Half Life 2: Episode 2

Mostly I retread some old ground this weekend. I got through the last 30 minutes of Half Life 2: Episode 1, started Half Life 2: Episode 2, and got several stars deeper into Super Mario Galaxy (which is jaw-droppingly awesome, by the way). I do have Super Mario Galaxy 2 sitting on a shelf, but I can't swallow quite enough pride to start it without having beaten its predecessor. I also spent some more time with Red Dead Redemption, and wonder of wonders, it's suddenly decided NOT to crash on me every 10 minutes or so. How about the rest of you? Any gaming marathons over the holiday weekend?

• Mostly, I retread some OLD ground. (Madmammajamma) [ Tue Jun 1 2010 6:53 PM ]
  

Shannon Galvin's Are We Home?

I spent the majority of my gaming time this weekend checking out Jason Rohrer's recent indie release, Sleep Is Death, an interactive story tool that gets as much of its DNA from improvisational theater as it does from old school gaming. Participants are cast into one of two roles: controller or player, and connect to each other via the Internet. The controller interface provides tools for setting the player in a scene, and adding objects (people, dogs, zombies, etc.) to the scene for the player to interact with. The player's interface allows them to talk by typing into a speech bubble, and to tell the controller what actions they'd like to perform by typing verbs into an action box. This interaction plays back and forth, from scene to scene until the story reaches some sort of conclusion.

By default, each person has 30 seconds to take their turn, so playing the controller takes a fair amount of prep time in the controller interface. So far I've spent the majority of my time with the game there, getting used to the tools, building scenes, creating objects (persons, things) out of sprites, etc. The graphics have a real Gameboy Advance look to them, which gives Sleep Is Death a very classic feel. At first it was a little hard to see the possibilities given Rohrer's sample imagery - he's more of a programmer than a graphic artist - but after seeing Shannon Galvin's excellent "Are We Home?", I was sold.

I'm still not entirely certain where Sleep Is Death will take me. The $14 price includes 2 copies, one for each player, and I've passed my second copy on to a friend, but we've not jumped into a game as yet. Digging into the controller interface has been really interesting and addictive, though, so that should keep me occupied for a while. Rohrer has posted some sample playthroughs on his site that are quite good, and I've found a large, unfiltered collection of them at sidtube.com, which also has forums, IRC, art resources and a wiki.

Other than that,I played a tiny amount of Lego Star Wars with my son, and I finally started playing Trine.

You?

• App Crazy (thrashasaur) [ Mon Apr 26 2010 8:02 PM ]
  
• 160K @ ODST Firefight (Madmammajamma) [ Mon Apr 26 2010 9:26 PM ]
  
• I really have to (johnbee) [ Tue Apr 27 2010 9:41 AM ]
  

 

I'll be playing "mom's coming to town, and I've gotta get my act together" for the majority of the weekend. Tonight, though, I'm going to make a push to finish Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and meditate on whether I should buy Spliter Cell: Conviction or not. Is 8 hours plus some co-op missions worth 60 beans? Good question.

I got the chance to sample the Darksiders demo the other day, and it was a pleasant surprise. I may play a bit more (time permitting) since it's a 90 minute demo. Nice, thanks Darksiders!

Your gaming plans?

• Jesus... (Madmammajamma) [ Mon Apr 19 2010 4:10 PM ]
  
• Shock Trooper (johnbee) [ Mon Apr 19 2010 6:24 PM ]
  
• Yep (johnbee) [ Mon Apr 19 2010 6:27 PM ]
  

Mondrian Provoked

I'll be playing Heavy Rain this weekend. For those of you not familiar, Heavy Rain is a PS3 game where you investigate a series of child murders via four separate characters, and it provides more of what you'd expect from an interactive fiction than a video game proper. Graphically, it's stunning (though the brought-to-life-manikin humans are somewhat unsettling), and the way in which the story unfolds through the four characters is handled amazingly well. Some can even die during the course of the game, and the story will continue for the others. I did finish the game the other night, but it was a sliding across the finish line with 3 blown tires sort of thing, and I'm feeling pretty compelled to go back to where things got off the rails and patch together a different ending.

I'll also be playing some games from the Kokoromi site. Kokoromi is a collective of Montreal-based experimental game designers and curators who orchestrate games-as-art events. Currently I'm running through the list of submissions to the Gamma 256 event of November 2007 where developers were constrained to making games that fit within a 256x256 pixel window. Some feel a little slapped together, others don't work, but so far at least two are great: Jason Rohrer's Passage, and Jim McGinley's Mondrian Provoked. And if I can find my red/blue 3d glasses anywhere, I'll check out some of the submissions to Gamma 3D as well.

How about you? (Poll after the jump)

• It was Gradius V, level 3 (jerry) [ Mon Apr 12 2010 1:42 PM ]
  
• Interesting note (johnbee) [ Mon Apr 12 2010 7:38 PM ]
  
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (knockeye) [ Mon Apr 12 2010 11:20 PM ]
  

 

I'm still on GTA: Liberty City Stories, and a big part of what keeps me there is the prospect of driving accompanied by the game's Indian/Middle Eastern radio station (bizarrely named "Radio del Mundo"). Funnily enough, Indian music dovetails perfectly with smashing into police cars at high speeds and causing general explosive mayhem. A fair portion of the station's loop can be found here, here, and here.

I'll also be playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Yes, it's 5 years old, but a) it runs like the dickens at 1650x1080 on my PC, b) after many years away from the franchise it feels pretty fresh again, and c) it's only $10 on Steam. Also, Rebel FM, an indie games podcast, is running a multi-part series covering the entire game.

How about you?

• I'm playing the same game I've been playing for the last six months… (krillin29) [ Fri Apr 2 2010 10:48 PM ]
  
• Another of the many games (johnbee) [ Sun Apr 4 2010 4:04 PM ]
  
• Mother 3 (Madmammajamma) [ Mon Apr 5 2010 12:31 PM ]
  

 

Me? GTA: Liberty City Stories on PS2 - several years ago this game sucked my life away on the brick-like PSP, but it was giving me carpal tunnel symptoms and I had to stop. Hopefully the lighter PS2 controller will be gentler on me.

I'm also likely to get in a little STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, and the excellent Dawn of War 2 expansion, Chaos Rising. You?

• Doukutsu Monogatari (Cave Stroy) (Madmammajamma) [ Mon Mar 29 2010 11:28 AM ]
  
• Machinarium (rei_​​ayanami) [ Mon Mar 29 2010 11:54 AM ]
  
• Machinarium—​no cheating! (Madmammajamma) [ Mon Mar 29 2010 5:01 PM ]
  

I can see Alaska from here!

Last Chance to Dance

Bummed out summer is screeching to a halt? You have one more weekend to revel in the unbearably hot madness as New Mexico State Parks have teamed up and have created some pretty nifty activities for you to enjoy on Labor Day Weekend. At Bottomless Lakes State Park in Roswell, divers can participate in "dive poker" with weighted cards. Divers have all day Saturday and Sunday to retrieve said cards and make a hand.

Check out the "Owl Prowl" at Hyde Memorial State Park Saturday night after the full moon. Take the half mile hike in the pitch black and watch some of nature's most badass predators attack rats, mice and maybe even children. For an entire list of all the state park haps, click on nmparks.com.

A-Maze-Ing

The annual Maize Maze at the Rio Grande Community Farm (1701 Montaño NW) is already underway, but for a unique jaunt into the impressive and massive labyrinth of corn, visit the maze this weekend for Moonlight Maze. Use the light of the full moon to find your way as the maze stays open until 10 p.m. for the special trek. The hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Labor Day. Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for kiddies 4-11. Children 4-and-under are free.