Saturday, September 20, 2008

I've been relicensed

Well, I finally figured out (and took the time) to change the licensing on three of my Arcade games that I haven't been able to play since I sent my system back for repair. The process was very easy and enlightening. I just wish the gameplay could have been the same.

If you go onto xbox.com's website and their support page there's a link to the relicensing instructions. I followed the steps and I can now play Double Dragon, Golden Axe and Sonic the Hedgehog without the game reverting to the trail version. If anyone is having problems with their arcade games, either through having a different console or other wackiness I'd suggest you give the link a look-see. The only down side I saw was that you can only change your licensing once every 12 months. Hopefully that won't be a problem, but with Microsoft you never know.

I got one achievement in Golden Axe but didn't do so well in the other two. If anyone has these games and needs someone for some co-op play send me an invite and I'll see about joining you.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Fable II cheaters - my speculations

I was going to comment on Zenra's comment on my last post but I realized I had more to say than just a simple paragraph or two. So here it is.

First off: this glitch was discovered immediately once the game was out and the next day someone at the developer said a fix would be coming but then . . . nothing. Not a word, not a fix. Now I don't know anything about programming or game design but this glitch seems like an easy one to fix compared to say turning a chainsaw into a shot gun. So I think one of two options happened:

1) the person who spoke out that a fix was coming (and would be out soon) shouldn't have because he didn't know what he was talking about because this was planned from the beginning. If this is the case I'd like to know what happened to him. Did he get reprimanded? Or maybe after working to try to fix the problem they found out it's more complicated than originally thought. Which might lead to...

2) they decided AFTER THE FACT to incorporate the glitch into the game (since Fable is all about morality) when it's released. That could mean you have a warrant out for your arrest from the moment you start the game; or your patron comes after you for their share of the money because they funded you; or that no one will sell you anything because they don't want "dirty" money. That last one would be hilarious. You've cheated to get all that money to buy everything in the game from the get go, but no one would take it because it's "ill-gotten gains". That would teach the cheaters. I would even wait longer if the game is delayed in order for them to make that last option an integral part of the game. As much as I'm looking forward to playing that game I'd love to see those cheaters get what's coming to 'em.

I've visited message boards ever since the game was released and at the beginning there were a lot of people that were bragging about glitching and 'earning' lots of credits. They said if their credits were reset or if they had to start off playing as an evil character first "no big deal". Their next play through they'd just be good. But what I noticed the longer time passed without a patch or a word from the the developer most of them started to get worried. They wondered what kind of ramifications they'd have to face once they got the game. Would it lock up and refuse to load because they glitched? Knowing who this game is coming from, and the fact that Moyneux likes to push things and challenge gamers, they all figure something is up with this glitches, either from the beginning or as an after thought.

There is the possibility that nothing is going to happen and this is all a publicity stunt to keep gamers excited about a game that's not going to come out for awhile. I wouldn't put it past anyone to consider that. But just from the fact that the original Fable was a morality game (and it appears Fable II will be the same way) and that there is no obvious reason to create and release The Pub Games as an Arcade game besides to generate interest about the real game I have to think that something else is going on. It takes time, money and a lot of work to create an Arcade game so why go through all of that if it's just for publicity? Molyneux has said he likes to push the envelope and challenge gamer's thinking. I think releasing an Arcade game to tie into a retail game qualifies in that respect. But Molyneux is ambitious and I don't think an Arcade game tie-in is the extent of what he wants to do with his games. I could be wrong.

I will be playing Fable II at least twice; once as good and once as evil. I may even play it a third time to see if I can remain neutral. It might be boring but I like a challenge. Whether I have to play evil first because dain made me take a glitched win doesn't really matter to me. I just want to play the game. But since I don't play sequels until I've finished the first one I guess I need to get back to playing the original. And believe me I'm not complaining . . . except that I've just picked up The Force Unleashed and want to play that . . . and I've got Gears of War 2 on pre-order as well as Fable II. Okay, so maybe I'm complaining that I don't have enough time to play the games I want to. But then I'm always complaining about that.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Fable II cheaters will be punished

HA! I knew it. Molyneux: Fable II Cheaters Will Be Punished. Whether they planned all this or someone missed the glitch in the quality control I would love to see all those cheaters suffer somehow when the game comes out.

Oh wait, maybe not suffer TOO badly since I was showing the glitch to dain, with no intention of actually taking the huge payout it offered me, when I accidentally hit the wrong button and won big. If anyone should be punished it should be him.

I'm playing the game fair and square (except for that one hand) so maybe I should just get off with a warning. That's right, a warning. AND I'm paying my debts off before I log off. That's the kind of responsible-imaginary-fantasy-world-thrill-seeking-gambler I am. You got a problem with that?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Who changed the rules on me?

On Wednesday I saw someone on my friends list playing Gin Rummy. Eh? When did this game come out? Apparently just that day. Without even playing it or finding out any information about it I bought it and downloaded it. Come on, it's Gin Rummy. How hard would it be to learn how to play that game?

Plenty.

I've been playing Gin Rummy since I was about 8 years old. I still remember the first time I starting winning against my older sister and brother. After I won three or four hands in a row they suddenly didn't want to play any more. I think Gin Rummy was the only game, besides Canasta, that me and my siblings could play without some kind of argument breaking out over how someone was playing. It was a game we took seriously and we play it competitively too. When my sister was in labor with her first child we played Gin Rummy to pass the time. She almost always won. When I started to win more and more I knew her labor was increasing. I could have played much longer than we did, but after a while my sister couldn't keep up the pace.

I know how to play Gin Rummy. I love playing Gin Rummy. But all that came crashing down when I played the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game.

In the first game I never even scored a point. And whoever heard of "knocking"? When I started the game I thought it was laughable that there would be a "tutorial" for the game. You either know how to play it and so you'd want to get the game or your not interested. But after the first game I didn't have a clue as to what was going on. The second game wasn't much better and yet I still refused to go through the tutorial to figure out how they changed the rules on me.

I played it a third time last night and finally figured out what "knocking" was. And I don't like it. Gin Rummy is all about the patience and strategy to get a complete hand and go out before anyone else does. It's not about going out with a less than complete hand, i.e. "knocking". It feels cheap to "knock" and I don't like it. I did manage to get "Gin" on one hand and go out completely. No extra cards. No leftovers. Nothing. THAT'S the way Gin Rummy is suppose to be played. I won the hand and picked up a couple of achievements but there was a time there when I thought I had made a huge mistake in buying the game without playing it first.

I think I will have to spend some time in the tutorials just so I know how the system is going to play the game. I hope their convoluted rules don't ruin my love of the game. But I should warn you if you ever play a game with me online. This is the first game I ever got competitive about and so my competitive drive in Gin Rummy is stronger than anything else I play. If you know me that's saying something. They only way you're going to be able to beat me is because I don't know the rules the developer put in this game. Until then, be prepared to be annihilated. Who said card games can't be deadly?