The Richter Scale^®

Kaz Harai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

No more news, but nice stage - live courtesy of my cell phone with
built-in camera and e-mail.

Fans of video gaming will know that this week is rather special - it’s
the time when the video gaming world flocks to Los Angeles to the annual
E3 Exposition, where the latest and
greatest in electronic entertainment will be showcased and previewed.

The last time I attended E3 was in 1996, and as best I can tell the
energy and excitement has grown exponentially since then. (Search over
on http://www.richterscale.org for that coverage)

I’m starting the week at the Sony media briefing, where it is expected
Sony will officially unveil the next generation PlayStation hardware,
which is based on the new CELL processor designed by IBM in conjunction
with Sony and Toshiba, and will be using standards like OpenGL ES, Cg,
and COLLADA.

Below is a picture of waiting media and analysts ready to enter Stage 27
on the Sony Pictures lot to see what Sony has to say.

First Person Shooters (FPSes) are a dime a dozen, but Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath puts a novel new spin on the genre.

FPSes are among my favorite types of video games, but only when they include good story elements, at least some strategy, and offer a serious challenge.

Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath, from Electronic Arts offers all of those features and more.

Some of the creatures in Stranger’s Wrath will be familiar to those who have played one or another game in the Oddworld universe, such as Abe’s Oddyssee, Abe’s Exxodus, or Munch’s Oddyssee, including fuzzles, dog-like slegs, and various bipeds.

Other than the environment, what sets Stranger apart from most FPSes is the innovative choice of weapons, and the ability to capture opponents alive instead of having to obliterate them (although sometimes that appears to be the only option to ensure your survival).

Where the typical FPS will have multiple guns with bullets, grenades, laser beams, etc., the weapon of the bounty hunter named Stranger is a double-barreled gun where each barrel can be loaded with one of eight or so critters. Live critters. Thus, truly “live” ammo.

Ammo ranges from spiders which wrap webs around outlaws so you can suck them up alive, to killer bees, stunks (really stinky skunk-like creatures), and yes, fuzzles (tribbles with a really bad attitude).

As you go along through missions to collect bounties by bagging outlaws, you get moolah with with to buy upgrades, including nastier versions of various ammo. But ammo doesn’t have to be bought - you can simply go and capture your live ammo when opportunity arises.

Each bounty mission has a “boss” who is significantly more difficult to capture or take out than his underlings, but not impossible to dispose of after many repeated attempts.

I rate Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath a 7.0 out of 10.0 on The Richter Scale.

Additional Notes:

I just saw the game at Best Buy for less than $30, which is a pretty good deal. However, the price reduction probably stems from poor sales, as EA Games appears to have done little to no marketing for this great game.

Having recently read an interview with Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning, who has headed off to greener pastures, EA apparently didn’t commit marketing resources to Stranger for several reasons, among them that it was a single platform game - it’s only available on Xbox.