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VOLUME 6 -SEPTEMBER 2006
53
W^ijlrx^fl
■is
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Inside Issue
o
- Madden '07 revfe
- Configuring a D-LINI^^
- Confessions of an Addict^
hipamer Profile: Jollypbgery
I
w
Interview: Po^Tiap GQI^es
Understanding the group ^L ^J^^ _^
that understands the "casual ga^^r"
A LOOK AT GAWEIDESIGNERS:
mmy more...
2old2type Podcast I Feedback I Ask MikeJames I Retro Games
IN THIS ISSUE...
J^".^
FEATURES
26
EDITORIALS
Will Wright: Pioneer
Richard Garriott: The Story of a Legend
A Short Biography of Scott Adams
In a Bar with Sid Meier
2old2pwn LAN Party Wrapup
2old2con Wrapup
DEPARTMEPITS
04
COLUMNS
Credits
The Editor Pwns You!
Feedback
2old2type Radio
Tank Reports
You Blogged This!
Weekend Rentals
Ask MikeJames
12
REVIEWS
Madden 07
Talismania
War Rock
21
INTERVIEW
War Rock Developers
PopCap Games
28
GAMER PROFILE
42
RETRO GAMES
50
HOWTO
52
SOON IN STORES
JOHN
uJ '-tl
2 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
CREDITS
FRONT PAGE ILLUSTRATION:
Kirk Manley (BATMANKM)
CHIEF EDITOR:
Derrick Schommer (CodeMonkey)
EDITORS:
Daniel PloufFe (DanLeCrinque)
Cory Cheney (Drost)
Derek Nolan (DSmooth)
Eddie Barnes (edd9139)
James O'Dea (Fetal)
Jennifer Schommer (ChaosNation)
KingDrewsky
Paul Szczublewski (webmonkee) a.k.a Trupundit
Rebecca Jones (CapnHun)
Rob Dunn (DeadDrPhibes)
Todd Burbo (prododgeball)
Terry Griffith (bigeks)
DESIGN & LAYOUT:
Luke Leidal (Broken Design)
Jean-Philippe "Lunatik" Lambert (Lunatikzx)
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Kirk Manley (BATMANKM)
website: http://www>studiokmxom
Josh Diffey (Darth Cestual)
ARTICLES, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS,
AND CONTENT
Derrick Schommer (CodeMonkey)
Eddie Barnes (edd9139)
Fred Giombolini (Derf)
JeffMcCain(XS Smoke)
Jimmy (JollyRoger)
Joey Parker (RogueRedneck)
Kevin (TANK 2old2play)
Mike Serpe (Mikejames)
Michael Kanick (MTK005)
NoVARaif
Rob Dunn (DeadDrPhibes)
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
PopCap Games for taking our interview seriously and
giving us great answers to our questions. It is teams like
this that make the game industry fun to work with,
Wikipedia,org for providing some facts and figures for
information. It is nice to find a group of great people that
are driving to collect all the facts of the world,
THE LEGAL STUFF
© 2006 2old2play,com and MediaCrumb, LLC, Use of
the name of any product without mention of trademark
status should not be construed as a challenge to such
status. Copyrights are owned by the respective com-
panies and are not claimed to be owned or operated by
2old2play,com or MediaCrumb, LLC, MediaCrumb,
LLC is doing business as "2old2play," Articles are the
opinions of the writers and no author will take claim for
any injuries, damages to hardware, or silly methods of
hurting yourself Be safe.
THE EDITOR PWNS YOU!
I WANNA BE A GAME DESIGNER WHEN I GROW UP
by CodeMonkey
I always wanted to make games when I grew up. Honestly, I could
not think of a better thing to do in life. When I was fourteen years
old, I tried "making a game" on an old Macintosh without having
a single clue on how a game was made. Needless to say, MacPaint
didn't make all my dreams come true. Now I am thirty years old
and I write code for a living,,, not games, but it's a step in the right
direction! Oh, and on the side I also work on a magazine.
Many of my friends wanted to be police officers or firefighters, a few
wanted to be G,I, Joe, ,, whatever that was, but I always wanted to
make video games, I haven't lived that dream as of yet, so all I can do
now is try to interact with those that do live that life, I look at games
differently than most gamers because I have done a little "indy game"
development and I work in a development position,
I'm not saying that gamers lack respect for the game studios,
but many just want to entertain themselves and kick off their shoes after work in front of some
SimCity, Halo or Madden. Gamers are amazed at the graphics and eye candy while I'm amazed at
the amount of polygons, lighting, textures and design. You may find yourself talking about how
fast Need for Speed: Most Wanted is, while I wonder how they managed to cache a whole course
without accessing the DVD, I guess it is just another way of thinking.
This is why in my mind I hold most game designers high on a platform. Designers like Will Wright
and his simulations or Richard Garriot and his infamous Ultima series, I wish I could watch John
Carmack develop a game engine or shake hands with Shigeru Miyamoto, All of these brilliant
minds have helped change the game entertainment industry at its foundation and built a set of
childhood memories that are worth a fortune in gold. There are so many great game designers that
it would not be possible to mention them all, but every member of this elite group is responsible
for my childhood imaginations and drive to be a developer,
I understand that each one of these important figures is a normal person working a job to feed his or
her family, I hope they understand the impact they've had on society - and continue to have every day
we power on our console or computers. Everyone has a figure to look up to; some people love Orson
Welles, Samuel Clemens ("Mark Twain") or Gene Roddenberry for StarTrek. Each of these figureheads
has changed an industry and along the way the minds of many. The game industry is no different.
If I had to pick a single game developer that has changed my way of thinking, it would have to be
Shigeru Miyamoto, There is not a single game design, in my opinion, that he has created incorrectly
or that needed improvement. If he releases a game, I would not hesitate to buy it because he has never
disappointed me in any design decision. Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, Zelda, F-Zero, Star Fox, Mario
Kart, Wave Race, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin and the list goes on. Are they the most dazzling games on
the market? No, Not one of them matches the graphics of Call of Duty 2 or Oblivion, but when it comes
down to top notch quality games in all areas of design, Miyamoto impresses me endlessly.
My wife said to me, "why don't you have an issue featuring some game designers," and I thought it was a
great idea, I asked a few writers to do a little research on their favorite designers and this issue features
a few of their conclusions, I hope I can get more research for later issues on this topic as well, because I
believe it's an area that few people consider when looking at a game. Next time you sit down in front of
your favorite game, ask yourself, "how did they do it?"
Thanks,
Derrick Schommer (CodeMonkey)
editor(g)2old2play,com
4 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
GAMING ROOMS AND RIGS
COMMUNITY MEMBERS SHOW OFF THEIR GAMING SETUPS
5 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
GAMING ROOMS AND RIGS (CONTINUED)
6 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2TYPE
AUDIO STIMULATION FOR GAMERS OVER 25
This episode consists of three personalities:
Doodirock: The man with the master plan to bring news and information to the twenty-five
and older populous. His opinions can sometimes be extreme but his questions are on target
with what a gamer is thinking.
Ebola2: A man with gaming views and opinions that align well with the typical gam-
er. He brings reality back after Doodi and Bliznot fall victim to off topics.
Bliznot: Often sarcastic attitude towards gaming and life in general (and anything
doodirock says). Bliznot is there to break the seriousness with some off the wall topic of
conversation that may make you say "wtf?" and spit your cola all over the keyboard.
EPISODE 29
This week covered a little bit on the new site
enhancements coming down the pipe, includ-
ing the infamous Senior Citizen Card (SCC)
system* In the site news they also covered informa-
tion about the new blog features and the final count-
down for the writers contest (should be resolved be-
fore this edition goes to 'print')*
EA discusses the new Ultima Online re-make and the casters go into
detail about their opinions of the MMO and if they'd leave World of
Warcraft to play it*
Also in the news, Microsoft enables user-created Xhox 360 games* Of
course, doodirock and Bliznot want to make a 2old2play game starring
them as all might ninjas* What does Ebola2 get to be? Listen and find out*
What is this podcast you speak of?! For those of you new to the world
of podcasting or currently own an iPod yet have never subscribed to a
podcast, you are missing a good deal of great information* A podcast is
a radio show, similar to what you would hear on a radio station in your
home town, but typically more focused towards something you actually
want to hear* Many podcasts contain zero commercials and can offer
hours of entertainment*
Like a radio show on your way to work, you will learn the personalities
of the show and begin to relate to their perspectives (or argue against
them)* Podcasts such as 2old2type focus on the game entertainment
genre, but you can find podcasts that cover all topics in all languages*
It's simply amazing, and one of the best features of the Apple iPod.
You can obtain the 2old2type podcasts on ww w* 2old2play*com /or /ree
by clicking on the episodes directly on the homepage, or through iTunes*
If you're new to podcasts, you can download episode 1 through episode
29 from iTunes and start filling up your iPod's disk capacity (episodes
usually run about 50-60 minutes)*
If you would like to ask the team a question about gaming, you can leave
them a message at (733) 527-2961*
2old2play Magazine
2old2play Magazine
Categofv: Video Games
Language: English
Total: S episodes
Free ^ SUBSCRIBE j
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202P MAGAZINE MANUALLY?
SUBSCRIBE TO 202P IN THE ITUNES
MUSIC STORE AND HAVE EACH
NEW ISSUE DELIVERED DIRECTLY
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WHO LOVES YA, BABY?
7 I 2old2play Magazine | Issu
TANK REPORTS
ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINES
EA & CRITERION GAMES
ANNOUNCE BURNOUT 5
EA will publish a new truly next generation version in the Burnout se-
ries for Xhox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3. The menu subdividing the
game play will be gone; every intersection has the possibility of being a
Crash Junction! The new Drivers License feature will keep track of how
much carnage and destruction you cause; additionally there will be boss
fights when you reach certain levels* This will be built from the ground
up for Xhox 360 and PS3.
http://www.electronicarts*co.uk/news/8904/
DEAD RISING FASTEST SELLING
GAME TO DATE
The zombie killing masterpiece sold a copy every five seconds in its first two
weeks making it the fastest selling Xhox 360 title to date* Unfortunately,
other regions have to wait until September to get their zombie kill' in on*
http://www*xboxic*com/news/1518
PLATINUM HITS =
CLASSICS ON XBOX 360
Microsoft has announced that they will start a
ine of games selling for $29*99 called 'Classics*'
The first two games to be called Classics will
be Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo, both 1st
party titles* This should hit store shelves
just in time for holiday shoppers - so peo-
ple will compare $29*99 Xhox 360 games
to the $59*99 PlayStation 3 games* This is
Microsoft's counter punch I guess*
http://2old2play*com/modules*php?name
=News&file=article&sid=474&mode=&or
der=0&thold=0
MICROSOFT SAYS CORE SYSTEM
BUILT FOR $149-$199 PRICE POINT
Microsoft's Albert Penello has gone on record as saying that the CORE was
designed to reach the price point of as low as $149 over time* Could we see
a price drop of core to $199 for the holiday season? With the new cheaper
processors and cheaper components, there certainly seems like there's room
to drop the price* It will probably depend on what Wii's announced price
will be and we'll probably see CORE drop to compete for holiday dollars*
http://360stuff*blogspot*com/2006/08/xbox-360-eventuallyT49T99*html
AMAZON MARKS
DOWN THE
12 MONTH LIVE
GOLD CARD
The MSRP on the 12 month Xhox Live Gold
membership is $50*00 and that's what you'll
find it for in many stores* However, customers
of Amazon told them that it was too expensive
and they listened* Amazon has marked down
the price of the membership card to $36*00 sav-
ing you $14*00 off a big box store or renewing
through your dashboard* Shipping is also free
if you pick Super Saver adding to the value*
http://www*amazon*com/gp/product/B000B9RI00/sr = 8-l/
qid=1155581360/ref=pd bbs l/104-6239008-8970365fie=UTF8
SONY HALTS STAND-ALONE
BLU-RAY DRIVES FOR PLAYSTATION 3
Sony has decided to delay plans for releasing their own stand alone Blu-
Ray DVD decks* The Blu-Ray laser diodes are in very short supply right
now and Sony's trying to get 2'million PS3's built for launch* This could
be a good marketing move since Blu-Ray decks are $1,000 so people
looking for one of those will see the $600 price of a PS3 as a bargain* For
those people they'll be getting a cheap DVD deck and a game machine
as a bonus* Sony's marketing machine working at it's best!
http://www*digitimes*com/systems/a20060828PR206*html
LUMINES LIVE WILL BE THE MOST
EXPENSIVE XBLA GAME EVER
Just when you thought $2*00 Ohlivion horse armor and $10*00 in
Chromehounds part upgrades was getting a little too much* Along comes
Lumines Live to make those seem like a bargain! Lumines Live, to start,
will be the most expensive XBLA game to date* Despite being the most
expensive game, you don't even buy the whole game for that money* You
can progress only so far and you'll be asked for another few bucks to con-
tinue* Then when you get to the end of that 'expansion/' you'll be asked
for some more money to continue* If you want to play Lumines Live, I'd
recommend getting it for your PC for $5*00 and send a message to devel-
opers that we're not going to tolerate the constant wallet leeching*
http://www*gamingbits*com/index*php?option=com content&task=v
iew&id=1016&:Itemid=2
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8 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
TANK REPORTS (CONTINUED)
G4 TV VIDEO WALK-
THROUGH OF
PLAYSTATION 3
USER INTERFACE
G4 produced a short video on one of
the PS3 development units* They run
you though the basic interface and sub
menus so you get an idea of what the
PS3 UI will look like* I'm told it's very similar to the PSP*
http://crunchgear.com/2006/08/29/ps3-retail-unit-porn/
PLAYSTATION 3 PROCESSING POWER
CUT BY 50MHZ
The PS3's CELL processor was suppose to run at 550mh% and the memory
was suppose to run at 700mh%. Rumor has it that the yields on the CELL pro-
cessor are pretty bad right now (which is typical for brand new processors).
Processors that don't run at SSOmhz or better typically wouldn't make the cut
and are essentially not usable in the PS3. So by dropping the spec to 500mh%,
many more processors can pass the mark reducing waste. Since Sony's trying to
get 2-million units made for launch, they need all the processors they can get.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33995
PLAYSTATION 3 TO LAUNCH
WITH 700,000
UNITS PER TERRITORY
A story broke a few weeks ago about the launch numbers Sony
will have on the PS3. They will launch three territories at the
same time with 2-million units total, so around 700,000 per ter-
ritory. It's not known what the split between the two SKU's will
be. However, some analysts are saying that number could be
cut in half due to component shortages. So a launch that looks
better than the Xhox 360's 500,000 suddenly becomes worse
to 360,000. Only time will tell as Sony ramps up production
but Sony is saying they have capacity to make 2-million units a
month and expects to deliver 4-million by the end of the year.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.
php?id=144796
SPORE MAY COME TO
NINTENDO DS
Will Right is evaluating the DS and if he can get SPORE
to work on it. He really likes the dual screens and the touch
sensitivity and thinks he can work with it.
http://www.nintendorevolution.ca/08202006/08/
nintendo ds preview spore
CELL PROCESSOR
. Itl „ : : . 1_
9 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
(A
GAME STUDIO GRAND TOUR
YOU BLOGGED THIS: SOUND OFF LIKE YOU'VE GOT A PAIR
0)
OQ
>
1
3
«£
I
f there was a game developer studio that you
could tour and meet the makers, ask questions
and socialize with*** what developer would it be?
Bungie* I'd shave my head beforehand, gank Frankie and take his job*
Plus, you know, screen shots of Halo 3***
Drost, Stillwater, OK
For me, I'd have to say Blizzard* I'd love to sit down and meet the
makers of the biggest MMORPG in history and ask them "How do
you do it? How do you keep it all running?" and see what history
these people have that culminated to the historical WoW craze*
CodeMonkey, New Hampshire
I would like to visit* * * Bungie* At any point
in the company's history, from Alex's base-
ment when he was an MS employee, to
there new digs, which are supposedly a
former hardware store* If it was really old
time stuff, then I would say Infocom, or
Microprose way back in the day*
Smithcraft,
Seattle, WA
Tiburon Studios (aka the EA studio that produces Madden)* I
chose them because I hate traveling and they are in my backyard
' Orlando* Plus, I wouldn't mind bitch-slapping Maddens head
producer for introducing a yearly gimmick to the franchise instead
of streamlining the game play*
KingDrewsky,
Deland, FL
I hate tours and if i'm touring anything it's the Playboy Mansion*
Count-Fartula
Nintendo*
SirPoonga, Wl
Bungie*
GIJoeBob
I would say Bungie as well*
budman24, Lynn, MA
I'm too lazy to look it up right noW;
but I'd like to visit whoever devel-
oped Big Mutha Truckers 2 and beat
the snot out of them for represent-
ing everything that's wrong with the
game industry*
[Editors note: Eutechnyx developed
Big Mutha Truckers 2 and it was re-
leased by THQ*]
jtgjrOO?,
Nebraska
PlaySration,a jl
10 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
CONFESSIONS OF AN ADDICT...
I'M STUCK IN AZEROTH!
By XSSmoke
Where to begin? Lets start with the fact
that I missed last months article (Week-
end Rentals) pretty much due to my insa-
tiable appetite for a game I had never even looked at
before* Let s take a look at the facts in the begin-
ning stages of my soul being consumed***
1) Imagine 120 hours of your life put into said
game over the first eleven days of playing it.
2) I found myself crashing out for bed around 3-4 am
every night, while not highly concerned with the
fact I get up at 7:30 am each day for work.
3) Not even during my Halo 2 fanboy peak had I ever got up
before work to squeeze in some playing time.
4) When I slept, it took all of 2 days for the dreams
to start.
5) I was supposed to write an article last month... I can
barely remember what month last month was.
6) I used to play Halo 2 on my PC every day. I have
played it twice in two months now. Possibly because
I couldn't get to my computer.
7) There is a sun?
8) I have friends who get together every weekend. Or I
did anyway... maybe I still do. I'm not sure. It could
just be the voices in my head.
J
L ^M ilk. J * V
V
1
i
J
And there you have it. The game is of course World of Warcraft and
I am just another lost soul among millions. Is it the game's fault or
my own? Well of course, it's not the games fault; I am not going to
blame a game for my playing habits. I could, but that would honestly
just be a silly thing to do. Truly, the fault lies with my
"friend" who bought me the game and just told
me to, "try it." It must completely be his fault,
so for all those who knew me before the addic-
tion, blame him.
It's not as if I didn't know it was going to happen,
though. I have been trying to avoid this game, always
knowing the effects it would no doubt have upon my
poor defenseless body. However, I fell into the age old
trap of peer pressure and the natural curiosity of the un-
known. A taste is all it took and I was gone. The first
night was like a blur and I am not even sure where I
woke up. All I know is the night before was a whir
of colors and sounds unlike any I had experienced.
It wasn't a quick fix; the effects lasted for hours and
hours on end. By the time the weekend was done, I had
played for 36 of the 48 hours that were available to me.
It felt like I had taken only a sip from the Golden Goblet
which held the Elixir of the Gods. . .
I can see why so many people on the outside hate this
game. If you knew exactly what it did to people then
you do not hate it enough. There are some of you that are
not into RPG games and it is those that may not truly be
hooked and are safe from its evil trappings. Play your foot-
ball games and shooters and you will live knowing that you are
partaking in the "safe" games. However, if you ingest this cookie of
desire and are at all in touch with the life of a fantasy role, then be
warned, you may need to have therapy and attend anonymous meet-
ings later on.
The game is WoW. Is it a game or an addiction?. When they told me not to
forget to eat, I thought it was just a silly joke and played it off as nothing.
I am pretty sure my caretaker, who shall be called "Ice," does manage to
shove food into me at certain intervals. I owe a lot to this strong willed
woman. She puts up with an addiction that really isn't my doing.
Oh, one more thing. . . If you want to find me, my name in WoW is Xor-
lin, and I can be found on the realm "Agamaggan," somewhere between
the Ironforge auction house and the dangerous perils of the Desolace
outback. If you come looking for me, be wary of the evil Horde that lurk
around the comers just waiting to attack unsuspecting Alliance.
I must return and uphold the honor of my dwarven brethren now. I
shall, however, leave you with a closing statement. . . Real life just
takes away from WoWtimQ.
K
11 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
MADDEN 07
IN'DEPTH GAME REVIEW
By MTkOOS,,^ ! j ^ '
li
B
SPORTS
y now, Im sure most
.gamers know all
about John Mad-
den, his game, and the
history of one of the most
successful game series of
all time* Review or not,
most football fans pre-or-
der this game every yean If
you show up at midnight to
your local GameStop the night
it s released (as I did), you re likely to
see 40-50 (or more) people hanging out, waiting to
get their copy, go home, play for hours and roll into
work or school after 3 hours of sleep*
I have a confession to make before I start* My name is MTK and
I'm a self ascribed EA fanboy* I've only ever owned two 2K Sports
games and have always bought EA every year* I never owned a 2K
football game, but I've heard a lot, since 2K fanboys are quite loud
with their opinions*
Regardless of my fanboy status, I'm going to try and give the most fair
and honest review I possibly can* I picked this game up at 12:16 am on
8/22/06, and here is my "I've owned this game for 60 hours" review*
FRANCHISE MODE
Franchise mode has been around a long time, and it's become such
a normal part of the game that it's hard to get in any changes* This
year, EA tried a few tweaks for the 360, and I'm still not sure how I
feel about them* The easy tweaks to describe come from a lot of the
in-game play, whether it is the pre-game entrances for each team or
the cool videos of your team walking up to the line for the next play*
The more interesting ones are a sliding bar for each player's happiness
and the presence of Hall of Fame players in your franchise* The easy
one to discuss is the happy-scale, since it's fairly intuitive* This is one
step further from EA's previous meters - instead of having to go to the
management screen for the specific player, you can see a little bar un-
der the player icon on your roster and in some menus you can see what
he desires most: a good team, playing time, or money, etc* This helps
you keep your team morale up, and we all know that a happy team is
more likely to be successful*
The Hall of Famers (HoF) are a different story* EA uses a system
called the "Madden Gamer Level" (which I'll explain later) to track
your progress through the game and unlock items for you, much
as the Madden Points did in the past* When you attain a higher
Madden Gamer Level (MGL), you automatically unlock more HoF
players, instead of buying those Madden Cards from previous years*
Those of you who have played MVP Baseball with its HoF system
will understand this system a little bit better* The problem, though,
is that once you unlock these guys, they're in your roster* And there
is no option, as in MVP Baseball, to not allow these players into your
franchise rosters* So, any crappy team could pick up Lynn Swan, for
example, and there's nothing I can do about it*
Other than those items, I haven't found anything terribly new or in-
teresting here* EA has definitely kicked up the realism however; when
I played the Colts in Week 1 (with my beloved Giants), Peyton Man-
ning audibled something (or more than once) on virtually every play*
SUPERSTAR MODE
Superstar mode is back this year after being out in 06 and not on the list
for this year* EA decided that it could cram this into the 360 version,
and it seems to be the biggest reason for getting this game*
In this mode, you play as the player you create, and only as him* If you're
a RB, you run your plays and you block or roll out for passes* You can
assume control of the defense, but only if you choose to* Otherwise, you
sit the bench and watch*
And if you think that may be difficult, you have to realize that, unlike
previous years, you cannot just adjust your created player numerically,
making yourself perfect in every facet of the game* To be good, you have
to master the Mini Games, which takes some time*
Another side note/bug issue I noticed in this mode - don't try and do
something before it has it on your schedule* With my first Superstar
(whom I had to restart from the beginning), I noticed in the menu that
you can go to the agent list before the calendar prompts you to get one*
I did so and hired an agent two days early* When it hit the agent sign-
ing day on my calendar, I went to the Agent list from the calendar and
while I could hire and fire agents as many times as I want, somehow me
having one already screwed up the game and I was stuck in that menu
until I went back to Dashboard and restarted the game, which as you
can imagine was very annoying*
12 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
MADDEN 07 (CONTINUED)
This mode can be the most rewarding, however, since you can play your-
self right into the Hall of Fame*
MINI GAMES
As I mentioned before, the mini-games are not something you can ex-
pect to excel at right out of the box* Everyone does both the 40 yard
dash and the bench press, and then you get a role-specific mini game*
For example, RBs and LBs get a running/run stopping game while QBs/
Receivers/DBs get a passing/receiving game* Practice makes perfect, so
I wouldn't try to create a player for your Franchise or Superstar mode
until you've mastered these techniques*
ONLINE
For a lot of us at 2old2play, the online portion makes the game*
That's why a Chromehounds is so successful versus a deeper, better
Single Player game like Prey. So to test this mode and put my "elite
Madden skills" to the test, I enlisted my clan mate Stryker in an
online throw down* We had both the game running and a 360 chat
connection going the whole time, and there was rarely any notice-
able lag* The only lag was during the video sequences* However, I do
know others have had problems with lag*
I'm not big on playing sporting games online, but I had a blast trash
talking and analyzing plays while taking my G-Men to a 21-7 victory*
If you like playing real folks, this is the mode for you* Also, beware of
your friends list, as someone else who owns the game can challenge
you in your franchise and ruin your perfect season*
MADDEN GAMER LEVEL
The offspring of the Madden points is EA's new way of letting you
track your progress and skill level and keep you playing the game* The
system is akin to Halo's level design (for example, I'm now a 4, whereas
Stryker is a 3) and also helps in getting you matches online where you
won't get pwned by some crazy Timmy* Unlike Halo, however, it's not
based on your performance online, just on how often and well you play
the overall game* There are achievements associated with attaining
different levels, and you also unlock the Hall of Fame players*
QXBOX360
Ul (USER INTERFACE)
This is one of my biggest bones of contention with this game, and it
is semi-frustrating* Anyone who has played NCAA 07 will know the
UI is very similar with scrolling menus as opposed to entering a spe-
cific mode* Additionally, if you hit "B" enough times you'll end up back
where you were before you hit "B", not at a main menu* It's harder to
explain than it is to try*
The problem, however, is that with NCAA it works, whereas Madden
is less intuitive* NCAA gave you some visual background clues as to
where you are in the menus, whereas my Madden background has never
changed from my team specific one* It doesn't even rotate players; it's
just Jeremy Shockey, all the time* This system makes it very hard to find
what you are looking for some times, as it's not a very intuitive system*
Additionally, the menu skips somewhat, as if the code is too clunky
for the 360 to process* It's hard to believe that EA could screw
this up to make a "next-gen" machine have menu blips like an old
Xbox, but it did* I've seen much more intensive games not have
this problem (like Chromehounds) so I'm sure this is just EA's bad
programming at work*
13 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
MADDEN 07 (CONTINUED)
OTHER NOTES
This is my place to vent on other items I found wrong or weird with this
game that I cannot fit into other sections* I'll avoid discussing the bugs
that have already been pointed out (Fatigue) and get on to my own issues*
First off, there is no menu fianction to download the most recent roster update*
EA apparently decides to prompt you on this whenever they feel like after you've
signed into online mode* I was almost into my online game with Stryker before
it told me (not asked me) that I had to download an online roster*
Secondly^ if you ve made a created player and saved your roster but decide to
discard it, you can delete that saved roster, but its hard to reset your rosters
to the disc default* Stryker had a default roster saved to his 360 that he could
load, mine did not* There was no "hit X to load default rosters" prompt or
anything so I again had to go back to the dashboard to clear everything*
Third, no matter what mode you play, the in-game announcer is not John
Madden* It's some radio guy, and he's not nearly as
good* Next year, give me Al Michaels Please*
Finally, when I went to make the rosters ac-
curate (Ty Law to the Chiefs, Junior Seau to
the Pats, etc) I found that
even in roster edit mode
(i*e* not signed into a
franchise or superstar'
it was a pain to get guys
to their correct team,
since some of the menu
controls are clunky (hit RT to bring up the scroll bar, the hit the stick to the
right while holding RT to go to the other side, etc)* Yet another obstacle to
getting the Madden player to a point where they are happy with the realism*
To be good, you have to
master the Mini Games,
which takes some time.
VERDICT
Well, if you've made it this far I have to give you credit, since this is longer
than I expected* On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd have to give this game a 7*5*
Overall, it's the same old Madden, but with upgraded graphics* It's
still a lot of fun when you actually get into the game, which is a big
chunk of how you have to evaluate this* EA loses points on the
announcer, but watching Peyton audible 4 million times made
up for it* The bugs, glitches and menus are an issue, but it's
only between games, so it's easily overcome*
To end this, I'll go back to where I started and my self-de-
termined mission to be fair and honest* I feel that, had EA
^' not gotten the exclusive license, this game would be a lot
better* I'm not saying I'd be buying NFL 2K7 right now, but
competition makes everyone up their game and skills, which leads
to a better end-product for consumers*
2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
IIM.
.\ riLi-
ALISMANIA BY POPCAP GAMES
^0 YOU FANCY YOURSELF A GREEK LEGEND? ^
.y CodeMonkey --^
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VVaIJ.S ni I ROYW
Talismania is a puzzle game jointly developed
by Rocketjump Games and PopCap Games,
and published by GameHouse* It was released
on August 3rd, 2006* In the game, you play King Mi-
das, who has accidentally transformed his daughter,
Marygold, into a golden statue with the magical Mi-
das Touch* The Greek god Zeus will agree to reverse
her transformation if Midas uses magical talismans to
create money to spend on others instead of himself, to
atone for his sins of greed* To help him with this task,
Zeus has presented Midas with a team of builders, so
that he can rebuild various buildings and landmarks
across the kingdom*
Talismania is the newest arrival from PopCap Games* This puz-
zle game is slightly more addictive than any other game PopCap
has in its library to date* I would gather that it is more addictive
and fun than Tetris was fif-
teen years ago* Talismania
is like a good Merlot, sim-
ple in flavor but presents a
strong satisfaction*
After receiving the press re-
lease from PopCap Games
that announced this new arriv-
al^ I went out and downloaded
the demo to give it a try* The
game contained some natural
draw to me that I could not
describe* It might be the na-
ture of puzzle games and their
ability to quickly hook you
like a fish to a worm* A few
days later, I had finished the
main story mode of the game
and sat back with a satisfied
look on my face, "I beat it*"
THE MODES
There are two modes to Talismania: Story Mode and Hero Mode*
It is clear from the start that Hero Mode is locked, so you must
complete some of the Story Mode before unlocking it* The two
modes share most of the same style except Hero Mode is a timed
puzzle whereas Story Mode is not* You must finish the puzzle
before time runs out - the more time you have the more points
you earn* This is unlike Story Mode, where you have all the time
in the world to finish a puzzle and have the opportunity to perfect
your techniques*
THE GAMEPLAY
The game play is simple yet intriguing enough to keep you addicted*
Each level pits you in a hexagonal grid maze of tiles that you can spin
clockwise by right-clicking or counter-clockwise by left-clicking* Every
tile has two or more tunnel-like pathways to guide a beam of light from
one talisman to another* You are given one or more pairs of talismans
which you must connect through this beam of light*
Once you spin the tiles so the beams of light link you will receive a num-
ber of coins for each tile between the two talismans*
The coins you collect will be made of bronze, silver, or gold* The goal is
to collect as much money as possible throughout the level* Once you link
two talismans all the tiles that were part of the link are converted into
coins and new ones drop down (in a fashion similar to Hexic).
The coins you collect help Midas build monuments, temples and other
architecture to complete Zeus's task* As you collect coins, your Talisman
Meter will rise* This meter is
right at the top of the level in
the letters of TALISMAN*
They move from bronze to sil-
ver and finally to gold as you
build paths* Watch out, how-
ever, because the meter drains
while you're building paths,
so it is in your best interest to
build them fast* When you hit
silver or gold, the next talis-
man set will be made of that
respective material* The gold
talismans (shaped like lions)
will convert the tiles into gold
coins, the silver (unicorns) into
silver coins, and bronze (owls)
into the most basic coin*
A Talisman master will work
hard to complete the tasks
quickly in order to keep gold
talismans on the board and score the highest points by bringing in the
most gold coins* Once you've filled your gold scale to its maximum goal
(written under the scale) you will defeat the level*
There are five levels in each chapter of the story and a total of
eight chapters.
As you can see by my completed map I have all the chapters fi-
nalized, but not all of the structures are built with goldl That is
because I am not yet talented enough to receive large amounts of
gold talismans for each chapter* Each time you build a part of the
15 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
TALISMANIA BY POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
required architecture, it uses your money to buy the most expen-
sive material* If you notice in the "Colossus" chapter I managed
to make a silver statue except for the right arm - that sucker is
gold! Unfortunately, I was unable to build a full gold statue due
to lack of skilL
You cannot really lose in Story Mode, but you may not complete the
story with all gold monuments* You are not able to go back and redo
the chapters without starting a fresh game, so do it perfectly the first
time or deal with the consequences - this is part of the challenge and
replayability factor* Didn't do it perfect? Start overl
THE CHALLENGE
Talismanias Story Mode starts out fairly tame* Initially you believe
it's a "simple puzzle game" until you see your first monster* The
game contains a host of mythological monster tiles that will appear
as the levels increase in difficulty* Any number of monster tiles
can be on a puzzle and the more you find the harder
the game becomes* You may find yourself up against
a Medusa tile where she will randomly turn your tiles
into stone; useless for gathering coins, if you do not
cross her path with the talisman beam (after all, she's a
tile like all others)*
You cannot rotate monster tiles and this adds an in-
creased level of difficulty* They are static tiles, some
which will move on their own after you complete a
talisman link and do not include them* Each time you
complete a link and you do not include a monster it will
perform its own specific action* For example, a Mino-
taur tile rips through your tiles, making them useless for
coins, by charging in a straight line in a random direc-
tion* The Acid Slime spits acid on your coin scale and
eats away a few coins* A red Acid Slime will chew away
bonus stars, a Siren drains your Talisman Meter and a
Kraken chews on a percentage of coins you just earned
by completing the link (and not including him)*
To make matters worse, an Epic Monster is like all other
monsters but requires two turns to kill* That means you're going to
take a penalty in most situations unless you are fast and can destroy
them with another pair of talismans on the board (or jumping into
Talismania Mode - see below)*
The last ramp of difficulty arrives when you see your first ani-
mated tile* This little tile spins around in a circle and you can
select a position for it by right or left clicking but, after a few sec-
onds, it will begin moving again* If you plan to use them in your
path you must do it quickly or continue to go back and join them
when they re-animate* However, you gain more points
for using these tricky tiles*
TALISMANIA MODE
A puzzle game isn't complete without many bonus
opportunities* As you're completing levels and mak-
ing really skillful moves, you gain one or more stars*
These stars can be used to go into Talismania Mode
for a number of seconds (depending on the total stars
you have accrued)* Once in this mode you quickly
click the tiles on the hexagonal maze and they will
turn instantly into coins as if you linked two talis-
mans* If you can click all the tiles, you will gain a
large quantity of coins (perhaps enough to complete
the level without further work)*
In later levels, I found this to be extremely important
_^ for destroying a number of annoying monster tiles*
When I was in a situation where I had no easy paths
to destroy all the monsters and I had five monster
tiles on my screen in a single turn, the fastest way to
destroy them was to enter Talismania Mode and tar-
get them for destruction (and coins)* However, since this mode
requires you to build up more stars by doing fantastic maneuvers
it should only be used in times of desperation or if you know you
will be able to complete the level quickly after using it*
BONUS CHEST
The bonus chest, usually sitting beside Midas in the far-right cor-
ner, is initially locked* To open the chest you must complete the
entire level in a specific number of turns determined by the number
on the chest* This is your incentive to build long pathways in short
time* A turn is initiated when you link two talismans together*
If you receive the bonus chest, you will be handed a large stack of ad-
ditional coins at the end of the level* These coins are valuable for those
trying to build completely gold monuments*
16 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
TALISMANIA BY POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
SPECIAL TILES
Talismania does not come with all curses and monsters* Some tiles
that show up are there to help you* The Bonus Tile gives you a five-
coin bonus if you complete a
link with this tile in your path* WM
The Power Tile fires a lighten- ^
ing bolt (from Zeus) down in a
straight line and all tiles in its
path become coins (including
monster tiles)* There is a Freeze
Tile which will freeze the turn
counter on the Bonus Chest so
that you have a few free turns to
work with*
There are two other tiles that
must be mentioned: the Combo
Tile, and Pandora Tile* The
Combo Tile is a tile that has four
branches and you must link four
beams into the tile* The beams
must all be the same talisman
type: bronze, silver, or gold* If
you can link all four beams into
one of these tiles, you get a five-
star bonus and all the talismans
and paths utilized are turned
into coins* The downfall is that it
takes some time to complete and
your Talisman Meter will prob-
ably suffer for your patience*
The Pandora Tile can be good or bad (isn't that always the way
with her?) It has eight branch pathways running through it and is
easy to incorporate into a path,
sometimes unavoidable* Once W
you turn it into a coin, it is re-
placed by a random bonus tile
or monster tile* Good luck*
THE STORY
Ok, hold your breath for a
minute*** you may play this
game and learn a bit about
history* I apologize now to
those gamers that want mind-
less game entertainment*
When you complete certain
structures or statues, you are
given facts about mythological
history* These are "fun facts"
that you probably should have
taken notes on in sixth grade*
The game does indeed have a
story but I must admit*** I liked
the puzzles too much to pay
close attention to it* I do know
that each chapter had a cartoon-
like scroll that had words and
pictures* I just clicked "OK" and ■"
moved to the next chapter* I apologize up front to the story designer
and promise to read it if the story comes out in hardcover*
THE MUSIC SCORE
The music, by Somatone Productions, was perfect for this game*
These folks also did the music for Metal of Honor on the PlayStation
2 along with a few Disney
games and Indie games* The
audio has almost an Egyptian
rhythm mixed with a new aged
techno which is best summed
up by one word: awesome*
The music is clear and profes-
sional* This is the type of audio
rhythm that one could listen to
in their car on the commute to
work* The sound is fluid, re-
laxing and contains an addic-
tive beat* Those with good bass
boxes and sound systems will
appreciate the musical score*
THE EYE CANDY
The graphics remind me of
Zuma on the Xhox 360 with a bit
more of a cartoon aspect* The
story and characters are defi-
nitely set in a Super Deformed
anime style world* The graph-
ics are as clear and professional
as the sound quality but are not
mind-boggling next-generation
graphics that you'd see in Call
of Duty 2 or Madden 07. They are built perfectly for the game at-
mosphere and make you feel like you got your $19*95 worth*
r*. HIGH SCORE
The score is everything* You
want to have the best score in
your neighborhood and a puzzle
game is about high scoring* The
score is determined by many in-
game factors such as the amount
of money you gain, how fast you
gain your coin, how many gold
coins you have, the amount of
bonus chests (which is coin), a
few mid-level mini-games for
more points, etc*
To list out all the ways that you
can increase the score would be a
bit more in-depth than required
for this review* Just know that,
like most puzzle games, it's all
about gaining the best score and
practicing to utilize all situations
for the highest scoring actions*
HOW COULD
IT BE BETTER?
I am a big fan of manuals and
installable documentation*
This game comes with a "View Readme," which covers credits,
legal information, and other such text* It also comes with a link
17 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
TALISMANIA BY POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
to PopCap Games' website but I was unable to find any real
documentation for the game* The best documentation on the
web is the Talismania wikipedia entry*
The game contains tips as you're playing to help you learn, but I have
a bad habit of clicking "ok" and moving on* I like to read documenta-
tion before or after I play a bit - not during the game* Therefore, it
would be nice to have a concrete set of rules for the game outside of
the in-game tips*
The high scores are not posted on the Internet* I believe the
game would contain a larger amount of challenge had the scores
been competitive across the world*
Talismania is an enjoyable
game for a twenty
dollar bill. I would love to
see this game show up on
Xbox Live Marketplace in
the future.
FINAL WRAPUP
Talismania is an enjoyable game for a twenty-dollar bill* I believe
you will gain much more enjoyment from this game than using
your USD $19*95 to see a movie with a bag of Sour Patch Kids
and a Root Beer* The game mechanics will be learned in a matter
of minutes but the game can take weeks to master* There are so
many small details that increase your points, coins and comple-
tion speed that you just won't learn it overnight*
Having defeated Story Mode I thought I would be done and
ready to put the game down* This is not a true statement at all*
Going back and attempting to build more gold structures is claw-
ing at me and I've just barely touched Hero mode* I suggest you
download the demo from PopCap Games and see for yourself*
The value of $19*95 is worthwhile* I would love to see this game
show up on Xhox Live Marketplace in the future*
Rating: BUY
EVIEW OF WAR ROCK PUBLIC BETA
" Edd9139 .. '
^^^^^L^h^al^^B I
For players new to the FPS world, this modern
tactical shooter's action-packed gameplay has
been structured with an easy learning curve* For
the expert FPS fans, variety of game-play --from small
squad level close quarters combat to medium-sized ur-
ban conflicts to huge multi-squad and vehicle operations
- provides deep gameplay* K2 Network's FreelPlay""
model allows players to have full access to the game free*
Fans that crave an enhanced experience can use in-game
money earned during play or real world cash to access
increased player abilities, special weapons and other
benefits* An efficient engine allows War Rock to supply
high-quality visual details and fast frame-rates without
the need for the latest, most expensive computers*
- K2 Network
War Rock is a FPS PC game by K2 Network, which has just gone into
pubhc beta testing* War Rock is entirely free at the moment, although
a commercial version will also be available soon* PC, FPS and FREE,
need I say anymore? War Rock is currently in public beta testing before
its commercial release, although it has been confirmed that the game
will always remain free to play, with the option to purchase a fifth weap-
on slot and more weapons and features*
Why all the hype about War Rock? For me it's the fact that War Rock can
be played casually and you can still be good at it* Unlike other FPS shooters
where, the more you play, the more skilled you become, the more you own*
In War Rock, you still become more skilled the longer you play, although it
doesn't mean you'll always own newer players or players which play less*
Gameplay 9+5/10j War Rock is similar to both Counter Strike and
Battlefield 2, although unique in such a way, which makes every game
different* There are currently three map sizes at the moment* Mis-
sion mode maps, which are small scale maps for small arms combat
on which you either have to plant or defuse bombs* K2 Network is
planning to introduce more mission modes in the future* Next up is
infantry combat with maps slightly larger, in which a few vehicles are
added to gameplay and there are a few flags to capture* Finally, there is
vehicle combat, which is large scale maps designed for vehicle and air
combat, with a large number of flags to capture* Mission mode allows
for up to 16 players, infantry combat maps allow for up to 24 play-
ers, while vehicle combat maps offer play for up to 32 players* Mission
mode is played in rounds, where the first team to win a set number of
rounds wins, while infantry and vehicle maps are both won by captur-
ing a set numbered of flags*
There are five soldier classes for you to play, and you can change what
class you are playing as soon as you have died* The default sidearm
weapon for all classes is a Colt handgun, while the default primary
weapon varies* The engineer repairs vehicles and aeroplanes, etc, al-
though is useless in mission mode maps where there is nothing to
repair* An engineer carries a sidearm gun, primary gun and spanner*
The medic carries a hand gun and primary gun* The medic also has
the additional bonus of 10 medic kits which they can use to either
partly raise their own or a teammates health* A scout (sniper) is con-
sidered the best class by the more skilled group of players* The scout
carries a secondary gun, two hand grenades and the sniping rifle,
with the M24 being the default weapon for a scout* The combat-
ant class is easily the most popular class in the game, mainly for the
fact that this class can use what some would consider more powerful
weapons (some weapons are restricted to certain classes)* A combat-
ant carries a sidearm gun, primary gun and two hand grenades* The
fifth and final class available in War Rock is the heavy weapons unit,
a player who chooses this class carries a sidearm gun, four TMA
mines, and a rocket launcher, with the default being the PZF* Each
class has its advantages, with the medic or combatant class being
best suited for new players, while the scout or heavy weapons class is
more suited to experienced players*
Better weapons can be purchased from the item shop using the in game
currency Dinars* Dinars are earned whenever a match is played, and the
better you did, the more Dinars you will receive* Whenever you level
up a level, you receive 5000 Dinars* Weapons are leased from the item
shop for 3, 7, 15 or 30 days, costing from 1200 Dinars for a Desert Eagle
hand gun for three days, up to 19000 Dinars for the RPG7 for 30 days*
When the time the weapon was leased for is up, the weapon is returned
to the item shop* This adds greatly to gameplay and the replay value of
War Rock, as to have more powerful weapons, you need more Dinars,
which are largely gained by leveling up* The more you play, the harder it
is to level up and the harder it becomes to earn Dinars*
19 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
WAR ROCK (CONTINUED)
More mission modes and ways to play in mission mode would cer-
tainly make gameplay on small scale maps more interesting*
Graphics 8/10: The graphics for this game are surprisingly good, al-
though I found little difference between the low graphics settings and
high graphics settings, apart from the muzzle
Hash on weapons* The rag doll' effects when
dying are great, although sometimes inaccu-
rate* For example, where a soldier breaks all
their bones and is thrown across a road after
being shot in the head* The graphics are crisp,
although not stunning, like other FPS games*
Consider that War Rock is still in beta though
and has a great development team behind it***
Sounds 6/10: This is one aspect of the game
which is not so developed yet* Why weapon
sounds and sound effects are decent enough, the
Korean voiceover's are of below average quality*
Hearing 'medic and the same voice over's repeat-
ed over and over in a round is nearly enough to
make any player mad* Although voiceover's were
recently updated in a patch, and may change
again before the final commercial release*
Performance 8/10: The game does not need
a decent computer to run* It will even run
reasonably well on an old P3, all thanks to
thejindo 3D engine, which supports play on
older computers* Servers for the English War
Rock are currently located in West USA,
East USA, England, Germany and Spain*
Lag is not an issue for me, even with slower
internet, although a very small minority of
players report problems with lag*
Replay Value 10/10: Every game is different
with every conflict being unpredictable* The
simplicity of the game keeps one entertained
for hours, although there's still plenty more
for experienced players* Ranking and leveling up
a big factor, with there currently being 100 pos-
sible ranks, ranging from a Private Second Class
to a General* To obtain better weapons, you have
to play more, and the more you play, the harder
it becomes to get enough Dinars for that desired
weapon* To me. War Rock is a casual gamer's
game, one that can just be picked up and played*
Counter Strike has always been a favourite at a
LAN party, although War Rock will be soon be
ready to take over* War Rock is a great game for a
LAN, with gameplay easy to master for first time
players, and still fun for more skilled and existing
players* Although clans and clan-wars are cur-
rently disabled, they will be available for explosive
action in the not too distant future*
Overall War Rock is a neat game, considering its
still in beta testing and is free to play* What it lacks
in graphics, it makes up for in gameplay* This is
defiantly one game I will be buying when released,
just to see the new pay to play' features K2 net-
work come up with* Its no surprise War Rock is
often compared to as "the free Battlefield 2*"
Overall 8.5/10
http://War RocLnet/
■ -
II
II
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Pentium 3, 800 MHz
512 MB RAM
Radeon 8500LE, Geforce MX400 or better
Windows ME, 2000 or XP*
800 MB Storage
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM:
Pentium 4, 2000 MHZ
512 MB RAM
FX5700orATI9200
Windows 2000 or XP
800 MB Storage
20 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
w
^ were lucky enough to catch up with Matt
Norton, the producer of War Rock, who was
more than happy to answer our questions* ♦ ♦
War Rock will be a free release - totally free* How do you feel you
will become profitable with future releases and patches if you hand
the game away for free? Why would someone purchase the commer-
cial game over its free counterpart?
War Rock will always be free to download and Free2Play™* Even after
commercial release, players will be able to play for free, and rise to the
highest ranks, without ever paying us a penny*
We believe that if you enjoy the game and play it for ten, twenty, thirty
hours a week (or more) that we can offer things that our players will find
useful enough to pay fon
In War Rock free players play alongside the Pre-
mium players - there is no need to separate service
for paying vs* non-paying players since both are
equally competitive*
During the course of the game players can earn
in-game money (called Dinars) as a result of their
victories, and even hard-fought defeats* Players
can choose to spend their Dinar on things like ad-
ditional weapons, the ability to carry a wider vari-
ety of weapons onto the battlefield, healing packs,
and the like*
We will be selling additional Dinars to players if they would like to get
a wider variety of game-enhancements than they could afford through
their battlefield exploits alone*
These packages of Dinar will include additional benefits like: the ability
to create game-rooms with more customized features (game duration,
game type, password restricted, etc*), first access to new maps, log-in
preference on crowded servers, access to some Premium-only game-
events, and an assortment of other features*
Non-premium players will still be able to join any of the games and they
will be able to create games with standard preferences*
The important thing is that players will never be able to buy their way to
the top ranks* No matter how much or how little a player spends, access
to more advanced and specialized weapons and other gear will be restricted
by character rank - with the higher ranking characters having access to
the cooler military technology (much as in real-life, the more experienced
troops tend to get some of the more specialized equipment)*
How long was the development cycle for War Rock, and did you find
any huge hurdles and challenges while designing the product?
Dream Execution, Ltd*, is the South Korean-based developer of War
Rock* It took over two years to create the Jindo engine underlying the
War Rock game code and a year longer to create the game* War Rock
has actually been in commercial release in South Korea for over a year
now, with over 3-million registered users*
Dream Execution has made special effort to make the game quick mov-
ing and easy for even novice players to get involved in* An additional
feature of War Rock is that the Jindo engine is extremely efficient* War
Rock's minimum system requirements are only a PIII 800 MHz (or
equivalent) and its recommended system spec is a PIV 2*0 GHz*
While the game is extremely successful in South Korea, Western players have
slightly different priorities and expectations than Korean players do, so we've
spent most of our Beta-test time fine-tuning War Rock for Western players*
Do you foresee any additional content being made
available once War Rock ships a final commercial
release? Will you develop a sequel or publish pur-
chasable, downloadable content to your audience?
Our schedule for War Rock includes monthly con-
tent releases* This new content will be accessible
by all players free of charge*
In addition to the normal content releases, a couple
of times a year we will be releasing larger packages
of updates that will include more game modes,
updates on the background story, as well as new
maps, weapons, and vehicles*
How do you see War Rock unique and different from other FPS?
War Rock is different in a few key ways* First, at K2 Network we see
online games not so much as a product industry (where you put a box
on a shelf) but rather, as a service industry* As part of that belief, we feel
that the game belongs to the players not us*
Since we're already scheduled and set up to provide monthly releases
of new content, it makes sense to allow the player-community to define
that content by telling us what they want next*
We read the forums and respond to users, but we also actively solicit in-
formation on the game from our top players and clans* For example, we
recently ran a poll so the players could tell us which weapon they wanted
us to add to the game next*
I think the most important and most exciting difference for War Rock as an
FPS, is that we can create a game in which the content is very player driven*
For example, some of our clans have set up races on one of the maps, us-
ing 6-wheel trucks and motorcycles* We think that's a great idea and are
planning to create some race maps to support that*
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Other players came up with the idea to allow for Asymmetric combat*
As you know, this refers to situations very much in the news today, in
which you have a smaller group of well armed soldiers against a great
number of opponents equipped only with AK'47s* It sounds like a great
idea so we're slating it for production*
Another popular request from our players is to allow character customization*
We re currently working to let players show their clan symbols as unit-patches
on their character uniforms, and even to enable clans to customize their uni-
forms (with, say a red-beret for all of your clan members in the game)*
We let the players decide the course of the game, and I think that's
something very unique in online games*
Will new content released after the commercial release be exclusively
for players who purchase the commercial version? If so, do you think
this will cause balance issues between players who bought the game
and players who play for free?
There will be no required purchase as part of the commercial release*
When the game goes to commercial release that merely means that we
will start allowing players to purchase some enhancements, but the
framework of the game will not change*
Have you found your open beta to be a success? Are gamers enthusi-
astic about having access to a game in its early stages and feel "part"
of the quality control for the product?
Non-premium players will not be able to start a game with some of the
new maps for the first 30-days after new assets
are released* But they will be able to start normal
games (with default settings) and they will be able
to join games on new maps*
The Beta test
time has given
us a real oppor-
The Open Beta has been extremely successful for us in finding out more
about what our players want as well as which
areas we need to improve in* Additionally, we've
been able to start establishing ties with clans and
players across the US and EU*
Other than that, all of the contents allowed by each
player's rank will be available for purchase using in- ^
game money (Dinars) regardless of whether those XUHIX^^ X^) SIl^JW
Dinars were earned in-game, purchased, or a com-
bination of both*
Do you have any game designers with prior military
experience working on the game design and "real-
ism" factors in the strategy and combat tactics?
our players
that we listen
to them.
We read and respond daily to bugs given to us on
our forums, we allow our Beta players the ability to
input bugs directly into our bug-tracking software
via a web-interface, and we have in-game GMs*
The emphasis in War Rock is on action and fun rather than realism for
its own sake*
Many of War Rock's developers at Dream Execution have served in the South
Korean military and we blend that with the team's FPS game-experience* The
result is a good blend of the real-feel with constant fast-paced action*
At first, we weren't sure how useful GMs would be
in a FPS game, but it turns out that's something
that the players really like* Our GMs move from the
lobby into the various game rooms, and are able to
answer questions, verify cheating vs* skill, and to help run in-game events*
Having GMs in-game has been so successful for us that we intend to enlarge
the GM staff and make that a permanent part of War Rock's service*
I think that the Beta test time has given us a real opportunity to show
our players that we listen to them, we care, and most importantly we take
action on their concerns and requests* As a developer, it feels very good
to be able to respond to player's wishes* I'm very excited to see where our
players will take War Rock in the coming months and years ahead*
Do you consider War Rock the "World of Warcraft" of first
person shooters?
In any online game the online community formed by the players is a vital element*
Some large, diverse, and dynamic communities have grown up around WoW
Nurturing and supporting the War Rock game community so they feel
a real attachment to their game is vitally important to us* In that sense,
WoW and War Rock share some common goals*
WoW is a very cohesive developer-vision of a fun game-world, and play-
ers are invited to experience that vision* Where War Rock differs is that
we would like to help our community to form War Rock into their vi-
sion of the best FPS ever*
The War Rock team looks forward to doing just that*
'^^ivk ■
22 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
PopCap Games puts pride into each game
they ship* PopCap has one goal: producing
fun games that every single person can enjoy*
They have no limit on age and prove beyond any
doubt that casual gamers exist and those gamers
love to play games* For anyone that has played a
PopCap game knowingly or not they have found
hours of entertainment and joy from such simple
designs and cheap prices* There is no doubt in my
mind that PopCap Games will grow as everyone be-
comes drastically aware that each person has a little
gamer inside themselves scratching to get out***
Your company history states that
in 2002 the three founders John
Vechey, Brian Fiete, and Jason
Kapalka stopped working out of
their house and started working
in an office* This success story
is interesting, can you expand
on that? Were these visionaries
working full time on PopCap web
games? Were they living on Mac
& Cheese while they struggled to
make a name for themselves?
Well, without going into all the
gory details, suffice it to say we
were scraping by in the early days,
watching the bottom fall out of
the online advertising market and asking ourselves "how can we make a
living with games that people have always been able to play for free if at
this point advertisers won't take a chance on the Web and foot the bill
for this user experience?" We decide to try selling a somewhat enhanced
version of Bejeweled, then known as Diamond Mine* No one else in the
industry thought this was a good idea, and they had history on their side;
how do you get consumers to PAY for something that they've tradition-
ally gotten for free and can still get 80% of for free online? But we really
didn't have much choice if we wanted to stay in the casual games space
so we said "what the hell, let's give it a shot/' Brian built a little app that
produced a "cha-chingl" cash register sound each time someone actually
uploaded their credit card info and purchased the game* At first it was
really cool hearing that "cha-ching" every hour or so*** when it started
going off every 15 minutes, we thought "maybe we're on to something
here*" Then when it got to be every two minutes, every minute, etc*, we
turned the damned thing off cause it was driving us nutsl" Yes, we were
at that point working on PopCap titles full-time and yes, some quanti-
ties of Mac & Cheese were consumed in those days*** now we can afford
Mac & Cheese AND the occasional bottle of water - life is good!
What is the PopCap office like? Do people wear T-Shirts and Shorts
or business casual?
PopCap's offices are for the most part pretty informal in most respects*
We do insist that employees wear clothes, but beyond that we're not
too picky* Name-calling, pulling hair and putting tacks on the CEO's
chair are frowned upon* The company's headquarters in Seattle are lo-
cated downtown in a spiffy high-rise, and our conference rooms over-
look the Space Needle and much of the rest of the city* The office is
a semi-circular space with lots of cubicles centered around a spacious
inner room that is set up like someone's dream "rec room," with a big-
screen TV and various video game consoles, as well as couches, bean
bag chairs, foosball table, and several arcade cabinets equipped with
virtually every video game from the late '70s to the '90s*
You started with all web
based games, and have moved
into packaged downloadable
games* You even have some
of them on Xbox Live Arcade
now* What made you decid-
ed that full blown "deluxe"
download games were the
next progressive step?
We were more or less 'forced' to
come up with the "try-before-
you-buy" deluxe game down-
loadable sales model when the
bottom fell out of the Web
advertising business in 2000-
2001* We couldn't survive on
the meager ad revenues available via people playing our games free
online, so we thought 'maybe people will PAY for a deluxe version
of a game like Bejeweled, with better graphics, more levels, and
some bells and whistles* Brian Fiete built a little app that made a
'cha-ching' cash register sound every time someone entered their
credit card number and bought one of our games*** it was very cool
to hear that sound, at first every hour or two, then every 30, 20
minutes* When the 'cha-ching' began sounding every minute or so,
we turned it off 'cause it got annoying* But that's when we knew we
were on to something!
Our games are now also sold at retail outlets like Wal-Mart, Tar-
get, BestBuy, etc* as shrink-wrapped boxed editions, as well as via
Web download (still the bulk of our sales)* Many of our top games
are also available on mobile phones and PDAs, in-flight on sev-
eral airlines, in-demand TV in thousands of hotels, and on video
game consoles* Heck, there are even scratch-off lottery tickets
sporting the Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Bookworm and other PopCap
game brandsl
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POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
PopCaps flagship game, Bejeweled, was an instant success*
What was it about this game that was popular to so many people?
We're still not sure, after selling 5 million copies on the Web and see-
ing Bejeweled installed on 50 million cell phones in N* America alone
over the past couple of yearsi Essentially, it boils down to simple yet
challenging and rewarding game play, solid graphics and a fundamen-
tally fun core activity: matching three like objects through specific
controls/movements, with some interesting obstacles and bonuses
appearing over time* We knew this game was pretty good when we
sat a couple of our moms down to play the prototype and they were
still playing an hour later when we came backl We never anticipated it
would become the biggest casual game in the 21st century so far!
What is your most popular game to date? I've heard a great deal
about Bejeweled 2*
Well, Bejeweled and Bejeweled 2 are our 'flagship franchise title and our most
popular game(s) so fan But others like Zuma, Bookworm and Chuzde have
been huge hits too* The Bejeweled 'franchise - Bejeweled and its successor
Bejeweled 2 - have collectively sold well over 5 million units and the mobile
version of the game has been installed on more than
50 million cell phones in N* America alone over the
past couple of years* We estimate that the Bejeweled
franchise has consumed roughly 2 billion hours of
consumers' leisure time since 2001 - not bad for a
game you can learn in about 30 secondsl Add to this
Computer Gaming World Magazine's induction of
Bejeweled into its Hall of Fame last year - the first
puzde game to be inducted since Tetris 19 years ago
- and we're pretty proud of that one!
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XZ^lTJI
BEJEWELED 2 ^ ^ ^ ^i =— J;T;
Your site says that PopCap has 66 employees* Are
all these folks working on arcade games? How
many games do you work on simultaneously?
Actually, PopCap now has 75 employees, most
of them situated here in Seattle but some in our
new San Francisco studio and our recently opened
international offices in Dublin Ireland*** who's re-
sponsible for updating the damned website? Oh,
wait - I ami Well, we'll get that figure updated
shortly* Not all of these people work on building
games, of course - someone has to sweep the he-
licopter pad and feed the monitor lizard* Roughly
We were more
or less 'forced'
to come up with
the "try-before-
you-buy" deluxe
game download-
able sales model
when the bottom
fell out of the
Web advertising
business in
2000-2001.
two thirds of our workers are involved in some aspect of game design/
development, with the rest handling marketing,
sales, and other areas* We generally have half a
dozen or more games in the pipeline at any given
time, and try to publish at least four or five each
year - although those numbers continue to grow
as we expand our operations and increase our
workforce*
Does PopCap work a standard set of hours or do
the developers tend to work late into the night?
We don't have standard hours, a dress code
or many of the other trappings of "real" cor-
porations* Heck, we left the corporate world
to avoid that stuff! On the other hand we do
work hard and sometimes the artists and cod-
ers burn the midnight oil - but not because
they're "on deadline" - we have no deadlines,
really, we just ship a game when it's ready*
This philosophy has served us well so far and
we have no plans to change it* It really doesn't
make sense to drive employees toward some
made-up finish line, only to have the game be
less than it can be and the employees be burned
out* Maybe if you're a public company you have to do some of that
stuff to keep the shareholders happy and meet quarterly financial
goals, but we plan to avoid this mentality like the plague for as long
as we possible can - hopefully foreverl
You develop games internally, but have also published a few games for oth-
er developers* What criteria do you have for publishing external games?
We look for games with great fundamental gameplay - just as we do
with our internally-developed games* We certainly help "polish" 3rd-
party titles when necessary, but basically it's all about the core game and
how much fun it is, how novel and different it is, and whether it's com-
plimentary to our existing lineup of games*
PopCap encourages independent game developers including hand-
ing out your own developer framework to others* How do you see
independent game developers fitting into the gaming market? It
seems that all big companies started out as small independent
companies with a dream*
'^^IVk ■
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POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
We still think of ourselves as indy game developers, and some of
the brain cells from our early days are still functional, so we can
relate to the small indy team working in an attic apartment or
as a virtual team spread across the country
or the world* The indy developers are key
to keep the casual games sector vibrant and
innovative; they're the ones who really have
the ability - and often, the desperation - to
think way outside the box and come up with
something very different* They have no one
lurking over their shoulder saying "that's in-
teresting but unproven; let's go with some-
thing more conservative but a bit more tried
and true that will definitely earn a return on
the investment/' So indy developers are still »
very much the lifeblood of this part of the
games business in our opinion and we want
to help support them wherever possible*
Based on your customer breakdown you have
a 72% female gamer base* What do you think
draws female gamers to your games?
We honestly don't have a definitive answer
here* Our assumption is that women like to
play games, including Videogames,' as much
as men* It's just that traditionally, videogames
have been made with the young male audience
in mind* This dates back to the days of big
arcades and the first console systems* (Al-
though the VERY earliest arcade hits, like PONG, Donkey Kong,
Centipede, Pac-Man etc* had very broad appeal*) Women were
never really a clear target for computer game developers and when
those developers DID try to make a game for girls' it was generally
panned by critics and consumers alike - no one likes to be pan-
dered to*** But if you build games with truly broad appeal, women
will play them, and since we at PopCap strive to make games with
the broadest possible appeal, it makes sense that women would
gravitate toward these games* Further, since the majority of com-
puter/videogames still target young male consumers, casual games
like ours are in some ways 'the only game(s) in town for female
consumers* I don't think we'll ever try to make a game specifically
for women, though - not only is that difficult to do, it's never really
worked in the past and it's not really necessary* Just make solid,
high-quality games with everyone as your target audience, and
women will definitely be a big part of the customer base*
90% of your customers are over the age of twenty-five* What do you
think draws the 25 and older crowd to your games? Is it the simplic-
ity, the retro arcade-feel, or do older gamers just like to have fun?
Good question* Basically, when you make games that don't focus on vio-
lence and don't have the goal of getting your adrenaline pumping like
you've just run a 5k race, you end up with games that appeal to the hu-
man brain at a fundamental level* And that in turn makes them appeal-
ing to just about everyone* Furthermore, because the casual games we
make lend themselves to short sessions of playing and don't require you
to read a 50-page manual before you can start playing, adults tend to
gravitate to our games* Some play the games as a form of mental break'
- playing for 15 minutes at their desk during lunch; some play for social
reasons (competing with friends to get the highest score in Bookworm
or Bejeweled 2, etc*)* Others play for the sheer fun of it, and games that
can be started and stopped at any time lend themselves to the smaller
periods of time in which adults can still have fun***how often does the
average adult really have an opportunity to play a game for three hours?
Having said all that, we DO have many fans in the under-25 crowd***
games like Insaniquarium, Feeding Frenzy, Heavy Weapon, etc* have
strong foUowings of younger players*
Essentially, [Bejeweled's popularity]
boils down to simple yet challeng-
ing and rewarding qame play, solid
graphics and a fundlamentally fun core
activity: matching three like objects
through specific controls/movements,
with some interesting obstacles and
bonuses appearing over time.
You're site allows gamers to try before they
buy* Every game has this nice feature; do you
know how many gamers try your demo's be-
fore they buy it? I almost cried in the middle of
Bookworm when it shutdown because I played
for my hour demo - it was just that addictive*
Luckily, once I had a registered copy it remem-
bered where I let off*
Well, we know that more than 175 million cop-
ies of the deluxe versions of our games have been
downloaded in the past six years* And while the
percentage of those downloads that turn into ac-
tual sales is relatively small, our games are also
available at retail, so many people who try the
deluxe downloads end up purchasing at stores
3
(D
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POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
like CostCo, Target, etc* This 'try-before-you-buy' sales model is great
because it means that we have virtually NO dissatisfied customers - if
you're able to play a game in all its deluxe glory for an hour (usually after
playing the free basic version for awhile on the Web first), you have a
far better idea how much that game really appeals to you than if you're
purchasing a typical 'hardcore' game at a store based on the packaging,
and ad or two, and maybe a review* And let's face it, we HAVE to give
people a 'taste' of the games before expecting them to buy - we don't
have the huge marketing budgets, over-the-top graphics and animations,
and movie/TV show/comic book tie-ins that help sell 'hardcore' games*
You categorize your games into Puzzle Games, Arcade games, Word
Games, and Card Games* Which category has been the most successful?
The pu%de game genre has been most successful for Popcap so far, but that's
partly because we've made more puzzle games than other kinds* We also
strive to break down those category 'barriers' in new games, because let's
face it, you can only play so many 'match-three' games before that particu-
lar type of game becomes old hat* (That said, we also work hard to 'extend'
existing gameplay models with all sorts of twists and tweaks, and you'll see
that reflected in some future games*) We've got some games in the pipeline
right now that definitely can't be comfortably put into any of the categories
you cite above - what are they? We dunno - but they're fun as hell and
totally addictive and we expect them to help push the boundaries of
so-called 'casual games' in new directions*
Let's talk about Zuma for a second* This game is
massively addicting and seems to be successful on
Xbox 360 Marketplace* It's available on mobile
phones too? What type of phone do I need to
play Zuma mobile?
Zuma can get extremely difficult in the later levels; do you have any
PopCap employees that have defeated this game? It seems to take
many hours to do so*
Yes, part of the challenge with Zuma is that when you fail to complete
the last round of a given level, you must start that whole level over***
this does cause some frustration for some players, but it also means the
game provides a challenge for a longer period of time for most people*
Sure, many of our employees have finished the game, but they had to
work overtime to do it* And we've certainly heard from some customers
who've completed the whole game - though some of them had to cheat
to do iti Naughty, naughty***!
It might be easier to list the phones that Zuma is NOT available for
Thanks to our partnerships with Glu, Jamdat, Astraware and other mo-
bile content providers, Zuma is literally available for hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of different phones, not to mention PocketPCs and PDAs*
Phones that are more than a couple of years old may not support the
game, but beyond that just about any phone can play the game* And like
Bejeweled, Zuma is pretty ideal for mobile play in almost every respect:
you can play it for 5 minutes or an hour, depending on how much time
you have while waiting at the airport, in line at the grocery store, at the
dentist's office, etc*; the controls and rules are straightforward enough
that you can be enjoying it within a minute of downloading it; the
graphics/UI is simple enough that a large screen is not necessary; and
the broad appeal of the games combined with the fact that just about
everyone has a mobile phone has resulted in these games being big hits
on the mobile platform*
Oh, definitely* The success of our initial offer-
ings for Xbox Live Arcade (Bejeweled 2, Zuma,
Feeding Frenzy and Astropop) has encouraged us to
port more games to that platform* A very cool version of
Heavy Weapon, complete with all-new multiplayer modes,
is in development right now and will ship later this year* We can't
disclose any other plans at the moment but it's safe to say that we
'get' the Xbox and look forward to seeing more PopCap games on
that platform in future*
How do you guys spread the word of PopCap games? You pub-
lish your own products and I've not seen PopCap on shelves at
EB or BestBuy*
Well look harder, dammit! Haifa dozen of our biggest hits are avail-
able as shrink-wrapped, boxed editions at BestBuy, CostCo, Target,
Wal-Mart, CompUSA and other retail chains* If your local retailer
doesn't carry them, complain to the manager (but for god's sake don't
tell them we told you to!) *The boxed edition o^Chuzzle even comes
with a plush Chuzzle doll :) As for how we spread the word, that's
done through positive press and reviews, as well as tons of word-of-
mouth* When one soccer mom sees another having fun on her laptop
or mobile phone, they want to know what it is that's taking the player
to such an enjoyable mental place while everyone else is twiddling
their thumbs* So the 'pass-along' phenomenon is definitely a big
part of our success, and we have many stories of people getting their
bosses, their spouses, their psychiatrists or even their entire families
hooked on our games*
'^^ivk ■
26 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
POPCAP GAMES (CONTINUED)
It seems that many retail outlets only cater to large publishers like
Electronic Arts, Activision, UbiSoft, Sega, and other popular com-
panies* Is there no shelf room for Independent game companies or
do Indies just not have the cash to produce boxed games?
This has been true historically but is changing. As retailers wake up to the
fact that nearly ^everyone* who comes into a Wal-Mart is a potential buyer
of a broadly appealing computer/videogame, they will increasingly stock
games like ours* That, and the fact that casual games sell for less than half
of the typical hard-core game makes casual games a great 'impulse buy that
retailers love* Its already happening, and will happen more in future!
Console makers are now
aware that their original
audience is aging and they
need to find ways to reach
a broader audience,
including older gamers
and women.
PopCap recognizes the "casual gamer," but how do you define the
habits of a casual gamer?
We're actually conducting a survey next month to attempt to define
some of this* Basically, a typical casual gamer is a 40-something woman
seeking a form of leisure-time entertainment that's more engaging than
TV, more fun that reading a newspaper, and can be available when the
mood strikes for 15 minutes of fun* As to exactly how customers view
the playing of our games versus other activities in their lives, that will
hopefully be among the answers we glean from the survey - stay tunedl
There are many people out there that would be great "casual gamers" but
have not found their games yet* Is there any good strategy to get new
people involved in gaming so that they too can enjoy gaming casually?
Well, our strategy is to try to raise awareness of casual games in general
- through stories in newspapers, magazines, on TV and radio, and of
course on the Web* We haven't done much advertising in the past, but
are starting to do more, and that will also make more people aware of
the games* Combine that with the fact that people LIKE to share their
discovery of casual games with others, and we're starting to see a real
groundswell of consumers playing casual games* Depending on which
research numbers you believe, there are now between 150 million and
300 million people playing casual games on a regular basis - not bad for
a 'little-known leisure-time activity'
I am sure you have heard of the Wii and how they are targeting new gamers
and creating a more casual gaming environment* What are your thoughts
on their goal to bring in new gamers? Do you see this as a successful maneu-
ver or should console companies just focus on the die hard gamers?
Console makers are now aware that their original audience is aging
and they need to find ways to reach a broader audience, including older
gamers and women* There's no reason why these other parts of the over-
all consumer base couldn't be enticed to purchase a videogame console
- if the right games were presented to them* Whether those casual
gamers' can eventually be "upsold" to more hardcore titles remains to
be seen, but even if they can't, this broader audience is so much bigger
than the 12-28 year old male consumer base that you can make money
this way even if it's $5 or $10 at a time* Many gamers would love to say
"I build games for a living" - Do you have any inspiring thoughts for
gamers that want to move into the game development industry?
Well, it's simplistic and somewhat hackneyed, but the key is "do what
you love*" We've seen a fair number of artists and developers from the
hardcore side of the business migrate to the casual games space with
an attitude of "well, this isn't my cup of tea, but it's where the money is
at the moment, so what the hell*" That's no way to make a living - or
have a life! To make great casual games you need to play and enjoy
them, otherwise you're just guessing at what people will like or mim-
icking what's already out there - and that's no fun and not the way to
be successful, ultimately*
3
<D
27 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
f
o
m
J011YR0GER
20LD2PLAY.COM COMMUNITY MEMBER SHOWCASE
Real Nanrie: Jimmy^JimorJimbo
Gamer Tag: JOllyROger (Leet spelling)
Location: Atlanta, GA.
Age: 32
Status: Married
Children: 3
Occupation: Help Desk
FAVORITE DRINK:
Sweet Tea not that unsweetened garbage you geographically misplaced
people drinL
FAVORITE FOOD:
Mexican (Food or people)
FAVORITE MUSIC GROUP:
Metallica
FAVORITE TV SERIES:
Don't really have one* Old cartoons (60's, 70's SC 80's)
FAVORITE MOVIE:
Pirates of the Caribbean
FAVORITE SOLO ARTIST THAT YOU
WOULD ALMOST BE EMBARRASSED
TO SAY YOU ENJOY HEARING:
Barry Manilow, c'mon folks he writes the songs* ♦>♦
WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO 20LD-
2PLAY AS A MEMBER?
Well, I had posted a message on Bungie^net back at the end of April
2005, talking about how much I hated the snot-nosed brats (pre-Timmy
label) I would game with in MM* I believe it was Mikejames that re-
plied, letting me know that there was a place I could game with people
more my age and not have to worry about the little ones bothering me*
Been a member since May 4th, 2005* wOOt!!
IF YOU WON FIVE MILLION DOLLARS
WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
First invest, then spend*
WHAT VIDEO GAME DO YOU FIND
YOURSELF PLAYING THE MOST?
It was COD2, but the 2old2con LAN party in Chicago and lure of
Halo 2 has drawn me back*
WILL YOU BE BUYING A Wll,
PLAYSTATION 3, BOTH OR NONE?
Maybe a Wii* Honestly, I would like to get a DS Lite, especially for
the new SMB game*
WHAT VIDEO GAME CHARACTER DO
YOU THINK BEST PORTRAYS YOURSELF?
Duke Nukem* I could care less who, or what, it is* If it moves, it's gonna
die and I shall feel no remorse for it*
ARE THERE ANY GAMES THAT YOU
PLAY THAT ARE NOT PART OF THE
FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER GENRE?
Ummmm****** no* Does Blazing Angels count? It's third person* I will
say this for the entire community; I am ashamed that I have NEVER
played an RPG* There I said it* LOL
IAN-THOMAS AND MEGAN
28 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
J011YR0GER (CONTINUED)
WHAT VIDEO GAME DEVELOPER/DE-
SIGNER DO YOU BELIEVE HAS MADE
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON
THE GAMING MARKET?
Easy answer for me personally. ♦> Bungie. I had no desire what-so-ever
to get a next generation console* After being given an Xbox and Halo, I
haven't looked back.
WHERE DID THE NICK NAME
"JOLLYROGER" COME FROM?
Ok, this is a long story. It has nothing to do with pirates. I am a huge
history nut, especially WWII. First up, my Halo avatar. The emblem
matches the tattoo I have on my right arm. It is what my grandpa's patch
looked like. He was a nosegunner in a B-24 bomber, named Big Chief
(pilot was an American Indian and his name: Leaford Bearskin he is
now Chief of the Wyandot tribe in OK), in the Pacific in WWII. He
was part of the 5th Air Force, 321st Bomb Squadron, 90th Bomb Group
called the Jolly Rogers. A lot of thought and preparation went into get-
ting it because I wanted it to be special. He is my hero and has some
awesome war stories. THAT is where JoUyRoger came from, not some
cool pirate story.
YOU ATTENDED THE 20LD2CON
EVENT LAST MONTH, ANY THOUGHTS?
It totally rocked. Thanks goes out to 01dManRiver48 for hooking me
up. It was just a great time to hang out with people I have gamed with for
over a year, finally putting faces with the voices. Cool family to be a part
of. All around it was most excellent. Looking forward to next year.
IS THERE ANY OLD-SCHOOL GAMES
THAT YOU WOULD LOVE TO SEE
REMADE WITH TODAY'S GRAPHICS,
SOUND AND HORSE POWER?
Contra (Non-XBLA), Duke Nukem - you gotta have Duke on the 360.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE
SUPPORT THAT THE 20LD2PLAY
SITE HAS GIVEN YOU AND
YOUR FAMILY OVER THE LAST
FEW MONTHS?
Wow, where to start here. When I first started posting about my
daughter, Megan, I honestly did not expect the response that I re-
ceived. It was truly overwhelming. People I had never heard of, or
even gamed with sent me PM's with their well wishes. Phone calls
from XSSmoke, Rashanii and Teufelhunden were wonderful to get,
while in the hospital. The site really showed out during that time and
actually still does today. I constantly get message in chat, or on the
site asking how Megan is doing. For that, the site and its people will
always have a place in my heart and will always have my respect.
HAS IT INSPIRED YOU OR CHANGED
YOUR PERCEPTION OF PEOPLE?
In one word, yes.
IF YOU HAD TO GIVE A YOUNGER
KID SOME ADVICE ABOUT GAMING
AND ONLINE PLAY, WHAT WOULD
YOU TELL THEM?
Watch what you say. Think before you speak. And always remember,
there is ALWAYS someone better than you.
29 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
m
STUPJO/(M.COM
30 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
WILL WRIGHT: PIONEER
A LOOK AT THE GAME DESIGNER HIMSELF
By Edd9139
Will Wright is a pioneer in gaming and the gam-
ing industry for the past 20 years* Wright was
born in 1960 in Atlanta;, Georgia;, and gradu-
ated from high school at the age of 16* After high school;,
Wright continued to further his education at Louisiana
State University, Louisiana Tech;, and New School Uni-
versity, where for five years he studied architecture, me-
chanical engineering, and aviation* What did this future
pioneer get after five years at three institutions of higher
learning? No degree, although five years of experience
which would be crucial later*
At age 20, Wright became heavily involved in gaming and became addicted
to computer games* Later that year, he taught himself how to program on his
Apple IL In 1984, the then unknown Will Wright released his first game,
Raid On Bungeling Bay, published by Broderbund for the Commodore 64*
Raid On Bungling Bay was a scrolling shooting game* While developing
Raid On Bungling Bay, Wright discovered placing roads and populating the
map using his building utility for the game was fun in itselE
Hence, Wright began to expand on his roads and buildings utility and
transformed it into a unique game of its own* Sim City, as it would become
known, was an entirely unique simulation game unlike no game before it*
After developing the game solely for a year, Wright started to look for a
publisher* No publisher would accept the game due to its unheard of and
unproven concept — a decision some still likely regret today* Even Broder-
bund didn't want Wright's latest game and believed that "without clear
winners and losers, the idea would be a commercial flop*" With no pub-
lisher, the game was left unreleased for four years* Finally, Wright created
Sim City on the Commodore 64 in 1985 on his own without a publisher*
With no publisher, the game was left unfinished for years*, but sold only
a few copies* However, all would soon realize Broderbund could not have
been further from the truth with Sim City.
In 1987, Wright was, still unable to find a publisher for Sim City and, teamed
up with Jeff Braun, a businessman who wanted to enter the gaming market*
Together they formed Maxis; Wright and their small team of developers
started to work on improving Sim City, readying it for release* Finally, in 1989,
the idea with which Wright had been spinning in his head and slowly making
^T(
headway on since 1984 was released*
Sim City became a best-seller video
game by the end of the year, and was
even distributed to over 5,000 pub-
lic schools to teach children about
the infrastructure of cities*
Wright soon began co-designing Sim Earth: The Living Planet with Fred
Haslem* The game was released through Maxis in 1990 and at the time was
considered to have unlimited potential, although sales were not as high as
that of Sim City. At this stage of his csLvetv, Wright was also working on a
new game with Justin McCormick, Sim Ant: The Electronic Ant Colony. It
was released shortly after Sim Earth in 1991* It never gained much popu-
larity at that time, but is considered today to be one of Will Wright's best
games to date by game critics*
Sim Life, released by Maxis in 1992, was the next major game to add to
Wright's resume* The game was often referred to as "The Genetic Play-
ground," in which players had the ability to modify the genetics and DNA of
species in order to alter the outcome of the planet* Sim Life was certainly ahead
of its time and never really got the praise it deserved*
A Train, a train simulation by Japanese company Artdink, was released
by Maxis in the USA in 1993* Also out in 1993 was SimFarm, which
you either loved or loathed* There is only one word capable of describing
Sim Farm: "Classic*"
Ever since Raid On Bungeling Bay and then Sim City, Wright had been
fascinated by architecture and the construction of dwellings* His latest
project at that time had the working titles of Dollhouse and Home Tactics:
The Experimental Domestic Simulator. It was 1993 when Wright started to
become serious about an architecture simulation and developed a playable
game* Although being the pioneer Wright has always been, he decided
to take the game one step further* The aim of the game was to create an
architecturally good house however; he had no way to score players* That
is where little sims' entered the architecture game* The characters would
live in the house and evaluate the quality of the dwelling* This small addi-
tion changed the game and Will Wright's career drastically*
I
^ipoo
^IM
31 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
WILL WRIGHT: PIONEER (CONTINUED)
^m
been pushing* Sim City 3000 was released in Ql, 1999 after Bradshaw had
been assisting the development of the game for more than a yean
While Bradshaw was working on Sim City 3000, Wright was still busy
at work working with a single programmer, Jamie Doornbos, on creating
the engine on which Dollhouse (later renamed to The Sims) was based* By
1998, the team working on Dollhouse had grown to about 12 programmers
and graphic artists* Finally, EA Games saw Wright's vision of the game,
and Wright had a full team and all the resources he needed* The Sims was
already highly anticipated when it was released in February, 2000* With
many Sim City fans eager to get their hands on Wright's latest creative game.
The Sims went on to become one of the best selling PC games ever*
After The Sims release, the community following grew quickly and the
Sims team expanded to nearly 400 staff* Wright began work on an ex-
pansion pack for The Sims titled The Sims: Livin Large. He slowly had
less involvement in expansion packs for The Sims and began work on The
Sims Online making it playable online with other players*
Wright began developing small sims to live in the
game, and in doing so, created interactions for the
sims, such as having a shower or cooking a meal*
Gradually, the focal point of the game shifted from an
architecture and building sim to a full blown life sim-
ulator* Interestingly enough, Maxis executives failed
to see Wright's vision and the project was shelved*
With a Sim City sequel desired by many and Wright
wanting no part of it, Fred Haslem set to work on Sim
City 2000, when Wright wanted no part of it* How-
ever good a designer Fred Haslem was, it was decided
during development that the game wasn't working
out* That is when Wright was called back in and
spent the next year working on Sim City 2000. Sim
City 2000 was released in Ql, 1994*
Maxis had great success with Sim City and its spin-
off Sim City 2000 but unfortunately, they were
quickly losing money and slowly coming to face the
inevitable* Maxis executives wished for Wright and
his team to produce four games by the end of 1996,
a feat which many considered impossible including
Wright* Wright was then working on his latest sim,
SimCopter, where you would pilot various helicopters and complete rescue
missions, etc* By the end of 1996, Maxis did manage to rush out SimCopter,
SimPark, Full TiltPinhall, and Sim Tunes. Although Wright and his team met
the deadlines, he was not a very happy game developer; "To start off with, I
didn't even have the resources I needed to do SimCopterl" The company had
spread what limited resources they had across the four "must-launch" games*
SimCopter was a popular game that season even though it was riddled with
bugs and did not enthrall many players*
After pressure from Maxis executives to rush out yet another sequel,
Wright and his team of developers immediately started to work on
another Sim City iteration, Sim City 3000. Wright spent the next year
working on Sim City 3000, although he was unhappy with it, and quot-
ed, "my stress level was increasing exponentially*"
Maxis reported losses of $1*7 million in 1996, and in 1997 was acquired
by EA Games for $125 million* EA Games moved Luc Barthalet to Maxis
with the task of turning the company around* After seeing Sim City 3000,
he was shocked and quickly brought in another EA designer, Lucy Brad-
shaw (who still works with Will Wright today) to help improve the game*
Bradshaw decided to strip the game back to Sim City 2000's roots and ex-
pand on that, obliterating the 3D aspect Maxis executives had previously
Will Wright is
not only a pio-
neer but also
an inspiration.
From University
dropout to one
of the qreatest
game designers
in the industry,
dveryone can
learn from
Will Wright.
In 2001, Will Wright was awarded a Lifetime
Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice
Awards* After a year-and-a-half. The Sims Online was
released and regrettably failed to be as successful as
The Sims franchise* In total, seven expansion packs
were released for The Sims. Wright only had a large
involvement in Livin Large. He advised on The Sims:
House Party, Hot Date, Vacation, Unleashed, Super-
star and Makin Magic expansion packs*
The Sims had been a huge success for Maxis/EA
games, and Wright was eager to do a sequel to The
Sims, and in September, 2004, The Sims 2 was re-
leased on PC, although this time, Wright and Lucy
Bradshaw (who is still with The Sims 2 today) had
a team of nearly 400 programmers, animators, tex-
ture artists, meshers, songwriters and testers* The
Sims 2 was another huge success, and like The Sims,
it is sure to have a long life ahead of it* The Sims 2:
University, Nightlife and Open For Business expan-
sion packs have already been released, although
without Wright's direct involvement*
What could Wright be working on which is more of
a challenge than The Sims series? The game which has been quoted as superior
to The Sims series: Spore. Spore will give the player the ability to simulate life
which evolves over time from microscopic cells to sentient beings capable of
creating their own society with every
game vastly different* It's expected the
work of the genius will be released in
the second half of 2007*
Will Wright is not only a pioneer but
also an inspiration* From University
dropout to one of the greatest game
designers in the industry, everyone
can learn from Will Wright* Everyone
young or old can grasp the wise words
of Wright, "I think by exploring the
bad side you're really just mapping the
envelope of the system* * * you're getting
a sense of how far off you can go*"
REFERENCES:
http://www*gamespot*com/features/maxis/page6*html
32 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
RICHARD GARRIOTT
THE STORY OF A LEGEND IN THE GAME INDUSTRY j
By Tank 2old2play
-V-r>
^
There are few people in the game industry who
have been around as long as or had the same
impact as Richard Garriott, aka Lord British*
Through his revolutionary games, he has gained fame
and fortune that other developers can only dream o£
That fortune has allowed him to have many eccentric hobbies and
collectables. For example, he owns the very first moon buggy and
has taken trips to Antarctica. Perhaps his biggest eccentric posses-
sion is a throwback to his alter ego Lord British. In the late 90s, he
bought a 25,000 sq ft. estate on top of a hill and built his own castle
complete with moat, underground passages and a dungeon.
His Lord British alter ego has its roots in the cruel high school days
where kids made fun of you and came up with ridiculous nicknames.
Kids thought he had a British accent, so the kids started calling him
Lord British. Although he was born in Cambridge, England, he was
raised in League City, Texas.
Back in 1979 when Garriott was 19, he started working on
his now-famous game called Alkabeth. It was a pet proj-
ect he worked on during the summer after Senior year of
High School. He was an employee of ComputerLand at the
time and the owner of his store convinced him to publish
the game himself So Richard went out and bought 200
zip-lock bags and had 200 cover sheets and 200 manu-
als printed up. At the time though, floppy disks were so
expensive he only made 16 disks to start with and he sold
15 of them. One of those 15 discs found its way to Cali-
fornia Pacific who purchased the rights to Alkabeth and
published it, selling 30,000 units.
Happy with the Alkabeth success, Garriott went to work on
a follow up game called Ultima 1. This game shared the dun-
geon code form Alkabeth and had bit mapped graphics for
the outdoor environment. This was published in 1980.
The Ultima series was gaining a lot of attention, enough that
Sierra was interested in publishing the next installment. There-
fore, in 1982 Sierra published Ultima 2. The partnership wasn't
a good one for Garriott though. He ended it and founded Origin
Systems with his brother Robert in Austin, Texas. A year later.
Origin Systems published its first game. Ultima III
The first three Ultima games were building blocks for Garriott. He was
teaching himself how to program and testing out what did and didn't
work in a game. These first three releases were a mix of fantasy, sci-fi
and whatever else was 'hot' during the time period. For example: the
time travel focus of Ultima III was influenced by the hit Time Bandits
movie. So, after the launch of Ultima III, Garriott wanted to re-invent
Ultima and what an RPG could be as he began work on Ultima IV.
In 1985, Ultima IV introduced the now legendary Avatar character
and the eight virtues. This was the game that broke the RPG mold
and introduced things that would be copied in RPGs to this day. This
game also had a full feature NPC conversation engine for character
interaction. Garriott wanted the NPCs to be as life-like as possible;
this would continue to evolve as future games developed. This was
the first RPG to break the typical "build your stats up to beat the
main guy" model. In this game your goal was to become the Avatar
through following and practicing the eight virtues. Your bad actions
that didn't matter in other RPG's would have consequences in Ul-
tima IV The game also kept traditional RPG elements such as dun-
geon crawling, monsters to kill, in-depth story lines and a core quest
to complete to finish the game. These are themes that would carry
through all of the subsequent Ultima games.
Brittania, now with a cohesive society with morals and a role model
hero would now focus on struggles of the land to live up to and ma-
nipulate the virtues. Ultima F showed how the virtues could be cor-
rupted by an unscrupulous ruler in an inflexible society. Ultima VI
showcased prejudice brought
on by not understanding
other cultures. By Ultima
VII, the society that made up
Brittania had taken up a life
of its own as NPCs struggled
to balance the virtues with
their goals and own vulner-
abilities. Ultima VII was the
last Ultima game published
by Origin Systems as an in-
dependent entity.
In 1992, Richard Garriott
sold Origin Systems to Elec-
tronic Arts. EA invests in
companies to help increase
the level of creativity in
games released under its
brand. Richard Garriott still
remained on board Origin
Systems, creating his vision
of what RPG's should be.
Ultima VIII, the first Ultima
title published under EA's influence, was a mess. It was more action
oriented than RPG, was full of bugs and became known by its fans
as 'jump and run' Ultima.
As realistic as Garriott had taken Brittania's NPCs, they still weren't
real people, they were just conditional programming. So Origin began
working on Brittania to be inhabited by real people and in 1997 Origin
created the modern day MMORPG by releasing Ultima Online into the
^^
m
33 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
RICHARD GARRIOTT (CONTINUED)
^
MtrIL
wild. Since Ultima Online was a new breed of game, again Garriott was
learning through doing. The original beta test of UO ran on one server
which very quickly crashed when 50,000 beta testers tried to log on and
play. While this showed how badly they calculated demand and load, it
did justify that the online RPG idea had a lot
of interest to the Ultima fans. With EA breath-
ing down their necks and watching everything
through a magnifying glass,the talented peo-
ple at Origin Systems fixed UO post-release
and grew it into a huge success.
With the problems of Ultima Online's initial
release and a very long development cycle of
Ultima: Ascension, the relationship between
Garriott an EA became strained. The last
chapter in the Ultima series. Ultima: Ascen-
sion was forced out the door by EA way be-
fore it was ready ~ much to the dismay of the
loyal fan base that had eagerly been waiting
for five years. The game was full of problems and bugs. This was
the last straw for Garriott, who left Origin Systems/EA in 2000 along
with his brother.
During his one year non-compete contract, Garriott and his broth-
er started brainstorming about opening their own game company
again. EA, also watching the calendar, laid off almost everyone at
Origin systems one year and one day after Garriott's departure. All
of Origin's projects were cancelled and the company was moved
out of Texas. The only Origin game left standing was Ultima On-
line, which to this day is still EAs best selling MMORPG. In April
2001, Garriott made a return to the industry when he and his brother
formed Destination Games. Their initial investment of $2,000,000
to start Destination Games was to see them through the first couple
years of startup. However when EA laid off all talent Garriott had
initially put there, he wanted to hire them all back for Destination
Games. The Garriott brothers quickly decided they needed to ac-
celerate their plans to bring in money.
This is where NCSoft entered the picture. NCSoft (a Korean com-
pany) released a MMORPG called Lineage not too long after UO.
The game had four million subscribers, mostly in Asia. In con-
trast, UO and EverQuest had 220,000, and 400,000 subscribers,
respectively. Here in the US noone had heard of NCSoft nor the
hugely successful Lineage MMORPG. NCSoft had been trying to
get US gaming magazines to review Lineage but there was no in-
terest. So, having heard about the Origin/EA Richard Garriott split
and their new Destination Games startup, NCSoft gave Garriott a
call. Through discussions they found each of their companies to be
a compliment to the other and their overall vision was the same.
Destination Games needed outside funding and an equal partner.
NCSoft needed USA exposure and talented MMO developers it
couldn't get on its own. The two companies joined, and Destination
Games became NCSoft Austin. Richard Garriott currently serves
as Executive Producer for NCSoft Austin.
A lesser known part of Richard Garriott's life is his role as Vice
Chairman of Space Adventures, a space tourism agency. Garriott's
father was an astronaut, so space flight is in his blood. Space Ad-
ventures, on behalf of Richard Garriott, contacted both NASA and
the Russian Space Agency to find out if Garriott could fly to space
as a tourist. While NASA said no, the RSA said it would cost hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars to research such a mission and mil-
lions more to do it. Garriott paid for the research to find out how
much a private space visit would cost and RSA came back with
the large figure of $20 million. While Garriott had recently sold
Origin Systems to EA, this was the time the stock market crashed
and the disaster of 9/11 and Garriott saw a lot of his fortune evapo-
rate. Since Garriott couldn't afford to go
at that time. Space Adventures started to
look for someone else to take the initial
private space tourist flight and found Den-
nis Tito. Tito has since made history and
is credited as being the first private space
tourist. Though Space Adventures now has
millions in cash from pre-paid reservations
for sub-orbital flights, there are no sub-
orbital airline seats to book today. Space
Adventures currently invests in the space
tourism vehicle development businesses,
hoping to one day fill their reservations
and spawn a whole new travel and vacation
industry. With both Space Adventures and
Richard Branson's Virgin Galatic focused
on producing an aircraft and both having working prototypes that
have completed test flights, private sub-orbital travel could be a
reality in 2008.
ULTIMA V
Richard Garriott continues to pursue his passions for bringing interac-
tive virtual worlds alive and his love of space travel. He has become
a legend in game development and amassed a fortune, which lets him
keep eccentric hobbies such as his hilltop castle home and investing
in bringing space travel to the masses. Maybe one day we'll be able to
take a flight on Space Adventures to Ultima Space Station.
34 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF SCOTT ADAMS
ADVENTURE GAME DESIGNER
By DeadDrPhibes
^^
Back in the late 1970s when PC gaming was just
beginning to take off> one man in particular
was responsible for the advent of text adven-
ture games on home PCs; Scott Adams*
While the colossal cave adventure had
been around for some time on main-
frame PCs, Adams brought the genre
to the home PC, beginning with Ad-
ventureland in 1978 ♦ Adventureland
was a relatively short text based ad-
venture game using a two word (verb
noun) parser and written in BASIC*
Even within this fairly restrictive me-
dium, Adventureland was a clever and
engrossing game that made players use
their imagination to come up with some
rather oddball solutions to the various
puzzles* Adams' adventure titles could
easily be compared
to the popular
room escape type
games found all over online gaming sites today* The play-
er is presented with a seemingly random set of inventory
items and must come up with often rather unusual ways
of using them to complete the game*
Adams published 17 adventure games between 1978
and 1984, including such titles as Secret Mission, Pyra-
mid of Doom, and Savage Island. These titles were avail-
able on several of the platforms of the time, including
TI99/4a, Applell, Commodore Vic 20, Amiga, etc*
His last published game from this period was the
graphic adventure Return to Pirates Isle, a text adven-
ture with graphics instead of text descriptions* While
there was no true point and click' interactivity with the
images, this game can easily be said to be the precursor
of the now common room escape games on free gaming sites*
I first played Adventureland on my TI 99/4a, which required a cartridge
that ran the game interface and loaded individual adventures from either
a tape or disk drive* I had a blast playing these quirky things* If you're
curious and want to take a stab at an original Scott Adams Adventure,
I'll post links to sites where you can either play a Flash version online or
download an emulator and ROM, all free and legal of course*
As it turns out, Mr* Adams lives only a few hours away from me in Wis-
consin, USA* I took the liberty of shooting him an email with a few ques-
tions and he got back to me within a few days with these responses:
What inspired you to write your first text adventure game?
I played Colossal Caves on a DEC Mainframe* I wanted to do a game
on my TRS-80 Model 1 that would use strings in Basic and this seemed
like a good concept*
What were the biggest challenges/obstacles you had to face while
creating games in the late 70s and early 80s?
Memory size and lack of any secondary storage* It wasn't until the time
of the Commodore 64 that disk drives started to be affordable* The oth-
er problem was lack of standardization* A game would have to be rewrit-
ten over and over for all the different computer systems then available*
What games do you play these days?
Everquest 2 on the PC and on the Xbox 360 I am still playing
Oblivion and King Kong* I try lots of games and recently enjoyed
Titan's Quest for a few weeks, but EQ2 is the only game to hold
my interest for long term* Oblivion is a distant second to that with
about 60 hours played so far*
What would you consider the greatest achievement (so far) of your
gaming career?
Probably being the first company to specialize in gaming for the
home computers*
What projects are you working on these days?
I am working a little bit on a new adventure game based on the old testa-
ment but haven't done much on it recently*
What developments would you like to see in gaming in
the next 10 years?
Tough question* Certainly the appeal of the Xbox
360 is due to the ease of use for gamers* No drivers,
no video cards or O/S to worry about* It would be
nice if Vista will help the PC industry head in the
same direction*
Many of your original text adventures are avail-
able online via free game websites* How do you
feel about this?
They have asked me for permission first and I have
told them to go ahead* It is wonderful there are still
folks interested in replaying my classics*
What, in your opinion, is the best
game on the market today?
Oh tough onel If we are talk-
ing single player then it would be
Oblivion, if MOG then EQ2* Be-
tween the two, I would have to say
EQ2 would rank number one* I
have tried virtually all the current
MOGs including WoW and I still
think EQ2 is heads and shoulders
above them all*
Scott Adams adventures are avail-
able to play online via flash or in a
downloadable format at:
http://www*msadams*com Scott Adam's yahoo mail list group on
computer gaming:
http://groups*yahoo*com/group/ComputerGaming - Yahoo Group
specifically on Scott Adam's games*
http://groups*yahoo*com/group/ScottAdams * - Scott Adam's Yahoo Group
I
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35 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
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R^'
^m
IN A BAR WITH SID MEIER
THE LIFE OF A GAME DESIGNE^^
By Derf ^— ^
Sid Meier, designer of the Civilization PC series,
is a legend in the game industry* As is with all
legends, embellishments are added each time
the story is told, such that the latest story may not
be fact but some truth in the tale remains* Being the
same age as Sid and remembering how things were
in 1982, Fm sure his story begins in a bar*
Fade-in to a corner pub circa 1982* In the corner of the old bar stands an air
combat arcade game* Sid and his friend Bill Stealey, a former military pilot,
were enjoying a cold one* Bill, thinking of his real life experience, challenges
Sid to game or two, or 10* Bill coolly walked across the sticky floor and won
the first game* And then Sid won the next and the next* Bill was flabbergast-
edi "The enemy AI is so predictable, I'm sure I can design a better one," Sid
said* "If you can, then you have a job!" exclaimed Bill* And so Microprose
was founded* Oh, how I wish I was in that bar with Sid Meier*
Sid's game. Solo Flight was
released in 1982, along with
his first fighter game Hell-
cat Ace. Sid honed his skills
at authoring several flight
simulations over the next
several years, including Spit-
fire Ace, F-15 Strike Eagle I,
II SC III Aerojet, Gunship, F-
19 Stealth fighter. Night hawk
117a, and Gunship 2000. In
the 1980s and 1990s many
gamers craved flight sims
with some degree of realism,
but which were still playable
and fun* Sid's work fitted
that model quite well* I have
great memories of unwrap-
ping my F-15 Strike Eagle
and launching Gunship on my Atari 800 and Atari ST* To this day you can see
the evolution of Sid's work in any flight simulator on the market*
Although Sid's flight sims sold well, his first big hit came with his WWII
submarine simulator Silent Service. In this game you were the captain and
crew of a WWII attack submarine* Through the interface you controlled
the whole ship* I loved the game because it didn't sacrifice fun for realism*
In a real sub a captain could spend hours or days setting up for his torpedo
salvo* Silent Service spared us the boredom while giving us the thrill of a
burning tanker or the terror of trying to evade a depth charge attack* Later,
Sid would produce Silent Service II, which included a campaign mode* His
other submarine simulation Red Storm Rising w2ls a modern day sub simula-
tion based on Tom Clancy's best selling book* In this game you commanded
a nuclear attack sub, and Sid allowed you do everything from destroying
land targets with tomahawk missiles to engaging in sub-to-sub warfare* You
felt like you played a big part in stalling the communist invasion depicted in
Tom Clancy's book* Just thinking about this game makes me want to dig it
up and play it again* It was a truly outstanding piece of work*
Sid also became involved in converting strategy board games to the com-
puter* Before the computer became king, complicated strategy board games
were widespread* Many of the programmers of that time had played these
games and there was interest in converting them for computers* Sid's first
stab at this genre was Nato Division Commander 1985* Many felt that this
game was extremely complicated and had a steep learning curve* Sid did
other board game conversions; Crusade in Europe and Decision in the Desert
were simpler and, in the opinion of many gamers, more fun to play* When
looking back, it seems that this is the time when Sid realized fun, not real-
ism is what most gamers crave* That led him to write one of his most popu-
lar titles ever - Pirates.
Oh how I wish I was in the bar that day when Sid came up with the Pirates ideal
Pirates has a little bit of Action /Adventure, Strategy, early Real Time Strat-
egy, and Role Playing* Recently it was reincarnated on the Xbox and my son
and I enjoyed playing it all over again* Sid's genius comes in with his basic idea,
military fighting pirates = boring -being a Pirate = funi Few games appeal to
all, but if there is a game most people enjoy playing, it's Pirates. If you are inter-
ested in adventure and haven't played Pirates yet then run out and grab a copy*
You won't be disappointed*
Sid was inspired by Will Wright's Sim City and decided to make Railroad
Tycoon. The goal in Railroad Tycoon was to build, manage and expand a rail-
road* Wikipedia calls it "an economic simulation and a strategy game*" The
game has had great success and has many sequels, including Railroad Tycoon
36 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
IN A BAR WITH SID MEIER (CONTINUED)
^tt
4 slated for release this fall Many of the features
of the original Railroad Tycoon show up in Sid's
greatest game - Civilization (1991), the title for
which he is probably best known*
* Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987)
According to Wikipedia, Sid borrowed many tech-
nology tree ideas from a board game by the same
name published in the UK in 1980 and by Avalon
Hill in 1981* Civilization is a turn-based strategy
game in which you attempted to take a group of
settlers all the way to the space colonization age*
Along the way there are other leaders to conquer
and technologies to discover* The game has stood
the test of time by being continually for sale and ex-
panded upon for 15 years* The latest incarnation,
Civilization IV is published by Sid's Company - Fi-
raxis software* Sid also made a space based game
similar to Civilization cAled Alpha Centauri (1999).
Sid Meier's more notable releases, as listed in
the Wikipedia entry:
♦ Spitfire Ace (1984) — is Sid's first game
that he made while playing a major role in
the game creation stage*
* NATO Commander (1984)
* Solo Flight (1984)
* Kennedy Approach (1985) — one of the first
games to use a software voice synthesizer
* F-15 Strike Eagle (1985) — one of the first
combat flight simulators
* Silent Service (1985), a World War II sub-
marine simulation game, and Meier's first
foray out of flight sims*
• FT9 Stealth Fighter (1988)
■FT5 Strike Eagle II (1989)
■ Covert Action (1990)
• Railroad Tycoon (1990), an economic simu-
lation game, that paints the early develop-
ment of railroads in the United States and
Europe, a time when competition between
railroad companies was very fierce
• Civilization (1991), Meier's most successful
game to date* It has lived through several ver-
sions (see below) and sold over 6 million cop-
ies* This game is a turn-based strategy game*
■ Pirates! Gold (1993)
• Colonization (1994), a turn-based strategy
game themed on the early European coloniza-
tion of the New World, starting in 1492 and
lasting until the age of independence in 1850*
To achieve victory in this game, the player must
declare independence, and win in a revolution-
ary war against their mother country in Europe
(France, England, The Netherlands, or Spain)*
• Civilization II (1996) A remake of Sid Mei-
er's successful Civilization; Brian Reynolds
was lead designer on the game*
■ Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (1997)
• Sid Meier's Antietam! (1998)
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999) Brian Reyn-
olds was lead designer on this adaptation of Civi-
lization to an outer space theme* Alpha Centauri
is set in a futuristic setting on an alien world, with
ideological factions substituting for civilizations*
This is a much more versatile version of Civiliza-
tion, featuring economics and unique military
customization, as well as diplomacy*
CIVILIZATION III
^
• Civilization III (2001), a remake of his clas-
sic game with improved rules, graphics and
gameplay* This is a turned-based strategy
game allowing you to go from the Ancient
Times to Modern Times* It features diplo-
macy much like that of Meier's other game.
Alpha Centauri, and also introduces Culture*
This installment makes the Civilization se-
ries the best selling PC series to date*
■ SimGolf (2002), a joint project with the
Sim- masters at Maxis
u^^
1 SIMGOLF
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..-mi s-t^^iL lym'irmi:^^ i i ■ .^j
^^H^BeKAii i ii£i^^C^pC!^^H^±Sli^^b^n^l^B^H
♦ Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004), a remake of the
acclaimed Pirates! game from 1987, updating
the graphics and featuring some entirely new
game play elements and an all new ballroom
dancing segment*
♦ Civilization IV, released October 25, 2005*
Civilization IV is the newest game in the
Civilization series* A full 3D engine replac-
es the isometric maps of Civilization II and
IIL This installment adds the concept of
Religion to the game, building upon both
the Culture and Diplomacy elements from
previous incarnations*
♦ Sid Meier's Railroads! (expected Fall 2006)
When Take 2 shut down PopTop Soft-
ware and folded it into Firaxis, Meier once
again became responsible for the Railroad
Tycoon series, and this is billed as the se-
quel to Railroad Tycoon 3*
There are few in the gaming business that
have the creativity seen from Sid Meier* The
Academy of Interactive Arts and Science
voted him into its "Hall of Fame," and in
2002, he was honored with an induction into
the Computer Museum of America's Hall of
Fame* I doubt Sid was in that bar, heck I
don't even know if he drinks* I do know that
he has fed my gaming appetite since there
was something upon which to play games*
So today, I raise my glass to a brilliant game
designer* Long live Sid Meierl
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37 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2PWN CLAN LAN:
SOMETHING DEMENTED THIS WAY€OA
By RogueRedneck ''^*
51
J
^
^m
I joined 2old2pwn in October of 2005 and a few
months later recall bringing up to my wife the subject
of going to a clan LAN* She told me that I must have
completely lost my mind if I thought I was going to go play
video games and leave her home alone with the kids*
It was then that a funny thing happened* My wife was sucked into the world of
2old2play and 2old2pwn* It started by her lying on the couch and laughing at
the interactions between the other players and me while we were playing* Then,
she started reading the site under my account, DubbleORedneck, and made
some posts on the forums* She eventually opened her own account, DixieBelle,
on December 23, 2005 and immediately joined the clan*
This was important to explain how I found myself on the road at 4 AM
on Thursday, June 29th, on my way to Pittsburgh for what would turn
out to be one of the greatest weekends of my life*
It was a long grueling 11 hour drive that took Dixie and I from Tennessee to
Pennsylvania* We braved many hardships along the way, including regular
phone calls from Cowboy Bates, Barracuda52774, and dpaden wanting to
know where we were so they could beat us to the hotel* (They did****)
Dixie and I pulled up in front of the Rodeway Inn at 4 PM local time and
saw the first members of our degenerate crew standing in front of the hotel*
The hotel was conveniently located over 1000 yards from the nearest school
so that KidMach wouldn't violate his parole* There was kweeniel969 and her
husband, Gutteral Rumble, dpaden, Ming Li, Cowboy, and the flame haired
Cuda, who was easy to pick out since he was busy in a bush when we arrived*
We settled into our circa 1970 rooms and then met up with NoVARaif,
CurvyBunky, and BlimeyLimey before heading out looking for nourishment*
We ended up at the Lonestar Steakhouse, which was located next door
to the Quaker Steak SC Lube restaurant* Let me just pause here to say
that we don't have these establishments in the South and I was a little
concerned* The steak part wasn't a problem but the lube part made me
wonder* Do you get the lube as a side item included with your meal or is
it extra? What weight do they use? But then I realized***
At the restaurant, we were treated to the first of many statements I like
to call "Cowboyisms*" We ate a good meal and found that there was
none of the uneasiness you sometimes feel when surrounded by people
you've never met before* We easily fell into our forum and XBL roles
and were soon making fun and laughing with and at each other* We just
genuinely enjoyed being together in person for the first time
We finished the night back at the hotel just talking and preparing for the
first official day of the LAN* Before the day finished, we greeted the ar-
rival of GopherGoat, Lord Kerdaq (god complex), HexionBean, Count
Fartula, and his friend, Eddie* Eddie has since become a member of the
site and our newest clan member, allniteRawk* Most of us retired to our
rooms at about 1 AM in preparation of the next day*
LEFT TO RIGHT: MING LI, DPADEN, CUDA
The next morning began at
approximately 9 AM with
a meeting in the coffee shop
(Nova's Room)* It is impor-
tant to note that we all packed
for a 3 day party* Nova came
to the LAN prepared for an
extended siege* This man ar-
rived with a truck full of TVs,
suitcases, wires, switches,
first aid kit, assorted variet-
ies of coffee, and both a coffee
machine and espresso machine* The man meant business*
We entered the conference room at about 9:30 AM and began to unload the
equipment* At this point. Nova realized there could be a power distribution
problem and went to work on the problem with the help of Gutter and the in-
38 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2PWN CLAN LAN (CONTINUED)
^^
terference of Cuda* I wont go into the details of what was done* You can read
Novas article for the technical aspects of the party* I get paid to arrest people and
not to play with electricity, unless I'm tasering said people; in which case, I have
a LOT of fun with electricity* In short, if you ever have a LAN Party, I highly
suggest bringing a Nova with you*
The day progressed and we witnessed the arrival of Cabel, Walladog, Kid-
Mach, Blue Steihl, itsBillykiller, Durnan, waterboy, lACO, and Yountdog*
We were all surprised when Yountdog arrived because none of us knew he
was King Kong's stunt double (we put him in the corner next to Blimey be-
cause we figured, if he got hungry, he could have the Canadian)* Everyone
found somewhere to play and was hooked into the power grid* At this point,
the conference room looked a lot like the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon,
but you gotta do what you've gotta do*
I don't remember a lot of the actual gameplay that followed* On this first offi-
cial day, several of us walked over to the restaurant next door, the Eat'N'Park*
Here, despite the lack of sweet tea or Dr* Pepper, we enjoyed a decent meal*
After Walla had been brutally forced into ordering the salad bar, we were wit-
ness to the first stroke of genius of the 2006 2old2pwn LAN*
I'm not sure how it started but someone mentioned that it would be fun-
ny to get a large rubber phallic device* We could use it to strike at those
who we felt needed it* Walla suggested that we should name it "Rubber
Justice*" Thus was named the clan mascot*
Within the hour, Walla, Cuda, Dixie, and I were at the local Adult Store
where Walla informed the clerk (who was not a man of great wit nor did he
appreciate our humor) that Dixie, my wife, wanted the largest rubber dong
they had in stock* We left minutes later with two 16" rubber dongs and a 3
foot blow-up doll with a coaster in her head* Walla conned the local gas sta-
tion into giving us a Magic Marker and we returned to the hotel*
As we were standing outside preparing to unveil our purchases, a woman drove
up, got out of her car, and apprehensively approached us* She was wearing nice
business attire and appeared lost* When she saw Cuda writing on Rubber Jus-
tice and Dixie holding the doll, Walla informed her
that she probably didn't want to be here and she chose
to leave the premises* Go figure*
We entered the building and christened Cowboy
with the dual Justices*
There was minimal confusion as others arrived as
Nova and Gutter worked to get everyone hooked up as
quickly as possible* Before long, I found my self sitting
next to KidMach* It was then I discovered that Kid is
not as annoying in person as he is on XBL* * * he's worse*
I lost count of the number of head butts and dong beat-
ings he received but they were many and often* I offi-
cially announce that he may be the site Timmy*
boy was reduced to the equivalent of a cold and frightened Chihuahua puppy*
He cowered behind his girlfriend for protection, but there was no hope*
Over the next day, we received more members in the form of mr sleestak, who
soon violated the blow up doll, and the surprise guest, LB75Player* LB is a
sneaky little guy, who convinced his wife. Curvy, that he wasn't coming to the
LAN but then made a surprise 5 AM arrival* He had to wake her up from a
drunken stupor, but she appeared happy to see him* I think this is typical, if I
had to live with LB, I'd keep myself on the verge of unconsciousness as well*
The rest of the LAN is a blur of HALO,
laughter, absurd aliases, and threats of vio-
lence* We played til the wee hours of Sunday
morning when our 24 port switch died and
could not be revived despite the best efforts
of Nova* Walla even tried to assist by offer-
ing his advice to "Slap it with a stainless steel
spatula" but, alas, the switch was gone*
We were temporarily back in business when
it was discovered that Cowboy brought a 16
port switch but, before we could hook up
the new switch, we suffered yet another ca-
sualty* The blow up doll collapsed under the combined force of Kid and Walla*
CPR was administered by Kid but she did not survive*
Sunday morning, and it was a subdued crowd that arrived at the conference
room to gather their belongings and head back to their boring, incomplete lives*
Hugs were given and hands were shaken* Someone, I honestly cant say who, put
Rubber Justice and the deflated doll in Cuda's suitcase in hopes of detaining him
at airport security and we all went our separate ways*
In the end, it was a good time had by all* We laughed and cried* We played
HALO, consumed alcohol and slapped each other with rubber dongs*
BEST CLAN LAN EVERIIII!
f*|iiVr
One of the key moments of the LAN was the arrival
of itsBillykiller* He arrived and soon discovered that
Cowboy had left to retrieve his girlfriend* Billy felt
compelled to call Cowboy a few times to express his
displeasure* Billy and Cowboy debated his absence
from the LAN (the finer points were quite inter-
esting) and came to an agreement* Cowboy would
come back or Billy would hurt him*
Cowboy arrived at the LAN at 1:30 AM on Satur-
day morning and asked me, "How's Billy?" He was
informed that Billy was, well, Billy*** at 1:30 AM***
drunk* * * and tired* Moments later, they met and Cow-
ON BACK WALL (L-R): KID, DURNAN, HEXION, LORD,
COUNT, RYAN, ALLNITERAWK
MIDDLE ROW (L-R): BLUE, WALLA, lACO, 'CUDA, YOUNT,
SLEESTAK, ROGUE (TEABAGGIN' COWBOY), BLIMEY,
WATERBOY, BILLY
FRONT ROW (L-R): DPADEN, GOPHER, CURVY, DIXIE,
COWBOY, CHRIS (COWBOY'S G/F), MING, LB, NOVA
MISSING FROM PHOTO: KWEEN, GUTTER
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39 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2PWN INAUGURAL LAN PARTY
HOW MANY SYSTEMS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE CIRCUIT BREAKERS POP?
By NoVARaif
^m
The official 2old2pwn clan LAN party was
scheduled from Friday, June 30th until Sun-
day, July 2nd, with early birds arriving Thurs-
day evening, June 29th, for an evening of eating,
drinking and socializing*
Much consideration was given to location, since the clan is spread across
the globe* The chosen hotel,
the Rodeway Inn, located in
Coriapolis, PA had the right
price, decent accommoda-
tions, and a decent conference
facility* Two other big pluses
were that there was an Eat 'n
Park restaurant on one side,
and a Sheets gas station on the
other, so our late night food
needs would be easily met*
Despite the various issues de-
tailed here, the LAN could not
have gone better* 2old2pwn
truly is the Best Clan Everlll
A successful LAN party is not
determined so much by where
it's held, rather by the people in
attendance* We want to share as much as we can about our experience, so
that other clans can grow from our experiences as we did*
Twenty-eight clan members, and friends in Attendance (by Gamer Tag):
AllniteRawk, Barracuda52774, BlimeyLimeyl3, Blue Stiehl, Chris (Cow-
boy's girlfriend). Count Fartula, Cowboy Bates, Curvy-
Bunky, DixieBelle75, Dpaden70, Durnan, GopherGoat,
Gutteral Rumble, HexionBean, lACO, ItsBillyKiller, Kid-
Mach, Kweeniel969, LB75Player, Lord Kerdaq, Ming Li,
Mr Sleestak, NoVARaif, RogueRedneck, Ryan (Mr Slees-
tak's friend), WallaDog, Wat3rboyl011, and YountDog7
'Special' Guest appearances by: Rubber Justice (I and II),
and Cowboy's Inflatable Girlfriend
GAMERS COMMENTS
Being able to game with so many clan members, with no
lag whatsoever, was very awesome* At one point, we were
time-sharing our gaming consoles as we had more attend-
ees than there was room for equipment* Various 2 on 2, 4
on 4 and other tournaments took place*
TECHNICAL AND
LOGISTICAL OVERVIEW
The hotel was visited prior to the actual LAN in an effort
to check for any issues that would disqualify the hotel as
the best place for the LAN party* The LAN party "ad-
vance team" was apparently shown only the hotel's best rooms, not the
actual rooms in which the attendees would be staying* The advance team
explained to the hotel that we would have about 30 people attending
with TVs, gaming consoles, etc*, and that we would need to have power,
space and air conditioning to support them* The team was assured that
it would not be a problem*
Once the LAN party weekend arrived and about 30 very eager clan
members and friends began checking in, the shortcomings of the
hotel became apparent* The hotel had been visited before the sum-
mer heat began, so room air conditioning had not been a concern*
Most, if not all, attendees found that the room air conditioning
produced a feeble gust of cold air, if anything* Fortunately, our
days were spent in the conference room, and the nights were cool
enough to allow attendees
staying on the second floor
to leave their patio doors
open* Some attendees
found a relative of Mothra
had invaded their rooms
in the middle of the night*
Parents should be warned
to keep small children
away from the warp-pow-
ered toilet, as they could be
pulled into the spatial rift
caused each time the toilet
was flushed* Some found
that their feet stuck to the
room carpeting, while oth-
ers found their carpeting
crunchy* The televisions in
most rooms were at least
as old as the youngest clan members, with remote controls that
needed 9V batteries to work* Remember the old Zenith TVs with
Computer Space Command remotes? Yup, we had them!
Once we were able to start setting up the conference room for
the LAN party on Friday
morning, we found that
power was going to be an is-
sue, and space was going to
be "cozy*" The main room
was about 35'x35'* We set
up 4-6' round tables near
the center of the room, and
lined the walls with 3'x6'
tables* We setup a router
to provide DHCP and a
24 port switch to provide
the needed connectivity*
"^ We pulled power from four
different 20 amp circuits
in the conference center (3
rooms total)* Thankfully,
we had all the heavy duty
extension cords we needed
to do the job* We used tons
of gaff tape to get the power
and network connectivity where it needed to be, safely* We also
masked off exposed portions of the windows with table cloths, pa-
per and tape, both to keep excess light out, and maintain privacy of
the party* Each night/early morning when the party wound down,
we locked the front door of the conference center, and, for added
security, parked a truck right in front of the door*
40 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2PWN INAUGURAL LAN PARTY (CONTINUED)
^^
Partying began, in earnest, on Friday* Power outages on a couple cir-
cuits also started, in earnest, on Friday afternoon. After figuring out the
best balance of TVs/gaming consoles per circuit, the power stabilized,
and gaming continued* Gaming continued until the wee hours Saturday
morning, then resumed mid-morning* The sequence was repeated on
Saturday until OllOhrs Sunday morning, when the fully-populated 24
port switch opted for early retirement, probably due to stresses caused
by unstable power* Fortunately, we had a spare switch, and downtime
was limited to about 30 minutes*
r
.K /. .-
^v
r*
HERE'S A DIAGRAM OF THE POWER AND
NETWORK CONNECTIVITY DONE BY SOME
FIRST TIME LAN PARTY ATTENDEES:
Cleanup efforts began on Sunday morning, with everyone checking
out of the hotel by noon and getting on the road shortly thereafter* The
withdrawal started before anyone got more than five miles from the ho-
tel* Planning of the next LAN party started shortly thereafter*
IN SUMMARY,
OUR LESSONS LEARNED
Hotel Rooms - check for:
♦ Hotel Staff and other guests - Look around and get a feel for both
groups, as it'll tell you a LOT about the facilities themselves* (This lends
itself to the next two lessons learned*)
♦ Room Air Conditioning - Does it work, and work well?
♦ Room Cleanliness - Clean Carpets, sheets, etc*
♦ Televisions - Are they modern enough to support A/V inputs for im-
promptu gaming?
♦ Toilets - Shouldn't be warp-powered and require Starfleet credentials
to operate them safely*
♦ Power and lighting - Adequate number of power outlets and functional
light fixtures in the rooms?
Conference Room Requirements:
♦ Air Conditioning - Is it adequate to handle heat from the electronics?
♦ Power - Assume five amps per conference attendee* Our conference room
only had 100 amp service, which was almost woefully inadequate* We also
suggest bringing a UPS for the networking equipment, at a minimum*
♦ Extension cords - Bring extra 16-gauge extension cords, in lengths from
50-150 feet, in the event that outlets are far from gaming areas*
♦ Gaming space - assume a minimum of 32sq ft per conference attendee
(4'x 8'), including table space
♦ Space - adequate room to move around, in addition to gaming space,
best to plan for a 4' path, if at all possible
♦ Restrooms - see previous comment about warp-powered toilets
♦ Food/Beverages - Must have space for food/bar setup, and coolers with ice, etc
♦ Hotel Staff - Work out a schedule to have hotel staff restock bathrooms
and empty trash daily*
♦ Xbox Headsets - Bring your headsets for team play* They make it easier
to coordinate tactics across a room rather than yelling to one another*
♦ Wireless options - If possible, bring as many wireless-equipped game con-
soles as possible; it'll help limit the amount of wiring gaff-taped to the floors*
♦ Equipment spares - Where possible, bring extra networking equipment;
switches, routers, etc*, as it never hurts to have too much*
CLOSING COMMENTS
Overall, the inaugural 2old2pwn 2006 LAN party was a smashing suc-
cess, and I think I speak for the clan in saying that we'd do it all over again,
in a heartbeat, and cannot wait until the next 2old2pwn LAN party!!!
More pictures from the LAN party can he viewed at: www*hargest*com
I
L
Mt m
■
1 1
■ / * 1
^
ISTORY OF
FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER
JHERE AND^BACK AGAINt WOLFENSTEIN [3D] TO [CASTLE] WOLFENSt;EIN
y CodeMonkey —^ "* -- - - •
^
The history of the first-person-shooter, common-
ly known as the FPS, is long and great* The FPS
genre has seen memorable milestone games,
interesting wannabe clones and a long line of ground-
breaking technologies* What makes the FPS genre one
of the most powerful video game designs is the edge of
your seat thrill ride, violence, and its ability to consis-
tently push the envelope of computing power*
The FPS game design was forever changed by the birth of Wolfenstein
3D. Wolf3D, its common name, was pubUshed by Apogee Software
on May 5th, 1992 and given Ufe by ID Software* The inspiration be-
hind the game was a 1980s Muse Software computer game called Castle
Wolfenstein and the follow-up game, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. These
adventure games would inspire the ID Software team to create an evolu-
tionary work of art* Wolfenstein 3D was definitely not the first true FPS
game; Spasim and Maze War might have been the founding fathers of
the FPS, but they did not define the genre as it still exists today*
WOLFENSTEIN 3D
*i
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1200 2
THTftrnfTliiliT'
502 t n
resulted in many game ports to be toned down or just not created at
alL The Super NES version was modified to remove Nazi references and
symbols* If the game was about escaping Nazi Germany, how fun would
it be without any reference to the actual militia you were escaping?
Besides obvious fallout with the use of Nazi symbols, music, and poorly
created non-native German speech, the game opened the eyes of devel-
opers around the world* Not only was it possible to create a game with a
decent amount of violence, but the technology was reusable and could be
enhanced for greater levels of detail* Game developers adopted the con-
cept of "shareware" as a way to get their game to the market and provide
evidence that it was a sellable solution* All these new ideas were formed
by the success o( Wolfenstein 3D.
Although Wolfenstein 3D was technically not the first game that had a
first-person perspective and allowed you to shoot things dead, it was the
first to ignite the desire for this genre* Ultima Underworld created the
initial FPS technology* This technology was inherited by Wolfenstein 3D
and was later improved upon in ID Software's DOOM. In 1993, DOOM
would take center stage, leaving Wolfenstein 3D as a distant
memory* The world of DOOM had textured floors and ceilings,
moving platforms, and multi-player network capabilities!
DOOM defines the frightening FPS genre* The game would
keep you on the edge of your seat killing imps and other evil
demonic creatures while running through dark halls and un-
loading weapons at everything that moved* If played in the
dark, DOOM was capable of putting you on the floor in a jump
of terror* Gamers were so enthralled by the new DOOM fran-
chise that they continued to play it for years* Gamers might
say that DOOM was the first FPS that got them addicted to
the genre* Game developers might say that DOOM proved just
how powerful great technology and ideas could become*
DOOM
This relatively unknown company called ID Software built a game that in-
volved, at the time, a significant amount of violence and destruction* They
pushed the limit by designing a game that included many dark areas of our
past, including the Nazi military reign* The game contained guns, blood
(on certain releases), the ability to kill Germans by the truck load, and
most importantly, the open use of the most feared symbol in the Western
world: the Swastika* This foundation of violence and destruction would
catapult the FPS genre to heights previously unknown to gaming*
Germany, of course, was not exactly thrilled about the release of Wolfen-
stein 3D. Killing Germans is not nearly as bad as the open use of Nazi
symbols and the anthem "Horst-Wessel-Lied" which is banned in Ger-
many* Wolfenstein 3D was the first FPS to contain legal issues and cause
copies to be confiscated in 1994 Germany* The legal issues in Germany
iiU
Shareware assisted in the success of DOOM as it did with Wolfenstein
3D. Over 10 million people downloaded DOOM within the first two
years of its creation* According to GameSpy, DOOM has been voted
42 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
HISTORY OF THE FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER (CONTINUED)
by industry insiders as the number one best game of all time* Not only
was DOOM widely successful - the ID Software team became the big
boys on the block in terms of FPS technology* People wanted to be like
ID and they went through the trouble to duplicate the efforts non-stop
with "DOOM clones/'
In 1994, ID Software would hold the FPS genre with DOOM Ih Hell
On Earth. This release was very similar to the original DOOM with
a few minor changes and additional levels and enemies* Although a
major goal had been achieved, DOOM II was not sold as shareware,
but as a product widely distributed in the stores* ID Software was
building a very large bankroll in a very small period of time* During
this year, a few other games spawned from the FPS clone clamor:
Rise of the Triad, Marathon, and System Shock.
Marathon was the next "DOOM clone" of the year, but this game
utilized a feature that had been overlooked from prior FPS
games: a real plot* The FPS genre, in general, has very little
history in terms of plot usage, but Marathon started it all and
later Half-Life would bring it to a completely new level of play*
System Shock, another "DOOM clone" combined the new FPS-
style gaming with the controls of a Role Playing Game (RPG)
complete with horror elements* System Shock was a cult success
story but did not take a main stage like DOOM.
The next big "DOOM clone" would change up the environment by add-
ing a few imperial bases and Star Destroyers: LucasArts' Star Wars:
Dark Forces. LucasArts built its own DOOM-like engine called the
"Jedi Engine" and added a feature that was rare in the FPS genre: al-
ternative firing weapons* You could have a weapon that had multiple
modes of firel This feature would be utilized in future games* However,
like DOOM and the other clones. Dark Forces was a slight enhancement
on FPS game engines that came before it but it was still not true 3D*
Within a year, that all would change*
The 1994 "DOOM clones" each contained small changes in the
technology that would, in the end, better the genre for many years*
Apogee Software's Rise of the Triad, initially developed as a sequel to
Wolfenstein 3D, and added deliberate and unjust violence by invent-
ing the "giblet*" A giblet is a little piece of flesh, internal organ, bone
or entire limb of a larger body that is shot off during the bodies' ex-
plosion* Although, Adrian Carmack is credited with the name, it was
Rise of the Triad that initially thought of the concept* John Carmack
and the ID Software team would make great use of this giblet' in
Quake, as would Apogee Software in Duke Nukem 3D.
In 1995, Interplay Productions would publish a game known as Decent.
This FPS title took the terms 3D and made it real* A full six degrees of
freedom, coined 6DOF, and the player could fly their ship around the
level in many directions* The maps were
where one could fly through a tunne
low them, or in any direction in "3d
true 3D worlds
above them, be-
space" and get
lost in the envi-
ronment* Those
that found the ship
in Decent too hard to
control simply tossed
the game aside as a
"DOOM clone" and
overlooked the complete
3D feature set unknown at
that time* Ultimately, Decent
failed to reach DOOM-like
levels because of its difficulty
to control, often requiring a
joystick, and Interplays re-
strictions on level modifica-
tions* ID Software allowed inde-
pendent developers to mod" the game
levels (known as "WADS") to create new
FPS game environments* These modders kept
the game alive for years after it should have been
forgotten* Interplay didn't do this and thus its
game has been forgotten*
pi ay. com/magazine
I
HISTORY OF THE FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER (CONTINUED)
Lead designer John Romero and lead programmer John Carmack pol-
ished off their next big FPS in 1996* The title was known as Quake and
towered over all games of its time with a brand new graphics engine and
more textures than ever seen in a video game* The
ID Software team predicted that the multiplayer
gaming environment was the way of the future
and designed Quake for local area networks along
with standard "world wide" network play* The In-
ternet was coming of age and it was time to move
from our BBS systems into the world of the web*
Gamers were able to play multiplayer games with
people all over the world*
Duke Nukem 3D, released January 29th 1996, became an instant
success by adding new flair to the FPS genre* Duke Nukem 3D is
best known for the humor that was added throughout the game* The
game lacked one specific feature that would make it lose the FPS
battle in the future: TCP/IP network based multiplayer capabilities
for the Internet* 3D Realms published the game ahead of its rival ID
Software, but in the end ID Software would show the industry who
was on top*
ID Software, again, created a graphically stressful FPS that requires
gamers to think about moving out of the 486 processor era and jump
on the Pentium bandwagon* Quake helped invent the need for the true
"Gaming system" over a typical workstation of the time*
Most importantly. Quake made games of the same year, such as Duke
Nukem 3D look simple by comparison* A year later Blood (built off the
Duke Nukem 3D "build engine") was released by Monolith and it still
could not hold water compared to Quake's revolutionary graphic design
and multiplayer capabilities* It seemed that ID Software would own the
FPS genre forever if they continued to keep ahead of the game*
Between 2004 and 2006, FPS
sequels were the next best thing.
Each sequel had new weapons,
textures, eye-candy and thrif
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44 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
HISTORY OF THE FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER (CONTINUED)
ID Software released Quake II a year later, in 1997, published by Ac-
tivision. This release had no relationship to Quake except for the name
"Quake" which was just used to draw sales* The game was an improved
network model compared to the original release and the game engine was
re-built again* When Quake II was purchased by PC gamers around the
world and played on the Internet until the wee hours of the night, Golden-
Eye 007 was released on the Nintendo 64. GoldenEye 007 had a few FPS
improvements, which included complex bullet-hit detection to maximize
damage with "head shot" targets* The second large improvement was the
game's ability to play on a console system without a mouse and keyboard
and be a success* Most FPS ports from older games failed to impress con-
sole gamers* This was a large milestone for the console gaming community
because it would help realize the truth behind the console FPS genre*
GOLDENEYE
>r .;.
QUAKE II
All of the technology that had been built over the past years came to
life as a complete package during the years of 1998 and 1999* The PC
would see a release o^ Half-Life by a small development studio known
by few as Valve* Within two years Valve would see a huge success in
their Half-Life franchise spurred by a great initial release and a "to-
tal conversion" modification of the game called Counter-Strike. This
Counter-Strike modification, created by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe was
so successful that they graduated college and went on to work at Valve
software* These two college kids were part of the reason Half-Life and
its modification Counter-Strike are still being played today*
i'
S*'
-^^^
45 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
What makes the FPS
genre one of the most
powerful video game
designs is the edge
of your seat thrill
ride, violence, and its
ability to consistently
push the envelope
of computing power.
HISTORY OF THE FIRST-PERSON-SHOOTER (CONTINUED)
The same year that Half-Life hit the market two more FPS games were
released: Thief Sind Tribes. Thief wsls one of the first FPS games that suc-
cessfully tackled the idea of "stealth" in the genre* The concept of sneaking
around the levels instead of blasting through doors running and gunning
was lost on many FPS fans* The concepts, however, were solid and the game
brought new aspects into an overly used military-type genre* The counter-
weight to Thief would be Tribes, which scoffed at sneaking and replaced it
with team-oriented military vehicles* The vehicles employed in Tribes by
today's standards are light; however, without the proof-of-concept in Tribes,
vehicles may still be a rarity in current FPS titles* Although Dynamix's
Tribes cannot be considered a huge commercial success, the influences were
enough to change the future of FPS gaming*
ID Software made another run for the money with Quake III Arena by pro-
ducing a multiplayer-only version of Quake for Internet play* Ten days be-
fore the launch of Quake III, yet another FPS known as Unreal Tournament
was released* These two titles would battle head to head for years, trying to
become the multiplayer FPS victor* The two competitors continue to battle
it out today with Unreal Tournament 2004 and Quake 4* A new Unreal Tour-
nament is scheduled for release in 2007*
Finally, in the early 2000's a new breed of FPS game was born*
To take on the challenge of building another great console
FPS to match the success of GoldenEye 007, a company
called Bungie Studios produced a "killer application" for
the Microsoft Xbox. Halo: Combat Evolved took the el-
ements of all games in the past and rolled them into
a console game that sold over 6 million copies
worldwide since its release in 2001* Many
critics found that the game "bored
them to tears" due to the overuse
of specific areas throughout
the game but nevertheless the
game was a hit and sold many
Xbox consoles by itself*
In 2002, the world would get
the most in-depth tactical FPS
it had seen thus far: Battlefield
1942. This game allowed players
to operate vehicles, aircraft, and
ships similar to Tribes. This ele-
ment, along with the tactics required
for the game allowed dedicated players to become
truly skilled in team oriented destruction* In addition,
this year Nintendo would turn Metroid into an FPS and call
it Metroid Prime. There was no going back for Samus now;
she was in the world of the first-person-shooter*
Between 2004 and 2006, FPS sequels were the next
best thing* Each sequel had new weapons, textures,
eye-candy and thrill* Gamers would buy DOOM
3 and find the graphics stunning but a simple
re-hash of the original story* Play-
ers were bored with the con-
cept that once excited them
but had been redone dozens
of times since DOOM's orig-
inal release* Half-Life 2 was
a great success and utilized
more GPU then most FPS
games (excluding DOOM
3) and allowed players to
interact with their environ-
ment in new detail along with
a realistic physics engine* Halo
2 was an obvious success focus-
ing highly on network play and
became another huge success be-
cause of it* Metroid Prime 2, Ghost Recon
Advance Warfighter, Call of Duty 2, and
others sequels arrived for consumers to
rip off the store shelves* All quality games
with an increasing fan base*
If you mark Wolfenstein 3D as the game
that defined the FPS genre back in 1992,
you can see that FPS games have not
been around all that long* Considering
Mario has brought us games since the early
1980s, the FPS is a comparative teenager*
The genre has made huge leaps and bounds
after each developer's creation and contin-
ues to do so* Not all FPS games are out-
standing success stories but each one brings
something new to the table*
Where do we go from here? Halo 3 is a highly
anticipated game for the Xbox 360
that should be released in 2007*
Perhaps the announced release of
Castle Wolfenstein for the Xbox 360
will change history* Ironically, the game
that evolved the genre plans to return after
fifteen years in hopes to revolutionize the
industry once again* We've proven that
history is bound to repeat itself*
m/magazine
I
0)
20LD2CON
THE DIARY OF MIKE JAMES
By MikeJames
'S
Now that 2old2con is over, many people from the
2old2play community are recoveringfrom hang-
overs and kissing their spouses' asses for letting
them go, as well as saving up for next years 2old2con*
The rest of you are simply asking yourselves, "what was it all about/
and "Why didn't I go?" After seeing the pictures and Dantez's awesome
video of the party, umm, I mean LAN, you're probably wondering what
else happened* Well, as excellent as I am, I will tell you about the Mike
James experience at the 2old2con LAN party*
^P TAIT
it
^i«*tiiiiltf
I guess you could say it all started Thursday night, when I wasn't yet in
Chicago* I received a phone call from Knaabi, one of our senior mem-
bers, at roughly 9:30 pm, asking when I was coming to town* All I could
hear in the background was music and a lot of noise from drunken peo-
ple* At that point, the thought passes through my head, "Why didn't I
take off Thursday too!? "
MY EXPERIENCE
Friday morning comes along and I'm ready to go* I pack the kid, my
wife and myself into the car and we take off about 7:00 am to head to
Kenosha, WI, where I'm from and where my parents still reside* Noon
hits and I'm dropping off the wife and kid, saying a quick hello to the
parents, then I'm back in the car headed to Chicago* It's now 12:30 pm
and I still need to stop at the liquor store* Yeah, Mike James stopped
at the liquor store to buy beverages* I run in, pick up a bottle of JD and
head on out* 60 miles to go - 60 minutes and I'll be at an event I've been
looking forward to since August, 2005*
Two hours later, after being stuck in Chicago traffic, I finally arrive at
the 2old2con 2006* The first person I see is my roommate for the week-
end. Dead Dr* Phibes* Fortunately, instead of having to search him out
to get into the hotel room, he was pulling into the parking lot right be-
hind me* But, who cares about the room as long as there is more than
one bed, because I am not about to sleep in the same bed as DDP*
After dropping off my bags, I make my entrance* "What's up BITCHES!!?!?!??!,"
I shout as I open the door* I can't even tell you the first person I met* The
conference room was designed as two U shapes* One inside of the other
with 30 TVs all throughout the room* What an awesome site to behold*
The best part - everyone was over 25*
Friday was spent meeting people with whom I've played online and held
conversations with in the forums* I was actually able to put faces to those
names* Not a single person was fake* Everyone acted how he or she does
online* The gamer tags do indeed go with peoples personalities* We may
have told each other our real names, but hell, I have a hard enough time
remembering gamer tags let alone real names*
The first keg rolled into the room about 5 pm that first night* Either they
went light on the keg or we're all alcoholics* That first keg was gone by 9
pm; completely empty and floating* I remember getting beer from some-
where else, but not quite sure who gave it to me* I do remember, however,
eating other peoples Chicago style pizza* Hell, it was lying there and no
one was guarding it, so why not eat?
Eventually, people started rolling out about 2:30 am* There was about
15-20 of us left and I was thirsty* I wanted booze* Funny thing is, some-
one left beer in the cooler*** and*** once again, no one was guarding it*
"Anyone need a beer?" Four or five people came on up and I passed out
the beer as if it was my own* Sorry to whoever's beer it was; you should
have drunk it or brought it back to your room*
_ i]
48 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
20LD2CON (CONTINUED)
The next morning, about 10 am, a small group of us got together and
went out for breakfast* It was just a little dive through restaurant but
it did the trick* For eight bucks I had three eggs, two pancakes, toast,
sausage, bacon and a glass of milL
After returning to the hotel room I checked on the activities in the party
room* Not a whole lot was going on and so I said to myself, "Be a wuss
right now and get your ass back to the hotel room and take a one hour
power nap*" So that's what I did* Awaking at 1 pm refreshed, I head
back to the party room*
About this time, the gaming is in full motion* From board games. World
of War craft, Halo 2, Chromehounds, Call of Duty 2 to even poker and
drinking contests - it was all happening*
This time I jump on and play a little Halo 2 since that's what everyone
else was doing* I eventually went out for dinner to celebrate Jolly Rogers'
and SysChaos' birthday*
Upon return, there was a keg waiting for us to tear into* This one lasted
a little bit longer than the night before* A whole lot happened that night*
To sum it up, I got drunk (like you didn't know that)* Hell, everyone was
drunk and we floated another keg* I was "volunteered" to do the raffle
and speak in front of everyone* We handed out some bondage equip-
ment and we got to see Phreaks with a strap-on* We also had a poker
tournament, the Whee^in Geezers awarded Doodi and DSmooth with
these cool-ass tokens of appreciation, (they were postcards from mem-
bers of the Wheezin Geezer clan that couldn't make it all posted onto a
frame) and, last but not least, we met a ton of great new people*
About 3 am everybody was leaving the party and heading back to
their rooms* Then the saddest part of the LAN happened; the
realization that it was over* When I would wake up the next morn-
ing, everybody would be leaving and on their way back to their nor-
mal lives* Tears were shed; handshakes were given and, hell, even
some manly hugs*
The rest of my trip home doesn't really matter* What really matters
is what happened at the 2006 2old2con and my experience*
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED:
One hundred people all with the same hobby came together into one
big room* We were all together without a single bad attitude and
without a single bad experience* People traveled from all over the
United States and some from Canada to really experience what de-
fines 2old2play as a site above all others*
It's about gaming, but it's also about the real life friendships that are
built* Xhox Live and 2old2play have become a meeting place for many
people* Some great friendships were built at 2old2con, a few actual rela-
tionships (guy/girl, you pervert), and best of all, camaraderie*
If you didn't make it to the 2006 2old2con, you need to make it next
year* There will definitely be another one* Start saving your money
for plane tickets, hotel costs, booze and plenty of good times* I hope
to see you at the 2007 2old2con*
-MikeJames
>
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3
f<90NE
KIN6 Hl^
BAYMAN
49 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
o I D-LINK GAMEFUEL
> KILL LAG AND HOSTING PROBLEMS WITH D-LINK GAMEFUEL
Q By Tank
I
Lots of people in the forums ask about what
router to buy, what router are others using,
and what router is the best, etc* I thoroughly
believe in the D-Link Gaming Router, which is spe-
cifically designed to maximize your gaming experi-
ence* Besides being a top notch firewall and router,
it has specific features within it for online gaming
and Xhox Live use to reduce lag*
D-Link has 2 gaming routers; they're both the same except one also
has WiFi (802.11b/g) wireless networking (DGL-4300). The other is
for wired connections only (DGL-4100). Both routers feature four
1GB Ethernet ports, so you can plug your wired devices in and
network them together at top speeds. ^
Step2: Hopefully your ISP is listed in the pull down. If not,
you'll need to know a little something about how your ISP
assigns your TCP/IP address. I've probably used 10 differ-
ent ISP's and all but one have used the first option, DHCP.
So pick that if you don't know, it's got the highest probabil-
ity of being correct.
Step3: Sometimes your ISP locks your network card's hard
coded address (MAC address) as the only system that can ac-
cess the connection. If this is the case, click the Clone Button.
Then type in a HOST name, which can be anything you like.
Let's get started with the setup and configuration. This
setup guide will focus on getting the most out of your
Xbox 360 Live connection.
SECTION 1: WIRING IT UP
D-Link has an excellent graphical wiring diagram on its
website. I recommend you take a look. Basically, if your Broadband
Modem connects directly to your PC, the D-Link router will now
go in the middle, with both devices plugging into it instead. Modem
into the WAN port, PC into one of the 4 LAN ports. If you have a
firewall/router already between your Broadband Modem and PC, the
D-Link will replace that device.
DGL-4100 guide:
ftp://ftp.dlinLcom/Gateway/dgl4100/QIG/dgl4100 QIG lOO.pdf
DGL-4300 guide:
ftp://ftp.dlinLcom/Gateway/dgl4300/OIG/dgl4300 QIG lOO.pdf
SECTION 2: BASIC CONFIGURATION
Your D-Link router's factory TCP/IP address is 192. 168. 0.1. .If you
have some other device with that same address, you'll need to turn
that other device off until your D-Link is configured. A similar
thing to note is that your computer must also have a TCP/IP ad-
dress starting 192. 168.0. X where X is a number from 2-254. If your
computer's address is something different, change it to 192.168.0.2
with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and you should be able to talk
to your new D-Link.
Once your router is turned on and your network settings are worked
out, type 192.168.0.1 in Internet Explorer or your browser's address
bar and click GO. This should load the D-Link router logon screen.
The default setting is for no password. From there you'll be dropped
into the main D-Link Router configuration screen with 2 wizard op-
tions ~ Internet Connectivity Wizard and Wireless Security Wizard.
Click Internet Connection Setup Wizard. Most of these options are
basic, so I'll just point out some important things.
Stepl: Password: choose a good one. Make it at least 8 characters
and try and use letters, numbers and special characters.
1>^|ll]C
Lastly, click the CONNECT huWon and your router will save the settings
and restart. Log back in using your new password and click STATUS in
the top menu. In the STATUS menu, you are most concerned with the
WAN section. You want to see the TCP/IP address. Subnet Mask, Gate-
way and DNS Server all filled in. If it's not, click the DHCP Release
button then DHCP Renew, and wait a minute. If you still get nothing,
the DHCP option you picked in Step 3 wasn't the option your ISP is us-
ing. You'll need to call them and list the options in Step 3's screen and
find out which one to pick to be compatible with them.
SECTION 3: WIRELESS SETUP
(IF YOU HAVE THE NON-WIRELESS
MODEL YOU CAN SKIP THIS)
step 1: You have to give your wireless network a name. This name
is known as its SSID name. Any time you try and connect a wireless
device to your wireless router, you need to specify the name or pick
the name out of a list of available Wi-fi networks that are in range.
Step 2: There are 3 types of encryption to secure your wireless net-
work against outsiders getting on and messing around. In order of
strongest to weakest those are WPA2, WPA and WEP. If you want
to put the time into researching what all your wireless devices can
support, go ahead and do that and pick the appropriate option. If you
don't know, pick the GOOD option which is WEP, the most compat-
ible option that will work with everything.
Step 3: Wireless Password: This first screen generates a WEP Key
from a password you give. You will use the WEP KEY to connect
to your wireless network, not the password you type in. For your
password it should be 20 characters and a mix of capital, small let-
ters, numbers and special characters. Click NEXT and your WEP
KEY will be generated, it will look like 1C347 68BC4 4F262 93E2F
1F750 9. Write this WEP KEY down somewhere, you'll need to type
it into each wireless network device you have.
50 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
D-LINK GAMEFUEL (CONTINUED)
i
Finally, click SAVE and your router will reboot. Reconnect to the
router once it resets.
Connecting your wireless devices is beyond the scope of this docu-
ment. Every device, however, will need to know both your SSID
and WEP Key, so make sure you have those remembered or written
down and secured in a safe place.
SECTION 4: THE REST OF THE
BASIC OPTIONS
LAN: If you're fine building your network based on the 192.168.0.X de-
fault configuration, you can leave this section alone. If your network was
based on some other network, you will change that here in the IP Address
box and adjust the Subnet
Mask as required. Leave
the rest of the settings
alone and don't forget
to SAVE Settings if
you make changes.
Keep in mind that
if you change your
router's LAN TCP/IP
address, you'll now
need to change your PC's networking information as well before you can
connect to it again in Internet Explorer or another browser.
DHCP: I'm not going to get into advanced DHCP configuration but
I'll give you the basics. Every device on your network needs the
LAN TCP/IP address information, including yom Xbox 360. If you
only have one or two devices, you could set the network information
manually. However if you have a few devices or just want a quick
automated network device setup, I'd recommend you turn this on.
Just click the Enable DHCP Server box at the top and click Save Set-
tings. All the default options that are set when this gets turned on I
expect will be fine for most people.
SECTION 5:
ADVANCED SETTINGS
You could tinker in these advanced settings for
days. I'll take you through the most important sections
relevant to Xbox Live and let you read up on the others on your
own. Most people won't need to go beyond the sections I walk
you through.
SPECIAL APPLICATIONS: This screen opens inbound con-
nections from the Internet to your home network. For most home
users you can uncheck everything in the Application Level Gate-
way Config window, especially if you don't know what any of
those options are. These leave doors open for hackers to attempt
exploitation. If you connect to an
office to work from home, you
probably want to leave PPTP
and L2TP and IPSec VPN
checked (or just one of
the three if you know
specifically which
one your office
uses ~ just ask
your IT guy.)
GAMING: We need a very important option in here. In the Add Game
Rule window. Enable should be checked. In the Select Game pull down,
select Xbox Live . Then click the SAVE button under Schedule. You
should see Xbox Live listed now in the Game Rules List window. If you
do, click Save Settings at the top.
GAME FUEL: This is the heart of the D-Link router which gives it
maximum gaming performance. Click Enable Game Fuel and a few
configuration windows will open. You can leave all these set to the
default options and click Save Settings at the top.
FIREWALL: Enable SPI should be checked. Enable DMZ is
optional but I would recommend it. What I do is I manually set
the TCP/IP address infor-
mation on my Xbox 360
and in here I click En-
able DMZ and put the
address of my Xbox
360 in the DMZ IP
Address box. So if
I set my Xbox 360 to
192.168.0.254, that's
what I would put in
the DMZ IP Address box. Why would you want to do this? It
eliminates any connectivity problems if you host games. It may
also help in gaming traffic flow speed because none of the game
traffic should be processed by the firewall rules.
SECTION 6: FINISHING TOUCHES,
THE TOOLS MENU
There are a number of useful settings things to think about en-
abling in the Tools menu. The first thing you should do once
you're done tinkering is click Tools, Admin, and scroll to the bot-
tom and pick Save Configuration. This will save a file to your PC
hard drive with all router settings. You want to do this in case
something happens to wipe out your router settings (firmware up-
dates have a habit of doing this.) If something happens to your
settings, you just come back to this screen and pick Restore
Configuration from File, find the file on your hard drive
and all your settings will be restored.
That should do it. There's a lot to tinker with
in the D-Link router and what I've walked
you through should get you gaming
at maximum performance.
» «
I
Kl
%
SEPTEMBER RELEASES
THE ULTIMATE LIST OF GAMING GOODNESS IN STOCK THIS MONTH
TITLE RELEASE DATE
PLAYSTATION 2
King of Fighters 2006
9/4
World Championship Poker All In ^^|
^B 9/4
Okami
9/5
Spyhunter : Nowhere to Run
■ 9/5
Yakuza
9/5
NASCAR 07 ^^^^^^^^^B
^" 9/6
Backyard Baseball 2007
9/12
Tr,PV
9/12
Lego Star Wars
9/12
NHL 07 ^^^^^^^B__
_ 9/12
NHL 2K7
9/12
One Piece : Pirates' Carnival ^^^^^^^^
^P 9/12
Rule of Rose
9/12
Bratz : Forever Diamondz
9/18
Cabela's Alaskan Adventure
9/19
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing
9/19
Open Season
9/19
Samurai Warriors 2
9/19
World Series of Poker
9/19
Corvette GT Evolution ^^^^^^^^|
^^ 9/25
Family Feud
9/25
NBA 2k7
9/25
NBA Live 07
9/25
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova
9/25
Fast & the Furious
9/26
Greg Hastings Tour Paintball Max'd
9/26
Just Cause
9/26
Valkyrie Profile 2
9/26
Zatchbell
PSP
9/26
World Championship Poker
9/4
^^m 9/5
Loco Roco
9/5
MotoGP ^^^^^^^^^^H
^^^ 9/5
Ultimate Ghost 'N' Goblins
9/5
NASCAR 07
9/6
TITLE
RELEASE DATE
Bomberman
9/12
Bounty Hounds
9/12
NHL 07
9/12
Rengoku II ^^^^^^^^^|
^^^^^^^ 9/12
Open Season
9/19
The Godfather _^^
World Series of Poker
9/19
NBA Live 07 ^
^^^^^V 9/25
Bubble Bobble Revolution
9/26
NBA 07
9/26
Online Chess Kingdoms
9/26
Spectral Souls
9/26
Stacked
9/26
WTF: Work Time Fun
9/26
XBOX
Spy Hunter
9/5
NASCAR 07
9/6
Fuel
9/11
Lego Star Wars II
9/12
NHL 07
9/12
NHL 2K7
9/12
Ford Bold Moves Street Racing
9/19
Open Season
__^^^^K_ ^/l^
NBA 2K7
9/25
NBA Live 07
9/25
Just Cause
XBOX 360
9/26
Possession ^^^^^^^^^H
ShadowClan
9/1
Test Drive Unlimted ^
^^^^H 9/5
Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged
9/5
Lego Star Wars II ^
^^^^^1 9/12
NHL 07
9/12
NHL 2K7 ^^^^^H
^^^^^1 9/12
Cabela's Alaskan Adventure
9/19
Open Season
9/19
Xbox Live Vision Camera
9/19
52 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
SEPTEMBER RELEASES (CONTINUED)
TITLE
RELEASE DATE
Samauri Warriors 2
9/19
The Godfather ^^^^^^|
^^^^^H 9/19
World Series of Poker
9/19
NBA 2K7
9/25
NBA Live 07
9/25
Import Tuner Challenge
9/25
Just Cause
GAMECUBE
9/26
Lego Star Wars II ^_
One Piece Pirates' Carnival
9/12
Brat%
^^^^ 9/18
Open Season
9/19
Baten Kaitos Origins
9/25
Backyard Baseball 2007
9/26
Naruto II
9/26
DS
Hardcore Pool
9/1
Micro Machines V4 ^^^^^f
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
9/1
Konductra 1
^^^^B 9/5
Ultimate Card Games
9/6
Mario Hoops 3on3
9/11
Cooking Mama
9/12
Harvest Moon DS ^^^^
9/12
Lego Star Wars II
9/12
Mech Assault : Phanton War
,^^^^^P 9/12
Mega Man ZX
9/12
Brat%
9/18
Danny Phantom
9/18
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
9/18
Contact
9/19
Dragon Quest Heroes ^^^^|
^^[ 9/19
Open Season
9/19
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
""^^^^^ 9/19
Alex Rider
9/25
Maro vs Donkey Kong 2
9/25
Bubble Bobble Revolution
9/26
Mage Knight Destiny's Soldier
^^^^^ 9/26
TITLE
RELEASE DATE
WINDOWS
Devil May Cry 3
9/1
GTR2 ^^^^B
^^^^^P 9/1
Luxor Mahjong
9/1
Backyard Baseball 2007
9/4
Emperor s Treasures
9/4
Perimeter
9/4
Prison Tycoon 2
9/4
Secret Files: Tunguska
9/4
Call of Juarez
9/5
Faces of War
9/5
Joint Task Force
9/5
Origin of the Species ^^^^^
^^^^^H 9/6
Coffee Tycoon
9/11
Company of Heroes ^^^^^B
^^^^^^ 9/11
Glow Worm
9/11
Pacific Storm
9/11
Avatar The Last Airbender
9/12
Everquest II Classic
9/12
Lego Star Wars II
9/12
NHL 07 ^_
9/12
NeverWinter Nights 2
9/14
Age of Pirates ^^^|
^^^^H_ ^/i^
Face Factory 2
9/18
Patriot National Guard
9/18
Rag Doll Kung Fu
9/18
The Guild 2 i
^^^^H 9/18
Ford Bold moves Street Racing
9/19
Open Season
9/19
Fuel
9/25
Inspector Parker ^^^^^H
^^^^^^H ^^^^
NBA Live 07
9/25
ParaWorld "^^^
Poker SuperStars II
9/25
Caesar IV ^^^^^^m
El Matador
9/26
Fued ^^^^^^^^^^1
^^^^^^ 9/26
Just Cause
9/26
Rainbow Island Revolutions
9/26
53 I 2old2play Magazine | Issue 006 | www.2old2play.conn/nnagazine
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