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DS Daily: Most innovative
Yesterday, over on Wii Fanboy, we spent a little time discussing some of the best control schemes we've seen so far on the new console. We thought that today might be a good time to get the DS readers in on the action, since after all, the handheld has really brought a lot to the table. What games do you think have really made the best use of the touchscreen? How about the mic? Best games overall? No real rules or categories here -- just talk up what you've liked best about what the DS has to offer.
USA Today: iPod is lifechanging
USA Today recently chose 25 inventions they felt had changed people's lives in the last 25 years. Along with cell phones, laptops and DVDs, USA Today chose iPod as their #8 life changing gadget. It has, they suggest, reinvented the way people walk down sidewalks. Presumably before the iPod, no one had apparently ever heard of, let alone used, the Sony Walkman. But that's just a small quibble. We here at TUAW aren't argumentative. If USA Today says that the iPod is life changing, who are we to argue?
Does the industry need to give WoW competition?
Right now WoW stands as the big boy on the online gaming scene. It will take quite a bit to close the gap between it and the other -- some could argue the inferior -- titles. Mark Ward at BBC News wrote an article on the subject of competition to World of Warcraft last week, and it raises some interesting issues. Mark interviewed Funcom game director Gaute Godoger, the man responsible for the upcoming Age of Conan MMO. Gaute believes that competition is needed for WoW because it has such a stranglehold on the market right now. Normally, I would have to agree with him, since competition breeds innovation. But in the case of Blizzard, they are competing with themselves for innovation, which is why WoW constantly comes up with new and fresh concepts and content that other games strive to copy. From where I sit, the company appears to be driven by the internal desire to put forth the best game possible, and so I see little in the market today that would have the potential to actually compete with their ethic.
Indie developers drop the 'i-bomb'
Monday afternoon brought a pack of indie gaming stars out of their dark workspaces and into the spotlight of the Independent Games Summit. Kyle Gabler (Tower of Goo), Jenova Chen (flOw), Jonathan Blow, and several others were on hand to discuss the role innovation plays in independent game development. The overused "i" word has become a cliché in recent years with commercial developers using it to mask the ugly symptoms of sequelitis. But with smaller dev teams and less emphasis on making money, indie developers actually can focus on creating interesting content and stretching the boundaries of gaming conventions.As Gabler points out, computing power will continue to progress over the next several decades and exceed our ability to use it. Instead of inventing new gimmicks to distract us, games must focus on the one thing that doesn't change: human emotion. That's the reason Final Fantasy VII will make you cry (if you're a wimp), Beyond Good and Evil will make you hate Big Brother, and Tetris will lead to the development of an odd proclivity for stacking objects.
RFID Audiobar brings enjoyment to audio art
While today might not seem all that out of the ordinary, it's not everyday that we find not just one, but two cases of folks using RFID technology to enhance our lives and bring excitement to otherwise mundane exhibits. Following up on ET's playful garb, Mogens Jacobsen has crafted the Audiobar (Hørbar), which is a "physical bar-like social environment that enable visitors to interact with sounds via RFID tagged bottles." His was recently commissioned by The Museum for Contemporary Art Roskild to come up with a new and varied way to present the museum's "vast archive of sound-art," and is now garnering worldwide attention for his success. Each tagged RFID bottle responds to the reader installed in the table, and the housed computer channels the appropriate audio clips to correspond with the bottle movements. While it still might take a bit more pizazz to get a gang of second graders to listen to anything on a museum field trip, this is most certainly a step in the right direction, and can be checked out now if you're stopping through Denmark.[Via Textually]
Found Video: iPhone "spanks" Microsoft
Claiming that the new iPhone is the most important innovation since curly fries, comedian Craig Ferguson gives a hilarious smack down of Microsoft. It's a short bit (only about a minute and a half long), but chock full of giggles for Apple fans. Is Microsoft really as lacking in innovation as Ferguson suggests? Of course not. But he certainly made me laugh while he laid out his case.Thanks Chris Hileman
EA exec disses Gears of War, Eurogamer pats back
Did EA Montreal GM Alain Tascan really believe he could get away with bad mouthing Gears of War for lacking innovation? Dude, c'mon, you work for EA; its bread n' butter is copy-pasting last year's game (and somehow making it worse in the process).The problem here is that 'innovation' is being tossed around as a magic substance that makes a game superior. But what is innovation? How do we measure it? Are Gears' cover-system tweaks innovative? We think so. How about its active reload minigame? Sure, we haven't seen that before. Aliens threatening human existence in a post-apocalyptic shooter? Of course not. But how would Tascan know that? By his own admission, he's never played the game.Aside: Tascan also bad mouthed reviewers for praising Gears. He did however applaud "two very brave UK-based journalists" who dealt Gears 8/10s -- sadly, low scores in the twisted world of games reviews. One of those outlets was Eurogamer, which picked up on Tascan's rant and used the incident to herald its own "brave" work with a link-back (in the original post; now edited). But once commenters created a stir, upset by Eurogamer's display of hubris, the site removed the link in an attempt to save face. Tsk tsk.
Square Enix talks up innovation, hints at new hardware
Though you might be inclined to give Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, an incredulous stare as he discusses the merits of innovation before the release of Final Fantasy Thirteen, a recent interview with Nikkei Business Online points to his fairly levelheaded approach to the topic. "If we don't see some [next-generation] titles that differ from traditional games, the industry is in trouble. Nintendo's DS lineup gives you an idea of the potential..." However, Mr. Wada goes on to say that immmediately tossing out all previous conventions and concepts isn't necessarily the best solution. "We must change. But if we change all at once, the system will collapse, and since our profits are built on that system, it's a difficult question. So you have to introduce change from a completely unrelated direction within a separate budget framework. This is something all the companies are worrying about right now. Fortunately, we're financially prepared to handle change." It raises the interesting point that change may be easy to trumpet but difficult to usher in, requiring gradual steps and some assistance from current franchises. The earlier point regarding the DS' success is an interesting one, since Nintendo's many franchises and characters were arguably instrumental in introducing a different way of playing games.The ability of unique hardware to funnel innovation in certain ways also intrigues Square, which is why "Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware. In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.' It's interesting in that it's not the sort of thing you expect from Square Enix." With that in mind, we now can't wait to play some sort of Final Fantasy game on a Square Enix thing at an undisclosed time in the future.[Via Gamasutra]
Sony steals motion idea, but not from Nintendo
Gamespot's Inside E3 blog points out that Sony didn't steal their motion-sensing PS3 controller from Nintendo-they stole it from Microsoft and Logitech:They didn't steal from Nintendo. They actually stole from Microsoft (and Logitech). The picture you're looking at here [follow link to see pic] is a picture I took of gyroscopic, motion sensing controllers that Logitech and Microsoft manufactured for the PC in 1999. Yes, 1999 as in more than seven years ago....I just wanted to point out that this idea was soooo 20th century, and immediately flamed out on the PC because they were honestly more of a novelty than they were practical.Of course, that would imply Nintendo stole their novel and impractical- exscuse me-innovative idea as well.[Thanks Elijah]
Revolution global launch not in the cards
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently spoke to Bloomberg during the Game Developer's Conference. In regards toward a global launch for the Revolution, Mr. Iwata said "We don't think it's necessary to do the simultaneous worldwide launch simply because others are doing this." Kudos Mr. Iwata...kudos. It's obvious that Nintendo strives to innovate and remain easily identified as the company attempting to evolve the industry beyond progressively better graphics and essentially define it for a new age, it's just nice to read these affirmations that we've selected the right company to stand behind once in awhile. However lacking in concrete information regarding the Revolution beyond the inclusion of a past competitor's games to its Virtual Console service, we at least now know that the Japanese will once again luck out over the rest of the world and will most likely receive the console first, while we're left to bathe in our salty, warm tears. [Via Joystiq]
Daring Fireball on "The iPod Juggernaut"
John Gruber has published a glaringly well-written piece that dissects the iPod's unstoppable success, why things are going so well and why analysts should simply remove the term "iPod-killer" from their vocabulary. While it might be a bit lengthier than your typical "iPods are great, Dell sucks" blog post, it is a wholly educational and darn solid argument worth every word. So head on over to Daring Fireball (click the Read link below) to find out why Apple can't make the same mistakes they made in the 80's, how Apple is out-innovating everyone despite their monopoly, and to hear an actually compelling case for why the iPod's competitors should just close shop - especially since one already has.
Innovation falls flat in UK charts
Despite a pleasant atmosphere of European expectation at the start of February, we're halfway through and the charts look as mundane as ever. The Guardian Gamesblog's Greg took a look at this week's UK charts--notable absentees include Psychonauts and We ♥ Katamari. Ouch.Greg, and blog commenters, ponder the cause of these games' failures--from crazy cartoony packaging to gamers' inability to actually find the titles in shops. It seems most likely that the European release delay is responsible, though; after receiving rave reviews and building up buzz months ago, these titles are all-but-forgotten now.
February: a time for surrealism
In Europe, this February is going to be weird; it will see a surfeit of quirky, off-the-wall titles, as this article in the Guardian explains. This month's releases include Psychonauts, Shadow of the Colossus, We ♥ Katamari and Stubbs the Zombie. Many of these titles have been heavily anticipated in Europe after gaining praise elsewhere, and a January that's been typically thin on the ground has left gamers with itching wallets, ready to buy anything. However, this coincidental release of several oddball titles in the same month could prove to be too much even for die-hard consumers--some of these games have seen poor sales in other territories and this may not help.Fortunately they won't vanish from shelves at the end of the month, so Europe is in for a treat.
