Strange games through the ages...

OK, so this post is pretty self-explanatory really. Here I’m going to take a look at some of my favourite games that were always considered a bit strange.

 I think it’s fair to say that we now have a bit of a sub-culture of developers making intentionally ‘different’ games (see my ‘When is a game not a game’ thread) but that isn’t where this post is going.

Here I’m interested in programs that were released as main-stream games, which genuinely had something different, innovative, or just plain odd about them. And make no mistake, strange games are by no means a new phenomenon. As well as the odd left-field game (pun intended) from the mainstream software houses of the times; there have always been some developers that seemed to specialise in the strange and different.

The first game I ever picked up that seemed to break, or at least crack, the mould was the eponymous ‘Attack of the Mutant Camels,’ followed quickly by ‘Revenge of the Mutant camels’ both by Llamasoft and created by the hairy hand of the Yak; AKA Jeff Minter. It wasn’t long after this that I stumbled upon a copy of ‘Weird Dreams’ for the C64 and then ‘Trap-Door’ for the ZX Spectrum. I think that was the start of me becoming hooked on games that looked and played a bit different from the norm. But the strangest and best was still to come…

A resurgence of retro?

Is the games industry having a bit of a retro revival, or is it just maturing and diversifying?

I’ve decided to look at the popularity of newer retro-styled games like Braid, Galaxy Wars, and the latest incarnations of old staples, like Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Pac-Man Championship Edition, or Sonic 4. 

These are just the tip of the ice-burg as far as retro-type games are concerned nowadays. Look through Xbox Live or PSN and you are sure to dig up numerous examples of both new games based on retro gaming styles and concepts, and re-released or new versions of the well-known older franchises. But this isn’t a new thing. One of the first types of software released for practically any of the new platforms are the retro-compilations.

My first question was, “why are they being made?” And the rather obvious answer was, “because they are still commercially viable and popular.”

But why are they popular?

And who is buying them?

When is a game not a game?

I think the so-called backlash of Alternate Gaming is a natural outcome of today’s commercialised mainstream gaming industry.
Which begs the obvious question, an alternative to what? 

Back in the boom-time of the mid-eighties to late-nineties there was no such thing as alternate gaming, mainly because at least every second game was completely different from the first. There were definitely some very weird games produced, but nothing was ever really seen as truly alternative, because there was no standard to be alternate from.

That all started to change as the market grew, and the standardisation began to draw all the creativity into the safe middle-ground of 3D platforms and First Person Shooters. With the advent of the ‘SONY Playstation’, 3D, and birth of ‘modern gaming’ the big players became predominantly market driven, and the market was growing at an expediential rate.

So the coining of the Alternate Gaming market is a relatively modern invention. But still, what exactly qualifies as an alternate game? In some cases it can be seen as something with a slightly edgy or underground quality to its game-play. In others the game-play can be a derivative of a much older style of game brought up-to-date for today’s technology. But there is another, artier, form of entertainment program evolving, and this type forms the main body of the controversy…

Online Only Games from PSN for the PS3

Despite a continual uptake of players I’ve noticed a distinct lack of information, or even interest, about console based multiplayer gaming on the PS3. 

 So, in this blog I’m taking a look at what MMORPG and MMO games are available through PSN for the PS3.

 PNS On-line Only Games Quick list:

FPS:	M.A.G.	Near future, up to 256 players in a game.
	Battlefield 1943	World War 2, up to 24 players in a game.
	Modern Combat: Domination.	Contemporary, up to 16 players in a game.
3PS:	Warhawk	Middle future, up to 32 players in a game.
	Section 8	Far future, up to 32 players in a game.
	SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALS	Near future, up to 32 players in a game.
RPG:	Free Realms	Fantasy past, massively multiplayer game.
	DC Universe	Contemporary, massively multiplayer game.
	Angel Love Online	Fantasy, massively multiplayer game.
	Angle Genki.	Fantasy, massively multiplayer game.

• FPS = First person Shooter
• 3PS = Third person Shooter
• RPG = Role-Play Game

I’ve taken a look at what’s available, and compared their pricing structures, game-play, graphics and sound.

Not every type of game will suite everyone, and there can be a world of difference between what a MMO and a MMORPG player thinks is good.

Just one other thing before we get started on the mini-reviews: You may think I’m being overly generous in my prise of the graphics for these games, but you have to remember the yard-stick is different for massively on-line games. Today’s machines simply can’t process the type of graphics capability displayed by the latest single-player games in a massively on-line environment.  The reasons are both complicated and boring, so why yatter on about frame-rates and network speeds, yada, yada… Ok, so given all the techno-reasons, my estimation of the graphics is based on other similar types of on-line only games. Oh, and a game that has on-line options isn’t the same as a true MMO system. There are more technical reasons for this, but bottom line is they would just crunch with the amount of simultaneously connected game users a true MMO or MMORPG can handle. And this isn’t a bolg about technical stuff…

Digitising Alice

A history and round up of Alice's Adventures in Videogameland…

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is perhaps one of the most enduring children’s stories in the western world, and many, if not most, of us have probably grown up with it on one form or another. Alice has spanned many film versions over the years, starting with the 1951 animated Disney version and including at least one ‘adult’ version. The book has practically always been in print, in one form or another, since first published in 1865. And I’m sure you are all at least relatively familiar with the various book and film adaptations, but how much do you know about Alice’s long and often rather obscure digital history?

For many people the gaming history of Alice started, and for a while stopped, with the original American McGee Alice game released in 2000. If you were one of those who assumed this you would of course be wrong. And I’m not referring to the newly published ‘Alice: Madness Returns’ 2011 sequel ether, although that, along with the Tim Burton film adaptation, has brought the series back in to the media spotlight.

The real history predates the American McGee’s game by quite a few years. As far as I know the first commercial game to appear based on the Alice in Wonderland concept was in 1984 for the Commodore 64 home-computer, although I’m by no means certain that this was the very first instance of an Alice inspired game.  There have been quite a few other games based on the concept over a range of 8 and 16 Bit home-computers of the eighties and nineties, and although it is perhaps an iconic western story, Alice based gaming was also taken very-much to heart in the land of the rising sun, an it is from Japan that much of these early and forgotten games originated.

However, Alice’s adventures aren’t just limited to her own games, there have always been many other games where ether she, or Wonderland in general, makes an appearance. The following is a short (and by no means exhaustive) list of the more instantly recognisable titles: Kingdom Hearts, Psychonauts, Rule of Rose, Silent Hill, Thief, Bloody Roar, and not forgetting the LaserDisk game Dragon's Lair II.
But Alice-based gamming is most definitely not a thing of the past. As of 2011 we had a brand-new American McGee game released. And another parade of game incarnations came, part-and-parcel, with the release of the 2010 Tim Burton film adaptation.

Sonic Unleashed? Well not always…

  Sonic Unreleashed

I have to admit that the Sonic the Hedgehog games have always been one of favourite series, ever since I played the very first one on my shiny new Master System. But this isn’t going to be a fan-gush on the brilliance of the games, and I’m the first to admit that that initial shine got more that a little tarnished as Sonic got on in years. To be faire though, the old Sonic seems to be making a bit of a come-back lately, but I digress…

What I want to look at here are the miss-starts and blind-allies of the Sonic race. I want to take a look at the games that didn’t make it, and it may turn out to be a more interesting story than you may first think. At one time there was a lot of miss-information and out-and-out fiction circulating about ‘lost’ Sonic games. As such, I can only recant the things I have acquired, seen or heard about. I will leave it up to you to decide how much truth there is to any of this. All I can say is that I genuinely have, or have ‘officially’ heard about, everything I have included here.

Shut the SHMUP up!

I was in GAME buying another PS3 joy-pad recently, and overheard two of the ‘gamers’ behind the counter discussing ‘shooting-games.’ They were of course talking about first-person shooters. They must have seen me roll my eyes or something, because I got a rather funny look from the bearded twenty-something.
Maybe it was the smirk on my face. Maybe that smirk said, “…and you call that a shooting game?”

So am I really that old, has the definition changed that much?
Now, I’m not against a good FPS. I remember the sheer awe of first playing DOOM on an Amstrad 386SX PC. I also think many of its modern descendants are vastly superior. You won’t find any rose-coloured glasses here folks, but a shooting-game…

Ok, technically I suppose they are correct, but technically a tomato is a fruit. Doesn’t mean it would go well with some double-cream in a fruit-cocktail does it?