Scripting in Kodu

Created by the team at the Microsoft Research Labs, Kodu is an super simplified version of any old map editor (except you can also add scripting to the map without having to use any other application).

It strives to be easily accessible and feature tons of replayability through allowing the player to make more stuff. Kodu, while a tad limited, is so accessible I would say that it’s right up with commercial game editors. Kodu basically allows you to create games in the form of map files that include AI and level scripting.

The best feature, the very very very very best feature of Kodu is the Sharing system. Most games that allow content creation tend to be very limited in sharing. For example, Trials HD only allows you to share your tracks with only your friends and only those that are online. Kodu Game Lab figures that most people will not have friends that also play this game, so there are three default gamertags called KoduZones.

These gamertags act like community bulletin boards and allow you to upload anything that you’ve made to the tag. This allows others to download your content without you having to be online. The Kodu community feels so open and friendly, just patiently waiting for you to upload some of your works. The one thing that makes the community so special is the fact you can’t rate other people’s stuff. Which is probably a good thing. But to make up for that, Kodu automatically creates thumbnails of all the maps so that you can decide what you really want.

Kodu is limited in how many things you can have on the map, I would think it would have to be because of hardware limitations, but I can forgive Kodu for such problems. Kodu does a fairly nice job at keeping the game open. I’ve seen Halo remakes (that are actually really good), Left 4 Dead (not as good as the halo ones), racing games, top down fighters, football simulators, Zelda remakes, Portal (with dynamic portals) clones, and much much more made in Kodu Game Lab.

Kodu comes with a bunch of maps and tutorials right in the box, and it makes it totally worth the 400 MS points I paid for the game.

My main gripes about Kodu Game Lab are that it tends to lag with lots of objects on screen, and sharing/downloading new maps can take a very long time.

But other than that, Kodu Game Lab definitely deserves a recommendation. If you have 400 MS points to spare, I totally suggest getting Kodu. What I wouldn’t suggest is playing the trial, because the trial is extremely limited (blame MS’s XNA community guidelines) and you won’t experience the feel of the game.

Some people say that Kodu is baby’s first game maker and I have to say that’s not entirely true. Kodu is focused on just making games and making it easy to make games on the 360. Just because something is simple and friendly doesn’t mean it is childish. Kodu is for people who have never programmed before and always wanted to make a game. It’s for people who have programmed before or want to make something quick and easy. Kodu Game Lab is practically for everyone.

Now before you leave thinking: “Golly, I can’t believe he’s actually updating this blog with more flame posts”, hear where I’m coming from.

Trials HD at its core is a great concept. The first levels are fun and challenging and leave you with the feeling that you might be playing a good game. Not good enough to buy, but something to pick up when you are bored.

“Crawling in my skin”

When I first tried out the trial to Trials HD, I felt like the game was a bit silly. It felt like it was trying to be hardcore but wasn’t really at that level. It’s only when you actually get the game you realize how bad Trials HD wants to be extreme.

On the first few levels I loved how I would go flying in the air, hit a wall and a big cartoony “Crash!” would appear on my screen. It was loads of fun. But then Trials HD started to listen to emo punk music and gave me this odd feeling that Trials HD didn’t like players.

And it wasn’t until the Medium difficulty levels that it became apparent that Trials HD HATES YOU. Not only does it hate you, but it really hates you. It giggles at slashing your car tires every morning, stealing your newspaper, breaking everything you’ve ever owned and so much more. Trials HD is dedicated to making your life miserable.

The game is bawling with laughter right now

The game expects that you can magically foresee the future and change the outcome of a jump (of which the outcome is always you dying [and sometimes it will kill you anyways]). And unless you have the reaction time of Jesus, you will fail. Trials HD loves to make you backflip and die. Hitting anything will cause your bike to go ballistic and backflip into the air, no matter how small of an object that might be. Basically, the game knows you are doomed and makes fun of you for it.

If real life bikes handle the way they do in Trials HD, then God must really like Evil Knievel.

Levels are designed to keep things fresh, showing the player all the different ways they suck. Now, I don’t consider myself bad at games. I am or used to be in the top rankings in the Battlefield games and I very very very rarely lose at Burnout games (which requires that you can react extremely quick). But to be good at Trials HD must mean that you are #1 MLG whatever competitive competition thing that people with no lives do.

The ability to replay a level runthrough is really nice.

I really enjoy the level design and the cool little features in each one, but the levels really boil down to tons of button and stick mashing and a bunch of curse words.

The difficulty curve basically looks like this:

I didn’t play any of the tournaments because after I tried to beat the second level in the Extreme category, I just gave up. In the second level, you have to drive backwards, but the problem is that you also need to drive forwards in order to gain speed by going backwards and not to crash. Plus, LT is the button for brake and reverse, so you can imagine all the fun that will ensue! Also, if you fail by a centimeter, you fall into a pit of atomic bombs. Oh joy.

Bob the builder!

The level creation system is cool and I think it would be awesome to make some tracks if you actually wanted to spend the time to do so. The community sharing system is horrible. I mean, you can only share maps you make with friends, which is too bad because no one on my friend’s list is insane enough to go buy this (except for other reviewers like myself). Kodu, a game I plan to review next, came up with the clever idea of making 3 gamertags that are basically, the community’s file servers. Why Trials HD developers didn’t think of this, I don’t know. But they really should have.

Conclusion

I’m happy I got it for free because there is no way on earth I would ever pay for this game. Ever. I suggest other people stay very very very very far away from it.

If you put BMX, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, the daytime levels of Sonic Unleashed, Paperboy and the extreme unresponsiveness of the physics engine in Mirror’s Edge in a blender you would get: BTYPWQUNSONCIWQLKAPYREMXOYGE, and also Trials HD.

The only people you will ever see that continue to play this game are the ones that are trying to get all the EXTREMELY DIFFICULT achievements or ones that will continue to play the Easy levels. In fact, there is no point to playing the Hard or Extreme difficulties. Save yourself the trouble.

Final Result: Don’t buy. Trials HD is fun to play with if you can ignore the horrible controls and the constant gloating of how much you suck. But if you are like any average human, you will avoid failure or atleast try to avoid failure. So why don’t you just help yourself and avoid Trials HD.

1. You can only pay via credit card (which, may I remind you, is not easy to remove on XBL)
2. The prices are compared to retail. NO. BAD MICROSOFT. What makes downloading games a better option than buying retail is that the prices are normally cheaper online.
3. Hard drive space. Obviously, this is important because Xbox 360 have really low hard drive capacities. I mean, my Xbox has a 20GB hard drive and I have about 3GB left. New Xbox 360 hard drives range from 80 to about 160 dollars; so unless Microsoft decides to either offer an upgrade for free or at a reduced rate for us owners of the 20GB drives, this offer is useless.
4. DRM. So what happens if your Xbox fries? Most content is tied to your Xbox hardware id (content you have can only play on your Xbox) and your Live id. The Mythic and Legendary map pack for Halo 3 have this form of DRM, will these “On Demand” games have it too?

Don’t get your hopes up.

This drawing is currently closed and the winners have been sent their keys. Thanks to everyone who entered!

A few weeks ago, Treyarch announced a multiplayer beta of CoD: World at War, for their “friends and family”. We’re doing something similar. We’ve gotten our hands on 5 beta keys that we’ll give out to 5 randomly picked commenters on this post.

All you have to do is comment on what you think will be the best part of World at War.

One key per household. If you try to enter more than once (and we can tell if you have), you will be removed from the drawing and not receive a key.

Giveaway ends this Thursday (October 23) at 5:30PM PST. We’ll send the winners their keys via email then.

The old Xbox Live Pipeline

Purchasing via Xbox.com

Players will be able to browse the Marketplace and queue content to be downloaded automatically the next time the Xbox is turned on.

Additionally, players can purchase content from the site. However, there was no mention if the site will accept additional online methods of payment (like Paypal), besides a credit card or Microsoft Points.

This move is a pretty cool move for Microsoft, though it is somewhat redundant. Beats browsing via the Xbox 360 sitting right in front of you….right?