Holiday gift suggestions, part 2

Only a week to go. Need some help?

Headphones for listening to music, working out, playing games, and more.

Game console bundles. Get the best value from a PS4, Wii U, or Xbox One by getting some games with the console.

The best gaming computers available, portable, laptops to replace desktops, and top-end desktops.

All the best Video games to play on those systems.

And, from my colleague, Pete Nowak, some robotic toys.

Serial, season 1, comes to an end

Remember I was gushing about the podcast, Serial, a couple of weeks ago? Well, the final episode of season 1 releases tomorrow, Thursday, December 18.

My prediction about what we’ll hear? To be honest, I suspect that many listeners are going to be disappointed because I don’t think the mystery will be solved. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I suspect this is one true story that will end up with more questions than answers.

It’s still worth listening to. Catch up on Serial.

Drex confesses that he hasn’t ever owned a game console, and asks if it’s time to get a PS4. Hear my answer and more in our conversation.

Holiday gift suggestions for the techies in your life, part 1

Here’s the first part of my annual holiday gift guide.

• Tablets
• Phablet accessories
• Cameras
• Energy efficient tech
• Green tech

Hour of Code happening this week

Last week I wrote about how kids could learn basic computer programming with Frozen characters Anna and Elsa. From the same organization, Code.org, is Hour of Code, which takes place during Computer Science Education Week, happening right now all over the world.

Last year during the week, more than 10 million girls were learning to code, which is more than the total number of females in the last 70 years.

Tomorrow (Thursday, December 11), Apple retail stores are offering free coding workshops for kids as part of Hour of Code. “Learn to code. Change the world.” Sign up at your local Apple retail store.

First ever PlayStation Experience

I was in Las Vegas last weekend for the PlayStation Experience, which turned out to be a fun and very busy convention for fans of Sony’s game console.

PSX was also a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first console, released in Japan on December 3, 1994. At the Sands Convention Centre, thousands of people paid US$50 for one day (US$90 for both) to attend.

The weekend kicked off with a keynote presentation (you can watch it below) filled with trailers for upcoming games, announcements, and demos, including an extensive demo of Uncharted 4, coming from Naughty Dog next year. Also featured were other PlayStation exclusives such as Bloodborne, The Order: 1886, Tearaway Unfolded, and Drawn to Death, the new game from David Jaffe, the director of God of War and God of War II.

Key indie titles coming to PlayStation include No Man’s Sky and What Remains of Edith Finch, from the studio that developed The Unfinished Swan. Toronto’s Capy Games is bringing Super Time Force Ultra to PS4 and PS Vita in the spring, with Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony’s worldwide studios, as a playable character.

Electronic Arts representative Peter Moore was on hand to wish PlayStation a happy birthday and announce three games were free through the weekend, and Capcom announced that the only game console Street Fighter V will appear on is the PS4.

After the two hour opening presentation, the exhibition hall, with some 800 booths with games to play, was opened. There were tournaments for Ultra Street Fighter IV, The Last of Us, and an opportunity to play the first Destiny expansion, The Dark Below, before it was released.

There was a sizable area of the exhibition hall set aside for independent developers to show their games, all of which are coming to one PlayStation platform or another, including A Night in the Woods, being codeveloped by Vancouver’s Alec Holowka, and two games from Vancouver studios, RocketsRocketsRockets, from Radiant Games, and Darkets Dungeon, from Red Hook Studios.

The weekend also included a series of panel discussions, all geared towards fans and illuminating the development process or giving gamers a chance to learn more about their favourite games and the studios that made them.

The numbers of attendees and goodwill reported by developers who were on hand to mill with their fans indicated that the PSX was an enormous success. It was like Comic-con crossed with E3, an opportunity for Sony to focus all the gaming attention on itself for a weekend. I won’t be surprised if it becomes an annual event. And I won’t be surprised if Microsoft is already thinking about when to hold a similar celebration for Xbox fans.

Cross-posted at the Georgia Straight

Dragon Age: Inquisition wins game of the year at inaugural Game Awards

Also taking place in Las Vegas last week (on Friday, Dec. 5), The Game Awards recognized achievement in video games developed in 2014.

Dragon Age: Inquisition won game of the year (the full list of winners is below). The game, developed in Edmonton at BioWare, wasn’t even in consideration at the Canadian Videogame Awards in November because it wasn’t available to jurors in time.

The Game Awards was produced by Geoff Keighley, who has for the last ten years been putting together an annual awards show for Spike TV. Like those productions, Keighley’s latest event was as much an extended commercial for the industry as it was an opportunity to honour the creatives involved in making the video games.

But the three-hour affair held at the Axis in Planet Hollywood had a little bit of everything.

There was a nice balance of game developer personalities (game designer Tim Shafer, the developers from Stoic, representatives from Bungie, an appearance by former Bioware employee Casey Hudson, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann) and Hollywood celebrities, including Conan O’Brien, who filmed segments announcing the nominees for game of the year, and Kiefer Sutherland, the new voice of Snake, the protagonist of the Metal Gear Solid games.

Trey Parker, in accepting the award for best performance, had the best line of the night, saying that video games were the best because, “Only in video games can Trey Parker beat out Kevin Spacey for acting.”

In addition to the appearances and announcements, the teases and trailers, there were also musical performances from Jamie N Commons, performing “Karma,” the theme from the upcoming game Battlefield Hardline (EA), 65daysofstatic, playing “Supermoon,” a song from the No Man’s Sky album they are recording, and Lindsay Stirling playing the theme from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Imagine Dragons ended the show with a short set that included performing with Nintendo composer Koji Kondo.

As for the world premieres, many of them were simply new looks at games that had already been announced. Nintendo bookended the show, opening with footage of the upcoming Mario Maker, in which players can create their own side-scrolling Mario games, and closing with a video from Shigeru Miyamoto revealing that Star Fox, Majora’s Mask for 3DS, and the new Legend of Zelda game for Wii U will all be released in 2015.

Hideo Kojima introduced a first look at Metal Gear Solid Online: Tactical Team Operations, the multiplayer mode for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Sony’s Scott Rohde showed off Yasiel Puig is the cover athlete for MLB: The Show 2015, a new clip from The Order: 1886, and a world premiere of Until Dawn, a new game in which player decisions directly impact the events in the game. And Peter Moore said that EA will be publishing a new game from Hazelight, a new studio formed from some of the developers that made the game Brothers.

The only new announcement from the major publishers was the reveal of Godzilla, coming from Bandai Namco for PS3 and PS4 in 2015, that lets players become the legendary monster.

And while the major publishers got good stage time, the biggest surprises came from the independent developers. They included:

• Adrift (Three One Zero)
• Banner Saga 2 (Stoic Studio)
• Before (Facepunch Studios)
• Human Element (Robotoki)
• No Man’s Sky (Hello Games) five ways to travel through
• Tacoma (Fullbright)

The missed cues and production problems indicated the ambition of Keighley’s Game Awards, but the event was the love-in that the industry wanted.

Full list of winners in The Game Awards, 2014

Determined by jury

Game of the year
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Electronic Arts)

Developer of the year
Nintendo

Best independent game
Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)

Best mobile/handheld game
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)

Best narrative
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft)

Best score/soundtrack
Destiny (Activision)

Best performance
Trey Parker for various voices in South Park: The Stick of Truth (Ubisoft)

Games for change
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft)

Best remaster
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)

Best shooter
Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft)

Best action/adventure
Shadow of Mordor (Warner Bros.)

Best role playing game
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Electronic Arts)

Best fighting game
Super Smash Bros. Wii U (Nintendo)

Best family game
Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo)

Best sports/racing game
Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo)

Best online experience
Destiny (Activision)

Fans choice awards

Most anticipated game
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

eSports player of the year
Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag

eSports team of the year
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Trending gamer
TotalBiscuit

Best fan creation
Twitch Plays Pokemon

Cross-posted at the Georgia Straight

I contributed a list of video games to Metro’s holiday gift guide, but the publication didn’t have space for all my suggestions. Here’s the complete list.

Good for everyone

FIFA 15 (3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

The best sports simulation available is for soccer. FIFA 15 lets footy fans play in quick matches, engage in complete seasons with existing teams or manage their own team of favourite players. The game includes nearly every league, club and team, as well as realistic versions of stadiums from around the world.

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

Everyone will enjoy the raucous racing action in this Nintendo classic. Two players can race against each other (up to 12 via online) on 32 tracks that incorporate upside-down and underwater sections. Drivers assemble their favourite vehicle from parts and, as in previous editions of the popular franchise, during the race they can pick up weapons that can be used against competitors. The new “amiibo” toys will unlock costumes for the racers, too, and new downloadable content adds new characters, carts, and tracks.

For those in double-digits (10+)

Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, Xbox One)

In this shooter, players become guardians of humanity, traveling to the Moon, Venus, and Mars in an attempt to push back the forces of darkness. While the story mode can be played alone, Destiny is at its best when played with others, and it’s something your gamers will do for hours.

Disney Infinity 2.0 (PS3, PS4, Wii U, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

The next version of Disney’s toy-to-game experience introduces new characters and more role-playing elements to the virtual toy box. Three playsets are available, each with its own unique game: Marvel Super Heroes, Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

Batman and the Justice League need to save the world — again — and along the way players will unlock some 150 “minifig” versions of DC Comics characters. A hallmark of the Lego video games is humour, wit, and fun, and that’s true of Beyond Gotham, too.

Skylanders: Trap Team (3DS, iOS, PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, X360, Xbox One)

Skylanders is an action-adventure franchise where gamers put real-life action figures into the virtual worlds they’re playing in. This time, villains can be trapped inside collectible crystals to fight for the good side.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

The boisterous fighting game, featuring iconic Nintendo characters such as Mario, Peach, Samus (and 37 others), has seven modes of mayhem to keep players entertained, from stamina matches to custom battles to a party game. Up to eight players can brawl simultaneously and Nintendo’s “amiibo” toys can become fighters in the game, too.

Only for older kids (17+)

Assassin’s Creed Unity (PS4, Windows, Xbox One)

This historical adventure series has players taking on the guise of assassins, proponents of free will in a generations-long battle against Templars, who want to control society. With Unity, the story moves to Paris during the French Revolution, and introduces four-player co-operative play for the first time.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS3, PS4, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

The next iteration of the popular first-person shooter takes place in 2054 and features futuristic weapons, ammo, and armour. With stunning graphics and a full-featured multiplayer experience, Advanced Warfare puts players in the middle of the chaos and lets them fight their way out.

Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS3, PS4, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

The third game in the fantasy role playing series features swords and sorcery and, of course, dragons. Players explore a large world while leading an inquisition. The Dragon Age games are rich and complex with mature themes which are explored by players choosing dialogue they feel is appropriate.

Far Cry 4 (PS3, PS4, Windows, X360, Xbox One)

Players get caught up in a resistance against the despotic ruler of a fictional country in this open-world action game set in the Himalayas. The breathtaking environment is as much a character, and a danger, as any enemy with a gun.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbox One)

This collection rounds-up the four games — all campaign and multiplayer levels — that feature Master Chief as the protagonist. Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2002, and Halo 2 are included here in their remastered versions, so the graphics live up to the promise of the next-gen Xbox One.

Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One)

Wild and crazy, this game breaks every fourth wall it can find. Citizens of Sunset City have been turned into gibbering monsters by a hip, new energy drink. Players find opportunity in this “awesomepocalypse” and will have fun traversing the cityscape using parkour and skateboard techniques.

The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

The first two seasons of this dark, complex adventure game available on next-gen consoles for the first time. A young girl, Clementine, struggles to survive a zombie apocalypse. As with the TV series, this game is inspired by the comic book, but tells a very different story in a very different way; players witness the consequences of their decisions in a world where choices are often between bad and worse.

Drex confesses that he’s ready for my seven-year-old daughter to become one of the “overlords” after she learns some basic computer programming thanks to Code, and we talk about how everything old is new again, evidence of which is the compelling podcast, Serial.

The conversation begins at just under a minute in.