Latest Game News

Bringing Final Crisis To Life

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:39:00 +0000

It's been a few years, but J.G. Jones is finally returning to interior work. After doing the covers to 52 for a year, the acclaimed artist is teaming with Grant Morrison once again for a new mini-series. This time he's drawing a story that will span the entire DC Universe, bringing the world's mightiest heroes to their knees under the might of Darkseid.

This past Wednesday the first issue of Final Crisis finally hit stores. The past year of hype and build up has led to this. While fans scrutinize his (and Morrison's) efforts across the country, we caught up with the artist for a quick chat at Wizard World. Though our time was short, we did our best to pick the brain of one of DC's most valuable players.

IGN Comics: While working on the covers for 52, you had the challenge of capturing the essence of an entire issue's worth of story with one shot, one picture. Did that experience inform or change the way you approach interior work?

JG Jones: No, because I've bounced back between doing interiors and covers for most of my career. It's a completely different mindset. It's such a different head – you're thinking about it in a completely different way.

IGN Comics: Can you walk us through the creative dynamic you and Grant share?

Jones: I've always loved working with Grant. He gives you so much to work with. His scripts are just full of really incredible visuals. And actually, as he's writing his scripts, he draws the whole time, so he has a real visual sense of what will work and what won't work on the page, which makes my job a lot easier.

Issue #1 Cover

Interior Art

IGN Comics: I know a lot of writers make rough drawings of how they think a page might look, but then never actually do anything with the sketches or doodles. Do you ever see any of Grant's drawings?

Jones: Oh sure. He's actually a really decent amateur artist. And because he thinks visually, he uses visual and design elements to change things like pacing on the page, and stuff like that. A less visual writer who thinks more in terms of words might not understand how to do those sort of things.

IGN Comics: You're known for your keen and unique eye for visual design. I'm curious how much leeway Grant gives you in his scripts to kind of do your own thing with the layout of a panel or a page?

Jones: That actually depends. Like I was just talking about, sometimes for pacing reasons, he'll take a different approach. In one issue he had me jump down to a nine-panel grid for I think three or four pages, just because he wanted to make the storytelling style more rapid fire. There's no dialogue, it's just click-click-click-click through the panels. He did that specifically to get that feel. But the rest of the time he leaves me a lot of latitude unless he has something really specific in mind.

IGN Comics: So do his panel descriptions normally just provide the general layout, or is he meticulous in his descriptions?

Jones: You know, he gives me a lot. But I like to work that way, just so I know what's going on. Even if I change the approach or change the angle, at least I know what he sees in his head. That way I know what's important to keep in and what I can jettison.

Interior Art

IGN Comics: I had a lot of fun reading his character descriptions in the Final Crisis sketchbook, particularly his summarization of Darkseid as someone who "casts no shadow because he is the shadow," or something like that. That notion seemed like it'd be tough to draw, and it reminded me of the anecdote about how Alan Moore once asked David Lloyd to draw "V" from V for Vendetta with his back towards us, smiling menacingly.

Jones: [Laughs] Yeah you get that sometimes! Less so with his scripts. But I have had scripts come in that ask for two completely different moments in a single panel, and I'm like, what?!? Just think about it. You can't be drinking the water and talking on the phone at the same time. [laughs]

IGN Comics: The New Gods play a huge role in this series. Is Kirby a big influence on your work?

Jones: Oh sure. That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to do this book. I mean, I get to play with the DCU characters, but those Fourth World characters…when I was a little kid, I didn't really get them or Kirby, but when I was a teenager I loved them. Back then, there were no comic book stores. There was no place to buy back issues. And at some point, Mister Miracle entered my brain pan, and then Forever People and all the other Fourth World characters. And I would go around to every dusty used bookstore and used paperback store and just root around trying to get back issues. They were like Holy Grails. And you weren't looking for mint quality, you just wanted to find an issue so you could read it.

IGN Comics: Judging from the sketchbook, you guys have tweaked the design of these characters a bit. What was the process behind changing their looks a bit?

Jones: Well Grant and I actually sat down – I went over his house in Scotland for about a week – and we just sat and worked in a room on designs. He had a lot of very specific ideas and some more general ones which I had to flesh out. And we had our little colors and our pencils like kids on the floor [laughs].

Interior Art

Issue #2 Cover

IGN Comics: In addition to drawing the New Gods, you're also handling some of the biggest icons in all of comics. How did you go about capturing the looks of all the DC's big guns? For instance, do you have what you think is the perfect look for Superman in your head, or do you do research to try and find the right take?

Jones: I do research for characters I don't have a real feel about. But I have real specific ideas for the characters based on what I think there personalities are. Like with Wonder Woman, I present her carriage, the way she caries herself, completely differently than some of the other female characters. Like Supergirl would be a completely different body language and presentation. And I have a real clear idea about how Batman presents himself as opposed to how Superman does.

From PSP to Wii Part 3: Design

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:21:00 +0000

So lets see, James told us about the dev cycle, Micah gave us a history of DJ, Norm showed you all the new pretty art, and Rocco brought it home with all the amazing tech we got in the game. It would seem like there’s not much left for me to tell.

I could start by introducing myself: the name is Glen McKnight, and I was the Lead Designer for DJ: Root of Evil for the Wii. Now you could say, “The games been made already, what’s there left for design to do?” This was definitely one of the first thoughts that crossed our minds. But then again we are designers, and we always have new ideas. But more importantly - you guys had ideas.

Doing it for the Fans.

And boy did you have a lot to say about DJ2 for the PSP. One thing to know about Backbone, player feedback is incredibly important to us and what we create. The way you play, interact, and experience the game is what it’s all about. For us, we wanted to make everything richer, fuller, and just more fun for all the players. This led us to the Review Matrix. We took a wall in our office and put up all the feedback into categories, such as combat, platforming, story, and many more. We categorized comments into good or bad, and said: “How can we give players more of this?” or “What are we going to do about this comment?” From there we went back and looked at every level through your eyes to see what we could improve upon and change. Here began our quest to make this the game both returning fans and new players would fall in love with. My partner in crime Marty Newcomb and I had a long road ahead of us! Let’s dig into some of those changes.

Man, it’s fun to shoot things.

First off, the most obvious and biggest change we had facing us was combat. For DJ, shooting things has always been a huge part of the fun for players. All the crazy weapons, all the wacky enemies, and now we had the Wii Remote. Rocco told you how the engineers had given us a great new way to kill things. Once we could point and shoot at things, we all got pretty excited. It seemed like we had found a home for DJ where he could really un-holster his guns. So much so, we wanted to make aiming and shooting a bigger part of the experience (if that is even possible?!). We started by working on enemies to make them run and dodge in more exciting ways. Then we added problems to solve with guns, such as root gates which open when you shoot all of its pods. Lob weapons got a whole new reticule system, allowing you to bounce that Flaming TP around a corner and right into a pack of baddies. And let’s not forget scythes combos that now harness the power of the Wii Remote. There is even a new system for collecting weapon parts! Suffice to say we went all in on improvements to combat.

Platforming: the lost art!

Give me a moment to say that I feel we are seeing fewer and fewer true platforming games. Sure games still have jumping, and they definitely are getting more realistic, but what about the floating platform? Players seem to agree, and we haven’t forgotten; we don’t care if your mom says a giant floating upside-down jack-in-the-box isn’t realistic. Jumping on them is still a great time as far as we’re concerned. With the Wii we had a chance to squeeze in even more jumping, ledge grabbing, scythe swinging, and hover spinning fun into the mix. We went back and poured over every level, looking for ways to improve, update, and even reuse great platforming moments from the original. So if you were wondering where to find that next fix of jumping, look no further.

Once upon a time…

Well this game isn’t quite a fairy tale, but people seem to agree DJ is an incredible character, and so is his gang of friends. Another thing we realized was how many opportunities we still had to tell the tale of the Root of Evil. We already had incredible cut-scenes to help move you through this absurd and wacky world. From a field trip to collect cocoons, leading you through a living toy cemetery, passing through a World of Waffles theme restaurant, then down along the River Styx that flows under the mall, there’s a lot of adventure to be had. But we wanted to get the gang more involved in all the moments in-between. So we included over a hundred new lines of VO that help talk you through the adventure from your buddies Seep, Stigmartha, Smith and Weston, and even Dead Guppy (although he doesn’t have a lot to say).

So there ya go. Marty and I had a lot to do, and let’s not forget how much you all had to do with it. It was an incredible experience, and we couldn’t have done it without you. We also couldn’t have done it without all the hard work from our team. I have to thank all the designers who made the PSP edition as incredible as it was; without their hard work this incredible new update wouldn’t have been possible. So get out there, grab a copy and start posting on forums. We will be watching, and your participation could help us make the next great adventure.

UEFA Euro 2008 Review

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:30:00 +0000

The world's second largest international tournament takes to the pitch.

The UEFA Euro Championships only come around every four years. They're sort of like the Olympics of European football in that way. While UEFA 2008 might lack several of the authentic teams and stadiums seen in FIFA, its gameplay has been tuned and refined enough to warrant the attention of football diehards.

For those who don't know what the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2008 for short) is, here's a brief introduction. There are 16 international football teams meeting in Austria and Switzerland from June 7 to June 29 to take part in the final stage of a tournament process that began back in August 2006 with the qualifying round. They begin by being split into four groups, two teams emerge from each group and are fed into the quarterfinals, at which point it's a standard single-elimination tournament until a champion is crowned. Now, back to videogames.

Start it up.

The biggest feature addition to UEFA 2008 on current-gen systems was the Captain Your Country mode which allowed players to choose a player from their favorite team and participate in a kind of Superstar-style (the feature from Madden with the third-person camera angle that's locked on one player of your choosing) mode. Sadly, the PS2 doesn't see quite the same treatment. You don't get a new camera perspective, nor do you advance your four chosen players up through the B-team and onto the international squad. Instead you'll have the option to pick up to four players and play a fairly standard game while controlling only one of them. There are no helpful indicators on the field and there's no attribute advancement after the match, but at least the mode is here in some form.

UEFA Euro 2008 on PlayStation 2 does allow you to play through the Euro 2008 tournament just as in other versions, though not with the friendly matches thrown in. From here you work your way through the tourney in an effort to be the one standing at the top of the podium. Unlike the current-gen versions on PS3 and Xbox 360, EA Sports thankfully included the ability to simulate games during your tournament. It's a bit odd that they chose to remove the option to play friendly matches during the tournament but allow for simulation, but we're happy to finally see the option that's devoted to impatience.

The only real downer to the Tournament Mode is that there's nothing to do once all is said and done. Since the Euro Championship only happens ever four years it wouldn't make much sense to have another tournament pop up in 2012, but it still feels a bit shallow.

The next mode that will attract football faithfuls is the European Campaign which instructs you to pick your favorite international stable of players and tour them around different parts of Europe, completing specific challenges in different scenarios. There will be games that are only shootouts, certain matches that need to be won by a certain margin, and other challenges of a similar type. It's more of a distracter from the standard action than anything else, but it is something for PS2 owners to hold over the heads of 360 and PS3 adopters.

Ubisoft reports $1.5B in earnings, reveals 3 mystery games

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:32:00 +0000

French publisher beats thrice-upwardly revised projections; annual profit jumps by $108 million on Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Assassin's Creed sales; one unnamed all-new IP and two new franchise installments in the pipe.

At the end of March, Ubisoft revised its annual earnings projections for the third time to €920 million ($1.44 billion), following better-than-expected sales of Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Today, the Paris-based publisher released its final full-year earnings, which revealed that its massive estimate was conservative.

For the 12 months ended March 31, Ubisoft saw €928.3 million ($1.46 billion) in earnings, a hefty 36 percent increase over the €680.3 million ($1.06 billion) it took in the year prior. Even more impressive was that the company almost tripled its profits, from €40.5 million ($63.59 million) to €109.8 million ($172.34 million).

The profits came despite Ubisoft dropping €48 million ($75.37 million) on acquisitions of "tangible and intangible assets," including the outright purchase of a new studio in Pune, India. (The company also started up three other internal shops in Singapore, Kiev, and the recently earthquake-ravaged Chinese city of Chengdu.) A further €18 million ($28.26 million) was expended to obtain the Sunflowers, Anno, and Digital Kids licenses.

According to the company's report, the €48 million ($75.37 million) acquisition expenditure includes the first of four payments to author Tom Clancy, whose brand name Ubisoft bought in March. Though the publisher did not specify how much of the amount went to Clancy, the steep price appears to be worth it. News of the deal sent Ubisoft's shares soaring, and the company estimates that owning the Clancy name will save it €5 million ($7.85 million) in royalty payments even after paying the author. For the year ended March 31, Ubisoft spent €25.3 million ($39.75 million) in royalties on its licensed-game portfolio, which, though dominated by Clancy, also included the movie tie-in TMNT and Xbox 360 Naruto games.

With a few exceptions, the Clancy deal gives Ubisoft ownership of all Clancy-branded book, film, comic, merchandising, and "ancillary products." Naturally, it also includes full ownership of all games bearing the Hunt for Red October author's name--and Ubisoft praised the "strength" of Clancy franchises Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six as keys to its record year. Other franchises that Ubisoft singled out were Rayman, Settlers, and (again) Assassin's Creed, which has sold over 6 million units on all platforms. Casual games were also big, with the Petz games topping 8 million units, and the Imagine line surpassing 4 million units sold.

Today's report also revealed that Ubisoft has several all-new games up its sleeve. "Going forward, 2008-09 is set to be another record year for Ubisoft," CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement. "We now have 14 multimillion-unit-selling franchises and will be launching 5 new IPs during the period as well as new brands in the casual games segment." (Emphasis added.)

A slide presentation that accompanyied the report named four of the all-new IPs--H.A.W.X., EndWar, Shaun White Snowboarding, and the recently launched Haze--with the fifth being identified only as an "unannounced title." The same slide also revealed that two as-yet-untitled installments in existing franchises will also be released during the year, alongside Far Cry 2, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Splinter Cell: Conviction, the just-announced new Prince of Persia, and a new Anno game.

For the coming 2008-2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft is forecasting revenues of €1 billion ($1.57 billion), with €154 million ($241.78 million) in sales during the current quarter. Today's report was released after trading ended on the EuroNext market, on which Ubisoft shares closed at €68.47 ($107.51). According to the Associated Press, that gives the publisher a market capitalization of around €3.2 billion ($5 billion)--around 20 percent of which is still owned by Electronic Arts.

Stronghold Crusader Extreme Goes Gold

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Indie-publisher Gamecock Media Group announced today that Firefly Studios' Stronghold Crusader Extreme has gone gold. That means fans of the series have less than a week wait before they can get their hands on all new Stronghold gameplay, now, more extreme than ever.

Stronghold Crusader Extreme takes all the medieval mayhem of its predecessors and kicks things up a notch. With new features like opponent AI and maps, an all new extreme trail, and full-scale epic warfare with over 10,000 units, gamers won't want to miss out on any of the action.

Stronghold Crusader Extreme releases May 28 at a PC retailer near you.

For more, visit www.fireflyworlds.com.

About Gamecock Media Group

Based in Austin, Texas, Gamecock Media Group offers a welcome solution to the bloated and originality-starved video game industry. A well-funded, independent, artist-driven company, Gamecock favors the most innovative and original video game developers in the industry. Publishing games for all platforms, Gamecock offers its developers a high degree of participation, freedom and financial incentives, allowing them to perform and create to their utmost ability. For more, please visit www.gamecockmedia.com.

About Firefly Studios

Firefly Studios was formed in 1999, and is recognized worldwide for the depth and attention to detail it gives its games. The company has produced a number of high profile and commercially successful strategy games, including the Stronghold series.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Online Strategy Guide

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:55:00 +0000

Working at IGN certainly has its perks. While gamers outside of Japan have to wait until March (or later) for their Super Smash Bros. Brawl fix, we here at IGN have imported copies of the game and have been working hard on uncovering all of the the new Smash's secrets. In between unlocking characters, endless four-player brawl fests, and single-player adventuring, we've managed to put together this guide for you, the loyal IGN readers.

There's a lot to Brawl -- and we mean a lot. The guide that's coming in March will cover in-depth all the game has to offer. But in the meantime, we figured a character guide would go a long way, for fellow importers and curious, eager gamers alike. The links to the Basics and Characters section are above, and while both are meaty and in-depth in their own right, expect even more detail in March, when the game is released Stateside.

Ready? Let's brawl.

In this Super Smash Bros. Brawl character guide, you'll find:

BASICS // The finer points of brawling.
CHARACTERS // Moves and other details for each character.

Unlockable: Stage Builder Parts

To build your own stages in the game, you must first unlock the parts necessary to build these stages. They come in three droves, and can be unlocked via the methods below.

Edit Parts A - Play ten times on stages you built
Edit Parts B - Build at least five stages
Edit Parts C - Build at least fifteen stages

Unlockable: All-Star Mode

To unlock All-Star Mode, you must have all thirty-five characters unlocked on your roster.

Unlockable: Sheik

Unlocking Sheik is easy. To play as her, select Zelda at the character select screen while holding A. Don't let go of A until the match begins, and Zelda will automatically transform into Sheik.

Unlockable: Boss Battle Mode

To unlock Boss Battle Mode, complete The Subspace Emissary (known also as Adventure Mode) as well as Classic Mode.

Unlockable: Stages

To unlock the stages below, fulfill the requirement listed.

75m - Play as DK 20 times
Big Blue (Melee) - Play as Captain Falcon 10 times
Flat Zone 2 - Unlock Mr. Game & Watch
Green Greens (Melee) - Play as Kirby 20 times
Green Hill Zone - Unlock Sonic
Hanenbow - Complete Event Match #28
Jungle Japes (Melee) - Fight in VS. Mode 10 times
Luigi's Mansion - Fight with Luigi in VS. Mode 3 times
Mario Bros. - Complete Event Match #19
Pirate Ship - Unlock Toon Link
Pokémon Stadium (Melee) - Fight in Pokémon Stadium 2 10 times in VS. Mode
Spear Pillar - Complete Event Match #25

Drone Tactics Review

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:47:00 +0000

The title Drone Tactics refers to the giant insect mechs featured in the game, called Drones, and the fact that this is a strategy game that requires tactical thinking. It also works as a description of what goes on outside the battles -- insipid characters drone on and on with childish dialogue that the player can't skip. Luckily, there is a solid strategy game underneath all this garbage that should provide fans of the genre with the fix they need if they can only put up with the inane story.

The setup here is players take control of a couple kids who are bug enthusiasts and end up being swept off to another dimension where they can fight evil by piloting robotic bugs. That's all well and good but before you get to play the game you have to scroll through way too much dull dialogue. After each battle, and sometimes during a skirmish, more dialogue will pop up. Criminally, we cannot skip these cut scenes.

Things start looking up once you're allowed to play, though. There are different types of mech units, proficient in different areas like melee attacks or long ranged weaponry. When attacked, you have three options: you can counterattack with the same weapon type, defend and minimize the damage, or try to evade and dodge the attack entirely. These options require some interesting strategic decisions. For instance, a strong melee unit might have weak guns. If it is attacked with guns the player must choose whether to take the damage and counterattack even though it is outgunned, defend and minimize the damage but deal nothing to the enemy, or take a chance on evading and maybe get hit anyway. When you throw the usual terrain effects on defense into the mix you start getting into some deep gameplay. It's engaging, but not anything we haven't seen before.

Then there are the cards that act like items to be used in battle. Cards have defensive and offensive properties. Unfortunately, using an offensive card requires the player to engage in a shallow mini-game. Winning the game will boost the card's effect, although losing will still activate its properties. These mini-games are things like Fly Swatter and Button Mash. They require the stylus -- annoying, since nothing else in the game does and you have to pull it out just for these exercises. Cards can be combined in order to create more powerful abilities.

Along with the inability to skip cut scenes, there are a few other poor design choices that keep Drone Tactics from playing as well as it could. For instance, when you tell a unit to attack the game switches to a menu where you decide whether to make it a melee, gun, or cannon attack. Once you're in this menu you can't change your mind and back out. I don't see why we can't consider our attack options and then go with another plan if that's what we decide.

There are limited but welcome customization options available for your insectoids. You can give 'em a new paint job and even create your own emblem to be emblazoned for the enemy to see. There are a slew of stock emblems to choose from, or artistic types can design their own. When you equip new weapons and armor the change is reflected visually and you can see your equipment in battle -- a nice touch.

Most of the game takes place in 2D with hand drawn artwork for the cut scenes and an isometric view of the battle field. The game switches to 3D during combat and shows the mechs attacking each other. The 2D stuff is rather generic and uninteresting, but the 3D models are detailed and animated pretty well. The Drones are pretty cool, all modeled after beetles, ants, butterflies, and other common bugs and insects.

Extending the gameplay are the Badlands where players can engage in skirmishes and earn experience and parts. There are 60 badlands areas, each of increasing difficulty. If you're having trouble with one of the storyline battles it's nice to have this option available to go and level-up your team.

Closing Comments
Drone Tactics is a solid strategy game wrapped in a sickly sweet candy shell. In order to get at the gaming goodness you have to bite through generic characters, laughable dialogue, and one of the most inane stories we've ever been forced to sit through (because we can't skip the damn things!). If you consider yourself a fan of turn-based strategy games, though, you may find the engaging insect mech combat to be worth it.

IGN Comics SMASH!! Podcast, Episode 5

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:26:00 +0000

IGN Comics is back with another SMASH!! podcast. For the past month we've tackled some of the biggest books and franchises in the industry, even branching out to discuss a number of the upcoming comic book films. Comics EIC Rich is back with Database King Dan Iverson and TV Editor Eric Goldman.

The team changes things up this week as news, not reviews, has dominated office chatter. With sales figures for April being released this week, the IGN crew wonders what is causing the disparity between Marvel and DC. Is it quality or is there something more? It's also fascinating to see what books are performing well and which ones aren't. From there the discussion moves to licensed books. Marvel's Dark Tower franchise is kicking ass - can other companies capture that magic? G.I. Joe and Star Wars are quickly brought up, as is the latest Indiana Jones adaptation.

For reference, here are the Top 20 books of April 2008, ranked by units sold:

Top 20 Comics
1. Secret Invasion #1
2. New Avengers #40
3. Dark Tower: Long Road Home #2
4. Mighty Avengers #12
5. Uncanny x-Men #497
6. Hulk #3
7. Thor #8
8. Amazing Spider-Man #555
9. Justice League of America #20
10. X-Force #3
11. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #13
12. Captain America #37
13. Justice Society of America #14
14. Amazing Spider-Man #556
15. X-Men Legacy #210
16. Amazing Spider-Man #557
17. Titans #1
18. Countdown to Final Crisis #1
19. Young X-Men #1
20. Batman #675

Other major news this week focused on films. Marvel Studios announced that Runaways would be adapted into a movie, with series creator Brian K. Vaughan penning the script. Meanwhile Captain America was confirmed to be set in the World War II era and Thor will likely be largely based in Asgard.

So much news, so many books and so little time. The latest SMASH!! podcast awaits!

Spoiler Alerts: Ah... none! Because of the news-based nature of this week's episode, we didn't spoil anything. There's still plenty of bitching and praise to be dished out, but we didn't have to reveal secrets this week. So lucky for you!

Final Crisis Buyer's Guide

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Heroes die. Legends live forever.

That's the tagline for Final Crisis, DC's mega-super- duper- hyper- kinetic- awesome- sauce- huge event for 2008. We know many of you groan at the very thought of more event comics. Take heart. This one looks like it really will live up to all the massive hype.

You can also take heart in the knowledge that we're here for you. Once more, we at IGN Comics have put together an event guide to catch you up to speed on all the latest happenings in the DCU. Alongside all the copious information, we have quotes from DC's bigwigs – Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns, and, of course, Grant Morrison.

If you're not primed and ready for Final Crisis after reading this, we just don't know what to do. Maybe Tiny Titans is more your style. For everyone else, enjoy.

Part One
The Crisis to End All Crises

Final Crisis can be considered the final chapter in two different trilogies of Crises. It concludes the epic story begun in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths and continued in Infinite Crisis. In a more recent context, it caps off a series of trials and tribulations for DC's heroes that began in Identity Crisis and persist into the present day. The word "crisis" has long held a special meaning in the minds of DC readers. Any event bearing the word is destined for something major, and Final Crisis is no exception.

Crisis the First

Crisis on Infinite Earths came about when DC needed a way to make sense of the myriad of characters and worlds that occupied their comics. Characters like Batman and Superman, who had been around for years, sported confusing and often conflicting origin stories. In addition, DC wanted some way to make newer acquisitions like the Captain Marvel Family, Jack Kirby's New Gods, and the Charlton Comics heroes fit into their main universe.

The answer was Crisis on Infinite Earths. This 12-issue mini-series was created in hopes of streamlining the DC Universe and addressing decades of unanswered continuity mix-ups. The crux of the event was the multiverse. This infinite collection of universes held infinite copies of Earth, each with its own set of heroes. Earth-1 was home to favorites like Superman, Batman, and the rest of the Justice League. Earth-2 starred the Justice Society. Earth-3 held the diametrically evil Crime Society. Earth-Prime was meant to be a reflection of our own world, with a young Superman as its only hero.

Conflict arose when a being called the Anti-Monitor began to devour the multiverse one by one. The Anti-Monitor sent a wave of pure anti-matter that destroyed countless worlds. His polar opposite, The Monitor, desperately formed a confederation of heroes from the five remaining versions of Earth to halt the destruction of the multiverse. Several major DC heroes died in the ensuing conflict, including Supergirl and The Flash.

The final battle comes as The Spectre, the all-powerful Spirit of Vengeance, battles the Anti-Monitor at the beginning of time. The heroes eventually emerge victorious, but not without a terrible price. The resulting chaos causes the remaining Earths to merge into one. Characters like Captain Marvel that used to occupy their own universe now shared space with the likes of Superman. Few living souls remained any memory of the Crisis.

A Brand New DCU

This event allowed DC to clean house, so to speak. Characters were rehashed, origins were retold, and readers breathed a sigh of relief. DC's continuity quandries hadn't been fixed completely, but on the whole their characters were more accessible. Many of the more campy Silver Age elements (such as Superman's vast menagerie of Super pets) were excised in favor of clean, modern takes.

One remnant of the Crisis remained. Alexander Luthor, the seemingly benevolent Luthor of Earth-3, used his powers to create a pocket universe for himself, the aging Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-2, and young Superboy of Earth-Prime. There they spent years in isolation, watching over the many heroes of Earth.

This is where the second Crisis was born. Luthor and his friends watched in horrors as the so-called heroes took darker and darker turns. Superman was killed by a monster named Doomsday (and came back sporting an evil mullet). Batman's was paralyzed by Bane and temporarily replaced by the psychopath Azrael. Green Lantern slaughtered the entire Green Lantern Corps in a blind rage when his home city was destroyed. Luthor and his friends grew sick at the sights they witnessed.

The final straw came during an event called Identity Crisis. Sue Dibny, the wife of Elongated Man, was brutally murdered by an unknown assailant. In the end, it proved to be Sue's best friend Jean Loring who did the deed. During the investigation the Justice League uncovered a shocking history of betrayal and lies that soon tore them apart.

Crisis the Second

The world needed real heroes to shine the way. Luthor was only too happy to oblige. The quartet broke free from their prison and emerged on the one, remaining Earth. Unfortunately, their intentions weren't as benevolent as they seemed. Luthor proved every bit as conniving as his brethren. Working together with Superboy-Prime, he built a machine fashioned from the corpse of the Anti-Monitor. Prime, whose longing for his home and family had unhinged his mind, believed they were reconstructing the multiverse.

Luthor, however, intended to construct New-Earth, a world built from the best fragments of every Earth in the multiverse. Once again, the heroes banded together to stop him. In the end, Luthor was destroyed, Superboy-Prime was imprisoned and life returned to normal.

Only not quite. Luthor's meddling manage to restore the multiverse to a certain extent. 52 parallel universes now exist, each with a different version of Earth. Some worlds are strangely familiar, while others are vastly different from anything that came before.

Now the Final Crisis looms large. Earth's heroes are about to face the worst evil they've ever come across, and this time they're going to lose. What state the multiverse will be in by the end is anyone's guess.

XBLA Limit to Rise to 350MB?

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:31:00 +0000

Game developers have often complained about the fact that the size limit of 250MB (even lower when the service was released) is not big enough for their games and many hoped that Microsoft would do something to repair the mistake. It seems that the time is about to come, but don't expect some huge changes in the program: a measly 100MB will be added and we really think that won't be enough for the most interesting projects. But, at least, it's a start and a proof that we can always expect size limit increases every now and then.

The information regarding the increase of the XBLA limit to 350MB was given by David Edery, Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade, in an interview with website gameindustry.biz. When asked if the XBLA limit will be upped to 350MB, he answered:

"Yeah, it's a steady progress. We've been listening to our partners, listening to our customers to try and get a feel for what's right. We don't want the size limit to hit the roof because we think there's some value in promoting small pick and play experiences that don't cost USD 20 million, it's good for the ecosystem."

However, he gave no further details regarding a possible date when this limit becomes available for game developers, but it's definitely a good piece of news even though, as we’ve said before, it doesn't represent a huge leap forward. Still, it might be exactly what was needed by great titles to get their chance on the Xbox Live Arcade. And we are sure that this limit would've been much bigger from the start if, you know, there were HDD drives available everywhere. Yet again, having an arcade title (or port) of 1-2 GB would seem strange at the moment and wouldn't be exactly the best thing to happen.

Try the Xbox 360 Pants!

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:41:00 +0000

One of the must-have accessories for all the Xbox 360 fanboys in the world has finally arrived and it is available for only 18 bucks. We're talking, of course, about the Xbox lounge pants, the only pants that will probably only be appreciated by yourself. Plus, it would be totally unsafe to wear them in the dangerous PS3 hoods, bro! But that doesn't matter for a true fan, right?

Jokes aside, the website that sells these pants assures us that these "100% jersey cotton knit lounge pants for men feature Microsoft's XBOX 360 Logos tossed about on a black background. They are machine washable, have an open fly, side pockets and a covered elastic waistband with adjustable drawstring tie." The pants are also imported and they don't say where and that might be a good thing. If they were something made in-house, they would have probably had somewhere the RRoD and a chip in a pocket, which would keep repeating to you with a bored support customer-like voice: "Sorry, can't help you with that".

Of course, a true fan would never do something like that but, if you wish, you can check some of the nerd panties we have found out quite a while ago (click here to see the Mario-sensation!). Also, don't forget to give it a shot and win an Xbox 360 chopper (if you live in Australia, that is) in order to have the complete Xbox outfit and drive everybody mad. Oh, have I just said "complete"? You know... there's one more thing you would need to be "complete": the portable Xbox 360! Halo 3 included.

Now just use your imagination: you'll have the Xbox 360 lounge pants, the Xbox 360 chopper to carry your Xbox 360 portable system... what more could you need? A PS3 tattoo! Ha! Got ya!

Adapted from material provided by www.news.softpedia.com

EntreCard

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:43:00 +0000

LostWinds - WiiWare

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:02:00 +0000

You may consider it strange for us to tell you that a small, downloadable 2D game is one of the most significant Wii releases of the year so far. “But Mario Kart!”, you may protest. “But Brawl!” The thing is though, as excellent as both of those games undoubtedly are, they’re not really Wii games.

Without wanting to be wrongly labelled as part of the “Two Gamecubes taped together” brigade, we have to point out that, Wii Wheel aside, they’re both essentially last-gen productions on a current-gen format. They’re superb examples of their respective genres of course, but in lieu of extra horsepower the Wii’s manifesto has always been to bring us new experiences and find new angles from which to approach old ones. And that’s where LostWinds comes in.

Think of it as a next-gen Metroid, only next-gen in terms of game mechanics rather than HD presentation. You’ll be controlling Toku, a marvellously be-hatted young scamp who lives in the beautiful but cursed land of Mistralis. And when we say ‘controlling’, we don't mean in the traditional sense.

While Toku can be moved left and right with the analogue stick and will perform small auto-jumps over gaps, he’s really rather useless in all other respects. Enter Enril, the game’s second protagonist. Enril is Mistralis’ wind spirit, represented on-screen by a Wiimote-controlled cursor. It is largely through Enril that you’ll be forging Toku’s path through the world, using her elemental abilities to manipulate the environment and Toku himself.

Hold down the A button and swipe Enril across the the screen and she’ll leave a gust of wind in her stead, directly affecting whatever it touches. Swipe upwards through Toku’s body and he’ll jump many times higher than he could unassisted. Swipe horizontally as he jumps over the edge of a cliff and he’ll be carried across to safety. But crucially, none of this is implemented in a way which makes LostWinds the simple point and click game it may sound.

While the interface is simple and accessible through its tactility, that simplicity is used to facilitate greater and more nuanced control over Enril’s abilities. The controls aren’t dumbed down, they’re just made easy to use so that you can experiment freely. If you can’t do something in LostWinds, it’s just because you didn’t think of how to do it, not because you couldn’t pull it off. In terms of both its physical design and its implementation within the gameplay, LostWinds’ interface is one of the finest crafted we’ve ever seen

Operation Darkness

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:59:00 +0000

Operation Darkness is a strategy/fantasy JRPG set in World War II. It’s also the ugliest game we have ever seen on Xbox 360. We salute developer Atlus for trying something different by marrying a strategy JRPG to the World War II setting, but if they’re not going to make a game visually worthy of a next-gen system, why should we get excited about the gameplay? The hodgepodge of different gaming elements thrown into Operation Darkness doesn’t come together to make a game you actually care about. And the lousy graphics drive the proverbial stake through the heart of the game.

Above: "Fugly" just about sums it up... and what's with the crease on the top of her boobs?

The story follows a young blonde British dude by the last name of Kyle (hooray, you get to pick his first name) and his buddy Jude Lancelot (names don’t sound more British than that) as they fight in the trenches of World War II, determined to take vengeance on the Nazis for the deaths of their families in the Blitz. Injured in combat, Kyle is given a blood transfusion from James Gaunt, leader of a black-ops unit called the Wolf Pack. Turns out, Gaunt is a werewolf of the Fang Clan and the blood transfusion slowly changes Kyle into one as the game progresses. Kyle and Lancelot join up with the other supernatural weirdos of the Wolf Pack and go on secret missions to combat Nazis, zombies, vampires and every combination of the three thereof.

The strategy element of the game almost works - instead of drawn-out planning phases and hour-long turns, the combat phase moves quickly and the action-oriented camera feels more like Gears of War than the overhead omniscient kind we normally see in SRPGs. Unfortunately, this sacrifices some of the finer points of strategy - targets are hard to find when you have to pan the camera around manually; the zoomed-in camera angle makes it difficult to judge the range of a weapon from a target, and (worst of all) once you’ve moved a character, you can’t change your mind so one wrong move can blow an entire battle at any point during play. These little snags suck what little fun there might be out of Operation Darkness like so many vampires feeding on a paraplegic and the only way to cope is to get used to the idea of losing a battle once or twice before figuring out a winning strategy.

Above: Werewolf vs... dinosaur's torso?

Where Operation Darkness really blows it is in the integration of all the pieces - the werewolves, WWII and the strategy. The game appeals to several different flavors of gamer without really satisfying any of them. Yes, there are cool vampires and werewolves and supernatural things in the game, but by the time you actually encounter this part of the gameplay (8-10 hours in), the fantasy nerds will have checked out. And when you do get to the supernatural stuff, complete with Dragon Ball Z fireballs and werewolf changelings, the World War II fanatics will be instantly turned off because all their panzerfausts and army-issue rifles don’t add up to jack in the face of poison hexes and wide-range damage spells with over-complicated German names (lest you forget you’re fighting Nazis). Around this time (15 hours in) random second-tier characters start showing up during battles and suddenly it becomes a fight to protect the new character instead of kill the Nazis.

The combat system starts to fall apart the more the supernatural elements of gameplay show up. Once werewolves and spells are introduced, you’ve got to start paying attention to Military Spirit (read: mana) because if you run out, you can’t use any of your magical powers. The only way to heal MS is to get shot to shit (bad idea) or drink water, which takes up room in your inventory in addition to hit point recovery items and extra ammo (which you will desperately need when it comes to bazookas). Despite a character’s strength stat leveling up so that they can carry heavier kinds of items, the number of item spaces never increases, so it becomes a juggling act to keep HP and MS at an ideal level while keeping your guns loaded.

Baseball Mogul 2009 Review

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sun, 18 May 2008 06:21:00 +0000

Baseball Mogul 2009 is the 10th iteration of the Baseball Mogul series created by former Microsoft Baseball and Tony LaRussa Baseball III programmer Clay Dreslough. Much like Total Extreme Wrestling or direct competitor Out of the Park, Baseball Mogul simply can't compete with the 2K Sports' of the world. Instead, Mogul is a text-based simulation with limited graphics, designed to provide the player with the experience of serving as both the manager and general manager of a Major League Baseball team.

Unfortunately, while Baseball Mogul allows you to approach the level of intensity that a Major League GM has to go through on an everyday basis, it struggles with the nuances in the process. The result is a tantalizing game, one that offers an enticing amount of opportunities to the player to live the life of a general manager, but at the same time, comes off as inauthentic. The game offers the ability to customize and tweak a large number of settings that can guide the game towards the right path, but even with that option, the game's machinations and AI struggle to represent reality.

The game's opening menu presents you with one of five modes. Using the database provided with the game you can start a season with a current team or choose any team since 1901 and play in that year. Throughout you retain the option to use fake rookies and/or are able to draft future stars as they come into the league. The game allows the option to take over an expansion team at the point where they joined the league; disappointingly, although the game has the expansion draft built in and uses its functionality when you're playing in an older league and an expansion team is due to join the league, you're not able to re-do the expansion draft yourself and make your own selections. You can also choose to start a league with wholly fictional players or use the custom feature to shuffle players around.

Playing the game itself is very easy, thanks to a simple menu system that's laid out intelligently. Arranging your rotation or starting a game is a straightforward, intuitive process that requires very little practice to get used to. One notable exception is the new depth chart screen, which displays a team's roster across all levels. You can't modify this depth chart, which becomes an issue when it doesn't adjust itself for roster moves. Too often we'd see our AA catcher ahead of the guy we just signed to a $60 million contract, which isn't our idea of how the depth chart works at all.

Sure, we can handle the Indians.

There are several different ways to advance within the game from day-to-day. You can choose to simulate anywhere from one day to multiple seasons ahead, be alerted if a specific event happens, or play each game you're set to participate in. The game's play-by-play mode is pretty simplistic, providing a top-down view of one generic park with only the ball moving on each play. You can choose to watch the game in general manager mode, make the play-by-play decisions using the manager mode, or use the player mode to interact fully with the players. When hitting, you'll guess the pitch location and type, and while pitching, you'll pick the same. For snippets of particularly important games, you'll probably be interested enough to use the mechanic, but it's hard to imagine it holding players' interest or being a powerful enough system to be in use 162 games a year.

Just Manny being Manny.

What's ironic for such a game with so many statistics (Baseball Mogul handles nearly 100 for each player) is that the game lacks statistics that would be incredibly relevant, particularly when playing as a team outside of the current Major League context. There are no statistics adjusted for era or for park, so it becomes difficult to comprehend how good a .255 batting average is, say, in 1967. This causes the game's internal logic to struggle when it comes to evaluating players outside of the modern era, although the game does a very good job of naturally adjusting the economic model for inflation and increases in salary as time goes on.

Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific, U-boat Missions Review

noreply@blogger.com (THE GANDHIS) — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:40:00 +0000

It's a pity that so much of the sub sim genre has been dominated by U-boats stalking freighters in the North Atlantic. While it's certainly the most recognizable and dramatic setup for submarine warfare, there are plenty of other settings that are just as interesting. That's why it was such a relief when Ubisoft's Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific moved the action to the Far East. And now, with the release of the U-boat missions, Ubisoft has brought the Germans into the action with a brand new campaign set in the Indian Ocean.

The new campaign runs from 1943 through 1945 and sets players in charge of a U-boat from one of four bases in the northwest of the Indian Ocean. As kapitan you'll start out commanding the Type IX-D2 before moving on to the cutting edge Type XVIII, which never really saw service during the War but nevertheless presents an interesting option for players who want to take a speculative approach to the campaign. Unfortunately, the XVIII, though it has a better engine and more forward facing tubes, lacks a deck gun and has no aft tubes to shake off the pursuit of a pesky destroyer. While the XVIII is a nice enough sub, the fact that you have rely on your torpedoes for all of your kills makes it a little less attractive to us. Besides, it's just too much fun to surface right beside an enemy tanker and start blowing its hull to pieces from a few hundred meters away.

As you progress through the campaign, you'll earn renown points that you can spend on a variety of upgrades that are specific to the German U-boats. This upgrade system is actually a great way to help build your sense of attachment to your boat because you're really investing in its performance and giving it a character all its own. For instance, our own early patrols were plagued by constant air attack, so we quickly upgraded our AA guns by increasing their caliber and adding a few extra barrels. Once that was done, we spent more renown to beef up our own listening abilities and a special coating to help reduce our visibility in the water. Later in the campaign, the Kriegsmarine offered us the change to upgrade to a brand new 5-inch deck gun that made us the terror of any undefended ship we encountered. While renown isn't a new concept for the game, it's put to great use here.

You can also use the renown points to switch out certain members of your crew, replacing sailors who are merely average in their performance with heroes who can complete tasks more effectively or more quickly than others. Each crew member has a short list of stats and, where applicable, a quick description of their special abilities. These abilities aren't enough to completely unbalance the game, but they do provide a significant edge. In a game where the gulf between success and failure is measured in meters and minutes, a small advantage can make a big difference.

The U-Boat mission pack also includes options for strategic support in the form of aerial reconnaissance and friendly warships. It's not strictly legitimate from a historical standpoint that a sub commander would be able to call directly on nearby planes to scout for him, or that he would be able to instruct his own destroyers to charge into a nearby flotilla, but it definitely adds to the interest and range of actions possible in the game. It is, of course, completely reasonable that a theater level commander would be encouraging and directing this kind of cooperation, but it feels a bit odd to be pushing other naval assets around from the bridge of your own submarine. In any case, if it offends your historical sensibilities too much, it's not a feature that you're required to use. One obvious benefit that you can't escape is the frequent spotting of far off forces by your allies.

But all this new strategic depth neatly dodges the one cooperative feature that's still missing from this experience -- where, oh where, are the Wolf Packs? While the image of the lone submariner tracking an unsuspecting convoy is very appealing, we're still disappointed that Ubisoft hasn't seen fit to include subs that hunt in groups. It's especially aggravating given the thought they obviously gave to the less historical coordination they introduced for planes and ships. It's probably something that can be modded in later by enterprising members of the community but it's a real shame that we still don't have that feature out of the box.