Taking Control

As hinted at in the middle of the week, Valve's third and final reveal for the Living Room Takeover was the Steam Controller. The new gamepad is the final piece of the puzzle for the company's triple gut punch to console developers. Perhaps the biggest hurdle in winning over the less hardcore gamer was the idea of playing a game with a keyboard and mouse. Valve decided that rather than try to force this configuration on the unwilling, they would simply map an entire keyboard to one of the strangest looking yet technically impressive video game controllers ever made.

Ins and Outs

While not the most beautiful controller to ever hit the market, the Steam Controller is certainly among the most interesting. (And honestly, how many of us even glance at the controller once while gaming?) The gamepad features dual clickable trackpads that should be able to mimic a computer mouse. Sixteen buttons are neatly spread out over the face, shoulder and back of the pad, half of which Valve says can be reached without your thumbs ever leaving the track pads. Housed beneath the trackpads are  weighted electro-magnets supposedly capable of delivering a more encompassing vibration feedback in addition to functioning as speakers.

Most intriguing to me is the touch screen, another clickable button that will recognize where the player is touching the screen when clicked. Since the contents of the screen can be varied, it essentially adds an infinite number of combinations and possibilities to player interaction. Valve's suggestions include a scrolling menu, radial dial, or even secondary use such as map integration. However, Valve knows the player's eyes should never have to leave their big screen, so the contents of the touch screen can be overlayed on the television when being used.

An Entire Keyboard

There are programs that already map keyboard functionality to gamepads, but this appears to be the first controller built specifically with that purpose in mind. Every Steam game, no matter the genre, can be played from the Steam Controller thanks to Bindings. Binding's allow the player to map every keyboard input to a button on the controller. The most important thing about this though is that players can do it themselves, or use a configuration created and shared by another Steam user. Valve says that players will be able to choose from a list of the most popular configurations. I'm curious to see if the controller will auto default to one.

The timing for me personally is a coincidence. I recently attempted to play a Steam game for which I could not get my connected controller to work. My experience setting up Windows Live, effectively creating an Xbox account, was nightmarish enough as I couldn't properly play the game without and account and the process to set one up and tie it to the game took me another half hour once the game was already installed. Finding out that my controller of choice wouldn't work was irritating to say the least. I was ready to go buy one of those Xbox 360 gamepads for Windows until this announcement dropped. Now, well I've waited several months to play the game already, I'll wait a few more until I can get my hands on a Steam Controller.

One, Two, Three Punch

I'm not going to try to hide my excitement for this week's announcements. I only became a sort-of PC gamer in the past year since installing Steam. The reality is I'll probably never abandon consoles completely. But Valve's Living Room Experience definitely has the gears turning in my head. They have introduced what could effectively be an upgrade capable video game console. I'm a living room gamer at heart, no doubt about that. It's what I grew up with and what I'll continue to love. Now, Valve is giving me a way to access their huge, often highly discounted library of games and is providing me everything I need to do it right from my couch. 

I'm not saying this is a fatal blow to the big three console makers. The fact is, I'm not totally convinced Valve will be able to sell their Machine to the casual masses. What I am saying is if I have the choice of buying a $60 game on my traditional console, or that same game at a possibly discounted price on Steam Machine...well, they have my attention at least.

Something Old, Something Blue

As E3 approached earlier this year, I was waiting for that one game that would make me want to grab a Wii U. While a few games look like potential winners, there was nothing that stood out. At least, nothing that I expected. However, there is one game that I thought could be a system seller for me. Of all things, a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Galaxy X-Treme

It's been almost twenty years since there was a Sonic game that had me this excited. Sonic Lost World been compared a lot to Super Mario Galaxy and in a good way. That's high praise. To me, the game looks like a weird cross between Galaxy and 1996's unfortunately cancelled Sonic X-treme, which I remember really looking forward to. I see both games represented in the Lost World footage and as a long time Sonic fan, it's hard to not get excited.

Momentum, Not Speed

Far too often when reading reviews of Sonic games that haven't lived up to their hype, I come across a comment that irritates me - that Sonic has always been "all about the speed". Yeah right. Just try playing through Marble Zone on the original game and tell me that was all about speed. Let me know how it works out for you when you try to blaze your way through Sonic 2's Mystic Cave or Metropolis. 

Sonic may have been designed to be a 'faster Mario', but he was never all about speed. Finally, I read one game journalist's correction that Sonic has in fact always been about momentum, not speed. That the developers of Lost World have slowed Sonic down, forcing the player to actually hold another button to get him up to super speed, is another thing that has caught my eye about this game.

It's a Vicious Cycle

And then there's the 'Sonic Cycle'. If you've never heard of that, it basically goes like this: a new Sonic game is announced, it looks amazing and everyone gets excited about it, it ends up being an extremely disappointing mess, everyone swears off Sonic for good....and repeat from step one. Actually, in recent years, the Cycle itself has made its way into being part of that process to the point that now it is mocked along with the games themselves.

And of course, many say that the Cycle has in fact been broken in recent years. I've heard some people claim that Sonic Colors broke the Cycle, but I never got around to that game, so I can't speak to that. Others claim Sonic Generations did it, and I take issue with that. Sonic Generations was a great game, but only if you are comparing it to other Sonic games. Next to something like Super Mario Galaxy, it's a stretch to even call it good. The controls still weren't that great. The visuals were too distracting. Just the overall presentation was severely lacking.

But Sonic Lost World...I feel like this could be the game that's going to bring Sonic back and...

Oh, Wait...

...and just like that, reality creeps in and reminds that it is unwise to get too worked up about Sonic. Joystiq ran a video preview of the game recently in which their editor in chief details his time with the game. The game still looks great, no doubt about that. However, in addition to sounding like he was just being informative and not actually excited for the game, there was one thing in the video that really caught my attention. In the last few seconds of the video he declares, "Prepare to enter the Sonic Cycle yet again."

Oh boy. That doesn't sound good.

Lean Mean Steam Machine

Behind Door #2: Steam Machines

Last week Valve teased a series of three announcements that would be landing this week. On Monday, we learned about SteamOS, a Steam-based operating system that would run on "living room machines". Today, we learn what those machines are: Steam Machines.

An Open Market

Contrary to what was widely believed, Valve will not be developing these Steam Boxes Machines themselves, but have opened the floor for other manufacturers to jump in and try to sell you on their own versions. This is very good news. Instead of just one manufacturer setting an insanely high price, multiple manufacturers will be competing for your cash. This equals better prices and ultimately better machines.

It also reinforces the idea that Valve is looking for Steam to be a platform that dominates the living room. Had Valve decided to just be the sole developers of the "Steam Machine" concept, it would put them up against the 'Big Three' console manufacturers directly, but especially Microsoft and Sony. Now, while I think they certainly have a viable platform, that still would have been a tough sell. An open market allows Valve to focus on what it does best, namely develop outstanding games while still being a great distribution channel for other games.

Beta Machine

That said, Valve has announced they will be distributing their own prototype Machine to 300 lucky steam users. Getting into the beta requires a little work, but it's great to hear that the company has some beta devices that it is looking to send out to the public. A couple other things that intrigued me in the announcement? First, Valve announced that users would indeed be able to build their own machines and install SteamOS. Second, even the pre-built Steam Machines (Valve's at least) could be "hacked", have the hardware changed and install other software. This seems to be the company's way of hammering home the point that it's not about the machine itself, it's about Steam and getting it into your living room.

Door #3

Valve isn't done with their announcements this week. Having only revealed two of their promised three announcements, they have already stated that the third and final reveal would take place on Friday. Now, many are thinking there is finally going to be an announcement of Half-Life 3. While that could happen, even if it does, I don't think it's the big news. 

Look at the last question on today's announcement. After assuring readers that users could utilize a mouse and keyboard or gamepads, they announce that readers should stay tuned for more "very soon" on the topic of input. If that's not a tease, nothing is!

A Lemonade Stand for Indie Games

IndieGameStand Launches

In the hot summer months, I love finding a classic lemonade stand run by a little kid learning the highs and lows of running their own business. But in between sessions of major AAA games, my refreshment of choice is a nice indie game. Often simplistic in nature and produced on a low (or no) budget, these games survive on the passion behind their creation alone. With IndieGameStand, you can get games on the cheap, and contribute to a respectable charity at the same time. Maybe you'll even find a game that's just the right combination of sweet and tart!

The Choice is Yours

Similar to what the Humble Bundles offer, the daily deal over at IndieGameStand.com is a "pay what you want" deal. The proceeds help fund not only the developer, but a percentage of the sales also go to a charity chosen by the developer. Of course, when you give people an option to feed their belief that the world owes them everything for nothing (or close to it anyway), you're going to get plenty doing exactly that. But the site features incentives to push your purchase a little higher.

A paltry $1 appears to be enough to unlock the download key you'll need, but beating the average price (typically easy to do for the aforementioned reason) unlocks incentives such as bonus content and soundtracks. In the example I looked at, coming in at $10 unlocked a third tier that gets you a three game bundle. Further, bumping your contribution to be in the top ten unlocks yet another tier of rewards.

Indie Paradise

Of course, that's just the deal of the day, which cycles to a new entry every 96 hours. Perusing the site, I found it to be an incredibly comprehensive and up to date source of indie games. There is a lot here and the beauty of it is that there aren't any big budget AAA games for them to get lost among. With the site still in its infancy, I expect an even better selection of both games and charities as word spreads. I know I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Check it out at https://indiegamestand.com/

Full Steam Ahead

Valve Announces SteamOS

After a tease late last week about bringing Steam into the living room, Valve's announcement today surprised exactly nobody. Unveiling SteamOS, the company appears to be taking a direct swipe at their console counterparts.

Steam TV

In what appears to be an evolution of Steam's "Big Picture" mode, SteamOS is described as a free stand-alone operating system for...'living room machines'...whatever that means. Perhaps it's Vavle's way of saying the OS can be installed on PCs or laptops. Whatever it is, I'm intrigued by the timing here.

The the only mention of availability is "soon", my guess is that it will drop right around the time a large amount of people will be bringing shiny new consoles into their living rooms. In just under two months, Sony and Microsoft both launch their highly anticipated and highly pre-ordered next generation systems. Is Valve taking aim?

S Box

I'm most curious to see if Steam Box is still a reality, either as a product or maybe just a concept. Whatever form Valve's new living room experience takes, they are already promising a large library of games and virtually not transition from the current setup. The current library will be accessible via streaming, but most intriguing is the company's wording about the library. They are promising more announcements regarding all the AAA titles coming to the system in 2014. The more I read, the more this sounds like an attempt to steal Sony and Microsoft's thunder. Given Valve's apparent love of sales and other deep discounts (um, Summer Sale anyone), it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

This is supposedly just the beginning of what Valve will be unveiling in the coming weeks. I don't think very many people took Valve seriously when they started talking about taking over the living room. Whether they succeed or not, clearly they have lofty ambitions. While I'll be enjoying my PlayStation 4 on November 15th, I can't help but wonder which company will have the dominant place in my living room.

A to B via Z

My journey through every main series Final Fantasy game continues.
Current adventure: Final Fantasy (the original).
Oh and, yeah…SPOILERS!

It’s amazing to me that I’ve played this game twice already and I can’t remember where everything is. Last week I seriously had no idea where to go, but after stumbling north from the Elven castle I remembered the dilapidated castle with the mysterious king. This king wants his crown and even though I’m supposed to be finding a way to wake up the Elven prince from his five year nap I decide finding a king his pretty is far more important.

I don’t hate Final Fantasy. I don’t even dislike it. I think it’s a great game and definitely an important one. But every time I play it I’m reminded of how far the series and RPGs in general have come. This first game at least is very much about getting from point A to point B via point Z. Order of events rarely makes sense and I’m really glad I at least remember enough of the game to make my way around without aimless wandering.

After equipping my team with some decent weapons, my Warrior and Red Mage are seriously kicking butt in battle. I know my Monk will get there eventually, it just takes some time. But my White Mage? I’m kind of regretting her presence at the moment. I’m starting to wish I had gone with a second Red Mage. Then I could have (at the moment) three really great fighters with one that could focus on black magic and another that could focus on white. But I’m assuming there are some high level spells later I’ll be thankful for, so it’ll work out.

My trip this week consisted of heading north to get a quest from the mysterious king and then south to retrieve the object of his desire. I’m not going to lie, there was a lot of me dying and resetting involved. I forgot how brutal this game can be at times (like running into a large group of enemies all with the ability to paralyze and watching them knock my HP down little by little as I just stand there). But I finally managed to get in and out of a dungeon and head north again.

I give the crown I had retrieved to the mysterious king and it turns out he’s the evil king of dark elves because of course he is. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of that one-hit kill thing he’s got going on. Fortunately, at this level, and other than the aforementioned spell, he’s a bit of a pushover. From him I get the Crystal Eye and here’s where I get to the whole A to B via Z thing (though not for the last time I’m sure). First it’s all the way north to visit Matoya who trades me a special potion for the eye but then rather rudely demands I vacate the premises. Jerk. Oh, and another thing I realized irritated me at this point in the game? Being forced to encounter a group of goblins that, at this point, are defeated with a stern look. I mean, easy battle yes, but kind of frustrating too since the experience/gil reward is so little compared to what I need now.

Anyway, time to head south again to use this handy new potion to wake up the Elf prince. Who gives me a key. Um…yay? Now I get to run all over the place unlocking mystic doors. I guess I did get a couple of neat items out of it so far, but nothing really major.

This week I’ve got a few more places to loot and then…I have no idea. It’s been too long. I’m not sure where I’m going next, but I know I have to visit the dwarves at some point. I’m having fun in this game and technically I know I’ve just scratched the surface. I haven’t even activated the first Crystal yet. The adventure will continue.

Driving Around in Circles

One time, late at night, some friends and I found ourselves lost in the country. We drove down seemingly endless stretches of road between cornfields that our imaginations decided looked ominous and threatening. Roads wound and looped around trees and we were sure we passed the same farmhouse at least a couple of times. Our minds conjured all manner of horror scenarios every time we contemplated stopping at a lit farmhouse to ask for directions.

Eventually, we noticed that a particular group of clouds seemed to have a sort of glow about them. We reasoned that it was light being cast from our nearby home city, so we aimed the vehicle in that direction. Finally, we got to some buildings that we actually recognized and a huge weight was lifted from the pit of our stomachs. We weren’t lost anymore. We knew exactly where we were and exactly what route we needed to take to reach our destination. It was the moment we went from, “Where am I?” to, “I know where I am!”

I’ve experienced something similar to this while playing a game, except the fear and uncertainty was replaced with irritation. When I first played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I hated it. I couldn’t find my way around. Everything looked the same to me. No matter what area of the game I was in, I could never quite picture where I was in relation to the rest of the world.

This was especially frustrating because I didn’t have this problem with the previous game. After spending just a little bit of time in GTA3, I could survey my surroundings and mentally map my way to my next destination on the fly.

I attribute this to landmarks. What I mean by that is there was always something nearby that I could easily recognize. The junkyard at the bottom of the hill, the cafe on the corner at the top of the hill, that sort of thing. I never gained that level of familiarity with Vice City, at least not in all areas.

Though the nature of our current project at Bladed Cyber Technologies doesn’t really lend itself to landmarks, I’ve already been thinking about what I can do with potential future projects. Maybe it will be a hollowed out tree in a forest level or a complex bridge structure in a water level.

Whatever the case, I think it’s important, especially in lengthy levels, to give the player a sense of familiarity, a place they can get to and think, “hey, I remember this.” Doing so gives the player a place of attachment where they can map out their strategy or even just regroup for a brief down time. There are few things more frustrating in a game than being completely lost and having no idea where to go. You don’t have to hold the player’s hand and you don’t necessarily have to give them a map. Give the player enough recognizable landmarks and they’ll store the map in their head.