VenusGaming

Last week, the Washington Post cited a study by a sir Douglas Gentile that claimed 8.5% of American youths have behavioral addiction to video games. The Post described it as “the first nationally representative study in the United States on the subject.” The Post went on to say:

The study found that 88 percent of the nation’s children ages 8 to 18 play video games. With 45 million children of that age in the country, the study would suggest that more than 3 million are addicted “or at least have problems of the magnitude” that call for help, Gentile said.

The story was shocking, and was quickly all over the media. But Gary Langer, director of polling at ABC News, was quick to question the results. Langer said, “his study was conducted among members of an opt-in online panel – individuals who sign up to click through questionnaires on the internet in exchange for points redeemable for cash and gifts.” In fact, the group that conducted the poll doesn’t even offer a sample of error - which Mr. Gentile did.

Douglas Gentile was quick to retract. “I guess I’d assumed they had gathered the population initially as part of a random probability sample . . . I missed that when I was writing this up. That is an error then on my part.”

85% of statistics are made up, aren’t they?

So the dramatic “1 in 10 teen gamers addicted” is, at best, a great exaggeration, and at worst, a flat out lie. The data was highly inaccurate, and should have never been used in something that was (and it was!) published in a scientific journal. All it indicated was that about 100 of the voluntary surveyees showed signs of pathalogical addiction. That’s nothing we can draw conclusions about.

This is why I hate the media reporting on the video game industry: they often grab data that is misinformed, skewed, or otherwise non-representative of the gaming population, and make grandious claims that end up becoming cited by the common man for years to come. Bravo for media men like Langer for rooting out the truth.

 I will confess: shoot ‘em ups have never been my genre, even if I’ve indulged in them from time to time. I never stood in the arcade, glued to Galaga or Raiden. I suck to this day at Asteroids. But in the two days since I’ve been playing Retroshoot by Armor Games, I’ve been hooked .

 Retroshoot is a side-scrolling spaceship shooter with all the basics intact: weapon powerups, special attack power ups, shields, and enemies that just don’t stop coming. It gives a lot of credit to many retro shooters of the day (hence the name), but particularly Galaga.

Retroshoot features great, simple game play - the only control you need to worry about is moving your ship with your mouse, although you can pause the game with the space bar. Your ship’s weapons are set to shoot automatically and consistently: a benefit since the pace of the game is set automatically. Enemies vary from asteroids, aliens, spaceships, and more.

You get three lives in Retroshoot, and if you run out of them, you will have an option to continue with a reset high score. Be careful, though - you only get three continues, and then it’s back to the game screen!

Retroshoot’s graphics are easy and pleasant to look at. Although the game aims for a retro feel with its spaceship and enemy graphics, they are given a soft, neon glow that contrasts great against the dark space background that moves as if it’s alive. Although the screen gets busy very quickly, you can always keep track of what’s going on.

The sound is also a treat. Although the sound effects are simple, they are not a nuisance. Your weapon is muted, and enemies are destroyed with a dull balloon popping sound that makes its own beat as you go. The music is a catchy techno beat that doesn’t go on long enough on one strain to become annoying.

There’s one thing to say for sure: Retroshoot is a great space shooter, for ex-arcade junkies and web junkies alike.

Venus Gallie’s work in the Fighter’s Guild last had her doing important missions - suddenly, we’re thrust back to doing tasks for hire. We’re off to Brittlerock cave, to help someone with their Daedric research.

As every escort so far in Oblivion has been, the experience is frustrating. More than once, she runs off into the fray ahead of me, and nearly gets killed. And when I try to get ahead of her and clear it, she just stops dead. Arggh. At least the adventure ended up being worth it:

In the midst of all this, we level to 13. Another simple task is given to us, this time to beat up some fugitives. They’re supposed to be big, tough, and scary, but they end up being incredibly easy to dispatch. Pah. At least I picked up a glass bow, and took the time to clean out my chests of some unnecessary loot.

So Venus heads back, to find Oreyn’s called. This means story time again. What is it, Oreyn?

. . . oh no. He’s not just missing, he was sent off several days ago and we’re just now investigating? Great way to take care of the guild master’s last living son. So it’s off to the Forsaken Mine, and already it looks foreboding:

I didn’t have a good feeling about going in. I had a strong feeling what I was going to find. And I was right.

Bodies everywhere; well over a dozen guild members slaughtered. There’s even a Blackwood Company man fallen in the midst. They were sent off to kill trolls. . . that’s all.

At the back of the mine, hidden behind a rock wall, lies the bodies of the young Donton and his friend, Eduard. On Donton’s body, we find a journal, that goes into detail about the poor young man’s feelings and chronicles of being shoved away after his brother died, and his joys of being given a real assignment. Sure enough, the Blackwood Company did come in. And then, the last page.

…
(it hurts)

I could practically imagine Oreyn jumping up and down, saying “Guess what, guess what?” when I picked up my next mission. Maglir defaulted on a contract again. The damned loser. . . and he’s none to kind to us when we pay him a visit in the Lonely Suitor Lodge.

Maglir tells us off, and says he’s with the Blackwood Company now. Alright, now I can see where the guild storyline is going. None the less, Oreyn acts surprised when we tell him the news.

Any way you cut it, we have to go clean up Maglir’s mess again. This time, it’s fetching Imp Gall for the Bravil Mage’s Guild. I’m noticing a trend, that the Fighter’s Guild is a friend for lazy alchemists. The cave our contact recommends to us is rather unexciting, but the extra reward she gives us is not:

Well, I suppose I did pick this up as well:

Oreyn, my dear dark elf “friend,” is severely ticked off this point, and thinks that the Blackwood Company set them up in a previous mission. Of course they did, they’re stinking mercenaries, Oreyn. We head off with Oreyn to one set of ruins, and then another, in track of the truth. Along the way, Oreyn gets shot in the arm by an arrow, and just walks it off, even as it protrudes through his arm as a clean shot. No blood!

We find the truth we’re seeking. As a result, we’ve been promoted twice, first to Defender, and now to Warder. Huzzah.

But where’s the twist? Oh, please tell me there is one.

Yesterday, EA announced MySims Agent, a mystery-solving game for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS:

-Love mysteries, twisting plots and sinister villains? Love puzzles, adventure and high tech gadgets? Now players can enjoy the thrill of solving the mystery, while re-joining their MySims™ friends. EA Play Label of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced MySims™ Agents, an original IP, mystery-solving adventure game for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ where players are the heroic agents who must stop a sinister plot that threatens the fate of an entire city.

The Wii version of MySims Agent will feature recruitment of various MySims to build a mystery-solving team. Players will use gadgets, solve puzzles, and collect clues to solve the mysteries set forth by the lord of the criminal underworld, Morcubus. Players can also collect treasures to decorate their base with. The DS version of the game will feature 10 mini-games, interaction with favorite MySims, and more puzzle-solving.

MySims Agents is scheduled for release in Fall 2009, and has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI.

Now, maybe it’s because I’ve never played The Sims franchise, but is EA going too far with it? It seems like EA is milking the franchise for every penny before letting it die. Then again, there are still a ton of Sims fans out there, and I’m sure they’re happy to see the games being produced and released.

I look at it this way: with KOEI’s Dynasty Warriors series, I drew the line at Dynasty Warriors Gundam. I realize that KOEI’s milking the series, and in a way, Dynasty Warriors to the nth power is just repeating itself for playability, not innovations, at this point. Has EA reached that point with the Sims franchise? Maybe. But that’s for the fans to decide.

Images: Business Wire/EA

Stuck with Maglir, who’s only concerned about his pay day, Venus heads off to take care of more “theives.” Only this time, they’re Bosmers like us - and our point of civilian contact is a man with no eyes and a mug that never lets ale go cold:

Thankfully, Maglir stays rather quiet during this trip - maybe because he’s guilty too! Stinking mercenary is what he is. . . any way, the place holds a lot more than a silly mug. I came up with a rather nice haul:

Nice little cache, hmm? I was particularly happy about the bow. And Mr. No-eyes the Porter is happy to have his mug back - so happy, he opens his eyes a little.

Next up, we head off to help some poor lady near Leyawiin. She needs to pay off a 1,000 septum debt, and she’s thinking about selling some ancestral armor to do so. Well, hell lady, let me take the armor, and I’ll give you 1,000 septums. Thankfully, the game lets this be an option. So I head off and pick up a full set of this armor - decent stats, but unfortunately too heavy for me to wear the full set, so I end up just putting a few pieces on. I must say though, that the tomb is rather pretty:

The person who gives me this task doesn’t entirely seem happy I spent my own coin to do this, but clearly he underestimates the value of magical loot. I’m promoted to Protector of the Fighter’s Guild, which begs the question - do I now protect the Fighter’s Guild, or am I protector, which comes from the Fighter’s Guild? Ahh, poorly worded titles. . .

The next mission, I get to take the guild master’s overly mothered son on a mission to investigate a missing guild member. Pretty boy is a lot friendlier than Maglir, but has worse intuition - that is, he runs off frequently ahead of me. The cave we investigate leaves me one nice haul:

Mm. Tasty. We find out the missing guild member is dead (no surprise there), and meanwhile are introduced to ogres and even a minotaur, as well as the ape-clones known as trolls. I bring the boy back safe, and I’m rewarded with a nice frost dagger. Hurray, daggers - I’ve been missing one for the last few missions, so it’s nice to have a good one back. Who knows what awaits us next. . .

Blizzard updated World of Warcraft to patch 3.1.1 to fix some bugs. Here are the full patch notes:

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

General

In order to address issues with the dual talent specialization system, all players will have their talents points refunded. Players who have purchased dual talent specializations will have both specializations reset. Glyphs will not be affected by this reset.

Bugs

Characters who are not of the same race or class are once again able to view each others’ professions linked in chat.

Fixed an issue in which player and pet nameplates were appearing larger than normal.

Thrall’s throne has been adjusted back to its proper size and the base replaced. He will no longer need to defy gravity.

Fixed an issue with a display error on druid leather helms.

Corrected an issue for GeForce2/ATI 7 series card users that would result in critical errors for select actions in game. As a result certain projected textures, like spell effects and targeting circles, will no longer render on some terrain objects.

Achievements

Corrected an issue preventing players from earning the achievement, “Storming Stormwind.” Players who were not properly awarded this achievement for completing the objective should retroactively be granted completion.

Warlock

Demonology

Fel Synergy (Rank 1): Corrected the tooltip to now display the proper healing amount.

Dungeons and Raids

Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme

Fixed an issue with the outside map not appearing correctly.

Fixed an issue where an incorrect skin was being applied to certain classes/races when the Human Illusion buff is cast upon them.

Ulduar

The mob packs in the XT-002 Deconstructor encounter can now be engaged separately and are no longer linked.

Alright. I admit it. When I saw a game named Threesome (featuring a guy and two girls), I giggled. With that said, let me introduce you.

Threesome is a small Flash game, and like most any other game on the web, is free to play. A puzzle game that may remind you of others, Threesome features three nameless characters, all stuck together in a building. In order to reach each next room, you must reach the teleporters (which look like targets) - and to do that, you need to employ the colored switches on the floor thoughtfully.

The game controls only involve six keys: the four arrow keys to move your currently selected character, the space key to switch between characters, and the ‘r’ key if you’d like to reset the stage and start over.

The first few levels of Threesome are rather easy, but they gradually ramp up in difficulty. It’ll take some brainpower and pre-planning to progress. It will take some back-and-forth switching between characters and rooms to get everyone to the teleporters. Sometimes, your choices will overwhelm you.

Being a simple puzzle game, Threesome’s graphics are clean and simple - nothing fancy to look at, just enough to get the job done without assailing your eyes. Likewise, there is no soundtrack for the game. My personal recommendations would be “Three’s Company,” “You and Your Friend,” “Stuck in the Middle With You” . . . you get the idea.

If you’re looking for a fun puzzle game to waste some time on, I’d definitely recommend Threesome.

Venus Gallie is now a journeyman of the Fighter’s Guild, and as such, gets rewarded with more menial tasks. But first, we get to be initiated by the “mother” of the guild, by getting to hear the “family” speech. You know the one, right? Be on your best behavior, no debauchery, or I’ll bend you over my knee. And then I’m sent off to talk to Mamma’s second, who’s going to make us go discipline a few of the bad apples of the guild.

First up is Maglir, a Bosmer boy who defaulted, shame shame, on a contract. He tells me the job doesn’t pay well enough, that the place isn’t worth the contract. It’s mine now. Hmmph. So I head out there, and take a look around. This place can’t be that bad, can it?



It sure looks pretty outside. But the first thing that greets me is a zombie. Oh, okay, I think - surely something must be bad in here. A necromancer, a lich? But no, all the place has is a bunch of undead weaklings. That’s it? Psh. Maglir is a pussy. I turn in his contract, kick the dark elf in the shins, and get my next assignment.

This time, I’m off to take care of some drunken carousers in Leyawiin. They tell me they don’t have any work; not only does the Guild not have anything for them, but the Blackwood Company moved in and started taking all the jobs. So it’s my turn to find them work. I’m starting to feel not only like a rather used lackey, but like the Guild isn’t as pleasant as it’s cracked up to be.

Anyhow, the local alchemist offers to give them work, if I go get her five ectoplasm. Sure, now that I’ve used it up with potions, you ask for it. So I head off to Rielle, some ruins where I can find ghosties. Unfortunately, my silver daggers seem to be missing, so I’m stuck taking a silver mace. I actually got lost a few times in the place, but got more ectoplasm than I needed for the quest, so it wasn’t long before I was fixing up all the little problems. Snarky mister dark elf promotes me to Swordsman, and then sends me off to Anvil.

At Anvil, I’m told I need to take care of some thieves, but I get to have a partner: Maglir. Ugh, not the Bosmer pansy. Trust me, he’s not as nice as he looks:




I didn’t want to see Maglir any more for the day, so when we resume, more adventures in Fighter’s Guild land, where I hope there’s a story developing, and I’m not just some drudge.

Venus Gallie is now an apprentice in the Fighter’s Guild. As an apprentice, our next mission is to go help a miss Arvena with a “rat problem.” Oh sure, you think, killing rats in the basement again. Didn’t I do this in every other fantasy game?

Actually, the rats are miss Arvena’s pets. A shocking thing in the Oblivion world, I know. I actually own two rats myself, so I thought it was a cute gesture. Any how, something’s killing her pets. Down we go to the basement, and sure enough, there’s a hungry mountain lion there! In defense of the rats (and myself), I kill it. Unfortunately for the lion, it dies in a rather awkward position to be internet memorialized:



Well, it turns out that the mountain lions are coming through a hole in the back of the house, and they’re doing that because someone is putting out meat in hopes of luring out the rats for the guards to kill. Shame on you! I’m given the choice to cover for the culprit, or to be honest to Arvena - you either get a boost to Speechcraft or a boost to Acrobatics depending on your choice. Well, I choose Speechcraft, so I tell the blunt honesty of the matter.

Mission accomplished! Our next mission is to help a local shop-keep with recent break-ins. Like a ghost story, we get to stay over night to catch the thieves in the act. They show up around 1am, trying to sneak around in chainmail and platemail… shame on them! The three robbers put up an excellent fight; what proves more rewarding is the delicious mithril they drop. Finally, Venus is starting to look like a real adventurer: