Another casual game that is set to keep you playing all night long – well at least it kept me up all weekend! Actually, Airport Mania has not yet been officially released. Created by Reflexive Media, the official release date is sometime in April. Lucky for me and you – and the host of casual game enthusiasts out there – there is a Beta version circulating around the Internet. I was fortunate to run across one and have been playing it this weekend.

So what’s so great about Airport Mania? Much like all other dash games, it requires coordination, time management, and strategy. The idea is to manage different airports by landing planes, unloading and loading them, and then making them take off again. In between, you might have to repair planes and refuel them as well. You can repaint planes in order to get higher matching color bonuses for the gates. There are also numerous upgrades which you can buy.

For the Beta version, there is a glitch which will not allow you to pass the second level of the second stage. I had to search for a workaround – it turns out that you have to merely pass the goal (the minimum requirement) and don’t earn any more points. If you do, and you reach the expert goal, the game will simply loop and not progress. Was I glad to have found that workaround! However, I was not able to get past the 6th stage (there are 8 in all). I have not found any solution as most people are saying that since it is a Beta release, maybe it really does not go past that stage. Oh well, for a Beta, 6 stages are good. I just have to wait for the full release.

As you’ve probably surmised, I have been shopping this weekend. Together with the copy of Skate, which I reviewed in the previous post, I also got a copy of Dynasty Warriors 6 for PS3 – a game which I have been waiting for for quite some time now. It came out a month ago but I have not been able to get it till this weekend. So what’s the dish?

The graphics are awesome – but I already expected that. The attention to detail and the effects will just blow your mind as you play the game! My problem is that my TV does not seem to be good enough for my PS3 games!!! I have a pretty nice Sony TV which performs very well for most anything but when it comes to PS3 games, it just doesn’t have enough resolution. For Dynasty Warriors, especially, I can barely see the map and it makes for harder gameplay.

What happens is that I usually end up just running around not knowing where I am and where I am supposed to go. I didn’t realize the importance of the map until now. It still is fun just going around whacking crowds of enemy soldiers but when I lose the level because I do not know my whereabouts and where to go, it really irks me. Maybe it’s time to get a new TV? A 1080p one, perhaps?

Anyhow, there are some changes – naturally – with Dynasty Warriors 6 like during the preparation you can choose a weapon but you don’t have your choice of officers – maybe it’s just like that in the beginning. I haven’t really made much headway because of the TV issue. In any case, it still is a game worth buying for yourself.

I have been playing Skate since I was able to download its demo from the PlayStation Home. To be honest, I never really was interested in buying the game. For one, I am no skateboarder in real life. I think that if I even dared to try it I would be the laughingstock of the most average of skateboarders out there. Yet when I tried the demo, I found myself unable to stop playing it. Ever since I started playing the demo, I knew that would buy the game and finally, this weekend, I bought my own full copy.

What can I say now? It has not failed my expectations. Perhaps one of the best things I like about Skate is the fact that you can merely roam the streets and the areas of the map. You don’t even really have to take on challenges – you only have to go around and do your tricks. The open environment is something that I really appreciate. More so, some of the tricks are not that easy to master. You need to learn how to flick the analog sticks and you get a sense of achievement when you get to master a trick. It gives you pleasure – as Joe B says in his blog, you are not merely “mashing buttons” to get the tricks done.

I am really excited about trying out the online venue but unfortunately, my Internet connection does not seem to be cooperating. I have had the game for a day or so only so I am sure that I will be able to figure this out soon enough. If I were you, I’d buy your own copy now.

We’ve all heard about how violent video games can bring harm to people who play them, especially the young people. More often than not, hardcore gamers get sick of these studies and proclamations of violence making players immune. That is why when I read this blog post on a study looking at the other side of the coin, I was pleasantly surprised. I was even more surprised that I haven’t heard more of this study, conducted by Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, which was actually started in 2004.

So what are the findings of the study? Dr. Olson states in an interview:

Many children in our survey, as well as our focus groups with boys who play violent games, said they played games to manage their feelings. This included playing games to “help get my anger out,” to forget problems, to relax, and to feel less lonely. Children who played at least one M-rated video game “a lot in the past six months” were significantly more likely to agree that getting anger out was one reason they played video games.

The bottom line is that adolescents who play video games are better able to manage their feelings – anger in particular. This is due to the fact that they are able to vent out violent emotions through video games. Another thing that I liked about the study is how they approached the issue – not using the premise that violent games cause aggressive behaviors. Instead, they focused on something more concrete – the reason behind adolescents playing these games.

Build-A-Lot has been around for quite some time. I think saw it first on Big Fish Games several months ago but it didn’t really appeal to me at that time. For one, real estate has never been that attractive to me. When a friend told me how much fun she had playing with it though, I thought I’d give it a try.

So what is Build-A-Lot all about? It has two game modes – career and free play. I only played the career mode, wherein you play the role of a contractor. Mayors of different towns – each one corresponding to a level of the game – hire you to build up their towns. In each town, you have various sub-levels. For each one, you will be given specific tasks. There are different housing and building types, each of which you have to draft the blueprint first before you can build it. You also need to buy materials to build the houses and buildings. Workers are integral to the game as you need a certain number to build, repair, or upgrade each house or building.

The interface is quite easy an intuitive – as many casual games are. I really like how the game throws challenges at you in mid-game. Sometimes, just when you think you’re done with your goals, you will receive new tasks. Overall, Build-A-Lot is one of the best casual games I have ever played. It is easy enough to play but never boring or TOO easy. If you haven’t tried this yet, I suggest that you give it a chance – before you know it, you’ll be staying up all night to finish it.

I have never played a video game while drunk – well, as far as I can remember. I ran across this funny post detailing the top 5 games you are better at when you’re drunk. I guess the effects of St. Patrick’s Day drinking had not worn off yet when Jenn Frank wrote this post. It’s an amusing read – here’s the list:

What do you think? Want to try one of these out after a night of drinking?

In the last post, we saw the definition of casual games as given by Wikipedia. If you noticed, I mentioned looking more into the line that said that older women tend to play casual games more than any other group of people. Is there any truth to this? I did two things to determine for myself whether the statement is accurate or not.

First, I looked around the web to find out what other people thought of casual gaming and whether or not the main players are really “older women.” What did I find? According to the charts presented at an SXSW presentation (courtesy of Joystiq):

Ok, I can’t argue with numbers. The question is, just how accurate are those numbers? The second I did was to conduct my own little survey. I asked around – who plays casual games? What I found out is that indeed, a lot of women (age does not matter) play casual games. However, this does not mean that men do not like them just as much. I have a friend who is a PS3 fanboy but waits on the newest casual games as well. Another thing is that office workers seem to fall for casual games more – they tend to play while at work! (No passing of judgment here.)

So, who plays casual games? Just about everyone I know who likes video games. So let’s do away with the stereotypes, shall we?

Whoever thought that there would come a day when we would differentiate video games as being casual and serious? I have always loved video games and only lately have I realized these categories. So what is casual gaming? According to Wikipedia, a casual game is:

(Let’s talk more about that last sentence sometime in the future.) Anyway, so casual games are those games you’d find online like on Yahoo Games, Bigfishgames, Gamefools, and other similar sites. They’re pretty easy to play – you can finish a game in a day if you play a lot. They are fun and relatively cheap, especially compared to console games.

I, for one, am a big fan of casual games. They are a great way to kill time. Hardcore gamers out there, don’t be so quick to down them. Trust me, if you find yourself having fun at at least one casual game, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.

The answer would depend on who you are asking. Well, according to some game developers, they do. I ran across an article talking about this topic and I thought I’d share excerpts with you:

For years I’ve heard from gamers and game developers who relish the stories in “Final Fantasy” games or in the adventures made by Canadian developer BioWare. But at the Game Developers Conference last month, I heard something else. I heard game developers grump about the state of storytelling in video games.

I heard Dave Jones, president of development studio Real Time Worlds and one of the original architects of the “Grand Theft Auto” series, telling an audience: “I like to leave story to books and movies.”

I met with Denis Dyack, the ever-outspoken president of Silicon Knights to talk about the ambitious and heavily story-driven action game “Too Human,” which his company will be releasing on the Xbox 360 this year. And he trashed game stories too. He said the current quality of game stories is “just not acceptable.”

Here’s what he told GameFile (it’s classic Dyack, the kind of commentary that has won him legions of fans and detractors): “I think stories like [the ones in the books] ‘Hyperion’ or ‘Altered Carbon’ or very serious science fiction — we need to get stories to that level in the video game industry. … Bubblegum stories are OK, but there’s no reason we can’t aspire to do more for those who want to do more. Certainly there’s room for everything. If ‘Too Human’ can say anything, it’s that it can be done, and we should at least attempt to try.”

Author Stephen Totilo ends:

So what was the greatest story a video game ever told? A “GTA” game? “Mass Effect”? “Planescape: Torment”? Was the greatest gaming story ever told even a great one? Or should developers not bother trying to tell a great one? At GDC, the answer wasn’t clear. But the restlessness was evident. Games don’t tell great stories yet, the game makers told me, and maybe they never will.

Sad but true.

As if Cory Barlog’s leaving was not enough, we heard the news of Phil Harrison’s leave taking last week. Sony seems to be losing a lot of its talents, doesn’t it? Phil Harrison used to be the head of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios and his leaving the company is a serious blow – there is no doubt about that. As of February 29, he no longer serves as the president. But wait – there’s more!

On the 3rd of this month (just a couple of days ago), the gaming world went gaga over another bit of news. Not only did Phil Harrison leave Sony but he has joined forces with another big name in the gaming industry! Read this excerpt from a press release:

Infogrames Entertainment announces today the appointment of Phil Harrison as President and Directeur Général Délégué of Infogrames Entertainment, reporting to David Gardner. Phil Harrison also joins the Board of Directors.

What is Infogrames? It’s just the group which owns Atari. Who can forget this brand which so big in the 80s? They could definitely use an infusion of talent and creativity as the brand has suffered immensely over the years. Who knows, maybe Phil Harrison is what they need at this point. As for Sony, it is definitely a great loss – and may insult has even been added to injury here as their president has left for a competitor. As the French say, c’est la vie! I am sure Sony will continue to give us what we want – or die trying.

Tags: Atari, Infogrames, Phil Harrison, sony