Other games have done similar things, I believe Dragon Quest VII had a job system, and Guild Wars had a dual class system that was also pretty similar.  The ability to create a custom team, each person built from 2 completely different jobs/classes is immensely exciting to me, and fills my head with thoughts of all the interesting combination one could make.

I Ever since i played FFV back in early high school roughly 8 years ago, I've been waiting for a new RPG to come along with a similar job system... at least one that doesn't have a concept worse than FFV (I'm looking at you FFX-2.)

I was upset when I heard DQIX changed from an action RPG to a standard JRPG, and so I haven't bothered reading up on it until it was recently announced.  First thing to catch my eye was a job system very faithful to FFV, actually it sounds pretty much identical, and not only is that okay, I'm really excited about that!  If no one can do a great job system, than steal from the best.

But there's more!  Every characters physical looks, gender, clothes can be customized.  From what I am hearing about this game, is that instead of trying to be a western game (and failing), it plays to the strengths of what makes JRPGs great, and adds a little flair of customization that has become so popular with western games.

I'm officially excited.  Bring it on!

I love Tilt To Live.  I've been hearing about it for weeks now thanks to Mr Justin Mcelroy. (Check out the the Mcelroy brothers' new podcast, it's my new favorite.)  I couldn't imagine that it was that great, another throw away iphone game (i've bought plenty.)  No, this game is perfect.  Clearly this game took a very successful game, Geometry Wars, and tweaked it in two very specific ways.

1)  A major problem with lots of iPhone games is that your finger covers up a part of the screen you would like to see.  Tilt to Live solves this by making the controls completely based on tilt.  That may sound terrible but they did a great job making them feel responsive, never once have a blamed the controls when I die.

2)  The other change is what really makes Tilt to Live stand out among all the other "twin stick" shooters that came after Geo Wars.  Instead of aiming where you shoot, there are always 3 items floating around the field.  Pick it up and the item is automatically unleashed.  So far, a bomb, homing missiles, a shield, a large cannon blast, and an ice bomb are available to me, but more unlock as you unlock more achievements.  This somewhat small change to the game play makes a huge difference.  It is exciting as you weave through red dots to get the weapon that you want to activate.

I'm rarely one to aim for high scores, but this game has me hooked, I only wish i had some friends to keep me pushing for higher scores.  This game could actually translate to the big screen very nicely, or even the small screen as a PSP Mini.  It's $2, go buy it!

When deciding on what I wanted to study in college it was between communications and computer science.  I accidentally ended up at an engineering school so I went with programming.  I really liked programming because when the day was over, you had something interactive, something you can show to people and say "check this out, I made this."  Even stupid homework assignments usually resulted in something to feel proud of.  Then again, maybe math majors feel proud about having 8 pages worth of Greek symbols that no one can read or appreciate except other math majors. 

Unfortunately, I'm not someone who loves programming so much that I feel a compulsive urge to do it all the time, so I never attempted to make much more than what I produced for my homework.  After my sophomore year I took a shot at making a game with XNA, and in 3 weeks time, working about 7 hours a day, I made a pretty decent Bejeweled rip-off. I learned a lot, and it was really exciting to show people who were not only a little interested, but refused to give me back my computer because they were playing it.  Then I started working again, 40-60 hours a week, and the game got shelved.  It lives on my hard drive now, collecting virtual dust. 

During my junior year in college I took a game design course. It was focused on board and card games, but touched briefly on video game design.  I found that designing games is where my true love was.  However, as most people know, or should know, game design is not something you just walk into and expect to be paid.  But, with a degree in programming, I had a skill so I decided I would try for my old dream of making games. 

I applied to lots of game companies before graduating college, just like many others did. Those who succeeded in getting those jobs, I congratulate you.  My admitted laziness clearly held me back from getting a job, something I regret.  However I still love video games, and I've learned a lot in the past year since graduation (sorry this has become a coming of age story).  More than anything though, I've learned in the past year to motivate myself enough to successfully complete projects.  What projects you ask?  This blog.  It is now 4 months strong, and I'm proud of it.  It started as a little dream, and it because a reality. 

I have never made pong... just a variation on it.

While I'm not done with blogging, Paul and I have added a new video game project to the table.  This time, we are MAKING a game.  I still have to do the programming, but at least I have a 50% share in the design of the game, which is infinitely more than I would have had at a large company.  I get really excited thinking up new ideas and discussing them, I almost called Paul at midnight when he was probably sleeping one time because I came up with a great new game play concept and didn't want to wait till morning. (Asleep at midnight? Ha, never! - Paul) 

Currently I'm simply learning the ropes of the language and tools, but even the simplest tutorials make me happy when they are done.  Tell someone you made an interactive thing, and they are instantly impressed.  It's a good feeling.  Now I just need to keep this motivation going.

I killed 100 goombas for this thing!

Belt Loop

Complete these three requirements:

1. Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
2. With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
3. Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.

Oh, wow, that seems like a very responsible way for kids to learn that videogames should be played in moderation, that only appropriate games should be played, and that schedules are very important.  Schedules are especially important because even college students and full time employees have a difficult time balancing their personal life with their school work.  To get a pin, cub scouts need to teach others how to play games, compare prices of the same game at many places, do a comparative analysis of two consoles to decide which would be more preferable, and other life lessons.

Click continue to read on!

Let's take a look at some comments from CNN's story.

teej: Stupid move Cub Scouts. Aren't kids fat and lazy enough already? Why don't we have a pin for the kid who can put away the most cheeseburgers while we're at it?

Brad D.: I have my kids in Scouts to get them away from video games, tv, and other things that make them lazy, lack imagination, and fat. This is sad...

Okay, well maybe those people didn't read that someone posted the requirements for the belt loop, let's look at this engadget post that actually lists the requirements in the post itself.  And it's a tech blog so people will defend games, let's see what commenters had to say there:

SLINC: Very Sad, don't get me wrong, I love my Gaming, but Killing 7 Hookers in GTA is not merit for Badge in Scouts!

nobody2000: I didn't read the article ... he writes about as much as the article itself ... And trust me, I'm an Eagle Scout.

Really nobody2000?  You didn't read the article but you want us to fucking trust you because you are an eagle scout?  Well guess what, trust me, I play a lot of video games.  Also, is it still cool to put 2000 at the end of usernames?  I think I'm going to change mine to Alex3000 just to be the first one to do it... shit, Andre beat me... oh well.  To be fair, a lot of the engadget comments were actually well informed and half intelligent.

You are probably wondering what point is the point I'm trying to make.  It's three fold.  Read, comprehend, and think before you speak/comment and sound like an ass.  Don't defend games with dumb arguments, it makes all gamers look stupid.  And lastly i want to point out how games aren't stupid, and can be beneficial.

1.  Commenting on the internet.  Yes I know I shouldn't care about internet comments.  But I think comments news websites should be half decent, when they really end up sounding just as stupid as anywhere else.  My real issue isn't about the actual content, just hat people really need to READ and COMPREHEND before they WRITE.  I guess people do the same thing online as they do when talking face to face, they don't give a shit about what the other person is saying, they just want to say what they think.  Which inevitably ends up making them look stupid because they didn't listen in the first place.  You want to say something on the internet?  Buy a domain name and make a blog, that's how us REAL internet commenters do it.

2.  Don't defend video games in the following ways.

• "video games improve hand eye coordination."  So do lots of things, like writing, playing baseball, and juggling.
• "I play video games and I'm not fat/dumb/violent/etc."  Guess what, I pooped twice at work today, therefor everyone at work pooped twice today.  Saying you know a guy who had a friend who's dog killed a person after playing Nintendogs doesn't mean that Nintedogs made him do it.

2000 bullets? Check. I'm Ready.

3.  Video games DO have benefits for all the people that think video games are evil.  Of course this means when you play them in moderation.  So if you are making an argument  in the favor of video games, please remember some of these things.

• According to Pew Research Center, 75% of young adults play video games on consoles.  More people are playing video games than not playing video games.  Studies exist that show that children who play video games have an easier time socializing with other children because they have video games as a common interest.
• Video games have a strict set of rules and various subsystems.  I'm too lazy to look up if research has been done in this area, but I suspect that children do subconsciously learn about rules and how systems interact on a high level when playing games.  Okay, this is a shitty argument because I'm too lazy to back it up, but I'm SURE it's true.
• As with anything, if you think think critically about something, a lot can be learned.  Video games are an active form of entertainment that constantly requires some form of thinking, which is more than can be said for television.  As with part c, this can also mean critically thinking about how the underlying game systems work.
• Video games can lead to learning.  I wish I could find the article, maybe someone can tell me if they find it.  Basically the article said educational games suck, because they aren't fun.  However people can learn from video games because the games get them interested in real life subjects.  A student playing Gran Tourismo (or Forza for you youngins) might find the car customization interesting and start researching just what the hell a flywheel is and before you know it he is explaining why you need more torque in your horsepower.  While I don't think video games can be some form of exclusive education i think this interest through video game association is a valid argument.
• In the end video games are a form of entertainment, just like television, movie, and books, and yet all have varying levels of benefits and downfalls.  Whats that?  You think reading can have a down side?  You can't argue that a crappy love novel will benefit little jimmy in any way other than teaching him the words "throbbing hard on" can you?  Exactly, it's all in the context.

You are probably thinking, "wow, video games sure didn't do you well, your writing and grammar sucks."  Yeah, you are right, you would be amazed how many words i just spell checked to fix.  But my skills lie elsewhere (in bed maybe? ha), you'll have to figure out what those skills are.  But for the love of god, please stop using spelling and grammar to discredit other people on the internet, what it means is that you are too damn lazy to come up with a decent argument.

Final Message: Take responsibility for yourself and your children yo!

Boom boom pow, away!

The other interesting part of the story is that a person claimed to have gotten his hands on the game and posted fake pictures of the game.  He made crazier and crazier images to see how much he could get people to believe.  What you see below is the fart attack...  The forum posts can be seen here.

Bio Force Fart

Bye bye Game-A-Day

Paul an I are busy people.  We use our precious time to bring you interesting things to look at and read.  Despite how exploding we are, we have to unfortunately announce that Game-A-Day will no longer be Game-A-Day but rather Game-A-WheneverTheHellWeFeelLikeIt.  However, in the time it took to write those short and bitter posts, we will be able to focus our energy on more interesting things.  Do not fear, we are not leaving, but rather, we are leveling up.

Love,

Alex & Paul

However this isn't an excuse for why i havn't been writing, i really do need to keep on top of it, but rather how "casual games" are keeping me gaming when otherwise i wouldn't even bother.  I think i have played Plants vs. Zombies on iPad almost every day since i bought it 2 weeks ago but I'm only on level  3-5.  If you have ever paid close attention to how fast i play games, i could clock 40 hours in a game in a week an a half.  Now I seem to find myself gaming for 10-40 minutes at a time rather than 3-5 hours.  I love the range of games that exist today.  Zombie Smash on the iPhone I play AT LEAST once a day while in the bathroom.  A single level is just  the perfect length.  When i'm climbing into bed I might grab the iPad and a single level of Plants vs Zombies.  Last night I purchased Shatter on the PSN, and wow is that game good.  I've been stressed lately and these games are pure fun and great stress relief.

I actually work at the same place as my father, and know that our place of employment can be high stress sometimes.  He recieved a PS3 with Modern Warfare, Uncharted, Uncharted 2, and while he likes those, he recently requested for his birthday, more "mindless" games like Little Big Planet.  So I decided to get him some PSN points and send a list of PSN games that i have heard or read good things about:

• WipeOut HD
• Critter Crunch
• Flower
• Braid
• Peggle
• Shatter
• Super Stardust HD
• Everyday Shooter
• Trine

I'll update you on what he gets and how he likes it when he lets me know.

For the first time I think i really understand the appeal of these games.  I have always liked the full spectrum of games but these past couple weeks I have really been appreciating how downloadable games created a market, and an experience, that has never existed before.  I wish I had enough time to go back and beat the 4 games I've started recently, but right now, I'm just excited to crawl into bed later and play some Shatter.

Only 99... wait, where is the "cents" key? Oh well, $0.99? Yes, Please!

More of this!

Time played: 5 minutes.

People/animals kissed: 4.

I felt bad taking this game because Paul must be playing it soon on SNES since he takes his games in alphabetical order, but i really wanted to play this.  I forgot how it played form back in the day, but after about 2 seconds I remembered that this is actually a fun game.   Remember Three Vikings?  Each one had a unique ability, and you solved puzzles by using the right ability it the right time.  It plays out like a puzzle game rather than an action platformer.

One has a hammer, one has a ping pong paddle, and one blows kisses.  For some reason the hammer lights fuses to bombs and cannons?  That took me a long time to figure out.  It's a funny game (T-Rex with robot legs running by for no reason?  Yes please.)   It's not perfect, the controls are a little finicky, but I really enjoyed this game.  I want to go back and see all the levels which have a movie set theme to all of them which gives it variety, yet an interesting play on the scenery.

Time played: 3 minutes.

Matches won: enough.

Every time I see that i have chosen a fighter for the Game-A-Day section, I get really excited.  I like unique fighting games, and I wish I could play Bio F.R.E.A.K.S for Game-A-Day because that game is just so freaking cool, at least in my memories.  So I was excited for world heroes, and for the screen you see to the right.  But this game can't get any more generic or less technical.  It would have been more fun if they took Battletoads and made is versus.  I realize why i shouldn't get excited about fighting games I've never heard of because that simply means they are bad and not worth hearing about.  This game isn't an exception.  DERRRRRP!

Wat you don't see here, is that it took 3 minutes for that one sentence to be displayed

At what point did game developers decide that gamers have reading level of a 3rd grader. I'm not talking about the difficulty of the reading, but rather how fast it is displayed to the player and the inability for then player to skip text. Most retail games these days use voice overs, but even those will need to display the occasional text box.

I have played 3 games recently where the display of text is excruciatingly slow. Pokemon, Infinite Space, and Deadly Premonition. Deadly premonition mostly uses text for item descriptions, but holy shit are those descriptions slow to be displayed. It's like someone in the TV is typing out the text on a typewrite. If you you hold B, then it's like that person upgraded to a keyboard and computer.

In Infinite Space, it isn't enough that you have to talk to a person multiple times to get quests, the text is again, slow as hell. Nothing is worse than talking to the same person multiple times, and they repeat the exact same thing, and you can't fucking skip it! Seriously? I have to read the same shit again, as if a 4 year old is typing it out with it's index fingers?

Pokemon is a slow fucking game anyways. But the battle text may as well be replaced with snails that squirm around the screen to spell shit out.

What is the point of this slow text? Is it the developer's way of forcing you to read their story? Well guess what, I would actually read it if the whole box of text was displayed at once and I could press a to advance the text whenever I wanted. Instead i find myself making a sandwich while I wait for a text box to fill up simply out of boredom. At the very least give players a text option of "instant" that throws all the text on screen at once.

Having the text slowly typed out is tacky, and is the equivalent of using marquees you would see on websites in like 1997.

Developers, please stop insulting our intelligence, or at very least our reading ability. If people don't want to read you piss poor writing, they won't, but they might stop playing your game if they are forced to wait for you to fill up a text box.