Like most everybody else here on Destructoid, I spend quite a bit of time thinking about video games. However, a good amount of that time is spent thinking specifically about how games can be powerful tools for education. And yet, despite their pervasiveness, few educators are capitalizing on the attention-holding capability of video games.

But that's a discussion for another time. For now, it got me thinking about what video games have taught me personally. Certainly, I've learned a lot of complex systems, I've gained a sense of rhythm, and I've even taken in a bit of history. But right now I'm interested in things that I'm pretty sure I can do, that video games have supposedly taught me, but that in reality, I probably can't.



Fire a weapon
I have never in my life shot anything more powerful than an airsoft pistol or a paintball gun. And yet, I am unreasonably confident that because of my experience with first person shooters (Modern Warfare, specifically), you could hand me a real firearm, and I would be able to load it, steady it, aim, and fire at a target with reasonable accuracy.

But when I think about it, there have got to be guns out there whose models I've never even seen, and even on the ones whose virtual representations I am intimately familiar, I don't even know where to find the safety, or anything else aside from the trigger.



Fly/land a plane
Remember back in 2006, when Snakes on a Plane came out, and Kenan Thompson's character attempted to land the plane having experience only with some made up PSP flight simulator? Everybody laughed and laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. But me? I was thinking, "That's not so far fetched."

Now, I have seen the dashboard of a small plane, and I know for a fact that I wouldn't be able to figure out what each and every dial, button, knob, and lever does. But a part of me (the part that played a ton of Crimson Skies, both Pilotwings games, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) wants to believe that if I were stuck in a life or death situation that had me navigating an aircraft through a canyon (or perhaps a series of gigantic inexplicably floating rings), I know enough about pitch, roll, and yaw to manage it.



Skydive
This is a unique entry on the list so far in that it is something I have actually done. (Ask my girlfriend about the time she got a text message saying, "I'm about to jump out of a plane. I'll call you later.") But it was just the one time, and as it was my first jump, I was strapped to the chest of a man who (hopefully) had hundreds of hours of training to get where he was.

Still, much like flying an aircraft, I feel like my HALO jump experience from Pilotwings and the Ratchet & Clank games have taught me enough to be able to freely perform my own stunts during freefall, and to reliably control my parachute-aided descent and landing. Heck, I'm pretty sure I could land on a standard skydive target, given a few tries to do so.



Survive the zombie apocalypse
Of all the entries on this list, this is probably the most unrealistic. Not because it's unrealistic that the zombie apocalypse will come in my lifetime (it's only a matter of time before they get out there), but because I've never been much of a dog-eat-dog survival-of-the-fittest kind of guy.

When push comes to shove though, I'd like to think that I possess the necessary knowledge to live through the apocalypse. Left 4 Dead has taught me not only about zombie physiology (dismemberment is key) and ammunition conservation (automatic weapons burn through rounds), but about teamwork, communication, and even leadership. It has even taught me enough about situational assessment and heroism to know when to risk it all to save a friend, and when to cut our losses and let him die for the good of everybody else. When the apocalypse comes, I'll be mentally prepared, I'm sure of it.



Sing
Lastly, something I was never good at growing up. Even today, my singing is typically described as "entertaining" or "comical," but never specifically "good."

The blame lies entirely on Rock Band. I've known for years that I'm a terrible vocalist. But Rock Band makes it very clear when I'm too sharp or too flat, and it even provides concrete overall feedback with which to compare my progress. Recently, I played through the entire Endless Setlist 2 on Expert Vocals. Could it be that I have actually gotten better? That I can actually sing now? Or is it just another of the things I'm pretty sure I can do because video games taught me, but in reality I probably still can't?

This will be a relatively short blog. It's mostly just a place where you can view the pictures we took.


MizzGothZ dressed as... I don't really know what.


Mid3vol drove up from San Diego, brought Knives and Rabite with her. She might have been dressed as Domo-kun, or she might have just been wearing a Domo-kun shirt.


Lv99ron showed up as Louis from Left 4 Dead. It works because he's black.


Knives came from Tijuana as Sim-Knives.


Travis (bleep) was Scuba Steve.


Forumkeeper Technophile came as a Hunter from Left 4 Dead.


My girlfriend Lib as employee of the month.


Zero Atma as a Heartless Bastard, and Jonathan Ross as a lazy bastard.


Naia-the-gamer as Daria Morgendorffer


Other Dave showed up as one of the Blues Brothers, and an inflatable slide orgy ensued.


Finally, Keener came all the way from the [b]east coast, dressed as his namesake. Chad Concelmo came as "guy who shows up late and brings the wrong games." Best costume ever?

There are a few other pictures, which you can see below in the gallery. If you're in the LA area and you missed out on this party, make sure you join our Google Group so you don't miss the next one!

As an application for a writing job elsewhere, I was tasked with playing some free-to-play, pay-for-premium-items games, and then writing up reviews on them. However, in a strange twist, (spurred by, I assume, the potential employer's desire not to spend hours and hours reading reviews) each review was limited to a hundred words.

As it turns out, writing a hundred-word review is tough! For instance, that opening paragraph is already over half the limit. Is it even possible to say everything that needs to be said in a game review in fewer than one hundred words? Read on to see how things turned out.

Pangya Delight
Pangya Delight is the free online version of the popular Japanese golf franchise that marries traditional golf video game timing gameplay with fantastic settings and RPG elements such as character progression, item creation, and guild functionality. It uses the relatively new free-to-play, pay-for-upgrades business model of games popularized by RPGs like Maple Story. As a golf game, it is only slightly more engaging than a more traditional game, where the bizarre courses and obstacles add a bit to the appeal. The most addictive element is definitely the character progression, and for completionists, Pangya Delight would provide hours of play.

Tales of Pirates
Tales of Pirates is a pretty standard MMORPG whose best thing going for it is its relatively unique setting. Rather than the usual knights and wizards, the characters are sailors and pirates. In practice, this doesn’t change much gameplay-wise. Players still click on enemies, watch attacking animations, and collect loot. Tales of Pirates does little to ease the new player into the game. Where other MMORPGs give clear goals, Tales of Pirates presents a very confusing, cluttered HUD, and doesn’t make the tutorial quests obvious. For an MMORPG fan, this game is okay, but for others, it’s not worth it.

Galaxy Online
Galaxy Online is an MMORTS that is simultaneously overly complicated and slow moving. Like the other IGG games, it lacks an intuitive tutorial system for new players, with difficult to find quests and unclear goals. Instructions are very text-heavy and are largely meaningless to anybody but experienced players. Luckily, the online community is relatively strong, and many existing players are willing to help. Regardless, one of the tutorial quests could not be completed, whether due to a bug or user error. The strategy gameplay moves more slowly than more mainstream RTSs, mostly due to the nature of its persistent world.

So as you can see, the answer is no. It's not possible to convey to the reader everything he needs to know about a game. I'll use this space as a bit of an addendum. If you are going to try any of these three games, definitely make it Pangya Delight, unless you are a hardcore MMO fan who is willing to wade through extremely user-unfriendly systems in order to get to the meat of either Tales of Pirates or Galaxy Online. But then, you can't go terribly wrong with any of them, given that they are free. Your only sacrifice for any of the three is download time and hard drive space.

As one final note, isn't it hilarious that apparently the only viable way to advertise your free-to-play online game is with scantily clad anime girls?

The Lost Symbol is the most recent text adventure by famous designer Dan Brown. It is his fifth published work, and the third chronicling the adventures of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

As a fan of Brown's text adventures, I was looking forward to finishing The Lost Symbol, and having recently beaten it, I can say that it was well worth the relatively cheap price of $18. But for a more in-depth review, read on.

First off, the more superficial aspects. The graphics certainly aren't anything special, but then, one doesn't expect much in this department from a text adventure. Similarly, the sound design is minimalistic, allowing the player to imagine gunshots and explosions, but still fitting the more tense, silent moments of the narrative.

Truly, the narrative is where this game shines. Without spoiling too much, it contains several unexpected twists, and it constantly keeps the player guessing. Additionally, it is divided into several very short "chapters" that encourage the player to go through "just one more" over and over again until he realizes that he has spent five hours with it at a time.

Of course, anyone familiar with Brown's earlier games could tell you that these elements are characteristic of his storytelling. What sets The Lost Symbol apart is a truly detestable main antagonist, and one of the most interesting uses of player death that excite this author to see how it can be expounded upon in the upcoming Quantic Dream title Heavy Rain.

Gameplay-wise, it is your standard text adventure fare. There is very heavy use of written narrative (it seemed like 500 pages!), some navigation of dialogue trees, and light puzzle solving.

The puzzles, while few and far between, were diabolically difficult, more so than can be found in either Professor Layton game, but thankfully, there is a very forgiving hint system built into The Lost Symbol. If the player cannot deduce the solution to a puzzle in a short period of time, one of the supporting cast members will offer hints, or Langdon will muse to himself in order to steer the player in the right direction. If the player is still stuck, more menu navigation will reveal the correct solution. It is a pretty ingenious system where the player determines how quickly he receives hints and solutions, but through organically going through the narrative rather than hitting a button asking for help.

With that said, the game suffers from simultaneously being too easy and too difficult at the same time. Most of the puzzles seem impossible to solve without at least some help, but they can all be solved for the player if he chooses to bypass them. Couple that with a tense, yet completely uninteractive final boss encounter, and this games seems very hard to rate. On that note, I will say that its narrative is its strong point, and in that regard, it deserves a four out of five stars.

If you are a fan of Brown's previous text adventures, or the movies made from Langdon's other journeys, then I can recommend The Lost Symbol. However, if you require interactivity or constant sensory input, you may be better off playing something else.

As originally posted on The Scholarly Gamer.

As a game that is about killing as many things in as little time as possible, Prototype doesn’t immediately appear to be particularly good fodder for philosophical debate or in-depth analysis. However, underneath the visceral gameplay lies a mostly forgettable story about an amnesiac trying to figure out what happened to him, but within this story lies a major twist that deserves attention. Though, the attention should not be paid for its brilliance or originality, but for bringing up an interesting question: what gives a person his or her identity?

Suffice it to say that some major plot spoilers follow.

Alex Mercer wakes up in a morgue, with supernatural powers for which he has no explanation or recollection. He goes on a murderous journey for answers, and he eventually find them, to his dismay. He learns that as a researcher for a biomedical engineering firm, he stole a virus (the one currently ravaging Manhattan), was chased to Penn Station, and killed. The consciousness inhabiting Mercer’s body is explained to be the virus itself, as the man named Alex Mercer is dead.

Though the game’s script would have the player believe it is cut and dry, I think it is more complicated than that. I would argue that Alex Mercer lives.

A common discussion of self identity asks the question, “If Person A loses a leg and requires a prosthetic, is he still Person A?” Most agree that he is the same person he was before. The question can be further extended to replacement of all nonvital body parts, and through to the hypothetical implantation of a man’s brain into another person, an animal, a robot, or even an inanimate computer. Does this being retain the identity it once had? Does the self reside in the body, brain, mind, or elsewhere?

An example for discussion is the classic Romero zombie. It has become almost a cliché at this point, but as voiced in Shaun of the Dead, once she is zombified, the body Shaun is forced to destroy is “not [his] mother any more.” Zombies are creatures with the bodies of the former living, but most would agree that even the full body of a person without his mind can no longer be considered to be the same person.

Notice, I said “mind,” as a zombie still presumably contains the brain of the individual who used to reside in the body. Until it meets up with the business end of a shotgun, of course.

This brings us to the assumption that the mind exists within the brain, and perhaps as a function of the brain. With all of the proper neurons firing and synapses exchanges neurotransmitters, the human brain can produce unique thought, character, and personality. Is this what makes a person who he is?

And that brings us back to poor Alex Mercer (or to the virus inhabiting Mercer’s body). For the better part of Prototype, he believes he is Alex Mercer, although he has physiological abilities he didn’t have before. He identifies himself as Alex Mercer, he holds on to some memories of his past life (his sister Dana, for instance), and this consciousness lives in the body of Alex Mercer. It is difficult to believe that this person is anything but Alex Mercer.

If we consider the biology of it (realizing that it is science fiction, of course), the virus had to do a number of things to Mercer’s body after he was shot to death. It had to use the existing framework (bones, muscles, skin), and find a way to not only reanimate, but control the body’s muscles. It is possible that it built entirely new signaling pathways in order to tell the body what to do, or it is possible that the virus replicated enough and spread through his entire body, yet each individual virus shares a consciousness with the collective, but the most plausible action of the virus is that it inhabits the brain, and uses the existing neuronal connections to control the body.

If this is the case, then it is also likely responsible for the neurons firing that contain Mercer’s memories and his identity. Unlike in the case of the Romero zombie, his brain is present, but it is also still functioning. So either the virus has a collective conscious and each individual virus controls some aspect of Mercer’s body, or it essentially just gave Mercer a second chance at life, with his same brain, and more importantly his same mind, though in a biologically altered body. Considering the implausibility of the former case (simple chemical signaling between viruses in his eyes to his legs would just be too slow, especially considering the physical feats he pulls off), I would argue the latter. Prototype's writers would have you believe that Alex Mercer is not Alex Mercer, but I would posit that if somewhere in that freakish body exists the functioning mind of Alex Mercer, then he is in fact Alex Mercer.

What do you think?

I know, "top ten" lists are cheap, and especially if there are only ten things to choose from. That said, I am going to rank the ten showcased indie games according to how much I personally enjoyed them, and you're going to like it. Or not. Whichever.

If what I say about any of these intrigues you and you would like to know more, feel free to click the titles to be taken to the official websites. Some of them even have playable versions for you to try out.


10. Fieldrunners (iPhone)
Even though it is rounding out the top ten, I wouldn't say Fieldrunners is necessarily bad. But then, I wouldn't say it is good either. Why? It wasn't playable. They had a promotional video at the booth, showing what looked like a pretty, but unremarkable tower defense game.


9. What is Bothering Carl? (PC)
For what it sets out to do, What is Bothering Carl? looked like a success to me. And were I twenty years younger, it might have been at the top of my list. WiBC? is like an interactive picture book for children. It had some charming artwork, and I could imagine having fun with it if I were a young child. I almost feel bad giving it the number nine spot, because I'm confident it would be pretty great for its target audience, but that audience is not me.


8. Puzzle Bloom (PC)
The first thing that struck me about Puzzle Bloom was its artwork. The hard outlines on everything reminded me a bit of Okami art style, which is always a good thing to say about a game. In the game, the player is a green wisp that can control other beings, and can jump from body to body in order to flip switches and solve rooms. When the player gets to a certain checkpoint, the area goes from a desolate industrial world to a colorful, natural one. Thematically, it is pretty reminiscent of ThatGameCompany's Flower. Not bad at all, and if you have the Unity web player, you can try it out for yourself by hitting the link above.


7. Trino (XBLIG)
At first glance, Trino looks a bit like Geometry Wars, but the gameplay is quite different from the ubiquitous shooter. The player is confined to a small area, and enemies show up from outside of it, moving toward the player. Collisions cause death, and the player isn't equipped with any projectile weapons, but has the ability to lay down contact points. After two are laid down, a line segment forms, and the player can move to form a triangle with those two points. After the third is laid down, anything caught within the triangle is destroyed. The gameplay has some depth to it, rewarding combos, where within about a second after forming a triangle, another can be laid down, and more enemies can be defeated. Despite its differences, this game does share in common with Geometry Wars the pick-up-and-play aspect to it.


6. CarneyVale: Showtime (XBLIG)
You probably already know about CarneyVale: Showtime, because it has been out and highlighted as one of the best Xbox Live Community Games (now Xbox Live Indie Games) available. Perhaps if it were new to me, I would have ranked it higher, but it should nevertheless go without saying that this is a pretty good game. The player controls a ragdoll trapeze artist named Slinky who is flung by grabbers around the stage. It's a common formula of "collect all of the things and then get to the end," but the method for movement is unique, it is all very well done.


5. Osmos (PC)
Where Puzzle Bloom really hit me with the art style, Osmos's biggest strength is probably its music and sound design. Immediately after putting on the headphones at the booth, I felt soothed and calm. The game itself reinforces the feeling, as it is very slow paced and methodical. The gameplay is reminiscent of Feeding Frenzy, in that the player begins as a small organism, and absorb things that are smaller while avoiding larger lifeforms, and taking in smaller ameboids makes the player larger. The main difference is that movement is achieved by expelling small parts of oneself, so quick movement toward a target often results in being too small to absorb it. One last thing I noted about the game was the Katamari-esque sense of scale, where the player's cell gets so large later in the game that organisms that were large in the beginning appear as tiny dots. Check this game out if you are into the whole "zen gaming" idea.


4. Tag: the Power of Paint (PC)
You may remember hearing about this game from Anthony at GDC earlier this year. It is a result of a student project at the Digipen Institute of Technology, and it is surprisingly good. I say "surprisingly" because it is just about the only game featured in the PAX 10 whose art style I do not like. I can't even quite put my finger on what it is; the colors are vibrant, the cel shading makes things easy to see, the contrast between the greyscale world and the colored paint is nice, but when it all comes together it just doesn't please my eye. That said, it earned the number four spot on my list because of its inventive gameplay. The player is given a paint gun that can dispense either red, green, blue, or white paint. Red paint allows the player to move very quickly, green paint lets the player jump or bounce off of walls, blue paint sticks the player to walls or ceilings, and white paint negates any of the effects. The result has the player running along a long red path, jumping at the end, bouncing off a wall, and then sticking to the opposite one. It's very fun, and very satisfying, and you can download it from the link above.


3. Machinarium (PC)
Another game that you have probably heard about already, Machinarium is beautiful. The hand-drawn art style is gorgeous, and luckily, there is some clever gameplay underneath as well. If you have read the preview already, you'll know that half the previewers loved the game, and half didn't care for it. I will join Chad and Jonathan on the love side. One thing I adore about Machinarium (aside from the cute robot) is that each screen is a self-contained puzzle (a la Zack & Wiki). While I have dabbled in more classic inventory-heavy adventure games, I greatly prefer being given a problem, being shown all of the tools at my disposal, and then let loose, as opposed to always wondering if I am not solving a puzzle because I haven't thought about it right, or if I have to go pick up an arbitrary item on the other side of the map first. Machinarium puts the player in the former position, and it does so with excellent artwork to look at, which just adds to the charm.


2. Liight (WiiWare)
Despite being at number two on the list, Liight was probably the game I spent the most time with, and the only game for which I went back for a second play session. It is also one of the simplest games on display, but the puzzles were so compelling to me that I couldn't get enough. The player is given one of hundreds of levels, each with colored targets and various obstacles on them. At the player's disposal are lamps that emit light in a cone shape, colored either red, green, or blue. The targets can be red, green, blue, or also cyan (green + blue), magenta (red + blue), yellow (red + green), or white (all three). The goal is to light up all of the targets by placing the lamps such that all of the requirements are satisfied. Again, it is a simple idea, and the gameplay is basic, but it kept me coming back to see what the next puzzle would be like. My one complaint--and I addressed this to the representative showing off the game--was that the control was a bit too sensitive for my taste. He assured me that it was an artifact of the setup at the booth; the sensor bar was just too close. I am inclined to believe him, and assuming the controls work better on my home setup, I will definitely grab this game when it releases this fall.


1. Closure (PC)
And finally, my number one pick for the PAX 10, Closure. Though I was struck by most of the games for one reason or another, Closure was the one game that really blew my mind. The artwork is completely monochrome, but it has a profound effect on the gameplay. There are lights in the world, which have a relatively small radius of effect, but essentially, when they show something, it exists, and when something is shrouded in darkness, it does not. This allows the player to pass through walls or floors, so long as no light shines on them. It also sets up elevators for light moving up a wall, and other machinations using immobile environments and moving lights. I suggest you go try out the Flash version on the link above to really get a feel for the game, as it is a bit difficult to put into writing. The Flash version is unfortunately uglier than the one on the show floor, but it still contains the same gameplay mechanics, which are totally rad. Check it out.