South Korea Opens Web Addiction Clinic

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 01 August 2011 11:55:00 PM. © The Escapist : Latest News

South Korea has a "Web addiction" center that (mostly) sounds an awful lot like a summer family camp.

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http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112005-South-Korea-Opens-Web-Addiction-
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New Destructoid Episode: Insanely Twisted Diablo
EVO2K

post from Destructoid on 01 August 2011 11:05:41 PM. © Destructoid

New Destructoid Episode: Insanely Twisted Diablo EVO2K screenshot

video details and more

Hey guys, today we're giving a wrap up of EVO2K news, including Capcom's next plans for the 3DS, and two new characters for Street Fighter X Tekken. There's suddenly a bunch of crazy news about Diablo III, like the addition of an online auction house. I'm officially stoked on Lollipop Chainsaw, and I'm glad to hear it's coming stateside. Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions has permanent save files, like Resident Evil: The Mercenaries did. Boo.

Today, through the magic of space-wizardry, we had a very special appearance from Destructoid news editor, Conrad Zimmerman, to give us his thoughts on Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. Jim Sterling's gave the game a six, so we find out what Conrad thought.

Also, have you seen these shirts? Or these shirts? So many shirts with bears! Bears are great. Go buy some bear shirts.

Finally, starting this Friday, every Friday episode of The Destructoid Show will be LIVE, at 3:30 PM Pacific time. That's 6:30 Eastern. We'll be done before Mash Tactics, we promise. We're going to have so much fun.

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Just Dance 3 video wants you to Just Create

post from Destructoid on 01 August 2011 11:05:41 PM. © Destructoid

Just Dance 3 video wants you to Just Create screenshot

Recently, Ubisoft announced Just Create mode for Just Dance 3. And I know how much y'all love the series. This latest video features young, attractive people being silly in front of their televisions.

Joking aside, these games are officially too big for us not to cover them. Thanks, game-buying population at large! As shown here, Just Create allows you to record custom choreography via Kinect, and you can then upload your routine to the social network circuit or challenge friends.

Let's start a fund to get Tonetta a copy of this game.

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Iwata: New 3DS price to benefit publishers and
retail

post from Destructoid on 01 August 2011 10:06:43 PM. © Destructoid

Iwata: New 3DS price to benefit publishers and retail screenshot

In a Q&A session Nintendo had with Tokyo investors last week, Satoru Iwata was asked how the recent 3DS price drop would affect third party publishers and retailers. Iwata had this to say:

For third parties, the hardware price was a hurdle. Publishers were saying things like, "Even if they are interested in this game, they can't buy it," or "We placed a big bet that the 3DS would sell without question, and are a bit disappointed." These same publishers are now saying "We're extremely relieved" and "This will definitely sell."
For retailers, profit margins will also go down. While Nintendo cannot do anything about this, retailers will see benefits from the overall expansion of the 3DS business. One retailer from America (Iwata would not share the name) was so pleased that he said "It's like Christmas has come early!"

It's nice to see Nintendo feels good about the support they are getting from third parties and retailers, contrary to how they feel about the support of their fans. It probably helps that Nintendo is organizing a "Price Protection" program where Nintendo will be refunding the difference back to retailers.

If Nintendo has truly learned from past mistakes, we will finally see more massive hits or, you know, more games added to the embarrassing eShop offering to help fill the gap Nintendo is making in their profit margin for the 3DS.

3DS price drop good for developers and retailers, says Nintendo CEO [andriasang.com]

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Square Enix Picks up True Crime: Hong Kong

post from MonsterVine on 01 August 2011 09:45:53 PM. © MonsterVine

Its been a long and strange road for developer United Front Games after the cancellation of True Crime: Hong Kong. Believing that it was the end for road for the game, Square Enix used a Phoenix Down and is now publishing the project under a new name. The publisher didn’t secure the rights to the [...]

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http://monstervine.com/2011/08/square-enix-picks-up-true-crime-hong-kong/

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Two more 3DS Ambassador program games revealed

post from Destructoid on 01 August 2011 09:06:02 PM. © Destructoid

Two more 3DS Ambassador program games revealed screenshot

Of the twenty free games current 3DS owners are getting in exchange for having bought the system at full price, ten are NES titles, and the rest are Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo hasn't said what each individual "Ambassador program" game will be yet, but we have two more to add to the confirmation list.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (I really do hate this naming scheme, even years later) and Kirby & the Amazing Mirror are both set on the GBA side. That means five NES and three GBA titles are still a mystery.

I'm fairly satisfied with the line-up so far, though some of you are undoubtedly taking this whole thing far more seriously. Just give me a Fire Emblem and some Advance Wars lovin' and I'll be content.

More 3DS GBA Titles Revealed [Nintendo World Report via Siliconera]

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Motion Control: Illusions of function

post from Destructoid on 01 August 2011 09:06:02 PM. © Destructoid

Motion Control: Illusions of function screenshot

_{[Our first promoted blog for last week's Motion Control topic is from ICLHStudios, who brings us a very insightful and well-illustrated examination into the dissatisfaction many of us have with waggling, and offers some suggestions to make a better motion-controlled swordfighting experience. Promotions for Motion Control will continue all this week. If you want to see your blog make it to the front page next week, make sure you write something about our current topic, eSports. -- JRo]}

Like many gamers this generation I’m not a huge fan of the push for and emphasis on motion controls in modern gaming (although I'm not extremely anti-MoCo either), but for a long time (also like many gamers) I could not explain why it felt so wrong to me beyond simple declarations of dislike. Recently though, I have discovered the flaw behind the system, the fundamental problem of motion controls, why they sound like they should work but gamers almost always feel that they don’t.

The problem at hand has actually come up before in gaming, and has even been solved. Take, for example, the mechanics of jumping in a sidescrolling platformer. The standard, as used in nearly every single game in this genre entirely devoted to the joys of jumping, is a button press (separate from the movement buttons) that causes the character to jump. The jump is done immediately (or nearly so) with the absolute minimum animation time devoted to the crouch as allowed by the art style. The upward movement lasts until a certain height is reached or the jump button is released. Horizontal movement in the air is approximately the same (acceleration, traction, speed) as on the ground (although sometimes with slightly less acceleration and traction).

Allow Exampleman to demonstrate:

Back when platformers were still young (as well as, more recently, numerous flash games made by designers who most likely haven’t worked all this out or were being sort of experimental) there were many games that tried to be more “realistic” in their controls, they disallowed the ability to alter direction mid-air (which is, in case you haven’t tried it, impossible, except over really long falls where there are special aerodynamic things going on) and had either one set height that the jump always reached, or the height of the jump only effected by the how long the jump button was held before liftoff (since, like with changing direction, you cannot simply stop moving up under your own power once you already jumped).

On the surface the problem seems to be that you have to sacrifice some of the fun and severely limit what the game can get out of the mechanic in order to have some "realism". This is not true; the real problem here is that calling this jumping method more realistic is a lie. In real life a person may jump from a standing position to any specific point in range, and with the limited input allowed by video games, the standard platforming jump is actually closer the end result of a real-life jump. Whether consciously or unconsciously, platformers seem to have noticed this, and now even the “realistic” platformers just use the standard jump with slightly lower maneuverability to mask the “unrealism” of it.

Video gaming is again going through this same problem of thinking that imitating the physics of real life makes a more realistic game, instead of trying to find the best way to reach the same end result (this is one of the few cases were the end justifies the means). The problem at the moment is motion control; with sword-fighting chosen as the example (especially in first person shooters, where the problems of this philosophy are most visible, and the solution makes the biggest impact).

The current Mo-Co FPS sword-fighting method is to try and match the motions of the controller to the motions of the sword in-game, hopefully resulting in immersive gameplay where the game-sword acts as if you are holding it in your own hand and perfectly does what you intend, because in real life when you move your arm your sword moves too. Putting aside issues of lag and calibration, it still has some problems, a few of which are rather large and, in the eyes of some, potentially gamebreaking.

The main problem is that while the virtual sword may follow the movements of your hand, the reverse is not true, if your in-game sword stops on something (such as someone else’s sword, which is kind of a common thing in a swordfight) your real arm keeps going, which can cause problems since the synchronization of sword and controller is now messed up, not to mention what would happen if your in-game sword is forcefully pushed in a separate direction than your real hand (parrying, another basic part of a swordfight, does this). In addition to being unable to perform some of the most basic elements of combat, the hyper-immersive nature of 1:1 motion control means that any deviance from what the player is expecting to happen will completely destroy the immersion and fundamentally alter how the swordplay works.

I think the best solution is to use the tilt sensor and pointer functions of the motion controllers to control the swordfighting.

Witness Exampleman and his daring dueling through his eyes:

There are numerous other advantages to this method, such as the minimal movement required allows for more reaction speed than 1:1 control, using the pointer to control it avoids messing up the camera (and thus forcing some stupid lock-on for sword-fights), it allows for speed and power to be left up to the game itself (whether you want a slower, strategic fight or a fast, twitch-gameplay fight, or RPG-like stats to affect your character, I mean, imagine an Elder Scrolls game where the fighting actually had some depth to it), since the player is somewhat disconnected from the actual act of swinging the sword (but only at a level any gamer is well used to) slight glitches or inaccuracies won’t completely break the immersion, and it can be altered in many ways to match a variety of games (or weapons).

Other uses of motion controls should look at how this principle can be applied to them (not just swordfighting). Try get the input to accurately and efficiently arrive at the end result of the action (and as many of the results as possible for the simplest input) instead of trying to make a inferior imitation of how it works.

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Escape from the Old School

Escape from the Old School is another Japanese point and click type room escape games by Springdays. In this game, you try to escape the place by finding items and solving puzzles.Language barrier may a problem. Good luck and have fun!Play This Game

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/escapegames24/~3/EosYHQgVZO0/escape-from-old-schoo
l-walkthrough.html

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A Very Simple Game 2: Odd One Out

AVSG 2 - A Very Simple Game 2: Odd One Out aka More of A Very Simple Game is sequel of A Very Simple Game 1 game. In this brand new sequel of sorts, you must ply your powers of observation to figure out which bouncing smiley is the odd one out. Good luck and have fun!Play A Very Simple Game 2

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/escapegames24/~3/q3z9__9dwg4/very-simple-game-2-od
d-one-out.html

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Live show: Grab Resistance 3 beta codes on Mash
Tactics!

Live show: Grab Resistance 3 beta codes on Mash Tactics! screenshot

_{_[}_{_{Mash Tactics}}_{_{airs Monday through Friday from 4-8pm Pacific. Join Jon Carnage and Pico Mause as they host a wacky and interactive show on TwitchTV.com. Join us for your chance to win prizes, talk to industry guests, and experience jaw-dropping stunts.]}}

Today on Mash Tactics, we will be showing you live gameplay footage from Resistance Fall of Man 3 Beta with codes to give away. Are you on the edge of whether or not to pick up a game? Stop by TwitchTV.com at 4-8pm Pacific to get a taste of new titles. Follow Mash Tactics on Facebook to vote for which games you would like to see on an upcoming show.

CLICK HERE for sexy time.

Watch live video from Destructoid on Justin.tv

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