Sunday Supplement – 12th February

Comic courtesy of Fat Gamers.

Final nail in the coffin

1993’s Pathways Into Darkness was Bungie’s big break – the inaugural Mac FPS. You’re a member of a Special Operations team trying to stop an ancient god from awakening and destroying the earth. You have to infiltrate an ancient pyramid, reach the bottom level and detonate a bomb, hoping to bury the god under millions of tons of rock.

Best laid plans and all that. Only problem is, as you deploy, your parachute fails to open, you crash to the ground and your team thinks you are dead. So you make your way to the pyramid, finding your team gone and in their place monsters hell bent on ending your existence. It’s up to you to save the world etc.

Ring any bells? Sounds a lot like Halo to me. Back then, Bungie was pioneering gaming on the Mac – an attempt to wrench away the non-console gaming monopoly from the personal computer. Remember, in 2000, Halo starred in Steve Jobs’ MacWorld 2000 keynote. The plan was to release it on Mac and Windows simultaneously. Mac users rubbed their hands in glee. For so long they had been deprived of the best PC games – treated like second class citizens. And then this happens.

On June 19 2000 Microsoft bought Bungie Software and renamed it Bungie Studios. The PC and Mac versions of Halo were chucked in the bottom drawer – the game ported as an exclusive Xbox launch title instead. The hope was that people would buy an Xbox just to play Halo. It worked.

Mac users looked on in horror – Halo had been swiped from beneath them, just as they were about to click install. It took two years before they got to assume the role of Master Chief. But by then it was too late.

Which makes this week’s news that Halo 2’s debut on the PC will only work on Microsoft’s new Vista Operating System even harder to swallow. It marks Bungie’s final transformation from Mac darlings to Microsoft’s star player. How times have changed.

The announcement has also hammered home the power Bungie and the Halo franchise commands in the hearts and minds of gamers across the world. We’re used to seeing in-house game franchises used by publishers to sell consoles off the back of their popularity alone. Mario games on a new Nintendo console, Sonic on a new Sega system back in the day. When was the last time a videogame was used to sell an Operating System?

The success of this move will rest on whether PC gamers are bothered about the port of a two-year-old last-generation console game. There are no signs that the Vista only version of Halo 2 will have any new features to soften the blow of upgrading. As with all FPS games on the PC, Halo’s success on the platform will rest on its online service. If Microsoft locks that down, there’s a real chance that a sizeable proportion of PC gamers will look to upgrade to Vista. If that happens, Microsoft will judge Halo 2 on PC a success.

Down the broadband pipe

Valve has done more than most to try to drag the game distribution model away from the high street and into the broadband pipe. The big move of course was releasing Half Life 2 via Steam. Then they revealed the upcoming Sin Episodes from Ritual Entertainment. This week Valve reinforced their determination to make online distribution of games work by announcing that Half-Life 2: Aftermath will be renamed Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and will be the first in a series of episodic games.

Is episodic gaming the way of the future? There are obvious benefits of course. Gamers get their games on the day of release and straight to their hard drives. Obviously the high street doesn’t want this. Theoretically, it means game developers don’t need publishers or retailers, as they can get games straight to gamers (like Half-Life 2) themselves. The money saved on distributing thousands of copies around the globe could be pumped back into development, making better games. Well, that’s the theory.

These changes are about three years behind where the music industry is right now with online distribution. Of course, it takes a lot longer to download a game than a song, but as broadband speeds increase at an exponential rate, it won’t be long before full games can be downloaded in a matter of minutes. And, if Microsoft’s strategy with Xbox Live is anything to go by, it won’t just be PC gamers that are at the forefront of this revolution. What we can be sure of, however, is that Valve, and killer franchise Half-Life, will be.

Momma always said it was bad for you…

This week Sony Online Entertainment’s Raph Koster and former EA employee Lars Butler, predicted the end of single-player gaming. Here’s what Koster said: “The entire video game industry’s history thus far has been an aberration. It has been a mutant monster only made possible by unconnected computers. People always play games together. All of you learned to play games with each other. When you were kids, you played tag, tea parties, cops and robbers, what have you. The single-player game is a strange mutant monster which has only existed for 21 years and is about to go away because it is unnatural and abnormal.”

Where do you stand – online or offline? Do we even have to make a decision? It’s interesting to weigh up the two forms of gaming. Having played console games for most of my gaming life, I was bowled over when I first began playing World of Warcraft, exploring new areas with my friends, communicating over Team Speak. There really is nothing like it. And certainly, Halo on Xbox Live is miles better than going solo. Oh yeah, remember Goldeneye multiplayer? And not much in life beats Pro Evolution Soccer, two multitaps and a six pack of beer.

But then again, there have been single-player games I have played over the years that have been life changing. I’m thinking Final Fantasy VII. I didn’t need seven screaming pre-pubescent FPS gamers to feel heartbroken when Aeris died. Nor did I need the aid of a friend and a second N64 controller when Link finally discovers Sheik’s true identity in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In short, there are amazing experiences to be had online and offline.

So Koster’s assertion that “The entire video game industry’s history thus far has been an aberration” is, frankly, incorrect. The comment might be deliberately sensational in order to stir debate. Well here’s my pound of flesh: online gaming will very much increase in popularity as the next-generation consoles push their connectivity features, but when the dust settles, a happy medium will remain – a bit for everyone. I really should dig out my N64.

This week on Pro-G

If you haven’t been paying attention you might have missed our double-whammy of Xbox 360 articles. We reviewed Sega’s entertaining, but technically flawed racer Full Auto, and looked at the multiplayer aspect to Ubisoft’s forthcoming Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.

Reviews

Full Auto (Xbox 360)

Zathura (PS2 and Xbox)

Torino 2006 (PS2, Xbox and PS2)

Urban Reign (PS2)

Preview

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360)

This week’s new releases

The drought is officially over. Just look at the list below. Ok, so they aren’t all classics – some are far from it – but at least new games are being released, which can only be a good thing. There are really two titles that stand out from the rest though: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time on the Nintendo DS and Psychonauts on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC. Both games have been enjoyed by our North American friends for some time now, but we Europeans can finally see what all the fuss was about. Psychonauts in particular is a truly great game; it’s not without problems, but everyone with an interest in 3D platformers and humour in games should take a look.

If you’ve got a PSP then be aware of ATV Off Road Fury Blazin’ and Rengoku: The Tower Of Purgatory. Both titles have taken an exceedingly long time to hit European soil, but unlike the aforementioned Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Psychonauts they certainly weren’t worth the wait. Kids are also in luck, with the release of Disney’s Chicken Little, timed to coincide with the movie’s UK cinema arrival.

• Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (PC)
• ATV Off Road Fury Blazin’ Trails (PSP)
• ATV: Off Road Fury 3 ({PS2)
• Breath of Fire III (PSP)
• Day of Defeat: Source (PC)
• Death Jr. (PSP)
• Disney’s Chicken Little (PS2, Xbox, Cube, PC and GBA)
• Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends (PS2)
• Jacked (PS2, Xbox and PC)
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
• Mario Party 7 (Cube)
• Nanostray (DS)
• Pinball Classics: The Gottlieb Collection (PSP)
• Psychonauts (PS2, Xbox and PC)
• Rengoku: The Tower Of Purgatory (PSP)
• The Rub Rabbits! (DS)
• Rugby 06 (PS2, Xbox and PC)
• Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (Xbox)
• Tales Of Eternia (PSP)