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3D Glasses Go Out of Focus in the Home

ames Cameron's Avatar, lve t or hate t, is Ne

years to come. ls impact is greater than | ‘expected, as now every technology manufacturer under the sun is doing anything and everything it сап to bring 3D from the big screen to your hing room.

"Tho consumer electronics industry wants you to buy a 30 television, йу glasses and al. Nintendo wants you to сапу 2Din your pocket, and game developers want to create tho software hit hat redefines video games ike Avatar did for the movie theater. | thnk the road is much longer, and | dare 10 say it may even be impossible as the technology ‘stands today | concede that in time, D entertain- ment could be a standard part of our Ives, But as long as that technology requires special glasses ог other peripherals, k wil have a hard time fnding mass appeal

My reasons aro simple. The frst is cost lm the fret person in ine to buy new gadgets, monitors, and televisions, but a large number of Americans have recently upgraded to an expensive HDTV. Now 3D manufactures expect them to pony up another $1,500 for a 3D ТУ S500 for a 3D-ready Bluray player, and $80 a pop for four pairs of 3D ‘lasses? Thats a hefty investment that many fami- fes may not be wiling or able to make amidst a recession, especialy given the lack of software that takes advantage of the technology

I'l also add that no software wil ever be so great that I wil want to wear glasses on top of my vison corective gasses. The industry can state over and over how they made it possible for 3D lasses to ft over the frames of he world's near- and far- Sighted, but that doesnt change the fact that ts uncomfortable over long periods of time, A two and.a-haf hour тома is опе thing: marathon ses- Sions that reach into the 10 pus hous of playing a game make this solution unacceptable (Virtual Boy anyone. Unless health care companies around the word are going to start paying for prescription 30 glasses, I know myself and many other vision- imposed people wi not exchange headaches and double gases for the sake of "Wow, look at that thing pop out of the screen moments

Fray there is the hurdle of converence. While playing a ЗО game, your phone rings, and you pick itup and the screen is a bury mess because, oh yeah, [have these stupid lasses on my head. Or perhaps it something ав simple as any screen in the room that isn't 3D warping and distorting at the ‘expense of another. often play games and watch sports on another monitor at the same tmo, so mut- asking, the skil that defines today’s mecia hungry. ‘consumer, becomes encumbered

There is a lot at stake with 3D. Companies ке ‘Sony stand to make money of software and hard ware. Whe fel he ЗО glasses experience wil define short experiences in the movie theater for the foreseeable future, ts outlook at home for gamers is beak unti someone pushes the technology of ту head and into an experience that anyone inthe Wing room can enjoy free of nuisance.

Enjoy the issue.

"u^

Infamous 2

sive first look at Sucker nch's upcoming

sandbox epic

by Joe Juba

regulars

6 Feedback 1 5

12 Connect

LLL

The Great Debate

Gaming's Strangest Glitches by Ben Reeves

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FIRST IS FAST.

FIRST IS GENEROUS, SHARING INTERNET WITH UP TO EIGHT WI-FI ENABLED DEVICES AT ONCE.

FIRST ALWAYS BRINGS SOMETHING NEW TO THE PARTY, LIKE FRONT AND REAR-FACING CAMERAS.

FIRST STREAMS LIVE VIDEO TO THE WEB.

FIRST IS 4G, BUT PLAYS NICE WITH 3G AS WELL.

FIRST ISN'T LATER, IT'S NOW.

WHAT WILL YOU DO FIRST WITH EVO, THE FIRST 4G PHONE?

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his month in Feedback readers show their devotion to gaming, gripe about Farmville, rip on Activision, and we look at whether the AO rating is holding the industry back.

reemp 1 know its a tad early, but Г like to nominate Grayson Hunt as a candidate for your "Top 10. Dorks of 2010" year-end ist. His face should ‘easly put him in the top eight, and when you throw in the golden cow-skul crotch-doorknaby, he rates top three at least. f Wolverine and Jet Brody mated, we would have Grayson Hunt. ‘Thomas Fischer Jr. via email

I typicaly do not play frst person shooters, but after reading your article on Bulletstorm, all | can say is “АН can't wait!" Excelent job going through the inner workings of a sure-fro classic (fe years from now, maybe). Buletstorm blew ту mind, and | just keep re-reading the article because it seems so rad. If опу didn't have to wait unti 2011 for this бат game! Nate Nease Las Vegas, NV.

Okay, so Grayson Hunt looks like he jumped straight out the box art for an early Super Nintendo game. However, the protagonist's ‘90s-cool flair contributes to the overall gonzo vibe of Bulletstorm; the gameplay is about ridiculous combos and blockbuster action, not a profound narrative. In that con- text, Grayson Hunt fits right in. After all, you can't pull off the “believable and relatable hero" schtick when you're getting points for electro-whipping dudes in the crotch.

Question of the Month

Who would win in a fight and why: Samus or Master Chief (without all the kissing and стар)? Contact Us ketea в feedback

(UNLEASH YOURTIMAGINATION!

{COULD CHANGE THE WAY. EVERYONE VIEWS. MOVIE-BASED GAMES.”

= AOL GAME DAILY

OPEN THE TOY BOX

"...REWARDIS] EXPERIMENTATION АМР, EXPLORATION IN WAYS RARELY SEEN IN FAMILY GAMES. FRANKLY, ITS

ABOUT TIME."

- GAME INFORMER MAGAZINE, MAY 2010,

Фар - PIXAR

Many comic fans wrote

us to correct a couple of errors in our feature оп ‘Marvel vs. Capcom 3. So, їп an attempt to regain some of our shamefully forfeited nerd credibiity. we apologize for calling Deadpool a mutant, and {or referring to Captain America as a founding member of the Avengers.

Short Answers to Questions

* Who has the highest Gamerscore at GI?

Reiner

= Where was

GI Droid last seen? Classified

+ Which Gi staffer

wants to go one-on-one.

with me and get owned? Dan

* Wal they make

BipShock 3? (BipShock?)

8 feedback

lore Than Matu

The AO rating is basicaly a death sentence in

"he industry. The fact that most places won't

el AO games means that they are being

unfair restricted, leading to them being edited

and watered down. Games aren't just for kids

anymore, people! There is a whole generation

of grown-up gamers now, and we can handle

эп атау of mature themes and stations. I can

guarantee that a game with an AO rating wouid

have a real audience. | want to see this happen,

and I'm posite I'm not the only опе. Are there

any big developers out there with the guts to

face the controversy and make a game tke this? Jess Wasson

via email

You seem to be under the impression that developers’ artistic ambitions are being sti fled as they are forced to pander to a philis- tine audience, and the reality doesn't match up to that perception. The ESRB's AO label has only been applied to games featuring extreme sadistic violence or graphic depic- tions of sex. An M rating still allows devel- pers to incorporate sophisticated elements that accommodate an entire spectrum of storytelling possibilities. Furthermore, most. "mature themes and situations" can be. conveyed under the M rating without fear of censorship; ask any gamer if they feel like Heavy Rain or BioShock were artisti- cally hampered by being “limited” to an М. Mature gaming doesn't need to be defined by excess adults-only material - unless. you're specifically advocating games with pervasive, sexually explicit content...in which case, gross.

Do It Yourself

Why do more developers not put in a map edit ing tool? Halois Forge tool is where I spend most ‘of my ime on Halo, playing awesome racing maps and infection variants. Far Cry 25 map. ‘builder is the only reason | stil own the дате, and most of LitleBigPlanet's content is bulding your own levels and downloading others’, and it is very wel received. Map bulking tools hugely ‘extend the repay value and it doesn't seem Ike it would be too hard to put in, so why don't more developers do it?

Hank Morrison. Chattanooga, TN.

A Community Responds

Last month, we printed a letter from Collin McFerrin, a reader asking if he was the only gamer who cared about the future of the industry. Unsurprisingly, many of you had an answer to this question. These are just a few of the responses, ranging from outraged to welcoming.

You're right. Creation tools are a lot of fun

said than done, though; des only need to give players all of the pieces to make content, they also need to make ‘sure that the interface is intuitive and easy- to-use. Check out page 39 to see our top 10 console games that do user-created, content right.

Colin, whether it be your area or your attitude, you haven't ray met this gaming community. ‘The enthusiasm and dedication of its fans has kept the business alive and constantly grow- ing since the arcade days. These gamers — myself included — are infatuated wilh gaming. Is not just you. There are milions of gamers oul there, and alow me to welcome you as you take your frst steps out of your isolation апа into our large community.

Giovanni Calderon.

Bridgeport, CT

"n response to Colin McFerrin, m absolutely эле that there are many people who love games just as much, or even more so than you do, I myself love video games, but we ай have our ways of showing it |, too, subscribo o magazines and watch online videos. More importantly | buy games with my hard-earned ‘money. | may not defend big game publishers or ty to make gamers out of my non-garring friends, but that doesn't mean | don't care ‘about the future of the industry. In fact, ove it and look forward to t.

Sonya Chambers

via email

Bah, this Kd is an idiot, Does Colin honestly think that people don't care about the future ©! gaming? “I subscribe to gaming maga- zines." Yes, but do you actually read them? Then you wouid see tons of people are just as into gaming = if not more - than you are. Maggie Kaminski Evanston, Ilinois

(Lett) Ubisoft's Amy Sle and Shaun White Skateboard ing creative director Nick Harper cozy up to the Prince

in the Ө lobby (Right) Mier and Ben hang wth Kane & Lynch 2 mulitaer director Kim Krogh and Sandbox Sat Rob Fischer, who has been hiting he moustache wax п атах way (Inset) Meagan mats down with Dest tos Chad Conceimo

TOMCLANCY'S P" 29

“Multiplayer map available for XbOK 360 àrid PlayStation system. 2 2^ - “While supplies last. NS Pick up Beta code at time of pre-order. Pick ШОШО of purchase. о 2010 Uson Enertainment Al Rights Reserved. Tom Can Ghost Res con Fir Soi le Soker con во, Uou com, and urbia xo are trademarks bot Entertainment n S and Jes Money boe Xbox 360, Yoox LE and пе ‘Sy canto Entertanment america ne © 2X9 y опире A rs seed amet arse Тайата o Came ne) = "Power to the Players" is a registered trademark of Ebo Inc. » UBISOFT

Don't Worry One company has me scored crapless about the future of the gaming industry: Activision. Every to thing they do just seems more evi than the last. Sure this is hyperbole, but after hear ing about the termination of the heads of Infity Ward and seeing dozens of Something Hero games, It just feels ike the company is bleeding the industry ду. Evan Painter Savannah, GA

Activision is a popular target for ire these days, for all the reasons Evan cited and ‘more. Before you get too scared, however, remember this: Times change. Five years ‘ago, people were saying the same things about Electronic Arts. Long before that, Atari was the name to beat in home video ‘games. The company leading the market today won't hold that position forever...and you can take comfort in that the next time a Something Hero gets you down.

Brave New World | was rather disturbed by the comments made by Jessie Schell in the interview “Contemplating the Gamepocalypse.” His view ога future in which an individual's every activ ity is monitored and awarded bonus points is Orwellian. However, Orwell and Huxley's writings were warnings, not goals. Maybe Mr, Schell should get off his computer for a while and “integrate” with people the old-fashioned жау. In any event, I can guarantee | won't be enriching him further by buying and reading his trash or buying his games. Јен Howell Pelham, NH

The idea of your every action being moni tored and quantified with points may be unsettling, but you don’t need to shoot the messenger. In the interview, Schell theo- rized that current trends are going in this direction, but he wasn't discussing it as an ideal to be attained. The phrase "game- pocalypse" hardly conjures up positive. images; its important to see the distinction

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"ht smile with Ben and Joe as infamous 2 game decor Nate Fox tres to eat Dans head (Right) If you wear 30 asses in ea ife, wich is ready in 3D, do you see in 4D??? Oriy Meagan and Pay- chul Moore know the answer

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heir global atform experience, and marketing

жаг that Activision sup- ng our fans the be le gaming experiences Bungie hasn't announced йв next pro the studio is trying to Halo by creating а compelling un IP that Bungie envisions wil host mu

time the studio is creating a multi-platform. bush M

Bungie E

former creative leaders. Although Bu munity director Bran Jarrard reg

Teams With FT Activision Halo creators sign a 10-year

contract.for new property

by Matthew Kato сете itself up to work on

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The Future of Halo

Microsoft owns the Halo series and created the 343 Industries label

to handie al things Halo, but Bungie is stil working on Halo: Reach

for release this fall, and is promising to take care of the game after its launch, “We definitely have a plan in place to have a portion of our

team that wil stil be focused on supporting Reach and our community and keeping the Xbox Live experience going," sald Bungie community director Brian Jarrard. “Eventually there wil e some discussions about what the end of that period looks like and when and how does that all ft together, but that's not something that we're prepared to talk about yet."

Blizzard & Activision Diablo, StarCraft, and World ot Warcraft de

ws that for а track record?) Blizzard has been bought by a variety of larger companies through the years, and latest partners Activision have wisely left Bizzare alone to make

& Midway nabbed the publish

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Bungie's Next Game The developer hasn't announced what I is ситету working оп, but whatever is, Bungie is already making progress. "ts ‘Something that Jason Jones, the co-founder of Bungie - who the same guy who came up with Marathon, Myth, and the fret Halo - ts something that he's been working on behind the scenes for a number of years now since 2007,” explained design drector Joseph Staten. “Alter ODST, me and some of the other core creatives on that team spent some tme working with Jason. Ive actually been fulime on this project since the end of ODST. This absolutely has gotten some focus from me over tho fast year or so"

Bungie has had plenty on its piate with the Halo franchise, and this has come at the expense of expanding into new proper tes. We Клон the company has had one such project which was not an FPS in the hopper for many years. This concept could be the genesis for he studo's new project. The studio cur rently has jb [sings that would indicate I's making an action RPG; Bungle is looking for writers to craft a universe featuring a "branching or noninear narative experience,” as wel as а "player investment designer to “give players long-term goals to invest them in the опа and ther character

Bioware & Electronic Arts

Although EA bought BioWare Pan demic in 2007, the reltonshp is seemingly more of a partnership, le ing Mass Effect developer ВОЈА with a fair amount of reedom. T more as paid oft. Thie is a marked change trom the days when EA would

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UBISOFT

-Insomniac Goes j Multiplatform

/ New Franchise Coming Courtesy of EA Partners by Matthew Kato

a

nsomniac Games - creators of stalwart Sony franchises such as Resistance and Ratchet & Clank - has signed a deal ^ with EA Partners for an as-yet-unannounced game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, + Insomniac says it is launching a new uni- verse with this series, and it'llibe the first time that developer has gone muli platfórm* inits 16-year existence.

Game inter talked to insomniac’ Ted Price, the company's founder and CEO, who ‘couldn't divulge a lot about the forthcoming tile; but said the time was right to branch out to other systems. “Wel, we've been talk- continue: to bes ing about multi-platform for a while. We have taken a very measured approach to everything. We до, and мерге at the point in our lifecycle.

227 games ‚ъз a company where we can expand to the. Xbox 360," Taking to Price, he was careful ig to stress how early in the process the project with ‘Sony. was, and he was reticent to characterize the nascent game. Insomniac currently operates Sony А GR, „Уо шов ene rar rieh wi hendte this new game) and one in North Carolina

* We've heard that there ara currently three

the intellectual: games being made at the moment between oon

Wek ‘Although the deal is for only one game, EA

property Hghts patres gena manager баа Davari"

Says thatthe relationship between t and ; Insomnia isn't entirely ephemeral. f you look y Дө, Ratchetand everyting that Insomniac has ever donor 2 / they are creating new universes and new нал. Resistance. споса. The deals scope ha we are taking about today в this frst game, This isn't about contracts; this is about relationships. We try and eam the business every time we work win a partner, and we're confident when Insomniac: divers he high-quality content that wo know they wil create in this universe, wê wil be ther patre" The developers Known for creating Rs own technology, and despte Shi согу partnership, Price says that any tech comes up with wil ot be Shaved with ater EA studios.

. But, as I said, the rélation-

1 ship remains 7 great.”

Med Price, founder & CEO,

< y insomniac Games.

*

Insomniac has along and storied history with Sony, ut the developer is not a wholly ‘ned subsidiy of the console maker. Regardless of what transpires between Insomilac and EAP Price says thatthe devel-

+ oper's relationship with Sony will continue. "We

Wi continue td making games with Sony. Sony does own the тувса property gts foc Ratchet and Resistance. ВИ, аз! said, the relationship remains great” Price 1014 us that even though Sony owns the Ratchet and Resistance franchises, Insoninac would con- inue to make les for hem, and tat he didnt ‘expect hem to be handed of to а diferent studio because of this пен EAP dea

Ina statement regarding the agreement, Sony vas just as optimist for te future between tad insomniac. "Sony Computer Entertainment and Insomniac Games wil continue to buid upon a strong, success! Gear partnership that has led to more than 35 millon games sold and enjoyed by fans around the word. We look forward to unveling nsomniac s next PS3 exclusive properties in ine near future

“his isa heady time for EA Partners Electronic As third- Party publishing and dit burion wing. Fresh of the heels of is deal

with Respawn Entertainment (see last issue, раде 33, it is now spearheading Insomniac Games move to.multiplatform. One thing is ‘emphatically consistent between Insomniac and Respawn's language pertaining to these deals with EA Partners (and even Bungie's recent deal with Activision), the developers. retain the rights to its intellectual properties Keeping this level of control allows these stu- dios to not only make more money off of the games and other media the franchise gener- ates, but lets them shape the brand in the way that they — and not larger partners such as ‘Sony or Microsoft = envision. It's the kind of freedom that successful studios lke Insomniac have earned, and which seems like a win-win for everyone, particularly gamers. If theres a loser in this whole equation, it's perhaps that the days of rigid cónsole-exclusiverelation- ships are a thing of the past.

AIV

Jurassic Park Comes

Ө

Telitale Delivers Season of Episodic Games

am & Max developers Telltale games have struck ‘an agreement with NBC Universal for a full season of downloadable episodic games based

on the Jurassic Park т, The first installment of this

‘multi-platform endeavor is expected later this year.

Telltale has already sold three milion episodes based on classic adventure series like Sam & Max, and hopes to continue its success with Jurassic Park. "We are all huge fans of the Jurassic Park franchise,” says Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games. "For. Jurassic Park, we wil leverage Tellale's expertise in Storytelling and game design to deliver on the ten- sion and drama of the series creating the ultimate cinematic adventure."

IFlI be interesting to see what tone and genre Telltale uses for these Jurassic Park games, given its more whimsical, adventure-oriented past Ма properties ke Tales of Monkey Island.

‘tale tas. злому mas- red episodic ‘dovnload ‘gaming wit ‘oe ech as pem

connect 17

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Pirates of the — Caribbéan Hits the High Seas

Action/RPG Charts Own Course

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FREE YOUR SKIN"

How does such ап anomaly exist in this harsh environ- ment? We asked ClapTrap's creator, Lorin Wood, about the character's origin and his role in the wasteland.

ClapTrap is based on a sketch of yours. Have you had this character in your head for a while, or was he a spur of the moment creation?

Wel, I had to М a personal need to draw the ‘most generc robot | could think of, As was working on Borderlands, Brian Martel recalled the sketch (t was posted as a gag in an assign- ‘ment for a completely diferent project) and had те drag it back to the surface. The design drec- tion the game was taking, we agreed he'd make. a nice addition to the game, for both technical and artistic reasons,

What was the inspiration for this character?

Wel, there are several obvious sources that | drew from - everything from R2-D2 to WALL-E. He's utimately an homage to these characters with our own spin

Was ClapTrap created as a counter to ‘the gloomy post-apocalyptic setting? He was. The tone of the game is pretty bleak when you get past the eye-candy. The main characters, not to mention the bandits and al the other creatures that populate the word, аге not necessary prone to cuddig. | think we pretty much пайва the aggressive nature we were pursuing: this environment is hostie. Okay. Tow how do we balance this equation? Humor is always the best way to deflate an uncomfort- able situation. Сарттар was created as a form. Cf tension reef and as a result took on many ol the humarizing characteristics that the other characters were lacking. intentionally. In a way ha became the voice of reason for the player (which explains why your frst reaction is to try and shoot him).

How did ClapTrap evolve from sketch to in-game model? Were there any signifi- cant tweaks?

Incidentally there were very few changes made to the character design. There were more addi- tions than anything else.

The sketch was resurrected, and from there | went trough a process of ideation with Bran ‘where | played around with various forms of locomotion, facial зі, some minor propor- fonal alterations, and appendages, but in the ‘end we retuned to the original sketch and pro- Portions. The elements that he's composed of are very non-threatening proportional

We needed specific elements that would convey a great deal of personality within a limited bracket of geometry Is а good exercise that helps hone your design sls I sketched out ‘some more refined designs before taking that то Brent Holon, the modeler, Brent suggested some supericial deals which frmly solifed Сартр into this word, Het very capable at his job, and his contributions brought some much needed realty that | didn't consider

!kept the design asy simple for both aes- thetic and modeling purposes, but a 2D drawing doesn't always transito Into three dimensions in any way thats satistactory. More detail wil heip sel dimensionality when it moves in space. It was necessary to make him more belevable.

Did you ever toy around with the idea of a robot voice? Or did you always see him having a goofy, human-like tone? There were some initial conversations about the oce (and sounds in general Part of me vaguely ‘envisioned him with a limited vocabulary and lots ‘of techno-grunts, but when David took the rens he went off in a complete diferent direction than I would have imagined. їп my mind's eye | saw a muse of sorts, more akin to WALL-E with a few off-color imericks tossed in there. | think David saw that too as he forcibly shoved me out ‘ofthe recording room and slammed the door with maniacal laughter.

Does David speak in his normal voice апу more? Or has he transformed into ClapTrap?

Ho does walk around the office dancing Ike артар trying to get his groove оп... actualy pretty sad,

Did you apply an effect to his voice? Nope. That's al David Eddings [Gearbox vice president of business development and licens- ing]. It realy is dificultto keep a straight face when you're around him,

Yes. His voice was altered considerably Is dificult to even recognize it as his. David is basi- cally gone. His performance is the only way to identity him.

ClapTrap is obviously popular with Borderlands fans. Will we ever learn of his origin story? Why do all claptraps. have the same voice and attitude? Аһ, good question. Wel, on that subject Im a man of few words.

Throughout Borderlands’ DLC, we see ‘several variations of ClapTrap, many in ‘outfits. In the original Borderlands con- tent, you stuck with color swaps. Was this something that came up after the initial release?

No, that was all premeditated. The environ- ment and theme of the individual DLCs dic- tated the color schemes of the ClapTraps. We were accustomed to the standard yellow hero Сартгар, we figured why Ит ourselves with that? Let's have some fun with him. The only thing that needed to be consistent was the post eflect and texture work. We established that design language on the original game, so if we. could get away with something, t had to adhere to those rues,

Any chance we'll see other robots like ClapTrap in future Borderlands itera-

connect 21

LittleBigPlanet (Р53

LittleBig deep toolset gives armchair devel oun mico game they can бан cst art the mage dom to create their own level: stumes, and prog ‘editor, compose a unique objet vhile remaining simple enough for non: dicil score, and programa у А al of fe game's одеса to use. With over two million user-created levels available and meactos, hen ure inii them vith fend via Wi nities of any ModNation Racers WWE Smackdown Halo 3 (Xbox 360) PS3) vs. Raw 2010 (PS3, While Halo 3's Forge editor.

The second game released under Sony's Pay Create. ‘Share brand, ModNaton

iles LPs siye і creation tote tied kart racing genre. User- drendiness Б again the key, with Maton’ toolset a- losing players to efttessy maie her oum racers. cars, and tac.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) ip at an FPS eter on consoles, lors you to lay out ре- rooms na set gid to create unique levels. You can also se custom ighiing, program enemies and set their

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Jer, not олу aloving you to төше your own wrest, tut эво сай custom fishes choreograph unique entrance animations. and even wie Ш

yox own stories.

Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy (Wi)

Вак Works isa dream соте rue for fans of e етв. Те game's edor alows

payers o create their oom ships, enemies, ен

and even custom bulet patterns, Aside trom tei

а hassle ot entering your Fiend Code, ransering

any of he 9.000» user-made fles fom he game's

ze.

complet коте

later map

in rea ime.

Skate 3 (PS3, Xbox 360)

The Tony Hawk franchise taid the foundation for

creating your oun custom skate parks, but recently

the Skate series has been doing ай the innovating.

Nt only do Skate 3' tools alow you to efortessy ste your oum custom parks wii the ci

Port Carverton, but the дате rewards you for shar-

ing your creations wih other players and skating

them together.

WarioWare D. (Nintendo DS) One d he most compete systems for creating user made content belongs to Nintendo's handheld. War oltre DX lows paye create every aspect of heir

опу ous you lo move objects in a map and not change the terrain isal

Bungie included a variety of bulding blocs designed to let players create their owm structures. Not only is Forge ‘easy lo use, but t also al- lons players to play together on the map wil they ecit t

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (box 360)

Nuts and Bolts offers a unique approach to user-created content,

by геол) players to male ta own te eic based missions Veh

тенеу challenged but he most entertaining aspect othe

game в creating your own mechanical monstrosity to terrorize the

game's cutesy inab

s, boats, and airplanes to blueprints are also included

ants

Assen

leased by

Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360) Юта may not be the frst game to feature а layer-based livery editor, but thanks to the abit c ate and sell custom patchs for in-game credit Уа the auction house, t has become one of the той popular choices for artistic gamers, Росас wenste allows you to browse pictures of over

two milion custom cars created by the game's dedicated community.

As 1 wrote in my last column, my wife and 1 are reluctant to push video

games onto our kids. That's not to say they're not fascinated when they see

me playing something. When we do let my oldest son play games, how-

ever, ir usually on our computer. He has an easier time with

the keyboard/mouse interface than on a gamepad, and there

are also plenty of bite-sized activities for him to explore. The fact that the games are free doesn't hur, either.

Here are a couple of indispensable websites that feature

browser games appropriate for little ones. I'l be back in a OW e I few months with a look at some great places for older kids, so this intentionally skews very young.

SesameStreet.org One ofthe best stes Tve found for younger kids is also perhaps one ofthe most wel known. Sesame Siroets onine presence is a fantas- tic resource for Kids and parents aike, experty merging educational Content with entertainment.

The games on the ste are generaly quite simple, but they re Perfectly appropriate for ther audence. Ono of the games starts with Elmo taking about using the potty From there, players see ап animated sequence with Zoe as she realizes she has to use the bathroom. A voice els the payer to press any key on the keyboard 1o keep the story going. I's barely а game, but it's а great way to get chicken accimated to the idea of pressing buttons on the key- board — a concept we adults may take for granted.

Many of the games on the site are accompanied by tips for par- ents that te into the deas that the games are trying to get across After ваті about patterns with Cookie Monster at the checkout ıine, for example, parents are urged о give ther kids some pennies 10 hap pay for lems next tmo iney e at the grocery store.

For parents of young kids, I can't recommend SesameStreet- org

enough. A PlaySale mode lets parents lock thet browser so that chì-

ren can't accidental navigate away from the site, which is alu- ble when you need to step away from the computer. Everything on the site is ree, but parents can register to create customized pages with easy access to favorite games and videos. If your kids are into ‘Sesame Street, they're bound to find a lot of them.

PBSKids.org

PBSKids og is another ste that households wih Ие ones should

know about. The interface isn't quite as easy for kids to navigate, but the content is rock sold. PES Kids is home to alot of familar taces, such as Citford the Big Red Dog and Curious George, The games

aro simple but interesting, and they do a great job of miroring each Characters visual style.

As with most of these sites, the games are hit or miss — though when they hit they're quite good. One o the more interesting ones has players choose who wil receive a gift from Curious George. From there, George draws a picture of a git and players have to deduce what he was trying to scribble, Then they enter an arcade- siye minigame and go to the appropriate store айдо while avoiding. felow shoppers. Kids who are learning ther letters and numbers have plenty of ways to test their sls, to. In a Super Why-themed bingo game, kids cick on юйег as they're called out, revealing hidden pictures.

The best thing that parents can do isto visit the stes ahead of time апа check them out for themseives. As | said, some of the games can bo pretty weak and Ке great to know what stnkers to avoid beforehand. Toy e absolutely not a replacement for storytime, drawing. or other forms о! play, but my wite and | have found these Stes to be a fun supplement to our soris regular actis.

Now, if oniy he'd try to emulate me when | clean up tno yard.. ©