I had the distinct pleasure this week of playing Knytt Stories, a free game by Swedish developer Nifflas. The best description I read (can’t recall where) classified it as a non-violent Metroid, and the game hits a soft spot with me because it was created with Clickteam software, with which I tinkered during many of my teenage years.

This inspired me to research the author a little bit, leading me to an interview with Nifflas at Planet Freeplay that I found interesting. In one query, the interviewer laments the popularity of eye candy in commercial video games, and Nifflas responds:

Yeah, unfortunately. On the other hand, to me games are not that much about the gameplay though but more about the ambiance and atmosphere. Commercial games don’t often have much of that either (at least not an atmosphere that’s particularly unique for the game). To me, the atmosphere is all about the sound, graphics, and music but it doesn’t have to do with the actual sound quality or detailed high-resolution textures.

Conventional wisdom on this subject often splits into two camps: those that favor gameplay above all, and those that marvel over how much dynamic lighting you can fit on the screen. Nifflas appears to eschew both in favor of aesthetic. Granted, I think the gameplay in Knytt Stories is superb and the graphics aren’t so special, but the atmosphere really makes the game sing. Little snippets of music highlight new surroundings, and the minimalist nature of the scenery and sound give Knytt Stories a subdued but relaxed feel.

Indies, Free games | No Comments »

I don’t think enough attention has been paid to this, a seemingly expensive junket attended by Kotaku writer Mike Fahey, among other journalists, where they were sent on zero g flight with game designer Richard Garriott. If this isn’t a violation of basic journalistic ethics, I don’t know what is. And hardly anyone seems to be bothered by it.

Kotaku’s sojourn is particularly interesting given their claim of paying their own way to gaming events. Okay, so let’s assume Kotaku did fund their zero g flight, we’re still treading the dangerous territory of hanging out with a source for no reason other than pleasure. Either way, the site hasn’t commented further on the matter, probably because no other prominent site has really brought it up.

Some of the Kotaku commenters who did speak up made some pretty good points, including an example of what happens when the glamour of a pricey junket does overtake the journalist. Another commenter said even when a site claims these junkets don’t affect their editorial discretion, the resulting article is still free advertising full of kind words for a company that’s trying to sell you crap. The same commenter then requested that Fahey be dragged out into the street and beaten with golf clubs.

I don’t want to jump to conclusions, and I’m not asking for heads to roll here, but a little transparency in the form of an explanation would be nice. Plus a little discussion.

Media | No Comments »

Games I Am Currently Playing:

Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis via XBox 360) - In the box art, Max looks like he’s floating in midair with really tiny legs, but on closer inspection, it’s just the bottom half of some dude that Blaze roundhouse kicked, who Max then elbowed in the face. And that really captures the elegance of this game. The systematic beating on hundreds of punks never seemed as refined after this, but with a cast of cleverly named characters and some great vocal effects (Bourbon, drunkenly: “C’MON!”), SOR2 had a sense of self-parody as well.

Project Sylpheed (XBox 360) - Granted, I started playing this last night in a post Bioshock haze. That said, I don’t recall being too impressed. Instead of the graceful controls of Freespace or the inherently interesting plot of X-Wing, we’re treated to way too much exposition and a cockpit that’s backward and clunky. I’m prepared to stick it out a little longer because, as everyone says, space sims are so rare, but you at least hope they would get better with time.

Games I Was Playing But Now Not So Much:

Urban Dead (PC): It’s hard enough playing Halo in real time with a headset convincing my teammates not to shoot me in the face and call me a faggot, but stopping hundreds of zombies when everyone is playing on a different schedule is damn near impossible. It doesn’t help that the zeds can come back to life with full health almost immediately, but fallen survivors have to stand up, seek a revive point, put in a request at an external Web site and wait until another survivor comes along to help them. I stopped playing once I upgraded my character to super badass, killed a bunch of zombies and watched our home base fall after one of my teammates shot me in the face.

Bioshock: Let me know when the universal ban on spoilers is lifted and I’ll have more to say on this matter.

N (PC): I have nothing bad to say about N and its sadistic rocket/laser/tripmine death traps, with no means of counterattack. But my interest was bound to run its course before the 400+ included levels did.

Games I Am Meaning to Play Soon:

Super Metroid (SNES via Wii) - I know in my heart that Metroid Prime 3 will disappoint me. This old standby will not, and since I never owned a Super Nintendo, I’ve got a great excuse to revisit this after never solving it though emulators.

Arbitrary Lists, Playlists | 2 Comments »

Well done, Grand Text Auto, turning a blog post into a set of branching paths (isn’t that what blogs already are?).

Here, they’ve linked to three “choose your own adventure”-style cultural artifacts, none of them video games. There’s a play whose plot branches according to the actors’ whims, a 500-page book that plays like an adventure game complete with collectable inventory, and a CD (remember those?) whose liner notes encourage the listener to choose their own track order.

Roger Ebert, noted detractor of player choice as art, is really not going to like this. Funny thing is, video games usually require less choice and branching plots than any of the above, but that’s a whole other issue.

Meanwhile, I might purchase that book…

Games as Art, Player Choice | No Comments »

It’s been a good day all around. My story for The Escapist on Eric Zimmerman’s crossover appeal was published today. I first interviewed Zimmerman for one of my final assignments at NYU nine months ago, and it was not published. This version has more voices and more polish, and I’m glad to see it out there finally.

Although The Escapist lets me write at length, there were still plenty of anecdotes and ideas that I had to let go. I did, at one point, follow Zimmerman to Shaolin Kung Fu class, which he regularly attends. And I had some great conversations on game design with several sources. I’ve thought about posting some notes here, and I may once I get settled.

That is, I just moved into a new apartment, and there’s lots of room to sit around and play video games. I just need a few hours to set everything up.

Also of note, my post on Telespiel’s most influential games list was linked on GameSetWatch. I was sorta hoping that would happen after I posted the link as a commenter, but still, nothing better than getting a shout out from one of your favorite blogs.

With things settling down after the move and my recent freelance work, I’m ready to focus more on the blog again. That means more Random Game Ideas, some Arbitrary Lists and a few rants, plus I’ll be looking into new freelance opportunities. So for my non-commenting non-readers out there, keep on keeping on. Or speak up, even. Clearly I need to go to bed.

Newman, Indies | No Comments »