Duke Nukem Forever is finally happening.

You’re Invited!
What: The actual release of most famous vaporware game ever.
When: May 3, 2011

DC Universe Online is a new MMO that is coming out in January of 2011.  DCUO is not something that I cared or even knew about until recently.  Then I found a series that showed DCUO’s Beta game play.  To my extreme surprise DCUO’s game play looked like something I could get into and after trying WoW, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars I had given up on finding a MMO that looked even remotely like something I would like.  DCUO has a new take on the MMO formula that looks more fun and interesting that any other MMO that I have ever seen.  The combat looks like a lot more fun than just punching the 1 through 9 buttons on my keyboard in the right order the way every other MMO does combat.  DCUO also seems to have a sense of style and personality that I always found absent in other MMOs.  Not to mention that the intro cinematic is one of the best game intros I have ever seen.  Ever.  This MMO also plays on the PC and the PS3 and it looks like it would actually work well on a PS3.  To my knowledge this the first MMO that would work well on a console.  If it actually works well, of course.  But enough of me going on and on about my impressions of watching some DCUO game play on YouTube.  Go watch TotalHalibut, the Cynical Brit’s series on the DCUO beta yourself and make up your own mind.

The super sweet intro cinematic : Make sure to bump the resolution up to 1080p because the clip does not seem to play in any other resolution.

The rest of the series should be to the right of the video but if you can’t find them for some reason here are some of the links.

Character creation

The first Gameplay video

The fate of Video Games is in their hands.

Soon the Supreme Court will hear a case that could have a profound impact on the video games industry.  The State of California is trying to restrict what video games can be sold to minors.  The desire to restrict new forms of media is nothing new.  Both film and comic books were placed under relatively harsh restrictions when their respective mediums were still young.  Now California is attempting to place more restrictive measures on video game sales.  The Supreme court is hearing the case of Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association/Entertainment Software Association in which the State of California is trying to impose a fine on retailers that sell violent games to children.  This case has reached the Supreme Court because the lower courts have decided against Schwarzenegger and the decision is being appealed.  Schwarzenegger is contending in his case that video game violence does harm to children and promotes real world violence.  The contention that violent video games do harm to children has been made in court before and so far it has not held up well.  The Electronics Software Association has made a fact sheet about those previous court cases.  Gamers are reasonably concerned about what might happen to video games if the Supreme Court decides to uphold California’s law.  Because trying to restrict new forms of media, like video games, is nothing new we can look to the past to see what could happen to video games.

When the film industry was young it came under restrictions that would be almost unthinkable today.  In 1915 the Supreme Court decided in Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (reference link) that films were not an art but a business and that films did not enjoy First Amendment protections.  It is extremely unlikely that the Supreme Court would strip video games of their First Amendment protections but it is a possibility.  After the film industry was stripped of its First Amendment protection the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (the MPPDA which later became the MPAA) created the Hay’s Code so they could avoid government censorship by censoring themselves.  The Hay’s Code lasted largely unchanged until films were granted First Amendment rights in 1968.  After films were granted First Amendment rights the MPAA instituted the ratings systems that became the rating system we are familiar with today.  The rating system that was pioneered by the MPAA is similar to the system that the Electronic Software Rating Bord (ESRB) uses to regulate video game content today.  It is unlikely that video games will be stripped of their First Amendment protections but it happened to film in 1915 and could happen to video games today.  Comic book regulations paint a much more likely picture of what could happen if the Supreme Court upholds California’s new law.

Originally, comic books did not have any regulations.  Comic books were not regulated until 1954 after public outcry that their content was too graphic for children.  The arguments against comic books back in the day are similar to the arguments against video games today.  After public outcry the Comic Code Authority (CCA) was created to regulate the content of video games (reference link).  Like film’s Hay’s Code the CCA was created to preempt government regulation by self regulating.  The regulations the the CCA used to govern the content of comic books were based on the Hay’s Code but were more restrictive because comic books were considered children’s books.  No comic book was forced to submit their work to the CCA but without CCA vetting a comic could not get the CCA’s Seal of Approval.  Without the CCA Seal of Approval most retailers would not carry a comic book.  Because most retailers would not carry a comic without the CCA Seal almost all comics were made within CCA regulation.  There is a chance that the new California law will have a similar effect on video games.  The California law basically seeks to fine any retailer that sells a Mature rated game to a minor.  This could cause retailers to stop or limit their sales of Mature rated games.  In effect, a Mature rating could become a de facto Seal of Disapproval that keeps retailers from carrying Mature rated games.  This would mean that the video games industry would have a strong disincentive to make games like Fallout 3 or Mass Effect.  Of course the CCA Seal of Approval is rarely seen on comic books today even though the CCA still exists.

The power of the CCA was broken when specialty comic shops and direct distribution channels became popular enough that comic books no longer needed CCA approval to sell their comics.  Even if the Supreme Court upholds the California Law and makes a Mature rating a de facto seal of disapproval there might not be much change in the video game industry.  The kind of specialty shops and direct distribution that broke the back of the CCA are already in place.  For example, Gamestop is a successful chain of specialty video game shops and Steam and Impulse already provide direct digital distribution.  Because these distribution methods are already in place there is a chance that even if the Supreme Court upholds California’s law it might not make much difference.

The examples offered by comic book and film regulation show what the Supreme Court could do if it sides with California in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association/ Entertainment Software Association.  Both film and comic books examples offer hope because they have overcome regulations that were much more harsh than what video games are facing now.  Of course, there is a very good chance that the Supreme Court will side with the lower courts and strike down the California law.  If the California law is struck down it will be very difficult for anyone to bring a similar case against video games again.  This Supreme Court challenge is like a trial by fire for the video games industry.  It might discourage innovation if the video games industry loses this challenge but if video games win they could come out much stronger.

So…um….yeah, this game, Halo Reach…..it just came out recently. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Now that I’ve had a chance to play through almost all facets of the game I feel comfortable enough to write a review of it. I’ll be honest here. Reach has some strong points and some weak ones as well. It is in no way a perfect game. There’s quite a bit Bungie Studios could have done better. Overall though, Reach is a good game. If you’re into shooters and you enjoy good online gaming with a large community of gamers, Reach is a game for you.

Campaign

The campaign really is the weakest part of Halo Reach.  The designers wanted to make a prequel game that leads directly into the events of the first Halo game.  The problem with this comes in that they allowed outside writers to pen novels detailing the events leading up to the first Halo game.  The book The Fall of Reach is accepted by almost all Halo fans as canon.  Up until the Reach design team got together, it was pretty much accepted by Bungie Studios as well.  Halo Reach pretty much just pisses all over the story of The Fall of Reach and uses the campaign story to tell a poorly put together, less meaningful narrative of the events leading up to the Pillar of Autumn discovering the first Halo ring.

In this game you play as a new, nameless member of Nobel Team, a mixed team of special forces comprised of Spartan II and Spartan III super soldiers.  Your team includes:

• Carter – Generic leadership role – white alpha male
• Kat – Generic tech specialist and female member
• Jun – Generic long range weapon specialist
• Emile – Generic close range combat specialist
• Jorge (pronounced ‘George’) – Generic heavy weapons specialist and mentor figure
• You – Of course, you’re the most highly trained of them all and can do everything they all can, but you’re #6 on the team.  Can’t have you leading, now can we?

You start off with a nice cut scene that loosely explains that you’re the new member of the team.  You fly off on a mission where you unexpectedly find that the Covenant (enemies in the other Halo games) is on Reach.  From that point on you spend the game fighting Covenant forces and in the end, you all die trying to save some top secret research that can save the galaxy if you get it off the planet in time.  That’s about it.

There’s almost no connection to the characters in the game because the game doesn’t do character development.  When each of my team members died, I just didn’t care.  With some of them, I was kind of glad they died because they were just that damned annoying to talk to.   With the first Halo games, even Halo 3:ODST, I actually wanted to play through the campaign because I cared about the storyline.  I wanted to know what happened.  With Reach, the only compelling reason to play the campaign is to get the achievements for it.  Even then, it’s almost not worth it.

Multiplayer

This is the real reason to buy Reach.  The multiplayer aspect of Reach is basically Bungie taking all the good points from previous Halo games and putting them together in one and making each of them better.   The ever popular team matchmaking is there with options to play in 2v2, 4v4, 6v6 or even 8v8 games.  There’s the Lone Wolves playlist still where you can go play some free-for-all every man for himself Halo.  They even brought over the firefight feature from ODST, except this time, you can play in custom scenarios.  You can play firefight against all Grunts, you can play with unlimited ammo snipers, or you can even make up your own scenario where you’re invincible.  Firefight was also adapted as a matchmaking playlist where you can play a single round with a group of random gamers from Xbox Live.

Bungie is one of few game studios that incorporated into their game online statistic reporting.  You can go to your profile on Bungie.net and look up stats from every game of Halo Reach you ever played on Xbox Live.  It even breaks it down by what weapon you preferred.

Another feature Bungie offers that almost no one else does is uploading in game screenshots and film clips from your games.  They do this by only sending the actual game data, the stuff that says what players were where and when they were there, to their website.   They then have a rendering program interpret the game data and recreate the game film on their servers.  This keeps file sizes down and allows millions of gamers to pass around video clips of their games.

Personalization

When you play Halo Reach, you earn in-game credits.  You get these for time spent in a game or achieving certain goals or challenges.   These credits can be used to purchase items that you can use to dress up your in game character.  You can get different armor, different voices, and different special effects on your character (flaming head).   Some gamers have cried foul over people farming these credits, but a quick reality check reveals that you don’t gain any advantage over other players in the game by spending credits, so what’s the harm?

Forge

Forge was introduced in Halo 3.  This mode allowed players to edit maps and create their own custom levels.  The problem was that it was clunky and very time consuming and difficult to make anything that qualified even remotely as playable.  Bungie revamped the Forge mode in Reach and made it much easier for gamers to design custom maps that were precise and well put together.  No you can place items on a map exactly where you want to and you are not limited by different physical constraints put on you by the game.  Forge makes the possibilities in Halo endless.

Summary

Overall this is a great game that any self respecting gamer should at least try out.  The large community support for Halo will make Reach be one of the most played Xbox Live games for years to come.

I thought I’d make a short post about this.  A fellow gamer needs help.  His daughter suffers from a medical condition that requires very costly treatment.  Help a fellow gamer out and chip in a donation.




Marissa’s Bunny

Marissa is a baby girl who was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms on February 15th of 2008.  Infantile Spasms is a serious pediatric epileptic condition that could leave her mentally and physically disabled for life – or worse.  Fairfax is Marissa’s Bunny – a shared name for a family of bunnies that are traveling the world trying to spread awareness of her disease that has no reliable cure and is hard to relieve.