I saw people playing Brink at E3, and thought it looked pretty promising. Bit hard for you to really understand without moving pictures of gameplay, though, so here’s some moving pictures of gameplay.
It’s the first part of the demo we saw at E3, showing off the game’s free-running “autopilot”. Hopefully the Mirrors Edge 2 team are watching this and taking notes. Oh, and if you missed it earlier today, the game’s been delayed slightly.
Sony saw swift PlayStation 3 sales over Black Friday and the holiday weekend. The home console racked up big numbers, reaching an all time high for the the system, selling 440,000 units.
“The 2009 holiday season got off to an amazing start for PlayStation, with all key retailers showing a significant increase for PS3, PSP and key holiday titles over Black Friday and the holiday weekend,” Sony told Kotaku in a written statement. “In today’s economy, consumers are drawn to items that offer the most value for their money, making the PS3 an ideal choice for those who want a comprehensive gaming and entertainment system all in one package.”
Why do gamers seem to like the sometimes un-heroic Nathan Drake of Uncharted fame? One of Drake’s creators explained in a comment on Gamasutra.
The short take is that Nathan Drake has attitude without being a jerk, and he cheerfully but woefully gets in over his head. This helps make him charming rather than annoying.
Former Naughty Dog creative director E. Daniel Arey explains it better than that in a comment below a Gamasutra essay about another character voiced by Drake actor Nolan North, the revised prince of last year’s Prince of Persia. Some gamers disliked the new prince, finding him to be too abrasive, too unlikable and — in a comment not as directly addressed by Arey — too sexually frank.
Here’s Arey explaining how and why the Uncharted team thought they could make Drake both unusual (for a game) and unusually likable:
I can tell you from our experience that there is a fine line between jerk and lovable rogue. We developed Nathan Drake determined to make him more human and accessible than most videogame heroes.
Heroes can be cocky, (in fact, if they’re not, you run the equal risk of making them inactive and only reactive – the kiss of death), but if a hero constantly shows their human side, we relate and forgive any seeming overconfidence because we’ve all been there.
The whole team, as well as myself, Amy, and Evan thought the reason characters like Han Solo (and his emotional twin, Indiana Jones) are likable is the fact that these characters constantly butt up against their frailty and often get in way over their head, barely finding a way out of predicaments. We can all relate to that! Couple this lovable trait with humor and a quirkiness about life, and you get a character you want to watch and play. (The kind of person you’d like to go have a few beers with.)
Arey’s full comment — and the Prince of Persia article above it — is well worth the read. Then again, that revised Prince of Persia is well worth trying out. So go catch up, please.
Now I don’t know how indicative these trailers are of what Bizarre Creations’ Blur actually looks like with a controller in your hand, but they remind me of the now-we’re-going-really-fast-bro moments in The Fast and the Furious combined with the paranormal fun of Ghostbusters.
You may think those cars are engulfed in electricity or even flames, but you’d be wrong. I’m telling you, it’s the ghosts. Plus, Ghostbusters NES had realistic driving simulation in it. This basically is the sequel, guys.
The little beginning segment alludes to Blur‘s social networking/community stuff, but honestly, it’s all about those power-ups. Again, if these videos are representative of the full game, anyone who isn’t in last place will be getting shot at constantly, meaning lots of potential crashes.
Kids, if a stranger offers you a blue shell, just say “no.”
I got some new children’s games to try out. Couple of them were instant hits (Zoowaboo doesn’t look like it’s really hot with two, so it’s still waiting) with Nooa.
Mouse Carousel has six tubes and seven mice with different colours. There’s some cheese cubes on the middle of the tubes and to get to that cheese, you need to push the seventh mouse to one of the tubes, making another mouse appear. If the colour of the mouse matches the cubes, the mouse eats the cubes and you get another go. If you fail, it’s next player.
A simple memory game, then, but remembering which mouse is where is bit of a problem, especially if the game is played fast enough. The constant switching of places can be a bit taxing and takes some proper concentration. However, the idea is simple enough that a three-year old can figure it out and actually play competitively. Just minimize all distractions – one games was totally ruined by a TV that was on at the background, Nooa was so distracted his playing was completely random.
The game looks gorgeous, but has some usability issues. Red and orange cheese is nearly impossible to tell apart in weak light and at least my copy has blue cheese cubes matching to a mostly purple mouse. The mice are marked with small stickers, which may or may not last, but at least the game comes with a set of spares.
Kids of Carcassonne simplifies Carcassonne for four-year-olds. It’s simple enough that Nooa, three years and five months now, can play it correctly. He doesn’t really have a clue of strategy, but with some practise I’m sure it’ll come to him.
This one also looks gorgeous (and is, like Mouse Carousel, illustrated by Rolf Vogt). The tiles are extra large, as are the meeples. Every tile fits everywhere, as all have roads leading to every direction. Players try to complete roads (which is easy, as there are terminals on most tiles). Whenever a road is done, players get to place their meeples on the road, each non-terminal road piece has a picture of one of the kids. Just fill up with correct meeples, very simple. Winner is the player who first gets rid of all eight meeples. No counting involved!
Kids of Carcassonne is a winner, because it works so well with kids and adults can enjoy it, too. Actually, once we got the kids in bed yesterday, we played three quick games with Johanna. She likes the game, more than regular Carcassonne. I think it’s charming, too, but I don’t think I’d take the game to a game club, even though it’s a nice five-minute filler with adults. Regular Carcassonne can be played almost as fast and is more rarely decided by the tile draws. Still, this is a top-notch children’s game.
I saw people playing Brink at E3, and thought it looked pretty promising. Bit hard for you to really understand without moving pictures of gameplay, though, so here’s some moving pictures of gameplay.
Sony saw swift PlayStation 3 sales over Black Friday and the holiday weekend. The home console racked up big numbers, reaching an all time high for the the system, selling 440,000 units.
Why do gamers seem to like the sometimes un-heroic 
