The gaming world got some giddy news to mull over at last week’s Game Developers Conference. OnLive unveiled a new gaming console and platform dedicated to streaming games over the internet. There will be no discs – just a constant internet connection bringing a variety of games to computers and televisions. Most interestingly, all the processing of the games happen on some server, allowing basic PCs to play the most graphically intense games.  Displays at GDC showed basic laptops playing Crysis, a game that taxes even the most top-of-the line PCs.

Very little is known about how the system works, especially details like pricing. But in continuing the hype machine, OnLive is an exciting endeavor and even more thrilling experiment into the future of video games and digital distribution. There are many technical hurdles, specifically how fast connections will be. Streaming high-definition games at the demanded 30 frames per second requires a rapid and steady connection. It’s possible OnLive is a few years too early with broadband speeds no up to their challenge.

The experiment itself is in launching a new business opportunity for video games, and even a model for the entertainment industry.  OnLive is offering a microconole for gamers who want to play on their televisions, but they are also offering a browser plug-in so people can play right on their computers.  No hardware requirement means an instant customer base open to the product.  Hardware’s a tough business as movie-streaming services like Blockbuster and Netflix are learning.  Screenshots show options to rent or buy games, showing flexible pricing, though I’d prefer a subscription option similar to GameTap.  There are no details about downloading content onto hard drives to play offline, but that also would be appreciated.

OnLive boasts impressive support from leading game developers and now the debate begins of will it succeed or lose. Too many details are up in the air (how open is the system, how much value does the service offer the user, how comfortable is the controller). Certainly a slick interface and high-profile (if not out-dated) library makes me think OnLive is on the right path.  The case study alone will be worth the price of admission.

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The New York Times claims the new video game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is “one of the most important” because of its story telling and maturity.

But really, it’s just because this is a violent video game on a stereotypically kiddie and girlie gaming system, the Nintendo DS. The article praises game developer Rockstar and Nintendo for being “bold” and making a “vital statement to the public” that video games are not just for children.

Didn’t we already know this?

How is it bold of Nintendo for approving one of the best-selling video game series of all time to make a game exclusively for their system, almost certain to sell millions of copies. GTA is a safe-bet, not bold. And as amazing as Chinatown Wars is, it’s not a “crucial moment in the maturation of the gaming industry.” It’s a well-known franchise in an industry more known for violence than child-friendly fare. The New York Times itself has pushed flawed research about how all this violence is harmful.

Video games are still maturing yes, and Chinatown Wars is a helpful step to spreading the rich storytelling potential of the medium. But it’s a miniature version of the also adult GTA IV released only a year ago. Just as adult and arguably more visually spectacular. Adult is not always maturity.  Video games can be mature without violence, but talking animals and magic spells don’t get the same headlines as blood and gore.

I recognize the DS itself has expanded the video game market. Yay. It’s more than four years old. About time the New York Times realized violence can sometimes make good storytelling.

I missed posting about the Watchmen fiasco. Basically, Fox once owned the rights to the Watchmen movie and actively decided not to make the film. So a few months before Warner Bros. releases their version, Fox sues saying it still owned the rights.  To keep its release date, Warner Bros. settled, paying off Fox for doing nothing. Copyright doing its duty, right?

Activision, likely giddy at the prospect of being its own Fox, is threatening to sue EA for publishing a game Activision gave up on.  Activision merged with Vivendi Games and in the merger, Activision dropped several titles including Brutal Legend, which EA picked up. Now that Brutal Legend is getting hype and an anticipated release, Activision is claiming EA is infringing on their rights on a game Activision said they don’t want to release – they want money for doing nothing.  I particularly love EA’s response.

We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.

Last year, video game companies gave us plenty to be thankful for in November. To keep gamers on their toes, this year publishers are padding the months of October with the biggest collections of AAA game releases. In fact, I could make a top 7 list for the week of the 20th alone.  So get advances on your paychecks and allowances because you don’t want to wait ’till the holidays for these games.

7. Rise of the Argonauts

This innovative new action RPG professes several impressively immersive features, from a near-HUD-less screen to realistic combat where stabbing once is all your need. Playing as Jason, the player pilots the mythological Argo ship in search of the Golden Fleece, teaming up with Hercules and different Greek Gods while fighting hordes of monsters and God of War extras. Cool tech demos have disappointed before (looking at you Force Unleashed), but Argonauts looks to keep gameplay just as important. Fingers crossed.

6. Far Cry 2

The sequel to 2004’s critically acclaimed shooter, Far Cry 2 aims to push open-world games and graphics cards to the next-generation. Set in a huge African wilderness, players employ tons of weapons, gadgets, vehicles, and skills to play a part in the war-torn region.

5. Fable 2

It’s hard to trust Peter Molyneux. His games are great but so over hyped they seem bad on release.  After ignoring everything he says, Fable II looks like an engaging fantasy adventure with a real emphasis on that role-playing we always forget about.  Local and online co-op and some of the funniest achievements yet (Chicken kicker and Hunter are my top priority) are features even Molyneux has yet to spoil for me.

4. Resistance 2

8 player online campaign. 60 player war zones. And Starbuck. Insomniac’s pushing PS3 capabilities with some features and exciting gameplay.  Assuming the online powerhouse pulls through, Resistance 2 could be the online shooting king for the holiday season. Sorry Gears, November’s just too late.

3. Dead Space

EA’s pushing a new franchise without Sims in the name. Shockingly it looks amazing. This sci-fi horror survival game looks gorgeous with an equally intriguing story and some exciting gameplay ideas that make my thumbs twitch.

2. Fallout 3

Gamers once again emerge from the Vault with a mission and Pip-Boy.  The Elder Scroll mavens at Bethesda apply their open-world know how to this first/third person RPG. The team creates an apocalyptic Washington DC (which will be disturbingly pleasing in this political climate) filled with mutants, giant insects, and your destiny. Plus, the game’s really bloody, so yay.

1. LittleBigPlanet

Certain to be the cutes game of the year, LittleBigPlanet offers too much awesome not be camping out in front of GameStop right now. First, there’s a lengthy campaign filled with physics-powered plaforming goodness and co-op slapping contests. After you finish the 12 plus hours, there’s the most impressive set of creation tools in console gaming history built right in, allowing you to build all the penis shaped-levels you can dream up and share with the world. This means never-ending hours of levels to play, build, and share. And let’s not forget Sackboy. Maybe I’m just a sucker for sadistic cuteness.

Honorable mentions

I did say this month was huge. Here are more games to keep your eyes out for:

Motorstorm: Pacific Rim

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (It looks like it might be good, but don’t hold your breath)

Wii Music (I fear it like a sneezing child near a salad bar, but Nintendo seems to think video games are better without a challenge)

Guitar Hero World Tour

Legendary

Saints Row 2

Golden Axe: Beast Rider

Fracture

Will Wright’s sim-everything hit stores last week to some harsh criticism (I hate DRM). I rarely write reviews on Prodigeek, but wanted to give attention to Spore’s unique failings as they help clarify the joy of the god game genre.

Wright gave gamers two of the best god games ever, Sim City and the Sims. Both games appeals to hardcore and casual players (shocking) by giving players a sandbox with unique rules to experiment in and explore. Spore lacks the experimental and exploration that makes god games worth player. Instead, Spore is a primer in video game genres, giving casual players a taste of the other games they can play, then scaring them off with an obtuse yet bland final act.

The best way to understand god games, and why Spore fails to join the genre, is watching gamers discover how not to play the game.  You could spend hours building a huge city and then destroy it with an alien invasion or hurricane. The Sims allowed you to trap your Sim in a room with no toilet or better, set them on fire.

Only in the final Space stage can you wreck havoc, and even that is tame, giving you strict criteria for planet teraforming and killing creatures before you can see them writhe in pain.

I don’t think Spore needs to be a sadist’s paradise, but the freedom to play however you want to is what makes god games appealing.

Spore’s other major feature, its creators, are amazing pieces of technology. I compare these creators to the Sims home creator which, even though it was far simpler, was so much more rewarding. The interior design feed the game and lent itself to how you played from enhancing stats to peeing standing up. Spore relied on a barebones system where more feet didn’t make you faster.  The lack of complexity made upgrading your character as simple as using the most powerful pieces, even if they didn’t fit your creature.  And once you entered the Tribal stage, all those stats became meaningless rendering the highly publicized Creature Creator obsolete two hours in.

Spore never evolves into being the god game it set out to be. Instead of being an all powerful influencer, pulling strings with the click of a mouse, you are an evolving amoebae with just enough influence to get to dinner and back. Even once you enter space, you still just a guy in a ship with no armada or easy-to-destroy-type weapons.  Spore remains an unsatisfying action/strategy game because Spore never bills itself as one.

Spore could have pushed the god game envelope with a universe of exploration, allowing more complexity in the creatures created by letting experimentation dictate gameplay - how would five arms really benefit you.  And to keep the creation going later in the game, let us play god by creating new creatures, prey and predators, to infect other planets with. Unleash a flying T-Rex on the bunny planet and see them try to fight with floppy tanks.  I would totally pay $50 for any game that allows that to happen. Unfortunately Spore does not.

EA released the long-in-development Spore this weekend, packed with repressive DRM.  Gamers have responded by flooding Spore’s Amazon with one star reviews (more than 650).  EA limits Spore to only three installations.  Uninstalling the game does not increase that number, leaving paying customers to prove they legally purchased the game to EA for permission to play the game.

All this happens in the name of preventing piracy. But Spore has been available on Bittorrent sites for almost a week sans DRM. This leaves paying customers to deal with restrictive DRM.

EA knew a public relations nightmare was brewing when it announced the DRM back in the spring.  After public outcry, EA removed part of the DRM requiring a validation check every 10 days, but EA kept the three installs limit that is frustrating gamers.

So piracy is running free and paying customers are pissed off.  How is DRM supposed to work again?

Blizzard recently won its case against MDY, the makers of Glider, a program that played the World of Warcraft game by itself.  The court banned the distribution of Glider on the ludicrous claim of copyright violations.  Blizzard pointed to its EULA document (which can only be read after buying the game and are “enforced” once you open the package) that tries to limit what users can do with a product they legally purchased.  Blizzard says it sells you a limited license of the game, not the game itself thus negating your First Sale Doctrine rights.  Courts have been mixed on the power of EULA agreements since no one reads them or actually agrees to them.

Now that Blizzard won its summary judgement, it’s looking to push harder on Glider, asking the court to ban the source code from being open-sourced and preventing the developers from helping anyone else create a similar product.

I already have issue with the initial ruling, negating consumer’s first sale doctrine rights just because Blizzard says those don’t count because of a document no one read or agreed to.  The court believes this instance is copyright infringement, but now Blizzard wants the court to basically ban any future products just because.

This case already sets a bad precedent for future EULA and software modification cases.

Comic book video games have well documented crapiness with a few shining gems.  The problem is comic book geeks (like me) want these comic book games. We want to feel like Spider-Man, and Superman, and Batman.  These are the comic books game that will best bring to life a new super hero experience.

7. Flash

A sandbox Central City might not be on everyone’s Christmas list, but it’s the only way to do Flash justice.  This speedster needs a huge environment to zoom through, fighting Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master, and Reverse Flash as he tries to save his wife and kids (this is the Wally West Flash, Barry Allen’s unlockable). Key battles pit you against teamed up villains for high pressure boss battles.

6. Real Iron Man game

The recent Iron Man game unfortunately sucked. But this awesome character should be a video game staple.  Let’s revamp the controls (more control, less speed) and focus the campaign on the Mandarin and his rag-tag group of baddies. The twist is this is an action/business simulation game.

In Mega Man-esque level choosing, you fight Whirlwind, Dreadknight, Crimson Dynamo, and more. Give us some epic boss battles with Fin Fang Foom and Ultimo and even a Dr. Doom sidequest.

The business sim comes from Tony Stark. You choose how to run Stark Enterprises, with some investments making the company more valuable and other investments making your armor more powerful.  By running the company well, you make money in order to buy those upgrades and other armor types. If you run the company badly, Justin Hammer will buy it up and you won’t be able to upgrade your armor.

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Gamers love their love/hate relationship with video game critics.  When the critics agree with us, we’re happy. When they don’t, they’re trash. But the problem with video game reviews is not the reviewers, but the games.

The problem with video games is they often have problems: technical problems.  You never see a movie, no matter how cheap or out of the mainstream, released in theaters with bad audio, poor lighting, or people getting stuck in walls. Sure you’ll have a bad actor and some bad artistic choices, but most of the “bad things” were some director’s bad choice.  Video games, however, haven’t achieved that baseline to legitimize the medium as a storytelling and artistic form.

This means video game critics must assess the quality of the game in addition to its technical prowess, namely, does it break?  Bad camera, unresponsive controls, chugging frame rates, graphics pop-in/out, and more hurt games more than a crappy story or repetitive gameplay.  A game might be awesome, but enough glitches can turn it into a dud. Games like Advent Rising, Enter the Matrix, and Two Worlds were rushed products buried under paragraphs of reviews attacking the terrible technical quality of what could have been great games.

With the technical specs out of the way, reviews could devote their time to reviewing the actual game.  We all hate bad frame rates, so reviews need to explain gameplay, story, visual style with greater depth.  Doing so would help develop video game criticism, giving us time to discuss themes and methods rather than glitches and bugs. With flawless technical presentation inline with films, video games can start being looked at for their richer and deeper qualities.

Bug checking video games, especially the epics we now have, is hard to impossible.  But the industry needs to work to find a baseline of quality guaranteed by every game so games don’t have to fear buying a game only to have it crash because they went left instead of right.

Ralph Koster outlines the tangled web of patents covering the popular world of music-based video games.  A patent thicket describes when several patents cover a single product, owned by several different groups.  Music based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are finding themselves mixed up in a web of lawsuits.  First Konami is suing Harmonix for patents on music games, even though Harmonix has its own assortment of music game patents (including a patent on a “game controller simulating a musical instrument”).  Konami previous made GuitarFreaks and is looking to get back into the music game genre since Harmonix help make it such a success (more than Konami ever did).

Let’s not forget Red Octane and Activision, the team still responsible for Guitar Hero (which Harmonix headlined before getting bought by MTV). They’ve been licensing patents from Konami while getting sued by Gibson who also has patents on music games even though they sold likeness rights to the game for toy Gibson guitars. And let’s not forget Harmonix had sued Activision over unpaid royalties (now bargaining instead).

All the lawsuits shows none of this is about innovation, but is about greed and strong arming bargaining positions for more licensing fees.  That’s not what the patent system is supposed to be for.  The more these companies fight over music game patents, the worse consumers will be as the games will be more expensive, if they can even afford to be made.