We all knew Kratos was a black man under all that ash. In fact he is now doing what all fully credited black men do. Making his own personal shoe! Personally I think these game fashion merchandise is just beating a dead horse. Hopefully for their outrageous price they come with the severed legs of hermes in them.
So today Blizzard announced their plans for the one month anniversary of the game that they took forever to make. They plan on celebrating by fixing a few bugs, adding some functionality, and fixing a few balance issues. Listed below are the changes: ---------------------------------------------------- Protoss
We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby "proxy" gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.
Terran
There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.
Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we're changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.
Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We're aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.
Zerg
Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.
So based on what I've heard and seen from the people that play SC2 a lot, a lot of the things that they're changing really aren't things that are that big of problems. Maybe every once in a while they may be (with the exception of Siege Tanks). Maybe someone else who plays (Foe, Joe, or Krinkor) can comment as to what they think of these changes.
Personally reducing the Siege tank damage vs lightly armored targets doesn't feel very logical. You'd think that a tank firing a large explosive round into a group of Marines WOULD do a lot of damage.
As to the Zelot changes, from what I hear Protoss really aren't played that much. I see Zerg/Terran played far more than Protoss. But then again, I really haven't ventured online yet, I've only watched a few games. From what I hear, the Zelot mineral cost is a little too much for a zelot rush (vs a Zergling rush or a Bio Bomb (Ball?)[or marine rush, if I understand correctly].
As for reapers, I don't really see them deployed very much. Usually it's Marine/Marauders, then people start working on Siege Tanks and getting their arial units (mostly Vikings) deployed.
But again, I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, so feel free to comment and tell me what YOU think of the proposed patch notes.
So according to an article over at Kotaku, Blockbuster is filing for bankruptcy. Which chapter they didn't mention, but what the article does mention is that between 500-800 out of the 3425 stores are going to be closing on top of the 1000 that closed last year. Now, this isn't the end of Blockbuster, as they're moving to an online/automated medium for movie/game distribution.
But you know what? This makes me kind of sad, and it plays on the nostalgia card just a little bit.
Back when I was a kid, neither me nor my family had a lot of money (we still don't, but whatever I have I can dump about 95% into games). It was rare to get a video game on Christmas (usually one of the only times we would get a game or two) or a birthday. If I did buy a game, it was only after doing chores for about 4-5 weeks before having enough money (via parents) to get the game I was after. But there was always blockbuster. If grades were good at the end of the semester, the parents would let me (and later my brother) rent a game from the Blockbuster. It was always a place which I loved for the fact that it let me experience so many different games. It was always a special treat for us. We sometimes would also bike over as a family to the store, which was usually about 2 miles away. We'd also rent a few movies every few weeks and watch at least one over dinner on Saturdays. Good times...
But as time advanced, I got job(s) and the money to get games at launch, or whenever I wanted to. Honestly there's only been one game that I've rented in the last year, and that was Transformers: War for Cybertron. As for movies, I have a stack of Blu-rays sitting in my room of movies I haven't watched (Watchmen, District 9, and the Hangover, to name a few). I just don't have enough time with 51+ games that I haven't played through, plus random online multiplayer games such as League of Legends.
But I can tell why Blockbuster is going under. They didn't catch up to the online craze as fast as Netflix and Gamefly. Both of those already capitalized on the market, and Blockbuster sadly got left in the dust. Add in to the fact that Netflix streams through consoles, DVD/Blu-Ray players, and most TV's nowadays, and you have a recipe for a business wrecker.
So while it was sad for Hollywood Video to go, I think I may actually be a little choked up to see Blockbuster go. I wonder someday whether there will exist a brick-and-mortar shop for me to take my future kid(s?) to purchase games, let alone rent them.
So Bioware released a trailer for the space combat aspect of the game. It looks just like they said, an on rail space shooter. But I'm still so fucking excited. These are OUR ships and I'm bout to be dodging asteroids while fucking hot aliens on my pimp ass ship.
So at Gamescom the creators of a lot of anime-styled games, Atlus, announced the next game by the team responsible for the Persona series of games. It will also be the first next-gen game the team behind Persona has developed.
The Trailer is NSFW...kind of. There's boobs (no nips), demon sheep, more boobs, ass, murder, but also sex.
As of this going up, we just got another 20000 hits from google. Thanks perverts!
This game looks interesting solely based on the fact that the Persona team is known for their psyche-bending games, and this looks to be no different. I don't know Japanese, but judging by the visual cues the main character suffers from some disorder (be it mental or physical) where he can't tell the difference between when he's asleep and awake (Inception anyone?). Also, he might have some type of demonic sheep-spewing portal in his mind. All I know is that he runs around fighting monsters while clutching his pillow. +10 rep for that one.
EDIT: After I posted this, I went and browsed over at IGN to see if they had a release date. It's still TBD, but they did have the synopsis of the game:
"In this mature adventure game from the company that brought you the Persona franchise, you play a carefree guy in the normal world whose grip on reality comes unglued when he meets the woman of his dreams. Vincent is a fashionable 32-year-old with no ambitions in love or work. One day, Vincent meets the game's titular character, Catherine, and is instantly charmed by her. But although there is love in the air, things don't always work out the way one would think. After this chance meeting, Vincent begins having strange nightmares, and it is in this unsettling state of hyper-real slumber and waking life that this innovative adventure game takes place."
So I was kind of close. Again, don't understand Japanese so I was going based purely on visual cues. And I saw boobs, but that's enough to throw anyone off.
I'd have to say I'm not that surprised. Despite the positive review Joe and I did of the game, APB was an utter flop. It received many negative reviews, and I agree with most of the things those reviews touched upon, most of the time. It was a fun premise, and the customization was amazing, but the lack of content and balance issues made us decide to quit. Going up against a team of six with better weapons than you makes your team of four want to quit pretty quickly. Just saying.
APB could have been so much better, it really pained me to quit playing it. Though I realize now that I was liking the idea of the game more than the real deal. Yes, the customization was astounding, but that doesn't make up for the short list of unlockable weapons and complete lack of endgame. I wish the variation extended into weaponry and vehicles. Everyone just used the submachine gun and the AK-47 clones anyway. Let us not even speak of the performance requirements, which probably fucked RTW more than anything else in that game. All I see when I look back at the game is wasted potential...
Joe and I said we'd think about going back when we saw patches and serious improvements made upon APB. Now I'm not so sure, but if this blog post from the APB site can be trusted, nothing will happen to the game servers, and development will continue. I doubt they'll ever improve the game enough to save it, unfortunately.
This week is The Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany. It's yet another game-related conference in which developers get together and demo their products, as well as make announcements about games.
So far there have been a few new trailers that have come out for games like Halo: Reach's live action trailer, and more Dead Space 2 gameplay. One of the biggest announcements, however, may be coming from EA/Bioware.
It seems that Mass Effect 2 is going to be coming to the PS3 in 2011. What's kind of odd about this is the fact that some people datamined the game back when it was first released, and found the code for the PS3 version of the game. If that's the case, why release it next year instead of something like the end of this year? Also, although Mass Effect 1 wasn't the best game, for story purposes I hope it gets a port as well, considering the ability to carry your story from ME 1 -> 2 was a central feature in the game.
I've also heard rumors that L4D will be coming to the PS3, but it's unconfirmed at this time.
I just hope we hear something Half-Life related ><
Kevin levine's interview solidified nothing about this game being a new IP. Both rapture and columbia were innovations to prove to other forms of government that their way was superior. Both Rapture and Columbia were mysteriously lost due to their new era power and strength. Nothing has changed.
Making small improvements and interactions doesn't make you're game a new intellectual property. It simply is a improvement on the franchise that has the same "If we gained immense power shit would go wrong." Every arch is about mankind losing to it's own lust for power. Him explaining out his story in person this time is nothing but a ploy to establish a new following for an already popular franchise.
Let's be honest Kevin's ultimate job is to make money. His companies ultimate goal is the same thing. Game developers rarely ever push out new intellectual properties due to the plain fact that it doesn't sell well. In fact, Capcom has stopped releasing new IP's in America due to the fact that Americans don't buy in to new IP's.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not neigh saying the game or throwing up on the legs of Kevin Levine. Just this new intellectual property word, is just a seeping pile of hot shit. This is the same game that we will all play and love and the only fucking difference is that it is in the sky, with improvements.
So The trailer came and went yesterday, we had discussions about the validity of the IP of the game. When I first saw the trailer, I agreed with everyone else. This was another iteration of Bioshock, and they were going to just rehash everything and throw it in the sky. Well, after reading the "Letter from Ken Levine" I changed my perspective, and realized that this, although it's retaining it's Bioshock title (sadly with the moniker "Infinite," which doesn't sound as cool as Icarus), it's going to be a new game.
This was further reinforced by the above interview with Ken Levine, the creative force behind the Bioshock games. Now granted I think it will be similar, but I have a feeling that it will be just different enough that it is more of a spiritual successor to Bioshock than a direct sequel. As Ken Levine states, it takes place in the early 1900's, versus the 1960's that Bioshock took place in. I seem to recall them saying that it is a different world than Bioshock's, but they may have just been speaking to Columbia, and not the actual universe (or continuity) that it is in. What would definitely warrant the title "Sequel" is if this is where Andrew Ryan either grew up, or got the idea from, but I hope to god that isn't the case.
I want Irrational to populate this new game with a cast of characters just as unique as Andrew Ryan was in the original game. Also, I'm kind of hoping that they do not have plasmids useable by the main character. I feel as if that was kind of the original Bioshock's "thing". Now maybe if the companion character they're talking about were the one using the powers, and you had to direct her, that might be an interesting system.
I'm also hoping that little sisters do not make a return. That too was Bioshock's thing, and I feel that it would make the game a little tawdry. Then again, I can't really think of anything else as iconic as a Little Sister and a Big Daddy.
All in all, I think there would be a lot less skeptics if Bioshock 2 had not seen the light of day. The game, while a solid FPS experience was definitely a let down from the high expectations that was merited for the Bioshock games. It was pretty much more of the same, with a less creative (and less driving) story.
The game is set for a 2012 release date. Here's hoping we get to see it that year.
Today is the first day of QuakeCon, the fee convention/biggest lan party in the world. And John Cormack tweeted that fans will be getting a really cool announcement.
“I’m showing something neat and unannounced at QuakeCon tomorrow,” he teased on his Twitter. “Deciding if I should leave it be or sneak a little more code in…”
It had better be Doom 4 because they have been working on it forever. And if it is, hopefully it looks awesome.
So Bioshock was one of the most amazing games released since Half Life 2. Irrational Games has taken back their franchise and has launched the characters from the familiar "Rapture" to the sky city of "Columbia".
Creative transition from sea to sky. No, not really. Yet - you have to give them credit for giving us another epic adventure to go on. The game of course looks dazzling and the trailer was nothing short of bad ass. I won't say as much for the site, looks like a half retarded 6th grader put the site together on lunch while eating a bag a Cheetos...
My only message to Irrational is... It is going to be really fucking hard to top a big daddy / little sister. Good luck.
For more info etc take a look @ their site. http://www.whatisicarus.com/main.php
There are some big differences from Gears, one of which being the lack of a cover system. "Warhammer's Space Marines aren't the kinds of soldiers who hide behind rocks -- they charge ahead with everything they've got." The gameplay is very based upon forward movement, which should make the lack of cover less of an issue. I still don't feel confident about it though. Another difference is that Space Marine will focus partially on melee combat. That is an obvious choice, seeing as Warhammer's Space Marines are famous for their chainswords.
I was excited about the game when I saw the trailer, and I have to say the idea intrigues me. Relic makes some damn good RTS games, and hopefully they'll be able to continue fleshing out the Warhammer 40k universe with Space Marine. I'm just not sure what demographic they're going after with this game. Seems like the Dawn of War crowd would stick with RTS and the third-person shooter lovers would rather play Gears of War.
Hopefully I'm wrong, and this game turns out glorious. I'd just rather play as an Ork. WAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!
Brink fell off the radar months ago after no new info being released at E3. But the devs are finally starting to release more information on the game and it still looks amazing. I thought the game was coming out soon, but the trailer says Spring 2011. Plenty of time to start getting people excited for this awesome looking game.
Since 3D Realms sucks fat nutsack and cant finish shit. There are rumors that Gearbox Software will take the game and hopefully finish it. Its all speculation at this point but Gearbox says they have something to announce at PAX, which is early next month.
Its been so long that I don't care much about the game. But Gearbox did a really good job with Borderlands so that's reason enough to get me excited.
So yesterday Joe posted about www.whatisicarus.com. I've been checking the site multiple times a day for the past few days, and the image has always changed. It's displayed a white orb, almost like a moon, and every time I've checked (at different times of the day) it has been in a different position, but it's always seemed like it's been in a steady rotation around a center object. Today, I noticed that when I checked, it's actively moving in a particular shape around the page. I traced it out on paper, and it seems that it resembles the infinity sign (which you can see a picture of above. This is pretty interesting, though what it means is only known by the people at Irrational Studios. Maybe they're going to announce that they're going to make the next Call of Duty game?
Haha, sorry, that was bad. I think I would possibly commit hara-kiri if I found out that they were doing that. That would be a waste of all the talent that they have.
It may possibly be something like "System Shock: Infinity" or something like that, that would be pretty cool, though I almost hope that it's not a FPS.
Update: The circle is now oscillating at a faster rate. It's either a figure 8 or an infinity sign. I'm leaning more towards the infinity sign just because it's a little more stretched out than the number 8 usually is. The circle is also leaving a longer trail, which makes it easier to make out the infinity shape.
So I believe that the creators of "Power Gig", the makers of the hopefully next level of Guitar Hero type games, have officially won at guitar. As you can see above, they had about 100+ Guitar Hero guitars, which they tied together and launched into a volcano. That's a pretty big middle finger to the makers of all fake guitars. What I want to know is how they explained that to their accounting department.
"So we'd like about $10000..." "What for?" "We want to make a commercial..." "Well what are you using the $10000 on?" "We'd like to buy about 100 Guitar Hero controllers...fly them over, then drop them into a volcano in Sweden." "Oh oka....whaaaat?" "See, we knew you were going to freak out like that, that's why we didn't explain at first, only asked for the money."
For those of you who don't know, the main point that the creators of "Power Gig" are pushing is that they are producing real 6-string guitars for use with the game (or as they call them, SixString). The neat thing is that they are compatible with Guitar Hero and Rockband. Another cool feature is that even if you're not playing the game, the peripheral functions as a normal electric guitar. The full band kit is going to retail for about $230, and come with drums, a mic, and the guitar. The guitar kit version alone is $170.
Most electric guitars cost about $120+ (about $200 for a really nice one) so it's a pretty good deal, considering that the guitar is functional outside of the game. It's definitely piqued my interest. Look for it in October.
The screenshot you see above is one out of the next four games that Double Fine studios, the developers behind Brutal Legends and Psychnauts (led by Tim Schaufer) will be releasing this game, called Costume Quest. Your character, a candy-hungry child, is trying to find his sister (who was kidnapped by monsters) on Halloween. When you put on a costume, you transform into the creature, as you can see in the picture with the Knight, you can also be the giant robot, among other costumes. This definitely has potential to be one another interesting Double Fine game.
It would be pretty fun to have some sort of system for creating your own costume, or acquiring a large slew of different costumes through various means (kind of like how the old Monster Hunter games used to read music CD's and produce new monsters). The game is set for release on both XBLA and the Playstation Network on (you guessed it) October 31st.
I'm looking forward to it. Double Fine studios is responsible for some pretty witty and fun games, and I'm sure this will be no exception.
1. Wii Play 2. Mario Kart Wii 3. Wii Fit (with Wii Balance Board accessory) 4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii 5. Wii Sports Resort 6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl 7. Super Mario Galaxy 8. Wii Fit Plus (with Wii Balance Board accessory) 9. Mario Party 8 10. Link's Crossbow Training
So you see that? That's a listing of the Top 10 best selling Wii games of all time, as released by Nintendo. Sadly, you don't see any of the good games, like No More Heroes, Madhouse, or...well, I can't think of any other games that aren't on there. You know what the weirdest thing is? Link's Crossbow Training is #10. I don't remember hearing anyone ever even mentioning that game, and wouldn't even remember it if it wasn't always sitting at $10 when I'd go to Fry's and look at all their games.
Yeah, I know, Pokemon is so 2000 it's not really that funny anymore. Of course, the next Pokemon game is probably at least going to be good, considering that there really hasn't been a bad Pokemon title. For the few of you who do still pay attention to the anime, as well as the games, today YouTube has recieved a treat in the form of a teaser for the next generation of the anime.
It's got a bitch with Pokemon jumping into her hair, a shit ton of the new Pokemon (much like Black and White, none of the current...how many are we up to now? 500?) Pokemon will make an appearance in the anime.
This begs the question: Is Ash Ketchum in the new anime? If not, that's fine, because I'm tired of that whiney little bitch that never has any character development. I mean, he can be this "bad ass" trainer, and be really good, but when it comes down to the wire he never wins anything. No tournaments, nothing. I kind of started losing interest after he lost at the Indigo Plateau, and really lost interest when he lost the big tournament after that...then the one after that. The anime is now just a joke, stretched waaay too far away from it's original form, as well as the old manga.
But at least we'll have a new anime, with probably the same type of protagonist, as well as same general plot line. Then again, it probably won't air in the States for another few years.
I think everyone who was excited about TOR came when they heard the game would have space combat. But until now we didnt know anything about it. It has not been revealed that the combat wont be free form, instead it will be a "tunnel shooter" where the player can move the ship up, down, left, and right but the course of the ship will be locked in by the scenario in question.
The space combat areas will be solo instances at first, but BioWare hopes to implement PvP and team combat in the future.
These space combat scenarios will also include ship collision, rotating quest objectives, customizable ship cosmetics, and achievements.
I was really excited about this feature and I'm still looking forward to it. But its basically just a mini game. Hopefully Bioware wont let us down and it will be the coolest mini game in cool town.
Irrational games Teaser website whatisicarus.com is saying that we will finally see what their new IP is on August 12. I fucking hate teasers, but im going to guess that the new IP is going to be Bioshock on the mother fucking mOOn. Fuckin Moonshock.
August 12 is also the day of The Raiders first Pre-season game! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!
No, no release date yet on the game, sadly. But more details from the company that I'm beginning to put on my "top 5" list.
So a while back they talked about how over 1000 different decisions influenced how the game played out in ME2. Well take that number, and then apply that to how many different story variations will accessed by people who have played the last two games and carried over their save data to the 3rd one. In an interview with PC Zone magazine, Bioware's Casey Hudson had this to say, "Numerically, it's over 1,000 variables that wi'll have access to for shaping the Mass Effect 3 experience for people who've played the previous games."
He also says that they plan the larger details, but it's the nitty gritty details that are the hard part. Destructoid mentions that they record what a player has done in a playthrough, and then they have the writers build things around those individual plot threads.
I'm more excited about this game just hearing about these little details. Hopefully we'll get the game early 2012.
Remember that one racecar sim that had the last big, real iteration back in 2005? The only real reason you probably remember Gran Turismo is because nobody will stop talking about it. Sure the original game revolutionized racing sims, but there have been a lot of games lately that have stepped it up, and actually made the sim part of "racing sim" be equivalent to fun.
Of course that's me touting how much I love Forza 3. I have always had a problem with any Gran Turismo game I've picked up. I thought that, maybe after learning to drive, I would get better at the GT games, and actually be able to pass the licensing during the career mode.
Yeah, not the case.
But that's for another time and place.
Gran Turismo 5 has been in development for quite some time. They've released a "demo" type version of the game for the PS3, "Gran Turismo 5: Prologue" and decided to market it as a full game, when in fact it was nothing compared to the real game, nor any other racing game (such as Forza...). It had something like 70 cars and 15 tracks.
I mean the graphics were high-def, but nothing really more than that.
Anyways, this isn't a rant about GT5 and how Forza 3 is still going to be better than it, this is to talk about the Collector's edition of GT5, or at least the European version of it.
So the Europeans get the following in their collector's edition:
-Metal sculpted box finished in SLS AMG obsidian black -Exclusive GT branded SLS AMG 1:43 model car -GT leather wallet containing Signature Edition competition entry card -Branded USB key with Polyphony/Mercedes-Benz trailer -GT branded metal key fob -Signature Edition coffee table book featuring the cars and locations of GT5 -200 page Apex driver's magazine with hints on driving technique, car tuning, future technologies, and more
You also get a bunch of exclusive cars. Any guesses on how much this will cost? I'll even make it easier and just use American currency.
$70? $80? $100?
Nope, nope, and...nope.
$240.
I mean, you get a lot of neat little things, but I could just do with the model car, the wallet, and the keychain and be happy. Everything else, especially a fucking COFFEE TABLE BOOK is just a little superfluous.
I'll just stick with my Forza 3 collector's edition, which included a USB flash drive, a keychain, and a cool case, as well as a bunch of exclusive track packs and cars, and only cost me $70 (well, $10 after all the trade-ins).
So over at Kotaku, they sat down with a rep for the Goldeneye 007 wiimake, and asked a lot of questions specific to the Wii version of the game, and how the multiplayer is the same, or whether certain aspects that fans loved so much would be changed.
They started off by asking about DK Mode. For those of you not familiar with it, DK mode was where you would get a big head and big arms, much like Donkey Kong. The representative confirmed that the mode would NOT make an appearance in this game.
This may have something to do with the fact that DK (Donkey Kong)was an IP handled by Rare at the time. Then again, I don't see why this has any impact on a NINTENDO game having a mode referencing a NINTENDO character. I mean, even though Rare is now gone over and become assbuddies with Microsoft, Donkey Kong is still a Nintendo exclusive character.
I think this is just Activision being lazy, because this is a Wii game.
And guess what other mode isn't returning? Big Head mode. This was a big staple in multiplayer games in both the 90's and early 2000's. I shouldn't even have to explain this one.
Instead, what you'll get is Big ARM mode. Basically this makes everyone have extremely big arms, and turns it into a melee-only game.
Yeah...sounds as fun as a barrel of...well it can't be monkeys...
One classic mode that WILL be returning is Tiny Bond mode, which basically shrinks everyone. This mode has been renamed "Nick Nack Mode". Yeah, sounds pretty gay.
Excuse me when I go ponder how not-successful this game will be.
So I'm not 100% excited about Fable III, but that's just because I'm not too big a fan of open-world games. The game has enough charm on its side, but I also got a 360 a little late for Fable 2 to be relevant. That might not stop me from picking up Fable III.
Anyways, here's the intro cinematic to the new game.
The cinematic's pretty cool. Of course it's kind of wacky, but it's also got an epic sense to it.
I know, the trailer's a little old. I actually JUST SAW IT RIGHT NOW. I have to say that it looks so wacky and awesome that it makes me want to pick it up. I usually don't like tactics games, but if anything the trailer alone made me want to pick it up. I hope the game is as wacky as the trailer, which coming out of Nippon-Ichi, is not too farfetched.
Well, on to some actual news.
Today through the Microsoft channels (Major Nelson, the XBLA blog, etc), Lionhead studios announced the release of a virtual villager creator for Fable III. A little limited, but it's pretty cool that you can create a character to appear in the game. He'll give you a quest as well as 1000g. Keep in mind that this is a preorder bonus, so those of you who want to get your villager in the game should go preorder Fable 3.
So the Team Fortress players are quite a crafty bunch. I mean, what other community has people who model custom skins for their favorite characters, with hopes that their theme will be included in the game?
But this is just too ridiculous. Someone modded all of the classes to resemble Warhmmer 40K characters.
Blizzard has released a mod bearing a striking resemblance, which they announced will be coming out in 2012.
EDIT: This just in: Blizzard has pushed back the release date of it's mod to 2013.
I'll let the video do the talking. If you're reading this, you probably have either not watched the video, or you couldn't stand to watch it the whole way through. Keep in mind that Kinect is now 4 months away from launching. This was a recent demonstration, and look at how well Kinect works! OH WAIT, IT DOESN'T. Not even these two lovely Asian models can make this steaming pile of shit look good.
And you know what? I'm going to continue hating on Microsoft. This is a different brand of hate than I've had against them in the past though. The difference is that before, I really had no grounds to hate on them, other than the fact that I was a Sony fanboy. I've since embraced MS, and I do enjoy their system. What I'm angry about is the fact that back in E3 2009, I was REALLY excited for the Kinect, with the project MILO demo.
I mean, maybe I got so excited for it because of the prospect of a real Artificial Intelligence. But at the same time, I have to say the interaction looked pretty good as well. If they had've continued down the path of creation, instead of just blatant ripoffs of every Wii mistake so far.
Sorry Microsoft, but I have a feeling that you guys just made a Dreamcast of a mistake.
So I just got done reading an article over at Destructoid, which details how people who get the Limited Edition of the newest MoH will get beta access to Battlefield 3.
I'm not looking forward to MoH. I'm a little tired of generic FPS games, which are all trying to get a slice of the Call of Duty pie. Bad Company 2 suffered from that same fault, so I hope that Battlefield 3 returns to the gameplay that made both Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 so much fun.
Come to think of it, I'd like to see an update of 2142 while we're at it. I hear that they still haven't fixed the issue with the Titans crashing servers when they move.
(Note: Titans were giant motherships in which you spawned in a certain game mode. The objective was to take down the opposing enemy's titan. Probably my favorite game mode EVER)
So remember last week how I posted about someone dressed as Darth Vader robbing a bank? Well, we have similar news, except a little less hilarious, and no costumes other than a few ski masks involved.
In Hawii, a few people walked up on a LAN center and tried to rob the place. The news video below describes everything. Basically what happened was that these people walked up on the place, started robbing it, and then when they grabbed for one of the kid's DS's, the kid just started swinging and beating the shit out of the guy. But I'll let you watch the video, it's got all the action caught on camera.
The thing that pisses me off the most about this is the very end. Where they caught the kids, and they even have VIDEO EVIDENCE IT WAS THEM, and the news caster says "They were all released pending further investigation."
What more investigation do you need? YOU HAVE VIDEO PROOF OF THE MOTHERFUCKER ROBBING THE PLACE. CLEAR FUCKING IMAGES OF THE FUCKERS. HAUL THEIR ASSES IN JAIL, AND KEEP EM THERE UNTIL THEY LEARN THEIR LESSON!
Whoah, smells like wall of text in here. So let me present you with the following video as a palate cleanser before getting on to more news. Kotaku brought my attention to a Pokemon themed rap song that was posted about 13 hours ago, according to this guy's YouTube. Basically he uses a mixture of all the original 151 pokemon, as well as some move names to describe the time his girlfriend left him (supposedly recently). It sounds pretty ridiculous, but at the same time it begs the question, "Did this actually happen? Was the end for real? DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY?! IT ALMOST LOOKS LIKE A TRIPLE RAINBOW!!!!!"
So I just got finished with Zelda: Spirit Tracks. And throughout, I have to say it was not an enjoyable experience, but I'll get to that in a moment.
The main purpose of this is to rant about the series as a whole. I haven't really made it that apparent to our readers, but I'm a huuuuuuuge Zelda fan. Hell, I even think the new one (Skyward Sword) will be worth trying.
But lately, I've been questioning the worthiness of the series. Especially after playing Spirit Tracks. I have just about every Legend of Zelda game (including Master Quest), and this game by itself is possibly going to be the first one I'm ever going to trade in. No matter what, any Zelda games have been off the trade-in list. I highly value the series, and love every second of the games, especially both of the N64 iterations of the games.
I'll be honest. My first Zelda experience that I can remember is Ocarina of Time. I've been told we used to have Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo, but I was too young to remember playing it.
The game enthralled me. It was dark and moody. It had a profound story. It was difficult, but in a good way. The mechanics all worked TREMENDOUSLY well. The graphics: amazing for its day.
Fast forward 12 years: Graphics look just about the same. Maybe a little less polygonal, but the graphics are still NOTHING compared to what current gen games have. Granted, we're talking about a DS game, but at the same time, Twilight Princess was no beauty either.
Now, I'll be the first to say that the graphics don't make the game. But I'm extremely tired of looking at bad graphics out of the house of N. They used to lead the graphical revolution. I mean, the Gamecube had on-par graphics with those of the Xbox and the PS2. Windwaker looked pretty nice on there (of course, cel-shaded graphics always seemed to look the best on the GC). When Twilight Princess came out, the PS3 and 360 had been released, and the Wii had been as well. The Wii's graphics are a joke. Of course, Twilight Princess was made for the Gamecube, but it felt a little bit like we were cheated. Instead of getting a next-gen version of the game that all the Zelda fans had been looking forward to, we got a game where you either played it like a less-inspired Ocarina, or waggled around a remote as you "pretended" that it was a real sword.
Skyward sword promises to fix the waggling, but the demo shown at E3 did not make me hopeful. It didn't work very well.
Sorry Shigeru, maybe it's time to retire :(
I'm not worried so much by the graphics. It definitely looks like a lush world. All I care about is a playable game that feels fun again.
Another thing I'm getting tired of is characters grunting, instead of having voice-overs. Link is one thing, but the rest of the cast? I think it's safe to say that we have the technology in spades to get the voiceovers on the disk by now. There is no excuse as to why we have to read what Zelda is saying.
And I'm not against reading either. I just feel more immersed in a universe when there's a voice associated with a character. I mean, there's a grunt associated with every character now, the next logical step is to give them a voice.
So where was I...oh yeah, Spirit Tracks. The game is basically the same as every other Zelda game thus far. The only things that have been replaced are a horse with an on-rails train, the Hookshot with a whip, and they ressurected the old Cane of Somaria, which created a block that you can manipulate. Except this version, you can raise sand in an area that you touch.
The touch screen really doesn't work that well here. Sword swipes are inaccurate, weapons sometimes fail to fire, and a certain late-game mechanic based upon your train's whistle randomly stops working as if you had moved the stylus off the screen. The touch-screen is beginning to feel very gimmicky, and I would like to see it toned down if they do decide to have another DS Zelda title. I only hope they don't retool Ocarina of Time (for the 3DS)to use the touch-screen, as it plays fine with the existing buttons.
The one thing I actually liked about this story was that Princess Zelda was accompanying you throughout. I would have preferred Shiek, but it mixed up gameplay just a little bit, though not enough to affect my opinion of it.
It was also interesting how you either run into old versions of characters out of Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass, or descendants of them. It also alludes to the Princess Zelda from those games, which I found was kind of neat. Definately tied the game further into the Chronology.
For those who don't know, Wind Waker was the first "Toon Link" style world, and you used a sailboat to travel everywhere. It tried to explain why you didn't see Hyrule anymore. Phantom Hourglass picked up where Wind Waker left off, and you got to experience a small branch of plot off of the Wind Waker storyline. Of course, by branch I mean it was basically the same story retold, but bastardized and put on the DS. It was still an enjoyable game, and the touch controls actually worked well. Spirit tracks takes place somewhere between 50-80 years after the events of Phantom Hourglass.
The train was the worst form of travel in any Zelda game I've ever played. It felt more like it was put in with the sole purpose of making the player waste time trying to chart a static route to a certain place, then making them backtrack across the whole continent. And god forbid if you get anywhere close to an unkillable enemy train. If it even touches you, you hit the gameover screen, only to need to navigate back from where you last zoned out of, and have to go through the same train-infested area again.
The flute, the musical instrument chosen for this iteration of the going, works well when you're using it like you use the ocarina in OoT, but when you have to play a duet to progress the story, it all falls apart. It doesn't explain exactly how the flute works, or that you don't have to stop blowing into the DS microphone to switch between notes (which would be assumed, considering that the note inbetween certain notes is not in the musical composition). Also, all you get is a metronome to show when you're on track. No indication that you're doing ok, or that you're missing. I must have spent an extra 2 hours combined trying to get past some of the duets, only to figure out that you don't need to stop blowing to switch notes on the fifteenth try at the final boss battle.
All in all, this game was a mess. Nintendo needs to inject some fresh blood into the series, as they have with Metroid, as well as the forthcoming Donkey Kong Country Returns. I understand that Zelda is as much Shigeru Miyamoto's child as Mario is, but I think it's time for him to let it go and start working on that new IP that he's been hinting that he wants to start working on.
I have my own ideas as to how to reinvigorate the series, but I don't think they'll listen.
