The most valuable supply of worthlessness on the web
Any gaming post.
(via Engadget)
Have you recently upgraded your PSP firmware (or more likely – had a firmware “upgrade” forced upon you by recent PSP software)? As the folks over at PSP Updates now write, you can now downgrade back to version 1.5 firmware to get your home-brew back on.
[tags]PSP, PSP hack, PSP firmware[/tags]
(via 4ColorRebellion)
In a recent required reading post, the folks at 4 Color Rebellion linked readers up to a listing of the 10 manliest games of all time. While what 10 games are manliest really isn’t worth knowing, the reasons behind the games making the list is sometimes worth checking out. Here are a couple that caught my eye.
#3: Custer’s Revenge
System: Atari 2600
Developer: Mystique
Year of Release: 1982Had Custer’s Revenge come out in the robot-heavy early 1990’s it probably would have been called “Rape Simulator 2000â€Â. That’s right, this is the only game in the history of the interactive entertainment (to my knowledge) where the goal is to rape a helpless woman! While we don’t condone rape here at Arthur’s Hall, it suddenly becomes pretty damn harmless (not to mention hilarious) once you put it in the context of a Atari 2600 video game that was released over 20 years ago.
The gameplay is simple… you are a naked and horny General Custer with a big fat 4-bit boner. On the far right of the screen is a naked Indian maiden tied to a stake. The goal is to have sex with her as much as possible without getting hit by the arrows falling from the sky. The action button is the “rape button†and can be pressed once you work your way over to the maiden to ravage her. If you rape her for two long, you will no doubt be hit by the falling arrows. It’s best to move away and wait for an opening to rape her some more. You are awarded points for every thrust of course.
Yes, this is sick and depraved, and whoever programmed this game should probably be sent to prison. Still, who else would have had the balls to make a game like this? The whole concept is just insane. Custer’s Revenge just might be the most politically incorrect thing I’ve ever witnessed, and that makes it manly as hell.
Yup. Sick and depraved. I’ve never even played the game, but the description sure makes it sound tasteless. Fortunately, the video quality of the 2600 wasn’t enough to really show this disturbing game in its full, um, glory.
#6: Ikaruga
System: Multi System (Arcade, Dreamcast, Gamecube)
Developer: Treasure
Year of Release: 2000, 2002, 2003There is something really primeval and manly about those old-school space shooters. I’m talking about great games like R-Type, Gradius, and Sidearms. They were simple, impossibly difficult, and quite demanding when it came to old-fashioned pattern memorization… a very manly trait indeed.
Ikaruga is quite likely the greatest space shooter ever designed. It is impossibly hard, dense, and one of the greatest and most meticulously designed video games ever created. Ikaruga takes the ideas of decades of vertical and horizontally scrolling space shooters, improves on them, and then turns them on their head.
There is more to this game’s description. Just in case you aren’t familiar with Ikaruga, know that it is considered one of the hardest old-style scrolling shooters ever made. I’ve looked for this game, but never found it at a price I could afford. Sadly, it wasn’t highly available in the US.
One final note about the article – Contra is listed as the #1 manliest game ever. I won’t argue yes or no on this, but I will mention that the latest Official XBox Magazine includes the news that Contra will be available for the XBox360 in the near future. I don’t have the magazine in front of me now to check the details (and I skipped reading it initially except for the headline), but I’m guessing it’s an XBox Live title, and probably available in classic (i.e., original) mode and some enhanced graphics mode. So if you missed it first time around, you should have a chance soon to play this great game.
[tags]Manly, Gaming[/tags]
(via Dubious Quality)
In an apparent attempt to get the whole world ready for excessive game prices to accompany its excessive console prices, Sony has announced that games probably won’t be $99.99 at release. OK, so it isn’t really an announcement of excessive pricing just yet, but check out the quote and see if you don’t read it the way I (and Bill) do.
SCEA president Kaz Hirai isn’t promising a $59.99 price tag for PS3 games this fall. In an interview with PSM, the Sony leader explained. So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say “PS3 games now $99.99.” I don’t think the consumers expect the software pricing to suddenly be double,” he told the magazine. “So, if it becomes a bit higher than fifty-nine bucks don’t ding me, but, again, as I said, I don’t expect it to be a hundred bucks.”
So Sony is not announcing $100 games, but it certainly seems a setup for games costing more than the $60 XBox360 owners are already paying. This is on top of the extra (at least) $100 a PS3 will cost over the XB360. Maybe I’m seeing too much in that quote, but it does look to me like preparing a table for $70 and possibly $80 games for PS3. This console will have enough trouble fighting the 1 year and $100 price lead of the XB360 since Sony has saddled the thing with a next-gen drive that so far gives shows no value to me (but then, I’m like many others who don’t see the value in next-gen video discs anyway). I hope I’m wrong, but I see Sony working hard to make consumers not want this console.
[tags]PS3, Playstation, Sony, OMGWTFBBQ?[/tags]
(via Joystiq)
1UP has it’s list of important gameplay innovations up. These are things we take for granted now in gaming but that seemed revolutionary when first introduced. I won’t steal 1UP’s thunder by listing them all now, but here are a few.
I particularly remember the first time I played co-op in Descent. Man, that was awesome. For me, that combined the co-op play and the online feature, which was most unusual at the time. I remember playing Descent co-op with 2 friends over a 28K modem connection. We didn’t even think of trying to use voice chat at the same time – the available bandwidth at the time wouldn’t have supported it.
[tags]1UP, Gameplay innovations, gaming innovations, Descent is the greatest game ever[/tags]
I’ve recently gotten hooked on Sudoku (like so many others, it seems). If you are into Sudoku, you should start visiting BrainBashers to get your daily dose. If the 6 available puzzles each day aren’t enough for you, then hit SuperSudoku for more (free account for 5 puzzles a day or full account for a one-time $9.70 charge for unlimited puzzles – join on their sign-up page).
If you are interested in Sudoku, but want to know more about the backstory/history of it, you should check out Wolfram’s write-up.
The Sudoku was published anonymously by Garns (1979), who created the puzzle at age 74, and then promptly relegated to obscurity. It became popular in Japan starting somewhere between 1984 and 1986 under the name “nanpure,” or Number Place. (Even today, in many Japanese publication, the puzzle is called Number Place, written in English.) The puzzle received a large amount of attention in the United States and Europe in 2005 after a regular Sudoku puzzle began appearing in the London Times. Sadly, Garns died in 1989 before getting a chance to see his creation as a worldwide phenomenon (Shortz 2005, cited in Pegg 2005).
If you still want more, you’ll have to search for it – I can’t possibly list all the good sources of games and information on the game.
I tried to include a Sudoku generator inline here, but it sadly made the rest of the site go away. At least, it was sad for me. So just use the above links, especially the Google search link, to find playable online versions. And I’ll have to wish the possible extra traffic a bye-bye…  🙁
[tags]Sudoku, Suduku, Sodoko[/tags]
I’ve spent quite a bit of time lately catching up on Order of the Stick. If you are a Dungeons and Dragons loser like me, you should be reading OotS. Go there now!
[tags]OotS, Order of the Stick, Web Comics[/tags]
In a further attempt to alienate customers, maintain an absurdly high price, and give Micro$oft a better lead in the next-gen console battle, Sony, through President and CEO Ken Kutaragi , has announced that the PlayStation 3 is a computer, not a console.
Kutaragi pointedly commented of the next-gen console, which is due to launch this November at dual price points of $499 and $599 in North America: “We don’t say it’s a game console (*laugh*) – PlayStation 3 is clearly a computer, unlike the PlayStations [released] so far.”
This, Sony says, leaves open the possibility of upgrades or additional configurations in the future.
. . . “I think it’s okay to release a [extended PS3] configuration every year”. It’s clear from the comments that Sony is indicating that it will be possible to upgrade hard drives and perhaps even other components easily.
The Sony CEO gave another example in the interview: “As PS3 is a computer… it also wants to evolve. We’ll want to upgrade the HDD size very soon – if new standards appear on the PC, we will want to support them. We may want the [Blu-ray] drive to [have a writable version upgrade].” He then tempered his comments: “Well, BD may not develop like that, though.” But extensibility is what Sony is stressing that you get for the price of a PS3, nonetheless.
I think Bill has the whole PS3 situation covered best of all the sites I follow. That last link in particular has some pretty good discussion on the fiasco.
[tags]PS3, Playstation 3, Sony suicide[/tags]
(via Slashdot games)
It looks like DDO is trying to increase its numbers. Honestly, this one change might be enough to get me to try it. I’m all for teaming when playing online, given the option, but sometimes I just don’t have the time to dedicate to building and staying with a team. This change alone could open up DDO to people like me who don’t mind teaming, but don’t always have the time.
“Turbine has also adjusted the experience requirements for leveling up. The change heavily favors new players, cutting the necessary experience points to get to level two by half. However, the requirements for levels four and up will only be decreased by 10,000 points.”
And with this game not doing well, it’s even fairly affordable to hit EBGames/Gamestop or similar to pick up a copy. Hmmmm.
[tags]DDO, Dungeons and Dragons online, MMORPG[/tags]
(via Hack-A-Day)
Invent Geek has posted a really high quality (and quite honestly, good looking) dance pad. It is built for the XBox version of DDR, but with an XBox to USB adapter, it should work on a PC. From the information available so far, build time looks to be just half an hour or so. The big downside to this is the $250-$1000 cost (not really sure why such a large range, though). I have a decent non-metal dance pad for my DDR gaming, but I’m seriously considering trying to build one of these. Of course, my wife doesn’t know that yet.
With the introduction of the dancing gaming systems here in the states there has been huge growth with in the community. The problem that anyone who is truly interested in the fitness gaming revolution will face at some time is the gross difference between the home console and arcade dance pad quality. Even the super high end home use dance pads that cost 500+ are not considered a long term or heavy use choice. So I set out to create a dance deck at an affordable price range that would even trump the arcade quality units. This is just the “prototype” and we will be putting up a full article with detailed instructions and even a full part list and plans for the final version that we are in the process of writing up now.
[tags]DDR, dance pad, gaming[/tags]
While perusing my RSS feed from DSFanBoy, I found this little gem about the upcoming (to US shores, at least) MMORPG Maplestory for the DS. Naturally, my interest was sufficiently aroused to try to find out a bit more about it. This lead me to the Wikipedia entry on the game.
As in any typical MMORPG, gameplay centers around venturing into dungeons and combating monsters in real time. However, MapleStory’s 2-D side-scrolling viewpoint more closely resembles a platformer than the typical 3-D or top-down view of other games. Though the 2-D graphics don’t give the player a more realistic feeling, it is an important part of MapleStory, for the 2-D effect helps the game have larger levels. MapleStory characters fight monsters through a series of attacks and skills. Along with combat, jumping is an integral part of the game.
. . .
New players are sent to Maple Island, a floating island specifically designed to be beginner-friendly. Unlike a collection of other MMORPGs, players in MapleStory can not choose a character class or job when they create the character. Rather, every character starts with the job Beginner until they meet the requirements to complete the first job advancement.
When a player creates a new character, he or she is able to spread 25 ability points amongst four different statistics: STR, DEX, INT, and LUK (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Luck, respectively). Players can not manually choose where these points will be placed, as the distribution is randomly generated by a dice roll, to which an infinite number of rolls are possible. The minimum possible point level scored when the dice is rolled in a statistic is four and the maximum is twelve.
Aside from the 2-D scroller thing, it sounds like a typical MMO. I will have to try it out, though, whenever I can get my hands on it. Ever since I got hooked on City of Heroes (July 2004, BTW), I’ve tried to keep up with MMO news. And since this one plays on my portable of choice (I still want a PSP, but I can’t afford one right now), I’ll probably buy it and try it.
[tags]Nintendo DS, MMORPG[/tags]
This certainly has a ring of truth to it. Maybe this is indeed what made that line so great. Thumbs up for another excellent xkcb.com comic.
[tags]xkcb.com, Comic, Clark Gable[/tags]
Ben Heck is at it again – this time he’s built a custom portable NES. His work on making classic consoles into modern portables is amazing. I’ve posted links to his stuff before, and I’m sure I’ll post links to it again. If you like the stuff you see on his web site, pick up his book Hacking Videogame Consoles (also in digital format). He’s done some wonderful work with other systems. I just happen to be most amazed by the NES work.
[tags]NES, Ben Heck, Portable Nintendo, Portable NES[/tags]