Gaming Habits

As we discover in family life, times and technology may change but people stay the same. Although protested in younger years, most discover that turning into their parents is somewhat unavoidable. It’s not surprising then that through history people have always liked to play games. The form and function has changed over the years but that innate human desire to play together finds its expression in every generation.

Games teach us to look for patterns to improve our performance. We learn to collect, order, clean up and generally sort things out to progress through each gaming experience. This works well because we are also driven by these things in real life. We instinctively want to create order out of chaos.

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Valve: PC Gaming is where all the action is

Gabe Newell

We’ve had all sorts of articles going on lately about how PC gaming is “dying”. Valve doesn’t think so. At a press event in Bellevue, Washington, Valve held steadfastly to their love of the PC and declared it as a robust and relevant gaming system. Gabe Newell went so far as to say that “[the] PC is where all the action is, and there’s a perception problem”.

It seems that Valve is placing emphasis on Steam and other online software distribution methods, and with good reason. Citing figures, Newell said that DFC Intelligence data showing that PC online sales have been on an increase since 2001, while retail sales comparatively flat. Valve also expects online sales to overtake retail very soon.

An interesting statement he makes is,

“We don’t really have a champion of the PC platform. If you write a story about the Xbox 360, there’s just an army of people who are going to descend on you to make that picture look as polished and rosy as possible. Same things for the other consoles – but there’s no equivalent on the PC, and the people who are traditionally driving these messages, like Microsoft or Intel or Apple are, for various reasons, not very effective champions.”

As we say from Valve’s latest announcement of Steam Cloud, Valve has been pretty aggressive on establishing the PC as the best video game platform out there. It’s time they got some support!

WTF: Choose Your Own Adventure: Pong

There are some times when I am utterly shocked. I am at a loss of words. “What would you call this?” I ask myself. Is it the most utterly depressing thing that has ever happened to entertainment media, or is it the most ingenious idea ever? This is definitely one of them. The name itself should be enough to satisfy your curiosity: Choose Your Own Adventure: Pong.

It has all the gameplay of Pong, translated into paper format. You turn pages to determine the moment of your bat. The ball remains ominously stationary on each page, its position entirely dependant on what choice you make next, whether you go up or (urp) down. A truly epic adventure. Its something you’ve never experienced before.

This sort of stuff makes us wonder as to what went through the creator’s mind when he thought of it. How could he hope to sell it to anyone without as much free time as himself? Perhaps that is why he lets you “read” the excellent adventure book cover-to-cover in the free online viewer that we have helpfully embedded below.

Go ahead, enjoy your adventure!

Live Video Play Through of Ninja Gaiden II

The playthrough is over and man it’s a good button smasher! The only dowfall is that I’m stuck on the second level boss. I don’t have enough health to beat him. I guess that’s what I deserve after running through the level without destroying enemies…You are warned!

Check out the video coverage here.

Ninja Gaiden II

American Gladiator becomes Command & Conquerized

Video games with sex appeal have always sold extremely well. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 apparently plans on going even more over the top in that department than ever before. Below is a shot of Gina Carano as the Soviet Natasha. Remember boys the video cut scenes will be shown in high definition!

“The last year has been such a whirlwind for me, from everything that’s happening with EliteXC this weekend to American Gladiators and now with EA and Red Alert 3,” said Carano. “Natasha is such a cool, powerful character, her actions definitely speak louder than her words which is something I definitely identify with. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out and I hope all of the gamers out there have a great time wreaking havoc as me.”

EliteXC Fighter And American Gladiator Gina Carano To Appear In Command & Conquer Red Alert 3

Steam Cloud: save your savegames online forever!

Steam Cloud

Valve continues to impress with every one of its announcements! We heard of Steamworks a few months ago, which has made professional video game publishing within everyone’s free hands. Now Valve announces Steam Cloud, a revolutionary service that will allow you to store savegames and configuration files online; that is, forever.

Hit the jump to read more and become darn excited!

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