Archive for July 3rd, 2007
Clips: Empire Earth III
I never got into this series. It seemed to fall between the cushions of the strategy sofa, right between Age of Empires and Rise of Nations, both of which were…well, better games. It’s got a bit of a cult following, though (would have to if we’re on our third one), so here, a cinematic trailer to get your juices flowing to the appropriate organs.
Damn: That’s One Expensive American Wii
Getting a Japanese Wii? Not easy! What’s harder, try finding an American version of the console in Japan. Here’s an Akihabara store selling a U.S. Wii ¥59,800 ($489). That’s a lot of money! Since the machines and games are region locked, few Japanese people are interested in being able to play games not sold in The Land of the Rising Sun. There’s a handful of foreigners living here who would rather play Wii games in English than deal with the Japanese language. Know: that pricey Yankee Wii sits atop an American PS3 the store is also attempting to sell for ¥128,000 ($1,046) — and has been since January!
Expensive Wii [Tokyo Times]
Waggle Daggle: Soul Calibur Legends Controls Explained
Anyone for Soul Calibur Legends? Not me. The whole thing just shrieks “BAD IDEA”. I’m open to having my mind changed, though. Learning things like the control system can help with such a process. Game Director Jin Okubo has told CVG:
By swinging the Wii Remote as players please, in-game characters will perform the exact sword actions that players are thinking of.
Sounds great! Course, that’s just in theory. In practice, the thing could be a complete train-wreck. But hey, it’s a nice day outside, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, let’s all give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. For now.
Soul Calibur director explains new direction [CVG]
Not Out Yet: Final Fantasy Figures Get Small, Cute
This October, Square Enix is rolling out more stuff for you to buy. Cute stuff, at that! Dubbed Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figures Vol. 1, these mini-figurines will feature adowable versions of Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy X’s Yuna, Final Fantasy XII’s Vaan, Final Fantasy VIII’s Rinoa Heartilly and Final Fantasy XII’s Penelo. Each 60mm statue will retail for ¥610 (US $4.90). Personally, I prefer the cute, huggable Final Fantasy look to the metrosexual, moody motif. You?
FF Toys [Siliconera]
Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges: Games For Windows Live Gets New Boss
Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live service has a new boss. Chris Early, come on down! Early used to be their Casual Games division head, but will now be wrapping his mits around the poisoned chalice that is Games for Windows Live. He looks to have been appointed because of his warm, homely “aww shucks” face, which it’s hoped will deflect criticism of the pointless service.
Microsoft’s Chris Early Takes Reins Of Windows Live [Game|Life]
You’re Not In The Game: EA Sports Dumbing Down Wii Controls
Lots of new folks are playing the Wii, folks that have never played videogames before. Maybe EA think the time is right to introduce them to Madden. Maybe they think they’re already playing Madden. Because they’ve just introduced a new feature called ‘Family Play” which will be implemented across all EA Sports games on the Wii, which simplifies the controls so that you only need to use the Wii Remote (no nunchuk), a few buttons and a whole load of waggling.
How’s it work? You don’t play. AI takes over control of the player’s movements, leaving it up to you to execute decisions like passing, shooting, tackling, etc. Here’s how it works for NBA Live 08:
Shooting, passing, and stealing is a breeze with NBA Live’s Family Play mode. Forget about setting up complex passing plays or worrying about the technical rules of the game, and focus instead on sinking jumpshots, passing with the flick of the wrist in either direction, or blocking and stealing on defense with either flicks up/down or left/right respectively. Want to drive to the hoop? Just hold the B button and your AI-controlled baller will get the hint.
You know, back in the day, at my local arcade there was this kid who used to hang around and pretend to be playing the games, even though the words “GAME OVER” were clearly flashing on the screen. You could never get him off Mortal Kombat. I think he was a bit…special. He’d LOVE this shit.
EA Sports Reveals Wii Family Play [IGN]
Doh: Exclusives Sony Dropped The Ball On
Exclusives. They’re important and these days, they’re rare. Game|Life’s Chris Kohler does a nice job of rounding up games that could’ve been PS3 exclusives, but ultimately ended up on the Xbox 360 because of boneheaded moves by Sony brass. Let’s dive in:
Grand Theft Auto IV — …Take Two had wanted to continue its long-standing practice of giving Sony a lengthy timed exclusivity on the game, but they didn’t want it.
Newsweek says that former Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi’s “radio silence” on the issue left Sony’s American execs without the authority to make deals, and nothing happened. Same with…Assassin’s Creed — Again, Newsweek revealed that Ubisoft had actually gone to Sony with an offer to make the game a PlayStation 3 exclusive. Although Sony did go through the trouble of asking Ubisoft to make it seem as if their multiplatform action game Assassin’s Creed was indeed PS3 exclusive , it came out shortly after E3 that it would ship simultaneously on both platforms.
Not to mention *deep breath* Devil May Cry IV, Virtua Fighter 5, Beautiful Katamari and Fatal Inertia. Somewhere along the line, Sony forgot that people play games, not hardware. Curious to see if Sony can hang on to those remaining third party exclusives. They better.
A Timeline [Game|Life via Major Nelson]
Clips: An Early Look At Rock Band
Hamonix is still holding plenty of the cards on its Guitar Hero killer close to its chest, but a video that landed on CNet with a follow up on YouTube finally give many of us a first glimpse of how Rock Band will look in motion. The clips features run through of Guns ‘N’ Roses “Welcome To The Jungle” as performed by some Harmonix “engineers.” Some of the gameplay highlights include drum fills and an end of song freakout, further cementing the fact (FACT!) that Harmonix is putting its previous music franchises to shame with precisely how awesome this game will be.
While the video is like looking into the face of God himself, the official Rock Band forums featured an announcement from its community manager who wrote that the leaked video represents an “old build” that “doesn’t really reflect the final game at all.” That G’n'R tune? Not even locked down, he explains, so don’t get too attached yet.
Thanks to Kevin and Pedro for the heads up!
Pachter Watch: Taking The Torch To Take-Two
Take-Two’s new leadership said they’d release a “how we doin” report once they’d been in charge for 100 days. With that day fast approaching (July 9), Gamasutra got Michael Pachter on the phone, asked him to throw some bones on the table, chant a few incantations and see what the future holds for the beleaguered company.
And it’s all looking a little doomy, a little gloomy. He says their recent job-cuts, which have laid off admin staff, won’t go far enough in redressing the company’s problems, and that somebody should take an axe to 2K Sports:
I think that the brand extension efforts for baseball will yield little, and expect that All-Pro Football will be a flop, so we may see further consolidation of sports development. In addition, there are teams like the tennis (Top Spin) group that probably will be redundant.
He also thinks, no, sees, that the top brass need to start making better decisions, both in terms of their licensing deals and on the timing of their releases:
…hindsight is a great tool. If they had it to do over again, I’d bet that we would not have seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Da Vinci Code, 24, Ghost Rider, and maybe not even Fantastic Four.
Finally, he thinks titles like Bully and The Warriors should have been delayed until they could have found a current-gen home, which seems pretty spot-on to me. I love Bully, but can’t help but feel it looked, and played, a little too…2004.
And so he has spoken. Spirits have been invoked, visions received, stormclouds, they gather. Take-Two, know that a prophecy of doom hath been cast upon your house. The Gods are angry, and will require sacrifices.
Pachter: Take-Two Creative Staff A ‘Tempting Target’ [Gamasutra]
Day Note: Fourth of July
To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Do you Speak-a My Language
Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July. As much as I respect what it stands for, I’ve never been able to really get into the spirit of the holiday. It just doesn’t move me. And the fireworks, they’re always a let down. And I’ve seen them in DC. Tomorrow I plan to drink great quantities of alcohol and do a bunch of sitting around staring off into the shimmering heat waves that have come to epitomize this summer in Denver.
What you missed
Metroid screens
More Halo 3 details
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Impressions
Jack so Crazy
PaRappa, the shirt
Wii: Puzzle Quest Coming To Wii, Too
D3 Publisher is on a mission to port its sleeper surprise hit Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords to every platform under the sun. Following releases on the PSP and Nintendo DS as well as forthcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PC releases, a Wii version is expected this fall if a recent listing at retailer Amazon is correct. Given that it features Wii-specific box art, I’ll estimate that correctness at 99.44%.
The best part? The budgety price. Let’s hope that sticks.
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords [Amazon via GoNintendo]
Ban This Filth: Racist Paintjobs Slip Through Forza 2 Moderation
User created content has been enabled in a much broader capacity with the current generation of hard drive and internet enabled consoles and software that aims to take advantage of this hardware. This a trend we’ll see more of than less over the course of the generation, with software like LittleBigPlanet, Forza Motorsport 2 and Mii creation generating a great deal of buzz with gamers. This capability has been a facet of PC gaming for many years, spawning mods and levels that rival commercial products. Sadly, there is a downside to this freedom to create.
360 Gamer takes a look at a recent example of this abuse of creativity. While many Forza Motorsport 2 paintjob artists create spectacular works of art with simple shapes and decals, some are taking it into distasteful territory. And they’re taking it online, adding patently offensive customized cars to the Forza auction house.
In this particular case, gamer Dreamer61’s 1957 Mercedes 300SL—a car adorned with Nazi imagery and racist, hateful speech—unfortunately made it past moderators and onto the auction house. This is a clear violation of the Xbox Live Online User Policy, as 360 Gamer points out.
Here’s to hoping that publishers and console manufacturer’s will be swift and harsh with their punishment of our hobby’s more brainless user created content contributors.
Microsoft yet to get on top of Forza 2 racism [360 Gamer]
Incoming: Heavenly Sword Demo Due “Soon”
Mat Hart, head of production on the PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive Heavenly Sword, has been responding to reader questions and feedback on his IGN hosted blog, bringing word of game details and, more importantly, information on a forthcoming demo version of the game. He writes that Ninja Theory is planning on giving PS3 owners an early look at the game any day now, the retail version of which is schedule to ship in 2007.
I can confirm that we are, of course, going to be releasing a demo for Heavenly Sword…and soon! This will be downloadable via the Playstation Network…so keep an eye out for this in the very near future…and i mean very near future!
Hmm. Say like, next week? Possibly the day after Sony’s E3 keynote with the regular PlayStation Store update? I’ll put my virtual money on that.
Mat also provides some technical details—the game will run in 720p, will not ship with a special edition SKU, will not feature any platforming—and additional insight in his blog.
Welcome to Ninja Theory! [IGN via N4G]
Clips: NES Tunes Wisely Released On NES Cart
Chiptuner Alex Mauer has released his new album “Vegavox” in a genre appropriate format. His 8-bit album’s worth of hits comes packed on an NES cart for extra authenticity. The chiptune phenomenon may be on its way out, but this creative effort demands to at least be heard in sample form.
Dude releases his new album on a NES cartridge [MusicThing, thanks Peanut!]
Balls To The Wall: No Bonus Tracks For Guitar Hero 80s
The thirty officially announced tracks for Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s are going to have to make do as Red Octane has revealed to SlashGear that the game will not feature a set of bonus tracks, a precedent set in the first two Guitar Hero titles. Not shocking news, as it’s a bit of a pickle going back in time two decades to find some unsigned bands with master track recordings.
However, that won’t stop publisher Activision for charging a full price $49.99 for the game, as several retailers have recently adjusted their pricing to that point as we approach the late July release date. With Guitar Hero II sporting 55 songs total—admittedly of varying quality and consumer interest levels—this full-priced, now seemingly half-stocked release is starting to look a little less attractive.
But that Rock Band, boy, does that look good. Let’s hope Activision is paying attention.
Confirmed - No bonus tracks for Guitar Hero 80s [SlashGear]
Stocky: Heavy Gamers Buy, Play The Most
The NPD Group has issued a profile on the buying and gaming habits of 11,638 games in its “Gamer Segmentation II” report, providing a detailed cross-sectional analysis of the 191 million estimated US gamers. In it, we learn that the group that buys the most, dubbed “Heavy Gamers” are also the smallest demographic. This isn’t our hobby’s portliest, mind you, just the ones who have the most impressive/scary gaming habits.
According to Gamespot’s summation of the report, the Heavy Gamer market makes up just 2% of the gamer population, but buys at an impressive average rate of 4.5 games per month and plays just shy of 40 hours a week. They game like it’s going out of style. The Heavy Gamer group also happens to be the subset that does the most online purchases, leading the pack with Virtual Console, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store downloads.
Seriously, how do you guys find the time? I’m lucky if I can squeeze in an hour a day anymore.
Additional data and insight is available at the Gamespot report.
NPD: Heavy gamers heaviest spenders [Gamespot]
Gallery: Dead Or Alive Online Screens
Yesterday’s announcement of Dead Or Alive Online for the Chinese PC gaming set posed more questions than answers. Is it a fighting game? No, not really. Why isn’t Team Ninja working on it? Dunno. Frankly, we’re not even sure how the game is going to work when it’s released in Asia next year. Today, however, Tecmo released some of the game’s artwork, giving us a more straightforward idea about what it will look like and a vague impression of how it might play. Showing some of the game’s common areas, cities and superdeformed characters, including Lei Fang, Kasumi and Jann Lee. There’s also a very shiny logo. As I wrote yesterday, my interest level in DOA Online is low—well beneath the Earth’s crust—but it’s like a fatal car accident. I can’t look away!
Boast Post: PS3 SOCOM “Not Possible On Any Other Console”
In the latest addition to the official US PlayStation Blog, Seth Luisi, director of development at SCEA says of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation that, largely due to the standard hard drive that comes with every PLAYSTATION 3, the game can provide an experience not found anywhere else.
He explains of the PlayStation Network release:
Since we can count on the hard drive to be in every PS3 console, SOCOM Confrontation uses a very aggressive data streaming system which in turn allows for much greater detail in the game environments. For this reason alone, the level of detail which you will see in the environments and characters in SOCOM Confrontation is not possible on any other game console.
Technically, Luisi is right. No other console manufacturer is providing downloadable games of this size with a default amount of reliable storage. The game, given the caveat of pre-alpha software looks pretty good as it stands now, with three new in-game screens now on the official PlayStation blog. Visually possible on other consoles? Sure. But remember that “technically.”
Inside the Developers Studio: Seth Luisi [PlayStation.Blog]
Machinima: 1800-MAGIC Episode 4
Somehow I imagine these sort of conversations every time I play Shadowrun. This Red V. Blue replacement is coming together, but it still seems a little rough around the edges.
Off The Tracks: No Online Multiplayer For Metroid Prime 3
This won’t come as a surprise to just about anyone following the development of Wii-bound sequel Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh confirms it—there will be no online multiplayer component for the game. It was never announced, nor hinted at, but I’m sure there are some who demand answers (dammit!). Kelbaugh told GamePro that “We only have so many resources [and we] opted to devote those resources to making a better single-player experience.” Fair enough.
On the subject of when we’ll see the next Metroid Prime? Possibly never. While “there’s no way they’re going to put [the Metroid IP] to bed” this installment does signal the end of the Prime series, wrapping up the planned trilogy of games.
The full interview contains far more information on the game, including the multiple control schemes, but sadly features no mention of a playable Samus in Zero Suit form.
Q&A: Online play not happening in Metroid Prime 3 [GamePro]
