Topics covered for December 3rd, 2010:

Don't forget the Daily PC Game Giveaway Details.

Today's Games for Windows Live daily deal: Shadowrun for 99 cents.
Info on the Shadowrun RPG that the game is based upon.

Today's Exciting Game News!

Some upcoming games based on 80s movie series:
Telltale Games' Back to the Future Trailer
Get the first episode of this upcoming game for free:
Telltale Games BTTF Offer
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime Announced

PETA's terrible parody "games" that we mentioned:
Tofu Boy was added to Super Meat Boy as a playable (but not useful) character.
Super Tofu Boy
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals

Box for the VIC-20.

Yesterday's trivia: What was the first computer to sell over one million units?
Answer: The Commodore VIC-20 (also known as VC-20 in Europe).
Video of games played on VIC-20
William Shatner's VIC-20 commercial

Video of Bill Gates "playing" Doom to promote gaming on Windows and Direct X.

Articles mentioned:
"Console Gamers Get Killed Against PC Gamers" by Rahul Sood
Xbox 360 Controller Beats the Keyboard and Mouse

How many PC games are on Games for Windows Live? 114, according to this Wikipedia article.

"The Five Stages of Game Room Grief" video

Lastly, Shadowrun developer FASA's statement on what they did to the controls of their game for PC and Xbox players.  The developer and their website are gone, but we found a cached quote of the site.  I'm worried that this may disappear in the future, so I'm reprinting the full text here:

"Shadowrun--info on controller vs mouse/kb

"'So once we have console controls that we're happy with, we start implementing the mouse/keyboard controls. At this point we were still paranoid that the mouse was going to "own", so we put in all kinds of extra code to help balance the game play. Meaning that we removed all the controller assistance, and auto-aiming stuff. We also added the concept of accuracy "blow out" from quick turning. Let me explain. In our game we use an accuracy model on the weapons, meaning that if you hold down the trigger or run or jump while firing a weapon you will be less accurate. This is similar to any of the Clancy games, or Counter-Strike. So for the mouse we also added the idea that if you spin around 180 degrees very quickly, your weapon will be less accurate than if you stood still and fired. We take a guess at some values and go into the lab to see how it plays.

"To everyone's surprise, the mouse players got owned. Ok, so we overdid the numbers, no big deal. We made some tweaks and tried it again. Same result. This cycle continued until we had everything (auto-aim, targeting assistance, and accuracy) turned back on for the mouse. It was a lot closer, but the mouse players were still losing. WTF? Did the mouse players just suck? No, some of our testers play semi-professional gaming, so we knew they didn't totally suck. (In fact, they recently dominated in a shooter tournament at PAX.) Was it because our game plays so much differently than a standard shooter? Partially, but we also found a bug. The mouse players were getting slightly more recoil when shot, and this caused them to lose most of their fire fights. So we fixed that, and the mouse players finally started to win. So now we knew we were close to having a balanced game.

"Again, we turned off all the targeting assistance stuff for the mouse, and tested. It was pretty even. The mouse players were a little better at long range combat, but the controller players were better close in. So what is it about our game that makes it possible for controller players to hold their own? Two things: 1) we do some things to assist targeting with the controller so you don't have to be pixel-precise. 2) Easy access to all the other abilities and powers. No one is disputing the fact that the mouse is a superior aiming device for the standard shooter, but in our game it's not all about how fast can you get your crosshair on the head of your opponent. That's been done, and frankly is not all that exciting anymore. Shadowrun is a tactical shooter, it's all about the situation and whether or not you are set up to take advantage of it. If you find yourself in combat where you don't have the advantage, perhaps you should consider some counter-move or quick retreat. It's always better to live to fight another day. The controller is designed to give players quick and fluid access to all the game's controls. It also gives players analog control of movement speed. This means that they are able to maneuver around the map much more effectively than the mouse players. Therefore, they are better at close combat.'

http://shadowrun.com/backstage/controller_balancing.htm"

Taken from this cached forum conversation.