Are Demos Necessary?

Are demos really that important? Well, they are still used on Xbox 360s and PS3s and yes, computers. But, they aren`t as popular as they used to be. Back in the day, Ìd Software`s Doom thrived on demos, because Doom was a shareware game.

Definition of Shareware- Software made available for free trial with the understanding that users will voluntarily pay a fee to the author or publisher for continued use.

Shareware was built upon this. People download the game or program, try it out, and then buy it. Freeware on the other hand, doesn`t need demos, because it is well, free and if the person downloads it and hates it, at least they didn`t pay for it.

Definition of Freeware- Any computer program or application that is available at no cost to the user.



Another thing with demos is the fact that game developers send their demos to gaming magazines and websites so they can try it out and tell the public how cool (or terrible) the game will be. Would that boost sales? Yes!

Shareware is still alive and well, and people still play demos, so I believe that they are still here for a while.
Do you think demos are still popular?

Gamers Might Not Lose Sensitivity

Parents have always feared violent video games might make us gamers pure evil, but a new study shows that maybe we might stay on the light-side after all.

They compared to sets of people: Gamers and Non-Gamers. "People who play video games didn't differ in memory, and physical arousal wasn't different between gamers and non-gamers. And there was no difference in how each group felt after seeing negative or violent pictures," said Holly Bowen.

Violent games were said to lead to anger and such, but it was also discovered racing games cause more of that then shooters do.

"Much of the research on video games and violence, however, has tested gamers soon after they played a game, and might not reflect long-term effects", Holly added.

They gathered 122 people, 96 were women. 77 hadn't played games in the last 6 months, while the remaining played often.

Men Reported Playing:
1.) Call of Duty
2.) Tekken
3.) GTA
4.) Final Fantasy
5.) NHL

Women Reported Playing:
1.) Final Fantasy
2.) GTA
3.) NHL
4.) Guitar Hero
5.) Rock Band
6.) Mario Kart

Holly showed them 150 images: Some neutral, postive or negative. "Some were violent or disturbing." says Holly. An hour later, he showed them again, but with more pictures in the mix. They couldn't recall the violence very well. There was no difference with this whether they were gamers or not.

"The premise here is that we think people who are exposed to violent video games might be desensitized to violence, and if they are, they should not remember disturbing, violent pictures as much," explained Tracy Dennis.

"And, while this is an important study, what they're asking people to remember isn't necessarily linked to video game memories, so I think it's important to draw only moderate conclusions," Tracy added.



Link: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/650097.html

Let Us Go Kiss Bowling, Honey!

Probably one of the more stupid ideas of the year is the "Kiss Controller". Here is how the thing works. Someone wears a headset and another puts a magnet one their tongue. The two kiss and the different tongue movements and such control a ball as it goes down a bowling alley so it hits the pins. Would you try it?

Link: http://www.businessinsider.com/million-dollar-idea-bomb-a-video-game-that-requires-players-to-french-kiss-2011-2

The Last Star Wars Galaxies Memorial

I thought since I used to play Sony's Star Wars Galaxies and the The Old Republic MMO is on it's way, I'll give you a link to a little video. Sad. Very sad. I also think you should read the comments or go to their website in you want more info.

Link: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-viii-star-wars/38466

Link: http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/players/index.vm

Game Design Legend Believes Games Can't Tell Stories!

Game designer Will Wright, creator of Spore and the Sims series believes that games are not a good medium of which to tell stories.

"Games are not the right medium to tell stories," Will said in a recent interview. "Video games are more about story possibilities."

"This is storytelling," he said. "Television is a very different thing from video games. It's kind of hard for me to compare."

He is currently in development of a TV series called "Bar Karma", where fans went on the website, wrote possible plots for the series and even vote on the music it should have. What would he know if he didn't even write the TV show?

Of all the "Sim" franchises none uses any kind of storyline. Games are meant to let people "create their own stories," Will said. Ok. So Wright likes open-endedness. Is that a word?

Will says he is a fan of Grand Theft Auto, but he skips the missions. "What I enjoy about Grand Theft Auto is kind of going out and creating my own story," he adds.

On the other hand, he doesn't like the Metal Gear Series, because of the lengthy cutscenes.

While he was trying to get TV producers on board, he was not having much luck. "Most of them, basically, kind of laughed me out of the building," he said. Do they know who he is?

He did get the idea sold though. He also says he is trying to find a way to make movies interactive. Yikes.

Link: http://current.com/shows/bar-karma/

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/02/18/will.wright/

Game Sales Drop

The sales of video games plunged in January. Consoles took the hardest hit, which suffered an 8 percent fall. Last year sales were $353.7 million and this year's sales are $324 million. The sales of games themselves dropped 5 percent from $606.8 million to $576 million.


The Best Selling Games This Month Are:

1.) Call of Duty: Black Ops
2.) Just Dance 2
3.) Dead Space 2

Link: http://topnews.us/content/235048-npd-group-us-videogame-sales-plunged-5-year-year-january

Dr. Kawashima Returns!

Everyone's favorite brain trainer Dr. Kawashima is at it again, continuing on the success of his DS title with Dr Kawashima's Body & Brain Exercises. The game, exclusively for the Xbox 360 uses Kinect technology to not only use your body to do brain training activities, but to exercise as well. There is 20 mini games in all. It came out yesterday. What is your brain's age?
Link: http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/gamingreviews/a303121/dr-kawashimas-body--brain-exercises-360.html

No More Guitars For You!

This week Activision dropped a franchise you probably heard of: Guitar Hero. If you didn't, I'll fill you in. Guitar Hero was once a popular music game franchise where you would play as one of dozens of musicians and play a wide variety of songs using a guitar shaped controller. 

Reasons:
1.) The once billion dollar franchise is starting to decline in sales.
2.) Activision is trying to focus more on the Call of Duty series, and World of Warcraft.
3.) Activision is using the extra time/money to make more Call of Duty content.

Link: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=144796

Back to the Grind

Well, it is Monday and we are going back to the old grind, so I thought I would take a few minutes to discuss a common aspect of some video games, generally MMOs, grinding. Grinding is when a player must fight like a hundred of the same monster to level and get stronger so you can fight some more. Fun. It is not just combat either. In Runescape for instance, it changes it up so you also must grind up the woodcutting levels by clicking on trees, or clicking on tinkerboxes then wood, thus making/grinding fires. When I said grinding fires, there was no pun intended... This makes Runescape the grind king!

A normal man leveling in Runescape!

Why grind? Because like a lot of people, I think it is so you spend years playing, thus years of subscription fees for them. 

How do you stop grinding in MMO/RPG design? It is simple. Make new content all the time and lots of it. The players are just grinding once they explored/did everything, so add new quests, so they don't grind all the time. Eve Online also reduces grinding because the player doesn't have to do anything to improve the skills. They level even if you are logged off, nonstop, so to get to the highest levels, no grinding. Just waiting...

What do you think of grinding?

Will the Lego Swarm End?

Yep, Travellers Tales are at it again. This time they are making a lego Pirates of the Carribean game, following the formula of the original Lego Star Wars and its sequels. The game is due out in May 2011, and will follow the original trilogy and the new movie's story, "On Stranger Tides". Don't get me wrong. I like the lego games, but has TT games finally crossed the line? Or is Lego GTA next? A trailer is also avaliable.

Link: http://www.play.tm/news/32893/lego-pirates-of-the-caribbean-coming-this-summer/

Girls Playing Games With Parents = Good?

A new study shows that if you are a girl from 11 to 16 years old and play video games with your parents you behave better, have a better bonding and you have less aggression. If any of you parents are reading this, assuming it works on boys too, you are wrong. With boys it does not make a difference. It also only works if you are playing teen and under games. Call of Duty does the opposite of bonding!

Link: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2011/02/a-positive-effect-for-girls-who-play-video-games-with-parents-/1

EA believes that 500,000 subscriptions for The Old Republic will be enough?

Just a few days ago EA sent out a press release stating that they believe half a million subscribers is enough to make money from the new Star Wars MMO. After 300 million in development costs I am not so sure. First, they must pay for maintaining the servers and updating things and second, if 500,000 subscriptions is good, imagine World of Warcraft, with way lower development costs and more than 12 million subscribers. What do you think?

Link: http://www.gamespy.com/articles/114/1147365p1.html