Nostalgia: A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life.

Ah yes...nostalgia for games can be the second best thing in gaming next to playing a highly anticipated new game. Returning to the NES, SNES or maybe Genisis (if you are a Sega man) every once in awhile can be really fun and it's good to return to some games you may have missed in the past. Even if they are poorly rated games but you just want to try them anyway, just the "oldness" of the game brings back some nostalgic feeling.

Emulators right now are my best friend, especially since I have 8 months left in Iraq, now when I'm a little tired of my DS I can replay some old c.lassics I missed out on like Super Metroid. But what I was saying earlier about a poor game still being fun and nostalgic I was playing the Gameboy Color emulator with Billy Bob's Hunting and Fishing, the game is terrible, but it's so terrible it's funny. It pains me to recommend such a terrible game but if you get a chance to play it go for it. It's basically just a series of mini games where you (you guessed it) hunt and fish but be careful while fishing because you're so fat you sink your own boat in time. The story in a nutshell is hunting and fishing for specific animals or fish for this woman "Daisy" who requests them to eat. It's highly ridiculous.

Back to good games; I'm enjoying Super Metroid, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Mario Paint (for the music maker). If you are feeling some summer draught of new games, go plug in the old consoles, maybe go to a used game store and stock up on some oldies and feel that nostalgia of the 8-bit, 16-bit era. Fun times to be had. What are some other oldies you would recommend? Maybe some poor games that are actually fun?

A poem has always stuck in my head from the day I first read it for an English class called, "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota" by James Wright. Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly, Asleep on the black trunk, Blowing like a leaf in green shadow. Down the ravine behind the empty house, The cowbells follow one another Into the distances of the afternoon. To my right, In a field of sunlight between two pines, The droppings of last years horses Blaze up into golden stones. I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on. A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home. I have wasted my life. As you know Gamespot has this nifty tool that lets you plug in your video game collection and see the estimated total value it's worth. After along while of thinking of all the games I owned over the years, I think I've finally put in the majority (207 games total) and it's come to a total of $4,137.93. Wow! So I thought to myself with this poem in mind, have I wasted my life? Perhaps I have...perhaps not...either way, I love it. Putting in my collection at Gamespot has also earned me a nice little emblem for my profile page. Even though that money would probably be nice for a couple car payments it's the gamer life and don't ever think it's a waste of time.

I'm sure a lot of us like to explore on our own, go at our own pace and figure things out at our own leisure but can too much open ended get boring? As much as I love my open world games I do have to say it does in fact get boring from time to time. Most open world games to me seems like they can't focus on action as much as linear type games can because they push you towards the action making you react in the heat of combat or situation while in the open you have more to run around with.

I think it's awesome being able to choose how you want to deal with a situation in an open world game, take a Fallout 3 scenario for instance: You see some raiders coming in the distance and you see you can either go in a house, hold in there and shoot them down or run up a cliff side and get the drop on them. When you start blasting away it gets chaotic and sometimes messy or not as well put together as a linear game may script it out to be. Another example would be my poor attempts to play a Grand Theft Auto game because instead of doing the missions that make the game amazing I would go drive around randomly instead just because it was so open to do so.

I'm not particularily bashing on open world games but if you open your mind and take in what I'm trying to get at you may also realize that there comes a point in which a break from an open world game may be needed to get back right into the action with a linear game that brings you there face to face.

The time of joy and pain have come and gone, new games to be anticiptating and new wallets to be broken in; it's the time of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and it's full of great upcoming titles to keep watch of.Here's some upcoming games that caught my eye watching the E3 news.

Fallout 3: Point Lookout:

Just when I thought all the DLC for Fallout 3 has been released Bethesda showed this upcoming Downloadable content at E3 to be released at the end of June.Point Lookoutadds more areas to explore in the Wasteland; a swampy, dark area with mutated humans, cultivists and creepy mansions.Point Lookoutis tailored to players that have reached the new level cap of 30 and promises to be much more challenging than the other DLC released thus far forFallout 3.

Star Wars: The Old Republic:

This new MMO being made by Bioware is one that has caught my attention for a long time. Instead of the usual "grinding" of quests found in most MMOs quests and stories will play out according to the c.lass you select and each will have specific quests to do and complete. It's an interesting concept and I'm excited to see how it turns out, Bioware rarely goes wrong with their games and this could be the MMO to take me away from the Tolkien world.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii:

Announced by Nintendo this takes the s.tyle 2-D Mario games and lets you relive them with up to 4 players cooperative. It's concept is a lot likeLegend of Zelda: The Four Swordswhere you must cooperate to complete the level but you are also competing against each other to collect the most coins in the end. It's a great concept and seems like a great party game for everyone to enjoy.

Metroid: Other M

This announcement caught me by pleasant surprise and the gameplay videos surprised me even more.Metroid: Other Mis being developed by Team Ninja (makers ofDead or Alive) this time around and isn't another Metroid: Prime in the series, which I originally thought. This Metroid returns to 2-D but with some parts first person with 3-D elements, it looks really interesting and seems to have a deeper story and a lot more action. Definitely check out the trailer to this one.

Modern Warfare 2:

I've already talked some hype about this game so be sure to do your part and stay updated on it, the gameplay looked great, (even though I don't think the guy playing it on stage showed it much justice) had new environments and weapons so I'm sure it'll be another best-seller.

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:

Being a mega Zelda fan I'm pretty stoked about this upcoming release but watching the gameplay videos I'm still pretty skeptical about the whole train gig and Link weilding a whip as an item, ok guys, this isn't Indiana Jones. I'm sure I'll be amazed by it regardless but I'll keep my skepticism.

Golden Sun DS:

Finally, after a long waitGolden Sungets a sequel from the original Golden Sun released on the Gameboy Advance.Golden Sun DSfeatures updated 3-D graphics and touch screen controls. If it's as good as the original I'm sure it won't disappoint one bit.

Metal Gear Solid Rising:

Ah yes, my reason to buy an Xbox 360 now. I should have gotten one awhile back but this just sealed the deal. This game stars Raiden as speculated by the Kojima's teaser website about his next release. No Metal Gear has ever really disappointed so I doubt this one will.

Left 4 Dead 2:

This one is a bit bittersweet.Left 4 Deadis a great multiplayer game. It's damn good. Valve knows how to please it's customers by constantly updating their games throughout the years and adding more content to the game but not even a year has passed since the original has been released and they are already planning for a Left 4 Dead 2. I don't understand why they couldn't just take what they are adding in Left 4 Dead 2 as an update to the first one. They've updated so much forTeam Fortress 2what makes Left 4 Dead different? Just seems a little annoying how they will be seperate games now unless they just add it on top of the original and make it a lot easier. Come on Gabe Newell, you know better than this.

Dragon Age: Orgins:

Personally my most anticipated upcoming game, another from the mighty Bioware RPG kings. The videos just seem to get better and better from this game as the release date draws near, I recommend everyone to check them out.

Does anyone else feel that urge sometimes to go fish but you can't and then really want to play a fishing game? It happens to me but I've never actually bought a fishing game because most of them aren't any good so I'm secretly hoping one will succeed one day so I can feed my urge to fish. Maybe there is a good fishing game I just don't know about, lemme know, I'll look into it. Hopefully I'm not alone on this, but I suppose I would understand if I was because it's pretty discouraging to see most fishing games do poorly.

Dear Duke Nukem,There was a time when I was awaiting your newest release back in 1997 when your sequel was finally announced and eagerly I would scan for news about your return in magazines and articles but you never showed up again. Many years passed Duke, many years of you fading out of my memories but never my heart. I remembered the fun we used to have on the N64, fighting those alien scum that shot down your ride and rescuing all those babes in distress.

Many Moons and E3's passed until you showed up on my doorstep once more with a teaser trailer of Duke Nukem Forever. It was only about a minute long but that's what teaser trailers are for. I was excited once more to kick ass and chew bubble gum; hope was restoring in our friendship. Then the politics set in.

I heard you got cancelled, I heard you would never be released, "Duke Nukem Never" was what they called your sequel. I didn't want to believe it, nothing could stop Duke Nukem. Admist all the controversy of your sequel ever being released you amazed us once more with concept pictures. But wait, Duke, it's 2009 now, concept should be long gone by now if your sequel started in '97, you should at least have some demos! This was not the case, the hope for your sequel finally faded away and now your company is being sued for never completing the game and failing to fulfill the contract. Some say it's just a giant marketing manuever to pretend your sequel isn't going to be released, but after all these years I can't see how you can make a comeback anymore.

Farewell Duke Nukem, I'm sorry your sequel never had a chance, I can't bet on you this time.

With warm regards and some bubble gum,

-Ryan

I was chatting with a good friend of mine about the previous blog, character design, and we came to a discussion about love interests in video games and how they can also make the player feel they are immersed in the world and make it much more believable to the player because whatever we do in life, love has some sort of hold on it. Unless you are a badass lone ninja or Duke Nukem then you can make the exception.

Mario and Peach, Cloud and Aries, Tim and the Princess, Donkey Kong and Candy Kong, Link and Zelda, Zombies and brains are just some examples of relationships found in video games. We may overlook some and just enjoy the game but Mario isn't just jumping over barrels and venturing down pipes because he was bored one day, he's doing it out of his love for the Princess.

Love interests give the player motivation to accomplish a quest and give some purpose behind it so it's not just another "point A to point B" mundane quest. Why am I still jumping over 1000 barrels? Oh yeah, that babe up at the top next to the ugly ape. This ties into how love interests can add to character design into a game.

As mentioned in the previous character design blog how characters are presumed in the world is how it comes off as believable in the environment. Having a love interest for the player adds in a believable element to the environment immersing the player more into the game and giving them motivation for accomplishing that game, to save that princess or to slay that dragon...or ape. Two thumbs up for love in games!

I don't know whether it's the lack of video game stores to go around and look at here deployed in Iraq but recently I've been in touch with my independent side and have really started looking hard into the "Indie" genre of gaming. I only wish I would have started earlier. There's even a convention like "E3(Electronic Entertainment Expo)" for strictly indie games called "IGF (Independent Game Festival)" which I should have paid more attention to last year to see the must have indie games being released.

Anyway, as I'm finishing up reading through "PC Gamer" magazine I realize I haven't looked at the DVD it came with to see if anything is worth trying out on there. Usually there isn't but I popped it in the drive anyway. Some gameplay videos of the new Battlefield 1943 (cool), some demo to a game that scored a 35% in "PC Gamer," (no thanks, but I appreciate the demo for a terrible game you reviewed) and finally a demo for a game called, "Cortex Command". This looks interesting...

The game was more than interesting, it was brillant. You create your own base, arm your troops, battle with opponents as they try to overrun your base and destroy your brain (long story short, in the future humans can extract their brains from their bodies and take control of other people or objects so you are "the brain" and you control your troops and robots to protect your brain). Not to mention this strategy game is all in 2-D! It reminded me a lot of "Soldat" (another Indie) and "Worms". You can download the trial for freehereand you still get a lot from the trial you just have limited timed matches between CPU opponents. The game is still a "work in progress" but has a great community of modders to add on to the game. I've already found a mod that adds Solid Snake, the Left 4 Dead cast and a lot of new weapon mods. The intro music is almost worth it by itself, c.lassic 90s heavy rock, reminded me of my Duke Nukem days.

Another Indie title that has been topping the charts is "Braid". Braid is a platformer that lets you manipulate time to solve the puzzles in each level. It's much like a Mario platformer but with time manipulation like "Prince of Persia". Missed a jump and falling to your certain doom? no problem, rewind time and try it again! You can even manipulate time to save what you did 5 seconds ago then rewind and you'll have a shadow of yourself helping you out in present time. Braid has a playable demo available on Steam which I recommend checking out, it'll blow you away.

That's all I have for now (there's a lot more out there to discover though) before I make this post too long, try those demos out if you need a break from the usual Fallouts, Marios, Maddens or Zeldas and want to take a dive into the independent world of video games as I did.

I was thinking back about what makes a good game and something that is sometimes overlooked for good graphics and animation is the character design and interaction. I wanted to express my thoughts on the subject and show how important it is in every video game.

Most of us can probably agree that has played Star Fox 64 that Slippy was a little on the annoying side and the game might have been slightly better if he wasn't included or had a different attitude. In Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace who is the first character you think of? I always think about Jar Jar Binks and how I found him very annoying in every scene he was in. This didn't make me despise the movie or despise Star Fox for having Slippy but it was a minor set back. If character design is done right you begin to care about certain people you may meet or characters that travel with you throughout the game. In the case of Star Fox again, I never really cared when Slippy was in trouble because that would just mean he would go back to the Great Fox for repairs and I wouldn't have to hear his jabbering for the remaining of the level but if it was Falco in trouble; everything was halted and the main objective was to help him out.

Character design and interaction is more important in Role-Playing Games though because if you're going to have someone follow your character around all game, they need to have good interaction with the player so it doesn't feel like a rock is following you. They need to have some sort of back story to keep you interested in them and for the player to want them with you in your adventure. Mass Effect did a great job at character design as well, for your other party members.

Depending on who you took with you on a quest would sometimes dictate how the quest would play out. Sometimes if you brought Wrex (a big burley bounty hunter alien) with you to go assasinate or make peace with someone Wrex would have special interactions with the target and might actually persuade you to shoot this guy instead of make amends. Making good or evil decisons was a big factor in Mass Effect and sometimes it was influenced by your party members and how you interacted with them. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic did this well too; making light side or dark side decisions. When you turned out to be really dark side oriented you even turned against some of your former party members which made the game really interesting and different. What other game gives you the decision to kill your own party members!?

More on the design aspect of things. If you have this large breathing world with different species living amongst each other it should be believable to the setting of the game. If the setting is back in the Jurrassic Period it wouldn't be very believable to see robots walking around unless it was part of the game (sounds like an interesting idea for a game to me). The real point is it's nice to have some slight sense of how each character interacts with the world. When it's dark you may see animals or characters go to sleep and when it's the morning they'll come out and greet the morning air. You witness one towns member trading with a certain guy everyday in another town so you should be able to get some insight as to the relationship between these trading towns and the people to immerse yourself deeper in the game.

Character design and interaction is just as important as any other part of a video game because a game would be pretty boring if it was just you (the player) running around alone, everyone said the same dialogue and acted similar to the last guy you talked to.

Recently I got sucked into a Facebook application where you can make your own top 5 of anything so I gave it a whirl and instead of listing a usual "top 5 games of all time" or "top 5 action games" I gave it some deep thought and decided to go with "Top 5 Games that Got me Addicted" (I know, it's not that exciting after "deep thought.")

1.) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was offically my first Legend of Zelda game of the series and boy did I get hooked. The vast open world of Hyrule seemed so limitless, getting your horse, Epona, was one of the most rewarding items in the game. Ocarina of Time had me staying up way past bedtime on a school night to even trying to get some precious time in before leaving to school in the morning. I'll never forget that epic battle with Ganon at the end as my palms sweat more than I could ever believe and if someone played a no blinking game with me, I could have probably beaten anyone at that single moment. From that game on I have continued to love the Legend of Zelda series and have played and beaten them all.

2.) Super Mario Bros./ Duck Hunt cartridge. Technically, two games but all in the same cartridge anyway. When I blew the bottom of the cartridge enough and was able to play it in my NES it was fantastic and played for hours on end. This was one of the first games introduced to me in the video game world. I could never get very far with Super Mario when I was a young boy but as I grew and played it more and more I began to perfect it, down to the underground level running at the top and skipping all the enemies. Such a great feeling that was. When I couldn't pass an area in Super Mario I would turn to Duck Hunt. Who could forget that orange obscure prephrial: the Zapper and the hunting dog that would always laugh at you for missing a duck? I despised that dog but I always came back for more.

3.) Battletoads. I don't remember if it was the co-op gameplay that would entice me when I played with my brother for hours on end or the sheer coolness of doing a hard punch in which your toads fist would turn into a hammer slamming down on your foes. It was so long ago I barely remember the plot but being as young as I was I just wanted to smash every opponent that I came across. Where's Battletoads on the Wii Virtual Console? A revamp on the DS maybe? I await anxiously for the day Battletoads arises from the grave.

4.) Chrono Trigger. My first dive into the realm of Role-Playing Games. I've played Final Fantasy games here and there around the time but it was Chrono Trigger that really got me hooked first. What was really enticing was how the battle seemed to keep moving and wasn't always a, "your turn, my turn" battle. Perhaps it was my long love for Battletoads that made me adore the character Frog in the game to keep him in my party even though he was debatable to keep in the party for his rather weak combo strikes with other party members. Excellent soundtrack, multiple endings, (I have called out Chrono Trigger on this before) great characters and intiscing gameplay kept this game in the Super Nintendo cartridgeslot for a long time with no signs of ever pressing the eject button.

5.) Oregon Trail. Oh how I love Oregon and games about historical Oregon and how it was discovered was even better. This is the game that has people asking me whether we still use wagons as a means of travel in Oregon. As much as I like to say it's true; it's not. There is no way I'm going to risk falling off my wagon, breaking my leg and having to rest five days to recover and hope the local Native American population finds me some wild berries. I always remember my whole school would go to the computer lab to play Oregon Trail and would all choose the, "Banker from Boston" so they could start with the most money and buy a lot of Oxen to make it through the game faster to play that final stage floating down the river. To this day I can remember my formula of the supplies I would buy before heading out: 4 Oxen, 20lbs of food, (hunting was a much better means of food) 10 sets of clothing, 2 wagon wheels, 2 wagon axles, 1 wagon tongue (never knew what that was but a spare was always nice) and 99 boxes of ammo. The hunting game was the best. Shoot 10 buffalo on screen but sadly, you could only bring back 100lbs of it. No wonder the buffalo population went down! I had a great time with that game and I wish I could still get my hands on the original, it has to be out there somewhere...