Nintendo shows off Super Mario Brothers Design Doc

Press D-Pad to Junp and the world was changed forever.

Rock Paper Shotgun DC Universe Online review

When you get to the quests themselves… well, this brings us back to what I said at the start about MMOs. DC Universe disappoints me most because it does so well at being different, only to end up shrugging and shovelling out stuff we all know is crap, simply because it can. Seriously. In a game with so much great content, so much imagination, so many options and so many things to do… why in the name of Superman’s crimson pants are the vast majority of the open world missions, “Kill 20 of this. Use 10 of these. Oh, and collect 10 of those,” type stuff?

Yep, I had this impression of the Beta, and told them as much.

"Almost Art" - Tale of Tales lets us know what video games are not.

Michael Sermyn, one half of Tale of Tales has already sparked a lively discussion on the Escapist. I find the entire piece interesting - not specifically "anti-game" and certainly NOT "pro-game", but a call to look at the potential of the interactive experience.

This link isn't an endorsement, but a discussion I simply found interesting.

Global Agenda on Sale at Steam

DIY Gamer has a nice profile on Global Agenda.  It's on sale for $7.50.  Thanks to the "Friends with Benefits" promotion, I joined the game for $15 myself, after the generous free (up to level 12) trial.

I write the following as a genuine fan, and not a journalist or promoter.

Hi-rez studios is a small MMO that's has no subscriptions.  They offer some standard freemium offers such as booster packs and the like, and the initial software purchase is normally $30.  It's a small little MMO with a great community of players.  Rarely are there players with an anti-social attitude.  Indeed, the game encourages the formation of guild-like "Agencies" that can be made up by friends made early on in the game.  

Global Agenda is set in that typical post-apocalyptic world of which other Unreal sci-fi games are so fond.  It draws from so much science fiction to create a nicely fleshed out sandbox of an MMO - there's a war between robots and disparate human mercenary gangs known as "agencies".  That's it.  Everything beyond that is player driven. 

Levels 1-19 is a tutorial of sorts.  It introduces the mechanics of the game, the basic conflict, and the desert that surrounds Dome City - many players' base of operations.  

After this, there are selections of Player vs. Environment missions, Player vs. Player, raids, and the like.  However, where the game shines is in Agency vs. Agency (aka AvA).  The meta-game is a risk-like game in which agencies compete for territory.  More territory means more power, of course, and hen struggle goes on ad infinitum.  

Despite this competition, the community is largely friendly and open to teaching newcomers.  Largely this is due to their desire to recruit and train good future agents.

It's an excellent design, and fun to play.  However, there are some slow periods, as with most multiplayer games. 

Note:

A friend of mine and fellow Zircon agent wrote his own review of the game.

Extra Credits on Non-Combat Gaming

Why must games only be about combat?

phosfiend» Blog Archive » Knives and Type: Pathways to Better Game Design

phosfiend» Blog Archive » Knives and Type: Pathways to Better Game Design

An interesting manifesto on creative Game Design.

Extra Credits on ME2 and Moral Choice

I haven't finished covering Mass Effect 2 and its Moral Choice system. For the most part, it falls short of what I would personally want, but Floyd and Co. below illustrate a place where it (mostly) works: