Gamer Banter is a monthly gaming discussion of multiple bloggers. More info is here and please contact Terry from Game Couch if you wish to take part.

July’s topic is set by Terry from Game Couch: How important is cover art to you?

Not at all.

Seeing how this makes for a very short Gamer Banter post, I decided to take this question to Twitter:

Gamers: How important is the cover art for you? Also, what’s your favourite one? #

• liquidindian: Not at all. I get all my games digital download now. #
• XaosWolf: Not for me personally, as I keep up with gaming news, but for impulse buyers and those looking for gifts, and such, very important. Favourites: Okami and Zelda TP. And most FF games. #
• sahfenn: If I see a good cover it’ll make me look at a review. Favourite cover … Hmm. Mini ninjas on Xbox is very cute. #
• Tapio: Ugly art=No buy..just kidding, I did buy ME2. Super Mario world has best one. Simple and that’s what cover art needs to be. #
• spritesbites: the cover art is important, it is the first thing i see when judging a game. but what is on the back cover is more important. #
• spritesbites: if the cover art shows signs of manga or other similar japanese art, I avoid. I don’t like that style. #
• NeoKubrick: Not much. Most of the games now release generic cover art without it being really ‘art’.
• phil_crabtree: I do like the box art but it’s hard to pick the best one. I liked Batman AA but maybe that’s just because I love the game? #
• chrisbrownsell: It won’t convince me to but a game, but I do like nice box art. Not sure what my favourite is though. I’ll get back to you. #
• PCurd: Game box art shouldn’t be important but it is as is all marketing material. I might be swayed to buy a game I was “umming and arring” about by game art that intrigues me. As for favourite box art, not really sure. I like the Dragon Age one but Fable also sticks in my memory.
• LivingDefiance: I always thought good coverart made or broke some games for me, especially if i was unsure. #
• Zoibie: A good cover art might make me appreciate a game more, but it never influences me to buy a game. Favourite? Resistance 2 EU I think. #
• BladedExpert: Coverart has zero impact on purchases. But I’m usually in the know about new releases. I honestly couldn’t tell you of a favourite. #

I can remember some memorable game covers; some of my favourite ones include the style of GTA games and Voodoo Vince, but I can’t recall much else. Undeniably there are some people arguing that there is some great game cover art, but don’t see the attraction even after following this tumblr blog for months.

Convince me otherwise? What is your favourite cover art?

Read these posts to see what the other participants of Gamer Banter think about games cover art:

• Silvercublogger: Don’t Cover The Art, Unless…
• The Average Gamer: Cover Art
• Aim for the Head: Browsing the Aisles
• SnipingMizzy: In the eye of the beholder
• Extra Guy: On Books and Covers
• Zath: How Important Is A Game’s Cover Art?
• carocat.co.uk: Cover art? No, thanks!
• Pioneer Project: The game box’s big moment
• Man Fat: How Important Is A Game’s Cover Art?

Gamer Banter is a monthly gaming discussion of multiple bloggers. More info is here and please contact Terry from Game Couch if you wish to take part.

June’s topic is set by Terry from Game Couch: What was the game that made you a gamer?

When I first read the question I thought it was going to be easy answering it. An older version of my about page from 2007 states: “The game that convinced me to buy an Xbox in November 2003 was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic which to this day continues to be one of my favourite titles.” KotOR is still my first gaming love and many times I’ve wanted to write a post about it, but couldn’t put it into words. There are at least eight started posts in my drafts and I’ve mentioned the game several times before in other posts.

However, does it mean it is the game that made me a gamer?

I remember playing exactly five games until I was 20 years old. Two of those were Tetris and some Mario game on the original Gameboy stolen from my best friend pre primary school when he fell asleep on the seat next to me during a long car journey from Germany to Italy! The other three were Tomb Raider 2, 3 and 4 which I borrowed from my friend’s brother back in 90′s, although I’m pretty sure I still had them a few years ago.. Out of those games I vaguely remember completing Tomb Raider 2 using the official strategy guide and I don’t recall particularly enjoying playing any of the games, but for some reason I carried on regardless.

I officially got into games in 2003 when I took a job as a gamestester following a mostly fruitless jobsearch after having just moved to the UK. Money was running out, the company was looking for native German speakers and a friend of mine was working there. To say it changed my life doesn’t quite describe the impact that job had on me over the following four years. Yes, gamestesting, or rather playtesting, itself is a boring job. Running into the same wall twenty times or playing with certain test specific game settings to simulate average gamers or playing incredibly broken games isn’t fun. Neither is completing the same game 20 times a week for three weeks or playing a game that’s of no interest which, in my case, is football or puzzle games.

Yet none of that mattered on the 5th of August 2003. My memory being as random it is, I still remember the day as if it was yesterday though, if I’m being honest, probably better!

I had chosen a very hot summer to move to the UK; the terraced house I was sharing with a close friend and some of his friends was unbearable and the week before we had started to camp in the garden. I had moved to the UK just over a month prior to that and spent a majority of the time job hunting. Every shop in town had my CV, I had filled out countless application forms, but was only offered a cold calling telesales job which I quit after three days as the little commission I made didn’t even cover my commuting!

One of my housemates, a Spanish speaking student, had taken up a part time job working as a gamestester and he suggested I should apply for it as well. It took them over a week to require an additional German tester [I later learned they misplaced my application and had been desperate for a native German all along!] and get back to me and I got the phonecall late Monday afternoon asking me to be in at 8.30am the following morning.

The night was yet another hot night and none of us could get any sleep inside or outside and suddenly it was 7am and we had to leave to catch a bus, followed by a train and a 30 minute walk. Arriving at the office there was an introduction followed by the signing of contracts and a far too long and detailed NDA before finally starting my job.

I remember both games I played on that day, both of them sports games taking me completely out of my comfort zone as I didn’t know the rules to either of them! Of course, I was bad at them, even though I quickly learned the rules and after an hour or so I enjoyed them. I got the first couple of wins. There were cutscenes with winning celebrations. Upbeat music. Excitement.

Even though I didn’t realise it at the time I was hooked. Not necessarily hooked on the winning itself or the sense of achievement at completing levels or a game, but hooked to gaming. Games did things I couldn’t even imagine and it was fun which is why I bought an Xbox with five games in November 2003: Halo, Midtown Madness 3, Conflict Desert Storm, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring and Wallace and Gromit Project Zoo.

So which of the above games made me a gamer? None and all of them equally. I do think the games I played on that first day had a large part to do with it as I ended up buying them at a later point, but there were many more games that had me coming back over and over again.

Are you as curious as me to find out what other people consider the game that made them a gamer? Read their posts:

• Aim for the Head: The Gamer I Am Today
• carocat.co.uk: A Trip Down Memory Lane
• Yuki-Pedia: A Tale of Two Games
• gunthera1_gamer: Early Gaming Experience
• Extra Guy: Ah yes, I remember it well
• The Average Gamer: What Made Me a Gamer
• Sivercublogger: Uncovering Lost Treasures
• Master Kitty’s World: Gaming Through the Years
• Gamer Unit: What was the game that made you a gamer?
• Game Couch: Karateka
• Next Jen: What Made Me into a Gamer

What was the game that made you a gamer?

Gamer Banter is a monthly gaming discussion of multiple bloggers. More info is here and please contact Terry from Game Couch if you wish to take part.

May’s topic is set by Cat at carocat.co.uk: Which game character do you identify yourself with most/least and why?

Today’s entry for the ‘You really shouldn’t do this again as it’ll just be embarrassing’ list: Suggesting a topic for Gamer Banter at the beginning of the month, because I couldn’t get motivated about last month’s topic and then being late with my post, because I’ve not even spent one minute thinking about it due to so much going on in my life. Which I know is just an excuse.

I originally had the idea about the topic not because I already had a post in my mind, but because I wanted to actually force myself to think about game characters and what draws me to some of them and not others. I have always played games for their story and my favourite games tend to be roleplaying games made by BioWare which tend to have very deep character development. Alistair, Carth, Garrus, HK-47, Mira [not a BioWare, but an Obsidian character], Mission, Morrigan and Tali are just some of them I’ve fallen in love with over the years. Some of them for their witty dialogue, others for their excellent voice acting, backstory that perfectly fits with the character’s actions or generally powerful moments.

HK-47: Query: Can I kill him now, master? I’d like ever so much to break his neck. It’s been a long time fantasy of mine…
Revan: Maybe later…
HK-47: Did you hear that meatbag? I will be back!

But it’s not just BioWare RPG’s, there are many more characters I’ve fallen in love with over the years. Some that come to mind now are:

• Pey’j from ‘Beyond Good and Evil’.
• That wise cracking soldier from ‘Full Spectrum Warrior’.
• Leo from ‘Deus Ex Invisible War’.
• The NPC’s from ‘Destroy all Humans’.
• Lady Grey in ‘Fable’.
• Kent Paul from ‘GTA Vice City’
• The grunts from the Halo series.
• Diana from all the Hitman games.
• Rico Rodriguez in ‘Just Cause’. Strangely I didn’t like him so much in the sequel.
• Munch from ‘Oddworld: Munch’s Odyssey’.
• Serious Sam!

I’m glad games are evolving to the standard they are at now. For example Mass Effect 2 [which I still haven't completed!] blows me away every time I play it. The impact decisions of the first game have on the experience are extraordinary guaranteeing different experiences for everyone.

I hope there are going to be many more characters in games to fall in love with!

Have a look at the other Gamer Banter posts. They aren’t as rushed as mine!

• Pioneer Project: The importance of character creation
• Silvercublogger: Will Sing Opera For Italian Food
• Game Couch: Gabriel Knight
• Aim for the Head: Friends Through The End
• Extra Guy: Who I Identify With
• Next Jen: I’d Rather Be Me
• carocat.co.uk: A rushed love letter

Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the same exact topic.

I took part twice:

• Blog Banter: Just how much fun LAN can be! [December 2007]
• Blog Banter: This is Gaming! [January 2008]

I didn’t take part in any further ones as I couldn’t get inspired by the topics chosen and then Blog Banter somewhat slowed anyway..

Terry [@GameCouch] is looking to restart it and this month’s topic is: What franchise shift bothers you the most?

I was thinking of taking part, but couldn’t think of anything to actually write about. The only game series I’ve been disappointed enough lately was Splinter Cell Conviction and I feel I’ve said all I have to say about it at the moment on the demo post.

Sure, there have been other games that didn’t impress me as much as their predecessors, but that doesn’t indicate a franchise shift.

Do read the other Blog Banter posts though:

• Next Jen: X-COM
• Silvercube: Looking For Ingenuity
• Game Couch: Dark Forces

Want to take part? Contact Terry!

Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about anything and everything video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the exact same topic! Links to all the participant’s articles can be found here. If you are interested in participating, contact bs angel for more information. Enjoy our stories!

I’ve never bothered with New Year’s Revolutions. In fact all in all I don’t care much about New Year at all. It’s nothing special and just over commercialised. But then I thought I’ll just go with the flow, go and throw myself out there.. which didn’t help me at all and I can tell you one thing, staring at the laptop for an hour is not fun. See, I could’ve done some quality gaming in that time!

I decided to cheat a little and get some help.. Although ‘cheating’ is such a harsh term. Let’s just say I asked some pr0′s for help.

Your New Year’s Resolutions

1) Get a pet bunny 2) Eat more cheese 3) Travel to France 4) Study Latin 5) Get in shape with ballet

Considering I’ve already got five cats, I don’t think the bunny is such a good idea; the cheese I can do, France isn’t on top of my list. Although, do you think it counts if I fly over France to get to another country? I already did four long and gruelling years of Latin at school and ballet was never my thing. I do love ballet shoes though, but I don’t suppose buying a pair of those counts?

Well, that wasn’t too great, but hey it’s not all over yet, right? I thought above site looked very trustworthy so I decided to give it another go:

You Probably Won’t Keep Your New Year’s Resolution

Something isn’t quite right with the resolution you’ve selected. Maybe it’s time for a different one?

But this result confused me even more. Does that mean the above aren’t quite right for me or whichever ones I do?

I wonder what other people set themselves… *cough* Muppets *cough* Top Ten New Years Resolutions:

1. Spend More Time with Family and Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Tame the Bulge
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get Out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized

Well, I don’t smoke, don’t drink much, enjoy life, help others and I’m not in debt. Being unorganised is definitely one of my weak points, so I could work on that.And considering I’m now a new person being organised and no more procrastinating [It's not just you, bs angel, we all procastrinate!], I’ve decided to make some more New Years Resolutions. 53 in fact. I think I went a little overboard!

All these are games I’ve got yet never completed. It is my aim, no make that my first New Years Revolution in my entire life, to complete these games in 2008.

Alien Hominid HD
Amped 3
At World’s End
Band of Bugs
BioShock [New stuff!]
Burnout Revenge
Call of Duty 4
Call of Juarez
Cloning Clyde
CSI-Hard Evidence
DEAD OR ALIVE 4
DEAD RISING
DiRT™
DOOM
EXIT
Far Cry Instincts
Frogger
G.R.A.W.
Gauntlet
Heavy Weapon
Hitman: Blood Money [I will get Silent Assassin on more levels even if it kills me!]
Just Cause
Kameo
LEGO Star Wars II
LEGO Star Wars: TCS
LOST PLANET
Luxor 2
Mass Effect [Gotta play it again and again!]
MOH Airborne
Need for Speed™ Carbon
NFS Most Wanted
Oblivion Shivering Isles
Outpost Kaloki X
PGR 4
Prince of Persia
Rockstar Table Tennis
Root Beer Tapper
SHReK the THiRD
Shrek-n-Roll
Small Arms
SWOS
Tenchu Z
Test Drive Unlimited
The Darkness
The Godfather™
The Orange Box
Tomb Raider: Anniv.
Tony Hawks American Wasteland
Top Spin 2
TotemBall
Track and Field
Viva Piñata
Yaris

Tune in next month when we check on Cat’s progress. Has she managed to complete any? Has she got any more games? Next month only on Blog Banter.

See, I told you we need a jingle, but does anyone ever listen to me?!

Cat

This post may or may not have been written under the influence of too much caffeine.

So many know Heroes, but who knows about Zeroes? That’s right, Zeroes.

I came across a Zeroes trailer a while back on Trent’s Blog:

That was one of the funniest things I had seen in a while and it really made me laugh out loud. Yes, LOL.

Now I thought that’s all there is and I didn’t think it was possible making any more out of it, but just how wrong was I?! Turns out there is a whole series of three to four minute shorts out there.

If you liked it, go over to Zath Games Tech and view episode 1-4. Yep, that’s right, show me to your blog via ‘Blog Banter’ and I’ll steal your content. ;)

Cat

Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the same exact topic. If you are interested in participating, contact bs angel for more information. Enjoy our stories!

It was the late summer of 2004. Yes, that incredibly hot summer in which it was too hot inside buildings and God forbid you wanted to go outside during the day! I remember that for several weeks I didn’t sleep in a bed, but rather outside in a tent with my housemates and stayed up far too late drinking and meeting all sorts of gorgeous second and third year students.

Yep, that’s right, it was the summer I moved to the UK and it was the summer of fun!

During that summer I also found my love for gaming, or much rather the Xbox. If you had asked me before what an Xbox, a video game console or the latest game is, I would’ve just looked at you blankly and probably not even be able to name the PlayStation 2. Gaming was just a completely different thing to everything I knew until then.

It was one of the last really hot days that year and I was at a work friend’s house with some others. We were at work, but finished early and as most of us had to travel home by train or walk long stretches we decided to wait until the evening and rather all converge at someone’s house.

The house was full of Xbox Consoles. All three people living there owned at least one and in addition it was the place to hang out and have LAN parties.

After all of us had some cold beer to cool us down and we shared several pizzas among us, the boredom set in until one of us looked at the big stack of games. There were enough copies of Halo: Combat Evolved, Crimson Skies and some racing game to be able to link it up and play against each other. We decided to play Crimson Skies.

It took us a good while to set it all up, but eventually all six of us had their own console, controller, game and TV. I wasn’t joking when I said that that house had all the LAN equipment you could wish for!

I bet not many of you have ever played Crimson Skies. If you haven’t, make sure you pick it up when Microsoft release it as part of the ‘Originals’ as download on the Dashboard or buy it cheaply and use the backwards compatibility. It is a lot of fun to play, has an addictive single player mode and to this date has people playing it on Xbox Live.

Back to the LAN… Crimson Skies is forgiving; newcomers to the game are able to pick it up quickly and have a chance against longtime players [I'd love to see that in Halo!] and the maps are odd enough you discover something new every time you play.

It was during a game of Capture the flag. There was much at stake, before the start of the game we had made the bet that the losing team would go to the shop and buy more to drink. Plus the usual banter on who is better. My team wasn’t the best, none of us had played the game before that day and the other team not only fielded two players who had completed the game, but also consisted of a guy who is brilliant at every single game. Not that I would ever tell him that though, his ego is big enough!

The game was on the upside down ancient aztec temple map which consists of a roughly symmetrical map inside a big cave with many chances to not only crash your plane but also loose track of your opponents within seconds.

Two minutes into the game and the other team launched an all sided assault and captured our flag. We were helpless. Well, three of us were.. I had already adapted my tactic of bomb/flag/objective girl back then and was next to their flag when they killed my entire team and stole our flag. Nevertheless, I grabbed it and flew along one of the small, sneaky paths that would lead me directly to my base. It wasn’t a very common way, so I didn’t think anyone else would be there. How wrong was I?! Right in front of me was the enemy flag carrier! I noticed him a split second before he spotted me which gave me an edge and I shot him down. His team mates were already back at his base, so I could score with no opposition. 1-0 to us.

Everyone had re spawned, it was time to await their return. All of us took up strategic positions inside the big cave, but it was no use, we were practically slaughtered. 1-1

Upon re spawning we killed the enemy that remained in our base to capture the flag as soon as they score it and I made my way back over to the other base. Luckily they didn’t spot me and again I managed to grab the flag. As I set off for my return I realised why they didn’t spot me. It was a trap and within seconds I had three of them on my back, firing their guns and missiles on me. No chance.. Somehow they also sneakily grabbed our flag and scored which was followed by loud cheering from them and us of course insisting they cheated! 1-2 to the enemy

15 minutes and the score is tied 4-4. Miraculously we had managed to keep up with them which saw several desperate flag saves, one right in front of their base and some of us had sacrificed ourselves and kamikaz’ed into enemies to ensure whoever on our team had the flag would score it. There was also a lot of shouting going on and victory dances on either side!

This was the decider. Whoever would score this last flag would win the match and the loser would have to walk to the shop and back with the extreme heat outside!

Both teams were cautious and it felt a bit more like a dogfight as no one had the courage to actually grab the flag. When we had the slight advantage with most of them dead or at low health they had to repair themselves we decided to go for it. One remained on ‘D’, two came with me taking the most obvious route to their base. We came up against one of them who was dead immediately with the three of us shooting him. The flag was ours for the taking and I grabbed it to take it back to our base. Just when we’re about to leave their cave, two of them re spawn and took us by surprise. One of my team members was shot down and the other one badly damaged. Surprisingly I escaped unscathed and, having the advantage of using a faster plane, managed to set some distance between me and my followers.

I had forgotten about their team member who suddenly materialised in front having waited for me. To this date I don’t know how I pulled it off.. I did a back spin followed by some barrel rolls to avoid his missiles. That also meant his team mates managed to catch up with me and I was surrounded by three of them. Barrel rolls seem to do the trick, they weren’t able to home their missiles and couldn’t use their gun much in case of shooting each other. It bought me just enough time for my team mates to arrive and a huge battle ensued.

I was somehow able to pull away and carry on back to our base. I decided to take a detour through a smaller cave with many objects blocking the way, so in case someone followed me, they wouldn’t be able to use their missiles. And I was right, just when I entered that cave I was getting shot at and barely made it behind some big stalactites. Having substituted weapon power for speed and lost half of my health I was in no shape or form to take him on. My only chance was to trick him. Some more barrel rolls allowed him to catch up. As soon as he was just behind me I did a backspin carefully avoiding all the stalactites. He wasn’t so lucky. He pulled up and crashed directly into a smaller one.

All there was now left for me was to carry on and bring victory home. 5-4 to us. We win! Not bad for playing the game for the first time!

Of course they said we should play a best of three and that it was only the warm up, but they couldn’t even get through to us, we were cheering and dancing around the room.

It was one of the very first times I had ever played a multiplayer game and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Sure, I had some great times on Xbox Live and there are some single player games that have moved me, but nothing compared to winning a match against people who had played the game before by some lucky stalactites, the pressure and the ability to bring this up many, many times over the years.

Infact, I think I might have to go and send someone an email… ;)

Cat

Other Blog Banter Articles:

• Boffman22′s Memorable Gaming Moments (Boom Stick Brigade)
• I love you Intellivision! (Boom Stick Brigade)
• Just how much fun LAN can be! (Cat’s Blog)
• Becoming an Ace and Dealing With Minsc (Delayed Responsibility)
• Memoirs of a Young Gamer (Gaming with Baby)
• Memorable Gaming Moments (Hawty McBloggy)
• Old School, Middle School, New School (lukeshep.com)
• To Memory Lane and Back (Play Your Station)
• Hit the Reset Button (Thoughts and Rants)
• Memorable Gaming Moments (Zath Games Tech)