Vox Clamantis

A Wee bit Revolutionary?

Or just a wee bit lame.

Nintendo Names Its Game Console: Wii (NYT):

Nintendo said yesterday that the next-generation game console it has been developing under the code name Revolution would be given what the company believes is a revolutionary name: Wii.

Pronounced"we" — or in the French market, "oui" — Wii replaces what had always been a working title for Nintendo's new system, which will go head-to-head with Microsoft's new Xbox 360 console and  Sony's coming PlayStation 3.

...

A Nintendo spokeswoman said it was meant to indicate that "Wii is a platform for everyone — not just the gamer or the nongamer."

How many categories are there besides gamer/nongamer. Either you play or you don't. Is it really more complicated? Sigh.

Free Video Games

A list of the best free MMORPGs by a dedicated blogger. If you don't know what MMORPGs are, you never will, so don't bother clicking over, since it won't interest you.

Finding good cybersex

I find that using words like suck, bite, breast, thumb-sucker, nipple and anything pornographic, implying porn, or porn-related boost my readership considerably, even if those readers are disappointed when they actually get to my site and quickly leave. In the hope of swelling my readership, I'll give you what you want - just this once.

From Wired:

"I'm on a perpetual hunt for a sex game targeting women," says Brenda Brathwaite, a game industry veteran and featured speaker at this week's Women's Game Conference in Austin, Texas.

She's not the only one.

There are a number of games that include sex, or some hint of sex, such as Leisure Suit Larry and The Sims, but they are not geared exclusively towards women, though many women like these games. There are also sex simulation "games" such as Virtually Jenna, but these are, not surprisingly, more popular with men (your goal is to bring Jenna to climax.)

Regina Lynn's (I'm assuming that's her porn name) article looks at the demand for virtual worlds that offer opportunities for chance encounters and eventually, cybersex. She points our attention to these two women-friendly worlds:

Spend The Night will offer a graphically rich space where you can meet people, go on virtual dates and have cybersex. It might be the precursor to avatar-based online dating -- or at least, online screening of potential dates.

Naughty America (a working title) is so coy it doesn't have a website yet. It's a complete role-playing game in which you can choose whether to enter a "sex mode."

Both games recognize that they need to offer a variety of tools players can use to meet each other, develop relationships and interact sexually. And both are bending over backward to appeal to women.

These worlds will be a far cry from the crude sex in games like Grand Theft Auto, where women are treated like Snoop's b*tches and h*es. Instead, they promise empowerment, and as a nice bonus, a good deal of fun. It's easy to imagine a time in the near future when all online dating will take place in virtual worlds. People will meet in cafes, have coffee and perhaps dinner together, and will be able to get a sense of their potential mate without ever leaving the house. It'll be match.com on steroids. We'll no longer have to make eye contact with people in bars, or otherwise deal with awkward social situations unless we want to.

Xbox 360

I got a sneak peak at the 360 last night. It is beautiful and the games should be amazing. The graphics are incredibly smooth, especially when compared to the first generation Xbox that was sitting right next to it. In true Microsoft fashion however, the machine had more than its share of glitches that still need to be worked out. After standing transfixed for 30 minutes, the reps finally got the machine working and some people were able to play a racing game. I just stood there transfixed. Finally I ran out of wine and walked away.

The machine should go on sale November 22 and will have two price points: $299 w/o a hard drive, and $399 with. Hopefully they'll be in better condition than their current prototypes.

Let me just say one last time, the graphics are sleek. Virtually no pixelation anywhere. Beautiful.

Nintendo wants me to do math

Wired has a story about Shigeru Miyamoto, the famous creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series. He's been promoting two of his newest creations, Nintendogs and some new game thing that will make me do brain teasers and math puzzles. Wired offers up a link for that new game, but it's all in Japanese (thanks guys!) So what's with the new games? Had he consulted me, I would have told him that I want to Destroy All Humans!!! Sadly, that game is only available for PS2 and Xbox.

People have long complained that there is a dearth of games geared towards adults on the Gamecube. Yes, the Metroid series is amazing, and I certainly have a fondness for Mario and can play Mario Kart for hours, but beyond that, the offerings remain slim (some Tom Clancy games and such, and Resident Evil is no slouch, but still.) And Nintendo is not the only one with games for kids. Katamari Damacy is one of the most addicting games ever, and is available only on the PS2. As is the sequel. Buy both today if you have a PS2.

It's not that Shigeru and Nintendo don't realize there's a problem, they just see a different problem.

What's happening with video games is the same thing that happens with anything new and interesting. At the beginning, everybody wants to see what it is. They gather around and check it out. But gradually, people start to lose interest.

The people who don't lose interest become more and more involved. And the medium starts to be influenced by only those people. It becomes something exclusive to the people who've stuck with it for a long time. And when the people who were interested in it at first look back at it, it's no longer the thing that interested them.

So obviously, it's very important for us to create brand new things that bring back those people. But it's just as important to create the kind of games that current gamers know they like.

Seems reasonable. In my mind though, what he's really saying is that the concern is with attracting new gamers, not converting existing gamers to their particular brand. Hence the new games:

One of the things that we're looking at as an answer to this issue are games like Nintendogs. It's sold over 400,000 units to date in Japan, and we think it'll just continue to sell for a long time. A great thing about Nintendogs is that one-third of the purchasers of that title are also buying the Nintendo DS hardware. So it's bringing people back, or even bringing people into video games for the first time.

Time will tell if their strategy works. Right now it looks like the DS and other platforms will serve as stepping stones to the other game makers. I might learn to play video games by messing with the new Super Mario Bros., but I'll likely step up to the PS3 or Xbox 360 for serious action. It seems to me they'll have a hard time competing with Halo 3, and even the PSP, if all they're offering up in Nintendogs and some program that brings back the good old days of junior high algebra.

Virtual Worlds III

I posted a quick note about Eduard Castranova in my last post on this topic and I just want to follow up by linking to an interview he gave the Guardian. I will just post a few highlights:

When asked how he started studying synthetic worlds, rather than more traditional economic issues, Castranova replied:

My career was screwed. I decided to write a paper on the economy of a video game I was immersed in. I'd played these games most of my life.

As for the importance of synthetic worlds he writes:

My professional interest is in what we can learn from this synthetic world. We've never had the opportunity to experiment ambitiously on a social level. We've never had the opportunity to say, "I'm Karl Marx and I have this idea called communism. Wouldn't it be neat if I could set up five societies that have exactly the same population, exactly the same natural resources and at year zero and try it out?"

... Exactly. We could do communism, we could do fascism, we could do America. You can experiment with any number of social designs. This is one of the futures I see for synthetic worlds in the university. I think in 15 years' time when someone in social science writes a PhD thesis, they'll be required to put their ideas to the test this way. Business schools are already moving in that direction. There are tremendous business applications. Universities should get very involved.

This last point is very interesting. There are countless possiblities. Organizations like FEMA will soon be able to conduct evacuation drills and examine the impact of closing some roads but not others. Or what would happen to society if same-sex marriages were allowed? Would there be moral decay and the collapse of civilization? We could just create a world and find out. It's pretty exciting stuff.

Virtual Worlds II

I promised to post more on the economics of gaming and online worlds and I will soon. For the reader(s) interested in the subject, I recommend the work of Indiana University (Bloomington) economist, Edward Castronova, who is a pioneer in the field (among others, of course.) He has a forthcoming book, Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games, which is slated for delivery Nov. 1, 2005. Until then you can check out his blog [he's one of many co-authors], Terra Nova and one of his more accessible articles.

Virtual Worlds

The Washington Post had an article on monetary transactions in online video games in Saturday's paper. The author, Mike Musgrave, will be answering questions online and it should be interesting. You can check here later in the day.

The article is fascinating and worth a read. Real money has been a part of online worlds for quite some time now, but this article examines another aspect. It points to a common practice of exchanging money for time. One player can auction off rights to a particular game, thereby allowing another player to continue from where he/she (but mostly he) left off. It's easy to envision a player getting bored with a game and wanting to move on to something else. Or perhaps the game is sucking too much time from other, possibly more valuable, activities. Since no one likes to see good effort wasted, and most players have invested considerable time and effort, the auction allows a player to make a highly beneficial trade.

This has at least two benefits. First, the player leaving is obviously better off, since he'll at least get something for his extended efforts. Second, people who have more time than money are able to buy their way into a game and get the pleasure of succeeding without having to invest their own time. This makes both players better off.

If we are able to agree that this behavior is acceptable, why do I have to wait for four hours in the DMV when someone could easily take my ticket and wait for me? That person could then call me and I could show up just before my number gets called. This also benefits both parties: I don't have to wait hour after hour, sacrificing precious vacation time when I should be at work; my trading partner benefits because he/she can make more (presumably) doing this than anything else. Sadly the DMV doesn't see things my way and I'll soon be spending a very long, sad morning at the DMV. They won't even let me drink coffee. I'll have more to say about all this in some upcoming posts.

[Update] I forgot to mention that the article on video games has an excellent photo gallery to accompany the article. Near as I can tell, this is one of the first galleries to feature narration by the author. An excellent use of Macromedia Flash.

Mario

I'm a couple days late, but the feeling is still there. happy birthday man. My fifth grade english teacher may have hated you, but I always stood up for you. Happy 20th. may we see you again soon...