2011年2月17日星期四

the game wherein Mario arrives on a rabbit

Dig deeper into Super Mario Galaxy — a game that is, for all intents and purposes, everything good and bad about modern game design mixed together on a silver plated platter like so much curry and saffron rice — and we find replica Cartier W62026Y4 Men's watch some delectably irreconcilable examples wherein the level design and game design has allowed the "'win back' the gamers who walked away" motive to seep in all the way to the core My favorite example would be a particular stage about halfway through

the game wherein Mario arrives on a rabbit and bee inhabited planetoid I will now describe the very first "challenge" for this planetoid Disclaimer: if you happen to like Super Mario Galaxy, that's okay! I like it, too! A lot, even! That doesn't stop the replica Cartier w31077u2 Men's watch criticism train from rollin', however.The name of the challenge is "The rabbits are looking for something" (translated from Japanese; I don't know what it's called in English).

Mario arrives on the planetoid Immediately after his feet touch the ground, a bee throws a text bubble in our faces He says:"The rabbits on this planet are looking for something I wonder what it is?"Let the record show: we have mentioned the rabbits, and that they replica Cartier w20055d6 Men's watch are looking for something, twice before the first microsecond of play The only line of non tutorial related script to grace our consciousness is a rhetorical question:

the player is not pressing the A button

there is a chance that the player is not pressing the A button to swim See, in Super Mario Galaxy, it's possible to swim very, very slowly by simply tilting the analog stick So it's further possible that the "uneducated", "casual", goldfish brained, instruction manual losing player might not be swimming full speed.Here's what goes on in the mind of a replica Cartier w2006951 Men's watch player who is not swimming full speed, and does not know how to swim full speed:1 "Man, this sure is taking a long time."2 "Maybe that penguin was lying to me when he said I had to swim all the way to the far shore.

"3 "For God's sake, why does it have to be so far?"How do we solve this? By telling every player, regardless of his current course of action, that he can press the A button to swim faster (even if he is swimming as fast as he can)? That would be the Nintendo replica Cartier w2601556 Men's watch way I'll give you a minute to think of some better ways Go ahead It'll feel good You'll feel smarter than Nintendo game designers?Did you solve the riddle?

The better solutions would involve:1 Making Mario swim fast all the time, when you just press the analog stick2 Making the far shore much closerSolution #1 would sacrifice some of the game's illusion of "depth".Solution #2 would sacrifice some of the game's illusion of "scale".Keep in mind that, when we use the word "illusion", we're not being replica Cartier we1001r8 Men's watch snippy — games are, in and of themselves, not real It's all illusions Just that some illusions are better than others.

a big lake surrounding a mountain 45 stars

even more money If everyone at Nintendo thought the way internet console fanboys did, we'd still be playing 2D Zelda games! (Come to think of it, that would be grrrrrr eat.)What is "wrong" with modern Nintendo is not that their AAA games constantly tell the player what to do, and when, it's that they are more often that not built from the replica Cartier w62005v2 watch ground up to be enjoyable by everyone, even people who have1 Lost the instruction manual2 Hyper volatile short term memoriesCase in point: there is a stage that requires (I think) 45 stars to unlock in Super Mario Galaxy,

with a big lake surrounding a mountain 45 stars (again, I am not sure of the exact number) is well more than half of the way into the game Anyway, Mario can't get any peace and quiet in general in Super Mario Galaxy Every stage has a host of talking animals on hand to present you with not so subtle hints re: your objectives and how you're replica Cartier w2603256 watch supposed to accomplish them, whether you ask for these hints or not This stage in question, however, is a particularly obnoxious offender You get in the water, right, and you're swimming, right?

It's a hell of a long distance to swim The far shore is way out there Anyway, you get about halfway there, and a penguin glides by in the water, literally unavoidable When he gets close enough to you, a huge text box pops out flagrantly onto the replica Cartier w10072r6 watch screen:"PRESS THE A BUTTON TO SWIM!"Am I not already swimming? Is this not a violation of my Holy Commandment #7: Thou shalt not tell me how to do something when I am already doing it with great verve and gusto?Well, not quite —

out names of medicines and dosage amounts

I have to sit through before the game designers have drip fed me every pop up tutorial message explaining every tiny incoherent thing that is going on in that action scene there?Answer: probably a lot! I reckon you'd have to play that game for fifteen hours before it stopped telling you what to do It seems, to me, that the people designing RPGs in replica Cartier we1002s3 watch Japan know that their audience consists almost entirely of the types of people who would otherwise and elsewhere have actually applied to medical school because they thought the doctors on "ER" sounded "cool"

when they yelled out names of medicines and dosage amounts while sprinting down a hospital hall alongside a gurney on which a man lay with a sucking chest wound.GAMES THAT ARE AFRAID PEOPLE WON'T UNDERSTAND THEMNintendo has stated that their chief goal in marketing the Wii was to "win back" the gamers who "gave up" on games after Super Mario Bros Nintendo stated this many times between detailing the replica Cartier wj11934g watch nature of the "Revolution" controller at a press conference at Tokyo Game Show and announcing the first games for the console.

The above paragraph, my inner Expert Scientist tells me, is More Than Enough Text to set off militant Nintendo fans Disclaimer: I am not dissing Nintendo in the slightest (Not yet, anyway.) If you are going to immediately jump in my face and replica watches gift comment about how Nintendo made "lots of money" with the Wii and "broke sales records", you're missing something: the very fact that anyone was able to "break" said "sales records" is indicative of the fact that they could have been broken even harder,

2011年2月10日星期四

Did they also report him to the police

Did they also report him to the police? If so, what happened? If not, why not? Sexual predators exploit Xbox [Denver's KDVR]" "To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Trekkie I...had no idea.Like, I've always used a regular one, but I got a cheapo electric toothbrush, and it's great! My teeth feel super clean.Super clean.What you missed last night New Miss America Not Off To Hot Start With Gamers Snuggle Up To New Screens Of The Last replica Omega 1819.51.91 Men's Watch Guardian The Simpsons Lampoon Nintendo Straightly With The Funtendo Zii CBS Not Happy With Dante's Inferno Super Bowl Commercial What's Happened To Nintendo's ""New Play Control""?" "Fantasy themed bullet hell shooter Espgaluda II hit Japanese arcades back in 2006.

It'll be released only on the Xbox 360 this month in Japan.As Kotaku previously posted, Espgaluda II will have five modes: arcade, arrange, Xbox 360, novice and black label.Bundled with a two disc soundtrack, the game will be priced at ¥7,329 (US$85).There is a limited edition bundle with a faceplate - yours for ¥9,660 ($111)." "This is a PC casemod.Meaning there's a personal computer somewhere inside that mannequin of replica Omega 1501.30 Men's Watch Kratos, star of Sony's God of War series.Meaning terror is only ever a spreadsheet away.I admire the intent.And the craftsmanship.But the execution? No way I could have that thing anywhere near me while using a PC.I'm a light enough sleeper as it is.

Case de computador do Kratos (God of War) [Guilherme Serrano @ andafter, via Joystiq]" "THQ is off to a much better year than last, thanks in part to the UFC.The publisher announced record results today, a $243.5 million three month take bolstered by nearly 3 million copies of UFC 2009 Undisputed sold worldwide.THQ's take of nearly a quarter billion dollars during the April to June quarter was a hell of a lot better than the same replica Omega 1590.51 Men's Ladie's watch period last year, in which it brought in $137.6 million and lost $27 million.This quarter, however, THQ saw net income of $6.4 million, again, thanks to sales of UFC 2009 Undisputed and Red Faction: Guerrilla.This year's trimming back of nearly a quarter of those previously employed by THQ probably didn't hurt.