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You won't win Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment, that's the point
Pippin Barr first hit our radar in September when he made a game so boring it couldn't be ignored -- and it seems he's done it again. And again. And again. Barr's games are made to be simple exercises in thought and social commentary; at least we hope they are, because otherwise they're simply extremely tedious and don't offer any reward for effort exerted. His most recent installment, Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment, offers insight into the futility of desire and mankind's attempt to thwart the powers that be, whether they're godly, psychological or stemming from ritualistic self-abuse. Or it's just a series of games that will really piss you off. We haven't quite decided yet. Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment tells the tales of Sisyphus, Tantalus, Prometheus, Danaids and Zeno through the clever use of the G and H keys, pressed rapidly and continuously until you tire and your punishment is enacted. Peregrin Took's Dr. Pippin Barr's other titles include Trolley Problem, ZORBA and All's Well That Ends Well, and they're no less, ahem, enlightening than Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment.
'No plans' for Xbox 360 version of Champions Online, Cryptic says
Add another tombstone to the increasingly populated Xbox MMO graveyard. The Xbox 360 port of Champions Online is seemingly kaput. A forum user known as Jackalope -- Cryptic Studios CCO Jack Emmert, according to TeamXbox -- responded in a thread regarding the beleaguered port, saying, "100% of our focus is on making the current PC product the best it can be. There are no current plans for a console version of Champions." Previously, the Xbox 360 version of the MMO had seen its share of setbacks. In August last year, Emmert laid the blame for the delay squarely on Microsoft. "It just takes time for the big beast known as Microsoft to get moving," he said at the time, adding that "it's as baffling to developers as it is to everyone else." This marks the latest in a long string of failed-to-launch MMOs for the Xbox platform: Ensemble's Halo MMO, True Fantasy Live Online for the original Xbox, Marvel Universe Online, Age of Conan, Huxley -- all of them either canceled or in development limbo. Thus far, the only traditional MMO to see the light of day on the Xbox 360 has been Final Fantasy XI. We can only speculate as to what the bottleneck is for MMOs on the Xbox 360 but, given the litany of failed projects from multiple developers, Microsoft certainly appears to be the common thread. [Original photo source: Qole Pejorian]
