Games

I'm a big gamer, mostly board games but I do like computer games as well. I mostly write about games on Gameblog, so there's less stuff here on games. Back to the front page.

I've found football

Traded myself a copy of Pro Evolution Soccer 2 for PS2. I've been playing as England; Emile Heskey is my new hero, with Michael Owen. The duo has been scoring goals like there's no tomorrow.

I like the game. I've never been a big fan of sports, particularly on tv, but I do like my sports games. I used to be a huge fan of NHL Hockey (around 1995, though), and there's two football games I've played a lot: Sensible Soccer and Kick Off. I must say, despite all nostalgia, PES2 beats both of them hands down...

15.05.2006 klo 17:14 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Handheld goodness and big strategy

Obligatory non-movie content every now and then... I got two games as Christmas presents, and both were really good, but in a quite different ways.

Every gaming device lives and dies depending of the game selection. Even one very good game can be enough. That has been the case with me and Nintendo DS. The game is, of course, Zoo Keeper, which is quite clearly one of the best action puzzle games ever. Tetris is comparable, but I don't think anything else is.

So, despite owning Project Rub (nice, but not very interesting) and Polarium (innovative, but too difficult too soon), Nintendo DS has been a Zoo Keeper machine for me. Now that has changed.

Johanna bought me a copy of Mario Kart DS and I've already clocked few hours playing the game. It wasn't a surprise that it was so good, as I've already enjoyed Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on Cube. The DS version is just as good, if not better.

I guess it just works, just like a kart game should. It's easy to learn, plays smooth and has a great fun factor. The gripes are same as with Double Dash: it's a bit too easy and too short - it's so much fun you'd wish it last longer. However, even though I've opened all the cups, I'll still keep going back to play more.

The other game is on the completely different side of the spectrum. Civilization IV is the latest version of this really epic strategy game. I like it - it's clearly the best version I've played (lots of Civ 1, some Civ 2, few games of Civ 3).

I had some problems with it: the game requires Win2000 or Win XP, and I'm still running Win 98 SE. Fortunately I had a second computer on loan which I could use. I've played three quick games now and have a pretty good understanding of the new features.

It's all great, believe me. Culture is now even more important, as it defines the borders of your nation. Borders are important, because enemy units must stop at the borders; to get in, it's either war or agreement on open borders.

Religion is another new aspect. There are interesting benefits on having a state religion. If you found a religion, you can build a shrine in the Holy City of that religion; shrine produces one money for each city in the faith (and there are missionaries to spread the faith, of course) and gives intelligence information.

So, I've been quite happy with Civilization IV, so far. It has more detail in good places, but they've also figured out how to remove useless detail that's less important. Instead of building on top of the previous version, they've started from scratch and relaly thought about it. That's the way to do it!

9.01.2006 klo 08:37 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Nintendo DS

I've had my Nintendo DS for week or two now. My game collection has grown to three titles already. I bought Polarium with the DS and ordered Zoo Keeper from Play at the same time. Recently I got Project Rub as a gift.

I like it. I really do. Johanna bought Game Boy Advance last year and that was a bit of a disappointment, we've had fairly little use for it. DS is different. Of course, it's a lot to do with the games. Zoo Keeper is such a gem that it's alone a reason good enough to buy DS. It's the new Tetris.

I like what they've done with DS. Two screens and touching beats PSP's beautiful wide screen display, as they offer so much more when it comes to new and unique ideas and exciting gameplay. I'm no tech geek - I don't mind how much processor power the machines have. I'm happy with more. It's great that DS can run Nintendo 64 games, where GBA could do Super Nintendo. But more power is only going to make better graphics possible. More polygons doesn't equal better gameplay.

I have high expectations for upcoming Nintendo DS titles. There'll be some really original DS-exclusive games; I just hope they make it all the way from Japan to Finland. In the worst case scenario the stores will be full of the average crap ported from other platforms with no DS-specific stuff.

14.04.2005 klo 09:26 | 1 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

Dinner and cocktails

Last Thursday I took a train to Helsinki to visit the Kyöpelit gala, which is organised by Pelit magazine, the most notable games magazine in Finland. They have a big vote for the best games of the year and Finnish game industry association FIGMA presents the awards for the best selling games. I was lucky enough to get an invite through a competition in the magazine.

It was interesting, though I'm not on my own territory in a fancy event like that. I don't mind wearing a suit and a tie - I quite like it, actually - but mingling with strangers is another thing. I didn't have many insightful conversations with interesting industry people - I had few words with the first Finnish academic, whose doctoral thesis was about games and the editor in chief of Pelit. About board games, naturally.

It was an interesting event, nonetheless. The awards were dead boring - Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, EA Games collecting tons of gold and platinum, all very predictable. Still, it was good fun and while I won't be at all sad if I don't get an invite next year, it was something I didn't have to regret.

4.02.2005 klo 23:18 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Pocket Kingdom

Pocket Kingdom is a weird game. The first time I tried it, I instantly agreed with most of the reviews I've read: the user interface is very bad. Most of the time is spent clicking through various menus. The flaws are very simple and it is obvious how to fix them.

First, stuff in the inventory needs to stack. It's bloody annoying to wade through several copies of each item when you need to fetch the last item on the list (which doesn't wrap around). Stacking items would make browsing the lists easier.

Second, buying and selling stuff should be made faster. For each item you buy or sell, you need to click twice. Nice, but not so when you need to buy, say, 10 copies. How about a possibility to buy or sell several copies at once?

Third, menu shortcuts would be sweet. N-Gage has lots of buttons, why use just two? If an interface could work on a four-button GameBoy, it's less than optimal on N-Gage. Placing shortcuts to different menus on the unused buttons would make playing the game faster.

Despite these grumbles, I've found Pocket Kingdom quite addictive. It's the default game in my N-Gage, the one I keep in when I'm not playing something else. The gameplay is designed well for mobile use: it is possible to spend just few minutes with the game, fiddling some aspect of one's kingdom or perhaps fighting a single battle. For longer sessions one can go on extended raids or perhaps try the human opponents on Arena. It works well and I've already spent a significant amount of time with the game, even if it's been just ten minutes or so at the time.

5.01.2005 klo 11:48 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Hot games right now

Finally, there's a good reason to own a N-Gage. That reason is called Pathway to Glory. While World War 2 is a hot subject in games right now, Pathway to Glory is very old-fashioned: it's a turn-based war game. How boring and hardcore gamer is that? However, I don't think the game's target audience is necessarily the mainstream and if they try to get gamer credibility for N-Gage, it just might be a good move to appeal to a group like hardcore war gamers. And really, anybody who's played and enjoyed gems like Laser Squad, Jagged Allience or UFO should like Pathway to Glory.

I've played the demo mission twice now. First time around my squad got slaughtered by my carelessness. Second time I managed to reach the objective (blow out a water container) losing only two men (and both died executing dubious orders). Better placement of my troopers was the key to the victory, proving that Pathway to Glory is a serious wargame. Most of the enemy forces were killed by a single trooper, placed rather strategically. But hey, what can I do, the enemies came on in such a tight group that even missed shots killed soldiers around the actual target.

The complexity level of the game seems quite good - I'd expect more from a PC game, but with the limited user interface possibilities N-Gage offers, there's only so much you can do. Nothing essential is missing. I'm looking forward to getting the full version and trying the online play. That should be the main treat. Well-implemented GPRS connections allow playing wherever I want, 55-second turn time limit makes sure the game doesn't bog down in analysis paralysis and world-wide ranking system guarantees interesting matches between opponents of the same skill level. Sounds fabulous.

Also on the N-Gage front, Pocket Kingdom sounds like something I should check out. These are the hot N-Gage games, not the boring conversions from other platforms.

Meanwhile... On PS2, the main game after Burnout 3: Takedown wasn't FlatOut (even though it has some redeeming qualities like being Finnish, neat physics, fun ideas), but Sly 2: The Band of Thieves. It's probably the best platform action game since Jak & Daxter: Precursor Legacy (me and Johanna are in the minority who actively dislike Jak's later doings and anything relating to Ratchet & Clank). It has very cool graphics, brilliantly smooth gameplay and good sense of humour.

One more addiction: we got Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube. It's epic Japanese styled console RPG, with all the cliches and still it's quite enjoyable. We've never figured out what's so great about the likes of Final Fantasy, so it's quite strange we like this one. The nice graphics (even if the animation is sometimes substandard) and interesting plot help, as does the exciting realtime combat system. Johanna is already addicted and I like it a lot, too.

The Sims 2 - well, yeah, we did play that, for a while. It's not that new, really, even though it adds lots of good stuff to already working game idea.

8.12.2004 klo 11:01 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Writing about games

Enter, a middle level computer magazine (not for beginners, but not for heavy users either), has started to run a column about games. Of course they wanted to get the best author possible to do it, so they turned to me. At least that's how I want to believe it goes, but the truth is, they did invite me to write a column. I'm rather glad they did, too, because I get to write about games (both video games and board games, thus my point of view is somewhat unique in Finnish game press I think) and they pay me (rather well, I might add).

On a side note, I wrote an blog entry on games and artificial intelligence in Gameblog. It's not completely about games (it's also about computers, so it's still all geek), so it might be worth checking out.

2.12.2004 klo 14:39 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Thinking Machine

Thinking Machine 4 is a Chess-playing AI-slash-piece-of-art. It's not that good as a Chess AI - average player can beat it, but that's not what's interesting about it. While it thinks, it visualizes it's thought process. The result looks pretty (after all, it's a work of art) and is quite interesting, too.

(via Inconsequential Ruminations)

10.11.2004 klo 09:02 | 1 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

Engaging

I've been thinking about buying a N-Gage QD. It wouldn't be too expensive, because looks like my current phone is worth about 100 euros on the second-hand market. While N-Gage is far less convincing as a game device than, say, GameBoy Advance, it has other qualities. It's architecture is open and there's lots of free software available. That free software includes a C-64 emulator! Just imagine: a cell phone that is loaded with good old classic games.

It would be just the thing for me. I often find myself in situations where I need to spend 10 or 15 minutes of time, especially at the university. Playing Bubble Bobble or whatever would be nice. Carrying three different devices (cell phone, MP3 player, GameBoy) with me could get annoying, but I do always have my cell phone around. I think that's a major upside for N-Gage, that presence.

8.08.2004 klo 09:50 | 2 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

Interview

An interview of yours truly is posted on Spotlight on Games! web site. It's currently on the front page, but here's a direct link, too: Mikko Saari Plays Board Games in Tampere, Finland.

It's mostly about board gaming in Finland, but we touch other issues like sauna and Kalevala. It should be interesting reading for board gamers, at least it was very interesting to do.

2.08.2004 klo 15:16 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

F-Zero madness

I've been playing lots of F-Zero GX recently. It's a wonderful game, quite likely the best racing game I've ever played. I like the smooth graphics (60 wide screen images per second makes for a fast and beautiful gameplay), imaginary tracks (one shaped like Möbius ring, for example) and the healthy level of difficulty.

What's even better, I got myself an opponent. A friend of mine has the game and bloody competition has ensued. I built a web site to keep our time attack results (every night it e-mails us the new times), so we know who's better. It's a bit silly (at least Johanna finds it funny), but trying to beat my own times isn't simply addictive enough.

If you have GameCube and are looking for a fast driving game, look no further. But try to find yourself an opponent, too...

2.05.2004 klo 16:21 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Media education

As I advertised to be a librarian(-to-be), I thought I'd better put up some library-related content on the English side of this blog too.

Few months ago I decided to be more librarianish and ordered the Finnish Kirjasto (Library) magazine and joined the Finnish library association. It was a good decision, because the magazine has been generally quite interesting.

The latest issue is about media education. Its best article is about video games. The person interviewed is professor Frans Mäyrä from Tampere University hypermedia laboratory. He's one of the leading experts on academic game studies in Finland and often quoted on matters like these.

The article ("Are computer games harmful?") is recommended reading for everyone who's worried about what games do to our kids. Mäyrä says games are fine. He actually believes that books can be more dangerous than games, because books can affect one's mind and thinking more profoundly than games.

He also comments that violence in games is less harmful than violence in tv or movies. When you are playing a game, you must control yourself, if you want to succeed. You must keep certain distance from the action. When you're watching a movie, you can "lose control" easier. Research also indicates that young gamers see even violent games as a game amongs others, not as violence. Players can see the difference between fiction and reality.

Also, games can give a child a feeling of might and power, which the child might not get in his or her everyday life. that can be healthy for the child's development. Playing games is also a way to fight fears. Games also require self control and patience - if you can't control your nerves, you will make mistakes and can't proceed in the game.

Despite all the good aspects he sees in games, Mäyrä says that parents should pay more attention to the games their children play. Playing games can be very intensive so the parents must control it. Parents should know the games better, because most of the trouble is caused by the gap between game-literate children and parents who don't know the games. Parents who play are often more critical regarding the games, choose the games for their children more strictly and discuss them with their kids.

Mäyrä sees games as a challenge for libraries. Games are a part of digital culture and something libraries could deal with. Mäyrä thinks the most important game classics, web games played with a browser and some console games could work well in library environment. Libraries would thus develop and record this part of the digital culture.

Why not, though there are lots of problems regarding games in libraries. There's technical issues and copyright issues. Also, I'm not sure how librarians would greet this. Certainly games could draw new patrons in to the library! However, as games are currently banned in most libraries it would take a large shift in attitudes towards games before games are welcomed into libraries.

Meanwhile, learning something about games is highly recommended to everyone (and especially to the parents of children who play games). Games are proper culture (at least when it comes to money, there's absolutely no question about it) and not just a children's pastime. I think many people still consider games as something that belongs to kids and kids only. However, as with movies, there are games for kids, there are games for the whole family and there are games for adults. That is a rather important issue to figure out.

4.02.2004 klo 11:09 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Knights of the Old Republic

I've been playing lots of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic recently. It's a great game, even though I'm not a huge fan of the movies (I like the original three, especially the first one, but the new movies left me totally cold).

The world is attractive, though, and the game has strong feel of the movies. It's set 4000 years before the events of the movies, so you're not going to see familiar faces, but I've already met Hutts, Jawas, Wookies, Jedis and whatnot. The script and dialogue is good, as is music. The game looks pretty good, too.

Even though it suffers from a world full of annoying absurdities (as most computer roleplaying games do - they simply fail to present a believable world), the plot has me hooked. I'm very curious. I also like the way the game lets you take different approaches to the problems you face. Of course, there's a strong good or evil -thing going on. Your actions count and your balance between the Light and the Dark side of the Force depend on how you solve the problems.

There's always the way of taking what you can and then there's the way of doing what's right. It isn't always easy to choose. And that's what makes the game so neat. I'm very curious to find out what's going to happen next and how can I react. That's pretty addictive stuff, you know...

30.01.2004 klo 15:33 | 1 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

PlayStation 2

We went and bought PlayStation 2 few weeks ago. We've been playing quite a lot, it has turned out to be a good buy. It wasn't very cheap, especially as we bought a cordless controller (I highly recommend the Logitech Cordless Controller, it's much superior to the default controller). Still, PS2 was our first choice, mostly because of the wide array of games it has.

The first game I got was Gran Turismo 3 - that one was a no-brainer. However, it lacks proper rally mode, so I got a used copy of WRC 2 Extreme to satisfy my dirt road driving needs. That's what you get from being Finnish, I suppose. It's also interesting how I couldn't care less about motor sports, but I just love driving games.

Our only game together this far is Jak & Daxter, which is just about the best platform game I've ever played. The world is fantastic, the freedom of travel is great and the problems are mostly interesting. We've only had to check few more difficult parts from cheat guide. We've been playing the game together. First we played pretty much equal amounts of time, then I played more when the game became a bit too difficult for Johanna, but now she's improved and plays the game as well as I do, if not better.

I also got Zapper to review (yeah, I started immediately doing PS2 game reviews) from KonsoliFIN, which is a Finnish game web site. Zapper is a good game for children, but for adults - well, I blasted through the game in less than two hours. Too short!

4.12.2003 klo 11:04 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Review copies of games

I thought I could try to get review copies of games. After all, I maintain several board game web sites and reach a large audience, especially Finnish gamers. I'm some sort of opinion leader, really.

So, following game companies got an e-mail from me: Plenary Games, Looney Labs, Cheapass Games, University Games, Endless Games, Winning Moves, Enginuity, Fiendish Games, daVinci Games, Days of Wonder, Laughing Gravy Games, Jolly Roger Games, Winsome Games, Doris & Frank, Eurogames Descartes, Krimsus Krimskrams-Kiste, JKLM Games, Adlung, Out of the Box, Eagle Games, Columbia Games and Kronberger Spiele.

At this point (20.11.2003), I've heard from Winsome Games ("thanks, but we only hand out 10 review copies of each game" - they are a very small company) and Winning Moves (polite "we don't give games to people" reply). Days of Wonder contacted Safe Haven, their distributor in Finland and that might result in something. Jolly Roger says "sure, but we're small and can't afford shipping". So it's fine, if I pay the shipping, and that should be better than paying the whole deal. Columbia Games asked for my favourite - sounds good to me. Out of Box said "maybe next year". DaVinci sent me a box full of their games! New: JKLM Games sold me Kogge with a big discount (they're small company, so they can't send free review copies). Kronberger sent me some games and asked if I could do translations to them.

So, this far nine replies out of 22 e-mails. It would be great to get even a "thanks, but no thanks" reply from each company, but I'm not expecting that much.

Watch this space for updates.

18.11.2003 klo 10:11 | 2 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

New NetHack

A new version of NetHack (3.4.2) is out. No great changes, as you can see from the version number, but several bugfixes. Probably nothing that critical, but I guess updating is a good idea.

You should also check out noeGNUd, OpenGL based 3d graphics engine for NetHack.

Few interesting screenshots: 3d ascii!, 3d graphics.

I'm still downloading it, I'll tell you later what I think about it.

23.10.2003 klo 09:14 | 2 comment(s) | TrackBack (0)

Cool quiz

While I often do these quizzes, I rarely bother to post them to my blog because it's such a cliché, but this one was just too cool to be avoided:

26.09.2003 klo 14:22 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

NetHack fun

NetHack: Behind the Scenes. Brilliantly funny, if you're into NetHack. It's a bit of a spoiler, though.

16.09.2003 klo 12:37 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Who wants to be a millionaire?

I went, I saw, I conquered. I was in the last episode filmed yesterday, so I had to wait the whole day at the studio. That wasn't nice - the show is quite boring to watch and the studio was a sauna with all the super-power lamps.

The competition was a bit more interesting. In the fastest fingers -part I lost the first attempt with about one second - the winner was very fast, with a time of 3.3 seconds. Fortunately he didn't do very well and the left the studio with only 2 000 euros.

Second time I did better. The task was to put the letters P, I, N and T in that order, which I did in 2.99 seconds. Talk about fast!

That was the tough bit. The questions were easy. Because I was the last competitor of the last episode, I'm going back next week for the rest of it. I'm starting with a decent amount of money and will hopefully get a little bit more.

20.08.2003 klo 10:29 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

Who wants to be a millionaire? Me!

Last Tuesday I was sitting by the phone waiting for a call from Who wants to be a millionaire? quiz show. Ismo was competing and I was his dial a friend -lifeline. The call never came, he was too slow and didn't make it to the show. It was close! He would've called me on question nine, asking for the cause of death of Alexander Pushkin. I would've provided the answer under 30 seconds, easily!

Well, now the roles reverse. My mother and Ismo promised to pay the costs of participating so I had nothing to lose. It took me two attempts - first time was definitely too slow, therefore the second try. Today the called me, I'm invited to the competition next Tuesday!

If I'm only fast enough to get to the hot seat, I should be able to come home with a decent pile of euros. The winnings in the Finnish version are pitifully low, though. The main prize is only 200 000 euros.

It's funny, though: it's not lottery taxed, it's proper income. Therefore it affects my student grants. If I win more than 6 000 euros, I'll have to return some of the student grants I've got this year. If I win more than 15 000 euros, Johanna gets less money for rents. So if I win the 10th step, which is 20 000 euros, I'll actually get something like 7 500 euros after taxes, student grants and all that. Still, 7 500 euros is a huge amount of money from my point of view!

15.08.2003 klo 12:52 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)

NetHack guide

I updated my NetHack guidebook, but that meant only updating version numbers to match the current version.

18.06.2003 klo 09:43 | Be the first to comment | TrackBack (0)