Today, let’s consider the adventure game. Dead as a doornail. Sure, there’s a thriving community of people admiring games like The Longest Journey. But if you’re thinking this is a vibrant category, you’re in denial.

So, what happened? At one point, adventure games were the biggest, most important PC genre. They had the best technology, they got the most press, and they were becoming the most “cinematic.” (And some, like Day of the Tentacle, should be on any reputable “top games evar!!!1!” lists.)

But as soon as DOOM dropped, it was over. In a couple of years, every other genre surpassed the adventure in technology, most games adopted some form of rudimentary storytelling, and almost all genres started to introduce more and more puzzle-like elements. In other words, all of your adventure itches could be scratched elsewhere. (more…)

As a former writer-like person, I always found it more interesting to write shorter articles than longer ones. Any hack can pump out 1000-3000 words on any topic; for anyone not in eighth grade, quantity isn’t a problem. But trying to distill that 1000-3000 words worth of information into 100-300 words that convey the same information… that’s when you really start to work. And that’s also when the fun starts.

It’s also more fun to think about designing smaller games than big ones. Working with limitations forces you to come up with interesting mechanics that are forced to carry the weight of your game. You can no longer fall back to, “OUR GAME HAS HD TRIPLE NIB NURBED BIFURCATED TEXTURED OPTILOGONS AND PARTITIONED PRO-ALIASED VIRTUAL WATER PARTICLE EFFECTS!”

Working in miniature also eliminates some of the paralysis that accompanies the idea of, “Holy shit, I can do anything!” Your core mechanic can get buried in thousands of other crazy systems, which can be cool and awesome… when it works. (Like Grand Theft Auto, which has a core mechanic of… something or other. Is it driving? Is it walking around? Is it beating up hookers? It’s all of those things, and none of them. Or something.)

Back to writing, when you have 1000-3000 words to cover something, you can also “do anything.” You often spend a lot of time making sure you cover everything, and can actually end up burying your core point. Reducing that same article to 100 words forces you to make difficult but possibly interesting choices about what to focus on.

This isn’t to say a 100-word article is inherently better than a longer one, or that you’ll end up spending less work creating it. It’s just that when you boil everything down to its simplest element, you’re left with something more pure, or at least clearer. You need to make your point with few words, and it needs to be good; you won’t have thousands of other words to either embellish or obscure it.

If there’s one positive to take from the industry’s move to Wii, DS, and smaller download content (XBLA, WiiWare, PC casual gaming, etc.), it’s that good design and simple and entertaining game mechanics are again coming to the forefront. Not that they went away, mind you. But it’s cool to break these things down to their smallest bits, and fine a simple mechanic that’s fun without whiz-bang graphics and 5.1 sound.

And when you get around to adding the chrome—including particle effects—-you end up with an even better game.

An article at Gamasutra, “PR And The Game Media: How PR Shapes What You Think About Games,” by Robert Ashley and Shawn Elliott, kind of bugs me. Not because it’s a bad article. It gives a fair overview of the relationship between PR and the game media, and how it’s a wee-bit too chummy. You’ll get no arguments from me on that point.

(I do think it misses another, possibly bigger issue; the relationship between the press and developers. That one is often much stronger and more back scratching than the one with PR, particularly with members o the press that have less of a financial interest in a publication’s ad sales. One funny sidebar: I once had a publisher suddenly start “recommending” a certain writer review their products; as a result, I stopped using that writer. He or she has now gone on to bigger and better editorial shilling, on TV no less.)

What bugs me about the article—and most other, similar ones—is that it holds print magazines to a completely different standard than it does websites. (more…)

While watching some of the footage of StarCraft II from Blizzcon, I had a minor epiphany: You shouldn’t release a sequel 2-3 years after the original. Why? Because if you wait long enough, you can pretty much re-release the original game with a few improvements. Obviously there’d be an enormous differences in the visuals, and there’d be a few tweaks to the interface. But the longer you wait, the fewer changes people expect. In fact, they almost demand an identical experience. The original design becomes sacrosanct.

This isn’t a criticism of Blizzard. Lord knows my knowledge of StarCraft or StarCraft II is about as comprehensive as my understanding of string theory. (Which is to say, I’m probably totally wrong and the changes between the sequel and original are significant.)

But if I’m right, and StarCraft II is a prettier version of StarCraft with some interface tweaks (and a new storyline, and amazing cut scenes, blah blah blah), would people be as hot for in 2000 as they are for it nearly a decade after the original dragged and clicked its way into our hearts? Chances are, a lot of the people excited about its release would be saying, “Is that it? Shouldn’t there be more improvements?” because we have greater expectations for major leaps in a franchise when the gaps between releases are shorter. The bigger the gap between releases, the more you can rely on—and cash in on—nostalgia.

So, instead of reinventing the wheel every 2-3 years with a sequel, wait 10 years and just give it a fresh coat of next-gen paint.

I got my ass kicked tonight—twice, even—at Wii Sports boxing by a non-gamer. Total ass-whomping. (First fight, first round knockup; second, I made it to the third round.)

I did beat her at tennis, though I’m not sure that restored any of my guy points. I mean, tennis? Please.

So, I was watching this documentary on Discovery HD called Gamer Generation. It isn’t bad. It covers computer gaming more than console gaming, interestingly enough (though it shows a lot of people playing Xbox consoles, and for some reason uses Fable for its segment on MMOs).

Now, I’d like to think that I helped shape the piece somewhat… well, to what extent, I have no idea. Probably very little. But I spent a few hours over the course of a few months talking to Anna Sand, one of the people who made it. I gave her some contacts, pointed her in some directions, and put her in touch with some people (I think). But I was pleasantly surprised to find out how little input she really needed. She’d already hit some of the more interesting points, and even filmed the segments in South Korea for StarCraft madness. I think I tried to convince her to focus more on computer stuff, and it’s definitely all PC, all the time.

I also think I may have pointed them in the direction of gaming in the Middle-east (they talk about Arabs making games where they can kill Isralis; yay for diplomatic progress through videogames!). And I may have given her Brenda Brathewaite’s contact info, so the former “Brenda from Sir-tech” totally owes me… something. (Maybe. Bah, who says I didn’t? I’ll totally take credit.)

Anyway, it’s definitely worth watching. And if you dig it, it’s because of me. If you think it sucks, it’s totally because they ignored everything I said.

I have a total man-crush on Lord of the Rings Online. I wasn’t able to score a freebie copy—boy, all my industry juice evaporated overnight, sheesh—so I’m a paying customer just like all of you. (Or at least most of you.)

But man, I’m loving being a Hobbit and running around the Shire delivering mail. Seriously, I even have my “Friend of the Post” title, or whatever the hell it’s called. (It also gave me a pretty swank cape.)

I love that there’s more to do here than just “go kill 9 goats,” even if it’s pretty simplistic. (”Deliver mail while avoiding nosey Hobbits.”) And it’s gorgeous, and runs incredibly fast.

Turbine really hit one out of the park here, at least in its first X hours. I’m not sure how long it’ll hold up, but I paid for three months of play. If I’m satisfied with that, it’s worth it to me. (I’m not sure why people have expectations of playing forever in MMOs; just enjoy the thing and forget about it when you’re sick of it.)

Or to put it another way, my World of WarCraft press account ran out of time in March (and I couldn’t get Blizzard to extend it; see, no one wants to help the unemployed guy) and I don’t care. LOTRO is better than WoW… right now.

300 is one of the gayest movies ever made, not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s about a bunch of sweaty, half-naked steroidal men fighting an enormous army led by a drag queen who sports all manner of body piercings and a giant codpiece.

It’s also a videogame, full of in-engine, 360-degree spins and pre-rendered backgrounds. Gamers may reflexively reach for their mouse, keyboard, or gamepad to reposition the camera for maximum viewing impact. It shares with games an obsession/fetishization with cool violence, cheesy macho posturing, and an adolescent view of sexuality. (Most women are useless unless they’re lesbians, in which case they’re awesome! The oracle has nipples that could cut glass!)

It’s a giant comic book… oh, wait, that’s intentional. Never mind, then. (more…)