Game 2.0 — Ευρώπη και music games: Μια προβληματική σχέση

Δημοισεύθηκε σήμερα στο www.game20.gr το τελευταίο μου άρθρο με τίτλο Ευρώπη και music games: Μια προβληματική σχέση. Διαβάστε το εδώ.

Βέβαια απο τότε που το έγραψα έχει περάσει λίγος καιρός: τώρα πια έχω κι εγώ τα drums μου… 🙂

Game 2.0 — Bolt Review

Μόλις ανέβηκε στο Game 2.0 το review που έγραψα για το Bolt της Disney για το PS2. Μπορείτε να διαβάσετε για το πόσο άσχημα πέρασα παίζοντας το εδώ.

Game 2.0 debut — downloadable games.

Νέα νέα νέα! Με ένα ευγενικό ευχαριστώ στον Μάριο (You’re da best. Mad MAD props I say!) είμαι πλέον συντάκτης στο www.game20.gr, όπου θα γράφω απόψεις, νέα, άντε και καμιά κριτική. Όποτε γράφω οτιδήποτε θα δίνω link του απο εδώ.

Η πρώτη μου δουλεία:

Downloadable Games: Παρόν, παρελθόν και μέλλον

Cultural Aspects of Today vol. 1

Cultural Aspects of Today, CATs for short, is my new way to present and discuss what I read, play, watch, listen to and generally enjoy these days. We are now in the era of Postmodernism according to which, very roughly, anything goes. At the same time the word “culture” can be used to describe a very broad selection of productive human activity just as well as the word “art”: cinema, video games, books, paintings, music, local traditions, Pop Art, High Culture… What falls under which category is not as apparent as it once may have been and the older norms, along with this fact, have all merged into Postmodernism, the movement of blending seams… I’m going to use this to present many different aspects of life, art (controversially or not), knowledge, products and ideas as parts of the Cultural Aspects of Today.

~

Ratatou-E

I watched Wall-E and Ratatouille 2 weeks apart. I first saw Wall-E, which was already hyped by pretty much everybody on IMDB along with a super user rating and a super review from Athinorama (an impressive 4 stars if I remember correctly). I could not help but be intrigued by the futuristic looks and alleged environmentalistic themes. My impressions?

The postapocalyptic backdrop for the first half of the movie was just spectacular. All the different items that Wall-E (the little robot) collects that represent parts of humanity’s cultural heritage were both emotionally powerful and conceptually brilliant. The feeling of solitude this half of the film gives off is noteworthy. The mega-corporation depicted in the movie which is the evolution of the capitalist tendencies of today is wonderfully and poetically pepresented, both by its name and its significance. BNL, Buy N Large.

The second half is not as good. The very subtle comedy of the first half is compromised and the film reverts to a style more similar to other Pixar films. The whole veil of mystery over the supposed future of humanity is lifted and, despite the unexpected plot twist (two words: steering wheel), the ending is very disappointing, destroying any kind of environmentalist tone the rest of the film had. (SPOILERS! READ FURTHER AT OWN RISK: Very “it’s-ok-guys, pollute-as-much-as-you-want-it’s-going-to-be-ok-even-if-it-takes-us-700-years!” Didn’t like that part… Overall, I think it wasn’t as good as hyped although it was enjoyable and had very sweet moments. Wall-E and EVA are perhaps the best robotic couple in the history of animation!

Ratatouille on the other hand… I had heard it was very good from different people but it managed to surpass my already high expectations. It was very funny and the characters were brilliant. Me and Alexandra especially liked the restaurant critic, Anton Ego (word goes around the internet that this guy was actually homosexual. I find that strange but whatever) I personally also liked Emile, Remy’s brother. I felt Ratatouille was very down to earth and appreciative to love for the simple things in life. Made me want to cook and eat the best meal in the world! The ending was very very satisfying and it left us with a very cheery feeling.

I cannot compare the two films. I don’t have the skills necessary and it would be pointless anyway as they are different films with a different goal and a different touch. What I can say though is that Wall-E promised a lot and underdelivered in a memorable and affectionate way while Ratatouille overdelivered in every possible way. Both films remain however as good examples to why Pixar is the leading mainstream 3D animation studio; they still haven’t made a film that I didn’t enjoy.

PS: Pixar are also well known for their shorts and we all love them. “Presto”, “Your Friend The Rat”, “Lifted” are all great recent examples, I recommend you watch them if you haven’t along with the feature films.

Braid/Castle Crashers

Braid and Castle Crashers were the summer’s greatest hits for the now-favourite Xbox Live Arcade service. Two distinct games with different gameplay styles and approaches that however have three things in common: 1) They are 2D. 2) They developed a cult fanbase even before they were released. High levels of anticipation then. 3) They are pricey games indeed.

I had the luck to be able to buy them both close to a month ago. First, Braid. Braid was a novel idea based on the platformer teaching of ye olde. That is, it was like playing a Mario game with some new mechanics. These mechanics took the “platformer” out of its name and turned it into something that’s closer to “puzzle”. Tim, the hero, must collect jigsaw pieces through various levels controlling time and various items and behaviours that manipulate time on their own as well in order to save the “princess”. The result is some very difficult puzzles but a genuine sense of accomplishment. What made the game stand out even more was the very open-to-debate story. What the “princess” is in the end is a very good question, but I won’t spoil it for you! I can’t not mention the jaw-dropping ending, one of the most fitting endings Jonathan Blow could think of! Oh yes, Jonathan Blow is the designer of this game. People call Braid “indie”, cause apart from the game’s art, Blow made the rest of the game all on his own. What is less well known is that it cost him approximately $180,000, production values quite higher than what people would call “indie”. Still, Braid has its own distinct feel and it was well worth the 1200MS Points if only to get to experience such a, how should I put it, classy and rounded game experience.

Castle Crashers is a lot different. Developed by The Behemoth (by Newgrounds.com creator Tom Fulp and flash artist Dan Paladin) and a lot more of course hit the gaming scene as a tribute to old 16-bit beat-em-ups set in fantasty settings, complete with knights, dragons, princesses, magic etc. I hear it’s very similar to Golden Axe but I haven’t personally played the game. Castle Crashers has excellent 2-D graphics (which just like the developer’s previous game, Alien Hominid, want to give off the Flash game feeling), cheery and sometimes hilarious humour and some addictive hack & slash gameplay, especially multiplayer. I’ve lost count of just how many people have come to my place, played a bit of Castle Crashers and then played the night away (with me or without me…) Not a huge game by any standards but I can see how me and 3 more friends will sometime come back to live the complete 4-player experience.

Go

Just a few days ago me and Alex had the chance to at last play Go together. It was just as good a game as I remembered it, having only played it once before. Thank you again Cies for introducing me to a game that takes one go (pun intended) to learn and two lifetimes to master.

Go is apparently the oldest known board game, much older than chess or even backgammon. Its roots are oriental and more specifically Chinese. From there it has spread over the centuries to Japan and other asian countries where it’s now possibly the most widespread game, played in tournaments, special clubs and between friends. Oddly, it’s not that well known in Europe, especially not in Greece. I’ve only seen it twice and under totally random circumstances. Since Chess is king over here I doubt we’ll be seeing people play it more but you never know, chinese expansion could also mean cultural expansion? Hmm…

The board is empty once players start off. The players take turns placing one stone on the intersections of the board, forming groups. If the other player surrounds the entire group with her own stones then the surrounded stones are captured and removed from the game. And… that’s basically it. Every other rule derives from this simple principle. The winner is the player who controls the largest part of the board with her stones at the end of the game, point which is declared by both players passing consecutively.

These simple rules define a game of strategy, deception, intrigue, loss, amazement, fulfilment and active rivalry between the players. Never before have I seen a game so noble: one rule suggests that players say “atari” when a move of theirs will capture enemy stones in the next move so that they can react accordingly. Thus the point automatically becomes cornering the opponent and making her not be able to do anything to save herself as opposed to taking advantage of a miscalculation or a careless move which is a norm in chess. Indeed, never before have I seen a game so fair: two players of extremely different skill can fruitfully play together by having a handicap for the stronger player: the weaker one starts off with as many stones already on the board as the difference of skill indicates.

Alexandra has beat me every time we’ve played together save 2. I will strive to get better and one day, as the mighty yet harmonious Go spirit commands, I just might achieve the perfect balance of spirit and wit, become one with the universe… *floats*

Deception Point, by Dan Brown

I first got to know of Dan Brown through his most famous work, that is none other than “The Da Vinci Code”. It’s his latest work out of a total of 4 books he has written within the past 12 or so years. I read Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and Digital Fortress all roughly 2 years ago and Deception Point just now and I’m genuinely impressed by his consistency in showing the world how skillful he is in grabbing his readers by the balls. However, The Da Vinci Code is surely Brown’s most overestimated work, another proof of why the best-seller isn’t always the best-in-general (the rest of his books it turn became best-sellers after the success of The Da Vinci Code). Angels and Demons, which was very similar in its religious and “secret cults” themes to the former, I enjoyed much more. “Deception Point” has a plotline that has more to do with politics, scandals, secret government agencies, NASA, a huge conpiracy… A lot more like Digital Fortress.

This book didn’t just have twists. Its twists were the evolution of the twists of the original twists that I thought were good twists. Yes, it was twisty. The characters felt alive if a bit contived (like the nerd astrophysicist or the always sexy front couple), the action never stopped, the good guys turned bad and then good again within a matter of pages (before they turn out bad at the end of the b… oh, another twist. They’re good), the little pieces of actual real-world scientific aspects, like the fossils and meteorite and the futuristic gadgets (always part of Brown’s stories) also gave it a nice tw… edge. Yes, I liked this book. Seemingly complex but ultimately quite easy to grasp and FUN! You just can’t help but smile when the bad guys fire bullets made of ice. Recommended.

PS: I regret to say I’ve read all of the books mentioned above in greek. They may be even better in english.

Astronomy in games: does a realistic sky make a difference?

Originally posted as a Destructoid.com cblog.

Wouldn’t you like just sitting back and enjoying the night sky in a game, knowing that what you see is a perfect represenation of the actual night sky? It is true, a pretty night sky captures the eye (as most WoW players can testify) and there is no prettier sky than the only one we earthlings have had the chance to see, give or take a few planets, moons and nebulae.

Today I was having a conversation with two friends of mine (Mario and Housemaster, if you’re reading you know that unlike the guys from d-toid!), one of them also a user of Destructoid. The kick-off for the conversation and the inspiration for this blog post was me complaining that Fallout 3 had a completely messed up night sky. I recalled my first experience with this upon exiting the elementary school close to the beginning of the game. The stars were all tiny grey dots of the same brightness. No constellations of course, nothing. It didn’t even have any significantly brighter stars that could form any shapes. Of course, that’s totally different than anything anyone can see if they look up at night in the real world. To top it off, at some point I had a look at the moon. Its position in the sky was totally wrong compared to its phase, a relationship which can normally be defined with two basic rules: A new moon is close to the sun so it sets a bit after the sun and rises a bit after the sun as well and the full moon rises when the sun sets and sets when the sun rises anew. This was completey screwed up as far as I observed in Fallout 3. As if that wasn’t enough, upon closer inspection the starry sky did not move at all. Instead, the moon was moving against the backdrop of a frozen sky, setting south-east. That is wrong in so many levels I cannot begin to describe. Surely the nukes didn’t stop the earth from rotating? Even if they did, there’s still night and day!

My friends told me that I had not grasped the feeling of the game, that I was looking at the sky when the game was NOT about looking at the sky (which in turn means that anything not directly related to the main focus of the game is perfectly OK to be made with minimal attention paid to it but whatever) and that since Fallout 3 takes place in an imaginary, alternative universe, the creators do not have to realistically depict the sky as it is today in the real world. But… Even though Washington D.C. features in the game complete with existing roads (correct me if I’m wrong) isn’t it safe to assume that the sky is the same as it was hundreds of years ago in-game? We’re not talking about a completely different universe, say Oblivion’s or WoW’s universe, but one pretty close to our own experience and one that derives from it and uses it to make said universe hit us harder emotionally, make us feel that we’re actually on Earth as it would be centuries after a nuclear war. Is creative freedom this powerful when talking about the imaginary based on reality? Why be realistic when it comes to sun movement but not care about the movement of the moon or the sky in general? Would a sun rising at 6PM be OK because it’s Bethesda making a game about something NOT real? At the end of the day, “who cares?” or “Hang on, I’ll call the care police”. That’s what my friends were saying and no doubt many of you.

Truth is I can see where they’re coming from. In this day and age observation of the sky is trivial at best. Erroneous night skies make their apperance everywhere from movies to novels to games… People don’t know better so they don’t really care (developers in turn don’t care either).The sky we see today is fundamentally the same sky people of ancient times wondered at and worshiped and the same sky Copernicus observed and realised that the earth rotates around the sun and it’s not the other way around. Till the 20th century, the sky was an excellent guidepost, the stars always pointing towards the right direction. Even the first foundations of time-keeping were based on the movements of the sky and moon (let alone the sun) and when during the night certain constellations appear. See Orion rise right after sunset and it’s winter alright, follow the direction of Polaris, the current pole star and you’ll be visiting the polar bears. And so forth. Today of course these observations aren’t at all useful for everyday life so the sky remains up there enchanting everyone with its beauty but giving little useful incentive for further exploration of tis workings and secrets.

I won’t lie, less than 2 years ago I was one of many, thinking that the night sky is pretty but difficult to get to know. The movements of the planets, the moon, why the sun rises and sets when it does and what the equinoxes mean eluded me. At least, though, I knew from a very early age that the earth rotates around itself anti-clockwise and that this is what actually makes the starry sky move, as well as the sun and moon, from east to west. And finding out how the rest of this stuff works wasn’t that hard at all. Since then I have been able to spot mistakes almost everywhere.

The final question is: Does it all matter? If both people making the game and playing the game can’t tell the difference, does it matter? I’ll compare the whole thing with having a game take place during a specific time period, say the Middle Ages in England. The game is superb in every way but the buildings aren’t correct or something else isn’t right, say the language spoken or a piece of armour. Few people will notice, but those which are fascinated by history and historical accuracy will promptly spot the mistake and instantly lose a bit of interest/immersion for the game. Maybe it’s not a great analogy because portraying an accurate sky is much easier than certifying the historical accuracy of a certain piece of armour and historical accuracy is much more important sometimes than having a correct decorative backdrop for a game’s universe. Because it is true. In the end, it’s all decoration with few gameplay implications, just like the building or the armour. But can we really justify these “astro-errors that were willingly introduced and indicate a profound lack of attention to easily checkable detail” (sic), using only the argument that nobody cares enough? Well, I care! And I’m certain that especially Fallout 3 must have attracted quite a number of people that will have spotted the same thing. Not to say that other games sport a richer nightly display; I’ve yet to encounter a game that has it right (with the exception of Wii’s Weather Channel — no, it’s not a game, I know).

Even if we break this down to pure aesthetics, which one of these would you prefer?

This:

Or this:

Creating a perfect recreation of the sky isn’t all that hard. It may be harder than creating a dark background with lighter dots and leaving it at that but I believe the coding required for the former would be easy. The skies would be realistic, pretty and keep all the astronomy buffs like me quiet and agreeable.

Uncommon Ways: A Subjective Look At Rare’s Ventures On The Xbox 360

I got myself an Xbox 360 last Christmas. It was purely coincidential (or was it?) that I found the premium edition along with Perfect Dark Zero and NFS: Carbon for only 120 euros new. If it wasn’t for that super bargain I may not had been writing these lines about one of my most liked developers: Rare.

Up till then, I had been chiefly a Nintendo gamer; as such I had played and loved most Rare games after Donkey Kong Country, even the more obscure ones like Jet Force Gemini or Blast Corps. Classics like Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country 3 and GoldenEye all enjoy the view from the top of my favourite game list. Obviously, I was full of anticipation when the GameCube was just getting released, sure that Rare’s slew of great games would continue on Nintendo’s latest console. The announcement of Microsoft buying and Nintendo selling hit me hard. I knew I wouldn’t be playing Perfect Dark Zero or Donkey Kong Racing any time soon, if at all.

Things didn’t change much during last gen since Rare wasn’t all that active during that period. I didn’t even try Star Fox Adventures (though I’d like to try it now)… Games Rare designed for the original Xbox seemed heretical to my preteen eyes, as anything they made could only be associated with Nintendo in my book.

When I got that Xbox 360 with Perfect Dark Zero, again I didn’t expect much from the game. I remembered hearing a lot of criticism during X360’s launch… How the game had little to do with the original and how Rare had dropped the ball for its first major release since the buyout. Sceptical, I tried it for a few hours and indeed, the game was a total disappointment. I couldn’t understand how they could mess it up so much. But the worst had still to come.

Let’s have a look at Kameo: a new IP in Rare’s arsenal, Kameo was first shown along with Donkey Kong Racing as the games they were working on for GameCube’s launch window. When within that same window fell the company’s trade of hands Kameo was moved to Xbox and Donkey Kong Racing was, of course, cancelled. The former reappeared after a second delay as a launch title for Microsoft’s new console hand-in-hand with Perfect Dark Zero, heralding Rare’s supposed revival. Supposed… A friend of mine got me the game for Christmas shortly after I got the Xbox so I had the chance to play it only shortly after the mess that was Perfect Dark. What can I say about this game?

It wasn’t a TOTAL disaster. For instance, the graphics and sound production were of high quality all around, nicely showing off 360’s initial capabilities. The gameplay was fine too: transforming into different creatures and killing stuff with combos? Sounds great! And it did play decently. But as I progressed, more and more did I feel like something was wrong. Every time Kameo uttered so much as a word my face transformed into a mask of disgust, every time I had to play the SAME boss to gain a new Elemental Warrior I slowly shook my head, every time I flip-kicked a boulder using Kameo I’d wonder why it wouldn’t budge when just running into it would make it roll around as if it was a giant titanium ball filled with helium. Yes, every time I played the game I’d find more and more cringe-worthy characteristics: the story (ouch!), the characters (yuck!), the presentation (ewww!), how Kameo’s horse would be too scared to go anywhere near buildings but it’d run head first into huge crowds of identically modelled and animated trolls (what?? trolls are like orcs now?), how the game tried to be fantastically epic but failed so miserably it hurt. OK, as I said the gameplay was fun and enjoyable but picture this: it took me over 2 months of on and off play to get to the last boss of this weekend-filler game and I still haven’t defeated him. Even the respective (high scoring) achievement wasn’t enough of an incentive… To sum up, Kameo played kinda like a Rare game, that is unrivaled when it comes to fun and fulfilling gameplay, but it fell flat on its face concerning the other aspect that make Rare games great: the personality, the humour, the flair and vibrance that make them unique. Kameo felt like it was just trying to be all of these, trying to mimic something long lost… As if it was another company that made the game. Thankfully (?), there was something that reminded me who made this piece of perfumed crap: there’s a hidden radio somewhere within it that plays the Banjo theme remixed in metal! Oh joy! An island of hope in this sea of mediocrity…

That track proved to be much more than what met my eye at first. I liked it so much I looked all over the net to download (still haven’t found it). Meanwhile, I did some research and discovered that it was none other than Grant Kirkhope himself, composer of Banjo-Kazooie music (among many other Rare classics, not least GoldenEye and Perfect Dark) who was behind this remix, a heavy rocker himself. I found his profile on MySpace and asked him about his projects himself, while commenting on his work (add him guys and gals, he’s an open and down to earth guy!) Then I found out that he had made the music to Viva Piñata. Something clicked. Add to that I’d heard good words about it, and next thing I knew was that it had come to my posession for a mere €30.

It didn’t take me more than an hour to realise just why everybody was so hooked with the game: I was hooked myself! Several tens of hours later, more than a LVL50 of mad gardening skillz, 5 gardens filled with little, colourful and oh so childish piñatas and an intense addiction with the game that has thankfully relaxed recently — how else was I going to touch Lost Odyssey? — I can say with certainty that Rare has neither lost their talent nor their soul (although Microsoft may state otherwise). In fact, all the crappy games may have been an unfortunate break for the rest of the great games to come. Viva Piñata was the first game of theirs that I really enjoyed after almost 8 years and that’s 8 decades when it comes to the entertainment industry. Brilliant music, just as expected from Mr. Kirkhope, beautiful graphics and wacky artstyle, addictive-as-crack gameplay and more of our beloved Rare flair with just enough Microsoft casual undertones and direction to make it bearable and suitable for the kids but not without the innuendos that only we “adults” would understand. Definitely not without its flaws — why do I have to whack the entire garden every freaking time, and I’m-fine-thank-you-Miss-Costalot-yes-yes-bright-eyed-bushy-tailed-GET-ON-WITH-IT! AND STOP PUSHING THAT DAMN SLOT MACHINE LIKE A RETARD ALL THE TIME! Eat my melting chocolate coins. — and annoying moments, thankfully they’re not enought to deeply spoil the otherwise satisfying gameplay.

So details for the new Banjo were announced just a few days ago, with Grant Kirkhope perfecting that early metal remix that had appeared in Kameo. Most fans of the old games don’t like the direction of Nuts & Bolts and have erupted into riots about how Rare sucks now and how they’re ruled my M$, how they’re constantly taking wrong decisions and the like. I know that a good chunk of them are still Nintendo devotees like I would have been had I not got my Xbox 360 by the strange twists and turns of luck and may not have had the chance to play some recent Rare games. Viva Piñata is a good indication that the old Twycross chaps haven’t lost it all, even with all the staff changes that they have endured recently and before they became part of Microsoft. I have trust in the new Banjo game’s ambition and scope, how creativity is such a big part of it. I welcome the fact that they’re changing the feel of the series and are taking it to another, more personalised style of platforming. Some things may seem strange at first, like the removal of Kazooie’s moves, but that will only make her bitch and complain about it and how the game would have been better off with them, in-game! The guys know what they’re doing and the crew that is behind this is mostly the same as it was back in 1998, which wasn’t the case with Perfect Dark Zero. I’m now eagerly awaiting what looks like not another great Banjo game, but also another great, groundbreaking Rare game… The kind of groundbreaking and reinventing we had almost forgot they could manage and systematically deliver.

Rare managed within this generation alone to virtually burn its already dying self to ashes with its X360 launch games. Viva Piñata was the little baby phoenix that was born out of the ashes. It’s my belief that with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and to a lesser extent Viva Piñata 2 they will revive themselves into one of gaming’s great, brilliant phoenixes. And the gamers will be happy once again.

Rareware

10 years since Christmas 1997 – A N64 Tribute (Part 3)

It’s been more than a month since my initially planned one-off of a tribute was last updated… I guess it’s high time for another 3 games that marked my childhood! Here goes:

13. Diddy Kong Racing

I know, I know. Some of you, when you see this, will be like: “you’ve got to be fucking with me… ANOTHER RARE GAME? It’s the third one in a row, not to mention Banjo-bleeding-Tooie!” All of you naysayers, believe me… It won’t end here. But I’ll rid you from this company for a while… You’ll only see them again in my Top 5. 🙂

Diddy Kong Racing was a must-have for me from even before I actually got my N64. I played all of the Donkey Kong Countrys on SNES the pretty long year of 1997 and the same year managed to turn me into a fan of all things Kong except for the monarchic one. I thought at first that the game would feature more Kongs than just Diddy. It took me a year to find out that that was not the case. Diddy Kong Racing was a kart game, a lot like Mario Kart, just with Rare characters. It’s funny how almost none of the characters apart from Diddy Kong himself and the featured Kremling had appeared in any game before DKR. Banjo appeared, but he hadn’t appeared in any game yet. In fact, Rare used DKR to promote Banjo just a bit before releasing Banjo-Kazooie: DKR was released in 1997 while Banjo-Kazooie in 1998. I got it in October 1998, after I had played and loved Banjo-Kazooie, so I liked that Banjo was in the game.

Aaaaanywhooo. Diddy Kong Racing, while oftentimes compared to Mario Kart 64 and rightfully so, was actually a game of very different scope. For starters, it was the first game of its type, that is cartoony kart game, to have a story/adventure mode which was actually pretty similar to Super Mario 64’s breakthrough idea of incorporating a hub world and a non-linear progression in the game through the means of obtaining golden balloons- – you can call me Power Stars. Games like Crash Team Racing used the exact same formula after DKR and are, due to them generally more popular game, mistakenly deemed as the creators of this system. There were a few worlds, like Dino World, Beach World or Ice World (they did not have such generic names but my memory fails me) and each had a few normal courses you could race in just like any other kart game. But it also had boss stages, where you raced against the boss of each world to rightfully “complete” it (though you always had to go back to each world for some more balloon hunting). Each world also had some battle modes you had to complete to get final access to the real final boss stage (which could grant you access to a 5th, secret world if you had enough balloons by then) and also tournaments, not unlike Mario Kart’s Cups.

The game was just so refreshing and polished. The graphics were great, the racing system was fantastic, what with the 3 different vehicles you could choose from (kart, hovercraft, plane) which by the way hasn’t really appeared in any games since then, the challenge to get the better times in the later courses, the awesome music which is standard in all Rare games… Diddy Kong Racing was a very fun game, had great multiplayer, had lots of secrets here and there that just make these kinds of games and was really a necessary addition to a Rare fan’s collection. Still is actually. Too bad the recent DS port/remake doesn’t really do the 1997 classic justice.

12. Paper Mario

(WARNING. SPOILERS IN THE VIDEO ABOVE)

Paper Mario was one of my last games for my Nintendo 64. I was already almost 13 years old when I played it (November 2001) and was, after Pokemon, my first RPG. I don’t know how I should take this now, having a mario game as my RPG kickstarter does feel kind of weird but then again back then my first PC was less than 3 months old and having been a Nintendo-only gamer for years I had missed many other good games for the PlayStation and computer. So perhaps it’s a suitable title. After months of dad pestering to order the game from Amazon, I managed to get him into buying it for me for my nameday. And it happened at the perfect time. One day before getting my hands on the game, I had an acciden at school where I cracked one of my right big toe’s bones. This is the closest I’ve ever been to breaking a bone, by the way… It was enough for me to stay home for a couple of days because walking was not advised, and what better time than then to start a game like Paper Mario!

This unique RPG, although not being the first Mario RPG (the first one being Super Mario RPG for the SNES, developed by Squaresoft and unreleased in Europe) was the one that launched the in-house Nintendo Mario RPG line. Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario and Super Paper Mario, which are newer games, all belong to this line. Its characteristics: 2-D sprites that look like they’re made out of paper in a 3-D world (2.5-D to be precise), a turn-based battle system which doesn’t have random battles, that is you actually see each enemy before battling and you can strike first (by jumping on or hammering) or be striken which defines who plays first. The story? Bowser gets his hands on the Star Rod, a fairy rod which grants any wish its wielder makes. Mario has to rescue the 7 Star Spirits that control the power of the rod so that he can reverse the rod’s power and defeat Bowser, whose wish (typically) grants him with virtual invincibility. Oh, did I mention that he abducted the Princess in the process? To be precise, he lifted the whole CASTLE from its foundations, trapping her inside her castle which he keeps afloat.

In his usual quest to save Peach, Mario encounters many familiar faces, including Toads or whole races and towns of baddies that in earlier games were just, erm, baddies. You know, they only served the purpose of staining Mario’s shoes with their blood. But no, in this game Mario has a Goomba fan (nevermind Mario could have slain his entire family), meets a whole family of Koopas, gets a pink Bob-omb , visits a Yoshi Village, and more. A lot of these characters join the party so at the end of the game Mario ends up with 7 party members through out of which he can pick one to have as a companion in and out of battles at any time. This gives quite a bit of depth to the game as each party member has a different personality and point of view of how you progress in the game, not to mention different abilities in the adventure or during battling. What is also interesting is the use Badges, which now kind of reminds me of Materia from Final Fantasy VII. It’s the same, only that Mario has certain Badge Points and each badge, that is ability or feat, costs a certain amount of BP. After every Level Up, Mario can choose whether to upgrade Hit Points, Flower Points or Badge Points.

Paper Mario is a good way to spend 20-25 hours. Its humour, loveable characters, great dialogue from classic Nintendo heroes and refreshing battle system make me want to buy this game off Virtual Console right now! I guess I will at some point.

11. Mario Kart 64

Oh, Mario Kart 64… Whenever I think of this game I get mixed feelings. It was one of my first games, the third one to be exact (I got it for my 9th birthday yay!), but whenever I think of it I remember my grandmother. She died not long after I first got it… End March 1998. I remember playing it at her place and her laughing at how the characters, when they got a mushroom/speed boost, burst fire from their asses! It’s a sweet memory. She was like a mother to me back then and I miss her… *sniffle* 🙁 Anywho, back to the game.

Mario Kart 64 is the second Mario Kart game and I came to own it mere months after I had got my dirty hands on the 1992 showstopper. It improved on its predecessor by featuring more items, 3-D tracks (which are all original) and an even awesomer soundtrack than the first game. You must have realised by now that music is a big factor for me, and it can even turn a great game into a stuff-of-legends game. Inclusion of 4 player mutliplayer was also a great hit and I remember just how much I used to play it with Kostas, Manolis and Aldo. Battle Mode especially, Block Fortress! Bring it on!!! It had high production values, great tracks with many secrets each (I still can’t believe how long it took me to realise that the Whomp in Bowser’s Castle could not be freed) and shortcuts. While the game might not have aged well at all (I haven’t played it since forever) mainly due to the newer instalments of the franchise impoving on the gameplay in many ways, it still remains in my heart as the best Mario Kart yet and was initially very disappointed with its sequel, Double Dash, for the GameCube. Fortunately, the 2-player co-op mode saved that one…

Here’s a particularly good ad I found of the game that aired in Japan!

A tribute to Bubble Bobble and my first steps in gaming

I was re-reading this MySpace blog post I had written about Bubble Bobble and my gaming roots, and I really liked how it sounded. I thought it would be really nice having it here as well, it’s the post which first gave me the idea of having a more permanent blog so I’m copying it onto here. This was originally written on December 5th 2007, one of the days I was playing a lot of BB with Mario.

I was writing a huge blog entry, detailing what my November was like, and how I feel about the forthcoming Christmas. Yes, one wrong keypress and all of my time went in vain… And why is all this I wrote POSTDATA? Can Tom answer me this simple question? Eh? AND WHO THE HELL HAD THIS FANTASTIC IDEA OF HAVING BACKSPACE AS A SHORTCUT FOR BACK?!

I can’t be bothered to write it again, so I guess you’ll read a really huge blog entry from me some other time. Or perhaps I should start a more permanent blog at some site? Hm, why not… It’s not like I haven’t been feeling the waves of inspiration flowing through me as of late. But then again, why should I share this inspiration with you? Maybe I shouldn’t! *trick question*

Anyway, I soon plan on posting a tribute to N64, in a few weeks 10 years will have gone by since I got my little kiddy hands on the thing. And gaming never was the same again for me. Speaking about gaming and matters concerning the whole universe being permanently altered, yesterday and today Mario and me blew through Bubble Bobble, a super classic for me and perhaps the first game I ever played and finished (credit goes to Shaman Alex for the help back then *hi-5*, if he ever reads this. :P)

My first contact with gaming was on an Atari 2600 that I barely remember, and my real first contact with games that I clearly remember was in Australia in 1993, when some kids of a friend of my dad’s played Super Mario Bros. I think I played as well, but seeing how it was my first time with a controller, I failed miserably. Yes I know, other people finished the same game at the same age. Shortly thereafter (or what would appear shortly in a child’s eyes) ,it was a pseudo-NES my dad bought for me. The games it had: Bubble Bobble and 83 games in one. And I remember the first time my dad showed me how to play the game. After that?

It may have been the bubbly bobbly intro screen, the cutesy dinosaurs that made such a weird face when they died, the huge array of different goodies and their “mysterious powers” (it was awesome when a cross appeared on the screen… Now what the hell’s gonna happen, all the bad guys are gonna die!), from tomatoes to diamonds and from cakes to umbrellas, it was all so happy! The baddies were happy, the music was cheerful, loopy and catchy (what every 8-bit tune should be like) and most important of all, the game was fun, even more fun than picking ice from your refrigerator, trying to chase the little scar in your eye fluid or beatboxing with your mouth. It was more fun than doing these combined. How can you not have fun when blowing baddies into bubbles, hopping on your own bubbles or running away from the white “grim reaper whale” who appears in the backdrop of those 5 dreadful notes? It’s such a classic, and rightfully so.

My cartridge back then was hacked and cracked, and we had the choice of playing any stage we wanted, even the boss, and unlocking the good ending the easy way. It was a stunning moment for us, we had seen the ending to that game! We hadn’t played it to its entirety and we didn’t even care, we just saw the dinosaurs saving their girlfriends and the day. But only yesterday, while playing the game with Marios, did I realise that I had never actually and rightfully beaten the game. I had cheated! So, now was the time! We played through every floor, unlocked the happy ending (although I admit we had some trouble figuring HOW to do it) and kicked the crap out of that sorcerer thing. After almost 13 years, I had come back to my first game and beaten it the right way. And that’s just how it all felt; right.

Bubble Bobble, ladies and gentlemen, a game we can truly call a retro classic – just as playable as it was back then, it is today. Let’s see Crysis reaching that kind of status.

Bubble Bobble cover

Cuberick, rise!

Ahyawwwn… I’m typing this really tired, I’ve been awake for close to 30 hours straight now. Yesterday was all about fixing up Cuberick, my new mate and companion in the world of internet, IT, games and cyberculture. Together with Magebreeze a.k.a. Beast, that is my old computer (I’ve set them up in a LAN, both are downloading, Cuberick is downloading Celestia addons while Magebreeze is downloading Bioshock while also transfering all of my existing data from Magebreeze to Cuberick’s more spacious HDD) they’ve both put me in a really techie and computer nerdy mood, which also lead me to rearranging my furniture a bit. Nothing special, just moving some chairs around and wasting one and a half hours on some stupid DVD stand that I thought I had put together wrongly but in fact after trying to fix it ended up making it worse, realising in the process that not only was it defective out of the box, the way I had put it up originally was the best possible way to do it. Without it looking too bad I mean. Yes, I think those were some of the least useful, productive or enlighting 90 minutes of my life.

Anyway, back to the PC: I had some worrying difficulties while building Cuberick (can I have a SCREW SCREWLESS DESIGN? No, that’s SCREW SCREWLESS FUCKING DESIGN!) but fortunately after talking with people that could give me some meaningful advice, like trying everything out having the motherboard outside the case and even with no CPU, GPU or memories on, it finally worked. The problem was initially that, once powered on, the PC would stay on for around half a second then turn off and then after a few seconds do the same on its own. It could go on and on if I didn’t turn off the PSU every time. After playing around with the connectors, the battery and the CMOS, somehow I got it to work, and even though there are still some pretty minor points that I’d like to be able to correct sometime, like not being able to boot in Dual Channel mode or having some kind of power hickough at start-up, Cuberick is, I’m very happy to say, working fine. At this point, I’d like to thank my mum, the funding of which was necessary for the creation of Cuberick, Mario, who was with me at the very first stages of building the machine and helped me avoid some (crucial) mistakes I would have otherwise made, Kostas, who gave me the idea of trying to set-up the motherboard outside of the case and see what happens, Manos, whose Windows XP Pro SP2 CD I used at a time of need, and Alexandra, to whom I gave the honours to name Cuberick. This name just suits it fine, it hit bull’s eye. 🙂 Thank you, people! Even if some of you may never read this…

So what was the first thing that I did with my brand new PC? I played Portal, Valve’s most attractive inclusion to the Orange Box, at least personally. I had been keeping an eye out for this game ever since it was first announced, somewhat less than 2 years ago. I had bought the Orange Box when it had come out but Magebreeze just couldn’t cut it, 2004 tech just wasn’t enough for opening portals and solving interspatial puzzles. So once I had Cuberick up and ready with graphics drivers and the game installed, about 6AM today, I started the game and finished about 3 hours later. Short game, but wonderful nonetheless. Darkly humorous, clever, mindbending, potent and stylish. It seems to me that the gaming industry is less and less inclined to make good epic and long games rather depending on one-offs like Portal, which are short, cheap, stand-alone, based on an intriguing idea [;)] and creating a huge cyberculture following. I can’t even describe the success and appeal the Companion Cube, GlaDOS and the Cake have all had to the internet community. And today, I found out exactly why! Definitely one of the better games of 2007.

So here I am, even more tired, unable to up some pics I wanted of Cuberick because they’re too large and uuuhh… We watched Planet Terror earlied with Marios, Garret and Dimitris… Totally crazy and fun movie, if not slightly disgusting at times. Really gives off the cult feel a lot of people, including me, like. Staple of the movie was Cherry, with her mutilated limb replaced with a machine gun! Recommended if you’re into lots of blooooood!

So I better publish, before I… ah, zzz…

All I want for Christmas is a time machine

Well well, here I am in Athens, finally finding a tiny bit of time to update my Dimension. The last few days have been hectic but in a good way. I’ve been out with friends, window shopping every single day (although I did already buy some parts for my new PC, namely mobo, CPU and a CPU fan) I’m also buying presents for my close ones. Thing is, most I’ve bought through net still haven’t arrived and I’m getting kind of worried. Anywho…

On my first day here and after a good sleep, Mario called me and told me they were selling Game Boy Micros in Electroworld for only 15 euros! I called George and together we went there for me to get one. And there, we saw it… That moment changed our gaming lives once and for all! 4 Premium Xbox360s with Perfect Dark Zero and NFS: Carbon for only 120 euros. 120 euros. 120. We were both like: “WTF IS HAPPENING HERE? IS THIS FOR REAL?”, looking at eachother and hardly believing what our eyes told us. We asked around and found out that they were the original XBoxes that came out 2 years ago, which also means noisier and more problematic (?) hardware. Still, you can’t beat THAT kind of a discount, I mean we bought 2 of them at less than the price of a Wii with no games. Yes, we bought them. George had been looking for a Xbox 360 and I always thought it would be a good purchase but only when the price was right. Well, the price was right there and then. Couldn’t let it go, even if it meant that I had to cut down on my new PC budget. And I also walked away with a GB micro, as planned. ^^. What a single call can bring…

Of what I’ve played so far, it’s an exceptional console. I even think it’s a better package overall than Wii at this point. More games that are good, better hardware, better online system. It’s a gamer’s system, unlike Wii which is an everybody’s system. Still, “everybody” includes gamers so it’s all good but I think that this ~~little~~ console has a lot going for it. Only problem: it is much too expensive to buy games for. Wii has much cheaper games. Anywho, I hope rentals will do the trick…

Hexic is addictive.

Apart from that piece of news, I have to say that going to huge shops like the ones in The Mall or Public has a certain effect on your psychology. You see all these books, all these games, all these music CDs… And you think that you don’t own remotely enough. Especially with books, they remind you how little you know and how little you’re going to read and/or learn. I wonder if it’s a trick they use so they can get you to buy more. If that’s the case it has the reverse effect on me: I’m so purely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of products that I end up buying nothing!

Yesterday Mordread® visited us here in Athens. Him, me, George, Maria and Evi, we all went to Furin-Kazan, a good but expensive japanese restaurant where we had some sushi, sake and yakisoba, and later went for some milkshakes, right in the middle of winter! Go us! Ice cream with soda is good. Yes it is. Mordread missed his train so he stayed at my place. I toured him around Nea Smyrni and even though it was a surprise visit we had good fun.

So Christmas is almost here. I’m sorry to note that I haven’t uploaded part 3 of my tribute to N64, I was planning to have it all complete by tomorrow, which is the true 10th anniversary. Since I’m evidently missing my deadline, I’ll post updates as soon as internet speed (I’m on 56k here. Noooo!) and personal interest allow me to. So, have a merry christmas everybody and remember: Santa Claus is not Agios Vasilis.