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This project might produce interesting results, depending on how they run things. Theology? Well, some Japanese games had references to Christian theology removed when brought to Western countries, including early Castlevania games and more recent games like Grandia 2 and Maken X. Politics? Poly Play, developed in Communist East Germany was awful (yet popular, since there wasn't much else to play there), but Tetris, developed in... wait for it... Soviet Russia became a cultural phenomenon. Then there's the supposed North Korean arcade: http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2008/09/inside-north-korean-arcade.html Culturally, there's the usual topics of sex and violence in games. And increasingly, ethnicity and gender. Big whoop.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be just like other university subdepartments dedicated to "specialty" studies, home to a bunch of self-righteous blowhards who don't really know what they're talking about.

And then there's those of us who like the blocky bright games and buy the Wii because of them. I see no real reason to get a PS3 or Xbox 360 when the vast majority of games are dark and not cartoony. http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/blue-sky-in-games-campaign-launched.html

Nintendo states on warioworld.com that it categorically declines to deal with students, hobbyists, and microISVs: one needs a dedicated office and a track record of published titles. So for which platform should students and hobbyists be building a portfolio to start a company? Most PC monitors are just too small for four people.

Xbox 360. Seriously, I don't really like Microsoft, and I don't really like xbox (or playstation for that matter) games in general (i tend to like more playful games, http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/blue-sky-in-games-campaign-launched.html)

But, one thing Microsoft is good about with the 360/xbox live is allowing independent content (or at least so I hear). I've seen other people trying out games from the market with lots of interesting gameplay concepts that you would probably not see in a mainstream game

I was one of the programmers on the original Grand Theft Auto, so I hope I've made my own little contribution to realizing some of the potential of video games.

You did, but was it a positive contribution? Some say GTA expanded the possibilities in games, but a pessimist could say they made the game industry stray. I mean, before GTA, the player was always a hero who fought to rescue the princess or save the planet. After GTA, there are too many games with ambiguous or downright criminal main characters. Enough of that crap, we want the blue skies back!

UK Resistance has another review here

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/ so much that they have declared war on Sony?

Apparently, your problem is that you don't have your obviously bullshit filter trained on Sony-PR levels of spin.

If you've actually taken their "four-D" propaganda at any level of seriousness then you must have been born without the skepticism gene.

e.g. http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/05/ps3-lie-watc h-evidence-updated.html
Since you seem to have trouble telling what is what I'd better point out that UKResistance is a satirical site and there is some hyperbole mixed with the facts.

Blue sky in games!

I would caution those who champion the Wii to take a closer look at what they're doing. They're saying it's great before they've even seen a unit in person.

what's more likely is that the naysayers will say that they were right all along, except Sony deceived everyone and their superior marketing and name brand influenced the ignorant masses.

The PlayStation 2 sucked quite badly given what was claimed, what was delivered and when it was delivered (with reference to the now infamous E3 demos, how much better it would be than than the Dreamcast, that it would have 'Toy Story' quality graphics). When the PS2 Dead or Alive port had 2D spites in the scenery, in places where the DC one had fully 3D backgrounds, it was clear they'd misrepresented the systems ability.

Sony didn't really use 'superior marketing', they just flat out lied. People still bought the PS2, and the name brand got people to buy it. They have flat out lied again with the PS3 hype, claiming several instances of CGI footage are 'real in game footage' (which only people who know very little about video games let alone rendering technology could possibly be fooled by). For example, they said Lair was going to look like this unfortunately, it really looks like this.

Edge recently did a splash on it where it comes out looking pretty good - I've seen this title in motion on 50" plasma though, and it looks for all the world like an title for the original X-Box (and not one of the good ones). Even for a launch title, that's pretty bad.

The hardware is grossly over-hyped, again, but most people don't know much about it, or take the time to find out.

Sure the PS3 has '8 cores'. What they are not making much point of is it has a single general purpose core, with the other 7 being being limited co-processors (with the system supporting 9 threads in total). You may think that sounds better than the X-Box 360, which has 3 general purpose cores (with multiple FPU and SIMD units in each core), and in some ways it is. However, try writing real world software (games included) that runs faster on the cell processor than on the 360 and I'm quite sure you'd be in for a real mission.

I don't have any experience writing console software (unfortunately, it doesn't usually pay as well as more mundane enterprise work) but do have experiencing running my own software on different hardware platforms. I've taken software I've written and run it on a Sun Fire X4200 (2 x dual core AMD CPU's) and on a T2000 (8 core Ultra Sparc, with an insane 32 threads) and I know the straight forward really-fast-generic-core approach blows rings around a fancy, unique CPU design for all practical purposes. Everyone said this about the much touted 'emotion engine' on the PS2 though - few developers ever really managed to fully utilise the hardware because of it's uncommon nature.

You'd have to spend a huge amount of time just optimising your software to work with an esoteric architecture, in way that doesn't help when you come to port the title to other platforms (and most will be looking to do a multi format release) - and that sort of investment just isn't warrented except on first party titles. In the same way that Gran Turismo (one of the best looking, if not the best looking PS2 title) was published by Sony and the best looking 360 title, Gears of War, was for made exclusively for Microsoft Game Studio, only first party / flagship titles are going to have enough time and money spent on them to make the most out of the system. Everything else will come out being as good as can be done relatively easily - and Microsoft having an SDK that allows you to build Windows and 360 versions of your game side by side doesn't help Sony's case on that front.

I would say that the PS3's multi-threaded cell design does genuinely mean it's better suited to developing games with better AI. However, and I'm genuinely glum about this, developers do not have a good track record of implementing good AI even when they do have the ability to do so (od

what's more likely is that the naysayers will say that they were right all along, except Sony deceived everyone and their superior marketing and name brand influenced the ignorant masses.

The PlayStation 2 sucked quite badly given what was claimed, what was delivered and when it was delivered (with reference to the now infamous E3 demos, how much better it would be than than the Dreamcast, that it would have 'Toy Story' quality graphics). When the PS2 Dead or Alive port had 2D spites in the scenery, in places where the DC one had fully 3D backgrounds, it was clear they'd misrepresented the systems ability.

Sony didn't really use 'superior marketing', they just flat out lied. People still bought the PS2, and the name brand got people to buy it. They have flat out lied again with the PS3 hype, claiming several instances of CGI footage are 'real in game footage' (which only people who know very little about video games let alone rendering technology could possibly be fooled by). For example, they said Lair was going to look like this unfortunately, it really looks like this.

Edge recently did a splash on it where it comes out looking pretty good - I've seen this title in motion on 50" plasma though, and it looks for all the world like an title for the original X-Box (and not one of the good ones). Even for a launch title, that's pretty bad.

The hardware is grossly over-hyped, again, but most people don't know much about it, or take the time to find out.

Sure the PS3 has '8 cores'. What they are not making much point of is it has a single general purpose core, with the other 7 being being limited co-processors (with the system supporting 9 threads in total). You may think that sounds better than the X-Box 360, which has 3 general purpose cores (with multiple FPU and SIMD units in each core), and in some ways it is. However, try writing real world software (games included) that runs faster on the cell processor than on the 360 and I'm quite sure you'd be in for a real mission.

I don't have any experience writing console software (unfortunately, it doesn't usually pay as well as more mundane enterprise work) but do have experiencing running my own software on different hardware platforms. I've taken software I've written and run it on a Sun Fire X4200 (2 x dual core AMD CPU's) and on a T2000 (8 core Ultra Sparc, with an insane 32 threads) and I know the straight forward really-fast-generic-core approach blows rings around a fancy, unique CPU design for all practical purposes. Everyone said this about the much touted 'emotion engine' on the PS2 though - few developers ever really managed to fully utilise the hardware because of it's uncommon nature.

You'd have to spend a huge amount of time just optimising your software to work with an esoteric architecture, in way that doesn't help when you come to port the title to other platforms (and most will be looking to do a multi format release) - and that sort of investment just isn't warrented except on first party titles. In the same way that Gran Turismo (one of the best looking, if not the best looking PS2 title) was published by Sony and the best looking 360 title, Gears of War, was for made exclusively for Microsoft Game Studio, only first party / flagship titles are going to have enough time and money spent on them to make the most out of the system. Everything else will come out being as good as can be done relatively easily - and Microsoft having an SDK that allows you to build Windows and 360 versions of your game side by side doesn't help Sony's case on that front.

I would say that the PS3's multi-threaded cell design does genuinely mean it's better suited to developing games with better AI. However, and I'm genuinely glum about this, developers do not have a good track record of implementing good AI even when they do have the ability to do so (od

Some of us don't randomly search for games we own on wikipedia.

Games we don't own, however, are fair game.

Based on the PS2, I'm thinking the PS3 is going to be a decent console, and they have nothing to worry about from Microsoft.

I'd better start by openly admitting to not being a fan of the PS2, partly because Sony lied so audaciously about it's performance and in reality - despite how much later it hit the streets - the games were no better than the by then already aging Dreamcast (I assume this was in part because it was more difficult to develop games for and because the Dreamcast was a much more developer friendly console). That's true to the extent that some games (like Dead or Alive) were actually noticeably inferior to Dreamcast versions (e.g. 2d sprites in place of 3d rendered scenery).

I think the PS2's success is almost entirely down to the overwelming dominance of the origional Playstation, which gave life to the brand. The origional was by all accounts a great console (at a time when a lot of turkeys had been released), but it's worth bearing in mind it was origionally a Nintendo concept which Sony were contracted to develop, until the two companies fell out.

The PS2 was Sony's first real shot at building a console on their own, amd while it was an overwhelming commercial success, technically it wasn't particularly good. They also fumbled when senior Sony executives recalled launch units after they found out the SCE division (Sony Computer Entertainment) had made the DVD player region free (on purpose, thinking - correctly I'm sure - that it would be a feature that would sell more units). Apparently representatives of the other arms of the company were not happy with the upstart arm at the time and made life very difficult for SCE (even though SCE would go on to prop up the entire company), at least according to subsequent interviews from senior executives from Sony (unfortunately I don't have references for those to hand). As we know now, SCE would never the less go on to prop up Sony's profitability (and share price) in the years to come.

I am sure they are about to make some big mistakes again, but this time I think it will impact revenues and units sold, and they will suffer for it (though I do not expect the console to 'bomb' by any means - there is still a lot of wide spread anticipation by the general public). The overwhelming power of the origional brand is not as strong (a reponse to the relative mediority of the PS2) and I don't think that's going to be enough to overcome the huge price tag and the level of collective disappointment when people see that not only do games NOT look like this but that they actually look a lot more like this.

I know it's early days and I'm sure not all games will look that bad, but it's not a good sign - nor is it that GT is also looking decidedly underwhealming (I'm frankly amazed they have released what footage the have, I think it looks pretty desperate for a flagship racing title). Now the console is near release it's clear just how detatched from reality all those early renders were, and Sony are forced to start showing us what we can actually expect. While there was undoubtably also a touch of this with a few titles for the 360 (specifically with some EA titles and with GRAW (Ghost Recon)), the same level of discrepancy was not nearly as significant, and a year on games like Gears of War are showing that it really can look as good as, if not better, than developers said they thought it could (with reference to GoW actual in game footage compared to GRAW's pre-rendered footage).

The 360 may be Microsoft's best product ever, but that's damning with faint praise.

To be fair I think they make very good harware! The mice, the keyboards, the Sidewider gaming peripheral range and both X-Box consoles have been really good products!

It's just a shame about 90% of all the software they've ever written. Interestingly, their games over the years have been pretty good, as are some of the

Based on the PS2, I'm thinking the PS3 is going to be a decent console, and they have nothing to worry about from Microsoft.

I'd better start by openly admitting to not being a fan of the PS2, partly because Sony lied so audaciously about it's performance and in reality - despite how much later it hit the streets - the games were no better than the by then already aging Dreamcast (I assume this was in part because it was more difficult to develop games for and because the Dreamcast was a much more developer friendly console). That's true to the extent that some games (like Dead or Alive) were actually noticeably inferior to Dreamcast versions (e.g. 2d sprites in place of 3d rendered scenery).

I think the PS2's success is almost entirely down to the overwelming dominance of the origional Playstation, which gave life to the brand. The origional was by all accounts a great console (at a time when a lot of turkeys had been released), but it's worth bearing in mind it was origionally a Nintendo concept which Sony were contracted to develop, until the two companies fell out.

The PS2 was Sony's first real shot at building a console on their own, amd while it was an overwhelming commercial success, technically it wasn't particularly good. They also fumbled when senior Sony executives recalled launch units after they found out the SCE division (Sony Computer Entertainment) had made the DVD player region free (on purpose, thinking - correctly I'm sure - that it would be a feature that would sell more units). Apparently representatives of the other arms of the company were not happy with the upstart arm at the time and made life very difficult for SCE (even though SCE would go on to prop up the entire company), at least according to subsequent interviews from senior executives from Sony (unfortunately I don't have references for those to hand). As we know now, SCE would never the less go on to prop up Sony's profitability (and share price) in the years to come.

I am sure they are about to make some big mistakes again, but this time I think it will impact revenues and units sold, and they will suffer for it (though I do not expect the console to 'bomb' by any means - there is still a lot of wide spread anticipation by the general public). The overwhelming power of the origional brand is not as strong (a reponse to the relative mediority of the PS2) and I don't think that's going to be enough to overcome the huge price tag and the level of collective disappointment when people see that not only do games NOT look like this but that they actually look a lot more like this.

I know it's early days and I'm sure not all games will look that bad, but it's not a good sign - nor is it that GT is also looking decidedly underwhealming (I'm frankly amazed they have released what footage the have, I think it looks pretty desperate for a flagship racing title). Now the console is near release it's clear just how detatched from reality all those early renders were, and Sony are forced to start showing us what we can actually expect. While there was undoubtably also a touch of this with a few titles for the 360 (specifically with some EA titles and with GRAW (Ghost Recon)), the same level of discrepancy was not nearly as significant, and a year on games like Gears of War are showing that it really can look as good as, if not better, than developers said they thought it could (with reference to GoW actual in game footage compared to GRAW's pre-rendered footage).

The 360 may be Microsoft's best product ever, but that's damning with faint praise.

To be fair I think they make very good harware! The mice, the keyboards, the Sidewider gaming peripheral range and both X-Box consoles have been really good products!

It's just a shame about 90% of all the software they've ever written. Interestingly, their games over the years have been pretty good, as are some of the

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/uploaded_images/laun ch2-793224.jpg

Yeah, you've covered it, but it's still absurd.

I can only speak for myself and a few friends, but the sci-fi theme just doesn't appeal to me. I'm pretty sure we aren't the only ones since this comparison got a lot of attention when it was first published.
That's not to say I avoid all games that don't appeal to my senses. A game has a number of other ways it can stand out, like with an innovative fighting system or unique story, neither of which I see this having.

... actually when I say better, what I really mean is more Sega obsessive... http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/01/segas-homest ar-planetarium-reviewed.html

...Blue Skies in Games! :)

"what was once a pretty sweet console."

What pretty sweet part are we talking about? 2 HDMI ports I can't use without a 2,000$ new TV? 7 player bluetooth, when I rarely (never) have a situation where I go, "damn, I wish my GameCube had 8 ports so everyone could play Mario Party instead of just 4 at a time"? The part where the PS3 is also an Internet router, instead of my current one, with 3 gigabit ports?

Sony went and said, "everything those guys have, plus EXTRA!" for the past 3 years. Like the online service, next generation graphics, or any of that other shit I mentioned.

Every year, Sony Fan Bois have been going, "OMG CREAM" about it. There is no such thing as a sweet Sony console; it's always a pack of lies. The only reason the PS1 got popular was because everyone hated pompous Nintendo and their "screw everyone" mentality in the mid-1990s. How many 1st party titles (and I don't mean 2nd party, like Polyphony Digital) have there been on the PS1 and PS2 that have been super awesome? How does that number compare to the titles by 3rd party developers?

Sony sells far less PS1s and PS2s than Square Enix, Namco, Capcom, or Konami -- even alone. Hell, the only thing the semi-rational fan bois seem to want on the PS3 is Metal Gear 4 -- a Konami title.

"what was once a pretty sweet console."

What pretty sweet part are we talking about? 2 HDMI ports I can't use without a 2,000$ new TV? 7 player bluetooth, when I rarely (never) have a situation where I go, "damn, I wish my GameCube had 8 ports so everyone could play Mario Party instead of just 4 at a time"? The part where the PS3 is also an Internet router, instead of my current one, with 3 gigabit ports?

Sony went and said, "everything those guys have, plus EXTRA!" for the past 3 years. Like the online service, next generation graphics, or any of that other shit I mentioned.

Every year, Sony Fan Bois have been going, "OMG CREAM" about it. There is no such thing as a sweet Sony console; it's always a pack of lies. The only reason the PS1 got popular was because everyone hated pompous Nintendo and their "screw everyone" mentality in the mid-1990s. How many 1st party titles (and I don't mean 2nd party, like Polyphony Digital) have there been on the PS1 and PS2 that have been super awesome? How does that number compare to the titles by 3rd party developers?

Sony sells far less PS1s and PS2s than Square Enix, Namco, Capcom, or Konami -- even alone. Hell, the only thing the semi-rational fan bois seem to want on the PS3 is Metal Gear 4 -- a Konami title.

"what was once a pretty sweet console."

What pretty sweet part are we talking about? 2 HDMI ports I can't use without a 2,000$ new TV? 7 player bluetooth, when I rarely (never) have a situation where I go, "damn, I wish my GameCube had 8 ports so everyone could play Mario Party instead of just 4 at a time"? The part where the PS3 is also an Internet router, instead of my current one, with 3 gigabit ports?

Sony went and said, "everything those guys have, plus EXTRA!" for the past 3 years. Like the online service, next generation graphics, or any of that other shit I mentioned.

Every year, Sony Fan Bois have been going, "OMG CREAM" about it. There is no such thing as a sweet Sony console; it's always a pack of lies. The only reason the PS1 got popular was because everyone hated pompous Nintendo and their "screw everyone" mentality in the mid-1990s. How many 1st party titles (and I don't mean 2nd party, like Polyphony Digital) have there been on the PS1 and PS2 that have been super awesome? How does that number compare to the titles by 3rd party developers?

Sony sells far less PS1s and PS2s than Square Enix, Namco, Capcom, or Konami -- even alone. Hell, the only thing the semi-rational fan bois seem to want on the PS3 is Metal Gear 4 -- a Konami title.

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/04/animal-cross ing-is-meant-for-girls_12.html

Even if they are done by the game engine, they aren't camera angles you actually use when playing the game. Take a look at the PGR shot, and ask yourself, "Could I really drive looking at my car from down there?"

I may be old-fashioned, but I prefer to play racing games with the camera looking forwards, and maybe with the speedo visible somewhere on the screen. Those wishing to take screen shots of racing games should read this useful guide.

"Microsoft Is Putting a PC in a Different Kind of Box"

Or maybe we should just stop making games that include any kind of reference to the real world?

...saw this advert for the xbox 360.

Not only that, but the fact that Nintendo is aiming at a younger audience means we get more "blue sky games" than other systems. There is this "blue sky in games" campaign saying that we don't want realistic gang war games which show off the ugliness of our larger cities, but we want games with lots of blue and red things in them, that make us feel happy when we play them. Being with Ninty means we will get more happy games than the competition. http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/blue-sky-in- games-campaign-launched.html

You'll probably like this then.

The folks at UK:resistance made me laugh with their take on this.

The folks at UK:resistance made me laugh with their take on this.

But also spot on:

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/06/are-mobile-p hone-games-any-good-yet.html



MOG IT!

i don't know how the 'know your roots' t-shirt is ironic.

I'm sure NTK used to sell a far more suitable T-shirt for such events, courtesy of the foul-mouthed UK Resistance. Imagine the following, in huge white monospaced lettering on a black shirt:

10 PRINT "RETRO GAMES ARE SHIT"
20 GOTO 10

I'd be amazed if the wearer were to escape alive... ;-]

Darth Vader and Japanese schoolgirls!

*sigh*, matched only by the number of i-play press releases the Guardian Games Blog has managed to reprint as news recently.

As always, UK:Resistance says it best - Sorry love, women are shit at Tekken. Why I hate Wimmin in Gaming comes a close second too.

Here's a thought - maybe more women would get into gaming if people desperate to sell games didn't keep on and on about how women are this huge market waiting to explode....

http://ukresistance.co.uk/
I love the people packing around the car batteries to be able to use their PSP's hah.
direct link to images:
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/pspbattery.jpg
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/somepossiblefuture .jpg

http://ukresistance.co.uk/
I love the people packing around the car batteries to be able to use their PSP's hah.
direct link to images:
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/pspbattery.jpg
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/somepossiblefuture .jpg

http://ukresistance.co.uk/
I love the people packing around the car batteries to be able to use their PSP's hah.
direct link to images:
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/pspbattery.jpg
http://ukresistance.co.uk/pics2/somepossiblefuture .jpg

Found this gem in the eurogamer forum...

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/driv3r.jpg

Oh wait, you're still a VIRGIN, aren't you?!

Well, I'm saving my ass for that special GNU/Hippie, so until then, I'll settle for girls.

Look here, but it's kind of old. Oh and here also!