I HAS PC

I hate apologizing for lack of writing the past couple of weeks, truth be told I am so swamped with work. Which is a good thing in today’s economic climate I suppose.

Also, while reading a lot of other blogs I just haven’t had anything to add to the conversations (besides “yup, I agree”) and I haven’t been inspired by design or game changes to write anything about that either.

So instead, I am going to recopy a little interesting economic piece about Canada. The best part is that this was written in a USA mag. I wrote a little bit about Canada here and the current climate but loved reading the following article (which I will post in full after the break). We Canadians are typically the quieter nation about our accomplishments and this was a happy read.

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I apologize for not updating last week. It was partly because I was swamped while away on business, but also because I didn’t have anything of note to write about. One thing for certain is how incredible the drop in views and reads are when you don’t post. Justifiably so.

This is the third post I have written entirely in my iPhone (hence the title) so please excuse any justification and minor typos!

I have been playing a ton of Lego batman lately (wii). I have a 3 year old and we have played through the entire good side if the campaign and are just finishing up the 3rd Arkham Asylum campaign. I am not as much surprised about how much fun he us having (and how capable he is at playing and problem solving) as I am with my own joy with the game.

Truth be told, after he goes to bed I replay levels in free play mode and go for the extra unlocks – some of which can’t be done until certain costume sets and prior levels are completed.

The gameplay is pretty simple and geared towards fun and therein lies the beauty. Smash lots of Lego structures, beat up Lego bad guys, take broken pieces and build new structures to overcome environmental and puzzle roadblocks, and collect new suits for Batman and Robin to overcome other challenges. There us a Lego-bit-money collection scheme along the way that allows you to buy new suits, characters, and vehicles in between levels when back in the Batcave. There is also a metagame of collecting oft difficult special Lego pieces to build even more exclusive items (as mentioned previously, some are impossible to get on the first playthrough)

The simplicity in the graphics negates the slapstick violence (it looks exactly like you are playing with real Lego people) and Telltale games did a brilliant job with using expressions and grunts and groans to convey the storyline without using voice.

I’m not sure if my highly favorable review stems from the game itself or the interaction with my child and the game – it is the most complex of a title we have been able to play together. The nature of the game makes it highly interactive between ourselves (not just both staring at the screen) as a lot of titles require verbal coordination. “dad, you keep the bad guys off of me while I build this” and “dad, put on robin’s magnet suit so you can climb up that wall and build that ladder for me” to my favorite “dad, I’m scared of spiders – um going to hide behind this tree while you beat them up” (as if Batman would ever say that!!) we talk, laugh, solve problems together and work towards the collection and completion aspects of the game. We are having so much fun and play a little everyday together.

I spent 3 hours yesterday building a 600 Lego piece Indiana Jones set in the play room only to learn from my boy that Indy decided to blow up the cave instead of rescuing the idol. I went back into the room, saw the set in shambles and decided it’s time to buy the Indiana Jones Lego game fir the Wii, instead of rebuilding it.

I know it’s not Friday. I was sitting at my computer this morning thinking “hey! It’s Friday!” and it took me a while to realize it isn’t. I have a feeling today will be a long day.

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This is a fluff post. Nothing to do with game design but I was just reminiscing about my different character classes over the years and which ones stood out. It is in chronological order, not ranked by preference.

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Zubon over at Kill Ten Rats made a generic post that is an ultimate truth with MMOs. We all accept and are resigned to the fact that when an MMO launches it will be incomplete and buggy, and we will have to fight through the launch of a game with Rose Coloured Glasses until such time those things can be fixed. As evident in the responses to his article we as gamers just know it to be the case. While I agree with Zubon completely what way can we get around it besides outright denying it or plain accepting it? Developers already know their product won’t be up to snuff and often use questionable PR and Marketing techniques to avoid calling a spade a spade. Let’s start calling that spade the “Commercial Beta”.

More after the break.

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