For as much as we complain about achievements and trophies, they do serve one useful function: acting as a permanent (hopefully) record of the games we’ve soundly trounced. These days, I can easily sift through pages of data detailing the actions of just about everything I’ve played on my PS3 and 360 since these systems entered my possession, but the same can’t be said of Sony’s PlayStation 2 — where I spent most of my gaming time during the aughts. Eight measly megabytes of flash memory don’t stretch as far as you’d think, so over the years I’ve been forced to purge my only PS2 card of important saves, all while archiving the most vital (read: time-intensive) ones as a testament to my fortitude and ability to sit for long periods of time without developing phlebitis.

Depending on technology to preserve important data can be a fool’s game, as I pointed out in this ancient blog post about my dying EarthBound cart. But unlike replacing those tiny little SNES batteries, finding a new storage solution for the PS2 makes for a much easier process. And it’s a good thing, too; my original memory card dates back to before the PS2′s launch — because we bought our accessories early back then, I guess — so I’ve had save game backup anxiety torturing my subconscious for close to five years now. Fun fact: I purchased my original PS2 memory card at the Pittsburgh airport before I flew to visit a friend in Berkeley… where I live this very day. If that wasn’t spooky, maybe you could boot up the Unsolved Mysteries theme and read that sentence again?

Anyhow, thanks to the purchase of a 10-dollar memory card on Amazon, I copied some of my most treasured saves last night, before anything horrible could happen to them. So what mistakes and triumphs do I plan to preserve for future generations?

You may notice a trend in the saves I keep around: mostly, they weigh in at the 100-hour mark. For as much as I loved Final Fantasy XII, it took me nearly three years to plow through its massive amounts of content. Every six months, I would dip in for maybe 20 hours, and jump back out when something else caught my eye. Not the best way to play an RPG, but I’m still proud to say I finished this amazing game.

Will I ever have the time to tackle the post-game content in Dragon Quest VIII (or IX, for that matter)? Barring some sort of situation that would land me in double leg casts, probably not. But should I suffer a tragic stairwell mishap, this save will no doubt seem enticing, rather than mocking.

Yes, it’s another RPG save — 11 months of unemployment can make this particular genre seem like the ultimate outlet for time-wasting. This complete Persona 4 save may keep me away from the upcoming Vita remake, though; it’s hard to justify spending 100 hours on an experience similar to one you’ve recently had. Again, we file this one away in the “extreme bone trauma scenario” category.

If you spent this much time with Dragon Warrior VII, I feel for you. I really do. And the worst part about this 100+ hour investment is that I didn’t even finish the damn thing. After suffering defeat at the hands of the final boss, any and all desire to play it again completely left my brain, despite how much time I already invested in the game. I vow to one day dive back into Dragon Warrior VII and right the wrongs of a decade ago, provided I’m ever bored enough to go through with this plan.

Yes, I milked every last bit of bonus content out of the horrible PlayStation port of Chrono Trigger. And, somehow, this did not crush my love for the game.

I’m mostly keeping this one around for pure novelty value, since I don’t think I’d have the patience to play through Vagrant Story all over again. This one ranks in as my oldest save, dating back to my final year of high school (though I think I may have took the game for a spin on my then-new PS2 six months later).

Now that these saves are in the custody of a recently manufactured memory card, I can rest assured knowing that they’ll stick around until something horrible and unexpected happens. But at least now I have room to start new games on some unsung PS2 classics (my goal all along):

Article source: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9102954

While it could have gone worse, Diablo III‘s first few days of availability have been plagued with a variety of issues. There were problem logging in including the dreaded Error 37, and similar sorts of issues have continued to crop up since then, leading to several instances of the servers being taken offline. This has all been widespread enough that Blizzard apologized for the situation, but really, these sorts of problems are to be expected following the release of an enormously popular online game. But not everyone wants Diablo III to be an online game, and those players have suffered right alongside those who do.

Aside from the times that the servers have been brought down for emergency maintenance, which invariably affect everyone, not everyone has been subjected to a less-than-ideal experience. Having skipped the launch rush on Tuesday, I’ve yet to run into any problems myself, save for one where I’m occasionally told someone I’m chatting with is not online, which requires me to re-send my message. Annoying, sure, but hardly a big deal, especially in light of people who are losing their Achievements or having trouble playing at all for one reason or another.

And although complaints have begun to crop up about features which were cut from the game — some only temporarily, like the PvP Arena mode that is coming at a later time or the real-money auction house that has now been pushed back from its scheduled May 22 launch — I think among the most legitimate is an issue raised well in advance of launch. It’s one that has been especially problematic this week, and that is the inability to play offline.

It was last August that Blizzard revealed the game would require players to be online at all times in order to play. Many of the features this requirement would enable, such as a persistent friends list, party system, and characters (which are stored server-side) sounded great to those of us who planned to always play online, yet they do not address the fact that some people simply do not care and want access to an offline solo mode. The negative reaction to this news “surprised” Blizzard, which claimed the move was not meant to ward off pirates and that it did not see it as a punishment for solo players.

The rationale behind its position is you can still play the game without teaming up with other players; you just have to be online to do so. For some that is an unacceptable caveat because they want to play while traveling, don’t have reliable Internet access, or, as we learned this week, because Blizzard has been forced to bring the game’s servers down for maintenance, making it impossible to play for everyone. It’s understandable that such a problem could prevent me from playing online with friends, but I can only imagine how frustrating it has to be for a player who has spent $60 on a game and wants to play it on his or her own but cannot because of this requirement.

It’s an interesting issue, as you’ll rarely hear anyone complain about an MMO requiring players to be online. The reason for the requirement is obvious, yet like in Diablo, not everyone plays MMOs with other players — Star Wars: The Old Republic and others can be soloed much of the time. But as soon as a game is not labeled an MMO, this becomes a problem as there is a disconnect in how players and developers/publishers perceive an always-online requirement. Ignoring the other effects such a decision would have, I wonder what the reaction to the always-online requirement would have been like if Blizzard positioned the game as a subscription-free MMO, not an action-RPG sequel to a line of games that have always been playable offline.

Having spent the majority of my time thus far playing the game by myself, I can say I think solo players are missing out on the best experience possible. Teaming up with other players, whether they be friends or strangers, makes exploration more entertaining and the game more challenging. It also provides you with the opportunity to see how other players have chosen to customize their character — while there have been criticisms suggesting the removal of the classic skill tree and attribute assignment have made it so the players of each class have identical characters, as you level up that proves to not be the case in my experience. I’ve already found myself playing alongside a player of the same class at a similar level, and we each had completely different skills we had chosen to employ. It allowed us to compliment one another nicely, my companion slowing down and taking out tougher targets more effectively as I easily took down huge waves of lesser enemies. And, as far as I could tell, neither of us was at a disadvantage for not making the “right” choice.

However, it bears pointing out again that some people don’t want this type of experience. They may want to engross themselves in the world of Sanctuary and imagine they are the lone hero that has to take on Diablo and company. Or maybe they want to play while on the go. Or at home without having to worry about getting kicked back to the last checkpoint because their Internet connection cut out. These may not be concerns of mine or yours, but that makes them no less valid. Just like how the game was deliberately designed to allow for players to choose their skills without worrying about which has been deemed to be the best by the online community (viable play versus optimal play), players should also be free to decide whether or not to play the game while connected to Blizzard’s servers.

Article source: http://www.1up.com/news/diablo-iii-launch-issues-always-online-requirement

For our FIFA 13 preview, I went about breaking down and more or less reviewing the five new innovations that are currently being heralded by the team at EA Sports: Attacking Intelligence, Complete Dribbling, 1st Touch Control, Player Impact, and Tactical Free Kicks. While in Vancouver for EA’s First Look Event, I was able to to sit down and chat with three of FIFA 13′s lead producers, where I posed the question: which of the five features are you personally the most enthusiastic about? Here’s what they had to say.

Aaron McHardy, Senior Gameplay Producer 

Aaron: I’m going to cheat and I’m going to give you two. I think the first time you pick up the game there’s going to be two features that really make the game feel different in FIFA 13 and one of them is Attacking Intelligence. It’s very rewarding for me to think about football in the way that I thought about football my whole life — every day: eat, sleep, breathe football, and try to figure out how to be better… To take those learnings about how I was successful in different situations and apply them to the game. 

My whole life my father coached me, and him stamping onto me having to think two plays ahead and not just playing one-to-one football — what he calls one to one-to-one football, which means that I’m just looking at the ball, trying to get the guy that has the ball from him, I’m not really thinking about what to do next or if he passes it to someone — him impressing that upon me and then seeing how we as teams were more successful and the game was more enjoyable for us when that was actually clicking and working. And then being able to take that and put the same concept into the game, for the players on the pitch in the game, and see them doing it, for me that was pretty fricken cool. 

1UP: So it’s like the difference between playing in a pick up team and playing in a team that has the chance to gel over the course of an entire season?

Aaron: Yes exactly, when it clicks, and bringing that click into the game was cool for me. But on a level of gaming, seeing the changes from 12 to 13, I feel like the 1st Touch Control is as big a change as tactical defending and it’s a game changer and makes you think differently. All of the context in that shooting system, those principles apply to trapping. It just feels now playing it, “well that was missing before.” When you play 12 it was definitely missing. And then with attacking intelligence, seeing the runs — the different run types — and seeing them happen on the pitch makes the game look more realistic.

1UP: So when you sit down to play, right away it’s like night and day (from 12 to 13)? 

Aaron: Yeah, you cannot miss it in the first game. You might kick the ball off and play two passes and everything looks relatively normal, but then all of a sudden out of the corner of your eye, this guy at the top of the pitch makes a run and you’re like, “wow, I’ve never seen that before.”

David Rutter, Executive Producer 

David: I think the first big a-ha moment was the work that the guys did on Attacking Intelligence. The first time we were playing and it was unbalanced because we just put it in, but the box was literally flooded with attacking support. That to me was a kind of like, “right, we’ve got it,” just need to tone it back — and we have done now — but the fact that when you’re attacking you’ve got so much more support, you’ve got options where you wouldn’t have had before. 

The second big a-ha moment was the Complete Dribbling system and I’m still loving that a lot at the moment. Both the contextual activation when you’re playing and the AI drops you down into it, and you’re facing off against a defender or out on the wing and you’re being  closed down, and you just slowly turn and keep your body open to the defender. Also, wherever you are on the pitch when you initiate it with the triggers, allowing you to — not so much dance around — but to be cheeky.

1UP: But what would you say is the biggest upgrade? For me it has to be 1st Touch Control…

David: That’s a game changer. I guess for me the 1st Touch Control is probably the equivalent of Tactical Defending last year because it changes the state of play; it’s not just a thing to enjoy or a thing to kind of support it. I know over the years what we’ve been trying to do is make sure that we are creating these systems in the game that fully simulate reality and there’s context in everything you do… We’ve done it with passing, we’ve done it with shooting, we’ve done it with all of these different things — then all of a sudden you get to a point in which you have an a-ha moment again, which was trapping.  Every time I get the ball [in FIFA 12], it’s perfectly under my control. And that’s fundamentally wrong, especially with what we’re trying to do.

Nick Channon, Line Producer 

Nick: 1st Touch Control. I think ultimately it’s the one that changes our game fundamentally again, like Tactical Defending. The way it’s playing out, I’m really excited about where it’s going to go, and give that sense of realism in our game. It creates more of a balance again and we talked a lot about that because it’s so important. And online play as well, having that balance — having those perfect touches makes it harder to defend at times and makes the game unrealistic. I think ultimately what we’re seeing is that it just makes the game a lot more fun, it’s really cool. 

1UP: It does more to the difficulty level than the difficulty itself — when you have the teams that are 2 1/2 stars, they shouldn’t be able to control the ball that easily.

Nick: Right, and I think if you tie that with the dribbling, those two tie-in really well. What I like is that we’re giving you way more tools to dribble — the facing up makes a huge difference and we’re doing it contextually so that everyone will get to feel it. But the nice thing is with the 1st touch system is that the ball’s not stuck to your foot, so it gives it a bit of separation here and there. When I played football I was a defender and you always look for that opportunity to get a foot in there and poke [the ball] away. That’s something that’s been brought to our game now and is really exciting, so if I had to pick one it’d be that.

Article source: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9104050

Before the advent of electricity, mankind rightly feared the darkness and the thousands of hungry wolves lurking within. Now that we live in a world where eternal daytime can be summoned with the flick of a light switch, the lessons taught by every fairy tale put to print — stay out of dark, spooky places — can safely be ignored, since our smartphones alone can easily cut a swath through the blackness of night. Still, crushing the anxieties of our lizard brains often proves impossible, as a simple evening power outage can quickly turn us from rational human beings into quivering masses who refuse to take candlelit trips to the bathroom alone for fear of wandering House Draculas. And we’re not even safe in retreating to the escapist fantasies of video games; over the years, savvy developers have learned to exploit these primal phobias by designing worlds that turn from bad to ugly with the setting of the sun. The following games serve as fitting proof that — as the popular Nickelodeon show once posited– yes, we are afraid of the dark. Or if we’re not, maybe we should be?

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

You’d think Simon Belmont earned a well-deserved siesta after vanquishing Count Dracula in the original Castlevania. Well, think again. A double-dose of bad news quickly turned Belmont’s underdog victory over the dark lord into a hollow one at best. Not only would Konami’s vampire hunter have to tackle a second tour of duty against Drac’s finest, he’d also have to cope with a curse that threatened to end his young life. Add insult to injury in the form of distrustful villagers who often lied about where to go next, deadly creatures that became more powerful and took over formerly safe areas at night, and the task of reassembling Count Dracula simply to murder him all over again, and you’ll realize that poor Simon Belmont can’t get a break from slaying the undead.

Minecraft

At first glance, nothing can hurt you in Minecraft. Not the blocky chickens that cluck as they strut by, or the boxlike cows that aimlessly meander. Initially, the sunny skies of Minecraft sell the idea of a utopia untouched by the presence of evil; a place where you can mine materials and be free to build whatever obscene monument strikes your fancy. How could any mean-spirited enemies exist in such a simple and playful-looking world? Then, as the sun slowly fades into the distance, the real freaks emerge from the darkness of night, taking the form of a blocky horror picture show. After a few shameful deaths, the terrible truth is finally revealed: to properly survive in Minecraft requires shelter, or at least a really deep ditch to hide from the abominable things that come out at night.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time blew the doors open, exposing a 3D-rendered world of adventure and possibilities. While the towns of Hyrule typically bustled with activity during the day, at night, most of the residents fled to their homes, making Young Link’s adventure a slightly lonely one. Thank goodness for the Stalchildren. While it’s true that these Stalfos offspring could give any young adventurer a case of the heebie-jeebies (from the prospect of skeleton reproduction alone), at least they kept you company before a swing of your sword smashed them back into the ground. So stop and hug a Stalchild today; without them, Hylian nights would feel a lot more boring.

Deadly Premonition

Agent Francis York Morgan’s got a pretty sweet gig; sure, he’s been assigned to solve the grisly murder of an innocent teen, but the seemingly bottomless per diem given to him by the FBI allows York to fish, play darts, nap in random locations, and eat dozens of canned pickles on the clock. This freedom ends at midnight, though, as the transition to a new day fills the streets of Greenvale with phantom and Clifford-sized dogs until 6:00 A.M., effectively rendering exploration too much of a hassle until York smokes or slumbers on a filthy mattress until daybreak. When the sun rises, the undead citizens of this sleepy Pacific Northwestern town return from whence they came, leaving Morgan with a bright, full day of shaving and commenting on the quality of biscuits.

Article source: http://www.1up.com/features/horrible-night-curse-danger-dark