Last month, I had the opportunity to watch the Australian developers of the latest foray into the Tribes universe show off their early build of Tribes: Vengeance, the fourth game in this venerable series of first-person shooters. It was clear that they had thought about not only the game-play and weapon-balance aspects of the game, but also about how the community of gamers will take their raw material (the game as it will ship) and turn it into something that is bigger than the developers could imagine.

This is a Good Thing.

Games as Programming Environments

The previous games in the Tribes franchise, as with many other online multiplayer first-person shooter games, allowed users to customize myriad aspects of the game. Quake II, for example, let gamers create skins, make new maps, and write game mods, which changed game play substantially. The developers of Tribes built a game that was as much a programming environment as it was a game.

Many, many game developers do this now, almost as a matter of course. And many games have dedicated players who become unpaid developers, helping advance the brand by creating new content for free. They do it because they love it.

There's a difference between communities of players who play twitch games and those who play team-based multiplayer games. For one thing, cooperation and teamwork in a game like Tribes are important elements in the game; they're at least as important as capturing the flag or killing some enemy who's harassing your side's defense. Simply put, players who don't work together to achieve objectives fail, get killed, or both. Lone gunmen don't last very long.

You can see how this has inspired the developers of first-person shooters. Battlefield 1942's developers told me at a release party that elements of their game were directly influenced by team play pioneered in Tribes and continued in Tribes 2. In fact, in their last expansion pack, Secret Weapons, the Battlefield team paid homage to Tribes by including a new kind of vehicle purportedly developed by Nazi scientists: a jet pack. For those who aren't familiar with Tribes, flying around with a jet pack is one of the principal modes of transportation in that game, a signature element.

The Next Tribes

So it was with much anticipation that I attended the Tribes: Vengeance prerelease press event at the Metreon here in San Francisco, and I'm happy to say it was well worth it.

For one thing, the game is absolutely beautiful. Tribes pioneered games with expansive, seamless indoor and outdoor environments, and that has been taken to new extremes in this latest version. From what I saw, the game is going to be gorgeous.

Another nod to the past was the developers' emphasis on how they've designed the game in such a way that enthusiastic gamers will be able to create new types of games almost on the fly, simply by creating or changing maps. Tribes: Vengeance will include many of the types of games you'd play in earlier versions, including Capture the Flag and Capture and Hold, but will also allow you to combine several of these into what will essentially be a new game type. Think Capture the Flag meets Defend and Destroy, with some additional objectives like capturing and maintaining control over waypoints.

The developers also announced they'd build in support for nonviolent game types, notably a sports-type of game that would involve players carrying or moving a ball to an end zone. This particular game type appeals to me because I've always liked the concept of using first-person shooter engines to drive games that don't necessarily involve, well, shooting.

All I can say is, I'm planning my activities this coming fall something like this: September, work; October, work; November, play Tribes: Vengeance until my eyes bleed.

Doctors: Prepare for New RSI Patients

The other exciting gaming news in February came from Jakks, maker of those immensely popular TV Games I've mentioned before. Flush with unbelievable profits from the two models that pretty much flew off store shelves during the pre- and post-holiday seasons, the company has announced eight new models of its battery-powered, low-fi game consoles, including two that are available now.

I couldn't wait to crack open the Activision device, which features a cadre of the most popular Activision games from the Atari 2600 era. But I was surprised by how much I liked the bizarre Spongebob Squarepants model---and by my disturbing lack of embarrassment to admit this publicly.

Frankly, I didn't have high expectations for high-quality game play in the handheld console, which features five games based on the popular Nickelodeon series. But most of them were surprisingly fun, with a Spongebob-themed Arkanoid and Scramble, and a bizarre role-playing game in which the character runs through a maze, collecting gold while eluding underwater enemies that look like human skulls with squid-like tentacles trailing behind.

Upcoming consoles to be released later this year will include another Namco model (this one's top attraction will be Ms. Pac Man, and it will also include Galaga and other primo classic arcade hits); an EA Sports model (nobody's saying what games this one will have); a Spider-Man model; a Disney-themed device; another Atari 2600 model, this one shaped like the Atari paddle controller; and a pinball game.

Judging by past performance, it looks like Jakks is making a move to be a major player in the expired-consoles market. All I know is, I can't wait to see what it'll come up with next.

Have a question or comment? Drop a line to Andrew Brandt.