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Like many FPS gamers of a certain age, I started with the WASD keyboard/mouse control system. As such, I have issues with using a controller to play games on a console, and really wish that someone would come out with a keyboard and mouse control system. There’s been a few that come close, and the XScorch 360 looks like another also-ran. Bannco, the company that makes the XScorch 360 also makes a similar controller for the PS3, so this isn’t their first time trying to make this kind of product. My concern lies in the video, and is twofold. First, the video says Halo Reach. Anyone who follows the Halo universe will recognize that the demo is running through on Halo 3. Halo Reach isn’t even available as a playable demo yet. Second, the video shows some serious lag between the mouse movements and the on screen action. If this is the case, then it’s pretty much unplayable. It’s also possible that this demo is from the future, which is why it’s showing Halo Reach, and the lag is from the time-shift dilation effect. Suggested retail is $79.99, and is currently available from Bannco’s website, or at selected retailers. [via TG Daily]
The pictures are purportedly of the new motherboard, and show a combined processor and graphics unit, a generally smaller size, and a SATA connector instead of a proprietary one, suggesting the new hard drive will be internal. [via Kotaku]
Of course, the idea of Steam on the Mac causes a delicate froth to appear on the lips of several kinds of fanboys — but while an excellent game-distribution client like Steam would be welcome on the Mac, it may not be the gaming renaissance people are hoping for. It’s worth taking a bit of time to look at, since gaming is increasingly a major source of revenue and a wedge to increase market share. Let’s take a look at what Steam is up against. Digital distribution on Mac is standard
Unlike the majority of games and programs for Windows, Mac apps are frequently distributed whole, with a nag screen and 30-day limit or the like — shareware, essentially. This has been the standard for as long as I can remember; one example I’m sure many readers recall fondly is Escape Velocity, the demo for which was practically the whole game, except that once you passed the 30-day trial period, a rogue fighter ship piloted by one “Cap’n Hector” would harass you and steal your credits (the scoundrel). A more modern equivalent would be the ability to download, say, the Aperture 3 trial and instantly convert it to the full version by entering a license key. Add in the faultless update system in OS X (compare with XP’s monstrous Windows Update), and it’s clear that Mac users have less to gain, and more to expect, from a digital distribution platform on their OS. They take Steam’s biggest selling point for granted to begin with. That can, of course, go both ways. One could argue that Steam is a natural fit for OS X, since digital distribution and automatic updates are so very Mac-ish, but users will also tend to reject non-Apple programs that perform Apple-like duties. “Apple does it better,” they’ll say, and they’re probably right, since Apple made the OS. On that note: Steam doesn’t really fit in well with OS X This may sound like a superficial complaint, but no one has yet successfully overestimated the superficiality of Mac users. On Windows, I’m resigned to the constant interface changes: applications with hard-coded Vista-style buttons, flash-like interfaces, or ugly (but functional) open-source programs that look like they just stepped out of Windows 95. Steam is far from ugly, but it is a custom UI, with different spacing for buttons, and an embedded browser that until recently was IE-based, and a number of other issues. Sure, it works, and it doesn’t look bad, but can you think of how out-of-place it might look on a Mac? GUI consistency is not just pretty, it’s functional. And that consistency has always been one of OS X’s strengths (notwithstanding the occasional overlap, like Marble in Aperture and whatever-it’s-called in iTunes).
It’s an objection which could be overcome by Valve, but they’ve invested in the Steam look (it’s deliberately and irreversibly associated with Valve’s branding) and haven’t made too many concessions to Windows. So while they’re capable of making it look right, I don’t know that they have any inclination to do so. And that’s something which will rankle the design-conscious masses of Mac users. If a gamer on the Mac (ahem) really wanted to do it right, anyway, there are tools in place. I wrote about the launch of GamersGate’s Mac store, which I’ve used and found perfectly convenient. Its web-based interface means no commitment, but also no sweet features. Still, it’s something to add into the discussion stew we’re brewing here. Really now: there aren’t many games for the Mac I suspect there will be some resistance to this point, but it’s kind of a throwaway since the next one is more important anyway. But let’s be honest here. There aren’t a hell of a lot of good games on OS X. At best you get big titles a year or two late, if you get them at all. 9 out of 10 games on the Mac are colorful casual games, point-and-click adventures, and the occasional inexplicably cross-platform indie game. I’m not saying there aren’t any good games coming out, but lord, they ain’t coming down like autumn leaves, that’s for damn sure. Here’s a complete list of OS X-compatible games on Steam. Not pretty.
And we’re okay with that. Apple hasn’t recovered as a gaming platform since the Great Halo Betrayal of 2000, and as some great rhetorician said, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” How true. But maybe Steam would bring a new enthusiasm to the Mac gaming community, right? Don’t be so sure. Valve has reported that it has approached Apple many times but seen no real accommodation on their side. It takes two, you know. And when your partner is busy eying that sexy tablet form factor across the room… you might find: OS X is no longer the platform Apple cares about for gaming If Apple has dropped the ball on PC-like gaming (FPSes and all that), it’s led the game in the casual/mobile sector. Although I wrote some time ago that Nintendo has little to fear from Apple in that area, I by no means meant to suggest that Apple was anything but a success in the mobile games world. My argument was, in fact, that games were far more successful than Apple could have guessed, and that was why they were only now starting to push them. But Apple is smart enough to pick its battles, and it needs to get into the desktop gaming business right now like it needs to get into the llama farming business.
It doesn’t take a lot of faith to see that the iPad and next iPhone are going to have gaming as one of their primary foci (focuses?). What better use for the perfectly capable 3D graphics chip they’ve got in there? Recent investigation shows more similarity between the iPad and iPhone 3GS than previously supposed, so it’s likely that there will be a significant overlap in releases. Hardware and code base homogeneity is a huge advantage for games developers, and I’m guessing you’ll see a nice blossoming of seriously cool games once the iPad hits and a value proposition is settled on. Where does that leave OS X? Out in the cold, obviously. Sure, Apple wants people to buy games for it, that’s money in their pocket. But there’s a lot more money to be made in iPhone and iPad gaming because they can leverage the App Store, against which Steam is powerless. Now, if Steam were to run on the iPhone too, that’d be insane, but I guarantee Apple would rather eat glass than have a powerful alternative to the App Store catering to a market they’re just starting to exploit.
Even with all that I’ve said here, I’m still excited. The announcement, expected to be next Thursday (Valve’s Gabe Newell is scheduled to speak), could be a lot more or a lot less than what we expect. The Orange Box for Mac? Don’t get your hopes up. But when Valve does something like this (especially with such a crazy run-up as they’re doing), you can bet they don’t do things by halves. There’s more care taken in this teaser image (via RPS; the rest are at MacRumors) We’ll report the goings-on as soon as they occur, so point your browsers this way next week for that and all the rest of our GDC coverage.
The creator says at Reddit that he only used about $70 worth of parts in addition to the exercycle itself. Basically a magnet on the wheel triggers a series of sensors, and the frequency with which the sensors are hit determines the “pressure” on the analog stick. I’m thinking it must be pretty hard to use the controller at the same time. I’d fall off right away. More info and schematics at the project’s site.
 Legendary RPG creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is working on a new game for the iPhone. In case you don't recognize the name, he helped create a few games you might of heard of: Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Xenogears, and Final Fantasy.
Let’s say you’re a company that makes video games – sports games in particular – and you generate a nice recurring stream of revenue by putting out new versions of your sports games every year to coincide with the new seasons of each sport. But let’s also say that some of your customers don’t buy the newest versions because they’ve discovered almost endless replayability of the older versions thanks to online multiplayer features. What a pickle! Although EA would probably never say that cutting the online features of older games is a move to get people to buy the newer versions, that might be what’s on some people’s minds. So it’s with a heavy heart that I relay to you the February 2nd, 2010 kill date for the following games’ online services:
Yes, indeed, there are some old-ish games in there. But Madden 09? There are probably a fair amount of people still playing that game online who aren’t going to be too happy next month. [via Kotaku]
Best Buy has a pretty good deal on Logitech’s G13 game controller at $50. It’s backordered for a couple weeks, but patience is a wondrous virtue. Normally selling for around $80, the G13 features a built-in status LCD, 25 programmable keys and mini joystick, built-in memory for game profiles, and compatibility with PC and Mac. Logitech – G13 Gamepad [Best Buy via dealspl.us]
Winner: Half-Life 2
Valve’s follow-up to the revolutionary Half-Life is our game of the decade not just because it’s a fantastic game, but because it is a fine example of modern gaming. It exemplifies DLC done right, community support done right, and comes part and parcel with Steam, which has helped revolutionize digital distribution for games. All this while still being the standard by which other FPSes are measured. Runners Up
Our takeDevin: I have to add Serious Sam and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory to this list. I had more fun playing those two games with my college roommate than a hundred other games combined. And of course, let’s not forget Portal. Matt: I doubt I played any game more over the last 10 years than the Day of Defeat mod for Half Life. I probably spent 5 hours a night for a couple years in that game. It was truly the best WWII multiplayer game until Call of Duty 2 came around 2005 and even then that game was quickly trumped by the Day of Defeat: Source. Man, I loved that game. John: I’ve never been a huge PC gamer but I’ve loved the Civilization series over the decade and I’ve often fired up my emulator to play Civ IV. It just goes to show that a good PC gaming concept can shine for almost two decades. Greg: Super smash brothers brawl is what i eat for breakfast. Dave: Super smash brothers brawl is what i eat for breakfast. Doug: Super smash brothers brawl is what i eat for breakfast.
Per the game’s description:
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Dracula has a legion of darkness and a legion of doom? That sounds pretty unfair. Leave some legions for the other villains out there, greedy pants. Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth [Nintendo.com]
This video deals with some of the technical issues that have been brought up. I haven’t watched the whole thing (skipped around to get the interesting bits) but he does address some of the compression and packet loss issues they have to deal with. I remember being told it’s about 4-5Mb/s for 720p/60FPS, which actually seems a bit low for streaming video, but with a specialized codec and stream they seem to have made it work, even with tricky bits like crisscrossing lines and slow gradients. They have a routing technique that they claim reduces latency as well, but can they really guarantee <20ms pings for everyone using the service? Seems optimistic, but overall pretty convincing. Here is the "business model" slide:
I notice they leave out a very significant number. They say they’re leasing servers, but I assume that’s for crunching video data and streaming it. They need a whole other set of devices to actually run the games. You want to run a game at 1280×720 and 60FPS? That’s a serious investment in hardware. Even with sophisticated planning algorithms for determining peak times and load sharing, you’re going to need thousands and thousands of machines to keep your service running. If I’m wrong and they’ve really avoided this, then I’ll eat my words gladly. Let’s just ballpark some hardware here:
The GPU will have to be at least mid-range, same with the CPU, or it won’t be able to run the newer games. Extra cooling will probably be done on a large scale, but is too squirrely a number to factor in here. Assuming there’s no case and they’re using onboard audio, then they’re looking at a bare minimum of $700 if they buy smart, probably more like $500 if they buy in bulk. Let’s call it $500. He talks about running things on CPU only, and virtualizing things across servers, but really, when you’re advertising playing the latest games on release, like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Modern Warfare 2, people aren’t going to choose Tetris. The bulk of games people will want to play are going to use real hardware. You can’t sell a product for one purpose and spec it for another. If each machine costs $500 and they have to serve 100,000 users, let’s say they need to have a third of those available at any time. That’s $500 x 33,000 = $16.5 million. I don’t see that figuring into their calculations anywhere. And I doubt Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA is likely to pony up that much hardware on credit. Depending on how much they charge for month, it might take users a year to “pay off” the hardware that enables their account. And don’t forget, OnLive will have to upgrade regularly, like us poor PC gamers. I’m still skeptical of the whole service, or at least its scalability, but the fact that it’s publicly displayed and discussed makes it far more real than, say, the Phantom. I assume they’ll be at CES, and maybe we can put some of these concerns to the man himself. [via Gamertag Radio and Joystiq]
It’s not clear what level of approval this leaked video has from Microsoft, but my guess would be that there is plenty of testing like this going to to determine the feasibility of FPS games on Natal. If anything, it looks more awkward than playing with dual analog sticks, but given the right game design, it could work well. Something where precise movement is less important than intuitive interaction (the Penumbra series comes to mind) might just make this fly.
 What's so hard about this, guys? I mean, obviously you can't make a controller that works with all the games out there, but if you make a good, cheap, basic one, plenty of developers will add a control option that accommodates it. Instead, we get garbage like the Game Grip and this plastic Batarang-looking thing.
Yes, for many of us Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 was right up there with Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 as far as massive time sinks are concerned. If you’ve got a Nintendo Wii, you can now download Super Smash Bros. for 1000 Wii points ($10). Go ahead, it’s not like you’re all that busy at work now anyway. Everyone’s already mentally checked out for the rest of the year. Super Smash Bros. [Nintendo.com]
The NPD Group is reporting that the sale of music games like DJ Hero, Band Hero, Oboe Hero, and Violin Concerto Band are falling with a bullet, leading analysts to expect the category to crash this year. The report finds that the Rock Band: The Beatles sold 800,000 units, missing its 1 million forecast and that Guitar Hero 5 sold 500,000 units in its first month of sales, down from 1.4 million for GH3. Analysts blame “too much music in too short a time,” saying that the games just filled up the player’s heart with so much value that they could handle it. However, I suspect that the average gamer has room only for one or two freaking drum set ups in their living rooms and those with enough floor space have already filled it up with bongs and electric ATVs this winter, leaving little space for George Harrison’s RB:B flute attachment. These games are great for parties but at some point you tell your host, no, you don’t want to play them anymore. Maybe you play New Super Mario Brothers or maybe you just drink beers and wrestle instead. However, the comet that was the “band game” is passed, friends. It’s sad but true.
A French dude named Christopho has created The Legend of Zelda: Mystery of Solarus DX, essentially a fan homage to the Zelda world. It comes complete with the requisite durdle-durdle-string-string music of the original series as well as a back story so convoluted that Tingle himself might have something to do with it. However, it kicks ass.
The game works under OS X, Windows, and Linux and is truly a sight to behold. Give it a download.
So what exactly is in this cornucopia of survival horror ephemera? Well, in addition to the “normal” special edition of the game, you get shirts, a promotional costume they used at shows, a replica of the gun from the game, a VHS tape of the game’s music (?!), and about 500 other things. It was put up on Yahoo! Auctions in Japan, and sold for… are you ready for this? It was sold for 300,000¥, or around $3300. Mother of god! Even a mint copy of Radiant Silvergun will only go for a few hundred!
It’s a randomly-generated, monster-smashing lootfest and I enjoyed every second of it. I’m partial to this kind of thing (I even enjoyed the comparatively interminable Titan Quest) but Torchlight is great fun that, as a bonus, can be played on pretty much any computer due to basic (but still cool-looking) graphics. It’s straightforward enough that non-hardcore gamers who need presents will enjoy it, too.
As a side note, I love that hackers like this guy are capable of complicated hardware transplants, but can’t seem to build a tripod. [via The Daily What and Technabob]
For many people, the decision to get a certain tattoo is based on a perceived notion of timelessness – the death of a good friend or family member, your spouse(s), barbed wire, etc. – and I think this guy nailed it, too. Unless something crazy happens, like a controller that’s somehow newer than the Xbox 360 controller comes out someday. Like I said, crazy. [Deviant Art via Geeky Tattoos]
The product description says it all. “With the Maracas for Wii you can enjoy those Maraca based video games as if you were actually celebrating a big fiesta!” Ah yes, all those Maraca based video games. Let’s see, there’s…
…and countless others I’m forgetting. Only $11, too! Wii Maracas [Amazon via Toys for Child]
Whelp! There goes everyone’s Friday. You can now catch 13 episodes of The Legend of Zelda on Hulu (if you’re in the US). You’ll recall that the show ran every Friday on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and, for many of us, eclipsed the actual Mario episodes in coolness. The episodes are 15 minutes long. So 15 minutes times 13 episodes equals most of, if not all, your workday today. Enjoy. The Legend of Zelda [Hulu via Kotaku]
This week, Yahtzee takes on the game that is, to me, the best reason to buy a PS3 right now: Demon’s Souls.This innovative title was hailed widely by critics as a return to the old-school “you die now” style of gaming many of us grew up with, but it doesn’t sit quite right with Yahtzee. Of course, he doesn’t mention the controls, graphics, depth, or anything other than the fact that it’s groin-punchingly hard, so you can bet he thought all that was great and just didn’t want to say so.
It’s probably not a huge stretch to think that some people may very well be purchasing an Xbox 360 just to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Wal-Mart knows this and, as such, is offering a pretty enticing deal: Xbox 360 Arcade console, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and 12 months of Xbox Live Gold service for just $249. If purchased separately, you’d have the console at $200, the game at $60, and the Xbox Live service at $50. That’s a savings of… [counts fingers] …money! An even better deal, perhaps, is that for $349 you can get a 120GB Xbox 360 Elite console, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the Xbox Live Gold membership, and the two games included with the Elite console: LEGO Batman and PURE. Xbox 360 with Call of Duty- Modern Warfare 2 [Walmart.com]
Amazon.com has dropped the price of Assassin’s Creed II for Xbox 360 and PS3 down to $39.78, today only. According to the product description:
Kind of puts your own life in perspective, huh? Unless you’re a modern day assassin, in which case this game probably won’t interest you all that much. Assassin’s Creed II [Amazon.com]
As for games across all of Nintendo’s systems, here’s a partial list of Wii, DS(i), and downloadable titles that we can expect in the early part of next year: Wii 2K Sports
Activision
The American Game Factory, Inc.
Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
Capcom
City Interactive USA
Collision Studios
D3Publisher
Deep Silver, Inc.
Disney Interactive Studios
Hudson Entertainment
Konami
Majesco Entertainment
Nintendo
SEGA of America
SouthPeak Games
Storm City Entertainment
UFO Interactive Games, Inc.
Ubisoft
XSEED Games
WiiWare Akaoni Studio S.L.
Broken Rules
Capcom
Ghostfire Games
Hudson Entertainment
Nabi Studios
Nintendo
Press Play ApS
Team Meat
Nintendo DS/DSi 2K Sports
Activision
Aksys Games
The American Game Factory, Inc.
Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
Capcom Entertainment, Inc.
City Interactive USA
Deep Silver, Inc.
Disney Interactive Studios
GameMill Publishing
Hudson Entertainment
Konami
Majesco Entertainment
Nintendo
Natsume Inc.
PopCap Games
SEGA of America
SouthPeak Games
Storm City Entertainment
TECMO
THQ
Tomy Corporation
Ubisoft
XSEED Games
Nintendo DSiWare EA
Gameloft
Nintendo
Subatomic Studios
WayForward
Short Version: Looking for a solidly-built gun accessory for the Wii? This is it right here. Looking for a gun controller accessory that grants you easy access to the D-pad, 1, 2, +, –, and Home buttons on the Wii remote? Keep on moving.
Review: I opened up the Innex Buckshot Controller for Wii and was instantly impressed by its heft. This thing’s built to last, with an included Nunchuck fused right into the product itself, a satisfying pump-action barrel, and nice rubber grips all around. The Buckshot maps itself to the Wii remote by using the trigger as the A button and the pump action on the barrel on the B button. The Nunchuck controls are the same, so the built-in Nunchuck corresponds to the control stick, Z, and C buttons.
Sensing an opportunity to buy a new Wii game in the name of work but not wanting to spend too much money, I rushed out to Micro Center and picked up the highly-rated, yet deeply-discounted Resident Evil 4. After all, the gun’s packaging said it was compatible with Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, so I figured I’d keep it all in the family. I got home, fired up the game, and, whoops, I have no way to access the Wii remote’s control pad, 1, 2, +, or – buttons since the Wii remote snaps all the way inside the Buckshot at which point a metal flap folds down to seal the Buckshot up nice and tight.
No worries, though, as maybe I can re-map some of the buttons from within the game, right? Strike two – it can’t be done. So in the game, you press and hold B to aim and A to fire which corresponds to half-cocking the barrel of the gun and then pulling the trigger. Reloading is done by holding the B button and shaking the Wii remote up and down – kind of tough to do when using the pump-action barrel seems much more straightforward. Also, the 1 and 2 buttons are used for the map and options screen, respectively. You see where I’m going with this. I had a lot more fun with Wii Ware title “Wild West Guns” – a simple shooter that features an actual setting for a gun controller (or Wii Crossbow accessory). Trigger shoots, pumping the barrel reloads. Done and done. So the Buckshot is an excellently-built accessory in a sea of cheap and dumb Wii accessories, but you’ll really want to make sure the games you want to play can be completed without using the secondary buttons on the Wii Remote or feature settings to customize your control setup. The box says the gun is “ideal” for games in the Call of Duty series, for instance, but any of the missions that make use of motion controls, and simple things like throwing grenades and steering jeeps and whatnot will present a challenge. Product Page: Innex Buckshot Controller for Wii
Oh oh oh ODROID, oh oh aoh oh. Oh oh oh ODROID, the right stuff. You’ll recall the ODROID as a phone-less Android device built for gaming. There’s an 833MHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and HDMI output capable of pushing 720p video to a TV screen. This latest demo video showcases a game called Speed Forge 3D, an accelerometer-controlled futuristic racing game. Fine and dandy but like I said before, this ODROID thing is absolutely built for having old-school console emulators installed on it. The company is currently selling developer units at $350 a pop with a (hopefully less expensive) consumer version planned sometime in the near-ish future.
Tony Hawk: RIDE normally sells for around $120 while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 usually fetches $60. These deals are good today only, and only for shipping via BestBuy.com – that is, no in-store pickup. Deal of the Day [BestBuy.com]
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World of Warcraft
Call of Duty (franchise)
The Sims
Weird naming conventions aside (What, no colon? And what’s with the capital B?), Castlevania fans have another installment in the series to conquer. This one’s available as WiiWare for ten bucks.
For those of you who have graduated from college in the past decade, you may want to relive the glory days of playing Super Smash Bros. until 4AM, except this time you’ll just skip an entire day of work instead of a morning class or two. On the plus side, at least you live in a marginally cleaner apartment now.
Nintendo has gone ahead and let loose some information concerning its early 2010 lineup of games and accessories. For starters, from February 14 onward there will be two new Wii Remote colors: pink and blue. These new controllers will feature the Wii MotionPlus add-on standard. Black and white Wii Remotes will still be available as well.
I’m trying to remember the last good thing to come from the Transformers franchise and am sadly unable to do so. Well, that’s not entirely true, the awful 
Best Buy’s holiday-centric deal of the day is a two-for that finds Tony Hawk: RIDE marked down to $90 on Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 marked down to $45 on Xbox 360 and PS3.