Monday Night Musings: Social Networking Games

Apparently late last week a story came out over on TechCrunch about how EA has started the process to buy up the social networking site Rupture. While the deal is still in the works and has not been confirmed by EA themselves, the act alone raises some questions as to the possible implications of a big game company like EA buying up a social networking startup. It could be part of the growing trend of MySpace and Facebook to use message boards and widgets on their sites in a 'gaming' manner. While I tend not to use the widgets much myself, I have received numerous invites to play 'widget' games on facebook, such as Pirates vs. Ninjas, or Poke It!, and they even have Scrabulous on there, which is a rip-off of Scrabble. Many advertising companies, such as Google, are banking on the idea that social networking sites will be a great way to further profits with viral marketing and banner ads, which only fans the flame more.

However, a recent article in the Calgary Herald they quote some comScore statistics that show that: "the number of U.S. visitors on MySpace fell to 68 million in February from about 72 million in October, while the average time people spent on their Facebook profiles dropped to 161.3 minutes from 195.6 minutes. This indicates U.S. social networking is at the 'mature stage of the growth curve'." So social networking seems to be in a mature state, which might explain EA's desire to purchase the startup; however, at the same time it reads as if the social networking sites may also be in decline, if the trend for the past 4 months continues.

I can see the draw of the 'mini-games' present on these networking site, they require no more than a few seconds to play, but have a lifespan of several days, if not an eternity (which on the internet attention span is a rated as a few months). At the same time they allow you to interact with the people you have on the site as 'friends' (whether known to you in real life or not) and that promotes a type of social interaction; nevertheless, I find the whole system to be rather obnoxious and backwards in design, since it is constantly asking me to download another 'widget' in order to take part in a game, which just adds another item to the mountainous page of stuff I need to look at whenever I have time to log on. For those reasons alone, I feel I'm not the best candidate to declare how 'hot' the trend is, so that's why I am asking you guys how you feel about the Facebook/MySpace 'game' offerings and your experiences with them. Do you find them intriguing? do you play many, few, none of them? Do they, or other offerings, keep you returning to a social networking site?

I'm very interested to see what everyone has to say and at the same time am interested to see what EA does with Rupture... doesn't EA have a little game called Spore coming out soon... very interesting.

You Too Can Fold Your Own Nobel Prize

I'm sure many of you have heard about Folding@Home, which uses the idle processing power of your PC, Mac, or PS3 to work through the complex protein folding calculations needed to help find cures to serious diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. Well, a new game has emerged that seems like it would be the bastard child of the PS3 has making sweet love to folding@home. The new game is called Foldit, and is very much like folding in that it is trying to figure out how to properly fold proteins; however, instead of CPU power, it is harnessing the human mind and competitive spirit. The great part is that you don't need to be a molecular biologist to play the game:

Foldit capitalizes on people's natural 3-D problem-solving skills. The intuitive skills that make someone good at playing Foldit are not necessarily the ones that make a top biologist. Baker says his 13-year-old son is faster at folding proteins than he is. Others may be even faster. Eventually, the researchers hope to advance science by discovering protein-folding prodigies who have natural abilities to see proteins in 3-D. "Some people are just able to look at the game and in less than two minutes, get to the top score," said Popovic. "They can't even explain what they're doing, but somehow they're able to do it."

The game itself was made by a group of graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Washington, who put over a year to ensure that the game was accurate and engaging. The game currently presents known unfolded proteins and sees how quickly people can understand and manipulate the proteins given the set rules of needed to create the correctly folded protein. Currently they have tested the game with over 1,000 people and plan to release the game public this week. At the same time they will be offering proteins of unknown final folding shapes. And then comes the Nobel Prize worthy help:

Eventually, the researchers hope to present a medical nemesis, such as HIV or malaria, and challenge players to devise a protein with just the right shape to lock into the virus and deactivate it. Winning protein designs will be synthesized in Baker's lab and tested in petri dishes. High-scoring players will be credited in scientific publications the way that top Rosetta@home contributors already are credited for their computer time.

Overall it sounds like a game with a very lofty ambition and hopefully it makes waves as to what we can do with gaming. The article also goes on to describe how they plan to form a multiplayer community around the game to encourage people to work as groups to solve the more complex problems. Who knows, today's King of Kong could be tomorrow's Nobel Prize winner.

Computer Game's High Score Could Earn The Nobel Prize In Medicine [Science Daily]
[via: Kotaku]

Starcraft II Producer Interview

A new video is up over at gamevideos.com for Starcraft II in which James Mielke gets a behind-the-scenes interview with the lead producer of the game, Chris Sigaty. While Mr. Sigaty might not win points for having the waist length hair, he does drop a few juice tidbits of information about the game. He talks about how the AI in the game actually has to scout the territory to collect information on the players (in previous games they gave the illusion of scouting, but actually knew where everyone was). Afterwards, they chat about how far along the Zerg are in the design phase while mentions some of the Defiler and Infester moves, and then finish it all off with a discussion of how the team is dealing with units that were removed that existed in the original game. All in all, it's got some pretty gameplay shots along with a bit of news as to how the highly anticipated RTS game is coming along. Any news is great since we won't be seeing any of Blizzard's offers (or Activision for that matter) at E3 this year.

Colbert Versus Rain In DDR

I tend to watch The Colbert Report on a fairly regular basis (even if we do disagree upon bears being the biggest threat to America) and last night was a gaming beauty. During the first part of the show he lambasted Shigeru Miyamoto for gaining the coveted #1 spot on Time's online poll of the 100 most influential people this year. Stephen himself came in third place right behind Korean pop idol, Rain. Later in the episode he gives a review of the upcoming movie Speed Racer, which also has the actor Rain in it. The episode then closes with an epic dance-off between Colbert and Rain, which ends with a DDR showdown, as seen in the video above. Don't want to give the ending away, but I have to say it was one of the funnier sketches I have seen on the show, and Stephen really does know how to shake his groove thing. It's always great to see Colbert placing gaming culture into his episodes, and even interviewing people like Ian Bogost. Now if only we could get Miyamoto on the show for a Wii/Dance off, yummy.

Monday Night Musings: Games, Kids, and Adults

Hi, my name is PixelPoet, and I was partially raised by videogames. Having three older brothers (and a younger sister) I was introduced to gaming at an early age. I still remember when my oldest brother saved up a whopping $200 to buy a NES. I remember getting Ice Climbers on the Christmas that followed thereafter. I also recollect my parents having to buy the NES from my brother so that we would stop having to fight/argue with him/each other as to who got to play. A few years later I got a Gameboy and shortly after became the main user of our SNES and most of the systems that followed. I spent many a day tied up in the 'game room' playing Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 3, Chrono Trigger, and even original Super Mario Kart. In retrospect, I'm sure my mom was just elated that I was so easy to keep occupied while the other four siblings wrecked havoc upon the house with potbelly pig pets, real go-karts, and plenty of grunge music (ahh... the 90s). So yes, I was in part raised by videogames, and I'd like to think I turned out at least somewhat resembling something sane.

Now, I'm adult, and have nine nieces and nephews (and I'm sure plenty more on the way now that my younger sister is getting married in June). On Sunday I was actually playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl over the internet with my one brother and his two twin sons, both age six. It was fantastic and I was surprised to find my nephews often beating both my brother and I in our battles; however, this and many other incidents have made me realize that kids today are starting gaming and computing at a much younger age. I look how I was raised and don't see a problem, but then i see a story like "Ninten-Don't... How I watched my children turn into monsters the minute I bought them a computer game" (yes it's an incredibly long title) and wonder if maybe I'm wrong. Are video games destroying are children? Will they suffer personal identity loss in the future? Is there anything we can do? Won't someone please think of the children?!?!?! I think there is a solution... (Cheat sheet answers - No, No, Yes, and 'mmm forbidden donut')

Earthbound Coming To Wii

Just on Tuesday, Tiny Dancer was writing (and talking on the podcast) about how Earthbound and Mother were throwing their weight around on the Nintendo Power VC Poll; however, recently a new rating has popped up on the ESRB game rating list for a Earthbound game on the Wii platform. So it looks like Nintendo is starting to put its money where their player's mouths are, and I'm sure we'll all be more than willing to lap it up. While the rating could be for a completely new game, chances are that it is for a Virtual Console release of the original game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, our very own Asterick did a lovely Presented in Retrovision on the game which was super informative. I played the game myself back in the day on my lovely SNES (oh how I miss you sweetie) and it really was a refreshing change of pace from the normal RPGs that Japan puts out. Zany characters, weird plot lines, and even scratch n' sniff advertisements. As for the whole 'Mother' issue, Earthbound in the U.S.A. was actually Mother 2 in Japan, so many people still hope for a U.S. release of the original Mother game on the Virtual Console. A lot of people are going to be excited about this, judging from that poll, and it will be good to see Ness in something besides Super Smash Bros. Brawl for a change.

Breaking News: EB rated by ESRB [starman.net]

New Champion Online Screenshots

Well, yesterday seems to have been a 'big' day for GTA IV, which means just about every website has been spouting off news bits today about the game (we even have 20+ minutes in the new podcast about it); however, I thought I'd bring you something a little bit different this evening. Turns out that the upcoming MMO, Champions Online, by Cryptic Studios has released some new screenshots from the game. Cryptic Studios is the same company that developed City of Heroes and City of Villians and is using their work on those games to bring the Champion tabletop universe to life. The screenshot above and the others in their gallery look stunning and I know many MMO and tabletop enthusiasts are looking forward to seeing how the game develops.

The three new screen shots released seem to be demonstrating some of the special abilities available to characters in the game (the descriptions on the pics are: blizzard, chaingun, and energy blast). At the same time I am really digging the cellshading/comicbook look of the characters and surroundings. It lends itself very much to the way that the boardgame was originally designed to simulate a comic book world. For more snapshots of the game head on over the the game's website. Cryptic still has Champions Online slated for a cryptic vague '2009' release date, but I'll be sure to keep you guys informed as to any developments that unfold as they are made known to us mere mortals.

Sierra Spring Event: Crash Bandicoot - Mind Over Mutant

And then there was Crash Bandicoot, a game series that has done many things to our hearts in the past 12 years it has been in existence. It's been a long time since I have played a Crash Bandicoot game I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, which must be why the preview of the game elicited a giggle and a smile from me on more than one occasion (though most of the giggling was due to what the developer was saying, more on that later). The latest game in the series is called Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant and is begin made by Radical Entertainment, the same developer that did the well received Crash Bandicoot: Clash of the Titans last year. The latter title for the series was the first to be released on the Wii and the Xbox 360, so for the most part the game looks like it's running on the same engine with a few tweaks to the graphics. The big difference, though, comes in the mutant control gameplay aspects added to the game.

In the previous title, Crash gained the ability to "jack enemies" and control them; however, in this latest title you can (and this is what made me giggle) "store monsters in your pocket" as well as then "whip it out at any time". Yes, I am a child and yes those are the actual quotes from the developer, although I think I may have received an elbow to my side from Fruit Brute when I started to laugh. Joking aside, this new twist in the gameplay allows you to store any mutants with special abilities to be used later in the game to solve later puzzles or reach hidden areas. During the preview we got to see Crash use an ice breathing mutant, Rolly-Polly mutant, and Ghostly time-slowing mutant to help him get past various obstacles in his way.

As seems to be the must-have feature with most of Sierra's line-up, Crash also has added cooperative play in the game through the addition of Crash's sister, Coco, as a playable character in the game. With Coco and Crash, two players can team up to solve the many puzzles in the game and use Coco's 'treasure hunt' ability to find secret items. This addition of Coco is also nice since it gives players of any gender the opportunity to play the game as either sex of bandicoot. With the new additions to gameplay and impressive line-up of available consoles (Wii, Xbox360, PSP, DS, and PS2), I expect to see plenty of people with monsters in Crash's pockets this fall when it is due for release.

Sierra Spring Event: Spyro - Dawn Of The Dragon

No big-named publisher event would be complete without a new iteration on a well known intellectual property being displayed. Luckily for me the game was The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon which seems to have received a next-gen graphics face lift and to have finally matured through puberty. During the preview, the current developer, Etranges Libellules, openly admitted that Spyro himself has always looked a little bit childish in nature, but in this final chapter in the trilogy, Spyro seems to have finally let his fireballs drop, metaphorically speaking. With the crisp, vibrant, and bright graphics of the newer generation of consoles, Spyro also seems to have grown in size some more and added more particle effects and dynamic lighting to his world. To show off his more mature body, Spyro is also now able to fly and not solely glide, which really helps make the 'platformer' aspect of the game a little easier to deal with. The gameplay in the game was your standard action/platform fare with quicktime events added in for good measure. As expected, you can collect gems to upgrade your abilities and there are also armor sets in the game that give Spyro, or Cynder, special stat increases and effects. As you upgrade the abilities, the graphics involved with the attack also increase to some impressive levels.

As mentioned above, Spyro's once arch-nemsis, Cynder, is now his friend and you can switch between the two characters at any point in the game. One nice upgrade to this feature, though, is that you can also play cooperative with another player as Sypro's comrade, Cynder, at anytime. Both players are tethered to one another to avoid the burdens of split screen action but the game seemed to flow smoothly whenever the two players were both playing. Speaking of Cynder, now is probably a good time to bring out the long list of names of celebrities doing voice work for this game. You have Elijah Wood doing Spyro, Christina Picci doing Cynder, Mark Hammill playing the 'Dark Master' (Darth Vader... nooo!!!), and even Wayne Brady playing as Sparks. There's a few other names in the long list, and from the little voice work they already had in the game, it seemed like they were doing a great job. Add to the long list of voice actors the long list of consoles this game is coming out on (PS3, Xbox360, Wii, DS, PS2) and I'm sure that anyone can get their claws hooked into this game. Full press release after the jump.

Sierra Spring Event: World In Conflict

There are two things in the gaming world that will often cause me to shudder: hearing the line 'I'm not a Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft fanboy but' or the news that a Real-Time Strategy PC game is getting ported to the consoles. While I may never be rid of the former, what I saw of World in Conflict: Soviet Assault at Sierra gave me hope that the gaming world may close to finding a cure for the latter. Soviet Assault is basically an add-on to last year's PC game World in Conflict which did fairly well in the reviewer and awards circuit in 2007. The new content on the PC side is mainly new missions that allow you to experience the game from the Soviet side of the battle; however, the big addition is that the game will also be releasing on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The biggest reason for concern with the trans-platform operation that is going from PC to console on the RTS game is that you are basically having to replace a keyboard and mouse with a limited number of buttons on a controller; nevertheless, from what I played of the game, I really think they have done something right in how they handled it. The nitty-gritty of my 'bout with the controls for the game, other impressions, and some screenshots are after the jump.

Sierra Spring Event: PROTOTYPE

When I wake up in the morning with no recollection of how I ended up there, I am less likely to find that I have the ability to consume organic matter and more likely to worry just how much liquid matter I consumed the night before. That's not the case for the anti-hero Alex Mercer in the upcoming third-person open-world action game PROTOTYPE. In the game you play as Alex who can't remember his past (that's a new one), but mysteriously has shape-shifting / organic matter consuming abilities. With these abilities Alex can then assume the identity of anyone he comes across in the game and also transform his mutated body into a weapon of mass destruction. With New York City being overtaken by a viral outbreak appropriately named 'The Infected' and military all around, Alex can tear apart or stealthy maneuver his way to where he needs to go to find out his past and uncover a conspiracy. From the playthrough we were shown, I have to say that the game has an interesting spin on the normal action based game on top of some superb graphics, even if it does have the normal 'forgotten past' cliché plot point. Gameplay impressions and screenshots after the jump.

Sierra Spring Event: Ghostbusters

If there's something strange and it looks way too good; who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! That's right, the paranormal 80s movie, Ghostbusters, is once again coming to possess your console and slime your pants. During our preview of the new Ghostbusters game, I was thoroughly impressed by the spectacular graphics of everything from the proton beams electric-looking beams to the ethereal phantasms that would fly around taunting the characters; however, in giving the game a new and exciting look, they also kept what made the movie what it is, a comedic focus on beating up and catching ghosts along with the same endearing characters. While the game is still in development, the preview really left me with a shocked look on my face from just how great it looks and plays so far. The game will be coming out on the Wii, Xbox360, PS3, PS2, PC DS sometime in October (around Halloween if the developer has their way) and seems like it will be packing a wallop. More info and screen shots after the jump.