The Days of Our Ben

Sun interrupted;Shadows cast on fresh cut grassnature’s...

Tue, 31 May 2011 16:35:48 -0600

Sun interrupted;
Shadows cast on fresh cut grass
nature’s own pixels.

Soft dew on pine boughs Brisk air is double quiet a lovely...

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:47:01 -0600

Soft dew on pine boughs
Brisk air is double quiet
a lovely eostre

Stacking (PSN/XBLA)

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:08:25 -0700

This game took me by surprise. I had heard that Double Fine studios was releasing a new game, but I didn’t take too much note since my experience so far with their games has been that they are funny and have a lot of style, but lack fun gameplay. I was pleased to discover that Stacking brought the humor and style, but also brought an inventive, fun game along with it.

Stacking is not a challenging game - it’s really like living in a child’s fantasy world. Everything has its role, some of them ridiculously silly, and you have to figure out how to solve puzzles given that very simple framework. There is also a very generous help system that doesn’t seem to penalize you at all. The game is all about exploring the gorgeous worlds that are presented and not being afraid to play with all the abilities that the dolls have.

The dolls are gorgeous and the sounds that they make when stacking, unstacking or preforming their actions are wonderful. One of my favorite sounds in the game is of the old-fashioned flash cameras that one of the types of dolls have.

A fun, short romp that is just delightful. It was a refreshing change of pace to play a fun game that is also completely family friendly.

Halo Reach

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:36:00 -0600

I first got into halo with Halo 3. By the time it had come out, I think halo felt a little old fashioned. There were modern games and design patterns that went with them. But Halo 3 was solid, well balanced, simple fun.

Halo Reach brings more of the same. There’s nothing all too special here, but it’s all extremely well done. The single player game flowed nicely with a good balance of challenge and some short changes to the action.

Where Halo Reach really shines though is in multiplayer. In Halo 3, I would always quickly exit the matchmaking screen so I could avoid getting insulted by the winning team (I’m not very good at halo). In Halo Reach, Bungie have provided several great ways to ensure that I don’t get verbally assaulted by a 13 year old. My favorite is the universal mute. I generally play halo to mindlessly shoot things, and in the free-for-all game modes, I really don’t want to hear anything from any other players. Bungie have now made that easily possible. I also really enjoy the “Pysch Profile” option, as it has improved the ratio of fun team communicators when playing objective team games.

Halo Reach also has an improved bungie.net service record. The online stats tracker has always been one of my favorite things about halo, and it’s better than ever now. After every play session, I go on bungie.net and check out how my new stats lay out.

Halo Reach is a fun, basic multiplayer shooter. There are always plenty of players online and it’s easy to play the game you want to play.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:20:11 -0600

The first dead rising was the first xbox 360 game I ever played. I was stunned by the graphics, but the strange pace, frustrating save system and moronic AI made it so it lost it’s lustre fairly quickly.

As a result I wasn’t very excited for Dead Rising 2. I knew I would play it, but I was afraid all the annoyances would be back. Instead of a demo, capcom decided to make a short XBLA prequel to Dead Rising 2. I really liked the idea behind it. They were able to provide a hefty dose of gameplay (worthy of a good sized post release dlc) and provide it on the cheap (400 pts).

Because of my cautious interest in Dead Rising 2 and wanting to support this inventive new model of promotion - I snapped up Case Zero on release day.

I definitely was rewarded. Case Zero is a wonderful bite sized chunk of dead rising. It has all the elements there, but the smaller map and limited weapon selection make learning the basics a whole lot easier.

Case Zero is a little wonky in the graphics department (doesn’t seem to have kept up with the pace of 360 visuals), but it gets the job done. Hundreds of zombies are on screen most of the time, and all the weapons have appropriate feel to them. Crafting combo weapons is neat, and their ridiculousness adds a lot of fun to the game.

Almost all of the annoyances of Dead Rising are gone. Save spots are easy to find and the pacing seemed a lot better. Survivors actually do what you tell them and try to avoid zombies.

I’m really glad capcom made this game because now I’m really excited for the proper Dead Rising 2. For 400 pts, this game is one of the best values on XBLA - and despite its glorified demo roots, it does feel like a complete game.

Split/Second

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:18:38 -0600

I have a soft spot for racing games. I enjoy most things about them - the sense of speed, finding shortcuts, keeping a good racing line and the aesthetics of the cars. I even enjoy both arcade and realistic racers. I also like explosions. That’s why I was excited for Disney Blackrock’s Split/Second.

Initially I played the demo and was very disappointed. I had expected the ‘traps’ to be more tactical, but they ended up feeling like mario kart power ups. Get enough power: blow an opponent up. I had imagined placing your traps before the race. I’d still like a game like that.

I went ahead and rented the game anyway after the initial disappointment wore off, and I liked it better having a more aligned sense of what to expect. I had a lot of fun with it, and I especially liked the special mode where trucks drop barrels at you. It gave the game a good twist and extended the freshness quite a bit.

Still, the single player campaign was just too long and too repetitive. Not that much change in car characteristics and I had already seen all the tracks half way through the game.

At that point I decided it would be a good time to check out multiplayer. I wanted to play with a friend, and he hadn’t unlocked the good cars. The menu gave an option for filtering to the crappy cars, but it didn’t work. In fact, it seemed like there was only one game total going on. I can’t really judge multiplayer, but it was dead by the time i got to it, so at this point it’s probably a worthless feature.

Split/Second is a fun and pretty game, but it offers a fairly short period of entertainment. If you’re starved for an action racer, give it a shot. Otherwise, wait for the next Criterion game.

Sex Ed

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 07:59:47 -0600

Peggy Hill: Bobby, what do you know about sexual relations?
Bobby Hill: Not much, I'm a little worried about being a slut.

Limbo

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:27:00 -0600

I don’t generally like black and white movies, but I recognize that sometimes - black and white is best. There can be more mystery, more focus on what’s important and an easier mastery of light. Limbo takes that principle and applies it to games and with great effect.

This is one of the most beautiful 2-d games I’ve ever seen. The animation is gorgous and weighty, and the art design is inspired.

Where the choice of black and white really shines, however, is in the games sense of mood. Along with the sound design - the lack of color really hammers home the sense of isolation and dread that you feel when playing this game.

Limbo is very, very short. The length of a movie - in fact. So if you are one of the people that care about game length, limbo might seem over priced. However, I’ve played it twice already - and I will certainly play it at least once more. I would actually like to see more games like limbo. Games that are short, but dense. Everything in limbo feels new - all the way to the end. In many other games, you learn something and then repeat it over and over.

Limbo is a fun, moody, brilliantly paced platformer game. There’s not a lot you’ve never seen before in games - but everything comes into place perfectly. It may not be a great choice for the kid who plays 40 hours of halo a week - but for the game player who’s time is precious, It’s just about perfect.

3d Dot Game Heroes

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:22:00 -0600

I have to look up the name of this game every time. I can’t keep in straight in my head. It’s so bland while it’s trying to be so cool. Kind of like the game.

The graphics are kind of like an ultra low resolution voxel world. Which is cool. They are fun and vibrant, and they are what drew me to the game in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s where the good parts end.

Even though the graphics are pretty nice, the art design is surprisingly bland. I felt like all the areas seemed alike. The music and sound also fell flat. Technically proficient and appropriate to the theme of the game, but they lacked that special spark that a game like this needs.

It’s really a completely shameless parody of the legend of zelda - which I knew going in, but I had hoped it would have some of the same weight and immersiveness that the original zelda had so much of. I really like FROM Software, I’m glad they made this game and I’m glad I played it - but it could have been amazing.

Mario Galaxy 2

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:43:00 -0600

Nintendo has been very slow about releasing new mario games in the past, but with the Wii - we already have three.

Mario Galaxy felt like a sequel to Mario Sunshine, which I felt was a good thing. I really loved Mario Sunshine - it felt like a playground simulator. Mario Galaxy was great, but it didn’t have quite the freedom of Mario Sunshine.

When starting in on a direct sequel in the Mario franchise, I certainly didn’t expect any groundbreaking differences from the first Galaxy, but Mario Galaxy 2 has taken away even more freedom from the 3-d mario formula. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I feel like Mario Galaxy 2 is a return to what the 2-d marios were about.

Every “Planet” in every “Galaxy” is very small and straight forward. The path through the levels is clear, but can be very tricky. This Mario is all about razor sharp reactions and reflexes.

Even the level selection screen is much more linear, which makes it easier to find the next level. Something that I did complain about with other 3-d Mario games.

Mario Galaxy 2 is a worthy entry in the Mario universe, but it’s far from my favorite. I’d prefer that nintendo stick to exploration with 3-d and showcase twitch reflex gaming in 2d.

Red Dead Redemption

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:07:00 -0600

This game had me hooked from the moment John Marston gets on the train at the start of the game. Suddenly I was in a world filled with interesting characters trying to get by in a harsh environment or trying to figure out their place in the world. I watched as the gorgeously rendered landscape rolled by, and I couldn’t wait to start exploring.

Calling Red Dead Redemption GTA: Old West would not be inaccurate. As soon as I had control of Mr. Marston, I knew I was in a familiar place. Familiar, but new; and from the beginning, the game presented a different tone than GTA games. I was playing a bad man, sure, but he didn’t want to be bad anymore. As a result, I didn’t feel like stealing horses and shooting random people.

The controls work really well - I never had any trouble doing what I wanted to do with my character, but they are probably the weakest part of the game. Rockstar has never had a really solid grasp on making gunplay feel fun in their games - which seems really strange, but they still haven’t got it here. The gunfights here were totally passable, but felt flat and empty like a target shooting game.

The reason I played this game for more than 40 hours before finishing the story was that there were days when I would turn it on to play, and all I wanted to do was ride slowly through the world. New Austin, Neuvo Paradiso and West Elizabeth are some of the most fully engaging and beautiful video game environments I’ve ever seen. I’ve never watched a sunrise in a video game before. I have now. I’ve never stared at a starry night sky in a video game before. I have now. There are so many normal, boring things that I would do in real life if I was in a beautiful nature environment that I did in this game. It was a really strange feeling, and who would have thought that GTA: Old West would be one of the most relaxing games I’ve played (second to Flower I’d say).

A lot of games that I’ve played recently have had “morality choices” that effect the game and the story, it’s certainly a trend in gaming. Red Dead Redemption also presents some morality game play, but it feels a lot shallower than most other examples. I can be bad if I want in this game, but it won’t change the story. John will still be trying to end his old life of violence. That said, I chose to do as the story suggested, and as a result I became very attached to John and his quest. Most videogames have a strict progression of easy to hard. The end battle being this huge climax where you have to use all of the abilities you’ve acquired along the way. That makes for some pretty homogenous story lines. Red Dead Redemption goes a different way. Without spoiling too much, the game ends with some very easy missions, that work VERY well for the storyline.

This game is the best open world game I’ve ever played. There are some weaknesses that sound pretty major, like the boring gunfights and slightly akward controls. But they aren’t major. The game pulls itself together in a way I’ve not seen before, and I loved every minute of my 40 hour playthrough. I want to dive right back in, but I also feel like I should move on to another game for a while. Red Dead Redemption will be waiting for me though, and I certainly see another playthrough in my future.

Zeno Clash (X360)

Sun, 09 May 2010 09:32:47 -0600

A lot has been said about Zeno Clash since it’s been out forever on steam, so I’m going to offer this as a counterpoint of sorts.

The vast majority of what I had read about Zeno Clash was that it was wonderfully trippy and weird, but that the story didn’t really resolve any of the questions it opened and that the combat got repetitive and boring by the end.

On the topic of the story, I don’t really understand how someone could think it didn’t resolve anything. Sure, the story is strange and the colorful and disjointed world make everything seem even weirder, but if you are paying attention - the story resolves quite nicely. I was worried I would be frustrated by it, especially after my interest was piqued at the start of the game. I was happy to have the world and Father-Mother explained in pretty good detail.

As far as the combat goes, I never got bored. The game is short and sweet. By the end, I was still pretty thrilled with the visceral feel and responsiveness of the gameplay.

Zeno Clash is a wonderful, weird game that everyone should experience.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360)

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:44:45 -0600

Beautiful south american vistas are abundant in BC2. Throughout the single player game, I was amazed again and again by the world that I found myself in. Adding to the immersion are the excellent dust and smoke effects. The story of single player was fun but low on content. I liked the idea of a japanese secret weapon in WWII, but I had to suspend a lot of disbelief to imagine that it contained technology that was still not rediscovered to this day. The characters of bad company are also fun, but shallow.

I enjoyed the single player a lot and I felt that, while short, it ended up being a good length.

The multiplayer part of the game is where it really shines though. You always get put on a squad of four other players taking part in a much larger battle. This adds a lot to the typical multiplayer shooter experience for me. Even with squads that don’t communicate well - it provides a great mix of co-op and versus gameplay.

Even though there are really only three game modes, the content feels like it will provide quite a long lasting experience.

Memories of Western Engineers

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:48:56 -0700

I have quite a few memories of Western Engineers - the place my dad worked growing up. I can’t take pictures of it now, so I thought I’d do some haiku.

Old and coffee and dirt
Permeate the wooden beams
a wonderful smell

Chock full of candy
The cardboard is no defense
Honor protects it

A swift lever pull
A book is created here
For good or for ill

An astronaut floats
He lives in the computer
Sixteen bit color

ACAD computers
Too fast for wing commander
Turn the turbo off

Powder blue pinto
Much less regal than it’s name
That was: Air Force One

Slow on the code pad
Sensors watching every move
The alarm went off

A card on the door
In case of emergency
Please call Bruce Marvin

Big map of the town
Bristling with colored pins
Much work to be done

Afrika (PS3)

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:34:34 -0700

This one was a big disappointment. I really wanted to like this game. I’m a photography nerd, and I love watching nature shows. How could a game about using realistic Sony DSLR’s to photograph exotic African wildlife go wrong?

The biggest problem for me were the graphics. In extreme close-ups, the animals look all right. Not amazing, but serviceable. From far away, however, they look terrible. Also, the landscapes were angular and boring.

The camera was also strangely sluggish. I could never get a shot off when I wanted to.

Oh well - I guess I’ll have to wait for the next photography sim!

My Fractal Landscape Generator

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:11:57 -0700

My Fractal Landscape Generator:

Most of you have already seen this because I’ve been kind of excited about it. I’m posting it here because rachel is sick of my showing it to people - and I thought I’d go into the technical details (however basic). The reason why I’m excited about the thing is because it’s all contained in an html file! It uses canvas, so no IE - but I don’t care! The HTML is amazingly simple. If you don’t consider the configuration widgets I added here it is:





	
	A canvas fractal landscape

Obviously, the cool stuff happens in that script tag. All that the HTML needs to do is call the javascript and define the canvas element. Neat!
The function that does most of the work of making terrain is my implementation of the fractal algorithm.


	function fractalize(theCoords, displacement){
            //split the line segments up
	    if (theCoords.Count < 2){
         	   alert(">= 2 coordinates required");
            }
  	    var newCoords = new Array();
	    var theLength = theCoords.length - 1;
	    var i;
	    for (i = 0; i < theLength; i++) {
                
			var mrRandom = Math.random();
			var displacedCoord = (theCoords[i + 1] - theCoords[i]) / 2.0;
			var newDisplacement = mrRandom * displacement;
			var nextCoord = theCoords[i] + displacedCoord + newDisplacement;
		
			newCoords.push(theCoords[i]);
            newCoords.push(nextCoord);
        }
	    newCoords.push(theCoords[theCoords.length - 1]);
        return newCoords;
	}

In a nutshell, that function just makes a bunch of random Y coordinates that are roughly close together - depending on the displacement value.
The actual drawing of the landscape is also super easy. In the actual code, it’s split between the global variable section and the drawLandscape() function, but here is the condensed version so you can see how it works


canvas = document.getElementById('landscape');
canvas.height = ysize;
canvas.width = xsize;
// use getContext to use the canvas for drawing
ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
lineargradient = ctx.createLinearGradient(xsize/2,ysize/2,xsize/2,ysize);  
color1 = "rgb("+Math.floor(Math.random() * 255) +"," +Math.floor(Math.random() * 255)+","+Math.floor(Math.random() * 255)+")"
color2 ="rgb("+Math.floor(Math.random() * 255) +"," +Math.floor(Math.random() * 255)+","+Math.floor(Math.random() * 255)+")"
lineargradient.addColorStop(0,color1);  
lineargradient.addColorStop(1,color2); 
ctx.clearRect(0,0,xsize,ysize);
ctx.fillStyle = lineargradient;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.moveTo(0, ysize);
 
var j;
for (j=0; j




All you need to do is grab the canvas and create the ‘2d’ context for it.  The context is the group of js functions that you can do to it.  Right now ‘2d’ is the only context that the W3C publishes - but mozilla has an experimental 3d context.  


Once you define the context, you just need to start a line with beginPath() and then feed it points with lineTo().  Everything else is just to make it purdy. 


I figured this out through extensive use of the MDC canvas tutorial and I’m sure you can tell!



Left 4 Dead 2
Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:05:55 -0700
The original Left 4 Dead was an amazing game, but one that didn’t really work for me.  It was meant as a four player co-op game (hence the title), but I’m kind of a loner when it comes to games - so I didn’t really get into that side of it.
Left 4 Dead 2 is no different, except the content that is there is higher quality.
I was impressed with how much every aspect of Left 4 Dead 2 was improved.  The characters seemed richer (no small feat!), the plot was much more robust, the zombies had more physical presence somehow and the weapons were much more diverse and interesting.
I’m glad that I at least took the time to experience some of what valve has presented with this game - and I’m jealous of the amazing experience that some people must have with it.


Flower (PSN)
Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:13:45 -0700
I heard lots of interesting things about Flower last year.  Almost everyone agreed that it was a pleasant experience, but not truly a “game”.  I can certainly see where they are coming from - there is only one level with something akin to an opposing force (and even there, it’s never truly a threat to the player’s progression).  But I think there is actually plenty of game here to make it more than a software toy.
Flower, like software toys, is about the joy of exploration.  The player has unlimited ability to move around the environment and partake in the wonderful visual and audio that the game can provide.  Unlike a true software toy, however, there is clear guidance for the player if they choose to follow it; as well as a plot (however thin).
Playing Flower was a true joy, and I felt like I had been on a real journey with the flower petals.  There was never a challenge, but it was fun from start to finish.  In addition, I only found one secret flower from each level - so I know there is a lot more to explore - a task which I’m sure I will happily undertake.


Sparkly Snow (via Ben Mason)
Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:19:11 -0700


Sparkly Snow (via Ben Mason)


Rachel’s Birthday (via Ben Mason)
Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:05:26 -0700


Rachel’s Birthday (via Ben Mason)