Fidgit/SciFi has released one of the better top 10 lists you will see this month: the Top 10 Overrated Games. Hard not to agree with most of the list, but then again there was a reason these games got hyped so much, as they were all pretty good. We have all seen the super-hyped game vanish right after it's release, but all of these had staying power in one form or another. By the way, I am in complete agreement with his top 2!

OK, so I'm a little late getting to the party for NCAA 09, but there is a legitimate reason: the last two years of this game sucked. I mean, annoyingly sucked. A combination of several little things, like how long it took to actually kick an extra point, combined with some major issues, including obvious cheating by the computer, made NCAA 07 and 08 impossible to play. Yes, I can hear you now: "But DibO, it was harder to run your wishbone option offense, and you just quit out of frustration, you big baby!" True, if has become a little more difficult, but not that much. No, the various gameplay issues, and amount of button presses to took to get tasks done, drove me away. And after reading various reviews and articles about the game, 09 didn't look like it was going to even make it in the door.

Posted a response to this article on the rewards of failure in video games, via this story that was linked to from Newsweek's Level Up blog.

Ok, finally finished up most of the pre and post-main story quests, and it's time to take a look back at the highs and lows of Fable II.

The good
Loved the game world. It felt rich, and each town, if not each NPC, had it's own personality.
Combat was easy, and fun to learn. I tried to stay away from magic at the start, but learning how to use the spells together became the most interesting part of it. They really invited you to take advantage of all three styles.
The companionship that Bosco (my dog) provided along the way, while not the great endearing love that the devs might have wanted, was a welcome addition, and one the surprisingly grew on me as the game wore on. It was interesting how many times I stopped to let him catch up, even though there was no danger of losing him. A fun add-on, but the next guy that tries it is going to look like a copycat.
Loved the Zelda-esque quests that became available after the main quest line was completed. Just have to wonder where they were the rest of the time. Granted, they DID feel like they were ripped right out of Nintendo's series, but they were still fun.
The graphics worked for what they were going for, not unlike WoW. The machine is capable of more, but the colors were rich, and everything seemed like it fit in the game world.
Real estate.
Six women lesbian orgies.

Had the opportunity to play about an hour's worth of LBP online the other day with Bill. Reactions are a bit mixed, though they do sway towards the positive. Being the first PS3 game I've played online, I quickly discovered how much the 360's voice chat was missed during a game. When it works, it works very well, and becomes part of the experience. Not having it on the PS3 was glaring from the outset. However, it does lead to an interesting phenomenon: trying to silently work out the multiplayer sections of the various levels without talking. Using a bunch of trial and error, a few sackboy (never gonna get used to that) gestures, and the occasional jumping up and down in the same spot to signify importance, we were able to solve most, if not all, of the various challenges the game presented. Now, it doesn't hurt that Bill is super smart, what with his UVA physics degree and all. I just follow his lead. (Tip: find really smart people, and ride their coattails as long as possible!) Maybe Europeans are used to things like this, since everyone speaks their own version of the base language, but for us Americans, doing without talking just ain't natural.

A quick post at MTV Multiplayer on professional gamer reviewer scores versus user review scores. Interesting to see some of the differences there, especially when a high pro score is countered by a lower user score, and vice-verse. Does it speak to reviewers being somewhat out of touch with what the average gamer wants? Are they too critical to have fun in some cases?

While we certainly can't be called "professional" reviewers (the GoogleAdds total for the site, after 7 months, is a whopping $2.68), we here have all been playing, talking about, and (recently) writing about games for a long time. Is the distance we have from the developers a good thing when it comes to how we see the finished product? And what about age? I'll admit that many FPS games seem like DOOM with prettier monsters to me, while a 12 year old playing one for the first time might believe he/she has found Nirvana.

Of course, this also leads into the bigger issue of scores as ratings, but we will leave that for another time when I'm supposed to be doing real work.

Another ClapChat, this one on LBP:

Bill
that is interesting
oh, we also picked up LBP last night

Dib
thoughts?

Bill
well, first, it's absolutely amazing.
even my graphics-shmaphics fiance called it "gorgeous" which has never happened with any game ever.

Dib
it is pretty
graphics work in the setting, like WoW
but only better

Bill
the graphics work terrifically for the setting
secondly, in both of our opinions it thoroughly charming
*it's
the playful art design is brilliantly done
the facial expressions, and the way you can manipulate the character's body language... i was surprised at how evocative and expressive the result can be.
i expect people will connect with that
and third, i've only just unlocked the creative content, and am working my way through the tutorials for the various tools and materials.
so far, it seems like an incredibly powerful toolset.
and it's interesting to contrast it with Spore's.

Dib
i can see that
it is well designed

Bill
i of course intend to make a controllable AT-AT as soon as possible

Dib
of course
not the it isn't already out there somewhere

Bill
true... and after i do my little learning exercise i'll probably go find a much better one to play with

Dib
find the controls an issue?

Bill
yes, and no.

Bill and I both DL'ed the Mirror's Edge demo (me 360, Bill PS3), and both very much liked what we played. If you haven't pulled it down yet, you need to do so. The pace of the game is excellent, and it does a great job of keeping the excitement level ramped up.

Here is the brief chat transcript:

Dib
have you DLed the Mirror's Edge demo?

Bill
yes

Dib
it's on the buy list now

Bill
yes
i was more impressed than i expected to be

Dib
yes
as long as they can keep it fresh

Bill
i'm still a bit hesitant - yes

Dib
through the whole game

Bill
it was hard to get a sense for the degree to which you're actually on rails

Dib
certainly you are to a point
but there was a nice freedom within that

Bill
but if they can keep those rails transparent the whole way through
i agree

Dib
not unlike any racing game with shortcuts

Bill
it certainly felt painstakingly carefully designed
right

Dib
the one thing i didn't like was the one long jump from a building to a vertical pipe
but if you stayed running, it was blind
and VERY esy to miss the pipe
needed a sense of where to jump to prior to the jump

Bill
yeah i missed that once or twice

Dib
as a big part of the game is the idea of not stopping at all
oh, and the balance beam stuff was unusually tricky
controls not as responsive as the rest of the game

Bill

Put on some headphones, and listen to these sounds!

Not gaming related, but imagine if it was!

A pair of blog entries, along with my own Fable II experiences, got me thinking today, and that's never good for my loyal readers. You can start by reading this (the Fallout 3 entry) and this before continuing.

The question these two articles presents is: how responsible are we as gamers for the enjoyment we get out of the games we play? Both authors noted how they had to shift their views of the game in order to fill in something that was missing for them. Is this a consequence of some lacking in the game's design? or is it an opportunity for the game makers to make the worlds they truly want to create?

So I, probably like a lot of you, got a call from GameStop Friday saying that LittleBigPlanet would be in the store Saturday. Great, I'll get in Monday at lunch, when I'm in the big city. So, I head on in, ask for my preorder, and BOOM! Denied! But it wasn't a "we didn't get enough in, so yours will be in the next batch, and we will hold if for you." This has happened before, and is understandable. No problem with that here. No, the reason was "the 48 hour pickup period was over as of Sunday night", and they released the rest to public sale. That, my friends, borders on unacceptable.

Granted, the release of the game was messed up by the music thing, but in such a case I'm surprised that GameStop didn't also adjust their preorder pickup policy. I have to imagine a lot of (older) gamers base things around the Tuesday release cycle in combination with their work schedule. By not accounting for this, GameStop, at least I think, has let many gamers down. I know I was disappointed, but maybe I'm one of the few.

I'm loyal to Chris, my GameStop manager, and will continue to be. He has set me up on more than one occasion, and this won't break that relationship. I'm more disappointed in GameStop corporate, and their lack of foresight.

Anyway, just wanted to vent a little. I did write them a polite but pointed email, to keep up my official "Rabble Rouser" status.

Picked up the game yesterday, and spent a few hours in Albion. Here are some initial thoughts:

The Good

Love the graphical style, which is very similar to the original. The characters' feet aren't quite as big, but that's not a bad thing. The cities feel very fleshed out, and real, at least in a fantasy story way. It makes the world quite deep and rich, and you feel the NPCs carry on their lives when you are off slaying hobbes.

Combat works well. The one button per style thing flows pretty naturally, and, at least early on, you can kind of button mash if you don't want to keep using the same attack over and over. There is enough of it to know that it is a major part of the game, but it is spread out enough so that you almost welcome it when there is some.

Allowing everyone to dress up their character how they see fit is a huge bonus. My chick is already is hot pants, mid-calf boots, and an assassins coat. With her dark hair and makeup, she is not unpleasant to look at hour after hour. Funny thing here: the devs felt that it was a problem in F1 that everyone just got the same armor, and looked alike. But, as it is a single player game, how many people saw other players' characters? Same thing here, as when you multiplayer, you just look like a henchman. Still makes me think they designed a single player MMORPG.

With the looming release of Fable II, and all that Mr. Molyneux has promised from said game, I once again attempted to play through the original Fable. Twice had I brought and stated the game, only to be disappointed/get bored, and trade it in. This third time I took the path of no return, downloading the game on the 360.

So, is the third time a charm? It seems so. With about 3/4 of the main game finished, I have to say it has been more enjoyable than my previous attempts. Now, I might have finally gotten past a certain point this time, and the game opened up more, but I don't think so. Most likely it was an altering of expectations, combined with a desire to have a background headed into Fable II, that has finally made the game fun. Even knowing that the original failed to live up to it's lofty goals, a lot was expected out of Fable, and regardless of how good it itself was, it was going to ultimately be a let down. "Lost" is going to be the same way; after so much buildup, the answers and outcomes just can't make everyone happy. But, as we have discovered with Lost, it's not the destination, it's the journey. If you simply accept the game for what it is, and play your character as someone seeking to be a hero, however that may be (for that particular play-though), there is a lot of fun to be had.

Jamie bravely picked up Warhammer this weekend, and spent a few hours getting to know the game. This is his report from the field:

Well, I spent all Friday night installing Warhammer and downloading the patches. Spent all day Saturday trying to get it not to crash when I started it. It's OK I guess. It's just WoW with a different interface slapped on it. In fact, it's unabashedly WoW. You can see so many ideas they borrowed from Blizzard. It's not very challenging either. They used to say that WoW was EQ in easy mode, well, War is WoW in easy mode. I only died once, from accidentally falling off a cliff. Most fights I would end with 90% or more health left.

I think WoW is actually a prettier game. And as far as the game mechanics go, WoW feels a lot smoother. Some aspects of War kinda feel cobbled together. The tradeskills don't seem that great, but that is something that might grow as the game does.

Not sure you want to spend your money on it, because you still have to collect goblin heads and such. In fact, the 'loot x items' and 'kill x mobs' quest types have been combined. If you need to collect 5 lion flanks, you automatically loot them off any lion you kill, so they may as well have just told you to kill 5 lions.

A couple of big hits this week: demo for the PS3 release of the critically acclaimed (on 360 and PC) BioShock, as well as for Eternal Sonata, both of which I've had my eye on. Anybody had time to check them out? I'll be out of town this weekend so won't be able to sit down with them until next week sometime.

Rock Band fans got a treat (depending on musical tastes) this week, with the release of the Chili Peppers' legendary Blood Sugar Sex Magik album. Considered by many the pinnacle achievement by a band that helped define alternative rock in North America in the late-80s-early-90s, I'm sure many people are excited. This, on the heels of the recent release of Moving Pictures, another rock subgenre-defining offering, from the mega-talented Rush, sets a pretty stage for the PS3 release of Rock Band 2 on Oct. 19.