Five iPhone Games Worth Paying For

I have written in the past about how Apple can be pompous with their public image surrounding games. I have also written in the past about the “bottomed-out” level of pricing for iPhone games, and how game developers (specifically the big-name, established ones) have struggled to adapt to and create for a platform where just a couple bucks is somehow seen as “too expensive”. I do think there is a place for “higher”-priced games on the iPhone (that is to say “higher than $1″), but I do agree that the expectation of the price and its respective deliverable is nowhere near its DS and PSP brethren. It is a completely different model where even the big guys have to think like an indie developer.

That all being said, I wanted to share a few games that I have purchased for my iPhone that I regularly return to and genuinely feel are worth the price — regardless of the developer type. These are not fun little applications that you load up once or twice, show off to someone, and never return to again. These are not applications that you pay 99-cents for and feel you got your 99-cents worth of value after a couple days. These are games that take full advantage of the platform they are on, and over-deliver on their value. Picking up any of these is a no-brainer. I present them to you in an order that somewhat resembles my feelings on that value compared with their price compared with how much time I have actually sunk into them.

(5) Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum (AppShopper.com Link)

WHAT I PAID: $1.99
CURRENT PRICE: $1.99

I played my fair share of Wolfenstein and Doom back during their original PC release just as much as the next kid. I was never super-into these grand-daddies of the modern FPS (back when the only term was “Doom-clone”), unfortunately, so I could not tell you just how faithful the port is based on my own experience. When you consider that John Carmack worked on it himself, though, I have full-faith this this is how it was intended to look and be played. The control scheme takes quite a bit of adjustment before you start cruising around — it uses a virtual control pad in the bottom-left like many games. Since it was always a very “2D” game with no real strafing in the first place, however, it carries over quite well once your thumb gets used to how it should nimbly and minutely slide back and forth. I have played it more than I thought I would, though I will admit that the sheer curiosity factor of playing Wolfenstein 3D on my phone carries as much weight as it does for simply being good.

(4) Rock Band (AppShopper.com Link)

WHAT I PAID: $9.99
CURRENT PRICE: $6.99

I disagree whole-heartedly with my buddy Bob over at The Appcast. Back on episode 39 of their show, a battle between Rock Band and Tap Tap Revenge 3 (then still a paid app) concluded with my choice as the loser. This could not be more wrong. Whereas Bob liked all of the avatar customization and modes in TTR3 and disliked the “vocals” part of Rock Band, I have had nothing but terrible experiences with the cruft of TTR3 getting in the way of enjoying it. Earnings credits to unlock songs that are totally different from paying (with real money) for them is not as direct as Rock Band‘s simple “beat this playlist and get the mystery song” setup, which (while it is terribly antiquated) just works. The bazillion things on-screen in TTR3 leaves me confused as to what I actually selected — it’s a MySpace-esque assault of terrible design aesthetics. It is slow. It is unresponsive in the menus. Its business model of paid downloads literally gets in the way of me trying to do anything when it takes up 60-70% of the screen.

I may sound like a fanboy, but that’s fine. Harmonix knows what they are doing, and I am fully on board with them. Rock Band is fast. It is minimalistic and yet retains its distinctive look. It is organized. If you are into downloadable content, it is cheap — two (bundled) songs run you a mere 99-cents, a huge discount from the $2-per-song price point that is standard on the consoles, and (unfortunately) even carried over to the PSP’s Rock Band Unplugged store. It is true that this game does not have the huge variety and raw number of  songs available in the Tap Tap Revenge series, but you have to ask yourself which type of game play experience is more your style: do you want random taps that could follow any variety of musical qualities of the song (TTR), or do you want instrument-specific patterns (RB)?

For me, the choice of a music game was clear. I paid the full launch price the day it was released, and while I do think it settled down to a more appropriate $6.99 since then, I do not “regret” my purchase in any way. When I am itching for a little drum action on the train ride home, Rock Band for the iPhone has me covered until I can burst through the door to my ION drum kit. That is the main “problem” with this iPhone version, though — when the full experience is waiting for me at home, the only time I ever play the portable version is during commutes. I cannot see myself sitting in my living room playing the iPhone version when I could get up and belt my little heart out. It is what you make of it, though; if you do not have the cash to drop on the full version, skip a couple cups of coffee and get the portable one.

For the record, I have no problem with the “vocals” portion of the game — I never expected to actually be singing into my phone, so while it would have been a “nice-to-have”, I do not feel any major loss with having to trace my finger up and down the pitch, instead. No, the performers cannot be customized like their cousins on the consoles, and no, they do not perfectly move in sync with the music. None of these things affect the base game play, though, which is the most important thing to get right in an iPhone game.

(3) wurdle (AppShopper.com Link)

WHAT I PAID: $1.99
CURRENT PRICE: $1.99

As one of the first games I picked up, wurdle certainly deserves a spot on the list. It’s simple, really — a bunch of letters are randomly boggled around in a grid, and you have to draw lines across the letters to form words. More than any other iPhone game, this is the one that I have seen groups of people get involved with (including a train conductor who stood behind us and called out a couple words). It is one of the best two-minute diversions you can find and you will lose more time with it than you choose to admit. There is always something to be said for simplicity, and wurdle hits a home run in that respect. What more can you say?

(2) Peggle (AppShopper.com Link)

WHAT I PAID: $0.99
CURRENT PRICE: $2.99

Depending on how how addicted you already are, even the $4.99 original asking price may have been a steal. The price has fluctuated all over the place since then, but it is well worth it no matter what the cost is at any given time. While I only dabbled in the game on the PC and did honestly enjoy it, this ultra-portable version of the game is exactly how I wanted to play. The wheel on the right-side to pinpoint your exact angle was a great way to compensate for the lack of mouse control. The colorful design looks fantastic on the iPhone’s screen. It runs beautifully, even zooming in to slow-motion with “Ode To Joy” as you hit your last block. It is the culmination of every bit of “casual” PC gaming since Minesweeper, all wrapped up in an absurd and irreverent aesthetic.

(1) Harbor Master (AppShopper.com Link)

WHAT I PAID: $0.99
CURRENT PRICE: $0.99

The “line-drawing” genre is one that has exploded on the iPhone. I initially saw Flight Control and thought it looked neat, but for whatever reason, Harbor Master was the one that grabbed enough of my attention to warrant a purchase. It is clear that my favorite games on the platform are the ones that take their simplicity and work feats of genius with a single, underlying concept — Harbor Master is no exception. You have a boat, you have a dock. Draw a line for the boat to empty its cargo at the dock, and draw a line for the boat to leave. Oh, but watch out for the boats hitting each other. Oh, and watch out for putting the orange and purple cargo in the right places. Oh, and on this stage, watch out for the pirate ships. Oh, and on this stage, take advantage of the fast-unloading dock but also watch out for the monster.

I have sunk more time into Harbor Master than any other application on my iPhone, most likely — yes, that includes Safari and various Twitter apps. Every other day I seem to hit a new high score on a stage, which drives me to want to play it even more. How fascinating is that? A game-lengthening tactic from the industry’s infancy (“beat a high score”) is what brings me back to this game. It is not about unlocking new stages. It is not about unlocking new boats. It is not about multiplayer (though that is also there). It is about the game doing the one thing that it does so well, assigning an obvious 1-point rating to each successful delivery, and making me want to get “just one more” each time. And everyone loves the tropical music that plays, too!

For reference’s sake, my scores are 182 on Cyclone Island, 135 on Fishing Bay, 127 on Monster Cove, 146 on Smugglers’ Reef, 152 on Cannon Beach, and 111 on Sturgeon Creek.

How about you all?

There are plenty of other games that are worth checking out. I still have not grabbed Canabalt, for example, and I know that Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is worth a look. One of the earliest games, Fieldrunners, still has not made its way to my phone. I also can’t wait for the port of Plants vs. Zombies. How about you all? Which iPhone / iPod Touch games have you grabbed that you feel are more than worth the price of entry? How do you convince people (like our own buddy Andrew, who refuses to pay for a single iPhone app) that some of these are actually worth paying a buck or so for?

It’s True! I Started “Chrono Trigger”

Alert the presses! Headline of the year, right here: “Toriyama Fanboy Plays Acclaimed Game 15 Years Late“.

Despite running a DragonBall fansite since 1998 (and being a fan of the series for a few years before that), I have many embarrassing stories to tell. While I have read a good chunk of Dr. Slump and own things like Kajika, I have never played a Dragon Quest game, and even worse… I have never played Chrono Trigger.

Despite being a huge fan of its character designer, and despite knowing that it had a “dream-team” of producers working on it, I never played the game back during the SNES days. I had only begun to dabble into RPGs at the time, and would not make any real commitment to one until Final Fantasy VII in 1997. Despite its re-release on the PS1 years later, no matter how many times I told myself to check it out, I never got around to it. Despite receiving it as a Christmas gift from the wife a year ago, it has not had an opportunity to jump into my DS. (Hey, the system saw plenty of action over the last twelve months — Retro Game Challenge was one of my favorite games of the last year.)

Well, that all changed last night. Mike, a.k.a. “VegettoEX”, a.k.a. “Supposed Toriyama Fanboy”, has played half an hour into Chrono Trigger.

Last night the wife and I got home from work, then the gym, and then dinner… and decided we were just too exhausted to do anything. I was planning on playing some more Uncharted 2, but that seemed like it would require more of an attention span than I was willing to give. After putzing around for a while, I decided that an RPG would fill the gaming itch perfectly. I could lounge around and play a game without needing to aim at someone’s head with a tranquilizer gun in an action game, or pull off a frame-perfect counter attack in a fighting game.

I am already enjoying it immensely. Things happen almost immediately from the get-go, giving you a sense of both scale, as well as cause and effect. I dig the music a whole lot, some of which I already know from listening to the included bonus CD a few times over the last year. I have only just reached the point where Lucca meets up with Crono back where Marle had disappeared to (is that vague enough to not spoil any of the first damn thirty minutes?), but that was more than enough to solidify my interest. I am sure you will hear my thoughts on the battle system, character motifs, art style direction, and more as I make my way further into the game.

More than anything else, I am happy to say that I have discovered why I kept accidentally referring to the RPG in Retro Game Challenge as “Guardia Quest” instead of “Guadia Quest” — the kingdom that Chrono Crono (hehe!) comes from is called “Guardia”, which I must have inadvertently run into and unconsciously absorbed over the years.

How about you all? So many of you have playfully criticized me for never playing the game. Without spoiling anything for me, what is it about the game that makes you hold it in such high regard? If you are in the same boat as me, what are your excuses (valid or otherwise!) for never playing it? This is your one chance to give me Hell!

Holiday Gifts: 2009′s Games For 2010

Andrew may have had a chance to play more of 2009′s games than I did, and certainly has a pretty good idea of what his favorites games of last year were. I’m in no such position. There were far too many 2009 games that I just did not get a chance to play, but am interested in playing, that I want to give it a little more time to let them sink in. There are plenty that I simply have no interest in what-so-ever (Hello, Modern Warfare 2), though…

But let’s talk holidays. Christmas. Chanukah. Kawanzaa. Festivus. Whatever it is you celebrate, you probably got a game or two (or twelve). What did your loved ones bestow on you this year?

As for me, here are the games from 2009 that I am just now starting:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Our first experience was four-player madness with the wife, the sister-in-law, and her boyfriend. We made our way through half of the first world, and collected most of the hidden coins along the way. After that, the wife and I have done two-player up to the midway point in the second world. The name of the game so far is “frustration”, and interestingly enough, more-so in two-player than in four-player. With four people playing, it became a fuster cluck of insanity and laughs. With two players, though, we were actually trying to accomplish something, and it just was not happening. Even with coordinated plans spoken aloud, we were slamming into and hopping off of each other, falling to our deaths. The two of us are no slouches when it comes to Mario games, either, both having those lovely little stars next to our 96 exits points in Super Mario World. We will probably swap the controller back and forth for single-player gaming from here-on-out. Between the unpleasant multiplayer experiences and the floaty, imprecise controls Nintendo seems to want to go in the direction of, it is probably for the best to go at it single-player if we want to experience what the game’s levels truly have to offer.

Scribblenauts
I see what all the hype was about, and I see what all the disappointment was about. The controls are absolutely horrific, and it will be up to the individual player to decide if the brilliance of the rest of the game is enough to overcome that major pitfall. For me, it is doing that so far. The number of items available is mind-blowing, and the charming presentation is enough to keep me smiling… even if I am cursing at Maxwell each time he accidentally hops to his death. I definitely prefer the puzzle stages over the action stages, and am thankful for the raw number of stages that are available to me. It is the perfect game for short diversions, similar to what many iPhone games are currently doing. It has been great to bust out the DS again for this type of “casual gaming” in the purest sense of the phrase, rather than just the iPhone.

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
I have only put in maybe half an hour or so into some of the missions with Kratos, but it is what it is — a great version of Soul Calibur IV on the portable system. I can now walk around with my main man Voldo in my pocket. Not that I keep my PSP in my pocket, and not that Voldo of all characters is who you probably want anywhere near your pants…

Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
Having recently rediscovered my love for the series, despite being completely awful at them, some of those Christmas Wii points went right to the re-imagining of the first Game Boy adventure which I never actually played. The music and presentation is exactly what I was looking for, and which Komani has been perfecting with their “ReBirth” line on Wii Ware. I have not had a huge amount of time to put into it, having gotten midway through the third stage on my sole play session thus far. I love the slightly-updated controls (being able to somewhat guide yourself in mid-jump) that are still based on the classic, rigid play style. The secret paths and bonus areas are a blast to search out. It’s a semi-new, cheap Castlevania adventure, and no-one can really complain about that!

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
I’ll admit that the graphical presentation was what drew me in to wanting to play this game, but it was not just how breathtaking the scenery was, how many objects were on screen, or how detailed the characters looked — it was how people moved. For all the talk about the “next generation” (now the current generation) of graphics, nothing has bugged me more than rigid and awkward character movements which persist to this day. We have had plenty of great advances in the last year or so, but no characters move as fluidly and naturally as those in Uncharted 2. It doesn’t end with just their movements, though. The amount of contextual small-talk is staggering and incredibly performed (with Nolan North deserving all accolades received to date), and has already led to one of my favorite lines in video game history (“There’s a guy above you! There’s a guy above you! *silent take-down, tossing the guy down from a ledge* There’s a guy below you! There’s a guy below you!“). So far I have watched cut-scenes just as much as I have played actual game play, but each part has been intriguing. Even the very beginning of the game, having to climb up the totaled vehicle, kept the wife and I on the edge of our seats — I heard more than one gasp from the other couch as pipes ripped apart with Nathan dangling in mid-air. I am dealing with a bit of frustration from time to time, such as the area early on where you go from the water fountain up around to the right on your way to the tower, doing silent take-downs on guards; I had several instances of being inexplicably seen and having to start over from the checkpoint, and mostly being unsure of which route to take. It leads you along pretty well over all, but there have been those couple instances of not being able to see where I am supposed to go. Right now I have just begun the third chapter, and am eagerly awaiting the next opportunity I have to play.

And that’s just what I have happened to start so far. There are plenty of others to either keep playing (Torchlight) or start playing (Bowser’s Inside Story). I am conflicted on whether or not I want to either bother working on my own top five list for the year — I don’t know about anyone else, but I tend to play games years after their original release. I mean, look at the above list of 2009 games I am playing in 2010. Think about Chrono Trigger, a game that I am determined to play in 2010, which was probably one of the best DS games in 2008 based off of one of the best SNES games in 1995.

I really have to give some love to Retro Game Challenge and Flower, though, both of which blew me away in entirely different ways. The former (combined with a replay of Zelda II) brought me back to my roots and re-introduced me to the fact and revelation that I think I really like open-exploration, side-scrolling, action games. The latter is probably one of the only PS3 games to put the SIXAXIS to proper use, let me relax, and actually moved me on an emotional level at the end. Downloadable games have certainly been a huge area of interest for me this past year, and I look forward to what 2010 has to offer in that department.

Which 2009 games do you see yourself playing in 2010? I think I may give Batman: Arkham Asylum another chance at the next price drop…

My First Click-Fest: Torchlight

I have never really been a big PC gamer. Other than some SimCity 2000 and Castles II: Siege and Conquest back in the Mac OS 7 days and a little bit of the first Sims, I have been almost exclusively a console-based gamer (including portable systems) my whole life. I suppose the only “reason” was that I never really got into FPS games (as detailed here and here on the blog), and that was all I saw on other folks’ PCs all throughout college (specifically Unreal and Counter-Strike).

It was not until 2007 that I suddenly had even the faintest hints of interest in gaming on a computer again. Working with computers all day for work-work and hobby-work, it was generally not my preferred location to game, but I could not avoid the growing hype surrounding The Orange Box. Sure, the Team Fortress 2 character introduction videos were hilarious and I might as well test that out… and sure, Half-Life 2 was apparently some hugely-loved game that now had two extra “episodes”…

It really was just Portal that pulled me in, all on its own. Ignoring the humor and ignoring the setting, the idea of a puzzle game veiled behind the appearance of a first-person shooter intrigued me beyond belief. I have talked at length about my experience with that game on the podcast and here on the blog, so let us fast-forward to today’s random PC gaming fascination.

After hearing it get endlessly praised on podcasts like Gamers With Jobs, and even from my buddy Bryce, a half-price $10 Torchlight steal on Steam sounded like a good idea.

Based on how I began this entry, it probably goes without saying that I have absolutely zero familiarity with any kind of Diablo game, clone or otherwise. The entire genre of the action/adventure/RPG “click-fest” is entirely foreign to me. You may remember my first attempt at playing an MMO lasting all of five minutes or so. Even knowing that going in, I figured that with people whose opinions I respected and resonated with all enjoying the game, I should at least give it the ol’ college try.

I have put just under two hours into the game, and my most recent achievement is “Over The Brink“… there was something about some guy being turned into an evil monster by some other guy down underground and returning to town to talk with some woman about me being corrupted. I think. I’m not entirely sure. I think I’m at level five…? And opened up a bigger (permanent?) portal back to town…?

It has taken me this entire play time to figure out most of what is going on, how to change character attributes, how to enchant items, and how that all fits together. Some of it I picked up on quickly — the number keys correspond to items to use such as refilling my health or mana, for example. Click somewhere to go there. Click something to attack it. All of that is pretty simple. Other aspects have been hidden away, waiting for my mind to wrap itself around the game as a whole before I can even begin to understand what they mean. I am successfully sending my dog to town to sell off extra items. I am upgrading my strength and special attacks. I am identifying items I find underground and having that wizard in town enchant them (at a cost, of course!) to allow for better statistics and open slots. I am talking to the horse at the front of the town every time I return in hopes that it will bestow some sort of wisdom upon me.

There is just a lot of “stuff” to click on; it is a little overwhelming. It is certainly not the most complex game ever (higher numbers are generally better than lower numbers), but there is a lot to take in, especially so if the entire genre and presentation is entirely new to you, as it is to me.

I am enjoying myself so far, though. My character (Hagrid) is a “Destroyer” class, and he has a dog (Fang). I am still figuring out this whole “fame” thing, all the extra techniques, skills, and items that are available to me, not hoarding items since I have a limited number of slots in my inventory (even with the chest in town)…

There is a lot going on, but so far it seems to have the perfect balance of drop-in/drop-out game play that I am looking for while at the PC (the floors of the dungeon are just the right length), and the single-player experience is what I crave for this type of universe (though I hear an MMO is in the works). Have you tried out the game? Do you have any familiarity with this type of game at all, and how has it shaped your experience? Do you know of any resources for a newbie like me to read up on it all?

A Very Zelda Christmas Memory

It was Christmas 1998. I was a junior in high school. While I had a semi-part-time job, I was not raking in much of my own cash and could not purchase every single game I wanted. That’s OK, though. Ocarina of Time would have only been out for a month, so I could wait until Christmas for it.

The last game in the series had been Link’s Awakening, which by now you know well is one of my favorite games of all time. Also adoring Super Mario 64, I was beside myself with excitement over the latest game in the series coming into the world of 3D.

And there it was, ready to be unwrapped under that glorious tree on Christmas Day in 1998. Not only that, but it was the golden cartridge version, a limited-edition version that could only have been obtained with a pre-order, and a toss-back to ye’ olden NES days of golden Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link cartridges.

I later heard the hilarious tale from my mother. She fought through a crowd of people at Toys ‘R Us to get up to the front. Somehow she learned or overheard that there was a golden-cartridge version, which is the version she asked for at the desk. The person behind the desk asked her if she pre-ordered. She said she did. My mother lied; she had done no such thing. The goal was clear, and she would accept no other outcome. She walked out of the store that day with the limited-edition golden cartridge version.

We are greedy and clueless as children, and have no understanding of the nonsense our parents go through. I can reflect on that now and try to put myself in her place. I wonder if and when I have children if I will ever fight a crowd of equally-annoying parents for the golden-boxed virtual reality car flying simulation kit as a gift. Knowing me, I’ll make up a wonderful story about how the clerk put my pre-order under someone else’s name, and I will be victorious.

The real shame here is that Ocarina of Time never truly captivated me. In fact, I was completely lost as to what to do for a couple hours after first starting it. To this day, I have never made it past the Water Temple. I have made many valiant efforts over the years, but I simply get bored earlier and earlier in the game each time. I appreciate the game for what it is,  love many of its elements to death, and certainly hold it in the highest regard and with fond memories. Thankfully I found a wife who prefers and has essentially mastered all of the 3D Zelda games, so her 3D Triforce of Power matches up well with my 2D Triforce of Widsom.

I guess we’ll need a kid one day with their Virtual Reality Triforce of Courage.

The 99-cent PS1 Game Adventure

Despite having no PS2 backward compatibility in my particular model, all PS3s at least have full PS1 backward compatibility. Of course, the problem that complicates that so much is the lack of support for the “PSone Classics” area of the Playstation Store in North America while the PS3/PSP transfer and full compatibility teases in the background. There are definitely still a few great games that I have never played and intend to pick up soon (Silent Hill) and classics that I will want to have sitting around for no particular reason (Final Fantasy VII), but compared to the Japanese store? Totally barren.

I love the idea of playing some older games up on the big TV, though, so I decided that with a lack of downloadable support, I would at least go after some of the bigger-profile PS1 games that will probably take a while to show up (if at all) for download. My PS1 game collection is not especially huge, and it is never a bad time to flesh it out.

I checked out the list of best-selling PS1 games on Wikipedia, and wandered on over to eBay to see what I could get for cheap. My goal was not to pay any more than about $3 (shipped) for a game, making all efforts to get it for 99-cents. If a PSN download is typically $5.99 (with some at $9.99), about half that cost and not being able to transfer it to the PSP (legally, anyway…) seemed about right. So far I have picked up two:

Ridge Racer Type 4

I had always been a fan of the first two games, and even rented the fourth quite a bit… but never actually owned it. I have a Japanese copy of V which was packed in when I bought my JP PS2, but I have never really dipped beyond the PS1 originals. I know the fourth is considered by many to be the best in the series, so it seemed like a solid purchase.

SHIPPED PRICE: $3.98
CONDITION: Some decent scratches, but overall good condition and came with its bonus disc.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Having recently gotten into the series (read the first five books and have seen the corresponding movies), seeing it up on the best-selling list gave me even more incentive to grab it on the cheap. It sounds like the game for the first book/movie was different across many platforms, so it might be interesting to grab some of the others for comparison’s sake. I really have no idea how any of them play or even if certain games are any good, so I am looking forward to dipping into this world a little bit.

SHIPPED PRICE: $3.96
CONDITION: Some decent scratches, but overall good condition.

North American PS1 Games I Actually Own:
Bushido Blade 2
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution Konamix
DragonBall GT: Final Bout
DragonBall Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Driver
Final Fantasy Anthology
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Marvel Comics X-Men vs. Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Parappa the Rapper
Ridge Racer
Ridge Racer Type 4
Street Sk8er
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 2
X-Men: Mutant Academy

Japanese PS1 Games I Actually Own:
Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix
Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix
Dance Dance Revolution Best Hits
DragonBall: Final Bout
DragonBall Z: Idainaru Doragonbooru Densetsu
DragonBall Z: Ultimate Battle 22
Rurouni Kenshin: Ishin Gekitou-hen
Street Fighter EX plus alpha
Tobal 2

Huh. Looks like I have lost some games over the years, and many of my favorite rentals never ended up in the “own it!” category. Again, my preference would be to just download the games on PSN since I could then either play the game right there on the TV or take it on-the-go with the PSP. However, until the “PSone Classics” support in North America rivals its Japanese counterpart, I may just keep going with the actual discs for cheap. What other games should I look into, assuming I can get them for ~$3-4, and assuming they are not high-profile enough to just come to PSN sooner than later?

Horrifying Castlevania Enemies

Over the weekend I decided to load up my download of Castlevania Chronicles on the PS3. I have always been a very casual player of the series (and all pre-Symphony of the Night), and while I love it to death, I am absolutely terrible at it. I rarely get beyond the second stage in the first game, and I had a breakthrough play session a couple weeks ago when I beat the third stage in Super Castlevania IV. This was another case of exceptional playing on my part… until I realized that “Arrange Mode” had a lower difficulty, which completely drained any sense of self-satisfaction I had.

This is not a blog entry about the difficulty of the games or their awesome music. No, no, good sir and/or ma’am. This is about the absolutely horrifying enemy designs present in these games. I don’t know what that thing is supposed to be, but it scrunches up and down and jets out to the top of the screen as you get closer to it.

I’ll say it again: horrifying.

The Sega Channel “Primal Rage” Contest

I’ve spoken on the podcast and blog before about the Sega Channel. When I was in middle school living up Maine, our local cable provider offered the service… which I jumped all over. Long before PSN and Xbox Live, long before great collections of demos packed in with gaming magazines, and long before emulators let you get your ten-second-jollies out of old games, a little piece of hardware that you plugged into your system and let you play around 40 different games a month was futuristically-amazingly-awesome.

One of my most vivid memories of the service (beyond playing Shining Force II all the time) was a special promotion and contest run for the home port of Primal Rage. For those who don’t remember, Primal Rage was basically Mortal Kombat with prehistoric beasts. Most were dinosaurs, but there were also some giant palette-swap monkeys. You could even perform fatalities! The gameplay mechanics were what really set the game apart… in theory, anyway. While it mostly played the same as any other digitized fighter of the time, the special moves were performed by holding down certain action buttons, then performing a twist of the joystick, and then letting go of the buttons.

To promote this upcoming port of the game, the Sega Channel hosted a month-long demo in August 1995 that culminated with a 24-hour window with the full game (which coincided with its physical home release), and then a contest (open to all subscribers) to see who could beat the game the fastest. From what I remember, the first 100 to beat the game and call the secret 1-800-number that appeared at the end would win a special prize.

The demo that was open from the 1st of the month to the 24th had three of the seven total characters available for use: Sauron, Armadon, and Blizzard. Being a Sub-Zero player over on the Mortal Kombat side of things, I naturally went with and practiced the Hell out of Blizzard.

I made the right choice. When the contest version came around, despite the demo having three characters (and also having played the full version with all seven characters for a day), only Sauron and Blizzard were available for use, which you didn’t even know until you hit the character-select screen.

My gameplan was to, obviously, beat the game as fast as I could, in cheap a way as I could, and win that darn prize! Part of my strategy was that I would not use any fatalities; I had timed out how much extra time was added to my completion of the game when using fatalities, and figured the spectacle wasn’t worth it if I just wanted to beat the game as fast as possible. I remember telling this to my dad ahead of time, and having him be impressed with my strategy for winning… regardless of the fact that it was just a terrible fighting game with violent, digitized dinosaurs.

From what I remember, I ended up losing one match during my playthrough (and therefore had to continue the one time). This is probably what cost me the win, since by the time I beat the game and called the number, I was informed that all slots had been awarded. My little 13-year-old heart was broken!

I was able to track down an official press release from Time Warner and Sega about the contest. It sounds like it was quite successful for them, and led to other initiatives and experiments in what little time the Sega Channel was around (I definitely remember playing that special Earthworm Jim 2 demo earlier than its home release).

MILIPITAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 11, 1995–The numbers are in for the Primal Rage(TM) “Show Down” Promotion on Sega Channel(SM/TM) which Time Warner Interactive (TWi) announced today.

Estimates indicate that an overwhelming 24% of the Sega Channel subscriber base participated in the event. An exclusive advance opportunity to play a limited version of TWi’s hotly anticipated coin-op translation, Primal Rage, was offered on Sega Channel from Aug. 1 through Aug. 24. The activities built as Primal Rage Day approached on Aug. 25 and a full version of the Sega Genesis(TM) game was available over the Channel for 24 hours. The culminating event was the Primal Rage contest on Aug. 26 in which a special version of the game could be accessed by Sega Channel subscribers for a chance to play and win prizes.

Tens of thousands of Sega Channel subscribers completed the game. The company estimates that an additional 15-20% played the game and didn’t get all the way through to the hidden 800 number and special code. “These are terrific numbers and indicate a real enthusiasm for the game and the contest we were able to develop,” commented Michael Shorrock, vice president of programming for Sega Channel. The overwhelming participation built on Sega Channel’s successful game promotion with EA SPORTS Triple Play ’96, in which over 10,000 customers participated. Sega Channel plans more major promotions with hit videogames for this Fall, including Earthworm Jim 2 from Playmates Interactive Entertainment Inc., as well as other action and sports titles.

TWi shipped over one million initial units of Primal Rage for release worldwide on Aug. 25. Mark Beaumont, senior vice president of marketing and product development, reports, that, “We are extremely pleased with early sales figures from around the country. Our international offices report solid sell-through as well. We’re certain we have one of the top selling videogames of the year.”

TWi is supporting the launch of Primal Rage with an $8 million marketing campaign. Media buys include two flights of TV ads on national prime time, syndication and cable channels; top 15 metro market radio promotions and contests; four-color half page spread and full-page print ad campaigns breaking in all major video and personal computer publications; and consumer promotions such as in-pack discount coupons, player strategy guides, demo discs and trading cards.

Primal Rage is a head-to-head fighting game with an original look that features seven fantasy, pre-historic characters in a battle for supremacy. The first wave of product was released on Aug. 25 for Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System(R), Sega Game Gear(TM), Nintendo(R) Game Boy(TM) and PC-CD-ROM systems. November 14 is the date for the second wave of software on new gaming systems including the Sega Saturn(TM), Sega 32X(TM), 3DO(R), Sony(R) Playstation(TM) and Atari(R) Jaguar(TM), as well as the Macintosh(R) CD-ROM.

Time Warner Interactive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. develops and publishes interactive consumer entertainment products for video arcade games, videogame consoles and computer platforms. All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Sega Channel, which began its national rollout in December 1994, was developed by Sega of America Inc., Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner Entertainment Co. L.P. and is the industry’s first interactive service, providing videogames on demand, 24 hours a day. Sega Channel subscribers can choose from a wide selection of popular Sega Genesis games such as Comix Zone and Primal Rage, special versions of soon-to-be-released titles, gameplay tips, news, contests and promotions. Sega Channel is priced in the range of most premium subscription services. The programming is updated monthly.

So how about you all? Did any others of you actually have the Sega Channel where you lived back in 1995? Was it as awesome as I remember it being? Did you participate in any contests? Or, if you’re one of our younger readers/listeners… does this sound like the lamest, most antiquated thing you’ve ever heard of and can’t even begin to understand how or why this would be exciting to us?

And have any other of you actually played Primal Rage? It was pretty terrible. Even though the arcade version had much larger sprites, it didn’t help the game much.

I personally own it on the 32X. Yep.

Apple’s Smug, Egotistical, and Misleading Self-Proclaimed Jump to Gaming Market Leader

It feels like we could go on endlessly about 9/9/09. It was the tenth anniversary of the Dreamcast, the tenth anniversary of Final Fantasy VIII, Harmonix’s The Beatles: Rock Band came out, and… Apple randomly decided that it’s the market leader in handheld gaming.

Apple held a press event on that date announcing new developments in their iPhone and iPod line of products. Many were expecting an announcement of The Beatles finally coming to digital distribution (and exclusively through the iTunes Store), but a huge focus of the presentation ended up being on video games. Apple has dabbled in this before (particularly with their “funnest iPod ever” claims), but this time around they went for blood.

This would be entirely fine, except for the fact that they were misleading, occasionally flat-out wrong, and they deserve to be put in their place. Sure, I’m just some tool on the internet with a part-time video game blog. I even own every single system in question (DS, PSP, iPhone), so it doesn’t particularly affect me in any significant way. Still, I have a huge problem with intentionally misleading and misinforming people.

The entirety of the presentation is up for download from Apple as a video podcast in the iTunes Store. Any quotes and images used below are taken from this freely-available video.

When you think about it, the companies that have come before us… Nintendo and Sony with devices like the PSP and the DS… when these things came out, they seemed so cool. But once you play a game on the iPod Touch, you know… they don’t really stack up anymore!

Came before you? They’re a part of the same generation. I suppose they came “first”, sure, but they are continuing with hardware revisions (DSi, PSPgo) and software upgrades at the same time Apple is continuing with the same thing. Hell, you could twist it around and say that the PSPgo is a newer system than the first-generation iPhone. What is that actually saying, though…? Not much.

And really? They don’t stack up anymore? It will be interesting to see how the iPhone version of Madden 10 does, especially when the PSP version is still getting pretty good reviews. While I hate to use it as a reference, the MetaCritic list of “best” DS games sure has a few that still “stack up”. Most notably is the power of Mario Kart DS, which sold another bazillion copies in July 2009… nearly four years after its original release.

One thing Apple conveniently forgot to mention is how games typically seen as “iPhone Games” are suddenly jumping ship to other platforms. Fieldrunners, one of the first, great tower-defense iPhone games, is hopping over to the PSP Mini catalog. In fact, the process of porting it over was “easy” according to the developer! Expect to see more from-the-iPhone ports in the future as developers build a base product and then turn their eyes elsewhere. You can easily argue that they build a significant and loyal audience on the iPhone with the original versions of the games, but there is an equally-important audience elsewhere they can cash in on, too.

They don’t have this amazing multitouch user interface.

Certainly not false. Apple is absolutely right; neither the Nintendo DS or the PSP (or any hardware variation thereof) have a multitouch user interface. At the same time, let’s not forget who spearheaded most of the input schemes for controlling games, as well as feedback from those controls, into home console and portable gaming. Sure, they didn’t develop these technologies, but things like force-feedback (rumble packs), touch control (DS), motion control (Wii), system interoperability and connection (Gamecube+GBA, Wii+DS)… all pioneered and usually perfected by Nintendo.

I’m with ya’ on the PSP, though. The analog nub is pretty terrible.

Their games are kind of expensive.

…

Now when I say they’re expensive, we’re talking about 25, 30, 40 dollars for a title. A lot of kids can’t afford a lot of titles. I mean, you give one of those, you’re giving a need to spend a lot of money on those titles.

Yes, an at-launch retail game for the DS or PSP is going to be more expensive than the bottomed-out $0.99 price range for most “game and entertainment titles” (a phrase we’ll revisit) in Apple’s App Store. I don’t think too many people will dispute this. Of course, things like development costs, hardware manufacturing, licensing, etc. all contribute to the price. A physical product will typically cost more than a digital-distribution product. Again, not really lying, but certainly misleading.

By the way… how is giving someone an iPod Touch and telling them they can’t have any more games or apps any different from giving someone a DS and telling them they can’t have (or can’t afford) any more games? You’re somehow enabling and forcing someone to spend more money…? I… guess…? I don’t buy this argument for a second. It’s fluff, it’s ridiculous, and if anything, it shows that it takes far more products (more and more apps and games) to satiate their own iPod Touch gamer than it would a DS or PSP gamer.

They don’t even have anything like the App Store for finding great games and titles.

Here’s where things are changing, though, and where Apple is outright lying. Digital distribution helps to bring costs down. We’re not there yet, but many of the DSiware games and upcoming PSP Minis are not and will not be the same as a Tiger Woods game, either in content or cost.

Furthermore, the PSP has had a store since launch. It may not always have been as tightly integrated as it is now (requiring either a PS3 or a computer to purchase and manage software), but the PlayStation Store has certainly been there. The DSi launched with its own version of the Shop Channel, itself also included at launch with the Wii. DSiware games were available immediately, with a growing catalog of at least one game per week.

But worse isn’t the price, it’s the BUYING experience! Having to go a store and try to find the hot new game for one of those devices is not a lot of fun.

The buying experience on an iPod Touch is incredible; it’s truly breakthrough. Built into every iPod Touch is the App Store… can find access to all these 75,000 titles. It’s just incredible. If you look JUST at the gaming and entertainment category ALONE, you’re going to see a big difference.

Let’s play a little game called, “How confusing is it to find something in the iTunes Store?”

First thing I did was go to the iTunes Store main page. I’m thinking, “OK, self… we want to buy a game. I own an iPod Touch. Surely, I will click ‘iPod Games’, right…?”

Of course not. That brings you to the iPod Click Wheel Games section, intended for the Nano and Classic series of iPods. Those of us who follow this kind of material know what it all means, sure… but picture someone who doesn’t.

All right, fine; let’s go to App Store, instead.

I’m struggling to understand how this looks like anything other than a digital version of the same GameStop store shelf Apple shows in their presentation. It’s overwhelming, it’s clunky, and it needs a lot of improvement. Sure, the iTunes Store has undergone some upgrades and clean-up since this particular version (shown through iTunes 8), but it’s hardly a convincing argument.

And they certainly don’t deliver a media experience like the iPod that’s built into the iPod Touch.

While it’s true that if you want to listen to music on the DS, it has always involved hacking the system and loading homebrew software. The PSP, on the other hand, has had integrated music and video support from the very start. RSS feeds can be added, allowing for podcast streaming right from the device. On top of all that, a web browser is included. The cross-media bar (XMB) isn’t always the most intuitive and streamlined interface, but for a while Sony actually marketed the device as a portable media device and a gaming console.

So I’m going to bring up a chart of the gaming and entertainment titles available on the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and iPhone OS. And here’s what it looks like:

Sony PSP: 607 titles. Nintendo DS: 3,680. iPhone OS: 21,178. It’s absolutely incredible, the amount of work developers are doing to bring AMAZING content to the iPod Touch and the iPhone.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Really? Did they seriously just try and spin this number in a positive light?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Sturgeon’s Law come into full effect here. If I stop to think about it, I will probably come up with a better ratio of “good” to “crap” games on the PSP than I would on the DS, and similarly from the DS to the iPhone OS. Of those 21K+ titles, how many are actually worth anything…? By “worth”, I don’t even necessarily mean “money”… I mean “time”. How many of them are worth even the time it takes to download them?

Here is where the “Game & Entertainment” moniker comes under fire. Apple is clearly piling anything and everything from fart soundboards to Madden under this sub-heading. The DS may have a ton of horrible shovelware, but I don’t see “iFart” on anything other than the iPhone OS. If you look at this statistic in any way other than a heat-of-the-moment, Apple-fanboy (or stockholder), mid-event set of beer goggles, you see just how ridiculous it is.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love my iPhone 3G, and I can’t get enough of Harbor Master (I just did 152 cargo deliveries on Cannon Beach, and am quite proud of myself). The games continue to get better and better, and I have been happy to even spend my money on a few of them.

Apple’s ego is getting a little too big, but that might be a good thing. Nintendo’s own ego has gone essentially unmatched in the handheld market since 1989, and it has only recently been under the force of genuine competition that all of the hardware manufacturers (Nintendo, Sony, and now Apple) have had to step up their game and innovate. Hopefully that means that everyone wins; games get better, hardware gets better, everything gets cheaper, and the variety of highly-engaging content on the “casual” and “hardcore” sides continue to grow.

But seriously, Apple…? You’re not there yet. You can wipe that shit-eating grin off your face.

Final Fantasy VIII: The OTHER 9/9/09 Ten Year Anniversary

While the Sega Dreamcast‘s launch on 9/9/99 was a major event in North American entertainment history (and was the sole subject of episode eight of our podcast), there was another big item that came out that day. It came approximately two years after its predecessor, which itself opened up the North American gaming market in a new way. Sure, RPGs (and specifically Japanese-created RPGs) had been around for years and years, including ones from this same series, but it wasn’t until Final Fantasy VII and its immense marketing from Sony and Squaresoft that the North American market for the games blew wide open.

So how about that Final Fantasy VIII…?

The game launched the same day as the Dreamcast in North America, and while it did not receive as major an advertising campaign as VII, and it may have primarily been the VII crowd (as opposed to the VI-and-prior crowd) looking forward to it, gamers certainly knew it was coming. VIII took things even further than its predecessor in a variety of ways, thanks to the lessons learned during development. Characters were portrayed as “full-scale” at all times (CG or otherwise), as opposed to VII‘s mix of “super-deformed” polygons and “realistic” cut-scenes. The ATB system was carried forward, but combined with the new “Draw” system for magic, it was an entirely new battle experience.

While I picked up VII at launch, I did not get around to picking up and playing VIII until PS1 games were just about gone from retailers. I grabbed the game for $15 at Best Buy (“Greatest Hits”, of course) whenever this was, and played the game shortly after moving into our apartment, which must have been 2004.

It ended up being one of the three Final Fantasy games I dropped midway through (VI, VIII, X; for reference’s sake, I’ve completed III, IV, VII). I don’t really know what about it caused me to drop it. Since it was at least five years ago, I remember very little about the game and my time with it. I remember enjoying it, but there must have been a reason I stopped.

I loaded up my save file to see just how much time I spent with the game and where I stopped playing.

OK, so I put a bit over 15 hours into the game. Not too shabby. Definitely more than enough to get a good idea of how I feel about the game. Looks like I’m in “Galbadia – Dingo Desert”. I definitely remembered leaving off with some type of vehicle (that may or may not have run out of gas…?) and then not having any clue where to go. My other very specific memory was being down in some semi-maze-like sewers, but I have no idea where that was in relation to where I left it.

How about you all? Have you ever played Final Fantasy VIII, and where do you fall in the argument? Was it one of the best love stories ever told, or was it a needlessly-complicated mess of game design? Did Faye Wong’s “Eyes On Me” move you to tears, or did you just want to punch Squall in the face to make him dance properly? Did Nomura’s character design evolution make you want to drop everything and learn how to sew in order to cosplay, or were you longing for the days of a simple knight in armor yearning to save his homeland?