1 vs. Chris Cashman: The Complete Interview

The complete audio for our interview with Chris Cashman is now available. Download it here.

You can also read and listen to each individual part below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Hint: You can right click > save as to download the audio to your computer.

We would like to give a final shout out to Chris for sparing us some of his time. Thank you!

1 vs. Chris Cashman: The Interview (Part 3)

On June 15, 2010 Microsoft announced the cancelation of the highly touted Xbox 360 experience known as 1 vs 100. Chris Cashman, host of the show, recently sat down with us for a chat where he discussed a variety of topics. In the third and final part of our interview we discuss his successes as a result of working on 1vs100 and ask if he has a final message for fans of the show.

Follow this link for our interview audio or check out the interview transcript following the jump.  Hint: You can right click > save as to download the audio to your computer. Our full length interview audio will be available on Monday, August 16.

1 vs Chris Cashman: The Interview (Part 2)

On June 15, 2010 Microsoft announced the cancelation of the highly touted Xbox 360 experience known as 1 vs 100. Chris Cashman, host of the show, recently sat down with us for a chat where he discussed a variety of topics. In part two of our interview with Chris Cashman we discuss the evolution of 1vs100 Live, what it was like working with Microsoft, and some of his thoughts on the show’s cancelation. 

Follow this link for our interview audio or check out the interview transcript following the jump. Hint: You can right click > save as to download the audio to your computer.

1 vs Chris Cashman: The Interview (Part 1)

On June 15, 2010 Microsoft announced the cancelation of the highly touted Xbox 360 experience known as 1 vs 100. Chris Cashman, host of the show, recently sat down with us for a chat where he discussed a variety of topics. In Part 1 we discuss how he got involved with 1 vs 100, how humor has influenced his life, his early gaming experiences, and his thoughts on the technology powering the show.


Follow this link for our interview audio or check out the interview transcript following the jump. Hint: You can right click > save as to download the audio to your computer.

Six Months Later - Tidbits of Interest

Digital Stardust has been mute primarily for a single reason - we have had nothing to say for quite a while. Our stated mission statement remains "Analysis and Commentary on the Video Game Industry" but the problem is so little has changed in a significant way in the industry since our last post in August 2009. A few things have crossed the radar, but nothing alone has been enough to warrant a standalone post. Rather than continue to wait, we present several small items of interest we believe keep in line with our mission statement.

Analyst Claims Wii May be in Hot Water
Industry Gamer reports analyst Mike Hickey has been crunching the numbers and is predicting the Wii will "Fade meaningfully" during this year. Consoles typically last around four to five years in traditional lifespan, and the Wii appears to have been designed on this timetable. Nintendo is also releasing all their big-hitter titles this year (Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: The Other M, and Zelda), leaving a fog of uncertainty once the release cycle completes. Can Nintendo afford to announce and launch another console when the 360 and PlayStation 3 appear to have plenty of steam left? Hickey suggests Nintendo instead offer a console price drop and open the door wider to third-party support.

Source: Industry Gamers


Music Gaming Sales Down
Billboard reports music gaming sales are down about half when comparing December 2008 to December 2009 ($468m to $250m). Several commentators around the internet have speculated, and I have to agree, the trend is being caused by lack of real innovation in the formula employed across most music games - timing notes move toward a fixed point on the screen and you press a button, hopefully in time with the music. This has been the case since beatmania and persists into recent titles such as Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Solution? Change the formula to be fresh and new. Will Power Gig accomplish this? Time will tell.

Source: Billboard


Reggie Has Spoken
One of DiS' biggest gripes is the lack of the Regginator's crowd-exciting speeches we heard back five years ago before the Wii launch. We're pleased to report Reggie has spoken with Forbes magazine. The results, however, have left us scratching our heads - for instance, Reggie indicates Mii clothing will not be made available as "it's not an idea that creates value for the consumer" (Nevermind the fact 360 Avatar clothing has made enough money to draw big names like Disney). He also states Nintendo is not interested in HD as it does not create new experiences for gamers. We smell a bit of Sony attitude here, and we don't like it.

Source: Forbes


GameStop Alternatives Going, Going, Gone?
Some shoppers love GameStop, some hate it (I do). It appears GameStop's position as one of North America's dominant game retailers has been strengthened with Movie Gallery's (owner of Game Crazy) filing for bankruptcy this week. Reports claim a combined 760 Movie Gallery, Hollywood Video, and Game Crazy stores will be shuttered. Several of my local Game Crazy stores have gone off into the abyss, so if you're inclined, check in with yours to ensure they'll be there when you need them.

Source: The Lamron


This is Digital Stardust, signing off.

The Market - She's Dead, Jim. Or is She?

You may have noticed Digital Stardust has gone mute for several months now. This is no accident. The intent of DiS is to comment on the game industry as a whole, with a focus on trends and topics affecting large portions of the community - developers and gamers alike - but when the industry stagnates, there is only so much you can say before you have become a broken record. Rather than become a site riding a dead horse, we've simply gone quiet in the meantime. Plans are in the works to change the situation and provide engaging content, however these things take time, so your understanding is appreciated.

The time has come to momentarily break the silence and speak to the staleness that is slowly creeping through the industry, and possibly discover who could hold the blame for the situation the industry sits in. The results may surprise you, they may anger you, but they'll certainly get you thinking, even if you don't agree.

What is causing the video games industry to stagnate? Before you can answer this question it is important to note the industry as a whole has not come to a grinding halt. Companies such as PopCap Games are doing very well with their famous casual titles such as Peggle and Bejeweled. The stagnation does exist, however, with powerhouse companies such as EA and Activision reporting slower sales and releasing fewer blockbuster titles this year as compared to years past. But what is causing this? Console and software pricing? The poor economy? Or is it something else entirely?

The first argument in our discussion-gone-monologue sits squarely at the console price. Console price has become a hot topic of discussion among developers as available dollars to purchase consoles and increase total number of potential software buyers has decreased due to the poor economy. It just makes little sense to the unemployed consumer to purchase a pricey console, so the cost of entry has become of increasing importance to developers. Yet, the cost of entry has sat squarely in the same position since each of the current-gen consoles launched. The sorest point is named "PlayStation 3", exacerbated only by the moves of Microsoft as they position the Xbox 360 as the biggest bang for the buck on the block. Microsoft has done a good job of managing the 360 SKUs available to the consumer from the get-go, charging less for systems with fewer accessories and more for systems with more accessories, but keeping the basic console playability the same. Sony by comparison has removed functionality from their system in an effort to reduce cost, something the consumer is less concerned with when they see the system they've been eying does less for the same price. Nintendo makes a profit for each Wii sold, but they've attracted a market segment previously not known to exist, which allows the Kyoto-based developer to keep console prices the same due to their current market segment not being accustomed to price drops.

No matter where you sit in the console interest matrix, the fact remains the fun boxes are pricey machines. Developers know this and have been increasing pressure on manufacturers to drop the price, especially Sony. It is no small potatoes when the president of the company known for Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft delivers a clear threat of stopping console development for the PlayStation 3 if the console does not become more accessible to the average gaming consumer. Square-Enix has taken notice in North America and Europe, by developing the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, breaking the PlayStation 3's exclusivity on the title and marking the first time in the franchise's history a title will launch on multiple consoles. The Land of the Rising Sun is also showing troublesome signs for the market, as console sales in general are down 25% year over year, with a large portion of this being attributed to the high cost of the PlayStation 3. Sony may have billions to recoup from the Cell processor, but their current strategy is strangling the market in general. To cope, current console lifecycles are being extended (newer hardware over time becomes older hardware, which becomes less expensive to produce and develop for) and older technologies are being extended (case in point, the Wii is a souped-up GameCube).

What about the global economic recession? Without a question this is a factor in the current equation adding up to the market situation. The average consumer is seeing a decrease in work or the same pay in a market where prices are higher than they ever have been, in effect creating less buying power power per dollar. What you could buy with a $1 now requires $2 or you get less for that same $1 (14oz. Coca-Cola, anyone?). Console prices are higher than they ever have been, but even those with the same total dollars available from before the recession are seeing their overall total effective buying power decreased, reducing the market's accessibility to them. This reduced buying power manifests itself through stronger sales of software for consoles already owned and fewer pieces of software sold for newer consoles. In short, consumers are getting more choosy about their games because they want the biggest bang for their buck. Developers often develop "throw away titles" - titles created with a small budget and a big license to generate sales with a high profit margin, which they use to fund their AAA-class blockbusting titles, however sales of "throw aways" are through the floor, reducing available R&D resources. This explains why only a handful of established franchises are turning out titles in the current market, as opposed to a more balanced mix of new franchises and established ones - with less money coming in developers are not as willing to risk their limited capital on a new franchise. Fewer new faces on the shelf create the impression of a stagnating market in the consumer's mind, leading to a circular effect of reduced interest in spending money on gaming as a whole.

So is the market stagnating? If you count the slower pace at which flashy new gaming consoles and technology driving them is being trotted out, the strategy of developers to "play it safe" by sticking to established franchises and invest in fewer new ones, and reduced console and software sales as a whole, yes. There are a few shining examples where the recession has not hit, such as the iPhone App Store and casual gaming provided by companies such as PopCap, but the market in general is down and slowing. Consoles are pricey, dollars buy less, and software sales are on a slow slide. But is there a possible underlying cause to even these reasons? Did something sew the seeds of market slowdown even before the global recession hit?

There might be.

What is this possible underlying cause? Us, the consumer. Let's back up to 2004, when the PlayStation 2 was in an intense battle with the Xbox. The PlayStation 2 was an established powerhouse with a massive install base in the millions and heavy hitting titles blowing even the highest expectations out of the water. The Xbox was making waves in North America by releasing titles so gorgeous, yet playable, even though it was never expected the console would beat the PS2 (that honor was saved for the 360 vs PS3 race). Developers were releasing titles to great, beautiful success coated in a layer of eye-candy.

If you have a good thing, doing more of it will be even better, right? This became a persistent cry from gamers - we want MORE beautiful titles, we want MORE powerful systems, and we want MORE fun. Manufactures responded by doing just that, creating powerful multi-core processors requiring billions in investment dollars. Gamers got what they wanted, but they had to pay the piper for it, and a lot of them weren't ready. The development investments needed to be recouped and the consoles were priced accordingly, bringing us into the pricey console era that exists today. The $400 console is a result of the demands of consumers and gamesmanship of the previous era, but at $400.

So the next time you're visiting your local game retailer, take some time to consider where you're going to vote with your money. Do you want the $60 title, or might it be worth waiting for the title to become less expensive? What console do you want to purchase it for? The less expensive ones, or the more expensive ones? Digital download or physical disc? Memory unit or hard drive? In an era when developers are watching the market closely, they have, they can, and they will know when sales increase due to price drops. If it becomes a recurring trend, developers will have to rethink what the public is willing to pay for their gaming fix. Instant gratification has its short term expense, for sure, but the long term effects may be more important than ever.

Rockband(s)

I sincerely hope at some point Activision and Harmonix get back in touch with the gaming public soon - we are TIRED of buying instruments in this area of $4.20 per gallon gas. Besides destroying available real estate within my house, I simply cannot afford to drop $200 everytime a new version of Rockband comes out. What happened to the good old days of allowing a peripheral to be used with several games before a new version is even considered? Is Dance Dance Revolution the only holdout that doesn't require me to buy a new dance pad with yodeling ability with every new mix released to the public?

I speculate, but perhaps the developers of these hugely grossing games have massively large houses they purchased at the cost of a few mil. This could explain why they're able to justify the high cost of the "Mary Poppins Box of Band Instruments" with each new version of the game. Not to mention their massive houses could actually store all these toys, unlike my fair size apartment (as far as apartments go). If this trend continues buying an iPhone could actually be cheaper than buying a video game!

As "authentic" as these games are trying to be, it's getting gimmicky to the point of ridiculous. A drum set that is velocity sensitive and can adjust the volume for the sound it makes in the game? Adding more things to hit instead of something manageable to a newer player? Excluding bands who won't provide master tracks? At what point do you throw down the controller and go start an actual rock band? Have we reached this point already? Guitar Hero: World Tour allows for a full electronic drum set to be used in place of the drum peripheral. Next the publishers will just provide sheet music, right?

Activision and Harmonix - most of us like your companies and definitely get into your music games, but for the love of pete, will you stop with the oneupsmanship in the instruments and let us actually ENJOY them for a while? I don't think I'm the only one who is becoming turned off by these iconic titles due to the high cost of entry. You stand to make a lot more money by simply releasing a new version of the game that uses my current peripherals, instead of making me choose between money for groceries and a game.

Xbox Live Arcade Desires: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Live!

The Xbox Live Arcade service has proven to be a great platform for revitalizing older PC and console titles and delivering them to a newer audience - however there are some games missing that may prove to be excellent additions to the service. Consider this....

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Live!
Stop singing the Rockapella jingle in your head. We're not talking about that.



Many children who went to school during the 80s and 90s will recall several games fondly - Oregon Trail, The Munchers series, and Carmen Sandiego in its various flavors. A crook has committed a spectacular heist and it's your job to track them down. Fond memories include the blocky graphics chosen to represent the various cities around the world, the henchmen as they snuck across the screen when you chose the correct city to go to, and the occasional flying knife or other object intended to harm you, the gumshoe. Collect all the clues and you could get a warrant from your successful sluething. Find the crook before you get your warrant and they go free. The howls of frustration still ring in many ears.

As with the Xbox Live Arcade Desires series of titles so far, the same case can be made for this game's revival. Carmen suits the family demographic Microsoft is desperate to steal from Nintendo, by cleverly educating players while injecting a good dose of fun to cover up the "not-so-awesome" parts. Again, the title is flexible in the sense mom and dad can take part in the fun while the child can still be the star. And nostalgia is just plain cool.



Improvements here could be simply amazing, depending how much effort is put into rebuilding this title for the Xbox 360. As agents travel they could see other henchmen and have to help act as an informant to other A.C.M.E. agents working on other cases ("I saw him with a red coat.") by choosing from a few possible responses. As cities are traveled to, news feeds from the area could scroll on the screen courtesy of RSS. And of course cities could be changed and updated with new pictures and relevant information over time. A mega-case could be put out in which agents must work together to help find the ever elusive Carmen herself. The possibilities here are amazing.

So Where is it?
Carmen Sandiego has perhaps the toughest time of all Xbox Live Arcade Desires games so far - revival attempts on the GameCube resulted in a spectacular flop. While Carmen Sandiego and the Secret of the Stolen Drums was considered a decent update by many critics, marketing was poor and as a result the desired sales did not materialize. When you're expecting sales off a beloved title that flops it puts more than a single nail in the coffin for future revivals. With the economy struggling, securing funds for a doubtful sequel just may not happen.

If someone out there with power is reading this, consider a revival of Carmen Sandiego. There is definitely a market out there, but keep the expectations real.

GTA IV U

I have never been a huge fan of the 3D versions of the Grand Theft Auto series. I am aware they are good games, and I even own the A-O rated (and properly stickered) version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. My issue has been the series' insistence in needlessly driving plot through stereotypes and locking parts of the city up so hard you can't so much as fart in that direction without death. Sometimes I just want to play the game and mess around to blow off steam, plain and simple. It just hasn't been satisfying (or possible) in the last few games. Am I buying Grand Theft Auto IV? No, but I am aware it's rating very well and I can respect it for that. Yes, Grand Theft Auto IV is a good game.


While I've not felt a crazy interest in the game, I am keeping tabs on it to see if perhaps some of my gripes were addressed in this new version or if it would contain some new thread to draw me in. Cargo has written a very effective summary of the things I wanted to know as his first impressions. Perhaps you may find it answers some of your burning questions.

I haz it. Played a few hours last night!

Preliminary thoughts: It's a GTA game. It's not the second coming of Jesus and Mohammed Ali rolled into one. If you didn't like the 3-series games you're probably not going to suddenly like this one. The graphics are better, the city is more detailed, and it feels less cartoony than SA and Vice. Liberty City is grimier and dirtier than NYC, it's like a hybrid of 1970s NY and the current era stylistically.

First thing I did was go to Liberty City's DUMBO analogue (my neighborhood) and check out the parallels. Our apartment isn't in it, but the one across the street from us is, as is the Clock Tower building and Brooklyn Bridge Park with the curving amphitheater thing at the beach front. The bridges are spot-on. Various intersections and streets are duplicated with uncanny accuracy. But the whole thing is compressed together so 'interesting' streets are next to one another, there isn't a lot of filler of samey-looking streets. So the bridge is next to Coney Island, etc. The result captures the essence of the city without the immense size, much like the previous GTA games. After tootling around for awhile it only feels a little bigger than the GTA3 liberty city, even though I know it's MUCH bigger. But it looks spectacular - the rain on the streets looks like rainy streets with blurred headlights from oncoming traffic coming towards you.. it is verging on photoreal in spots. Gorgeous. And the physics engine is outstanding - people fall and go sprawling in painful-looking ways.

Much has been said about the new combat and driving. Long story short it's less arcadey and the cars are harder to control. That is going to piss a lot of veteran players off until they get used to the new system. A shitbox old car will handle accordingly, and sports cars are twitchy and hard to steer. My favorite car so far is the Feltzer, which was the Mercedes-style convertible in SA and is more like a SLK Mercedes now. It's pretty sweet. Combat is not that different from the old one, you still auto target but can free aim if you want. Hand to hand reminds me a little of Bully or Max Payne but it's still mostly button mashing - I avoid hand to hand anyways and prefer to do my work at long range. Shooting from the drivers seat of a car is a loong overdue improvement.

I haven't unlocked much beyond the first few missions, although they've integrated the 'social' missions more into the main stream of the game, so dating girls and even going to shoot pool with your friends can unlock various features. They reduced the customization of Niko and streamlined some of the side missions - doesn't seem to be any taxi or firetruck missions, the hidden packages (200 pigeons to shoot) don't have incremental rewards (just a spawning helicopter in one of your bases apparently, when you get all 200) and as has been noted, no bicycles, aircraft, jetpacks etc.

Uh, what else. I took my car through the car wash and of course it immediately started raining afterwards. Lol. The soundtrack is varied, the radio stations are goofy as ever, and they really put in a lot of gratuitous profanity. Niko Bellic, your character, has a more interesting personality than at first appears, and the whole game feels like less of a cartoon and more of, say, a rather dark graphic novel with enough of the trademark GTA satirical tone to keep it from getting too heavy.

I like it a lot so far, and am looking forward to playing it all the way through, but the hype around it is getting deafening. Again, it's a GTA game. An improvement over the 3-series, but not a quantum jump.

I think I may purchase a used copy when I'm done playing some other games on my platter.

Xbox Live Arcade Desires: Munchers Live!

The Xbox Live Arcade service has proven to be a great platform for revitalizing older PC and console titles and delivering them to a newer audience - however there are some games missing that may prove to be excellent additions to the service. Consider this....

Munchers Live!
Coming from the same vein of thought as my previous post on Oregon Trail Live!, Muchers Live! is a revival of two games, Word Munchers and Number Muchers, both of which common among the twentysomethings of the US from their school days. The sister titles revolved around the same general premise - eat the appropriate vowel or number as dictated by the information at the top of each screen. Starting slow, the pace and answer criteria would pick up in difficulty, becoming outright frantic as players struggled to much the correct answer before it was changed by the bad guys. Eat an incorrect answer or become a Troggle's dinner and lose a life. (Troggles are the bad guys, by the way.) Do well and get rewarded with a great moment in muncher history - a small silly clip showing the good guy (Muncher) trouncing the Troggles in/at a historic place/time. Between all of this, players learn their vowels, consonsants, prime factors, multiples, and so forth.


Just as with Oregon Trail Live!, a similar case can be made for re-relasing this title. Muchers suits the family demographic Microsoft is desparate to steal from Nintendo, by cleverly educating players while injecting a good dose of fun to cover up the "not-so-awesome" parts. Again, the title is flexible in the sense mom and dad can take part in the fun while the child can still be the star. And hey, whose mom and dad couldn't use a brushing up on their math and English?

Similar to Oregon Trail Live, the development and porting cycle for the nature of this title would be relatively short when compared to other games. Such a relatively smaller cost screams for a publisher to re-release and go through the process associated with it. Heck, a neat Live! enabled multiplayer mode could be thrown into the game where one set of players play as the Troggles and the others as Munchers. Imagine a four on four match inside an expanded grid with four Munchers moving frantically to eat numbers, while the speedy-yet-speed-controlled Troggles eat good answers and leave behind incorrect ones. The screams echo in my head already..."You ate my two! YOU ATE MY TWO!" The fun begs to be had.


So where is it?
Unfortunately Muchers Live! faces the same issues as Oregon Trail Live. Both original games were developed by MECC in the late 1980s/early 1990s and rights have since been acquired by The Learning Company, who has reluctant to license their properties to consoles. Speculation frequently concludes this could be because folk familiar with the game would not expect a console version to perform as well as the PC versions they are familiar with.

As with all titles that wind up in the Xbox Live Arcade Desires series, nearly the biggest hurdle is convincing the powers necessary a market exists for this title. Microsoft is tightening the requirements for the XNA platform, so its likely the capital to license and port the game will need to be fronted by a larger publisher, and even then the person spearheading the project needs to have some pull in the industry. It is not impossible, it's just very unlikely.

If someone is out there and reading with power, hear my plea and make this happen. It's an absurdly simple, yet low cost game that could draw some pretty cash into your coffers. And if, for some reason, it doesn't - hey, you didn't make Superman 64.

Xbox Live Arcade Desires: Chu Chu Rocket! Live

The Xbox Live Arcade service has proven to be a great platform for revitalizing older PC and console titles and delivering them to a newer audience - however there are some games missing that may prove to be excellent additions to the service. Consider this....

Chu Chu Rocket! Live
Sega really has a hard time releasing their games. The Xbox 360 has little Japanese penetration, the PS3's price is still forcing slower-than-desired console sales, the PS2 has little online connectivity or unique style, Sonic has crapped all over the house, and cult-classic titles sell whimsically in the US. Seems like the Wii, with it's global popularity and unique control scheme to boot is a logical choice, no? This is very true for larger titles like Samba De Amigo and Space Channel 5. One would believe there is little case then, for Sega to release much on the 360. Believe it or not, a Chu Chu release for the 360 is probably one of Sega's best ways to get their foot in the door.

The Xbox Live Arcade service's games are typically smaller, more "compact" titles that are simple, yet engrossing. In essence, most games on the service play like a true arcade game - short 3 minute games that are fun but quick to end. Chu Chu Rocket! is very much like this - a truly fun but simple and short puzzler with some whacky multiplayer on the side. Sega doesn't need 500 reasons to release this - there's one simple reason: it would simply fit in perfectly with offerings currently available. Seem weak? Those same offerings are selling like hotcakes according to official Microsoft figures, which peg downloads at 25,000,000 and counting. On the technical side the game's base code is small and compact, likely easily placed onto an Xbox Memory Unit, and the GBA port from years past also means the code base has likely been placed onto a universal platform, which makes for easy porting.

The Xbox platform also lends itself to some enhancements to Chu Chu that would be the next logical steps for the puzzler. The mayhem of multiplayer simply screams to be taken online and could easily be integrated into the game without skipping a beat. Different board types and configurations could also be stepped up to create new ways of directing the rodents to their ships. Kapu Kapus could be expanded into a variety of different kinds with different traits, such as speed, ability to jump, explode, etc. Take these gameplay changes, combine them with the multiplayer level editor and then throw in the seamless Xbox Live experience and you've got a seriously killer package.

Where is it?
Chu Chu Rocket! Live is a simple concept but is tied down under a 400 pound gorilla named...Sega. While it certainly seems certain parts of the company have managed to pull their head out of their ass and get some decent titles into the pipe (including a quiet XBLA release of Golden Axe), there are still powers that be in the company that haven't figured out any sort of road map for the company. Sega still exhibits an extremely disjointed mentality where the left hand does not know what the right one is up to. Unfortunately fixing this problem likely entails literally breaking the company down to its individual parts and forcefully extracting some deeply penetrated people that have somehow managed to screw things up for ten years without anyone figuring out who they are. Oh well, at least we can dream...

Xbox Live Arcade Desires: Oregon Trail

The Xbox Live Arcade service has proven to be a great platform for revitalizing older PC and console titles and delivering them to a newer audience - however there are some games missing that may prove to be excellent additions to the service. Consider this....

Oregon Trail Live
If you used a computer in the early to late/mid 1990s you probably have stumbled across this gem in any of its iterations. Fans of the series often recall blocky DOS graphics, the awkward but engrossing hunting experience with little square bullets, dying of dysentery, and having their hopes of winning the game dashed on a rock in the Dalles. Of course, buried in this fun was a learning experience in managing money, time, health, and also some historical facts brought to you in conjunction with MIDI sound.



Beyond the nostalgia factor and fan service, a serious case can be argued for re-releasing this game. Microsoft has been trying very hard to push the 360 as a more family friendly console and a game long respected for its educational value being placed on the console would do a lot to further this image. This is likely one of the few games that can carry a wide appeal to both younger gamers and mom and dad. The cost of porting the game is relatively low compared to writing a new engine for a game and development would fall into a relatively short cycle.

Speaking of development, should the game be released, I propose it be done in two flavors - classic and enhanced. Classic would retain the older DOS graphics (modified to be HD compatible) and gameplay, tweaked only to fit the Xbox controller layout. Enhanced would contain the graphical improvements of the newer editions of Oregon Trail and updated sound. An optional "LiveConnect" mode could also be made available for both modes, where the game would communicate with the Live servers to note where party members died or notable events occurred. Other gamers would be able to see randomly selected tombstones and such as they take their party along the trail to Oregon. Gamerscore could also have a hayday with some serious awards, such as completing the trail, and some fun awards like getting cholera.

So Where Is It?
There are some definite hurdles in making this release happen. The largest is licensing the game from The Learning Company, owners of the franchise after MECC sold the rights. Traditionally TLC-owned properties do not perform well in terms of sales on consoles, such as the case of the GameCube's Carmen Sandiego and the Secret of the Stolen Drums. The populace has come to expect some titles on a PC and in turn believe a console version may be less fun.

The other large hurdle preventing Oregon Trail Live is convincing a developer there is a market out there. Every game will sell a handful of titles but developers want million seller titles to make their profits. Unless your Atlus, finding a developer can be a hard sell on this point alone. Or has no one realized the gold that exists in this game? It's conceivable someone could attempt a release with the XNA platform, but that world has plenty of snarls that need to be worked out first, not to mention an indie developer likely cannot pony up a license fee to TLC.

If someone out there stumbles upon my idea, hear my plea. I'm sure two other people besides myself would like to relive the glory days of buying oxen and learning about Soda Springs again. Bring us Oregon Trail Live! Here are my thanks in advance.

Dollar Hits Record Low Against Hylian Rupee

Maxim has reported the Dollar hit a record low against the Hylian Rupee and Power Ring during trading today. First Nintendo has an excess of Wii in Europe and now I can't buy my Lon Lon Milk!

Today's exchange figures can be found by clicking here ---> here.

Cheaters Caught With Their Pants Down

The ban hammer is mighty and swift. If you've been keeping up with the internet today, you may have heard Microsoft has reset the gamerscore of detected cheaters in what is possibly the most effective method of cheat crackdown, EVER. Besides having their precious gamerscore removed, they are NOT allowed to re-earn previous achievements, and their gamertag is permanently marked as a cheater. The solution? Play fair and earn square going forward. Microsoft wants you to reform.

This is one of the BEST methods ever of preventing cheaters. No one likes to be publically ridiculed and marked and often people will go to great lengths to avoid such a reputation. And it's completely fair. Social justice to the rescue! Microsoft has done something perfect, for once, and gained a lot of positive reputation as a trade. Like G4 says, if your ego is so tied up in your gamerscore, you need to get a life but the public shamings are hillarious!