Video game box art has come a long way. Every year we get some spectacular designs that transcend typical “guy with gun in your face” and portray something more. I’ve hand-picked the box art of a few upcoming games that I think is nicely done, and why.

That’s some pretty sweet box art above. The forthcoming New Super Luigi U‘s box art is composed well and shows us what the game is all about: 4-player platforming mayhem with Luigi as the hero in his own Mushroom Kingdom based adventure. The composition is nicely done, with the arch of heroes from a standing baby Yoshi to a jumping Luigi to a flying Toad providing a frame to the game’s title. The green X over “BROS” is also a nice touch, signifying that Luigi is busting away from Mario as best he can. I like the green box as well, and how it matches the rest of the design, much better than the typical Wii U cyan/blue. I wouldn’t mind having this as a poster.
Preorder New Super Luigi U here: Amazon

The Last of Us comes out next month, and it’s one of the games we’ve been most excited about all year. The story of survival in a world recovering from a grand tragedy piques our interest, and the box art design most certainly conveys that. Featuring two desperate characters trudging through a city swamp on their way towards hope (presented in the bright sun ahead of them), they’ve stopped, for just one second, to turn and look at the camera. To look at us. They have their weapons drawn, and are ready to use them. We’re just tagging along, perhaps even slowing them down on their journey. It’s a great shot, using a tilted, narrow perspective to say “there’s only one path, and it ain’t pretty.” The title block to the left is simplified to again point to the notion that there’s no extra fluff in this world. Our goals are simple, and that’s to survive.

Preorder it here: Amazon

The Batman Arkham Origins box art is simple in nature, but deep in meaning. The game focuses on Batman’s first year on the job as a hero. Featuring just the bust of Batman in a snowy, barren background, the art depicts many of the villains he will come across drape in darkness and making up part of his silhouette. These encounters are what make Batman who he is. The chiaroscuro effect plays up that thematic contrast.

Preorder Batman Arkham Origins here: Amazon

I chose the Forza 5 box art not just because it’s a great shot of what makes the Forza games so good — the interaction between the cars and the road, signified by the doggy-eye view of the McLaren P1 in the image — but also because it gives us our first glimpse of Xbox One disc box design. It’s green, like the current Xbox 360, but very plain when compared to its predecessor. Gone are the colorful, energetic waves at the top, replaced by a simple green band with the Xbox logo emblazoned on it in the middle. This opens up more space for artwork, like the sweet Forza image, but it feels a bit dry. But DAMN that McLaren is hot!

Preorder: Amazon

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist has gone through a few box art revisions, but this latest is the one that finally “nails it” when it comes to the mood and theme of the game. It’s very stark: very muted colors mixed with white and gray, with only splashes of the techno green. It’s so muted that its contrast is striking. Lead character Sam Fisher is angled from bottom right to upper left, with a very determined look on his face. He’s a bit hunched over, sneaking up on an enemy (we think). It works together well, and we’re left wondering who he’s about to strike down.

Preorder here: Amazon

Rayman Legends was once planned to be a Wii U exclusive, but now it’s coming to all three current generation consoles. That hasn’t changed the quirky fun of the game, though, and has even given the designers more time to add in new features. Throughout the entire time the box art has remained largely unchained: a hand-painted scene of Rayman pulling on the tongue of an enemy. Featuring plenty of color and light, the two main colors in the image (red and green) are complimentary to each other, which gives the most contrast possible. It’s playful and fun, and describes the game without saying any words at all.

Preorder: Amazon

Another Wii U box, this one for Pikmin 3. The entire design is based on the idea that we’re peaking into the world of the Pikmin, which we see here by peaking through the foliage to see them. Using a mix of real-world objects and CGI, Nintendo’s artists have created a little diorama of the strange creatures in their backyard forest habitat. It’s a charming piece, accentuated further by the Wii U blue box matching the blue Pikmin in the scene.

Preorder: Amazon

“What’s a Call of Duty box doing up there?!” Well, because it’s *really* well done, that’s why! The soldier in the image on the cover of the Call of Duty: Ghosts box is pulling down his mask, ready to “get the job done”. That’s only part of the picture, though. The amount of detail visible on the skin, on the mask, on the gloves… all of this is much more personal than Call of Duty has ever done. This game is smaller scale from a character standpoint, but grander on the detail. It’s the debut of a new-ish gamee ngine, too, and so Infinity Ward wants to showcase the real, gritty part than the engine affords.

Preorder from here: Amazon

The mountain is a finger. That, and the expertly arranged rays of light emanating from the booger-picker, help create a heroic pose for the hero made of paper. The blue sky broken buy the stripes of waves is a nice touch, too.

Preorder: Amazon

That’s just a small amount of the great box art coming this year. Have you come across any that pique your interest?

Note: There are affiliate links used in this article.

Another week, another contest! They’re coming fast and furious now, no doubt thanks to E3 just 3 weeks away and the next generation of consoles coming this Fall.

Fall? We meant Winter. Because Winter is Coming. Ha! Get it?

Meh, never mind. In celebration of the end of this console generation and the end of this season of Game of Thrones, we’re offering up a fantastic little prize pack this week. Inside you’ll find a brand new copy of Game of Thrones for the Playstation 3, a Collector’s Edition art book for the game depicting the kingdom of Westeros and the characters you’ll come across, and a collector’s set of 4 coasters bearing the sigils of the four major houses of Westeros: Baratheon, Lannister, Stark, and Targaryen.

All you need to do is to tell us your favorite moments from this season (thus far) in the comments below. If you haven’t watched the show, just tell us which of the Westeros houses is your favorite. You can leave up to one comment per day, from today (Thursday, May 23) until Sunday, May 26 at 11:59PM PST. That’s four chances total!

So there you have it. Get to commenting (scroll down) before the Winter’s cold creeps in. Or before a dragon gets you. Whatever comes first.

FRESH!

RULES

• Contest starts today (Thursday, May 23) and runs until Sunday, May 26 at 11:59PM PST.
• Leave a comment on this post, up to once per day for a total of 4 entries
• Available to US residents only, 18 yrs of age or older
• Winner chosen on or around Monday, May 27 at 10AM.
• Please see our official Contest Rules for more information.

Hey, if there were any doubts about the new Superman movie, you can probably extinguish them now. Just watch the clip below. Watch it. It’s the new Man of Steel trailer, “The Fate of Your Planet”.

It’s pretty awesome, right? Zod issuing a warning. Explosions from space. Giant space ships and fireballs. Superman, in epic poses.

Yeah, pretty awesome. Time to go wait in line.

Doctor Who!

Season 2 Episode 14. An eclectic group of Time Lords comes together to discuss the latest Doctor Who episodes and news.

In this episode: We talk Nightmare in Silver and the finale episode, The Name of the Doctor! Oh, and sorry about the audio echoes early on. We get it fixed mid-way through. :)

Geronimooooo!

Hosts:
Marcus Beer, Shaun Norton, Steven Strom, Dali Dimovski

Nightmare in Silver review:

• Marcus 2/5 Cybermites
• Shaun 2.5/5 Cybermites
• Steven 3/5 Cybermites
• Dali 3.5/5 Cybermites

The Name of the Doctor review:

• Marcus 5/5 Doctor’s Tombstones
• Shaun 4.5/5 Doctor’s Tombstones
• Steven 5/5 Doctor’s Tombstones
• Dali 5/5 Doctor’s Tombstones

Theme Song:

Parry Gripp - Doctor Who

Rate us and Subscribe!

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lonelytardis/id466998500

Previous Episodes: Archive

RSS feed: http://lonelytardis.podbean.com/feed

The disk, or the content of the game can be on any Xbox One console, but the rights to play the content is tied to the profile. Everyone can have the content on their console, but can only play it if the owner is signed into his or her profile. Without the disk, but still the content, the friend who owns the console can’t play on their profile unless they pay a fee for it, which Harrison has said will be similar to, if not the same price the original owner paid for it. If that doesn’t make sense, read Harrison’s explanation from Eurogamer below.

“So, think about how you use a disc that you own of an Xbox 360 game,” he began. “If I buy the disc from a store, I use that disc in my machine, I can give that disc to my son and he can play it on his 360 in his room. We both can’t play at the same time, but the disc is the key to playing. I can go round to your house and give you that disc and you can play on that game as well.

“What we’re doing with the digital permissions that we have for Xbox One is no different to that. If I am playing on that disc, which is installed to the hard drive on my Xbox One, everybody in my household who has permission to use my Xbox One can use that piece of content. [So] I can give that piece of content to my son and he can play it on the same system.”

Harrison then explained what happens when you want to take that game beyond the borders of your own home and into a friend’s place.

“I can come to your house and I can put the disc into your machine and I can sign in as me and we can play the game,” he explained.

“The bits are on your hard drive. At the end of the play session, when I take my disc home – or even if I leave it with you – if you want to continue to play that game [on your profile] then you have to pay for it. The bits are already on your hard drive, so it’s just a question of going to our [online] store and buying the game, and then it’s instantly available to play.

“The bits that are on the disc, I can give to anybody else, but if we both want to play it at the same time, we both have to own it. That’s no different to how discs operate today.”

Original story:

The freshly announced Xbox 360 successor the Xbox One will require an Internet connection every 24 hours to play games, according to Kotaku who recently spoke with Microsoft Vice President Phil Harrison after the unveiling event in Redmond, Wash. today.

The system must have an Internet connection once a day to play games. If the Internet connection is lost afterward, Harrison said, players will not be immediately interrupted. It’s unclear what happens if the player is still in a game when the system checks for a connection again after 24 hours.

Microsoft has not said why the system needs an Internet connection. One reason could be to verify if the player owns the rights to their games.

Various reports cite Harrison claiming Xbox One games will require players to input a one-time activation code before installing the game on their console, similar to PC games, requiring used game buyers to pay a fee to install and play it on their own console.

In a post on the Major Nelson blog, Xbox’s Larry Hryb wrote, “… should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile.” Hryb doesn’t say whether or not players will have to pay a fee to install and play a game tied to another player’s profile on their own.

Harrison told Kotaku games will be playable by all other profiles on the same console, but we’re not sure what that means if a player downloads his or her profile on a friend’s Xbox One.

Harrison also said Microsoft has “a solution,” that will let players trade used games online that will be revealed at a later date. Hryb doesn’t deny the report, but wrote, “While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, today we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail.” “Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.”

Given Microsoft’s inconsistency with its answers about used games, and if they’re tied to individual consoles or profiles, we’re going to take everything with a grain of salt until it shows us exactly how the Xbox One functions.

Source: Kotaku [1] [2], Major Nelson Blog

The Xbox One, the floating behemoth pictured above, was just announced a few hours ago. Guess what? It already has preorder and product placement pages on popular retailers around the world. While they all ask users to “sign up now” to find out when more preorder details go live, it’s perhaps a good idea to do so. These will (probably) be a hot item come release day, so staying up to date for possible preorder opportunities would be justifiable.

Microsoft’s online store even gives you a $10 credit to their online shop if you sign up. That’s pretty sweet, mind you. Free money? Surrrrre.

Pages:

• Amazon
• GameStop
• Best Buy
• Microsoft

Hi, I make movie films.

343 Industries’ Bonnie Ross took the stage at the Microsoft Xbox One unveiling today to unveil that the company is working with Steven Spielberg to bring a live action Halo series exclusively to Xbox One.

Yes, exclusively. As in it won’t be on TV or on Netflix or on your old old Xbox 360, but on the brand spanking new Xbox One’s network. No timetable was given, or any details about the plan. A pre-recorded video of Spielberg aired, where he noted how working on the project was going to be “an amazing opportunity to be at intersection of mythmaking and technology.”

A few things to note, however.

1) Whenever this releases — presuming that it’s within the next year or so — there probably won’t be more than a few million Xbox Ones on the market. Even if the Halo series is free to Live subscribers, it won’t have the massive views of the Forward Unto Dawn live action web series, since it won’t be leaving the confines of the new box. And not everyone is a Halo fan.  Will it get enough views beyond the dedicated Halo following?

2) How Spielberg is involved is anyone’s guess, though it’s more than likely not in much more of a role than having his name slapped alongside it, much like the recent Transformers films. He was a part of those, too, remember?

3) How quickly will these appear on Pirate Bay after becoming available to the Xbox One owners? One hour, or two?

I presume we’ll hear more in the coming months, or years. These kinds of things never seem to work out how we want them to. I’m still waiting for the fabled Blomkamp/Peter Jackson halo series that would have REALLY been awesome.

We knew there was going to be some sort of update to America’s Next Top Gaming Network, we just didn’t know to what extent. Thanks to the Xbox One reveal today, we now have a clearer picture — though it does remain a bit cloudy, on purpose.

Get it? Clouds? Because Xbox Live will firmly be attached to cloud gaming for things like saves, asynchronous multiplayer matching, and even some of the Microsoft Azure-boosted online computing that could take a load off of the processor.

Live’s new “Smart Match” system will allow for better matchmaking, using ”advanced algorithms to pair players based on skill, language, and now reputation.” This basically means that you’ll hopefully always play with someone of your level, rather than relying on a developer to figure that out on a per game basis. It’s essentially baked into the console. Now, players will be able to initiate match-making, hop out and do something else (thanks to the multitasking), and hop back in when a match is made. Think of it like the beacon system that Live currently uses, but with strangers as well as friends.

Furthermore, and thanks to the cloud side of things, games will always be “alive”. Every time players pick up the controller, the latest stats and changes have already been fed into the experiences, sometimes even per user. That means that your characters have their latest stats loaded in, even when you’re not online, for your friends to play against.

Players will also be able to capture and share game video, thanks to what the company is calling “Game DVR”. Yes, it’s what Sony is doing with the PS4, and what the Wii U does with its image capture and sharing to the MiiVerse. Social media, get it?

The company chatted up its new dynamic achievements, which essentially make it possible for developers and publishers to add in cheevos whenever they see fit, such as for DLC, community feedback, wins & losses, etc. It’s meant to show our “personal story” of playing a game, rather than focusing on a score. Don’t worry, though: our current Gamerscores WILL transfer over to the new console.

Finally, since we’ve always been shackled to the 100 friend limit, the Xbox One’s Live will allow for 1000 friends on our lists! That means that within a week someone on the Internet will start to complain that it’s not enough, instead of withing the hour.

Source: Xbox

Upon initial viewing of the Xbox One box, it comes off as just a little bit familiar.

So, this has to be a little embarrassing. It seems Sony’s company stock has actually gone up almost since the announcement of the Xbox One. A quick glance of both companies’ stock prices shows an almost 9% increase for Sony, while Microsoft is actually seeing a sudden, noticeable dip of just under one percent at the time of this writing.

Information via Yahoo Finance

It’s not uncommon for a company’s stock to fluctuate around these announcements — the market is a very reactionary beast. Still, it’s not great for one’s confidence when the initial reveal of your next, great project actually causes people to literally put greater stock in your competitor. The real tale, however, will be told when we see where the two companies’ prices close at later today.

We’ll be sure to update with the closing prices when they become available.

[Source: Yahoo Finance -- Sony, Microsoft]

[Update: As an addendum, there have been some strong indications that Sony could potentially spin off their entertainment division, which surely could have added to the positive bump. (via Bloomberg)]

[Update Two: Sony closed at 9.25% today, with an increase of 1.94 points. Meanwhile, Microsoft did rise up from their worst moment of the day, but not all the way, closing at a decrease of 0.23 points, or 0.66%.]

At the reveal of the new Xbox today in Redmond, Washington, Activision and Infinity Ward officially took the wraps off of the next game in the Call of Duty series, Call of Duty: Ghosts.

This is the first time that the company has revealed in-game action, and did so in all of its next-generation glory. The video features some intense post apocalyptic imagery, highly-detailed visuals, and the dog. The NEXT GEN DOG.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is expected in November alongside the launch of the Xbox One.

Announced today at the Xbox One reveal in Redmond, Washington is the followup to Forza Horizon and Forza 4. Aptly named Forza 5, the latest from Turn 10 will once again bring us glossy and fast cars racing along streets, fog, and even castles. The McLaren P1, one of our favorite concept cars, was featured heavily in the trailer in several shots of extreme racing sex.

The game will be available at the console’s launch later this year, with more details coming at E3 next month.

Microsoft took the wraps off of the Xbox One today in Redmond, Washington, and introduced the newest natural user interface advancements almost right away.

The highlight was the multitasking features of the device, which included not only incredibly fast switching between apps and games that are running, but also the ability to make live Skype group calls and check the web while using different apps concurrently.

A simple guide, called the Xbox Guide, will allow for TV listings, favorites, and trending community viewing of shows and movies.

The new Xbox is called the Xbox One. Microsoft decided to flip the script and go backwards, instead of forwards, in naming conventions.

It’s angular, much like the Playstation 4 details we saw yesterday.

Popping up across Twitter and other social media outlets this morning, ahead of the debut of the next Xbox this afternoon, are personal retrospectives from gamers with fond (or not-so) memories of the Xbox and Xbox 360.

Fans have taken to using #XboxMemories to chat about their experiences, much like the #PlaystationMemories hashtag did three months ago. There have been some really funny tweets relating to memories of the Xbox. I’m finding the comedic aspect to be pretty great.

My own personal one: Buying my brother an original Xbox for his birthday, and watching him (in horror) fry it and the entire circuit board of a hotel he was staying at in Germany. Because he didn’t realize the power requirements were different. Ah well, that was $200 I’ll never get back. Jerky jerkface.

Head on over to Twitter and join the fun. Or leave a comment below with your own memories of the green X.

It’s just a blurry box, but it’s enough for Sony to try and steal a little thunder from Microsoft’s big day tomorrow. With this teaser video, seen below, Sony has given us glimpses into the actual industrial design of the Playstation 4 console. While brief, the video shows static images of parts of the console, the DualShock 4 controller, and the new PS4 Eye camera fading in and out dramatically over an extremely blurring square box, one that we think is probably the new PS4 design.

Little is seen of the Playstation 4 in its entirety, but a few things are apparent:

• Matte is back, a la the PS3 Slim designs. And we like it. Goodbye, gloss!
• The new “4″ font design is probably the logo, which we also like. It’s heavy on the right-angle triangle and stands alone on the device, not a part of a “PS4″ or “Playstation 4″ combination. It’s also not matte, as opposed to the surface around it, giving it the darker, glossy black color inside it.
• Lots of stippled textures, metal accents, geometric shapes and angled surfaces
• It feels in line with what the PS3 design has been doing, as opposed to the PS Vita. It mimics what the company is doing in the design of their home theater systems, especially.
• It’s meant to look and feel premium.

For several more images, members of NeoGAF have grabbed stills from the video.

Or, just watch the video right… now.

Metro: Last Light explains everything that would be HUD items in other games, in a contextual, in-world way. You navigate with your compass (which is attached to a clip board that has your objective written on it), your watch has the air filter countdown as well as a light on it indicating your visibility, and you can see how much ammo is in your guns by looking. All of these things are in service of keeping you inside of the game, and they work extremely well.

This effort to keep you in the world extended to the entirety of the metro system, itself. Every man, woman, and child feels like they have a place in this post-nuclear event society. Each metro station is its own village, with its own culture. Everything from the military complexes, to the whore houses (more on this later) felt like they had a place in this world.

If the same amount of care that was put into the world was put into the story and plot, then maybe I would have felt a bit better about it. Metro: Last Light’s story isn’t bad, but it feels like a waste. The basic plot revolves around Antyom, the hero of Metro 2033, following other people around the metro system, letting them tell him what to do for no real reason. Of course, Antyom has a terrible case of silent protagonist, so he can’t argue with anyone or tell any of the other characters to screw themselves. Seriously, it’s 2013. Silent protagonists need to go the way of the dodo.

From one macguffin to another, you trudge Antyom through this beautiful, bleak world. Constantly helping others who only promise to be looking out for your best interests. All of this culminates with one of the most abrupt endings to a storyline (actually, two storylines) that I have ever seen in any form of media. The story goes from rising action, to climax, to falling action in a space of ten minutes. And none of it is very satisfying.

If the story does nothing other than bring you through the terrifying world, it would be enough. However,  the combat in Metro: Last Light is simply fantastic. In Metro 2033, none of the weapons felt satisfying – some argued that was the point, I disagree – but this time around, every gun has its place. I spent the majority of the game running around with a silenced pistol, a high-powered shotgun, and a machine gun. Each of which had their own specific uses.

The pistol spent the most time equipped, even though it was probably my least used gun. In any encounter with human enemies, I stealthed around the areas killing as many soldiers with my knife (no longer a selectable weapon, used by pressing in the right stick). Stealth is very gratifying and much easier in Last Light because of your aforementioned watch indicator, as well as very helpful audio stingers that hit when an enemy might see you.

On the other end of the spectrum was the creature enemies, and the bosses. All of which have one attack: Charging. Not only is it boring to shoot at enemies that only run straight at you, but if they do close the distance, you have no way to easily dodge out of the way. Fighting the various creatures is also when the difficulty has a tendency to spike. This usually happens when you are tasked with holding off a group of enemies while waiting for a vehicle of some kind to come pick you up.

Last Light doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do in the way of its women in the world. At one point, you have to follow a strong woman, but later on, you bed down with that same woman for what seems to be no other reason than to see her boobs. The strip clubs and whore houses feel believable in a world like this, but at the same time, would my character really sit down and waste his ammo just to see breasts that have antigravity capabilities that rival that of Dead or Alive? It all feels very tenuous, and the extent to which the naked female form is shown feels very unnecessary.

If Metro 2033 was too much for you to get into, I still recommend checking out Last Light. It feels much more accessible. On normal difficulty, there is much more ammo to be had and enemies go down in a believable number of shots. Even the PC requirements have loosened. My machine has a couple-year-old video card (everything else is pretty new), and I was able to run the game on “Very High” settings at a high framerate. This definitely isn’t a netbook game, but even lower-end computers will have no problems running this game on lower settings.

Something worth mentioning for Metro 2033 veterans is that Ranger Mode is not included with the standard purchase of Metro: Last Light. For a game that is all about immersion, the mode that allows for more realism (no HUD, less ammo, accurate bullet damage) being held off for an extra $5 DLC is a little bit crazy. Hell, on the game’s website, it is stated that Ranger Mode is “The way [the game] was meant to be played. So know going in that you will have to spend extra money just to get the full version of the game.

Metro: Last Light is a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. The combat and the environment go a long way to cover up a lackluster story, and some questionable portrayals of the women in the world. The world of Metro: Last Light is one that should be viewed by as many people as possible, as it truly is a beautifully tragic place.

This review is based on the final code of the PC version of Metro: Last Light, provided by publisher Deep Silver.

[UPDATE: Congrats to Michael Jordal for winning!]

Skylanders are STILL super-popular, more than a year and a half after they’ve been released. The figures are pretty nicely designed, and the latest ones even glow when they come near the portals.

It’s been a few months since we reviewed it, and our Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders Giants, courtesy of Activision, is just sitting on our office table, looking lonely. We should find it a new home. How about yours? You’ll win everything you see in the image above: our review copy of Skylanders Giants for the Nintendo 3DS (which is a different game all together from the console versions), a portal of power compatible with the 3DS, and the two Skylanders pictured above!

As usual, it’s super easy to enter. Just leave a comment below — up to once per day until Saturday night, May 18th at 11:59PM PST — telling us what your favorite giant in movies, books or games is! That’s it. Simple as pie! We’ll select one winner on Sunday and let them know!

Help these Skylanders find a home, would ya?

MMMMMMMMEGAAAA!

What are you waiting for? Leave a comment and win! (Scroll down to the bottom of the page!)

RULES

• Contest starts today (Sunday, May 12th) and runs until Saturday, May 18th at 11:59PM PST.
• Leave a comment on this post, up to once per day for a total of 7 entries, telling us what your favorite giant is
• Available to US residents only, 18 yrs of age or older
• Winner chosen on Sunday, May 19th at 10AM.
• Please see our official Contest Rules for more information.

Welcome to the SideQuest, your semi-weekly podcast devoted to gaming, culture, and gaming culture, with the often tangent.

Episode 506: Jump to Johnclusions

In this episode: Lots of chat about the next Xbox, the value of E3, Sony financials, the death of the Vita, where’s the Wii U support, and Eric is the sane one. We play Evoland, Candy Box, Air Forte, Borderlands 2

What we’re playing:
Dali – Evoland (Steam), Candy Box!
Eric – Borderlands 2, Air Forte
John – Candy Box

Stupid Notes of Stupid:
Ryan’s yoyo = Coconut and vines
You can hang a dead bear in a man cave
Sometimes you Chann’um, and sometimes you Tate’um
Jump to Johnclusions
Johnerlizations
Weekend of Beers

Want to be our next MindFreak? Tweet @SideQuesting with the hashtag #SQMF and let us know why!

Hosts:
Dali Dimovski, John Parie, Eric Smith

Music:

Intro: Gogol Bordello - Rebellious Love

Outro: Cake - Meanwhile, Rick James…

Comments? Questions? Email us at:

podcast @ sidequesting.com

Subscribe and rate us via iTunes

RSS feed: http://sidequesting.podbean.com/feed

s the big game releases slow down until the debut of the new consoles and the holiday season, I’ve made the time to revisit some games I never finished. One of those games was L.A. Noire. I twist the term “finished,” when I say I didn’t finish L.A. Noire. I technically did, two years ago, when it first came out. I even wrote a review of it on my personal blog. What I mean is that I never played any of the DLC cases, and I figured it was time to go back.

I originally wanted to replay the entirety of Team Bondi’s late-1940s, neo-noir game, but when I realized the five DLC cases dabbled in all three of its Los Angeles Police departments–traffic, vice, and arson–, I decided they would suffice.

…

hen I first played L.A. Noire, I had no idea what to expect. I don’t think anyone did. Rockstar games have a way of doing that, and it being developed by Team Bondi, a new Australian studio, made it even more mysterious. I think most of us assumed it would be a 1940s aesthetic wrapped around a Grand Theft Auto game. It’s amazing how much we were wrong.

L.A. Noire turned out be what could be described as a big-budget adventure game. You control war-veteran-turned-cop Cole Phelps as he works his way up the ladder in the LAPD, rummaging through other people’s junk for clues to help solve crimes. It pulled from modern games tropes and had car chases, foot chases, and shootouts, but most of the time, the game was about surveying detail in both the environments and the people. It was definitely something we hadn’t seen before, and it sparked a large amount of critical discussion from players and writers.

At the time, that kind of discussion was new to me. I hadn’t quite understood the difference between a review and a critique before L.A. Noire came around. Fascinated, I sunk into the discussion, read and listened to as much as I could. I discovered some writers who I now will read anything they write, and I discovered some memorable pieces that I still go back and read or recommend to friends. L.A. Noire, through its critical response, helped shape the writer I am today.

With a few more years of experience playing and writing about games, my return to L.A. Noire let me come at it from a different perspective. While I still regard the game as one of my favorites for a bunch of reasons I still stand behind in my original review, I’m finally able to articulate some of the problems I had with it.

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he first and last thing I noticed about L.A. Noire is how deliberate its pacing is. Everything moves at a specific tempo. Sluggish is an accurate way to describe it, but in this case, it doesn’t feel like it was on accident. It’s as if the game runs on an internal clock, only moving between the ticks and the tocks.

It’s only frustrating because it exists in a time where most games are about speed. If an entire genre about endlessly running hasn’t made this clear to you, I encourage you to try to play L.A. Noire for more than an hour at a time. Thankfully none of the DLC cases overstay their welcome, because if they did, I’d have surely quit playing on the first one.

Most of the problem comes from the game’s sense of “realistic” presentation. The way Phelps meticulously unfolds and refolds a piece of paper or opens and closes a purse as if he’s referencing a manual will make you rapidly tap the back out button–in my case the circle button–as if the game had quick-time-events, and it does not. You’ll want to scream as you position Phelps’ finger through a first-person perspective over a document. And during the game’s horrendous firefights, you’ll learn that for an army man, Phelps is incapable of reaching a full-sprint as he awkwardly jogs to and from cover. The result is something that doesn’t look like a game where the player runs at a constant speed to a third-party, and to the player it’s like your controller was dipped in molasses.

That brings us to the interrogation/interview scenes where Phelps questions suspects and tries to pull information from them by selecting truth, doubt, or lie based off of their responses. I’m not sure how I mostly ignored this mechanic when I first wrote about the game, because it’s the most disappointing thing about it.

When they go well, they are the most engaging part of the game. You study the person you’re questioning and you utilize information you’ve gathered by searching the crime scene and piecing together a timeline to get them talking. It’s like a well-designed boss fight.

Unfortunately, they almost never go perfectly right. More often, Phelps will start screaming at them out of nowhere and you lose the momentum of the interrogation/interview. There’s a divide in logic between you and Phelps. It’s never made clear what he’ll say before you choose one of the three choices, turning them not into an exciting battle of wits with a criminal, but a (very loud) guessing game.

For something as straightforward as shooting people, I’m surprised how long it took me to remember how to control Phelps during the action scenes. It feels wrong to describe them as action scenes, because it’s mostly Phelps standing next to cover and reloading as he grunts from all the bullets hitting him. If you’re uncontrollably laughing while you’re killing large groups of men, you’re probably either mentally damaged or trying to play L.A. Noire. Either this game wasn’t built to support cover-based shooting or no one at Team Bondi played any other games. At least someone had the forethought to include a way to skip them after dying three times.

Another thing I missed on my first playthrough: how weird is it for a game to ask you to skip its own content? That’s like a book that reads, “Yeah, this part? Preeetty boring, why don’t you just skip a few pages ahead.”

What’s worse is that you’ll probably spend more time in the game’s combat sequences than in its incredibly realized 1940’s Los Angeles. Because there’s little reason to explore it, I forced my partner to drive as I sped through each case. You only get to appreciate the artistry of it all in between loading screens.

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fter writing my review of L.A. Noire, I was surprised how much I had to say about it. There was so much going on; a lot more than I ever realized was possible for a game.  L.A. Noire is certainly not the first game to offer this kind of depth, but for me, it was the first game to introduce me to the critical side of discussing games. At the time I felt like I lacked the skills to talk about it on a deeper level. It’s encouraging to be able to go back and write what I couldn’t before. It’s the kind of circumstance offered only through the passage of time and reflection, and one that L.A. Noire lends itself to exceedingly well.

A Fair Colp is a weekly column about video games written by Tyler Colp. You can find all the other entries here.

Oculus Rift developer’s kit owners can get the update by setting the Half-Life 2’s command line to “-vr” in Steam, and opting-into the SteamPipe beta.

“This should ship to everybody in a few weeks,” Ludwig wrote.

Ludwig warns players that the update is “a bit more raw,” than when the company released Team Fortress 2 Oculus Rift support earlier this year, and is asking for feedback. The post mentions one of the known issues is a “dim and hard to read,” HUD.

Ludwig told Engadget in March that the Kirkland, Wash.-based company has been testing Oculus Rift support with its other games including Left 4 Dead. It’s likely that the zombie shooter will be the next game to receive Oculus Rift support.

A beta Linux version of Half-Life 2 was also released today, adding to a number of Valve-developed games with support for the operating system.

Valve’s own Steambox will run Linux when its released. The company is likely adding Linux versions of its games to support the hardware when it finally launches, which it has said will not be this year.

Source: Oculus Rift Developer Forums, Engadget

There’s generally a lot of fluidity to the life of a game developer, but making a name for yourself can lead to keeping your feet on the ground for long periods of time, or so you’d think. For former Assassin’s Creed director Patrice Desilets, his last few years have treated him to leaving Ubisoft and joining THQ Montreal only to have the publisher go bankrupt, resulting in his studio’s acquisition by Ubisoft once again. Now, as Kotaku reported earlier today, it seems he’s been taken out of the equation. Fired and escorted out of the building by guards, the story echoes that of the West/Zampella incident with Infinity Ward several years ago.

It seems odd to say anything condemning about this event. He’ll doubtlessly fight the termination and I’m hoping he’ll be able to succeed. Even with the average turnover rate of game developers, seeing a higher-profile name like Desilets get dropped from a team he’d been leading for two years is really terrifying. Having spent over a year on an idea of my own allows me to sympathize moreso than your average developer termination. If someone tried to pry that idea away from me, I’d be digging tooth and nail in to keep it.

[Source: Kotaku]

Spicy Horse working on a new Wizard of Oz game, not tied to 2004′s Oz

Spicy Horse isn’t known for a whole lot beyond Alice: Madness Returns and the unrecognized Grimm series. Their proclivity for making off-beat, “dark-and-edgy” versions of children’s tales and fables is stepping into familiar ground, with Joystiq reporting that the Shanghai-based developer is working on a Wizard of Oz game that’s not tied to American McGee’s canned 2004 game American McGee’s Oz. What that’ll mean is still largely up in the air: they state that they’ve yet to settle on a genre, but that it will come out on PC/Mac/Linux and tablet-like devices. It’s also worth mentioning that this new game is planning to incorporate elements from “the entire Oz series,” which could mean some interesting stuff from left field. Perhaps it’ll just mean more of a focus on the Lollipop Guild.

Having played and enjoyed Madness Returns, I’ll be cautiously optimistic about another new venture from the Spicy Horse folks. That Akaneiro: Demon Hunters Kickstarter they launched a while back didn’t catch my eye with its twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood, and it’s likely that their take on Oz might follow that same route. Here’s hoping that the angst of hunting demons doesn’t bleed over into the adventures of the yellow brick road.

[Source: Joystiq]

Extra 30 minutes of content planned for Beyond: Two Souls pre-orders

Even as a person familiar with the oddities that crop up when pre-orders push extra content, I can’t seem to wrap my head around this one. Eurogamer is reporting that special edition pre-orders of Quantic Dream’s upcoming Beyond: Two Souls will include an extra “30 minutes of playable story,” along with behind the scenes gumbo and a steelbook package. What we don’t know rests on the context of the scene or its relative importance given that you’ll have to pre-order Beyond to even see this content.

Having a pre-order incentive that adds an extra “Battle Arena” or “Phat Weapon Upgradezzz™” has become the norm, but for a game so heavily skewed towards a linear narrative approach that one could almost call it “movie-esque” – if that wasn’t a horrible adjective – it seems odd to include any sort of tacked-on story stuff for pre-order customers. At most, it’ll be an extra batch of unimportant side stories; at worst, we could have a repeat of Mass Effect 3′s Leviathan on our hands, with crucial story components being hidden away being a paywall. I’m really hoping it’s the former.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Above you can see that StarWars 1313 is still alive and kicking. Featuring the all new “Jedi Stick” fighting mechanic that lets players juke and deke and do other things with names like that! Online leagues of gungan racing are also available. This year’s iteration of the fantastic series features Boba Fett on the cover, though Young Obi Wan has the lead on the fan voting for Star Wars 1414 next season.

Hot off of the announcement of the Sims 4 comes this Star Wars infused version. Expect to be able to build your own lightsaber closet, choose which planet you’d like to live on, and even visit Tatooine for shopping and bartering!

In Real Pod Racing 3, you’re only able to race once per day. But if you spend $9.99, you can play up to 7 times per week! Also, outfit your pod racer with new colors, pieces of metal, and the lightning thingy that holds the engine thingies together!

The beloved iOS game returns, and now both Plants and Zombies must defend against the oncoming threat of Droids! Featuring new playing fields to conquer, like Hoth and deserts and the Death Star, we’re sure you’ll love trying to figure out ways for plants to survive without air.  In spaaaaace!

We have more ideas coming. This is just the first blast I did during lunch. I’ll post more later tonight/tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Doctor Who!

Season 2 Episode 13. An eclectic group of Time Lords comes together to discuss the latest Doctor Who episodes and news.

In this episode: We cover a lot of space (and time) this week! We recap both Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and The Crimson Horror, and share our thoughts for each. Hint: we really disliked one, but not so much the other. Also, the curse of the bad ending continues!

Geronimooooo!

Hosts:
Shaun Norton, Steven Strom, Dali Dimovski

The Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS review:

• Shaun 1/5 Ghosts
• Steven 2/5 Ghosts
• Dali 1/5 Ghosts

The Crimson Horror review:

• Shaun 4/5 Ghosts
• Steven 4/5 Ghosts
• Dali 3/5 Ghosts

Theme Song:

Parry Gripp - Doctor Who

Rate us and Subscribe!

iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lonelytardis/id466998500

Previous Episodes: Archive

RSS feed: http://lonelytardis.podbean.com/feed

Dust 514, the PlayStation 3 shooter which ties into the shared universe of EVE Online, just received its Uprising update, bringing it more-or-less in line with the launch version of the game.

The update includes substantial graphical updates (it actually looks like a modern game now), a completely reworked skill training system, user interface improvements, and a new starmap. There’s also a glut of new vehicles, kills, and items to toy around with as you get accustomed to the new version of the game, before the official launch of May 14.

For those who have already played and are wondering what happens to their character’s progress, you’re in luck. Rather than do a full character wipe like most betas, players will simply find that their skill points market transactions have been refunded. That means you’ll be able to respec your character (and reallocate your funds) however you choose.

One thing players will find missing altogether, however, is the Planetary Conquest mode, which has been pushed back until the new release. The game mode allows players in Dust 514 to conquer planetary districts within the EVE universe, eventually capturing them completely. Interestingly, though, this seems to have been because of fan feedback, as players requested a grace period in which to respec their characters and loadouts.

Given EVE’s focus on precarious politics and economy, it’s not really surprising that players would want the extra time to prepare.