Categories
Games and Sports

Logitech Dual Action Double Crossing

So I’m happily running, riding, and teleporting all over Vana’diel when my gamepad starts getting all wonky. Suddenly I’m randomly healing, changing views, and opening menus. Needless to say, in battle this would be a big problem.

I’m playing Final Fantasy XI on my PC using a Logitech Dual Action gamepad because the game is designed for and plays best with a Playstation 2 Dual Shock style gamepad. I bought the controller about 4 years ago, but honestly never gave it a whole lot of a workout. Indeed, back then I spent most of my playing time on the Playstation 2 and later the Xbox 360. But now suffering a partial banishment from the TV due to my gamer kids, I’ve been playing more on the PC.

At first I thought a driver upgrade would solve the problem, but it didn’t. I also tried shutting down the profiler, since FFXI doesn’t need it. But that didn’t work either. Then I decided to Google to see if anyone else was having this problem. Yup, that was it. Many customer reviews of the Logitech gamepad claimed that the pads were failing after a few weeks of use. The problems generally showed up in the analog sticks, which is where the buttons controller healing and view changes are in FFXI.

Unfortunately, it looks like Logitech is the only big name making a usb gamepad for the PC these days, and seeing recent complaints about today’s Dual Action gamepad, did not fill me with any confidence that the problems plaguing my 4 year old, lightly used, one had been solved. Admittedly, most PC games don’t use gamepads, so it is probably a low volume product for Logitech.

I know there are other gamepad makers out there, but I didn’t want to trade one cheap gamepad for another. And I also didn’t want to spend $50 or $60 bucks for something like an Xbox 360 gamepad for Windows games.

In the end, I ordered a Playstation 2 to PC USB Gamepad Converter by HDE on Amazon. I’d read of others using this for FFXI with good results. And I know my Sony Dual Shock controllers are made to last!  Hopefully this converter will solve my problem. In the meantime, I guess I’d better learn the keyboard and mouse controls for FFXI, a truly evil notion…

Hopefully this converter will solve my problem. In the meantime, I guess I’d better
learn the keyboard and mouse controls for FFXI, a truly evil notion…
Categories
Games and Sports

I Quit World of Warcraft…Again

Well, for the second time, I’ve quit World of Warcraft. I’ve really tried to like it, but I just don’t have time for two subscription based MMOs. And my heart really belongs to Vana’diel anyway. I may return to WoW in the future, especially if they ditch the subscription model, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

Until We Meet Again WoW
Until We Meet Again WoW
Categories
Games and Sports

Shared Playspaces: WoW, Roblox, and More

Seemingly yesterday, when my first daughter was born, her first and only interactions with a computer was through a Mac game called Baby Smash. She’d bang the keyboard with tiny little hands and interesting shapes and sounds would appear on the screen. Later I wrote a clone called Baby Mush for my OS/2 PC so that she could do the same there. Fast forward to the present to witness me discussing World of Warcraft strategies with my second daughter and her desire for a Builder’s Club account on Roblox! In no time at all, my babies no longer just bang the keyboard, they’re using it to create and play in virtual worlds all over the net with friends from school, around the corner, and across the ocean.

As technology enthusiast and professional, I think it’s pretty cool that they’ve reached the stage where we begin to enjoy some of my favorite things together. In a lot of ways they’re way ahead of me, fearlessly exploring these new worlds and trying to reshape them. Of course, I’m not too wild about this additional evidence that my time is passing, but I can’t wait to start setting up accounts the accounts for us! I’m reminded of a scene from the anime series .hack//Sign in which the character Bear is meeting up with his son in the MMO game, The World. Their meeting wasn’t so great, but I hope that in the future our massive clan, though separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, will join forces on some instanced battlefield to pwn mobs and claim leet loots!

Categories
Games and Sports

Will Moe Sell Xbox 360s In Japan?

While sales of 360s in Japan are probably better than the original Xbox, they still pale compared to the Wii and even the beleagured PS3. So I guess it’s time to bring out the big guns, moe! Click the pic for the story on Kotaku. This is the first time I’ve seen a console tan used in any official advertising.

A Moe Tan Hawks The 360

Categories
Games and Sports

Free Realms, Video Drivers, and Wordscraper

During the Free Realms beta, I had some pretty bad performance problems that at the time I thought probably were the result of server load and restricted bandwidth. So at the end of the beta I decided to see if the problem had been fixed and created a new character. Initially I didn’t see much improvement, but I didn’t want to give up without a fight. So I decided to see if updating my video drivers would do the trick. Yup, that was the problem! Once I’d upgraded the drivers for my cheapy Nvidia GeForce 7300LE, it was smooth sailing in Free Realms.

Now I can see what all of the fuss and hype was all about with the distraction of hurky jerky performance. While I find some of the character designs, trolls I’m lookin at you, creepy, on the whole Free Realms is a beautiful virtual world. And as an MMO enthusiast, I must say that I like being able to just explore the world without either a random battle, or unwanted MOB aggro. I can travel the world and explore in safety.

To me, Free Realms is what Wordscraper on Facebook is to my wife. I can jump in and experience some pretty laid back fun at my own pace. So I’m looking forward to seeing more of what it has to offer.

Categories
Games and Sports General

Revelation, Instanced Dungeons, and the End of the World

Last Sunday, the sermon at my church was based in Revelation Chapter 20 in the Bible. Revelation is a book full of vivid imagery of the return of Christ, war, judgement, salvation, and the end of the world. That vivid imagery is what made Revelation one of my favorite books of the Bible to read when I was a kid. This Sunday, while trying to construct and explore these images and their underlying meaning, particularly for my own personal end times, it suddenly struck me that maybe it can be compared to an instanced dungeon. After church, I began bouncing this idea off of my fellow congregants, but alas, no one else there knew what an instanced dungeon was. Not too many WoW players at my church, *sigh*. So I write of it here.

In a massively online mulitiplayer game, MMO, there may be thousands or even millions of players spread out over dozens or hundreds of servers. Even with a large number of servers, it isn’t feasible for a lot of player to play the same special content, i.e. a dungeon, at the same time. To solve this problem, each player or group of players gets their own copy, or instance, of that dungeon. That way everyone gets a chance to play special quests or challenges.

I believe that at death, when we go to be with God, we are pulled out of time. I think of this as a change of perspective really to one where time no longer passes as we experience on this side of reality. So in Heaven, there is no waiting for those who died after you to arrive. When you die, you’re at the end of the story, boom, everyone who ever lived is there just like the vision John describes in the book of Revelation. Our individual deaths are like getting an instanced dungeon of the book of Revelation. But since God has more than enough servers and CPU cycles (LOL), I guess only the dying part is truly instanced for each person. Everyone gets to share the experience of John’s vision together.

Categories
Game Development Games and Sports

Some Beta Fun

Somewhere along the line, I went from being the premiere gamer in my household to dead last, even behind my 8 year old son in hours of gaming per week. Seeking to stop and reverse this alarming trend, I decided to spend a little time exploring the beta of a new MMO from SOE. While the game really looks good and I think has a lot of potential, it also reminded me of the great need for large betas. Not really a complaint or a slam. People too often forget that beta means test in the development world. And I should note that it made me hunt down and remove Zimbra Desktop which sucks down a lot of resources even when you are not using it. Just sitting there it had swiped 100MB of memory and I suspect it was responsible for some Firefox slowness and wonkiness I’d been seeing. So thanks SOE! Nothing like seeking gaming goodness to get one to do some digital housekeeping!

Back to gaming. Thanks to Google Reader, keeping up with gaming news from a variety of sources has gotten a lot easier. One source I discovered that way is Massively. Judging by the stories and the ads in the news stream, there are a buttload of MMOs, most free to play, out there now. It’s like the plague of list your Top 5 X applications on Facebook! From what I’ve read, most are not top quality, but for free, what do you expect? That aside, someone must be making money on this. Probably the game engine house most of these are probably using along with the server hosting facilities. It definitely bears further investigation. If computing horsepower of the magnitude needed to support the typical MMO, plus bandwidth is widely available and cheap, that just screams opportunity. And so far, at least, the economic downturn hasn’t greatly impacted the gaming industry.

Categories
Games and Sports

GameStop, Amazon, and the Used Video Game Market

Amazon.com made some waves, or maybe ruffled some feathers, when it announced that it was going to enter the used video games business. The Video Game Trade In Store allows gamers to mail in old games for credit towards games or other products available through the web retailer. The ruffled feathers came from GameStop, which has been in the  used game business for a long time now, having literally gotten it down to a science.

GameStop’s concern is understandable given that almost 50% of their profits come from the sale of used video games, according to their recent shareholders report. But I don’t think they have that much to worry about regarding Amazon just yet.

Because credit received for used games, in the form of a gift card, can be used to buy other things at Amazon, I think they probably see it as a way to increase sales across the board with a younger demographic that tends to have more disposable income. Used games could open the door to the same people who use Netflix and GameFly without a second thought. Either more business from customers who use Amazon regularly already, or new business from those who do not. But Amazon won’t be getting the gamers who want to trade and get new games the same day. Which group is larger remains to be seen, but I know that I generally don’t like to wait.

In tough economic times, customer loyalty is absolutely essential. Gift cards and store credit deals tend to keep people coming back whether online or off. Gamers are still spending money, so gaining their interest is a good move for Amazon whether they buy more games from Amazon or not. One way or another, the gift cards will be used, undoubtedly attracting a few new dollars in the process.

Categories
Games and Sports

I Got Me A Drummer!

I’ve been looking for the Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit for the last couple of months without success. So when I finally saw them being stocked, I bought one right away. My youngest son was going to be our drummer to complete our band. But surprise surprise! My oldest daughter, who generally does not play video games with us, tried the drums last night and really enjoyed it!^^ Not only that, she’s a natural!

The drums are a lot harder to play than one might think, so it’s pretty cool that we’ve found our best drummer in the least likely person. We all took turns, so anyone who wants to play drums gets a chance. But I’m just thrilled that we now have a game that everyone in the family can play together.

Categories
Games and Sports

Tabula Rasa Going Out With A Bang!

Ever wanted to be engaged in an epic struggle with no hope for victory? Then tomorrow will be a good day to die in Tabula Rasa which is going out with a bang! No happpy ending, everyone dies in one last heroic battle. Damn! Now I wish I’d picked up this game just for the dark ending. A warrior’s death, perhaps not a bad way to die.

Categories
Games and Sports

Tabula Rasa and Free to Play

Yesterday I heard that the Tabula Rasa US servers were being merged only a few short days before the game is scheduled to shut down at the end of February. Not only that, the developers were adding all sorts of new content. WTF? The game’s about to shut down forever, why do that now?

Some have speculated that it was a departing gesture of good will. Or perhaps the game was being prepped for sale to someone else by NCsoft.  Lately I’ve been seeing so many free to play MMOs that I cannot help but wonder if perhaps Tabula Rasa will have a second life (pardon the pun) as a free to play game. I’ve been tempted to try these out, but where to start and where to get the time? And with so many of these games around, the crap ratio is probably pretty high. Tabula Rasa certainly had it’s share of flaws, but as a free to play game, I might just give it a look. Well, time will tell I guess.

Categories
Games and Sports

Return to Vana’diel

After a 4 month hiatus, I reactivated my Final Fantasy XI characters and returned to Vana’diel. When you spend years building up a character, you get a little attached. So it felt good to be home! Not only that, there have been a lot of changes to the game will make it more fun for players like me who don’t really have the time for the traditional grind. 

Playing on my PC, Vana’diel was as beautiful as ever as I set out to explore my new, old world. The first thing I noticed was that the mobs weren’t as tough as they used to be. FFXI was originally a game in which solo players were doomed to lowby-hood. To advance you had to form parties. But as the game aged and World of Warcraft came along with its more solo friendly gameplay, getting a party became more and more difficult. FFXI has about 500K players, but heavily skewed towards higher level players by this time which leaves new and lower level players in a lurch.

Apparently the mob (ie monster) levels have been adjusted downward to allow faster solo leveling. Another new thing introduced was the Field Manual which is a book found in many areas containing training exercises that reward gil (money) and xp (experience points). This is like the quest system used so successfully in World of Warcraft. I spent a couple of hours doing one of these last night and earned more xp and gil in that time than I could have in 6 to 8 hours in the previous revision of the game! I still like partying, but just getting a party could take hours before because of level restrictions and needing the right mix of jobs.

While I haven’t experienced it for myself yet, the party system has also been opened up via the new level synch feature. This allows higher level players to level down to play with lower level players and everyone stills gets good xp. And rather than losing higher level weapons and having to reequip (a hassle), higher level weapons are scaled down to the lower level. I’ll have to find a party to try this out, which may not be too hard given the traffic I saw in the Valkurm Dunes last night.

So I’m pretty happy to be back in Vana’diel!

Categories
Games and Sports

Nintendo Wii: Leading the Way to Another Video Game Crash?

Much has been made of how video games may be recession proof, enjoying strong sales during the 2008 holiday season. Much of that, perhaps 99% of it was due to Nintendo’s Wii continuing to rack up big sales and in the process pull millions of so called casual gamers into the market.

Nintendo’s strong sales are great for Nintendo and the industry in general. But the Wii has also been accused of being the home of a lot of low quality games made to piggy back on the console’s success but sans any innovative gameplay to take true advantage of the motion sensitive controller. This should alarm anyone who remembers the last time a wildly popular games console became home to lots of crapware. That console was the Atari 2600 and the over abundance of bad games lead to the video games crash of the 1980s.

Atari never fully recovered from the disaster, and it is a bit ironic that Nintendo, the company that would replace Atari and essentially recreate the video games industry is in danger replaying that history. A lot of new gamers have come into the market thanks to Nintendo. Now Nintendo should do everyone a favor and stop approving every 3rd party game under the sun. Nintendo 1st party titles have been nothing but stellar, but a flood of crappy 3rd party games will kill them just as surely as they killed Atari.

Categories
Games and Sports

Online Quality Time

Once again I find myself horribly bored on a Friday night, paralyzed and unable to decide what to do… I’m actually missing my FFXI avatar, having quit the game over a month ago. I’ll probably pick it up again next year, still you spend a lot of time in something without missing it at least a little when it is over. But in the meantime, like an addict who just can’t give it up, I’m thinking of sliding back into World of Warcraft.

I played WoW for a few days in a trial account after the Lich King expansion came out. Yeah, I told myself that it was just a trial just a little taste of something different. But I guess there is just something in me that likes running around virtual worlds killing monsters for hours and hours. I do like trying new things though, like right now I’m giving Gmail a spin. Since Yahoo is laying people off and seems to be in its death throes, I’ve essentially moved over to Gmail. So in the spirit of ditching the old and hooking up with the new, I may give WoW a shot yet again.

Categories
Games and Sports

Flirting With the World of Warcraft…Again

When the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, came out, I received an email for a 10 day free trial of Burning Crusade, the previous expansion. Having just suspended my Final Fantasy Online account, mainly because I wasn’t playing it much, I was feeling adventurous and decided to give WoW another try.

Ten days later, I am sorely tempted but I think I’m going to pass. Why? Because with a monthly fee, World of Warcraft seems like too much of an obligation. If I skip out a few nights to do other things, as I had to during the trial, I feel like I’m wasting money. That’s why I quit Final Fantasy, I wasn’t playing enough, for lack of time, to justify the cost. If I could pay for only the time I actually play, that would be different.

I know that World of Warcraft is making buttloads of money with their current model and thus feel little need to change. But I don’t really see the monthly subscription model being the future, especially for games that hope to compete with WoW. I’m going to be looking into some of the free to play MMO’s now. I just can’t stand feeling obligated to play, especially since I actually have a life and responsibilities outside of gaming.