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Looking Back on Old School Gaming

Gary Francis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:52:05 +0000

Gaming at its core has changed, yes there’s new graphics, there’s new audio options, there are new formats and new competitors but that’s not what I’m talking about. Gaming has lost its spirit, its underground soul, its no longer something to being able to do, it has become something normal that our mothers and little sisters also enjoy with us.

Is this a bad thing? Well I suppose if your mother or little sister is annoying then yes, but otherwise not really. However I’d like to take the time to look back on the old school underground style of gaming and see if there is anything about those days that continues to be irreplaceable.

In the old days games were difficult, but we enjoyed them for that reason, finishing them was a task that non-gamers simply could not do, the hand-eye coordination involved in addition to the knowledge of patterns and accurate timing that enabled us to go through levels, our will to not lose a life because it would be a quarter lost, everything mattered.

There were no upgrades or checkpoints to help us out, cheat codes came after we finished not during and so we had only ourselves and the tips of our fellow gamers at the arcades. These days the day a game comes out all its secrets are in the magazines and cheat code websites.

Competition was lovely they weren’t just limited to head to head competition like fighting games or first person shooters, even single player games were competitive, people went out of their way to get top scores not just for themselves but to show others they were the top dogs at that arcade. There was so much incentive to be good at a game, overthrowing the current top scorer and not losing your money among others.

The equivalent of the old stomping grounds known as the arcades today is online play, well examining the problems with online play I’d much prefer an arcade, online gaming while great when developers take the extra time to make sure the netcode is alright, often times is laggy which gives everyone the excuse of lag when they lose, no one is there to witness these matchups in person and thus there is no crowd hype or anyone to see the skills of upcoming players.

These days I don’t play many new games because I feel like they cheat me with easy gameplay and being not even half a day long. There are few games these days that truly make me want to play them based on anything other than looking pretty. At least back in the day if I wanted to try a new game it only costed a quarter and more often than not the game would be good, where as up until these current consoles there were no demos.

They say what’s old is new but quite honestly in the case of gaming that would be false. There’s no work ethic in today’s gamers, most shy away from challenges like a really difficult game or playing a really good player in a competitive game and that quite frankly is the opposite of what gaming is all about.

Is XBL Cable to PSN’s PBS?

Tony C — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:46:56 +0000

Advertisements on X-Box Live are nothing new, but the latest announcement of Silverlight ads integration into the dashboard has sparked a backlash amongst XBL users.

The biggest worry amongst users is that advertisements on the dashboard will become like pop up ads on web pages that take up half the screen and are awkward to get rid of.

I liken XBL to BSKYB or Cable. You pay a monthly fee (subscription) so you get a better service, be it features or content; it is further subsidised with advertisements and cost of console/game. You get the latest shows and films but advertisements every twelve minutes suck!

PSN is more like the BBC or PBS, you pay one off fees (cost of console/game) and you get very few ads. There is quality but it is usually months behind.

I remember the Doritos promotion on XBL and welcoming it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A couple of months ago Sprint brought us Rag Doll Kung Fu free on US PSN.

I prefer my life ad free. But if ads are providing a service to me and not just a constant bombardment, then I will accept them as a necessary evil.

The problem is: is XBL still worth the subscription fee?

Is the money Microsoft generating from advertising equal to that generated via subscriptions? Probably not.

But is the XBL service still so far ahead of the competition that it justifies a subscription as well as further integration of advertisements? Probably not.

XBL subscribers should protest with their money and not their mouths. If the service is no longer worth the money, why are you still paying?

State of the Industry

John Van Ort — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:32:54 +0000

I’m not really sure if anyone’s caught on to this yet, but the reason we can’t have nice things is almost entirely in our control. Not the jocks who play Halo at keggers or the housewives who sit at home and play Peggle. Us. The people who rescued the Princess, knocked out Tyson, fought 25 bipedal tanks as an androgynous rookie, and cried when Aerith died.

Everyone wants original games, right? Whether it’s a highly stylized game like The World Ends With You or something that’s just an updated version of something old, like Super Paper Mario, we want the fresh feeling that’s associated with it. We need the new, otherwise the industry stagnates and we all move on.

Lately, due in large part to the Wii and it’s masses of shovelware and “family friendly” software, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of complaints of how the industry is being ruined because all the casual gamers are pulling focus away from us, the people who’ve been playing games all our lives. Fair enough. There have been a lot more games like Cooking Mama and Bejeweled, and, yes, developers do cater to the casual market quite a bit more.

But, really, whose fault is that? Of course, there’s blame on the casual gamers, but they’re not doing anything wrong on purpose. They just want to have fun! They’re not concerned with the state of the industry. No, the blame falls almost squarely upon our shoulders. Let me explain exactly why.

How many of you have played Halo 3? Of course, everyone in the room raises their hand. Solid game, Bungee did a damn fine job on it. Oh and how many have played Super Mario Galaxy? Yeah, most of you. A phenomenal game, very fun. How many of you have played The World Ends With You? OK, I see five people out in the back. Damn, guys! It’s a very good game! Fine, whatever. How many of you have played Odin Sphere? All right. I see two, three hands out back. In fact, the game was a spectacular addition to the annals of video game history, not to mention art as a whole.

Now, my complaint doesn’t lie with who played what game, but what each core game is built around.

Odin Sphere is a beautiful, hand-drawn, 2D action-RPG. The game’s plot is unique, the art is creative and went places I would’ve never imagined even as an artist. Everything about this game is great.

The World Ends With You isn’t all that different. It’s a 2D action-RPG, focused in a graffiti aesthetic. The action is unique, a bit confusing, but masses of fun. The plot is deep, dark, and rather disturbing if you think about it a little bit.

Halo 3 took the core mechanics of the Halo series and added new vehicles, new maps, and equipment. One of the best multiplayer games I know of.

Super Mario Galaxy shot Mario in to space, where his opponents weren’t just Goombas and Koopas, but gravity and comets as well.

The problem here is that the last two I mentioned were not original games at all. They were very, very good games, but the mechanics were based entirely in their predecessors. The former, however, had little basis and went off on their own yet still managed to gain critical praise.

Hence, this bullshit:

Halo 3: 9.67 million sold
Super Mario Galaxy: 7.95 million sold

The World Ends With You: .43 million sold
Odin Sphere: .31 million sold

The reason we don’t have nice things is because you won’t buy good games. These developers took a risk and you decided that they didn’t deserve any of you money, even though their games were fantastic. You decided to give it to Nintendo and Bungie two of your nemeses in this conflict of casual games vs. hardcore games. Bungie’s games cater to everyone, nerds and jocks alike. Nintendo… well, you know their story.

Of course, some of you might say “RPGs are a niche-market! Your point is null and void!”

You know who Tim Schafer is? No doubt you’ve heard of his upcoming game Brutal Legend. But have you heard of Psychonauts? Maybe. Have you played it? Doubt it. It’s total sales across the Xbox, Playstation 2, and PC were barely 100,000 sold, despite the fact that it was a good platformer, used unique concepts, and made me laugh more than most comedy movies. A high-profile developer, the man who essentially MADE Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, and his game goes almost completely ignored. What? Why?

Maybe this isn’t your fault. Maybe it’s the media’s fault for not giving enough attention to these games. Maybe. But if you’re the kind of people who go around and look at gaming sites, I’m guessing that you’re a little bit more interested in games and would look below the surface for a gem.

This is not meant to be offensive to you. It is meant to be a call to arms. It’s meant to inspire you to go fight for something (semi) important! Save our industry! Save our games!

Now comment, dammit!

God of War 3: Nothing Left For Me

Roger DiLuigi — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:29:20 +0000

While I was browsing on NeoGAF yesterday afternoon, I stumbled across a rather peculiar thread entitled “God of War 3- So Through It All I See There’s Nothing Left For Me”. In the opening post, NeoGAF user, TheChillyAcademic poses a question to himself and asks his fellow members why he was not impressed with God of War 3. Here’s his quote:

Hmmm. Don’t get me wrong. I am looking forward to this title, it’s one of the PS3’s heavy hitting AAA titles and is the finale of an amazing series. I’ve played each game, as they’ve been released and have never been disappointed. Everything, from the twisted, but familiar story to the brutal gameplay has been done with extreme polish and finesse. GOW3 seems to be no different and looks to end Krato’s journey with an appropriately bloody and big bang.

After watching the demo at Sony’s E3 Press Conference, I was surprised to find myself saddled with an emotion I’ve never experienced in reference to the GOW series: Meh. The demo looked great and it seemed to play great but…I don’t know. It looked like a technically impressive “upgrade” more then anything else. Maybe the fact that there were so many amazing games at the show, Uncharted 2 being principle in Sony’s case, sort of cast a dirge over GOW3’s shimmer, I’m not sure.

What do you think?

Naturally, this thread and its subsequent first post has already caused quite a stir on the popular gaming forum and after reading through many of of my fellow member’s responses and developing my own thoughts, I’ve come up with my own response to TheChillyAcademic’s question and realized that I am actually in the same boat. Here was my response:

Unlike the majority of GAF who have been defending the title to the death without actually playing it, I waited in line for about an hour to play the demo on the show floor at this year’s E3. I was a huge fan of the original games and I pretty much purchased my PSP solely for Chains of Olympus. I was PUMPED to finally get my hands on God of War 3 this year. However, when I finally made my way to the end of the half-hour long demo, I felt as though something changed, and not for the better.

First, I would like to question the people stating that the combos and attacks in this new God of War are impressive. Did you play Bayonetta? If not, I might understand why you were impressed. God of War 3 does take a leap when it comes to attacking enemies and a rather clear one over the original God of War. The problem is that when it comes to what other games in the genre are now pulling off (BAYONETTA), God of War 3 simply looks lazy and feels lazy. Yes, the combos and chaining of attacks still feels like the same God of War (Which, let me stress, is a good thing) but what has really changed is that that the finishing moves (which in the Bayonetta demo were violent but also very tongue-in-cheek and funny) have now been turned into, “Let’s see if we can make you vomit!”, mini quick time cut scenes instead of showy epic spectacles of mythological violence.

I may be in the minority here, but I think cranking up the gore in an already gory series was a HORRIBLE decision. The reason I liked the original God of War games was due to the fact that they hit the sweet spot in gore. The games were always violent but I never felt as though I wanted to cringe and throw up while playing the game. Perhaps that was due to the weaker technology on the systems but now that the PS3 and 360 have developed graphical technology that looks very realistic, the violent charm of the series began to wear off and I now find myself disgusted by what I am watching and playing.

For example, near the tail-end of the demo, I was forced to rip off the sun god Helios’ head by mashing the L1 and R1 buttons on the Dualshock. It was, without a doubt, one of the worst experiences I have ever had playing a game. I looked over to the guy at the kiosk next to me and he actually asked me “Are you feeling okay?”. He looked over at my screen at my hands that were still, for some God-forsaken reason, mashing buttons as fast as I could and when the flesh on Helios’ neck finally began to tear apart and blood began spewing from his neck, I genuinely felt sick to my stomach. Not only was I really grossed out by this but Lucas, the guy standing next to me, actually walked out from the demo knowing that scene was what he had to look forward to.

I could deal with the demo’s centaur killing, despite the fact ripping out his intestines was gross, and jamming the beast in front of the turret in the skull with his own horns actually felt satisfying but the Helios neck thing was really too much. And, while the game is graphically gorgeous as most of you can tell from the video of the demo online, the violence and gore was cranked up to a point of being, to me, unbearable in this title.

I’m sure some of you guys out there LOVE the enhanced gore factor and that’s cool. The core game is still good, it’s God of War for goodness sake, and the chaining of attacks still feels great but I’m sure I’m not in the minority when I say that the violence in this iteration has finally tipped me over the edge.

Unlike [TheChillyAcademic], I didn’t get a sense of “meh” after playing the demo at E3. I instead realized that the series is no longer meant for me and despite being wowed by the phenomenal production values, I was personally disappointed with what I saw and played. I can acknowledge God of War 3 is and will be a fantastic game when it is released next year but I know I’ll be skipping out on it.

Now, I’m sure many of you are probably wondering why I decided to post my personal response to this NeoGAF thread on GamingVice. Well, to be honest, I felt as though I never really made my voice heard on how I felt about the title going into and coming out of E3. Many of the readers have sent me e-mails, Twitter messages and Skype IM requests asking how I enjoyed the God of War 3 demo at E3 and up until this point I have, publicly, been very quiet about how I reacted to the demo.

Perhaps part of my reservation was due to the fact that I really wanted to like the game after enjoying the previous entries in the series and maybe part of it was because I truly was disgusted by what I saw. Whatever the case, I figured I should let the readers know that God of War 3 has officially jumped off my hit list.

That said, I want to make it very clear that just because I’m no longer a fan of the game doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone else has to hate it. In fact, some of you reading probably loved everything you saw of the game and, if you played the demo at E3, can’t wait to get your hands on the game when it finally releases this Spring. All in all though, I think NeoGAF user LoudNinja said it best:

This is the last game in the series so why take unnecessary risks just to please a few people?

I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Maybe, if one of the game’s developers gets around to reading the thread and notices the immense divide between people’s reactions, perhaps they’ll implement an optional gore censor feature much like Gears of War 2 includes. That way, everyone who was anticipating the game since its announcement will be able to enjoy the experience and, people like myself, will able to rip apart centaur without getting queasy.

No related posts.

Wii’s Lineup For 2009: Return of the Hardcore?

Roger DiLuigi — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:28:12 +0000

Let’s be honest, if you are a Nintendo-exclusive “hardcore” gamer, 2008 probably wasn’t the best year for you. Yes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, arguably two of the best, must-have Wii games currently on the market were both released early in the year but the latter half of the year was, to be blunt, severely lacking in “hardcore” content; gamers got Wii Music, Wario Land: Shake It, and Animal Crossing: City Folk as their big holiday titles. Here’s the good news though: after playing many of the Wii’s upcoming 2009 and early 2010 games at this year’s E3, it looks like the “hardcore” audience will finally be given a feast of games to savor.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

Winter 2009- Crystal Bearers is a single-player action RPG from Square-Enix that takes place a thousand years after the events of the original Crystal Chronicles. Not only was it shown off during Nintendo’s Press Conference at this year’s E3 but it was also a cornerstone of Square-Enix’s showing at this year’s show. This attention is justified though as the demo I played on the show floor at Nintendo’s had a fantastic amount of variety. I was piloting an airship through a canyon one minute and throwing enemies around with my telekinesis the next. Not to mention, this game has a feature that a lot of major game sites haven’t really touched on but the developers have clearly put a lot of work into.

The aforementioned feature is that Layle, the main character in this Wii-exclusive epic, can utilize his telekinetic abilities to interact with the civilian environment and the civilians actually react as they should. For example, if Layle picks up the child of a city-goer, the civilians may knock the player away with force, gather back-up or run away for help depending on the situation. This “reaction AI system” in which different creatures react in unique ways to other creatures nearby and to the player’s attacks is something has never really been fully explored before in a Final Fantasy game. Add that on top of gameplay variety, gorgeous graphics and a deep story and you’ve got one heck of a game for this winter.

Red Steel 2

Q4 2009- A prime example of how to do a sequel, Red Steel 2 outshines its Wii launch title predecessor in every way imaginable. The graphical style is gorgeous, it runs at a solid 60 frames per second, and it utilizes Nintendo’s 1:1 motion control peripheral to finally give players the precision they’ve been begging for when it came to sword-fighting on Wii. In the demo I played at E3, I was taken through three different levels. The first of these served as a tutorial for the game where the awesome spaghetti-western samurai cowboy protagonist was hacking and slashing at scarecrows and I was introduced to the controls, the second dropped me into a full level of play and the third was an intense boss battle with a enemy wielding an enormous hammer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moving a sword feels exactly as it should due to the precision of the MotionPlus which, aside from being bundled with this summer’s Wii Sports Resort, will also be bundled in with Red Steel 2. The gunplay also feels quite good utilizing the IR pointer on the remote to aim at your enemies. Another really cool thing about Red Steel 2 is that the player now has the ability to switch between their gun and sword for use in combat on the fly and fights no longer restrict you to using one or the other. The game also utilizes the speaker in the Wii Remote for tasks like cracking open a safe and projecting the clanking of swords in an intense bout. This was by far the best shooter on the floor at Nintendo’s booth.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Fall 2009- A game that’s being touted as the “re-imagining” of the original classic Silent Hill, I can confirm that this reboot is not a port, features an all-new soundtrack by the highly-acclaimed game composer Akira Yamaoka, and makes full use of the Wii’s motion controls. Even the classic characters of Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl have been completely re-designed to give the game a fresh feel. Much in the same vein of Dead Space, the developers at Climax Studios wanted to focus on keeping the player as engrossed in the game as possible. For example, Harry’s cell phone acts as the user interface, which acts as a story telling device, map, puzzle helper, and camera that provides seamless flow with no interruption in gameplay. Players can also use it to zoom in on the environment, as shown to me in the demo on the E3 floor.

One of the coolest things about the game though is that the developers have eliminated one of the series’ players’ big complaints: combat. And, while a combat-free game may seem strange at first, I can assure you that its exclusion from this iteration of the series is a very good thing and that having to evade monsters actually makes the game THAT much scarier. On top of all this, Shattered Memories is one of the best looking Wii games I have ever seen. Everything from the light coming out of Harry’s flashlight to the snow falling from the sky is rendered beautifully and actually takes full advantage of the Wii’s hardware for the better. The demo was one of the most impressive things I played at E3 and will certainly be a contender for “Wii Game of the Year” when it is released this fall.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

September 2009- If you’ve read any Wii-related stories this past month on Gaming Vice, I’m sure you’re already well aware of this gorgeous action game by the developers of Odin Sphere; it’s no secret that the staff here is absolutely head-over-heels for the game. If you haven’t already read my in-depth hands-on of Muramasa, the game is published by Ignition Entertainment. Muramasa takes place in Feudal Japan and stars two young ninja: Kisuke, a young man who remembers nothing of his past and is fighting to re-gain his memory, and Momohime, a hime who has been possessed by the spirit of Jinkuro, an evil swordsman.

The game is really everything that a hardcore gamer could want from a third-party effort on Wii. Based on the demo at E3, the action was solid and very-well paced, the combos were visceral and fluid, the hand-drawn graphics by master artist George Kamitami (who I also happened to meet and photo-op with at E3 during our private showing of Muramasa) are breathtaking, and the original Japanese voice acting is all intact. I cannot wait to finally get my hands on this game again come September.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Holiday 2009- Yet another game that I’ve already done a hands-on for! Really though, what more is there to say about this awesome four-player co-op 2D Mario title for the Wii that I didn’t already mention. It was one of my five nominations for “Best Game of E3″ this year, it’s being developed under the watchful eyes of master game creator Shigeru Miyamoto and is essentially Zelda: Four Swords crammed into a Mario platformer. Plus, it’ll sell a ton and it’s definitely something that will satiate the mainline Nintendo franchise craving fanboys come this Holiday season. Here’s a trailer for it if you really have no idea what this game is:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh, and did I mention the Koopa Kids from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World are appearing in this game as mini-bosses after more than fifteen years out of the limelight? That should be reason enough for you to go out and pre-order New Super Mario Bros. Wii as soon as you can.

Dead Space Extraction

September 29, 2009- A prequel to the hit 360/PS3 survival-horror game, Dead Space, Extraction takes place directly before the events of the original game. Also, it’s an on-rails shooter. However, before jumping to conclusions, it’s actually worth noting that after playing the demo at E3, the game is one of the best if not the best on-rails shooter for the Wii. Extraction, which can be played alone or co-op with a friend (the version I played on the show floor was co-op) is also one of the prettiest games on the system and the developers I talked to mentioned that they have really worked hard at capturing the look and feel of the original game in this Wii iteration.

It’s also worth noting that the combat ideas cemented in the original Dead Space have been fleshed out quite well in this Wii prequel. “Strategic Dismemberment” is still alive and well in this game and while many of the weapons that players fell in love with in the original such as the Plasma Cutter and the Hydrogen Torch Flamethrower have returned, new weapons have been added as well along with the return of the “stasis” mechanic from the original. Plus, the demonstrator on the floor hinted to me that the game would feature characters from the original Dead Space too, though he wouldn’t specify who would be returning. Extraction, for all intents and purposes, looks like it’ll be one hell of a ride when it launches on Wii this September.

Tatsunoku vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars

Q4 2009- Here’s one that I know our huge fighting game audience will be drooling over and after playing the game at Capcom’s E3 booth (despite having to wait in line for about a half hour) I can safely say the game is arcade-perfect. Originally released in Japan last December, many people thought that the game would never hit U.S. shores due to the ridiculous amount of licensing issues needed to get all of the rights to the Tatsunoko characters but, somehow, Capcom managed to surprise us all and pull it off sparing Americans only one character from the Japanese version, Hakushon Daimaō.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While the game is not at all a balanced fighter (but really, neither are the previous Vs. Capcom titles), it is still remarkably fun. Each player has a team of two, and players can switch their characters at any time, with the exception of Tatsunoko’s Gold Lightan and Capcom’s PTX-40A due to the fact they take up an entire side of the screen. And, despite the exclusion of one character from the Japanese release, Capcom has stated that the U.S. version may add new features to the game, including possible additions of several new characters from both Capcom and Tatsunoko (here’s hoping for Servbot, Amateratsu, and Dante from Capcom and Speed Racer and the Samurai Pizza Cats from Tatsunoko) as well as online gameplay! This a fighter you will not want to miss come this Holiday.

Metroid Prime Trilogy

August 24th, 2009- Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with an achievement system, the fantastic Wii controls of Corruption re-worked into the two previous Prime games in the same vein as the “New Play Control” games Nintendo has recently been churning out, the multiplayer mode from Echoes, 480p and widescreen support, and a MSRP of $49.99? This is without a doubt the best deal of the year and is a much better approach to re-packaging the Prime games than releasing them seperately like Japan is doing. Honestly, if you missed out on the first two Metroid Primes on Gamecube for whatever reason, whether you didn’t like how the FPS controls felt on a Gamecube controller, or you were just never into the genre or the Metroid series, you still owe it to yourself to pick this package up and at least give the series a try. Plus, when you consider that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption alone is still priced at 49.99, this is seriously a real bargain.

Players can now set up profiles using their Miis, and all of their progress in each game will be stored to their personal Mii profile. At any time, a player can now pull up their progress, completion percentage and the location of their save file as well as an option menu that affects all three games. Basically, if you change your control settings in any one of the games, they will carry over into each of the other games and default to your personal controls each time you boot up the game. And, as if all of those tweaks weren’t enough, the achievement system from Corruption has now been worked into the previous two games and players will be able to share their achievements with their friends using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. As if you couldn’t already guess, I am super excited for this re-release and can’t wait until it’s finally unleashed come late August.

Little King’s Story

July 21st 2009- After being reminded by my fellow NeoGAF brethren that I left out this gem of a game from my list, I knew I had to go back and add a section on it. For those who don’t know (which is probably a great deal of you), Little King’s Story, published by Marvelous Entertainment in the U.S., is a simulation RPG where the player controls Corobo, a young man who has found a mysterious crown that gives him the power make people follow orders. And, since it his duty as king, Corobo, makes it his goal to expand his own village and make his new loyal subjects happy. Little King’s Story, however, is not your average kingdom building sim game due to the fact that real-time adventuring and questing makes up the majority of Little King’s Story’s gameplay.

Click here to view the embedded video.

King Corobo must explore the land outside of his kingdom in order to advance the plot, gather treasure and conquer the other kingdoms around him. Corobo’s problem however, is that he is a relatively weak fighter. So, using his newfound power, he makes others do all fighting for him. All of his kingdom’s civilians and Corobo possess a set amount of life and just like in any other strategy game, should a fighter lose all of his he will die, and if Corobo dies, the game ends. In order to regain their health, the player must search for hot springs to replenish their life. It’s also worth noting that the game is quite funny and, in a world filled with grim and gory games, Little King’s Story acts as a nice change from the norm. Not to mention, the game has already received rave reviews by media outlets the world over garnering a 9/10 in the highly acclaimed EDGE magazine and a 9.1 from IGN’s Australian affiliate making the wait for this game that much harder!

***

Keep in mind all of the fantastic games I listed above are coming in the fall and winter months of this year and I have excluded a large amount of great games that I already covered or that are coming out very soon from it. For example, Wii Sports Resort, which I recently put a fairly large hands-on preview of up on the site was excluded from the list due to the fact that it’s coming out in late July and soon-to be WiiWare classic Cave Story, a remake of the original done from the ground-up for Wii, along with High Voltage software’s Wii technology-pushing FPS, The Conduit, were excluded because they are both scheduled to be released within the next couple weeks (or this Tuesday in the case of The Conduit). Add to that the fact that the WiiMotion Plus perhiprial just launched and we already have two extremely high-quality sports games using the technology, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘10 and Grand Slam Tennis, the long-anticipated Punch-Out!!!, which I reviewed last month, has finally been released and a constant stream of new WiiWare and Virtual Console games are being released every Monday. I also excluded Wii Fit Plus because while I’m sure it will sell extremely well when it is released this fall, I know the majority of the hardcore could care less about it (though really, if you read my E3 impressions of the game, you’ll see it’s actually pretty fun). Oh, and since I decided to only cover Wii-exclusive titles, I also excluded Beatles: Rock Band and DJ Hero despite the fact they will probably sell best on Wii this holiday season.

Plus, don’t even get me started on what 2010 will bring to the Wii. With Super Mario Galaxy 2, a sequel to the 2007 Game of the Year, Metroid: Other M, an all-new Metroid game from Nintendo and highly-acclaimed developer Team Ninja that focuses on a more-action packed, story driven Metroid experience, Monster Hunter Tri, the third game in the Japanese best-selling Monster Hunter series which will be releasing in Japan on August 1st and arriving on American shores in March of next year, and Sin and Punishment 2, a sequel to the niche cult-classic N64 game that I was able to try out at E3, 2010 already looks like it will be a stellar year to be a Wii owner.

Simply put, 2009 is going to be, and already is, a fantastic year to be a Wii gamer and no matter what your taste, there looks to be something for everyone this year on the Wii.

The End of Mainstream Game Journalism

Tony C — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:36:57 +0000

In an age when journalism is about generating page hits to drive up income via advertising, the need to keep the developer / publisher sweet is more evident than ever.

Mainstream journalists are not only hampered by the need not to distance developer / publisher, they are also unwilling to say anything that may alienate their readership – of which they want and need a diverse bunch.

In previews for the biggest games we are told everything is shaping up for an amazing experience. Then when the game is released either the truth comes out, or we are given a generously optimistic review.

While mainstream journalism is perceived as more credible, the willingness of game developer / publisher to use independent websites is eroding this.

Gamers now have the ability to express their own opinions through a variety of different ways. The number of opinions available then allows the consumer of game journalism to find the voice(s) that best reflects their own views and preferences.

While IGN pursues it’s pointless flamebait Grudge matches, a Youtube reviewer will find an inventive way to review games as objectively as they can.

Choice is the best form of competition and technology has allowed journalism in all media to become open source. In time the preview code that journalists get will be available to all, because one thing that will never change in sales and marketing, is the strength of ‘word of mouth.’

MGS4 becomes “Greatest Hits” but where is MGS4: “Sub-…”?

Keith — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:00:12 +0000

Last years summer blockbuster for the PS3, “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patiots” is now part of the “Greatest Hits” collection. But the problem here is that it doesn’t add anything new to the game at all, except a red box.

My point is that every past Metal Gear game has been rehashed with loads of new content in its newly titled, “MGS: Sub-…”, so why hasn’t this been done with the latest entry? It has been a year now and it definitely seems like a waste of production to keep shipping the original game when they really can (and should…) create an expanded version of it. Who wouldn’t want a “Raiden Tales”-esque feature like in Substance? Since he is now a bad ass everybody wants to play as him. I personally want the VR Missions because those were always a blast to play. There is so much content the team could add from side stories to boss battles but apparently just aren’t doing it.

Lastly, the idea of a “Sub-…” version of MGS4 makes even more sense with the loads of complaints of more cut scenes over game play. It seems like common sense, so why hasn’t Kojima Productions jumped on this yet?

Games Not Profit

Tony C — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:51:53 +0000

Bobby Kotick, head of Activision has been running his mouth about the PS3 offering a lower return on investment than the 360 or Wii. He says that the attach rate to the PS3 is likely to suffer if the price is not dropped. If this is the case, come 2010/11 they may stop supporting the PS3 and possibly even the PSP.

To try and illustrate his point, let’s use Call of Duty 4. Let us say that on 360 each game sold generates 50% revenue for Activision and on PS3 25%. To break even on 360 Activision must sell 1m copies and on PS3 2m.

This is a game that sold 7.4m on 360 and 4.4m on PS3. Having broke even, 360 has generated profit equivalent to 2.7m copies sold compared to only 0.6m by PS3.

Data from vgchartz.

If this is true, then of course Kotick has a point. He is running a business and if you’re not making money you won’t be in business long.

If all the COD4 owners on PS3 bought it on 360 that would be an additional 2.2m copies worth of profit. But would it be good business sense to turn your back on an install base of 22m in the hope 4.4m of them will buy a 360?

If the 360 generates 4.5 times the profit of PS3 on an operational level, risk-return ideology would mean the death of PS3.

Sony has made a loss on every PS3 sold to date, a price drop would increase this loss. Subsidizing this loss would have to come from somewhere. That may be the PSP GO, other Sony divisions or maybe they would be forced to increase the royalties on each game sold; so instead of 25% revenue on each game sold, Activision makes only 15%.

Of course my figures are quess work, but I think they help to illustrate the point Kotick is making. If Activision is making less than I’ve said I’ll be surprised, if they make more then shame on Kotick.

Games shouldn’t be about profit, it should be about getting your game to as many people as you can.

“Only Possible On PS3″

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is Call of Duty’s perk system broken?

Keith — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:49:00 +0000

I am not sure how I can effectively say the point I am trying to get across with this question. I have played my fair share of the past two Call of Duty games and both are done quite well. The biggest addition in COD4 as we all know was the ability to create custom classes, but I feel the “Perk System” is a bit unbalanced, and at times I wonder why the system is even in place.

From my hundreds of hours playing both Call of Duty 4 and World at War I have been rather annoyed at one aspect, and that is the strong use of one particular perk. I am sure many of players can agree that they have seen, and even mainly used the “Stopping Power” perk over and over. Why not use it? It gives your weapon extra power for the battle, so whats the problem? Well, the problem I see is that this particular perk bascially renders the second perk slot useless becuase everyone uses “Stopping Power”. Sure, occasionally you see someone using “Juggernaut” or being a bit more creative and using “Radar Jammer” but atleast 90% of the time you or your enemy are using “Stopping Power”. The reason I say this perk makes the whole second slot useless is because it disallows any creativity in the custom classes. People generally won’t care about any other perk in the second slot becuase they only want the one with more power. So you will rarely see anyone show any sign of creativity in the class system whether its using “Sleight of Hand” or “Sonic Boom” or even “Shades” for that matter. In a way, it makes the whole game broken at times.

Even though many weapons in the game are powerful, a strong weapon still may not have a full chance at a moderate weapon with “Stopping Power”. This perk is a clutch everybody relies on. At times when I tried to make a class without it, I constantly felt I was at a huge disadvantage to every other player with it, and this is why I feel the system is broken. I even tried using double tap on a relatively strong weapon and still fell short to “Stopping Power”. This leads to one of the few things I felt that Killzone 2 did right with its multiplayer, and that’s giving everybody the use of the same perk (or badge) at the same time. For example, at a certain XP rate or kill rate every player can use the badge that allows more ammo count or grenade count during the game, leaving nobody falling short. This makes more sense than the whole tower of available perks in COD but everybody only using one.

What I feel Infinity Ward and Treyarch should do is take out “Stopping Power” and even “Juggernaut” from the perk system in the next installments and focus more on the creative perks. It is a shame that rarely anyone uses any other perk to create some really interesting weapon classes. I also strongly believe the multiplayer will be significantly more balanced due to the fact that nobody can have a stonger weapon due to a perk. I hope I made my argument as clear as possible, because this was one of those things where it made sense in my head but I couldn’t write it properly. And to make it perfectly clear, I still love both games and I am eagerly waiting for Modern Warfare 2 this fall.

Street Fighter 4: 1.5? What can we expect?

Gary Francis — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:10:06 +0000

The answer to that question would be nothing concrete just yet but the possibility of a Street Fighter 4 1.5 are pretty high when you take into account not only recent information taken from a Japanese Q and A blog, but the history of the Street Fighter series. With the exception of the first game, Street Fighter titles are usually re-released with upgrades, new characters, and re balancing of the characters so that no one character is too broken, the first outing usually sees the worst balancing until about the 3rd version of the game.

Examples of this can be seen throughout Street Fighter history can be seen in the upgrade from Street Fighter Alpha to Street Fighter Alpha II where the game was slightly balanced but Ryu,Ken, Chun-Li, and Rose took the top spots in tournaments due to stellar ground games and mixup options. Alpha III saw the game become wildly balanced due to a large majority of the cast being good to use because of V-ism custom combos.

Street Fighter III: New Generation was followed by Street Fighter III: Second Impact which added the two new characters Urien and Hugo but still did not reach character balance as Ibuki’s Super Art choice III could be comboed into from almost any move, Sean had more or less the same ability with all of his super arts and Akuma’s lock down game was down right overwhelming due to his dive kick. Street Fighter III: Third Strike finally reached what some see as properly balanced by having characters who do have advantages over the rest of the cast but aren’t impossible to defeat, while seeing a few characters with hefty disadvantages but were not impossible to win with, asking for more than that is asking for perfection, not to mention, if all the characters had all the same options, where would be the fun in that?

Even the world famous, all around praised Street Fighter II had revisions and upgrades, in fact its had the most with the 6th version being released last year in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. There were new characters added, the properties of normal and special moves have changed and Super moves were introduced in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo(the original 1993 not HD Remix).

When Street Fighter IV was announced, I expected no less from it. We can probably expect to see a new character or two whether they’re taken from Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha or completely new. I believe we’ll see the return of Dee Jay and T.Hawk as there’s been a few rumors flying around that they’re actually on the disc of the original Street Fighter IV and sound recordings of “Dee Jay Wins!” and “T.Hawk Wins!” have been found on the PC version of the title.

Tweaks to how the game works can probably be expected such as the super meter filling faster and the ultra gauge filling slower, for example. The same way parry motions were changed from Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact to Street Fighter III: Third Strike or EX moves being added to Second Impact when they were not in New Generation.

Whatever the official list of changes and additions ends up being, Capcom historically has changed Street Fighter for the better when revisions are done and so my faith is in them on this one. Though maybe we should have seen this coming along the entire time, with the producer for Street Fighter IV always saying that no one would have to pay for necessary upgrades to Street Fighter IV.