Things that SHOULD be made into video games (Part 3)

This time it is not a movie, that will be transformed into a video game, but a company. I think that we are long overdue for a NASA platform video game.





I know what you are thinking, not another space adventure game. There are plenty of those already, and they are way cooler when you have alien technology and weapons. This game would stray away from that format. It would be a mix between and awesome flight simulator and Myst.

Instead of fighting aliens with laser guns that melt your brain, you would have to solve puzzels and complete tasks to finish the game. You would start off as a cadet trainning to go into space. When you complete your training and get to an appropriate security clearance level, you find out that NASA has found reminants of life on the moon. You are going up in the next shuttle, but during the flight your ship suffers setbacks that you have to use your expertise to solve.

Also, depending on what puzzles you were able to solve during training you would have different tools to help you once you are on the mission. You can be a scientist, engineer, or pilot. Each has benefits and skills that will help you solve different problems on the space craft. Once you get to the moon, that is where the game takes a turn from reality, and you learn that the moon used to support alien life. You find and underground temple, and learn a back story. The actions you take will give you several different endings.

In the end your goal would be to go home. What would ad to this games aura is if the technology and music in the game were from the 1960's. That could add a creepy retro feel to the game. Ultimately, just as with Myst, the storyline would have to be really good, and this would be a largely puzzle solving game. It would even make a good Iphone app.

Things that SHOULD have been made into video games (Part 2)

This time we are going to look at another movie: Casshern. No, I am not talking about the animated series. I am referring to the live action movie from 2004.

I highly recomend this film for an out of body movie expirience. The story is hard to follow, but once you buy in, it will take you for a ride. Before I get into why this movie would make a great game, I need to give you a brief synopsis. This film drops us into a fantasy world ravaged by a long war between humans and machines. The doctors of the city are trying to find a cure for the worlds leaders. They discover "neo-cells", which are thought to regenirate anything. Suddenly, a mechnical lighting bolt from the sky transforms the discarded neo-cells into human like neo-sapiens. The city leaders have them immediately killed, but the five surviving neo-sapiens now vow revenge. They find and reanimate the old robot army to iradicate the humans. The only thing that can stop them is Casshern, the son of an army general who was resurected with neo-cells after dying in the war. The neo-cells give him super powers, and along with a cyborg suit, he fights the neosapiens to an apocalyptic conclusion. (Whew, did you get all that.)

The first thing is that this movie drips with style. The graphics and art direction were some of the best around at the time of it's release. In a video game format this movie would be on par with the likes of Bioshock and The Last Guardian.

This film has three distinct factions in conflict. You have the robots, humans and neo-sapiens. The game play should follow the format of one of the most underrated PC games of the past Decade (Alien vs. Predator). Alien vs. Predator allowed gamers to expirience a multiplayer royal rumble using humans, aliens, and predators. What was truly unique was that these weren't just the same sprites with different skins, but you actualled played the charaters differently. Aliens could crawl on the wall, humans had the deadliest weapons and predators were invisible. Casshern would funcition in a similar way. The protagonist/neo-sapiens would have combo based attacks, featuring speed and chaining ability. The robots would be slow and powerful, and have the ability to fly for breif periods.

Finally, the humans would have the best guns, and can set the best traps around the playing field. This game would have a great online multiplayer community. The ability to play with different characters on different maps will add tremendously to this games replay value.
        I would be hesitant to change the story from the film, but I would add to it. Also the single player mode could be played from the the three different factions. First, you would play through as Casshern, and this would be the mutant story arc. Then after beating the game you would play through on the mechanica story arc, and finally as the human story arc. The same stages would be used for each arc, but the puzzles and challanges would be different. Each character arc would be complete and have a unique ending, but as you play as each group, information is revealed about the other characters. Each time you play you get more information that enriches the story as a whole.

I might just be a fan of the movie, and don't want the story to stop. But this could be an awesome video game title.

Things that SHOULD have been made into Video Games (Part1)

This post is the first in a series where I look at anything that would have been better off as a video game. It could be a movie, toy, comic or presidential election. Today we are going to look at the movie "Sky Line."

If you haven't seen this movie, and you want to, then I must warn you that this blog will contain some spoilers. If you have seen this movie then you know that you would have begged for a spoiler before wasting 98 minutes of your life. It is fair to say that this was a really bad movie, just look up some reviews. The special effects were good, but that was it. The acting and directing were terrible. The concept was tired and overused. This movie stole concepts from other successful sci-fi movies, but executed them awfully. Imagine a cross between The Matrix, Independence Day, War Of The Worlds, and Cloverfeild created by deaf, dumb and blind chimps. (Well maybe it wasn't that bad) The worst part is that the one truly new concept from the film comes five minutes before the movie ends. (Well, it doesn't really end, they just decided to stop shooting it at this point)

However, this films one redeeming value is that it would make an awesome video game. It has the potential to sell with titles like Infamous and Prototype. To better explain I will have to reference the end of the movie.

(Spoiler)

Most of the film takes place as a group of friends tries to escape an alien invasion in a coastal town. The have to evade constant alien attacks and an unsympathetic military to survive. The aliens use a blue light to ensnare their human prey, and for some undisclosed reason our hero, Eric Balfour, is immune to it's effects.

 At the end of the film Eric finds himself trapped on the alien ship. Also his pregnant girl friend is stuck in another part of the ship. To make matters worse the aliens use human brains to power themselves. After, having his brain harvested and put into a tank like alien, he takes control and tears across the ship to save his girlfriend and unborn child.

Here is where this movie would make a good game. Imagine a game where you get to fight both aliens and the military as a brain switching  monstrous freak. You can change bodies by putting your brain into different alien models.

So, the game starts off, and you are on a weird alien ship. You don't remember a lot but you know that you were once human, and you have faint memories of a girl. You begin the game in a weak alien body, searching for clues to your origin. While scurrying around the ship you have to fight a bigger, meaner alien that you eventually kill. Now, you can put your brain in his body and use his powers. The levels continue like this, until you remember your pregnant girlfriend, and the destruction of your planet. At certain check points in the game you take a brake from being an alien, and flash back to your human body. In these levels our hero learns his back story while dodging the cross fire between the military and the aliens.

After each flashback he returns to his current alien creature. Now, with your body switching power in hand you try to save your girlfriend and your planet, in an all out royal rumble with the alien monsters.

That would be a pretty awesome game, right? However, I would change the title of the game. SKYLINE has too much bad press attached to it, and another name would give it a fresh start in a fresh market.

More Hollywood Hilarity

Well, Hollywood has done it again. Just when you think they have run out of material to make movies from, they mine an untapped source. Board Games!!!! Following the success of Transformers, Hasbro has decided to release the movie "Battleship". Here is a preview:

Is it bad that I kind of want to see this? Is it worse that I want to hear someone say, "You sunk my battleship"? Anyway, I researched some of the upcoming releases, and Battleship isn't the only board game to make it's way to the big screen.

Here are a couple more movies set to be released in 2013:

Jenga

Ordinary construction worker Alan Hall is placed in an extraordinary position, when a failed kidnapping attempt lands a terrorist cell in his building. As the Jenga Corporation's new sky scraper becomes a battle field, this ex-army engineer is the only man who can save the young daughter of a foreign diplomat. Using his knowledge of the building's blue prints he has to outwit the heavily armed rebels, and save the girl before the building is destroyed.





Operation:

 
The year is 2042, and android technology has influenced every aspect of our lives. The  medical field has benefited the most from artificial intelligence, but one doctor disagrees. Milton Brace was once considered the best O.R. doctor in the world. Now, he is a figure head in a hospital run by robots. When a earthquake hits the metropolitan area, his hospital is swamped with patients. Things get even worse when flooding shorts the power to the hospital. Now, Dr. Brace must work with the AI to save as many people as he can before the robots power cells run out.

Monopoly:

Jonathan Edgar Holmes is a self made man. As young hoodlum orphan living in the streets of Brooklyn, he made his way out of the ghetto investing in tech companies in the early nineties. His company now controls the cell phone market. But no one gets to the top without making a couple of enemies. With a pending S.E.C. investigation, and ghosts from his past popping up, he will have to use all of his corporate cunning to stay out of jail.











Okay, so none of these are real, but I can dream. My apologies to the following games that I couldn't make a poster for: Crossfire, Simon Says, and Hungry, Hungry, Hippos.

The Premire Episode of "The Sandbox"

We here at Armaggon Sushi are now getting into podcasting.

I know you love video game music as much as we do. Nothing makes you want to save the castle or take out an enemy bomber with a Surface to Air missile more than an intense musical score. But where do you go if you want to hear the opening theme of "Call of Duty"? What place can you turn to, if you want to know who composed the music for Infamous. Well, we wanted to create that place, and so "The Sandbox" was born. It is a podcast that brings you all the video game music you love from the early 80's to today.

If you are tired to listening to the same old songs on pandora or Rhapsody, then check out "The Sandbox" it is definetly something different.

http://www.box.net/shared/071x65988kp5b6abvh7o

Video Game Tips Video

Hey blog fans. Here is a video I shot, explaining various tips to beat some of my favorite games. Take a gander.

Best Video game Controllers of all time

It’s time to take a look at unsung hero of the video game world. At E3, the games are the rock stars, and the systems are the CEO’s. But what about the controller? You know, the d-pad, the joystick, the game pad, the ergonomic wand of the game. You probably have several piled in a corner somewhere. It is constantly getting kick, pulled out and knock down. They are the workhorses of the industry, and yet they get very little attention. Well, I am here to change that by rating the best game controllers of all time. It’s time to get those plastic instruments of destruction out of the drawer. Haul your Dreamcast VMU control pad down from the attic, because it is time to give the controllers some love. 

Ratings are from one to five, with five being awesome and 1 being extremely lame. Controllers will be rated on innovation, durability, response time, aesthetics, comfort.*

#11) Atari Jaguar: 2.34

Innovation: 2.9

Durability: 3.5

Response time: 2.9

Aesthetics: 1.4

Comfort: 1.2

 Atari Jaguar was one of the first 64 bit systems released in the United States. In 1993 it’s lack of game titles led to its demise, and it’s controller didn’t help. This monstrosity is a case of bigger not always being better. The first run of this game pad had a whopping seventeen buttons. If that wasn’t enough, they released a later model sporting twenty buttons. It was a controller perfect for someone who could play with both hands and feet. The complicated button pattern made this controller incredibly hard to hold. The design wasn’t very creative either. It’s as if they took a Famicom controller and stuffed it full of buttons until it exploded. This controllers one redeeming quality was is its durability. The controller was pretty solid, and would be put to better use as pummel stone than a game pad. To quote Comic Book Man “Worst Game Pad Ever!”

#10) Nintendo 64: 2.36

Innovation: 2.6

Durability: 2.8

Response time: 3.4

Aesthetics: 1.6

Comfort: 1.2

 It’s surprising that such a popular system has a controller so low on the list. However, anyone who has worn out their thumbs on the tiny, hard, rigid, f&^%#$ing plastic joystick, will understand why this controller has a low rating. Its three-pronged design is better suited for some alien race with multiple appendages. Nothing is worse than switching between two different control pads in the heat of battle. At least Nintendo allowed you to add a rumble pack into the controller. This was innovative for the time, but it’s bulkiness and positioning put more strain on a gamer’s hand. The small analog stick would also wear out after time, forcing you to buy more and more of these ugly controllers. Nothing brings down the Feng Shui of a room like mountains of grey controllers.

#9) Dreamcast: 2.9

Innovation: 2.2

Durability: 4

Response time: 4.2

Aesthetics: 2.4

Comfort:2.2

 Ah, Dreamcast. If Sega is like an alcoholic cousin, then Dreamcast was his final bender before he shot himself. Dreamcast was Sega’s last attempt at the home console market, before eventually bowing out to the likes of Sony and Nintendo. This controller had many of the shortcomings of the N64 game pad. It had two slots for memory cards or Rumble packs, and followed the one analog stick and one directional pad format. It’s bubble shape made it difficult to pull off quick button combinations for faster games. Street fighter Alpha3 was a nightmare with this controller. This controller did benefit from the software of the Dreamcast, which made it very responsive, once you got your hand on the button. In the end this system fell victim to the same vices that felled Sega’s other systems (except Genisis); a lack of games in the face of fierce competition. This console was also one of the first to successfully employ four controller input jacks that are standard on today’s high level gaming machines.

#8) Virtual Boy: 3.19

Innovation: 4.1

Durability: 3.4

Response time: 3

Aesthetics: 3

Comfort: 2.4

Virtual boy was Nintendo’s first attempt at a 3-D gaming platform. Its controller’s uniqueness is more a result of the gaming environment than innovative controller designs. The virtual boy came out in 1995, and had a game pad with two direction pads on either side of its controller. It’s shape laid the groundwork for Play Station’s later designs. The two D-pads were to help the player control sprites in a three dimensional environment. It was connected to a visor that was more of an over grown View Master than a gaming console.

#7) Xbox/Xbox360: 3.19

Innovation: 2.5

Durability: 3.9

Response time: 4.7

Aesthetics: 2.1

Comfort:2.3

The Xbox was Microsoft’s platform for breaking into an industry that it has ignored for far too long. The programming behemoth was too content to languish in the stagnant PC gaming field, instead of capitalizing on the billion dollar home gaming market. The Xbox/Xbox360 sported a impressive processor and unheard of online game play. It was marred by the first generation of 360 consoles crashing inexplicably. (Instead of the blue screen of death it was the red circle of death.) The other flaw was the huge, fat, nasty, bulky controller. One version of the controller was so big, it was actually marketed as the “Fat Boy”. It takes a pair of Dwight Howard sized hands to comfortably grasp this controller. If you weren’t a grown man, it would take both hands, and sometimes both feet to be able to use the controller the way it is supposed to be used. The Xbox 360 controller got a little smaller and is not quite as bulky. The rest of the controller is pretty uninspired, looking very similar to early predecessors.

#6) Nintendo Gamcube/Wavebird: 3.21

Innovation: 3.7

Durability: 2.9

Response time: 3.3

Aesthetics: 2.9

Comfort:3.4

After Nintendo’s fiasco of a game controller with the N64, they got a little bit better with the Game Cube and Wavebird controllers ( I know the Wavebird was developed by a different company). This controller still employed the rock hard joystick. I had seen more than a few thumbs blister after several hours of intense smash brothers play. This controller also had a more ergonomic design. It lost the third prong that the N64 controller had. The Wavebird was also a very capable after market controller and gained extra points for its wireless capability. It is not the sturdiest controller in the grouping. The joystick would wear out and many times snap off. While this controller is far better than it’s predecessor, it is still nothing to write home to Japan about.

#5) Super Nintendo Entertainment System: 3.28

innovation: 3.14

Durability: 3.8

Response time: 4

Easthetics: 2.6

Comfort: 3.1

The Super Nintendo was easily one of the top five systems of all time. Its catalogue of game titles alone was enough to make even the most successful PC blush. Its controller design was a part of that. Nintendo decided to expand on the older N.E.S. format in several ways. First, it took off all the hard corners in exchange for more rounded edges. This was much appreciated by the hands of gamers who would play for hours on end. They also added several more buttons, including two left and right triggers at the top of the controller. The expanded number of buttons allowed for more intricate commands to be played in the video games. This controller had two problems, which kept it from ranking higher than it is. First, is that with more buttons comes more opportunity for them to wear out. After some time buttons would stick, or not be as responsive. I wore out one pair of controllers just playing Killer Instinct. The other problem was that these controllers were not very stylish. The dark and faded purple against the varying grays on the controller was pretty ugly to look at. These controllers definitely got put in the drawer when they were done being used.

#4) Nintendo Entertainment System: 3.32

Innovation: 2.6

Durability: 4.8

Response time: 3.2

Aesthetics: 3.4

Comfort:2.4

The Nintendo Entertainment System is given credit for bringing video games back from the brink of extinction after an explosion of terrible games almost killed the market back in the 80’s. And, the controllers were just as awesome as the system that saved video gaming. The N.E.S. controller (as well as the Famicom controller) set the standard that all other controllers follow today (a directional pad on the left and buttons on the right). It’s simple, but it works, and every other controller on this list is a spawn of this design. It is also the most durable controller I have ever used. Conan could use a pair of these as bolo’s to trip up his enemies. There was nothing you could do to destroy these controllers. The big knock on these controllers was that the square design was hard on a gamer’s hands. And while two buttons works with N.E.S. games, it is not very useful to control the myriad of commands found in today’s platforms.

#3) Sega Genisis Controller: 3.66

Innovation: 3.4

Durability: 4.2

Response time: 4

Aesthetics: 3.7

Comfort: 3

The Sega Genisis boomerang controller was probably one of the sexiest game pads to ever hit the market. It’s black on black control pad and button interface my have been hard to find in the dark, but reminds one of the sleek body lines and engineering of a Corvette. This was the beginning of the two party console wars. It was Genisis versus Nintendo and a whole bunch of forgettables in-between. These controllers did not hold up as well as the N.E.S. controllers. And, the connected D-pad was supposed to make the way you move your character around a space more natural, but ended up putting you in a bad spot. “I wanted to crawl under the electrified fence, not jump into it.”

#2) Play Station 1/2/3:  3.81

Innovation: 3.4

Durability: 3.7

Response time: 4.6

Aesthetics: 4

Comfort: 3.2

This controller is the golden standard for video gaming today. Sony, a relative latecomer to the console gaming industry, hit one out of the park with this controller. It’s body shape was ergonomic and functional. It takes advantage of the basic design set forth by Nintendo, but adds two left and right buttons at the top to make use of all your fingers. The smoothed curved edges kept gamers from having hard corners bruise their hands. The next generation of controllers for the P.S.2 were black, and added analog controllers for a smoother control of a character. Finally, the third generation for the P.S.3 made the controllers wireless for nearly unlimited range from the console. The fact that these controllers are lumped together is the only reason they are kept at a solid #2.

#1) Nintendo Wii: 3.84

Innovation: 4.9

Durability: 3.9

Response time: 3

Aesthetics: 4.1

Comfort:3.3

Leave it to Nintendo to create the number one controller on the list. The Wii controller was so innovative; it was the main reason for the console’s sell out performance after its release. Now, both Microsoft and Sony are rushing to release a comparable controller (i.e. the Kinetic and the P.S. Motion Controller). The Wii remote is everything we thought the “Power Glove” was going to be. You can Wirelessly control actions on the screen with the movement of your body. It’s clean, white, futuristic look is something straight out of the latest Michael Bay Sci-Fi action thriller. My hat is off to you Nintendo.

I have no idea what the future holds for gaming and game pad development. But I hope to see even funkier and more innovative designs in the future.

My apologies to all the controllers that were left off the list. I decided not to include every controller, either because of its relative obscurity in the gaming world, or its similarity to other controllers on the list. So while some of these controllers have a truly unique and awesome design they didn’t make it. My apologies go out to: Famicom, Sega Master system, the Atari 7800 Joypad, Sega Saturn, Turbo Graphix 16, Amiga CD32 , CD-I, Coleco Vision , Atari 2600, Intellivision, NeGcon, the power glove, Neo GeoCD,  and the host of PC Game pads. 

Amiga CD32

Coleco Vision

NeGcon

Power Glove "The Wizard"

*Ratings are based as follows

Innovation is based what was new about the joystick. What did this game pad bring that was not there before?

Durability is based on how well controllers stood the test of time. Do they break easily, and how fast to the buttons wear down?

Response Time refers to how well the game pad controlled the image on the screen. Was there any kind of lag between pressing the button and character movement?

Aesthetics asks one question. Does it look cool?

Comfort refers to how well the controller fits in your hand. How quickly will you get calluses using it?