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My former Daily colleague Chris Plante picked up an interesting Xbox scoop today, one that is less about video games and more about commerce. According to The Verge, Microsoft will begin selling a subsidized Xbox 360 console next week: $99 for the console and a Kinect sensor, along with a monthly $15 fee. That’s a meaty $200 up-front savings for the Kinect-ready Xbox 360.

The deal hearkens back to the days when Best Buy and other big box retailers pushed computers out the door at rock-bottom prices, then tacked on an ISP subscription to recoup. But then, the term “hearkens back” says a lot about how well that business model worked out; retailers have scrapped that pricing model, because customers got wise to early-termination headaches and an ultimately higher cost. (If cellular providers weren’t colluding about two-year contracts in the States, perhaps that too would crumble, but alas.)

Unless Microsoft plans to pack in more games or attach Xbox “app” subscriptions like Netflix or Hulu Plus, this deal too falters in the total-price department, and not just in terms of a roughly $30 differential. All signs point to a new Xbox reveal in one month at the 2012 Electronics Entertainment Expo, which will immediately devalue the aging Xbox 360 system–one that assumedly no longer costs more than $99 to produce. Now’s as good a time as any to entice new buyers with a price point switcheroo.

But at that point, Microsoft would be wiser to position the old Xbox as a solid games machine that can also “live forever” as a media streaming box, then slash the price outright. $149, maybe $129. Just the XBLA games available as of today are reason enough to pay a few bucks more than a Roku; even better, Microsoft may announce that Xbox Live games for the new console will be backwards compatible with the old one, since they typically don’t push the current system’s limits, giving the old box a stupidly long lifespan. (This is just a hopeful guess on my part; I have no rumors or hearsay to back this backwards-compatible thought.)

What’s getting in the way, then, is the Microsoft Store wing of the company, which is so desperate for foot traffic that it’s going forward with this price stunt. Without that anchor tied around its ankles, Microsoft’s entertainment divisions could go for a real, across-the-board price drop; instead, they’re stuck with a layaway payment plan that will be exclusively available at Microsoft Stores, blocking partners like Gamestop and Best Buy from helping with the push.

If I were the headline writer at The Verge, I would’ve phrased things differently: Microsoft Has One Week to Change Its Mind. Sadly, the Microsoft Store will instead get in the way of a clean price drop that would push the platform for its final year before the next Xbox bows, and that will give Sony a nice cushion to increase customer goodwill and prepare for a 2013 showdown.

I have been playing with… the PlayStation Vita. Before reading my hardware impressions, feel free to hit up my launch reviews at The Daily. Links: one, two, three.

While reviewing the Vita’s huge slew of launch games, I lugged the portable system wherever I went. Not gonna lie–I love bragging about new toys, and boy, did I. But critics have ignored and overlooked a key fact since its launch last week: a lot of people don’t really give a shit.

Once, on a bus, a fellow did a double-take and sat next to me to ogle as I played and touched. Once, at a bar, a bartender recognized it on sight. But I took careful notice of everybody else’s faces as I pulled the Vita out of my bag for reveals, and nine out of ten dentists looked indifferent. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been… mulling a column concept that revolves around video games and other pop culture junk for some time. Here goes.

I have been thinking about… video game clones.
This week, I took on the Zynga/Nimblebit story for The Daily, focusing on a different angle than most outlets: the Canadian App Store. (Read my story here). A few more clone-related things came up in the past few days: Read the rest of this entry »

Like my piece at The Daily today says, Star Wars: The Old Republic is almost egregiously large. 200 hours per class, according to Dallas Dickerson, one of the leads on the design team at Bioware. And there are eight classes, so, um.. carry the 1.. that’s a lot of play.

At this point, a real review is impossible, considering the beta of near-final content lasted only a couple of weeks and the full-game preview only started Tuesday. I pushed forward to write an impressions/preview for The Daily this week, but when it was edited for space, my bosses removed, er, most of the actual “impressions,” turning it into more of a “what is an MMO?” piece for novices. That would’ve been fine, except I made some pretty big judgment calls on the game without critically backing them up.

The key paragraph that got nixed was the following:
Read the rest of this entry »

Video game debuts, rolls for initiative and grown men in tunics: the total-nerd ecosystem of this year’s Penny Arcade Expo served an estimated crowd of 80,000, its biggest yet. The house seemed to hold 80,000 games, as well, and my goal to play every single one of them went unmet.

Still, by skipping meals and forgoing sleep, I racked up a decent gaming tally. In the days since the fest’s closure, I’ve split my time between sleeping and cataloguing my every move at PAX, playing equal parts big-name games and indie sleepers; the result is as much a look at the biggest public games show in the nation as it is a state of the union in games. Don’t expect brevity.

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At E3 2011, Ice-T performs "Cop Killer" in front of a Gears of War 3 logo.

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After seeing Microsoft’s gaming lineup at this year’s E3, you’d be forgiven for calling its Xbox efforts family-friendly. In particular, its most recently announced Kinect-enabled games that week included incredibly kiddie fare like Sesame Street and Disneyland.

On Tuesday night, that sure seemed to piss rapper/actor Ice-T off.

Taking the stage at an LA nightclub, the Law & Order: SVU star reunited his notorious punk band Body Count at a party celebrating the upcoming Xbox shooter Gears of War 3, even unveiling a song with the game’s name in the chorus. Minutes later, clad in an orange jumpsuit and spraying f-bombs like machine-gun fire, T demanded that a crowd of game designers and businessmen in suits shout along to the song “Cop Killer,” going so far as to ask fans to “sing it from your nuts.”

That’s one way to get your game rated M for mature.

Xbox’s E3 presence repeatedly bounded between the polar extremes of Gears of War’s skull-crushing combat and Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster’s adorable critters. Consider that stance a necessity for the company. Unlike its rivals, Microsoft had no new hardware to show off, so its PR message instead revolved about being the game system for “everyone,” from the hardcore to the family.

Certainly, Microsoft tried to proclaim that Kinect, the system’s motion-sensing add-on, could satisfy both extremes. Emphasis on “tried.” Read the rest of this entry »

Lousy cop beat coverage: it’s the worst artifact of old-school journalism. A reporter takes a cop or judge’s juicy quote when a crime is fresh news, rushes to the editor’s desk, and perverts a story to get attention.

Readers don’t notice it that often, as we typically don’t empathize with alleged one-note perps. But niche audiences sure notice when they get mixed up in criminal blame-games, so we have KOMO-4 News in Seattle, and its recent blast against video games, to thank for such a reporting farce today.

Its opening line:

Detectives investigating the strangulation death of 16-year-old Kimmie Daily are trying to determine whether her accused killer might have been acting out a violent fantasy from Dungeons and Dragons [Online].

Dots are connected: violent crime, video game, official investigation linking the two. The intro does its job, creating instant Internet linkbait: “D&D tied to murder.” We have seen this story before.

As the KOMO-4 story continues, it clarifies the intro’s use of wimpy modifiers (“trying,” “whether,” “might”), eventually admitting in the final paragraph that the premise is a lie:

The true cause for this crime is still unknown. They aren’t blaming a game for this violence, but they are trying to understand what triggered this murder and why.

The author took 12 paragraphs to convert from “might have been acting out a violent fantasy” to “not blaming a game.” It’s not until the near-end of the article, as well, that we see a quote from the aforementioned detective:

“The defendant admitted some kind of connection between the murder and the video game,” Lindquist said. “I’m not clear at this point what exactly that connection is. The defendant himself said he went to play video games to forget.”

It’s a wobbly premise, that a coping mechanism after acting out caused that very action. If you get into an angry argument, then take a long stroll to cool off, do you return home and burn your walking shoes as part of the apology process? No. It’s stupid.

KOMO-4 acknowledges no responsibility for common sense in its reporting – no willingness to apply higher-level thinking, because they have a quote! Detectives said it, right? We report, you decide. Lucky us, at least, this old-school journalism disaster has been launched on the Internet, where we can comment, copy+paste, highlight, embolden, and cast doubt. The article’s comments section is proof of that.

This article isn’t a burden for gamers. Video game fans are no longer the maligned niche of old. Nowadays, shoddy, ancient journalism is.

I grew up in the Tecmo Bowl generation, which meant my friends and I burnt out our copies of the 1988 football game on a daily basis. No other video game put us in Bo Jackson or Joe Montana’s shoes like this, complete with detailed cinema scenes at big moments, and no other sports game at the time was snappier or simpler, to boot. For years, its big, breakaway runs, colossal sacks, and “Guess Your Opponent’s Strategy” system had no peer.

As I got older, so did Tecmo Bowl. After a remarkable sequel in 1991′s Tecmo Super Bowl, the series didn’t see any major upgrades, instead bowing out silently as Madden NFL took over the virtual pigskin crown. But I didn’t fall for Madden. When my friends and I hit the virtual gridiron over the years, we used an old NES. Still do.

…at least, until this week. Tecmo Bowl: Throwback is now available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3′s online stores for $10, and it delivers what my friends and I want: almost nothing new. TB:T sticks to the series’ speed and simplicity to great effect. But it also misses an opportunity to tweak the original formula—or, at least, offer enough customizations for the fans who want an old-school experience—potentially leaving all comers in the dust of fictional Bo Jackson.

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[NOTE: This PAX'09 wrap-up concludes my series of posts on the Expo at Seattle's PubliCola.net.]

If it’s the “biggest games show in the nation,” what does that mean?

For last weekend’s 6th annual Penny Arcade Expo, you can take your pick of answers: Expanding to the WSCC’s 6th floor to max out the hall. Surpassing an attendance count of 60,000. The number of video and board games that were free to play. The number of game industry hotshots who spoke at panels. The number of swine flu cases—enough to nationally rebrand the virus as H1Nerd1.

I saw a different answer beyond the massive crowds, the bombardment of screens, and the electricity bills. This year, more than any before it, PAX was a known quantity in its hometown.

“Wish I could be there!” my bus driver hollered as a college kid boarded with his PAX badge around his neck. Lest her nerd cred be questioned, the driver rapped with this guy for a second about the new World of Warcraft expansion. In the back of the same bus, another woman talked about PAX and video games in general, then harassed everyone around her about Wired‘s recent “real life” game story.

As has been PAX tradition, the show has no promotional budget. The show sends e-mails to the press and hoists banners downtown, but that’s it. PAX isn’t on the same local level as the Seahawks reaching the Super Bowl, but PAX chatter was audible for the past week. Whether I heard it on buses, at restaurants, at bars, or in stores, PAX no longer required explanations of what the letters stand for.

Even the grayest-haired woman working the door didn’t need an explanation. WSCC staffer Doreen is plenty familiar with the world of PAX, though that might be because of her son. “He likes video games, but not these kinds of video games,” she told me Saturday night, explaining he was more of a military-war gamer (a fact that distressed her). “I used to take my three kids to the Wizards [of the Coast] store, where they’d play Magic, or Dungeons & Dragons, or those kinds of games. Now…” she trailed off. I asked if her kids have “moved on.”

“Well,” Doreen said as sweetly as she could, “I’ll just say that it’s nice to see people enjoying these fantasy worlds so much. It’d be nice if sometimes they spent less energy building the fantasy and more energy on their reality.”

I smiled and nodded, trying to be sweet, but I’d reached such a different conclusion by then. See, I asked most PAX-goers questions like “What’s been your favorite thing at PAX?” and “What are you most excited about this year,” and it took a while to make sense of their lousy answers. I almost shrugged it off by saying gamers are too shy to make good conversation.

But all those people were on to something. PAX isn’t a show with prominent spikes, but a zone of sustained fun. This year, that was the case more than ever, as PAX’s makers had finally cleared up the logistical hiccups of years past to make things like waiting in lines and attending panels much more bearable. Also, maybe it’s just my recession obsession talking here, but the escapism of PAX felt invigorating—nobody was bitching about jobs, money, or major changes in their lives. Game makers and players alike reveled in an almost otherworldly comfort zone. For just a few days, I didn’t have to spend energy on my reality, which felt great, especially when cast in the shadow of my last bus ride home. I’d left my PAX badge around my neck, so the alpha douche of the drunken Bumbershoot cotillion near me laughed: “You must’ve come from the dork convention!” (Again, PAX is a known quantity… though not always a plus.)

He spent the rest of the bus ride talking ignorant crap (reality TV, jokes about homeless people) with his pals TweedlePhi and TweedleDelta, while I fondly recalled the people I met via hour-long D&D games, 8-player battle games, thoughtful panels, and waiting in lines. Games were our hook, but they weren’t our only common interest, and it wasn’t uncommon to see players exchange contact info to keep the PAX fun going through the year. The way my hecklers were shouting on the bus, I imagine their eardrums were too blown to even bother talking to strangers at their fest.

It was the least nerdy-looking PAX ever, as well, if you can believe it. More attendees meant fewer fewer obese, stinky, costumed, and otherwise stereotypical folks standing out in the crowd. The ages, the genders, the sizes, and other factors made the PAX’09 crowd look, honestly, like a Seahawks crowd. Go team.

More PAX photos after the jump.

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[NOTE: This is a preview of my first post for PubliCola. I'll take it down from here once it goes live at my new games writing home.]

The back of Jerry Holkins‘ head is distinctive. Clean-shaven, pale, and typically atop a slooping pair of shoulders and a plain, black shirt, it’s easy to spot if you’re looking for it.

Jerry Holkins, co-creator of the Penny Arcade Expo, stands in front of a PAX'09 banner

This weekend, over 60,000 gamers will descend upon the gaming fest he co-created, the Penny Arcade Expo, at the Washington State Convention Center. Here, Holkins will put the back of his head on display, though not intentionally. Just so happens it’ll be the only part you can see when his face is glued to one of the zillions of screens at PAX’09 while he joins the crowd to sample the biggest video games in the world.

If he can find time to play, at least. I stumbled upon Holkins’ head this afternoon outside the WSCC as he took a break from today’s PAX setup. After saying hello, asking him to turn around, and making small-talk, I remarked, “See you later.” He jokingly, but tersely, replied, “No, you won’t.”

Holkins and his Penny Arcade cohort, Mike Krahulik, sought to keep up with last year’s record-breaking crowd by expanding PAX’s floor space and adding more panels, more games, more everything. Fans responded by buying every ticket a week before doors opened. This is the first hobbyist con ever held in Seattle in which fans cannot buy a ticket at the door. Holkins, taking a brief respite from the action with a roadside crepe, looked like a bald man unsure of what he’d gotten himself into.

Inside the WSCC, volunteers looked less flabbergasted, putting final touches on the show in decidedly geeky fashion. A cart full of Vizio HDTVs required two people to push it; another volunteer whizzed past, gliding on Wheelies shoes while holding a mini fridge. Another few carts went by, full of Magic The Gathering playing cards and A/V equipment for PAX’s nighttime concerts. One of those was manned by one of the many utilikilt-wearers in sight.

When a volunteer hit up a booth to sign in, he wasn’t asked to present his full name or ID. “What’s your handle?” the booth-runner asked, and when the volunteer responded with a word that sounded like “Al-khan,” he didn’t have to spell it to get his credentials. Next to these guys stood MC Frontalot, a “nerdcore” rapper who has performed at many PAX iterations. The guy–also complete with bald head–wore nine VIP badges around his neck. Geek bling!

I got close enough to sneak a peek at the main exhibition hall, which has tripled in size since last year. Seeing that scene of TVs, computers, game systems, and elaborate sets made me want to see the electricity bill for three days of PAX. Check PubliCola.net throughout tomorrow to hear about the best of those toys, along with panel impressions, crowd conversations, photos of crazies in costumes, and perhaps reports of rubbing poor Holkins’ bald head when he’s not looking.