Hits On Games

More viral hijinks by MS Games

2005-08-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

IGN post about a mysterious xBox 360 website.

Wow, I can't think of a shorter, less interesting rundown of ilovebees ever... For the record, the preview didn't happen when the timer ran out. The phones started ringing when the timer went out. But the audience for this article probably doesn't care about semantics.

Secondly... "Dave", the author of the article, is reaching a bit I think. That’s not just a bunny hiding a console… It’s obviously a bunny shaped sign. The white thing behind the green bunny is a post. If you look on the bunny you’ll see the two screws that are holding it onto the post.

HitsHerMark: In the mood...

2005-08-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

HitsHerMark: In the mood...

HitsHerMark: Man that's harsh...

2005-08-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

HitsHerMark: Man that's harsh...

This is a link to an entry in my regular blog about an article in this month's Economist that I must remember to get from my father. (I do not yet have a subscription to this magazine, but I've wanted one for some time actually.)

The article is in responce to the whole San Andreas and Hot Coffee mod thing.

The article is great, and everybody with half a brain cell should go read it.

However, I'd like to dispel a few myths.

1) I had not heard of San Andreas being a "hit" until after this deal with the mod came out.

2) This is what happens when you use the mod. At some point, your character (a gang member) gets a call from his girlfriend inviting him to come over for coffee. When your character gets there there is a mini game, where the character and his girlfriend have sex.

3) No, I have not played GTA:SA, nor have I seen the Hot Coffee mod in action... But that may change in the near future once finals week is over. I know what happens when you use the mod because that's what I've been told by people who have tried it out. So it's 2nd hand information... For now. :)

4) Everybody describes the content as "hidden", that is a deceptive term in my opinion. "Hidden" leads one to believe that the developers intended for the content to be found. The fact that you have to use a Mod to see this content tells me that it was actually "disabled". There is a difference.

Programming is an art as much as a science. And things can become very intertwined, so removing code from a program (be it a game or anything else) can cause more problems then anybody would really like to admit. Very often, if a feature or portion of a game doesn't seem to be working and needs to be cut, the developer will simply disable it rather then yanking it out. It's like painting over really ugly wallpaper. Nobody is ever supposed to know it's there.

The problem is that the gaming community is getting really really savvy. So some people will get the game and decompile the code to take a look at it. We call these people "modders", and they do some really cool stuff.

Doom and Halflife owe EVERYTHING to the modding community. And it's generally considered a good thing.

The problem is... They can see that disabled content. Usually, this isn't a problem.

It's happened before with Tomb Raider, Neverwinter Nights, and The Sims. Mods were created to make characters appear nude in a relatively realistic manner. But these were add ons, created by the mod community and tacked onto the game by anybody who cared to do so.

There was that chick in Giants: Citizen Kabuto who started out as a bare breasted mermaid warrior but then got a shirt... And then, a little later a file was "leaked" that would return the graphics to her original topless glory... But Interplay wasn't as big a name at the time that Rock Star is now.

(I also want to take this moment to point out not only how amused I am by the fact that Interplay still has a website, but also that they have "investor relations". But that's a WHOLE other post.)

I guess what is different here is that this content was created by the developers and then disabled rather then created by end users and then tacked on.

So let that be a lesson to you people. If you want to get that lower ESRB rating just take the time to pull the sex-with-your-girlfriend mini game out... Or don't and get a ton of free publicity for your game.

HitsHerMark: Down up down up down up... I feel so torn.

2005-08-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

HitsHerMark: Down up down up down up... I feel so torn.

This is a link to a really great article on Grumpy Gamer, which in turn links to a really great article at Game Revolution about recent studies on violence in children (in the US) and the rise of revenues in the Video Game Industry.

Here are the basics...

Revinue in the industry is going up.
The average age of gamers as a demographic is going up.
Violent crime in children is going down.

Since 1996 the Total Revenue for the industry just about trippled. During this time, violent crimes committed by children was reduced by nearly half.

Or something equally impressive. I don't have the numbers in front of me to say for certain. Follow the links and look at the charts yourself. I'm not a professional reporter, I don't have to spend my time on crap like "due dalliance" :)

Don't believe the hype. These kids are the most peaceful generation we've seen in 30 years.

I think it's because games create a certain amount of common ground for people. It gives them common interests, common knowledge, and a common language to communicate with.

You may be into sports games, and I may like obscure RPGs, but together we can both reminisce on how the original "M type" controller that came standard with the Xbox when it first came out was to damn big.

Welcome to Hits On ...

2005-08-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I want to talk about games. Games and business actually.

Well, sometimes games, and sometimes business, and both together on occasion.

So... Here we go.