I enjoyed completing Star Wars: Force Unleashed for the PSP this week. It was quite a treat! Having said that, I wouldn’t consider it a game for the young ones.

I remember my parents previewing the original Star Wars (known now as “Episode IV: A New Hope”) back in the summer of 1977 to see if they thought that it would be appropriate fare for my brother (9) and me (11). Ironically, we were at home hiding under the covers because we had been watching the 1953 War of the Worlds. (Man, those aliens were creepy!) As it is, the PG rating seems overprotective for what most see these days. Yet, my parents wanted to be sure.

Fast-forward 31 years and we are looking at a videogame that has gotten a unique George Lucas seal of approval. This title is the official bridge between Episode III and Episode IV. Granted, depending on your choice at the final battle, you can experience either the canon or non-canon ending. But my real question as I was playing it was, “What would my parents have thought?” Honestly, this title is much darker than any of the original trilogy. Episode IV-VI feel much more innocent as they tell the story of Luke Skywalker. Whereas the newer trilogy (especially Episode II-III) have a much more sinister quality in that they document the tragic fall of his father Anakin.

But Force Unleashed tells the story of a boy who Darth Vader turns to the dark side of the Force after killing his father. Even the premise begins darker. As you play this character, you are responsible for slaying Jedi Knights and, in one level, you are expected to kill virtually everyone with whom you come in contact (enemies and allies alike) to eliminate surviving witnesses. Now don’t get me wrong - I really enjoyed the game. However, it is not the story that my parents would have taken my brother and me to see back in the Summer of 1977.

I have had a chance to play the demo for the PlayStation 3 and it is gorgeous. The PSP version is very impressive considering the capabilities of the handheld in comparison. I’ve seen the Xbox 360 version and it appears to be every bit as beautiful as the PS3 version and the Nintendo DS iteration seems to be on par with the PSP. I hear that the Wii takes advantage of the Wiimote for lightsaber control (how cool is that?!?!). I have never played a Star Wars game in which I felt more like a Jedi (or a Sith) than in this title. Sure, the camera can get a little squirrelly and the targeting is less than perfect. However, the immersive experience and the sense of awe that you will have at the power of the dark side is downright intoxicating.

Yet, I must say that the ESRB Teen rating for this is appropriate. This rating expects the player to be at least 13 years of age and considering the lack of respect for human life and the protagonist’s questionable ethical foundation, I would not necessarily want this anti-hero to be a role model for a young child. His actions could be perceived as too exhilarating when, in fact, they are driven by evil and manipulative purposes.

In classic Lucas form, the opportunity for redemption becomes available in the end. However, by that point, I question whether or not the player can be redeemed. I know that after 15 or so hours of playing this character and using the Force Choke and the Force Lightning (both non-Jedi Force powers), I don’t know to what extent I would want to cease using the power of the Force as an offensive tool.

All in all, it’s an excellent story that reveals some interesting information about the time that passes between the two trilogies. I would not recommend it for the younger children. But for the teens and older in your household, it is quite a ride. I also believe that this could provide an excellent discussion tool for ethical decisions for those middle schoolers and high schoolers in your family.

May the Force be with you.

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This weekend we celebrated my son’s fifth birthday and he and I spent some father-son bonding time with Mario Kart: Double Dash. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, this is a Gamecube title that has been available for a few years. If you have a Wii and you’ve been having trouble tracking down Mario Kart Wii, this could give you a great option for half the price!

Having said that, it plays beautifully on the Wii as well as the original Gamecube and, like many of the Gamecube games, it is capable of displaying at 480p if you have your console connected to an HD television via component cables. Honestly, it looks beautiful and the control is spot on. Yet, what makes this title a real family winner is the two-player options.

My son’s first exposure to this title was at a kiosk while we were at a local GameStop. As with most Mario games, he was drawn to the colorful graphics and humorous sound effects. However, as much as he seemed to enjoy the visuals, he wasn’t quite understanding the racing mechanic itself and when he finally crossed the finish line in eighth place, he seemed discouraged to see that his characters looked sad.

Rather than race head-to-head with him, I chose the 2-player option that allows him to control the second character on my kart. We were able to race as a team against the other characters and while I controlled the vehicle itself, he was in charge of the power-ups. This meant that when we’d pick up a speed boost, he’d ask me when it would help and then press the button. And when we’d pick up a banana peel or other trap/attack device, we’d coordinate on where to use it.

I found this experience far more enjoyable than playing the game against him and I felt that it instilled a sense of cooperation within him while providing a sense of accomplishment when we won the tournament.

Keep in mind that you can play up to four players with this title (4-player split screen or two 2-player teams) on a single machine and it has support for network play using the broadband adapter on the Gamecube. This has some great potential for a family or a small group of kids playing together. I don’t have a problem with competition, but in this case, we enjoyed cooperation and competition together.

I heartily recommend it and as an adult I can say that it’s as much fun for me as it is for my son!

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The Onion has a great article about the increasing influence the Wii is having on violence involving young children.

“According to the American Psychological Association, prolonged exposure to cutesy video-game violence can increase aggressive frolicking and angry fluttering in children. Paula Greer, co-chair of the APA Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media, warned that Wii games reward players for explosive girly behavior rather than enforcing proper negative social consequences.”

This is really grave news. And to think that we all thought the Wii was such an innocent console…

The onion is (and has always been) a satirical news site.  It’s adult in nature and often pun-ishling crude.  Ye have been warn’d. 

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It’s cold and snowy outside here at Game Apparent HQ so I’m catching up on some news I’ve missed.

Slashdot links to an article on the MTV Multiplayer blog asking the question “When Are Kids Old Enought to Play Videogames?” Both the original article and the Slashdot comments are well worth a read. I have to agree with some of the comments regarding the ‘right age’. It all depends on the child and the parent. If the child is developed enough to handle the game, then it’s the right time. But that’s not all of it. The parents also need to be aware of what their children are playing and be involved. There is no magical answer or prefect solution. Even some well respected anaylists and researchers may be off in certian situations.

Personally I’m involving Kari (My 2 year old daughter) in gaming at a very distant level. I don’t play videogames when she is awake, but she does know what the Xbox is and loves to watch the ‘people’ march across the Mii Channel.  My wife and I agreed that we’re going to try to shoot for some time around 7 before we allow her to take over the 1P controller.  What do you think?  How young were you when you started playing games?

Cute image provided via a CC license by Brooklyn’s Flickr page. 

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We mentioned some of our top game suggestions for this year in our last VodCast. We promised that we would follow-up with a longer list for each system to cover a wider range of games. This is the collection of those lists. Not all of these games are brand new, but almost all were released within the year. Please note the ESRB ratings for these games when you’re deciding what would be best for your family and feel free to comment below or chime in on the forums if you have questions about these titles. We’ll gladly get into more detail. (Chris can testify that I would easily talk anyone’s ear off about practically any of them. You should see how much editing he has to do on our videos. Once I get going…um…there I go again.)

Before I get sidetracked again, we present our lists. They are in ESRB rating order (lowest to highest) per system and alphabetical within the rating group. Enjoy!

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In our last article, Chris brought up the concept of licensed games and how they make their way onto our children’s wish lists. It is important to understand the politics of making a game that has a television or, especially, a movie tie-in. The rule of thumb is that these games are rarely great games. There are exceptions, but they are infrequent. The fact is that nothing can be more frustrating for a family during the holidays than to get a highly anticipated game as a gift only to realize that it isn’t fun at all. Well, one thing is more frustrating…being the parent who paid $50-$60 for that game and realizing that it was wasted money.

Licensed games are titles that are created to extend the experience which began with the film upon which the game is based. The thought is that if you really loved the movie, you’d like to take on the role of the hero and experience it yourself. The concept makes sense and to the massive entertainment industry, it gives them yet another opportunity to market something based on a successful franchise to its target audience at the height of its popularity. This last part of the equation is crucial. I will reiterate that it should be timed for release at the height of the franchise’s popularity.

This means that as teenagers were leaving the theatre after seeing Spider-man in the spring/summer of 2002, it was important to have a playable game available in the stores that they could buy while the experience of the film was still fresh. With this in mind, the game was released two weeks before the movie and was available accordingly. In the case of the Spider-man games that tied to the movies, they haven’t been bad. (Although the current Spider-man 3 for the PS2 and Wii isn’t highly recommended. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are better.)

The challenge is that to have a game available for the optimum sales window, it must be completed, packaged, and in the stores when the movie is released. This is a firm deadline and cannot be pushed back. There are many developers who estimate game releases and then push them back when they realized that they have unforeseen challenges. GTA 4 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 was delayed from Fall 2007 to a Spring 2008 release. A number of developers (and most gamers I know) would prefer that a game get delayed in order to provide the developers the time needed to fully realize the experience. Sure, we all would prefer to get things sooner, but how many people would rather have pancake batter poured onto their plates at a restaurant instead of waiting until the pancake is finished?

In the case of a firm deadline, game companies have to ship the game in the state it’s in. Since this deadline is understood early on, sacrifices are made during development in order to stay on schedule. There are three aspects to any project (not just games):
1) Time
2) Resources (i.e., money, staff, facilities)
3) Quality
If one of these is firm, then adjusting to handle unforseen challenges falls upon the other two. In the case of a licensed title, you can’t change the deadline so you either have to put more money into the development or you sacrifice the quality of the production.

One of the first (and most notorious examples) of a poor franchise videogame was the original E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600. In Howard Scott Warshaw’s (the game’s programmer) defense, he only had 5 weeks to make the game and he told me in a conversation that I had with him a few years back that two of those weeks were spent on coding the title screen alone. He had a firm deadline and no one else in the company wanted to work on a doomed project so his resources were limited. What happened? Quality was sacrificed.

This was only the first of hundreds of licensed games that have not met the expectations of the game-playing public. This is not to say that all movie-based games are bad. Two of the three Lord of the Rings games (all rated “T” for teen) for the last generation consoles (Gamecube, PS2, & Xbox) were excellent. The Two Towers and The Return of the King had co-op play that allow you and your kid to share in the experience. As for The Fellowship of the Ring, you’re better off watching the movie again or, better yet, just pull out the book and read it with your family!

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