The Stupid Gamer

Some time around last Thursday I must have come into contact with an Infected. I’m pretty sure I know who it was and where it was, but I guess you can never be sure. Either way, by Friday I was doubled over and clutching cold porcelain and realizing that it was going to be a rough weekend. During the holiday rush, however, deep down everybody kind of wishes they can get sick so that they have a valid excuse to sit home and put in unnatural amounts of time into their pile of new games, but that becomes a problem when you can’t sit up without nausea setting in. And no, you certainly can’t engage in any multiplayer gaming while under the effects of H1N1 because you’re doomed to moments when you’ll need to simply drop the controller and run for the bathroom.

So here I am today, still sick, but finally back on my feet. In theory I could get a lot of gaming in today, but no, my 360 is still not back from the Microsoft repair center. Can I blame that one on the swine flu? No, but it’s just as devastating.

Before anybody comments and asks what the point of this post was, I’ll just come out and admit that it’s nothing more than just simple whining. But seriously people, if you have it available to you get the H1N1 vaccine shot!

Everybody’s favorite month to track the NPD sales is November due to the craziness of Black Friday and the kickoff of holiday shopping. Going into the month most people were predicting that the PS3 would be the big winner in hardware with Modern Warfare 2 cleaning up the software battle. See below to see how it all played out.

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1,700,000
2. Nintendo Wii – 1,260,000
3. Xbox 360 – 819,000
4. PlayStation 3 – 710,400
5. Sony PSP – 293,900
6. PlayStation 2 – 203,100

Software

1. 360 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 4,200,000
2. PS3 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 1,870,000
3. Wii – New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 1,390,000
4. 360 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 794,700
5. 360 – Left 4 Dead 2 – 744,000
6. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 720,200
7. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 679,000
8. PS3 – Assassin’s Creed 2 – 448,400
9. 360 – Dragon’s Age: Origins – 362,100
10. Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 315,000

360 (4), Wii (4), PS3 (2)

So the Wii and DS just put up insane numbers. It seems that they most definitely have not hit critical mass at this point. The big surprise, however, was that the 360 outsold the PS3 by over 100,000 units and the dismal performance of the PSP platform, which includes newcomer PSPgo in the mix. Now it’s not all doom and gloom for Sony, but they definitely failed to make up ground on the competition despite price drops, some very slick ad campaigns, and some key releases. December might tell a different story, but really it’s November that is the key month for holiday sales figures.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is just crazy. I can’t think of a time when any game sold over 6 million units in a single month, and by all accounts the number is already over a million units higher when factoring in December. Remember, this is only the United States and does not factor in European, Japanese, or other region’s sales. Simply put, Modern Warfare 2 a beast like we’ve never seen before.

Here’s the latest episode of the Stupid Gamer podcast. I go into a discussion about extreme content in video games, and thanks to your responses it doesn’t completely suck. Yep, I’m making some progress. Enjoy the show.

 

 The Stupid Gamer Podcast #36 [35:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On the next Stupid Gamer podcast I will be discussing extreme (violent, sexual, language) content. In light of the “No Russian” level in Moder Warfare 2, the upcoming Heavy Rain on the PS3, and years of GTA controversy, I felt like it would be a good time to discuss how the gaming industry should be handling this sort of content and how the industry can be more proactive in dealing with it. Here are a few questions I’d like some feedback to. You can pick and choose one or two to answer or answer them all. I’ll read some responses on the air.

1. Is violent/sexual/language content a problem in gaming?
2. Is the ESRB rating system adequate? Does it need to be changed/replaced?
3. What can developers and publishers do better to educate parents?
4. Do console manufacturers need to play a role in content control?
5. Does mature content offend you in any way?
6. How does mature content in gaming compare to film? Should it be regulated differently?
7. If you were a parent (or are one), how will you approach mature content with your kids?
8. Does extreme content add to the enjoyment of a game for you, or is that completely based on context?

God of War III will have crazy amounts of blood, brutal kills, and some sexual content.

Send your responses to me at jar155 [at] gmail.com and  I’ll use them in the next show. You can also comment here on the blog, but the email is a surefire be that I’ll see it before going on the air.

Haha, pretty cool little creation by a dedicated fan of both Left 4 Dead and retro gaming. Take a look.

Note: Best Game Ever is a series of posts I’ll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I’d accept as someone’s answer to the question, “what do you think the best game ever is?” So please, do not email me and tell me I’m stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the “best game ever” category in the side bar.

Star Control II.

Originally on the PC but also ported to the 3DO with enhanced sound and added speech, this game was easily the best open world game of its time. You can now download it FOR FREE (link at the bottom of the post) as it’s been made open source. It’s really rare, even today, to find a game that offers the same level of freedom, non-linear progression, and sense of scale. Here’s the lowdown.

Game is set way in the future after a big galactic war in which the Earth and its alliance lost. Earth is trapped under a slave shield and a race called the Ur-Quan rules the galaxy along with anybody else that chose to join up with them and avoid being annihilated or enslaved.

You’re a descendant from science team that left earth way in the past that had colonized a new planet where you’ve found alien tech. You go out to find out what happened with earth. After finding out that the alliance basically got curb stomped you decide to take it upon yourself to fly around the galaxy recruiting races to start the fight back up again against the Ur-Quan. Depending on the alliances you make the game changes and the storyline can get altered quite a bit.

The game is split into three main styles of gameplay. First there’s exploration where you’re looking for resources (money), new races to ally with, and alien technology to augment your ship. Secondly there’s the political aspect where you need to convince races to join your fight and keep them at peace with one another. Finally, there’s combat that plays out as a 2D top down battle. It’s all great stuff.

Here’s the intro video:

Here’s a battle sequence:

A conversation with the Spathi, a coward race that you still want to recruit as allies because they make awesome starships.

You can get the game for free here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Versions of the game are available on Windows, OS X, Linux, and a few other devices (including PSP).

I know it’s a busy time for gaming, but honestly, I doubt any game coming out in the next few months will be as good.

October is the last month of the year before the big holiday pushes begin, and it’s often an indicator of where people are leaning going into the holidays. October did see some good game releases, including a valid GOTY contender in Uncharted 2 and a possible dark horse runner with Borderlands. Here are the charts.

Hardware

1. Nintendo Wii – 506,900
2. Nintendo DS – 457,600
3. PlayStation 3 – 320,600
4. Xbox 360 – 249,700
5. Sony PSP – 174,600
6. PlayStation 2 – 117,800

Software

1. PS3 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 537,000
2. Wii – Wii Fit Plus – 441,000
3. 360 – Borderlands – 418,000
4. Wii – Wii Sports Resort – 314,000
5. 360 – NBA 2k10 – 311,000
6. 360 – Halo 3: ODST – 271,000
7. PS3 – NBA 2k10 – 213,000
8. 360 – Forza Motorsport 3 – 175,000
9. NDS – Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – 169,000
10. 360 – FIFA 10 – 156,000

…as determined by somoene on YouTube. Maybe he’s not the authority on the matter, but some of these are great. My personal favorite is the Mega Man 8 actor who probably should have had years of speech therapy as a kid but somehow managed to land a job as a voice actor.

Marionettes look more natural than these guys.

RIP, Geocities. Today is the day that Yahoo is pulling the plug on Geocities and all of its background midi and tiled background infested pages. Anybody that’s grown up with the Internet knows that Geocities is home to countless fansites dedicated to video games, video game characters, fanfics, crappy screen art collections, and all sorts of websites that refused to grow up with technology. Geocities once had its place, but in recent years it has been nothing more than a dumping ground for spam and cheap websites. For posterity, I’ve screencapped the first Geocities site that came up in a Google search for “Geocities Zelda” Take a look (click to enlarge).