The Destructoid Show: PSPgo 1, Portal 2, Saints
Row 3

post from Destructoid on 20 April 2011 11:06:18 PM. © Destructoid

Happy Holidays and welcome to the 80th episode of The Destructoid Show! By holidays I'm, of course, referring to yesterday's timely release of Portal 2. What, you thought I was talking about 4/20?

First on tonight's agenda is - surprise, surprise - the release of Portal 2. (I still haven't received my copy yet, so no spoilers!) Also, the PSPgo is unofficially deceased, Kinect Sports got some delicious new DLC, and Saints Row 3 got some saucy screenshots.

Best of all, it's Show & Tell day! What awesome indie game did I highlight this week? I guess you'll have to watch to find out! (Or click that link...because, you know, it's there.)

For the record, our producer is out of town and we managed to not burn the studio down. This is clearly a cause for celebration, so crack open a cold 40 oz., grab that Zebra Cake out of the freezer (if you know what's good for you), and enjoy your evenings, everyone!

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Aaamaazing: The Curse of Monkey Island and I

post from Destructoid on 20 April 2011 11:06:18 PM. © Destructoid

Aaamaazing: The Curse of Monkey Island and I screenshot

_{[For his Monthly Musing, Wolfy-Boey tells us a very personal and touching story about how The Curse of Monkey Island amazed him from start to finish. Want to see your own work on the front page? There's still time to write a musing blog before the end of April. -- JRo]}

As a child, my life was quite depressing. The middle child of a middle class family, living in a third world country that never quite had any true social or financial security. My parents fought and bickered almost every night, and I had only one friend, which I eventually lost after changing schools. A neglected and fragile child at home and an outcast weirdo at school, my childhood would not be so unusual in the personal files of some serial murderer. But I never went mad. I did not end up in some insane asylum or some prison cell plotting revenge at the fictional arch nemesis that put me there in the first place. I just ended up being a somewhat weird functioning member of society.

I credit this to videogames. More specifically, a game that amazed me and even shaped who I became to be today:

The Curse of Monkey Island.

As mentioned in the beginning, my earlier years were quite distraught and lonely. Furthermore, the country itself was (and still is) in a depressing state; joy was not a common theme within most homes. My family was no different. Financially, we were quite fortunate, as we came from two privileged families but that made things worse. My mother and father were under constant scrutiny as they had to at least match if not exceed the “standards” set upon their own parents, friends and even complete strangers. Status is unfortunately a big part of our culture.

Kinda like this. Only less extravangent, and with comfier underwear.

By default, as their children, my older brother, younger sister and I all had to abide these unwritten laws. I so I did. And this led to even more dissatisfaction and melancholy. I turned to my imagination to subdue my gloom. This made others portray me as an odd young boy, and led to my consequential label as a “weirdo”. My loneliness complimented my sadness, and thus it grew. But that was finally about to change, as a new technological marvel was about to enter our humble home: The Personal Computer. And with it came the answers to my problems, videogames.

Now call it what you will: an escape, a desperate get away, or even an attempt to run away from my demons. That doesn't matter. All that mattered is that a few moving pixels on a 13’ inch distorted screen made me smile. They took me away to world that never judged, punished, or disciplined my every move. Sure I still worked under the restrictions set out by some programmer or designer, but I felt like I was free, free to just have fun and smile.

It may sound cliché, but this really was my Portal to a much better world

But while the prospects of games had astonished me, no game had truly amazed me. I have fond memories of playing Megaman X, Comix Zone and even Batman Forever with my brother. All the same, it was still a hobby, a pastime that gave me great levels of enjoyment. Nothing more. But that was all I needed at the time really, something to bring more happiness to my dull existence. And for a while that was all what videogames ever meant to me. It was not anything more than a favourite occupation. That is until The Curse of Monkey Island came along and changed my life forever.

I remember the day it happened very well. I was eight years old, and it was a Friday. I had done well in school earning me a reward, I chose to ask my mother for a videogame. My mother actually liked the fact that I gamed back then. So she took me down to the local videogame store. This time though, I wanted something different. I had played platformers, beat´em ups and shooters and while they were all fun, I wanted something with a bigger focus on story this time. The store clerk suggested I play adventure games, and pointed me towards a more recent release. Needless to say I got what I wanted, but it was not what I expected.

Greatest.Title screen.Ever.

This game was like nothing I had played or even seen before, and that wasn't even because I hadn't played adventure games before. Nothing about this game was conventional, especially the concept and characters. For the first time, the backgrounds and items were no longer just static surroundings, and the hero was never oblivious to them. I could examine, use and pick up objects. I could even talk to the other characters, they were living breathing entities with personalities and I could speak to them anytime, even if it served no purpose. I was even able to choose the dialogue, even if it was just pointless babble.

This type of experience was fresh and different to me and it left me in awe. But, it did not amaze me. No, the intelligent puzzles and the explorative gameplay was not what truly amazed me, and it certainly isn´t why this game is so memorable to me. No, what truly amazed about this game was it´s utter refusal to take itself seriously, both in story and concept. This game was about vicious, bloodthirsty pirates, and it was funny!

The hero, Guybrush, was a misfit. As an actual pirate he was terrible. He was week and scrawny. He was neither mighty nor violent. Elaine his lover, the supposed damsel in distress, the captured princess was mightier than him. And they were also incredibly funny. Even the villain, the zombie pirate LeChuck, was hilarious. The secondary characters: Haggas the Scottish barber pirate, Edward the dapper and noble banjo playing pirate, Murray the self proclaimed most terrifying and evil pirate in the seven seas! Who just so happens to be a bodiless undead skull. All were both as wacky as they were funny.

Curse the villains! They never give ye enough slaw.

Even the combat was ridiculous. Insult sword fighting where you must reply to your opponents insult with the correct corresponding rhyme? Brilliant. And the story itself is equally ridiculous. An inept pirate setting out to save his true love from a deranged and obsessive zombie pirate who seeks to make her his undead bride could. And the way it progresses could just as easily be described as a series of simple problems that required a series of absurdly funny solutions.

I have yet to experience any other game that has you feeding a lactose intolerant volcano nacho cheese, so that you may melt said cheese in a pot to use it as a sort of tar to fix a broken ship, all so that you may have some hand lotion. What other game in existence has ever required that the player use any sort of hand lotion in any sort of capacity? None, expect for The Curse of Monkey Island.

Unlike any other game I had played at that time, The Curse of Monkey Island didn´t just make me smile, it made me laugh.

Pure Genius.

There I was, this nine year old boy raised to follow conventions and ethics that I refuted. Built by countless generations before me who believed and valued different things than I. I tried to run away from them, by escaping to other worlds, but with most games this was limited. Each day I had to return, in mere seconds the world would have to be shattered, and my immersion broken. By turning off the screen my fantasy was gone, suddenly vanished from existence. But Monkey Island leapt out, it leapt out and stayed with me. It stayed with me forever and it presented me with a new way to confront my demons: Humour.

And from then on I had a new skill. A new weapon to combat both my boredom and sorrow. Now even the countless hours spent in the back of the class transformed from misery to bliss. At any situation the world could be transformed into my theatre, men and women into puppets, and I their puppeteer. Ay subject or theme could become amusing, and humour would guide me towards it. The gift that was comedy had saved me.

For me? Thank you, I will cherish it forever.

Usually as the credits roll and a game ends, so is our connection with said game. The link we once had is severed, and we are never together again. Everything fades to black and we are left with only a final goodbye: "Game Over". I eventually finished The Curse of Monkey Island and the credits did indeed roll, but the game was never over. So long as I am breathing now and I continue to breathe, this game will never end. Is it a coincidence that I find it hard to connect with others who do not appreciate or admire this game, this series or even comedy itself as I do?

The fact that any sort of from of entertainment can change a person is nothing short of amazing.

The Curse of Monkey Island changed my outlook on life, thus changing who I was, and shaping who I would eventually become to be. For that The Curse of Monkey Island was, is, and forever will be amazing.

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Skar revealed as new Darkspore hero

post from Gaming Nexus on 20 April 2011 10:38:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Russell Archey
NEWS - Today Maxis has revealed the last in a series of Hero Spotlight videos Skar, the Necro Ravager, for their upcoming game Darkspore. Skar is one of over 25 characters that gamers can collect, upgrade, and customize in Darkspore. Skar has a Dual Strike basic attack as well as a Shadow Cloak squad ability that will render him invisible for six seconds, making him immune to all attacks as well as giving him an auto-critical attack when attacking. Check out the video below.

video details and more

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Comment on Character from my new RPG by resume
writers

post from Mattias Gustavsson on 20 April 2011 10:08:32 PM. © Mattias Gustavsson

resume writers wrote: Rather good graphic this game has. I'd like to play in it.resume writers[...]

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Comment on Pitstop - Old but Awesome Racing Game
by college essay

post from Mattias Gustavsson on 20 April 2011 10:06:39 PM. © Mattias Gustavsson

college essay wrote: It\'s rather old but very interesting game. I like it.college essay[...]

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Alienware wants to send you to E3!

post from Destructoid on 20 April 2011 10:06:21 PM. © Destructoid

Alienware wants to send you to E3! screenshot

In case you've missed out on all the ads that have been on Destructoid for the past couple of weeks, Alienware wants to send you to E3! Simply head to this page, fill in your info and that's it. One lucky randomly selected grand prize winner will win a three-day Alienware exhibitor pass to E3 and Alienware will be covering your travel and accommodations too!

Two runner-ups in the contest will win some Alienware prize packs. You have until next Friday to enter and the contest is open to US residents only.

Seriously, it's a simple matter of just filling in a few lines. It takes less than ten seconds and who knows, you may get a chance to see what it's like "living the dream" as you play a ton of videogames long before they're released. And drink. There's lots of drinking involved too.

[Image]

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Comment on Duell - A Card Game For Two by essays
writing

post from Mattias Gustavsson on 20 April 2011 10:04:57 PM. © Mattias Gustavsson

essays writing wrote: A very good dame. I can recommend it for all people who like to play in a[...]

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Comment on Thieves and Warriors by research
papers

post from Mattias Gustavsson on 20 April 2011 10:03:05 PM. © Mattias Gustavsson

research papers wrote: When I have nothing to do I can play a computer game. I\\\\\\\'d like to[...]

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You got some of your film in my video game

You got some of your film in my video game screenshot

_{[To cutscene or not to cutscene? That is the question posed by Zwuh; not so much posed as answered vehemently. Want to see your own writing on the front page? Write something awesome and put it in the C Blogs. -- Kauza]}

Welcome to your beautiful morning. The sun is chirping, the birds are shining and your pockets are filled with party money. You’re going to get a damn ice cream and you’re going to enjoy it. Expertly placing one foot in front of the other, you make your way down the street to the corner shop. The door opens with very little effort and you step towards the counter.

Then it happens. Your eyes are plucked out of their sockets and placed on a nearby shelf. While you stare from your distant perch, the shopkeeper starts selling a delicious treat to your limp body. Two men in blue jumpsuits swoop in and begin puppeting your husk through the motions of modern capitalism. You watch on as the hollow buys an ice cream and makes small talk about football. You don’t even like sport. Transaction complete, your eyes are thrust back inside your head and you black out, waking up outside the store with an ice cream in your hand.

And that’s roughly how cutscenes work.

There are two main schools of thought on the topic. The first is that cutscenes are a horrible abomination which needs to be purged, a lazy storytelling method that’s nothing but video games wishing really, really hard that they were movies. The second position is that cutscenes are a vital method for conveying complex narrative and without them sitting on the couch eating jumbo-size corn chips while stabbing elves would be meaningless.

If excessive use of cutscenes really is abuse, then Metal Gear Solid is the drunk stepfather of video gaming. All the titles have, to various degrees, been accused of being movies with short interactive breaks. We’re talking about a series that made us watch a 10 minute montage of two characters slowly walking down a cliff-side road while a British lady waxed lyrical about the nature of genetics as it related to personal life experience. Then the sequel threw in 20 minutes of the most fucked up and confusing shit you’ve seen since the last time a lunatic artificial intelligence piloted a giant metal whale into the side of New York City while three clones had a cockfight on the roof. And when that madness isn’t happening, half the so-called scenes are actually just spent staring at the screen of your spy phone while people talk... and talk. AND TALK.

To their credit, the crack minds at Konami have tried to add interactivity to these infinite conversations by letting you mess with the camera, hear the character’s thoughts on the discussion and bash a small robot into an old man’s legs. Surely this is merely dodging the problem, however. If I’m so disinterested in the contents of a scene then it should be cut out entirely.

But how else do you disseminate information to the player? I need to know why I’m shooting this guy in the face, so the people around me will stop calling me a sociopath. Text-only mission briefings and on-screen objectives are functional, if totally lifeless. And you’ll quickly run out of excuses for Hero Protagonist to be on the phone unless he’s an international secret agent or Niko Bellic. Half-Life ripped open a new hole in the universe of possibilities by having absolutely everything play out from the player’s first-person perspective. Conversations, important story events, climactic moments in key battles, everything is seen not only through Gordon Freeman’s eyes but unfolds with you - the player - still in control. You’re free to wander around, poke things and stare at the ceiling while Dr. Bunsen Honeydew tells you the flux capacitor is about to overheat the universe.

The downside, of course, is the human attention span. With total control at your fingertips it is always tempting to wander off the beaten path, ignore the conversation and see what is in the next room. Or try to punch NPCs. And like a flash, total immersion once again becomes a video game. And it’s all your fault.

Often you want a controlled experience anyway. I will freely admit that a lot of games have better crafted storylines and more cleverly directed scenes than I could possibly hope to conjure from my sugar-addled mind fries. The Uncharted series is widely regarded as some pretty damn awesome shit, largely because of its story and presentation. Not only do the titles each have (absolutely gorgeous) cutscenes with great voice and body acting, but the games themselves are a completely straight line from menu to credits. Yet the mobs do not grab their pitchforks and cry foul, because the presentation fits the content. While Half-Life is written to allow you, the gamer, to step inside a new world and be the Big Damn Physicist who saves the Mother Fucking Day Yeah, Uncharted is a role-playing game in the literal sense. It’s an excuse to be a half-tuck version of Indiana Jones for a few hours, and as such it makes sense to have a very focused story which emphasizes Nathan Drake in his role as part of the world, instead of a silent bystander.

This blog ends with an example. A scene from Bioshock which most will have seen. Spoilers will be minimal, but may leave a scar.

Bioshock uses a similar presentation style to Half-Life - scenes presented in-game from the player perspective - and this is how you roll for pretty much all of the game. Except for one scene. At a pivotal moment the game takes control away from you and forces your character to commit a terrible act, one which you may well totally disagree with. Immediately after that, it smugly informs you that EVERYTHING you’ve done up until that point was forced on you. And it’s true, you did what you were told. The sudden intrusion of a cutscene on your interactive playground is shocking and hurtful, you even start to question the way you play video games.

What makes gaming such an exciting medium is that we get to pick and choose, with grotesque amounts of freedom, what aspects of other art forms we steal. If I’m writing a book, I can’t (within reason) decide to add a video about pandas to page 47. But if I want to have players shoot their way into a building, switch out to an external cut of the whole damn thing exploding, then bring up a page of poetry from a small girl’s diary which the player must thumb through for clues and sadness, then I can totally do that. As with anything, there are good and bad ways to use this power, but removing the tools wholesale would be a mistake.

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Mortal Kombat may 'fix' itself when you're not
looking

Mortal Kombat may 'fix' itself when you're not looking screenshot

It looks like the Mortal Kombat you're all playing now may not be the Mortal Kombat you'll be playing down the line. I'm not talking about a patch or a new release, I'm talking about changes that might be made to the game without the player knowing it.

Series creator Ed Boon tells Eurogamer that "In Mortal Kombat we have a system where we can make adjustments to the special moves and balance things out even after the game has been released," and that his team "... can do it without having players have to download a patch. That's something we're very excited about. We can monitor what things players may have an issue with and then correct them as needed."

There is no word on how exactly Boon and company can make these secret changes to the game's code. I'm assuming they're exploiting some aspect of XBLA/PSN equivalent to cookies, sort of how Teh Internets free DLC works on Super Meat Boy. More importantly, they're is no word on how to opt out of these secret, presumably unannounced updates. What Ed Boon may consider a bug, I may consider a feature.

I hope he keeps that in mind before he goes ahead and erases that infinite combo I just spent all night mastering.

Mortal Kombat secretly nerfs characters [Eurogamer]

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