Rusaith Media Up coming games

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

2010-12-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

Posted: 23 Dec 2010 08:19 PM PST

This post gets around to video games a few paragraphs in. I hope you'll stick with me while I try to set the table.

Earlier this week a stunt double named Christopher Tierney was injured when he fell 30-feet to the stage floor in a preview performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, a $65 million musical (the most expensive in Broadway history) beset with problems.

Tierney's fall was the fourth accident to occur during the show's pre-opening run. The female lead who plays villainess Arachne suffered a concussion after being hit by a rope, a dancer broke both wrists in a flying sequence, and another injured his foot on the same stunt.[1]

Given Spider-Man's many production woes, the inevitable impulse is to question its creators' intentions. As one critic asks, "Is Broadway trying too hard to be like Hollywood?"[2] Theater, the thinking goes, should stick to what it does best and leave the epic visuals and high-tech stunts to the experts in Hollywood. Theater is a live, flesh-and-blood event. Its primitive nature is its biggest strength. An actor on the boards before a live audience - it was enough forShakespeare. Everything else is window dressing.

That is, unless you get it right. When that actor playing Spiderman defies gravity and flies across the stage, casts his web and sticks his landing to the amazement of a live audience, suddenly the Hollywood comparison gets turned around. Why would I want to watch a CG-enabled Tobey Maguire pretend to execute acrobatic stunts on a screen when I just saw a real guy fly 30-feet over my head, somersault in midair, and attach himself to that wall?!

We routinely overvalue originality and undervalue boring stuff like precision and shrewd execution. Anyone who glances at a list of lifted-from-Hollywood productions that pass for Broadway fare these days: Elf, Billy Elliott, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, among others, could be forgiven for thinking the Old White Way ought to be relabeled Tinseltown East. Whatever happened to originality in the American theater?

But cursory glances can lead to misinformed assumptions, and that's precisely the case with two of the shows I mentioned above. Yes, Elf and Mary Poppins might best be described as showy cash-ins aimed at the tourist crowd, but that cynical description hardly suits The Lion King or Billy Elliott, two outstanding musicals that transcend the Hollywood material which inspired them. Billy Elliott is a grittier depiction of its title character and his dire circumstances than the movie version, and the sensational dancing flows from a palpable sense of desperation in Billy. The Lion King (directed by Julie Taymor) remains one of the most exhilarating re-imaginings of original source material ever staged.

So what does all this have to do with video games?

In recent years we've seen plenty of criticism (including mine) leveled at video games that rehash old ideas; games that rely on genre formulas; games that ape the language of film. Games, we're often told, need new ideas. Games need to grow up. Games should leverage their defining interactivity. Cutscenes are lazy. Let movies be movies. Players want to write their own stories. Games don't need authored narratives. Games don't need linear stories. Games don't need stories. All games should be fun. No they shouldn't.

The problem with these reductive arguments is they fail to account for how art rails against boundaries; how artists inevitably seek to situate their work in the margins no one can own. Artists instinctively push back against "don't," "shouldn't," and "must." This is why we give them genius grants. It's also why we put them in prison. The real action is in the margins.

Julie Taymor's Spider-Man won't succeed or fail based on its recipe of ingredients or fidelity to the language of stage or cinema. Its success will ride on the production's ability to entertain and communicate its core vision to an audience. In Taymor's gifted hands, that vision is likely to include a blend of theatrical and filmic elements that define her sensibilities as a director of both media.

This is why we should stop worrying about games that try to be like movies, comic books, or anything else for that matter. The mechanical syntax and visual language of existing media and genres inevitably inform each another, and we should celebrate these confluences when they work. When they don't, the problems are likely to be less about modes of expression than about execution. In other words, a good idea is an idea that works, regardless of its origins or the format used to communicate it.

Uncharted 2 is a great game, in part because its cinematic elements frame the player's experience and successfully convey its formal narrative. Minecraft is a terrific game too, partly because its primitive blocky visuals align with its player-focused building-block DNA. Interestingly, we tend to haggle over the merits of the first, but see the genius of the second as self-evident. Retro graphics suggest an artsy choice, but verisimilitude means somebody sold out. Neither preconception is reliable.

Good designers make formal choices that help express their creative goals. It's the critic's job to examine the meaning and impact of those choices. Why did Ian Bogost purposely constrain himself to chunky graphics and 4 kilobytes of memory for A Slow Year? Why did Krystian Majewski rely on high-res still photography for TRAUMA? Why did Daniel Benmergui choose text as a primary visual stimulus for Today I Die? Why does Monobanda offer the player no instructions for creating a tree in Bohm?

If we critics can meet games at the places they come to us; if we can examine their materials and try to understand why they were chosen and how they function; if we can allow every game to stand in our consideration untethered to other games or preconceptions, we will better comprehend how they work and why they succeed or fail. In the process, we will more ably fulfill our role as servants of the art form.

Here's hoping Spider-Man the musical overcomes its difficulties; but if it flops, sign me up for the autopsy. This one has a lot of moving parts.

Infinity Blade

2010-12-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

The most important game of 2010

'Tis the season for reflection. Peering into my 2010 rear view mirror, it's easy to spot the Bioware Space Opera, the Bungie Space Opera, the Blizzard Space Opera and the Nintendo Space Opera. Ever the nonconformist, Rockstar bucked the interstellar trend with a Sandbox Oater. We also got more war games.

One game looms large in this rear view mirror of mine, but you won't find it listed on any GOTY lists. This game isn't the best or most innovative game of 2010, but I contend it's easily the most important game released this year.

Infinity Blade, the first mobile game to use the Unreal 3 Engine, is the game that will matter most in the long run. It comes closer than any previous game to leveling the playing field between handheld devices and consoles, and it caps a year in which mobile gaming finally proved its case.

The bad news for Nintendo and Sony: Infinity Blade demonstrates why dedicated portable gaming devices like the DS and PSP can no longer assume superiority among gamers looking for "serious games." The next wave isn't here yet, but Infinity Blade is the harbinger of its imminent arrival. If I wanted to make Ian Bogost blanch, I'd say Infinity Blade is a game changer. Wait, make that GAME-CHANGER!

2010 is the year of the mass handheld migration. The game-on-the-go casuals are abandoning the DS/PSP for Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and Cut the Rope. Seven of the ten top-grossing iOS apps this year were games. A Media Measure study published last week says 52 percent of tablet owners use the devices to play games, outnumbered only by the 58 percent who use them for web surfing.

Other numbers are more telling. 2010 is the first year a Pokémon game release failed to crush all other portable contenders. HeartGold/SoulSilver did well enough, selling 9+ million copies worldwide; but it hardly compares to Angry Birds' 42 million. Granted, "only" 12 million of those were iOS purchases. The wildly popular Android version of the app is free. But it's worth noting that developer Rovio monetizes that free version with ads that generate well over $1 million per month.

The numbers look worse the more you scrutinize them. Nintendo reported total unit sales of 1.7 million for all new DS titles through the first nine months of 2010. The top handful of iOS games routinely surpass that number in nine days.

I'm no market expert, but it's hard to see how publishers can continue to sell handheld games for 30 bucks a pop when high-quality titles go for less than $10 - usually less than $3 - on iOS and Android. Maybe a market for $30 Zelda or Mario or Pokémon games will always exist, but as major devs like Epic, Sega, and id jump into the iOS pool - playing catch-up to established mobile devs like ngmoco and Chillingo - the prospects for 3rd-party development on Nintendo and Sony hardware appear to have dimmed. Perhaps the forthcoming 3DS and rumored PSP phone will prove me wrong. Nintendo has rounded up an impressive list of devs for its new system. We'll see how many of them stick around.

The app store game avalanche is just getting started. Epic Games VP Mark Rein announced last week that the Unreal Dev Kit used to create Infinity Blade is now available to iPhone and iPad developers. This is the same scalable tech used to build Gears of Warand Mass Effect and includes bump offset mapping, normal mapped architecture, texture blending, global illumination, dynamic specular lighting, and real-time reflections and animation. I have a vague notion of what all this means, but a couple of game dev pals I consulted tell me it's mighty impressive stuff.

Apple doesn't need to convince us that its app store contains a satisfying array of accessible casual games. Infinity Blade - along with id's Rage HD and other 'hardcore' games on the way - suggest tablet and mobile devices are viable platforms for games at the opposite end of the spectrum. All the major games media outlets who regularly ignore iOS games - Eurogamer, 1UP, Destructoid, IGN, Joystiq - reviewed Infinity Blade (quite positively, btw) and covered its development for months.

Why is Infinity Blade the most important game of 2010?

The least interesting thing about Infinity Blade is the game itself. It's a repetitive, fantasy-medieval hack'n'slasher on rails. Punch-Out meets Groundhog Day on a touchscreen. Nothing wrong with that well-worn formula if it works (and it mostly does), but novelty doesn't matter in this case because Infinity Blade is more proof of concept than full-fledged game, and there it fully succeeds.

As every nearly drooling reviewer has noted, this game is goooorgeous. Infinity Blade is the iPhone/iPad game you force your buddies to stop and gawk at. The designers at Chair/Epic clearly love their visuals too because they take every possible opportunity in the game to establish locations with sweeping camera views and rising crane shots. It gets tiresome after awhile, but I must say I never stopped admiring the view.

Fortunately, Infinity Blade's charms are more than cosmetic. The game also boasts remarkably responsive controls. Swipe to slash or block; tap to stab or dodge - it all works beautifully and intuitively. Infinity Blade is the first iOS game I've played that imparts tactile gesture control of an avatar.. At no moment playing this game did I long for a controller.* Did it surprise me to learn Infinity Blade was originally conceived as a Kinect title? Nope.

Infinity Blade is the fastest-grossing app in history of the iTunes Store, grossing over $2 million in its first four days. One might argue the game's relatively high price ($5.99) diminishes that feat; but I contend its price suggests another reason the game matters so much. It successfully demonstrates that iPhone/iPad owners are willing to spend more for premium games, which will inevitably attract more premium game development to the space.

I hope no one misinterprets me to mean the current crop of iOS developers is somehow lacking. The arrival of developers like Epic and id doesn't suddenly add respectability to a field of 2nd-tier studios. I've poo-pooed iOS games for two years in this very space, only to concede the unmistakable quality of games like Osmos and Mirror's Edge on the iPad. Did you know World of Goo is now available for iPad. Did you know it's the best version of the game on any platform?

2010 will be rembered as the year mobile/tablet games came of age, and Infinity Bladewill likely be forgotten. Other more remarkable games will transcend it, and we'll all take for granted the viability of ambitious games on these miraculous devices we carry with us.Infinity Blade proves such games are possible, and that's why it's important.

*For what it's worth, I played Infinity Blade on an iPad using a BoxWave Stylus, but I also played the game with my finger and saw no decrease in performance. I prefer using the stylus because it adds a bit of useful distance between my hand and the screen and feels more natural to me for fast-paced games

Max Payne 3

2010-12-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Max Payne 3

Rock star games, which are famous for the max Payne, midnight club and grand theft auto are going to release Max Payne 3 in 2011. The game is sequel to Max Payne a shooter video game which was released in the year 2001. A reason of fame for this game is the bullet time mode where the bullet time is slowed down to such an extent that it could be seen with naked eye.

Storyline: Max Payne 3 begins with a new chapter of Max Payne, a New York City police officer who is now 12 years older and he has left NYPD, the guy is shown in new attire where he is bald and he has grown beard. The game will be plotted in Brazil where Max is working for a private security company.

So Blonde

2010-12-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

What's better then an excellent new IP? An excellent new IP from an excellent new developer. Wizarbox has gone to all ends by mixing unique art, premise, and gameplay all to the effect with their first game. Not only does it look promising but it also utilizes old negative stereotypes.

The Whispered World

2010-12-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

SNK and Arc System Works aren't the only ones pushing hand-drawn 2D in gaming. Believe it or not what you see here is actual gameplay. The Whispered World is a new adventure game from Germany that was once dropped but has recently been ressurected for a soon release.

Sengoku Basara X

2010-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you get the Devil King's Franchise entering the fighting game genre with Arc System works at the helm? You get Sengoku Basara X, Capcom's IP, Arc System Works gameplay, what more could you want?

Tekken 6

2010-12-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

Currently the biggest game in the fighting game scene, Tekken 6 is the next installment

to the 3D fighting series. What more can I say it's Tekken.

Street Fighter IV

2010-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Whether you like it or not the game uses 3D models so deal with it. That said this game IS Street Fighter after all and as you know the heads at Capcom do know how to make a fighting game. Bringing back all the original 8 World Warriors along with going for a cartoony look instead of the realistic look done by 99% of the other games in the market it definately doesn't follow the stray of the average fighter.

God of War 3

2010-12-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

Nier

2010-12-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Uncharted 2

2010-12-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

Graphics:
What can I say about the graphics in this game? They are just amazing. Naughty Dog really put a lot of detail when it came to the graphics of the game. The range is really impressive and many moments in the game will take away your breath. The world just looks amazing, there are little details everywhere and not a single spot in the game looks bland. The effects are also really good. A gun's muzzle flash, a grenade explosion or a fire are all rounded up with a distortion effect around it. That is just one little example of the game's graphics. The game also has a high focus on depth of field. Characters during cut-scenes are always sharp while the background is blurred, that also occurs when aiming down your sight, the spot you aim at will be sharp while stuff closer or further than that spot will be blurred. The water and snow are also one of the very detailed things in the game, Drake's clothes will get wet if he goes into a puddle or a river and the snow will have little dents if Drakes . The character animations were also really perfected to the finest little details, example: Drake will cover his face from every singe heat source in the game. The physics engine is also very good and a lot of little objects can be destroyed of moved by physics adding a little extra detail to the game. Currently there is no better looking PS3 game than Uncharted 2.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Multiplayer:
The game also has a very good Multiplayer mode. I haven't played a lot of Multiplayer but I can really say it can become very addicting. The game includes many modes including 2 Co-operative modes and many competitive modes. The multiplayer features all of the game's great aspect and nothing has been toned down. The Competitive multiplayer has a maximum of 3 players and it includes 4 different gamemodes so anyone can find something they like. The Co-operative multiplayer has 2 modes: Objective and Survival. Objective puts 3 characters from the story and they must complete certain objectives to progress further, this Co-op mode's maps are from scenarios from the singleplayer campaign and makes a great experience. The Survival gamemode puts you and your friends against incoming waves of Enemies, the only goal in this gamemode is to survive and score as many points as you can. The multiplayer also has a leveling system that allows players to purchase new skins and 2 slots for Boosters which are basically like Perks. It also includes a Cinema mode in which you can view games you have played.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gameplay:
The gameplay can simply be divided into 3 parts: Acrobatics, Fighting and Stealth. The acrobatics and climbing sequences are really well done, and Naughty Dog made the climbable spots look so great that they just merge with the rest of the environment, making it look like Drake can climb onto anything. The gunfights are also huge part of the game, the Gears of War styled Cover-System is really great and it's the only thing keeping you alive when you're in a gunfight on higher difficulties. Enemy AI is pretty smart and they will also use the cover system, except the few annoying Heavily armored ones who will just slowly walk at you with their shotgun. You should not worry as most of the time you will be accompanied by an ally character who will help you. The environment also plays a big role in gunfights, things such as exploding barrels and logs can be used to kill enemies more efficiently. You can also go into Close Combat if your enemies are close for some easy kills, but beware, other enemies will not be stopped from shooting you while you are fighting. And the third thing that makes the gameplay is the Stealth. Stealth is very useful for defeating a large group of enemies without wasting a lot of ammo. But it is generally the hardest thing to successfully accomplish in the game. One mistake can turn your sneaking and stealth killing into a big gunfight. Stealth kills are usually done with the Game's Close Combat stealth moves, which require you to sneak up behind and enemy. But the Stealth aspect is also one of the most satisfying things in the game. The game also has a few major puzzles, but they are not very hard, but really satisfying. The difficulties are well balances out, providing an awesome experience for casual and hardcore gamers. Overall very fun and exciting gameplay.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story of the game is really it's best aspect. It is really a story of Movie-like qualities. It is so intense that you will not be able to put your controller down just because you want to see what happens next. It has many twists and unexpected turns and you will always be amazed. The way characters interact with each other is incredible. The voice acting is brilliant and it helps to capture the very essence of the characters. The game just feels like a non-stop action movie.

Avatar: The Game

2010-12-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Bayonetta

2010-12-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

Perfect World’s new MMO “Kung Foo!” – Fact Sheet and Screenshots

2010-12-09T16:48:00.005-08:00

Aliens vs. Predator granted release in Australia, now rated MA15+

2010-12-09T16:48:00.003-08:00

Spec Ops: The Line could be banned because of excess sand

2010-12-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

“We will have to review the game [Spec Ops: The Line] first before issuing any decision on whether to ban it or allow it [due to concerns over the game taking place in a post-natural disaster Dubai],” – Mohammed al Mutawa, a video games censor at the United Arab Emirate’s National Media Council

Better just go ahead and ban the game. We all know the horrors that occur when a video game that depicts a war torn major city that has been struck by some kind of disaster. That’s right, I’m looking at you Fallout 3 and all the countless hours of fun and entertainment that you provided! Oh the horror!

Link

Red Dead Redemption

2010-12-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

More screenshots here.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

2010-12-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

2010-12-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

For reasons which I can only speculate upon, I am incapable of spelling "Amalur" correctly on the first attempt. My gut instinct is to type "Alamur," which I think we can all agree just rolls off of the tongue better. But I'm not Curt Schilling and I don't get to dictate what his company calls their product. It's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and that's just the way it is.

But enough of my troubles spelling the names of fictional kingdoms. You have more important things to look at. Take, for example, this trio of screenshots for the unfortunately titled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I'm sure they are far more interesting to you than my shortcomings, though do feel free to point them out at every opportunity.Â

My shortcomings, that is. Although, I suppose you could feel free to point out the screenshots too if that's your bag. It is the internet, after all.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier

2010-12-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

Ubisoft sends new images out for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Take a gander and peek at the classes, the combat and possible significant in-game events? (Exploding aircraft carriers?)

Age of Empires 3

2010-12-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Odyssey to the West

2010-12-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Just under one month ago we revealed some Enslaved: Odyssey to the West screenshots, these went down pretty well with our readers, therefore we thought what better way to follow these up then to post a huge gallery of new screens.

The huge gallery of screens can be seen on Xboxic, if you click on the screens you can see them at full resolution, we have also embedded a few of these screens at the end of this post (scroll down to see them).

A lot of these screens are said to be from the game’s opening sequence, if this is the case it looks as though you will be up against some formidable-looking enemies from the outset, do the screens make you want to buy Enslaved: Odyssey to the West?

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit

2010-12-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit: Hands-On-Test of the Criterion Racer with 100 Screenshots

Need for Speed is Go: We had a close look at Hot Pursuit and saw for ourselves, if the latest Criterion racing game is as beautiful as the developers promised it would be. Make up your own mind by clicking through our exclusive screenshots.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - maximum settings (9) [Source: view picture gallery]

Criterion, the maker of Burnout: Paradise is done and ready: Need for Speed hit the shelves two days ago and we got one of the first copies. Of course, we didn't hesitate to install the racing game right away, since we were all excited about how the different lighting-algorithms, Criterion had spoken of, would look like. But very quickly did we realize that our expectations would hardly be met. Okay, the lighting is quite alright, especially when the vehicles pass through tunnels and the xenon headlights make the tube shine in blue. But the textures these lights hit are as 2004 as can be. The further we look beyond the road, the lower the image quality gets. It seems as if Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has been highly optimized to meet an Xbox 360's specifications since post processing occurs only rarely when a cut scene is running. After those, admitted, nice looking sequences the graphics go back to rough edged.

We would have been all content, if Criterion would have managed to implement more graphic options into Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The latter only include five points which are resolution, shadow quality, texture quality, motion blur and gamma. Switches like depth of field or anti aliasing or screen space ambient occlusion would have been a nice gift to PC gamers. Even driver-enforced anti aliasing on a Geforce GTX 460M took no effect on the sawtooth distortion.

The gaming experience as such is quite nice, indeed. If you lean back a little further, you might enjoy diverse scenery: Green forests, sunny beaches, rainy mountain roads. The cars, of which every single one is presented with a voiced introduction, each have their proper characteristics. Some are brilliant sliders, some accelerate insanely fast, and others are true battering rams of high top speed.

You like to see for yourself? Check out our image galery which is full of self-made, exclusive screenshots from Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Have fun!

Guild Wars 2

2010-12-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

2010-12-07T16:55:00.000-08:00