. The only thing missing from the game is crash damage when you inevitably get too excited and slam into a wall, pillar or miss the track completely – though the water effects make up for the latter.
If I can convince others to get it installed and give it a whirl I’ll give the multiplayer a try as well – it can only get better!
Browsing around a local Tesco the other night I picked up Big Brain Academy for the Nintendo Wii. The game has been out on the DS Lite for a while now, so I was intrigued to see how the Wii version would fare.
The whole game uses the format of an academy for presentation, so you visit the Hall as your main menu, enter the Office for enrolment and wotnot, and the exam rooms for your daily test. Your Miis can be seen walking up and down the corridor (Including visiting Miis from other players) as you browse the menu options, and you can enrol several Miis in your save file so that visiting friends and family can have a play as well.
The games are of the short-but-fun type with an emphasis on mental agility. There are simple things like popping numbered balloons in order or a removing blocks to leave a particular sum. Other games include a version of Tetris and Whack-a-mole, there’s even a cute little train set where you need to tell the engine which direction to take to reach the exit. All of the games are straightforward but require quick, accurrate mental input to complete quicky and correctly.
There are 15 games in all and yhey are split into five types: Identify; Memorise; Analyse; Compute and Visualise:
Identify
Solve as quick as you can.
Whack Match
Use the Wiimote to whack the highlighted items.
Fast Focus
Identify the picture as quickly as possible.
Species Spotlight
Use the torch to find the animals.
Memorise
Covered Cages
Keep track of the birds as they are switched around.
Face Case
Identify the face that was shown earlier.
Reverse Retention
Remember the pictures in reverse order.
Analyse
Match Blast
Remove blocks to make up a given shape.
Speed Sorting
Pick the correct picture according to the criteria.
Block Spot
Which of the four block buildings matches the main one?
Compute
Balloon Burst
Pop the numbered balloons lowest to highest.
Mallet Math
Remove numbered blocks to leave the target figure.
Colour Count
Keep track of the number of Red/Blue balls in the cup.
Visualise
Art Parts
Place the picture parts in the correct locations.
Train Turn
Guide the train engine to its destination.
Odd One Out
Which picture is not like the others?
In addition to the usual single-player games of the DS version, there are a few multiplayer games that can be played one-on-one or as a team. Team games are potentially more entertaining, since the game will highlight who did best, and worst, after each round. The one-to-one games like Mind Sprint are particularly frantic, since you not only have to complete the game in a good time to score good points, but beat the other player as well.
The Multiplayer games are:
Mind Sprint
Race to complete a set number of questions. Each team can have up to 4 players who share a Wii Remote.
Mental Marathon
Maintain a perfect winning streak as long as possible in a limited amount of time. 1-8 Players with 1 Wiimote
Brain Quiz
Take turns selecting mental-activity panels on a party board to win points. Up to 8 players, divided into 4 teams.
The multiplayer games are made up of the 15 main games as well, so there’s nothing new to learn. Once you’ve played a single player game, you’re ready for multiplayer.
All in all, Nintendo Wii Big Brain Academy is a fun set of games that actually sharpens your brain’s reactions and helps with mental agility. At a touch under £18 it’s more than worth it, even if you don’t take the results too seriously.
For the past week I’ve been wasting my free time playing Oolite, a free, Open Source, Object Orientated version of the classic space sim, Elite. And it’s pretty darned good.
Naturally, I’ve been playing the PC (Windows) Version and have been enjoying myself immensely. It’s very much your dad’s Elite with a few extra nuggets of technologamical goodness thrown in. The game uses OpenGL and features textured ships and planets throughout to bring it up to date while retaining that retro look and feel.
And the planetes – the planets! They’ve been updated in a recent experimental .exe to give them a much more realistic appearance complete with overlaid clouds on the surface. This .exe is a little buggy but good enough to play, so I’ve adopted it permanently.
This is an ongoing project which can only be a good thing. There’s a honking great BBS available full of answers here where you can find general chatter, the suggestion box, info on bugfixes, expansion packs and rumours of the multiplayer version, Moolite.
It may not compare to EVE Online, but for a free retro blast, it’s a winner. Download the latest version and track down that experimental 1.65 exe and have some fun.
