Reuters has an interesting article up: Microsoft Planning New Xbox Live Features. There’s some talk of server-side data storage, and speculation as to if or how that interacts with the rumors that XBox Next (or whatever the next console ends up being called) won’t have a hard drive.

I dunno, I’m skeptical. I’m not going to rip songs for a custom soundtrack and store them on MS’s servers! Nor would I save my games there. And to rely too much on server-side storage would be to cut out all the people who don’t have their XBoxes online (which is probably most of them).

I just hope MS rethinks this. Not including a hard drive just seems like a huge step backwards…

So I finally got around to installing BF:1942, patched it up and installed Battlefield: Pirates today.

What fun! Zipping around in sloops firing broadsides at each other, or manning the shore batteries (cannons, of course) trying to fend off a cutting out expedition (and getting hacked down from behind my a cutlass wielding mad man!).

Honestly I didn’t play for long since my BF 1942 skills are so horribly rusty. I can’t remember any of the basic key commands and I was costing my team in a big way. At this point there’s no single player game available.

So I think I’d best play some straight BF 1942 in single player mode to get the controls down again, then head back for some more Battlefield:Pirates. Well worth a look!

I was going through my email and saw in the Fileplanet weekly newsletter mention about a new mod for Battlefield 1942. Talk about original! This one turns BF:1942 into a game about pirates!!. You get stuff like sloops and galleons, coastal mortars, and ‘turtles’ (little submarine things) and balloons.

I haven’t played it yet, but I’m going to have re-install BF:1942 and check it out. BTW, the lead developer worked on the XBox version of Crimson Skies as an environmental artist.

So a week or so ago the news went out that Kevin Bachus has joined Infinium labs (dreamers of the vaperware console, The Phantom). To track back, Bachus started as a PR flak for some game company (which is when I met him in my previous life as a gaming journalist; frankly I no longer remember what company it was. Acolade or Empire or something equally insignificant, I think.) and ended up at Microsoft as “one of the fathers of the XBox.” Good show so far; I have to admit I’m quite a fan of the XBox.

But then he and a few other X-Dads left to start a company, CEG. That flopped, and now Bachus is at Infinium. And damn, is the man blowing smoke!! Read this article and prepare to be amazed. The boy spins like a top. He calls CEG ‘wildely successful’ in some ways, and he mentions that the system specs for The Phantom still haven’t been nailed down (wasn’t it supposed to ship in March?) yet he says the company is in ‘a state of transition.’ Oh yes? Transiting from what to what? Vaperware to…more vaperware?

Sorry, but I see a guy like this laying down his slick spew and I just want to give up hope in the world. It isn’t what you know. It isn’t how good your work is. It isn’t your integrity. It’s all about the pitch and the spin.

I didn’t trust Bachus the first time I met him, and I don’t trust him any more now. Not saying he wasn’t a nice guy, but he was just one of those salesman types that’ll do or say anything to get you to buy his line. And from what I’m reading, that hasn’t changed a bit.

It came to be in a blinding flash that knocked the scales from my eyes and let me See once more.

All game rating systems (I’m talking ‘review ratings’ not ESRB ‘who should play?’ ratings) are flawed! 1 star? 5 stars? A? B? D-? 86%? What’s it all mean?

From now on, I’m going to use my own rating system, and here it is:

DNFB: Did not finish – bored. A game with this rating was, well, boring. I lost interest in it and drifted off to something else. Frankly most games will get this rating.

DNFD: Did not finish – difficulty. This is a game that got too hard for my poor old reflexes to handle. I was enjoying it and intending to finish it, but was unable to master the skills needed. A good example of this would be Viewtiful Joe

FWR: Finished with relief: I got to the end of this game and was relieved to be done with it. The game must’ve had *something* going for it, but by the time I got to the end, I had HAD ENOUGH! A good example? Knights of the Old Republic

FWM: Finished wanting more: My highest rating. Very few games will get this rating. Its *possible* that this rating indicates a game that is too short, but to be honest I find very few games that are literally too short. More likely, this just indicates a game that I was really enjoying when I got to the end. This very rarely happens for me. A good example of this is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

It just occured to me there is one flaw with this system. How do I rate a racing game, or a sports game? Essentially any game without a campaign or a story doesn’t have an “ending” so my new ratings can’t really apply. Hmm, will have to keep working on this.

Gamespy’s Fargo has proposed some ways to prop up the flagging print gaming magazine industry. And in doing so, he’s come up with an idea for a magazine targetted directly at me! “Bitter Gamer.” 🙂

Fargo’s sense of humor runs hot and cold (IMO, of course) but this time he’s cranked out a winner.

Devil Whiskey is an old school RPG, complete with a window into the 3D world and lots of text. 🙂 There’s a demo available, and they’re pushing for an Oct. 31st release date. I d/led the demo but haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

Fileplanet says:
In the spirit of classic RPG’s like Wizardry and Bard’s Tale comes Devil Whiskey, a graphical and text based RPG with nine races, 3D environment window, stats, monsters, adventure, and more stats!
If you’d like to use FP’s high speed servers to download the demo, here’s the link.

IGN has an article speculating on a PS2 price drop to $99. My PS2 is a little wonky, but I’ve been waiting for the rumored “rev 2” with Progressive Scan DVD abilities before replacing it. $99 is hard to believe (as the article states) but we’ll see!

Thanks to http://games.slashdot.org/ for calling my attention to this article!

Gamespy is running an ongoing series on Massively Multiplayer RPGs.. If you’re already an afficionado of these games, you won’t find a lot of new material (though its still an entertaining enough read) but if you’re wondering what this genre is all about, this series is a good place to get started learning about where MMRPG’s came from, and what to expect from them today, and perhaps in the future.

Star Wars Galaxies still has its hooks in me; I spent most of the weekend playing. Plus, I’ve started reading Star Wars novels (I, Jedi which has thus far been surprisingly entertaining) to get some cultural reference to the worlds I’m traveling. And Knights of the Old Republic comes out for the XBox this week. I’ve turned into a Star Wars Fan!

But there is still hope. I’m also have a ball playing with Animal Crossing and in the odd moments, watching the anime series Dai-Guard (Office Workers saving the world!) which is quirky and amusing…