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The Soapbox: There's nothing wrong with easy
The word "easy" gets a really bad reputation in gaming, an unfair reputation, at that, because there's absolutely nothing wrong with something's being easy. A while back, we hosted a great column about how we tend to call things easy when they really aren't. (Seriously, go read that.) That's all well and good, but that's also not what I'm talking about here. Gaming as a community seems to have decided that easy is just plain bad, that it's a horrible insult, and a game being easy is like saying that a game is worthless. But easy isn't bad. Playing a single-player game on easy difficulties isn't a mark of weakness, and having an MMO that's easy on a whole doesn't mean it's a bad game. Having easy content isn't just an acceptable thing; it's an outright good thing for a lot of player. There is absolutely nothing wrong with easy.
The Summoner's Guidebook: League of Legends is hard but satisfying
I am not the only person to ever say League of Legends is a hard game. If you've ever read a message board for a game that isn't LoL (or any general gaming board), you have likely heard about how hard League of Legends is compared to whatever other game is being discussed. Some veterans insist that LoL is not a hard game. Recently, a pretty famous internet blogger set out to prove that indeed, League is not hard and anyone can be good at it. Ultimately, I don't like his methodology, but he did not disprove my point. League of Legends is a hard game. MOBA veterans and people who read and study guides don't find it that difficult, but if you're coming to LoL and don't read guides on how to play, it will be hard for you too. That doesn't mean it's a bad game; both awful players and experts can enjoy the game equally. It's the biggest game in the world. That means there has to be a way for bad players to feel comfortable too, right?
Daily iPhone App: Super Hexagon is a wild ride
Terry Cavanagh is one of my favorite game developers. He's probably best known for his retro, mind-bending platformer VVVVVV (yes, that's its name, six Vs in a row), but he's made a number of other great titles, including the somber Don't Look Back, and the wild cat-based MMO ChatChat. Now, he's released a game on iOS called Super Hexagon, and, well, it's pretty insane. Super Hexagon is a fairly straightforward arcade game -- you control a little triangle on the screen, rotating it around left or right by pressing your thumbs on either side. Lines fly in from the sides, and the goal of the game is to move the triangle quick enough to avoid lines for as long as possible. Here's the thing, however: This game is hard. Really hard. Like, you will not survive for more than 10 seconds the first few times you play. The retro but flashy graphics, combined with the chaotic chiptunes of Chipzel make this game a freaky experience, so if the extent of your gaming prowess starts and ends with Angry Birds, you might want to wait for another Daily App tomorrow. But if you know, as a gamer, how much fun it can be to take on a really challenging but well-designed game, and fight your hardest for just a few extra seconds of life and a high score, Super Hexagon is probably for you. The game's trailer will show how wacky this one eventually gets. If that doesn't scare you away, it's on sale right now at a launch price of just $0.99.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Castle Runner
Castle Runner is a running title that's more hardcore than Canabalt. The pressure to run and avoid objects is increased by a ceiling slowly coming down on top of your head. As you run along, you'll pick up power-ups that will usually help (either raise the ceiling or allow you more time playing), but sometimes hurt (speeding you up or even darkening the screen so that you have to memorize the obstacles as they come at you). There are pillars to slide under and bumps to go over, making Castle Runner really tough. Plus, the grayscale color scheme doesn't exactly scream fun and friendly. But for running game fans looking for a challenge, you'll find one here. It's too bad the title doesn't have social networking or Game Center integration (yet?), because a high score in this one is something to brag about. Castle Runner is available for US$0.99 on the App Store for iPhone, and I believe an iPad native version is coming soon.
TUAW's Daily App: Landformer
Owen Goss is the mind behind Streaming Colour Studios, makers of Dapple and Monkeys in Space. I first met Goss earlier this year at at the 360iDev conference, and during his panel there (in which he created a game about bacon farming in just 90 minutes), he showed off a few early shots of a puzzle game called LandFormer. LandFormer is now out in the App Store, and it's a puzzle game with a pretty steep slope in difficulty and a really excellent look and feel. The goal of the game is to level out all of the lands in a little playing field, which you do by raising and lowering them in a few different patterns. You're given a target number of moves, and the challenge comes in leveling the land before the move timer runs out. The app is free, but it only comes with 10 beginner levels to start. 50 more levels can be bought within the app for US$1.99 (and a premium theme can be picked up for 99 cents), with presumably more levels to come. Fortunately, Goss has created a fully featured level editor with the free version -- you can make and share levels with anyone, and even "download" new levels through an ingenious URL system. If you're up for a few mindbending puzzles (and maybe have a few friends to create and share levels with), definitely give LandFormer a look.
MAG Trophies revealed, not a walk in the park
If you were looking for the more punishing end of the "Trophy Difficulty Spectrum," you've found it: PlayStation.Blog recently revealed the full list of Trophies for Zipper Interactive's MAG, which will require completionists to get a character to the level cap for each of the title's three factions. Based on our time with the demo, we estimate that process will take you about until MAG 2: Now With 257-Player Battles comes out. Click past the jump to see the rest of the game's unlockable accomplishments.
The Daily Grind: How much grind is too much?
Grind. There's no mechanic in MMOs quite as discussed, debated and decried. Some people dread it, feeling that having any form of recognizable grind in an mmo just destroys the experience for them. Others actually enjoy it, when there's only a little of it at a time, or it's for a recognizable goal, such as grinding materials to level tradeskills or grinding instances to get a certain drop. For still others, who seemingly have the patience of a saint, they'll take pretty much any amount of grind dished out just to continue playing a particular game, grinding for hours, days, weeks, months to accomplish the smallest of things. This morning we thought we'd ask - at what point does a particular game cross from merely difficult or time-consuming to 'grind' for you? Or are they pretty much one in the same? Are you OK with some small amount of grind, or does it send you running for the cancel account/uninstall the second you experience it? How much grind is too much?
Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business
This is one of those quintessential arguments that pops up time and time again amongst gamers, guilds, groups, and communities. It's an argument that divides people, pisses off people, and causes countless more gamers to alienate other gamers. How serious should you be about playing your game? Of course we laugh about a topic like this one. Games aren't suppose to be serious, that's why they're games! They're suppose to be fun and enjoyable. If you're not having fun, then you're doing something seriously wrong. For the most part, all of this is true. Yet, there are small segments of the games that we play that actually can require everyone to sit down and "get serious."We see it in raiding tactics, player vs. player tactics, loot distribution, and many other areas (including the entire universe of EVE Online, which seems to be played very seriously.) We've even dedicated a segment of our culture to this type of behavior -- the "hardcore" crowd.So, let's go forward and look at the question, "Are games getting too serious?"
Survey finds mobile phone setup to be excruciatingly difficult
We can't say we've ever toyed with a mobile that was so difficult to setup that we'd rather move our bank account from one institution to another just to experience something easier, but apparently we're in a quaint minority. According to research gathered by Mformation, some 85 percent of those polled were "frustrated by the difficulty of getting a new phone up and working." Out of the 4,000 individuals that were surveyed, all but 5 percent said they would "try more new services if phones were easier to set up." In fact, 61 percent admitted that they would simply stop using an application if they couldn't get it working right away, with actions such as web browsing, reading email and sending picture messages being atop the list of "greatest wants." Hear that, carriers? That's the sound of lost revenue from selling phones that people can't operate.[Via All About Symbian]
WoW Rookie (End of the Semester Edition): Dealing with difficult people
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. I apologize for the late article. Being finals week and all, things get pretty hectic for a lot of us. You will appreciate that I'm writing as my students are busily completing their final exam. As in life sometimes in World of Warcraft we come across unpleasant or stubborn people that challenge us. Whether it's in Guilds, PUGs, or just the environment, at some point someone will get on your nerves. Thanks to the perceived anonymity of the internet, people feel they can be much more brazen and offensive then they ordinarily would. I'm not asking you to let violations slide, but try to be mature about the situation. Let's talk about how to deal with difficult situations.
Hard, harder and hardest: Ghosts 'n Goblins
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for the PSP is ridiculously hard! Gamespot recently went hands-on with the upcoming PSP exclusive, and it seems like all they can talk about is the game's harrowing difficulty. (But haven't they done that before?) "There are three difficulty settings in the game--novice, standard, and ultimate--but you might as well call them hard, harder, and hardest, since none of them are anything approaching easy."The stakes are even higher in this chapter of the series, as not only have the monsters kidnapped the princess, but they want to make babies with her. Things are going to get messy. Thankfully, Arthur will have a huge stockpile of weapons to choose from: javelins, knives, scythes, crossbows, and whips. But, you'll have to choose your weapons wisely: some are better suited for particular situations. The battles you'll face will be tough, especially looking at how not only do the monsters want to kill you, the environments do as well. Check out the plethora of videos on Gamespot and get ready to feel Arthur's pain on September 5th.
