link love 05-23-08

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Computer Space sells for $10,000
One of the top five cabinet designs of all time.

China’s MMOs go dark for three days of mourning.

I can’t wait to play Infinite Line. More here and here. Also, the new trailer for the unrelated Infinite Undiscovery.

In local news, tickets are now on sale for individual showings during Cinevegas. No I must see this films for me this year, but I’m sure the outdoor screening of Them will be a blast.

New additions to the regular readlist: Games Journalism or Bust!, Sexy Videogameland, & chewing pixels.

Xbox Live Arcade Potential Delist List

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So the big story today is the Next-Gen interview with XBLA manager Marc Whitten, where he states:

In addition to allowing these bigger and better games we will be delisting older underperforming titles in order to keep the service focused on a section of high quality games.

The way it will work is that the title will need to be at least 6 months old and have a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6% on the service.  This way titles are not just considered if they are not selling well or not getting good reviews, but actually a combination of both.  We will also give a three-month notice before delisting any title.  Overall I think you will find this will focus the catalogue more on larger, more immersive games and make it much easier to find the games you are looking for.

Out of curiosity, I decided to compile a list of these poor performers, to see what kind of sweep we could be looking at. Please keep in mind that this list is based only on metacritic scores. Conversion rate (the percentage of players who buy the full game after downloading the demo) will most definitely be one of the strongest factors in determining whether a game will be delisted from Xbox Live Arcade, and hard conversion numbers are very difficult to get ahold of. According to Microsoft, the average conversion rate one year ago was 18%, with a high of 51% and a low of 4%. While we don’t know how much the numbers have changed, I’m guessing that it’s only going to be the very bottom of the barrel that ends up affected. Don’t expect a mass cleansing of all the crap games from XBLA anytime soon.

With that said, here’s the list.
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Alan Smithee

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Alan Smithee is a pseudonym generally used by those who, for one reason or another (usually due to a loss of creative control), do not want their given name attached to a product. Originally a nom de plume devised by the Directors Guild of America, some of the notable Alan Smithees in film are the directors of the extended version of David Lynch’s Dune, Dennis Hopper’s Catchfire and the pilot episode of MacGyver.

While the name has fallen out of use within the US film industry, it has spread to other industries, although without the particular guidelines previously maintained by the DGA and MPAA.

…

Alan Smithee is credited in the following games:

Equinox (1993, Sony Imagesoft, SNES) – Director
Ghosts N Goblins (1999, Capcom, Gameboy Color) – Producer
Huggly Saves the Turtles (2000, Scholastic, PC) – Animator
The Weakest Link (2001, Activision UK, PS1/PS2) – Additional Production
Where’s the Blanket Charlie Brown? (2002, Tivola, PC) – Robot
NHL Hitz 20-03 (2002, Midway, Xbox) – ColorCommentator Voice
1914: The Great War (2002, JoWooD, PC) – Texts
Future Boy (2004, GCCFP, PC) – Cast (Cop)
Fight Club (2004, Vivendi, PS2/Xbox) – Online Multiplayer Development
Eternal Sonata (2007, Namco Bandai, 360) – Additional Voices (English)

Know of any others?

Finished: Eternal Sonata

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Eternal Sonata is a weird one, in some ways a very typical JRPG, but with a wonderful score and brilliant art direction. The gameplay was solidly okay: the combat system was entertaining, the lack of random battles a definite plus, but the dungeons weren’t particularly inspired (although beautiful), and without maps a couple of them would have been exercises in tedium.

One aspect of the game that has received relatively little mention is the co-op mode, a feature I’d love to see become an RPG standard. While the primary player still dictates the flow of encounters, movement within the overworld, and equipment setup, there is an option to hand control of any of the three primary party members over to a second (or third) controller during combat. The additional player then controls every aspect of that character (including their part during Harmony Chains) whenever battle is entered. The system works well, and is a nice bonus for those of you that game with friends or a significant other beside you. Aside from Super Mario Galaxy, this is the first game I’ve seen with an asymmetrical co-op mode. It’s a welcome innovation, and I hope to see more.

Eternal Sonata also had what was probably the preachiest ending ever, taking both the story and player in unexpected directions. Still, solid nonetheless, and I do suggest staying through the credits for the kōan-filled short, The Shape of Life. Or just watch it on Youtube.

Final Grade: B