Blizzard's take on the DRM debate

The bitching about DRM is one of those things that will never go away. One company is the only one to get it right and that's Valve. But Blizzard decided to put its two cents in on the subject. Basically they feel that developers need to encourage players to connect to their servers by rewarding them with cool features like being connected with their friends and achievements, hmm sounds like Steam.

"If we've done our job right people will want to be connected while they're playing the single player campaign so they can stay connected to their friends and earn the achievements," claims co-founder Frank Pearce. "The best approach from our perspective is to make sure that you've got a full-featured platform that people want to play on, where their friends are, where the community is.

"We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology."

Ex-Microsoft studio manager thinks Natal will fail

Scot Bayless has been in the video game business for a while. He was once at Microsoft as a studio manager, a senior producer at Sega, and has also held executive roles at Midway, Capcom, and EA. Recently he has been talking some shit about Microsoft's motion controller.

"When I met with Microsoft in 2008 to look at Natal I asked: 'When will you integrate this into the 360?'" Bayless told Retro Gamer magazine. "Their response was: 'We're probably going to wait and see on that.' To which I said: Then you're going to fail.'"

I'm not yet sold on motion controllers, but out of all three companies I have to say that Microsoft's is in last place. I don't understand how they are going to integrate the device into their games, because they honestly have not shown much besides the stupid red ball thing. The main reason I don't like motion controllers is because third party developers don't take the time to use the motion controller to their advantage, they turn it into a gimmick and spew out tons of horrible party games. And the Natal is perfect for that shit. It sounds dumb but at least Sony and Nintendo's controllers have buttons that will allow players to do more than just wave their arms in the air. Maybe they will surprise all of us at E3.

Red Dead Redemption getting a 30 min short film

Rockstar made a 30 minute long short film for their western epic Red Dead Redemption and will be releasing it on FOX later this weekend. The game has been selling like crazy with just word of mouth. After just recently beating the game I am still excited for anything related to the game so I cant wait to see this.

The short film is being directed by John Hillcoat, the guy who directed of The Road. I heard good things about the film so fingers crossed that this short film will do a great game justice.

Natal Rumors!

Seems like the past two weeks have been rife with rumors, but here are some more to whet your whistle. Microsoft's motion controller, still codenamed "Project Natal" is rumored to cost $149 according to a "trusted source" speaking to Edge Online. There will also be a bundle with the Natal and an Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299. The bundle seems like a pretty good deal, but the Natal alone seems a little expensive when compared to the under-$100 Playstation Move.

In other Natal news, ex-President of Xbox 360 Robbie Bach spoke about the Natal to Techflash yesterday.

"So, for me it's a jumpstart catalyst. It's a midlife kicker for the 360, and it's an opportunity to really drive that business in a dramatic way."

He went on to say that the Natal's purpose is "to produce a new experience for people without shipping a new console".

I skimmed that line at first and read it as "shopping for a new console." I suppose that reflects how I personally see the Natal. Despite trying to paint the Natal as something shiny and new, I still see it as Microsoft's version of the Wii. They're trying to do motion control, just like everyone else. Just like I said a few days ago, I think motion control is a huge gimmick. The Natal does seem to offer a different experience without any controllers to wave around, but that reminds me of my Eyetoy from back in the day.

Whatever happens, I'm sure I'll be surprised. Perhaps I'll even change my mind completely about the subject. For now, I still think that the concept of motion controllers in video games needs to prove itself before it becomes the standard for every console.

New PSN Premium Info Coming Soon

Just an update on the plans Sony has for a paid, "premium" version of the PSN. (From what I've gathered, think Xbox Live Gold accounts.) Andrew House, President of SCEA Europe, stated that in the near future we'll be hearing about the new service for PSN.

Another thing he touches on is the transition to 3D gaming. I've personally heard a lot of complaints that people don't want to spend money on expensive 3D televisions just for games. House responded thusly:

"...[W]e feel that it is our responsibility to offer all consumers a choice. If you want to spend the money on a new 3D TV, then we will provide you with 3D content to play."

It looks like Sony is also looking at other features, like cross-game chat. Its nice to know that consoles will finally have something that made PC gaming attractive to me for years.

Keyboards in Rock Band 3

According to Patrick Klepek of G4, Harmonix may be adding keyboards to the peripheral lineup of Rock Band 3. There's nothing official talking about it other than the fact that keyboards will be somehow involved. Anyone who read my earlier post about Harmonix and Rock Band knows that I am by no means a fan of the series, but the addition of a keyboard peripheral does change the game a lot for me. I can easily see people learning to play the keyboard through the game, unlike the guitar peripheral which is nothing like its real world counterpart. Maybe there will be a keyboard lessons mode/tutorial mode that can teach you how to play? If so, I applaud Harmonix.

Gamestop Levels Up!

So everyone who plays games is pretty much familiar with the game store Gamestop. For those who have been living in the dark ages, or who have never ventured outside your home to buy a video game, they sell new and used games, as well as buy them back off of you when you're done with them. At this point in time, they have a monopoly in the used game industry, as they have either run the other companies out of business or they have bought them outright.

But that isn't the point of the post.

Very soon (within the next month or two, actually) Gamestop will be offering a new rewards program. Their current one gives 10% off of used games as well as 10% extra trade-in credit, as well as a 12-issue subscription to Game Informer magazine.

As you can see by my link, they will have a restructured system for every transaction made. They will give out points which will be redeemable for different things in the store, such as gift cards or even accessories for systems. The thing I like about this is that you earn points not only for buying used games, but also new games. You also get points for trading in games. So far, what I'm inferring from this is that they're removing the bonus 10% I mentioned earlier. Kind of sucks. I know I've gotten an extra $20-40 on a stack of games in the past.

I guess they have some pretty good rewards. Also the fact that your transactions automatically enter you into their contest (1 transaction = 1 entry for the free card, 1 = 2 for the paid membership).

I'm already an Edge member, with the large amount of games I already buy per month. So hey, I'll definitely post later if I win any special contests or if I end up getting some neat rewards.

Again with the Motion Control...

It seems like almost all of us at Boss VG have issues with motion control in video games. I am no different. I, like many gullible gamers before me, obtained a Wii for the sole purpose of killing everything that moved on my screen by waving my arms around like a drunken, sentient windmill. Until I actually got to playing games like Red Steel, I didn't really have any grasp on the limitations for the motion sensitivity of the system. (Or the lack thereof.)

The only game I played even semi-hardcore on the Wii was Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and even then we're talking about a game that didn't rely on motion control at all. By the way, that non-motion control game is still the most avidly played Wii game. That says something to me that more play-time is going into the game that doesn't use motion control than any other game. Especially on the so-called "motion control system".

That's why I get a little nervous when I hear people talk about the Move like its going to be some great addition to the PS3. I want to say "Didn't you see Nintendo make the same mistake?", but that question would be drowned out by the sound of Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime playing laser ping pong on their floating fortress fashioned from all of their Wii earnings. I can talk as much shit as I want about the Wii, but the sales numbers speak for themselves.

I just think that motion control is a lame gimmick, and its going to take something impressive to change my mind about it. Give me something that you can do in a motion control game that is more fun that its real life counterpart. That's all I ask. I might be alone in this, but I feel like playing sports in real life is way more fun than trying to do it on the Wii. And before I get any flak for this, let me say that the Wii Motion Plus is a step in the right direction as far as sensitivity, the twenty dollar price tag makes it akin to highway robbery. Why should I have to pay for something extra that the Wii should have had when it was released? It should have been a lot more sensitive, period. If you're going to make a big deal out of a new controller, make sure it works well before you release it. Otherwise, assholes like me will make long, annoying posts about it on video game blogs that no one reads.

The aforementioned issues are what come to mind when I read about the Move in interviews such as this one at Gamasutra with SCEA's Rob Dyer. However, one thing that Mr. Dyer said made me feel strangely about this whole business.

"I think the biggest problem that third parties have had with the Wii is that everybody had to implement everything with the Wii-mote, and a lot of games were never meant to have that kind of physical [interface]."

Oh snap, I couldn't have put it better... at all. He then goes on to say that games made for the Move will be developed with the Move in mind. Sure is a good thing that Nintendo tested the waters for you guys first though, right? Maybe the future holds some good stuff for motion control. Probably not, but we'll have to see at E3.

New TF2 Community Items, Hats

Valve released more Community-created items and hats last Thursday in a patch that also addressed some issues with cp_gorge and plr_pipeline. Among the new hats are goggles for the Medic, a drill sergeant's hat for the Soldier, and a Jughead-esque cap for the Scout. Two new weapons were also added: a battle axe for the Demoman that boasts higher damage than the Eyelander at the cost of speed, and a new Kukri for the Sniper that does less damage up front, but leaves a nasty bleeding DoT on whoever gets hit by it.

I love seeing more items added to TF2. Its one of the few games that we still consistently play, despite it being almost three years old. I haven't played plr_pipeline since the changes, but I do plan on trying it out. After all, that map was basically Stalemate Town.

I can't wait until Valve releases the Engineer Update, and hopefully that will be soon. The Sniper vs. Spy update was over a year ago, as of yesterday. I want to see options for the Engineer that make him more offensive and/or mobile. I don't think he needs any more anti-spy measures. Playing Spy against even a mediocre Engineer is difficult enough.

PS. I finally got my Otolaryngologist's mirror!

barcode scavenger hunt to get the Crackdown 2 demo early

Microsoft is promoting its 2D barcode system by giving you a chance to access the Crackdown 2 demo early. I have no fucking clue how it works but apprently you go and download the Microsoft Tag Reader to your smartphone and find barcodes of various products.

There will be five barcodes to find and they will be spread out around GameStop, Toys R Us, and Best Buy. Clues to their location will be sent directly to your phone. Of course, you'll need to get the first one in order to start. and you can get it by watching this video.

Rockstar says bad parents buy GTA for their kids

Most normal people would agree that its the parents responsabillity to be aware of what their children watch and play. But there are other assholes that like to point the finger of blame to everyone but themselves.

But Lazlow the Radio DJ in almost every GTA game I can remember gave his two cents on the subject

"Our games are not designed for young people. If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child you're a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we're adults."

"There's a lot of kids games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence that's the kind of thing we seek to produce."

Good for you Rockstar. To bad its for nothing since these fucking debates will never end because people only talk and don't listen.

Killzone 3 gets revealed

I guess Sony just couldn't wait a couple more months to release the first bits on info on Killzone 3 since the latest issue of Gamepro is full of it. Here is a rundown of what was announced.


- All of the characters in the screenshots are flying in.. jetpacks?!

- Will include arctic levels.

- Game is playable in 3D!

- Have to wear 3D glasses, apparently the 3D effects are "crazy."

- Combat is "unchanged from predecessor."

- Or is it? Hand to hand combat involves you "Unloading a string of different (and often brutal) attacks on stunned enemies."

- The scale is supposed to be "bigger this time."

- The Jetpacks are "surprisingly lightweight and agile, Killzone 3's jetpack is easier to maneuver compared to the sluggish incarnations of the gadget found in other games."

- New weapon called the Wasp, basically shoots a "flurry of rockets" at an enemy.

- Will show off the Helghast culture.

- There is actually a Helghast language, which will be explored in the game.

- Have to sit in the center of the 3D tv for the 3D effects to work.

- Jetpacks double as a weapon, which basically means a machine gun mounted right on top of it.

- If you shoot Helghast with jetpacks, they'll "explode like roman candles"

Everyone knew this game was going to be announced soon, so maybe that's why I am not that excited about the news. Or maybe its because the 2nd game let me down with its sluggish multiplayer full of spawn camping. Spawn camping is everywhere, but when the developer makes a class that enables the entire team to spawn right outside your spawn its retarded. The single player campaign started off well enough, then went downhill. The game was definitely pretty though so I guess we have that to look forward to. We will see. my hype meter is still at 0% until I see some gameplay.

Play Pac-Man on Google

Today is the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man! On May 22, 1980, Namco released the extremely popular game. To commemorate the event, Google made a flash version of Pac-Man out of their logo. Just go to Google and click the "Insert Coin" button that is currently replacing the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Pretty neat if you ask me. I spent a good ten minutes playing this morning, its addicting!

Boss Talk: May 20, 2010

Xenodyne and I do this episode. Foe and Joe play Red Dead Redemption.

Call of Duty: Black Ops extended trailer looks INTENSE

Treyarch's take on the Call of Duty franchise impressed me with its awesome single player campaign and it looks like they are expanding on that with their new COD game.

The trailer is pumped full of action and looks like an intense cinematic adventure. It looks like they are taking all of the memorable events in MW2s singleplayer and adding a whole lot more. This by itself is enough for me to drop money on it when its released. But I will probably skip on the multiplayer, at least until they show me something that will impress me.

Suda51 wants to make a 3DS game

The tittle speaks for itself but its still big news for anyone who likes Suda51 games, like Georgie B! Suda51, creator of Killer7 and No More Heroes expressed interest in creating a 3DS game saying he had "many ideas". And that's a bout it.

So if you like Suda51 get hype. I have played 0 of his games so I will go on with my life and forget about this until they announce the game.

DLC will tell the story between Mass Effect 2 and 3

Its safe to say that I am burned out on Mass Effect 2, and their last two attempts at DLC have been pretty worthless. But BioWare's Casey Hudson explained in an interview that the next batch of Mass Effect 2 DLC with be a follow up to the third game.

This is exactly what I wanted the DLC to be. The reason I was so upset with the previous DLC was that it did nothing for me besides waste 30 min of my time. So its good to see some DLC that wjavascript:void(0)ill be worth something in the long run.

Abusing DLC

So I finished Alan Wake around 11AM PST. Great game, and I'll have a review up either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

The main thing that got me thinking on the topic of DLC was the ending of Alan Wake. I won't spoil it here, but after the credits rolled, a single line read: "Alan's journey through the darkness is not yet over...princess is in a different castle, etc and so forth..." which isn't so bad, if a game is expected to have a sequel, much like the God of War games, or Mass Effect. Instead, Alan Wake is going to be having several downloadable "episodes" which will assumably complete the story.

Just a little background on the game: It has been in development for the last 13 years, and up until about a year ago, during E3, it was largely considered to be vaporware (vaporware meaning that it's a game that was announced, hyped, then never heard from again). That's as long as the recently canceled Duke Nukem Forever, which also started it's production in 1997. This game has been kicking around for about 13 years, and then at the end of the 13 years, a cliffhanger ending with the promise of DLC is kind of a slap in the face.

While I did get the code to get the first chapter of DLC for free, I can't help but still feel robbed by this transaction. I basically got an unfinished game.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of DLC. Maybe you get a character which hadn't been thought up until so late in the production process that you can't include it without pushing the project back a few months, or maybe it's a set of cars that you don't need to play the game, but they enhance the experience. Either way, if you buy a game, you should at least get a proper ending. I don't pay for a movie only to get an hour and a half of movie, then right at the climax, have the movie cut me off and say "sorry, I'll tell the last 45 minutes of the movie over the course of the next year...for 1/6 of what you paid for the game per screening..."

There are also games which can get away with this type of behavior, where they can divide the story, and promise more later. The thing is, the games that are like that have earned that right because there is generally more meat to the game as a whole.

The best game I can think of would be Mass Effect. If they were to add some main storyline DLC to that game and charge $10 for it, I would be ecstatic, even though they ended on a cliffhanger. Why? Because the game was 40+ hours, and I didn't even do all the side missions.

As I said above, Alan Wake is about 11 hours. I finished it in one sitting. By no means has it even SOMEWHAT earned the right to an unfinished ending. To me it just feels like they're trying to bleed more and more money out of us. It isn't enough that we pay $60 ($80 in my case...) for a game that would have been $40 had it been released in the time frame that most games typically take to produce. They also have to bleed an extra $5-15 per "episode" just so that I can get some closure on the damn game. It's like buying a Mario game, finding out that Peach has been kidnapped, collecting stars for 10 hours, only to find that you're not even going to fight Bowser, and you're not even going to get close to rescuing Princess Peach.

That's what I liked about the episodes for Heavy Rain. They enhanced the story, but at the same time in no way affect the story or interfered with the progression of the game. Entirely optional, and they only served to provide more immersion with the world that you played in.

So really what I'm trying to say is that the creators of Alan wake (Remedy Software) need to finish the actual plot with the first pack of DLC (the free one, it's only fair to those of us who bought the game), then they can do whatever else they want to do with the next episodes of DLC (assuming there are more). They created an interesting cast of characters with alternate storylines. I'd happily play through chapters where you find out what Alan's predecessor's experiences was with the island.


Sorry to all if it seems a little rambly. I haven't had any sleep while I was playing through this game, which reminds me, I have to find the nearest well-lit room to crash in for the next 10 hours.

I love Kevin Butler

I do, he's probably the funniest person in gaming. (Xenodyne will inevitably correct me here to state that Tim Schafer is the funniest person in gaming, but I digress.)

Kevin Butler has a new video out on the Playstation Blog, wherein he plays ModNation Racers. I think its worth a post here for me to mention that I've never seen a company's commercials go from garbage to awesome like when Sony decided to make Kevin Butler commercials for the PS3. Remember this commercial, with the crying baby?

On to the more operative purpose of this post. I realized that we never put links to Foe and Xenodyne's submissions to the "Dear Playstation" Contest here on the site. The contest has ended, but the winners have not been announced yet. Wish them luck!

More Band-specific Rock Band?

Harmonix has created a small poll to gauge interest in more single-band focal Rock Band games. The artists in question are U2, The Eagles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd.

While they're gearing up for the release of Green Day: Rock Band, it appears that Harmonix is reaching out for more music to put into their "games". If I seem a little bitter, its because I am. I liked Harmonix better back when they made games like Frequency and Amplitude. Rock Band can be fun under the right conditions, but if you ask me, its not worth keeping around all that worthless plastic shit.

I just think making all of these sequels is lazy when they could be making something else. Just release a song creator connected to Rhapsody or iTunes or something. Any songs you have can be sent through the generator and then you can play them! People already mod these games to play any song they want, why not support it and make some money?

What surprises me most is that these other bands were only thought of after Green Day. I can't believe that. Syd Barrett had more talent in his shaved eyebrows than Billie Joe Armstrong has in his whole body.

DS set to outsell PS2 pretty soon

Industry analyst Anita Frazier has stated recently that the DS is well on its way to surpass the PS2 in lifetime sales sometime around early October or November. This will make the DS the best-selling system of Best Town.

According to Nintendo's numbers, the DS should have sold around 129 million units already which puts it pretty close to the PS2's current number of somewhere over 140 million units.

It helps that Nintendo pumps out new versions of the handheld constantly, and if they include the sales for the 3DS, the PS2 doesn't stand a chance. Whether or not you like the DS or think that it doesn't deserves this title its still a big deal, lets do a golf clap for them.

Legend of Zelda creator says the new Zelda will be more 'player friendly'

Legend of Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto thinks that the beloved Zelda franchise has become too complex over the years and has stated that the upcoming Wii sequel will go back to basics with a more "player friendly" control scheme.

"For us, it is important to the to optimize gameplay and make the controls easier," says Miyamoto. "We do our best to make the controls player friendly, since Zelda has become complicated."

I don't know what game he is talking about because its not Zelda. The gameplay and controls have not changed much since Ocarina of Time and the Zelda games have usually been pretty easy.

But I'm still excited to see a full reveal of the new Zelda game at E3, its going to be awesome!!!!!!!!!

mmmmmmm PSN Rumors

Its been long rumored that Sony would charge for a premium online service that would be on par with Xbox Live for customers who were interested. Playing games will still be free, but Sony will have privileges and benefits lined up for the customers that pay.

The big change that was leaked is that PSN will offer subscribers one free game from a choice of two to four every month. My source's source notes that this will lead to subscribers more or less breaking even on their annual fees, although that all depends on what game will be given away.

There is also talk of a steaming music service, so that players can listen to their own music on their PS3 finally.

Both of these announcements leave me less than impressed. I own most of the "must have" PS3 titles and I don't need to get a free indie game every month. Even if they are big titles I would already have them anyway. They would have to announce something more. Like the "New Xbox Experience" that Microsoft announced last year. They really need to streamline the PSN because there is a reason that shit is free.

the PSP2 is going to be double tight

The gaming community has a love-hate relationship with the PSP, but I have always liked it. The games look great, its just too bad the platform doesn't have good third party support. So its good to hear evidence that Sony is working on the system's successor.

Rumors are a-buzzing that the PSP2 will feature a touch screen, which doesn't surprise me since Sony is already ripping off a feature from Nintendo's home console, might as well rip off a feature from its handheld. Although it will have a touchscreen it should be noted that the system will still keep the signature Playstation buttons. It will also feature both a front-facing and back-facing camera. And people are also saying that there is a good chance the system won't support physical media since it will 3G enabled.

People are also saying that UK devs are already working on games for it and that the system is powerful as shit. Saying that it has a four-core Cell CPU. That's about half as powerful as a PS3.

A PSP on crack? I'm down!!

Bungie is hiring nerds to help them move

Bungie is looking to hire some temps to help them move offices. This is a pretty smart idea, I'm sure Bungie was like "Fuck we need people to help us move, hmmmmmm lets get our legion of fanboys to help us for almost no pay". Shit, if Valve or Blizzard asked the same thing I would run over there and do anything they asked. Get them coffee, move boxes, suck em off, etc. But I think the Halo fanboys need to sit down and think about this. Yes, you get to see the Bungie offices, but you are going to see a fucking empty one; they are moving. That shit doesn't sound cool at all.

It doesn't say where Bungie is moving to, but its safe to assume they are moving to be closer to their new publisher Activision.

Boss Talk: May 13, 2010

New Boss Talk is up. I'll get the "Dear Playstation" contest entry videos up sometime tomorrow. Still have a few specifics to hammer out for those. Hope you like the new format for Boss Talk!

Biowin

Ever since I played Mass Effect 2, I've been hopping all over any news pertaining to Bioware. I stumbled across this nugget while I was over at strategyinformer.com. Daniel Erickson, Writing Director for Bioware was asked about how the core component of Star Wars: The Old Republic is its story, and whether or not the story alone could support it without good gameplay, which they then pointed to Final Fantasy XIII as an example. Daniel Erickson fired back:

"Well, before I address the main point I just want to take a slightly more controversial route: You can put a 'J' in front of it, but it's not an RPG. You don't make any choices, you don't create a character, you don't live your character... I don't know what those are - adventure games maybe? But they're not RPG's."

Woah. Someone finally manned up and told Squenix that they aren't the only ones making RPG's, and they're certainly not the best at it, even though they've been in the business pretty long.

Personally, I support Daniel Erickson on this one. Role-Playing games are usually categorized by the ability to make choices, to play out the role of the character you have created, or have been handed. In most JRPG's you're handed the role of the character, and you're sometimes forced to make decisions for the characters (though that's pretty rare, seeing as for the most part in the last 8 years it's like playing an on-rails shooter while replacing the shooting with random battles).

Personally, I think that Mass Effect 2 is very similar to what an RPG should be like. You should be given a lot of dialog choices for how you interact with characters, and that should lead you to different outcomes and reactions. Games like Final Fantasy XIII stick you in the shoes of a character, and tell you to play through their story for 50 hours.

Mass Effect 2 was a wake up call for me. If I'm going to commit 50 hours of playtime to any game, I'd prefer it is one where I can get invested in a character and their universe. Hell, I liked Mass Effect 2 so much that I went back and played through the retrospective mess that was Mass Effect 1 (not that it was a bad game, when it first came out, just that Mass Effect 2 improved it so much...) just so that I could personally affect the universe on my next play through of Mass Effect 2 (beat a few more so far, so now I've got about 58 left).

I really hope that the next Final Fantasy game that comes out is not just cinematic. I'd like to see a lot more game play, as well as a lot more action. I loved, 4,7,8, and 10, but from the first 8 hours of FFXIII (which I'd like to remind everyone I was looking forward to), I can't honestly say that I would want to finish it in one sitting (like I tried to do with ME2).

In case you're wondering, the image at the top is my rendition of Lightning from FFXIII, only now she's the main character in a good game.

Street Fighter Emergence

So last week Street Fighter Legacy was released, and it was pretty good. Ever since then, people have been on the lookout for different Street Fighter-related media.

Kotaku posted a bunch of different Street Fighter-related videos, my favorite of which so far is from an old Jackie Chan movie, which I did not know of at all:



Lmao my favorite is Jackie Chan dressed as Guile. Shit killed me the first time I saw it.

Here's another clip -- this one from the animated series -- of Sagat holding Guile and a kid hostage.



By the way, credit goes to the USA version of the Street Fighter Cartoon, for being ridiculously hilarious.

And here's one for all those Cody and Guy fans out there:



So before everyone bitches about modern voiceovers, they need to look back onto this series and thank god that we've actually invested talent into voice acting now.

Modern Work ethic

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, has announced their new DLC ! Oh wait it's of old maps. Yes, you heard it right.... they are releasing another over priced DLC! Seems to be a trend of making quick cash for the studio. In my honest to god opinion, the gaming industry has turned the DLC market into something gaudy. Not only are they releasing half pint, baby spit up, green turd-ed DLC but they are taking organs for barter to obtain this DLC.

I remember when people said they're is going to be such innovation with the high speed internet connection through consoles. Adding alternate endings, finishing unfinished game content, fixing glitches - things that the studio could do to help the customer. Yet.... let me take the blue pill on this one. Gamers will do anything to get a fix for video gaming - in fact, I will go as far as the only thing separating a gamer from a drug addict is that most gamers wont suck a dick to get their fix.

In summation, nothing is going to happen when this company does this. Infinity ward has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel - the shitty DLC they release is just life support.

Cataclysm content removed from MMO Champion

I'm a little late on this, but MMO Champion removed their Cataclysm alpha screenshots at the behest of Blizzard. I was under the impression that Blizzard was allowing MMO Champion to post things about Cataclysm to create some hype, but I guess not. Joe didn't want to see any of it because he felt it would ruin the expansion for him if he saw all of the content before its release. I didn't agree before, but I find myself glad now that MMO Champion removed the screenshots.

I mean, I want to be surprised when this game comes out. We've been waiting for an Azeroth revamp for forever! Also, be sure to opt-in to the Cataclysm beta on your Battle.net account if you haven't already. I hope I get into the beta...

New Mass Effect 2 DLC

Some more Mass Effect DLC has been announced and will be released in June. I guess it has to do with some Cerberus experiment gone wrong and you gotta stop it. They were trying to fuse a human with a robot or some shit. I love Mass Effect 2, but these little snip-its of DLC have got to end. I feel robbed after paying 13 bucks for kasumi's stolen memory. I don't need 30 minutes of gameplay for a game I beat like 3 times.

They need to go the same route they are going with Dragon Age and release expansion packs for Mass Effect 2. I would be so excited for a 40 dollar expansion. E3 is just around the corner... FINGERS CROSSED!

Bayonetta devs upset with Bayonetta porn

Hideki Kamiya the game director on Bayonetta has expressed that he is unhappy with all the Bayonetta hentai that people are making and feels that it is ruining his game.

Sorry guy, but when you make a game about a chick getting naked and constantly show off her camel toe, people are going to draw porn about her... and jerk off to it.

I mean if I made a game like Bayonetta I would make that hentai ahead of time and make money off it. Shit this guy probably should have just made Bayonetta a hentai film and not even bothered with the damn game.

LIMBO is spooky like Charlie Brown on Halloween!

I have been following LIMBO for a while now. Its a platformer coming out on XBOX live arcade and it looks really good. Up until now I have only seen bits and pieces but they released a official trailer for it and I gotta say, its pretty creepy.

The main thing about limbo is the fact that there is no music and the sound is all atmospheric, and the art design looks simple and dark. With these two things combined the game turns into a eerie and beautiful game that I cant wait to get my hands on. I'm also excited to see the fucked up death animations in the game and I love how the trailer cut them out to make the trailer even more creepy.

Bulletstorm trailer looks crazy

The first trailer for Bulletstorm was released today and it looks so over the top that its blowing my mind. The game definitely looks like its going to be fun, I cant wait to pick people up and kick them head first into a cactus. The fact that they used the song "Wish" was also very cool.

Most shooters have gravitated away from the old school shooters like DOOM and seem to try and take themselves seriously, with the exception of TF2. So Its nice to see a game that is all about doing ridiculous shit and getting the most over the top cool kill possible. It also helps that the game looks very pretty. A crazy fun FPS that looks like gears? SIGN ME UP!

E3 Forecasting

So this being the middle of March, E3 2010 is only three weeks away. Sadly we won't be in attendance, but you can bet that we're all going to be keeping an eye on all the major gaming news outlets as well as live streams from the con floor.

So far, things that we know we're going to hear about:

Bulletstorm
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Nintendo 3DS
Wii Vitality Sensor
Microsoft's Project Natal
Playstation MOVE
Dead Space 2
Diablo III
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (expansion)
Batman: Arkham Asylum 2

And probably a lot of other really great and exciting news that's going to leave a few more holes in my wallet.

One thing, however, that is not 100% confirmed to have some type of spot on the floor is some interesting news that the guys over at Kotaku and MCV, a new Sony handheld will be discussed during the con. Of course nothing solid has been confirmed, but it's nice to dream. Personally I love my PSP Go (just wish I could somehow transfer a few of my UMD's...), but I think that the hardware now exists where the graphics could be quite a bit better on a new system. I mean, the PSP was manufactured 6 years ago, and I'm sure that there's better out there now. Hopefully they can come up with some type of grpahics that are HD and look better than the Nintendo DS's graphics. Let's just hope that Sony has been paying attention to the customer response that the newer Playstation commercials that they have been airing, with Kevin Butler being witty. Last year's presentation was an absolutely boring experience, whereas Microsoft's was exciting and over the top. At E3, we don't want to see numbers, we want to see the FUTURE.

Also, from the house that Mario built, I don't believe that they're going to have any word about the Vitality Sensor. The public response to it was very lukewarm at best, and I just can't see buying any more peripherals for the system that barely gets played anyways. Maybe they should first focus on getting their system hardware on par with the rest of the gaming community, then focus on actually getting 3RD Party developers to provide quality games. At that point, they could focus on developing wacky peripherals. Another reason I'm calling shenanigans on the Vitality Sensor being announced is that there has been just about NO news regarding it after last year's E3, except a few editorial jabs made by various gaming publications.

So what are you looking forward to for E3 2010?

Either comment here or you can comment on our next episode of Bosstalk, which will more likely than not be up on Friday.

Kane and Lynch movie poster pops up

Empire magazine was in Cannes and stumbled upon this poster on the front of a hotel. We have known for a long time that Bruce Willis would be playing Kane. But someone decided to cast Jamie Foxx as the schizophrenic white dude.

Jamie Foxx is pretty beast so I'm looking forward to seeing more. Its going to be pretty hard to fuck up a Kane and Lynch movie. All you have to do is add tons of swearing, blood and a shitload of gunfights, BAM you got yourself a good movie.

It would also be cool if they do the amatuer film style that they are doing for Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. I'm always a sucker for movies of that style, dunno why.

3DS is a working title

In a recent financial call with Satoru Iwata, he mentioned that the "3DS" is not the official name for Nintendo's new handheld. And said the official name would be revealed at E3.

I didn't think the 3DS was that bad of a name, and knowing Nintendo they will probably name is something fucking retarded like the Wii. Five bucks its either the 3-Dii or something to do with cocks.

Link is back!... Sorta...

Looks like the 3D dot heroes made a homage to Zelda. In my opinion it looks freaking amazing! When you watch the video link has a super over powered sword but other than that - Wow! Anyways the people who made it were from the company Atlus in this game engine. They don't allow embedding of the video because of legal reasons but check it out. You will cream your pants.

http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/04/08/link-invades-3d-dot-games-hero.aspx

Enslaved gets its first trailer

Ive been excited about Ninja Theory's Enslaved ever since Foe started talking to me about it. And up until now they have only given us screen shots and the fact that I loved Heavenly Sword was helping the hype meter fill up. Today Ninja Theory released a trailer that looks really good, but I have seen everything in the trailer in screen shots. Its still nice to see the game in motion and I'm beautiful jungle environments and animation so its safe to say that I'm looking forward to seeing more of this game in action when E3 rolls around.

LittleBigPlanet 2 Trailer and release window

Today Sony "Officially" announced Little Big Planet 2, this doesn't make sense since everyone already knows about it.... but they gave a Winter 2010 launch window and released this trailer. The game looks good, but also pretty intimidating. They mention that there are about 2 million levels on LBP, but out of all of them there are about 20 good ones. So I have little faith that the community will be able to make anything cool with this extra level of customization. But the few that are good are going to be legendary.

Gamers will be able to turn off the 3DS's 3D off

I was working yesterday when I had an old high school friend walk in and talk to me, I wasted like 30 minutes talking to him and got like no work done. But it was nice to see to him. But during our talk about video games I brought up the 3DS and he mentioned that you would be able to turn off its 3D if you felt like it. And I actually found a story about this today.

I'm not sure what to think about this news though. Because if this is true then it makes the 3D sound even more like a gimmick. Kotaku made a good point by saying, if this is true how could developers make fundamental use of the 3D if the games have to be developed for both 2D and 3D? I'm still really excited about the 3DS though, especially if the system above is what its really going to look like. We will just have to wait til E3.

Kotaku also thought that maybe developers could put a 3D only sticker on their games. man those guys at Kotaku are smart....

LittleBigPlanet 2 details revealed

Little Big Planet had tons of hype surrounding it when it was launched last year. But it died really fast when the platforming gameplay turned out to be pretty mediocre and had laggy online co-op . It also didn't help that the community created levels were basically rip offs of original ideas and the only good levels were made by Japanese kids. Now that I think about it I think I only played it with my friends once, fucking once.

So when they announced number two I was skeptical as to what they could do with it to make it better. But some details got leaked onto the web from the latest issue of Game Informer and the game sounds crazy.

The second one is no longer a simple platformer with a crazy level editor, but now you will be given the tools to create any type of game you want. RTS, FPS, Kart Racer, etc.

Not only will you be able to assign controls far better, but you'll be able to design your own responses with a tool called the direct control seat. Level designers won't be constrained to using the signature game play mechanics of LBP. For example, if you were remaking a Mario level you could even make the Sackboys jump exactly like Mario.

You can even make cutscenes. Shit I had trouble with making a good level in the first one. This one is going to be intimidating. But it also sounds like a lot of fun.

Cataclysm Screenies!

Just a quick update to say that MMO Champion has organized a post with screenshots from all of the different zones in Cataclysm! You can check that out here.

It seems kind of weird to me that Blizzard would allow this, but I know that they love MMO Champion like Joe loves dick. At first, I thought some of these screens had leaked, but after MMO Champion made it into a big deal with this post, there's no doubt in my mind that Blizzard is just trying to hype it up. I feel kind of cheated that we're getting so much preview content, like I won't be surprised by anything when the game actually comes out. Then again, Blizzard is notorious for that "LOL WUT" moment where everything you expected is not what it seemed.

The Goblin city of Kezan looks especially cool, but I want to see some shots of the new troll city on Echo Isles! It better be more than what MMO Champion posted last month, I've been waiting for a Troll city since I began playing the game.

Boss Talk: May 6, 2010

Enjoy.

Medal of Honor Preview

I got an interesting email from EA this morning about the next Medal of Honor game. If you go to the site and log in with your EA Account, you can see the "Leave a Message" trailer before anyone else. Click the "Tier 1 Central" button at the top of the screen.

I'm sick of war games right now, since all I've heard about in the past six months was Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. (Although I did like Bad Company 2.) Its just a genre overload. But it is refreshing to see a war game set in Afghanistan, you know, the place where we're actually fighting. I don't want to hear about any Russians in this game, I'm so done with Russia.

Otherwise, the game looks like any other war game to me, but the setting makes it stand out. Its set to release on October 12, 2010.

Guy wins $1M for perfect game in MLB 2K10

I just recently heard about the contest that Take Two was having regarding this, so its interesting that I hear about the winner so soon. A 23 year old man from Alabama won the $1 Million prize for pitching a perfect game in MLB 2K10. For all those who are unfamiliar with baseball (shame on you for being un-American), a perfect game is achieved when no batter from the other team reaches a base or scores. You have to be super talented at pitching, and its only ever happened in the real-life MLB 18 times.

I think its really cool that the man and his wife plan to pay off their mortgage and start a family with the money. That seems really responsible. I want to see more in-game contests like this. Maybe I could get real life money instead of gold for doing daily quests? (By the way, if anyone has an extra family and friends alpha invite for Cataclysm, I'm completely okay with getting it. No, really.)

New video of Kane and Lynch 2 multiplayer looks awesome

IO interactive released a preview showing off a game mode from their upcoming game Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. The video is about a single player version of a multiplyaer mode called "Fragile Alliance". Its a co-op mode were players work together to steal money, but at any time players can turn on each other for more cash. If you decide to be an asshole though it will make it a lot harder to escape.

I am like 80% sure that this mode was in the first game. But I am still excited because up until now it has been hard to find game play on this game, and it looks really cool. I think this is going to be one of those games that needs to be played Co-op, its going to be a blast.

Blizzard integrating Facebook into Battle.net

Today, Blizzard announced that with the launch of their upcoming game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty that players will be able to integrate their friends list on Facebook with their Battle.net account. And players in the StarCraft Beta will get their hands on it a little early. My source didn't say anything about this feature being added to WoW, but they have been talking about making Battle.net this social networking thing so you can chat between games. So I am assuming this Facebook intigration will be available to WoW players as well.

Now instead of running circles around Dalaran, I can just chill and talk to Facebook friends. Blizzard is so smart =)

Its going to be a big year for Blizzard with both Cataclysm and Starcraft II being released. Analysts are predicting they will move 12 million units total this year!! I actually think it will be more, but hey that's still a big number.

Yet Another Street Fighter Fan Film

I know Xenodyne linked to the YouTube channel of a group of fans making a Street Fighter film, but another group of fans released another short film yesterday. Its certainly odd that two separate Street Fighter fan films would come out in the same week. Street Fighter: Beginning's End is a really good fan film. It looks like it may fall short compared to Street Fighter Legacy, but we'll have to wait until Thursday to see for sure. Beginning's End has great fight choreography, and the cinematography is to die for, especially with a budget of a mere $400.



Great results with a small budget? I think Boss VG can appreciate that, now that "The Bossing" is nearing 1000 views. I know, it seems like we're making a big deal of this, but we're excited! Hopefully people will continue to enjoy the content we create, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Now that I'm thinking of Street Fighter fan films, I'm reminded of the first Street Fighter movie. I love that film in a "it's so bad it's really good" sort of way. Unfortunately, other video game based films do not turn out that way. They are usually garbage. I'm not going into specifics, but I think the main problem is that most of the people who make video game movies are not primarily video game fans. I have high hopes for Prince of Persia though, since it kind of has a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe, but mostly so that I can drool over a shirtless, muscly Jake Gyllenhaal. Unf.

New God of War gets announced

Sony has just announced God of War: Ghost of Sparta for the PSP. The game will be developed by Ready at Dawn, the guys who did the first PSP game, which was a very good but short game.

The game will take place after the first game and explain how Kratos seized the throne of Ares to become the God of War. I love the God of War series, so I cant wait to jump back into all the violence and angry shouting!

StarCraft II fucks you in the face on July 27th!!!

I was trying to think of a clever title like George's Halo: Reacharound. I was thinking of something gay like "Starcraft II blasts off on July 27th", but then I decided to use a title that makes more sense with a reference to face fucking.

The game is going to be released on July 27th, and my brother and I cant wait. Even though I am straight up terrible its still a lot of fun.

I honestly wasn't excited about the game til my brother wouldn't shut up about it and made me watch his replays. Now I'm hooked. There are some things about the beta that I liked at first but now I hope they change. One of them being the divisions, people are having problems with it because they are in the top spots in their divisions, but it means nothing because they are basically the only ones playing in the divisions. They should look into just dividing people into leagues to make being top positions mean a lot more. But its only beta so maybe it will be better when the general public gets their hands on it. Cant wait to get face fucked by Koreans on the 27th!!!!!!

A Street Fighter Movie That Doesn't Suck?

While browsing Kotaku I stumbled across a story in regards to a Street Fighter movie that is made my a fan, for the fans. The only difference is that this fan is actually Hollywood talent, in the form of Joey Ansah, who is better known for his role in the Bourne Ultimatum. You can check out both of the teasers for the movie at their Youtube Channel. Personally, if this movie is anything like the trailers, I'm super pumped, what with the amount of SSF4 the BossVG crew has been playing these days.

In other news, the Halo Reach beta is pretty cool, when it has been working. Bungie has been reporting over 600,000 players swarmed their servers at once, which caused all the problems. I've played a few matches so far, and aside from the fact that I'm terrible at console FPS's, I had quite a bit of fun. The different classes are as followed (in case you don't know)

Scout: You run fast for a short amount of time, downside is that you can't use a weapon while running fast...

Infiltrator: Cloaked Unit, if they're moving you can see their shimmer decently well, but if they're 100% still they can pick you off pretty quick.

Jetpack: Self-explanatory, you get a jetpack and you can fly. High versatility, no downside. You can even shoot while flying.

Defender: You go down on one knee, and become invulnerable for about 10 seconds (or less, you can control how long you want to stay immobile). When you come out of it you discharge a burst of energy in a large area of effect. Sadly, this is a little underpowered, as the people who are shooting at you will usually just turn around and blast you after you come out of it.

Only problem with the classes I've seen so far is that pretty much everyone chooses Jetpack, not because it's OP or anything, but because it gives you some of the best mobility for all stages. Maybe if they have other maps that are more close-quarters there might not be so many people playing Jetpack. On the opposite spectrum of the classes, I find Scout to be the most useless. Sure you can run fast, but you can't use weapons, and there's no passive dodging that you get. It even takes a minute to emerge from it to melee someone. I'm guessing it's best for a flat map, possibly in CTF mode.

So far I've only played FFA Slayer and FFA Headhunter. So far I'd have to say my favorite mode is Headhunter. Think of it like CTF, only everyone drops a flag, and the cap point moves every 10-20 seconds. Also you get to cap more than one at a time. But the more you rack up the more risky it gets, because whoever kills you can pick up all of your skulls. Slayer is pretty much the standard Death Match type of mission.

TF2 Statues will set you back 200 bones!!!!

When they announced the TF2 statues last week I was interested in them. Not so much the heavy one that went up for pre order today, but I was looking forward to seeing a Soldier one. They announced the price for the statues and the normal versions are going for $229.99 and the exclusive ones(his mouth is closed) are going for 244.99.

They look damn good but I wouldn't feel comfortable spending so much on a statue. these are such a Xenodyne thing to buy. I'm sure hes GOTTA HAVE IT!!!

But I might have to put my thinking cap on. I played a lot of TF2 and it will always have a special place in my heart. I need something to show my grandkids!!

Halo Reacharound

So Halo: Reach: Beta has been out for about half a day now, and I haven't even played a minute of it. I can understand some server problems with any normal open beta, but it seems like the servers are just not made for the load that they're currently experiencing. A lot of people are having trouble downloading it, others (read: me) are having trouble with actually getting into a game, or even loading up the different game types.

One thing that I do have access to though, and that I am liking, is the customization option. It allows you to customize your Spartan with different armor, as well as color schemes and a customizable emblem. This is pretty cool, although I don't have many options to choose from because I haven't played the beta at all. Apparently when you get a kill you get points, which are used as currency towards buying new gear.


Hopefully I'll be posting later with an update as to whether or not I was able to play. If you're reading this and are planning on trying the beta, look for me, my gamer tag is OMGPYRO.

Black Wii confirmed, bundled with Wii sports and Wii sports resort

Last week Foe made a post about a rumor that Nintendos black Wii was going to make its way to the US. Well the rumor is true and the system will be dropping on May 9th.

They also added some more stuff to the bundle besides just Wiisports. Now all brand new Wiis will come with Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and the Wii Motion Plus add on. All for the same price as I paid for my piece of shit white wii. Wow thanks Nintendo.

Game Insane Asylum

So retailer Game Crazy is closing very soon. Their parent company has announced the closure of all of the Game Crazies nationwide. Only 250 of them exist from the past liquidations after their parent company Movie Gallery--which is also the parent company of Hollywood Video-- filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in February. I can see why they're going bankrupt, as nobody rents Movies/Games from Hollywood Video (or even Blockbuster for that matter), when you can rent as many movies as you want through Netflix (and stream most of them from your PS3/XBOX360 as well), for much lower than the rental charge, and there are no late fees, only a monthly subscription.

Personally, I used to love going to Gamecrazy. They always had the few rare games that Gamestop wouldn't have, and their clerks were always pretty friendly.

Oh well, just another sign of the times, although I'm sure that something else will take their place. Personally it surprises me that Gamestop has so much of a foothold.

Socom 4

Sony has been releasing some well... less than stellar performances by the franchise "Socom." Yet I'm having trouble doubting this new one. It will be the fourth edition on the Sony Playstation legacy. They have just released some photos on the new commander, Cullen Grey. The graphic look good but hopefully Sony can tech up the play style to compete with battlefield, and modern warfare.

I'm not doubting them though because the only good games that seem to be birthed on the ps3 are Sony made.

Wow.

At the time of this post, "The Bossing" is at 552 views during its first 24 hours. This means that it has surpassed "Bad Company 2: A Love Song" (530 views) as our most viewed video. Not to diss Pinkman and LazyBoots, but I'm glad that the most viewed video on our channel is something that Boss VG wrote, filmed, and edited. I am so proud of every single person who worked on "The Bossing" right now.

We have received a lot of feedback so far on the new skit. The overwhelming majority has been positive, and those who had negative things to say were constructive in their criticism. I have a lot of changes to work out for the next Left 4 Dead 2 skit. Oh wait, did I say another L4D2 skit?! This whole experience has been so fun, we've decided to make a sequel to "The Bossing". Now, I have nothing planned other than I want to make another skit, but know that we all feel like we should make another one.

Once again, thank you all very much for supporting us, and welcome to BOSS VG for all those who are finding our site as a result of "The Bossing".

Oh, and it would make me very happy if you could share the video with some other people if you enjoyed it. 552 is fantastic, but more than that would be even better!

Call of Duty: Black Ops teaster trailer speculation

So last night Treyarch released the extreamly teaserish trailer for their upcoming FPS Call of Duty: Black Ops. The shit goes by so fast that its hard to see whats going on, but if you are pro enough with the pause play button you can see some shit.

It looks like the game will in fact take place during the Vietnam war or around that time, maybe the cold war. the trailer shows some soldiers in some old school gear and headbands, as well as huts and a rickety bridge. Yup that's Vietnam.

Its weird though because parts of the trailer looks like they are in the future and a doctor is talking. It sounds like he is trying to find out some guys memories. Which sounds a lot like Assassins Creed. That would be really fucking dumb if they pull something like Assassins Creed out of their ass but its all speculation at this point. Treyarch did a great job with W@W so I'm looking forward to seeing how this game turns out.

"The Bossing"

Our spoof of the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC "The Passing" is now up. It's free of any technical glitches, and I'm actually happy that its separate from Boss Talk. I like seeing skits mixed up with Boss Talk, but we need more than just that on our channel. We would never get views if that's all we did. HA.

Enjoy, people. I will now sleep for the first time in two days.