i'm hoping to get rock band for christmas, so if you or whomever else wants to form a band, count me in.

I don't play a lot of video games anymore, but that list actually does seem pretty reasonable. The only change I might put in is to take out Half Life and replace it with a sports game. Admittedly, I've never played Half Life, but it does just seem like another variation on the first person shooter.

I'm not sure which sports game could be credited with influencing all sports games, but I'd either go Activision Baseball or Tecmo Bowl...just because both really made the leap from simple arcade games to an attempt at emulating the rules and gameplay of a professional sport.

Where is an MMORPG on that list? WoW or EQ? WoW probably deserves to be there...

One can argue that within the Ultima series, the idea of an emergent virtual world is first realized in games. Paving the way for the MMOs of the modern era.

I think Sega's Phantasy Star games are often overlooked for doing this exact same thing. The detail to the game world's errata; looking through drawers & cabinets, reading books off the shelf, characters that would remember the choices you made, etc- was amazing. We see that sort of thing followed up on in the Fallout series, System Shock (the forerunner of Bioshock), The Elder Scroll games and so on and so on.

SEGA has done a pretty good job destroying their legacy, wonder how the new nights will turn out, can't believe they're the same company that did put out the phantasy star IV or Sonic 2

My favorites this year by platform I own:

Wii -- Mario Galaxy.

Wii was pretty much a disappointment this year. Went most of the year without a decent game. Metroid was OK, but not as good as the first two, the level design was a step down. Thankfully Mario came to the rescue.

Runner Up -- Guitar Hero

PC -- Bioshock

I didn't play many PC games this year as up until Q4 I was operating on a 5 year old PC. I was not blown away with Bioshock like many. The sound was world class. The art design was fantastic, but lifted from many sources (such as the Fallout series). I don't understand why everyone likes the story, I thought it was pretty standard. The plasmid gameplay was a blast, but the tedious shooter stuff got in the way. Big Daddy was great, but the enemies got repetitive very quickly. But I'm not a fan of shooters, so don't listen to me.

Runner Up -- Etrade. It's been a good year.

PSP -- Jean D'Arc

My main use for this system continues to be a door stop or paper weight. Since Lumines this is the only original game that has lived up to the capabilities of the system. Great graphics. Interesting story until is turns into a typical demons invading story. Gameplay started great, but wound up being crippled by a magic system that didn't evolve properly.

Runner Up -- Final Fantasy Tactics

DS -- Puzzle Quest and Etrian Odyssey

DS was a letdown this year after a strong year last year. Pokemon sucked up all the oxygen from Nintendo, and they just didn't release that much this year. And Zelda was a big letdown, may the timed AND repeat dungeon rot in hell.

So my best are two small games.

Puzzle Quest is one of the more innovative games of the year, effectively combining the disparate genres for the first time. This might have been my game of the year if it wasn't for Mario.

Etrian Odyssey is the sort of game you'd think developers could effortlessly put out, but always seem to blow it. Old school dungeon crawl done right.

Runners Up -- Picross and New York Time Crossword. Outstanding implementations of puzzle games made for the DS format. Hell, now that I think of it, you could toss in Planet Puzzle League here too.

Game Of The Year -- Mario Galaxy

An amazing amount of innovation in a genre you might have thought could go no further. Playability, art direction, graphics -- amazing accross the board. The real kicker with Mario compared to, say Bioshock, is the sheer joy you experience when playing.

This is a pretty good list. I'd put Doom over Wolfenstein however as I think that was the game that really drove the genre home.

I'd tend to agree about Half-Life not really adding enough as well. How about an arcade driving game instead? Is there one game that really made that a big genre? Need for Speed maybe? I still remember the joy of playing 'Stunts' in the early 90's. Think Distinctive deserve some credit for their influence there.

I'm thinking that Planet Mother Fucking Puzzle League was my favorite game this year. I wish more people played online, but I end up playing these super advanced players from Japan who will usually kick my ass. I love that game though.

I blew a dollar on Time Crisis 4 at the movie theater today and died after about a minute. What a waste.



Two Mario games? Was Half-Life really all that groundbreaking?

Guitar Hero 3 for Wii is going to give me carpal tunnel syndrome.

Without a doubt. The original SMB not only took platform, 2D, side-scrolling games to another level, its inclusion in the NES' line-up was incredibly influential in reviving the entire console video game industry after the implosion of Atari and the like.

And Mario 64 deserves inclusion simply for the game play mechanics it brought to the table. Platforming in 3D, free-roaming environments. Control via an analog stick. Non-linear progression; you could choose the boards you wanted to play, in the order you wanted to play them. How many months after the N64's launch did it take before a game besides Mario 64 and Pilotwings was released? Mario 64 was so good, nobody cared.

Well, yes. The Mario series have consistently been excellent. Their sense of level design and scale coupled with popularity are hugely influential.

The 2-D Mario Bros carried every console based platformer (at one time the most popular genre) through 3 generations of videogames. Those design elements are still used today. HL:1 was a thinly veiled Mario Bros game. The final level of HL1 had you jumping from giant mushroom to giant mushroom. I am not making that up.

Mario 64 did for 3-D world design and spatiality what the original Mario Bros did for 2-D design. Up until Mario 64, nobody knew what exactly to do in a 3-D environment. Go back and look at those 3-D games pre-Mario 64. They are mostly designed along a horizontal axis and are limited by a control scheme that is almost specifically tailored to 2-D gaming.

Then along comes Mario 64. Suddenly you have this vertical and horizontal world for you to explore which necessitates a wholly new device to control. As that game goes on, Nintendo's designers are basically showing off how well they understand space and distance. Think on those cloud levels up toward the top of the tower. Masterful.

It's only now, in Super Mario Galaxy, has anyone even come close to matching that kind of design. And it's fucking Nintendo. Again. But to be fair, Valve tried their damnedest in HL2 and Portal to match Nintendo's pudgy plumber.



It was monumental. Passive storytelling in an era of the big budget FMV scene. A shooter that worked along a vertical and horizontal axis. As I said, by the end of HL1, you are practically playing a Mario Bros game. When judged against it's peers of that era, FPS games were still corridors and flat landscapes.

Half-Life also innovated in using physics and logical outcomes as the means of puzzle solving. Most games used arbitrary devices to confine players to a particular area. Half-Life made that sort of thing feel natural and logical. No big red button in the middle of the room which opened a door at the beginning of the level- that for whatever reason, you could not pass initially. In Portal, Valve would satirize this antiquated approach to gameplay.

Then there's the mod scene. The mod scene exists as it is today due to Half-Life. It's only now seeping into mainstream console games in Bungie's Halo 3.

yeah basically


half life transformed the genre "doom clone" into "first person shooter"

every game from 86-96 ripped off super mario bros

and roughly every game from 97-present rips off mario 64

And ya'know, HL and Mario are hella fun and perfectly designed.

The way Mario skids just a half inch off a ledge or the way Freeman corrects himself when you approach a doorway; are elements of design that are so subtle as to not seem important. But in actuality are the things that separate HL1 and Mario 64 from Hexen or Croc.

Valve should put HL:1 up on XBOX Live for download, like Bungie did with Marathon. I really should go back and play this game. Not being a PC gamer, I've never really had the opportunity.

half-life has had some console releases i believe, i actually have a leaked copy of the dreamcast version that never came out, load times are terrible, but otherwise pretty great

You can play HL1 with HL2 graphics via Steam. Still fun to play.

The problem with revisiting older games as influential as Half-Life or Mario is when judged by the filter of 10+ years after we've played the myriad games that have copied or built upon the original games, those older games often don't seem to measure up.

Certainly, taking a look at Crysis and Call Of Duty 4 and then Half-life, with it's smeared textures and blocky models, may leave one disappointed. To say the least.

Yet, one must keep the context in which the game was released and the quality of design in the foremost of their mind to appreciate the original Half-Life. Particularly, if one sets out to see "why it's so great", having already been accustomed to the innovations HL made through 3-4 generations of videogames now.

This. So fucking OTM.

yeah, but when you revisit the games regardless of graphics they are still great fun to play. Case in point: Super Metroid for the SNES or any Mario.

so i'm thinking of going next-gen after the holiday...

either 360 or wii. but which?

i've always loved nintendo, and the wii has zelda, metroid and mario for me to play. and maybe i'd finally get through re4. but after first party, then what?

360 has some games i've love to try... never played any half-life, so orange box sounds good. bioshock, morrowwind. also, i really like the prospect of live arcade. actual literal arcade ports... better third-party support.

i've never really gotten into shooters, though, outside of goldeneye/perfect park from back in the day... everything seems like a shooter on 360...

i really love the fantasy elements of nintendo first party titles... but after the the aforementioned games it looks like a bunch of mini-game collections.

and rare has banjo 3 in development for 360. banjo may be my favorite game of all time; it did mario 64 one better.

just some rambling here. thoughts?

Well, of course. I specifically said those games are still fun.

I do suspect part of the reason why one might be underwhelmed by many older games, despite their influence; is that we are often approaching them from a far more removed, more modern perspective.

Everything Damo says is correct. At the time, the big games were these stupid, bloated FMV-interrupition games where you played in this shitty, restricted environment and then they cut into these glorious FMV scenes that looked nothing whatsoever like the actual game which completely broke the story immersion. Valve (makers of Half Life) said "fuck that", and built a game with a simple story, but *never* broke away from the immersion, not even for a second. There were no real levels or points to break the immersion either. It was very cinematic and flowing, never disruptive. It was action/sci-fi/horror/platformer/fps all rolled up in one. It was also one of the first games with decent enemy AI. You will get your ass kicked by the special ops your first time through. The AI completely blew peoples minds when it came out. These weren't stupid closet monsters. And the ending? ha. you need to find out for yourself.

And of course, HL2 set another standard with ther gravity gun. And this year, the game to play IMHO is the Orange Box, which includes HL2 EP 2, Portal and Team Fortess 2.

If you haven't tried TF2 or Portal, you are missing out. The Half Life series belongs right up there with Mario.

Not much in gaming can match that first walk into City 17 in HL2. Brilliant shit.

Montana makes a really excellent point w/r/t HL's squad based AI. That was huge. Obviously, we wouldn't have the Rainbow Six, F.E.A.R., Gears Of War, et cetera if HL didn't show people how to do it properly.

Very accurate and well said points all around, Monty.

I've learned that the Wii is great as a companion system. I spent most of the year with only Wii, and there were many times during the year I would play one game, finish it, and then not play anything until the next big first party game released. Gamecube was kinda the same way. Yeah the Virtual Console a really nice service, but it loses its charm after awhile. They just keep releasing too much garbage.

I'm not huge on FPS either(though I do play a lot of Halo), but Rock Band, and Mass Effect are frickin' awesome. I haven't turned on my Wii really since I got a 360. There's always something to play whether it be a demo, XBLA, etc. Online stuff is way better. Achievements. Microsoft has more third party support at the moment. It's really tough because Nintendo is so awesome, but I do play my 360 more, so I would say get a 360 if you plan on playing a lot. Really you should just join the Wii60 club.

Yeah, if you're going for one console, make it an Xbox 360. If you opt for a second, a Wii is probably a safe bet, as a lot of the third-party software is shared between 360/PS3.

Got a big preview over at 1UP tonight about Shred Nebula, an XBLA title coming in the spring. Thought it turned out really well.

Dick move by Activision....



Harmonix Statement:

"As we have said in the past, Harmonix and MTV Games believe in an open standard philosophy of hardware and game compatibility. We think that there should be interoperability between music instrument controllers across all music games. This is clearly in the best interest of consumers, game developers and console manufacturers and will only help to grow the music game genre as well as inspire innovation and creativity.

Two weeks ago, Harmonix created a software patch for the Sony PLAYSTATION 3 version of Rock Band that allowed for guitar compatibility and support for third party peripherals, including enabling use of Activision's Guitar Hero III controller with Rock Band. The compatibility patch was submitted, approved and had been scheduled for release by Sony on Tuesday, December 4. Unfortunately, Activision objected to the release of the compatibility patch. The patch remains with Sony, but we have been told that it will unfortunately not be released due to Activision's continued objection.

As is the case with the Microsoft Xbox360, we believe that Sony PLAYSTATION 3 users should be able to use the peripheral of their choice with Rock Band. We sincerely hope that Activision will reverse its decision and allow release of the compatibility patch and further, that Activision will allow Guitar Hero III to support Rock Band guitar controllers as well. We welcome all third party developers who wish to support our controllers and will provide any required support in order for them to do so.

We believe that when consumers have choice, everyone wins. Harmonix and MTV Games hope that Activision and others in the industry will also adopt this philosophy."

All the more reason not to get a PS3. It's not Sony's fault(at least that's what we're led to believe), but how does Microsoft get GH guitar support on Rock Band and Sony can't? As if Sony needs more negative press. It's just another story that makes me shake my head and say, "Sony, get your shit together."

So, are there rules against voting the Burnout Paradise demo as my 2007 GOTY?

Because seriously... I'm in love, guys.

DUDE i totally agree. AND it's SWEET that you can play a demo online with friends.

Spot on. Both of you.

Going back to HL1, from the very start, when you go to work on the monorail, you know you are in for something special. In previous games, that would have been a cutscene. Then when you have to do the experiment, [spoiler]and it went wrong[/spoiler]. That shit there would have been a cutscene aswell. And this is all within the first 15-20 mins. The fact that you don't have to sit there listening to some scientist talk about stuff was brilliant.

Then the game progresses, and it gets even better.

On HL2, the most amazing thing about it was that they further improved the level design and added a completely new physics engine. The source engine was, and still is, terrific. The puzzles were genuninely fun to do and really smart at the same time (i'm thinking of the level where you go to the village which is completely ridden with zombies, in particular. I never get tired of dropping the car on them ).

You correctly mention the AI on HL1. It was ground breaking. However one of the bggest disappointments about HL2 was the poor AI of enemy opponents, which could have been a lot better imo.

But yeah, classic game with so many brilliant moment which I can still remember now.

Hm. The Combine AI in HL2 was good. Anything above normal difficulty and you are getting cut down by the Combine. I'm thinking of the "Nova Prospekt" and "Follow The Freeman" levels.

Hmm, I dunno. I always thought that they didn't do enough taking cover, hiding, ducking etc. The stuff that enemy's in Crysis will do, for example. Still a great game in spite of it though.

----------------------------------

I'm home for Christmas and I've hooked up my PC to the net again. I'm getting well into Company of Heroes online. I'm getting absolutely raped though. I just don't know how to build quick enough.

Looking forward to finally playing Orange box though, especially team fortress 2 which looks incredible.

Hoping to finish up Half-Life 2 (on 360) over the weekend and move onto Episode One. Currently deep into Mission 10, so should only be 3-4 hours left.

Also picked this up yesterday for some cheap thrills:



Kinda lame, but not sure what else I was expecting. It's fairly cheap and I planned to flip it on eBay by the end of the month, so it'll be like a rental anyway.

Might be a function of the level design. Monolith had to use a lot of scripting to give the opponents in F.E.A.R the kind of prescient they had. Obviously, HL1 was heavily scripted. The AI basically knew the level layout ahead of time in both games.

I don't doubt that is true of HL2 as well. But I think they may be a bit more adaptive, with the levels being spread out as they are. Thinking of the Antlion and the Highway levels.



Oh man, one of my favorite RTS'. The Opposing Fronts expansion adds the British and SS Elite armies. A turtle and rush army, respectively.

If you are playing Wehrmacht, spam those Volks early to grab CPs. Do the same for engines & jeeps if you are playing US. And make sure you build toward your military doctrine. Don't rush a Tank Depot if you are going airborne or waste time capturing CPs that don't provide the resources you need for the doctrine (Fuel= Vehicles, Munitions= Infantry, etc)

SS Panzer Elite are murder.

Yeah, its the best RTS I've played in years. I'm loving it at the moment. I'm really thinking about getting the espansion aswell, thus is my love for this game.

Thanks for the tips aswell, little titbits like that are useful to consider.

A great deal of brilliance. An important factor of both games is the distinct ambience that permeates them. I remember exploring those coast houses in Half Life 2, with no one in them, and hearing my steps on the old floors, and the wind, and looking out at the ocean and thinking "this is fucking dreary. [spoiler]Earth is completely ruled by aliens[/spoiler]"..... that's how real it felt. The attention to detail is ridiculous. My only complaint is more G-man please.

I thought HL2 Episode 2 was very good, but not quite HL2 or HL1 good. I'd almost like to see them go back to the single big game release type. They seem better at it. But if the episodes allow them to work on content like TF2, I'm all for it. And speaking of that, I'm going to fire up some TF2 since my gf is staying at her friends(girls night out). If you see a guy named "Tuco Ramirez" playing TF2, that's me. When I play, I'm often on the "Chicago Stompfest" server.

I've heard some really excellent things about Episode Two, that's why I want to get it in before I start seriously considering my end of year list.

Into the Follow Freeman mission of HL2 right now. Episode One is a short one, right? 5-6 hours?

Yeah, episode 1 is pretty short. I havn't played episode 2 yet but from what I've heard its not particularly long either. My brother says he thinks ep. 2 is far superior to ep.1, for what thats worth.

What bit is follow freeman btw? I don't want to guess just in case I reveal something that you havn't done.

----------------------------

I take it you're a fan of TF2 then Montana? I saw you post a spy tutorial type clip a bunch of pages back, which looked incredible fun. Hopefully my counter-strike experience will leave me in good stead for this.

HL2:E2 is better than HL2:E1, but it works precisely because of the previous episode. Good storytelling.

"Follow Freemen" is the level right after you leave Nova Prospekt and return to the City-17. It's when you rally the resistance against the Combine.

Huge fan of TF2. You should have no problems picking up TF2 after CSS. TF2 just has alot more action and mayhem. Not even comparable in terms of that aspect, really. TF2 is also a much deeper game. TF3 is also a bigger resource hog.


Couple clips:

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how to play the Pyro:

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In case anyone is interested, here are the North American sales figures for the next gen consoles since they were introduced:





Frikkin' amazing what Nintendo has done, particularly when you look at the November sales of all consoles:


November 2007 Hardware Sales

Nintendo DS -- 1,530,000
Wii -- 981,000
Xbox 360 -- 770,000
PlayStation Portable -- 567,000
PlayStation 2 -- 496,000
PlayStation 3 -- 466,000


Not only is Nintendo dominating, but the PS2 is outselling the PS3! How the hell could Sony blow this so badly?

How much more marketshare would they have if anyone could actually find a Wii?

I'm wondering if it's a deliberate ploy to extend the Wii's "hot item" status. If so, it's worked. You'd think they would have remedied the situation by now. That they haven't suggests that even if the demand was not expected initially, they don't mind that supply continues to run short.

Based on Nintendo's past actions, they have definately restricted supply as a marketing strategy. Part of it is to create buzz. But Nintendo also likes to make profit on their systems. They have been reluctant in the past to be aggressive with pricing until after then undergo a cost reduction and improve their profitability. Also the fewer rev 1 systems you sell the fewer you have to recall if there is a problem, a lesson Microsoft learned.

But what started out as a smart move has backfired on them a bit. Analysts estimate that the are leaving $4B on the table between missed hardware and software sales.

Probably hasn't hurt them though, considering the company is printing money and has become the 2nd largest Japanese company this year. Although their "raincheck" arrangement with Gamestop seems a clear ploy to keep Xmas shoppers from buying an 360 if a Wii is not available, so maybe they are getting concerned with lost sales.

used some Wii points to get this.

I have been playing it like mad, and I am only on level 4. It seems I can only play it for about 20 minutes before getting pissed at how hard it is, but, I seem to pick it up every hour to try out.

Very interesting figures. It basically shows that Nintendo are still the daddy when it comes to consoles. They've easily the least capable machine out of the 3, yet still manage to wipe the floor with the bigger companies in terms of sales. It basically shows the importance of ingenuity and creative thinking over just throwing money at the problem.

That said, I have an Xbox and no Wii. But I still love seeing Nintendo do well. WHo knows, maybe I'll get it at some point and play Galaxy.

Sony on the other hand have absolutely blown any progress they made from the PS2. Its trult shocking that PS2 is still outselling the PS3.

Yes, but it also shows the power of price and the laws of supply and demand -- the lower the price the more you sell.

FINALLY, a working Rock Band guitar controller!

There's something clanking around in there, and the orange button's a bit louder than expected, but fuck it, I'm not going through the hassle again. Third's the charm, I guess.

Third? Man. My second is working okay so far. The buttons are definitely louder. It's like they traded off the loud clickiness of the strum bar for loud button clicks. What will you be getting for your free game Andy? I'm thinking skate. Or Simpson's Game? I didn't like the Simpson's Game demo though.

Yeah, third. I've got two busted guitars sitting around... need to send that shit out ASAP.

I went for The Simpsons Game 360. I didn't really care for the demo, but it's supposed to be really funny and I might dabble in it a bit. Considered Tiger Woods 08, but I just picked up 07 a couple months back and haven't even popped it in yet.

But dude, if you haven't played Skate yet, you absolutely must pick that. It's going to be in my top three this year.