Attention All Friends

Across the Pond

2008-07-03T13:28:00.004-04:00

So I figured that since I'd pretty much played out God of War: Chains of Olympus, WipEout: Pulse, and haven't been in the mood for heavy Japanese grinds (a la Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness), I should probably look into picking up something new for my plane ride to Europe.

I've been wanting to buy Dead Head Fred since its release, but never got around to it. My impending trip and the game's recent price drop to $15 were enough incentive to get me to take the plunge.

Five hours in, and I can see why the game got an award for its writing. The story is humorous and engrossing, with unique characters, amazing voice acting (John C. McGinley, of Dr. Cox fame, voices the main character) and an art style that gives everything unique personality and disturbing charm. The platforming isn't too difficult, but it's not too easy. The environments are fun to explore and the load times are minimal for a portable game.

Problems I've encountered so far were minor (I couldn't figure out how to win the first boss fight). The camera is good for a portable game, but lacking a second analog nub on the PSP means you get into some weird situations. While the options and customization due to the switchable heads adds good amounts of depth, it can seem shallow at times. Combat has lots of interesting combos and animations, but you're never compelled to use any of them- I quickly found that a Square + Square + X, used repeatedly, will interrupt all special and normal attack sequences farely quickly, while dealing minimal damage to yourself (bosses are faster than other enemies, so you can take some hits there).

The heads offer unique styles of gameplay and puzzle solving for anyone, and the upgrades are actually useful.

In short- Dead Head Fred, while not the most popular title (I don't think it even qualifies as a cult classic), is definitely worth the minimal scratch you throw down to acquire it.

Oh, and Diablo3. Looking forward to playing it, Winter of 2011.

Trophies and In-Game XMB? What More Can We Ask For?

2008-06-30T15:26:00.003-04:00

Just recently, Eric Lempel (director of PlayStation network operations) has released a video demonstrating in-game xmb and the trophy system that will soon be released to the gaming community. This is big news to PlayStation owners since this is what they have been waiting for ever since the launch of the PlayStation 3. The new 2.4 update will include the following that have been confirmed so far:
-In-game xmb
-In-game music
-In-game messaging
-A display of the date and time
-The trophy system
-New display of gamer profile
-Search feature

The expectation of the arrival for 2.4 will be July 2nd. Here are the following videos that were posted on the PlayStation blog:

Part 1

Part2

After 2.4, what more can PlayStation owners ask for? All I can ever think of is in-game pictures and videos.

Monkey see, monkey do.

2008-06-26T13:55:00.005-04:00

So it's a tradition of publishers and developers, worldwide, to begin releasing 80% of their games in the late Fall/early Winter season. It's some kind of "lets release for the holidays! it's bound to sell some!" craze that has gripped them for years. You'd think that they would have learned by now that doing this is a practice bound to kill your company off, if you're lucky.

The chances of your game being rated favorably (70-average, on most "school-style" scales being used by many reviewers) at 85 or higher is very low. The chances of your title being a triple-A hit, or at least a 93 or so (A-range) are even lower. Many titles that release in this pre-holiday window ARE potentially qualified for triple-A* status, this year's examples being Fallout 3, Fable 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Prince of Persia... etc.

That's a (possible) 5 or 6 games, given that not all of these can reach the top, and some unexpected ones might.

How many games ARE releasing in this window? I'd guess (for all platforms) it's between 40-50. A good half of these are going to be shuttleware crap, especially for the Nintendo Wii. Random shooters, such as Legendary, Fracture, the newly announced Damnation (which inspired this article) are pretty much doomed to the bargain bin. Potentially adopted by some (memories of myself and TimeShift come to mind), but generally overlooked and possibly under-appreciated. Why? Because these people choose to get their games out for the holiday season instead of pumping up the market during the classic lulls (early spring, mid-summer) and getting much more publicity and a larger possible adoption rate than they would ever achieve in the months of falling leaves.

Games I could see easily slipping through the cracks this year are some that definitely don't deserve to be overlooked: Far Cry 2, Sacred 2: Falling Angel, Tom Clancy's HAWX (probably going to be delayed, as are the previously listed titles), Dead Space, and I'm making lists again.

My point is- congratulations, you've made a game. The best game? Probably not. Quirky, appealing, not too hyped? Almost definitely. Is it going to sell in the holiday season? Not unless some ironic miracle takes place. Developers and Publishers need to start realizing that the games they push are not going to always be amazing, always be new and loved. It's suicide to push them in between titles from huge studios with media resources behind it that cost more than the studios that make the smaller games. All gamers know and dread the summer drought, that famous time when people scoop up games they'd traded away months ago just for something to play.

Look at things like Gears of War: Refresh. In a time when people have mostly ditched Gears, gotten bored with other things, and are looking for something new, we have a perfect repackage. Battlefield: Bad Company- a mediocre game on all counts, with a mediocre frame-rate, lackluster environmental destruction and seriously flawed design choices in multiplayer that cripple an otherwise pretty fun game. The game has gotten way more publicity than it might have in the fall (although it has EA behind it). People are a little slow to buy it right now, but it's a viable summer entry, and it's guaranteed to have a strong playerbase for at least a few months.

People need to start getting smarter about their release dates, and start realizing the truth- they aren't developing a cure for cancer, their game probably won't sell nearly as well as they want it to, and Fall will burn them alive. Space out your releases, and benefit yourself as well as the gamers who now get something to play in a normally dry (no pun intended) season.

*Games listed as potentially triple-A are based purely on personal speculation and general media perception.

Live and let die!

2008-06-23T23:06:00.001-04:00

Im cheering this board up with none other than!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sims dying! Yes click the link to see 13 ways to kill sims. Also on the youtube site are funnier sims videos like a girl getting hit by a asteroid. A guy killed by a swarm of babies. Also some how a dumbass drowns in a toilet. Also sorry my spelling isn't perfect ok. Like baby Jesus always said "Blow Me". Fin.

Metal Gear Online Pictures =D

2008-06-21T02:49:00.003-04:00

So today I took some awesome pictures in Metal Gear Online and I was thinking, "I should share it with the people at this blog." Anyways here's the pictures that I took.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Look! A PMC soldier!

ArsenalMan!

........

What time is it?

I'm going to die, am I?

Lightning!

Do you guys see the ghosts?

Hm? A comet?

Pressure is building...

2008-06-20T11:58:00.004-04:00

This is an important message for anyone who happens to stumble across it: Valve, the owner of Steam, is hosting a Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend! Coinciding with the new Pyro update, which fleshes out the class with some really cool new weapons, you can try out the critically acclaimed Team Fortress 2 in it's entirety for a whole 2 days, no charge!

Team Fortress 2, for those who don't know, is a class-based shooter with a cartoon style not unlike Pixar's The Incredibles. One of the most well-balanced, quirky games I've ever seen, it offers a map, gameplay style, and fun for everyone.

To download the Steam client, click HERE. The client doesn't take up much storage space, is easy to install, and it's free. Then, go through the motions of creating the SteamID you need to access the service. It's your typical registration process. After that, come back and click HERE.

That link should let you pre-load the game, and make it easy to launch. After that- launch the game, and have fun!

Oh- and here's the great new "Meet the Sniper" video released on Wednesday of this week.

IGN hands out another perfect 10

2008-06-13T13:35:00.003-04:00

Well there you have it, Metal Gear Solid 4 has received a perfect 10 from ign.com. Which reminds me to tell you, I will not be writing an impressions of MGS4 (I am currently 50% done with 11 hours) but I will be writing an overview, which to me is kind of a review, without scores. Do you know why? Because I think scores are stupid.

With that said, I still urge you to go read this review if you are contemplating buying a PS3, because this game is truly a masterpiece.

PS: I can confirm that indeed, Raiden is a straight up badass in this game.

Happy birthday, Keanu!

2008-06-11T06:51:00.004-04:00

I know it's not really gaming related, but today is the site's co-creator Keanu's birthday!

So...

Celebration!

Or did I miss it by a few days...

Smooth move, Japan.

2008-06-10T15:15:00.005-04:00

For those of you who weren't paying too much attention to the conference that Microsoft recently held in Japan...

They held one?

It showcased several (j)RPGs:

Tales of Vesperia. I made a post a while back about this, and Tales games are pretty much the only JRPGs I bother playing. Sadly, it looks like I may not get much of a chance to play this one.

Star Ocean: Last Hope. Star Ocean is an alright series. Not the best, not the worst. I played through the first one during a summer stint at a cousin's house, long ago. Good? Bad? Who knows. Generic? Probably.

Infinite Undiscovery. I saw a trailer on this several months ago. It looked interesting. The entire "lets sneak around and avoid ogres, and then run away" concept doesn't appeal to me in the least, however. It's a cool idea, but it looks really gimmicky in its execution *cough wii cough*.

Last Remnant. The small information page on IGN makes it look like some kind of Japanese version of Viking: Battle for Asgard. Doesn't look that interesting. Haven't seen the trailer they've supposedly released, but I suppose it could play out well.

So we have a healthy lineup of Japanese RPGs heading out (mostly) at the end of the summer. Tales of Vesperia hits on August 9th, 2008. Several days before Madden 09 (I think) and 10 days before Too Human. That raises the question: Do I plop $60 for a new Tales game only a week and a half before Too Human, the game I've been looking forward to for over 3 years, comes out? Will I be able to enjoy it all by then? Will I have enough goddamn money?

The answer is, regrettably, no. I will probably not end up getting this game, or any of the other ones mentioned in my nice bullet list. I'm interested to see SquareSoft's new IP's, sure, even if I do hate the company; but nothing will stand in the way of my enjoyment of the games we all know we'll be playing instead: Too Human, Gears of War 1.75, Fable 2, and Fallout 3.

I have respect (not much) for the jRPG genre, but I still don't think that Asian developers have anywhere near the production values that Westerners do, with the exception of very few games such as Metal Gear Solid 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, or any well-respected fighting series (Street Fighter, DBZ, DOA, Virtua Fighter, etc.).

And I have to ask: great, you're making 4 new games, but...

Where the hell is the diversity?

(Hit the title for an IGN LiveBlog)

Meat Shields and Mayhem.

2008-06-04T09:37:00.012-04:00

It would seem that I was wrong. I will now offer an official Gears of War 1.75 classification, as opposed to the 1.5 I had given it earlier. The new multiplayer details announced by IGN state that new weapons, more execution options, an ability to block chainsaws/retaliate, and other things will be included.

That's all fine and dandy, but I still hold that none of this makes it a sequel. I suppose you can justify it by saying that the story progresses, as it does with Rainbow Six Vegas 2; but honestly. Gears of War's story? Who would even want to use that as an argument.

I will probably give in to peer pressure and buy this thing when it comes out, and I have to admit that the new pistol and improved Boltok specs sound interesting. Returning maps are the super-popular Gridlock, and the DLC Subway, also known as "map of a thousand ways to roll into the abyss and run around pissing people off".

You may not have been aware of it before, but the Hammerburst was one of the most overpowered weapons in the game. Firing incredibly accurate and quick burst shots, an experienced Hammerburst user could easily have you down in seconds, popping your knees and melee'ing to finish it off. It's brutal, efficient, and fairly easy. And now it appears they've gone and made it even more powerful. Sounds like a lot of fun.

My point is, they've managed to add a lot of new features. That's a good step in the right direction for really fleshing the game out, and I'm glad they took it. The problem that remains is still in the technical parts. Will Gears continue to trade performance and color range for super-detailed bump mapping? Have the idiots at Epic figured out how to write proper netcode? What use is all the new features if we still have a pile of glitched-out shit when the dust settles? How will they balance all the new features out, when it took them over a year and a half to get it marginally acceptable the first time?

I point to a quote from user Mr_Shingles at the IGN boards, who sums up my position fairly well:

"Gears of War was a flawed game. It was built on an engine designed specifically to look better than it actually performs (hence heavy texture pop-ins and lack of diverse color palettes). The game's online netcode is some of the worst ever conceived, resulting in rampant bandwidth wasting, poor usage of combined processing power, and extremely limited application. Tweakable settings are minimal, the lobby system is terrible. Lag/"host advantage" caused by stupid and lazy programming puts heavy strain on host's connection. When the host DOES have an acceptable connection, game performance is fine, but the host then gains enough of a speed boost to dominate the match uncharacteristically. Because all actions must pass through the host's router (the central hub), all outside connections take twice as long to transmit data to other players compared to the host. The host's packets only travel half as far, because the data originates at the host router, so no time is wasted transferring data twice.

These flaws also allowed for the game's many glitches, more than I have ever seen in any triple-A rated game before. Not only does the flawed multiplayer design make it nearly impossible for Epic Games to make a permanent fix for these problems, it is the reason why players can keep on making up new ways to break the game.

That's not even getting into balancing issues, incredibly stupid enemy AI in campaign, and the generally uninspired drivel that was campaign. "

Has Cliffy "The Bitch" Blezinski learned from his rookie entry? Will we finally have balanced gameplay, functioning multiplayer, and actual features? That all remains to be seen in the coming months; and I really do hope that I'm proven wrong. For Gears of War 1.75 to be an amazing game would make me really happy, because although I love to hate on the original, it had some great ideas that I hope have been polished and upgraded.

Hit the link for the IGN article that inspired this post.

Disagree? Think I write like a monkey with Alzheimer's? Post a comment!

Master Ninja Leaves His Village

2008-06-03T13:25:00.008-04:00

Ever since I found about this around 4:00 A.M., I didn't want to report on it, but it's about time I do. Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the "Dead or Alive" series and the modern "Ninja Gaiden" series, head of TECMO development branch Team Ninja, and overall genius Japanese developer ahead of his time and culture has resigned from TECMO and filed a lawsuit against the company for their injustices towards him. His full statement reads:

I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year.

In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

Before the start of development on DEAD OR ALIVE 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me "if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it." In addition, he made demeaning remarks about me to my subordinates and colleagues, causing me significant emotional distress and worsening my personal relationships and work environment. Thus, I have no choice but to resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd.

The conduct of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its president Yoshimi Yasuda towards me has been unbefitting of a publicly-listed company.

I have filed this lawsuit with a strong intent to question the social responsibility of Tecmo Co., Ltd. and its President Yoshimi Yasuda, as well as condemning them for their unjust acts. Today, in addition to announcing the reasons for this lawsuit, I make clear my reasons for resigning.

To All Game Fans

I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. NINJA GAIDEN 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last NINJA GAIDEN I will create. I will also never be able to make DEAD OR ALIVE 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans.

However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so.

I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future.

Tecmo Co., Ltd. Creative Officer
Leader, Team NINJA

Tomonobu Itagaki

Microsoft also released this:

"Tomonobu Itagaki has decided to leave Tecmo and Team NINJA to pursue other opportunities. We thank Tomonobu Itagaki for the many years he has supported Xbox as he has contributed immensely to the success of the videogame industry as a whole."

It's really hard to predict Itagaki's next actions as a developer. He's too proud and egotistical for a Japanese company, and too Japanese for an American company. I see two possibilities:

-Microsoft picks up Itagaki since he has been their most valuable Japanese developer since the original Xbox and gives him his own side branch to continue making projects. They could possibly even buy the rights to DOA and NG from the recently failing TECMO and give it to Itagaki to continue his work. I see this scenario likely since Microsoft even published NGII for Itagaki.

-Itagaki forms his own company and hires many of his own TEAM NINJA employees. They would form new IP's and have more freedom than they did under TECMO. Microsoft would likely publish for them since they did so for NGII.

Nobody knows what the future holds for Itagaki, but I hope he finds his way and continues making great games. I hope this will be the final nail in TECMO's coffin, since they wronged the man who kept the company alive in the 90's.

Long live Tomonobu Itagaki.

Polls Closed, New Category System

2008-06-02T11:59:00.005-04:00

I would first like to thank every single one of you for following the site so far. It has been a fun ride, but we still have an exciting year of gaming ahead of us.

Lets get down to business, shall we? Up above you will see the pie chart I made to sum up the results for our most recent poll. As you see MGS4 takes a huge percent of the pie chart, 39%, or 16 votes. Which reminds to say that I am simply amazed that a small blog like ours brought in 41 votes.

This piece of news is more for our authors than our readers, but nevertheless I'll tell you anyway. Within the next 24 hours of this post I will update some of the blogs interface and add categories in the form of labels. So authors, this means that those labels that you put at the end of you post will, from now on, be labeled with previously used categories, or if you think that your new label will be a category that will be used later on, go ahead and submit it.

If that totally made no sense what so ever than let me say it a little simpler. Instead of putting random things in the label field put one of the previously used categories of a new category which will be used later on.

Well, there you go, another insight on how AAF is getting better and better everyday.

Summer is here: PS3 - Weekly/Monthly Feed

2008-06-02T01:56:00.010-04:00

Well, spring has already closed to an end and now the big event of summer and fall games are about to come. It's going to be a spectacular time for gamers since games such as, Battlefield: Bad Company, Gear of War 2, MGS4, Guitar Hero 4, Socom Confrontation, etc are coming to town. So gamers, get your controllers ready this summer because it's going to be a blast.

Now what exactly will we be exactly expecting for the ps3 this month?

News:
-Due to a leaked video of update 2.40, people will be expecting to have 2d trophies, in-game xmb, and in-game music which will be released on the days of June 11-20.

-Upcoming games:

June 3: Grid
June 3: Ninja Gaiden II
June 3: Kung Fu Panda
June 3: Lego Indiana Jones
June 3: The Bourne Conspiracy
June 5: Fatal Ineteria EX
June 5: The Incredible Hulk
June 10: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
June 10: Nascar 09
June 12: Metal Gear Solid 4
June 23: Battlefield: Bad Company
June 23: Top Spin
June 24: Hail to the Chimp
June 24: Hell Boy
June 24: Overlord
June 24: Wall-E
June 29: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

That is all I have for today, stay tuned this month for more Weekly/Monthly feeds on other consoles besides the PS3.

Resident Evil 5 Preview

2008-06-01T22:12:00.007-04:00

Here's a new trailer from Capcom for Resident Evil 5.
It looks like they'll pick right up from Resident Evil 4's winning formula.

Two New Amazing Burst Limit Videos

2008-05-31T14:27:00.009-04:00

NOTICE: I recommend that you click the link and watch these videos in high quality, they don't look nearly as good from the embeds. The link goes to the first video, and the first video response to that is the second video.

Sorry about not writing recently, I've been very busy over the week and even have plans tonight, but I have had enough time to find the two most amazing Burst Limit trailers available!

This first trailer basically summarizes the Saiyan-Freiza saga using Burst Limit cutscenes and "Kiseki no Honoyo Moeagare" as the background music. It shows off just how good this game looks and how faithful the game's cutscenes stay to the show. A truly impressive video, and an example of Burst Limit's greatness.

Next up we have:

This is a similar video, except it covers Trunks- Cell Saga, Bardock: The Father of Goku, and Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. This time it uses the same song, but the so-called "English version", which I can still barely understand due to the singer's heavy accent. This video impressed me as well, and more importantly hints to side storylines for the movies in single player since they have their own cutscenes. With Saiyan-Cell Saga, two movies, and what-if storylines this should be a long game with plenty of content. Can't wait until the 10th!

P.S. I should have a review for "Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One" up once I have some spare time over the next few days.

And the Hammer came crashing down...

2008-05-29T14:42:00.009-04:00

Well... I've been banned. For the second time in about as many months. For an entire week.

The first time, I don't even think I did anything. My bio was clean, and it was just a revenge attempt by a fat egomaniac midget from Wisconsin who's entire profile was about killing people.

This time, I had a quote from the popular video game "Grand Theft Auto 4" in my bio. It was from the TV, and it was about Tony McTony.

Now- here's where the bullshit reeks. My profile is only viewable by friends. That means either Xbox Live caught me on some sweep, or some conniving ass betrayed me. Oh well.

I don't have a problem with getting banned, when I deserve it. In this case, one of several scenarios could have played out. Xbox could have deleted my bio and had me re-type it and warned me not to use offensive language again. Or they could have given me a warning to remove the word from my bio within 24 hours.

My point is- they didn't. Instead of doing something reasonable, leaving all parties satisfied and offending nobody, they decided I needed to be punished for using a word that they don't even bother censoring (if they don't want anyone to use it, make it easy and don't let them!). I've been denied service with one of my favorite pastimes for a week, and the prospect of a Playstation 3 seems that much more likely.

At least I have a week to catch up on my PSP games. Maybe play some single-player (do achievements earned offline translate to online?) GTA or Viking.

So I ask you, readers, co-authors- what's your opinion on censorship policies and bans for related infractions? Do you think they are too harsh? Have your own story to tell? Post a comment.

Oh- and just a tip for all you players out there. "Bitches love the initials!"- Tony McTony. That quote right there got me banned.

Reviews? This is Madness!

2008-05-27T21:59:00.009-04:00

Well it turns out that Metal Gear Solid 4, despite being 16 days away, has already garnered some reviews.
Here they are straight from the source at NeoGaf:

PlayStation Official Magazine (UK): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (US): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (Italy): 10/10
PlayStation Official Magazine (Dutch): 9.6/10
LEVEL (Sweden): 10/10
Joypad (France): 19/20
Jeuxvideo Magazine (France): 18/20

The game is set to release worldwide on June 12th, 2008.

In other news, Ninja Gaiden II has been recently reviewed by various sources and so far on gamerankings.com its ranking stands at 85%. Not bad, not great, but good.

Here's some gameplay of what I think is the bloodiest game out right now.

Gta 4 Easter egg madness!!

2008-05-26T19:54:00.006-04:00

Here is a link to a giant map on IGN of Grand Theft Auto 4.It is worth checking out hands down. It shows the location of many easter eggs. Including dinosaur bones weird statues and other things you have to see. This is an amazing job done by IGN and everyone else on the site. If you find any easter eggs you can report them and IGN will check it out and add it to the site. So happy hunting.

(EDITED BY RELOAD)

Resident Evil 5, Timesplitters 4

2008-05-26T19:30:00.011-04:00

Sorry to everyone about the recent drought of posts but I'll try to make up for it, starting now.

Right now if you go to Resident Evil's official website you will see a camera lying on the ground, with a counter counting up from the sites debut. Some people have said that once we get 72 hours away from the new trailer (on May 31st) that it will start counting down. What's really interesting is that people have reported seeing people and things walk by the camera on the website if you watch long enough.

(Screenshot of website)

In other news, right off the launch of Free Radical's Haze, screenshots have already surfaced for their next big project, Timespitters 4.
The screenshots come from scans of the official UK Playstation Magazine.

Xbox Minute

2008-05-24T16:48:00.004-04:00

Click on the title and it will take you to ign after every video ends a new one pops up. The first 3 ive seen are hilarious. They involve someone acting out ninja gaiden 2. A racing chair idea and just them running around being dumbasses.
This would be the best job in the world. They also have some footage of new games and some funny videos. So check it out each vids only a minute long.

Prince of Persia

2008-05-24T11:48:00.011-04:00

By now, many of you should have heard the announcement that's been simmering beneath the surface for quite a while now. Formerly rumored as "Prince of Persia: Next Gen", the official title is now just Prince of Persia. It's a new project out of Ubisoft, working on an upgraded Assassin's Creed engine with changes to everything imaginable.

First, let's talk about the art style.

That screenshot right there is completely-in-game. The new digs are definitely appreciated. The lines make it look like some sort of living drawing, a mixture of influences seem to remind me of Okami and Crackdown. GameInformer stated that the new prince alone uses 13 times as many polygons as the old, and that his hair uses as much processing power as the old prince in his entirety. Basically, expect a whole lot of detail, but not so much photorealism. I love this look, and think the unique approach will only help the game.

Those of you looking closely may notice the new weapons. This time around, the Prince (who starts off as a mere traveler in this new universe) doesn't have his trusty time dagger. Instead, check out a sexy one-handed scimitar, and that claw-gauntlet on his left hand.

That gauntlet, and the sword, were supposedly picked up on previous adventures. Whether or not this has story significance, I don't know. What I do know is, the gauntlet is the most important piece of equipment in the game. It not only helps you in combat, it's your key to the new platforming elements.

Prince of Persia is taking on a much less linear approach to level design this time around. You hang out in a hub world, a part of the Garden of Eden where you take refuge after a sandstorm. From this hub world, you travel out to different areas, cleaning out the corruption that has leaked from the Tree of Life. The tree used to house the soul of an evil god, one of two brothers who represented yin and yang, essentially. Somehow, the terrible power has been released, and this corruptive ooze-like substance is taking over flora, fauna, and the landscape itself. Each location is an open level, which you have to run around and solve puzzles on while defeating monsters and performing incredible acrobatics.

The gauntlet comes into play here. Sliding, climing, wall running, gripping and anything else you can do involves using the gauntlet to aid you in some way. Slow your descent, keep your cool running on a wall 500 feet above the ground, and stab things gloriously. I can't wait.

Combat has been revamped too. Instead of fighting multiple enemies, you'll usually be only facing one or two. Don't think you'll have an easy time though. These enemies will be ferocious, extremely powerful, and out to get you by any means possible. You'll have to use your environment to your advantage when defeating these beasts, but be careful to avoid corrupted areas. These locations covered in the dark substance are places you should never go if you can help it. Bad things happen if you do.

Hit the link in the title for more information (IGN has a 3 page preview) if you'd like. I can't wait for this game, although its apparent release date is a bit irksome. I'm already going to be juggling Too Human, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 at minimum that time of year, and having this must-play addition to the PoP stable is going to make me very, very aggravated.

Thank you very much to IGN for the beautiful screenshots.

Comments/Feedback appreciated. What's your opinion on the new direction, and will you play the game?

5 Incredible Little Big Planet Details

2008-05-21T16:31:00.008-04:00

Source: MTV Multiplayer
I don’t mean to brag when I say that I had already played “Little Big Planet” a few times before trying out the malleable PlayStation 3 platformer again last week.

Instead, I mean to convince you that I had good reason to think I knew about the coolest stuff in the game. I’d run through levels. I had used the game’s mighty content editor to create all sorts of wild costumes and level props.

And yet I was floored five times during my brief opportunity to play the game with “LBP” technical director Alex Evans. Here’s what impressed me:

1) How Enemies Work — I kept hearing that each new “LBP” press demo would finally reveal the game’s enemies. But in each demo — including the one I went through last week — they were not in there. I asked Evans about this; what he told me made me realize I had been expecting the wrong thing. The developers at Media Molecule aren’t focusing on giving players pre-made enemies.

Instead, Evans said the game will ship with five or six artificial intelligence brains. He wouldn’t tell me what the AI behaviors would be, but explained that a “LBP” user would be able to apply them to their creations in the game’s editor. Whether or not the AI brains will drive your creations effectively depends on your designs. For example… did you put wheels on the giant attack-llama?

2) Gaming’s Most Impressive Screenshot Tool — You can take in-game screenshots in “Little Big Planet.” Hooray. You can then take those screenshots and apply them to objects. That’s actually… promising. While using the game’s content editor I made a few beams and struts. Then I hopped my character on top of them to pose for a screenshot. I took that shot and applied it as a sticker to one of the beams or struts. I had created an optical illusion, my character standing on top of a beam that looked like an image of him standing atop a beam. Think about how you could use this feature to mess with people: making solid walls look like empty space and fooling them to crash right into them.

3) How “LBP” Music Can Turn Levels Into Rhythm Games — “Little Big Planet” users can place sound objects in the levels they create. The object Evans showed me was a little speaker. We were able to attach it to a block that was resting at the beginning of a level we were making. You can assign music that will play from that speaker when a user’s character walks past it. The music from that speaker can be set to play from any point in the track. I proposed an idea to Evans that he said was 100% do-able: I could line a level with speakers, one set up every few steps — and set them all to play the same song, but queued up from different parts. Doing this, I could make it so that if a player ran through my level at a certain pace, he or she would hear the song play perfectly. Running at the wrong pace would cause the player to hear the song play in a choppy fashion.

4) Just Add Water — The game features an impressive content editor. It integrates all its objects within a certain style of calculated physics. Objects teeter and roll with mathematical precision. But there’s one element that’s not in the game yet — liquids. I can’t flood a level with water and watch how that affects everything I generated. Instant non-purchase? No way. Evans told me liquids are possible: “If people want that, we can do it.”

5) The Gifts That You Can Give — Not only can you use “Little Big Planet” to create any imaginable gaming object that would fit in a 2D playing field, but you can also make the blueprints for any such object. Those blueprints — really, the object itself — can be uploaded to other gamers. Better than that: you can make the blueprints a collectible item in the levels you create. Better still: you can associate such objects with leaderboard requirements. So I can challenge the world to score a certain number of points in a level I’ve made and then automatically reward anyone who achieves that mark with a trophy object that I made myself. I wonder what I could force people to receive if they play my level poorly…

I'm in Liberty City and I'm out of control!

2008-05-20T19:18:00.004-04:00

Dear Mother,

Life is quieting down a bit in America. There was some trouble with a few new friends, but we worked it out. I have a nice loft near a great park, and it's right across from the water. I have two cars. A nice two-door named a Sentinel, and a great 4-door called a Sultan. I hope the crops are good this year. The cost of living in this city is pretty much $0, so I spend much of my free time shooting pidgins in the ass and annoying construction workers by driving fast cars over ramps and other equipment that they use.

-N

Rocking The Dragon

2008-05-15T22:11:00.014-04:00

The Dragonball Z: Burst Limit (DBZ:BL) demo was released today, so after downloading it over some GTA IV playtime I decided to give it a spin. I want to tell you now, I'll be giving my impressions of the demo, and this will be a bit bias since I'm a huge DBZ fan and a fan of the Budokai series. First thing that hit me was the intro. When I heard the music I immediately recognized it to be one of the Japanese DBZ openings, and probably the best DBZ opening song (yes, even better than "Rock the Dragon"). The opening was done extremely well, with many famous scenes of the show playing in harmony with the music while also showing small parts of fight scenes. The best intro of any DBZ game, easily. It really made a good start for the demo.

So, I get to the menu, skim the controls, press A, and get to the Z CHRONICLES menu. From there, I selected the first real fight of DBZ, Goku vs. Raditz. I watched the small scene, very fateful to the show, and BAM! I was launched into the fight without warning, just like a real DBZ fight. I immediately noticed that the Budokai engine had received a huge overhaul (as only a Budokai fan like me could notice) and now the controls were tighter, more responsive, and smooth. The fights are also much faster, just like a real DBZ fight, and this added a whole new level of intensity to the game. In the midst of the duel between me and Raditz, I paused to check the command list. Then I realized that Budokai now boasted a movelist like a real fighter, and was no longer a button masher for the kiddies. After I started to utilize these moves, I noticed a brand new feature in action, Drama Scenes. When either opponent trigger certain requirement(s), it will launch into a small few second cutscene which will add an effect to the user once finished. For example, after Raditz started to blast me with a special attack, my Piccolo drama scene triggered, where he jumps in and kicks my opponent, adding damage and taking fatigue from him. This new feature could end up being cheap if not kept balanced, but it definitely made it feel more DBZ. I finally finished Raditz off with a super Kamehameha, earning myself a Z ranking afterward.

Next up was Yamcha vs. Saibamen, a tragic tale indeed, but still fun as hell. Yamcha is definitely a speed player, with fast moves and movement, coupled with the Wolf Fang Fist and his signature Spirit Ball (Ball, not Bomb, there's a difference!). I had a very fast paced battle with the Saibamen, but ultimately longed for a tougher opponent. I actually found Yamcha's full moveset more diverse and enjoyable than the early Goku's, but that's a preference. If you find the fights boring in this new game, you are probably a novice to fighters and button mashed, so let me give you a few tips to make things more enjoyable. Look over your full moveset, use it, use your specials, use aura burst, use pursuit attacks, and go airborne. Long list, I know.

DBZ:BL really impressed me today, especially since I walked into it not expecting too much. This is a must have for any DBZ fan, and definitely a try for any fighting fan. It has all of the qualities of a fast paced fighter and is extremely faithful to the Dragonball Z franchise. It was the most fun I ever had with a DBZ game, playing the Raditz fight about 10 times and the Saibamen around 5, and this was only a demo. You really have to try everything you can to enjoy this game, because once you get all of the controls and techniques down, it becomes an incredibly fun fighter. I won't be able to pick this up first day, but I WILL pick it up eventually. For those of you who are, look for it on store shelves on June 10, for 360 & PS3.

EDIT: I went this whole time without an "OVER 9000" joke, I'm proud of myself.

Xbox Live Spring Update

2008-05-14T19:35:00.006-04:00

The new features of the Xbox Live Spring Update through the link, over 80 of them. The list is extremely long, so I'll post the highlights.

5. Introduce a group chat (4) for Private Chat and conferences through Video Chat.
8. More fields present in Personal Profile - recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section.
29. New button on Marketplace for optional dashboard features - uses Storage Device memory.
30. Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.
31. Option to purchase Membership for charities (includes benefits).
32. Integrate file-sharing for selected titles on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows - LIVE.
36. Web feeds integration - text, images, audio. Includes support for specific item codes on Marketplace.
1. Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).
2. Organize My Games at the Games Library section better (includes disc-based titles) - sort by genre, platform (Games for Windows - LIVE), percentage completion.
3. Support to display friends leaderboards for disc-based titles.
4. Show dates of an achievement unlocked when comparing.

Kotaku states this as a rumor, but other sources deem it true. I hope it is.