If you work in a hazardous environment, such as an isolated research station, an underwater city, a deep space freighter or a secret military base, it is vital that you keep an detailed diary for posterity.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Trends in Gaming: 2009 will see downloads of full-sized retail X360 games via marketplace
In my last post, I mentioned that the Blu-Ray drive has hobbled the PS3 in terms of price competitiveness. I believe that it has also led Sony down what could very well be a dead-end path in the form of game sizes. When the PS3 was announced, Sony emphasised the advantage that the 50Gb of storage on each Blu-Ray disc gave to developers. They exhorted them to fill that space with extra content for their games and pushed a ‘more data is better’ line. Their ‘hardware company’ mentality led them to set great store by their new storage medium.
However, this looks increasing short-sighted. There is a strong consensus in the games industry and in the wider media industries that we are moving towards full digital distribution of media products and that the question is not whether physical media will die off, but just how soon? Like many things predicted to revolutionise the industry, it will probably not happen as quickly as some people claim, but it is very definitely coming.
Viewed through this lens, Microsoft’s decision to stick to the 7Gb DVD format for the Xbox 360 looks quite sensible. Microsoft released an external HD-DVD drive, mainly to act as a spoiler against Sony’s Blu-Ray format rather than through any meaningful belief that HD-DVD would become a leading format. With hindsight, it is apparent that the company felt that it could get by with a DVD drive for now and that the next generation of consoles would not sport disc drives at all.
Furthermore, it is a lot quicker to download 7Gb than 50Gb. MS began laying the foundation for the move to digital distribution in December 2007 by selling Xbox 1 games via the Xbox Live Marketplace under the heading of 'Xbox Originals', releasing a title or two a month through 2008. I predict that we will see full Xbox 360 retail titles sold in a similar manner in the second half of this year. I think that the games will be early titles from the Xbox Classics range, possibly ones where the sequel will be releasing at retail in Q4 2009.
I expect that Microsoft will provide extensive reassurance to traditional retail outlets, emphasising that releasing old titles in this manner will drum up interest for new releases, promising that only games over a certain age will be considered for the service and possibly providing more marketing support to retailers as a sweetener. However, this will be the velvet glove around the iron fist, the decorative sash tied around the handle of the katana. The real agenda will be getting the consumer used to buying full titles by direct download. I expect to see significant price cuts on Xbox 360 hard disks during the year and possibly even a larger size than the current 120Gb drive to support this move.
This year’s move to allow gamers to install games to the hard disc (but still requiring the disc in the drive to play them) can also be considered to further this agenda, in addition to being a good feature in its own right.
So there you go - an easily testable prediction. See if I'm right come 31st December and mock/praise accordingly!
However, this looks increasing short-sighted. There is a strong consensus in the games industry and in the wider media industries that we are moving towards full digital distribution of media products and that the question is not whether physical media will die off, but just how soon? Like many things predicted to revolutionise the industry, it will probably not happen as quickly as some people claim, but it is very definitely coming.
Viewed through this lens, Microsoft’s decision to stick to the 7Gb DVD format for the Xbox 360 looks quite sensible. Microsoft released an external HD-DVD drive, mainly to act as a spoiler against Sony’s Blu-Ray format rather than through any meaningful belief that HD-DVD would become a leading format. With hindsight, it is apparent that the company felt that it could get by with a DVD drive for now and that the next generation of consoles would not sport disc drives at all.
Furthermore, it is a lot quicker to download 7Gb than 50Gb. MS began laying the foundation for the move to digital distribution in December 2007 by selling Xbox 1 games via the Xbox Live Marketplace under the heading of 'Xbox Originals', releasing a title or two a month through 2008. I predict that we will see full Xbox 360 retail titles sold in a similar manner in the second half of this year. I think that the games will be early titles from the Xbox Classics range, possibly ones where the sequel will be releasing at retail in Q4 2009.
I expect that Microsoft will provide extensive reassurance to traditional retail outlets, emphasising that releasing old titles in this manner will drum up interest for new releases, promising that only games over a certain age will be considered for the service and possibly providing more marketing support to retailers as a sweetener. However, this will be the velvet glove around the iron fist, the decorative sash tied around the handle of the katana. The real agenda will be getting the consumer used to buying full titles by direct download. I expect to see significant price cuts on Xbox 360 hard disks during the year and possibly even a larger size than the current 120Gb drive to support this move.
This year’s move to allow gamers to install games to the hard disc (but still requiring the disc in the drive to play them) can also be considered to further this agenda, in addition to being a good feature in its own right.
So there you go - an easily testable prediction. See if I'm right come 31st December and mock/praise accordingly!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Trends in Gaming: Spring 2009 is a critical period for the PS3
This post is less of a prediction and more of a summary of where things stand for Sony and the PS3 as 2009 rolls on. Sony are on the verge of posting a loss of over $1billion for their current financial year (to the end of March 2009) with the games division deep in the red.
Sony decided to not cut the price of the PS3 before Christmas 2008, choosing fewer sales at a higher price point over a sales boost at the expense of per-unit revenue. Unfortunately for them, with consumers becoming increasingly price-sensitive and the large price differential between the Xbox 360 & Wii and the pricier PS3 certainly hurt them when it came to sales. These numbers in particular look pretty nasty for the big black box.
Unfortunately for Sony, they don’t have much scope to cut the PS3 price, as the other divisions of the company, such as consumer electronics, movies and music are all being impacted by the recession. The price will certainly be cut in the spring, but how much? How consumers react will determine with 2009 is a good or bad year for the company. If sales pick up strongly, helped by the release of key first-party title Killzone 2 (due for release next week), then Sony should be able to make more headway at closing Microsoft’s installed base lead. However, if sales don’t show a significant uptick, Sony faces a tough year ahead. Microsoft has extremely deep coffers and its core Windows business is relatively recession-proof due to the ubiquity of the PC platform.
Microsoft can force the pricing of the Xbox 360 lower in response to Sony’s price-cut. As the economic downturn continues to bite, consumers are likely to be even more price conscious and Sony finds itself caught out by events, whereas Microsoft’s hand looks to be coming good. The Blu-Ray drive, which is mainly responsible for the high price of the console, now looks more of a burden that an advantage, for more than one reason (more of that in my next post!)
So are we looking at a 'high noon' moment for Sony? I certainly feel that if sales don't pick up over the spring, they may have to finally concede that they are not going to end up in #1 place this console generation. The global recession certainly provides them with some cover to admit to less than stellar performance. I wouldn't be surprised to see some Scooby Doo-esque statements around E3 time - "we would have gotten away with it as well, if it wasn't for that pesky recession!" It can certainly be argued that this would be healthy for Sony compared to the astronomical levels of hubris displayed in previous years.
Killzone 2 is also an interesting game to examine. It is getting good reviews and will undoubtedly help sales, but I don't feel that Killzone as a brand has become strongly linked to the core Playstation brand in the way that Halo and now Gears of War have becomed entwined with the Xbox brand (of course, that very closeness is a big factor in the difficulties Microsoft has had in expanding the Xbox 360 demographic away from core gamers!) Perhaps this is because the original game launched late in the PS2 lifecycle whereas it is usually games released at the console's launch or soon after that get associated with a platform in the collective consciousness. I don't think there is a big rump of people who are holding off buying a PS3 until Killzone 2 ships, whereas I'm fairly certain there were significant numbers of people who waited for the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 (and may be waiting for Gran Turismo 5). The series just doesn't have that sort of fanatical following.
More "Trends in Gaming" later this week.
Sony decided to not cut the price of the PS3 before Christmas 2008, choosing fewer sales at a higher price point over a sales boost at the expense of per-unit revenue. Unfortunately for them, with consumers becoming increasingly price-sensitive and the large price differential between the Xbox 360 & Wii and the pricier PS3 certainly hurt them when it came to sales. These numbers in particular look pretty nasty for the big black box.
Unfortunately for Sony, they don’t have much scope to cut the PS3 price, as the other divisions of the company, such as consumer electronics, movies and music are all being impacted by the recession. The price will certainly be cut in the spring, but how much? How consumers react will determine with 2009 is a good or bad year for the company. If sales pick up strongly, helped by the release of key first-party title Killzone 2 (due for release next week), then Sony should be able to make more headway at closing Microsoft’s installed base lead. However, if sales don’t show a significant uptick, Sony faces a tough year ahead. Microsoft has extremely deep coffers and its core Windows business is relatively recession-proof due to the ubiquity of the PC platform.
Microsoft can force the pricing of the Xbox 360 lower in response to Sony’s price-cut. As the economic downturn continues to bite, consumers are likely to be even more price conscious and Sony finds itself caught out by events, whereas Microsoft’s hand looks to be coming good. The Blu-Ray drive, which is mainly responsible for the high price of the console, now looks more of a burden that an advantage, for more than one reason (more of that in my next post!)
So are we looking at a 'high noon' moment for Sony? I certainly feel that if sales don't pick up over the spring, they may have to finally concede that they are not going to end up in #1 place this console generation. The global recession certainly provides them with some cover to admit to less than stellar performance. I wouldn't be surprised to see some Scooby Doo-esque statements around E3 time - "we would have gotten away with it as well, if it wasn't for that pesky recession!" It can certainly be argued that this would be healthy for Sony compared to the astronomical levels of hubris displayed in previous years.
Killzone 2 is also an interesting game to examine. It is getting good reviews and will undoubtedly help sales, but I don't feel that Killzone as a brand has become strongly linked to the core Playstation brand in the way that Halo and now Gears of War have becomed entwined with the Xbox brand (of course, that very closeness is a big factor in the difficulties Microsoft has had in expanding the Xbox 360 demographic away from core gamers!) Perhaps this is because the original game launched late in the PS2 lifecycle whereas it is usually games released at the console's launch or soon after that get associated with a platform in the collective consciousness. I don't think there is a big rump of people who are holding off buying a PS3 until Killzone 2 ships, whereas I'm fairly certain there were significant numbers of people who waited for the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 (and may be waiting for Gran Turismo 5). The series just doesn't have that sort of fanatical following.
More "Trends in Gaming" later this week.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Trends in Gaming: 2009 will be the year DLC gets done right
In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting a number of articles making predictions about the industry for the rest of the year.
As the year begins, I find myself looking forward to extra downloadable content (DLC) for many of the games I bought in 2008. The new Knothole Island area and items for Fable 2 (already out), the new maps (including the Dawn of the Dead Mall) and modes for Left 4 Dead, the Lost & the Damned expansion for GTAIV (out today), the Beneath the Ashes and Lara’s Shadow levels for Tomb Raider: Underworld - not to mention three separate sets of DLC for Fallout 3 (though I need to play the main game first in that instance).
We’ve come a long way from the "Horse Armor" debacle of 2006 and Bethesda, after that initial mis-step, are leading the way. The Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansions are widely considered some of the very best pieces of DLC to date and people have high hopes for the Fallout 3 expansions.
All the content I’ve listed is premium content (PDLC) – you have to pay for it. Getting the pricing and message for DLC right is of vital importance to publishers as gamers are liable to react badly if they feel (whether rightly or wrongly) that content was cut from the main game so that it could be sold to them for further money at a later date. PDLC that is exclusive to one format is an explosive mixture, as format holders’ non-disclosure agreements will almost certainly prevent the publisher and developer adequately explaining the situation to the consumer. The furore over the TRU content that still rages on the Tomb Raider messageboards is a very good example of this.
Despite these potential pitfalls, in 2009 DLC will become a key part of the console gaming landscape. Publishers are beginning to get a feel for what is the right price and understanding the kind of backlash that poor pricing choices can lead to. DLC keeps your consumer coming back to your game and makes them think twice about trading it in, helping to combat the pressure that used game sales are putting on new sales. Publishers have to give a cut of PDLC sales to the format holders but this is preferable to retail, where they are giving a cut to the retailer and the wholesale distributor on top of paying the format holder's licence fee and manufacturing costs. This is a huge incentive to publishers to maximise revenues and customer retention via prudent releases of DLC .
Perhaps even more importantly, there is fast becoming an assumption among consumers that all A-grade titles will be supported after release with DLC and once this is fully embedded in the consumer mindset, titles that don’t conform will be increasingly seen as second rate. Looking at the Christmas just gone, it is already hard to cite major titles that don't have at least some form of DLC in the pipeline. The Lost and The Damned is getting good reviews and is a major chunk of content, with hefty in-store promotion in the form of a branded points card. It is likely to set the trend for major expansions to the original game, set in the same city, as opposed to the Liberty City, Vice City, San Andreas progression of full-game releases in the PS2 era.
It should also be noted that the extensive catalogues of songs being released for the competing Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises are also doing a great deal to break down barriers to people buying additional content for their games by direct download.
Personally, I'm pleased to have an excuse to go back to games for a second blast and it gives people who missed a game the first time round a chance to jump in, safe in the knowledge that other people will be playing the game (I'll be trying to get MuppetThumper to try Left 4 Dead when the DLC hits).
Stay tuned for more predictions!
As the year begins, I find myself looking forward to extra downloadable content (DLC) for many of the games I bought in 2008. The new Knothole Island area and items for Fable 2 (already out), the new maps (including the Dawn of the Dead Mall) and modes for Left 4 Dead, the Lost & the Damned expansion for GTAIV (out today), the Beneath the Ashes and Lara’s Shadow levels for Tomb Raider: Underworld - not to mention three separate sets of DLC for Fallout 3 (though I need to play the main game first in that instance).
We’ve come a long way from the "Horse Armor" debacle of 2006 and Bethesda, after that initial mis-step, are leading the way. The Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansions are widely considered some of the very best pieces of DLC to date and people have high hopes for the Fallout 3 expansions.
All the content I’ve listed is premium content (PDLC) – you have to pay for it. Getting the pricing and message for DLC right is of vital importance to publishers as gamers are liable to react badly if they feel (whether rightly or wrongly) that content was cut from the main game so that it could be sold to them for further money at a later date. PDLC that is exclusive to one format is an explosive mixture, as format holders’ non-disclosure agreements will almost certainly prevent the publisher and developer adequately explaining the situation to the consumer. The furore over the TRU content that still rages on the Tomb Raider messageboards is a very good example of this.
Despite these potential pitfalls, in 2009 DLC will become a key part of the console gaming landscape. Publishers are beginning to get a feel for what is the right price and understanding the kind of backlash that poor pricing choices can lead to. DLC keeps your consumer coming back to your game and makes them think twice about trading it in, helping to combat the pressure that used game sales are putting on new sales. Publishers have to give a cut of PDLC sales to the format holders but this is preferable to retail, where they are giving a cut to the retailer and the wholesale distributor on top of paying the format holder's licence fee and manufacturing costs. This is a huge incentive to publishers to maximise revenues and customer retention via prudent releases of DLC .
Perhaps even more importantly, there is fast becoming an assumption among consumers that all A-grade titles will be supported after release with DLC and once this is fully embedded in the consumer mindset, titles that don’t conform will be increasingly seen as second rate. Looking at the Christmas just gone, it is already hard to cite major titles that don't have at least some form of DLC in the pipeline. The Lost and The Damned is getting good reviews and is a major chunk of content, with hefty in-store promotion in the form of a branded points card. It is likely to set the trend for major expansions to the original game, set in the same city, as opposed to the Liberty City, Vice City, San Andreas progression of full-game releases in the PS2 era.
It should also be noted that the extensive catalogues of songs being released for the competing Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises are also doing a great deal to break down barriers to people buying additional content for their games by direct download.
Personally, I'm pleased to have an excuse to go back to games for a second blast and it gives people who missed a game the first time round a chance to jump in, safe in the knowledge that other people will be playing the game (I'll be trying to get MuppetThumper to try Left 4 Dead when the DLC hits).
Stay tuned for more predictions!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
No more missing pieces
Continuing my "games with Puzzle in the title" start to the year, the second XBLA game that I completed in January was Puzzle Arcade. This is a jigsaw puzzle game (the reason that "jigsaw" doesn't appear in the title is that it is not used to describe this sort of puzzle outside of the English-speaking world) that I signed for Eidos in 2006. The original design (then called "Fractal Jigsaw") came from Say Design in California and the 'heavy lifting' was done by CTXM in Latvia.
The thinking behind the project was to find a universally understood casual gaming concept that could support multiplayer play and hopefully emulate the huge success of Uno on the platform. Jigsaws are enjoyed all around the world and an electronic version offers big advantages over the traditional form - you don't have to worry about losing pieces, it doesn't take up your dining table for days at a time, you can work on many puzzles at once, you can get assistance if you are stuck and you can attempt puzzles that would be too large to complete in your house. The original design envisaged a massively mutliplayer element to the game; hundreds of players would be able to collaborate to complete enormous puzzles, much bigger than the largest real-world puzzles, of perhaps even millions of pieces. These larger puzzles would be split down with each piece being made up of smaller pieces, and those smaller pieces being likewise divided, hence the 'fractal' part of the title.
Unfortunately, the server backend requirements for this feature stopped it being cost-effective and the massively multiplayer feature was cut (the fractal puzzles remain). However, the finished game is still a fun collection of jigsaws with a good variety of single and multiplayer modes and while it is not going to review highly due to the type of game it is, it is good to see that many people who have played it really enjoyed it. As for me, I've beaten the challenge mode but I'm going to need to put a lot of time aside to get the 'Kilopiece Colossus' achievement for completing a 1000-piece puzzle.
If you own an Xbox 360 connected to the internet and you've not played Puzzle Arcade yet, I have got five unlock codes for the full game that I am giving away to the first five random internet denizens who read this and drop me an email. Email blog at unfriendlyghost.com with the subject line "Puzzle Arcade competition".
The thinking behind the project was to find a universally understood casual gaming concept that could support multiplayer play and hopefully emulate the huge success of Uno on the platform. Jigsaws are enjoyed all around the world and an electronic version offers big advantages over the traditional form - you don't have to worry about losing pieces, it doesn't take up your dining table for days at a time, you can work on many puzzles at once, you can get assistance if you are stuck and you can attempt puzzles that would be too large to complete in your house. The original design envisaged a massively mutliplayer element to the game; hundreds of players would be able to collaborate to complete enormous puzzles, much bigger than the largest real-world puzzles, of perhaps even millions of pieces. These larger puzzles would be split down with each piece being made up of smaller pieces, and those smaller pieces being likewise divided, hence the 'fractal' part of the title.
Unfortunately, the server backend requirements for this feature stopped it being cost-effective and the massively multiplayer feature was cut (the fractal puzzles remain). However, the finished game is still a fun collection of jigsaws with a good variety of single and multiplayer modes and while it is not going to review highly due to the type of game it is, it is good to see that many people who have played it really enjoyed it. As for me, I've beaten the challenge mode but I'm going to need to put a lot of time aside to get the 'Kilopiece Colossus' achievement for completing a 1000-piece puzzle.
If you own an Xbox 360 connected to the internet and you've not played Puzzle Arcade yet, I have got five unlock codes for the full game that I am giving away to the first five random internet denizens who read this and drop me an email. Email blog at unfriendlyghost.com with the subject line "Puzzle Arcade competition".
Monday, February 2, 2009
Beers of the Month - January 2009
My Beer of the Month is Bracia from Thornbridge Hall, which I tried at the Thornbridge tasting at the Rake. This is very special stuff from a brewery that is beginning to really make waves on the back of some superb beers. Their St. Petersburg Imperial Stout wowed me before Christmas, their Jaipur IPA is quickly becoming a UK classic and the selection of beers at the tasting didn’t disappoint. Bracia has a complex taste with hazelnut, chocolate, coffee and truffle flavours from the malts balance by a dazzling array of hops and the sublime signature ingredient, chestnut honey. There’s more information about the beer on their website and Bracia can be bought direct from the brewery at £5 per 500ml bottle. It’s worth it.
My Highly Commended beer for January, comes most gratifyingly, from a new micro-brewery in my local area. Sambrook’s Brewery is located very near to my old office in Battersea. They only started brewing in November 2008, but their first beer, Wandle Ale, a 3.8% session bitter, is extremely drinkable. The choice of Fuggles and Golding hops and Maris Otter malt is quintessentially English and I feel that you could slot the resultant beer into the range of say, Harvey’s, and nobody would be any the wiser. It’s great to have a new craft brewery opening up on my doorstep and with the news that Young’s may open a microbrewery as part of their planned museum on the Ram Brewery site, the year has started on a positive note in the SW postcodes. Wandle Ale is available in free houses across South West London (with Dave’s help, I tracked it down in the Magpie & Crown) so do your bit to support a fledging brewery by sampling it.
My Highly Commended beer for January, comes most gratifyingly, from a new micro-brewery in my local area. Sambrook’s Brewery is located very near to my old office in Battersea. They only started brewing in November 2008, but their first beer, Wandle Ale, a 3.8% session bitter, is extremely drinkable. The choice of Fuggles and Golding hops and Maris Otter malt is quintessentially English and I feel that you could slot the resultant beer into the range of say, Harvey’s, and nobody would be any the wiser. It’s great to have a new craft brewery opening up on my doorstep and with the news that Young’s may open a microbrewery as part of their planned museum on the Ram Brewery site, the year has started on a positive note in the SW postcodes. Wandle Ale is available in free houses across South West London (with Dave’s help, I tracked it down in the Magpie & Crown) so do your bit to support a fledging brewery by sampling it.
A puzzling start to the year
Late last year, I had a bet with my friend the MuppetThumper that I could finish all the Xbox 360 retail games that I owned on the last day 2008 by the last day of 2009. This means that I need to complete over 20 X360 titles in the year, on top of whatever new games I decide to play (and I have nine systems to choose from!) Of course, as a zen master of displacement activity, I immediately set to playing XBLA games rather than retail ones. Thus the first game I completed in 2009 was the excellent Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords from Infinite Interactive.
If you're a regular gamer, Puzzle Quest probably doesn't need much of an introduction. Its marriage of the addictive match-3 gameplay of Bejeweled with a traditional fantasy setting, evolved from Infinite's long-running Warlords series of games, made it one of the cult hits of 2007, particularly on DS. I was actually shown the game in prototype form at GDC 2005, their agents demoing on a laptop in the coffee area. It was clear that the basic gameplay was fun and easy to grasp, but the game faced big hurdles. Infinite were (and still are) a small developer, located in Australia (a long way from most publishing head offices) with a track record of fantasy RPG games (not a sexy genre for videogame execs) and 'casual gaming' had not yet penetrated into the industry consciousness to the point where CEOs were chasing a non-core gamer demographic or developers churning out clones. The game would have been laughed out of our boardroom at the time and so I didn't push hard to sign it. Thankfully for all of us, D3 Publisher had the vision to sign the game and thus reaped the rewards - the game is currently available on DS, PSP, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii and IPhone. If you've not played the game, be warned that it is exceedingly addictive - true "digital crack". In the process of completing it, I played past 3am, to the point where I could barely focus my eyes. Genre-combining games often fail because one part of the game is neglected or simply more poorly executed than the rest, but in this case, the game away from actual combat is lovingly crafted. There's depth to the RPG elements (the different classes play very differently for one thing) and the writing stops the storyline descending to high camp melodrama through the injection of some good humourous touches such as Khalkus, a dwarf who just won't shut up and Drong, a troll with an insatiable appetite. This article on Gamasutra puts forward a theory on why the RPG genre was the perfect fit for this sort of game design mash-up but Penny Arcade's take sums up many people's initial reactions to the game.
Shortly, we'll need to begin calling it by its full name, as the hex-based sci-fi themed sequel, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, is almost upon us - you can try a demo at their website.
If you're a regular gamer, Puzzle Quest probably doesn't need much of an introduction. Its marriage of the addictive match-3 gameplay of Bejeweled with a traditional fantasy setting, evolved from Infinite's long-running Warlords series of games, made it one of the cult hits of 2007, particularly on DS. I was actually shown the game in prototype form at GDC 2005, their agents demoing on a laptop in the coffee area. It was clear that the basic gameplay was fun and easy to grasp, but the game faced big hurdles. Infinite were (and still are) a small developer, located in Australia (a long way from most publishing head offices) with a track record of fantasy RPG games (not a sexy genre for videogame execs) and 'casual gaming' had not yet penetrated into the industry consciousness to the point where CEOs were chasing a non-core gamer demographic or developers churning out clones. The game would have been laughed out of our boardroom at the time and so I didn't push hard to sign it. Thankfully for all of us, D3 Publisher had the vision to sign the game and thus reaped the rewards - the game is currently available on DS, PSP, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii and IPhone. If you've not played the game, be warned that it is exceedingly addictive - true "digital crack". In the process of completing it, I played past 3am, to the point where I could barely focus my eyes. Genre-combining games often fail because one part of the game is neglected or simply more poorly executed than the rest, but in this case, the game away from actual combat is lovingly crafted. There's depth to the RPG elements (the different classes play very differently for one thing) and the writing stops the storyline descending to high camp melodrama through the injection of some good humourous touches such as Khalkus, a dwarf who just won't shut up and Drong, a troll with an insatiable appetite. This article on Gamasutra puts forward a theory on why the RPG genre was the perfect fit for this sort of game design mash-up but Penny Arcade's take sums up many people's initial reactions to the game.
Shortly, we'll need to begin calling it by its full name, as the hex-based sci-fi themed sequel, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, is almost upon us - you can try a demo at their website.
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