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No 'game over' in Beyond: Two Souls, but Jodi can die
There is no "game over" in Beyond: Two Souls – the screen never fades to black, there's no inspirational quote in sight, and, most importantly to creator David Cage, the story doesn't come to a complete stop. "I've always felt that 'game over' is a state of failure more for the game designer than from the player," Cage told me at Gamescom. "It's like creating an artificial loop saying, 'You didn't play the game the way I wanted you to play, so now you're punished and you're going to come back and play it again until you do what I want you to do.' In an action game, I can get that – why not? It's all about skills. But in a story-driven experience it doesn't make any sense." Instead, Cage said he focused on giving consequences to failures without hindering the narrative. In one scene, two police officers hunt down Jodi, the protagonist, on a moving passenger train. Jodi is able to circumvent the officers and run away, leading to an intense standoff on the roof of the speeding train. "Failing" this scene means the cops capture Jodi before she has a chance to bolt, and in the standard video game design scheme, this would mean cut, fade to black and try again. In Beyond, players are given an alternate story path, this time where Jodi is locked in a train car with the officers standing guard, and she has to escape. Players who "fail" the train scene won't see the rooftop battle, but those who "beat" it won't experience the escape narrative. In at least one of these scenarios, a path can lead to Jodi's death. This raises a question that humankind has asked itself for eons: What happens when we die? "It's a game about death, so you can imagine that death plays a role in all of this," Cage said. "Actually, it's one of the big discoveries – one of the big mysteries in the game is to discover what's on the other side. And it's definitely not a black screen."
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite City of Heroes memory?
I picked up City of Heroes shortly after the game launched, and I've been playing the game on and off ever since. Finding out that it's going to be gone before the end of the year stirs a lot of memories, like the first time I ever encountered one of the Rikti, the first fights against the Fifth Column, or marching around with a cape for the first time. Memories that I'll have no matter what, made more than a little bittersweet by the news of the game's impending closure. Not everyone has played the game, but after its long lifespan and the free-to-play conversion, odds are good that most MMO veterans have some recollection of playing. So as we look forward to the end, what's your favorite memory of City of Heroes? What anecdotes do you have about the first superhero MMORPG from its long and storied run? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
A series of unfortunate demises: classic arcade game deaths compiled into a tender tribute video
Whatever your flavor of old school gaming, whether you were a future-loving RoboCop killer or a skeleton-slaying Golden Axe swinger, there's a little slice of nostalgia here for you. The guys from BoingBoing have lovingly compiled some of the most memorable death scenes from the games of yore into a video tribute, and they've been nice enough to leave out the names of all the games featured. There's no Pokémon action in there, but still, can you guess 'em all?
Cinemassively: Game Over
In late 2006, an artist by the name of Pierce Portocarrero would change Second Life. Machinima was growing more popular every day, and Linden Lab had produced their hype machinima, Silver Bells and Golden Spurs. Yet Pierce's film, Game Over, looked nothing like SL. It was almost as if it were a dream world.Game Over is a love story between two creatures that find themselves facing an environmental disaster. While quite tragic, the cinematography is beautiful. Pierce himself explains how he storyboarded the film, which ended up nominated for multiple awards and winning the Open category at Machinimasia. It's a shame that he's not producing machinima much these days.
Dojo Update: Continuing will cost you
Ah, where would we be without continues? You'd probably find us taking an anger management class or two if they didn't exist, truth be told.Of course, you shouldn't rely on continues. Even though you can use them, you should certainly try to get by without them. Sakurai seems to feel the same way, which is why you get punished for using continues in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.Not that the punishment is all that bad -- Kirby won't puff into your home and slap you in the face, for example. Yet, in Classic Mode, each continue comes at the cost of points and coins. Your score will automatically get cut in half, and the amount of coins you owe is based on the difficulty you're playing in. Naturally, easy playthroughs cost less coins than difficult playthroughs. And yes, these are the same coins that you'll be using in Spectator Mode. Just like an arcade game, if you don't have enough coinage to continue, it's game over.As for Adventure Mode, the consequences aren't as bad. You don't have to spend your coins to continue, but you'll lose half of the trophies and stickers that you've collected on your current quest. You'll also receive less coins when you beat stages after continuing. We wonder just how hard these single player modes are going to be. Until we figure that out, you can bet that we'll be big penny pinchers.%Gallery-16727%%Gallery-10206%
The Daily Grind: Game over?
So I'll start off this morning a wee bit off-topic. You see, I just recently picked up a 360 (yeah, I'm behind the times, hush) and despite the fact that I'm not a huge FPS person, I've really been enjoying Bioshock. Of course, I admit that I'm enjoying it more from the aspect of taking Ayn Rand & Objectivism and turning it completely on its ear, moreso than shooting splicers into gooey piles. As with all console games, there will eventually come an end -- a point at which I've beaten it and have to move on. This isn't the case with MMOs, for the most part. There is never a "game over" screen for them -- you must decide the end of your own story. So today we thought we'd ask you this; is there ever a point at which you feel that you've personally hit a "game over" portion? Would you consider "game over" to be when you've beaten all the big endgame content, or is it just when you're tired of playing and need a break? Is there never a point where you say to yourself that it's over?
Forum Post of the Day: If WoW ended in 24 hours...
The premise that Bugsy has put forth on the EU forums is fairly simple. If WoW were to shut down in 24 hours, what do you think you'd do with all the free time? Would you be going through WoW withdrawal, or would you suddenly develop a close and personal relationship with your (potentially neglected) chores? Many of the forum replies out there suggest gathering their guilds together and finding another game to go to. (I expected the Warhammer references, but was surprised to see EVE in there too.) Still others just said they'd sell their accounts as fast as they could, or head out and enjoy time in meat-space.As for me, if WoW were shutting down in 24 hours, I think I'd probably squeeze every last moment out of it. That would probably involve corpse-hopping as far as possible in Black Temple -- if only to say that I'd seen the inside of the place. (who cares about repair bills when the whole game is going to go away the next day?) From there, I'd jump on my guild's forums, put the plans into work for a full guild raid on [insert large theme park here] where we could all meet up for one hell of a weekend bash before we scatter to the MMO winds. (As I have an open EVE account currently, I pretty much know where my focus would shift to...)What would you do? Are there any MMOs on the horizon that you think your guild might jump to, or that you're really looking forward to? Would you return to the MMO/MUD you may have been playing before WoW came along? Or would you agree with some in the thread -- that WoW is the first and last of the genre you'd play? [Many thanks to our own Dan O'Halloran!]
Sneak attack launch quite possible, says CNN Money
Chris Morris' famed "Game Over" column over at CNN Money depicts a tantalizing future...well, a closer one, anyway. Morris states that industry insiders and other various information dealers, lurking in the dark alleys of Kyoto, all point to an early Wii launch in October...or possibly even late September. The biggest shred of proof? "Indeed, the company appears to be already manufacturing final retail units of the Wii, according to a June 21st analyst's note from P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research."If true, this is good news indeed. Not only would allow the Wii this possibly early launch, but supply will certainly be more prolific then the generally bungled Xbox 360 launch. In addition, it would allow Nintendo a heck of a jump start on rival-who-isn't-really-a-rival-but-who-are-you-trying-to-kid Sony, launching in the US on November 17th. Still, can we really expect this? Many assume that Nintendo is going to release final launch information at the Tokyo Game Show, which takes place from September 22nd-24th. Such a short window may not be enough time to build a large marketing campaign and momentum going into the launch. Take it with a grain of salt.[Thanks, Eric!]
Breakfast Topic: Game Over
It might not be something any of us are countenancing, but people do stop playing WoW. There are many reasons to quit--lack of time, money, enthusiasm. However, as with any MMO, the words "Game Over" never flash on your screen--how do you know when it's time to stop?We each have different goals when we play WoW. I play because I enjoy the social side of things, and my ultimate goal (if I had all the time in the world) would be to play every class to level 60, visiting every area and dungeon, finishing every quest line. I love the depth of WoW, and I like seeing the tricks that other classes can pull off to surprise me; I want to learn them all. I'm not in this game for epics, but I know many of you are. If I achieve that goal, I may stop playing, or I may have found another along the way.What's your core goal in the game? Have you left WoW and returned, or has it always had a place in your life?
