To me, this is not ok. Yes, the price is low enough that I could pass them off as long-term rentals. But there’s a reason I don’t rent, and that’s because I like to go back to my games. There are very few games I have that I haven’t picked up and played 3-5 times, with the exception of some rpgs, since those are a huge time sink. Back in the day, when games were shorter and played through in one shot, I would play some of the really good ones (I’m looking at you Sonic 3 and Knuckles), over 100 times over the course of my ownership. Of course, to be fair, it was one of only a handful that I had, so I picked the best and played it a lot. But the point is, I like to replay my games. And I don’t want to lose my purchases when the console goes kaput.

To be fair to Nintendo, they will sometimes help people out who call them up with a specific issue, such as if they had to replace their Wii. However, this is not a reliable means of protecting one’s purchase, and there are also people who Nintendo did not replace digital collections for.

Am I perhaps being a little silly about this? Sure, I can see and admit that. For the price, having it locked to one console really still isn’t a bad deal. It’s not the way I want to see it done, but for twice the price of a rental, it’s not exactly a big purchase, so I can still see glorified extremely long-term rental as reasonable. It’s just not what I’m looking for when making my purchases.

J presents Gears of war 3 – Fans decide story direction posted at Gamers Lounge. Pretty sure I saw this submission in a previous carnival I posted, but as this came in through the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers, I decided to give it a rerun since I’m still doing the whole transition over. The basic info? Purchase electronic product to determine the fate of a Gears of War character. Info inside.

Chris presents If Street Fights Were More Like “Final Fight”… posted at Martial Development. Basically, Chris takes a look at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the way fighting happens in Final Fight (and to be fair, many other brawlers of the  time). Most of these were simply limitations of the time the game was made, though some were also just oversights as the genre was coming into its own. An amusing read, so check it out.

dswtor presents Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta posted at dailySWTOR, saying, “We are a dedicated fan site to BioWares Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Here’s a quick blurb on some well-known info about SWTOR, as well as how to sign up for the beta test. (Can people still sign up for the beta test?)

Chris Cox presents Top 5 Most Annoying Gamer Personalities posted at Psytechology. He goes over the five gamer types he finds most annoying here. I really can’t say any of the ones listed really bother me. Ignore is easy enough for those you don’t wish to interact with. Still, I imagine this list carries some weight with people who spend a lot of time online, and either way it’s worth a read.

Michael Kotson presents How to Buy a Laptop posted at Test My Geek Stuff, saying, “An overview of the things to look for when buying a laptop.” A bunch of tips for choosing a laptop. Directed at all home users, most gamers will likely know these tips already, but if you’re new to PC gaming, this is some good starting advice. Veteran PC gamers may still find a useful tidbit or two as well, so don’t be shy in clicking on over.

Mark Graybill presents A Simple Java Video Game Kernel posted at A Beginning Programmer’s Guide to Java, saying, “A simple video game kernel in Java that new programmers can use to start writing their own video games.” This is a cool look at an aspect of video game programming, definitely of use to starting programmers, and I would say also interesting to those who are just curious about what might be going on under the hood of the games we play.

RateMeister presents [VIDEO GAME] Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 PC Review posted at RateMeister. A quick review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 here, the author seemed to think the game is ok, but with lots of annoying quirks. Which is too bad, since he also seems to think it will be the best PC soccer game to look forward to out of this year’s crop.

Steve presents ABC Monday Night Football posted at Every SNES Game, saying, “I play and review every SNES game ever released.” Another sports game review, and this one looks to be pretty bad (the game, that is, the review is quite funny). Anyone care to play as the “Dallas Dollar Signs”?

Robert Chapman presents Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “I started a gaming/television blog recently, and this is only my second ‘gaming’ related article. It’s on Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game.”  I still need to get out and see this movie, but this is about the game review. As Robert lays it out, we may just have another good beat ‘em up game this year. And in a licensed game no less. Seems like those seem to be getting better.

Martin Watts presents The depiction of terrorism in video games: where should we tow the line? posted at The Gaming Enigma. Martin takes a look at how we view terrorism, and what role video games might play in our understanding of terrorism depending on how they handle their depictions of it. Looks most closely at Medal of Honor, as they’re the ones in the hot seat right now. Definitely a good read, and provides something to think about both in terms of gaming, and politics.

Don Salva presents Fraps & VirtualDub: How to save disk space and enjoy good quality, small file size HD video clips | The Don’s Craptastic World posted at The Don’s Crapastic World. Here’s a guide to getting a lot more out of Fraps and VirtualDub while recording your gaming, without killing your frame rate. Good info for those looking to make videos out of their gaming.

Robert Chapman presents Fallout: New Vegas posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This is an article about the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas.”  A quick look at some highlights of New Vegas makes this game sound like a winner. Of course, I expect nothing less from Bethesda.

Mark Graybill presents Pathfinder RPG by Paizo posted at An Infinite Number of Cats on Keyboards, saying, “A look at the Pathfinder RPG from the perspective of a GM who has in the past kept going back to OD&D from newer rule sets. This may finally be the game that displaces OD&D for me.” In here, we see that Pathfinder continues to convert gamers to it’s sleek, sleek rules design, pulling all lovers of D&D to slightly better balanced gameplay and rules that are far more intutive than old editions, while still maintaining that classic feel.

Jeremy Rooney -Detroit Performance Car Examiner presents Racer simulator combines RC cars and arcade games posted at Examiner. Ever wanted to drive an RC car? Well, you can’t, but you can get the same experience with this new arcade cabinet. Looks pretty sweet.

Robert Chapman presents Final Fantasy gearing up to go online… again posted at Bob’s Blog, saying, “This was my first post of my gaming related articles I’ve written. It’s all about Final Fantasy XIV and my thoughts on it. As well as some helpful links to other sites I found interesting related to Final Fantasy XIV.” Some thoughts on FFXIV, MMORPGs, and links to info on FFXIV. Take a look if you want to know more about Square-Enix’s new MMO.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. Join us next month for more great gaming info. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on September 30, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

So along with an insane archmage, a beefy bear warrior, a warlock, and a druid of questionable moral character, we were off to adventure. Like any high powered D&D party, we wiped the floor with our enemies and sought out ever harder challenges. After stomping on some enemies more than a few CR above our level, as happens in the higher levels of D&D, we sought out a dragon for appropriately epic battle and succeeded in bringing it down. And then the fun began. Most of the party had been drifting toward evil for quite some time. Upon meeting demons looking to do battle with us, the party attempted to negotiate terms of an alliance, and the broker their way to leadership of an army of demons and abominations. Me, being good, would naturally have none of it. So I snuck away to inform the future victims of the impending invasion that they should make preparations.

Being a kender though (and woefully unfamiliar with the cleric spell list at the time), I couldn’t actually convince anyone to take me seriously by any ethical means I could think of. I got written off as telling kender tales. Naturally. So, being a kender and having a woefully underdeveloped survival instinct, I went back to try to pull the invasion apart from the inside. Failing that, I would return to the city to stand with whatever army could be assembled in the time they had once they learned of the invasion for themselves. It never got to that point though. The rest of the party knew I was up to no good, and a few choice divinations told the rest of the story to the wizard. At this point, the wizard told me OOC that he was planning to kill my character, which we agreed made sense given what was going on. He started with spell traps that were mostly ineffective, and certainly failed in their goal of ending the life of a blissfully ignorant kender. Eventually, he settled on assassination. I was hoping to get a good old spellslinging contest between us (I would have lost, but it would have been awesome fun to play such a battle.) Unfortunately, despite his ineptitude at sneaking around, I was asleep and therefore unable to hear his approach. Yes, I had a chance to hear, I just rolled bad. So a quick coup de grace of fire to the face and I was done.

After that, they helped me put together another character more in keeping with the new direction of the party, along with a tad more power to deal with all of the power creep, and we all had fun going through the rest of the campaign.

That doesn’t mean everyone at the table has to be best friends. However, everyone at the table does have to trust everyone else to create a fun atmosphere for the game being played, and everyone at the table also has to be deserving of that trust from everyone else. They also have to be willing to contribute to the game to the best of their abilities.

This means the GM enforces rules fairly. How a GM does this is up to the GM, it just needs to be done in a way the players understand is fair. The players then trust the GM when a ruling isn’t always obvious, because they trust the GM will do the right thing. This way, when the GM has to make an on the fly ruling, the game can continue on without breaking the flow and without people worrying about what the book says, since everyone trusts it’s fair, and then it can be checked out later.

Likewise, the players need to trust and respect each other. Without that, games fall apart quickly. This isn’t to say all the characters have to do so, what the characters do is up to the players’ comfort levels. But this conflict should be restricted to the characters, and not the players. Generally speaking, with more trust there is among the players, there can be a larger amount of character conflict without bringing the game to a screeching halt. But in short, know boundaries of players, and be sure everyone is on the same page. This also goes for the smaller things, like loot distribution, secrets among select party members, and similar situations.

Most of the time, players are all on the same page and know the boundaries of the game. In some groups though, everyone has a different idea of what to expect, and when they all start playing the game differently, it causes problems if they don’t have that basic level of trust. If they do, they’ll likely talk it out and make the game work within the playing styles they all have. This works when everyone is willing to give and take a little. If they don’t have that trust for each other though, it can seem like everyone is trying to pull a fast one on everyone else.

The most important part of any game is in the relationships you have with everyone else at the table. With a little fairness and trust, things roll on smoothly when the game comes to areas that are minor, usually unnoticed bumps. Without that trust, those minor bumps become giant potholes that cause the game to veer off course, limiting the fun had by all. Making sure everyone has the level of trust and respect for the kind of game you want to play will make things a lot more fun than if it is missing.

Welcome to the July 2010 edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. This will be the last edition of this carnival in its current incarnation. The carnival isn’t ending, but James Newton has offered to let me host the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers on a regular basis, so from next month onward, this carnival will be the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. So thank you James for letting me take over the hosting of the carnival, I’m looking forward to it. Despite the title, I will still be accepting submissions for pen and paper rpgs as well, since I do cover them along with video games. This will give us all more great articles to read and more people to see what everyone has to write. For the next few months, I’ll leave submission pages open for both carnivals and accept submissions from both while I transition over. For those who haven’t seen James’ carnival before, you can find the original carnivals at The Collected Writings of James Newton. So, with all that out of the way, here are this month’s contributions.

Daniel Ros presents Used Nintendo 64 Console posted at Hottest Video Games and Cheat Codes, saying, “Find out the latest video games reviews, information on new games, beta testing, sales on video games and more.” He also has a brief discussion on the ethics and legality of roms and emulators, keeping it short and to the point. Following that, there’s a video showing off what looks like a store demonstration console.

William Huddy presents Computer Game Violence posted at Matters For Consideration. William takes a look at violence in video games, how he thinks it may effect children, and notes that while it likely would have some negative effects, we should really consider it in it’s place compared with all sorts of other violence children are exposed to all the time that we fail to consider might also have some kind of effect on children.

dswtor presents What is Star Wars the Old Republic | dailySWTOR posted at dailySWTOR, saying, “Great detailed review on BioWares new game in development, Star Wars the Old Republic.” And here we have some information about the new Star Wars MMO from Bioware. It sounds very interesting for an MMO, and that Bioware is taking a very good direction with it. I like the sound of gameplay being more action oriented than a typical MMO, hopefully they can deliver on that.

Adam presents Blizzard, “Write for Us” Starcraft 3? WOW2? Diablo 4? posted at AirborneGamer, saying, “Blizzard’s short story contest for gamers.” Write a story set in one of Blizzard’s worlds and win cool prizes? Sounds fun to me.

One Family presents Kids Video Game Software and Consoles – An Introduction for Frugal Families posted at One Family’s Blog. Here we have a guide for parents looking into picking up video games for their kids to get started with. While there’s definitely some good info here, I would argue that most kids who enjoy gaming will know about and be very interested in the “premium” consoles, that is, those of the current generation.

J presents Gears of war 3 – Fans decide story direction posted at Gamers Lounge. Want to have a say in if a character from Gears of War lives or dies? You can, but you have to buy something to cast your vote. Details inside.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. Join as next month as I take over hosting of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on August 26, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

I’m not just here to defend the Wii today though. Project Natal seems to be drawing some of the same criticisms the Wii Remote drew. But I’m immensely excited to see more of Project Natal on the 360 and if it really delivers. The E3 videos I saw looked very promising, and if it turns out as good as it looks, I think it will blow current control schemes out of the water. Assuming companies take the time to develop high quality games for the peripheral. I’m not saying they can’t dump some shovelware in there, just that the quality games will be what determines if the peripheral can be successful. The shovelware will just fall on the trash heap.

The biggest complaint I’ve seen about motion controls is a lack of precise controls. Our hands make more precise movements than any other part of our body. That does seem to be true. And precise controls are important. However, I also know that the Wii controls have been as precise as I’ve ever needed in any well programmed game. I also know that if Project Natal works as advertised, I will be completely hooked on using full movement of my entire body to control a game, and it will do amazing things for how immersed I feel in a game. No longer will it be press the button to punch. It will be throw your fist at your opponent on the screen to punch. And, if done right, control will be just as precise… it’ll just be more tiring since you actually have to really move to make it work.

Now, I understand Project Natal has the potential to become a gimmick. All peripherals do. But it’s all about who develops the games for it, and how much time they take to make a game that is designed to make the best possible use of it. As this is supposed to be a big step for Microsoft, I expect we’ll see a lot of money and development thrown at it and the games developed for it. I hope and expect this will translate into high quality games that use it.

I think I’ve also heard about Sony working on a new peripheral, but as I haven’t seen anything big about it, I’ll reserve my comments about what they may be working on for now.

In any case, what I want to get at is that whether or not motion controls are successful or not has to do with two things: whether or not the controls themselves are solid, and whether or not there are games that make use of them in the best way possible through a game design meant to utilize said controls. Let’s not lampoon these awesome ideas unless we actually see them fail. And if they do fail, then it’s time to work on making them better, because I want to see gaming continue to move in this new direction. Nintendo has proven it’s possible, and now it’s up to all the gaming companies to keep pushing for new innovations here.

Still, not since the days of full 2d Mario have I had this much fun playing a Mario game. I very much appreciate that Mario has gone back to a linear level design, and the goal is to make the jumps, stomp the enemies, and find the star at the end of the level, rather than exploring to find it hidden somewhere in the level. While there are some hidden stars, the majority of them are just at the end of some great, straightforward platforming.

Naturally, if the game were just jumping and avoiding enemies, there wouldn’t be much more to it than it’s predecessors. But the inclusion of power-ups, both new and old, really keeps the game fresh and allows it to vary challenges quite a bit. Some old favorites that are returning are the fire flower and Yoshi, and frankly, it’s about time. I’ve been waiting to see these appear in the new Mario games, and it’s a very welcome homecoming for these two. (Note: I’m aware the fire flower was in the original Super Mario Galaxy, but again, I haven’t played that yet.) Roasting enemies is great, as is the old standby of eating them then spitting them out as weapons against other enemies. My favorite of the new additions is easily the cloud suit, as the ability to make your own platforms is something I rarely see in platform games. Definitely a great addition. There are others, naturally, and they are all used to craft different challenges. This helps keep the game fresh and entertaining over the course of it’s many galaxies.

This game also makes many transitions between 2d and 3d platforming. While the majority of the game is 3d platforming, there is a good deal of 2d platforming as well. The switch is never jarring and feels quite natural and smooth. The 2d sections play just as smooth and fun as old school Mario. The 3d sections manage to keep this same feel while expanding gameplay options with the full freedom of 3d movement. Everything controls great, no matter how you’re playing.

Also keeping the game fresh is the occasional mini-game, such as navigating a bird through an obstacle laden sky and Whack-a-Mole style games where you have to rack up a big score in a short time (for a star, of course). Then, there are also the level redesigns for many of the alternative stars you’ll be chasing, making the level different enough so it doesn’t feel like you’re doing the same level over again.

In fact, my biggest complaint is about how the green stars are implemented. The green stars take everything great about the design of this game, and do away with it. This wouldn’t bother me, except for the fact that you must get all of the green stars to play the very last level of the game. The green stars are all exploring the levels for the little hints that, if you’re very observant, tell you one is nearby. This kills the linear platforming I loved while obtaining the majority of the gold stars. Then, as a nail in the coffin, these stars don’t change the levels up at all from what they were while looking for the gold stars. This does start to get repetitive after a time, especially when you miss the hints that point out the green stars.

I understand this exploration is something some people will enjoy, and for those in this boat, the green stars is where the game will really pick up for you. For those who enjoyed the original presentation, like me, this is where the game takes a serious nosedive in fun. Of course, going from one of the best 3d platformers available to still pretty fun isn’t exactly a scathing indictment, but I do wish Nintendo had stuck more closely to the gameplay the game began with, or allowed players to play the final level before going after the green stars. Either option would have been a good solution.

I will say that I like the addition of the Cosmic Guide. Basically, if you get very badly stuck, the Cosmic Guide appears and offers to play the level for you. This will result in a bronze star instead of the typical gold star, so you must play the level yourself for the good stuff. But, this also provides players a chance to play the rest of the game if they reach a part they find frustratingly difficult, and it also allows players to observe a technique that works for getting through the level. Both of these are great things for anyone having trouble, and add a lot to the game’s accessibility without taking away from it’s challenge to those who choose not to use these features.

Finally, there are plenty of creative boss fights that will pit you against giant monstrosities of different sorts. From towering robots you scale by making cloud platforms, newborn piranhas with a giant tether-ball tail, to Bowser himself, there’s a great variation of boss battles that all make use of different platforming skills. I do wish there was a bit more variation amongst the three Bowser battles, but that’s a very minor complaint when compared to the vast number of bosses through the game.

All in all, this is an excellent game, and definitely warrants a purchase. While the green stars drag it down a bit for me, if you’re any kind of platforming fan, you would still be doing yourself a great disservice if you avoided playing this because of them.

As for the Wii itself, I’ve been having a blast with it. Sure, part of that is the new console feel, but another part is definitely how much fun it is to play. The games that make full use of the motion controls and integrate them carefully into the gameplay definitely provide a very different experience from traditional gameplay, but one that I imagine will be just as engaging when used in a full-fledged game. Games that use more traditional controls, naturally, feel like the games I grew up with, though well thought out incorporations of motion control can definitely enhance the gameplay by allowing you to contort your fingers less to reach all the buttons you need. On the flip side, bad motion control (yes, I’ve played games that incorporate it poorly), just feels cheap and gimmicky.

The internet browser feels more like a novelty item than something truly useful though. I mean, seriously, no support  for Flash versions above 8? No means to upgrade?  That’s pretty much all internet video down the tubes now. Which is kind of what I would use the internet on the Wii for, watching online video on my TV so I don’t have to get out my cords to hook my laptop to the TV instead. Still, zooming, moving around the page, and navigating through web pages is done well, and it’ll do for online access in a pinch.

I’ve also found the Wii, with some assistance, can double as a decent workout that’s actually fun to go ahead with. Specifically, Wii Sports Boxing or Wii Sports Resort Swordplay combined with some wrist weights to add in some resistance feels pretty good after a half hour or so. It’s not going to scare any body-builders, but it’s definitely easier to stay motivated when it involves playing a game. I know the Wii has dedicated workout games, but I don’t think I’ll bother unless I see something very appealing.

So far, making Miis has also been fun, as many Wii fans has said it is. Nothing to spend lots of time on, but an amusing diversion, and it is fun to see representations of you and and your friends showing up in games that use Miis.

In any case, in the few days I’ve had it so far, it’s been very fun. And now Galaxy is calling for me to hunt more stars, so I’ll have more later.

Jimmy Lofton begins the carnival this month with The evolution of the DS at Phantasy Gaming. He briefly goes over the long history of the Nintendo DS and all of it’s iterations, and also has a few comments on Nintendo’s choice to release so many versions of their handheld so quickly. An interesting read, so head on over and check it out.

Eric Gargiulo comments on the current console war between the PS3 and 360 in his piece Console Wars: Playstation 3 Vs. Xbox 360 at CamelClutchBlog.com. For a piece comparing the PS3 and 360, he does have a lot to say about the Wii. Most of which I must respectfully disagree with, as I quite enjoy the Wii and the motion controlled gaming. I simply ignore shovelware and play the good games, just like I would on any console. However, after the Wii bashing, he gets into an extensive comparison between the PS3 and 360, covering a large area of console features in coming to his conclusion for his favorite for this year. Read his piece to find out which console he thinks will come out on top.

Shaun Hudley tells how all of his family enjoyed playing video games on the Wii in his post The Family Gets Together at What Nintendo Did For The Hudley’s, asking, “What can Nintendo do for your family?” Well depends on the family, but if they’re anything like Shaun’s (and many more families than traditional consoles will reach), then likely Nintendo can get that family into gaming to give them something else they can do together.

Meg details her experience playing the alpha version of Fantasy University over at Simpson’s Paradox. It sounds a lot like Kingdom of Loathing for Facebook, but with it’s own original twists that justify it being it’s own game. It also sounds like it’s not going to suffer the pitfalls most Facebook wannabe games suffer from. Indeed, from what Meg has said, FU sounds like it’s shaping up to be a real game without any spamtastic tendencies. If this turns out to be the case in the final version, Facebook games will have a lot of good lessons to learn here.

Z. W. Van Kleeck has two pieces for us today over at Hit, Crit, or Miss: Gaming Insights. First up, he tells us that there’s more to RPGs than XP and items in RPGs Are Not Just Games Where You Equip Items And Use Magic. While he makes some interesting points, I think it’s safe to call games such as Final Fantasy RPGs. This isn’t because they provide choice, but because they picked they’re genre from their source material, and the original Final Fantasy played a lot like computerized Dungeons and Dragons. Now, I would never try to argue that games such as this are an RPG in the sense World of Darkness or Dungeons and Dragons is, but terms do evolve with time, and RPG is one that now has multiple meanings. However, he makes some good points about this, and they are all worth taking into consideration when evaluating if a game is an RPG, or a true RPG. I do, however, agree with him that it’s ridiculous to call anything with some RPG elements an RPG, I just happen to think the line is a bit fuzzy.

His second piece is Used Games v.s. Pirated Games: Which Is Worse For The Developers? Now, I try to by new whenever possible, which is basically anytime the game is still available new. For five extra dollars, I can afford to support the developers of games I like and who provide a quality product. However, I also support the right of anyone to sell the physical media they purchased as well. Yeah, I know you technically license the game, but by selling the physical media, you also sell the rights to your license, so still no problem. It’s the same thing as selling off your used TV set when you don’t want it anymore. However, this is something that should always be in the back of gamers’ minds when making decisions about purchases, since supporting the developers is what will get us more games in the future. Some good points in here that should get you thinking. I still say inconvenient DRM for any reason is bad though.

That concludes this edition of the Gaming My Way Blog Carnival. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival, to be hosted on June 24, 2010. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.