My First Published Letter to the Editor (Escapist Magazine)

I wrote a letter to the editor at Escapist Magazine last week on a story about a game store owner of some sort and his problems dealing with parents and controversial games. He stated that "some games are lucky to get an M rating", which I thought showed that the ESRB ratings need a switch-around. There are basically no games in the United States that really would deserve AO, but anyone who doesn't understand the system perfectly (i.e., everyone) would think that games like GTA and the like must be upgraded to it. I proposed that the rating system move M up to where AO is now, and introduce a new name that might better indicate that the old M rating is the same as the movie R rating, and AO is like X or NC17. Even R-rated movies tend to be technically a bit dirtier than M-rated games, so, well, read the letter.

Distractions Upon Distractions As Another Walkthrough is Begun

Last time, when I began writing my Devil May Cry 4 walkthrough, I assumed I'd have less time to write online. Somehow, I wrote even more on those days then stopped writing after I finished it (it's currently awaiting quality-control review at Mahalo.com). Now I've begun a walkthrough for Folklore and started to read Ian Bogost's book Persuasive Games in the hope of finding more material to write about. Theoretically, all that combined with my upcoming week-long beach trip should make me write less here, but that will probably turn out to be exactly what doesn't happen. We'll see.

Video Game Reviewer Bias Sheet

I'd like to propose that all reviewers of video games keep a public record of their biases towards certain types and genres of video games. Video game publishers always complain whenever they get a review from someone who doesn't especially like their genre, so reviewers should just fill out a standard sheet with what genres they think they like the most. Here's the general format I've come up with:

1-10 scale with 10 most favorable towards that genre, 1 least, and 5 meaning that it is entirely dependent on the game and the reviewer doesn't feel any bias towards or against that genre. I've filled out my perceived biases for several genres here for an example.


Action-adventure: 5
Beat-em-up/hack 'n' slash: 4
Fighter: 3
FPS: 9
Third person shooter: 9
Adventure: 5
Simulation: 10
RPG: 7
MMORPG: 5
RTS: 8
TBS: 10
Rhythm: 6
Puzzle: 5
Sports: 6 (favorite sport may also be necessary)
Racing: 6
Pro-independent/anti-major game companies: 7

That would probably be the basis of a review bias sheet if one were to be created. I just think that would help assign the correct reviewers to their sort of games, and hopefully not exclude reviewers from reviewing all that they can anyway. I have a feeling this sort of thing exists where there are lots of reviewers anyway in a less formal way, because the magazines/websites still don't want the wrong reviewer for a game. A clear example of this is whenever Yahtzee Croshaw reviews anything that's not an FPS. Watch his review of any RPG and you'll see what I mean, then probably send him more hate mail.

Expressing My Impressions: Civilization and Battlefield Demos

This week, after a very slow Playstation Store update, I got access to the demos for Civilization: Revolution and Battlefield: Bad Company. These were two very big demos in the middle of nowhere, so I felt like talking about them. I've always been a big fan of the Civilization series, and Sid Meier is actually working on this one unlike the past few computer editions, so this is very exciting. I'm even listening to their podcast right now, so I'm rather giddy, you might say. In general, the deal with this game is that it's more compact and built ground-up for the consoles. The demo itself was just a tutorial, basically, but it did allow you to play the opening turns of a game as either Caesar or Cleopatra. The first sort of shocking moment for PC fans is when the advisor pops up on the screen and starts babbling in a sort of Simlish, which is immediately irritating, (especially when he's blocking the text you have to read) but eventually sort of becomes normal. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. The Civiliopedia looks incredible this time around, with not just text entries but also pictures and videos for all kinds of subjects, showing off the added console power. The only other real difference I found so far was a much more interesting looking combat, with your little warriors sort of jumping around and not fighting so predictably.

Battlefield: Bad Company is, clearly, the next Battlefield game, but this edition appears to be ready to really feature a single player campaign and sort of interesting characters. Even in the online, this version is obviously going for a bit more of a sense of humor, with radio stations playing in vehicles. Similarly to Civilization, some of the quirky elements of this game immediately put me off, but I found them easier to take as time went on. The single player generally doesn't look great, and I found aiming difficult as is so often a problem in console shooters. For some reason, online play seemed just fine and natural enough. I only saw one real bug, when a blown up helicopter fell and balanced on its tip on the ground, but that's not game-breaking at all, and the multiplayer is fun enough to keep playing for a long time on its own. Both of these demos looked very promising for the summer game drought, I just wish the Playstation Network hadn't taken until 4 in the morning to put them up.

Jack Thompson Recommended to be Disbarred

I've been mostly avoiding coverage of Thompson's Florida Bar disciplinary hearing, because GamePolitics has me totally outclassed in their coverage, and there's not more I can add to it. Still, I want to just give them a quick link, as Thompson has been recommended by the Florida Bar to be disbarred (no longer allowed to practice lawyering in Florida, basically) for ten years before he can reapply to be an attorney.

See GamePolitics' coverage here.

It's Finally Over... Democratic Primaries '08

Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week #1

I've decided to start a precedent for gaming-themed jumbles. Why not? Here's my first Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week, presented in some just horrible looking handwriting when it's so zoomed in like this. Click the picture for a closer look if you need. A transcript follows.
Q: "What Gordon Freeman brought back from the party --- forever."
A: "_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _"

Clues:
O T R S O E H - game genre
I A R T A L - gaming assassin
A D K R O
V C B I E R - GTA traitor

Two word jumbles are independent of one another, so letters above one word stay in that word, they don't all go together in one letter pool. Anyway, you take what you get in the first three jumbles and use the letters that end up in the spaces with circles in them to create a jumble for the answer. Email me (link on the sidebar) with the answer, and I'll... uh... Create a hall of fame or something.