So there's been some research various sites have done to figure out which Arcade games might be getting the axe when Microsoft starts "delisting". There are three criteria that's going to be used: 1) a Metacritic score of 65 or less, 2) released over 6 months ago, and 3) a demo to full version conversion rate less than 6%. Of those three things the first two are easy to find out. The last one? Only Microsoft knows.
I went to the Metacritic website and found that I had 41 Arcade games that fell under that magic number rating of 65. I also had 6 demos that haven't made the mark. Some of the games I'm not surprised about. Yaris had the lowest rating of 17. One of my favorite games, Boogie Bunnies had a rating of 54. Some of them I'm really surprised about. Aegis Wings seems a very popular game but only got a rating of 58. Frogger and Pac Man only got 62. Texas Hold 'em got a 63. Since the metacritic number is based off of reviews given to games I guess it all comes down to just a couple of people's opinions about a game.
I read several gaming magazines, in print and on line. Some of them say they pick someone to review a game that isn't a fan of the series or game so that an unbiased opinion can be generated. Unbiased? If they don't like the game to begin with do you really think minor flaws (and every game has them) aren't going to pointed out and nit-picked on? If there's something wrong with a game (like sticking to walls in Gears of War) that reviewer is going to use that to give the game a lower score because it's just going to be one more reason why they don't like the game in the first place. Yes, I know some games might be good enough to win people over, but that's less likely to happen.
Some magazines say they have fans of a game/series review it because they'll know what really works for the game and what true fans will be disappointed about. This too can have a negative effect as the hype of a game can generate such a great expectation that can exceed what a developer can actually deliver. Just look at Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 as an example of that. Yes, I know journalists are suppose to be fair and unbiased about their subjects, but can you honestly say that's how you want your reviews of games to be handled? Don't we all enjoy it when we get recommendations from friends about games, try them out and like them? We want to know why they liked the game not just that it had good graphics or a great physics engine.
I found another website that listed the games that had a metacritic score less than 65 and had been out for over 6 months. Now if a game meets ALL three criteria it's not automatically going to be delisted but will be eligible for delisting. Since we don't have the ability to measure the last criteria, just based on the first two the following games just might get the axe: Crystal Quest, Texas Hold 'em, Hearts, Contra, Pac Man, Frogger, Root Beer Tapper, Double Dragon, Asteroids and Centipede/Millipede just to name a few. While everyone who's downloaded them previously will still have access to them through their "download history" option on the dashboard (at least that's what they're saying) what about new first time buyers of an Xbox 360? Just because they come late to the game why should they be prevented from taking advantage of some of the great games out there?
I really wish we could find out what the conversion rate is for games. I know I've purchased games without having first downloaded the demo. Do you really think I need to play the demo of Pac Man before I decide to buy it? I know that game. I've played it in the Arcades. On real game cabinets not game consoles. And yes, I've downloaded game demos that I've tried but not purchased. Even though I didn't like the game some other people might so let them have a chance to experience it too.
One of the reasons Microsoft says they're doing this to stream line and clean up the Arcade Marketplace because it's too confusing. I don't think that has anything to do with the games on the Marketplace but the interface you created to list and display them. You don't throw out the furniture just because you built a house that doesn't have any stairs to the second floor. It doesn't make any sense. And am I the only one who's noticed that the number are 6 month, 6% conversion and 65 metascore. 666. The devil's axe isn't gold after all. It's Microsoft green. At least Golden Axe, the arcade game, is safe for awhile. Its score is 68.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
A picture is worth a thousand words
There are just some creatures that make you smile: Pikmin, Mendokans, Chocobos, Moogles and Raving Rabbids. You'll have to click on the link to see the picture since I couldn't resize it small enough without distorting the image.
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
So here's some news for you; some of it good, some of it bad and some of it could just be down right ugly. We'll have to see how things play out.
1) The Good
Some people say you should start with the bad news and end with the good news. Sometimes the bad news is so bad you can't really enjoy the good news when you finally hear it. I like to start with the good news that way if you don't want to know the bad news you can stop reading and then you won't get mad at me for ruining your day. There will be a return to the brilliant world of gaming better known as Oddworld. The Oddworld games are the only games that I know of where farting and belching are integral in the gameplay and not just what you hear over an open mic in online play. I remember the very first time I played Abe's Oddysee and learned which buttons farted and which ones belched. I found it totally funny to walk up to a Mendokan and fart right next to them. I think I spent more time laughing than playing the game that first day. This was also the first platform puzzle game that I played where I actually had to think sometimes to figure out the puzzle and what I needed to do. It was funny, it challenged me and I've enjoyed every minute I've played all those Oddworld games. I'm glad they're coming back to that world. There are some worlds that just shouldn't be left dormat for long.
2. The bad
Back in March I called Xbox Live Support to report that I had 3 Arcade games that I had purchased but I was unable to play the full game. Every time I booted up the game it would revert it to a trial version. For the last couple of days they've left a message on my phone saying I needed to call them back and check on the status of my original call. So I finally got around to calling them last night to see what's going on (they originally said things would be fixed in 30 days and that was back in March). I had to call them twice last night. The first time I got stuck in the automatic transfer purgatory (for 10 minutes) so I hung up and redialed hoping for the best the second time. The second time I got someone who barely spoke English and obviously didn't know what the Xbox Live Arcade was at all. Even though I gave them the reference number for the situation I still had to explain the whole thing to them all over again.
After going back and forth with that person for 45 minutes she finally transferred me to "the correct department" so I could go over it was them. That person also didn't speak English very well and they spoke awfully fast which made it that much more difficult to understand. I explained everything again a couple of times before that person put me on hold. When he came back he said that my original request should have been completed by now and that I had been requested to call back in so they could tell me that it wasn't. Well duh! I could have told them that just by trying to play one of those games. They said they would escalate the matter and I should hear back from someone within 24-48 hours. Yeah right! After 1 hour I was finally able to hang up and all I learned is that my games still weren't fixed.
3. The Ugly . . . maybe
There's not going to be a major Spring dashboard release instead they've been working on other things. One of those things is work on the infrastructure for Xbox Live. That's actually a good thing if you ever tried to play during the 2007 holiday season. One other thing they've been working on a tool to help with the DRM problems some people have had. That's also a good thing so why am I listing it here?
Because of another item that was mentioned in the article. Microsoft is now going to start "delisting" poorly reviewed and poorly utilized Xbox Live Arcade games. What does that mean? That means they're going to take them off the Marketplace so you won't be able to download them. Why could that be ugly? Because if you ever run into a problem where "delisted" games are deleted from your hard drive or if you ever run into DRM problems (like I have) those games won't be available for redownload. That means a game you've paid for someone else is going to take away so you can't play them anymore. At least that's how I read the article. Maybe those games will still be available on the servers they just won't list on the Marketplace. How you're suppose to find them again to redownload them then I don't know. I'm sure we'll hear more about this process in the future.
This DRM license tool might be helpful for unlocking these Xbox Live Arcade games and since it's suppose to make it so you don't have to be connected to Xbox Live to play the games I'm hoping it's everything they say it's going to be. But "delisting" Arcade games seems like a really bad move. If you lose one you could be screwed. I'm tempted to go out and get another hard drive and redownload all my Arcade games to that drive and then just store it. That way if I ever lose a game I'll still have a back up somewhere. I don't know if that will work but it's better than losing something completely that I've paid for. If I'm done with a game let me decide when I don't want to play it anymore not someone else deciding for me.
So did I ruin your day? Did I tell you anything you didn't already know? Do you think I'm over reacting about the "delisting"? Maybe . . . maybe not. There is one more good thing out there. I just got a new CD from Amazon. ANThology by Alien Ant Farm. I got the album for one track: Smooth Criminal. I was listening to that album while I typed all the bad news but after listening to that song now it doesn't seem so bad after all. Maybe music can heal all wounds. If so then Microsoft needs to stop playing Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as their theme song. If you've ever heard it you know how annoying it can be.
1) The Good
Some people say you should start with the bad news and end with the good news. Sometimes the bad news is so bad you can't really enjoy the good news when you finally hear it. I like to start with the good news that way if you don't want to know the bad news you can stop reading and then you won't get mad at me for ruining your day. There will be a return to the brilliant world of gaming better known as Oddworld. The Oddworld games are the only games that I know of where farting and belching are integral in the gameplay and not just what you hear over an open mic in online play. I remember the very first time I played Abe's Oddysee and learned which buttons farted and which ones belched. I found it totally funny to walk up to a Mendokan and fart right next to them. I think I spent more time laughing than playing the game that first day. This was also the first platform puzzle game that I played where I actually had to think sometimes to figure out the puzzle and what I needed to do. It was funny, it challenged me and I've enjoyed every minute I've played all those Oddworld games. I'm glad they're coming back to that world. There are some worlds that just shouldn't be left dormat for long.
2. The bad
Back in March I called Xbox Live Support to report that I had 3 Arcade games that I had purchased but I was unable to play the full game. Every time I booted up the game it would revert it to a trial version. For the last couple of days they've left a message on my phone saying I needed to call them back and check on the status of my original call. So I finally got around to calling them last night to see what's going on (they originally said things would be fixed in 30 days and that was back in March). I had to call them twice last night. The first time I got stuck in the automatic transfer purgatory (for 10 minutes) so I hung up and redialed hoping for the best the second time. The second time I got someone who barely spoke English and obviously didn't know what the Xbox Live Arcade was at all. Even though I gave them the reference number for the situation I still had to explain the whole thing to them all over again.
After going back and forth with that person for 45 minutes she finally transferred me to "the correct department" so I could go over it was them. That person also didn't speak English very well and they spoke awfully fast which made it that much more difficult to understand. I explained everything again a couple of times before that person put me on hold. When he came back he said that my original request should have been completed by now and that I had been requested to call back in so they could tell me that it wasn't. Well duh! I could have told them that just by trying to play one of those games. They said they would escalate the matter and I should hear back from someone within 24-48 hours. Yeah right! After 1 hour I was finally able to hang up and all I learned is that my games still weren't fixed.
3. The Ugly . . . maybe
There's not going to be a major Spring dashboard release instead they've been working on other things. One of those things is work on the infrastructure for Xbox Live. That's actually a good thing if you ever tried to play during the 2007 holiday season. One other thing they've been working on a tool to help with the DRM problems some people have had. That's also a good thing so why am I listing it here?
Because of another item that was mentioned in the article. Microsoft is now going to start "delisting" poorly reviewed and poorly utilized Xbox Live Arcade games. What does that mean? That means they're going to take them off the Marketplace so you won't be able to download them. Why could that be ugly? Because if you ever run into a problem where "delisted" games are deleted from your hard drive or if you ever run into DRM problems (like I have) those games won't be available for redownload. That means a game you've paid for someone else is going to take away so you can't play them anymore. At least that's how I read the article. Maybe those games will still be available on the servers they just won't list on the Marketplace. How you're suppose to find them again to redownload them then I don't know. I'm sure we'll hear more about this process in the future.
This DRM license tool might be helpful for unlocking these Xbox Live Arcade games and since it's suppose to make it so you don't have to be connected to Xbox Live to play the games I'm hoping it's everything they say it's going to be. But "delisting" Arcade games seems like a really bad move. If you lose one you could be screwed. I'm tempted to go out and get another hard drive and redownload all my Arcade games to that drive and then just store it. That way if I ever lose a game I'll still have a back up somewhere. I don't know if that will work but it's better than losing something completely that I've paid for. If I'm done with a game let me decide when I don't want to play it anymore not someone else deciding for me.
So did I ruin your day? Did I tell you anything you didn't already know? Do you think I'm over reacting about the "delisting"? Maybe . . . maybe not. There is one more good thing out there. I just got a new CD from Amazon. ANThology by Alien Ant Farm. I got the album for one track: Smooth Criminal. I was listening to that album while I typed all the bad news but after listening to that song now it doesn't seem so bad after all. Maybe music can heal all wounds. If so then Microsoft needs to stop playing Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as their theme song. If you've ever heard it you know how annoying it can be.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Chromehounds Clan Night
My clan in Chromehounds is trying to get everyone together tomorrow night to play some free battle or maybe a mission or two. I think we might have a full clan; twelve people. I'm not sure.
You see it's been awhile since I played that game. I did put it in a week ago but after dain and I finished our first mission when we were going back to the lobby area my screen went black. Nothing happened and I was completely locked up so I had to power down. Once I turned the console back on and put the game in it said it couldn't read the disk. I thought it might be scratched a little bit (this is my second copy of the game since dain scratched my first copy) but unfortunately for me it wasn't scratched but cracked. Twice. There were two cracks radiating out from the center hole of the disk.
I'm sure I could pick up this game used and cheap, but part of me wants to see if I could get a new copy so I wouldn't have to deal with someone's used game. Who knows what condition the disk will be in. Another part of me says "why bother getting the game again at all?"
In Chromehounds a gamerscore of 720 is probably considered complete. There are just too many achievements that are way too hard to get in that game. You either have to play the game every waking moment of every day to get top honors in a war or you have to boost to get them. And there's a lot of clans that boost making it almost impossible for honest clans to have a chance at the Gold achievements. And the Valor achievements for maxing out hound types are some others that will consume your whole life if you try for them.
But the hardest achievement to get in Chromehounds (in my opinion) is the one for defeating a country's super weapon. Why is it so hard? Because the weapon won't come out unless certain criteria are met within a given war. The problem with that is everyone is playing in the war so while one squad might be trying to control one map as a criteria for bringing the super weapon out another squad might be doing the exact opposite. And since there are several battles going on at the same time it's hard to tell exactly when the weapon will come out. And when it does you have to be affiliated with the right country and pick the right map to fight on in order to battle it. If you're lucky. And if you're lucky and get into the battle with the super weapon you've got to make sure you've got the right hound equipped to bring that weapon down. In other words there's just too many conditional "if" that have to be met exactly before you even have the chance to get the achievement. And don't get me started on the fact that you get a lot less points battling bots than you do humans which makes meeting those criteria for the super weapon that much harder . . . and longer to get.
Once my disk was cracked I just figured I would borrow dain's game to pick up those few single player achievements that I'm missing. A couple of days later I got a message of clan night this Thursday. I miss playing with some of those guys so I really want to play, but I'll have to get another copy of the game in order to do so. I once considered taking a couple of days off at the beginning of a war and do nothing but play that game. I kind of want to see how high on the leader boards I can get. The problem is I'm not that good of a player. I haven't built the perfect hound yet. If I play with a hound that has fire power I get beat by someone with speed and vice versa.
Maybe I'll go out today after work and see if I can pick up a copy of the game. Or maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Or maybe not at all. Chromehounds is a game that I didn't think I'd like when I first got it. But after playing it for awhile I really did start to like it. Unfortunately the gaming community that plays Chromehounds makes the game more frustrating than trying to find a house to buy. And you don't want to get me started on that. At least not until the ulcer I'm developing as I look at houses has healed. My HMO will thank you.
You see it's been awhile since I played that game. I did put it in a week ago but after dain and I finished our first mission when we were going back to the lobby area my screen went black. Nothing happened and I was completely locked up so I had to power down. Once I turned the console back on and put the game in it said it couldn't read the disk. I thought it might be scratched a little bit (this is my second copy of the game since dain scratched my first copy) but unfortunately for me it wasn't scratched but cracked. Twice. There were two cracks radiating out from the center hole of the disk.
I'm sure I could pick up this game used and cheap, but part of me wants to see if I could get a new copy so I wouldn't have to deal with someone's used game. Who knows what condition the disk will be in. Another part of me says "why bother getting the game again at all?"
In Chromehounds a gamerscore of 720 is probably considered complete. There are just too many achievements that are way too hard to get in that game. You either have to play the game every waking moment of every day to get top honors in a war or you have to boost to get them. And there's a lot of clans that boost making it almost impossible for honest clans to have a chance at the Gold achievements. And the Valor achievements for maxing out hound types are some others that will consume your whole life if you try for them.
But the hardest achievement to get in Chromehounds (in my opinion) is the one for defeating a country's super weapon. Why is it so hard? Because the weapon won't come out unless certain criteria are met within a given war. The problem with that is everyone is playing in the war so while one squad might be trying to control one map as a criteria for bringing the super weapon out another squad might be doing the exact opposite. And since there are several battles going on at the same time it's hard to tell exactly when the weapon will come out. And when it does you have to be affiliated with the right country and pick the right map to fight on in order to battle it. If you're lucky. And if you're lucky and get into the battle with the super weapon you've got to make sure you've got the right hound equipped to bring that weapon down. In other words there's just too many conditional "if" that have to be met exactly before you even have the chance to get the achievement. And don't get me started on the fact that you get a lot less points battling bots than you do humans which makes meeting those criteria for the super weapon that much harder . . . and longer to get.
Once my disk was cracked I just figured I would borrow dain's game to pick up those few single player achievements that I'm missing. A couple of days later I got a message of clan night this Thursday. I miss playing with some of those guys so I really want to play, but I'll have to get another copy of the game in order to do so. I once considered taking a couple of days off at the beginning of a war and do nothing but play that game. I kind of want to see how high on the leader boards I can get. The problem is I'm not that good of a player. I haven't built the perfect hound yet. If I play with a hound that has fire power I get beat by someone with speed and vice versa.
Maybe I'll go out today after work and see if I can pick up a copy of the game. Or maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Or maybe not at all. Chromehounds is a game that I didn't think I'd like when I first got it. But after playing it for awhile I really did start to like it. Unfortunately the gaming community that plays Chromehounds makes the game more frustrating than trying to find a house to buy. And you don't want to get me started on that. At least not until the ulcer I'm developing as I look at houses has healed. My HMO will thank you.
Monday, May 19, 2008
New Poll - Which BioShock plasmid do you want?
Okay, can you tell what game I'm thinking about right now? Yep! BioShock. So that's what the next poll is going to be all about. Maybe I can finish the game before the poll runs out. What do you think? Vote for which plasmid you would want if you were a citizen of Rapture.
Kenny Rogers was a genius
There's a reason why I don't play poker in the real world. I never know when to call it a night. With the way my luck is going play Texas Hold 'Em on my Xbox 360 I should have learned my lesson by now. I even changed my motto to "no poker with friends" but I didn't heed my own advice.
I've had a couple of nights where I was up anywhere from 1,500 to 6,000 chips from my buy in and I should have walked away. Instead I end up losing it all . . . including my buy in. I finish the night negative instead of positive. But there's just something about the game that keeps me coming back for more when I'm not in a killing mood.
That nonkilling mood suited me just fine last night but once again it didn't pan out. I joined my first tournament and had to wait about two minutes before the table filled up. Once it did and the high card was dealt I got the message "the host has ended the match" message that I just love so much. I've waited longer to fill a table so I don't think that was the host's issue. And if you know you're going to leave then why play a game, or even start one for that matter, that might take awhile? Personally I think the host was doing that disconnect/reconnect the ethernet cable that boots everyone from the game and they end up winning. You have to do that little trick after the high card is dealt to see who gets the dealer button but before all the cards are dealt for the first round. I should have quit right then.
But I didn't.
I joined another game and this time we got started playing just fine. But things went downhill from there. On the second hand in one player was able to knock out three other players. Except the game screen froze after the last player bowed out. Nobody could do anything except talk to each other. Someone suggested we just bow out ourselves and I was considering it, but then I had a stroke of genius. If everyone else bowed out then I would win the match and that would be the easiest $2,000 I've won in a long time. Heck, I wouldn't have even played a hand (I folded the first two hands). One by one people started quiting the game. Once the player who won the big hand quit, the game unlocked and there was me and someone else left to play.
Our chip counts were pretty even (I had $4 more because of the blinds) so we started to play. After about 10 hands I went all in before the river on a gutsy play. My options were a straight, a flush or nothing at all. I got the flush and the win to finish the game but the other player backed out as soon as the cards were revealed and just when my winning music started to play. I was just starting to think the other player might have been a sore loser when the message popped up saying I've leaving the game in 8th place. What?
I was stunned and speechless and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. But that's Texas Hold 'Em for ya. At least when I'm playing with friends I should know when to walk away, but when you're getting screwed by the system either by manipulation or just plain wackiness it's not fair. Despite all my problems connecting to an online game with Catan at my apartment, but not having any problems while at my parent's house, Texas Hold 'Em has got to be the glitchiest game out there. It's too bad too because I like the game. I just don't like losing this way.
So Kenny Rogers got it right when he sings The Gambler. You DO gotta know when to fold 'em; know when to hold 'em; know when to walk away; and know when to run. And right now I think I'll be running as fast as I can to something else. Something where glitches and glitchers won't take my money. And where I won't be supply the bankroll to my friends to feed their gambling habits.
I've had a couple of nights where I was up anywhere from 1,500 to 6,000 chips from my buy in and I should have walked away. Instead I end up losing it all . . . including my buy in. I finish the night negative instead of positive. But there's just something about the game that keeps me coming back for more when I'm not in a killing mood.
That nonkilling mood suited me just fine last night but once again it didn't pan out. I joined my first tournament and had to wait about two minutes before the table filled up. Once it did and the high card was dealt I got the message "the host has ended the match" message that I just love so much. I've waited longer to fill a table so I don't think that was the host's issue. And if you know you're going to leave then why play a game, or even start one for that matter, that might take awhile? Personally I think the host was doing that disconnect/reconnect the ethernet cable that boots everyone from the game and they end up winning. You have to do that little trick after the high card is dealt to see who gets the dealer button but before all the cards are dealt for the first round. I should have quit right then.
But I didn't.
I joined another game and this time we got started playing just fine. But things went downhill from there. On the second hand in one player was able to knock out three other players. Except the game screen froze after the last player bowed out. Nobody could do anything except talk to each other. Someone suggested we just bow out ourselves and I was considering it, but then I had a stroke of genius. If everyone else bowed out then I would win the match and that would be the easiest $2,000 I've won in a long time. Heck, I wouldn't have even played a hand (I folded the first two hands). One by one people started quiting the game. Once the player who won the big hand quit, the game unlocked and there was me and someone else left to play.
Our chip counts were pretty even (I had $4 more because of the blinds) so we started to play. After about 10 hands I went all in before the river on a gutsy play. My options were a straight, a flush or nothing at all. I got the flush and the win to finish the game but the other player backed out as soon as the cards were revealed and just when my winning music started to play. I was just starting to think the other player might have been a sore loser when the message popped up saying I've leaving the game in 8th place. What?
I was stunned and speechless and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. But that's Texas Hold 'Em for ya. At least when I'm playing with friends I should know when to walk away, but when you're getting screwed by the system either by manipulation or just plain wackiness it's not fair. Despite all my problems connecting to an online game with Catan at my apartment, but not having any problems while at my parent's house, Texas Hold 'Em has got to be the glitchiest game out there. It's too bad too because I like the game. I just don't like losing this way.
So Kenny Rogers got it right when he sings The Gambler. You DO gotta know when to fold 'em; know when to hold 'em; know when to walk away; and know when to run. And right now I think I'll be running as fast as I can to something else. Something where glitches and glitchers won't take my money. And where I won't be supply the bankroll to my friends to feed their gambling habits.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Anti-social gamers
To all my friends on Xbox Live I'm sorry I haven't played with you since . . . well Saturday. It's not that I don't want to play with you, it's just that . . . well I don't want to play with anyone. Don't take it personal. There's sometimes when I'm just not in the mood for some of the shenanigans that happen online when multiple people are playing a game together, friends or strangers. You see, when I get stressed I like to keep things calm and peaceful so I don't blow a gasket. And I've been extremely stressed lately. I guess deciding to buy a house will do that you. But we've got a weekend coming up so maybe I'll let all hell break lose and I'll see ya in the virtual world. And if I kill you, don't take that personal either . . . it's just therapy.
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