Crave

Before 2007, the 2K series of hockey video games was tough to match. It seemed 2K had a perfect sense of gameplay, physics, and true-to-life NHL action. When EA Sports revamped its franchise in NHL 07 by introducing the Skill Stick and a new game engine, the tide immediately turned.

With the 2009-2010 NHL season fast approaching, both hockey games look to improve on their respective formulas. While each game tries to create an accurate hockey simulation experience, only one title is able to deliver a winning combination.... Read more

Uh, do you guys have any seitan?

(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET)

We trekked out to the far reaches of deepest Brooklyn last night to check out an under-development video game called Borderlands. Buzzed about since at least 2007, it's a first-person sci-fi RPG set in a desolate wasteland that looks like the American Southwest, but is, in fact, another planet (go figure).

Want to sell your game? Host a post-apocalyptic pig roast!

While hands-on demos of upcoming games are usually enough to get us to show up, publisher 2K went a little further, turning a Williamsburg warehouse into a B-movie set, complete with props straight out of Mad Max, costumed bartenders, and an entire roasted pig, gleefully hacked up for the attendees.

We thought the proceedings were amusing enough to snap a few photos of the event--just be careful not to let it offend your delicate vegetarian sensibilities.

(Credit: 2K Games)

Hitting the very definition of a cult hit square on the head, few gamers have heard of the 2002 game Mafia, developed by a small group of Czech programmers and originally released on the Xbox and for PC -- but those that do recall it regularly sing its praises as a superior open-world action/adventure.

Built on essentially the same model as Grand Theft Auto, the game transported its crime family story back to the 1930s, and evoked the Maio Puzo Godfather vibe much better than the stodgy, by the numbers, officially licensed Godfather games did later.

For this long-in-the-making sequel, Mafia II, 2K Games has brought the original developers in-house, calling the new studio 2K Czech. What we saw from them was another carefully constructed, engaging virtual crime world, this time updated to the 1940s and 1950s (perhaps not coincidentally mirroring the timeframe of the second Godfather film).

There's not a heck of a lot that's actually new or unexpected in Mafia II, if you've played GTA, The Godfather, Saints Row, or any of a dozen other sandbox-style games. But the city feels thriving and colorful, and the missions we've seen involve just enough variety (such as riding a window-washing rig down the side of building to take out a rival mobster in a conference room meeting) to keep it from being another generic car-based crime thriller.

Most interesting perhaps is the clearly Eastern European take on 1950s America. Looking at the era of Mad Men, Eisenhower, and Hyman Roth filtered through the cold war cultural memory of a former iron curtain country reveals an interesting subtext about how our mid-century lifestyle translated overseas. There's a clear love for bulbous classic '50s cars, fedoras, and retro-chic diners -- which in hindsight seems like a pretty likely picture of what Czechoslovakian game programmers would imagine 1950s America to look like.

(Credit: Farbs.org)

Way to up the ante for the rest of us, game designers.

When indie game developers quit their day jobs, the result is apparently good for all of us. Jarrad Farbs, a maker of quirky browser games like ROM CHECK FAIL and Polychromatic Funk Monkey, left 2K Games Australia to pursue his own free-spirited game interests full-time. But before he did, he left an animated calling card that's part Super Mario Bros., part nose-thumbing, and all heart.

Following Mario through an above-ground and sublevel and into one of Farb's own retrofunky titles, he gets to scream "I QUIT" several times more than the average office person ever has in their lifetime. We could have used a few more levels, but it's the best gameplay we've ever found in a farewell note. Then he leaves us with a touch of sentimentality, claiming that "his princess is in another castle."

First of all, we wonder how Nintendo feels about all of this. Second, we're already leaping ahead to what other games would make great life-change stand-ins: "You've been served" by Phoenix Wright? Baby announcement by way of Bioshock?

(Source: Kotaku)

How do you follow up one of the most critically acclaimed video games in recent memory? 2K Games is facing that very challenge with its sequel to the 2007 hit BioShock. We recently sat down for an eyes-on preview of the upcoming BioShock 2 from the game's developers.

The original game succeeded by mixing a solid first-person shooter mechanic with a wildly imaginative fictional world, set in the ruined underwater city of Rapture. The art deco design of the 1940's city was a welcome break from the warehouses and space stations most games are set in, and the background story of a utopian social experiment gone wrong incorporated influences from Ayn Rand to Jules Verne--heady stuff for gamers used to a steady diet of zombies and elves.

The dangerous Big Sister, glimpsed in the darkness.

(Credit: 2K Games)

BioShock 2 keeps the underwater setting from the first game, but shifts the point of view from an amnesiac plane crash survivor to a prototype Big Daddy, putting you in the oversized boots of one of the most fearsome adversaries from the first game. Playing as a hulking man-monster, we're concerned that audiences won't be able to identify with the protagonist, and not be drawn into the story. Fighting seemed very similar to the original game, but instead of using a gun along with his various "plasmid" powers (essentially genetic engineering that looks and works like a magic spell), your Big Daddy sports a giant drill on the end of his right arm.

The demo level we saw, which may or may not be in the final game, gave us a basic overview of the game, and involved a meeting with a new super-powered adversary, the Big Sister. If you're familiar with the original BioShock, she's a Little Sister (one of a community of creepy little girls who harvest energy from dead bodies), who has evolved into something much bigger and more dangerous.

Genetic powers, such as this fireball, return in BioShock 2.

(Credit: 2K Games)

New plot aside, the settings, graphics, combat, and gameplay all seemed very familiar, and we could see BioShock 2 suffering from a case of sequelitis--without significant upgrades in the graphics, locations, and action, it feels at this point more like a downloadable add-on pack than a whole new game. Adding to our concern is that BioShock's original Creative Director, Ken Levine, apparently has only minimal involvement with this sequel.

Still, an overly familiar sequel to a great game is better than a sequel to a bad one, and we're looking forward to checking out more of BioShock 2, which should be available on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 later this year, with further details to be unveiled at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in June.

A leap-year issue with Microsoft's Zune music player is still leaving many users cold, despite the company's reassurance that all would be well by sometime on New Year's Day.

Postings on Zune message boards Thursday morning, as people tried out Microsoft's recommendations and fellow Zune users' suggestions, ranged from the hopeful...

"The wipe process should only take a minute or two. If it is hanging on this screen, disconnect it from power, let the battery drain, and then reconnect it to start the device again," user Raw Deluxe wrote on Zune Forums.

...to the melancholy:

"Mine never made it back. The battery drained ok, but it tried to start one time and is now good and dead. I talked to support and they agreed - its a brick," wrote brotherdiesel.

Scores of Zune users on Wednesday -- the last day of a 366-day leap year -- reported that their 30GB Zune devices were freezing up. Complaints rippled across message boards as people booted up the gadgets and found they could not get to their songs or pictures.

By the middle of the day, Microsoft had identified the root of the problem: the Zune's internal clock was stumbling as it tried to handle a leap year. (See Microsoft's Zune support site for more details.) Things would start to resolve themselves, the company said in its Zune 30 FAQ, by noon GMT (4 a.m. PT), and it advised users with frozen Zunes to follow these steps:

1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain--this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that's 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.

One ZuneBoards forum user claimed to have identified the actual trouble spot in the clock driver code. (A tip of the hat to Ars Technica for spotting the post.)

"The Zune's real-time clock stores the time in terms of days and seconds since January 1st, 1980," wrote user itsnotabigtruck. "The Zune frontend first accesses the clock toward the end of the boot sequence. Doing this triggers the code that reads the clock and converts it to a date and time." The post continues:

Under normal circumstances, this works just fine. The function keeps subtracting either 365 or 366 until it gets down to less than a year's worth of days, which it then turns into the month and day of month. Thing is, in the case of the last day of a leap year, it keeps going until it hits 366. Thanks to the if (days > 366), it stops subtracting anything if the loop happens to be on a leap year. But 366 is too large to break out of the main loop, meaning that the Zune keeps looping forever and doesn't do anything else.

For those who hadn't yet run into problems, Microsoft said to refrain from connecting the Zune to a PC before noon GMT on Thursday.

To disconnect the battery, or not to disconnect the battery
Microsoft strongly advised users to ignore advice from forum visitors who suggested disconnecting the Zune's battery to reset the device:

This is a bad idea and we do not recommend opening your Zune by yourself (for one thing, doing so will void your warranty). However, if you've already opened it, do one of the following:
• Wait 24 hours from the time that you reset the Zune and then sync with your computer to refresh the usage rights; or
• Delete the player's content using the Zune software (go to Settings, Device, Sync Options, Erase All Content), then re-sync it from your collection.

Judging from forum comments Thursday morning, however, a number of users had indeed disconnected the battery.

"I got tired of waiting.....opened it up and did a hard reset. Seems that 'triggered' it cause now its telling me to connect it to my PC and then open the Zune software and restore the firmware. It seems to be seeing it.....hopefully all is on the road to recovery," wrote floozuki.

By midday Pacific Time on Thursday, some users found life returning to normal for their Zunes: "Mine came back today just as advertised.... all songs intact...no worries.....," wrote DadGuy, though it wasn't clear which recovery method he had followed.

But others griped that the New Year's freeze was just the latest in a series of problems they'd been facing. Said emilysuz:

I tried the button combo, it's currently stuck on 'Connect Zune to your PC' but it is currently plugged in to my PC. I have had trouble with this thing fopr days, before the widespread crash and I'm beginning to think this thing is just your garden variety piece of crap. I loved my Zune until the battery wouldn't charge. Maybe my Zune troiuble is not the same. It refuses to charge, it only charges long enough to tell me my battery is low and then it dies again, even if it's plugged up. It won't sync, wired or wireless. Again, I love my Zune, but if it's dead it's no good to me.

User JediFarfy sought to mollify emilysuz about the Zune's failure to sync:

Mine wouldn't at first, so I kept disconnecting it and reconnecting it on both ends (comp and Zune). Took about 4 times and it finally connected. Your Zune had a rough, confusing day, give it some love and it'll be fine.

See also:
• I want to believe: Reflections on my Zune year
• The new Zunes in action

Looks like the Midwest isn't the only thing that's freezing up this holiday season: many people are reporting that their 30GB Zunes are spontaneously going on the fritz as well.

Microsoft's Zune MP3 player.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The symptom is being reported widely on discussion boards about Microsoft's music player, including Zune.net, Zune User Community Forums, and ZuneScene. With the problem, people's Zunes reboot but freeze when the startup status bar reaches 100 percent.

Some users reported the problem happened at exactly midnight PST, at the very beginning of the last day of the year. That timing led some wags to call the problem Z2K after the Y2K problem that was widely feared to cripple the computing industry when computer clocks moved from 1999 to 2000.

"It reset itself. I don't know why," said one owner who posted an account of his Zune problem on YouTube after reporting it on the Zune.net forum.

Microsoft didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning, but issued a statement later in the day (see below).

"I hate to say it but I believe this is the end of the road for the Zune and I. Just as I was happy with the last update and things were fine, we get another major meltdown. I was always supportive and had good things to say about my Zune to those that would ask, however this is the nail in the coffin," griped user Redinight on a ZuneScene discussion board. "I can't take it anymore. I can't sit here all the time and wonder what Microsoft does right or wrong anymore, I just want to get up and go listen to my music. Listening to music is about the last thing I do with my Zune. I always have to reinstall, download new firmware, or wait for the slow software to catch up. Now this? I want to throw it away and never look back."

Big Daddy on your PS3

After countless rumors, it appears that last year's underwater dystopian masterpiece, BioShock, will see the light of day on the PlayStation 3 after all. The critically acclaimed title had recently been in the news regarding its big-budget Hollywood adaptation.

Now, Computers and Videogames is reporting that the latest issue of the UK magazine PSM3 is showcasing a preview of the PS3 version of the game along with a handful of screenshots. While there's been no word from 2K Games officially, once the magazine hits newsstands on June 5 we'd imagine a press release will follow shortly after.

This is great news for the Sony console, as BioShock was originally an exclusive for the Xbox 360 and PC. This is not the first game to lose exclusivity with the 360, as Lost Planet found its way on the PS3 last January--albeit over an entire year after its initial release. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion shared a similar fate, showing up on the PS3 about a year after its Xbox 360 debut. Rumors have also been tossed around about the sci-fi RPG Mass Effect appearing on the PS3 as well.

In an industry where software exclusivity traditionally dictates console sales, factors like online services and additional hardware features may begin to take supremacy as top selling points.

Is console exclusivity long for this world? Tell us what you think.

(Credit: Take-Two Interactive)

No one can argue with the fact that last year's BioShock was a milestone in interactive storytelling as far as a video game is concerned. 2K Games was able to create such a unique setting and mood all while engaging us in a thrilling narrative like nothing we've seen before. Naturally, an experience such as this seemed ultimately destined for the big screen, and now Variety is reporting that Universal Studios will be the company bringing the underwater city of Rapture to a theater near you.

But perhaps the biggest news to come out of all this is whom Universal has lined up to direct the dystopian drama. Gore Verbinski, famed director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, has signed on while accomplished screenwriter John Logan (Sweeny Todd, The Aviator) is in talks to write the script.

It would appear that all the pieces are in place for BioShock to break the curse of disappointing movies adapted from video games. Even more encouraging, Verbinski says that BioShock has the strongest narrative of any game he's played, which is why he wants to bring it to the silver screen. Just promise us there won't be any CG Big Daddies and you're already headed in the right direction.... Read more