The System Is Down; Why "PSNgate" could be bad for the whole industry

Something that really winds me up is when technology goes wrong and somebody will say they hate technology. People don't hate technology, they hate when it goes wrong. I get the feeling a lot of people will be hating technology right now.

The Playstation Network has been down for a week today. Yesterday the news came that the reason for this extended interlude in service was that Sony had been hacked, and the personal data, which potentially included credit card information, of around 70 million people was now in the hands of said hackers.

At this stage it's still undetermined who actually hacked the PSN. Many are laying the blame at Internet hacktivist group Anonymous' door. The group recently declared an attack on Sony, in response to Sony's during of George Hotz, who provided the key to unlocking the console for unlicensed software.

The 3DS; My Twelfth Impressions

Now I'm back in London, I've gained access to that most wondrous of new devices, the 3DS. The media gave it a relatively good response but I didn't hear any cries of "greatest gadget ever" from the journalist masses, so I was willing to wait. After having the thing for almost a month now, I've decided to compile my thoughts on the thing;

The Big Ten; My Favourite Games of All Time

It's a ritual every games writer must go through at some point; the traditional run down of his or her top ten favourite games.

After scribbling down a shortlist and then using an advanced method of moving bits of paper about on my desk, I decided on an order. I'm still not a hundred percent sure about the order of the bottom five, but the games that matter are all there. So let's begin;

10; Wario Land 3, GBC, 2000
Probably the least known game on the list, but one that has always stuck with me, WL3 is a 2D platformer in a similar vein to the other Wario games. The game features a linear upgrade system where Wario's powers develop over the course of the game. This allowed for an element of the game which probably is the main reason for it sticking in my top ten; after gaining new abilities, you would go back to older levels and unlock new routes through them, resulting in new levels unlocking. A night and day cycle that altered the enemies and layout of certain levels was a clever feature, as well as some fantastically ridiculous boss fights and an ingenious power up system that beautifully exploited Wario's invincibility. Wario Land 3 showed me that small cartridge games didn't have to be small in vision.

No Fooling. This is an Update

Seriously. There's no joke to be found here, just posting an update. I figure I can still keep this blog active if I do at least one post a month.

So the Minecraft post I've been working on is somewhat dead in the water. I know exactly what I want to say and I have some great images to go with it but unfortunately I don't have the motivation to get the damn thing written. So for the time being I'm sticking on hold. Minecraft isn't going anywhere. In fact I booted up the single player again the other day to try and find a wolf, but after running around for a while carrying a bone, I didn't find any.

Echo Bazaar has been making up most of my gaming in the past few weeks. I've really been enjoying the developing narrative and have been trying to role-play the character as much as possible. The new profile page (and you can find mine here) really encourages the development of a journal, and I've been trying to create a really character to portray. I recently built up my Casing quality so that I could rob from the Bazaar itself, which would have been incredibly risky if I'd have failed. Chronicling the plans I was laying down in the Journal really made the whole experience feel more visceral and  also exists as a nice record of my activities.

I've been catching up on my TF2 recently. I bought one of the hats for Japan, as it seemed like the right thing to do. It's a great thing when the gaming community can rack up three hundred thousand dollars over about six days. I think charity and games really go well together. Giving players virtual items in exchange for donations is really the way forward. People are far more inclined to donate when they get something out of it, and virtual items don't actually cost anything to produce, so everybody wins.
TF2 game-wise, I've been getting slightly better! Sure, I still die a lot, but I've been staying alive for longer. As a sniper, I've actually surprised myself by getting a few headshots. As an engineer, I've got far better at placement of sentry guns, and feel far more useful now that I actually build teleports. As a medic, I'm getting far better, although there is nothing as depressing as when you are paired with a Heavy and he turns into giblets in front of your eyes, despite being fully over healed.

Way back in late January, I pre-ordered a 3DS with the full intention of cancelling it a few weeks before launch. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to do that, and so whilst I was still deciding what to do about it, I got an email saying that my order had been dispatched, so that decision was very nicely removed from my hands, along with two hundred pounds from my bank account. The 3DS actually arrived a day early, but for some reason still unbeknownst to me, it was delivered to my home address, as opposed to my student digs. Overall, I'm not that upset about the entire thing. There's nothing on the handheld I'm particularly clamouring for, and until either Link's Awakening or Ocarina of Time come out, I think I can manage without.

Finally, Tom of Newb Review fame very kindly posted me a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 that he picked up cheap from EA Headquarters recently, which I am incredibly appreciative of. Expect a post about that soon.

But not next time. Oh no, next post is my one hundredth blog post, and I'm celebrating by creating my definitive Top 10 Games of All Time. It's gonna be a big one.

See y'all next time.

To Boldly MMO; A Captain's Log from Star Trek Online

I am a geek. I accept this. I'm into comic books, video games and I spend a lot of time on the internet. I'm well and truly at peace with my geekitude.

However, one element of geekdom has always eluded me; Star Trek. It's not like I have a particular problem with the series. If I catch an episode running on Virgin, I'll sit down and watch it. The real problem I have getting into the show is the assumed knowledge. I always get stranded in a mire of Romulan-Vulcan tensions and deflector arrays. Star Trek is something of an undiscovered country to me.

However, thanks to Troy, who co-hosts one of my favourite podcasts World 1 Stage 1, I was able to get hold of a trial copy of the game.It's been quite a while since I've played any MMO. The days of Ren'jan the Troll Hunter are far behind me and I can't really remember much of Champions Online. So it was with something of a nervousness that I clicked "Engage" after the eight hour install (I wish I was joking.)

STO uses its source material to great effect; the game is structured into episodes, with appropriate titles appearing as you warp into the system. The game opens, as seems to be the norm in MMOs today, in the middle of a heated battle between a Federation vessel and the Borg. After dropping in as my character, a Vulcan Science Officer, I headed towards the bridge as directed. The controls in STO feel odd to say the least. It uses the normal WASD set up, but A and D strafe the character, with the right mouse button controlling the camera. It took a little getting used to, but after a few minutes I got the hang of it.

After receiving a quick mission debriefing (read; quest) I beamed over to the ship that needed rescuing, and started attacking the invading Borg. Combat is the standard MMORPG interface that everyone has been using since WoW. First I selected an enemy, then I pressed the 2 key, then 1, then 1 again, then 3 when he got too close. The bonus damage provided by flanking an enemy was a nice touch, but unfortunately STO's ground combat is another case of number poking.

After killing a designated number of the Borg, I beamed back to the ship, which for some reason I must have skipped now fell under my command. Suddenly, I was at the helm of a starship. This was the big time.

Space combat in STO plays out in a very similar way to ground combat, with each number button assigned to a weapon, and the WASD keys controlling movement. However, it is far more intense and exciting than face to face combat. Perhaps it's moving to full impulse to come sweeping past for a flanking attack. Perhaps it's boosting power to the aft shields whilst you swing around for another run. Perhaps it's weakening your opponents shields enough to launch a crippling proton torpedo attack. But whatever it is, the space combat is genuinely some of the most exciting action I've seen in any MMO to date.

After a few more ground missions and another dramatic space battle with pirates, I was returned to Starfleet, and informed my demo time was over, or rather that I had exhausted the two quests that the demo allowed. After putting on some new armour that made me look like a TRON character and running around Starfleet for a while, I decide to log off.

Star Treak Online is a relatively stable MMO. The ship combat is fantastic, blurring the lines between RPG and real time strategy, but unfortunately, the ground combat doesn't offer anything new to the table. At least Cryptic know their audience; so many of elements of the game are fan service. The sound of the phasers. The klaxon as you engage in space combat. The melee move being a paralysing palm strike. Opening a hailing frequency. The whole game smacks of fan service, but in this case, it's the best thing they could have done.

See y'all next time.

Dr Medic or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Multiplayer Gaming

If you are a follower of me on Twitter, you'll have probably noticed something of a theme in my recent tweets; Team Fortress 2. I've recently started playing. Probably an unhealthy amount.

I'm not normally a huge multiplayer fan, in that up until very recently, my Xbox Live account remained staunchly Silver. This changed when I started playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I had read many a review stating that the multiplayer was "pretty good". This didn't really ever affect me, multiplayer was always something for "other people" to play, gaming snob that I am.

After completing the majority of the single player of AC:B, I decided to use a free trial of Gold I had thanks to a flier that came with Fable 2. I was nervous as I went into my first game. My hands were shaking as the Abstergo logo shifted about, connect me to a server. I selected the Harlequin. And I started playing.

Everything about AC:B multiplayer appeals to me. It's not a test of lightening fast agility or well developed twitch skills, but rather a battle of wits. Who can be the best assassin? Who can blend into a crowd, disappear in the blink of an eye, vanish using the environment? The upgrade system attached to the multiplayer adds a level of customisation that keeps the gameplay varied but balanced.

AC:B is my kind of mutliplayer. Players who try the run straight at their target are swiftly put in their place as they target the wrong model or get dispatched by a hidden opponent. Skilled players will walk alongside you, lull you into a sense of security then pounce as you target your folly. The untraditional multiplayer is a place where I can not only enjoy myself, but actually shine.

Team Fortress 2 on the other hand is much more traditional online mutliplayer. If you haven't heard of it, you've clearly been under a rock for the past four years, or perhaps just really dislike the FPS genre. Here's a thing; Team Fortress 2 was released in 2007. In all that time, all the content updates have been entirely free. In fact, until recently, all of the in-game items could be obtained just by playing the game.

It's tough for me to decide on my opinion of TF2. I can't decide whther it's the best multiplayer game ever, or just the best game ever. Valve have covered everything. The classes are balanced. The maps are not only balanced, but also constantly increasing. Yesterday, I had a sniper duel across a crowded canyon. A few days ago, I created a teleporter way point for my team and kept them healed whilst we were pinned down in a tunnel. The number of stories that game produces is phenomenal.

If you'd like to play a game with me, you can send me a message on Steam. I'm lavalampbamboo, and I'm probably playing as The Medic or The Engineer.

Nightmares and Narrative; A Hastily Scrawled Note From Echo Bazaar

The world of free social MMOGs isn't exactly small. There are the big ones, the multi-million dollar ones, like Farmville. And then there are your smaller social experiences, like Echo Bazaar. Made by London based developer FailBetter Games, Echo Bazaar is one of the few online games to use Twitter as its platform.

For a set-up, it's quite a concept. London is the fifth in a line of cities that has been stolen, dragged below the very surface of the Earth by bats to play host to a mysterious marketplace, the eponymous Echo Bazaar. You take the role of a newcomer to the city, but, as is so often the case in these scenarios, you start off in jail. After escaping you are given free reign over your story.

Echo Bazaar is, at it's heart, a choose-your-own-adventure book. You read the storylet set-up, and then choose your option. A basic stat-check takes place, and you either succeed or fail. It is this simple design that makes EB such a success. The enjoyment found in the game is in the narrative, not the gameplay. Whilst other social games force you to find rewards in selling your watermelon harvest, EB rewards you with a beautifully scripted story, and a development to your character.

The dark humour of the storylets is wonderful, and the world sculpted magnificently. One of the things that I enjoyed is how you are dropped into the world, with no explanation of it. For a time you fumble somewhat blindly with the strange vocabulary dropped into conversation, but slowly you come to recognise these words as the norm, and the city truly feels like your home. This simply technique immerses you in the world so effectively, and yet so subtly.

The character development in EB is also to be noted. You have four primary stats; Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive and Shadowy, and these all develop as you succeed or fail in the appropriate stat checks. However, it is the Qualities which define who you are. These stats are hidden away in your character sheet, but they allow you a greater understanding of the path you have taken. Some chart your connections with the various factions of the city. Others mark your exploits and the choices you made. Your Quirks label you with qualities you might not desire, but are stuck with due to your choices and failures (or in some cases, successes). It is this almost natural character building that makes EB stand out for me; as opposed to crafting who you wish to be, you are truly defined by your actions.

I cannot claim EB to be perfect. There is somewhat of an element of grinding to be seen when your stats are too low to unlock newer challenges, although it is difficult to avoid this. FailBetter are also constantly added new content, so combined with the four novels worth of content already freely available, grinding will become bearable, if not enjoyable.

Most interestingly, as I finish writing this post, FailBetterGames have announced the launch of a new subscription system, on top of the already present Fate system. The Fate system allows you to purchase more storylets, almost like DLC. The new subscription raises the number of actions per day raised from 70 to 100, which seems fair enough. Non-subscribers, on the other hand, are having their actions reduced to 50. I don't feel this is unfair. The subscription is about £4 a month, and I've already gotten hours of free entertainment from the game. I personally would consider subscribing, but it should be interesting to see how the market reacts to it.

Echo Bazaar is quite a unique game. It's social but not to the point of annoyance. It has deep, involving storylines, and a dark, dry sense of humour. It's also free for the most part. Immersive games are often thought of to have to be visually arresting as well as well structured; EB only needs the one. I have never been drawn into a world so much that I willing drove my character insane in order to progess a storyline.