ONE: A review of micro-aggression

ONE got released yesterday and I must be N-Gage's best customer. Already, I've bought (with my own money, mind you) 6 titles - Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Creatures of the Deep, FIFA 08, Dirk Dagger, Reset Generation and now, ONE - and gotten two as freebies (Asphalt 3 bundled with N96, and Space Impact via a coupon from dear, dear client.)

Let me first qualify that everything I write here is from the perspective of a consumer, not work. I really feel compelled to write because it IS such a great game and really underscores why I personally have firm belief in the platform.

ONE is basically a fighting game with more genes taken from the likes of Tekken than Streetfighter 2. Instead of outlandish superpowers and moves, you get a 3D arena that rewards the technically astute fighter. What this means is when you fight, you need to take into account positioning, reach, the speed of the blow and not just know the sequence for the best powers.

You start the game creating your fighter. Yup, that's right. You don't just pick a fighter to use, you create your own. At the beginning there's very little room for customisation but as you play through the story mode, you'll pick up additional "gear" your character can wear / accessorise.

There are three modes of play, namely - Story mode (travel from country to country fighting other people),  VS mode (pick a fighter to fight in a one off battle), Survival (fight one fighter after another until you're defeated) - and a Training mode (learn to fight). The unique thing is that as your fighter fights in any of the modes, he picks up or loses ranking points. You start with 1000 points and the title "coward" Move up to 1100 points and you'll be a "pacifist". 

Every fight is ranked, except when you turn it off in an unranked VS mode fight. This links back to NGage Arena where the highest ranked players will get their fighters listed. There are even stats broken down by country, so I'm currently the 2nd best fighter in Malaysia :) Woot!

There's currently a tournament going on to find the best fighter in the world with great prizes (Nokia N96) on offer even.

(I originally lamented the fact that there was no multiplayer, but it turns out it wasn't true.) Multiplayer comes in the form of a bluetooth connection that let's two people take turns to bash each other.

I must say I'm pretty pleased with what I got for the RM 30 I spent on ONE. I love the fighter customisation, the snazzy graphics and the online "community" feel to the game. Just one more feature (multiplayer) and it would have been a classic in my gaming. Here's hoping for a ONE 2.

Disclosure: I do consulting work for Nokia. These opinions are mine alone and do not reflect the organisations I work for / in. 

So now, I'm a "designer" boardgamer

No, that doesn't mean I've suddenly turned a creative spark and started dabbling in the making of beautiful art.

It means I've sloshed out a fair sum for a "pricier than normal" boardgame. Just like clothes have Guccis to your Giordanos, so too does boardgames have Descent: Journeys in the Dark to Monopoly.

And a look into the actual contents:

Loads of plastic miniatures (sorry, cardboard cut outs don't cut it for me anymore these days). Heavy cardstock modular gameboard. And good quality  game cards. I must say that there's nothing more satisfying than opening a brand new box of unopened goodies. "New toy" smell is like crack for geek gamers.

So why a designer boardgame? Well, for one, time is becoming a scarcity so a complex enough game that finishes in 3 - 4 hours is a great resource to have for those rare days you get to play games (like, five times a year).

Secondly, put it down to the fact that I'm middling in age (and waist), but I've also got to consider activities I can spend time doing with my wife. And there's no way she'll ever consider playing Warhammer 40k with me. So beggars can't be choosers.

Okay, I'm going to go leaf through the rulebook a bit now. It looks interesting - like Diablo on the board. Full review when I actually get a game in.

Best customer service ever!

I had a pleasant surprise when I reached home today. Just last week, my inspired determination to assemble my Sisters of Battle Exorcist Tank came to a standstill when I discovered I had a part that didn't fit.



So, I wrote to Games Workshop US over the weekend and after checking details for two days, they replied - "sure, no problem, we'll send a replacement" on Thursday last week.

Today, I had found this when I reached home:



Okay, I was impressed by the quick delivery to me and the (expensive!) use of Fedex But, imagine my surprise when I actually picked up the box and it rattled. My jaw dropped when I opened it and found this:



Yes, that's a whole set of kit for a brand new Exorcist tank. Wow! I ask for a part and they send me a tank! If GW is in a fix over its financials at the moment, it touches me greatly that they aren't being miserly over customer service. Not only does their customer service guy John Spencer deserve a raise, I think the whole company's just reinforced to me just what a great company they are.

Kudos GW! You've won this customer for life.

Triple dose of Warhammer 40K goodness

It's been a while since I've blogged about Warhammer 40,000, so today's three good things for you to enjoy.

1) Dawn of War II Video out
If you even remotely enjoyed Dawn of War (quite possibly the best Warhammer 40K game to date, ever), then you need to check this out. It's quite the awesome video of what's to come in the gnarly sequel.

In case you missed the link, here it is again.

2) Games Workshop Design Studio podcast!
I'm especially pleased with this. I listen personally to a glut of good gaming and tech podcast on a daily / weekly basis and I'm quite pleased that Games Workshop has decided to embrace the social and be a lot more open with the thinking behind the games.

The first episode is pretty good with Alessio Cavatore talking about 5th Edition and what he was thinking when he was designing the thing. Kudos to Games Workshop, a very good PR move indeed.

Grab it here.

3) My Eldar Avatar



Here's my latest (un-finished) painting project. It's got about a week's worth of painting on it (whenever I can squeeze a bit of time) and I'm pretty pleased with the layering and blending on it. My best so far.

The technique I used was pretty simple, just watered down Scab Red to wash over the black undercoat and then progressive layering with 50-50 mixes all the way up to Blood Red. I'll post the finish pic once I finally get around to finishing it.

And so it begins...

Seriously, I love killing demons.

And it looks like there's more to kill now. You guessed it, Diablo III was announced over the weekend after lots and lots of speculation. The website is here, and the nifty cinematic intro and 2 gameplay videos are embedded below.

At first look, I'm excited by the 3D environment (finally), and the fact that the gameplay looks virtually unchanged from Diablo II. Yes, that's right. I actually think Diablo II got the fundamentals of the game right with some very good levelling and skills mechanics so much so we saw pretty much the same thing in World of Warcraft. So yeah, keep that - add new classes, monsters, items, etc. - and give us a whole new game to fight evil in.

The downside is, with no official dates announced, some people are already saying it won't be out for another 3 years. Oh well...

N-Gage Screens and my catch of the day

So I spent a good chunk of my morning snapping screenshots of N-Gage games from my N95
so media could use it (disclosure: I work for Nokia. But no, no one paid me to write this). They turned out quite nice and I thought I'd stick'em up here.


This here's the 'dashboard' where at a glance, you can see yourself and a summary of all the information.


The games tab lists the games that you've downloaded and can play.


The rankings tab gives you more information about your reputation (I'm nil!), your friends and how many N-Gage points you've scored through playing offline or online. There's also a friends tab which lets you message online friends or leave them offline messages. You can also hook up with them to start multiplayer games.


Finally, the Showroom tab lets you download games (you can play the trial versions for free) and purchase them subsequently. I bought my first game (yes, bought you people), Creatures of the Deep, for US$ 7.99 which I didn't think was too bad a price. Creatures of the Deep people - fishing is fun.

Creatures of the Deep - why I like fishing.

Kel told me he thought this game was meh and no one would be patient enough to patiently sit by waiting for fish to bite. Especially not in a virtual simulator. I still wanted to try it out and after a couple of passes with the Trial version (they let you score points even with the trial version) I was hooked (no pun intended). This ain't a review, it won't be fair, but I just wanted to share a few screens.


I love the loading screens. Fun quotes appear with each screen.


The world map and the fact you can travel to different locations to fish I thought was fantastic. Being an RPG nut, I liked that you could level up and upgrade your equipment. Level 10 fisherman anyone?


Every little resort has a shop where you can upgrade your gear to catch bigger fish. That piddly beginner's rod you start with won't catch a shark.


Fishing starts with you clicking on a power button to cast your line. The further you cast, the more you'll have to reel in, but also, the better chance of a good catch whilst you're reeling in.


Once it's cast, you have to wait a bit. Urm...to be fair to Kel, this is the part that I find a bit tedious. But I'm not the patient sort anyway.


A bit of smart tapping, and soon, you get a hook! Start struggling to reel it in. Too fast and the line breaks. Too slow and the fish gets away.


Of course, once you've reeled your catch in, you're told what it is and given some experience points (to level up). In this case, my expert skill means I caught a 66.3 KG Yellowfin Tuna.


And made it to the media. :)


And I'll even sneak a screen of FIFA 08.

NGage is live. I'm going fishing.

Yeaps. That's right. Surf over to www.ngage.com to download. The official blog posting is here.

As for me? I'm going fishing. Oh, and if you fancy testing your fishing skills against mine, add me as a friend on NGage. My handle is darthpoke (don't ask why.)



Happy gaming.

Guess what I'm going to be doing tonight?

Being the Warhammer 40k fanboy that I am, I can't stop grinning ear-to-ear as I'm working through today. Because I'm already thinking of what I'll be doing tonight. Because this morning, I just got this:




Ah, Dawn of War: Soulstorm. I've been waiting for the chance to take my real-world tabletop army to the virtual battlefield, and was among the geeks to punch my fist in the air and shout "YES!" when the Sisters of Battle was announced as a new faction.

Now, this (model painted by me):



Can become, this:


Watch out, heretics will burn tonight.

RIP: Gary Gygax

Once upon a time, children and adolescents used to play with toy soldiers and fashionable dolls with little more than their imagination, hands and mouth.

Then, sometime in the 70s, a man came along and thought: "what fun it would be if we added dice, swords and dragons to this?" Thus, the great-grandfather of all Role-Playing Games (yes, even World of Warcraft) was born - Dungeons and Dragons. Or rather, its predecessor first - Chainmail.



The man responsible for our great hobby - Gary Gygax - has passed away today according to Troll Lord Games, his latest publisher. He aged 69.

May he rest in peace.

Welcome to the World of Kitty-Craft

People say playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) games is a form of escapism. Back in the day, I used to "escape" daily into the (virtual) form of a raging Orc (green, Incredible Hulk-like thing) in World of Warcraft that goes by the name of ThrokTok ("me SMASH!").



Now, though, people can choose the wonderful alternative of choosing to be a cat-with-no-mouth and prance around a cartoon world for escape in Hello Kitty Online. Yeap, NOW. It's open for beta just a couple of days ago, and lucky folks can sign up for a chance to be a cat by simply submitting their email here.

Once in the world, players (according to the site) can choose to roam the streets of "the Flower Kingdom", London, Tokyo, Moscow or Paris. You can not only build your own character, but build your "dream house", "cultivate your own farm" and create "guilds", according to the site.

So if you "escapist" dream has been to start your own megalomanical "flower-selling" empire, this is your chance! Be the first to get into the beta and start your very own flower-selling guild. :)

Them Crazy Japanese Game Shows

KY Shared this. I thought it was so good, I had to go put it up here. Those Japanese gameshow writers really know how to make good games, no?