Apple TV + iPhone = games console?

As Wired's recent article on the fierce rivalry between leading gadget blogs Engadget and Gizmodo illustrates, no-one likes to be pipped to the (blog) post. So, it was with some frustration that I fired up my feed-reader this morning to discover that Daniel Langendorf from ReadWriteWeb spin-off last100 had posted an op-ed piece entitled 'What if Apple re-enters the console gaming market through the iPhone?' covering much of the same ground as a post that has been kicking around in my drafts folder for the past couple of months entitled 'Will Apple's next play be gaming?'.

However, whilst Langendorf joins the dots on Apple's likely play for mobile gaming with the iPhone / iPod Touch (check out the video of SEGA demoing Super Monkey Ball for iPhone if you've not already seen it) and speculates that they might follow it up with an "integrated game console for the living room - either a new product or the next iteration of the AppleTV", he doesn't connect the two, which in my mind is where the really interesting play is.

What the iPhone lacks as a domestic gaming platform is a big screen and what Apple TV lacks is an appropriate controller. Put the two together, connected via WiFi, and you've potentially got a Rolls Royce Wii (admittedly, with a price tag to match and you probably wouldn't want to throw your iPhone around the living room the way you do your Wiimote). That said, the potential of the iPhone as a controller for a secondary console is pretty interesting to my mind, combining the accelerometer of the Wiimote with the touch-screen of the Nintendo DS to theoretically provide a motion-sensing two-screen experience (e.g. tilt device to steer plane, stroke screen to target missile). Multiplayer would just be a matter of your mates whipping out their iPhones, selecting your WiFi network and joining the game, with information relating to the status of their on-screen avatar displayed privately on their iPhone.

So, do I think this is likely to happen? Er, probably not. Despite his well-earned reputation as an innovator, Steve Jobs is a 'softly softly catchee monkey' man at heart, as his initially cautious approach to introducing video to the iPod demonstrated. That said, he's due another bite at the gaming cherry after the Apple Pippin... In the unlikely event that it does come to pass, you heard it heard first ;-)

Bow Street Runner & We Tell Stories

I've been giving quite a bit a thought to games and the whole concept of play since returning from this year's SXSW Interactive, where Jane McGonigal delivered a barnstorming keynote on gaming and happiness (lovely slides, sadly mangled by SlideShare) and World Without Oil picked up the Activism gong in the 11th Annual Web Awards.

Whilst a more considered post on gaming and play gestates, below are a couple of established media companies making innovative use of game mechanics which have caught my attention over the past few weeks.

Bow Street Runner
http://www.channel4.com/bowstreetrunner



Produced by Brighton-based Littleloud, Bow Street Runner is an episodic Flash-based point-and-click graphic adventure commissioned by Channel 4 to accompany the five part TV series City of Vice. Set in Eighteenth-century London, the game seamlessly weaves together video capture with lovingly rendered backdrops and game objects to create a surprisingly immersive in-browser experience. Whilst a little too linear in structure (your progress through locations is predetermined and one-way), the concept of accruing esteem works well, as does the evidence gathering, which requires manual dexterity with the mouse/trackpad (most memorably to stitch up a stabbing victim). A new episode is unlocked every Thursday and a password is provided on completion of each episode so you don't need to replay them when returning to the game.


We Tell Stories
http://wetellstories.co.uk



A Six to Start production for Penguin UK, We Tell Stories is a six week project in which half a dozen established authors fashion narratives which aim to take advantage of the unique properties of the internet. Week 1 is 'The 21 Steps' by Charles Cumming, a homage to The 39 Steps which overlays a twenty one chapter short story onto embedded Google Maps, visually plotting the narrator's progress and unfolding the story one data-point at a time (including optional images). The next story (from one of my favourite authors, Toby Litt) is due tomorrow with the remaining four narratives appearing over the following four weeks. Of course, this being the brothers Hon, there's also a secret seventh story "somewhere on the internet" with the incentive of £13k worth of literary booty to be won.

Game on!

Torchwood ARG

Have been enjoying playing around with the BBC's new Torchwood ARG, another example of the BBC treating the web as a creative canvas (disclaimer: I work for BBC Vision Multiplatform, although wasn't directly involved with this commission).

Whilst I'm not sure if it wholly conforms to the received wisdom on what an ARG is, it plays nicely off the broadcast narrative, makes good use of embedded video (clip below) and weaves in a constellation of satellite sites (e.g. New Eden Tech, Venus Clinic and Dark Talk, which also has a MySpace page).

The only downers are the rather clumsy disclaimers (see screencap from Matt Jones) and the rights limitations which mean that you can't view the main content outside of the UK (international visitors are redirected to this page). Google for 'Torchwood ARG' and you'll see that much of the discussion is around the geo-blocking rather than collaborative problem solving, which feels like a shame.

15 virtual worlds currently in development

Following on from my previous round-up of 50 virtual worlds, below are fifteen virtual worlds currently in development.

	Adventure Rock bbc.co.uk/cbbc/adventurerock/ Larian Studios / BBC Virtual world for children ETA: Fall 2007
	Flowplay http://www.flowplay.com/ Flowplay Casual gaming community ETA: Fall 2007
	Meet-Me http://www.co-core.com/ Co-core Virtual rendering of Tokyo ETA: Fall 2007
	Novoking http://www.novoking.com/ Novoking Chinese 3D avatar environment ETA: Fall 2007
	Pirates of the Caribbean Online http://apps.pirates.go.com/pirates/ Disney MMOG based on Disney IP ETA: Fall 2007
	Planet Cazmo http://www.planetcazmo.com/ Pileated Pictures Browser-based teen world ETA: Fall 2007
	Twinity http://www.twinity.com/ Metaversum Virtual/real life mashup ETA: Fall 2007
	Whirled www.threerings.net/whirled/ Three Rings Design Casual gaming community ETA: Fall 2007
	Zoodaloo http://www.zoodaloo.com/ Zoodaloo Virtual world for kids ETA: Fall 2007
	PlayStation Home http://www.homebetatrial.com/ Sony PlayStation virtual community ETA: Spring 2008
	Spore http://www.spore.com/ Maxis / Electronic Arts Will Wright's god game ETA: Spring 2008
	Uworld http://www.uonenet.com/ UOneNet Chinese virtual community ETA: Spring 2008
	Lego Universe http://universe.lego.com/ NetDevil / Lego MMOG utilising Lego IP ETA: Fall 2008
	Infinity: The Quest for Earth http://www.fl-tw.com/Infinity/ Flavien Brebion Space-based MMORPG ETA: 2008
	Adellion http://www.adellion.com/ HonourBound Ltd. Medieval MMORPG ETA: Unknown

Second Life in perspective: A round-up of 50 virtual worlds

If you relied solely on the mainstream media for your knowledge of online trends (more fool you), you'd be forgiven for thinking there was only one virtual world. Second Life has hoovered up huge swathes of column inches and airtime over the past 12 months (see earlier post on the Second Life media frenzy) with only the occasional nod to World of Warcraft or Habbo Hotel.

However, there's much more to virtual worlds than Second Life. Immersive online environments are a huge growth area, as demonstrated by the below round-up of 50 virtual worlds, ranked by approximate user numbers (with a few, for which I couldn't source viable user data, tacked on the end). It's worth stating that the approximate user figures are just that: approximate. Gleaned from a wide range of different sources, they are mostly self-reported and cover a multitude of differing definitions. I've tried to reconcile the figures wherever possible to try and reflect number of active users rather than number of avatars or visitors to the website, although many will still be way off base.

In terms of trends, the kids market appears to be a significant growth area and that's without including avatar chat sites (e.g. IMVU, Zwinktopia) or the growing legion of pet/doll sites (e.g. NeoPets, GoPets, MyePets, Be-Bratz, Stardoll).

	World of Warcraft http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ Blizzard Entertainment Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 9m
	Habbo Hotel http://www.habbo.com/ Sulake Launched: 2000 Approximate no. of users: 7.5m
	Nicktropolis http://www.nick.com/nicktropolis/ Nickelodeon Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 5.1m
	Runescape http://www.runescape.com/ Jagex Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 5m
	Club Penguin http://www.clubpenguin.com/ New Horizon Interactive / Disney Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Knight Online http://www.knightonlineworld.com/ MGame Corporation / Noah System Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Barbie Girls http://www.barbiegirls.com/ Mattel Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Coke Studios http://www.mycoke.com/ Studiocom / The Coca-Cola Company Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Gaia Online http://www.gaiaonline.com/ Gaia Interactive Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 3.5m
	MapleStory http://www.maplestory.com/ Wizet / Nexon Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 3m
	Dofus http://www.dofus.com/ Ankama Games Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 3m
	Guild Wars http://www.guildwars.com/ NCsoft Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 2m
	Whyville http://www.whyville.net/ Numedeon Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 1.7m
	Second Life http://secondlife.com/ Linden Lab Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 1.5m
	Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom http://vmk.disney.go.com/ Sulake Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 1.4m
	Disney's Toontown http://play.toontown.com/ Disney Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 1.2m
	Mokitown http://www.mobile-kids.net/ Neue Digitale / Daimler Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 1.1m
	Lineage / Lineage II http://www.lineage.com/ NCsoft Launched: 1998 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	There http://www.there.com/ Makena Technologies Launched: 1998 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	BOTS http://bots.acclaim.com/ Acclaim Games Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	Webkinz World http://www.webkinz.com/ Ganz Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	AlphaWorld http://www.activeworlds.com/ Active Worlds Launched: 1997 Approximate no. of users: 900,000
	Entropia Universe http://www.entropiauniverse.com/ MindArk Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Virtual MTV http://www.vmtv.com/ Makena Technologies Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Virtual World of Kaneva http://www.kaneva.com/ Kaneva Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Final Fantasy XI: Online http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/ Square Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	EverQuest / EverQuest II http://everquest.station.sony.com/ Sony Online Entertainment Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Faketown http://www.faketown.com/ Identity Play Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Dubit http://www.dubitchat.com/ Dubit Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Cybertown http://www.cybertown.com/ Integrated Virtual Networks Launched: 1995 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Playdo http://beta.playdo.com/ Playdo Launched: 2000 Approximate no. of users: 400,000
	Eve Online http://www.eve-online.com/ CCP Games Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ Three Rings Design / Ubisoft Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar http://www.lotro.com/ Turbine, Inc. Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Star Wars Galaxies http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/ LucasArts Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	City of Heroes / City of Villains http://uk.cityofheroes.com/ Cryptic Studios / NCsoft Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 180,000
	vSide http://www.vside.com/ Doppelganger Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 150,000
	Ultima Online http://www.uo.com/ Electronic Arts Launched: 1997 Approximate no. of users: 135,000
	Dark Age of Camelot http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/ Mythic Entertainment / Electronic Arts Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 125,000
	The Sims Online http://www.ea.com/official/thesims/thesimsonline/ Maxis / Electronic Arts Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 100,000
	Xivio http://www.xivio.com/ Xivio Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 22,000
	citypixel http://www.citypixel.com/ citypixel Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 20,000
	Teen Second Life http://teen.secondlife.com/ Linden Lab Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 5,000
	Westward Journey II / Fantasy Westward Journey http://corp.163.com/eng/games/westward_journey.html NetEase Launched: 2002 / 2004 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Scions of Fate (Yulgang) http://fate.netgame.com/ KRGsoft Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Legend of Mir II / Legend of Mir III http://www.legendofmir.net/ WeMade Entertainment / ActozSoft Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: ??
	MU Online http://globalmuonline.com/ Webzen / K2 Network Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: ??
	HiPiHi http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html HiPiHi Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: ??
	GalaXseeds http://www.galaxseeds.com/ Frima Studios / Corus Entertainment Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Virtual Ibiza http://www.virtualibiza.com/ Lightmaker Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: ??

My media consumption diet

With nods to Jeremiah Owyang for kick starting this meme and James Cridland for alerting me to it via his blog, below is a rough approximation of my media consumption diet.



(chart created using Zoho Sheet)

Web

The web is undoubtedly my main media channel (maybe because it encompasses all of the below in one?). Excluding work access, I reckon I stack up around 18 hours of web access a week, which probably breaks down something like this: reading blogs/news feeds (5 hours), trying out new sites (4 hours), writing this blog (4 hours), emailing (2 hours), searching for information (1 hour), Flickring (30 mins), buying stuff (30 mins), selling stuff (30 mins), website design/maintenance (30 mins).

Estimated time spent per week: 18 hours

Music

Having parted company with the bulk of my CD collection last year, the vast majority of my music listening (excluding radio) is now done either via iTunes or on my iPod. According to last.fm I've listened to 11,355 tracks since registering at the end of February 2005, which works out just over 100 tracks a week. Assuming a average track duration of 3 minutes, I'm averaging around five and a half hours of music listening a week. Factoring in the listening which last.fm fails to capture I reckon the actual figure is nearer 7 hours a week.

Estimated time spent per week: 7 hours

TV

As previously posted, I don't watch a great deal of live TV, with DVD boxsets and downloads accounting for the vast majority of my TV viewing. It also fair to say that I have something of a penchant for US drama. In the past 12 months I've plowed through assorted seasons of Lost, House, Desperate Housewives, 24, The O.C., The Sopranos, The West Wing, Six Feet Under and Entourage. For my money, the standout UK series of last year was Planet Earth which just blew me away.

Estimated time spent per week: 7 hours

Radio

It's a dilemma whether to count ambient radio listening as, like Mr. Cridland, I work in an office where the radio is always on. In terms of active radio listening then its Jonathan Ross on Radio 2 on a Saturday morning, Stephen Merchant on 6 Music (via the BBC Radio Player as I'm not normally near a radio on a Sunday afternoon) and snatches of the Today programme as I get ready for work. Excluding ambient listening I reckon it's around 5 hours a week; including, it's probably more like 35.

Estimated time spent per week: 5 hours

Books

I have something of a famine or feast mentality when it comes to books, depending on whether I'm on holiday or not. I read 18 books last year but almost none of them whilst in this country. Last year's reading list was predominantly a mix of contemporary fiction (Rupert Thomson, David Mitchell, Jonathan Safran Foer, Patrick Neate) and media geek must-reads (The Long Tail, The Tipping Point, Freakonomics, Everything Bad is Good for You). Assuming an average reading time of 6 hours per book, I spent 108 hours reading last year which works out at just over 2 hours per week.

Estimated time spent per week: 2 hours

Newspapers

I buy The Guardian on Mondays (for the Media supplement), Thursdays (for the Technology supplement) and Saturdays (for the magazine and The Guide). I occasionally get caught without something to read on the tube and pick up one of the London freesheets but invariably feel dirty afterwards.

Estimated time spent per week: 2 hours

Films

Films are an enduring passion of mine although I try to only see films I think will be worth the investment (which I guess is why 30 of the 40 films I saw last year appeared in my films of 2006 list). Of that 40, I watched 23 at the cinema and 17 on DVD. Assuming an average running time of 2 hours (the days of the 90 minute movie are all but gone), I spent 80 hours watching films last year which works out at one and a half hours per week.

Estimated time spent per week: 1 hour 30 mins

Magazines

My long-standing subscriptions to Q, Sight & Sound and PC Format all fell by the wayside some time ago and the only magazines I still subscribe to at home are Empire (still the bible for movie lovers) and Web User (can't be wrong for £1.99). I also tend to leaf through the office copies of Stuff, T3, .net and Wired, although less so now that Engadget is taking care of my gadget obsession in a more timely fashion.

Estimated time spent per week: 45 mins

Podcasts

Despite the dozens of podcast subscriptions currently eating up my hard disk/bandwidth, there's actually only one podcast which I listen to religiously and that's Mark Kermode's Film Reviews. Clipped from Friday's edition of the Simon Mayo show on BBC Radio Five Live, it's half an hour of pure radio gold. More occasional listens include the Best of Moyles enhanced and Media Talk from Guardian Unlimited.

Estimated time spent per week: 30 mins

Video games

Until the arrival of my Wii on Tuesday I would've put a big fat zero down for video games, but having had a quick go on the game-changing Wii Sports (and with WarioWare Smooth Moves and Zelda: Twilight Princess waiting to be unwrapped) I think I may have to revise that figure. Let's start with a conservative estimate of 20 minutes.

Estimated time spent per week: 20 mins

Conclusions

- I spend 44 hours a week (39% of my waking hours) consuming some sort of media (although some of those hours are concurrent)
- My media consumption habits aren't very typical

Top 20 best computer games ever

The obsessive list making continues. This time it's the best computer games of all time, prompted by a piece on the revival of retro gaming in this week's Guardian Guide and the UK launch on the Nintendo Wii (which will resurrect a number of classic games by making them available for download via the Wii's Virtual Console).

Inevitably it's a very subjective list which probably has more to do with the age I was when these games game out than their empirical merits. That said, I have attempted to stick to some basic criteria. All of the games listed below are in some way innovative, unquestionably addictive and they have all have stood the test of time (hence only one game from this millennia). I've added commentary to the top 10 to help explain my choices. So, without further ado...

1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

Platform: PC
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Released: 1991
Genre: Adventure



The Star Wars of the gaming world, the Monkey Island series not only owes its genesis to George Lucas it also captured the hearts and minds of a whole generation of teenagers and set the standard for so many elements of the medium which the vast majority of recent releases are still struggling to match. The second installment in the series was its apogee, delivering unprecedented narrative depth and complexity coupled with engaging characters and laugh-out loud humour. Here's hoping for a Monkey Island 5.

2. Tetris

Platform: Nintendo Game Boy
Developer: Bullet Proof Software
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1989
Genre: Puzzle



Along with Pong, Space Invaders and Pac-Man, Tetris is one of the most iconic computer games of all time. What sets it aside from those other games is that it managed to tap into something deep in the human psyche to create a game so fiendishly addictive that it needed a new term to describe its effect on people; the Tetris effect is defined by Wikipedia as "the ability of any activity to which people devote sufficient time and attention to begin to dominate their thoughts, mental images, and dreams". Originally developed by Russian computer engineer Alexey Pazhitnov way back in 1985, Tetris found its true home of the Gameboy where it could be slipped into a generously-proportioned pocket and taken anywhere. Nintendo has reportedly sold over 35 million Tetris cartridges to date.

3. Lemmings

Platform: Various
Developer: DMA Design
Publisher: Psygnosis
Released: 1991
Genre: Puzzle



Lemmings is testament to the value of innovate thinking. At a time when most software houses were churning out run-of-the-mill platform games, DMA Design thought way outside the box and came up with something genuinely new. Of course the real triumph of Lemmings lies not in its innovative blend of strategy and manual dexterity, but in successfully conveying so much personality is so few pixels.

4. Day of the Tentacle

Platform: PC/Mac
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Released: 1993
Genre: Adventure



Building on the success of Monkey Island 2, Day of the Tentacle upped the absurdity quotient a notch or two to deliver a irresistible tale of time-travelling tentacles. It also took adventure game production values on a step with full voice acting throughout (on the CD version) and lovingly rendered animations. The ability to play three different characters, each stranded in different eras and therefore able to influence the future in a Back to the Future stylee, provided extra charm.

5. Goldeneye 007

Platform: Nintendo 64
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1997
Genre: First-person shooter



The received wisdom is that every new gaming platform needs a killer app. Nintendo hit pay-dirt early with the release of Goldeneye 007 and cannily started bundling the game with its new N64 console. Whilst the one-player mode was a cut-above the current crop of first-person shooters it was the multi-player deathmatch mode which caught the imagination of gamers worldwide and it remains unsurpassed as a multi-player experience.

6. Sensible World of Soccer

Platform: Amiga/PC
Developer: Sensible Software
Publisher: Sensible Software
Released: 1994
Genre: Sports



Forget FIFA, with its overly complex keypad combinations, Sensible Soccer delivered unadulterated football joy with just one-button and a joystick. What's more, the simplicity of the interface and the birds-eye view of the pitch allowed for far more frenetic gameplay than rival efforts. The addition of international teams and a twenty season career mode made Sensible World of Soccer the ultimate Sensi experience.

7. The Secret of Monkey Island

Platform: Amiga/Atari/Mac/PC
Developer: Lucasfilm Games
Publisher: Lucasfilm Games
Released: 1990
Genre: Adventure



It's easy to forget quite what a breakthrough The Secret of Monkey Island was when it first launched in 1990. For starters, the main character (the now legendary Guybrush Threepwood) couldn't die, which had been a frustrating staple of the graphic adventure thus far. It was also the first adventure game to use character scaling, enabling Guybrush to grow or shrink depending on his position on screen. However what really set The Secret of Monkey Island apart was the calibre of its characters and storytelling, which put many a Hollywood movie to shame. It even made the transition to stage thanks to a enterprising high school student whose Monkey Island Play has attracted something of a cult online following.

8. David Leadbetter's Golf

Platform: PC
Developer: The Thought Train
Publisher: Microprose
Released: 1992
Genre: Sports



Like Sensible Soccer, David Leadbetter's Golf was always in the shadow of its more attractive sibling, Links. However, Links' beauty was only ever skin deep, whereas David Leadbetter's created an immersive 3D world with contoured greens and fairways which, shock horror, obeyed the laws of physics. Moreover, because the six available courses were all rendered in polygons, the camera could track and spin around the ball in real-time. Whilst the Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise has since mastered the tricky combination of photorealism and real-world physics, David Leadbetter's will always be the original and best golf game in my mind.

9. Cannon Fodder

Platform: Amiga/PC
Developer: Sensible Software
Publisher: Sensible Software
Released: 1994
Genre: Action



Another gem from Sensible Software, Cannon Fodder combined tactical thinking with frenetic mouse manipulation to produce one of the most addictive games of 2004. It's cartoon-style graphics and tabloid-baiting tagline ("War has never been so much fun!") may have given the impression of trivialising conflict but those who've played the game will know Cannon Fodder has its tongue very firmly in cheek. A PSP version of the game is planned for Spring 2007.

10. Super Bomberman 2

Platform: Super NES
Developer: Hudson Soft
Publisher: Sony
Released: 1994
Genre: Action



Another game falling into the fiendishly addictive category, Bomberman is all about the multi-player battle mode, which is arguably the most fun consenting adults can have with their clothes on. Enough said.

11. Super Mario Kart

Platform: SNES
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1992
Genre: Racing



12. Sam & Max Hit The Road

Platform: PC
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Released: 1993
Genre: Adventure



13. Super Mario 64

Platform: Nintendo 64
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1996
Genre: Platform



14. The Curse of Monkey Island

Platform: Mac/PC
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Released: 1997
Genre: Adventure



15. Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament

Platform: Various
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters
Released: 1994
Genre: Racing



16. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Platform: PS2/PC/Xbox
Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Released: 2004
Genre: Action



17. California Games

Platform: Various
Developer: Epyx
Publisher: Epyx
Released: 1987
Genre: Sports



18. Grim Fandango

Platform: PC
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Released: 1998
Genre: Adventure



19. Super Mario Bros.

Platform: NES
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1985
Genre: Platform



20. Bubble Bobble

Platform: Amiga
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Romstar
Released: 1987
Genre: Puzzle

Second Life media frenzy

The media seems to have gone Second Life crazy over the last week or so. First there was Endemol announcing a virtual version of Big Brother to start on 1st December with 15 Second Life residents competing for a virtual island. Then German newspaper publisher Axel Springer announced the launch of a virtual tabloid, SL News, offering "snippets about showbusiness and human interest tales from the avatar world" and retailing at between 10 and 15 Linden dollars. Finally, Rivers Run Red announced the launch of a virtual TV station, virtuallife.tv, with content from Channel 4 (TV and radio), the Sci-Fi channel and even the great unwashed in the form of music, video and machinima.

It's easy to forget that dear old Auntie was one of the first out of the gate back in May when Radio 1 teamed up with Rivers Run Red to host a virtual version of it's One Big Weekend festival (real-life location: Dundee) on an island it's renting in Second Life. Sony BMG recently followed suit, pairing up with The Electric Sheep Company to host a Ben Folds virtual meet and greet on its 'Media Island'. The Electric Sheep Company also brokered Reuters recent entry into Second Life and facilitated the BBC's first foray in January as part of Newsnight's Geek Week.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Wikipedia has a rapidly-growing list of businesses and organisations which have operated in Second Life, which includes another couple of media heavyweights (MTV and Disney). It appears that Second Life is rapidly becoming a key place to extend your media brand. Not that all of these brand extensions are solely for the benefit of the residents of course. At the moment, a presence in Second Life is more of a brand statement than a viable distribution channel (much like the web was 10 years ago), guaranteeing a company a fair few column inches and possibly a bit of cool-by-proxy. This will change of course, as the Second Life population grows (it passed 1 million residents last month) and the possibilities of the medium become more apparent.

How I learned to stop worrying and love the PSP

OK Sony, you've got me. After years of resisting the allure of the all-conquering PlayStation, I've fallen hook, line and sinker for the latest and dinkiest addition to the family, the PSP. Even then, it wasn't until a saw one in the plastic that my resolve crumbled and I had to concede that here was a product that looked like the future and put the modest ambitions of the new video iPod into perspective.

So, two days into our relationship, how are we getting on? Has love (ok, lust) turned sour...? Well, so far so good. The jaw-dropping quality of the screen still hits me every time I switch it on and sets the bar intimidatingly high for other players hoping to enter the mobile media space. The ease with which I was able to log onto the web via my home Wi-Fi network was a pleasant surprise, as was the rendering of the web pages on the built-in browser. The interface also feels pretty intuitive, bearing in mind the number of options it has to marshal (an increasing problem for Apple judging by labyrinthine menus on the latest iPod), and after a few wrong key presses I was soon whizzing my way through the menus.

My introduction to movies on PSP came sooner than expected as Sony sent me a free UMD of Spiderman 2 after I registered the device on yourpsp.com, clearly hoping the magnanimity of the gesture and the quality and convenience of movies on UMD will prompt me to further purchases. Whilst I suspect they'll be disappointed on that front, it does highlight an interesting difference in the revenue models of Sony and Apple's portable media devices. Whilst Apple is famously selling media (songs on iTunes) for little or no profit in order make money on hardware (iPods), Sony is selling hardware (PSPs) for little or no profit in order to make money on media (UMDs).

Both companies have been working hard to offset the risks associated with these contrasting business models. For Apple, the possibility of market saturation is being countered by shortening the product life of each generation of iPod and the 'halo effect' on other Apple products (most notably it's computers). For Sony, the risk of virtual product overtaking physical product (the traditional revenue stream for games consoles) is being tentatively addressed via the downloads available from yourpsp.com (currently free, but paid-for content can't be far off).

Whilst the PSP's support of physical media initially seems like something of an anachronism, one quickly realises it is just one half of a canny 'belt and braces' approach which is poised to take advantage of the final years of substantive physical media sales whilst simultaneously preparing for the preeminence of virtual media via the PSP's wireless capabilities.

The PSP's other obvious weakness (it's relative dearth of storage and reliance of removable media) may also turn out to be an advantage in the longer term, depending on the rate at which Memory Stick Duos increase in size and fall in price.

As for me, my biggest reservation is when I'll actually find the time to use the damn thing. Waiting for a bus seems to be the scenario invariably trotted out during discussions of mobile video/gaming content, but I'm pleased to say that waiting for busses accounts for a very small proportion of my time. What's more, it's a braver man that I who would get out a £180 bit of kit on Brixton High Street.

This uncertainly about how, where and when I will actually use this expensive piece of technology I've just bought reveals the masterstroke of Sony's PSP - they've managed to sell me a device without an obvious USP. Whilst other divisions within Sony seem to be lurching from one half-baked idea to the next (please stop with this ATRAC business, already), the PSP's success is assured and could just provide the necessary momentum to reverse the company's recent fortunes.

Anyway, I'm off to wait at a suburban bus stop...

Real life radio in a virtual world

The concept of radio in virtual environments is far from new. Console games have been flirting with the idea of radio as soundtrack for a few years now, most extensively in the driving genre, from the fictitious radio stations of RoadKill and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to the real life radio brands (Capital, XFM, Virgin) which feature in Project Gotham Racing.

However, all of these representations of radio lack one it's most compelling ingredients: liveness. Whilst station idents and barracking DJs may give the veneer of broadcast radio, most users are aware that the 'radio' in SSX 3 is just tracks being played off the CD/DVD in their console.

That all looks set to change. Listening to live radio in a virtual environment is now a reality thanks to the 'Second Life Fever' nightclub, which streams Virgin Radio Groove 24/7 in online digital world, Second Life. Any user can drop in on the nightclub and listen to the music live, with the Second Life application acting as a media player client.

If it hasn't already, it's surely only a matter of time before streamed radio starts appearing in games developed for the burgeoning generation of connected consoles (e.g. Xbox Live).

A hardware solution to bringing real life radio into virtual realms is also on the cards. Last month the chairman of XM Satellite Radio announced that the company was "investing in ways of building its pay radio service into gadgets ranging from MP3 players to video game consoles" (Reuters).

It's intriguing that in this increasingly 'on demand' era there is a concomitant demand for 'liveness'. Fortunately, technology is evolving to facilitate both...