Bi The Way: Dragon Age Modder Adds In True Bi Romance

Nexus mod user ADHD-Bayonetta has released a new Dragon Age mod they call the "Complete Bi Overhaul". Unlike other mods which just toggle a flag so that women can date Morrigan and guys can date Alistair, the mod author went to great lengths to not just make those relationships possible, but immersive. As a bonus, they've also fixed it so that the Warden won't be misgendered no matter what relationship option you choose. They even went as far to edit dialogue, re-record and edit audio, and even add in a lot of brand new writing. They also undid all game gender restrictions since, oddly enough, the only restrictions that were favored were the ones that made the player character straight. Seriously, check out the feature list:

• Characters won’t misgender the Warden. This applies to every time the Warden’s relationship with Alistair or Morrigan is acknowledged.
• Any gendered dialogue has been edited.
• Added new banter for characters so that they’ll acknowledge the gay relationships.
• Added jealousy dialogues for Alistair and Morrigan if the Warden is cheating on either of them with the other.
• Women can do the dark ritual with Morrigan.
• Women can marry Anora.
• Men can marry Alistair.
• Previously dude-exclusive flirting options for Leliana are now open to women.
• Removed unnecessary gender restrictions on the Warden’s dialogue options.

You can get more details on the mod, as well as some video of it in action and download resources here.

DIY Kill-Bot: A.I. Plays Dark Souls PVP

Description: A screenshot of a giant headless rock creature (golem) kicking an
armored knight square in the butt. Heehee, butt.

The Dark Souls series is known for its punishing difficulty in single player mode (and making it even worse for pirates who accessed it early) and its cut-throat competition in player versus player strategies. One user on gitHub going by the handleMetal Crow decides to combine his love of programming, his passion for playing Dark Souls PVP and desire to have an AI do his bidding into making his own bot that can play Dark Souls PVP and shared it with the world.

What's really interesting to me, coming at it from a non-technical viewpoint, is how much of this project was complicated by the fact that for all the strategy talk surrounding Dark Souls, the system is a closed system, making it sort of akin to trying to peer into a sealed black box. As he explains, he had to pretty much reverse-engineer the game:

In order to have the AI do anything, i needed to be able to feed it data about the game state. The simplest and most direct way of doing this is would be to have it watch various variables in the game code, such as the enemy's x and y location, and then use that with the AI logic. However, since the game's code isn't open source, i needed to reverse engineer anything i wanted to use.

Ok, so maybe that doesn't sound that surprising, right? Just point a program at a game, observe it crunch some numbers, and you're done? As it turns out, writing a bot to play against a human is really tricky-- and not just because us humans can be highly illogical. Nope, Metal Crow had to teach the bot to avoid backstab damage, and he had to create a sort of neural network to do it. He explains:

{In PVP]...the primary combat isn't standard attacks, but the backstab metagame. This is a beautifully complex mechanic, which allows players to instantly damage another player if they manage to get behind them and close to their back. Unlike standard attacks, an AI cant dodge this very simply, because it is executed instantaneous, there's no windup the AI can see and roll away from. The backstab metagame with humans revolves around identifying if a person is about to go for a backstab, then dodging it or countering it ahead of time. Unfortunately, even though I can easily identify backstab attempts when I play, I cannot for the life of me translate it into discrete logic. Its just something I know from experience, I cant really explain it. However, it is vital the AI be able to detect and dodge backstabs, so I needed to figure out a way to teach it.

So how well does it work? You can watch a teaser video of it in action below:

The Father of the Roguelike: Hack-ing the System

Gamasutura recently posted a chapter from David L. Craddick's book, "Dungeon Hacks" and it offers a tantalizing glimpse into the history, culture and the beginnings of one man's idea for a game that ended up inspiring a genre that live on to this day-- the roguelike. An excerpt:

Drawing on the eight or so hours he had spent playing Rogue at UCB, Fenlason laid groundwork in San Francisco. His intention, more or less, was to recreate Rogue as he remembered it: the dungeon layouts, the monsters, and the items. Fenlason dubbed his clone Hack for two reasons: "One definition was 'a quick [computer] hack because I don't have access to Rogue'. The other was 'hack-n-slash', a reference to one of the styles of playing Dungeons and Dragons." 

Thus the roguelike, a game clearly inspired by Rogue rather than coincidentally exhibiting similar game systems and features, was born. 

Fenlason composed a wish list of features he felt Rogue lacked, as well as those which Rogue could have implemented better. Level design, for instance, had been too simplistic; it would be more fun if players could explore dungeons that spanned more than a single screen. Monsters posed another shortcoming. There were only twenty-six, one per capital letter—far fewer than the text symbols available. More egregious was that they all attacked in the same way, making a beeline for the player instead of, say, maneuvering around for a sneak attack or standing in place—perhaps blocking a doorway—and forcing the "@" avatar to venture closer.

The entire sneak  peek is available here, and is well worth your time to read.

Studio Says Steam & Bundles Killed Indie Gaming

Image courtesy of puppygames

UK indie games studio puppygames, most famous for its tower defense games, its retro-inspired arcade games and declaring that the games demo was dead, has fallen on some hard times recently, as they posted on their official blog last week:

We tried for several solid months to rescue our direct sales but it seems nothing but nothing that we can do will change the fact that at any given moment, Steam comprises 97% of our income. And that’s just when there isn't a crazy Steam sale on. So we wasted months on that and achieved precisely nothing. This is especially depressing when we consider that those months could have gone into furthering the progress of Battledroid... we only had about four months’ cash left in the bank (as of the start of May), and by my best estimates, we needed to spend about another 12 months on Battledroid before it could actually take in any money (which itself is a dauntingly difficult prospect for a game we were planning to release for free).

While the frustration and disappointment are understandable, puppygames unleashed a salvo yesterday entitled "BECAUSE YOU’RE WORTHLESS: THE DARK SIDE OF INDIE PR" where they place the blame for sinking profit on Steam & bundled sales:

...the value of an independent game plummeted from about $20 to approximately $1, with very few exceptions. Steam is great! You can sell loads of games! But only if they’re less than $10. Technically Valve don’t actually dictate the prices we charge... market expectation of games now that means you can only sell them for a dollar. That’s how much we sell our games for. One dollar. They’re meant to be $10, but nobody buys them at $10. They buy them when a 90% discount coupon lands in their Steam inventory. We survive only by the grace of 90% coupon drops, which are of course entirely under Valve’s control. It doesn't matter how much marketing we do now, because Valve control our drip feed.

So where does that leave customers in this value equation? Not worth very much to them, according to the entry:

Now you’re worth $1 to us. If you buy every one of our games, you’re worth $5. After Valve and the tax man and the bank take their cuts, you’re not even worth half a cup of coffee. So, while we’re obsequiously polite and helpful when you do contact us for support, even if it’s just the same old “please install some actual video drivers” response, you really should be aware that you are a dead loss. Even if you buy everything we ever make again. Even if all your friends buy everything we ever make again. You just cost us money. Not just fictitious, huge-piles-of-filthy-lucre indie-game-developer who made-it-big money. All our money. 

We barely scratch a living, like most indie game developers. You quite literally cost us lunch because the shop sold you a computer with broken software on it. So you’ll understand now why customers aren't worth anything much any more. You’ll realise why we’re actually happy to see you go if you feel like insulting us. You might add two and two together and realise that for four, we’re not going to cry ourselves to sleep over the loss...

I don't know if I really agree with much of what they have to say, though. Some games don't sell well because they're not fun to play or put together well. For example, the tower defense genre has hundreds of games, many of them completely free to play. So when you take a game like puppygames' Revenge of the Titans, it's already up against a lot of competition. For example, I thought the character design was really well done, but the actual game wasn't fun. The progression from level to level was really stop and start, and the skill progression tree was hard to use and harder to understand for me. 

The post also has some really odd classism ("When he [Phil Fish] walks into the restaurant where you pitifully scrub the floor like a servile wretch in order to pay for DLC in DOTA 2, you'll call him sir.") and a lot of sour grapes, like Homer Simpson complaining that "They won't let me into their crappy club for jerks!" What do you think, readers? Are they right on the money, or have they missed the mark?

People Literally Threw $ At Goat Simulator Devs

Image courtesy of Coffee Stain Studios

No, really. Leigh Alexander's article for Gamasutra "The hilarious success story of Goat Simulator" tells the tale:

Goat Simulator saw its first showing at GDC in San Francisco on two computers, causing a foot traffic pileup. "Two people came up to me and literally threw money at us. They threw, like, $17. That was the first money we made from Goat Simulator." The game began trending worldwide on Twtter, camera crews came to the office. When release day appeared, people logged onto Steam one minute past midnight in their time zone and panicked when they didn't see the game. Ibrisagic was bombarded on Twitter with requests for what time the game would appear.

Her article also details how a silly kicked-around idea's success took everyone in the studio by surprise:

Ibrisagic posted the very first gameplay trailer, went to bed, and woke up to 80,000 views. By the time he made his five-minute walk to the office, there were 100,000. "It just became bigger and bigger and bigger, and at the end, I remember GameSpot made a video about why Goat Simulator needs to happen, that games can be stupid sometimes. People wrote really long emails to us to explain why this was important to the industry. We began to feel that maybe we could release this thing..." They had to define not only their own vision, but what players expected -- Ibrisagic recalls hearing from fans who could not wait to be chased by animal control as if by police in Grand Theft Auto, or who wrote about how cool it was going to be to control a tank as a goat.

If you're interested in getting a copy of the game yourself, you don't have to throw money at the devs, you can purchase it direct from the studio.

Click, Click, BOOM! History of Minesweeper

Noted as having celebrity players from Bill Gates to J.K. Rowling, often blamed for dips in office workers' productivity, and bundled by default with every version of the Windows OS until Windows 8, the history of Minesweeper is a long and storied one. On the occasion of the game's 21st anniversary, Eurogamer has released a detailed retrospective on the game's history in "Every Step You Take- The Story of Minesweeper":

After making its debut in the Windows Entertainment Pack, Minesweeper was given away with Windows 3.11, the breakthrough version of Windows. It's been a staple ever since, and Windows 8 is the first Microsoft OS since 3.11 that hasn't included it by default. And the men who made that version of Minesweeper were Curt Johnson and Robert Donner. Over the phone, Johnson's voice is slow. It's so soft and hesitant I keep thinking he's finished speaking mid-sentence, so I start talking before the transatlantic lag reveals he was just taking a long, long moment to sieve his thoughts.

The retrospective really gets into the nuts and bolts of the game's development, programming, and even delves into things like competitive Minesweeper, the Dreamboard and even a Minesweeper MMO! Give it a read!

Is "Social Gaming" A Misnomer?

 

Leigh Alexander has a great article in The Guardian that delves into multi-player games as a social activity in general, and the recent beta of Bungie latest game, Destiny, in particular. An excerpt:

I watched a colleague of mine play through the beta of Bungie’s latest game, Destiny. It has all the beauty and heft of a massive, futuristic space opera, it has a gorgeous user interface, and it will be a high-end online game where friends can do missions together forever. It is a genius way to do business: create a game where the mode of participation is endless investment. As Destiny is a cutting-edge product you feel almost peer-pressured to participate. 

It is social in that business sense: you must collaborate with and keep up with your friends, ensure that your statistics and equipment – your fitness for competition – are ever increasing. You participate excitedly in this capitalistic metaphor.
Yet are people really playing “together”?

Jenn Frank tackles the idea of socialization-- or the lack thereof-- that happened between her and Ted (her fiance), and how utterly alien it felt for her (she was traditionally the sole "gamer" in a relationship) to feel like a so-called "game widow", especially when Destiny seemed to designed to be a constant, always-on experience:

Later, Ted tells me there is no “pause,” not in the sense where games often have a “pause.” He isn’t even playing multiplayer; he is on a solo mission. “I can’t put the game down,” he explains to me, helplessly. 

This, I do understand. 

I am not angry with Ted. I am furious with Destiny, however. Due to a design flaw—in this case, the flaw is with a game that cannot be paused—I am finally experiencing true relationship strife.

And while this phenomenon may sound most familiar to those who play MMORPGS like World of Warcraft and its ilk, Jason McIntosh wrote about a similar strain on his relation with another game that has no pause feature even though it's not always a multi-player game: Dark Souls. As he explains in "Dark Souls: Pain Without Pause":

But for most of the game your character is strictly alone in their world; you often see the flickering shadows of other players rushing past, but cannot interact with them in any way. And indeed, I never reached any true multi-player segment, so as far as my own experience is concerned, the lack of a pause button serves only as another tool the game uses to mold the player into the correct mindset for disciplined play... 

Whether it was bad for me just then or completely unworkable for me at all remains to be seen. I can offer none of this contextualization as an excuse for my behavior; I became an unpleasant jerk while playing this game, and that was awful and I never want to have that happen again.

Personally, while I've been on both sides of the divide over the years, I've seen a shift recently in that many AAA game companies try to design it so that they capture as much your your attention and investment of time and money that it can often end up having a detrimental effect on one's social life and relationships. Of course, moderation is the key, but a system like Destiny seems to be working very hard to upend that part of the equation.

What do you think, readers?

Mattie Brice on Identity, Representation and Game Design

Image via mattiebrice.com

Mattie Brice (who first came ot my attention when writing about the excellent "Depression Quest" by Zoe Quinn) has a great personal essay up about what she's been studying and considering about game design and identity entitled "Passing Through: Another Take On Identity In Activism & Design". An excerpt:

This past year, I've sat down with a lot of creators about representation in games. One of the first questions out of their mouth is “How do you depict minorities well in games?” Maybe it’s because this is usually over dinner, knife and fork in hand, that I want to reply with “Human?” Thinking of my grandmother who doesn't have a clearly identifiable race by American standards trying to explain herself to an official. ‘Human’ is loaded though; dominant identities are conflated with universal traits of humanity while minoritized people must be loud about their diverging qualities. Usually, I would fall back on trying to tap what is really human, and in turn, interrogate and separate what we assume is default about humanity and is really dominant culture... 

I've started to think of my grandmother’s story a little differently lately. I feel like there’s a more active, personal dynamic with identity than what we currently conceive. Contemporary activism has a strong slant towards self-identification, particularly within established minoritized groups. This makes sense; a person is who they say they are, and that needs to be respected. What does that say about my grandmother, who didn't have an answer for her race until she lived in America? Would she be outside today’s activism if she didn't explicitly label herself?

It's a thoughtful and engaging read, and I wholeheartedly encourage you to read the entire essay.

In This FPS, Cheating Is Encouraged

animated image courtesy of Alpha Beta Gamer

In Screencheat, a new first person shooter game for the PC being developed by Surprise Attack Games, not only is cheating encouraged, it's actually a key game mechanic. Screencheat is a multi-player first-person shooter where each player is invisible! That means that the only way you can figure out where you or your opponents are is by looking looking at THEIR side of the screen, figure out where they are and hunt them down. Here is the reveal trailer for Screencheats that was released last week:




If that's not enough to whet your whistle, you can check out the free public beta for the game that starts in August here!

Game Developer Works With Alaska Native Community to Create Awesome Video Game

Never Alone - Game Trailer from Never Alone on Vimeo.
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) is an atmospheric puzzle platformer currently in development at Upper One Games in partnership with E-Line Media and members of the Alaska Native community.

Leigh Alexander sat down with Sean Vesce to talk more in depth about the game for a recent article on Gamasutra. An excerpt:

"Sean Vesce left Crystal Dynamics after 20 years in commercial games, with a few goals not uncommon to veterans of the triple-A machine: He wanted to collaborate with small, focused teams, aimed to create social impact, and wanted to create games he could play with his young daughters. Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) seems to fit the bill: Its trailer presents a dreamlike, beautiful and playful experience, starring a young Alaska Native girl, Nuna, and her arctic fox friend as they solve puzzles together. First shown during E3, the $15 PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game favorably caught the attention of all the big consumer sites, and received an Editor's Choice award from Polygon."

When asked what his greatest hope for the game was Vesce answered, "Our hope is that as players play, they begin to develop an appreciation for some of the core values of Inupiat culture - including interdependence (mutual reliance on each other), resiliency (the ability to persevere through seemingly insurmountable challenge), and respect for wisdom and knowledge that is passed from one generation to another.

It's a really great article, so I urge you to read the whole thing.

Why BattleNet 2.0 Is Ruining Starcraft 2 Explained-- WITH KITTENS!

UPDATE: EA/Bioware changes Mass Effect DRM Thanks To Customer Complaints

In an update to my previous post, Mass Effect For PC Treats Legitimate Customers Like Thieves , EA recently made an announcement on its forums: they have reworked the anti-piracy detection for Mass Effect, and will no longer require online re-authorization every 10 days.

From the Mass Effect forum:

There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

The solution being implemented for Mass Effect for the PC changes copy protection from being key disc based, which requires authentication every time you play the game by requiring a disc in the drive, to a one time online authentication.

What seemed to be the tipping point were those customers that were either in the armed forces, or international customers that may not have reliable online access:

Q: Did BioWare and EA change their mind on requiring that the game be re-authorized every 10 days?

A: BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

This is a much more reasonable measure-- requiring an authorization every 10 days was not only a rather ornerous requirement for those without an internet connection or regular connection-- MAss Effect is a single player only game that does not have an online play component.

Requests to clarify whether this means that a similar protection scheme that was announced as being under consideration for Will Wrights Spore received no comment.

Second Life on an Apple II (sorta)

This video shows one enterprising programmer managing to squeeze a session of Second Life, an experience that can tax the most demanding of today's PC rigs depending on where you visit through a system with a 1 mHz processor with 128 k of system RAM.

Holy Crap! HOmestar Runner Game To Be Released On The Nintendo Wii!

The above concept art by Strong bad.

Yes, your dreams of a Homestar Runner video game have now come true!

The WiiWare/PC game "Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People" is a joint collaboration between Mike and Matt Champman (the creators of Homestar Runner) and Telltale Games (the brains behind the Sam and Max adventure game series).

From the official site:

These are story games, with weird plots and tons of dialogue conceived through a mind-meld between the guys who make the Homestarrunner.com cartoons and the team who brought you Sam & Max Seasons One and Two. In each SBCG4AP episode, you take control of Strong Bad and interact with other characters in beloved locations such as Strong Bad's basement, Bub's Concession Stand, and The Stick. Besides talking to other characters and messing with their minds, you'll also get to dress up in funny costumes, check email on Strong Bad's trusty Lappy 486, and play arcade-style mini games such as the timeless Snake Boxer 5.

Check out the official ad here:

http://homestarrunner.com/sbcg4ap.html

Check out the official trailer here:





That's it, between Michelle and I enjoying the hell out of Wii Tennis a few weeks ago, and THIS announcement, I'm sold. WE're getting a Wii with our rebate. :D

World Cyber Games Committe Picks 2009 Host City

The World Cyber Games (WCG) today announced Chengdu, China as the WCG 2009 Grand Final host city for the world's largest and most prestigious video game tournament and festival. The formal announcement will be made in China on April 23rd when Chengdu city officials and World Cyber Games organizers join together for the official signing ceremony in Chengdu, China.

The World Cyber Games Committee considers numerous factors when selecting each year's host city, including geography, facilities, infrastructure and marketing plans. For 2009, Chengdu received the overall highest score due to the extensive support offered by local government, accessibility of the Grand Final venue, and high network potential of broadcasters.

"As a state-level digital entertainment industry base, Chengdu aims to become the eSports training and tournament center in China," said Ge Honglin, Mayor of Chengdu. "By hosting the World Cyber Games Grand Final, the biggest and most celebrated eSports and gaming festival in the world, we believe we are now well on our way to achieving this goal."

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in China, is a city rich in history, dating back more than 2,300 years. Chengdu is a cultural center for science and technology, commerce and finance, as well as a hub for transportation and communication in southwest China. The city has already hosted a number of major eSport competitions and is the first place in China to establish ratings for players, referees and coaches. Chengdu is also the first Chinese city to train cyber gaming referees and mandate gaming venue standards.

"Chengdu already has an incredible reputation for being one of the world's elite cities when it comes to hosting video game competitions," said Mr.Hyoung-Seok Kim, CEO of International Cyber Marketing, organizers of the World Cyber Games. "We have no doubt that they will be a wonderful and exciting host city that provides World Cyber Games players and fans with a unique and amazing setting for the premiere event and competition."

Founded in 2000, the pioneering WCG continues today under the slogan "Beyond the Game." Over the years, it has steadily grown to become the world's largest and most prestigious video game festival and tournament, with an aim to be a total digital entertainment festival for gamers and the general public.

The 2007 World Cyber Games experienced record numbers of gamers and participating countries, with more than 700 players and 70 countries competing. At last year's WCG Grand Final in Seattle, USA, TEAM USA captured the overall championship for only the second time in the history of the tournament. National Championship registration is well underway in the USA (www.worldcybergames.com/usa) and many other countries for the WCG 2008 global tournament, which culminates with the World Cyber Games 2008 Grand Final, Nov. 5 - 9, in Cologne, Germany.

Samsung Electronics is the worldwide premier partner for the World Cyber Games. Other global partners include Microsoft Xbox 360 and Games For Windows, Samsung Monitor(SyncMaster), Philips amBX, Procurve Networking by HP, Dust-Off and several others.

In-Gamw Ways To Turn Abusive Gamers Into Bugs Instead of Features

Bill Fulton, a former Microsoft developer writes about the need for instituting features into games that discourage players from acting like jerks.

"[W]hy do I care? Because the online behavior of our customers is dramatically reducing our sales, and continues to stunt the growth of our industry. Non-gamers simply don’t love games enough to put up with the crap they get online. The reason they would consider playing online is to have fun with other people -- and right now, playing games online with strangers rarely delivers that for anyone outside the hardcore demographic.

Are these problems even solvable?

Short answer: yes. Social environments and culture can be designed. Just like good game design creates fun gameplay, good social design creates fun social experiences. Unfortunately, online games seem to have allocated very few resources to designing the social environment."

Essentially, he proposes finding a way to engineer social expectations into games rather than just glumly accepting that people who play online are going to be complete tools.

The comment section is almost as interesting as the article itself.

Two More Great Tributes To Gary Gygax

There are two more great articles released in the wake of Gary Gyx's death that I wanted to call your attention to:

Jeremy Parish and the 1UP.com editorial staff compiled a wonderful article entitled Five Things Games Have Learned from Dungeons & Dragons that shows just what sort of far-reaching effects on video games and computer games Gary Gygax has wrought.

From the 1Up article:

It's taken three decades, but videogames are finally catching on to one of the most fundamental elements of D&D: emergent gameplay. Because the rules and guidebooks for the tabletop game were merely a suggestion, a set of conditions and constraints for building an adventure, the actual content and outcome of every group and every session varied wildly. This wasn't a matter of the random math, though -- it was the human factor. The dungeon master was a sort of guide, nudging the heroes in the right direction and adapting rapidly when they strayed. Not surprisingly, videogames have generally kind of sucked at this. The computer serves as a dungeon master by proxy for the creators, and computers aren't known for their boundless imagination. But they're catching up thanks to canny design. MMOs are very much the successors to D&D, bringing people together to deal with the randomness that results from so many real players gathered in a single place (not to mention the occasional interference of the game masters). But even smaller-scale games like Battlefield and Halo 3 have become sandboxes for goofing around, and single-player games like The Sims and Grand Theft Auto give players enough freedom to make their own fun.

And Wired has a great article chronicling the life of Gary Gygax, and includes lots of little-known games and some photos from Gygax's family. A choice personal bit of trivia from the article:

Gygax and a few of his buddies carried that DIY spirit even further, devising a game of their own around WWII tank combat. He was determined that his game would avoid the "goofy bell curve"that resulted from rolling a pair of six-sided dice (2s and 12s are rare, while 6s, 7s, and 8s are comparatively frequent). To achieve a more linear curve, he determined that players must pluck 1 of 20 numbered poker chips from a hat, so that there was an equal 5 percent probability of each outcome. Gygax later found the perfect replacement for this clunky system: In a school supply catalog, he discovered dice shaped like all of the Platonic solids, including the icosahedron: A 20-sided die.

But don't just take my word for it; check 'em out!

Kill Dr. Lucky Lord British

Lord British, the in-game alter-ego of Ultima series creator Richard Garriot is essentially immortal and nearly impossible to kill.

That doesn't mean that it's completely impossible, nor that gamers haven't tried.

Computer & Videogames has a feature article that covers all the ways Lord British can or has died.

Bonus video: How to kill Lord British in Ultima IX:

Have Fun Now, ASCII Me How!

While PC games like Crysis make your video card cry and beg for its motherboard, there is a revival of appreciation for ASCII games rippling its way through the gaming community.

Here are some gems I've found recently:

• ASCII Sector, a remake of the classic Wing Commander Privateer
• The surprisingly action-packed Doom RL;
• Legerdemain (
• And the hardest strategy game ever, Dwarf Fortress (now with a new unofficial tileset and experimental 3-D visualizer that may prevent some eye-bleeding).

Classic, complex Rogue-like RPGs continue to go strong, too.

Those interested in exploring further should peruse this list of the best new releases from ASCII dreams.

I Swear This Game Is Real

Yes, that video is real. A real person really wrote the dialogue, animated that cut scene, and designed a game where you turn into animals and then race on a track while the voice of God Himself does announcing duty.The game? Zoo Race

The website to download a demo of The Zoo Race is here; it gives you useful advice such as:

"... If playing on the “Hannah’s Heights” or when running on the “Moon” itself though, then be careful of the crows there and them dropping their crow poop on the ground towards you. Do not mistake the food for the crow poop, because eating crow poop results in a speed penalty, which will slow you down. "

I have sent an email to the game's creator. Watch this blog for an interview.