Classic Games in the Save File: Frequency & Amplitude

Does anyone, anyone, anyone at all remember Frequency? And its sequel, Amplitude? (Why there was no Phase is beyond me. Har.) I loved Frequency so much that I actually beat the entire game three times or so before deciding to just challenge other people to make perfect scores on each track. It’s also the game that introduced me to Freezepop. (Whom I once tried to see. Long story.)  I actually had better game performance on Amplitude, which also had a Freezepop song, but I never enjoyed it as much. I think because the tracks weren’t in the rhythm tube. You didn’t flip around in a circle, you just spun the game from side-to-side. This description probably makes absolutely no sense to someone who didn’t play the game, though. You can see some minor examples here and here.

I realized, as I was moving some stuff around the other day, how much I miss those games. I liked Guitar Hero and Rock Band a lot, too, but Frequency and Amplitude were always superior in my estimation because they didn’t require the specialized controllers or three friends to play with me. (I know you can play Rock Band alone, and I know you can do inputs via the standard controllers with those games, but they’re really not designed for that type of play, much as DDR isn’t designed to be played with the handheld controllers.) I also like music, especially the electronic music that was uber present in Frequency. Perhaps most of all what I liked was the fact that it actually “created” the song. If you didn’t turn on the various tracks, you would be missing vital parts of the song. You could conceivably not get the vocals turned on and the song would sound very different, because you were supposed to be playing each of those parts. A minor argument could be made for how these games actually forced people to listen to different tracks (layers) of a song and thereby improve their ability to understand music. I don’t know how functional this argument really is.

Unfortunately, I don’t own a PS3. So I’m having to dig the PS2 out of storage to play the damn games. Oddly, looking at some of the screens of the game, my hands suddenly just remember the controls with what I can only assume is muscle memory. Impressive. Quite impressive, body. Good job.  I miss when you were totally awesome, Harmonix. You used to be amazing. Now you’re just pretty awesome.

Closure: My Neat New Nemesis

Yet another Steam holiday sale. And yet another Indie Humble Bundle.  Is it actually possible to feel overwhelmed by video games? I was excited to get the e-mail telling me I could have Cave Story and The Basement Collection after I bought the 7th bundle, particularly since I was about to snap them up on Steam.

But the only game I’ve been playing is the PC version of Closure. (It’s part of the Bundle.) Okay, yes, I really do dig it (and it reminds me a lot of Limbo in its puzzle methodology (and the fact that it’s black and white, and driven by music) but it’s killing me. This may be a slight bit of hyperbole. The game’s main shtick is that it uses light to determine what is playable space. If a space turns dark it becomes nonexistent, which can be used to the player’s advantage or detriment depending on the level circumstances. Sometimes you have to bend the darkness in order to slip through and sometimes everything must be brought fully to the light. I enjoy games that play with elements other than dimensional space in order to create good gameplay. Braid did this with time back in 2009 (i.e. you manipulate time) and ever since I’ve been excited to find games where you can control different aspects of the game environment.

And yet, with Closure, I find that about every three levels I’m stuck, unable to determine what the solution is. Then I’ll determine the solution, only to realize that I was almost there the first time. Like, I was off by a tiny step, and this was enough to make the segment impossible to beat. That’s good for a puzzle but bad for my obsessive desire to win the game. All the same, I’ve only had Closure installed for three days, and have only played for two hours or so, so overall, I’m probably not doing that badly. I just get so competitive against myself.  In any case, though, it’s really fun and it has captivated me.

Closure

Still, there’s not nearly enough time in my week to devote to playing video games, and it makes me sad that I’m forced to choose between earning money to buy video games and actually being able to play said video games. (Along with the multitude of other life choices I feel forced to make.) Was that a downer? Not as much as playing one of these levels, figuring it out, and then realizing that you accidentally closed the game before it had a chance to auto-save. Noooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Holy Humble Nintendo Upgrade Bundles, Bag(wo)man!

Don’t forget about the Humble Bundle. (I bought mine already even though I only really want about 3/4 of the games in there.)

Also, even though I’m really not that great at shooting things in PC games, I’ve been playing significantly more of them lately. I miss console gaming but it’s just so much easier to buy things on Steam. (Often much cheaper as well.)  Long live the disposable age, I guess.

It is time to buy a new Nintendo DS. Yesterday I had decided on the 3DS. Today I don’t know if that’s really what I want. I played with the XL version in the store a few days back and I actually think it’s too big and not especially necessary given the plethora of other mobile wi-fi enabled devices I have at my disposal. (Remember the promise of convergence? Whatever happened to that? Why am I carrying 80 electronics?) Believe it or not, my last Nintendo DS purchase was the original Nintendo DS way back in 2005. I liked that it was backward compatible and would play my Game Boy Advance games as well. I held onto it until it somehow got damaged at a party (drunk nerds?) and became unusable. I’ve actually been without a handheld system for nearly a year and I’d really like to hop back on the gamer train.

Strangely one of the things I most liked about my original DS was the fact that it had some weight to it. I know that’s a fairly unpopular opinion nowadays, since everything must be aerodynamic and light as a feather but I was happy to be holding onto a gaming devices that didn’t feel like my fingers were going to go straight through it. The 3DS shares that weight but it’s not the same. The only thing that holds me back from buying the current generation DS (instead of the 3DS) are the Netflix availability and 3D features (clearly) of the 3DS. That said, I don’t even know how much I honestly care about 3D gaming. I just kind of don’t want to be left behind by buying the bottom-end system and wanting to upgrade in six months.  And of course, there’s no longer a way to play Game Boy Advance games, which leaves me with just a twinge of sadness. (I feel like there’s an excuse here that Nintendo is just waiting to unveil… you can buy some new product they’re going to tell us all about in 2013, I’m sure. 3DS DLC for GBA cartridges, or the like.)

After this, I’m going to be complaining that I need a better way to organize and carry my electronics. Who’s going to invent the uber tech geek bag with specialized compartments for each device, fitted to the customization information you provide? Business venture, anyone? (Somebody with better knowledge of bag making and who actually has sewing skills of value please pick up on this. You will make money, I assure you. Even if it’s only from me.)  But when you factor in a laptop, a cell phone, a tablet, a camera, an MP3 player, an e-reader, and a game system, things are starting to get crowded in there. (Especially if you include the chargers, batteries, cables, cards, accessories, etc.)

Being a modern woman is fun!

Recent Games People Play

Board Games

Don’t forget about the classics.

• My friends and I finally got around to playing Smallworld. Round one was just about the most hollow victory I’ve ever seen in a board game and I wasn’t even the winner. We had so badly jumbled and confused the rules that the final win was really more the result of our 10 turns being up than it was any strategic advantage. I may be bitter because my Seafaring Amazons failed to see their full potential in their +4 conquest bonus. (The game seems ripe for band name generation: “Hordes of Dwarves”, “Marauding Priestesses,” etc.) The text of special abilities isn’t always clear on the shortcut cards or in the rule book. For example, the Amazons had that +4 conquest bonus but their special ability of “seafaring” meant that they could keep collecting coins after going into decline. What does this mean? We don’t know either because every group could keep collecting coins after going into decline. It’s not enough to destroy game play, by any means (and we played with expansions so we had additional fun race and ability cards) but it’s frustrating all the same. Especially since those Days of Wonder games are expensive. Side note: Why does everyone at Days of Wonder hate Android and Windows users? It’s great that they’ve developed games for the iPad but seriously, we’re not all iOS users. I’d happily take a downloadable game for Windows if you don’t want to make one for Android. That’s fine. But please, create something other than iPad apps. Please? Please?
• Then there was my first A Touch of Evil. Somebody had referred to this game as being a “mini Arkham Horror.” I think there’s some truth in that. We had the Coastal Expansion included in our game so I can’t really speak to the base game alone. One of the most annoying things about Arkham Horror (to me, anyway) is how long it takes to get through a full turn, especially with combat involved. I think the difference to ATOE is that the turns move very quickly. Three actions per turn, smaller board, etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with the involved complication of Arkham Horror and its epic game play; I just tend to lose focus if I’m forced to sit still for more than four hours. In any case, combat moved quickly as well, especially once we were all sucked into the final showdown with the villain. I’d like more clarification on some of the supply and trading rules (since you can trade items among players when you share space, but who knows if you can trade currency?) but that’s what house rules are supposed to be for, I suppose. Oddly, my one complaint of any note is the fact that there are so, so, so many cards and it’s virtually impossible to reach them without having to constantly ask another player or to stand up and reach across the board space. I know it was designed so that the location cards would be adjacent their locations (e.g. “The Manor” cards are stored next to “The Manor”) but perhaps a tray that could be passed from player to player would be helpful? Otherwise as your number of players expands, you run the risk of never actually being able to reach what you need in order to take your turn.

Video Games

I curse the fall sale on Steam.  Goodbye Christmas gifts for other people! Hello video game goodness for me!

• While I’m enjoying it, it turns out that I kind of suck at Awesomenauts.  I blame this on the fact that I haven’t adjusted to the Apple style touchpad on my laptop more than I blame it on anything else. Whatever. It’s still a fun (if also ostentatious and sensory killing) game. Destroy the other team’s base. That’s the only real objective. Makes it easy. (This, of course, is also why I feel bad when I can’t destroys things in game.)
• A friend showed me Eufloria via PS3. I played the demo on PS3 but ultimately ended up installing the PC version. Others who were watching the game said it was boring. Playing it, however, was not. There’s something to be said for calm and relaxing slow-paced games. The most action-oriented times of Eufloria are when enemy seedlings invade your planets and you have to send seedlings to fight them off. (The tiny lasers are adorable, by the way.) Apparently it was part of the last Humble Bundle, which I didn’t download, but I guess that’s because I’m a terrible person.
• Being two years behind is not a big deal, right? I hope not since I finally got a copy of Portal 2 with the Steam sale. I’ve wanted to play it for a really long time but never had a mechanism to do it, by which I mean, I had a really buggy piece of crap computer that rejected practically anything I tried to play through Steam. And then I just kept forgetting to get it because $20 for a game you can’t play right now still seemed to be a silly purchase. With it being $4.99, though, and with having a brand new computer, it was time. I haven’t even had a chance to play it yet, though.
• The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom is cute and kitschy. It’s also fun. I’m fond of the fazing pie-eating men who kick one another and who basically have to survive a pie puzzle. It’s entirely black and white (at least so far) and very simple to play. (No mouse controls on PC. Everything is keyboard-based.)
• I had to re-download Star Trek Online. Oh wait. Do I play that? Yes, I think I admitted to it elsewhere on this blog anyway. I don’t know why I’m embarrassed, actually. I haven’t had the occasion to play in months, and I attribute that to having a bad computer for the past four months. So logging in again was an interesting feat. I think it’s because it’s a Star Trek game. (This did not stop me from buying the How to Host a Mystery Star Trek The Next Generation board game back in the summer though, so I don’t know what my problem is.)

 

Android Apps (Because You Have to Play on Your Phone, Too)

I know they’re still technically video games. I’m just distinguishing for the sheer reason that these are things I play on a very small screen.

• I’m angry that I’ve been sucked into both Ayakashi and Deity Wars. I’ve had a long-standing rule against card-trading games. (Ahem, Magic.) That rule originated a long, long time ago because I just didn’t understand the point. Since understanding the point, the rule was really based on some stupid dork pride issue. “I’m the kind of dork who doesn’t play those sorts of games.” Whatever point or purpose this has, I haven’t got a clue anymore since I’m clearly past that stupid phase of my life. Fine. Fine. Fine. Build a deck. Pretend it’s just a straight-up RPG. Go on.
• And lastly, I’m horribly, horribly hooked on playing Flow. (Not to be confused with the PS3 game, which is also addicting and awesome.) I ended up spending about $10 for in-app purchases to get all of the packs and hints. The tablet packs, which are designed for larger blocks, probably would be a whole lot more fun if you were to play on a tablet rather than a regular Android phone screen. The game touts itself as being simple but addicting, and I think they’ve got their marketing dead on.

What to Watch When You’re Watching Watching

It’s so nice to have a laptop that doesn’t fight with my Steam account. Especially since I ended up playing the free Awesomenauts preview this weekend (and getting the game). Maybe I can also finally finish playing Limbo. (To be fair, though, I started that one on XBOX, but still, the portability of being able to play things on my laptop is just insanely nice.)

I was very ill this weekend and all I could do for most of it was lie in bed watching TV. Somehow this led to my watching Neverland. This is the 2011 “prequel” to Peter Pan. I’m a big J.M. Barrie fan (and for works beyond Peter Pan, actually) so I tend to get a little bristly at all things that try to revisit that world without much consideration to the overall meanings. This is, unfortunately, what we call nerd rage. Nonetheless, I wanted to give this movie a fair try. I don’t think it’s bad. What I do think it is is somewhat careless and not always that interesting. The dates and times are accurate enough but you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that a woman commanded a pirate crew in the 1700s and also lived through an additional 200 years in Neverland. This is not because I think women are not qualified but rather because all known information about pirates suggests that they were overwhelmingly male and rejecting of women on their ships. Not to mention that their average captain’s reign was less than two years long. (Typically ending in mutiny, capture, or death.) I don’t think the background story given is as well thought-out as it should have been. Still, it’s pretty and well shot, so it’s not a bad way to kill three hours. (Especially if you cannot move in the slightest from your bed.)

Last weekend it was Skyfall. Skyfall is a little bit boring. Mainly at points when it involves James Bond. Javier Bardem’s character is the best acted and most interesting and scenes with him were far more exciting than scenes with our favorite 007 Daniel Craig. (Sorry to say it.) Also, the film bends over backward to tell us how the “old ways” are dying out and we have to cope with change. This went way too far, often steering into preachy territory. While I really enjoyed the scenes with “Q” there is at least one moment of utter stupidity on his part that unfortunately totally unravels his entire premise of being a technological genius. (Or at least makes it seem exaggerated.) Still, it’s a fun movie to watch and enjoyable enough for an action movie. I just would suggest that you watch it at home when it comes out on DVD rather than spending the money to see it in theaters. Unfortunately for my friends, I also kept asking (far too often) why anyone would trust Voldemort to lead MI6 anyway. (Ralph Fiennes probably would find this irritating too.)

Ticket to Ride Halloween Expansion

It’s so silly but I just had to invest the $12.99 into buying the Ticket to Ride Halloween expansion trains. For a while now I’ve been scooping up expansions and add-ons every time I go in my local nerd game haven. I like my trains. Since this is my first blog entry from a brand new ultrabook as well, I can also add that I had to re-install (or properly, update this new computer) all of the Ticket to Ride software for my online play with Steam. I learned recently that I have the standard American board completely memorized. Every path, width, color, and number of spaces is committed to memory. Most of the routes and their points in the standard game and the chief expansion (1910) are up there also. I even drew out segments in a MS-Paint document just to see if it was possible. Turns out that it is. I’m still desperate for the Android mobile game, though. We’re not all iOS users. Ostensibly the Halloween expansion could also allow you to add a sixth player to the game but I imagine this isn’t the primary purpose of said expansion. And a friend finally bought Smallworld so I don’t have to.

Ralph Can’t Relax

Am I permitted to go on and on about how much I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph? Of course I am. This is a blog devoted to being a huge nerd, so I get to say whatever I want about being a huge nerd. Ta-da!

Rich Moore is a little bit of an idol for me.  He worked on some of the best early Simpsons and Futurama episodes and since he’s the directorial brains behind Wreck-It Ralph, I have to mention him in this gushing. (He worked on a number of other animated productions as well, and this just further endears him to me since I have a bit of a soft spot for animated series and movies.) In any case, major props to him for this movie because it was awesome. And also one of the few times when I’ve gone to see a movie in a theater and actually haven’t been the slightest bit disconcerted by the throngs of <10 year old children who were also in the theater watching. (This is what you get for weekend matinees, though, I suppose.)

The movie is such a good blend of affirmative and silly vignettes. I was expecting a few more retro references than I got but it was cute to see so many 8/16 bit game allusions all the same. I was also happy with the depth of detail in the modern game (Sugar Rush!) including the in-film joke about “double stripes.” What really sold me on this were the overlapping backdrops and stylistic elements. Jack McBrayer killed me with his portrayal of Fix-It Felix. (Of course, I’ve yet to see Jack McBrayer in anything where he didn’t play a semi-innocent good-guy character so I don’t know that this isn’t just his personality. Ha.) Also, Alan Tudyk!

Dorks, you MUST see this.

batman and games roundup

Countdown to The Dark Knight Rises: -3 days. I’m actually starting to get stupidly excited over heading to a midnight show. I think I’ve been excited by every one of the Nolan Batman movies but I guess it’s the fact that I need something dorkish to look forward to doing.

Cards Against Humanity truly is a game for “horrible people.” And I love it. As someone who has spent years playing Apples to Apples in a horrifying fashion,  I have to admit to not finding CAH “shocking” but rather more in keeping with our group’s style of behaving like horrible people during board games. I really love that CAH is distributed under a Creative Commons license and therefore provides the ability to create your own deck.  Hooray for being a horrible person! And for party games!

Why does Steam continue to offer awesome sales on things I want while I am currently undergoing computer revisions? It’s like the universe is out to get me. I always seem to have a soft spot for the indie bundles. Honestly, my video game world has taken a serious decline as I continue to play round after round of Ticket to Ride Online. Behold the unfortunate power of the nerd who is over-invested in finding some surprise at turn 1,000.

train of thought

I like trains. Hundreds of hipsters and engineers out there also love trains but I’m not really a hipster or an engineer (at least not one who deals in locomotive engines) so my fascination mostly rides the rails of “ooh, pretty” and historical fiction.  I don’t cosplay steampunk fantasies but I enjoy the visuals of old-fashioned gears and wheels and the puffing of steam. I don’t have a Lionel obsession but toy trains are ridiculously enjoyable to set up and watch as they run in circles. I appreciate the role of rail in the triumphant advancement of the world. I’d love to have the time to travel by train across the country rather than always being forced to hop on an airplane and take a shorter trip to my destination.

I also like games.  So I’m naturally going to launch into a discussion of Ticket to Ride, which was my birthday present a few years ago.  I obsessively play the online version and even the solo offline downloadable game. I’ve collected the European maps, the expansions, and the various bits of paraphernalia associated with it in both the computer game and the board game. I love constructing train routes across the maps, and possibly in the same way that Settlers is enjoyable, I find myself frequently smiling while playing TTR.

Imagine my dorkish glee when Wil Wheaton played Ticket to Ride with his wife Anne, Colin Ferguson (of Eureka, a show not nearly enough people like, if you ask me) and Amy Dallen on TableTop. I watched all 27 minutes with a trembling face, happy eyes, and the inability to stop myself from giggling every so often.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy this video also.

Geek & Sundry TableTop – Ticket to Ride

I classify myself as a road geek, which is a hobby surprisingly few people on the internet seem to share. It means that I like road signs, mapping out routes and places I’ve been on physical and digital maps. I relish gaining knowledge of how roads and bridges are constructed and love seeing how different cities are interconnected. Being so aware of transportation geekery, the giver of Ticket to Ride clearly knew me very well. It’s been a lot of fun in recent weeks while I’ve had to unwind from the process of packing up boxes of books and such (for moving) and even when I’m merely fighting the computer players for paths to new cities I like the practice of card counting and train logistics. (Ha. I actually do count route numbers and cards but it’s mostly subconscious.) The replayability of the game is tremendously high, which makes it a worthy item for the $9 I paid for the online version.

If you want to play with other people online, please feel free to ask for my Days of Wonder user name.

my inner nerd is suddenly very external

In all seriousness, I need to stop spending so much time playing Star Trek Online. As much fun as it is to roam the galaxy in a pretend starship I keep losing sleep to phaser battles. That’s just not right. Or maybe it is.