Due to the success of our classes efforts in fulfilling the requirements for this class, we have successfully completed all of the laboratory exercises and requirements which were outlined in the Class syllabus. Because of this we have been given the opportunity to expand our outlook even more by working with some of the other different communications resources which are available through the Communications Department. Once again, I worked with Miss Taylor Miller and Miss Crystal Castaneda.
For the purpose of this exercise we were given the opportunity to visit and work in the Video Gaming Lab of the department. This was in and of itself an incredible opportunity. The Video Gaming Lab has several resources at its disposal, ranging from PC games, to console games, and mobile games available on iPod Touches. We worked together to get a grasp for these different resources.
PC Gaming
World of Warcraft
The first PC game that our group analyzed at any length was that of World of Warcraft (WoW). We were all encouraged to examine games that would push us outside of our comfort zones. Because of this Taylor volunteered to attempt to work through the gaming world of WoW. WoW is published by Blizzard Entertainment which is a subsidy of Activision Blizzard Inc. a leading software company in the United States. The game is an online game which requires an active network connection. WoW is what is referred to as a MMORPG, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The game is at its core a PC game which works on a client server bases. Basically this means that the game needs to be connected to a server in order to function. Otherwise it won't work. The software installed on the individual PC's is basically thin client software which then registers and connects to the servers operated by Blizzard. The gameplay is fairly complex though at the same time intuitive. Three other titles published by Blizzard are Warcraft, Starcraft II, and Diablo II.
Cave Story
The second PC game that we looked at is Cave Story. Cave Story is an action adventure game which was developed by Daisuke Amaya as freeware. The game is fairly simple in and of itself. It works on a screen crossing paradigm which most gamers are familiar with as it is the most common form of gameplay incredibly prevalent in the 1980's and 1990's, the heyday of stand alone arcade game machines. The game is freeware and was developed for cross platform portability. The game is available on Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux Operating Systems, PSP, Xbox, Amiga Operating System, GP2X, and the Wii. The game is freely available and was first released in 2004. It exhibits many of the characteristics of the nostalgic gaming community. Mr. Amaya also developed a game entitled Ikachan which is similar in design and gameplay.
Console Gaming
Wii Sports
I chose to play the Wii Sports game because I had never played it before and because I had heard so many good things about it. At first I didn't even know how to work the game at all but my classmates helped me. It was definitely not hard to learn. Wii is a sports video game developed and produced by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii Video Game console. Wii Sports is part of the Touch! Generations brand. The Wii Sports game offered different options of what specific game to play. It offered five sports including tennis, golf, bowling, boxing and baseball. Because of time constraints I was only able to play the tennis and bowling games, but it was definitely a fun experience. While watching other classmates play different games on different platforms, it was apparent that the Wii Sports was one of the most technologically advanced video games. I used the Wii remote which was used to perform the action used in real life sports, such as swinging the tennis racket and using the bowling technique. Wii Sports is classified as action/sports. Wii also offers games such as Wii Fit and Wii Dance that are also classified in the action/sports genre.
Mobile Gaming
Fieldrunners
Fieldrunners is a tower defense game which is a sub-genre of the Real Time Strategy gaming sphere. The game was published by Subatomic Studios for the iPhone OS in 2008. We played the game on an iPod Touch. The gameplay was fairly simple, the player places defense fortifications in an attempt to stop enemies from traversing the length of the screen. This continued until the game was complete after 10 levels. Subatomic Studios is a very small company has not yet published any other titles. The company itself is incredibly small and only employs six people.
Spore
This game allows the user to try to survive as a multicellular organism in a tide pool with the opportunity to upgrade its features with the collection of new DNA from other organisms. This game is operated on the iPod Touch by moving the device in the direction that you'd like the character on the screen to go. With other devices, such as mobile phones that lack a touchscreen, the character is moved by pressing keys in ordinal directions of the desired movement. The player advances after their organism eats a certain amount of new DNA from other creatures. Spore is Electronic Arts and is developed by Babaroga and Tricky Software.
I found this game to be really complicated, probably because I never play any sort of video game. I'm also not extremely familiar with the iPod Touch device, so moving the device in order to control the screen was difficult for me to get used to. The graphics of the game were outstanding however, and once I became comfortable with the screen movements the game became more enjoyable. Games like this that are available for mobile music devices or mobile phones can provide entertainment to the user no matter where they are located. The program ran smoothly and efficiently and loaded immediately. Another positive aspect of this game is that it does not require an internet connection in order to run. This really makes the game accessible in any location. Overall, this is an entertaining game that operates well in any location.
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts on this lab are mixed. I believe that it was a fun exercise that stretched us in our desires and designs. I think that it is important for people to explore other and different options. In this game we were able to examine a few different products and step out of our comfort zones. I think it was a good experience because it stretched us.
Personally I do not play a lot of video games simply because I do not have the time. Because of this I do not have a great deal of experience with them other than what I have picked up over the years with friends and family. Video games today cover a wide variety, from a simple game to play on your iPod while waiting for the bus, to games that people play in their basements, to fun filled communal games which are designed just to help have people have a good time with each other. Like them or not video games are here to stay and have become an incredibly huge industry. Industry competition always leaves the consumer as the winner, which means that the average user has nothing to lose, and everything to gain from the video gaming industry.
This lab was more enjoyable than any of the others because of the design and layout of the Video Game Lab. We were able to work with the other class group while at the same time working on our own project and our own report. It was a good work environment which helped us to all unwind towards the end of the fall semester.
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