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| | April 4, 2008
Yay to everyone who visited us at Sakura Con!
And before anybody asks, the picture to the left is MSN Games editor Minion in the Final Fantasy costume she wore when she wasn’t meeting players and handing out goodies at the Microsoft Casual Games table. She will not thank me for posting it. ;)
It sounds like everyone had a great time at the event! And quite a few MSN Games and casual gaming fans stopped by to say hi. | |
| Of course, the fact that Twilight and Minion had a whole table full of free goodies didn’t hurt! One of the most popular items in their basket o’ swag was the stash of plushie Messenger GoPets panda bears (take a peek in the hands of the cheerful little lady to the right). Even full-grown guys couldn’t resist them; apparently some of the costumed folks were running around with a GoPets panda peeking out of their shirt or perched on a shoulder.
What amazed all of us was how many people said they already play GoPets! The highlight in that department was one young girl who took off her backpack and fished out a laminated screenshot of her GoPets kitty. She carries it everywhere. So very cute! Of course, if there had been a game like that when I was the same age, I’d probably have done the same thing and worn it as a necklace, heh.
Other folks who stopped by the table listed Text Twist, Hexic, Diner Dash 2, and Bejeweled among their favorite casual games. Good taste, all! | | 
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| Costumed chess!
Okay, so I said last time that I was considering going to Sakura Con myself next year, since it sounds like so much fun. But now… oh, now I know I’ll have to be there. Nobody had mentioned the “Cosplay Chess” before! Our roving editors brought back a ton of photos, including a hundred or so of this event. Apparently, the convention staff rounded up some of the best costumes they saw in the halls, turned one of the panel rooms into a giant chess board, and played a game of human chess. I love chess! But imagine how much more fun it would be if instead of moving a tiny wooden piece, you simply commanded one of your brightly garbed troops to move two spaces and stage a mock duel with the opponent’s equally garish pawn. Apparently it was a hoot to watch, and the audience area was absolutely packed.
Here’s one of the photos of the board near the beginning of the match:
And here’s one of the mighty mock duels!
I’m so happy to see that the current generation is not merely still playing chess, but having some very creative fun with it. If Microsoft has a game room at Sakura Con again next year, I’m definitely going along to see and enjoy everything myself!
Conquering England for fun and nostalgia
How in the world did I manage to miss this? I had no idea we’d added Defender of the Crown to our catalog of download games! Wow. Okay, I know this is just another indication of how old I am, but that game was one of the best things available on the brand-new Amiga computer system when I was in college. I remember so many late nights and study breaks, marshalling my army and taking over the city-states of England one by one. It was a remarkably sophisticated game for its time, with minigames for jousting and castle-besieging, plus a feature that allowed you to raid a neighbor’s stronghold for gold if your treasury was running low… there’s nothing like a little covert larceny when you can’t quite afford that shiny new catapult. It’s one of those games that I’ve remembered fondly for twenty years, and now all of a sudden, I have a chance to play it again.
So you can imagine my surprise and chagrin to get my butt thoroughly stomped the first time I tried. And the second time. And the third. What I’d forgotten is how challenging the game is, and how devious it can be! It seems that two decades of intervening practice at ever-more-complex and difficult strategy games – rather than preparing me for round two with my old favorite – has caused me to forget that brute force frequently trumps the heck out of careful planning and finesse. Point taken, Defender of the Crown, and I shall persevere until England is once again mine.
More with the mysteries
This is a fabulous time to be a fan of hidden-picture games. They’re practically bubbling up out of the ground around here. And now two of the biggest names in casual gaming, iWin and Play First, have leapt into the genre with Polly Pride: Pet Detective and The Nightshift Code. The way I see it, if the people behind Jewel Quest and Diner Dash want to make hidden-picture games, I definitely want to play them. I’ve only had a chance to peek at each one, but so far I really like what I see. I’ll babble more about them next time, after I spend way too many hours squinting at the screen!
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| Tech Talk
Looks like some folks are having trouble playing Joboo’s Gems, and by trouble, I mean slow gameplay, graphics issues, or even a totally black screen. Turns out it’s because Joboo requires DirectX; if your drivers are out of date, you’ll need to update ‘em before you play. Easy enough!
See you next time!
Ask Moxie!
Do you have a question or comment? I’d love to hear from you. Just email me at zmaster@microsoft.com and I’ll do my best to answer in one of these Coffee Breaks! Oh, please make sure to include your MSN Games nickname, so I know who to list here if I quote you!
(And if you have technical questions or problems with a game, we’ll cheerfully answer those as well. Just submit them through the support section of this site!) | |
