Anyone out there played Priston Tale? I know it’s Korean but since our readers are apparently 12-17 and Asian, you never know.

Anyway, I ask because Priston Tale 2 is coming to Europe and I do love a good MMORPG. Have a quick look at the official Priston Tale 2 website and then come back.

Seen it yet? It looks pretty, right? Thing is, all the nice artwork is hidden behind mystery meat navigation. If you roll the mouse over invisible hot-spots on the site, you get a bit of art, or a gameplay trailer. Or a mildly-disturbing wallpaper showing a warrior-woman who has huuuuuuuuge breasts and not enough armour. No, I’m not telling you where that particular hotspot is. Look at some nice concept art instead:

I get what they’re trying to do - engage the visitor by giving us a bit of a challenge. I just don’t think it’s necessary or fun. I found a nice bit of male character concept art earlier but I’ve been looking for the hotspot for 10 minutes now and can’t find it. Aren’t pixel-hunting puzzles in games almost as universally derided as the quick-time event?

Popularity: 13% [?]

Stumbled across this Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops screenshot on Joystiq.

I see EVA’s boobs are still proudly on display. Go to the Joystiq article if you want more MGS:OP pics.

Okay, maaaaaaybe if she was in the middle of a heated battle and her zipper burst and she had more important things on her mind like surviving to be concerned about, a la Sigourney Weaver in GalaxyQuest, then it makes sense to put her in overalls unzipped to the waist and showing off her bra.

But she’s in a freaking camp. You’d think she’d learn to zip up her damn overalls by now. I’m so bored of female character models designed as wank-fodder.

(Is she meant as satire?)

Popularity: 9% [?]

What makes games fun? With all the money being spent on game development and the obsession over framerates, HDR lighting, ridiculously expensive hardware requirements and all that other stuff, you’d expect that games these days are better and brighter that ever, wouldn’t you? Then how come they’re not? Look at Black and White 2 and Perfect Dark Zero’s single-player campaign. Years of development but would anyone call them legendary games? Hardly.

So what makes a good game? Is it story? Characters? Explosions? AI? Competition? Emotion? Graphics? Boobie physics? You’d think so with the amount of work that goes into them, wouldn’t you?

No, the answer is much simpler than that.

It is fun gameplay. Duh!

To be more specific, it comes down to low learning curve mechanics (see Why Don’t People Play Games - Interface), variation and a good challenge:reward ratio. Nothing more, nothing less. Look at the original Mario Bros - still a fun game after all these years. I wonder how many designers take those three variables into consideration - they’re the staples of gaming so you’d think they all would but let’s look at some examples: Continue Reading

Popularity: 4% [?]

So, I was watching the trailer for Sin Episodes: Emergence last night. It looks like a fantastic shooter, with video of people being shot out of the sky on damaged jetpacks and other exciting carnage courtesy of the Half-Life 2 engine, but there’s one thing from the website that really sticks in my memory. Well, two things.

Holy Crap! Bio-chemistry indeed…

Trailer and other goodies are on The Official Sin Episodes website. The game itself (and it’s predecessor, Sin) will be available as a package through Steam and if you pre-order you get a whopping US$2 or £1.12 off! Hey, it’s better than paying full price ;)

Popularity: 8% [?]