Tag: video games

Back on the Loot Treadmill

At the End of Act I

Despite coming out more than a decade ago Diablo 2 is still the best at what it does. What does Diablo 2 do? It convinces you that wandering around drab areas clicking wildly at badly pixelated beasties is a good use of time. I’ve beaten the game at least twice before (first time as a Barbarian second time as an Assassin) this time I’m going with an Amazon. This time instead of guessing my way through the best way to play the game, I’ve just used the vast accumulated wisdom of those who have been playing the game near non-stop for 11-odd years. Seriously, google “Diablo 2 builds” or “tips” some of these people playing this game down to an exact science.

Current Items, which mean nothing to you cause none of them are highlighted... It's okay stuff, I guess. I don't really know. This is a long caption, huh?

I don’t know how long this Diablo 2 kick will last. I assume at least until I kill Diablo, maybe I’ll be able to go all the way this time and make it through the expansion as well. I’ve never done that, yet. I’m also playing on-line for the first time (Diablo 2, not video games in general) Nowadays Blizzard deletes your character after ten days of non-activity. That is good incentive to keep playing, especially once a few hours have been invested into the character.

I suppose the real question is why hasn’t the industry been able to replicate the crack that is Diablo 2? No game since has been able to so perfectly ensnare players. No game has walked the  fine-line between pleasure and grind as well as Diablo 2. I almost wonder if Blizzard is up to the task with Diablo 3.

I can’t end this post without “thanking” the man who is responsible for getting me to reinstall the game (curse you Bungle! I have a life now! I don’t need this). A poster on the best forums on the internet started a group Let’s Play of the game this month and invited us all to come along. So, thanks Bungle.

PS – my wife hates you now =P

PSS – If any game designer types stop by I’d love to talk to you about how Diablo 2 got so much right in its design. Maybe, together we can figure out just what exactly they did that makes a fairly mindless game so addictive and rewarding.

FOUND: A Letter I Wrote to Denny Atkins and His Reply

My Letter to Mr. Atkin and his Reply
My Letter to Mr. Atkins and His Reply Cont'd.

I was going through my old journals (yes I keep one and yes it goes back 13 years or so!) and found this printed out old email exchange. It appears to be a letter I wrote in 1999, to Denny Atkins, who at the time had just left Computer Gaming World. I don’t recall ever writing this email or getting the response. I do want to thank him publicly now though for taking the time out of his busy schedule to write to me! I did take his advice, by the way, I started reading video game magazines and websites earnestly as well as emailing various authors/editors. I even landed a gig as a reviewer for Gamepen.com and then after that at UGO (2000-02). Sadly, I didn’t cultivate relationships with the people I worked with and I couldn’t tell you what most of them are doing today or if they even remember the young, eager high school graduate they were working with back then.  When the dotcom bubble burst, writing assignments dried up and I found myself with a girlfriend, friends, a part-time job and a full-time students’ workload. For me, video game journalism  fell by the wayside. I never picked it up again…

PS – well maybe a little, I’m still listed as a senior writer for GameStooge.com, a small news site, where an old friend from the Gamepen days is the Editor-in-Chief.

Chiptunes that Bury Deep into Your Cranium and Stay There

Never figured it out, still awesome after all these years

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who spent countless hours on weeknights and weekends in front of their televisions as a kid playing Nintendo that to this day I find myself humming bits and pieces of game soundtracks.  Despite the limited ability of the old NES music designers managed to squeeze out of it, with the help of additional soundchips in cartridges, some astonishingly catchy music. Furthermore, despite all the technological advances these old catchy tunes remain the bedrock on which new music for old franchises are built upon. That tune that plays whenever Link gets a new item in the Legend of Zelda? There from the very beginning! Mario’s theme? Yup. Vampire Killer? Check! The music might be tweaked, reworked, remixed, and molded but behind it all you still find these iconic, simple ditties.

Ditties that have been firmly lodged in my head for over 20 years at this point! Here are the ones I find myself humming in elevators most often! Not all of these are from the NES but the majority are. (Click the images to listen to the songs.)  It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of the tunes showcased here are from games that I go back to play over and over again. How else do you think they became automatic responses for me?

Wicked from Castlevania 1 Stage 3
Bubbleman's Theme from Megaman 2
Wily's Stage 1 from Megaman 2
Frog's theme from Chrono Trigger
Bloody Tears from Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse
Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2
Opening Theme to Shadowgate
Stage 3 theme from Metal Storm
Kraid's Lair from Metroid
Act 4, Part 2 theme from Ninja Gaiden

There are some more quite a few more (like Terra’s theme from Final Fantasy VI, or the second stage music from Shinobi 3)… This is enough to get you started though! Youtube is a great resource as are quality fan sites (think The Castlevania Dungeon) If you want even more chiptunes and don’t care if they’re from video games check out 8-bit Peoples.

So, folks what are your favorites pieces of 8-bit and 16-bit music? Please let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for great tunes as well as great games that come with them!

Viriax is Classic Shmup Fun

I’ve never considered myself to be very good at shmups. In spite of that I have always enjoyed them. From my first experience with the genre in an arcade on an old Galaga machine to bringing that experience home with Gradius and Lifeforce. After the 8-bit era I stopped focusing on the genre; I think I played Gradius 3 but such staples as R-Type were unknown to me, I had no experience of the 32-bit era of shmups at all…

I was away from the genre for so long that when I got back into it people were talking about Ikaruga, a fiendishly (to me) difficult bullet hell shmup that I enjoy playing but am under no illusions as to my abilities with it. Shmups have changed, as everything does, and the genre has left me behind. I’m okay with that, I’ve got a lot of others things to distract me and when I do want to shoot tiny things flying in patterns I still have the classics…

And, Viriax.

Viriax is a free shmup with retro stylings and unique game play by the same guy who made Hydorah (another great free shmup.) The game is a vertical scrolling shooter in which you control a single virus as it infects a host. The quirk comes from the fact that you can only,in all circumstances but one, attack enemies from behind, requiring you to maneuver past them before destroying them.

The game has only six levels but the difficulty ramps up quickly. I’m still stuck on the third. Since the levels are procedurally generated and it takes highscores to unlock later levels  going back is rewarding.

Finally, I want to mention the chiptune music by Gryzor87. I’m a big fan of chiptune music: it always reminds me of happy childhood times and I’m genuinely impressed by the depth and range of emotion chiptune artists can create with their limited “palette.” The Viriax soundtrack is ominous and oppressive, fitting emotions for the material, while retaining a catchiness that keeps them firmly lodged in my head. I can’t get enough of the music for the Heart level of the game.

Anyway, if you are looking for some classic inspired shmup fun Viriax is a smart choice!

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