Infocom’s text adventures profoundly influenced my gaming style ever since my introduction to the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game. Even now, I have trouble with limited savegames because I spent so much time playing Cruel Unwinnable Spellcasting games. It took me a long time to get used to the crazy concept of NOT stealing objects that weren’t nailed down when I first played Morrowind.

As you can imagine, I was fascinated when I found that a blogger had got his hands on the drive holding emails, design docs and code for the never-completed sequel to the HHGTTG. There’s some really interesting stuff published, including a number of programmers outlining the conditions under which they would or wouldn’t work on the game. Clearly there was no controlling pointy-haired-boss culture at Infocom.

“I’ve found myself in possession of the “Infocom Drive” — a complete backup of Infocom’s shared network drive from 1989. This is one of the most amazing archives I’ve ever seen, a treasure chest documenting the rise and fall of the legendary interactive fiction game company. Among the assets included: design documents, email archives, employee phone numbers, sales figures, internal meeting notes, corporate newsletters, and the source code and game files for every released and unreleased game Infocom made.”

There’s also some remarkably civilised internet drama, for those who like that sort of thing. The staff involved weren’t contacted before their emails were published, and have turned up in the comments. Pop over to Waxy.org to see the whole thing. Milliways: Infocom’s Unreleased Sequel to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy [via Neil Gaiman’s Journal]

I did find one gem in the comments that I couldn’t put better myself.

I’d like to let all the Infocom people here know that, despite the obvious drama, anger, and disappointment that seems to have gone on with at least some aspects of the job, your output caused many *many* people to laugh, think, and eventually create.

Just for one aspect, I suspect you’ve singlehandedly raised the problem-solving techniques and skills of a whole generation of us. Thank you for that.

- Dave Rutledge

Problem-solving seems to have largely disappeared from gaming, except where the problem can be solved by using a large weapon or a suspiciously shiny object from the next room. I miss having to think during my games.

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Usability is a theme dear to my heart. I’m a staunch believer that every game should have mappable control buttons and allow me to invert both the X and Y axis. Damn you Final Fantasy XII for ruining my ability to turn left and right correctly the first time!

In that vein, LevelUp’s Gaming Tidbits last week pointed me towards Improving Usability in Games. I fully agree with the points in part 1, with particular emphasis on point 5: Know what the f’k I’m doing.

A player should be able to put down a game for a period of months at a time and still be able to hop right back in. Anything else is self-defeating and counter-productive.

How to Make Games User-Friendly: Part 1 - James Portnow on Next-Gen

This problem is exactly the reason why I’m so passionate about journal systems in games. It applies to games as simple and linear as Army of Two or as complex and unwieldy as Deux Ex: Invisible War. I and so many other gamers, simply cannot afford to play every day or even every week. When we do find the time to get return to a game after a holiday, (or after a month of Guitar Hero 3 obsession ;) we need to be reminded of what the hell we were trying to achieve before RL got in the way. A simple log of what’s just happened and where we could go next would make our game experience so much happier.

I’m not quite as enamoured with part two of the series but James makes some good points about the advantage of an in-game manual and SD-TV compatibility. Read them yourself at How To Make Games User-Friendly: Part 2

What are your most reviled game design decisions?

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Whilst waiting for the official release of Condemned 2 on the 4th of April 08, you can practice your forensic skills on the PS3 demo that’s available on the US PSN store. The demo weighs in at 714mb and unless you live in North America you’ll need to create a US PSN account (tip: use google to find an American address).

On with the Dexter like blood splatter analysis and the scary looking characters.

Condemned 2 is released on the 4th April 08 on PS3 and Xbox 360

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Tim Wright (aka CoLD SToRAGE) whom many of you may already know as I’ve mentioned his music several times on this site, has just released his latest album called Android Child. I loved his last album MELT with many of those tracks included in my ipod running playlist. His music is great to exercise to and so far it’s helped me run thousands of miles in training and 3 London marathons (and lots of other events).

You can buy Android Child from the CoLD SToRAGE website for £12.99. Also it’s only available as a download (154mb zip) at the moment and consists of 21 tracks that aren’t available anywhere else and a HTML booklet. I’ve bought it and it contains some great tracks.

According to Tim, Android Child was:

2 years in the making, this album is a very personal work inspired by the ups and downs of life and is dedicated to Brian, my father-in-law, who sadly passed away well before his time last year. Whereas MELT was a collection of ideas I’d had for some time, Android Child was composed from start to finish as an entity, and I think the tracks compliment each other quite well.

Hopefully Sony Liverpool will suddenly wake up to the fact that what’s missing from the next Wipeout game is CoLD SToRAGE tracks. Tim’s dropped them a friendly email expressing his desire to be part of the franchise. So it’s over to you Sony Liverpool, time to make it happen.

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Count Pixel of the BCS responded to a couple of Times articles referencing the recent Byron Review report “Safer Children in a Digital World”. He points out some misinformation in the Times and is calling for a change to the ratings system.

Count Pixel:

“…parents need to understand games ratings in the same way they needed to learn about film certificates. But it appears the PEGI system is a toothless guide and should be scrapped. Games should have the same BBFC certificates as films so parents and shop staff know where they stand.”

I am getting rather sick of repeatedly pointing out to people that those games with potentially distressing content already have the same BBFC certificates as films. Shop staff know exactly where they stand - my first day of work at Blockbuster Video was spent watching training videos about the Data Protection Act, the Video Standards Council and BBFC ratings. I was then subjected to a repeat of the same principles by the manager on duty and I think there may even have been a test.

Here’s the gist: If I supplied a BBFC-rated video or game to a person below the stated age, the store would be given a hefty fine, both me and the store may be prosecuted and I would probably be booted out the front door. It’s not complicated. We had mystery shoppers, for god’s sake. We knew the risks.

Furthermore, if an adult wishes to purchase a BBFC rated game or video and intends to give it to an under-aged person, they have every right to do so. Shop staff are not there to inflict the BBFC’s moral standards upon the nation’s children. We nod and smile and politely point out that this game contains violence and swearing and adult content, but in the end, it’s the parent’s decision. And that’s the way it should be.

Count Pixel again:

…the current ratings, the PEGI ones, aren’t enforced and games need something else. This is something I agree with. Games can have a 16+ rating, but shops aren’t prevented from selling them to anyone under that age. Unless something is a legally enforceable, what’s the point in having it?

Well, let me think. Guidance and information, maybe? Is knowledge so undervalued these days that we need a black and white code of law before we can make decisions?

The usefulness of the PEGI system is in the way that it doesn’t mollycoddle us. It’s simply a guide to content that can help us decide whether or not a game is likely to be appropriate for someone. When you’re dealing with young teenagers, it’s good to know when topics like racial discrimination or drug usage may come up. When buying for children, it’s useful to know that such topics will definitely NOT appear. Parents don’t have the 15+ hours it takes to play and thoroughly vet a game before letting their kids play it. Removing the PEGI system will just deprive parents and guardians of a valuable shorthand to the games’ content.

The BBFC logo may be familiar, but unlike PEGI or the American ESRB system, it provides no useful guidance as to why the film or game received such a rating. Some adults are open about sex, some are more relaxed about violence, others know their kids are immune to horror scenes. Regressing to BBFC labelling removes that choice.

Regardless of this ideal, it’s clear from the Byron Report (section 7.23 onwards) that understanding of the BBFC and PEGI system is still limited. I agree fully with the recommendation in section 7.32:

“I recommend that the video games industry (developers, publishers, retailers) works with the BBFC and PEGI administrators to develop and deliver a comprehensive, high profile communications campaign about video games. I recommend that this is funded by industry with support from Government on reaching parents through the channels available, such as Parent Know How”

The PEGI content symbols are too open to misinterpretation. Game Contains Spiders? Hospitals? Multiplayer? I firmly believe that they need to be changed. The report goes on to mention making better use of existing resources like Ask About Games. Soon after AAG launched in 2005, I pointed out some problems with AskAboutGames.com, not least of which was the fact that there’s no way to literally ask about games. I checked back in 2007 and little had changed, so I emailed ELSPA’s info address. In return, I got an auto-reply assuring me that the person responsible would reply to all emails upon return. Heard nothing since.

It seems that ELSPA are trying but just don’t know how to teach the non-gaming population. I’ve found a few piles of AskAboutGames flyers in GAME shops over the past couple of years, but little more. Do people often read flyers that sit next to cashiers? I usually assume that they’re advertising and ignore them.

Finally, I disagree with the sections 7.33 and 7.34 of the report

I do not think that only putting ’adult’ games on a statutory footing is sufficient to inform parents of potential risks or to protect children from potential risks. One way to strengthen the current system would be to extend the requirement for statutory classification to games which currently attract a 12+ rating…

…I recommend that future reforms of the classification system should incorporate an extension of the statutory basis to include video games which would otherwise receive a 12+ PEGI rating.

It’s not the principle that I object to - if games can legally be sold to people, they will be. That’s the way profit-driven enterprises work and legal limitations are the only real way to control distribution. It’s the content of 12-rated games that I feel doesn’t need regulation. Most of the criteria for a 12+ rating are things you’re exposed to in everyday life - “mild” swearing (”shit”, “bollocks” “bastard”), gambling and fantasy violence (TV). Here’s a sample of 12+ games from PEGI:

• Black and White
• Guitar Hero III
• Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers
• Age of Empires
• Alien Hominid
• Jumper: Griffin’s Story
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• The Sims 2

Do we really want to criminalise people for selling these games to a 10 year old? Bearing in mind, if anyone younger than 10 is shopping alone in my (hypothetical) games store, I’d be reluctant to serve them at all.

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Microsoft has now made the Halo 3 Heroic map pack available free of charge on Xbox Live Marketplace. Originally released in Dec 07 this triple map pack previously cost 800 Microsoft points.

The Heroic map pack consists of the following maps:

STANDOFF

FOUNDRY

RAT’S NEST

How to download the Heroic map pack:

• Sign into Xbox Live
• Go to Marketplace
• Select Game Store
• Find Halo 3
• Select the Heroic Map Pack
• Select confirm download

The next Halo 3 map pack (called Legendary) will be released on the 15th April 08 for 800 Microsoft points.

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Nick Larson Media have made a very impressive stop-motion Lego animation of Portal’s cake-hunt. I’m very impressed by the sheer amount of work it must have taken to get over 1300 stop-motion Lego frames. OTOH, given the legnth of the video, there aren’t nearly enough portals. Good smoke stacks, though.

There’s no embeddable version but you can see the video at Nick Larson Media. Do you like it?

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You may remember that last week I found out that Microsoft were still charging me for my Xbox Live Gold subscription, even though I cancelled the debit card they were using back in November, at the behest of my bank. I stopped by a branch the morning after writing my previous post and spoke to a “Personal Banker”. She told me that customers have been known to sign up for goods or services and then cancel their cards in order to avoid the charges. She then claimed that Barclays sometimes roll over the charges to the replacement card in order to prevent customer fraud of this sort. I asked if it was a certain type of charge that would be rolled over. This would explain why my web hosting companies had sent me invoicing emails when their charges to my old card were rejected. She said that that information was confidential to prevent people gaming the system.

Personal Banker then got rather shirty and started interrupting me with phrases like “Well, there’s no official policy” when I tried to repeat this back to her for confirmation, so I called the telephone banking team to verify her given reason. According to Barclays Debit Card Services, companies can set up charges based on the first 12 digits of your card number, ensuring that they still get their payments when you change cards. Debit Card Services Woman said that this is what Microsoft would have done, whereas my hosting companies would have been charging the entire 16-digit card number.

Make of that what you will.

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Way back in October last year I was playing Team Fortress 2 quite a bit. Somehow, even though I don’t actually know my own gamerscore, it seemed to make sense to unlock the achievements on my own gamertag, instead of playing on someone else’s. So… I duly signed up for a monthly-paid Gold Membership and added my Visa debit card details.

One month later, my boyfriend and his flatmate are sick of me sitting on their couch playing TF2 all the time. Also, Mass Effect was released so I got my own Xbox 360 and flew off on the SS Normandy. In the meantime, I had to get a new debit card because the UK banks have moved away from the wish-it-was-two-factor authentication to actual two-factor authentication. I ordered my new debit card and cancelled my Xbox-Live-known card even though it doesn’t technically expire until September 2008.

There isn’t actually an option to move back to Silver membership from Gold in the Xbox 360 interface. I figured that hey, I can’t use the card in shops any more (I actually tried this), so next time Microsoft try to bill me for the Gold Membership, the charge will get rejected and they’ll downgrade me to a Silver. No problem. My home internet connection is too crappy to play TF2 online anyway.

For Christmas, TheFluffyFist kindly gets me a 12 month subscription card to Xbox Live so that when I do resume playing TF2 I don’t have to give them my new card details and be unable to remove the card info later.

In January, I notice in passing that I still appear to have a Gold membership. “Hmm. That’s strange” I say, but since my two-factor authentication device isn’t in the building, I can’t check my accounts. I forget about it.

Fast forward two months to tonight - I finally got around to looking at my bank statements in detail. Right there in the middle of the month:

“Payment to Microsoft Axbox [sic] Luxembourg This transaction was for GBP 4.99 at exch rate 1.000″

Arse.

Question 1:

How the hell can they continue charging me every month, even though this card was cancelled in November? I shall speak to my bank tomorrow.

Question 2

Does this mean I have to go through the obligatory 3-phone-call ritual and then wait for my non-valid card to be blacklisted before I can stop paying Microsoft for a service I don’t even use?

FFS!

Finally, I’ve been reading Microsoft’s Privacy Statement, which contains the following extract:

“Personal information collected on Microsoft sites and services may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities, and by using a Microsoft site or service you consent to any such transfer of information outside your country. Microsoft abides by the safe harbour framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use and retention of data from the European Union.”

In other words, data submitted to Microsoft is NOT fully protected by the Data Protection Act (1998). If it were, under the core principle of not keeping information longer than is necessary, you would (probably) have the right to have your credit card details removed from payment methods after going through the multiple phone calls that it takes to persuade Microsoft that you no longer want a Gold membership. (Disclaimer - I am not a lawyer.)

Under the Safe Harbour Agreement there is some mention of having the right to delete information where it is inaccurate in Safe Harbour FAQ 8 - Access but… I don’t know how that is applied. Any ideas?

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