Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming: Xboxing with the masses ...

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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Xboxing with the masses ...

I had an interesting weekend.

Since I was going to be out of town for three days for a retreat, kind of last minute I packed my 360, old Xbox, a couple of projectors, and some games for any available "free time" throughout the weekend (which, for me as relates to gaming, includes between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.). We had a couple of other guys bring a 360 and second Xbox, and one dude brought his Nintendo GameCube (?).

It was an interesting deal, because we networked the two boxes for 4-on-4 Halo 2 (would have been all 4 boxes, but we only remembered to bring two copies of the game, and we were in the boondocks), and I got to firsthand run people through multiplayer -- and a lot of these guys (depending) didn't have experience with a 360, or Xbox, console gaming, or gaming at all.

So, I observed several things.

Those from an Xbox or other console background, who hadn't spent time with the 360, really, really liked it. They liked the interface, they liked how easy multiplayer games were to set up, they loved the controller (seriously, I think I have to wash one).

Also, people who weren't used to games (if even just console games), but were willing to try, had a blast, and they did pretty well. There were PC Halo guys who jumped in on Halo 2 and held their own. There were "old" dudes going head-to-head with Soul Caliber II, which was fun to watch.

Speaking of Soul Caliber II, I'm thinking it's not as well designed as I thought it was, since a non-gamer could frantically button mash and consistently whomp on people who were used to the game (not me, I did fine). I'm talking seriously button mash, to the point where my buttons on one wireless controller don't respond as well, and the left analog stick is now listing up and to the left permanently. Bummer. Soul Caliber II also reinforced for me the 360 controller's D-pad sucks.

I learned that video games can be an indicator for addictive personalities. Take someone who doesn't play, give them a constantly available play environment for the first time, and watch them forego previous considerations (like sleep). Interesting.

And I got to experience the online frustrations with Halo 2 in person.

Understand that normally when I pack my 'boxes for travel, I'm setting up with people I know, and there's some accountability and openness on calling each other on stuff. Online, there are a lot of jerks (from my experience, a majority of jerks). By "jerks" I genuinely mean people of deficient character.

This weekend was definitely more toward the former, with some educable opportunities thrown in.

Pet peeve #1 came in the form of things like 4-on-4 capture the flag. One game took freaking forever, but not just because the team's were evenly matched (though there was some of that). It took forever because 2 guys on my team (who are experienced with Halo 2) were playing their own game. I would get the opposing flag, my buddy would be guarding our flag, and I'd be asking the guys sitting next to me (this is important) for cover. They'd be so lost in their own conversation they wouldn't hear me. I'd look at their portion of the screen, and they're up on the mountain, not with a sniper rifle, but arguing about who's going to take invisibility, and trading the shotgun for the rocket launcher, etc. Freaking irritating, and it ultimately cost us the match (3-2 on Blood Gulch, because even two very good players can't take on 4 in capture the flag).

The other bigger pet peeve I have is liars -- in general, but especially about video games.

We had a group of kids from another retreat come in, ask what we were playing, and ask if they could play. One guy even said, "I'm not very good at this game." Then in team slayer, they mopped the floor with us 50-5. Surprise, they play all the time on the same team on Xbox Live.

Me being me, I called them on it.

"Seriously, lying is pointless, but lying about a video game? C'Mon, guys! You
-- you even said, 'I'm not very good at this game.' Nice. Knock it off. Let's go
again."

They were surprised we wanted to play again, but I split the teams (and kept the match team-based, because experience has shown me people with character problems will play online as a team in individual death match just so one of them will win). The game was more even, and (interestingly), they didn't enjoy it as much.

Those gripes aside, it was a good experience, I seriously enjoyed sharing something I'm passionate about with people who don't experience it much, and it woke me up to some accessibility and design considerations to give back to developers, and to consider for my own game development.

And to think the rest of the weekend (outside of gaming) was even more rewarding ...

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.

Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Monday, January 22, 2007

Xboxing with the masses ...

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