Boom Blox, for Ages 60 and Up

Boom Blox was an unexpected Christmas miracle. It brought the whole family together—as its members fought for control of one of the household’s two remotes.

As seen on TV, guided demos and on paper, Boom Blox is a stupid idea. You could be cruising around Liberty City shacking up with ladies of the night or slinking past giant mechs as a geriatric soldier of fortune. Why would a game player waste her precious hours smashing up virtual Jenga towers?

Most would choose not to. The game sold a mere 60,000 copies at its debut (although anecdotally it performed well in the long tail). Blox was a victim of marketing: How do you convey this game to the masses via cheesy video? You can’t. Because you have to play Boom Blox to grasp its appeal, the game is easily dismissed.

I dismissed it. I only gave it a second glance because Steven Spielberg was attached to the project.

And because my parents got a Wii for Christmas.

They don’t really play games. In fact, they did their best to run a videogame-free household. Beyond one parental unit’s obsession with Goldeneye and Civilization, and the other’s obsession with electronic Bridge, they abstain. So I raided my library for games that might get them hooked on their new system:

Mario Galaxy: No
Wii Sports: Yes
Raving Rabbids TV Party:: No
Tiger Woods All-Play: No
Boom Blox: A resounding yes.

It was amazing. My brother, bored, tossed Boom Blox in the Wii. Within minutes, my father was practically leaping from his seat to snatch the controller away. My mom was content to observe—at first. Soon she was offering unsolicited advice—commanding he pluck a particular block from the tower or blow up a certain bomb. Soon she too could no longer stand couch-side quarterbacking.

The kids relinquished the controls and sat back to watch the pair bicker as they attempted to solve the game’s puzzles.

When they found out they could play against each other, it was practically all they did for two days. Then they discovered they could instead work together—they’d be awake long past the hour the kids had retreated to their rooms, laughter and cursing ringing throughout the home.

Word is they still play it. You might even call it love.

So why isn’t there more software aimed at older players? Much of the drivel rolled out onto the Wii may be age agnostic, but that makes it neither accessible nor appealing to my parents. They both golf, but Tiger Woods is too complicated—despite the All-Play moniker. They don’t understand Raving Rabbids. And a games like Wii Music and Zelda hold no appeal.

I don’t know what Boom Blox’s secret is, but I’m glad that it has some legs. I do not the rents to give up gaming, but right now there’s nothing else to give.

Not Dead, Yet

Time was taken to sort the business. I’m back but am unsure what sort of unscheduled programming will run in the New Year.

It is still up for debate whether the videogame industry is recession proof. It turns out writing about the games industry is not.

My Game of the Year is Mirror’s Edge

Hurtling full-tilt over and under obstacles, dodging enemy gunfire and leaping off rooftops in Mirror’s Edge was my most exhilarating game experience this year. Once skeptical of its first-person approach to running and jumping, I was surprised by its vantage point. I felt viscerally a part of the game world. Each blind leap cued real fear. Pride surged with each soft landing. I was present in a way few games have managed. I felt the weight of Faith’s virtual body as she staggered away from an ill-timed fall, the rush of locomotion as she sprinted through the world and the game’s gentle coaxing that convinced me to play by its rules. Never before have I so gleefully abandoned weapons — which hamper Faith’s sprightliness — in favor of environmental problem solving.

Would my experience have improved with a deeper storyline and better acting? Yes. Could a few bouts of frustration be avoided with cleaner level design ? Certainly. Do I wish there was more to the experience? Of course. But despite Mirror’s Edge’s weaknesses, no other game this year evoked such a sense of accomplishment upon completion—or such a desire to dive straight back into its world.

In other news: It was great to be included in Kombo’s Game of the Year round table. It brought me back to the year 2002. I was in school and was spending all my free time working for a little site called GameCube Advanced. It is awesome to see the site evolve from those dark days.

Boob is the Word

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Why? Because EGM writes terrible headlines.