Another day of GDC done, another day of not playing much games. But I did play Capcom's upcoming four-player co-op "Monster Hunter Freedom Unite" on the PSP with three other players seated at a table with me in an art gallery.
One of those players was... a woman.
I am not shocked by playing a game with a member of the opposite sex. I play "PixelJunk Monsters" with my wife co-op at least once a week. But I am amused by the dynamic at a session like the one I had yesterday. There's the requisite comment from her to one of the guys that "I have played games before." Sadly, her press badge hadn't sufficiently implied that. There's the obvious flirtation when she's joking about what she's doing in the game and one of the other guys is finding her jokes to be just too funny. There's the -- a guy would never get away with this -- element of her pausing our four-player monster-slaying mission because she just had to get another piece of sushi from the buffet 20 feet away from us. There's the after-session small talk, while I'm walking away, when one of the guys assures her "You were pretty good."
In moments like these I'm reminded that to be a male gamer is to be invisible. To be a female gamer? It often seems to be the opposite.
Here at GDC in San Francisco, I'm not playing many games. I'm too busy talking to game developers and eating free food. But I brought a lot of games: a fistful of DS cartridges in a Ziploc bag. These were for airplane gaming, although I didn't do much of that when I flew in. What's distinct about handheld games is that I sometimes think I've lost them. I'm always confident where my console games are. They're on my shelf at home or on my desk at work. But my portable games are easy to lose. Yesterday morning I found my DS in my bag but couldn't find the Ziploc. I discovered late in the evening that the bag was in my hotel room. But for several hours, I had envisioned my "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" cartridge, carrying my 13 hours of progress, sitting in a gutter. I imagined a stranger fiddling with my copy of "Zubo." I resigned myself to never playing "Avalon Code." Scary, scary thoughts.
It's not like I played a lot of games yesterday here at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. But, hey it doesn't matter! Because I've woken up to the annoying fact that the big story that was embargoed until tonight was broken this morning. It's only a story that could change gaming forever. Sigh. Guess I should get started. Look for my detailed and skeptical interview with the co-founder of OnLive, posting in the next hour.
Today's entry was written on a plane while I sat in a very big chair. Read more...
I haven't touched a home console since I finished "Resident Evil 5," last Friday. Meanwhile, new handheld games are piling up, including the new "Suikoden," which I need to investivate, given my unexpected love for the last entry in that series. "Rhythm Heaven" is in that stack, as is the new "Pokemon," which I don't have the time to get lost in -- plus, is it really a wise idea to try to play "Pokemon" when no one else you know nearby is? The online trading options are a poor substitute for having a friend around, and solo-ing the game isn't what it's made for. Correct?
According to the Rockstar Social Club website yesterday, I have become the 34th person on the planet to find the two Lions of Fo in "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars." This might be the first time I've been the 34th person to achieve anything in a video game. Is this what it feels like to have the thrill of a "first" comment? Or to be near the top of a leaderboard? Thankfully, this achievement was aided by me getting the game early, speeding my journey to finding these two hidden objects. But you can't take this away from me...
I would not look up too many times. I had a game to play on the subway last night. It was "Resistance Retribution." So the guy in the green suit across from me? The one with the shamrock on his face who was holding one of his dress shoes in his hands and examining it like it was a crystal skull? I ignored him ... just as I did all the people in Times Square stumbling over each other, jumping into other tourists' photos, yelling. On St. Patrick's Day in the city, the most important thing to do is watch where you step on the sidewalk lest you ruin your shoes. Keep your head down. And go play some games.
It started for me back in late August, when "Too Human" came out and I just had to play through it. Soon, there was "Spore" and "Star Wars," "Batman" and "Spider-Man." From "Wario" to "Wii Music," from "Fable 2" to "Fallout 3" there were lots of games to play. January gave a false indication that the season was done, but "Killzone 2" and a pair of "Grand Theft Auto"s in February and March suggested otherwise. I'm still behind, but I think it will be quiet now. For a while. April looks really calm. May, too. It might even be safe to go outside.
Next: I'm back to "Resistance Retribution" for my subway commute, marvelling at how space-age a new PSP game looks to eyes that have been viewing a DS game for over 10 hours in the past three days.
For the first time in 21 months of marriage, my wife spent more time playing a game on one of my home consoles this weekend than I did. She, an infrequent gamer, spent two sessions playing "PixelJunk Monsters" on the PS3. I, developing a headache and risking my hands falling asleep, spent almost eight hours across Saturday and Sunday playing a major upcoming Nintendo DS title. I didn't touch a console since Friday. It was an odd weekend, but a good one.
One man saved my Thursday from failure. Read more...
