My Gaming Resolutions for 2011

So a new year is about to dawn (highly sarcastic yeah!).  What do i hope to accomplish in 2011 on the video games front?

1) Gamer Score on my second XBL Silver account : get over 15,000 
2) Your Shape Fitness Evolved: play at least one time in 2011
3) Game Room:  purchase less than 75 titles. 
4) Nintendo Crosswords DS: Actually finish all of the easy puzzles
5) Picross 3D: finish all of the easy puzzles
6) Kinectimals: finish playthrough
7) Kinect Sports: get up to level 10 in game
8) Dance Central: get better at some of the routines (a 5 star on easy would be nice)
9) Lips: get last star acheivement on new primary account, maybe all achievements
10) Kinect Joyride: play all events
11) Mass Effect: pick off more achievements (all power/weapon ones)
12) Games: buy less than 4 at full retail - remember wait until Xmas season and pick off games cheaper.

Game Room: Game Pack Profiles 006-010

Game Pack 006
* Release Date: June 23, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 9,263

Ranked Games
- Arcade: Black Widow, Juno First, Major Havoc, Scooter Shooter, Warlords
- Console: Crackpots (2600), H.E.R.O. (2600), Kaboom (2600), Laser Blast (2600), Star Strike (Intellivision)

Non Ranked games
- Console: Casino (2600), Sky Diver (2600), Starmaster (2600), Triple Action (Intellivision), Utopia (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Black Widow, Juno First, Laser Blast (possibly the easiest game in Game Room)
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Game Pack 007
* Release Date: July 14, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 10,155

Ranked Games:
- Arcade: Gyrus, Jail Break, Yie Ar Kung-fu
- Console: Activision Decathalon (2600), Asteroids (2600), Frostbite (2600), Gravitar (2600), Hover Force (Intellivision), Quadrun (2600), Tower of Doom (Intellivision)

Non Ranked games:
- Console: Barnstorming (2600), Fishing Derby (2600), Enduro (2600), Ice Hockey (2600), Auto Racing (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of:
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Game Pack 008
* Release Date: August 4, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 2,696

Ranked Games
- Arcade: none
- Console: Beamrider (2600), Centipede (2600), Cosmic Commuter (2600), Dodge 'em (2600), Dolphin (2600), Sea Quest (2600), Super Pro Decathalon (Intellivsion), Thin Ice (Intellivision)

Non Ranked games:
- Console: 3D Tic Tac Toe (2600), Dragster (2600), Hockey (Intellivision), Chip Shot Golf (Intellivision), Freeway (2600), Maze Craze (2600), Snafu (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Cosmic Commuter, Thin Ice
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Game Pack 009
* Release Date: August 25, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 3,852

Ranked Games
- Arcade: City Bomber, Flak Attack, Kitten Kaboodle, Super Basketball
- Console: Pinball (Intellivision), Super Breakout (2600), Thunder Castle (Intellivision)

Non Ranked games:
- Console: A Game of Concentration (2600), Checkers (2600), Tennis (2600), Boxing (2600), Bridge (2600), Hard Hat (Intellivision), Reversi (Intellivision), Tennis (2600), Video Chess (2600)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of:  City Bomber, Flak Attack
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Game Pack 010
* Release Date: September 22, 2010
* Estimated Sales: 1,972

Ranked Games
- Arcade: Galactic Warriors, Hyper Crash, Konami GT,
- Console: Missile Command (2600), Plaque Attack (2600), Pressure Cooker (2600), Radar Lock (2600), Submarine Commander (2600),

Non Ranked games
- Console: Body Slam! Super Pro Wrestling (Intellivision), Bowling (2600), Deep Pocket Billiards (Intellivision), Horse Racing (Intellivision), Private Eye (2600), Sharp Shot (Intellivision), Street Racer (2600)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Hyper Crash

Game Room: Game Pack Profiles: 001-005

Game Pack 001
* Release Date: March 24, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 105,880

Ranked Games:
- Arcade: Asteroids Deluxe, Battlantis, Crystal Castles, Finalizer, Lunar Lander, Red Baron, Scramble,  Tutankham
- Console: Astrosmash (Intellivision), Space Armada (Intellivision), Yar's Revenge (2600)

Non Ranked Games (one medal):
- Console: Armor Battle (Intellivision), Combat (Atari 2600), Outlaw (Atari 2600), Sea Battle (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Battlantis, Finalizer
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Game Pack 002
* Release: March 24, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 86,629 (12/9/10)

Ranked Games
- Arcade: Centipede, Gravitar, Jungler, Road Fighter, Shao-lin's Road, Super Cobra, Tempest
- Console: Millipede (2600), Space Hawk (Intellivision)

Non Ranked games:
- Console: Adventure (2600), Football (intellivision), Mountain Madness Pro Skiing (Intellivision), Real Sports Tennis (2600), Star Raiders (2600), Sub Hunt (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Jungler, Shao-lin's Road
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Game Pack 003 (first weekly release)
* Release Date: May 5, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 30,626

 Ranked Games
- Arcade: Battlezone, Mega Zone, Rack 'em Up, Super Breakout
- Console:  Keysone Kapers (2600), Megamania (2600), Night Stalker (Intellivision), Oink (2600), Pitfall (2600),

Non Ranked games:
- Console: Basketball (Intellivision), Canyon Bomber (2600), Night Driver (2600), Real Sports Volleyball (2600), Soccer (Intellivision)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Mega Zone
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Game Pack 004
* Release Date: May 19, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 18,995

Ranked Games
- Arcade: Asteroids, Millipede, Space Duel, Strategy X, Time Pilot
- Console: Buzz Bombers (Intellivision), Demons to Diamonds (2600), River Raid (2600), Shark Shark (Intellivision), Spider Fighter (2600), Stampede (2600)

Non Ranked games:
- Console: Boxing (Intellivision), Grand Prix (2600), Haunted House (2600)

Interesting Games you may not have heard of: Buzz Bombers, Spider Fighter
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Game Pack 005
* Release Date: June 2, 2010
* Estimated Unit Sales: 9,891

Ranked Games:
- Arcade: Konami's Ping Pong, Liberator, Missile Command, Mr. Goemon, Video Hustler
- Console: Chopper Command (2600), Circus Atari (2600), River Raid 2 (2600), Video Pinball

Non Ranked games
- Console: Air-Sea Battle (2600), Baseball (Intellivision), Frog Bog (Intellivision), Motocross (Intellivision), Skiing (2600), Sky Jinks (2600),

Interesting Games you may not have heard of:

Game Room

If you don't know, Game Room is an area (originally started as part of XBLA) for retro games on the Xbox 360.  XBLA changed its rules on what was allowed, largely freezing out classic arcade games/emulation (at least at the $3.00 price), Game Room seems to pick up the slack.  i have spent a lot of time on this game.  Game Room was released in March and there have usually been weekly releases since.  The weekly releases are currently in the form of game packs (that contain 2-5 weeks of content) unlocked on Wednesdays.  So far, 12 game packs have been released (2 at launch).  The situation with the devleper of Game Room is a bit up in the air too (with the original developer Krome downsizing/reorganizing), there is a rumor that Game Room will be seeing a developer change in the near future.

Currently, Game Room is limited to Konami Arcade, Activision 2600, Atari 2600, some early Atari arcade games and Intellivision games.  The game selection from Atari and Activision is largely licensed content that is also on Atari 80 in 1 compilation, Activision Anthalogy and Intellivision Lives.  Konami arcade seems to not be based off of a compilation.  There have been rumors from the beginning about new companies potentially coming on board, however, as of yet there has been no new games released by the current companies.    

Unlike most downloadable games (Game Room is more of a front end), Game Room has 1,000 achievement points (like a full retail title).  This did cause some problems as Game Room achievements are largely based off of gaining levels based off of paid content.  This is probably the most expensive 1,000 gamer score there is.  It is less expensive now, but you still need to be level 20.  At bare minimum, you have to have 20 Time Spender medals (so buy at least 20 games - that is $60.00), then you will probably still need some single plays or other games to make up the difference.  i am not sure that the $.50 play (40 points) is still working. 

The level scheme is 5 points for a gold, 3 points for a silver and 2 points for a bronze.  There are three potential medals: Point Buster (score x points), Survivalist (spend x time in one playthrough) and Time Spender (spend x total on the game).   Some games only have the Time Spender (like 2 player only games).  If it has an individual leaderboard, it is a three medal game (if it doesn't it is one medal).  So, assuming you are good (or the game is easy), you could get 15 points for one game (75% of one level).

There are challenges (which silver users can do) and dynamic leaderboards on the ranked games.  Gaining levels can unlock decor or themes for your virtual arcade (12 room, holding 8 games each).   

Achievements: the achievements are mostly stuff like: play for X hours, get X medals, achieve level X, win X challenges type of stuff.  They seem to be trying to get you to purchase more games - it worked on me.

Microsoft Kinect: Impressions of Kinect Sports

Friday, November 5, 2010

Microsoft Kinect: Impressions of Kinect Sports

So, here i go continuing the deluge of Xbox Kinect posts.  This time i am looking at Kinect Sports. 

Kinect Sports is a mini-game collection that has ties to, wait for it, sports.  i have a slight problem with the chose sport menu where the hand/cursor seems to drift on me for no reason.  They could have come up with a better gesture to show you are ready than hold your hands up (over your head).  Overall, this was a slight disappointment to me.  Much like Kinect Adventures, there are six events (but it has mini-games for each sport).  i am an Xbox Silver member, so there are things i probably can't use.  i wonder if i can use Kinectshare.com.  i know it is a surprise, but this games is eerily similar to Wii Sports.  Well, here they are:

* Soccer (football to much of the rest of the world):  i have not played this single player, so i am not sure how much different it is (though it is probably much easier to tell who acutally has the ball).  In this game, you kick the ball (either straight, or diagonally right or left) or hit it in with your head.  Apparently you can make saves as the goalkeeper too. 

* Bowling:  i haven't really figured out this game yet.  It would seem this would be a simple affair, like Wii Sports Bowling, but it is not.  You have to hold your hand out to one side (either right or left, but not both at the same time) to pick up the ball.  After that you birng your arm back, then forward in a bowling motion.  i am not entirely sure how you aim your shot (as the highlight on the lane marker keeps jumping around).  There is an achievement for breaking the lane (can be done when messing up release) and you can throw it on other lanes. 

* Beach Volleyball: this is a game of beach volleyball to 7 points (must win by two).  In this, you will be serving the ball (toss the ball up, then hit it), passing (basically holding your arm out at the right time and spiking (usually precluded by a jump).  A slight problem for me here is that if i jump with my hand up more than a little, i will hit the ceiling. 

* Boxing:  this one is going to take me a while to get the hang of.  It is not as simple as Wii Sports boxing, though you won't hit yourself in the face with the annoying nunchuck cord doing this.  i end up whiffing on my punches (maybe it is a distance thing).  You can punch high or punch low and block. 

* Table Tennis: i didn't like it on Wii Sports and i'm not a fan of it here.  In theory, this should be easier to control (and maybe it is).  It should at least be easier than Konami Ping-Pong on Game Room.  In this game, you are sort of translucent and you see through yourself.  You pick up a paddle then toss the ball in the air to set up a serve (or if you are me keep missing the ball).  You direct your shot with your arm (your arm apparently being the paddle).  You play to 11 points, with a 2 point win being necessary.

* Track and Field:  i found this to be probably the best done sports category.  Yes, you will be running in place (works better than i thought it would).  There are several events here: Sprint (you run in place until the race ends, keeping your knees somewhat high is a good idea).  Javelin: you basically run in place until you get to a place where the ground turns green, then you throw it (i think i got near the back line on this one).  Long Jump: you run in place, like the Javelin, then at the right time, you jump.  Discus: the only event where i didn't set a "world record".  You reach out to grab the discus, then you throw it (in a discus throwing method - there is an achievement for messing up the throw though).  Hurdles: in this event, you run in place until the hurdle turns green (then you jump).     

Microsoft Kinect: Impressions on Kinect Adventures

Friday, November 5, 2010

Microsoft Kinect: Impressions on Kinect Adventures

i got my Kinect on Thursday.  If you don't know what a Kinect is now, the odds are you will by Xmas.  So, anyway on to the games... 

Many people view Kinect games as a little off.  After all, who wants to act like an idiot in front of a camera?  Since i don't care what people think about me, that wasn't an issue for me.  Yes, there will be a lot of mini-game compilations, dance games and fitness games.  However, i can only currently comment on what i own.  i have Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports and You Shape Fitness Evolved (which i have barely played).  If anyone out there wants to give me any other Kinect titles, i guess i could accept them. 

Kinect Adventures: The Kinect sensor comes bundled in with Kinect Adventures, which (you guessed it) is a compilation of mini-games.  This game will take pictures of you at strange times (though i am not sure if you need XBL Gold to do that).  It also has a living statue thing where it can record your motions and voice for a brief period of time.  i'm not sure an achievement called "jumping the shark" is a good sign to have in a pack-in game with a new accessory (that they are betting a ton of money on).  i initially thought that Kinect Sports made more sense as a pack-in,  i was wrong. Kinect Adventures is probably my favorite Kinect launch title.  Good job Good Science Studios (formerly Spawnpoint).  This game has a lot of jumping (in 2 games).  i know i was tired after less than 1 hour.  i know professional game review sites do not like this game, but i do.  Like Wii Sports, this has a medal scenario for your score (i've heard rumors that platinum medals exist).   Kinect Adventures consists of the following 6 activities:

* Rallyball (if you've seen the Kinect E3 stuff, you've seen Rallyball):  it is a game where you serve a ball down an alley (though i keep whiffing on the serve) and try to take out the evil boxes.  The ball evilly returns to you, so you can return it from whence it came (to take out more boxes).  You can hit targets that split the ball into numerous balls or make it flaming. There are variations on this game

* River Rush:  this is an adventure where you go down a river in a raft.  However, on this river, you will want to collect pins.  This will send you moving side to side to control where the raft is going and jumping to get the pins.  There is a lot of jumping possibilities in this game and several other Adventures games.  i was having fun over-rotating on 360° jumps. 

* Reflex Ridge: Reflex Ridge is an on-rails adventure where you are on a stand-up mine cart (apparently they do exist) and going through an obstacle course.  You will need to dodge the obstacles by moving out of their way (left to right), ducking or jumping.  You might want to collect pins while you are doing the activity (some through mild contortions).  i found this adventure to be slightly disorienting. 

* Space Pop: in this game you are in a space station plagued by insidious bubles that must be dealt with.  Ok, so that is not what the manual says.  You can flap your arms to float up and use your appendages to pop the bubbles (because if you don't who will).  You can step left or right, hover, or drop your arms to descend. 

* 20,000 Leaks:  this is probably under the sea.  A bunch of rogue fish are trying to sink your boat.  They do this by ramming into a glass wall to create leaks.  It is your job, if you accept it, to plug these leaks.  You can do it by touching them (or your representation on the screen can).  i think this is probably the lamest adventure in the game, but that is just my opinion.  

Microsoft Kinect Early Impressions

Well, i guess i will join the deluge of people giving their opinions on MSFT's (stock symbol, how i usually refer to them) newly released controller without a controller device.

First off, the concept.  The concept here is a device that will take the place of the controller in certain games.  In a way it has kind of a retro vibe to it: reduced button combinations.  It is nice to have games that don't use every single button on the controller (no x, y, a, b, RB, LB, left trigger, right trigger, back, start, clickable thumbsticks, etc).  This is not as easy of sale to someone who is used to the controller (the Xbox contoller is fairly good except for the d-pad).  Predictably, the self-professed "hard-core" gamer do not seem impresed.  Though eventually, maybe Kinect can be used to enhance games that use the control pad (like head tracking).  The concept of a simplified control scheme (how simplified it really is can be debated) with a more natural interface is interesting.  If you have been scared off by the myriad of buttons on controllers, this might be for you.  It is the implementation that will be important. 

Kinect seem to be pretty decent from what i've played so far.  There is a little lag, but i don't really notice it unless i'm looking for it.  The voice commands (i like speech recognition/control) works fairly well for what it does - though it should be noted that voice control is rather limited at the moment (i expect its vocabulary to be expanded in the future).  Another cool feature has you waving to sign in.  However, depending on the sensor height (closer to 6' should work better - mine is at about 3') you may have to change where you wave.  There is one game that recommends putting the Kinect closer to eye level.  i have to wave at a little under shoulder level to get it to recognize me.  Kinect should improve over time as the sotfware running it improves.  There are, however, some limitations of Kinect that are hardware (like the resolution of the camera) that cannot be changed.   

i have played on the Wii a little, and i can say that early Kinect games are a lot more active.  With the Wii, you can find ways to move the Wii mote where you don't actually have to do the intended motions.  i'm sure there are ways to "cheat the motions" in Kinect, but i don't know them.  It seems to me that the Kinect will have the edge on the Wii (and Move) in terms of fitness or dancing games.  Though, i guess that will depend on the quality of the games released.  Keep in mind, however, that software developers really haven't had the development kits for that long.  So, the current line-up is just scratching the surface of what can be done with Kinect.   

The games that seem to work best for Kinect (currently anyway) are games "on rails".  i kind of miss the more "on rails" games that i grew up with on the Genesis (or if you want to go back that far, the Atari 2600).  i only have three games for the Kinect (the pack-in, Kinect Sports and You Shape: Fitness Evolved).  However, one of the stand-out games is the Harmonix dance game, Dance Central. 

If i had to give the Kinect a number grade, i would say 8/10 currently, with a future possibility of higher score.  At $150 (USD) Kinect is a little harder of a sale ($99.99 sounds so much better). 

With that being said, i forgot to mention that the Kinect needs a significant amount of space (about 6-10 feet).  Single player is the closer end of that range (use about 7' for the estimate though).  However, i have had some problems playing with two players.  i would guess that they didn't plan this with what could be considered two (chronologically speaking) adult males playing at once.  Maybe the person i was playing with was too far on my side, but i found myself constantly stepping out of range, usually to the side (sometimes to the back). 

If you are new to the Xbox world, i would recommend the Xbox 360 S 4 GB model bundle for $299.99.  Many game saves are around 1-10 MB or so (and you can use up to two USB drives, 2-16 GB to get you a little space).  If you are going to download a ton of games (like XBLA arcade games, Indie games, Songs for music games, etc) or play games from the hard drive, you may want to check out the Xbox 360 S 250 GB  Kinect bundle for $399.99.   i view the Xbox 360 bundles as a decent deal now, however, there may be a better deal - maybe 6 months to a year down the line.  The links are at amazon, you probably can find these in most retail stores too.   

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003O6EE4U/amazon0b53-20/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003O6JLZ2/amazon0b53-20/

Game Room Sales Estimate October 7, 2010

So, i have way too much time on my hands (wasn't that a Styx song?).  So i decided to look at the Game Room leaderboards as i am prone to do (and have done for the last several weeks).  For those of you who don't know, Game Room is a front-end ap for retro games on the Xbox.  The list is brought to you with the help of the letters ag, pt and au.  The link to a  list (and how it is broken down can be found here, unless i messed it up)

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmQylLb0REoBdDk2M3JEU3hzVHk2bldKSkxpX2JJeHc&hl=en&authkey=CMvexM0I

* Sales Estimate of ranked titles: 267,477 - 305,758 (for $802,431 - 917,274 in gross sales)
* Sales Estimate of non-ranked titles:  ??? there is no real indicator like a leaderboard

Lips Infinity Rankings

Here is some information on my most played Xbox 360 game.  Yes, it should come as a surprise (if you ignore the title, or the whole post) that the singing game Lips is my most played title.  The top ranking for a song in Lips is Infinity.  In order to get this: the score must be high enough, you must get all medals (though i kind of have to cheat for vibrato) and you have to hit most of the notes.  The score usually isn't the hard part (though some songs are set too high). 

So, how many of these Infinity Rankings do i have?  A surprising number (though as a percentage of over 200 songs, it is not great).  Some of these were one time deals, some i can almost do at will (the technique medal, vibrato, gives me significant problems).  i am probably a slighly above average singer, who has some problems staying on pitch.  If you want to see (and you most likely don't) what a decent size photo compilation of Lips Infinity scores, here is a link to my Sky Drive

http://cid-c67fdccca0fc034e.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Lips%20Infinity?uc=1

Not all my Infinity scores are pictured (as i don't have pictures of all of them).  Not pictured are: "Bust A Move", "Listen to Your Heart", "Apologize", "Loser", "She Will Be Loved", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Barely Breathing", "Chasing Cars", "How to Save a Life", "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "Photograph".  i am sure there are a few more too (though i'm not sure if i can prove it).  Hopefully, i can get Infinity again for some of these not pictured, so i can fill in the photo gallery a little more.

Will the Kinect Outsell the Original Xbox

i decided to break posts up into category blogs (personal, politics and video games).  Here is my obligatory first post here.

The boxy black behemoth known as the Xbox allegedly sold in the neighborhood of 25 million units worldwide (and unlike the Xbox 360 didn't like to have hardware failures - aarrgh).  Can the upstart motion controller Kinect sell an equal amount?

The answer may surprise you... maybe.  i decided to not break out the spreadsheet for this one.  Let's break down how i view sales of the unit in the future.  MSFT already expects 5 million unit sales worldwide this calendar year, so let us use that as a base.  2011 will be a key year for Kinect sales (they could even be double my estimate).  i think Kinect is locked into a 4 year + lifespan.  Here are my estimates for Kinect lifetime sales. 

2010 - 5,000,000
2011 - 6,000,000
2012 - 3,000,000
2013 - 1,500,000 (unless the world ends in 2012 - i have my fingers crossed)

Total - 15.5 million units (or 10 million short)

Top questions to be answered:
1) How will the US and UK markets react in 2011 (the US market seems big on sales runs, see Wii)?
2) Will Kinect gain Xbox brand marketshare in non-primary markets?  Will it gain millions more in sales?  How does Kinect function as an Xbox 360 adopter driver?
3) What kind of staying power does Kinect have?
4) When will Xbox Next be released (and will it have Kinect functionality or Kinect 2.0)? 
- If it has Kinect control bundled in, that will hurt individual Kinect sensor sales (make unit sales matter less).  A Kinect 2.0 (especially with backwards compatability) would definitely hurt Kinect 1.0 sales.  My guess is Xbox Next in 2012 or 2013.   
5) What kind of attach rate among current owners (supposedly 47 million or so Xbox 360 sales), what percentage will buy? 
- This is a limiting factor.  Apparently attach is expected to be near 10% at launch - not bad.  i guess 25-35% attach is about a high as MSFT can hope for (with an expanded base). i'm assuming the 360 will probably have 75-85 million or so consoles sold by 2013.  Once again, 2011 could be a massive year for the Xbox brand. 
6) The games: what "new" genres (and old ones) will Kinect revitalize?  Will there be games that cater to the "core" demographic?