Curmudgeon Gamer
14 May 2008
NYT Crosswords vs CrossworDS
It's possible to take it for granted these days that, if it's a casual kind of game made for the DS and it's not published by Nintendo, then it's a sucky piece of trashware produced solely to cash in on the system's huge user base. And conversely, that Nintendo has produced a similar game that is much better.
That had been the case with Nintendogs (as opposed to Catz, Dogz, Horsez, and the horrifying "Babyz"), with the severely underrated Clubhouse Games, with the two Brain Age games... heck, the Sudoku applet in Brain Age is so clearly better than every other version of the puzzle on the DS that it brings one to a kind of despair. Why is Nintendo's Sudoku minigame so well-made when others' full Sudoku applications are so crappy? Putting these things together is not brain surgery. It's enough to make one wonder if Nintendo doesn't have a patent on non-stupid number grid entry on portable gaming computers (USPTO # 951827364).*
It would be easy to assume that Nintendo's version would be better than Majesco's. It is not, by a long shot.
From looking at the games, initial impressions would seem to indicate the usual first-party upstaging. Crossword DS has a brilliant interface nearly as good as Brain Age Sudoku, and with better character recognition despite having 16 more glyphs to distinguish. It's not obvious at first that Majesco's game HAS character recognition. Furthermore, that game's color schemes range an odious gamut from ugly to unreadable, while Nintendo notices that a crossword game that's not black boxes on white squares is a slight against the memory of Arthur Wynne.
Majesco's game commits a few other grave offenses, although they're only obvious compared to Nintendo's interface. NYT Crosswords shows only Across or Down clues at a time; Crosswords DS shows them both at once. NYT uses a thin-stemmed, seedy newsprint typeface for clues and what looks like hateful Comic Sans for entered letters; Crosswords DS uses sharp, thick-lined sans-serif characters for both. NYT uses annoying button assignments that make it far too easy to accidentally receive an irrevocable hint, and only offers one type of hint at that; Crosswords DS uses the book orientation popularized by Brain Age, ignores button presses in favor of a visual interface, and will give stuck players the option of seeing a single letter, a whole word, or even providing alternate, easier clues, ala GAMES Magazine's World's Most Ornery Crosswords. And while both programs offer more than a thousand puzzles, Crosswords DS also provides Word Search puzzles and Anagrams.
And yet, of the two, despite Nintendo's typical meticulous attention to usability, their product is far inferior where it counts. Ultimately, in a collection of crosswords, the quality of the puzzles is
paramount. The New York Times is just about the most respected source of puzzles out there, and Majesco's inclusion of several years of their output shows that, while they may not be the best at putting together an interface, they care about the puzzles themselves. And once gotten used to, the interface isn't really so bad.
The handwriting recognition particularly turns out to be pretty good when used, even if the drawing area is restricted to a small input box. The ugliness of the interface can be remedied by entering a code. This essential code is "up up down down B B Y Y," and instead of being hidden away on GameFAQs, it should be printed in large, boldface type on the front of the very box, just beneath the title. Thankfully, once entered it's saved to the game file, allowing players to forget the low-contrast sins of the original color scheme.
While NYT Crosswords features years of top-notch puzzles, ranging in difficulty from a relaxing pastime to uncommonly challenging, Crosswords DS's puzzles... well, to be honest, I don't really know how hard they become. You see, in the same way that Brain Age Sudoku starts out with only a selection of low and medium-difficulty puzzles available and a bunch more that must be unlocked, Crosswords DS also forces players to begin with easier puzzles before letting him tackle harder ones.
This wouldn't be so bad, except that the easy puzzles are grievously simple! We're talking 4x4 grids here, progressing up to 11x11 for the harder ones available at first. You should know that these puzzles are included in the game's puzzle count, so when the back of the box says over 1,000 puzzles, a good percentage of them is this slight fare. Even the New York Times Monday puzzles, the easiest of the lot in Majesco's title, are full-sized grids.
Furthermore, while the NYT clues are filled with the wit and cunning for which the Times crosswords are famous, Nintendo's clues honestly read like something better suited for elementary school students. Fill-in-the-blank clues are over-common, as well as slipshod "partial word" clues along the lines of "the farmer in the d _ _ _". While it's possible, should the player persevere through the featherweight stuff to get to the harder puzzles, that the package redeems itself, it is unlikely to match the New York Times' Will Shortz-edited output.
Yet even one of the subgames in Nintendo's package fall prey to this kind of shoddyness. The very first Anagrams puzzle accepts, and in fact requires, "lase," which is a real if obscure word defined by Answers.com in regards to lasers, yet rejects "ale." The Word Searches seem to be okay, although they are hampered by the fact that they're word searches, the decaffeinated coffee of word puzzles.
Were this a perfect world, or at least one less encumbered by exclusive licensing, we would have a game that combined Nintendo's wonderful interface with Majesco's formidable puzzle assortment. It's possible that the problems with Nintendo's game has to do with them trying to play to both kid and adult audiences, which would explain the near-beer clues and word search inclusion. I usually dispute claims that Nintendo's efforts to keep most of their games friendly to children ruins them for adults. For insecure adults, maybe. But in this case it certainly has.
* Don't look that number up; it's a joke.
That had been the case with Nintendogs (as opposed to Catz, Dogz, Horsez, and the horrifying "Babyz"), with the severely underrated Clubhouse Games, with the two Brain Age games... heck, the Sudoku applet in Brain Age is so clearly better than every other version of the puzzle on the DS that it brings one to a kind of despair. Why is Nintendo's Sudoku minigame so well-made when others' full Sudoku applications are so crappy? Putting these things together is not brain surgery. It's enough to make one wonder if Nintendo doesn't have a patent on non-stupid number grid entry on portable gaming computers (USPTO # 951827364).*
It would be easy to assume that Nintendo's version would be better than Majesco's. It is not, by a long shot.
From looking at the games, initial impressions would seem to indicate the usual first-party upstaging. Crossword DS has a brilliant interface nearly as good as Brain Age Sudoku, and with better character recognition despite having 16 more glyphs to distinguish. It's not obvious at first that Majesco's game HAS character recognition. Furthermore, that game's color schemes range an odious gamut from ugly to unreadable, while Nintendo notices that a crossword game that's not black boxes on white squares is a slight against the memory of Arthur Wynne.
Majesco's game commits a few other grave offenses, although they're only obvious compared to Nintendo's interface. NYT Crosswords shows only Across or Down clues at a time; Crosswords DS shows them both at once. NYT uses a thin-stemmed, seedy newsprint typeface for clues and what looks like hateful Comic Sans for entered letters; Crosswords DS uses sharp, thick-lined sans-serif characters for both. NYT uses annoying button assignments that make it far too easy to accidentally receive an irrevocable hint, and only offers one type of hint at that; Crosswords DS uses the book orientation popularized by Brain Age, ignores button presses in favor of a visual interface, and will give stuck players the option of seeing a single letter, a whole word, or even providing alternate, easier clues, ala GAMES Magazine's World's Most Ornery Crosswords. And while both programs offer more than a thousand puzzles, Crosswords DS also provides Word Search puzzles and Anagrams.
And yet, of the two, despite Nintendo's typical meticulous attention to usability, their product is far inferior where it counts. Ultimately, in a collection of crosswords, the quality of the puzzles is
paramount. The New York Times is just about the most respected source of puzzles out there, and Majesco's inclusion of several years of their output shows that, while they may not be the best at putting together an interface, they care about the puzzles themselves. And once gotten used to, the interface isn't really so bad.
The handwriting recognition particularly turns out to be pretty good when used, even if the drawing area is restricted to a small input box. The ugliness of the interface can be remedied by entering a code. This essential code is "up up down down B B Y Y," and instead of being hidden away on GameFAQs, it should be printed in large, boldface type on the front of the very box, just beneath the title. Thankfully, once entered it's saved to the game file, allowing players to forget the low-contrast sins of the original color scheme.
While NYT Crosswords features years of top-notch puzzles, ranging in difficulty from a relaxing pastime to uncommonly challenging, Crosswords DS's puzzles... well, to be honest, I don't really know how hard they become. You see, in the same way that Brain Age Sudoku starts out with only a selection of low and medium-difficulty puzzles available and a bunch more that must be unlocked, Crosswords DS also forces players to begin with easier puzzles before letting him tackle harder ones.
This wouldn't be so bad, except that the easy puzzles are grievously simple! We're talking 4x4 grids here, progressing up to 11x11 for the harder ones available at first. You should know that these puzzles are included in the game's puzzle count, so when the back of the box says over 1,000 puzzles, a good percentage of them is this slight fare. Even the New York Times Monday puzzles, the easiest of the lot in Majesco's title, are full-sized grids.
Furthermore, while the NYT clues are filled with the wit and cunning for which the Times crosswords are famous, Nintendo's clues honestly read like something better suited for elementary school students. Fill-in-the-blank clues are over-common, as well as slipshod "partial word" clues along the lines of "the farmer in the d _ _ _". While it's possible, should the player persevere through the featherweight stuff to get to the harder puzzles, that the package redeems itself, it is unlikely to match the New York Times' Will Shortz-edited output.
Yet even one of the subgames in Nintendo's package fall prey to this kind of shoddyness. The very first Anagrams puzzle accepts, and in fact requires, "lase," which is a real if obscure word defined by Answers.com in regards to lasers, yet rejects "ale." The Word Searches seem to be okay, although they are hampered by the fact that they're word searches, the decaffeinated coffee of word puzzles.
Were this a perfect world, or at least one less encumbered by exclusive licensing, we would have a game that combined Nintendo's wonderful interface with Majesco's formidable puzzle assortment. It's possible that the problems with Nintendo's game has to do with them trying to play to both kid and adult audiences, which would explain the near-beer clues and word search inclusion. I usually dispute claims that Nintendo's efforts to keep most of their games friendly to children ruins them for adults. For insecure adults, maybe. But in this case it certainly has.
* Don't look that number up; it's a joke.
Labels: crosswords, crosswordsds, ds, majesco, newyorktimes, nintendo, nyt, portable
--JohnH at 06:31
Comment
[ 0 ]
08 November 2007
Sonic Rush Adventure is Confused
Sonic Rush Adventure seems to have gathered itself a plethora of relatively encouraging review scores. I'm no mathematician, but I'm going to say that it gets about an 8/10 on average.
Which it sort of should, but mostly shouldn't.
It's actual levels are all fine. Running, jumping, smashing enemies open, it's all very Sonic. Classic Sonic, one might say. Let it be known at this point that I like Sonic, and I've played pretty much everything that Sega have churned out with his spiky blue face on the cover. Sure, most of them are utter guff, but that's besides the point.
I still don't understand why Sega feel a need to inject unnecessary peripheral garbage into the games. Sonic Rush had a nice balance, I thought. Enough story for Sega to congratulate themselves on creating something, but mostly just levels. Bosses were a bit of a bore, but you can't win them all and, thank god, at least it wasn't Sonic 360.
So, all well and good. Sega felt a need to create a sequel. First thing they did was add in another animal character for plot purposes. Nobody cares, Sega. Then they didn't get Hideki Naganuma to do the soundtrack, which is a shame. Then they put way too much focus on some drab stylus-based mini-game with a boat. Yawn.
I have to watch about ten minutes of cut-scenes before I can play some of the fun levels. Then I need to plot out routes with the stylus. I get why they're doing it; they're trying to justify the “Adventure” suffix they've slapped onto the game. Well, Sega, Phantom Hourglass has got that area covered. There's my adventure. I want some platform game, okay?
I feel a need to re-emphasise that the platforming part of Sonic Rush Adventure is great. But that's it.
Sega's problem with Sonic is that they fail to stick with one idea. Nintendo are very aware of Mario and, as such, games like New Super Mario Bros and Mario Galaxy are very polished, refined games that stick to the platforming. The Mario Party series has lots of mini-games. The RPG series caters for a more adventurous slant. Granted, we end up with a lot of Mario games, but at least they're not a confused mish-mash of wannabe genres like Sonic Rush Adventure.
Which it sort of should, but mostly shouldn't.
It's actual levels are all fine. Running, jumping, smashing enemies open, it's all very Sonic. Classic Sonic, one might say. Let it be known at this point that I like Sonic, and I've played pretty much everything that Sega have churned out with his spiky blue face on the cover. Sure, most of them are utter guff, but that's besides the point.
I still don't understand why Sega feel a need to inject unnecessary peripheral garbage into the games. Sonic Rush had a nice balance, I thought. Enough story for Sega to congratulate themselves on creating something, but mostly just levels. Bosses were a bit of a bore, but you can't win them all and, thank god, at least it wasn't Sonic 360.
So, all well and good. Sega felt a need to create a sequel. First thing they did was add in another animal character for plot purposes. Nobody cares, Sega. Then they didn't get Hideki Naganuma to do the soundtrack, which is a shame. Then they put way too much focus on some drab stylus-based mini-game with a boat. Yawn.
I have to watch about ten minutes of cut-scenes before I can play some of the fun levels. Then I need to plot out routes with the stylus. I get why they're doing it; they're trying to justify the “Adventure” suffix they've slapped onto the game. Well, Sega, Phantom Hourglass has got that area covered. There's my adventure. I want some platform game, okay?
I feel a need to re-emphasise that the platforming part of Sonic Rush Adventure is great. But that's it.
Sega's problem with Sonic is that they fail to stick with one idea. Nintendo are very aware of Mario and, as such, games like New Super Mario Bros and Mario Galaxy are very polished, refined games that stick to the platforming. The Mario Party series has lots of mini-games. The RPG series caters for a more adventurous slant. Granted, we end up with a lot of Mario games, but at least they're not a confused mish-mash of wannabe genres like Sonic Rush Adventure.
--Martin at 16:22
Comment
[ 3 ]
05 July 2007
Bill Budge Pinball Construction Set reborn?
Saw Powershot Pinball Constructor for Nintendo DS on Game | Life and have added it to my want list.
I hope they don't screw this up, because the idea -- especially on the stylus-wielding system -- is brilliant. Just like it was years ago when Bill Budge did it on 8-bit computers:
GameSpot has more images here (of the new NDS game, not the classic).
I hope they don't screw this up, because the idea -- especially on the stylus-wielding system -- is brilliant. Just like it was years ago when Bill Budge did it on 8-bit computers:
GameSpot has more images here (of the new NDS game, not the classic).Labels: construction kits, ds, pinball
--jvm at 15:07
Comment
[ 1 ]
08 April 2007
Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP: Game pricing update
With the basic PSP dropping to $169.99, I felt it was time to see what had changed since I did some rudimentary number crunching on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP game prices five months ago. Not only has the system price dropped, but publishers have abandoned $50 PSP games. Average PSP game prices have shifted down $2.16, although it still has more high priced games than the Nintendo DS. During the same period, average DS game prices have come down about $1.68.
Here's the key result:
Some of the drop in the average PSP game price can be attributed to the disappearance of $49.99 games. In November 2006, the PSP had one such game. Removing just that one game from the November data would have dropped the average price of a PSP game by $0.16.
The only PSP game that currently lists for $49.99 is the PSP version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an unreleased game slated for a December 2007 launch. (As it is unreleased, it isn't figured in the numbers shown in this article.)
Other points of interest:
The disappearance of the $50 game makes things a bit harder for publishers on the PSP. Being able to charge $50 for a PSP game was one advantage that system had over the DS. It would be interesting to know if publishers have made a pricing decision based on market conditions or whether Sony has set a $40 ceiling on PSP game prices. I suspect that Nintendo generally won't let publishers charge $40 on the Nintendo DS, although an exception has clearly been made for Final Fantasy III DS.
Now that the $50 option is missing, the big name PSP titles launch at $40. Moreover, I suspect that some publishers are less likely to stay at $40 as long when there are no games in the higher $50 bracket. Notably, even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories can command only a $30 price tag six months after it was released; by comparison, Liberty City Stories stayed at $50 for almost the entire first year after its release.
I look forward to examining sales data over the coming months to see if the hardware and software price adjustments affect PSP sales.
Feel free to download the data for yourself: OpenOffice ODS, plaintext CSV.
Here's the key result:
| Average Game Price | Mid-Nov 2006 | Mid-Apr 2007 |
| DS | $28.97 | $27.29 |
| PSP | $31.97 | $29.83 |
Some of the drop in the average PSP game price can be attributed to the disappearance of $49.99 games. In November 2006, the PSP had one such game. Removing just that one game from the November data would have dropped the average price of a PSP game by $0.16.
The only PSP game that currently lists for $49.99 is the PSP version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an unreleased game slated for a December 2007 launch. (As it is unreleased, it isn't figured in the numbers shown in this article.)
Other points of interest:
- EB Games lists 102 new games for the Nintendo DS and 94 new games for the PSP. This doesn't count out-of-stock and unreleased games, so the numbers could shift 2-3 games either way in a day's time.
- The median game price for each system is $29.99.
- About 33% of all PSP games retail for under $25. Around 41% of Nintendo DS games are below the $25 level.
- About 1/3 of all PSP games retail for $39.99. Only one Nintendo DS game sells for that price (Final Fantasy III DS), while about 23% of Nintendo DS games retail for over $30.
- 18 out of 22 Nintendo DS games priced at $34.99 are Nintendo-published games.
The disappearance of the $50 game makes things a bit harder for publishers on the PSP. Being able to charge $50 for a PSP game was one advantage that system had over the DS. It would be interesting to know if publishers have made a pricing decision based on market conditions or whether Sony has set a $40 ceiling on PSP game prices. I suspect that Nintendo generally won't let publishers charge $40 on the Nintendo DS, although an exception has clearly been made for Final Fantasy III DS.Now that the $50 option is missing, the big name PSP titles launch at $40. Moreover, I suspect that some publishers are less likely to stay at $40 as long when there are no games in the higher $50 bracket. Notably, even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories can command only a $30 price tag six months after it was released; by comparison, Liberty City Stories stayed at $50 for almost the entire first year after its release.
I look forward to examining sales data over the coming months to see if the hardware and software price adjustments affect PSP sales.
Feel free to download the data for yourself: OpenOffice ODS, plaintext CSV.
--jvm at 01:36
Comment
[ 7 ]
23 March 2007
Touch the Dead
With a name like Touch the Dead, how can a fan of Typing of the Dead and Pinball of the Dead pass it up? As seen on GSW.
Update: Ruffin prodded me with links to the official site and some images of the game from IGN. Motivated to look further, I found some others on Worth Playing which show both screens and appear to be from last month.
Update: Ruffin prodded me with links to the official site and some images of the game from IGN. Motivated to look further, I found some others on Worth Playing which show both screens and appear to be from last month.
Labels: ds
--jvm at 11:16
Comment
[ 1 ]
23 February 2007
Why, yes, the GameStop/EB Games merger was a bad idea...
Chulip is a quirky PlayStation 2 title I've been watching and considering buying. It can currently only be bought in the United States through EB Games/GameStop. That is both surprising and dismaying.
Maybe the only way it could have been published was to secure a distribution deal with a huge retailer ahead of time, and EB Games/GameStop fits that description. However, it is precisely this kind of exclusivity crap that I fear will get out of control and lead to an even more consumer-hostile environment.
And Chulip isn't the only game. Settlers DS is getting the same treatment.
Maybe the only way it could have been published was to secure a distribution deal with a huge retailer ahead of time, and EB Games/GameStop fits that description. However, it is precisely this kind of exclusivity crap that I fear will get out of control and lead to an even more consumer-hostile environment.
And Chulip isn't the only game. Settlers DS is getting the same treatment.
Labels: business, ds, game stores, ps2
--jvm at 22:11
Comment
[ 4 ]
04 January 2007
Not dead
I hate to start the new year this way, but I literally have nothing to say. The news has been light and nothing I've read has particularly interested me. I'm busy playing games (Final Fantasy III DS and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops) and doing some reading.
For what it's worth, I'm considering an LCD TV over a PS3 for the time being. So there is that.
For what it's worth, I'm considering an LCD TV over a PS3 for the time being. So there is that.
--jvm at 21:04
Comment
[ 7 ]
13 December 2006
Nintendo DS: sold out
A post on NeoGAF reminded me that I'd expected the Nintendo DS to sell out this holiday season. I just did a quick check and Amazon, EB Games/GameStop, Wal-Mart, and Target all list every version of the Nintendo DS as out of stock or, in the case of Target, available in stores only. (I might be in a local Target soon to have a look at their stock.)
Nintendo sold almost a million Nintendo DS systems in the U.S. during the month of November alone. If they can keep the stores stocked, they'll be able to hit that or more in December. It now appears that's could be a fairly significant "if".
Nintendo sold almost a million Nintendo DS systems in the U.S. during the month of November alone. If they can keep the stores stocked, they'll be able to hit that or more in December. It now appears that's could be a fairly significant "if".
--jvm at 20:49
Comment
[ 3 ]
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