Debate
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CNN adds live debate feedback for widescreen HD viewers
Deciding which channel to catch the Vice Presidential Debate on tonight? Wall Street Journal's The Numbers Guy points out that CNN's HD feed includes live analyst scorecards on the side of the screen (not included in the SD broadcast). Of course, with somewhat loose interpretations of how or when to score the debates, and a lack of explanation to viewers on what the scores the executive producer admitted there's room for improvement, but it may be worth checking out tonight and during future debates. Flip between six different VP debate HD feeds, or catch Magic's Biggest Secrets on My Network TV? Decision '08 indeed.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun discovers that WoW is a "dirty word"
Today we return to a debate that simply will not die. Gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun -- a very smart blog that is a combination of progressive and traditionalist, if that makes any sense at all -- felt the need to defend itself after it previewed Warhammer Online and made numerous comparisons to World of Warcraft. It even inserted a WoW screenshot as a joke.If you've been following this debate (which already reached a raging napalmic inferno of internet vitriol when Richard Bartle compared the games in an interview with us) then you know that RPS was just asking for trouble. And trouble it got, in the order of more than 200 comments.The latest development: RPS blogger Alec Meer wrote a personal, diplomatic, and even impassioned post in which he attempted both to defend the comparison and to defend WAR in the face of said comparison. He also tried to explain why the connection infuriates WAR fans so much. The money quote: "Telling a WAR player that his game is similar to WoW is like telling a goth that he's emo." Needless to say, it's worth a read. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Wii Warm Up: It's up for debate
This morning discussion topic is presented thanks to a grant from DS Fanboy.In all seriousness, we love doing our Point/Counterpoint feature. If you're unfamiliar, it's where we debate a topic that we feel is on the minds of the community. Of course, we can't know all things on your mind, so we're wondering if you'd like to toss out some things for us to cover in the feature? What topics do you think we should debate in future installments? Whatever it is, out with it already!
DS Daily: Up for debate
Many of you have noticed our Point/Counterpoint feature has made a recent comeback. We really enjoy doing that feature as it not only allows us to present topics that are great conversation on our little slice of the internet here, but also allows each of us to get your opinion, thanks to the poll at the end of each piece. What we're wondering is if you all have any great topics you'd like to see us tackle in the feature? Have their been any topics you and your friends have discussed at length and would like the help of a couple bloggers to decide the final verdict? Lay it on us!
Making/Money: My value chains are broken
There's a person out there who claims that all they need to know about business can be learned from World of Warcraft. A fine sentiment, to be sure, but I take issue with its accuracy. Today we are discussing the first of their eleven business topics: value chains – and why they don't work. In brief, value chain analysis states that for any good requiring multiple stages of production (meaning you don't just rip it out of your backyard and eat it), value is added at each level of refinement. Therefore the price should increase along its path to becoming a finalized product.
Guitar Hero: Poll star
You've heard our arguments for and against Guitar Hero: On Tour's viability as a worthy portable successor to the series' console games -- now we want to hear what your expectations for the game are!%Poll-12304% placeholdertext More Like Guitar Zero Back
Point: Why Guitar Hero: On Tour could rock out
Guitar Hero: On Tour is a weird product. The guitar controller, which would seem to be Guitar Hero's greatest strength, is pretty much absent from the DS game, replaced with a vestigial controller that retains the basic gameplay motion but removes the rock-star fantasy. For some, the loss of the guitar shape may remove the primary source of fun from the game (lookin' like C.C. DeVille); for me, it enhances the fun. Is it possible for a music game to be fun without simulating an instrument? Historically, yes. Guitar Hero may have roots in the instrument-based Guitar Freaks and other Bemani-series games, all of which use specialized controllers, but its immediate predecessors were Harmonix's Frequency and Amplitude for the Playstation 2. These two games featured the same visualization method and gameplay as Guitar Hero -- notes as icons, moving toward the screen Klax-style -- but used the PlayStation 2's stock controller. These two games were, in fact, more complex than Guitar Hero, requiring players to move between musical tracks. The Guitar Hero controller doesn't allow for this feature (and, of course, there'd be no reason to move over to the drum or vocal track with a guitar controller), so, in a way, the guitar controller hampered the game design.PaRappa the Rapper used the PlayStation controller to control the main character's speech. That's about as far from representative as a controller could be, and PaRappa was well-received enough for the genre to advance. Now, just because NaNaOn-Sha, Harmonix, and other companies could make great music games without representative controllers doesn't mean that Vicarious Visions can, or will -- but it does mean that we shouldn't summarily dismiss Guitar Hero: On Tour for not having a sufficiently guitar-like controller.From the looks of it, the Guitar Grip peripheral will provide a mechanically similar gameplay experience to the full-size controller anyway. With the exception of the fifth fret button, of course, the base game of holding one or more of a line of buttons and strumming on time is unchanged. So it's still Guitar Hero -- it just doesn't look like it. This should really only dissuade people who play Guitar Hero in order to pretend like they're playing guitars. People who like Guitar Hero as a game will only benefit from a smaller version.Portability is especially novel for something like Guitar Hero, whose normal controller is freaking huge. Sometimes you don't have space for a bunch of big controllers! You may be dissuaded from bringing your Guitar Hero setup to your small dorm room, for example, while you could easily play On Tour in the back of a Volkswagen. The added value of portability, with a smaller price tag? Rokken. placeholdertext Back A different tune
Point/Counterpoint: Guitar Hero: On Tour
Welcome to Point/Counterpoint, in which two DS Fanboy bloggers get into a verbal slap-fight over a divisive topic in the field of DS gaming. Few DS-related topics are more divisive right now than Guitar Hero: On Tour. Activision and Vicarious Visions have tried to cram the experience of one of the best-known party games onto the DS by grafting a big ... thing onto the side of the system. We can all agree that the Guitar Grip doesn't look anything like a guitar, but is it sufficient for Guitar Hero? Is there any chance that this game could shred, or is it going to be all guitar face and no totally sweet solos? On Tour could strike a power-chord %Gallery-19362%
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WoW Insider Show: Special multiboxing edition this weekend with guest Xzin
Multiboxing -- we've mentioned it quite a few times here on WoW Insider, and it's always been a controversial subject. While the game is quite clearly not designed around players playing multiple characters at once, Blizzard has stated that they have no problem with it -- as long as people are paying for each account they use, and not using third-party programs to control their characters, Blizzard is fine with it.But I, Mike Schramm, personally have always been quite against the idea of multiboxing. Lots of folks have used macros and programming to control multiple characters all the way up to level 70 and beyond, and some have even taken teams of characters into PvP areas to win battlegrounds and gain honor, or even win the arena seasons, and all the rewards that come with that victory. In my opinion, that's a horrible mockery of the way the game was designed -- this is a social game that is meant to be played with other players, and to pit one person with five computers against a real-life team of five people just isn't fair or interesting. Sure, you might be able to control the movements of five characters with skilled programming and control, but the other team has to coordinate five human minds all together, a much harder and more interesting act, in my personal opinion. I am firmly against multiboxing -- it's not the way this game is meant to be played at all, and while Blizzard may be content to make more money off of someone paying for many accounts, I'm not content to be stuck in a game with them.Which is why, this Saturday on the WoW Insider Show over on WoW Radio (at 3:30pm EST), our guest will be Xzin, one of the most notorious (and popular) multiboxers the game has ever seen.
Point/Counterpoint: The worth of Wii Play
Welcome to a new intermittent feature here at Wii Fanboy: Point/Counterpoint, in which two of our bloggers face off in an ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny over one simple question.There's no denying that Wii Play is successful -- it has continually been one of the best-selling titles for the console. However, the inclusion of a Wii remote with the minigame collection certainly accounts for most of that success. How worthwhile is the game itself? Does it deserve to be one of the top games for the console? That's the question on the table. The case against Wii Play %Gallery-18693%
Counterpoint: In defense of Wii Play
If you own a Wii, it's a safe bet you own more than one remote ... and you probably picked up that second remote with a copy of Wii Play. Why not? For an extra ten bucks, Nintendo threw in some mini-games, and for some reason, this aroused the ire of selected gamers and reviewers around the globe (including some who didn't even bother to play it). Want a spare controller for your 360 or PS3? You're going to drop a similar amount of cash and get ... a controller. Want something extra? You're boned, friend; take your controller and like it. Not so for Wii owners, for whom a second controller is pretty much a necessity; after all, so many of the Wii's games depend on an in-house multiplayer experience, rather than the single-flesh-person online experience the other consoles tend to offer. Sure, that's a drawback in a lot of cases, but it's fact: the Wii is great for party games, so you need a spare remote or three. Period. Which is why the Wii Play bundle is not only brilliant, but an excellent bargain for Wii owners. You get nine small games for ten bucks -- and that's a deal any way you slice it.But this goes beyond the idea of price. Not only is Wii Play a surprisingly good mini-game collection for ten bucks, but it's an effective game in its own right. Sure, it lacks the depth of most full-fledged games, but it beats the pants off a few, namely Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Carnival Games. Pound for pound, Wii Play is certainly a better deal than either of those titles. The first features a few completely unplayable mini-games (and has review scores I will never understand), and the second feels half-finished in many respects. Wii Play, however, can be a blast! Grab a friend and sit down for a few rounds in the shooting gallery, or half an hour with Tanks! or Charge!, and then tell us that it was the worst experience of your life. Unless you hate fun, you're probably going to manage to have a little.Further, the mini-games of Wii Play seem tailor made to teach new gamers how to use the Wii remote in different ways; simply by playing, you learn to point and shoot, to grab and move items, and to "drive" while holding the remote sideways. There's a good reason for this -- Wii Play started its life as a tech demo, but that actually makes it very useful as an in-home title. Like it or not, many Wii owners (or users) are new to gaming, or returning to the hobby, and games like Wii Sports and Wii Play get them accustomed to manipulating the controller ... which means they'll probably want more games. That gives the more robust gamers more people to play with. Everybody wins.Does that mean the experience is perfect? No, not at all, but despite the perfect review scores that are being tossed around more and more often, few games are. What's important is that Wii Play is exactly what it sets out to be -- an inexpensive bonus training game that offers shallow fun -- and for that, the bundle deserves the crazy sales. It's one of the best bargains out there for any Wii owner. Anti-Wii Play Back You decide!
Point: The case against Wii Play
Wii Play. Anyone who keeps up with sales figures knows that the package has been selling steady ever since it released early last year. Folks see an almost-free game with a Wiimote for only $50 and they immediately think it's a deal. And many can argue that it is, but for this individual, the bundle has no appeal.The first issue I have with the package is the software. Wii Play as a "game" is like saying a peanut butter sandwich is "a meal." It's lacking. When looking directly at the worth of the software (the games within it), one finds titles that, upon being tried for the first time might come off as mild amusements and "well worth the extra $10," but after several sessions, the truth comes out. These minigames feel like they were never finished.The mini-games seem half-baked and only offer a diversion for a short amount of time. After giving them a few plays over an hour, I quickly came to my senses that Wii Play is something I didn't want to see happent to the Wii. I didn't want quick slap-togethers of minigames to flood the console. Luckily, that isn't the case, but doesn't save Wii Play from its own flaws. Also, as a sort of "Wiimote trainer," it's not any kind of introduction to some wider world of Wii wonders that can only be seen through picking up Wii Play and playing it. Wii Play only trains you in how to get bored quickly. Nintendo would have you believe otherwise.Finally, the comparisons between it and Wii Sports are inevitable. Again, where Wii Play is nothing more than a tech demo with some added polish, Wii Sports stands on its own as a worthwhile experience on the console. The sports games included in that package are, more or less, actually fleshed out and allow you to play for more than 5 minutes. In Wii Sports, you can also enjoy multiplayer gaming, where should you expose a friend to Wii Play you're probably only going to get a smack to the face in response. At least, that's what I'd do.In the end, it's no doubt going to boil down to what your personal preferences are, but I really don't see the validation of Wii Play. For what this software is (a collection of quick and tedious minigames), I would say the only way I could accept Wii Play was if it were packaged with a Wiimote for free. Until then, my extra $10 will go to more important things. Like lottery tickets. placeholdertext Back In favor of Wii Play
Mark Jacobs rails against official forums
The issue of whether major MMO releases should be accompanied by official forums is a hot topic in the industry these days. While some recent games like Tabula Rasa have opted to without official forums, to mixed results, others like Lord of the Rings Online have shown that they can still be a valued resource. It seems like discussions on the topic are ever-present. We've known for a while now that Warhammer Online was opting out of official forums, but general manager Mark Jacobs chimed in on the Warhammer Alliance forums to reiterate Mythic's position on the subject.He lays out a mock-schedule for the way player (mis)behavior would develop as the game moved closer to release, poking fun at the schizophrenic nature of official forums - how the community as a whole can be both loving and hateful, cynical and naive, reactionary and... well, usually just reactionary. He also says that he doesn't want to have to put himself or any of his community team through that kind of hell, and that's what informed their decision to stay away from official forums. It's not like it stops people from flaming the game though, and community reps still need to wade through community forums anyway, so why not put it all in one place? I almost wish they'd just admit it was the money...
New book seeks to clear up game violence debate
It's not hard to find studies and media reports both for and against the damning effects of video game violence on children, but a new book coming out in April seems to be attempting to forge a new, more reasonable middle ground in the debate. Grand Theft Childhood is based on a June 2007 study in which the book's authors studied over 1,200 middle-schoolers in two states . Rather than trying to measure levels of "aggression" or map brain activity, the study asked the students to fill out surveys on their gameplay habits. The results found that while a large majority of students played violent games, most played "to get their anger out."The authors say their research is different because they went in with no preconceived notions. "When we began our research, we didn't fully grasp how politicized and emotional this topic was," said Dr. Cheryl K. Olsen in an interview with The Game Couch. "It may take a new generation of researchers and advocates, open to both pros and cons of video games (and who've played video games themselves!), to start truly productive discussions." Let's hope they hurry. We can't take many more screaming matches.
Resolved: Arguments for additional rental time aren't realistic
In the second half of our iTunes movie rental debate, Christina takes the "Con" position on extended-duration rentals, and in the process will probably draw ire from all the parents out there.Let me start by saying that I'm not opposed to a rental extension period. As a single, non-breeder with no plans to join the Momfia (as coined by Michael Rose), I'm not immune to things happening that interrupt my 24-hour viewing window for a movie; that's life. Let me also say that I completely sympathize with the struggle that juggling kids and a job must entail and I appreciate that finding uninterrupted time to enjoy a movie can be difficult. But while I would gladly welcome the opportunity to add a few hours onto the rental time (or another day), I have a small problem with the basic argument that it is impossible for parents (or anyone for that matter) to find the time to watch a movie within a limited time frame. These arguments strike me as pretty unrealistic for what will happen 95% of the time and while I have no problem criticizing Apple's rental model on a number of levels, the rental duration is not one of them. In fact, I would argue that the options we have now are significantly better than they have ever been in the past.More than twenty years ago, my parents were able to rent videos and watch them in the 24 hour window (and this was when video rentals were, with inflation, probably $10 a night and the late fees were insane -- often far more than just renting a title for another day) without a problem. In the early 1990s, when Pay-Per-View was all the rage, people were able to adjust to sitting down and watching a movie, despite the fact that flexible start times didn't exist until the late 1990s (meaning that if you ordered the movie at two minutes past the start time, the movie started two minutes in, and in the OLD school days, you couldn't even order from the cable box, you had to call an automated number, which could delay the time it took for the film to arrive on your box). Plus, there was no option to pause or rewind a movie on the fly. If Little Johnny needed a drink of water, your recourse was to either record the movie on your VCR (but you would still have to wait for the entire movie to finish recording before you could rewind) or you would wind up renting "Cliffhanger" four times in one month at $5.99 a pop (which my own family did do, not because of bedtime hijinx but because we were really bad about telling one another when we were renting something).Again, I appreciate that finding time to watch something can be difficult for parents, but I find it hard to believe that the behavior of even young children has devolved the level that stealing some time to watch a movie is impossible. And really, if you can't find 24 hours to rent a movie, either consider buying it for $10 or rent the DVD from Netflix. If an emergency does come up, well, spending another $3 or $4 isn't the end of the world. It's less than half the price of one movie ticket. I hardly see why Apple (or any company) should have to answer for parents' inability to get their kids to stay in bed. Do things come up? Absolutely, but that goes for everyone -- not just parents -- but the idea that there is absolutely no way a movie can be viewed within 24 hours because your kids have such erratic bedtime issues seems to be a problem the family might want to address, not Apple.
Resolved: iTunes movie rentals should offer an extended-time option
In the first half of our iTunes movie rental debate, Mike stakes out the "Pro" position on extended-duration rentals with an appeal on behalf of tired, stressed parents everywhere.Let me just say it: there is a perfect market for iTunes movie rentals. It's the same market that Netflix or VOD sales addresses, the same audience that prefers (or is limited to) staying at home rather than a night out at the movies. You know who we are -- the stroller patrol, the breeder bastion, the Momfia... the parents. We crave entertainment, and we're willing to pay for it, but our evenings are squeezed to the point of nonexistence. By the time the offspring are fed and watered, tucked away in their beds, we might only have an hour or two's worth of 'we' time to enjoy a feature film. If someone wakes up and needs 15 minutes of settling back to bed, well, forget it. With the 24-hour watch time limitation on iTunes movies, tomorrow night, when we might have another chance to view our movie, it's too late.Thus, opinionated folk such as David Pogue, Rob Griffiths, Glenn Fleishman, and our reader Marshall (his open letter to Apple is reproduced at the end of this post) all concur that some form of extension past the 24-hour limit makes great sense to parents and great sense to Apple's rental market. I join my voice to theirs, and offer this modest proposal: Add a $0.50 surcharge for a 6-hour extension, or $1 for a 12-hour bump. Make the extra time optional -- you'd still have to decide and pay for it at rental time, not add it on after renting the movie, as the DRM challenges of a shifting finish line + multiple playback devices are probably too much to handle. I bet that parents of young kids, or families with variable evening schedules, would fork over the extra spare change to extend their rental times, and let's remember that those couple of quarters are pure profit (it costs the same in encoding and bandwidth for a 36-hour movie to download as for a 24-hour movie). I'd gladly take the extra time for free, but if you've got to add a modest surcharge I'll swallow my pride.Give me a 36-hour rental and I promise this: I will buy an Apple TV and I will start renting movies on it. That's $225, cash on the barrel, plus what I'll spend on the flicks. Who's with me?
Today's most stylistic video: "video game" vs. "videogame"
It's a debate that's at least as old as our 2005 poll on the subject (which ended in a statistical dead heat) -- should the term "video game" be one word or two. Copy editors, designers, and journalists have all weighed in on the subject (as well as a certain book author and blogger). Now, finally, we have an official answer from a well-respected, authoritative source: the fine fellows over at College Humor.The video does a great job of skewering the self-importance of those that obsess over such a pointless argument (present company included). But then they link to an official petition (currently down) that purports to support College Humor's preferred, one-word spelling. Are they taking themselves too seriously, or is it just another layer of the meta-joke? We report, you decide.
The epic fight: Retail vs. Microtransactions
This past week's DICE event had several head-to-head events pitting warring concepts in the gaming industry against each other. The ongoing struggle between subscription fees and RMT/microtransactional business models was represented at the event by an excellent debate. And topical, considering that it appears questions over the business model may have in some way scuttled the Marvel comics MMO.On the side of retail/subscriptions was Kelly Flock, a veteran of THQ and Sony. Min Kim, the director of operations for Nexon America, carried the banner for microtransactions. Most of their sparring centered over the economic benefits both sides offer. Kim focused on the cheap production costs of free-to-play games, as well as the appeal to casual gamers. "Once people start playing games for free, I don't know why they're going to start paying for one.", he said. Flock, meanwhile, offered evidence of a strong retail market and possible customer mindset problems in the US. Both of them had some compelling things to say on the subject, but it seems from the writeup that Kim and RMT won the day. A sign of the times?
Thompson says he'll debate at GDC, GDC says otherwise
Update (3:40 PM EST): We just received the following statement from GDC Executive Director Jamil Moledina: "The Game Developers Conference has not extended an invitation to Jack Thompson to speak at GDC 2008. We look forward to announcing the full speaker lineup closer to the show." So much for that.Original story: Fresh off his respectable performance at Philadelphia's VGXPO, activist lawyer Jack Thompson says that his public debating days are just beginning. In a legal brief unearthed by GamePolitics, Thompson says that a Game Developers Conference organizer asked him to "reprise the Philadelphia debate, this time in February in San Francisco in a 5000 seat arena, as the keynote event."Such a keynote would surely be a blockbuster part of the conference, but Thompson has been known to stretch the truth in the past. We've put in a call to the people behind GDC and we'll update as soon as we can confirm (See update, above).
Live at the Jack Thompson debate in Philadelphia
We're live at the Philadelphia Convention Center, waiting for the panel discussion between Jack Thompson and Oddworld's Lorne Lanning – and moderated by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal – to begin. After watching Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat (more on that later), we returned to the same theater eager to hear the debate. 3:55pm - N'Gai lays out the rules (no cameras, sorry folks) and introduces himself and the participants. N'Gai asks Jack how he came to be involved with the film. Jack delivers what appears to be a sincere appreciation for the film and the opportunity to be involved with it. He commends both N'Gai and Lorne, as well as director Halpin, for being will-intentioned, and that's a major reason he was in the film and he's here tonight.4:00pm - How does Jack feel about Lorne's point in the film saying that it's easier for games to contain violence – canceling something out? Since Lorne's games aren't known for being the most violent on the market (Oddworld, Stranger's Wrath), how does he see himself in the debate? He wanted his games to be more "substantive" in their content, address socio-political issues he saw on the news, for example global warming. He points to the control over science regarding global warming, and how what used to be fact is now a grey area. Does what Lorne said resonate with Jack at all? "We've lost the idea of the public space, public square, whatever you want to call it." He argues for the common good, and encourages people to see things beyond money. He said a gamer thanked him for uniting gamers the world over (in opposition to him, obviously) and got a hearty laugh. He says the first time he saw the documentary, he wept. He's audibly choked up as he says that the film clearly shows both sides of this issue care about people.
