The AI is the most interesting thing to me. They're made such that you just plop them down in your level and they'll interact with each other appropriately: some throw things at anything that moves, some run away from attackers, and others will try to defend the innocents from the attackers. And then you can put them in little buildings of different types and see what happens.
The AI is the most interesting thing to me. They're made such that you just plop them down in your level and they'll interact with each other appropriately: some throw things at anything that moves, some run away from attackers, and others will try to defend the innocents from the attackers. And then you can put them in little buildings of different types and see what happens.
So basically Spore + City of Heroes - dull protoplasm stage? This is a thing I can get behind. Especially since it's been in development for less than five years....
The AI is the most interesting thing to me. They're made such that you just plop them down in your level and they'll interact with each other appropriately: some throw things at anything that moves, some run away from attackers, and others will try to defend the innocents from the attackers. And then you can put them in little buildings of different types and see what happens.
So basically Spore + City of Heroes - dull protoplasm stage? This is a thing I can get behind. Especially since it's been in development for less than five years....
I have no idea what City of Heroes has to do with it...the NPC AI?
Here's an example of Boom Blox AI. They were trying to make it bombers versus tower snipers but kept running into physics issues, like the snipers just falling off the tower straight away.
I find it hilarious that a videogame that looks like completely run-of-the-mill shovelware is also being touted as Steven Spielbergs first foray into gaming.
This isn't his first foray into gaming. He created the Medal of Honor series and also made The Dig which was a pretty brilliant point and click adventure game. I summary, what the hell are you talking about?
Szechuanosaurus on
0
Options
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
I feel like there's something about the videos I'm not getting... but assuming that's true I'm still thinking I'd love to play it.
His name is connected to some pretty bad games -
Jaws, Back to the Future, Men in Black, Hook, The Land Before Time and worst of all E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
I expect as much of him as I do the Wii version of Star Wars Unleashed. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised on both counts.
I find it hilarious that a videogame that looks like completely run-of-the-mill shovelware is also being touted as Steven Spielbergs first foray into gaming.
This isn't his first foray into gaming. He created the Medal of Honor series and also made The Dig which was a pretty brilliant point and click adventure game. I summary, what the hell are you talking about?
welp i made a mistake.
But really, he only wrote the story that inspired The Dig.
Also I had no idea that he apparently wrote the story for MoH as well. Crazy.
Either way, he isn't exactly super-experienced with video games.
My interest in this depends on the overall complexity, which I suspect the initial videos aren't showcasing well.
If it can reach Incredible Machine levels of convolutedness, then I'm interested.
I find it hilarious that a videogame that looks like completely run-of-the-mill shovelware is also being touted as Steven Spielbergs first foray into gaming.
This isn't his first foray into gaming. He created the Medal of Honor series and also made The Dig which was a pretty brilliant point and click adventure game. I summary, what the hell are you talking about?
welp i made a mistake.
But really, he only wrote the story that inspired The Dig.
Also I had no idea that he apparently wrote the story for MoH as well. Crazy.
Either way, he isn't exactly super-experienced with video games.
Well, to be fair, The Dig was a style of game that essentially hinged on a good story. Cwazy puzzle games not so much, I guess.
So I can't wait for Steven Spielberg presents - Tetris: The Musical
Random Integer on
0
Options
Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
The thing is that Tycho seems impressed and so far that has always been a good indicator for me as he seems to share many of my tastes (in gaming) so I'm kind of expectant about this. However, those 'shots are unimpressive to say the least; OK, yeah, WiiShots always look worse, test render, gameplay not graphics, yadda yadda, but it would be nice if someone other than Nintendo put equal effort into both some time...
OK, that's probably stretching it. But while fans of the renowned film director are awaiting this month's release of Indiana Jones, Spielberg has spearheaded another project that could prove to be even more important: Boom Blox, an original videogame for Wii.
Boom Blox does what so many Wii titles wish they could, by splitting the difference between casual players and lifelong gamers. You can pass the Wiimote to your grandma or a 5-year-old and they'll have a ball with its clever mix of brainy puzzles and satisfying explosions. But hard-core players like me will find a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay and a satisfying, addictive challenge.
The first of a three-game deal that Spielberg has struck with Electronic Arts, Boom Blox grew out of a meeting between the director and Nintendo's game guru Shigeru Miyamoto. Playing with the Wii controller for the first time, Spielberg was inspired to create a game built around building towers of blocks, then physically breaking them down.
While Boom Blox's design has since grown to encompass much more, destruction is still the core of the experience. In the early levels, you're armed with an infinite supply of baseballs and tasked with taking down towers that are topped with point-scoring Gem Blox. You aim using the Wii's pointer, then haul your arm back and let go with your best pitcher's throw to send a ball flying at the structure. The blocks break apart realistically, producing chaotic satisfaction. Fun ensues.
Beating the early levels is thus not especially difficult, but getting gold medals on each stage is. This is because the game challenges you to take apart the towers using only one or two baseballs. So now you've got to look carefully at the whole structure, finding the weak points where a well-placed throw will set off a chain reaction.
Within only a few minutes of playing, I found myself glued to the challenges, refusing to move on to the next one until I could solve the puzzle and get the best possible reward.
This alone would get boring, but Boom Blox quickly changes things up. Soon, you're no longer throwing baseballs to cause huge explosions -- you're pulling blocks out of a giant tower, trying to avoid taking the entire thing down. This is the sort of precision work that lends itself quite well to the Wii's motion controls, and it's done very well here. By using the camera to make fine adjustments to your view, you can get the best angle from which to gently pull blocks out without upsetting the structure. It's like Jenga, but on lots of steroids.
And the challenges continue to grow and expand. You'll help a mother gorilla save her children by moving and hitting blocks to create a path for her to walk through. You'll ride shotgun with a Wild West beaver who wants to mine for gold by placing bombs around a structure so it explodes and delivers him his riches. Many of the later challenges are timed, with a big wide buffer zone for the bronze medal and a very tight time limit for gold.
With a couple hundred different single-player challenges, Boom Blox will keep you occupied for a while, and maybe you'll want to start making your own levels. And you can! The game has an editor that will let you make your own from scratch, or you can simply pull any one of the single-player levels into the editor and mess around with it. These can then be sent to your Wii friends list. The editor's interface is quite polished and easy to use, although it doesn't let you alter the rules of the puzzle. To create an original tower-smashing level, for example, you have to pull one from the single-player game, then erase everything on the screen.
As you might imagine, a multiplayer mode expands Boom Blox even further. Most of the single-player levels have cooperative and competitive analogs, from free-for-all blast fests to tense block-pulling towers. One of the best has you knocking over golden blocks that each have individual point values. You get these points when they hit the ground, but you can also try to strategically knock them into multiplier blocks that are scattered around the periphery of the level.
Boom Blox does have some issues. I couldn't help but get a bit frustrated at the randomness of many of the single-player levels. Often, I'd figure out exactly what I needed to do, but since the physics are so realistic, the human brain can't actually predict where every single block is going to fly once you throw the baseball. At times, getting a gold medal came down to simply trying the exact same thing over and over until the blocks fell just the right way.
While I enjoyed several of the multiplayer levels, the game could have done without the ones that are simply glorified shooting galleries -- we have more than enough of that on Wii already. And while some of the levels ended at just the right time, with a huge crash of toppling blocks, several wore out their welcome when my friends and I had to "clean up" the levels by laboriously hitting every remaining block until they were all gone.
And while I know the point of this game wasn't to present a cinematic experience, the writing is pretty lame for a game with Spielberg's name on the box.
While these issues do hold Boom Blox back from true greatness, the novel gameplay and deep level design make it just what Wii needs right now.
Looks like fun to me, but $50 seems awfully steep for a puzzle game. I mean Mercury Meltdown Revolution was a mere $20 and Lumines Live still hasn't hit $50 for me despite me picking up every piece of DLC except for the Tokyo Club mix.
I've been waiting to say something like this for a year and a half: If this is the future of casual gaming, motion controls, and Wii, count me in. Boom Blox may not be the best Wii game, depending on your proclivities, but it's definitely the best use of the Wii yet. It's immensely accessible, wonderfully tactile, and stands as one of the best treatments of gaming in a 3D space.
A physics-based puzzle game at its core, Boom Blox employs dozens of different variants on box-stacking, target-smacking, and tower-dismantling, executed via several hundred inspired setups. It adds up to an impressive variety in terms of the goals, the actions required to complete them, the properties of the blocks themselves, and the sheer volume of levels.
...
Boom Blox is simply a laundry list of great features and options wrapped around an incredibly fun, expertly designed, and well-tuned puzzle game. Sure, its cute veneer won't do it any favors with the more intense console crowd, but I found it charming and refreshingly cheery. It's a casual game made for a casual crowd, but it's far and away the best one I've ever played. Buy this game.
Emphasis in original.
Like I said in the Released this Week thread, I've heard a lot of hype for this game from a lot of places that seem Wii-adverse.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
This title is hard for me to figure out. It looks kind of like meh shovelware, but then every preview/review of it gushes like a school girl about the latest Tiger Beat cover boy. I really want to try this because of the crazy praise coming from all fronts.
I predict this will sell a ton because Steven Spielberg's name is in all the press about it. As if the mainstream media needed another reason to talk about the Wii.
That's right, friends. Notice how I didn't say "gamer friends." I'm talking about anyone and everyone.
This is something that people can play together and have fun with. I expect that it fulfills the same sort of promise of bringing gamers and nongamers together that Wii Sports achieves so well.
This title is hard for me to figure out. It looks kind of like meh shovelware, but then every preview/review of it gushes like a school girl about the latest Tiger Beat cover boy. I really want to try this because of the crazy praise coming from all fronts.
I predict this will sell a ton because Steven Spielberg's name is in all the press about it. As if the mainstream media needed another reason to talk about the Wii.
I don't know. I haven't seen much advertisement for it at all.
Couscous on
0
Options
ViscountalphaThe pen is mightier than the swordhttp://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered Userregular
edited May 2008
I might force myself to wait on this one(wallet rape) but I will see how it all works out. I think this will be a hit personally. Jenga + explosions sounds like a winner if you ask me.
Boom Blox does what so many Wii titles wish they could, by splitting the difference between casual players and lifelong gamers. You can pass the Wiimote to your grandma or a 5-year-old and they'll have a ball with its clever mix of brainy puzzles and satisfying explosions. But hard-core players like me will find a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay and a satisfying, addictive challenge.
Read Full Review
Pretty much reinforcing the notion that I have about it being a good social game for anyone; not just people who are gamers, or who are casual gamers, but people that are friends who you can invite over and have fun with, regardless of their "gaming experience."
Nintendo power enjoyed it too:
The production values aren't going to win any awards, and some of the mechanics work better than others(the hose is pretty lame), but Bloom Blox is an innovative and amusing piece of entertainment worthy of the Spielberg name. [June 2008, p.87]
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
You're probably right.
If they were smart, they would have really, really emphasized Steven Spielberg's name, both on the box art (much larger, more pronounced font) and in whatever ads or commercials that they may (or more likely won't) have.
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
You're probably right.
If they were smart, they would have really, really emphasized Steven Spielberg's name, bot on the box art (much larger, more pronounced font) and in whatever ads or commercials that they may (or more likely won't) have.
As is usual, they will blame the poor sales on the Wii.
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
If Carnival Games can sell a million units, this game should do fine.
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
If Carnival Games can sell a million units, this game should do fine.
Carnival Games is inexpensive and has a clear-cut concept that a lot of people are familiar with, and it is apparently advertised pretty well, at least for kids' shows or something. I saw a TV ad once. It's a $20 game.
This game could potentially do extremely well with people, casual and traditional or hardcore gamers alike. It's a good game making fantastic use of the Wii's unique abilities and it has Steven Spielberg's name on it. But so far I haven't seen any attempt to get the word out about it, the cover art is generic, they haven't emphasized Spielberg's name enough, and it's $50 (as opposed to $20 - it's not a simple impulse buy).
I think Boom Blox is going to suffer [saleswise] at the hands of Mario Kart, and then Wii Fit.
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
If Carnival Games can sell a million units, this game should do fine.
Carnival Games is inexpensive and has a clear-cut concept that a lot of people are familiar with, and it is apparently advertised pretty well, at least for kids' shows or something. I saw a TV ad once. It's a $20 game.
This game could potentially do extremely well with people, casual and traditional or hardcore gamers alike. It's a good game making fantastic use of the Wii's unique abilities and it has Steven Spielberg's name on it. But so far I haven't seen any attempt to get the word out about it, the cover art is generic, they haven't emphasized Spielberg's name enough, and it's $50 (as opposed to $20 - it's not a simple impulse buy).
I didn't know CG was just 20 bucks. I swore it was about 40. That explains it.
Bloom Blox is about 10-20 bucks too expensive, as a budget price would give it Katamari-esque potential. It's good that the development money went more towards gameplay than presentation, but you'd think they'd put a bit more work into the latter if they're going to slap Spielberg's name on it.
I didn't know CG was just 20 bucks. I swore it was about 40. That explains it.
Bloom Blox is about 10-20 bucks too expensive, as a budget price would give it Katamari-esque potential. It's good that the development money went more towards gameplay than presentation, but you'd think they'd put a bit more work into the latter if they're going to slap Spielberg's name on it.
Oh shit, no you're right, Carnival games is $40, I was wrong, I just thought it was $20.. I guess I got it confused. :P my bad.
But I wonder..
there may be a question of perceived value at work here. If they price it at $20, it may get placed in a bargain bin, or on a 'shovelware shelf' at retailers, where it will be confused with completely useless games. At >$20, it keeps it away from the immediate placement into bargain bins with Phoenix game stuff, and hopefully on display somewhere that people can distinguish it as something besides typical, forgettable shovelware. Hopefully, they'll see the Spielberg name and associate quality with it.
I hope at least.
This is me rationalizing the $50 price tag, mind you. I'd much rather it be $20, too, of course, but I'm just trying to perceive some way for this game to not get treated as and lost among shovelware.
The "Katamari effect" argument has a ton of weight for a game like this, I totally agree there.
Haha, I was watching the news this morning, and they had a quick "Technology" blurb, it basically went like this:
"Steven Spielberg is bringing his famous movie magic to videogames this week in the form of Boom Blox, a puzzle game involving ..." etc, then he described the basic premise of the thing.
I also found it funny because the newscaster actually used the term "casual gamer." Heh.
Anyway, hopefully this game gets more media attention like this. It won't sell if EA only advertises through the traditional channels of the "gamer market."
Posts
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Here's an example of Boom Blox AI.
They were trying to make it bombers versus tower snipers but kept running into physics issues, like the snipers just falling off the tower straight away.
This isn't his first foray into gaming. He created the Medal of Honor series and also made The Dig which was a pretty brilliant point and click adventure game. I summary, what the hell are you talking about?
Screw you hippy. Amiga Hook rocked.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
welp i made a mistake.
But really, he only wrote the story that inspired The Dig.
Also I had no idea that he apparently wrote the story for MoH as well. Crazy.
Either way, he isn't exactly super-experienced with video games.
https://medium.com/@alascii
If it can reach Incredible Machine levels of convolutedness, then I'm interested.
Well, to be fair, The Dig was a style of game that essentially hinged on a good story. Cwazy puzzle games not so much, I guess.
i dunno though....$50 does seem a bit steep. I'd go $40
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Emphasis in original.
Like I said in the Released this Week thread, I've heard a lot of hype for this game from a lot of places that seem Wii-adverse.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I predict this will sell a ton because Steven Spielberg's name is in all the press about it. As if the mainstream media needed another reason to talk about the Wii.
Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018
That's right, friends. Notice how I didn't say "gamer friends." I'm talking about anyone and everyone.
This is something that people can play together and have fun with. I expect that it fulfills the same sort of promise of bringing gamers and nongamers together that Wii Sports achieves so well.
That is why I want this game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I don't know. I haven't seen much advertisement for it at all.
Pretty much reinforcing the notion that I have about it being a good social game for anyone; not just people who are gamers, or who are casual gamers, but people that are friends who you can invite over and have fun with, regardless of their "gaming experience."
Nintendo power enjoyed it too:
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Boom Blox, Okami, Bully, No More Heroes, The World Ends With You. Bah!
Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
not only that, i think it's going to suffer from having horrible, bland box art as well. they'll probably have a generic, forgettable marketing campaign to match.
HEAD
SHOT
!!!!
You're probably right.
If they were smart, they would have really, really emphasized Steven Spielberg's name, both on the box art (much larger, more pronounced font) and in whatever ads or commercials that they may (or more likely won't) have.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Carnival Games is inexpensive and has a clear-cut concept that a lot of people are familiar with, and it is apparently advertised pretty well, at least for kids' shows or something. I saw a TV ad once. It's a $20 game.
This game could potentially do extremely well with people, casual and traditional or hardcore gamers alike. It's a good game making fantastic use of the Wii's unique abilities and it has Steven Spielberg's name on it. But so far I haven't seen any attempt to get the word out about it, the cover art is generic, they haven't emphasized Spielberg's name enough, and it's $50 (as opposed to $20 - it's not a simple impulse buy).
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Bloom Blox is about 10-20 bucks too expensive, as a budget price would give it Katamari-esque potential. It's good that the development money went more towards gameplay than presentation, but you'd think they'd put a bit more work into the latter if they're going to slap Spielberg's name on it.
Oh shit, no you're right, Carnival games is $40, I was wrong, I just thought it was $20.. I guess I got it confused. :P my bad.
But I wonder..
there may be a question of perceived value at work here. If they price it at $20, it may get placed in a bargain bin, or on a 'shovelware shelf' at retailers, where it will be confused with completely useless games. At >$20, it keeps it away from the immediate placement into bargain bins with Phoenix game stuff, and hopefully on display somewhere that people can distinguish it as something besides typical, forgettable shovelware. Hopefully, they'll see the Spielberg name and associate quality with it.
I hope at least.
This is me rationalizing the $50 price tag, mind you. I'd much rather it be $20, too, of course, but I'm just trying to perceive some way for this game to not get treated as and lost among shovelware.
The "Katamari effect" argument has a ton of weight for a game like this, I totally agree there.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
8:45, man.
BOUGHT.
Thanks for that. Ya. That settles it. I will have to factor it into the budget. Slow summer my ass. This should be THE party game of the summer.
dream a little dream or you could live a little dream
sleep forever if you wish to be a dreamer
"Steven Spielberg is bringing his famous movie magic to videogames this week in the form of Boom Blox, a puzzle game involving ..." etc, then he described the basic premise of the thing.
I also found it funny because the newscaster actually used the term "casual gamer." Heh.
Anyway, hopefully this game gets more media attention like this. It won't sell if EA only advertises through the traditional channels of the "gamer market."
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games