Gym = Dance, Dance Revolution

From time to time, the New York Times is forced to do what gamers feel are lame-assed feature stories.  But for those who aren’t game savvy, Seth Schiesel’s article about using Dance, Dance Revolution in gym classes as a good exercise workout is, well, new and interesting news. 

Reports Seth, “Bill Hines, a physical education teacher at the school for 27 years, shook his head a little, smiled and said, “I’ll tell you one thing: they don’t run in here like that for basketball.

“It is a scene being repeated across the country as schools deploy the blood-pumping video game Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the nation’s battle against the epidemic of childhood obesity. While traditional video games are often criticized for contributing to the expanding waistlines of the nation’s children, at least several hundred schools in at least 10 states are now using Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R., as a regular part of their physical education curriculum.”

Of course, those in the know have been hip to the great workout effects of games -- at least since 1999 when Intel introduced the Me2Cam and a few cardio-heavy games for the PC. 

Have you ever used games to workout?  Closest I’ve ever gotten are the games in Wii Sports.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/health/30exer.html

Photo: The New York Times

Rock Honors: Quest for the Holy Grail of Rock

What a rockin' way to start the dang, dirty morning.  VH1 Games has a bunch of new offerings to titillate you to your very rock ‘n roll bones.  “Rock Honors: Quest for the Holy Grail of Rock” is a point and click adventure game in which you find various objects (even a witch) embedded in rock venues like the outside of a stadium, the inside of a club, backstage with the band: that sort of thing.  The hardest part for me was finding a flashlight in a dimly lit backstage area.  Hint: if don’t want to search anymore, try tapping your touchpad or clicking your mouse over various areas in the rockin’ pix.  It’s a needle and a haystack approach.  But, hey, sometimes it works.  Unabashed plug: this is one of a few games meant to get you to watch the VH1 Rock Honors, coming May 24 at 9 pm east coast time.  I don’t need a game to get me to watch.  But I’m glad they made a great game.

http://games.vh1.com/gameinfo.php?gid=100

OMG: Parappa 4 Ur PSP

You gotta believe. "Parappa The Rapper" the first great rhythm-based dancing game and one of the best games ever for the original PlayStation (circa 1997), is coming to the PSP in July.  While much of it is the original game, Joystiq reports, “Sony isn't about to play you like that, they've gone and added some juicy PSP features to the rhythm gaming OG: four-player head-to-head rap battles (oh snap!); wirelessly share a demo level (Instructor Mooselini's rap please); and use infrastructure mode to nab eight additional playable remixes.”  Three words:  Parappa: nuthin’ sweeter.

http://www.us.playstation.com/PSone/Games/PaRappa_the_Rapper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaRappa_the_Rapper

God Of War II Party Goes Too Far

I've been to some crazy parties for games, including ones at creepy cemeteries.  But I have to say, the “God Of War II” party in Greece is a little over the top. Yet, the reaction to the party may be a little, er, hysterical. It got so bad that the complete UK press run of The Official UK PlayStation Magazine had to be recalled when the London Mail on Sunday ratted out the pub and called its feature about a party “a horror.”  Here’s why the mag was recalled:

“The article (went) on to describe a European-specific launch party for the game God Of War II in Athens, in which a dead goat was allegedly used as a prop to promote the game. The Mail on Sunday claimed that guests were coaxed into pulling cooked offal from inside the goat’s stomach, while also being dared to pull live snakes from a pit, throw knives at targets and eat grapes being held by topless models.”

Do you think this party went too far?  Was it beyond the boundaries of good taste? 

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13722

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451414&in_page_id=1770

Surreal Puzzler: Cube

D3 has dropped Cube for the PSP on puzzle-seeking gamers, and there are some new bells and whistles in the game.  You are a cube, moving through 135 obstacle-filled levels.  The obstacles?  You’ve seen ‘em before: bombs and spikes.  I like the minimal/artsy/surreal look of the game and the fact that you can build your own levels (always a plus).  Though nothing here is completely new, fans of puzzle games that get tougher and tougher will become somewhat addicted, if not inspired, by Cube.

http://www.d3publisher.us/

Exclusive: The King Of Kong Review

By Harold Goldberg

It’s not for kids anymore.  Maybe, gaming never really was.  That’s the impression I got when I watched “The King Of Kong,” Seth Gordon’s landmark film about the best competitors at the classic and very, very tough arcade game, “Donkey Kong.”  The rivalry presented in Gordon's film is serious and weighty, akin to a heavyweight championship like Ali versus Frazier, or the Yankees versus the Red Sox in the World Series.

There’s nothing all that fancy about Gordon’s camera-work, although it does capture suburbia in all its quietly hissing glory.   But what Gordon has shown is a kind of Wild West shootout in which the king of the “Donkey Kong” hill, Billy Mitchell, is challenged by Steve Wiebe, a guy who’s never been Number One in anything.  Every time Wiebe comes close, fate or nerves trumped his skills.  In “The King Of Kong,” you also get to meet the folks who run the official game stats Web site, Twin Galaxies.  All these folks know each other, and though they don’t say it outright, they don’t seem to want new people barging in and taking the crown from the charismatic, good-looking Billy Mitchell.  Mitchell, bright and well-spoken, seems like perfect mouthpiece for old school gaming.  Twin Galaxies would stand to lose a lot if the quiet, self-effacing Steve Wiebe were to win the “Donkey Kong” highest score. 

How does the film win where others have fallen short?  Gordon’s filmed a man with a martyr complex versus a man with a messiah complex.  That’s compelling.  Plus, there’s a good bit of that brilliant Errol Morris spirit alive in Gordon’s interviewing skills.  What Gordon shows, as objectively as he can, is both the pride and ego of the aging professional gamer and the unsure family man who craves the crown.  Yet he never mocks these gamers.  As the film craftily unfolds, you feel as though the guys in Twin Galaxies are bullies protecting their own turf, the people you didn’t like in school because they were in a holier-than-thou clique.  At other times, you feel that they’ve simply got some hard and fast rules about gaming that can’t be bent or broken.  At their best, they’re wonderful geeks who are full of self-respect, not self-importance.  At their worst, they’re plotting and unwittingly evil, willing to break a few of the seven deadly sins (and worse, their own rules) to protect themselves and their records.

While I don’t want to spoil the film for you, Billy Mitchell at the top of the heap sets aside one important thing about the rules of power.  As David T. Bazelon, one forgotten but supremely exceptional writer from decades ago would have said, Mitchell forgets that those who rule best have a knack for communication and compromise.  Mitchell has neither.

I never before believed that the world of video game competition would be so dramatic and compelling to watch.  I forgot completely about the occasional lack of creativity in the photography. I forgot about the cheesy addition of music like “Eye of the Tiger” during the film’s latter scenes. When you take “The King of Kong” as a whole, what Seth Gordon has done is to make a film that’s so full of tension, so full of story, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat from the beginning until the end.  For beyond its Wild West rivalry, beyond its David versus Goliath battles, there are lessons about human nature to be learned, deep lessons about safety in numbers, about winning at any cost, about honesty, loyalty, power and jealousy.

http://www.sethlewisgordon.com/

Director Seth Gordon

Ubisoft Sells Millions

I don’t usually receive the numbers of what games sell.  So when Ubisoft sent over some of its games sales numbers, I pored over them.  Sure, Tom Clancy games are going to sell, and they did.  But when you see “Rayman” for the Wii selling 830,000 copies, you appreciate the fact that that those who were bold enough to make Wii games are now reaping the profits.  And, when you see that their “Petz” series sold 3.5 million copies, you also know that people love simple pet simulation games – more than they love shooters.  Sure, shooters will always be around.  But it’s nice to see that more casual games are shown the sales numbers love, too.

http://www.ubi.com/US/Games/Info.aspx?pId=4937

Kotaku Gets Sued

Angry, anti-gaming agitator Jack Thompson sued Kotaku.  Among other things, Thompson seems to feel that one of the commenters who said that “Thompson should be shot” (for his views) was harassment that could lead to physical harm.  The first amendment gives all journalists (and bloggers are the new journalists) the right to free speech.  And those who comment on Kotaku have a right to free speech, too.  I’m no legal scholar but I know that everyone’s right to free speech is protected by the Constitution – unless you yell fire in a crowded building. Plus, Thompson is a public figure and pundit.  In my view, you can pretty much say anything about people who go on TV and start yelling like loons.  In any case, yesterday, the lawsuit was thrown out.  But Thompson says he’ll try again.  Read all about it a Joystiq and Kotaku.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/26/thompson-sues-kotaku

http://kotaku.com/gaming/legal/jack-sues-kotaku-255321.php

Fairy Treasure: Island Of Casual Gaming Fun

Have you guys checks out “Fairy Treasure” yet?  The brick busting game is reaching the top ten lists on a bunch of sites.  "The game plunges players into a world of fantasy and magic," says Mikael Makila of Gameon, the game makers. "There are witches, goblins and other villains, as well as guardians to help gamers navigate through the story. Fairy Treasure is a visual feast; it shines with gorgeous graphics and effects."

“Fairy Treasure's story is about an evil, greedy troll who steals the Fairy Queen's treasure from the Kingdom of Trollandia and has carefully guarded it in his cave. In the quest to recapture the treasure, players travel along the Fairy River on a magic raft and encounter hags, goblins and other evil villains that guard the river paths.”  Check out a free demo with a few of the 120 levels at the link below.

http://www.gameonsoftware.com/fairy-treasure/index.htm

2 Cents: Cat Lovers Rejoice: Purr Pals

Sure, “Nintendogs” was a fine, entertaining game for the DS handheld system.  But what about the cat lovers of the world?  Where could they go for a terribly cute pet simulation game?  Nowhere, that’s where.  Yeh, I know others have trashed the game.  They’re not cat addicts.

The long national nightmare is over for the video gaming cat lover.  When Crave released “Purr Pals” recently, feline fans everywhere could rejoice in the fact that over 40 species of kitties were available for virtual adoption.  Yes, the graphics are a tad beneath the clear, crisp art that Nintendo served up with “Nintendogs.” 

Aside from some minor errors, “Purr Pals” is the cat’s meow, literally.  I hear all kinds of caterwauling in the game.  So sweet are these vocal cats that virtual petting via the touchscreen is never enough.  I want to pick my onscreen cat up and give him a giant squeeze.  Heck, all 40 species are adorable -- from the tough looking Manx to the fussy Persian to the nearly hairless Sphynx.  I customized my cat with blue eyes once I chose the Sphynx and named him Joe.  But the addition of colored whiskers was just too weird and kitschy for me.  Joe will just have white ones, thank you very much.  And no, I don’t want to put an Abe Lincoln stovepipe hate or aviator glasses on my cat.  You can if you want to, though.

Most of the game is spent raising the cat.   I petted him, played ball with him, fed him, even cleaned up his poop.  Eventually, I trained him to respond to the sound of my voice via the DS’ microphone.  If he gets a little nasty and scratches the couch, I squirt him once with a red water gun.  I’d love to breed the cat, but there’s no function for it in the game. That’s very disappointing.

To me, however, the most fun was spent with a minigame called “Music,” a rhythm-based game with four cats who sing, er, meow everything from “Mary Had A Little Lamb” to the more complex “Ode To Joy.”  Just tap the touchscreen at the bottom as the colored notes come down from above.  As the music gets more complicated, the game gets harder.  When I did well, I received a couple of bucks to spend on food or cat toys in the “Purr Pals” store.  There’s also a quick game of basketball in which a cat helps me sink the ball through the hoop.  Much less enjoyable is the “Cupid” minigame in which I shot the red hearts that floated above two cats in love with an arrow.

Once I got the hang of caring for Joe, I took the leap and put him in a cat show.  Pay close attention to the cat for a full day in order for him to do well and win in the show.  He can’t look ratty, can’t be hungry and you have to play with him so he has a sunny outlook.  Yes, the game could have used some ‘oomph’ from the fascinating history of the various breeds.  Yet as it stands, “Purr Pals” is a worthy, if not perfect, diversion for cat lovers everywhere.

http://cravegames.com/games/purrpals/