Games

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I’ve recently been thinking about where video games could be going in the future. I’m hoping to work in the game industry one day after I’ve finished university study and I’ve been wondering about it a lot. What do I want to see happen in the future? Well I may not have too many answers right now, but I have come up with a few ideas that I think may come into ‘play’ in the not too distant future.

Firstly forget Virtual Reality, as we know it. They’ve tried VR goggles and they made a lot of people sick in doing so. It’s probably never going to work very well in its current form. They’re still around and you can still buy them but they really don’t seem to be taking off. It will probably take a lot to get people totally immersed and involved in a new form of game play. It’s threatening to lose touch with the outside world and the people around you aren’t going to appreciate it much either. The Sci-fi neural implants are also both a long way off and not likely to be accepted by a majority of the general populace without some severe marketing and luck. I for one am not planning on going through brain surgery just to have a computer attached to my head. In fact I never want anyone to able to plug into my brain.

A technology that was brought to my attention by a zealous presenter at the local ‘Science and Technology Centre’ (a sort of science museum aimed at making science fun for children and juvenile adults such as yours truly) is that of ‘Augmented Reality’. Augmented Reality is essentially the overlaying of virtual elements onto the real world, such as a pair of transparent glasses that can display certain elements over the top of what is actually there. I agree with the presenter in that this could indeed have some awesome potential. Forget all the socially beneficial applications such as workmen being able to view underground pipes before digging, think about it from a games point of view. This technology could provide gamers with the ability to run around looking like complete idiots shooting at things that aren’t actually there and that no one else can see, kind of like in the film ‘They Live!’ The upside to this is that it would be a lot of fun. A group of people from the University of South Australia created the ‘ARQuake’ project, http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/projects/ARQuake/www/, merging the classic shooter Quake with this Augmented Reality technology. Again, this technology may not ever become overly popular, but it would be entertaining to play with.

Technology has driven the games industry for a long time with new games always trying to keep one step ahead of the competition. It started way back at the dawn of technology and it continues to this day. 2D graphics gave way to 3D and 3D is becoming ever better. Graphics are starting to lose the ability to impress like they once did. The step between Quake 2 and 3 was amazing, but DOOM 3 while being visually very impressive isn’t leaps and bounds ahead of its competitors in the same way new games used to be. 2D graphics encountered a similar problem; there comes a point where you just can’t do much more with graphics technology. It is this that turns graphics from striving for technological achievement to becoming art. It is my hope that we will start turning away from tech demos and return to game play and making great entertainment. Games such as Zelda: The Wind Waker or The Sims that strive to show greater depth of character through simplifying the game enough to portray emotions will hopefully become more common (and more fun? but that’s just one person’s view?). Technology plays a certain part in the conveying of emotions and story but it’s quite hard to focus on everything at once. When technology is easier and less essential to game sales we’ll hopefully see an increase in games that cast a lasting impression.

Somewhat unfortunately the rise of the ‘Casual Gamer’ will probably lead to more simplistic games being released. While personally I would love to see depth of story and characters, there are a significant number of players out there who want to pick up a game for twenty minutes or so, have a bit of fun, and then put it down until another time. These gamers are generally less interested in the latest greatest technology and more interested in a ‘fast food’ kind of entertainment that satisfies the moment, despite the lack of quality or the lasting effects. Hopefully the two game types can co-exist peacefully although recently it has been seen that some developers are cutting down on some of the planned depth of a title in order to accommodate the more casual gamer.

As technology pushes forwards boundaries are slowly being broken down between systems. We saw the Bleemcast a few years back enabling the running of Playstation games on the Dreamcast, and the PC is able to run almost anything given the right emulation software. Consoles are able to emulate other consoles and new consoles are being announced that promise the ability to play PC games. The Xbox 2 is reported to have a model in planning that comes in a PC case and with the ability to run both PC software and Xbox software. Macs can emulate Windows software and vice-versa. We’ll probably start seeing less of a distinction between consoles and PCs as the price of technology continues to drop and consoles continue to become more and more powerful and able to compete with the more expensive computers. Ideally we’ll see a single platform come into prominence so that everything can be run without purchasing a copious number of different machines, although that does have a downside in that it can establish a monopoly for one particular company.

The technology price drop and increase in power has also lead to more powerful hand-held machines than before. Real games, not just simple toys are now available for the portable market. The advent of PDAs and mobile phones with the ability to play games raises awareness of portable gaming and new competitors are starting to get in on the field that was once primarily dominated by Nintendo’s GameBoy. There is a new product, the gp32, that can run many different emulators and hence, many different system’s games (including some PC games).

I can’t say for sure what’s going to happen but these are just a few ideas that I’ve had recently. Hopefully the games industry will continue to strive towards new heights with new and interesting game play, stories, characters and ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next few years.

Daniel Punch
M6.Net

“Atari has selected StarForce to protect their brand-new game called Race Driver 2″, a supervisor from StarForce has stated today.

“Race Driver 2″ is produced by Codemasters and distributed by Atari. It was released in Taiwan in July 2004. The game is designed for both PC and Microsoft Xbox platforms. The product is distributed on DVD discs protected by StarForce.

Atari is a leading global publisher and developer of interactive entertainment for both gaming enthusiasts and the mass-market audience. The company’s products are based on internally created intellectual properties or products licensed from third parties, and include most recognizable names in popular entertainment industry.

This is the second case of Atari’s cooperation with StarForce. Earlier they used StarForce to secure their hit game – “Desert Rats VS Afrika Korps”.

Both titles are protected using the StarForce Professional 3.0 solution. StarForce Professional 3.0 utilizes latest copy protection know-how and provides a high level of security yet being a very usable solution for end users. StarForce Professional is designed to assist software developers and publishers to suppress high-volume industrial piracy as well as illegal copying by end users. The protection technologies implementation doesn’t require publishers to use any special tools for a licensed disc production, quality control, or other procedures.

Pleased with the quality of StarForce service and proven effectiveness of the company’s technologies, Atari is planning to continue its cooperation with StarForce in the nearest future.

About The Author

About StarForce (www.star-force.com)

StarForce is a leading provider of software protection solutions designed to fight piracy and assist software developers and publishers to effectively protect their intellectual property and safeguard their revenues. The company is well-known among industry professionals for its state of the art software-and-hardware-level encryption technologies. StarForce provides a broad range of high-quality and cost-effective protection and licensing solutions for business, educational, and entertainment applications

        Last week we started to get into the motivation of the gamer. We discussed challenge and its ugly stepsister competition, two of the most common motivators. Today, we look at two more on the way to forming an overall model for what moves us.

Perhaps less common than the first two motivators, creativity is nonetheless an important driving force in the gamer psyche. Though at first gaming doesn’t seem like a particularly creative act, what with its formalized rules and structured systems, there is much more room for self expression than one might think. Some games play to this directly through unique presentations or artistic themes. Music games and many of the Sim titles are basically just expressive outlets that happen to be governed by a computerized system of rules. Other creatives find their outlet in multiplayer gaming. The modern MMORPG sports equipment and decorative combinations numbering well into the millions. The Creatively Motivated gamer takes pleasure in designing how their character looks as well as changing how they interact with their environment. Creatively Motivated gamers thrive when outlets are available. Anything involving a high degree of expression, decoration, or a large abstract component draws them. They wilt in gaming environments governed purely by numbers, and in those where presentation is extremely homogeneous.

Though we sometimes don’t like to admit it, escapism is a motivation that lives in the heart of every gamer. By design, a game creates an inherently different world. Even games which have as one of their primary goals simulation of some aspect of the real world recast the player into some role they find more exciting than their own. Escaping into the role of adventurer, pilot, quarterback or even zookeeper provides motivation for nearly every gamer. Escapism Motivated gamers seek out games where the environment is rich, comprehensive, real. They thrive in worlds where suspension of disbelief is high, where they can lose themselves in the depth and complexity available to them. They gravitate toward role playing and simulation, environments where the world is rich and believable. They tend to avoid abstract games where the underlying reality is difficult to believe or understand. It is a strange sort of paradox that MMORPGS, with their incredibly deep histories and expansive worlds, are not as attractive to Escapism Motivated gamers as pure RPGs. This effect arises from the multiplayer aspect. Players talking in a public channel about out of game topics or, worse, about the mechanical and numerical aspects of the game world may well ruin the escapists experience and cause them to seek the company of non player characters or others who share their motivation.

Much has been made of the downside of escapism. A gamer who spends too much time in a world not their own can begin to lose touch. This sort of disassociation with reality can, and has, lead to all sorts of problems with work, school and personal relations. This does not mean, however, that escapism is itself an unhealthy thing. It is a basic part of the human experience. The reason we vacation, watch moves, enjoy sporting events or go camping is inherently escapist. As people, we are often unsatisfied with out lot in life. It’s natural to seek out activities that allow us to experience something outside of our day to day. Gaming is no different. However, as gamers, we are an oft misunderstood community. We owe it to ourselves and to the world at large both to fight with information, by spreading the positive realities of gaming and gamer culture, and to fight internally against obsession. No matter how good a substitute for the real world a game may seem it is, in the end, only a pastime. Leave it once in a while.

Next week, we conclude with Social Interaction. Then, we’ll move on to some sort of unified theory about all this.

Steve is a member of the GrandMatrix team. They provide a broad range of games, puzzles, articles and reviews. Read more articles, download and play the latest PC games for free plus enjoy thousands of user submitted puzzles, quizzes and word games at GrandMatrix Free Game Downloads

I’ve always liked to play SimCity since I was little. I used to play the version for Super Nintendo for hours then and then. That version was really cool. It had 4 seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn) and many landscapes, scenarios to choose between. That was a really big hit at the time. It was clearly the most popular videogame.

Then SimCity 2000 came out on the market. It was almost like a revolution. Many new things to use, better graphics, more innovative and the game engine was more advanced. So it was very good news (except from the fact that the seasons were gone).

But the follower that came after SC2000, SimCity3000 was real disaster. Well there were more tools, advisers and a more advanced terrain (witch was crap because you couldn’t build anything on it) but not anything special. The graphics was probably the worst part. It was more advanced but everything just looked as shit. It was a blur hell. I would state that this didn’t feel like an upgrade more like a retarded downgrade. It was fun in 2 weeks but no more.

And after that flop, a new version was to be released, SimCity 4. This time, the MAXIS programmers learned had learned a lesson, not to release anything that isn’t useful. So they did good graphics added fun tools, more effects, more unique buildings and neighboring cities. This was a small step up from SimCity 2000 but a huge step up from SC3000. This was however not intended to be a strategy-based city planning game, but more to be like a fun modeling program (like 3DMax or Maya) and creating wow effects. It was not Hey I’ve managed to get 1m inhabitants but more like Hey, look what a nice city I built. The game also required a new high-end computer with more than a GB of RAM, a high-end graphic card with at least 128MB an Athlon2500XP or a with Pentium 2,5GHZ to be able to play (but even that was not).

You can clearly see what have happened to one of the best game on the planet. This is not specific to just SimCity but to the whole gaming industry. The graphic wow-effect is everything that matters today. Personally, I love good graphics, but not when I have to buy a better computer to be able to use it, when I can experience a delay and when the whole game is based around that wow-effect-subject.

What will happen with SimCity5? There is rumors that they are already building it but why having expect anything of it. If SC4 was too much for my pretty new PC than I wonder how SC5 will be like. This will probably be the last version if they actually build it. Why? It will be a flop. Nobody will be able to use it. People that already experienced SC4 for will definitely not buy it. It’s kinda joke already.

The solution

Lets start a new project based on opensource. Lets call it OpenSimcity.

Part two – The project

The idea is based on objective programming, OOP. This should be easy to made, easy to check bugs and adjusting the code. We will create this game from the beginning and do it better. And when I say better, I don’t just mean faster performance or some new features. I mean a whole new structure, a whole new ground to stand on. This will be unique.

The graphics should be advanced but on the same time not dominate the game. It should feature a lot of options for peoples that have another kind of taste. Also, the game will probably take a few years to finish and by that time, graphics cards will be more powerful then we had ever seen before. GPU performance grows 40% per year while CPU only grows with 10%. Therefore, all graphics should be done in OpenGL to unleash power from the CPU. Real-time zooming should be possible.

Unlimited area. Instead of the idea that the user can have 3 or 4 sizes to choose between, why not customize it? The user can etc print out X (width) and Y (height) axis and get a map featuring whatever size he/she chose. The user should have the ability to change the size (increase or decrease) under the game.

Ability to choose climate. There should be an option for what year-around climate you want to have. How cold or warm and how dry or wet and so on. Also, an option if you want to have floating (changing) climates with seasons or a static climate.

More default buildings. It should be also be easy to add new buildings or remove the old ones.

The engine should not be easy, middle, hard or advanced but rather an effect of the number between 1-1000 you give.

Interface should however be an option between easy, middle, hard and advanced.

Cost and Assets should be fully customizable.

The game should feature online gaming. Competing with your neighbor cities, friends or strangers. You could etc choose to compete to X number of citizens or having as much population as possible in X time. Or it could be played for no reason, just having fun. You could also have the ability of trading lands with your neighbors.

Ability to import maps from all SimCity versions.

I can make the list longer, but you get the point. Viva la OpenSimcity.

URL: http://www.geocities.com/bolster_rally

As a bit of a movie buff I recently discovered that the best way to rent movies and games these days is online using one of the Online DVD and Game Rental Services.

If you’re into renting movies or games these services simply can’t be beat for their time saving convenience and value.

The two biggest and probably most well known services are Netflix and Blockbuster.

Though they both work essentially the same way Netflix seems to be the largest of the online DVD rental services. Currently boasting over 3 million members.

For a very reasonable monthly fee I believe either one of these services will more than meet your DVD and Game Renting needs.

Some of the great benefits offered include:

- No late fees. Just do the math on this one alone and I think you’ll see the value of using either one of these online services.

- Over 40,000 Movie Titles to choose from. Everything from the newest of the new releases to all of the classics.

- Free shipping both ways. To you and also on the return.

- Speaking of shipping, how about very fast delivery directly to your door. I get my movies within 1 or 2 business days.

- No long term contracts required. You’ll like this one because you’re free to cancel your membership anytime you choose.

- You get to keep each DVD or Game as long as you like. This is good because you have the freedom to watch your movies at your own pace. No more feeling like you have to watch it because it’s due back on a certain date.

- For a very reasonable monthly fee you can rent up to 3 DVDs at a time as often as you like.

Both of these top tier service providers have done a great job of keeping the process simple. You simply sign up providing very basic information and make a list of the movies you want to see. Your movies will then begin to arrive postage paid in your mailbox in one or two business days. Like I said, crazy simple!

Once your movies arrive you have the opportunity to watch them at your leisure.

I don’t know about you but too often I would end up paying more in late fees than I did for the actual movie. And when renting from my local store there just never seemed to be a good time to take them back.

These two major issues are completely gone when renting online.

Neither Netflix or Blockbuster charges a late fee of any kind. For me that alone makes renting online superior to the old way.

It gets even better though. When you’re ready to send your DVDs and/or Games back you simply drop them into the pre-paid envelope you received with your delivery and mail them back.

As you may have gathered I’m sold on Online DVD Rental.

As long as the rental service providers keep things simple, as they certainly have so far, if you rent movies or games at all I don’t see where there is anything not to like about this new way of renting them online.

You can try Blockbuster Online free now by going to Blockbuster-DVD-Rental.com

Clyde Dennis, a.k.a. “Mr. How-To”, is Editor at EASYHow-To Publications and has been contributing articles that help people make their lives better since 1999. At his web site, The “How To” Library, you’ll find a collection of the latest How To Articles, Tips and Tools to help you get things done. For more information visit The How To Library @ EASYHow-To.com