I’ll accept one punch per reader for the bad pun.

A couple of interesting details emerging about Bioware’s much anticipated Mass Effect 2. Apparently, much like the role-play games of yore, Mass Effect 2 will draw information from any completed save game of the original Mass Effect, rolling over not only your character’s appearance, but also their decisions and alignment. In a recent interview with PC World, the game’s lead producer Casey Hudson elaborated:

… it was always the plan to be able to import your character, therefore we included all those variables in the save game. We try and work the trilogy story from both the high level and the detail level. We’ve always known where the trilogy was going on the highest level, thematically speaking, through all three stories. But then as we get into developing each game, that’s when we get down to the mid-level, like what are the actual workings of the plot and major characters and such.

The save game has every variable that you’ve set as a player, and as we delve into the detail levels of things like actual words that are spoken, art that appears in levels, sounds and music and subtle things as such…those can all be looked at, and how they comprise the world of each sequel can be affected by your choices in the prior ones.

-Casey Hudson, lead producer

I love that there is still a company smart enough to deliver this feature. It used to be a big thing back in the day with games like Hero’s Quest, but the most I’ve seen of it lately has been in the Penny Arcade titles. Given that I’m currently playing my way through Mass Effect for the first time as I write this, I’m certainly going to perk up on the whole Paragon/Renegade thing. One of the things that I’ve come to like about the game is that it doesn’t stick you with a Jade Empire/Knights of the Old Republic “black and white” style of morality. If you’re going to be nice, in some situations you’re going to get walked all over. I’ll rabbit more when I get around to reviewing it, however. If you’re a fan of the series, I highly recommend checking out the whole interview, there’s a lot of good info in there.

In a further tantalising tidbit, one of BioWare’s developers had this to say today via Twitter:

Working on the new “technology” feature for #masseffect2. It’s secret, and awesome! Don’t tell anyone.

-Don’t worry, Christina Norman, we won’t

Given that “technology” is a vast ranging term, you can forgive speculation for being a little vague for the moment. I’m hoping it’s a horse that can ride through space. Space pony!

Yep, a card game about exploding cows

This is a new weekly post I’ve decided to put up every Sunday, detailing what both myself and Mark have been lending our gaming attention to this week.

Mark’s been playing:

Bioshock. I posted about this not long ago. A small addendum to the post; Curse you Fontaine! Coward! Why must you die so easily?

</rant>

Also, we had a games night at my place, board games and dinner type scenario. Matt shall explain further.

All in all, a little disappointed with the amount of game-time I got in this week. I shall endeavour to do better.

Matt’s been playing:

This week has mostly been dedicated to Tiger Woods 10, which I picked up Wednesday.  Not since Tiger 05 on the original Xbox have I payed money for a golf game, so I thought I was about due.  I’ll post up a review once I’ve played it a little more comprehensively.  I’m still making my way through my first playthrough of Mass Effect (and loving it).  This weekend I’ve also played co-op through Gears of War 2 and the first half of Army of Two, in an attempt to help a friend who has been overseas catch up on all the awesome co-op titles he’s missed in his two year absence.  For some reason, through all of these, surprisingly few new achievements!

Wasn’t much on the new release list this week, which was a pity.

Special mention, however, goes to the card game Unexploded Cow which we played at Mark’s place Tuesday night.  The object of the game is to explode as many cows as possible to make money and earn the love and respect of townspeople.  The logic behind this escapes me, but it was still a fun game to play (and not even electronic!).

The visuals are simplistic, yet elegant

For anyone who hasn’t played it, I’ve recently been distracted from my console by the browser game Auditorium.

Auditorium is a rather creative puzzle game where you have to control a stream of music through a series of flow altering orbs to create a harmony.  To complete a level, you must have your stream flowing through every music track on the board.  It can be quite complex at points, and can take a lot of trial and error.

It’s really a very difficult concept to explain, but it’s a fantastic puzzle game and you can check out the demo for free.  It’s fun, a little bit different, and the only reason why I haven’t bought myself the full version yet is because it could very well be making it’s way to consoles via XBL and PSN soon.

Give it a try!

If anyone is still in doubt that adventure game producers read my site and hang on my every word (and they do, we all know it), Steam has announced that Activision (who now own all of Sierra’s old IPs) is bringing out both King’s Quest and Space Quest game packs.

This is great news for US gamers.

And I don’t mean US as in “all of us” I mean US as in United States.  Imagine my surprise when I went to take a look at the details and found this message:

An error was encountered while processing your request:

This item is currently unavailable in your region.

So apparently, when they say that Activision has added these games to it’s online catalogue, they forgot to add “and only in America, fuck everyone else”.  So you know, if you’re Australian or European, just ignore this post completely.

And if you’re a lucky American who loves old school adventure, check out Steam!

It's kind of equal parts creepy and beautiful

This one is thanks to Lizbt, via Twitter:

Ever thought that what you really needed, deep down, in your heart of hearts, was a big, stitchwork picture of George Lucas watching over you from your wall?

Well thanks to the hard work of many contributors, the Bear and Bird Gallery has put on an exhibition of Star Wars inspired craft: the aptly named Stitch Wars.

The exhibition shows off a vast (sensor) array off different takes on the Star Wars themes, from a bounty (hunter) of plushies, to needlework and fashion. You can check over the entire collection through their Flikr stream.

Best of all, being a gallery, everything is also on sale, so if a particular piece catches your eye you can head over to the store and pick it up. Given that it’s art, however, things can get a little pricey.

Just looking deep into George’s dead, needlepointed eyes is giving me a deeply disturbing feeling …

A mini-update of the Xbox dashboard is on it’s way, and due to be hitting consoles August 11th.  The update will be delivering:

• Games on Demand – Xbox’s Marketplace answer to full retail games.  It will be interesting to find out if this idea expands far enough if the second-hand game trade will see repercussions.  If older games start being available for $20 to download, surely no-one would pay more than that for a hard-copy?
• User Game Ratings – Xbox users can now star-rate individual games, allowing other users to see what the community’s opinion is on a game.
• Netflix – The update will, along with delivering the ability to order and view movies from Netflix, also allow movie parties with your friend’s avatars.  The value of this is yet unknown, but it sounds interesting none the less.
• Avatar Marketplace – Another one of those inevitable things, users can now pay to add elements to their avatar (this is probably because people have stopped buying premium themes)

There are other elements coming too, and this is just the first in a string of updates, that are later due to add Twitter, Facebook and Last.Fm to your dashboard.  If you’d like to read the complete list, Joystiq has the full rundown.

We're the Klokateers, you can be one too

Can I pick good ideas, or can I pick good ideas?

News that’s going to excite the whole crew here at Armchair Diplomat (and my brother) out of the Wall Street Journal today, telling us that a videogame based on Cartoon Network’s Metalocalypse will soon be on it’s way to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

The game, tentatively titled as Metalocalypse: Dethgame, will apparently place the player as one of the Klokateers (DethKlok’s rather expendable road crew).  Given the shows penchant for violence and gore, I’m sure we can expect something suitably “brutal” out of Konami.

Peruse the full article (and make sure to tell anyone nearby that you’re reading the Wall Street Journal).

A very interesting interview with Gabe Newell from Valve Software went to air on ABC2′s Good Game tonight.  In it, the Valve founder talks about a lot of issues, but what piqued my interest was Gabe’s discussion of piracy, and how game companies are partially to blame.

Piracy is about: people want to steal stuff from you, right?  That they don’t want to pay any money and want to get your content.  But when you look at the fact that these people have $2000 PCs, and, you know, they’re spending $50 US a month or more on their internet connections, clearly they’re willing to spend money.  So from our point of view, what we saw more and more is that piracy is a result of bad service … on the part of game companies.

-Gabe Newell,  Valve founder

It’s a very interesting idea, and one that I’ve privately thought about before.  If a company doesn’t take the time to listen to it’s fans, and deliver a high level of customer satisfaction, is it any wonder people are willing to go surfing the torrents for their content?  What Gabe is no doubt talking about (given that Valve owns the major digital distribution platform Steam) is also the availability of games.  Not everyone lives inner-city, or close to a local game shop, so the physical availability of a product can have a major effect on it’s likelihood of being pirated.

No-one is saying that piracy is going to go away, no matter the program there will always be someone willing to strip it of it’s copy-protection and seed it.  But with the resources now available on the internet, it’s partly becoming the developer’s fault if they fail to keep up with new methods of distribution.

It’s a very interesting interview, so I heartily suggest you check it out.  Gabe also talks about the possibilities of using Steam as a platform for getting communities to invest in upcoming games to further their development, which is also quite a revolutionary idea.  You can take a look over at the Good Game site (or download it, or check it out on YouTube).

My gods.

I, as you may have guessed, really like FPS games. If done well, it’s a great format that immediately immerses you in an environment, and can surprise you with every turn.

And this is exactly what Bioshock does. At every place it can. As often as the story allows.

I’m going to be honest; this game is fucking awesome. There is only a single point where the game faltered, and I’ll get to that one later. But apart from this small hiccup, I’ve been dumbstruck.

The art direction is sublime. Set in the 50′s, and in a city under the sea, the art deco inspired architecture is wonderful, and sets an excellent scene in which the game plays out.

And this is just the start.

Would you kindly ...

The story constantly takes twists and turns. Some really subtle things, things you don’t notice until they are pointed out. (Oh, Note: I’m not actually through the game)

Shite, I’m aware I’m blabbering on. I don’t care. Damn, son. Not sure I can actually talk this one up enough. *reaches for the thesaurus so I can praise it further*

Okay, the single pitfall. I found myself completing the one level, and I had to find the bathysphere (round submariney type thing). And I must have gone back to try and find where I was meant to go, as the map / navigation system (an arrow directing you on the route) wasn’t showing. Turns out I had to backtrack (read: consult the internet) to get back on route. And this may have entirely been fixed in patches.

A caveat: I’m tired today. So I’ve rambled. But fuck I love this game. I really, honestly look forward to finishing this one. Seriously, buy the shit out of this game if you haven’t already.

Oh, and Bioshock 2. WANT!

I told you I have one surprise left up my sleeve, content-wise, and today’s the day to show it off.  Say hello to “Armchair Diplomat Comics“, a series of webcomics written by me and Mark, and created by the reprobate Rembrandt behind out beautiful avatars, T-Bone (or Tristan, if you want to get technical).  We’re looking to publish one of these a month, so I hope you enjoy the first.  Just click “Read More” to check it out!

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