Gamers unite!
This weekend was the 5th Annual Penny Arcade Expo, held at the Convention Center in Seattle. This was our second year attending and it was a blast.
We sat in on a discussion first thing this morning, Raising Your Kids on Games. It didn't really provide any information that we didn't already know but that's okay. Familiarize yourself with the games your kids play, play the games, don't just buy the games play them with the kids and talk about the content. Play in common areas. ESRB ratings are there to help, but if you don't want your kids to play a game explain why. Chances are they are going to be exposed to it at a friends house. While the ESRB ratings are a guideline based on age you as a parent should take your own child into account. Emotional and mental maturity. You are the parent, you make the decisions, decide what is best for your kids.
Please teach the boys not to wear skirts.
This afternoon we sat in on another discussion, this one on NCSoft Kicking Ass. In the MMO arena. They had a lengthy presentation on their game in development Aion, pronounced Ion. The character customization screens are awesome, there are so many choices. More choices than the City of Heroes or Villains games. At the beginning of the game there are four classes; warrior, scout, mage and cleric. Each class has 8 subclasses; some of the subclasses mentioned were assassin, spirit summoner or guide (that one comes from Tim's memory?) and enchanter. Wings come into play at level 10 and are very important, though there is no unlimited flying. Characters have a flight timer, which is modified by equipment, level, potions or items. At level 20 character get stigma stones which add alternate abilities to their characters. No word on level cap. Not yet in closed beta. Release set for Spring 2009.
At the same discussion, NCSoft covered the future of the City of Heroes and Villains franchise. Issue 13:Architect was announced this week. The lead writer, Joe Morrisey aka Hero 1, was there to fill us in and give us a bit of insider info. Players will be able to design missions and arcs for other players by picking tile sets, mobs, dialogue, glowie placement, rescue mob, mob interaction and boss type. Let's break that down a bit.
Maps: You cannot design a map like you can build a base, you simply pick which map you want from the ones available, even the eight layer burrito cave map (blech).
Mobs: You can choose more than one type. You can have them interact and fight each other. Someone asked if you could perhaps have high level Hellions, basically is it possible to take low level mobs and pump them up for high level players. No straight answer, not currently was the answer given.
Dialogue: You can choose what the boss says. This wasn't too specific, not sure how much they can say. Be careful here, after someone runs our mission they have a chance to rate it and mark it as inappropriate.
Glowie: You have some control over placement. Beginning, middle or end of map. Or none.
Rescue: Choose to rescue someone and who to rescue.
Mob interaction: The mobs can fight each other. Or just you.
Boss: You can choose your boss or bosses. Choose whether they should be fighting each other or just you and if they should stick around if they start losing the fight or if they should flee.
You will be able to host about 6 (unconfirmed number at this point) missions on the mission server once I13 goes live. Anyone across the servers will be able to search for and play your missions, at this point you cannot restrict someone from playing your mission or arc. Once they play it they will be prompted to rate it on a 1 to 5 point scale, they tossed around a thumbs up/down choice but at this point it is a 5-point scale. Based on your ratings you will be able to unlock new maps, bosses, mobs and so on. Badges will be earned for designing and playing these architect driven missions. There will be three tiers ratings. Player Rated, Hall of Fame and Developer's Choice.
Once you upload your designed mission to the mission server it will be live immediately. Playable by all players immediately. Prior to uploading it you will be able to run through it with your characters to test it out.
Sadly, at this point it was asked if player characters would make it into the Architect missions. That was a negative, Ghostrider.
Checked out some new games for the Wii. I had no idea Word Jong was going multi player. That totally counts as educational when I play with the kids, right? I mean, it's spelling. Word scrambling or unscrambling. I love Word Jong on the DS, Word Jong Party for the Wii looks just as promising. I am putting this one on my Christmas list.
Alton Brown on the Wii! That should say it all. Iron Chef on the Wii. Ashley says it looks a lot like Cooking Mama but I since I have never played that I cannot agree or disagree. I kinda just like Alton's head floating around on the TV screen.
Seriously.
Before we left home this morning the girls inquired about Mario Super Sluggers. The Nintendo booth was jammed so I never did get to play it but it looked fun.
Men wearing skirts were a big thing this year. I saw a couple last year but not nearly as many as this year. The least this guy could have done was iron out the wrinkles, at least he doesn't have chicken legs. Oh, and there is no way these were kilts. They are fricking skirts.
I have no explanation for this one. I just can't figure out the what or the why.
