I keep expecting to see evidence that this video is shopped somehow, but I guess it isn’t? As an official myself, I can’t even think of a logical explanation. I mean I guess he could be looking past the ball carrier at some action in the backfield, but then why do you lower your shoulder? Disgraceful.

Got a little Dead Space in on Saturday. It’s a solid game. It lacks the powerful milieux of Bioshock or Half Life, which I think is why it garners hardcore gamer snob scorn. But I’m digging it quite a bit.

Sunday was completely absorbed by King’s Bounty. I hate it and love it. It is the same stuff over and over again, but the reward schedule is so jam packed, much like a Diablo or World of Warcraft that you just keep playing. It’s like eating Pixie Stix. Empty calories.

I’m ninety minutes into Dead Space and wondering how much it will continue to rip off Bioshock. To me, it isn’t a problem – Bioshock was excellent. And I don’t remember Bioshock having zero gravity sections, so bonus to the Ishimura there. But:

• Game intro has player wistfully looking at photo (in this case video) or object of longing? Check.
• Game starts off with player visiting unknown creepy place? Check.
• Method of escape destroyed? Check.
• Stations to upgrade weapons and buy ammo? Check.
• Second stage is a hospital? Check.
• Telekinesis power? Check.

It’s not like Bioshock pioneered any of these things, so I’m not calling thievery. My point is that if you liked Bioshock, you will likely find at the least the first two stages of Dead Space very familiar. I’ve got surround sound for the first time and I’m very much digging it. More info as I get farther.

I totally suck at this simple game, but it is a lot of fun. My score is 5.17.

1. Jehovah’s Witnesses are like spammers in many ways.
2. I bought Dead Space today but didn’t play it at all as the tee vee was occupado when I wanted to use it. So I tried the King’s Bounty demo on my PC instead. It suffers from what I call book-in-hand syndrome. It’s where the battle animations take so long that the only way to play it is with book-in-hand. My title of choice is China Mieville’s The Scar. A damn fine writer he. Maybe the full version has a way to speed it up?

   It is otherwise an extremely enjoyable Might and Magic clone that itself is a remake of a game that Might and Magic was a clone of? I think? I got to fight a guy named “Beardless Joe” who clearly had a beard and told a town eldar worried about a missing miller that he should be worrying about his carbs. That’s pretty enjoyable right there without overextending itself as a comedy game like the Penny Arcade game does. I just may pick up the full version.

3. I also watched the presidential debate this evening. We are so incredibly fucked.

I just realized something:

• Because my football official’s gear cost so much, I decided to lamely be a football official for Halloween.
• I have a game scheduled on the 31st.

Conclusion:

• I don’t have to bring a change of clothes to work.

Did you know that Halo 1‘s multiplayer mode almost got cut? I can see why. Talk about risky! Eek. But if it was cut, I may not even have been a game designer today.

In college, I got swayed by the marketing blitz and bought an Xbox. I was a PC gamer strictly at the time (how silly). Because I lived in a dorm, the sound of Halo was like the siren’s song to a bunch of male engineering nerds. So naturally I made a lot of friends with late-night Halo matches, but it also gave me an epic amount of insight as to how non-gamers play games and how social interactivity really can change the aesthetic.

It’s really the first game where I was noticing the design as other people saw it, not as a personal experience. And it was interesting. Previously, I looked at games solely through my gamer eyes. I figured non-gamers didn’t want to invest in the experience, so why should they get to take part? Yeah, PC gamer philosophy right there. But here were non-gamers, cooperating and working with hardcore, skilled gamers and everybody was having fun. The fun wasn’t dependent on being on the correct side of the skilled/unskilled spectrum as it had been in every online shooter I’d ever played. That’s an incredible achievement when you think about it. And with that, I started looking around for more games that I could share Halo-like experiences with my dormmates. And that lead to the study of game design. This was before I ever considered a career in game design, which is a story for another time.

But even if I would have still become a game designer without Halo multiplayer, I certainly wouldn’t be so laser-focused on accessibility and keen on varied roles for different player types as I am today. So kudos to the work of Hardy LeBel and company, because as silly as it is to say, Halo was a formative experience for me.

Also:

• This is the most awesome/surreal Kotaku post in history. I wish I had inside info as to what it was about, but I don’t. I’d love to be in the brainstorming meeting where it ended with: “Get me Flair’s agent and the number to the nearest costume store.” My games are too damn straightforward.
• When you are ready to crash and burn, think Obama.
• I downloaded the demo for King’s Bounty after the glowing words from Penny Arcade and Rock, Paper Shotgun swayed me. I’m hoping to pick up Dead Space today if I can get time and that trumps everything since I am a survival horror fanboy (noted). I thought Rule of Rose was quite underrated if that provides any proof.
• Soren Johnson always has insightful things to say and always writes very clearly. Here’s a recent (excellent) article on strategy game mistakes that I think is transferrable to most genres. He wears his biases on his sleeve (the thesis seems to be: make games more like Civ 4), but the advice is generally spot on.

What with the recent quarduple decimation (see use three) of the financial markets and the upcoming election, people sure seem to be in a bad mood. And it is easy to be surly online because no one gives you that come-on-are-you-really-saying-that look. I’ve been fairly negative recently, too. It seems like every blog in existance is full of shades of anger, sarcasm, fear, mean-spiritedness and doubt.

Periodically, I need to remind myself to be less grumpy and more positive. Every time I read Robin’s blog, I’m reminded what a breath of fresh air positive things written by nice people can be. Other blogs too, I just wanted to single out hers.

Dead Space, LittleBigPlanet, Left 4 Dead, and Fallout 3 are all coming soon. If even one of them lives up to their hype, we will be having good times from now until Christmas.

One of my roommates just got Wii Fit and I’m super surprised at how much the game belittles you. Those who think Nintendo coddles players need to fire this up. It made my poor Mii a blimp! Then it told me I didn’t know how to breathe. It insinuated that one of our friends would have trouble walking and it maxed out the needle on a friend’s BMI test. Wii Fit means business!

Alright, off to purge so Wii Fit will like me!

Mucking around with a new layout since the site looked like balls on an iPhone. Apologies for any disruptions.

Edit: I think I’m updated completely. Some of the CSS was a bugger, but I got it. Do you all like the simple white and black look?