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http://darthhater.com/2009/11/08/secret-imperial-agent-man/

One is in the area of popular culture, so if you’re struggling to get started on your work or school week, well – it could be worse. You could be an adolescent going through their “awkward” period in a complicated world of vampires and werewolves.

Or you could be going through it with this:

Well, the exception to the rule is when dark characterization finds a home in what you normally would consider light-hearted and innocent – a goal that the developers behind the Disney game reboot Epic Mickey plan to achieve.

For those living under a video game rock lately, Epic Mickey is a “return to the roots” for the titular character in a story that exudes a seriousness and dark flavor to the Disney world not seen since its early days. Game Informer has a really neato webpage covering the title, though the November issue has tons of detail within that you should definitely check out. In summary, Junction Point and Warren Spector plan to put Mickey back into the skin of the character created for him back before he got big, a mischevious, sometimes-not-so-sweet troublemaker whose inadvertent tampering causes a world of hurt. Combine that with some adversaries with a chip on their shoulder for Mickey’s success and you have an interesting recipe for an old favorite.

While this being a Wii-exclusive might seem to some to be a not ideal prospect I can say that the platform does lend itself to the actions that Mickey will be taking as he travels through a world very much an evil mirror of his own. Mickey’s main weaponry will consist of a paintbrush which he will use to erase, color, and create things to proceed. For the Wii, this is a good thing, because the marriage of a tradtionally innocent character with darker, more serious overtones may go a ways towards reminding players that a “waggle” console can house deeper gameplay and story.

But console wars aside, this is a great thing for the Mickey Mouse character. Not only will we see him in a role that is not one that he is used to, but we’ll also be treated to a story that we haven’t really seen since Kingdom Hearts showed up. This time, however, Mickey doesn’t need a crossover – he can stand on his own, and he plans on doing it in some cases by any means necessary. I can’t really hide a bit of curiosity and excitement, and look forward to what Epic Mickey will bring to the gaming world.

In the sea of videos it might not be apparent which ones stand out, but I can say that the offerings from Destructoid are always cheeky, intelligent, and most of all, funny. One sample is Jim Sterling’s “The Videogame Show What I’ve Done” which takes a peek at selected games and pokes at them a little bit while reviewing them. The unabashed style and obvious tendency not to take himself seriously is part of Jim Sterling’s appeal, and he tends to verbalize the things we’re all thinking about certain games – such as this offering about DJ Hero:

Entertainment at its best. I hope to see more videos in the future.

While there was some initial cloudiness regarding Bioware’s philosophy on balancing two sides, now that most of the careers have been shown we’re starting to see a bit more of that come to light. The picture that I’m seeing so far, honestly, is uplifting to me as a player. Here’s some of the key points:

• Two sides of the same coin – While it seems that Bioware is not taking a stance where they are creating the exact same abilities for both Empire and Republic, they do seem to be taking a mirrored approach. This reflects the overall lore of the Star Wars universe in the “good vs. evil” sense. For example, the Smuggler and recently revealed Agent are both covert and stealthy in different ways, they will be using cunning rather than brute strength, and they’ll be reliant on the element of surprise. The Bounty Hunter and Trooper are both resourceful warriors with a variety of tools at their disposal and are both frontline fighters. The Jedi and Sith are painfully obvious. All of this points to a “similar but different” idea that Bioware has been known to refine with their previous titles.

• Non-Archetypal – The KOTOR games had loosely based archetypes around which you would customize your character with skill upgrades and stat point distribution. This appears to be making the transition to TOR , because as much discussion has been had about which class is the “tank” and which is the “dps”, none of those archetypes appear obvious in the classes themselves. Instead Bioware appears to be concentrating on making each individual class provide its own flavor to the universe, and with exclusive skills based on the moral choice system, another layer is added that combats the whole “role pigeonholing” we’ve seen in MMOs.

• Iconic and Epic - While it’s true that gameplay and mechanics make a class work, there is something to be said about how Bioware is treating these careers. They’re not just general roles in a Star Wars world, but heroes as well. They’re based upon well-known Star Wars universe characters (or ones easily referenced, as in the case with the Imperial Agent) and they are meant to evoke a sense of being that character when you are playing them. It might seem like fluff to some, but to Bioware, they consider it an essential lynchpin to playing the class, something which falls in line with their promotion of TOR as one that uses story.

While I’m sure some people are feeling a bit fearful that Bioware isn’t traveling a path that is well-trodden when it comes to their careers, I’m personally feeling excited for the potential class dynamic that will be occurring as a result of these philosophies. I’m a traditional support class player, but with two classes left I can’t help but wonder if Bioware is going to force me out of my healing shell and make all the careers healing self-sufficient, meaning I’ll be making my choices based on what feels right to play rather than what is practical. I can’t say that’s a bad thing, and I’m looking forward to what Bioware will be doing in the future to flesh out their chosen careers.

Whenever new tech comes out, especially in the highly competitive and saturated cellphone market, there’s always a propensity to be a bit cynical. After all, there are a ton of powerhouses out there and very few huge successes or splashes, in part due to the dominance of AT&T’s iPhone market. But the DROID is, I think, the real deal, for a variety of reasons.

Before I get into those, a mini Verizon DROID review, for those looking for some DROID impressions. I was able to handle a Motorola DROID today, and I do have to say, the presentation is pretty impressive. A cool loading screen with the DROID red eye, smooth transition from sideways to veritcal, a real interesting slide wheel for navigating options, and a virtual potpourri of common applications, from Facebook to documents to Gmail. We used the turn by turn navigation and voice-activated location stuff on the way home, and both worked seamlessly and perfectly. Gotta love real time navigation/travel that you only normally see on Tomtoms or Garmins.

Mini-review aside, I really do think that Verizon’s DROID is here to stay, and will become a major player in the industry to threaten the iPhone, Blackberry, and any other offerings. The legitimacy of the the Verizon DROID has yet to be established from a time and operations standpoint, but several key points justify the hype:

• A Direct and Viral Ad Campaign – Most viral ad campaigns rely on buzz and visuals, and Verizon is no different here. But this is also tempered by the direct facts with which they go on the offensive. The DROID primarily takes aim at the iPhone’s weaknesses, including multimedia messaging, open development of apps, and interchangeable batteries, and these factual elements help create the DROID as more than just a hype machine.
• An Epic Alliance – MMO players will know – when you put together an alliance of some of the most powerful guilds on a server, that’s something to be noted. DROID brings together Verizon, Google, Motorola, and even Lucasarts in a bid to dethrone Apple and AT&T. The collective resources of these companies is insane, almost fearsome, so you wonder what will be thrown behind the DROID campaign to make it more attractive to customers.
• The Geek Buzz – Waiting in line to get the DROID was a trip – while the lines were short for first adopters like me, there were still a significant amount of people waiting to either take advantage of upgrades, pay the premium to get their hands on a DROID, or best of all, defect from other carriers to pick one up. Online sales and third-party sellers like Best Buy contribute to modest lineups, but more than that, the DROID is more of a geek phone than a “chic” phone. Passionate geekery, which tends to embrace and torch new tech with equal fervor, has been fairly kind to the DROID so far. The coming weeks should prove interesting.

Now, don’t get me wrong – there’s people not hot over the DROID, but in the end, it depends on who you are. I value call signal strength, application dev, and practical usage, so my camp is set clearly with the DROID. Others may disagree, but one thing is certain – the DROID is here to stay, and its place in the industry will force the kind of competition we customers will ultimately benefit from.

I get why people facepalm over microtransaction stuff. The concerns range from folks with practical concerns such as Gordon to people who worry about the inroad into microtransaction is a smoking gun for more significant purchases (such as gear or levels). There’s also the whole side market of RMT, too, and how its influence has given developers pause about opening their own alternative services. Microtransactions is one of those things that affects both the present (as in WoW) and the possible future (as in SWTOR not having committed to a pricing model yet) of MMOs.

But I think that what people can and should realize is that right now, microtransactions as a whole aren’t a big deal. I don’t really mind microtransactions for the simple reason that they are a choice – an optional decision made by players to get something that isn’t essential to gameplay. Sure, the future of microtransactions might see players able to purchase a “fast forward” to their levels or to their gear, but again, such a decision would be a choice made by players, and not one they are forced into.

The reason why I believe this is what the outcome will be is because even though MMO developers might not seem like they have their pulse on the community feeling sometimes, they do have at least some idea of how their players feel. Right now, players feel that the idea of microtransactions are potentially something that could end up out of control, as more financially stable people are able to get a leg up on folks who live from paycheck to paycheck. Any MMO developer worth their salt is going to do things to minimize the impact of microtransactions, whether to make it so that purchasable items are not more powerful than getting things “the old fashioned way”, or allow players to be relevant no matter if they opened their wallet or not.

Honestly, even if a microtransaction-based major MMO came out without these balancing effects in place, the decision to subscribe to one is also a choice by players. While it may not seem like it, players vote with their wallets more often than not. While a microtransaction business model for MMOs might seem practically sound, ultimately if the players don’t like it, they won’t bother with it. Their voice is more powerful than you would think, and it’s that for that reason that microtransactions as a model ultimately don’t bother me in the slightest.

But after reading what Up Past Midnight’s Aiiane had to say the other day regarding living and dying by the subscriber number, I begun really thinking about how worthwhile a simple number is for an MMO to be considered a success. To a certain extent, the argument holds water, but I think it’s more from a practical standpoint. I say practical because it’s obvious that every MMO out there has to have subscribers to actually pull a profit and keep a game viable and relevant. I also mean practical in the definition of the idea that “Massively Multiplayer” needs the “Multiplayer”, too.

Within the communities I’ve shepharded, however, subscriber numbers are really only used as a secondary means of declaring a game a success. Even if you say “11 million players can’t be wrong”, ala World of Warcraft, there’s an easy counter-argument to be made in that millions of people go to McDonald’s, but yet would not consider that quality foodstuffs. No, the real reason WoW has garnered the success that it has is through gameplay elements, features, and a little dumb luck, not through some number crunched through active account subscriptions. Developers reserve subscriber numbers for press releases and general “state of the game” addresses. The real meat and potatoes comes from changes, patches, and gameplay.

I guess the message I’m trying to send is that both players and developers can stand to look at subscriber numbers for an MMO and say “that’s more of an effect, and not a  cart-before-horse smoking gun”. Players should feel good about a game if they are having fun playing it, regardless of how many others share the same experience or impressions. Developers should stop worrying about how many subscriptions they are predicting or hoping to acquire and concentrate on creating fun gameplay experiences. Both should be extra cautious about using subscription numbers as the clarion call for success or failure, because looking at it from a deeper level, the reasons for both stretch far beyond monthly active playerbase. When more folks learn how to do that, I think they’ll stop fretting over game experiences and have a little bit more of a good time.

Those of you who are clutching your cute little motion controllers close to you might seem to think that dark days are ahead for Nintendo, but that’s where I come in. I think the Wii is going to be around for a long time to come, and here’s why.

It looks good: Do you guys keep wondering why Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian keep getting shows and CD’s and all that good stuff? Let me tell you, kiddos, it isn’t because they provide intellectual discourse on a variety of meaningful topics. Admit it, folks – the Wii is just as hot-looking-but-you-feel-dirty-afterwards as ever, mostly because everyone knows about it and how “cute” it looks in your house. Sure, it ranks somewhere below your toaster for useful appliances, but that’s not the point. The Wii is your trophy-wife status symbol, your way to get hot people who wouldn’t normally play games back to your place, so you’d better feel good about having one.

Anyone can play it: Sure, the most epic feeling you might get from playing a Wii game is from using a disjointed Fisher-Price avatar to win dumbed-down sports games, but at least you won’t be looked at as a weirdo when doing it. The Wii’s gateway appeal means anyone can give it a whirl, and that honestly means that your gaming hobby will be looked at as a significantly worthwhile pasttime. This is tons better than having it seen as your strange and disturbing obsession with shooting things in the face with a shotgun. Go go social acceptance!

Cool new thingees: Ok, so maybe no one has any clue what the Wii Vitality Sensor will do other than create unfortunate potential lawsuits from electric malfunctions, but hey – who else is innovating like that? When you can design a remote that you can attach crazy things to, you can design anything. You guys might be laughing now, sure, but when Nintendo comes out with addon peripherals that allow you to monitor when you need to drink more beer, chastise you about your lack of doing laundry, and give you the ability to order pizza at the touch of a button, you’ll be sorry. Nintendo’s not done creating wild and crazy ways to play the same titles and characters over and over again, so you’d better get used to it!

See that? I’m always here to make you feel better, even if you do favor a console that is designed in a way that your grandparents can pwn you with. It’s all good.

Oh – that, and the liquid courage probably doesn’t hurt either.

Check this video from the Today show on Halloween. It was a very geeky Star Wars theme, but I’m betting Al Roker is regretting playing Han Solo and attracting the wrong kind of love and attention…