A Holiday 2 for 1: Two News Items, One Post

Today, seeing as how we'll be silent tomorrow and the day after (someone's gotta drink the egg nog, right?), we thoughts we'd give you a holiday present with two very note-worthy news stories.

The first one would be this item out of Boston, where a teenage boy refused to go to sleep for fear of not being able to play Grand Theft Auto for a couple of hours (we must reference the Warcraft kid, and ask if it isn't his mother finally begging for help here?). So what did mom do? Call the cops and have them try to convince her child that the world won't explode if he just sleeps for a few hours.

No word on whether the mother or the cops were actually successful or if someone gave the kid a nice Klonopin and brandy, but, either way you chose to game it this week (and we all know we're gonna be getting brand new gaming treats) try spending as much quality time with fam as with your WiiMote. Otherwise you'll get the cops called on you.

And if you're already a pretty measured gamer, AND, love a good deal, the rumors of a Steam holiday sale are true. Our second news story is of the "up to 80% off" sale going on at the PC gaming retail service right now. 

 

The sale samples the store's greatest hits of the year and is only going on for a limited time. So rush here as soon as possible and grab as much content before the new batch of '10 release hit Steam's shelves. 

Fully story on sale at Joystiq.

Independence in Bloom: "Flower" Takes Prize for Best Indepedent Game

We really try, on this blog, to shy away from shilling for others, but, having watched this trailer for "Flower", the winner for "Best Independent Game (Fueled by Dew)" at Spike's '09 Vido Game Awards we have to say we're quite entranced by the colorful, high resolution production of this concept. 

Flower | SpikeTV | SPIKE.com

We'd be lying by saying we're surprised the game won in its category, we're not. Imagination and intelligent subtext are important components in a truly rich gaming concept. Watch the above and be swept away.

Official Spike Video Game Awards Site.

More Studio Layoffs

In this article via Kotaku it is discussed that yet another studio may be experiencing layoffs.

Personally, we did think that the downsizing in the video game realm, at least en masse, was finished. We thought there'd be some cost-cutting here and there, but, that the big blood baths were finished. It seems we were wrong.

The rumor mill does report that out of just over 100 employees Heavy Iron is set to fire anywhere from 60 to 70 staffers, that is, the majority of their team.

The studio is most famous for producing games that serve as complimentary promo items to Disney and Pixar studio releases.

Top 5 Multi-Platform Games of the Decade

Per their post this morning, Wired's Game Life blog has ruled Left 4 Dead 2 the top multi-platform game of the 2000's. To put it their way:

"With development budgets at an all-time high, game publishers have found that spreading their biggest, baddest titles across as many platforms as possible is the best way to make back their money."

And while the site's top multi-plaform releases are the following 5 picks: 

5. Borderlands (360, PS3, PC)
4. The Beatles: Rock Band (360, PS3, Wii)
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, PS3, PC) 
2. Assassin’s Creed II (360, PS3) 
1. Left 4 Dead 2 (360, PC)

We think the best multi-platform game of the decades is called Decades. It comes playable for iPhone, Android devices, PC, and Facebook and it's out (SMERC's) widest release yet. Check it out!

To get the nitty gritty about those other guys' games, follow this link.

"Games On Demand For Windows" Launches

If you missed last week's post re: announcement of Microsoft's "Games On Demand For Windows", then you missed finding out that Microsoft has entered the 21st century in style by officially creating a premiere digital distribution service.

Yesterday's launch of Games on Demand will now, not only, make the connection between PC game and player that much more expedient, but, will provide massive competition for Valve's "Steam" service, as the independent distributor has been the only one to service PC games digitally so far.

If you happen to find yourself using the service here on out, be careful that it is new, and as with all new software, its just past the beta stage and may have some glitches and unwanted bugs. Use the following link for assistance if need be.

Nintento Trademarks "Zii"

So, if yesterday we said to ourselves, "Hell yeah", this morning, we said, "What the hell?"

According to this article, via IGN, Nintendo's trademark filing for the term "Zii" has started off rumors of a new console release, which is, as some speculate, may be the long-awaited Wii HD unit. In other words, Wii HD = Zii. What a cacophony of names that will truly be, if real.

We're at a crossroads on how to feel about this development, because, we love the Wii so much, but, also don't know if "Zii" is a console who's name we can pronounce with a straight face. So, here's hoping that the following bit from the article turns out to be true:

"The trademark could be little more than a move to protect Nintendo's existing intellectual properties."

And that the Wii HD we get to play has a strong, manly name...or at least isn't homo-phonic to the beginning of the word zebra.

Mega Man Ten Announced for March '10

When we saw this bit on MTV Multiplayer today our only thought was, "Oh hell yeah!"

We are super into the idea of retro/iconic characters acting as source material for new gaming product and we couldn't really think of a better title than Mega Man to keep expanding on.

We sure do love to see retro visuals in updated 21st century style, and Mega Man 10 will certainly be that, as it comes out in March '10 (the schedule for Wii and DS early 2010 titles was released today).

The release has already picked up buzz over as a debate on which characters will be included and how they will look and if you wanna get the full scoop, do check out Protrude RockMan's gallery of alleged characters and this article about Sheep Man's co-boss.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be jumping up and down in the next room trying to contain our excitment. In case you're curious, that visual might look something like this.

Helping Developers Shift MMO Platforms

Via this article from mocoNews we found an interesting snippet about a company called Good Games Productions, who's main focus is to help developers of PC-based MMO extend their concepts to be featured on both Facebook and iPhone.

 

"Good" is the brainchild of game industry vet Grantley Day and, aside from already having a small development team, has a roster of games and developers they're working with.

mocoNews says, "It’s a cost-effective business model, since the startup won’t have to invest the millions up front currently needed to build a game from scratch—not to mention market it in the hopes of growing a huge audience," and we agree.

An interesting change, merging of platforms, we can't wait to see if this type business model takes off or if developers create in-house teams to port their own MMO's to other platforms.

Apple Caps '09 By Revealing Top Selling iPhone Apps

A couple of days ago we featured here, on SMERC's blog, the top 10 handheld application purchases Apple also put out a definitive list. 

 

Theirs is a year-end survey of their best selling iTunes apps and like another iTunes app list we've looked at here, the top selling downloads are classic games. Take a look at this list yourself: for the holiday season and earlier this week: 

App Store's 10 Best Sellers of 2009

1. The Sims 3 (EA Games)

2. The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)

3. Need for Speed Undercover (EA Games)

4. Madden NFL 10 (EA Games)

5. Tiger Woods PGA Tour (EA Games)

6. Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles (Gameloft)

7. Flight Control (Firemint)

8. Cooking Mama (Taito)

9. Civilization Revolution (2K Games)

10. Wheel of Fortune (Sony Pictures) 

Top-rated Games in Apple's "Best of 2009"

1. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)

2. Real Racing (Firemint)

3. Zenonia (Gamevil)

4. Ravensword: The Fallen King (Gameloft)

5. Earth vs. Moon Ep. 2: Enter the Perk Shop (Low Five Games)

6. Sally's Spa (Games Cafe)

7. Ragdoll Blaster (Backflip Studios)

8. Canabalt (Semi Secret Software)

9. Blades of Fury (Gameloft)

10. Doom Classic (id Software)

So if you couldn't tell, games like Wheel of Fortune, Madden NFL, and Doom made it onto the lists and it seems that in the gaming world the popularity of certain concepts, however relevant or relevant they've transitioned to become in the mainstream, remains high, and certain ideas remain infinitely replayable.

Game manufacturers out there, take note. Game players, download our own entry into the iTunes marketplace here.

There Are Two Kinds of Gamers Out There, Which One Are You?

Having found an interesting article today via Asylum regarding gamer "types", and having found ourselves as a definite one of the two types listed we thought we'd share some of the observations in the article.

Observation #1:

"you may just be placating your foolish self by playing games you're destined to win regardless of your abilities"

Observation#2

There are two types of gamers: the performance oriented ones and the mastery oriented ones. The performance oriented gamer plays to prove he/she can win, the mastery oriented gamer plays to gain skill

Observation #3

In a role playing game "where your character progressively improves as you play regardless of your skill, would attract the former. The latter? They're playing "Halo 3" all night until they're rolling in bodies."

Kind of insightful, n'est ce pas?

We think that whatever the case for you is, none of us gamers play for lack of passion, or for the fun we have when boasting about a success in gaming to our fellow enthusiasts. 

Full article here.

Top Ten Handheld Holiday Buys

The Guardian UK's Game Blog has just done a swift run down of the top 10 handheld games you could own this holiday season. The following games were featured in two categories:

DS Titles:

1. Mario and Luigi: Bowser's inside Story (AlphaDream, Nintendo) 

2. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (Level-5, Nintendo)  

3. Scribblenauts (5th Cell, Warner Bros)

4. Nostalgia (Matrix Software/Red Entertainment, Ignition)

5. Space Invaders Extreme 2 (Taito, Square Enix)

PSP Titles:
1. GTA Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar. Also on DS)

2. Beaterator (Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar)

3. Gran Turismo (Polyphony Digital, Sony) 

4. Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny (Project Soul, Namco Bandai)

5. LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule/Sony Cambridge, Sony) 

We personally think that the best gaming release of this season comes from right here at SMERC.That game is one that's found on two "hand held" devices, the iPhone/iPod Touch and any ol' Android phone, and its called Decades. Check out the hyperlink and purchase the best gift of the season yourself.

Microsoft Announces Games On Demand

So, we have to say, that aside from being excited for any kind of changes or innovations in gaming distribution these days, the "on demand" concept is one of our favorite ones to hear gaming manufacturers utilize. We love streaming Netflix on our computers, watching movies on demand, and therefor we're quite excited about today's announcement from Microsoft that they are going live with "Games on Demand for Windows".

The Windows-only service, an unsubtle bid to force players back to the PC for all their gaming needs, will launch on December 15th and will be purchasable through either Microsoft points or a credit card.

The landmark move basically presents opposition to the leading PC game distributor Valve, who provide well over 20 million user accounts with their "Steam" service and no doubt will give the more "independent" studio a run for its money. 

“With Games on Demand, we didn’t just want to create a cut-and-paste version of existing digital distribution services,” Live Engagement Services general manager Mike Ybarra said in a statement. 

Resident Evil 5 and Battlestations: Pacific will be two of the many major titles available immediately via the service.

JC's "Avatar" Getting Some Pretty Decent Write-Ups

You thought "JC" meant that we were speaking of the Lord Jesus, not so much. Actually, Jim Cameron's Avatar is one of the most anticipated films of this coming holiday season and its video game release this week is scoring the game some decent point-age. That's what we were actually talking about.

 

Via Joystiq, several metacritics have weighed in on the game preview of the upcoming feature and the reviews seem relatively decent. Between a sampling of four reviews, the average rating for the game came out to 65 points out of a possible 100. Here are some commentary snippets from each one:

"VideoGamer (70/100): "James Cameron's Avatar: The Game is easily one of the best movie licensed games I've ever played, but at the same time it's not good enough to stand alone as a must-own title. While the presentation is great and the combat generally enjoyable, the missions leave a lot to be desired - and there's little of the sense of wonder that the movie promises." 

IGN (68/100): "There's nothing disastrous here, and the RDA shooter side of things performs well enough to be occasionally enjoyable. The quest design, including both the main and side tasks, is about as generic as they come. Go here, collect this, plant these bombs, or kill this and then return to me." 

Game Informer (65/100): "These shortcomings are a shame considering the game's interesting gameplay twists. Avatar features a solid RPG element that unlocks new armor and upgraded weapons at a steady pace. Players also unlock new skills (i.e. buffs) that help spice up combat a little, but can't overcome the gameplay imbalances." 

GamePro (55/100): "It's not a bad game, and portions of it are competent, if not quite remarkable. But Avatar wears thin quickly, and the story is too fragile to compensate for the deficiencies." 

The feature film opens on December 18th and you can check out the full Joystiq article here.

Conan O'Brien Show Pimps for Lego Indiana Jones

And apparently, we follow suit.

Though we think the current onslaught of Lego-based games need almost no help at all, we thought it was pretty darn cute that the people at Lucas Arts included Conan O'Brien in a portion of their Lego Indiana Jones video game as motive for the people at The Tonight Show to talk about it.

The following clip features a little more talking and donut bribary than anything else, but, we did, being big fans of everything CGI/Lucas-related, enjoy what little footage on the Conan insert there was. Observe:

 

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is now available on all major consoles and handhelds.