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Plight of the color blind gamer
Joystiq has an interesting post on the unique challenge facing color blind gamers as they strive to conquer Rockstar Presents Table Tennis.
Colorblind gaming or: Table Tennis is impossibly hard!
Around one in ten males and one in two hundred females are unable to discern the difference between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. Like most other people with the disability, I've been colorblind (or, to use the politically correct term, have had color sight deficiency) since birth. I find it hard, and sometimes impossible, to tell the difference between shades of red, green and brown, blue and purple and oranges and yellows. As my optician told me when I was young, this disability means that I can't work in a paint factory or be a pilot. What he didn't tell me was that I'd have trouble playing friggin' computer games! As you probably know, the Xbox 360 features several colored buttons. Usually I can tell the difference between these buttons (the problem isn't so bad that I can't tell the difference between the equivalent of red and green at traffic lights). However, there's one game that has caused a problem: Rockstar's Table Tennis. A fundamental part of the gameplay is being able to respond to the opposing player's spin on the ball. This is represented by one of the colors which are also found on the gamepad. Blue for left spin, red for right spin, green for forward spin and yellow for back spin. Unfortunately, I can barely tell the difference between the red, green and yellow on a standard definition display. On a high definition screen the green and yellow are still nearly identical to my eyes. This isn't usually much of a problem during normal play (besides, I can always just press the green button), but on the training levels where you are taught how to spin the ball, I found the task physically impossible. I literally had to guess which spin the computer was giving the ball! Table Tennis has the hardest training level of any game, at least for me. Since completing the training levels is an Xbox 360 achievement, it's also possibly the hardest achievement there is. It took me around 3-4 hours and dozens of reattempts to get the 5 points given to you after you complete training.
Table Tennis demo now available on Live Marketplace [Update 1]
If your eyebrow is still in a raised position with regards to Rockstar's foray into the explosive, prostitute-less world of Table Tennis, be sure to grab the newly served demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Coming in at 526MB, the curtailed code should give you fine opportunity to beat innocent balls senseless and engage in more back-and-forth whacking than a Sopranos episode. Feel free to gawk at the shiny graphics and the ball physics, but don't make the crucial mistake of forgetting to press the green button. You can be sure that Conrad's sister will capitalize and promptly crush your ego in the palm of her adorable hand. Update: Major Nelson made this addition to his blog: "Hey, I forgot to post that this is a limited time demo. (sorry about that) That means that you can only download it and play it until the end of August. After that...the title will not work, even if you have already downloaded it! So get it and play it while it lasts!" Looks like someone's worried the demo might be a little too good.
Get your Table Tennis (demo) on
As many of you have already pointed out, the Table Tennis demo has hit Marketplace (even in Europe). If you'd like a description of the game, please see the above picture. That's really all there is to it. Clean, simple fun. If you haven't tried it out, give it a spin and tell us what you think.Note: not available in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore or Taiwan.
Rockstar Table Tennis demo coming soon
Major Nelson conquered his fear of calendars to report that Rockstar would be serving up the long-awaited Table Tennis demo "very, very soon." That was three days ago. Now he better Prey it shows up.[Thanks X Budd}
Airborne is online
A trailer for Medal of Honor Airborne is now available on marketplace. I have not had the luxury of checking it out yet so, somebody get busy describing it in the comments. Why haven't I gotten it yet, you say? I was doing my patriotic duty, or jury duty to be more specific. In other news, expect a demo of Rockstar's Table Tennis soonish. The demo is set to feature two-player but no Live play. If you haven't experienced the joy of "Pressing the green button," I hope you'll try it out.[Thanks, X Budd]
GTA4: Girl Theft Auto [update 2]
According to 360Era.com this just might be a screen from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV (click for an embiggened pic). Hmm, looks about on par with Table Tennis to me. So, is it real? Fake? Frankly, anything with a girl wielding a morning star has my approval. Update 1: It's fake. From Eurogamer: "Rockstar says that an image circulating around web-forums this afternoon, supposedly showing a TV screen running a debug version of Grand Theft Auto IV, is a hoax ... The image ... first showed up in the inboxes of various media organisations this morning under the subject line 'From a disgruntled ex-employee of Rockstar...' ... But that's not the case, Rockstar told us this afternoon. It really is a hoax." Man, fake news travels fast. This screen was circulated and debunked in a matter of hours. Simply amazing. Thanks, Josh. Update 2: It looks like QJ discovered the perpetrator behind this heinous crime. You won't believe who it is. Read the full story here.
GTAIV will share the Table Tennis engine
There's a rumor floating around these here internets suggesting that the next iteration of Rockstar's money-printing machine known as Grand Theft Auto will be using their own in-house RAGE engine (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine engine), recently seen in Table Tennis. Gamespot's Rumor Control traces the rumor to a TotalVideoGames.com post which mentioned, but neglected to link to, an MTV News report from over a month ago. That report stated, "The Rockstar reps explained that the game was running on RAGE, the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. This is the graphics technology gamers are to expect from future Rockstar games, including the next GTA." I contacted MTV News' Stephen Totilo to see just how definite this was, and he returned, "I met with Rockstar publicists and producers for Table Tennis twice prior to the game's release. Both times they volunteered that RAGE would serve as the engine for all next-gen Rockstar games. 'Including GTA?' I asked both times. Including GTA they said both times." So there you have it folks. Following EA's acquisition of GTA's old-engine, Renderware, Rockstar has went and made their own. Sure, Table Tennis looks great but really, anything's better than the dated engine they're using now.
GTA IV dumps renderware, picks up RAGE
Rumor has it that Grand Theft Auto IV (or GTA4 as the kids call it) will be using Rockstar's RAGE engine (that's Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Many of you are already familiar with the RAGE engine if you own a copy of Table Tennis. The previous engine, Renderware, is seriously showing its age, and I doubt many will lament its loss. And it doesn't hurt that Table Tennis already looks mighty fine. Is there any chance we might see Tommy Vercetti both pinging and ponging?
"Just press the green button", I said
"Just press the green button" Oh, those fateful little words. How naive I was to think that they wouldn't affect the ability that my sister was soon to display in a casual game of Rockstar's Table Tennis.
Metareview - Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Xbox 360)
When Rockstar announced their top secret new game, gamers were floored that the San Diego branch of the house that GTA built had traded in their baseball bats for ping pong paddles with Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. Big question is, how did they do with this smaller-scale, (relatively) budget-priced title? According to the reviews that are beginning to appear, pretty darned well. The complaints focus on the title's sparse feature set while the praise focuses on the Xbox Live integration and the tight, elegant gameplay. Seriously, read through the reviews if you have a particular affinity for the words "subtle" and "nuanced." According to the reviews, Table Tennis provides a streamlined sports sim that's short on features but full of subtle gameplay, reflected in the (next-gen) budget price of $39.99. IGN (78/100) - "If you want a table tennis game that's strictly focused on great mechanics and addictive gameplay, but that lacks a reasonable single-player mode and is shockingly sparse, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis is your game." GamePro (85/100) - "The best thing about the gameplay is that it's all about reflex and intuition -- accessible to all, but hard to master online competitive play. Setting up power shots, killer topspin, and hitting the corners of the table becomes easy in short amount of time. This game is an instant classic and is guaranteed to please the masses." Eurogamer (90/100) - "It's the sign of a great sports game when you can't think of anything you'd want to change in the next version. It doesn't need another version."
Rockstar's Table Tennis is no joke
Rockstar's second-floor party pad sits at the top of a long flight of stairs just off of Bowery in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood. As I climbed those stairs on my way to an invitational afternoon of beer, food and Rockstar Games Presents: Table Tennis this Saturday, I half expected the door to burst open and a bunch of clowns to yell "April Fools!" It just didn't make much sense that famously reticent, infamously too-cool-for-the-media Rockstar had actually invited members of the press to see their latest game, nevermind a lowly blogger. But for once, they're probably happy to be talking about something other than whichever version of their marquee Grand Theft Auto series has been released, been hacked, been banned, been recalled, been reissued, been whatevered. Instead, when the door to the flat opened I was greeted by a bevvy of Rockstar marketers, three huge HD displays, and three Xbox 360s spinning a pre-release version of Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis. Turns out the game is no joke and that Rockstar's serious about seeing that the game sees the exposure they believe it deserves.
Rockstar presents Grand Theft... Ping Pong?
It's been revealed unto us: the "unexpected" new 360 game that IGN promised to unveil is none other than... Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis! Yup. The bad boys behind Grand Theft Auto are intent on delivering a game experience that puts you inside the seedy, gritty world of underground table tennis... actually, it's not like that at all. Rockstar's Sam Houser says:"We wanted to create a sports game with the intensity of a fighting game and the sense of speed and control that would make playing it a more intense and more visceral experience than has previously been possible with sports games. It's not just about looking better, feeling better or animating better but about using the power of the hardware to make a game that engages with you on a different physical and emotional level."We knew they were working on a new franchise for the Xbox 360, but this isn't quite what we expected from them. Wait--franchise? There're going to be more than one. I can see it now: Table Tennis 2K7. The first version of Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis is due in May for a refreshing $39.99.[Thanks, Matt]
